Jesus made them clean, but not all of them got clean.

Published on 12/24/2009 in Bible Study. 1 Comment Tags: , , , , .

John 13:10 ¶ Jesus answered, “A person who has had a bath needs only to wash his feet; his whole body is clean. And you are clean, though not every one of you.”

Part of this verse shows why Universalism can’t be true. Yes, Jesus died for the sins of all people, but NO, that does not mean that everyone is saved. Judas didn’t accept the cleansing. He was still unclean in his heart and was conspiring to turn Jesus in even though he had been taught and shown and even ate dinner with The Truth.

It also shows that mere activity doesn’t make one clean. Judas was around and participated in the same activities as the other twelve, but that still didn’t make him clean in Jesus’ eyes. He even had his feet washed, which wasn’t an act of cleaning away dirt, but instruction on cleaning away pride. He didn’t learn that lesson either.

All of this comes as a warning to us. Let us not think that just because we are around disciples and just because Jesus has served us in many wonderful ways, that we are all set to do our own will and do our own thing and call ourselves clean friends of Jesus. It’s BEING His disciple and DOING His will that all of a sudden shows us that HE has made us clean.

Giving up on ‘working toward’ Holiness

Published on 12/22/2009 in Bible Study. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

John 13: 9 Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!” 10 Jesus said to him, “The one who has bathed does not need to wash, d except for his feet, [1] but is completely clean. And e you [2] are clean,

For a long time in my Christian life, I’ve been moaning and groaning the words of a Jennifer Knapp song:

Lord, come with your fire
burn my desire
refine me…

please come and free me
and rescue this child
for I long to be reconciled to yo-ooo-ooo-ooo

I was singing this song and thinking about John 13 and realized something.

I’ve already BEEN RECONCILED! And you know what else? I don’t need to have my desire burned. When Christ died on the cross, God reconciled Man to God. My sin was cleansed and when Jesus was raised from the dead, we who are in Christ were raised with Him.

It seems to me that there is this hyper-pious teaching that tells us to cry out to God to be made holy. Another song

Holiness, holiness is what I long for
holiness is what I neeeeed
Holiness, holiness, is what You want from me.

it even says at one point

Righteousness, righteousness, is what You want from me.

God doesn’t want our righteousness or our holiness any more than I want my 2 year old to give me a dirty diaper for a Christmas present!

The fact is, a person that has had a bath only needs to wash their feet. We have been made clean by the life and death of Christ. Sure, our feet still get dirty as we walk around in the world, but the part of us that matters the most to God, the part that is out of this world (which David Crowder says as soon as you leave the ground you’re in the sky, right?!) has been made clean.

So let’s change these silly songs.

Let’s quit yearning for holiness when it’s already been served up to us on a platter!

Give up on your silly, dirty-diaper holiness and have faith in Jesus!

True Authority and Power on Display in John 13

Published on 12/14/2009 in Bible Study. 1 Comment Tags: , , , .
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;4 so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist.
Here you go world, it’s not as if Jesus was slowly realizing who He was, as so many people write or imply. Jesus was fully aware of His position, of His origin, and of His destination. Jesus knew that He had full authority over the entire world, and in the very next verse He strips down to the most shameful costume of a servant. Not just a servant, but a footwasher. If anyone were to touch any unclean thing, they would become ceremonially unclean. If anything were to be found on the road that was unclean, it would have been on the bottom of Peter’s feet.
But here is Jesus, all authority in Heaven and earth and under the earth, and he bears himself more than would be normal for dinner, and begins to wash feet. Feet of men who were competing and arguing about who was the best. Men who had stolen from Him and the others. Men who had tempted Him to sin against the Father. Men who told mothers to get their children away from Jesus. Men who would later that night swear upon something greater than themselves that they had no connection with Him.
Here is what the Lord looks like. This is True Power. This is True Authority and Beauty.
“Why do the nations conspire and the peoples plot in vain?
The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the LORD and against his Anointed One.
“Let us break their chains,” they say, “and throw off their fetters.”
The One enthroned in heaven laughs;
the Lord scoffs at them.
Then he rebukes them in his anger and terrifies them in his wrath, saying, “I have installed my King on Zion, my holy hill.””
(Psa 2:1-6 NIV)
He will be installed at Calvary on a cross, and with it He will swallow up sin, death, and false authority for all time.

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;4 so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist.

Here you go world, it’s not as if Jesus was slowly realizing who He was, as so many people write or imply. Jesus was fully aware of His position, of His origin, and of His destination. Jesus knew that He had full authority over the entire world, and in the very next verse He strips down to the most shameful costume of a servant. Not just a servant, but a footwasher. If anyone were to touch any unclean thing, they would become ceremonially unclean. If anything were to be found on the road that was unclean, it would have been on the bottom of Peter’s feet.

But here is Jesus, all authority in Heaven and earth and under the earth, and he bears himself more than would be normal for dinner, and begins to wash feet. Feet of men who were competing and arguing about who was the best. Men who had stolen from Him and the others. Men who had tempted Him to sin against the Father. Men who told mothers to get their children away from Jesus. Men who would later that night swear upon something greater than themselves that they had no connection with Him.

Here is what the Lord looks like. This is True Power. This is True Authority and Beauty.

“Why do the nations conspire and the peoples plot in vain?

The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the LORD and against his Anointed One.

“Let us break their chains,” they say, “and throw off their fetters.”

The One enthroned in heaven laughs;

the Lord scoffs at them.

Then he rebukes them in his anger and terrifies them in his wrath, saying, “I have installed my King on Zion, my holy hill.””

(Psa 2:1-6 NIV)

He will be installed at Calvary on a cross, and with it He will swallow up sin, death, and false authority for all time.

You are not abandoned, dear reader

Published on 11/28/2009 in Bible Study. 1 Comment Tags: , .

I’m still around! I haven’t posted lately because a lot of the stuff isn’t quite blog friendly, but hang in there, I’ll be back soon!

Whoever Loves His Life Will Lose

Published on 11/3/2009 in Bible Study. 2 Comments Tags: , .

1 v. 24-25  Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. 25 Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.

• Jesus could be talking about two different things here. On the one hand, He could be referring to His death, which will bring about real life for Him and millions of others. On the other hand, He could also be talking about day to day life, in which we “take up our cross daily” and die to ourselves so that the life of God can be revealed in our lives (2Cor. 4:10 We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.

2Cor. 4:11 For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal body. )

• Some of the loneliest people I know are people that refuse to be a part of Christ. They live, they die, and remain alone, not a part of anything. At the same time, I also know people that have gone through horrible heart-ache and God was all they had and they made it through just fine.

• Loving our life is the motto of this world. We are told every day to preserve it and enjoy it and to make long term goals to keep it. Many people in the church discouraged us from going overseas because of that very thing, so that we would not lose our lives! Spring break mission trips for youth groups are even marketed in such a way as to make hard things fun (get out of your comfort zone!)

The worst times of my life have been when I was living for myself. Upon taking my eyes off of me and my abilities (or the lack thereof) and looking to Christ for life, everything changes. Contentment, joy, peace, patience, kindness, all of these things do not come by an act of the will, as so many people may tell you. These things come as the life of Christ works inside of you as you die to yourself in the day to day. Some one that wishes to live for themself will never be able to say Gal 2:19-21

Gal. 2:19 For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God.

20. I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

21. I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!”


A Little More about Mary’s Foot Washing

Published on 10/30/2009 in Bible Study. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

The other crazy thing about this act is that while giving to the poor honors God and people can look on and honor you too for honoring God and doing this good deed, what Mary did honored God but brought DISHONOR upon herself. Anybody can do the good deed of giving a few dollars to a poor person, but to dishonor oneself and invite the homeless person into your house for dinner to eat your food and stink up your couch is a whole other story!

Mary’s act was a bridge burning act of devotion, because showing her hair, touching a man’s feet though she wasn’t a slave, and ‘wasting’ 10 months wages worth of nard on a man that was not her husband would have destroyed her socially.

She didn’t care and Jesus told them to let her do it.

Of course, she’s used to being at Jesus’ feet and other people telling Jesus to make her go away! But note that Jesus defends her each time, and never tells her to go do some activity instead of being at His feet.

I know there are things that God wants us to do, but there is never ever any substitute for being at His feet. Never ever.

Jesus Getting a Nard and Mary-Hair Foot Wash

Published on 10/16/2009 in Bible Study. 1 Comment Tags: , , , .

John 12.3

Mary therefore took a pound of expensive ointment made from pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair.

This is one of those times where if Jesus WASN’T the Son of God, then Him letting Mary do this to Him would contradict everything He had taught. Judas’ logic would have been true if Jesus was just a Rabbi. No Rabbi deserves such excess luxury in the context of Jesus’ teaching about not having a place to lay His head, the world hating Him, and giving your second coat away.

Of course the point here ISN’T the nard, as Judas suspects, or maybe even as John suspects (since he comments on the yummy smell filling the whole house) but the point is that Mary is giving it to Jesus. The point is NEVER what or how much, but how it’s being given. I have a friend, we’ll call him Mr. Gray, who you might judge because he has a nice Toyota Minivan. “That money should have been spent on the poor, and he can drive around in an older, lower priced van”. But what if I told you Mr. Gray took that van, filled it with gas, gift cards for restaurants and gas stations, roadtrip toys and healthy snacks for our kids, and let us have that van for 4 weeks one summer so we could go to some cross-culture training in Colorado (1,000 miles one way)?! Wow!

Jesus just will not accept religious activities aimed at anybody for the purpose of bringing anyone else glory except God! Martha is still serving, but now in a new light, with new purpose, and with new peace. Mary is still at Jesus’ feet, but with new insight, new gratitude, new devotion. If you think about it, once Mary’s hair is soaked with tears and nard, she won’t be in ANY shape to help Martha with dinner. She’s burned her ships as far as helping Martha goes for this meal, but Martha makes no mention of it. Can I focus on Martha for a minute and say that her activity is as radical as Mary’s, because she’s doing the exact same activity she did before, except in a redeemed way? Sure, anybody can do something radical once Jesus rocks their world, but what if He calls you back to the same mediocre activity but with a new Spirit? That’s Martha in John 12.

Jesus didn’t call Judas out for stealing in front of all of those people. He knew full well that Judas’ heart was as wicked as the Pharisees, but He was still laying out chances for Judas to be transformed. He threw two important things at them in His reply, 1. that He had a burial to prepare for, and 2. taking care of the poor is secondary to being attentive to Jesus.

<<<ran out of time>>>

If You Haven’t Gotten It Yet, It’s All About God’s Glory!

Published on 10/2/2009 in Bible Study. 1 Comment Tags: , , , , .

- John 11. 41 – “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. 42 I knew
  that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people
  standing around, that they may believe that you sent me.”

Previously some of the leaders had said that Jesus had a demon,
      and others asked, “Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?” Now
      Jesus does something that they all know, no matter how hard
      hearted they may be, that no demon could ever do. And they know
      that for something of this magnitude, God would never listen to a
      sinner.
Jesus showed a lot of humility in calling on the Father. I don’t
      want to say that though, because there is an arrogant or prideful
      tone to saying someone “showed a lot of humility”. He deferred to
      the Father for the Father to get Glory from this event. When
      Moses got angry and struck the rock, he said, “Shall I bring
      water for you out of this rock?” and God was upset with him
      because he did not “Bring glory to God.”
      Jesus brings God glory by showing to everyone around that this
      miracle is at the request of a man to God. It is not luck,
      chance, fate, God’s unstoppable do-what-He-pleases will, or the
      work of demons.
I was in a class once and the prof was talking about praying for
      people and then afterwards asking if they felt anything when he
      prayed for them. A student in the class asked, “Weren’t you
      afraid of God looking bad when they said, no, they didn’t feel
      anything and your prayer wasn’t answered?”
      The teacher answered something about how he left God’s reputation
      up to God and that he thought he’d be lying if the made the
      person think that God answered every single prayer we pray
      instantly. I think another aspect of it is what happens here with
      Lazarus. There are many times that I tell people that I’m praying
      for this or that, and I really am, because I don’t want God to
      answer my prayer and them give credit anywhere else.
The Father wants us to know that He listens to us. He wants us to
      know that He deserves glory and credit and attention for the
      things He does, and that we do not benefit in any way by trying
      to skim some of it off for ourselves.
There are a lot of situations and events that I think people are
      afraid to ask God about. They may be afraid to be honest with Him
      or afraid that if they get what they ask for, it may require
      opening a tomb that stinks. The fact is, that’s underestimating
      Him and selling Him short. How much better to be over the top in
      our confidence and dependance on Him, so that when He does more
      than we ask He will get even more glory?

The Father Wants Us to See His Full Glory in Jesus

Published on 9/29/2009 in Bible Study. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , .

Here are some notes from John 11
- v. 39, Jesus said “Take away the stone”
    – Moving a tombstone would have made a person unclean by the Mishna
      standards. there were Jewish leaders around that taught that very
      thing, so Jesus is immediately flying in their face.
        – Jesus was not concerned with the complicated religion of
          figuring out what made a person clean or unclean. To the
          Jewish leaders, He was about to cause a really big problem.
          Not only from the shock of raising someone from the dead, but
          I’m sure there would be debate about whether or not Lazarus
          was unclean or not, since he had touched a dead body – HIS
          OWN!
        – Just like healing on the Sabbath to mess these guys up, Jesus
          hands them another conundrum of their law-making. Whoever
          touched the tombstone, unwrapped Lazarus, or entered the tomb
          would have been unclean and in need to special offerings to
          be clean and able to enter the fellowship again.
        – OF COURSE I’m talking like a silly person. Who would worry
          about such rules and laws when  man had just been raised from
          the dead after 4 days?!  (see v. 48 and 53)
    – The Father calls us back to the reality of life. Jesus walks us
      through the transition from life under the Law to life in the
      Spirit, because the Law was powerless to change us on the inside.
      If Jesus had just come and died and not shown us how to live the
      Spirit life, we would have just manufactured new laws and
      considered ourselves righteous by following those new laws. That
      is exactly what happens today in churches that focus more on
      shoulds and compelling people with urges to do things rather than
      the life of Christ. I have seen the work of the Spirit of Grace
      in my own life, in that when I keep score, I sneak and sin
      against God in my heart much more than when I turn the scoreboard
      off and simply spend my life in Christ.
- v. 40 “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the
  glory of God?”
    – Martha must finally believe here, because she sees it. I don’t
      think Jesus is saying that He would only raise Lazarus if Martha
      believed. I think He’s talking about the difference between the
      Pharisees’ reaction and the sisters’ reaction. Everyday, amazing
      things happen and tons of people lose out by attributing the
      event to chance or fate or luck. The GLORY of GOD is in giving
      Him credit for every good and perfect gift.
    – That’s not to say God is going to do a bunch of stuff without us
      and the glory of God is only seen in whether He gets credit or
      not. The ULTIMATE GLORY of GOD is in granting the requests and
      coming to the help of those in greatest need. Just as the essence
      of being high and exalted is compassion and mercy, the Ultimate
      Glory of God is shown when He helps and is believed in by people
      who are surrounded by every reason in the world to stop believing
      in Him.
    – My Strong’s dictionary says glory is doxa (do/xa) which means
      “glory (as very apparent)” I wonder what that means?! flip that
      around . “
        – “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the
          very apparent, the clearly visible, understood, and
          obviousness of God?”
        – If you will believe that Jesus is the Son of God, then you
          will see the fullness of God.

Jesus: Sovereign and Listening to the Father Before His Doubters

Published on 9/22/2009 in Bible Study. 3 Comments Tags: , .

John 11.21 Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.

John 11.32 Now when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet, saying to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”

John 11.37 But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man also have kept this man from dying?”

It is amazing to me how sovereign Jesus is. I mean sovereign as in unaffected by outside forces. At the same time, he is weeping and sobbing over Lazarus. Three times here His identity and ability is insulted, but he never rebukes, speaks defensively, gets his feelings hurt, nothing.

Usually when I try to toughen up and not be affected by others, I just get mean. That makes me appreciate Jesus all the more. He rests in His Father’s power and love, and knows who He is and what He can do. He is so obeying the Father that He doesn’t even stick up for Himself or try to justify Himself before them.