Month: January 2015

Responding

Re: Verse reading–John 14:1-14 (day three)
“…Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.” vs 3

Moses made that request before Philip did.  God replied to Moses that no one would be able to endure the sight of God’s face; he would see all of God he needed to see by beholding God at a distance, with his face turned away.  Jesus replied to Philip that he would see all of God he needed to see by beholding the God the Son.  We will not see God on our terms, but on his.  But the view that God allows on his terms is enough to build our entire lives on.  The question, then, is not, “How much of God have you seen?” but, “How are you responding to however much of himself God has revealed to you?”

Focus

Re: Verse reading–John 14:1-14 (day two)
“That where I am, there you may be also.” vs 3

This Upper Room Discourse is filled with revelation, insight, and profound love. The disciples’ minds must have been reeling with taking it all in. This small section brings into focus who Jesus was/is and what he came to do. He must leave, but leave to prepare for us. This logically implies that we will see him again. The question of where he is going flows legitimately from Thomas, and Jesus is again able to bring our blurred concept of the Father into a clearer picture of their relationship. Re-read these few verses and examine how masterfully Jesus paints a picture of hope and assurance while at the same time establishing his perfect communion with God the father. Jesus is both the path and the destination.

Untroubled Life

Re: Verse reading–John 14:1-14 (day one)
“Let not your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me”–v 1.  It is a power I never knew I had!  The power to prevent anxiety, the responsibility to stop fear before it washes over my heart and hope.  John uses a word (tarasso) which meant, “to stir up, to agitate, to trouble”.  He reports the command Christ gave His disciples (and us) to refuse fear, to replace and defeat it by belief.  “Believe!” says the Lord.  Believe in God!  Believe in Christ!  Place your full confidence in His sufficiency and wisdom and love.  Even when days grow dark or disappointing, don’t wander off from this declaration of trust.  “Do not be afraid any longer”, the Lord said to the grieving and anxious synagogue official in Mark 5.  “Only believe!”  ONLY believe! Allow nothing else into your heart.  It is always His message to those who love Him.   The result is always peace.

All you need

Re: Verse reading–John 13:1-17; 31-38 (day seven)
“Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands. . .poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples feet”–v 3, 5.  It is a confidence that will change your life.  It will do for you what it did for Jesus, make you courageous and humble.  It will bring great blessing to you. (see v 17)  The Father will give you what you need to do His will!  Knowing this truth changes everything!  He will “give all things into your hands”.  Make them available to you.  The world cannot do so.  Neither can your own efforts.  Only the Father can make this promise, and He makes it only to those who seek Him.  “My God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus”—Philippians 4:19.  Do you know this truth, dear friend?  Do you hold it daily before your heart?  Do so and your anxieties will flee away.

The problem is pride

Re: Verse reading–John 13:1-17; 31-38 (day six)
“If I, then, have washed your feet, you also ought to was one another’s feet”–v 14.  “Just as I have loved you, you should also love one another”–v 34.  It is not about feet.  It is about pride, about the things that I am willing to do (or avoid or purchase or say) in order to protect my ego.  About, the things that I am unwilling to do because they are difficult or unfulfilling.  The problem is not that I don’t love people.  I do.  I just don’t love them more than I love me and therefore NOT like Jesus loved.  After a while, I don’t even see the opportunities anymore.  I walk right past them so that my tender ego doesn’t feel obligated or guilty.   Ego-protected life is not a privilege Jesus gives His followers.  Obedience to God comes first, even at the price of my pride.  Washing feet illustrates it.  The cross proves it.

Deep and Wide

Re: Verse reading–John 13:1-17; 31-38 (day five) 

John 13 is closely connected to the prayer in Ephesians 3.  “to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ,”.   John describes the exact actions and attitude of Jesus that the apostle Paul prays the believers in Ephesus would understand and appreciate.  The hope is that those early Christians would be filled, inspired, and strengthened.

John 13:1 “Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.”

Jesus’ love for His disciples is “wide”- Loving His disciples completely and perfectly during His three years of ministry and teaching.  Through times of questioning, unbelief, slow progress, and stubbornness, His love for them never falters or runs out.

Jesus’ love for them is “deep”- Loving His disciples with intensity and determination in the moments of service, suffering, and sacrifice.  Jesus’ love is not lessened by humility, pain, or sorrow.  In fact, His love remains sturdy and visible.

May God give us grace to become more aware and in awe of His love for us!

 

 

More Like Christ

Re: Verse reading–John 13:1-17; 31-38 (day four)
Jesus called himself a Teacher (v. 13-14) and so He was.  He was continually teaching.  He taught by example.  In this passage, Jesus taught that in order to lead, we need to serve.  It is an act of love.  Jesus knew that His time had come to return to the Father and He continued to teach His disciples.  We can enter into a saving relationship with Christ, but there is always more to learn about that relationship and how we are to live it out daily.  We continue to seek to be more like Christ.  He led by example.  Here He was at the end of His time on earth and He was giving the disciples a new command…”that you love one another even as I have loved you.” (v. 34) This command was so significant that it would be the defining badge that would identify His followers.  The disciples did not understand it all then…they continued to grow in their understanding.  Have you arrived or are you still growing?

Live

Re: Verse reading–John 13:1-17; 31-38 (day three)

“He…began to wash his disciples’ feet.”  Jesus saw an opening to love them, and he took it.  It is possible that we’ve thought of Jesus as the author of object lessons, and that we have become dulled to recognizing love when we see it.  Jesus did not do this in order to teach his disciples a lesson, though it did accomplish that.  He did not do this in order to put them in a state of awe that the Lord would be so gracious as to stoop to such a lowly function, though it did strike them with wonder.  Jesus did this because he loved them.  Love is the way God lives.  Therefore, love is the only way to live the eternal kind of life.  At some point, we must stop theorizing and start living.  Jesus will teach us to live.

Do you understand?

Re: Verse reading–John 13:1-17; 31-38 (day two)
When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. “Do you understand what I have done for you?”

Have you ever had one of those moments when something outrageous happens and you don’t have time to react other than present shock? The disciples must have been mortified, as evidenced by Peter’s statement, at the mere suggestion of Jesus humiliating himself by washing their feet. Jesus, of course, knew this. He therefore finished, gathered himself and let it sink in. Can you just imagine the squirming silence that filled that room? Once he returned to his place he wanted to make sure they processed correctly what had just taken place. Jesus had just demonstrated for them a new type of love: a love by service. He would continue to demonstrate this through his death and resurrection. He demonstrates his love. That statement alone is a defining characteristic of our Savior, he puts his love into action. Let’s get moving.

Love to the end

Re: Verse reading–John 13:1-17; 31-38 (day one) 
“Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end”–v 1.  It is a strange sentence (in Greek, if not in English).  Theologically evocative.  The NASV translates it, “He loved the to the end”.  End of time?  End of His life?  The word actually means the end of God’s plan and purpose.  “Telios” means finished product or completed project.  So, the NIV translates it “He loved them to the full extent”, never surrendering any part of His goal for His people.  Hebrews 7:25 uses a form of the same noun.  “Therefore, He is able to save to the uttermost (telios–completely, in accordance with all that He planned) those who come to God through him, because He always lives to intercede for them.”  Wow!  A love that never quits.  Never retreats.  Never makes concessions.  He keeps loving us until His perfect purpose is achieved in us!  He loves us to the end.