In John 6 (Read Chapter here) there is A LOT that takes place. This chapter is 71 verses in all, but it is broken up nicely into 4 different sections.
Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand (verses 1-15)
This is a miracle of Jesus that is talked about very regularly. All four Gospels give an account of this particular miracle which gives a clue as to the level of amazement and impact this miracle had on Jesus' followers. You can find the other accounts in Matthew 14 (includes Jesus walking on the Water), Mark 6 (also includes Jesus walking on the Water), and Luke 9. It is rare to find an event in the Life of Jesus where ALL four gospels talk about it so this particular event was extremely important to the gospel writers.
In short summary of this account, we see Jesus crossing the Sea of Galilee and a crowd of people follow him, these people had seen him do a number of miracles and healings and are amazed enough by Jesus to walk away from home, work, family, responsibilities, etc to watch Jesus do more miracles. Jesus notices the crowd and sits down on a mountainside. He decides that he and his apostles need to feed the crowd, but the crowd is at minimum, numbering 5000 because that is how many MEN were there. This number doesn't include women and children; so the number could easily be 10k-15k. Think about trying to feed that many people a decent, filling, lunch...very expensive Philip told Jesus it would take 8 months of wages to pay for everyone to simply have a bite; let alone a full meal. Then Andrew brings a boy he found who has 5 loaves of Bread and 2 small Fish, but this can't do anything to help feed 5000+ people. Jesus tells the people to sit, he "gave thanks" then distributes the food and there is enough to feed all the people so they "all had enough to eat". Then the disciples gather 12 baskets full (like bushel size baskets is my understanding) of leftovers.
The people there who witnessed the miracle talked amongst themselves saying this guy is the real deal, he has to be from God. And Jesus knew that they wanted to make him their King so he slipped away alone.
One thing that I wanted to point out was that Jesus provided. This wasn't something the people asked for. They didn't come to Jesus saying we're hungry, please feed us. Jesus saw the crowd coming, the other 3 gospels tell us it was late in the afternoon, late in the day, and becoming evening; so seeing that these people were probably hungry he decided to feed them. They had a need and he met it.
God delights in providing for his children just as most parents delight in giving their own children what they need. There is great Joy in being a dependable provider for one's children. There is a sense of fulfilled responsibility and purpose, "a job well done" kind of feeling...except there is a deeper more personal emotion attached to it that creates a deeper feeling of Joy than simply completing a task. Providing for one's children could easily be described as a labor of Love. Jesus shows us in this miracle the fulfillment of one of God's primary promises to us throughout scripture, "Provider".
Jesus Walks on Water (verses 16-24)
So Jesus has disappeared on the apostles and they are probably thinking, "not again" cause he tended to do this to them from time to time. So they are making their way across the sea to Capernum and they had gone, John says, 3 or 3.5 miles and the water would starts getting rough and the wind starts blowing and they are rowing hard fighting the waves in the dark of the evening; then they see this guy walking towards them on the water. What would your first reaction be? FEAR is a good word for it. But he spoke, telling them it was just him, Jesus; their fear was eased and they let him in the boat. Then interestingly the boat immediately reached the shore where they were heading. We don't know if they were actually really close to the shore at this point or if there was a divine transport to the shore, but much like Jesus walking on the water, we don't necessarily need to know everything to have faith in the sovereignty of God.
The next day the crowds realized that Jesus and his disciples were gone so they hopped some ship that had just arrived and went to Capernum looking for Jesus.
This section is heavy on the Sovereignty of God; meaning God has power over all things. Nothing is outside of his abilities. God created the winds and the waves and so he can do with them what he wants, walk on them, stop them, start them, etc. Jesus as God's son has this same sovereignty over all things and he shows it here by doing this great feat of walking on the water.
Jesus the Bread of Life
In the Old Testament, God provided daily food (Manna) for the Israelites while they were wondering in the desert/wilderness on their way to the land God promised would be theirs to begin a nation in. Jesus tells the crowd once they find him that yesterday he gave them bread that filled them for a few hours, but they need to eat of the bread of life, bread that allow them never to be hungry again. They want this bread, of course, and ask how to get it and Jesus says, I AM that bread, but you don't get it. You want more miracles and signs from me to "prove" that I am the one sent by God. Then Jesus goes into this really weird bit of talking where he literally says I am the bread that has come down from heaven (meaning I am of God), unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood you are will not have eternal life.
There are 2 Major problems here for the crowd: 1) By saying he is the bread of life come down from heaven, he is claiming divinity and specifically he is claiming to be the son of God. These people knew Jesus from his hometown, they knew his parents, some probably watched him grow up and now he claiming to have come down from heaven. They can't bring the 2 ideas together and reconcile that the sovereignty of God could allow something like this. Plus the Jews fully expected the coming "Savior" to be a "knight in shining armor" kind of character that would throw down the Roman Government and reestablish the Jewish nation as a the power of the world. So you can probably see the problem they have with a poor carpenter's son who hangs out with fishermen and tax collectors claiming to be the Divine son of God. 2) By telling the people they must eat his flesh and drink his blood, they really think he intends for them to become cannibals and gain eternal life through eating his body. But the problem is that this crowd has so deceived themselves that they can't listen to what Jesus is trying to plainly tell them because they are so caught up with what they want to hear. Jesus is speaking very basic metaphors and they are listening with literal ears. Jesus is trying to compare the manna that gave daily nourishment to the Old Testament Jews in the wilderness to him as Savior who gives eternal life. They hear flesh and Jesus is speaking spirit. They are actually asking some decent questions, but because Jesus already shot down their attempt to make him king, they have began to turn negative against him and "can't see the forest for the trees." No matter what Jesus says here they are caught up in their own personal ideas of what the "Savior" will be and are blinded by themselves to the Savior who is right in front of them. These people are asking for signs and miracles from Jesus to prove that he is of God as he says he is when just the day before he fed a ridiculous amount of people front nearly nothing. Miracles he gave them, but they weren't really looking for a Savior all they wanted was a free meal and a show.
Ultimately what this interaction does is begin the downward spiral of Jesus' popularity as he increasingly reveals who he is as the Son of God, Savior of the world, Messiah, etc.
Many Disciples Desert Jesus
After this discussion that seems to take up most of the day and the reality that these people aren't going to see any more miracles they decide Jesus isn't what they were hoping he was and he definitely is not what they were looking for and they leave. Jesus' disciples comment to him saying, Jesus, this hard stuff for you to say, and he basically responds by saying "if you can't handle the heat, get out of the kitchen." And a number of his disciples desert him. Jesus then turns to his 12 apostles and says do you want to leave too? And Peter despite his often thoughtless comments makes one of the most simple yet profound statements I have ever seen; he says, "LORD, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We believe and know that you are the Holy One of God." In other words, what other option is there? We believe you are who you say you are and so therefore, where else could we go? This is a major statement of Faith by Peter. BUT...
Jesus takes this response and says, you may believe I am who I say I am, but remember something: I chose you, you didn't choose me. These people were trying to choose me as king. I am not campaigning for a position here, I am teaching with words of truth. These people have seen me do many miracles and yet they still can't believe my words. I chose you and the father gave you the ability to believe in me. I chose you, and yet one of you is my enemy/the devil (referring to Judas Iscariot who would later betray him). This statement by Jesus gives some insight. It reminds us that we can only come to Jesus when invited to come, which we see multiple times from Jesus that through the death of Jesus on the cross and his resurrection all are invited, but not everyone will come. So there is an open invitation, but there also must be a response. Secondly, that response MUST be a continual response. Judas Iscariot responded and followed Jesus for almost his entire ministry, but he then betray Jesus to be turned over to the Jewish leaders and turned his back on him. Salvation doesn't come just through a one-time response to the invitation of Jesus. Salvation come through a lifetime of continual following the call of Christ to take his Gospel to the world.
There was a lot that happened in this chapter, please ask questions and make comments if something needs more details or if something leads you to a question about something else. Any comments are welcome. thanks.
Showing posts with label Messiah. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Messiah. Show all posts
Monday, December 17, 2012
Wednesday, December 12, 2012
Day 4: John 4 - Jesus, healer to all people
Please forgive me for my hiatus over the last week. There have been some things happen that didn't really permit me the time I need to write these daily blogs for study. So, for the current time being I will do my best to catch us up and do as many of these studies as I can per day till we are back on track. Hopefully you have been reading as planned (1 chapter in John per day) and you can simply read these studies and review what you've read as I write and post them. Once again I'm sorry for getting so behind.
JOHN 4: (read the chapter here)
This is a long chapter, 54 verses in all, and as is with most chapters in John it is loaded. I will try and keep the content of this post as short and to the point as possible so it isn't a massive undertaking to read.
The Samaritan Woman (verses 1-26, 39-42):
Jesus was creating quite a stir in Judea and not wanting to do this yet, he and his apostles left the area and headed back to Galilee. To do this from Judea they had to go through Samaria which is where the Samaritans lived. Samaritans where like the Jew's reject cousins. They were all related way back in the family tree, but they hated each other. And this point is important to remember going forward. Jesus stops at a well in Sychar (a town in Samaria) at about the 6th hour (that would be Noon/12pm) and a woman comes to the well while he is there. This is BIG...woman in this day typically went to the wells for water in the morning; partially because it was cool, but it was also like their social hour. It was a time for the woman of the town to meet, chat, gossip, etc. This woman apparently was not welcome at the well in the morning, we'll find out why in the next few verses.
Jesus asks the woman for a drink of water...STOP...a big deal here; Jesus, a JEW, asks a SAMARITAN (most Jews hate Samaritans)...WOMAN (men did not chat with woman they weren't married to, it was even considered by some to be stooping below yourself to look a woman in the eye that wasn't your wife)...for a drink of water. This was a massive NO-NO for a Jewish man, and the woman knows it and calls him out on it in verse 9. But Jesus had a reason (as he always does), he tells here she should actually be the one asking him for a drink, because the water he has gives everlasting life and she will never go thirsty again. She thinks he is still actually talking about literal water and asks him for this water so she'll never be thirsty again and have to come to the well everyday.
Before "giving her" this water; Jesus needs to address a problem, rather a sin in her life. So he tells her to go get her husband, which he knows she has none. He tells her she has in fact had five husbands and currently is living with a man who is not her husband (now we see why she isn't welcome at the well in the mornings). She is shocked at his knowledge and understanding he is someone who is very close to God (she says a "prophet") she asks him a religious question about the appropriate places to worship God. Jesus' response is that soon there will not be a need for a place to worship properly, because true worship will take place through the Spirit (referring to the Holy Spirit). The woman responds, acknowledging that she knows about the coming Messiah and that when he comes he will make all things clear and understandable to all people; Jesus says: "he's here, and I am he!!"
In verse 27-30 Jesus' Disciples return and the woman runs off and tells everyone she knows about Jesus; then jumping ahead to verse 39-42 we see that because of the woman's testimony about Jesus many people come to meet him, hear him speak and believe in his teachings and who he says he is. In fact, they ask him to stay as their guests for more time and he stays for 2 more days.
Teaching the Disciples (verses 27-38):
Back to verses 27-38; Jesus' disciples return and the woman runs off to tell everyone about her encounter with Jesus. The disciples are somewhat stunned at Jesus for having this private conversation with a Woman...a Samaritan Woman (as we often are today, the disciples were often caught up in keeping a certain public profile and reputation that they thought would appeal to "everyone"). Despite their surprise no one dare call Jesus out on this because they knew better.
After the woman ran off the disciples tried to get Jesus to eat and he says, I don't need food because I have food that you know nothing about. Jesus says, I survive on the nourishment of doing the will of my father who sent me. Then in verse 35-38 he says something that has puzzled me as to what he is actually talking about. 1) On one level I think he is trying to get it through his followers heads that now, here, in Samaria is a time to love people and bring them to my father, because he wants all people to be his followers, not just Jews. Jesus is showing his followers that he is not here just for Jews, he is here to bring salvation to the entire world. 2) But on another level, I think he may simply be trying to tell them that many people participate in the work of God. Some people do the sewing of the gospel seed into the hearts of the world and other people do the watering and still others may actually get to see the fruit of all that work come to bear. 3) But he also makes it pretty clear in verse 38 that the hard work is done for us...the hard work of the teaching the Law (Moses and the Rabbis), preaching repentance (the Prophets of the OT and John the Baptist), and even more so the hard work of Jesus dying on the Cross and Rising from the dead wiping all sins of the earth away.
***Like I said, this chapter is loaded***
Healing an Official's Son (verses 43-54)
Here Jesus returns to his home region of Galilee, specifically Cana (which was basically home, very near Nazareth). While there an Official, a royal official (meaning, again probably not a JEW), comes to Jesus and asks him, in fact begs him to come heal his son in Capernum (a major city in Galilee). Something of note to mention here, this royal official heard Jesus was in Cana, and came out from the big city to find him in the country region of Cana to BEG him to come heal his son. Jesus tells the people near him, I think maybe with some frustration in his heart, that unless they see him do miracles they will not believe.
So what does Jesus do...he tells the guy go home your son will be healed and on the way home a servant meets the official to tell him his son is well and they discover that it was actually at the same time Jesus told him his son would be healed that was healed all the way over in Capernum. This healing is interesting to because Jesus tells the people that they need to see miracles in order to believe in him, but the then he does a miracle they can't see, so they and the official have to take him at his word that he does what he says he is doing.
Jesus cares for, has compassion on, heals, and saves those that we (his followers) think he should have no business even talking to. This is the "upside-down Gospel", Jesus upside-down way of doing things. It's upside-down to us, but we are actually the ones who need to change our point of view.
"Give me you eyes for just one second; Give me your eyes so I can see everything that I've keep missing. Give me your LOVE for Humanity." -Brandon Heath-
JOHN 4: (read the chapter here)
This is a long chapter, 54 verses in all, and as is with most chapters in John it is loaded. I will try and keep the content of this post as short and to the point as possible so it isn't a massive undertaking to read.
The Samaritan Woman (verses 1-26, 39-42):
Jesus was creating quite a stir in Judea and not wanting to do this yet, he and his apostles left the area and headed back to Galilee. To do this from Judea they had to go through Samaria which is where the Samaritans lived. Samaritans where like the Jew's reject cousins. They were all related way back in the family tree, but they hated each other. And this point is important to remember going forward. Jesus stops at a well in Sychar (a town in Samaria) at about the 6th hour (that would be Noon/12pm) and a woman comes to the well while he is there. This is BIG...woman in this day typically went to the wells for water in the morning; partially because it was cool, but it was also like their social hour. It was a time for the woman of the town to meet, chat, gossip, etc. This woman apparently was not welcome at the well in the morning, we'll find out why in the next few verses.
Jesus asks the woman for a drink of water...STOP...a big deal here; Jesus, a JEW, asks a SAMARITAN (most Jews hate Samaritans)...WOMAN (men did not chat with woman they weren't married to, it was even considered by some to be stooping below yourself to look a woman in the eye that wasn't your wife)...for a drink of water. This was a massive NO-NO for a Jewish man, and the woman knows it and calls him out on it in verse 9. But Jesus had a reason (as he always does), he tells here she should actually be the one asking him for a drink, because the water he has gives everlasting life and she will never go thirsty again. She thinks he is still actually talking about literal water and asks him for this water so she'll never be thirsty again and have to come to the well everyday.
Before "giving her" this water; Jesus needs to address a problem, rather a sin in her life. So he tells her to go get her husband, which he knows she has none. He tells her she has in fact had five husbands and currently is living with a man who is not her husband (now we see why she isn't welcome at the well in the mornings). She is shocked at his knowledge and understanding he is someone who is very close to God (she says a "prophet") she asks him a religious question about the appropriate places to worship God. Jesus' response is that soon there will not be a need for a place to worship properly, because true worship will take place through the Spirit (referring to the Holy Spirit). The woman responds, acknowledging that she knows about the coming Messiah and that when he comes he will make all things clear and understandable to all people; Jesus says: "he's here, and I am he!!"
In verse 27-30 Jesus' Disciples return and the woman runs off and tells everyone she knows about Jesus; then jumping ahead to verse 39-42 we see that because of the woman's testimony about Jesus many people come to meet him, hear him speak and believe in his teachings and who he says he is. In fact, they ask him to stay as their guests for more time and he stays for 2 more days.
Teaching the Disciples (verses 27-38):
Back to verses 27-38; Jesus' disciples return and the woman runs off to tell everyone about her encounter with Jesus. The disciples are somewhat stunned at Jesus for having this private conversation with a Woman...a Samaritan Woman (as we often are today, the disciples were often caught up in keeping a certain public profile and reputation that they thought would appeal to "everyone"). Despite their surprise no one dare call Jesus out on this because they knew better.
After the woman ran off the disciples tried to get Jesus to eat and he says, I don't need food because I have food that you know nothing about. Jesus says, I survive on the nourishment of doing the will of my father who sent me. Then in verse 35-38 he says something that has puzzled me as to what he is actually talking about. 1) On one level I think he is trying to get it through his followers heads that now, here, in Samaria is a time to love people and bring them to my father, because he wants all people to be his followers, not just Jews. Jesus is showing his followers that he is not here just for Jews, he is here to bring salvation to the entire world. 2) But on another level, I think he may simply be trying to tell them that many people participate in the work of God. Some people do the sewing of the gospel seed into the hearts of the world and other people do the watering and still others may actually get to see the fruit of all that work come to bear. 3) But he also makes it pretty clear in verse 38 that the hard work is done for us...the hard work of the teaching the Law (Moses and the Rabbis), preaching repentance (the Prophets of the OT and John the Baptist), and even more so the hard work of Jesus dying on the Cross and Rising from the dead wiping all sins of the earth away.
***Like I said, this chapter is loaded***
Healing an Official's Son (verses 43-54)
Here Jesus returns to his home region of Galilee, specifically Cana (which was basically home, very near Nazareth). While there an Official, a royal official (meaning, again probably not a JEW), comes to Jesus and asks him, in fact begs him to come heal his son in Capernum (a major city in Galilee). Something of note to mention here, this royal official heard Jesus was in Cana, and came out from the big city to find him in the country region of Cana to BEG him to come heal his son. Jesus tells the people near him, I think maybe with some frustration in his heart, that unless they see him do miracles they will not believe.
So what does Jesus do...he tells the guy go home your son will be healed and on the way home a servant meets the official to tell him his son is well and they discover that it was actually at the same time Jesus told him his son would be healed that was healed all the way over in Capernum. This healing is interesting to because Jesus tells the people that they need to see miracles in order to believe in him, but the then he does a miracle they can't see, so they and the official have to take him at his word that he does what he says he is doing.
Jesus cares for, has compassion on, heals, and saves those that we (his followers) think he should have no business even talking to. This is the "upside-down Gospel", Jesus upside-down way of doing things. It's upside-down to us, but we are actually the ones who need to change our point of view.
"Give me you eyes for just one second; Give me your eyes so I can see everything that I've keep missing. Give me your LOVE for Humanity." -Brandon Heath-
Saturday, December 1, 2012
John 1 - Life Comes with & through Jesus
As I promised this is the first of a month of posts that are my reflections from the day's reading; my hope is to post most of these in the mornings, but I'm on vacation right now and so I'm not on my normal schedule; so bear with me for a day or two.
Today's reading is from John 1. If you have yet to read that stop now, pull out your Bible and turn to John 1 or click this link for an online Bible and read the chapter. There is a lot that happens in this chapter, so just as you normally would or should take your time, pull out a journal, and write down your questions & thoughts as you go along. It may be that my thoughts might help you with yours, but if not feel free to comment to my blog with your questions and comments.
The author, John the Apostle of Jesus, begins his account of the life of Jesus in verses 1-18 by telling us exactly who Jesus is and where he comes from and why this is important. John tells us that Jesus was with God, his Father, from the beginning; in fact, not only was Jesus with God from the beginning, but it was through Jesus that the entire world came into being. It was through Jesus that life exists. It is through Jesus that life still exists today. It is through Jesus that you and I have breathe in our lungs. You see the importance of these 18 verses in John is to make it known that it was simply God the father speaking life into existence; it was God the Father and God the Son (Jesus) and God the Spirit (the Holy Spirit) who all created the earth, the sun, the moon, the stars, the universe, literally all things. John is telling us that without Jesus nothing can exist. Without Jesus nothing has life.
Then John goes on to tell us a little about John the Baptist (not the same John) and his role in the coming of Jesus to his public ministry, this takes place in verses 19-34. The main point during this section, in as simple terms as I can put it, is that John's role was to prepare the way; to bring the attention of the people not to himself, rather to the fact that the Messiah, the Savior was coming and it was time for people to be aware and ready to accept him (Jesus) as the coming King of the World. John says that Jesus is the one the prophets wrote about long ago and he will do everything spoken about him in the law and prophets (law & prophets = Old Testament). Jesus was the one who came to prepare the way for Jesus to come; John came to "roll out the red carpet" for Jesus.
Verses 35-51 is a quick account of Jesus calling his first 5 apostles to follow him in his ministry. One key verse that gives a large amount of insight into the way Jesus wants to have relationships is in verse 43. It says, "Finding Philip...". Jesus found Philip and asked him to "follow me". We don't "find Jesus", he finds us, get ourselves saved and we don't get saved by our pastor or friend or T.V. evangelist. We are saved by the Grace and Love of God offered to us and made possible through the sacrificial death and following resurrection of God's Son Jesus. Once we come to an understanding of this sacrificial gift and accept it making Jesus our lord and master we are called to bring others to a place where they can meet Jesus and experience the same understanding and salvation. We see this in verses 45-49, Jesus first found Philip, then Philip went and found Nathanael and brought him to Jesus and when Philip got Nathanael in the presence of Jesus Nathanael's life was changed forever.
Those are quick overviews of the three big sections of this chapter. Please comment to this with any comments or questions you may have and I'll do my best to help. I'm really excited about this study we are going to be doing together this month, the Entire book of John, a couple chapters in Luke, and the book of James. So get ready, buckle up and stay committed to this cause when we are seeking God in his word he will come reveal himself to us. So get ready to meet God this month if you take this seriously.
GO ALL IN!!!
Today's reading is from John 1. If you have yet to read that stop now, pull out your Bible and turn to John 1 or click this link for an online Bible and read the chapter. There is a lot that happens in this chapter, so just as you normally would or should take your time, pull out a journal, and write down your questions & thoughts as you go along. It may be that my thoughts might help you with yours, but if not feel free to comment to my blog with your questions and comments.
The author, John the Apostle of Jesus, begins his account of the life of Jesus in verses 1-18 by telling us exactly who Jesus is and where he comes from and why this is important. John tells us that Jesus was with God, his Father, from the beginning; in fact, not only was Jesus with God from the beginning, but it was through Jesus that the entire world came into being. It was through Jesus that life exists. It is through Jesus that life still exists today. It is through Jesus that you and I have breathe in our lungs. You see the importance of these 18 verses in John is to make it known that it was simply God the father speaking life into existence; it was God the Father and God the Son (Jesus) and God the Spirit (the Holy Spirit) who all created the earth, the sun, the moon, the stars, the universe, literally all things. John is telling us that without Jesus nothing can exist. Without Jesus nothing has life.
Then John goes on to tell us a little about John the Baptist (not the same John) and his role in the coming of Jesus to his public ministry, this takes place in verses 19-34. The main point during this section, in as simple terms as I can put it, is that John's role was to prepare the way; to bring the attention of the people not to himself, rather to the fact that the Messiah, the Savior was coming and it was time for people to be aware and ready to accept him (Jesus) as the coming King of the World. John says that Jesus is the one the prophets wrote about long ago and he will do everything spoken about him in the law and prophets (law & prophets = Old Testament). Jesus was the one who came to prepare the way for Jesus to come; John came to "roll out the red carpet" for Jesus.
Verses 35-51 is a quick account of Jesus calling his first 5 apostles to follow him in his ministry. One key verse that gives a large amount of insight into the way Jesus wants to have relationships is in verse 43. It says, "Finding Philip...". Jesus found Philip and asked him to "follow me". We don't "find Jesus", he finds us, get ourselves saved and we don't get saved by our pastor or friend or T.V. evangelist. We are saved by the Grace and Love of God offered to us and made possible through the sacrificial death and following resurrection of God's Son Jesus. Once we come to an understanding of this sacrificial gift and accept it making Jesus our lord and master we are called to bring others to a place where they can meet Jesus and experience the same understanding and salvation. We see this in verses 45-49, Jesus first found Philip, then Philip went and found Nathanael and brought him to Jesus and when Philip got Nathanael in the presence of Jesus Nathanael's life was changed forever.
Those are quick overviews of the three big sections of this chapter. Please comment to this with any comments or questions you may have and I'll do my best to help. I'm really excited about this study we are going to be doing together this month, the Entire book of John, a couple chapters in Luke, and the book of James. So get ready, buckle up and stay committed to this cause when we are seeking God in his word he will come reveal himself to us. So get ready to meet God this month if you take this seriously.
GO ALL IN!!!
Monday, November 19, 2012
A NEW Savior...?
For
the works that the Father has given me to finish—the very works that I am
doing—testify that the Father has sent me. And the Father who sent me has himself testified concerning me. You
have never heard his voice nor seen his form, nor does
his word dwell in you, for you do not believe the one he sent. You study the Scriptures
diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the
very Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to
come to me to have life.
It is closing in on Christmas
season and at some point soon you will probably drive by or see a Nativity
Scene at a church or on a street corner, maybe even in your own yard or on a
table or dresser in your house. Many people, Christian or not, religious or
not, know the Christmas story in some form or fashion; yet many of those same
people do not believe Jesus is who the Bible says he is.
The truth is, a quick look into the writings of ancient non-biblical historians will
show that there was a man named Jesus who lived and was crucified by Pontius
Pilate precisely when the Bible says it happened. I don’t have time to get specific on all the
history stuff, but the point is, there is not any real argument that can say
Jesus didn’t live and live an extraordinary life, nor is there any argument
that can really dispute his death on a Roman cross. My point is that Jesus’ life and death are
undisputed fact.
However, I
don’t find it odd or even out of the ordinary that people today, despite
historical evidence, don’t believe that Jesus is who the Bible says he is or did
what the Bible said he did. It don’t
find it odd mainly because the many of the people who were literally in the presence of
Jesus, the people who actually watched him perform the miracles he performed
couldn’t even believe that he was who he said he was. These were people who would have known the
prophecies about the coming Messiah by heart.
These were the people who were waiting for the Messiah to come. They stood by and watched Jesus fulfill
prophecy after prophecy and yet they still would not believe he was who he said
he was.
With all this
in mind; today I was reading in the Gospel of John and read the above statements by Jesus
from John 5 and it hits me...its not that
they didn’t see Jesus or experience his works and miracles, it’s not even that
they weren’t really hoping for the Messiah to come because I believe they were
still hoping; Jesus says, it’s not that you didn’t see me doing the work my
Father has given me to do…the fact is you simply don’t believe that Salvation
comes from me and therefore from the Father.
You have found other things to place your hope and trust in. You have found new Saviors.
The problem of
faith in the world and even in the church today isn’t that people don’t believe
Jesus came, lived, did all he did, and died, which is what I originally thought. I think the problem is that we have found new
Saviors. We have found other things to
place our hope and trust in. Things
like money, possessions, stock market, bank account, or careers. We have found new saviors in athletic figures,
actors/actresses, music stars, college football teams, boyfriends or
girlfriends, government or government figures, and the list goes on. Jesus said in Matthew 6:21 that the
person/place/thing that you place the most value on is where your heart will be
also.
So, with this
season that reminds us of the TRUE SAVIOR that came to the world to bring all
things back to a right relationship with the Father through his life, death,
burial, and resurrection; where do you place your hope? In WHAT or WHOM do you place the highest
value? Have you found a new savior or is Jesus the Savior of your life? Does your checkbook and calendar reflect
Jesus as Savior or is it something or someone else? As I said last month… ask yourself, To Whom
or What do I Bow my Knee?
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