Tag: Jesus

Listen

Re: Verse reading–Luke 16:19-31 (day six) 

The last books (chronologically) in the Old Testament where written about 400 years before Jesus was born. The books of Moses were written another 1100 years before that. That was old then, and it is old now. Antiquated. But listen to how Jesus spoke of these Scriptures, “Moses and the prophets,” as if their words weren’t antiquated at all. These weren’t archaic voices from the ancients, but God-breathed words put to paper meant to quicken the dead hearts of men and women until the end of time. God’s voice is as clear and relevant now, as it was when He first inspired Moses and the prophets to write them.

When we come to God’s Word, we are not coming to an old thing, but we are coming to words spoken by a person, to us NOW. Let’s not take them for granted like the rich man and his brothers.

Coming to Our Senses

Re:Verse reading–Luke 15:1-2, 11-32 (day six)

“I didn’t come into the world to condemn every sinner, I came to forgive and give life even to the worst sinner.”-Jesus, (John 3:17, my own paraphrase)

The older son wanted his dad to condemn his brother, rather than rejoice in his restoration. The whole point of the story is to expose the disparity between the pharisees’ condemnation of sinners and God’s mercy and grace towards sinners (that’s us). In keeping with the story, Jesus’ purpose in telling it was not to stick it to the pharisees. He wanted them to come to their senses too; he wanted them to repent and know the grace and mercy of the Father that the younger son enjoyed.

The question for us is the same Jesus had for the pharisees, will we rejoice when God redeems the most unworthy of sinners (for sometimes we think somehow we are worthy) and gathers them in our church family? Are better yet, should we repent (as a church family) of our indifference towards sinners?

Guts

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

What I admire most about this woman is her shear guts, her no-one-is-keeping-me-from-Jesus courage. She wasn’t walking into friendly territory; she had been marked with a letter s, for sinner. The pharisees were smug; they would never come in contact with such a sinful woman. She was a dark stain, the other, the one that doesn’t belong; she was the, “that’s what wrong with our society.” She was walking into a room full of daggers for eyes,..and she couldn’t have cared less, because in the heart of that room was her Jesus!

I don’t know what having her kind of guts would mean for me; I know I would likely be different in how I talk about Jesus to others, how I worship, how I love the least of these. All I know is that I want more of it! Guts!

Hard Words

Re:Verse reading–Luke 4:14-30 (day six)

And he added, “I tell you the truth…” Luke 4:24

I need hard words from Jesus, often. I need the chisel of his word to chip away the hardness of my heart. I need the two-edged-swordness of his word to cut between the bone and marrow. In his graciousness, Jesus doesn’t say the things we want to hear, but those things we are desperate to hear, the kind of words that are meant to lead us to repentance.

Paul, when writing to Timothy, told him that there would be a day when people would gather around them “ear ticklers.” (2 Tim. 4:3) Truth is our ears don’t need ear ticklers for our ears to be tickled; we tend to tickle our own ears just fine, all we have to do is avoid the chisel and sword of God’s Word.

This year 2018, more than ever, open his Word, read it, need it. Embrace his hard words, don’t avoid them.

Righteousness

Jesus’ death and resurrection carry no weight apart from his righteous life; always faithful, always trusting in the promises of God. Verses like Romans 8:29 make little sense without it,“For those whom God foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son.”

Those 40 days in the dessert without food, facing temptation from the devil, are a microcosm of Jesus’ entire life, for it is not as if these were the only times he faced temptation as a man, much less directly from the devil, or that somehow the rest of his life was a cakewalk. They are also a microcosm of the righteous life that would be given to us so that we could conform to the image of the Son. We have no righteousness of our own apart from the righteous life of Jesus.

Israel was rebellious and faithless for 40 years in the desert; Jesus was faithful and righteous for 40 days (a true picture of His righteousness)! We rejoice in His righteousness for in it we not only are afforded forgiveness(by way of the cross) but also His holiness.

Stones

Re:Verse reading–Luke 3:1-20  (day six)

For I tell you that God can raise up children for Abraham from these stones! Luke 3:8b

Indeed he did! And for that I am eternally grateful! God’s mercy and grace through Jesus cascaded on stones from which new life sprung. Yours and mine! The Gospel message has been pouring over stones from the empty tomb to the ends of the earth. We rejoice! For once we were children of wrath (stones), but now we are called children of God!

For God so loved the world that the sent his only son so that whoever believes in him should not die, but have everlasting life…even stones. Now that’s Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

Know

Re:Verse reading–Acts 20:17-38 (day six)

“You yourselves know how I lived…”-Paul, Acts 20:18

Paul spent more time in Ephesus than any other city on his missionary journeys, all together almost three years. He knew these elders better than most; he was their father in the faith and mentor. They had likely planted churches together throughout the region, even experienced hardship together. So when he says, “You yourselves know how I lived,” it makes complete sense. Of all people he had invested in on his missionary journeys, the Ephesians knew him best; they knew what his life was all about.

This got me thinking about my own life. How would my wife or my kids describe my life? How about those I work with? Or the guys I train jiujitsu with during the week? Do they know how I live, or what matters most in my life? And if they did would it have anything to do with Jesus? Do I even have the kind of relationships that allow others to see beyond the surface, or is everything always “fine?” (That word is full of nondescript superficiality.)

Do the people I spend time with know me? Maybe the better questions is, does what they know about me really matter? I mean, really matter? Paul’s life mattered, and the Ephesians knew it.

Custom

Re:Verse reading–Acts 17:10-12, 16-34 (day six)

And Paul went in, as was his custom… Acts 17:2

A custom is “something that is done regularly by a person.” (Merriam-Webster) In Paul’s case he had gospel customs, or missionary customs; things he did regularly to introduce others to the person and work of Jesus. When he would come to a new city or town, he would always go to synagogue first (if the city had one) to teach his fellow Jews about Jesus. Only after spending time with his brethren would he then turn his attention to the gentiles in the city, searching for people of peace (those open and responsive to the Gospel) in the marketplace and “spiritual” places.

Certainly, there is much to learn from Paul’s customs, but will you first consider with me one thing? Right now, what are your Gospel customs? Do you have any? Should you? Should we as a church family? Sorry, that is way more than one thing, but it is well worth our while to consider such things.

Nurture

Re:Verse reading—Acts 16:11-34 (day three) 

“The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul’s message.”  Jesus said that his Father is always working.  He also said he had “other sheep that are not of this sheep pen” and that “they too will listen to my voice.”  Just as with Lydia, who was already seeking the truth and had become convinced that God was where truth would come from if it would come, God is engaging people in ways that we do not know.  God has granted human beings a great deal of power—more than we probably realize—and we can employ that power to cultivate and nurture his work if we want.  We would be surprised to see the extent of God’s work in the world, but then again, our surprise might indicate how little we’ve been expecting it.  So, what can you nurture today?

High Stakes

Re:Verse reading–Acts 15:1-29 (day six) 

The stakes were incredibly high. For some Jewish believers it may had more to do with self-preservation than salvation (gentile believers would soon outnumber them). But for Paul the stakes couldn’t have been higher; the very salvation of humanity depended on the church elders in Jerusalem getting this decision right. For Paul it was simple, you cannot hold on to Jesus, if you are clinging to something else, i.e. circumcision or the Law. Telling gentiles that they must be circumcised in addition to believing in Jesus to be saved is like insisting someone carry an anvil while hoping to stay afloat wearing a life vest. The anvil is not meant to be a life saving device, nor the Law of Moses or wearing a nice tie on Sunday. This why Paul would declare to the Galatians, “If anyone teaches you a different Gospel than the one I taught you, let him be accursed.”

The stakes are still high. What obstacles are in the way of saving faith today? What kind of gospel do we articulate to those who are not like us? Maybe one of those obstacles is our silence.