Jesus never was politically correct...

"Don't let people do that to you, put you on a pedestal like that. You all have a single Teacher, and you are all classmates. Don't set people up as experts over your life, letting them tell you what to do. Save that authority for God; let him tell you what to do."

"Do you want to stand out? Then step down. Be a servant. If you puff yourself up, you'll get the wind knocked out of you. But if you're content to simply be yourself, your life will count for plenty."

  "You're hopeless, you religion scholars and Pharisees! Frauds! You keep meticulous account books, tithing on every nickel and dime you get, but on the meat of God's Law, things like fairness and compassion and commitment—the absolute basics!—you carelessly take it or leave it. Careful bookkeeping is commendable, but the basics are required. Do you have any idea how silly you look, writing a life story that's wrong from start to finish, nitpicking over commas and semicolons?"

"You're hopeless, you religion scholars and Pharisees! Frauds! You're like manicured grave plots, grass clipped and the flowers bright, but six feet down it's all rotting bones and worm-eaten flesh. People look at you and think you're saints, but beneath the skin you're total frauds."

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Matthew 23 MSG (The Message)

Religious Fashion Shows

   ^{1 -3} Now Jesus turned to address his disciples, along with the crowd that had gathered with them. "The religion scholars and Pharisees are competent teachers in God's Law. You won't go wrong in following their teachings on Moses. But be careful about following them. They talk a good line, but they don't live it. They don't take it into their hearts and live it out in their behavior. It's all spit-and-polish veneer.
   ^{4 -7}"Instead of giving you God's Law as food and drink by which you can banquet on God, they package it in bundles of rules, loading you down like pack animals. They seem to take pleasure in watching you stagger under these loads, and wouldn't think of lifting a finger to help. Their lives are perpetual fashion shows, embroidered prayer shawls one day and flowery prayers the next. They love to sit at the head table at church dinners, basking in the most prominent positions, preening in the radiance of public flattery, receiving honorary degrees, and getting called 'Doctor' and 'Reverend.'
   ^{8 -10}"Don't let people do that to you, put you on a pedestal like that. You all have a single Teacher, and you are all classmates. Don't set people up as experts over your life, letting them tell you what to do. Save that authority for God; let him tell you what to do. No one else should carry the title of 'Father'; you have only one Father, and he's in heaven. And don't let people maneuver you into taking charge of them. There is only one Life-Leader for you and them—Christ.
   ^{11 -12}"Do you want to stand out? Then step down. Be a servant. If you puff yourself up, you'll get the wind knocked out of you. But if you're content to simply be yourself, your life will count for plenty.

Frauds!

   ¹³"I've had it with you! You're hopeless, you religion scholars, you Pharisees! Frauds! Your lives are roadblocks to God's kingdom. You refuse to enter, and won't let anyone else in either.
   ¹⁵"You're hopeless, you religion scholars and Pharisees! Frauds! You go halfway around the world to make a convert, but once you get him you make him into a replica of yourselves, double-damned.
   ^{16 -22}"You're hopeless! What arrogant stupidity! You say, 'If someone makes a promise with his fingers crossed, that's nothing; but if he swears with his hand on the Bible, that's serious.' What ignorance! Does the leather on the Bible carry more weight than the skin on your hands? And what about this piece of trivia: 'If you shake hands on a promise, that's nothing; but if you raise your hand that God is your witness, that's serious'? What ridiculous hairsplitting! What difference does it make whether you shake hands or raise hands? A promise is a promise. What difference does it make if you make your promise inside or outside a house of worship? A promise is a promise. God is present, watching and holding you to account regardless.
   ^{23 -24}"You're hopeless, you religion scholars and Pharisees! Frauds! You keep meticulous account books, tithing on every nickel and dime you get, but on the meat of God's Law, things like fairness and compassion and commitment—the absolute basics!—you carelessly take it or leave it. Careful bookkeeping is commendable, but the basics are required. Do you have any idea how silly you look, writing a life story that's wrong from start to finish, nitpicking over commas and semicolons?
   ^{25 -26}"You're hopeless, you religion scholars and Pharisees! Frauds! You burnish the surface of your cups and bowls so they sparkle in the sun, while the insides are maggoty with your greed and gluttony. Stupid Pharisee! Scour the insides, and then the gleaming surface will mean something.
   ^{27 -28}"You're hopeless, you religion scholars and Pharisees! Frauds! You're like manicured grave plots, grass clipped and the flowers bright, but six feet down it's all rotting bones and worm-eaten flesh. People look at you and think you're saints, but beneath the skin you're total frauds.
   ^{29 -32}"You're hopeless, you religion scholars and Pharisees! Frauds! You build granite tombs for your prophets and marble monuments for your saints. And you say that if you had lived in the days of your ancestors, no blood would have been on your hands. You protest too much! You're cut from the same cloth as those murderers, and daily add to the death count.
   ^{33 -34}"Snakes! Reptilian sneaks! Do you think you can worm your way out of this? Never have to pay the piper? It's on account of people like you that I send prophets and wise guides and scholars generation after generation—and generation after generation you treat them like dirt, greeting them with lynch mobs, hounding them with abuse.
   ^{35 -36}"You can't squirm out of this: Every drop of righteous blood ever spilled on this earth, beginning with the blood of that good man Abel right down to the blood of Zechariah, Barachiah's son, whom you murdered at his prayers, is on your head. All this, I'm telling you, is coming down on you, on your generation.
   ^{37 -39}"Jerusalem! Jerusalem! Murderer of prophets! Killer of the ones who brought you God's news! How often I've ached to embrace your children, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you wouldn't let me. And now you're so desolate, nothing but a ghost town. What is there left to say? Only this: I'm out of here soon. The next time you see me you'll say, 'Oh, God has blessed him! He's come, bringing God's rule!'"

Compliance with the law isn't subjective.. or is it?

 

"In Sabbath: Restoring the Sacred Rhythm of Rest, Wayne Muller said,
The God who made the Sabbath is not a cranky schoolmaster, always forbidding, coercing obedience, and watching sniveling subjects slinking about in cowardly compliance. Let me make it easier for you, God says…if you work all week and forget to rest, you will become brittle and hard, and lose precious nourishment and joy. Forgetting the Sabbath is like forgetting to unwrap the most beautiful gift under the tree. (31-32)

Unfortunately, it seems to be human nature to take something God gave as a gift and turn it into a law. The Pharisees seemed gladly to have taken the responsibility to coerce obedience."

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"Whenever there came a conflict between the law and grace, Jesus gave grace. Several years ago I heard preacher, scholar, and author Calvin Miller say the following in a sermon:

...Remember this: If you are torn between doing what you know to be right and what you know to be loving, do what is loving first. If you are torn between your convictions and your compassion, be compassionate first. If you can't tell whether you should throw stones at a sinner or embrace her, ask yourself how it was that God first greeted you, with rocks or love."

"Piety" is an often misunderstood word in Scripture. The Hebrew word for piety means fear or reverence for God. In Greek, the word means righteousness. But piety can also have the negative connotation of righteousness for righteousness' sake. Jesus says, "For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven" (Mt 5:20). He also warns, "Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them; for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven" (Mt 6:1).

Jeffrey Wisdom is a native of Charlotte, North Carolina, where he met his wife, Brenda, in 1975. Married in 1979, Jeffrey and Brenda have two children, Sarah and Iain, and live in Matthews, North Carolina. Jeffrey has served five congregations in North Carolina and presently serves as the chair of humanities for the University of Phoenix Colleges for Arts and Sciences, Charlotte Campuses, Charlotte, North Carolina.

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Healing on the Sabbath LUKE 13:10-17 (The Message)

   ^{10 -13}He was teaching in one of the meeting places on the Sabbath. There was a woman present, so twisted and bent over with arthritis that she couldn't even look up. She had been afflicted with this for eighteen years. When Jesus saw her, he called her over. "Woman, you're free!" He laid hands on her and suddenly she was standing straight and tall, giving glory to God.
   ¹⁴The meeting-place president, furious because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, said to the congregation, "Six days have been defined as work days. Come on one of the six if you want to be healed, but not on the seventh, the Sabbath."
   ^{15 -16}But Jesus shot back, "You frauds! Each Sabbath every one of you regularly unties your cow or donkey from its stall, leads it out for water, and thinks nothing of it. So why isn't it all right for me to untie this daughter of Abraham and lead her from the stall where Satan has had her tied these eighteen years?"
   ¹⁷When he put it that way, his critics were left looking quite silly and redfaced. The congregation was delighted and cheered him on.

Phil's name is still not Mark...

Table stakes

Who is at your  table? and who is not? and why?
Who's table are you willing to sit at.. and why?

I was so proud of how our conversation evolved this am.  It is indeed powerful when we begin to rationalize the implications of: no sacrifice we can ever make will ever be enough. The world will continue, the problems and blessing will remain.. but we can CHOOSE how we REACT.  The sacrifices have been made by God already, and we are loved..our "seat" is assured". It is despicable to exclude others from the table based on our human judgements of their worthiness.  Jesus calls us to action and that action is mercy not sacrifice or sacrificial ritual..   (seek justice, love mercy and walk humbly)

Talking points and experiences flow through my mind like a whirlwind..

• The seats at the table are open to everyone. 
• It is good to be at the table, but it dangerous.
• Hierarchical power structured based on "works/goodness" or "compliance with the law" are flawed at their very foundations.
• Phil's name is not Mark ;-) (BE)
• Discernment can only be done spiritually.  (BE)
• We must see people. Despite their actions, consequences. (BE/LOVE)
• If we create an exclusionary model intentionally or unintentionally, people are hurt..(LOVE)
• EVERYTHING we do must seek to include..(LOVE)
• Choice to action is individual for self, it is not to be prescribed for others..(SERVE)
• Inviting others to our table only goes so far. It must be balanced with going to their table.(BE & SERVE)
• Goal is not to "invite them to come to church, even to OpenDoor" the goal is be "Christ" for the world. walk around, live, set an example rooted in love and mercy every day (BE, LOVE, SERVE, REPEAT)

Matthew 9:9-13 The Calling of Matthew
As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth; and he said to him, "Follow me." And he got up and followed him.
10 And as he sat at dinner in the house, many tax-collectors and sinners came and were sitting with him and his disciples. 11 When the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, "Why does your teacher eat with tax-collectors and sinners?" 12 But when he heard this, he said, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. 13 Go and learn what this means, 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice.' For I have come to call not the righteous but sinners."
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(Micah 6:8 NIV) He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.
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What God Is Looking For (Micah 6:1-8 MSG)
Listen now, listen to God: "Take your stand in court. If you have a complaint, tell the mountains; make your case to the hills. And now, Mountains, hear God's case; listen, Jury Earth— For I am bringing charges against my people. I am building a case against Israel.
"Dear people, how have I done you wrong? Have I burdened you, worn you out? Answer! I delivered you from a bad life in Egypt; I paid a good price to get you out of slavery. I sent Moses to lead you— and Aaron and Miriam to boot! Remember what Balak king of Moab tried to pull, and how Balaam son of Beor turned the tables on him. Remember all those stories about Shittim and Gilgal. Keep all God's salvation stories fresh and present."
How can I stand up before God and show proper respect to the high God? Should I bring an armload of offerings topped off with yearling calves? Would God be impressed with thousands of rams, with buckets and barrels of olive oil? Would he be moved if I sacrificed my firstborn child, my precious baby, to cancel my sin?  
But he's already made it plain how to live, what to do, what God is looking for in men and women. It's quite simple: Do what is fair and just to your neighbor,  be compassionate and loyal in your love, And don't take yourself too seriously—  take God seriously.

Joy or Despair. Your choice...Ooooohhhhhh

Life is hard
Life is not fair.
Throw a party and celebrate.
The end is certain and we win..



Zephaniah 3:8-20



We aren't called to WIN but we are called to show up and finish...

ROMANS 12
So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.

Are you serious?

What is worship and why we must come to worship, not just see our friends and support our kids?
Who exactly is responsible for exactly what?

Our mission "as the church" not "for the church" is to announce the good news and live in the light of Christ. God should be speaking through us, not just to us.  We have talked at great length in the past about accountability, and obligations.  I agree that each of us individually must assess our role in living out the messages of Matt 25 around social justice, benevolence, and being Christ for those in need.. however I think tomorrow we will be talking more about the role of worship.

Our God is a Holy God and is indeed worthy of our worship and our best. When we come together, and lift our hearts and our minds "in worship" it is not about social justice, or education, or receiving some blessing.. It is about Loving our Heavenly Father and showing our humility and praise through the offering of ourselves, our spirits, our voices, our hearts, and our time.  This is why it is important to be at church on Sunday AM and it is a lesson worth remembering.

Don't miss the Open Door tomorrow.. we will GET SERIOUS!

Outline for Discussion:

1. How do you define value/valuable/special/honor? How do others around you define it?
2. How do you define cheap/shoddy?

3. In a world of "me", what is the value of ritual/discipline/work ethic/perseverance?
4. In your life how/when has discipline and ritual served you well? How about taking the easy way?

Who is accountable for the results, for the perspective, for the process? boss, employee, leader, soldier? To whom will go the rewards?

Why is authentic worship necessary?

Authentic worship, sacrificial, humble, transforming experiences IN God's Love are a critical piece of us as the "priesthood of the believer"
The Holy Spirit lives in us. We are the priests that Malachi is speaking to.. The temple is no longer divided and God is available to us.

It is true that we are charged to be light for the world and that we should be consumed with loving others as God would love them. Social justice and Brotherhood is an imperative of every Christian but it cannot be accomplished unless we first utilize discipline, meet together regularly, worship our Holy Father experiencing grace, love and forgiveness..

Once we have experienced that love and grace we are freed to share it with others.

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

--- Marianne Williamson.

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Malachi 1:6–2:9 (THE MESSAGE)

No More of This So-Called Worship!

   ¹ A Message. God's Word to Israel through Malachi: ^{2 -3}God said, "I love you." You replied, "Really? How have you loved us?" "Look at history" (this is God's answer). "Look at how differently I've treated you, Jacob, from Esau: I loved Jacob and hated Esau. I reduced pretentious Esau to a molehill, turned his whole country into a ghost town."
   ⁴When Edom (Esau) said, "We've been knocked down, but we'll get up and start over, good as new," God-of-the-Angel-Armies said, "Just try it and see how far you get. When I knock you down, you stay down. People will take one look at you and say, 'Land of Evil!' and 'the God-cursed tribe!'
   ⁵"Yes, take a good look. Then you'll see how faithfully I've loved you and you'll want even more, saying, 'May God be even greater, beyond the borders of Israel!'
   ⁶"Isn't it true that a son honors his father and a worker his master? So if I'm your Father, where's the honor? If I'm your Master, where's the respect?" God-of-the-Angel-Armies is calling you on the carpet: "You priests despise me!
   "You say, 'Not so! How do we despise you?'
   "By your shoddy, sloppy, defiling worship.
   "You ask, 'What do you mean, "defiling"? What's defiling about it?'
   ^{7 -8}"When you say, 'The altar of God is not important anymore; worship of God is no longer a priority,' that's defiling. And when you offer worthless animals for sacrifices in worship, animals that you're trying to get rid of—blind and sick and crippled animals—isn't that defiling? Try a trick like that with your banker or your senator—how far do you think it will get you?" God-of-the-Angel-Armies asks you.
   ⁹"Get on your knees and pray that I will be gracious to you. You priests have gotten everyone in trouble. With this kind of conduct, do you think I'll pay attention to you?" God-of-the-Angel-Armies asks you.
   ¹⁰"Why doesn't one of you just shut the Temple doors and lock them? Then none of you can get in and play at religion with this silly, empty-headed worship. I am not pleased. The God-of-the-Angel-Armies is not pleased. And I don't want any more of this so-called worship!

Offering God Something Hand-Me-Down,

    Broken, or Useless
   ¹¹"I am honored all over the world. And there are people who know how to worship me all over the world, who honor me by bringing their best to me. They're saying it everywhere: 'God is greater, this God-of-the-Angel-Armies.'
   ^{12 -13}"All except you. Instead of honoring me, you profane me. You profane me when you say, 'Worship is not important, and what we bring to worship is of no account,' and when you say, 'I'm bored—this doesn't do anything for me.' You act so superior, sticking your noses in the air—act superior to me, God-of-the-Angel-Armies! And when you do offer something to me, it's a hand-me-down, or broken, or useless. Do you think I'm going to accept it? This is God speaking to you!
   ¹⁴"A curse on the person who makes a big show of doing something great for me—an expensive sacrifice, say—and then at the last minute brings in something puny and worthless! I'm a great king, God-of-the-Angel-Armies, honored far and wide, and I'll not put up with it!"

Desecrating the Holiness of God

   ^{1 -3} "And now this indictment, you priests! If you refuse to obediently listen, and if you refuse to honor me, God-of-the-Angel-Armies, in worship, then I'll put you under a curse. I'll exchange all your blessings for curses. In fact, the curses are already at work because you're not serious about honoring me. Yes, and the curse will extend to your children. I'm going to plaster your faces with rotting garbage, garbage thrown out from your feasts. That's what you have to look forward to!
   ^{4 -6}"Maybe that will wake you up. Maybe then you'll realize that I'm indicting you in order to put new life into my covenant with the priests of Levi, the covenant of God-of-the-Angel-Armies. My covenant with Levi was to give life and peace. I kept my covenant with him, and he honored me. He stood in reverent awe before me. He taught the truth and did not lie. He walked with me in peace and uprightness. He kept many out of the ditch, kept them on the road.
   ^{7 -9}"It's the job of priests to teach the truth. People are supposed to look to them for guidance. The priest is the messenger of God-of-the-Angel-Armies. But you priests have abandoned the way of priests. Your teaching has messed up many lives. You have corrupted the covenant of priest Levi. God-of-the-Angel-Armies says so. And so I am showing you up for who you are. Everyone will be disgusted with you and avoid you because you don't live the way I told you to live, and you don't teach my revelation truly and impartially."

Jan & Feb Major themes aren't Minor! Don't miss a single episode of Open Door

The prophets we are studying are referred to as “minor,” but their messages are a “major” component of our spiritual heritage and shape our understanding of God and God’s people.

Jan 24 ---  Malachi was concerned about the quality of worship he witnessed among his people. He noticed that both the priests and the people were bringing substandard sacrifices to the temple. Malachi relayed the message that God was not pleased with the offerings, particularly since the people were giving their best to earthly rulers. This raises the question, “When have I offered less than my best to God?”

Jan 31 -- The familiar text in Micah 6 calls us to examine how our worship is connected to acts of justice. Micah charged Israel with ingratitude for God’s many saving acts and superficial worship. God desired not only their worship but also that they love kindness, do justice, and walk humbly before God. This text calls us to reflect on how our behavior demonstrates the depth of our devotion to God.

Feb 7 -- Habakkuk lived during a time when justice seemed nonexistent in his world. Like others before him, he lamented undeserved suffering. He wanted to know how a just God could allow such suffering to occur. In the last chapter of this brief book, the prophet draws on ancient traditions in which God establishes order in the cosmos.

Feb 14 -- Zephaniah lived during the reign of King Josiah, just before the fall of Jerusalem in 587 BC. This was a time in which the people sinned against God by living outside God’s laws. Zephaniah announced the arrival of the Day of Lord, which would be marked by judgment. But he also spoke about the future national restoration and the return of the nation’s exiles. Even though he pronounces judgment, Zephaniah’s message concludes on a note of praise for God’s redeeming grace.