pastorjohnb

Thoughts and musings on faith and our mighty God!

Tag Archives: teach


by 1 Comment

Build

Reading: Mark 6: 1-6a

Verse Three: “Isn’t this the carpenter? Isn’t this Mary’s son…”?

Can you remember when you were a child and you wanted to do something “adult”? I can remember my parents or others saying “You’re too young” or something similar. As a parent I can also remember being on the other side of these conversations with our children. Waiting to be old enough is part of growing up.

Jesus must have also experienced this growing up. He must have heard things like, “No, you can’t walk to your cousin John’s house. It is a long way and you are only seven”. Later it was probably something like, “No, we’ll work together on this kitchen remodel. You’re not old enough to do this on your own”. But being questioned because we are young or inexperienced is much different than being questioned because of our past. In fact, some people even move to a new town or a new company just to get a fresh start.

When Jesus returns to His home town, He must have come with a bit of a reputation from what He has been doing lately. Buzz from the miracles traveled from village to village and town to town. In our passage, Jesus begins by teaching in the synagogue and there He amazes them with His wisdom. But then someone remembers Jesus’ past and asks, “Isn’t this the carpenter? Isn’t this Mary’s son…”? What they were really asking was: “Isn’t this JUST the carpenter…”? They could not see He for who He had become. This is a hard thing to experience. It is real and many have and will experience it. The power of these negative thoughts is evident in how it limits Jesus’ power. He could not do big miracles and was amazed at their lack of faith.

This passage makes me wonder: when have I done this to someone recently? Am I always willing to allow others the chance to do what they think God is calling them to? Or do I squash their enthusiasm or question their motivation?

Lord, help me. Lord God, may I be an empowerer and an equipper, may I be a cheerleader and a person of support. May I be open to the God-inspired dreams and visions that you give to people. May I help them become realities. May I enable and work with others to build your kingdom here on earth. Amen.


by Leave a comment

Spirit of Truth

Reading: John 16: 4b-15

Verse Thirteen: “When he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth”.

In a lot of ways, our faith journey is much like the disciples’ faith journeys. At some point we too heard Jesus calling us, saying, “Come, follow me”. Maybe right then, maybe a bit later, we accepted the call. As we began to walk through life with Jesus, we too came to a point of saying, like Peter, “You are the Messiah” and we confessed Jesus as the Lord of our life. Then the journey really began.

In today’s passage, Jesus tells the disciples, those who have been with Him for three years, that He has much to share with them – “more than you can now bear”. This is not the first time that Jesus had to meter out a concept or skills to these men. At times, after teaching to a group or crowd, Jesus would have to explain the teaching to the disciples. In other cases, they take in the words, only to get the meaning later. Such was the case when He spoke of His death and resurrection, for example.

We too experience these things. We can read a Bible passage for the tenth time and suddenly God speaks a new truth to us. The other nine times we read it, those same words were there. We just were not open to or ready for that truth yet. Other times we take in the words and then later, in a different setting, suddenly the meaning springs to life. That voice that speaks to us is the same voice that Jesus promised the disciples in today’s passage. In verse thirteen Jesus says, “When he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth”. The same Holy Spirit reveals new truths and brings life-giving meaning to us as we read or meditate on scripture.

Jesus also speaks of the Holy Spirit convicting the world of its sin. We still experience this gift of the Spirit of truth in our lives. This is part of the guiding us to live in the truth. The Spirit redirects us when we’ve gone astray, convicts us when we sin and when we miss opportunities, reminds us when we forget, teaches us when we don’t quite get it, and nudges us when we need prompting or a push. I am grateful for the gift of the Holy Spirit in my life. Thanks be to God for this gift of constant presence. Amen.


by 1 Comment

Strange Things

Reading: Luke 24: 41-48

Verses 47 and 48: “Repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in His name to all nations… You are witnesses of these things”.

In our passage today the disciples encounter the risen Lord. Even after He shows them His hands and feet they still do not believe. He eats a piece of food in their presence. Surely a ghost would not eat. This very human gesture must have calmed the disciples, because then Jesus begins to teach them. It still amazes me that these closest of Jesus’ friends so struggle to connect what He told them when He was alive to what is happening now. Being scared and frightened does strange things to the mind.

Although none of us lived with Jesus for three years, seeing Him teach and heal and set the example of how to love, we do have many more ways to connect with Jesus than those first disciples had. We have our Bibles. When we wonder about something or have a question, we can turn to the Word and re-read a passage or look something up. We have millions of books and articles at our fingertips, hundreds of which address even the smallest question we could have. We gather weekly for worship where scripture and songs remind us of Jesus and our faith. In worship we also pray and hear the Word proclaimed. Many of us also go to a small group or study group where we go deeper in our faith development or understanding. Yet with all of this even the smallest storm in life can make us ask, “Jesus who”? Being scared and frightened does strange things to the mind.

Jesus meets the disciples in today’s passage right where they are at. He once again reminds them of all that had been written of Him in the scriptures. He showed them how He was the fulfillment of the Law and prophets. He summarized the last few days and then said, “Repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in His name to all nations… You are witnesses of these things”. Jesus gave the disciples new purpose and direction. They were to bear witness.

Jesus seeks to meet us right where we are at. When we are scared and frightened, Jesus calls to us, He calms our hearts and minds. When we are confused and quite cannot remember, He whispers in our ear. Through the power and presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives, Jesus remains very much alive. Our purpose and direction remains the same as it was with the disciples: we are witnesses. May we go forth each day, telling the story of repentance and forgiveness of sins.


by 1 Comment

Authority

Reading: Mark 1: 21-28

Verse 22: “The people were amazed at His teaching, because He taught them as one who had authority”.

Our passage from Mark 1 centers on Jesus’ authority. Authority is something we learn about early in life. As children, our parents have authority over us. Our parents are authority figures who love and care for us and who want the best for us. The next person we meet with some authority in our lives is usually our teacher. They too have a love for children and are focused on helping us to grow into intelligent and responsible young people. Soon enough we meet others who have authority in our lives: coaches, bosses, instructors. Although it can happen earlier in life, it is here that we begin to experience authority figures who do not have our well-being as the top priority. They begin to focus on things like success and performance and achievement. During the course of our lives, we certainly will encounter people with authority that we disagree with or even dislike. We may encounter authority figures who abuse their power or somehow else negatively impact us, altering our view of authority.

As Jesus teaches in the synagogue in Capernaum, those in the audience quickly recognize an authority to His teaching. Verse 22 reads, “The people were amazed at His teaching, because He taught them as one who had authority”. We have probably all had teachers or bosses who taught with authority because they were experts in their field. Jesus is an expert in His field: God. As Jesus teaches, a man possessed by demons calls out to Jesus and identifies Jesus’ authority: “You are the Holy One of God”. This man knows Jesus’ authority because of who Jesus is. As the Holy One of God, Jesus has ultimate authority. Using this, He casts out the demon. This adds a new level of authority for those in the synagogue that day – even evil spirits over Jesus.

In today’s passage, Jesus’ authority is recognized for what He knows, for who He is, and for what He can do. It is a complete authority. In our lives, do we recognize Jesus’ authority completely? Or do we try and keep a little control for ourselves? May we surrender completely to Jesus’ full authority, giving all of ourselves to Jesus today.


by 1 Comment

Presence

Reading: Deuteronomy 18: 15-20

Verse 15: “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet”.

Today there is an understanding that God is real and present to His people in several ways. In Moses’ time, God was definitely real and present to them, but there was a fear of God being too physically present. Moses became the people’s designated person to go and communicate with God. We see this unfolding in the first few verses of our passage today.

God next decides that what has been established with Moses is good. He will continue this pattern of raising up prophets to speak God’s word to the people. For many years this is the pattern, with varying degrees of success (or failure). When the people were concentrated in one place or area, a prophet called to speak God’s word could speak to the whole nation. But at times, such as when some were in exile, it was harder. Yet prophets often played a key role in the development, guiding, and realignment of the people’s faith. Prophets were most often used to call the people back to God and God’s ways.

Today we still have prophets but not quite in the Moses mold. God continues to speak through people and through things such as miracles and natural events. But today our prophets seem to speak to a more focused area or group of people. Perhaps the Pope is the closest to an Old Testament prophet as he speaks to the whole Roman Catholic faith. Today many pastors and teachers function as a prophet in the church or place that God has planted them.

We are also blessed with a personal connection to God. As Jesus departed this earth, He blessed His followers with the gift of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is like a built-in prophet as it reminds us of God and of God’s ways, and as it calls us back when we sin and wander. I am grateful for those who speak into my life and who help me along on my spiritual journey. I am also grateful for the personal attention that God gives me through the Holy Spirit’s presence in my life. It is a presence that all believers are blessed with. May God continue to lead and guide all believers in all we do and say and think. Thank God for His constant and personal presence in our lives.


by Leave a comment

Teach

Reading: Psalm 78: 1-7

Verse Four: “We will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord.”

Today’s Psalm is all about the story of God and His children.  The whole Psalm speaks of God’s love and compassion for the people regardless of their wanderings and stumbles.  It is a reminder that it is God who remains constant in our covenant relationship.  God is faithful even as we rebel.  As we read the opening of Psalm 78, we are reminded why we need to stay in touch with our history with God.  The psalmist begins with this proclamation: “O my people, hear my teaching”.  We do this many ways.

We remember through personal and corporate study and worship.  We remember as we take time to reflect on God’s provision and blessing as we lift our prayers of thanks and praise.  As we do these things, God’s love and compassion seep a little deeper still into who we are and how we live out our lives.  We remember, we connect, we are shaped.

Verse four begins our role as story tellers of the faith.  It begins with, “We will not hide them from our children”.  We will instead live out the love and compassion of God in our daily lives.  The verse continues, “We will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord”.  To many this speaks of Sunday school.  Yes and no.  What we teach our children about God must begin at home.  If we model God as the central focus of our personal lives, so too will our children.  If we joyously head off to church each Sunday, so too will our children.  We model God’s love and compassion by how we live it out in our lives.  We model faith by how visible it is in our lives.  We model Christ’s love to the world by being His hands and feet each day.

The psalmist goes on to write, “then they would put their trust in God”.  It is my hope and prayer for all children.  May it be yours as well.  As we live out this day, may our love of God pour forth in all we think, say, and do.  May God’s compassion for all if His children be evident in our compassion for all of His children.  May it be so this day and every day.  Amen.


by Leave a comment

Harvest Fields

Reading: Matthew 9: 35-38

Verse 38: Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into His harvest field.

Jesus spent most of His three years of formal ministry being out and amongst the people.  Our opening line reminds us how Jesus went through all the towns and villages teaching, preaching, and healing.  He spent time in the synagogues, but He also spent a great deal of His time outside the walls of the church building.  When we think about all of the stories of Jesus that we find in the Gospels, not too many actually take place in the formal church setting.  This is our first lesson today.

As Jesus spent time with people, as He saw the crowds, “He had compassion” for the people.  Jesus saw the people and their need for a Savior.  Matthew writes that they were “harassed and helpless”.  We too are called to the last, the least, and the broken.  These are the harrassed and helpless of our day.  We are called to also offer compassion as we feed, clothe, visit…  We are called to offer what we can to those in need.  But moreso we are called to share our faith.  Verse 36 ends with, “like sheep without a shepherd”.  To not know Jesus is to wander through life, bouncing from one thing to another in our search for contentment and satisfaction.  Only through knowing Jesus Christ do we find peace and hope in this life.  Jesus had compassion on the people, loved on them, and gave them all He had to offer as He served among them.  This is our second lesson.

Our passage ends with, “Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into His harvest field”.  Jesus is encouraging the disciples to go out into the harvest fields.  In the very next verse, 10:1, Jesus sends the 12 out to do what He has been doing: to teach, preach, and heal.  When I think about my community, I see harvest fields.  There are many who do not know the love and grace that Jesus Christ offers.  They have never heard the good news.  Relatively speaking, yes the workers are few.  My prayer is to be sent out into the harvest fields.  My hope is to share the faith I profess with others today.  May it be so.


by Leave a comment

Walk

Readings: Micah 6:4 and Matthew 5: 1-2

When one reads these verses together, there is a connection that forms between Moses and Jesus.  The concept of going up the mountain is sprinkled throughout both men’s stories in the Bible.  Moses often meets God on the mountain – it is there that he receives his call and it is where he commonly interacts with God.  For Jesus, the mountain is often where He goes to pray, to connect personally with God.   Some of the time Jesus also teaches from the mountain, as is the case today.

There is also a parallel in the idea of teaching from the mountain.  God taught Moses, who in turn taught the people, from the mountain.  In our passage from Matthew, we see Jesus in this same role – teaching from the mountain.  With both Moses and Jesus we see God being actively engaged with helping the people grow in their faith.

This process continues today.  God continues to be active in our world, teaching us in the mountaintop experiences, in the valley trials, and everywhere in between.  God continues to teach believers through the words of the prophets, disciples, and apostles.  God continues to be active in our lives through the presence of the Holy Spirit, leading and guiding believers.  God continues to be active by taking individuals like you and me, sending us out into the world to share the good news with others.

At times we learn slowly and at other times in sudden and moving revelations.  At times the Holy Spirit gently nudges and quietly whispers – at other times the compassion to act or the conviction of sin hits us like a sledgehammer.  At times we inch into service at a glacial pace and at other times we burst into action.  It is a process.  It is a journey.  May you be blessed on your walk today.  Whether on the mountaintop, in the valley, or somewhere in between – be blessed as you bless others today!


by Leave a comment

Share the Story

Reading: Psalm 146: 5-10

We love a good story.  Good stories make us feel better, they help us to remember significant and important events in our history and in our lives.  A good story can teach us much as well.  And a good story is one that is told over and over again.  The audience is just as excited to hear a good story as they were when they first heard it.

Psalm 146 is a good story, maybe even a great story.  This Psalm would have been as well known as “Amazing Grace” is today.  The Israelites would have sung this story over and over again – they would have known it by heart.  It would have been sung in worship, as one made dinner or plowed the field, as one walked along the road.  It would have been taught to children when they were very young.  It would have been sung or at least been on the minds of many as they neared drawing their last breath.

The words of Psalm 146 can make one feel better.  These words help recall significant and important events.  The words teach much about faith and about God.  Hear again the words!  Blessed us he whose help, whose hope is in the Lord.  God is the maker of heaven and earth.  The Lord upholds the cause of the oppressed and frustrates the ways of the wicked.  The Lord our God gives good to the hungry, sets prisoners free, gives sight to the blind.  Our Father sustains the orphan and the widow.  The Lord reigns forever!

What a story Psalm 146 shares!  It is a good, good story.  May we share the story today and tomorrow and the day after that and…


by 1 Comment

Questions

Reading: Luke 20: 27-38

Sometimes we ask questions because we seek information.  Sometimes we think we have the information and we ask questions to test or trap or embarrass someone.  The second scenario is the case with our Sadducees today.  They think up a whopper of a question to test and embarrass this man who seems to have all the the answers.  Even to this difficult question, Jesus has an answer.  It is such a good answer, in fact, that our gospel goes on to tell us that they dared not ask Him any more questions.

The intent of the Sadducees was not good.  We have all been in or witnessed such a scenario ourselves.  A person in authority asks a question their inferior likely cannot answer as a means to reinforce their own position or status.  A child asks another a question about something they just learned in hopes of appearing smarter than the other.  A colleague asks an apparently innocent “how was your weekend?” question, already knowing about the embarrassing thing that happened.  All of these questions are questions asked to knock down another while falsely building ourselves up.  This is not how we are called to live as followers of Jesus Christ.

Jesus is all about positive relationships and about helping others to grow in their faith.  It is true that at times Jesus asked tough questions.  He never sought to do this and only asked them as a way to prompt someone, not to force out an embarrassing revelation or confession.  At times we too will have teachable moment that call for us to ask a tough question in order to allow another to grow.  For the most part, we are called to ask questions that build others up, to ask questions that prompt growth and learning and thinking.  Our line of questioning should allow others to consider and contemplate their faith without condemning or judging them.  May we be careful with our words, always seeking to build up and teach and encourage growth in others so that they may grow in their relationship with Jesus Christ.