Life in the Aquarium: A View From the Bowl

Still Here

2008-02-09T18:24:00.001-05:00

Friends,

Is this blog still active?

dg

90 Days With Jesus: Does Truth Matter?

2007-07-26T13:29:00.000-04:00

John 8:42-47

Jesus said to them, "If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and now am here. I have not come on my own; but he sent me. 43Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say. 44You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father's desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. 45Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe me! 46Can any of you prove me guilty of sin? If I am telling the truth, why don't you believe me? 47He who belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God."

It appears, taking these words at face value, that there are only two options available to people. On the one hand, some clearly belong to God. On the other hand, some clearly belong to the devil. Within those two ownerships are people content to carry out the will of their respective father. On the one hand, if God is our Father, then we love Jesus. On the other hand, if the devil is our father, then we are hell-bent on murder. Within those two fatherhoods, there are two languages. On the one hand, if God is your Father, you can understand Jesus—the truth. On the other hand, if the devil is your father, you understand his language—which is lies. If you belong to God, you are able to hear what God says, it makes sense, and it is your life. If you don’t belong to God, you cannot hear what Jesus is saying, it makes no sense, and is, in fact, the very reason why you don’t believe (45). If you belong to God, you carry out God’s will and you, like Jesus, always do what pleases him (8:29). If you belong to the devil, then you want always to carry out your father’s desire (44). It’s a tough life.

But that is what Jesus is saying. He said it specifically to people who were listening to him that day—people who were challenging his authority to determine who is and who is not a true disciple. Jesus said, ‘If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples.’ Here are the things he is saying.

If we are truly his disciple, then we will hear and listen and understand and obey his commands, his teachings. If we are not, well, we’re not simply doing our own will. Those things that humans do contrary to the will of God are the terrible will of the devil; his desires. So frankly this means that many people in this world are serious trouble because they are doing the desires of their father, the devil. This means anything contrary to the will of God, anything that doesn’t please him, is the desire of the devil; that is, not that he wills it or commands it, but that he is ‘happy’ when people are disobedient to the will God. Whatever that means.

I’ll leave off that point for now that I might jump on another point. Jesus said, ‘Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe me.’ What was it about the truth that so offended people and turned them away from Jesus? If we always say the truth will people always turn away? I think yes. Why? Because Jesus has said that some people only hear and understand the language of their father, the devil, which is lies. The truth is, some folks simply cannot understand truth.
There is this ongoing assault on truth in this world. It is reminiscent of the Ministry of Truth in 1984 which was really dedicated the propagation of lies. There is an undercurrent even in the church nowadays. There are many who say that we should be careful when we make claims about truth because, in their words, we can’t really know the truth. I think that is wrong precisely because it is like saying we cannot know Jesus, the embodiment of truth. But anything less than the truth is a lie, and thus ultimately the work of the devil. There is no room for the work of the devil inside the church. In other words, there is no room in the church for anything other than the truth, and no room for anyone in the church who is not for the truth. This is what Jesus will say later, "Everyone on the side of truth listens to me" (18:37b).

Philip Ryken is right: "Today the foundations are under attack. It would be hard to think of even a single major doctrine of the Christian faith that is not under attack in these postmodern times…But no attack is more fundamental that the attack on truth itself, the assault on the very claim that some things are true and others are false" (Philip Ryken, Only One Way, 83-84)
Another author, quoted by Ryken puts only slightly more bluntly:

"A solid sense of truth is foundering in America at large. Vaporized by critical theories, obscured by clouds of euphemism and jargon, outpaced by humor and hype, overlooked for style and image, and eroded by advertising, truth in America is anything but marching on…With magnificent exceptions, evangelicals reflect this truth-decay and reinforce it…Contemporary evangelicals are no longer people of truth." (Os Guinness, No God but God, 18, as quoted by Philip Ryken, Only One Way, 84).

In another book by Guinness, Time For Truth, he writes of the assault on truth and the rather insidious manner in which the assault takes place:

"Not only the possibility but the worthwhileness of truth and virtue are emptied of meaning. Whatever someone may profess, things are always other than they pretend, darker and murkier than they make out. Our proper response, we are taught, should be to view every claim with a sense of irony, interpret everything with suspicion, and pursue ‘truth’ and ‘virtue’ with the central agenda of unmasking and dismantling them." (32)

David F. Wells is even, perhaps, more unappealing to those truth dismantlers in the church. His book, No Place For Truth or Whatever Happened to Evangelical Theology, is a scathing, damning rebuke of the no-truth generation of ‘theologians’ and ‘preachers’ manning the lecterns of Christian based colleges and universities and, more specifically, the pulpits of churches. In fact, he begins with the church (p. 6)—and mustn’t he? All those little children who are sent off to bible college each fall have had their primary education in things of God by the church: little felt Jesus’ and Pauls, happy stories of arks and ‘fitting’ the battle of Jericho, and such like. But how many go to college armed already with a degree in theology because their preacher cared that they know Scripture more than how to deal with a bad break-up? He writes,

"Outside is a world that ignores what is most important to Christians and that is in fact now organizing itself on the basis of that rejection. Within the larger society, secularism seems natural because it gives plausibility; within that same society, Christian faith seems odd, and the context strips it of truthfulness. The bias of our experience in the modern world tilts heavily against a perception that the Christian faith is true and equally heavily toward a perception that secularism is truth." (p. 87)

You can see that this is a big problem in our world. But if Jesus says, ‘you don’t believe me because I preach the truth’ (45), he also asks, ‘If I am telling the truth, why don’t you believe me?’ (46). It must have something to do with the one to whom we belong. If we belong to the devil, well, ‘You belong to your father the devil and you want to carry out your father’s desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him.’ Or we embrace the truth that is embodied in Jesus Christ. There can be no two ways about it and this is very limiting. But we see in this world the results of those who belong to their father the devil. We see their work: they are liars, they spread lies, they foment aggression and hatred based on lies. Sadly, there's a lot devil manipulation going on in the pulpits of American churches today.

This is why, in my humble opinion, it is becoming every more imperative for preachers of the gospel to preach the truth of Jesus. Jesus said he was not ‘here on my own, but the Father sent me.’ God wanted us to know the truth and sent the Truth in Jesus Christ. John wrote it earlier, "The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth" (John 1:14). The front lines against the assault on truth, which is in reality an assault on Jesus Christ himself, is the church. The church must continue to bear arms against this assault. There must be preachers who are willing to risk it all, that is, risk that people might not believe, and preach the truth. We must educate our young people before they go off to college and the university and the seminary (places where, with some exceptions, lies are continuing to be taught in the name of academic freedom). I’m calling for the church to preach the truth. Not that I have a right to make the call, but for the sake of those to whom we are preaching: The lies must be countered because when lies prevail, God is diminished; when lies take over, God is finished.

Of course this doesn’t mean that God somehow vanishes or goes away or that his will is thwarted—May it Never Be! But there is something to be said about God’s rejection of us. As Wells writes, it’s a two way street: "A Culture for whom God is no longer present believes everything…When we believe nothing, we open the doors to believing anything. And the same is truth within the precincts of the Christian faith" (p. 9). When lies are propped up and purported to be truth—why would God ‘hang around’? God’s will will, indeed, be done. We cannot thwart it, but we reject it and Him at our own peril. When we accept the lie, we reject the truth. And then what is left? What is left when truth is gone? What is left when God has, ultimately, rejected us? Why wouldn’t people want to believe the truth when Jesus spoke it? Probably because people, ultimately, love the lie.

I’ll close with Wells: "Anyone who believes in God and accepts the transcendent character of biblical revelation, as I do, must reject belief in all of those myths that the modern world has fostered about itself. Indeed, I find on the one hand that I believe more than many other evangelicals and on the other hand that I believe a great deal less than most of them do—more in the center, less in the periphery; more in the importance of truth, and not at all in the fabric of modern life." (No Place for Truth, 10).

Amen.

Soli Deo Gloria!

A Big Step

2007-07-25T00:44:00.000-04:00

Friends,

I have been blogging at this site for a number of years now and I have accumulated nearly 160 posts. I know this is paltry compared to many, but for me it has been a place to learn how to blog, to vent some frustration, and to share my world with others. Alas, the time has come for me to manage only one blog. From now on, I will only updating my blog at wordpress. You can access it at www.dangoldfinch.wordpress.com. I'm still learning all blogging has to offer and I continue to experiment. I hope if you have enjoyed this blog, you will swim over to my wordpress blog and continue reading. Thanks for stopping by. This is not easy. I've had a lot of fun here.

jerry

90 Days With Jesus, Day 38: John 8:21-30: No Other Way but the Cross of Jesus

2007-07-23T16:49:00.000-04:00

John 8:21-30

21Once more Jesus said to them, "I am going away, and you will look for me, and you will die in your sin. Where I go, you cannot come." 22This made the Jews ask, "Will he kill himself? Is that why he says, 'Where I go, you cannot come'?" 23But he continued, "You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. 24I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am the one I claim to be, you will indeed die in your sins." 25"Who are you?" they asked. "Just what I have been claiming all along," Jesus replied. 26"I have much to say in judgment of you. But he who sent me is reliable, and what I have heard from him I tell the world." 27They did not understand that he was telling them about his Father. 28So Jesus said, "When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am the one I claim to be and that I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me. 29The one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what pleases him." 30Even as he spoke, many put their faith in him.

Let’s take a look at these words of Jesus and read them at face value.

There was a time when the people Jesus taught tried to seize him. They wanted to cling to him—but not for any reasons resembling righteousness. They had other designs on him that precluded accepting him at face value—that he was who he claimed to be. He gave them a lifeline (I wish I had a better metaphor here) and they rejected it. What was the only other option: You will die in your sin, Jesus said. This is the option? Acceptance of Jesus, belief that He is the One God sent, and there will be life outside of our sin. But rejection of Jesus is sheer stupidity because our last resting place will be our sin soaked lives.

Would there be a time when Jesus was gone and they would look for him? Jesus seems to believe so and at that time they would no longer be able to find him. They can’t seize him to arrest him; they won’t seize him to escape sin. Jesus indicates here that sin is a nasty little secret that man is simply unable and unwilling to come to terms with. Perhaps we are content to ignore it or avoid it or revel in it. But he makes it abundantly clear that they would die in their sin and the place where he was going would be inaccessible to those who did. Does there come a point in the time of some folk’s lives when Jesus simply become inaccessible to them any longer? When it is impossible to repent of sin? When their only ambition is to sin? I kind of gather that if they would ‘die in their sin’ that means they persisted in their sin as well. They would be unable to get out of it.

This is a major, major problem we face in the world today. I’ll take Dr. Phil as an example of the problem He invites all sorts of people onto his television program—and, frankly, the only difference between Dr. Phil and Jerry Springer is that Phil doesn’t spend as much time mocking the people as Springer does. I’ll admit, Phil’s arguments and solutions are well reasoned, articulate, and, as far as they go, probably scientifically sound. In some cases, I’ll bet they work. The problem is that we never hear about the root of the problem. We hear people say ‘the problem is that my brother stole my identity and I hate him for it.’ Phil might say, ‘why did you steal his identity? Were you trying to get even? Was it revenge?’ What we don’t hear Phil say is this: At the core of this problem between two brothers is sin, a deeply entrenched, living, breathing, fallen-ness that has not too quietly taken over their lives. He may get confessions and he may do some reconciling, but he has not dealt with the core; he’s killed the weeds and planted flowers, but he’s done so in the same exact soil.

Jesus says it again: "You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. I told you would die in your sins. If you don’t believe that I am the one claim to be you will indeed die in your sins." They will look for him and die in their sins. They will refuse to believe in him and die in their sins. Again I say it: We cannot get out of the dilemma we are in by ourselves. I don’t care how many feel good gurus PBS runs across a stage, I don’t care how many people stay in the Dr Phil House, I don’t care how many feel good stories are turned into After School/Hallmark Hall of Fame movies: Sin is in deep and it is not willing to let go just because we ‘get our house in order.’ Sin is relentless, pursuing with baited breath, hunting down the weak and the strong alike, the poor and the rich alike, the sinner and the saint alike. Sin is tireless, fearless and ambitious. It doesn’t care who the victim: Its aim is to devour.

And Jesus says that if we refuse to believe that he is I Am (this is what that nebulous phrase ‘the one I claim to be’ means) we are simply, utterly, beyond hope. There is only one Name given by which men (and women) might be saved: Jesus. If we are not clinging to Him what hope have we? So I do not think the answer is to send people some sentimental story of how someone with a lot of courage overcame the monsters hiding under their bed, or some inspirational story of how someone’s faith helped them get through a particularly nasty bout of splattergoit (a particularly nasty ailment non-muggles can get; certain readers will get it). I don’t think that such inspiration, however inspirational it may be, will get us through sin. It will not erase sin. It will not cure sin. PT Forsyth well makes this point when he writes,

"Even a loving God is really God not because He loves, but because He has the power to subdue all things to the holiness of his love, and even sin itself to His love as redeeming grace. A sympathetic God is really God because He is a holy, saving, redeeming God; because in Him already the great world-transaction is done, and the kingdom of his Holy love already set up on His foregone conquest of all evil. The great and crucial thing is done in God and not before Him, in His will and not in His presence, by Him and not for Him by any servants, not even by a son. It is an act of His own being, a victory in His own immutable and invincible being. And to be saved, in any non-egoistical sense of the word, means that God gains His own victory over again in me, and that I have lost in life’s great issue unless He do. God’s participation in man’s affairs is much more than that of fellow-sufferer on a divine scale, whose love can rise to a painless sympathy with pain. He not only perfectly understands our case and our problem, but He has morally, actively, and finally solved it. The solution is for ever present with Him." (The Cruciality of the Cross, 60-61).

Forsyth is convinced that this happened at Calvary: "And our faith is not merely that God is with us, nor that one day He will clear all things up and triumph; but that for Him all things are already triumphant, clear, and sure. All things are working together for good, as good is in the cross of Christ and it’s saving effect." (62)

So when they ask him, "Who are you?" Jesus’ response is understandable: "Just what I have been claiming all along." What has he been claiming about himself? Well, re-read chapters 1-6 to get the gist. And besides, why should he continue to repeat his answer to the question they ask? They haven’t believed him up to this point, why should one more repetition all of a sudden change their minds? And just like happens with the disciples in chapter 16: They did not understand what he was telling them about his Father (16:17-18). So he nails them one more time: "When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I AM I AM (the meaning of that innocuous phrase ‘the one I claim to be’). This is a declaration that He is God, YHWH. This is his open avowal that He is God in the Flesh, God among us, God come down, God tabernacled among us. This is Forsyth’s point, echoing Paul: "All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the World to Himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them" (2 Corinthians 5:18-19 NIV). Jesus is saying that will fully understand when we see Him crucified. It is in the cross that all of what Jesus said makes sense because it is there that we see how God dealt with the problem of this world. It is in the cross that God makes his open declaration of who Jesus, what His purpose is, and How God means to conquer us. It was not in any other way but the cross.

Jesus says, "…I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me…I always do what pleases him." Jesus did not even invent this stuff any more than Christians did or Paul in particular. Jesus spoke the Word of God—It was God who ‘told’ him what to say. It was God who sent his message to earth through Christ. It was God who revealed this plan. It was God who said: "Jesus is the I AM I AM." This is no mere invention or parable of men—and God did not send the Christ here so that he could help us get over all the stuff that the gurus and doctors of this world tell us we need to get over. God sent His Christ to this world to deal with sin.

Another major problem we have in this world is this conception of sin so that even in some of the major denominations in this world right now there is no such thing as sin. Sin is being eradicated as a problem: The church has effectively dealt with sin in this world by declaring sin to no longer be sin. Take homosexuality for example. Many preachers claiming to be Christians have thrown all their eggs into one basket and claimed that they can be practicing, fornicating homosexuals and Christians and still get clear of God’s wrath. And they invite many others to participate with them in their delinquency. But it is not just homosexuals and their apologists.

Well if this is true—that what the Bible calls sin is no longer sin because man has declared it to not be sin—then of what need or use is there for Jesus? If Sin is allowed in then Jesus may as well leave because the two are incompatible. The price of sin cost Christ his life. I don’t see how people can do it. I don’t see how the blood of Christ can be trampled on, I don’t see how Christ can be publicly humiliated all over again, I don’t see how the cross can be turned upside down and sin welcomed with open arms. Truly what the book of Hebrews says is true: There is no sacrifice left. The author of Hebrews wrote in the tenth chapter:

26If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, 27but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. 28Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. 29How much more severely do you think a man deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God under foot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified him, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace? 30For we know him who said, "It is mine to avenge; I will repay," and again, "The Lord will judge his people." 31It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. (Hebrews 10:26-31).

Thus Jesus says: You will look for me and you will die in your sins. Why? Because there will come a time when he will not be found. Find Him while He may be found.

Soli Deo Gloria!

90 Days With Jesus, Day 37: John 8:12-20: The Scandal of Jesus' Particularity

2007-07-23T16:40:00.000-04:00

John 8:12-20

When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." 13The Pharisees challenged him, "Here you are, appearing as your own witness; your testimony is not valid." 14Jesus answered, "Even if I testify on my own behalf, my testimony is valid, for I know where I came from and where I am going. But you have no idea where I come from or where I am going. 15You judge by human standards; I pass judgment on no one. 16But if I do judge, my decisions are right, because I am not alone. I stand with the Father, who sent me. 17In your own Law it is written that the testimony of two men is valid. 18I am one who testifies for myself; my other witness is the Father, who sent me." 19Then they asked him, "Where is your father?""You do not know me or my Father," Jesus replied. "If you knew me, you would know my Father also." 20He spoke these words while teaching in the temple area near the place where the offerings were put. Yet no one seized him, because his time had not yet come.

One has to admit, with even the slightest reflection on this world, that this world is, indeed, a pathetically dark and dismal place. Not a day can go by when we don’t read of some sickening new manner of killing or some despicable new manner of torture being invented by some decrepit and dilapidated person made in the image of God. It is rather disturbing, to say the least. Who among us doesn’t live with some sort of fear that we ‘might be next’ on some twisted deviant’s hit list? Who among us hasn’t been, at some point, afraid of the dark and what might lurk there?

_____________________

This chapter begins no differently than chapter 7 had ended (if we exclude, only for literary purposes, 7:53-8:11). Jesus speaks to the people, the people (leaders) argue with him, and when it was all said and done they tried to seize him, but no one was able to ‘because his time had not yet come.’ I have this idea in my head that Jesus’ time was not yet come until he said everything that he was meant to say. His time would be in the fullness of time—what Annie Dillard calls ‘the scandal of particularity.’ Or what Paul wrote in Romans, "You see, at just the right time…" (Romans 5:6a). Is God’s time so particular that things never happen apart from ‘just the right time’ or was it only with respect to Christ Jesus that the time was just right? If God is so particular, the I think nothing happens apart from just the right time. But how can it for people who pray ‘your will be done on earth as it is in heaven’?

___________________

As an example of this particularity, I offer this quote by Karl Barth, but I offer it with a small disclaimer. I confess that I am not entirely familiar with Barth’s theology. I have read three of his books (Dogmatics, pt 1, Romans, and Homiletics), they are difficult reads, and I make no profession to understanding all that he said. To be sure, this quote I offer here may not have the complete context, but it appears that what Barth is doing is showing that even the smallest (most particular) of details was not left up to chance, his race any more than the timing. As to the stated principle I agree; as to the consequences of this principle, I’m not sure. He wrote,

"The Word did not simply become any "flesh," any man humbled and suffering. It became Jewish flesh. The Church's whole doctrine of the incarnation and the atonement becomes abstract and valueless and meaningless to the extent that this comes to be regarded as something accidental and incidental. The New Testament witness to Jesus the Christ, the Son of God, stands on the soil of the Old Testament and cannot be separated from it...The Christian kerygma as it is addressed to the world has this statement about an Israelite at its very heart. This means nothing more or less than the bringing of the world into the sphere of the divine dealings with the people Israel. It does not speak generally of the existence of a Son of Man who became man for many (with many in view), but of the fact that the Jesus who has come as the Messiah of Israel has come into the world as the Saviour of the world...His universality is revealed in this particularity." (Karl Barth, Church Dogmatics IV.1, 166-7)

________________________

Jesus also said this: "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." He makes this statement or a statement similar to it in three other places in John’s Gospel (11:9, 10 and 12:35). It’s not the content that I am concerned about here (although John has introduced this conflict between light and dark as early as the first chapter in his Gospel). Rather, it is this other scandal of particularity, mentioned by Barth in the quote, but stated absolutely here by Jesus. It is this: there is no salvation apart from Jesus. Christians did not invent that claim. Christians did not ask for it to be that way. Christians are those who have accepted it as the truth. Christians are those who have said, "If Jesus said it, then how can anyone else say it?" Of course, others can say it which is precisely what makes the claim of Jesus so revolutionary: He backed up his claim at Calvary.

So he says, ‘If you knew me, you would know my Father also.’ There is virtually no difference between this statement and the one he made in verse 12. If you want to know the Father, then you must know Jesus. It’s rather obvious why this statement is so continually repeated in John’s Gospel. Over and over again: Jesus is the Way, Jesus is the Light, Know Jesus-know the Father, Look to the Son—formulate any combination you like and it all adds up to the same thing: Jesus is all we have.

___________________

Finally, there was the particularity of testimony. "I am one who testifies for myself; my other witness is the Father, who sent me." Of no one else has the sky cracked open and the Father testified as such but Jesus. Even when Moses and Elijah stood on the Mountain of Transfiguration (Matthew 17, etc.), only of Jesus did the voice say, "This is my Son, listen to Him." When the terrified disciples opened their eyes who was left? Moses? Elijah? No; only Jesus. Only of Jesus did God say, "This is my Son whom I love, with Him I am well pleased." There is simply no getting around it and that is why John continues to draw us back to it time and time again. He is concerned that we understand just how particular God is when it comes to salvation, eternal life, walking in the light—or any of the other metaphors you wish to copy from John—His way; the Jesus Way.

There are a great deal of people and preachers available right now whose sole purpose it is to distract people from this particularity. It the purpose of John to show us in as many ways possible that those folks who try to turn our eyes from Jesus are lying liars who tell lies (a little Al Franken humor there). John keeps bringing us back to the same message time and time again by recording for us the various times, places, and ways that Jesus expressed this truth about himself. If you are reading John hoping to come to some other conclusion or learn some other thing you are not getting what John is writing.

The Scandal of particularity took three forms here. One was from Jesus’ mouth: I am the light of the world (which means no one else is). A second was from the Father’s mouth: He testified about Jesus in a way about which he testified to no other. A third was in the matter of time: He came in the fullness of time. Think you now, at this moment in your life, that there is any less scandal of particularity? Think you now that God’s providence has guided you any less?

Soli Deo Gloria!

90 Days with Jesus, Day 36: John 7:53-8:11: The Sound of Grace

2007-07-20T10:35:00.000-04:00

John 7:53-8:11

53Then each went to his own home. 1But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. 2At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. 3The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group 4and said to Jesus, "Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. 5In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?" 6They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him. But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. 7When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, "If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her." 8Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground. 9At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. 10Jesus straightened up and asked her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?" 11"No one, sir," she said. "Then neither do I condemn you," Jesus declared. "Go now and leave your life of sin."

You know, as well as I do, that people are mean. People have very little conscience most of the time. It has been seared, corrupted, abused, and conquered by ourselves in complete cooperation with the Enemy. People will use any means at their disposal to attack and vilify Christ—or His church. I have always wondered about the man in this story. I’d like to know how it is that a woman was ‘caught in the act of adultery’ but a man was not. This alone shows that they have no real regard for the law. Sadly, we see a lot of this in our own culture. You might say it is a double-standard. Really, it’s a blatant disregard for the law, a thumbing of the nose at righteousness, an unmitigated scoffing at true justice.

That said, this particular pericope does not revolve around these mean, arrogant scofflaws. If they had read the law they would have seen this: "‘If a man commits adultery with another man's wife—with the wife of his neighbor—both the adulterer and the adulteress must be put to death’" (Leviticus 20:10). They also would have read in the 10 Commandments that the command ‘do not commit adultery’ has no particular sexual identity attached to it. In other words, it does not say ‘a man shall not commit adultery’ or ‘a woman shall not commit adultery.’ It says, pardon the archaic KJV language, ‘thou shall not commit adultery.’ They were quite wrong that day to bring only the woman before Jesus. (Sort of makes one wonder if the very man she was caught with was among those wanting to stone her.)

They understood the Law: They were, in fact, required to stone the woman and the man. Jesus doesn’t deny that the woman should have been stoned. On the contrary, he issues the command: Stone her. Jesus was not going to abrogate the Law just because they were trying to trap him. However, neither was he going to allow them to abridge the Law just because they were trying to trap him. The Law is the Law—the Law cannot be done away with. ‘Go ahead. Stone her. Who will be the first? Don’t hesitate.’ Jesus has no qualms about the punishment of the guilty: ‘Go on. Stone her.’

So, why does Jesus do what he does? Why does he say what he says? Why does he allow this woman to escape unscathed by the smooth stones and jagged rocks they were about to hurl in her direction? (Can you imagine this woman laying there in the dirt: ashamed, dishevelled, hair matted and gnarly, tears cutting wadis across her skin, eyes bloodshot, afraid to look up, afraid to take her hands away from her face? Perhaps she had heard of Jesus—there was whispering and rumors of him all around (see chapter 7). Can you imagine how she felt when she heard Jesus say, ‘Go ahead. Stone her.’ I well imagine that a chill went up her spine.) But I think that is not entirely what she heard. Maybe it was more like: thud, thud, thud, thud, thud. One by one. One after another. Then some murmuring. Then some shuffling. Then some rustling of garments. What does forgiveness sound like? How do we hear it? What sound echoes through our ears when that water washes us clean? Annie Dillard wrote that man catches grace like filling a cup under a waterfall. It’s an overwhelming thing. A torrent of mercy. A waterfall of grace. A tsunami of forgiveness. It’s more than we can handle; it’s more than enough.

What does grace sound like? Can we hear it? Can we see it? Can we taste it? Can we feel it? Can we smell it? Thud. Thud. Shuffle. Murmur. Shuffle. Thud. Thud…

Amidst her crying and sniveling, amidst her weeping and whimpering, the sound of rocks and stones was heard. Those boulders hauled on carts to Jesus had miraculously turned to tiny pebbles when they hit the ground and yet their thud was heard—not least by those who had gathered around Jesus that morning to listen to him teach. Those stones carried in their hands and pockets had become giant boulders these men could no longer hold on to under the weight of their own perjury. I don’t suppose for a minute those men who accused her actually forgave her. I don’t suppose they were willing to extend grace because they did not want to experience grace themselves. They walked away because they had no choice: Jesus had vanquished them. Theirs was a grace not given freely but begrudgingly. My point is that they didn’t walk away because they were forgiving her but because the Bird had caught the fowler in his own snare.

If the LORD had not been on our side—let Israel say-
2 if the LORD had not been on our side when men attacked us,
3 when their anger flared against us, they would have swallowed us alive;
4 the flood would have engulfed us, the torrent would have swept over us,
5 the raging waters would have swept us away.
6 Praise be to the LORD, who has not let us be torn by their teeth.
7 We have escaped like a bird out of the fowler's snare; the snare has been broken, and we have escaped.
8 Our help is in the name of the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth. (Psalm 124)

Man catches grace like filling a cup under a waterfall.

But the story did not end just there either. There’s one more scene that takes place after the accusers had gone and Jesus was left alone with the sinful woman and those who had gathered that morning to listen to him teach. Jesus again acknowledges that this woman was guilty although he does not condemn her. Maybe this goes back to John 3:17: "For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him." Yes. The mistake, however, is in thinking that Jesus did not judge this woman. He did, in fact, judge her. What he didn’t do was act in accordance with the judgment he leveled. He was perfectly ready to allow her to be stoned—on a certain condition. In this act, he also judged those men who wanted to stone her. Jesus did judge, but he did not condemn. This in no way means, however, that he approved her actions or condoned her indiscretion or applauded her sin. No. She was guilty.

Here’s what he did: He showed her grace and forgiveness. Still it did not end there because he also said: "Go now and leave your life of sin." I take this mean this: Forgiveness and grace sets us free to a new life. Once forgiven, we can no longer remain in our old way of doing things. We can longer continue in the decrepit filth of sin. Once set free, we are no longer slaves. Free to live a new life, free to take on a new character, free to to pursue righteousness and holiness. There is no longer a sin life for the one forgiven. "Release from a life contrary to the will of God is always with a view to life according to the will of God" (Beasley-Murray, John, 147).

PT Forsyth has said this same thing rather beautifully in his book The Cruciality of the Cross.

"The feeble gospel preaches, ‘God is ready to forgive’; the mighty gospel preaches ‘God has redeemed.’ It works not with forgiveness alone, which would be mere futile amnesty, but with forgiveness in a moral way, with holy forgiveness, a forgiveness which not only restores the soul, but restores it in the only final and eternal way, by restoring in the same act the infinite moral order, and reconstructing mankind from the foundation of a moral revolution. God reconciles by making Christ to be sin, and not imputing it (2 Cor. v. 21). The Christian act of forgiveness at once regards the whole wide moral order of things, and goes deep to the springs of the human will for entire repentance and a new order of obedience." (51-52)

Here is a beautiful thing: Set free. Go and leave your life of sin. If you have been set free by the Son, you have been set free indeed. From what do you need to be set free?

Just what does grace sound like to you?

Soli Deo Gloria!

90 Days with Jesus, Day 35: John 45-52: We're Only Safe with Jesus

2007-07-18T13:55:00.000-04:00

John 7:45-52

45Finally the temple guards went back to the chief priests and Pharisees, who asked them, "Why didn't you bring him in?" 46"No one ever spoke the way this man does," the guards declared. 47"You mean he has deceived you also?" the Pharisees retorted. 48"Has any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed in him? 49No! But this mob that knows nothing of the law—there is a curse on them." 50Nicodemus, who had gone to Jesus earlier and who was one of their own number, asked, 51"Does our law condemn anyone without first hearing him to find out what he is doing?" 52They replied, "Are you from Galilee, too? Look into it, and you will find that a prophet does not come out of Galilee."

Merrill Tenney makes a good point about the cooperative work between the Sadducees & Pharisees: “Since the high priest belonged to the Sadducean party, the coalition of the Pharisees and Sadducees was significant. The two groups were strongly opposed to each other in doctrine (Acts 23:7). In spite of their differences, their common animosity toward Jesus induced them to combine for action against him” (The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, John, 88). Isn’t it amazing how people from such divergent positions can unite together against a common cause, in this case Jesus? I’d be willing to bet you could do the same thing with conservatives and liberals in our government: as long as Jesus is the object of their scorn, united they will be. We see this taking place at the end of every Gospel story. Jews and Romans, notoriously hateful of one another, working together to see Jesus crucified. The world had grand designs on itself and Jesus is not a part of those plans: he must be ruthlessly eliminated, purposely cut-off, permanently disabled.

Still it is difficult not to see the courage of those guards who were commissioned to arrest Jesus and yet came back sans Jesus, empty-handed. And what were they impressed with? “No one, no man, has ever spoken the way this man does.” He is unique in instruction, singular in his prophecy, unparalleled in his revelation. No one speaks like he does. This does not mean that Jesus was far more eloquent than anyone else (although, I’m not saying he wasn’t). It means that his teaching was remarkable for its content. It’s what the people said after he preached the Sermon on the Mount: “When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law” (Matthew 7:28-29). Or in Mark 3:27: “The people were all so amazed that they asked each other, ‘What is this? A new teaching—and with authority! He even gives orders to evil spirits and they obey him.’”

They were overwhelmed by Jesus’ teaching—the content of his teaching. No one compared to him and these guards had never heard anything like it before. I suspect that the religious authorities were a bit perturbed by this sort of ‘compliment’. “You mean he has deceived you too? Has any one of us believed in him? That is supposed to be a sign of authority or intelligence. In other words, “Look, you hayseeds, us smart folk haven’t believed in him, and those folks who have are accursed. Why, then, would you want to be associated with a group of cursed people? Wouldn’t you be wiser to be on our side and do what you are told since we, obviously, are smarter and not cursed?” Well that cinches it for me! I’m gonna follow the smart folk of this world because the obviously know much more than I do. They are far better equipped to handle all the details of who and what we should believe in. Right?
Nicodemus has a little courage too. Who knows what his intent was? I don’t, but at least he was willing to stand up to general decency and give a curtsy to the law: Does our law condemn anyone without a trial? But these folks did not even want to listen to Nicodemus or the guards let alone Jesus. Jesus was not going to get a fair trial in that town—and the end of the Gospels bear this out in full force. I cannot help but notice, however, that Nicodemus (this time) allowed those who opposed Jesus to have the last word. Maybe it was by design. Maybe he said just enough to allow those in opposition to Jesus to indict themselves and show their true colors?

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So where does a prophet come from? Their last words are: “Look into it, and you will find that a prophet does not come out of Galilee.” In a sense, Jesus did not come from Galilee because he was, in fact, sent from the Father. He points this out several times. That is clearly not their point; it may be mine.

What they did was this. They worked with their avowed theological enemies in their opposition to Jesus, they resorted to snooty condescension and intellectual hubris, and they were about to commit an illegality by denying someone the full scope of the law’s protection (condemnation without trial). You can see they were going out of their way to oppose Jesus at every turn, every twist, every point they could. And they did so quite apart, it appears, from any pangs of conscience whatsoever. They wouldn’t listen to the guards. They wouldn’t listen to their own (Nicodemus). They wouldn’t listen to the Law (which Nicodemus invoked).

Sadly, folks do the same sort of things today. I hate to keep saying it, but that was the overall point of chapter 7 of John’s Gospel. What shall we do? What shall we say? How shall we respond? Shall we respond with bewildered fear like the guards? Shall we respond to citing technical aspects of the Law as Nicodemus did? Shall we respond in silence when insulted as Nicodemus did? At some point we are all going to have to say something about Jesus. I don’t think indifference, apathy, or silence is going to cut it. Those who speak the loudest, and those who hold the power of intimidation, and those reputed to be intellectual giants will not always be the ones to win or hold sway over the majority. What is required is someone brash enough to testify to what they believe in the presence of uncontrolled outrage and hatred.

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Chapter seven took quite a while to traverse. There’s a lot of important theological material in this chapter. I’d like to leave you with a couple of important observations as we finish this chapter and proceed to chapter 8 of John on our 90 Days with Jesus journey.

First, Jesus does not move according to our time schedules. We can no more make God adjust his plans than we can extinguish the sun. He has his own purposes, his own plans, his own time-table for how and when things on this earth will be accomplished. To be sure, we are a part of that plan, but we are not privy to all the details. So while we pray, we bear in mind his sovereignty and wisdom. And while we live, we continue to have faith that God has not abandoned us or forgotten us. We lovingly trust and obey and have confidence that even when our plans fall to pieces and fail miserably His do not.

Second, Jesus expected much opposition from those who opposed him. That sounds a wee bit redundant but what else can I say? Opposition from those who oppose Christ does not lessen as time goes on but in fact increases and grows more vehement. There is a great deal of tension in chapter 7. There are those who can’t make up their minds, there are those who have already decided they are opposed, there are his brothers who think he’s a kook, and there are the disciples who silently follow Jesus. There is much violence and a lot of tension and maneuvering in this chapter. I don’t think Christians in the West have clearly marked this in their lives. We enjoy relative peace and comfort in our lives. I wonder if we are fully prepared for the sort of opposition that we can certainly expect at some point? Those opposed to Jesus will not long tolerate those who follow Jesus.

Third, Jesus said that his teaching was not his own, but that it came from the one who sent him, namely, God. If this is true, and I assume beyond doubt, that it is, then what is the response of people who hear these words? More, what is the content of those who profess to be prophets for the church? If the content of our preaching is not in line with that of Jesus’ preaching then how can it possibly be in line with message of God the Father? The reason we have the Scripture is precisely so that our preaching and teaching remain orthodox. More preachers would do well to put away their books on purpose, secrets, best lives, and prayers of obscure OT characters and open their Bibles and see exactly what Jesus preached and taught. If our teaching and preaching does not line up with His, there is reason to believe that we are not preaching orthodox Christianity.

Fourth, Jesus said that if we have thirst we should go to him and drink. Scarcely can I imagine this means anything other than that Jesus is the only way to salvation and that what he means to give us is the means of our preservation and sanctification (viz., the Spirit). I must be critical again of what I see in this world of churchianity. There is a mass exodus away from serious theological thinking and deep, passionate, committed study of God’s Word in favor of some short term psychological feel-goodism. Peruse the shelves at the local Christian bookstore and you will find they resemble the self-help section of Barnes & Noble with the only exception being the word ‘Christian’ affixed to the dust jacket somewhere. If Jesus gives the Spirit then we should be in pursuit of Jesus and the Spirit will create the life in us that we lack. In my estimation, this is tied directly to the Jesus’ words that his teaching is not his own but from the One who sent him. Our problem is that we have are profoundly suspicious of God’s Word and we are highly concerned as to whether or not it is reliably sufficient to create in us the new life God has promised. And if we cannot trust the Bible’s reliability, how can we preach it? Thus we resort to preaching from the books of popular authors who make Scripture palatable and easy, but no more reliable.

There’s much more to say about these matters. I submit to you that it is a theological problem we have in our churches. Too many are concerned with bread and milk—not many want to dig deep and unravel the complexities and perplexities of the real, biblical Jesus. What ends up happening is exactly what we see in John 7: A bunch of people who can’t make up their minds who Jesus is, what he is about, whether to arrest him or not, whether he is a prophet at all or The Prophet in fact. This is the problem we are faced with in our world. There is not enough teaching on what the Bible says about Jesus. The violence increases. The hostility does not abate. The animosity continues supplanting the popularity. It should be no different now. When Christ again is being truly preached from pulpits in the Church we will see the opposition rise. So long as we are content to be popular among the world’s inhabitants we will be ‘safe’. Safe, however, is always a relative term. What is better? Being safe from the world and caught in the hands of angry God or being in constant mortal peril and yet being guarded by the Lamb who is the Lion?

“What have been the eras of the Church’s greatest influence? What have been the moments of its most powerful impact on the world? Not the epochs of its visible might and splendour; not the age succeeding Constantine, when Christianity became imperialist, and all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them seemed ready to bow beneath the sceptre of Christ; not in the days of the great medieval pontiffs, when Christ’s vicar in Rome wielded a sovereignty more absolute than that of any secular monarch on the earth; not the later nineteenth century, when the Church became infected with the prevailing humanistic optimism, which was quite sure that man was the architect of his own destinies, that a wonderful utopian kingdom of God was waiting him just around the corner, and that the very momentum of his progress was bound to carry him thither. Not in such times as these has the Church exercised its strongest leverage upon the soul and conscience of the world: but in the days when it has been crucified with Christ, and has counted all things but loss for His sake; days when, smitten with a great contrition and repentance, it has cried out to God from the depths” (James S. Stewart, as quoted by David F. Wells in Above All Earthly Pow’rs, p 310).

There you have it. I’m sorry about the length of this post. I hope that does not deter you from reading and taking to heart what I have to say. Until chapter 8 I remain, affectionately yours in Christ.

Soli Deo Gloria!

90 Days with Jesus, Day 34: John 7:37-44: Jesus the Thirst Quencher

2007-07-18T01:39:00.000-04:00

John 7:37-44

37On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. 38Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him." 39By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified. 40On hearing his words, some of the people said, "Surely this man is the Prophet." 41Others said, "He is the Christ." Still others asked, "How can the Christ come from Galilee? 42Does not the Scripture say that the Christ will come from David's family and from Bethlehem, the town where David lived?" 43Thus the people were divided because of Jesus. 44Some wanted to seize him, but no one laid a hand on him.

The debate raged on for yet another day of the Feast. On the last day Jesus made matters worse for those attending the feast by standing up and shouting: If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. He has said that those who would follow him must eat his flesh and drink his blood (John 6). He has told a Samaritan woman: "If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water" (John 4). He has told that crowd of bread-eaters, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty" (John 5). Now he says it again in John 7: I am the thirst quencher. If you want a truly satisfying drink, come to Jesus. If you truly desire your parched throat to be slaked, come to Jesus. When nothing satisfies, come to Jesus. Or, don’t wait until you are thirsty: Come to Jesus and never experience thirst.

This is nothing new. It has been said in Scripture before and it will be said again. Thirst is a basic need for humans and who can satisfy it here on earth? I drink 4 to 5 bottles of water a day and drink tea, and other beverages on top of that. I am always thirsty. My thirst is never satiated, never quenched, never alleviated, assuaged, appeased. It’s a constant gnawing in my throat, a constant rumbling in my stomach. Who can save us from this wretched life of never satisfied cravings, desires, and drives? Is there no escape? But it is not really about actually satisfying the thirst, hunger, or appetite, or sex drive. No. Jesus didn’t say that, did he?

Jesus did not say, ‘Come to me and I’ll give you a drink of water you will not soon forget. Come to me and I’ll hook you up with a Long Island Iced Tea you won’t forget!’ No. Jesus said nothing of the sort because he knows too well that we will never be satisfied. It’s the old adage for the alcoholic: 1 beer is too many, 100’s not enough. Jesus did not say, ‘Come to me and I’ll give you a buffet that never ends!’ Jesus said, ‘If you are thirsty, come to me and drink.’ We don’t go at him for a cup of Oolong or Earl Grey or Columbia’s best. He said, and it is most important that all readers take careful note of this, he said: ‘If you are thirsty, come to me and drink.’ (I take it there are some folks who are, in fact, not thirsty.)

You see, what he is saying rather explicitly is that our desire should be for Him. We fix our eyes on what is unseen, not what is seen. We fix our eyes and hearts on Jesus. He is our goal. He is our delight. He is our satisfaction. This is what Paul meant in Philippians:

"I rejoiced greatly in the Lord that at last you renewed your concern for me. Indeed, you were concerned, but you had no opportunity to show it. 11 I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. 12 I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. 13 I can do all this through him who gives me strength."

He is saying that our circumstances do not matter, at least they are inconsequential, compared with our position in Christ. In Christ we are always satisfied. In Christ we are never thirsty even though we are dehydrated. In Christ we are ever living even though every day we are dying a thousand deaths. Our hope is not found in the amount of anything we have or our lack of anything we don’t have. Our hope is first and always found in Christ. He is our goal and He is our crown. Jesus did not say, ‘Come to me and we’ll go to Outback together every day.’ He said, and it is most important for everyone who reads John’s Gospel to note this, he said, ‘If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink.’

‘Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water I will give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life’ (John 4:13-14).

‘Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.’ Eugene Peterson wrote, ‘Resurrection is the work of the Holy Spirit in Jesus, raising him from the dead and presenting him before the disciples; resurrection is also the work of the Holy Spirit in those of us who believe in and follow Jesus’ (Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places, 232). Live the Resurrection now. Whoever goes on believing in Jesus has streams of living water flowing through him now. The Spirit has been sent (see John 13-17; Acts 2; etc.). We live even while dying and death has no grip on those who have been declared alive by the One who destroyed death. What can death say or do to those in Christ? Death will never molest the Resurrected!

But again there are objections to Jesus, complaints against his words, agitation that he dare proclaim himself to be something, division over whether he is telling the truth or not. Some want to seize him; others do not. No one does anything.

We do understand though, don’t we? The claims are rather outlandish, peculiar, preposterous, fantastic, and extravagant. "All this from a man whose home-town we are well acquainted with, whose siblings we know, whose chairs we sit upon when we eat dinner? No. The Messiah has to be some other larger-than-life character whose origins are unknown, or at least Olympus like. How can Messiah come from a backwater country like Galilee? But what about Bethlehem? At least he would come from Jerusalem." And people were divided because of these things. They were divided on that day when he shouted the words; they are today when the words are repeated. Many simply cannot find life so valuable, so wonderful, that they will even take the chance that Jesus may have been telling the truth. They are not that thirsty. Aquafina suits them fine.

Still his words stand for us. We will judge them to be rather outlandish and preposterous or we will judge them to be the very words of God. We are not afforded the luxury of not making a decision though. Thus we are left with the question: Can the Christ be as normal as a Galilean? Or must the Christ be some other-wordly, supernatural, miracle working, freak side-show Bob? Is he about meeting our expectations or being exactly who He is? We are left with a choice between these two positions. Jesus either is or he is not. We are either thirsty and go to Jesus for quenching or we aren’t and don’t. There’s life nowhere else but Jesus. I’ll end today with John’s words in the Revelation 21:

1Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away."

5He who was seated on the throne said, "I am making everything new!" Then he said, "Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true."

6He said to me: "It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life. 7He who overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be his God and he will be my son. 8But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death."

Take Good Care of One Another!

Soli Deo Gloria!

[PS—also see, Revelation 22:17, Isaiah 12, 44:1-5, 58:11; Psalm 1.]

90 Days With Jesus, Day 33: John 7:32-36: It's Time for Jesus

2007-07-17T23:31:00.000-04:00

John 7:32-36

32The Pharisees heard the crowd whispering such things about him. Then the chief priests and the Pharisees sent temple guards to arrest him. 33Jesus said, "I am with you for only a short time, and then I go to the one who sent me. 34You will look for me, but you will not find me; and where I am, you cannot come." 35The Jews said to one another, "Where does this man intend to go that we cannot find him? Will he go where our people live scattered among the Greeks, and teach the Greeks? 36What did he mean when he said, 'You will look for me, but you will not find me,' and 'Where I am, you cannot come'?"

DA Carson wrote in his book A Call to Spiritual Reformation: Priorities From Paul and His Prayers, the following words of wisdom concerning John 7:

"If God had perceived that our greatest need was economic, he would have sent an economist. If he had perceived that our greatest need was entertainment, he would have sent us a comedian or an artist. If God had perceived that our greatest need was political stability, he would have sent us a politician. If he had perceived that our greatest need was health, he would have sent us a doctor. But he perceived that our greatest need involved our sin, our alienation from him, our profound rebellion, our death; and he sent us a Savior" (109)

The Pharisees heard that people were whispering such things like, "Have the authorities really concluded that he is the Christ?" So, in an effort to stave off such ridiculous ideas, such trivial scuttlebutt, they sent in the troops to do what others had been unable to do: arrest him (recall in verse 30 others tried to lay hands on him but he escaped them). I don’t suppose that the Pharisees’ guards would have any better success than any others had; still they try.

But the Pharisees also heard people saying things like, "When the Christ comes, will he do more miraculous signs than this man?" So, in their attempt to forestall such frivolous conversations the Pharisees did what they did best: They sent someone else to deal with Jesus. Oh, they wouldn’t dare go and try to arrest him themselves (remember later that Jesus’ trials were conducted at night, in secrecy). These Pharisees had no intentions whatsoever of letter people even have the hint of a hint that Jesus might actually be who he claimed to be. But it was not yet his time.

For me, it is Jesus’ response that is most intriguing. "I am only with you a short time, and then I go to the One who sent me." It’s a response to those who were coming to arrest him. I wonder if he is saying something like, "Look, leave me be and I’ll be gone soon enough. I’m not planning on being here long enough for you to be making all this fuss. Let it be, let me be, and then I’ll be out of your way and you will have me to contend with no longer." He could have been saying something like that. Then he adds a second phrase, "You will look for me, but you will not find me; and where I am, you cannot come." Where I Am?? What did he mean by that: Where I am?

But they glossed over all that too. They were more concerned about where he was going than about where he was. They knew where he was from, supposedly, but they did not know where he was going. They could go to where he was from, but they would not find him when he left. This conversation leaves one gasping for air. At some level Jesus was saying this: There will come a day when I will be gone, not as easily accessible as I am right now when you want to arrest me. On that day you will look for me, you will want me, you will need me, but I will not be found. He makes it clear: You will look for me. I have a suspicion that they will be looking for him for reasons other than to arrest him. I have a suspicion that there will be a little more fear of God in their eyes then than there was that day when they wanted to arrest him.

There is, to be sure, a time limit. We don’t happen to be privy to it. God has not, in his wisdom, decided that this is information that we happen to require while accomplishing his work. But there is a time limit. We don’t know when the thief will come in the night or when the Bridegroom will return. We don’t know when the archangel will sound the last trumpet and the Son of Man will descend with the clouds. We are sort of in the dark on this one. Jesus said there is a time limit: "I am only with you a short time, and then I go to the one who sent me. You will look for me, but you will not find me; and where I am you cannot come."

Later Jesus will say: "Then Jesus told them, "You are going to have the light just a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, before darkness overtakes you. Those who walk in the dark do not know where they are going. 36 Put your trust in the light while you have the light, so that you may become children of light." When he had finished speaking, Jesus left and hid himself from them" (John 12:35-36). Clearly, there is a time limit. And yet still people refuse to come to Jesus to have life. It’s not a joke. It’s not a risk worth taking. If we don’t seek him while we can there will come a time when seeking will not be an option. Are you seeking him? What are you waiting for?

Their response demonstrates their ignorance and hubris: "What does he mean when he said, ‘You will look for me and not find me,’ and ‘Where I am, you cannot come’?" Translation: We can find anyone we want—you can go as far as the Greeks and we’ll find you. You can’t escape us, you mere human ("Where does this man intend to go that we cannot find him?"). Who do you think you are? Are you magic? Are you a traveler? At least they were concerned about what his words meant—although, John provides us with no answer to their questions. They did not perceive that there might come a day when they would be cut-off from access to Jesus. Oh, humans are so flush with confidence! Scarcely a day goes by, nary a minute ticks away when some human, some place, does not boast of their ability to conquer any obstacle. Jesus was saying, if I read correctly, here’s one obstacle you cannot conquer because the only way to conquer it is through me and you reject me! Of course those who reject Jesus will not find him: Truthfully speaking, they won’t want to.

Be Blessed and a Blessing!

Soli Deo Gloria!

90 Days with Jesus, Day 32: John 7:25-31: Responding to Jesus

2007-07-17T23:26:00.000-04:00

John 7:25-31

25At that point some of the people of Jerusalem began to ask, "Isn't this the man they are trying to kill? 26Here he is, speaking publicly, and they are not saying a word to him. Have the authorities really concluded that he is the Christ? 27But we know where this man is from; when the Christ comes, no one will know where he is from." 28Then Jesus, still teaching in the temple courts, cried out, "Yes, you know me, and you know where I am from. I am not here on my own, but he who sent me is true. You do not know him, 29but I know him because I am from him and he sent me." 30At this they tried to seize him, but no one laid a hand on him, because his time had not yet come. 31Still, many in the crowd put their faith in him. They said, "When the Christ comes, will he do more miraculous signs than this man?"

In yesterday’s meditation, we learned that Jesus’ teaching does not come from himself but the Father. People thus reject Jesus’ teaching at their own peril: In rejecting His teaching they are rejecting the authority behind the teaching (The Father), the subject of the revelation (God’s Will), and the intentions behind the prophecy (transformation by God’s intent). Now what he is saying here is this: "I am not here on my own, but he who sent me is true."

But notice what the people’s response is to this newest revelation: More objections. They object to Jesus’ teaching because they are convinced that he is not educated enough or, at least, that he was not educated by the ‘right’ people or the ‘right sort’ of people. Now they object to him again: "But we know where this man is from; when the Christ comes, no one will know where he is from." Objection after objection. They keep looking for reasons to not follow Jesus and searching for excuses not to believe in him. Furthermore, their response to him is always the same: violence, persecution, attempts at murder. They really do not like Jesus and search for any reason they can to lay him to waste. This time it is no different: At this they tried to seize him.

So here then it was not their ignorance that prevented them from knowing and loving Jesus. It was, in fact, their knowledge. In verses 14-15, they objected because they did not know where Jesus got his teaching form. Here they object because they do know where he is from. Jesus cannot win either way. But I think there is something more to it than that. I think these people were just, much like many in today’s world, searching and searching for reasons to reject Jesus. But if I hear Jesus’ answer correctly, then I am hearing him say to these people who objected: No, in fact, you don’t know me at all. As Jesus will later say in the Gospel: "If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well." He also says, "Anyone who has seen me has see the Father" (John 14:7-9).

I suppose that if people want to find reasons to object to Jesus they will find them easily enough. There is an entire discipline of Biblical studies dedicated to the task of refuting such objections (it’s called apologetics). Murray thus says that, in spite of the fact that we live in a different time and age and culture than when this book was first written, ‘…the revelation of God in Christ is directed to our age no less than to people in the first century of our era…And the challenge of Jesus’ claim to be the bearer of the revelation of God and the instrument of his redemption demands of every one of us an answer that we can give before the judgment seat of God, for that is what in the end will be required of us’ (Word Biblical Commentary, vol. 36, John, GR Beasley-Murray, 123).

So, the particular objections John wrote about may or may not be particularly relevant to us in this present culture. We are not Jews who would fret about something such as where Jesus was from or where he got his teaching (ie., his education). Indeed, the questions were even deeper than that in John’s context. Just examine all the different things people were saying about him in the chapter (v 1-5, 12-15, 25-27, 31, 35-36, 40-52). They objected to nearly every conceivable aspect of his life: Education, pedigree, race (he was from Galilee), etc, and at every objection they were ready to arrest him or kill him or persecute him. Still, in our culture we face a not entirely different set of objections that all trace their main point back to the same root: People still do not want to believe that Jesus is the Way, the exclusive Way, to the Father. "For even his own brothers did not believe in him." What about him did they not want to believe in? Well, read chapter 6 again and see!

This is the problem we face today. It’s not so much that people even object to Jesus necessarily. Many religions have grasped him and melted him into their pantheon of religious instruction. But Jesus is no mere teacher of wonderful, blissful things (as I pointed out yesterday). As long as Jesus is a good teacher, a humanitarian, an animal lover, an anti-global warming poster child, or some other such non-sense, Jesus is ‘just alright with me’ is the mantra for many folks—even Christians! But when cross-carrying Christians, rightfully and under obligation and mandate and because of love, preach that Jesus is exclusively the Messiah, God, the Crucified and Resurrected Sovereign Lord, well, then those who have lauded his teaching, moral character, and social activism turn back and no longer follow him. It is not strange to me at all that chapter 7 follows chapter 6 in this sense: Jesus made, in chapter 6, some of his most divisive, contumacious, and public claims to exclusivity yet in John’s Gospel, and many turned back, following him no longer. Now we see in chapter 7 their objections articulated, their hatred escalated, and their violence accelerated.

This is no different from our own world. And, to be sure, people cannot have it both ways. You cannot have Jesus the good, moral, upstanding citizen teacher and reject his exclusive claims to Supremacy and Sovereignty. This will not do. David Wells rightly notes, "The only way in which we can be God-centered, then, is to be Christ-centered, for God is salvifically know known nowhere else. It is popularly argued to the contrary that to be Christ-centered is to be other than God-centered because it excludes all religious options other than Christianity and hence excludes much of what God is doing in the world today. Whatever the attractions of this argument, it is simply unscriptural. It makes the reality of God diffuse, assails the uniqueness of his revelation in Christ, dispenses with Christ’s saving death, and upends the premise of the entire biblical narrative, which is that God alone has reality, while the gods and goddesses of the pagans are nonentities. The New Testament unequivocally sounds the note of Christ’s uniqueness, the clarion call of historical particularity, which vitiates every other religious claim" (God in the Wasteland, 132).

So, if God is doing anything in this world, he is doing it through Christ. Apart from Christ, God does nothing. He holds all things together in Christ. He saves through Christ. So, if people have rejected Jesus on this ground or that ground they have rejected God’s appointed heir, God’s appointed Messiah, God’s chosen Servant. Apart from Christ there is no one sent from God. Jesus came from God and that very fact teaches us a great deal about the manner in which we should respond to Jesus.

I hope You are Blessed and a blessing today!

Soli Deo Gloria!

90 Days with Jesus, Day 31: John 7:16-24: Pez-Dispenser Jesus

2007-07-15T21:55:00.000-04:00

John 7:16-24

16Jesus answered, "My teaching is not my own. It comes from him who sent me. 17If anyone chooses to do God's will, he will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own. 18He who speaks on his own does so to gain honor for himself, but he who works for the honor of the one who sent him is a man of truth; there is nothing false about him. 19Has not Moses given you the law? Yet not one of you keeps the law. Why are you trying to kill me?" 20"You are demon-possessed," the crowd answered. "Who is trying to kill you?" 21Jesus said to them, "I did one miracle, and you are all astonished. 22Yet, because Moses gave you circumcision (though actually it did not come from Moses, but from the patriarchs), you circumcise a child on the Sabbath. 23Now if a child can be circumcised on the Sabbath so that the law of Moses may not be broken, why are you angry with me for healing the whole man on the Sabbath? 24Stop judging by mere appearances, and make a right judgment."

Suffice it to say that I have not written for a while. I feel badly about that. I have been at camp, and on vacation, and working a week prior to camp trying to accomplish two weeks worth of work in one week. I should be back on schedule now, and gladly. I have missed musing over John’s Gospel and sharing with you those musings. So, John 7.

Sometimes people asked Jesus questions and he did not really answer their question (see chapters 13-17) but instead offered some other explanation or monologue on some seemingly unrelated topic. Here, however, things are a bit different. Someone asked Jesus a question ("How did this man get such learning without having studied?") and Jesus answered directly: "My teaching is not my own. It comes from him who sent me." In other words, he didn’t need to study. That is, what man could possibly provide him with what he was saying? His words are not the mere repetitions of what other humans have said, nor are they there mere regurgitation of rules taught by men that have no real authoritative backing—because those who teach them don’t obey them. His teaching comes not even from a ‘higher authority,’ as if God were an authority just above that of man, and his teachings were only slightly elevated.

This teaching is not even some sort of undemanding informational enterprise designed to make us more intelligent, wiser, or more fulfilled. If it were that, well then I suppose it would be the teaching of men. I think what Jesus says here points to this teaching being quite beyond a simple infomercial for God. In fact, this is God’s revelation. Jesus is not simply relating information; he is revealing the heart of God. He is, again, not just passing along useful hash. There is an urgency to his revelation that we ignore to our detriment. What Jesus says, "He who speaks on his own does so to gain honor for himself, but he who works for the honor of the one who sent him is a man of truth; there is nothing false about him." Take note, he says, of what I am saying because I am not saying this stuff for my sake, but for yours: that you may test and approve God’s will. If Jesus was (and he was!) opening his mouth and God was speaking through it then we need to be paying close(r) attention to what he (God) is saying. What will become of us if we ignore him? "In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things and through whom he made the universe" (Hebrews 1:1-2). Don’t ignore the words of Jesus.

The problem with Jesus is this: Many people think he was only a fount of wisdom as if God came down to earth simply to make us smarter people. Did God come down to impart to us a wisdom that could propel us into the higher ranks of academia? Or did God come down to impart to us a wisdom that would make us wise unto salvation, wise to His will, wise to our desperation apart from Him and His intervention? "It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us the wisdom of God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption" (1 Corinthians 1:30). Or, "God chose the foolish things of this world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him" (1 Corinthians 1:27-29). Too many, however, stop at ‘Jesus the wisdom…’ and never get to the point of ‘righteousness, holiness, and redemption.’ But what is wisdom if we remain lost? What good are smarts in hell?

Paul went on in Corinthians to say this: "We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. No, we speak of God’s secret wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory" (1 Corinthians 2:6-8). This is exactly what John said at the beginning of his Gospel: "He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him." Jesus did not come to merely impart to us wisdom in the sense that we think of wisdom: Stacks of papers, posters mounted on plaques on our study walls, loads of letters behind our names. No. That’s not why Jesus taught; that’s not what he taught. He points out to his audience, his accusers, that he is what they are not: consistent or Right.

They were anxious to kill him because he taught what was in accord with God—nay, he taught the perfect will of God and it was precisely this that offended them! Isn’t that ironic? But these very people would break the Law in order to preserve the Law. Ironic, isn’t it? And these very people, those ones so concerned about Jesus’ academic credentials were ready to kill him because he did on the Sabbath to a whole man what they did on the Sabbath to one part, that is, healed. He calls them on it: "Now if a child can be circumcised on the Sabbath so that the law of Moses may not be broken, why are you angry with me for healing the whole man on the Sabbath?" He tells them in no uncertain terms that they are hypocrites unable to make a correct judgment. Ironic, isn’t it, that the most learned among us have the most trouble grasping the most obvious truths?

I read the following statement at an on-line forum:

After taking 5 organic chemistry courses I could envision the chemical proceses (sic.) needed to make organic life without God's help. Isn't the reason a high percentage of scientist are atheist because they have leaned a lot more that the average person? Many scientist still believe in God for emotional reasons, or to fit in a society that considers non-believers immoral. It takes knowledge, intelligence, and a bit of imagination to understand evolution. But to "understand" God all it takes is blind faith. (www.amazon.com, religion forum)

I think this was the problem with those who intellectually accosted Jesus that day. They were interested in information, not transformation. Jesus did not come to this earth to dispense information like a Pez-dispenser dispenses candy. Jesus came to this earth and revealed God both in his person and in his preaching. And thus they were offended at him, at his teaching, and at his credentials. I guess they thought that because he didn’t sit at their feet and study that they had a monopoly on teachers and what could be taught by those teachers. This is yet another of those instances when the brilliance of God simply overwhelms me: It is precisely because it is from God that I cling to it. It is precisely because no man can lay claim to it that it is overpowering. "If anyone chooses to do God’s will, he will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own." It is the very fact of what Jesus said, the manner he said it, and the ones he said it to that persuades me that He is who He said He is.

Is it too simplistic to say: You will never know unless and until you taste and see? The gaining of all the wisdom in the world is absolutely meaningless if it doesn't make us wise unto salvation in Christ. Jesus was not anti-intellectual but neither did he see the point of learning for learning's sake.

90 Days with Jesus, Day 30: John 7:10-15: What Are People Saying About Jesus?

2007-07-03T21:25:00.000-04:00

John 7:10-15

10However, after his brothers had left for the Feast, he went also, not publicly, but in secret. 11Now at the Feast the Jews were watching for him and asking, "Where is that man?" 12Among the crowds there was widespread whispering about him. Some said, "He is a good man." Others replied, "No, he deceives the people." 13But no one would say anything publicly about him for fear of the Jews. 14Not until halfway through the Feast did Jesus go up to the temple courts and begin to teach. 15The Jews were amazed and asked, "How did this man get such learning without having studied?"

I wonder if you see the same things in John’s Gospel that I see? Do you see parallels with our world? Do you see similarities between their culture and ours? Seriously, take away all the plastic gizmos and electronic hickamagiggies and really tall buildings and you are left with the same thing as existed in Jesus’ day. There are still people and as long as there are people, nothing will ever really change. Frankly, I’m kind of tired of the whole thing. Every time I read the paper or the scan the Internet I am bombarded with the dregs of society, the scandal of the politicians, the mischievousness of Hollywood, and the downright stupidity of sinners. There’s a new way to sin invented every single day.

Jesus refused to go to Jerusalem during the feast in order to gain popularity. Bruce wrote, ‘Jesus’ going up to Jerusalem ‘as it were in secret’ is in marked contrast to his brothers’ insistence that he should court publicity’ (173). Really it is quite astounding that Jesus has no inclination to go up in order to make a spectacle, or to parade around for applause, or to play the monkey to his organ-grinder brothers. Jesus is shown here as one who moves according to His time schedule and no one else’s. Again, Bruce, ‘The evangelist’s point is rather that the whole incident marks his steadfast resolution not to run before the Father’s guidance nor lag behind it’ (173).

When he finally arrives in Jerusalem, it is to no fanfare, no trumpet blasts or PA announcement or Monday Night Football commentary. He arrives in secret and doesn’t even go up to the temple until half-way through the Feast. When he did go up, it was to teach. Then people could only find some reason to snarl about him, ‘How did he get such learning without having studied?’ (Solomon wrote, "…much study wearies the body" (Ecclesiastes 12:12).)

These verses we are looking at today are filled with people’s objections to Jesus. The first objection is that he doesn’t appear on other people’s time schedules, "Where is that man?" In other words, he should be here now. We demand he appear before us. We demand that he make his appearance. We demand…we demand…we demand…some folks get done doing nothing but making demands of Jesus. Some folks get done doing nothing with Jesus but wondering why he is not moving according to their wishes. "Where is that man?" they ask in a snarl of anger and not a little hubris. But I suppose we have a right to demand Jesus appear when we want him to, don’t we?

Then some folks say, ‘He is a good man.’ But I don’t put much stock in folks who say this either. It was all whispering, a hush-hush affair. People didn’t want to say anything, good or bad, about Jesus for ‘fear of the Jews.’ So I don’t put much stock in folks who are willing to whisper niceties about Jesus but are not willing to make any sort of public declaration about Him. What good is whispering when Jesus said that we are to be like Lights shining in dark places, cities on hills, shouting from the rooftops the things said in secret? What place is there for us to be ashamed of the Gospel? What good is a good man if no one is willing to stand up for him, talk about him, or share him with others? What good is a good man if all those who know he is good live in fear of what others might say or do? Nah. I’ve got no use for Messiah whisperers even if they say the right things.

Then some complain about Jesus and say, ‘No, he deceives the people.’ Oh, just imagine that! This was a trick of those others who did not like Jesus. They thought his only ambition was to subvert the lower classes of people, you know, those without education, those who don’t know better. Professor Bruce instructs us again, "…others maintained that his deeds of mercy and power were simply a smokescreen to cover his real intentions: he was actually an impostor, claiming to be what he was not, and thus misleading the common people" (174). There are plenty of folks running around the world right now claiming very similar things about Jesus.You know one of the greatest perpetrators of this accusation: Dan Brown, author of the best-selling book The D* V**** C***. The whole premise to the book is that Jesus is not who he claimed to be, and that his disciples have gone out of their way to cover up the ‘truth’ about him. Same claim; different time.

Then there were those who complained about his level of education: ‘How did this man get such learning without having studied?’ This objection Jesus answers: "My teaching is not my own. It comes from him who sent me. If anyone chooses to do God’s will, he will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own." It’s like Jesus can tolerate all other objections and complaints but he will not sit quietly by while people malign the Word of God. It is this objection that Jesus answers—perhaps because it carries the most weight. Perhaps it is because, as he has said and will say again, that rejection of his teaching is ultimately a rejection of God who sent him.

What is more amazing is that Jesus is being talked about even when he wasn’t around. People were saying all sorts of things about him that were either not true or only half-true (which means they were lies too). People had very little understanding of what he was, who he was, what he was doing. So later he tells them, ‘Yes, you know me, and you know where I’m from. I am not here on my own, but he who sent me is true. You do not know him because I am from him and he sent me’ (28-29). If you want to know the Father, you have to know me—but they did not want to listen to the things Jesus was saying.

We demand of Jesus. We are silent about Jesus. We falsely accuse Jesus. We reject his teaching because he has no recognizable pedigree. Nothing in the world changes. People are no different today than they were in Jesus’ day. I wonder when people will start getting it? If the Scripture is true, and I believe it is, there are a lot of people who are on the wide road that leads to eternal damnation. If Jesus was indeed telling the truth and He alone is the Only Straight and Narrow Path to God, then there are a lot of people already frustrated by God’s judgment. What are people around you whispering about Jesus? What are they saying? Better, are you prepared to talk to them and ‘set the record straight’? Are you prepared with an answer? Can you speak intelligently about the Messiah? The right information is useless if you keep it inside and to yourself.

I hope your 30th Day with Jesus is Beyond Measure!

Soli Deo Gloria!

90 Days with Jesus, Day 29: John 7:1-9: His Time, not ours

2007-07-03T00:31:00.000-04:00

John 7:1-9

1 After this, Jesus went around in Galilee. He did not want to go about in Judea because the Jewish leaders there were looking for a way to kill him. 2 But when the Jewish Festival of Tabernacles was near, 3 Jesus' brothers said to him, "Leave Galilee and go to Judea, so that your disciples there may see the works you do. 4 No one who wants to become a public figure acts in secret. Since you are doing these things, show yourself to the world." 5 For even his own brothers did not believe in him. 6 Therefore Jesus told them, "My time is not yet here; for you any time will do. 7 The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify that its works are evil. 8 You go to the Festival. I am not going up to this Festival, because my time has not yet fully come." 9 Having said this, he stayed in Galilee.

First, I must apologize that I am now so many days delinquent on my commitment to writing these meditations. For the two or three who actually read them, I am sorry. I had a rather long assignment to accomplish today. I will be at Church camp next week and I had to prepare lesson outlines for my teachers. That’s done. Now I’m prepared to do some writing for you, my loyal readers.

Second, if you are interested, I recently read an article in the June 24, 2007 issue of the Christian Standard about a church having difficulty in their ‘neighborhood’ ("God1, County 0") http://www.christianstandard.com/articledisplay.asp?id=629. Well, needless to say, the article infuriated me. Sad thing is, I do not normally even read the Standard since it has become a hodge-podge of mega-church mania and money-making. It’s not about what it should be, but I’m not on the board of directors or a shareholder in the corporation that owns them, so I can only resort to writing letters to the editor. After reading the above article, I wrote a letter to the editor of the paper and, shock of all shocks, they actually published it at their website. You can access my letter, ‘Are you Kidding?’ here: http://www.christianstandard.com/letterseditor.asp It’s not a pleasant letter and it has stirred debate at http://www.christianchurchtoday.com/ in the forum section. You can access this ongoing debate over the worth of my letter at: http://www.christianchurchtoday.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=4783. Thanks for allowing me to advertise a bit. Perhaps later I shall have more to say about the article I responded to and about the nature of the letter I wrote, that is, what my main complaint was.

__________________________

This is about priorities and about timing and about Jesus. Jesus had firmly decided he was not going to go up and put himself in a position where his life was going to be threatened. Only Jesus could determine the time of his death, not humans. So, since he knew they were plotting against him, he stayed away.

But his brothers persisted. They want him to go up since it was clear to them that ‘he wanted to be a public figure.’ Well, maybe they wanted him to be a public figure. Maybe they were chiding him a bit. They had their reasons. Maybe they really wanted to know who he was and what he was about—they didn’t believe him after all. They wanted him to show himself to the world, since he was ‘doing these things.’ But Jesus again would have none of it. And it is here that I shall make my points for this meditation.

First, he said that it was not his time yet and for us any time will do. He was in control of his time schedule and he was not about to be moved or persuaded to move against that time schedule just because the people around him were anxious for him to do so. He wasn’t interested in making a public show, in a public place, for reasons of mere publicity. That is, becoming a public figure was not his ambition. Romans says he died in the fullness of time. I’m sort a literalist on this matter: I believe he died at precisely the moment in time when he was supposed to, not a minute too soon, not a minute too late. His timing was impeccable and—better—in perfect accord with God’s will.

I think this teaches us about our time too in that maybe our timing still isn’t God’s timing. Perhaps it is true that for us anytime will still do. We are not so picky about when things get done so long as they gone done now, on our time schedule. We’re not long on patience and perseverance and endurance. We’re built for the short run, not the long obedience in the same direction. People have even sung songs about, "It’s better to burn out, than to fade away."
Second, he says that the world cannot hate us, but it does hate Him. And why? Because he testifies that what the world does is evil. This is clearly (one aspect of) what sets Jesus apart: He does not side with the ways of this world. He does not applaud the world. He does not go the world’s way. And because of it, the world hates him. You ever wonder why so many people in this world absolutely despise the Christ of God? It is precisely for this reason: Jesus properly preached and lived still testifies against the world and the world’s evil. That’s right. The Jesus of Scripture still has no affection for the sin of this world or the people who perpetuate that sin. There’s very little, if any, love the sinner hate the sin. They are inseparable as far as Scripture is concerned.

Jesus shows us, by not going to the Festival when his brothers asked him to that he is not here to serve our purposes and our time. Our motivations for him are not nearly what his motivations are for himself. He eventually became a public figure, but not because he went up the Festival. He became a public figure, he drew (draws!) all men (people) unto himself in the cross (See John 12). This too is the primary manner in which Jesus testifies against the world. In his cross is not only salvation but judgment. He levels this against the world and testifies against our sin by dying for it.

There seems to be very little offense to Jesus any more. With the exception of Islamists and the Hindus I have mentioned in other posts, the world is in deep love with Jesus. Unfortunately, it is the Jesus of Forbes 500 and not the Jesus of Scripture. The Jesus of Scripture is radically counter-cultural. The Jesus of Scripture is manifestly opposed to the wickedness of this world. The Jesus of Scripture is not moved by our agendas or schedules. The Jesus of Scripture is cross-driven and commands that his disciples be cross-driven too. There is no way to escape this life that Jesus calls us to. Further, why does the world love the church? Is it because the church has refused to testify that what the world does is evil? Is it because the church has become a haven not for the repentant but for the delinquent who are in need of God’s love apart from God’s judgment? PT Forsyth wrote, "If we spoke less about Gods’ love and more about His holiness, more about His judgment, we should say much more when we did speak of His love" (The Cruciality of the Cross, 73).

I mentioned an article above. The article is the story about a church in Colorado. The church is fighting, kicking, screaming in court, in the papers, in their community because the local commissioners will not let the church expand their building to accommodate children who want to ‘dance and groove to contemporary Christian music.’ The gist of the letter I wrote to the Standard is that I don’t fee sorry for the congregation in the least (and that the Standard was profoundly wrong to publish the essay). They (the church) are not being persecuted. They are not martyrs. They are not being told by the commissioners of the county not to speak in the Name of Jesus. They are being told they can’t build a bigger building. Now, if those county commissioners ever decided in the future that this church can’t preach the Gospel, if they ever tried to close the doors because the church was preaching against sin, or announcing God’s judgment on those without Christ, or talking about a Crucified Lord Jesus—well, then I might be concerned for the church. It’s a matter of priorities. Right now that church has, from all outward appearances (and I grant that I am not living there to hear the sermons each week), a messed up set of priorities--this whole building things stinks because it is a diversion. They want us to feel sorry for them, to chastise the commissioners with cries of 'that's illegal' and 'persecution,' all sorts of other blah, blah. But I submit to you that if the church (not just Colorado, but in the entire world) actually preached what Scripture says about Jesus, and what Jesus says about this world, the church would be far less liked, far less tolerated, and have far fewer buildings at all. There wouldn't be fighting over a building expansion; they'd be fighting for their very lives like Christians are doing in the Middle East and elsewhere. Then we would see if we are on the crucified & resurrected Jesus’ side, serving His purposes, in His time, or if we just want to set Him up as some public figure, on our time schedule, for our purpose.

My contention is that it cannot be both ways.

90 Days with Jesus, Day 28: John 6:60-71: What Did Jesus Say? or What Did You Hear?

2007-06-29T01:27:00.000-04:00

John 6:60-71

60On hearing it, many of his disciples said, "This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?" 61Aware that his disciples were grumbling about this, Jesus said to them, "Does this offend you? 62What if you see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before! 63The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life. 64Yet there are some of you who do not believe." For Jesus had known from the beginning which of them did not believe and who would betray him. 65He went on to say, "This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled him." 66From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him. 67"You do not want to leave too, do you?" Jesus asked the Twelve. 68Simon Peter answered him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. 69We believe and know that you are the Holy One of God." 70Then Jesus replied, "Have I not chosen you, the Twelve? Yet one of you is a devil!" 71(He meant Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, who, though one of the Twelve, was later to betray him.)

Chapter 6 of John’s Gospel is long. 71 verses long. It could be that we have the entire conversation that took place. It could be that John give us the highlights. Either way, it is 71 verses in our English translations and John packed those 71 verses full to the brim. There is not much left to the imagination in these verses even if they are a synopsis of a larger conversation.

So, as we conclude our reading of chapter 6 together, I would ask you to reflect on what you read. Now, ask yourself this question: What did I hear Jesus saying? "On hearing it, many of his disciples said, ‘This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?’" What those gathered that day heard was difficult. They were still grumbling. "Well, this was all good when we got a meal out of the deal. When he stopped feeding us while we listened…well, this is just too difficult without a meal."

Can you imagine that Jesus asks us to follow him in the difficult road that involves the consumption of his flesh and blood? Can you imagine that Jesus says those would be his disciples will, in fact, participate in his life and his death. His cross is unavoidable. If we want his life in us we will participate in his death. And it was this that ‘offended’ the people who were listening to Jesus that day. "From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him." When the Gospel is faithfully proclaimed there will be two distinct results. One is that some will believe. The other is that most will turn back and longer follow. Those who try to get there on their own (maybe because of a miracle or full tummy) will not last. "This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled him." Those who are drawn to Christ by God will last because they will hear what the Father is saying (remember: They will be taught by God, 45). A few heard Jesus that day.

He said to them, "You do not want to leave too, do you?" This verse breaks my heart. It crushes me. It throws me down and stomps on my chest. My soul heaves up inside of me when I hear Jesus ask this question: "You do not want to leave too, do you?" What’s this do to you? Yes, Jesus the Son of God, the Almighty who walks on water, magics bread out of nothing, heals the blind and all that. Jesus the Son of Man: Rejected by his own, not welcomed by those whom he made, esteemed not by his brothers. Man of Sorrows. I hate talking about feelings, but forgive me for a minute: Do you feel the pathos in Jesus’ voice: You don’t want to leave too, do you? Do you hear him suffering for those who had left and concerned whether there were any on earth who had the courage to hear the voice of God.

I don’t like that verse. It puts us on the spot, shines a light on us. The penetrating, demanding voice of the Son of God, Son of Man, probing deep into us: You don’t want to leave too, do you? He forces our hand and makes us choose. Go with the crowd who are disenchanted? Or stay with Jesus? Go with the frustrated empty bellied crowd? Or stay with Jesus who is already filling us? Go with the vulgar culture whose only interest is in the here and now? Or stay with Jesus who has been promising all throughout this chapter life, life abiding, life to the full, Resurrection Life—now? What choice has the Father given us?

"What about you? You don’t want to leave too, do you?"

"Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We believe and know that you are the Holy One of God." All throughout this chapter Peter and the others had heard Jesus saying only one thing: I am the way of eternal life, I will raise you up, I am your hope, I am your salvation, apart from me there is no life, I am the Way, I am the Bread of Life, I am Resurrection Life. This is all that Peter and a few others heard. I guess it matters what we are tuned into, what we are listening for, Who we are listening to. As soon as some heard Jesus say something about eternal life they were hooked. Go back through chapter 6 and mark out all the times Jesus says something about eternal life. Don’t be content with this life and the stuff of this life. Don’t be content with mere life. Stay with Jesus and have Resurrection Life even now.

Jesus speaks the Words of Life. Peter nailed it: To whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. To whom shall we go? Even now this question is relevant and must be asked and answered. According to Scripture, according to Jesus, there is nowhere else to go. Jesus, and Jesus alone, is the Bread of Life.

"The final decision must be made while we are still on earth. The peace of Jesus is the cross. But the cross is the sword God wields on earth. It creates division. The son against the father, the daughter against her mother, the member of the house against the head—all this will happen in the name of God’s kingdom and his peace. That is the work which Christ performs on earth. Who has a right to speak thus of love for father and mother, for son and daughter, but the destroyer of all human life on the one hand, or the Creator of a new life on the other? Who dare lay such an exclusive claim to man’s love and devotion, but the enemy of mankind on the one hand, and the Saviour of mankind on the other? Who but the devil, or Christ, the Prince of Peace, will carry the sword into men’s houses? God’s love for man is altogether different from the Love of men for their own flesh and blood. God’s love for man means the cross and the way of discipleship. But that cross and that way are both life and resurrection. ‘He that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.’ In this promise we hear the voice of him who holds the keys of death, the Son of God, who goes to the cross and the resurrection, and with him takes his own" (Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship, (Touchstone: New York, 1995 ed), 219. Emphasis mine.)

The question I leave you with is this: If you want to have eternal life, where are you looking for it at? Are you searching in places where it cannot be found? Are you investigating the world’s idols? Are you seeking life in some sort of mysticism or mystery? Are you buying into false claims of false hope? Do you hear Jesus saying impossible things or do you, like his true disciples, hear Him saying: I am Eternal Life?

Day 28 of 90 with Jesus is brought to you in hope that you will, if you have not already, give your life to Jesus, the only Bread of Life.

Soli Deo Gloria!

90 Days with Jesus, Day 27: John 6:52-59: The Flesh & Blood of Jesus

2007-06-29T01:11:00.000-04:00

John 6:52-59

52Then the Jews began to argue sharply among themselves, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?" 53Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. 55For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. 56Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him. 57Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. 58This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your forefathers ate manna and died, but he who feeds on this bread will live forever." 59He said this while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum.

I have spent a considerable amount of Internet space writing these meditations on John’s Gospel. I have spent a considerably amount of time reading John’s Gospel and trying to make sense of it for myself so that I would be able to converse intelligently with you. What I continue to find in John’s Gospel, however, is a return to the same themes over and over again. Well, mostly I keep coming back to the same theme in my writing because John keeps coming back to the same theme in his Gospel: Jesus is the only Way to salvation, to the Father, to eternal life and that apart from Jesus there is simply no hope. If we trust the Bible to be God’s Word once delivered to the Saints, then we must believe what it says about these matters. The Bible affords us no other options but Jesus. We are given licence to preach in no other Name; we are given no other Name under heaven by which we might be saved. The message we preach is valid only when it is the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Many in this culture we live in, however, have managed to convince great numbers of people (Christians included and especially!) that there are other ways. Eugene Peterson calls this ‘Christian idolatry.’ In his small book Living the Resurrection he comments on this phenomenon:

"But what we also do is look around for ways to affirm and cultivate our new life in Christ outside our workplace. And we soon find, quite to our delight, that there is a lot to choose from. A huge religious marketplace has been set up in North America to meet the needs and fantasies of people just like us.There are conferences and gatherings custom-designed to give us the lift we need. There are books, videos, and seminars that promise to let us in on the Christian ‘secret’ of whatever it is we feel is lacking in our life—financial security, well-behaved children, weight loss, sex, travel to holy sites, exciting worship, celebrity teachers. The people who promote these goods and services smile a lot and are good-looking. They are obviously not bored.

"It isn’t long before we’re standing in line to buy whatever is being offered. And because none of the purchases does what we hoped for, or at least not for long, we’re soon back to buy another, and then another. The process is addicting. We become consumers of packaged spiritualities.

"This is also idolatry. We never think of using this term because everything we’re buying or paying for is defined by the adjective Christian. But idolatry it is, nevertheless. It’s God packaged as a product—God depersonalized and made available as a technique or a program. The Christian market in idols has never been more brisk or lucrative. The late medieval indulgences that provoked Luther’s righteous wrath are small potatoes compared to what’s going on in our evangelical backyard" (Eugene Peterson, Living the Resurrection, (NavPress: Colorado Springs, Co. 2006), 35-36. Emphasis his.).

It is unbelievable that this is the situation, but I’m glad to know that I’m not the only one who sees things this way. His is a warning to those of us who not only treat Christianity as if it were a cash-cow or who think that the Gospel can be promulgated through clever marketing campaigns or slick programming. Peterson is warning us that we are in danger of displacing God and replacing Jesus Christ with something less that is guaranteed not to create in us the sort of Resurrection Life that Christ has called us to live. Jesus said as much himself. "I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you." You can run from place to place, read book after book, follow all the rules of the super-teachers, adhere to all the principles of the preaching prognosticators and prophets, and yet still miss out on life because Jesus was not a part of your running around and consumption of goods. Most of this stuff is fast food. Only Jesus is a life giving, sustaining meal.

In other words, all this other stuff can either lead you to a deeper relationship with Christ or it can lead you to a deeper relationship with itself. It is easy to get caught up in all the goods and services and miss out on Jesus. Jesus says, from his own mouth—what he heard in the Father’s presence—that unless we find in him our complete nourishment then we are lifeless; that is, we are dead. Those who have no life in them are, for all intents and purposes, dead. Conversely, those who do find their nourishment in Christ’s flesh and blood are full of life; life now. It's not even a life we have to wait for. It's ours now! I believe His clear point is that those who are abiding in Christ are already living the Resurrected Life.

Look what he says. Six times he makes reference to those who eat his flesh and drink his blood. Note them well in verses 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, & 58. Such a repetition can only mean that he really wants us to get it into our head. He really wants to consider deeply how imperative it is for those who would follow after him to be in such close communion with him that his life, his flesh, his blood is ours. It is impossible to live without food forever. Eat his flesh, have life in you. Eat his flesh, drink his blood, have eternal life and be raised up at the last day. Eat his flesh, drink his blood, and you will remain in Christ and He in you. The one who feeds on Jesus will live because of Jesus. The one who feeds on this bread will live forever. We will have life, he says, because of Him. Life is His work in us. It is not from ourselves or from anyone or any place else. We have life, if we have it, because of Jesus.

He said: Your forefathers ate manna and died, but he who feeds on this bread will live forever. Manna is fine as far as it goes, but it is incapable of providing sustained, eternal nourishment that will guarantee a life beyond this life. The same is true today. There is nothing wrong with books, seminars, and all that stuff. I love books as much as the next person, but I am not naïve enough to think that it will be my vast (that’s hyperbole) knowledge of and wisdom from books that will secure me the sort life Christ has promised. Those things are fine as far as they go, but they are temporary things that will eventually wear out and need replacing. They will be chewed on, consumed, digested, eventually pass out of the body. But Jesus? No. Once you feed on Jesus He stays with you. And the longer you stay with Him, the Longer he stays with you. Jesus provides the life that the idols of this earth cannot, will not promise or provide. So why do so many preach these idols? Why do so many feed on them instead of Jesus?

Jesus is saying that if you want Life, true Life, Eternal Life, Living Life, Abiding Life, Forever Life then you must, and he does not equivocate, eat His Flesh and drink His Blood. There is simply no getting around this at all.

I Hope you find that after 27 Days with Jesus your life is becoming more and more His.

Soli Deo Gloria!

90 Days with Jesus, Day 26: John 6:41-51: The Flesh of Jesus

2007-06-28T00:30:00.001-04:00

John 6:41-51

41At this the Jews began to grumble about him because he said, "I am the bread that came down from heaven." 42They said, "Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, 'I came down from heaven'?" 43"Stop grumbling among yourselves," Jesus answered. 44"No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day. 45It is written in the Prophets: 'They will all be taught by God.' Everyone who listens to the Father and learns from him comes to me. 46No one has seen the Father except the one who is from God; only he has seen the Father. 47I tell you the truth, he who believes has everlasting life. 48I am the bread of life. 49Your forefathers ate the manna in the desert, yet they died. 50But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which a man may eat and not die. 51I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world."

John’s Gospel as a whole contains mountains and mountains of stories relating various peoples’ objections to Jesus. There was always someone discontent with something he said, or something he did, or who he spoke to or with, or who he ate with, or where he went. These verses today begin with that idea: "At this, the Jews began to grumble about him because he said, ‘I am the bread that came down from heaven.’" There was some deep seated dislike, distrust and hatred of Jesus inside these people. And here’s the irony. The story that precipitated all this conversation was the miracle of the loaves and fish. When Jesus did that, everyone wanted to make him a king. As the story has developed in John’s Gospel, the people have grown more and more angry, more and more disconcerted, more and more distant, and eventually, they turn away from him altogether and ‘follow him no longer.’

But why were the people so offended? What was so difficult for them to comprehend? Jesus gave them two scenarios. In one scenario, they were fed some bread that filled their bellies for a day until they were hungry again. In a second scenario, they were fed The Bread of Life and were satisfied forever. Again with the irony: They did not want bread that would help them live forever. They wanted bread on the table today. You know as well as I do that in the church today, many are saying: Jesus is all about bread on your table today. And as long as preachers say this, the flocks will grow. But as soon as Jesus said: "I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you" (and he said it more than once, to be sure!), the people ran away, fast and furious.

These words, Jesus says, are not something to grumble over or about or because of. They simply did not like that Jesus said, "I came down from heaven.’ And they grumbled. And grumbled. And grumbled. Then they ‘argue sharply among themselves.’ John says later, in verse 61, ‘aware that his disciples were grumbling about this…’ Then some turn back and ‘no longer follow him.’ I sense in here, to a degree, that Jesus just kept raising the ante, the bar, the standard, the qualifications for being truly considered his disciple. And the more he raised the bar, the more they raised their voices in protest. He said, "This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world." Then they argue. Clearly they were not too well versed in the use of metaphor.

They missed some things in Jesus’ words. They missed that he said he would raise them up at the last day (43), they missed that he said ‘everyone who listens to the Father and learns from him comes to me’ (45), they missed him saying that he had seen God (46), they missed that whoever believes has everlasting life (47), they missed that humans who seek to subsist on mere bread will die (48), they missed that there is a bread a person can eat and not die (50), that whoever eats the bread will live forever (51). They missed all this ‘live forever’ nonsense and focused in on that one tiny phrase ‘eat his flesh.’ At the same time, Jesus did not mince his words. There is no life at all apart from our appropriating his flesh into ours. There is no eternity save for those who have found their only survival in His survival. There is no eternal life for those who steadfastly refuse to participate in the life and death of Jesus. There is no eternal life for those who are more and only concerned about a king who feeds bellies here with bread that is not of himself. But Jesus shows the absolute pricelessness of what He offers to humanity when he says, "This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the World." How can any such sacrifice have a value stamped upon it? His sacrifice for the world is beyond compare, beyond measure, beyond our comprehension. It is incomparable; utterly unrepeatable.

This caused only more argumentative debating and grumbling among the people. Strange or funny how people get hung up on the smallest aspects of the Gospel and thus are utterly turned away from it. Strange that these folks who wanted Jesus to be their king a couple days ago should turn on him so quickly when they find out his real motives and his real designs on their lives. They did figure out that it was necessary to consume Jesus; they just could not figure out how. So they rejected him altogether on the basis that his claim was utterly absurd. That is as near as I can figure.

I’m writing this rather late. I am on vacation and I had intended on writing earlier. I got caught up in a story I’m reading and a baseball game that was not quite as thrilling for the home team as last night’s game was. So it’s late, but I hear what Jesus is saying. What comes through loud and clear is that Jesus is offering eternal life to those who want it. What is necessary is a level of faith in him so deep that it can only be described in terms of eating his flesh. What is described by Jesus here is, to an extent, the forsaking of those confidences we place in the bread of this world. What is heard by those he spoke with that day is something like, "How will everyone eat his flesh? Eight months wages wouldn’t buy enough for everyone to have a single cell." And yet the demand is no less demanded. Eternal life is found only by those who so identify with Christ through faith that it appears they have consumed his flesh, or been consumed by him. Either way, those who wish to live forever, according to Jesus, are left with no alternatives: It is either in Jesus or not at all.

What he goes on to teach us is that this way he is speaking of is terribly difficult and not at all strewn with marigold petals or lined with mammoth sunflowers. It is hard and at least most of the people did figure that much out and turned back. Dietrich Bonhoeffer saw this too.

"The path of discipleship is narrow, and it is fatally easy to miss one’s way and stray from the path, even after years of discipleship. And it is hard to find. On either side of the narrow path deep chasms yawn. To be called to a life of extraordinary quality, to live up to it, and yet to be unconscious of it is indeed a narrow way. To confess and testify the truth as it is in Jesus, and at the same time to love the enemies of that truth, his enemies and ours, and to love them with the infinite love of Jesus Christ, is indeed a narrow way. To believe the promise of Jesus that his followers shall possess the earth, and at the same time to face our enemies unarmed and defenceless, preferring to incur injustice rather than to do wrong ourselves, is indeed a narrow way. To see the weakness and wrong in others, and at the same time refrain from judging them; to deliver the gospel message without casting pearls before swine, is indeed a narrow way. The way is unutterably hard, and at every moment we are in danger of straying from it. If we regard this way as one we follow in obedience to an external command, if we are afraid of ourselves all the time, it is indeed an impossible way. But if we behold Jesus Christ going on before step by step, we shall not go astray. But if we worry about the dangers that beset us, if we gaze at the road instead of at him who goes before, we are already straying from the path. For he is himself the way, the narrow way and the strait gate. He, and he alone, is our journey’s end. When we know that, we are able to proceed along the narrow way through the strait gate of the cross, and on to eternal life, and the very narrowness of the road with increase our certainty. The way which the Son of God trod on earth, and the way which we too must tread as citizens of two worlds on the razor edge between this world and the kingdom of heaven, could hardly be a broad way. The narrow way is bound to be right" (The Cost of Discipleship¸ Dietrich Bonhoeffer, 190-191).

May your 26th Day with Jesus be Full of Grace & Peace.

Soli Deo Gloria!

90 Days with Jesus, Day 25: John 6:30-40: The One Loaf

2007-06-27T09:48:00.000-04:00

John 6:30-40

30So they asked him, "What miraculous sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you? What will you do? 31Our forefathers ate the manna in the desert; as it is written: 'He gave them bread from heaven to eat.'" 32Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. 33For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world." 34"Sir," they said, "from now on give us this bread." 35Then Jesus declared, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty. 36But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe. 37All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. 38For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. 39And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all that he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. 40For my Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day."

Michael Horton wrote in his essay Christless Christianity, "The Greeks love wisdom, so show them a Jesus who is smarter at solving the conundrums of daily living and the church will throng with supporters. Jews love signs and wonders, so tell people that Jesus can help them having their best life now, or bring in the kingdom of glory, or drive out the Romans and prove their integrity before the pagans, and Jesus will be laureled with praise. But proclaim Christ as the Suffering Servant who laid down his life and took it back up again, and everybody wonders who changed the subject. The Church exists in order to change the subject from us and our deeds to God and his deeds of salvation, from our various ‘missions’ to save the world to Christ’s mission that has already accomplished redemption."

He also wrote, "If the message that the church proclaims makes sense without conversion; if it does not offend even lifelong believers from time to time, so that they too need to die more to themselves and life more to Christ, then it is not the gospel. When Christ is talked about, a lot of things can happen, none of which necessarily has anything to do with his doing, dying, rising, reigning, and return. When Christ is proclaimed is in His saving office, the church becomes a theater of death and resurrection, leading to genuine lives of witness, love, fellowship, community, and service—yet always requiring forgiveness and therefore always coming back to the good news concerning Christ." (Issue: "Christless Christianity" May/June Vol. 16 No. 3 2007 Page, 14)

_______________________

They want signs. Many today want signs too. I have been writing about such folks for a few days now. Church buildings are filled with people who are astounded at the fancy building where they sings songs and go to McD— in the front lobby after the worship. Card sliders collect the offering on Sundays as if people were standing in line at Giant E—. Before you know it, we will be able to have virtual communion where we only imagine eating the loaf and drinking the cup. It’s a funny thing, in an ironic, terrifying sort of way, what the church has become. It’s not that all these modernizations are necessarily evil. It is that they signify a greater change in the church which is the lack of theological depth and appreciation for the things of God. I happen to be familiar with a congregation that is currently in the process of what appears to be a major expansion of their building. I also happen to know that this congregation does not have a baptistery and does not serve communion except in a private out of-the-view-of-everyone-room. I don’t know if there are any crosses inside or not. A new building is not evil; a shortened Gospel is. And in my estimation there is a correlation between the two.

Realistically speaking, we are much like the people in this story. They forgot that it was God who provided bread (manna) for them, not Moses; we have forgotten that is was Jesus who died for us, not some super preacher.

Jesus here says that these people did not recognize one very important aspect of life: It was God who provided for them and not Moses. They placed far too much value on Moses because they did not know the ultimate source of their own sustenance. If they knew where the manna came from, or rather who it came from, they would not be so hung up on Moses. As it was, however, they were hung up on Moses. Notice what else Jesus says: For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. There is a better source of nourishment that gives life not just to a few people scattered around Israel, but to the entire world. I wonder if we have such a grand conception of the Messiah?

Look, people today are no different: "Sir, from now on give us this bread." Just like the woman at the well, "Sir, from now on give me this water so I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming back here to draw water." The difference is that she got it and these ones did not. She won’t go thirsty; they won’t go hungry. It’s all the same meaning: Jesus provides what this world cannot which is a satisfaction beyond this earthly life. Believing in Jesus results in hunger pangs abated, thirst slaked, and the death sentence rescinded. And what can stop Jesus’ work? Nothing. He says, all that the Father gives him he will never drive away. He will lose none of those whom God has given him. He will raise them up at the last day. I know that not too many Restoration Church type of people believe in the doctrine of eternal security, but here in John 6 a pretty good case can be made that one you are saved, there is nothing anyone or anything can do to snatch you from Jesus. I like that idea much better than the idea that somehow I can be lost after being saved.

Finally Jesus says that it is the Father’s will that everyone who looks to the sun and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. Sadly, not everyone will look to him, even fewer will believe in him, and I image that what Jesus said about the way being straight and narrow is true: Even fewer will be raised up at the last day. But for all those who hope and believe and put their faith in Jesus, there is this promise: Eternal life. It is a sad, sad reality that some will never look to Jesus. There is security with him, unrest without him. So what I cannot figure out is why more churches are not preaching this Jesus who saves. Why are so many preaching things that are bound not to last, things that cannot save, things that are simply, irredeemably, meaningless for the human condition? Jesus said that the will of God is that everyone look to Jesus for salvation. The work of God (v 29) is to believe in the One God has sent; to recognize who gives life and who does not. Jesus said: Even the mighty Moses is not the giver of something so simply as daily bread. Now if Moses could not do that, how can any other human give bread for eternity?

My hope is that those who read these words will look to Jesus. We who preach the Gospel must stay on task and preach Jesus. The church must stay on task and demand that their preachers preach Jesus Christ Crucified. There is no excuse for not doing so; and there is no substitute for Jesus. God has given one Loaf to all of humanity. His Name is Jesus.

I hope this 2 day of 90 is Blessed for you and yours in Jesus.

Soli Deo Gloria!

90 Days With Jesus, Day 24: John 6:22-29: Vending Machine Jesus

2007-06-25T23:36:00.000-04:00

John 6:22-29

22The next day the crowd that had stayed on the opposite shore of the lake realized that only one boat had been there, and that Jesus had not entered it with his disciples, but that they had gone away alone. 23Then some boats from Tiberias landed near the place where the people had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks. 24Once the crowd realized that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they got into the boats and went to Capernaum in search of Jesus. 25When they found him on the other side of the lake, they asked him, "Rabbi, when did you get here?" 26Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, you are looking for me, not because you saw miraculous signs but because you ate the loaves and had your fill. 27Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. On him God the Father has placed his seal of approval." 28Then they asked him, "What must we do to do the works God requires?" 29Jesus answered, "The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent."

Later some folks from Greece will come to Philip and say, "We want to see Jesus." And Jesus, rather than rush right over to them, launches into a short sermon about his impending crucifixion. Eugene Peterson wryly notes that Jesus is not a tourist attraction.

Well here in these verses some other folks are looking for Jesus. John recounts for us the great hysterics that arose the next morning when all those well-fed folks woke up and couldn’t find Jesus. They go on a great search for him, but do not find him. They look at the docks. They look on the beach. These people keep coming to realizations that Jesus has fled the scene. I suspect they still have designs on making him a king too, but he is not there. When they realize Jesus is not on land they get into boats and head out to find him—maybe on the water, maybe in Capernaum. They go looking.

I think at this point we can say that there should be a certain amount of admiration for these folks. They are really looking hard for Jesus. They really want to find him and Jesus is playing a game of hide and seek with them. Rich Mullins sang a wonderful song about this very thing, this God who ‘plays hard to get.’ I read the other day that people in this world are very spiritual and are on a great spiritual search. In fact, let me quote a little of what I read from a radio broadcast transcript of Luis Palau:

Hello, this is Luis Palau. Americans today are more interested in matters of faith than at any other time in the past four decades. While interest in spirituality is rising, however, it's often experimental. Americans are dabbling in all things religious, often more concerned about how they feel than what is true an attitude …

What about you? If you knew you had only one week to live, what would be your claim to faith? The bottom line is you can be any religion you want to be, as long as what you believe about God corresponds to reality. After all, God isn't Buddhist, Catholic, Jewish, or Methodist. The question ultimately isn't who owns God, but who God is. This is Luis Palau. (Source, http://www.deceptioninthechurch.com/09-11-97.html, September 11, 1997 original broadcast date; italics added.)

Many people are, in fact, searching nowadays. We see it too in churches around the country as people flock to them in droves each week. No doubt people are searching. I don’t happen to think, however, that they are searching for anything that is remotely close to the Biblically revealed Jesus. This is essentially what Palau is saying when he says, ‘you can be any religion you want to be.’ Uh, sure. A spiritual experience they may be seeking; Jesus they are not. This is the same problem we see in the verses we are looking at today.

Eventually these people who are looking for Jesus find him. And, they go to him and sheepishly rebuke him with a question, "Rabbi, when did you get here?" Or, maybe they are feigning surprise like: "Wow! Imagine you being here too!" sort of thing. Perhaps they thought Jesus didn’t really know what their motives were. But the first words out of Jesus are not ‘Hey, I’m glad you’re here!’ or "Hey, good to see you!’ or ‘Hey, where you been?’ but instead, he cuts them deep by identifying their motives, "I tell you the truth you are not looking for me because you saw miraculous signs but because you ate the loaves and had your fill." In other words: You’d be better off not to even be here because your motives are impure.

In other words, if Jesus is not a tourist attraction then neither is He a vending machine! Too many folks just don’t get that at all.

Jesus essentially told these people what they wouldn’t tell themselves: They were not interested in the one who made the bread, just the bread. Jesus tells them flat out: "You people who come here looking for bread are wasting your time because you are looking for the wrong thing, the wrong stuff, the wrong bread. You’ve got it all backward." I don’t believe that Jesus can be much clearer in his line of reasoning. The people were coming to him not because of who he was, but because of what they thought he would do for them: Give them bread.

To many people today Jesus is a Vending Machine Messiah and ATM Messiah or National Health Care Messiah. To many people life with Jesus is all about what He can give them. To many people on a great spiritual search Jesus is merely the answer to all their problems. As such, there is very little stability in disciples any more. If they don’t like the Jesus they encounter at one church then they up and go to another church. Eventually they will find a Jesus that suits them: I just wasn’t getting thing out of my last church. (Sometimes I want to respond with something smart like: Well, why don’t you go back and put something into that church. It seriously grieves me to here people say that as if Jesus is merely a social security net or something along those lines. I wonder how many preachers have the nerve to stand up on Sunday’s and say, "Many of you have come here today looking for Jesus not because he died for your sins but because you want your bellies filled." How many preachers have the nerve to preach what is true, in other words, about human nature?

Someone has to have the nerve or else people will continue to go around searching for a Jesus who is not their eternal Savior but merely someone who gives us this day our daily bread. Now this is not to say we shouldn’t recognize where our bread comes from, but Jesus says our lives have to be about more. Man, he said elsewhere, does not live on bread alone; therefore, it is pointless to go around from day to day only looking for that scrap that will keep us going from day to day. We need something more Jesus said and our lives ought to have a little more ambition that mere bread. So, "Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you." In other words: Set your sights a lot higher.

This seems rather plain to me and the comparisons between Jesus’ day and ours are unmistakable. Given a choice in the matter, I sadly think most people would take bread for today and miss eternity than to miss bread for today and gain eternity. And I hate to keep putting the blame on pulpit ministers (i.e., preachers) but I think in their haste to acquire a flock they (we) have largely compromised this message of the Gospel. We have substituted a Vending Machine Jesus for The Bread of Life; junk food for The Bread of Life; artificial flavors for the Real Deal. Oh, and one more thing: Jesus said, ‘On Him (i.e., himself) God has placed his seal of approval.’ You know what this means right? It means that God has approved only Jesus to speak thus, and that only Jesus can give this eternal life. It comes from no other source: Not Nickels, not Schwebels, not Wonder. None. Only Jesus.

And the great work we are to do? Believe in the One God sent. It could well be that there is someone reading this right now who has never given it a thought. Perhaps you are running from place to place trying desperately to find a Jesus who will do what you want him to do and fix all your problems. I think what Jesus is telling you is that you are missing the bigger picture. It is not that you come to Jesus to get your problems fixed as much as it is that you come to Jesus regardless of the status of your problems. Jesus says there is a greater search in this life than just the daily grind or hunt for food for the belly. There is a greater search for Jesus himself who is, as we will see, the Very Bread of Life. We are, or should be, searching for Jesus. That is the Work God has called us to: Search for Jesus.

Michael Horton wrote:

"To preach the Bible as ‘the handbook for life,’ or as the answer to every question, rather than as the revelation of Christ, is to turn the Bible into an entirely different book. This is how the Pharisees approached Scripture, however, as we can see clearly from the questions they asked Jesus, all of them amounting to something akin to Trivial Pursuits: ‘What happens if a person divorces and remarries?’ ‘Why do your disciples pick grain on the Sabbath?’ ‘Who sinned--this man or his parents--that he was born blind?’ For the Pharisees, the Scriptures were a source of trivia for life's dilemmas. To be sure, Scripture provides God-centered and divinely-revealed wisdom for life, but if this were its primary objective, Christianity would be a religion of self-improvement by following examples and exhortations, not a religion of the Cross. This is Paul's point with the Corinthians, whose obsession with wisdom and miracles had obscured the true wisdom and the greatest miracle of all. And what is that? Paul replies, ‘He has been made for us our righteousness, holiness and redemption’ (1 Cor 1:28-31)." (Source: http://www.modernreformation.org/ "What Are We Looking For in the Bible", Modern Reformation Online, italics mine.)

I hope this 24th Day of 90 is truly blessed for you and yours.

Soli Deo Gloria!

[I have a lot more to say about this subject of the content of our preaching, but I’ll not tarry on it here. Suffice it to say that Christ must be the focus of our preaching, which is the point of the above quotation. I’m not suggesting that I am perfect, but I do have to wonder what would happen to the church in America if Christ were truly proclaimed in His glory, His Cross? What would happen if the Biblical Jesus were actually proclaimed from America’s pulpits? More preachers ought to try. The one’s I’m referring to know who they are. For now, the role of the preacher is to point to people the real reason they ought to be seeking Jesus and disabuse them of the idea that their motives are entirely pure. They need to be told that He is no Vending Machine or Tourist Attraction, but the Savior, the King, The Bread of Life. He's not just or merely a provider of bread, He is the Bread we should be searching for. That's what we ought to be proclaiming.]

90 Days With Jesus, Day 23: John 6:16-21: Mighty, Mighty Jesus

2007-06-25T22:36:00.000-04:00

John 6:16-21

16When evening came, his disciples went down to the lake, 17where they got into a boat and set off across the lake for Capernaum. By now it was dark, and Jesus had not yet joined them. 18A strong wind was blowing and the waters grew rough. 19When they had rowed three or three and a half miles, they saw Jesus approaching the boat, walking on the water; and they were terrified. 20But he said to them, "It is I; don't be afraid." 21Then they were willing to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat reached the shore where they were heading.

I will welcome again into our pages of meditation on John’s Gospel, the comments and insight of Eugene Peterson:

"This sign is unique among the seven, the only sign, as it turns out to be free of ambiguity. The sign reveals Jesus as sovereign in creation, gladly received and welcomed as such by the disciples. And, most significantly, there is this: the narration of the sign is centered in the ego eimi expression in verse 20: ‘It is I; do not be afraid.’ As we have observed, this is the form of the divine name with which Jesus identifies himself and that John skilfully and continuously weaves in and out of the fabric of his Gospel storying. This sign, set in the context of the sign that was beset by inadequate responses, counters the wrongheaded ‘make him a king (of Galilee)!’ with the assertion of uncluttered sovereignty over all creation, doing for his disciples what they, for all their strenuous rowing, could not do for themselves, and taking them where they were unable to get by themselves." (Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places, 96)

Jesus is not merely the king of Galilee and he cannot be made king by our hard work or our force. Jesus is King of all. He is Sovereign over the entire created order. His path is through the mighty waters. Nothing will stand in his way of accomplishing His objective. Raging seas: He walks on them as walking on solid rock. Raging storms: He walks through them as walking through a calm, summer day. Distance: He covers it in mere moments. What can get in the way of Jesus’ goal? Nothing.

But who wouldn’t be afraid to take him into the boat? Who wouldn’t be somewhat fearful of someone who is powerful enough to walk on water, in the dark, for two or three miles? I suspect I would be rather frightened too. I know I would be frightened. But something about Jesus’ response to them reassured the disciples. Why do you suppose that all Jesus had to say to the frightened disciples was: It is I. Is the identity of Jesus enough to quell even the greatest of fears? Then he said: Don’t be afraid. Is the command of Jesus enough to put down our greatest anxiety?

What I want to know is this: Why is the identity and command of Jesus enough to cause the disciples to go from fearful cowards to relieved welcomers? And just how did they plan to keep Jesus out of the boat? Don’t you find it strange that it was only after Jesus identified himself and gave the command that the disciples ‘were willing to take him into the boat’? Seriously: How were they going to keep a man who was walking on the water (in a storm that prevented twelve men from rowing more than 3 or 3 ½ miles) out of the boat? Can you picture this scene? Twelve men straining at the oars while Jesus stands in the middle of a storm. And they were threatened enough to not invite him into the boat straightaway. Isn’t that ironic?

I’m not sure we have that same sense of fear of God. Or, if you prefer, that same sense of fear of Jesus. Popular conceptions are that Jesus is our friend, our brother, our forgiver, our counselor, our partner along the path. Rarely are the conceptions of Jesus that He is the Awesome and Mighty God who treads across the water. Rarely is Jesus the One who commands the whirlwinds and thunderheads and lightning. Rarely is He conceived of as the One who causes the earth to tremble and quake. When this story of Jesus walking on the water is told and retold and taught in churches it is a story about how we need to have faith to get out of the boat (as in John Ortberg’s popular book If You Want to Walk on Water You Have to Get Out of the Boat). Where are those who will look at this story and see a picture of the Great and Mighty Conqueror? Where are those who will read this story, preach this story, and tell of the Awesome Greatness of our King Jesus?

Perhaps it would do the church, and Christianity in general, if we got out of the mode of telling people that Jesus will make all our boo-boos feel better and start telling them that He is the Great King, The Mighty God, The Great and Terrible God of the Storm? Which Jesus do you think will evoke a proper attitude of worship: A Jesus who is our buddy? Or a Jesus who walks on Water? It’s a matter of perception, but truth be told, perception must be based on the Scriptural Revelation. In my estimation, a Sovereign Jesus commands our attention whereas a buddy Jesus commands our contempt and disdain. One exacts a certain level of discipleship the other not so. One commands our attention; the other our applause. Which Jesus are you associated with each day?

Psalm 77:16-19

"The waters saw you,

O God, the waters saw you and writhed;

the very depths were convulsed.
17 The clouds poured down water,

the skies resounded with thunder;

your arrows flashed back and forth.
18 Your thunder was heard in the whirlwind,

your lightning lit up the world;

the earth trembled and quaked.
19 Your path led through the sea,

your way through the mighty waters,

though your footprints were not seen."

I pray this 23rd Day of 90 with Jesus is Blessed in the Lord!

Soli Deo Gloria!

90 Days with Jesus, Day 22: John 6:1-15: When Jesus Refused to Be King

2007-06-24T22:44:00.000-04:00

John 6:1-15

1Some time after this, Jesus crossed to the far shore of the Sea of Galilee (that is, the Sea of Tiberias), 2and a great crowd of people followed him because they saw the miraculous signs he had performed on the sick. 3Then Jesus went up on a mountainside and sat down with his disciples. 4The Jewish Passover Feast was near. 5When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, "Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?" 6He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do. 7Philip answered him, "Eight months' wages would not buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!" 8Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, spoke up, 9"Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?" 10Jesus said, "Have the people sit down." There was plenty of grass in that place, and the men sat down, about five thousand of them. 11Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish. 12When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, "Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted." 13So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten. 14After the people saw the miraculous sign that Jesus did, they began to say, "Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world." 15Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself.

Well as you can see I am significantly behind schedule. I anticipate that I will be able to get back on track sometime this week. I am on vacation and not going anywhere so time is not really an issue this week. All I know is that today I spent time working in my garden, fiddling around the back yard, and visiting with family. What a truly blessed day it was. Anyhow, there’s other things to think of now.

This is a most significant episode in the Gospel of John. Jesus has a great opportunity before him to win people over to his side—and what he does works for a while. When it is all said and done the people Jesus fed were ready to come and make him king by force. These people were not going to take no for an answer. The implication, I think, is that that was the sort of King they wanted. Here is our King: Give us Lord, our daily Bread! Jesus really could have made a big impression on people, and he did, but this was not, I say this for lack of better words, satisfying to Jesus. So what does he do? They want to make him king because he gave them bread: He runs and hides in the mountains.

Inside this story there are many details that are laid out for the readers. Jesus was testing Philip even though Jesus knew what he was going to do for the people. Philip wisely answers that here we are confronted with a problem that money cannot solve: "Eight months wages will not buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!" No, this was not a problem that was going to be solved by money.

Then there’s Andrew who has something in mind, but I’m not sure what. If eight month’s wages will not buy enough for everyone to have a bite, then how far indeed will five loaves of bread and two small go? We could say that Andrew had faith, but what sort and in what? Honestly, what was he trying to do? Bruce says, ‘Andrew drew attention to it simply to underline its ludicrous inadequacy for so many hungry people’ (FF Bruce, John, 144). A joke? Maybe.

But in the hands of Jesus this meager offering amounted to something. In the hands of Jesus even something to inadequate manage to stifle the hunger pains, and the grumbling crowd. I might be inclined to say something rather cliché like, "Even the smallest offerings in the hands of the Lord can be used for a mighty purpose." But I don’t think you would allow me to get away with it. Then again, the Lord ‘already had in mind what he was going to do’ so maybe there is more to this boy’s offering that meets the eye.

When dinner was over, all had eaten, all were satisfied and there was an abundance of bread pieces left over—enough, in fact, to fill twelve baskets. And I’m sure if I took the time to look the scholars would tell they were very large baskets. So they clean up their mess and they practice good stewardship: One basket for each of the twelve disciples. Jesus has already told us that he has food to eat that we know nothing of so there was no need for a thirteenth basketful of bread pieces.

Then the end: After the people saw the [miraculous] sign Jesus did they began to say, ‘Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world.’ They saw the sign and guess what? They actually made the correct assumption about him: He was the Prophet who was to come into the world. This Prophet is spoken of by the Lord in Deuteronomy 18:

"The nations you will dispossess listen to those who practice sorcery or divination. But as for you, the LORD your God has not permitted you to do so. 15 The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own brothers. You must listen to him. 16 For this is what you asked of the LORD your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly when you said, "Let us not hear the voice of the LORD our God nor see this great fire anymore, or we will die." 17 The LORD said to me: "What they say is good. 18 I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers; I will put my words in his mouth, and he will tell them everything I command him. 19 If anyone does not listen to my words that the prophet speaks in my name, I myself will call him to account. 20 But a prophet who presumes to speak in my name anything I have not commanded him to say, or a prophet who speaks in the name of other gods, must be put to death." 21 You may say to yourselves, "How can we know when a message has not been spoken by the LORD " 22 If what a prophet proclaims in the name of the LORD does not take place or come true, that is a message the LORD has not spoken. That prophet has spoken presumptuously. Do not be afraid of him."

However, even though they correctly identified Jesus as The Prophet who was to come into the world they missed the greater significance of why He came. Thus when Jesus deduced they were about to force a crown on his head he went and hid in the mountains. Jesus is no Bread King. He is no Bread prophet. So Jesus refused the crown that the people of earth offered him when he fed them bread. He refused. Just like he refused Satan’s offer during his wilderness trials. Later we see the true nature of Jesus. He will not accept a crown on the basis of his feeding people bread and fish, but he will accept the crown offered to him at Calvary. Strange. Very, very strange.

It doesn’t seem to make sense. Really, it doesn’t. Here’s a way that Jesus can become king and avoid all the horror and misery the cross was sure to bring into his life. And yet he refused. He fled and hid. What we might guess that He is The Prophet and He is The King, but he will be crowned king for other reasons. He will be exalted as King in another venue. He will become King not by the force of a fed humanity's will, but by his own willingness to lay down his life. He will become king not on our terms, but on his own terms. He will be crowned king not for reasons of which we approve, but for reasons of his own determination. He lays down His life and takes it up again. Jesus is not someone we can force to be or do anything that is contrary to His stated objective: To finish the work the Father had given him.

In his book He Leadeth Me, Walter Ciszek wrote, "This tendency to set acceptable conditions upon God, to seek unconsciously to make his will for us coincide with our desires, is a very human trait. And the more important the situation is, the more totally we are committed to it or the more completely our future depends upon it, then the easier it is for us to blind ourselves into thinking that what we want is surely what God must also want. We can see but one solution only, and naturally we assume that God will help us reach it…[B]ut we were created to do God’s will and not our own, to make our own wills conform to his and not vice versa" (69). This is a most important teaching to live by. We don’t have the right to crown Jesus king based on our ideas of Kingship. It is our responsibility to submit ourselves to the King Jesus is, and not to try to force him into the kind of king we wish him to be.

I hope this 22nd Day of 90 is Blessed for you by our King!

Soli Deo Gloria!

90 Days With Jesus, Day 21: John 5:31-47: In Whom Do You Hope?

2007-06-22T08:40:00.000-04:00

John 5:31-47

31"If I testify about myself, my testimony is not valid. 32There is another who testifies in my favor, and I know that his testimony about me is valid. 33"You have sent to John and he has testified to the truth. 34Not that I accept human testimony; but I mention it that you may be saved. 35John was a lamp that burned and gave light, and you chose for a time to enjoy his light. 36"I have testimony weightier than that of John. For the very work that the Father has given me to finish, and which I am doing, testifies that the Father has sent me. 37And the Father who sent me has himself testified concerning me. You have never heard his voice nor seen his form, 38nor does his word dwell in you, for you do not believe the one he sent. 39You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, 40yet you refuse to come to me to have life. 41"I do not accept praise from men, 42but I know you. I know that you do not have the love of God in your hearts. 43I have come in my Father's name, and you do not accept me; but if someone else comes in his own name, you will accept him. 44How can you believe if you accept praise from one another, yet make no effort to obtain the praise that comes from the only God? 45"But do not think I will accuse you before the Father. Your accuser is Moses, on whom your hopes are set. 46If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me. 47But since you do not believe what he wrote, how are you going to believe what I say?"

Yesterday, I ended by noting that we need to understand how we can trust what Jesus was saying to be the truth. Let me begin today by saying the most obvious answer to the question: Everything that God did through Jesus he did in the context of history. In other words, it is verifiable. There were eyewitnesses. For example, the apostle Paul said one time that the Resurrected Jesus appeared to more than 500 people at one time (1 Corinthians 15). So God did not do something in secret, or behind a rock, or magically in the the hearts of a few. He did not send secret messages to individuals (as with Joseph Smith or Muhammad). He sent His Son, His One and Only Son, His Only Begotten Son, into the world of history. John said, ‘he camped among us’ (1:14). John also says something revealing in 1 John 1:1-4:

1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. 2 The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. 3 We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. 4 We write this to make our joy complete.

He is saying that Jesus was real, that he heard what Jesus said, he saw what Jesus did. Jesus was so close that John and the others could touch Jesus with their hands. In John’s other words, "The Word became flesh and dwelt among us."

But, as important as history is, Jesus does not end with history. No, in fact he says that there are more witnesses who testify to him. He says as much, "If I testify about myself, my testimony is not valid." However, he says, my contention is that I’m not the only one testifying about myself. "There is another who testifies in my favor, and I know that his testimony about me is valid." He begins to lay out his case. First he says, "You have sent to John and he has testified to the truth. Not that I accept human testimony; but I mention it that you may be saved." John the baptizer was the first testimony that Jesus mentions. Remember John’s testimony: "Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world." This is what John said to people when he saw Jesus.

Second, Jesus says, "I have weightier testimony than John." In other words, ‘If John’s testimony to you is not good enough, how about this: The very work the Father has given me to finish, and which I am doing, testifies that the Father has sent me.’ I do not happen to think that this merely refers to the miracles and the teaching and the breaking of the Pharisees’ Sabbath laws. Only later, when Jesus was on the cross dying for the sins of the world, did he say, "It is finished." That was the primary work that Jesus was sent to finish. He tells us, that work I am doing, testifies that the Father sent me. This does not exclude [miraculous] signs, teaching, and breaking Sabbath rules, but these are certainly not the main idea. Still, it is important to note the very nature of the work that Jesus did on earth. Maybe it was not evident to them at the time, but I would think at the cross it would be. And there is certainly no excuse for such ignorance now.

Third, Jesus says, "And the Father who sent me has himself testified concerning me." Jesus will spend significant time discussing the Father’s testimony in chapter 8. Perhaps here Jesus is referring to his baptism when the dove descended and the voice of God spoke. In John’s Gospel, this is only alluded to (1:32-34). FF Bruce suggests that John’s readers would, not his present hearers in the story, would be sufficiently familiar with the account of his baptism to ‘fill in the details.’ He also remembers Hebrews 1:1: "In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways…" God has then testified about the coming Messiah and about Jesus in particular.

Fourth, Jesus says, "You diligently study the Scripture because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life." The Word of God testifies about Jesus. This makes sense and helps us understand the nature of the written word, and also the purpose of the written word. When we read through those canonical Old Testament books we are reading the story of Jesus. Jesus himself said so in Luke 24 as we read of his Post-resurrection appearance to a couple of disciples, "‘How foolish you are, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?’ And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself" (Luke 24:25-27). He said again, "‘This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms.’ Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures" (Luke 24:44-45).

This is why it is so imperative that those of the Faith spend time in the Scripture. This is why it is so imperative that those of the pulpit preach what is written in Scripture and not what is in books and self-help manuals. Listen: The Scripture is about Jesus. When we study, when we learn, when we teach, when we preach, when we testify we do so from Scripture, and about Jesus. Too much time is wasted from pulpits in America because the preacher is too busy preaching about dreams, visions, the ‘end-times’, prophecy, purpose, new buildings, this, that, the warp and the woof, then, now, here and there. Preachers ought to be preaching and testifying about Jesus Christ. He’s who the Bible is about: Front to Back, side to side, Alpha to Omega, Beginning to the End.

Probably the reason we are so unprepared as Christians to testify about Jesus and to give evidence that He is the Only Way to Salvation is because we don’t have preachers who preach the whole counsel of God. But what if preachers, when they preach, got up and preached Jesus Christ and Him Crucified instead of how to have a Christianized version of the American dream? PT Forsyth is insightful on this very matter, "The church has lost much moral tone even in its occupation with ethical subjects. And why? It has lost power to guide the instinct of self-sacrifice when it reduces the cross to nothing else. Has it not lost religious weight in the weightiest matters with the weightiest people? And the deep cause is its moder failure to understand the cross, to see in the judgment of the cross God’s righteousness, God’s holiness, coming finally to its own, and to realise this as the one object for which man exists or the world" (The Cruciality of the Cross, 72). But that is not what is preached in most churches and if you need proof of it note Forsyth’s words again. The church has lost much of its moral authority in this world. Who listens to the church as a guiding voice? Now the church is reduced to a mere gad-fly that must be placated and appeased every other year by politicians who are soliciting her votes. All because preachers will not preach the hard truth of Scripture. Forsyth was right, in 1908!

Here then is the complaint of Jesus: These people he was speaking to did not really love God because they accepted none of the testimony of God who testified about Jesus. I know it is popular nowadays to say something insipid and stupid like ‘there are many paths to God, but only one god.’ Well that is just plain nonsense. There is only one path to God and God has testified to that path through John (not that Jesus accepts human testimony, 34, or needs praise from men, 41), through the Cross, through his own mouth, and through the Scripture. Jesus came in the Name of God, did the Work of God so when people rejected Jesus they were rejecting the One who sent him; it is no different now. The people of this world who reject Jesus or put him on an equal footing with their local deities are rejecting God altogether. There is no Muslim path, Hindu path, Buddhist path, Spiritism path, Christian Science path, Scientology path or any other such nonsense. Jesus says the only path is through Himself. It is in vogue to seek the praise of people now and find some alternate path because no one wants the hard life that Jesus calls us to, or, as he says, that Moses called people to. "If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me." That is specific. Moses wrote about Jesus. Look it up: The crossing of the Red Sea, the Passover, the Plagues, the Sabbath rules, the Tabernacle, the Sacrifice, the Bronze Snake, the Water from the Rock, the Ten Commandments. It all spoke of Jesus.

Now remember this. Jesus said these words to Pharisees and other people that day. John preserved them for the church. What, then, do you think Jesus is saying to the church in these words? Well, these folks Jesus spoke to originally found their accuser in Moses. I wonder who is our accuser? They placed all their hopes in Moses, whom Jesus says they did not believe. In whom have we placed our hopes? Have we placed our hopes in the dreams and visions cast for us by marketing specialists wrapped in the garb of evangelists or prophets? Have we put our hope in popularizers of the offense of the cross? Have we put our hope in gurus, actors, yogis, imams, secularists, writers, monks, or some other such non-authoritative person? Or have we put our hope in Christ who preaches the Word of God, who is the Word of God? This is the question the church faces right now at this hour. Our greatest threat in the church is not global warming, Armageddon, the destruction of America by terrorists, the loss of wealth or even the lack of space because our buildings are not big enough (I actually read about a church going to court over such a travesty!). Our greatest threat, right now, today, is preachers who will not preach Christ Crucified. I ask again: In whom have you put your hopes?

I Hope this 21st Day of 90 with Jesus is Blessed for you!

Soli Deo Gloria!

90 Days With Jesus, Day 20: John 5:19-30: The Exclusive Claims of Jesus

2007-06-21T10:45:00.000-04:00

John 5:19-30

19Jesus gave them this answer: "I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. 20For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. Yes, to your amazement he will show him even greater things than these. 21For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it. 22Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son, 23that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent him. 24"I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life. 25I tell you the truth, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live. 26For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son to have life in himself. 27And he has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man. 28"Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice 29and come out—those who have done good will rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned. 30By myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, for I seek not to please myself but him who sent me.

"The proliferation of websites promoting religious hatred is an unfortunate consequence of the universality of access to the Internet," said Vinay Vallabh, the lead author of a report that attacked the Christian groups for their expression of their beliefs. "We must vigorously identify, condemn and counter those who use the Internet to espouse chauvinism and bigotry over the principles of pluralism and tolerance," Vallabh said. (See the previously cited link to World Net Daily, posted yesterday for context.)

I just finished watching a four minute video of a preacher in India being persecuted. There’s no context to suggest, necessarily, why he is being persecuted, but the website where the video is posted (www.persecution.org the website associated with Voice of the Martyrs) leads me to believe he is being harassed because of his faith. I have often wondered, why is it that those who are on the front lines screaming and yelling that others must be tolerant of their religion are so intolerant of the faith of others? What I mean is this: There are many, like Vinay Vallabh, who say that Christians must be tolerant and yet his level of tolerance is to censor and monitor Christian websites. I wonder if he feels the same about Muslim websites? He probably does not have that kind of nerve.

Or, let’s consider these excerpts from www.israeltoday.co.il/ (http://www.israeltoday.co.il/default.aspx?tabid=178&nid=13162)

Gaza-based Muslim groups affiliated with Hamas and possibly Al Qaeda have warned local Christians that Hamas' military conquest of the volatile coastal strip means they must now fully submit to Islamic ritual law.

In an [interview with World Net Daily], Sheikh Abu Saqer, leader of the group Jihadia Salafiya, said that Gaza's Muslims "expect our Christian neighbors to understand the new Hamas rule means real changes. They must be ready for Islamic rule if they want to live in peace in Gaza."

"Missionary activity" will no longer be tolerated, and those suspected of trying to covert local Muslims to Christianity will be "harshly punished," said Abu Saqer. Additionally, the consumption of alcohol is now prohibited in Gaza, and all women must fully cover themselves in public.

Now, who is intolerant? Everyone is allowed to be who they want except for Christians. Everyone is allowed convert people to their faith, except for Christians. Who, I ask again, who is intolerant of whom? But let’s be honest with Scripture and see what Jesus says. He says he only does what the Father is doing. So he can’t do anything else. He only does what the Father does. Now look what happens next, because it is quite amazing.

First, he says that that Father loves the Son and shows him everything he does (v 20). There are no secrets not shared. God the Father is in complete communication with God the Son. They work in concert, together, in complete unity, harmony and there is no disparity between the two. Who else can say that?

Second, he says that the Father raises the dead, and so does the Son ‘give life to whom he is pleased to give it.’ (v 21) No one else can say this. It means that Jesus holds the keys of death and Hades. It means that Jesus is the life-giver and the life-receiver. It means that apart from Jesus there is no life. God has testified about no one else in this way.

Third, he says that the Father has entrusted all judgment to the Son (v 22). And here is what God has decreed: "He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent him." If I am reading this correctly, what he is saying is that if you want to cross over from death to life (which necessarily means there are a lot of folks right now living in the land of the dead), then you must honor the Son. This is the most intolerant statement around! It is the most exclusive statement around: If you don’t honor Jesus you are not honoring the Father who sent Jesus. Life is found only in Him and in no one else.

Fourth, what I just touched on above is this: the Father and the Son share the honor of being God. (That’s probably not a very good way of saying it.) (v 23-24). The Father has decreed that apart from belief in Jesus there is simply no life, only condemnation. The Father has decreed this! God has said that apart from Jesus there is no life. He did not say through Hinduism, through Islam, or even through Judaism. He said through the Son. Period.

Fifth, (v 25-27) The Father has granted the Son to have life in himself. He has given the Son the authority to Judge—this means he is not only Sovereignly authoritative, but, I believe, morally authoritative. So, when anyone else passes judgment on Christians their judgment is essentially meaningless insofar as eternal life is concerned. Their opinion means nothing. The only opinion of the Christian that matters is the Son’s opinion.

Sixth, the Father has given the Son the right to determine the standards for salvation. He says those who do good will rise to live and those who did evil will rise to condemnation. But we know it is more than just good and bad deeds because Jesus has already said in verse 23 that eternal life involves honoring the Father and the Son, in verse 24, hearing the Word of Jesus and believing in Him and the One Who Sent Him. The point is, that Jesus is the One who makes this determination. It is Jesus who has decided, in line with the Father, the standards of salvation. No one else has been granted this authority, this right, and certainly no one else does these things in accord with the Father.

And this is because, as Jesus says again, "By myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, for I seek not to please myself but him who sent me." I think it is hard to escape the meaning Jesus words in these verses. He is making exclusive, intolerant claims to the ways and means of salvation, to the path of life and death, to the conduct of right and wrong, to the honor of God and the Son. The answers to life, eternal life, judgement, the will of God, resurrection, salvation are all found exclusively in Jesus Christ.

The sad truth is that many in this world are trying to please everyone but God. Many are choosing to honor other gods and excluding Jesus. What most don’t realize that there is only one way to life, only one way to salvation, only one way to escape judgment and that is through Jesus.

Jesus begins by saying he only does what he sees the Father doing. He ends by saying he only does what he hears the Father saying. In other places he says he only speaks what the Father speaks. He judges as the Father judges. He gives life as the Father. Do you hear Jesus making clear, exclusive, intolerant statements about the nature of not only the world we live in, but about the nature of God? But how do we know that he is telling truth? How do we know we can trust Jesus? How do we know it’s not all some big lie? How can we trust his exclusive claims to the exclusion of all other claims? We’ll investigate this more tomorrow, but for now let me point you to the end of the book of John. It is there that the testimony is made complete.

This is the reality of the world in which we live. People will continue to persecute Christians if Christians continue to hold to the truth of Jesus’ Word. We must continue to trust Jesus’ Word; we must continue to be perfectly exclusive because apart from Jesus, there is no hope for anyone in this world.

I hope this 20th Day of 90 Brings you Many Blessings from the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Soli Deo Gloria!

90 Days With Jesus, Day 19: John 5:9b-18: Religious & Irreligious Folks

2007-06-20T10:15:00.000-04:00

John 5:9b-18

The day on which this took place was a Sabbath, 10and so the Jews said to the man who had been healed, "It is the Sabbath; the law forbids you to carry your mat." 11But he replied, "The man who made me well said to me, 'Pick up your mat and walk.' " 12So they asked him, "Who is this fellow who told you to pick it up and walk?" 13The man who was healed had no idea who it was, for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there. 14Later Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, "See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you." 15The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well. 16So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jews persecuted him. 17Jesus said to them, "My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I, too, am working." 18For this reason the Jews tried all the harder to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.

To paraphrase an old friend, ‘Now that is remarkable. Here is a man who has been laying idle for 38 years and the first thing you Pharisees point out to him is that he is carrying his mat on the Sabbath. The man hasn’t carried a mat on any day for 38 years. He hasn’t carried a mat for 13, 870 days and you are worried about today? Did you praise him on any other 1,976 preceding Sabbath’s that he did not carry his mat?" Here is no miracle, for sure. The only thing that happened was that the law was broken. That is all they saw. They did not see a man set free, they did not see a man healed, they did not see a captive loosed from his prison, they did not see a man cured of a disease that had left him completely impaired and despairing for 38 years—a man who had, for all intents and purposes, simply lost the will to live. Of course he had no one to help him in the water when it was stirred—he didn’t want anyone to; it was easier to do nothing each day.

I quoted from an essay, in my previous meditation, written by Tim Keller. Here’s another helpful paragraph:

Moralism is the view that you are acceptable (to God, the world, others, yourself) through your attainments. (Moralists do not have to be religious, but often are.) When they are, their religion if pretty conservative and filled with rules. Sometimes moralists have views of God as very holy and just. This view will lead either to a) self-hatred (because you can't live up to the standards), or b) self-inflation (because you think you have lived up to the standards). It is ironic to realize that inferiority and superiority complexes have the very same root. Whether the moralist ends up smug and superior or crushed and guilty just depends on how high the standards are and on a person's natural advantages (such as family, intelligence, looks, willpower). Moralistic people can be deeply religious--but there is no transforming joy or power.

These are the people who find no joy in the ‘success’ of others because they are far too concerned with the sins of others. They are utterly incapable of being joyful—joy-filled. To these folks, life is a burden they must carry around as they trudge from person to person helping them work out their own salvation—with fear and trembling of a kind the apostle Paul was unaccustomed to. These folks are ‘holier-than-thou’ types. They care not about a person’s walking and leaping and praising God, only about his carrying a mat on the Sabbath. It is a terrible way to live, and sadly, it is a life completely devoid of grace.

They said, ‘It is the Sabbath; the law forbids you to carry your mat.’ I take this as their way of saying, ‘It is the Sabbath; we forbid you to carry your mat.’ I take these to be very cold, callous folks. Seriously, who is more concerned about a mat being carried than about a man being healed of a 38 year long trip to nowhere? My Lord! There should have been a party in the temple precincts! They should have killed the fatted calf! They should have invited Jesus to turn the Jordan River into wine so the party would not have to end! But, these sour-pusses stared down their pronounced noses, glared over the top of their gaudy bi-focals, stretched out their long, pointy fingers, and declared with the authority of a prophet, the justification of Scripture, and in the voice of God: "You would be better off still crippled by that pool in Bethesda than to be carrying your mat on the Sabbath." Isn’t that really what they are saying?

I think those people still exist today.

But the man replied, "The man who made me well said to me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’" Funny, isn’t it, how Jesus’ authority was good enough for this man when it came to getting well but afterwards Jesus is merely scapegoat. I take nothing positive from this man’s actions between verses 11-15. I think he became an ingrate or at least his true colors began to show. He evidently goes back to a life of sin—a life of sin that may have led to the condition that had laid him up for 38 years to begin with. Jesus did not set this man free from his prison so that he could go and pick up where he left off in sin. No he picks him up, sets him free, and demands, I think, a life that reflects that freedom. Instead, he went back to sin. Let’s read Mr. Keller’s essay again:

Relativists are usually irreligious, or else prefer what is called "liberal" religion. On the surface, they are more happy and tolerant than moralist/religious people. Though they may be highly idealistic in some areas (such as politics), they believe that everyone needs to determine what is right and wrong for them. They are not convinced that God is just and must punish sinners. Their beliefs in God will tend to see Him as loving or as an impersonal force. They may talk a great deal about God's love, but since they do not think of themselves as sinners, God's love for us costs him nothing. If God accepts us, it is because he is so welcoming, or because we are not so bad. The concept of God's love in the gospel is far more rich and deep and electrifying. (There is a link in yesterday’s meditation where you can access the entire essay.)

I think those people still exist today also.

The guy is a tattle-tale, and Jesus is the one who is persecuted for it. ‘For this reason the Jews tried all the harder to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.’ There will always be someone who wants to persecute and kill. I don’t know about you, but I find it not one bit surprising that it was the religious folks who wanted to persecute Jesus. It was the religious folks who wanted to kill him. It was the religious folks who had no room for him in their scheme of things. They had it all worked out: the rules, the laws, the manner of obedience. There was no reason for this Jesus guy to come in and mess things up for them. He was only making matters much worse than they had to be.

I think those people still exist today too.

Seriously, there are too many religious folks in the church and too many irreligious folks in the church. Here’s Keller’s point: They are both folks who want control over their own lives and over their salvation. Religious folks want saved by their rules and laws and obedience to them; they tell Jesus what to do. Irreligious folks determine their own paths of right and wrong: They don’t need Jesus telling them what to do. You know what is scary? I have lived both ways. This is what I realized in that short van ride last night: For a very long time I did because I had to if I wanted to be saved. There was no joy in serving. It was all work. All burden. All trying to please God day in an day out because I could not grasp grace.

Then there was a time when I did because I wanted to. I confess, it is a lot easier to ask for forgiveness than permission. So instead of submission (‘Go, and sin no more.’) out of love for what he had done for me that I could not do for myself, I simply did what I wanted, when I wanted, and how I wanted. Again, there was no joy because there was only ever guilt, shame, and the humiliation of having to come back to him again and again asking for that forgiveness I thought so easily obtained. Neither is a way to live properly in grace. This was an abuse of grace.

Up until about 3 years ago I never did because because God did first. In other words, I did not do because of grace. Life was either serve to be saved or sin and seek forgiveness later, but never saved to serve—gladly, freely, without obligation, simply because the love and joy of God had done for me what I could not do for myself, because grace had broken in, because I had been set free. I was a slave to law; I was slave to sin. Never was I a happy servant of the Lord. I realize that both of these folks were ingrates. The religious folk because they didn’t see a healed man; the healed man because he went back to sin. I think these are both ways of doing the same thing: persecuting Jesus, plotting his death, or turning him over the authorities who wish to do so. But never recognizing that one who claims to be equal with God has the right to set me free from slavery on any day of the week and determine the course of my life after I have been set free.

I think these folks still live in the church today. And shall they be set free?

Both parties missed grace—the leaders and the healed man. My hope is that we won’t: Neither you, nor I.

I hope this 19th Day of your 90 with Jesus finds you living in and because of Grace.

Soli Deo Gloria!

90 Days With Jesus, Day 18: John 5:1-9: What I Cannot Do Myself

2007-06-19T23:10:00.000-04:00

(Uh, I'm either behind a day, or I have numbered somewhere incorrectly. I will investigate and correct the problem. Thank you for your patience.)

John 5:1-9

1Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for a feast of the Jews. 2Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. 3Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. 5One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. 6When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, "Do you want to get well?" 7"Sir," the invalid replied, "I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me." 8Then Jesus said to him, "Get up! Pick up your mat and walk." 9At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.

Tonight was night three of Vacation Bible School. We had a fantastic night. 34 kids and a ton of helpers. I told the kids last night, "If you have 30 tomorrow (which was tonight) I will let you pelt me with water balloons." We had 34. I told them tonight, "If tomorrow we have 40 kids, I will let you pelt me with water balloons and cram a pie in my face." We’ll see.

We are collecting change for our missions. The kids brought in $69 worth of change tonight. I counted 650 pennies alone. We are more than half way to our missions goal and we’ve only had three nights of VBS. The kids are really thrilled to be here and everyone is having so much fun—especially when they get to pelt the preacher with water balloons.

I tell you all this to set the stage. Most of the kids participating don’t even belong to the church. They have been invited word of mouth by the few kids we do have and by adults who know them. Some of these kids we see only once per year—at VBS. Even all this is beside the point, sort of. I took one of the kids home after the program was over tonight. My son and I gave him a ride to his place down the road. On the way to his house I got to thinking about grace. I got to thinking about all the volunteers who are helping with VBS. I got to thinking about all the kids. I got to thinking that I’ve done more for VBS this year than I have ever done; shamefully. I got to thinking about why we do VBS. I got to thinking about why we serve the Lord at all. I drove past one of the other church buildings in town; they are adding on to their building what looks to be a huge addition. I snarled outside; melted inside. Jealous.

This meditation is too personal. Too close to home. But I got to thinking about why I do what I do. I got to thinking about grace. Let me be honest, I tried for a long, long time to do my work for the Lord: grinding day in and day out, slaving away trying to be all things to all people at all times and in all ways, doing ministry like a fire was in my britches, always trying very, very hard to win the Lord’s approval. Always trying, very, very hard to get as much work done in a day as I could. I thought I had to. I honestly had very little concept, honestly, of grace. I’m serious. Every time I fouled up, read ‘sinned’, I seriously thought I was ‘out’ and that I had to work harder to get myself back ‘in.’ A preacher named Tim Keller wrote a sermon on this very thing. He titled his sermon The Centrality of the Gospel. He wrote this:

We are not justified by the gospel and then sanctified by obedience, but the gospel is the way we grow (Gal.3:1-3) and are renewed (Col.1:6). It is the solution to each problem, the key to each closed door, the power through every barrier (Rom.1:16-17). It is very common in the church to think as follows. "The gospel is for non-Christians. One needs it to be saved. But once saved, you grow through hard work and obedience." But Col.1:6 shows that this is a mistake. Both confession and "hard work" that is not arising from and "in line" with the gospel will not sanctify you--it will strangle you. All our problems come from a failure to apply the gospel. Thus when Paul left the Ephesians he committed them "to the word of his grace, which can build you up" (Acts 20:32) (You can access Keller’s entire essay here: http://www.redeemer2.com/resources/papers/centrality.pdf)

That’s what I got to thinking about tonight. Truth is, many times in life I have simply tried to hard and for scarcely any reason. Here’s why I bring it up. One day Jesus was walking around Jerusalem and he came across a man who had been laying beside a pool of water for 38 years hoping that he would be the first one in the pool when the waters were stirred. Problem is, evidently, he was suffering some sort of paralysis and thus could not get into the waters when they were stirred. So, there he lay. I make a couple of conclusions from this. The man had not friends or family (he says as much in verse7). And, second, he did not really answer the question Jesus asked. Jesus said, ‘Do you want to get well?’ The man said, ‘Sir, I have no one…’ We might reasonably ask if the man did, in fact, wish to get well. You mean to tell me for 38 years this man laid beside this pool with absolutely no one to help him in? No friends? No family? If he really wanted to get well, don’t you think he would have kept someone standing beside him 24-7? I suppose the truth is that some people really don’t want to get well. Some people, I am convinced, are perfectly content to stay sick.

OK, that’s the work-up to a very simple meditation. Do you realize how long this man laid there beside that pool? 38 years!? 13,870 Days. 332,880 hours of doing absolutely nothing but laying there and thinking of ways to not get well, bemoaning having no one to help get into the water, and suffocating any hope of living a normal life. Then one day Jesus walks by. I’m sure there were others laying beside the pool. If there were not, then it would not have been a competition for the man to get in when the waters were stirred. Why do you suppose Jesus focused in on this one man? Why focus on the man who was, probably, at least in his 40’s? Were there no others? Why didn’t Jesus help them all? Why was there a question of whether or not this man wanted to get well? Doesn’t every one want to get well? Would the man have been cured if he had remembered it was the Sabbath and chosen not to ‘pick up his mat and walk’? What if he had refused to ‘get up’? Jesus makes it clear, I believe, that in order to get well the man had to obey Jesus’ commands to: Get up, take your mat, and walk. Apart from this, the man would have continued to waste away beside the pool.

There is a ‘however’ though: Jesus did for this man in one second, with a couple of words, that this man had been incapable of doing for himself in 38 years. The Bible says, ‘immediately the man was cured’ then he obeyed. So, he was not cured because he obeyed. He obeyed because he was cured. He got up and walked because Jesus enabled him to get up and walk. My premise holds true: Jesus did for this man in 1 second what the man could not do for himself in 38 years.

This is grace, my friend. It is the absence of striving and trying to prove. It is the absence of trying to impress or slaving away because we want to be cured. Oh, I fully believe that we have to answer the question of Jesus affirmatively, "Do you want to get well?" must be answered ‘yes’ or else it is a moot point. But once we say ‘yes’ and he cures us I think we get up and walk about in his grace. It doesn’t mean we don’t do anything. It means, however, that we do something for reasons other than our own justification. We work, do VBS, take kids home afterwards, count 650 pennies, roll $69 worth of change, get pelted with water balloons not because we hope to be saved, but because we are saved. (And, furthermore, getting pelted with water balloons is quite fun.) We love, Scripture says, because He first loved us. I hope this puts grace in a proper light for you.

Why did Jesus pick this man instead of anyone else? I think it was simply because he could. I think it was simply to demonstrate his grace. I think also to show that no one, not even someone who hasn’t walked for 38 years, is beyond his reach or grace. So it got me to thinking: How long have you been laying beside the pool, waiting, hoping for the mystical, magical waters to be stirred? How long have you been waiting to walk with no one to help you in to the water? Well, let me introduce you to Jesus. He can and will help you in an instant. He can do for you what no one else will help you do, and what you cannot do for yourself. He asks everyone today the same question: "Do you want to get well?" Then takes it upon himself to make them well. That is grace.

I hope your 18th Day of 90 with Jesus was Blessed!

Soli Deo Gloria!

Today's Meditation from John

2007-06-19T09:28:00.000-04:00

Friends,

I am taking today off to get some jobs done around the house. Please check back this evening, later this evening, and I will have your meditation available. In the meantime, I will be focussing my thoughts on John 5:1-9 when I write later. Thanks for your patience.

1Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for a feast of the Jews. 2Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. 3Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. 5One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. 6When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?” 7″Sir,” the invalid replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.” 8Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” 9At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.

Be Blessed and a Blessing.

Jerry

90 Days With Jesus, Day 17: John 4:43-53: The Word of Jesus

2007-06-17T23:57:00.000-04:00

John 4:43-53

43After the two days he left for Galilee. 44(Now Jesus himself had pointed out that a prophet has no honor in his own country.) 45When he arrived in Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him. They had seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, for they also had been there. 46Once more he visited Cana in Galilee, where he had turned the water into wine. And there was a certain royal official whose son lay sick at Capernaum. 47When this man heard that Jesus had arrived in Galilee from Judea, he went to him and begged him to come and heal his son, who was close to death. 48"Unless you people see miraculous signs and wonders," Jesus told him, "you will never believe." 49The royal official said, "Sir, come down before my child dies." 50Jesus replied, "You may go. Your son will live." The man took Jesus at his word and departed. 51While he was still on the way, his servants met him with the news that his boy was living. 52When he inquired as to the time when his son got better, they said to him, "The fever left him yesterday at the seventh hour." 53Then the father realized that this was the exact time at which Jesus had said to him, "Your son will live." So he and all his household believed.

Let’s begin today with a quotation from the venerable Eugene Peterson who begins by noting that this short section contains the second sign that Jesus performed and that in this section there is both an affirmation and a criticism of signs. After the man comes and requests Jesus to heal his son Jesus says, negatively, ‘Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe.’ Now Peterson writes, "But the father, undeterred, persists, as if to say, ‘I don’t care about signs, I want you to heal my son!’ And then comes the interesting part: Jesus tells him, ‘Go; your son will live’; and ‘the man believed’ and left without any evidence of the healing, which is to say, quite apart from sign or wonder. The father responded believingly to Jesus without benefit of a sign, we might almost say without the distraction of a sign. Jesus’ word, not the sign, formed the man’s belief. It was not until the next day as he neared home—it was a twenty-mile hike between Capernaum and Cana—that he learned that his son got well at the very time of the day before that Jesus, in Cana, had said that he would." (Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places, 95)

So, even before the sign was complete, the man believed. This is amazing! And it is contradictory. It is contradictory because, nowadays especially, people tell us and, have others convinced, that what is necessary for forming faith is not the preached word but the recounting of someone’s ‘story’ or the recounting of how ‘Jesus has touched me’ and made my life meaningful, or satisfying, or the recounting of some experience based this or that of how Jesus loved me so much that I got over everything I ever feared or some such jabberwocky. It’s not that those things are wrong. Oh, don’t misunderstand me; what they are is rather insufficient. What they are is incapable of being a platform upon which to build a life of faith in Christ. They will not stand the fires of the furnace of trial and temptation. They are simple insufficient for building a life as a disciple. Yet there are plenty who want to insist upon relegating the difficult, doctrinal, and biblical preaching of theology in favor of these rather faddish techniques. If we can, some think, just tug at the heartstrings enough then we should find a crowd out there ready for Jesus.

In my estimation, this simply will not do. This will not produced disciples with the courage and conviction to stand in the face of persecution and defend Christ. But the kind of faith displayed by this man says this: ‘The Word of Christ is sufficient; so I go and expect to find my son well.’ This man knew Jesus in what way? Reputation? Rumor? Had he met him before? Either way, all we can say about this is thus: He trusted the Word of Jesus implicitly. He needed no other confirmation from anyone except the Word of Jesus. Will this sort of faith be found on the earth now? Will this sort of faith do in the church today? Is it enough for those who call on the Name of Christ to be their Savior for His word to be sufficient? Bruce Milne is surely correct, "Faith based on signs and miracles must not be mistaken for true faith, however, which is why Jesus does not encourage it. It fails to honour God, since by it he serves us rather than the other way round" (John, BSP, 92).

Let’s insist then that this is true for today as well. Let’s insist then that our faith be built upon that which cannot be trumped, overturned, corrupted or defeated. Let’s insist that while miracles and signs may carry some weight that they do not, in fact, form a proper substitute for true Biblically defined faith; faith of substance. Let’s insist that in the church the word of God be properly proclaimed—all of it, too! Verse 50 says this: "The man believed in the Word Jesus spoke to him, so he left." Let’s insist that preachers preach the Word of Christ to us that instills such courage and faith that we, too, can and will believe the Word of Jesus the way this man did.

The irony here is that this man believed apart from seeing any sign from Jesus even after Jesus insisted that people would not believe unless they saw signs. I think Jesus said this to the man almost rhetorically. That is, Are you like everyone else who will not believe unless they see things like signs and wonders? And the man, judging by his response, insists that he believes regardless; he wants his son well again.

Some time ago I marked a note in the margin of my Bible in response to Jesus’ words, ‘You may go. Your son will live.’ I wrote: As if this is all the man needs: Your son will live. As if that’s all the man needs. As if that’s all the man needs. Do you get it?

I hope this 17th of 90 Days is Blessed for you in the Lord!

Soli Deo Gloria!

90 Days With Jesus, Day 16: John 4:39-42: Preaching Jesus

2007-06-15T23:24:00.000-04:00

John 4:39-42

39Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman's testimony, "He told me everything I ever did." 40So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. 41And because of his words many more became believers. 42They said to the woman, "We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world."

"Christianity is not up for sale. Its price has already been fixed and that price is the complete and ongoing surrender to Christ of those who embrace him by faith. It can only be had on his own terms. It can be had only as a whole. It refuses to offer only selections of its teachings. Furthermore, the Church is not its retailing outlet. Its preachers are not its peddlers and those who are Christians are not its consumers. It cannot legitimately be had as a bargain though the marketplace is full of bargain hunters…No. Let us think instead of the Church as its voice of proclamation, not its sales agent, its practitioner, not its marketing firm. And in that proclamation there is inevitable cultural confrontation. More precisely, there is confrontation between Christ, in and through the biblical Word, and the rebellion of the human heart. This is confrontation of those whose face is that of a particular culture but whose heart is that of the fallen world. We cannot forget that."—David F. Wells, Above All Earthly Pow’rs, 308-309

First, the Samaritans came out from the town because of the woman’s testimony and as a result of this coming out many believed in him. Well this was certainly the intended result. Her testimony was compelling whatever ‘He told me everything I ever did’ might actually mean. I disagree that she ‘shared her experience’ with the town folk. Instead, she went and shared Jesus’ words, ‘he told me everything I ever did.’ It was not her experience that persuaded people, but Jesus’ words. Even so their faith did not end there. Jesus stayed with them for two more days. Then verse 41.

Second, ‘And because of his words many more became believers.’ So this woman’s testimony did not stand on its own. Jesus’ testimony confirmed what she had been saying and also had the effect of causing many more to become believers. Again, the intended result—producing believers—was accomplished. But it was not mere experience that persuaded the first group and an additional group. No, again, it was the words of Jesus. They heard for themselves what Jesus was saying. They heard for themselves his testimony. Because of his ‘words’ many more became believers.’

Here’s the part that is most important to consider in today’s meditation: We know that this man is really the Savior of the World. They believed something about Jesus because of something Jesus said. It had something to do with what he told them, something we are not privy to. What did he say over the course of two days that so convinced them? Better, how did all these people give up their day jobs for two whole days to do nothing but sit and listen to what He had to say? (Did they take breaks for volleyball or shuffleboard? Did they sit in a circle like a sort of ‘Sermon in Samaria’? What was the content of his instruction to them?

I hate to harp on this, but here’s the simple truth. There were no gimmicks, no tricks, not nonsense, no fliers, no banners, and certainly no side-show. These people went out and listened to what Jesus had to say. On the other hand, there’s this: Jesus had something to say. I suspect that the content of his message is found in part in the words he spoke to the woman. I suspect he discoursed about freedom of worship, His identity as Messiah, eternal life, Living Water, springs of water that well up inside, the reaper gathering wages for eternal life and all such things. But whatever it was, it was surely the Gospel. The fact remains, the people went out to listen and Jesus had something to say.

Churches need to get a grip on this. People come to worship, they come from cities, they come from the country, they come from here and there; we meet them by wells, water-coolers, at ball games, at the soccer field, and all such places as this and more. So, when they come out, when we meet them, do we in fact have something to say? I don’t mean fluffy nonsense that has nothing to do with pointing to Jesus, the Messiah. I mean precisely that: Do we persuade them about Jesus the Messiah? I suspect that is the real content of Jesus’ message that day. They believed precisely because he took the time to explain things about himself. This is also our job: If we expect people to believe, then we must tell them about Jesus. Jesus must be the content of our message, our testimony, our proclamation. If we don’t tell them about Jesus how can they ever announce, "We know that He really is the Savior of the World"? And isn’t that quite the point of Gospel proclamation?

All I’m saying is that churches would do better from the pulpit if churches had preachers who stood up and pointed to Jesus and not to anything else. I’m steadfast on this belief. There are other venues for learning about good sex, managing finances, raising children and the like. But the only place people will hear the Gospel is from the church. The Church, in my judgment, must be about the business of proclaiming Jesus: Every time, All the Time, and At Every Opportunity. It is Jesus people need; it is Jesus people must hear about.

Jesus is the One, the only One, Who is the Savior of the World. That we must not forget.

I hope your 16th Day of 90 is Blessed in the Lord!

Soli Deo Gloria!

90 Days With Jesus, Day 15: John 4:27-38: The Food of God

2007-06-15T10:24:00.000-04:00

John 4:27-38

27Just then his disciples returned and were surprised to find him talking with a woman. But no one asked, "What do you want?" or "Why are you talking with her?" 28Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, 29"Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Christ?" 30They came out of the town and made their way toward him. 31Meanwhile his disciples urged him, "Rabbi, eat something." 32But he said to them, "I have food to eat that you know nothing about." 33Then his disciples said to each other, "Could someone have brought him food?" 34"My food," said Jesus, "is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. 35Do you not say, 'Four months more and then the harvest'? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. 36Even now the reaper draws his wages, even now he harvests the crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. 37Thus the saying 'One sows and another reaps' is true. 38I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor."

“Jesus came to the fountain as a hunter…He threw a grain before one pigeon that he might catch the whole flock…At the beginning of the conversation he did not make himself known to her, but first she caught sight of a thirsty man, then a Jew, then a Rabbi, afterwards a prophet, last of all the Messiah. She tried to get the better of the thirsty man, she showed dislike of the Jew, she heckled the Rabbi, she was swept off her feet by the prophet, and she adored the Christ.”—JA Findlay, as quoted by George Beasley-Murray, John, (Word Biblical Commentary), 66

There are two stories going on at the same time in these verses. The woman is busy running back to her community to announce that she has met someone who could be the Messiah. While she is doing that, Jesus is giving his disciples another lesson in theology. Really the lessons in the verses for today are not terribly complicated, so I would like to make but a couple of observations as we prepare to close out this chapter and our week together, as we prepare to worship together on Sunday.

First, as I have noted, the most striking feature of this entire chapter, the most enduring image, the most profound observation is found in verse 28: ‘Then, leaving her water jar…’ I could get stuck on this verse all day. It is so full of meaning and grace. It is so full of redemption and salvation. It hits me the way Jesus using those ceremonial watering jars filled with water to perform his first sign: Water into wine. There we learned Jesus was better. It strikes me like Jesus telling Nicodemus that he needed a new birth of water and Spirit because his physical birth (i.e., being an Israelite) was not sufficient. It smacks me like the woman’s first question to Jesus: “Are you greater than our Father Jacob.” It clobbers me like Jesus’ statement, “A time is coming, and how now come, when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.” Or, “You will see greater things than this.” It is a parable, this leaving behind her water jar, whether she intended it to be or not. It speaks volumes about the progress she has made from ‘will you give me a drink’ to ‘I who speak to you am he.’

She left behind that which satisfied her only for a moment and returned to the people, the people who evidently shunned her daily, and announced to them: Could this be? It is reminiscent of what Philip said to Nathanel, what Andrew said to Peter, what John the Baptizer said to his disciples: We have found the Messiah! This woman, this unnamed, Samaritan woman with a jaded, checkered past, and questionable character, and suspect lifestyle is one of the fist evangelists to announce the arrival of Messiah. In a very similar way we see Jesus refusing food when his disciples return. She forgot about, or purposely disdained, her water jar in her hurry to get back and announce to the people of Sychar that she had found Messiah. (On a slightly side note which I may pursue later, some commentators note the similarities and contrasts between the story of Jesus and Nicodemus (3) and Jesus and this Samaritan woman. I would note one outstanding difference: She had no fear of going and announcing Jesus to people. We have no such information about Nicodemus.)

Second, there are the disciples who had just returned to find Jesus talking with the woman. Evidently they thought something was amiss, but they kept quiet about it. They were, as usual, very concerned about food. What they prove about themselves is that they are still stuck back in verse 15: “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.” They, unlike the woman, had not progressed along very far at all. Their minds are still on earthy things; they had yet to let go of their water jars: “Could someone have brought him food?” They are stood in stark contrast to this Samaritan woman who left behind her water jar and went back to town, not to buy food as the disciples had done, but to announce the Messiah.

There is probably something to be said about this without obscuring the theological point. But have you ever seen someone who all of the sudden has an awakening to the identity of Jesus? And how do they compare with those insiders who have been walking with him for some time? Well, this woman, left her jar for Jesus; the disciples left Jesus for food. I don’t want to abuse the text of Scripture, but that much is obvious, isn’t it? And what I wonder about are those who have walked a long time or even a short time compared with the Newly Awakened and have lost their zeal. In other words what Jesus says, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.” I think that was a crushing blow to those disciples who had gone to get food. Remember those at the beginning: Andrew went and found Peter. Here’s what it says, “The First Thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, ‘We have Found the Messiah.’ And he brought him to Jesus.” We might readily assume that the first thing Philip did was find Nathanael.

Well, here are the twelve. They arrive in fertile territory, where barely any seeds had been planted, and they are first concerned with food, second concerned with why Jesus is talking to this woman, and third concerned with why Jesus won’t eat. The woman starts off the same: Concerned about water. But as it slowly dawned on her who Jesus was her priorities shifted: Her job was to tell. Maybe I’m making too big a deal out of it. But why does it seem to be the exact opposite for those who have followed Christ for a short or long time? That is, why with new people does the awareness of who Jesus is dawn, and for those who have followed Him, the awareness sets? New disciples enthuse; older disciples grow, well, complacent?

So when Jesus says, “I sent you to reap what you have not worked for, Others have don done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor,” I think he is talking about that crowd of people from Sychar who are walking out at the heals, beck and call, of the unnamed Samaritan woman. I sense in her statement, “He told me everything I ever did,’ something more than just ‘he told me about my 5 husbands,’ because, if in fact she was shunned by the community because of her reputation…well, everyone would have known ‘everything she had ever done.’ She went and proclaimed Christ. There was something in her testimony that provoked more than a passing interest. This crowd of Samaritans were the harvest Jesus was speaking of. Nevertheless, Jesus says, all have a share in the harvest; all have a share in the joy. All receive the same day’s denarius.

In conclusion I have this to say. Open your eyes. Look around. There is a harvest waiting to be reaped. Seeds have been planted, I can’t imagine any less now than then, and are bursting through the soil. And what Jesus says is this: These seeds do not take a long time to produce fruit. You say, ‘Four more months and then the harvest.’ Jesus says, “Open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. Even now the reaper draws his wages, even now he harvests the crop for eternal life.’ There’s no time like the present. Eternal life has already begun for those who can accept it. It’s time for you and me to get our minds on the business at hand. It’s time for you and me to get our minds off of water, food, water jars, and eating and get our hands, heads, hearts busy with doing the will of God. Dare I say that when we do we shall find joy, satisfaction, and plenty beyond what this earth can provide, beyond what the culture promises?

I hope this 15th Day of 90 is Blessed For you in the Lord.

Soli Deo Gloria!

Malcom Muggeridge & Living Water

2007-06-14T11:10:00.000-04:00

Friends,

I came across this quote too late to include it in yesterday’s meditation, but I thought it was pertinent enough to give it its own place here.

I may, I suppose, regard myself, or pass for being, a relatively successful man. People occasionally start at me in the streets-that’s fame. I can fairly easily earn enough to qualify for admission to the higher slopes of the Inland Revenue–that’s success. Furnished with money and a little fame even the elderly, if they care to, may partake of trendy diversions-that’s pleasure. It might happen once in a while that something I said or wrote was sufficiently heeded for me to persuade myself that it represented a serious impact on our time-that’s fulfillment. Yet I say to you, and beg you to believe me, multiply these tiny triumphs by a million, add them all together, and they are nothing-less than nothing, a positive impediment-measured against one draught of that living water Christ offers to the spiritually thirsty, irrespective of who or what they are. (As quoted by Bruce Milne, John, in the Bible Speaks Today commentary series, p 84, 1993)

What beautiful words from Jesus: “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.” Can we give anything to Jesus in such sufficient quantities that it will outweigh what He gives to us? Can we give him a drink who is our drink? Oh, Praise Him! O, Praise Him!

Soli Deo Gloria!

90 Days With Jesus, Day 14: John 4:11-26: No Excuses

2007-06-14T10:44:00.000-04:00

Friends, these verses are tough. I hope I have done well by them and not obscured the meaning. I have checked my understanding against a couple of commentaries and found that I am not un-orthodox in my interpretation. Nevertheless, I apologize if I have made this more difficult than it needs to be.–Jerry

John 4:11-26

11″Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? 12Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his flocks and herds?” 13Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” 15The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.” 16He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.” 17″I have no husband,” she replied. Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. 18The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.” 19″Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. 20Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.” 21Jesus declared, “Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.” 25The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.” 26Then Jesus declared, “I who speak to you am he.”

I have read this story a hundred times (that is, a lot). Tonight, for the first time, I noticed something I have never noticed. Jesus said, “Go, call your husband and come back.” Why did Jesus say this to her? Was it a simple social courtesy? What was it for? Was he rude? Was he trying to make her feel bad because he knew the answer to the question? What was he hoping to accomplish with such an in-your-face demand?

She wanted the water, I think. But she also, at the outset, thoroughly misunderstood what Jesus was talking about. When she asks, “Are you greater than our father Jacob,” I wonder if she would have believed the answer. But Jesus was not talking about the sort of water that is comprised of two hydrogen and one oxygen atoms. Clearly this sort of water was in no way able to supply this woman with what Jesus was talking about; nevertheless, she was eager to have it. She did want it; at least she seems eager enough for something. Jesus clears matters up for her essentially saying, “I’m not talking about this water which could never satisfy you as completely as the water I am offering.” Everyone who drinks that water will indeed be thirsty again. The water Jesus offers is different in every way, “The water I give will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” It satisfies more than the thirst; better than water; beyond this earth.

It is ‘living water’. It is ‘water that springs up to eternal life’. Still she did not quite get it: “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.” Translation? “I’m tired of making this daily trip. I’m tired of this work. I’m tired of all the complications of daily, redundant, life. Make it easier on me by filling my jars with water that never run empty.” Sometimes it’s true that this is the approach people take to Jesus. You know those ones who are convinced that Jesus’ goal is to make life easier, to eliminate all the stumbling blocks, to take out all the hurdles, to lower mountains and raise valleys. Well, who doesn’t want that sort of Jesus? “Peace, peace in our time.” That’s a nice, domesticated Jesus—at our beck and call, ready to serve when we ring our little bells. Maybe it’s the sort of Jesus who eliminates all the redundancy of life so that we can spend our time on our pursuits that certainly will not involve the everyday hard work of everyday hard work, and most likely will not include the demands of holiness.

If the woman had no idea what sort of water Jesus was talking about then I suspect that neither did she have any idea the sort of man she was speaking to. “I can see that you are a prophet.” Jesus will tell her that this is not enough that he is a prophet. Forsyth says that Jesus was here as more than a mere prophet, but in fact as the Creative King of the Kingdom. “And Christ went to His death in His function as King, not to become King” (Forsyth, The Justification of God, 176). She did not yet realize that Jesus was unfolding before her the identity of the God of the universe. So when he says to her, ‘Go, call your husband and come back…’ I don’t think Jesus was merely showing off his ability to know things about her that she had not told him—no, Jesus is more than Prophet; Prophet though He may be. I think he is sitting (he had sat down by the well, v 6) there by the well, talking with this woman, as King, Judge. His demand for her husband to be present was his demand that she confess her sin. I think it was his demand for her to acknowledge her un-holiness, an un-holiness that was more important to her than worship. Forsyth again, “We are all standing before the judgment-seat of Christ. And one day we shall know it. We end where we began—in Him” (The Justification of God, 187).

She did not want to talk about this aspect of her life. I agree with the NIV study note here, “His presence exposes sin and makes people squirm…” But squirming is not an end in itself. People can squirm, be very uncomfortable and never actually get to God. Jesus is getter her to God. That is, he has other designs for her confession. Bruce Milne notes, “The deeper point is that Jesus brought to her awareness the relational desert in which she was living” (John, BST, 84-85). And not just with men, but with God.

Yes she changes the subject and starts talking about Jesus’ status as a ‘prophet.’ Then she changes the subject again: “So, you are a prophet. Well, perhaps then you can tell me why you Jews say that the only place where anyone can worship is in Jerusalem.” Remember the garden of Eden? “Uh, it was the serpent. He made me eat it.” “Uh, it was the woman, she gave it to me and I ate it.” “Uh, it’s everyone else’s fault.” “Uh, it’s you Jews that prevent me from worshiping.” Jesus had cut to the heart of the matter: This woman had no relationship with God whatsoever. “She…had been furtive and unwilling to open her heart to God” (Tenney, John, 56). The evidence of her unfaithfulness to God is found in her continued unfaithfulness in marriage (regardless of the reasons why the marriages hadn’t worked). Oh, I’m sure not all those husbands were gems. But five, plus one more?! Was she Liz Taylor? Here was a woman, for all her better qualities, who was simply an unfaithful person (and not merely in an allegorical sense). Jesus brings all this out and then says, “There is no excuse for you not to be worshiping the One True God. There is no reason, certainly not the Jews, for you to be flitting around from place to place, person to person, god to god.” She was blaming someone else’s argument about the place to worship for her pathetic attitude towards worship altogether; toward God. Jesus has opened up the entire history of this woman and confronted her with her real need: It is God she is lacking. It wasn’t water. It wasn’t good marriage. It wasn’t friendship with the other ladies in town (why was she at this well, at that time of day, alone if not because she was somewhat ostracized because of her lifestyle?). Jesus was pointing out to her that her life reflects a surprising lack of God-interestedness. That was her real problem in life.

It is in this context that Jesus makes his most startling announcement yet: “I who speak to you am he.”

This is the great need of our day too. People are flitting about, like bees going from flower to flower. They gofrom person to person, relationship to relationship, god to god trying in vain to find something or someone that satisfies them, trying to find some place to perch. In the process of doing so, they alienate all those around them and they end up alone by a well in the heat of the day. They end up godless, submitted to no god, irreverent towards any god; unfaithful in all cases. They end up blaming everyone on the planet for their problems and accusing everyone else for their lack of worship and reverence for God. You’ve heard them: “Well, I don’t go to church because I can’t stand hypocrite Christians. It’s their fault I don’t worship.” And are they sinless? I think not. (There’s even a new movement going around of churches being planted with this slogan: “A church for people who hate church.” This is a rather impolite way of condemning existing churches and the people who comprise them. And, in my judgment, blaming them for other people’s lack of God-interestedness.) They’ve been hurt, burned, tricked, manipulated and angered and they take it out on God. Jesus comes along, takes all that blame and says, “I am the One who changes all that.” Jesus says, “In me, there are no more excuses. In me, there are no acceptable excuses for not worshiping God.”

But of all these verses teach us I’m settling on this: Jesus does not accept our excuses for not worshiping God. He points out that if this woman blamed Jews for their insistence on the place of worship, she herself is no less guilty of excluding herself because of her sin and flitty, flirty unfaithfulness. In other words, no one has a right to be in God’s presence, and all should be uncomfortable before Him; all are judged in Christ. Slowly, but surely, this awakening is dawning on this unnamed Samaritan woman with whom Jesus spoke that day. So if all are judged in Christ, all are also welcomed in Christ. If freedom to worship is what one looks for we have no excuses; instead, we have Jesus.

I hope this 14th Day is Blessed for you in the Lord.

Soli Deo Gloria!

90 Days with Jesus, Day 13: John 4:1-10: Jesus Talks With...Anyone

2007-06-13T09:54:00.000-04:00

John 4:1-10

1The Pharisees heard that Jesus was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John, 2although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples. 3When the Lord learned of this, he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee. 4Now he had to go through Samaria. 5So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about the sixth hour. 7When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” 8(His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.) 9The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.) 10Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”

This is the first of our meditations on John chapter 4. We’ll be here for the next five days reading about Jesus’ encounter with an unnamed Samaritan woman. What strikes me here is that John tells us that Jesus was tired, that he ‘had’ to go through Samaria, and that he asks this woman for a drink—he is thirsty! There is something magnificent about Jesus being tired and thirsty and having to do something that he, according to all the smart people, did not have to do. I suppose all of this might be beside the point, but I have not found John to be one who throws words around for no purpose. He uses words carefully and not necessarily liberally. So later on he will famously tell his readers that the woman ‘left her water jar behind’ as a way of telling us that because she met Jesus she forgot about her worldly problems. It’s sort of the same way the author of the book of Judges tells us, the Samson narrative, that Samson’s hair started to grow back apart from the notice of the Philistines. It’s a narrative clue giving you and me information that the characters in the story may not have. The woman did not know that Jesus had to go through Samaria. She did not know, when she woke up that day, that a tired and thirsty Jewish Male would be at Jacob’s well and ask her for water.

I might also add this: Why did Jesus wait behind by the well when the disciples went into town to buy food? Did it take 12 men to get food? That’s a lot of food! Why didn’t Jesus go with them? Why did he wait? Well, all of this could be just my fanciful desire for there to be something more going on than there actually is. It could just be that Jesus was tired, thirsty, and didn’t feel like going into town to get food. Later on he does say, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.” Maybe he wasn’t hungry and food was their idea, not his. Who knows?

Ironically, it is Jesus who begins the conversation by asking this unnamed Samaritan woman for a drink. We are told rather pointedly that Jews and Samaritans do not ‘associate’ with one another. The NIV footnote informs us that this could also mean ‘they do not use one another's dishes’ or something to that effect. Whatever the case is Jews and Samaritans did not get along well at all with, sadly, the Israelites leading the way on hate and dislike. What’s worse is that this woman was, well, a woman. So, here’s Jesus. All alone. A man. A woman. Talking. Preachers don’t do things like this in today’s world. In today’s world that is taboo. Someone might get the wrong idea or spread a rumor or gossip and cause the ruin of reputations or formulate all sorts of sick mind fantasies. Not so with Jesus. Jesus talks to anyone, anywhere, and he really could not care less what people think or say. (Later John says, in verse 27, the thing all of us were thinking: “Just then his disciples returned and were surprised to find him talking with a woman. But no one asked, ‘What do you want?’ or ‘Why are you talking with her?’”)

I think the woman is either offended or surprised at Jesus’ request. I’m not sure which it is. I’d like to think surprised, but something tells me that she did not like Jews any more than Jews liked her. I cannot get into this too much, but there is something to be said about this (and I don’t want to get too far away from the theological point Jesus was making). But how many times in our lives have we come across someone and written it off as mere chance or coincidence? How many times have we purposely refused to talk to someone precisely because we were terrified of what someone else might say about us; what they might say about us? Or how many times do we simply go out of our way to avoid someone because of what we think we know about them? Yet here is Jesus for all intents and purposes going out of his way on purpose to meet with this unnamed, Samaritan woman. That was bad enough. At this point we have yet to read verses 16-18 which, when read and understood, will surely make this situation far worse for Jesus and his reputation probably will not hold up under scrutiny. Interestingly, Jesus was more concerned about this woman than he was about himself. The servant life, the Cross driven life, carries this burden and refuses to be stigmatized or calloused by the world’s peccadilloes. Jesus sat down—he didn’t stand up, back way off, wait for his disciples so that all hint of scandal could be diffused. He sat down, meaning he meant to stay for a while, and he initiated the conversation.

And then it gets fun. Jesus said, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.” Jesus cuts to the chase and begins to unveil his identity to this woman.

This is not something for mere admiration. Forsyth wrote how some people, liberals in his day, viewed God. They think ‘God is our helper and no more. He is not a real sense, but only a figurative sense, our Redeemer. He helps us to realise our latent spiritual resources and ends. There is no break with self and the world, only a disengagement from an embarrassing situation” (The Cruciality of the Cross, 65). Jesus did not engage this woman in conversation that day to merely help her through a bad day or to help through her embarrassing marital situation or to help her through all the, undoubted, abuse she had endured at the hands of many men, or even, really, to help her physical thirst be quenched. He unveils to her not the solution to all of life’s woes and inadequacies and injustices and tediums, but he unveils to her himself. And it is only after she realizes who Jesus is that she eventually leaves her water jar behind. Jesus did not stop by Jacob’s well that day merely to engage in polite conversation about water, or merely to rest, or merely to break all sorts of social and racial taboos. Jesus sat down that day to reveal to this woman the Savior of the World: Himself.

Finally, did Jesus ever get his drink of water? He asked, but John never tells us if he got it or not. And the woman who came to draw water? Did she ever get her drink? Oh, I think she did! What happened though is that Jesus diverts attention away from her physical need, thirst, and redirects it to himself. He does the same thing later in chapter 11 when he raises Lazarus: He diverts Martha’s attention away from her grief and redirects it to himself. Essentially he is saying, “I am the solution to your grief, the victory over death (”I am the Resurrection and the Life”)” and here in chapter 4, “I am the solution to your thirst (”I you knew the gift of God…He would have given you living water”).”

Sometimes we think that the only way to be effective evangelists and witnesses for God is to solve the physical problems people have and then introduce God as the purpose or reason behind our good deeds and joy. People politely listen so they can get what they really want from us or Him. I think it should be exactly the opposite. Jesus first introduced himself. I believe we must first confront people with the reality of God, with the presence of Christ–they must hear the Gospel. It is through the Gospel that people will come to faith (Romans 10). Jesus saves; water does not. In other words, what people most need in their lives is Jesus Christ.

I hope this 13th Day of 90 is Blessed for you in the Lord Jesus.

Soli Deo Gloria!

Feeling Left Behind, Left Out, Out in Left, Left Alone

2007-06-12T14:44:00.001-04:00

Originally posted at www.dangoldfinch.wordpress.com

Friends,

I’m in my study. It’s a beautiful day outside–I’m inside. I’m making phone calls, returning e-mails, ordering office supplies, and typing on my laptop a post for my blog. Right now I’m waiting on hold with the office supply people; part of an order was backordered and I’m curious to know how long I have to wait. In the meantime, I have a confession to make.

I just received an e-mail from a company who would very much like me to attend a leadership conference in Washington, Dallas or Orlando–cost is on $199.00, which sounds reasonable until you factor in fuel, food, lodging, and all the books I would undoubtedly need to purchase once I arrived for this three day conference. Oh, David Crowder Band will be playing; I’d go just for that. There’s other reasons I wouldn’t go.

One reason, the only reason I’ll expound on here, is that I watched the trailer. The trailer began by showing a clip of JFK, then moved on to MLK, and then to Ronald Reagan–all stalwarts in their respective fields; leaders without peers. But I think that is the very reason I cannot go. The irony of this: I heard a lot of names dropped–impressive names. But I didn’t hear anything about Scripture or even Jesus for that matter. I watched a 2:02 video trailer (minutes, seconds) and here’s what happened.

I heard about choosing the go to the moon. I heard about someone having a dream. I heard about someone else demanding that someone else tear down a wall. I learned about ‘impacting culture,’ which in my judgement is a totally fallacious and meaningless enterprise; it cannot be done; it will not succeed. The fact is, with all the people in this nation who claim to be Christians, the impact should already be felt. I don’t mean at the polls, or in elections; those aren’t the real indicators of impact. Think of Star Wars episode IV when Luke Skywalker and the rest of the rebels are going up against the Empire’s weapon of Mass Destruction: The Death Star. One rebel made a pass, fired his proton torpedo, pulled out of the trench and lamented, “No, it only impacted on the surface.” When Luke Skywalker flew down through the trench, fired his proton torpedo, it entered the exhaust port, flew into the center of the ‘Star’ and destroyed it and all who were on it. For the rebels, there was no success in merely impacting the Death Star. I’m funny like that. I’m not interested in impacting the culture. Christ wasn’t either for that matter. He came and blew up the stereotypes and the status quo and, in a manner of speaking, he totally wrecked culture. Jesus did not come here and say, “OK, let’s see how this Christianity thing will fit into the prevailing culture.” He came and said, “I am the culture.” There’s a big difference that has been lost on a generation of Christians whose preachers and prophets are far less concerned with Scripture and Truth than they are with the size of their congregations and buildings.

Here was the accusation leveled against those Christians, “We gave you strict order not to teach in this name. Yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are determined to make us guilty of this man’s blood” (Acts 5:28). I don’t think we can be accused of this any more. The Church is far to welcoming to culture. The Church is far to concerned with having a good name among the pagans. The Church is far too accomodating to those who reject Christ, far too sensitive to their ‘felt’ needs, and far to willing to overlook the problem that Christ died for: Sin. The fact is, the world’s opinion of Christ and His Scripture doesn’t matter or change the veracity of it. It is true whether the world rejects it or accepts it.

Anyhow, this conference I mentioned. I watched 2 minutes and 2 seconds of worth of trailer. When they got around to mentioning who would be speaking or whatever, the video mentioned first a musician, second a musician, and then some other ‘leaders’ who have, no doubt, important things to say. It is about ‘unleashing 20-30 somethings to action.’ I heard zero calls to exalt Christ or to submit to Scripture or to repent from sin. I heard a lot about ‘impacting culture’; nothing about being profoundly counter-cultural. I heard a lot about serving the world; nothing about repenting of sin. I heard zero, count them, zero, calls to Scripture. No mentions of hearing from the greatest leader: Jesus Christ.

Here’s my thing. I just don’t think I fit in anywhere. I feel, I’m very serious about my feelings, left behind, left out, out in left field somewhere because I find this sort of stuff seriously missing the mark, and irrelevant. I don’t see the point. Is this what is necessary to ‘unleash 20-30 somethings’? Isn’t this really beside the point? Wouldn’t the devil love for us to be sidetracked in such a way? I’m 36 and I don’t find it particularly necessary to be unleashed. Why should people need motivation to be unleashed to live what they supposedly believe? Has God ordained such things to promote His agenda? I feel like a 30 year old with no place to call home because I can’t understand those who are of the opinion that I need more motivation to believe, live, and do what is right. And how shall this be done for these folks? How shall we be the exact opposite of everything this culture says we should be? Yes, another leadership conference is what we need.

I’m sort of rambling on a bit. I feel that way today. Our motivation should be other, I think. I don’t need soul-stirring concerts, emotionally charged atmospheres, competition for my feelings, or exceptionally motivational speakers to energize or unleash my potential; and I don’t think anyone else does either.

I think what we need is a fresh look at the Cross. If the cross does not motivate us, unleash our energy and energize our potential, if the Cross does not stir in us a love for God, then I don’t want to be stirred, unleashed or energized. I don’t want what this world calls and offers up as motivation for service. In my estimation, it will be short lived and meaningless–no matter how exceptional the cast of speakers. What is needed is the Cross. “We love because He first loved us.” “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to
lay down our lives for our brothers” (1 John 3:16).

Look to the cross. And may God have mercy on those who think that more is necessary to motivate us than the Cross. And May God have mercy on those who think they need more than the Cross.

jerry

90 Days With Jesus, Day 12: John 3:31-36: Jesus Above All

2007-06-12T11:50:00.000-04:00

John 3:31-36

31"The one who comes from above is above all; the one who is from the earth belongs to the earth, and speaks as one from the earth. The one who comes from heaven is above all. 32He testifies to what he has seen and heard, but no one accepts his testimony. 33The man who has accepted it has certified that God is truthful. 34For the one whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God gives the Spirit without limit. 35The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in his hands. 36Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on him."

Ours is a world that is dominated by many gods. Ours is a world that is filled to the brim with theologies of these gods. These gods have their apologists, their theologians, their exegetes. These gods have their preachers and teachers and singers and dancers. These gods have their bibles and their bible colleges and their PhD professors. These gods have their own churches. The difference between our world and the world of, say, the apostle Paul is that he had to walk through Athens to get a glimpse of all these gods. The Athenians had them stacked and erected and perched all around for people to see; all they had to do was walk. Our world is much, much easier. I’d say, to an extent, that we are much closer to Laban from Jacob’s day whose daughter Rachel stole some of his ‘household gods.’ I don’t know really what that means: ‘household gods.’ But I’m guess it’s not as far removed from us as we might think. Laban kept them in the house; the Athenians perched them all around town; we do both.

Our gods are all over: we perch them in town squares and call them memorials or nativities. We line them up on shelves in our living rooms so that visitors can see, smell, and touch them. We have their sermons preached to us nightly as we watch the television or listen to the radio or surf the internet. Sometimes we go out to the park and hold a collective worship service with others: cheering, clapping, hooting, participating in responsive readings, and singing their songs of praise and adoration. The gods have come down among us, we say. We invite them in for dinner or we share with them, or make an offering to them, through Visa and Master Card or Amex or Discover. Truly we are a remarkably religious society. And yet, we are profoundly empty, hollow, and virtually meaningless.

We can make a religion (or a god) out of anything. It really doesn’t even require much thought or effort. I visited a web page yesterday and listened to an old man prattle on for about 15 minutes (the entire video was nearly 60 minutes long!) about the joys, benefits, intellectually satisfying, and benevolent nature of secular humanism. His stated purpose is to prove that one can live this way, with joy, intelligence, benevolence, quite apart from any religion. The clear point he is making, however, is that these can be had quite apart from Christianity. As I watched, I actually felt sorry for that man. He who deigned to feel sorry for us, who obfuscated the reality of Christian faith and human centered religion, and who set-up himself and his ilk as the martyrs in this nation—‘the poor, persecuted, secular humanists’—was a actually a pathetic lump of flesh with no hope beyond his secular, humanist, fleshly life. He was hopeless despite his efforts to remain hopeful. His means would be his end. For him, there was no sacrifice left. God have mercy.

But John here makes the point that we needed outside help. His point is that we cannot for a moment save ourselves by or in our flesh. That is why Someone was sent ‘from above.’ And John further demonstrates this One’s superiority by stating that He is Above All. This leaves no room for any other. The One (and this is more than a neuter marker of identity; it is also a singular marker as in ‘One and Only’) from above is above all. David Wells notes, "There is nothing in the modern world that is a match for the power of God and nothing in the modern culture which diminishes our understanding of the greatness of Christ" (Above All Earthly Pow’rs, 11).

But it’s worse. Wells also notes that the place once held by God in this world has been replaced by human beings: "Meaning and morality, which only God could give, were taken to be purely human accomplishments; but in promising what only God could do, the Enlightenment sowed the seeds of its own downfall. It promised too much. It promised, in fact, that all human problems could be solved by purely natural means—and that, plainly, rested on false assumptions. It both underestimated the magnitude of the problems and overestimated the capacity of human nature to remedy them" (Wells, Above All Earthly Pow’rs, 31). Sadly, there are prophets of human nature still convinced that we no longer need outside interference or intervention. We don’t need God, God the Holy and True, to do anything—if He even exists—or intervene in any way. We have created gods in our own image, they are at our beck and call, we worship them, they serve us; it’s a very convenient relationship.

But the fact that God did in fact intervene in history proves to us that this premise is fallacious. In fact, we cannot solve our own problems. Indeed, the gods we have created are indifferent and incapable of solving our problems. And, ironically, we have identified not the problems which need solved, but the symptoms of the problem. The problem is that we are sinners, corrupt, degenerate, depraved. We are in a condition unsuited for saving anything because everything we touch falls to pieces. God knows this and thus He sent His One and Only Son. And this One from above, who is above all (31 two times), also testifies as to what He has seen and heard—and no one accepts him. We are told later the reason we don’t accept him is that we don’t want to hear the truth; we’d rather believe the lie. But the One from Above, who is above all, who testifies to what He has seen and heard, speaks, John tells us, ‘the very words of God.’ That is, we have God’s testimony about us, to us, for us. God informs us of our position and our needs. Apart from His opinion and testimony we can only rely upon ourselves and history has shown that man is thoroughly incapable of making sound judgments about anything.

So we learn: The Father Loves the Son and has placed all things in His hands. This means all things and nothing is outside of his control. This means that secular humanism cannot save us. The enlightenment cannot save us. Politicians cannot save us—no matter how many promises they make. Money and technology cannot save us. (As a sidenote, Wells insightfully notes, "Along the way, however, we have come to think that happiness is unattainable and unimaginable in the absence of comfort and affluence. The means to reach this end—capitalism and technology—have, in the absence of serious engagement with the truth of God and the God of that truth, become themselves the final ends of life", Above All Earthly Pow’rs, 47.) It also also means that this world is still under the Sovereign control of the Son. Paul said later, "All things hold together in Him." We need this continued Providence. We need this continued guidance. We need His constant intervention. We need the ‘whole world in his hands.’ As John writes, "The one who has accepted it has certified that God is truthful." We certify God’s truthfulness because we accept his assessment of our situation and His remedy.

The final end? There is only One Savior: "Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on him." I need not say anything about this because it says all that needs to be said. There is simply no hope outside of Christ. I am here today, in this meditation, making the appeal to all who read these words: Return to Christ. Surrender to Him. Don’t you understand that apart from Christ there is only death, decay and decadence? Don’t you understand that those outside of Christ are already succumbing to the wrath of God which ‘remains on’ them? I make this appeal to the church and to the Christians who claim Christ: Return to the Way of Christ. Banish from your midst all the buying and selling and living and pursuing the empty gods of this world. If Jesus is in fact Above All Things, and in fact Everything has been placed in His hands, and in fact there is no other way to eternal life but through the Son, then isn’t it time for the church to start believing it?

I heard someone say recently, in a sermon, that the church has always been good at orthodoxy and poor at orthopraxy. In other words, we believe the right things but do not do the right things. I disagree. I think the reason we don’t do the right things is precisely because don’t know and believe the right things. It seems to me, I say so humbly, that it is high time for the Church to renounce its ways and one again Lift Jesus High. In my humble opinion, when Jesus has again been elevated in the church, then the church will do the right things. Until then, I submit, the church will continue to be inundated and overwhelmed by wrong things—things that do not have the least bit to do with salvation through Christ alone and everything to do with exalting the god we call ‘the American Christian.’ Jesus is the Way. The Only Way. He is Above All.

90 Days With Jesus, Day 11: John 3:22-30: Finding Joy in Being Less

2007-06-11T00:11:00.000-04:00

John 3:22-30

22After this, Jesus and his disciples went out into the Judean countryside, where he spent some time with them, and baptized. 23Now John also was baptizing at Aenon near Salim, because there was plenty of water, and people were constantly coming to be baptized. 24(This was before John was put in prison.) 25An argument developed between some of John’s disciples and a certain Jew over the matter of ceremonial washing. 26They came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, that man who was with you on the other side of the Jordan—the one you testified about—well, he is baptizing, and everyone is going to him.” 27To this John replied, “A man can receive only what is given him from heaven. 28You yourselves can testify that I said, ‘I am not the Christ but am sent ahead of him.’ 29The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete. 30He must become greater; I must become less.

Here we are on Day 11. It is now 12:21 AM, Monday Morning, June 11, 2007. I really should be sleeping. I’m not tired though. I just looked over some of the ‘statistics’ for my blog—Life Under the Blue Sky—they seem a bit low, but I forgot some people read at the Life in the Aquarium blog too. But I digress. I sometimes forget that its not quite about me. Bonhoeffer wrote, “Jesus has graciously prepared the way for this word by speaking first of self-denial. Only when we have become completely oblivious of self are we ready to bear the cross for his sake. If in the end we know only him, if we have ceased to notice the pain of our own cross, we are indeed looking only unto him” (The Cost of Discipleship, 88).

Here is an interesting passage of Scripture that begins with a quiet and serene setting. A flowing river, disciples gathered around baptizing eager converts or penitents, harmony all around—except for that fight that broke out among some of those baptizing. The argument sort of gets dropped, but John’s disciples do use it as a pretext for asking their master why he doesn’t seem more concerned about this Jesus fella who is gaining more disciples. But John does not seem to care; in fact, he seems downright elated: I have done my job, my joy is now complete. (I think too that John’s statements concerning Jesus the Lamb of God were also John’s way of saying, “Look! There’s the One you should be following.” That’s why he said it twice. He wondered why people were still hanging around him.)

John then says the most astonishing thing a human being has ever uttered: He must become greater; I must become less. John doesn’t get involved in the argument. John does not care that more people are going to Jesus. John does not go out of his way to attract attention to himself. He always points to Jesus and is not jealous when Jesus begins to rise in stature. How could he? John, in my estimation, perfectly understood his role. He accepted what God gave him and did not throw a fit that it was not more. Really, that is about it for these verses. John was doing all he could to get out of the way so that people could see Jesus.

So here’s what I’m thinking about this. We need to get out of the way too. It’s no wonder, isn’t then, why God chooses us to be his messengers? Who else but us could so adequately make the case that this message is from God and not us? And that is precisely why we must continue to preach the gospel! That is precisely why we must continue to preach Christ Crucified! That is exactly why the treasure is hidden in dirty vessels like John the Baptist, me, and many others just like us. God hides his message in us and says: Point away to Jesus. I can’t emphasize this enough. I cannot emphasize enough the importance of Jesus, the Supremacy of Jesus, the Above-all-there-is-Jesus, the Son of God Jesus, the Lamb of God Jesus.

I don’t even want to tell you today what I think the problem is in most preaching, but it has something to do with preachers being far too concerned about their job security and the approval of parishioners and the respect of their peers and colleagues. Hey, I’m a preacher, I’m most likely part of that problem to some extent so I think I’m safe to criticize my own. But I have to say something about: Preaching, preachers, prophets nowadays are far too self-centered. They know too much about too many things and so instead of preaching the simple Gospel of Jesus Christ and Him Crucified, the Whole of the Scripture, preaching takes on new shapes and dimensions and rises to new levels of oratory and rhetoric and psychology. But preachers are to be more like John and get out of the way. God doesn’t need us to stand up and glorify ourselves. God needs preachers to point to Jesus. There is something to be said about preachers not being so smart about so many things and instead being prophetic geniuses when it comes to the cross and the Crucified Lord.

David Wells, writing about the place of Scripture in the church, wrote in God in the Wasteland, “The fact that this Word is now so silent, that it has so small a part to play in the church’s worship, understanding, and spiritual nurture, goes a long way toward explaining why God, in his holiness, is also a stranger to the church…And so it is that God is disappearing from his church, being edged out by the self, naked and alone, as the source of all mystery and meaning” (149). Wells has much more to say about this, but let me sum up the main idea which is this: When the church becomes so full of us, it becomes emptied of God (there’s not room for both in the Body). When preaching, that means by which God has ordained his Gospel to be announced, is less filled with, constructed from, and centered on Scripture, what else is left to preach but the self–and many are profound exegetes of their culture, themselves, and films but not of Scripture. And I submit to you that man’s life, man’s experience, man’s wisdom is not sufficient enough to guide the lost or the redeemed through this life; and it cannot even come close to leading people to that Place where the Houses are build by the Hands of God. Wells concludes, “Without this transcendent Word in its life, the church has no rudder, no compass, no provisions. Without the Word, it has no capacity to stand outside its culture, to detect and wrench itself free from the seductions of modernity. Without the Word, the church has no meaning” (150).

All of this is an example of what happens in the church when we become more and Christ becomes less. When Christ becomes less then we don’t even have ‘use’ for the Scripture let alone reverence and dependence upon it. When we become more and Christ becomes less then the mission of Christ is less about the Cross and more about our ideas which are decidedly cross-less. My encouragement to you today is this: Make it your ambition, or not your ambition just your life, to become less. It’s hard to want to not be all things to all people at all times. It’s hard to be the moon and not the sun. It’s hard to get out of the way, but do it anyhow. Be a servant. Accept what God has given you and find joy and satisfaction in seeing Jesus exalted, lifted up, gaining, growing, becoming more. Become less so that Jesus can become more. When what matters most in your life is Jesus and not you…well, then what matters most will matter most. And that matters. It seems to me that Scripture is convinced that God can do far more with less than He can with more. Ours is a culture of more, and to a great degree this pathetic philosophy has penetrated the hearts and minds of church folk. The Way of Jesus is counter-cultural: Narrow ways, foolishness, weakness, and, surprisingly, less.

90 Days With Jesus, Day 10: John 3:9-21: Believe in the Crucified Lord

2007-06-10T22:32:00.000-04:00

(I’m sorry this is so late. This is Sunday’s meditation. Number 11 soon!)

John 3:9-21

9″How can this be?” Nicodemus asked. 10″You are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus, “and do you not understand these things? 11I tell you the truth, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. 12I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? 13No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man. 14Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. 16″For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. 19This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. 21But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God.”

There is a book I have enjoyed by a man named Dietrich Bonhoeffer who was a Lutheran preacher in Germany during the tulmultuous times of the 1940’s. He was hanged in April 1945 after vigorously opposing the regime set up by the Nazis. The book is called The Cost of Discipleship. This is no book for the faint of heart or the weak of stomach. In it Bonhoeffer makes perfectly clear that there is no room in the disciples’ life for what he calls ‘cheap grace.’ Cheap grace is, in Bonhoeffer’s words, ‘the deadly enemy of our Church,’ (page 1, paragraph 1, sentence 1!). “Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate” (Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship, 45). In Bonhoeffer’s writing, discipleship is directly linked to the cross of Christ. In fact he writes, “Here the call to follow is closely connected with Jesus’ prediction of his passion” (86). He then goes on to describe this Passion for his readers:

“There is a distinction here between suffering and rejection. Had he only suffered, Jesus might still have been applauded as the Messiah. All the sympathy and admiration of the world might have been focused on his passion. It could have been viewed as a tragedy with its own intrinsic value, dignity and honor. But in the passion Jesus is a rejected Messiah. His rejection robs the passion of its halo of glory. It must be a passion without honour. Suffering and rejection sum up the whole cross of Jesus. To die on the cross means to die despised and rejected of men. Suffering and rejection are laid upon Jesus as a divine necessity, and every attempt to prevent it is the work of the devil, especially when it comes from his own disciples; for it is in fact an attempt to prevent Christ from being Christ. It is Peter, the Rock of the Church, who commits that sin, immediately after he has confesed Jesus as the Messiah and has been appointed to the primacy. That shows how the very notion of a suffering Messiah was a scandal to the Church, even in its earliest days. That is not the kind of Lord it wants, and as the Church of Christ it does not like to have the law of suffering imposed upon it by its Lord” (Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship, 86-87).

In John’s Gospel scarcely a conversation goes by where Jesus does not allude to or flat-out say he is going to be crucified. This conversation with Nicodemus is certainly no different. Nicodemus, however, just did not understand all this talk of being born again, being born of water and Spirit, being born from above; none of it made any sense to Nicodemus and the last words we hear from him are: “How can this be?” He’s incredulous. I sense him saying something like, “Jesus, what are you saying? You are talking about things that no one is going to believe. You are making demands that no one can meet. Who then can be saved?” Or, maybe he understood it and was saying, “You mean to tell me that being a good Israelite is not enough? If what you are saying about the Spirit is true, then anyone can get into this Kingdom! They won’t even have to be Jewish! How can this be!?” Of course he did not say all that, but he came close. How can this be? And after a good ribbing from Jesus about his inability to understand simple things like birth and water and wind, Jesus lays it all out for Nicodemus. Jesus says it boils down to belief in the Crucified One: “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in Him may have eternal life.” Belief, thus, is tied to the crucified Lord; salvation is tied to the cross; eternal life is fixed in His death.

I think what this means, then, is that it matters what we believe about Jesus. It matters whether or not we serve a crucified Lord or not. It matters whether or not we believe he came from God and was sent by God. It doesn’t change the fact of it being true if we believe or not, but John seems to be making a connection between who Jesus is (and why he came, and what he did) and our salvation, our eternal life. Everyone who believes in the Son of Man who must be lifted up will have eternal life. Whoever believes in him, the one God gave—God’s one and only Son—will not perish but have eternal life. Note this: Whoever does not believe in him stands condemned already because he has not believe in the name of God’s One and Only Son. It is impossible to not make a decision for Christ. You either actively decide for Him or you passively choose against Him. Those who refuse to actively believe in Jesus—the One from God, God’s Only Son, God’s Crucified Son—already stand condemned. There’s no waiting until the end; they are already over and done. I wonder if they can be rescued? Do you realize that there are people who are walking around this earth right now and for all intents and purposes have this giant sign flashing above their heads that says, “Condemned! Condemned! Condemned!”? And, I wonder, will they be rescued? Can anyone help these condemned folks? Yet they refuse to come to Christ to be healed.

This is the message of the Gospel. There is only one hope: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. These last few verses teach us essentially one thing: You are either walking in the light or you are not. You either hope to conceal your evil deeds by hating the light or you come out into the full blaze of his glory that your deeds may be seen—that they have been done through God. Sadly, many in this world still cling to evil. It’s hard to fathom; difficult to comprehend. Men revel in their evil deeds and love darkness. All the while darkness enslaves men, holds them hostage, makes them mere puppets and here’s what’s worse: Evil does not take men and women captive because evil has an agenda for evil’s sake. No, evil takes hold of men and women in order that men and women will continue to reject God and be condemned. Evil is just a means to an end not an end itself. The end is to have people reject light, hate light, reject God’s One and Only Son. The ultimate evil is the ongoing rejection of Jesus Christ.

Here’s what we know. God sent his Son, His one and only Son, into the world to save people who, despite God’s demonstration of love for them, choose to perish, choose to do evil, choose to be condemned, and choose to hate the light. This is our argument: We’d rather live in utter and complete misery than to submit to the Crucified Lord. And here’s the irony, God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world. But not humans, we are far too content with our misery, with the darkness, with our condemnation. Bohoeffer’s words are ever true: He was a rejected Lord. Folks think Jesus is here to make life difficult and complicated. Jesus came to make life simpler by removing the burden of our slavery to the flesh. This is exactly why the cross must be at the center of our proclamation. Until people see in the cross their utter failure, their utter lostness, their utter condemnation, all their sin, they will never be united to God. The cross must be preached, and this is why Jesus preached it (in verses 14-15). People must be confronted by the cross because only in the cross are people confronted with the darkness and suffocating nature of their sin and their slavery to it. If people do not see the crucified Jesus they will never recognize themselves for who they truly are apart from him.

What’s ironic here is that Jesus says this: For God so loved the World that He sent His One and Only Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. The irony? God knew all about man: His rejection of the Light, his condemnation, his persistence in loving darkness, his hatred of the light—indeed, God knew all this about man, and sent His One and Only anyhow. He sent His Son despite what He knew about man; He sent His Son precisely because of what He knew about Man. Even more ironic is tha tall He asks from us is Belief.

I hope your 10th Day of 90 was Blessed!

Soli Deo Gloria!

90 Days with Jesus, Day 9: John 3:1-8: You Must Be Born Again

2007-06-08T23:27:00.000-04:00

John 3:1-8

1Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council. 2He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him.” 3In reply Jesus declared, “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.” 4″How can a man be born when he is old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb to be born!” 5Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. 6Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. 7You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ 8The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”

I admire Nicodemus for having the courage to come to Jesus and talk to him. Jesus may have admired his courage, but Jesus had other news for Nicodemus, news, I believe, shocked Nicodemus to his very core.

Nicodemus comes to Jesus and says something like, “Rabbi, we know…” and then he goes on and says ‘this’ and ‘that’ and ‘here’ and ‘blah, blah, blah…’ In other words, Jesus, we have a whole bunch of information about you, where you are from, about the signs you are doing; we even have this sneaking suspicion that you are from God. Seriously, who could do these things if he were not from God? We might expect Jesus to be flattered, and sort of like, ‘Oh, shucks!’ But that is not what Jesus does. Instead, Jesus upends Nicodemus, hamstrings him, turns the tables on this intrepid nighttime inquisitor by saying, “Nicodemus, you can have all the information about me that you want, but it is not going to help you. You can have all the right information about me that you have, but it is not going to help you. You can ply me with platitudes, but it will not help you in the lest bit. If you are truly interested in the Kingdom of God, you must be born again. Apart from being born again, you have no chance at the Kingdom I proclaim.”

I imagine at this point Nicodemus must have tripped over his own tongue and stammered and choked on his matza. So, Nicodemus either plays dumb or trumps Jesus’ ace by saying, “OK, Mr., if this is true, how do you propose a man go about it? Surely you must be joking! You are speaking of something that is physically impossible!” But Jesus does not get out-logiced (not really a word, but worked with me here) in conversations. Furthermore, he is unrelenting and not about to change his demands just because Nicodemus points out a rather illogical demand. There is, in short, not changing the tune or the demand: You cannot enter the Kingdom of God unless you are born of water and Spirit. The demands do not change just because of our objections. The demands do not change because we have a more reasonable argument. The demands do not change because something is physically, humanly impossible. The demands of Jesus are the demands of Jesus. Whatever water and Spirit means, and I think we have a rather decent idea of what it means (See Titus 3:5, for example) it is certainly a demand that Jesus makes of all who wish to enter the Kingdom of God.

So far Jesus has told Nicodemus two things. First, he said having information, albeit the correct information, about Jesus is not enough. You cannot even see the Kingdom of God with the right information. Second, he told him that being from the right group (in this case, being an Israelite) is not enough. You cannot enter the Kingdom of God just because you happen to be born into the right family. In both cases Jesus made the same demand, You must be born again (or, ‘from above’) if you wish to participate in the Kingdom. Now, in verses 7-8, he makes one last point and again he ties it to being ‘born again.’ His point in these last two verses is this: Being humanly alive is not enough. You can’t just go down to the local store (or local church) and put on some new clothes, smile a lot, be in the right places, say the right things, do the right things and expect that this is a satisfactory born-again (or ‘from above’) experience. No, Jesus says. If you want to be born again (‘from above’) it must be a work from outside of yourself; it must be something over which you have no control. People who are born again are these peculiar people who have been born not just of water but simultaneously of Spirit. We are a peculiar people who have been touched by God deep in our being. People who are born again of water and Spirit are being changed from the inside to the outside.

Ultimately, this being born again is not something you can control in the sense that the human controls the direction that God makes us all we were born to be, in the sense that we have any idea what it really means to be human and alive, in the sense that we can shape ourselves in the knowledge in the image of our Creator (see Colossians 3:9-10). What I mean is this: Only God truly knows the direction the Spirit will carry us, the shape he will give us, the truth to which He will conform us. It is not a human directed enterprise; It is a Spirit directed enterprise. Merely human directed enterprises amount to little more than therapeutic counseling sessions that enable us to ‘live to our fullest human potential.’ Jesus has other things in mind for the direction of our peculiar lives. We are being crafted by the Spirit into the Imago Dei; we are the portrait of Christ. Only the Spirit of Jesus can make us look like Jesus.

It’s not enough to have the right information. It’s not enough to be from the right group. It’s not enough to be humanly born again (as in made physically whole, psychologically sound; we don’t need Oprahed or Dr Philed to get into the Kingdom). In all cases we must be born again of the water and Spirit. This is the demand of Jesus. It is his peculiar demand for people who wish to participate in His Kingdom. If you want to participate in His Kingdom you have to do things His way. If you don’t do things His way, it is not His Kingdom you are participating in at all. Funny thing is this: Neither the world nor the church nor any human being sets the standard for entrance into the Kingdom; Jesus does. He has the right to do so. John Piper has written, “And what Jesus demands from Nicodemus, he demands from all. He is speaking to everyone in the world. No one is excluded. No ethnic group has a greater bent toward life. Dead is dead—whatever our color, ethnicity, culture, or class. We need spiritual eyes. Our first birth will not get us into the Kingdom of God. But we do not cause ourselves to be born again. The Spirit does that. And the Spirit is free and blows in ways we do not comprehend. We must be born again. But this is a gift of God”—(What Jesus Demands from the World, 39).

Being born again means, in simple terms, that we must not put stock in, trust in, or hope in the flesh. Being born again means, in simple terms, that we must die to this life and be reborn by and in the Spirit. Paul wrote in Romans 6: “Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.” That’s what Jesus is talking about here.

I hope your 9th Day of 90 with Jesus is a Blessed one in the Lord!

Soli Deo Gloria!

90 Days with Jesus, Day 8: John 2:12-25: God in the Center

2007-06-08T10:15:00.000-04:00

John 2:12-25

12After this he went down to Capernaum with his mother and brothers and his disciples. There they stayed for a few days. 13When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14In the temple courts he found men selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. 15So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple area, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. 16To those who sold doves he said, “Get these out of here! How dare you turn my Father’s house into a market!” 17His disciples remembered that it is written: “Zeal for your house will consume me.” 18Then the Jews demanded of him, “What miraculous sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?” 19Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.” 20The Jews replied, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?” 21But the temple he had spoken of was his body. 22After he was raised from the dead, his disciples recalled what he had said. Then they believed the Scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken. 23Now while he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many people saw the miraculous signs he was doing and believed in his name. 24But Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all men. 25He did not need man’s testimony about man, for he knew what was in a man.

Friends, after today, you will have read two chapters in John’s Gospel. This is good progress. You have taken your time, read slowly, and chewed on only a few passages each day. You have allowed them to sink deep into your heart and there take root as you learn about the Jesus you follow, and learn about how to follow the Jesus you know. Congratulations! This is not small thing in our hurry up world. The hurry up world says it has to be done today and delights in large, massive quantities. We are taking the long stroll, the far look, and the slow journey. We are not tourists visiting interesting sites; we are disciples on the narrow road, on a ‘long obedience in the same direction.’ Also, please feel free to leave me your thoughts by clicking the ‘comment’ link.

The (physical) place of worship had turned into a place of economics; the practice of worship has turned into an empty, hollow, market place where God is not at the center. As such, worshipers were marginalized, worship was de-sacralized, and other less vital functions were elevated and imperialized. It sounds strange to say it in such a way, but consider this: what dominates us controls us, what is important to us takes precedence. Here in the temple clearly what dominated people’s lives was not theology, not worship, and not the Presence, but economics, power, and control. It was a market, Jesus said, a place where buying and selling, bartering and bickering, haggling and harassing were taking place not necessarily to the exclusion of worship, but more prominently than worship and in distraction of worship. In other words, the place of worship, the atmosphere of worship, the spirit of worship were all subjected to the whims of humans. Human interraction, human function, human beings and their needs and wants were centralized; God was marginalized. Does this sound at all familiar?

Imagine you invited a friend over to your house for a nice dinner and conversation. Imagine you had planned out a nice afternoon together of fellowship, eating, drinking, making merry and simply enjoying one another’s company and conversation. Imagine, now, that your friend arrives and sets up a yard-sale in your front yard and begins hawking and hollering at other guests you had invited. There would be no fellowship, no companionship, no conversation that would be enjoyable. Intimacy would turn into rape. And, I suppose, you would be jealous that you had to compete with your guest for the affections of your friends and neighbors–in your own house! It’s not the best analogy, but I think it suffices. In the house of God there is only One Master and He is not keen on sharing the limelight. It’s His House. Now whatever else this passage teaches us I think it certainly teaches us this: Jesus’ purificaction of the temple was an act of judgment against those who had been invited guests. He wasn’t angry with a building, but with people; people he knew all too well. And His point was clearly this: The God who lives here will not tolerate competition. Would that such zeal would consume many of those who are invited guests in the house of God today. But I suspect that the same exact thing happens in many ‘temples’ today: There is competition for attention, competition for Centralization, competition for Glory & Praise. This is what happens when God is marginalized, when worship is economized, when the sacred is trivialized. God is moved out and man takes over; can man keep anything pure and righteous?

David Wells wrote, “It is hard to miss in the evangelical world—in the vacuous worship that is so prevalent, for example, in the shift from God to the self as the central focus of faith, in the psychologized preaching that follows this shift, in the erosion of its conviction, in its strident pragmatism, in its inability to think incisively about the culture, in its reveling in the irrational. And it would have made few of these capitulations to modernity had not its capacity for truth diminished. It is not hard to see these things; avoiding them is what is difficult” (No Place for Truth, 95). I think what was happening that day is this: Jesus was not only purifying the temple, creating space, centralizing God once again (we say ‘cleansing’), he was also emptying it of all that deadness that inhabitited it and preparing it for new life. This is precisely why he ties this action to his resurrection: Destroy this temple, he said, and I will raise it up again in three days. He was saying, through actions, that the true purpose for the temple will never again be found in Jerusalem’s physical ediface, but will be found in Himself. He was telling the people, through word and deed, that the temple would be destroyed: His was also an act of judgment. But no matter! The true temple would be raised up and the function and purpose of the temple will be reestablished and never again corrupted. Jesus is the true temple and in Him, the Resurrected Lord, God will never again be marginalized, man will never be centralized, man will no longer control and ‘change’ (‘you have turned it into…something you desire’) the purpose of the temple and worship will continue freely and unabated by those who seek God. (Why do we prefer busy markets to worship?)

I think it is no wonder that Jesus would not entrust himself to man. The Bible says, “He knew what was in man.” I don’t suppose that has changed. Man has found a way to corrupt the church, to ‘turn it into something it was not intended to be’, the make man the center and life of the church, and, worse, we have found a way to do this to Jesus. I hate to say it, but man, within whom lies so many evils and ills, has found a way to corrupt the temple once again. We have found a way to make Jesus serve our purposes. We have found a way to use him. If man could not rightly serve in the physical structure the Presence inhabited, do you think we can or will rightly serve the Lord Jesus who inhabits us? Or do you think that we, like the temple rulers then, will once again turn the temple into something we can control, corrupt, and use? I cannot help but wonder if this is not already the truth. David Wells again:

“This is why we need reformation rather than revival. The habits of the modern world, now so ubiquitous in the evangelical world, need to be put to death, not given new life. [This is essentially what Jesus was saying in his judgement of the temple that day. And a new temple would be established in Himself.] They need to be rooted out, not simply papered over with fresh religious enthusiasm. And they are by this point so invincible that nothing less than the intrusion of God in his grace, nothing less than a full recovery of his truth, will suffice…In this regard, the death of theology has profound ramifications. Theology is dying not because the academy has failed to devise adequate procedures for reconstructing it but because the church has lost its capacity for it. And while some hail this loss as a step forward toward the hope of new evangelical vitality, it is in fact a sign of creeping death. The emptiness of evangelical faith without theology echoes the emptiness of modern life. Both have elected to cross over into a world in which God has no place, in which reality has been rewritten, in which Christ has become redundant, his Word irrelevant, and the Church must now find new reasons for its existence” (No Place for Truth, 301)

Judgment. Destruction. Resurrection. I wonder if it would take this much for the church to realize afresh that we are slowly killing ourselves by removing God from the Center? What will it take for Jesus to entrust himself to us? Woe is us if we try to turn the True Temple into something we can manage, manipulate, and master. Jesus, the Lamb of God, is also the Lion of the tribe of Judah. And judgment begins with the house of God.

Church Membership, Grace & Sin, Preaching

2007-06-06T23:36:00.000-04:00

PT Forsyth wrote, in 1908-1909, the following words concerning Church membership in his day:

“The reports that come in are clear about the cooling of that interest as they are about the drop in membership of the churches. The decay in membership of the Church is due to a decay of membership in Christ. Our social preoccupation has entailed real damage to personal and family religion For even among those who remain in active membership of our Churches the type of religion has changed. The sense of sin can hardly be appealed to by the preacher now, and to preach grace is in many (even orthodox) quarters regarded as theological obsession, and the wrong language for the hour, while justification by faith is practically obsolete.”–The Cruciality of the Cross, 33-34 (emphasis mine)

He said this nearly 100 years ago and I cannot believe he is less relevant today. The church needs a good dose of Christ and biblical religion. We need to learn again why Christ died on the cross: It was for our sin. Too much preaching in today’s pulpits simply disregard the issue of sin in favor of preaching about ‘your purpose’ or ‘your best life now’ or the ‘believer’s voice of victory’ or ’sowing your financial seed’ or some such other nonsense. Notice how it’s all about what is ‘yours’? Why is it there are no preachers, at least at the popular television, megachurch level, reminding people also of ‘your’ sin? But do we make light of God’s grace when we never broach the subject of sin? So many know so much about so much; too few know about the price Christ paid for our sins.

jerry

90 Days with Jesus, Day 7: John 2:1-11: Something (One) Better

2007-06-06T22:47:00.000-04:00

John 2:1-11

1On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, 2and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. 3When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no more wine.” 4″Dear woman, why do you involve me?” Jesus replied, “My time has not yet come.” 5His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” 6Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons. 7Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water”; so they filled them to the brim. 8Then he told them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.” They did so, 9and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside 10and said, “Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now.” 11This, the first of his miraculous signs, Jesus performed in Cana of Galilee. He thus revealed his glory, and his disciples put their faith in him.

When I was in college, I took a semester long class on the book of Acts. As part of the semester’s requirements, I had to produce 10 sermon outlines from the book of Acts. Recently, the church secretary was sorting through some of my files and one day, when she wasn’t looking, I snuck a couple of them out of the pile. One of the files I took out contained some old term papers I had written, all 4.0’s I might add, and also those old outlines that I produced for Acts class. My outlines were really bad and I think my professor was being generous when he marked a couple of them with 4’s. One of the 4’s that I received was on Acts 3:1-10. I wrote a pretty good outline, I thought at the time. The points were well made. I followed the flow of the text in the chapter. I thought I had done well until I saw, to the left of the 4.0, my professor’s rather lengthy paragraph written in stunning, glaring, red ink. He wrote:

I’m not sure our asking in prayer is really parallel to the lame man asking for money and receiving something better, but you have done a good job of expanding on a slightly shaky foundation.

Again, a generous 4.0 was given. I didn’t deserve the 4.0. I don’t suppose there are too many college sophomores who ever deserve 4.0’s—especially those sophomores who are learning how to ‘rightly divide the word of God.’ Strange though how after all these years it is the first part of his paragraph that stands out most in my mind. Even without the paper I remembered what he wrote: “I’m not sure our asking in prayer is really parallel to the lame man asking for money and receiving something better…” It’s that ‘something better’ that the author of the book of Hebrews argues, over and over again, that we find in Jesus Christ. It is this ‘something better’ that John illustrates by telling us the story of Jesus turning water into the best wine. It is no accident that Jesus chose six stone water jars that the Jews used for ‘ceremonial washing’ to complete his work. It is no accident that the wine was ‘the best wine’. It was no accident that this wine was ‘saved until after the guests had had too much to drink.’ It was no coincidence that after this sign Jesus errected that pointed to his glory that his disciples ‘put their faith in him.’ “The servants, Jesus’ mother, and his disciples knew, but the text mentions only the disciples as those in whom the sign accomplished its purpose: they ‘believed in him.’”—Peterson, Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places, 94

I’d like to take time to say about a million things about this particular episode from the life of Jesus, but I stop short because that ‘something better’ keeps sticking in my head. I cannot get it out of my head, my heart, my eyes, my ears. It’s ringing around in my ears, bouncing on the walls of my skull. Jesus is the ‘something better.’ When that lame man was healed by Peter the ‘something better’ he received was Jesus. That wine that the steward took to the master of the banquet served as a metaphor that something better was at hand, something better than the rules & ceremonial washings of the Jews. It was something generous—filled to the brim! It was something abundant—six jars holding 20 to 30 gallons each! The most prophetic line in the text: “You have saved the best till now,” uttered by some wine steward at a wedding banquet. Ironic. It was something better, not the cold, hard, letter of law; but the warm, human, compassionate Jesus.

The book of Hebrews fills out the picture for us. All you have to do is read through the short letter to see how the author continually points out to the reader that Jesus is the something better that the Scripture hints at over and over again. Here’s the list (complete, I believe) of the something better in Hebrews: “Even though we speak like this, dear friends, we are confident of better things in your case—things that accompany salvation” (Hebrews 6:9); “The former regulation is set side because it was weak and useless (for the law made nothing perfect), and a better hope is introduced, by which we draw near to God” (Hebrews 7:19); “Because of this oath, Jesus has become the guarantee of a better covenant” (Hebrews 7:22) (See also 8:6, 9:23, 10:34, 11:16, 35, 40, 12:24). The author of Hebrews is convinced that in Jesus everything else takes a distant second seat.

However, I must complain. I think the Christians have, by and large, settled for something far less than the something better. I think Christians have been sold down the river by preachers offering health and riches and cars and televisions and satisfaction with so much of life here on earth instead of preaching, simply, that in Jesus there is something better. Where is the holy dissatisfaction with this earth? Where is the longing and groaning for a better resurrection in Christ? Where is the despising of flesh and the longing for Christ? Where are the fervent prayers for Christ to hasten his return? Where is the conviction that Christ is Better and the living out of such a conviction? And those who have rejected Christ out of hand are missing out too, but I don’t have time to document their misery. It’s bad enough documenting the misery of the church.

Jesus is not just something better. He is Someone Better. I can’t get that out of my head. Of all that there is, Jesus is Better. Why isn’t the church convinced of this?

I hope your 7th Day of 90 with Jesus is blessed by your reading of His Word.

jerry

90 Days With Jesus, Day 6: John 1:43-51: Where He Leads Me...

2007-06-05T23:23:00.000-04:00

John 1:43-51

43The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. Finding Philip, he said to him, “Follow me.” 44Philip, like Andrew and Peter, was from the town of Bethsaida. 45Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” 46″Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?” Nathanael asked. “Come and see,” said Philip. 47When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, he said of him, “Here is a true Israelite, in whom there is nothing false.” 48″How do you know me?” Nathanael asked. Jesus answered, “I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you.” 49Then Nathanael declared, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel.” 50Jesus said, “You believe because I told you I saw you under the fig tree. You shall see greater things than that.” 51He then added, “I tell you the truth, you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”

We are again confronted with this man, this Jesus, who simply says, “Follow me.” He doesn’t say where he is going, or what he will be doing, or why he is going there (yet), or how he will get there. In fact, most of it he keeps a mystery. He said later, “You will look for me, but you will not find me; and where I am, you cannot come” (7:34). Yet Philip not only follows Jesus, but he goes and grabs up one of his buddies who happens to be enjoying an afternoon siesta under a fig tree saying, “We have found (discovered, eureka-ed!) the Messiah, the One Moses wrote about in the Law, the One the Prophets spoke of. Andrew had said to Simon, “We have found (discovered, eureka-ed!) the Messiah!” I sometimes wish evangelism were so easy! Then again, perhaps we try to make it far more difficult than it has to be. Perhaps it is as simple as saying, “Guess who I have discovered?”

Whatever else may be learned here, one thing I do know is this: Philip does not go to Nathanael unarmed. He went steeped in Scripture: Law and Prophets were on his mind and he knew who he was looking for because he knew who was written of (Philip recognized Jesus because he recognized Scripture). When he met the one who conformed to Scripture he knew he was on to Someone. Here’s another key point. People often say things like, “I can’t witness because I don’t know enough.” I say that is, well, junk. The only way, theologically speaking, to get to know Jesus is by spending considerable time in His Word. Philip made these deductions based on his reading of the Old Testament. How much more then should we be able to make the same deductions after reading the New Testament? Our problem is that too much fluff is spewed out of pulpits in the Church today. There is simply not enough (any?) thorough, biblical, theological exposition of Scripture taking place in American church pulpits. Is it because preachers cannot do so or will not do so? I suspect it is probably both. After all, we’d rather have a crowd listen to fluff than no one listen to Scripture. Right? Our problem is that we figure we can avoid testimony for Christ by avoiding the Scripture; so it collects dust on a shelf. But in truth, Scripture will not be avoided and if the church, the people who are the Body of Christ, does not return to Scripture I fear the church will be lost or destroyed. I hope it is not too late.

Nathanael is no dummy though: “I’ve heard about those ruffians from Nazareth. Brutes they are. Can anything good come out of there I wonder?” And all Philip says is the same thing John the baptizer said, “Come and behold!” So Nathanael goes and a dialogue takes place between Jesus and Nathanael after which Nathanael proclaims, “You are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel!” All of this because Jesus knew where Nathanael took a nap each day! But then, who’s to say that Philip, steeped in Scripture as he was, did not take time to open Scripture to Nathanael on their way to follow Jesus? Nathanael makes a profound confession of Jesus to go along with John’s “Behold the Lamb of God, Andrew’s, “We have found the Messiah,” and Philip’s, “We have found the One Moses wrote about in the Law…” Now we also have, “You are the Son of God; the King of Israel!” These four appellations paint for us a comprehensive picture of this person who keeps on saying, “Follow Me.” When Jesus finally speaks he refers to himself as “Son of Man.” Yet another dimension of Jesus’ person; and all terms that are rich with Biblical imagery and meaning. I dare say that if one is not sufficiently immersed and submerged in the Scripture of the Old Testament these titles, names, and identifying markers might lose a bit of their meaning; most of it.

Again I think you have to know your Old Testament to make sense of Jesus’ words about angels ascending and descending on the Son of Man. In short, they will not ascend and descend on a ladder or stairway as they did in Genesis 28, where we read of Jacob’s dream, but on Jesus. In other words, Jesus would be the bridge, or stairway, or ladder that bridges the gap between here and there. Or, better, Jesus himself is the Way between here and there. Jesus has replaced the ladder; Jesus is the ladder. There is no other way for angels, or men. Jesus has replaced the ladder. Jesus describes this, seeing angels ascending and descending on the Son of Man, as one of the ‘greater things’ that Nathanael will see. This is a bold statement; a radical pronouncement. This is simply off the hook. All of this, keep in mind, after Jesus said, “Follow me.” Who could resist? Who would be foolish enough?

Eugene Peterson’s book The Jesus Wayspeaks near the end about ‘other ways’ of following in this world or ‘other ways’ of achieving something in this world; other ways of achieving the goal or prize–ways out of sync with the Jesus Way. He speaks of the way of Herod, and Josephus and Caiaphas, men who embodied ways that would not cause a person or an angel to ascend to heaven. They were, by the world’s standards, massive success stories. By Jesus’ standards they were complete failures who led people exactly nowhere and Peterson assures us that we are fools if we do not dismiss these ways, these alternatives, as paths to hell. Peterson writes, “What stands out as we consider all these dismissed options is that following Jesus is a unique way of life. It is like nothing else. There is nothing and no one comparable. Follow Jesus gets us little or nothing of what we commonly think we need or want or hope for. Following Jesus accomplishes nothing on the world’s agenda. Following Jesus takes us right out of this world’s assumptions and goals to a place where a lever can be inserted that turns the world upside down and inside out. Following Jesus has everything to do with this world, but almost nothing in common with this world” (E Peterson, The Jesus Way, 270). This is what we are getting into when we follow Jesus. We will see great things, no doubt. But we must also be quite prepared to leave this world behind. No wonder one of the first teachings of Jesus in this book is a story about leaving this place and going to that place—and, better, the Only Way to do it: Through Himself.

So, who can resist? Who would be foolish enough?

God's Love for Us in Christ

2007-06-05T09:27:00.000-04:00

"Whenever we gaze at the cross, we ought to be constrained to say, 'Does He love me more than He loves Him? That he would give Him for me?"--C. H. Spurgeon, as quoted in J Ligon Duncan III, Only One Way?, footnote, p 125

Tis something for you to think about today.

jerry

Fed Up with Your Church?

2007-06-04T23:38:00.001-04:00

http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=55990

Think you got it bad here in America? Think your church stinks? Think you're not getting anything out of the worship on Sundays? Read this article.

"Remember those in prison as if you were their fellow prisoners, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering"--Hebrews 13:3 NIV

jerry

90 Days with Jesus, Day 5: John 1:35-42…Following Jesus

2007-06-04T23:15:00.000-04:00

John 1:35-42

“The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. 36When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God!” 37When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus. 38Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, “What do you want?” They said, “Rabbi” (which means Teacher), “where are you staying?” 39″Come,” he replied, “and you will see.” So they went and saw where he was staying, and spent that day with him. It was about the tenth hour. 40Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two who heard what John had said and who had followed Jesus. 41The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, “We have found the Messiah” (that is, the Christ). 42And he brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon son of John. You will be called Cephas” (which, when translated, is Peter).”

I picture John shouting these words: “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world!” I sort of imagine that he was on the lookout, waiting, watching, keeping one eye on the crowd and one eye searching the crowd—and then it happened; He appeared. John ‘saw Jesus passing by.’ “Behold! I’m trying to get your attention! There is someone you just have to see! You cannot not take a look, a long gaze, a mesmerizing stare! Behold! Examine! Contemplate!” John’s disciples would later repeat these words. Philip went to Nathanael and said, “Come and See.” He uses the same Greek that John did: “Behold!” “Come and behold!” The author to the Hebrews would say something very similar: “Fix your eyes on Jesus, the author and perfector of your faith who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” The message is always the same: Stay fixed on Jesus.

John has twice pointed out Jesus to the gathered crowd. Both times he has said, “Behold, the Lamb of God!” I did a quick Internet search for the moniker ‘Lamb of God.’ I did not turn up one hit for the One named Jesus. I did, however, turn up an entire page of links to a group of musicians known by the same. They, unfortunately, have nothing to do with Jesus except to mock him. They are nothing worth paying any attention to. They are not worth beholding. They are not worth spending the day with. They are not worth concerning yourself where they are staying. Jesus was and that is what I noticed about these verses here.

John pointed to Jesus and said, “Look!” Then some of John’s disciples followed Jesus. Then they wanted to know where he was staying and when they found out they stayed with him an entire day. Next one of these men, Andrew, went and found his brother and bade him to come and meet Jesus also. Andrew makes what is one of the first open confessions, aside from the baptizer, about the identity of Jesus. “We have found!” “We have discovered!” Notice also that this newly discovered information was information that had to be shared with someone else. This was not something to keep to oneself.

There is another thought concerning this dawning, this awakening, this eye-opening revelation that overwhelmed Andrew. I notice that he came to this conclusion quite apart from any sort of displays of power, or miracles, or even teaching. Maybe I’m being too simplistic about this, but what actually caused Andrew to come to such a conclusion and make such a pronouncement? What took place during that day he spent with Jesus that caused him to conclude that Jesus was in fact the Messiah, the Christ? Was it something John said? But all John said was, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.” (The only other things John had said were, “I am not the Messiah.”) Or was it something in Jesus’ words, “What do you want? Come, and you will see.” It would be fun to know what Jesus and these two disciples did that day. I’d like to know what compelled Andrew to conclude that this Jesus, with whom he had spent one day or so, about whom he had heard a couple really short sermons, was in fact the hoped for Messiah. It would not always be like that in John’s Gospel. Sadly, it is not nearly at all like that in our day.

Maybe it’s not tough at all. Maybe it was just a matter of spending a day with Jesus. And this is to say nothing of Peter who, evidently, had never even heard John say “Behold the Lamb of God!” Peter, evidently, took Andrew at his word and went to Jesus where from that day forward his life was altered. (Was he so persuaded because of Andrew’s conviction?) What shall we say then? That when we spend time with Jesus we will undoubtedly come to such a conclusion? That when we ourselves are convinced of who Jesus is we will make a beeline to someone we know and love and tell them the news? That we, having more information should be as convinced and convincing as Andrew was to Peter? Or, maybe we should ask, how Andrew could be so confident with so little information and we so unconvinced with so much information?

There is one last thing: It was Jesus who, from the get go, was the leader. “When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus. And, they spent the day with him. And, ‘Andrew…was one of the two who heard what John had said and who had followed Jesus.’ And Andrew brought his brother to Jesus. And they wanted to know where Jesus was staying. In other words, from the start, these men followed Jesus, spent the day with him, went to him, share him with others, told others about him. From the start, it was about where Jesus was. Eugene Peterson writes, “North American Christians are conspicuous for going along with whatever the culture decides is charismatic, successful, influential—whatever gets things done, whatever can gather a crowd of followers—hardly noticing that these ways and means are at odds with the clearly marked way that Jesus walked and called us to follow. Doesn’t anybody notice that the ways and means taken up, often enthusiastically, are blasphemously at odds with the way Jesus leads his followers? Why doesn’t anybody notice?” (The Jesus Way, 8 ) From that day forward they followed Jesus. Would that this were true of all of us: Stay fixed on Jesus.

90 Days with Jesus, Day 4: John 1:29-34: Behold the Lamb

2007-06-04T10:05:00.000-04:00

John 1:29-34

29The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, "Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! 30This is the one I meant when I said, 'A man who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.' 31I myself did not know him, but the reason I came baptizing with water was that he might be revealed to Israel." 32Then John gave this testimony: "I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him. 33I would not have known him, except that the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, 'The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is he who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.' 34I have seen and I testify that this is the Son of God."

The word ‘behold’ is of singular importance in these verses. It is a word of urgency, importance, and direction. John saw Jesus coming towards him and he said, “Behold!” It is hard to mistake what was going on: He pointed to Jesus. But he did not leave his preaching (‘Look’) without interpretation. If he told the people around to ‘look’ he always told them what they were looking at: ‘The Lamb of God.’ However, that is still not enough. He did not leave ‘Lamb of God’ without interpretation either: ‘Who takes away the sin of the world!’ Now, if we misunderstood why we were looking at Jesus, and if we misunderstood what John meant when he referred to Jesus as the Lamb of God, there is no misunderstanding what John meant by ‘takes away the sin of the world.’ The only question we might be left with is: How will he do that? But even the word ‘lamb’ gives those baptized in scripture insight into his meaning.

This is also the first time Jesus has been publicly identified in John’s Gospel. We have heard other words about Him. He is the Word. He was with God and so on. But one day Jesus went for a walk and when John saw him he did not hold back his guns but fired the opening salvo to anyone listening: ‘Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.’ Ironically, or perhaps not, Jesus does nothing to dissuade John from this idea. People came to John and plied him with many questions about his own identity; and he denied every title or identity people tried to label him with. John says this about Jesus and we hear not a word from Jesus in denial. So the first time anyone says anything publicly about Jesus in this Gospel we hear about who he is (Jesus), what he is (Lamb of God), and what He will do (take away the sins of the world). This is His primary objective, above and beyond anything else, before anything else, instead of anything else: He is the Lamb of God.

Well this certainly defines the problem of the world: Sin. He did not come down to solve the world’s economic crises, or to elect politicians, or to solve poverty, or sickness, or marital problems, or anything of the sort. Jesus, the Lamb of God, came to deal with sin. PT Forsyth brilliantly wrote, “He so spared not His Son as with Him to give us all things. The true theology of the Cross and its atonement is the solution of the world” (The Justification of God, 122). He came once as the Lamb to deal with sin. Will he be so meek and gentle the second time coming? Or will He come as the Lion? Jesus, the Lamb of God, came to deal with sin. John points that out when he makes his first public announcement about Jesus. The world should have known, but they were blind. They welcome John who baptized in water, but not Jesus who baptized in fire. Jesus, in my estimation, is used for too many things in this world and in His Church. I think when his prophets properly point out that Jesus came to deal with sin we will make great strides in this world and among the lost.

The reason we don’t point to this Jesus, the Lamb of God Jesus who deals with sin, is because in the church we have not sufficiently defined the terms. We have believed that sin can be dealt with therapeutically and not at the cross. David Wells has many important thoughts on this very issue. I’ll share but a couple. He criticizes those who hold the opinion that sin can be ‘domesticated’ and that this domesticated sin can be cleared up by showing more concern for ‘technique [as in marketing strategies] than with repentance, and that neighborhood surveys are more crucial than the Word of God for securing the church’s spiritual growth’ (God in the Wasteland, 81-82). He writes: “Christ’s gospel calls sinners to surrender their self-centeredness, to stop granting sovereignty to their own needs and recognize his claim of sovereignty over their lives. This is the reversal, the transposition of loyalties that is entailed in all genuine Christian believing” (God in the Wasteland, 82). Many times, nowadays, the church has surrendered moral authority because it will not peach the cross. The gospel preaching that takes place in many churches now is described by one as a gospel ‘consisting of a God without wrath bringing a people without sin into a kingdom without judgment through a Christ without a cross.’ (H. Richard Niebuhr as quoted by Wells, God in the Wasteland, 82). This has to change or the church will die. Sin is not something we can fix by watching Dr. Phil, listening to stories about our purpose in life, or listening to motivational speakers who are disguised as Christian evangelists. Sin can only be dealt with in the cross. It is this cross we must preach.

Jesus came to earth willing, ready, able and only to deal with sin. It is the church that has changed this mission and this message. The church needs to get back into the business of preaching the Jesus who came to deal with sin. The church needs to get back to the business of preaching a cross centered Gospel. The church needs to properly expound on the doctrine of atonement—a doctrine seen fully alive in the Old Testament books and literally fleshed out in the New Testament books; in Christ. Jesus, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. He is our message. He is the direction we point because there is no other direction we can point. Sin is taken away in no other place, in no other person. Jesus only is the atoning sacrifice for our sins. Jesus only is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.

In the Beginning: A Bonus Meditation on John 1

2007-06-03T21:12:00.000-04:00

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it. There came a man who was sent from God; his name was John. He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all men might believe. He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world." (John 1:1-9 NIV)"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." (Genesis 1:1 NIV)

I'm warming up. The spring is upon us. The sky has been clearing and the precipitation getting warmer. I'm anxious for more though. I cannot seem to get enough of that warmth that melts the flesh and thaws the bones. The winter has been long and I have grown tired, tired, tired of the cold, the snow, the ice and the chill that is set deep in my bones. Throw me like a piece of meat on the counter and let my flesh begin to melt. I'm ready to sizzle and sweat. I'm ready for the taste of summer sweat to linger on my lips. I'm ready for summer, garden dirt to to dry underneath my fingernails. I'm ready for shoeless days and bare-feet ambling in the grass.

Lately I've heard the beginning rumblings of crickets in my backyard. It's a welcome sound that I will cherish all summer long. I wish I could store a small cache of them somewhere in my house during the winter. I know, sadly, they don't sing for me. Yet somehow I am permitted to evesdrop every evening. Their song is so majestic, so grand, so peaceful. We have been having warmer evenings so I have been stealing a listen as often as I can. I don't think they mind. I don't think they even notice.

I like beginnings. In the beginning--sometimes I wish I had been there too, at that beginning--now that had to be an amazing thing. Everything was fresh and new. Everything was clean and abundant. Nothing was broken or corrupted--nothing was on it's way down. It was, in God's own words, Good. I don't suspect that those first people had to endure what we call seasons. I like those Narnian times when the winter begins to thaw, but I have to admit that I am looking forward to the time when the Narnian thaw is permanent. In the beginning was the Word. I'm looking forward to the time when the crickets have no reason to stop singing. The beginning of something new is what I'm looking for and the changing of the season--the days when summer takes over and conquers winter again--is merely a marker of the something better that is coming. It's a foretaste, a glimpse, foreshadowing. It is the perfect literature.

When Jesus came down he marked the beginning of the Narnian thaw. He marked the beginning of what God set in motion the day Adam and Eve sinned--nay, before the foundation of the world! Jesus' arrival marks the beginning and the end at the same time. His arrival announces to one an all: it is time to sing, it is time to thaw, it is time for the crickets to make merry. Someone powerful was breaking in and breaking out.

90 Days with Jesus, Day 3: He was Nobody

2007-06-03T13:05:00.001-04:00

John 1:19-28

Now this was John’s testimony when the Jews of Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to ask him who he was. He did not fail to confess, but confessed freely, “I am not the Christ. ” They asked him, “Then who are you? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” He answered, “No.” Finally they said, “Who are you? Give us an answer to take back to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?” John replied in the words of Isaiah the prophet, “I am the voice of one calling in the desert, ‘Make straight the way for the Lord.’ “Now some Pharisees who had been sent questioned him, “Why then do you baptize if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?” “I baptize with water,” John replied, “but among you stands one you do not know. He is the one who comes after me, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.”

This all happened at Bethany on the other side of the Jordan, where John was baptizing.
It takes a great deal of courage and restraint to confess to being nobody. John did not say he was a nobody, but that he was nobody. His was a relative comparison. Jesus certainly thought John was somebody. He said, according to Matthew: “I tell you the truth: Among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist; yet he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.” That’s high praise, but John took no note of it. He claims no mantle for himself. He claims no identity for himself. He simply says, “I am the voice of one calling in the desert.” How many of us can say with such certainty that we are willing to stand unadorned (voice), alone (one), and without audience (desert) in order to accomplish something for someone else—especially Jesus! John says he was one; how many ‘ones’ of us should there be?

John pointed away from himself. He ‘freely confessed…’ that he was not the Messiah, the Prophet, or Elijah. But clearly he was someone because the people were going to him, questioning him, plying him for answers about his activities. John could have made a show. John could have claimed something for himself. John could have attracted large hordes of disciples to himself. He could have went to Jerusalem or some big city nearby and stood on the temple steps and preached his Gospel. Instead he freely confessed to being nobody in comparison to Someone. Instead, John stood out in the desert and if people came, they came; if they didn’t, they didn’t. It takes a lot of restraint to remain anonymous. It takes a lot of restraint to do bunch of work for someone else to get all the glory. And so John stayed out in the desert, in the wastelands, in the barren, void where he was only a voice blowing on the wind.

John had a testimony but it was not about himself. I think this must be our role also. We point away from ourselves to Jesus just like John did. We can claim no disciples. We can claim no title. Our work is very much like that John: We are preparing the way of the Lord, we are preparing this place for his arrival, we are making straight paths in these deserts where we live. We are make preparations for the day when Messiah will be here, but we certainly make no effort to claim to be Messiah ourselves. Our ambition must always be to point away from ourselves to Him. And when we are brave enough to make ourselves nothing, to be mere voices in desert places, then I think we are doing all we can to exalt Christ. This is clearly John’s point. He will do nothing for himself that might detract from the glory of Jesus. Neither must we.

I hope the 3rd of your 90 Days with Jesus is Blessed!

jerry

Sermon Remnants, Sunday, June 3, 2007: John 7:1-52

2007-06-03T12:59:00.000-04:00

Friends, I promised that parts of the sermon I didn’t get to Sunday morning I would post here. Below is the 2 pages of preliminary notes & observations that I did not include, and also the longer conclusion of the sermon that I did not preach. I’m actually happy that I ended the sermon where I did, although, to be sure, this sixth objection to Jesus should probably be mentioned. So, I do so here.–Jerry

__________________

Now, before I get involved in the objectives I’d like to accomplish today, I’d like to briefly make a couple of observations about John’s Gospel as we have been led to this point in his narrative and as we see continuing to work out in this particular chapter. The first observation I’d like to make concerns his brothers sort of pushing him to make a public appearance. I think this goes back to the point Jesus made to his mother in the second chapter when she wanted him to solve the problem of running out wine at a wedding. He said to her, "Woman, why do you involve me, my time has not yet come." Here he makes very similar statements to his brothers: "For you any time is right; the right time has not yet come for me." In other words, people are not controlled or governed by some greater person or objective are free to do what they want, when they want. Jesus is telling his brothers: My schedule is not controlled by you or anyone here on this earth. My work and my schedule is governed solely by my Father whose work and will I am about.

I talked of this a bit last week when it came to the miracle of the bread. We cannot control Jesus. He has his own time schedule that will not be altered by our cajoling or ambition. We tend to look at things from a particular point of view. We see immediate objectives. We see short term accomplishment. I think that’s what his brothers wanted. "Hey, it’s a festival time, everyone is in Jerusalem, go do some miracles and win them over. That will make you a public figure." I hear in this terrible echoes of the devil standing on top of the temple with Jesus saying, ‘Hurl yourself down so He can command his angels to miraculously save you.’ In other words, ‘Go up to Jerusalem and do something spectacular, avoid the cross, do all you can to win people over without blood.’ But, God, I read, does not have a point of view as much as he has a complete view. God had the entire view in mind. And we have already discussed that Jesus is not coming to earth to be a bread Messiah.

* * * * *

The second observation that I must make is that there is an increasing level of violence that is being exercised against Jesus. He said at the beginning of chapter 7 that he purposely avoided going to a certain area because the Jews there were waiting to kill him—murder him. If you read slowly through John, and carefully, you will notice that the violence continues to increase all throughout the Gospel itself. The people were violently opposed to Jesus, to Jesus’ teaching, to Jesus’ disciples—at one point they even plot to murder someone that Jesus had raised from the dead.

Here in chapter 7 it is not different. He even asks them, ‘Why are you trying to kill me?’ He knows their intentions. He knows what they are about. Of course they deny it. But later someone says, "Isn’t this the man they are trying to kill?" In verse 30, it says they wanted to seize him. In verse 32, they send guards to arrest him. In verse 43, they are divided over him. In verse 44, they want to seize him again. And in verses 46-52, there seems to be a sort of trial of Jesus where he is found guilty of something and he has not even been on trial yet. And this sort of stuff is all throughout John. There’s always someone trying to kill him, or stone him, or seize him, but Jesus is always in control. Still, it matters very little what Jesus says, or what Jesus does, there is always one very clear response from the people who object: Kill him. They go out of their way to kill him, seize him, or whatever, and yet for all the times they try, they only succeed when Jesus determines they will succeed.

______________

Now, for the extended conclusion:

Well, the guards who were sent to arrest Jesus were thoroughly confounded, profoundly perplexed. What to do? No one ever spoke like this man does. We cannot arrest him. So more objections: He’s just a deceiver, none of the rulers or Pharisees have believed in him—we’re obviously smarter than all of you!—there’s a curse on the mob following him, he’s already guilty without a trial, and then one last thing, "Behold! Look! Nicodemus, you will find that a prophet does not come out of Galilee!" "Nazareth?! Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" "Come and Behold!" But I think about this one they might actually have been saying something right.You see, the things Jesus was saying and doing could not be attributed to mere human cunning and ability and Jesus never claimed that they did. He said his teaching was not his own. He said he was not doing his own will but the will of the One who sent him. He did miracles. He knew the One they didn’t know. He claimed to be the unique, sufficient way of salvation, the fulfillment of the Scripture, and the one who is hated by the world because he testifies against the world. They are right: No human being is foolish enough to do such things. No mere human is going to say these things, do these things, and divide people in these ways, claim to be God, and the only way to God, unless he were, in fact, the One He claimed to be. Humans would go for the miracle in the temple courts; Jesus goes for secrecy and teaching. Humans want the attention; Jesus claims he’s in it only for the Father’s glory. No, Jesus indeed was nota prophet from Galilee. He was definitely from some place else altogether and the only way to find out where is to believe in Jesus.

Maybe Jesus just was not fancy enough for them. Certainly, if a prophet were worth his salt, he’d be from someplace important, like Jerusalem. "Hey, if you want to be a public figure, go up and reveal yourself in Jerusalem. Show yourself to your disciples. Do your miracles there." No thanks, Jesus said. He came from simple origins, from simply family background, from humble beginnings. Surely this man cannot be the Messiah or even a prophet! He’s from Galilee. We know enough of that place to know that no one sent from God comes from such a place.

* * * * *

Jesus has been on trial. People objected to everything he said and did, but we find that actually it is we who have been on trial. All the objections people have are thrown back to us as if to say: Here’s your answer, now what will you do with Jesus? Do you object because he tells you that you are evil and in need of outside intervention to fix you? Do you object because his teaching is from God and about God things and not about hair things or therapy things? Do you object because he points out your hypocrisy while remaining sinless himself? Do you object, still, because he says that everything you ever knew or believed about God must be rethought through him? Do you object because he says He is the only way to salvation, to God? Do you object to Jesus because he’s from a small, backwater, town and not from the big city of Jerusalem, that he does things in secret and not for show and public consumption? Do you object that he won’t be your miracle worker when you want your miracle? Do you object because you know where he’s from and the element of mystery has been removed?

Just what objections do you have about Jesus? Your objections are on trial too. And the gospel is proclaimed so that your objections may be overcome or that they may overcome you. But either way, Jesus will be exalted and glorified. Surely this prophet did not come merely from earth; surely this is the Prophet sent from God. Surely we must listen to what he is saying and be overcome by his grace.

What choice will you make? There are only two choices given here in these Scriptures. One choice is to intensify your hatred, your violence, and your anger against Jesus. The other choice is to put your faith in Him, the only one who can satisfy your thirst. You will either kill him or be killed. You will either die without him or with him. Either way, you have a choice to make—and making no choice is close enough to choosing against him that no choice is not acceptable either. What is your verdict? What you say about Christ will be the most important statement you ever make in this world.

Soli Deo Gloria!

John 1:10-18: He Came Into the World and Showed us God

2007-05-30T09:50:00.000-04:00

John 1:10-18

He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. 11He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— 13children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God. 14The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. 15John testifies concerning him. He cries out, saying, "This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’" 16From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another. 17For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father’s side, has made him known.

"I cannot understand how anyone with any sense of judgment can discard the atonement and live without terror" (PT Forsyth, The Justification of God, 221).

I think most people feel strange about Jesus or get uneasy when His Name is mentioned. John says as much, he came to that which was his own and his own did not receive him. Also, he was in the world, but the world did not recognize him. Isaiah said as much, "Just there were many who were appalled at him—his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any man and his form marred beyond human likeness…" Folks near and far continue to reject him for no other reason than they think he is different. We have a great deal of difficulty understanding those who are in no way like us. It is easy to reject them and turn them away.

Maybe one of the reasons people reject Jesus is because he came with his own agenda and not to serve ours. And since he did not come on our terms or to entrust himself to us or rise up to meet our constant demands, we reject him. Jesus is supposed to do what we want him to do and when he doesn’t we have very little use for him. ‘Usefulness’ is such a dirty word and so much is rejected out of hand because it is simply not useful. Jesus, for many, falls into that category. And for some pathetically unreasonable reason, Jesus is not, was not, deterred from his mission: He still makes it possible for people to become children of God.

To make this possible he came down and lived among us. He ‘pitched his tent among us.’ The Message has it this way, "The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood." I’m surprised at how lightly people consider this anymore. It was no small thing for God to become flesh. To become flesh implies at least that he was not flesh to begin with. He put it on like a garment. Later in the Gospel we will learn that it was not enough for Jesus to clothe himself with us, but that we must clothe ourselves with him, "Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh." And, "You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ" (Romans 13:14 & Galatians 3:36-27 NIV). He became flesh; we must become spirit.

Jesus did one other thing too, or, I should say, there was one other thing on His agenda that probably did not sit well with those he came to. John testified, "He has surpassed me because He was before me." Well who wants that? Who wants to admit that this ruffian, this vagabond, this one with His own agenda and not ours, must become greater? What human being wants to confess that anyone must become greater than us? John testified, "I am not even worthy to untie his sandal," and "he must become greater and I must become lesser." Well who likes that idea? It is the glory of Christ that must fill the earth, not the glory of man. (In John 6 we shall see that Jesus came to do the will of the Father and no one else. "For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me", 6:38 (see also 39-40).)

Finally, there’s one last thing. He made God known to us. The problem was that, as John’s Gospel bears out, the people Jesus came to did not like the ‘version’ of God he showed them. He showed us a God who eats with sinners, who forgives adulterers, who washes feet, who heals the blind, and talks with women. He showed us a God who is long on mercy and short on judgment—but woe to those upon whom that judgment falls and remains! Jesus showed us a God who is more afraid of not helping someone in need than of breaking the Sabbath. He showed us a God who so loves the world that there is nothing he won’t give up to see that world have the opportunity for salvation. Jesus showed us a God who if he ‘spared not his own Son, will spare no historic convulsion needful for His Kingdom’ (Forsyth, The Justification of God, 194).

I think this is what bugs people the most: there is nothing God will not do in order to save the Lost. Jesus showed that side of God. Where people thought God was all about law and justice (and He is!), He is not at all devoid of mercy and grace—in fact, He overflows it. Most people think that this side of God is far too lenient with the guilty and far too restrictive with the not-guilty. The difference is which side you view it from: the one who receives mercy or the one who does not. It makes a world of difference.

I hope your 2nd Day of 90 with Jesus is Blessed!

jerry

John 1:1-9: God Has a Name

2007-05-30T09:16:00.000-04:00

Friends,

Welcome to the 90 Days With Jesus daily devotional and meditation. Today's Scripture is John 1:1-9. Stop back each day for new meditations and devotions from John's Gospel.

1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4In him was life, and that life was the light of men. 5The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it. 6There came a man who was sent from God; his name was John. 7He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all men might believe. 8He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. 9The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world. (NIV)

Jesus was no mere afterthought. He is no mere afterthought. The church he established is no mere afterthought or parenthesis. In the beginning was the Word. Immediately, we begin to think of Genesis. In the beginning God. John begins at the same place where the Bible begins: In the beginning with God. And God said, "Let there be light." And John says, "In him was life, and that life was the light of men." In Genesis learn that God was in the beginning; In John the same phrase, 'In the beginning God,' is given a slight twist: 'In the beginning was the Word..." Peter Jones writes, "But John adds more clarity to the plural name Elohim: 'In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God...Through [the Word] all things were made.'" (Peter Jones, Only One Way?, 56)

Jesus is about life and light. The way before us is dark. The way around us is dark. The way of the world we inhabit is dark. It is full of darkness, and who can see? Who can find their way through all this murkiness? How long do we continue to grope and grab in this world with eyes wide shut? "The light shines in darkness." This is a statement of fact. The light spread out in the place of darkness because it was the place of darkness that needed the light. (And not only spread out, but began taking back ground; conquering!) God saw what was needed here: Illumination. Not in some mystical, search deep within yourself illumination. But the sort of illumination where someone comes in from the outside and does the obvious: He 'flips the switch' and turns on the light thus exposing what was concealed, hidden, and unrevealed. We see, because of Christ, what we are really up against; what we are really fighting; and how badly we are losing. People will never find their way so long as they continue to stumble in darkness. We needed light. We needed our eyes opened. We needed outside help. Later Jesus will say, "I am the Light of the World."

John also says that this darkness cannot overcome the light (vs 5). The darkness may not understand light, but even more it fails to conquer it. That is what he says in the Greek. Here’s my question: Why does the church, then, live as though it is a defeated being? PT Forsyth is most insightful here: "And so we are not hopeful that the world will be overcome; we know it has been. We are born into an overcome, redeemed world. To be sure of that changes the whole complexion of life, religion, and action in a way to which to-day we are strange" (The Justification of God, p 219). He went on, "Christianity is not the sacrifice we make, but the sacrifice we trust; not the victory we win, but the victory we inherit. That is the evangelical principle. We do not see the answer; we trust the Answerer and measure by Him. We do not gain the victory; we are united with the Victor" (The Justification of God, 220-221).

And there is only one Light. There is no other. There is only One True Light. All others, he will declare later, are liars and thieves who only mean to cheat and steal what is not theirs. There is only One, the One and Only, who gives men the light they need for life. There is only One in whom the light is found. There is only One in whom we can have life. There is only One who will overcome the darkness and not allow the darkness to overcome the Light. There is only One and His Name is Jesus.
God bless you on this 1st of 90 Days with Jesus!

Jerry

Living Next to Cemeteries

2007-04-11T04:51:00.000-04:00

When I was in my growing up phase of life (read: still living with my parents) I lived in a nice two-story house in a rather nice neighborhood in a rather nice small town. The problem is that this town I lived in had cemeteries. In fact...

...I lived next door to a cemetery. The cemetery was old and me and my brothers used to play in it from time to time. Who wouldn't? It was a war dead cemetery in part and so I would also spend time there reading the names on the headstones and marvelling at the dates, ages of the people when they died, and the names of the people who were buried under the earth in that place. The following is from the hometown webpage:

Pioneer Boatman Memorial Cemetery was begun in the late 1700's and was dedicated in 1976 to Barnerd Boatman, a Revolutionary War soldier, who served with General George Washington. It was formerly known as "The Old Cemetery, Quaker Cemetery, Old East Palestine Cemetery or The Presbyterian Cemetery". It had been abandoned for many years when Barnerd Boatman's grave was found. Boatman Cemetery was once the grave yard of the first church of East Palestine, "The Calvanistic Meeting House." In 1838-1839 that was probably the only beauty spot in the hamlet with it's new frame church. There were many graves in the area, unfortunately many unmarked.

There are about 194 known burials in the cemetery which are listed on one side of a permanent memorial marker. On the other side are names of 21 veterans of 4 wars, Revolutionary War, War of 1812, Mexican and Civil Wars. Burial records have not been found…The earliest marked grave is that of Robert Scott Hamilton, 1836. By 1881 the cemetery was completely filled.

When I was a kid, I had no idea the place was so special. To me it was a place to be afraid of after I saw ‘Night of the Living Dead,’ or a place to play ‘ghost in the graveyard’ with neighborhood kids, or a shortcut on the way to the park. When I was a kid, no one cared about it at all. It sat behind a small manufacturing company building and was ignored by all but me and my brothers and some of the neighborhood kids. We were never vandals and in fact many times took it upon ourselves to stand up fallen headstones.

* * * *

I don’t live in that small town any longer. I’m no longer a child either. I have my own family and my own town and we are in the process of creating our own memories. We do not live next door to a cemetery. There’s no ‘ghost in the graveyard’ or fear of zombies coming after us and devouring our flesh. It’s relatively calm. That does not mean that I have escaped cemeteries though.

If I look out my front window I can see a cemetery. It’s too far away for ‘ghost in the graveyard’ but if zombies ever did become real it would only be a matter of minutes before they discovered our house and came a knocking. Still, we might have enough time to get into the van and drive off before they actually realized there was fresh meat in our direction. Hopefully, the wind would blow the opposite direction if that happens.

So, I’ve moved a little further away from the cemetery, the ‘necropolis’, but I can still see it. It’s in my line of sight every time I pull out of my driveway or look out my front window. It’s a constant reminder, a sort of living prophecy, a harbinger, constantly reminding me of something I'd rather forget: my childhood or my end. I cannot tell which one. I don’t necessarily fear the cemetery. Still, I’ve only ever noticed that no one there complains—at least in my hearing they don’t. Plus, someone else always takes care of the grass and there is a stone with everyone’s name etched into it. A cemetery is not all that bad of a place to be. I hope someday for a place with a view.

* * * *

I can say this much is true: The older I have gotten, the further away from the cemetery I have moved. I’m happy that I now live next door to a church building instead of a cemetery. I’m glad that I don’t have to live in fear of cemeteries and zombies or of other children hiding behind a headstone waiting to shout ‘boo’ when I walk by. I think I can fairly say that cemeteries are now, sort of, merely plots of land with nicely decorated stones pocking the land. Cemeteries have a pleasing, calming, serene feeling about them. As I said, no one there complains.

One of my goals as I age is to move further and further away from cemeteries. I’d like to live in a town where there are no cemeteries at all. I’d like to live in a town with no funeral homes either. I suppose there is not really all that much I can do about that though. There are no towns where people do not die. Honestly, I am not interested in living in a cemetery any more than I am interested in living next to one. I do not want to be chased by zombies, but worse, I do not want to be a zombie. It is rather ironic that my work sometimes requires me to commit people to the very place where I do not want to be at myself.

For now I will have to be content to live in such a place where, at least, the cemetery is off in the distance just within the limits of my distance vision. If I take off my glasses I cannot see it at all, but, you know, I cannot go through life blind either. So until I am willing to let go of my vision I will live in a land where cemeteries are very real, very seen, and very close.

* * * *

"When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, ‘Lazarus, come out!’ The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to them, ‘Take off the grave clothes and let him go.’" (John 11:43-44)

I suspect that, when it is all said and done, the grave will wear out before I will. That's the hope I'm clinging to.

(Photos & excerpt are from the hometown webpage: http://www.eastpalestineohio.org/)

Throwing Away Gifts

2007-04-06T18:19:00.000-04:00

I went to the Half-Price bookstore today. It is one of my most favorite places to go. I cannot always buy a new book, or a used book, but sometimes going there and perusing the shelves just looking for a new or used book is enough. For me walking through the bookstore is like walking through the woods. Taking a book off the shelf and turning its new or old pages is like turning over a rock—finding a sentence worth remembering is like finding a salamander or a snake. I love going up and down the rows and rows of books neatly shelved, alphabetically, and lined like a platoon of soldiers at the edge of the shelf as opposed to being pushed back against the back of the case. I prefer the nice neat, smooth line of book covers rising and falling vertically as opposed to a jagged line of books rising and falling horizontally.

One book stood out on the shelves today and I scooped it up with all the enthusiasm of a 10 year old scooping up a salamander from under a rock beside a stream. It’s a book, surprisingly, that I did not even know existed. It’s the sequel to a book titled Fearfully and Wonderfully Made by Paul Brand and Philip Yancey. The book is titled In His Image. Currently, the prequel I own is on loan to a friend. It will be nice to have the set and I’m rather anxious to read this new volume I purchased for a mere $7.98. But there was something bittersweet about the purchase. Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad to have the book, in fairly good condition, and at a fraction of the price of a pristine copy. I’m not at all above or below adopting a book that has been ‘put up’ (as in, ‘put up on a shelf’) for adoption. I’m glad I can provide it with a home where it will be well cared for, where it will enjoy adequate ventilation in a temperature controlled environment, and where, every now and again, it will be taken out for a walk and have its ‘dog-ears’ scratched. Still there was something that made me sad about purchasing the book.

Inside the front cover were written these words: With Love from Mrs. O****, June 11, 1995. What this means is that someone was given this book as a gift, with love!, and that they, less than 12 years after receiving the gift, gave it away—even at a small price—to the Half-Price Bookstore—where it would sit neatly on a shelf (a bottom shelf) until someone happened to notice it. I’m thrilled to be the proud new owner, but I can’t help but wonder what precipitated the desire to give the book up for adoption. Were they short on cash? Were they no longer interested in the subject matter? Did it take up unnecessary space on a shelf? Did they get a new copy of the book? Did they have a falling out with the person who gave them the gift in the first place? Did the person who owned it die and leave it as a part of an estate that was sold by someone who didn’t like to read? Just why did this book end up on an anonymous shelf, with other anonymous books that this book has never met or shared space with before, where someone can come along, buy it, and take it home? How could someone receive a gift and so callously throw it away? How can a gift be so meaningless, so cheap, so easily let go of? There are a lot of reasons to get rid of gifts. I’m not sure I understand any of them.

I’m rather the opposite when I receive gifts. I have gifts that I have received more than 12 years ago. I cling to them—and, when appropriate, I use them with enthusiasm, and I cherish them with delight. That someone would think so highly of me as to give me a gift and what’s more, the gift of a book! I have never received a gift-book that I have not used (or at least read) or that I have decided to give away later. I even have a book from some folks that did not like me, nor I particularly they, that I will not part with (and they signed it too!). Furthermore, when it comes to gift-books, I’m more than willing to look them straight in the mouth! That’s just me though.

I suppose everyone is different. Everyone has reasons for holding on to gifts and reasons for discarding them. If you happen to read this and realize that I am writing about your copy of In His Image, the one that was a gift from Mrs. O**** on June 11, 1995, would you please leave a note and let me know why you parted with it? I will be more than happy to return it to you if you want it, if you had to sell it for money reasons, or if it was accidentally sold by someone you did not authorize to sell it. Just let me know. If you don’t want it back please know that I will give this book a great home with a view. I will walk it, talk it to it, listen to it, and scratch it dog-ears. We will be best friends.

Goldfish in a Bowl

2007-03-31T21:11:00.000-04:00

It's now about 9:13 PM. I've been working since 9 AM. I'm ready to write my sermon for tomorrow. I'll let you know if I have survived.

DG

As I edit this post, I'm two pages into the sermon writing.

The End of a Day

2007-03-28T20:53:00.000-04:00

The day is nearly over now. It's not late, but there is a fire in the fireplace and that can only happen when the family is home and in the living room for the evening. The children are being treated to story time with mom. The dogs are annoying me as is the cat. I'm doing laundry. I'm ready to sit on the couch and read. I'm ready to fight the temptation to watch television (I sort of like Top Design, although it is not nearly as good as Top Chef and not even close to Project Runway). I'm ready to indulge my senses in a book. I'm reading four different books right now and choosing which one to read is always a challenge. Maybe tonight I'll read about the Spartans or about Theology or Discipleship or Scripture. Or maybe I'll read my Bible for a while--I could read a little about all of them. I'm ready to relax and a book seems the way to go. Goodnight.

DG

www.dangoldfinch.wordpress.com

Monday, March 26, 2007

2007-03-26T20:05:00.000-04:00

I hope you spent some time outside today. I did. I played catch with my son. Worked at the local barn theater for a while with my family. Took a short trip to the Dairy Queen and slurped down a chocolate shake. The day was so warm and breezy. It was unbelievable butter sunny. What a fantastic day today was. I hope you were able to enjoy a bit of it for a while.

DG

Coming Soon

2007-03-23T21:23:00.000-04:00

Coming soon: Daily Devotional Thoughts from the Gospel according to John. A Special 90 Days with Jesus Scripture series coming June, July & August 2007. Stay tuned for more...

DG

Felt like Spring

2007-03-22T22:35:00.000-04:00

Today what a day! Band practice tonight--yes, I got to jam with my band. Picked up a used piano--for free. Spent some time out of doors inhaling deeply the fresh, warm, spring air. Finished watching Cool Hand Luke with my wife--Luke was always smiling.

The boys are sleeping. My feet are cold. I wish my head would feel right for day, just a day. I subscribed to a journal the other day. The people who run the subscription department sent me a reply email that began with the word 'evidently.' Condescending, sniveling rat. Simmer down. Let off some steam. I responded in kind.

My brain is moving but my fingers not quite. I hope it is warm tomorrow. I need another nice day--but I need one without rain. Till then.

DG

Well...

2007-03-21T09:43:00.001-04:00

Well...

I finally converted to the 'new' blogger.

DG

Post Your Thoughts

2007-01-02T19:23:00.000-05:00

I copied and pasted this from a blog I came across today. Simply post a comment and let me know what you are interested in reading.--DG

1. One book that changed your life: Eugene Peterson, Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places

2. One book that you've read more than once: Alexandre Dumas, The Count of Monte Cristo

3. One book that you'd want on a desert island: The Holy Bible (Or, following Chesterton, A Practical Guide to Ship-making)

4. One book that made you laugh: Lemony Snicket, A Series of Unfortunate Events (pick any of the 13 published volumes, they're all funny!)

5. One book that made you cry: JK Rowling, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

6. One book that you wish you had written: Annie Dillard, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek

7. One book that you wish had never been written: Rick Warren, The Purpose Driven Life

8. One book you are currently reading: David Wells, Losing Our Virtue

9. One book that you've been meaning to read: Catechism of the Catholic Church

Update

2007-01-02T15:15:00.000-05:00

I should give serious consideration to updating this every now and again.

DG