Week of 4 Lent - C
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 3-Year C 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 4 Lent C
4 Lent - Sunday C
First posted March 14, 2010
Podcast: 4 Lent Sunday C
Isaiah 12:1-6 – Deliverance and Thanksgiving;
Psalm 32 – Thanksgiving for Healing;
1 Corinthians 1:18 (19-21) 22-25 (26-31) Divine Wisdom;
Luke 15:1-3, 11-32 – The Prodigal Son;
Isaiah Paraphrase:
In the coming reign of Messiah, we will give thanks to God that though he was angry with us he set aside his anger and comforted us. Watch and see: our Salvation is in God. We will trust and not be afraid. God has given us strength and a song and in him is our salvation.
In the Day of the Lord, we will draw water from the wells of salvation. We will call all to give thanks to the Lord and call upon his name. We will proclaim his great deeds and make his name exalted among the nations (Gentiles).
Let us sing praises to the Lord for his glorious deeds. Let them be known to all the earth. Let us shout and sing for joy all the inhabitants of Zion (the Church). Great is the presence of the Holy One of Israel among us.
Psalm Paraphrase:
Blessed are those who have received forgiveness of sin and whose transgressions are blotted out. Blessed are those whom the Lord judges not guilty of sin and free of deceit in his spirit.
The Psalmist testified that as long as he denied his sin, his body wasted away with groaning all day long. The Lord's hand was heavy upon him. His strength evaporated as by the heat of summer. Then he acknowledged his sin and no longer hid his iniquity. Then he confessed his transgressions and the Lord forgave his guilt.
So let all godly people pray to the Lord in times of distress, when troubles seem to overwhelm them as in a flood of waters, and the Lord will surround them with deliverance.
Learn from the Psalmist the way to go. Don't be like a horse or mule who has no understanding, and must be controlled by bit and bridle, to do his master's will.
The wicked will experience many pangs, but those who trust in the Lord will be surrounded by his steadfast love. Let the righteous be glad and rejoice. Let those who are upright in their inner being shout for joy!
1 Corinthians Paraphrase:
Jesus' crucifixion seems foolish to those who are perishing, but to those who are being saved it is the power of God. God's Word declares that he will destroy worldly wisdom and thwart worldly cleverness. Where are the wise, the teachers, and the debaters of this age? It is not the wise, rich or powerful according to worldly standards who will be saved, but those who believe the Gospel. In God's wisdom he designed Creation so that God cannot be known by worldly wisdom, so that those who believe the Gospel, which seems foolish by worldly standards, saves those who believe. Jews demand signs (miracles proving they are from God), and Greeks seek worldly wisdom, but what we preach is a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles. But to those who respond to God's call, both Jew and Greek, Christ is the power and wisdom of God, for God at his most foolishness is wiser than mankind, and at his weakest is stronger that mankind.
Luke Paraphrase:
Tax collectors and sinners were gathering around Jesus to hear him, and the Pharisees (strict, legalistic Jewish leaders) criticized Jesus for allowing them and even eating with them. So Jesus told them a parable (a fictional story of common earthly experience to teach spiritual truth).
Jesus said that a man had two sons and the younger asked his father to give him his share of the inheritance, so his father divided his property between his two sons. Not many days later the youngest son took his share of the inheritance and went to a distant land where he squandered it in loose living. When he had spent everything a great famine arose, and he began to be in need. So he took a job with a citizen of that land, feeding the citizen's pigs. He would have been glad to eat what he was giving to the pigs, but that wasn't allowed. When he came to his senses, he realized that his father's servants had plenty of food while he was starving.
He decided to return to his father, confess his sin before heaven and his father, admit that he was unworthy to be his father's son, and ask to be one of his father's hired servants. So he left and went to his father. But while he was far off, his father saw him coming and went to welcome him. His father had compassion on him and embraced and kissed him. The son confessed his unworthiness, but the father told his servants to bring the finest robe and shoes and to prepare a feast of a fatted calf to celebrate the son's return from death to life; from lost to found. So they began to celebrate.
Commentary:
God is our Creator, and thus our spiritual father, whether we acknowledge him or not. We have all been given a share in the eternal inheritance of our father, but what are we doing with it? Are we squandering it on worldly pleasures? There is a day coming when there will be a spiritual famine and the only source of relief will be in faith in God. If we realize that God offers so much more than the world can provide, will we confess our sin (disobedience of God's Word) and ask to be his servant?
God is watching us and is ready to welcome us as soon as we turn toward him, even though far off. God will give us the finest of robes, and will prepare the finest feast for us, even though we are unworthy.
All of us are guilty of sin and fall short of God's righteousness (Romans 3:23; 1 John 1:8-10). But God loves us and doesn't want any of us to perish eternally (Romans 5:8; John 3:16-17), which is the penalty for sin (Romans 6:23; see God's Plan of Salvation, sidebar, top right). Are we so stubborn that we would rather spiritually starve to eternal death than return to God our Father and confess our sin and our unworthiness?
God has always intended, from the very beginning of Creation, to establish an eternal kingdom of his people who willingly trust and obey God's Word. God has designed this Creation to allow for the possibility of sin (disobedience of God's Word). This Creation and we, ourselves, are intentionally limited by time, because God is not willing to tolerate rebellion and disobedience forever, or at all in his eternal kingdom. This lifetime is our opportunity to seek, find, know, and have fellowship with God our Creator (Acts 17:26-27). This is only possible through Jesus Christ by the baptism 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 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)?
4 Lent - Monday C
First posted March 15, 2010
Podcast: 4 Lent Monday C
Psalm 28:1-3, 7-11
Pharaphrase:
I call to you O Lord; do not be deaf to my plea. Unless you respond, I'm as good as dead. Hear my plea when I call to you for help; as I lift up my hands toward your holy sanctuary.
Don't cast me off with the wicked, with those who do evil, who declare peace with their lips while their hearts plan mischief.
Lord, you are my strength and shield; my heart trusts in you; so you have helped me, and my heart rejoices; I give thanks to you in song.
You give strength to your people, and saving refuge to your anointed. Save your people and bless your heritage. Be our shepherd and sustain us forever.
Commentary:
God is not obligated to hear and answer our prayers. Just putting the name of Jesus at the end of our prayers does not obligate God to give us what we ask. There are conditions for answered prayer (see “Condition for Answered Prayer,” sidebar, top right).
In the same way, how can we pray effectively unless we have read God's Word? Why should God listen to us unless we are willing to listen to him? God is willing to honor the prayer of faith, as long as we have made a commitment to read and follow his Word. The average reader can easily read the entire Bible in one year. There are numerous reading plans available. I prefer plans which include both Old and New Testament readings each day (see Free Bible Study Tools, sidebar, top right).
When we truly seek to know and follow God's guidance we should do so one day at a time (Matthew 6:11; 34). One's daily devotional can begin with a Bible-in-one-year reading plan. Then it can follow one of the lectionaries such as this or those listed on my homepage:
http://shepboy.snow.prohosting.com/
under the Links menu, sidebar, right.
God is God, the one true and only God, whether we believe in him or not. But God is not obligated to be all that an all-powerful, all-knowing, loving God implies, unless we are willing to be God's obedient, trusting people (Jeremiah 7:23; Ezekiel 11:20; Leviticus 26:3, 12; see also Jeremiah 11:3-4).
We are all eternal beings in temporal bodies. We are all born into this world physically alive but spiritually “unborn.” This lifetime is our opportunity to seek, find and know God, our Creator (Acts 17:26-27), and this is only possible through Jesus Christ (John 14:6). Unless we are spiritually “born-again” (John 3:3, 5-8) by the gift (“baptism;” “anointing”) 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), we will spend eternity in eternal death in hell with all evil, eternally separated from God who is the source of everything good.
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)?
4 Lent - Tuesday C
First posted March 16, 2010
Podcast: 4 Lent Tuesday C
Isaiah 43:16-21-- Rivers in the Desert;
Paraphrase:
The Lord is he who makes a path through the sea (the Exodus of Israel through the Red Sea), who brings forth and causes chariot and horse, army and warrior, to lie down, unable to rise, extinguished, quenched like a wick (Pharaoh's Army; Exodus 14:5-29). The Lord declares that we should not focus on what the Lord has done in the past. The Lord is doing a new thing. It is coming forth; can we perceive it? He is making a way in the wilderness (Israel's forty years of wandering in the wilderness: Numbers 14:31-34; the messianic age: Isaiah 40:3; John 1:23) and rivers in the desert (water from the rock: Exodus 17:1-7; the messianic age: John 7:38; 1 Corinthians 10:4). God will provide water in the wilderness for his people, that they may praise and glorify God. Wild beasts, jackals and ostriches, will appreciate God's providence.
Commentary:
Do we appreciate God's providence of forgiveness and salvation, to all trust and obey Jesus?
The history of Israel's exodus from Egypt is also deliberately intended to be a parable, a metaphor, for life in this world. Baptism into Jesus Christ is the new path through the sea which saves us from our spiritual enemies, because they are unable to pass through.
Jesus Christ is the new and better way into God's presence (Hebrews 10:20; Matthew 27:51); the new and better way to be justified in God's judgment than the old way of the Law of Moses (Romans 8:1-8).
Jesus is the way, the only way, to know divine, eternal truth, to be forgiven for sin (disobedience of God's Word), to be restored to fellowship with God which was broken by sin, and to have eternal life. (John 14:6).
We are all enslaved to Satan, the “Pharaoh” of this present world. Jesus is the “New Moses” who can free us and lead us out of the “Egypt” of this world order. Our baptism into Jesus Christ separates us from the forces of evil in this world. The Holy Spirit, who only Jesus gives (John 1:31-34), only to his disciples who trust and obey him (John 14:15-17) is the pillar of fire and cloud (Exodus 13:21-22) who leads us through the wilderness of this lifetime.
Jesus is the rock who gives us water in the wilderness. Only Jesus can give us the living water of eternal life. The Holy Spirit is the river of living water which only Jesus gives, only to his disciples who trust and obey him (John 7:37-39).
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)?
4 Lent - Wednesday C
First posted March 17, 2010
Podcast: 4 Lent Wednesday C
Philippians 3:8-14 – Christ's Upward Call;
Paul testified that he counted every other thing in this world as worthless, compared to the greatest value of knowing Jesus personally. Paul allowed himself to suffer the loss of every other thing, counting them as worthless trash in order to gain Christ, being found in him having the righteousness not gained through works of the Law, but the righteousness that is attributed to him from God through faith in Christ. Paul's hope was to know the Lord and the power of his resurrection. Paul was willing to share in Christ's sufferings, and death in Christ so that he could share in Christ's resurrection from physical death to eternal life.
Paul doesn't claim that he had already obtained righteousness or spiritual perfection, but he pressed on to claim the promise because Christ had already claimed him. Paul pressed on, forgetting his past, and straining forward toward what is coming, Paul pressed on toward the goal, to the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
Commentary:
I believe that the meaning and purpose life in this temporal world is to seek, find and know God, our Creator, personally, as Paul testified in Acts 17:26-27. This lifetime is our “audition” for eternal life in God's kingdom in heaven.
This lifetime is our opportunity to learn to trust and obey God's Word. Disobedience of God's Word is the definition of sin. God designed this Creation to allow the time and freedom learn by trial and error that God's way is our very best interest, but God is not willing to tolerate rebellion and disobedience forever, or at all in his eternal kingdom, so he has limited this present Creation, and we ourselves, by time.
God knew that, given the opportunity to choose whether to trust and obey God's Word, we would choose to do our own will rather than his. We have all sinned and fall short of God's righteousness (Romans 3:23; 1 John 1:8-10), and the penalty for sin is eternal death (Romans 6:23; see God's Plan of Salvation, sidebar, top right).
Jesus is God's only provision for our forgiveness and salvation from eternal destruction (Romans 5:8; John 3:16-17; Acts 4:12). Jesus has been designed into the framework of Creation from the very beginning (John 1:1-5, 14). Jesus is the only way to be restored to fellowship with God that was broken by sin, the only way to know divine, eternal truth, and the only to have true, eternal life (John 14:6).
Eternal life begins now in this present world, by the “baptism” (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). It is by the indwelling Holy Spirit that we have personal knowledge and fellowship with God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ (John 14:21, 23). The “baptism” of the Holy Spirit is a distinct, ongoing event (Acts 19:2); anyone who isn't sure, or relies on the word of a clergy person or theologian hasn't been “born-again.” By the baptism of the indwelling Holy Spirit we are spiritually“born-again” (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).
Paul (Saul of Tarsus) is the prototype of a modern, post-resurrection, born-again disciple of Jesus Christ, as we all can be. Paul didn't know Jesus during Jesus' physical earthly ministry. He was confronted on the road to Damascus by the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of the risen and ascended Christ. He repented, accepted Jesus as Lord and became obedient (Acts 9:1-9). He was discipled by a born-again disciple, Ananias (Acts 9:10-17), until Paul was born-again, and then Paul began fulfilling the Great Commission Jesus gave to his disciples (Matthew 28:19-20) to be carried out after they had received the baptism of the Holy Spirit (Acts 9:20-22; Luke 24:49; Acts 1:4-5, 8), proclaiming the Gospel and discipling others until they had been born-again (2 Timothy 1:6) and teaching them to repeat the process (2 Timothy 2:2).
Righteousness by faith in Jesus is a free gift but we must claim it by faith (obedient trust) in Jesus (Ephesians 2:8-9). Faith is not getting whatever we believe if we believe “hard enough;” it isn't like wishing on a star. We can't earn righteousness by doing good deeds (keeping the law). If we believe in Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we'll do what Paul did: we'll repent, and become obedient to Jesus' teachings.
A Christian is a born-again disciple of Jesus Christ (Acts 11:26c). Jesus warns that it isn't those who call themselves Christians and call Jesus their Lord who will be saved; it is those who trust and obey Jesus' teachings (Matthew 7:21-27; Luke 6:46).
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)?
4 Lent - Thursday C
First posted March 18, 2010
Podcast: 4 Lent Thursday C
Luke 20:9-19 – Parable of the Vineyard;
Jesus told this parable (a story of common earthly experience to teach spiritual truth) of a vineyard. A man planted a vineyard and rented it to tenants. Then he went to a distant country for a long time. When the time came to receive the harvest of the vineyard, he sent a servant to collect his portion, but the tenants beat the servant and sent him away empty-handed. The vineyard owner sent another servant, and the tenants treated him shamefully and sent him away without the man's proceeds from the vintage. A third time the owner sent a servant to collect his proceeds, and the tenants beat him and sent him away injured and empty-handed. The vineyard owner decided to send his beloved son, in hope that the tenants would respect him, but the tenants, realizing that the son was heir to the vineyard, killed the son, thinking that, when the owner died, they would possess the vineyard. What then will the owner do? He will come and destroy the tenants and give the vineyard to others.
When the people heard this parable they exclaimed, “God forbid!” But Jesus replied, citing Psalm 118:22, that the stone the builders rejected would become the corner stone. Those who fall upon that stone will be destroyed; when it falls upon anyone they will be destroyed.
The religious leaders and teachers wanted to arrest Jesus then and there, because they realized that Jesus had told this parable against them, but they were afraid of the multitude.
Commentary:
This world is God's “vineyard” which he established. He has allowed us to be tenants and receive a portion of the fruit, but God expects a portion of the fruit in return. We individually are tenants. Are we returning a portion of the harvest to our landlord?
The Lord has sent numerous servants, prophets of the Lord, who proclaim God's Word. They are to receive the landlord's portion of the harvest, but many have rejected the Lord's servants and ignored the Lord's message. At last God has sent his Son, Jesus Christ, but many have rejected the Son and have crucified him because they wanted all of the proceeds of the vineyard for themselves.
Jesus has promised to return at the end of the age, and he will judge the tenants of this vineyard individually. Have we given the Lord's portion of the fruit of the vineyard to him, or are we keeping it for ourselves? The Lord's portion is that we should hear and obey God's Word from the Bible, from his servants, and from his Son, Jesus Christ. The Lord's portion is also a tithe (a tenth) of all that we receive in this lifetime. The Lord's portion is also that we should pause from our earthly pursuits one day a week, and use that day to worship to give thanks and praise to the Lord, acknowledging that this is the Lord's vineyard and that we are his tenants of it.
The Day of Judgment at Christ's Second Coming is not far off. It will come for each of us individually at the end of our lifetimes, and no one can be certain of living to see tomorrow. At the moment of our death, our eternal destinies are fixed and unalterable.
Jesus is the cornerstone of God's eternal kingdom. Jesus has been designed into the structure of this Creation from the very beginning (John 1:1-45, 14). Jesus is God's only provision for forgiveness of our sins, and our salvation from eternal destruction and death (Acts 4:11-12; John 14:6; see God's Plan of Salvation, sidebar, top right).
The Jewish religious leaders and teachers at the time of Jesus' first coming, his physical ministry on earth, were treating the Lord's vineyard as their own, They denied their responsibility to tend the vineyard for the Lord and give him a portion of the “harvest.” They wanted it all for themselves. They were taking the worship and praise which belonged to God for themselves, and they were not caring for the spiritual wellbeing of God's people. For example, they paid Judas Iscariot, one of Jesus' Twelve original disciples, to betray Jesus, and later when Judas repented they cared nothing for Judas' spiritual condition (Matthew 27:3-5).
Jesus is the rock on which we must build our lives in order to survive the troubles of life and God's judgment (Matthew 7:24-27). Otherwise Jesus will be the stone on which we stumble, and are destroyed (Romans 9:32-33; 1 Peter 2:8). Jesus is the rock in the “wilderness” of this lifetime from which we get eternal life-giving water (1 Corinthians 10:4; Exodus 17:3-6).
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)?
4 Lent - Friday C
First posted March 19, 2010
Podcast: 4 Lent Friday C
Hebrews 9:11-15 – The New Covenant;
Jesus is the high priest of the good things that are coming (through him). Jesus entered once for all through the heavenly Tabernacle into the most Holy Place, not the earthly replica, not with the blood of animals, but with his own blood, securing for us an eternal redemption. If the sprinkling of the blood and ashes of animal sacrifices can cleanse us of sin, how much more will the blood of Christ, perfect and free from blemish, offered through the eternal Spirit, purify us from works that lead to eternal death, so that we can serve the living God. So Jesus has become the mediator of a new covenant (testament; will) and died so that we (who respond to God's call), can be redeemed from the transgressions under the first covenant and receive the promise of eternal inheritance of the New Covenant.
Commentary:
From the very beginning God has been preparing us for, and teaching us, his eternal purpose for Creation. God has always intended to establish an eternal kingdom of his people who willingly trust and obey God. Jesus has been designed into Creation from the very beginning (John 1:1-5, 14).
This lifetime is our opportunity to seek, find and have fellowship with God, our Creator (Acts 17:26-27) and this is only possible through Jesus Christ, God's one and only “anointed” Savior and eternal king (Acts 4:12). Jesus is the only way to know divine eternal truth, to be restored to fellowship with God which is broken by sin (disobedience of God's Word; Romans 3:23; 1 John 1:8-10) and to have eternal life (John 14:6).
We have all been born into this world physically alive but spiritually “unborn.” We are all eternal souls in physical bodies. This lifetime is our only opportunity to be spiritually “born-again” (John 3:3, 5-8). This is only possible through faith (obedient trust) in Jesus Christ. Only Jesus baptizes with (gives the gift of) the indwelling Holy Spirit (John 1:31-34), only to his disciples who trust and obey Jesus (John 14:15-17). The Holy Spirit is the seal and guarantee that one is in Christ and has eternal life (2 Corinthians 1:22; Ephesians 1:13-14; Romans 8:9b, 11, 15-16).
God has been revealing himself and his purpose through his relationship with Israel, recorded in the Bible for our instruction (1 Corinthians 10:6, 11). God told Israel to create an earthly replica of God's eternal temple in heaven. God taught the Israelites what are sins against God, and how to be cleansed of those sins.
Jesus is the fulfillment, embodiment and illustration of God's Word (John 1:1-5, 14). He is the ultimate revelation of God and God's Word in human flesh in this world. The Holy Spirit, which only Jesus gives (John 1:31-34), only to his disciples who trust and obey Jesus (John 14:15-17), is the ultimate revelation of God to believers individually and personally.
The Old Covenant of Law, mediated by Moses, foreshadowed the New Covenant instituted and mediated by Jesus Christ, the “New Moses.” God delivered Israel from slavery to sin and death in “Egypt” by the Passover Feast, and that ritual prefigures the “Lord's Supper” (Holy Communion; the Eucharist) which Jesus instituted on the night of his betrayal and arrest (Matthew 26:26-28).
The Exodus from Egypt is a “parable,” a metaphor for life in this world. We are all in slavery to sin and spiritual, eternal, death. Jesus is the new “Moses” who can lead us out of slavery in Egypt, through the “sea” of baptism into Jesus, separating us from our spiritual enemies, through the wilderness of this lifetime, through the “river” of physical death, and into the Promised Land of God's eternal kingdom in heaven.
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)?
4 Lent - Saturday C
First posted March 20, 2010
Podcast: 4 Lent Saturday C
John 8:46-59 – Refusal to Believe;
Jesus challenged the Jewish leaders to convict him of sin. If Jesus was telling the truth, why did they not believe him? Those who are Godly recognize God's Word; the reason that the Jews did not heed the Word of God which Jesus proclaimed is because they were not of God.
The Jewish authorities accused Jesus of being a Samaritan (one of mixed race and religion; a great insult) and being possessed by a demon. Jesus replied that he was not possessed by a demon; He was honoring God, his Father, and the Jewish authorities were dishonoring Jesus. But Jesus was not seeking his own honor; God seeks Jesus' honor, and God will be the judge. Jesus declared that if anyone obeys Jesus' teaching, he will not suffer (spiritual, eternal) death. Then the Jewish authorities declared that this was evidence that Jesus was demented. They cited the death of Abraham and the prophets. Did Jesus claim to be greater than Abraham and the prophets? Who was Jesus claiming to be?
Jesus replied that glorifying himself would be useless; God, who the Jews claimed as their God, would glorify him. But the Jews did not know God. Jesus knows God (intimately). Jesus cannot deny knowing God without lying, as the Jewish authorities were. Jesus knows God and keeps God's Word. Abraham longed to see Jesus' day, and he saw it and rejoiced. The Jewish authorities replied that Jesus was less than fifty years old and could not possibly have known Abraham. Jesus answered that he was pre-existent before Abraham, using the name “I am” (which is a claim to pre-existence and oneness with God; Exodus 3:14). So the Jewish authorities prepared to stone Jesus to death, but Jesus hid himself and left the temple.
Commentary:
Jesus is God's one and only Savior and Lord, designed into Creation from the very beginning (John 1:1-5, 14). Jesus is the fulfillment, embodiment and illustration of God's Word lived in human flesh in this world. If the Jewish authorities had actually known God they would have recognized that Jesus is God's Son and the fulfillment of God's Word.
This is a common problem in the nominal Church today. Leaders claim to know God and Jesus Christ, but they have not known him by the indwelling Holy Spirit, but only by the Bible scriptures. This is the problem illustrated by the Book of Job. Job had not known God personally until God revealed himself to Job (Job 42:5). Many theologians know a lot about God but don't know God personally.
God has deliberately designed Creation so that it is impossible to know God through (worldly) wisdom (1 Corinthians 1:17-25). Jesus promised that he would reveal himself to his disciples who trust and obey Jesus (John 14:21).
There is only one sin which is unforgivable: the blaspheming of the Holy Spirit (Matthew 12:31). This sin separates one from the only source of forgiveness and salvation. If people cannot tell the difference between the Holy Spirit and demons they are beyond redemption.
The Jewish authorities rejected Jesus' claim to give eternal life. Everyone dies physically once, and then comes judgment (Hebrews 9:27). The authorities were only thinking of physical death. Jesus' miracles of physical resurrection (Lazarus for example: John 11: 38-44; Jairus' daughter: Luke 8:41-56), and Jesus' own resurrection (John 20:1-18) are intended to demonstrate that there is existence beyond physical death.
At the original temptation in the Garden of Eden God had told Adam and Eve that if they ate of the forbidden fruit they would die (Genesis 3:3) but Satan told them that they wouldn't die (Genesis 3:4). They didn't drop physically dead the moment they ate, but they lost the eternal life in paradise that God had given them. Jesus Christ is the only way to be restored to eternal life in paradise with the Lord.
Abraham and the prophets died physically, but the three disciples, Peter, James and John, of Jesus inner circle, witnessed the return of Moses and Elijah on the mountain of Jesus' transfiguration (Matthew 17:1-13).
Every truly “born-again” disciple personally knows and testifies that Jesus is risen from physical death to eternal life. The “baptism” (“gift;” “infilling”) 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), is our spiritual “rebirth” to eternal life and fellowship with God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. 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)?
*Job may be the oldest book in the Bible. It existed as an oral tradition from around 2000 B.C.. It may precede the Creation account in Genesis by several hundred years.
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