This being Christmas Eve, I’ll keep it short — for your sake and mine.
It’s John 10:18 that caught my eye tonight. It is one of the things that makes Jesus’ coming and death unique and effective — that he came and died if His own free will. Sacrificial animals may have been innocent, but they died against their will. Not so with Jesus. as you consider Christ’s birth tonight, remember how deliberate it was for you and me and glorify God with the angels!!
See you tomorrow, Lord willing.
Well, it’s the Christmas holidays and I’m full-tilt into family time. What’s more, I think I’ve come down with a cold. I say this to beg your pardon for shortened blogs the next few days. I’m not looking for a pass, just a little wiggle room. Keep reading and studying!
Jesus is meddles. But that’s what the world thinks. The world hates learning that it is wrong, it hates being judged (even if that judgment is absolutely correct), it hates someone living in a godly way (because the contrast makes ungodly living look bad), and it often thinks that Jesus is just meddlesome and intent on merely ruining their fun. Jesus was certainly deeply disappointed about the world’s hatred, but He was also realistic about it and didn’t pull Him away from doing right or teaching right. However, Christians (especially these days) seem to really desire to be liked by the world. We work overtime to not offend, to not judge, to not be a “goody-goody”, to be like everyone else, to throw in worldly words and attitudes (so worldly people will feel more comfortable), to go along and get along, etc. We resist being different as it were sin itself — despite the fact that being different is exactly what God requires of us. I’m not suggesting that we go out of our way to be offensive or rude — there are those who hide behind the faith in order to be hateful: “I’m just telling them the truth!” As we all know, there’s a way of telling people the truth about their sin that appeals from a broken heart and a way that tells the truth almost as if they’re glad someone’s going to Hell. The latter fashion is not the way Jesus told the truth, nor is the way we should tell it.
Thirst is a pretty powerful drive; you can’t go without water for very long. And when thirst is slaked, there’s a refreshed feeling. Jesus uses this feeling to make an appeal to men. It has been suggest that He might have made this appeal at the ceremony on the last day of the feast, when a water oblation was made by taking water from the pool of Siloam and pouring it at the foot of the altar. Jesus, John says, was making reference to the Spirit, although it had not yet been given. His point was, however, reasonably simple: He could give something that would be refreshing to the soul, unlike the Law which only condemned: a mark of sonship, a knowledge that we’ll be really understood (Rom 8:26), strength in the inner man, and more.
Life and death statements are the sorts of things that you need to listen, and here’s one that the world around us really needs to listen to. Life is found in Jesus; death is found everywhere else (Buddha, Hinduism, Islam, and everything else including ourselves). This isn’t said in prejudice or evil judgment — it’s just true.
But mere faith in Jesus isn’t enough. Abiding in Him is where the life and freedom is found. He is our natural habitat, it is in Him that we find our real freedom.
Again, Jesus is claiming something significant — to be the same as the one who said, “I am that I am”. The religious leaders didn’t miss it; we’d do well to pay attention ourselves — it is significant beyond significant.
See you tomorrow, Lord willing.
I hope your enjoying reading through the Gospel of John, and I hope that you’re not just cruising through without giving thought to the wonderful things going on, being said, and being revealed. For example…
I never cease to wonder at the religious people who consider themselves Christians (thankfully their numbers are not terribly large) who will relegate Jesus to some status lower than God. Jesus as a rabbi, as an “adopted” son of God, or something else other than God is argued on the basis of the observation that Jesus only rarely claimed deity and then (they would argue) only indirectly. First, it’s important to know that Jesus wisely thought it better to demonstrate His divinity rather than merely claim it. But though we might think that Jesus was sometime a little too coy about His identity, Jesus’ contemporaries thought He was plenty plain enough — in this passage because He “was calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God”. The divinity of Jesus was not a later theological development by later leaders. It was a claim made by both Jesus and the apostles — and by even more witnesses just below.
But before we go on to the other witnesses, I just couldn’t pass up this great section about the two resurrections. “The time is coming,” Jesus said, “and NOW is, when the dead (you and me) will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.” This is different from the other resurrection He then talks about in v.28 — the general resurrection of all the dead, good and bad. What’s this first resurrection? Paul talks about it in Romans 6:4, 5 “Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection.” He speaks of baptism (see the context). It is not, of course, just about getting wet; notice that it includes of necessity a new kind of walk (way of living). But those who are so raised…Revelation 20:5 “Blessed and holy is the one who has a part in the first resurrection; over these the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with Him for a thousand years.” To attain to the resurrection of life (John 5:28) one must first be raised with Jesus in baptism. Have you?
Jesus rightly points out (see the above paragraph on Jesus making claims to deity) that such claims would mean nothing, so here He points out the strong witnesses that will testify to the truth of His identity. First, there was John the Baptist. The general populace of Jesus’ day understood John to be a true prophet. Second, there were the works (signs and wonders) of Jesus — deeds that could only be produced by God, proving the unbelievable by doing the undeniable. Third, there was the witness of the word of the Father in the Scripture — a word, which sadly, although all the religious leaders said they believed, many did not believe really (faith is demonstrated by what we do or don’t do). Who do you believe He is? Do our deeds reflect what we say we believe?
Far from being a mere political king of the physical world, Jesus had no such intention or purpose. When men pressed Him to become their political king (primarily because He fed them), He rejected it and withdrew. Many Jews of His day expected such a worldly Messiah, but Jesus made it clear what His purpose was as He spoke to Pilate: (John 18:36) “Jesus answered, ‘My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, then My servants would be fighting so that I would not be handed over to the Jews; but as it is, My kingdom is not of this realm.’” God has a grand, eternal purpose for man; man must not presume to impose his worldly, short-sighted purposes on God.
Upon Jesus’ rejection of men’s purposes for Him by a number of “harding sayings” a substantial number left. Disappointed at men’s shallowness, Jesus then turned to His apostles and seems to even open the door for them to leave, too, if they wished. Happily, the apostles had a deeper understanding, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life…” Good point, good answer. How many times are we tempted to leave, when the Lord doesn’t “feed us” in some material or physical way as we had hoped or expected? In such situations Peter’s words need to come back to mind.
See you tomorrow, Lord willing.
There have been a lot of new items recently on the movement afoot by those who style themselves “Freedom From Religion”, who want to ban greetings of Merry Christmas, manger scenes, and etc. from public view. In response there seems to be a resurgence of “Christ, the reason for the season” banners. I have no problem with the celebration of Christmas, but I do wish that slogans could be altered slightly to reflect what He was really all about, not a season, but a life. My guess is that if our celebration of Christ was a little more year-round, a little less seasonal, there might be fewer unbelievers. Well, that aside, let’s look at what our reading might say to us today.
This instruction is from Mary, Jesus’ mother, who has sort of imposed on her son to help someone dodge a social disaster — running out of wine. I’m going to skip the discussion about whether it was alcohol-laced or not; I’m not convinced it matters. What does matter here is that first Jesus performed a substantial miracle in proof of His identity as the Son of God. Second, the servants did what Jesus said. Had I been a servant, I might have been tempted to object to filling up the jars (big as a trash container) with water, “Excuse me, sir, we need wine, not water.” But they filled them to the brim, the Scriptures tell us. And when the Lord told them to take a dipper full to the head waiter, I’d have been very tempted to say something like, “Excuse me, sir, are you trying to get me fired (or beaten)?” But it turned out to be the best wine. “Whatever He says to you, do it” — they did and they were rewarded. “Whatever” covers a lot of territory that sometimes we aren’t too keen on listening to instruction about — because we know what we’re doing. But when we do…
This “sign” sounded really crazy to the first hearers, no doubt. They misunderstood Him, though if they had rightly understood Him, they still would have thought Him crazy. Little did they know that raising the physical Temple was child’s play in comparison to what was really happening — the resurrection that was to be the first fruit of all the dead. That’s what Jesus and the Father have always specialized in — the “no way”, “that’s just crazy”, “you’ve got to be kidding” stuff. So also with things He commands today, if we’d just have the faith to do the crazy things He says, we might find that they are less crazy than we think. Paul put it this way, (Ephesians 3:20) “Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us.” O, we of little faith.
Although this passage is often cited by folks who would argue against the need for baptism, the early church clearly understood it to be a reference to baptism. The argument against baptism is often made on the basis of a fear that it is some work of merit. F.F. Bruce as he wrote about John 3:3-5 in his commentary on the Gospel of John said,
“…Christian baptism even more emphatically symbolizes the new beginning for every one who by faith-union with Christ share his death and burial in a spiritual sense and rises with him to newness of life. It is a pity when reaction against the notion of baptismal regeneration by an opus operatum (work of merit) leads to the complete overlooking of the baptismal allusion in these words of Jesus.”
Baptism is not a work of merit; in fact, it is a passive act of obedient submission. And getting into the Kingdom of God is impossible without a faith-filled, repentant obedience to it (see Acts 2:38 / 22:16 / 1 Peter 3:20).
Those who follow Luther’s slogan and teaching of “faith only” are fond of quoting John 3:16; what they fail to note is that just 20 verse farther down the page Jesus is also saying that obedience is crucial, too. Really, there shouldn’t be a debate about whether one is saved by either faith or works, as if they were contradictory matters. The truth is that works are a natural outgrowth of faith. That’s why James 2:14ff tells us, “faith without works is dead”. If one’s faith is not accompanied by appropriate works, it is not really faith — it’s just an unimportant opinion that’s not worth acting on. But if faith does come with works, it is clearly real faith. It’s not either/or, it’s both/and! When these teachings of both faith and works are put together, you create genuine, dynamic, world-changing discipleship.
The Samaritans were an unlikely bunch for a Jewish rabbi to reach out to, and a Samaritan woman was an unlikely connection for the Samaritans to be reached, and a sinful Samaritan was less likely still. But Jesus reached out anyway — that’s just like Jesus. His love was wide enough to include everyone, even Samaritans, who were considered half-breeds racially and religiously. His love was deep enough to talk with a sinful Samaritan woman, who had had five husbands and was shacking up with another man without benefit of marriage. The apostles were blown away, but they were probably more blown away when they saw the crowds of Samaritans coming their way and they had to stay with them (eeeyyyeeeeewwwwwww) a couple of days. How wide and deep is your love (Ephesians 3:17,18)?
See you tomorrow, Lord willing.
Once again I’m bridging the Gospels in a single blog from the resurrection to the beginning. In the case of John, however, it’s quite a bridge — to back before time, which is where John starts! But before we start with John, let’s finish with Luke…
The longest story that Luke relates in the resurrection story is about the two disciples that were walking back to Emmaus, a town that is reported to be about 7 miles into the country from Jerusalem. One of them, named Cleopas, may be the husband of a woman (another Mary) who was among the women who watched the Savior die (John 19:25) and was present when the tomb was discovered empty (Mark 16:1). He and his companion certainly had a lot to discuss and puzzle out in their approximately 2-3 hour walk to Eamaus, the perplexing reports of Jesus’ resurrection from the dead. As they were discussing these things, a stranger approached and joined their conversation. Interestingly enough, the stranger seemed to have answers and explanations from the Scriptures to what was confusing them. They were so excited by the stranger’s answers to these mysteries that they invited him to stay and have something to eat, when they reached their destination. At dinner, the stranger did something odd, He took and broke the bread (usually a host’s job), and in the breaking of the break, the eyes of Cleopas and his friend were opened to understand that it was Jesus — at which time, He disappeared. They went quickly back to Jerusalem to report what they had seen to the 11 apostles. From slow hearts of unbelief (24:25) to burning hearts of convicted belief (24:32). If slow of heart is a 1 and burning hearts is a 10, where are you on the scale? What do your the changes to your life say?
The inspired apostle Paul tells us that 1 Corinthians 15:47-49 “The first man is from the earth, earthy; the second man is from heaven. As is the earthy, so also are those who are earthy; and as is the heavenly, so also are those who are heavenly. Just as we have borne the image of the earthy, we will also bear the image of the heavenly.” This being true there are some things that we can know about the wonderful beyond imagination resurrection bodies that we’ll be given one day. One, they’re not ethereal, they are touchable with flesh and bones. Two, it is seeable and hearable. Three, it can actually eat something. Four, it can appear and disappear.
John’s Gospel is considered to be the last of the Gospels to be written. It is often labeled the Gospel of Belief, since its declared purpose is (John 20:30, 31) “Therefore many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name.” It includes a few of the same stories we can read in Matthew, Mark, and Luke (known as the Synoptic Gospels), but many more that are not.
This passage makes it really clear that Jesus was no mere man, miraculous born of a virgin that God sort of adopted (as certain religious beliefs hold). He came from the eternal past, equal to the Father, but emptied Himself (Philippians 2:5ff) to put on the clothing of humble, temptable human flesh. I’m not sure if the best of the best of human minds can quite grasp anything but a fraction of a fraction of what that really entailed. He is here called the Word, which has become flesh; and much has been rightly made of how words are sometimes lacking, but how examples are much fuller — and how the Word becoming flesh, dwelling among us, demonstrating God’s way among us is the fullest revelation of God to man. The Hebrew writer said, Hebrews 1:1-3 “God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world. And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.” Indeed, anytime you want to understand God’s word better, check out the Gospels and watch God’s Word in action.
The apostle John was a disciple of John the Baptist before he began following Jesus, and he remembers John the Baptist identifying Jesus very clearly indeed:
Any questions. 🙂
See you tomorrow, Lord willing.
Today’s reading recounts for us the last few hours of Jesus in His human form on this earth. As I was reading through it the theme of Satan’s sifting really impressed itself on me, and it occurred to me that he’s still in that same business continuing to try to sift us (all of us, if possible), separate us, from the Lord and his people. But the Lord warns us, like He warned Peter, through His word — let’s take the warning.
Although substantial gifts can do a substantial amount of good, it’s really not the amount that matters to the Lord. This story is a famous one and it sharply illustrates that the Lord is more interested in our hearts, and less in how much we might be able to contribute. This applies not only in the amount of money we might offer in the collection plate, but it applies widely in every skill, every hour, every service, every stewardship we give to the Lord. It doesn’t have to the best, it merely needs to be our best.
Now, I think it important to comment on one more thing in relation to this story of the widow’s mite. Another reason this story is sometimes famously used is in justification of giving a pitifully small amount in comparison to what could be given — “It’s not the amount we give, it’s that we give it to the Lord.” Obviously, such people have missed the most important part of Jesus’ quote, Luke 21:4 “for they all out of their surplus put into the offering; but she out of her poverty put in all that she had to live on.” Shame on the greed that would use this wonderful story to justify their sin.
Luke tells a few more details of the last supper, possibly because he was writing to a Gentile audience, perhaps just because he was a good historian, but he’s the only one who mentions 2 cups in the Passover celebration. For clarity’s sake, I thought I might offer a brief order of Passover according to the traditions. It is not certain that Jesus did all these things, but for a number of centuries this has been the order in the meal:
God had big plans for Peter, but Satan (his name means “accuser”) had doubtlessly accused Peter to God something like, “He blusters a lot about his loyalty, but when push comes to shove, he’ll deny Your Son and abandon this whole thing. Just let me put him in the right position and he’ll show his true colors, You’ll see!” Sifting. Jesus was privy to this plan and so had been praying on Peter’s behalf. Doubtlessly this is the reason that Jesus was “bugging” Peter and company to “watch and pray” because “the spirit’s willing but the flesh is weak”. Satan wants to sift us, too. He stands accusing us before God; what does he say about you? What’s your weakness that he wants to expose? What would cause you to become disloyal? To separate you from God? Sometimes the sifting process is subtle and innocent looking. Sometimes its our children, their sports programs, our work schedules, our recreation, our busy schedules, our materialistic tendencies, our laziness, or a wrong done to us by a brother or sister. Sift, sift, sift. Are you wheat or chaff? You get to choose. You get to demonstrate Satan to be the liar he is. Will you?
Luke is the only Gospel writer who tells us about the repentant thief who was crucified beside Jesus. It’s a wonderful story and demonstrates the real grace of our Lord. I just think that it’s important to never misunderstand what went on in this poignant event. The thief of the cross was indeed saved and joined the Lord in paradise that day. But his circumstance is different from any New Testament circumstance. The new covenant had not been sealed with the blood and death of Jesus. Baptism wasn’t needed and it wouldn’t be for another few days, only a faith in God and a repentant heart.
See you tomorrow, Lord willing.
Yesterday I participated in a memorial service of a faithful sister who died of cancer. Although I and the rest of the congregation will miss her wit and warmth, it was such a joy to celebrate a life well and faithfully lived. And it was because she was someone who knew and loved God’s word. Keep active in reading God’s, but better still, practice what you read. Speaking of which, let’s look into today’s reading…
This relatively famous parable gives strong contrast to two different approaches to faith and religion, a self-righteous, self-absorbed Pharisee and a self-aware tax-collector. In the eyes of the world, the Pharisee was far and away the most religious and righteous of the two; he’s the guy that you’d expect to be heading to Heaven. Of the two it was the tax-collector that you’d least expect to even be in the Temple. It was not the best exterior that God was paying attention to, however; it was their unseen hearts that God saw. The point that Jesus makes here is that it is the sincere repentance of the heart that God is interested in. All men and women sin. A great many (religious and irreligious) try to hide it, minimize it, justify it, excuse it, make up for it with “good works”, or ignore it in themselves — like the Pharisee. Others, however, mess up, ‘fess up, and change up — “up” being an operative word here, because the trend of their lives are trending up — like the tax-collector. Jesus said the tax-collector beat his chest in grief, wouldn’t even look upward, and prayed only a simple, humble, repentant, blame-accepting prayer, “Be merciful to me, the sinner.” No wonder the tax-collect went home justified rather than the Pharisee.
And speaking of repentance, we come to the story of Zaccheus — interestingly enough a tax-collector. There are a couple of interesting parts to this story that I’ll make brief comment on: 1) the wonderful characteristic of Jesus to recognize genuine spiritual interest in the most unlikely of people and 2) what genuine repentance looks like and does.
Don’t you just love how Jesus time and again calls the easily overlooked? Yes, He certainly talked to His share of religious leaders and top tier people, but He never overlooked any of the lower tier people. The love of our Lord is indeed wide. No one’s too short or tall, fat or thin, black or white, liberal or conservative, smart or slow, well educated or not educated at all, male or female, old or young, rich or poor, handsome or homely, ancient or modern, handicapped or whole, Jew or Gentile. Aren’t you glad His love was wide enough to include you? Pay it forward, then.
And then, Zaccheus’ repentance was no mere law-keeping requirement. According to Leviticus 6:5, he was only liable to return the amount unlawfully taken, plus 1/5. But Zaccheus offered to pay back 4x whatever he had taken by fraud (tax-collectors were famous for collecting much more than they had to and keep the profit). How serious do we get about repentance?
I’ve always loved this story, especially since I traveled to Jerusalem — it’s a very rocky, stony place. As Jesus came into Jerusalem on the colt of a donkey the multitudes welcomed Him with shouts that (rightly) attributed divinity to Him. The religious leaders at the event were deeply offended and called on Jesus to rebuke them. Jesus’ response probably blew their socks off — if they had worn them, anyway. “If these become silent, the stones will cry out!” The creation would gladly shout Hosanna to the Creator, if they could — and in Jerusalem that would have been quite the roar!
Although there are those who want to withdraw from civic life — voting, politics, paying taxes, etc. — Jesus never required this of His people. Indeed, there is a strong argument to be involved in this passage, giving to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God the things that are God’s — it’s just that that God MUST have first place.
Lee you tomorrow, Lord willing
I’ve long considered the power of books to be the wonderful opportunity to sit down with someone who really has something to say. Sit down at Socrates’ feet or listen to an expert who has extensively researched a great man’s life; it’s a chance to learn from the best and brightest that our human race has produced. And it is so also true with regard to the Scriptures: we sit at the feet of God-inspired men — prophets, apostles, psalmists, wise men — revealing things too wonderful for men to have dreamt up, and even, in light of our reading of the Gospel of Luke, we can walk with and listen to the Savior! I hope you are grasping the privilege of reading God’s word, especially the Gospels. Speaking of which, let’s sit at at the feet of Jesus again…
The practices of the Pharisees in regard to the publicans and sinners resulted in the sinful remaining sinful and the “righteous” fooling themselves that they were getting more righteous. It was simply not done to associate with anyone who was unclean, who had violated the traditions, who had morally disgraced themselves, or were occupied in a despised job. And anyone like Jesus, who professed to teach and follow God’s law, who DID associate with them were quickly either corrected or socially ostracized — you see this lots of times in the Gospels. But Jesus’ whole purpose was to seek and to save the lost, and so to try to teach the religious leaders to change their attitudes He told three stories about lost things: a lost sheep, a lost coin, and most poignantly of all, a lost boy. The main point was that rather than sulking over the forgiveness of the sinful (like the grudge-holding brother), they needed to be rejoicing with God and embracing them back to the family. But forgiveness is just hard for some, so I think Jesus also provides a little lesson in it that we need to pay close attention to.
Sometimes, we confuse the words “forgive” with “forget”. It’s easy to do because we use them as a phrase a lot of times — “forgive and forget”. The problem is that when someone has really offended us, it’s difficult to forget. I think that this is why some folks are heard to say things like, “I know I should forgive but I just don’t think I can EVER forgive them.” I hope what they mean is that they don’t think that they’ll ever be able to forget it. And this may actually be truth, since one of the things that will burn memory into your mind is intense emotion. But I’d like you to notice what Jesus tells us in this story of the lost son. When the son returns in repentance (that’s what the lost son’s prepared speech is all about), the Father goes out to meet him (very unusual for a middle eastern father), he throws his arms around the boy, he commands his servants to bring a ring for his finger, shoes for his feet, a cloak for his back, and kill the fatted calf for a celebration of the return of — wait for it — his son. Has the father forgotten what the boy did; what offense he had aimed at his father asking for an inheritance before his father’s death; what shame (a very serious matter in middle eastern culture) had befallen the family because of this boy’s behavior? Absolutely not! God’s the only one who has the ability to forget at will. But look at what the father’s doing; he’s treating him (upon his repentance) as if it had never happened. That’s what forgiveness is, and that’s what mends broken relationships: treating the offender as if it had never happened. I may not be able to forget, but I can treat the other person like it never happened — just like I can treat my enemies in a loving fashion without having warm, close feeling for him. Think about this one; it’ll help you obey the Lord’s command and save your soul.
This is a very misunderstood parable. We know that Jesus isn’t suggesting that we should be unrighteous, but He is commending the unrighteous steward. No need to fret too much about it; the point is found in v. 9 — Luke 16:9 ““And I say to you, make friends for yourselves by means of the wealth of unrighteousness, so that when it fails, they will receive you into the eternal dwellings.” It’s connected to Jesus’ teaching elsewhere: Matthew 6:19, 20 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal.” Use your possessions here on earth wisely, righteously, and generously and the Lord will reward you a little like banking it all in Heaven.
The religious leaders to whom Jesus told the previous parable (going all the way back to Luke 15:1,2) weren’t crazy about his point about using our possessions generously, so they scoffed at Him. In response Jesus told a story. This story is sometimes called a parable but there are hints that this is a real story — the name of the poor man, for example, Lazarus.
Now this story has a lot of really great pieces of information in it about the afterlife. It is, in fact, the one keyhole that we’ve been given into the afterlife apart from the simple fact that we know there is a Sheol/Hades that contains the dead (which is not, by the way, the same thing as Hell). In this story we learn that there is something like a judgment (probably something like a judgment of guilt or innocence to be followed later with a sentencing judgment at the end of time) and appropriate places for the unsaved and the saved. The rich man, who had been hoarding his riches, failing to share, and let a poor and ill man starve to death on his very doorstep, found himself after death in the unsaved and tortuous section of Hades. At the end of the story, he begged Abraham to send Lazarus back to the world of the living from the dead to tell them not to do the same things that he did and end up where he was.
I think this is a significant teaching in the Scripture, especially for those who may be worried that beloved relatives may be lost. Here’s the truth from the world of the dead: whether your loved one is saved or not there’s one thing that they want YOU to do, obey the Lord. Misguided loyalty to go to torment will bring an unsaved relative or friend NO COMFORT; while a saved relative or friend would beg you, if he could, to obey the Lord and join him in paradise.
Salvation is by grace, period. One of the essential problems with a salvation by works approach to getting rid of sin is that it is founded on the foolish notion that good works are a little like “extra credit” you used to ask for in school to bring your grades up. This parable of Jesus teaches us that all those good deeds that you’ve done weren’t extra credit at all — they were things that you were expected to do. That’s why we need Jesus and His grace — there is no extra credit, period. When we have done EVERYTHING we should say that we are still unworthy, because we’ve only done that which we ought to have done.
Remember your mom asking you that question? She was trying to teach you some good manners that as a “taker”, a child, you didn’t exactly get. Now that we’re older and are more on the “giver” side of the equation, we know how important those expressions of gratitude are to the giver. Now this is not to say that God needs our thanks. Oh, it’s certainly nice and we owe it to Him; but I’d suggest that we NEED to thank God for all His gifts more for US than for Him. WE need to remember who provides, who the real giver is — that’s its not us.
See you tomorrow, Lord willing.
Although we’ve already done the book of Psalms, I thought a little boost from Psalm 119 would be an encouragement to us all: Psalms 119:11, 12 “Your word I have treasured in my heart, That I may not sin against You. Blessed are You, O LORD; Teach me Your statutes.” As we do our daily Bible reading, we’re not merely indulging in a little hobby reading, are we? Truth is for more than knowing; it is for doing! Let’s read a little more today and then apply it.
Leaven subtly and quietly influences the whole loaf. It was generally (though not always, as we’ll see in just a moment) considered a symbol of corruption, because if you let it go long enough, the bread gets really gross and inedible. Hypocrisy (not to be confused with inconsistency) is a leaven, in that it is easily seen in its practitioners — and sometimes emulated! Little by little, a whole congregation can say one thing and live another. The Pharisaic form of it had corrupted their whole movement with the hypocrisy that their traditions demanded — nullifying the word of God to keep the man-made laws. In other cases, injustices were carried out (taking widows’ houses) followed by grand gestures of religion (loud prayer, obvious fasting, and public alms giving). The means of spreading the leaven is when younger disciples see the deeds or attitudes of the “more mature” examples of real religion and follow. Older Christians, can I speak to you a word of encouragement; you may not want anyone to follow what you do, but that is out of your hands. Our examples, our consistency, our integrity needs to grow stronger and better as we get older. Others — your children, your grandchildren, and younger members of the church — are watching you to see how Christianity is done. What are they seeing in you?
There’s just a whole lot of folks who appear not to believe this; are you one? The parable that follows this very powerful teaching has some strong words for us consider. The man who built larger barns to keep all the harvest that he would never eat is called “fool”. The term “fool” in the the Bible, of course, doesn’t exactly mean someone lacking in IQ; rather it is said of the sinful who choose to live their own ways in contradiction to what God has said. Such a person who would call God wrong or call Him a liar or say that He just doesn’t know what He’s talking about is clearly lacking good sense, and in this sense is a fool. Yet, despite the many times that we hear Jesus say it, despite the fact that we know “you can’t take it with you”, we still fight and scrap to accumulate as many things as we can — especially in our materialistic society. And for what? You’re a great accumulator, great! So is the Dead Sea.
Water comes from the Sea of Galilee down (and I do mean down) the Jordan River to the Dead Sea, the lowest dry land on the planet. Because it is so low (1388 feet below sea level), the water can go nowhere; so for the last several thousand years it has been simply accumulating (taking) and never giving. But it is truly dead; nothing and I mean nothing can live in it — no fish, no algae, no bacteria, no virus, no nothing. What a great metaphor of the person who takes and takes and hoards and keeps and never gives. No wonder it’s more blessed to give than to receive.
What does your life consist of?
Bearing fruit is a constantly repeated metaphor for Christian living. The kind of fruit is listed for us in Galatians 5:22, 23: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.” This parable of Jesus speaks of how God is patient with us as Christians, but how He expects even the newest Christian to bear good fruit. His patience ran out in Noah’s generation; His patience ran out with Sodom and Gomorrah; and His patience ran out with Israel. What good fruit do you bear?
This leaven still bears the characteristics of subtle and quiet spreading of something, but this leaven is the Kingdom of God. Yes, evil can and often does spread insidiously, but goodness can too. What’s is your example, your attitudes, your words, your kindnesses, your counsel to others doing to spread the Kingdom?
See you tomorrow, Lord willing.
parklinscomb 
The last few hours — John 12-14
Hoping everyone had a wonderful Christmas. But don’t let the wonderful Christmas crowd out your reading, especially not today, because today’s readings are some of the best in the book of John. Again, I’ll be a little briefer than usual.
Drawing all men — John 12:32
It is not the speaker that draws men to Jesus, nor the “show”, nor the facility, nor many other things that we moderns have mistakenly thought are irreplaceable to evangelism. Jesus gave us what the magnetism to salvation would always be, “And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to Myself.” In other words, teach the Gospel: men’s sinful and condemned condition, Jesus’ merciful and loving death on the cross in substitution for us all, the resurrection that proves that He is the Son of God and that we really are saved, and what we must do to respond to it to His offer of spiritual rescue. It is an irresistible and compelling story to those who really wish to be saved. Anything else is nothing but icing that CAN go on the cake, but doesn’t have to — don’t forget the cake!
Judged by… — John 12:48
Ever wonder what the standard will be on the last day? It will not be what Billy Graham had to say; it will not be what the Pope had to say; it will not be what I said; it will not be what was most popular or most widely believed; and it will not be what our consciences might have led us to do. Jesus laid it out clear and plain: “He who rejects Me and does not receive My sayings, has one who judges him; the word I spoke is what will judge him at the lsat day.” You’re holding the standard in your hand, the Bible — not pieces, parts, or the attractive portions: all of it!
If I do not wash you… — John 13:8
It was a bit of an awkward moment for Peter. He was aghast that Jesus would wash their feet — probably a little embarrassed, given the prideful argument they’d been carrying on as they entered the upper room. So, he demurs. But Jesus insists with a life or death sort of statement — if you don’t let Me do this you have no part in Me. I am left to wonder why John included this part of the story. I think it had to do with the resistance that some folks might have in generations to come to obey the commands of the Lord; and of all the commands that Jesus gave the one that gets resisted the most — for whatever reason — is baptism into Christ (Matthew 28:18-20 / John 3:3,5). Don’t object and resist; obey.
Free moral agency — John 13:26,27
Jesus knew who would betray Him, before the supper. He still washed His feet. I wonder what Judas was thinking as Jesus washed his feet? I wonder if Judas’ heart skipped a beat as Jesus revealed that He knew. I wonder what Judas was thinking as He heard Jesus say, “What you do, do quickly.” Jesus allowed free moral agency, but consider how generous He was with His grace, giving Judas chance after chance to reverse His course. Honestly I’m amazed that he never did, but that’s foolish human nature, I suppose. OK, what we do is a little less dramatic than Judas’ sin — though our sins still often fit into the category of betrayal — but is Jesus giving you chance after chance to repent and change course? What’s keep you? What do you need to change?
A new commandment — John 13:34
Loving one’s neighbor isn’t the new command. That’s something right out of the OT. What’s new is how Jesus qualifies it — as I have love you. Jesus’ command wasn’t just words, it was a living, breathing example, too!
Inspired memory prompter — John 14:26
Following Jesus around day after day for three years must have been amazing in so many different ways. So much teaching and example and wonders packed into just a few non-stop action years. How would they be able to remember it all? The Holy Spirit would be their inspired memory jogger. The words of the apostles are not mere words of men; they are the words of the Son of God remembered accurately by the apostles through the Holy Spirit. The Spirit does so much more, but here’s an important thing to know and remember as we read Scripture.
See you tomorrow, Lord willing.