This is just about the best section and most poetic piece of Matthew Henry’s Commentary I’ve ever read. Appropriately, it’s on John 18:1-12
Our Lord Jesus, knowing all things that should come upon him, went forth and asked, Whom seek ye?
When the people would have forced him to a crown, he withdrew, ch. 6:15, but when they came to force him to a cross, he offered himself; for he came into this world to suffer, and went to the other world to reign.
He showed plainly what he could have done; when he struck them down he could have struck them dead, but he would not do so.
It must have been the effect of Divine power, that the officers and soldiers let the disciples go away quietly, after the resistance which had been offered.
Christ set us an example of meekness in sufferings, and a pattern of submission to God’s will in every thing that concerns us.
It is but a cup, a small matter.
It is a cup that is given us; sufferings are gifts.
It is given us by a Father, who has a father’s authority, and does us no wrong; a father’s affection, and means us no hurt.
From the example of our Saviour we should learn how to receive our lighter afflictions, and to ask ourselves whether we ought to oppose our Father’s will, or to distrust his love. We were bound with the cords of our iniquities, with the yoke of our transgressions.
Christ, being made a sin-offering for us, to free us from those bonds, himself submitted to be bound for us. To his bonds we owe our liberty; thus the Son makes us free.
I think there is so little detail about what CHURCH is in the Bible because how people worship God is as different as the cultures in which they live.
When a missionary goes into uncharted territory, they do not prop up their video screens and the powerpoint and start singing Tommy Walker songs. (That would be a great video. End with the Metrosexual worship leader falling on his face with a back full of poison darts and a child of the tribe coming across a Bible propping up the projector…)
I know of three people, specifically, that will not go to a church that has over 100 people in it because they have anxiety about large crowds. BUT they love to sit around with a few friends, play cards, and talk deep things about life. One of them, I know for certain, has a deep respect, love, and appreciation for Jesus. What if it were culturally acceptable for them to NOT “go” to church but were encouraged to draw near to God while they were playing poker?
I just started reading Organic Church, by Neil Cole (for the second time, never got through 1st time) and I’m intrigued at what church Jesus might build in Evansville from this sort of book. From what I gather so far, it’s a lot like what would happen if somebody took Perspectives and then applied it to their local neighborhood.
If you don’t know about Perspectives, you can check it out herehttp://www.perspectives.org/site/pp.aspx?c=eqLLI0OFKrF&b=2806295
and you can check out Organic Church herehttp://bit.ly/biJXwq
or listen to them talk about this stuff here http://www.cmaresources.org/audio/missional-movements-2010-mfrost-1
more to come.
In Jesus, God glorifies Himself. It is a strange thought that the supreme glory of God lies in the incarnation and the cross. There is no glory like that of being loved. Had God remained aloof and majestic, serene and unmoved, untouched by any sorrow and unhurt by any pain, men and women might have feared Him and they might have admired Him; but they would never have loved Him. The law of sacrifice is not only a law of earth; it is a law of heaven and earth. It is in the incarnation and the cross that Gods supreme glory is revealed.
- William Barclay, Commentary on John 13:31-32
I just finished Prodigal God, by Timothy Keller, and it is very very good. I think it messed me up more than ever though concerning Jesus and grace!
Here is the premise: In the so-called ‘parable of the prodigal son’ Jesus actually tells the story of two lost sons. One is lost because of his distance from the father in wanting to live for himself and do whatever he wants, the other is lost because he does everything the father has ever asked and now thinks the father owes him for his obedience, so he was really only always serving himself.
It challenged me to think about why I do what I do? What are my motives for loving Jesus more than life? It’s all because of Him, baby!
The bad news is that I’m wrecked for the sake of grace now more than ever. Good quote from that book, “Marx said that religion was the opiate of the people, in that it sedates and makes them powerless. If religion is an opiate, Christianity should be the smelling salts, calling people to wake up!”
I love it. it was a good quick read, and I recommend it...
“In Hebrew, that is kha-ta’ what we call “sin,” our world-wide, pervasive proclivity to mess up. We often hear it defined as “missing the mark” as though our trouble is just a matter of not being perfect enough (nowhere in Scripture does it say that!). An arrow that goes shy of the bull’s eye. Bt such trivializes God. It hints at His being overly fussy, and petty in His expectations for humans. Whereas, kha-ta is not just a matter of missing perfection. More aptly, it’s a matter of missing GOD’s aim in a given situation. Or then, even worse – missing His full purposes for our lives.”
—from “The Trouble With Grace” by Keith Hueftle
I think the best thing I heard this weekend had to do with Vegetable soup.
As we grow up, we are handed a bowl of vegetable soup. That bowl is everything weve learned from our family, our culture, our life experiences. Its everything we believe and think and know about life. Most people just chow down and eat their soup, memorize the recipe, and teach that same thing to their kids, if they can find the same ingredients.
God calls us out of that bowl of soup. Were supposed to open up His Word (that is, Jesus) and seek and find out what really isnt supposed to be in there. If your family recipe has beef in the soup, but Gods recipe doesnt, take it out and sit it on a plate. You family comments to one another about womens bodies, but God says to tread women with the purity of a sister? Take that out of your soup! Keep going and you may find that all you are left with is broth.
The amazing thing is, plain broth with God is better than the most stuffed with stuff soup of the world any day of the week. And as you eat that broth of Gods holiness, Hell toss some stuff back in there from His recipe that is a lot better for you than that big pig shank of worldliness that the world may have dropped in your soup.
I say millions of words everyday.
Hillary Clinton, on her excuse as to why she changed her story about her trip to Bosnia.
