Tag: Jesus

I killed God.

Some 2,000 years ago, the itinerant Israelite preacher named Jesus was put to death for claiming to be God. He was whipped, scourged, beaten, and then nailed to a wooden cross until he was dead.

Today–“Good Friday”– is the traditional commemoration of the barbaric murder of this one man. While churches around the world will fill to overflowing on the Sunday upcoming as a celebration for the miraculous events that occurred on the first Sunday after the crucifixion, many of those same churches open their doors on this eve to reflect on the somber occasion of the murder that happened that day so long ago.

The doctrines of the faith that bears the moniker of Jesus claims that it is appropriate to engage on solemn reflection on this day because its teachings assert that I am (and are you, too, dear reader) complicit in the execution of this innocent (and correct in all his claims) man.

My first reaction is to object; after all, his murder took place approximately 190 centuries before I was even born.

Yet, the Bible’s historical account of Jesus’ execution reports that when Rome’s occupying governor Pontius Pilate “washed his hands” of complicity for murdering the innocent man Jesus, everyone in the crowd cried out, “Let his blood be on us and our children! (Matthew 27:25)”

The crowd’s self-incrimination was not that they were calling down a curse upon themselves, but that they had assumed responsibility for imposing this death sentence upon Jesus. They were so certain of the appropriateness of what they were doing that they willingly assigned responsibility for this decision upon all the generations that followed them.

All the same, what does that have to do with me? I’m not Jewish and I’m not Roman (or even Middle-European).

Again, I go to the Bible to try to understand the evidence presented in my indictment.

There, I find:

  • that there is no difference between Jew or Gentile. (Romans 3:22, 10:10)
  • that I offend God and rebel against him. (Romans 3:23)
  • that I don’t have anything in me on my own that loves God. (Romans 7:18)

The logical, rational, human mind reasons that this evidence reveals me to be a rebel, but my defense is argues that to be guilty of rebellion doesn’t necessarily mean that I should take the blame for killing Jesus, as if I were the one who picked up the hammer and drove the nails piercing Jesus to the cross.

However, the timeless testimony of the Bible counters my protestations with the reminders:

  • If I break one command, I am guilty of breaking the entire law. (James 1:18)
  • Because I am guilty, I deserve punishment (Nahum 1:3)

It seems rather obvious that the simple solution to this mounting case against me is to simply deny the both the claim and the claimant. I could argue, “but I’m a good person” to the former, and, “the Bible’s untrustworthy” to the latter. Yet, its word overrules both with one reply: “God’s word is living, active, and sharper than any two-edged sword. It penetrates to the point that it separates the soul from the spirit and the joints from the marrow. It’s able to judge the heart’s thoughts and intentions. (Hebrews 4:12)”

And so I fall silent and I allow the Book to read me, which compels me to reflect upon my culpability in the events of Christ’s death-by-crucifixion.

I admit, I have rebelled against God. This confession is my statement of agreement with what God says about me and my conduct. More times than I can count, I have done things, thought things, said things and perceived things against, in opposition to, or contrary to God. Every time this has happened, my rebellion against him is tantamount to initiating to actions to murder God. 

You see, that’s what you have to do in order to be in control of your own life. You have to murder God. And it seems absolutely silly to suggest that such a thing is possible. But if God’s authority is absolute and his sovereignty is complete, anything you do independently of him or in defiance to him is nothing less than an attempted coup.

Today is an important day. It is the symbolic anniversary of the day that God allowed his creation to murder him. He did this voluntarily (1 John 3:16). I am part of God’s creation. I stand accused in the face of overwhelming evidence that convicts me.

I am guilty.

I did, in fact, kill God.

I deserve the punishment appropriate for these selfish, loveless thoughts, attitudes, and actions.

If all of life is simply the long delay in the passing sentence for my deeds, how sad and tragic life would be.

It is here that this same Bible that rightly judges my heart and intentions, also reveals that the innocent blood on my guilty hands for Jesus’ death is the same blood that covers my guilt for all my rebellion against God (see Romans 4:6-8; 1 Peter 4:8).

My rational mind can’t fathom it. I’m guilty. He is innocent. He willingly and willfully came, to lay down his life (John 10:17-18). He lived to die, so that the guilty could be forgiven (Phil. 2:5-11).

Good Friday.

Good God.

When the storm comes: future storms (part 4)

In my previous post, I explained my belief in the Bible’s claim of a global flood that nearly eradicated humans from the face of the earth. The Bible reports that God preserved a remnant of eight people to repopulate the earth. Significantly, it also states that God gave the rainbow as an evidence that he would never again flood the earth as a form of judgment upon its inhabitants.

rainbow

Skeptics scoff at this, explaining the rational process for the presence of rainbows. I don’t disagree with these explanations. However, I would suggest that the logical, scientific explanation for rainbows does nothing to discredit the faith belief in what that particular rainbow represented (and what all subsequent rainbows have the ability to remind us). The explanation of a rainbows existence and the rationale for why rainbows exist are at least partially exclusive. But I digress.

Despite the phenomenon of rainbows, we – almost predictably – experience flooding. Sometimes on a widespread scale. While the list of floods in the last fifty years is impressive, it’s interesting to note that there is no record of any second global flood. (Note: while many efforts have been made to discredit the account of the original flood, much historic, geological, and anthropological evidence supports the biblical claim.)

God never promised that there would never be another flood. He promised that he would never use flooding waters as an expression of global judgment. Some people want to suggest that God brings hurricanes, earthquakes and their subsequent floods as judgment upon a nation or its people for its pagan beliefs.

While, I’m not qualified to declare unconditionally and authoritatively that this is or is not an expression of God’s judgment, I personally don’t believe that natural disasters are are a picture of God’s wrath. If it is, the United States should be in a collective state of woe for the impending judgment awaiting it (as a self-identified nation “under God”). Rather, I go back to previous statements (made in prior posts) that we now live in a broken world with a significantly larger quantity of water cycling through its closed system. Consequently, catastrophic floods are a periodic and unfortunate phenomenon.

My hope, then, is to draw attention back to Jesus’ declaration that all people turn to God before the next storm hits. Whether it is literal or figurative, and whether you face it alone or with your community, I invite you to turn to God and call upon him for rescue.

When the storm comes – God’s role (part 2)

 When disaster strikes, there are a few predictable negative responses, theologically speaking:

  • “If God is in control, he made this happen.”
  • “God (the cosmic clockmaker) isn’t in control, so he’s not worth worshipping.”  
  • “This is evidence that there is no God.”

Among the many shortcomings of us humans is our tendency toward dichotomous thinking. Black/white. Either/or. We presume that only two options are correct, that it cannot be somewhere in between…or somewhere completely outside of the two. We tend to think that if God exists, everything should be good all the time. So if something bad happens, the foundational thoughts on God are flawed. The reality of bad *must* mean that God is not good, God is not God, or that God simply is not real.

Yet, God’s role in adversity this not hindered by the limits of human reasoning.

Presuming God exists, if he is also sovereign, this means he is in control. In this respect, God bears the responsibility for any (and every) event that humans would label “bad,” “tragic,” or “disastrous.” If we lived in an edenic/idyllic/perfect world, this would mean that God is exceedingly cruel and is not at all good.

We don’t live in a perfect world.

The fact is, we live in a chaotic world. It is characterized by an ever-increasing frequency of earthquakes, destructive winds, demolishing storms, eruptions, and devastating waters. Ours is a world that is obeying the laws of thermodynamics and moving rapidly toward a state of increasing physical disorder. It exists in a universe that is perpetually expanding toward disorganization, too. It’s a world that appears destined for destruction and is growing increasingly unstable and volatile.

If we can agree that the world is becoming increasing disorganized and unstable, it’s appropriate to ask why this is so. There is no shortage of conjecture about human complicity in the not-small matter of global destruction, but I retrospect for the sake of maintaining focus on the question of God’s role

Two significant events changed the world from its original conditions to the ones within which we currently exist. Both are relevant to the current conversation; this writing addresses the first event’s role in explaining contemporary calamities.

The first event that changed the global environment is humanity’s original rebellion against God. Originally…according to the Bible…was created good, even perfect. God and humans enjoyed a close relationship. Yet, that relationship was destroyed when the first humans were deceived by evil, distrusted God and rebelled against him. The consequence of that rebellion was the eventual death of every person and, among other things, a curse upon the earth. This rebellion tainted the environment, altering the world from its utopian origin into a dystopian state, with ramifications and implications into the natural order that followed and is, even today.

Jesus reflected this reality in his teachings. He acknowledged we live in a world governed by natural laws. He didn’t blame God.  In Luke 13, he spoke of a tower in Siloam fell, killing 18 people. We don’t know if it was a natural disaster or a man-made mistake. We we do know that Jesus went out of the way to say that the people weren’t victims expressly because they were in rebellion to God. He refuted the “cruel God” argument. In the very next breath, though, Jesus said, “but unless you turn to God, you too will die!” In this, he undergirds the reality of God, not entertaining a notion that God is not real.

His point is that everybody dies in a broken world and the only hope for anyone is found through faith in God. Whether it’s by being crushed under a tower, swept away in a storm, or asleep in bed after a long, quiet life, death comes to every person….and every death is tragic. Furthermore, Jesus defuses the “uncaring God” argument with his declaration that turning to God is the sole means to escape the tragedy of death, and that it is available to every person, without exception.

The effort to reconcile God’s role in disaster is actually more about man than it is about God. The only way a person can lob accusations against God, suggesting that he is cruel or lazy, is if that person assumes that he sits in an authorized position of judgment. While this doesn’t mean that humans have no right to exercise genuine inquiry to ask “why?”, those who are asking should have a proper understanding about themselves before they can ever hope to have a right understanding about God. If people are intrinsically good and in right standing with God (or even in judgment over God), this explains the speculation and conjecture about tragic calamities and the implications thereof.

However, if (as Jesus taught and the Bible reports) that people exist in an intrinsic position of rebellion against and defiance to God, the question changes. Instead of asking, “Why?” the more reasonable question is “Why not?” If humans are, by their nature, in a state of opposition to God, and live on a realm barreling toward its total destruction, why wouldn’t there be regular, periodic, and increasingly numerous of escalating upheavals? Indeed, if humans live in a judged state of rebellion on a judged world of destruction, it makes sense that humans should expect to endure natural disasters on an increasing frequency. Accordingly, a lack of forewarning and the potential for each to claim any unpredictable number of lives is likewise reasonable. 

Because of the utter impossibility to prevent or avoid these natural disasters, the best (only) hope is to properly view the bigger picture with the perspective offered by the one person who authoritatively spoke with the divine insight. This is why Jesus said, “repent now!” when talking about the Siloam tower. He acknowledged that disasters will happen in a fallen world destined for judgment. Even so, death before reconciling with God is the biggest disaster. 

Immerse Day 15 Observations

Text: Romans 1:1 – 8:39 (pp. 177-190)

  • Overview – Dated AD 56. Paul writes this letter to arrive before he does, to a mixed audience of Jewish and Gentile believers. First part (11 chapters) is comprehensive doctrinal teaching, including the salvific history of God through Israel being extended to all people. The second part of the letter (last 5 chapters) is the practical application of these theological riches.
  • Paul is writing this letter because God chose him to be an apostle to preach the good news that God has for the world. This good news is the person of Jesus – Jesus is God’s son, a fact that is proven by his resurrection from death by the power of God’s Holy Spirit.
  • He is Jesus Christ our Lord – Jesus is the Christ (the Greek word for the Hebrew concept of Messiah, the God-anointed and -appointed Savior who would rescue people). As Christ, he is the Lord over all people (boss, king, sovereign, ruler…pick your synonym).
  • Through Christ, God had appointed people (including Paul) to spread this message of who Jesus is and what God is doing for people (in saving them), which will cause people to believe in Jesus, and bring glory to (a positive report) to his name.
  • The audience of this letter is all who live in Rome and have been called to be his own people (the Christians in the region).
Dear Romans…
  • Paul loves the Roman Christians, prays for them, longs to visit them. He wants to encourage them, and to be encouraged by them.
  • understated point: faithfulness offers contagious encouragement.
  • Paul felt a spiritual burden to all people, regardless of their spiritual heritage (or lack thereof)
  • This burden catalyzed an eagerness in him to share the Gospel of Jesus with all people.
    • He was completely unashamed of the Gospel because its existence and efficacy were the demonstration of the power of God – to save anyone who believes in Jesus.This salvation is accomplished exclusively and totally by faith – faith which brings life those who believe.
  • But this message is communicated in the context of the real world:
    • This world filled with people who experience God’s anger instead of God’s favor.These people receive his anger because they, by their wicked deeds, suppress God’s truth.God’s truth is both knowable and known because God has made the truth about himself known to all of his creation from the beginning of time, from the evidence of creation itself.
      • The totality of God’s creation demonstrates/evidences/manifests God’s invisible attributes; namely, his eternal power and divine nature. So nobody has an excuse for not believing in God (or functioning in life without faith in him)Despite knowing that God is real, these people determined not to worship him or even give thanks to him. Instead, they created their own false gods, created by their own imaginations. The result of this foolishness was that these very same people became confused and limited by their own wayward thinking. When they spoke about these false gods and errant beliefs, they thought themselves to be pretty awesome, but showed themselves to be utter fools.
St. Ron – The Patron Saint of Bloviation
  • Not only were they saying foolish things, they worshipped (showed reverence, devotion, and spiritual hope) the things that God created rather than God himself, which they made idols out of as a way to direct this worship.
  • God further judged this idolatrous worship, by giving them over to the desires that controlled them (See Ps. 81:12).
    • The consequence of this judgment against them was excessive indulgence in these activities with one another.
    • These actions demonstrated that they exchanged the truth of God for lies of their own creations.
    • In doing this, they demonstrated that they were worshipping created things rather than the creator.
    • Because, in their foolish thinking, they thought it foolish to worship God, he showed his judgment against them by giving them over to the license they created for themselves.
    • Lives of unbelievers became characterized by every kind of wickedness, sin, greed, hate, envy, murder, quarreling, deception, malice, and gossip.
      • They hate God, back stab one another, and are insolent, proud and boastful. They are rebellious and are creative only in finding new ways to do wrong. They are stubborn-minded, promise-breaking, heartless and unmerciful.
      • They do all this, knowing that doing it deserves punishment. Worse still, they encourage this behavior among others.
sin leading to judgment leading to sin leading to judgment…
  • Yet, Paul warns the audience not to break their arm patting themselves on the back, because…”you are just as bad and have no excuse!”
    • It isn’t enough just to say these things are bad and do the very same things yourself.
    • God is kindly revealing truth to lead you out of these sins that God has judged and will ultimately judge.
    • But refusal to stop doing evil is storing up impending judgment, on the day when God judges all deeds done by all people.
      • Good deeds will be rewarded by those who seek the good things that God offers (through Jesus).
      • But for those who live for themselves, they can expect God’s anger and wrath because they refused to obey the truth and lived wickedly.
      • God will give his judgment and justice fairly and impartially (both good and bad).
        • The people who had the law (the Jews) are accountable because they had the law.
        • The people who didn’t have the law (the Gentiles) are still accountable because their lives demonstrate that God’s law was “written on their hearts” because their consciences either affirmed them for doing right (by the law) or condemned them (by their offenses against the law).
        • Regardless, there is a day of judgment coming for all people, when God will openly judge the things that were assumed to be secret (or unknown)
        • Religious heritage offers no deliverance from this judgment.
        • Everyone is under the power of sin.
          • no one is righteous.
          • not one.
          • no one is wise.
          • no one (on their own) seeks God.
          • All have turned away
          • all are useless (on their own)
          • No one does good.
          • not a single one.
nope, not even one.
  • Consequently, people (without God) did horrible things and didn’t fear God in anyway whatsoever.
  • The purpose of the law isn’t to give an attainable standard that even one person could meet.
    • It was to show that nobody would have an excuse.The entire world is guilty before God.
  • Clear back in the time of Moses, God showed his plan to make people righteous apart from the law, through trusting in Jesus.
    • This way was available to all people, everywhere.This way is available exclusively through faith, apart from any work a person could do.
      • Only when we have faith do we fulfill the law.Abraham exemplifies this truth – his faith (not his deeds) was credited to him as righteousness.Wages are what people earn for their work. Wages are not a gift, they are earned. Righteousness is a gift, not something earned (wages).Abrahams’ circumcision was not a deed that earned his righteousness; rather it was an expression of the gift of righteousness that God had already given him before he could do anything to earn it.
        • His example offers inclusion to non-religious people who trust in Jesus, apart from religious rituals or ceremonies.His example offers inclusion to the religiously observant people, but only if their faith is like that of Abraham’s.God’s promise to Abraham (and his descendants) is based on faith, not on works.
        • understated points: these promises are reliable because they are given by the God raises the dead and creates things out of nothing. We believe in God and we trust his promises.Abraham trusted God, even when there was no hope. He and Sarah were too old to become parents, yet God kept his promise to them.
        • They kept trusting, even when it made no sense. And God blessed their obedience (their faith trust in his promise).That same faith is what’s necessary to believe in Jesus, who died to forgive our sins and who was resurrected and will return again.
  • The same faith that makes a person righteous is the faith that brings a person into peace with God.
    • Having confidence that a person is at peace with God makes it possible to live amidst daily adversity and to look forward to the future fulfillment of God’s promises.
      • Facing adversity offers opportunities to develop endurance.Endurance matures strength of character.Strength of character instills confidence in the expectant hope for the future.This hope will not be disappointed.The presence of the Holy Spirit is evidence of God’s love for us.We are utterly helpless without Jesus because of our sins.Jesus met us in our pit of helplessness and saved us.
        • This is remarkable because most people won’t die for someone else, even for a really good person.Rarely, someone might be willing to sacrifice their own life for someone who is extraordinarily good.
        • understated point: God’s love is shown in this most profound way: when you were at your worst (as a sinner), Jesus did the most by dying on the cross for your sins.
        • Christ’s sacrifice made us right with God.
      • This saves us from condemnation.
      • This restores relationship with God.
      • Through Jesus, we are friends of God.
total coincidence that a Stallone movie is on while I’m writing this.
  • The sin problem, unpacked and addressed:
    • Sin entered the world through the sin of the first person, Adam.
    • That sin brought death, so death spread to everyone; so, everyone sinned.
    • Sin was in the world even before the law was given.
      • So even though the sin was not imputed on people because the law hadn’t been given, the evidence that sin was in the world was demonstrated in the fact that all people died (the consequence of sin).
      • So the sin wasn’t merely the violation of Mosaic law, it was the rebellion against God that spread from Adam to all people.
      • Adam, though, serves as a symbol of sorts who points to Jesus.
        • Just as how sin spread from him singularly to all people is symbolic how salvation spreads to all who believe from the singular source of Jesus.
          • Adam’s sin brought death to many (because all earn it through our own sins)
          • Jesus’ gift is far greater because it is God’s grace extended, giving forgiveness to all who receive him.
          • Adam’s sin led to condemnation.
          • Jesus’ gift leads to righteousness.
        • The law’s role in this is to show humanity its sin problem.
          • As sin becomes more prevalent, God’s grace is more glorious.
        • God’s grace doesn’t give license to keep sinning, or to sin more abundantly.
        • Instead, Christians who identify with Jesus is baptism must remember that they identify with him in his death. Baptism is a picture of being buried with Christ, and it is a picture of being resurrected with Christ, too.
          • Because of this, we are no longer slaves to sin.
          • Dying with Christ set us free from the power of sin.
          • We are now alive in Christ.
lil Jon gets it.
  • If you’re alive in Christ, don’t be a slave to sin.
    • Don’t give in to sinful desires.
  • Instead, give yourself fully to God – mind, body and soul.
  • understated point: live under the freedom of God’s grace.
    • (The next extended passage reiterates and restates this in the context of slavery and freedom…I’m jumping ahead)
  • The law is good because it reveals sin. The good law “inflames” the sinful nature of man, and makes known the sinful, fallenness afflicting every person.
    • Sin uses what is good (the Law) to bring about death. It uses God’s own commands for evil.
    • Paul understands that the problem isn’t with the law because the law is good.
      • Rather, the problem is with Paul (or, more accurately, with each and every one of us).
      • On our own, we are slaves to sin.
      • We don’t really understand ourselves.
      • We want to do the right thing, but we don’t.
      • We don’t want to do the wrong thing, but we do.
        • Conviction over these dilemmas demonstrates that the law exists and that it is intrinsically good.
        • This contradictory behavior is the sin present in us, doing these wrong deeds.
      • Paul says it succinctly: I know that nothing good lives within me; that is, in my sinful nature.
        • Loving God’s law isn’t enough.
        • The power of sin enslaves all and overcomes even the best intentions.
      • Paul’s great lament: who will free me from this body of death?
Explains the human condition, Yoda does.
  • Thankfully, Paul’s message doesn’t end with this lament.
  • “Thank God!” Paul proclaims, “the answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord!”
    • The body is a slave to sin, but the mind (redeemed in Jesus) is a slave to Christ.
    • There is no condemnation for anyone who belongs to Jesus.
      • By belonging to Jesus, the life giving power of the Holy Spirit frees the person from the death-bringing enslavement to sin.
      • God did what the law couldn’t do – bring life to the person sentenced to death by sin.
      • Jesus’ death on the cross fully satisfied God’s wrath against sin.
      • So now we no longer follow the sinful nature, but the life giving Spirit of God.
      • Live then, according to the Spirit.
        • Being dominated by the flesh brings death,
        • Submitting to the Spirit brings life.
        • You are no longer any obligation to your sin nature.
        • Through the power of the Spirit of God, you have freedom from and victory over the lure of sin.
        • understated points: through the power of the Spirit, you put to death the deeds of the flesh. Those who are led by the Spirit of God are God’s children.
          • God adopted his children.
          • As his children, we are also his heirs.
          • iAs his heirs, we will share in his glory.
          • Until then, we will also share in his suffering.
            • the present suffering pales in comparison to the awaiting glory.
            • This current time is marked by a weakness that struggles in the tension of the present suffering expectantly awaiting the future glory.
  • Thankfully, the Holy Spirit helps us in our present weakness.
    • For example He helps us in our prayer communication with the Father.
    • He tells us what to pray, using words we can’t really hear or even discern.
    • IN fact, the Holy Spirit prays for us,
    • The Father knows exactly what the Spirit is praying for us, because the Spirit always prays in perfect harmony with the Father’s will for us.
    • We can be encouraged in this because God works all things together for His good in the lives of his children, who are the people that he has called according to his purposes.
      • And God knew all his people (his children) in advance, and chose them to be made into the likeness of his Son,
      • Having chosen them, he called them to follow Jesus.
      • Having called them, he gave them righteousness.
      • Having given them righteousness, he gave them glory.
      • understated point: These actions of God are completed acts. God’s children experience them in the course of life, and will experience receiving God’s glory in the judgment.
  • If all this is true (and it is), what can be said?
    • Since God is for us, it doesn’t matter if anyone tries to oppose us.
    • God didn’t spare his Son from the evil of this world, so we can’t realistically expect to be spared, either.
    • It doesn’t matter, though, because we have God’s righteousness. And nobody in the world can condemn us because we already have received GOd’s approval.
      • Jesus actively advocates for us before God, overcoming any attempts to condemn us before God.
    • nothing can separate us from the love of God in Jesus.
      • Neither death nor life
      • angels nor demons
      • today’s fears nor tomorrow’s worries,
      • not the powers of hell
      • no spiritual or earthly powers,
      • nothing in all of creation can separate us from the love of God in Jesus.

Immerse Day 2 Observations (part 1)

Immerse is an 8-week (40 day) reading campaign, where we (our church, Scottsdale Bible Church) is encouraging everyone to read through the New Testament together. To date, we have approximately 3500 people who have expressed intent to participate.

Text: Luke 4:14-9:50 (pp. 13-27) Part 1 of this recap will cover 13-19

Before beginning, the detailed observations, an overview: Wow! Talk about jumping in the deep end! We meet the protagonist (Jesus), the antagonist (Scribes and Pharisees) and the drama gets underway. Healings, miracles, teachings all commence, as does the conflict and conspiracy. So much happens in these 14 pages…my habit is to want to camp out at each passage, so it’s a new effort (of sorts) to read it all in context together. I’m really appreciating how reading it this way gives a “30,000-foot view” of Jesus’ efforts and interactions. The perspective is refreshing and challenging.

Observations:

  • Jesus is filled with the Holy Spirit’s Power. Boom! There is no mystery of why or how Jesus does what does…He has total unity with the Holy Spirit.
    • He taught regularly and was praised by everyone. At the onset, when he taught about God, the people universally loved him.
    • He went “as usual” to the synagogue. Jesus’ spiritual disciplines were genuine expressions of his authentic life.
  • “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me…” – Jesus reads the first two verses of Isaiah 61.
    • He is announcing himself as the fulfillment of this prophecy.He is revealing the good work that is accomplished in him.He explains this prophecy as fulfilled, not “going to be fulfilled.He puts a period here, where in Isaiah there is not one. (Indicating to me that he will fulfill verse 3 in his return, and that we’ve been living in this white space of Scripture for 2000ish years! )
    • Everyone still spoke well of him after this pronouncement…”the world” can get behind a gracious message that intends to make the world a better place.
  • Then he said, “You will undoubtedly quote this proverb, ‘Physician heal yourself.'” All the warm-fuzzies are about to shift. He’s telling them that the same ones smiling at him today will be in 3 years telling to bring himself down from the cross. He’s not mesmerized by their praise.
    • He then gives them the history lesson of Elijah and Elisha, and angering them by pointing out how only foreigners (Gentiles) benefited from their ministry.
  • This infuriated the synagogue. The love affair….brief as it was…was over.
    • They went from love to hate in an instant. They “connected the dots” and caught the dis.
  • Question: Was Jesus’ mentioning the heavens being closed 3 1/2 years an oblique reference to his own impending ministry and the Jewish leadership’s rejection of him (and it)?
  • Jesus went to Capernaum….and he taught with authority. He was no wallflower.
    • There, he was in the synagogue and confronted by a demon-possessed man. It is possible for evil to be found in spiritual places. The demon publicly testified to the divinity of Jesus. The spiritual beings had no confusion about who Jesus was.Jesus cast out the demon. The demon obeyed Jesus. He was powerless in Jesus’ presence.
  • Jesus then “rebuked the fever” in Simon’s mother-in-law. So in back-back-anecdotes, we see Jesus’ power of the spiritual realm and the physical realm.
  • The people of Capernaum begged Jesus not to leave. “But I must preach the Good News of the Kingdom of God.” This is Jesus message.
    • The synagogues were his primary (but not exclusive) mission field.
  • Preaching on the shore of Galilee, he now showed his power over nature (with the fish/boats). This was no small miracle…he showed his provision of abundance.
    • Simon’s response was one to the external righteousness that had been ingrained in their culture…that favor only fell to those who earned it. He knew is own sin was unfamiliar with grace.Jesus’ response was evocative of Gabriel’s to Zechariah and shepherds: “Don’t be afraid.” Grace not only blesses, but extends the invitation to be included in the work God is doing.Their invitation to join in fishing for people is being heard in the context of their seeing boats FILLED with fish.
  • Jesus met a man with leprosy. The man said, “If you’re willing…” He didn’t question if Jesus was able.
    • Jesus showed he was both willing and able.
    • Jesus sent him to the priest…not the doctor…and to bring along the offering associated with healing. Here, Jesus is tying the physical healing to the spiritual approval of God. Jesus was fulfilling the law, not challenging it.
    • Jesus told him not to tell anyone, but that his offering would be the testimony.
    • DESPITE the effort to downplay, the good news spread. That’s what good news does…it spreads.
  • Here…almost out of place…a statement that Jesus often withdrew to pray. The world is noisy. Even amidst good things happening. Solitude helps us hear God’s voice for the context of life.
  • Continuing…in the context of teaching, we are introduced to the Pharisees.
Meeting the Pharisees.
  • Continuing…in the context of teaching, we are introduced to the Pharisees.
  • They’ve joined the following…but for different reasons than the rest of the crowd.
  • They’re witnessing the pressing crowd where a paralyzed man is lowered through the hole in a roof.
  • Jesus says, “Your sins are forgiven!” instead of “Be healed!
  • Jesus knows their thoughts, so calls them out, and then heals the man of paralysis to prove his point!
  • Everyone was all…
  • (pg 16) – Jesus called Levi (Matthew) to follow him.
  • Levi had a banquet, filled with tax collectors.
    • Pharisees griped about it…that this holy man Jesus hangs out with sinners.
    • Interestingly, they complain to the disciples…like they think they can “hem them in” or corral them back by shaming them into compliance.
    • Jesus tells them, basically, “my message isn’t for you. It’s for the people who know they’re sick and need to repent to be healed.”
  • Jesus explains why his followers aren’t being as “externally religious” as other followers.
    • It’s interesting to me that John’s followers are more closely identified in conduct with the Pharisees than they are with Jesus, though he clearly pointed to Jesus and not the Pharisees.
    • Jesus explained that his followers were celebrating, and that fasting was an expression something other than celebrating. Then, explained further by using the illustrations of the new patch on an old garment and new wine in old wineskins. His point: the old can’t contain the new. Trying to meld/merge the new into the old destroyed both.
    • understated point: the new isn’t for people satisfied with the old.
  • Jesus and crew scrounge up some grains on the Sabbath. Get accused of harvesting on the Sabbath.
    • Jesus responds to the accusation by both pointing to King David as historical precedent and then identifying himself as the Son of Man, Lord over the Sabbath.
  • At a later Sabbath, a man with a deformed hand was in the crowd.
    • “The Pharisees watched Jesus closely.”
    • Is the deformed man “a plant?” Not that he’s a conspirer, but that he’s a pawn being used by those who want to invalidate Jesus.
    • Again, Jesus upsets their apple cart, reveals their motives, and heals the guy any way.
    • This further enrages the pharisees…who begin to conspire against him.
  • Jesus went up on the mountain to pray – not to be closer to God, but to be in solitude.
  • He prayed to God all night. He was in perfect relationship with the Father…and they stayed up all night talking together. WHAT A CONVERSATION that must have been.
    • The next morning, he called the 12 up to the mountain…chose them to be his apostles. The first ministry retreat! Bonding experience!
    • The parentheticals give relational context to Theophilus (and us). Judas Iscariot known historically as the betrayer of Jesus…also intentionally included from the onset. No effort to scrub him from the historical account.
  • They came down from the mountain, and was met by a multitude. The people came to listen and to be healed.
  • People clamored to touch him, because his power went out from him. He healed everyone.
  • He preached to the multitude (“Sermon on the Mount”).
    • Blesses theses who are poor…the Kingdom of God offers material provision that is greater/better than worldly materialism.
    • Blesses the hungry…God promises to satisfy physical need.
    • Blesses the sorrowful…God promises emotional provision.
    • Blesses those who are:
      • hated
      • excluded
      • mocked
      • cursed because of Jesus
        • – They will be rewarded
        • the ancestors of the guilty have been behaving this way for generations.
        • To this group, God promises relational provision.
    • Then Jesus flips the script, addressing these same four areas, promising judgment upon those who are living carnally – materialistically, gluttonously, hedonistically, and relationally indulgent.
    • Jesus challenges the audience to divest in worldly ways:
      • love your enemies
      • respond to violence with peace
      • return curses with blessings
      • Intercede for oppressors
      • Give generously to the takers/greedy.
      • This ethic undergirds “the golden rule.”
        • Living this way reflects your relationship with God, or more important, how God relates with you.
        • This compassion exemplifies God’s compassion.
      • More manifestations of this:
        • Do not judge
        • Do not condemn
        • Forgive
        • Give
      • We can’t get this from the world (“blind leading the blind”)
Me helping others with their splinters.
  • Don’t be distracted (“speck in the friend’s eye”)
  • further explains that living this way isn’t external effort, but natural “fruit” from being rooted in God. “Good fruit” comes from a “good heart.” God alone is good, and God alone makes bad people good.
  • Closes this sermon with the challenge to apply what they’ve heard.
    • Don’t call Jesus “Lord,” and live disobediently.
    • A disobedient hearer is a person who willfully lives foolishly.

Read part 2 here.

Immerse Day 1 Observations

Immerse is an 8-week (40 day) reading campaign, where we (our church) is encouraging everyone to read through the New Testament together. To date, we have approximately 3500 people who have expressed intent to participate.

Can’t promise I’ll be able to do this every day, but I’ll try to do so as often as I’m able…

Text: Luke 1:1-4:13 (Immerse introduction – p. 12)

  • Acts (to be addressed after Luke, paired with Luke’s Gospel in Immerse) reveals 6 barriers of Gospel advance (1 linguistic, 4 geographic, and 1 cultural).
  • “Many people” acknowledged by Luke wrote alternative accounts of the events detailed in his writing. These events were widely-known and reported. Luke himself undertook a thorough investigation, and his account is attested to be accurate.
  • His account was written so Theophilus could be certain that everything he had been taught was true.
  • Framing the events in the time of Herod was a time frame, a political frame, and a cultural frame.
  • Zechariah’s placement in the Temple was the result of casting lots. It seems random, but the events that unfold reveal that randomness is a phenomenon often attributed due to a lack of perspective.
  • Zechariah was a holy man. Righteous in God’s eyes. YET…he was shaken and overwhelmed with fear at the sight of Gabriel. We scarcely fathom the significance of holiness.
  • The Holy Spirit is mentioned…a lot…in these first pages. He is at work, a co-agent in the activity of the Lord.
  • John is revealed prenatally to be about the work of preparing people for the coming of the Lord….this work that would transform hearts and restore relationships is in harmony with the will of the Lord and the way of the Lord.
  • John, Gabriel promised, would be filled with the Holy Spirit for his task. John did nothing on his own, apart from or independent of God’s Holy Spirit.
  • Zechariah was more concerned about the birth of John than of the ministry or blessing of John. His response is judged as non-belief.
  • Gabriel recalibrates Zechariah…reminding the man of the angel’s proximity to and delegation by God…and of the certainty of what is prophesied.
  • Gabriel then visits Mary; her response is of confusion and disturbance. Yet, her response is not credited as disbelief. Perhaps a good explanation is that “opening the womb” was not unprecedented, while a virgin birth absolutely is.
  • When Mary visited Elizabeth, Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and received divine insight to the nature and personhood of the baby in Mary’s womb. Mary’s response is fully of faith.
  • Zechariah and Elizabeth’s naming of John went against cultural expectation. John’s name (in Hebrew) means “God is gracious.” This man’s name was his message.
  • Zechariah, suddenly able to speak, prophesied about John. Interestingly, his prophecy focused primarily on Jesus, and only later on John’s role in preparing others for the Messiah.
  • The story transitions to the birth of Jesus. Shepherds are mentioned being “terrified” by the appearance of Gabriel. God’s holiness is unmatched in our human experience.
  • Jesus’ birth was received with great joy by Anna and Simeon…two people whose lives had been devoted to spiritual awareness.
  • Little is mentioned of Jesus’ youth/adolescence. This isn’t the stage of life that matters most…only a single anecdote to affirm that his attentions to God were consistent and increasing. He was unique.
  • Luke’s extensive list of Roman authorities and Jewish religious leaders offers a precise triangulation of the historicity of Jesus.
  • John (now an adult) is seen fulfilling the promises that had been foretold of him. Jesus inaugurates his ministry by being baptized. Not for need, but to exemplify the salvific nature of his ministry.
  • His genealogy offers a clear trail of his origins to Adam. Jesus is fully man.
  • This reading closes with Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness, having been led by God (!) to it. He resists and overcomes his adversary solely through the power-filled Word of God. God’s truth overcomes all carnal assaults.