Luke 19:28-40
The Triumphal Entry
This of course is Palm Sunday. A day that Christians around the world celebrate the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. This is the start of the final week of Christ’s earthly life. The disciples knew something was up.
For the past 3 years, their teacher had been walking around the country or at times taking a boat to cross the sea. Never had he ridden a donkey. No doubt they remember the account of Solomon’s inauguration.
In 1 Kings 1:33, King David told his advisers to have his son Solomon ride on his mule to the local spring where the high priest and prophet will anoint him king. But even beyond this example, there are many Messianic prophecies regarding the King and his inauguration.
The people see their Messiah riding into Jerusalem on a donkey and become overwhelmed. They have their King who will conquer the holy city and rule over the Romans forever. The crowd starts to sing and shout and praise God.
We need to remember this was the Passover and this was and is a spiritually charged event. People from all over the country came to Jerusalem at this time to celebrate and to worship. But this time they came and saw their King ready to take the throne of His Kingdom. Or so they thought.
See, they saw what they wanted to see. They were tired of the Roman control. They were oppressed. They wanted to be a free nation again. They still felt like they were in captivity. They wanted their King to rule over the Romans.
As Jesus climbs the Mount of Olives the people are singing and shouting praise to Him. Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!
The people were laying down their cloaks and palm branches for Him to ride over. They were prepared to make Him King. But if you remember, they wanted to make Him King a year before this when Jesus fed the 5,000.
These people wanted a King and here was the best candidate ever. He could provide for their physical needs and their spiritual needs. And when they saw Him riding the donkey, they knew this was the King!
As Jesus approaches the top of the mountain the crowd is at its loudest. Once over the crest of the mountain the temple is plain view. No doubt the priests that were at the temple preparing for the celebration saw all the activity and commotion of Christ’s entry into Jerusalem.
The priests enter into panic mode. They look up and see their worst nightmare. There is Jesus, with the support of His people, acting like a King. They understand the implications of Jesus’ actions and the praise of the crowd.
The priests demand that Jesus stop the crowd from doing this. Jesus replies, “Their praise is accurate and inevitable.” The battle lines are drawn.
Not only would it surprise and anger the priests, but it would worry the Roman’s as well. Since this was a big festival, the Roman military had extra forces there to keep the crowd under control. They too are watching the same thing and are wondering what is going to happen.
We can’t blame the crowds for their ignorance about the true meaning of this event. Even the disciples who had been with Jesus throughout His ministry didn’t fully understand what was happening until after Jesus ascended into Heaven.
Today, we often say that Jesus came to be a spiritual ruler, not a political ruler. We also accuse the Jewish people of only wanting a political ruler. And both of those statements are true. Jesus was certainly a spiritual ruler and is also a political ruler.
Christ’s church is more than just a spiritual, religious institution. This is true today and this was true from the beginning. Many times in the book of Acts we see disciples of Christ come before political and religious rulers. They are beaten and executed for their beliefs.
The Church should create social and political tension. The issue is how the church operates in the social and political realm. Christ came not to set up a physical political kingdom. Rather He setup His Kingdom in the hearts of his followers.
Our agenda’s as Christians are carried out with love for others and are based on the truth of God’s Word. We do not come with muscles bulging and fists flying to get our way. We accomplish our goals with the cross of Christ, not with a sword of war.
Christians rule with their love for each other. We bring together all types of people. We break down the socio-economic barriers so that we may all become one with each other and one with Christ.
Sadly, by the end of the week, the people had rejected their King. They rejected the things that Jesus stood for. They rejected God’s offer of salvation. They rejected God Himself.
How about you? Do you reject the things Jesus stood for? Jesus stood for love, peace, joy, righteousness, and truth. While you may not outright reject those ideas, do you take them to the next level?
Do you live for those things and display those attributes in your life? Do you reach out to others who may not be on the same social or political wavelength with you? Do you reach out to them with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Christ will return again someday to judge those who have rejected Him. And not only those who have rejected Him but those who have rejected His ways and those who follow Him. Christ rules in the hearts of all believers today.
Is He ruling yours? When He returns again, He will rule over you one way or the other, so you better make sure you know what side you are one.
Many will cry out to Him saying, “Lord, Lord, we have done many things in your name. But Jesus will say to them, depart from me for I never knew you.” Those are words you do not want to hear.
Think about that this Holy week as you take time to rediscover Christ in your life.
Closing Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank you for our time in your word this morning. We thank you for the lessons that you have taught us. We thank you for being our ruler. Help us to more fully understand the things that you want from us.
Help us to focus on you this Holy week and help us to carry out your will for our lives.
AMEN
Showing posts with label Christ. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Christ. Show all posts
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Thursday, December 24, 2009
The Birth of Christ
Scripture Reading (click to download audio) – Luke 2:1-20
Our Scripture this evening is very well known to each one of us. God sets his plan in motion by using the human government to accomplish His will. Caesar orders a census and Joseph and Mary must travel to Bethlehem. This of course is where it was prophesied many years before that the Messiah would be born. God controls all history.
They arrive at the village and look for a place to stay. But the village is full and there was no room for them at the inn. Mary gives birth and lays the child in the manger. Mary and Joseph were obeying God’s plan for their lives.
This once again shows that even when we are doing exactly what God wants, it doesn’t mean we will be given an easy or even comfortable life here on earth. But we are promised that God will take care of us and there is a purpose to God’s plan.
Meanwhile, out in the nearby field there were some shepherds watching over their flock. Suddenly, an angel appears to these shepherds and announces the birth of Christ.
Shepherds were the outcasts of society. Because of their occupation, they were unclean people, both in a religiously ritual way and probably in a sanitary way as well. But we see the birth announced to these people first.
This is God’s way of telling us that his mercy, love, and salvation is available to all. Suddenly, a host of angels appear, singing praise to God. They sang, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased.”
Peace on earth does not mean some type of universal peace among nations, rather it is peace among God’s people. He is pleased with them, not because of anything they have done, but because He sent His son into the world to save the world from their sins.
Our peace comes from Jesus Christ, not from anything we do. God is pleased with us because of Jesus Christ, not from any good work we attempt.
After seeing and hearing the angels, the shepherds head to Bethlehem. Sure enough they find the child laying in a manger, just as the angel described. They spread the word around town and everyone was amazed.
These Shepherds were really the first evangelists. They heard the word and believed. Then they spread the word.
Mary treasured all these things and pondered them in her heart. She has a lot to think about and trying to put it all into perspective would be very challenging. At this point in time, Mary probably has the most complete picture of the entire story.
From the angel Gabriel she was told that this Child will be great. He will be the Son of the Most High and would sit on the throne of David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever. His kingdom will have no end. He is the holy One, the Son of God.
She remembers, Elizabeth’s words calling her the “Mother of my Lord.” She thinks back to Joseph telling her about his dream. That this Child would be conceived by the holy spirit and would save the people from their sins. His name will be called Immanuel, for God is with us.
And now the Shepherds come and call him their Savior. What wonderful things to think about.
Christmas is the time that we too think about the birth of Christ. But we must not stop at his birth. This baby grows, lives, dies, rises, and ascends to Heaven for us. One day He will come back, as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
He will rule the world and judge all people according to their decisions about Him. The Good News about Jesus is that He is available to all who come to Him. Whoever you are, whatever you do, you can have Jesus in your life.
Closing Prayer
Lord, we thank you for coming to earth as a child and living like we live only without sin. Help us to be more like you in our lives. We thank you for that sacrifice that you made for us. Strengthen us, so we may carry out your will here on earth.
Lord, I ask that if there is anyone here who hasn’t been living the life that you want, that you would convict them of it tonight and change their hearts so that they may faithfully serve you with their lives.
Prepare our hearts, minds, and souls for our Communion together with you this evening. AMEN.
Our Scripture this evening is very well known to each one of us. God sets his plan in motion by using the human government to accomplish His will. Caesar orders a census and Joseph and Mary must travel to Bethlehem. This of course is where it was prophesied many years before that the Messiah would be born. God controls all history.
They arrive at the village and look for a place to stay. But the village is full and there was no room for them at the inn. Mary gives birth and lays the child in the manger. Mary and Joseph were obeying God’s plan for their lives.
This once again shows that even when we are doing exactly what God wants, it doesn’t mean we will be given an easy or even comfortable life here on earth. But we are promised that God will take care of us and there is a purpose to God’s plan.
Meanwhile, out in the nearby field there were some shepherds watching over their flock. Suddenly, an angel appears to these shepherds and announces the birth of Christ.
Shepherds were the outcasts of society. Because of their occupation, they were unclean people, both in a religiously ritual way and probably in a sanitary way as well. But we see the birth announced to these people first.
This is God’s way of telling us that his mercy, love, and salvation is available to all. Suddenly, a host of angels appear, singing praise to God. They sang, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased.”
Peace on earth does not mean some type of universal peace among nations, rather it is peace among God’s people. He is pleased with them, not because of anything they have done, but because He sent His son into the world to save the world from their sins.
Our peace comes from Jesus Christ, not from anything we do. God is pleased with us because of Jesus Christ, not from any good work we attempt.
After seeing and hearing the angels, the shepherds head to Bethlehem. Sure enough they find the child laying in a manger, just as the angel described. They spread the word around town and everyone was amazed.
These Shepherds were really the first evangelists. They heard the word and believed. Then they spread the word.
Mary treasured all these things and pondered them in her heart. She has a lot to think about and trying to put it all into perspective would be very challenging. At this point in time, Mary probably has the most complete picture of the entire story.
From the angel Gabriel she was told that this Child will be great. He will be the Son of the Most High and would sit on the throne of David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever. His kingdom will have no end. He is the holy One, the Son of God.
She remembers, Elizabeth’s words calling her the “Mother of my Lord.” She thinks back to Joseph telling her about his dream. That this Child would be conceived by the holy spirit and would save the people from their sins. His name will be called Immanuel, for God is with us.
And now the Shepherds come and call him their Savior. What wonderful things to think about.
Christmas is the time that we too think about the birth of Christ. But we must not stop at his birth. This baby grows, lives, dies, rises, and ascends to Heaven for us. One day He will come back, as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
He will rule the world and judge all people according to their decisions about Him. The Good News about Jesus is that He is available to all who come to Him. Whoever you are, whatever you do, you can have Jesus in your life.
Closing Prayer
Lord, we thank you for coming to earth as a child and living like we live only without sin. Help us to be more like you in our lives. We thank you for that sacrifice that you made for us. Strengthen us, so we may carry out your will here on earth.
Lord, I ask that if there is anyone here who hasn’t been living the life that you want, that you would convict them of it tonight and change their hearts so that they may faithfully serve you with their lives.
Prepare our hearts, minds, and souls for our Communion together with you this evening. AMEN.
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Be Prepared
Luke 21:25-36
Length: 18:55
This is a message given on November 29, 2009 at the Bowdertown United Methodist Church.
Be Prepared
Our Scripture lesson this morning is an unusual one to start the season of Advent. Usually at this time of year we focus on the birth of Christ and the Bible does indeed give us many details about His birth.
But we must remember that Advent means the coming or arrival especially of something important. Certainly, the birth of our Lord and Savior was important, but it already happened. We don’t have to wait for it or hope that it will happen.
So instead we as Christians await the second coming of our Lord and Savior. In fact, the bible tells the story of Jesus’ second coming in just as much detail as His birth. The most clear and dramatic revelation comes from Jesus’ own mouth to His disciples.
With the return of Christ there will be signs throughout the universe. When the world sees these signs it will be in great panic. For the true believer in Jesus Christ we are to lift our heads. The things that will occur during the final days are of great expectation, joy, and triumph for us.
Why should it be a joyful time for us? Because our redemption is near. The final fullness of our redemption. This is when the redeemed, the true believers, are reunited with Christ forever. What a day that will be.
We don’t know when Jesus will return. There have been many claims about His exact return, but we really don’t know when. We do know He is coming soon. His return will be the next big thing that God does. He will return the same way He left, He will come in the clouds with great power and glory.
His return will surprise the world. It will destroy even the most intimate of relationships among people. So we had better be ready. Many people are afraid the world will be destroyed by nuclear war, disease, or climate change.
Indeed our world is unstable because we as people and governments make it that way. God’s word provides the stability that we can trust in. People spend so much time and energy focusing on worldly activities that they forget the eternal truth of God’s world.
We need to pray for the strength to keep alert. Rather than giving us the precise time of Christ’s return we are told to simply be ready.
How can we be ready? We are told to be faithful, watchful, be a good steward of the things we are given, expect His return, and be prepared for it. That is what we need to focus our lives on. That is what we need to do. There is no better time than today.
The first time Christ came to earth the wise men brought gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. What can we bring to Him today? The start of our Advent season is a great time to place the emphasis in our life on the things that God wants us to do.
We should not be misled or get confused by people claiming to know more than the Bible tells us or people speculating as to what will happen when.
We should be out in the world telling people about what we do know. We should be telling them about Christ, no matter what the consequences are. We must stand firm in our faith and not be surprised when we are persecuted for them.
We must live as though we believe the Bible as God’s Holy Word.
We are obviously in the middle of the largest, longest, most elaborate and most expensive celebration in the United States, Christmas. Nothing even comes close to it. In fact, you could collect all other holidays celebrated here, put them together and they wouldn’t even come close Christmas. More activity goes on, more events, more spending, more celebrating, more parties, more everything than with any other event.
The story of the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ is probably the most well-known ancient story in the United States. It is amazing what the birth of Jesus about two thousand years ago has set in motion in terms of our society. And it seems to get bigger every year. It certainly starts earlier every year.
I gage the Christmas shopping season by Wal*Mart. October 21st is when I noticed the first Christmas wrapping paper on the store shelves. Egg Nog, which for some reason is only produced around Christmas, used to be available shortly before Thanksgiving. This year I bought the first carton on October 7th. The Christmas shopping season really does come earlier and earlier each year.
Though the main event historically is the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ, that no longer is the simple reality of Christmas. The birth has been severely obscured and confused and clouded by unrelated worldly activities like shopping and partying. And mix in a few winter items and somehow you get a rather confused scenario.
But still, the reason for all of this at the heart is the birth of the Son of God. The world has literally created its biggest party around that event. Make no mistake about it there will not be a party the next time He comes.
In fact, the Bible says all enterprise business will cease when He comes. It will be the end of everything. The Bible says no more music, no more singing, no more joy, no more celebration the next time He comes.
The world is eager to embrace a baby in a manger, but not at all interested in embracing a sovereign Lord coming in power and glory out of the sky to judge the world. And yet, when our Lord was ready to leave this earth, He said, “I will come again.” Physically, literally, historically just as He came the first time. The first time He came as a baby to save sinners. The second time He comes in full deity and glory to judge sinners and to establish His Kingdom.
That is the message we need to take with us this Christmas. Be prepared.
Closing Prayer
Father, we thank You again for the wonderful truth of Your Second Coming. We can’t even think of the manger in Bethlehem and the baby without thinking about the King, the Lord of glory, the one who will come as judge, they are one and the same.
There’s no point in knowing only the beginning of the story and not the end of it, the end is everything. We thank You, Lord, that You’ve told us not only the beginning with regard to the story of Jesus, but the end as well.
Prepare us for Your return. Prepare us all to give you the gifts that You deserve when You come.
And I pray, Lord, that for those who do not know Christ, those that do not know salvation, that they might even now be rescued before this judgment comes. Save people from their indifference and from their worldly lifestyles.
Help them, Lord, to come to the only refuge, the only place where they can come and escape even to the Lord Jesus Christ who died and rose again for our salvation. Bring many sinners to Christ, we pray for Your glory, Amen
Length: 18:55
This is a message given on November 29, 2009 at the Bowdertown United Methodist Church.
Be Prepared
Our Scripture lesson this morning is an unusual one to start the season of Advent. Usually at this time of year we focus on the birth of Christ and the Bible does indeed give us many details about His birth.
But we must remember that Advent means the coming or arrival especially of something important. Certainly, the birth of our Lord and Savior was important, but it already happened. We don’t have to wait for it or hope that it will happen.
So instead we as Christians await the second coming of our Lord and Savior. In fact, the bible tells the story of Jesus’ second coming in just as much detail as His birth. The most clear and dramatic revelation comes from Jesus’ own mouth to His disciples.
With the return of Christ there will be signs throughout the universe. When the world sees these signs it will be in great panic. For the true believer in Jesus Christ we are to lift our heads. The things that will occur during the final days are of great expectation, joy, and triumph for us.
Why should it be a joyful time for us? Because our redemption is near. The final fullness of our redemption. This is when the redeemed, the true believers, are reunited with Christ forever. What a day that will be.
We don’t know when Jesus will return. There have been many claims about His exact return, but we really don’t know when. We do know He is coming soon. His return will be the next big thing that God does. He will return the same way He left, He will come in the clouds with great power and glory.
His return will surprise the world. It will destroy even the most intimate of relationships among people. So we had better be ready. Many people are afraid the world will be destroyed by nuclear war, disease, or climate change.
Indeed our world is unstable because we as people and governments make it that way. God’s word provides the stability that we can trust in. People spend so much time and energy focusing on worldly activities that they forget the eternal truth of God’s world.
We need to pray for the strength to keep alert. Rather than giving us the precise time of Christ’s return we are told to simply be ready.
How can we be ready? We are told to be faithful, watchful, be a good steward of the things we are given, expect His return, and be prepared for it. That is what we need to focus our lives on. That is what we need to do. There is no better time than today.
The first time Christ came to earth the wise men brought gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. What can we bring to Him today? The start of our Advent season is a great time to place the emphasis in our life on the things that God wants us to do.
We should not be misled or get confused by people claiming to know more than the Bible tells us or people speculating as to what will happen when.
We should be out in the world telling people about what we do know. We should be telling them about Christ, no matter what the consequences are. We must stand firm in our faith and not be surprised when we are persecuted for them.
We must live as though we believe the Bible as God’s Holy Word.
We are obviously in the middle of the largest, longest, most elaborate and most expensive celebration in the United States, Christmas. Nothing even comes close to it. In fact, you could collect all other holidays celebrated here, put them together and they wouldn’t even come close Christmas. More activity goes on, more events, more spending, more celebrating, more parties, more everything than with any other event.
The story of the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ is probably the most well-known ancient story in the United States. It is amazing what the birth of Jesus about two thousand years ago has set in motion in terms of our society. And it seems to get bigger every year. It certainly starts earlier every year.
I gage the Christmas shopping season by Wal*Mart. October 21st is when I noticed the first Christmas wrapping paper on the store shelves. Egg Nog, which for some reason is only produced around Christmas, used to be available shortly before Thanksgiving. This year I bought the first carton on October 7th. The Christmas shopping season really does come earlier and earlier each year.
Though the main event historically is the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ, that no longer is the simple reality of Christmas. The birth has been severely obscured and confused and clouded by unrelated worldly activities like shopping and partying. And mix in a few winter items and somehow you get a rather confused scenario.
But still, the reason for all of this at the heart is the birth of the Son of God. The world has literally created its biggest party around that event. Make no mistake about it there will not be a party the next time He comes.
In fact, the Bible says all enterprise business will cease when He comes. It will be the end of everything. The Bible says no more music, no more singing, no more joy, no more celebration the next time He comes.
The world is eager to embrace a baby in a manger, but not at all interested in embracing a sovereign Lord coming in power and glory out of the sky to judge the world. And yet, when our Lord was ready to leave this earth, He said, “I will come again.” Physically, literally, historically just as He came the first time. The first time He came as a baby to save sinners. The second time He comes in full deity and glory to judge sinners and to establish His Kingdom.
That is the message we need to take with us this Christmas. Be prepared.
Closing Prayer
Father, we thank You again for the wonderful truth of Your Second Coming. We can’t even think of the manger in Bethlehem and the baby without thinking about the King, the Lord of glory, the one who will come as judge, they are one and the same.
There’s no point in knowing only the beginning of the story and not the end of it, the end is everything. We thank You, Lord, that You’ve told us not only the beginning with regard to the story of Jesus, but the end as well.
Prepare us for Your return. Prepare us all to give you the gifts that You deserve when You come.
And I pray, Lord, that for those who do not know Christ, those that do not know salvation, that they might even now be rescued before this judgment comes. Save people from their indifference and from their worldly lifestyles.
Help them, Lord, to come to the only refuge, the only place where they can come and escape even to the Lord Jesus Christ who died and rose again for our salvation. Bring many sinners to Christ, we pray for Your glory, Amen
Monday, October 26, 2009
Your Faith Makes You Well
Mark 10:46-52
Length: 17:28
This is a message given on October 25, 2009 at the Bowdertown United Methodist Church.
Your Faith Makes You Well
We finish up our study of the life of Christ this morning by looking at the healing of the blind men at Jericho. This was right before Jesus Entry into Jerusalem and the final week of His earthly life.
The city of Jericho is located about fifteen miles northeast of Jerusalem. It was the last major stop for people traveling to Jerusalem for the Passover feast. This is Jesus’ only recorded visit to Jericho in Scripture.
If you look at the parallel account of this healing in the Gospel of Matthew there were two blind men healed. The parallel account in the Gospel of Luke says Jesus healed them on the way into Jericho.
The New American Standard reads in verse 46, “Then they came to Jericho. And as He was leaving Jericho.” This seems a little confusing to us. So, which was it? Were there two men or one blind man. Was Jesus leaving the city or entering the city?
If you think back to the Old Testament in Joshua chapter 6, you will no doubt remember the story.
Joshua 6:1-5
Now Jericho was shut up inside and outside because of the people of Israel. None went out, and none came in. 2 And the LORD said to Joshua, “See, I have given Jericho into your hand, with its king and mighty men of valor. 3 You shall march around the city, all the men of war going around the city once. Thus shall you do for six days. 4 Seven priests shall bear seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark. On the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets. 5 And when they make a long blast with the ram’s horn, when you hear the sound of the trumpet, then all the people shall shout with a great shout, and the wall of the city will fall down flat, and the people shall go up, everyone straight before him.”
After the walls fell, the city was in ruins. Rather than clean up the rubble, the city was rebuilt right next door, so you essentially have Jericho OT and Jericho NT, two cities built right next to each other.
So, Jesus leaves old Jericho and enters new Jericho or whatever you want to call it. As for Matthew mentioning two blind men and Mark and Luke only mentioning Bartimaeus, again this is no big deal. Mark and Luke simply focus on the more vocal of the two blind men which is Bartimaeus.
Bartimaeus and his friend are sitting by the roadside begging. That is about the only way a blind man could make a living in those days. These men had staked out a good place on the main road to Jerusalem.
Remember, these men are blind, not death. So they hear all this commotion as Jesus and the crowd pass by. So Bartimaeus asks someone what’s happen. Who is leading this group? They tell him it is Jesus of Nazareth.
Wow, what great news Bartimaeus thinks. No doubt, he has heard the story’s of this man named Jesus. He probably heard about the raising of Lazarus from the dead, since Bethany is only a few miles away.
He also probably heard some rumblings about the Sanhedrin and other religious leaders being out to get this guy. But Bartimaeus doesn’t really care about what the religious leaders think. He simply wants to be healed and believes this man, Jesus can do just that.
He beings to shout, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me.” The crowd told him to be quiet. They try to shut him up, but the more they tried the more aggressive, assertive and louder he got. Finally, he gets Jesus’ attention.
Jesus stops the procession and calls for Bartimaeus. Suddenly, the people who were yelling at this man to be quiet are now encouraging him to come forward to Jesus.
There is no doubt in Bartimaeus’ mind. He is going to be healed. He is full of confidence, he throws his cloak off and runs to Jesus. Think about it for a minute. If your blind, you keep your possessions with you, especially something as important as a cloak to stay warm with. But as I said, Bartimaeus is confident he will be healed and able to see his cloak to retrieve it.
Jesus knows what Bartimaeus wants, but asks him anyways, “What do you want me to do for you?” Again, Jesus wants Bartimaeus to demonstrate his faith, which he already has by leaving his cloak along side the road, but Jesus also wants the crowd to understand.
Jesus heals him, saying your faith has made you well. Bartimaeus’ physical and spiritual eyes were opened. The outward healing reflected also his inner salvation as well. Jesus tells Bartimaeus to go, but Bartimaeus choose to join the procession going to Jerusaem.
Perhaps this will be his very first Passover. What a wonderful experience that would be. Seeing all the sights and participating the Passover with someone special for the first time. I would also have to assume, that Bartimaeus was also there to witness the shocking execution of the Man who gave him sight. No doubt, Bartimaeus was feeling on top of the world at the beginning of the week, but by the end, he too was crushed.
The blind man could see who Jesus really was. He knew He was the Son of David, the Messiah. The religious leaders on the other hand could not. They refused to see Him for who He truly was and is. They were blinded to His true identity.
Bartimaeus’ faith made him well. He was healed. He was able to see. He was saved. No matter how desperate your situation may seem, if you call out to Jesus in faith, He will help you. But don’t take my word for it, take His!
Closing Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank you for giving us another example of faith this morning. Help us to truly remember who You are and that You are there for us when we need you.
We thank you for these past several months of studying Your life and Your teachings. Help us to take what w have learned and apply it to our lives. We do this all for Your honor and glory. AMEN.
Length: 17:28
This is a message given on October 25, 2009 at the Bowdertown United Methodist Church.
Your Faith Makes You Well
We finish up our study of the life of Christ this morning by looking at the healing of the blind men at Jericho. This was right before Jesus Entry into Jerusalem and the final week of His earthly life.
The city of Jericho is located about fifteen miles northeast of Jerusalem. It was the last major stop for people traveling to Jerusalem for the Passover feast. This is Jesus’ only recorded visit to Jericho in Scripture.
If you look at the parallel account of this healing in the Gospel of Matthew there were two blind men healed. The parallel account in the Gospel of Luke says Jesus healed them on the way into Jericho.
The New American Standard reads in verse 46, “Then they came to Jericho. And as He was leaving Jericho.” This seems a little confusing to us. So, which was it? Were there two men or one blind man. Was Jesus leaving the city or entering the city?
If you think back to the Old Testament in Joshua chapter 6, you will no doubt remember the story.
Joshua 6:1-5
Now Jericho was shut up inside and outside because of the people of Israel. None went out, and none came in. 2 And the LORD said to Joshua, “See, I have given Jericho into your hand, with its king and mighty men of valor. 3 You shall march around the city, all the men of war going around the city once. Thus shall you do for six days. 4 Seven priests shall bear seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark. On the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets. 5 And when they make a long blast with the ram’s horn, when you hear the sound of the trumpet, then all the people shall shout with a great shout, and the wall of the city will fall down flat, and the people shall go up, everyone straight before him.”
After the walls fell, the city was in ruins. Rather than clean up the rubble, the city was rebuilt right next door, so you essentially have Jericho OT and Jericho NT, two cities built right next to each other.
So, Jesus leaves old Jericho and enters new Jericho or whatever you want to call it. As for Matthew mentioning two blind men and Mark and Luke only mentioning Bartimaeus, again this is no big deal. Mark and Luke simply focus on the more vocal of the two blind men which is Bartimaeus.
Bartimaeus and his friend are sitting by the roadside begging. That is about the only way a blind man could make a living in those days. These men had staked out a good place on the main road to Jerusalem.
Remember, these men are blind, not death. So they hear all this commotion as Jesus and the crowd pass by. So Bartimaeus asks someone what’s happen. Who is leading this group? They tell him it is Jesus of Nazareth.
Wow, what great news Bartimaeus thinks. No doubt, he has heard the story’s of this man named Jesus. He probably heard about the raising of Lazarus from the dead, since Bethany is only a few miles away.
He also probably heard some rumblings about the Sanhedrin and other religious leaders being out to get this guy. But Bartimaeus doesn’t really care about what the religious leaders think. He simply wants to be healed and believes this man, Jesus can do just that.
He beings to shout, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me.” The crowd told him to be quiet. They try to shut him up, but the more they tried the more aggressive, assertive and louder he got. Finally, he gets Jesus’ attention.
Jesus stops the procession and calls for Bartimaeus. Suddenly, the people who were yelling at this man to be quiet are now encouraging him to come forward to Jesus.
There is no doubt in Bartimaeus’ mind. He is going to be healed. He is full of confidence, he throws his cloak off and runs to Jesus. Think about it for a minute. If your blind, you keep your possessions with you, especially something as important as a cloak to stay warm with. But as I said, Bartimaeus is confident he will be healed and able to see his cloak to retrieve it.
Jesus knows what Bartimaeus wants, but asks him anyways, “What do you want me to do for you?” Again, Jesus wants Bartimaeus to demonstrate his faith, which he already has by leaving his cloak along side the road, but Jesus also wants the crowd to understand.
Jesus heals him, saying your faith has made you well. Bartimaeus’ physical and spiritual eyes were opened. The outward healing reflected also his inner salvation as well. Jesus tells Bartimaeus to go, but Bartimaeus choose to join the procession going to Jerusaem.
Perhaps this will be his very first Passover. What a wonderful experience that would be. Seeing all the sights and participating the Passover with someone special for the first time. I would also have to assume, that Bartimaeus was also there to witness the shocking execution of the Man who gave him sight. No doubt, Bartimaeus was feeling on top of the world at the beginning of the week, but by the end, he too was crushed.
The blind man could see who Jesus really was. He knew He was the Son of David, the Messiah. The religious leaders on the other hand could not. They refused to see Him for who He truly was and is. They were blinded to His true identity.
Bartimaeus’ faith made him well. He was healed. He was able to see. He was saved. No matter how desperate your situation may seem, if you call out to Jesus in faith, He will help you. But don’t take my word for it, take His!
Closing Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank you for giving us another example of faith this morning. Help us to truly remember who You are and that You are there for us when we need you.
We thank you for these past several months of studying Your life and Your teachings. Help us to take what w have learned and apply it to our lives. We do this all for Your honor and glory. AMEN.
Monday, October 19, 2009
Servant Leadership
Mark 10:35-45
Length: 19:42
This is a message given on October 18, 2009 at the Bowdertown United Methodist Church.
Servant Leadership
Our Scripture this morning picks up on the theme we saw a few weeks ago regarding humility. Apparently, James and John hadn’t learned that lesson yet. They still didn’t understand that Jesus was going to die, not build an earthly kingdom. So the disciples, in particular James and John, are trying to assure a place of predominance in the coming kingdom.
According to the parallel account in the Gospel of Matthew, James and John were accompanied by their mother Salome. And Salome actually spoke first, then James and John reiterated the request we see here in the Gospel of Mark.
It is probable that the two sons asked their mother to bring the request to Jesus. She may have more influence over Him than they did. Plus it looks a little less selfish if you have someone else ask a question like this. It is also possible that Salome was Jesus’ aunt.
Their request is a pretty open-ended question. They start by saying “Do for us whatever we ask.” How bold is that! It is obvious from their opening question that they knew their request was a little bit over the top.
I mean Jesus has already been over this topic once. He just got done telling everyone they must be like children. And in verses 35 and 36 He once again stated that He must die and rise again. As usual the disciples weren’t understanding, and in fact will continue this discussion up to the very night Jesus is betrayed.
Jesus replies, “What do you want me to do?” They reply, “We want the seats on the left and right hand side of You.” These would be the places of highest prominence and honor.
Jesus tries to open their eyes and change their way of thinking by talking about the Cup that He will drink from and take the Baptism that He will take.
As we know, they weren’t heading to Jerusalem for a victory celebration. Rather it will be the ultimate suffering and sacrifice. James and John want to be considered Jesus’ closest companions, sitting on either side of Him. They think this will be a promotion not persecution. They believe they can drink the Cup and be Baptized like Christ.
The Cup and Baptism Jesus refers to here is enduring suffering and death as Jesus would. Indeed, both James and John would be persecuted and suffer, just like their Master. As we see in Acts 12:2 , James is the first Apostle to be killed because of his faith.
As we know from Revelation, John, on the other hand, will be the last surviving Apostle. According to church tradition, John was the only Apostle who didn’t die a martyr. His life was spared, but that does not mean he didn’t suffer persecution.
Jesus can promise them persecution but not position for the Kingdom. That is His Father’s choice alone. After His resurrection, Jesus will be given all authority on Heaven and Earth, but during His ministry He lives in submission to the will of the Father.
Jesus submits Himself to the physical and spiritual needs of sinners. He comes as a servant and invites His disciples to do the same. Honors in the Kingdom of God are not based upon selfish ambitions.
While Jesus is telling James and John this, the other disciples must have been within ear shot or came closer to hear what Jesus was saying. They become upset with James and John, not because of the question or their lack of understanding, but because James and John beat them to the punch.
Each one of the twelve still want the place of honor in the kingdom. Even after three years of walking and listening to Jesus, they still didn’t get the purpose of His ministry, which was to die as a servant of humanity.
You would think those twelve would have figured it out, but they didn’t. In fact, almost 2000 years later that lesson is still not understood or implemented.
The problem is simple. We imitate the ways of the world, not the way of Jesus. It seems as though we pattern our church using government, business, or other secular methods rather than the Bible.
We seem to want power and titles and salaries to go alone with our recognition. No doubt this breaks Jesus’ heart when he sees this kind of stuff happening. In fact, at the beginning of His ministry and at the end of His ministry Jesus cleanses the temple. I think if He were here walking today, He would do the same to our Churches.
The way to greatness in the Kingdom is not climbing some ladder like in the corporate world. Rather it is picking up the basin and towel as Jesus did that night in the upper room. This is not difficult for anyone to understand, yet so few actually implement it.
Verse 45 really sums it all up, “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served; but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” He came to serve humanity by dying for our sins.
Jesus was the ultimate example of servant leadership. He is the King of kings and Lord of Lords, but He gave up His privileges and He gave up His life as a selfless sacrifice in serving others.
He paid the price for those who put their faith into Him. The ransom price was paid to God to satisfy His justice and holy wrath against sin. In paying it, “Christ bore our sins in His body on the cross.”
As we see from the example of Christ, true greatness comes from serving others, not using them as the world does. A real leader has a servant’s heart. Rather than seeking ways to have your needs met, look for ways you can minister to the needs of others.
Servant leaders realize the worth and value of other people. They also realize they aren’t above any job or duty If you see something that needs to be done, don’t wait for someone to ask. Take the initiative and do it like a faithful servant.
So often, Christians try to influence the world to live like them. I believe we need to stop living like the world first and truly start living like Christ did. Only then will we truly make a difference.
Closing Prayer
Lord, we thank you for these wonderful lessons that we learn here each week. Help us to truly apply them to our lives. Help us this week to be servant leaders. Help us to be truly great, by serving others out of love for you and love for them.
AMEN
Length: 19:42
This is a message given on October 18, 2009 at the Bowdertown United Methodist Church.
Servant Leadership
Our Scripture this morning picks up on the theme we saw a few weeks ago regarding humility. Apparently, James and John hadn’t learned that lesson yet. They still didn’t understand that Jesus was going to die, not build an earthly kingdom. So the disciples, in particular James and John, are trying to assure a place of predominance in the coming kingdom.
According to the parallel account in the Gospel of Matthew, James and John were accompanied by their mother Salome. And Salome actually spoke first, then James and John reiterated the request we see here in the Gospel of Mark.
It is probable that the two sons asked their mother to bring the request to Jesus. She may have more influence over Him than they did. Plus it looks a little less selfish if you have someone else ask a question like this. It is also possible that Salome was Jesus’ aunt.
Their request is a pretty open-ended question. They start by saying “Do for us whatever we ask.” How bold is that! It is obvious from their opening question that they knew their request was a little bit over the top.
I mean Jesus has already been over this topic once. He just got done telling everyone they must be like children. And in verses 35 and 36 He once again stated that He must die and rise again. As usual the disciples weren’t understanding, and in fact will continue this discussion up to the very night Jesus is betrayed.
Jesus replies, “What do you want me to do?” They reply, “We want the seats on the left and right hand side of You.” These would be the places of highest prominence and honor.
Jesus tries to open their eyes and change their way of thinking by talking about the Cup that He will drink from and take the Baptism that He will take.
As we know, they weren’t heading to Jerusalem for a victory celebration. Rather it will be the ultimate suffering and sacrifice. James and John want to be considered Jesus’ closest companions, sitting on either side of Him. They think this will be a promotion not persecution. They believe they can drink the Cup and be Baptized like Christ.
The Cup and Baptism Jesus refers to here is enduring suffering and death as Jesus would. Indeed, both James and John would be persecuted and suffer, just like their Master. As we see in Acts 12:2 , James is the first Apostle to be killed because of his faith.
As we know from Revelation, John, on the other hand, will be the last surviving Apostle. According to church tradition, John was the only Apostle who didn’t die a martyr. His life was spared, but that does not mean he didn’t suffer persecution.
Jesus can promise them persecution but not position for the Kingdom. That is His Father’s choice alone. After His resurrection, Jesus will be given all authority on Heaven and Earth, but during His ministry He lives in submission to the will of the Father.
Jesus submits Himself to the physical and spiritual needs of sinners. He comes as a servant and invites His disciples to do the same. Honors in the Kingdom of God are not based upon selfish ambitions.
While Jesus is telling James and John this, the other disciples must have been within ear shot or came closer to hear what Jesus was saying. They become upset with James and John, not because of the question or their lack of understanding, but because James and John beat them to the punch.
Each one of the twelve still want the place of honor in the kingdom. Even after three years of walking and listening to Jesus, they still didn’t get the purpose of His ministry, which was to die as a servant of humanity.
You would think those twelve would have figured it out, but they didn’t. In fact, almost 2000 years later that lesson is still not understood or implemented.
The problem is simple. We imitate the ways of the world, not the way of Jesus. It seems as though we pattern our church using government, business, or other secular methods rather than the Bible.
We seem to want power and titles and salaries to go alone with our recognition. No doubt this breaks Jesus’ heart when he sees this kind of stuff happening. In fact, at the beginning of His ministry and at the end of His ministry Jesus cleanses the temple. I think if He were here walking today, He would do the same to our Churches.
The way to greatness in the Kingdom is not climbing some ladder like in the corporate world. Rather it is picking up the basin and towel as Jesus did that night in the upper room. This is not difficult for anyone to understand, yet so few actually implement it.
Verse 45 really sums it all up, “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served; but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” He came to serve humanity by dying for our sins.
Jesus was the ultimate example of servant leadership. He is the King of kings and Lord of Lords, but He gave up His privileges and He gave up His life as a selfless sacrifice in serving others.
He paid the price for those who put their faith into Him. The ransom price was paid to God to satisfy His justice and holy wrath against sin. In paying it, “Christ bore our sins in His body on the cross.”
As we see from the example of Christ, true greatness comes from serving others, not using them as the world does. A real leader has a servant’s heart. Rather than seeking ways to have your needs met, look for ways you can minister to the needs of others.
Servant leaders realize the worth and value of other people. They also realize they aren’t above any job or duty If you see something that needs to be done, don’t wait for someone to ask. Take the initiative and do it like a faithful servant.
So often, Christians try to influence the world to live like them. I believe we need to stop living like the world first and truly start living like Christ did. Only then will we truly make a difference.
Closing Prayer
Lord, we thank you for these wonderful lessons that we learn here each week. Help us to truly apply them to our lives. Help us this week to be servant leaders. Help us to be truly great, by serving others out of love for you and love for them.
AMEN
Monday, October 12, 2009
The Rich Young Ruler
Mark 10:17-27
Length: 19:17
This is a message given on October 11, 2009 at the Bowdertown United Methodist Church.
The Rich Young Ruler
As Jesus makes His way to Jerusalem a rich young man stopped Him and asked Him a question. Even though this man was young and rich, his question to Jesus appears to be sincere. It isn’t a trap like the questions we see from the Pharisees, it is simply an honest question.
In fact, the Scripture tells us the man knelt before Jesus and appealed to His integrity by calling Him a good teacher. This young man asks the question that everyone wants to know the answer too. “What must I do to inherit eternal life.”
There are really only two types of religious systems. One where you earn your way to eternal life and the Christian way of accepting salvation through Christ. The Jews were taught the legalistic way of earning your salvation by doing good works.
Right away, Jesus questioned the young man about the reason for calling Him good. “Why do you call Me Good? No one is good except God alone.” By saying this Jesus challenged the young man to think about who Jesus really was.
Since only God is Good, was the young man prepared to affirm Jesus as God? Only after understanding this will the young man be able to understand the answer Jesus is about to give. Jesus goes on to say, you need to obey the commandments.
This was a typical Jewish response. The Jews were convinced that a person gained favor with God by their own good behavior. All of the commandments Jesus states are commands with interacting with other people, not necessarily God.
The young man hears the answer and responds by saying, “Yeah, I’ve heard that many times before and I obey those commands. What I am still missing?” Again, this was a sincere response by the young man. He probably has externally obeyed those commandments, but internally his attitude and motives may not have always been right.
He feels something missing. He knows that none of his previous good deeds have earned him eternal life.
So, Jesus tells this man to give away all of his possessions and give the money to the poor. By saying this Jesus was not making either philanthropy or poverty a requirement for salvation. Rather, Jesus was simple exposing the young man’s heart.
See, this young man thought he was innocent, but in reality he loved his possessions more than others. More importantly though, he refused to obey Christ’s direct command by simply walking away.
This young man chose earthly riches instead of obeying God and receiving eternal life and heavenly riches. He would not submit to the Lordship of Christ. He went away sad, because the price was too high for him. He loved his wealth more than God.
Every disciple of Jesus Christ is called to follow Him in faith. But sometimes there are obstacles that stand between us and Jesus. We must remove those barriers in order to be faithful to Him.
For this young man, the barrier was money. For others it might be their family or their business. Just because the obstacle is different for us, it doesn’t make the demand any different.
We live in a materialistic society today. We need to remember that God owns it all, He just lets us use it while we are here and we are to use what we have for His purposes.
This young man goes away sad, still looking for a way to gain salvation and keep his money. That is the way a lot of people still think today. However, we know that is not how salvation works.
In order to be saved, you must receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. You must make a choice as to where you will focus your time and attention. On earthly pursuits or Godly ones?
As Jesus watches this young man walk away, He turns to His disciples and says “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God.”
This was a shocking statement to the disciples and the crowd. The Jews believed that wealth was a gift from God, which indeed can be true. But wealth could also be a curse. See, wealth tends to create self-sufficiency and a false sense of security. This often times leads those people with wealth to think they don’t need God or the things He provides for them. They can live life on their own.
The crowd asks, “who can be saved then?” We know the answer to that. We aren’t saved by works. We must abandon all that stands between us and Jesus. We need to trust God alone and Him completely. Salvation is God’s gracious gift to us through faith.
The story described in our Gospel reading this morning is a simple one. A man comes to Jesus looking for the answer to eternal life, but goes away sad because he doesn’t want to pay the price.
How about you? You have heard the price this morning. Jesus demands 100%, are you willing to make the commitment or will you walk away? The choice is yours.
Eternal life s more than just eternal existence, it is a different quality of life. Eternal life is in Christ alone. Those who possess it have “passed out of death into life.” They have died to sin and are alive to God. They have the very life of Christ in them. And they enjoy that relationship with Jesus Christ that will never end.
Does that describe your life? I hope so. Eternal life lasts forever, but begins right now. Enjoy it. Salvation and all its benefits come from God, both in this life and the life to come.
Closing Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank you this morning for this simple story. It is laid out so well for us and so easy to understand. Help us to follow through with our commitment to you and not walk away like this young man did.
Strengthen us to keep our material wealth in check and help us to remember where it all came from in the first place. Help us to use what you have given to us, to honor you. AMEN.
Length: 19:17
This is a message given on October 11, 2009 at the Bowdertown United Methodist Church.
The Rich Young Ruler
As Jesus makes His way to Jerusalem a rich young man stopped Him and asked Him a question. Even though this man was young and rich, his question to Jesus appears to be sincere. It isn’t a trap like the questions we see from the Pharisees, it is simply an honest question.
In fact, the Scripture tells us the man knelt before Jesus and appealed to His integrity by calling Him a good teacher. This young man asks the question that everyone wants to know the answer too. “What must I do to inherit eternal life.”
There are really only two types of religious systems. One where you earn your way to eternal life and the Christian way of accepting salvation through Christ. The Jews were taught the legalistic way of earning your salvation by doing good works.
Right away, Jesus questioned the young man about the reason for calling Him good. “Why do you call Me Good? No one is good except God alone.” By saying this Jesus challenged the young man to think about who Jesus really was.
Since only God is Good, was the young man prepared to affirm Jesus as God? Only after understanding this will the young man be able to understand the answer Jesus is about to give. Jesus goes on to say, you need to obey the commandments.
This was a typical Jewish response. The Jews were convinced that a person gained favor with God by their own good behavior. All of the commandments Jesus states are commands with interacting with other people, not necessarily God.
The young man hears the answer and responds by saying, “Yeah, I’ve heard that many times before and I obey those commands. What I am still missing?” Again, this was a sincere response by the young man. He probably has externally obeyed those commandments, but internally his attitude and motives may not have always been right.
He feels something missing. He knows that none of his previous good deeds have earned him eternal life.
So, Jesus tells this man to give away all of his possessions and give the money to the poor. By saying this Jesus was not making either philanthropy or poverty a requirement for salvation. Rather, Jesus was simple exposing the young man’s heart.
See, this young man thought he was innocent, but in reality he loved his possessions more than others. More importantly though, he refused to obey Christ’s direct command by simply walking away.
This young man chose earthly riches instead of obeying God and receiving eternal life and heavenly riches. He would not submit to the Lordship of Christ. He went away sad, because the price was too high for him. He loved his wealth more than God.
Every disciple of Jesus Christ is called to follow Him in faith. But sometimes there are obstacles that stand between us and Jesus. We must remove those barriers in order to be faithful to Him.
For this young man, the barrier was money. For others it might be their family or their business. Just because the obstacle is different for us, it doesn’t make the demand any different.
We live in a materialistic society today. We need to remember that God owns it all, He just lets us use it while we are here and we are to use what we have for His purposes.
This young man goes away sad, still looking for a way to gain salvation and keep his money. That is the way a lot of people still think today. However, we know that is not how salvation works.
In order to be saved, you must receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. You must make a choice as to where you will focus your time and attention. On earthly pursuits or Godly ones?
As Jesus watches this young man walk away, He turns to His disciples and says “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God.”
This was a shocking statement to the disciples and the crowd. The Jews believed that wealth was a gift from God, which indeed can be true. But wealth could also be a curse. See, wealth tends to create self-sufficiency and a false sense of security. This often times leads those people with wealth to think they don’t need God or the things He provides for them. They can live life on their own.
The crowd asks, “who can be saved then?” We know the answer to that. We aren’t saved by works. We must abandon all that stands between us and Jesus. We need to trust God alone and Him completely. Salvation is God’s gracious gift to us through faith.
The story described in our Gospel reading this morning is a simple one. A man comes to Jesus looking for the answer to eternal life, but goes away sad because he doesn’t want to pay the price.
How about you? You have heard the price this morning. Jesus demands 100%, are you willing to make the commitment or will you walk away? The choice is yours.
Eternal life s more than just eternal existence, it is a different quality of life. Eternal life is in Christ alone. Those who possess it have “passed out of death into life.” They have died to sin and are alive to God. They have the very life of Christ in them. And they enjoy that relationship with Jesus Christ that will never end.
Does that describe your life? I hope so. Eternal life lasts forever, but begins right now. Enjoy it. Salvation and all its benefits come from God, both in this life and the life to come.
Closing Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank you this morning for this simple story. It is laid out so well for us and so easy to understand. Help us to follow through with our commitment to you and not walk away like this young man did.
Strengthen us to keep our material wealth in check and help us to remember where it all came from in the first place. Help us to use what you have given to us, to honor you. AMEN.
Monday, October 5, 2009
Hard Hearts in Marriage
Mark 10:2-12
Length: 17:50
This is a message given on October 4, 2009 at the Bowdertown United Methodist Church.
Hard Hearts in Marriage
Jesus is continuing his journey to Jerusalem. The crowds continue to grow. The Pharisees are still monitoring Jesus’ activity and teaching, just waiting for the right opportunity to pounce on Him.
They decide to ask Him a question about divorce. Not because they are really in need of any answer, but simply to stir up trouble. Everyone stops and focuses their attention on Jesus to hear His answer. See, divorce was one of those hot button issues then as it is now as well.
The Pharisee’s had two main schools of thought on the issue. One division followed the teaching of Hillel who said a man could divorce his wife is she displeased him for almost any reason. If supper was burnt, the husband could divorce his wife. If the wife spoke disrespectfully of her in-laws, the husband could file for divorce.
The other group followed the teaching of Shammai, who said a man could only divorce his wife for a serious sexual offense. This view is of course closer to Jesus’ teaching, but still not close enough.
So as you can imagine, whatever Jesus says He is going to upset half of the group. You might be wondering why the Pharisees bring the topic of divorce up now. Well, Jesus is in the neighborhood of John the Baptist.
And if you remember it was over this issue that John was beheaded. So no doubt the Pharisees are thinking they can get Jesus to say something that will cause Him to be beheaded as well.
Jesus responds, “What did Moses command you?” Jesus is setting the ground rules for the debate. The answer to the question does concern someone interpretation or feelings. Rather, the answer lies in scripture.
We know that God designed a man and a women o be married to each other. This goes back to Genesis 1:27. They belong together physically, emotionally, and spiritually. This involves leaving your father and mother and being one with each other. Marriage is a covenant with commitment and faithful intimacy.
This is God’s design from the beginning. They become life partners, co-laborers. They are yoked together. One man with one women. God ordains marriage and that covenant should not be broken.
The Pharisees answer Jesus’ question by responding that Moses commanded a man to divorce his wife and send her away. The Pharisees response is partially correct. Moses did permit divorce, but didn’t command divorce as the Pharisees were implying.
Moses is not advocating divorce, but he does regulate it. And remember, this isn’t Moses, rather it is God using Moses to lay down the law. We also need to keep in mind that this was truly a male-dominated society where women and children were treated as property not people.
Jesus tells the Pharisees that God allowed divorce because of the hardness of their hearts. So Moses isn’t stopping divorce, but he is creating some regulations for it to protect the people involved, especially the women and children.
So a couple of questions arise from Jesus’ teaching. Since Jesus is confirming the possibility of divorce, what are the grounds?
It is clear that Jesus grants permission to divorce an unfaithful spouse. This isn’t a command. In fact, if there can be a reconciliation and forgiveness their should be. Christians are part of the body of Christ, therefore, Christians should seek the counsel and guidance of other members of that body. But most importantly, to seek council from God through prayer and reading His Word.
So, is unfaithfulness the only reason for divorce? Well, we learn from 1 Corinthians 7:15 that if an unbelieving spouse wants out of the marriage the believer is to let them go to keep the peace. The key to these two circumstances is that the commitment and the faithfulness of the covenant was broken.
We must be faithful to what the Scripture teaches. And part of the Scriptures tells us to be compassionate. So we need to apply the Word of God faithfully to our lives, yet still maintain sensitivity and compassion.
To finish up our scripture this morning, in verse 10, the disciples question Him about divorce some more, so they can have a more thorough understanding of His teaching. Jesus’ final statement is showing “equal” rights to men and women.
Men and women have the same rights when it comes to divorce and remarriage. There are no differences.
The sanctity of marriage is serious business in God’s eyes. Make no mistake about it, divorce is always bad. Malachi 2:17 plainly tells us that God hates divorce. It is a failure and should be recognized as such. That being said, we need to remember that we live in a fallen world and sometimes the conditions of life are less than perfect.
We don’t always have the option of choose between good and evil or right and wrong. Sometimes we need to choose bad over badder or wrong or wronger! How’s that for proper grammar!
Though God hates divorce, there are times when it is the lesser of the evils and would prevent a future and even greater catastrophe. So He allows it.
Let me close by saying, if you are divorced or have been divorced, God still loves you. You are not automatically rejected from Him. It is not something that will keep you from Him.
The marriage relationship is beautiful and is a part of God’s plan for many of us. They do however, take a tremendous amount of time and energy. Let us not forget that God has given some of us the gift of singleness, as well.
Whatever our situation might be, married, single, divorced, remarried. Let us remember that whatever we do, we do for God’s glory and honor. We should live by His Word.
Closing Prayer
Heavenly father, we thank you for our marriages. We thank you that you enable us to become one with other. We thank you that they are able to strengthen us and fill our weaknesses. Help us to truly honor our commitment to them and to you for you glory. AMEN.
Length: 17:50
This is a message given on October 4, 2009 at the Bowdertown United Methodist Church.
Hard Hearts in Marriage
Jesus is continuing his journey to Jerusalem. The crowds continue to grow. The Pharisees are still monitoring Jesus’ activity and teaching, just waiting for the right opportunity to pounce on Him.
They decide to ask Him a question about divorce. Not because they are really in need of any answer, but simply to stir up trouble. Everyone stops and focuses their attention on Jesus to hear His answer. See, divorce was one of those hot button issues then as it is now as well.
The Pharisee’s had two main schools of thought on the issue. One division followed the teaching of Hillel who said a man could divorce his wife is she displeased him for almost any reason. If supper was burnt, the husband could divorce his wife. If the wife spoke disrespectfully of her in-laws, the husband could file for divorce.
The other group followed the teaching of Shammai, who said a man could only divorce his wife for a serious sexual offense. This view is of course closer to Jesus’ teaching, but still not close enough.
So as you can imagine, whatever Jesus says He is going to upset half of the group. You might be wondering why the Pharisees bring the topic of divorce up now. Well, Jesus is in the neighborhood of John the Baptist.
And if you remember it was over this issue that John was beheaded. So no doubt the Pharisees are thinking they can get Jesus to say something that will cause Him to be beheaded as well.
Jesus responds, “What did Moses command you?” Jesus is setting the ground rules for the debate. The answer to the question does concern someone interpretation or feelings. Rather, the answer lies in scripture.
We know that God designed a man and a women o be married to each other. This goes back to Genesis 1:27. They belong together physically, emotionally, and spiritually. This involves leaving your father and mother and being one with each other. Marriage is a covenant with commitment and faithful intimacy.
This is God’s design from the beginning. They become life partners, co-laborers. They are yoked together. One man with one women. God ordains marriage and that covenant should not be broken.
The Pharisees answer Jesus’ question by responding that Moses commanded a man to divorce his wife and send her away. The Pharisees response is partially correct. Moses did permit divorce, but didn’t command divorce as the Pharisees were implying.
Moses is not advocating divorce, but he does regulate it. And remember, this isn’t Moses, rather it is God using Moses to lay down the law. We also need to keep in mind that this was truly a male-dominated society where women and children were treated as property not people.
Jesus tells the Pharisees that God allowed divorce because of the hardness of their hearts. So Moses isn’t stopping divorce, but he is creating some regulations for it to protect the people involved, especially the women and children.
So a couple of questions arise from Jesus’ teaching. Since Jesus is confirming the possibility of divorce, what are the grounds?
It is clear that Jesus grants permission to divorce an unfaithful spouse. This isn’t a command. In fact, if there can be a reconciliation and forgiveness their should be. Christians are part of the body of Christ, therefore, Christians should seek the counsel and guidance of other members of that body. But most importantly, to seek council from God through prayer and reading His Word.
So, is unfaithfulness the only reason for divorce? Well, we learn from 1 Corinthians 7:15 that if an unbelieving spouse wants out of the marriage the believer is to let them go to keep the peace. The key to these two circumstances is that the commitment and the faithfulness of the covenant was broken.
We must be faithful to what the Scripture teaches. And part of the Scriptures tells us to be compassionate. So we need to apply the Word of God faithfully to our lives, yet still maintain sensitivity and compassion.
To finish up our scripture this morning, in verse 10, the disciples question Him about divorce some more, so they can have a more thorough understanding of His teaching. Jesus’ final statement is showing “equal” rights to men and women.
Men and women have the same rights when it comes to divorce and remarriage. There are no differences.
The sanctity of marriage is serious business in God’s eyes. Make no mistake about it, divorce is always bad. Malachi 2:17 plainly tells us that God hates divorce. It is a failure and should be recognized as such. That being said, we need to remember that we live in a fallen world and sometimes the conditions of life are less than perfect.
We don’t always have the option of choose between good and evil or right and wrong. Sometimes we need to choose bad over badder or wrong or wronger! How’s that for proper grammar!
Though God hates divorce, there are times when it is the lesser of the evils and would prevent a future and even greater catastrophe. So He allows it.
Let me close by saying, if you are divorced or have been divorced, God still loves you. You are not automatically rejected from Him. It is not something that will keep you from Him.
The marriage relationship is beautiful and is a part of God’s plan for many of us. They do however, take a tremendous amount of time and energy. Let us not forget that God has given some of us the gift of singleness, as well.
Whatever our situation might be, married, single, divorced, remarried. Let us remember that whatever we do, we do for God’s glory and honor. We should live by His Word.
Closing Prayer
Heavenly father, we thank you for our marriages. We thank you that you enable us to become one with other. We thank you that they are able to strengthen us and fill our weaknesses. Help us to truly honor our commitment to them and to you for you glory. AMEN.
Monday, September 28, 2009
Are You Salty?
Mark 9:38-50
Length: 20:42
This is a message given on September 27, 2009 at the Bowdertown United Methodist Church.
Our scripture reading this morning continues with the theme we saw last week. That is of humility and being like children.
After Jesus’ teaching about humility, John’s conscience was obviously bothered by something he had done or witnessed. So John speaks up and explains they had caught someone casting out demons in the name of Jesus and they tried to prevent the man from doing that because he was not a part of their group.
Apparently Jewish exorcisms were relatively common. This man was using the name of Jesus to cast out demons. This isn’t surprising because Jewish exorcists used the names of powerful historical people to perform their rituals.
The surprising thing here is the fact that using Jesus’ name worked! This tells us that the unnamed exorcist was not a fraud, but was a true believe in Jesus Christ. John and the other disciples opposed this man because they didn’t know him. He wasn’t openly and officially a member of their group.
Jesus ordered them not to hinder the exorcist. “Anyone who is sincerely working for me, in my name, is not going to quickly and easily turn from me.”
There is no neutral ground with Jesus. Those who are not against Him are on His side, but by the same token, those who are not with Him are against Him. Jesus considers acts of kindness done to His followers as if you were doing that act of kindness to Jesus himself.
The point of this passage is not really about denominations as we know them today, however, the application is there. Just because we aren’t Lutherans or Catholics doesn’t me we should try to shut those churches down.
Just because someone doesn’t follow all the rules of the United Methodist Book of Discipline doesn’t mean they aren’t a follower of Christ. Allegiance to Jesus is essential to fellowship. It is a call to cooperate with others to proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ.
The Catholics claim Peter as their founding father. That is great. The Baptists claim John the Baptist is their founding father, therefore, that makes them better. Well you know what?
As you saw in our Scripture last week, we shouldn’t be having discussions about which one of us is better. We are all followers of Jesus Christ right? Then let us all humble ourselves and serve God.
Back to our Scripture, Jesus moves from discussing children to discussing discipleship. God takes care of His children as a father cares for his children. Anyone who messes with your child is going to be in trouble, right? God feels the same way about us.
Anyone who tries to trick or trip up a Christian is going to be in a lot of trouble. Jesus said it would be better if a millstone was hung around his neck and cast into the sea. A millstone was a huge stone that was used to grind grain.
This would be a horrifying death. The person would sink to the bottom of the sea real quick and there would be no chance of escape or survival. Even this type of death would be better than what will happen to you if you lead a believer into sin.
Now living in this world today, we cannot possible avoid all temptation to sin. But we cannot avoid the personal responsibility when we are the cause of another person to stumble. We also cannot avoid the responsibility of our own sin. We cannot say the devil made me do it.
Jesus then talks about body parts that “cause” you to sin and removing them. Normally and most often I take a literal view of what the Bible says. This is one of those cases where we are to interpret what Jesus is saying figuratively.
No amount of self-mutilation can deal with sin, it is a matter of the heart. Jesus is simply emphasizing the seriousness of sin and the need to deal with it appropriately, drastically, and immediately. This is simply a call to repentance, a change of life.
Jesus also gives us a very vivid description of Hell here. Gehenna, which is the name of a valley south of Jerusalem, had a garbage dump where a fire was constantly burning. The smell was no doubt repulsive and the heat would have been intense. This became a picture of God’s eternal place of punishment.
Finally, in verse 49, we see a difficult statement from Jesus. “For everyone will be salted with fire.” Verse 50 tells us salt is good, but verse 48 tells us fire is bad! So which is it?
Salt was an essential ingredient in early days before refrigeration. It preserved food. Today, we pretty much just use salt to increase our blood pressure!
There have been many different interpretations about this saying. The way I understand it is you can either suffer with and for Jesus now or you will suffer later and eternally if you aren’t walking with Him.
We know that believers will suffer while working for Jesus in this world and we are purified through that suffering and persecution. When Jesus says to have salt in yourself He is saying that the work of the Word of God and the Spirit of God in your life will produce Godliness and will enable you to act as a preservative in the world.
So what do we get out of Jesus’ teachings this morning?
For one thing, we share a common faith with other Christians, no matter what denomination. And since we share the common faith we also share a common goal. That is to live and proclaim the Word of God.
Correct theology is important, but should not be an excuse to avoid doing what we are supposed to be doing for God. People who are on Jesus’ side have the same goal and our personal differences should not interfere with that divine mandate.
Finally, Jesus used extremely distributing language to stress the importance of removing sin from our lives. Painful discipline is always required of true and faithful followers of Jesus Christ. It might require us to give up a job, a relationship, or a habit that is pulling us away from God. Nothing should stand in the way of our faith.
As salt makes a difference in the way food tastes, we too should make a difference in the lives of those people that we come into contact with. When we lose that desire to salt the earth with the Gospel, then we become useless to God.
Think about how you can make a difference this week. Think about how you can be salt to this world.
Closing Prayer
Lord, help make us the salt of the earth. Help us to make a difference in our surroundings. Help us to reach out to others in faith to minister to the world. Most importantly, help us to recognize and remove the sin from our lives. Help us to truly be salty people. AMEN
Length: 20:42
This is a message given on September 27, 2009 at the Bowdertown United Methodist Church.
Our scripture reading this morning continues with the theme we saw last week. That is of humility and being like children.
After Jesus’ teaching about humility, John’s conscience was obviously bothered by something he had done or witnessed. So John speaks up and explains they had caught someone casting out demons in the name of Jesus and they tried to prevent the man from doing that because he was not a part of their group.
Apparently Jewish exorcisms were relatively common. This man was using the name of Jesus to cast out demons. This isn’t surprising because Jewish exorcists used the names of powerful historical people to perform their rituals.
The surprising thing here is the fact that using Jesus’ name worked! This tells us that the unnamed exorcist was not a fraud, but was a true believe in Jesus Christ. John and the other disciples opposed this man because they didn’t know him. He wasn’t openly and officially a member of their group.
Jesus ordered them not to hinder the exorcist. “Anyone who is sincerely working for me, in my name, is not going to quickly and easily turn from me.”
There is no neutral ground with Jesus. Those who are not against Him are on His side, but by the same token, those who are not with Him are against Him. Jesus considers acts of kindness done to His followers as if you were doing that act of kindness to Jesus himself.
The point of this passage is not really about denominations as we know them today, however, the application is there. Just because we aren’t Lutherans or Catholics doesn’t me we should try to shut those churches down.
Just because someone doesn’t follow all the rules of the United Methodist Book of Discipline doesn’t mean they aren’t a follower of Christ. Allegiance to Jesus is essential to fellowship. It is a call to cooperate with others to proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ.
The Catholics claim Peter as their founding father. That is great. The Baptists claim John the Baptist is their founding father, therefore, that makes them better. Well you know what?
As you saw in our Scripture last week, we shouldn’t be having discussions about which one of us is better. We are all followers of Jesus Christ right? Then let us all humble ourselves and serve God.
Back to our Scripture, Jesus moves from discussing children to discussing discipleship. God takes care of His children as a father cares for his children. Anyone who messes with your child is going to be in trouble, right? God feels the same way about us.
Anyone who tries to trick or trip up a Christian is going to be in a lot of trouble. Jesus said it would be better if a millstone was hung around his neck and cast into the sea. A millstone was a huge stone that was used to grind grain.
This would be a horrifying death. The person would sink to the bottom of the sea real quick and there would be no chance of escape or survival. Even this type of death would be better than what will happen to you if you lead a believer into sin.
Now living in this world today, we cannot possible avoid all temptation to sin. But we cannot avoid the personal responsibility when we are the cause of another person to stumble. We also cannot avoid the responsibility of our own sin. We cannot say the devil made me do it.
Jesus then talks about body parts that “cause” you to sin and removing them. Normally and most often I take a literal view of what the Bible says. This is one of those cases where we are to interpret what Jesus is saying figuratively.
No amount of self-mutilation can deal with sin, it is a matter of the heart. Jesus is simply emphasizing the seriousness of sin and the need to deal with it appropriately, drastically, and immediately. This is simply a call to repentance, a change of life.
Jesus also gives us a very vivid description of Hell here. Gehenna, which is the name of a valley south of Jerusalem, had a garbage dump where a fire was constantly burning. The smell was no doubt repulsive and the heat would have been intense. This became a picture of God’s eternal place of punishment.
Finally, in verse 49, we see a difficult statement from Jesus. “For everyone will be salted with fire.” Verse 50 tells us salt is good, but verse 48 tells us fire is bad! So which is it?
Salt was an essential ingredient in early days before refrigeration. It preserved food. Today, we pretty much just use salt to increase our blood pressure!
There have been many different interpretations about this saying. The way I understand it is you can either suffer with and for Jesus now or you will suffer later and eternally if you aren’t walking with Him.
We know that believers will suffer while working for Jesus in this world and we are purified through that suffering and persecution. When Jesus says to have salt in yourself He is saying that the work of the Word of God and the Spirit of God in your life will produce Godliness and will enable you to act as a preservative in the world.
So what do we get out of Jesus’ teachings this morning?
For one thing, we share a common faith with other Christians, no matter what denomination. And since we share the common faith we also share a common goal. That is to live and proclaim the Word of God.
Correct theology is important, but should not be an excuse to avoid doing what we are supposed to be doing for God. People who are on Jesus’ side have the same goal and our personal differences should not interfere with that divine mandate.
Finally, Jesus used extremely distributing language to stress the importance of removing sin from our lives. Painful discipline is always required of true and faithful followers of Jesus Christ. It might require us to give up a job, a relationship, or a habit that is pulling us away from God. Nothing should stand in the way of our faith.
As salt makes a difference in the way food tastes, we too should make a difference in the lives of those people that we come into contact with. When we lose that desire to salt the earth with the Gospel, then we become useless to God.
Think about how you can make a difference this week. Think about how you can be salt to this world.
Closing Prayer
Lord, help make us the salt of the earth. Help us to make a difference in our surroundings. Help us to reach out to others in faith to minister to the world. Most importantly, help us to recognize and remove the sin from our lives. Help us to truly be salty people. AMEN
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Humility
Mark 9:30-37
Length: 20:23
This is a message given on September 20, 2009 at the Bowdertown United Methodist Church.
At the beginning of Mark chapter 9 we read about the transfiguration of Christ. We studied this a few months ago on transfiguration Sunday, so we can skip over it this morning. When Peter, James, John, and Jesus return from that mountaintop experience, they see a large crowd arguing with the other 9 disciples.
Jesus asks what the argument is about. A man speaks up and says, “Teacher I brought my son to your disciples to be healed from his demon possession, but they could not do it.” The father admitted his lack of faith and asked Jesus to increase his faith. Jesus did and commanded the demon to leave the boy alone and it does. The boy is healed.
The crowd starts to grow large, again, not because they want to follow Jesus to eternal life, but because they wanted their physical needs met. Jesus was still following His heavenly timetable. He knew he needed to continue privately preparing the disciples for what was about to come.
So He took the disciples and starting heading through Galilee to Capernaum. The cross is now only a few months away. On the way to Capernaum, Jesus again gives a clear prediction of His death and resurrection.
Even though Jesus clearly stated this prediction, the disciples still did not fully understand and they were afraid to ask Him for further clarification. It wasn’t all their fault though. The parallel account in the Gospel of Luke says that the full meaning was hidden from them. So there is some divine concealment here.
As they continue their journey some discussions arise among the 12 disciples. The discussion or more likely a debate was about which one of them would be the greatest in heaven. Can you believe that?
Here are the future leaders of the Christian church talking themselves up, all while Christ is talking about His impending death. In fact, this was the first of three times that the disciples have this discussion, this debate, this argument if you will about being the greatest.
Quite possibly this discussion broke out because of the privilege that Peter, James, and John had in witnessing the transfiguration of Christ. This discussion also shows the difficulty with which even the disciples had in understanding and practicing the teachings of Christ.
Jesus, knowing their thoughts, asks them what they were discussing. The disciples were of course a little embarrassed to admit their topic of conversation, so they remain silent. Finally, according to the parallel account in the Gospel of Matthew, one of the disciples asks Jesus the question: Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?
This question would become more important to them. As I mentioned this is the first time of three that they discuss this question. This was also a common discussion among the religious teachers of the day.
The attitude behind this question is the same attitude that many people still experience today: egoism. It is natural to most people. Most people want to be first in line, they want to have the best seats in the theater, they want the biggest piece of pie.
Egoism is nothing new or unique to us, nor to the people of Jesus’ day. Think back to the beginning, the very beginning with Eve. Why did she eat the fruit? She was deceived into believing she could be like God. She though she would be in charge and she could determine her destiny.
Egoism causes arrogance, selfishness, war, greed, jealousy, and many other evils. Our culture today pretty much accepts it as normal human behavior. It is very widespread and ingrained throughout our lives.
But here, almost 2000 years ago, we see the 12 disciples arguing about which will be the greatest. Who is the best, who is first? Who will get to sit on Jesus’ right and left hand side? No doubt, each disciple could make his case for being the greatest, although each had their weaknesses and failures as well.
So Jesus introduces them to something called humility. “The first shall be last and the last shall be first.” It is through humility that Jesus sees our value, our worth. No doubt, all people are precious to Jesus, but the greatest among us will be the servant of all. As we humble ourselves before God, he will exalt us.
The idea of humility is very easy for us to understand, but it is extremely difficult to put into practice consistently. Most of us have no problem believing that Jesus loves us. The problem we have is believing that Jesus loves our neighbor as well.
To help further clarify His point, Jesus embraces a child and probably sits the child on His lap. Jesus tells the disciples they need to be like children to enter the kingdom of heaven. Jesus is warning the 12 and us as well, unless you change your attitude, you will not make it into the Kingdom of Heaven.
Notice, Jesus doesn’t say childish, but rather He says childlike. Children are totally dependant upon their parents to provide for them. That is the way we need to be with God. Sure God expects us to do stuff for ourselves. But He is the one who ultimately provides and cares for us.
Children are trusting by nature. They trust adults, and through that trust their capacity to trust God grows. God holds parents and other adults who influence young children accountable for how they affect these children’s lives.
How about you? Are you humble? God humbled the disciples many times and He gave Paul a thorn in his side to keep him humble.
Do you serve God or do the things you do, so you can be lifted up and praised and honored? Or do you do the things you do for God. To lift Him up, to honor Him, to give Him the glory.
Do you love your neighbor? Jesus does. What about children? Do you influence children in godly ways?
These are some things to think about as you go about your business this week.
Closing Prayer
Lord, help us to be humble people. Help us to serve others out of love and compassion. Help us to lift you up and give you the glory. Strengthen us so that we may do your will. Watch over our children and enable us to teach them and raise them according to your standards. AMEN
Length: 20:23
This is a message given on September 20, 2009 at the Bowdertown United Methodist Church.
At the beginning of Mark chapter 9 we read about the transfiguration of Christ. We studied this a few months ago on transfiguration Sunday, so we can skip over it this morning. When Peter, James, John, and Jesus return from that mountaintop experience, they see a large crowd arguing with the other 9 disciples.
Jesus asks what the argument is about. A man speaks up and says, “Teacher I brought my son to your disciples to be healed from his demon possession, but they could not do it.” The father admitted his lack of faith and asked Jesus to increase his faith. Jesus did and commanded the demon to leave the boy alone and it does. The boy is healed.
The crowd starts to grow large, again, not because they want to follow Jesus to eternal life, but because they wanted their physical needs met. Jesus was still following His heavenly timetable. He knew he needed to continue privately preparing the disciples for what was about to come.
So He took the disciples and starting heading through Galilee to Capernaum. The cross is now only a few months away. On the way to Capernaum, Jesus again gives a clear prediction of His death and resurrection.
Even though Jesus clearly stated this prediction, the disciples still did not fully understand and they were afraid to ask Him for further clarification. It wasn’t all their fault though. The parallel account in the Gospel of Luke says that the full meaning was hidden from them. So there is some divine concealment here.
As they continue their journey some discussions arise among the 12 disciples. The discussion or more likely a debate was about which one of them would be the greatest in heaven. Can you believe that?
Here are the future leaders of the Christian church talking themselves up, all while Christ is talking about His impending death. In fact, this was the first of three times that the disciples have this discussion, this debate, this argument if you will about being the greatest.
Quite possibly this discussion broke out because of the privilege that Peter, James, and John had in witnessing the transfiguration of Christ. This discussion also shows the difficulty with which even the disciples had in understanding and practicing the teachings of Christ.
Jesus, knowing their thoughts, asks them what they were discussing. The disciples were of course a little embarrassed to admit their topic of conversation, so they remain silent. Finally, according to the parallel account in the Gospel of Matthew, one of the disciples asks Jesus the question: Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?
This question would become more important to them. As I mentioned this is the first time of three that they discuss this question. This was also a common discussion among the religious teachers of the day.
The attitude behind this question is the same attitude that many people still experience today: egoism. It is natural to most people. Most people want to be first in line, they want to have the best seats in the theater, they want the biggest piece of pie.
Egoism is nothing new or unique to us, nor to the people of Jesus’ day. Think back to the beginning, the very beginning with Eve. Why did she eat the fruit? She was deceived into believing she could be like God. She though she would be in charge and she could determine her destiny.
Egoism causes arrogance, selfishness, war, greed, jealousy, and many other evils. Our culture today pretty much accepts it as normal human behavior. It is very widespread and ingrained throughout our lives.
But here, almost 2000 years ago, we see the 12 disciples arguing about which will be the greatest. Who is the best, who is first? Who will get to sit on Jesus’ right and left hand side? No doubt, each disciple could make his case for being the greatest, although each had their weaknesses and failures as well.
So Jesus introduces them to something called humility. “The first shall be last and the last shall be first.” It is through humility that Jesus sees our value, our worth. No doubt, all people are precious to Jesus, but the greatest among us will be the servant of all. As we humble ourselves before God, he will exalt us.
The idea of humility is very easy for us to understand, but it is extremely difficult to put into practice consistently. Most of us have no problem believing that Jesus loves us. The problem we have is believing that Jesus loves our neighbor as well.
To help further clarify His point, Jesus embraces a child and probably sits the child on His lap. Jesus tells the disciples they need to be like children to enter the kingdom of heaven. Jesus is warning the 12 and us as well, unless you change your attitude, you will not make it into the Kingdom of Heaven.
Notice, Jesus doesn’t say childish, but rather He says childlike. Children are totally dependant upon their parents to provide for them. That is the way we need to be with God. Sure God expects us to do stuff for ourselves. But He is the one who ultimately provides and cares for us.
Children are trusting by nature. They trust adults, and through that trust their capacity to trust God grows. God holds parents and other adults who influence young children accountable for how they affect these children’s lives.
How about you? Are you humble? God humbled the disciples many times and He gave Paul a thorn in his side to keep him humble.
Do you serve God or do the things you do, so you can be lifted up and praised and honored? Or do you do the things you do for God. To lift Him up, to honor Him, to give Him the glory.
Do you love your neighbor? Jesus does. What about children? Do you influence children in godly ways?
These are some things to think about as you go about your business this week.
Closing Prayer
Lord, help us to be humble people. Help us to serve others out of love and compassion. Help us to lift you up and give you the glory. Strengthen us so that we may do your will. Watch over our children and enable us to teach them and raise them according to your standards. AMEN
Monday, September 14, 2009
Who Do You Say I Am?
Mark 8:27-38
Length: 18:57
This is a message given on September 13, 2009 at the Bowdertown United Methodist Church.
As we now approach chapter 8 of the Gospel of Mark, we see some similar events take place in the life of Christ.
We see the feeding on the 4,000, which is very similar to the feeding of the five thousand, except the 4,000 are mostly if not all Gentiles.
After feeding the people, Jesus leaves and heads back to Jewish territory where the Pharisees and Sadducees confront Him again. They ask Jesus for a sign from Heaven to prove who He is. Jesus knows their wickedness, so He and His disciples leave the area.
On their way to Bethsaida, Jesus warns His disciples about the teachings of the Pharisees, Sadducees, and Herodians. Jesus then heals a blind man before we get into this mornings Scripture of Peter’s great confession.
As I have said in previous weeks, we are well in to Jesus’ third and final year of ministry. And the disciples still do not have a clear understanding about everything Jesus represents and does and will do.
After His prayer time, Jesus turns to His disciples and asks two questions. First, he asks “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” Now, Jesus already knows the answer to this question, so He really isn’t looking for an answer from the disciples. He is looking more for a response from them and to jump start their thinking about who He really is.
Of course, the disciples give an answer rather than a response. “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets of long ago has come back to life.”
Now for sure, Jesus’ characteristics resembled these people, or maybe we should better say that these people resembled Jesus’ characteristics. All of these people spoke the truth. They confronted the religious and political leaders of their day. And they all essentially got beat up for the things they said and did, for standing their ground for what is right and honorably to God.
After the disciples answer, Jesus asks the tough question, “But who do YOU say I am?” As usual Peter is the first to speak and often speaks for the group in general. Now, as you are aware, sometimes Peter says and does some stupid things. But this is one instant and in fact probably the best instance where Peter shines with God’s glory.
He says, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” You are the Messiah, the anointed one. You are Prophet, Priest, and King. You are alive, not some dead pagan idol. Jesus responds with a blessing upon Peter and the other disciples. They will be the leaders of His church.
This, by the way, is an important question. In fact, it is a question that everyone will need to answer. Who do you say Jesus is? The answer every person gives to this question will determine their eternal destiny.
After Peter’s confession, Jesus knows it is time to make known to His disciples who He really is and what must be done. Jesus has alluded to His death a number of times, but the disciples really did not pick up on the hint.
This confession of Peter’s really marks another turning point in the teaching of the disciples. From this point onward, Jesus makes clear to the disciples that He will be executed. As I have mentioned before, anytime Jesus talked about His death, He also spoke of His resurrection as well.
The disciples know that Jesus is the Messiah, but they don’t fully understand what that means yet. They think the Messiah is going to setup an earthly kingdom with a human army. However, they will really get a heavenly kingdom and a heavenly army.
They expect the Messiah to conquer Rome, when they will really get a risen Lord who conquers their sin. It will take time for them to learn this, but they do. Jesus’ death was necessary, not only to fulfill God’s plan but to pay for our sin.
After hearing Jesus plainly state that He must die, Peter takes Him aside and rebukes Him. “Never Lord!” You don’t have to die, surely that is not God’s plan. Jesus turns and says, “Get behind me Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.
Peter goes from being the rock to the stumbling block, all in a matter of minutes. Peter, who had just been praised for being God’s spokesman is now being condemned as Satan’s mouthpiece. Jesus’ sacrificial death was God’s plan and whoever opposed it was advocating Satan’s work whether they realized it or not.
Near the end of our Scripture lesson this morning, Jesus gives a few statements for us to live by. “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.”
“If anyone is ashamed of me and my words…the Son of Man will be ashamed of him.”
Those who reject the demands of discipleship prove themselves to be ashamed of Jesus Christ and the truth that he taught. Therefore, they are not redeemed from sin at all.
Who do you say Jesus is? Is He your Lord and Messiah? Jesus wants us to deny ourselves and follow Him. Stop trying to control your own life and destiny and let Him direct you. Christ knows us and this world better than we do, let Him be in control.
Closing Prayer
Lord, we thank you for this lesson this morning. It is so nice to read about the Apostle Peter and what a wonderful believing man he was. But it is comforting to hear, that even he screwed up sometimes.
Help us to learn the lessons that he did. Help us to obey Christ, to deny ourselves and follow him. Help us to set our minds on heavenly things this week, so that your power and glory may shine through us.
In Jesus name. AMEN.
Length: 18:57
This is a message given on September 13, 2009 at the Bowdertown United Methodist Church.
As we now approach chapter 8 of the Gospel of Mark, we see some similar events take place in the life of Christ.
We see the feeding on the 4,000, which is very similar to the feeding of the five thousand, except the 4,000 are mostly if not all Gentiles.
After feeding the people, Jesus leaves and heads back to Jewish territory where the Pharisees and Sadducees confront Him again. They ask Jesus for a sign from Heaven to prove who He is. Jesus knows their wickedness, so He and His disciples leave the area.
On their way to Bethsaida, Jesus warns His disciples about the teachings of the Pharisees, Sadducees, and Herodians. Jesus then heals a blind man before we get into this mornings Scripture of Peter’s great confession.
As I have said in previous weeks, we are well in to Jesus’ third and final year of ministry. And the disciples still do not have a clear understanding about everything Jesus represents and does and will do.
After His prayer time, Jesus turns to His disciples and asks two questions. First, he asks “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” Now, Jesus already knows the answer to this question, so He really isn’t looking for an answer from the disciples. He is looking more for a response from them and to jump start their thinking about who He really is.
Of course, the disciples give an answer rather than a response. “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets of long ago has come back to life.”
Now for sure, Jesus’ characteristics resembled these people, or maybe we should better say that these people resembled Jesus’ characteristics. All of these people spoke the truth. They confronted the religious and political leaders of their day. And they all essentially got beat up for the things they said and did, for standing their ground for what is right and honorably to God.
After the disciples answer, Jesus asks the tough question, “But who do YOU say I am?” As usual Peter is the first to speak and often speaks for the group in general. Now, as you are aware, sometimes Peter says and does some stupid things. But this is one instant and in fact probably the best instance where Peter shines with God’s glory.
He says, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” You are the Messiah, the anointed one. You are Prophet, Priest, and King. You are alive, not some dead pagan idol. Jesus responds with a blessing upon Peter and the other disciples. They will be the leaders of His church.
This, by the way, is an important question. In fact, it is a question that everyone will need to answer. Who do you say Jesus is? The answer every person gives to this question will determine their eternal destiny.
After Peter’s confession, Jesus knows it is time to make known to His disciples who He really is and what must be done. Jesus has alluded to His death a number of times, but the disciples really did not pick up on the hint.
This confession of Peter’s really marks another turning point in the teaching of the disciples. From this point onward, Jesus makes clear to the disciples that He will be executed. As I have mentioned before, anytime Jesus talked about His death, He also spoke of His resurrection as well.
The disciples know that Jesus is the Messiah, but they don’t fully understand what that means yet. They think the Messiah is going to setup an earthly kingdom with a human army. However, they will really get a heavenly kingdom and a heavenly army.
They expect the Messiah to conquer Rome, when they will really get a risen Lord who conquers their sin. It will take time for them to learn this, but they do. Jesus’ death was necessary, not only to fulfill God’s plan but to pay for our sin.
After hearing Jesus plainly state that He must die, Peter takes Him aside and rebukes Him. “Never Lord!” You don’t have to die, surely that is not God’s plan. Jesus turns and says, “Get behind me Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.
Peter goes from being the rock to the stumbling block, all in a matter of minutes. Peter, who had just been praised for being God’s spokesman is now being condemned as Satan’s mouthpiece. Jesus’ sacrificial death was God’s plan and whoever opposed it was advocating Satan’s work whether they realized it or not.
Near the end of our Scripture lesson this morning, Jesus gives a few statements for us to live by. “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.”
“If anyone is ashamed of me and my words…the Son of Man will be ashamed of him.”
Those who reject the demands of discipleship prove themselves to be ashamed of Jesus Christ and the truth that he taught. Therefore, they are not redeemed from sin at all.
Who do you say Jesus is? Is He your Lord and Messiah? Jesus wants us to deny ourselves and follow Him. Stop trying to control your own life and destiny and let Him direct you. Christ knows us and this world better than we do, let Him be in control.
Closing Prayer
Lord, we thank you for this lesson this morning. It is so nice to read about the Apostle Peter and what a wonderful believing man he was. But it is comforting to hear, that even he screwed up sometimes.
Help us to learn the lessons that he did. Help us to obey Christ, to deny ourselves and follow him. Help us to set our minds on heavenly things this week, so that your power and glory may shine through us.
In Jesus name. AMEN.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Do YOU Get It?
Mark 7:24-37
Length: 15:31
This is a message given on September 6, 2009 at the Bowdertown United Methodist Church.
Our Scripture this morning involves two different episodes in the life of Christ. The healing of the Syro-Phoenician woman’s daughter and the healing in Decapolis.
As we saw last week, the Pharisees and the crowd are becoming a little more hostile to Jesus and His disciples. So Jesus takes His disciples to Tyre for some private time, where He can further instruct and prepare His disciples for the future.
Somehow, this Syro-Phoenician women, a Greek gentile, finds Jesus and requests help for her daughter. She has a simple problem. Her daughter is demon-possessed. She knows Jesus can help her, even though she has no right coming to a Jew for help.
Essentially, this gentile women is asking to be blessed by the Jewish Messiah. The women asks Jesus for help, and she does it in a respectfully way and appealing to His Jewish heritage. Jesus hears this and wants her to understand who He really is before He will heal the daughter. So he initially rejects the request by ignoring her.
This seems strange to us. This does not sound like the kind, caring, compassionate Jesus that we all love and know and talk about. He has always helped those in need and this lady is way up there on the needy list. Her daughter is demon-possessed.
The women is persistent though and keeps bugging Jesus, following Him around, and begging and pleading for help. According to the parallel account in Matthew 15, the disciples become annoyed with this women and ask Jesus to address the situation.
The women leaves any pride and dignity she may have and comes to kneel and beg at the feet of Jesus to help her daughter. Jesus flat out tells her that His first responsibility was to preach the gospel to the children of Israel, the Jews.
He then equates her to a dog. To the Jews dogs were dirty animals and it was also a common term the Jews gave to Gentiles. So Jesus is calling this women a dirty dog! That really doesn’t sound like Jesus does it!
This woman was a Greek and the Greeks viewed dogs much like we do today, as wonderful pets and companions. The women responds by saying, even dogs receive table scrapes and crumbs right?
Now it all starts to make sense. Jesus came to preach to the Jews first, but this also meant that there would be a time for the Gentiles to receive God’s blessings as well. This women knew Jesus could help her daughter and now she also realize that she too could be a part of God’s Kingdom.
With this realization she is now ready to receive God’s blessings through Jesus and He is happy to grant her the healing she requested for her daughter. The daughter is healed. Now, this is not the first miracle done for the Gentiles, but it does make it clear that Gentile are part of God’s Kingdom.
The second portion of our Scripture this morning involves another healing and even into Mark chapter 8 we read about the feeding of the 4,000 people. There is really no new presentation of anything with these portions of Scripture.
The only difference we see is from this point on Jesus starts to include the Gentiles into more of His activities and teachings. We need to keep this in mind as we continue to study the life of Christ.
After healing the women’s daughter, Jesus leaves with His disciples to Decaoplis, another Gentile area. The last time He was in this area He cast out a demon and sent the demon into a herd of pigs which all killed themselves. The locals were a little upset and threw Jesus out of their city.
The townspeople heard Jesus was in the area and brought a deaf man, who could hardly talk, to see Jesus for healing. The man’s friends ask Jesus to help him. Jesus takes the man to a private area. Again, Jesus is on a heavenly time table and is not trying to impress crowds, rather He is trying to stir the faith of people.
Jesus puts His fingers in to the man’s ears and spits on His tongue. Then He prays, “Be Opened.” The man is immediately healed. He can hear and talk normally. Jesus commands the Gentiles as He did to the Jews, not to speak of this miracle to anyone.
Again, He did not come as a physical healer and provider. He came as Savior to the world. From the parallel account in Matthew 15, we read that large crowds came to him, bringing their lame, blind, and sick to Jesus for healing.
Just like the Jews, the Gentiles were coming to Jesus for those physical needs, not Spiritual needs. They too missed the point.
That is the question for you this morning, Have you missed the point? Jesus came to save sinners. That was His main purpose. Along the way he helped many people with their physical or mental troubles, but His goal was to save their souls.
Many people spend a lot of time ministering to the physical needs of the poor, sick, and dying, which is great. We should be doing that. But how much time do you spend ministering to the spiritual needs of people.
Think about it the next time you are ministering to the physical needs of someone, try adding a little Spiritual nourishment to the routine as well.
Closing Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank you for sending your son to us. Not to heal us or feed us physically or mentally. But to save us from our sin. Help us to convey that message to others we meet this week. As we come to your table this morning, enable us to truly recognize your hand in this world and in our lives. AMEN.
Length: 15:31
This is a message given on September 6, 2009 at the Bowdertown United Methodist Church.
Our Scripture this morning involves two different episodes in the life of Christ. The healing of the Syro-Phoenician woman’s daughter and the healing in Decapolis.
As we saw last week, the Pharisees and the crowd are becoming a little more hostile to Jesus and His disciples. So Jesus takes His disciples to Tyre for some private time, where He can further instruct and prepare His disciples for the future.
Somehow, this Syro-Phoenician women, a Greek gentile, finds Jesus and requests help for her daughter. She has a simple problem. Her daughter is demon-possessed. She knows Jesus can help her, even though she has no right coming to a Jew for help.
Essentially, this gentile women is asking to be blessed by the Jewish Messiah. The women asks Jesus for help, and she does it in a respectfully way and appealing to His Jewish heritage. Jesus hears this and wants her to understand who He really is before He will heal the daughter. So he initially rejects the request by ignoring her.
This seems strange to us. This does not sound like the kind, caring, compassionate Jesus that we all love and know and talk about. He has always helped those in need and this lady is way up there on the needy list. Her daughter is demon-possessed.
The women is persistent though and keeps bugging Jesus, following Him around, and begging and pleading for help. According to the parallel account in Matthew 15, the disciples become annoyed with this women and ask Jesus to address the situation.
The women leaves any pride and dignity she may have and comes to kneel and beg at the feet of Jesus to help her daughter. Jesus flat out tells her that His first responsibility was to preach the gospel to the children of Israel, the Jews.
He then equates her to a dog. To the Jews dogs were dirty animals and it was also a common term the Jews gave to Gentiles. So Jesus is calling this women a dirty dog! That really doesn’t sound like Jesus does it!
This woman was a Greek and the Greeks viewed dogs much like we do today, as wonderful pets and companions. The women responds by saying, even dogs receive table scrapes and crumbs right?
Now it all starts to make sense. Jesus came to preach to the Jews first, but this also meant that there would be a time for the Gentiles to receive God’s blessings as well. This women knew Jesus could help her daughter and now she also realize that she too could be a part of God’s Kingdom.
With this realization she is now ready to receive God’s blessings through Jesus and He is happy to grant her the healing she requested for her daughter. The daughter is healed. Now, this is not the first miracle done for the Gentiles, but it does make it clear that Gentile are part of God’s Kingdom.
The second portion of our Scripture this morning involves another healing and even into Mark chapter 8 we read about the feeding of the 4,000 people. There is really no new presentation of anything with these portions of Scripture.
The only difference we see is from this point on Jesus starts to include the Gentiles into more of His activities and teachings. We need to keep this in mind as we continue to study the life of Christ.
After healing the women’s daughter, Jesus leaves with His disciples to Decaoplis, another Gentile area. The last time He was in this area He cast out a demon and sent the demon into a herd of pigs which all killed themselves. The locals were a little upset and threw Jesus out of their city.
The townspeople heard Jesus was in the area and brought a deaf man, who could hardly talk, to see Jesus for healing. The man’s friends ask Jesus to help him. Jesus takes the man to a private area. Again, Jesus is on a heavenly time table and is not trying to impress crowds, rather He is trying to stir the faith of people.
Jesus puts His fingers in to the man’s ears and spits on His tongue. Then He prays, “Be Opened.” The man is immediately healed. He can hear and talk normally. Jesus commands the Gentiles as He did to the Jews, not to speak of this miracle to anyone.
Again, He did not come as a physical healer and provider. He came as Savior to the world. From the parallel account in Matthew 15, we read that large crowds came to him, bringing their lame, blind, and sick to Jesus for healing.
Just like the Jews, the Gentiles were coming to Jesus for those physical needs, not Spiritual needs. They too missed the point.
That is the question for you this morning, Have you missed the point? Jesus came to save sinners. That was His main purpose. Along the way he helped many people with their physical or mental troubles, but His goal was to save their souls.
Many people spend a lot of time ministering to the physical needs of the poor, sick, and dying, which is great. We should be doing that. But how much time do you spend ministering to the spiritual needs of people.
Think about it the next time you are ministering to the physical needs of someone, try adding a little Spiritual nourishment to the routine as well.
Closing Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank you for sending your son to us. Not to heal us or feed us physically or mentally. But to save us from our sin. Help us to convey that message to others we meet this week. As we come to your table this morning, enable us to truly recognize your hand in this world and in our lives. AMEN.
Monday, August 31, 2009
Traditions or Faith
Mark 7:1-23
Length: 20:17
This is a message given on August 30, 2009 at the Bowdertown United Methodist Church.
As we saw last week, the crowds have abandoned Jesus. The Pharisees are picking up their attacks on Jesus and His followers. Here we see the Pharisees complaining that the disciples did not wash their hands according to the ceremonial traditions before eating.
The Jewish tradition had an elaborate system of washing your hands to sanctify them or make them clean. This was not for hygienic reasons as we wash our hands today, rather it was purely a ritual washing.
For this ritual, the water was poured over the person’s hands. The hands are then raised up so the water will run down to the wrist. This insures that the entire hand was cleansed and the dirty runoff water doesn’t run back over the fingers defiling them again.
It sounds like quite a process doesn’t it. Now there is nothing wrong with this process. In fact, before performing surgery, Doctors and Nurse’s have a similar hand scrubbing procedure. Although, theirs is for hygienic purposes.
The problem arises because the traditions the Jewish people followed became more important than the actual Word of God. It sounds appalling doesn’t it? But believe it or not the same thing still happens today, not only among Jews, but among Christians as well.
Even today our religious institutions move away from the Word of God and move toward the interpretation of it by man. This isn’t necessarily motivated by any form of disrespect toward or motivation against God. It is simply the appeal of believing that this scholarly person or group of people is right and by obeying them we will be obeying God. That, unfortunately, is not always the case.
So the Pharisees approach Jesus and ask him, “Why don’t your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders?” As usual, the Pharisees really have a hidden agenda. They were really accusing Jesus of teaching His disciples to disobey the traditions of the elders.
But, as usual, Jesus doesn’t answer the question directly. Jesus doesn’t even try to defend Himself or His disciples.
Instead He gets to the heart of the issue as we have seen him do so many times before. First, He calls the Pharisees hypocrites or two-faced. They pretend to honor God, but their true nature is self-serving. Second, He quotes Scripture from Isaiah. The Pharisees follow the traditions of men because it is a mechanical system rather than a heart system
The Pharisees say all the right things, but they say them for the wrong reason. Their hearts are not focused on God, rather they are focused on themselves. This makes their worship worthless and their teachings corrupt.
Jesus then proves His point with an example. The honoring of your father and mother was an important command to uphold. In fact, it was so important, if you did not honor your father and mother the punishment could be death!
The Jews had this tradition of Corban. If you classified something as Corban, then you were designating it as a gift to God, but you could still use.
This sounds like a wonderful idea and it is. You are dedicating the things that God has given to you back to God. You are essentially putting your belongings into a trust for you to use and take care of for a while, but then you return to God for His continued work.
So, lets say a young Jewish man was well off, but his elderly parents were sick and struggling. The Jewish man could label all of his assets as a gift to God. This meant that he could not sell them and use the proceeds to help his parents.
“Gee, Dad. I wish I could help and honor you. But everything I have has been dedicated to God. Sorry.” You can see how this, well intentioned, idea of Corban was then abused.
Jesus then returns to the original question about being defiled by not following the ritual washing. Jesus knows that you do not become defiled by not washing your hands before a meal. Sure, you might get sick from a health related stand point, but you won’t be defiled spiritually.
What makes a man unclean is what enters his mind and comes out of his mouth from his heart. After saying this, the Pharisees leave, obviously very upset, and Jesus and the disciples enter a house.
The disciples ask Jesus to explain what he meant by saying the things that come out of our mouth is what defiles us. Our words express the goodness or evilness of our heart. To make the point clear, Jesus even gives a list of some things that come from the heart filled with desires of this world:
evil thoughts, fornication, thefts, murders, adulteries, deeds of coveting and wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride and foolishness
That is what defiles us. Not ignoring traditions. A person’s defiled heart is expressed in both what he says and what he does.
The Pharisees were hypocrites. They worshiped God for the wrong reason. They wanted money and status. Today, we too can be hypocrites. We can pay more attention to our reputation than our character. We can appear to be somebody in public, but inside we know it is just an act.
We can also appear to follow all the rules of our Church, denomination, even the Bible, but inside still be distant from God. We can also brag about our virtues while pointing out others sin.
Many people are cautious these days about what they eat and drink. It seems like there is always a new diet out there. But do you pay attention to the things that you are putting into your mind and heart?
An evil action begins with an evil thought. Allowing our minds to dwell on lust, envy, hatred, or revenge will lead to sin. Don’t defile yourself by focusing on evil.
In Philippians 4:8, Paul tells us to program our minds with thoughts that are true, noble, right, just, pure, lovely, of good report, virtuous, and praiseworthy.
Look to Christ for guidance about your own behavior. We become pure when Christ renews our minds and transforms us into His image.
Above all else, read God’s word and pray. Ask God to help you focus your mind on what is good and pure and holy. It takes practice and dedication, but it can be done.
Closing Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank you for the good, pure, noble, and just things of this world. Help us to focus our attention on them, rather than the evil, lustful, and deceitful things of the world. Help us to not be like the Pharisees and other traditionalists that believe their good deeds will get them into Heaven. We know that Jesus Christ is the only way. Strengthen our faith and our faithfulness. In Jesus Name we pray, AMEN.
Length: 20:17
This is a message given on August 30, 2009 at the Bowdertown United Methodist Church.
As we saw last week, the crowds have abandoned Jesus. The Pharisees are picking up their attacks on Jesus and His followers. Here we see the Pharisees complaining that the disciples did not wash their hands according to the ceremonial traditions before eating.
The Jewish tradition had an elaborate system of washing your hands to sanctify them or make them clean. This was not for hygienic reasons as we wash our hands today, rather it was purely a ritual washing.
For this ritual, the water was poured over the person’s hands. The hands are then raised up so the water will run down to the wrist. This insures that the entire hand was cleansed and the dirty runoff water doesn’t run back over the fingers defiling them again.
It sounds like quite a process doesn’t it. Now there is nothing wrong with this process. In fact, before performing surgery, Doctors and Nurse’s have a similar hand scrubbing procedure. Although, theirs is for hygienic purposes.
The problem arises because the traditions the Jewish people followed became more important than the actual Word of God. It sounds appalling doesn’t it? But believe it or not the same thing still happens today, not only among Jews, but among Christians as well.
Even today our religious institutions move away from the Word of God and move toward the interpretation of it by man. This isn’t necessarily motivated by any form of disrespect toward or motivation against God. It is simply the appeal of believing that this scholarly person or group of people is right and by obeying them we will be obeying God. That, unfortunately, is not always the case.
So the Pharisees approach Jesus and ask him, “Why don’t your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders?” As usual, the Pharisees really have a hidden agenda. They were really accusing Jesus of teaching His disciples to disobey the traditions of the elders.
But, as usual, Jesus doesn’t answer the question directly. Jesus doesn’t even try to defend Himself or His disciples.
Instead He gets to the heart of the issue as we have seen him do so many times before. First, He calls the Pharisees hypocrites or two-faced. They pretend to honor God, but their true nature is self-serving. Second, He quotes Scripture from Isaiah. The Pharisees follow the traditions of men because it is a mechanical system rather than a heart system
The Pharisees say all the right things, but they say them for the wrong reason. Their hearts are not focused on God, rather they are focused on themselves. This makes their worship worthless and their teachings corrupt.
Jesus then proves His point with an example. The honoring of your father and mother was an important command to uphold. In fact, it was so important, if you did not honor your father and mother the punishment could be death!
The Jews had this tradition of Corban. If you classified something as Corban, then you were designating it as a gift to God, but you could still use.
This sounds like a wonderful idea and it is. You are dedicating the things that God has given to you back to God. You are essentially putting your belongings into a trust for you to use and take care of for a while, but then you return to God for His continued work.
So, lets say a young Jewish man was well off, but his elderly parents were sick and struggling. The Jewish man could label all of his assets as a gift to God. This meant that he could not sell them and use the proceeds to help his parents.
“Gee, Dad. I wish I could help and honor you. But everything I have has been dedicated to God. Sorry.” You can see how this, well intentioned, idea of Corban was then abused.
Jesus then returns to the original question about being defiled by not following the ritual washing. Jesus knows that you do not become defiled by not washing your hands before a meal. Sure, you might get sick from a health related stand point, but you won’t be defiled spiritually.
What makes a man unclean is what enters his mind and comes out of his mouth from his heart. After saying this, the Pharisees leave, obviously very upset, and Jesus and the disciples enter a house.
The disciples ask Jesus to explain what he meant by saying the things that come out of our mouth is what defiles us. Our words express the goodness or evilness of our heart. To make the point clear, Jesus even gives a list of some things that come from the heart filled with desires of this world:
evil thoughts, fornication, thefts, murders, adulteries, deeds of coveting and wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride and foolishness
That is what defiles us. Not ignoring traditions. A person’s defiled heart is expressed in both what he says and what he does.
The Pharisees were hypocrites. They worshiped God for the wrong reason. They wanted money and status. Today, we too can be hypocrites. We can pay more attention to our reputation than our character. We can appear to be somebody in public, but inside we know it is just an act.
We can also appear to follow all the rules of our Church, denomination, even the Bible, but inside still be distant from God. We can also brag about our virtues while pointing out others sin.
Many people are cautious these days about what they eat and drink. It seems like there is always a new diet out there. But do you pay attention to the things that you are putting into your mind and heart?
An evil action begins with an evil thought. Allowing our minds to dwell on lust, envy, hatred, or revenge will lead to sin. Don’t defile yourself by focusing on evil.
In Philippians 4:8, Paul tells us to program our minds with thoughts that are true, noble, right, just, pure, lovely, of good report, virtuous, and praiseworthy.
Look to Christ for guidance about your own behavior. We become pure when Christ renews our minds and transforms us into His image.
Above all else, read God’s word and pray. Ask God to help you focus your mind on what is good and pure and holy. It takes practice and dedication, but it can be done.
Closing Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank you for the good, pure, noble, and just things of this world. Help us to focus our attention on them, rather than the evil, lustful, and deceitful things of the world. Help us to not be like the Pharisees and other traditionalists that believe their good deeds will get them into Heaven. We know that Jesus Christ is the only way. Strengthen our faith and our faithfulness. In Jesus Name we pray, AMEN.
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
True Discipleship
John 6:60-69
Length: 15:58
This is a message given on August 23, 2009 at the Bowdertown United Methodist Church.
As we finish up John chapter 6 this morning, it should be clear now that there are really three groups of people that are forming. The one group of course is the Twelve Apostles. This is a definite group and they are Christ’s closest followers.
Now we see the crowd starts to split into the other two groups. There are the members of the crowd that follow Christ and there are members of the crowd that are antagonistic toward Christ.
If you remember from our scripture last week, Jesus said, “I am the bread of life. I came from Heaven and I am going back there. This is where the believers and unbelievers start to separate. No doubt this was difficult for the crowd to comprehend.
That is where the belief comes in to play. If the people could not believe that Christ came from Heaven and will return to Heaven, then how would they be able to believe in and comprehend other topics like Jesus’ sacrificial and subsitutionary death, or His resurrection and ascension to Heaven, or His sending of the Holy Spirit?
If it bothers the crowd that Jesus said He is the bread of life, then they will never believe in all of the stuff that is about to happen. People in the crowd admitted it is a difficult statement to listen to.
Jesus saw the crowd was not believing Him. He knew they were grumbling. This is the point where many teachers would maybe slow down, soften their message, or even change their methods a little bit to get the crowd back on board and in tune with each other.
But not Jesus. Jesus knew the hearts of men. He knew they did not and would not believe that He was the Messiah, the Son of God. These false followers were simply attracted to Him for His physical miracles, His healing and His feeding.
They enjoyed listening to His teaching up to this point, but now their hearts were made known. They failed to understand the true significance of Jesus.
Jesus was on a Heavenly time schedule and He would not compromise it. So He simply summarizes His teachings in three verses that we see this morning.
He calls the people from their fleshy ways and their fleshly thinking to spiritual ways and spiritual thinking. He calls the people to faith by challenging their unbelief. Jesus reminds the crowd of God’s presence in their life. God is the One who opens our eyes to see Him and His ways.
As a result of this sermon, many of the followers left. They went back to their old ways, their old habits, their old jobs and so on. Not only did they give up following Jesus, but they gave up on Jesus. They gave up what he represents and teaches. They are not fit for God’s Kingdom.
I figure I have preached close to 100 sermons in the past few years and I am not aware of anyone ever walking away from Jesus because of my message. Maybe I am doing something wrong. We see Jesus preaching to literally thousands of people and by the end of the day most of them are gone.
I am not sure if this is the most successful or unsuccessful sermon every preached by Jesus. It defiantly separated the believers from the non-believers. This is a significant turning point in Jesus’ ministry.
Jesus starts to reveal more and more about Himself and what He must do, but He also shifts from the public ministry to a more private training of the Twelve.
Jesus asks the Twelve, “You don’t want to go away also, do you?” Of course, Peter answers, “Lord, to who shall we go? You have words of eternal life. We have believed and have come to know that You are the Holy One of God.”
Right here we see the key to discipleship. Many people skip over it and don’t even realize it is in this verse. But here it is. Two things that make a true disciple.
Faith, Peter says, "Lord, we believe." Peter is saying "We are sure who You are, and we believe.'
You know what the other one is? Faithfulness. "Lord, where would we go." See. "Not only do I believe You, but I stay where You are. I want to be with you and follow you."
Jesus said, "If you continue in My Word then are you disciples truly." In other words, faith is the birth of the true disciple. Faithfulness is the character of the true disciple.
And so Peter says in that little statement the whole of the Christian life in one thought. Faith and faithfulness. This is just living with the awareness of Christ's presence in your life, isn't it?
Peter couldn't stand to be away from Jesus. He always wanted to be where Christ was. This is illustrated so many times throughout the Gospels. Here he says, "Lord, I'm not going anywhere, You couldn't get rid of me."
That's the kind of Christian life that's the real life of the disciples, just constantly practicing the presence of Jesus Christ knowing He's right there beside you. "Lord, share my life, share my trials, share my joys, share my decisions, share my temptations." Constant involvement with Jesus Christ. That's discipleship. Lord, I have faith. Lord, I have faithfulness. That's what you want. I believe in You and I'm staying where You are. There's the whole Christian life right there.
Now Peter and the Twelve probably didn’t completely understand everything Jesus was teaching, but they got the main point correct. That is of course, life comes through Christ.
That is the question this morning. Do you know where life, eternal life, abundant life comes from? And not just know it, but believe it! Are you a true disciple of Jesus Christ.
As we follow Christ and grow in our faith we too may be tempted to turn away because of situations that occur or difficulty with understanding what God tells us. Some people like the majority of the crowd in our scripture this morning will simply give up.
Others will skip over those biblical teachings they don’t like or agree with. But the true follower of Christ will ask God for guidance. They will ask God to show them what the Scripture means and how they can apply it to their lives. They ask God to give them the strength and courage to act on God’s truth each and every day in all situations and circumstances of their lives.
What about you? What do you do? I agree with Peter. There is no other way. Jesus alone is the way to Heaven and eternal life. Either you accept it or you don’t. There is no in between.
1 John 5:20 says “And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding, that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.”
The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord (Rom 6:23)
Closing Prayer
Lord, we thank you for our time in your word this morning. Help us to be true and faithful disciples of Jesus Christ. Help us to realize and enjoy the bread of life that has been given for us. Help us to be discerning of those around us so we are not led down the path of the crowd, the way of destruction. Take our lives and lead us to eternal life. AMEN.
Length: 15:58
This is a message given on August 23, 2009 at the Bowdertown United Methodist Church.
As we finish up John chapter 6 this morning, it should be clear now that there are really three groups of people that are forming. The one group of course is the Twelve Apostles. This is a definite group and they are Christ’s closest followers.
Now we see the crowd starts to split into the other two groups. There are the members of the crowd that follow Christ and there are members of the crowd that are antagonistic toward Christ.
If you remember from our scripture last week, Jesus said, “I am the bread of life. I came from Heaven and I am going back there. This is where the believers and unbelievers start to separate. No doubt this was difficult for the crowd to comprehend.
That is where the belief comes in to play. If the people could not believe that Christ came from Heaven and will return to Heaven, then how would they be able to believe in and comprehend other topics like Jesus’ sacrificial and subsitutionary death, or His resurrection and ascension to Heaven, or His sending of the Holy Spirit?
If it bothers the crowd that Jesus said He is the bread of life, then they will never believe in all of the stuff that is about to happen. People in the crowd admitted it is a difficult statement to listen to.
Jesus saw the crowd was not believing Him. He knew they were grumbling. This is the point where many teachers would maybe slow down, soften their message, or even change their methods a little bit to get the crowd back on board and in tune with each other.
But not Jesus. Jesus knew the hearts of men. He knew they did not and would not believe that He was the Messiah, the Son of God. These false followers were simply attracted to Him for His physical miracles, His healing and His feeding.
They enjoyed listening to His teaching up to this point, but now their hearts were made known. They failed to understand the true significance of Jesus.
Jesus was on a Heavenly time schedule and He would not compromise it. So He simply summarizes His teachings in three verses that we see this morning.
He calls the people from their fleshy ways and their fleshly thinking to spiritual ways and spiritual thinking. He calls the people to faith by challenging their unbelief. Jesus reminds the crowd of God’s presence in their life. God is the One who opens our eyes to see Him and His ways.
As a result of this sermon, many of the followers left. They went back to their old ways, their old habits, their old jobs and so on. Not only did they give up following Jesus, but they gave up on Jesus. They gave up what he represents and teaches. They are not fit for God’s Kingdom.
I figure I have preached close to 100 sermons in the past few years and I am not aware of anyone ever walking away from Jesus because of my message. Maybe I am doing something wrong. We see Jesus preaching to literally thousands of people and by the end of the day most of them are gone.
I am not sure if this is the most successful or unsuccessful sermon every preached by Jesus. It defiantly separated the believers from the non-believers. This is a significant turning point in Jesus’ ministry.
Jesus starts to reveal more and more about Himself and what He must do, but He also shifts from the public ministry to a more private training of the Twelve.
Jesus asks the Twelve, “You don’t want to go away also, do you?” Of course, Peter answers, “Lord, to who shall we go? You have words of eternal life. We have believed and have come to know that You are the Holy One of God.”
Right here we see the key to discipleship. Many people skip over it and don’t even realize it is in this verse. But here it is. Two things that make a true disciple.
Faith, Peter says, "Lord, we believe." Peter is saying "We are sure who You are, and we believe.'
You know what the other one is? Faithfulness. "Lord, where would we go." See. "Not only do I believe You, but I stay where You are. I want to be with you and follow you."
Jesus said, "If you continue in My Word then are you disciples truly." In other words, faith is the birth of the true disciple. Faithfulness is the character of the true disciple.
And so Peter says in that little statement the whole of the Christian life in one thought. Faith and faithfulness. This is just living with the awareness of Christ's presence in your life, isn't it?
Peter couldn't stand to be away from Jesus. He always wanted to be where Christ was. This is illustrated so many times throughout the Gospels. Here he says, "Lord, I'm not going anywhere, You couldn't get rid of me."
That's the kind of Christian life that's the real life of the disciples, just constantly practicing the presence of Jesus Christ knowing He's right there beside you. "Lord, share my life, share my trials, share my joys, share my decisions, share my temptations." Constant involvement with Jesus Christ. That's discipleship. Lord, I have faith. Lord, I have faithfulness. That's what you want. I believe in You and I'm staying where You are. There's the whole Christian life right there.
Now Peter and the Twelve probably didn’t completely understand everything Jesus was teaching, but they got the main point correct. That is of course, life comes through Christ.
That is the question this morning. Do you know where life, eternal life, abundant life comes from? And not just know it, but believe it! Are you a true disciple of Jesus Christ.
As we follow Christ and grow in our faith we too may be tempted to turn away because of situations that occur or difficulty with understanding what God tells us. Some people like the majority of the crowd in our scripture this morning will simply give up.
Others will skip over those biblical teachings they don’t like or agree with. But the true follower of Christ will ask God for guidance. They will ask God to show them what the Scripture means and how they can apply it to their lives. They ask God to give them the strength and courage to act on God’s truth each and every day in all situations and circumstances of their lives.
What about you? What do you do? I agree with Peter. There is no other way. Jesus alone is the way to Heaven and eternal life. Either you accept it or you don’t. There is no in between.
1 John 5:20 says “And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding, that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.”
The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord (Rom 6:23)
Closing Prayer
Lord, we thank you for our time in your word this morning. Help us to be true and faithful disciples of Jesus Christ. Help us to realize and enjoy the bread of life that has been given for us. Help us to be discerning of those around us so we are not led down the path of the crowd, the way of destruction. Take our lives and lead us to eternal life. AMEN.
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
The Bread of Life part 2
John 6:41-58
Length: 20:13
This is a message given on August 16, 2009 at the Bowdertown United Methodist Church.
We continue our look at the Sermon on the Bread of Life this morning. Last time we left off with Jesus telling the crowd about the Bread of Life. Of course the crowd wants this bread and Jesus tells them that He is the Bread of Life.
Our scripture can be divided into three distinct sections this morning. First, we see the reaction of the crowd. Second, we hear Jesus’ response. And lastly, Jesus reiterates the message.
Let’s start with the crowds reaction. The New American Standard Bible says, “the Jews were grumbling.” Did you know that grumbling is an offense to God? It shows a lack of trust in God. Think back to the time Israel spent in the wilderness.
Exodus 16:2 says, “The whole congregation of the sons of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness.” They were faced with scarce resources out in the wilderness and desired those things they had while they were back in Egypt.
They were grumbling, not trusting in God, even though God had just provided them with water. Now they didn’t have food, so rather than ask God, they grumbled. Of course, as we know, God provided them with manna.
A short while after this, they were tired of the manna and wanted some meat, so they started grumbling again. See, the Jews had a negative attitude in general and expressed it toward Moses and Aaron, who were obeying God’s commands. They weren’t trusting their lives to God.
Unfortunately, this is a common practice for many of us today as well. We don’t say we are grumbling against God. Rather, we are grumbling against, the teacher, our boss, the doctor, even the preacher, but not God.
But as this scripture tells us, when we grumble about God’s representatives, God takes it personally. If we reject the godly people in our lives we are rejecting God.
As we move back to the Gospel of John, we see the Jews doing the same thing. They are rejecting the authority God has sent. Not only that, they are truly rejecting God by rejecting Jesus.
They reject Jesus because He equated Himself with God. The crowd said, “but don’t we know your father and mother”, meaning Mary and Joseph? Many people today reject Jesus too. Now we see Jesus rebuke to the crowd.
Verse 44 tells us that we cannot come to Jesus unless God draws us. Well great, how does that happen? Verse 45, which is a paraphrase of Isaiah 54:13, tells us, “And they shall be taught of God, everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me.”
God draws us to Him through teaching, through what we learn about Him. This has really been the goal of my ministry, is to simply teach others what the Bible says and what God wants you to do. That is why so often my sermons sound like lectures!
We need to have the knowledge of the Bible. We need to know what is says. If we learn what God says in His book, it will lead us to Him. Now this isn’t just an intellectual knowledge about the Bible. There are many “scholars” that know this book better than all of us put together, but they don’t believe it.
Our hearts and minds must be open to receive the Word of God. We must plant the Word of God in our hearts. As we learn God’s Word, we will want to obey it. Live out His Word and His will for our lives. As we do this, we will learn to live a godly life in this difficult world.
Many times, people think God draws or calls those to Him that He wants and that is all who will come and be saved. This usually leads into a discussion about predestination. I always think back to what Jesus said in Matthew 22:14, he says, “Many are called, but few are chosen.”
Who are called? Many. Who are chose? Few. Why, because the few who were chosen, responded. To respond to God’s call, we must believe in Him, study His Word, and obey His Word. No one has ever been saved without submitting to the will of God.
Jesus finished His teaching by reiterating what He had just stated. These words are shocking to the Jews. Eating flesh and drinking blood. No doubt, the crowd is in an uproar and starts arguing again. As we have seen, the crowd takes Jesus’ words literally.
Obviously, we know that Jesus was not talking about cannibalism and drinking actual blood. Instead, He was referring to His sacrifice on the cross. Jesus voluntarily laid his life down for the sins of the world.
When we come up to participate in the Lord’s Supper and communion together, we are to remember what Christ did for us on the cross.
We are to trust in Jesus with our lives and live like Him and for Him. Our lives show how much we trust in God. Do we walk with Jesus and talk with Him? Do we live our lives like we love Him as He loves us? Do we work for Jesus while knowing that we can also rest with Jesus?
Those are some things to think about this week. If you find yourself grumbling this week, just remember that you are grumbling against God and the things He has provided for you. Don’t be like the crowd, don’t be like the Israelites, don’t be like the world.
Instead, be like Jesus and feed on the Bread of Life.
Closing Prayer
Father, we thank You this morning for Your Word. It is filled with so many important truths that we cannot begin to even comprehend it all. We pray, that Your Spirit will teach us. Help us to trust You with our lives and not grumble about the situations we are in.
We pray this morning for those to whom Your Spirit speaks, those who are being drawn by the Father. God, if some heart here is being drawn, may this be the day that they in faith say, "Christ, I come, I want You, take my life, forgive my sin." May this be that day. This we pray in Christ's name. Amen.
Length: 20:13
This is a message given on August 16, 2009 at the Bowdertown United Methodist Church.
We continue our look at the Sermon on the Bread of Life this morning. Last time we left off with Jesus telling the crowd about the Bread of Life. Of course the crowd wants this bread and Jesus tells them that He is the Bread of Life.
Our scripture can be divided into three distinct sections this morning. First, we see the reaction of the crowd. Second, we hear Jesus’ response. And lastly, Jesus reiterates the message.
Let’s start with the crowds reaction. The New American Standard Bible says, “the Jews were grumbling.” Did you know that grumbling is an offense to God? It shows a lack of trust in God. Think back to the time Israel spent in the wilderness.
Exodus 16:2 says, “The whole congregation of the sons of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness.” They were faced with scarce resources out in the wilderness and desired those things they had while they were back in Egypt.
They were grumbling, not trusting in God, even though God had just provided them with water. Now they didn’t have food, so rather than ask God, they grumbled. Of course, as we know, God provided them with manna.
A short while after this, they were tired of the manna and wanted some meat, so they started grumbling again. See, the Jews had a negative attitude in general and expressed it toward Moses and Aaron, who were obeying God’s commands. They weren’t trusting their lives to God.
Unfortunately, this is a common practice for many of us today as well. We don’t say we are grumbling against God. Rather, we are grumbling against, the teacher, our boss, the doctor, even the preacher, but not God.
But as this scripture tells us, when we grumble about God’s representatives, God takes it personally. If we reject the godly people in our lives we are rejecting God.
As we move back to the Gospel of John, we see the Jews doing the same thing. They are rejecting the authority God has sent. Not only that, they are truly rejecting God by rejecting Jesus.
They reject Jesus because He equated Himself with God. The crowd said, “but don’t we know your father and mother”, meaning Mary and Joseph? Many people today reject Jesus too. Now we see Jesus rebuke to the crowd.
Verse 44 tells us that we cannot come to Jesus unless God draws us. Well great, how does that happen? Verse 45, which is a paraphrase of Isaiah 54:13, tells us, “And they shall be taught of God, everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me.”
God draws us to Him through teaching, through what we learn about Him. This has really been the goal of my ministry, is to simply teach others what the Bible says and what God wants you to do. That is why so often my sermons sound like lectures!
We need to have the knowledge of the Bible. We need to know what is says. If we learn what God says in His book, it will lead us to Him. Now this isn’t just an intellectual knowledge about the Bible. There are many “scholars” that know this book better than all of us put together, but they don’t believe it.
Our hearts and minds must be open to receive the Word of God. We must plant the Word of God in our hearts. As we learn God’s Word, we will want to obey it. Live out His Word and His will for our lives. As we do this, we will learn to live a godly life in this difficult world.
Many times, people think God draws or calls those to Him that He wants and that is all who will come and be saved. This usually leads into a discussion about predestination. I always think back to what Jesus said in Matthew 22:14, he says, “Many are called, but few are chosen.”
Who are called? Many. Who are chose? Few. Why, because the few who were chosen, responded. To respond to God’s call, we must believe in Him, study His Word, and obey His Word. No one has ever been saved without submitting to the will of God.
Jesus finished His teaching by reiterating what He had just stated. These words are shocking to the Jews. Eating flesh and drinking blood. No doubt, the crowd is in an uproar and starts arguing again. As we have seen, the crowd takes Jesus’ words literally.
Obviously, we know that Jesus was not talking about cannibalism and drinking actual blood. Instead, He was referring to His sacrifice on the cross. Jesus voluntarily laid his life down for the sins of the world.
When we come up to participate in the Lord’s Supper and communion together, we are to remember what Christ did for us on the cross.
We are to trust in Jesus with our lives and live like Him and for Him. Our lives show how much we trust in God. Do we walk with Jesus and talk with Him? Do we live our lives like we love Him as He loves us? Do we work for Jesus while knowing that we can also rest with Jesus?
Those are some things to think about this week. If you find yourself grumbling this week, just remember that you are grumbling against God and the things He has provided for you. Don’t be like the crowd, don’t be like the Israelites, don’t be like the world.
Instead, be like Jesus and feed on the Bread of Life.
Closing Prayer
Father, we thank You this morning for Your Word. It is filled with so many important truths that we cannot begin to even comprehend it all. We pray, that Your Spirit will teach us. Help us to trust You with our lives and not grumble about the situations we are in.
We pray this morning for those to whom Your Spirit speaks, those who are being drawn by the Father. God, if some heart here is being drawn, may this be the day that they in faith say, "Christ, I come, I want You, take my life, forgive my sin." May this be that day. This we pray in Christ's name. Amen.
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