This is 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 VIII. 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.
24 Pentecost – Sunday (variable)
October 26, 2008
Amos 5:18-24 -- Righteousness and Justice;
Psalm 63:1-8 -- Spiritual Thirst;
1 Thessalonians 4:13-14 (15-18) -- Christ’s Return;
Matthew 25:1-13 -- Wise and Foolish Maidens;
Amos:
Amos proclaimed God’s Word warning God’s people that the Day of the Lord would be spiritual disaster for them. They should not be so eager, because it would be darkness for them rather than light. It would be as though they escaped from a lion only to face a bear, or like taking refuge in the safety of their home only to be bitten by a snake. The Day of the Lord would be gloom with no brightness at all.
The Lord declared that he hated his people’s religious feasts and their “solemn assemblies.” The Lord refused to accept the sacrifices and offerings of his people. The Lord commanded them to stop the noise of their songs and music; he refused to listen to them. What the Lord wanted from his people was righteousness and justice, not just now and then, but all the time.
Psalm:
The psalmist (David, the great shepherd-king of Israel) sought God’s presence; his soul thirsted for God like a person in a desert without water. He had beheld God’s power and glory in God’s sanctuary. David praised the Lord constantly because he had found that God’s steadfast love was better than life itself. David vowed to praise the Lord and lift up his hands in prayer (and praise) as long as he lived.
The Lord satisfied David’s soul as a body is satisfied with rich food. When David meditated upon the Lord during the night, recalling how the Lord had been his help and protection his mouth was filled with songs and praise and his lips expressed his joy. David’s soul clung to the Lord and the Lord upheld David.
1 Thessalonians:
Paul wanted to reassure the Thessalonian Christians that their Christian loved ones who died before Jesus’ return would not miss eternal life. So Christians need not grieve like unbelievers who have no hope of resurrection. Christians are convinced that Christ died and arose again, and so through faith (obedient trust) in Jesus, God will raise us also from physical death to eternal life with the Lord.
The Lord will descend from heaven with a shout of command, with the cry of the archangel and the blast of God’s trumpet. The dead who have died in Christ will be raised, and they and those who are alive will be caught up together in the clouds to meet Jesus in the air. Then we will always be with the Lord. So comfort each other with these words.
Matthew:
Jesus taught in parables (fictional stories of everyday experience to teach spiritual truth). Jesus said that the kingdom of heaven is like ten maidens taking oil lamps to await a bridegroom. Five of the maidens were wise and took extra oil in flasks, and five maidens were foolish, and took no extra oil. When the bridegroom was delayed, the maidens napped.
They were awakened by a shout announcing that the bridegroom was approaching. The maidens got up and adjusted their lamps. The foolish maidens’ lamps were going out because they had burned all their oil, so the foolish maidens asked the wise maidens to lend them oil. The wise maidens were afraid that there would not be enough oil for all of them and told the foolish maidens to go and buy oil from a merchant.
While the foolish maidens were out shopping for oil, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready entered the marriage feast and the door was locked. When the foolish maidens returned, they knocked at the door, but the bridegroom denied knowing them. Jesus warns us that we must be alert and watchful for his return, because no one knows the day or hour of his coming.
Commentary:
Just calling ourselves God’s people doesn’t make it so, unless we are obedient and trusting of God’s Word (Matthew 7:21-27). Just being “members” of a church, attending church services, or participating in church rituals, such as “baptism” or “the Lord’s Supper” (the Eucharist; Holy Communion) won’t save us from our eternal condemnation. Only a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, by 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).
Jesus is the only way to restoration of fellowship with God which was broken by sin (disobedience of God’s Word), the only way to know divine, eternal truth, and the only way to have true, eternal life (John 14:6). Jesus is God’s only provision for forgiveness of our sin and salvation from our eternal condemnation and destruction in Hell with all evil (Acts 4:12; see God’s Plan of Salvation, sidebar, top right).
Amos proclaimed God’s Word during a period of unprecedented peace and prosperity of the Northern Kingdom of Israel. Israel regarded themselves as God’s people, although they disobeyed God’s Word and practiced idolatry (the love of any thing or person as much as or more than the Lord). They thought their peace and prosperity were signs of God’s favor, and they expected to be justified and vindicated at the day of the Lord.
God had been warning the Northern Kingdom by his prophets, including Amos, to turn from idolatry and to return to obedient trust in God’s Word, but Israel refused to heed God’s Word of warning. Amos’ ministry was from about 760-750 B.C.* The Assyrian Empire began threatening Israel in about 762 B.C.** by levying a tribute upon the Northern Kingdom. Subsequently Shalmaneser of Assyria invaded and besieged the capital city of the Northern Kingdom, Samaria, which finally fell to his successor, Sargon, in 721 B.C.**
The ten tribes of the Northern Kingdom effectively ceased to exist, because of the Assyrian policy of transferring one captive nation to another conquered region as a means of pacification. Their fate could have been avoided at any time, up to the fall of Samaria, if they had heeded the warning of the prophets of God’s Word.
Israel thought they were God’s “chosen” people, regardless of their sin and idolatry. God lifted his favor and protection from them and allowed them to receive the consequences of their sin.
David is the example of one who puts his faith (obedient trust) in God’s Word. David experienced the power and glory of the Lord, because he sought God’s presence in God’s sanctuary. He experienced God’s steadfast love and faithfulness, and found it better than physical life, because he trusted and obeyed God’s Word.
When David sought the Lord the Lord satisfied his spiritual longing completely. Because David clung to the Lord the Lord upheld David.
Paul was reassuring the Thessalonian Christians that physical death could not separate them from Christ’s return and eternal salvation. Whether we live or die physically we have eternal life through faith (obedient trust) in Jesus Christ, by the gift of his indwelling Holy Spirit, which only Jesus gives (John 1:31-34), only to his disciples who trust and obey Jesus (John 14:15-17).
David had a personal fellowship with the Lord in a time when only a few individuals had that kind of personal relationship. Jesus came to make it possible for all God’s people to have that fellowship. Jesus’ sacrificial death on the cross cleanses us from sin through faith, making us a suitable place for the Holy Spirit to dwell, and our obedient trust in Jesus’ teachings makes it possible for us to receive and be filled with the Holy Spirit.
The indwelling Holy Spirit is the only source of spiritual “life-giving water” (John 7:37-39) that truly satisfies our spiritual thirst. Through the indwelling Holy Spirit we are spiritually “reborn” (John 3:3, 5-8) to eternal life. Though the indwelling Holy Spirit we experience the power and glory of God personally. Through the indwelling Holy Spirit we experience the Lord’s steadfast love and faithfulness, and are motivated and empowered to praise the Lord.
By the indwelling Holy Spirit we are certain that Jesus has risen from physical death to eternal life. He is alive, and we testify to that truth. Because we know that Jesus has been raised we can be certain that God will raise us also, and that physical death is not the end. We need not grieve as unbelievers who have no hope. 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).
When we trust and obey Jesus, he will show us his faithfulness and power, and we will grow in faith through experience. Our “yes” is the “mustard seed” (Matthew 13:31-32) of faith in the Lord, who causes it to grow to spiritual maturity and eternal life as we trust and obey Jesus.
The Lord has promised to return on the Day of Judgment, the Day of the Lord. No one knows the day or the hour, but we can be certain that it will be within our lifetime. On the day of our death time stops, for us, and we will be immediately at the Throne of Judgment. No one can be certain to live until tomorrow. Today is the only day we can be certain of.
This lifetime is our only opportunity to seek and come to know and have fellowship with God our Creator (Acts 17:26-27), and Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. This lifetime is our only opportunity to be spiritually reborn to eternal life.
Jesus is the bridegroom and the true Church is the bride. The Lord’s coming will consummate the marriage feast of the Lord with his Church, established at the Last Supper on the night of his betrayal (Matthew 26:26-29). We are to keep the Lord’s Supper as a proclamation of Jesus’ (sacrificial) death until he returns (1 Corinthians 11:26). We are like the maidens. We are supposed to prepare for and await the Lord’s return. Now is the day of salvation. Now is the time to be seeking the oil of salvation, so that we will be ready when the bridegroom comes. The gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit is the “oil,” the “anointing” of salvation (see Psalm 23:5b).
America and the Church, particularly in America, are in the same spiritual condition as Israel and Judaism at the time at the time of Amos’ prophecy. There are a lot of people who call themselves “Christians,” who attend “church” and participate in church “rituals” and worship services, who are not obedient to God’s Word, in the Bible, and as fulfilled, embodied and exemplified in Jesus Christ (john 1:1-5, 14).
There are a lot of nominal “Christians” who think they will be justified and vindicated in the Day of Judgment who haven’t been spiritually “reborn” because they haven’t been taught and haven’t learned to trust and obey Jesus’ teachings and example. Many people are seduced by the “modern” idolatries of wealth, power, status, possessions, home, family and pleasure. At the Second Coming it will be too late; if they haven’t already been spiritually reborn they will be eternally locked out of God’s heavenly kingdom and fellowship with the Lord.
America claims to be “God’s people,” and her leaders claim to be “born-again” Christians, while tolerating gross social, economic and moral injustice, and rampant immorality. Homosexuality,*** co-habitation, and pornography are examples. Will we heed the warnings of God’s Word before he lifts his favor and protection from us and allows us to suffer the consequences of disobedience and idolatry?
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)?
*The Oxford Annotated Bible, Revised Standard Version, Ed. by Herbert G. May and Bruce M. Metzger, Introduction to Amos, p. 1107, New York, Oxford University Press, 1962.
** Easton’s Bible Dictionary, “Captivity,” digital edition, The Sword Project v. 1.5.9 http://www.crosswire.org/
***homosexuality: See 1 Timothy 1:10; 1 Corinthians 6:9; Romans 1:24-27; from two Greek words meaning “men bedding (or conceiving) with men” (Strong’s #730 & 2845; see Strong’s #733); i.e., “sodomites,” after the city of Sodom, destroyed by God for its homosexual practice (Genesis 19:4-5 (24-25); men who have unnatural sexual relations with men (and, by extension, women who have unnatural sexual relations with women). The KJV translates as: “men defiling themselves with men.”
24 Pentecost – Monday (variable)
October 27, 2008
Psalm 90:12-17 -- Number Your Days;
Lord, teach us to number our days so that we might get what is truly wisdom.
Have pity on your servants, Lord. Make haste and return. In the morning, satisfy us with your steadfast love so that we can rejoice and be glad all our days. Give us as many days of gladness as the days you have given us affliction; give us as many years of joy as we have seen evil. Reveal your works and your glorious power to your servants and their children. Let your favor rest upon us, Lord, and help us accomplish the work you have given us to do.
Let us realize how short our time is in this lifetime and make every day count. Let us focus on what is truly important, rather than wasting time on what is eternally worthless. Let us seek true, divine wisdom, rather than what the world falsely calls wisdom (1 Corinthians 1:17-25; 2:1-8)
Return soon, for your servants’ sake. Help us to discover your steadfast love early in life so that we can rejoice and be glad in you all our days. Show us your works and your power morning by morning, so that we can live according to your will and purpose each day. Give us as many days of joy and gladness as we have had affliction, and as many years as we have experienced evil. Guide, enable, and equip us to successfully accomplish the work you have given us to do.
Commentary:
I wish that I had come to know personally the Lord’s steadfast love earlier in my life. I wish I had discovered the true meaning and purpose of life at the beginning of my career instead of at the end. I wish I had known earlier what is truly wisdom, instead of seeking worldly wisdom. At least I can realize that I have come to find and know the Lord and divine wisdom. Better late than never!
Christians pray for Christ to return soon, but by the gift of his indwelling Holy Spirit he gives us the strength and resources to endure trials and affliction patiently. His coming seems slow (2 Peter 3:4), but it is actually because of his love, mercy, and forbearance for us, because he wants as many as possible to receive repentance and salvation (2 Peter 3:9).
Israel considered themselves God’s chosen people, and expected that when the Messiah came, they would be justified (judged righteous) and saved (from eternal condemnation), but God warned them that it isn’t offerings and sacrifice, religious singing or religious rituals that the Lord desires, but justice and righteousness (doing what is right according to God’s Word; Amos 5:18-24). When the Messiah, Jesus Christ, did come, many Jews weren’t ready to accept and receive him and they lost what God had promised them.
In many ways we’re in the same situation today as Israel and Judaism at the time of Jesus first coming. There are many church “members” today who call Jesus “Lord,” and who call themselves “Christians” who have not been spiritually “reborn” (John 3:3, 5-8) because they have not been “disciples” (John 14:15-17) of Jesus Christ, and have not learned to know, trust and obey Jesus (Matthew 7:21-27).
If we want to hasten Christ’s return we should examine ourselves and make sure that we are spiritually “born-again” by the gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit; that we have a personal daily relationship with the Lord. Then, that we are guided by the Holy Spirit to accomplish the work he gives us to do (Luke 24:49; Acts 1:4-5, 8), which is to make “born-again” disciples (Matthew 28:19-20) and to teach them to repeat the process (2 Timothy 2:2).
The great news is that the Lord will give us much more than day-for-day and year-for-year joy and long life in paradise for the days and years we’ve had trouble and affliction in this lifetime for the sake of his name and his Gospel, and we don’t have to wait until we die to begin to receive it. The Lord knows how to bless us in the midst of the troubles and afflictions of this lifetime, and he has the power and faithfulness to do so (Psalm 23).
Only what we do for the kingdom of God will have any value beyond our lifetime. The Lord has great things for us to do which will help accomplish his mission to bring forgiveness and salvation to this spiritually lost and dying world, and he will give us the ability and resources to help us accomplish what he asks us to do. The prerequisite is that we must be willing to trust and obey Jesus, and to seek his guidance and empowerment.
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)?
24 Pentecost – Tuesday (variable)
October 28, 2008
Hosea 11:1-4, 8-9 -- The Lord's Compassion;
The Lord has loved Israel like a son from their youth. He called his son out of Egypt (Exodus 4:23; Matthew 2:15). The more the Lord called them the more they went from the Lord. They kept turning to Baal and to idols. It was the Lord who taught them how to walk. The Lord carried them in his arms. But Israel did not realize and acknowledge that it was the Lord who healed them. The Lord led them gently, with cords of compassion and bands of love. The Lord eased the bridle in their mouths. The Lord bent down to feed them.
How then can the Lord abandon them? How can he hand them over to their enemies? How could the Lord destroy them as he had destroyed Admah and Zeboiim (cities destroyed along with Sodom and Gomorrah)? The heart of the Lord recoils at the thought. He is filled with compassion for his people. The Lord will not act upon his great anger and destroy them. God’s ways are above human ways. He is among us as the Holy One. He does not come to destroy us.
Commentary:
In one sense we are all God’s children, because he is our Creator. He calls us out of the “Egypt” of this present world, to walk, not according to the world, but according to God’s Word.
Israel kept turning away from God’s call to be his people and walk according to his way. They kept straying to the worship of idols. The Lord tried to lead them gently, with cords of compassion and bands of love, for their own good. His bridle in their mouths was gentle. The Lord made it as easy as possible for them to be guided by him. The Lord bent down (humbled himself) to feed them.
The Lord loves his people and doesn’t want them to be abandoned to their enemy. The Lord restrains his anger against them because of his compassion for them. The Lord is the Holy One, who came into their midst, not to destroy them but to heal them spiritually (Mark 2:17).
Jesus is the prototype and perfect example of God’s Son. Jesus is the illustration of God’s love for us. Jesus is the fulfillment of the prophet’s word that God called his Son out of Egypt (Matthew 2:15). Jesus is the fulfillment, embodiment and example of God’s Word, lived in this world in human flesh (John 1:1-5, 14).
The history of God’s dealing with Israel is recorded in the Bible. Over and over God called them to trust and obey God, and yet they kept turning from obedient trust in God, and turning to idolatry. Like a good parent, God taught them how to walk according to his Word. He carried them in his arms, when they needed. But Israel kept forgetting that it was the Lord who led them. They forgot that it was the Lord who fed and cared for them.
The Lord’s leading is gentle and compassionate. His bridle, his yoke, is easy to bear and his burden is light (Matthew 11:29). He leads us in our best interest. He personally provides us with everything we need. He doesn’t delegate our care to a hired hand, or let us fend for ourselves.
The Lord doesn’t want us to perish eternally. He provided a Savior, Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of our sins, as a free gift, to be received by faith (obedient trust; Ephesians 2:8-9; see God’s Plan of Salvation, sidebar, top right). Jesus has been designed into this Creation from the very beginning (John 1:1-5, 14).
The Lord came to live among us in Jesus Christ. Jesus is Emmanuel, “God with us” (Matthew 1:23). He is the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Christ (Romans 8:9), the Holy One among us, and within his disciples who trust and obey Jesus (John 14:15-17). He came not to punish and destroy us, but to heal and save us and to give us true, eternal life (John 3:16-17).
We’re all born physically alive but spiritually "unborn". Those who believe (trust and obey) Jesus as their Lord and Savior will be spiritually “born-again” by 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). 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). Those who reject and refuse to trust and obey Jesus condemn themselves by their unbelief (John 3:18-21), because they refuse the opportunity to be spiritually “born-again” to eternal life.
Jesus is going to return at the end of time on the Day of Judgment, to judge “the living and the dead” (1 Peter 4:5), in both the physical and spiritual senses. The Day of Judgment is not far off; it is within the span of our individual lifetimes, and no one knows whether we’ll live to see tomorrow. Those who trust and obey Jesus will have been spiritually “born-again” and will have had a personal relationship with Jesus. Jesus will acknowledge them as his own, and they will enter eternal life in his heavenly kingdom. Those who have rejected Jesus as Lord and Savior and have refused to trust and obey him will enter eternal destruction in hell with all evil (Matthew 25:31-46; 2 Thessalonians 1:5-10).
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)?
24 Pentecost – Wednesday (variable)
October 29, 2008
1 Thessalonians 5:1-11 -- The Day of the Lord;
We are not to think about times and seasons concerning the Day of the Lord. It will come like a thief in the night. When people think they have peace and security, then destruction will come upon them suddenly like the labor of childbirth comes upon a pregnant woman. No one will be able to escape it. But Christians are not in spiritual darkness so as to be caught by surprise in that day like a thief, because we are children of the spiritual day and light, rather than of the spiritual night and darkness. So we must not sleep, but be awake and watchful and sober. Those who sleep are asleep at night, and those who are drunk are drunk at night, but we belong to the day. Let us put on the breastplate of faith and love, and the helmet of hope of salvation. God doesn’t want us to be destroyed but to obtain salvation through Jesus Christ, who died for us, so that whether we live or die physically, we can live eternally with him. So let us encourage and build up one another.
Commentary:
Believers are not to speculate on the time and signs of the return of Jesus on the Day of the Lord. When Jesus’ disciples asked him, Jesus told them that no one but God the Father knows the day and hour, not even Jesus (Matthew 24:36). They kept on seeking signs of the coming of the kingdom, and Jesus told them it is not for them to know (Acts 1:6-8).
We cannot know God’s schedule, and speculating on God’s schedule keeps us from knowing and doing his will. It isn’t necessary for us to know the day and hour of Christ’s return, because when he returns everyone will know it (Matthew 24:30). It won’t be necessary for us to go to him (Matthew 24:25-28). He knows who belongs to him and where we are. Christians are be carrying on the mission of Christ to bring forgiveness and salvation to a spiritually lost and dying world, one day at a time, guided and empowered by the Holy Spirit, until Jesus returns.
Christians must live as children of the spiritual day. We are to wear the spiritual armor which the Lord has provided, the breastplate of faith and love, and the helmet of hope of salvation. We must be spiritually awake, alert, and sober, rather than asleep or drunk.
It is God’s will for us to be saved through faith in Jesus. He doesn’t want us to perish eternally. If we trust and obey Jesus we can be certain that the Lord will save us as he has promised. Nothing, including physical death, can prevent our salvation, as we trust and obey Jesus.
Jesus is God’s only provision for forgiveness of our sin (disobedience of God’s Word) and salvation (from eternal destruction; Acts 4:12; see God’s Plan of Salvation, sidebar, top right). Jesus has been designed into Creation from the very beginning (John 1:1-5, 14). This lifetime is our opportunity to seek and find God (Acts 17:26-27), and this is only possible through faith (obedient trust) in Jesus Christ (John 14:6). This lifetime is our only opportunity to be spiritually “reborn” (John 3:3, 5-8) to eternal life, by 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). 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)
24 Pentecost – Thursday (variable)
October 30, 2008
Matthew 25:14-30 -- Parable of the Talents;
Jesus said that the kingdom of God is like a man who was preparing to go on a long journey. He called his servants together and gave them his money to take care of while he was gone. He gave five talents (each talent worth a thousand dollars) to one, two talents to another and one talent to the third. The servant with five talents used them to trade and earned five talents more. The servant with two talents did likewise, and earned two talents more, but the other servant with one talent dug a hole and buried the talent he had been given.
When the master returned he called his servants to him to settle his accounts with them. The servant who had been given the five talents came forward and gave the master his money and the five talents he had earned. The master commended the servant and gave him greater responsibility over the master’s property. The master did likewise with the servant who had been given two talents and had earned two talents more.
The servant who had received the one talent and had buried it came forward. He told the master that he considered the master a hard person who took advantage of other people, so the servant had been afraid and had hidden the talent in he ground. The master condemned the servant for being wicked and lazy. At least the servant should have put the money in a bank where it would have earned interest. The master took the talent from the wicked servant and gave it to the servant who had earned five talents. Jesus said that every one who has will be given more, but those who have not, will have everything taken from them and will be cast into outer darkness, where people will morn and be in anguish.
Commentary:
This lifetime is our opportunity to seek and find God (Acts 17:26-27). This lifetime is an opportunity to be spiritually “reborn” (John 3:3, 5-8) to eternal life. Our physical lives are the “capital” which we’ve been given to invest. Are we making the most of our opportunity or are we squandering what we’ve been given pursuing worldly things which have no enduring value?
Jesus is the only way to find, know, and have fellowship with God (John 14:6). Jesus is the only one who can cause us to be spiritually reborn by 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). 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).
We’ve all been given forgiveness of sin (disobedience of God’s Word) and salvation (from eternal death, which is the penalty for sin). All we have to do is accept it, by faith (obedient trust) in Jesus Christ. Do we appreciate the value of what we’ve been given in Jesus Chirst?
There is going to be a Day of Judgment when our master returns. We’re going to have to give him an account of what we’ve done with what he has entrusted to us.
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)?
24 Pentecost – Friday (variable)
October 31, 2008
Isaiah 51:9-16 -- Plea for God’s Intervention;
2 Corinthians 5:1-10 -- Heavenly Dwelling;
Isaiah:
God’s people call for the arm of the Lord (his authority; the Messiah) to awake and be strong, as in the days of old. It was the Lord who slayed Rahab, (the mythological chaos-monster, slain at Creation), the dragon. It was the Lord who dried up the (Red) Sea to make a way for the redeemed to pass over (at the Exodus from Egypt). “And the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion (the temple mount in Jerusalem; the Holy City; the people of God; the Church) with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain joy and gladness and sorrow and sighing shall flee away” (Isaiah 51:11).
It is the Lord who comforts his people. Why should God’s people fear humans, who are mortal, whose lives are as fleeting as grass, and forget the Lord their creator, who has “stretched out the heavens and laid the foundations of the earth” (Isaiah 51:13b). Why should God’s people be in constant fear of the power and fury of the oppressor? The oppressed will be released quickly. He shall not die and descend into the grave, nor will he lack bread. The Lord our God, the Lord of hosts is he “who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar” (Isaiah 51:15). The Lord enables his people to declare his Word. He has sheltered and protected them in the shadow of his hand. The creator of heaven and earth has declared to Zion that they are his people.
2 Corinthians:
Paul compares our physical body to a tent. If our earthly “tent” is destroyed we have an eternal building from God in heaven, not made by human hands. Christians long to enter our heavenly dwelling so that we will be better clothed, not naked, so that what is perishable can be exchanged for what is truly and eternally life. God has made it possible to do that, and the Holy Spirit (within “born-again” disciples like Paul; John 3:3, 5-8) is our guarantee.
So we shouldn’t be discouraged; while we are living in our physical bodies we are separated from the Lord and must live according to faith rather than sight. We can take courage because we would rather be with the Lord than in the flesh. Whether we in the flesh or with the Lord our aim is to serve and please him, knowing that we will all be accountable to him on the Day of Judgment for what we have done in our physical lifetimes.
Commentary:
In difficult times it is helpful to remember what the Lord has done for us and for others in the past. New believers can recall the great saving acts God did for Israel, recorded in the Bible. As we grow in faith we will experience his power and faithfulness personally.
The Exodus of Israel from bondage to sin and death in Egypt was intended to be a metaphor for life in this world as well as history. In a sense we’re all in slavery to sin and death in the “Egypt” of this world. God made a way for us to be redeemed from that slavery, by the blood of Jesus, by passing through the “Sea” of baptism into Jesus Christ. Jesus is our “Moses” who will lead us through the “wilderness” of this world, through the “river” of physical death and into the eternal “Promised Land” of God’s heavenly kingdom.
The Lord comforts and reassures us, so that we need not fear any human, and we need not fear physical death (Hebrews 2:14-15; although we’re not to hasten our death, but to leave it to God’s will). The Lord will release the oppressed. The Lord is able and faithful to preserve the life of his people and provide them with the physical necessities of life. Through his indwelling Holy Spirit within his people he opens their minds to understand the scriptures (Luke 24:45), teaches them all things, recalls his Word to their memory (John 14:26) and speaks through them in the hour of testimony (Matthew 10:18-20).
For forty years after the Exodus from Egypt, the people of Israel lived in tents in the wilderness as nomads. So we also are nomads in the wilderness living in perishable flesh. When we enter the Promised Land of eternal life we will receive eternal bodies that will not wear out, get sick and die.
Right now we have fellowship with the Lord by the gift of his indwelling Holy Spirit, which only Jesus gives (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). We have fellowship with the Lord now through the Holy Spirit but it is not the complete, uninterrupted fellowship which we will have with him in eternity.
Now we must live by faith rather than by sight, but it is not “blind” faith. For those who need “proof” in order to believe, there is none; but for those who believe, there is abundant “proof.” It isn’t true that we won’t know until we die whether resurrection and eternal life are true. We have the assurance of the Holy Spirit within us now. We can know with certainty that we have been “reborn” to eternal life. The only people who don’t know where they will spend eternity are those who are spiritually lost and perishing eternally.
Faith is not getting whatever we believe, if we believe “hard enough.” Faith is not wishing on a star. Our “yes” of commitment to trust and obey Jesus is our “mustard seed” of faith, which he causes to grow to spiritual maturity as we trust and obey Jesus. When we begin to trust and obey he will show us that his promises are absolutely true and reliable and our faith will grow.
Our goal in life should be to seek to know the Lord’s will for us with the commitment to serve and please him. If we are serious about doing his will, he will reveal it to us and provide the ability and resources we need to accomplish it.
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)?
24 Pentecost – Saturday (variable)
November 1, 2008
John 5:17-29 -- Resurrection of the Dead;
The Jews criticized Jesus for healing on the Sabbath, but Jesus said that his Father (God) was still working and so was Jesus. So the Jews were trying to kill Jesus because he not only broke the Sabbath Laws, but he made himself equal with God.
God shows Jesus what he is doing and Jesus does what God is doing. Jesus doesn’t do anything on his own, but only according to God’s purpose and direction. God loves his Son and shows him everything God is doing. God will reveal even greater things through Jesus, like raising the dead, so that people will realize that Jesus is the Son of God. God can raise the dead, and so can the Son, so that people will give the same honor to the Son that they give to God. God will judge no one, because he has given all judgment to the Son so that all will honor the Son as they honor God. Anyone who does not honor the Son doesn’t honor God who sent him. Jesus declared that those who hear Jesus’ teaching and believe in God, who sent Jesus, have eternal life; they will not come into judgment (condemnation); they have passed from death to eternal life.
“Truly, truly, I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live” (John 5:25). As God is the source of life, so he has made Jesus the source of life, and has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of man. “Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come for the, those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment (condemnation; John 5:28-29).
Commentary:
God doesn’t stop healing and saving people and providing for their needs on the Sabbath, and neither did Jesus. The Jewish religious leaders were not concerned with the spiritual condition of the people, but only for their own status and authority in society which they maintained by legalism.
The Jewish leaders claimed they were serving God by persecuting Jesus for making himself equal with God, but if they had known and loved God they would have recognized Jesus as God’s Son, the promised Messiah, their Savior and eternal king. God revealed everything he was doing to Jesus and gave Jesus the power and authority to do things that only God can do, like raising the dead, so that people would give Jesus the same honor they give to God.
God gave Jesus the power and authority to judge the world because Jesus is fully God (Colossians 2:8-9), but also fully human, and has lived in perfect obedience to God’s Word in human flesh in this world. We cannot say that Jesus doesn’t know what it is like to be like us, living in this world in human flesh.
Jesus came to show us how to live according to God’s Word and to enable us to do so. If we trust and obey Jesus, he will give us the gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit, who cleanses us spiritually and guides and empowers us to do God’s will, not from fear of punishment but from love in gratitude for what God has done for us in Jesus Christ. Only Jesus gives the gift 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).
Those who have received the gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit have been spiritually “reborn” to eternal life. We have passed from spiritual, eternal, death and condemnation into eternal life.
God’s Word declares that we die (physically) once and then comes judgment; not nothingness, and not reincarnation (Hebrews 9:27). Jesus’ miracles of raising the dead, and his own resurrection, demonstrate that there is existence after physical death. Every truly “born-again” Christian testifies from personal experience that Jesus has risen and is eternally alive.
Jesus has promised to return to judge the living and the dead, in both physical and spiritual senses. Jesus will command the dead to rise, just as he commanded Lazarus to come forth from the tomb (John 11:43-44). Those who have accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior, and have trusted and obeyed Jesus will have been spiritually “reborn” in this lifetime and will rise to eternal life with the Lord in God’s eternal heavenly kingdom. Those who have rejected Jesus and have refused to trust and obey him will be raised to eternal condemnation and destruction in Hell with all evil, separated eternally from the love and providence of God.
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)?
