Thursday, January 29, 2009

Son of the Most High God

Jesus, gets out of the boat in the Region of the Gerasenes. A man comes from the tombs to meet him. No one was strong enough to subdue the man. They would chain him up and he would break the chains off his hands and his feet. Mark 5:5 says, "Night and day among the tombs and in the hills he would cry out and cut himself with stones." He was a man with an evil spirit--demon possessed. You and I would be terrified if this man ran up to us.

He ran up to Jesus and fell on his knees and shouted at the top of his voice, "What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God?"

Jesus' enemy bowed before him and called him "Son of God." Not only that, he proclaimed God as the "Most High God."

Jesus was recognized by his enemy who identified him as the Son of God. His enemy bowed, calling him Lord. This story confirms what James says, "You believe there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that--and shudder" (James 2:19).

How are you doing proclaiming him as Lord?

Monday, January 26, 2009

Are We Blind Too?


In John 9, Jesus heals a man who had been blind from birth. He does it in a very unusual way. He spit(that's right Jesus can spit) on the ground and made some mud. Then he rubs this saliva filled dirt on the eyes of the blind man. Then he proceeds to tell him to go to the pool of Siloam and wash it off. The man went home seeing.

Can you imagine what it must have been like for this man as he walked home? It would have been like Dorthy stepping into Oz in full color. He had never seen a tree, a bird or water and now everything was clear to him. I wonder what he stared at the most? Did he stare at the sun which he had felt the warmth of for so many years? Did he stare at his hands which he had used to idnetify people and objects?

One thing that bothered me about this passage is that the man did not go looking for Jesus. I think I would have wanted to go see the man who had rubbed spit on my face.

This miracle caused a scene amongst the religious leaders. They began to question the man about his healing. Instead of being excited about the healing that took place the religous leaders were offended. They said, "This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath."

We learn something about Jesus here by what his enemies said about him. We learn that Jesus was not going to let religious practices created by man get in the way of being God. It was not that he was not going to keep the Sabbath. He was going to show us how to live on the Sabbath.

The blind man broke the Sabbath by washing. Washing according to the Rabbidical law was work. Maybe Jesus rubbed this mud on his eyes to force him to wash that day. Because if he hadn't washed the mud off his face that day he would not have seen God.

Sometimes we do not see God because we're too religious. We hold on to traditions and laws that get in the way of truly experiencing Jesus. It is our own man made mud, that for one reason or another we refuse to wash off.

Later in John 9 when the man meets Jesus it says, "The man said, 'Lord, I believe,' and he worshipped him." He called Jesus Lord and then worshipped him. He experienced the awe and wonder of Jesus.

He washed on the Sabbath and saw God. He didn't allow religious acts keep him from seeing the one who gives sight to the blind, the one who brings salvation--His name is Jesus.

Thursday, January 22, 2009

Identifying Jesus

I am still reading "ReJesus: A Wild Messiah for a Missional Church" (Michael Frost and Alan Hirsch). They point out how his enemies identify Jesus while trying to discredit him. They quote Matthew 22:16: "We know how you are sincere, and teach the way of God in accordance with the truth, and show deference to no one; for you do not regard people with partiality." This made me think about the Jesus of the gospels and how we ought to live as his followers.

Here his enemies (the religious leaders) point out how Jesus treats everyone the same. I would say that is a good character quality of an effective leader. I would want to be a person known for not showing partiality to people, wouldn't you?

The problem is that the religious leaders saw this as a weakness not as a strength. The most religious of Jesus day practiced nepotism. It was who you are that made the most difference in the social order. There was a high premium placed on those who were taught by the best Rabbi's, those who came from the right family and those who would give praise to those in high places.

It is not much different today. Go to most any church and there is a pecking order. It will not take long to figure out who has the most power in that particular institution. When someone comes in and begins to treat everyone as an equal, there is tension.

Jesus came treating everyone as equal and the religious leaders did not like it. They eventually killed him for it.

Following Jesus is not always the most easy way, but it is the right way. As followers of Jesus, the lesson we learn from this label is to show no favoritism.

James wrote: "My brothers, as believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, don't show favoritism. Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in shabby clothes also comes in. If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, 'Here is a good seat for you,' but say to the poor man, 'You stand here' or 'Sit on the floor by my feet,' have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? . . . But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers" (James 2:1-4,9).

I wonder where James learned this lesson?

I also wonder how many other character qualities we can learn about Jesus, by what his enemies said about him? This will be the topic of my next several posts. Things we can learn from His enemies.

Friday, January 16, 2009

The Postcard


Before short term missions was a thing, I had a couple friends who did a short term trip for a summer in Morocco. It happened during the summer when we were in college. Along with learning cultural stuff like do not shake someones right hand they had to learn Spanish.

Pat was not skilled in the language. He was staying in Spain with a family before they went to Morocco. While there he lost his Bible. He was trying to explain to his host what he was looking for and she brought him a glass of milk.

While he was gone, I received two post cards from him. I still have one of them which says:

Scott,

Don't ever let me do something like this again. Get me out of here.
Held against my will,

Pat


The other one I will never forget:

Scott,

Get me the hell out of here!

Pat


My how short term trips have changed.

Why am I thinking about these post cards this morning? Because I just checked the temperature here in Tallmadge. It is -8 and feels like -25. This is the coldest it has been since 1994. When I saw the temperature, I thought about Pat's postcards.

I have thought about going outside and starting my cars, lawn mower and snow blower. I would just let them run to speed up this global warming crisis. I'm not because it's too cold! Do you know at this temperature you can sprinkle water in the air and it will freeze on the way down?

As bad as it is, it could be worse. I could live in a country like Morocco that does not have the same freedoms I have here in the United States. Could be in a place like Morocco where I would not be able to worship God freely.

I could be in a country where I do not have much food or a closet full of clothes. I could be in a country where I do not have clean water to drink or throw in the air to watch it freeze. It could be much worse.

With all that I have, my freedom, food, clothes, a nice house, two cars, a lawn mower and a snow blower--Do I really have any room to complain?

Think about what you have today and thank God for it all.

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

The Perfect Climate

I am sitting here eating a bowl of hot and sour soup because it is cold. It was 7 (degrees) when I ran out to get some soup. I am really hating the cold right now. The snow is alright, but with the cold it is unbearable. Days like today, I think about moving south--deep south.

As I was eating I was thinking about the Garden of Eden (no that was not the name of the Chinese Restaurant). If the Garden of Eden was perfect, what was the perfect climate. What would the temperature have been. We know it would not be 7 considering that would be really cold in the buff. And when God made clothes, I don't think he made winter coats.

So here is the question of the day. What is your perfect climate? You can use a place you have been or you can describe it yourself.

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

The World Wants More Jesus

As I am reading "ReJesus: A Wild Messiah for a Missional Church," I am becoming convicted that something radical needs to be done in the church. I am talking about at the level of Reformation proportions.

One of the things that Hirsch and Frost point out is that we have to stop going back and looking at our denominational leaders to see what we need to become. We need to go back to Jesus to see how we should live. As I was reading the chapter "ReJesus and Personal Renewal," I was looking up the verses that were referenced. One of the verses was Matthew 4:19 where Jesus said, "Come follow me and I will make you fishers of men."

"Follow Me." What does that mean? Is following Jesus just making the statement that you believe in him? Was the follow me statement made to his disciples so they would just walk around with him? No. The "follow me" statement means that we become like Jesus. We live on earth, like he lived on earth.

The problem is that we have locked him out of our institutions because he calls us to live a radical lifestyle. At least it is radical to most of western Christianity. It is not radical to the world. The world misses the presence of Jesus. The world is starved for the presence of Jesus.

I can't believe I am going to embed this youtube video. The reason I am going to embed it is because it is the world crying out for the church to be more like Jesus. As Frost and Hirsch point out, "Sinead O'Conner, who in 2007 released her album "Theology," an anthology of reflections on various Old Testament passages that cry out in anguish for a faith not stained by the church that bears God's name. Raised Catholic, the brunt of her attacks has invariably been born by the church of her childhood, but the sting in her beautiful songs can be felt by any church or denomination that shuts Jesus out of its religious system."

The song is based on Psalm 130. Listen and tell me what you think.