I've now watched something like three different productions of the Nativey Story this year. My sisters school did a production from the viewpoint of the angels watching over the arrival of the Savior, a couple of other kids from that school that we know did a concert mixed with a living nativity, I watched the film The Nativity Story for the first time, and its a film thats been growing in the back of my head, I'm just loving it more and more with each passing day. But throughout all these productions I've found myself drawn more and more towards a small but important player, the priest Zechariah.
Luke 1:9-20
9 he was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to go into the temple of the Lord and burn incense.
10 And when the time for the burning of incense came, all the assembled worshipers were praying outside.
11 Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right side of the altar of incense.
12 When Zechariah saw him, he was startled and was gripped with fear.
13 But the angel said to him: “Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to call him John.
14 He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth,
15 for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even before he is born.
16 He will bring back many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God.
17 And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the parents to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous— to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”
18 Zechariah asked the angel, “How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is well along in years.”
19 The angel said to him, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news.
20 And now you will be silent and not able to speak until the day this happens, because you did not believe my words, which will come true at their appointed time.”
Boom, how awesome is that? An angel of the Lord shows up in the temple and tells him that he is going to have a son. And when Zachariah voices his doubts on whether or not this is actually going to happen. Gabriel is all like "Who do you think is talking to you? You're going to doubt me? I stand in the very presence of God and He, the creator of the universe, has chosen me to deliever to you this message. You don't believe it? Fine, but you are not going to spoil this wonderous thing with your doubts. You can keep them to yourself."
And shazam! Zachariah is struck speechless until that which God told him was going to happen actually does happen.
And I was sitting there, watching the rather wonderful production of the youth at Lighthouse Christian church, listening to David Crowder music and thinking about Zechariah and I realized that when you can't talk about something, or in fact can't talk about anything you spend an awful lot of time watching everyone around you and thinking.
And how much time do you think Zechariah spent thinking about what was going on around him? How much time to do you think he spent in those nine months of silence considering the implications of what he was seeing unfold before him?
Zechariah, for all his moments of foolish doubt, was not a stupid man. He was a priest, he was educated, he knew what he was watching unfold.
He knew the Messiah was coming.
So lets look at what is happening right in front of him. Look at what God is doing in the space of these few chapters.
God is doing some incredible things, God is showing up in ways that hadn't even been dreamed of in 400 years. There are no less than four angelic visitations. God creates life from nothing to create a child unburdened by the curse of sin, the first time since the creation of the universe.
There are choirs of angels, it says in Luke that there are multitudes of heavenly beings.
Now, lets take a step back for a moment and ponder this: what do you think of when you think multitude? Because I know when I watch Christmas plays it means like, 15 tinsel covered little children.
But for a real view of what it means for a multitude imagine Acquire the Fire, or Winter Jam, or a baseball game, maybe the super bowl. Now imagine every one of those people are angels, beings that the sight of just one of them caused people to fall on their faces in pure unadulterated fear and wonder if they were dead.
Now imagine a stadium full of that, except their scattered across the sky and they are singing. No, not just singing, they are worshiping God with every fiber of their being.
Its a thing of beauty, precisely crafted by the creator God to welcome His son to earth.
So know this, that God did not want the birth of His son to be forgotten or ignored. In fact He made it pretty much impossible to miss. The biggest and best birthday party EVER. It was epic, it was awesome, it was God welcoming His son to earth.
Now there comes a time every year when I'm walking through the house, maybe to grab a snack or whatever. The lights are off, my families asleep but the Christmas lights on the tree have been left on and there it is: a glowing thing of beauty, with presents piled overflowing around the base of the tree and I just take a moment or three and sit there and stare at it. Sometimes I pray, sometimes I find a bible and read the story of Jesus's birth but most of the time I just sit and stare at this thing I'm constantly walking by and really barely noticing during the day.
And its great to take that time to really just think about the fact that its Christmas and everything that means to me.
It says in Luke 2 that after all the angels and the wise men and everything else that happened to mark the birth of the Savior that Mary did what?
Luke 2:19
19 But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.
So, I just want to encourage you. Grab your bible, take some time between now and Christmas, get away from everybody, or maybe do it with your sister or your brother or your parents and read through this story and ponder it, and take some time to wonder what it means to you personally.
Monday, February 20, 2012
11-22-11 Thankful People Give
Now, I was seriously considering, for irony's sake, talking tonight about fasting. But ultimately I decided that that was kind of a silly idea, considering that the point of Thanksgiving is, surprisingly enough, not the food or the football or the family, its the um, giving of thanks persay.
So lets get this show on the road and turn to Matthew 18, where we'll examine the parable of the servant with really bad spending habits.
Matt 18:23-35
23 “Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants.
24 As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand bags of gold[a] was brought to him.
25 Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt.
26 “At this the servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’
27 The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.
28 “But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred silver coins.[b] He grabbed him and began to choke him. ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ he demanded.
29 “His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay it back.’
30 “But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt.
31 When the other servants saw what had happened, they were outraged and went and told their master everything that had happened.
32 “Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to.
33 Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’
34 In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.
35 “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”
On the surface this parable is about forgiveness, but I'd like to draw another image from it. That of giving.
Because when the servant is forgiven his debt there is an expectation there. That he will continue to do what has been done for him.
The king forgave the servant an unbelievably huge debt and he expects that servant to do the same to those that owe him a debt.
Because
Now, what does this parable have to do with thanksgiving?
Thankful people give.
Can you look at that servant and say: "Oh yeah, he was thankful for the gift he received." I mean, the King looked at the servants debt, a debt that I should note was for more money than you could probably ever spend, and said "You. Don't. Have. To. Pay. This. Back." and the servant just runs out and threatens to break his fellow servants legs if that other servant doesn't pay back the 20 bucks he owes him.
I mean, if you get given something and its awesome, its this amazing thing that you've always wanted and your sister or your brother or your parents get it for you, what is the first thing you do? You get on Facebook and you post a status update.
But no, seriously, if you are given something truly amazing then you want to share it with everyone around you.
Like I said, Thankful people give.
Paul is going to make this connection in 2 Corinthians.
Now lets look at 2 Corinthians as Paul talks to the people of Corinth about giving and the thankfulness it generates.
2 Corinthians 9:6-15
6 Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously.
7 Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.
8 And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.
9 As it is written:
“They have freely scattered their gifts to the poor;
their righteousness endures forever.”[a]
10 Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness.
11 You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.
12 This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of the Lord’s people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God.
13 Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, others will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else.
14 And in their prayers for you their hearts will go out to you, because of the surpassing grace God has given you.
15 Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!
So this is Paul talking to the people of Corinth about giving, specifically to another church in a different city that was in the midst of a time of poverty and persecution.
And there is a promise in there that God will provide for those that give to those in need.
God promises such wonderful words as "increase" and "enlarge" and enriched to a point where you can be generous at any time or place.
And "Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves,"
"Because of your actions which proved what you always said about yourself"
people will praise god.
Because apparently this is a confession of the gospel
Giving is a confession, a declaration of the gospel.
If you're one of those people who have a really hard time telling people about God and His saving grace, then this is it, this is your "shortcut":
Giving is a confession of the gospel.
And I don't think its a coincidence that Paul draws the peoples of Corinth's attention back to what they themselves should be thankful for themselves here.
I mean, it seems random but as I look at that first parable.
Thankful people give.
He's not just encouraging the people of Corinth to give, he's holding them accountable.
2 Corinthians 9:1-5
1 There is no need for me to write to you about this service to the Lord’s people.
2 For I know your eagerness to help, and I have been boasting about it to the Macedonians, telling them that since last year you in Achaia were ready to give; and your enthusiasm has stirred most of them to action.
3 But I am sending the brothers in order that our boasting about you in this matter should not prove hollow, but that you may be ready, as I said you would be.
4 For if any Macedonians come with me and find you unprepared, we—not to say anything about you—would be ashamed of having been so confident.
5 So I thought it necessary to urge the brothers to visit you in advance and finish the arrangements for the generous gift you had promised. Then it will be ready as a generous gift, not as one grudgingly given.
Now I know, talking to a youth group, a small youth group in a small church, its difficult to talk about giving because everyone thinks that giving is all about money and I'll be completely honest. When I look around this room I don't see a whole lot of high rolling millionaires. But please don't simply wave away everything I've said because you think that the only thing you can give is money is just plain silly. Certainly it is important, and its certainly its the focus tonight but understand that money isn't the only thing you can give. If you can, great, that's awesome, but those of you who can't understand that some of the greatest things you can give is not money but time (honestly, there will always be more money, your time in finite), and encouragement and prayer.
Paul himself says in 2 Corinthians 8: 10-12 that the desire to give what one can is more important than any magical number.
10 And here is my judgment about what is best for you in this matter. Last year you were the first not only to give but also to have the desire to do so.
11 Now finish the work, so that your eager willingness to do it may be matched by your completion of it, according to your means.
12 For if the willingness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what one does not have.
Now, there are a thousand different ways to give during the Christmas season.
Countless, to the point that I wish some of those ministries would celebrate Christmas in July.
I mean, I go to church and there's World Visions Christmas catalog, there's Operation: Christmas Child, there's our church's ministry to San Quinten, you throw a snowball and you hit someone asking you to give to their ministry and I'll be honest, its a bit overwhelming to get gifts for my own family, let alone someone I don't even know.
There is one though that I'd like to draw your attention to though:
Pretty much all of you were at Winter Jam last week, which means that pretty much all of you heard a them talk about the ministry of Holt International, who are a group of people who seek to get orphans in asia and africa adopted. So, I thought how wonderful it would be for the youth group to meet that need.
So meet Dilgeba. She's a child in Etheopia that needs someones help, and it might as well be us.
Now, I can't tell you how much more pure and undefiled religion you can get than sacrificing what you have to bless someone who not only desparately needs it but we most likely will never meet. Such things
And like it says in verse 6, God will provide for those who give.
For example: Winter Jam, God proved an opportunity to make back the money I spent before I even went to the event.
Now if you walk away from tonight thinking "Oh David wants our money." Then I'm sorry, I've completely failed tonight because I don't want you money.
Money is only valuable because of what you can do with it. After world war 2 geman money was worth so little that it would take a wheelbarrow full to buy a loaf of bread. Honestly, they would have been better off burning it to keep themselves warm than trying to spend it, it was worth so little. Pennies cost more to make than they are worth. I don't want your money, God doesn't want your money.
If it comes down to it I will support this little child myself because I know that God will provide for me just as he is providing for her through me.
But this is a wonderful opportunity. To know that you are causing people to give thanks to God.
What is it say in the Westminster catechism? The chief end, the main purpose of man is to too what? Bring glory to God (and enjoy him forever). .
And think about this thanksgiving not just what you are thankful for but how you can make someone else thankful for something.
Let us pray.
So lets get this show on the road and turn to Matthew 18, where we'll examine the parable of the servant with really bad spending habits.
Matt 18:23-35
23 “Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants.
24 As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand bags of gold[a] was brought to him.
25 Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt.
26 “At this the servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’
27 The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.
28 “But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred silver coins.[b] He grabbed him and began to choke him. ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ he demanded.
29 “His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay it back.’
30 “But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt.
31 When the other servants saw what had happened, they were outraged and went and told their master everything that had happened.
32 “Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to.
33 Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’
34 In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.
35 “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”
On the surface this parable is about forgiveness, but I'd like to draw another image from it. That of giving.
Because when the servant is forgiven his debt there is an expectation there. That he will continue to do what has been done for him.
The king forgave the servant an unbelievably huge debt and he expects that servant to do the same to those that owe him a debt.
Because
Now, what does this parable have to do with thanksgiving?
Thankful people give.
Can you look at that servant and say: "Oh yeah, he was thankful for the gift he received." I mean, the King looked at the servants debt, a debt that I should note was for more money than you could probably ever spend, and said "You. Don't. Have. To. Pay. This. Back." and the servant just runs out and threatens to break his fellow servants legs if that other servant doesn't pay back the 20 bucks he owes him.
I mean, if you get given something and its awesome, its this amazing thing that you've always wanted and your sister or your brother or your parents get it for you, what is the first thing you do? You get on Facebook and you post a status update.
But no, seriously, if you are given something truly amazing then you want to share it with everyone around you.
Like I said, Thankful people give.
Paul is going to make this connection in 2 Corinthians.
Now lets look at 2 Corinthians as Paul talks to the people of Corinth about giving and the thankfulness it generates.
2 Corinthians 9:6-15
6 Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously.
7 Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.
8 And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.
9 As it is written:
“They have freely scattered their gifts to the poor;
their righteousness endures forever.”[a]
10 Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness.
11 You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.
12 This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of the Lord’s people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God.
13 Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, others will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else.
14 And in their prayers for you their hearts will go out to you, because of the surpassing grace God has given you.
15 Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!
So this is Paul talking to the people of Corinth about giving, specifically to another church in a different city that was in the midst of a time of poverty and persecution.
And there is a promise in there that God will provide for those that give to those in need.
God promises such wonderful words as "increase" and "enlarge" and enriched to a point where you can be generous at any time or place.
And "Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves,"
"Because of your actions which proved what you always said about yourself"
people will praise god.
Because apparently this is a confession of the gospel
Giving is a confession, a declaration of the gospel.
If you're one of those people who have a really hard time telling people about God and His saving grace, then this is it, this is your "shortcut":
Giving is a confession of the gospel.
And I don't think its a coincidence that Paul draws the peoples of Corinth's attention back to what they themselves should be thankful for themselves here.
I mean, it seems random but as I look at that first parable.
Thankful people give.
He's not just encouraging the people of Corinth to give, he's holding them accountable.
2 Corinthians 9:1-5
1 There is no need for me to write to you about this service to the Lord’s people.
2 For I know your eagerness to help, and I have been boasting about it to the Macedonians, telling them that since last year you in Achaia were ready to give; and your enthusiasm has stirred most of them to action.
3 But I am sending the brothers in order that our boasting about you in this matter should not prove hollow, but that you may be ready, as I said you would be.
4 For if any Macedonians come with me and find you unprepared, we—not to say anything about you—would be ashamed of having been so confident.
5 So I thought it necessary to urge the brothers to visit you in advance and finish the arrangements for the generous gift you had promised. Then it will be ready as a generous gift, not as one grudgingly given.
Now I know, talking to a youth group, a small youth group in a small church, its difficult to talk about giving because everyone thinks that giving is all about money and I'll be completely honest. When I look around this room I don't see a whole lot of high rolling millionaires. But please don't simply wave away everything I've said because you think that the only thing you can give is money is just plain silly. Certainly it is important, and its certainly its the focus tonight but understand that money isn't the only thing you can give. If you can, great, that's awesome, but those of you who can't understand that some of the greatest things you can give is not money but time (honestly, there will always be more money, your time in finite), and encouragement and prayer.
Paul himself says in 2 Corinthians 8: 10-12 that the desire to give what one can is more important than any magical number.
10 And here is my judgment about what is best for you in this matter. Last year you were the first not only to give but also to have the desire to do so.
11 Now finish the work, so that your eager willingness to do it may be matched by your completion of it, according to your means.
12 For if the willingness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what one does not have.
Now, there are a thousand different ways to give during the Christmas season.
Countless, to the point that I wish some of those ministries would celebrate Christmas in July.
I mean, I go to church and there's World Visions Christmas catalog, there's Operation: Christmas Child, there's our church's ministry to San Quinten, you throw a snowball and you hit someone asking you to give to their ministry and I'll be honest, its a bit overwhelming to get gifts for my own family, let alone someone I don't even know.
There is one though that I'd like to draw your attention to though:
Pretty much all of you were at Winter Jam last week, which means that pretty much all of you heard a them talk about the ministry of Holt International, who are a group of people who seek to get orphans in asia and africa adopted. So, I thought how wonderful it would be for the youth group to meet that need.
So meet Dilgeba. She's a child in Etheopia that needs someones help, and it might as well be us.
Now, I can't tell you how much more pure and undefiled religion you can get than sacrificing what you have to bless someone who not only desparately needs it but we most likely will never meet. Such things
And like it says in verse 6, God will provide for those who give.
For example: Winter Jam, God proved an opportunity to make back the money I spent before I even went to the event.
Now if you walk away from tonight thinking "Oh David wants our money." Then I'm sorry, I've completely failed tonight because I don't want you money.
Money is only valuable because of what you can do with it. After world war 2 geman money was worth so little that it would take a wheelbarrow full to buy a loaf of bread. Honestly, they would have been better off burning it to keep themselves warm than trying to spend it, it was worth so little. Pennies cost more to make than they are worth. I don't want your money, God doesn't want your money.
If it comes down to it I will support this little child myself because I know that God will provide for me just as he is providing for her through me.
But this is a wonderful opportunity. To know that you are causing people to give thanks to God.
What is it say in the Westminster catechism? The chief end, the main purpose of man is to too what? Bring glory to God (and enjoy him forever). .
And think about this thanksgiving not just what you are thankful for but how you can make someone else thankful for something.
Let us pray.
Inertia
Luke 5:36-39
36 He told them this parable: “No one tears a piece out of a new garment to patch an old one. Otherwise, they will have torn the new garment, and the patch from the new will not match the old.
37 And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined.
38 No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins.
39 And no one after drinking old wine wants the new, for they say, ‘The old is better.’”
In some ways I believe this parable to be both prelude or prologue to all the answers that would come after this. Under that for the Jews God had promised them eternal life and freedom through the law and the old covenant, which Jesus had come both to renew and fulfill. Focus on those words for a moment: renew, fulfill.
As I said, when Jesus is approached with a question his response is "your assumption is wrong." In my mind this parable is in part a declaration that He is not here to patch up the holes in their theology. He is not there to answer questions. He is there to provide a whole new garment, a different way of looking at God. He saying that you can't take his teaching and patch up the holes in their theology because it will tear new holes, even larger holes, and burst the wine skins.
How annoyed must Jesus have been to come to earth to bring this new covenant, this personal relationship with God, and the pharisees are only asking him to clarify the old covenant. In my mind there is almost this sense of "Do you guys seriously still want to keep trying to live up to this standard?"
As we look over the entire bible we begin to see a relationship between God and Israel change, well not change as much as the focus widens.
In the Old testament God is seen as a king figure, their Lord of Heaven and Earth to whom they own their obedience, and we see that shift in the New Testament, the new covenant, into a glorious father whom we obey because we love Him.
And its amazing how we see that very shift reflected in the relationship between a child and their parent, or a student and their teacher.
When a child first enters school, what is he taught? Well, once he gets over those pesky things like reading and writing and which color is which (actually, even as he's taught these things) he is taught absolute truth.
Gravity: its that force that pulls down.
Electricity: is power.
Astronomy: planets in the solar system
and as they get older and begin to dive into these things in more depth:
Gravity: no one really understands why it works.
Electricity: no one really understands how it works.
Astronomy: it keeps growing.
But primarily as a student grows up he is able to stop asking how questions and start asking why.
In the same way, look at how a parent talks to their children:
At first: "Don't touch that, it's hot!"
As you get older what your parents tell you can't always be put into words that well, because they revolve around things that can't really be quantified very well. For example: yoga or Lily Doctor Who. But it is there will, and as you continue to get older you will reach a point where, believe it or not, where you don't have to listen to what your parents tell you.
Now at that point, what drives people to continue living by those standards?
And I believe that somewhere in that growing up, you are acting out of inertia, and there is a period that you could call "obedience for obedience's sake" where you know what you have been told and you don't really care about the why as much as you want to obey, and when you don't really understand why something is done (understanding the letter of the law vs. the spirit) the only standard you have is how close you can get to the exact wording of the rules.
And if you can do that then you are better than the person who can't.
And this period of inertia or obedience for the sake of obedience is where Jesus entered the stage, at the dividing point between king and father. Look here in Matthew 23, at the Pharisees, who excelled at nothing if not "obeying the letter of the law." and what Jesus had to say about them.
Matthew 23:16-24
16 “Woe to you, blind guides! You say, ‘If anyone swears by the temple, it means nothing; but anyone who swears by the gold of the temple is bound by that oath.’
17 You blind fools! Which is greater: the gold, or the temple that makes the gold sacred?
18 You also say, ‘If anyone swears by the altar, it means nothing; but anyone who swears by the gift on the altar is bound by that oath.’
19 You blind men! Which is greater: the gift, or the altar that makes the gift sacred?
20 Therefore, anyone who swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it.
21 And anyone who swears by the temple swears by it and by the one who dwells in it.
22 And anyone who swears by heaven swears by God’s throne and by the one who sits on it.
23 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former.
24 You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.
Jesus goes on to say other things that make the above words seem rather mild, feel free to look it up later.
So, it would be fair to say that Jesus has some fairly strong views on this idea? Yes, I think it would.
Do you guys have any idea how big a cummin seed is? Its about the same size a grain of rice.
And have you guys seen a mint bush before? A decent size bush has roughly one bajillion leaves on it.
So imagine taking a bag of rice and sorting out a tenth of it to set aside.
Now imagine everything else you most likely could have been doing instead of that.
So, why would the Pharisees and the people of Israel choose that over what Jesus was offering?
Because it is easier to do that then the alternative.
Because it is easier to sit on your couch sorting grains of rice while a movie plays in the background than it is to help your younger sibling with their homework, or clean the kitchen for your mom, or forgive your friend for something the said. Or whatever you think justice, mercy and faithfulness would mean in your own life.
Because we can always point to that and say "I tithe on everything I own." or "check out the tassels on my prayer shawl." or "I fast three times a week while covered in ashes." and the people around us will go "oooh and ahhh, isn't he a wonderful person." and sweep away everything we do when people can't see us, the stuff that goes on in our heads and our hearts and our souls.
Luke 10:25-26
25 On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
26 “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”
27 He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”
28 “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”
And the crowds shuffled off thinking to themselves "What about going to church, what about praying, what about worship?"
To which I would ask, why do you do those things?
Let's skip back to my earlier question: Why do people continue to follow what their parents tell them after they have grown up?
For the most part, its either inertia (I have done this, therefore I will continue to do this) or love, the knowledge that this will make your parents proud of you. You know that this is valuable to them, therefore you make it valuable to yourself as well.
And its the same way with God. We either follow him out of blind inertia, judging ourselves by our abilities to best follow his command, or its love. And one of those paths will lead to a lot of counting and measuring and the other will lead to freedom because what we do, we do because we want to do it, not because someone told us we had too.
Luke 5:36-39
36 He told them this parable: “No one tears a piece out of a new garment to patch an old one. Otherwise, they will have torn the new garment, and the patch from the new will not match the old.
37 And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined.
38 No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins.
39 And no one after drinking old wine wants the new, for they say, ‘The old is better.’”
In some ways I believe this parable to be both prelude or prologue to all the answers that would come after this. Under that for the Jews God had promised them eternal life and freedom through the law and the old covenant, which Jesus had come both to renew and fulfill. Focus on those words for a moment: renew, fulfill.
As I said, when Jesus is approached with a question his response is "your assumption is wrong." In my mind this parable is in part a declaration that He is not here to patch up the holes in their theology. He is not there to answer questions. He is there to provide a whole new garment, a different way of looking at God. He saying that you can't take his teaching and patch up the holes in their theology because it will tear new holes, even larger holes, and burst the wine skins.
How annoyed must Jesus have been to come to earth to bring this new covenant, this personal relationship with God, and the pharisees are only asking him to clarify the old covenant. In my mind there is almost this sense of "Do you guys seriously still want to keep trying to live up to this standard?"
As we look over the entire bible we begin to see a relationship between God and Israel change, well not change as much as the focus widens.
In the Old testament God is seen as a king figure, their Lord of Heaven and Earth to whom they own their obedience, and we see that shift in the New Testament, the new covenant, into a glorious father whom we obey because we love Him.
And its amazing how we see that very shift reflected in the relationship between a child and their parent, or a student and their teacher.
When a child first enters school, what is he taught? Well, once he gets over those pesky things like reading and writing and which color is which (actually, even as he's taught these things) he is taught absolute truth.
Gravity: its that force that pulls down.
Electricity: is power.
Astronomy: planets in the solar system
and as they get older and begin to dive into these things in more depth:
Gravity: no one really understands why it works.
Electricity: no one really understands how it works.
Astronomy: it keeps growing.
But primarily as a student grows up he is able to stop asking how questions and start asking why.
In the same way, look at how a parent talks to their children:
At first: "Don't touch that, it's hot!"
As you get older what your parents tell you can't always be put into words that well, because they revolve around things that can't really be quantified very well. For example: yoga or Lily Doctor Who. But it is there will, and as you continue to get older you will reach a point where, believe it or not, where you don't have to listen to what your parents tell you.
Now at that point, what drives people to continue living by those standards?
And I believe that somewhere in that growing up, you are acting out of inertia, and there is a period that you could call "obedience for obedience's sake" where you know what you have been told and you don't really care about the why as much as you want to obey, and when you don't really understand why something is done (understanding the letter of the law vs. the spirit) the only standard you have is how close you can get to the exact wording of the rules.
And if you can do that then you are better than the person who can't.
And this period of inertia or obedience for the sake of obedience is where Jesus entered the stage, at the dividing point between king and father. Look here in Matthew 23, at the Pharisees, who excelled at nothing if not "obeying the letter of the law." and what Jesus had to say about them.
Matthew 23:16-24
16 “Woe to you, blind guides! You say, ‘If anyone swears by the temple, it means nothing; but anyone who swears by the gold of the temple is bound by that oath.’
17 You blind fools! Which is greater: the gold, or the temple that makes the gold sacred?
18 You also say, ‘If anyone swears by the altar, it means nothing; but anyone who swears by the gift on the altar is bound by that oath.’
19 You blind men! Which is greater: the gift, or the altar that makes the gift sacred?
20 Therefore, anyone who swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it.
21 And anyone who swears by the temple swears by it and by the one who dwells in it.
22 And anyone who swears by heaven swears by God’s throne and by the one who sits on it.
23 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former.
24 You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.
Jesus goes on to say other things that make the above words seem rather mild, feel free to look it up later.
So, it would be fair to say that Jesus has some fairly strong views on this idea? Yes, I think it would.
Do you guys have any idea how big a cummin seed is? Its about the same size a grain of rice.
And have you guys seen a mint bush before? A decent size bush has roughly one bajillion leaves on it.
So imagine taking a bag of rice and sorting out a tenth of it to set aside.
Now imagine everything else you most likely could have been doing instead of that.
So, why would the Pharisees and the people of Israel choose that over what Jesus was offering?
Because it is easier to do that then the alternative.
Because it is easier to sit on your couch sorting grains of rice while a movie plays in the background than it is to help your younger sibling with their homework, or clean the kitchen for your mom, or forgive your friend for something the said. Or whatever you think justice, mercy and faithfulness would mean in your own life.
Because we can always point to that and say "I tithe on everything I own." or "check out the tassels on my prayer shawl." or "I fast three times a week while covered in ashes." and the people around us will go "oooh and ahhh, isn't he a wonderful person." and sweep away everything we do when people can't see us, the stuff that goes on in our heads and our hearts and our souls.
Luke 10:25-26
25 On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
26 “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”
27 He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”
28 “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”
And the crowds shuffled off thinking to themselves "What about going to church, what about praying, what about worship?"
To which I would ask, why do you do those things?
Let's skip back to my earlier question: Why do people continue to follow what their parents tell them after they have grown up?
For the most part, its either inertia (I have done this, therefore I will continue to do this) or love, the knowledge that this will make your parents proud of you. You know that this is valuable to them, therefore you make it valuable to yourself as well.
And its the same way with God. We either follow him out of blind inertia, judging ourselves by our abilities to best follow his command, or its love. And one of those paths will lead to a lot of counting and measuring and the other will lead to freedom because what we do, we do because we want to do it, not because someone told us we had too.
36 He told them this parable: “No one tears a piece out of a new garment to patch an old one. Otherwise, they will have torn the new garment, and the patch from the new will not match the old.
37 And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined.
38 No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins.
39 And no one after drinking old wine wants the new, for they say, ‘The old is better.’”
In some ways I believe this parable to be both prelude or prologue to all the answers that would come after this. Under that for the Jews God had promised them eternal life and freedom through the law and the old covenant, which Jesus had come both to renew and fulfill. Focus on those words for a moment: renew, fulfill.
As I said, when Jesus is approached with a question his response is "your assumption is wrong." In my mind this parable is in part a declaration that He is not here to patch up the holes in their theology. He is not there to answer questions. He is there to provide a whole new garment, a different way of looking at God. He saying that you can't take his teaching and patch up the holes in their theology because it will tear new holes, even larger holes, and burst the wine skins.
How annoyed must Jesus have been to come to earth to bring this new covenant, this personal relationship with God, and the pharisees are only asking him to clarify the old covenant. In my mind there is almost this sense of "Do you guys seriously still want to keep trying to live up to this standard?"
As we look over the entire bible we begin to see a relationship between God and Israel change, well not change as much as the focus widens.
In the Old testament God is seen as a king figure, their Lord of Heaven and Earth to whom they own their obedience, and we see that shift in the New Testament, the new covenant, into a glorious father whom we obey because we love Him.
And its amazing how we see that very shift reflected in the relationship between a child and their parent, or a student and their teacher.
When a child first enters school, what is he taught? Well, once he gets over those pesky things like reading and writing and which color is which (actually, even as he's taught these things) he is taught absolute truth.
Gravity: its that force that pulls down.
Electricity: is power.
Astronomy: planets in the solar system
and as they get older and begin to dive into these things in more depth:
Gravity: no one really understands why it works.
Electricity: no one really understands how it works.
Astronomy: it keeps growing.
But primarily as a student grows up he is able to stop asking how questions and start asking why.
In the same way, look at how a parent talks to their children:
At first: "Don't touch that, it's hot!"
As you get older what your parents tell you can't always be put into words that well, because they revolve around things that can't really be quantified very well. For example: yoga or Lily Doctor Who. But it is there will, and as you continue to get older you will reach a point where, believe it or not, where you don't have to listen to what your parents tell you.
Now at that point, what drives people to continue living by those standards?
And I believe that somewhere in that growing up, you are acting out of inertia, and there is a period that you could call "obedience for obedience's sake" where you know what you have been told and you don't really care about the why as much as you want to obey, and when you don't really understand why something is done (understanding the letter of the law vs. the spirit) the only standard you have is how close you can get to the exact wording of the rules.
And if you can do that then you are better than the person who can't.
And this period of inertia or obedience for the sake of obedience is where Jesus entered the stage, at the dividing point between king and father. Look here in Matthew 23, at the Pharisees, who excelled at nothing if not "obeying the letter of the law." and what Jesus had to say about them.
Matthew 23:16-24
16 “Woe to you, blind guides! You say, ‘If anyone swears by the temple, it means nothing; but anyone who swears by the gold of the temple is bound by that oath.’
17 You blind fools! Which is greater: the gold, or the temple that makes the gold sacred?
18 You also say, ‘If anyone swears by the altar, it means nothing; but anyone who swears by the gift on the altar is bound by that oath.’
19 You blind men! Which is greater: the gift, or the altar that makes the gift sacred?
20 Therefore, anyone who swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it.
21 And anyone who swears by the temple swears by it and by the one who dwells in it.
22 And anyone who swears by heaven swears by God’s throne and by the one who sits on it.
23 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former.
24 You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.
Jesus goes on to say other things that make the above words seem rather mild, feel free to look it up later.
So, it would be fair to say that Jesus has some fairly strong views on this idea? Yes, I think it would.
Do you guys have any idea how big a cummin seed is? Its about the same size a grain of rice.
And have you guys seen a mint bush before? A decent size bush has roughly one bajillion leaves on it.
So imagine taking a bag of rice and sorting out a tenth of it to set aside.
Now imagine everything else you most likely could have been doing instead of that.
So, why would the Pharisees and the people of Israel choose that over what Jesus was offering?
Because it is easier to do that then the alternative.
Because it is easier to sit on your couch sorting grains of rice while a movie plays in the background than it is to help your younger sibling with their homework, or clean the kitchen for your mom, or forgive your friend for something the said. Or whatever you think justice, mercy and faithfulness would mean in your own life.
Because we can always point to that and say "I tithe on everything I own." or "check out the tassels on my prayer shawl." or "I fast three times a week while covered in ashes." and the people around us will go "oooh and ahhh, isn't he a wonderful person." and sweep away everything we do when people can't see us, the stuff that goes on in our heads and our hearts and our souls.
Luke 10:25-26
25 On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
26 “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”
27 He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”
28 “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”
And the crowds shuffled off thinking to themselves "What about going to church, what about praying, what about worship?"
To which I would ask, why do you do those things?
Let's skip back to my earlier question: Why do people continue to follow what their parents tell them after they have grown up?
For the most part, its either inertia (I have done this, therefore I will continue to do this) or love, the knowledge that this will make your parents proud of you. You know that this is valuable to them, therefore you make it valuable to yourself as well.
And its the same way with God. We either follow him out of blind inertia, judging ourselves by our abilities to best follow his command, or its love. And one of those paths will lead to a lot of counting and measuring and the other will lead to freedom because what we do, we do because we want to do it, not because someone told us we had too.
Luke 5:36-39
36 He told them this parable: “No one tears a piece out of a new garment to patch an old one. Otherwise, they will have torn the new garment, and the patch from the new will not match the old.
37 And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined.
38 No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins.
39 And no one after drinking old wine wants the new, for they say, ‘The old is better.’”
In some ways I believe this parable to be both prelude or prologue to all the answers that would come after this. Under that for the Jews God had promised them eternal life and freedom through the law and the old covenant, which Jesus had come both to renew and fulfill. Focus on those words for a moment: renew, fulfill.
As I said, when Jesus is approached with a question his response is "your assumption is wrong." In my mind this parable is in part a declaration that He is not here to patch up the holes in their theology. He is not there to answer questions. He is there to provide a whole new garment, a different way of looking at God. He saying that you can't take his teaching and patch up the holes in their theology because it will tear new holes, even larger holes, and burst the wine skins.
How annoyed must Jesus have been to come to earth to bring this new covenant, this personal relationship with God, and the pharisees are only asking him to clarify the old covenant. In my mind there is almost this sense of "Do you guys seriously still want to keep trying to live up to this standard?"
As we look over the entire bible we begin to see a relationship between God and Israel change, well not change as much as the focus widens.
In the Old testament God is seen as a king figure, their Lord of Heaven and Earth to whom they own their obedience, and we see that shift in the New Testament, the new covenant, into a glorious father whom we obey because we love Him.
And its amazing how we see that very shift reflected in the relationship between a child and their parent, or a student and their teacher.
When a child first enters school, what is he taught? Well, once he gets over those pesky things like reading and writing and which color is which (actually, even as he's taught these things) he is taught absolute truth.
Gravity: its that force that pulls down.
Electricity: is power.
Astronomy: planets in the solar system
and as they get older and begin to dive into these things in more depth:
Gravity: no one really understands why it works.
Electricity: no one really understands how it works.
Astronomy: it keeps growing.
But primarily as a student grows up he is able to stop asking how questions and start asking why.
In the same way, look at how a parent talks to their children:
At first: "Don't touch that, it's hot!"
As you get older what your parents tell you can't always be put into words that well, because they revolve around things that can't really be quantified very well. For example: yoga or Lily Doctor Who. But it is there will, and as you continue to get older you will reach a point where, believe it or not, where you don't have to listen to what your parents tell you.
Now at that point, what drives people to continue living by those standards?
And I believe that somewhere in that growing up, you are acting out of inertia, and there is a period that you could call "obedience for obedience's sake" where you know what you have been told and you don't really care about the why as much as you want to obey, and when you don't really understand why something is done (understanding the letter of the law vs. the spirit) the only standard you have is how close you can get to the exact wording of the rules.
And if you can do that then you are better than the person who can't.
And this period of inertia or obedience for the sake of obedience is where Jesus entered the stage, at the dividing point between king and father. Look here in Matthew 23, at the Pharisees, who excelled at nothing if not "obeying the letter of the law." and what Jesus had to say about them.
Matthew 23:16-24
16 “Woe to you, blind guides! You say, ‘If anyone swears by the temple, it means nothing; but anyone who swears by the gold of the temple is bound by that oath.’
17 You blind fools! Which is greater: the gold, or the temple that makes the gold sacred?
18 You also say, ‘If anyone swears by the altar, it means nothing; but anyone who swears by the gift on the altar is bound by that oath.’
19 You blind men! Which is greater: the gift, or the altar that makes the gift sacred?
20 Therefore, anyone who swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it.
21 And anyone who swears by the temple swears by it and by the one who dwells in it.
22 And anyone who swears by heaven swears by God’s throne and by the one who sits on it.
23 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former.
24 You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.
Jesus goes on to say other things that make the above words seem rather mild, feel free to look it up later.
So, it would be fair to say that Jesus has some fairly strong views on this idea? Yes, I think it would.
Do you guys have any idea how big a cummin seed is? Its about the same size a grain of rice.
And have you guys seen a mint bush before? A decent size bush has roughly one bajillion leaves on it.
So imagine taking a bag of rice and sorting out a tenth of it to set aside.
Now imagine everything else you most likely could have been doing instead of that.
So, why would the Pharisees and the people of Israel choose that over what Jesus was offering?
Because it is easier to do that then the alternative.
Because it is easier to sit on your couch sorting grains of rice while a movie plays in the background than it is to help your younger sibling with their homework, or clean the kitchen for your mom, or forgive your friend for something the said. Or whatever you think justice, mercy and faithfulness would mean in your own life.
Because we can always point to that and say "I tithe on everything I own." or "check out the tassels on my prayer shawl." or "I fast three times a week while covered in ashes." and the people around us will go "oooh and ahhh, isn't he a wonderful person." and sweep away everything we do when people can't see us, the stuff that goes on in our heads and our hearts and our souls.
Luke 10:25-26
25 On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
26 “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”
27 He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”
28 “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”
And the crowds shuffled off thinking to themselves "What about going to church, what about praying, what about worship?"
To which I would ask, why do you do those things?
Let's skip back to my earlier question: Why do people continue to follow what their parents tell them after they have grown up?
For the most part, its either inertia (I have done this, therefore I will continue to do this) or love, the knowledge that this will make your parents proud of you. You know that this is valuable to them, therefore you make it valuable to yourself as well.
And its the same way with God. We either follow him out of blind inertia, judging ourselves by our abilities to best follow his command, or its love. And one of those paths will lead to a lot of counting and measuring and the other will lead to freedom because what we do, we do because we want to do it, not because someone told us we had too.
Sunday, November 6, 2011
Meditate on it day and night
Does anyone in here want to be rich?
How about famous? A show of hands for those of you who'd like to be famous.
Okay, on a related note...
How many of you have your own bible?
How many of you read it regularly?
Joshua 1:8
8 Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.
Don't worry, this isn't going to be a message about how you should read your bible more. Just know that its a given that reading your Bible is very much important.
Instead I want to focus tonight on getting the most of your reading.
Who here has been sitting there, minding your own business, reading your bible and this verse just pops out at you and your all "that's cool." or "that doesn't make any sense." Or your sitting in church (or youth group) and your pastor throws out this verse that makes you wonder if that really means what he thinks it means, or you don't really see the connection between one thought and the next. What do you do then?
Well, I don't know about you guys but I suppose a great deal of the time I, at best, just circle the verse in my notes and move on. Because when I'm cleaning out the back of my bible I totally reread my notes, and when I see that circle I know exactly what it means right... window cleaning story? I don't know if it fits here....
So, we are called, even commanded, to study the bible, to meditate on it, to do our best to live by what it says, but we don't always understand what it says. What then?
What kinds of tools do we have to help us understand the bible?
1. Teachers (parents, pastors, mentors)
2. Commentaries and Devotionals
3. Dictionaries, Concordances, Cross-references
Now, when I was a child, I spoke as a child, and I acted like a child... anyway, I was part of a homeschooling program that believed (much to their credit) that all learning should be related back to the bible, so each month we'd have a key verse that would relate in some way to whatever we learned in various topics such as language arts, history, medicine.. .etc etc. But the important part is that at the beginning of each month we would sit down and make a "Meditation worksheet" where we'd take that key verse and go through a series of steps in order to gain understanding and to better learn what that verse meant.
Meditate on it day and night
Now this, I think this is bible study 101. This is how I first learned to study the scriptures.
Note that some of the steps may make you go "what seriously? How is that going to help?" But at the end of the day its God that grants each of us wisdom and understanding if we diligently seek it, and like what it says in Joshua when it says to "meditate on it day and night." The idea behind meditation is that its something that is rattling around in our heads all day long.
1. Copy the passage
2. Ask questions
3. Word Studies (definations, other uses of the same word)
4. Look up cross-references (
5. Write a paraphrase (write it in your own words)
6. How will I apply it to my life today and next week.
7. Draw a picture
So, lets dig into a passage of scripture using this methodology and see if we can't gain understanding.
Luke 5:33-39
33 They said to him, “John’s disciples often fast and pray, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours go on eating and drinking.”
34 Jesus answered, “Can you make the friends of the bridegroom fast while he is with them?
35 But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; in those days they will fast.”
36 He told them this parable: “No one tears a piece out of a new garment to patch an old one. Otherwise, they will have torn the new garment, and the patch from the new will not match the old.
37 And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined.
38 No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins.
39 And no one after drinking old wine wants the new, for they say, ‘The old is better.’”
How about famous? A show of hands for those of you who'd like to be famous.
Okay, on a related note...
How many of you have your own bible?
How many of you read it regularly?
Joshua 1:8
8 Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.
Don't worry, this isn't going to be a message about how you should read your bible more. Just know that its a given that reading your Bible is very much important.
Instead I want to focus tonight on getting the most of your reading.
Who here has been sitting there, minding your own business, reading your bible and this verse just pops out at you and your all "that's cool." or "that doesn't make any sense." Or your sitting in church (or youth group) and your pastor throws out this verse that makes you wonder if that really means what he thinks it means, or you don't really see the connection between one thought and the next. What do you do then?
Well, I don't know about you guys but I suppose a great deal of the time I, at best, just circle the verse in my notes and move on. Because when I'm cleaning out the back of my bible I totally reread my notes, and when I see that circle I know exactly what it means right... window cleaning story? I don't know if it fits here....
So, we are called, even commanded, to study the bible, to meditate on it, to do our best to live by what it says, but we don't always understand what it says. What then?
What kinds of tools do we have to help us understand the bible?
1. Teachers (parents, pastors, mentors)
2. Commentaries and Devotionals
3. Dictionaries, Concordances, Cross-references
Now, when I was a child, I spoke as a child, and I acted like a child... anyway, I was part of a homeschooling program that believed (much to their credit) that all learning should be related back to the bible, so each month we'd have a key verse that would relate in some way to whatever we learned in various topics such as language arts, history, medicine.. .etc etc. But the important part is that at the beginning of each month we would sit down and make a "Meditation worksheet" where we'd take that key verse and go through a series of steps in order to gain understanding and to better learn what that verse meant.
Meditate on it day and night
Now this, I think this is bible study 101. This is how I first learned to study the scriptures.
Note that some of the steps may make you go "what seriously? How is that going to help?" But at the end of the day its God that grants each of us wisdom and understanding if we diligently seek it, and like what it says in Joshua when it says to "meditate on it day and night." The idea behind meditation is that its something that is rattling around in our heads all day long.
1. Copy the passage
2. Ask questions
3. Word Studies (definations, other uses of the same word)
4. Look up cross-references (
5. Write a paraphrase (write it in your own words)
6. How will I apply it to my life today and next week.
7. Draw a picture
So, lets dig into a passage of scripture using this methodology and see if we can't gain understanding.
Luke 5:33-39
33 They said to him, “John’s disciples often fast and pray, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours go on eating and drinking.”
34 Jesus answered, “Can you make the friends of the bridegroom fast while he is with them?
35 But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; in those days they will fast.”
36 He told them this parable: “No one tears a piece out of a new garment to patch an old one. Otherwise, they will have torn the new garment, and the patch from the new will not match the old.
37 And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined.
38 No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins.
39 And no one after drinking old wine wants the new, for they say, ‘The old is better.’”
Saturday, October 29, 2011
10-19-11: Except for that...
David: A Man After God's Own Heart
Except this...
Now, we'll be finishing up our series on David next week with something a little different: I want everyone to bring their favorite psalm, or their favorite portion of a psalm.
1 Kings 15:5
For David had done what was right in the eyes of the LORD and had not failed to keep any of the LORD’s commands all the days of his life—except in the case of Uriah the Hittite.
Oh how I've dreaded this day.
We have been examining David for the last two months, give or take, and I hope that you've gotten as much out of the study as I have. I've grown to admire David in new ways, as well as remembering the old ones, and so coming to this, preparing to teach upon this, has been incredibly painful and difficult.
insert story of bathsheba here:
2 Samuel 11
1 In the spring, at the time when kings go off to war, David sent Joab out with the king’s men and the whole Israelite army. They destroyed the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained in Jerusalem.
2 One evening David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of the palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing. The woman was very beautiful,
3 and David sent someone to find out about her. The man said, “She is Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite.”
4 Then David sent messengers to get her. She came to him, and he slept with her. (Now she was purifying herself from her monthly uncleanness.) Then she went back home.
5 The woman conceived and sent word to David, saying, “I am pregnant.”
6 So David sent this word to Joab: “Send me Uriah the Hittite.” And Joab sent him to David.
7 When Uriah came to him, David asked him how Joab was, how the soldiers were and how the war was going.
8 Then David said to Uriah, “Go down to your house and wash your feet.” So Uriah left the palace, and a gift from the king was sent after him.
9 But Uriah slept at the entrance to the palace with all his master’s servants and did not go down to his house.
10 David was told, “Uriah did not go home.” So he asked Uriah, “Haven’t you just come from a military campaign? Why didn’t you go home?”
11 Uriah said to David, “The ark and Israel and Judah are staying in tents, and my commander Joab and my lord’s men are camped in the open country. How could I go to my house to eat and drink and make love to my wife? As surely as you live, I will not do such a thing!”
14 In the morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it with Uriah.
15 In it he wrote, “Put Uriah out in front where the fighting is fiercest. Then withdraw from him so he will be struck down and die.”
16 So while Joab had the city under siege, he put Uriah at a place where he knew the strongest defenders were.
17 When the men of the city came out and fought against Joab, some of the men in David’s army fell; moreover, Uriah the Hittite died.
26 When Uriah’s wife heard that her husband was dead, she mourned for him.
27 After the time of mourning was over, David had her brought to his house, and she became his wife and bore him a son. But the thing David had done displeased the LORD.
This is a horror story, a brutal tragedy that will forever stain David's family.
Everything that follows this, from here to David's death, is rebellion and bloodshed.
I perhaps am exaggerating but I'd say besides Lucifer's rebellion against God, it doesn't get much worse than this.
This should sober us to the very bone. This should be something that we wish to avoid.
So, to avoid something we must know its beginning.
Where does this begin?
Examine verses 1 and 2: "In the spring, at the time when kings go off to war, David sent Joab out with the king’s men and the whole Israelite army. They destroyed the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained in Jerusalem. One evening David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of the palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing. The woman was very beautiful."
Now I can understand why David was walking around on his rooftop. He was bored, all his friends were off fighting a war. I can't even begin to count the amount of stupid things I've done because I was bored. The movies I'm never going to get out of my head, the stupid things I said to people that I would have never said if it was daylight and I was surrounded with people.This is something that I, and probably the rest of you, can easily sympathize with.
So, is the solution work work work, she'll never get her dress done?
I suppose I could go all southern baptist preacher on you and tell you all that if you're being tempted its because your not doing: you should read your bible all the time, you should be praying for your eternal soul every moment of the day, you should attend every church service, but while all of those are good and excellent and worthy things that I would encourage you, I know that's really not all there is to it. And we'll see why in a moment.
The story doesn't begin with David walking on the rooftop: It begins with a surrendering of responsibility. It begins with David remaining in Jerusalem.
He was supposed to be doing something, he was supposed to be leading the armies of Israel, but for reasons unknown he stays in Jerusalem instead.
What I can't really wrap my head around, nor do I think there is enough there in the scriptures to point to something and say "this, this here is why David was on that rooftop checking out the scenery instead of where he should have been, leading the armies of Israel." But I think I'll make a stab at something that has been weighing on my heart recently and I believe will really be useful for you guys.
So, here is David the youth leader's theory on why King David stayed home from the war: Maybe he was tired; wait no, that don't really capture it in its fullness. He was weary, he was worn down, he was exhausted, he was, to use the christianesse: burnt out.
The long dark teatime of the soul.
And so he decides to stay home, and thus unfolds probably one of the greatest tragedies of the bible.
Now, to launch us into our discussion of "God's Rest" I would like to ask you: What is "God's rest?" Nothing complicated, just a description of what God's rest might look like.
To simplify it, most of the scriptural references to God's Rest, say things like:
1. Untouched by trouble.
2. Strengthen us and helps us.
3. I will bring you to a land of milk and honey...
All really awesome things. Things I definitely want God to do for me, but does it say that this legendary peace will really protect us from sin? Why yes, it will. It says so in Philipians...
Philipians 4:7
7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
So, this is wonderful: We have been promised peace from God, and it will guard our hearts and minds, so we will neither be deceived nor sin. Sounds great, sign me up.
But I wonder, just how important is this? I mean, God's rest. I'm a big strong smart guy, how important could it be that I have that. Lets turn to Hebrews where we will find some excellent teaching on this very question...
Hebrews 4:1
1 Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it.
Luke 12:4
“I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more.
Hows that for a paradigm shift? Don't fear death, but do fear not entering God's rest?
How important could that be anyway? As a real life example I give you Eli Schilling, a fellow student of mine at Eternal Vision, the bible school I attended. For some reason lost in the ravages of time, we lost most of our cooking staff, so Eli volunteered to handled breakfast. For some 120 odd students and staff. By himself. This meant that he was getting up at 3 or 4 in the morning, every morning and working until breakfast time. After a week or so I discovered that he was talking to his hand. To keep himself sane.
I'm sorry Eli, I don't think its working.
So that's spiritual rest, how much more important then is spiritual rest? What could be the spiritual equivalent of talking to your own hand?
So, lets take a look at three things you can do to seek God's rest:
1. Meditate on God's Promises
Romans 10:17
Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ.
1. To reflect on; contemplate. 2. To plan in the mind; intend:
The bible is full, absolutely full, of God's promises. How many do you know? How many do you trust, believe in, have faith in?
Find some that mean something to you, either it encourages you or you want it more in your life and start thinking about what it means, what else is true, write it on a post-it note and stick it to the bathroom mirror. Read it on the way to school each day, talk about it with friends. Explore the wonderful promises of God.
Heres a bunch on God's rest:
Dueteronomy 33:12
12 About Benjamin he said:
“Let the beloved of the LORD rest secure in him,
for he shields him all day long,
and the one the LORD loves rests between his shoulders.”
Proverbs 19:23
23 The fear of the LORD leads to life;
then one rests content, untouched by trouble.
Luke 2:14
14 “Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”
Matthew 11:28-29
28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
Isaiah 41:10
10 So do not fear, for I am with you;
do not be dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you;
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
2. Encourage each other.
Hebrews 3:12
12 See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God.
13 But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.
This little thing, you'd think it would be really obvisious but I'd hate to ask anyone in this room, or any room, when the last time someone encouraged them.
So do so, and you'll discover that not only will you find yourself resting in God but you'll have the joy of watching people be encouraged, as well as being encouraged yourself.
Even more so, like Jonathan does to David, encourage one another in the Lord. How does one do something like that?
Start with a simple question, then to follow Hitch's advice "Listen, and respond." This is the hardest part.
3. Confidently approach God's throne.
Hebrews 4:14-16
Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven,[f] Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess.
15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.
16 Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
Confidently approach God's throne. How ostentatious is that declaration? Yeah, you just go and approach the throne of grace, God's throne of grace. But we totally can, and we do. When we worship, when we pray, when we get totally lost in bible study, when we throw on our ipods and dance around like we just don't care, when we sit on a log and watch the sun set. I'm waxing poetic, I'd better stop that. Its different for every person, but the key here is we can approach, we just need to try.
A couple of weeks ago at First Friday Zack gave a short but oh so awesome word about the presence of God. Its here, right now, and so often we feel like we need to conjure it, summon it down from heaven, but its right here among us. God is everywhere,
Except this...
Now, we'll be finishing up our series on David next week with something a little different: I want everyone to bring their favorite psalm, or their favorite portion of a psalm.
1 Kings 15:5
For David had done what was right in the eyes of the LORD and had not failed to keep any of the LORD’s commands all the days of his life—except in the case of Uriah the Hittite.
Oh how I've dreaded this day.
We have been examining David for the last two months, give or take, and I hope that you've gotten as much out of the study as I have. I've grown to admire David in new ways, as well as remembering the old ones, and so coming to this, preparing to teach upon this, has been incredibly painful and difficult.
insert story of bathsheba here:
2 Samuel 11
1 In the spring, at the time when kings go off to war, David sent Joab out with the king’s men and the whole Israelite army. They destroyed the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained in Jerusalem.
2 One evening David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of the palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing. The woman was very beautiful,
3 and David sent someone to find out about her. The man said, “She is Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite.”
4 Then David sent messengers to get her. She came to him, and he slept with her. (Now she was purifying herself from her monthly uncleanness.) Then she went back home.
5 The woman conceived and sent word to David, saying, “I am pregnant.”
6 So David sent this word to Joab: “Send me Uriah the Hittite.” And Joab sent him to David.
7 When Uriah came to him, David asked him how Joab was, how the soldiers were and how the war was going.
8 Then David said to Uriah, “Go down to your house and wash your feet.” So Uriah left the palace, and a gift from the king was sent after him.
9 But Uriah slept at the entrance to the palace with all his master’s servants and did not go down to his house.
10 David was told, “Uriah did not go home.” So he asked Uriah, “Haven’t you just come from a military campaign? Why didn’t you go home?”
11 Uriah said to David, “The ark and Israel and Judah are staying in tents, and my commander Joab and my lord’s men are camped in the open country. How could I go to my house to eat and drink and make love to my wife? As surely as you live, I will not do such a thing!”
14 In the morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it with Uriah.
15 In it he wrote, “Put Uriah out in front where the fighting is fiercest. Then withdraw from him so he will be struck down and die.”
16 So while Joab had the city under siege, he put Uriah at a place where he knew the strongest defenders were.
17 When the men of the city came out and fought against Joab, some of the men in David’s army fell; moreover, Uriah the Hittite died.
26 When Uriah’s wife heard that her husband was dead, she mourned for him.
27 After the time of mourning was over, David had her brought to his house, and she became his wife and bore him a son. But the thing David had done displeased the LORD.
This is a horror story, a brutal tragedy that will forever stain David's family.
Everything that follows this, from here to David's death, is rebellion and bloodshed.
I perhaps am exaggerating but I'd say besides Lucifer's rebellion against God, it doesn't get much worse than this.
This should sober us to the very bone. This should be something that we wish to avoid.
So, to avoid something we must know its beginning.
Where does this begin?
Examine verses 1 and 2: "In the spring, at the time when kings go off to war, David sent Joab out with the king’s men and the whole Israelite army. They destroyed the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained in Jerusalem. One evening David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of the palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing. The woman was very beautiful."
Now I can understand why David was walking around on his rooftop. He was bored, all his friends were off fighting a war. I can't even begin to count the amount of stupid things I've done because I was bored. The movies I'm never going to get out of my head, the stupid things I said to people that I would have never said if it was daylight and I was surrounded with people.This is something that I, and probably the rest of you, can easily sympathize with.
So, is the solution work work work, she'll never get her dress done?
I suppose I could go all southern baptist preacher on you and tell you all that if you're being tempted its because your not doing: you should read your bible all the time, you should be praying for your eternal soul every moment of the day, you should attend every church service, but while all of those are good and excellent and worthy things that I would encourage you, I know that's really not all there is to it. And we'll see why in a moment.
The story doesn't begin with David walking on the rooftop: It begins with a surrendering of responsibility. It begins with David remaining in Jerusalem.
He was supposed to be doing something, he was supposed to be leading the armies of Israel, but for reasons unknown he stays in Jerusalem instead.
What I can't really wrap my head around, nor do I think there is enough there in the scriptures to point to something and say "this, this here is why David was on that rooftop checking out the scenery instead of where he should have been, leading the armies of Israel." But I think I'll make a stab at something that has been weighing on my heart recently and I believe will really be useful for you guys.
So, here is David the youth leader's theory on why King David stayed home from the war: Maybe he was tired; wait no, that don't really capture it in its fullness. He was weary, he was worn down, he was exhausted, he was, to use the christianesse: burnt out.
The long dark teatime of the soul.
And so he decides to stay home, and thus unfolds probably one of the greatest tragedies of the bible.
Now, to launch us into our discussion of "God's Rest" I would like to ask you: What is "God's rest?" Nothing complicated, just a description of what God's rest might look like.
To simplify it, most of the scriptural references to God's Rest, say things like:
1. Untouched by trouble.
2. Strengthen us and helps us.
3. I will bring you to a land of milk and honey...
All really awesome things. Things I definitely want God to do for me, but does it say that this legendary peace will really protect us from sin? Why yes, it will. It says so in Philipians...
Philipians 4:7
7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
So, this is wonderful: We have been promised peace from God, and it will guard our hearts and minds, so we will neither be deceived nor sin. Sounds great, sign me up.
But I wonder, just how important is this? I mean, God's rest. I'm a big strong smart guy, how important could it be that I have that. Lets turn to Hebrews where we will find some excellent teaching on this very question...
Hebrews 4:1
1 Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it.
Luke 12:4
“I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more.
Hows that for a paradigm shift? Don't fear death, but do fear not entering God's rest?
How important could that be anyway? As a real life example I give you Eli Schilling, a fellow student of mine at Eternal Vision, the bible school I attended. For some reason lost in the ravages of time, we lost most of our cooking staff, so Eli volunteered to handled breakfast. For some 120 odd students and staff. By himself. This meant that he was getting up at 3 or 4 in the morning, every morning and working until breakfast time. After a week or so I discovered that he was talking to his hand. To keep himself sane.
I'm sorry Eli, I don't think its working.
So that's spiritual rest, how much more important then is spiritual rest? What could be the spiritual equivalent of talking to your own hand?
So, lets take a look at three things you can do to seek God's rest:
1. Meditate on God's Promises
Romans 10:17
Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ.
1. To reflect on; contemplate. 2. To plan in the mind; intend:
The bible is full, absolutely full, of God's promises. How many do you know? How many do you trust, believe in, have faith in?
Find some that mean something to you, either it encourages you or you want it more in your life and start thinking about what it means, what else is true, write it on a post-it note and stick it to the bathroom mirror. Read it on the way to school each day, talk about it with friends. Explore the wonderful promises of God.
Heres a bunch on God's rest:
Dueteronomy 33:12
12 About Benjamin he said:
“Let the beloved of the LORD rest secure in him,
for he shields him all day long,
and the one the LORD loves rests between his shoulders.”
Proverbs 19:23
23 The fear of the LORD leads to life;
then one rests content, untouched by trouble.
Luke 2:14
14 “Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”
Matthew 11:28-29
28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
Isaiah 41:10
10 So do not fear, for I am with you;
do not be dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you;
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
2. Encourage each other.
Hebrews 3:12
12 See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God.
13 But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.
This little thing, you'd think it would be really obvisious but I'd hate to ask anyone in this room, or any room, when the last time someone encouraged them.
So do so, and you'll discover that not only will you find yourself resting in God but you'll have the joy of watching people be encouraged, as well as being encouraged yourself.
Even more so, like Jonathan does to David, encourage one another in the Lord. How does one do something like that?
Start with a simple question, then to follow Hitch's advice "Listen, and respond." This is the hardest part.
3. Confidently approach God's throne.
Hebrews 4:14-16
Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven,[f] Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess.
15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.
16 Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
Confidently approach God's throne. How ostentatious is that declaration? Yeah, you just go and approach the throne of grace, God's throne of grace. But we totally can, and we do. When we worship, when we pray, when we get totally lost in bible study, when we throw on our ipods and dance around like we just don't care, when we sit on a log and watch the sun set. I'm waxing poetic, I'd better stop that. Its different for every person, but the key here is we can approach, we just need to try.
A couple of weeks ago at First Friday Zack gave a short but oh so awesome word about the presence of God. Its here, right now, and so often we feel like we need to conjure it, summon it down from heaven, but its right here among us. God is everywhere,
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Song Fragment
Here's a little bonus for what few people read the youth blog.
Last night ukulele practice became spontanious worship which became this little fragment of song, which I hope you enjoy but considering that its been years since I did anything related to songwriting (many, many years) I'm willing to concede that this won't end up being sung in church.
Sorry about the sound quality, I'll have to figure that out. Since this video is mainly just a reference so I don't forget what little of the song I have penned down when I go to sleep tonight I don't think it will be that big of a deal. Enjoy
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
Unfailing Love - Message by Jessica Whitcomb
Psalm 31:7 “I am overcome with joy because of your unfailing love, for you have seen my troubles, and
you care about the anguish of my soul.”
From Dictionary.com “excruciating or acute distress, suffering, or pain”
Synonyms: agony, torment, torture!
Okay, so obviously, ANGUISH; not such a good thing! So Jesus cared to the highest possible degree; he
cared and shared in our suffering when He took our sins upon himself and bore our shame as His own.
You might think, well, if He could do that, if He could really take all our sins and wash us clean, then why
put us through all this suffering on earth? One answer can be found in John 16:33…
“Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.”
Okay, so it’s like God (through Jesus) is saying, “I guarantee you will fall, you will be in trouble (probably
most of the time), and you will face things you don’t necessarily want to. But be assured, take comfort,
because I know what I’m doing. I am your master guide to getting through life.” Let’s say for example,
that you are a video game newbie (like me) and you don’t wanna die in the first three seconds of the
game; are you gonna enlist a mediocre player to help you? Or are you going to get the guy who has the
top score and knows the game inside out? It’s the same way with God! SIDENOTE: Ben Franklin left one
thing out when he said there were two things certain in life; he left out “screwing up”. There’s death,
taxes, and screwing up!”
So why the suffering??? There’s no joy in love if there’s no trials. When you ladies (and men) watch
romance movies, you can pretty much count on the fact that there’s going to be some sort of trial, that
the two characters are required to overcome sort of circumstance in order to get to their happy ending!
(Princess Bride anyone?)It wouldn’t be a good movie without that! Who wants to witness a love story
that’s perfect from the get-go, their lives are fine and dandy, and then they die without any problems
whatsoever?! They have accomplished nothing. My theory is that their love dies with them because
there’s no joy in love if there are no trials! The same could be said for just life in general. When the
world, when people, when circumstances FAIL you, His love will not. Kinda the whole point of “unfailing
love”, you know? The world, our lives, WE are imperfect so that HE can be the perfect “thing” for
us. “Love is made perfect in your weakness.” I mean, He’s perfect all on his own, but he purposely
called us to be His children because He wants to see us grow, fail, trip up, and turn to Him as our Father
at all times. In John 17:11 when He’s in the garden on the eve of his crusifiction and He’s praying Jesus is
saying, “Holy Father, keep them and care for them.” He didn’t say, “God show ‘em who’s boss!” or “Go
get ‘em dad!” Keep and care! That’s love people just in case you didn’t know…
Song..”You stay the same through the ages, Your love never changes. There may be pain in the night,
but joy comes in the morning. And when the oceans rage, I don’t have to be afraid, cuz I know that You
love me and Your love never fails” That’s it in a nutshell. That’s the point!
So WE FAIL BUT GOD’S LOVE DOESN’T!
How can we be certain God won’t just take it back and decide there’s too many reasons for Him not
love us and then changes His mind?
We certainly see a lot of that kind of love in our lives today, so why not? Well, God isn’t human for one
thing…
Romans 8:38 “And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from his love. Death can’t, and
life can’t. The angels can’t, and the demons can’t. Our fears for today, our worries about tomorrow,
and even the powers of hell can’t keep God’s love away. Whether we are high above the sky or in the
deepest ocean, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is
revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
ONCE HE’S IN OUR HEARTS, HE’S THERE FOREVER! Unfailing love= never-ending, never regretting, ever-
present, conquers all things, IT’S THE STRONGEST THING OUT THERE IN HEAVEN AND EARTH!
So I encourage you guys to simply talk to God, show Him how grateful you are for His love every day,
and when you screw up or something bad happens think about these words from C.S. Lewis:
“To what will you look for help if you will not look to that which is stronger than yourself?”-C.S. Lewis J
you care about the anguish of my soul.”
From Dictionary.com “excruciating or acute distress, suffering, or pain”
Synonyms: agony, torment, torture!
Okay, so obviously, ANGUISH; not such a good thing! So Jesus cared to the highest possible degree; he
cared and shared in our suffering when He took our sins upon himself and bore our shame as His own.
You might think, well, if He could do that, if He could really take all our sins and wash us clean, then why
put us through all this suffering on earth? One answer can be found in John 16:33…
“Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.”
Okay, so it’s like God (through Jesus) is saying, “I guarantee you will fall, you will be in trouble (probably
most of the time), and you will face things you don’t necessarily want to. But be assured, take comfort,
because I know what I’m doing. I am your master guide to getting through life.” Let’s say for example,
that you are a video game newbie (like me) and you don’t wanna die in the first three seconds of the
game; are you gonna enlist a mediocre player to help you? Or are you going to get the guy who has the
top score and knows the game inside out? It’s the same way with God! SIDENOTE: Ben Franklin left one
thing out when he said there were two things certain in life; he left out “screwing up”. There’s death,
taxes, and screwing up!”
So why the suffering??? There’s no joy in love if there’s no trials. When you ladies (and men) watch
romance movies, you can pretty much count on the fact that there’s going to be some sort of trial, that
the two characters are required to overcome sort of circumstance in order to get to their happy ending!
(Princess Bride anyone?)It wouldn’t be a good movie without that! Who wants to witness a love story
that’s perfect from the get-go, their lives are fine and dandy, and then they die without any problems
whatsoever?! They have accomplished nothing. My theory is that their love dies with them because
there’s no joy in love if there are no trials! The same could be said for just life in general. When the
world, when people, when circumstances FAIL you, His love will not. Kinda the whole point of “unfailing
love”, you know? The world, our lives, WE are imperfect so that HE can be the perfect “thing” for
us. “Love is made perfect in your weakness.” I mean, He’s perfect all on his own, but he purposely
called us to be His children because He wants to see us grow, fail, trip up, and turn to Him as our Father
at all times. In John 17:11 when He’s in the garden on the eve of his crusifiction and He’s praying Jesus is
saying, “Holy Father, keep them and care for them.” He didn’t say, “God show ‘em who’s boss!” or “Go
get ‘em dad!” Keep and care! That’s love people just in case you didn’t know…
Song..”You stay the same through the ages, Your love never changes. There may be pain in the night,
but joy comes in the morning. And when the oceans rage, I don’t have to be afraid, cuz I know that You
love me and Your love never fails” That’s it in a nutshell. That’s the point!
So WE FAIL BUT GOD’S LOVE DOESN’T!
How can we be certain God won’t just take it back and decide there’s too many reasons for Him not
love us and then changes His mind?
We certainly see a lot of that kind of love in our lives today, so why not? Well, God isn’t human for one
thing…
Romans 8:38 “And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from his love. Death can’t, and
life can’t. The angels can’t, and the demons can’t. Our fears for today, our worries about tomorrow,
and even the powers of hell can’t keep God’s love away. Whether we are high above the sky or in the
deepest ocean, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is
revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
ONCE HE’S IN OUR HEARTS, HE’S THERE FOREVER! Unfailing love= never-ending, never regretting, ever-
present, conquers all things, IT’S THE STRONGEST THING OUT THERE IN HEAVEN AND EARTH!
So I encourage you guys to simply talk to God, show Him how grateful you are for His love every day,
and when you screw up or something bad happens think about these words from C.S. Lewis:
“To what will you look for help if you will not look to that which is stronger than yourself?”-C.S. Lewis J
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