20 April 2011

Psalm 55; Jer. 17:5-10, 14-17; Phil. 4:1-13; John 12:27-36

This passage sounds like the first Psalm. It sounds, in fact, like many of the Psalms and Proverbs. How often do we see hero worship in the world, the desire for a man (or woman for that matter) to come and lead us out of trouble and into prosperity? We put our trust in men and then when they fail to do what we expect of them we tear them to shreds. Our trust is never to be in anything other than the Lord and the sooner and better we know that truth the better off we will be, both us and our leaders. The most painful times in ministry for me are when I disappoint someone and yet it is going to happen time and again, I know that it is inevitable in any relationship. The problem for most of us is that we can’t give the same grace to others as we give ourselves in knowing that truth. The Lord is to be our only hope and in Him we will never be disappointed.

The crowds are confused about Jesus’ words here. Everything seems to be going so well, remember the crowds just acclaimed Him as a king, so why is He suddenly talking about being lifted up and dying? The crowds heard the noise from heaven and surely this confirms what they have been thinking, that this is indeed Messiah. The message Jesus received was understandable only by Him, both the words and their meaning. If the crowds had heard that God was going to glorify His Name through Jesus they would have come to a wrong conclusion about what that meant. No one would have imagined that it meant the cross. Their expectation is that the Messiah will live forever and believe that this must apply to Jesus so who is the Son of Man He mentions here, surely not the Messiah. Jesus knows, however, how fickle crowds can be, how fickle this crowd will be. His trust is only in the Father.

There are so many familiar verses and phrases in these few verses from Philippians, many people’s favorite verses in the Bible come from this passage. Rejoice in the Lord always and again I say rejoice. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Paul has learned to delight himself in the Lord in all things, his material situation does not affect his soul such that if it changes it changes him. We tend to go up and down in our moods based on our material status and Paul says that if we rejoice in the Lord always we will not be on that roller coaster any longer. He has learned the secret of hoping only in the Lord.

And when from death I’m free, I’ll sing on, I’ll sing on;
And when from death I’m free, I’ll sing on.
And when from death I’m free, I’ll sing and joyful be;
And through eternity, I’ll sing on, I’ll sing on;
And through eternity, I’ll sing on.