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Tag: God

Imperfect Family
The Son of Man – an imperfect family man

Have you ever thought of Jesus as an imperfect ‘family man?’

‘What?’ you may react! God Incarnate in the Person of Jesus imperfect as a ‘family man?’ I thought Jesus is supposed to be God the Father’s Perfect Human (Son of Man) example to each of us.

John 2

an imperfect family man, Jesus at a wedding feast in Cana

… there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. ²Jesus also was invited to the wedding with his disciples.³When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” 4 And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.” her, “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.”

He was known as a son of the deceased Joseph of Nazareth and his widow Mary, who raised His younger brothers at home. Jesus was not a married man who could invite His friends over to His house. His Disciples met at Peter’s house, feasted in the homes of others or even gathered in fields on hillsides or park-like olive groves. Jesus seemed always to be a guest and never the host.

In many ways Jesus can NOT provide a perfect example for us in every life situation.

As a husband, does any human experience of Jesus show you how you should behave toward your wife? (Of course Jesus was not married to a woman.) Jesus does not model the role or place for a woman. This Son of Man who had no children didn’t write a book of how to deal with your teen’s technology or your terrible two’s tantrums.

In a sense, Jesus was just like us in that He was imperfect as a family man.

Jesus loved celebrating with loved ones. He had to choose which parties He would attend and the company with whom He would spend His measured mortal time. Jesus celebrated as a guest with those He loved.

Luke 5:

Jesus at the home of Matthew

29 And Levi made him a great feast in his house, and there was a large company of tax collectors and others reclining at table with them. 30 And the Pharisees and their scribes grumbled at his disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” 31 And Jesus answered them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. 32 I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.”

Mathew Levi had just left everything to follow Jesus! [v.28] What a wonderful reason to celebrate with a feast.

Who should I spend Thanksgiving with?

Jesus had to make difficult choices in everyday life just like you and me. We cannot be everywhere and with everyone at once. (Neither could the Son of Man, until the pouring out of the Holy Spirit.)

Our difficult relational choices require our time with a certain loved one instead of another beloved.

You and I cannot spend Thanksgiving or Christmas, a certain wedding or obligatory funeral with all at once. My own choices for this upcoming week include situations that never fit into the ‘imperfect family life’ Jesus faced. (You or I need not detail reasons for exclusion of others from our time, but we all must make these relational decisions.) Here are a few questions I must answer now:
- Should I have Thanksgiving dinner with my beloved wife?
- Should I visit my beloved daughter?
- Should I travel to see my aging Dad?
- Should I find a way to visit my widowed Mother-in-Law?
- How can I at least acknowledge my dear step-children in several different states?
- How could I possibly see my brothers, sister and their families in so many different states?
These are the kind of questions which confront each of us at times of celebration set aside for family. Unfortunately, the family of Jesus may not help us to find answers to these heart-felt questions.

Why do I celebrate Thanksgiving?

I could stay home with my wife, who is unable to travel this holiday. I could drive to my dad’s or dine with my daughter. What’s so special about today? After all, can’t we eat turkey anywhere?

Is Thanksgiving just another day off? Or an excuse to overeat and party with friends and family? Is it the day that launches our christmas buying frenzy? Perhaps Thanksgiving is all of that and more.

In one moment of forgotten selfishness, we may give our time or food to others, family or even the hungry. Yet one purpose of Thanksgiving may still be lost on most of us.

If we have not thanked God for our many blessings, no act of charity will outweigh the bounty of our greed.

Only — the righteous give thanks to Thy name,

The upright do dwell with Thy presence!

Psalm 140:13 YLT

It was the Lord who blessed me with a warm place to live and put food on my table when I was homeless and without work. By mercy of what I did not deserve, Christ shared with me from the overflowing bounty of the Table of the King of Kings.

Thanks be to God for all before us on the day of this Thanksgiving feast and every other day.

Psalm 107

Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good!

Oh, that men would give thanks to the LORD for His goodness,
And for His wonderful works to the children of men!

For He satisfies the longing soul,
And fills the hungry soul with goodness.

Happy Thanksgiving, beloved.

May the LORD of all creation fill your table with His bounty, your soul with His great mercy, and your days with great grace though His only Son, our Lord, Jesus Christ.

Amen.

Roger Harned
November 25, 2015
Crushed

Let’s get something straight:

You are not good enough for Heaven. I am not even good enough for my church, my wife or my child.

If we cannot do enough good works to earn our place with a Holy God, how will we ever pay what we owe for our many sins?

Answer:

We can not.

No work we can do is good enough to pay the high price of our sins.

Five hundred years ago Martin Luther and many others sought to reform church leadership. Those protesting rejected sacramental penance of man for the true repentance of a man’s heart won back to God.

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.

Ephesians 2:8

Why did the LORD send Jesus to the Cross for my sins?

A most unattainable thing about goodness: We cannot attain it. We will always trespass. We will always sin.

Romans 7:

15 For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.

18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out.

19 For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing.

The Scriptures foretold of the coming of the Christ, who IS in the Person of Jesus.

Around 700 B.C., the Prophet Isaiah [in chapter 53] described the Savior of Israel, the Redeemer of the world:

He was despised and rejected by men;
a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief;
and as one from whom men hide their faces
he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

Surely he has borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed him stricken,
smitten by God, and afflicted.

But he was pierced for our transgressions;
he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
and with his wounds we are healed.

All we like sheep have gone astray;
we have turned—every one—to his own way;
and the LORD has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.

Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him;
he has put him to grief;

when his soul makes an offering for guilt,
he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days;
the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.

Isaiah 53:10

What good work will your soul offer for your guilt?

Mark 10:

17 And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 18 And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone…

“… come, follow me.” 22 Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.

“Then who can be saved?”

27 Jesus looked at them and said, “With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God.”

Are we good enough for Heaven?

NOT without the grace of God by faith in Christ Jesus, alone.

The generous philanthropy of the greatest foundation for charity to all the causes of good can not buy Heaven and eternal life for even one unrepentant sinner without the grace of faith in Jesus Christ.

GOD gave breath to your spirit, formed you in your mother’s womb and calls you to a life by faith in the Spirit.

Fellow sinner, when will you repent of your many sins?

Are you not crushed by your sins when your mind is convicted in guilt and no good work will lift the burden from you? Do you still consider that another good work will pay the price of the Lord’s piercing and death for you?

Confess your sin before Almighty God! Bow down your selfish will before Christ Jesus. Repent once more, dear fellow sinner. Turn back to the righteousness of our loving Father.

For God intends for your brief journey here beneath the immeasurable heavens and timeless creation to glorify your Lord. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.

Let us confess that we among many cannot do good without the grace of God.

We are saved by faith alone: in Christ Jesus, the only Son, One with the Father.

Humble your failing flesh to guidance of the Holy Spirit through faith in Christ Jesus, eternal Judge of all mortal souls.

REPENT! Self-righteous sinner.

Turn back to the LORD by faith in Christ Jesus,

While it is yet today;

Before you are crushed

By sin and death,

Before your good legacy becomes

Another forgotten rotting vanity.

October 31, 2015
Interrupting Jesus 12 – interrupting sin

`… to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy… build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince… the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times. Daniel 9:24-25 KJV excerpt

I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

Jesus answering the religious leaders. Luke 5:32 KJV

The following is the conclusion of a 12-part series on Interrupting Jesus.

What interruption are you expecting to your day today? What interruption to your mission and ‘to do’ list? Who has stepped into time you thought was your own?

Will you take time, like a loving and merciful God, to love those who get in the way of what you had planned for today?

Jesus made people the focus of His time. No sinner was too unimportant to receive His love and healing. You are not so important or unimportant for God Incarnate to grant you grace, forgiving your sins.

The LORD had interrupted men like Abram, Moses, David and the Prophets. The LORD made covenant and promise. He has given the Law to Israel and made judgment on nations. God IS the LORD!

Why would the eternal GOD interrupt the time of history, even the measured mortality of one man or one woman?

The LORD is Almighty, yet God loves the world – the sons and daughters of the generations – enough to interrupt the rebelliousness of our sin with the love, mercy and grace of a Perfect Heavenly Father.

God interrupted the sin of mankind in the Person of Christ Jesus.

Jesus loved every sinner who interrupted His mission and ministry; from His mother at the wedding where He turned water into wine, to the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well, to the tax collector Zaccheus in the tree, to you and me.

Jesus Christ loves the people of the world with a personal love and forgiveness of God the Father.

Every generation has looked for God or selfishly ignored God.

The LORD may not have appeared to your grandfather Abraham and your father and mother. The LORD may not have promised a home to your twelve children in a land of milk and honey. The LORD may not have given your leader the Law or appeared to your High Priest. The LORD may not have called you to rebuke kings and nations or given you writing on the walls of history.

For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. John 1:17

The LORD God is known. The LORD IS. In the Person of Jesus Christ and through the Holy Spirit, God is present to those who believe, repent and obey His will; those who believe in Him, as a faithful child follows a loving Father.

Ungodly men seek to do as they please and lead other men into their own sinful ambitions. Israel and all nations look to strong men to lead us into a promise of land and riches for our own ambitious pleasures. False prophets and evil leaders of men will seek your sacrifice for their gain of land and riches.

Jerusalem and Solomon’s Temple had been destroyed. September 21, 520 B.C., Temple rebuilding resumes and is completed in 515 B.C., only to be destroyed once again. A faithful exiled Hebrew Prophet had predicted this and more from Babylon (modern day Iraq) under Nebuchadnezzar and later under Cyrus II of Persia (modern day Iran) who overthrew Babylon and allowed some of the Hebrew captives to return to Judah.

Daniel, Prophet of God, lives a godly and high priestly life in a foreign land from about 605-535 B.C. Here the testimony of God through Daniel:

Daniel 9:

In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, by descent a Mede, who was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans— ²in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, perceived in the books the number of years that, according to the word of the Lord to Jeremiah the prophet, must pass before the end of the desolations of Jerusalem, namely, seventy years…

“O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments,

⁵we have sinned and done wrong and acted wickedly and rebelled, turning aside from your commandments and rules.

⁶We have not listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land. ⁷To you, O Lord, belongs righteousness, but to us open shame…

¹¹All Israel has transgressed your law and turned aside,refusing to obey your voice. And the curse and oath that are written in the Law of Moses the servant of God have been poured out upon us, because we have sinned against him. ¹²He has confirmed his words, which he spoke against us and against our rulers who ruled us, by bringing upon us a great calamity…

¹⁵And now, O Lord our God, who brought your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and have made a name for yourself, as at this day, we have sinned, we have done wickedly…

The Israel of Moses and Joshua had not yet received the true promise of the promised land. Jacob and the twelve sons of Israel did not reap the harvest of the leading of God. David and even Solomon would suffer defeats of a mighty kingdom and evil kings to follow did what was evil in the eyes of the Lord.

Prophets of the LORD, like Jeremiah and Daniel had warned the people of their sin, yet like us… like those leaders of defeated Judah who lived comfortable in their ‘religion’… most souls will not have the ears to hear the LORD. Israel did not expect the kind of Messiah the LORD had sent to personally give accountability for our sins. Jesus was not a leader like them.

Five hundred years after the Prophet Daniel, Herod the Great [37-4 B.C.] envisioned himself as the kind of King Israel should have to restore the kingdom. Many others recognized the true godliness of a Prophet like John the Baptist.

John 1:

¹⁹And this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?”

²⁰He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.”

During the time of the Messiah in the Person of Jesus Christ, men of Judah, living under the strong rule of a Roman Empire, expected a Messiah King to restore their land to the glory of David and Solomon. Jesus Christ, a Son of Man, came to us that all might be restored to the glory of God by receiving forgiveness of our sins through His Holy and Perfect Sacrifice.

The LORD God is just. The Lord God is a loving Father. Christ Jesus IS sacrificed for us. He IS risen to return once more to judge all souls in the Light, forgiving those who repent and turn back to the righteous LORD.

Three years of earthly ministry of Jesus Christ lead to the gates of Jerusalem more than once, a final time as the Passover Sacrifice for the sins of all mankind on a Cross. An interruption of the centuries and generations by Almighty God gives rise to all nations and all mankind – hope to all the generations for the forgiveness of our sins and eternal life with the LORD God, our Father in Heaven.

Not only does Jesus interrupt history with a resurrection of His soul, as one might expect; but the greatest interruption of all: Jesus rises from the grave of death in the body and appears to more than five hundred over a time of fifty days!

The Prophets and the Psalmist had spoken and written of the Messiah, who would be King of the Jews. The Scriptures had spoken of the King to whom all will bow down. It was not to happen on earth, in the brief lifetime of Jesus of Nazareth or in yours or mine. Yet Scripture and the promises of the LORD will be fulfilled.

Another interruption is yet to come:

Daniel is not the only true Prophet to see the handwriting on the walls of what the LORD will surely do. Read more of the Prophets about the day of the LORD.

Jesus Christ, our Lord, also warned of His return on the clouds. The Apocalypse written at the close of the New Testament is well-known to the world as an interruption of history yet to come, though the Revelation of Jesus Christ to John is little understood even by believers.

Do you live your life in expectation of the return of Christ our Lord on the clouds?

Revelation 21

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

5 And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” 6 And he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end…

Do you give the souls who interrupt your day the same love and compassion Christ Jesus has given us by showing a most personal interest in our forgiveness of sins?

Revelation 22 KJV

11 He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still.

12 And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.

13 I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.

14 Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.

LORD, interrupt our mortality with your own loving immortality.

Amen.

September 21, 2015