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Devotion.al

Tag: God

  • Holy Monday

    Ecclesiastes 8:8–15, Psalm 51, Mark 11:12–18

    When the writer of Ecclesiastes notes that no one has authority over the wind, he had no concept of the wind power generation farms we have. We may have harnessed the wind to provide power for us, but we have no authority over it. We put the wind farms where the wind goes. We don’t build our wind farms and tell the wind where to go. The writer of Ecclesiastes, though, is really referring to the rich and powerful who act as if they have all the control and power. Often we play right into the hands of the powerful, just as the powerful do for each other. As the writer of Ecclesiastes notes, the rich and powerful people go in and out of the temple with people praising them. Because of how the rich and powerful got there, all their praise and worship is worth absolutely nothing.

    The Psalmist speaks to the reality of this empty praise when he writes about God not wanting sacrifice or burnt offerings, but humble people. The rich and powerful praised on their way back from the temple were (generally) not there for worship.

    When Jesus comes and clears the temple, the rich and powerful have set up a system that keeps people from praising God as prescribed. Think of tourist traps. The burger might cost $15 there, but $6 at home. That is what is going on in the temple. When Jesus accuses the priests and moneychangers of being thieves, it is because they have added on a huge cost that negatively affected people. They filled the temple courts with something that didn’t belong.

    Are you expecting or planning something that doesn’t belong in the courts of the house of God?
    1) People leave (or go to) churches for reasons that often have nothing to do with God. Have you ever done so?

    2) What things do you think should be cleared out of church? Now, is it because it actually is a barrier between people and God, or is it because it is something that you are not familiar or comfortable with?

    3) Do you think the powerful learned anything from Jesus’ actions in the temple? Why or why not?

  • Palm Sunday

    Psalm 24, Zechariah 9:9-17, Mark 11:1-11

    When it comes to the words victory and triumph, the cultural baggage that we bring along (specifically, US Americans) is more on the battle end of things. Whether it was a rugged political “fight”, the athleticism of sports, or the blood and sacrifice of our military, there is a strong intentional and intense personal victory and triumph over others, and often at the “others” loss (or lessening). Zechariah’s words are not that. A sad thing about English (and our baggage) is that we completely miss the passive nature of the victory and triumph. When the King comes humbly riding on a donkey (a beast of work, not of warfare like a horse), it is not just that the King is humble. It is also strongly implied that the victory and triumph were at the hands of God, not a person.

    This is very important. In war, there is always a bigger loser. This bigger loser may take things to a whole new level. We can look at World War II as an example. Germany had been harshly penalized for losing World War I. Part of the whole reason that Hitler was able to stir the German people to follow him was by his using their diminished state as a source of determination and victimization. The penalties of World War I had left Germany in such an emotional and financial state that many thought, what did they have to lose. In other parts of the world where tribe loyalties are still paramount, the lessening of one’s tribe causes one to strive to overcome and diminish other tribes. We see that same effect here in our politics as various political tribes seek to diminish the humanity, heart, mind, and wisdom of the “other”.

    The Messianic King was to be different. By not being militarily victorious, it is easier to be acclaimed and followed by more than one “side”. That does not mean, however, that people looking to be offended won’t be. The emphasis on God winning the battle, rather than the people, remains the overarching message.

    By coming into Jerusalem riding on a donkey, Jesus is “pointing” to this same passage in Zechariah. Matthew (Matthew 21:5) is blunter (rather than Mark’s allusion), when he writes, “See, your King is coming to you, gentle, and mounted on a donkey…” Matthew makes sure we do not miss the Hebrew implications of Zechariah.

    There is another small piece that we often overlook here, just as we often overlook it in our Christian walk. Jesus is entering Jerusalem as King, and not just any king. He is coming in as the saved and saving king, and God is the one who saved and is saving. Yet, while Jesus is coming in as king, the kingdom has not quite arrived. This is the tension. There is the kingdom that has come, is present, and is yet to come.

    1) What does it mean to you that Jesus was your king/savior, is your king/savior, and will be your king/savior?

    2) Why might it be important to have all 3 states (was, is, to come) in mind when it comes to your Christian walk/life?

    3) How do Jesus’ humility and Zechariah’s emphasis on God doing the work (rather than a person) alter, or should affect, how you live out a Christian life?

  • Blessings of the Vine

    Isaiah 65:8–16, Luke 5:33–39

    In Old Testament and Jesus’ time, wine was considered a sign of God’s blessing.* In this Isaiah speech, the new wine will be the remnant that faithfully returns to God, and then to the Promised Land. The interesting play on this means that because of the old wine (Israel) that the vines (the promise to Abraham) yielded, they should be destroyed. However, “one says” that there is hope in the new fruit. This new potential is followed by a reclaimed swamp (Sharon) for pasture, and “cursed”/barren land (Valley of Achor) as a place of rest.

    Isaiah’s speech continues down a course of punishment for those who don’t (and/or continue to not) follow God. At the same time there is a promise of blessing for those who will follow God. The new wine indeed came and people returned to the Promised Land.

    Yet, the new wine can become old, and it did. It wasn’t aging well, according to Jesus. The modern process of winemaking is both art and science. Vintners are pretty confident with their wines that they will get better with age. There are wines that don’t get better with age, too. In older days, however, the precision wasn’t there, especially as part of the fermenting process. BAD wine and vinegar were common results. Was Jesus saying that the wine (the Pharisees and scribes, scions of the Jewish Law and religions) was bad? Maybe, but it is more likely that Jesus was saying that the aging process was no longer effective (just like real wine), and it was time for something new.

    This parable is often used to “prove” that Christianity was the new replacement for Judaism. It is used regularly to encourage churches to not hold too tightly to the old ways. Which is valid. However, the beauty of this version of the parable (see Matthew 9:14-17 for the other version) is the added line about the old wine. One must remember that the old wine was once new, too. The old wine has value.

    If Jesus is the vine (or root), and we are the branches (John 15:1-8), we should all be producing new fruit, which makes new wine. Let us not keep focusing on old wine already made.

    1) When you look at “the church” (all the claimants to Christianity), where do you see “new wine” and where do you see “old wine”?

    2) Your “old wine” used to be the “new wine”, even if you think you’re young, that’s so. Why is important to see the value in old and new?

    3) The wine and wineskins age together, how does that mirror our growth in faith and grace?

    *As a denomination in the temperance (abstaining from alcohol) camp, the Church of the Nazarene (and other similar denominations) often struggle to call wine a sign of God’s blessing. By God’s grace, Thomas Welch invented (or perfected) the process by which grape juice fermentation would cease, and no longer produce an alcoholic beverage. This did allow temperance folks to have a “fruit of the vine” that met the theological needs of Communion and the theological/pastoral needs of ministering to those affected by alcohol or had another philosophical opposition to alcoholic beverages.

  • Do You and Can You

    Psalm 119:145–160

    This morning’s devotion is more of contemplation on these verses of Psalm 119.

    The psalmist is under pressure. He seeks rescue.

    Thinking about your life’s circumstances, especially those when in trouble or hurting:

    Do you…
    …put your hope in his word?
    …meditate on his promises?
    …trust that he is your champion?
    …believe in his faithful love?

    Can you…
    …set aside your affliction and look at God?
    …not compare your situation against those far away from God?

  • Bargain Making

    Genesis 22:15–18, Isaiah 48:17–49:4

    Promises. Promises.

    God is faithful and true and fulfills his Word. If someone who does not trust God nor believe that God fulfills his Word were to compare the passage in Genesis to Isaiah 48:17–19, would they come to the same conclusion? We would like to think so. From a perspective of logic, one can see that Abraham’s descendants didn’t fulfill their end of things. We see that from a spiritual side, too.

    It the relational difference between these two passages. Abraham has shown his faithfulness. The Israelites have shown their faithlessness.

    This is where God’s faithfulness, and God’s fulfilling of his Word comes in. It is, in many ways, where God’s promise to Abraham outweighs the failures of Abraham’s descendants.

    The Israelites are condemned to rot in bondage. That could be the message. After all, they did abandon Abraham’s God for godless idols of wood and metal. Their relationship with God was transactional at best, and more along the lines of reluctant.

    Sadly, not much has changed. We hear stories about people making transactional bargains with God, and lives transformed. We also hear about bargains that God did not fulfill and people are mad at God as a result. If one makes a bargain with God, that doesn’t make it a relationship. In many cases, it is less relational than handing money to the cashier and getting your change back. In the case of bargains made, whether fulfilled or not, the true relationship is when we allow God to transform us, and we partner with God in that transformation.

    1) Have you ever tried to bargain with God? What about? What was the result?

    2) Have you ever prayed to God about a need or desire? What about? What was the result?

    3) What is the difference between a bargain and a prayer? Which sounds more like the Living Water of Jesus Christ, and which one sounds more like burdens and chains?

  • Good At The End

    Proverbs 19:16-25, Jeremiah 24:1-10

    Wisdom is all around us. It’s on our phones. Just ask Google. True wisdom starts with God. That is the premise of Proverbs. How is such wisdom gained? There are a number of ways.

    The best (and easiest) is to learn from others (Proverbs 19:20). Proverbs is one of the wisdom storehouses in Scripture. One of the thing that puzzles and frustrates people when trying to read Proverbs straight through is that it seems to contradict itself. Often as we read Proverbs, we can find answers to riddles we didn’t know we had. Yet, too often we ignore this valuable book.

    However, sadly, wisdom is often learned another way…the hard way. You could never apply that to anyone you know, right? Certainly not yourself? Let’s be honest with ourselves, often we learn through pain (Proverbs 19:25).

    The Israelites were in pain. They were in trouble. Jeremiah’s vision is very interesting. There were a lot of good figs! Those good figs got stuck in a mess with the bad figs, that the bad figs started! Or did the bad figs really start it alone? Often, all it takes is a good person to allow the bad person to have their way, and all is lost. At least that is the human perspective. It is not God’s.

    There is good at the end. God uses the trouble to clean up some of the bad fruit so that the people who return will be less inclined to turn their hearts away.

    1) When has God used your mistakes to teach you? How have you tried to share those lessons with others?

    2) Often wisdom comes from unusual or even uncomfortable sources. Can you think of a time recently when you dismissed the wisdom of others because they weren’t like you?

    3) God’s redemptive plan is always at work. There is no time too late to turn to God on this side of the veil of death. Whose salvation are you praying for? If no one, then it’s time to add at least one to the list.

  • Being and Becoming the Bridge

    Isaiah 30:18–26, Isaiah 61:10–11, 1 Corinthians 3:5–11, 1 Corinthians 11:23–26

    We are the bridge between the past and the future, with one foot in the past and one foot in the future.

    The past of glory was gone, a faded memory. Perhaps to some it was just an old tale that was from the crazy aunt. David and Solomon? Sure. Whatever you say, Auntie.

    Into hearts that resided in darkness, Isaiah spoke light and life. People who felt oppressed were promised the freedom of planting crops and harvesting them on their own behalf, not under the rule of foreigners. Not only that, Isaiah told them that they would turn their backs on their treasured idols. They were being told that the little gods that had protected them would be thrown away. That’s crazy!

    Isaiah later talks about the earth and garden producing as they should, because God has provided salvation and blessed them. Not their idols. The promise of God’s blossoming righteousness in the hearts of people who had abandoned their God who had chosen them to bear his name.

    Death to life. During this series of devotions, we haven’t spoken much on Lent, but with this last devotion for the Legacy series it seems appropriate. Lent comes from Old English and German, meaning spring. Spring comes at the end of Winter (the land almost “dead”, but waiting to come alive). Just like the Jews, who were in their “Winter”, so are we before our salvation.

    Paul and Apollos worked on ground that wasn’t yet “alive”. Yet, they planted the faith and watered it. Eventually, new growth in dead ground came alive and blossomed. While others were fighting over who they followed (Paul, Apollos, or others), these coworkers in Christ looked ahead to see a crop that God empowered them to see, even if they did not see it now.

    Our bridge from death to life and from past to future is the legacy of our faith. Paul proclaims it best, “…as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.” The past and future. While we remember and honor the past, we must look to the future of ourselves, our family, our church, our faith, and the world.

    1) What do you think the future of this church should look like? What can you do to help that vision come to pass?

    2) Often, we are blinded to our vision of the future, and thus tear down the future visions of others. What can you and we do to embrace the visions of others for the future?

    3) Paul’s concluding statement covers both past and future. How can Paul’s conclusion empower and educate your vision and how to make it come to pass?

  • Communional Mystery

    John 6:54–66, Zechariah 3:1–4, Romans 8:31–39

    The how of Communion has been a mystery of and for the church. How it works has been (and continues to be) a strong discussion point between traditions and denominations. What hasn’t been a discussion point is that it does work. The long practice of Communion ties generations to the past, communities together, connects hearts and minds to the faith. At the beginning, even before Jesus’ death on the cross, it was a dividing point. People took a very literal view of Jesus’ wording, which turned them away from him. Those that knew him—the 12 disciples—didn’t walk away. They seemed to have some understanding that Jesus wasn’t being as literal as others had assumed. That does not mean they completely understood. They did, however, know Jesus, so instead of insisting to understand, they accepted. Jesus did make accepting blood and flesh crucial to being his follower, and receiving eternal life. Thus Communion is not just something we do lightly.

    Communion is part of the transformed/transforming/being-transformed life of being a Christian. It is part of our adoption into God’s family. As we become, and continue to be, a part of God’s family, we can rely and trust in Paul’s words about those who accuse us. The accusations of being nonredeemable and unredeemed are the same accusations that Zechariah saw Satan throw at Joshua (a high priest, not the prophet who followed Moses). The same filthy rags that were removed from Joshua (and by extensions, the Jews), are those removed from us when we accept Jesus Christ.

    The Accuser (whether Satan or people who seek to pull us down) is a constant threat to a Christian (or anyone). However, when we have Jesus Christ and are in fellowship with him, the accusations are merely empty words. The words and spirit behind them hurt, but we turn to Jesus who wipes away our tears and hurt. Communion is that constant reminder that God is the host of the banquet. He has clothed us in white, even though we cannot see it.

    1) Have you ever come across a time or place where Communion separated, rather than joined, people to Christ and the greater body? What was it like?

    2) Have you ever thought about the importance of Communion in regards to your salvation? How do you think that works?

    3) Accusations can often keep us away from the table. When you “hear” accusations, how do you deal with them? Do you bring them to others, or do you bear them alone?

  • Long Roads Together

    Genesis 22:1–18, Isaiah 45:11–17, Matthew 4:1–11

    Genesis has many passages in it that Christians, Jews, and non-believers stumble over. Often it is our own pride, and sometimes it is us looking back upon those “backward and ignorant” people, with all our knowledge and obviously “better” culture. This passage in Genesis (22:1–18) is often one of the hard ones, as God calls upon Abraham to sacrifice his only son of his wife Sarah. This appears problematic as God later condemns such human sacrifice. It is to result in the death penalty. Yet, God still calls for it. The easy answer is that God was “just” testing Abraham. God already knew that a ram would be provided. If so, to us it is a cruel test. To Abraham and the cultures around him, it was still cruel, but it was part of god worship (note, not God worship). We also have to understand that Isaac was the fulfillment of God’s promise to Abraham regarding descendants. God requested that Abraham kill the very legacy (so it seemed) that God had promised.

    The harder answer, but perhaps more Christian answer is that Abraham was foreshadowing God the Father. God made a request of Abraham, the God the Father would completely fulfill generations later. God would sacrifice the Son for all of humanity. God’s only Son. The Son, part of the Trinity, would be born as man, so that mankind would become the legacy intended if sin had not come. As Isaiah speaks from God, righteousness stirred up. The holy city (a place of relationship with God) rebuilt. The exiles (those separated from God) set free, but not by money or exchange of goods. Then Isaiah says that Israel will be saved by God. The only true savior is God. With God being the savior, salvation is eternal. God becomes incarnate. God is with us (Emmanuel).

    Even as God with us, Jesus walks our road. The temptations that Jesus faced in the desert are common to mankind (survival, security, pride/power). Since Jesus walked with us and Jesus is God, humanity and God became united in a way that Abraham could never have imagined, and Isaiah couldn’t fully comprehend. Even we really cannot fully comprehend it, and we (through the church) have had a long time to figure it out.

    1) During his temptations, Jesus says, “Man must not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God,” quoted Deuteronomy 8:3. If Jesus is the word (John 1:1–3), and Jesus is the bread, how does that cause you to rethink Jesus’ answer?

    2) God called on Abraham to sacrifice his legacy. How can God call on us to sacrifice our legacy for an even greater legacy?

    3) How can we discern when God is asking us to sacrifice our legacy, versus calling on us to sacrifice our pride?

  • Practice Feasting

    Deuteronomy 14:22–26, Acts 2:36–42

    Feasting in the presence of the Lord is a strong theme in all the Jewish feast times. Feasting in God’s presence provides a physical reminder that it is by God’s grace and power that there is something to feast with. It also reminds us that God is God. It keeps us balanced so that we do not think that the feast is because of ourselves or our works.

    That something so basic and essential to living (food) is considered a vital part of righteous worship, should help us to not dismiss it. While we may joke about church potlucks, in many respects such gatherings are feasting in the presence of the Lord. While overeating is not good, eating together is.

    When the early “church” of Acts eats together, we’re talking about all sorts of people. While they all were Jews (at this point, with some Gentile converts), that doesn’t mean they all got along. There were fishermen, tax collectors, Levites, merchants, soldiers, guardsmen. In other words, there was a cross-section of Jewish society. They made it a practice of breaking bread together. There is a context to this breaking of bread. These people listened to the Apostles’ (we’d say the New Testament) Teaching (sermons and preaching), to fellowship (more than meet and greet at the door), and prayer. It is all four elements together that were practiced.

    1) Have you ever made the decision to avoid the sermon or other teachings? How about fellowship? How about breaking bread together? How about prayer?

    2) This is not to be a guilt trip, but a time of reflection. Why did you avoid 1 or more of these practices? Is it a regular thing? If so, what can you do to restore this 4-fold practice into your life?

    3) In Acts 3:41, Luke notes that about 3000 people were added to the church. Just like today, a place where 3000 people could gather to hear/learn, fellowship, break bread, and pray is pretty hard to find. How do you think the early church did it? How can that inform the practices in your life?