Week of 2 Lent – March 8 – 14, 2009

This is a 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

Journalspace.com, my former 'blog host is being reorganized under new ownership. I no longer publish there. I have also lost mypodcast.com, my podcast host. This 'blog is mirrored at:

http://shepboy.multiply.com/

.mp3 Podcasts via Linux Festival Text-to-speech are available at:

Daily Walk 2 Year B Weekly Lectionary


Please Note: I will post weekly by Saturday, noon, (God willing), 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.

2 Lent - Sunday
First posted March 8, 2009

Genesis 28:10-17 (18-22) -- Jacob's Ladder
Psalm 115:1, 9-18 -- God and His People
Romans 5:1-11 -- Justified by Faith
Mark 8:31-38 -- Jesus' Death and Resurrection Foretold

Genesis Background:

Jacob, son of Isaac, Abraham's son of the promise, had tricked his brother, Esau, out of the inheritance. Jacob's mother sent Jacob to his forefathers' homeland Aram (Chaldea; in present-day Syria), to take a wife from his relatives, and to avoid retribution from Esau (Genesis 28:1-9).

Genesis:

Jacob left his father's household in Beer-sheba and headed toward Aram. At sunset he came to a place to camp for the night. He slept on the ground with a stone for a pillow. During the night he had a dream of a ladder reaching from the ground to heaven, with angels of God ascending and descending. God stood over him (or it), and told Jacob that he was the God of Jacob's grandfather (Abraham) and the God of Jacob's father (Isaac). God promised to give to Jacob and his descendants the land on which Jacob was lying, stretching east and west, north and south. Jacob's descendants would be as numerous and beyond counting as the dust of earth. All the people of the earth would bless and be blessed through Jacob's descendants. God promised to go with Jacob throughout his journey to prosper and provide for Jacob, and would bring Jacob back to that spot. God promised not to leave Jacob until all this had been accomplished. Jacob awoke from the dream and was amazed that God was in that place, that it was the house of God and the gate to heaven.

Jacob arose early and set up the stone which he had slept on as a pillar, a memorial, anointing it with oil to consecrate it to God. Jacob named the place Bethel (house of God), although the Canaanites (natives of the land) had called it Luz. Jacob vowed to God that if God would protect and prosper Jacob on his journey, would provide food and clothing for him and would bring him back to this spot, Jacob would accept the Lord as his God. The pillar Jacob had set up would be the house of God, and Jacob would give God a tenth of all his possessions.

Psalm:

Lord, let us desire and pursue your glory, rather than our own. Glorify you name for the sake of your steadfast love and faithfulness.

Trust in the Lord, all people of Israel (the people of God; the Church). The Lord is our shield and our help. Trust in the Lord, all the house of Aaron (the priests; the clergy). Trust in the Lord, all you who fear (have appropriate awe and respect for the power and authority of) God. He is our help and our shield!

Our Lord constantly remembers us and he will bless us. He will bless the house of Israel, the house of Aaron and all who fear the Lord, both great and small.

May the Lord prosper us and our children. May we be blessed by the Lord, the creator of heaven and earth.

The Universe belongs to the Lord, but he has given the earth to us. Those who are dead cannot praise the Lord; they lie in the grave in silence. But we will bless the Lord from this time forth forever. Praise the Lord.

Romans Background:

Paul had just explained that justification (being judged righteous in God's judgment) is by God's grace (unmerited favor; a free gift) received through faith (obedient trust) God's Word fulfilled only in Jesus Christ (John 1:1-5, 14; Romans 4:1-25).

Romans:

We have peace with God because we have been justified by faith (obedient trust; in Jesus Christ). We stand justified by God's grace which we have received through Jesus Christ. We rejoice in the hope of sharing in God's glory, even more, we can rejoice in the midst of suffering (for the Gospel), realizing that suffering produces endurance, we develop character through endurance, and character produces hope. Our hope will not disappoint us, “because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit which has been given to us” (Romans 5:5).

Christ died for us while were ungodly and helpless to change. We would hardly be willing to die for even a righteous person, although some might be willing to die for one who was truly good. “But God shows his love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). Since we are justified by Christ's blood, we will surely be saved from God's wrath through Jesus. If while we were enemies, Jesus' death reconciled us to God, even more surely will we be saved by Jesus' life. Additionally, we rejoice in God through Jesus Christ our Lord through whom we have been reconciled.

Gospel:

Once Jesus was sure that his disciples knew who Jesus was (Mark 8:27-30), he began to teach them about his coming crucifixion. Jesus told his disciples that he would suffer many things, and be rejected by the Jewish religious authorities. Jesus would be killed, and after three days would rise again. Jesus said this openly (not figuratively). Peter began to rebuke Jesus, vowing that this would never happen to Jesus. Jesus, looking at his disciples, rebuked Peter for being on the side of Satan and worldly people, rather than with God's purpose.

Jesus called the crowd following him, and taught them and his disciples that anyone who wants to follow Jesus must surrender his own desires, “and take up his (own) cross and follow Jesus” (Mark 8:34). Whoever would like to preserve his life in this world will lose it, but whoever surrenders his life in this world, will gain true eternal life. What good would it do to gain every worldly treasure at the cost of one's life? What would a person be willing to exchange for his life? In this adulterous and sinful world, anyone who is ashamed of Jesus and his Gospel will experience real eternal shame on the Day of Judgment. On that Day Jesus will be ashamed of them and of people who claimed to be his followers but who did not obey Jesus Matthew 7:21-27).

Commentary:

Jacob's dream was fulfilled in Jesus Christ (John 1:51). Jesus is the ladder of Jacob upon whom the blessings of God descend to us, and by whom we ascend into God's eternal kingdom in heaven. Where Jesus is, there is the house of God: the Spirit-filled Church on earth, our heavenly home with Jesus in eternity, and within the hearts of “born-again” disciples of Jesus Christ. Jesus is the gate, the doorway, to heaven (John 10:1-9); no one can enter except through Jesus (John 14:6; Acts 4:12).

Jacob was amazed to learn that God was not confined to one place, as other people of the time believed their "gods" (idols) to be. God promised to be with Jacob on his journey to the land of his people (Aram; modern Syria), to protect and provide for him, and to bring him back to this place (the House of God) and in faith (obedient trust) in that promise, Jacob accepted God as his Lord.

God fulfilled his promise to Jacob. He prospered him in Aram, where Jacob spent 20 years, indentured to his father-in-law for fourteen years for his two wives, and God returned Jacob to this very spot at Bethel, where God renewed his covenant with Abraham and his descendants (Genesis 35:6-7), and changed Jacob's name to Israel (Genesis 35:10). Israel's sons became the heads of the twelve tribes of Israel.

Everything in Creation belongs to God its Creator, but he has given the earth to us. We will be accountable to him for what we have done on this earth. This lifetime is our only opportunity to seek and find God (Acts 17:26-27), which is only possible through faith (obedient trust) in Jesus Christ (John 14:6).

We are all born into this world physically alive, but spiritually dead (unborn). This lifetime is our only opportunity to 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 Lord has promised to return at the end of time (at the end of our individual lifetimes) to judge the living (“quickened”) and the dead in both the physical and spiritual senses.

Neither the physically or spiritually dead can praise the Lord. It is only by the gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit that we are able to praise and glorify the Lord (Romans 8:15-16; Galatians 4:6). It is only by the indwelling Holy Spirit that we can know and do God's will. It is only by the gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit that we are spiritually “reborn” and made spiritually alive. 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” with the gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit is a personally discernible ongoing event (Acts 19:2). Anyone who needs to ask a religious authority whether the individual has been reborn hasn't been.

Our personal fellowship with God was lost because of sin (disobedience of God's Word; Genesis 3:1-24). All of us have sinned (Romans 3:23; 1 John 1:8-10). The penalty for sin is eternal death (Romans 6:23). Jesus is God's only provision for our forgiveness and salvation from eternal destruction in hell with all evil (Acts 4:12; see God's Plan of Salvation, sidebar, top right).

Through the gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit we are restored to close personal, daily fellowship with Jesus Christ and God the Father. Through the indwelling Holy Spirit we have a foretaste of the glory of God. The indwelling Holy Spirit is the “security deposit” securing our hope of eternal life in paradise with the Lord. By the indwelling Holy Spirit we personally experience that Jesus has risen and is eternally alive. If we know with certainty that Jesus has risen, we can be sure that we will share in that resurrection from physical death to eternal life.

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)?

2 Lent - Monday
First posted March 9, 2009


Psalm 19:7-14 -- The Word of God

God's Word is true and without flaw; it restores the soul. God's testimony is reliable, enlightening those who lack wisdom. The heart rejoices at the rightness of God's precepts. The commandment of God is perfect, giving spiritual enlightenment. Reverence for the Lord is right and eternal. God's Word is completely right and true. God's precepts are more desirable that great wealth; they are sweeter than honey

By God's Word his servants are warned; Those who keep it will have great reward. It is difficult to discern our own faults; may our Lord cleanse us. Help us resist willful sin; may they not have power over us. Then we will be blameless and innocent.

May all that we think and say be acceptable to the Lord, our rock of refuge and our redeemer from sin.

Commentary:

God has given us his Word in the Bible, and in Jesus Christ, the “living Word,” the fulfillment, embodiment and example of God's Word lived in human flesh in this world (John 1:1-5, 14). God has given us his Word so that our souls, the part of us which is eternal, can be restored to true, eternal life.

We have all sinned (disobeyed God's Word) and fall short of God's righteousness (Romans 3:23; 1 John 1:8-10) and the penalty for sin is eternal death (Romans 6:23). Jesus is God's only provision for the forgiveness of our sin and our salvation from eternal condemnation and eternal death (Acts 4:12; John 14:6; see God's Plan of Salvation, sidebar, top right).

We are born physically alive but spiritually dead (unborn) because of sin. Only by faith (obedient trust) in Jesus can we receive the gift (“baptism;” “anointing”) of the indwelling Holy Spirit, through whom we are “reborn” to eternal life (John 3:3, 5-8). 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).

God's Word is eternally true and it is the only source of divine, eternal wisdom, which is unlike what the world falsely calls wisdom (1 Corinthians 1:17-25; 2:1-8). Worldly wisdom changes; divine wisdom doesn't. Jesus is the light of the world (John 8:12), the light of righteousness (John 3:19-21), the light of true, eternal enlightenment (John 1:9), and the light of eternal life (John 1:4).

God's Word is the light by which we can discern our sins so that we can be cleansed. God's Word is the tool by which we can overcome temptation and sin.

When we begin to trust and obey God's Word we will find that it is completely reliable and trustworthy, and that it is what is right and possible and in our very best interest to do. God's Word contains both promises and warnings. The warnings are given to help us avoid the consequences of disobedience of God's Word. Obedience will be greatly rewarded now, in this lifetime, and eternally.

God's Word is the standard by which all will be judged. Jesus is the Word of God, the standard of judgment, and the righteous judge, who will return at the end of time to judge “the living (“quickened”) and the dead” in both the physical and spiritual senses (1 Peter 4:5; John 5:28-29). Each of us will face judgment at the the end of our lives.

At the moment of our death, our eternal destiny will be fixed and unalterable. Those who have accepted Jesus as Lord, who have trusted and obeyed Jesus, will have been spiritually “reborn” and will enter eternal life in God's eternal kingdom. Those who have rejected Jesus, who have refused or failed to trust and obey Jesus, will be condemned to eternal destruction and eternal death in hell with all evil (Matthew 25:31-46).

Jesus will be our rock of refuge and our redeemer, or he will be the stone which causes to us to stumble to eternal destruction (1 Peter 2:6-8).

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)?

2 Lent - Tuesday
First posted March 10, 2009


Exodus 20:1-7 -- Commandments

God is the Lord who brought Israel out of slavery in Egypt. God's people are to have no other “gods” beside God. We are not to make any image or likeness of anything in Creation to worship or serve. God will not allow the worship of any other god. God will punish those who hate him to the third and fourth generation, but will have steadfast love to all those who love God and obey his commandments. We must not use God's name in any way other than reverently for his glory.

Commentary:

God has always intended, from the very beginning of Creation, to establish an eternal kingdom of his people who willingly trust and obey God. This lifetime is our only opportunity to seek and find God our Creator (Acts 17:26-27), and our only opportunity to be spiritually “reborn” (John 3:3, 5-8) to eternal life. These are only possible through faith (obedient trust) in Jesus Christ, whom God designed into Creation from the very beginning. Jesus is the “living Word,” God's Word fulfilled, embodied and exemplified in human flesh in this world (John 1:1-5, 14).

Jesus is the fullest revelation of God to the world. He is the image of God as God intended to reveal himself. Those who have “seen” and experienced Jesus have “seen” and experienced God (John 14:8-10). Jesus' word is the Word of God (John 14:10, 24) with the creative force of God's Word (Mark 4:38-41; compare Genesis 1:3, 9). Jesus was fully human but also fully God (Colossians 2:8-9).

Jesus is the name of the Lord! Jesus is the only way to know and have fellowship with God, our Creator (John 14:6; Matthew 11:27). Jesus is not “another god.” The Holy Trinity, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit are not three “gods” but one God, in three “expressions;” three ways of experiencing God. Jesus is God in human flesh (John 20:28). The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Christ (Romans 8:9). The Trinity is not a doctrine devised by humans, but revealed by God's Word and taught by Jesus (John 14:16-17, 23, 26).

The Holy Spirit is God's fullest revelation of himself to us individually and personally. 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). Through the indwelling Holy Spirit we have personal fellowship with God our Creator.

God has been progressively revealing his purpose for Creation. God called Abraham (Abram) to be the spiritual forefather of God's people (Romans 4:11-16), through whom Jesus came and through whom we inherit the Promised Land of God's eternal kingdom in heaven (Genesis 12:1-3). God intended his dealing with Israel, recorded in the Bible, to be a metaphor for life in this Creation.

Jesus is our “Moses” who brings his people out of slavery to sin and death in the “Egypt” of this worldly kingdom, through the “sea” of baptism into Jesus Christ, through the “wilderness” of this lifetime, through the “river” of physical death, and into the eternal “Promised Land” of God's kingdom in heaven (see God's Plan of Salvation, sidebar, top right). Jesus is our “Moses” who mediates the “New Covenant” (“Testament”) of salvation from eternal condemnation by grace (unmerited favor; a free gift) to be received by faith (obedient trust) in Jesus (Matthew 26:26-28 RSV note “g;" Hebrews 8:8-13; 12:24).

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)?

2 Lent - Wednesday
First posted March 11, 2009


1 Corinthians 1:22-25 -- Wisdom of God

The Jews seek “signs” (miracles; proof) and Greeks (Gentiles) seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, which is contrary to Jewish expectation, and contrary to worldly wisdom. But to those who respond to God's call, both Jew and Greek, Christ is the power and wisdom of God. God's foolishness is greater than the wisdom of humans, and God's weakness is greater than human strength.

Commentary:

In the days of Jesus' physical ministry, the Jewish religious leaders demanded “proof” that Jesus was the promised messiah from God before they would believe (John 2:18; 6:30). The “proof” was all around them, in what Jesus was doing, but they wouldn't accept it. At his crucifixion they taunted him, saying that if he came down from the cross they would believe in him, but they still wouldn't have believed, because they didn't want to (Matthew 27:42). For those who need proof in order to believe there is none; but for those who believe there is abundant proof.

God has always intended to create an eternal kingdom of his people who would willingly choose to trust and obey God. God designed this Creation according to his purpose from the very beginning to include the Messiah (Christ; both words mean “anointed;” John 1:1-5, 14), the Savior and eternal King of God's kingdom. God knew that in giving us freedom to choose whether to trust and obey God's Word or not, we would all sin (disobey God's Word; Romans 3:23; 1 John 1:8-10). God's Word declares that the penalty for sin is eternal death (Romans 6:23). Jesus is God's one and only provision for the forgiveness of our sin and salvation from eternal condemnation (Acts 4:12; John 14:6; see God's Plan of Salvation, sidebar, top right).

Jesus was not the worldly expectation of a king. Dying on the cross was not the worldly expectation of wisdom. How could Jesus' death on the cross triumph over his enemies? Because God designed it so. Jesus' death on the cross is the one and only sacrifice acceptable to God for the forgiveness of sin.

God's plan required a betrayer and authorities who would seek Jesus' death. God knew that neither would be lacking. Israel had a long history, recorded in the Bible, of stoning the prophets God sent to them (Luke 13:34-35).

Note that the Jewish method of execution was stoning. Crucifixion was unknown in Israel until introduced in the time of the Roman empire; but Old Testament prophecy describes crucifixion (for example, Psalm 22; cf v.16-18; Jesus began to quote with verse 1 on the cross as it was being fulfilled; Matthew 27:46).

The Gospel seems to be contrary to what the world falsely calls wisdom. Worldly wisdom changes; the number of planets in our solar system is a recent example. Eternal wisdom is eternally true and unchanging.

Jesus' death on the cross frees us from life-long bondage to sin and fear of physical death (Hebrews 2:14-15). Jesus' resurrection from physical death to eternal life demonstrates that there is existence after physical death. Every truly “born-again” (John 3:3, 5-8) Christian personally testifies that Jesus has risen and is eternally alive because we have daily personal fellowship with him by the gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit. Because we know that he is alive, and that we are spiritually alive by the gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit we can be sure that we will live eternally with him in his heavenly kingdom.

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).

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)?

2 Lent - Thursday
First posted 03/12/09


John 2:13-22 -- Cleansing the Temple

It was the time of the Passover festival, and Jesus went to Jerusalem. Entering the temple, Jesus saw all the tradesmen selling animals, large and small, for sacrifices, and the moneychangers conducting business. Jesus took some cords for a whip and began to drive the merchants and their animals out of the temple. Jesus overturned the tables of the moneychangers and dumped out their coins on the ground. Jesus told the merchants to take their animals out of the temple. They had made Jesus' Father's house into a business. Jesus' disciples remembered the prophecy of scripture, that the Messiah would be consumed with zeal for God's house (Psalm 69:9).

The Jewish religious leaders asked Jesus what sign he could show that he had authority to do this. Jesus replied, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up” (John 2:19). The Jews told him it had taken forty six years to build the temple; what made Jesus think he could raise it up in three days. But Jesus was talking about the temple of his own body. After Jesus' resurrection, his disciples remembered this statement of Jesus', and they believed the scripture and Jesus' word.

Commentary:

In many ways the nominal Church today is in the same condition as Judaism at the time of Jesus' first coming. In many instances the ministry today is a “career decision” and Church is conducted as a business for the benefit of the leaders. In too many cases, the Church has failed to make disciples, and has settled for making “members,” “fair-weather Christians” who participate when it suits them. In too many cases the Church has settled for building buildings instead of building and strengthening the kingdom of God. Jesus warns us that it is not those who call themselves Christians, who call Jesus “Lord” who are saved, but those who trust and obey God's Word (Matthew 25:31-46; Matthew 7:21-27; Luke 6:46).

When Jesus returns he will begin the judgment of the earth with the Church and the people of God (1 Peter 4:17). When Christ returns will he find faith (Luke 18:8), or will he find people who are going through the motions of religious ritual out of superstition and tradition?

Many times today people are religious “consumers” choosing Churches which offer programs people want, instead of participating in the Church program that God wants. Instead of seeking to serve God they want a Church that serves them.

The Jewish leaders, who were intended to be the spiritual leaders of the people, misunderstood what Jesus was saying, because they were totally focused on material things while Jesus was speaking of spiritual things. In the world today, many people think that spiritual things are “imaginary;” that only material things have any real “substance.” But God's Word warns us that the material substance that seems so real to us is going to pass away, and only the spiritual things, which seem to us to lack substance are the things that will endure forever.

Jesus was speaking of the spiritual temple of his own body, but the Jewish authorities could only think in terms of “their” worldly temple that “they” worked for forty six years to build.

The real “business” of the Church is to make “born-again” disciples of Jesus Christ, teaching them to obey all that Jesus teaches (Matthew 28:19-20). “Born-again” Christian disciples are individually and collectively the spiritual temple of the Lord by the gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit within them.

God has given us his Word in the Bible, and in the “living Word,” Jesus Christ, the fulfillment, embodiment, and illustration of God's Word lived in human flesh in this world (John 1:1-5, 14). God wants us to know and understand, trust and obey his Word. If we seek to know God's Word with the commitment to apply it in our daily lives he will open our minds to understand his Word (Luke 24:45).

The Jewish authorities challenged Jesus' authority. They considered the temple under their authority, believing that it had been given to them by God. They thought Jesus had no authority to do what he did, because he hadn't received it from the Jewish leaders.

That's similar to the attitude of many nominal Churches today. They haven't made “born-again” (John 3:3, 5-8) disciples because they haven't taught discipleship and obedience of Jesus' teachings. Instead of the seal and guarantee of the indwelling Holy Spirit upon their ministers and members (2 Corinthians 1:22; Ephesians 1:13-14; Romans 8:9b, 11, 15-16), they've settled for their own standard of authority: theological education at their seminaries, and rites of ordination and Church membership by their authority.

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)?

2 Lent - Friday
First posted 03/13/09


Jeremiah 26:1-15 -- The Temple Sermon

“At the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim, son of Josiah, king of Judah” (probably at the Feast of Booths in September-October of 6O9 B.C.; Jeremiah 26:1*), the Lord told Jeremiah to stand in the court of the temple and proclaim all the Word of God which God gave Jeremiah to speak. Jeremiah was not to hold back anything of all God's Word. God hoped that the people would repent of their evil ways, so that the Lord might not have to carry out the punishment God intended to do to them because of their evil ways. Jeremiah was to warn them that he was declaring God's Word: If they did not listen to God's Word and live according to God's commands which he had given them, and heed the words of God's prophets which God had sent them with his urgent message, and which they had not heeded, God was going to make Judah like Shiloh** and would make Jerusalem a curse among the nations (Gentiles).

All of the people, including the priests and prophets heard what Jeremiah had said, and when Jeremiah finished they all seized him and declared that Jeremiah should die, because he prophesied against Jerusalem in the name of the Lord.

The princes of Judah (royal officials) were assembled in the New Gate of the temple, and the religious authorities asserted that Jeremiah should be executed for testifying against Jerusalem. Then Jeremiah testified that the Lord had sent him to prophesy against Jerusalem all that Jeremiah had spoken. “Now therefore amend your ways and your doings and obey the voice of the Lord your God, and the Lord will repent of the evil which he has pronounced against you” (Jeremiah 26:13). As for himself, Jeremiah told them to do what seemed right them, but that they certainly would be guilty of shedding innocent blood if they killed Jeremiah. Jeremiah was telling the truth in saying that the Lord had sent him to speak God's Word to them.

Commentary:

Israel, the Northern Kingdom of the ten tribes of the divided monarchy, had been repeatedly warned by the prophets of God to repent; to turn from idolatry and disobedience of God's Word. But they refused to heed the warning of God's Word until it was too late. The Northern Kingdom was completely destroyed by the Assyrians in 721 B.C., at the fall of Samaria, the capital city. The Northern Kingdom effectively ceased to exist, because the ten tribes were deported and scattered abroad, and the remnant intermarried with the deportees from other parts of the Assyrian empire to become the Samaritans, of mixed race and religion.

Shiloh is a symbol of the utter destruction of the Northern Kingdom as a warning to the Southern Kingdom, Judah. Judah refused to heed the example of Northern Israel and warnings of God's prophets and God's Word until it was to late for them to avoid exile to Babylon for 70 years (from 587-517 B.C.).

God brought Judah, the remnant of Israel, back from Babylon after seventy years as he had promised (Jeremiah 25:11-12), so that his plan of Salvation by the Messiah, Jesus Christ, could be fulfilled. But seventy years was a virtual life sentence for adults at the time of the deportation. God brought a renewed remnant of Israel back; but they were not the same people who had gone into exile.

The history of God's dealing with Israel is recorded in the Bible and is intended to also be a “parable,” a metaphor of life in this world. In a sense we are all in exile in the Babylon of this present world. We must learn to trust and obey the Lord so that we can be spiritually “reborn” (John 3:3, 5-8) and be led back to the “Promised Land” of God's eternal kingdom in heaven at the end of our lifetimes, or we will die eternally in the eternal Babylon of hell (see God's Plan of Salvation, sidebar, top right).

The Bible is the Word of God, containing both great promises and ominous warnings. The warnings are given to us to help us avoid the consequences of disobedience of God's Word, so that we can receive the promises of God. Judah didn't learn from the warnings of God's prophets and the examples of the Northern Kingdom, so they suffered the seventy years of exile.

The Jews who returned from the exile were not the same ones who went into exile. They were a renewed people of God, but they soon forgot the lessons of obedient trust in God's Word learned in the exile. As the result, they were unprepared for the coming of the Messiah, Jesus Christ. Again, they failed to believe and heed the Word of God, so Jerusalem and the temple were again destroyed, this time by the Roman empire in 70 A.D.. The people were scattered throughout the world, and Israel ceased to exist as a nation, until it began to be reestablished following World War II.

I assert that the Christian Church is in the same situation today as Judaism and Israel at the time of Jesus' first coming. In too many instances we started out as renewed people but we've forgotten or refused to learn from the experiences of Israel from the Bible. In too many instances, we're unwilling to hear the warnings of God's Word.

In the first century of the Church, the Apostle Paul warned that the time was coming when people wouldn't tolerate sound teaching, but would get teachers who would tell them what they wanted to hear; what made them feel good about themselves (2 Timothy 4:3-4). That time has certainly come. People don't want to hear about sin and hell. The want to hear a “Gospel” of prosperity; a Gospel of salvation by grace (unmerited favor) without the responsibility of discipleship and obedience to God's Word (see False Teachings, sidebar, top right).

This is the season of Lent: a time of self-examination and a call to repentance and re-commitment to obedience and trust in God Word. It is a time to amend our ways and our doings.

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, Jeremiah 26:1-6n, p. 947, New York, Oxford University Press, 1962.

**One of two shrines (the other being Bethel) of Northern Israel; the site of the tabernacle from the conquest (Joshua 18:1-10) until the ark fell into the hands of the Philistines (1 Samuel 4:3-11). It had been utterly destroyed five hundred years before Jeremiah. Easton’s Bible Dictionary, “Shiloh" digital edition, SwordPROJECT BibleTime 1.6.4 (for Linux KDE 3.5.7) http://wwwbibletime.org


2 Lent - Saturday
First posted 03/12/04


Ephesians 5:1-9 -- Christian Living
Luke 11:14-28 -- Obedient Trust

Ephesians:

As God's beloved children, we should learn to copy God's ways. We should live according to the example of love Christ showed us, in giving himself as a sacrifice and pleasing offering to God for us.

As saints (consecrated to God's use) we must not even mention any immorality, impurity, or covetousness among us. We must not tolerate dirty talk, even in joking, among us, for that is improper. Instead we should express thanksgiving to God. Know assuredly that no one who immoral, impure or covetous (covetousness is idolatry) will have any inheritance in Christ and the kingdom of God. Do not be deceived; God's wrath is coming upon those who disobey God's Word by such behavior. We must not associate with such people. We were once in spiritual darkness of sin and ignorance, but now we have spiritual enlightenment and purity in the Lord, so we must live accordingly. Spiritual light produces what is good, right and true.

Luke

Jesus had cast out a demon that had caused a person to be mute, and when the demon left, the person was able to speak, amazing the crowd of onlookers. Some said that Jesus cast out demons by Beelzebul (Beelzebub; Satan), the prince of demons. Others asked Jesus for a sign (proof) from heaven.

Jesus knew what they were thinking, so he said that kingdoms and houses (dynasties) which are divided are destroyed. Satan wouldn't oppose his own demons; it would defeat his purpose. Jesus said that if they thought Jesus cast out demons by Satan, by whom did the Jewish exorcists cast them out? Jewish exorcists are witnesses against Jesus' Jewish accusers. But if Jesus casts out demons by the power of God, then the kingdom of God is at hand.

When a powerful and well-armed person guards his house, his possessions are safe. But when someone stronger than that person assaults and overcomes him, and takes away his armor and weapons upon which he relied, then the assailant carries off that persons' property. Those who don't work with Jesus are opposing him.

Jesus warned that when a demon has been cast out of a person, the demon finds no place of rest, so he will attempt to return to him from whom he was cast out. That person has been cleansed and put in order, so the demon finds him more attractive than before. He invites seven other demons who are even more evil, and the person's last condition was worse than before.

As Jesus was saying this a woman in the crowd cried out that the womb who bore Jesus and the breasts that suckled him were blessed. But Jesus replied that it is those who hear the Word of God and do it who will be blessed.

Commentary:

We have all sinned (disobeyed God's Word; Romans 3:23; 1 John 1:8-10) and fall short of God's righteousness. The penalty for sin is eternal death (Romans 6:23). Jesus is God's only provision for our forgiveness and salvation (Acts 4:12; John 14:6; see God's Plan of Salvation, sidebar, top right).

Jesus has come into the world to deliver us from bondage to sin and death (Hebrews 2:14-15). Sin is a spiritual illness which results in spiritual, eternal, death. Demonic possession represents spiritual illness. Jesus came into the world to heal us spiritually and to raise us from spiritual death to eternal life. Jesus' miracles of physical healing, feeding and resurrection were intended to demonstrate that he can also, and more eternally importantly, heal, feed, and give us life spiritually.

Christians are disciples of Jesus Christ (Acts 11:26c) who have believed (trusted and obeyed) Jesus and have been “born-again” (John 3:3, 5-8) by the gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit. Only Jesus gives (“baptizes” with) the gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit (John 1:31-34), only 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).

Jesus commanded his disciples to wait in Jerusalem (the Church is the modern equivalent) until they had received the gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit (Luke 24:49; Acts 1:4-5, 8), and then they were to go into all the world and make (“born-again”) disciples of Jesus Christ and teach them to trust and obey all that Jesus taught (Matthew 28:19-20).

The Apostle Paul (Saul of Tarsus) is the prototype of a “modern,” “post-resurrection;” “born-again” disciple (student) and apostle (messenger; of the Gospel) of Jesus Christ (Acts 9:1-22). He is intended by God to be our example (and the disciple to replace Judas Iscariot, the betrayer, rather than Matthias; Acts 1:15-26).

Paul was “discipling” the Ephesian new believers. Paul was saying that Jesus spiritually heals and cleanses us through faith (obedient trust). We must apply Jesus' teachings in our daily lives, and be filled with his indwelling Holy Spirit, or we will become more attractive to the demons of sin and spiritual death, and our cleansing and healing will not last.

Paul was carrying on the teaching of Jesus Christ. Jesus' authority and power came not from Satan but by the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Christ (Romans 8:9), and so did Paul's. Note that blaspheming the Holy Spirit (suggesting that the Holy Spirit is of demonic origin) is the one and only “unforgivable” sin; Matthew 12:31-32). The reason is that in so doing one cuts oneself off from the only source of forgiveness, salvation, and spiritual “rebirth.”

Jesus warns that it is not those who call themselves “Christians,” or who call Jesus “Lord,” who will be saved; only the ones who do what God's Word commands (Matthew 7:21-27; Luke 6:46).

The Virgin Mary bore Jesus, and suckled him, but it isn't the Virgin Mary who we are to worship. She is only the example of an obedient, trusting servant of God, who heard and obeyed God's Word, as we all can be.

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)?