31 January 2010
Psalm 24, 29; Gen. 18:16-33; Gal. 5:13-25; Mark 8:22-30
God reveals His judgment against Sodom, but not before He sees for Himself. The same basic thing happens in Genesis 11 when the Lord comes to see the work of the people of Babel. He doesn’t judge sin from afar or take anyone’s word for it. He visited Sodom before His judgment was done. Abraham cares for his nephew and has experience of Sodom himself and yet he intercedes on behalf of this wicked city. We see the same in Moses who intercedes on behalf of the people who have worshipped the golden calf and we clearly see it in Jesus who, in spite of the crucifixion, continues to intercede on behalf of those who crucified Him in order that some might be saved.
Jesus opens the eyes of the blind man at Bethsaida and then the eyes of His disciples. The two stories are parallels. The disciples are seeing as the man first saw, not clearly, and this question at Caesarea Philippi is Jesus’ check-up on their vision. He first asks what others are saying about him and then what the disciples themselves believe. The opinion of the others matters only little, it is the disciples whose vision needs to be clear. The same is true today, the church needs to have leaders who have clear vision and understanding about Jesus. Our clergy and lay leadership needs to be clear on who He is in order for the church to fulfill the mission it has been given. The problems in “the church” relate specifically to this issue, many leaders have not been at all certain that Jesus is the Messiah.
It is interesting how often the church devolves into the things Paul describes as the flesh, and it frequently has to do with keeping the first thing the first thing. We need to be focused on Jesus and Him alone. When we lose our focus and make it something like growth or leadership or any other good thing, we tend to fall into these fleshly issues. Those are not bad things but they are not the main thing. Keeping a focus on Jesus is to do as He commanded, abiding in Him and that abiding in Him will re-order our desires and we will see the fruit of the Spirit.
May the LORD give strength to his people!
May the LORD bless his people with peace!
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Saturday, January 30, 2010
30 January 2010
Psalm 55; Gen. 18:1-16; Heb. 10:26-39; John 6:16-27
Moses is the perfect example of hospitality. He rushes to meet any need his guest might have and urges his servants to do the same. It isn’t clear that he knows who he is entertaining, but he does everything in his power on behalf of his guests. The time has finally come for the child to be born. After years of waiting for the fulfillment of the promise, the announcement is made and Sara has no faith left for such things, believing them to be nonsense. The question she is asked is one we would do well always to consider, “Is anything too wonderful for the Lord?” It is easy to give up hope and to believe we are past our time of usefulness or our moment is passed, but the truth is that God is never done with us if we continue to make ourselves available to Him.
Jesus appears to His disciples on the lake and they are terrified but He speaks words of comfort. The crowds look for Him in anticipation and when they find Him the words He speaks are not welcoming or comforting, they are cynical. There is revelation in the encounter with the disciples, He is Lord of the wind and the sea. In the encounter with the crowd, they want what they want, more food. They are happy with the program of feeding them and Jesus is telling them that this is simply a sign pointing to who He is, not an end in itself. We tend to like the ends when they match our desires and have no real interest in moving forward. Jesus is calling them to see beyond the sign to that which it points, who He is.
Several days ago we noted that the old covenant sacrifices were not for willful sins and here the writer begins by talking about willfully persisting in sin after we have known the truth about Jesus. The sin of which he is talking seems to specifically relate to rejecting Jesus and His sacrifice. The antidote to wavering faith is to remind them of what God has already done while calling them ahead to perseverance and endurance to receive the reward. The life of faith is never done, there is always more to reveal, more to know about Him. We never retire from following Jesus and growing in Him.
Cast your burden on the LORD,
and he will sustain you;
he will never permit
the righteous to be moved.
Psalm 55; Gen. 18:1-16; Heb. 10:26-39; John 6:16-27
Moses is the perfect example of hospitality. He rushes to meet any need his guest might have and urges his servants to do the same. It isn’t clear that he knows who he is entertaining, but he does everything in his power on behalf of his guests. The time has finally come for the child to be born. After years of waiting for the fulfillment of the promise, the announcement is made and Sara has no faith left for such things, believing them to be nonsense. The question she is asked is one we would do well always to consider, “Is anything too wonderful for the Lord?” It is easy to give up hope and to believe we are past our time of usefulness or our moment is passed, but the truth is that God is never done with us if we continue to make ourselves available to Him.
Jesus appears to His disciples on the lake and they are terrified but He speaks words of comfort. The crowds look for Him in anticipation and when they find Him the words He speaks are not welcoming or comforting, they are cynical. There is revelation in the encounter with the disciples, He is Lord of the wind and the sea. In the encounter with the crowd, they want what they want, more food. They are happy with the program of feeding them and Jesus is telling them that this is simply a sign pointing to who He is, not an end in itself. We tend to like the ends when they match our desires and have no real interest in moving forward. Jesus is calling them to see beyond the sign to that which it points, who He is.
Several days ago we noted that the old covenant sacrifices were not for willful sins and here the writer begins by talking about willfully persisting in sin after we have known the truth about Jesus. The sin of which he is talking seems to specifically relate to rejecting Jesus and His sacrifice. The antidote to wavering faith is to remind them of what God has already done while calling them ahead to perseverance and endurance to receive the reward. The life of faith is never done, there is always more to reveal, more to know about Him. We never retire from following Jesus and growing in Him.
Cast your burden on the LORD,
and he will sustain you;
he will never permit
the righteous to be moved.
Friday, January 29, 2010
29 January 2010
Psalm 40, 54; Gen. 17:15-27; Heb. 10:11-25; John 6:1-15
Abraham is obedient to the covenant provisions in faith. His intercession on behalf of Ishmael speaks well of the man and God hears that intercession and makes promises concerning the fruitfulness of Ishmael but the covenant will be with and through the son with Sarah. This is the first time God has spoken of Sarah as the vessel through which the child will come, and Abraham sees the folly of this idea and laughs. Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist had such an encounter with God and heard a word that he could not believe either.
Philip doesn’t answer questions any better than the paralytic in John 5. Jesus asks where they can get food for the multitude and Philip doesn’t answer that question because in his mind that isn’t the primary question. His concern is where the money to buy such a feast would come from. Some commentators, disbelieving in miracles in their rationalism, have said that what really happened here is that Jesus’ faith in offering the little food the boy had spurred the crowd to share what they had and so everyone had enough to eat. That makes no sense of the rest of the story. The people saw the sign and began to say, ‘This is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world.’ As the passage ends Jesus sees they are going to make Him king for this sign and withdraws. Could teaching people to share issue forth in these reactions?
The writer ends his argument about Jesus being superior to anything else with the point that Jesus has entered into the rest of God by sitting down at the right hand of the Father after His work was done while earthly priests continue to stand as their work is not done. As he finishes the argument, we find the word, therefore. Since the foregoing is true, it has to have a meaning for us. The implications begin with approaching the throne with confidence, holding fast to the confession, provoking one another to good deeds and continuing to meet together. Our faith in Him is meant to provide us with the strength and hope to live anew and to have community with others who hold the faith. He is our hope, our strength and our confidence. Do we have the faith William Carey spoke of in attempting great things for God and expecting great things from God?
May all who seek you
rejoice and be glad in you;
may those who love your salvation
say continually, "Great is the LORD!"
Psalm 40, 54; Gen. 17:15-27; Heb. 10:11-25; John 6:1-15
Abraham is obedient to the covenant provisions in faith. His intercession on behalf of Ishmael speaks well of the man and God hears that intercession and makes promises concerning the fruitfulness of Ishmael but the covenant will be with and through the son with Sarah. This is the first time God has spoken of Sarah as the vessel through which the child will come, and Abraham sees the folly of this idea and laughs. Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist had such an encounter with God and heard a word that he could not believe either.
Philip doesn’t answer questions any better than the paralytic in John 5. Jesus asks where they can get food for the multitude and Philip doesn’t answer that question because in his mind that isn’t the primary question. His concern is where the money to buy such a feast would come from. Some commentators, disbelieving in miracles in their rationalism, have said that what really happened here is that Jesus’ faith in offering the little food the boy had spurred the crowd to share what they had and so everyone had enough to eat. That makes no sense of the rest of the story. The people saw the sign and began to say, ‘This is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world.’ As the passage ends Jesus sees they are going to make Him king for this sign and withdraws. Could teaching people to share issue forth in these reactions?
The writer ends his argument about Jesus being superior to anything else with the point that Jesus has entered into the rest of God by sitting down at the right hand of the Father after His work was done while earthly priests continue to stand as their work is not done. As he finishes the argument, we find the word, therefore. Since the foregoing is true, it has to have a meaning for us. The implications begin with approaching the throne with confidence, holding fast to the confession, provoking one another to good deeds and continuing to meet together. Our faith in Him is meant to provide us with the strength and hope to live anew and to have community with others who hold the faith. He is our hope, our strength and our confidence. Do we have the faith William Carey spoke of in attempting great things for God and expecting great things from God?
May all who seek you
rejoice and be glad in you;
may those who love your salvation
say continually, "Great is the LORD!"
Thursday, January 28, 2010
28 January 2010
Psalm 50; Gen. 16:15-17:14; Heb. 10:1-10; John 5:30-47
Yet another announcement of the covenant, after Ishmael. The covenant is not with Ishmael whatever they may have thought. This announcement is more prestigious than ever before, speaking of kings and the covenant as everlasting, which has some implications for what kind of God stands behind this covenant. Up to now Abram hasn’t actually come into possession of anything that was promised. He doesn’t own land and he doesn’t have a child of his own and here he stands at 99. He has some right to question whether God is able to do what He promised but we don’t see that here. The God who makes this covenant has to be able to make it possible for the couple to have a child at a very advanced age, give the territory of the nations to their descendants and make a covenant in perpetuity. That requires not only a powerful God but one who actually involves Himself in the affairs of earth and also one who is Himself everlasting. Finally, there is a condition on the covenant, circumcision. Until now there has been no need of such a provision, as there was no one except Abram in the covenant. It might be a bit graphic to say this but it is interesting that the mark of the covenant is in a private part and also in the procreative organ. The mark is not a public thing and the covenant is continued through the multiplication that is enabled through God’s blessing.
Jesus speaks of the testimonies that attest to Him, the Father’s testimony, John’s testimony, and the testimony of the works He has done. He also equates belief in Himself with believing or knowing the Father. Finally, the word of God testifies to Him and yet those who claim to have the word don’t come to Him, their hearts don’t receive or perceive the truth about Jesus. In the end, Jesus says that the failure of those who have the word of God to believe in Him means that they do not actually believe the word, their connection with God is gone.
The old system required a continuous offering of sacrifices but now the old covenant has been done away with in one man who said, “I have come to do your will” and has fulfilled it. Jesus is the only one who ever lived who did so without sin and in complete obedience to the will of God. That one life, laid down in sacrifice, itself in obedience to the Father, fulfills the covenant on behalf of all humankind. The perfect image of God has not only shown us the way, but has done all these things in order that those of us who believe in Him should receive with Him the inheritance of life. The old covenant has been fulfilled and therefore nullified for those who believe in Him. The mark of the new covenant is the Spirit of God within us.
The one who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies me;
to one who orders his way rightly
I will show the salvation of God!"
O Lord, show thy mercy upon us;
And grant us thy salvation.
Psalm 50; Gen. 16:15-17:14; Heb. 10:1-10; John 5:30-47
Yet another announcement of the covenant, after Ishmael. The covenant is not with Ishmael whatever they may have thought. This announcement is more prestigious than ever before, speaking of kings and the covenant as everlasting, which has some implications for what kind of God stands behind this covenant. Up to now Abram hasn’t actually come into possession of anything that was promised. He doesn’t own land and he doesn’t have a child of his own and here he stands at 99. He has some right to question whether God is able to do what He promised but we don’t see that here. The God who makes this covenant has to be able to make it possible for the couple to have a child at a very advanced age, give the territory of the nations to their descendants and make a covenant in perpetuity. That requires not only a powerful God but one who actually involves Himself in the affairs of earth and also one who is Himself everlasting. Finally, there is a condition on the covenant, circumcision. Until now there has been no need of such a provision, as there was no one except Abram in the covenant. It might be a bit graphic to say this but it is interesting that the mark of the covenant is in a private part and also in the procreative organ. The mark is not a public thing and the covenant is continued through the multiplication that is enabled through God’s blessing.
Jesus speaks of the testimonies that attest to Him, the Father’s testimony, John’s testimony, and the testimony of the works He has done. He also equates belief in Himself with believing or knowing the Father. Finally, the word of God testifies to Him and yet those who claim to have the word don’t come to Him, their hearts don’t receive or perceive the truth about Jesus. In the end, Jesus says that the failure of those who have the word of God to believe in Him means that they do not actually believe the word, their connection with God is gone.
The old system required a continuous offering of sacrifices but now the old covenant has been done away with in one man who said, “I have come to do your will” and has fulfilled it. Jesus is the only one who ever lived who did so without sin and in complete obedience to the will of God. That one life, laid down in sacrifice, itself in obedience to the Father, fulfills the covenant on behalf of all humankind. The perfect image of God has not only shown us the way, but has done all these things in order that those of us who believe in Him should receive with Him the inheritance of life. The old covenant has been fulfilled and therefore nullified for those who believe in Him. The mark of the new covenant is the Spirit of God within us.
The one who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies me;
to one who orders his way rightly
I will show the salvation of God!"
O Lord, show thy mercy upon us;
And grant us thy salvation.
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
27 January 2010
Psalm 119:49-72; Gen. 16:1-14; Heb. 9:15-28; John 5:19-29
Abram and Sarai decide to take matters into their own hands rather than trusting God and it causes enormous problems not just for them but for us as well. They have given up on God, one chapter after the covenant ceremony. We don’t know how much time has elapsed between the chapters. The first problem is that now there is a division in the family. The slave girl, Hagar, now looks down on Sarai because she has become pregnant. The implication is that clearly the problem in having this child lies with Sarai and not Abram, the Lord isn’t blessing her. This is a complicated business with Sarai’s mistreatment of Hagar and Hagar running away. The Lord cares enough about her to find her and comfort her, revealing Himself to her in the form of the angel of the Lord. His promise is to multiply her offspring and yet the word bless is not here and the description of Ishmael is less than flattering. This, recall, is the line through whom the modern day Islamists trace themselves.
Jesus reveals Himself powerfully through these claims. It would be difficult to imagine hearing these words and not being completely offended by them. He is indeed claiming to be one with the Father, privileged status among all who have ever lived. He is unique in being sent by the Father and the Father will reveal Himself more completely in and through Jesus than in any other way. Here Jesus speaks of having life in Himself, having judgment committed to Him, and that believing in Him is the key to eternal life. That the dead also will receive life in Jesus would have made plain that His claims were complete.
The Hebrews passage begins with basic teaching on covenants and ends with Jesus being the mediator of the only covenant that matters. The old covenant was simply a sketch of the heavenly one and therefore animal sacrifice was sufficient to gain entrance. In heaven, however, greater sacrifice is required. The tabernacle and temple were constructed of materials that expressed the holiness of God the further you went into them. The materials in the holy place were more precious than in the court and the materials in the holy of holies were the most precious of all. The heavenly courts are more precious still and it is into these that Jesus has gone and purchased access for us. His sacrifice was sufficient for all time and the writer assures us that He will come again to save us. The firstborn son of God will save those who come after, not at enmity with them as was Ishmael.
You have dealt well with your servant,
O LORD, according to your word.
Teach me good judgment and knowledge,
for I believe in your commandments.
Psalm 119:49-72; Gen. 16:1-14; Heb. 9:15-28; John 5:19-29
Abram and Sarai decide to take matters into their own hands rather than trusting God and it causes enormous problems not just for them but for us as well. They have given up on God, one chapter after the covenant ceremony. We don’t know how much time has elapsed between the chapters. The first problem is that now there is a division in the family. The slave girl, Hagar, now looks down on Sarai because she has become pregnant. The implication is that clearly the problem in having this child lies with Sarai and not Abram, the Lord isn’t blessing her. This is a complicated business with Sarai’s mistreatment of Hagar and Hagar running away. The Lord cares enough about her to find her and comfort her, revealing Himself to her in the form of the angel of the Lord. His promise is to multiply her offspring and yet the word bless is not here and the description of Ishmael is less than flattering. This, recall, is the line through whom the modern day Islamists trace themselves.
Jesus reveals Himself powerfully through these claims. It would be difficult to imagine hearing these words and not being completely offended by them. He is indeed claiming to be one with the Father, privileged status among all who have ever lived. He is unique in being sent by the Father and the Father will reveal Himself more completely in and through Jesus than in any other way. Here Jesus speaks of having life in Himself, having judgment committed to Him, and that believing in Him is the key to eternal life. That the dead also will receive life in Jesus would have made plain that His claims were complete.
The Hebrews passage begins with basic teaching on covenants and ends with Jesus being the mediator of the only covenant that matters. The old covenant was simply a sketch of the heavenly one and therefore animal sacrifice was sufficient to gain entrance. In heaven, however, greater sacrifice is required. The tabernacle and temple were constructed of materials that expressed the holiness of God the further you went into them. The materials in the holy place were more precious than in the court and the materials in the holy of holies were the most precious of all. The heavenly courts are more precious still and it is into these that Jesus has gone and purchased access for us. His sacrifice was sufficient for all time and the writer assures us that He will come again to save us. The firstborn son of God will save those who come after, not at enmity with them as was Ishmael.
You have dealt well with your servant,
O LORD, according to your word.
Teach me good judgment and knowledge,
for I believe in your commandments.
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
26 January 2010
Psalm 45; Gen. 15:1-21; Heb. 9:1-14; John 5:1-18
Abram has seen great things from the Lord and has experienced His blessing, has heard that blessing pronounced by another, and yet the word of the Lord comes and says, “Fear not.” Abram expresses his fear in that no child has been born to him and this inheritance will go to one who is not his own child. The Lord’s answer is that he will have a son of his own and the comfort Abram was given was to gaze upon the stars and be assured that his offspring would be even greater than these. This time the Lord makes the covenant official in a strange but familiar covenant ceremony. In the midst of the ceremony, the word of the Lord comes to Abram prophetically as well, concerning the enslavement of the people in Egypt. (For some reason the Episcopal lectionary leaves out this part, vv. 12-16) After this word, the smoking pot comes and passes through the animal carcasses. In a typical covenant cutting ceremony, both parties to the covenant would have passed between the animals. The implication was, let it be done to me as it has been to these if I fail to live up to my covenant obligations. Abram, however, is not asked to take this step, only the Lord swears on His life.
“Do you want to be healed?” sounds like a simple question but this man answers like most of us would in his circumstance. Apparently there was a belief that if you were able to get into the pool when the water was disturbed then you would be healed by the angel who had disturbed the water. This man, in answer to Jesus’ question, decides to explain why he hasn’t been healed. Jesus doesn’t want to hang out and help him get in the pool, He is offering healing now. He doesn’t just heal him though, He also tells the man to take up his mat and go home. The problem is, it is the Sabbath and carrying your bed on the Sabbath is considered labor so the man is breaking a commandment in the eyes of the religious establishment. They have missed the amazing part, the healing, and focused on the mat. God is among them and they do not know Him.
An important distinction is made in this Hebrews passage, the high priest went into the holy of holies once a year to make atonement “for the sins committed unintentionally by the people.” Unintentionally committed sins is the important part. There was no atonement sacrifice for sins committed intentionally, that was the point of the goat being set free at Yom Kippur. If the goat didn’t return, their intentional sins had been forgiven. There are two different things at work there and we need to preserve some sense of the expectation of righteousness by keeping ourselves from intentional sins. Jesus has made atonement for all our sins and we have been delivered from the law, but as we read yesterday, that same law is written in our hearts, not just the letter of the law but the spirit of the law as well. We are responsible for life lived according to the commandments of God and intentional or willful sin is a great sin against God. Our lives are to be devoted to His will, not our own.
Your throne, O God, is forever and ever.
The scepter of your kingdom is a scepter of uprightness;
you have loved righteousness and hated wickedness.
Psalm 45; Gen. 15:1-21; Heb. 9:1-14; John 5:1-18
Abram has seen great things from the Lord and has experienced His blessing, has heard that blessing pronounced by another, and yet the word of the Lord comes and says, “Fear not.” Abram expresses his fear in that no child has been born to him and this inheritance will go to one who is not his own child. The Lord’s answer is that he will have a son of his own and the comfort Abram was given was to gaze upon the stars and be assured that his offspring would be even greater than these. This time the Lord makes the covenant official in a strange but familiar covenant ceremony. In the midst of the ceremony, the word of the Lord comes to Abram prophetically as well, concerning the enslavement of the people in Egypt. (For some reason the Episcopal lectionary leaves out this part, vv. 12-16) After this word, the smoking pot comes and passes through the animal carcasses. In a typical covenant cutting ceremony, both parties to the covenant would have passed between the animals. The implication was, let it be done to me as it has been to these if I fail to live up to my covenant obligations. Abram, however, is not asked to take this step, only the Lord swears on His life.
“Do you want to be healed?” sounds like a simple question but this man answers like most of us would in his circumstance. Apparently there was a belief that if you were able to get into the pool when the water was disturbed then you would be healed by the angel who had disturbed the water. This man, in answer to Jesus’ question, decides to explain why he hasn’t been healed. Jesus doesn’t want to hang out and help him get in the pool, He is offering healing now. He doesn’t just heal him though, He also tells the man to take up his mat and go home. The problem is, it is the Sabbath and carrying your bed on the Sabbath is considered labor so the man is breaking a commandment in the eyes of the religious establishment. They have missed the amazing part, the healing, and focused on the mat. God is among them and they do not know Him.
An important distinction is made in this Hebrews passage, the high priest went into the holy of holies once a year to make atonement “for the sins committed unintentionally by the people.” Unintentionally committed sins is the important part. There was no atonement sacrifice for sins committed intentionally, that was the point of the goat being set free at Yom Kippur. If the goat didn’t return, their intentional sins had been forgiven. There are two different things at work there and we need to preserve some sense of the expectation of righteousness by keeping ourselves from intentional sins. Jesus has made atonement for all our sins and we have been delivered from the law, but as we read yesterday, that same law is written in our hearts, not just the letter of the law but the spirit of the law as well. We are responsible for life lived according to the commandments of God and intentional or willful sin is a great sin against God. Our lives are to be devoted to His will, not our own.
Your throne, O God, is forever and ever.
The scepter of your kingdom is a scepter of uprightness;
you have loved righteousness and hated wickedness.
Monday, January 25, 2010
25 January 2010
Psalm 41, 52; Gen. 14:1-24; Heb. 8:1-13; John 4:43-54
Abram is forced by circumstances to mount a force, a private army, and rescue Lot. It is a sign that Abram has become an important personage in the area and that God has blessed him. He is able to bring out a force of 318 men who have been “born in his house” to make this rescue. His wealth must be substantial if this many have been born within his house and yet none of these are his own children. We meet in this passage the king of Salem, Melchizedek, who comes and pronounces blessing over Abram and Abram’s God, maker of heaven and earth. Just who is this king and priest to whom Abram gives tithes? This is his only appearance in the Bible but he comes out from Jeru-salem, the city of the Lord at a much later time. Abram refuses any tribute from the king of Sodom and insists that he will not be in any way beholden to him. Abram surely knew the kind of people he was dealing with here and we see in his dealings with these two men that he made a distinction.
It is likely that the royal official is not a Jew and yet Jesus performs this healing on his behalf. His first response to the request is to call faith into question, but the verbs here are plural verbs, “Unless y’all see signs and wonders, y’all won’t believe” (My own vernacular translation). John has told us that the people of Galilee welcomed Jesus because of what they had seen Him do in Jerusalem, so we know that the signs mattered. This man, however, believes first, going at the command of Jesus in the belief that his son would be healed. Our faith must be first in the person of Jesus and the signs simply confirm what we already believe. If faith is dependent on signs, what happens when we don’t see what we hope for in this life?
There is a bit of the philosophy of Plato in this passage. The earthly tent and temple for worship are copies of the heavenly ideal and Jesus, in his priesthood is the ideal priest, of which the earthly priesthood is not exactly a copy. These priests are not like Jesus in that they offer animal sacrifices continually, Jesus, perfection in Himself, offers His sacrifice of Himself, once for all. In the new covenant there is no new priesthood, that is done away with in the giving of the Spirit and the writing of the laws in our hearts. We all “know” the Lord. It doesn’t mean we don’t need one another and we don’t need instruction, we simply don’t need a mediator between us and God, we all have Jesus who intercedes on our behalf. The work of the priest in the old covenant was, in essence, that of mediator and intercessor, offering sacrifices as a form of intercession. The idea is something like, I, the priest, have found this offering acceptable which tells me that this person understands their sin and the price for reconciliation and I now offer it to you on their behalf, please find it acceptable as I have. In the new covenant, there is no need for priestly intercession, we all have access to God through the one mediator, intercessor and priest, Jesus.
I trust in the steadfast love of God
forever and ever.
I will thank you forever,
because you have done it.
I will wait for your name, for it is good,
in the presence of the godly.
Psalm 41, 52; Gen. 14:1-24; Heb. 8:1-13; John 4:43-54
Abram is forced by circumstances to mount a force, a private army, and rescue Lot. It is a sign that Abram has become an important personage in the area and that God has blessed him. He is able to bring out a force of 318 men who have been “born in his house” to make this rescue. His wealth must be substantial if this many have been born within his house and yet none of these are his own children. We meet in this passage the king of Salem, Melchizedek, who comes and pronounces blessing over Abram and Abram’s God, maker of heaven and earth. Just who is this king and priest to whom Abram gives tithes? This is his only appearance in the Bible but he comes out from Jeru-salem, the city of the Lord at a much later time. Abram refuses any tribute from the king of Sodom and insists that he will not be in any way beholden to him. Abram surely knew the kind of people he was dealing with here and we see in his dealings with these two men that he made a distinction.
It is likely that the royal official is not a Jew and yet Jesus performs this healing on his behalf. His first response to the request is to call faith into question, but the verbs here are plural verbs, “Unless y’all see signs and wonders, y’all won’t believe” (My own vernacular translation). John has told us that the people of Galilee welcomed Jesus because of what they had seen Him do in Jerusalem, so we know that the signs mattered. This man, however, believes first, going at the command of Jesus in the belief that his son would be healed. Our faith must be first in the person of Jesus and the signs simply confirm what we already believe. If faith is dependent on signs, what happens when we don’t see what we hope for in this life?
There is a bit of the philosophy of Plato in this passage. The earthly tent and temple for worship are copies of the heavenly ideal and Jesus, in his priesthood is the ideal priest, of which the earthly priesthood is not exactly a copy. These priests are not like Jesus in that they offer animal sacrifices continually, Jesus, perfection in Himself, offers His sacrifice of Himself, once for all. In the new covenant there is no new priesthood, that is done away with in the giving of the Spirit and the writing of the laws in our hearts. We all “know” the Lord. It doesn’t mean we don’t need one another and we don’t need instruction, we simply don’t need a mediator between us and God, we all have Jesus who intercedes on our behalf. The work of the priest in the old covenant was, in essence, that of mediator and intercessor, offering sacrifices as a form of intercession. The idea is something like, I, the priest, have found this offering acceptable which tells me that this person understands their sin and the price for reconciliation and I now offer it to you on their behalf, please find it acceptable as I have. In the new covenant, there is no need for priestly intercession, we all have access to God through the one mediator, intercessor and priest, Jesus.
I trust in the steadfast love of God
forever and ever.
I will thank you forever,
because you have done it.
I will wait for your name, for it is good,
in the presence of the godly.
Sunday, January 24, 2010
24 January 2010
Psalm 63, 98; Gen. 13:2-18; Gal. 2:1-10; Mark 7:31-37
Abram has been so blessed that the land isn’t big enough for he and Lot to stay together. In the beginning of chapter 12 we are told that he was to leave everyone behind but he took Lot with him. Now, it seems, they too must part company and Abram is magnanimous in offering Lot his choice of where to go even though as an older man it would naturally have been Abram’s right to choose. Lot chooses the best land he can see but it seems he is intrigued by the city, even though the people are described as wicked and great sinners. He moves his tent “as far as Sodom.” God promises Abram that all the land he can see will be his and his offspring’s, he has come to the land God would show him. Surely he must have felt that the time was nigh for those offspring to come.
The word about Jesus goes beyond the Jews to the Gentile areas of Tyre and Sidon and surely the time was drawing nigh for Him to take His place. Here, He heals a man who is deaf and mute and the people marvel at Him. The people have clearly heard of Jesus, rushing to bring those to Him who need healing. The disciples must have thought that something huge was getting ready to happen and they would be front and center in this new kingdom.
Paul defends his ministry to the Galatians by reminding them that he has been approved by the leadership of the church in Jerusalem. There are always people in the church who want to add to the Gospel and Paul says he is preaching the simple truth. We can add to the Gospel today by insisting on religious correctness in our churches. My own liturgical tradition is notorious for this and it is a constant struggle to ensure that what we do is good, Godly and proper while also acknowledging that it is tradition rather than requirement. A balance is required in a mission setting like ours, and we must always make sure we are leading people to Christ and not to our preferred setting.
Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth,
burst into jubilant song with music;
make music to the LORD with the harp,
with the harp and the sound of singing,
with trumpets and the blast of the ram's horn—
shout for joy before the LORD, the King.
Psalm 63, 98; Gen. 13:2-18; Gal. 2:1-10; Mark 7:31-37
Abram has been so blessed that the land isn’t big enough for he and Lot to stay together. In the beginning of chapter 12 we are told that he was to leave everyone behind but he took Lot with him. Now, it seems, they too must part company and Abram is magnanimous in offering Lot his choice of where to go even though as an older man it would naturally have been Abram’s right to choose. Lot chooses the best land he can see but it seems he is intrigued by the city, even though the people are described as wicked and great sinners. He moves his tent “as far as Sodom.” God promises Abram that all the land he can see will be his and his offspring’s, he has come to the land God would show him. Surely he must have felt that the time was nigh for those offspring to come.
The word about Jesus goes beyond the Jews to the Gentile areas of Tyre and Sidon and surely the time was drawing nigh for Him to take His place. Here, He heals a man who is deaf and mute and the people marvel at Him. The people have clearly heard of Jesus, rushing to bring those to Him who need healing. The disciples must have thought that something huge was getting ready to happen and they would be front and center in this new kingdom.
Paul defends his ministry to the Galatians by reminding them that he has been approved by the leadership of the church in Jerusalem. There are always people in the church who want to add to the Gospel and Paul says he is preaching the simple truth. We can add to the Gospel today by insisting on religious correctness in our churches. My own liturgical tradition is notorious for this and it is a constant struggle to ensure that what we do is good, Godly and proper while also acknowledging that it is tradition rather than requirement. A balance is required in a mission setting like ours, and we must always make sure we are leading people to Christ and not to our preferred setting.
Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth,
burst into jubilant song with music;
make music to the LORD with the harp,
with the harp and the sound of singing,
with trumpets and the blast of the ram's horn—
shout for joy before the LORD, the King.
Saturday, January 23, 2010
23 January 2010
Psalm 30, 32; Gen. 12:9-13:1; Heb. 7:18-28; John 4:27-42
Abram’s deception over Sarai is unbecoming and shows that his faith is not yet what it ought to be but we have to give him a bit of a break. He has very little experience of God at this point, so far a couple of promises and a traveling companion. His fear is that these pagans will see Sarai, want her for themselves, and kill him to get her. It seems quaint that he believes this about his wife as she wasn’t a young girl, but the idea has a good foundation as indeed the king takes her for his own, one of his wives. This action, however, endangers the promise of a child born to the couple and God will not allow it. These people may not be believers in Abram’s God but they do believe in some god who is causing “great plagues” and are willing to let or tell Abram to go in order that this God will leave them alone. Several hundred years later, another Pharaoh in Egypt will arise and not be quite so amenable to letting the people go in spite of greater plagues.
The woman had come to the well for water but what she found there was greater than her thirst and she left her water jar, she had received that living water Jesus was speaking about. The disciples arrive and Jesus speaks to them about food they don’t know anything about and they don’t ask Him about it, they talk among themselves. The woman is more “spiritual” than they are in some ways. They don’t go to the source, they ask each other. Too often the world is more hungry and thirsty for what Jesus has to offer than the church. The Samaritans initially believed in Jesus because of the woman’s testimony, an amazing thought given who she is, but later they come to believe for themselves because of what they have seen and heard from Jesus. There is a model there for the raising up of others, particularly children, in the faith. Initially faith can be somewhat second-hand in this way, but eventually we have to have our own relationship with Jesus.
Jesus is superior to the levitical priests because He is without sin. He is also superior in that He never dies but is forever. He is superior to them because His priesthood is not a legal priesthood but one given by God directly. The old covenant with its priests and sacrifices came through Abraham, and the Jews trace their connection with God through Abraham. The writer to the Hebrews is making the case that the new covenant doesn’t run through Abraham, it is superior to the old covenant because Jesus is superior to all that comes with the old covenant. He isn’t diminishing Abraham, Moses, or the old priesthood in making this argument, simply arguing that Jesus is supreme in everything, the time has come to move from the inferior to the superior.
Sing praises to the LORD, O you his saints,
and give thanks to his holy name.
For his anger is but for a moment,
and his favor is for a lifetime.
Weeping may tarry for the night,
but joy comes with the morning.
Psalm 30, 32; Gen. 12:9-13:1; Heb. 7:18-28; John 4:27-42
Abram’s deception over Sarai is unbecoming and shows that his faith is not yet what it ought to be but we have to give him a bit of a break. He has very little experience of God at this point, so far a couple of promises and a traveling companion. His fear is that these pagans will see Sarai, want her for themselves, and kill him to get her. It seems quaint that he believes this about his wife as she wasn’t a young girl, but the idea has a good foundation as indeed the king takes her for his own, one of his wives. This action, however, endangers the promise of a child born to the couple and God will not allow it. These people may not be believers in Abram’s God but they do believe in some god who is causing “great plagues” and are willing to let or tell Abram to go in order that this God will leave them alone. Several hundred years later, another Pharaoh in Egypt will arise and not be quite so amenable to letting the people go in spite of greater plagues.
The woman had come to the well for water but what she found there was greater than her thirst and she left her water jar, she had received that living water Jesus was speaking about. The disciples arrive and Jesus speaks to them about food they don’t know anything about and they don’t ask Him about it, they talk among themselves. The woman is more “spiritual” than they are in some ways. They don’t go to the source, they ask each other. Too often the world is more hungry and thirsty for what Jesus has to offer than the church. The Samaritans initially believed in Jesus because of the woman’s testimony, an amazing thought given who she is, but later they come to believe for themselves because of what they have seen and heard from Jesus. There is a model there for the raising up of others, particularly children, in the faith. Initially faith can be somewhat second-hand in this way, but eventually we have to have our own relationship with Jesus.
Jesus is superior to the levitical priests because He is without sin. He is also superior in that He never dies but is forever. He is superior to them because His priesthood is not a legal priesthood but one given by God directly. The old covenant with its priests and sacrifices came through Abraham, and the Jews trace their connection with God through Abraham. The writer to the Hebrews is making the case that the new covenant doesn’t run through Abraham, it is superior to the old covenant because Jesus is superior to all that comes with the old covenant. He isn’t diminishing Abraham, Moses, or the old priesthood in making this argument, simply arguing that Jesus is supreme in everything, the time has come to move from the inferior to the superior.
Sing praises to the LORD, O you his saints,
and give thanks to his holy name.
For his anger is but for a moment,
and his favor is for a lifetime.
Weeping may tarry for the night,
but joy comes with the morning.
Friday, January 22, 2010
22 January 2010
Psalm 31; Gen. 11:27-12:8; Heb. 7:1-17; John 4:16-26
The Lord promises to make Abram’s name great if he will obey the call. Three times in that promise He also uses the word bless. The word brings the connotation of fruitfulness, in order for us to be fruitful requires the blessing of God. The potential is there within us but the blessing of God activates that potential. Abram sees prosperity in riches in his life but spends 25 years waiting for the blessing of fruitfulness, the son of the promise. The passage also says that we are never too old to be called and used by God. The word of the Lord came to a 75 year old man and obedience to the call caused Abram to be the father of many nations. God began the work of building a people through a man and woman advanced in years because they were willing to say yes to Him.
This exchange with Jesus and the woman is remarkable on many levels. At the end of chapter 2 of John’s Gospel we are told that many in Jerusalem believed in Jesus but He wasn’t willing to entrust Himself to them. Here, He divulges the secret to a woman He has just established is a tramp. Apparently when Jesus saw her heart He saw something no one else saw. She attempts to deflect his word concerning her domestic situation by speaking about the issue of where to worship. Jesus says it doesn’t matter where but it does matter what, and affirms that the Jews have it right but that it isn’t just for them, it is for those who will worship in spirit and truth. Salvation is from the Jews but not simply for the Jews. Can you imagine her inner reaction to His declaration that He is Messiah?
Now that Melchizedek has been mentioned several times in the book of Hebrews, the writer gets to the issue of explaining what he means by comparing Jesus to this man. He appears from nowhere in Genesis 14 to offer gifts of bread and wine to Abraham after he has conquered armies to rescue Lot. To him Abraham gives a tithe (10%) of his spoils for no apparent reason. Here, Jesus is compared to this king/priest. The point of this continues to be that Jesus is superior to the old ways. The Hebrew way of thinking is that the ancestors of Abraham did obeisance to this man through Abraham. The ancestor is greater through his faithfulness than those who will come from him and he paid tithes to this Melchizedek, so the ancestors are inferior to him as well. Jesus, according to the writer, is a priest after the order of Melchizedek and therefore superior to the priests of the old covenant. It is a fascinating “get” by the Psalmist who first picked up on it in Psalm 110 and then also here by the writer. Abram was blessed by God and he paid tithes to Melchizedek so he must have recognized him as the representative of God even though at the time there was no priesthood, there was no people.
Blessed be the LORD,
for he has wondrously shown his steadfast love to me
when I was in a besieged city.
Psalm 31; Gen. 11:27-12:8; Heb. 7:1-17; John 4:16-26
The Lord promises to make Abram’s name great if he will obey the call. Three times in that promise He also uses the word bless. The word brings the connotation of fruitfulness, in order for us to be fruitful requires the blessing of God. The potential is there within us but the blessing of God activates that potential. Abram sees prosperity in riches in his life but spends 25 years waiting for the blessing of fruitfulness, the son of the promise. The passage also says that we are never too old to be called and used by God. The word of the Lord came to a 75 year old man and obedience to the call caused Abram to be the father of many nations. God began the work of building a people through a man and woman advanced in years because they were willing to say yes to Him.
This exchange with Jesus and the woman is remarkable on many levels. At the end of chapter 2 of John’s Gospel we are told that many in Jerusalem believed in Jesus but He wasn’t willing to entrust Himself to them. Here, He divulges the secret to a woman He has just established is a tramp. Apparently when Jesus saw her heart He saw something no one else saw. She attempts to deflect his word concerning her domestic situation by speaking about the issue of where to worship. Jesus says it doesn’t matter where but it does matter what, and affirms that the Jews have it right but that it isn’t just for them, it is for those who will worship in spirit and truth. Salvation is from the Jews but not simply for the Jews. Can you imagine her inner reaction to His declaration that He is Messiah?
Now that Melchizedek has been mentioned several times in the book of Hebrews, the writer gets to the issue of explaining what he means by comparing Jesus to this man. He appears from nowhere in Genesis 14 to offer gifts of bread and wine to Abraham after he has conquered armies to rescue Lot. To him Abraham gives a tithe (10%) of his spoils for no apparent reason. Here, Jesus is compared to this king/priest. The point of this continues to be that Jesus is superior to the old ways. The Hebrew way of thinking is that the ancestors of Abraham did obeisance to this man through Abraham. The ancestor is greater through his faithfulness than those who will come from him and he paid tithes to this Melchizedek, so the ancestors are inferior to him as well. Jesus, according to the writer, is a priest after the order of Melchizedek and therefore superior to the priests of the old covenant. It is a fascinating “get” by the Psalmist who first picked up on it in Psalm 110 and then also here by the writer. Abram was blessed by God and he paid tithes to Melchizedek so he must have recognized him as the representative of God even though at the time there was no priesthood, there was no people.
Blessed be the LORD,
for he has wondrously shown his steadfast love to me
when I was in a besieged city.
Thursday, January 21, 2010
21 January 2010
Psalm 37:1-18; Gen. 11:1-9; Heb. 6:13-20; John 4:1-15
Chapter 10 of Genesis, like chapter 5, is a genealogy, but it is the table of nations, representing the spread of humanity from Noah’s sons forward of all the nations of the region and their common ancestry. After the spread of humanity, some settled and desired to make a name for themselves lest they be spread over the face of the earth. They recognized that unity matters and that division would lessen their potential. Their desire to make a name for themselves wasn’t limited to earth, they wanted to build a tower reaching into the heavens, that their name might be great in the heavens. Chapter 10 tells that all people came from common ancestry and chapter 11 tells how those people were divided from one another. Our desire to make our name great required that division, the miracle at Pentecost repaired that division in order that we might work together as one to bring the kingdom of God down from heavens to the earth and make His Name great.
Jesus began the work of re-uniting the peoples of the earth with those who were near kin, the Samaritans. These people had the first five books of the Bible, the books of Moses, but not the rest. They believed themselves to be undefiled Jews, who worshipped in the right place and without all the accretions to the faith that happened in the rest of the Old Testament history. They did not recognize Jerusalem as the chosen place of worship, they recognized the older worship site, Bethel, as the right place. Jesus did not “have” to pass through Samaria to get to Galilee, most Jews didn’t, but He had to for another reason, to begin the work of mission. This woman cites common ancestry, Jacob, and makes the claim that he had given them this well, an extraordinary claim as that makes this well a source of water for well over 2000 years! When Jesus offers her living water so she won’t have to come to the well she leaps at the offer. Her marital situation would have made her a pariah in the town, and we know that she was as she is here alone at midday when all the other women of the town would have come together early in the morning to avoid the heat of the day. She is here, now, in order to avoid the women.
There is no greater name that Yahweh. The name itself tells us this, meaning something like I am and implying that life is His chief characteristic, a being who exists from eternity and into eternity. We as created beings need to swear by something greater than ourselves so we take oaths in court by swearing on a Bible, meaning that our word is as good as God’s word and we are willing to place our destiny at stake. Sometimes you hear people swear on things like their mother’s grave or some other silly statement. I used to work for the federal government and once was with some folks who were bragging about their credit limits on credit cards. My boss pulled out our government issue card and bragged that it was backed by the full faith and credit of the US government. God’s promise is backed by the full faith and credit of the creator of all that was, is and is to come. Can we rely on the promise? Can we proclaim the greatness of His Name?
Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath!
Fret not yourself; it tends only to evil.
For the evildoers shall be cut off,
but those who wait for the LORD shall inherit the land.
Psalm 37:1-18; Gen. 11:1-9; Heb. 6:13-20; John 4:1-15
Chapter 10 of Genesis, like chapter 5, is a genealogy, but it is the table of nations, representing the spread of humanity from Noah’s sons forward of all the nations of the region and their common ancestry. After the spread of humanity, some settled and desired to make a name for themselves lest they be spread over the face of the earth. They recognized that unity matters and that division would lessen their potential. Their desire to make a name for themselves wasn’t limited to earth, they wanted to build a tower reaching into the heavens, that their name might be great in the heavens. Chapter 10 tells that all people came from common ancestry and chapter 11 tells how those people were divided from one another. Our desire to make our name great required that division, the miracle at Pentecost repaired that division in order that we might work together as one to bring the kingdom of God down from heavens to the earth and make His Name great.
Jesus began the work of re-uniting the peoples of the earth with those who were near kin, the Samaritans. These people had the first five books of the Bible, the books of Moses, but not the rest. They believed themselves to be undefiled Jews, who worshipped in the right place and without all the accretions to the faith that happened in the rest of the Old Testament history. They did not recognize Jerusalem as the chosen place of worship, they recognized the older worship site, Bethel, as the right place. Jesus did not “have” to pass through Samaria to get to Galilee, most Jews didn’t, but He had to for another reason, to begin the work of mission. This woman cites common ancestry, Jacob, and makes the claim that he had given them this well, an extraordinary claim as that makes this well a source of water for well over 2000 years! When Jesus offers her living water so she won’t have to come to the well she leaps at the offer. Her marital situation would have made her a pariah in the town, and we know that she was as she is here alone at midday when all the other women of the town would have come together early in the morning to avoid the heat of the day. She is here, now, in order to avoid the women.
There is no greater name that Yahweh. The name itself tells us this, meaning something like I am and implying that life is His chief characteristic, a being who exists from eternity and into eternity. We as created beings need to swear by something greater than ourselves so we take oaths in court by swearing on a Bible, meaning that our word is as good as God’s word and we are willing to place our destiny at stake. Sometimes you hear people swear on things like their mother’s grave or some other silly statement. I used to work for the federal government and once was with some folks who were bragging about their credit limits on credit cards. My boss pulled out our government issue card and bragged that it was backed by the full faith and credit of the US government. God’s promise is backed by the full faith and credit of the creator of all that was, is and is to come. Can we rely on the promise? Can we proclaim the greatness of His Name?
Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath!
Fret not yourself; it tends only to evil.
For the evildoers shall be cut off,
but those who wait for the LORD shall inherit the land.
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
20 January 2010
Psalm 38; Gen. 9:18-29; Heb. 6:1-12; John 3:22-36
The story of Noah and Ham is a sad epilogue to Noah’s life. The man got drunk and his sin led to the sin of Ham uncovering his father’s nakedness, disrespecting the man. Noah certainly isn’t blameless in the story, he got drunk. Nakedness, however, has already been an issue in the Bible, Adam and Eve were first naked and unashamed but after sin entered the world they covered their nakedness in shame and distrust. Here Ham shows us the continuing effects of the fall. We don’t know that Ham did anything other than make fun of Noah to his brothers, but for a man who was righteous and whose righteousness was responsible for their very lives, this is a serious matter of attempting to destroy a man’s reputation. Noah certainly felt strongly about his son’s sin, cursing his line to be slaves of their brothers. (Sadly, this was used as justification for enslaving Africans who were presumed to be Canaan’s descendants.)
John the Baptist is an extraordinary man, able to take a step back from the limelight with grace. Jealousy is one of the biggest problems in life, perhaps the motivation for Ham’s sin, a desire to bring down someone else in order that they might be on our level. It is a problem in the church, the desire for recognition, a problem that Jesus spoke about regularly with His disciples because they struggled with it. John proves that his humble words about his role, only a voice of one crying in the wilderness, aren’t just words. He is able to allow Jesus to become more prominent without it becoming a blow to his ego. He knows and understands his role.
The writer is telling his readers to believe first principles, repentance, baptism, resurrection from the dead, and eternal judgment in order to move ahead spiritually. The issue here isn’t sin after faith, it is losing faith in those first principles and going back to some other hope of salvation. The first five chapters of the letter are to establish that Jesus is better than the old system and the folly of going back to the old ways. If we have known Jesus and yet have now lost faith in Him it is difficult to restore than faith and bring about repentance. Jesus is pre-eminent and the old things should be let go. In our worship we acknowledge those foundational principles of the faith in the Nicene Creed in order to establish us in them. It is vitally important that we maintain our connection with those confessions in order to say that whatever else was taught or preached this day simply builds upon those foundations.
For you, O LORD, do I wait;
it is you, O Lord my God, who will answer.
Psalm 38; Gen. 9:18-29; Heb. 6:1-12; John 3:22-36
The story of Noah and Ham is a sad epilogue to Noah’s life. The man got drunk and his sin led to the sin of Ham uncovering his father’s nakedness, disrespecting the man. Noah certainly isn’t blameless in the story, he got drunk. Nakedness, however, has already been an issue in the Bible, Adam and Eve were first naked and unashamed but after sin entered the world they covered their nakedness in shame and distrust. Here Ham shows us the continuing effects of the fall. We don’t know that Ham did anything other than make fun of Noah to his brothers, but for a man who was righteous and whose righteousness was responsible for their very lives, this is a serious matter of attempting to destroy a man’s reputation. Noah certainly felt strongly about his son’s sin, cursing his line to be slaves of their brothers. (Sadly, this was used as justification for enslaving Africans who were presumed to be Canaan’s descendants.)
John the Baptist is an extraordinary man, able to take a step back from the limelight with grace. Jealousy is one of the biggest problems in life, perhaps the motivation for Ham’s sin, a desire to bring down someone else in order that they might be on our level. It is a problem in the church, the desire for recognition, a problem that Jesus spoke about regularly with His disciples because they struggled with it. John proves that his humble words about his role, only a voice of one crying in the wilderness, aren’t just words. He is able to allow Jesus to become more prominent without it becoming a blow to his ego. He knows and understands his role.
The writer is telling his readers to believe first principles, repentance, baptism, resurrection from the dead, and eternal judgment in order to move ahead spiritually. The issue here isn’t sin after faith, it is losing faith in those first principles and going back to some other hope of salvation. The first five chapters of the letter are to establish that Jesus is better than the old system and the folly of going back to the old ways. If we have known Jesus and yet have now lost faith in Him it is difficult to restore than faith and bring about repentance. Jesus is pre-eminent and the old things should be let go. In our worship we acknowledge those foundational principles of the faith in the Nicene Creed in order to establish us in them. It is vitally important that we maintain our connection with those confessions in order to say that whatever else was taught or preached this day simply builds upon those foundations.
For you, O LORD, do I wait;
it is you, O Lord my God, who will answer.
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
19 January 2010
Psalm 26, 28; Gen. 9:1-17; Heb. 5:7-14; John 3:16-21
The blessing of God is necessary for fruitfulness and the command given to Noah and his family is the same as at creation but it is followed by further acknowledgment that things are different. Fear and dread of mankind is now on the animal kingdom and we have now been given animals for food. Before the relationship with the ground was cursed and now our relationship to other animals is cursed. There is a distinction, however, among species. The blood of man is not to be spilled because we are image bearers, to kill a man is to destroy the image of God in a way that is not true of other creatures. The first covenant is established here with creation. Never again will a flood come to destroy all life, we know that when it rains it will stop, we need not fear that judgment.
We are still in hiding over our sins. We don’t bring them into the light because we know the truth whether we admit it or not. I will say, however, that we are becoming more brazen than ever before about what we do in the light. We need to recall that Jesus wasn’t sent into the world to condemn the world but in order that the world might be saved through Him. That salvation requires bringing our lives into the light, dealing with the sin in our lives and living differently. The enmity between God and man is due to sin and Jesus breaks down the wall and invites us to fellowship with God and friendship with God. The new covenant is about life not being destroyed but saved from destruction and the initiative is all God’s.
The writer says our faculties are trained by practice to distinguish good and evil. The Holy Spirit is our guide but we have to exercise our spiritual gift in order to hone it for proper and reliable use. The expectation is that we will grow up into maturity in Jesus but it requires effort on our part in order to do that. Spiritual growth and development must be intentional on our part, we don’t get there simply through the passage of time. God wants to be known by us, He sent His Son to make Himself known. Do we want to know Him as much as He wants to be known?
The LORD is my strength and my shield;
in him my heart trusts, and I am helped;
my heart exults,
and with my song I give thanks to him.
Psalm 26, 28; Gen. 9:1-17; Heb. 5:7-14; John 3:16-21
The blessing of God is necessary for fruitfulness and the command given to Noah and his family is the same as at creation but it is followed by further acknowledgment that things are different. Fear and dread of mankind is now on the animal kingdom and we have now been given animals for food. Before the relationship with the ground was cursed and now our relationship to other animals is cursed. There is a distinction, however, among species. The blood of man is not to be spilled because we are image bearers, to kill a man is to destroy the image of God in a way that is not true of other creatures. The first covenant is established here with creation. Never again will a flood come to destroy all life, we know that when it rains it will stop, we need not fear that judgment.
We are still in hiding over our sins. We don’t bring them into the light because we know the truth whether we admit it or not. I will say, however, that we are becoming more brazen than ever before about what we do in the light. We need to recall that Jesus wasn’t sent into the world to condemn the world but in order that the world might be saved through Him. That salvation requires bringing our lives into the light, dealing with the sin in our lives and living differently. The enmity between God and man is due to sin and Jesus breaks down the wall and invites us to fellowship with God and friendship with God. The new covenant is about life not being destroyed but saved from destruction and the initiative is all God’s.
The writer says our faculties are trained by practice to distinguish good and evil. The Holy Spirit is our guide but we have to exercise our spiritual gift in order to hone it for proper and reliable use. The expectation is that we will grow up into maturity in Jesus but it requires effort on our part in order to do that. Spiritual growth and development must be intentional on our part, we don’t get there simply through the passage of time. God wants to be known by us, He sent His Son to make Himself known. Do we want to know Him as much as He wants to be known?
The LORD is my strength and my shield;
in him my heart trusts, and I am helped;
my heart exults,
and with my song I give thanks to him.
Monday, January 18, 2010
18 January 2010
Psalm 25; Gen. 8:1-22; Heb. 4:14-5:6; John 2:23-3:15
The rains end and the flood waters abate. There are parallels with creation in this passage. For a season of time there was no real separation between the heavens and the earth, only a chaotic rainy environment, and in the ending of the rains comes the renewed separation of the waters above and the waters below. For a season there is also water covering the earth again and as Noah sends out the birds we see the waters rolling back to their boundaries set in creation. As the olive tree has clearly appeared when the dove returns with the leaf, so now we know plants are again thriving and then come the animals and humans out of the ark again, back to creation day 6. There is a difference, however, the perfection of day 6 is no more, the Lord acknowledges that He isn’t starting with pristine humanity, “‘I will never again curse the ground because of humankind, for the inclination of the human heart is evil from youth…” There is a mercy in this reality.
Nicodemus comes to sort out who Jesus is, what claims He makes for Himself and what should they expect from Him. He begins by acknowledging Jesus as a teacher come from God and then Jesus takes over the conversation. However Nicodemus thought it would go, whatever he had rehearsed, it didn’t go according to plan. The idea of being born again or being born from above is confusing to him and Jesus is unrelenting. In that Genesis passage we see that the first birth, even if it is closely followed by circumcision to bring you into covenant, still carries with it a defect. Jesus is saying that you need to be born again, to cure the defect, to make you a child of God. Nicodemus, however, is unable to rise above earthly things in his thoughts to understand Jesus’ words. That ascension of the heart requires the Holy Spirit. The response of the woman at the well, to desire what Jesus offers, is the right response, the one that receives His offer.
Jesus is the one who is born from above, and his life here on earth was one without sin. The writer makes plain that earthly priests are not sinless, they must offer sacrifices for their own sins, but Jesus has no need of such sacrifices, but that His perfection did not make Him either proud or presumptuous. He did not presume to the throne but waited until the Father called Him. Waiting is a hard thing for us to do, we have desires within us that seek attention and place and yet we are called to wait as Noah did, for the call of the Lord to come out of the ark or to take our place in the work of the kingdom.
Remember your mercy, O LORD, and your steadfast love,
for they have been from of old.
Remember not the sins of my youth or my transgressions;
according to your steadfast love remember me,
for the sake of your goodness, O LORD!
Psalm 25; Gen. 8:1-22; Heb. 4:14-5:6; John 2:23-3:15
The rains end and the flood waters abate. There are parallels with creation in this passage. For a season of time there was no real separation between the heavens and the earth, only a chaotic rainy environment, and in the ending of the rains comes the renewed separation of the waters above and the waters below. For a season there is also water covering the earth again and as Noah sends out the birds we see the waters rolling back to their boundaries set in creation. As the olive tree has clearly appeared when the dove returns with the leaf, so now we know plants are again thriving and then come the animals and humans out of the ark again, back to creation day 6. There is a difference, however, the perfection of day 6 is no more, the Lord acknowledges that He isn’t starting with pristine humanity, “‘I will never again curse the ground because of humankind, for the inclination of the human heart is evil from youth…” There is a mercy in this reality.
Nicodemus comes to sort out who Jesus is, what claims He makes for Himself and what should they expect from Him. He begins by acknowledging Jesus as a teacher come from God and then Jesus takes over the conversation. However Nicodemus thought it would go, whatever he had rehearsed, it didn’t go according to plan. The idea of being born again or being born from above is confusing to him and Jesus is unrelenting. In that Genesis passage we see that the first birth, even if it is closely followed by circumcision to bring you into covenant, still carries with it a defect. Jesus is saying that you need to be born again, to cure the defect, to make you a child of God. Nicodemus, however, is unable to rise above earthly things in his thoughts to understand Jesus’ words. That ascension of the heart requires the Holy Spirit. The response of the woman at the well, to desire what Jesus offers, is the right response, the one that receives His offer.
Jesus is the one who is born from above, and his life here on earth was one without sin. The writer makes plain that earthly priests are not sinless, they must offer sacrifices for their own sins, but Jesus has no need of such sacrifices, but that His perfection did not make Him either proud or presumptuous. He did not presume to the throne but waited until the Father called Him. Waiting is a hard thing for us to do, we have desires within us that seek attention and place and yet we are called to wait as Noah did, for the call of the Lord to come out of the ark or to take our place in the work of the kingdom.
Remember your mercy, O LORD, and your steadfast love,
for they have been from of old.
Remember not the sins of my youth or my transgressions;
according to your steadfast love remember me,
for the sake of your goodness, O LORD!
17 January 2010
Psalm 148, 149, 150; Gen. 7:1-23; Eph. 4:1-16; Mark 3:7-19
The earth is returned to its primordial state. Waters covered the face of the earth but instead of the spirit of God hovering over the face of the deep, it is an ark with the raw materials for the new creation. The first creation will be wiped as clean as a slate and re-creation will begin after the waters have abated. Noah and his family have an entire week in the ark prior to the beginning of the flood. For seven days they waited. I would love to hear the conversations among the rest of the family during that time. When the flood came, there would have been horrible death and destruction and it is hard to imagine what it would have been like in those days.
Because of what He is doing, those who have need come to Jesus. We all need Jesus, for some it is simply more obvious. The crippled, lame, sick, blind, deaf and those with demons come to Him but the Pharisees and those whose lives look fine stay home and complain about Him. We are being saved out of a world that is going towards judgment, Jesus is inviting us into the ark where we will be safe in that day. For the last 2000 years people have been waiting for the cataclysm to come, but the fullness of time has not come. We who are inside the ark have been given the task of inviting others to come and join us.
Paul tells us how we are to wait, begging us to lead lives in keeping with our call. If the church is the ark, in order to truly evangelize we need to be the kind of place someone wants to be and the kind of people they want to be with. Paul also tells us that we aren’t simply passively waiting for the return of the Lord, He has given us ministry gifts with which to serve Him in this in-between time. What we do with our lives in this time matters and the church matters, we aren’t individual Christians, we are to be a community of believers whose gifts and talents are used to serve the Lord. The purpose of our association is to serve Him, to grow up in Him, to be supplied by Him and to built up in love.
Praise the LORD!Praise the LORD from the heavens;
praise him in the heights!
Praise him, all his angels;
praise him, all his hosts!
Praise him, sun and moon,
praise him, all you shining stars!
Praise him, you highest heavens,
and you waters above the heavens!
Psalm 148, 149, 150; Gen. 7:1-23; Eph. 4:1-16; Mark 3:7-19
The earth is returned to its primordial state. Waters covered the face of the earth but instead of the spirit of God hovering over the face of the deep, it is an ark with the raw materials for the new creation. The first creation will be wiped as clean as a slate and re-creation will begin after the waters have abated. Noah and his family have an entire week in the ark prior to the beginning of the flood. For seven days they waited. I would love to hear the conversations among the rest of the family during that time. When the flood came, there would have been horrible death and destruction and it is hard to imagine what it would have been like in those days.
Because of what He is doing, those who have need come to Jesus. We all need Jesus, for some it is simply more obvious. The crippled, lame, sick, blind, deaf and those with demons come to Him but the Pharisees and those whose lives look fine stay home and complain about Him. We are being saved out of a world that is going towards judgment, Jesus is inviting us into the ark where we will be safe in that day. For the last 2000 years people have been waiting for the cataclysm to come, but the fullness of time has not come. We who are inside the ark have been given the task of inviting others to come and join us.
Paul tells us how we are to wait, begging us to lead lives in keeping with our call. If the church is the ark, in order to truly evangelize we need to be the kind of place someone wants to be and the kind of people they want to be with. Paul also tells us that we aren’t simply passively waiting for the return of the Lord, He has given us ministry gifts with which to serve Him in this in-between time. What we do with our lives in this time matters and the church matters, we aren’t individual Christians, we are to be a community of believers whose gifts and talents are used to serve the Lord. The purpose of our association is to serve Him, to grow up in Him, to be supplied by Him and to built up in love.
Praise the LORD!Praise the LORD from the heavens;
praise him in the heights!
Praise him, all his angels;
praise him, all his hosts!
Praise him, sun and moon,
praise him, all you shining stars!
Praise him, you highest heavens,
and you waters above the heavens!
Saturday, January 16, 2010
16 January 2010
Psalm 20, 21; Gen. 6:9-22; Heb. 4:1-13; John 2:13-22
Noah is an extraordinary man. He is described as having found favor with the Lord, righteous and blameless. He is chosen from among all those on earth to repopulate the earth after God’s judgment is executed. God could have started all over again from scratch but in Noah there was hope for humanity. Amazingly, Noah “hears” all this and goes about the work of building an ark and gathering animals to fill it in obedience. “Reasonable” people rarely make good stories or disciples, people who have faith and act on that faith are the ones God is looking for.
Jesus uses a passage to justify His actions that speak of “zeal.” It was zeal that brought Him to earth. His love for us was so zealous He was willing to die in order to save us. We don’t like zeal very much, it makes us uncomfortable. Zeal refuses to accept the status quo, demands change and confronts authority. Zeal can be misplaced and surely God could have been upset about the Roman government and its oppression of conquered peoples, but Jesus’ zeal was for the house and the Name of God. Surely there were more awful things in the world than selling animals in the temple and exchanging money, but Jesus didn’t deal with those things, He came to the temple. We need people who are zealous for the household of God and the Name of God. We need to be those people whose primary concern is His honor and His glory. If we aren’t zealous there, we are misguided and our efforts elsewhere are meaningless.
Entering the rest of God comes with trusting God. Those in the wilderness failed to trust God and failed to enter His rest. Those who failed to believe in His Son fail to enter His rest because they are trusting in their work. That last verse again hearkens back to the garden, “before him no creature is hidden, but all are naked and laid bare to the eyes of the one to whom we must render an account.” Our account must be, I am a sinner but I believe that Jesus died on the cross for my sins and I believe He was perfectly righteous, without sin and therefore His sacrifice was acceptable to me and to You. We must know who we are and who He is in order to enter the rest that allows us to work with Him but not for our salvation but for the salvation of the world. Noah was able to save himself and his family, we proclaim Jesus as savior of all humankind.
Be exalted, O LORD, in your strength!
We will sing and praise your power.
Psalm 20, 21; Gen. 6:9-22; Heb. 4:1-13; John 2:13-22
Noah is an extraordinary man. He is described as having found favor with the Lord, righteous and blameless. He is chosen from among all those on earth to repopulate the earth after God’s judgment is executed. God could have started all over again from scratch but in Noah there was hope for humanity. Amazingly, Noah “hears” all this and goes about the work of building an ark and gathering animals to fill it in obedience. “Reasonable” people rarely make good stories or disciples, people who have faith and act on that faith are the ones God is looking for.
Jesus uses a passage to justify His actions that speak of “zeal.” It was zeal that brought Him to earth. His love for us was so zealous He was willing to die in order to save us. We don’t like zeal very much, it makes us uncomfortable. Zeal refuses to accept the status quo, demands change and confronts authority. Zeal can be misplaced and surely God could have been upset about the Roman government and its oppression of conquered peoples, but Jesus’ zeal was for the house and the Name of God. Surely there were more awful things in the world than selling animals in the temple and exchanging money, but Jesus didn’t deal with those things, He came to the temple. We need people who are zealous for the household of God and the Name of God. We need to be those people whose primary concern is His honor and His glory. If we aren’t zealous there, we are misguided and our efforts elsewhere are meaningless.
Entering the rest of God comes with trusting God. Those in the wilderness failed to trust God and failed to enter His rest. Those who failed to believe in His Son fail to enter His rest because they are trusting in their work. That last verse again hearkens back to the garden, “before him no creature is hidden, but all are naked and laid bare to the eyes of the one to whom we must render an account.” Our account must be, I am a sinner but I believe that Jesus died on the cross for my sins and I believe He was perfectly righteous, without sin and therefore His sacrifice was acceptable to me and to You. We must know who we are and who He is in order to enter the rest that allows us to work with Him but not for our salvation but for the salvation of the world. Noah was able to save himself and his family, we proclaim Jesus as savior of all humankind.
Be exalted, O LORD, in your strength!
We will sing and praise your power.
Friday, January 15, 2010
15 January 2010
Psalm 16, 17; Gen. 6:1-8; Heb. 3:12-19; John 2:1-12
We skipped chapter 5, a genealogical review of everything from Adam to Noah. It does, however, begin with an interesting recapitulation that we were created in God’s likeness and then says that when Adam was 130, he became the father of a son in his likeness. It seems to me that the sin of Adam might be implied as having been passed on by that statement. The book resumes by telling us that as humans had flourished upon the earth, so had sin, so much so that the earth was full of wickedness and the thoughts of men’s hearts were only evil all the time. The Lord was sorry He had made us because of what we had done to creation with our sinfulness and decided to wipe out all life and start all over again. There is another book at the end of the Bible that tells us that this is going to happen again one more time.
Jesus begins to reveal Himself and His glory, to his disciples. His mother, Mary, must have had some inkling of what was to happen. Her question to Jesus and her instructions to the servants seem to imply that she expected Jesus to do something. Jesus doesn’t respond here to his mother’s prompt though, but to the Father’s, something we will see several times in the Gospel of John. The miracle of water into wine seems a small thing with which to begin the ministry of saving the world, but it was an important thing to do at that moment. We need to be aware of those little things God does in our lives in order to grow in faith.
Unbelief is a real danger. The writer encourages us to a “Today” faith by reflecting on the Israelites in the wilderness. As they wandered there those forty years they were forced to live in the mode of trusting God today. The provision of manna and the necessity of that provision gave them reason to be thankful each morning for the mercy of God. We tend to not live moment by moment but we are indeed upheld constantly by His grace. We are never guaranteed our next breath and it is well for us to remember that grace and to be truly thankful for all that we have and all that we are. Noah saw that the end could come remarkably quickly and decisively and we have an expectation that there will be another day of judgment for which we are called to be prepared.
You make known to me the path of life;
in your presence there is fullness of joy;
at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
Psalm 16, 17; Gen. 6:1-8; Heb. 3:12-19; John 2:1-12
We skipped chapter 5, a genealogical review of everything from Adam to Noah. It does, however, begin with an interesting recapitulation that we were created in God’s likeness and then says that when Adam was 130, he became the father of a son in his likeness. It seems to me that the sin of Adam might be implied as having been passed on by that statement. The book resumes by telling us that as humans had flourished upon the earth, so had sin, so much so that the earth was full of wickedness and the thoughts of men’s hearts were only evil all the time. The Lord was sorry He had made us because of what we had done to creation with our sinfulness and decided to wipe out all life and start all over again. There is another book at the end of the Bible that tells us that this is going to happen again one more time.
Jesus begins to reveal Himself and His glory, to his disciples. His mother, Mary, must have had some inkling of what was to happen. Her question to Jesus and her instructions to the servants seem to imply that she expected Jesus to do something. Jesus doesn’t respond here to his mother’s prompt though, but to the Father’s, something we will see several times in the Gospel of John. The miracle of water into wine seems a small thing with which to begin the ministry of saving the world, but it was an important thing to do at that moment. We need to be aware of those little things God does in our lives in order to grow in faith.
Unbelief is a real danger. The writer encourages us to a “Today” faith by reflecting on the Israelites in the wilderness. As they wandered there those forty years they were forced to live in the mode of trusting God today. The provision of manna and the necessity of that provision gave them reason to be thankful each morning for the mercy of God. We tend to not live moment by moment but we are indeed upheld constantly by His grace. We are never guaranteed our next breath and it is well for us to remember that grace and to be truly thankful for all that we have and all that we are. Noah saw that the end could come remarkably quickly and decisively and we have an expectation that there will be another day of judgment for which we are called to be prepared.
You make known to me the path of life;
in your presence there is fullness of joy;
at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
Thursday, January 14, 2010
14 January 2010
Psalm 18:1-20; Gen. 4:17-26; Heb. 3:1-11; John 1:43-51
Cain builds a city and therefore ceases going forth to fill the earth. His descendant, Lamech, raises the stakes on the lex talionis, an eye for an eye. Lamech says that wounding him will mean death to the one who wounds him or strikes him. He also raises the stakes on vengefulness, 77 times. When Peter asks how many times he has to forgive someone who sins against him, Jesus uses this same multiple. We do not live by the law of Lamech, but the law that says forgiveness is more important than revenge as an inverse principle of Lamech. The passage does end on a hopeful note, however, at this time people began to call upon the name of the Lord. I wonder if there was any connection between Lamech’s attitude and people calling on the Lord.
The problem with municipal divisions is that a provincial attitude comes attached with them. Nathanael believes that Jesus can’t be who Philip claims he is based on being from Nazareth. Jesus’ association with Galilee was a constant problem as the Galilee was an area where many foreigners had settled and the Galileeans were tolerant of their religion and other customs. Clearly, anyone from there was tainted by association. In response to Nathanael’s testimony, Jesus speaks to the story of Jacob’s vision of angels ascending and descending. That vision happened in a place that seems to have been literally in the middle of nowhere, Jacob sleeping out in the open and surprised that God would be in such a place. The city of God isn’t the only place God is found.
The writer of Hebrews continues to speak of the surpassing greatness of Jesus, in keeping with those prologue statements about Jesus. He is now compared with Moses. The group addressed in this letter seems to be hedging its bets and going back to at least a partial Judaism as they wonder why Jesus hasn’t returned and if he doesn’t they want to be sure to be in God’s good graces by practicing the old ways. Jesus is greater than Moses in the same degree a son in a household is greater than a servant in the household. The work of Jesus was to make possible a way for us to receive forgiveness. Moses’ faithfulness ended in disobedience and he was not allowed to enter the land, Jesus has already entered the eternal kingdom as the only one who is worthy to open the scroll in heaven and receive worship.
I love you, O LORD, my strength.
The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer,
my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge,
my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
I call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised,
and I am saved from my enemies.
Psalm 18:1-20; Gen. 4:17-26; Heb. 3:1-11; John 1:43-51
Cain builds a city and therefore ceases going forth to fill the earth. His descendant, Lamech, raises the stakes on the lex talionis, an eye for an eye. Lamech says that wounding him will mean death to the one who wounds him or strikes him. He also raises the stakes on vengefulness, 77 times. When Peter asks how many times he has to forgive someone who sins against him, Jesus uses this same multiple. We do not live by the law of Lamech, but the law that says forgiveness is more important than revenge as an inverse principle of Lamech. The passage does end on a hopeful note, however, at this time people began to call upon the name of the Lord. I wonder if there was any connection between Lamech’s attitude and people calling on the Lord.
The problem with municipal divisions is that a provincial attitude comes attached with them. Nathanael believes that Jesus can’t be who Philip claims he is based on being from Nazareth. Jesus’ association with Galilee was a constant problem as the Galilee was an area where many foreigners had settled and the Galileeans were tolerant of their religion and other customs. Clearly, anyone from there was tainted by association. In response to Nathanael’s testimony, Jesus speaks to the story of Jacob’s vision of angels ascending and descending. That vision happened in a place that seems to have been literally in the middle of nowhere, Jacob sleeping out in the open and surprised that God would be in such a place. The city of God isn’t the only place God is found.
The writer of Hebrews continues to speak of the surpassing greatness of Jesus, in keeping with those prologue statements about Jesus. He is now compared with Moses. The group addressed in this letter seems to be hedging its bets and going back to at least a partial Judaism as they wonder why Jesus hasn’t returned and if he doesn’t they want to be sure to be in God’s good graces by practicing the old ways. Jesus is greater than Moses in the same degree a son in a household is greater than a servant in the household. The work of Jesus was to make possible a way for us to receive forgiveness. Moses’ faithfulness ended in disobedience and he was not allowed to enter the land, Jesus has already entered the eternal kingdom as the only one who is worthy to open the scroll in heaven and receive worship.
I love you, O LORD, my strength.
The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer,
my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge,
my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
I call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised,
and I am saved from my enemies.
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
13 January 2010
Psalm 119:1-24; Gen. 4:1-16; Heb. 2:11-18; John 1:29-42
Cain was a tiller of the ground. Why did he choose to do that which was cursed? Abel was a keeper of sheep. The whole issue of dominion, the original purpose of God, seems to be at play here. Cain had to work to produce his sacrifice, enabling him to take some of the credit for it while Abel exercised the dominion we had originally been given and in the end, his sacrifice was indeed costly to him in that it cost him not something he had produced but a life under his care was sacrificed to the God who had created all life. What is our attitude towards the fruit of our labor? What is our attitude towards “fairness?” God had regard for Abel’s offering but not for Cain’s. Some would say it has to do with blood, but I don’t agree that this is necessarily the case. Cain brought an offering and Abel brought the firstborn and the best, revealing his attitude towards God and His supreme worth, true worship. Cain’s failure to deal with the sin of jealousy crouching at his door led to the spilling of innocent blood rather than amendment of life. Whereas his parents hid from God, Cain attempted to hide his sin, with exactly the same success.
John taught his disciples well. John’s work was preparing others for the one who was to come and now he says, “There He is, the one I have been telling you about.” Two of his disciples, hearing this proclamation, follow Jesus. One of them, Andrew, immediately does what John did, tells others, his brother, Simon. We are to gossip the Gospel in just this same way. Andrew, as a disciple of John, was clearly looking for the same thing John was looking for, the Messiah. It was his quest, and when he was certain he had found Him, he began to tell others. Generally, what we talk about and tell others about is a measure of its relative importance. We tell each other about new restaurants, new shops, sports stories, news stories, etc. Do we tell each other about Jesus or what He has done for us with the same level of enthusiasm?
In our liturgy we say that we await the coming of our brother Jesus and I hear regularly from someone that this language makes them uncomfortable. It makes me uncomfortable too because I see the enormous gap between us and it causes me to consider how Cain must have felt. If Jesus hadn’t done all He did for my benefit, I would not follow His teaching, I would hate Him because He makes me look so bad in comparison. That was the reaction of the Jewish leaders to Jesus. They were the elder brothers who were offering sacrifices and Jesus’ offering was regarded by God and that was being proven by the works that He did, God was with Him. We, from the post-resurrection perspective, know that we are regarded by the Father on account of Jesus’ work on our behalf, but our reaction should be gratitude and emulation, a desire to be like Him.
Deal bountifully with your servant,
that I may live and keep your word.
Open my eyes, that I may behold
wondrous things out of your law.
I am a sojourner on the earth;
hide not your commandments from me!
Psalm 119:1-24; Gen. 4:1-16; Heb. 2:11-18; John 1:29-42
Cain was a tiller of the ground. Why did he choose to do that which was cursed? Abel was a keeper of sheep. The whole issue of dominion, the original purpose of God, seems to be at play here. Cain had to work to produce his sacrifice, enabling him to take some of the credit for it while Abel exercised the dominion we had originally been given and in the end, his sacrifice was indeed costly to him in that it cost him not something he had produced but a life under his care was sacrificed to the God who had created all life. What is our attitude towards the fruit of our labor? What is our attitude towards “fairness?” God had regard for Abel’s offering but not for Cain’s. Some would say it has to do with blood, but I don’t agree that this is necessarily the case. Cain brought an offering and Abel brought the firstborn and the best, revealing his attitude towards God and His supreme worth, true worship. Cain’s failure to deal with the sin of jealousy crouching at his door led to the spilling of innocent blood rather than amendment of life. Whereas his parents hid from God, Cain attempted to hide his sin, with exactly the same success.
John taught his disciples well. John’s work was preparing others for the one who was to come and now he says, “There He is, the one I have been telling you about.” Two of his disciples, hearing this proclamation, follow Jesus. One of them, Andrew, immediately does what John did, tells others, his brother, Simon. We are to gossip the Gospel in just this same way. Andrew, as a disciple of John, was clearly looking for the same thing John was looking for, the Messiah. It was his quest, and when he was certain he had found Him, he began to tell others. Generally, what we talk about and tell others about is a measure of its relative importance. We tell each other about new restaurants, new shops, sports stories, news stories, etc. Do we tell each other about Jesus or what He has done for us with the same level of enthusiasm?
In our liturgy we say that we await the coming of our brother Jesus and I hear regularly from someone that this language makes them uncomfortable. It makes me uncomfortable too because I see the enormous gap between us and it causes me to consider how Cain must have felt. If Jesus hadn’t done all He did for my benefit, I would not follow His teaching, I would hate Him because He makes me look so bad in comparison. That was the reaction of the Jewish leaders to Jesus. They were the elder brothers who were offering sacrifices and Jesus’ offering was regarded by God and that was being proven by the works that He did, God was with Him. We, from the post-resurrection perspective, know that we are regarded by the Father on account of Jesus’ work on our behalf, but our reaction should be gratitude and emulation, a desire to be like Him.
Deal bountifully with your servant,
that I may live and keep your word.
Open my eyes, that I may behold
wondrous things out of your law.
I am a sojourner on the earth;
hide not your commandments from me!
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
12 January 2010
Psalm 5, 6; Gen. 3:1-24; Heb. 2:1-10; John 1:19-28
So wisdom is now found in fruit? Wisdom would have been obedience to the Lord’s command and the first sin should have taught us that nugget of wisdom and caused reformation of understanding and life. What did the first couple get that would have enticed them to further transgress? Did anything in their lives get better because of this sin? We should ask ourselves the same set of questions. The entire advertising world is built on selling us beauty in a bottle or health and long-life from some unheard of berry extract. Even if you don’t believe in the literal truth of this chapter, you would have to agree that the writer possessed profound wisdom in explaining the problem with human nature and all the problems in the world today. From pristine creation to fallen world is a long distance but it began with one sin which multiplied in spite of the consequences. It certainly explains how our lives get out of control. (For those in more liturgical traditions – check out the language of verse six and compare with liturgical language. The thing left out here that Jesus did at the Last Supper was they failed to offer it for the Lord’s blessing. That would have stopped this whole thing in its tracks. Consider the implications for everyday life if we offered every action to Him first.)
Given the opportunity to tell the religious leaders who he is, John simply says, “I am a voice.” He is able to tell the story of his birth and surely the leaders know his story since his father was a priest, but instead he has long thought about who he is and what his role is and has come to this simple conclusion. We are also those who should be a voice offered to God to sing His praises, tell of His wonderful deeds, but primarily to proclaim His Son and the salvation we have received and that is freely offered to others. The baptism John proclaims is preparation for the one who is to come, all of John’s work is preparation for the coming of the Lord, as is ours, cleaning up the mess of sin that began in our first lesson. They knew to hide because of sin, John tells his hearers to prepare by repenting of sin and the symbol is washing it away in baptism, the cross says, come out, come out, wherever you are and I will wash away your sins with my sacrifice.
What does it mean to “neglect so great a salvation”? In the beginning we neglected the command of God, in the end the sin is far worse to neglect the salvation He offers in the death of the only begotten Son. After His suffering and death at the hands of His creation, how great is the sin that disregards or refuses to accept His sacrifice? Is it not a greater affront to God than those things we commonly speak of as sin? To refuse Jesus’ offer is to reject God Himself, it is to reject His will for our lives, to fail to confess sin, to fail to see true righteousness, and to either believe we have no need of His offer or that we can do it ourselves. What does it then mean to accept that offer? Does it have “going-forward” implications?
Let all who take refuge in you rejoice;
let them ever sing for joy,
and spread your protection over them,
that those who love your name may exult in you.
Psalm 5, 6; Gen. 3:1-24; Heb. 2:1-10; John 1:19-28
So wisdom is now found in fruit? Wisdom would have been obedience to the Lord’s command and the first sin should have taught us that nugget of wisdom and caused reformation of understanding and life. What did the first couple get that would have enticed them to further transgress? Did anything in their lives get better because of this sin? We should ask ourselves the same set of questions. The entire advertising world is built on selling us beauty in a bottle or health and long-life from some unheard of berry extract. Even if you don’t believe in the literal truth of this chapter, you would have to agree that the writer possessed profound wisdom in explaining the problem with human nature and all the problems in the world today. From pristine creation to fallen world is a long distance but it began with one sin which multiplied in spite of the consequences. It certainly explains how our lives get out of control. (For those in more liturgical traditions – check out the language of verse six and compare with liturgical language. The thing left out here that Jesus did at the Last Supper was they failed to offer it for the Lord’s blessing. That would have stopped this whole thing in its tracks. Consider the implications for everyday life if we offered every action to Him first.)
Given the opportunity to tell the religious leaders who he is, John simply says, “I am a voice.” He is able to tell the story of his birth and surely the leaders know his story since his father was a priest, but instead he has long thought about who he is and what his role is and has come to this simple conclusion. We are also those who should be a voice offered to God to sing His praises, tell of His wonderful deeds, but primarily to proclaim His Son and the salvation we have received and that is freely offered to others. The baptism John proclaims is preparation for the one who is to come, all of John’s work is preparation for the coming of the Lord, as is ours, cleaning up the mess of sin that began in our first lesson. They knew to hide because of sin, John tells his hearers to prepare by repenting of sin and the symbol is washing it away in baptism, the cross says, come out, come out, wherever you are and I will wash away your sins with my sacrifice.
What does it mean to “neglect so great a salvation”? In the beginning we neglected the command of God, in the end the sin is far worse to neglect the salvation He offers in the death of the only begotten Son. After His suffering and death at the hands of His creation, how great is the sin that disregards or refuses to accept His sacrifice? Is it not a greater affront to God than those things we commonly speak of as sin? To refuse Jesus’ offer is to reject God Himself, it is to reject His will for our lives, to fail to confess sin, to fail to see true righteousness, and to either believe we have no need of His offer or that we can do it ourselves. What does it then mean to accept that offer? Does it have “going-forward” implications?
Let all who take refuge in you rejoice;
let them ever sing for joy,
and spread your protection over them,
that those who love your name may exult in you.
Monday, January 11, 2010
11 January 2010
Psalm 1, 2, 3; Gen. 2:4-25; Heb. 1:1-14; John 1:1-18
The first verse gives us a clue as to what we are being told here. What is means is, “Now I am going to tell you what happened to the perfect creation.” The second chapter of Genesis is not an alternative creation story, it isn’t bad editing where someone didn’t realize that there was already a creation story. The first story is poetic and the second somewhat more sharply focused. This story has its focus on mankind and our role as keepers of the garden God had planted, similar to the parable Jesus tells in Matthew 21.33-46. Each day of creation God pronounces as good until the day when He sees it is “not good” for the man to be alone, and the result is that the first words we hear from man are his delight in the Lord’s provision of a companion or helper.
John’s Gospel begins with a richness that cannot be compared with any other. The first 18 verses form a prologue to the Gospel but also can be read in conjunction with the Genesis account of creation, a continuation of this second chapter of Genesis, the further story of creation. God has “rested” from His work but He hasn’t abandoned it, He continues to care deeply about it, deeply enough that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. Many of the themes of the Gospel are introduced here in this prologue, Jesus as the Word, existing from before all time, darkness and light, the salvation of the world, not just a national savior, but one for the entire world, grace, truth, glory of God, Jesus’ relationship to God as Father and Son, and ultimately making God known. It was not good for man to be alone and so He took on flesh and dwelt among us that we not be orphans but His children. We who bear the image of God and are created in the likeness of God, now see Him as we are so that we can be as He is, sharing His Spirit.
Hebrews is the only other book of the New Testament with a prologue like John’s but much briefer and not nearly so poetic. The writer does, however, give us a word picture of who Jesus is. “He is the reflection of God’s glory and the exact imprint of God’s very being, and he sustains all things by his powerful word.” That is stronger language than image and likeness and that powerful word that sustains all things is the same powerful word that created all things. The writer tells us that Jesus is supreme among all beings and is unique in the universe. Should we not worship and adore Him?
Salvation belongs to the LORD;
your blessing be on your people!
Psalm 1, 2, 3; Gen. 2:4-25; Heb. 1:1-14; John 1:1-18
The first verse gives us a clue as to what we are being told here. What is means is, “Now I am going to tell you what happened to the perfect creation.” The second chapter of Genesis is not an alternative creation story, it isn’t bad editing where someone didn’t realize that there was already a creation story. The first story is poetic and the second somewhat more sharply focused. This story has its focus on mankind and our role as keepers of the garden God had planted, similar to the parable Jesus tells in Matthew 21.33-46. Each day of creation God pronounces as good until the day when He sees it is “not good” for the man to be alone, and the result is that the first words we hear from man are his delight in the Lord’s provision of a companion or helper.
John’s Gospel begins with a richness that cannot be compared with any other. The first 18 verses form a prologue to the Gospel but also can be read in conjunction with the Genesis account of creation, a continuation of this second chapter of Genesis, the further story of creation. God has “rested” from His work but He hasn’t abandoned it, He continues to care deeply about it, deeply enough that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. Many of the themes of the Gospel are introduced here in this prologue, Jesus as the Word, existing from before all time, darkness and light, the salvation of the world, not just a national savior, but one for the entire world, grace, truth, glory of God, Jesus’ relationship to God as Father and Son, and ultimately making God known. It was not good for man to be alone and so He took on flesh and dwelt among us that we not be orphans but His children. We who bear the image of God and are created in the likeness of God, now see Him as we are so that we can be as He is, sharing His Spirit.
Hebrews is the only other book of the New Testament with a prologue like John’s but much briefer and not nearly so poetic. The writer does, however, give us a word picture of who Jesus is. “He is the reflection of God’s glory and the exact imprint of God’s very being, and he sustains all things by his powerful word.” That is stronger language than image and likeness and that powerful word that sustains all things is the same powerful word that created all things. The writer tells us that Jesus is supreme among all beings and is unique in the universe. Should we not worship and adore Him?
Salvation belongs to the LORD;
your blessing be on your people!
Sunday, January 10, 2010
10 January 2010
Psalm 146, 147; Gen. 1:1-2:3; Eph. 1:3-14; John 1:29-34
The story of creation. Reading this story it is clear that creation was purposeful and intentional with everything in place and only needing someone or something to tend it. When mankind is created, it is after everything is just right. The one who will attend to and rule over the creation is one like God, created in His image and according to His likeness. I believe God created all things and that this story of creation tells us something of the beginnings of the universe. I believe also that it is poetic and that science can tell us much about beginnings in a more prosaic manner yet without replacing the poetic truth of creation by God out of nothing. The science of beginnings only increases our wonder at God Himself who was before all things and whose creation cannot contain Him yet who chose to come as part of that creation, the perfect man, begotten not made, of one Being with the Father, to show us how to be stewards of this creation. The divine condescension to live among us as one of us is unimaginable as we read this story of God creating all things.
John makes a remarkable pronouncement. This is the one we have been waiting for, the one the prophets have foretold, the one I have been talking about, standing right here among us, the Son of God. It is doubtful that John knew the fullness of his own testimony and yet he knew that Jesus was far more than John himself. The fullness of time has come and the Lord has come back to His people, not in the pillar of cloud and pillar of fire, nor in the cloud that was the glory of God filling the tabernacle and the temple, but the glory of God veiled in flesh.
Paul speaks of the creation as well, the creation of a people to praise the Lord, to worship Him and to serve Him. This passage makes clear that all the work of this creation was done by God, just as the work of creation of the world. In the end, He sent His Christ to save us from sin and death and to share in His inheritance, a new mankind given stewardship of God’s kingdom through not only sharing His image and likeness, but sharing in His Spirit, the wisdom of God. Read the Ephesians passage slowly and notice the pronouns “he” and “him” and see if you can find any room for pride. Read it again and thank Him for each and every thing He has done on your behalf.
Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob,
whose hope is in the LORD his God,
who made heaven and earth,
the sea, and all that is in them,
who keeps faith forever;
who executes justice for the oppressed,
who gives food to the hungry.
Psalm 146, 147; Gen. 1:1-2:3; Eph. 1:3-14; John 1:29-34
The story of creation. Reading this story it is clear that creation was purposeful and intentional with everything in place and only needing someone or something to tend it. When mankind is created, it is after everything is just right. The one who will attend to and rule over the creation is one like God, created in His image and according to His likeness. I believe God created all things and that this story of creation tells us something of the beginnings of the universe. I believe also that it is poetic and that science can tell us much about beginnings in a more prosaic manner yet without replacing the poetic truth of creation by God out of nothing. The science of beginnings only increases our wonder at God Himself who was before all things and whose creation cannot contain Him yet who chose to come as part of that creation, the perfect man, begotten not made, of one Being with the Father, to show us how to be stewards of this creation. The divine condescension to live among us as one of us is unimaginable as we read this story of God creating all things.
John makes a remarkable pronouncement. This is the one we have been waiting for, the one the prophets have foretold, the one I have been talking about, standing right here among us, the Son of God. It is doubtful that John knew the fullness of his own testimony and yet he knew that Jesus was far more than John himself. The fullness of time has come and the Lord has come back to His people, not in the pillar of cloud and pillar of fire, nor in the cloud that was the glory of God filling the tabernacle and the temple, but the glory of God veiled in flesh.
Paul speaks of the creation as well, the creation of a people to praise the Lord, to worship Him and to serve Him. This passage makes clear that all the work of this creation was done by God, just as the work of creation of the world. In the end, He sent His Christ to save us from sin and death and to share in His inheritance, a new mankind given stewardship of God’s kingdom through not only sharing His image and likeness, but sharing in His Spirit, the wisdom of God. Read the Ephesians passage slowly and notice the pronouns “he” and “him” and see if you can find any room for pride. Read it again and thank Him for each and every thing He has done on your behalf.
Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob,
whose hope is in the LORD his God,
who made heaven and earth,
the sea, and all that is in them,
who keeps faith forever;
who executes justice for the oppressed,
who gives food to the hungry.
Saturday, January 9, 2010
9 January 2010
Psalm 121, 122, 123; Isa. 45:14-19; Col. 1:24-2:7; John 8:12-19
The point of the passage from Isaiah is to point to the one true God to whom other nations will come, the God of Israel. The final verses of the passage are a beautiful homage to the God of creation, the God who called the nation, the God of order. It is easy to see things as chaotic in our world and yet there is an orderly precision on the macro scale. In science, on the quantum level there are wide variations and unpredictability that to us looks like chaos but the orderliness of the world around us tells us that even on the quantum level there must be an orderliness that we cannot measure at this time. So does it seem to us on the ground in space and time, but from the perspective outside space and time, all is according to God’s will and is working towards His aim.
Jesus speaks with confidence, the confidence of one who knows where He came from and where He is going. He speaks to those who believe they know these things but do not. If we can’t make sense of Jesus then we truly don’t know who we are, where we come from, or where we are going, He is the key to understanding everything. That is a statement of faith, but once accepted, we should think differently about everything in our world, including life and death, possessions, the created order, etc. In order to judge anything, good and evil, for instance, requires us to judge by the Spirit of God. We need a new perspective, and Jesus’ life, death, resurrection and ascension are what we need to see from that perspective. As Paul tells the Philippians, Jesus didn’t count equality with God as something to be grasped but laid it all down for us. Is our attitude the same?
Rejoicing in sufferings is one of those things that reflect changed perspective, Godly perspective. Voluntary servanthood to the body of Christ is another, as is a willingness to struggle on behalf of others. Paul has laid down his life, his future and his rabbinic hopes for the sake of the glory of Christ. Whatever he thought his life would be it all changed when he met Jesus on the road to Damascus and he made a free choice to move in another direction after that encounter. Have we seen our lives radically transformed by Christ? Do we see and understand the world differently because of Him? Are our hopes the same as Paul’s here in this passge?
To you I lift up my eyes,
O you who are enthroned in the heavens!
Psalm 121, 122, 123; Isa. 45:14-19; Col. 1:24-2:7; John 8:12-19
The point of the passage from Isaiah is to point to the one true God to whom other nations will come, the God of Israel. The final verses of the passage are a beautiful homage to the God of creation, the God who called the nation, the God of order. It is easy to see things as chaotic in our world and yet there is an orderly precision on the macro scale. In science, on the quantum level there are wide variations and unpredictability that to us looks like chaos but the orderliness of the world around us tells us that even on the quantum level there must be an orderliness that we cannot measure at this time. So does it seem to us on the ground in space and time, but from the perspective outside space and time, all is according to God’s will and is working towards His aim.
Jesus speaks with confidence, the confidence of one who knows where He came from and where He is going. He speaks to those who believe they know these things but do not. If we can’t make sense of Jesus then we truly don’t know who we are, where we come from, or where we are going, He is the key to understanding everything. That is a statement of faith, but once accepted, we should think differently about everything in our world, including life and death, possessions, the created order, etc. In order to judge anything, good and evil, for instance, requires us to judge by the Spirit of God. We need a new perspective, and Jesus’ life, death, resurrection and ascension are what we need to see from that perspective. As Paul tells the Philippians, Jesus didn’t count equality with God as something to be grasped but laid it all down for us. Is our attitude the same?
Rejoicing in sufferings is one of those things that reflect changed perspective, Godly perspective. Voluntary servanthood to the body of Christ is another, as is a willingness to struggle on behalf of others. Paul has laid down his life, his future and his rabbinic hopes for the sake of the glory of Christ. Whatever he thought his life would be it all changed when he met Jesus on the road to Damascus and he made a free choice to move in another direction after that encounter. Have we seen our lives radically transformed by Christ? Do we see and understand the world differently because of Him? Are our hopes the same as Paul’s here in this passge?
To you I lift up my eyes,
O you who are enthroned in the heavens!
Friday, January 8, 2010
8 January 2010
Psalm 117, 118; Exod. 17:1-7; Col. 1:15-23; John 7:37-52
Three days removed from the miracle at the Red Sea and the glorious worship song of Miriam and Moses, the people question and doubt that the Lord is with them. They are at the breaking point of how long a people can go without water. Also, gods were thought of as territorial in that they had a particular territory of influence and power. Remember Moses asked to go three days journey away from Egypt, outside the power sphere of Pharaoh. Here, the people wonder if indeed this God who rolled back the sea is still with them or have they gone beyond His power. They are given proof that He is with them by providing water from the rock.
Can you just see Jesus shaking His head as they argue about where He is from? He has made an incredible offer. This feast day is the day on which the priests pour out the water they have left in faith that God will provide the rains. They are making a statement of great faith and Jesus offers living water to them and reveals Himself as the source of that water, goes out on the limb, and they immediately begin to talk about Galilee. The temple police don’t know what to do and everyone seems confused except the Pharisees, whose only test of Jesus is whether or not they have believed in Him. Here is God in their midst and they no longer recognize Him by His works.
Paul speaks of the pre-eminence of Jesus. Nothing was before Him, all things came into being through and for Him, in Him was the fullness of God and in Him God is reconciling all those things that came into being through Him to Himself. God has not abandoned us He has saved us and is with us today in the power of the Holy Spirit. We are not alone, we have not gone beyond His power and His presence. We, however, must remain or abide in Him, it is our choice.
Praise the LORD, all nations!
Extol him, all peoples!
For great is his steadfast love toward us,
and the faithfulness of the LORD endures forever.
Praise the LORD!
Psalm 117, 118; Exod. 17:1-7; Col. 1:15-23; John 7:37-52
Three days removed from the miracle at the Red Sea and the glorious worship song of Miriam and Moses, the people question and doubt that the Lord is with them. They are at the breaking point of how long a people can go without water. Also, gods were thought of as territorial in that they had a particular territory of influence and power. Remember Moses asked to go three days journey away from Egypt, outside the power sphere of Pharaoh. Here, the people wonder if indeed this God who rolled back the sea is still with them or have they gone beyond His power. They are given proof that He is with them by providing water from the rock.
Can you just see Jesus shaking His head as they argue about where He is from? He has made an incredible offer. This feast day is the day on which the priests pour out the water they have left in faith that God will provide the rains. They are making a statement of great faith and Jesus offers living water to them and reveals Himself as the source of that water, goes out on the limb, and they immediately begin to talk about Galilee. The temple police don’t know what to do and everyone seems confused except the Pharisees, whose only test of Jesus is whether or not they have believed in Him. Here is God in their midst and they no longer recognize Him by His works.
Paul speaks of the pre-eminence of Jesus. Nothing was before Him, all things came into being through and for Him, in Him was the fullness of God and in Him God is reconciling all those things that came into being through Him to Himself. God has not abandoned us He has saved us and is with us today in the power of the Holy Spirit. We are not alone, we have not gone beyond His power and His presence. We, however, must remain or abide in Him, it is our choice.
Praise the LORD, all nations!
Extol him, all peoples!
For great is his steadfast love toward us,
and the faithfulness of the LORD endures forever.
Praise the LORD!
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
7 January 2010
Psalm 103; Deut. 8:1-3; Col. 1:1-14; John 6:30-33,48-51
As the people are about to enter the land, Moses gives them final instructions. He seeks to explain why they have been in the wilderness the past forty years and that it was both a test and mercy. God has provided for them in all this time rather than destroy the nation which He had every right and reason to do. Testing is something none of us like, much less forty years of testing, but it is necessary for us to undergo testing in order that God’s will be worked in us. James, Paul and Peter all speak in their epistles of the necessity and benefit of testing. The prophets speak of refining by fire and the potter molding the clay. All these images are of situations when pressure is applied or the heat is turned up in order that the final product is pure and shaped according to the will of the maker.
Jesus has seen that the people were following Him and had nothing to eat and first feeds them with fish and bread to satisfy their physical hunger and now promises spiritual food like the manna from heaven. He is to be our daily bread, that for which we do not labor and which is graciously provided for us by God Himself. After the miracle of feeding five thousand people one would think that their hearts would be prepared to receive Him as Messiah and they were prepared for that but on their terms, they wanted to make Him king. Jesus promises more but they perceive it as less in this situation because they have wanted Him to do a feeding program.
The Word of God both the written word and the living Word, are available to us, we have the Bible and the Spirit and these are our nourishment and strength, enabling us to grow and bear fruit. We talk a great deal about these things but are we feeding and feasting on them? How much time do we spend in the Word, reading, meditating and in prayer in comparison to the amount of time we spend on politics or sports or reading fiction? If we are to live not by bread alone but by every word that comes from God, we need to evaluate our priorities. Paul here connects these with a life lived worthy of the call and election of God, our response to His gracious goodness.
Bless the LORD, O my soul,
and all that is within me,
bless his holy name!
Bless the LORD, O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits,
who forgives all your iniquity,
who heals all your diseases,
who redeems your life from the pit,
who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy,
who satisfies you with good
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
Psalm 103; Deut. 8:1-3; Col. 1:1-14; John 6:30-33,48-51
As the people are about to enter the land, Moses gives them final instructions. He seeks to explain why they have been in the wilderness the past forty years and that it was both a test and mercy. God has provided for them in all this time rather than destroy the nation which He had every right and reason to do. Testing is something none of us like, much less forty years of testing, but it is necessary for us to undergo testing in order that God’s will be worked in us. James, Paul and Peter all speak in their epistles of the necessity and benefit of testing. The prophets speak of refining by fire and the potter molding the clay. All these images are of situations when pressure is applied or the heat is turned up in order that the final product is pure and shaped according to the will of the maker.
Jesus has seen that the people were following Him and had nothing to eat and first feeds them with fish and bread to satisfy their physical hunger and now promises spiritual food like the manna from heaven. He is to be our daily bread, that for which we do not labor and which is graciously provided for us by God Himself. After the miracle of feeding five thousand people one would think that their hearts would be prepared to receive Him as Messiah and they were prepared for that but on their terms, they wanted to make Him king. Jesus promises more but they perceive it as less in this situation because they have wanted Him to do a feeding program.
The Word of God both the written word and the living Word, are available to us, we have the Bible and the Spirit and these are our nourishment and strength, enabling us to grow and bear fruit. We talk a great deal about these things but are we feeding and feasting on them? How much time do we spend in the Word, reading, meditating and in prayer in comparison to the amount of time we spend on politics or sports or reading fiction? If we are to live not by bread alone but by every word that comes from God, we need to evaluate our priorities. Paul here connects these with a life lived worthy of the call and election of God, our response to His gracious goodness.
Bless the LORD, O my soul,
and all that is within me,
bless his holy name!
Bless the LORD, O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits,
who forgives all your iniquity,
who heals all your diseases,
who redeems your life from the pit,
who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy,
who satisfies you with good
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
6 January 2010 – Epiphany
Psalm 46, 97 ; Isa. 49:1-7; Rev. 21:22-27; Matt. 12:14-21
The promise of God is that this Redeemer is too wonderful to simply redeem the nation of Israel, He is a redeemer for the world. Has God ever not wanted the world to be saved? John picks up on this theme of light to the nations and also on the desire of God for the world to be saved. John 3.16 speaks of Jesus’ universal mission, “for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life.” The gift of God is larger than any national salvation, the God who created the world has come to redeem the entirety of His creation, we can all share in the inheritance of Israel and claim the right to be called children of God.
Matthew typically points out Jesus’ fulfillment of the prophetic word concerning Messiah. Here, Jesus and his disciples have broken the Sabbath regulations by walking through fields and taking heads of grain and using their hands to get the edible portion and then he has healed a man with a withered hand on the Sabbath. The opposition has come against Him and yet the crowds flock to Him for He has proven to be great by His deeds. Those with need come to the one who can meet that need in spite of the attitude of the Pharisees. Jesus didn’t argue with them and He didn’t walk around proclaiming aloud who He was, He let His teaching and His works speak for themselves and they were guilty of unbelief, proving once again that we can’t tell the difference between good and evil.
In the end, the lamp through which shines the glory of God is the Lamb and the nations will stream to its light. Jesus is the vessel through which God’s glory is displayed, we have the joy of knowing that truth now and it is commanded of us to be salt and light in the world today. We are poor lights compared with Jesus, but we were created in the image of God and we now have the Spirit of God within us, enabling us to bear witness to the light both by word and deed.
For you, O LORD, are most high over all the earth;
you are exalted far above all gods.
Psalm 46, 97 ; Isa. 49:1-7; Rev. 21:22-27; Matt. 12:14-21
The promise of God is that this Redeemer is too wonderful to simply redeem the nation of Israel, He is a redeemer for the world. Has God ever not wanted the world to be saved? John picks up on this theme of light to the nations and also on the desire of God for the world to be saved. John 3.16 speaks of Jesus’ universal mission, “for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life.” The gift of God is larger than any national salvation, the God who created the world has come to redeem the entirety of His creation, we can all share in the inheritance of Israel and claim the right to be called children of God.
Matthew typically points out Jesus’ fulfillment of the prophetic word concerning Messiah. Here, Jesus and his disciples have broken the Sabbath regulations by walking through fields and taking heads of grain and using their hands to get the edible portion and then he has healed a man with a withered hand on the Sabbath. The opposition has come against Him and yet the crowds flock to Him for He has proven to be great by His deeds. Those with need come to the one who can meet that need in spite of the attitude of the Pharisees. Jesus didn’t argue with them and He didn’t walk around proclaiming aloud who He was, He let His teaching and His works speak for themselves and they were guilty of unbelief, proving once again that we can’t tell the difference between good and evil.
In the end, the lamp through which shines the glory of God is the Lamb and the nations will stream to its light. Jesus is the vessel through which God’s glory is displayed, we have the joy of knowing that truth now and it is commanded of us to be salt and light in the world today. We are poor lights compared with Jesus, but we were created in the image of God and we now have the Spirit of God within us, enabling us to bear witness to the light both by word and deed.
For you, O LORD, are most high over all the earth;
you are exalted far above all gods.
Monday, January 4, 2010
5 January 2010
Psalm 2, 110:1-7; Jonah 2:1-9; Eph. 6:10-20; John 11:17-44
The thing that makes this prayer extraordinary is that it was prayed from the belly of the fish. Jonah is proclaiming the Lord’s goodness and deliverance, that his prayer was heard and answered, while he was still in distress. It was his proclamation that salvation belongs to the Lord that got him out of distress. Jonah is one of the most interesting characters in the Bible. He is always aware of God’s goodness and His power and knows God’s nature. He depends on God being a certain way in his own life and understands God as gracious, merciful and forgiving. He hates it when it applies to others who are disobedient. He is capable of great faith as we see in this prayer. I wish that when I am in the midst of distress I could pray as Jonah.
The story of Lazarus is about a resurrection from the dead but it is a story of faith and what it means to believe in Jesus. Martha is able to make profound affirmations about Jesus, if He had been there her brother wouldn’t have died, and that He is Messiah. When push comes to shove though, she knows her brother is dead and that is all there is to that story, as the KJV says, “He stinketh.” Jesus may have been able to prevent the death and He might have something to do with the resurrection at the last day, but there is nothing he can do now. Jesus is calling people forward in their belief. Many from Jerusalem had come out to the house, the disciples feared being in or near Jerusalem, the feast was coming, but now He has revealed something about Himself that might change everything. This crowd can take the story back and maybe things will be different at Passover.
Faith isn’t for sissies, it requires armor because there are real enemies of faith, spiritual enemies and flesh and blood enemies. Paul says not to worry about the fleshly ones as they aren’t the really important enemies, we need spiritual armor and spiritual weapons for spiritual battle. Faith has content and it has to be ready for the assaults that will come against it. Faith, however, fully prepared, can handle all the assaults of the enemy.
I will tell of the decree:The LORD said to me, "You are my Son;
today I have begotten you.
Psalm 2, 110:1-7; Jonah 2:1-9; Eph. 6:10-20; John 11:17-44
The thing that makes this prayer extraordinary is that it was prayed from the belly of the fish. Jonah is proclaiming the Lord’s goodness and deliverance, that his prayer was heard and answered, while he was still in distress. It was his proclamation that salvation belongs to the Lord that got him out of distress. Jonah is one of the most interesting characters in the Bible. He is always aware of God’s goodness and His power and knows God’s nature. He depends on God being a certain way in his own life and understands God as gracious, merciful and forgiving. He hates it when it applies to others who are disobedient. He is capable of great faith as we see in this prayer. I wish that when I am in the midst of distress I could pray as Jonah.
The story of Lazarus is about a resurrection from the dead but it is a story of faith and what it means to believe in Jesus. Martha is able to make profound affirmations about Jesus, if He had been there her brother wouldn’t have died, and that He is Messiah. When push comes to shove though, she knows her brother is dead and that is all there is to that story, as the KJV says, “He stinketh.” Jesus may have been able to prevent the death and He might have something to do with the resurrection at the last day, but there is nothing he can do now. Jesus is calling people forward in their belief. Many from Jerusalem had come out to the house, the disciples feared being in or near Jerusalem, the feast was coming, but now He has revealed something about Himself that might change everything. This crowd can take the story back and maybe things will be different at Passover.
Faith isn’t for sissies, it requires armor because there are real enemies of faith, spiritual enemies and flesh and blood enemies. Paul says not to worry about the fleshly ones as they aren’t the really important enemies, we need spiritual armor and spiritual weapons for spiritual battle. Faith has content and it has to be ready for the assaults that will come against it. Faith, however, fully prepared, can handle all the assaults of the enemy.
I will tell of the decree:The LORD said to me, "You are my Son;
today I have begotten you.
4 January 2010
Psalm 85, 87; Joshua 3:14—4:7; Eph. 5:1-20; John 9:1-12,35-38
Sometimes faith has us waiting for God to act in rolling back the waters and sometimes it requires us to take the first step and then He acts. As they come to the land, the place where they had hesitated before for fear of those already there, they are now required to take the first step and they move ahead into the flooded Jordan River to take possession of the land. Where they had previously failed to advance, they now do so in spite of the obstacles ahead. It was important to create a memorial for posterity that would remind them and teach their children how great was the Lord to have done this miracle. It wasn’t a testament to their faith but rather to the One who had been faithful to those whose faith had failed.
This is one of my favorite stories in the Gospels and I encourage you to read the story in its entirety rather than just the few verses in the lectionary reading. The man was born blind, says Jesus, “so that God’s works might be revealed in him.” That sounds wonderful to us but how did it sound to the man? He received his sight this day and it seems that he was not bitter about his former plight in the least, willing to recognize Jesus as Lord and believe in Him because of the restoration of his sight. His attitude is amazing in this regard, not asking why did this have to happen to me and completely unafraid of the leaders of the Jews who were threatening to throw him out of the synagogue.
What is wisdom and what is foolishness? Paul says that wisdom understands the times in which we live and understands that in order to enter the kingdom we are required to live differently from the world. We are called to be countercultural people, imitators of God as beloved children. We are the stones of witness. We are to be the ones who the world asks why are we different. Where in your life is the Lord calling you to stand out and separate yourself?
Show us your steadfast love, O LORD,
and grant us your salvation.
Psalm 85, 87; Joshua 3:14—4:7; Eph. 5:1-20; John 9:1-12,35-38
Sometimes faith has us waiting for God to act in rolling back the waters and sometimes it requires us to take the first step and then He acts. As they come to the land, the place where they had hesitated before for fear of those already there, they are now required to take the first step and they move ahead into the flooded Jordan River to take possession of the land. Where they had previously failed to advance, they now do so in spite of the obstacles ahead. It was important to create a memorial for posterity that would remind them and teach their children how great was the Lord to have done this miracle. It wasn’t a testament to their faith but rather to the One who had been faithful to those whose faith had failed.
This is one of my favorite stories in the Gospels and I encourage you to read the story in its entirety rather than just the few verses in the lectionary reading. The man was born blind, says Jesus, “so that God’s works might be revealed in him.” That sounds wonderful to us but how did it sound to the man? He received his sight this day and it seems that he was not bitter about his former plight in the least, willing to recognize Jesus as Lord and believe in Him because of the restoration of his sight. His attitude is amazing in this regard, not asking why did this have to happen to me and completely unafraid of the leaders of the Jews who were threatening to throw him out of the synagogue.
What is wisdom and what is foolishness? Paul says that wisdom understands the times in which we live and understands that in order to enter the kingdom we are required to live differently from the world. We are called to be countercultural people, imitators of God as beloved children. We are the stones of witness. We are to be the ones who the world asks why are we different. Where in your life is the Lord calling you to stand out and separate yourself?
Show us your steadfast love, O LORD,
and grant us your salvation.
Sunday, January 3, 2010
3 January 2010
Psalm 66, 67; Wisdom 7:3-14; Col. 3:12-17; John 6:41-47
Solomon’s ode to wisdom and the importance of getting wisdom. He extols wisdom as the highest prize and wisdom is indeed important, it is essentially the understanding of all things but in some ways it is a secondary good. If Adam and Eve had sought wisdom they would have had understanding but instead of wisdom they sought knowledge, a particular knowledge, the knowledge of good and evil. If they had sought wisdom they would have been able to skillfully apply knowledge. When we see Jesus interact with people who think themselves wise or crafty in their questions: “Who is my neighbor?” or “Is it right to pay taxes?” for instance, we see true wisdom that comes from above. That is the wisdom Solomon possessed, wisdom as a gift from God, and it is available to us as well. Wisdom begets wisdom, true wisdom is the knowledge and love of God as the highest good.
To be taught by God is a worthy ambition. We get there by faith and by believing the words of Jesus, accepting His claim to be of God and our Messiah. Again it comes back to faith seeking understanding. These will not believe in Him because they can name Mary and Joseph as His parents. Either they don’t know or don’t believe Mary’s story about Jesus’ conception and it always amazes me that Jesus never bothers to set the record straight for them. They are content that they know all that they need to in spite of all the evidence He has given them by His words and actions. He is always content to let those things speak for themselves and these are the proofs He always points to in His own defense.
What is the proof we have to offer the world about who we are? Paul tells the Colossians that the proof we have is that our community is Christ-like and therefore different from the world’s community. Paul says the marks of our community should be: compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, patience, forbearance, forgiveness, love, harmony, peace and thankfulness. All those are supposed to be descriptive of Christian community as they were descriptive of Christ. These are brought to bear by letting the word of Christ dwell in us richly and doing all we do in the Name of the Lord. If our community looked like that we would never have to do academic apologetics, life together would speak for itself.
Shout for joy to God, all the earth;
sing the glory of his name;
give to him glorious praise!
Say to God, "How awesome are your deeds!
So great is your power that your enemies come cringing to you.
All the earth worships you
and sings praises to you;
they sing praises to your name."
Psalm 66, 67; Wisdom 7:3-14; Col. 3:12-17; John 6:41-47
Solomon’s ode to wisdom and the importance of getting wisdom. He extols wisdom as the highest prize and wisdom is indeed important, it is essentially the understanding of all things but in some ways it is a secondary good. If Adam and Eve had sought wisdom they would have had understanding but instead of wisdom they sought knowledge, a particular knowledge, the knowledge of good and evil. If they had sought wisdom they would have been able to skillfully apply knowledge. When we see Jesus interact with people who think themselves wise or crafty in their questions: “Who is my neighbor?” or “Is it right to pay taxes?” for instance, we see true wisdom that comes from above. That is the wisdom Solomon possessed, wisdom as a gift from God, and it is available to us as well. Wisdom begets wisdom, true wisdom is the knowledge and love of God as the highest good.
To be taught by God is a worthy ambition. We get there by faith and by believing the words of Jesus, accepting His claim to be of God and our Messiah. Again it comes back to faith seeking understanding. These will not believe in Him because they can name Mary and Joseph as His parents. Either they don’t know or don’t believe Mary’s story about Jesus’ conception and it always amazes me that Jesus never bothers to set the record straight for them. They are content that they know all that they need to in spite of all the evidence He has given them by His words and actions. He is always content to let those things speak for themselves and these are the proofs He always points to in His own defense.
What is the proof we have to offer the world about who we are? Paul tells the Colossians that the proof we have is that our community is Christ-like and therefore different from the world’s community. Paul says the marks of our community should be: compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, patience, forbearance, forgiveness, love, harmony, peace and thankfulness. All those are supposed to be descriptive of Christian community as they were descriptive of Christ. These are brought to bear by letting the word of Christ dwell in us richly and doing all we do in the Name of the Lord. If our community looked like that we would never have to do academic apologetics, life together would speak for itself.
Shout for joy to God, all the earth;
sing the glory of his name;
give to him glorious praise!
Say to God, "How awesome are your deeds!
So great is your power that your enemies come cringing to you.
All the earth worships you
and sings praises to you;
they sing praises to your name."
Saturday, January 2, 2010
2 January 2010
Psalm 34; 1 Kings 19:1-8; Eph. 4:1-16; John 6:1-14
Why is Elijah afraid of Jezebel and her gods? He had just taken on the prophets of Baal and defied their gods and defeated them in the contest on the mountain. He has seen extraordinary things and done wonders and yet now he is running from this woman. Even prophets have bad days. It is amazing how fragile faith can be when it is constantly under testing. Elijah goes to the wilderness to get away from Jezebel and assumes that God won’t find him there either, he has given up and sees no hope. I know how he feels and I bet you do too. There are times when it just seems that the trials never stop and we feel overwhelmed enough to run away. Fortunately Psalm 139 reminds me that I can’t go anywhere to escape Him.
Philip has seen healings and other miracles like water turned into wine but he can’t imagine feeding this multitude and is thinking of the economics of the situation, never thinking that Jesus could do something miraculous. He is, however, the same One who provided water, manna, and quail in the wilderness for quite a few more than 5,000 people. The people there that day conclude that Jesus is the prophet who is to come, the one Moses promised in Deuteronomy 18. Their conclusion is clearly based here on the provision like Moses in the wilderness, but the difference is that Moses didn’t personally provide and this provision is more than that provision. No one had the faith to believe what Jesus would do this day.
Paul says that we are to grow up in our faith. We have an advantage Elijah didn’t have and that Philip didn’t have at the time of the feeding, we have been given the Holy Spirit. We have a more complete revelation of God, we know the resurrection of the dead not in theory but in fact. The time for wavering faith has gone and we are equipped to stand in that faith because of what has happened inside of history and inside of us. We should no longer be tossed about doctrinally and we need to become the body of Christ to the world. Paul was able and willing to undergo incredible difficulties and hardships because of his faith and he had the same Spirit we have been given. Are we growing up in our faith or are we still like Elijah, ready to quit because of difficulty and threats of the enemy?
I will bless the LORD at all times;
his praise shall continually be in my mouth.
My soul makes its boast in the LORD;
let the humble hear and be glad.
Oh, magnify the LORD with me,
and let us exalt his name together!
Psalm 34; 1 Kings 19:1-8; Eph. 4:1-16; John 6:1-14
Why is Elijah afraid of Jezebel and her gods? He had just taken on the prophets of Baal and defied their gods and defeated them in the contest on the mountain. He has seen extraordinary things and done wonders and yet now he is running from this woman. Even prophets have bad days. It is amazing how fragile faith can be when it is constantly under testing. Elijah goes to the wilderness to get away from Jezebel and assumes that God won’t find him there either, he has given up and sees no hope. I know how he feels and I bet you do too. There are times when it just seems that the trials never stop and we feel overwhelmed enough to run away. Fortunately Psalm 139 reminds me that I can’t go anywhere to escape Him.
Philip has seen healings and other miracles like water turned into wine but he can’t imagine feeding this multitude and is thinking of the economics of the situation, never thinking that Jesus could do something miraculous. He is, however, the same One who provided water, manna, and quail in the wilderness for quite a few more than 5,000 people. The people there that day conclude that Jesus is the prophet who is to come, the one Moses promised in Deuteronomy 18. Their conclusion is clearly based here on the provision like Moses in the wilderness, but the difference is that Moses didn’t personally provide and this provision is more than that provision. No one had the faith to believe what Jesus would do this day.
Paul says that we are to grow up in our faith. We have an advantage Elijah didn’t have and that Philip didn’t have at the time of the feeding, we have been given the Holy Spirit. We have a more complete revelation of God, we know the resurrection of the dead not in theory but in fact. The time for wavering faith has gone and we are equipped to stand in that faith because of what has happened inside of history and inside of us. We should no longer be tossed about doctrinally and we need to become the body of Christ to the world. Paul was able and willing to undergo incredible difficulties and hardships because of his faith and he had the same Spirit we have been given. Are we growing up in our faith or are we still like Elijah, ready to quit because of difficulty and threats of the enemy?
I will bless the LORD at all times;
his praise shall continually be in my mouth.
My soul makes its boast in the LORD;
let the humble hear and be glad.
Oh, magnify the LORD with me,
and let us exalt his name together!
Friday, January 1, 2010
1 January 2010
Psalm 103; Isa. 62:1-12; Rev. 19:11-16; Matt. 1:18-25
Today we celebrate the Holy Name of Jesus. The Isaiah passage celebrates the salvation of the Lord and in that salvation the one who gets a new name is actually His people. Isaiah says they will no longer be called forsaken or desolate but “My delight is in her” and “Married.” The people will be called “The holy people” and “the redeemed of the Lord” and “Sought out, a city not forsaken.” Taking His Name changes our status. The work of the Lord is to glorify His Name and change our names including our destiny. This is one of the most beautiful passages in the Bible in understanding just what it means to be the people of God.
The name of Jesus is proclamation of faith and truth. The name means literally the Lord saves. To say the name is to speak the greatest truth we can ever speak. It is a source of comfort and strength, a statement of faith in the one whose name it is. The name is the greatest reality of all. In John 14.6 Jesus says He is the truth, and in fulfilling the truth of His Name He embodies the truth. His birth, life, death, resurrection and ascension are all testimony to the truth of His Name. It is the testimony of the psalmists and the prophets and it is the testimony of those who have been redeemed, it is our creed and our joyful proclamation.
The name of the rider is the Word of God, and as John wrote, the Word was with God and the Word was God. He also bears the inscription, “King of kings and Lord of lords.” His names are many but in the end He is the Lord who saves. We are saved from our enemies and we are saved from death. The salvation of God isn’t temporary, it is eternal. He is the one on whom we rely. We cannot save ourselves, we need a savior. I would suggest that you pray through the names in this passage today and meditate on what each of them means in connection with Jesus and ask the Lord to give you a new appreciation for these characteristics of Jesus.
Bless the LORD, all his hosts,
his ministers, who do his will!
Bless the LORD, all his works,
in all places of his dominion.
Bless the LORD, O my soul!
Psalm 103; Isa. 62:1-12; Rev. 19:11-16; Matt. 1:18-25
Today we celebrate the Holy Name of Jesus. The Isaiah passage celebrates the salvation of the Lord and in that salvation the one who gets a new name is actually His people. Isaiah says they will no longer be called forsaken or desolate but “My delight is in her” and “Married.” The people will be called “The holy people” and “the redeemed of the Lord” and “Sought out, a city not forsaken.” Taking His Name changes our status. The work of the Lord is to glorify His Name and change our names including our destiny. This is one of the most beautiful passages in the Bible in understanding just what it means to be the people of God.
The name of Jesus is proclamation of faith and truth. The name means literally the Lord saves. To say the name is to speak the greatest truth we can ever speak. It is a source of comfort and strength, a statement of faith in the one whose name it is. The name is the greatest reality of all. In John 14.6 Jesus says He is the truth, and in fulfilling the truth of His Name He embodies the truth. His birth, life, death, resurrection and ascension are all testimony to the truth of His Name. It is the testimony of the psalmists and the prophets and it is the testimony of those who have been redeemed, it is our creed and our joyful proclamation.
The name of the rider is the Word of God, and as John wrote, the Word was with God and the Word was God. He also bears the inscription, “King of kings and Lord of lords.” His names are many but in the end He is the Lord who saves. We are saved from our enemies and we are saved from death. The salvation of God isn’t temporary, it is eternal. He is the one on whom we rely. We cannot save ourselves, we need a savior. I would suggest that you pray through the names in this passage today and meditate on what each of them means in connection with Jesus and ask the Lord to give you a new appreciation for these characteristics of Jesus.
Bless the LORD, all his hosts,
his ministers, who do his will!
Bless the LORD, all his works,
in all places of his dominion.
Bless the LORD, O my soul!
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