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Tag: Luke

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    Your ATTN: required

    20 Jan, 2015, In the US, President Obama, the most powerful man in this world, gave the President’s annual State of the Union address to the US congress and a worldwide audience. (I have neither heard it nor previewed it, but rest assured his priorities are not mine or yours.)

    1 January, 2015, You were likely one of millions to make at least one or a list of New Year’s resolutions. (You’ve had three weeks. How are you doing with that?)

    10 July, 2007, We were on our honeymoon in beautiful St. Lucia. I wanted to establish some important priorities for our new marriage, concepts borrowed from “The 7 Habits of Highly Organized People” by Steven Covey, from which the graphic for this post is taken. My bride was recuperating from another chemo-therapy treatment (not your usual honeymoon activity) and wanted nothing to do with it. I trashed the book.

    Plan all you want; some things are important and some are not.

    Some events become urgent, most do not.

    As a good manager of my life I want to always plan for the important things and important people of my future.

    As the poor manager of my time and relationships (as all-to-frequently I am), I gravitate from the important to the unimportant (as Covey warns) and neglect the inevitable importance of those life events and people which will surly come without warning. (No, I still have not updated my will… for instance.)

    And who would ever think to plan so poorly to have a honeymoon right after a cancer treatment. My urgency and reasons failed to stand in the importance of time.

    I have led a successful and fruitful life in past times in more than one career. (I cannot claim that in this particular fleeting moment of eternal time).

    A man like me (perhaps like you) came to Jesus right when he was on top.

    What can you do for my portfolio, Jesus? Does your new mega-church need some money? I know you have the power here.

    Can you help me out here? What can you do for me?  (Everybody wants me to be part of their church boards and leadership, you know.) How can I help you, Jesus? I know you could do just this one thing for me, please.

    Now you may claim to have never seen this man in the Gospel and that he never said that. Yet look closer to this familiar story (remembering how rich almost ALL Americans and Europeans are (along with a select, exclusive group of the rich in nearly every country throughout the world).

    Consider that you are the RICH man coming up to Jesus. Later we will reconsider our priorities: their urgency and their importance.

    Luke 12:

    The Parable of the Rich Fool

    13 Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.”

    14 But he [Jesus] said to him, “Man, who made me a judge or arbitrator over you?”

    Now this is NOT the answer we rich women and rich men expect as an answer from Jesus, is it?

    My father is currently blessed with long life. He is 91. My mother went to be with the Lord in 2007. I have three siblings. (As I mentioned, I have not even updated my own will. {Shame on me..}) For me, this scenario of the rich man could well take place at anytime in the next decade. So easily could I come to Jesus and ask Him to be an arbitrator over my inheritance of earthly riches.

    I’ve had some tough times the past few years… been taken advantage of… lost much. (Nobody bailed me out. No one replaced my income or market losses.) I once had extra storage and extra accounts for all my wealth! But not now.

    Can Jesus help me?

    Listen to our Lord’s reply:

    15 And he said to them, “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” 16 And he told them a parable, saying,

    “The land of a rich man produced plentifully, 17 and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ 18 And he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods.

    19 And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.”’

    “Eat, drink and be merry.” You have heard it quoted back to you out of context that this is straight from the Bible from the teaching of Jesus.

    But the rest of the expression, “for tomorrow you die,” though true, is not the application of Jesus’ teaching.

    20 But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ 21 So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.”

    “God said to him, ‘Fool!’

    Jesus is not warning us to party now, because one day you will die (and it could be as soon as tomorrow). He is not telling the man not to save some of his wealth, either. Jesus is telling the man that he is saving up for the wrong priorities and possibly a wrong day (of his life) for which he is planning, but does not expect.

    Do Not Be Anxious

    22 And he said to his disciples, “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will put on.

    Jesus does not tell the man not to plan his barns. Jesus does not tell the man not to save his money for a future need. Jesus does not even tell the man to give some money to his church so that God will bless him. What a ludicrous call to an offering; but it is so often the hope of the rich man who wants and covets even more. (I’ll listen to this preacher and give him a little, because he promises that God will give me even more if I give to his church.)

    What was important to Jesus, then? What did Jesus think the rich man should plan. What does Jesus think you should plan? For after all, tomorrow may be the day your soul is required of you.

    Eternity is a long time. How close our entrance into the rest before judgment! By comparison even to the urgency of life’s every day trials and the importance of this mortal life’s focus on a lifetime; how near we stand each God-given day to the treasure of heaven, or how near we teeter toward the precipice of sin’s backsliding into a long punishment of Hell!

    Does God say to you, “Fool!?”

    Do you think that any investment of your time and money will keep the steep cliff of sin upon which you stand from the collapse of landsliding time? Do you have any hope of surviving the fall without the Savior of the fallen to lift you toward light?

    Jesus Christ has promised us an inheritance in heaven. He has guaranteed our reward by His sacrifice for our sins – and these are many – on the bloody Cross.

    Focus on your eternal future. Manage your earthly time and money. Invest in Christ’s righteousness. This, of course, in addition to worshiping God and giving some of your time and money to the church, means that like Christ Jesus, our Lord (so we claim), we must always love God, always love people (and so many of us are so hard to love – really).

    Do not be deceived by your dreams and desires for a bigger barn on earth. Do not be swayed to avoid the thought that you are mortal and a God-appointed day for the end of this life awaits you.

    Do you think its enough to spend a little time and a pittance of pocket change at church once a week? Is that your storage barn of heaven?

    Let us plan for eternal life by our investment in our daily life. Let it be for Christ Jesus, who sacrificed everything for you and for me.

    Jesus paid the price for your soul. Yet if you do not follow Him as lord of your life, you will not have the ransom for your soul, required to pay for your sin.

    Dearly beloved, mortal sister, mortal brother of this failing flesh: please do not be the rich fool. Repent! Turn back to bow down to Jesus as your Lord, our only Saviour, while it is yet today.

    For all we know, tomorrow! – your soul may be required of you.

     

  • Jesus, a Refugee

    Jesus, a Refugee

    ‘Can you explain the church?’

    An unbeliever or a follower of another faith notices your joy for Christmas.  Maybe you just wished them a ‘Merry Christmas’ and they sensed your sincere joy in the Lord. A flesh and blood friend, a friend with a soul, wants to know from you something about Christ’s corporate community, the church. What do you tell them?

    Note: This is the third post of my Advent 2014 series, which began with ‘The Scandal of a Virgin’ and is a continuation of last week’s Advent post, ‘Christ’s Corporate Community – A Christmas Question.’

    Who is this Jesus of Nazareth, this baby in a manger?

    Well… He’s not actually from Nazareth or even Bethlehem, the place where God had Mary give birth. Jesus is historical.  Jesus was born as a man just like you and me. Jesus died just like you will die and I will die.

    Yet Jesus, Son of Man, born in a manger, crucified on a cross, buried in a grave – Jesus, Son of God, was raised from the dead! Jesus lives in the flesh and blood and Spirit! Jesus Is!

    This is the Good News of Christmas, Gospel to the darkness of the world: Jesus Is. Through faith in Christ Jesus you may receive eternal life and light, rather than darkness, death and punishment for your sins.

    Jesus Is and was not just a baby in a manger or a poor suffering man on a cross.

    The story of Jesus’ nativity (as it is called) in Bethlehem is witness to God with us, Immanuel. It is the story of Jesus being rescued from death as a child as part of a family of life and light for all mankind. Hear this prophesy of Isaiah:

    Isaiah 9:

    But there will be no gloom for her who was in anguish. In the former time he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time he has made glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations.

    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.

    John 8:12 Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

    Who is this Son of Man, born in a manger in Bethlehem?

    It is the same question of the unbelieving crowd Jesus answered before His crucifixion and resurrection.

    John 12:35-36a So Jesus said to them, “The light is among you for a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you. The one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going. While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light.”

    The church: men and women who claim God and claim Christ as Lord – Christian families: worshipers of God the Father, Jesus Christ (born in a manger, etc.) and the living Holy Spirit are intended by God to be a light in the darkness of these days to all mankind. Are you?

    Are you a light in the world of unbelievers? Joseph and Mary were.

    Joseph and Mary came to Bethlehem as loyal citizens of the community of God and forced to flee as refugees. It had to do with government, taxes and Joseph having to go to his family home in Bethlehem along with everybody else, because he was a descendant of David, King of Israel.

    Luke 2 English Standard Version (ESV)

    Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea (for there was no Israel in those days), but immediately Joseph took Mary and Jesus to Egypt. Eventually their family (Joseph, Mary, Jesus and his brothers) settled in Nazareth of Galilee.

    Jesus had a father and a mother on earth to raise him as part of an earthly family – a husband and wife with kids to raise – God’s plan for family and community.

    God’s living example of this family that included Jesus was not without its troubles (just like your family and mine). God the Father provided both an earthly father and mother for Jesus, a home in which to be raised and a community in which to live (once the danger of the destruction of babies was past). [See: Matthew 1]

    The nation of Israel were God’s chosen people. Joseph and Mary were faithful to God, more faithful than than leaders who had taken power, rebuilt the Temple and compromised God’s laws to rule alongside pagan Romans over Jerusalem and surrounding towns.

    Into the Temple, Joseph and Mary brought Jesus to be dedicated to God, as was the tradition of faithful Jews.

    Luke 2

    21 And at the end of eight days, when he was circumcised, he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.

    Jesus Presented at the Temple

    22 And when the time came for their purification according to the Law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord 23 (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, “Every male who first opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord”) 24 and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the Law of the Lord, “a pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons.”

    25 Now there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. 26 And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. 27 And he came in the Spirit into the temple, and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him according to the custom of the Law, 28 he took him up in his arms and blessed God and said,

    29 “Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace,
    according to your word;
    30 for my eyes have seen your salvation
    31 that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples,
    32 a light for revelation to the Gentiles,
    and for glory to your people Israel.”

    33 And his father and his mother marveled at what was said about him. 34 And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, “Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed 35 (and a sword will pierce through your own soul also), so that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed.”

    Jesus of Nazareth, as this child in a manger would come to be called at age thirty in Jerusalem, would be known to the community of Nazareth and neighboring towns on the Sea of Galilee. Jesus would be known and rejected by the leaders of God’s worshiping community as well, the Temple of Herod in Jerusalem.

    Roman-Provincia_SyriaJudea was a mess, again. Judea was no longer Judah. Jerusalem was not a political capital, because it was ruled by Rome. Israel was centuries before defeated (even before the fall of Judah and the rise of Rome). Israel became part of Syria on the current Roman map. Galilee was less than a state, under the rule of different Romans than Judea. Nazareth was nothing more than a little fishing village, a nice place for Joseph to have a little carpenter shop and raise his family.

    Certainly Joseph and Mary were poor as they eventually returned to Nazareth after being persecuted and living as refugees in Egypt. Certainly this refugee family which had quickly fled Bethlehem and Jerusalem struggled like so many of us as they settled in Nazareth with next to nothing.

    The young boys, Jesus and his brothers, needed Joseph. They needed Mary. They needed the help of their community, Nazareth. They needed the help of those fellow worshipers of God who had the compassion to help this truly royal family without means to survive and live alongside them in Nazareth. Jesus and his mother and Father lived as a family and a part of the community of God.

    In fact, the babe in the manger became a refugee.

    Jesus needed both his father and his mother. Jesus needed help from faithful believers (like the wise men and others). Jesus needed a home to which He would return after the persecution. Jesus needed a family of friends and faithful followers.

    Jesus needed community. Jesus needed help! Jesus needed the love of many between the events of the manger and the ministry of His three years of well-documented ministry as the Son of Man, Jesus of Nazareth.

    If you could help Christ Jesus along His journey as a refugee fleeing the violence of the middle east, what would you do?

    My dear brother [sister] in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ: would you save Him?

    Matthew 18 NASB

    10 “See that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that their angels in heaven continually see the face of My Father who is in heaven. 11 [For the Son of Man has come to save that which was lost.]

    14 So it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones perish.

    To be continued…

     

  • Personal Witness of a Personal Love

    Personal Witness of a Personal Love

    Luke 10:23 Then turning to the disciples he said privately, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see! 24 For I tell you that many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.”

    Isaiah 53

    Who has believed what he has heard from us?
    And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?

    John 1:

    14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. 15 (John bore witness about him, and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.’”) 16 For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.

    Who IS Jesus Christ?

    And what is the witness of His divinity?

    Note that I ask, ‘Who IS Jesus Christ,’ not, ‘who was Jesus Christ.’

    For if Jesus Christ is not divine – if Jesus Christ is not God; then Jesus was and is not; for the son of man was not and is not the Christ – God with us. If Jesus is not the Christ, then the gospel is not true witness and our faith would be in vain (as states Paul in 1 Corinthians 15).

    Yet again, as Paul did witness, as the Apostles did witness, as John the Baptist did witness, as Jesus’ mother and brothers did witness, as many were witness to the resurrection of Christ Jesus: He IS Divine – Jesus, with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit IS GOD! This is our witness of the gospel of grace for those who will believe.

    Where were you three years ago (in 2011)?

    Were you walking near to the life of a loved one? Were you involved in the daily life – the comings and goings of one so dear that you knew nearly their every action, most of what they said and understood much of what they thought? Were you – three years ago and for these past three years – that near to your beloved, a man or woman of this flesh? Were you near to their soul? Are you joined in your purpose and understanding even now to do what they would have you do?

    And where are you now (on this day in the year of our Lord, 2014)?

    Have you remained faithful in your relationship and love to your beloved? to your husband (or wife)? to your children? to your brothers and sisters in the Lord?

    I would venture to say that you have NOT been as near to any soul, to any of flesh and blood, as was the John the Disciple to Jesus. (And may we be convicted by the Spirit for our neglect of the love of those nearest to us in Christ Jesus.)

    This was the intimacy of John, Peter and the Disciples of Jesus: they lived with the Man, they ate with Him, they traveled with Him, they listened to His teachings in public, they listened to His instructions in private, they witnessed His miracles in public and they witnessed His Power in private.

    It is with this intimacy and understanding of the risen Christ and the Incarnate Son of Man that John the Apostle witnessed Jesus by his Gospel, his letters and his Revelation of Jesus Christ.

    Jesus was, IS, and is to come – GOD!

    AND God is love.

    How can we, a mortal man (or woman), a soul surrounded by flesh and bone and a mind finite in understanding, grasp the fullness of the love of Christ Jesus?

    Indeed, we cannot; but must know the Lord by humility and faith. We must believe by faith the many witnesses of God in the flesh.

    The witness of John the Apostle in his first letter [KJV]:

     That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life;

    2 (For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;)

    3 That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.

    NO faithful Jew speaks lightly of GOD – of ‘That which was from the beginning.’ John makes a remarkable statement about God here:

    ‘That’ which WAS FROM THE BEGINNING (Only GOD IS from the beginning), we have heard and we have seen with our eyes.

    We have touched GOD! And He has embraced us!

    How near may a man stand to God? How near dare a mortal come to the Immortal?

    John is witness that God, in the Person of Christ Jesus, came near to us – near to him. Is it any wonder that John’s witness is: God is love?

    John comforts us, “our hands have handled … the Word of life.”

    Following the resurrection, the Holy Spirit was witness to John and the disciples of the divinity and power of Jesus. Following these letters of John the risen Christ is once more witness to John on Patmos (after the other Apostles have been martyred for Christ). Yet prior to the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ, GOD the Father gives witness to the Son in the presence of John.

     Matthew 17

    And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James, and John his brother, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. 2 And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light…

    5 He [Peter] was still speaking when, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.”

    6 When the disciples heard this, they fell on their faces and were terrified. 7 But Jesus came and touched them, saying, “Rise, and have no fear.”

    We may also be familiar with the witness of God the Father at the witness of Jesus’ baptism by John. We are perhaps less familiar of the following witness of God the Father to Jesus Christ the Son, near the completion of Jesus’ three year ministry on earth.

    John 12

    Six days before the Passover, Jesus therefore came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead…

    9 When the large crowd of the Jews learned that Jesus was there, they came, not only on account of him but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead…

    12 The next day the large crowd that had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. 13 So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, crying out, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord…

    23 And Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified…  27 “Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour. 28 Father, glorify your name.”

    Then a voice came from heaven: “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.”

    29 The crowd that stood there and heard it said that it had thundered. Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.”

    30 Jesus answered, “This voice has come for your sake, not mine. 31 Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out. 32 And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”

    John, the Beloved Disciple, is witness to the love and glory of Christ Jesus. John says of his Holy friend:

    1 John 1:3 that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. 4 And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.

    John held the hand of God, in Christ Jesus. John lay upon the breast of our Lord Jesus, hearing the beating of His mortal heart. John beheld the holes of the nails of the cross in the flesh of the hands of the risen Christ Jesus. John is witness that God is love and in Him is no darkness at all.

    John 13:23 KJV Now there was leaning on Jesus’ bosom one of his disciples, whom Jesus loved.

    John’s Gospel and witness and Revelation reveal the light and life and truth of God in Christ Jesus, that only in Him is light and life. He IS the living water. He IS the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end.

    Only in Him will you have eternal life. Only in Christ Jesus will you have the fellowship of love. Only if by faith you follow and witness by His love: Jesus IS Lord, will you have any life and hope and love for your soul – in this life and that which is to come, which we cannot understand, except by faith in Jesus Christ.

    May our Lord draw you into His arms of love and light and life.

    Amen.