September 1, 2013 15th Sunday of Pentecost

Breaking Open the Scriptures Scriptures for September 1st: Jeremiah 2:4-13; Psalm 81:1,10-16; Hebrews 13:1-8, 15-16; Luke 14:1, 7-14; Song: We Bring the Sacrifice of Praise – 2031; theme: how to live as people of faith. Hebrews: Hebrews can be known as the kitchen sink epistle, because the author intentionally covers a lot of ground. This is his farewell and it is still in character. He is reminding us to love one another, but to make sure that our love spreads to other people. The author gives a list of people for us to love the prisoner, those who are abused, those who are married, money, leaders. We love them not because of them but because of us, and of our love for Christ. We are called to offer the sacrifice of praise. That reminds us of the importance of worship that we dealt with last week. When Christ is the center of our lives, we live a life of joy. God wants us to do Good as our worship, not a give a guilt offering. Loving Christ is an all consuming effort, we love God with all that we are, we love others with that same love. Luke: Jesus loved to go to dinner parties in order to be around other people and to have an opportunity to teach. But it seems that as he went to more and more parties that he got bored. Bored with the same people, practicing the same behavior. He witnessed people who were obsessed with their own importance and who needed to be seen. A lot of times the only reason they were at the party was do that they could be seen. Jesus does not see anything wrong with being seen. But more importantly, take a look at yourself. Who are you being in the face of others. Anytime we assume that we are important and that life revolves around us, we are wrong. We have all had times when we have been embarrassed because we were not as know as we thought. Jesus suggest that when we go to parties, we should take the lesser seat. If people really think of us, they will invite us to a better seat. But if we are followers of Jesus, we know that even though we are important, that we should be humble. Let God glorify us, so that we don’t have to glorify ourselves. Serve those who are poor, not those who are rich and God will bless us. Questions: How do you show love to those that you know? How do you show love to those who you don’t know? Is goodness something you have to remember to do, or is it a natural part of life? What do you need to do to love more? What does it mean to be humble? When you have a party – who would you rather invite, those who can give you something, or those who have their hands out to receive? How does God glorify you?