Archive for the 'Bible Study' Category

Accepting the Gifts of God with a Holy Awe

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Dan
on 9/8/2008
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v. 29 So they said to him, “Then what sign do you do, that we may see and believe you? What work do you perform? 31 Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’” 32 Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” 34 They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.”

The Father gave them Manna when they grumbled, and now they are grumbling/asking for proof and the Father still gives them bread…just not what they expect. Jesus is trying to show us that there is something much more important than the food we eat, and it’s HIM! James 1.17 says “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.” And it is true whether we always think so or not.

Whenever something is given to you that you gripe about, and then a little later you see that it was a blessing from above, you get to have one of those Holy Awe moments.

When I was in Burma for 2 weeks, they divided up the team one day into the tasks for the next. They said that me and a girl named Holly would do the children’s program. VBS for 70 kids! While the rest of them cooked lunch. I got all upset that I had to babysit while the rest of them got to hang out in the kitchen. I will never forget what John Tate said to me that night.
“Quit complaining Dan. You’re the only one with the gift of teaching. Any one of us would rather teach those kids, but you’re the one that gets to, so stop complaining about it.” Now if you knew John Tate, you would know that he was under the influence of missions stress and the Holy Spirit, because he’d never say anything so aggressive otherwise.

The next day, there I was, playing games and telling Bible stories to 70 little kids that were soaking it all up. I didn’t see my teammates very much, but I heard they were around. They were around alright…in a Burmese firehole kitchen. They had pealed and sliced about 900 pounds of potatoes, then stood over an open fire and fried them in a pot of oil, and sweated and burned their brains out all day long. When it was time to eat, I didn’t want to. I felt that Holy Awe of receiving a gift from above and not even noticing it.

Sometimes God (heh, most of the time) God gives us what we need, but it doesn’t fit into what WE think we need, so we don’t take it. May we accept the things God gives us, even if we accept them like Job “Job 2:10 ¶ He replied, “You are talking like a foolish woman. Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?” ¶ In all this, Job did not sin in what he said.” Because I think the more we accept from God, we’ll see that He actually gives us more good things than we realize.

The Work of God Without Fillers, Hormones, Steroids, or Programs

Published
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Dan
on 9/7/2008
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John 6:27 Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. On him God the Father has placed his seal of approval.”
John 6:28 ¶ Then they asked him, “What must we do to do the works God requires?”
John 6:29 ¶ Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.”

It’s funny how my distractions play right into my Bible study time. I was reading various blogs this morning and some different church planting movements in America right now and got kind of burnt out on the whole “trying to make our church appealing so people will come” idea. Trendy marketing and catchy 5-week sermon series based on the current trendy TV show or dramatic one word sentences (ie. “with.” or “in”) wore me out as I was distracted before getting to my Bible.

Then I read this passage. Just like today, the masses were looking for the formula or list of what to do to get God’s big red checkmark of acceptance. When they asked “what must we do” they were waiting for a list. John doesn’t have a “sermon on the mount” section in his gospel. Rabbis often had a set of teachings that they could recite, and this might be what the people were expecting from Jesus. They would often ask “what is the most important law” which would sort of tell the listeners what rabbinical denomination a teacher was in.

Jesus completely steps out of what they were expecting for an answer. His list contains one item, and that one item encompasses every aspect of life. It is not easy, it is not even CLEAR, and it requires a lot of time-a long span of life, to draw near to it. It can also be done in an instant, and completed in a momentary act, which would then just be continued on for your life.

The other day I was talking to a guy in my neighborhood about missionaries and he got ‘that look’ on his face. That looks that says “those people destroy culture and brainwash people” and is often hard to really talk about to people that don’t know about missionaries. I think the same thing would happen if you looked at too many websites of contemporary mega-churches. They have all kinds of happy faux-hawk young men and happy mothers of 2 doing numerous demographically strategic activities. Small groups, food shelters, and video of the weekly sermon are all things you would want to know about and participate in.

Long ago, when the Jewish people were cast into exile, the leaders believed it was because they were not following the Torah, or God’s way (law). They developed a commentary on that Law, which detailed even more laws that, if followed, would definitely keep everyone far far away from breaking God’s Law. They came up with 1,500 rules to prevent them from breaking God’s single statement, “Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy.” And eventually, all of these rules became laws too, equal in severity and punishment to God’s original law. That commentary turned to law is called the Mishna. The Mishna took on equal standing to the Law, and the Pharisees forgot the point of God’s Torah and began to make the Mishna the point of their lives.

Which takes me back to John 6.29. I think the leaders of our day have written their own Mishna that has taken us away from Jesus, the source of all life. Now you can be in a small group, volunteer in outreaches (that consist of simply inviting someone to come and listen to someone else talk about God) and attend worship every week and think you are doing the “works God requires.” It’s almost like someone said, “Jesus said to believe in the one God sent. What does that look like?” and somebody made a list. After making that list, they forgot what the question was, and tacked those answers onto a different question: “What must we do to do the works God requires?”

I would like to reset and unlearn what I have learned. I would like to trash my whole list, even though for a long time I have been a marketer and promoter of such lists. I want to be connected to the original answer and not the commentary on the questions about the answer. I want to see what happens to a life that doesn’t have any additional baggage, but simply believes in the One God sent.

Is this Jesus Guy the Best Teacher Ever or What?

Published
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Dan
on 9/6/2008
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25 When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you come here?” 26 Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. 27 Do not labor for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal.”
John 6.25-27 ESV

Jesus doesn’t waste any time at all w/ small talk. He calls them flat out on why they are there. I think Jesus is so blunt sometimes that we just can’t even comprehend what it would be like to be so blunt. There is no discussion of the weather, no complimenting clothing, just BAM! Maybe that’s just how they wrote it, or maybe that’s how their culture was in that day…no tellin’.

Jesus confronts them directly but doesn’t send them away. I could just hear someone say “you are seeking me because you ate your fill of the loaves, now go away” but He doesn’t do that. He recognizes our weakness but still gives us a prescription to get strength. He doesn’t just write us off. The people didn’t plan ahead and were out in the wilderness with nothing to eat. It was their fault, but he didn’t condemn them, he fed them. Now they are chasing after him for more food (it’s a new day so they need a new supply of manna) and He exposes the truth in them but keeps them nearby to learn what to do about that truth.

The Father dos not become disgusted w/ our shortcomings. He does not reject us for our immaturity. The masses were there our of immaturity, but the disciples were there out of maturity. But even that maturity they had was a gift from The Father.

Every one of those people that were fed and ‘ate like pigs’ was now hungry. They all know what bread that perishes is all about, because the miracle that happened 18 hours earlier had vanished. The leftovers might even be gone by now. That opens the perfect opportunity for Jesus to explain bread that perishes and bread that lasts.

They have worked hard to get to Him today. They had to go around the lake or call over some boats and track him down. Surely they would be worn from the trip, and ready for some more food. Jesus tells them not to sweat and work so hard for barley bread and sardines. It’s not worth it. You should work for the eternal life food.

(according to Google Earth, if he was in Bethsaida, or on the coast near there, it would be about 4 miles to Capernaum across the water. That route will be important in a few days)

How often does the Father take the opportunity that shows up in our normal life and desires to teach us something about Himself? I think about fasting and how hungry you can be for food, and to realize that you don’t even live off of food, but off of God. Or the yearning of a man for his wife in the days leading up to their wedding, how small a yearning that is compared to God and His Bride! Or the yearning for justice that we have when we see or experience the darkness of oppression, either by people or powers, and the deepening trust that we have that at the end of time God will put all things right.

Jesus’ Nature and His Temptation

Published
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Dan
on 9/5/2008
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I have still been amazed today that Jesus really was tempted to bow down to Satan. I was talking about it at lunch and Andy G and I began talking about how it was a real temptation for Jesus to turn the rocks into bread. Andy said a good one, “He probably had to deliberately prevent Himself from doing that.”

If something is in your nature, you do it based on your instinct. You do it as a reflex. When I’m hungry, I eat something, when I’m thirsty, I get up and get a drink. When you can take a rock and POOF make it into bread, you have to be deliberate about not doing it. This is where being made into a new creation comes in. I do NOT live any longer, but Christ lives in me. The life I live I live in Him. That is what works in us to put off old destructive habits and develop holy ones; habits that are in the likeness of Jesus’ habits.

These habits are NOT what make us Christian or saved or anything. These habits are how our rebirth shows up and manifests itself. To do these habits out of obligation or law is to prop up a dead body and move it around acting like it’s alive.

Let our righteous acts come out our of the recreation of our habits. May we develop a heavenly nature that by reflex does what the Spirit wishes, as we deliberately walk in His ways.

Jesus was Tempted

Published
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Dan
on 9/4/2008
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Today I met Andy J at the bank and we talked about Luke 4. The amazing thing about Jesus being tempted in the desert, I think, is that a lot of times we’ve been ripped off and analyze what the temptations represent or what they symbolize and the way He resisted w/ God’s Word or how Satan knows the scriptures blah blah blah.

It’s enough for me to realize that Jesus was tempted. And he wasn’t tempted like my co-worker that doesn’t want me to leave the box of donuts near his cube. This was God, in the flesh, so he was weakened and gave up some of His power, being tempted to cheat the plan.

In the Miracle Maker, a claymation Jesus movie, the do a really good job of showing Jesus being tempted. At the end He is hollering at the top of His lungs, “You shall not…put…the Lord…your God…to the test.” and He says that twice, almost forcing it out. Every time I see it I get tears in my eyes, because you really don’t know if He’s saying it to the devil or if He’s saying it to Himself. It really is a struggle for Him to resist.

I don’t know how to explain how one part of the Trinity could rebel or turn against God, but it was possible. It was entirely possible for Jesus to bow down to Satan. If it wouldn’t have been possible, then it wouldn’t have been a temptation. God’s own right hand angel turned against Him, His own son had the opportunity to do it too, but He didn’t.

And that’s the amazing thing. Jesus was fully man and had all of the limitations that we have as men (and women.) As He was a man, He had a perfect relationship with God, and in that relationship GOD did a ton of things through Jesus.

He was tempted to do something, and I don’t think His resistance had anything to do with some rational reasoning as to why we should all resist Satan. He resisted because He knew that was what the Father would do. He resisted because the things Satan suggested weren’t right, and He was willing to die rather than do even one thing that was not in alignment with the Father.

Notes from the day: Church Culture and Jesus’ Teaching Style

Published
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Dan
on 9/3/2008
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Good conversation at the Donut Bank today, talking about how the culture and the church is moving the way of companies and business…away from the powerful CEO that makes all of the decisions and his trickle down approvals. The church is becoming more entrepreneurial, smaller and more agile. Instead of the monstrous IBM church a newer, leaner, Facebook church with smaller staffs and less control is emerging. The church is less like a giant mainframe where everyone has to be plugged in to do anything (like join a group to do outreach or be in a men’s group to talk to men about the bible) and more like handhelds and flash drives, plugging in all over and doing outreach wherever and whenever and talking about the Bible in the midst of ordinary life.

There was also some good conversation about my post yesterday on the tithe. As I spent my tithe on strong drink (dark roast at the Donut Bank) Andy G. brought up giving as an act of submission to authorities and leaders in the church. That is good, but I’m not sure I’m ready for that yet.

At lunch I had more goodies w/ John 6. I talked to Rick about how Jesus asks questions and then shows in His actions what the answer is. He did a lot of teaching that involved showing all of the puzzle pieces and then letting God put them together in a person. He didn’t rebuke Philip for saying it would 8 months wages to feed those people. Philip was thinking like men depending on men think, not like a Man that depends on God. Jesus didn’t rebuke him though, He just sort of said, “Watch and learn, Philip.”

Leftovers and the Tithe

Published
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Dan
on 9/2/2008
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I was just reading Rick’s notes on John 6.1-13 and the recurring theme of God giving in abundance and there being leftovers comes up over and over again. When Jesus handed out the bread, there were leftovers, when He turned the water into wine, I HOPE there were leftovers!, when they caught all of the fish, there were so many the nets began to break…So I’m left thinking…where are my leftovers? It’s sad to say but that was my first reaction. Then my neck was a little sore and I looked around (heh, my stiff neck, Ex. 32.9) and I see all of the stuff we have at our house. My sons have robots! I have 2 nice cameras (still and motion) There are appliances, furnishings, conveniences, lavishings!

I think I’ve spent all of my leftovers on myself. If you add in credit cards, I’ve even spent FUTURE leftovers on myself!

Which makes me want to start giving even more.

Any of the Christian budgeting theories and books and manuals and videos will tell you in your budget to factor in your income, then take 10% off of that for your tithe, and then make your monthly budget. They get the 10% from the present-day teaching that Jews used to give 10% of their income to God. (often thought of as a donation to the temple, but it really wasn’t) Check out this link http://www.acts17-11.com/dialogs_tithe.html I just came across looking for the OT reference.

So instead of arguing the case for giving vs. titheing, I’m just going to post the above link and move on.

When I lived in Asia, I didn’t really have an income. I had a balance of money, and every month I would ask for whatever I wanted that month and I would get it. I also was really convicted by this teaching of Jesus in Luke 6.30 & 34. I wasn’t 100% at it, but I did loan out a lot of things that I would have never considered loaning before. Now if I kept track of what I gave away or loaned out to make sure I stayed at 10%, where would my joy be? And how many times did I meet beggar kids and signal them to hide from the grocery store security guards while I bought them bags of groceries, and keep track of how much I spent on them? Honestly, I did that as much as I kept track of all of the people that would write us a kind note via email and then drop $100 into our account.

A lot of the churches in my neighborhood preach the message that “you can’t out-give God” and I would say that is correct. He is continually out-giving us, and just as He keeps no account of His mercy or our sin, I think He would appreciate us freely giving out what we freely have received. I think they are going to have some regrets when they have to give an account for taking money “given to God” and buying Cadillacs and gold rings, which is why I’m going to spend today looking to see how I can give away my leftovers…but not starting with my sons’ robots.

Hospitality to His Rejectors

Published
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Dan
on 9/1/2008
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(if this is a little scattered, I was retrieving Levi a couple times during this writing)

There has to be something up with John 6.4

There are a lot of similarities between Jesus feeding the 5000 and the “Last Supper.”

Jesus broke the bread and gave thanks and passed it out to people that would thank him for it and then turn on him. The disciples passed it out as he gave thanks, and then, maybe for the first time, compared himself to that bread. He was the bread that came out of nowhere, and the bread that was in such abundance that there were always leftovers.

Bread is serious business all over the middle eastern world. Bread/ with salt/ is a symbol of hospitality. Jesus could have fed them many things, but bread says, “you are welcome here with me.” When Melchizadec showed up in Abraham’s life, it was bread and wine. When the Passover was celebrated, the meal hinged on specialized bread.

Jesus welcomes us into his presence, and provides for our needs, knowing full well that we are fickle, moody sheep. He is not a fiery fearful terror that causes the people to beg for a moderator. The 5000 people were there because they had seen Him heal the sick. I can just see that many of them may have been the ones healed, and weren’t sure what to do now that they were well except follow Jesus (ie. The Pool Guy and others…)

The law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

Published
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Dan
on 8/30/2008
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John 6.3-5
 Jesus is sitting w/ His disciples, away from the crowds, but He can see that the crowds are coming. He looks out over them and doesn’t ask “Should we feed these people?” but instead, “Where do we get their bread?”

I love that. Jesus isn’t waiting for the people to come and beg. None of the people are actually expecting anything like this from Him. (later in chapter 6 they will, but so far they don’t)

The Father looks for ways to care for people. Jesus did not make 8,000 pounds of bread for the disciples and then say, “who can we give these leftovers too…I know! Those 5,000 people over there!” He made the bread and the fish for the people first.

When the manna came down from heaven, it was an answer to the people’s grumbling against God and they had to prepare it. This time it isn’t an answer to anything, it is motivated by Jesus and it’s already prepared for them.

I can’t help but see some parallels with this and the Law and Grace. Manna and The Law came from grumbling to help the people to see the Holiness of God. It required work to be received and could spoil. The Grace of God in Jesus came even though we weren’t seeking or expecting Him. All of the work was already done by Jesus on the cross, and the bread of life and salvation was brought to us, prepared and ready to take in. This grace was not something that would spoil or fade, but be in such abundance for us that there would be grace left over to share in other places at a later date.

Prepare the Way then Get Out of the Way

Published
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Dan
on 8/28/2008
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Luke 3:3 He went into all the country around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
Luke 3:4 As is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet: “A voice of one calling in the desert, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.
Luke 3:5 Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill made low. The crooked roads shall become straight, the rough ways smooth.
Luke 3:6 And all mankind will see God’s salvation.’”

Is. 40:3 A voice of one calling: “In the desert prepare the way for the LORD; make straight in the wilderness a highway for our God.
Is. 40:4 Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain.
Is. 40:5 And the glory of the LORD will be revealed, and all mankind together will see it. For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”

Whenever a king would go out into his kingdom, his subjects would go ahead of him and fix the roads that he would travel on. I saw something similar happen in Central Asia. We had some friends that lived on this really nice asphalt paved street. It was different from every single street all around it, except for the main thoroughfare through town that it was perpendicular to. I found out that the President of said country once came down that road and gave a gift to something like the oldest surviving veteran from WWII or something. Anyway, the week before the president came, they asphalted the street.

John the Baptist is preparing the way for the Lord. Preparing the way…so what is his prep?

Repent, quit cheating, share your extra coat, be content with your pay, don’t steal extra for yourself, and the most haunting for the people at the time, really…That the sons of Abraham aren’t the ones born in certain families. The children of Abraham are created by God.

This is definitely preparing the way for Jesus and His message. The great part isn’t that John is getting them cleaned up so that they look good for Jesus, he is getting them ready to leave the vain acts of the Law and to come to know God again.

He is cracking the hard boiled egg so Jesus can come and peel it.

I think we have a lot of these guys nowadays that come through and shake everyone up so we can fall and settle in new ways. The hard part is that John got taken out and his teaching slipped away as Jesus became stronger.
Today the crazy guys come and shake everyone up so we can come down and settle in new ways, but then they stick around for a long time, trying to keep their message as current and cool and different as it was a few years ago, and things just become weird.
Some of you might know some of the people I’m thinking of. Very radical thinkers and full of great ideas that helped us reshape the kingdom, but now we’ve rethunk and we need someone else to come along and show us how to live the new stuff out.