Seasonal Note: I’m beginning a new Three-Year Lectionary based on the Lutheran Book of Worship 3-year lectionary (for public worship), "Prayers of the Day..." (Propers), p. 13-41, Augsburg Publishing House, Minneapolis, 1978. It is based, with only minor variations, on the Revised Common Lectionary, used by many denominations, including the Episcopal, Lutheran, Presbyterian, and Methodist churches:
http://www.commontexts.org/
and:
http://www.commontexts.org/rcl/usage.html
The daily readings are the Propers (Lections) for the following Sunday, so that the daily devotions can prepare us for worship. Additional lections are from Common Service Book of the Lutheran Church, "Scripture lessons for Matins and Vespers," United Lutheran Church of America, General Rubrics V2I. Scripture lessons for Matins and Vespers, p. 299 - 304, Philadelphia, 1918.
The previous 2- year Bible Study based on the Lutheran Book of Worship, Daily Lectionary for personal devotions p.179-192, Augsburg Publishing House, Minneapolis, 1978, is available at:
http://shepboy.snow.prohosting.com
Please Note: I will post weekly by Saturday, noon, (with God's help), Pacific time (UTC-8:00) for the week of the Church Season which begins on Sunday. Please scroll down for the desired day, or save the week to your desktop/hard drive.
10 Pentecost - Sunday
Posted July 20, 2008
1 Kings 3:5-12 (13-14) -- Prayer for Understanding;
Psalm 119:129-136 -- God's Word Imparts Understanding;
Romans 8:28-30 -- God's Purpose;
Matthew 13:44-52 -- Parables of the Kingdom;
1 Kings:
Gibeon was the priestly city where the tabernacle was located at this period, until Solomon built the temple in Jerusalem. Solomon had succeeded his father, David, to the throne of Israel. Solomon had gone to Gibeon to offer sacrifices to God.
During the night God spoke to Solomon in a dream, and asked Solomon what he wanted God to do for him. Solomon replied that God had given David great steadfast love, because David lived according to God's will in faithfulness and righteousness (doing what is good, right and true in God's judgment). Solomon acknowledged that God had blessed David by giving him a son to reign on David's throne. God had made Solomon king of Israel, although Solomon was like a small child in his ability to assume the responsibility. Solomon seemed so inexperienced that it was as if he didn't even know "how to go out or come in" (1 Kings 3:7b). Solomon was to reign as God's representative over God's chosen people, so vast that they were beyond counting. So Solomon asked God to give him understanding so that Solomon could discern good and evil, and govern God's people wisely.
God was pleased that Solomon had asked for wisdom to govern God's people, rather than asking selfishly for wealth, long life, or vengeance upon Solomon's enemies. So God promised that he would give Solomon wisdom beyond any human before or since, and God also promised to give Solomon wealth and honor above any other worldly king during Solomon's reign. In addition, God promised that if Solomon trusted and obeyed God's Word, as David had, God would give Solomon long life.
Psalm:
The psalmist testified that he was happy to trust and obey God's Word because he had found that God's Word is wonderful, and imparts enlightenment and understanding. He longs to know God's Word like one who pants for air when "out-of-breath" because of strenuous exertion. The Lord is attentive and gracious to those who love the Lord's name. The Lord has promised to keep them from stumbling and from domination by sin. The Lord will redeem his people from human oppression so that they can obey God's Word. The Lord will look with favor upon his servants and teach them his commandments. God's servants mourn for those who do not know and obey God's Word.
Romans:
"Born-again" (John 3:3, 5-8) disciples of Jesus Christ have come to know (by experience; John 6:68-69 RSV) that, in everything, God is working for good; and those who love him, who have responded to his call according to God's eternal purpose are cooperating and joining with him in working for what is eternally good in accordance with God's Word. God's eternal purpose has always been to conform his "chosen" people to the likeness of his Son, Jesus Christ, who is the "firstborn" of many children of God's family.
God knew each of us before we were born, and his will has always been for us to accept his call to be his children, to be justified (judged not guilty in God's judgment) and to share in the eternal glory of Jesus Christ.
Matthew:
Jesus taught his disciples about the kingdom of heaven with several parables (stories of everyday experience to impart spiritual truth). The kingdom of heaven is like a field in which a man found buried treasure. He covered it back up and then went and sold all his possessions and bought the field.
Similarly the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine rare pearls. Finding one of extraordinary value, he sold all his possessions so that he could buy that pearl.
The kingdom of heaven is also like a fishing net, cast into the water, which gathered a large number of fish. Then the fishermen hauled the net in and sorted the fish, keeping the good, and discarding the bad.
Jesus warned his disciples that this parable illustrates the Day of Judgment at the end of this temporal age. Angels will gather all those who have ever lived on earth, and will separate the righteous from the wicked. The righteous will enter God's eternal heavenly kingdom, and the wicked will be cast into the eternal fiery furnace of hell, where people "weep and gnash their teeth" in eternal torment.
Jesus asked his disciples if they understood what Jesus had told them and they said they did. Then Jesus said that every scribe (those educated in the Bible scriptures) who has been fully trained for the kingdom of heaven will be like a householder who treasures among his possessions both what is old and what is new.
Commentary:
God's purpose has always been, from the very beginning of Creation, to establish an eternal kingdom of his people who willingly choose to trust and obey God. God has created this temporal world to allow us to have freedom to choose whether to trust and obey God or not, and to learn by "trial and error." God knew that, given freedom, we would all choose to do our own will rather than God's will.
Disobedience of God's Word (God's will) is sin. This world is designed to allow the possibility of sin and disobedience of God's Word, but this Creation and we individually are limited by time. God is not willing to allow sin and disobedience forever, nor allow it in his eternal kingdom. Otherwise it would not be "heaven."
God has designed this world so that we have all sinned (Romans 3:23; 1 John 1:8-10), and the penalty for sin is (eternal) death (Romans 6:23). God doesn't want us to perish eternally (Romans 5:8, John 3:16-17). God has designed a Savior, Jesus Christ, into this Creation (John 1:1-5; 14). Jesus is God's only provision for forgiveness of our sin, salvation from eternal condemnation and destruction, and restoration to fellowship with God which was broken by sin (Acts 4:12; John 14:6; see God's Plan of Salvation).
God has been progressively revealing himself and his purpose for Creation, first through Creation itself, then through the Bible, then through Jesus, and ultimately through the infilling of the indwelling Holy Spirit.
Jesus came into the world to show us what God is like, and to demonstrate how to live in obedient trust in God's Word. Jesus' resurrection demonstrates the reality of existence after physical death, and the possibility of eternal life for those who trust and obey God's Word.
God "anointed" Solomon to succeed Solomon's father, David, as king of Israel. God manifested himself to Solomon in a dream and asked Solomon what Solomon wanted God to do for him. Solomon asked for (divine) wisdom so he could carry out the responsibility God had given him.
God always provides the resources we need to accomplish what he calls us to do. If we realize that we lack (divine) wisdom we can ask him and trust that he will give it generously without criticism (James 1:5).
Jesus promises that if we will seek first the kingdom of God and God's righteousness (doing what is right, good and true in accord with God's Word and judgment) we will have the worldly material resources as well. But if we first try to accumulate worldly security we will never attain it, because ultimately there is no security apart from the kingdom of God and God's Word, and we will never get around to seeking the kingdom of God (Matthew 6:33).
God's (divine) wisdom is unlike what the world falsely calls "wisdom" (1 Corinthians 1:17-25; 2:1-8). Worldly wisdom changes, and ultimately fails and disappoints; God's wisdom is eternal and unchanging, and can be utterly relied upon.
God also promised Solomon that if Solomon trusted and obeyed God's Word as his father, David, had, God would give him long (eternal) life. That same promise applies to us through faith (obedient trust) in Jesus, who is the fulfillment, embodiment and example of God's Word, lived in this world, in human flesh (John 1:1-5, 14).
The Bible is the Word of God through which God imparts spiritual enlightenment and understanding, as the psalmist testified. God will reveal his Word to those who truly desire to know it. The Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Christ (Romans 8:9) opens the minds of Jesus' disciples to understand the Bible scriptures (Luke 24:45). Those who trust and obey God's Word will find that it is absolutely true and trustworthy, and that God's will for us is better than anything we would choose for ourselves, because we really don't know what we want and what will truly satisfy us.
God is attentive and gracious to those who love God's name (his whole person and character; Jesus is the name of the Lord; Colossians 2:8-9; John 20:28) and know, trust and obey God's Word. God is God whether we acknowledge him or not, but God is not obligated to be all that an almighty, loving and merciful God implies, to people who don't know and obey his Word (Isaiah 42:5e, John 14:23-24).
Just adding Jesus' name to the end of our prayers doesn't obligate God to answer them. There are conditions for praying prayers God is willing to hear and answer (see Conditions for Answered Prayer, side bar, top right). Praying for God to give us divine wisdom is not going to be answered if we haven't bothered to read God's Word and haven't committed to trust and obey it.
Christians are "born-again" (John 3:3, 5-8) disciples (students; Acts 11:26c) of Jesus Christ who have begun to trust and obey Jesus and have received the "baptism" ("anointing;" "gift") of the indwelling Holy Spirit, which only Jesus gives (John 1:31-34), only to his disciples who trust and obey Jesus (John 14:15-17). We have learned from experience that in everything God is working for good; and his people work with him, by the guidance and empowerment of the Holy Spirit.
In a sense we are all God's "chosen" people; but we have the free will to choose whether to respond to God's call in obedient trust or not. God has had a purpose for Creation from the beginning, but we are not "predestined;" not forced to go along with God's purpose. We are revealed to be God's people by our choosing to trust and obey God's Word and Jesus' example and teaching.
Eternal life in uncontaminated paradise in God's kingdom in heaven is of priceless, inestimable value. Even by selling all our material possessions we could never afford it, but Jesus has paid the price on our behalf, and offers it to us as a free gift, to be received by faith (obedient trust) in Jesus.
To some the kingdom of heaven is just a worthless vacant lot, but to those who know the hidden treasure it contains it is precious beyond calculation. It will cost us everything we possess, but it far exceeds the cost in eternal value.
This lifetime is our only opportunity to seek and come to know our Creator (Acts 17:26-27), and to be spiritually reborn to eternal life. There is a Day of Judgment coming when we will each be accountable for what we have done individually with God's Word in our lifetimes. Have we sought divine eternal wisdom, or have we accepted worldly wisdom? Have we sought to know and do God's will, or have we lived to please ourselves?
This lifetime is our opportunity to train for life in God's eternal kingdom in heaven. The Bible is the Word of God. It contains both wonderful promises and ominous warnings. We will either accept the free gift of Salvation through faith (obedient trust) in Jesus Christ, or we will be condemned to eternal destruction and eternal death in hell by God's Law and Judgment.
Is Jesus your Lord? Are you Jesus’ disciple? Are you trusting and obeying Jesus? Have you received the indwelling Holy Spirit since you first truly believed (Acts 19:2)? Are you making disciples of Jesus Christ and teaching them to obey all that Jesus commands (Matthew 28:18-20)? Do you know with certainty where you will spend eternity (1 John 5:11-13; Ephesians 1:13-14)?
10 Pentecost - Monday
Posted July 21, 2008
Psalm 104:25-31 -- God our Provider;
Consider the great, wide, ocean, full of creatures beyond counting, both great ans small. The sea is like a vast untamable monster, and yet man ventures forth in ships upon it, depending on the Lord to keep it subdued.
All creatures in this world depend on the Lord to give them their food as needed. When the Lord gives them their food they gather it up. They are filled with good things when the Lord opens his hand. When the Lord turns away from them they are dismayed, and when the Lord takes away their breath they die and return to the dust from which they were created. When the Lord sends forth his Spirit they are created, and the Lord renews the face of the earth.
"May the Glory of the Lord endure forever. May the Lord rejoice in his works" (Psalm 104:31).
God is the Creator and ruler of the Universe. Every creature in this world is dependent upon the Lord for life and every necessity.
Creation is vast and complex beyond human comprehension, and the forces of nature are powerful beyond human control. Yet everything is under the Lord's control and works according to the Lord's design.
Humans try, and imagine that they have succeeded in subduing the forces of nature, until the "monster" of storm and flood breaks loose. We imagine that we can supply our own food and store it up as security against the "monster" and we can, until the Lord hides his face. We imagine that we can extend our lives with medical care, and we can, as long as the Lord allows.
The Lord has given us the breath of physical life. God has designed and intends this physical lifetime to be our opportunity to receive the "breath" of spiritual, eternal life. This is only possible through faith (obedient trust) in Jesus Christ, whom God designed into Creation from the very beginning John 1:1-5, 14). Jesus is is God's one and only provision for our salvation from spiritual eternal death (Acts 4:12; John 14:6; see God's Plan of Salvation, side bar, top right).
Jesus warns that we must be spiritually "born-again" (John 3:3, 5-8) in order to have eternal life in God's heavenly kingdom. This is only possible through the gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit, which only Jesus gives (John 1:31-34), only to his disciples who trust and obey Jesus (John 14:15-17; Isaiah 42:5e). When the Lord sends forth his Spirit, the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Christ (Romans 8:9), to fill us and dwell within us, we are created anew; we are renewed to eternal life which God intended, but which we all lost because of sin (disobedience of God's Word; Romans 3:23; 1 John 1:8-10).
The Holy Spirit is the seal and guarantee that one is in Christ and has eternal life (2 Corinthians 1:22; Ephesians 1:13-14; Romans 8:9b, 11, 15-16). The infilling of the Holy Spirit is a discernible, ongoing event which each of us can experience and know with certainty for ourselves (Acts 19:2). Anyone who isn't sure should ask themselves, "Why not?"
Is Jesus your Lord? Are you Jesus’ disciple? Are you trusting and obeying Jesus? Have you received the indwelling Holy Spirit since you first truly believed (Acts 19:2)? Are you making disciples of Jesus Christ and teaching them to obey all that Jesus commands (Matthew 28:18-20)? Do you know with certainty where you will spend eternity (1 John 5:11-13; Ephesians 1:13-14)?
10 Pentecost - Tuesday
Posted July 22, 2008
Isaiah 55:1-5 -- Spiritual Sustenance;
Come all who thirst spiritually and those who are spiritually poor. Come and obtain wine and milk without cost.
Why do you spend hard-earned money for that which is not bread and labor for what will not satisfy? Listen to the Lord and eat what is good; take pleasure in wholesome food.
Come to the Lord and listen to him, so that your soul will live, and the Lord will make an everlasting covenant with you; the promise of his steadfast love, as he had for David. Notice that the Lord made David a witness to all people. He made David a leader and commander over the people.
Watch and see; God's people will call nations that never heard of you, and they will come to you, "because of the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, for he has glorified you" (Isaiah 55:5b).
Commentary:
All who realize their spiritual neediness are invited to come to the Lord and receive spiritual milk and wine without cost. Spiritual milk is the Word of God which enables new-born Christians to grow to spiritual maturity (1 Peter 2:2). The wine of the sacrament of Holy Communion (Eucharist; The Lord's Supper) is the blood of Christ, the supernatural drink which satisfies the spiritual thirst and nurtures and strengthens the Holy Spirit within us.
Jews were forbidden to drink the blood of animals or eat meat with its blood because the blood was believed to contain the spirit of the animal. Jesus told his disciples to drink his blood in the wine of the Lord's Supper, so that they would sustain and strengthen the indwelling Holy Spirit of Christ with in them.
We know that we need physical food and drink to sustain our physical bodies, but we have even more need of spiritual food and drink, and yet we often don't recognize our spiritual need. We feed our bodies but starve our souls. Our bodies are temporal; they will wear out and die, regardless of what we do to sustain and preserve them, but our souls are eternal. If we have made no provision for our souls in this temporal lifetime, there will be no place and no way for us live in eternity; we will spend eternity in eternal death and destruction in Hell.
Heed (hear and obey) God's Word and partake of the spiritual food and drink which is eternally wholesome and eternally satisfying. Trust and obey God's Word so that your soul will live.
David was the shepherd boy whom God made king of Israel. David is an example of God's blessing and empowerment of those who trust and obey the Lord. David is the forerunner and illustration of Jesus Christ.
Jesus is the ultimate, perfectly sinless, eternal king of God's people. Jesus is the fulfillment of God's everlasting covenant of steadfast love to David (2 Samuel 7:5-13; Psalm 89:20-29). Jesus is the Son of David (Matthew 21:9), the heir to the eternal throne of David.
God, our Creator, has revealed himself through Israel, by his Word, recorded in the Bible, and fulfilled, embodied and exemplified in Jesus Christ, the "living Word" (John 1:1-5, 14). The true Church of Jesus Christ is the "New Israel," the New People of God. The Church calls all people to receive free spiritual food and drink, through Jesus Christ, and all nations will come in order to obtain true, spiritual, eternal life.
Jesus is God's one and only provision for our salvation from eternal condemnation and death, for reconciliation and fellowship with God which was broken by sin (disobedience of God's Word), and for spiritual "rebirth" (John 3:3, 5-8) to eternal life (Acts 4:12; John 14:6; see God's Plan of Salvation, side bar, top right). Only Jesus gives the gift ("baptism;" "anointing") of the indwelling Holy Spirit (John 1:31-34), only to his disciples who trust and obey Jesus (John 14:15-17). The Holy Spirit is the seal and guarantee that one is in Christ and has eternal life (2 Corinthians 1:22; Ephesians 1:13-14; Romans 8:9b, 11, 15-16).
Is Jesus your Lord? Are you Jesus’ disciple? Are you trusting and obeying Jesus? Have you received the indwelling Holy Spirit since you first truly believed (Acts 19:2)? Are you making disciples of Jesus Christ and teaching them to obey all that Jesus commands (Matthew 28:18-20)? Do you know with certainty where you will spend eternity (1 John 5:11-13; Ephesians 1:13-14)?
10 Pentecost - Wednesday
Posted July 23, 2008
Romans 8:35-39 -- Assurance of God's Love;
No one and no thing can separate us from Jesus' love; not tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril or sword. The prophecy of Psalm 44:22 is being fulfilled, that believers are continually being killed for their faith. They are being slaughtered like sheep. But in all these things they are more than triumphant through the Lord's love for us. Nothing, whether we live or die, not even supernatural beings, whether good or evil, nor the heights of heaven or the depths of the grave, or any other thing in creation can separate us from the love of God in Jesus Christ our Lord.
Commentary:
In the first-century Church there was real physical danger and persecution for believers. There is still great physical danger and persecution of Christians in parts of the world today. All Christians also can expect to face opposition from worldly people wherever they live.
The gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit is the assurance of the love of God within us. By his power we can endure and prevail in any circumstance we face.
Through the indwelling Holy Spirit we experience the love of God for us in Jesus Christ. In every difficulty the indwelling Holy Spirit comforts, sustains and encourages us, and we have the certainty within us that even our physical death cannot defeat us (Hebrews 2:14-15). We need not fear any human, or even supernatural beings or powers, because the Holy Spirit within us is the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Christ (Romans 8:9), who is above all powers and authorities in all of Creation.
Only Jesus gives the gift ("baptism;" "anointing") of the indwelling Holy Spirit (John 1:31-34), only to his disciples who trust and obey Jesus (John 14:15-17). The Holy Spirit is the seal and guarantee that one is in Christ and has eternal life (2 Corinthians 1:22; Ephesians 1:13-14; Romans 8:9b, 11, 15-16). The infilling of the Holy Spirit is a discernible, ongoing experience which we can know with certainty for ourselves (Acts 19:2).
Is Jesus your Lord? Are you Jesus’ disciple? Are you trusting and obeying Jesus? Have you received the indwelling Holy Spirit since you first truly believed (Acts 19:2)? Are you making disciples of Jesus Christ and teaching them to obey all that Jesus commands (Matthew 28:18-20)? Do you know with certainty where you will spend eternity (1 John 5:11-13; Ephesians 1:13-14)?
10 Pentecost - Thursday
Posted July 24, 2008
Matthew 14:13-21 -- Feeding the Five Thousand;
After Jesus heard that John the Baptist had been executed Jesus took his disciples to a secluded place by boat. The crowds following Jesus anticipated where he was going and went by foot and met him as the boat landed. Jesus had compassion on them and healed the sick.
At the end of the day his disciples told Jesus to send the crowd away to buy food in the towns nearby. But Jesus told his disciples to feed the crowd. They only had five loaves and two fish, but Jesus told them to bring them to him. Jesus told the crowd to sit down on the grass, and he took the bread and fish and blessed and broke them into pieces. Then he had his disciples distribute them, and the crowd ate and were satisfied. The disciples collected twelve baskets of leftovers. About five thousand people had been fed.
Commentary:
Jesus' mission was to offer spiritual healing and feeding to a spiritually sick and hungry world. His miracles of physical healing and feeding were intended to reveal who Jesus is, and that he can heal and feed spiritually.
Many of the people who came to Jesus were interested only in what Jesus could do for them physically. They received physical healing, but unless they accepted Jesus as the Messiah and became his disciples, they missed the spiritual healing and feeding only Jesus can provide (see John 6:25-35).
Jesus is the source of the spiritual bread of (eternal) life (John 6:35, 48-51). On the night Jesus was arrested he celebrated the Passover feast with his disciples, and Jesus instituted the feast of the New Covenant, the Lord's Supper; (the Eucharist; Holy Communion; see Matthew 26:26-29). Jesus offered his body on the cross as a sacrifice for the forgiveness of our sins (disobedience of God's Word). Communion is the spiritual New Passover feast. Believers participate in the body and blood of Jesus' sacrifice through the elements of bread and wine, through which we are nurtured and sustained unto eternal life.
Jesus' salvation is for all who are willing to receive it in obedient trust. Jesus is able to take a small amount of physical resources and extend them to provide nurture and sustenance for all to be filled and satisfied. It doesn't require great resources from us; just the simple "yes" of faith (obedient trust). As we bring our "yes" to Jesus, he will cause our faith to grow abundantly to meet our need so that we are filled and satisfied.
The image of Jesus sharing a simple meal with his followers is an illustration of the spiritual fellowship we can have with Jesus, now, by the gift of his indwelling Holy Spirit (John 14:15-17, 21, 23; Revelation 3:20), and a foretaste of the fellowship we will have with him in his eternal kingdom.
Is Jesus your Lord? Are you Jesus’ disciple? Are you trusting and obeying Jesus? Have you received the indwelling Holy Spirit since you first truly believed (Acts 19:2)? Are you making disciples of Jesus Christ and teaching them to obey all that Jesus commands (Matthew 28:18-20)? Do you know with certainty where you will spend eternity (1 John 5:11-13; Ephesians 1:13-14)?
10 Pentecost - Friday
Posted July 25, 2008
Jeremiah 7:1-7 -- The Temple Sermon;
The Lord told Jeremiah to stand at the gate of the temple and preach to the people entering the temple, warning them to change their ways and their deeds if they expected God to honor his promise to allow them to dwell in the land he gave their fathers. He said three times, for emphasis, not to think that going into the temple of the Lord guaranteed the Lord's favor and protection.
God expected his people to change their ways and deeds to conform to God's Word, to provide justice for all, not to oppress aliens, orphans, or widows, not to shed innocent blood, and not to follow false gods. Doing such things would damage themselves and the Lord would withdraw the promise of the inheritance of the land which he gave to their fathers.
Commentary:
Jeremiah was the prophet of the Lord to Judah and Jerusalem in the period immediately preceding the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple, and the exile of the people to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar. The Southern Kingdom of Judah was the remnant of Israel after the destruction of the Northern Kingdom by the Assyrians when Samaria was conquered in 721 B.C.. Judah had not learned from the example of the Northern Kingdom, and did not heed Jeremiah's warning to return to obedient trust in God's Word and to refrain from idolatry, so they ultimately were conquered and deported to Babylon for seventy years from 587 to 517 B.C. as Jeremiah had prophesied (Jeremiah 25:11-12).
Notice that seventy years is a life-sentence for all who were adults at the time of the deportation. God fulfilled his promise to bring them back from Babylon to the Promised Land, but it was a renewed people, who had learned to trust and obey the Lord during their captivity.
The Lord brought them back from Babylon and they rebuilt Jerusalem and the temple, but the people forgot what they had learned in exile, and were unprepared for the coming of the Messiah, Jesus Christ. As a result Jerusalem and the temple were again destroyed in 70 A.D., by the Romans. Israel ceased to exist as a nation. The people were scattered throughout the world, until they began to return and reestablish the nation following World War 2. The temple has never been rebuilt.
Judaism effectively ended at the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. At the moment of his death, the curtain separating the holy-of-holies from the people was supernaturally torn in two from top to bottom (Matthew 27:51a), symbolizing that Jesus has become the new and better way into the presence of God. Jesus had become the one and only sacrifice acceptable to God for the forgiveness of our sins (disobedience of God's Word; Acts 4:21; John 14:6; see God's Plan of Salvation, side bar, top right). There is no further need of the Jewish temple and priests.
One of the reasons the Jews gave for crucifying Jesus was because they feared that the Romans might destroy their nation and temple in retaliation for Jesus' "insurrection." They accused Jesus of saying that he would destroy the temple, but Jesus was referring to his physical body (John 2:19-21). Their rejection of Jesus as their Messiah precipitated the end of Judaism.
At the time of Jesus' coming, the religious leaders were running Judaism as if it were their personal empire, instead of seeking to know and do God's will.They were running the religion for their own personal benefit. They did not recognize Jesus because they didn't know God or understand God's Word.
In too many instances, the nominal "Church," particularly in America, is in a similar situation today . Ministry is too often a "career choice;" a means of making a living and a position of social status ("peddlers of God's Word;" 2 Corinthians 2:17 RSV). Church leaders have been formally trained to know a lot "about" God, but don't have a personal relationship with the Lord. Many are not "born-again" (John 3:3, 5-8) and it takes "born-again" disciples to make "born-again" disciples.
The Church is supposed to be a "disciple-making" organization, but many congregations are failing to make disciples, and settle for making "church members." Too many "churches" are teaching "Cheap Grace;"* Salvation by grace (unmerited favor; free gift) without the requirement of discipleship and obedient trust in Jesus Christ (see False Teachings, side bar, top right).
Many people think that they can manipulate God in their favor by going to church. They think that calling Jesus "Lord" makes them Christians (Matthew 7:21-27; Luke 6:46). God is not obligated to be all that an almighty, loving and merciful God implies if we are not willing to be his obedient, trusting people (Jeremiah 7:23; Ezekiel 11:20; Leviticus 26:3; Leviticus 26:12; see also Jeremiah 11:4c-5). God is not obligated to answer our prayers just because we add the name of Jesus to the end (see Conditions for Answered Prayer, side bar, top right).
Jesus has promised to return on the Day of Judgment (Matthew 25:31-46) to judge the living and the dead, in both the physical and spiritual senses (1 Peter 4:5; John 5:28-29). That day is not far off; it will come for each of us within our lifetime, and none of us can be sure we'll live to see tomorrow. When we die our eternal destiny is fixed and unalterable. Today is the day of Salvation (2 Corinthians 6:2). Will we be any more ready for Jesus' return than the Jews were for his first coming?
Is Jesus your Lord? Are you Jesus’ disciple? Are you trusting and obeying Jesus? Have you received the indwelling Holy Spirit since you first truly believed (Acts 19:2)? Are you making disciples of Jesus Christ and teaching them to obey all that Jesus commands (Matthew 28:18-20)? Do you know with certainty where you will spend eternity (1 John 5:11-13; Ephesians 1:13-14)?
*See: The Cost of Discipleship, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Collier Books, Macmillan Publishing Co., NY 1963 ISBN 0-02-083850-6
10 Pentecost - Saturday
first posted 07/29/05
Hebrews 3:7-15 -- Warning Against Rebellion and Unbelief;
Matthew 11:16-24 -- Warning Against Unrepentance;
Hebrews:
The author of Hebrews quotes Psalm 95:8, which was inspired by the Holy Spirit, warning God's people that today (from now on) when they hear God's Word, not to rebel against it, and not to test God. During the forty years in the wilderness, Israel had experienced the faithful providence of God, and still did not trust and obey God's Word. Their hearts were set on disobedience and rebellion. So God swore in anger not to allow that generation to enter God's rest (in the Promised Land).
So we must take care not to allow evil and disobedience to take root in our hearts, so that we not fall away from the living God. We should exhort one another every day not to become hardened "by the deceitfulness of sin" (Hebrews 3:13b). For we share in the inheritance we have in Christ only if we hold onto the faith (obedient trust) we had in him when we first believed, until the end.
Matthew:
Jesus compared the people at the time of Jesus' ministry, to children who want others to play according to their rules and expectations. They called John the Baptizer crazy, because John lived on food scavenged in the wilderness, instead of feasting and drunkenness. Then they criticized Jesus as a glutton and drunkard because he didn't fast, and he ate with tax collectors and sinners.
Jesus began to rebuke the cities where he had done most of his miracles, saying, "Woe to Chorazin (near Capernaum) and Bethsaida (near Gennesaret on the northwestern shore of the Sea of Galilee). Jesus said that Tyre and Sidon (Philistine cities on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea) would surely have repented if Jesus had done the miracles there that he had done in Chorazin and Bethsaida. Jesus warned that on the Day of Judgment Tyre and Sidon will fare better than Chorazin and Bethsaida. Of Capernaum (Jesus' headquarters), Jesus warned that Sodom and Gomorrah would have repented and not been destroyed by God if they had seen the miracles Jesus did in Capernaum. Capernaum will fare worse in the Day of Judgment than Sodom and Gomorrah did.
Commentary:
Israel had to wander for forty years in the wilderness because, after seeing their miraculous delivery from slavery in Egypt, by the ten plagues, and the parting of the Red Sea, and experiencing the revelation of God to them at Mt. Horeb (Sinai) they did not trust and obey God's command to enter and possess the Promised Land. So God removed his favor from them so that the were unable to enter the Promised Land on their own, and were forced to wander in the wilderness. God didn't allow them to enter again until the generation of those who had rebelled against God had died in the wilderness (except for Joshua and Caleb who had urged Israel to trust and obey God's command to enter and possess the land).
Early in their wilderness exile the Israelites complained to Moses about the lack of water, and God instructed Moses to bring forth water from the rock (Exodus 17:1-7). So they called the place Meribah and Massah, which mean "rebellion" and "testing," because the people rebelled against the Lord and demanded that the Lord provide water, to prove to the people that he was still with them.
Rebellion and disobedience were a continual problem of Israel after they entered the Promised Land, regardless of the many experiences of God's faithfulness and providence, recorded in the Jewish Bible (the Old Testament). At Jesus first coming, the Jews experienced God's presence and great works among them through Jesus Christ, just as they had in the wilderness, and yet they refused to repent and trust and obey God's Word
First-century Christians were exhorted to remember and learn from the experiences of Israel, to avoid rebellion and disobedience of God's Word, so that they would not be deceived by sin and fall away from true faith (obedient trust) in the Lord. Salvation is conditional upon our continued obedient trust in Jesus Christ, and we share the same nature and tendency of Israel to rebel and disobey.
Israel had the experience and the Biblical record of the fulfillment of God's Word and the examples of the consequences of rebellion and disobedience, and yet when Jesus came, in fulfillment of God's Word, they wanted Jesus to conform to their society, instead of repenting and conforming to God's Word.
Jesus was Israel's promised Messiah and eternal king, but the Gentiles were more ready and willing to accept Jesus than the Jews. Sodom and Gomorrah were notoriously wicked and ungodly, but the cities of Galilee where Jesus preached and performed miracles will be more accountable to the Lord on the Day of Judgment, because they had the knowledge of God, the Scriptures, and the fulfillment of the Messiah in their midst and refused to repent and return to the Lord in obedient trust.
Today our culture and our "nominal" Churches are in the same situation as were Israel and Judaism at the time of Christ's first coming. Our society wants God to play by our rules. It wants God to hear and answer our prayers, without making the effort to know, trust and obey God's Word. It wants God to do our will, instead of learning to do God's will.
The history of Israel recorded in the Bible is also intended to be a "parable," a metaphor for life in this world. In a sense we are all God's people because he is our Creator, whether we acknowledge him or not. We are all wandering in the "wilderness" during our lifetime, and we will learn to trust and obey God's Word, fulfilled, embodied and exemplified in Jesus Christ (John 1:1-5, 14), the "New Moses," or we will die eternally in the "wilderness"
There is a Day of Judgment coming soon within our lifetimes, when Jesus is going to return to judge "the living and the dead" (1 Peter 4:5), in both the physical an spiritual senses, when everyone who has ever lived on earth will be accountable to the Lord for what they have done in this lifetime (John 5:28-29). Those who have accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior, and have trusted and obeyed Jesus will receive eternal life in God's eternal paradise in heaven; those who have rejected and refused to trust and obey Jesus will receive eternal destruction in Hell with all evil (Matthew 25:31-46; 2 Thessalonians 1:5-10).
At the moment we die, our eternal destiny is fixed and unchangeable. After physical death comes Judgment, not "nothingness," and not reincarnation (Hebrews 9:27). Jesus is God's one and only provision for forgiveness for our sin (disobedience of God's Word) and salvation from eternal death and destruction in Hell (Acts 4:12; John 14:6; see God's Plan of Salvation, side bar, top right).
Is Jesus your Lord? Are you Jesus’ disciple? Are you trusting and obeying Jesus? Have you received the indwelling Holy Spirit since you first truly believed (Acts 19:2)? Are you making disciples of Jesus Christ and teaching them to obey all that Jesus commands (Matthew 28:18-20)? Do you know with certainty where you will spend eternity (1 John 5:11-13; Ephesians 1:13-14)?
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