Monthly Archives: May 2011

Get real! Water into wine?

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John 2:11
This (turning water into wine), the first of his miraculous signs, Jesus performed at Cana in Galilee. He thus revealed his glory, and his disciples put their faith in him.
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The Almighty God who flung the stars and planets into their orbits, who scooped out the oceans with His hand and before whom all creation bows, this God manifests Himself in the flesh and for His first great act He turns water into wine. Sounds pretty trivial even if you are a lover of fine wine.

In the home of an unnamed host, at the wedding of an anonymous couple, in an obscure village and though His hour had not yet come He turns water into wine? Even then, except for a few unspecified disciples and some common household servants, none of the VIPs at the party were even aware they were drinking wonder wine. What an inconspicuous way to launch a world changing ministry. Perhaps there is something I need to learn from this.

In all the talk we hear today of being a “world changer”, of not wasting our life but doing great things for God we see that the One who truly did change the world started with a trivial need at hand. With no fanfare, no cosmic applause or even a “thank you” from those blessed, He acted to alleviate a simple need. I find it easy to become so focused upon saving humanity that I forget about the individual humans I encounter along the way. While dreaming of doing great things for God it is easy to miss the tiny things I can do to represent Him right now. Give a cup of cool water, change diapers in the church nursery, hold a door open for a mom with three little ones in tow, let a car into my lane or let someone else go first – all trivial things but a place to start.

Lord, help me to not be so in love with the masses that I overlook the one who you put in my path to bless today. Remind me that the tiniest act of kindness done in your holy name will not be forgotten.
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Matthew 10:42
And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is my disciple, I tell you the truth, he will certainly not lose his reward.

 

 

Hot Wired by God

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Ephesians 1:3-13
3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. 4 For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love 5 he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will—

13 And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit…
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He chose us. When did that happen? Ephesians 1:4 – For he chose us in him before the creation of the world …

But we also had to choose Him. When did that happen? Ephesians 1:13 – And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, … When you believed … Continue reading →

New and Improved Jesus

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Galatians 5:4, 10, 12
You have been severed from Christ, you who are seeking to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace. The one who is throwing you into confusion will pay the penalty, whoever he may be. I wish that those who are troubling you would even mutilate themselves.
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Paul is really in attack mode here. You have been severed from Christ, fallen from grace! “I wish that those who are troubling you would even mutilate themselves.” All this just because they are trying to get folks to keep the law?

Paul clearly condemns sin but never uses such harsh words to assault adulterers, homosexuals or murderers. What is the big deal? Folks who are into the law teach Jesus is the means for salvation, they just add a couple of provisos. Jesus PLUS. Certainly, if Jesus is good, then Jesus PLUS has to be better or, as advertisers say it, “new and improved”. The new and improved Jesus.

Oops, I think that may be the problem. Keeping the law as an element of salvation is me trying to improve upon God’s work. It is me saying “Thanks, Jesus, for that cross thing. It gave me a good start but I’ll take it from here. Your death and resurrection was nice but not enough.”. What an insult to God!

Jesus plus anything else, no matter how good the anything, is to fall from grace and crawl back under bondage to our old sin nature.
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Galatians 2:19,21
For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God. … for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!”

Jesus permits failure

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Luke 22:31-32
“Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.”
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Put yourself in Peter’s place. Jesus tells you that Satan has asked to “sift you” – translation, “beat the snot out of you”. That is worse than hearing the school bully is waiting for you in the parking lot. But surely God said “no” to Satan’s request, right? Wrong.

Jesus tells you He has prayed for you. Whew! That’s a relief. Jesus prayed so now the bully won’t be able to touch you or maybe you’ll even beat him up, right? Wrong again.

He only prayed that your faith would not fail – translation, that while the bully is beating you up, you won’t give up. What?! Jesus didn’t pray to keep you safe?!

The news gets worse. He says, “when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.” Translation, after you have regained consciousness from the beating, encourage others. Jesus knows you are going to fail this test yet He still gives Satan permission to attack!

So let’s get this straight: Jesus, you are saying that Satan has asked to kick the snot out of me and You gave him permission to do it. You prayed for me but only that I would survive the beating.   You already know that I am going to get my tail kicked and lose the battle. But once I pick my bleeding body up off the pavement You want me to go and encourage others that even though they may get their tails kicked by Satan, they can get up, get back in the fight and still be used by God. That is what You are saying?

OK then, let’s do it!
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Isaiah 55:8-9
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

2 Corinthians 12:10
That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

1 Corinthians 1:25
For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength.

Jesus did NOT come for everyone

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Luke 5:32 “I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.”
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Jesus makes it clear here that His coming was not for all mankind, just for sinners. Of course, all are sinners so what was he talking about, “I have not come to call the righteous”.

While it is true that all are sinners, many of us aren’t willing to admit it. If you are one of the “good people” then you really don’t need a savior. Oh, none of us would claim to be perfect but most of us think, all things considered, that we really aren’t that bad. If we had to check a box saying we were either a “bad person” or a “good person”, most of us would, rather humbly of course, say we are not perfect but, we are definitely a good person.

Jesus is saying here that unless we are a sinner, unless we recognize our spiritual bankruptcy before God, we aren’t ready to hear His call. He didn’t come to give His life for “good people”, if there were such a thing. The first requirement to being found is to realize you are lost. So, Jesus only came to call the lost, the sinners, those who recognize their desperate plight apart from God.

So let’s get real.  I am a sinner, you are a sinner and, as they say in the hood, so’s yo mama. We need Jesus. He is our only hope and that is why He came.

PS – If you really are a good person, here is a fun way to show the world just how good you are – CLICK HERE take the Good Person Test.
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Romans 3:22-23
This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, [23] for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

But he doesn’t deserve it!

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Luke 21:1-5
Jesus saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury. 2 He also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins.  3 “I tell you the truth,” he said, “this poor widow has put in more than all the others. 4 All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.”
5 Some of his disciples were remarking about how the temple was adorned with beautiful stones and with gifts dedicated to God.
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It is interesting that right after the story of this widow comments are made on the accumulated wealth of the temple. This widow gives her food money to an institution that can build gold and jewel encrusted buildings. Something does not seem right about that.

I’ve seen it throughout Latin America. Dirt poor peasants bring their precious pesos or quetzales or centavos or perhaps all they can bring is an egg or some corn and they present it to an institution that has untold wealth in land, gold, jewels, paintings, statues, on and on – literally immeasurable wealth. I see injustice, Jesus did not. He commended this widow. Obviously He was seeing something I am missing. Continue reading →

Aggressive Agape

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Luke 10:25-29
An expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
“What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”
He answered: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.'”
“You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”
But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
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What was this expert in the law asking?  Who is my neighbor? In other words, just who do I have to love? I certainly don’t want to be wasting any love on anyone I don’t have to. The law seeks to limit liability and responsibility. “According to my contract I have to do this and no more.” “Just who am I obligated to love to fulfill the command? I will love my neighbor but no one else.”  Do you sense the straight jacket of legalism in this?

To answer the question Jesus told the story of the Samaritan who reached out to a robbery victim laying by the road and acted like a neighbor to him.   Though the Samaritan had no idea who this man was, his background, nationality or even whether he was “deserving” of his help he even risked his own safety to aggressively demonstrate unconditional love to a stranger.  No limited liability here.  Just aggressive, inclusive love. Who was the neighbor? The one who showed mercy.  Jesus then instructed the law expert to go and do the same, show mercy to everyone. In other words, Jesus said, you go and take action to make every person your neighbor and then love them.

I am eternally grateful that is the heart of God. By the law’s standards, I was not a neighbor of God. I was far from Him, a victim of the Evil one left without mercy to die. Though not deserving of it, Jesus showed me mercy, picked me up and paid the price Himself, no matter what the cost, to see me healed and restored.

Can you imagine the response of the man who had been beaten the next time he sees someone lying helpless beside the road. Surely he would stop and offer any help he could. Because he received mercy he would surely be one generous to give mercy also. If we have been forgiven then we must be those who forgive. If we have been shown mercy then we must show mercy – aggressively, inclusively, where it is not deserved nor can be repaid.  So who is your neighbor?  or rather, who can you make your neighbor today?
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1 Peter 2:10
Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

 

Who knows WWJD?

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Luke 9:51-56
As the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem. And he sent messengers on ahead, who went into a Samaritan village to get things ready for him; but the people there did not welcome him, because he was heading for Jerusalem. (Samaritans and Jews disliked each other based on their religious pasts.  Samaritans felt true worship should be at a location in Samaria so anyone going to Jerusalem was not welcome.) When the disciples James and John saw this, they asked, “Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them?”  But Jesus turned and rebuked them, and they went to another village.
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While I love the idea behind the WWJD concept (in every situation ask yourself “What Would Jesus Do?” and then do that) I find it interesting that the very men who walked with Him, talked with Him and lived with Him were often clueless as to what He was going to do. James and John were following a Biblical precedent of calling fire down on those who oppose the Lord (2 Kings 2:12-14) but they were rebuked for their suggestion.  Perhaps they asked, “WWJD when insulted like this?” and, based on Scriptural precedent, they decided He would destroy these evil people.  They accurately understood the Word of God but they totally missed the Heart of God.

Like a bird needs two wings to fly, if we are to WWJD (can I turn that acronym into a verb?) we need to understand not only the Word of God but also the Spirit of God.  They aren’t in opposition but balance requires both. Truly understanding our Heavenly Father requires both insight into the Word but also insight into the Spirit of God.  Those heavy into just the Word can tend toward harshness and legalism as James and John demonstrated. Those who lean on  sensing the Spirit but neglect the Word can veer into gushy sentimentalism and trying to follow God based on every fleeting emotion.

As has often been said:
If you have the Word without the Spirit you’ll dry up.
If you have the Spirit without the Word you’ll blow up.
But if you have the Word and the Spirit you’ll grow up.
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John 16:13; 17;17
But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. … your word is truth.

Rude Jesus

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Luke 8:19-21 – Now Jesus’ mother and brothers came to see him, but they were not able to get near him because of the crowd. Someone told him, “Your mother and brothers are standing outside, wanting to see you.”  He replied, “My mother and brothers are those who hear God’s word and put it into practice.”
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What kind of son would not even help his family get through the crowd to be able to talk to Him? Sounds pretty rude and inconsiderate, doesn’t it. But this didn’t come as a surprise to the original readers. They knew something that Luke doesn’t record here. We have to go to Mark for the surprising explanation.

Mary and the brothers of Jesus thought he was crazy!  They had come to take him by force and get him out of the public eye. He was an embarrassment to them. Later Mary and at least some of his brothers became believers (the book of James and the book of Jude were both written by his brothers.)

If you have unbelieving family that think you are crazy, be encouraged. Those that saw Jesus grow up, saw His life and saw His miracles thought He was crazy, too. But eventually God was able to change their hearts and they became believers. Keep living faithfully for the Lord, love them, bless them, pray for them and let God work on their hearts.
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Mark 3:20-21
Then Jesus entered a house, and again a crowd gathered, so that he and his disciples were not even able to eat. When his family heard about this, they went to take charge of him, for they said, “He is out of his mind.”

John 7:5
For even his own brothers did not believe in him.

 

What will people think?

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Luke 7:31-34 – “What can I say about such men?” Jesus asked. “With what shall I compare them? 32 They are like a group of children who complain to their friends, ‘You don’t like it if we play “wedding” and you don’t like it if we play “funeral'”! 33 For John the Baptist used to go without food and never took a drop of liquor all his life, and you said, ‘He must be crazy!’ 34 But I eat my food and drink my wine, and you say, ‘What a glutton Jesus is! And he drinks! And has the lowest sort of friends!’
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Though it was not His main message this reminds us of the futility of trying to please people. No matter what you do some will complain you did too much and some will criticize you for doing too little. “You should have danced when you were mourning” or “You were mourning when you should have been dancing.” You can’t please all the people all the time.

“What will people think?” You can’t control that. “What will people say?” You can’t control that either. Even if you always do the right thing people can still think and say you are a scoundrel. So should we just live for ourselves and not be concerned with others or what they think? No, that is most self-centered choice of all.

Instead, live to please the Lord. Live your life for an audience of One. Constantly trying to please man, the fear of man, is a snare (Proverbs 29:25) but “the fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, turning a man from the snares of death”. (Proverbs 14:27). Ultimately, when we stand before Him, it is only His opinion that will matter for all eternity.  So live for that day.

Live to bring a smile to His face and let the chips fall where they may.
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Psalm 147:11
The Lord delights in those who fear him, who put their hope in his unfailing love.

Proverbs 14:26-27
He who fears the Lord has a secure fortress, and for his children it will be a refuge. The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, turning a man from the snares of death.

Proverbs 16:7
When a man’s ways are pleasing to the Lord, he makes even his enemies live at peace with him.