Talk of JESUS . com

Tag: Lord

  • 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?

     

  • Lord, Lord

    Lord, Lord

    “My lord, King…”

    “My lord of the land where I live, lord of the house you own that I rent…”

    “My lord, protector of the lands and neighborhood against the enemies which would destroy me and my family and take everything we have…”

    “My lord, boss, administrator over my work and lord over my wages and payment…”

    “Oh, Lord,” we exclaim of God or Christ; but it is a concept with with we have much difficulty.

    “Oh, my God!” “Good Lord!” Once references to our helplessness in relation to Deity, now exclamation of our helplessness of self.

    “OMG” – small god; BIG MY!

    Will you bow down to our merciful Father in Heaven, Jesus asks?

    Will a wife lord it over her husband?

    Will a child lord it over its mother?

    What do you mean when you call Christ Jesus your “Lord?”

    Luke 6:46 “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you?

    My grandparents were poor and could only afford a small house on a riverbank. I remember it well from my boyhood. We would walk in the side door off the gravel drive and up three steps to the right to enter the kitchen of the small house where my mom grew up. To the left several steps descended into the unfinished basement where the furnace and coal bin were located. Beneath the kitchen window in the back was a small river bank that descended in two levels to a plateau on level to the basement floor then another drop to the river (unless it was flooded). Their house was built on a riverbank of firm clay.

    Yet many years in the spring the river would flood the entire neighborhood on the bend in the river. My grandparents would put the furniture up on cement blocks and wait for the water to recede. The house still stands after many years (in the neighborhood pictured above.)

    Jesus speaks of two houses built on places of less and of more stability and again gives us a picture for consideration of our faith.

    47 Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like:

    48 he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when a flood arose, the stream broke against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built.

    fallen house49 But the one who hears and does not do them is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the stream broke against it, immediately it fell, and the ruin of that house was great.”

    “Do you mean to say that Jesus is still calling the multitudes to repentance?

    OMG! (or should I say, Oh, my Lord?)”

     

  • The Multitudes He Did Not Serve

    The Multitudes He Did Not Serve

    Sometimes we just don’t get it. We only want to see the nice things Jesus did. We only want to hear the nice things Jesus had say and even now speaks through Scripture and the Spirit.

    In case you missed the beginning of this series, we are following the early days of Jesus’ public ministry. We have looked at His early calling of the people to repentance and followed Jesus to his rejection (and near murder) by the people of Nazareth.

    Doctor Luke records in chapters 5 and 6 a list of some of Jesus’ early miracles. (How we use these all-too-frequently to attract the multitudes to our church buildings! The bigger the blessings for the multitudes, the bigger the building we need.)

    I related an often used part of a favorite teaching of Jesus in an Advent preparation series on The Beatitudes. Oh how we love to point out the miracles of His feeding the 5000 and the feeding the 4000; while we forget that Jesus’ message is to REPENT! Turn back to God, our Father. He sends us the bread from Heaven. Jesus is the Bread of Heaven. His Word is what we MUST digest.

    “Blessed are you… Happy are you: This we want to hear. 🙂

    We turn now to Luke 6.

    Jesus has been preaching repentance. He has performed many miracles. He has shown compassion for many individuals and even compassion for the hungry crowds.

    People will follow Jesus anywhere, IF only He will keep performing miracles for them. (You remember, his own neighbors and friends in Nazareth were angry enough at Jesus to want to throw Jesus off the cliff to His death.) Why? We want to be entertained. We want blessings and not curses. We want proof.  (Forget faith!) He would NOT perform for the multitudes of for even his hometown neighbors and family.

    Jesus of Nazareth - Tyre to the N. - Israel, Judea map
    Jesus of Nazareth – Tyre to the N. – Israel, Judea map

     

    Jesus Ministers to a Great Multitude

    17 And he came down with them and stood on a level place, with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea and Jerusalem and the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon, 18 who came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases. And those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. 19 And all the crowd sought to touch him, for power came out from him and healed them all.

    [Here is the nice part we all love:]

    The Beatitudes

    20 And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said:

    “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.

    21 “Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you shall be satisfied.

    “Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh.

    22 “Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man! 23 Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven; for so their fathers did to the prophets.

    Amen! Yes, we need this Jesus.

    (Lord bring us a miracle and bring us your reward. Prove you Power to us and we will follow You.)

    Ah, but you with ears to hear, hear what Jesus says next:

    Jesus Pronounces Woes

    24 “But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation.

    25 “Woe to you who are full now, for you shall be hungry.

    “Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep.

    26 “Woe to you, when all people speak well of you, for so their fathers did to the false prophets.

    So you want to be rich, do you? You want Jesus to bless your house with plenty and laughter and good reputation for you and your family… Are you sure? Do you really want it all NOW?

    Dear brothers and sisters of His church, of the multitudes of christians;

    Hear what you do not recall (and I will shorten it for our short memories; but read it all, if you will:)

    Love Your Enemies

    27 “But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.

    Have you been abused? Sexually? Physically?  Verbally? Financially? Emotionally?

    Do some hate you? (Certainly a fellow believer or sister who claims Christ ought not?)

    LOVE THEM.

    Though they are your enemies, love them. That is what Christ Jesus commands. (Are you still with us, christian of the crowds and multitudes?)

    What is this ‘love’ to which Jesus (IF He IS our Lord) calls us?

    • Welcome them (perhaps into your homes, but certainly into your life. (How else will they see Christ in you?)
    • Entertain them. No, not like TV or a sport or your cell phone; just do not ignore your enemies as if they are not real people created by God, perhaps for a later winning into His Kingdom.
    • Be fond of them. Admit it; you know people who are enemies of Christ Jesus whom you admire and like. Are they not also deserving as you of His love as shown through you?
    • Love them dearly. Yes, your enemy; that the love of Christ Jesus may shine into the darkness of their life.

    Not only, “love them,” do good to them.

    Sure, we all remember the story of the good Samaritan; but Jesus’ point was not so much that a hated man did good for a man, but that men (and women) who claim to be “good” do not often do the good act of mercy, as had the Samaritan unbeliever. Therefore Jesus continues in Luke 6:32

    32 “If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. 

    33 And if you do good to those who do good to you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners do the same…  35 But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. 

    36 Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.

    Jesus’ personal love is also personal love for the unbeliever and for the unsaved, as you and I were once unsaved and an enemy of God (though our profession may have been false and our faith rebellious).

    REPENT! Show mercy, as our Heavenly Father has shown us mercy.

    and LOVE, as Christ Jesus has loved us.

    For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. – Romans 5:10 KJV

    No, repentance is not such a bad message for each of us; therefore, be reconciled to your brother in Christ. Be reconciled to your sister in Christ. Be reconciled even to your enemy! Love them.

    And just two additional things (from Luke 6:27) added next in v. 28:

    28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.

    Abuse (of all kinds and of varying degrees) is a terrible thing, an offense between two human beings, both created by God. The word often translated ‘abused’ by this and other versions of the Bible in the KJV reads: “them which spitefully use (you).” It is a better translation (unencumbered by the world’s spin on the meaning). Listen to the meaning from Jesus’ words:

    Outline of Biblical Usage

    1. to insult

    2. to treat abusively, use despitefully

    3. to revile

    4. in a forensic sense, to accuse falsely

    5. to threaten

    ALL of these are abuses of the enemy; and the enemy is Satan. Do you use these spitefully in retaliation against those who spitefully use you? Do you respond to your enemies (or even a brother or sister in Christ) in a spiteful way?

    Stop it! Jesus commands us: LOVE them. DO good to them. BLESS them. (and here is the hard one for us:) PRAY for them.
    –
    Oh how I pray for enemies who have spitefully used me. One of them may be you… or your loved one.
    –
    I pray that they will repent.
    I pray that they might confess their sin and turn back to God (that’s what repent means, you know; turn back).
    I pray that they might be that lost sheep.
    I pray that they might be that one you never believed would REPENT and hear the word of Jesus over the hatred and ways of the world and the sin of who we also once were before He also saved us.
    Oh, dear one, REPENT of your sin. I pray for you.
    Pray also for me.
    Forgive us our trespasses,
    As we forgive those who trespass against us.
    Are our enemies not our worst offenders?
    Forgive us, for the many times we, too have been an enemy of our Lord, Christ Jesus who teaches us:
    Pray for our enemies.
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