Who Is This?

I know - I haven't been posting here as often this year as in previous ones. I can find all kinds of excuses - and a couple of good reasons, but just wanted you to know that I have been sharing our Lord in other ways.

First has been our ladies' mission group, Together We Can Change Lives. We bring our change in jars (or baggies, or simply dump purses!), combining them with fundraisers through the year and provide assistance to missionaries our church supports: a home/school for boys; orphans in another land; homeless in our own area, meal and snack bags, clothing; warm clothing for Native Americans. We make a wide variety of handmade crafts, too, for a fall craft sale.

This year I choose to make zippered pouches, which didn't sell all that well until I thought of machine-embroidering names/words on them. First ones didn't sell well, and it wasn't because they were the first I made. Second batch did better, with words - first sold was "Mine." Worked well. Then I offered to personalize them - and I had to order a couple dozen zippers three time!

By our end of year sale in December, we had done at least one project each month direct to missionaries and raised over $3,000 in sales to provide funding for their projects. For me, that's a good year, even if I didn't post here much.

I did get some good Bible verses out on my Facebook account. Under my real name. I need to get one under Grammy Blick, too, I guess. The verses leading up to Christmas were my favorites because they pointed to exactly who that baby in the manger was, however, the .gif files won't load from my laptop, so here's what lay atop backgrounds:

And when he was come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, Who is this? (Matthew 21:10 KJV)

People still ask that question - wondering why something 2000 years ago could possible be important today. Who would be interested in the birth of a baby when no one can prove it happened? Something to do with an old myth that goes back even longer, and needy people buy into it because their lives are miserable without hope. Why think about this? Just head to the mall or go online and get the shopping done. But other verses explain:

While he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him. (Matthew 17:5 KJV)

That's not the only verse where God speaks directly of His son, but it's just about my favorite. God inspired others to write of Him, too:

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. (Isaiah 9:6 KJV)

"The mighty God." Now, there's a verse to remember. The Child will be equal to God - and that will get Him killed. We can't celebrate Christmas without knowledge of the crucifixion and resurrection.

Still, once a year we may take time from that busy shopping season where we are expected to overspend and keep our faltering economy moving forward. When we do, decide what your answer is for the "Who is this?" Would you believe what God, prophets and angels said:

And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, (Luke 2:9-13 KJV)

Or what God revealed to one man:

And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. (Matthew 16:16-17 KJV)

That's what I believe.

It’s Not Always The Bible . . .

Photo taken by Raysonho – Wikipedia Commons

. . . that brings our thoughts back to where they should be. This morning it was a book’s paragraph, written by an author I’ve followed for decades.

Two characters in the book were discussing relationships with mothers, but in a Christian aspect, it is applicable in a number of relationships:

'"The problem is, your mother was someone who wanted to do everything by the book . . . and she could never quite bring herself to appreciate a daughter to insisted on coloring outside the lines. Mine, either."' she added quietly.'

I, too, am someone who sees things black and white. I've read the black and white:

For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; (Romans 3:23 KJV)

And am consistently reminded:

For the wages of sin is death;

Yet seldom reminded that particular verse continues with a promise:

but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
(Romans 6:23 KJV)

So a trip back to those same black and white verses quoted by men who heard Jesus’ words, along with a question: Just what did Jesus do with people He called sinners?

Try Matthew 9:2-5, or Mark 2:5-9, or Luke 5:18-24 for the same story. Another is shown in Luke 7:36-50. Still another  in John 5:1-17. Another mentions the sinfulness, but doesn’t point it out to the sinner nor absolve her of it, just opens the door to her understanding in John 4:1-42.

So Jesus is more than capable of recognizing sin – He is in the business of forgiving sins. Christians don’t doubt that, and we expect Him to forgive ours. But after acknowledging that, what are we supposed to do?

Let’s start with the important commandments.  Jesus had been able to silence the Sadducees who believed this life is all mankind has – there was no heaven, nor hell. Matthew 22 tells how that was done, and follows with Jesus’ confrontation with Pharisees who depend upon their compliance with the Law to enter heave. Jesus condensed the Jewish law into two:

But when the Pharisees had heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence, they were gathered together. Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying, Master, which is the great commandment in the law?

Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. (Matthew 22:34-40 KJV)

I can add a note that sometimes Christians get this, but too often we don’t when we believe another has broken them. We tell ourselves we have righteous anger because that other person has openly broken one or both of those two commandments.

May I remind myself (and you, along the way) that I am not to: 1) forgive sin;

For we know him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge his people. (Hebrews 10:30 KJV)

and 2) make anyone else regret their sin;

Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven: (Luke 6:37 KJV)

Study the fullness of the message in Matthew 7 and Luke 6, keeping in mind this one description Jesus gave of His followers:

By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another. (John 13:35 KJV)

So You Want To Be A Foot?

(My apologies for not knowing the source of this beautiful graphic)

There are many people in our world who will tell you that you can be anything you want to be – there are no limits to what you can achieve. All that is needed is to set and achieve goals, a step at a time and never, ever, give up your dream. You will read stories from and of people who have followed these instructions and are multiply-successful in all phases of their lives. I’m not refuting their stories at all.

No way I’d attempt to prove their stories right or wrong – it was theirs to live and to share.  But what if someone wanted to be a foot and instead should have been an ear?
Not familiar with that concept? Come see a few scriptures. Sunday’s sermon included verses from I Corinthians 12. Paul is writing to a church that needs a few lessons. Just as we still need a few lessons today.

Paul knew scriptures very well, and used Isaiah 52:7 in a letter to Romans:

How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things! (Romans 10:14-15 KJV)

There are a lot of people who feel they want to be the one to use their feet to preach Christ’s gospel of peace, bringing glad tidings of God’s redemption. But not all people should be missionaries – though all have a mission.  Take Paul’s examples in Chapter 12.

Paul is describing a single body – the total body of believers in Christ – being made of multiple parts. God has given us all gifts:

And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal. (1 Corinthians 12:6-7 KJV)
Paul describes some of the gifts the Holy Spirit works within us. That does not make one “better” or “worse”, either. Whatever our calling, whatever our gift, wherever we work for our Lord, we still do it as one body:

If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? (1 Corinthians 12:15 KJV)

While there is a whole study in this one chapter, and I encourage spending time here, relating to ourselves and our own gifts from God, the final verse here leads into a beautiful chapter that applies to all:

But covet earnestly the best gifts: and yet shew I unto you a more excellent way. (1 Corinthians 12:31 KJV)

Yes – the chapter showing the description and importance of Love.

So – what if you wanted to be a beautiful foot but your calling is simply to show love to all around you? There’s an answer in the Old Testament:

For if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time, then shall there enlargement and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place; but thou and thy father's house shall be destroyed: and who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?  (Esther 4:14 KJV)

I do not wish there to be enlargement and deliverance from another place when I was placed for a specific time. What’s your opinion?

Reconciled

Not yet called Christians, Jesus’ followers heard Him say:

Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them. And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses. But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses. (Mark 11:24-26 KJV)

There’s another example:

Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican. (Matthew 18:15-17 KJV)

One more:

Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift. (Matthew 5:23-24 KJV)

Sounds as though it’s rather important. There are examples of this at work in the letters of the New Testament.  There the discussions are among those who were first called Christians at Antioch, and the word still applies to those who follow Jesus, God’s Christ.

I'm picking one I've been reading for the rest of this blog - Paul and John Mark.  Half the story of Paul and John Mark (yes, the Mark that wrote the book, and the nephew of Barnabas) is told in Acts 15:36-41.  It began with John Mark leaving "Paul and his company" in Acts 13:13.

The end of the story shows them reconciled in II Timothy 4:9-11, where Paul is giving closing instructions:

Do thy diligence to come shortly unto me: For Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world, and is departed unto Thessalonica; Crescens to Galatia, Titus unto Dalmatia. Only Luke is with me. Take Mark, and bring him with thee: for he is profitable to me for the ministry. (2 Timothy 4:9-11 KJV)

Here we see that Mark is profitable to Paul in continuing his ministry while Paul is in prison. They worked out a reconciliation.

But someone else moved away – this time Demas left, “having loved this present world.” The Bible does not tell what caused the rift between Demas, who in Colossians 4 and Philemon 1, is named as Paul’s companion, just as Luke and Mark are.

All those words, and the examples. Do they make an impression on us? Or do we not hold out a hand of reconciliation? Do we have to do it on every occasion? Let me leave that last question for the next blog. I need to spend time myself on this one. Rereading. Praying.

Extrapolate

This has shown up several times across the web. The accompanying comments usually state a professor is wearing the T-shirt and had students that stated the second type was missing.

I thought there could be a lesson here and found a good example in John 3 while studying. The Pulpit Commentary discusses what scholars had to say about Jesus’ knowledge of Nicodemus’ reason for coming to Him:

A controversy has arisen on the point—Did our Lord, by these penetrative glances, manifest his Divine nature, assume a Divine prerogative, or exercise a lofty, penetrative human gift? Westcott, on the philological ground of the contrast in meaning between γινώσκειν and εἰδέναι, urges that the former word, used here, represents knowledge acquired by processes of inquiry and perception, as distinct from the latter, which is reserved for absolute and settled knowledge. Godet, on theological grounds, urges that the phrase refers to the human faculty of observation rather than to the Divine prerogative of heart-searching. There are, however, many other indications of this same thought-mastery, which the evangelists appear to regard as proofs of Divine power; so that I think the real significance of the passage is an ascription to Jesus of Divine power. The supernatural in mind, the superhuman mental processes of Jesus, are part of the proof we have that, though he was Man, he created the irresistible impression that he was more than man.

It helps to know the different connotations between γινώσκειν and εἰδέναι, but that goes very deep into theological studies.  While I find them interesting, no controversial discussions have changed my mind that Jesus is the promised Messiah, supernaturally created by God.

I believe Nicodemus “extrapolated”, or extended his knowledge of God’s work with the Jews to include Jesus’ actions, assuming the miraculous occurrences were a continuing trend of God’s intervention in mankind. I believe we can extrapolate across the centuries, based on the wide range of eye witness writers during that first century as well as the number of theologians who have studied those writings, that what we see of God’s work in our lives is a continuation, too.

Although there have been detractors and deniers, The Bible continues to be a best seller around the world. People read it, study it, pray with it, define their days with it, and best of all – share it with others. That’s all Peter and Paul did as they reached Jews and gentiles – witness to others their personal experiences with Christ.

Peter means to me that we can err and return. Paul means to me that we can be willfully involved in fighting Christ and meeting Him, follow in service. While I love reading Hebrews’ 11th chapter, that list of Judaic faithful, I love even better:

Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12:1-2 KJV)

We’ve had another two-thousand years to see additional faithful join that great cloud of witnesses. We’ve also seen some who failed, miserably, taking others with them. Stick with the full story of God’s gift to us – because He loves us. Read more in the Bible.

Two Paths, One Witness

“Peter and Paul” by El Greco

Yes, they knew each other – and they both are Jews who lived in the first part of the first century. It appears they were about the same age, but they were very different men.

We know quite about about Peter’s family because he and his brother, Andrew, were workers in the family business. It was Andrew who first heard John the Baptist introduce Jesus – perhaps attending Jesus’ baptism. Andrew told his brother and instead of following the family business, these fishermen became “fishers of men.”

And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. And they straightway left their nets, and followed him. (Matthew 4:19-20 KJV)

The next three years were tumultuous. People were divided. Sides were taken. Peter was very vocal about his support of Jesus. Immediately following Jesus’ telling the disciples of His death and resurrection, Peter says:

Peter answered and said unto him, Though all men shall be offended because of thee, yet will I never be offended. (Matthew 26:33 KJV)

Open your Bible to that verse – read the previous, then read Jesus’ response. Then turn to Matthew 26:69-75 to read the rest of that particular story.

One of the detractors of this band of Christ followers was Saul. He describes himself as the “Hebrew of Hebrews”:

Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee; (Philippians 3:5 KJV)

He continues in the following verses to confess as to his persecution of Christ’s followers, but the best of the story is found in Acts, chapter 9. What a tremendous event it had to be to change this man’s heart! He had to be struck blind before he could see.

Those are the two paths taken to reach an understanding of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection, but they pretty much give the same witness.

It comes earlier in Acts, Peter’s witness, Acts 2:1-36. Yes, I’ll include the link, but I really wish you would pick up your Bible and read those verses, then flip over to Acts 26:1-29 and compare Paul’s witness.

Both witnesses tell fully the verses Jesus said to Nicodemus:

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. (John 3:16-18 KJV)

Do you know Christians today who give the very same heart witness account that these eyewitnesses gave? It is the message Jesus Himself gave then and gives now.  Begin there, and learn about Him if you haven’t before.  If you have met and love Him, please go tell someone so they can do the same.

The Invitation

That’s not a very informative invitation, is it? We would want to know what, when, where and pretty much who else is going to be there. We might not want to spend time with some of the others, right? Sort of picky about who we spend time with. Why not? Time is valuable and there are some people who simply take up your time without providing entertainment, enlightenment or even companionship.

So we look at invitations, and turn some down.

Would the host come looking for you? Of course not! How silly. The host would understand that this particular event was not something that drew your interest.

What if you found out later that it was a marvelous occasion! Many of your friends, some of your most liked relatives (along with some you really didn’t want to spend time with, though) accepted the host’s invitation and not only had a wonderful time – they were still there! Imagine that. Didn’t even call out to you and let you know that this was simply not to be missed. What would you do?

Here it comes. The Bible verses you knew just had to be here – this is a blog to encourage Bible reading. You knew that when you surfed here, didn’t you? Pick up your Bible and turn to Matthew 22:1-14. (Yes, there’s the regular link. I know some of you really don’t like to pick up a Bible. I make it easy for you.)

Have you heard that story before? I see two or three applications, but the one I want to write about today addresses those who believe 1) there is no God – thus, no hell; 2) there is a God – and everyone goes to heaven; 3) there is a God – who sends people to hell.

The Bible teaches heaven and hell. The Bible teaches those who die go to one or the other. The Bible teaches how we get to where we are going.

The Bible teaches why God created hell:

. . . Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: (Matthew 25:41 KJV)

Hell was not created for humanity. It was created for the angels that did not wish to be in His presence. There are humans who do not wish to be in His presence, either. They have turned down His invitation.

I’ve known one or two that specifically denied the existence of a supreme being. Yet, when they passed, their friends said, “They’ve gone to a better place.” Heard that on television recently. “He’s in a better place.” I have not found a definition regarding this better place – unless it comes from a person who believes all are going to heaven. Unfortunately, no religion has ever promised that.

Got sends out invitations:

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. (John 3:16-18 KJV)

God does not send people to hell. They simply turned down His invitation to be in His presence. Why would He force them to spend eternity with Him when they turned down every invitation He sent?