pastorjohnb

Thoughts and musings on faith and our mighty God!

Tag Archives: Christ


by Leave a comment

Reflecting His Glory

Reading: Acts 17: 22-28

Verse 24: … the Lord of heaven and earth​… does not live in temples built by human hands.

Today’s passage finds Paul in Athens.  He is there doing what he always did: sharing the good news of Jesus Christ.  But Athens is not Jerusalem.  It is the center of the Greek world and has overlays of the Roman world as well.  Centuries of philosophers have sat in the Aeropagus and argued and debated all aspects and facets of life.  They have covered mortality and religion, ethics and justice, their own existence and the meaning of life.  Paul observes that the culture is very polytheistic.  They worship many different gods.  Paul takes all of this into account as he begins his sermon this day.  He begins by sharing the observation that they are very religious and then turns to the “unknown god” statue.  Paul goes on to proclaim the unknown god to be the God of all creation.  He even quotes a couple of Greek philosophers to help his case.  Paul is using a piece of the dominant culture to win over his audience.  We too have an opportunity to do this as well.

Where will you find yourself coming up against non-believers today?  Will it be at work?  At lunch?  Out on your walk?  And will they be worshipping an unknown god?  As we consider all of this, we also must how we could do that Paul did – use some of today’s popular culture to tie back into our God and our faith.  Maybe it is by working with integrity and honor and finding success on God’s terms.  Maybe it is by being gracious and by practicing Good listening skills while at lunch.  Maybe it is by noticing the person on the street and by taking a moment to be the hands and feet of Jesus for them.  There are many ways to meet people where they are at and to bring our faith into the situation.  Allow the Holy Spirit to lead!

But maybe you are not quite here yet.  Maybe today’s passage speaks to your own ‘unknown god’.  Is it parked in the garage?  Does it sit on a large lot?  Is it kept safe in a vault?  Or is it fragile and rests upon the opinions of others?  At times it can be easy to worship idols.  So maybe our challenge today is to identify our idol and to begin to let it go.  Paul stated, “the Lord of heaven and earth​… does not live in temples built by human hands”.  Are we living or acting as if God did live here?

Wherever we find ourselves in today’s passage, may we strive for our life to reflect His glory, “for in Him we live and move and have our being”.


by Leave a comment

Seekers

Reading: John 14: 1-14

Verse 5a – Lord, we don’t know…

Our faith requires some honesty.  Life is much the same.  We must be honest with ourselves and with others if we are to live lives of integrity and character.  We must also be transparent enough that others can know who we are and what we are all about.  At times this requires us to be open and vulnerable.  Philip and Thomas demonstrate all of these qualities in today’s passage.

Jesus is teaching the disciples some last-minute instructions before beginning His journey to the cross.  This “farewell discourse” is full of powerful emotions, moving experiences, and great teaching.  The disciples are like sponges, soaking it all up.  And is often the case, they need a bit more explanation.  Philip and Thomas could have kept quiet and tried to figure it out later.  They could have remained silent and not disrupted the Teacher.  Thankfully they did not remain silent.  Thankfully they were willing to be honest and transparent and vulnerable.  Thankfully they were willing to stop the Teacher and ask a question.  They were probably not the only ones a bit confused.  They were the two honest enough to ask Jesus a question.  Understanding was more important than looking like they understood.

Philip and Thomas were also seekers.  They were hungry for all Jesus had to offer.  Yes, they had been with Jesus for three years, but they still hung on His every word.  Jesus spoke the Words of Life.  Oh that we would live such a faith.  Too often we get comfortable and content and complacent.  Too often we simply go through the motions and fail to experience what God has for us that day in worship or in our Bible study or in our time of prayer.  Oh that we were all like that 96 year old woman, a Christian all her life, who still comes to church and to a Bible study because she seeks to always grow closer to her Jesus.  May we too be seekers always, ever wanting to grow deeper in Christ, ever desiring to know Him more.


by Leave a comment

Fruitful Practices

Reading: Acts 2: 42-47

Verse 42: They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to prayer.

The early church practiced some things that made it a strong and vibrant church.  These practices helped those in the community of faith to grow stronger in their own faith and they also attracted others into the community.  They first devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching.  In this the people got to know Jesus more and more.  They deepened their understanding of Christ and His call upon their lives.  We continue this practice to this day.  We gather in our places of worship to hear the Word proclaimed.  We also study our Bibles and read devotionals and books to deepen our personal relationship with Christ.

The early church also devoted themselves to fellowship.  They spent lots of time together discussing their faith and sharing their lives with one another.  It was a way to build relationships with each other and to support and encourage each other.  It was also a way to talk about their faith – both the challenges and what God was doing in their lives.  We continue these practices today as we gather after worship, as we meet together for coffee or lunch, as we come together in small groups to study and serve God.

Early followers of the Way often broke bread together.  The breaking of bread was partly meal, partly communion.  Only in the latter church would communion be separated out and come to resemble what we practice today.  The common meal together was like an old-fashioned pot luck.  All brought what they could to share with each other.  In this early setting, the church would also break bread to remember the gift of Jesus on the cross.  Many of us will do so today as well.

Lastly, the early followers prayed together regularly.  They would spend time together as a community in prayer.  They would know each other well from the times of worship and fellowship and meals.  So prayer time was intimately connected and very powerful.  We experience this at times in worship but most often experience it in our small groups that have developed a deeper level of care and trust.

“And daily the Lord added to their number those who were being saved”.  Through our practices of faith and because of our community of faith, may the Lord increase those who are being saved.


by Leave a comment

Daily Walk

Reading: 1 Peter 2: 19-25

Verse 21: Christ himself suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in His steps.

In 1st Peter, suffering is a common theme.  Perhaps this is because the faithful of Peter’s day did suffer for their faith.  Just as Jesus had suffered at the hands of the Jews and Romans, many of His followers also faced trial and persecution and even death.  Many of the more prominent witnesses gladly suffered for their faith and found joy in being like Jesus in their suffering.  Oddly, most of us Christians today avoid suffering of all kinds.

Peter’s response to suffering and his call to the early church and to us today is this: call upon the power of Christ to transcend our times of suffering.  Today, at times our faith will have a ‘cost’ be it time or money or some other resource.  To give up something or to sacrifice in one of these areas may hurt a little, but it is a far cry from Peter’s day.  Our suffering tends to be temporary and non-life-threatening.  Yet even in the midst of small trials we are to call upon the only one who can walk with us through the storms of life.  Even if it was just a bad day at work, Jesus still desires to be present and to bring us peace or comfort or contentment or whatever we need.

When we call on Jesus regularly in the small, day to day, events of life, then we get to know Him.  Jesus becomes a regular companion to us in all times of life.  It is through a consistent and daily walk with Christ that we come to truly know and trust His presence, strength, and love in all of our life.  This is the model Jesus set for us to follow.  His relationship with God the Father was a daily, consistent connection.  God was Jesus’ strength in the trial.  Always.  Peter wrote, “Christ himself suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in His steps.”  When Jesus is our foundation rock in this sense, nothing life can bring will shake our faith.  His love will transcend all of our fears, doubts, and anxieties – no matter how big or small.  This becomes how we journey through life.  In the this way we bear witness to the power of Jesus Christ in our lives and in the world.  It is through our witness and example that we too bring God all the glory and praise.


by Leave a comment

The Good Shepherd

Reading: Psalm 23: 3-4

Verses 3 and 4: He guides me in paths of righteousness…  I will fear no evil, for you are with me…

The Shepherd seeks to guide us.  He seeks to guide us and to keep us from harm.  Sometimes the Shepherd protects us from the dangers and the lures if this world, sometimes He protects us from ourselves.  It is a full-time job.

In ancient Israel, the shepherd was very essential to the lives of the sheep.  The shepherd would lead and guide the sheep to find food and water.  The shepherd would lead the sheep to the next green pasture when they had grazed the one they were in.  A good shepherd would be wise with the resources of the land.  In this way, the shepherd managed the land as well.  Finding good grass and not overgrazing a pasture required frequent moving of the flock.  Sometimes the journey was long and dangerous, so the shepherd had to be diligent.  For the sheep, they simply followed and ate grass in the pasture they were led to.  The pastures were not fenced.  The sheep would eat and walk, eat and walk, …  If the shepherd did not pay close attention to all of the sheep, one could easily wander off and become lost.

In our faith journey, Jesus also leads us along.  Often times He leads us to green pastures where our souls are fed.  At other times He guides us through the narrow and trying times of life, helping us to see the path to walk and strengthening us as we make our way.  In extreme cases, He will even pick us up and carry us.  Some of the time we wander a bit and in these cases, He gathers us back and continues to “guide me in paths of righteousness” so that we safely navigate life.  The Good Shepherd reminds us of our call to be holy as He is holy.  In doing so, He leads by example.

During life, at times the troubles and temptations of the world creep in.  The Good Shepherd uses His rod to fend off the attacks of Satan and uses His staff to pull us back into His presence.  In the storms, Jesus brings us His peace and comfort.  In those times, we can speak as the psalmist wrote: “I will fear no evil, for you are with me”.  In all things and in all ways, Jesus Christ seeks to be our Good Shepherd.  For His incredible love and care, we say thanks be to God!


by Leave a comment

Be in the Word.

Reading: Luke 24: 22-27

Verse 27: … He explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.

Jesus has just been present to these two followers as they expressed their emotions concerning what has taken place over the last few days.  In today’s section, a still ‘hidden’ Jesus gives these two a great study that arches through and over the scriptures that make up our Old Testament and brings them right to the current moment.  Jesus begins this great teaching with what is almost an admonishing: “How foolish you are and how slow of heart”.  Just as He was often with the disciples, so too is He with these two: saddened with their lack of understanding and insight.  Jesus spent three years teaching and being with the disciples and His followers and…

Jesus does not linger long here though.  He jumps right into the Scriptures and “beginning with Moses and all the prophets, He explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself”.  As they walked along the remainder of the seven mile journey to Emmaus, Jesus unpacks the Scriptures for them and connects all the Law and prophets to the Messiah, to himself.  It had to be amazing to experience how the whole Bible connects both to the Messiah and to itself.  It must have been wonderful to see how all of those individual books were part of one large story.  These two must have been astounded at this stranger’s teaching ability and knowledge.

And just think – all of this is available to you and I as well.  We have the Scriptures available to us – probably several copies.  It sits on the table or on our desk or on the nightstand.  We carry it with us and have instant access to it via our cell phones.  There are a ba-zillion reading plans, commentaries, studies, … out there to help us navigate through and to understand the Word of God.  When we regularly make the time to spend with the Word and when we invest in meditating on the Word, then we will be like these two walking along the road: we will encounter the risen Christ.  He is alive.  When we spend time with the Word of God, we encounter the risen Jesus there.  Be in the Word.  Encounter Jesus.


by Leave a comment

Imperishable.

Reading: 1 Peter 1: 17-23

Verses 18-19: It was not with perishable things such as gold or silver that you were redeemed… but with the prescious blood of Christ.

Today’s text plays with the contrast between the perishable and the imperishable.  Peter calls us to pursue the imperishable and to strive for the things of God.  This is in contrast to the world’s view of what matters and what is worthy of our efforts.  Peter encourages the believers to set aside the ways passed down by their fathers and to not follow in pursuing an “empty way of life”.  The chasing after the gold and silver leads to emptiness.  This is a lesson we all eventually learn.  To be rich in things most often leaves one pour in the soul.  At some point all people look in the mirror and come to realize that money and things and status do not bring true happiness.  Living a full life cannot rest on the perishable but must instead be founded on the imperishable.

Peter calls on Christians to “live your lives as strangers in reverant fear”.  To live as strangers means to live not of this world and its cares.  Another phrase that parallels this idea is “in the world but not of the world”.  Our true citizenship is in heaven.  To have ‘reverant fear’ is to have holy respect for God.  It is to be aware that the world’s choices lead to death and destruction.

This passage reminds us that we were bought with the precious blood of Jesus Christ.  This sacrifice made in love calls us to love our brothers and sisters with a deep and sincere love.  Jesus demonstrated what this love looks like and He calls us to follow after Him and to love like He loved.  Verses 18 and 19 capture this love: “It was not with perishable things such as gold or silver that you were redeemed… but with the prescious blood of Christ”.  The blood and love that made it flow so that you and I can be redeemed are imperishable.  This love of God that was poured out on the cross can never be lost.  There is nothing we can do to find ourselves outside of God’s love.  Nothing.  This is why God is our only hope in this world.  This is why God alone provides for our salvation.  He is our eternity.  It is not founded on our fickle love for God but upon God’s unfailing love for us.  It is a gift far more precious than any gold or silver and it is far more enduring.  For the imperishable love of God that we have in Jesus Christ, this day let us offer our praise and thanksgiving.


by Leave a comment

Love and God

Reading: Psalm 116:15

Verse 15: Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints.

Most translations of this verse use the word “precious”.  It is a unique word choice in an odd little verse stuck in the middle of a Psalm that otherwise rejoices over God’s presence to us and His hand at work in blessing our lives.  A better word might be “weighty” – as in, death is weighty.  This word better conveys how the death of His saints must feel to God.  After all, God gives us life – He breathes physical life into us at birth and then later God breathes the Holy Spirit into us when we accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.  When God pours so much into us, then maybe death would be a little weighty for God.

This little line is also a good reminder for us.  Yes, God is always present to us.  Yes, God rescued us from our sins.  Yes, God loves us dearly.  All are reasons to rejoice.  But death is also a reality of life.  In a way, this line reminds us that we need to be aware that in the midst of our rejoicing there are always others mourning.  It calls us to be congnizant of and attentive to them.  It also tempers our joy with a dash of reality.

This little line also reminds us that God’s love never fails.  God’s love for us is always there.  We are His dear children, both in life and in death.  In turn, this reminds us to be steadfast in our love of God.  We certainly find it easy to love God in the joyous times when all seems blessed by God.  It can be harder to love God when we feel beset or when we are suffering.  But we are called to love God despite the bad too.  We are called to love God through the trials and suffering.  God does not love us more sometimes and less other times.  May our love of God reflect this as well.


by Leave a comment

Living and Eternal Hope

Reading: 1 Peter 1: 3-9

Verses 4 and 5: In His great mercy, God has given us new birth into a living hope… and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil, or fade.

This short passage has so much power.  Peter opens by praising God and then jumps right in to explain why.  In verses four and five Peter writes, “In His great mercy, God has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil, or fade – kept in heaven for you”.  Our hope is a hope not only for eternal life, but also for a living hope in our life here on earth.  Yes, the gift of the resurrection is a wonderful promise.  But our time with God in the eternal will be a time of no more tears, no more pain, …  If there was ever a time when we needed hope, it is in the realities of this world.

After reassuring us of God’s power shielding us, Peter does acknowledge that this life will bring testing.  He writes that we may have to “suffer griefs in all kinds of trials”.  Yes, even though we have faith and even though God shields our gift of salvation, yes, this life will bring trials.  Just as the rain falls on the just and the unjust, so too do trials and “life” come to all peoples.  But there is a great difference in the affect of the trails.  Those without faith get through; they endure until the trial passes and emotions dull.  The believer, on the other hand, has a trusted and loving companion to walk beside us.  God brings us peace and comfort and strength in the trial.  God walks with us and in the end leads us to rejoice as our faith has grown, has been refined; this leads us to praise the God who is faithful and is a real presence in our time of need.

Our experience with God deepens our faith.  As Peter writes, “though you have not seen Him, you love Him”.  It is true that we do not physically see God, but we do tangibly experience God and His presence in Spirit.  This is what fills us with an “inexpressible and glorious joy”.  Peter returns to the eternal as this section draws to a close.  He reminds us that we are receiving the salvation of our souls as well.  For both of these gifts – presence now and hope in the life to come – we shout thanks be to God!!  To Him be all the glory and power, both now and forevermore.


by Leave a comment

Journey

Reading: Psalm 16: 7-11

Verse 8: Because He is my right hand, I will not be shaken.

David fully trusts in God.  This second half of Psalm 16 is a testament to that trust.  It is built upon both positive experiences and upon trials.  It is a trust and faith built upon relationship.  The relationship that David has with God is one God desires to have with you and me as well.

Our relationship with God begins with living as God intends.  Like David’s relationship, God will offer us counsel and instruction.  We also must play our part by reading and meditating on His Word and by engaging our faith in worship, in small groups, and in service to others.  We must also learn to live with hearts attuned to the power and presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives.  The Spirit is always at work, whispering, nudging, pulling, convicting, reminding.  The Spirit helps us to walk the walk and it keeps the words and ways of God ever on our hearts and minds.

David experiences such a closeness to God that he refers to God as his “right hand”.  He feels as if God were physically a part of him.  That’s closeness.  David finds great joy in this as he declares, “I will not be shaken” and goes on to rejoice over how glad this makes his heart.  David expresses this unshakable security because he knows that God is always near and that God will never abandon him.  The Psalm concludes by again acknowledging God’s leading him to the “path of life”, with joy at being filled with God’s presence, and with the promise of eternal life.

God calls all of humanity to such a great relationship!  For followers of Jesus Christ, we are always on the journey to draw closer to God.  As we grow closer to God, our trust grows and our ability to hear and follow improves as well.  The fears and doubts of the world slowly give way to more faith and trust in God.  It is a process.  It is a journey.  As we live out our faith today, may we be aware of those who are starting the journey and of those who are seeking and searching.  May we be helpers on the first steps of their journeys, loving and encouraging them as we continue on our journey as well.