Have you ever turned away from God? Have you returned to God? Have you ever held something back from God? Have you given your best to God?

What does it look like for you to turn away from God? What does it look like for you to return to God?

What does it look like for you to hold something back from God? What does it look like for you to give your best to God?

There are times when we hold back. We hold back from others and we hold back from God. There are times when we give our best and there are times when we hold back our best from God.

God spoke to his people Israel through the prophet Malachi, saying, “From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from my statutes and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts. But you say, ‘How shall we return?’” (Malachi 3:7, ESV).

When we turn away from God, the invitation is always to return to God. When we return to God, He returns to us.

When was the last time you celebrated with a great feast? Did this feast satisfy you, or did it leave you wanting something more? Do you find it easier to celebrate and feast or to mourn and grieve?

Our lives are often so filled with mourning and grief. It is easier at times to grieve or mourn than it is to celebrate in this fallen and broken world. And when we do celebrate or feast, we can find ourselves being disappointed, let down, or longing for more.

In his book Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis famously stated: "If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world."

King Solomon in all his wisdom spoke of our longing for eternity, saying, “God has put eternity into man's heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.” (Ecclesiastes 3:11, ESV).

God desires to feast with his people and is preparing for us a great heavenly banquet, which will satisfy us for eternity.

God spoke through the Prophet Isaiah, saying, “On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine, of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined.” (Isaiah 25:6, ESV).

The psalmist, King David, writes, “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” (Psalm 23:5-6, ESV).

Jesus also spoke to his people in parables, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son…” (Matthew 22:1-2, ESV).

Are you working in God’s vineyard? Do you know that you are a steward and tenant in God’s vineyard? Are you giving God, the vineyard owner, the fruit that he is expecting from you?

God compares this world and his kingdom to a vineyard. We are called to be faithful workers in God’s vineyard and to give God the fruit that he is asking for and the fruit that is due to him as the vineyard owner.

We are stewards who are working in God’s vineyard to produce fruit for God.

Jesus spoke of this in the Parable of the Tenants in Matthew’s gospel account saying, “Hear another parable. There was a master of a house who planted a vineyard and put a fence around it and dug a winepress in it and built a tower and leased it to tenants, and went into another country. When the season for fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants to get his fruit.” (Matthew 21:33-34, ESV).

This world is God’s vineyard and we are his tenants who are to produce God’s kingdom fruit, which God expects from us. We are stewards and tenants working God’s land to produce fruit for God.

May we be faithful stewards and tenants in this world, producing the kingdom fruit God expects from us as the vineyard owner.

What is the work God is calling you to do? Have you responded to God? Are you doing the work God is calling you to?

God calls each of his children to do his work in the world. Oftentimes we talk about what we will do and we do not follow through with obeying God and actually doing his work. However, God does not want us to simply talk about what we will do to obey him, God actually wants us to obey him and to do the work he is calling us to.

In Matthew’s gospel account, Jesus told a parable of two sons. One son told his father he would work in his vineyard, but he did not do it. The other son said he would not work in the father’s vineyard, but he did go and work in the vineyard as he was asked. In the end, it was the son who obeyed the father that served him well by doing the work.

Jesus said, “What do you think? A man had two sons. And he went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today.’ And he answered, ‘I will not,’ but afterward he changed his mind and went. And he went to the other son and said the same. And he answered, ‘I will, sir,’ but did not go. Which of the two did the will of his father? They said, ‘The first.’ Jesus said to them, ‘Truly, I say to you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes go into the kingdom of God before you.’” (Matthew 21:28-31, ESV).

Like the obedient son who worked in his father’s vineyard, may we do the work that God is calling us to do in the world.

A Collect for the Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost, or the Seventeenth Sunday after Trinity (Proper 21): “O merciful Lord, grant to your faithful people pardon and peace, that we may be cleansed from all our sins and serve you with a quiet mind; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.” (Book of Common Prayer, 2019).

What do you value the most, yourself, your environment, or your home? Where does God’s will fit in with what your values are? Do you value God and God’s will more than yourself, your environment, and your home?

The prophet Jonah valued himself, his environment, and his home more than he valued God, more than he valued God’s call on his life, and more than he valued the people to whom he was called.

Jonah did not want to obey God by going to a foreign land and preaching to the enemies of the Israelite people. Jonah valued his personal comfort over God’s grace and mercy for the people of Nineveh. Jonah valued the plant that gave him shade in his environment more than the grace and mercy of God for Nineveh. Jonah valued his own homeland greater than the ever-expanding kingdom of God.

The Book of Jonah tells us, “But God said to Jonah, ‘Do you do well to be angry for the plant?’ And he said, ‘Yes, I do well to be angry, angry enough to die.’ and the Lord said, ‘You pity the plant, for which you did not labor, nor did you make it grow, which came into being in a night and perished in a night. And should not I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle?’” (Jonah 4:9-11, ESV).

In our sinful rebellion, we can often be self-absorbed and value our own needs, feelings, desires and wants above God and His will. We value our personal comfort, our environment, and our home greater than we value God’s desire to save the nations and to usher in God’s kingdom in all the world.

What have you been forgiven? What do you have to forgive? In what way is you being forgiven supposed to shape how you forgive? 

We have all been forgiven an un-repayable debt. We have been forgiven abundantly and perfectly by God. 

Because we have been forgiven such a great debt, we are to forgive others as we have been forgiven. 

When Jesus taught his disciples to pray in the Lord's Prayer, he taught them to pray for forgiveness for themselves and for others, saying, "and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses" (Matthew 6:12-15, ESV). 

Have you ever been forgiven? Have you ever forgiven someone else? What was difficult about being forgiven? What was difficult about forgiving another?

As followers of Jesus, we are forgiven and we have been called to forgive, no matter how difficult it may be to forgive. 

In Matthew’s gospel account, Jesus said, “For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.” (Matthew 6:14-15, NIV). 

As we have been forgiven, we are called to forgive others. 

Later in the gospel of Matthew Jesus tells us how we are to forgive. Jesus says, “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector” (Matthew 18:15-17, ESV). 

Where is your mind? What is your focus? Do you set your mind on the things of God, or do you set your mind on the things of this world?

The wisdom of the Proverbs tells us, “For as he thinks in his heart, so is he” (Proverbs 23:7, NKJV).

The Apostle Paul wrote the Romans saying, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect” (Romans 12:2, ESV).

Our thoughts shape our lives. Where we set our minds, our bodies go. Our thinking and our will to obey and to follow God’s plan for our lives are all intricately connected.

When Jesus turned his face to Jerusalem and to the cross, he shared with his disciples that he would suffer many things, be killed, and on the third day be raised from the dead. Matthew’s gospel tells us “Peter took Jesus aside and began to rebuke him, saying, ‘Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.’ But Jesus turned and said to Peter, ‘Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man’” (Matthew 16:22-23, ESV).

What do you think of Jesus? Who do you say that Jesus is? Have you made a confession of faith in Jesus as Lord, Messiah, and God?

Our thoughts and beliefs about Jesus are of essential importance to our lives and are of eternal consequence. Our confession and faith in Jesus determines our life and salvation.

In his book The Knowledge of the Holy, A.W. Tozer, writes, “What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us. ... Worship is pure or base as the worshiper entertains high or low thoughts of God.” (A.W. Tozer, The Knowledge of the Holy).

In the gospel of Matthew, the Apostle Peter answered Jesus’ question, “‘Who do people say that the Son of Man is?’ Simon Peter replied, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’ And Jesus answered him, ‘Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.’” (Matthew 16:13-17, ESV).

Peter acknowledged and confessed that Jesus is God and that Jesus is the anticipated Messiah. Jesus called Peter blessed because he knew this truth and confessed it.

Who does God desire to rescue and restore to himself? Who is God’s salvation for? What kinds of people does God choose for himself?

God desires to rescue and to restore every person to himself. God’s salvation is for all people. God chooses people for himself from every tribe, tongue, and nation.

God tells us through the Prophet Isaiah, “‘For my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.’ The Lord God, who gathers the outcasts of Israel, declares, ‘I will gather yet others to him besides those already gathered.’” (Isaiah 56:7-8, ESV).

God is gathering a people for himself from every nation. God receives outcasts and the downcast as his chosen people. God’s salvation reaches the nations to the ends of the earth.

As the Psalmists writes, “Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you! Let the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you judge the peoples with equity and guide the nations upon earth. Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you!” (Psalm 67:3-5, ESV).

May we take comfort in and praise our God who calls each of us and every nation to be his chosen people.

Have you ever experienced darkness, despair, or descent in your life? Have you experienced a dark night of the soul? Have you ever wrestled with despair? Have you descended into the abyss in your life physically, emotionally, spiritually, or mentally?

Most of us have experienced darkness, despair, and descent at some point in our lives.

When we are at our worst and lowest, God meets us and speaks to us in our darkest hours. God speaks to us in our despair. God lifts us out of the abyss when we descend into the depths of darkness and despair in our lives.

In Jonah chapter one, we learn that Jonah tried to flee from God’s call and was thrown into the raging sea to calm the turbulent waters of God’s judgement. After a large fish swallowed Jonah, chapter two tells us, “Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the belly of the fish, saying, “I called out to the Lord, out of my distress, and he answered me; out of the belly of Sheol I cried, and you heard my voice.” (Jonah 2:1-2, ESV).

What do we need to live? What are our longings and desires? Are our desires the same as our needs? What provision do we need? How are we looking to God to provide for us?

Jesus is the creator and the sustainer of our lives. God has always provided for his people and God gives us our daily bread as well.

In Matthew’s gospel account Jesus fed 5,000 men with five small barley loaves and two tiny fish.

Matthew tells us that Jesus “ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass, and taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and said a blessing. Then he broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. And they all ate and were satisfied. And they took up twelve baskets full of the broken pieces left over. And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children.” (Matthew 14:19-21, ESV).

Not only did Jesus meet the need of the hungry crowd, there were leftovers. Everyone was satisfied and then there was more.

What is the greatest treasure you have ever seen or experienced? What kind of treasure would make you give up all you have to possess it? 

Jesus and his kingdom are the greatest treasure we can ever possess. 

When we have the kingdom of God, we have everything we need, everything we desire, and more than we can imagine or perceive. 

In Matthew’s gospel account, Jesus said, “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.” (Matthew 13:44, ESV). 

When we discover God and his kingdom treasure, we become willing to give up all we have to possess God and his kingdom. 

Are you bearing good fruit or are you bearing bad fruit in your life? If someone were to label you by your fruit, what kind of tree would you be?

As followers of Jesus we are called to bear fruit for God and his kingdom. Each of us face the challenge of fruitfulness when the enemy works against us and God’s plan for us and sows sin and corruption in our lives and in this world.

In Matthew chapter seven, Jesus said, “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore by their fruits you will know them.” (Matthew 7:15-20, ESV).

In Matthew chapter twelve, Jesus said, “Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad, for the tree is known by its fruit. You brood of vipers! How can you speak good, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. The good person out of his good treasure brings forth good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure brings forth evil. I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.” (Matthew 12:33-36, ESV).

God calls us to bear fruit in keeping with his kingdom. God and others will know what kind of tree we are by the fruit we bear. A bad tree cannot bear good fruit. And a good tree will not bear bad fruit.

Are we bearing fruit in our lives? What keeps us from being fruitful? What produces a fruitful life? 

We must hear the word of God and understand it in practical application if we are to bear fruit and live fruitfully. 

In the Parable of the Sower in Matthew’s gospel account Jesus said, “As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it. He indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.” (Matthew 13:23, ESV). 

As followers of Jesus, we are fruitful when we read and understand the word of God and put it into practice. 

May we be like the seed that fell among the good soil and “bear fruit and yield, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.” 

A Collect for the Seventh Sunday after Pentecost, or the Sixth Sunday after Trinity (Proper 10): “Let your merciful ears, O Lord, be open to the prayers of your humble servants; and, that we may receive what we ask, teach us by your Holy Spirit to ask only those things that are pleasing to you; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who with you and the same Spirit lives and reigns for ever and ever. Amen.” (Book of Common Prayer, 2019). 

How much rest do you get? How much rest do you need? Do you find your relationship with God restful or burdensome? Do you need the rest of God? 

Most of the time we are living in a rest deficit. Many of us are tired and weighed down. The burdens of outward expectations and internal pressures can be overwhelming. Unreasonable and man-made religious burdens can also be overwhelming. It can be a daunting task to get relief and rest. 

However, our God is the God of rest. Our relationship with God should not be burdensome or heavy but an easy load, complete with margin and rest. 

This is why Jesus proclaimed his easy and restful burden in Matthew’s gospel account when he said, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30, ESV). 

How do you know if you are being sent? Are you being sent? Where are you being sent? To whom are you being sent? 

All disciples are called to go. We are a people who are being sent by God. Jesus is inviting us to join with him in his redemptive and restorative work in the world. 

Matthew tells us Jesus called his disciples and he sent them out. In his gospel account, Matthew writes, “And he called to him his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every disease and every affliction. The names of the twelve apostles are these: first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; Simon the Zealot, and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.” (Matthew 10:1-4, ESV). 

God called a diverse group of disciples for a diverse mission—to have authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every disease and every affliction. God wanted a people for himself who would do his redemptive and restorative work in the world. Jesus sent his disciples to make other disciples. 

What faith is required to follow God’s call on your life? What faith have you exercised to follow God’s call on your life? What faith is needed to follow the call of God on your life? 

God’s call on our lives requires faith and action on our part. We must hear and obey God’s call. It’s not enough to hear the call of God. We must also act on that call in obedience, in faith, and in action. 

We cannot stay where we are and follow Jesus. 

In Matthew’s gospel account, we see the call of Matthew the tax collector. Jesus called Matthew to follow him and Matthew left his tax booth and tax collecting business and he followed Jesus. Matthew left his old life for the new life Jesus had for him. 

In his gospel account Matthew tells his testimony, writing simply, “As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, ‘Follow me.’ And he rose and followed him.” (Matthew 9:9, ESV). 

Matthew heard the call of Jesus and he obeyed the call of Jesus by rising up and following him. 

Like Matthew, may we have the faith to follow God’s call on our lives. 

A Collect for the Second Sunday after Pentecost, or the First Sunday after Trinity (Proper 5): “Grant, O Lord, that the course of this world may be so peaceably ordered by your providence, that your Church may joyfully serve you in quiet confidence and godly peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.” (Book of Common Prayer, 2019). 

What is the significance of God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, the Trinity, in our lives? If God is relational, and we are created in his image, what does this mean for us and for our relationship with God and others? 

Our God is a relational God. Our God has always been in relationship with himself in the Trinity. God has always been Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. 

Because our God is a relational God, we are called into relationship with him and with others. God invites us to join him in the relationship of the Trinity. 

In the Great Commission, in Matthew’s gospel account, we see this invitation to join in this relationship of the Trinity, and we see the invitation to invite others into this relationship of God, when Jesus said to his disciples, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18-20, ESV). 

God invites us to be his disciples, together with him, and together with one another. We are baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. We are baptized into the relationship of the Trinity. As the Church, we are in relationship with the body of Jesus, with one another, together with the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Our God is relational and is calling us into the relationship of the Trinity and into the relationship of his body the church.

May we enter into the relational dance of the Trinity as we relate to God the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, and as we enter into relationship with one another as his disciples, as the body of Christ-God’s Church.

Do you often feel alone? Are there times where you need help? Do you long for the presence of someone who is with you and helping you? Who is your helper? Who is always present and always there for you?

We are living in a loneliness epidemic. We live lives of isolation and loneliness and we often do not have the connections, the presence, and the help we need to be safe, to be secure, and to flourish in life.

Attachment theory says we need a healthy attachment cycle, which often looks like this: we are seen, we are safe, we are soothed, and we develop a secure base. We need the presence and the security of a comforter and a helper.

In John’s gospel account, Jesus encouraged his disciples, saying, “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.” (John 14:16-17, ESV).