2nd Week of Pentecost B - June 14 - 20, 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.
Podcast: 2nd Week of Pentecost B
2 Pentecost - Sunday B
First Posted June 14, 2009
Podcast: 2 Pentecost Sunday B
Psalm 81:1-10 -- Call to Worship
Deuteronomy 5:12-15 -- Keeping the Sabbath
2 Corinthians 4:5-12 -- The Light of the Gospel
Mark 2:23-28 -- Lord of the Sabbath
Psalm 81 is a call to worship. We are invited to praise the Lord with singing and shouts of joy in his presence. Our feast day is Sunday, a Sabbath to the Lord, and the Day of Jesus’ Resurrection. The Sabbath rest and worship is the third of the Ten Commandments.
Christians are the New Israel, the New People of God. Church is the New Jerusalem, the City of God on earth. God’s deliverance of Israel from slavery and death in Egypt, his leading through the wilderness and Israel’s entry into the Promised Land is also a parable and metaphor for life in this world. Jesus is our “Moses,” through whom we have the spiritual deliverance, guidance and inheritance of eternal life in the heavenly City of God, and Jesus’ Resurrection is the demonstration of that spiritual reality.
Are we willing to be admonished by God’s Word? Are we willing to be obedient to God’s Word? Are we careful not to allow any “idol” to compete with or replace our love and obedient trust in the Lord? If we truly realize what God has done for us in Jesus Christ, we will be glad to praise and thank our Lord in Church on the “Lord’s Day.”
Keeping the Sabbath is more than just spending an hour in Church on Sunday morning. God, our Creator, designed a Sabbath rest into Creation. Obedience to his commandment is for our own benefit. When we trust and obey God’s command, we keep worldly things in proper perspective. Otherwise worldly things will become our “idols.”
Keeping the Sabbath rest is more than just resting ourselves. In obeying that command, we will live in ways that will allow others to rest on the Sabbath as well. Do we have to go shopping on Sunday? Do we have to pursue material possessions seven days a week?
If we have experienced the light of the Gospel within our hearts, if we have recognized God’s glory in the face of Jesus, we are to live in a way that glorifies the Lord and reflects the light of the Gospel to others. We are to be servants of God for the spiritual wellbeing of others so that God’s power can flow through us to them. We must be willing to “die” to our own desires, so that others can experience rebirth and new life in Jesus, following the example of Jesus and carrying on his mission of forgiveness and salvation from eternal condemnation and eternal death.
Jesus is Lord of everything, including the Sabbath, whether or not we acknowledge him as our Lord. We are to keep the Sabbath for the benefit of ourselves and others. Keeping the Sabbath doesn’t save us or make us “Christians.” We’re not to use God’s Word to oppress others. We’re to respond to the love God showed for us, in Jesus Christ, by loving concern for one another. Real worship and offering of thanksgiving to God is in obedient trust in his Word, and responding in love to one another.
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 Pentecost - Monday B
First Posted June 15, 2009
Podcast: 2 Pentecost - Monday B
Psalm 61:1-5, 8 -- Prayer for protection
The Psalmist prays in faith that the Lord will listen to his prayer, even though he may feel that he is at the farthest end of the earth, and when faint with fear. He places his trust in the Lord to be his fortress and refuge from his enemies, Satan, evil and death. He asks in faith that the Lord will lead him to the rock that is higher than the Psalmist
The Psalmist asks to dwell in the presence of God forever; to be safe in the shelter of God’s presence. The Psalmist has vowed to offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving daily, because God has heard him and given him the inheritance of those who fear God (have awe and respect for God’s power and authority; God’s name is the sum of God’s character and person). The Psalmist has vowed to sing praises to God’s name daily forever, beginning now, one day at a time.
God is visualized as a mighty eagle in the shadow of whose wings we find safety and protection (see also Psalm 91:1-4). The Psalmist longs to dwell in God’s presence and share in the eternal heritage, eternal life in God’s presence in Heaven, which God gives to his people who trust and obey him. God’s Word will lead us to Jesus, if we will hear, trust and obey.
Jesus is the Rock which is higher than we are. Jesus is the place of refuge from the enemy of our souls; he provides a solid foundation on which to stand, which puts us above and out of the reach of our enemy. Jesus is the name of God (Colossians 2:8-9, John 20:28; Matthew 1:23). Jesus is God’s authority, character, and person in human flesh. Jesus is God’s Word, fulfilled, embodied and demonstrated in human flesh (John 1:1-5, 14).
Jesus is only one who can restore us to God’s presence (Acts 4:12; John 14:6; see God’s Plan of Salvation, sidebar, top right), now, 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) and eternally (1 John 5:11-13), by spiritual rebirth (John 3:3, 5-8). 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).
How about us? Do we long for God’s presence? Do we entrust our security to him? Do we sing praise daily to God’s name, for all the material and spiritual blessings he has given 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)?
2 Pentecost - Tuesday B
First Posted June 16, 2009
Podcast: 2 Pentecost - Tuesday B
Genesis 3:9-15 -- The fall of Man
Adam and Eve tried to hide from God because they had violated his commandment and knew they had done evil (Genesis 3:4). Their close personal fellowship with God was broken. But God sought them out and held them accountable for their actions, although they tried to shift the blame. Adam, Eve, and the serpent each lost God’s favor and unlimited blessing.
We have all sinned (disobeyed God’s Word) and fall short of God’s righteousness (Romans 3:23, 1 John 1:8-10). Our sin separates us from fellowship with God now and eternally. We will all be accountable to God for what we have done in this lifetime, and it will be impossible to hide from his judgment or shift the blame from ourselves (John 5:28-29; Matthew 25:31-46). The penalty for sin is eternal death separated eternally from God’s presence (Romans 6:23).
Jesus Christ is God’s only provision for the forgiveness of our sins and restoration to eternal life in fellowship with God in eternal paradise in Heaven (Acts 4:12; John 14:6). Jesus has been God’s plan from the beginning of this Creation, built into the very structure of Creation (John 1:1-5, 14; see God’s Plan of Salvation, sidebar, top right). God has always intended to create an eternal kingdom of his people who willingly trust and obey God. God designed the possibility of sin into Creation so that mankind would have free choice whether to obey God or not, and made it possible for us to learn by trial and error to trust and obey him. This lifetime is our opportunity to seek and find God and learn to trust and obey him (Acts 17:26-27).
God has revealed himself to us through his Word (the Bible), through Jesus Christ, his only begotten Son, God’s Word fulfilled, embodied and demonstrated in human flesh (John 1:14). Jesus came to die on the Cross as the only sacrifice acceptable to God for the forgiveness of our sins. By faith (obedient trust) in Jesus Christ we are 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 God’s fullest revelation of himself to us personally and individually; the restoration of personal fellowship with God lost by the fall of mankind through sin, now in this lifetime, and the seal and guarantee that we are in Christ and have eternal life in God’s presence in paradise restored in Heaven (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 Pentecost - Wednesday B
First Posted June 17, 2009
Podcast: 2 Pentecost - Wednesday B
2 Corinthians 4:13-18 -- Faith and Perseverance
Paul was the prototype and example of a “modern,” “born-again” (John 3:3, 5-8) disciple and apostle (messenger; of the Gospel) of Jesus Christ, having come to know Jesus only after Jesus’ resurrection and ascension into heaven. Paul (formerly known as Saul of Tarsus) was willing to accept rebuke and chastisement from the Lord and acknowledge that he had been wrong in persecuting Christians through lack of knowledge and through spiritual blindness (Acts 9:1-19, 21-22).
Paul’s conversion, while on the road to Damascus to persecute Christians, was sudden and radical, but Paul already knew and had been formally trained in the Old Testament scriptures. (Also remember that the original Twelve disciples were with Jesus twenty-four hours a day for about three years, being “discipled,” but were not ready for Gospel ministry until after they had witnessed Jesus’ resurrection, and had been filled with the indwelling Holy Spirit; Acts 2:1-13). Once he was confronted by the Spirit of Christ, Paul could see that Jesus was the Christ (Messiah), and as soon as he had been baptized into the Christian Church and had received the gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit (Acts 9:17-19a) he began proclaiming the Gospel in the synagogues (Acts 19b-20). We can’t expect such a rapid conversion, but it is important to be “discipled” by a “born-again” disciple of Jesus Christ, until we have received the gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit, before going out into the world to proclaim the Gospel (Luke 24:49; Acts 1:4-5, 8).
Paul believed (trusted and obeyed) Jesus’ words (Acts 9:4-9), and was “discipled” by a “born-again” disciple, Ananias, (Acts 9:10-19) until Paul had received the Holy Spirit. Guided and empowered by the Holy Spirit, Paul believed, and he spoke, even though persecution for the Gospel began immediately (Acts 9:23-25).
Paul suffered a lot of persecution for the Gospel, as Jesus had prophesied to Ananias (Acts 9:16). Because Paul had personally experienced and come to know the risen Jesus (1 Corinthians 15:3-10), he knew that life beyond physical death was true, and he believed that God would raise the disciples who followed Jesus in faith (obedient trust) to eternal life with Jesus in the Kingdom of God in Heaven, as he had raised Jesus.
Paul was willing to endure persecution for the Gospel for the sake of the “lost,” the “spiritually blind,” as he had once been. Paul had experienced the great grace (unmerited favor; free gift) of God’s forgiveness in Jesus Christ, and was willing to suffer to carry on Christ’s ministry of forgiveness of sin (disobedience of God’s word), reconciliation with God, and salvation from eternal condemnation and eternal death. Through the suffering that Paul experienced, he learned to trust the power and faithfulness of the Lord to bring him through it
When we experience the love and goodness of the Lord we will want to share that with others, so that they can also experience and know the Lord, and so that the Lord will be glorified more and more. We will want to build and strengthen the kingdom of God now and eternally. This temporal lifetime is our only opportunity to seek and find God (Acts 17:26-27) which is only possible through faith in Jesus Christ (Acts 4:12; John 14:6).
This Creation is temporal; it is not going to last forever, and neither will our physical bodies. God has created this world with the possibility of disobedience of God’s word, so that we will truly have the freedom to choose whether to trust and obey the Lord or not, and so that we will have the opportunity to learn by trial and error that God’s will is good and our very best interest. But God won’t tolerate disobedience forever; he’s set a time limit. We will all face the Day of Judgment, whether still physically living when Christ returns, when we’ve died (John 5:28-29; Matthew 25:31-46).
This world and every material, physical thing in it, which seems so “real” to us now, is passing away. We tend to think that “spiritual” things are unsubstantial, more like “feelings” and “emotions,” because they are invisible. But spiritual things are a greater and eternal reality, than the “things” which seem so real to us now. We can begin to experience spiritual reality now; we can and must experience spiritual “rebirth” now, in this lifetime, or we won’t have it in eternity. This brief lifetime is nothing compared to eternity. The eternal kingdom of God is the perfect paradise God intended this world to be; all the bad things in this creation are because of mankind’s sin.
To enter the Kingdom of Heaven, we must follow the example and teaching of Jesus. Jesus was the perfect, sinless Son of God, and worldly people refused to welcome him and instead persecuted him to death. Worldly people aren’t going to treat the followers of Jesus any better. We can expect persecution, but we, like Paul, believe (“and have come to know,” from experience; John 6:67-69), and so we speak.
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 Pentecost - Thursday B
First Posted June 18, 2009
Podcast: 2 Pentecost - Thursday B
Mark 3:20-35 -- Jesus’ Authority
Jesus was at home with his disciples, and a great crowd came to him, so that Jesus and his disciples didn’t have time even to eat. Jesus’ friends thought he was going crazy and tried to restrain him. Teachers of the Law (Jewish Scripture; the Law of Moses) declared that Jesus was possessed by Beelzebul, the prince of demons (Satan), and that Jesus got his authority and power over demons from Beelzebul.
Jesus used parables (common examples from everyday earthly experience) to teach spiritual truth. An earthly kingdom divided against itself collapses and is replaced by something else. The same thing is true of a family dynasty, or even a building. In order to rob a strong man, the strong man must first be restrained and subdued.
Jesus declared that every sin of mankind is forgivable (even blasphemy against Jesus Christ, according to Matthew 12:32), but blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is an eternal, unforgivable sin.
Jesus was doing great miracles, “signs” which were intended to reveal his power and authority as the Son of God, the “anointed,” eternal king of Israel, the heir to the Throne of David, and the long-awaited Messiah and Savior. Jesus’ physical healings were intended to reveal that Jesus is the only one who can heal spiritual illness. His feeding miracles (for example: Mark 6:30-44) were designed to show that he alone can feed and nurture us spiritually. His raising the physically dead to physical life (for example: Mark 5:22-23, 35-42, and his own Resurrection (Matthew 28:1-10; John 21:1-14; 1-29; 1 Corinthians 15:3-8), demonstrated that Jesus can raise the physically dead to spiritual, eternal life. Spiritual rebirth (John 3:3, 5-8) is possible only through faith (obedient trust) in Jesus, by the gift of his Holy Spirit, which only Jesus gives (John 1:33), only to his disciples who trust and obey Jesus (John 14:15-17).
A few people recognized the signs and became his disciples, but most of the people who came to him sought him only for the physical healing and physical bread he could provide. Even his friends did not understand the miracles, and thought that Jesus was loosing his sanity; that he was “out of his mind” (Mark 3:21). His own family was concerned about his wellbeing (Mark 3:31-32). The “religious” “authorities” declared that Jesus’ authority and power over demons came from Satan. If they thought Jesus’ authority was from Satan, where did they think their own authority was from?
Jesus’ power was by the Holy Spirit of God within him (Colossians 2:8-9; John 1:32; Romans 8:9). Jesus warned that the only unforgivable sin is blasphemy (irreverence; contempt, particularly against something considered sacred) against the Holy Spirit. Anyone who interprets the goodness and holiness of the presence and works of the Holy Spirit as evil and demonic is hopelessly spiritually corrupt, and cannot be redeemed from that corruption because he has cut himself from the One who can cleanse and restore him to spiritual health and life. The Lord doesn’t condemn the blasphemer; the blasphemer has condemned himself.
Who do you say Jesus is? 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 Pentecost - Friday B
First Posted June 19, 2009
Podcast: 2 Pentecost - Friday B
Proverbs 9:1-10 -- Divine Wisdom
Wisdom is portrayed as a gracious hostess, who has built her house, established on “seven pillars.” She has prepared a great feast and has invited all who are “simple,” who realize that they lack wisdom, to partake of her feast of bread and wine. She calls them to leave “simpleness” and live; and follow the way of insight in their daily lives.
The wicked and the scoffer hate correction and retaliate with abuse and anger against those who attempt to correct them, but a wise man will accept and appreciate correction, and will learn and grow in wisdom and understanding.
“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight” (Proverbs 9:10)
Wisdom, portrayed here, is not what the world falsely calls “wisdom,” but divine wisdom, by which God created this world, and on which this world is founded (Proverbs 8:22-31; 1 Corinthians 1:18-25, 2:6-7). God offers his divine wisdom to all who realize their lack of wisdom, and who are willing to receive and learn from divine correction.
Jesus is not only the Word of God (John 1:1-5, 14), but the wisdom of God, fulfilled, embodied and exemplified in human form (Colossians 2:8-9). Jesus is the only one who can remove the veil of “spiritual ignorance” that lies over the minds of unbelievers (2 Corinthians 3:14-16; Luke 23:45). 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) our minds are opened to understand the Holy Scriptures (the Bible; Luke 24:32, 45). The Holy Spirit will teach “born-again” (John 3:3, 5-8) Christians all things (John 14:26).
The fear (awe and respect for the power and authority) of God is the beginning of true wisdom. Anyone who does not fear the sovereign all-powerful God, who has the authority to give us eternal life in his kingdom in heaven or eternal condemnation and death in hell certainly is unwise (see God’s Plan of Salvation, sidebar, top right). True wisdom, the awe, and respect for God, makes it possible for us to come to personally know and have fellowship with the Holy One, Jesus Christ, through his indwelling Holy Spirit. The meaning and purpose of life in this temporal world is to come to a personal knowledge of, and fellowship with God (Acts 17:26-27), and this is only possible through faith (obedient trust) in Jesus Christ (Acts 4:12; John 14:6).
The feast of wisdom, to which all are invited, is to the Lord’s Supper (the Eucharist; “Holy Communion”), the participation in the feast of sacrifice of the body and blood of Jesus Christ, sacrificed once for all who are willing to receive it, for the forgiveness of our sins (disobedience of God’s Word). The Lord’s Supper is the foretaste of the great feast in heaven that we will share eternally in the Lord’s presence.
Are you willing to accept correction and learn from God’s Word? 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 Pentecost - Saturday
First Posted June 20, 2009
Podcast: 2 Pentecost - Saturday B
Luke 14:15-24 -- The Great Banquet
Jesus was a guest at a dinner in the house of a religious leader and Pharisee (Luke 14:1). One of the guests remarked how blessed it would be for those who will be invited to the Great Banquet in the kingdom of heaven. Jesus replied with a parable (a story of a common earthly experience to teach a spiritual truth).
Jesus said that a man had prepared a great banquet and had invited his friends. When the time came he sent his servants to summon the guests, but each one asked to be excused because they had other pressing worldly things they regarded as more important. The servant reported to his master, who decided to invite the poor and handicapped to his banquet in place of his original guests who had declined. The servant did so, but still there was room, so the master sent his servant to compel passers-by, so that the banquet would be full and the original guests would not be able to change their minds and find room for themselves at the banquet.
The parable describes the kingdom of heaven. God is the master, and the banquet represents the joy and fellowship with the Lord in his eternal kingdom. Jesus and his disciples are his servants who have been instructed to summon his guests. His invited guests originally represent the Jews, and now represent the Church, which is the “New Israel.”
The invitation to God’s kingdom is open to everyone, but the poor, blind and crippled, both physically and spiritually, will be receptive and appreciative of the invitation and the banquet, whereas the “invited” may be unwilling to give up their worldly interests in order to accept and act on the invitation.
Are we allowing our pursuit of career, home, family, material possessions, and physical pleasure to keep us from accepting God’s invitation in Jesus Christ and doing God’s will so that we can attend the banquet? Do we think we can wait until the last minute to show up and still find a place for us at the table?
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)?
Saturday, May 23, 2009
2nd Week of Pentecost B - June 14 - 20, 2009
Friday, May 22, 2009
Week of Trinity – June 7 – 13, 2009
Week of Trinity – June 7 – 13, 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.
Podcast: Trinity B
Holy Trinity Sunday B
First Posted June 7, 2009
Podcast: Trinity Sunday B
Deuteronomy 6:4-9 -- One Lord
Psalm 149 -- Spiritual Warfare
Romans 8:14-17 -- Led by the Spirit
John 3:1-17 -- New Birth
“The Lord our God is one Lord” (Deuteronomy 6:4). God is Spirit (John 4:24). Jesus is God in human flesh; God with us (Matthew 1:23b); the whole fullness of deity dwelling with us in Jesus Christ (Colossians 2:8-9). Jesus is both fully God and fully human. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God, The Spirit of Jesus (Romans 8:9), and the Spirit of truth (John 14:16-17).
God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are not three Gods but one God, in three expressions; three progressive self-revelations of God to us. God revealed himself to us in his Word, the Bible, in Jesus Christ, who is the fulfillment, embodiment and demonstration of God’s Word lived out in human flesh (John 1:1-3:14), and personally revealed by the gift of his indwelling Holy Spirit. We first come to know God through the Bible, but we cannot really know and have personal fellowship with God except through Jesus Christ (John 14:6). We first come to know Jesus through the Gospel; the New Testament. As we trust and obey Jesus, he will anoint us with the gift of his Holy Spirit, through whom we have personal knowledge of and fellowship with Jesus and God the Father. Only Jesus “baptizes” with the Holy Spirit (John 3:3, 5-8), only his disciples who trust and obey Jesus (John 14:15-17, 21-23).
We cannot love God as Spirit because he is too unlike us; we cannot imagine what he is like, but we can learn that he is good and faithful from the record of his dealing with Israel in the Bible. Jesus is the demonstration of God’s nature, his love, power and faithfulness, in human form. We can only come to love God, through Jesus, when we realize what God has done for us. Unless we have learned to love Jesus through the Bible, we cannot recognize, accept and love the Holy Spirit. When we receive the indwelling Holy Spirit we experience and come to know with certainty his love and goodness.
Jesus is the picture of God’s nature and his love for us, dramatized for us on the Cross. When we realize God’s love and sacrifice for us, we will want to praise, thank, and try to please him by our obedient trust. Through the gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit we are able to sing a new song of praise, and rejoice in the Lord. The two-edged sword of the Holy Spirit is the Word of God (Ephesians 6:17). The Lord opens our minds to understand the Scriptures (Luke 24:45). The Holy Spirit speaks through his “born-again (John 3:3, 5-9) disciples, he guides us into ministries according to his will, and he gives the gifts of abilities that we need to fulfill those ministries. (I personally testify to this truth.)
We are involved in a spiritual battle between the forces of evil and God’s people. The victory over evil has already been won at Jesus’ crucifixion (1 Corinthians 2:6-8). God’s people are called to join the battle, using God’s Word to overthrow the forces of evil, and to restrain the worldly rulers of this present age.
The Lord gives the gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit to his disciples who trust and obey Jesus (John 14:15-17); to those who are willing to be led by his Holy Spirit (Isaiah 42:5e). The Holy Spirit is the seal and guarantee that we are in Christ (2 Corinthians 1:22; Ephesians 1:13-14; Romans 8:9b, 11, 15-16), God’s (adopted) children; that we are heirs of eternal life in God’s eternal kingdom in Paradise, and that we are brothers and sisters of Jesus Christ and share fully in his kingdom, provided that we share in Jesus’ ministry and the suffering he received for the Gospel.
Nicodemus was a Pharisee and a member of the Sanhedrin [Jewish religious Court of seventy priests, scribes (teachers of the law; i.e. scripture) and elders]. He realized that the deeds Jesus had been doing publicly had to be by God’s power and authority, but Nicodemus wasn’t ready to risk his own personal reputation and standing in Israel, so he came to Jesus secretly, at night.
Jesus explained spiritual rebirth to Nicodemus, using a metaphor and play on the Aramaic word which meant “wind,” and “spirit” (and “breath”) but Nicodemus questioned how this could be. Jesus asked in reply, how Nicodemus could presume to be a teacher of God’s people without understanding this spiritual reality and relying on Jesus’ word.
Does our membership in the (nominal) Church or our standing in society cause us to be reluctant to hear spiritual truth? Have our “Churches” allowed “unregenerate” (not “born-again”) people to be teachers and ministers? Have our “Churches” preached the Holy Spirit and spiritual rebirth (Acts 19:2)?
Today is Trinity Sunday, when the Church celebrates the triune God (One God in three persons, or “expressions”). The word “Trinity” is not found in the Bible, but the principle is throughout. One can know the triune God personally. The only way to God the Father is through God the Son, Jesus Christ (Acts 4:12; John 14:6; John 20:28), by God the Holy Spirit, by grace (unmerited favor; a free gift), through faith (obedient trust) in Jesus Christ (Ephesians 2:8-9; Jesus is God’s only anointed Eternal King; “Christ” and “Messiah” both mean “anointed” in Greek and Hebrew, respectively).
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)?
Trinity – Monday B
First Posted June 8, 2009
Podcast: Trinity – Monday B
Psalm 81:1-10 -- On the Feast of Tabernacles
This is a Psalm of praise and commemoration, on the observance of the Feast (of Tabernacles), of what God has done for his people. The Psalm commemorates God’s saving act, delivering God’s people from Pharaoh and bondage to sin and death in Egypt. God had descended upon Mt. Sinai, where he gave Moses his Commandments, established the religious festivals (Exodus 23:16) and had made the Covenant with his people. God had tested his people in the wilderness at Meribah (meaning “contention”). The people were thirsty and demanded that God provide them with water, and God had brought forth water from the rock.
From the very beginning of the Covenant with God, the people had violated it by turning to other “gods” (Exodus 32:1-6). The first of the Ten Commandments was that the people of God shall have no other “god” but the Lord. The forty years of wandering in the wilderness was caused by their unwillingness to trust and obey God, despite the great acts of deliverance they had experienced. During the forty years, they should have learned to rely on God to provide for their needs for water, food, and faithful guidance.
Beyond the history of God’s dealing with Israel, God’s deliverance and guidance of his people from Egypt, through the wilderness, and into the Promised Land is a parable and metaphor for each of us. Jesus Christ is the new “Moses” who frees his people from sin and bondage to Satan in the “Egypt” of this world. Jesus is the mediator of a New Covenant of salvation from condemnation and eternal death by grace (unmerited favor; a free gift) through faith (obedient trust; Ephesians 2:8-9). Jesus will lead us through the wilderness of this present world. He sustains us spiritually with “living water” (John 7:37-39; 1 Corinthians 10:4) and spiritual manna (John 6:35-51; Exodus 16:2-12).
This lifetime is our only opportunity to seek and come to a personal knowledge of and fellowship with God (Acts 17:26-27), and this is only possible through Jesus Christ (Acts 4:12; John 14:6), by the gift of the 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 gives spiritual rebirth and eternal life (John 3:3, 5-8). 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 Holy Spirit is our “pillar of cloud and fire” (Exodus 13:21-22) to guide us through the wilderness. This lifetime is our opportunity to learn to trust and obey the Lord and to learn to rely on him to provide for our needs and our guidance.
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)?
Trinity – Tuesday B
First Posted June 9, 2009
Podcast: Trinity – Tuesday B
Deuteronomy 5:12-15 -- Sabbath Rest
Rest on the Sabbath is the third of the Ten Commandments. It was designed to provide rest and moderation, for God’s people, and for the employees and servants and work animals (beasts of burden) under them.
God our Creator rested on the seventh day from the work of Creation (Genesis 2:1-3). God designed the Sabbath rest for Mankind’s benefit. Mankind, trying to “get ahead” in this world, thinks that they cannot take a day off; there always seems to be something that needs doing.
We need to spend time communing with God, recognizing that he is the giver of life and all the material things we possess. We need to take the time to rest physically, and to loosen our grip on material things and worldly success (Hebrews 4:1-11). Our first priority on Sunday should be worship God in church with his people, yet many church members seem to attend church only when there isn’t something else to do on Sunday.
If we would rest on the Sabbath we would discover that we can accomplish the same work in six days, because God will bless our work. If we’re so eager and successful in accumulating material things, they will only tie us down in this world and keep us from receiving eternal life in God’s kingdom (Matthew 19:24; 1 Timothy 6:9; Luke 12:16-21). The commandment against covetousness is the ninth commandment (Deuteronomy 5:21).
How many Americans have so much stuff that their garages are full of it, and they rent storage space to fill that? How many are out jogging on Sunday mornings, trying to take care of their physical bodies, and not giving any thought to their immortal souls?
Jesus taught that the Sabbath rest was for the good of God’s people (all people, whether they consider themselves God’s people or not). The Sabbath rest is not to be used to enslave people but to bless them. It is always ok to do what is good for others and ourselves on the Sabbath, which means resting on the Sabbath and allowing others to do so, unless there some emergency.
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)?
Trinity – Wednesday B
First Posted June 10, 2009
Podcast: Trinity – Wednesday B
2 Corinthians 4:5-12 -- Earthen Vessels
This Corinthian congregation had been disturbed by “false apostles” who were dividing the congregation. Some were challenging Paul's (Saul of Tarsus') apostolic authority (1 Corinthians 1:10-17). Some leaders were building themselves up (by tearing Paul down); they were using the ministry of the Gospel to create their own personal empire.
Paul taught and demonstrated that the goal of the ministry of the Gospel is to exalt Jesus as Lord, with ourselves as his servants. The ministry of the Gospel is to make disciples of Jesus Christ; not disciples of ourselves or of some well-known preacher.
God created light to shine in the darkness as the first act of Creation (Genesis 1:3). God’s plan for this Creation was to make it possible for Jesus, the Light of the world (John 8:12; 9:5), the light of eternal life (John 1:4-5), to send the spiritual light of his Holy Spirit into our sin-darkened hearts, through whom we receive spiritual enlightenment (John 14:26; 16:12-13), so that we can realize and know the glory of God in Jesus’ face. Jesus is God in human flesh (Matthew 1:23; Colossians 2:8-9; John 20:28). It is by the grace (unmerited favor) of God and the work of the Holy Spirit that we can recognize God in the face of Christ.
“Born-again” (John 3:3-5-8) Christian disciples have spiritual treasure within our hearts, by the indwelling Holy Spirit, but we are still in earthly bodies, subject to all our human weaknesses. What makes earthen vessels valuable or not is what they contain. Paul wanted the Corinthians to know that the things he (and all disciples of Jesus Christ) did in the ministry were not by his own great intellect and ability, but by the power and guidance of the Holy Spirit within him and through him.
God allows his Apostles (messengers of the Gospel) to share in the suffering of Christ for the Gospel so that it can be clearly seen that we share in the glory of Jesus’ resurrection and victory over the world, sin, and physical death. The Holy Spirit is the evidence of Jesus’ life within us (2 Corinthians 1:22; Ephesians 1:13-14; Romans 8:9b, 11, 15-16). Christians are willing to endure suffering and persecution for the Gospel in order that others can receive the gift and assurance of eternal life. As Jesus died to give us life, we continue his ministry, dying to ourselves and our earthly lives, so that we can live for Jesus and so that others can receive life in him.
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)?
Trinity - Thursday B
First Posted June 11, 2009
Podcast: Trinity - Thursday B
Mark 2:23-28 -- Lord of the Sabbath
Jesus and his disciples were walking through a grainfield on the Sabbath, and Jesus’ disciples were snacking on ripe ears of grain. The Pharisees were the strict, legalistic leading sect of Judaism. They were in opposition to Jesus and looking for ways to attack him, so they criticized his disciples. They were using “religion” to achieve their worldly goals, instead of seeking to know and do God’s will. They suggested that Jesus’ disciples were breaking the Sabbath law by “harvesting” grain.
The Pharisees considered themselves experts in the Scriptures. Jesus pointed out to them that David had violated the Law of Moses by eating the bread of the presence in the Temple, which only priests were allowed to eat, and feeding his men with it when he was being pursued by King Saul.
Jesus’ point was that God’s Word, his Law, was given for his peoples’ good; not to oppress them. The Pharisees were using “religion” to create their own personal worldly “empire” where they were in charge, keeping other people oppressed under their power. They were in the position of shepherds of God’s people, obligated to care for, feed and protect the “flock,” but they were wicked shepherds who cared only for themselves, and instead, they “fed” on and “sheared” the “sheep” for the benefit of the shepherds (Ezekiel 34:2-31).
The disciples of Jesus had left their jobs, their means of subsistence, to follow Jesus. The Pharisees were not only not providing for the physical needs of the disciples; they were denying them what God intended for them. God’s Word required the landowner not to glean everything in their harvest, but to leave some produce in the field, so that the poor could gather it. (for example: Leviticus 19:10).
Jesus is the “good shepherd,” who cares for the “flock,” God’s people. In a sense, all of us are God’s people, whether we acknowledge God or not, because God is our Creator. Those who are in positions of leadership, both religious and secular, are accountable to God for the way they treat God’s people.
This should be a warning to America, the “New Promised Land,” and also to the (nominal) Church (particularly the American Church), the “New Israel,” the “New Jerusalem,” the New City of God on earth. In many instances today, the secular leaders of America, and the spiritual leaders of the (American) Church lead as though the secular and spiritual people of God are “sheep to be sheared” for the benefit of the “shepherds.”
Are we seeking to know and obey God’s will, or are we only interested in manipulating God to do our will? Do we care about the physical needs of the poor among us? Are the wealthy providing jobs for the poor and unemployed, or are they exporting jobs and exploiting the poor of the poorest nations of the world? Are the wealthy leaving something to be gleaned for the poor? Are the wealthy paying taxes in proportion to the advantages and benefits they’ve received in this land? Do we blame poverty on the poor?
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)?
Trinity - Friday B
First Posted June 12, 2009
Podcast: Trinity - Friday B
Deuteronomy 6:10-13 -- Preparing for the Promised Land
The Lord gave his people the Ten Commandments, so that they could learn to live by them, to prepare them to live in the Promised Land. They had left the bondage of slavery and death in Egypt, and were passing through the wilderness, but God was going to bring them into the Promised Land, which would be lush paradise in comparison to Egypt and the wilderness.
The people of God were going to take possession of a land which had been built up and cultivated by others. God’s people would take over cities, houses, wells, vineyards an oliveyards which had been built and established by others. God was taking it from those who did not worship and obey God, and giving it to people who did. God warned his people that when they entered the Promised Land and had become established and prosperous, not to forget that it was God who had delivered them from slavery, who had brought them through the wilderness, had given them the Promised Land, and had prospered them in it.
The history of God’s dealing with is also a metaphor and parable for us about life in this world and the world to come. It is a warning to and the Church, which are the New Promised Land, the New Israel, in the secular and spiritual sense. and the Church have been blessed with unprecedented prosperity, but now the temptation of human nature is to forget that it is God who has blessed and prospered us. We think we are blessed and prosperous because of our own effort and ability.
The First Commandment of God is to love and serve God alone; not to commit spiritual adultery by worshiping and serving other Gods. We are surrounded by people who worship the modern “gods” of wealth, power, fame, success, pleasure, home, family, and material things. These people are filling our Churches, and our Churches have, in many instances, adopted the cultural attitudes around them. Churches and Church leaders have pursued wealth, power, fame, success, comfort, and material things, like the society around them and within them. Both in the Nation and the Church we have forgotten that it is God who has given us these blessings, and have come to believe that we have earned and accomplished them by our own effort and ability.
God took the Promised Land from people who refused to acknowledge and obey him and gave it to people who would. When the Israelites had gained possession of the land they had a cyclic history of becoming prosperous, falling away from obedience to God, experiencing tribulation, crying out to God for help, and then returning to prosperity. They didn’t learn from their experiences, and were unprepared for the first coming of Jesus Christ.
At Jesus first advent, the Jews were again in bondage to the Roman Empire, representing the ruler of this present world, as they had been in Egypt, but they didn’t realize the extent of their bondage. They were blessed and prosperous to the extent that they were living in houses and cities built by their ancestors, and cultivating their ancestors’ fields, oliveyards and vineyards. They had turned religion into an institution to serve them instead of seeking to truly serve and worship God.
Jesus is the one who could free them from the spiritual bondage by Satan to sin and death and bring them through the spiritual wilderness of this world and into the Promised Land of God of God’s eternal kingdom, but they rejected Jesus, their rightful, anointed, eternal king, because they didn’t want to lose their “peace,” “freedom,” their material prosperity, and their “religious tradition.” They didn’t realize how much they were enslaved to “idols” and false “gods”
Because they rejected Jesus as their Messiah, they lost the “peace,” “freedom,” and material prosperity they thought they had and thought they had earned. The Romans destroyed and the in 70 A.D. and the Jews were scattered to the far corners of the earth. Judaism, “their” “religion,” effectively ceased to exist until Jews began returning, following World War II, and the Church have experienced similar cyclic histories. The Pilgrims came to seeking the freedom to worship God. They were dependent upon God’s providence as they carved out a living in the New World. When they started to be prosperous they began to fall away from God and into the idolatries of prosperity. When crises occur, the Nation and the Church return to God, but when prosperity returns, we tend to fall away and pursue false gods.*
We’re living in the last great phase of prosperity since World War II, and America and the Church (in America) are in the same situation now as Israel was following their exile in Babylon, until Jesus’ first coming.
Jesus has promised to come again, to judge the living and dead in both the physical and spiritual senses (John 5:28-29, Matthew 25:31-46, 2 Thessalonians 1:5-10). At the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, he will give possession of the eternal Promised Land to his disciples, and he will take the eternal Promised Land from those who refuse to trust and obey Jesus.
We will all face his judgment, whether we are still living physically or have died. We are all eternally dead, spiritually, until we are “born-again” (John 3:3, 5-8) 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). Are we learning and preparing to enter the Promised Land? Are we ready for Jesus’ Second 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)?
* The thesis of:
Marshall, Peter, J., Jr. and Manuel, David, "The Light and the Glory" (underline), Fleming H. Revell, Baker Books, Grand Rapids, Mich. 41956-6287. ISBN 0-8007-5054-3 (paper).
Ibid " From Sea to Shining Sea, ISBN 0-8007-5308-9 (paper).
Trinity Saturday B
First Posted June 13, 2009
Podcast: Trinity Saturday B
Luke 16:19-31 -- The Rich Man and Lazarus
Jesus used parables, fictional stories of common everyday experiences, to teach spiritual truths. This fictional Lazarus was a poor man, a beggar, who sat at the rich man’s gate. He was hungry and sick, and would have been grateful to receive scraps left on the rich man’s plate. The rich man saw him every time the rich man went out or came in, but he ignored Lazarus. The rich man would not even restrain his dogs, who were adding to Lazarus’ misery by licking his sores.
Both men died, but Lazarus went to heaven, and the rich man went to hell. Lazarus received eternal comfort in the presence of Abraham, but the rich man received eternal misery and destruction. The rich man asked that Lazarus be allowed to give him a drop of water to cool the tongue of the rich man who was in agony in the fires of hell, but Abraham told him it was impossible; an impassable barrier separated them.
The rich man then asked that Lazarus be sent to warn the rich man’s five brothers, so that they would not wind up in the place of torment. Abraham replied that the brothers had the testimony of Moses and the prophets (the Old Testament scriptures), which was sufficient to warn them. But the rich man said that the brothers would not heed the Scriptures, but if someone returned from the dead they would listen to that person. Abraham replied that if the brothers didn’t heed the Scriptures, they wouldn’t heed even one who had been raised from the dead.
Jesus told this parable to the crowd who gathered around him, including Pharisees (Luke 16:14; the legalistic leaders of the dominant sect of Judaism from Jerusalem, and also “lovers of money”). The Lazarus character was fictional but the name was no coincidence; Jesus raised Lazarus, the brother of Martha and Mary at Bethany just a couple miles from Jerusalem, and the Jewish leaders, including the Pharisees knew it, and plotted to kill Jesus (partly) because of it (John 11:1-44; 12:1, 9-10).
Jesus is the New Abraham, who leads his people through the wilderness of this life, and into the Promised Land of heaven, where we will be eternally in his presence. Jesus is also the ultimate messenger who has returned from the grave to warn us. (Jesus’ resurrection was attested to by more than five hundred eyewitnesses (1 Corinthians 15:3-8), and also by every truly “born-again” Christian, beginning with the Apostle Paul).
Aren’t we, particularly America, as the New Promised Land on earth, and the (nominal) Church, the New Israel, like the rich man? We have the complete Bible, including the eyewitness accounts of Jesus and his resurrection, not just the Old Testament. Are we reading and heeding it? We have the testimony of every truly “born-again” Christian to his own spiritual resurrection from the dead. Are we listening? In many instances, aren’t we ignoring the poor and sick around us, while pursuing our own wealth and prosperity? What we do now in this life has eternal consequences. Now is the only time that we can help our poor and sick brothers and sisters. Now is the only time we have, to choose where we will spend eternity.
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)?
Week of Pentecost B – May 31 – June 6, 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.
Podcast: Week of Pentecost B
Pentecost Sunday B
First Posted May 31, 2009
Podcast: Pentecost Sunday B
Psalm 104:25-34 -- Creation and Renewal by God’s Spirit
Ezekiel 37:1-14 -- Dry Bones
Acts 2:1-21 -- Birthday of the Church
John 7:37-39a -- The Feast of Tabernacles
Commentary:
God, our Creator, has breathed on us and given us the breath* of (physical) life (Genesis 2:7). Everything in Creation exists by the will and providence of God. God’s purpose for this Creation is to establish an eternal kingdom of his people who willingly trust and obey him. This lifetime is our opportunity to seek and come to knowledge of, and fellowship with, God (Acts 17:26-27), which is only possible through Jesus Christ. (Acts 4:12; John 14:6). Jesus has been God’s plan from the beginning of Creation and has been built into the structure of Creation (John 1:1-5, 14).
Jesus died on the Cross as a sacrifice for the forgiveness of our sins, so that we could receive the breath* of spiritual life, through the gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit. Jesus is the only one who baptizes (anoints) with the gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit (John 1:31-34), which Jesus gives only to his disciples who trust and obey Jesus (John 14:15-17). The Lord sends forth his Spirit to give spiritual “rebirth” (John 3:3, 5-8) and renewal to his disciples, individually, and to his Church collectively.
The Church today, particularly the American Church, is full of a lot of “dry bones.” In many cases the Holy Spirit departed long ago, but the people haven’t noticed. The Church and its members need to see and realize their need for spiritual rebirth and renewal. We need to be willing to see the true situation and to hear the prophetic Word of God proclaimed. God is willing and able to revive the driest of bones if we are willing to see and hear God’s prophetic truth.
The first “New Testament” Pentecost was the birthday of the Church. Peter, who had been afraid to admit his relationship to Jesus to a menial servant girl on the night of Jesus’ betrayal (John 18:15-27), was immediately transformed into a bold and powerful evangelist when he had been filled with the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:14-41). Paul (Saul of Tarsus), the prototype and example of a modern, “post-resurrection” “born-again” disciple of Jesus Christ, was immediately transformed from a persecutor of the Church and Christians, into the great evangelist, ultimately, to the Gentiles (Acts 9:1-22).
The same Hebrew word can be translated as “wind,” breath,” or “spirit.”** Ezekiel’s prophecy involved a play on these words. On the Day of Pentecost, the anointing of the Holy Spirit was manifested as the sound of a mighty wind (Acts 2:2), and as tongues of fire, in fulfillment of John the Baptizer’s testimony that Jesus would “baptize” with the Holy Spirit and with fire. (The “fire” also referred to “refining” the faith of disciples through testing as metal is refined by fire.) Jesus described spiritual rebirth to Nicodemus using the same play on the word for wind and Spirit (John 3:6-8).
The Feast of Tabernacles was originally established by God’s Word as a commemoration of ’s wilderness wandering. It began on the fifteenth of the seventh month (September-October) and lasted seven days. The last day was apparently the greatest. It was associated with the harvest of olives and grapes, for oil and wine.***
Olive oil was used to anoint kings of Israel. [Christ and Messiah mean (God’s) anointed, in Greek and Hebrew, respectively.] Wine, the “blood” of grapes, was used as an element of the “Lord’s Supper,” (Holy Communion; the Eucharist). “Blood” symbolized the “life-force:” the “spirit.” Israelites were forbidden to drink the blood of any animal. God wanted us to participate in his Holy Spirit; not in the spirits of animals or demons.
After the Exile, two rituals had been added: the lighting of great golden lamps in the temple courtyard, as a commemoration of the leading of the pillar of fire by night (Exodus 13:21), and a water ritual, where golden pitchers of water from the pool of Siloam were carried daily and poured on the altar. This ritual symbolized the water from the rock in the wilderness (Numbers 20:2-13) and also the Messianic deliverance.
This is the context in which Jesus declared that he is the source of water which quenches spiritual thirst, and the giver of the Holy Spirit, which becomes a spring of life-giving spiritual water in the believer, flowing outward and giving spiritual life to others. Please visualize water pouring down over the altar, onto the floor, flowing over the threshold and out into the world (compare Exekiel 47:1-5). Jesus’ declaration on the last day of the Feast was the fulfillment of God’s prophetic Word.
This is the Day of commemoration of the birthday of the Church. 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 same word is translated both “breath” and “Spirit;” RSV, Psalm 104:30a note “s.”
**The same word in Hebrew means “breath,” “wind,” and “spirit.” This text involves a play on these three words. RSV Ezekiel 37:9 note “f”
***Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible, David Noel Freedman, William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., Feasts, Festivals, p 458, Grand Rapids Michigan, 2000, ISBN 0-8020-2400-5
Pentecost - Monday B
First Posted June 1, 2009
Podcast: Pentecost Monday B
Psalm 149 -- Sing a New Song
God’s people are called to praise the Lord with music, singing and dancing, because the Lord takes pleasure in his people and gives victory to the humble. We sing a new song, inspired by God’s blessings to us. The Church is the new Israel and the new Zion, the City and stronghold of God on earth, which foreshadows and points to the eternal City of in heaven. Jesus is the eternal king, who has already begun his reign in the hearts of his disciples.
We are called to praise the Lord, but we are also called to join the spiritual battle which is being waged on earth. The Word of God is the sword of the Spirit (Ephesians 6:17). Christians are called to equip themselves with the Holy Spirit and the knowledge of the Bible so that we are able to fight the spiritual battle. Knowing the Bible is important and necessary, but we must also be guided and empowered by the Holy Spirit.
It is the Holy Spirit who opens our minds to understand the Bible, who recalls to our memory the appropriate Word as needed, and sends us into the place in the battle where we can be effective. The spiritual battle cannot be won in our own human strength. It is only by the Holy Spirit that we can win the victory (Zechariah 4:6).
We’re willing to sing, dance and celebrate, but are we willing to participate in the struggle and join the battle? 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)?
Pentecost - Tuesday B
First Posted June 2, 2009
Podcast: Pentecost Tuesday B
Deuteronomy 6:4-9 -- The Great Commandment
The Lord is the one true God, our Creator. Every other so-called “god” is the creation of human imagination. God created us and gave us this good Creation (Genesis 1:31) because he loves us, and wants to give us eternal life in fellowship with him in his heavenly kingdom.
This Creation was very good in the beginning (Genesis 1:31), but God created it with the possibility for sin and evil, because he wants us to have a real choice of whether to trust and obey him or not. This present Creation is temporal, and our physical lifetimes are limited; God will not allow sin and evil to go on forever. This lifetime is our opportunity to seek God (Acts 17:26-27), and he will allow himself to be found by those who seek him (Jeremiah 29:13-14a; Deuteronomy 4:29).
This lifetime is our opportunity to learn that God is good and loving, and that his will is our best interest (John 3:16-17). When we realize how much God loves us and how much he’s done for us in Jesus Christ, we will love him and try to please him, and we will receive eternal life in his kingdom, beginning now with 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). That is the purpose of this Creation.
God is the one true God; he is God alone. God is Spirit and invisible. Jesus is God incarnate, in human flesh (Colossians 2:8-9; John 20:28). The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God; the Spirit of Christ (Romans 8:9). This is the Trinity;* one God in three expressions (persons). Jesus and God the Father are one (John 14:8-11).
No one can come to God and know God except through faith (obedient trust) in Jesus Christ (Acts 4:12; John 14:6). Those who love Jesus will keep his commands, and Jesus will love them and reveal himself to them (John 14:21, 23).
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 word “Trinity” is not found mentioned in the Bible but the concept clearly is. See Romans 8:9, Matthew 28:19-20, for example.
Pentecost - Wednesday B
First Posted June 3, 2009
Podcast: Pentecost Wednesday B
Romans 8:14-17 -- Led by the Spirit
“All who are led by the Spirit are sons (and daughters) of God” (Romans 8:14). Only Jesus "baptizes" with (gives the gift of) the indwelling Holy Spirit (John 1:31-34), only his disciples who trust and obey Jesus (John 14:15-17; Isaiah 42:5e). Disciples who are “born-again” (John 3:3, 5-8) are no longer slaves to God by the Covenant of Law. They no longer have to fear God’s wrath and punishment, provided that they live daily according to the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:1-9).
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 pray to God our Father by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit within us, our experience of the presence of the Holy Spirit bears witness to us that we are children of God. Because we are (adopted) children of God, we share with Jesus in the inheritance of our Father, provided that we share in Jesus’ suffering (in ministry, for the Gospel) as Jesus suffered for us, with the assurance that we will also share in his glory.
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)?
Pentecost - Thursday B
First Posted June 4, 2009
Podcast: Pentecost Thursday B
John 3:1-17 -- New Birth
Nicodemus was a Pharisee, the strictest sect of Judaism, and he was a member of the Sanhedrin (the Jewish religious court). Nicodemus came to Jesus at night. He was curious about Jesus, but unwilling to risk his status in the Jewish religious community by being seen openly with Jesus. He realized that Jesus was a teacher by the will and authority of God, or Jesus could not do the signs (miracles demonstrating who Jesus is) that Jesus was doing.
Jesus told Nicodemus “…unless one is born anew (i.e., “born-again;” ”born from above*) one cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3). The kingdom of God is all around us, but we cannot see it now, nor will we ever experience it in eternity, unless we’re “born-again,” now in this temporal lifetime. Jesus was describing the spiritual birth which is only by the anointing with the Holy Spirit, which only Jesus gives (John 1:31-34) only to his disciples who trust and obey Jesus (John 14:15-17; 21, 23).
John (and Jesus’ disciples; John 4:2) baptized with water, for repentance and forgiveness of sin (Acts 2:38; Jesus “baptizes” with the Holy Spirit). John came baptizing with water to call and prepare people to receive Jesus, and Jesus’ disciples, then and now, baptize with water for the same purpose. When we truly repent and prepare to receive Jesus by faith (obedient trust) we will receive the gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38).
The same word in both Hebrew and Greek can be translated “breath,” “wind,” or “spirit.” Jesus used this play on words to describe the Holy Spirit. Flesh cannot inherit eternal life; only those who are spiritually alive (reborn) can inherit eternal life. We don’t need to understand what causes the wind to blow in order to see and experience the effect of the wind, and so it is with the Spirit.
Nicodemus asked how this could be, and Jesus asked Nicodemus how Nicodemus could be a teacher of without understanding and experiencing this reality. To be a teacher of God’s people, one must believe (trust and obey) Jesus and come to a personal relationship with Jesus through the gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit. It takes born-again disciples of Jesus Christ to make born-again disciples of Jesus Christ. The unregenerate (i.e., not born-again), can’t make born-again disciples, because if they knew how and what they’re missing, they wouldn’t be unregenerate. The Church needs to be careful to make born-again disciples, or there won’t be any from which to select leaders, and the Church must be careful to select only born-again disciples to leadership. In all too many nominal “churches” that is not the case.
Jesus’ message was proclaimed in “earthly” terms and examples. He healed physical illness, and provided physical bread, so that people could realize that he could also heal and nourish them spiritually, and he warned them that spiritual things are more important than physical things, because only spiritual things are eternal.
Jesus taught in parables; stories of common everyday earthly experiences of physical life, to illustrate and teach spiritual truths. Jesus’ use, here, of the word play on the Spirit and wind is an example. If we realize that Jesus has come from eternity in heaven to physical life in this temporal world we will believe (trust and obey) what he says about spiritual things; he is the only human being in Creation who has knowledge and experience of spiritual, eternal things.
In the wilderness, when the Congregation of Israel was beset with fiery serpents, God instructed Moses to create a bronze image of a fiery serpent and place it on a pole, to lift it above the heads of the people. So anyone who was bitten could look up and see the serpent and he would survive and not die (Numbers 21:6-8). Imagine an undulating image of a serpent attached horizontally to a pole by a socket or a hole in the middle. The image was cross-shaped!
Jesus used the collective experience of the fiery serpents by God’s people as a parable and a metaphor for what Jesus does for us. God’s people are wandering through the wilderness of this lifetime, led by the Holy Spirit, as Israel was led by the pillar of cloud and fire (Exodus 13:21). The fiery serpent is the enemy of our souls, Satan, and the power of sin and death. Jesus is our Savior, lifted up on a cross, so that anyone who is “bitten” by sin and (eternal) death, can look to Jesus lifted up on the cross, and be saved and have eternal life by faith (obedient trust) in Jesus.
God loves us. God’s purpose for this present temporal Creation is to create an eternal kingdom of his people who willingly trust and obey him. God designed this Creation with the possibility of sin (disobedience of God’s word), so that we could have genuine freedom to choose whether to trust and obey God or not, but God has limited sin and disobedience by time. This Creation will pass away, and each of us is limited by our physical lifetime.
Jesus Christ has been designed into Creation from the very beginning (John 1:1-5, 14). The reason and purpose of life in this world is to allow us to seek and find a personal relationship with God (Acts 17:26-27). Jesus Christ is God’s only provision for the forgiveness of our sin, restoration to fellowship with God, and salvation from eternal condemnation and eternal death (Acts 4:12; 14:6).
God sent his beloved only begotten (Matthew 1:20; Luke 1:31-35) Son, Jesus Christ to die on the Cross as the only sacrifice acceptable to God for our forgiveness and salvation. His salvation is a free gift, unmerited favor, to be received by faith (obedient trust) in Jesus. We are “sin- and eternal-death-bitten.” To be saved, all we have to do is look to Jesus on the Cross in faith (obedient trust; see God’s Plan of Salvation, sidebar top right).
Jesus also died on the Cross so that he could demonstrate by his resurrection that there is existence beyond physical death, and he opened the way to eternal life so that we could follow him. Jesus’ death made it possible for us to be spiritually cleansed by his blood, so that we could receive the indwelling Holy Spirit. 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)?
*RSV John 3:3, note “e”
Pentecost - Friday B
First Posted June 5, 2009
Podcast: Pentecost Friday B
Matthew 28:18-20 -- The Great Commission
After Jesus’ Resurrection, he had told his disciples, (the eleven of the original Twelve, minus Judas, who had betrayed Jesus) to return to Galilee where the risen Jesus would meet them (Matthew 28:10). When Jesus came to them in Galilee, on the mountain, as he had told them, Jesus declared that he had been given all authority in heaven and on earth. Jesus told his disciples to “go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit [notice the Doctrine of the Trinity], teaching them to observe (i.e. obey) all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age” (Matthew 28:19-20).
Jesus has come into the world with a message, the Gospel (which means “Good News”) of forgiveness of sin (disobedience of God’s Word; Romans 3:23; 1 John 1:6-8), salvation from God’s condemnation and eternal death (the penalty for sin; Romans 6:23), and restoration to fellowship with God which was broken by sin (John 14:6; see God’s Plan of Salvation, sidebar, top right). Jesus is God’s only provision for our forgiveness and salvation (Acts 4:12)
Jesus taught by word and by example. Jesus demonstrated the method, “discipleship,” by which his disciples were to carry out The Great Commission. Jesus had begun the mission of preaching the Gospel of repentance, forgiveness, salvation and eternal life to the lost and dying world, he began making disciples, and his disciples were to continue and complete that mission of proclaiming the Gospel and making disciples.
But Jesus warned his disciples to stay in Jerusalem until they had received the gift of the Holy Spirit before carrying out that mission (Luke 24:47-49; Acts 1:4-5, 8). Jesus began his ministry with water baptism by John the Baptist, and the “baptism” of the Holy Spirit from God, testified to by John (John 1:31-34), and Jesus promised his disciples a similar “anointing” by the Holy Spirit, which his disciples were to receive before continuing Jesus’ ministry. The Church is the modern equivalent of “Jerusalem,” the City of God on earth and the place of the Temple of God, which is in his people.
His disciples did as Jesus had commanded, and they received the “anointing” with the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2:1-21). Peter is an example of the transforming power of the Holy Spirit on a “born-again” (John 3:3, 5-8) disciple of Jesus Christ. At Jesus’ betrayal, Peter had denied knowing Jesus three times, once to the menial servant of the high priest (John 18:15-27). But on the Day of Pentecost, Peter was filled with the Holy Spirit and declared the Gospel boldly in one of the greatest sermons in the Bible (Acts 2:14-36).
Jesus had told his disciples to begin their witness in Jerusalem, and they would be led by the Holy Spirit to witness in Judea (the remnant of Israel) and then Samaria (the neighboring region, once the Northern Kingdom of the ten tribes of Israel, but then racially and spiritually “adulterated” by the conquest and occupation by the Assyrians), and then to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8).
This promise was fulfilled. In the persecution of Christians following the martyrdom of Stephen, the disciples were scattered. Philip went to (Acts 8:1) where he proclaimed the Gospel and Samaritans were converted. Philip was then led by the Holy Spirit (Acts 8:26; note “angel” can mean ‘spirit;” compare Acts 12:15; Revelation 1:1) to take the road to Gaza, where he shared the Gospel with the Ethiopian eunuch, an official of Ethiopia, who was converted and baptized (Acts 8:26-38).
Paul (Saul of Tarsus) was converted by an encounter with the risen (and ascended) Jesus on the road to Damascus, and subsequently discipled by Ananias, received the Holy Spirit, and then immediately began preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ and fulfilling The Great Commission (Acts 9:1-22. Paul is the example and prototype of the “modern,” “post-resurrection,” “born-again” disciple of Jesus Christ, which we also can be!
Jesus’ promise to be with his disciples “always, to the close of the age,” (Matthew 28:20b) is fulfilled by the gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit. Jesus promised to come to his disciples and reveal himself to them in the Holy Spirit (John 14:15-17, 21, 23), the Spirit of Christ, the Spirit of God (Romans 8:9). Only Jesus “baptizes” with the Holy Spirit (John 1:31-34), only his disciples who trust and obey Jesus (Acts 14:15-17). The “anointing” with the Holy Spirit is a personally discernible event which the recipient can experience for himself and know with certainty (Acts 19:2). 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)?
Pentecost - Saturday B
First Posted June 6, 2009
Podcast: Pentecost Saturday B
Romans 11:33-36 -- God’s providence
When we come to know and realize God’s plan for his Creation and for us, we will agree with Paul that the spiritual riches, wisdom, and knowledge of God far surpass human ability, and understanding and are worthy of all our praise! God’s judgments are flawless, and his ways are far above our ways. We cannot know or guess God’s ways unless he chooses to reveal them to us.
God has revealed his ways and his purpose for this Creation in his Word, the Bible, and in Jesus Christ, God’s Word fulfilled, embodied and demonstrated (John 1:1-5, 14). God’s fullest revelation of himself to us is by the gift of his indwelling Holy Spirit, which only Jesus gives (John 1:31-34), only to his disciples who trust and obey him (John 14:15-17). God’s intention from the very beginning of this Creation was to create an eternal kingdom of his people who trust and obey him. Jesus has been God’s only plan and provision (Acts 4:12) for the forgiveness of our sin (disobedience of God’s Word; Romans 3:23; 1 John 1:8-10), salvation from condemnation and eternal death (the penalty for sin; Romans 6:23), and restoration of fellowship with God (John 14:6; see God’s Plan of Salvation; sidebar, top right).
This present Creation is our opportunity to seek and come to knowledge of and fellowship with God (Acts 17:26-27). God wants to be found by us, and to have fellowship with us. Are we seeking to know and do God’s will? Have we read the Bible completely, and do we read it daily, seeking the guidance of God’s Word? Have we come to experience a personal relationship with God through faith (obedient trust) in Jesus Christ and the indwelling Holy Spirit?
Through the Holy Spirit we have the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16). Through the Holy Spirit we can know God’s mind, and we can understand his Word (Luke 24:45) and know his will for us personally. God doesn’t need our counsel; we need his, and he gives us his Counselor, the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth (John 14:15-17 RSV) through Jesus Christ (compare Isaiah 9:6).
Our forgiveness and salvation is by grace, the free gift of God, to anyone will receive it by faith (obedient trust) in Jesus Christ (Ephesians 2:8-9). No one can earn, buy, or take, by force or deception, God’s favor and gift of forgiveness, salvation, and eternal life.
Are we seeking to know and do God’s will, or are we only interested in getting God to do our will? God’s will will be done, whether we cooperate with God or not. Our choice will determine where we will spend eternity.
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)?
Week of 7 Easter – May 24 – 30, 2009
Week of 7 Easter – May 24 – 30, 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.
Podcast: 7 Easter B
7 Easter - Sunday
First Posted May 24, 2009
Podcast: 7 Easter Sunday B
Psalm 47 – God reigns as king of all nations
Acts 1:15-26 –Jesus’ Commission to the Church
1 John 4:13-21 - Abiding in Love
John 17:11b-19 - Jesus’ Prayer for his Church
Psalm:
The people of God call all nations to praise and rejoice in God’s dominion of all the earth. The Lord is God and ruler of all Creation, whether we accept his reign or not. His will will be done, whether we accept it and do it or not. God is Lord and king of all creation, but he has no obligation to us to be all that a gracious and loving God implies, unless we are willing to trust and obey him.
The people of God are those who have experienced God’s reign in their own lives and testify that God’s will is for our good and in our very best interest. God wants us to come to know him and have personal fellowship with him (Acts 17:26-27), and that is only possible through Jesus Christ (Acts 4:12; John 14:6), the fulfillment, embodiment and demonstration of God’s Word in human flesh (John 1:1-3, 14).
Acts:
The eleven remaining Apostles of the original Twelve (minus Judas Iscariot, the betrayer) and the rest of Jesus’ followers (about a hundred and twenty; the Church) had been told by Jesus to remain in Jerusalem until they had received the promised Holy Spirit (Luke 24:49; Acts 1:4-5, 8). Peter suggested that they choose a replacement for the apostleship of Judas, and they prayed and then chose Matthias by lot (by chance; like rolling dice).
The Church had not yet received the anointing of the Holy Spirit, and should have waited for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit before making this choice. Matthias was appointed to the office, but was never heard from in scripture again. I believe that God’s choice for that office was Paul (Saul of Tarsus). Instead of a disciple who had been present during all the earthly ministry of Jesus, Paul was the first “born-again” disciple of Jesus Christ who had not known Jesus during his earthly ministry, and is the example for us to follow.
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). Only Jesus “baptizes” (anoints) with the gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit (John 1:31-34) only upon his disciples who trust and obey his commands (John 14:15-17). If we realize that Jesus is the Son of God we will know the love God has for us demonstrated in Jesus’ sacrifice for us on the Cross, and will experience his love in the touch of his Holy Spirit within us. We come to a personal knowledge and experience of Jesus Christ and God our Father through the indwelling Holy Spirit.
1 John:
We will keep Jesus’ commandments, not from fear, but from love in response to the love God has shown us in Jesus Christ. Jesus’ commandments are that we should love God and our fellow people (Mark 12:30-31). We are to grow in our ability to love God and others through practice. If we seek to trust and obey Jesus, we will not have any reason to fear the Day of Judgment. Our love for others will reveal our obedient trust in the Lord (John 13:35).
John:
On the eve of his betrayal, Jesus knew that he would no longer be physically with his disciples in this world. He prayed that the Father would keep Jesus’ disciples in his name (the whole character and person) of God as Jesus shared in God’s name; that they would be one as Jesus and the Father are one. During his physical earthly ministry Jesus had guarded his disciples from evil, with the exception of Judas, who chose to leave that protection (thus fulfilling scripture).
Jesus prayed that they would experience the joy of Jesus fulfilled in themselves. Jesus had transmitted God’s Word to his disciples. The world is opposed to God’s Word and hates Jesus’ disciples as it hates Jesus. Jesus' disciples are in the world to witness to the world. They can’t avoid persecution by the world, but the Lord can preserve them from evil. Jesus sends his disciples to carry on and complete the mission to the world which the Father sent Jesus to accomplish. Jesus consecrated himself to God’s service, so that his disciples could also be consecrated to God’s service. Jesus prayed that his disciples would be sanctified (purified and rendered fit for God’s service) by God’s Word (the Bible, Jesus Christ, the living Word, fulfilled, embodied and demonstrated in Jesus (John 1:1-3, 14), and by his indwelling Holy Spirit.
Commentary:
Christians are “disciples” of Jesus Christ, commissioned to carry on and complete the mission of Jesus Christ to bring forgiveness, restoration of fellowship with God, and salvation from eternal condemnation and death to all people who are willing to receive it. Jesus’ earthly ministry was a demonstration and example of the mission of Jesus Christ. Jesus made “born-again” (John 3:3, 5-8; Acts 2:1-12) disciples. People who responded to Jesus’ Gospel of forgiveness and salvation followed Jesus, learned to trust and obey his commands over a period of time in fellowship with him, and ultimately received the gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit which Jesus promised to his disciples who trust and obey him (John 1:31-34; John 14:15-17; Acts 2:1-12).
Jesus’ Resurrection from the dead, testified to by over five hundred eyewitnesses (1 Corinthians 15:5-8), demonstrated that there is life beyond physical death. After his Resurrection, Jesus commanded his disciples to go into all the world and make “born-again” disciples, teaching them to obey all Jesus’ teachings (Matthew 28:18-20).
Through the gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit, we can be discipled, guided, empowered, and guarded from evil by the risen Jesus as his original disciples were, during Jesus’ earthly ministry. We can have a personal fellowship with Jesus through his indwelling Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the unifying Spirit of Christ within his disciples that gives unity of purpose and guidance to his Church (1 Corinthians 6:17; 12:13; Ephesians 2:18; 4:4; Philippians Psalm 41:27). Through the indwelling Holy Spirit we personally experience the joy of Jesus’ presence within us, comforting us although we may be persecuted for the Gospel by the world. 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 people are not those who call themselves God’s people, but those who trust and obey God. God has always intended to create an eternal kingdom of his people who willingly trust and obey God. Jesus Christ has always, from the beginning of Creation, been God’s only plan to give us eternal life in his kingdom (John 1:1-5, 14; see God’s Plan of Salvation, sidebar top right). No one can come to God and please God except through obedient trust in Jesus Christ (Acts 4:12; John 14:6). This temporal lifetime is our only opportunity to seek and come to know, trust and obey God (Acts 17:26-27).
During his earthly ministry Jesus demonstrated his mission and “method” to his disciples. Jesus’ mission is to bring forgiveness, salvation from God’s eternal condemnation, and restoration of fellowship with God to all who are willing to receive it as a free gift, through faith (obedient trust) in Jesus Christ (Ephesians 2:8-9). His “method” is personal discipleship. Jesus made “born-again” (John 3:3, 5-8) disciples and taught them to continue and repeat the process (Matthew 28:19-20). The disciples weren’t immediately filled with the gift of the Holy Spirit, but only as they waited in obedient trust (Luke 24:49; Acts 1:4-5, 8; 2:1-12).
Jesus had told his disciples to wait for the “baptism” of the Holy Spirit, but the disciples found it difficult to wait. Their experience of waiting in the upper room in Jerusalem for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit is a warning and lesson to the Church. In many “churches” today leaders and members are still conducting their “mission” as unregenerate “disciples.” They pray and then they go ahead and do what seems right to them, without the guidance and empowerment of the Holy Spirit, and perhaps even using worldly (unholy) means of guidance like drawing lots or rolling dice.
In many “churches” today there is no mention or teaching of discipleship. “Churches” are making “members” and building “buildings.” In many cases, church leaders are chosen as much by chance as Matthias was; people make a “career” decision, show up at seminary and complete the course. It takes “born-again” disciples of Jesus Christ to make “born-again” disciples of Jesus Christ. A person who has not experienced spiritual rebirth cannot imagine the experience, and cannot pass on to others how to become reborn. If the “church” isn’t making “born again” disciples, where is her leadership coming from?
Many “churches” are preaching “Cheap Grace;*” God’s free gift of salvation, without the requirement of discipleship and obedient trust. Calling ourselves Christians without discipleship and obedient trust in Jesus doesn’t make us “Christian” any more than calling ourselves God’s People without obedient trust in God makes that so (Matthew 7:21-27! Anyone who trusts and obeys God, will know, accept, trust and obey Jesus, because Jesus is the fulfillment and embodiment of God’s Word (John 1:1-5, 14).
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
7 Easter - Monday
First Posted May 25, 2009
Podcast: 7 Easter Monday B
Psalm 104:25-34
Consider the great diversity of Creation, from microscopic one-cell organisms to huge dinosaurs; from the inner-space within the atom to the vastness of the cosmos. God has brought forth an orderly Universe from primordial chaos (Genesis 1:2). All Creation has been created by and bears witness to God’s divine wisdom. All Creation has been brought into existence, is sustained, and comes to an end by God’s will.
God has given every living thing the “breath”* of life, but God’s intention for mankind is for more than the breath of physical life. God has created us to be eternal beings. (We are all eternal; the question is where we will choose to spend eternity; John 5:28-29.) God wants to fill us with his Spirit,* through whom we receive eternal life and fellowship with God. God wants to renew us spiritually, similarly to the way God constantly renews his Creation physically.
God’s glory is beyond what we can imagine! He uses the awesome power of his word, by which the Universe was created, to give us physical and spiritual life! When we begin to understand God’s nature and character we will rejoice and praise him and seek to please him.
God’s Word, his will for Creation and mankind, has been revealed by the Bible, by Jesus Christ who is the fulfillment, personification and illustration of God’s Word in human flesh, and the divine wisdom which has been “built into” this Creation (John 1:1-5; 14). The gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Christ, the Spirit of God (Romans 8:9b) is God’s fullest personal revelation of himself to us individually. Jesus Christ is God’s only plan for the forgiveness of our sins (disobedience of God’s Word; see God’s Plan of Salvation, sidebar, top right), restoration to personal fellowship with God, and our spiritual re-birth and eternal life through the gift of his indwelling Holy Spirit, which only Jesus gives only to his disciples who trust and obey Jesus (John 14:15-17).
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 same word is translated both “breath” and “Spirit;” RSV, Psalm 104:30a note “s.”
7 Easter - Tuesday
First Posted May 26, 2009
Podcast: 7 Easter Tuesday B
Ezekiel 37:1-14
Background:
Ezekiel was a priest and prophet in Judah, the remnant of Israel, from before the fall of Jerusalem to the Babylonians, and during the Exile. This is a word of hope from God that although Israel feels lost beyond all hope of recovery, that God is yet able to restore them.
Ezekiel:
God gives the “breath*” of life to all living things in this Creation. To mankind he has given more than just physical life; he has given us an eternal soul, and through faith (obedient trust) in Jesus Christ he gives us the gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit. We’re living in the physical sense and existing in the eternal sense, but without the gift of the Holy Spirit, we’re spiritually dead.
Commentary:
God’s Word through Ezekiel was fulfilled; God caused the people of Israel to return from exile after seventy years. God’s Word is eternal; it is fulfilled over and over, as the conditions of its fulfillment are met.
The imagery of this text is the picture of what the Lord is doing and will do to his people who trust and obey him. We may individually and collectively, as People, Church and Nation feel and seem spiritually to be very dry bones, but yet the Lord is able and willing to command the mighty wind of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:2) to blow upon us and fill us and revive us again!
Jesus Christ is the one who raises the dead to eternal life (Lazarus, for example; John 11:1-44), who has promised to return to judge the living and the dead (in the spiritual as well as physical sense; 1 Peter 4:5; John 5:28-29), and Jesus is the only one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit (John 1:31-34). It is the presence of Christ’s Holy Spirit within us that gives spiritual life (John 3:3-5-8). Through the indwelling presence of the Lord, we have personal fellowship with him, and will know that his Word is faithful and powerful. 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 Jesus returns and raises the dead on the Day of Judgment all will know that Jesus is the Lord, and the fulfillment of God’s Word, but then it will be too late to change our eternal destiny.
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 same word in Hebrew means “breath,” “wind,” and “spirit.” This text involves a play on these three words.
7 Easter - Wednesday
First Posted May 27, 2009
Podcast: 7 Easter Wednesday B
Acts 2:1-21 The Day of Pentecost
Commentary:
Jesus had told his disciples to stay in Jerusalem until they had received the “baptism” of the Holy Spirit (Luke 24:49; Acts1:4-5, 8), and that promise was fulfilled on the Day of Pentecost. Pentecost was originally the Jewish Feast of Weeks (a “week” of weeks; seven weeks; forty-nine days). Thus Pentecost was the fiftieth day after the offering of firstfruits at the beginning of the grain harvest (Leviticus 23:15-16).
Pentecost became the birthday of the Church, when the “firstfruits” of eternal life in God’s kingdom were given in the “baptism” with the indwelling Holy Spirit. The gift of the Holy Spirit is the “down-payment,” the “security deposit,” the “seal,” that guarantees that one is in Christ and has eternal life (2 Corinthians 1:22; Ephesians 1:13-14; Romans 8:9b, 11, 15-16), and it is the presence of the Holy Spirit within Christians that gives spiritual rebirth (John 3:3, 5-8) and personal fellowship with the Lord. Jesus is the only one who “baptizes” with the Holy Spirit (John 1:31-34) In the Gospels, the “baptism” of the Holy Spirit was to be accompanied with “fire” (Matthew 3:11; Luke 3:16), and this was fulfilled on the Day of Pentecost. Fire also symbolizes “refining” and “judgment” (Matthew3:12).
The “anointing” with the Holy Spirit was also manifested by speaking in “tongues” (languages) by the “anointed.” The manifestation Luke (the author of Acts) described represents the reversal of the confusion of language God caused at the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11:1-9), and one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, given to equip Christian witnesses to proclaim the Gospel. [A different manifestation of “tongues” was described in the Corinthian church (1 Corinthians 14:1-33). That was a private ecstatic prayer language which was a sign, not for believers but for unbelievers (1 Corinthians 14:21-22).]
Notice the change in Peter by the anointing of the Holy Spirit. Peter had been so intimidated by Jesus’ arrest that he denied his Lord three times, once to the menial servant of High Priest (Luke 22:54-62; John 18:15-27). Now he immediately proclaimed the Gospel with power, authority and boldness.
These are the “Last Days;” from Jesus’ resurrection and the Day of Pentecost onward. The prophecy of Joel, that the Lord would pour out his Spirit on all flesh (his people; those who will receive it), began to be fulfilled on the Day of Pentecost. Until the manifestation of Jesus Christ, the presence of the Holy Spirit was limited to very few individuals who trusted and obeyed God. Jesus’ sacrificial death on the Cross made it possible for his disciples to be cleansed and purified through obedient trust in Jesus (John 14:15-17), so that God’s Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Christ, could abide in them.
God’s Word declares that, in the messianic age (i.e., since the coming of Jesus Christ), the “anointing” by the Holy Spirit will be manifested in all God’s people [who seek and accept it through faith (obedient trust) in Jesus Christ]. Young and old, male and female, will be inspired and empowered by the Holy Spirit to declare the prophetic Word of God, warning the world of the approaching Day of Judgment, and that salvation from eternal condemnation and eternal death is only possible through Jesus Christ, only to those who call upon him in faith (obedient trust; Acts 4:12, John 14:6).
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)?
7 Easter - Thursday
First Posted May 28, 2009
Podcast: 7 Easter Thursday B
John 7:37-39a Living Water
Background:
The Feast of Tabernacles (Feast of Booths, or Ingathering) was a commemoration of the wilderness wandering which began on the fifteenth of the seventh month (September-October) and lasted for seven days.* Temporary shelters were built in the fields, and in latter times, in Jerusalem by pilgrims to the festival. It was associated with the harvest of olives and grapes for oil and wine.***
During the seven days of the festival, water was carried in a golden pitcher from the Pool of Siloam and poured out on the altar in the temple as a reminder of the water from the rock in the wilderness (Numbers 20:2-13).** Please visualize water pouring down over the altar, onto the floor, flowing over the threshold and out into the world (compare Ezekiel 47:1-5).
Text Paraphrase:
It is in this context that Jesus declared at the climax of the festival that he is the source of living water which quenches spiritual thirst. To those who come to Jesus for living water Jesus gives the gift of his indwelling Holy Spirit who will become in them an (artesian) spring of living water overflowing into the world around them bringing life to others and welling up to eternal life.
Commentary:
Jesus is the fulfillment of the symbolism of the Feast of Tabernacles water ritual. Jesus is the Rock who provides living water in the wilderness of this present world which overflows into eternity (compare 1 Corinthians 10:4). Jesus is the fulfillment of the river of God flowing from his Temple, his throne (Compare Revelation 22:1-2).
Olive Oil was used to anoint kings. Jesus is the Messiah, the Christ (both words mean “anointed” in Hebrew and Greek respectively). Jesus is God’s anointed eternal king and heir to the throne of David. Jesus was anointed by God with the Holy Spirit at his baptism John 1:31-34), and Jesus is the only one who baptizes (anoints) with the Holy Spirit, only his disciples who trust and obey him (John 14:15-17).
Wine is the cup of blessing of the Passover feast which became the element of the Lord’s Supper (Holy Communion; the Eucharist) representing Jesus’ blood shed for us on the Cross as the sacrifice for the forgiveness of our sins. Wine contains alcohol (“spirit”) and is an appropriate symbol of the Holy Spirit, who gives us joy and encouragement.
The Holy Spirit is the “firstfruits” of eternal life. We begin to experience eternal life in God’s kingdom and fellowship with the Lord now through the indwelling Holy Spirit. 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)?
*The Oxford Annotated Bible, Revised Standard Version, Ed. by Herbert G. May and Bruce M. Metzger, John 7.1-52n, p. 1294, New York, Oxford University Press, 1962.
**Ibid John 7.37-39n p 1295
***Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible, David Noel Freedman, William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., Feasts, Festivals, p 458, Grand Rapids Michigan, 2000, ISBN 0-8020-2400-5
7 Easter - Friday
First Posted May 29, 2009
Podcast: 7 Easter Friday B
Numbers 11:16-17, 24-29 -- The Seventy Elders “anointed”
In the Old Testament, the gift of the Holy Spirit was rare, given only to a few leaders of the people who trusted and obeyed God whom God raised up. Jesus’ sacrificial death on the Cross made it possible for all his disciples who trust and obey Jesus to be “anointed” (filled) with the gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit (John 14:15-17). Only Jesus “baptizes” with the Holy Spirit (John 1:31-34).
Christ is our “Moses” who leads us out of the “Egypt” of bondage to sin and death of this world, through the wilderness of this lifetime and into the eternal Promised Land of God’s heavenly kingdom. Jesus’ disciples are called by the Lord to enter into and complete the mission of forgiveness of sin (disobedience of God’s word), salvation from eternal condemnation, and restoration of fellowship with God to all who will receive it as a free gift, through faith (obedient trust) in Jesus Christ (Ephesians 2:8-9).
As Moses needed the seventy Holy Spirit-filled and inspired elders to help lead the people of God in the wilderness, the Church of Jesus Christ needs Spirit-filled and inspired disciples to carry out Christ’s mission on earth. In a sense all the people of the world are God’s people, because he is their creator, whether they acknowledge him or not. God loves each one, and doesn’t want any to perish eternally (John 3:16-17).
The Lord is faithful and he knows the innermost thoughts and attitudes of each of us. Eldad and Medad received the “anointing” of the Holy Spirit even though they were not in the “house of God” with the rest of the seventy elders. Their “anointing” did not depend upon their enrollment in the “church” or there acceptance by the hierarchy of Church leaders. The human “church hierarchy” tried to exclude Eldad and Medad, because they weren’t members of their group, and they wanted to keep the power and position of leadership among themselves.
Moses (as the forerunner and illustration of Christ) was not jealous and threatened by Eldad’s and Medad’s anointing, and welcomed their participation, recognizing it as the authentic gift of God. Moses’ prayer was that not only Eldad and Medad, but all the people of God, the members of the Congregation, would be filled with the Holy Spirit and proclaim God’s word.
Jesus has made that possible. All Christians are to be disciples of Jesus Christ, to learn to trust and obey Jesus, to wait for and seek the infilling of the Holy Spirit (John 14:15-17; Luke 24:49, Acts 1:4-5, 8) and then to go into the world and proclaim the word of God in the power, guidance and authority of the Holy Spirit. 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). Anyone who does not have the “anointing,” the gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Christ, does not belong to Christ (Romans 8:9b).
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)?
7 Easter - Saturday
First Posted May 30, 2009
Podcast: 7 Easter Saturday B
Romans 8:14-17, 22-27 Led by the Spirit
“For all who are led by the Spirit are sons (and daughters) of God” (Romans 8:14).
The Holy Spirit sets us free from slavery to sin and fear of eternal condemnation and eternal death. When we pray to God our Father in the fullness and inspiration of the Holy Spirit the Holy Spirit himself confirms that we are children of God. So we can be certain that we share the inheritance and glory of God with Jesus as we share in Jesus’ suffering for the Gospel now in this present world.
This whole Creation, and we ourselves, have been subjected to limitations, deterioration and decay, which are like delivery pains, in order to give birth to God’s eternal kingdom. The gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit within us is the “first fruits,” the “security deposit,” the “down-payment” securing our eternal life in the new eternal Creation in heaven, which has been freed from the deterioration and decay of this present Creation. God taught his children to give an offering to God of the “first fruits” of the harvest, so that we can acknowledge his providence and can understand that the gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit is his “first fruits” offering to us assuring us of the full spiritual harvest of eternal life in his heavenly kingdom, his new Creation, freed from bondage to death and decay.
We now “groan inwardly” and long to be free from the suffering and deterioration of life in this present Creation as we wait for our heavenly adoption and the redemption of our earthly bodies, because that is the promise and the hope in which we received salvation. We can’t see and experience it yet, or there would be no need for hope, but we can wait patiently for it in confidence because of the gift of the Holy Spirit within us.
The Holy Spirit within us sustains us and intercedes for us to God, beyond and overcoming our human weakness. In our human limitations we don’t even know what we truly need, but we can be assured that Spirit of God does and will intercede for us according to God’s will and eternal purpose, which is to create an eternal kingdom of his people who willingly trust and obey him, following and conforming to the example of Jesus Christ (see Romans 8:29-30).
Commentary:
God has given us life in this Creation so that we can have the opportunity to seek and come to know that God is good and that he loves us (Acts 17:26-27). God created this world “very good,” (Genesis 1:31a) but it is temporal; it is limited in time, as are we. It grows old and deteriorates as do we ourselves. The evil in this world is caused by man’s disobedience of God’s Word (the definition of “sin”), which God allows so that we will have the freedom to choose whether to trust and obey God or not.
Jesus has always been God’s one and only plan for the forgiveness of our sin, salvation from eternal condemnation and eternal death, and restoration to fellowship with God (Acts 4:12; John 14:6; see God’s Plan of Salvation, sidebar, top right). Jesus Christ has been built into the very structure of this Creation (John 1:1-5, 14). Jesus came into the world, born of the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:30-35), so that we could see what being born of the Holy Spirit “looks like” in human flesh, and so that we could be spiritually re-born (John 3:3, 5-8) through faith (obedient trust) in Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit within us makes it possible to follow Jesus’ example and to become like him.
God has revealed his goodness and love in Creation, and in his Word (the Bible). Jesus Christ is God’s fullest revelation of himself to the world in human flesh. Jesus Christ is the fulfillment, embodiment and illustration of God’s Word in human flesh (John 1:14). The gift of the Holy Spirit is the fullest revelation of God and Jesus Christ to us personally and individually (John 14:21, 23).
Only Jesus “baptizes” with the gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit (John 1:31-34) only upon his disciples who trust and obey him (Jesus; the Holy Spirit; John 14:15-17; Isaiah 42:5e). 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)?
