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Day 175: John 18:25-27 — “I am not”

Thursday, June 24th, 2010

In my life and I am sure in your lives as well, there have been many times when we have faced enough adversity to consider betraying our Lord. I get Judas, he was all about making a buck but the buck wasn’t worth it in the end. Judas represents evil to me and, well, evil loses. I have done enough evil that I know the difference. It is harder to deal with Peter. Peter’s betrayal was unexpected, Peter was the rock; he was the one who stood up and told Jesus what he thought. He might have been wrong but he didn’t sit in the pew waiting for something to happen. Yet, slowly on the night of Jesus’ betrayal, his conviction was compromised. Slowly and subtlety the example of Jesus’ love, the example of Jesus washing his feet, Jesus’ teaching, and Jesus’ powerful miracles and ministry faded as Peter became self-absorbed with his own protection. Peter was warming himself and then it happened. He was no longer with his Lord. He was alone and the world questioned him if he was a disciple. “I am not,” he answered. Peter had just recently cut a man’s ear off. I mean Peter makes Mike Tyson look wimpy. The strong impetuous Peter is confronted by the man who would know him better than anyone after having his ear cut off. The once earless man asked, “Did I not see you in the garden with him?” What an understatement, of course, he saw Peter and Peter knows it. Peter denies knowing Jesus again and slowly the betrayal comes to full term.

How many times in the dark of night have we wished that we didn’t have the fish symbol on our car? How many times have we gone along with the crowd when we know we shouldn’t? How many times have our faith and convictions slowly eroded from us and we betray our Lord? How many times have we been asked to stand up for our Lord, or called to work in the Kingdom? How many times have we answered, “I am not?” I’m guilty — what about you?

Yet, as Paul Harvey reminds us of the “rest of the story.” Peter came back and so can we. I have faced struggles and so have you. I have compromised my faith and so have you. No matter where you are, there is life after betrayal; there is life after death. We still can have a relationship with Jesus after we have said, “I am not” a disciple of Jesus in words, actions, or thoughts. Come on back — God has left the lights on for us and His name is Jesus!

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Day 167: John 12:37-50 — Speaking or Cowering

Wednesday, June 16th, 2010

John 12:42 gives me cause to wonder. Do we still have this problem today? Do we still hesitate to confess our belief in Jesus because of the multitude of Pharisees in our world today? Some would say there is no problem of believing in Jesus today — at least not in this country.

The following is a quote from Strong exhaustive concordance of the Bible “They sought for distinction and praise by outward observance of external rites and by outward forms of piety, and such as ceremonial washings, fastings, prayers, and alms giving; and, comparatively negligent of genuine piety, they prided themselves on their fancied good works.”

We live in a world where lip service is given to God by so many leaders of society and they carefully define the limits of what service to God should be. We find ourselves disagreeing with their limits, yet fail to speak up because of fear — fear we will be marked as a religious fanatic. We justify our silence by thinking “if I speak up then I’ll lose all chance to influence them”.

Brethren, influence is brought to bear only by people who have the courage to state that conviction in a way that others can see. Will you be a Pharisee or a disciple?

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Day 154: John 6:60-71 — Please Come Back!!!

Thursday, June 3rd, 2010

loaf of breadAs I was reading the text, I was reminded that some of Jesus’ followers could not digest Jesus’ teaching on the physical and spiritual bread of life. Some of the disciples got up and left (John 6:66). The teaching of Jesus was too hard. Why doesn’t Jesus chase them down and offer them a compromise or an alternative? Jesus turns to the twelve and asked them to choose. Now, I am a little off of context but it just amazes me that Jesus does not try to talk disciples out of leaving. It is their choice. Jesus never compromises His Father’s message to please a crowd. I never see Jesus pleading for those who turn their back on Him to “please come back!” Why do we? I find it interesting to see church signs that talk about an “Alternative Worship Service.” Is this because the message of Christ is too hard and we have to tone it down or pick it up a few beats for the world? Why do we try to compromise our message of the cross because some think it is too hard? I guess, we think we know better than our Lord. I wonder who we really serve? Is it Jesus and the hard message of the cross and discipleship, or do we serve the crowds?

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Posted in Discipleship, Free Will, Jesus, John | 4 Comments »

Day 147: John 4:4-26 — Boundaries

Thursday, May 27th, 2010

fenceBoundaries have been put up between people since the beginning of time. In Jesus’ day, there were the Samaritans. In America’s recent history, we had slaves. Today, a growing number of people find disdain in those of us who would call ourselves conservative Christians. The preoccupation with protecting boundaries between the preferred and the despised peoples is not limited to the ancient Samaritan and Jewish conflict of the first century. It is ever-much alive today. John 4:4-42 can be read alongside the parable of the good Samaritan (Luke 10:29-37). In Luke, the outrage is that the detested Samaritan is the good neighbor, the agent of mercy (Luke 10:37). The Samaritan crosses the boundary and breaks the restriction against contact between Jew and Samaritan and cares for the wounded man (Luke 10:34). In Luke, Jesus holds up the Samaritan traveler as an example (Luke 10:37) and illustrates that acts of mercy should be governed by need and compassion (Luke 10:33), not by current societal issues, political correctness, and fears. John conveys a similar challenge but in a more radical form, because it is not a character in a parable who upsets social norms but Jesus himself. Jesus initiates contact with a Samaritan, asking her to attend to his need (John 4:7). He then offers the Samaritan woman the gift of God (John 4:10) and reveals his identity to her (John 4:26). He treats the Samaritan woman, the Samaritans in the village as full human beings and as worthy recipients of the grace of God, not as the despised enemy from whom to fear contamination. You want to see a Christian? Look for one who tears down boundaries like Jesus did!

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Day 144: 1 Kings 4:1-5:18; John 2:1-22 — What will you do with your gifts?

Monday, May 24th, 2010

Judah and Israel, a united kingdom, a population as numerous as the sands of the sea, flourish. The promise of a homeland for Israel had been fulfilled and all were blessed, each man rested under his own vine and fig tree. Solomon has more than enough to make his rule secure, and the wisdom God gave Solomon abounds in proverbs, songs, and teachings about the world God had given them. Now he will build the temple his father had planned for the God who blessed them. This will be a place to draw the nations and the place all Israel will come to worship the true King of the earth.

Jesus takes His place in the lives of the people He created. As one of us He shares the good times with us. A wedding party, a happy time, provides Jesus the opportunity to begin to demonstrate what He brings to us. We can study and exegete and postulate all day on the wine and verbs in the passage, and perhaps learn something after our minds become soaked with readings and discussions, but the great importance of John’s account would be lost. In the Word made flesh, God communicates to us that He always wants to bless us and give joy and meaning to both this life and the life to come. Jesus, as Man and God, states very powerfully that gifts have meaning and find their fulfillment when used to bless man and glorify God. At this wedding party He does both at the same time. When gifts are used as God intends, they will lead those looking for God to be turned to Him and be given reason to believe and live His will.

What a wonderful example we have! Yes, we know more of what comes later in both accounts, but take them as they are, now. Our Creator blesses us with gifts of many kinds. Take stock of them today. Ask how these abilities, whether many or few, may be used to bless the lives of people and in turn glorify the great and gracious God who freely gives to all, and gave His Son that we might live now and have hope of life to come.

Prayer: Holy, Righteous Father, help us today to see the goodness You provide, the gifts You give, that we may use them to bless others and bring glory to Your name.

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Day 139: Luke 24:1-12 — “If a man dies, will he live again?”

Wednesday, May 19th, 2010

Luke answers the age old philosophical question, “If a man dies, will he live again?” (Job 14:14).  He answers the questions in five words in Greek, translated in the English Standard Version, “He is not here, but has risen (Luke 24:6).” Jesus was dead or at least that was what the religious establishment thought.  So, they pushed Jesus aside and went on with religion as usual.  They held their services and made their sacrifices.  They continued to meet and debated over the law.  They would drop a few alms for the poor and feel good about themselves.  No more having to listen to a proclaimed Messiah that looked forward to the coming of a kingdom whose rules for admission and the boundaries of whose fellowship they did not control. No longer would they have to debate over this man who ate with tax collectors and rebuked those who gave fine dinners for their respectable friends.  However, Jesus’ was no longer dead and their lives were about to be turned upside down with the coming kingdom of the church.

Luke tells us that the women were dutifully serving Jesus in the best way they knew how. They had prepared spices to anoint his body and had gone to the tomb early to finish the burial, only to be met with the challenge, “Why do you look for the living among the dead (Luke 24:5)?”  In what ways do we continue to look for the living Lord among the dead? Do struggles and questions lead us to the place that we just shun Jesus like the religious leaders or do we continue to serve Jesus in the best way we know how?  Jesus was not in the tomb but He was found among the grieving, among his disciples, and later in various places, and ultimately at the “right hand of God.”

“Why do you look for the living among the dead?” In the midst of tending to the necessary chores, especially the things that need to be done in the hard times, the women were met by the unexpected experience of God’s grace. Sometimes faith means going on and tending to the necessary chores that need to be done in our lives. Be faithful in the tasks that are ours and do the necessary tasks, for in them we, too, may be bearers of the good news of the day: “He is not here, but has risen!”

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Day 137: 2 Samuel 16:1-18:18; Luke 23:13-31 — Betray or Be Faithful ?

Monday, May 17th, 2010

Ahithophel cannot wait to turn on David when the usurper Absalom rose to power. Hushai remained faithful in the face of a new and awesome threat. The Jewish leadership cannot wait to have the Romans crucify Jesus. The disciples do not know what to do, frightened, they will watch at a distance, but watch. “Institutionalized religion, the church, the old God, is not for me.” versus “I will cling to the old rugged cross.” Absalom represents the new order, the fresh look at the world, bold, uncharted, powerful. David’s faithful know this is just not right. Jesus threatened the world as they knew it, threatened the entire system by which they understood, ruled, were comfortable, safe. Jesus’ disciples know that He has brought a new age from God Himself. “My God would not stand for these old ways, these dry, narrow minds. The Bible needs new eyes for a new age — perhaps no Bible at all. God is in me and you. We are all gods and goddesses.” versus “Jesus loves me this I know, because the Bible tells me so.”

How so human. How so full of self. Full of rebellion. Full of Satan. When God’s anointed is not what we want Him to be, then we proudly proclaim from our dark emptiness of ignorance, “I know better.” When the Creator does not reflect our image then man decides that is not the real God, there surely must be another that looks more like, well, like me!

Then the others, so determined to be faithful in the face of death itself; so committed to the One Who truly loves them. Not knowing but yet trusting the One Who leads. These are blessed, walking by faith, not by sight.

Ahithophel and Absalom died cruelly. David retook the throne and planned the end of his enemies. The anointed of God ruled the dominion given to him. Jesus arose from the grave, astounding all who saw Him, frustrating all of his enemies who heard, “He lives.” The will of our Creator cannot be stopped, will not be frustrated. We can either work with Him and be blessed or stand — momentarily — in His way and find our best human wisdom thwarted and ground to dust by the Rock of Ages.

The next time we find faith untenable, obedience unfathomable, spirituality an unsolvable puzzle and life that makes no sense, remember those faithful of ages past. The risks, which were no risks at all to those who could truly “see.”

Prayer: Holy, Righteous, True and Faithful One, may we be faithful to You in this day.

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Day 134: Luke 22:24-27 — I Hate My Job!!!

Friday, May 14th, 2010

I HATE MY JOB!!! Well, this may be a little hyperbole. I actually only hate part of my job. I hate it when people call me “Pastor.” I hate it when I get a piece of mail that says, “Dear Right Reverend Randy.” I hate it when people want to know if I am the senior minister. I hate it when someone thinks I am superior because I am a leader. I hate it when the pompous spiritual elite think they have it over someone else. I hate it when I fall into the same trap and become a hypocrite myself. Why? Read Luke 22:24-27!

Have religious leaders forgotten why we are here? I can see it now, the senior pastor and the bishop are fighting over who is the greatest or putting down some “lay” person (what a lousy term for a brother or sister in Christ). Ministers getting upset because they are not in the forefront. I love to read Luke 22:24-27 and see how Jesus defines religious leadership. We are true Christian leaders when we serve.

“But not so with you. Rather, let the greatest among you become as the youngest, and the leader as one who serves. For who is the greater, one who reclines at table or one who serves? Is it not the one who reclines at table? But I am among you as the one who serves.” (Luke 22:26–27, ESV)

Prayer for Today: Lord, teach us to be called servants because you served us!

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Posted in Cross, Discipleship, Jesus, Servant | 1 Comment »

Day 133: Luke 22:14-20 — The Last Supper

Thursday, May 13th, 2010

DaVinci's The Last Supper

The Last Supper has come to represent an image in a recent movie of a conspiracy of the church to hide Jesus’ wife and children. It has resulted in arguments between churches over how often you take it. I have often heard discussions about the mundane repetition that is not entertaining…in other words, it is boring. I am always surprised by these points of view. The Lord’s Supper is a historical fact that has been an integral part of worship since the early church. In today’s world of entertaining worship, it would be sacrilege not to have a praise team perform. However, to follow Jesus’ command to eat the bread and drink the cup of the new covenant is boring. How things have been turned upside down and our forms of worship ignores a command of Jesus to replace it with our worship desires. To ignore the Last Supper is to refuse to stand in the presence of mystery and wonder. It is disdain on the body of Christ. Have we forgotten its foundational message of what God has done to correct our broken relationship with Him and our neighbor?

The act of eating together paved the way for Jesus’ fellowship with his disciples, the crowds, and the outcasts in Galilee on various occasions and Luke emphasizes the meal scenes of Jesus’ ministry. Instituted at the time of the Passover meal, the Lord’s Supper also embraces and fulfills the celebration of God’s deliverance of the Israelites from Egypt. When we eat the bread and drink the cup, we declare that the Lord whom we worship is also the God committed to the deliverance of His people today. In the early church, the Lord’s Supper was observed in connection with a fellowship meal. The risen Lord becomes known to the early disciples in the breaking of bread (Luke 24:30-31). The early Christians broke bread at home (Acts 2:46), they gathered on the first day of the week to break bread (Acts 20:7), and problems arose when the meal did not express the oneness and fellowship of the church (1 Cor. 11:17-22). The supper, therefore, relates the community of believers physically and spiritually to the Lord, who laid down his life that we might live. It is a commemoration of the life and death of Jesus, a celebration of his real and spiritual presence now, and an affirmation of the hope that we shall eat and drink with him in the kingdom of God. I look forward to this Sunday, the next Sunday, and the next Sunday to take the Lord’s Supper and remember my Lord’s death until He comes again. I do not find this mundane, nor do I find the banquet in heaven something that I choose not to participate in. Each opportunity to take the bread and drink the cup is an opportunity to live the gospel and experience the grace of God that invites me to salvation.

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Posted in Discipleship, Exodus, God, Grace, Jesus, Lord's Supper, Worship | 2 Comments »

Day 131: Luke 21:5-19 — Don’t be Fooled!

Tuesday, May 11th, 2010

the end is nearThe other day, I was teaching a class with some teens. They had a fascination about the end of times. It seems they have experienced the teachings of the pseudo-religious prophets that manifest themselves in contemporary entertainment genres. The force of Jesus’ warning in Luke 21:7-11 is that disciples of Christ should not be misled by the false prophets who will come claiming authority and saying that the time is near. Such claims are the words of charlatans who prey upon the innocent. Nevertheless, the dangers and hardships that we experience are real. Truth is tested and faith is confirmed not in idle speculation but in the crucible of hard times. In Luke 21:5-19 Jesus foretells the coming destruction of the temple with a warning of the wars, earthquakes, famines, and plagues that will come and a warning to the disciples of the persecutions they must endure. We need to distinguish biblical teachings and sound biblical interpretation from the sensational claims carried by the media and popular religious best-sellers. We are not waiting for a call to ministry, we already have a call to disregard the false prophets; do not be led astray, and do not go after them (Luke 21:8). Those who wish to find a more energetic religious experience, therefore, should look not for signs of the future but for signals that it is time to live by Jesus’ call for obedience and faithfulness here and now.

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Posted in Discipleship, faith, God's Word, Judgment Day, Luke, Trust | 4 Comments »

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