As we forge ahead in our study of Luke, I have decided to attack the book in a bit of a topical manner. Part of the study will focus on parables. Part of the study will focus on miracles and healings. Part of the study will focus on significant events in the life of Jesus. That means that we will not move from chapter to chapter, but I think it will make for an interesting study of the book.
Right now, we are looking at the temptation account in chapter 4. As we discussed on Sunday, the account is critical to us, and the event is critical to the the ministry of Jesus.
Consider this- the scripture tells us that Jesus was "led by the Spirit in the desert..." That means this "wilderness time" was by God's design. And he was there for 40 days. It seems God has a tendency to take His chosen ones through the wilderness. Moses spent time in the wilderness by God's design. The nation of Israel spent time in the wilderness by God's design. Jesus spent time in the wilderness by God's design.
So what does that mean for us? Well, I don't know how it is for you, but sometimes this life feels like a wilderness. Now don't get me wrong- I do not for a moment take for granted the wonderful things I have - a wife who loves me in spite of who I am, wonderful children, a vital church, all of creation to enjoy, (and photograph) - I am grateful for all of that. But sometimes it feels like we are just trudging along from day to day and it is hard to see what God is really up to. Can I get a whoop whoop?
But the thing we have to remember about God is that He takes all those He loves through the wilderness. He wants us to rely on Him. He wants us to see what can happen when we place our faith and trust in Him. If everything was milk and honey all the time, we might never realize the power and the faithfulness of our God. It is in the wilderness we learn who God really is.
So we see that this time in the wilderness was designed by God. And Jesus was tempted all this time by the devil. And here at the end of the 40 days, the devil comes with his "best shots". In the coming weeks we will consider each of the three final temptations, Jesus' response, and what all of it means for us.
Last Sunday- for those who could not be there- we discussed the first temptation; "If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread." It is an interesting challenge that the devil throws on the table.
Look at the first part... "If you are the Son of God..." Wow. This is totally a playground bully challenge. Before we even get to the part about stones and bread and the idea that Jesus was hungry, we see what the devil is trying to do. He might as well have said, "If you think you are so tough why don't you just prove it!" The first level of this temptation is nothing but a challenge of pride. Jesus could have done it too. He had (has) the ability to do any number of things that would have proven that He was the Son of God. But, like we said Sunday, just because you can doesn't mean you should.
Then we come to the second part of the temptation- the appeal to Jesus' hunger. The devil was trying to goad Jesus' into ill-advised action on the basis of human instinct and desire. And this is where Jesus shows us how to live in one kingdom while being a member of another. This is where Jesus shows us that though we are human, we are not at the mercy of human cravings. Jesus shows us that we can shoot for something higher- that life is not about satisfying the lust of the moment, but it is about intimate companionship with God. He did not waste any time setting the bar high. Which is what He came to do.
And think if Jesus had somehow failed this test. The entirety of His ministry would have been rendered null and void before it even began. When the time came for the cross, there had to be a blameless sacrifice- without blemish. I have to believe that Jesus knew the reason He came, and He was not about to put God's plan of salvation in jeopardy. Not then, not ever.
There is a great deal to learn here. And more to come. In the next few weeks we will consider the remaining two final temptations.
Just Keep Swimming...
Jon
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Ah... Pasta in the Fall...
You gotta love the change of seasons. Its not so much the calendar date, but there are always those days when you first "feel it". It starts to feel like the new season. This week feels like fall to me. Maybe it was the HUNDREDS of buckeyes we picked up in our back yard the other day.
We are off and running on our study of Luke and I wanted to post a quick recap for those who could not be there on Sunday and jot down a few notes about some things that we did not discuss.
One thought that I want to emphasize here is the approach we take to the study. We all look up to certain people and would like to be like them. I don't know how it is with you, but I don't find myself really thinking, "I want to have more of the qualities that Jesus showed when he was on earth." Maybe it is an over-reaction to the whole WWJD movement from a while back. And when I do think about it I am not as specific as I need to be. I might think, "Gee, I need to be more like Jesus..." But what I really need to do is participate in a little self-evaluation and think, "you know, I really need to work on this specific quality..." And then I need to look hard at what the scripture has to help me in a specific area.
On Sunday I mentioned the passage in Mark 5 when the woman affected with bleeding made her way through the crowd to touch Jesus because she thought, "If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed." (Mk 5:28 NIV) This happened at a time when Jesus was in a large crowd and was being pressed on all sides by many people. When the woman touched him, Jesus stopped and asked "Who touched me?" The reaction of the disciples was the same as mine would have been- "You're kidding, right? You are in the middle of a crowd, and yet you ask, "who touched me?? Everybody is touching you!!!"
But the touch of the woman was different than the touch of the rest of the crowd. The rest of the crowd was with Jesus and they were following Jesus, but the contact was casual and incidental. The woman, however, made contact that was born in faith- her contact was intentional, her contact was hopeful, her contact could even be called desperate, (the passage tells us that she had already suffered for 12 years under the care of many doctors and she was getting worse). The touch of the woman was completely different than the touch of the crowd and Jesus knew it.
I see this passage as a metaphor for our lives, and as a metaphor for our study of scripture. As we approach this study of Luke, we can decide what kind of encounter it will be for us. Each one can make their own decision. Will this be casual contact? A "brush up" against Jesus? Or will this be an intentional, hopeful, desperate effort on our part to "touch his clothes and be healed"?
I know that I need to be intentional about this. I need for this to be an intimate encounter and not just a routine glance at another book of the bible.
In the first 38 verses of Chapter 1 we hear the story of the angel's announcement to Elizabeth and Zechariah concerning the birth of John the Baptist, and we hear the announcement to Mary of the coming birth of Jesus. There are some similarities in the announcements (and some differences) and there are some real differences in the reactions of the people involved.
When the angel announced to Zechariah that he and Elizabeth would have a son, Zechariah could hardly believe it. Not that I blame him. He and Elizabeth had prayed and waited and I am sure had resigned themselves to the fact that they would not have children. Now, remember here that Zechariah and Elizabeth were upright, God-fearing people who upheld the laws of the Lord. They would have been familiar with the scriptures we now call the Old Testament, and they would have known about a few miraculous births (Abraham and Sarah come to mind). But still, Zechariah found it hard to believe. An because of his "unbelief" he was struck dumb. Still, I can't be too hard on him, I would have had a hard time grabbing onto that with my brain too.
Mary received an even more astounding announcement, but her reaction was a great deal different. Zechariah asked for a sign so that he would know that this announcement was true. Mary asked for clarification , ("How will this be... since I am a virgin?"), but she did not question that it would be done. In fact, her response was "May it be to me as you have said."
Interesting to note how God is getting His work done here. Not new, just interesting. Zechariah and Elizabeth were old with no children- a quick ticket to low social status in their day. Historians tell us that they lived outside the city as well- another "low status" marker. These are people who, by any social measure of the day, were nothing.
Mary was, um, a woman. Don't have to go much farther than that. Women did not hold high social status then. It was just part of the culture. And now she finds that she is going to be pregnant and not married? Strike two. Again, socially, she was pretty much nothing.
By all human measures at that time in history, Zechariah, Elizabeth, and Mary just did not count for much. But God chose them to play extremely significant roles in His plan. Now that sounds just like Him!
Kind of gives you hope that we might count for something after all, doesn't it? Not because of who we are, but because of who He is.
Just Keep Swimming...
Jon
We are off and running on our study of Luke and I wanted to post a quick recap for those who could not be there on Sunday and jot down a few notes about some things that we did not discuss.
One thought that I want to emphasize here is the approach we take to the study. We all look up to certain people and would like to be like them. I don't know how it is with you, but I don't find myself really thinking, "I want to have more of the qualities that Jesus showed when he was on earth." Maybe it is an over-reaction to the whole WWJD movement from a while back. And when I do think about it I am not as specific as I need to be. I might think, "Gee, I need to be more like Jesus..." But what I really need to do is participate in a little self-evaluation and think, "you know, I really need to work on this specific quality..." And then I need to look hard at what the scripture has to help me in a specific area.
On Sunday I mentioned the passage in Mark 5 when the woman affected with bleeding made her way through the crowd to touch Jesus because she thought, "If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed." (Mk 5:28 NIV) This happened at a time when Jesus was in a large crowd and was being pressed on all sides by many people. When the woman touched him, Jesus stopped and asked "Who touched me?" The reaction of the disciples was the same as mine would have been- "You're kidding, right? You are in the middle of a crowd, and yet you ask, "who touched me?? Everybody is touching you!!!"
But the touch of the woman was different than the touch of the rest of the crowd. The rest of the crowd was with Jesus and they were following Jesus, but the contact was casual and incidental. The woman, however, made contact that was born in faith- her contact was intentional, her contact was hopeful, her contact could even be called desperate, (the passage tells us that she had already suffered for 12 years under the care of many doctors and she was getting worse). The touch of the woman was completely different than the touch of the crowd and Jesus knew it.
I see this passage as a metaphor for our lives, and as a metaphor for our study of scripture. As we approach this study of Luke, we can decide what kind of encounter it will be for us. Each one can make their own decision. Will this be casual contact? A "brush up" against Jesus? Or will this be an intentional, hopeful, desperate effort on our part to "touch his clothes and be healed"?
I know that I need to be intentional about this. I need for this to be an intimate encounter and not just a routine glance at another book of the bible.
In the first 38 verses of Chapter 1 we hear the story of the angel's announcement to Elizabeth and Zechariah concerning the birth of John the Baptist, and we hear the announcement to Mary of the coming birth of Jesus. There are some similarities in the announcements (and some differences) and there are some real differences in the reactions of the people involved.
When the angel announced to Zechariah that he and Elizabeth would have a son, Zechariah could hardly believe it. Not that I blame him. He and Elizabeth had prayed and waited and I am sure had resigned themselves to the fact that they would not have children. Now, remember here that Zechariah and Elizabeth were upright, God-fearing people who upheld the laws of the Lord. They would have been familiar with the scriptures we now call the Old Testament, and they would have known about a few miraculous births (Abraham and Sarah come to mind). But still, Zechariah found it hard to believe. An because of his "unbelief" he was struck dumb. Still, I can't be too hard on him, I would have had a hard time grabbing onto that with my brain too.
Mary received an even more astounding announcement, but her reaction was a great deal different. Zechariah asked for a sign so that he would know that this announcement was true. Mary asked for clarification , ("How will this be... since I am a virgin?"), but she did not question that it would be done. In fact, her response was "May it be to me as you have said."
Interesting to note how God is getting His work done here. Not new, just interesting. Zechariah and Elizabeth were old with no children- a quick ticket to low social status in their day. Historians tell us that they lived outside the city as well- another "low status" marker. These are people who, by any social measure of the day, were nothing.
Mary was, um, a woman. Don't have to go much farther than that. Women did not hold high social status then. It was just part of the culture. And now she finds that she is going to be pregnant and not married? Strike two. Again, socially, she was pretty much nothing.
By all human measures at that time in history, Zechariah, Elizabeth, and Mary just did not count for much. But God chose them to play extremely significant roles in His plan. Now that sounds just like Him!
Kind of gives you hope that we might count for something after all, doesn't it? Not because of who we are, but because of who He is.
Just Keep Swimming...
Jon
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Mid-September Pasta...
Is September half over already? Really? Yikes...
We have wrapped up our study of 2 Thessalonians and we are moving on to study the Gospel of Luke. I have to say that I am excited about studying a gospel. It has been a while since I had a good reason, (like I need one), to sit down and dig into a gospel. I just think that as we try to move about this world and try to figure out how best to live a life that is pleasing to God, we will find no better help than when we examine the accounts of the life of the only one who did it perfectly.
But before we move on to Luke, I want to look back at 2 Thessalonians a bit. You know how it is- each time you study a book you find new things that stick with you. This time I am coming away from the book of 2 Thessalonians with more of an appreciation of how similar it is to 1 John. I have mentioned in class that 1 John is my favorite book of the Bible, (if we are allowed to have favorites), and I just found a lot of similarities and connections between the two books this time.
1 John is so much about establishing Godly habits and directions in our lives. It is about the habitual pattern of the things we do from day to day. John talks about "walking in the light" and developing the ability to test the things we see and hear around us to determine whether they are of God or not. 2 Thessalonians is not so different! In the second chapter of 2 Thess. Paul addresses the confusion caused by a "bogus" letter being circulated in his name. It is in that chapter we find Paul's words about those who are perishing and those who are destined for salvation. It is in that chapter we find Paul's emphasis on truth and on the "sanctifying work of the spirit". I just think that the target audience of 2 Thessalonians was a group of people very much like us. There were people who had chosen a direction for their lives and faced the challenge of staying on course while surrounded by opposition. Not so different from now is it?
To stay on course requires intentional action. To stay on course requires having some set specifications for the destination, and it requires remaining focused on the fixed points that are going to guide you to the place you want to go. Inattention to the habits and directions of our lives may seem rather innocent in some ways, (well gee, I guess I just wasn't paying attention...), but the end result is just as tragic and devastating as if we directly chose to move away from God. To arrive at the destination requires attention, intention, and effort. "Work out your salvation with fear and trembling..."
It is for this reason that I enjoy Sunday School (or a small group) so much. When people come together for the purpose of reading God's Word- talking about it, hashing it out, bouncing ideas back and forth, sharing perspective- they find one more way to be intentional about the direction of their lives.
Which brings me back to being excited about studying the book of Luke. Again, I think that if we are serious about our desire to walk this earth in the best fashion possible, it does us good to look closely at the one, (and only one), to pull it off perfectly.
Just Keep Swimming...
Jon
We have wrapped up our study of 2 Thessalonians and we are moving on to study the Gospel of Luke. I have to say that I am excited about studying a gospel. It has been a while since I had a good reason, (like I need one), to sit down and dig into a gospel. I just think that as we try to move about this world and try to figure out how best to live a life that is pleasing to God, we will find no better help than when we examine the accounts of the life of the only one who did it perfectly.
But before we move on to Luke, I want to look back at 2 Thessalonians a bit. You know how it is- each time you study a book you find new things that stick with you. This time I am coming away from the book of 2 Thessalonians with more of an appreciation of how similar it is to 1 John. I have mentioned in class that 1 John is my favorite book of the Bible, (if we are allowed to have favorites), and I just found a lot of similarities and connections between the two books this time.
1 John is so much about establishing Godly habits and directions in our lives. It is about the habitual pattern of the things we do from day to day. John talks about "walking in the light" and developing the ability to test the things we see and hear around us to determine whether they are of God or not. 2 Thessalonians is not so different! In the second chapter of 2 Thess. Paul addresses the confusion caused by a "bogus" letter being circulated in his name. It is in that chapter we find Paul's words about those who are perishing and those who are destined for salvation. It is in that chapter we find Paul's emphasis on truth and on the "sanctifying work of the spirit". I just think that the target audience of 2 Thessalonians was a group of people very much like us. There were people who had chosen a direction for their lives and faced the challenge of staying on course while surrounded by opposition. Not so different from now is it?
To stay on course requires intentional action. To stay on course requires having some set specifications for the destination, and it requires remaining focused on the fixed points that are going to guide you to the place you want to go. Inattention to the habits and directions of our lives may seem rather innocent in some ways, (well gee, I guess I just wasn't paying attention...), but the end result is just as tragic and devastating as if we directly chose to move away from God. To arrive at the destination requires attention, intention, and effort. "Work out your salvation with fear and trembling..."
It is for this reason that I enjoy Sunday School (or a small group) so much. When people come together for the purpose of reading God's Word- talking about it, hashing it out, bouncing ideas back and forth, sharing perspective- they find one more way to be intentional about the direction of their lives.
Which brings me back to being excited about studying the book of Luke. Again, I think that if we are serious about our desire to walk this earth in the best fashion possible, it does us good to look closely at the one, (and only one), to pull it off perfectly.
Just Keep Swimming...
Jon
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
True Pasta
Well the truth of the matter is...
We hear those words fairly often. The truth of the matter. And that, if you were unable to be with us last Sunday, was the biggest part of our discussion. Truth. You see, in the second chapter of II Thessalonians Paul describes "those who are perishing..." He says they are perishing because they "refuse to love the truth". And later in the chapter Paul describes the Thessalonians people chosen by God to be saved through the sanctifying work of the spirit and "through belief in the truth." And so it seems that truth is a central issue. Those who refuse to love the truth are perishing and those who believe the truth are chosen for salvation.
It comes as no shock that truth is a critical concept for every person, whether they want to admit it or not. In fact, we talked about my little "Truth Syllogism" which follows below:
1. Truth is Foundational
2. Truth Can Be Confusing
3. Therefore- We Had Better Be Careful!!!
(It's not a perfect syllogism in the classic sense, but it will work for what we are doing here... if we agree on #1 and #2, then #3 follows)
It is not hard to conclude that truth is foundational to our lives. The things we consider to be true make all the difference in the world as we move around from day to day. And if ever something we held as true for a long time dissolves in front of our eyes, it is devastating. Any kind of betrayal comes to mind- if we think for years and years that person x is our very good friend and then find that they have suddenly turned on us, we are hurt and crushed and angry. What we thought was true, we suddenly find is false and our world gets re-defined.
As for the confusing part... again, it does not take long to see why people get confused about what truth is. Dave Pugh said well that, at least on a certain level, the prevailing conditions go a long way to define truth. Given a set of circumstances, thing A or Thing B might be true. But if the circumstances change, then thing A or thing B may no longer be true. I used the example of traveling from Indiana to California. At one time in history, it would have been a true statement to say that the trip from Indiana to California would take months at best. That is no longer true because the conditions have changed. So at least to some extent we have to live with truth that changes with the conditions.
But then there were other people on Sunday that mentioned that they thought truth was absolute and unchangeable. And I think that it is important that we remember that while some things may change with conditions, there are other kinds of truth that don't change. I think all of us would place God's Word into that category. I think all of us would put God's promises in that category. They are absolute and unchanging. But we can even see this "black and white" kind of truth in other things.
A lot of you may remember the case of Caylee Anthony- the little girl from Florida who disappeared mysteriously. Her mother reported it after 3 months of Caylee being gone. Then that December her body was discovered buried in the woods not far from her house. Last I heard the mother was in prison having been arrested for the crime, but was admitting to nothing. And so, the authorities were embarking on their journey to find "the truth" about what happened to Caylee. Now, let's think about this. How is this "truth" going to be established? There will be (has been) testimony, evidence, theorizing, conjecture, deliberation, and some conclusion about what a court or a jury is convinced is true. How closely will that "story" match what really happened? We will never know. When all the while, there is a "real truth" about this case. There is someone, assuming they are still alive, who knows EXACTLY what happened to Caylee.
And so it is true with most actions of man. We either did or did not do such and such. We either did or did not say so and so. Even before we get to the level of "heavenly truth" we find that some things are either true or they are not. Period. No gray area. And then when we do get to "heavenly truth" I think we find even less, or more likely, NO gray area.
This truth thing. It is confusing. And part of the reason it is confusing is because of our dual citizenship. We are part of a created, temporary world. This world is governed by rules and laws put in place by God and established by man. The laws of physics seem pretty black and white to us. Every time I have dropped an egg it fell to the floor. There has never been a time when I lost my grip on an egg and it just hovered there in front of me, (but then I have never been on orbit in the space shuttle- then the conditions change and the rules are not the same and.....ARRRG! My brain hurts!!) So, as long as we are a part of this world we will have to "put up" with some of those conditional truths. It is just a part of living here. But at the same time, we are guided by a truth that is black and white, absolute, and unchanging. Because we are children of the King.
We do need to be careful with the truth. We need to be careful where we get our truth. We need to be careful what we do with it ourselves. We must discipline ourselves not to bend it or break it. We must respect it. We must guard it. We must apply it. It is foundational.
Just Keep Swimming...
Jon
We hear those words fairly often. The truth of the matter. And that, if you were unable to be with us last Sunday, was the biggest part of our discussion. Truth. You see, in the second chapter of II Thessalonians Paul describes "those who are perishing..." He says they are perishing because they "refuse to love the truth". And later in the chapter Paul describes the Thessalonians people chosen by God to be saved through the sanctifying work of the spirit and "through belief in the truth." And so it seems that truth is a central issue. Those who refuse to love the truth are perishing and those who believe the truth are chosen for salvation.
It comes as no shock that truth is a critical concept for every person, whether they want to admit it or not. In fact, we talked about my little "Truth Syllogism" which follows below:
1. Truth is Foundational
2. Truth Can Be Confusing
3. Therefore- We Had Better Be Careful!!!
(It's not a perfect syllogism in the classic sense, but it will work for what we are doing here... if we agree on #1 and #2, then #3 follows)
It is not hard to conclude that truth is foundational to our lives. The things we consider to be true make all the difference in the world as we move around from day to day. And if ever something we held as true for a long time dissolves in front of our eyes, it is devastating. Any kind of betrayal comes to mind- if we think for years and years that person x is our very good friend and then find that they have suddenly turned on us, we are hurt and crushed and angry. What we thought was true, we suddenly find is false and our world gets re-defined.
As for the confusing part... again, it does not take long to see why people get confused about what truth is. Dave Pugh said well that, at least on a certain level, the prevailing conditions go a long way to define truth. Given a set of circumstances, thing A or Thing B might be true. But if the circumstances change, then thing A or thing B may no longer be true. I used the example of traveling from Indiana to California. At one time in history, it would have been a true statement to say that the trip from Indiana to California would take months at best. That is no longer true because the conditions have changed. So at least to some extent we have to live with truth that changes with the conditions.
But then there were other people on Sunday that mentioned that they thought truth was absolute and unchangeable. And I think that it is important that we remember that while some things may change with conditions, there are other kinds of truth that don't change. I think all of us would place God's Word into that category. I think all of us would put God's promises in that category. They are absolute and unchanging. But we can even see this "black and white" kind of truth in other things.
A lot of you may remember the case of Caylee Anthony- the little girl from Florida who disappeared mysteriously. Her mother reported it after 3 months of Caylee being gone. Then that December her body was discovered buried in the woods not far from her house. Last I heard the mother was in prison having been arrested for the crime, but was admitting to nothing. And so, the authorities were embarking on their journey to find "the truth" about what happened to Caylee. Now, let's think about this. How is this "truth" going to be established? There will be (has been) testimony, evidence, theorizing, conjecture, deliberation, and some conclusion about what a court or a jury is convinced is true. How closely will that "story" match what really happened? We will never know. When all the while, there is a "real truth" about this case. There is someone, assuming they are still alive, who knows EXACTLY what happened to Caylee.
And so it is true with most actions of man. We either did or did not do such and such. We either did or did not say so and so. Even before we get to the level of "heavenly truth" we find that some things are either true or they are not. Period. No gray area. And then when we do get to "heavenly truth" I think we find even less, or more likely, NO gray area.
This truth thing. It is confusing. And part of the reason it is confusing is because of our dual citizenship. We are part of a created, temporary world. This world is governed by rules and laws put in place by God and established by man. The laws of physics seem pretty black and white to us. Every time I have dropped an egg it fell to the floor. There has never been a time when I lost my grip on an egg and it just hovered there in front of me, (but then I have never been on orbit in the space shuttle- then the conditions change and the rules are not the same and.....ARRRG! My brain hurts!!) So, as long as we are a part of this world we will have to "put up" with some of those conditional truths. It is just a part of living here. But at the same time, we are guided by a truth that is black and white, absolute, and unchanging. Because we are children of the King.
We do need to be careful with the truth. We need to be careful where we get our truth. We need to be careful what we do with it ourselves. We must discipline ourselves not to bend it or break it. We must respect it. We must guard it. We must apply it. It is foundational.
Just Keep Swimming...
Jon
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