Tag: Jesus

Saintly Ones

Matthew 5:1–16; Revelation 7:1–17

※ Q: What is a Saint? ※

You would think that this question is easy. However, the meaning of saint depends on the context and even timeframe.

Chasid (חָסִיד) and Kaddish (קַדִּישׁ) are the Hebrew words that are most often translated as saint (not always, though). Chasid (חָסִיד) means faithful or devout ones (with the implication being toward the covenant). Kaddish (קַדִּישׁ) means holy ones or people of the holy ones (yes, we could, but perhaps shouldn’t, infer the Trinity there).

Hagioi (ἅγιος) is first seen in Matthew 27:52 and used to talk about those who rose from the dead upon Jesus’ death. It is most used by Paul to refer to the (what became) Christians in his letters. It became generally used that way by the other New Testament writers and the church. In Revelation, the word becomes expressly tied to those who died as martyrs.

※ Q: What does it mean to be a saint? ※

If you’ve been in the church any length of time, saint can be applied to a person of significant patience. It is also applied to many that have been in the faith for a long time and have gray or white hair (the hair color, of course, is important ????). However, that is probably a bad way of thinking about it.

If we were to tie both the Hebrew and the Greek together, we would probably get an approximation of people whose relationship is with God through faith in Jesus Christ and for whom this is their primary identity.

※ Q: Are you a saint? ※

※Prayer※

Holy Spirit, guide into a relational identity with the Father, through the Son. Amen.

2020-10-31
Cast Off

Matthew 23:13-15; Acts 15:1–22; Colossians 2:4–13

There is no question about Jesus’ attitude toward the scribes and the Pharisees in this verse. It seems pretty straightforward. What if it isn’t? What if Jesus was instead using their language in a way so as to make a point?

The Pharisees, with their belief in the afterlife, would certainly not want to be headed for Hell. They intended to go to Heaven. Jesus told them that while they think they are the bouncers for God, they’re not getting in either. There was probably some dismay there.

Jesus piled on with the various traditions (versus Biblical law) that the Pharisees and the scribes held everyone accountable for. Frankly, it was unbearable. That was Jesus’ point. They held onto traditions that made their lives Hell on earth. Jesus made it clear that it also prevented them from Heaven.

Jesus knew their hearts were stubborn. His greater concern was not them, but all those they dragged along with them. The concern for people who were now burdened with more than their hearts could bear. What if they decided they would rather be Hell-bound than bound with all the rules and traditions that made the life they were living hellish?

Sounds extreme, but this was exactly Peter’s point to the elders of the Jerusalem church. They and their ancestors could not withstand the misery. The people that were being drawn to the freedom and grace of Jesus Christ were being threatened with rules and traditions! Most of them the same that they (of Jewish descent) wanted to be freed from, and who believed that Jesus had done so!

Paul often had to deal with the Judaizers who kept trying to bring Jewish customs into the Christian community and imposing them on Gentiles. It made Paul quite angry at times.

You may have run across Christians who try to follow some of the Jewish law (particularly the dietary ones). They were free of the Law before they were born yet seek to be bound by laws that were not theirs to bear.

This is also something we need to be careful of ourselves. One of the big lessons of many missionaries was trying to impose Western thinking on non-Westerners. Western thinking got tied into the message of Jesus Christ, often putting burdens (things we would think of as burdens) on people that the Scriptures did not call them to bear.

The church in the Western world is fading. Ultimately, it must rediscover what it means to evangelize and be missional. Of course, the biggest group to which we must be missional are the people we are already comfortable with. We do not look at them with missionary eyes. We are too close. Even more than the Jews had to cast of their traditions, we may have to cast off much of what “makes” us Westerners so that we can be the messengers of salvation to our neighbors.

※Questions※

1) What might be your cultural blind spots that weaken your ability to evangelize?

2) How does our Western culture act in ways similar to the Jewish laws of old?

※Prayer※

Lord, soften our hearts and open our minds. May we feel your love for others and learn to set aside ourselves for the sake of others’ salvation. Amen.

2020-10-30
Foundational

Matthew 19:16–26; Hebrews 9:1–14; Romans 10:8–13

The story of the rich young ruler, in my experience, has always been presented in one way…he cared too much for his stuff. This is true…to a point. Is the conclusion that we have often been led to actually correct? Or perhaps we, too, are missing which point Jesus was trying to make.

The opening question by the man was about eternal life. Jesus gives the Great Commandments as the response, plus a few ones that had been problematic with the religious elite. We could question the truth of the man’s statement but note that Jesus didn’t.

Yes, Jesus could have just been condescending, however, Jesus’ words were not particularly sharp, which tells us that he accepted the man’s words. There was likely a have-been/continue-to-do-so tension, meaning that it was an ongoing practice, not just a past one.

This is significant as by straight reading the man had lived in such a way as to have eternal life. We who follow Jesus might question that, but that Jesus gave such a response is critical. For those who might conclude that this is a universalist response, the man was still a Jews, and thus one of the chosen.

However, was eternal life really the question? The man believed that despite the seemingly positive response he still lacked something. Jesus let him have it. Yet was that really the answer? We conclude so because the man walked away. It could be truly a matter of the heart.

Our earthly responses often seem to affect our response to the security of our salvation. The writer of Hebrews noted that much had to be done on a regular basis by the Temple priests to keep things “okay” between God and man (this is by the Law, not relationship). The writer of Hebrews goes on to explain that Jesus is the perfection of restorative relationship. Jesus’ mere presence in Heaven (and as part of the Trinity) is a perpetual “offering” on our behalf.

In the heart of the man is a question I hear from many people, and in my darker moments, I ask myself. “How do I (really) know that I am saved?”

It is through the author of Hebrews and the words of Paul that we get this answer. These words are first laid upon the solid foundation that is Jesus Christ, whose grace, mercy, love, and faithfulness are truer than we are capable of understanding.

※Questions※

1) What do you understand from our passage in Hebrews that applies to the sureness of (y)our salvation?

2) What do you understand from our passage in Romans that applies to the sureness of (y)our salvation?

3) Why do you think it is so hard for us to accept the truth revealed by the Scriptures regarding our salvation?

※Prayer※

Triune God, you created us. You gave us life. You gifted us salvation. You graced us with eternal life. Help us to seek that it is not our works that save us, but you alone. Amen.

2020-10-27
Following

Matthew 10:21–22; Matthew 12:46–50; Luke 11:27–28

Have you ever been in a conversation…and it’s going well…and then it’s really digging in…and then someone interrupts? That feeling of…really? Couldn’t you have held out just a bit longer?

Really? What was so important?

Family. Except, in comparison to the Kingdom of God, what is family? That might sound a bit harsh, yet for those who chose to follow Jesus when he was walking on earth and especially those that followed him after the Resurrection, that was reality. For many, it was Kingdom of Heaven versus family on earth.

In the 2 later passages (Matthew 12 and Luke 11), Jesus is teaching about the Kingdom of God. Then people interrupt with the family on earth. In Matthew 12, it is a combination of those listening and his earthly family that interrupt the teaching about the Kingdom of Heaven.

Jesus’ response to that is to include all those around him as mother and brothers, as long as they do the will of God.

Another time, a stranger interrupts Jesus to bless his mother, Mary. Not that blessing her is a bad thing, but what does this have to do with the Kingdom of God?

His response is similar to before. Blessed are those who follow God.

※Questions※

1) Have you ever had a situation where the path before you appeared to be God or (earthly) family? If so, what regrets do you have for whichever path you chose? If not, why do you think you were spared that choice?

2) How can the Kingdom of God replace our earthly families? What does the Kingdom of God seem to be missing (sometimes?) versus earthly families?

※Prayer※

Father, you have called us to be your children. We are still children in the world, too. Help us to look to you for guidance as we navigate the earthly family around us. Amen.

2020-10-26
You|Me and Us

Matthew 18:15–20; Luke 5:23–32

There is nobody beyond God’s redemptive reach. No one. No matter what a person has done or how “unclean” they may be, God is still there waiting.

Tax collectors were not well appreciated. We generally are scornful of the IRS. The tax collectors of the age of Jesus were despised in general. Any Gentile was supposed to be sidelined from a Jewish perspective. The gentile tax collector even more so.

From a cultural, political, power, and wealth standpoint, the Gentile tax collector represented everything the Jewish people feared and hated. The Jewish tax collector, such as Levi (in the reading from Luke), wasn’t much better. Their only redemptive feature was that they were Jewish.

God’s grace extends far beyond our ability to comprehend. This is a good thing, as we are often too petty and malicious to redeem others.

However, Jesus’ words also bring something else to the fore, discipline. The US modern church, as a whole, avoids the concept of church discipline. There are a number of reasons, some of them cultural, some of them missiological, some of them evangelical, some of them just a general lack of training and understanding.

Church discipline requires a balance of individual and community. In white US populations, that is rather difficult. Whites, by and large, idealize individuality. In other US populations, community has a much greater strength and pull.

In most white populations, church discipline as a community is difficult, as the individual will often “go their own way”, severing their ties with the community. On the other hand, in non-white and isolated white communities, the community can be destructive to the individual.

For the church to be the church, we will have to work together to find the balance between individual and community. As the church finds its way in a world that wants to push it aside even more, the church needs to learn and embrace the community and the individual, including the roles and responsibilities of each.

※Questions※

1) What value do you find in being part of a community? What value do you find in being an individual?

2) What are ways you can think of that would allow and encourage people to be part of community and still respect individuality?

3) What do you think God’s perspective on community and individuality is?

※Prayer※

God, you have made us similar to each other…yet different. Help us to embrace what makes us different and embrace what makes us the same. Amen.

2020-10-24
Living

Deuteronomy 5:26–27; Ezekiel 33:11; Luke 20:34–40; John 5:39–40; John 8:56–58

A living God? To many people today, God is just a fairy tale who belongs amongst the pages of Grimm’s fairy tales and folklore. For them, God is no different than the ancient Roman and Greek gods, and of no greater value (perhaps even less) than the Hindu gods.

Yesterday’s devotional was about the witness we are called to make. While the devotional didn’t talk about our common failures in being good and faithful witnesses, most of us realize that we have messed up more than a few times.

Being faithful often means being humble when we fail, requiring us to be honest with ourselves and others. That can be difficult. Being open (and thus vulnerable) about our flaws sometimes requires greater strength than we are capable of on our own.

Our witness requires greater strength than it used to. Our witness requires greater vulnerability than it used to. Our witness requires greater transparency than it used to.

The concept (our reality) of a living God allows us the freedom to breathe in the pressure of the “greaters”. Our God is greater still than the greatest Created thing or person.

When we understand that God is a God of the living it helps to put a few things into perspective. It wasn’t a small thing that Jesus observed that God named Abraham, Isaac, and Joseph in the present tense. When we focus on the dead and what comes after, or even what came before, we don’t live in the fullness of the life that has been given to us.

This is, even more, the case when we talk about the Scriptures. People dig into the Scriptures to know more about God. People dig into the Scriptures to deny God. Even those of Jesus’ day who knew the Scriptures well were unable to see the living God before them. While the Scriptures are living and active, they are living and active only because of the living God.

A living God means that God is not sitting on the sidelines. God works in and among and through Creation.

※Questions※

1) How does God being living affect your daily walk with God?

2) Especially when it comes to Jesus, but not only, why is “living” so important?

3) Have you ever known someone who was “alive”, but who wasn’t living? Do you think they knew Jesus?

※Prayer※

God of the living and breathing Creation, help to know to the depths of our souls that you are living and breathing in us. Amen.

2020-10-23
You’re MINE

Luke 9:49–56

Family feuds can be long and painful. Some people are relieved that they won’t be traveling for the annual family gathering during Thanksgiving.

The Jews and the Samaritans were family. They were at one point, at least. Over the generations, things continued to get worse, until they became enemies.

Peculiarly, the Samaritans still retained some semblance of God worship. Even that created some tension, as both Jew and Samaritan viewed “their” understanding of God as right, and the other as wrong.

That Jesus came to the Samaritans recognizes that they still had a place in God’s family. Jesus’ earthly ministry focused on the Jews, but the Samaritans were there in the margins.

There was no question that the Samaritans viewed Jesus in a positive light. In this passage, though, we see that there is still some aspect of us versus them.

The Samaritans were upset that Jesus would “abandon” them for Jerusalem. This was a problem of misunderstanding and jealousy. They had some view of Jesus as theirs, despite him being a Jew.

Jealousy such as this isn’t all that uncommon. The problem is that we frame famous people with our own beliefs. We will often look at them and interpret everything they did or said through the lenses of our beliefs.

Christians have done the same thing. We take our beliefs (communism, capitalism, race, nationality, culture) and shape Jesus. We’ve seen that a lot this chaotic year.

Yet, if we read the scriptures and the views of other Christian people (especially from other cultures or theologies), it tends to shake our lenses a bit. Sometimes more than we like.

We like our Jesus just like we like our politicians and celebrities: safe for us, but not for them. The Samaritans were much the same.

However, at least with Jesus, if he is safe for everyone, then we can be sure that that’s a false view of Him.

※Questions※

1) What false views of Jesus have you held?

2) What are the dangers of false views of Jesus?

3) What are the best ways to determine if we have false views of Jesus?

※Prayer※

Jesus, help us to truly know you so that we are not lead astray from you, your salvation, or your message of hope and love to the world. Amen.

2020-10-21
Good Gone Bad

Mark 12:1–17; Matthew 10:5–7; Matthew 17:24–27

Within the context of Jesus’ earthly ministry, the primacy of the remnants of the Israelites cannot be denied. Jesus calls them the “lost sheep”. Their place is significant to God, for they are even called by God’s name (2 Chronicles 7:14).

The tragedy of it all is that while they are still children of God, Jesus identifies them as strangers (or foreigners) to God. We might use the word estranged.

Gentiles were truly foreigners to God, insofar as God did not choose them to bear the name of God. Due to choices and behaviors, it came to the point that the Jews were such, too.

What’s interesting is the Temple Tax. It was a tax from Exodus 30:11–16. Every man of the age of 20 or over was obliged to pay it annually. It was also called the “atonement” tax. It was used to take care of the tent of meeting (later the Temple). Its spiritual purpose was to remind the Israelites that their lives needed to be atoned for.

What is also interesting is the backdoor way Jesus was asked…using Peter. There is also the assumption that Jesus hadn’t paid it, or that they watched Jesus so closely that they knew he hadn’t yet paid it. Either presupposition leads to interesting conclusions. However, it is Jesus’ response about strangers and sons that should catch our attention.

Some commentators infer that Jesus paid the Temple Tax to fulfill all righteousness (tying language to the baptism of Jesus). Jesus, however, doesn’t seem to have that same understanding. He sounds more condescending (“just to not offend”), though it is more likely a battle that is not worth fighting, and it’s a simple barrier.

Jesus’ response might imply that the tax was out of date. In Exodus, the tax seems tied specifically to the Tent of Meeting. So, once the Tent of Meeting was done with (i.e., the Temple was built), the tax was done with.

This reminds me of the Maple Street Bridge in Spokane, WA. When it was built, there was a toll booth. The promise was that the booth would be removed when the bridge was paid for. It was. In comparison, other public toll bridges that I’m familiar with still have tolls, and those tolls are tossed into the public fund, not the bridge operating fund.

This is not to pick on them, but to show that we have similar examples in our lives. The tolls, no longer needed for their original purpose, are now moved to other “needs”. The same about the Temple Tax perhaps. The implication is pretty strong, though, as this ties into Jesus’ declaration about the Temple Courts being a den of robbers (Matthew 21:13).

※Prayer※

Jesus, cleanse us of anything we hold onto as good that has become bad in our lives. Amen.

2020-10-20
Win Some; Lose Some

Matthew 16:21–28; Mark 8:27–38; Luke 9:18–27

You are probably the most familiar with the translation in Mark saying, “What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?” It has been made famous in a number of songs. It has been used in many sermons. What if, however, we lost the focus?

As you read Matthew’s and Luke’s understanding of the same scene, you’ll see self or life (depending on translation). These along with soul are all correct.

Yet, the problem is that when we focus on soul, we jump to salvation and Jesus as Lord and Savior. That isn’t the point. The context of picking up one’s cross daily to deny self. In Mark’s larger context, it even comes with the denial of Jesus.

The danger in focusing on salvation is that it misses the whole point of living. Salvation, ultimately, is what happens at the end (yes, this is a simplification). The passages are talking about life.

A person may perceive that they have not lost their “soul”, and yet do horrible things. One could say that then they don’t “know” Jesus. That could be true. However, the same people who often focus on the “soul” have a “turn or burn” theology that allows a grace-less life to be judged as “saved”.

The intent is to have a Jesus-filled life. The self in question that needs to be laid aside is the worldly self. The self that is lost and tossed is the fulfilled life of somewhat who has given themselves to Jesus.

Sometimes, it seems, it would be easier to be a monk or a nun, separated from the world. When we hear from many of these cloistered people, it seems that many struggle just as we do it setting down the worldly self.

The full life with Jesus is the life of today, tomorrow, and forever. It is always “and”; it is never “or”.

※Prayer※

Jesus, may the life we seek be the one you want for us. Amen.

2020-10-19
Pounding the Pavement

Luke 12:16–34

We often use the words of Jesus out of context. When we do so, we often lose their original meaning. “Don’t worry about what you eat…or what you will wear” is often used to say don’t worry about “worldly” things, except…it isn’t.

When we look at the rich man’s productive harvest, we get the greater idea of what Jesus is driving at. It isn’t wanting more or better; it is caring for one’s fellow. The successful harvest was going to be kept solely for him. He saw nothing wrong with not sharing the bounty.

For many years, we have heard of trickle-down economics. It is real. It is true. It still isn’t God’s way. Communism (the Communism of Tolstoy, Mao, Lenin, Castro, Kim, or others) of force used to “level” the playing field by removing all incentive and initiative, and crushing it isn’t God’s way either. God’s way is somewhere in between.

God’s way isn’t about what we can grasp, but what we give. The treasures we are to store up are hearts. Not literally, that would be disgusting. We are talking—as you already knew, of course—about the “spiritual heart” that is turned over to Jesus.

The bumper sticker that reads, “(S)He who dies with the most toys wins,” is a lie. Toys, as such, are useless trinkets that rust and decay. Souls (or spiritual hearts) are forever. We only get to bring souls with us into Heaven.

We are watching many of the rich (such as Bill Gates) begin to somewhat understand it, though they still miss the eternal part. This has happened many times over the years. Andrew Carnegie left a fantastic legacy of libraries all over the country, truly seeking to give “working class” children a better start than he got.

This is not to disparage their actions. Quite the contrary. There are the secular (non-religious) acts of Jesus lived out. They should be celebrated and honored.

They still don’t save souls. Often the question in the capital (state or nation) is, how much do we “spend” on a person? That can be welfare, grants, contracts, pensions, or well-deserved (and earned) veterans’ benefits. The government thinks in dollars per person.

God thinks in person per dollars. Sort of. God doesn’t care about the dollars. God cares about the souls of those who earn, give, save, horde, or even burn dollars. John the Revelator saw streets of Gold in his vision. As an ounce of Gold approaches $2000, it’s still pavement in Heaven.

God cares about ravens, birds, wildflowers, grass, and you. Gold is just to be walked on.

※Prayer※

Jesus, you have given us humanity to walk with. May we seek their good and their entrance into Heaven as we follow your will. Amen.

2020-10-18