Category Archives: Jesus

What’s Your Response?

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Imagine a lush banquet with copious quantities of the best of food and drink.  That’s how God symbolically described the Kingdom He would establish.  Of course His people yearned for that Kingdom to arrive, especially since He also promised to wipe away tears and banish death forever.  If you are not familiar with that prophecy, I’ll print it below.  But in Jesus’ day, they knew it and yearned for it to be fulfilled.

So, when someone mentioned the Kingdom to Jesus, and He responded with a parable about a great banquet, the small hairs on the back of their necks stood to attention.  Making it more electrifying was the “servant” in the parable, who comes to tell people the banquet is ready.  One of Isaiah’s most common expressions for God’s Messiah was “the Servant.” (e.g. See Isaiah 42:1)

Here’s how He began the parable:

… “A man once gave a great banquet and invited many. And at the time for the banquet he sent his servant to say to those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’ But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said to him, ‘I have bought a field, and I must go out and see it. Please have me excused.’  (Luke 14:16b-18)

Those who had “ears to hear” sensed that Jesus was telling them He was the Messiah-Servant, sent by God to announce the Kingdom, proclaiming “everything is now ready.”  The tragedy was that most of those who had been waiting and yearning for that announcement then decided that the busyness of their regular lives was more pressing and important than the opportunity to join God in His Kingdom for eternal life.

Don’t compound the tragedy; Jesus still speaks those same words of invitation to each of us today.  “Come, for everything is now ready.”  What is your response?  Are you wanting to be excused?  Consider carefully.

Here’s Isaiah’s prophecy:
On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine, of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined. And he will swallow up on this mountain the covering that is cast over all peoples, the veil that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up death forever;and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the Lord has spoken.  (Isaiah 25:6-8)

No Vacancy

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Many New Year’s resolutions fail because it is not enough to simply stop harmful and habitual behavior.  The vacancy formed must be filled with something good.  Anyone who has gone on a crash diet and failed knows the truth of this.

The same principle is true in the spiritual realm, although the stakes are much higher.  Jesus illustrated the principle like this:

“When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and finding none it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when it comes, it finds the house swept and put in order. Then it goes and brings seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there. And the last state of that person is worse than the first.”   (Luke 11:24-26)

Attempting to keep one’s soul “swept clean and put in order” may seem possible temporarily, but ultimately fails.  What we need is a new “resident” living in the house of our soul.  We need to hang a “No Vacancy” sign out for returning evil spirits.  Which makes this promise of Jesus exceedingly good news:

Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.  (John 14:23)

When Prayer Seems Boring

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I used to think praying was about the most boring thing you could do.  Stop everything, close your eyes, and wait while someone says obvious things in ornate, religious language.  When it’s over, then you can go do what you would really like to be doing.  Truth is, sometimes I still feel that way. 

But, what if…   what if…   Think of someone – anyone of your own choosing – with whom you’d give your eye teeth for a chance to sit down and have an informal conversation.  What if you told someone of that desire, and he said, “Oh, I know that guy; I’m going up to his house this afternoon for a get together.  Wanna come?” 

One day, Jesus said something like that to three of His disciples:

Now about eight days after these sayings he took with him Peter and John and James and went up on the mountain to pray.  (Luke 9:28)

If someone asked you, “Hey, I’m going to go pray; wanna come?”  you might not be enthusiastic.  But what if Jesus said, “Hey, I’m going up to have a chat with My Father; wanna come?”  That could be pretty exciting.  And in fact, when those three went up the mountain with Jesus, they absolutely had their minds blown by what happened.  (Keep reading Luke 9:29 and following for the details)

One of the things Jesus purchased for us on the cross was the opportunity to go on up to His Father’s house for an informal chat.  At any time, even when we feel we would be least welcome.  Jesus invites us personally to go with Him and:

“… with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. ” (Hebrews 4:16b)

Prayer, seen in that light, is anything but boring.

Hearing and Doing

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Look for repeated words as you read the Bible.  Sometimes you will be rewarded with new insight  I learned that again as I read Jesus’ parable that begins in Luke 8:4 about the farmer who sowed seed. 

As Jesus explains the meaning of the parable, He uses the word, hear, repeatedly.  Those alongside the road who hear the Word of God have it snatched away by the devil and fail to believe.  Those who hear the Word and receive it in a superficial, emotional way soon fall away. Those who hear but are then consumed by riches and worries do not produce any fruit from it.  But those who hear with a good heart and hold it fast keep on bearing good fruit.

But wait; there’s more!  In what seems like an abrupt change of subject, Jesus talks about the futility of covering a lamp so it cannot be seen.  And then he says this:

Take care then how you hear, for to the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he thinks that he has will be taken away.”   (Luke 8:18)

Hmmm….   And then Jesus’ mother and brothers show up but can’t get to Him.  When Jesus hears about it, He says this:

“My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it.”  (Luke 8:21)

If you read through that whole section from verse 4 you will see several more times in which the word “hear” or “listen” (same original word) is used.  Apparently, it is all connected by what it means to truly “hear.” Hearing the Word of God makes no difference except for those who understand it, put it into practice, and spread it around.

All the Way

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Three small words bring tears to the eyes of parents on Christmas morning:  “Some assembly required.”  (Borrowed that line from my friend; thanks, Bob!)  If you have engaged in “some assembly” you have probably discovered there is a certain order in which everything must be done or it just won’t go together right. If you fasten the connectors on the axle before you have connected the crank, you have to take the whole deal apart and start over. 

John the Baptist was baptizing people as an expression of their repentance from sin and Jesus showed up to be baptized.  John was astonished and said, “No way… You should be baptizing me.”  Here’s how Jesus replied:

But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” (Matthew 3:15a)

Translation?  This has to happen first, before I can begin the rest of my ministry, or the whole deal won’t work right.   God made a plan and each piece of the plan must be accomplished in the right order.

Which raises this question: Why would the sinless Son of God need to be baptized as a symbol of repenting from sin? You know He had to come to earth as a human being in order to accomplish the plan.  To leave His privileged position in Heaven and come to earth as a human was a big step down.  But He did it to identify Himself with us, according to the Plan.  He wasn’t born to royalty in a palace, but to a homeless, young couple who improvised a makeshift crib in a feed trough.  Huge step down, to identify with the lowliest of us.

How do you feel in moments when you have openly acknowledged your own need to repent, to turn away from sin?  Have you ever felt lower?  Probably not.  And it was to that place that Jesus descended, in the waters of John’s baptism, to identify with you, when you were at your lowest.  As He explained, It had to be done this way, or the whole deal wouldn’t work right.  “We must do this now to fulfill all righteousness.”

Jesus came all the way down, to rescue you.

Getting Us Ready

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When it came time for God to send His Son to save the world, first He sent a prophet to get us ready.  By doing what?  What would need to be done to get a people ready to receive the Son of the the Creator, ready to fully profit from His coming?

You might think the prophet would take them on spiritual retreats to fast and pray on the top of a mountain.  Perhaps a lot of humming and incense would be involved.  But, according to the last thing written in the Old Testament and the first thing in the New Testament, proclaimed by an angel to the father of this prophet, a major part of what he would do would be:

“… to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared.”  (Luke 1:17b, quoting from Malachi 4:6)

That seems a pretty basic thing to do to prepare people for God’s arrival.  And it is.  But, as we have experienced in the last several decades, the health and strength of a people is directly proportional to the loving concern of fathers for their children.  And vice versa.  When fathers abandon their children, even emotionally, the whole sound structure of wellbeing begins to crumble. 

Jesus came to bring us eternal life and reconciliation with God.  He came to bring the power of the Holy Spirit to us.  But He also came to repair the broken fabric of how simple, healthy life on earth was designed to be lived.  Starting, even before He showed up, with fathers.

We’d do well to pay attention to that and act accordingly…

Brand New

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In the Lego Movie, there is a scene in which a silly, Lego ghost descends from above, hanging from a visible thread and slowly spins around like a spent yo-yo.

image

This character, whose name is Vitruvius, looks pretty stupid and weak except for one thing: Morgan Freeman provided the voice for this character.  And Morgan Freeman could bring gravitas to a dish mop.  Imagine how cool it would be if you could go into a business meeting with your boss and present your case with Morgan Freeman’s voice…

Consider this: 

2 Corinthians 5:17
Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.

When someone surrenders to Jesus by faith, they receive something that makes them completely new.  It isn’t merely a voice-over from a distinguished actor.  It is the very life of the Creator of the universe. 

Brute Force Was Too Weak

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Emily was dying of leukemia. Everything the doctors tried hadn’t stopped the disease.  Traditional treatments for cancer bombard the body with poison and radiation, but when those things didn’t work, a new, experimental treatment was tried on Emily.  Instead of trying to pound the disease into submission with brute force, they took tiny immune system cells from her body and modified their DNA.  When these tiny cells were put back into her body, they began to kill the cancerous cells.  Today, 3 years later, Emily is a normal, healthy fifth grader.  I’ve included a link to this really cool story below.

But it got me thinking: When God looked down and saw the Earth, overrun by the deadly cancer of sin, heading inevitably toward death and destruction, He did not bombard it with raw power.  He did not flood it with poison, radiation, or even flood waters, as He had unsuccessfully done in early days.  Instead, He sent a tiny, helpless baby, Who came with a new DNA: eternal life.  His therapy for the curse set loose on this planet seemed too small, too powerless to ever prevail over such a terrible disease.  And yet, His cure is spreading, one person at a time, as each one believes and is reborn.

Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.  (John 5:24)

No more let sins and sorrows grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make His blessings flow
Far as the curse is found,
Far as the curse is found,
Far as, far as, the curse is found.  (Joy to the World)

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Here is the link:  http://www.nbcnews.com/health/cancer/gene-editing-huge-leap-forward-fight-against-cancer-n484716

The Champ

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The family that won the title for the most Christmas lights in 2014 hung 601,736 lights. However, their record was surpassed by God, Who lit only one light.

The people who walked in darkness
have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone.  –  ( Isaiah 9:2)

How could one light beat out more than 600,000? God’s light spread and multiplied. What sort of light could do that? John said it like this:

In him [Jesus] was life, and the life was the light of men. (John 1:4 My parenthetical note)

The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.  –  ( John 1:9)

Now, if the light that shone in the darkness is the life that was in Jesus, how did it become “the light of men?”

He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. –  ( John 1:11-13)

Life begins with birth. Since God’s light is life, it is multiplied through the process of birth in those who receive it. No mere physical birth, it is nothing less than the birth in a human being of God’s eternal life. As He said it would, this light has spread around the world. 601,736 lights? Not even close…

Really Good News

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The town of Raqqa, Syria, used to be a pretty nice place to live.  That is, before ISIS marched in and took over.  Now everyone is forced to live under their draconian laws.  No one is allowed to leave.  A squad of goons patrols the town, looking for people to arrest.  Commonly, those arrested, even for minor offenses, are publicly tortured, mutilated, beheaded or crucified.  In other words, life in Raqqa is not much different from life in Bethlehem when Jesus was born.  Particularly with the public floggings and crucifixions.

Consider that, and read this:

Luke 2:10 — 11 
And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.

Good news?  Really?  Suppose you  lived in Raqqa, trapped and terrified, and an angel came and said, “Good news! A savior has come!”  But then he tells you the savior is an infant, so you are going to have to be patient…   Would that really seem like good news?  Wouldn’t you rather have a savior who was special forces and flew a helicopter? 

Most people felt the same way back in first century Bethlehem.  They didn’t realize their captivity was not primarily to the Romans but to their own self-destructive, sinful urges. As awful as it was to be under the thumb of cruel, pagan conquerors, far worse was the threat of eternal damnation.  Jesus was born as a baby and lived a normal and yet sinless life in order to be qualified to set them (and us) free from captivity to sin.

Joseph received this angelic message in a dream:

Matthew 1:21
She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”

I am certain there are people in Raqqa today who are discovering this Savior, just as some did in Bethlehem.  His salvation is just as powerful today as it was then, bringing peace and freedom despite dark and desperate circumstances.  Jesus gives eternal life that not even ISIS can destroy.  And that really is “good news for all the people.”