To shine is to give out a bright light. Stars shine. According to Google AI “stars” and “stardom” started to be applied to people in the 1800s, especially in the theatre. Now it’s common for anyone that “shines” or stands out for their talent to be called a star. That’s true for sports, movies, politics, and any number of other fields.
People shining as stars goes back to at least the book of Daniel though. The Holy Spirit through the prophet shows us a “time of distress” near the end. God’s people will be protected by . . . . the archangel Michael. In the judgment, some will go to “everlasting life” and some to “everlasting contempt.” Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever (Daniel 12:3).
There’s that picture! Shining like the brightness of the heavens and like stars for ever and ever. It’s not the most talented. Not the baseball star. Not the star of the stage. Not the rising star in a political party. The stars in God’s prophecy are the wise, and those who lead many to righteousness. They don’t get the title from their own ability, but from the Lord’s work in them and through them.
The wise are wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus (v.15). They know their sin and their Savior. They care about their salvation and lead others to righteousness and holiness in Jesus’ forgiveness. They’re God’s lights and God’s stars.
After this life we don’t literally turn into stars in the sky that people can look up to at night, as cute as that idea might be. But we are stars in God’s view if by his grace we know salvation in Christ and bring others to him. That’s a light that will never go out. Shine on, people of the Lord!
When we walk into Safeway and fill our cart with cereal and vegetables and chicken and frozen pizzas, we know how much we have to give before leaving the store. The tags on the shelves tell us, and if we don’t add them up as we go along, the scanner will when we check out. There’s not much doubt as to how much is going on our credit card before we walk out the doors.
How much do we give before walking out the doors of church on a Sunday? Or any offering for the Lord’s work any day for that matter?
In some ways the offerings and tithes of the Old Testament were a little easier. They were more set and determined. Bring your sacrifices at the proper times. Give your tithes when required. Participate in occasional special offerings. For the most part, then you’ve been faithful.
The New Testament is more open. The Old Testament ceremonies no . . . . longer apply, and neither does the tithing system. So we look to several principles in the New Testament books on how to give.
We can learn much from the widow’s offering in Mark 12:41-44. There are amounts there, not as rules, but as examples. The rich threw in “large amounts.” The widow gave two very small copper coins, which was everything she had.
That doesn’t help us if we’re looking for a quick amount or an exact percentage so we can get giving over and done with. God doesn’t let us off the hook with a simple number. He points us to the heart.
In the previous verses the teachers of the law walked around in flowing robes, looked for places of honor, somehow unethically grabbed the houses of widows, and then covered it all up with flowery prayers. In their hearts was greed, self-importance and deceit.
Then the rich offer their large amounts. That’s nice, but Jesus comments that they gave out of their wealth (v.44), implying it wasn’t a great sacrifice. Maybe their hearts were lacking in generosity.
The widow offered little, but offered all. In her heart was trust that God would care for her no matter what, and the simple, but deep, desire to give.
Both in the Old Testament and the New Testament, we are called to examine our hearts in giving. Are we giving out of faith and trust and generosity, no matter what the amount is? What God looks for and commends is the attitude of the heart that is moved by the generosity of Christ to us.
43 Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. 44 They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on.” (Mark 12:43-44)
The Day of All the Saints “I'd rather laugh with the sinners than cry with the saints.” That lyric from 1977 is typical of how people tend to associate “saints” with their own holy living (which in this case was not very exciting according to Billy Joel). We can and do remember those who in faith leave a “saintly” example for us to imitate. However, when we see the word “saints” used in the Bible, it’s not on account of their holy lives, but their being made holy by Christ. Ephesians 5:25-26 tells us how we become saints: Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word.
“Saints” in the Bible is another word for . . . . believers or Christians. If we believe in Jesus as our Savior and are baptized, we are washed clean and are holy before God. It’s not what we do that makes us saints, but what Christ did for us.
All Saints’ Day is a centuries-old tradition that appears to have begun to remember the martyrs. It grew to include all those who have passed on to glory as believers in Jesus. Revelation 20:4-6 presents them to us in a vision given to John, focusing especially on those who were put to death for their faith: And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony about Jesus and because of the word of God…. 6 Blessed and holy are those who share in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years. (Revelation 20:4,6)
In this picture language those who share in the first resurrection (being brought to faith during their lives on earth) will not experience the second death (eternal condemnation). They rule with Christ for a thousand years (the time from Jesus’ first coming to his second coming) in heaven.
The saints are, of course, not just those whose names we know in history or only those who have been called to the ultimate sacrifice for their faith. They are the grandmothers who faithfully trusted in their Lord, passed on the Word to their children and grandchildren, and are now enjoying the blessed life in heaven. They are the teachers and preachers who stayed true to God’s teaching in their own belief and in their proclamation of the gospel and are now at God’s side.
Perhaps in our time in the Word and our prayers today we can take a moment to reflect on the great and wonderful heritage we have received. Countless believers, made saints by God’s grace in Christ, have passed on to life eternal. What a treasure we have in their stories, chiefly as a testimony to God’s tirelessly merciful work in the world!
“Live each day like it’s your last.” You have probably heard that advice. It sounds wise—an encouragement to take advantage of the time you have. However, that advice is completely backwards. Because the reality is, thanks to Jesus, we have an unending amount of time. Let that sink in. Really think about it. Jesus has given you the gift of eternal life. You are going to live forever.
If you really thought it was your last day, that belief would shape how you lived that day. In this series, let us consider how the gift of eternal life shapes how we live each day. Live like you’ll live forever!
Join us for the first Sunday of the new series as we celebrate the Reformation with the theme “Live a Life of Fearless Witness.” We pray always that the Lord strengthen us to give witness to his message of salvation by grace in Jesus Christ.
16 Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to him, “King Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. 17 If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from Your Majesty’s hand. 18 But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.” (Daniel 3:16-18)
We all appreciate it when someone takes responsibility for what’s going on. Enough with the finger-pointed and the blame game! It’s so refreshing to hear, “We see the problem. It’s our job. We’ll take care of it.”
A former U.S. president had a plaque on his desk that read, “The buck stops here!” With that he meant to show he was taking responsibility for everything that happened during his administration. It may well be popular, and a common human trick, . . . . to dodge responsibility, but there are those who still take it on. Good parents accept that they have some responsibility for their children’s behavior. Occasionally a coach or quarterback will say, “It was my fault,” even if it mostly the fault of another player.
Where does the buck stop with all the sin in the world that has caused so much pain and suffering? It should stop with each individual who sinned. But Isaiah saw that in this case it would be different: … by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities (Isaiah 53:11) The Suffering Servant is Jesus. None of the iniquities (“sins”) he bore were his own. Not a single one. Who would take that on and pay for all the wrongdoing of all people past, present and future? Only God in human form, Jesus Christ.
There was no reason God had to see it that way, except that he loved us all. Jesus saw many who were saved through faith in his death for them, and that was enough: After he has suffered, he will see the light of life and be satisfied (Isaiah 53:11) By that selfless act of Christ we are freed from the impossible task of trying to bear our own iniquities, and free to tell the world what he has done for us.
Tougher Than a Camel Walking Through the Eye of a Needle (Without Christ)
We can send and receive signals from Voyager 1 fifteen billion miles from earth. Our best microscopes can detect atoms, and one human hair is millions of atoms thick. But no one has ever pushed a camel through a needle’s eye. Jesus’ comparison still stands! It’s impossible, which is exactly Jesus’ point.
A man wanting to get into eternal life by what he did asked Jesus what the requirements were. Jesus told him to . . . . sell everything and come back as his disciple. The man left with a very sad face because he had great wealth, and since he did not return, we can assume he was not ready to part with it.
Jesus’ commentary to his disciples was this: It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God (Mark 10:25). The message of the story shows the obstacle wealth can be in our life with God, but Jesus is most definitely not teaching us that rich people can’t go to heaven or that we have to sell everything to get into eternal glory.
If the man had actually sold everything, would that have gotten him eternal life? No. The disciples recognize that with their follow-up question, “Who then can be saved?” (v.26) If this successful and upstanding man can’t win eternity with what he does, who can?
If it’s not love of possessions, then it would be any other sin. It would be an unending statement by God that we had something we needed to change, only to return and find out there was still more sin in our lives. There would be no hope if Jesus had not come to open up eternal life through faith in him.
On the camel comment, some have tried to soften it to make it more “possible.” There are those who have tried to change the word for camel to a similar Greek word meaning “rope” instead. A rope going through the eye of a needle is maybe a little more likely, but still not really something that can happen. And the word in Scripture is “camel,” not “rope.” Others have come up with a theory about a Needle Gate into Jerusalem that was low and narrow, but that a camel could get through on its knees. However, there’s no evidence this gate ever existed.
What Jesus said is what he meant. Trying to find something we can do to get eternal life is just as impossible as a camel passing through the eye of a needle. But Jesus also meant what he said after that: “With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God” (v.27). The impossible becomes possible through faith in Jesus’ death and resurrection for us. It’s God’s work! For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in[a] Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 6:23).
There was one. One that was fully loving, perfectly harmonious, one hundred percent supportive and fulfilling of the needs of the other. The one marriage that followed God’s plan to a tee. The union between Adam and Eve.
God took the rib from Adam in his sleep and created his wife Eve. This made them fit together like puzzle pieces, as is often said.
And they lived happily ever after … until the fall. In the next chapter of Genesis. We don’t know exactly how long their sinless state and idyllic marriage lasted. Adam and Eve enjoyed it for a while, but then it came to an end. The breaking of their perfect bond with . . . . God also quickly led them to tempt each other, blame each other, and into an “out-of-balance” relationship in general. So it’s been with all marriages ever since.
We don’t expect marriages to be perfect after the fall. In fact, many wedding sermons go to great lengths to point that out and dispel any illusions of it all being an easy path with no effort involved.
Apparently, the divorce rate in the U.S. recently reached a 50-year low, which is great news. However, the marriage rate also reached a new low about the same time. This probably shows a lack of confidence in marriage among some people that has been increasing for decades. Into the gap have stepped all kinds of other “new” ideas of how to have a relationship other than the marriage union between a man and woman God gave us. But as one popular commentator on marriage mentioned, no one has ever come up with a better alternative.
One of the most powerful pictures of the relationship between God and his people in the Bible is marriage. God is married to his people (Isaiah 54:5). Husband and wife are like Christ and the church (Ephesians 5:31-32). Heaven is the wedding supper of the Lamb (Revelation 19:9).
As people contemplate how they will lead their lives, let’s be strong advocates for one of God’s earliest gifts to the world. Pray for, support, and live out under God’s grace Christian marriage. God’s plan from the Garden is still the best one out there!
That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh. (Genesis 2:24)
