The Joshua Victor Theory

  Christ is Risen, He is Risen Indeed, Alleluia! Hear this great resurrection truth: 1 John 3:2, Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him , because we shall see him as he is. Jesus has risen from the grave and will return one day. Also, we are God’s children now, and will become fully like Jesus when He returns. These two points in our spiritual timeline are the “now” and the “not yet.” The gap is growing ever closer, as we move closer to our Risen Lord’s return. So, the great resurrection truth of 1 John 3, is that we are already God’s children now, and that we shall be like Jesus when He returns. How big is Jesus’ Easter glory? How big a deal to be called children of God, aimed on a trajectory that ends in becoming fully like Jesus, our Risen Lord? Don’t take it for granted! 1 John 3:1 cries out in wonder : “ See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called child...

  Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Amen. As we saw also last week, Romans 8 is rich with deep theology and comfort. Some of the most amazing promises of God are found in this beloved Scripture. Let’s focus in on how God chose us to be conformed to the image of His Son . To be “conformed” is to take on something else’s shape. In Romans 12 Paul tells us not to be conformed to the world, but to be transformed by the renewal of your mind. So it’s really a question of whose shape or form are we going to take? The easy path, the natural pull of gravity is to adopt the shape or form of the world. It doesn’t take any effort to soak in the values, the morals, and the mindset of the world. We’re marinated in that environment. Self-gratification, self-service, self-interested—the shape of the world is easy to conform to—it fits our natural desires. But to be conformed to the image of Jesus, to be transformed in Him by the renewa...

P: The Savior is Born! C: He is born in a manger! Several weeks ago, my children and I had a very interesting conversation, about how confusing it is that God reveals Himself as the Trinity—3 in 1. Their little minds were grappling with the cosmic mystery of how 1 God can be 3 persons, and not 3 gods. How Father, Son, and Holy Spirit relate to each other, and are One God. How Jesus can pray to the Father—isn’t that God praying to Himself? God made a mathematical universe, but Math cannot explain it. God has ordered His creation according to relentlessly predictable laws; but the laws of nature cannot explain it either. God has created us with our reason and all our senses—but even these cannot explain the eternal, unfathomable mystery of the Godhead—the Three in One. I related to my children the analogy of trying to empty out the ocean, or to scoop up the whole ocean in our beach buckets. Impossible! The ocean seems infinite compared to our buckets. And many have compared God’s...

Grace, mercy, and peace to you, from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Amen. A year ago we marked the 500 th anniversary of the Reformation, when Martin Luther brought the light of Scripture back to the church. One of the discoveries that jolted Luther as he studied the New Testament was that every Christian struggles with an ongoing battle—between the saint and sinner in us. Or as Paul puts in in Romans 7, the battle between the spirit and the flesh, or the new self and the old self. So long as we are alive we have this constant struggle against our old sinful nature, tugging and pulling us toward all manner of sin, selfishness, greed, and impurity. And the new nature that seeks after holiness, righteousness, and God’s Truth. That struggle only ends in the grave, and after the resurrection of our body, to the sinless eternal life in Christ. But the new self is already implanted and germinated in us in Christ Jesus. So day by day we faithfully struggle again...

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Amen. Serving as a religious leader comes with its own particular bag of temptations, as Jesus makes clear in today’s gospel reading. Temptations to pride and ego, towards seeking and often receiving honor and the praise of others, temptations to the abuse of power, and temptations to prop up an artificially perfect image of oneself—and therefore fall subject to the charge of hypocrisy. They are spiritually deadly temptations, as the teacher of God’s Word may be tempted to use the appearance of religion or holiness, to disguise their own sin. In a parallel passage in Matthew, Jesus confronts the scribes for not practicing as they preach. Jesus ends His warning to the scribes, by saying “ They will receive the greater condemnation.” Why the greater condemnation? Why are these temptations particular to religious leaders, myself of course, included? First of all, the greater condemnation owes ...

1. Intro: “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” Famous saying of Jesus, response to those who were trying to trap Him in His words about taxation. Paying taxes was never very popular. Often used to prove that Jesus supported the legal authority of governments to tax the citizens, and the citizens’ duty to pay their taxes (Minor point). Major point= render to God the things that are God’s. 2. Render means to pay, or to give back. What you owe, what is due. The reason Jesus gave for the government’s right to tax, was the inscription and likeness of Caesar, the emperor, on the coin. They had minted the coin. To ‘mint’ a coin is to stamp or press an image onto a piece of metal. The coin then has the “likeness” or picture of whatever person was used. Abraham Lincoln on a penny, George Washington on a quarter. On the back, it has the inscription of the United States of America. Image shows ownership. 3. On to the major point! Jesus “caught” Hi...