Devotion.al

Tag: Pentecost

  • Treasured

    Psalm 119:161–168, Matthew 13:44–46, 2 Corinthians 4:7–

    Treasure. We all have treasure. For some it is jewels. For it’s art. It could be so many things. For the right treasure, people will up many things, dreams, and even people (which puts into question the “right” treasure).

    Imagine being the person who found the treasure in the field…and left it. That person took a risk that it would still be there. Often the greatest treasure is one that others have walked on by.
    God is like that. God gave up everything, even himself, for his treasure…us.

    When talks about treasure in clay pots (i.e., breakable and fragile), he’s talking about us. Somehow, in spite of our flaws, we are a treasure to God. We all have times in our lives that we question our value. God has no such question.

    1) What does it feel like to be a treasure of God?

    2) Do you think of yourself as a treasure, why or why not?

    3) What does it mean that others are treasures, too, in the eyes of God?

  • Finger-Pointing

    Deuteronomy 1:9–18, John 5:19–30, Romans 1:28–2:9

    We’ve all heard, “if you have one finger pointing out, you have three fingers pointing back.” There is great wisdom in that seeming childish saying. It might be better to say it is child-like. the child-like understanding recognizes the 3-to-1 ratio is important. The adult-like perspective, on the other hand, is more like self-justifying 3 fingers, while still pointing with the 1.

    How do we balance the right judgment as called out in Deuteronomy, yet keep Jesus’ words in mind? Are we called to judge, or not?

    Deuteronomy was about the outward , with the intent of , unity, and the . The was toward a holy with God.

    Have you ever committed, aided, or abetted the following: unrighteousness, evil, greed, wickedness, envy, murder (, Jesus puts calling someone a “fool” in the same category), quarrelling, deceit, malice, gossip, slanderer, God-hater, arrogant, proud, boastful, inventor of evil, disobedience to parents, senseless, untrustworthy, unloving, or unmerciful?

    Now how often have we pointed fingers at for their violation of these, but failed to recognize and for ours?

    Jesus wasn’t calling on us to disregard failures and sins, quite the contrary. He was calling us to to them, to walk beside them, to aid them, to lift them up.

    1) Have you ever publically or privately shamed a person for committing the same or similar act you have done?

    2) When seeing someone do something you know violates God’s (not man’s) ways, how do you approach it? Accusative, encouraging, helping?

    3) There is a tendency to look at others when reading the list of Paul’s. However, we find our actions often on this list. How do you look at verse 1:28?

  • Pain and Blessing

    Psalm 86, Ecclesiastes 7:2–5, Matthew 5:3-10

    The world is often full of pain. In fact, were you to watch the news, it would seem that pain far outweighs anything else in the world. One of the biggest reasons for this is our desire to avoid it. Sounds contradictory. If we look around us, though, often what people pursue is to avoid pain. This could be any kind of pain: hunger, , shame, health, pride, life.

    This often leads to problems as we try to hide our pain from ourselves and . We also strive to avoid others’ pain, so that we don’t feel a touch of it ourselves.

    Why is it that the writer of Ecclesiastes tells us to go to the house of mourning? Wouldn’t it be better to be in a fun place? In pain, there is often far more honesty (even if it is pain lashing out in anger) than there is where everybody seems to be having a good time, or at least certainly trying to have a good time.

    takes it even to another level and says those in pain are blessed. Blessed? For most people in pain, blessed is often not the first that comes to mind. However, in pain is often the time a is more open to . This can be the time the is presented with an open door.

    1) Think of many of the major decisions in your life. Were they based partially on pain or pain avoidance?

    2) We often focus on pain. Why is that, when that’s not what we want?

    3) While Jesus isn’t telling us to deliberately and purposefully live a life of pain, what do his tell us is the Christian ?

  • Placing the Message

    Joel 2:18–32, Acts 2:29–40,2 Peter 1:16–21

    Joel is an interesting book in that there are no definitive elements to place. There are many events and practices that put it within a few centuries, but that the prophet does not define himself, nor does he seem to be responding to a particular king, it becomes open to interpretation.

    Since it has withstood the test of time, however, we can presume that those that followed after the time of Joel recognized his words as and . As with many quotations of the Old Testament used in the New Testament, there were some liberties in context that were not out of the norm, nor was it viewed as inappropriate.
    Much of what we read from Joel was repeated by Peter to the Jews present at . Joel’s words were intended to reassure the Jews that God was not gone and that God would come in a new (and old) way. It’s pretty clear that Peter felt the event of Pentecost qualified. Peter utilized the stories of Jesus to tie in David (the precursor of the new) to the Messianic reality that he (Peter) and the disciples had been experiencing.

    There were obviously many hearts already softened to the , as the of, “what do we do,” led them repentance and . Again Peter’s message to the Jews already had the hint of going beyond the Jews. “All who are far off” “As many as the Lord our God will ” It was enough, however, for Luke (the writer of Acts) to stop repeating Peter’s words, for the message had been heard and responded to.

    Peter himself reflected on prophets. While he may have thought of Joel or David, he probably didn’t think of himself. This despite his own words being prophetic regarding to whom the would preach and reach.

    1) Why was Peter’s message so effective to the Jews who heard it?

    2) If it is the same message delivered today (which we it is), why has it become so ineffective?

    3) What are the similarities between the Jews hearing the message, and Peter delivering the message? What characteristic(s) might be the same?

  • Barriers to Sharing

    John 20:19–23, Acts 1:4, Acts 2:1–36

    The short vignette in the locked upper room after the Resurrection seems as if was a snippet of a memory that was lacking something. Yet, John felt it was important. As a precursor to Pentecost, Jesus’ statement/blessing about receiving the was an important thing. Jesus had already told the disciples that they would only fully be what they were called to be when the Holy Spirit came and that Jesus would have to not be present. Jesus directed them to .
    They waited, prayed, worshipped.
    The Festival of First Fruits (Pentecost) was a Jewish major festival to celebrate the first of the harvest and to praise and worship God. Probably not as full as it was during Passover, Jerusalem was still a significantly full. In addition, there were likely many people who lived far away but remained for both. Was it as packed? Probably not. Were the spectacle of Jesus and his story still floating around? Probably. They, the disciples and the people of Jerusalem, were not for what came next.

    The spontaneous sermon by Peter probably shocked him and the other disciples. While his sermon fell on fertile ground, it is probably not just the words. Any charlatan or false teacher or false prophet can preach a good sermon. The miracle of people of different countries hearing the sermon in their native tongue showed God’s supernatural approval and participation in this.

    We often get tied up in methods and modes of communicating. There are longtime disagreements about modes and methods. Far too many confuse mode and methods with the message. God made no distinction between languages. It was the message that mattered. On the other hand, we could be so concerned about the language (“did they miss the nuance?”) that we forget the effectiveness of mode and message.

    What matters is that the message was heard. The people didn’t hear God’s message in some tongue that they were not native to, they heard it in the tongue where they knew the nuances. God did not do a poor translation, God did a great one. More than that, hearts were transformed, and those transformed hearts went back home. Of what value is a Jew whose first language isn’t Hebrew? They took home the message that God loves them so much, that he sent his to die for them.

    Pentecost is the birthday of the Church. The whole church. While it took Peter and the other disciples time to recognize what the first sermon was saying (all nations and people can come to God), it was the of the Church at birth. The Jewish Pentecost was a celeb.ration of the first fruits of the harvest. The Church Pentecost is about the first fruits of the

    1) The initial to the supernatural of hearing things in one’s own language was met with skepticism. Why do you think that is?

    2) Speaking in is considered a gift of the Holy Spirit. What is very unique about this specific display of Speaking in Tongues? If you need a hint, who is missing?

    3) Even today people hold on to methods and modes as essentials to sharing the , rather than the Good News itself. Why do people hold onto such things, often to the detriment of sharing the Gospel?

  • Land of Blessing

    Isaiah 24:4–13, Zechariah 14:8–11, Revelation 22:1–5

    The . As we read about the curse in Isaiah, we can easily read into it the current fears, concerns, and observations regarding our environment. be told, if we are called to be stewards—rather than dominators—of , we can see our responsibility regarding Creation. The context of this passage is indeed the damage done to Creation as a result of humankind’s behavior. It is not the “fouling the nest” concept that is the origin, but that hearts were resolutely turned away from God. The land, ultimately, was a symbol of God’s blessing (the “land of milk and honey”) or the removal of it. While it is cursed land, it is not God’s desire that it occurred, but the natural result of human hearts’ desires for something wholly other than God.

    As the social/religious/political center of Israelite and Jewish , Jerusalem was the most cursed of all. Yet, Zechariah provides a of a healed city whose healing waters will flow into the world. Jerusalem would be transformed from a place of desolation and death to a place of and life.

    In Revelation, the image takes on greater depth as the water imagery of the Water of Life that flows from God the and the . It also revolves around the opposite of the curse…God is the center of their lives.

    1) If “the land” is still a symbol of God’s blessing, what does that mean for us?

    2) How do you as the center of your life? How does that differ from the vision of Zechariah and John’s Revelation?

    3) What is it about the Water of Life flowing from the throne of the Father and the throne of the Lamb that is important? What is the “hidden” image?

  • What Doesn’t Change

    Psalm 146, Isaiah 43:8–13, 1 Peter 2:2–10, John 14:1–7

    While we are still in the Easter season (the year span between Easter and ), it is always good to recall all which testified to being the Messiah. This passage in Isaiah is a good reminder. Through the Messiah (Jesus) nations have been brought together. We often look at the divisions, especially when it comes to the powerful using to justify their actions. Which is makes things all the more peculiar (and often a against the powerful), for God says that God is the Savior. No one else can do it. Only God. Still, we are told one political perspective (let alone political party) is going to solve it all. They can’t. There is an important piece that often isn’t included in the fact that only God can save, that means insofar as our depends on God, it doesn’t .

    God’s salvation doesn’t change. However, our understanding and/or acceptance of it may change drastically over our lives. It is not a minor theological point that Peter makes regarding growing into salvation. It is a huge thing. Think of a plant/tree/bush. If they are not growing, they are dead. Many people think they have arrived when they come to a salvation point with Jesus (in fact, many churches have taught that over the years). Peter’s point is that it is an ongoing process. Not only does he use “plant-growing” language, he then builds (no pun intended) on that by saying we are being built into a spiritual temple. We are part of God’s saving work in us. Now, that is not to say that our salvation is based on our work, but that it becomes deeper and more – when we participate in it.

    Life-giving should be the Very Good Life…the saving life that Jesus Christ invites us to participate in. When Jesus speaks on being, “…the way, the , and the life…,” it (again) is not a destination. Those that were part of the early church were often called the Followers of the Way. They lived life together around the truth. This particular passage is often used by (well-meaning) people as a dividing line between unbelievers and “true” Christians. Yet, it is more about Christians than it is about anyone else. We are to look to Jesus as our Savior. We are to follow his ways the best we can. As we follow him, we are better able to draw people to life with him.

    1) Through Isaiah, God says to the Israelites (and to us), “…you are my witnesses….” Read the verses before and after, then ask yourself, witnesses to what?

    2) Why is it crucial to think of the Christian life as a “growing” life?

    3) What are your thoughts regarding, “…the way, the truth, and the life…?” What does it mean to a Christian? What does it mean to one who doesn’t follow Jesus?