Tag Archive for 'John'

Jesus Breaking Bread with the Devil

Published on 1/26/2010 in Bible Study. 2 Comments Tags: , , , .

“What you are going to do, do quickly.”
These are pretty disturbing words from Jesus. Satan himself has just entered into Judas and Jesus doesn’t say, “Come out of him!” or any of the things He ever said to demons. There was a time and a place for casting out evil and liberating individuals, but now the Father wanted Him to liberate people in a different way. If it was hard for Jesus to keep it together as He washed their feet, it must have been 100x more difficult when Satan was now there at the table, in their midst.

Even a bigger deal than His words, Jesus’ actions are amazing.
v. 30 “So, after receiving the morsel of bread, he immediately went out. And it was night. “
To share bread with someone was fellowship, communion. Communion was a precious thing. To share in a piece of bread with someone else was fellowship, acceptance, and peace. That’s why the Pharisees got so mad about Jesus BREAKING BREAD with sinners and tax collectors. It was like wearing the same gang colors, or wearing orange in Lexington.
Jesus, in all of His trust in the Father and compassion towards Judas, is not affected by the ultimate leader of all enemies sitting with Him at the table. He knows what is to be done, and He knows that it must come via betrayal by a friend.

The Never Underesteeming, Always Luring Teachings of Jesus

Published on 1/25/2010 in Bible Study. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , .

John 13:26-28 26 Jesus answered, “It is he to whom I will give this morsel of bread when I have dipped it.” So when he had dipped the morsel, he gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. 27 Then after he had taken the morsel, Satan entered into him. Jesus said to him, “What you are going to do, do quickly.” 28 Now no one at the table knew why he said this to him.

The more I look at this the more interesting things pop out of it. It seems like Jesus is really obvious about who is going to betray Him, right? “He to whom I will give this morsel to bread when I have dipped it.” and then Jesus hands it over to Judas. So why didn’t they get it? I wonder if they couldn’t believe it. Or if they had pegged somebody else as the one in their heads, and none of them had pegged Judas. I wonder if the news that Judas would betray Jesus fell on their ears like Jesus’ words that He would die fell on Peter’s ears and caused Peter to rebuke Jesus. So foreign, so far out from what they conceived about the Messiah and about Judas, that they couldn’t even understand when it was told to them clearly.

All of this just shows off how merciful and amazing Jesus is. How often do we not say something or tell someone something because we think “They wouldn’t understand.” or “They’re not ready for that.” Jesus told the disciples stuff they weren’t ready for all of the time. He seems like He lived in a constant state of being around people that “didn’t get it” and He never flipped out or belittled them for it. (Once he was angry at the hardness of heart of the Pharisees, but never at His disciples. He was angered at the unwillingness to learn, not the inability to learn.)

Many times, in fact, Jesus told people something that confused them until something significant happened hours, days, or even years later.

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.

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.

A Ton of Notes on John 11.28-35

Published on 9/17/2009 in Bible Study. 1 Comment Tags: , , .

v. 28 Jesus calls for Mary to come from the place of mourning to where He is. He knows that he couldn’t talk to her in that setting-esp. with professional mourners there. A lot of times God has something to tell us about a situation, but as long as we’re surrounded by people that don’t listen to Him, or in a place that keeps the situation out of His control, (as in not the place He wants to work, no place is OUT of His control) He will call us out and move us geographically to show us more of Himself.

v.33, 35 Jesus is moved and weeps and mourns right along with them. Sometimes this is a stumbling block because why would Jesus cry if He knows that He is about to raise Lazarus from the dead? I can think of several reasons why He would cry that are all in keeping with His character
А the obvious: that He loved Lazarus and was sad that he had died. I don’t think Jesus knew the whole future-He just knew what the Father told Him, so He may NOT know He’s about to raise Him or He’s sad because He knows how Lazarus must have suffered before he eventually died
Б He cried because He was so sad for the pain that Mary and Martha had gone through. He loved them a lot and to see them in such pain as to say “If you would have been here, Jesus!” would break His heart too.
В He wanted to care and identify with them. Even though He knew Lazarus would be alive in the next 30 minutes, He didn’t want to be harsh and show joy while Mary is falling at His feet weeping. If you’ve ever been on either side of a conversation where one person had great zeal/passion/emotion about something, and the other person didn’t go there with you, you can really feel like a fool. Jesus didn’t make Mary or Martha feel like a fool for weeping. He wept right along with them, then went to the tomb and turned their mourning into dancing and probably danced right along with them
Г Last for me, but I’m sure there are more, is that Jesus was weeping over all death. The sadness that Man had turned against the Father and brought death upon Himself for all generations would also tear Jesus up. Eventually Jesus would painfully give His own life in order to reverse the effects of The Fall of Man, one of which was death. So the process of death, the effects, and the eventual healing/beating/swallowing up of death would all make Jesus weep too.
Every one of these angles tells us something amazing about God. He IS sympathetic and caring to us. He takes our lives seriously and watches and involves Himself in them.

v.34 “where have you laid him?” Jesus wants to go to the place where He is going to work. He could have easily raised Lazarus from the dead from the other side of the Jordan, but I think Jesus’ presence with M&M and the Jewish leaders is important to Him. Also, because Lazarus comes out at Jesus’ command, there is no question that Lazarus came out because of Jesus. There are many times that I see something happen that is a real lifesaver, and I know people were praying for it, and I just wonder if I shouldn’t have prayed for it out loud so that onlookers could hear and know that this thing happened because God intervened. I’m still learning about that.

God wants to show Himself. He wants to show that things don’t ‘just happen’ but that He has a hand in the events of Man. He wants to show off the power and authority of The Son, and in the midst of all of that, He wants to do it in our proximity, not from some lofty high place far away. God wants to be there as we mourn, carry us through it (or just walk through with us) and then show His power and glory to rule every aspect of the entire world.

The Current/Present Work of Jesus the Messiah

Published on 9/3/2009 in Bible Study. 1 Comment Tags: , , , .

27 She said to him, “Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.”
Martha didn’t understand what the Messiah could or would do when He came into the world, and was looking forward to something other than what Jesus was currently doing.
I don’t want to be that guy. I want to see what Messiah is doing right now. I want to see that He is CURRENTLY in the world, active, working, changing, moving.
A lot of times when we do something fun with our kids, like go to Gattitown (last night for my grandma’s 90th) we get home and they say, “What are we going to do fun?” instead of “Thanks, Daddy!”
I don’t want to be that guy. I want to see the current activity of the Spirit and the Sovereign Lord and instead of saying, “What are you going to do to help me here?!” say, “Thanks Lord, You’re awesome!”

New video on a cool thing in John 18

Published on 8/31/2009 in Bible Study and video. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , .

Here is me talking about some cool things in John 18. My wife said this video made her carsick, and she had to listen and not watch. Sorry if you find it that way too.

Jesus’ disciples were from all different walks of life. Here is some neat stuff I found out about one of them…

A Friend on the Inside? from Daniel Sullivan on Vimeo.

Sometimes God Doesn’t Show Off Too Much Too Fast

Published on 8/17/2009 in Bible Study. 1 Comment Tags: , , , , .

v.22 “But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.” This statement by Martha is curious to me. What did she have in mind? The following statements show she wasn’t expecting him to come back to life right then.

I think Jesus shows so much mercy by not deliberately telling Martha what is about to happen. If He would have said to the disciples or Martha “I’m going to raise Lazarus from the dead right now.” they would have laughed or scoffed or somehow fully shown their unbelief.
Rather than force them to indite themselves, Jesus carries them along slowly. He hints that Lazarus is asleep, then that HE IS the resurrection, and then that everyone who believes in Him will live… God slowly builds us towards revealing Himself, because He knows if we got it all in one shot it would be too much for us to bare. (proof that this ISN’T true is time when Jesus blew people away w/ His presence. i.e. Peter in the boat falling on his face, etc.)
One time Mary Poplin asked Mother Theresa to pray that God would show her what He was going to do with her life. Momma T said “No Way! If God would have shown me all of the stuff that I was going to do with my life, I would have gotten scared and quit at the very beginning!”
God is merciful with us, carrying us along, not giving us more than we can bear, but also not holding back if we seriously need to get a move-on in our faith/life.

The Earth and Its Events are Full of God’s Glory

Published on 7/14/2009 in Bible Study. 2 Comments Tags: , , , , .

John 11.4 “This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”

As always, Jesus sees more to the situation than anyone else. He sees that Lazarus died for the glory of God, just like the storm came up in the middle of the night while the disciples were alone in the boat, and the little girl died, and all the people got hungry, and the bride and groom ran out of wine.

“For none of us lives to himself alone and none of us dies to himself alone. If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.
For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living.” (Rom 14:7-9 NIV)

This is where I get into that confusing zone of God’s sovereignty. How many things does God allow to happen and how many things does He MAKE happen. I have no idea, but the fact remains that everything we do is not just for ourselves and does not just concern ourselves. We live to the Lord and we die to the Lord. I know many times that I have been distracted during my Bible study time, only to meet some event in the day that I should have been spiritually prepared for and wasn’t. I know many other times that whatever great Bible study I had / or prayer time, or whatever time with God was a direct prep and teach time for the thing that happened during the day.

(Or the next several days. I was memorizing James 1 days before we flew across the Atlantic on an 8 hour flight and David was about 14 months old and threw up for the last 6 of those hours. It was quite a trial, and all I could think about was “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, when you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.”)

So Lazarus didn’t MEAN to get sick and die, but it happened for God’s glory. I don’t want to say that God made it happen, because that takes me into areas that I just don’t have evidence to make a conclusion about. But either way, like so many other things, Jesus turned a circumstance into an arrow to God’s glory.

“Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.”
(Is 6:3 NIV)

If the whole EARTH is full of His glory, how much more so would be every event, circumstance, situation. May God give us eyes to see that in the midst of our daily activities!