One…two…your sin will haunt you:2 Samuel 12:1-31
Jesus tells of His death & resurrection: John 16:1-33
You hands made me and formed me: Psalm 119:65-80
The Lord works out everything for his own ends: Proverbs 16:4-5
2nd Samuel 12: 11 was fulfilled just like the Lord told David. David’s sons Absalom and Adonijah tried to usurp the throne from David. Absalom did it for a while. Adonijah did it mainly when David was up in age. Even though David was a man after God’s own heart, he let sin mess up part of his life.
That’s the bad news.
The good news is that when we pray God the Father hears us directly. In John 16:26-27, Jesus said that when we pray He doesn’t have to ask God on our behalf because God loves us! Check that out – we have access to the One who created everything & is the source of all blessings! We don’t have to pay a preacher to pray for us. We don’t have to hire an attorney to be our advocate. We simply pray in the name of Jesus & God will hear us because He loves us.
Life of sin bad news
Life of prayer access to the Father
Friday, May 29, 2009
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
May 26 (Tuesday) -- Greater Love Has No Man Than This - That a Man Lay His Life Down for His Friends
Getta your eyesah offa the wife of Uriah: 2 Samuel 9:1-11:27
Jesus is friend and lord: John 15:1-27
The earth is filled with your love, oh Lord: Psalm 119:49-64
Commit to the Lord whatever you do and your plans will succeed: Proverbs 16:1-3
Loving Jesus and obeying Jesus go hand in hand. John recorded Jesus as saying that He’s both our friend and our Lord.
No one loves us as much as Jesus. Jesus died for us, His friends. That’s the greatest example of love (verse 13).
Now it’s our turn. In John 15:10 Jesus said, “If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love.”
Who’s up to obeying Jesus? I want to remain in His love, do you?
Jesus is friend and lord: John 15:1-27
The earth is filled with your love, oh Lord: Psalm 119:49-64
Commit to the Lord whatever you do and your plans will succeed: Proverbs 16:1-3
Loving Jesus and obeying Jesus go hand in hand. John recorded Jesus as saying that He’s both our friend and our Lord.
No one loves us as much as Jesus. Jesus died for us, His friends. That’s the greatest example of love (verse 13).
Now it’s our turn. In John 15:10 Jesus said, “If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love.”
Who’s up to obeying Jesus? I want to remain in His love, do you?
Monday, May 25
May 25
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John's gospel is a very Trinitarian gospel. You hear a lot about Jesus' divinity, his claiming the "I Am" statements for himself. He also writes a lot about the times Jesus spoke of his Father, his being sent by the Father, his going to be with the Father, his being the same as the Father. And now, here we read about the promised Holy Spirit. Jesus is soon to die for the sins of his people, then he will rise again and go to be with his Father. We celebrate Pentecost this coming Sunday and it is very important (we will celebrate by welcoming several students into the membership of the church) as the day God sent his Spirit to rest on his people. This passage gives us a great deal of information about the role of this Holy Spirit. Though we wait for the day of Jesus' return, we now have the presence of His spirit to comfort, strengthen and lead us to great acts for the kingdom.
Monday, May 25, 2009
May 24, 2009 (Sunday)
May 24
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In today's passage from 2 Samuel we read two very interesting stories, back to back about the ark of the covenant. They are both very famous stories and very interesting in contrast. The first is the story of a man who tried to stop the ark from falling off of planks when it had been set up wrong. Upon touching the ark he immediately died. This is a very dramatic story that displays the holiness and majesty of God. His worship is to be done in such a way as to appreciate his awesomeness and greatness... but then, right after is the famous story of David undignifiying himself by taking off his kingly garments (though he did have normal clothes on) before the slave women (which basically meant humbling himself as a man) and dancing before the ark. This shows us that we should worship God with reverence for him, yet humility for ourselves. We are nothing and God is everything. And we shouldnt be afraid to worship him in awe and great excitement.
Saturday, May 23, 2009
May 23, 2009 (Saturday)
May 23 -------------------- 2 Samuel 2:12-3:39 John 13:1-30 Psalm 119:1-16 Proverbs 15:29-30
Today's passage begins the longest chapter in the whole Bible. The longest chapter comes to chapters after the shortest. The longest chapter in the whole Bible is a long meditation upon God's law or word, it is a in depth look at how good God's plan for us is. This chapter is also an "acrostic" in Hebrew, each set of verses or "stanza" begins with the same letter of the Hebrew alphabet (which doesn't come through in the English). This means that the author is showing how complete and finished is God's word, God's plan for us. His word is perfect...
May 22, 2009 (Friday)
May 22
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Today's passage from John is a great reflection from Jesus upon the meaning and purpose of his death. Jesus knew his mission was to come into the world to die to save his people from their sins. Yet at the same time Jesus prays to his Father to "glorify his name". In overcoming death and sin, in rising again on the third day, the name of the Father, the name of God is glorified and shown to be the name that is above all names. Our God is a great God.
In John we read about Jesus walking his disciples feet. Here we see more clearly what God's plan for us is. Jesus says this is showing his love for them. In washing their feet he is becoming humble and symbolizing his act of sacrifice that will cleanse his followers from their sins. Yet right after this we learn of the great betrayal of Judas, who will hand him over to be crucified.
Friday, May 22, 2009
March 21 (Thursday) -- We want him to die...again
David rescues his wife (err…I meant “wives”): 1 Samuel 29:1-31:13
Wanted dead or alive – the man who raises the dead: John 11:55-12:19
Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good: Psalm 118:1-18
The path of life leads upwards for the wise: Proverbs 15:24-26
Imagine someone who had been dead for 3 days telling you about Jesus resurrecting him from the grave. Then imagine other folks not liking it & wanting to kill both Jesus & the resurrected man.
Poor Lazarus. He’d already died once and the chief priests were wanting him to die again. :)
It’s funny, but of the times I’ve done things for the Lord, usually the most active naysayers are the ones who claim to be religious. It’s been a while since that happened to me. I guess I’ve become slack in serving the Lord.
Wanted dead or alive – the man who raises the dead: John 11:55-12:19
Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good: Psalm 118:1-18
The path of life leads upwards for the wise: Proverbs 15:24-26
Imagine someone who had been dead for 3 days telling you about Jesus resurrecting him from the grave. Then imagine other folks not liking it & wanting to kill both Jesus & the resurrected man.
Poor Lazarus. He’d already died once and the chief priests were wanting him to die again. :)
It’s funny, but of the times I’ve done things for the Lord, usually the most active naysayers are the ones who claim to be religious. It’s been a while since that happened to me. I guess I’ve become slack in serving the Lord.
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
May 20 (Wednesday) -- Raising the dead beats talking to the dead
Talking to the dead, old testament style: 1 Samuel 26:1-28:25
Resurrecting the stinky dead, new testament style: John 11:1-54
Praise the Lord, all you nations: Psalm 117:1-2
Plans fail for lack of counsel: Proverbs 15:22-23
Can you imagine how embarrassed Abner was in today’s reading from 1st Samuel? :)
Saul certainly seemed lost. As king, he had a real problem with the Philistines attacking and no word from the Lord on getting out of it. It seems weird to think that Saul was able to communicate with the dead Samuel, but that’s what the Bible says happened and that’s what I believe happened.
Then in today’s reading from John, Jesus takes it up a notch. Instead of talking to the dead, Jesus resurrected the dead!
Some people think that Lazarus wasn’t really dead. They say he was in a coma or something like that. And Jesus’ seemingly lackadaisical attitude in John 11:6 to stay 2 days when He got word that Lazarus was sick, seems to support this theory. But He waited so that we’d believe in Him more (verse 15). He wanted Lazarus to be dead (verse 14). Even though Jesus knew He was about to raise Lazarus from the dead, He was so into Lazarus’ death and Lazarus’s loved ones mourning that Jesus Himself cried about it (verse 35). Isn’t it nice that Jesus gets into our deep hurts? We’re not alone when everything seems to go wrong.
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
May 19 (Tuesday) -- This Cave Isn't Big Enough for the Two of Us
If looking at a cave makes you think about relieving yourself, you might be a Jewish redneck: 1 Samuel 24:1-25:44
Stoning the Son of God: John 10:22-42
I love the Lord, for he heard my voice: Psalm 116:1-19
A foolish man despises his mother: Proverbs 15:20-21
Yeah, don’t be surprised if I write my comments from the Old Testament as long as we’re in 1st Samuel. I love the stuff about David, including today’s reading!
David could have easily taken advantage of the situation, but he let Saul get out of the cave alive. David saw Saul as the Lord’s anointed king. In David’s eyes, to harm the king is to blaspheme God’s anointing. Even though Saul was continuously trying to kill David, honoring the Lord’s work was more important than getting rid of a mortal danger.
No wonder that David went on to be perhaps the most beloved of all of the Jewish kings. He was truly after God’s own heart.
Monday, May 18, 2009
May 18, 2009 (Monday)
May 18
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In today's passage we read about how Jesus is the true Shepherd. He talks about false shepherds who have come before. Having this right after the story of the Pharisees makes us think about how the Pharisees were really the type of spiritual leaders who were false and leading astray. These are even working for the side of evil, on the side of Satan. Jesus is saying that he himself is the true shepherd. The shepherd even lays down his life for the sheep (remember yesterdays sermon?) Then Jesus speaks of "other sheep". Israel is no longer the only people to be God's own, Jesus is going to spread his kingdom his love and lordship across the whole world, calling people of all nations.
May 17, 2009 (Monday)
May 17
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In today's passage from John we can see that things are beginning to get tense. It's actually still kind of surprising when you start reading this story to see where it goes. Everything starts out so wonderfully. Jesus encounters a man born blind. Jesus tells his disciples that this man was born for the purpose of displaying God's power. God has the power to destroy the impact of sin and when Jesus was in the world he was showing us exactly what the kingdom of God is. One thing we learn here is that the kingdom of God is about healing. In the new creation there is no more evil, illness, pain and death. Jesus is defeating all of these... but then! After this wonderful story we read of the Pharisees once again coming in to rain on the parade and to find a way to condemn Jesus. This is the exact opposite of what should be going on. God wishes to bless the world through Israel and the religious leaders are trying to scoff and tear down the work of Jesus. It's a battle they cannot and will not win.
Saturday, May 16, 2009
May 16, 2009 (Saturday)
May 16
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The passage from John really speaks to how Jesus is the whole point of the Bible. Jesus gets into a pretty fierce debate about whether or not this group of Israelites understand the Old Testament. They are very proud of their status as the "children of Abraham" and not a slave to anything. Jesus is telling them that to be a child of Abraham is to have faith and obedience in the Christ, the Son of God, Jesus Christ. He also rewrites Israelite history, or rather describes what it's all about. To be a slave to sin ultimately means a slave to our own sinful desires. to be freed from slavery means to be freed from the corruption of sin, the pain and death it causes us. To follow and believe in Christ means to be transformed down to the core. To reject the Christ is to be a "child of Satan". Pretty harsh! But the truth is, you're either one or the other. You either follow Christ or follow evil. Then Jesus says what they think he's saying in very clear terms "Before Abraham was, I am", (Remember in John, this phrase "I am" comes up over and over) For Jesus to say "I Am" is to repeat what the Lord claimed for himself on Mount Sinai. Jesus is saying he is the God of Israel. They start to stone him because it would be blasphemy to claim that you are God... that is, unless it were the truth.
Friday, May 15, 2009
May 15 (Friday)
May 15
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Our story from 1 Samuel is one of the most famous of the stories of David, one of the most famous stories of the Old Testament! It's popular for a good reason. We all know the inspiring chain of events. A Philistine, the arch enemies of Israel, are blaspheming God and taunting the nation of God. They have this gigantic guy named Goliath who is challenging anyone to fight him. All are afraid, yet David, with his great faith in the power of the Lord takes him on with just a sling and stones. He knocks Goliath out, steals his sword, kills him and cuts off his head... wow! But, what does this amazing story mean? Well, there's a lot of different things said about this story, but what makes the most sense to me is that this is an encouragement to the people of God that his covenant will stand. We have had Saul's failure as a King that God has appointed and we even read, "and the Lord was grieved that he had made Saul king over Israel!". I mean that's enough of a strong statement as to send theologians scrambling to make sure we know that God didn't make a bad decision, or was ignorant about what would happen (which he wasn't, to be sure). But the point is, it looks as if once again the annointing of the chosen one failed! But no! All along, Saul's failure is meant to show the Israelites humility and to make them reliant upon God alone. The Lord sends the humble, small and young David to be his chosen king and to defeat God's enemies. Thus begins one of the great foreshadowings of the King of all creation, Jesus! Jesus came as a humble servant and triumphed over sin, death and Satan through humility and death. Jesus came as a humble servant, but triumphed and will triumph mightily over his enemies! And in John we read more about how Jesus was "sent" by his Father. A very profound passage about how Jesus is sent by God and still is himself God.
Thursday, May 14, 2009
May 14 (Thursday) -- The Origin of David
X-Men Origins – The Anointing of David: 1 Samuel 15:1-16:23
No condemnation, but repentance: John 8:1-20
Sit at my right hand: Psalm 110:1-7
The Lord detests the way of the wicked: Proverbs 15:8-10
In 1st Samuel we’re starting to get into a really cool part of the Bible – the history of David. David was a young lad at this point. Some say he was about 14. The anointing from a prophet represented the Holy Spirit. When a prophet would anoint someone with oil he’d pour it on that person’s head & rub it in really good like a parent washing a kid’s hair. This symbolizes a covering of the Holy Spirit that’s so complete He’s getting into all our nooks and crannies. This anointing that Samuel did to David was like reading issue # 1 of a super hero comic book, where it describes the origin of the super hero’s powers. You don’t believe that David went on to do wondrous things? Stay tuned.
And in John we read about another wondrous thing: Jesus forgiving while others condemning. It’s not all one sided, though. This story ends with Jesus telling her, “Go now and leave your life of sin.” Yes, Jesus forgives us. But that same Jesus also expects us to shoot for LILYMI from here on.
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
May 13 (Wednesday) -- Streams of Living Water
Only heroes can eat the honey: 1 Samuel 14:1-52
From believers flow streams of living water: John 7:31-53
Help me, O Lord my God: Psalm 109:1-31
The lips of the wise spread knowledge: Proverbs 15:5-7
Drink from Jesus to help quench the thirst of others. Jesus said in verses 37-38, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.”. In the next verse John told us that Jesus was talking about the Holy Spirit.
Who of us is satisfied with the status quo of going through the motions on Sunday morning, Sunday evening, & Wednesday evening? I hope the answer is that not many of us are satisfied.
We need a thirst for real life. Jesus is the One who can quench that thirst. Jesus didn’t say that if you believe in Him you’ll become an expert in religious dogma. Jesus was surrounded by people like that. Instead Jesus said that if you believe in Him streams of living water (the Holy Spirit) will flow from you.
If we’re not into leading others to Jesus then we probably need to drink more from Him.
Monday, May 11, 2009
May 12 (Tuesday) -- God's Timing
Don’t offer the burnt offering: 1 Samuel 12:1-13:23
His time had not yet come: John 7:1-30
I will praise you, O Lord, among the nations: Psalm 108:1-13
A deceitful tongue crushes the spirit: Proverbs 15:4
In today’s reading from 1st Samuel and today’s reading from John we see the contrast of how both Saul & Jesus respected God’s timing. In 1st Samuel 13:6-14 we read about Saul being in a desperate situation & becoming impatient waiting for Samuel (who as a prophet, represented God). Thus Saul sinned by offering a burnt offering to the Lord, something only the priests were allowed to do.
Yet, in John 7, verses: 6, 8, & 30 we read all about God’s timing for Jesus to be known as the Messiah. Jesus stated in verses 6 & 8 that He wasn’t about to put Himself on stage because His time (as God the Father appointed it) had not yet come.
We all need to have the gumption to serve God’s kingdom to our best. Yet, we can’t let our zeal to serve God cause us to sin by doing things out of line when the timing seems right to us. God’s word & the Holy Spirit always tell us the truth. Even when the timing seems to be a now or never kind of situation, if choosing now requires God’s rules to be broken….choose later.
May 11 (Monday) -- Eat the flesh of Christ
You are now king – by the way, the Ammonites are attacking us: 1 Samuel 10:1-11:15
Eat the flesh and drink the blood of Christ: John 6:43-71
His love endures forever: Psalm 107:1-43
The tongue of the wise commends knowledge: Proverbs 15:1-3
When you first read today’s passage from John, Jesus’ words sound gruesome. “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood” from verses 54 & 56 sound like they were part of a heavy metal song. Wait…now that I think about it, those are words in a heavy metal song -- Bloodgood’s Eat the Flesh :)
Jesus was saying that we can depend on Him for real living just like the Jews in Moses’ day depended on manna from God. Those of you who’ve been reading through the Bible with us remember that God fed the Jews manna from heaven to sustain them while they wandered in the desert. God sent us Jesus to sustain us. We have to absorb Him into our lives and our way of thinking to be sustained by God.
May 11, 2009 (Sunday)
May 10
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After the story of Jesus walking on the water, as well as the story of Jesus feeding the 5,000, this story is now a depiction of how Jesus is the one behind these stories that is the true substance and importance. In the first story we read of how many people were searching for Jesus. Then in the following story, we are reminded of the multiplying of the bread in the previous story and are shown that the point of all this is that Jesus himself is the one who sustains us. He is more important than bread is for the physical body. Jesus does not say that it is unimportant to care for the needs of the body, he is simply saying that this type of need is only temporary, but our need for eternal life in Christ will never fade. This is another example of two themes of John, "I Am" statements and "eternal life". These two phrases show up again and again. The point being, Jesus is the great "I am" revealed on Sinai, he is truly God. Secondly, he came to bring eternal life to his people. And concerning this he says something very encouraging. No one who comes to him for this life will be turned away. NO ONE. Never allow anyone to dictate who is able to come before the throne of God. He will accept all who call upon his name.
Saturday, May 9, 2009
May 10, 2009 (Saturday)
May 9
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In today's passage we have the famous story of Jesus feeding the 5,000. There are several things to note about this story. (1) The disciples, like us oftentimes, doubted the power and ability of Jesus to do great things. It's not always easy to trust God when there is great need in front of us, I know that I seldom do. But always remember this story when you wonder if God can make something out of a difficult situation. It's not that he always will make everything easy for us, but this story shows that he's always in control. (2) Jesus is both powerful and compassionate. This is a story that shows that Jesus doesn't use his miraculous powers merely to show off, but to help people who are in need. We serve a God who does care about every detail of our life. The hairs on our head are numbered by our heavenly Father. We have to understand that even when things are tough, even when it's impossible to think that God is there, he is always close to us in our need.
If you were in any doubt about this, by the way, the next thing he does is walk on water.
Friday, May 8, 2009
May 8, 2009 (Friday)
May 8
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Today's story in the very interesting book of Samuel tells of the famous story of the calling of Samuel. Samuel heard a voice calling three times and each time thought it was his elder Eli, yet Eli finally realized that it was God calling to him, Samuel responded in faith and readiness. Now i'd venture to say not that many of us have heard the voice of God calling audibly to us (though, i'm not saying it couldn't happen!) , yet this story still has significance. It not only is a great testimony to God's faithfulness in calling out men and women of faith at the right time in his redemptive history. It is also a reminder for us. Even though we may not hear God's audible voice in this life, we do have his communication to us. Al talked about this the other week. We have the Bible, if you have read it (just click on one of those links above) this week you have heard God speaking. So let us respond in faith to his call we have in the Bible, to tell others about him, to give him our worship, our prayers, our devotion to proclaiming and spreading the kingdom of God!
In John we read something similar, Jesus tells about how we can hear God's voice in this way and respond. He says, 'the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live'. God's word is powerful and it has the power to raise us from the dead, both literally and spiritually. Then Jesus ties it all together. He says that those who don't read the scriptures and then regard Christ as the Messiah, the chosen one of Israel, these are blind and rebellious to what that word says. The Bible is about Jesus.
Thursday, May 7, 2009
May 7 (Thursday) -- It's a Good Day to Be Healed
Adopted by a temple: 1 Samuel 1:1-2:21
Pick up your mat without checking the calendar: John 5:1-23
For He remembered His promise: Psalm 105:37-45
A patient man has great understanding: Proverbs 14:28-29
My oh my! The Pharisees were looking too hard to find something wrong with Jesus and His followers. Can you imagine being unable to walk, all of a sudden being healed, then someone else sees you & all they can think to say is that you’re carrying your mat on the wrong day?
It’s funny how mankind tries to complicate someone else’s relationship with Jesus. I hope no one can later say of me that I made it difficult for someone else to see Jesus.
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
May 6 (Tuesday) -- Healed by the Word of the Word of God
Ruth 2:1-4:22
John 4:43-54
The birth of David’s grandfather: Ruth 2:1-4:22
Your son will live: John 4:43-54
Singing of Israel’s history: Psalm 105:16-36
The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life: Proverbs 14:26-27
Ruth was David’s great-grandmother. In about a week we’ll start reading about David. I promise you, once we start doing that you won’t be able to put the Bible down.
Yet, how can the neat adventure stories of David compare to having a loved one healed by Jesus.
This story kind of goes hand in hand with the woman at the well story from yesterday. Do you remember me saying that it shows that faith is not a matter of what class of people you are? This royal official is on the opposite end of the spectrum from the woman at the well. He knew to go to Jesus to get his son healed. He wanted Jesus to come home with him, to heal his son. But when Jesus told him to go without Jesus & that his son will live, the man “took Jesus at his word and departed”.
The man knew that the word of Jesus was enough for his son to be healed.
Psalm 105:16-36
Proverbs 14:26-27
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
May 5 (Tuesday) -- Living Water
How to find a wife, Old Testament style: Judges 21:1-Ruth 1:22
The water Jesus gives is living water: John 4:4-42
Remember the wonders the Lord has done: Psalm 105:1-15
A truthful witness saves lives: Proverbs 14:25
Whew! We end the book of Judges with the abduction of wives for the Benjaminites and begin the book of Ruth with her humble time of being a widow Moabitess. Remember the talking donkey in Numbers 22? Moab was the nation King Balak ruled over. Balak is the king who tried to get the prophet Balaam to curse the Israelites. Ruth, one of the Moabites, winds up being an ancestor to King David & Jesus.
Then in the book of John we have another woman who was not quite a Jew. She was a Samaritan. She was a descendant of Jacob (an Israelite). But she lived in Samaria, an area that was considered non-Jewish because so many Gentiles lived there & so few people worshipped God there. Even the people there who were truly Jewish were considered non-Jews. When Jesus spoke to her, she was so surprised that a Jew would speak to her that her first sentence was: “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman.” Jesus’ reply to her didn’t address that difference. I think in Jesus’ eyes that isn’t a difference at all. Jesus’ response to her was a teaching about living water, using natural water as an object lesson.
About the living water:
1) Jesus wants us to want it. He told the woman that if she knew who He was, she’d ask Him for living water.
2) God desires worshippers who worship Him in spirit and in truth (verse 24). This is in contrast to worship based on a particular place (i.e. Jerusalem in verse 21) or by a particular group of people (i.e. the Jews in verse 22).
3) The living water is the Holy Spirit flowing from the believers. We don’t see that in this chapter. It’s described later in chapter 7:
John 7:37-39 (NIV) -- 37 On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him." 39 By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.
Jesus asks so little from us in contrast to what He gives us. He asked this woman for some natural water to drink. In the end, she got living water from Him. It was living water in that it flowed from her onto others that she told about Jesus. Jesus used a woman whom most of the religious people of the day considered an outcast not good enough to even speak to.
May 4 (Monday)
May 4
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Once again here is a passage where John loads a story with so much meaning. This story of John the Baptist lifting up Christ is important for several reasons. One is the obvious way in which John talks about his lower place from Jesus. He is expressing in so many ways how he is inferior to Jesus. Jesus is from above, eternal, supreme in every fashion. It seems that John the Baptist is always acting through this humility. He is always the "forerunner". He always knows that he is one who only prepares a way. The other important fact of this story from the gospel of John is the way in which John the Baptist (and it's important to know they're different people) speaks of Jesus as the bridegroom. This takes all of the importance that the Old Testament scriptures places upon marriage and puts it in the context of Jesus' role in salvation of his people. We as the church are being prepared to marry Jesus. Now this isn't necessarily a literal sense, but it is very important. I was listening to a sermon the other day that points out that this means that we should have both the passion of love for Jesus, but in this marriage we should also realize there is hard work. We have to work on our relationship with Jesus. It takes discipline and hard work. We have to pray to him as we would talk with our best friend or wife. This doesn't mean we earn his love in any way, it just means that the Christian life requires discipline and faithfulness to our bridegroom Christ.
May 3 (Sunday)
May 3
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Today's passage contains perhaps the most famous verse in the entire Bible. I do believe that it's wonderful that if you asked anyone if they knew a verse, even if they didn't know a lot, that most people could recite John 3:16. It can become something that becomes overly familiar, but it's the type of verse where every single word is filled with wonderful truths. God's love for the world, the basis for all of our hope. His love has actions, he "gives" when there is a high cost. We learn that Jesus is the "only begotten" son, which both declares Jesus as divine and eternal, while implying that there will be other "non-begotten" sons and daughters, that's us! "whoever believes in Him", anyone who bows before the throne of God will be accepted, none will be turned away who call upon the name of Jesus. "will not perish" Death means nothing! "but have eternal life", both eternal in never ending and eternal in being a new and rich kind of life. Wow. What a verse. But make sure to read carefully all else that precedes and follows. The conversation is with an expert in Jewish law and the conversation is all about being "born again". It is about new life, the fact that through the Holy Spirit we are totally new people.
Monday, May 4, 2009
May 2 (Saturday) -- Jesus Made Wine
Having an eye for a gal can cost you your eyes: Judges 15:1-16:31
Needs some wine? Ask Jesus: John 2:1-25
From everlasting to everlasting: Psalm 103:1-22
Evil men will bow down in the presence of good: Proverbs 14:17-19
Turning water into wine? Jesus?
That does sound odd. But some notes on the wine:
1) I think it’s wrong to say that it was non-alcoholic / grape juice. The word translated to “wine” in this story is the Greek word “oinos”, which means wine in a way that implies fermentation. Plus, in that day there were no refrigerators to preserve grape juice like we have today. If they drank grape juice that was more than a couple of days old, it had started fermenting and they called it “oinos” wine.
2) But at the same time we can’t run on a tangent and say that all wine mentioned in the Bible is of the high alcohol sort bought in a liquor store today. They had some wine that they stored for years and it fermented enough to have a high alcohol content. But for the most part, the wine they drink had fermented just a little since the last batch of grapes were pressed. They drank wine like this fairly regularly.
Now, onto what I think are the more spiritual matters. A lot of people get hung up on the wine part and miss a lot of neat stuff.
A) This is the first miracle of Jesus that’s recorded. I wish it was in the other Gospels, but John is the only one who recorded it.
B) It happened in Cana, an obscure part f the country far away from Jerusalem where most of the action usually was.
C) Jesus came to the wedding, contrary to John the Baptist who “came neither eating or drinking” (Matthew 11:18). Weddings were feasts.
D) Jesus had already called His disciples at this point, but He was a man of the people. He attended gatherings of His loved ones.
E) Even Mary lifted Jesus up. Mary, the mother of Jesus, told the servants to do whatever Jesus told them to do. She’s also the one who came up with the idea of bringing the problem to Jesus. Even Mary treated Jesus as greater and having more authority than herself.
So if you can get past the whole was-it-alcoholic-wine-that-Jesus-made argument, you’ll see that we ought to serve & lift up Jesus, who loves us enough to hang out with people even while trying to get His ministry started.
Friday, May 1, 2009
May 1, 2009 (Friday)
Today we reach a very interesting figure in Judges, even by the standards of that book. Samson is a very interesting Judge and is characterized both by his being both a good and a notorious judge. In this story we read about him killing a lion, tearing it apart, coming back and finding a bunch of bees and then getting honey from the bees and giving it to his father in law (and not letting him know exactly where he got it). Samson also did all of this because the Spirit of the Lord came upon him in power. And don't worry, there's more on Samson tomorrow...
But we are also getting into the wonderful book of John. Charles presented a really good introduction to some really important info on the book. I'm not sure if you're supposed to have a favorite book of the Bible, but if you are, for me it's definitely John. It's really interesting and contains one of the best summaries of the gospel I can think of. If you read the thing from front to back you get a clear picture of who Jesus is and why he came to die and what it means that he rose from the dead. In today's passage we get Jesus stepping on the scene. John the Baptist prepares the way, calling for repentance from sins, and Jesus is now revealed as the prophesied Lamb of God. Jesus is proclaimed as the one who will 'baptize with the Holy Spirit', foreshadowing his important work of rescue and renewal of his people. Next we begin reading about how Jesus' disciples were compelled to leave all (and for Simon, even his former name) to follow Jesus. These men were compelled by Jesus, wishing to follow him anywhere. For us this may or may not mean changing our actual geographical location, but following Jesus as Lord will certainly require us to forsake all that we think makes life important apart from him.
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