Promise kept

Re:Verse reading–Luke 2:1-20 (day one)

“Today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”–v 11

The only thing impossible for God (see last week’s lesson) is to break His own word.  He is eternally trustworthy and self-consistent.  Heaven and earth will pass away.  Not His word.  Not ever.

Luke 2 is written 1000 years after God made the promise to David.  One of His sons would reign over an eternal kingdom. (2 Samuel 7:12-13) An eternal Kingdom?  Unimaginable!  Even to David.

As the years flowed slowly by, many forget this promise.  (Most of us have short memories and small faith.) God, however, did not forget.  When the time came, He orchestrated the historical events so that Joseph and Mary (by coincidence-Ha!) would be in the city of David for the Son of David to be born.

“God is not a man that He should lie.”–Numbers 23:19.

Child, what has God promised you?

 

John the Baptist

Re:Verse reading–Luke 1:1-38 (day seven)

John the Baptist is an alien to us.  In Luke 1 he is described as “great in the sight of the Lord”, never having alcohol, and filled with the Holy Spirit in his mother’s womb.  How is that even possible?  Matthew 3 reveals another time in John’s life, but it just as incomprehensible.  John is preaching in the wilderness wearing a garment of camel’s hair eating locusts and wild honey.  That sounds terrible.

As foreign as the peculiars are surrounding John the Baptist’s life, the message is familiar.  In Luke, John is said to turn people’s hearts toward God (v.17).  Matthew uses the term we are more familiar with: repent.  John’s message to prepare the way for Jesus Christ was always repent.  Repentance is the only way we can ever prepare ourselves to meet our God.  Luke 1 focuses on two groups who need to repent.  One, fathers must repent for not taking their God given role as seriously as God demands, and two, those that are disobedient to God need to seek out God’s wisdom instead of their own.  Fathers:  repent.  Disobedient ones: repent.

We are not called to live like John the Baptist, but we should heed his message: Repent.

A Call to Read

Re:Verse reading–Luke 1:1-38 (day six)

Luke makes his purpose clear for writing this Gospel, “that you may have certainty concerning the things you have been taught.” (Luke 1:4)

Luke was convinced (by the Holy Spirit) that an orderly and historical presentation of eyewitness testimony would strengthen Theophilus’ faith in the Gospel truths he had been taught. What was true for Theophilus is also true of us. Certainty of God’s truth does not come from without, but from within God’s Word. This is a gift of the Holy Spirit, a book that we can hold in our hands, and testimony we can read with our mind, and by the Spirit, affirm in our heart. The Spirit illuminates truth, and He has chosen to do so through words written on a page originally written by men who either were apostles or walked with them.

Do you ever wrestle with doubt and uncertainty? Follow Luke’s advice, don’t run from the Bible, run to it.

Be Filled

Re:Verse reading–Luke 1:1-38 (day five)

“For he will be great in the sight of the Lord; and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit while yet in his mother’s womb.” Luke 1:15 “The angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you,”‭‭ Luke‬ ‭1:35‬

By reading Luke’s Gospel right after reading Acts (also written by Luke) we see the influence and insights he learned while traveling with Paul.

“Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them Acts 4:8

‭‭”Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus … has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” Acts‬ ‭9:17‬

“And the disciples were continually filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.”
‭‭Acts‬ ‭13:52‬

Luke connects the same constant catalyst for God’s activity in the world in his Gospel.  The Holy Spirit.

This week, this day, this hour, we too, need God to fill us with His Holy Spirit. He is our source and hope for the promised presence and power of God to work in us and through us.

Walking Blamelessly

Re:Verse reading–Luke 1:1-38 (day four)

V.6 – “They were both righteous in the sight of God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and requirements of the Lord.”

Wouldn’t that be a great verse to be said about you?  To be obedient to God’s Word in every situation…to be recognized as being a faithful servant to God.  Zacharias and Elizabeth had walked with the Lord for many years…they had established a reputation of faith.  A reputation is not built in a short period of time, it is acquired over an extended period of time.  God takes note of those who are faithful.  He recognized Job’s faithfulness in all things, He saw in David a man after His own heart, and He saw this couple who walked blamelessly before Him.  God rewarded their faithfulness by sending them a son…a son with a mission!

What does God see when He looks down upon you?  Does He see one who walks blamelessly before Him in all the commandments?  And not just every now and then, but always.  Strive to build a reputation of righteousness in every situation!

Start

Re:Verse reading–Luke 1:1-38 (day three) 

“How can I be sure of this?”  Doubt is a function of our finiteness: We don’t know everything, so we doubt.  Rightly channeled, doubt can press us on to further investigation of mystery.  In that way, doubt can lead us to deeper faith.  Zechariah and Mary both express doubt to the angelic messenger.  In Zechariah’s case, lifelong training in the theological and scriptural tenets of the priesthood and the high holy work of service to his people has welled up in his soul as…skepticism.  It’s as if Zechariah’s posture is one of looking back at the priesthood’s storied past and asking, “Where’d all the glory go?”  Conversely, Mary seems to look out at the future from where she stands and ask, “What glories are yet to be?”  Doubt isn’t a bad place to start.  But it’s a terrible place to end up.

Something New

Re:Verse reading–Luke 1:1-38 (day two) It seemed fitting for me as well, having investigated everything carefully from the beginning, to write it out for you in consecutive order, most excellent Theophilus; so that you may know the exact truth about the things you have been taught. vs. 3-4

Aren’t you grateful for these four men who captured the life of Jesus in narrative form? Four different perspectives; some first hand accounts, some gathered through the testimony of others, and yet all in agreement about the person of Jesus. It was clear to Luke from the beginning that this account was to instruct, affirm, and clarify all that was being said about Jesus. Little did he know, perhaps, that this primer would serve as a key component in the gospel texts.

One of my favorite things about a book is reading it again. I always find something new. Sometimes I didn’t have enough life experience to really appreciate what the author was saying, and when I encounter it again I see with new eyes. Let’s read this story again and see how the Lord through Luke can tell us something new.

Troubling words

Re:Verse reading–Luke 1:1-38 (day one) 

“And she was greatly troubled at this statement, and kept pondering what kind of salutation this might be.”–v 29

“Silent night, holy night, all is calm, all is bright.”–Joseph Mohr

Sing it all you want, but it will not be the whole truth.  When God touches the world, calls you to His purpose, it is not always calm.  Not even close.  When Mary told Luke the story of the angel visit she described it as upsetting.   A crisis.  Troubling.

But doubt didn’t delay her trust!  Even with her old goals shattered (and probably some of her old friendships,too) Mary rested in God and His plans for her life.  She had no expectation that truth was supposed to be comfortable.

Is it wonderful when God touches the world?  Yes!  Is it calm and convenient?  Easy to understand or accomplish?  Not always.

When God upsets your world, will you still trust Him?

 

Ears to Hear

Re:Verse reading–Acts 23:11, 25:12, 28:16-31 (day seven)

Who will listen to the Gospel?  Our heart tells us that everyone everywhere will listen to the Gospel, but our experience in the world reveals very few who open their ears long enough to hear.  Paul lived out his Christian walk with this very question defining his life.  He worked hard to get his Jewish brethren to listen, and as they refused he sought out anyone else who might have an ear for the Kingdom of God.  Paul’s priority of finding those people with open ears is miraculous.  He never worried about getting run out of a city by an angry mob, he didn’t lose faith as his ship wrecked in Malta, he didn’t give up when he was bitten by a snake, he didn’t pout when he was chained to an armed guard, Paul saw these tragic moments as one more opportunity to find someone with open ears to the Kingdom of God.

May we never be demoralized by circumstances, but use those inevitable moments of life as one more chance to witness.

When they had set a day for Paul, they came to him at his lodging in large numbers; and he was explaining to them by solemnly testifying about the kingdom of God and trying to persuade them concerning Jesus, from both the Law of Moses and from the Prophets, from morning until evening.  Acts 28:23 NASB

Real Gospel

Re:Verse reading–Acts 23:11, 25:12, 28:16-31 (day six)

I have stood outside the small cathedral in Rome where Paul’s apartment has been enshrined. I have also been in his jail cell, and stood near the site he was martyred a few years after his initial house arrest. Church tradition tells us that Paul was released from house arrest, only to be arrested once again in Rome a year or two later and executed shortly thereafter.

Paul was a real man, who had a real encounter with Jesus, whose life was forever changed by the Gospel, who gave the rest of his life to spread the message of the Gospel to the known world at great cost to himself. He wasn’t a myth, a fabrication, or an exagerration. Paul was real because the Gospel is real; Jesus doesn’t leave people the same.

How has the real Gospel impacted you?