The Everyday Prayer

Re:Verse reading–Luke 7:36-50 (day four)

Be careful what you think!  Jesus knew the thoughts and intentions of the Pharisee’s heart.  This religious leader, who held strictly to the letter of the Law, undoubtedly wanted to trick Jesus into saying or doing something that could be used against Him.  An uninvited guest interrupted his plan though.  This sinful woman was overcome with emotion…her tears flowed freely.  She was lavish with her attention to Jesus’ needs as she anointed His feet with perfume.  “Your sins have been forgiven.”

Was it her emotional feelings or her works to serve Jesus that brought her forgiveness?  Many believe if they have more good works than bad ones, they will be judged righteous and forgiven by God.  This woman’s actions were the overflow of something else…Jesus gives us the answer.  Verse 50 says it was her faith that saved her.  Remember…Jesus knew the intentions of the heart.  “By grace you have been saved through faith; not of works, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; lest any man should boast.”  (Ephesians 2:8-9)

Re:Verse reading–Luke 7:36-50 (day three)

“He who has been forgiven little loves little.”  So. Love demonstrated is a function of forgiveness received.  That would explain a lot.  You want to love, but you just can’t get there.  Your workaround is to settle for an appreciation of the idea of love, which most of the time looks like our definition of niceness.  Or, it takes the form of fondness for the collective—humanity, people groups, “the lost”, etc.  But the daughter outgrowing your expertise, or the boss emailing you, or the colleague besting you—these are problems you’re left with solving.  Good luck with that.  How about this: If nobody can love like a person forgiven, start there.

Re:Verse reading–Luke 7:36-50 (day two) And standing behind Him at His feet, weeping, she began to wet His feet with her tears, and kept wiping them with the hair of her head, and kissing His feet and anointing them with the perfume. vs. 38

Here we have another personal encounter with Jesus that completely shatters our need to be anything other than broken before him. Like Peter in chapter 5 this woman has recognized Jesus as Lord, and likewise, her insufficiency. What I find most beautiful about this story is her focus and attention on Jesus. Luke does not record her complaining or asking him to fix something. This encounter is absolute devotion. Worship at its most beautiful. Worship that completely adores our savior. This is where we need to be. We bring nothing to him. His has been and will ever be our all. Consider acknowledging that as you pray today. Let this inform how you worship next Sunday.

Re:Verse reading–Luke 7:36-50 (day one)

“Now one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, so he went.”–v 1.

It was a pattern for the Lord.  A choice.  An example for us.  He stayed in contact and conversation with his critics and opponents.  Dinners not distance.  Opportunities for friendship.

The Pharisees had a different “wisdom”.  Their name is derived from a Hebrew word (prs) which means “to separate or detach”.  They shunned people who strayed.  Disagreement was disloyalty.  Their  “go to” moral instinct was to get as far away from sin and sinner as possible.  (Note the host’s astonishment when Jesus did not apply this “separation policy” to the sinful woman).

But as long as the Pharisee was open to friendship, Jesus was willing to enter in.  The same being true for the woman.

Question–how will people believe unless they hear the message?  Question 2–how effective will our words be if we are not friends?

Re:Verse reading—Luke 6:17-45 (day seven)

The great 18^th century Methodist leader John Wesley wrote A Plain Account of Christian Perfection arguing that Jesus truly meant Matthew 5:48, “Be perfect as your heavenly father is perfect.” Or if you take our Lukan passage, “be merciful, just as your father is merciful.”  Wesley ruffled a lot of feathers when he claimed that we should certainly strive every day to be as perfect or merciful as God is.  Who can do such a thing as that?

Anyone trusting the Holy Spirit can do such a thing as that.  As we allow the Holy Spirit to shape our attitudes we will live out Jesus’s sermon.  Our problem with this passage is not inability its unwillingness.  We want to reserve our love for people who deserve it when Scripture urges just the opposite.  Wesley points us to 1 Corinthians 13, a passage we relegate to weddings, as our actual behavioral standard.  We can do it, by the power of the Holy Spirit we can fully live out Luke 6, Matthew 5, and 1 Corinthians 13 in all of our relationships.

 

Re:Verse reading—Luke 6:17-45 (day six)

“A disciple is not greater than his teacher, but everyone when fully trained will be like his teacher.” -Jesus, Luke 6:40

There is a certainty that Jesus alludes to, that all of us will be like our teacher. It begs the question though, who is our teacher (or what)? Jesus assumes a relationship between disciple and teacher that we are simply not accustomed to, not in the formal sense. We would never describe the teacher/student relationship in this way; the student is interested in knowledge not transformation. But Jesus is saying something different. Whether you are aware of it or not your life tends towards transformation, to become like your teacher. If your teacher is the world, then you will become like the world. If your teacher is the baggage you carry from childhood experiences, then you will embody the very experiences that weigh you down.

Jesus was inviting his disciples into a relationship that would catapult them towards transformation. He was inviting them into a commitment to follow, to love, to listen, to be transformed. He was inviting them to a commitment to one another to follow Jesus together.

So, where or to whom are your commitments? Who is your teacher?

AND FYI, committing to coming to a place every so often, i.e. the church building, or a room where you gather with other people for Bible study, does not lead to being like Jesus, only committing to follow Jesus and to one another will do that.

Re:Verse reading—Luke 6:17-45 (day five)

It’s a hard lesson to learn,  children and teens experience it too- the rejection and tension that living like Christ in the world causes. We often times believe that living with purity, integrity, and holiness will guarantee a life that is stress free, applauded, and encouraged. Scripture says that God will reward these, but not necessarily man. Jesus teaches/warns that this kind of life on earth is often painful and filled with hardship. “Blessed are you when men hate you, and ostracize you, and insult you, and scorn your name as evil, for the sake of the Son of Man.” As parents we must encourage our children to “keep the faith”, because we know that the real reward, the greater reward is an eternal one. As adults, we too desire the approval and applause of people. We must tell the truth and live and share the gospel, no matter what the consequences. We must keep an eternal perspective. “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.”

Re:Verse reading—Luke 6:17-45 (day four)

The crowds were growing…people were coming from, all over the region.  Jesus’ followers recognized His power and authority.  His disciples likely were pretty impressed with themselves.  Here was this popular, charismatic teacher with great popularity and they were His chosen followers.  Their importance should bring some reward, shouldn’t it?  Jesus addressed His disciples…things were not going to be as they expected.  The blessings they would receive were much different than material reward.  To be like their teacher, they would give up the things of the world and would respond completely opposite to what the world taught.

These responses that Jesus taught were not our ‘natural’ responses.  We want to gain, to preserve, and to protect.  What was the difference in what Jesus taught?  It was the heart…’out of the good treasure of his heart.’  What we fill our heart with overflows into our lives!  Jesus said that we must fill our heart with heavenly responses.  What is your heart filled with?

Re:Verse reading—Luke 6:17-45 (day three)  

“Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.”  The getting of our goat consists in the favor that God lavishes on other men—that we cannot be the arbiters of the Lord’s grace.  Those without any learning, any power, any influence were esteemed by God?  Surely this was novel theology.  Jesus repeatedly declared, however, that his detractors hadn’t listened to the very prophets they accused him of misrepresenting.  Even Jesus’s own disciples boasted that they had shut down others who acted in the name of Jesus because they weren’t part of the Twelve.  But God’s grace will not be held hostage to our spiritual poll taxes.  The disenfranchised are right at the center of God’s attention, and should be at ours.  If the lowliest aren’t blessed in your presence, in whose presence will they be?

Re:Verse reading–Luke 6:17-45 (day two) 

Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for their fathers used to treat the false prophets in the same way. vs. 26

Words of affirmation. That has always been my greatest love language. More than time, touch, gifts, or service; I have always responded best to words of affirmation. The older I have become, however, I see the danger in putting too much stock in what others say. Luke’s account of Jesus’ sermon is a clear illustration of this. If we only ever seek approval from men then that will be the end of it.

Can you see the danger inherent when we seek men’s approval or justice alone? At best, we will be judged by human standards. We will receive the praise of men. Is that really our highest aim? Is our standard only that of this world? Surely we have been shown a higher aim, a sweeter reward, and a greater goal.

It is great to hear ‘job well done’ from others, and that affirmation can be a great motivator, but take great care that this isn’t all you hunger for. The sweet ‘well done’ of Jesus will far out shine any award or praise we get from others.