tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-196241242024-02-08T08:54:54.375-05:00Pastor Chrispastorchris'placehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14199787927184705711noreply@blogger.comBlogger206125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19624124.post-27911720440348168272014-09-24T14:25:00.000-04:002014-09-24T14:25:34.199-04:00Baptism of John and Jesus, 2Yesterday we began <a href="http://pastorchrisplace.blogspot.com/2014/09/baptism-of-john-and-jesus.html">a reflection</a> on two conjoined baptisms found in Luke/Acts. They both center around the phrase <b style="font-size: x-large;">"I [John] baptize you with water...He [Jesus] will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire." </b>We concluded that John's baptism with water showed outwardly the inward change of belief and behavior affected by repentance. We also noted that Jesus participated in, practiced and proscribed this baptism with water.<br />
<br />
<b style="font-size: x-large;">...He [Jesus] will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire."</b><br />
Jesus would not only continue the baptism with water, he would begin a more powerful (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=luke+3.16&version=NIV">Luke 3.16</a>) baptism. This baptism would involve the Spirit and fire. As people believe the Good news, Jesus would pour out the Holy Spirit into their hearts (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=romans+5.5&version=NIV">Romans 5.5</a>,) This baptism would bring power into the lives of the believer (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=acts+1.4-8&version=NIV">Acts 1.4-8</a>.) This first happened on the Day of Pentecost (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=acts+2.1-3&version=NIV">Acts 2.1-3</a>) and several subsequent times.<br />
<br />
Power results from this immersion into the Holy Spirit. Forgiveness resulted from the immersion into water. The baptism with water symbolized the cleansing of that forgiveness. The baptism with the Spirit actualized the purification that amplifies power. This second baptism included fire. Fire can purify. The strength of any reagent grows as the diluting additives are purified out. Ivory soap cleans effectively because it is 99.44% pure soap with very little additives for color or fragrance.<br />
<br />
<b style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="font-size: large;">"I [John] baptize you with water...He [Jesus] will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire."</span></b><br />
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Peter recalls these words years later at the home of the God-fearing Roman Centurian Cornelius (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts+11:16&version=NIV">Acts 11.16</a>.) As Peter preached the Good News, Jesus sent His Holy Spirit on the man and his household (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts+10.44-48&version=NIV">Acts 10.44-48.)</a> Peter made the connection between this baptism with the Holy Spirit [of Jesus] and that of John with water. Even these non-Jewish people had been baptized by Jesus with the Spirit so they should be baptized with water by His disciples.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">There are at least two other incidents involving the baptism of John with water and the baptism of Jesus with the Spirit (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts+18.24-26&version=NIV">Acts 18.24-26</a> and <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts+19.1-7&version=NIV">Acts 19.3-4</a>.) Together these all show early Christ followers believed that both were the normal experience of new believers. They saw the connection and necessity of both John's baptism with water and Jesus' baptism with the Holy Spirit.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Lord send your power!</span><br />
pastorchris'placehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14199787927184705711noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19624124.post-42206146329159942442014-09-23T14:48:00.000-04:002014-09-23T14:48:23.961-04:00Baptism of John and JesusLuke/Acts records two conjoined accounts of baptism. The Gospel according to Luke retells the ministry of John the Baptizer. The Acts of the Apostles recounts among others, the ministry of Peter to the household of Cornelius. The words prophetic in John and fulfilled in the mind of Peter form the nexus of these baptisms. <span style="font-size: large;"><b>I [John] baptize you with water...He [Jesus] will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span>
<b style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="font-size: large;">I [John] baptize you with water...</span></b><br />
John presented his baptism as one of repentance for the forgiveness of sins (Luke 3.3.) Forgiveness was the result of the prerequisite change of mind. Josh held participants in his baptism to a high expectation of "fruit in keeping with repentance." (3.8.) he refused to baptize some and admitted others. When confronted with his expectation, some in the crowd asked for clarification. They needed assistance in understanding what repentance looked like.<br />
<br />
John gave three examples of "fruit in keeping with repentance." First, the truly repentant are concerned for the welfare of others. They share when they have something to wear or eat (verse 11.) Second, The truly repentant don't take advantage of others (verses 12-13.) They recognize the rights of both themselves and others. Lastly, the truly repentant cultivate contentment with what they have and don't take by force what belongs to others (verse 14.) Redirected minds redirect actions.<br />
<br />
John's baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins emphasized the relation of the individual to the Covenant God offered rather than that of the people of God to that same Covenant. This call literally "laid the ax to the root of the tree" of dispassionate, disconnected relating to YHWH who passionately performed His Covenant duties. Claiming to belong, by natural birth alone, to the People of God did not suffice. "God can raise up children for Abraham" from inanimate, dispassionate objects like the river rocks lying along the Jordan river banks. Every individual needed to choose for themselves.<br />
<br />
At least a few, and perhaps many, found offense in this call to personal responsibility rather than national identity. These had disconnected personal participation in the Covenant from the benefits of belonging to the Covenant People. Then, as now, God's grace invites the faithful to partner with Him in the work in them and in the world (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+Corinthians+6.1-2&version=NIV">2 Corinthians 6.1</a>.) Personal responsibility, not group identity, produces "fruit in keeping with repentance."<br />
<br />
But John defines repentance in terms of interactions with our fellowman. Answering the call for individual response to God's offer of Covenant finds expression in social responsibility. While no one can count on family (Abraham's children) or religious affiliation (Judaism) or geographic location (Judah, Jerusalem: capitals) for salvation, we express our saving relationship through these.<br />
<br />
John's Baptism with Water physically demonstrated an inner change. The participant left the baptism changed -- dry became wet. One does not have to read creatively to imagine that this act could have been a dunking. As the participant was symbolically buried in the river, the crowd witnessed the end of their old way of believing and behaving. As they rose, the crowd saw a resurrection to their new way of believing and behaving.<br />
<br />
Jesus affirms this baptism of repentance by participating in it (verse 21.) His presence sanctioned this baptism. He later commissions His disciples to continue this repentance-leading-to-forgiveness baptism (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+3:26&version=NIV">John 3.26</a>, <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+4.1-2&version=NIV">John 4.1-2</a>.) His practice continued the baptism begun by John. Our Lord's final words to them were to "go...baptizing" (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=matthew+28.19-20&version=NIV">Matthew 28.19-20</a>.) These facts bond the John's Baptism with Water with Jesus' Baptism with the Holy Spirit.pastorchris'placehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14199787927184705711noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19624124.post-43131554956023571252014-09-19T15:31:00.000-04:002014-09-19T15:31:36.952-04:00The Prayer of a Righteous Person Reading daily devotions from Our Daily Bread, I was directed to read James 5. This passage deals with the prayer of a righteous man (person.) My reading this morning caused me to consider the connection between the prayer of a righteous person and its immediate context. The previous comment is about confessing sin to other believers and praying for each other. The prayer here is related to the confession of sin. It makes most sense that the prayer is for forgiveness of the confessing believer.<br />
<br />
How interesting that I, along with most of Christendom, have applied this truth about prayer being powerful and effective to the accomplishing of signs and wonders.<br />
<br />
Further challenge to my usual read, the reference to powerfully-praying Elijah points to binding and releasing. Elijah prayed and God bound up the regular rainfall. He prayed again and God released the pent-up precipitation. Our Lord Jesus Christ told Peter that, in connection to his confession of the God-revealed truth of Jesus' Divine Messiahship, He was issuing the "Keys to the Kingdom." With them Peter would bind and release things on earth in conjunction with them being bound/released in Heaven.<br />
<br />
When we confess to a fellow believer, we see the sign of our forgiveness from our Heavenly Father in the face of our brother/sister.<br />
<br />
Their prayer for us in this exposed, shame-filled and doubt-vulnerable moment binds up the power of the hidden sin to dominate our thoughts and behaviors. This praying brother/sister binds up our heart and spirit broken by the guilt of failure and breach of trust. They bind the ability of our Enemy to exploit our weakness into an enslaved cycle of defeat. We now have an ally in our personal struggle with temptation toward this sin.<br />
<br />
Simultaneously to the binding power of prayer, this fellow Christ-follower at the time of our confession releases as well. We experience forgiveness as a release. We are set free from the culpability of our wrong--committed or omitted. This prayer releases assurance of reconciliation into our spirit. A fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit empowers us to "go and sin [in this particular way] no more" as our sister/brother releases it in prayer.<br />
<br />
One last touchpoint can be seen between the powerful prayer and confession of sin. The person declared powerful and effective in pray is the "righteous." <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">James could have referred to a devout person or a Spirit-filled person or a gifted person or a believing person. His choice of righteous ties directly into the covenant of grace God offers through Jesus Christ. </span>Righteous carries the connotation of "right behaving or rightly relating to the Law." This covenant keeper stands as a foil to the rule breaker. The concern here is not miraculous proof of God, but rightly relating to God.<br />
<br />
Elijah stood for God in the covenant of Sinai as he confronted Ahab, Jezebel and the 400 prophets (all who had abandoned YHWH for Baal) there on Mt. Carmel. The drought and the rain were a call to return to the LORD and renew the Covenant He offered. This call culminated in the challenge to follow whichever deity answered prayer by fire. While spectacular and miraculous, the emphasis of the passage is a renewal of covenant relations with the True and Living LORD.<br />
<br />
The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective in dealing with sin. God uses our Christian community to effect forgiveness and reconciliation. Let us all humbly open ourselves to this means of grace so often abandoned by Protestantism.pastorchris'placehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14199787927184705711noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19624124.post-8453795742245522432014-09-10T12:59:00.000-04:002014-09-19T15:32:04.294-04:00Broken Cisterns - 4After more than two years, we take our final look at Broken Cisterns.<br />
<br />
Jeremiah declares these broken cisterns are cracked and cannot hold water.<br />
<br />
Even a perfectly executed cistern cut from solid rock can be emptied when there is no rain to replenish it. The water may stagnate over time and cease to be potable. Debris or animals may fall in and contaminate the water with decay and disease. Any or all of these are the short-comings of a perfect cistern.<br />
<br />
But the verdict pronounced by the LORD indicates these cisterns were made with fatal flaws. These alternatives to the Life-giving LORD leak. They function below their design. They miss their own mark and purpose. Though made to hold run-off water, these cracked cisterns can't even do that.<br />
<br />
This imagery echoes back to the fatal choice of the first humans in God's very good garden. They sought to be more, attain more, improve more than they were fresh from the hand of their Divine Creator. What they had in God was perfect and in seeking to add to it, they achieved only the diminishing of what they once were and had.<br />
<br />
Both the promise of the forbidden fruit of knowledge of good and evil and idols fall short. They lessen rather than add to the lives of those who turn to them. <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">All the effort, time, investment and planning drains way to emptiness. </span><br />
<br />
Broken people produce broken things. The Fall fractures our final drafts. All we can make are sloppy copies. Choosing to forsake our Covenant LORD doesn't just miss His Goodness or diminish living a little bit. Our self-made holes fail utterly and leave us with nothing but a gaping gash in our empty soul.<br />
<br />
The choice seems clear: limitless life in loving covenant with our LORD or vacant, vacuous want in the broken cisterns of our willful well-digging. Yet, the LORD's people continue this pitiable exchange.pastorchris'placehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14199787927184705711noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19624124.post-81806490748224579392012-05-15T15:41:00.001-04:002012-05-15T15:41:16.323-04:00Broken Cisterns, 3We looked last time at one sin the LORD accuses His covenant people of committing. They worshipped false gods. This sin the LORD likens to digging cisterns for themselves. <br />
<br />
The second sin multiplies the sad state of affairs and the wrongness of the sin. They "have forsaken [the LORD,] the spring of living water..." (Jeremiah 2.13 NIV.) Idolatry always leads to emptiness because it worships what is false, not real. But these people have acted more unrighteous than this. Pagans worship in ignorance out of the human need to worship. The covenant people have FORSAKEN the real and adopted the false.<br />
<br />
This implies willful choosing with knowledge. They knew better. The Truth had revealed Himself to them and they chose to close their eyes, hearts and worship to Him. They have FORSAKEN Him.<br />
<br />
They have forsaken the spring of living water. He is the source. There was no need to dig rock retainers when they had a source of all that is life-giving. The LORD provided, in His gracious favor, everything needed for life and godliness. Like a spring, He continually brought forth fresh supply. His supply did not depend on rain or other circumstance. In Himself, He was enough.<br />
<br />
Living water implies it gives life. The needs for hydration of the body and crops are met with fresh water. The means to clean untensils, clothing and the body come from fresh water. Water brings life. The LORD brings life.<br />
<br />
Living water implies movement of replenishing, freshening. The water in a cisterm can become stagnant, poluted, unusable unless artificially stirred. Living water purifies itself, maintains it level and freshness. <br />
<br />
What a pitiable exchange. The real for the fake. The replenishing for the diminishing. The purifying for the putrifying. The refreshing for the stagnanting. How pitiful to live with less than you know is possible.<br />
<br />
Where am I tempted to trade the real for the imaginary? Where have I traded the fresh move of the Spirit for the stagnant pools of ritual? Where am I vulnerable to make the pitiable exchange?pastorchris'placehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14199787927184705711noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19624124.post-52562693744045495102012-05-14T14:56:00.003-04:002012-05-14T14:57:28.111-04:00Broken Cistern, 2Through the prophet Jeremiah, God files grevance against His special, covenant people. He delivers His breach-of-contract complaint in two-lines. "They have forsaken me, the spring of living water and they have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water" (Jeremiah 2.13 NIV.)<br />
<br />
I said previously that since God Himself calls this two sins, He leads us to break this parallelism unit down, though the two are related. We will look today at the second sin. His covenant people "have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water." <br />
<br />
This image provides a metaphor for the sin of idolatry. Many peoples worship gods other than the LORD. Idols strickly speaking involves an image set up for worship. It has been broadly applied to the worship of any thing, person or power other than the LORD. The prophets often call the covenant people to see these stone, wood and metal objects as deaf, mute and impotent. They are literally made in our image for our purpose by our hands and cannot be greater than ourselves.<br />
<br />
The stone imagery echoes in the hollow hole hewn from the subterrainean rock that comprises a cistern. These man-made water reservoirs catch and contain run-off rainwater. They only have an inlet without an outlet. People construct cistern when there is no water source around.<br />
<br />
People possess a propensity to praise. The human soul seeks something to worship. Anthropologists find fetishes, images, objects and ritual in every community inhabited by homo sapiens no matter where in time/space they exsisted. To be human is to worship. Only in rather recent times has atheism stood alone. And I would even argue that atheism worships human reason and is therefore a form of idolatry.<br />
<br />
This sin makes up at least two of the Decalogue -- the 10 Commandments -- given by the LORD to His people. "No other gods before me" and "no graven image" specifically tell us this type of worship is wrong. This second stanza of the couplet deals with false worship and false gods.<br />
<br />
What have I "dug" with my abilities? What is my source for life, love and meaning? How might I be committing this sin for which the LORD calls us to account?pastorchris'placehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14199787927184705711noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19624124.post-61786538169633400072012-05-09T10:19:00.000-04:002012-05-09T10:29:09.420-04:00Broken CisternsRecently I had a book with this title, <u>Broken Cisterns, </u>pass through my hands. Just the title reverberated in my spirit. Then I looked up the verses listed on the slip-cover, Jeremiah 2.13 (NIV.) Wow, what a depth of meaning and application! Here begins my reflections on Broken Cisterns and Jeremiah 2.13.<br />
<br />
<strong><span style="font-size: large;">The LORD says, </span></strong><br />
<strong><span style="font-size: large;"> "My people have committed two sins:</span></strong><br />
<strong><span style="font-size: large;"> They have forsaken me,</span></strong><br />
<strong><span style="font-size: large;"> the spring of living water,</span></strong><br />
<strong><span style="font-size: large;"> and</span></strong><br />
<strong><span style="font-size: large;"> they have their own cisterns,</span></strong><br />
<strong><span style="font-size: large;"> broken cisterns that cannot hold water."</span></strong><br />
<br />
<strong>The LORD</strong><br />
First note the LORD says this.This all-caps word is the spoken title that honors the inutterable Tetragrammaton, the four-letter name of God disclosed to Moses on the Mountain of Revelation. His people Israel will not even speak it aloud out of reverencial fear. They change pens when they write it during creation of a new hand-written copy of the Scriptures. God uses this form of "I AM" when speaking of His covenant with His covenant people. God's personal, relational name reminds Jeremiah's hearers of His special, promise-based relationship to the ones He speaks to and speaks of.<br />
<br />
<strong>My People</strong><br />
In continuation of this idea of intimate, covenant relationship, the LORD addresses His people. People who connected to Him through a series of mutually-binding promises. For sure, like the suzerainty treaties of the area/time, the LORD make the first and largest promises. But these people, His people, willingly have bound themselves to Him by oath as well. They have a special closeness, favor and commitment distinguishing them from the other peoples of the earth.<br />
<br />
<strong>Two Sins</strong><br />
The poetry of the Bible is parallelism. This rhyming of thought, as C.S. Lewis calls it, consists of two related lines or a couplet. These two lines work in tandem to emphasis a singel thought or point. This emphasis comes from repeating the idea in different words or using a direct opposite. It translates to any language because it depends on the thought, not particular words in rhyming relationship. Proper understanding requires treating the two as a single thought rather than separating the halves of the couplet.<br />
<br />
Note that though there is a easy-to-see unity in the two branches of the couplet, the LORD specifically breaks this pairing by saying His people have committed two sins. He wants us to dissect this parallelism. This adds emphasis to the nature of the sins committed by a people covenanted to the LORD they sin against. This behavior must be extra bad, extra heart-breaking.<br />
<br />
<strong>They Have</strong>...<br />
The people of the LORD have forsaken Him. They have abandoned their promises. They have cooled in their commitment, like a dissatisfied spouse. They have distanced themselves from Him.<br />
<br />
The people of the LORD have dug their own cisterns. They have looked for life and love elsewhere. They have not just cooled in committment to their vows, they have actively persued others, like an adulterer.<br />
<br />
How have I cooled toward my God?<br />
<br />
Where, besides Him, have I sought love and life?<br />
<br />
More to come...pastorchris'placehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14199787927184705711noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19624124.post-77990944125972072312012-04-20T09:39:00.001-04:002012-04-20T09:45:25.390-04:0070 Times 7 TimesRecently, to justify my unforgiving spirit, I reasoned the following:<br />
<br />
"What was done to me was hurtful."<br />
<br />
"It has happened repeatedly. It's becoming a cycle."<br />
<br />
"I won't forgive you any more just because you say a simple, 'I'm sorry.'"<br />
<br />
"I need more than that."<br />
<br />
I even thought of the "preacher story" of the lying post. Everytime the child told a lie, the dad drove a nail into a fencepost out back of the house. When he asked forgiveness Dad pulled a nail. But the wound, the hole remained. Forgiveness doesn't fix everything.<br />
<br />
Then my hardness of heart is exposed by the Holy Spirit whispering the words of the Lord to Peter, "70 times 7 times..." He leads me to the truth of my part in this frustrating cycle. Matthew records Peter asking Jesus how many times he must forgive someone who wrongs him. Jesus replies 70 times 7 times. Luke records Jesus saying if a person sins against us 7 times in one day and turns to us asking forgiveness, we are to forgive them each time.<br />
<br />
I don't get to keep a tally sheet. I don't get to assess sincerity. I don't get to set a timer or deadline. I don't get to ask for more than that.<br />
<br />
The sameness of the offence, the mutliple times, frequency of repeated hurt does not alter my requirement to forgive. To with hold forgiveness is not an option. The simple, "sorry..." is enough.<br />
<br />
I do need more, however. More grace, more mercy, more of God's life in me. The One who calls me to be this forgiving, to live without lists, to function free of grudges is the One who has forgiven so much more in me, zeroes out my account and allows me to live free. So I ask Him to forgive my unforgiveness and as He does, grace and forgiveness flow through me and it washes away that small thing I was trying to hold over someone else. He extracted no price, He paid it for me.pastorchris'placehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14199787927184705711noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19624124.post-35353075473904677012012-04-18T15:44:00.000-04:002012-04-18T15:44:42.934-04:00Raised With ChristHe is risen! He is risen, indeed!<br />
Alleluia!<br />
<br />
So begins the season of resurrection. Jesus died. Jesus is alive again.<br />
<br />
Paul says Jesus died for our sins and was raised for our justification. Sin, the deadly infection permiating and poisoning every aspect of our being and behavior was destroyed on the cross. Sin itself, not sinners -- individually or collectively -- was condemned in Jesus body. The power of sin was broken. We are free to live.<br />
<br />
The resurrection justifies us. It is "just-as-if-I'd" never sinned. The record is cleared.I can now walk in newness of life. I can be fresh.<br />
<br />
Paul further says that at our baptism we are united with Jesus in His death and resurrection. This Resurrection Sunday, I was privileged to preach then practice this truth. Four young people from Faith Community Church entered a watery grave with Jesus and rose to new life in Him.<br />
<br />
Hallelujah! He lives and we live in Him!pastorchris'placehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14199787927184705711noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19624124.post-23041327385883338442012-04-11T10:50:00.000-04:002012-04-11T10:50:38.749-04:00Lord, Throughout These Forty Days...39Last day of Lent. The journey ends. Jesus exits the wilderness.<br />
<br />
Luke 4 records that Jesus then returned to His hometown of Nazareth and delares, "...no prophet is accepted in his hometown." He then looks at some examples from the life of Elijah, the oft connected one. Many Israeli widows lived in destitution during Elijah's ministry, but Elijah was sent [by God] to the Sidonite widow at Zarephath. There were many unhealed lepers in Israel during this same time, but only Naaman a Syrian was cleansed.<br />
<br />
His hometown people become so furious they try to throw Him off a cliff.<br />
<br />
As I leave the wilderness and Lent behind, I must realize this spiritually intense time, like all time, must come to an end. What God has affirmed during these days will be directly attacked by the enemy most likely through those close to me. Father-God declared Him accepted, but the hometown crowd rejected Him. Father-God declared Him well-pleasing, those in hometown crowd are unpleased to the point of anger. Father-God declares Him beloved, the hometown crowd questions His paternity.<br />
<br />
God leads us into these places in order to buttress us for the coming challenge. God leads us out of these places in order to do His work in His world. Without the preparation, we implode. Unless we act, the preparation implodes.We must be people of withdrawal and advance, people of contemplation and activity.<br />
<br />
Why only one widow ministered to? God's leading. Why only one leper cleansed? God's plan. Outsiders become insiders by the sheer mercy of God. We cannot claim it, only receive it. And the wilderness teaches us to wait.<br />
<br />
Finally, this moment in the synagogue of Nazareth teaches that Jesus in the power of the Spirit carries out the Word of the Father and the outsiders can come in.pastorchris'placehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14199787927184705711noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19624124.post-22004849553528466832012-03-30T09:49:00.002-04:002012-04-11T10:25:38.059-04:00Lord, Throughout These Forty Days...38Jesus fasted forty days. Those of us who call ourselves Christ-followers fast, too. Bearing His name implies imitating His behaviors as well as trusting to His mercy and grace.<br />
<br />
Jesus literally went without food during His forty days. Two other men are recorded practicing total abstinence from food: Moses and Elijah.The work of God in establishing the Law, the Prophets and the New Covenant all proceed from a season of intense fasting. Fasting proves a prerequisite for these major new stages in His-Story (Bob Black-ism.)<br />
<br />
When the first church began, it too was preceeded by a season of intense prayer. The first followers held up in the upper room prayerfully waiting the Gift, the Holy Spirit. The miraculous response of 3000 to the Gospel that day grows out of that season.<br />
<br />
I am challenged today to think about my prayer life. How intense? How specific? How integrated? Do I just say words or do I lay everything aside in pursuit of an answer from God? Are my prayers ineffectual and powerless due to so little intentionality and fervor? <br />
<br />
The very Son of God did not begin His life's work without FIRST being lead by the Spirit to seek the Father's will and power. To my shame, I see too many sermon series planned and preached and prayed for later. I see too often I set in motion activity and then pray for blessing. <br />
<br />
Lord, forgive my lack of prayer priority, my weak work, my lukewarm lack of intensity.pastorchris'placehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14199787927184705711noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19624124.post-58556638239558316592012-03-30T09:34:00.002-04:002012-03-30T09:47:48.356-04:00Lord, Throughout These Forty Days...37Jesus, filled and lead by the Spirit, spent forty days in the wilderness being tempted by the devil. Even if Satan intended to lead Jesus the Son of Man to sidetrack into sin, Jesus the Son of God could not be tempted by evil. This experience proved in practical terms the declaration by the Father concerning Jesus. Jesus passes the testing.<br />
<br />
How did Jesus repel the advances of the devil? By quoting Scripture. He passed His testing by being well-versed and totally dependent on the Word of God. He carried out His confession and "live[d]...on every word that comes from the mouth of God" (Deuteronomy 8.3 quoted in Matthew 4.4 NIV.)<br />
<br />
At each suggestion of Satan, Jesus confesses an appropriate passage. Rather than believe a lie, Jesus trusts to the Truth of God's Word. Like Mary in the Magnificat Jesus has fully integrated the Scriptures and they flow out naturally and fittingly to the situation at hand. He has hidden the "word in [His] heart" (Psalm 119.11 NIV.) <br />
<br />
Paul, a first-generation follower of Jesus, teaches us of the importance of the Word in our struggle against the devil. In Ephesians 6.17 he refers to the Word as "the sword of the Spirit." Of all the armor of God discussed in this letter, only the sword provides offensive weaponry. The rest protects passively. The writer of Hebrews* also uses the analogy of a sword to describe the effectiveness of the Word. "For the Word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any two-edged sword..." (Hebrews 4.12 NIV.)<br />
<br />
We who claim to be Christ-followers must be people of The Book. We must commit to reading it. So very few have read it cover to cover. We must commit to memorizing it. Hiding it in our hearts stores up the truth for the day of testing. We must have so integrated our thinking (meditation) and living (application) to the Scripture that when under pressure, it oozes out of us. Certainly the Jesus we follow did so and it showed in the wilderness.<br />
<br />
*The unknown writer could have been Paul, Apollos, Priscillla or anyone. This is the only book in all of Sacred Scripture to which I apply the phrase "the writer of." Most often that phrase connotes a textual/historic critisism view of Scripture that undermines its inerrant and infallible, fully God-breathed nature by asserting the authorship, and thus authority, of the document is questionable.pastorchris'placehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14199787927184705711noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19624124.post-78938764738750778292012-03-29T12:41:00.001-04:002012-03-29T12:56:33.287-04:00Lord, Throughout These Forty Days...36We have been looking for other Biblical narratives that involve forty days. We looked at Noah and the flood story, which Jesus links to His second coming, where it rained for forty days and nights. We looked at Elijah's forty days of fasting/journey through the wilderness to reconnect with God. Jesus will meet with Elijah when He is transfigured and the Father will pronounce again, "This is my Son, whom I love; with Him I am well pleased" as He just has at the baptism. We looked at Jonah/Nineveh waiting forty days for God's mercy to hold off judgement. Jesus links Himself closely with Jonah.<br />
<br />
Today we unpack Jesus appearing to His followers for forty days after His resurrection (Acts 1.3 NIV.) <br />
<br />
Luke says that He appeared for forty days "after He suffered." This forty days is preceeded by the trial, punishment, crucifixion and death of Jesus. His forty days in the wilderness were also days of suffering. Hunger, loneliness, trial met Jesus. "Man of sorrows! what a name for the Son of God, Who came ruined sinners to reclaim. Hallelujah! What a Savior!" <br />
<br />
Luke also says, "He presented Himself to [the apostles He had chosen]." People did not recognize the Risen Jesus. He had to "present Himself" to them before they indentified Him. Mary at the tomb mistook Him for the caretaker. Cleopas and his companion "were kept from recognizing Him..." (Luke 24.16 NIV.) But then again, people did not see Him for Who He was during His life and ministry either. It takes a revelation to open our eyes to Who He is. Thank God Jesus steps through the vail so we can. "Open the eyes of my heart, Lord...I want to see You high and lifted up, shining in the light<br />
<br />
The chosen apostles saw Him over these forty days. Jesus invested Himself in relatively few. The masses never held His heart, though they often benefited from His compassion. In all the resurrection appearances we find Jesus still pouring Himself into His followers. He showed them how He fulfilled the Scripture. He dealt with lingering failures, doubts and sin. He prepared them for their future leadership in His Church.<br />
<br />
Luke says Jesus "...gave many convincing proofs that He was alive..." Jesus could be touched, He could eat, He had fresh wounds from His crucifixion, He was alive in deed. Spending forty days allowed His followers to process the reality of His coming back to life. This extended period of time, and the various circumstances for the appearances strengthened their confidence that they were not hallucinating or dreaming.<br />
<br />
Luke finally says that Jesus, "...spoke about the kingdom of God..." The beachhead had been established, the new creation launched, the renewed world order begun. <br />
<br />
Two forty day periods book-end the ministry of Jesus Christ. The beginning foreshadows the end. The end fulfills the promise of the beginning. These forty days are bound together.<br />
<br />
Preaching the Gospel always requires connection to the beginning and the end. We must never leave Jesus hanging on the cross without a mention of the empty tomb. We cannot declare victory without mentioning the struggle. Jesus fulfills so much of what was anticipated before His life, death and resurrection. That event begins so much that will be fulfilled at the Consumation Coronation. Hopefully we are beginning to see that the Good News events cannot be understood in isolation from each other. Like a tapestry, the Trinity has been weaving Salvation's history out of diverse threats that converge only in the person and ministry of Jesus.pastorchris'placehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14199787927184705711noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19624124.post-19098620430504538292012-03-28T10:39:00.001-04:002012-03-28T10:49:58.806-04:00Lord, Throughout These Forty Days...35The Spirit of God lead Jesus into the wilderness. While there He fasts forty days. We have been looking at other pericopes in which forty days are involved. Today we look at a group that received revelation that God was going to judge them at the end of forty days. In response they fasted as a sign of repentance. They were the people of Nineveh to whom Jonah reluctantly preached.<br />
<br />
The word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time (Jonah 3 NIV. )He was to warn the inhabitants of Nineveh in forty days their city would be overthrown as a judgement on their cruelty and wickedness from God Almighty. The capital city of Assyria, Nineveh indeed housed the leadership of a barbaric, powerful army known for its enslavement, mistreatment and torture of defeated peoples. Jonah literally ran from this assignment because he knew God's mercy would be offered to the hated enemy of his beloved Israel.<br />
<br />
When they heard the clear message of doom, they believed God and declared a fast. They stopped normal commerce and living. They sat in sackcloth, the Mediterranian symbol for sorrow, repented and called out for mercy. From the king to the streetcleaner, from the young to the old, human to animal every living thing fasted and hoped God would not allow the overthrow to be carried out.<br />
<br />
The text of Jonah 3 does not express, but does imply, that the fast continued until the fortieth day, the day of judgement, passed uneventful. Jonah, we are told, delivers the message then sets up a make-shift camp east of the city and waits to see what would happen. East of the city, perhaps so he could see the overthrow by the first beams of the rising sun on the fortieth morning. When the day of doom broke bright, clear, cloudless and overthrow-less, Jonah saw God's mercy and he wept. He had so hoped for the overthrow.<br />
<br />
Jesus Himself pointed to a connection with Jonah. First, Jesus said Jonah's three-day experience in the fish serves as a forshadowing of His three-day experience in the tomb. He would come out of what seemed a certain end just as Jonah had (Matthew 12.40 NIV.)<br />
<br />
Secondly Jesus said the people of Nineveh, who heard the warning of God and repented, would stand in stark, condemning contrast to the listeners in Jesus day. They would not repent in response to God's warning through Jesus (Matthew 12.41 NIV.) Knowing God's revelation dims in comparison to acting according to what we know of God's revelation. Action not assent honors the God who give us fair warning.<br />
<br />
Jesus said in Luke 11:30, "For as Jonah was a sign to the Ninevites, so also will be the Son of Man to this generation." Jonah served the Ninevites as a sign of mercy in the face of deserved judgement. He signalled God's willingness to forgive and avert destruction. He was a sign of God's nature in relation to humanity's broken nature. He was a second chance calling others to their second chance. In all this Jonah was a reluctant revelator and a disappointed observer of Divine mercy. Jesus actively, longingly sought to show the mercy of God and to reconcile us to the Father. He wept over a city, Jerusalem, because they did not heed the call of God to repent and enter the mercy provided.<br />
<br />
Like the Ninevites, we fast and wait for the mercy of God. Rather than a deadline for doom, our forty days move us to the "line that's been drawn through the ages...on Golgotha's hill" (Gather, "It Is Finished.) We await Jesus condemning sin in His body on the cross and the release of overwhelming grace and mercy. May our forty days be filled with grateful anticipation because in Jesus we find something greater than Jonah (Matthew 12.41 NIV.)pastorchris'placehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14199787927184705711noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19624124.post-18578749183766278452012-03-27T13:04:00.002-04:002012-03-27T13:11:32.374-04:00Lord, Throughout These Forty Days...34Another interesting 40 day experience involves a wilderness, some bread, a journey and fasting. We find it in 1 Kings 19. In Chapter 18, Elijah has prayed and the Living God answered by raining fire from heaven to consume his sacrifice. He prayed a second time and the Living God ended a three-year drought by sending a turrential downpour. But upon learning of the defeat of Baal, the god she worshipped, Queen Jezebel has literally swore out a death warrant for the prophet.<br />
<br />
Elijah runs for his life. He travels a day into the wilderness to hide. Sitting under a broom bush, he prays again to the God who answered him so miraculously twice before. But this time he prays that God will let him die. Rather irrational to pray to die while running for your life. Perhaps Elijah preferred to die at the hand of the benevolent Lord as opposed to the hand of the malevolent Lady. Maybe he hoped for euthanasia -- a good, quick death -- rather than an excruciating, torturous one.<br />
<br />
In his depression, Elijah lay down and slept. Suddenly he was awakened by a stranger. The smell of fresh-baked bread filled his nostrils. The stranger, an angel, told him to eat and drink some fresh water. After this meal Elijah slumps back down into a dreamless sleep.<br />
<br />
"Get up and eat!" the angel commands again. He feeds on more bread and water. Elijah now travels 40 days and nights on the strength of that angelic way-bread. With no further meals, He arrives at the place to which God told him to go. There in a cave at the end of his journey, he met with God.<br />
<br />
Elijah ran through the wilderness to hide from the powers of a kingdom of this world. Jesus walked through the wilderness to confront the splendor and authority of all the kingdoms of this world. Elijah received special provision for his 40 day journey. Jesus faced His forty days without miraculous way-bread. Elijah went to the wilderness near the end of his ministry. Jesus went to the wilderness near the beginning of His ministry. An angel served Elijah before his fasting. Angels served Jesus after His fasting. Elijah met God in the wilderness. Jesus met the devil.<br />
<br />
Elijah tried God's mercy with his request to die. Jesus refused to but the Lord His God to the test. Elijah looked for special acts of God while endangered. Jesus declined God's specific promise of help in the face of danger. Later Jesus would suffer an excruciating (literally - on-a-cross, crux) death rather than seek escape.<br />
<br />
Elijah in the wilderness sat down in despair. He had no trusting faith left. He assumed the work of God ended with him. Jesus in the wilderness walked on in trust. He relied on the Word to sustain Him. He knew the work of God began with Him. <br />
<br />
The ministry of both Elijah and Jesus were affirmed in the forty days in the wilderness. They both had more work to do for the Lord. Elijah had a ministry anointing a new king and a new prophet to accomplish before his translation in a heavenly chariot. Jesus had an anointed ministry of prophet and priest and king to accomplish before his ascension to His heavenly throne.<br />
<br />
Jesus transforms our wilderness from despair to hope. He renews our call to serve in the name of the Lord. He provisions us so that we, too, may reach our God-appointed end.pastorchris'placehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14199787927184705711noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19624124.post-68875772860246530832012-03-26T12:44:00.002-04:002012-03-26T12:49:29.469-04:00Lord, Throughout These Forty Days...33We have been looking at Bible events that happened or took place over a 40 day period. These lend insight into the 40 days Jesus spent in the desert. We have already seen the tight parallel between Jesus 40 days in the wilderness and the 40 year wandering of Israel. Now the antecedent event, the 40 days exploration of the Land of Promise will be unpacked.<br />
<br />
God said, "Your children will be shepherds here for forty years, suffering for your unfaithfulness, until the last of your bodies lies in the wilderness. For forty years -- one for each of the forty days you explored the land -- you will suffer for your sins and know what it is like to have me against you" (Numbers 14.33-34 NIV.) So the very important parallel of the wilderness wandering has a strong tie to the 40 days exploration.<br />
<br />
The spies were to assess the land and its people. Their exploration would help the Israeli people become familiar with both the blessings and the barriers to possessing the Promise of God. This was not to ascertain whether they could possess it, but rather how to proceed. God's sure word had established that the land WOULD be theirs.<br />
<br />
They found both the blessings and barriers. Grape clusters so large that two men struggled to carry them back grew there. The rich soil produced amazing crops. They described the land as one "flowing with milk and honey." <br />
<br />
They also found fortified cities. They observed strong people living there. They reported seeing oversized warriors in large communities all over the place.<br />
<br />
Ten of the twelve also added commentary to their observations. They insisted their long-awaited homeland could not be possessed. God's promise would not actualize. They then spread this report and commentary beyond the leadership who asked then to serve. They started telling everyone the dream had ended.<br />
<br />
Two spies, one from Judah and one from Ephraim* offered a dessenting report. They acknowledged the barriers existed, but continued to place possession of the land in the hand of God who had promised it to them. With God all things were possible.<br />
<br />
In His forty days, Jesus anticipates the promise that the Messiah would "save His people from their sins" (Matthew 1.21 NIV.) He, in effect, sizes up the barrier of temptation and the tempter who brought it. The words of Luthers <em>Ein Feste Burg</em> beaufully and powerfully describe the situation here. <br />
<br />
<em><strong><span style="font-size: large;">For still our ancient foe doth seek to work us woe. </span></strong></em><br />
<em><strong><span style="font-size: large;">His power and art are great and armed with cruel hate, </span></strong></em><br />
<em><strong><span style="font-size: large;">on earth is not his equal. </span></strong></em><br />
<br />
<em><strong><span style="font-size: large;">Did we in our own strength confide, our striving would be loosing. </span></strong></em><br />
<em><strong><span style="font-size: large;">Were not the Right Man on our side, the man of God's own choosing. </span></strong></em><br />
<em><strong><span style="font-size: large;">Dost ask who that may be? Christ Jesus it is He: </span></strong></em><br />
<em><strong><span style="font-size: large;">Lord Sabbaoth, His name, from age to age the same. </span></strong></em><br />
<em><strong><span style="font-size: large;">And He must win the battle.</span></strong></em><br />
<br />
As Joshua and Caleb, Jesus does not adjudicate the possiblility of the promise fulfilled. He just familiarizes Himself in experiencial knowledge with the barriers. The blessing of the Promise can be seen as a weak and weary Jesus emerges from the wild COMPLETELY VICTORIOUS over Satan and his exploits.<br />
<br />
Hebrews, which I believe to be an unsigned manuscript of a First Church sermon/teaching (but that's a whole other post,) says Jesus actualizes the fulness of God's Promise. He does what Joshua (unfortunately translated <em>Jesus</em> in KJV) could not. He gives us rest from the struggle that comes only with the achievement of victory (Hebrews 4 NIV.)<br />
<br />
As with the spies, Jesus time in the wilderness did not accomplish the possession, just anticipated and prepared for the possession. Jesus would have to pass through more than the Jordan and the wilderness to free us from our sin. He would have to pass through the cross and the tomb. And because He did we can now have through the application of the Spirit, what the Father promised long ago!<br />
<br />
*<a href="http://pastorchrisplace.blogspot.com/2012/03/lord-throughout-these-forty-days30.html">Joseph and Jesus compared.</a>pastorchris'placehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14199787927184705711noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19624124.post-54722883889953679352012-03-25T01:42:00.000-04:002012-03-25T01:42:00.858-04:00Follow Me -- Into ServiceSensing there must be something more than the decision-dimension to the Kingdom of God, Faith Community Church has returned to the Gospel of Jesus Christ to find out what HE called people to. We have found Him calling, "Come, follow me."<br />
<br />
This Sunday series in Lent unpacks what it might mean to be the people of God calling others to do just that, follow Jesus. It becomes obvious that Jesus doesn't usually say more than "follow," but the time/space context does flesh out the intent.<br />
<br />
A rich, young man comes to Jesus seeking advise about right living and eternal destiny. He has a lot going for him. He is young. Rather than wait til life and its various pursuits have passed, he comes to remember his Creator in the days of his youth. He will serve God with all his youthful vitality and for length of days.<br />
<br />
This young man is rich. He has provisions to do much more than a poor man could in service to Jesus. He has benefitted from the best while growing. He is blessed.<br />
<br />
His moral quest makes him a seeker. Seekers find what they seek much more frequently than non-seekers. He has concern for spiritual things, realizing there is more than a merely physical existance.<br />
<br />
But Jesus says he lacks one thing. "Go sell all you have and give it to the poor, then, come and follow me."<br />
<br />
Moral correctness and financial provision fall short. To follow Jesus for this young man meant letting go of control of his life from this point forward. Selling his possessions, seeing what was his as not his any longer, would be a first step. And as the old axiom says, "Watch that first step, it's a doozie!" Selling his things, like a burnt offering, releases them into God's hand -- it cannot be recovered. Holding everything as stewards for God who really owns all does not impact us. Like Denethor in LOTR, we begin to act as lord rather than leige. But when told to sell it all, burn it all up on the brazen altar, then the issue of ownership arises and our resistance to His rule becomes exposed.<br />
<br />
Keeping the "love your neighbor" side of the Decalogue is not enough. Right living goes well beyond rule keeping. The Lord now calls the young man to give the proceeds of his estate sale to the poor. Following Jesus for this young man meant living for the benefit of others from this point forward. This life of sacrifice continues the act of sacrifice in the call to sell. The young man, like Father Damien, would no longer refer to those in need as you but as we. Giving the proceeds to the poor would be the start of sacrificial living.<br />
<br />
Jesus lived a life of surrender and sacrifice. He lived for the benefit of others. We, like this rich, young man, must decide if Jesus is really Lord and if others are really loved. Following means these two are true.pastorchris'placehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14199787927184705711noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19624124.post-57981916232240436712012-03-24T05:31:00.001-04:002012-03-24T05:31:00.406-04:00Lord, Throughout These Forty Days...32We began yesterday looking at the 40 day and night length of the wilderness experience of Jesus and other places in Scripture where things happened for the same duration. We looked at the 40 days and nights of flood-causing rain Noah experienced. Today we look at Moses' 40 days and nights on the Mountain with God.<br />
<br />
In Deuteronomy 9, Moses recalls his experience on the mountain of revelation. He states that he ate nothing for those days, like Jesus. God gave him revelation of how to order and supply the worship of Israel. God also gave the 10 Simple Rules for Living known classically as the Decalogue. <br />
<br />
God used these 40 days and nights without food to bring humanity closer to Him in behavior reflected in the 10 Commandments. This way of living comes closer to His moral perfection than unrestrained, lawless living. God also uses the place and practices of worship to act out the way to Himself. Substitutionary death, washing, prayer, confession, and the Tabernacle layout with many barriers show forth what we need to come near again to the God we rebelled against. In precept and practice God invites us to fellowship.<br />
<br />
Jesus in the wilderness also goes 40 days and nights without food. He is alone with the Father, just as Moses was alone with God. He shows more clearly what God is like. He lives out moral perfection in human experience. One "greater than Moses" had come.<br />
<br />
Thank God for the Way and not just a way, back to Him!pastorchris'placehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14199787927184705711noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19624124.post-39166289742946664752012-03-23T12:24:00.001-04:002012-03-23T12:31:38.138-04:00Lord, Throughout These Forty Days...31The 40 days in the wilderness tie into allusions from many moments in the history of God's interaction with humanity. Joseph's 40 years in Egypt, Israel's 40 years in the wilderness, the 3-fold temptation of our First Parents, the 3-fold love of the world, the 3-fold declaration of God the Father at the Jordan all connect with aspects of Jesus experience in the Jordanian wilderness. Each brings nuance and insight into the days there.<br />
<br />
Today we look at the 40 days and nights. Another reference came to mind for me as a Sunday School child. It rained 40 days and nights to flood the earth and to float Noah's Ark.<br />
<br />
Noah and his family had prepared an ark of gopher wood at the behest of God. They had provisioned it with food. God had called the animals in groups of sevens and twos. Then God shut door to the ark. It rained for 40 days and nights.God washed the world of the violence and evil practices of humanity.<br />
<br />
They heard God say it was time to enter the ark. God shut the door isolating those inside from those without. Here like in the wilderness, God actively participates in the 40 days. Jesus and Noah were directed by God to enter these days. They were both isolated for God's purpose.<br />
<br />
Both were with wild animals. In both cases, Jesus and Noah had to trust God the Father to tame them while they were together. The enmity that resulted from the rebellion of the Garden was suspended or reversed during the 40 days.<br />
<br />
The forty days for Noah signalled God's judgement on human violence and sin. The forty days for Jesus affirm God's judgement of Him as accepted, loved and pleasing. God's right judgement impact both 40-day events.<br />
<br />
Noah emerges after the 40 days of rain (plus about a year of flood-floating) as the new Parent for Humanity. All people find their ancestory through him. The flood condemned the old order of things (Hebrews 11.7 NIV,) cleared it away and ushered in a new beginning. The rainbow symbolized God's promise never to produce a universal flood. The rain itself gave rise to the sign of God's faithfulness.<br />
<br />
Jesus "...condemned sin in the flesh..." (Romans 8.3 NIV.) What the Deluge could not totally wash away and the Decalogue could not totally restrain, Jesus condemned and totally overcame. Jesus' cross symbolized the breaking of sin's dominion. The instrument of that judgement gave rise to the sign of God's faithfulness. <br />
<br />
Noah's 40 days of judgement point us longingly toward a better judgement. God wishes to remove the sin that taints His once-perfect creation. He must condemn this distructive element wherever it is found, even in the very fiber of His highest creation -- human beings. As a fair judge He cannot overlook what is destroying us and our world just because He loves us. Just because He loves us He must end sin. Christ's 40 days tell us our longed-for deliverance was near, even at the door.<br />
<br />
Thank you Jesus! You not only rescue us from the consequences of sin, You deliver us from the power and domination of sin. "There is now, therefore, no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus!!!!!"<br />
<br />
Jesus would later say the days of Noah typify the days of the Son of Man. The coming of Jesus will involve judgement and restoration. Again God will purge His creation from the polution of sin and violence. Fire, not water, serves as the active agent for the second purge.pastorchris'placehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14199787927184705711noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19624124.post-44439784684557886492012-03-22T10:24:00.001-04:002012-03-22T10:27:42.805-04:00Lord, Throughout These Forty Days...30I made reference to Joseph a few blogs ago. In many ways his 40 years in Egypt bring additional meaning to the 40 days and nights of Jesus in the wilderness. Let's unpack the parallels.<br />
<br />
First, God declared, through a series of dreams, who He knew Joseph to be. He would lead and his older brothers would follow. They would bow down to him. Even his parents would acknowlege his supremacy. God the Father declared, at the Jordan, who He knew Jesus to be. These declarations came before the practical proof but must have been in both their minds as they faced trials.<br />
<br />
Second, adding up the date references in Genesis 37-50 we find Joseph lived in Egypt 39-40 years in slavery, prison and in preparation for the famine that eventually reunites him with his family. These were mostly years of extreme hardship. His slavery immersed him in a strange culture and language. He faced temptation to despair and toward sexual immorality. Hardship came to him due to sibling rivalry, betrayal, sexual harassment, false accusations, being forgotten and human cruelty. Jesus' suffering in the forty-day wilderness have been discussed exhaustively in this series.<br />
<br />
Third, Joseph's slavery began when his brothers exchanged his freedom for 20 shekels of silver. Flags should go up as the whole story of reconciliation with his family involves silver. His brothers bring silver to buy grain. Perhaps the same silver once traded for Joseph's life. Joseph in turn refuses to accept the silver, replacing it in their grain sacks twice. How this should have stirred their consciences. The silver, blood money, was not used. Jesus, we know, was betrayed for 30 pieces of silver -- silver that Judas did not use and later used by the priests to buy a paupers' graveyard.<br />
<br />
Forth, Joseph fathered two sons while in Egypt. Manessah, the older, and Ephraim the younger both recieved blessing and adoption from Jacob as sons. While in the ceremony, though, Jacob reverses the order by blessing Ephraim first. Ephraim means "twice fruitful" and Joseph choose this name because "God has made me fruitful in the land of my suffering." God emphasized the fruitfulness of suffering in this act. Jesus, also, found His wilderness time fruitful as He would next call key followers to His service. Suffering can produce good things and good impacts.<br />
<br />
Joseph did the heavy lifting in his suffering that would provide easy access to life-sustaining food for his family. His path to leadership created relationships with persons of power that released homes and lands in which they could live. They all received the dividends of Joseph's investment of time, trial and tenacity. Their once discarded brother became their desperately needed benefactor. Jesus did the heavy lifting for us on the cross and in the tomb. His relationship to the Father released the power of the Holy Spirit into our living. We receive from Him blessing upon blessing.<br />
<br />
Joseph described his 40 year experience of suffering to his brothers when he said, "You intended it to harm me, God intended it for good...the saving of many lives" (Genesis 50.20 NIV.) This teaches us something about the interaction between temptation and testing for Jesus in the Wilderness. Satan intended to tempt Jesus to sin, to sidetrack to fail. God intended it as part of His saving act accomplished through Jesus. The wilderness was not just about Jesus, it was about all of us.<br />
<br />
God also wants us to know that though someone else, even the Devil, intends us harm, He intends to use our life experiences -- even suffering -- to bring good. "God works all things for good..." The good God brings overwhelms the bad intended, both in intensity and scope. "Where sin did abound, grace overwhelms!" Our momentary and light afflictions may bring blessing and good to many, many people as well as to ourselves. <br />
<br />
The wilderness experience of Jesus calls us to follow Him into the grander scheme of the Kingdom of God. He lived for more than Himself. He lived for Father-God's glory and our good. We need to approach even suffering as an opportunity to glorify God and benefit others. This thing is much bigger than me just getting through my trial, my tough times. Leading in part means going through great adversity so that others might not have to go through it or at least have to go through it alone.<br />
<br />
Finally, the wilderness of Jesus and the Egypt of Joseph teach us that preparations precede productivity. We want the crown, but avoid the cross. We want the wisdom, but stay clear of the experience. We want fruit, but cringe at the pruning. We want the prize, but chafe at the process. Without the struggle there is no victory. Without the training, there is no trophy. Without discipline, there is no freedom.pastorchris'placehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14199787927184705711noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19624124.post-5618222530986071912012-03-21T09:59:00.000-04:002012-03-21T09:59:49.633-04:00Lord, Throughout These Forty Days...29Jesus faced testing in the wilderness. Mark and Luke suggest the testing lasted 40 days and nights. They both use the present participle form of the verb which indicates continuous action. The verbal also indicates the action of testing was "being done" to Jesus. Jesus endured continuous pressure, propositions and testing from a source outside Himself.<br />
<br />
Very few humans could honestly say they were tempted to do anything for 40 continuous days. Our tempting/testing lasts for a much shorter duration. And our effort to resist and remain faithful seems momentous and drains us of emotional, physical, mental and spiritual energy. Our momentary trials cannot compare to this intense, long-lasting trial of Jesus. How weak we truly are!<br />
<br />
Matthew alone implies that Jesus fasted 40 days and nights and THEN came the tempter and the test. This provides a warning as well. Testing and temptation can come when we are weak and where we have weakened ourselves. For instance, Scripture tells husbands and wives "not to deprive each other [of marital relations] except perhaps by mutual consent and for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer.Then come together again so that Satan will not tempt you..." (1 Corinthians 7.5-6 NIV.) <br />
<br />
While Jesus clearly commands, and Scripture provides examples of the practice, fasting from food can easily lead to a temptation to satisfy our hunger at the expense of our vow to God. Going without proper sleep might make us susceptable to a temptation to act out easily-angered. <br />
<br />
Luke adds an powerful reminder to us at the conclusion of the 40 days. "When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left [Jesus] until an opportune time" (Luke 4.13 NIV.) These days did not form the only temptation of Jesus. The devil watched and waited for an "opportune" time -- times of weakness, weariness along the way to Jerusalem's cross/tomb. He would tempt Jesus through the cry of the crowds and the voice of His closest followers. Jesus confirmed in His conduct the confession of the Father. But this was not the end-all temptation.<br />
<br />
So, too, with us. We may endure this season of testing. We may resist temptatin and through Jesus remain faithful. But other times await. We cannot let down our guard.pastorchris'placehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14199787927184705711noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19624124.post-83853864578277661412012-03-20T13:53:00.001-04:002012-03-20T13:56:05.028-04:00Lord, Throughout These Forty Days...28We have examined whether Jesus's experience in the wilderness involved temptation to sin or testing to prove His character. From the detailed teaching in James 1 and the principles from mutliple narratives, we concluded that this time tested Jesus to demonstrate in practical terms Who He is. God the Father had already stated His confident asssessment of Jesus as God the Son -- the Accepted-Beloved-Pleasing. The Spirit affirmed this assessment with His anointing presence.<br />
<br />
That Jesus endured this testing effects us in several ways. The author of Hebrews [whole other post, ;)] points out <span style="font-size: large;"><strong><em>"Because He suffered</em></strong> when He was tempted [tested], <strong><em>He is able to help those who are being tempted [tested]" (Hebrews 2.18 NIV.)</em></strong></span><span style="font-size: small;"> He suffered the hunger, the pressure, the testing circumstances. Being made fully human, like His brothers, He comprehends the casualties caused by testing. He can now dispense mercy and faithfulness to us. He understands the fullest potency of temptation as He alone outlasted the tempter. He knows what it takes to make it through victorious. HE OFFERS US HIS HELP TO OVERCOME TEMPTATION.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">"...we do not have a high priest who is unable to emphathize with our weaknesses,<em> </em><strong><em>but was tempted in every way, just as we are -- yet He did not sin.</em> </strong>Let us approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need"<em> (Hebrews 4.15-16 NIV.)</em></span><span style="font-size: small;"> He endured temptation and remained true. He alone knows the full potential of humanity in the face of temptation. We only know the limit of our breaking point. He alone can appropriate grace and mercy so that we do not have to cave in to the pressure. HE OFFERS GRACE AND MERCY TO THE TEMPTED.</span><br />
<br />
What a compassionate, merciful, understanding Jesus! His wilderness days open up to us days of victory. His suffering eases ours. His faithfulness props up our faithlessness. He walked the wilderness alone so that we could travel temptation in tandum with Him. And with Him, we have freedom from sin! Bless His name!pastorchris'placehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14199787927184705711noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19624124.post-55936257601321930102012-03-19T12:58:00.000-04:002012-03-19T12:58:45.999-04:00Lord, Throughout These Forty Days...27We are exploring whether Jesus faced temptation or trial in the wilderness. We are going to deal with the significance, if any, of either. Something very difficult and important happened to the Lord during and immediately following the 40 days and nights.<br />
<br />
Using the Rule of Faith -- that Scripture, as Truth, is non-contradictory -- we looked at a clear teaching passage on temptation found in James Chapter One to clarify our understanding of the wilderness. Three key truths about temptation emerge: 1. God cannot be tempted by evil. 2. God does not tempt anyone with evil. 3. Our own evil desires lead us into temptation. So Jesus, fully Divine, could not be tempted by evil. Being the new Adam, conceived directly in the womb of a virgin by the overshadowing power of the Spirit, He had no "bent to sinning" not inheriting original sin. Jesus had no inner brokenness that would be enticed. He was not tempted in the same sense that we are.<br />
<br />
Let's look at other narratives. Abraham was tested by God when God told him to sacrifice Isaac as a burnt offering. God does not tempt anyone with evil. God was testing Abraham's trusting obedience. Abraham passed the test and God stopped the sacrifice. <br />
<br />
Satan accused Job's faith and integrity. God trusted Job and granted the Accuser permission to test Job through adversity, trials and sickness. At each increasing level of challenge, God affirmed Job's integrity. Job passed the test and God restored to him all the Accuser had taken.<br />
<br />
God states in several passage that He allows evil, pagan empires to harrass or harm Israel as judgement on bad behaviors. God does not design or delight in the afflicting nation, but grants permission for the eventual renewal of His nation, Israel. He sets boundaries of intinsity and duration for the time of trial.<br />
<br />
In these passages, God actively supports the person being proven through testing. God grants permission to one who wishes to deceive or destroy and sets boundaries for the trial. These adversities are within the scope of God's sovereign will and reign.<br />
<br />
Peter encourages us <strong><em><span style="font-size: large;">"In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief from all kinds of trials. These come so that the proven genuineness of your faith--of greater worth than gold, which perishes even if refined by fire--may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed" </span></em></strong>(1 Peter 1.6-7.) Again, God allows difficulty as a proving ground for our character. He stamps His approval on us by the trials He allows. He expresses His trust in us. <br />
<br />
If we return to James 1.2-3 once again we discover we should, <span style="font-size: large;"><strong><em>"count it pure joy...whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perserverance."</em></strong></span><span style="font-size: small;"> Here again we find a clear teaching that God allows difficulties not as temptation to evil, but as testing our our character. He indends it for good, no matter what the actual trial intends. (Recall Joseph's statement to his sold-him-into-slavery brothers.)</span><br />
<br />
So in the wilderness Jesus faces testing. His Father has full confidence in His Son. The devil has permission to present the scenarios. He vainly hopes to sidetrack the Son into evil. The Spirit supports the Son who makes the Father-pleasing choice every time. Jesus emerges from the wilderness fully accredited in actual space/time testing. He has demonstrated, in part, why the Father declared Him "...My Son, whom I love. With Him I am well-pleased!"<br />
<br />
We need to allow this time in the wilderness to encourage our hearts. When we face hardship, sickness, mis-understanding, betrayal, financial reversal or out-and-out temptation to sin, God has pre-approved the situation based on what He, in absolute perfect omniscience, knows He can get us through. I certainly feel more like Tevye, "I know. I know. We are Your chosen people. But once in a while, can't you choose someone else?" than Peter and James who counted trials and problems as God-authenticating-me pure joy.pastorchris'placehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14199787927184705711noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19624124.post-54016357879908695602012-03-18T05:50:00.000-04:002012-03-18T05:50:00.810-04:00Follow Me -- The Call of Jesus"Come, make a decision for Christ."<br />
<br />
I grew up in that tradition. My Baptist friends called you forward for one decision. My Wesleyan/Holiness church called you forward for two. But we all called for decision. We had serious doubts about the orthodoxy and orthopraxy of churches without altar calls. <br />
<br />
The ministry of decision-based churches forms from a three-fold mission. First came evangelism or calling people to decision. Then came discipleship. Then came service -- to God and man. In reality, discipleship only served to produce more evangelizers to call people to decide. Service only counted if it lead to more decisions. Behind all our talk our mininstry was one-dimensional -- decision making.<br />
<br />
Then we as decision-based believers wondered at the great falling away from the faith. We wrung our hands at the all-too-appearant lack of passion in the pews. We lamented the lack of committment from our members. We bemoaned the lack of holy "peculiarity" between God's people and pagan society. Why?<br />
<br />
In an effort to stave off this crisis of Christlikeness, we strategically decided to add a new dimension to our ministry: DICIPLESHIP. We planned discipleship groups, discipleship classes, discipleship studies and discipleship emphases. Discipleship became the mantra of my denomination -- "Making more and better disciples!" Still the crisis continued.<br />
<br />
I began looking at the teaching of Jesus again. He produced disciples capable of evangelizing, leading and building the kingdom in just three years. He lost only one to falling away. His followers had passion to carry them to and through martyrdom. These men and women distinguished themselves from their pagan culture by love, service and moral excellence.<br />
<br />
Then I noticed a pattern. Patterns are God's way of speaking to someone as slow in understanding as I. JESUS CALLED PEOPLE TO FOLLOW HIM. He did it beside roads, at well heads, near rivers, in the marketplace, in places of sickness, poverty and want. Jesus simply, without qualification, called to people, "Come, follow me."<br />
<br />
This Lent Faith Community Church unpacks this simple, church-culture changing call of Christ. We look at passages in which Jesus makes this call and at the results of such a call. Look for more posts to come,pastorchris'placehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14199787927184705711noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19624124.post-82856536764350427392012-03-17T05:52:00.001-04:002012-03-17T05:52:00.626-04:00Lord, Throughout These Forty Days...25Now at this point in the Lenten journey, we need to address an issue relating to Jesus in the Wilderness. Was Jesus tempted or tested? Could this question be more than word-play? What does it matter, if at all?<br />
<br />
First, the Word says in Matthew 4.1 "Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil." There is a footnote attached to the word tempted. Mark 1.13, "...and he was in the wilderness 40 days, being tempted by the devil." Again the NIV notes multiple possible meanings for the word tempted. Luke 4.2 "...he was tempted by the devil..." with footnote.<br />
<br />
The word is <span style="font-family: Calibri;">πειραζόμενος </span><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">to tempt, try, test to see value or worth. to prove. In the Synoptics, it is a participle indicating continuous action. So the texts of the Wilderness experience allow for an understanding of both testing and tempting happening to Jesus.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Times;">Now let's look a clear teaching passage on God and temptation. James Chapter 1 teaches, <strong><em><span style="font-size: large;">When tempted, no one should say, "God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death. </span></em></strong></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Times;">James ays God cannot be tempted. He cannot be lead astray from His will. As living perfection, God does not have flaw, weakness or gaps. No place can be found to exploit by the tempter. No desire exists to have or be more, as God -- in the Blessed Trinity -- has and is all He can be. Being the Truth, he cannot be other than He is.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Times;">James also says that God does not tempt anyone. Temptation stems from individual, internal desire. In Wesleyan terms, our "bent to sinning" pulls us toward sins that EASILY entangle us. The brokenness of our whole selves lends itself to temptation.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Times;">Jesus is God. As God He cannot be tempted. All-Knowing, He cannot be lead astray as He knows every path and its ending, every suggestion and its motive. All-Powerful, He can resist any pull. Holy, Pure and Good, He cannot do wrong. As Perfection, He lacks nothing so desires nothing more. Temptation as it comes to us, did not come to the Son-God.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Times;">Jesus, while God, is God-in-flesh. As the new Adam, created by the Word of God as the Spirit overshadowed a virgin, Mary, Jesus has not the fallen nature. He inherited no "bent-to-sinning." No imperfection pulled at Him. Unbroken, no internal desire distracted Him.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Times;">We seem to have found that in the sense that we are tempted, fallen and broken and sin-prown as we are, Jesus was not tempted. Later we will explore "testing" as what may have happened to the Son of God in the Wilderness.</span>pastorchris'placehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14199787927184705711noreply@blogger.com0