Multiplication or Division?

Churches that multiply in love, growth, and impact are built on the foundation of the Gospel. The same goes for individual believers. On the other hand, churches and individuals that build their foundation on anything other than Jesus will eventually divide.

Instead of the church, it becomes the Christians who vote like this or that, the Christians who worship like this or that, the Christians who follow this or that leader, the Christians who agree or disagree about this and that issue. When we divide into parties and make that part our foundation, we lose. And as the old saying goes: United we stand, divided we fall.

Paul reminds the Corinthians that we all have a part to play in the body of Christ, an analogy he will use later in chapter 12. If an arm thinks it is the whole picture, it will be a gruesome and useless sight. Ever heard of any churches like that? But if we humbly accept the role God calls us to play in the body, then we don’t worry about who is preaching and what faction we identify with, but the mission of the kingdom of God.

But how do you know if you are building your foundation on Jesus when every Christian faction says they are doing that? Here are some ways to check yourself:

• Do you spend more time thinking, talking, learning, and giving attention to Jesus or to bringing a Christian perspective to an issue you feel passionate about?
• Do you spend more time and energy building bridges based on what you have in common in Jesus or trying to change what you don’t share in common?
• Are you known for loving Jesus and others or for where you stand on things?

Paul built a foundation by sharing the Gospel. Others were building on it and he welcomed it! Now we can build on that as well by choosing multiplication over division.

This devotion pairs with this weekend’s Lutheran Hour sermon, which can be found at lhm.org.

Job 1:21 – And he [Job] said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the Name of the Lord.”

It’s what Job says initially when he hears the news and later sees his burnt-up property and children dead in the aftermath of some out-of-the-blue “act of God.” “The Lord gave. The Lord took away. Let the Lord’s Name be blessed.” For some, this is the summary of the whole book. But the story is just getting started. It’s a story about how Job’s way of relating to God is transformed. It’s not a transformation from guilt to forgiveness, because we’re told throughout that Job is innocent (see Job 2:3; 42:7-8). Instead, Job’s transformation is in how he talks. Job goes from proper, pious talk about God to raw and honest talk to God.

Imagine yourself in Job’s situation. People look up to you because your faith is so strong. And you know that you have to be strong for them. You have to say the right thing. So, that’s what Job does. He grins and bears it. But there is more going on inside him. And after seven days of silence, he lets it out. His friends try to “shush” him. They want him to stick to the script, but Job isn’t having it. He lets out a torrent of questions, complaints, and accusations straight to God’s face.

But maybe he went too far? The traditional translation near the end of the book leads us to that conclusion. God answers Job in a storm. God challenges Job: “Who are you to question Me?” And what’s Job’s response? The traditional translation has Job saying that he went too far. Job says, “I despise myself and I repent in dust and ashes” (see Job 42:5-6). But some Bible scholars argue for a different translation. They read the ancient Hebrew script and hear Job say something like, “I have heard about You, God, and now my eyes have seen You. Therefore, I am fed up, and I have pity on dust and ashes.” In this reading, Job is not backing off. He is doubling down because he knows he doesn’t need to be guarded with God because he’s already right with God. So, he can be honest with God.

It may be that the traditional translation is right. It may be that Job repents. But it’s also possible the other translation is right, that Job doesn’t back down. Not that he’s trying to be God, but that he’s being honest to God. And if that’s the case, what comes next tells us something about God’s heart, because God doesn’t condemn Job for his honesty. Instead, God condemns Job’s friends for their scripted pious phrases. God says that they haven’t talked rightly about Him, but Job has. However you understand Job, it’s clear from the rest of Scripture that God does not simply want your pious talk. God wants your heart. He wants to hear what’s on your heart. He already knows everything in there anyway. And in Jesus, you’re already in the right with Him. So, you can talk to Him. You can be honest with Him.

Let’s do that now.

WE PRAY: Dear Father, help me to talk with You, even, at times, like Job did, so that we can be closer. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

This Daily Devotion was written by Rev. Dr. Michael Zeigler, Speaker for The Lutheran Hour.

Not Out of God’s Reach

Some years ago a Rottweiler attacked our golden retriever puppy at a kennel. The animal climbed out of its run and into Molly’s and nearly killed her. I wrote a letter to the dog’s owner, urging him to put the dog to sleep. But when I showed the letter to the kennel owner, she begged me to reconsider. “What the dog did was horrible, but I’m still training him. I’m not finished with him yet.”

God would say the same about the Rottweiler who attacked you. “What he did was unacceptable, inexcusable, but I’m not finished yet.” Your enemies still figure into God’s plan. Their pulse is proof. God hasn’t given up on them. They may be out of his will, but not out of his reach. And you honor God when you see them not as his failures, but as his projects.


Read more Facing Your Giants: God Still Does the Impossible

By Name

Mark 4:38-41 – But He [Jesus] was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke Him and said to Him, “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?” And He awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. He said to them, “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?” And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?”

“Jesus, don’t You care?” Two-thousand years ago was not the last time that question has been asked. That’s because any time we’re caught in a natural disaster or accident or illness the temptation is there to ask, “Jesus, don’t You care?” When people wonder where God has gone, when they ask, “If God is a God of love, why doesn’t He stop this?” we are rephrasing the disciples’ question: “Jesus, don’t You care?”

The truth of it is no one cares more than Jesus. Listen to Him as He, looking through an intense pain, provided for His mother; offered forgiveness to those responsible for His crucifixion, and invited a dying sinner into heaven (see John 19:25-27; Luke 23:34, 43). Most certainly Jesus cared. It was His caring which—after He had fulfilled the Law we have broken, after He had resisted all of Satan’s temptations—allowed Him to confidently proclaim, “It is finished!”

Yes, Jesus cares. The disciples had hardly finished waking Jesus up before He was on His feet, calming the raging waters around them. But other storms would come their way, and their faith during those storms was not an improvement on what they did on the Sea of Galilee. When Jesus asked them to pray with Him, they fell asleep. When He was arrested, they ran away. When He was crucified, they slipped into hiding. When He rose from the dead, they were slow to get it.

The time eventually came when they, touched by the Holy Spirit’s power, were given understanding and faith. By God’s mighty grace, they were transformed, and these meek little lambs became the Lord’s lions, proclaiming the conquering Christ to a sin-sickened world, which so desperately needed to hear that message.

And this is a message you and I need to hear, too. In life’s storms, during those times when we’re afraid, when we question whether we can make it through the next day, the next hour, we need to hear Jesus. He will—just as He did for the disciples those many years ago—rise up and still the storm. Sometimes He will make that storm disappear; other times He will give us the power to get through that storm. But either way, with Jesus we will survive. We will survive until the day comes when He safely takes us to our home port in heaven. On that day, if we look back, we will see and thank Him for the many storms He has stilled in our lives.

WE PRAY: Heavenly Father, You sent Your Son to calm the storms in our lives. Teach us to trust in Him. In His Name we pray. Amen.

From “Jesus, Don’t You Care?” a sermon from Rev. Dr. Kenneth Klaus, Speaker Emeritus of The Lutheran Hour