pastorjohnb

Thoughts and musings on faith and our mighty God!

Tag Archives: sacrifice


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Call of Christ

Christ chose to come and live among us.  God incarnate made the choice to walk in a human body. In the form of Jesus, God stepped out of heaven and down among us.  The people who lived with Jesus and witnessed His life were blessed to be in His presence, as are we who read about Him 2,000 years later.

In today’s culture, we are impressed when a president of a big company spends time with the workers or when a celebrity athlete spends time in a school or hospital.  At times we too are called to step out of or normal circle and to spend time ministering to the poor, the widow, the orphan, the prisoner.  For some it is a similar step to what Jesus did, willingly offering self for other’s benefit.

Christ set the ultimate example of giving when He submitted to death for our benefit.  Jesus Christ became totally powerless in order to gain ultimate power over death.  He had to be weak and vulnerable in order to gain strength and glory.  We are not called, in general, to give our lives for another, but we are all asked: what can you offer?

Scripture reference: Ephesians 1: 20-23


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Called to the Same Standard

In Matthew 22 Jesus answers the Pharisees’ question about taxes by says to give to Caesar what is Caesar’s.  It is a concept we follow to this day.  Like it or not, we realize that paying taxes is a necessary thing to keep schools open, roads maintained, police and such on duty…

Jesus also says to give to God what is God’s.  Hmmm…  Isn’t everything God’s?  Technically speaking, if He created all of this, isn’t it all His?  And this leads to the questions of how do we give to God and how much do we give to God?  Do we go with the 10% tithe idea or do we give all of ourselves to God?  Hard questions.

In Jesus, we see the goal.  He gave his all for us.  In his daily life, Jesus loved all he encountered, meeting the right where they were at, offering them what he could.  We are called to the same standard.  Ultimately He took the cross and death for our sins.  What more could He give?  In the end, Jesus continued to meet us where we were at and offered what he could – himself.  To paraphrase John Wesley, may we too seek to do all the good we can for all those that we can in all of the times that we can.

Scripture reference: Matthew 22: 15-22


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Good Questions

In the beginning it was Israel that was God’s chosen people.  For the thousands of years before Christ, they were God’s only people.  They are the people of the law, the covenant, the prophets, the temple, the history, and of Jesus’ ancestors.  Yet they are, like us, a broken people.  The law is ever before them as a testament to their inability to make it on their own.  We too cannot walk out our faith on our own.  God sent Jesus to establish a new way, to establish a new covenant with a people who became known as Christians.  We are a people of the Jewish Bible but also a people of the New Testament.

In Romans 9 you can hear Paul’s pain and anguish.  He was a former Jew hurting for his fellow Jews.  Paul offers up his own faith – if Israel would just believe in Jesus Christ.  That’s pretty amazing.  It is very sacrificial.  It is also something that I could see Christ doing.

So it begs the question in me – and hopefully in you too – what am I willing to do to bring a lost soul to Christ?  What would I gladly yield up to save another?  These are good questions to spend some time with today.

Scripture reference: Romans 9: 1-5