pastorjohnb

Thoughts and musings on faith and our mighty God!

Tag Archives: incarnation


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Claimed and Fulfilled

Reading: Psalm 80:17-19

Verse 17: Let your hand rest on the man at your right hand, the son of man you have raised up for yourself.”

The second part of Psalm 80 speaks of one who will bring hope to Israel. This is a deep longing in the nation. The Israelites are familiar with God raising up leaders – Abraham, Moses, Joshua, David, Solomon, Gideon, Samson, Deborah, Esther, Isaiah, Jeremiah… There is a long list of men and women called by God, guided by the Spirit, and empowered by God to lead. And when you look at the long list of people called and used by God, there is great diversity.

As we read these words of the Psalm, we do so as many have for almost 2,000 years. We read these words through the lens of Christ. We do so because Jesus claimed and fulfilled these words and many others written in the Old Testament. Jesus came from and returned to the right hand of God – to the judgment seat. Christ was the incarnation of God, raised up by God through the Holy Spirit from a virgin and from the line of David.

In the giving of self, of blood, of life, Jesus restored our relationship with God and provided a means for this to happen again and again. In Christ, God’s face did shine upon humanity, revealing the depth of God’s love, mercy, and grace. Through Jesus Christ, we are saved. Thanks be to God!

Prayer: Lord God, thank you for the reminder today of how you fulfilled these words and promises for the salvation of the world and for my salvation. Jesus Christ is the hope of the world and the hope of all who love you. Amen.


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Live Agape Love

Reading: John 15: 9-11

Verse 9: “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Remain in my love”.

Today is the first of three days in this passage from John 15: 9-17. Each day centers on love – the defining characteristic of God and of Jesus’ life and ministry. As followers of Jesus Christ love should be our leading and defining characteristic as well. As we begin, let us clarify what this love is.

The word for love that Jesus uses in this passage is “agape”. This is not a romantic love or a brotherly love. Agape love is a sacrificial love – it is a love that places the needs and sometimes wants of the other ahead of our own. Agape love is unconditional love – a no-matter-what love. Other loves can be sacrificial or unconditional when elevated to this highest form of love. But agape love will remain sacrificial and unconditional by its nature.

In today’s three verses the focus is on remaining or abiding in God’s love and in Jesus’ love. Verse nine invites us: “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Remain in my love”. Here we get a picture of the nature of this love as well as how to remain connected to this powerful and divine love. God loved Jesus and, in the same way, Jesus loves us. The breadth of this love was first demonstrated in the incarnation. Leaving all divinity and power behind, God humbled himself and took on flesh and dwelt among us. This necessary step allowed Jesus to model what God’s love looks like when lived out to the full. In this we see that love is an action, not a noun. The depth of God’s love is demonstrated in sending Jesus to the cross to die for our sins. This sacrifice replaced the old system. In the old system there was a price paid too, but the guilt and shame remained. The offering of a bird or lamb or cow met the price but the animal’s life could not bring forgiveness. Only the blood of the perfect one, Jesus Christ, shed in sacrificial and unconditional love, could wash away our sin and the guilt and shame as well. Only Jesus’ no-matter-what love can do that.

As followers we too are called to live agape love. The commands to love God and to love neighbor are rooted in this agape love. This day may we love God and others as Jesus first loved us.

Prayer: God of love, the breadth and depth of your love is amazing and powerful. It is both humbling and enabling. It is undeserved yet abundantly given. Use me to model and reflect this love to all I meet. Amen.


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Emptied

Reading: Philippians 2: 5-9

Verse 7: “He made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness”.

Photo credit: freestocks

Paul begins chapter two in his letter to the church in Philippi with an invitation to “being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose” with Jesus Christ. Paul encourages the church to “look not only to your own interests” and invites them to this: “in humility consider others better than yourselves”. These are the ideas and invitations that proceed our reading for today. In today’s passage Paul calls on us to have the attitude of Christ.

Speaking of the incarnation Paul begins by reminding us that Jesus gave up his divinity, his “equality with God”. Jesus made the choice to be like us: “He made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness”. Instead of coming as the all-powerful, all-knowing, all-seeing, almighty God that he was and is, Jesus emptied himself of all this and came in human form. Jesus humbled himself to walk as one of us.

The act of emptying oneself is something we are called to, especially during Lent. The ongoing invitation in the season of Lent is to look within, to find that which limits our obedience to God, and to die to these things. Jesus gave up much to be like us. We are asked to do the same for him: give up our human rights, wants, desires… to be like Christ.

So on this last Friday in March, as we stand on the edge of Holy Week, we ask ourselves: What do I need to empty from my life to be more like Jesus Christ? What do I need to die to so that I can serve him better? How will I let these parts of me go?

Prayer: Lord God, open my eyes and heart to that within me that keeps me from walking closer to you. Give me the courage to look within, whether deeply or in the shallow end. Elevate the voice of the Holy Spirit to speak truth into my soul. Make me more like Jesus Christ. Amen.


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All About Relationship

Reading: Colossians 1: 15-28

Verses 17-18: “He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. He is the head of the body, the church”.

Our writing from Paul today first centers on Christ’s supremacy. Before the beginning of time, before the light was separated from the darkness, Jesus was there. By Christ and for him all things were created in heaven and on earth. Paul describes Jesus’ incarnation this way: “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation”. Jesus is the embodiment of God – his love, his mercy, his grace, his compassion, his empathy, his forgiveness, his generosity… No one has ever seen the “physical” God, but through Christ we see God’s spirit and character.

In verses 17-18 Paul writes, “He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. He is the head of the body, the church”. This reiterates Jesus’ eternal nature and also speaks of his unifying nature. The natural order leads all things towards death. In isolated systems, the natural movement is from order to disorder. In the church, though, Christ holds all things together. He not only holds things together but also seeks to build up the church. As the head of the body, the church, Jesus is ever at work to bring people of faith closer together and into deeper relationship, both with himself and with each other. This work is best revealed when one studies Jesus’ ministry.

The Jesus of the Gospels was all about relationship. Whether with the disciples or the prostitute or the woman caught in adultery or the Pharisees or the tax collector or the thief on the cross or… Jesus was concerned with knowing the other and being known by the other. Whether in conversation or teaching or healing, he sought to deepen their faith and/or to strengthen their connection to God and each other. For example, sometimes a healing restored the other to their family and community. Sometimes it began or bolstered their faith. Often the healing did both things.

In verses 19-20 we read, “God was pleased… through him to reconcile to himself all things”. In and through Jesus, God desires to bring all people to himself. It is a love for all nations, peoples, and tribes. It is a love that led Jesus to die on the cross, to defeat the power of sin – the thing that separates us from God. With that barrier removed, we are able to live in a loving relationship with the Lord our God. The head, the firstborn from the dead, gave himself for us. What a love. Thanks be to God.

Prayer: God, Jesus’ love amazes me. It is a love without bounds, without limit. When I consider your love revealed through Jesus Christ, I am humbled. My capacity and ability to love falls so short of his example. Help me to love more like Jesus. Amen.


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Is, Was, Is to Come

Reading: Revelation 1: 4-8

Verse 8: “I am the alpha and omega, who is and who was, and who is to come”.

The alpha and omega are the first and last letters in the Greek alphabet. Symbolically, Jesus is saying that He was there in the beginning and will be there through the end. Jesus is eternal. When the world was spoken into being, He was there. When sin entered the world, He was there. When the waters again covered the earth, He was there. When the incarnation happened, Jesus became present in a new way. He took on flesh and walked among us. His earthly life ended on the cross, but He remained present, appearing to many of His followers. Jesus ascended after 40 days and returned to the right hand of God. There He intercedes on our behalf, having experienced life on earth. Jesus also imparted a gift to all who believe – the Holy Spirit. Through the Spirit, Jesus remains alive in us. As we read today, “Look, He is coming on the clouds”. One day, Jesus will again return to rule over the new heaven and earth. That reign will last forever and ever. Jesus is the Almighty, “who is and who was, and who is to come”.

In each of our lives we also experience Jesus in these ways. We sense the “was” part as we feel the power greater than ourselves, not quite relating to it fully, yet sensing it there. We see the Almighty in nature and in others. We even have our brushes with Him. Some grow up in church and have a gradual, building knowledge of Jesus. Others meet Him suddenly and then begin to learn who He is. Either way there is a point where Jesus becomes “real” and we ask Him into our hearts. Jesus then lives in us through the power and presence of the Holy Spirit. Then one day – maybe today or tomorrow or many years from now – we are drawn into His eternity. We might go to Him, perhaps He comes to all who remain, coming on the clouds. For each of us, Jesus is the one “who is and who was, and who is to come”. Thanks be to God!

Prayer: Lord, your presence has always been a part of the world and it will always be. I am so grateful that you are in my life. Continue to lead and guide me all of my days until that moment when I meet you face to face. Amen.


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Where Is My Place?

God is omnipotent and omnipresent.  He is all-knowing, all-powerful, and is present everywhere, all of the time.  Psalm 139 reminds us that there is nowhere we can go to hide from God – not depths, heights, darkness, or the far side of the sea.  Yet at times we feel separated from God, at times we feel we can hide from God.  At times we feel distant and ask: “Where is God in my life?”  But the real question is: where is my place in God’s plans for my life?

God has promised to always be with us.  In the decision to become flesh, to dwell amongst us as Jesus Christ, God fulfilled His promise completely.  At birth the divine spark is planted in each of us.  This inner light is our connection to God.  For some who never respond and do not enter into a relationship with Jesus Christ, the spark is still there, its light shown in the inherant goodness found in all humanity.  For those who do enter into a relationship with Jesus, that light leads us to become the continuing incarnation of God in the world.  We become a part of God’s redeeming work in the world as we extend His presence in the world, just as the Holy Spirit is God’s active presence in us.

Each day we must ask the question: where is my place in God’s plan for my life today?  Through prayer and through time in the Word we connect to God and seek to actively discern where and to whom God is calling us this day.  It is in His presence that we find where He is active in our life and where God is calling us to be active in our world.  This day may we find the time and space to bow down, to worship God, and to to praise our God and may we bring that out into the world with us.

Scripture reference: Psalm 132: 1-10