Week
of 19 Pentecost - B
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Podcast Download: Week of 19 Pentecost - B
Sunday
19 Pentecost - B
First Posted
October 11, 2009;
Podcast: Sunday 19 Pentecost - B
Numbers 11:4-6, 10-16, 24-29 -- The
Spirit of the Lord;
Psalm 135:1-7, 13-14 -- Lord of Nature;
James 4:7-12 (13-5:6) -- Godliness versus
Worldliness;
Mark 9:38-50 -- Warnings of Hell;
Numbers Paraphrase:
The people of Israel in the wilderness
complained to Moses about the constant diet of manna, and longed
to have the meats and vegetables they had in Egypt. Moses was
angry with their complaining, and he complained to God about the
heavy responsibility God had given him to lead the people. Moses
knew he could not provide for their physical needs and desires by
himself. Moses was so discouraged that, if the Lord would not help
him, he asked the Lord to kill him, so that he wouldn’t have to
experience his misery any longer.
The Lord told Moses to choose seventy elders
and leaders of the people and bring them before the Lord at the
tent of meeting (the portable house of God; the tabernacle). So
Moses told the people what God had said and the seventy were
gathered before the Lord. God took some of his spirit that he had
given to Moses and put it upon the seventy, and they immediately
started to prophesy.
Two men, Eldad and Medad, were enrolled in the
seventy, but had remained in camp. They too received the anointing
with the Holy Spirit and began to prophesy in the camp. A
messenger reported this to Moses, and Joshua the son of Nun (one
of the two scouts who had returned a favorable report about the
Promised Land), one of Moses closest assistants, suggested that
Moses should forbid Eldad and Medad from prophesying. But Moses
asked Joshua if it were Moses (or himself) that he was jealous
for, and declared that it was his prayer that all God’s people
should be prophets (filled with the Holy Spirit, to proclaim God’s
Word).
Psalm Paraphrase:
The Psalms are prophecy, inspired by the Holy
Spirit. This psalm was used in worship and is an example of
ecstatic praise in worship. The psalmists, like David, the great
shepherd-king, had close relationships with the Lord and the
psalms are testimonies of their personal experience.
Anyone who has walked in obedient trust in the
Lord will come to know that the Lord is abundantly able and
faithful, and he is worthy of our praise. The Lord is the Creator
and ruler over the forces of nature. The name (the character and
person) of the Lord is eternal. The Lord has compassion on his
people and will deliver and vindicate them.
James Paraphrase:
The author of James is exhorting his hearers to
be disciples of Jesus Christ. Believers are to submit themselves
to God. We are to resist Satan and he will flee from us; we are to
draw near to the Lord and the Lord will draw near to us. We must
confess and repent of our sin (disobedience of God’s Word) and
doubt (unbelief in God’s Word). If we truly humble ourselves and
mourn our sins the Lord will lift us up and exalt us.
A believer who speaks evil against another
speaks evil against the Law (the Word of God); they have failed to
keep the Law and have become a (an unjust) judge. There is only
one righteous lawgiver and judge (the Lord), so who are we to
judge our neighbor?
Worldly people make plans for themselves for
the future, without acknowledging that their plans are subject to
God’s will. No one can be certain for tomorrow; our lives are like
mist, here momentarily and then gone. So, we should make our plans
in accordance with God’s will. Otherwise, the plans we make for
ourselves are arrogant boasting and evil. Anyone who knows what is
right and does not do it is guilty of sin.
The rich of this world ought to mourn for the
misery that is coming to them (in the Day of Judgment). Their
riches are rotten and their fine clothes are moth-eaten; their
gold and silver have turned to rust and will be evidence against
them and will consume their flesh like fire. They have stored up
punishment for themselves in the Day of Judgment. God knows the
wages the rich have withheld from their laborers. The rich have
lived in luxury and pleasure, fattening themselves up for their
own slaughter. They have condemned and killed the righteous, who
have not resisted them.
Mark Paraphrase:
John, the Apostle, told Jesus he had seen
someone who was not a member of the disciples, exorcising demons
in Jesus’ name and had told him to stop. Jesus said not to forbid
such people, because anyone who does a great thing in Jesus’ name
will soon be unable to speak evil against Jesus. Jesus told his
disciples that anyone who did the slightest favor for them because
they were Jesus’ disciples would be rewarded by God.
Jesus said that whoever causes the least
disciple of Jesus to sin would receive worse punishment than we
can possibly imagine. Jesus said that, if we could keep from
sinning by cutting off a hand or gouging out an eye, we would be
better off to do so, rather than to sin and be condemned to Hell,
where decay and destruction is eternal. All are “seasoned” with
fire (hard testing) in this life. Disciples must keep that
“seasoning” (of faith through trials) or they will not accomplish
what the Lord has called them to do, and will become worthless. So
we are to hold on to our faith and be at peace with one another.
Commentary:
Moses is the prototype and example of a
spiritual leader of God’s people. He had to have the Spirit of God
and fellowship with the Lord to fulfill the responsibility God had
given him. Moses realized that he wasn’t sufficient in himself to
meet the need. When he asked the Lord for help, the Lord showed
him what he needed to do; he was to choose people from the group
and make them Spirit-filled leaders. (Moses was a prototype of a
“born-again” disciple, making “born-again” disciples.) It was God
who gave them the Spirit, as Moses followed God’s command.
Joshua was Moses’ close assistant. Joshua
trusted and obeyed God; he was one of the two faithful scouts of
the Promised Land, and who had urged the people to trust and obey
God’s command to enter and possess the land. But Joshua wanted to
keep his status and position as Moses’ second-in-command. Moses,
on the other hand, was glad for Spirit-filled, Spirit-led helpers.
It is God who dispenses his Spirit, and Moses was not going to
forbid those who God had chosen, to use what God had given. Moses
prayed that God would pour out his Spirit upon all God’s people
It wasn’t until Jesus had completed his mission
on earth that the answer to that prayer became possible. Jesus had
to accomplish his act of sacrifice for our salvation, and then
ascend into heaven before the Holy Spirit could be poured out on
his disciples (John 16:7). The Day of Pentecost when the Holy
Spirit was poured out upon the disciples was the birthday of the
Church, and the beginning of the fulfillment of Moses’ prayer.
Since that day, the Holy Spirit is poured out
upon all of the People of God; the people who trust and obey Jesus
are his disciples who receive the gift of the indwelling Holy
Spirit (John 14:15-17), which only Jesus gives (John 1:31-34). It
is the job of the Church to make “born-again” disciples, which is
only possible by “born-again” disciples. In order to make
disciples we must first become born-again disciples ourselves. 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 “born-again” disciples can testify to the
goodness, faithfulness and power of the Lord from their personal
experience. The author of the Letter of James was a born-again
disciple who was “making disciples” of Jesus Christ. He was
telling his hearers what they must do to become “born-again”
disciples. They must turn away from worldly ways and start living
according to Jesus’ way.
The apostle John was like Joshua; he thought
the “church” should rebuke people, who weren’t members of their
group, who were proclaiming Jesus. If the exorcist were not a
Spirit-guided and empowered believer he would have no power
(compare Acts 19:13-17). Jesus’ name is not a magic incantation by
which the user can gain power. Jesus warned that calling him Lord
didn’t make one his disciple, or save one from eternal
condemnation (Matthew 7:21-25; Luke 6:46). The Church does not
need to be afraid that someone will misappropriate the power of
the Holy Spirit (although it is possible for people to fake, but
only among the “un-reborn”).
Jesus’ warning of Hell shows the seriousness of
following Jesus’ teaching and example in obedient trust.
Christians can’t continue to live according to worldly standards.
The Lord gives us the gift of the Holy Spirit to cleanse our
sinful hands and purify our sinful hearts, free us from doubt, and
to make it possible for us to trust and obey Jesus (James 4:8); to
know and do his will. But the gift is only given to those who are
seriously committed to follow Jesus in obedient trust.
Is Jesus your Lord (Matthew 7:21-23; Luke
6:46)? Are you Jesus' disciple (John 8:31)? Are you trusting and
obeying Jesus (John 14:21)? 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)?
Monday 19 Pentecost - B
First Posted October 12, 2009;
Podcast: Monday 19 Pentecost - B
Psalm 128 -- Obedience Rewarded;
Background:
This psalm is one of the Songs of Ascents,
which were probably intended for use in pilgrimages to Jerusalem.
It is also categorized as a “wisdom psalm,” teaching divine truth.
Paraphrase:
Those who fear the Lord and obey him will be
blessed. We will see the fruit of our labor; we will be happy and
well satisfied. Families are one of the ways the Lord blesses his
people.
May the Lord bless us from Zion, his holy hill.
May we see the prosperity of Jerusalem (the Church is the New
Jerusalem; the City of God). May the Lord bless us with long life
and the satisfaction of seeing our grandchildren! May there be
peace upon God’s people.
Commentary:
The message throughout the Bible is that those
who trust and obey the Lord will be blessed and that those who
rebel and reject the Lord will be punished. That’s not always
obvious, because it does seem that the wicked thrive and go
unpunished, for a while. But from an eternal perspective this
lifetime is brief; we’re here today and gone tomorrow. God’s
punishment of the wicked is coming at the end of physical life.
It is also widely believed that we can’t know
for sure whether there’s a God or heaven until we die. That is
false! Those who trust and obey the Lord receive the gift of the
indwelling Holy Spirit through whom we have a personal daily
fellowship with the Lord and we are “born-again” (John 3:3, 5-8)
to eternal life which begins now. Our spiritual eyes are opened to
see spiritual truth and the spiritual kingdom which is coming.
Only the “lost” who are going to eternal condemnation in Hell are
unaware of what awaits them.
It is by the Holy Spirit within us, only by
obedient trust in Jesus Christ (John 1:31-34; 14:15-17), that we
can experience the real, satisfying, eternal fruit of our labor.
It is the Holy Spirit who guides us and empowers us to build and
strengthen the Kingdom of God, which is the only work which
matters for eternity, and the reward for that work is eternal. It
is the assurance of the Holy Spirit within us which gives us real
peace and the certainty of life beyond physical death. 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).
In the American society today, in many families
the children are raising themselves, because both parents are
working. Many of these young people have no moral “compass;” no
standard of right and wrong to guide them, which is only provided
in God’s Word. Many of those children are looking for spiritual
satisfaction in all the wrong places and things. There is only one
way to spiritual fulfillment and fellowship with God, our Creator,
and that way is only through Jesus Christ (Acts 4:12; John 14:6).
Families are intended to be a great blessing to
us, from our spiritual Father who wants to adopt us as his own
children; his “family.” What we do with our families which God has
given us in this lifetime matters for eternity. The picture of the
family gathered around the table is an image of what we can expect
in eternal life only if we pass on the Gospel of Jesus Christ to
our families now, in this lifetime.
Is Jesus your Lord (Matthew 7:21-23; Luke
6:46)? Are you Jesus' disciple (John 8:31)? Are you trusting and
obeying Jesus (John 14:21)? 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)?
Tuesday 19 Pentecost - B
First Posted October 13, 2009;
Podcast: Tuesday 19 Pentecost - B
Genesis 2:18-24 -- Creation of
Woman;
Paraphrase
God made creation as a “garden” for mankind.
Everything was created to support and serve mankind, and mankind
was given dominion over creation. God created man and woman to
compliment each other, and to work together; to make a family
unit.
The “picture” of woman created from Adam’s rib
illustrates how fully man and woman are designed to complete and
fulfill each other. She fulfills the empty place in man and he
sustains her as part of his own flesh. They are designed to become
a family that nurtures and supports their children, who then form
a new family and repeat the process.
I am utterly convinced that God intended from
the beginning of creation to establish an eternal kingdom of his
people who willingly choose to trust and obey him. The meaning and
purpose of this lifetime is for us to seek and to come to know and
learn to trust and obey God our Creator. This world is a “garden”
intended to produce eternal children of God.
God has designed this creation so that we will
have the freedom to choose whether to trust and obey God or not.
God’s way is totally good; it is mankind who introduced evil in to
creation by disobedience of God’s Word. God allows and tolerates
sin (disobedience of God’s Word) and evil in this present world so
that we can learn by trial and error to distinguish good from
evil, and learn to live according to God’s way. But God has fixed
a time-limit on us and on this creation. He will not tolerate sin
and evil forever. He won’t allow sin and evil into his eternal
heavenly kingdom.
We were born into a world that was created
“good” (Genesis 1:31), but which has become a spiritual wilderness
because of mankind’s sin. God’s eternal kingdom will be Creation
restored to paradise as it was intended by God.
God designed us for heterosexual monogamy.
Homosexuality* is a “choice;” an “error” that humans choose to
make (Romans 1:26-27).
Jesus Christ has been God’s one and only plan
for our forgiveness and salvation from his eternal condemnation
(Acts 4:12, John 14:6) from the very beginning of Creation (John
1:1-5, 14). All of us have sinned and fall short of God’s
righteousness (Romans 3:23; 1 John 1:8-10), and the punishment for
sin is eternal death (Romans 6:23; see God’s Plan of Salvation,
sidebar, top right, home).
We have been given physical life in this
creation and the opportunity to seek and find eternal life; the
opportunity to be “born-again” to spiritual, eternal life by
obedient trust in Jesus Christ. Only Jesus gives the gift of
eternal life (John 1:31-34), only to his disciples who trust and
obey Jesus (John 14:15-17).
God doesn’t want anyone to perish eternally,
but he has given us the freedom to choose for ourselves, and has
given us his Word, the Bible, and the “living Word,” Jesus Christ,
the fulfillment, embodiment and example of God’s Word in human
flesh (John 1:1-5, 14). No one will be able to claim that he did
not know God’s plan; God has revealed it clearly. The only ones
who don’t know God’s plan are the ones who reject and refuse to
believe it.
Is Jesus your Lord (Matthew 7:21-23; Luke
6:46)? Are you Jesus' disciple (John 8:31)? Are you trusting and
obeying Jesus (John 14:21)? 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 1 Timothy 1:10; 1 Corinthians 6:9; Romans 1:24-27; from two Greek words meaning “men bedding (or conceiving) with men” (Strong’s #730 & 2845; see Strong’s #733); i.e., “sodomites,” after the city of Sodom, destroyed by God for its homosexual practice; Genesis 19:4-5 (24-25); men who have unnatural sexual relations with men (and, by extension, women who have unnatural sexual relations with women). The KJV translates as: “men defiling themselves with men.”
Wednesday 19 Pentecost - B
First Posted October 14, 2009;
Podcast: Wednesday 19 Pentecost - B
Hebrews 2:9-11 (12-18) -- Pioneer of Salvation;
Paraphrase:
Although Jesus is superior to angels, he was
humbled for a while as a human and has now been glorified and
honored above all, because he was willing to suffer and die, so
that by God’s grace he might taste death for everyone. Since
everything in Creation exists by and for Jesus, it was appropriate
that he, having been made complete and mature through suffering,
should be the pioneer of our salvation, leading many sons to
glory. Jesus, who sanctifies (purifies and dedicates), and those
who are sanctified, have one origin (in God), so Jesus considers
them brethren, fulfilling the Word of God in Psalm 22:22 and
Isaiah 8:17-18.
Since we are flesh and blood, Christ, the
eternal Son of God, became flesh and blood, that through
experiencing physical death he might destroy Satan, who has the
power of death over us, so that we might no longer be enslaved all
our lives by the fear of death. Since Jesus’ mission was to
humans, rather than angels, he had to be made like us in every
respect, so that he could become our merciful and faithful high
priest in God’s service, paying the penalty for our sins and
restoring us to fellowship with God. Since Jesus experienced the
same temptations as we do, he is able to be merciful and to help
us when we are tempted.
Commentary:
Jesus Christ is the fulfillment, embodiment and
example of God’s Word in human flesh (John 1:1-5, 14). God has
designed Jesus into the very structure of Creation. God has been
progressively revealing himself to us in Creation, in the Bible,
and in Jesus Christ, the “living Word” of God, and ultimately and
personally in the gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit, which is
only given by Jesus Christ (John 1:31-34), only to his disciples
who trust and obey Jesus (John 14:15-17). Through the indwelling
Holy Spirit, every “born-again” (John 3:3, 5-8) Christian
experiences a personal fellowship with Jesus Christ and testifies
that Jesus has risen from physical death to eternal life. It is
through the gift of the Holy Spirit that we are “adopted” into
God’s family.
Jesus’ physical life on earth is the ultimate
example of obedient trust in God’s Word. Jesus’ resurrection
demonstrates the reward for obedient trust in God’s Word and the
reality of life after physical death. Jesus is the “New Moses” who
comes to lead us out of the “Egypt” of slavery to sin and death,
through the “sea” of baptism, through the spiritual “wilderness”
of this lifetime, through the “river” of physical death, and into
the eternal “Promised Land” of God’s kingdom in heaven.
Jesus told his disciples three times, as
recorded in Mark (Mark 8:31; 9:31; 10:32-34), that he would be
crucified, buried and rise again. Jesus also warned that the
consequence of not following him is eternal death (John 5:28-29;
Matthew 25:31-46). Jesus’ word is the Word of God (John 14:10,
24); it is eternally true. Jesus is the only way to God and
eternal life (John 14:6; Acts 4:12).
We have all sinned (disobeyed God’s Word;
Romans 3:23; 1 John 1:8-10), and the penalty for sin is eternal
death (Romans 6:23). God sent Jesus to show us how to live in
obedient trust in God’s Word, and to make it possible for us to do
so by the gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit (Romans 5:8; John
3:16-17; see God’s Plan of Salvation, sidebar, top right, home).
Through the indwelling Holy Spirit we can know with certainty that
Jesus lives, and that we have eternal life through his indwelling
Holy Spirit (2 Corinthians 1:22; Ephesians 1:13-14; Romans 8:9b,
11, 15-16).
Is Jesus your Lord (Matthew 7:21-23; Luke
6:46)? Are you Jesus' disciple (John 8:31)? Are you trusting and
obeying Jesus (John 14:21)? 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)?
Thursday 19 Pentecost - B
First Posted October 15, 2009;
Podcast: Thursday 19 Pentecost - B
Mark 10:2-16 -- Marriage and Divorce;
Paraphrase:
The Pharisees (a leading faction of legalistic
Jews) asked Jesus a question about the Law of Moses to test Jesus
(to obtain evidence they could use against Jesus to destroy him).
They asked Jesus if it was legal for a man to divorce his wife. In
reply Jesus asked them what the Law of Moses said (since they
considered themselves experts in the Law). They replied that Moses
had allowed divorce. Then Jesus replied that Moses allowed divorce
because of the hardness of human hearts. Jesus said that from the
beginning of Creation God had made male and female, and they leave
their fathers and mothers and are joined to each other in the
flesh, so that they are no longer two individuals, but one in
flesh. What God has joined humans should not tear apart.
At home away from the crowds, the disciples
asked Jesus about the issue, and Jesus told them that anyone who
divorces a spouse and marries another commits adultery.
People were bringing children to him to be
blessed by him, and his disciples rebuked them, but Jesus rebuked
his disciples and told them not to prevent children from coming to
him. He told them that the kingdom of God belongs to such. Whoever
does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will not enter
it. Jesus took the children in his arms and blessed them.
Commentary:
The Pharisees considered themselves righteous
because they thought they obeyed the Law of Moses. They considered
themselves superior to Jesus because in their eyes Jesus didn’t
obey the Law, primarily by healing on the Sabbath and by
associating with “sinners.” Pharisees kept the small details and
outward obedience of the Law but missed the great principles the
Law was intended to teach. Moses allowed divorce because the
people were unable to love others as they loved themselves (one of
the two Great Commandments; Mark 12:28-31).
The Law of Moses is God’s Word, the core of the
Jewish Bible (which with the Prophets and Psalms constitutes our
Old Testament). Jesus is the perfect fulfillment of God’s Word who
was perfectly obedient to God’s Word, even unto death on the
Cross, and the example of God’s Word lived out in human flesh in
this world. (John 1:1-5, 14).
God’s Word is divine wisdom, by which the world
was created. Divine wisdom is true wisdom; not what the world
falsely calls “wisdom” (1 Corinthians 1:17-25; 2:1-8). Jesus is
the Wisdom of God in human flesh. Jesus and the Bible teach that
God designed us for heterosexual, monogamous marriage. God
designed man and woman to fit together, sexually, emotionally and
practically. The image of God forming woman from Adam’s rib is an
illustration of how God intended man and wife to fit together
(Genesis 2:20b-24; entry for 19 Pentecost Tuesday B-year). God
designed a man and a woman to be joined in marriage in order to
create stable families to raise children who would repeat the
process.
God has designed this creation to allow us
freedom to choose whether or not to obey God’s Word, and to learn
by trial and error that God’s way is our best interest.
Homosexuality* is a “choice;” an “error” that some humans choose
to make (Romans 1:26-27).
Jesus is God’s way, who has been built into
Creation from the very beginning (John 1:1-5, 14). We have a
choice of whether to follow Jesus’ teaching and example or not.
Trusting and obeying Jesus leads to eternal life in God’s heavenly
kingdom; rejecting Jesus and refusing to trust and obey God’s Word
leads to eternal condemnation and death (John 5:28-29; Matthew
25:31-46). Jesus is God’s only provision for our salvation from
eternal condemnation (Acts 4:12; John 14:6; see God’s Plan of
Salvation, sidebar, top right, home).
God has always intended from the beginning of
Creation to establish an eternal kingdom of his people who
willingly choose to trust and obey God. The world was designed by
God as a “garden” to raise “children” of God. God is our father
because he is our creator, whether we acknowledge him or not. God
offers us adoption into his eternal family through obedient trust
in Jesus Christ.
Jesus’ blessing the children is a “picture” of
what God wants to do for us. He wants us to come to him through
Jesus like innocent, trusting children and be blessed by him. God
cares about families. He wants to see children raised to know and
obey his Word. We are seeing in our culture now the results of
divorce, single parenting, same-sex couples, and “absentee
parenting” where both spouses work fulltime. These are all
examples of “worldly wisdom.” The results are an alarming number
of children who have no sense of right and wrong, and no concern
at all for life. A lot of children have lost their innocence and
trust.
*homosexuality: See 1 Timothy 1:10; 1
Corinthians 6:9; Romans 1:24-27; from two Greek words meaning “men
bedding (or conceiving) with men” (Strong’s #730 & 2845; see
Strong’s #733); i.e., “sodomites,” after the city of Sodom,
destroyed by God for its homosexual practice (Genesis 19:4-5
(24-25); men who have unnatural sexual relations with men (and, by
extension, women who have unnatural sexual relations with women).
The KJV translates as: “men defiling themselves with men.”
Friday 19 Pentecost - B
First Posted October 16, 2009;
Podcast: Friday 19 Pentecost - B
Genesis 28:10-17 -- Jacob’s Ladder;
Matthew 9:1-8 -- Jesus Heals;
Genesis:
Isaac was living in the Promised Land as a
semi-nomad. His son Jacob was sent back to the land of Abraham,
his grandfather, to Haran in present-day Syria, to get a wife from
among his own people instead of marrying one of the pagan local
Canaanites. Jacob left Beer-sheba which is in southern Israel and
camped the first night at Bethel (Genesis 28:19).
During the night Jacob had a dream of angels
ascending and descending on a ladder which reached to heaven. He
beheld the Lord who told Jacob that he was the God of Abraham and
Isaac. The Lord repeated the promise he had made to Abraham and
Isaac, to Jacob, promising that the Lord would give the land to
Jacob and his descendants, who would be as numerous as the dust of
the earth. All the people of the earth would be blessed through
Jacob. God promised to be with Jacob wherever he went, and would
bring him back to Bethel. God vowed not to leave Jacob until he
had accomplished what he promised.
Jacob awoke and realized that God was with him
in that place and he hadn’t realized it. Jacob was awed by God’s
presence, and declared that the place was the house of God and the
gate of heaven.
Matthew:
Jesus returned by boat to Capernaum (his own
city since Nazareth had driven him out; Luke 4:16-30). People
brought a paralytic to him on a stretcher, and when Jesus saw
their faith, he told the paralytic to take heart, because his sins
were forgiven.
Some of the scribes (teachers of scripture)
said that Jesus was blaspheming. Jesus knew what they were
thinking and asked whether it was easier for Jesus to tell the man
to rise and walk, or that his sins were forgiven. Jesus told them
he had pronounced the forgiveness of the man’s sins so that people
would know that “the Son of man” (i.e. Jesus) had authority on
earth to forgive sins. Jesus then told the paralytic to rise and
take his bed and go home and the man did so. The crowds who
witnessed his healing were awed and glorified God, “who had given
such authority to men” (Matthew 9:8).
Commentary:
God has intended from the very beginning of
Creation to establish an eternal kingdom of his people who
willingly choose to trust and obey him. Jesus Christ has been
God’s one and only plan to accomplish that purpose from the very
beginning (John 1:1-5, 14). God designed this Creation to allow us
freedom to choose whether to trust and obey him, and to learn by
trial and error that God’s way is our best interest.
The Bible is the record of God’s plan for this
world, which he has been progressively revealing. As we set out on
the journey of life, God wants to reveal himself to us as we trust
and obey him. The meaning and purpose of this lifetime is to seek
and come to the knowledge of and personal fellowship with God
(Acts 17:26-27), and this is only possible through Jesus Christ
(John 14:6).
God has given us great promises in scripture.
He has promised to give us an inheritance in his eternal Promised
Land and to go with us wherever we go and bring us back to the
Promised Land, if we will trust and obey his Word. God wants us to
trust and obey his Word so that we will discover for ourselves
that God is good and his Word is absolutely reliable and true.
Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of the vision
of Jacob’s ladder (John 1:51). Jesus is the gate and the way to
heaven and personal fellowship with God. Jesus is the way from
which the blessings of God come down to us. “Angel” can be
understood as “Spirit” (consider Acts 12:6-16; note v. 7 and v.
15). Jesus is the only one who “baptizes” with the Holy Spirit
(John 1:31-34), only to his disciples who trust and obey Jesus
(John 14:15-17), and it is the Holy Spirit by whom the Lord goes
with us wherever we go in this lifetime and brings us finally to
the heavenly Promised Land. It is by the gift of the Holy Spirit
that we individually and collectively become the house of God.
Jesus came to heal us spiritually and restore
us to true, spiritual, eternal life. His miracles of physical
healing and feeding were intended to show that he has the power
and authority to heal and feed us spiritually.
All of us have sinned (disobeyed God’s Word;
Romans 3:23; 1 John 1:5-8), and the penalty for sin is eternal
death (Romans 6:23). God has designed his Creation so that none of
us are worthy of his favor, so that he can give it to us
abundantly as a gift to be received by faith (obedient trust) in
Jesus Christ (see God’s Plan of Salvation, sidebar, top right,
home).
The healing of the paralytic is a picture of
what God wants to do for us spiritually. When we come to Jesus in
faith and obey him we are freed from bondage to sin and death and
are “re-born” (John 3:3, 5-8) to spiritual, eternal life. Those
who have been “healed” and “re-born” are called to be friends of
those who are spiritually “sick” and “dead;” to testify to them
that Jesus can forgive our sins and give us new eternal life, and
to bring them to Jesus and to obedient trust in him.
Is Jesus your Lord (Matthew 7:21-23; Luke
6:46)? Are you Jesus' disciple (John 8:31)? Are you trusting and
obeying Jesus (John 14:21)? 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 19 Pentecost - B
First Posted October 17, 2009;
Podcast: Saturday 19 Pentecost - B
Ephesians 4:17-28 -- Renounce Pagan Ways;
The Apostle Paul was “discipling” the
Ephesians. He taught that believers must no longer live like the
pagan societies around them. What the pagans think is futile;
their understanding is “darkened,” and they are separated from God
because of their ignorance and hardness of heart. “They have
become callous and have given themselves up to licentiousness,
greedy to practice every kind of uncleanness.” That is contrary to
what Christ taught.
Presumably Christians have been taught the truth in Jesus Christ. So then, believers are to remove the old worldly ways which were part of their former lives which are corrupt through deceptive lusts and be transformed in their thinking and attitude, and put on the new nature which is true righteousness and holiness growing in likeness to God.
Believers are to no longer practice falsehood,
but instead to speak the truth as members of a family. We must
control our anger, not allowing it to lead us to sin, but instead
learning to forgive. The former thief must no longer steal;
instead of taking what belongs to others, let him earn what is his
own with honest work so that he can give to those in need.
Commentary:
Christians are those who trust and obey Jesus.
We need to learn what Jesus taught and did, so that we can follow
his teaching and example and become like him. We must give up
pagan worldly ways; although we once lived like that, we must do
so no longer. We must remove worldly ways and attitudes from our
lives like dirty clothing, so that we can put on the clean clothes
of righteousness (doing what is right in God’s judgment) and
holiness (set apart and dedicated to God’s service). Our worldly
lusts are deceitful, causing us to think we need and want what we
lust for, and leading us away from Jesus’ teaching and into sin.
Paul gives three examples of the kind of
changes of attitudes common to us that believers must make in
their lives. We must no longer practice falsehood, but instead
speak the truth. We must no longer indulge our anger by revenge or
holding a grudge, but instead must learn to forgive as God has
forgiven us. Those who in the past have taken advantage of others
must learn to work honestly so that they can give to others
instead of taking from them.
In too many cases the Church, particularly in
America today, people are bringing worldly ways into the “Church”
instead of taking Jesus’ way into the culture. In too many cases
it would be a mistake to presume that “Christians” are being
taught the truth in Jesus Christ. Too many “Churches” are building
church “buildings,” and making church “members,” but failing to
make “born-again” (John 3:3, 5-8) disciples of Jesus Christ.
America is no longer a Christian nation and its
people are becoming more and more pagan. They think they can be
“Christian” and not read the Bible or go to church. They think
they can believe in Jesus without obeying Jesus’ teaching and
example. They think they can go to heaven by being a “good”
person. They think they can get God to hear and answer their
prayers by adding Jesus’ name to the end.
Their thinking is futile; they won’t get what
they “believe” just because they believe “hard enough.” Their
understanding is abysmally darkened. They are separated from God
because of their ignorance and hardness of heart. They have become
calloused and blind to the increasing immorality among them.
Is Jesus your Lord (Matthew 7:21-23; Luke
6:46)? Are you Jesus' disciple (John 8:31)? Are you trusting and
obeying Jesus (John 14:21)? Have you received the indwelling Holy
Spirit since you first truly believed (Acts 19:2)? Are you making
disciples of Jesus Christ and teaching them to obey all that Jesus
commands (Matthew 28:18-20)? Do you know with certainty where you
will spend eternity (1 John 5:11-13; Ephesians 1:13-14)?
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