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Tag: Gospel

The Gospel is Good News to all who will humbly accept Jesus and listen to His teaching.

We refer to the four books of the Bible which tell the story of Jesus Christ as the Gospels. These books are named for their authors: Matthew, a Jewish Apostle; Mark, a disciple of the first generation who recorded accounts of Peter and the Twelve; Luke, a gentile Physician and disciple of the first century; and John, one of the Twelve Jewish Apostles chosen by Jesus.

  • Lord of the Sabbath

    Lord of the Sabbath

    Dr. Luke retells two stories of witnesses about Jesus and the Sabbath. (We should consider that the Good News is witness of the message of salvation, though the story of Jesus is not always chronological.) The time of these witnessed stories is not so important as the point.

    Returning (for this) to Luke 6:

    Jesus Is Lord of the Sabbath

    6 On a Sabbath, while he was going through the grainfields, his disciples plucked and ate some heads of grain, rubbing them in their hands. 2 But some of the Pharisees said, “Why are you doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath?” 3 And Jesus answered them, “Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him: 4 how he entered the house of God and took and ate the bread of the Presence, which is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and also gave it to those with him?” 5 And he said to them, “The Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath.”

    (We will return to this example of Jesus and David in a moment.)

    A Man with a Withered Hand

    6 On another Sabbath, he entered the synagogue and was teaching, and a man was there whose right hand was withered.7 And the scribes and the Pharisees watched him, to see whether he would heal on the Sabbath, so that they might find a reason to accuse him. 8 But he knew their thoughts, and he said to the man with the withered hand, “Come and stand here.”And he rose and stood there. 9 And Jesus said to them, “I ask you, is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to destroy it?” 10 And after looking around at them all he said to him, “Stretch out your hand.” And he did so, and his hand was restored. 11 But they were filled with fury and discussed with one another what they might do to Jesus.

    “They were filled with fury and ‘discussed…’”

    Nothing like the mixing of politics and religion, but that is the background and subject of these discussions; therefore let’s once again take on this controversy of Sundays, Sabbaths and the time and place of worship of God. [The ‘Sundays’ link points to my earlier post on Exodus: Remember the Sabbath to keep it holy.]

     

    Richard A Horsley, in ‘Scribe, Visionaries, and the Politics of Second Temple Judes,’ points out: The attention to conflict, whether with external imperial powers or internally between scribes and priest or between wealthy elites and others, results in a story of endless power struggles…

    Horsley continues: ‘a credible picture of the diversity of Judaism in Hellenistic Palestine emerges… ‘conflict: this time between the priestly aristocratic rulers of the Judean temple-state and their scribal retainers…

    Jesus lived under the watchful eyes of several opposing religious and political views, the two mentioned here: Scribes and Pharisees. Perhaps your church has a ‘scribe’ or ‘pharisee’ who would go on and on over endless controversies of how and when to worship God.

    It’s certainly not only the Saturday vs. Sunday controversy or what ‘Christians’ ought to do or ought not do on ‘the Lord’s Day.  As more recent controversies: “The State shouldn’t sell liquor on Sunday. The mall used to be closed on Sunday. God help us if we don’t have football and other sports to watch on Sunday!”

    No, the Sabbath controversy (artificial and particular as it can be) is not new and sometimes results in ‘christians’ being ‘filled with fury’ or resigned to unrighteousness. Jesus encountered such controversies every day. In fact, like conservatives and liberals, the religious and political types enjoyed such ‘discussions’ as a part of their ongoing emphasis of beliefs. (Nothing new under the sun.)

    When the Bible (Hebrew Bible, Orthodox Bible, Catholic Bible or Protestant Bible – {Get the idea?}) mentions Scribes, Pharisees, Priests or other religious officials; understand that these men had ongoing differences in their views of God and worship.

    The simplicity of Jesus approach to the Sabbath (or Sunday) is evident enough in Luke 6:9 KJV

    I will ask you one thing; Is it lawful on the sabbath days to do good, or to do evil?

    Jesus answer is so intuitive: It it lawful to do good seven days a week and 365 days every year; and unlawful to do evil on ANY day.

    Doing good is not work and failing to do good is evil.

    Jesus healed a man on the Sabbath and you would not expect your doctor to take Sunday off if you had a heart attack or were injured in an accident on the way home from church or the Sunday afternoon sporting event.

    In the earlier example, Jesus addresses the Sabbath ‘work’ controversy a little differently. (Imagine these men following you and your family to a restaurant after church.) Jesus and His Disciples were hungry and broke open some grain in a field as they walked through it (perfectly legal: Deuteronomy 24:19-22). The question of the Pharisees for these poor and hungry sojourners or travelers (Jesus and the Disciples) was ‘should you prepare and eat food on the Sabbath?’

    Jesus then uses the example of bread prepared for the Temple of God and an incident with King David.

    breadLuke 6:4 KJV How he went into the house of God, and did take and eat the shewbread, and gave also to them that were with him; which it is not lawful to eat but for the priests alone?

    Let’s examine this less-familiar reference a moment.

    Exodus 25:30  And you shall set the bread of the Presence on the table before me regularly.

    Leviticus 24: 5 “You shall take fine flour and bake twelve loaves from it… 6 And you shall set them in two piles, six in a pile, on the table of pure gold before the Lord… 7 …as a memorial portion as a food offering to the Lord. 8 Every Sabbath day Aaron shall arrange it before the Lord regularly… 9 And it shall be for Aaron and his sons, and they shall eat it in a holy place, since it is for him a most holy portion out of the Lord’s food offerings, a perpetual due.”

     David is not a Priest or a Levite of the line of Aaron.

    David and the Holy Bread

    21 Then David came to Nob to Ahimelech the priest. And Ahimelech came to meet David trembling and said to him, “Why are you alone, and no one with you?” 2 And David said to Ahimelech the priest, “The king has charged me with a matter and said to me, ‘Let no one know anything of the matter about which I send you, and with which I have charged you.’ I have made an appointment with the young men for such and such a place. 3 Now then, what do you have on hand? Give me five loaves of bread, or whatever is here.” 4 And the priest answered David, “I have no common bread on hand, but there is holy bread—if the young men have kept themselves from women.” 5 And David answered the priest, “Truly women have been kept from us as always when I go on an expedition. The vessels of the young men are holy even when it is an ordinary journey. How much more today will their vessels be holy?” 6 So the priest gave him the holy bread, for there was no bread there but the bread of the Presence, which is removed from before the Lord, to be replaced by hot bread on the day it is taken away.

    Or course, the Disciples are not Levite. Neither are Jesus and the Disciples in the holy place of the Temple. Yet the Pharisees did not recognize that they were in the Presence of Holiness.

    One earlier instance of the Hebrew use of this word for the Bread of the Presence.

    Genesis 14: 

    18 And Melchizedek king of Salem (where Jerusalem now stands) brought out bread and wine. (He was priest of God Most High.) 19 And he blessed him and said,

    “Blessed be Abram by God Most High,
    Possessor of heaven and earth;
    20 and blessed be God Most High,
    who has delivered your enemies into your hand!”

    And Abram gave him a tenth of everything.

    Jesus is our Redeemer and High Priest.

    Later, Jesus would say, “Before Abraham was, I AM.” (See John 8.)

    Here Jesus closes all discussion on the Sabbath controversies of the Scribes and Pharisees with a remarkable statement.

    Luke 6:5 KJV And he said unto them, That the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath.

    Jesus’ most frequent reference of his person is “son of man,’ that is:  huios anthrōpos. How bold a statement for Jesus to say that He lord [kyrios] also of the sabbath.

    Jesus IS Lord.

    He IS either your Lord…

    the Son of Man, who is Lord even over the days of the week – yes, even our measured days

    OR He will be Lord at your Judgment.

    Will you acknowledge Christ Jesus as your Savior and Redeemer?

    Abraham and Lot worshiped the Lord after the destruction of Sodom. God judged the sinful men and sinful women of those cities, yet saved Lot and his children. He would save you, also… before the wrath of the Lord rains down on you and it is too late.

    Worship Him.

    The Son of Man is Lord also of the Sabbath. Is He also your Lord and Savior?

     

  • Are You the One? – 2

    Are You the One? – 2

    Jesus to the multitudes

    Speaking of John the Baptist…

    Luke 7

    English Standard Version (ESV)

    26 What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. 27 This is he of whom it is written,

    “‘Behold, I send my messenger before your face,
    who will prepare your way before you.’

    28 I tell you, among those born of women none is greater than John. Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.” 29 (When all the people heard this, and the tax collectors too, they declared God just, having been baptized with the baptism of John, 30 but the Pharisees and the lawyers rejected the purpose of God for themselves, not having been baptized by him.)

    31 “To what then shall I compare the people of this generation, and what are they like? 32 They are like children sitting in the marketplace and calling to one another,

    “‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance;
    we sang a dirge, and you did not weep.’

    See the contrast of walking into two very different churches and hearing the complaints of the ‘worshipers.’

    33 For John the Baptist has come eating no bread and drinking no wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon.’

    We will have only grape juice (and only on occasion).

    34 The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Look at him! A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’

    We will have wine (and every time).

    35 Yet wisdom is justified by all her children.”

    One preacher is loud; one is soft. One place of worship is grand; another quaint. One has an organ and a choir; another only one with a guitar. One place they kneel; in another they jump up and down and fall to the floor.

    And what do the multitudes say?

    Jesus is not John… and John was not Jesus.

    Perhaps they were pious before John, while they were joyful around Jesus. Yet they complained of John’s piety and Jesus’ lack of it. Two brothers of the faith; two sons of God — yet both were more than that.

    God has a family of his own children. The speech and ways of one child of God will win the heart of another, while a very different way of  witness will not win this soul.  Our brother or sister of the family of God may win a soul that we cannot.

    John and Jesus (even cousins) were so different in so many ways. And you are so different from me.

    Wisdom is justified by all of her children (and God has many children). The words and ways and witness of the children are important, each for different times, different purposes and different souls for the family of God; but it is the Father and the wisdom of the Father to which all must yield.

    Worship is not for the multitudes; worship is of the Father.

    Wisdom is justified by all of her children.

    John was one child of God (none greater, according to Jesus). Jesus was One child of God. They taught different. They had different purposes for our Father God.

    Some children were chosen for the family of God long before their birth. (Jews.) Some children were chosen by adoption into the family of God before we were conceived in the womb. (Gentiles.)

    I thank the Lord for my inclusion in the family of our Heavenly Father by His redemption for my sin. I thank God for all of my brothers and sisters in the Lord – the multifaceted family of believers who have eternal life in Christ Jesus.

    And the merciful and Almighty God is justified by ALL His children.

    God is NOT justified by those who refuse to worship Him and honor the Lord our God humbly as a child of God. Jesus, John, Peter, Paul, the Prophets have always pointed out that these are children of their father the devil.

    Consider for just a moment the individual living souls of two witnesses:

    Jesus was NOT John and John was NOT Jesus, yet both are children of the Father.

    I am NOT my brother Ed nor my brother Ken nor my sister Jenny. I am NOT my wife Lissette. I am NOT my father Bill nor my mother Marie.  I am NOT my daughter Rachel nor my step-daughter Ashley nor my step-son David. I am not even the same as any Christian brother or sister in the Lord.

    Jesus asks John’s messengers (and the multitudes) to stop comparing one child of God to another and to take no offense.

    Luke 7:23 KJV And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me.

    It is good advice for ANY brother or sister, whether in the Lord at this time or not.

    Do not be skandalizō by the teachings and miracles of your ‘brother’ Jesus or the right teachings of any child of God our Father.

    The religious ones and outwardly righteous ones in the crowds (as recorded in Luke 7:30) were scandalized by the teachings of Jesus.  The common sinners, tax collectors, drunkards and others (v. 29) repented when they heard John and changed their ways to continue to follow Jesus as their brother and our Lord.

    My dear brother; my dear sister; my beloved wife and beloved children:

    What is my message for you?

    Do NOT be offended by the teachings of Christ Jesus.

    What is the fruit of your witness?

     

  • Who Welcomes His Ministry?

    Who Welcomes His Ministry?

    Luke 4:

    Jesus Begins His Ministry

    nazareth zabulon map14 And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and a report about him went out through all the surrounding country. 15 And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all.

    Jesus Rejected at Nazareth

    16 And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up.

    Generally, Doctor Luke provides us with great detail of proof from eye witness accounts of Jesus and the Acts of the Apostles; however in this chronological glance at the beginning of Jesus’ three-year ministry on earth after being led into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit a look through the eyes of the Apostle Matthew is more helpful.

    Matthew 4

    English Standard Version (ESV)

    Jesus Begins His Ministry

    capernaum from se12 Now when he heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew into Galilee. 13 And leaving Nazareth he went and lived in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali…

    Jesus of Nazareth, as He was known, then moved to and lived in Capernaum by the sea of Galilee.

    17 From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

    Let us speak to the vocation and mission of the Prophet for a moment.

    To begin, God appoints Prophets, generally separate of the Priestly office and official leadership of God’s own people. Prior to John the Baptist, the Prophet spoke and wrote to and of the fallen Nations: Israel, Judah and the gentile nations who God used to humble and punish His own people into repentance.

    Isaiah was probably an aristocrat with influence of kings. He lived about 700 years before Christ.

    Jeremiah and Daniel ( both about 600 B.C.) were both young when God used them as prophets to their own people and both older as God used them to show His glory to the rulers of conquering gentile nations. Ezekiel is also an exile around the same time.

    These men are not in charge; yet all, through the voice and power of God, call men to repentance.

    Amos is just a farmer and a shepherd in Judah (about 800 B.C.) who God uses to announce the fall of the northern Kingdom Israel. Micah was just a countryman in Israel who lived near the Philistine border about this same time.

    Hosea gets his marriage advice from God who instructs him to marry a whore, as His people have become. Jonah did not even want to be God’s Prophet and ran away (though God pursued and saved him.) We know almost nothing about the Prophet Joel.

    Although Zechariah and Haggai were connected to the office of Priest, it was at a time after repentance during the rebuilding of the Temple by Ezra and Nehemiah (about 500 B.C.). Malachi warns of too casual of an attitude toward worship of God (about 460-430 B.C.).

    The Second Temple is destroyed.  God keeps silent for over 400 years – 20 generations!

    Herod the Great, by alliance with gentile Rome, builds yet another Temple in captured Jerusalem.

    Along comes John the Baptist telling another Herod, Pharisees, Sadducees, Scribes, Temple authorities and the people everywhere: REPENT!

    He dresses and acts like a madman and lives in the wilderness; but the people believe and follow John. He baptizes and witnesses that Jesus of Nazareth is the one on whom the Spirit of God descends. He IS the Promised One.

    Now Jesus, who they all knew since boyhood, a man raised as a carpenter moves away from His hometown. He travels a few miles, moving His belongings to a little inland fishing village, Capernaum. And what was Jesus’ first message to his new hometown?

    Matthew 4:17 From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

    Jesus left His mother and brothers and family, their carpenter business and comes to a fishing village. Jesus doesn’t look like the wild Prophet John. He is gentle. He looks like his new neighbors. He dresses like them. He eats with them. And Jesus worships with them.

    Why would Jesus have that same crazy message for these new neighbors and new friends as He had for his family back home in Nazareth? Repent, you of Capernaum (also known as Chorazin). Repent Bethsaida (a neighboring fishing town on Chinnereth (the Sea of Galilee.)

    Jesus calls His Disciples to leave their fishing businesses to follow Him. They do. And among them another local resident, resented by almost every working man: Mathew Levi, a tax collector, who continues his narrative Gospel:

    Jesus Ministers to Great Crowds

    23 And he went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the people. 24 So his fame spread throughout all Syria, and they brought him all the sick, those afflicted with various diseases and pains, those oppressed by demons, epileptics, and paralytics, and he healed them. 25 And great crowds followed him from Galilee and the Decapolis, and from Jerusalem and Judea, and from beyond the Jordan.

    We, too, focus on these wonderful miracles witnessed by many and refuted by none. We look to follow this Jesus;He IS the same Jesus who comes to us, as did John the Baptist, saying: Repent!

    To be continued…