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The Ultimate, Fearless, Sovereign, Power Over Enemies, Grace of God shown in Jesus

Published
by
Dan
on 10/4/2008
in Bible Study and Urbia
. 1 Comment

I talked with a guy yesterday morning for a while about Judas being hand-picked by Jesus. I am overwhelmed at the true meaning of sovereignty shown by Jesus. One of THE TWELVE is “a devil” and He doesn’t flee or try to take him out! He actually shows him a LOT of mercy.

“He called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out evil spirits and to heal every disease and sickness.
These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon (who is called Peter) and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and his brother John; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.”
(Matt 10:1-4 NIV)

Jesus gave JUDAS authority to drive out evil spirits and to heal every disease and sickness!

What if we followed Jesus as His disciples, ones that imitate Him, and followed Him down this path?! He chooses men to follow Him, knowing full well that one of them will betray Him with a betrayal that results in His death. I can just imagine if Peter knew about it in advance.
“No Lord, he must not come with us. You’ll die!” says Peter
“Simon, Simon,” Jesus replies, “don’t you know that it is written

Psa. 55:12 If an enemy were insulting me, I could endure it; if a foe were raising himself against me, I could hide from him.
Psa. 55:13 But it is you, a man like myself, my companion, my close friend,
Psa. 55:14 with whom I once enjoyed sweet fellowship as we walked with the throng at the house of God.

And

Psa. 41:5 My enemies say of me in malice, “When will he die and his name perish?”
Psa. 41:6 Whenever one comes to see me, he speaks falsely, while his heart gathers slander; then he goes out and spreads it abroad.
Psa. 41:7 All my enemies whisper together against me; they imagine the worst for me, saying,
Psa. 41:8 “A vile disease has beset him; he will never get up from the place where he lies.”
Psa. 41:9 Even my close friend, whom I trusted, he who shared my bread, has lifted up his heel against me.

“”

So often it seems like we make decisions on the basis of our safety. Especially down here in our neighborhood. Too many times I think I make a decision on who to serve based on whether I can trust them or not, or whether they will be faithful and repay me for what I did for them, either in respect or kindness to my family or openness to Jesus.

But Jesus shows mercy completely free. He gave spiritual gifts to Judas so that the news of The Kingdom would go out, even though His messenger would betray Him to death! I think of giving a beggar some money out of fear of him coming back or guilt that he sees me in my house with all of my riches. Jesus would give to that beggar much more than my little $5 giftcard to McDonald’s, and know full well that the next day that beggar would be shouting for His execution.

The grace of God blows me away once again. I want that fearless, not-withholding grace power in my life!

The Consequences of Increasing Violence with Business

Published
by
Dan
on 9/30/2008
in Bible Study
. 1 Comment

“Through your widespread trade you were filled with violence, and you sinned. So I drove you in disgrace from the mount of God, and I expelled you, O guardian cherub, from among the fiery stones. Your heart became proud on account of your beauty, and you corrupted your wisdom because of your splendor. So I threw you to the earth; I made a spectacle of you before kings. By your many sins and dishonest trade you have desecrated your sanctuaries. So I made a fire come out from you, and it consumed you, and I reduced you to ashes on the ground in the sight of all who were watching.”
(Ezek 28:16-18 NIV)

I know that was about the King of Tyre, and flashing back to be about the devil, but who else does this apply to? Filled with violence because of widespread trade? Proud because of it’s beauty? Corrupt because of its beauty?  Desecrated the sanctuaries with dishonest business?

I’ll leave off what I’m alluding to, in case any of my friends ever want to become president of the United States of America.

May we never forget that all we have and are is a gift from God.

“Is he not the One who says to kings, ‘You are worthless,’ and to nobles, ‘You are wicked,’ who shows no partiality to princes and does not favor the rich over the poor, for they are all the work of his hands? They die in an instant, in the middle of the night; the people are shaken and they pass away; the mighty are removed without human hand. “His eyes are on the ways of men; he sees their every step.”
(Job 34:18-21 NIV)

Jesus is Jesus, Followers or Not

Published
by
Dan
on 9/28/2008
in Bible Study
. 1 Comment

Jesus is completely confident in Himself and doesn’t need followers to give Him worth. He makes all of these declarations about who He is throughout John 6, and then finishes by saying, “do you want to leave too?” to His closest disciples.

There were a couple times in the desert of Exodus that God told Moses that He was going to wipe the Hebrew slate clean and start over with just Moses! I think God could have done the same thing right here if the 12 deserted Jesus, and Jesus knew it.

Just like Jesus was poking Philip to see how done he was back at the beginning of chapter 6, I think Jesus is poking the 12 to see if they too will leave. “how much of this are you guys getting” is basically what Jesus is saying. “are you ready for me to BE your life?”

Peter has heard from Jesus that words are the overflow of what is inside of us. When Peter says “you have the words of eternal life” he wasn’t talking about magic spells or secret codes. He was confessing that the things Jesus said were the teachings that would lead to a full life that would last forever.

He still has the words of eternal life today. He’s not forceful or manipulative. He doesn’t wear makeup or have moving lights. He does care if you follow Him or not, but He’s not going to change the words of life into words of death just so you’ll like Him. The truth is what it is, and He offers it for free.

Jesus: The Enemy Genius

Published
by
Dan
on 9/27/2008
in Bible Study
. 3 Comments

John 6:66-71
After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. 67 So Jesus said to the Twelve, “Do you want to go away as well?” 68 Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, 69 and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.” 70 Jesus answered them, “Did I not choose you, the Twelve? And yet one of you is a devil.” 71 He spoke of Judas the son of Simon Iscariot, for he, one of the Twelve, was going to betray him.

This seems like a strange way for Jesus to answer them. “we have believed, and have come to know that you are the Holy One of God”
“Did I not choose you, the Twelve? And yet one of you is a devil.”
Flip back a bit, and see Jesus earlier that day

John 6:39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all that he has given me, but raise them up at the last day.
John 6:40 For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.”

Peter says, We all believe in you, we won’t leave, and Jesus says, “I called all of you, and my father is drawing all of you, so I knew you wouldn’t leave, but one of you will leave in the end.”

I don’t think it’s too much for Jesus to call Judas a devil. He was an adversary, an accuser, a meddler, and these are all things that the devil is called in different places.

At the same time, Jesus reaches out to and cares for Judas up to the very end. At the meal, Judas is there and already has a plan to betray Jesus.

John 13:2 ¶ The evening meal was being served, and the devil had already prompted Judas Iscariot, son of Simon, to betray Jesus.
John 13:3 Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God;
John 13:4 so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist.

Jesus goes on to wash all of their feet–even Judas’!

When Jesus taught us how to deal with our enemies, he said to do good to them. That is such revolutionary genius! I have had a few times where someone was genuinely being evil to me (honestly more in Asia than in America, I’m afraid) and there were many witnesses. When I returned their evil with good, all of the witnesses declared the evil person was even more evil, and the judgment on them increased.

I know I’ve written about this before, maybe on my blog, but intrinsic to our hope in the Ultimate Power of God is the knowledge that He Himself is Judge and Prosecutor. We don’t have to dole out the judgments and decide who is deserving of God’s blessings and who is not. Jesus let Judas in on the grace of God, and even gave him a couple chances to bail, all of which added up to either greater happiness and peace for Judas or greater judgment when he rejected it.
All of the most horrible judgment in the world has already been poured out on Jesus at the cross, and He rose up in victory over it. Now the time has come for Him to call on and link up that judgment and victory to others–even the ones that will reject it. Since He is the only one that knows what that final call will be, let us treat everyone with the love of the saints. Not with a shallow love that glosses over evil and calls everything good, but a deep love that carries God’s mercy to all, and leave the wrath to God.

“For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope—the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.
These, then, are the things you should teach. Encourage and rebuke with all authority. Do not let anyone despise you.
Remind the people to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready to do whatever is good, to slander no one, to be peaceable and considerate, and to show true humility toward all men.”
(Titus 2:11-3:2 NIV)

The Risk of Generosity and Con-(wo)Men

Published
by
Dan
on 9/25/2008
in Bible Study and Urbia
. 1 Comment

It’s been quite a week in our neighborhood.

Tuesday night we had about 50 Jr. High kids come down and help out on our street. They picked up tons of sticks and bundled them all up and raked a lot of grass and leaves into bags. It was good to walk down the street and see them all working so hard, and then talk to my neighbors some that had come out to see what was going on.

Last night we had a prayer night and some friends from church and our whole family went to two nearby schools and prayed for the surrounding neighborhoods. I was especially glad to take the kids along so they could participate and witness what we’re doing.

Tonight seemed normal enough. We called it our “night off” since we didn’t have any events planned. I was out in the back yard getting the grill going when one of my neighbors came out to his back yard and we both met in the alley and started talking. He said that the house behind us and over one has been empty for 6 years, and was a crack house before that.

I think in a few days another crew from church will come and clean it up. I told him I would like a corner of it for a garden. He said he’s already done that! He grew corn and tomatoes in somebody’s abandoned yard!

He went back into his house and there I was trying to cook my burgers medium well and figure out where I’m going to put a fence between my yard and the alley. I heard a bike approach and it startled me.

I told the person on the bike it startled me and they just laughed. They asked me what I was doing. I commented about the fence and our wall, etc. THINKING that I was talking to a teenage boy.

Well I was wrong.

It was a woman.

After my comments about the fence, I repeated her question back, “What are you doing?” (looking back, I realize that I speak with a different level of respect to a woman than to a teenage boy)

She said, “I’m just needing some food. I’m homeless-I sleep down by the river-and pregnant and I have diabetes and I just need $5 to get something to eat.”

That is a tough call. In the past I haven’t been able to mix relief w/ the gospel. At the same time I’ve seen that relief w/o the gospel just helps wicked men in their wicked deeds. But here was a beggar, humiliated I could tell, begging.

I gave her two McDonald’s gift cards and she said she smoked too. “I’m not going to help you with that, that’ll kill you. Of course, that McDonald’s might too.” I said. I know it’s hard to be thankful when you’re desperate. She also darted off about as fast as she could after I gave it to her, looking embarrassed.

It’s really embarrassing being poor. It’s humiliating to ask and it’s humiliating to take a handout. I know about all kinds of long-term plans to help people out of poverty, but I also know what it’s like to be hungry and not have enough money to buy the food you need.

I think I would rather give $500 away to 100 con men tricking me into giving them drug money, than say no to a single mom trying to figure out how to get dinner.

Why not rather suffer wrong? Why not rather be defrauded?
1 Corinthians 6.7 ESV

There is a fine line between being foolish and generous. Risk it.

Jesus and the Ubiquitous Poor

Published
by
Dan
on 9/23/2008
in Bible Study
. 1 Comment

When Jesus said, “You will always have the poor with you.” He was not giving an excuse or being overwhelmed. Many people read this like it’s Jesus’ commentary on how we should care for the poor.

“Aware of this, Jesus said to them, “Why are you bothering this woman? She has done a beautiful thing to me. The poor you will always have with you, but you will not always have me. When she poured this perfume on my body, she did it to prepare me for burial. I tell you the truth, wherever this gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.””

(Matt 26:10-13 NIV)

It’s not a commentary on caring for the poor, it’s about the timing of His death. His death is coming soon, and He won’t always be around. Look at how Mark tells it.

“The poor you will always have with you, and you can help them any time you want. But you will not always have me. She did what she could. She poured perfume on my body beforehand to prepare for my burial.”

(Mark 14:7-8 NIV)

A little different, isn’t it. You can help the poor any time, but you can only annoint me for burial within the next few days.

The section Jesus is quoting here is pretty interesting. It’s from Deuteronomy 15.

“Give generously to him and do so without a grudging heart; then because of this the LORD your God will bless you in all your work and in everything you put your hand to. There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore I command you to be openhanded toward your brothers and toward the poor and needy in your land.”

(Deut 15:10-11 NIV)

It’s like Jesus is saying, “you should always give to the poor, and you always have the opportunity to, but right now I’m preparing for burial, and she knows it because she believes the things I’ve said about how I’m going to die, and she’s mourning and celebrating all at once”

That’s why Judas immediately left. Partially because the expensive ointment was wasted, but here’s Jesus talking about dying again! Where is that ever going to get us!?

A really wild thing is that 10 verses back, God says that there shouldn’t even be any poor people, because there will be enough money to go around. In ancient Hebrew culture, the most degrading thing you could do for a person was to give them money. That’s why it’s so disgraceful to beg throughout the bible, and beggars are ashamed of what they do. The next tier up from that is to give someone money for doing some pitiful thing. To make up a silly job as an excuse to give them a handout. The best way, Hebrew culture wise, was to employ someone with some real task. Give them a real job to do and then pay them a fair wage for it.

I’ve developed a love for Goodwill lately, because they do this. They hire all kinds of people, and they accommodate them however they can to help them work in their shop. Some people may say there are restaurants EVERYWHERE that are hiring all the time. The truth is that if you’re homeless and don’t have an address for the application, they won’t hire you. There is no shower at McDonald’s, so if you don’t have water at your house, you can’t clean up for work. As the obstacles pile up, the motivation to work atrophies. After 3-4 days, discouragement wins out and hope is lost. I’ve talked to several people that have fallen into this spiral, and I’ve tiptoed around it’s edge a lot.

The poor you will always have with you, so be generous to them.

Talking about Money

Published
by
Dan
on 9/22/2008
in Bible Study, Bookstore and Short Quotes
. 1 Comment

I did a bad thing by starting off my quiet time reading “The ABC’s of Financial Freedom” this morning. It is a book on Christian Stewardship. It immediately put me into a critical mode when I read a few quotes:

You and I should do some Christ-centered vision casting of our own and start thinking about what we could do if we were totally debt free…

Here are just a few suggestions to help you get started:

[there is a list of 10, but here are the whoppers-ds]

6. You could finally have that “dream” vacation
7. You could fix things up around you house or even get a new one.
8. You could get some new furniture or a new vehicle.
9. You cold surprise people with secret acts of kindness and generosity
10. YOU COULD DO ALMOST ANYTHING YOU CAN IMAGINE. (emphasis mine)

I’m not even going to comment on that. I think that pretty much speaks for itself.

All of that said, my church is about to have a few weeks of messages on “financial stewardship.” When I heard that we were going to be talking about money (it’s ok to say MONEY, it really is) I was interested. In light of the current economic state of the world, we need to really focus on our earning, spending, and buying with the Life of Jesus in us. There are a lot of people that need help unlearning the habits of the world and learning how to use their money for the Kingdom of God. Now more than ever is a time to speak up for the poor and use our overflow to wisely help them instead of blowing it on the new furniture we need or our “dream” vacation.

I think the hardest thing for me during this coming series will be to keep MY focus on Jesus, and not keep harping on all of the stuff I see wrong. But that focus is terribly important, because if I lose that focus, I will have done the same thing as the people that make finances and resources (money) the focus.

I can already tell that this is going to be hard.

“No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.”

Luke 16:13

Following the Unclear Blatant God

Published
by
Dan
on 9/21/2008
in Bible Study
. 0 Comments

There is something about this discourse on bread that makes me not so much want to talk about bread and what the bread means or what it means to eat His flesh, but just about the more general idea of how Jesus taught. These parables almost put you to the point that you could know every single parable and even know the interpretation of it but still not have any understanding or idea of what He was talking about.

It seems like the Father wants people to come to Him that care about getting to know Him. People that will take the time and trouble to learn from Him. He makes things unclear at first, and then if people don’t want it explained, he moves on to other people.

When the disciples were sent out, they were to declare peace to a place, and if it didn’t rest on that place, they got took their peace and went home. As I put that with “the heavens declaring the glory of God” and “Does not wisdom call out? Does not understanding raise her voice?” it seems like God is constantly hiding Himself in all that we do, hoping that we’ll see that He’s been there and wants to be chased. It’s not a greedy or vain chase for the sake of frustrating us though. It’s almost like a lover’s pursuit or a mentor’s trail.

We follow him, and he leaves us clues for the journey. Sometimes when we’re in trouble, He hides out and shows us how to get through, then He darts off in our sleep, leaving more clues.

Preach the Gospel in a Clearly Confusing Riddle

Published
by
Dan
on 9/20/2008
in Bible Study
. 0 Comments

“Then the Jews began to argue sharply among themselves, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”

Jesus said to them, “I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him. Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me.”

(John 6:52-57 NIV)

I think the bigger the crowd Jesus spoke to, the more cryptic his language.

I have a friend that works at a sort of camp/retreat center. He said that when they had the chance to expand and enlarge their ministry space, they decided not to because whether they had 150 people or 350 there, only about 3 people would ‘get it’ and be able to take part in the one-on-one ministry that they value.

3 people!

I don’t think this is all that crazy as I look at the way Jesus taught. “I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.” That’s crazy talk if you just listen like a monologue.

But Jesus wasn’t into monologues, he was into teaching.

Matt. 13:9 He who has ears, let him hear.”

Matt. 13:10 ¶ The disciples came to him and asked, “Why do you speak to the people in parables?”

Matt. 13:11 ¶ He replied, “The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them.

Matt. 13:12 Whoever has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him.

Matt. 13:13 This is why I speak to them in parables: “Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand.

Matt. 13:14 In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah: “‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.

Matt. 13:15 For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.’

When Jesus told a parable, it weeded out a lot of people. The people that were there to see a show would become frustrated. “This guy talks nonsense! How can we eat his flesh? How is the kingdom of God like a mustard seed! That’s so tiny!” and then they would leave. After all of those people left, there would be a few that would say, “Jesus, explain to me what you meant by that….” and they were the ones that would be His disciples.

In a lot of world cultures, age equals authority. If there is a man with 10 years experience in electricity, and an older man walks up and says “put those two wires together” it would be a great dishonor to not do it. I have heard stories of men in ancient Persia that let their hands be scalded rather than tell their father he grabbed the teapot to wash their hands and not the pot of cool water.

It takes a lot to admit you don’t understand something. It takes even MORE to ask someone to explain it to you. You are at their mercy. You are putting them in a position of authority over you. When Jesus tells a parable, he is sifting. The people that are too proud to try to understand the Kingdom, the people that are too hardened to hear something new, get sifted out. The humble ones that aren’t afraid or too proud to ask come closer and learn more.

A lot of people think they know it all. They have life figured out and there isn’t much mystery or wonder in it. The pride of life keeps them from following Jesus even today. Western culture ESPECIALLY guides us against asking for explanations or help. In the workplace you can’t show any ignorance or weakness, for fear of getting a bad employee review or worse-getting fired and replaced.

There is a LOT more I want to say about this, but I’m out of time. I think if we explored this a little more, we’d see why the modern church has gotten into so much trouble with the pride of know-it-all-ism.

When the church is the know-it-all about creation and evolution and when life begins and why the earth is flat…we begin to take on the appearance of the world, not our riddle-telling Master. When we begin to talk in a way so that everyone understands, using cute stories, and pleasing chicken soup tales and poems, we actually stop teaching in the way Jesus taught.

My point in that is this. If our teaching is too easy, and off the point of what Jesus taught (Jesus didn’t address creationism, but taught about the PEOPLE in need that God created; Jesus didn’t address the horrible horrible act of leaving children out on the mountainside to die if they were unwanted, but told the disciples to let them come to Him and not hold them back)

If our teaching is too easy and off the point of what Jesus taught, we will have a lot of people with a head knowledge and even a belief of all of the tertiary things that Jesus may or may not have believed. They will fight for issues and ideas, but not know Jesus.

Matt. 7:21 ¶ “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.

Matt. 7:22 Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’

Matt. 7:23 Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’

Matt. 7:24 ¶ “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.

Matt. 7:25 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock.

These people KNEW about the Lord, and even knew how to work miracles in His Name, but did not know Him.

May we NOT make a bunch of disciples that know all about Jesus and all of our temporary movements for which we stand, indivisible and all-knowing.

I heard a story of a priest in south america that was a missionary. Unable to convert a tribe to catholicism, he snuck into their temple and hid a cross behind their golden idol. “Now,” he said, “Now they are bowing down to worship the savior.” I think that is exactly what we do today when we try to convince someone of a certain issue or get them to come to church without first bringing them to Jesus.

May we speak in riddles, display God’s power, and be surprised at the things that we need explained to us. May we join with the people that find Jesus’ teaching confusing and want Him to explain it, and not waste our time changing Jesus’ message to reach people too proud to receive Him.

Jesus is Real Food

Published
by
Dan
on 9/18/2008
in Bible Study
. 2 Comments

“Jesus said to them, “I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him.”

(John 6:53-56 NIV)

Whenever I eat communion, I think about this verse, but not in the way that you would think. I was raised Catholic, and even now communion is very very important to me. I even have trouble considering Pez communion real communion, but I know it’s not the shape of the bread that matters, really.

When I eat the bread and drink the juice, I think of the two things that are going into me, and what I want to come out of my life. When I eat the communion bread, I pray that the life of Jesus, what He did in His flesh, would be in me and in my life.

When I drink the juice, I pray that the death of Jesus, the blood that was spilled out for this sins of all people, would would be in me and in my life. I pray that the death of Jesus would be a present reality all of the time in my activities.

It’s not a condition of salvation. If I never have communion again for the next 50 years I’ll be ok. But it is a little ceremony, a ritual, that helps us remember where we get our life from.

I’m in no hurry to get my kids to eat it. Just as there wouldn’t have been any power in Peter grabbing Jesus by the heal and biting him in the calf, there isn’t any power in us eating our Pez communion bread. At the same time, there is no other prayer time for me, when I feel as close as can be to the Father, as when I’m in a monestary w/ a bunch of monks, eating communion in big flat disks and drinking real wine. Go figure.