Who's your daddy? Part II (John 8:37-47)

The last time we studied, we were looking at the Jewish leaders in this passage and seeing their belief that simply by being from the heritage of a faithful man, Abraham, they would automatically be righteous. We noted that heritage doesn't guarantee a way in to the eternal kingdom of God.

Next we will look at how they claimed to be heirs of the Father, but showed how their father was really not God, but the devil!
Let's dive in!
Here is a portion of our passage again:

[41] “You are doing what your father did.” They said to him, “We were not born of sexual immorality. We have one Father—even God.” [42] Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and I am here. I came not of my own accord, but he sent me. [43] Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word. [44] You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and has nothing to do with the truth, because there is no truth in him. When helies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.” 

Now, Jesus is making it abundantly clear that He is thinking of some other father of these men, someone other than Abraham. Yes, there was a father here, but it was not the Abraham that Paul lauded in the book of Hebrews some years later. Oh, there is definitely a family likeness . . . just like when Aunt Zoe looks at you and says you're the "spit'n'image" of your dad.

You've heard the term "hitting below the belt," right?
Yep. That's what these men do.
They didn't like how personal He was getting, so they hit back -- and with a really mean spirit.
They point to Jesus' unusual birth; more than likely to hurt Him and to cause doubt among any potential followers who were listening.
We can well imagine that in the past thirty years there have been oodles of rumors. There have been whispers and winks. The strange circumstances surrounding the birth of Jesus have been fodder for many a conversation. And no matter how many times Mary and Joseph have testified about it through the years, the whispers are far more fun, and far more tantalizing. Hey, either Joseph and Mary had been messing around before they were actually supposed to, or Mary must have had a fling with someone else, and Joseph just looked the other way.
Either way, thought the leaders, this Jesus Who threatened their authority, and Who made them so angry, was the product of sexual immorality.
Whoa. What an accusation. And right to His face.

Ahem. Look at Jesus' reaction to this nastiness. He doesn't blink. He knows it isn't true. And so He just hammers home this message: He was not on a mission He dreamed up.
He came from God.
And if you love God, you were going to love Him, too. No matter what kind of slime they try to throw at Him, He will not deviate from His message. And this is where He pulls away their masks. He strips away the pretense.
They claim to belong to God, but that's not true. Their claim was illegitimate. Why? Since they were seeking to murder Jesus, they showed their father to be Satan -- the one who was a murderer from the beginning.
Remember how he persuaded Eve, and then Adam and Eve suffered a spiritual death by the sin they committed in the Garden? Who was it that directed the heart of Cain when he physically murdered Abel? Who gave Joseph's brothers the idea to throw him in a pit, and then sell him into slavery, thinking he would die on the trip or when he reached his destination?
Yep, you're right, it was the devil. And he uses deceit to push people to spiritual or physical murder. Just like Adam and Eve, these Jewish leaders have been deceived. They've listened to the lies that have spoken to their pride, and to their egos, and they have believed.
They've swallowed those lies, hook line and sinker.
"You're a child of God."
"You're from a long line of godly people."
"You're so much better than those other people. You have it made. You are so good and righteous."
That's why they don't understand why Jesus is here, and what He is doing. They are listening to their father, the devil, the father of lies.

Who are we listening to in our daily lives?

Tuesday - What are you listening to?

Music is such an important part of our lives as Christians. I found this quote very appropriate:

Music is a wonderful response to God. It is an emotional outlet of our love and praise for God and what He has done for us. Often, in the 20th (nearly 21st) century, Christians treat our relationship with the Lord as an academic exercise. Although we need to use our minds to understand God and His revelation to us, we also need to give our whole selves to Him. This includes ourselves emotionally. David reflects this in the Psalms. He uses his knowledge of God and also pours out his heart before the God he can trust. We, too, can respond to God and His grace through the avenue of music. We can respond both academically and emotionally; and in every way. What a wonderful joy it is to know we can take everything to the Lord, whether it be grief or joyful praise. We can do this through music. (Denise Bray)

Music and words help us to declare our belief in God, and help us to praise Him, too.
What are you listening to, today?

I am listening to this as I go about my work today:

You stood before creation
Eternity in your hand
You spoke the earth into motion
My soul now to stand

You stood before my failure
And carried the cross for my shame
My sin weighed upon your shoulders
My soul now to stand

So what could I say?
And what could I do?
But offer this heart, Oh God
Completely to you

So I'll walk upon salvation
Your spirit alive in me
This life to declare your promise
My soul now to stand

So what could I say?
And what could I do?
But offer this heart, Oh God
Completely to you

I'll stand
With arms high and heart abandoned
In awe of the one who gave it all
I'll stand
My soul Lord to you surrendered
All I am is yours

John 8:37-47 "Who's your daddy?" Part I

Have you ever thought about how much our families influence how we turn out? How people may look at us and say, "That's just like your mom" or "you remind me of your dad"?
In this passage, we're going to see this on a spiritual level.
Let's dive right in!

This has been a very powerful chapter, hasn't it? There has been much conflict and much more teaching. First we saw the Jewish leaders try to trap Jesus with the issue of the woman caught in adultery. Instead of trapping Jesus, they were confronted with their own sins. Next they heard statements from Him that they did not want to hear: "I am the light of the world," and "the truth shall set you free."

Here are our verses for today:

 I know that you are Abraham’s descendants. Yet you are looking for a way to kill me, because you have no room for my word. I am telling you what I have seen in the Father’s presence, and you are doing what you have heard from your father.

“Abraham is our father,” they answered.

“If you were Abraham’s children,” said Jesus, “then you would do what Abraham did. As it is, you are looking for a way to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. Abraham did not do such things. You are doing the works of your own father.”

“We are not illegitimate children,” they protested. “The only Father we have is God himself.”

 Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I have come here from God. I have not come on my own; God sent me.  Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say.  You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe me!  Can any of you prove me guilty of sin? If I am telling the truth, why don’t you believe me?  Whoever belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God.

I think we can all agree that a godly heritage, a heritage of spiritual guidance, can be an awesome influence in our lives. What was the heritage that Abraham provided? In Hebrews 11, what some people call the pantheon of our heroes of the faith, we read:

By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.

This is the heritage that the Jewish leaders would point back to, but that they were only giving lip service to. Jesus is pointing out that they need to "walk the walk, not just talk the talk", right?
"Abraham is our father!" they said.

Jesus is willing to concede that they are physically of Abraham's line; like the bluebloods in our New England states, they could point to a genealogy that would go right back to Abraham. But it's not a convincing response; it doesn't end the argument. They may have been the heirs of Abraham, but they were certainly not fulfilling the promise. They were supposed to be a blessing to the nations, a light of revelation to the Gentiles! These Jewish leaders did not have vision and could not discern that this was their long-awaited Messiah . . . as Jesus said, they were actually children of darkness.
Why?
Because a godly spiritual heritage doesn't guarantee righteousness. We can't have wisdom and righteousness on someone else's coat-tails, so to speak. Just because our mom, our grandmom, or a whole line of folks were awesome, godly people, that doesn't mean we are automatically godly. Our dad or our great-granddad could have been the most incredible preacher or godly layman ever, but that doesn't guarantee that we are righteous.
Jesus makes it clear as He talks to them, that their actions do not line up with Abraham's actions. They are not being consistent with Abraham's example for them. Their desire was to kill Jesus -- definitely not an "Abraham thing," right?
But it shows a line of thinking that was prevalent at the time, and that we can see today as well. They thought that the eternal kingdom would be given to those who were the seed of Abraham -- even if they were sinners and unbelievers . . . even if they were being disobedient to Jehovah God. Now whether these leaders would actually voice that or not, we don't know. But it sure seems like they were thinking along those lines!
We do know, however, that Jesus points them in a different direction.

What He tells them is that religious privilege does not guarantee a way into the kingdom. They were not automatically in. They were not automatically righteous. They were not automatically sin-free. So their loud outcries about being Abraham's heirs kinda falls with a thud.

They were hostile to what God was doing, and about Who He sent to do it. That certainly was not following Abraham's example.

We'll talk more about this next time . . . in the mean time, maybe we should think about our own lives. Who will people see as our father? Will they see our lives pointing to the Father, or somewhere else?

Celebrating Easter!

I had considered a series of posts on the resurrection for this week, but life got in the way and those will be here at another time.

For this week, I'd like to beg your indulgence as I spend some time with family in celebrating Easter and in relaxing a little. A bit of a break in this beautiful spring time!

Wishing God's best blessings and His peace for you and your families . . . we'll be back to study together on next Monday!  Praise God; Christ lives!

Friday slowdown

This week we've studied about the victory over guilt and shame that can be ours in Christ. I thought this song was just right for this week.
Hope you enjoy it, and that it is a blessing.

1. Once I was bound by sin’s galling fetters,
   Chained like a slave I struggled in vain;
   But I received a glorious freedom,
   When Jesus broke my fetters in twain.
• Glorious freedom, wonderful freedom,
  No more in chains of sin I repine!
  Jesus the glorious Emancipator,
    Now and forever He shall be mine.
2. Freedom from all the carnal affections,
   Freedom from envy, hatred and strife;
   Freedom from vain and worldly ambitions.
   Freedom from all that saddened my life.
3. Freedom from pride and all sinful follies,
   Freedom from love and glitter of gold;
   Freedom from evil temper and anger,
   Glorious freedom, rapture untold.
4. Freedom from fear with all of its torments,
   Freedom from care with all of its pain;
   Freedom in Christ my blessed Redeemer,
   He who has rent my fetters in twain.

Freedom from guilt, Part II

³¹ To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. ³² Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
³³ They answered him, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?”
³⁴ Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. ³⁵ Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. ³⁶ So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

So, what do we do when we DO sin?

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9)

To confess my sins to God is to agree with a holy God that OUR standards don't matter -- they're not good enough. It means that we will admit that we've fallen below HIS standards.

Confessing means that we agree with God that we shouldn't have done whatever we did. It means we won't make excuses for our sin, nor will we try to blame someone else.
It means we won't compare ourselves to someone else's sinfulness, to make ourselves feel better by comparison. And we won't tell ourselves, that we aren't so bad....it could have been something worse that we did.
Lastly, confessing our sin to God means that we realize we can't fix this sin problem by ourselves.
Anyone need my package of bandaids? It's conveniently open, since I have been using some. (Grin)

You know what we humans do, though, don't you? We often try to hide our sins. Confess? Nah, just lift up the rug and shove 'em underneath. Yep.
We even try to hide them when we pray. Now that is silly. But have you ever been praying and had a sudden thought: this will be used against me on judgement day. Or, I don't want anyone to know about this, up in heaven.
Ummm . . . we can't conceal our guilt by simply not putting it into words, or by not mentioning all of the terrible details in our prayer. You see, it doesn't matter what we say to God about what we've done, or about what we've thought -- come on people, He knows about it already! He is all-knowing!

But in Proverbs we are told that God won't use our confessions against us. He loves us. He doesn't want to hurt us, nor does He plan on using our confessions to humiliate us.

Look:

“He who conceals his sins does not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy.” (Proverbs 28:13)

God wants to give us His mercy… but the only way that mercy will be given is if we own up to our guilt. If we admit to our sin.

People often wonder aloud, how many times God will forgive us when we sin. Remember when Peter asked Jesus about that? His question to Jesus was how many times we humans should forgive someones else . . . the answer was seventy times seven, or 490 times! OK, if God expects us to do that in our lives, don't you think that He will have an even higher standard regarding our sins?
One of the reasons that people don't confess their sins to God, is a purely human one. They believe that once He finds out what they've done, He will be angry and not forgive them. Well, not to repeat myself, but there isn't anything that God doesn't see. There's nothing He can't hear. He already knows about our sins. He just wants us to agree with Him: they truly are sins; we can't fix them; we need for Him to forgive us and help us move on.
That is the freedom that we've been talking about. He can give us freedom from the fetters of sin and guilt and shame; He can set us free to live in Him.

I'm indebted to Max Lucado for this next story; it was included in one of his books:

A boy was shooting rocks with a slingshot. He could never hit his target, whether it was the fencepost, the mailbox, or whatever he aimed at. One day when he was in his Grandma’s backyard he spied her pet duck. On impulse he took aim and let fly. The stone hit, and the duck was dead.
The boy panicked and hid the bird in the woodpile, only to look up and see his sister watching. After lunch that day, Grandma told Sally to help with the dishes. Sally responded, “Johnny told me he wanted to help in the kitchen today. Didn’t you Johnny?” And she whispered to him, “Remember the duck!”
So, Johnny did the dishes. What choice did he have? For the next several weeks he was at the sink often. Sometimes for his duty, sometimes for his sin. “Remember the duck,” Sally’d whisper when he objected.
After a while tho’ he grew so weary of the chore, he decided that any punishment would be better than washing more dishes, so he confessed to killing duck.
"I know, Johnny," his Grandma said, giving him a hug. "I was standing at the window and saw the whole thing. Because I love you, I forgave you. I wondered how long you would let Sally make a slave out of you.”

We are so often just like this little boy. We are ashamed and afraid. We think the confessing of our sins will destroy us. In reality, the One who loves us is only waiting for us to admit our sins. Then we will receive that blessed freedom from our guilt and shame.

Don't let Satan keep you in slavery to your guilt. We can tell Jesus today about our sins. He already has seen them; just agree with Him that we need His mercy and His freedom. A weight will be lifted from us, and we will know true freedom and peace.

Freedom from guilt - John:31-36

³¹ To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. ³² Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
³³ They answered him, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?”
³⁴ Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. ³⁵ Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. ³⁶ So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

We talked earlier this week about karma -- the belief that we get what we deserve, and that we need to balance the bad stuff that we do, with good stuff in our lives.
And we noted that all that stuff in the tray on the "bad" side can really cripple us. The Bible tells us that sin can dominate our lives, and drag us down and destroy us:

“At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another.” (Titus 3:3)

Romans 6:17 puts it: “…you used to be slaves to sin…”
Ahh, notice that it says "used to be" . . . something has changed, right? What is it?

Jesus said  “… if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” John 8:36   That is a promise from Christ, and it's our heritage as children of God. It's real, and we can put our faith in it.
In spite of that promise, though, many Christians still struggle with guilt and shame. They have believed and repented; they've confessed Jesus as their Lord; many have been baptized into Christ -- but something they have done keeps tripping them up. It's something that they think God might not forgive them for. Or they're struggling with a sin that keeps coming back and Satan uses it to trouble them. They might worry that they've gone over the edge; they've gone too far away from God, and they'll never make it back into God's grace.
Many Christians are nagged by doubt: how could God ever forgive me? I've messed up so badly. How could He forget what I've done?

They've overlooked or forgotten one important point: God will forgive us our sins -- not because we deserve it, or have done enough good to outweigh the bad in the "bad stuff" tray, but for one reason: He loves us!
If Satan troubles us, and we need proof, we need only turn to Romans 8:32:

 “He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all— how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?”

God proved His love for us long ago . . . He gave us His son to die for our sins, even when we were His enemies -- while we were still sinners. We didn't deserve that! He loves us so much that He was willing to forgive us for all of our sins in the past. And He is willing to continue to forgive us because of that same love!

Did I hear someone say, "I bet there's a catch."  Uh huh, there is, and I'm going to show it to you. Let's look back at verses 31-32 . . .

“To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, ‘If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.’”

Did you see it? If you hold to my teaching . . . the Greek word here is also used to mean "remaining," "abiding," "tarrying," . . . in today's vernacular, "hanging around."
OK, how do we "abide" or "hang around" the teachings of Jesus? It's actually very simple: reading our Bible, spending time in prayer with the Lord, examining our lives in the light of a Sunday School lesson or a sermon.

Many Christians struggle with the decision to become a believer, because they are worried about going back to sinning and therefore, failing God. All new Christians (in fact, all Christians, whether newbies or grizzled veterans) encounter that difficulty.

Remember when you learned to ride your bike? You fell down a lot, didn't you? Mom or Dad was there to help you get up, brush off the dirt, and get you seated again. If you ride a bike today, do you think you will fall? As much as you did before? Probably not.
That's the way it is in our Christian lives . . . when we first come to Christ, we still struggle with sin, and fall down a lot. And He brushes us off and sends us on our way again. And the more time we spend practicing (being with Jesus, reading our Bible, praying) the less often we fall down.

Yes, we will still fall down, there's no avoiding the fact that we're human!

“If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.” 1 John 1:8

In other words: if we as Christians say we never fall down – we’re not kidding anybody… least of all God.
Tomorrow we'll talk about what to do when that happens!

Gem hunting - verses that inspire

Every so often, we pause to share special verses with each other: verses that have comforted us, or inspired us, or convicted us in the past few weeks.

It stands to reason that we are all probably looking at different verses in our devotions, and when one or two make a real difference in our lives, it's good to share!

Recently I read Isaiah 12:1-3:
In that day you will say:

“I will praise you, Lord.
    Although you were angry with me,
your anger has turned away
    and you have comforted me.
² Surely God is my salvation;
    I will trust and not be afraid.
The Lord, the Lord himself, is my strength and my song;
    he has become my salvation.”
³ With joy you will draw water
    from the wells of salvation.

I'm reading in Sarah Young's Jesus Calling, and the commentary for that day was engaging:

..........think what it means to have Me as your Strength. I spoke the universe into existence; my Power is absolutely unlimited! Human weakness, consecrated to Me, is like a magnet, drawing my Power into your neediness. However, fear can block the flow of my Strength into you. Instead of trying to fight your fears, concentrate on trusting Me. When you relate to Me in confident trust, there is no limit to how much I can strengthen you.

 I hope these verses will be a blessing to you, as they were to me.

Let's talk about "Karma"

We're getting ready to study John:31-36 . . .

Do you know what "karma" is? Have you heard the term used?
Karma is a human concept, and a really super concise definition would be "you get what you deserve."
People say they had "good karma" or "bad karma" on a certain day, or in a certain situation. It's all based on this concept.
If you have done some good things, then you're going to be rewarded with good things. In contrast, if you have done some bad things, watch out! You're going to have to pay!

Every world religion is based upon that basic idea, right? Even the Bible teaches it, doesn't it? Let's see now . . ."Do not be deceived; God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows."
Ahem.
There is one REALLY BIG difference between this karma concept and the teachings of Jesus.
Other religions tell you that you can work off your bad karma. You can get rid of it. How? You do enough good to outweigh the bad stuff.
It's kinda like that scales up there in the picture. Let's say you do some bad stuff (that would go on one side; just lay it there in the tray) and your life is out of balance. Hmmmm, need to do some good things (yep, lay them on the other tray) to get things balanced again. Now, the more bad you do, the more good it takes to balance the scale, right?

OK, we can see a couple of problems here. If we do too many bad, evil things, we might not ever be able to balance things up. Religions like Islam and others have problems this way, because they are placing a lot of their hope in getting to heaven, on how much good stuff they can do. Most of them would admit that they are never totally convinced that they've done enough good to tip the scales away from the bad they've done. In fact, some faiths like Hinduism and Buddhism have reconciled their beliefs that we're not going to be able to balance out our bad deeds in one life, so they teach reincarnation: you have another life (or two, or three) to pay off those bad deeds and get to heaven.

The other problem with karma is that the bad stuff is never cleared out from the tray. You simply put more good stuff on the other side . . . well, if we keep putting more and more in both trays, we're running the risk of breaking the scales! If we rely too heavily on balancing the scales, we can load them down so much that they break. There is just too much weight on the scales, and the human conscience can't handle it. It can literally cripple someone mentally, and it often does. Many people deal with the overwhelming weight of guilt and shame each and every day. They try to use many ways of escape, but it's no use. It will be there when you wake up, when the high wears off, when the hangover hits, etc.
So, Karma really doesn't work. It can't solve the problem, because it doesn't deal with the root.
Kinda like going out into the garden and using a hoe. You can chop off the green and growing part of a weed and you will be rid of it for a short time. But the root is still there, and soon, the weed is green and growing again.
Now, if you use the hoe to dig a little deeper, and destroy the root of the weed (have to tell you, that cranks my tractor when I'm getting that done in the garden!) then the weed won't return.
In the same way, if we deal with the roots of our problems (sin) we can be assured that they won't cripple us in the future.
Karma can't do that.
Jesus can.
We'll resume with this on Wednesday.

Friday slowdown

Longing for light, we wait in darkness

Longing for truth, we turn to You.

Make us Your own, Your holy people,

light for the world to see.

Refrain:

Christ be our light!

Shine in our hearts

Shine through the darkness

Christ be our light!

Shine in Your Church gathered today.

Longing for peace, our world is troubled.

Longing for hope, many despair.

Your world alone has pow'r to save us.

Make us Your living voice.

Longing for food, many are hungry.

Longing for water, many still thirst.

Make us Your bread, broken for others,

shared until all are fed.

Longing for shelter, many are homeless.

Longing for warmth, many are cold.

Make us Your building, sheltering others,

walls made of living stones.

Many the gifts, many the people,

many the hearts that yearn to belong.

Let us be servants to one another,

making Your Kingdom come.

Let there be light, Conclusion

  So they said to him, “Who are you?” Jesus said to them, “Just what I have been telling you from the beginning. I have much to say about you and much to judge, but he who sent me is true, and I declare to the world what I have heard from him.”  They did not understand that he had been speaking to them about the Father.  So Jesus said to them, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he, and that I do nothing on my own authority, but speak just as the Father taught me.  And he who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to him.”  As he was saying these things, many believed in him.

We're concluding our study of this passage today. We've seen in the previous verses that they Pharisees are operating from a position of blindness. They couldn't see the truth of Jesus, and His relationship with the Father. I guess they thought that Jesus "had a lot of nerve" to speak to them the way He did! So they ask Him, "Who are you?" In their minds, they were probably wanting to ask, "Why do you think you can speak to us that way?"
But Jesus keeps speaking to them graciously, compassionately; He tells them that He's been sent by the Father. And He tells them again of His mission. That He's been sent into the world with a message for everyone, including these leaders who are so full of their own importance and self-righteousness.

And that He is going to forfeit His life. He's going to give it up, voluntarily.
The Son of Man, He said, was going to be lifted up. The Pharisees don't "get" this part, but we do. We know that He was speaking about being lifted up on the cross.
The cross . . . remember the old hymn, "At the Cross"? At the cross is where we find the Lord of glory, offering Himself for our sins. We find the Redeemer, the One who can wash away all of our sins; we find the One who has the authority to forgive those sins.
In the light of the current events, where Russia's president Putin is asserting himself militarily over former members of the Soviet Union, it's ironic to read this excerpt from Peggy Noonan's book, When Character was King:

Last summer (2000) when Vladimir Putin met with George W. Bush, the Russian president shared a personal story that our chief executive hasn’t forgotten. When Putin was young, his mother gave him a cross to wear around his neck. Although he initially hid it in a jewelry case, he eventually decided to wear it. He even had it blessed while on a trip to Jerusalem. It became a treasured symbol of a mother’s love and her cherished faith. When the cross turned up missing following a house fire, Putin was greatly disturbed. He dispatched an employee to sift through the charred remains of the building to try and find it. After an exhaustive search, the employee reported to Putin and held out a closed hand. He opened it and revealed the prized cross.
Putin told Bush: "It was as if something meant for me to have the cross."
To which the President said, "Mr. Putin, that’s what it’s all about - that’s THE story of the cross."

So I believe we should ask ourselves, do we have that cross? Are we walking in His light? Are we like the ones in the last verse above, the "many who believed on Him"?  Or are we like the Pharisees, and reject His authority over our lives? If we follow the path of the Pharisees, we must die for our sins. If we follow the path of those who believed Him, we will walk in the light and experience eternal life. 
That light will not only expose our sins and imperfections, but it will give us hope and confidence as we trust in Him.

Jesus said, “I am the Light of the World,” He was stating that He was God in the flesh, the Word who made His dwelling among us.
We are either for or against Jesus, there is no middle, so we will either be with Jesus for eternity, or forever separated from Him.
He gave up His life for us on the cross; we were meant to have that cross, the symbol of our forgiveness and redemption; so that we would walk in His light.
Thank you, Jesus!

Let there be light, Part II

We're studying the passage John 8:12-30, so I hope you have your Bible open to those verses . . . let's dive right in again!

Let's start off today by looking at verses 13 -20 of the passage:

So the Pharisees said to him, “You are bearing witness about yourself; your testimony is not true.”  Jesus answered, “Even if I do bear witness about myself, my testimony is true, for I know where I came from and where I am going, but you do not know where I come from or where I am going.  You judge according to the flesh; I judge no one.  Yet even if I do judge, my judgment is true, for it is not I alone who judge, but I and the Father who sent me.  In your Law it is written that the testimony of two men is true.  I am the one who bears witness about myself, and the Father who sent me bears witness about me.”  They said to him therefore, “Where is your Father?” Jesus answered, “You know neither me nor my Father. If you knew me, you would know my Father also.”  These words he spoke in the treasury, as he taught in the temple; but no one arrested him, because his hour had not yet come. 

Remember what we said on Monday, about the Pharisees kinda knowing what the truth was about Jesus, but not wanting to believe it, or to accept it? We have another clue here in this passage that some of them fit that description -- we can see that the Pharisees are not arguing with Jesus about what He is saying. Instead, they are disputing His testimony on a technicality!
They were really good at finding technicalities and legal issues. They LOVED doing that, and they loved arguing, too. But they were finding out, slowly but surely, that when they tried to use these technicalities with Jesus, they never really seemed to work. So their feathers got ruffled. But that didn't stop them from trying.

They told Him that His words were not valid, because He was bearing witness of Himself. We recall that in the Law, for a thing to be indisputable, you had to have two witnesses, right? So the Pharisees pounced and said, "Your testimony has no weight! It has no worth, legally!"

But wait a minute! Hold on here, partner . . . were the Pharisees and Jesus standing in court?
Nope.
Their skepticism does not invalidate Jesus' claim.
Let's look at some intangibles: We know what heat is, right? Does heat explain itself, or identify itself? Nope, it just warms things.  We know what light is, right? Does light establish itself, or explain itself by talking? Or arguing? Well, no. It shines. That's all. And we know it's light because it is shining.  The only people who can't see light are blind people . . .
Jesus has established His identity by shining. He even says, "I am the light."  But the Pharisees can't see it. It's like they are blind, and reaching out to grasp something that isn't there -- and then declaring there's no light. They are coming from a place of weakness, and their objections have no worth, no validity. They are demonstrating that they have no knowledge of God. They are so sure of themselves; they think that they are the authorities, and that they are qualified to judge Him. But what they fail to see, is that Jesus is the One that has the authority and is qualified to judge them.

Jesus is well aware of His origin (where He came from) and His destiny (where He was going), and because His relationship with the Father is secure, He is speaking the truth for all to hear.
All of these assaults and accusations mean nothing to Him; they do not bother Him for He knows Who He is, and He knows the Father sent Him and remains with Him. The Pharisees see Him standing there and they believe He is alone; He's a solitary figure in the temple.
Oy vey.
Don't they learn? Don't they look back on events after they happen? Here was Jesus teaching at the temple. In the "inner sanctum" of the temple there were whispers, plots and plans on how to kill Him, and remove the threat to their authority. But have they been able to lay a hand on Him yet?
Nope. He slips away through crowds, and vanishes before they can say, "Tabernacle". They wanted to grab Him, and they were willing to do so, but they couldn't. We know why, right? The Father was frustrating their efforts, restraining them from being effective in their plans. "His hour had not yet come."

Let's look now at verses 21-24:

So he said to them again, “I am going away, and you will seek me, and you will die in your sin. Where I am going, you cannot come.” So the Jews said, “Will he kill himself, since he says, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come’?”  He said to them, “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world.  I told you that you would die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am he you will die in your sins.”

Jesus tells them that they will be separated from Him. When they finally understand, it's going to be too late. They are wasting the opportunities that the Father has given them by arguing, accusing, and opposing Him instead of trusting in Him.

Have you ever known someone who used a lot of sarcasm? Someone who hid their insecurity and their confusion by using sarcastic remarks? That seems to be what the Jewish leaders were doing here in these verses. They were probably hoping that their sarcastic comment was right, and that He was talking about suicide. Why? Well, two reasons: one is that they wouldn't have to worry about Him bothering them anymore, and they wouldn't have to trouble themselves with doing away with Him! Two, they believed that the lowest, worst place in hell was reserved for those who took their own lives. So they could agree with Jesus -- yep, we're not following Him there! These leaders were so full of pride that they didn't even think about death. They were so sure, so certain that they were good and decent people, and God just wouldn't think of sending them anywhere except the most wonderful part of heaven, right?

But Jesus is exposing their most fundamental problem: sin. They, as everyone else, are sinners, and they are going to die in sin. They couldn't recognize that they were in bondage to sin. And if they didn't repent of their sins, they were headed for disaster. They would die with their sins unforgiven.

Jesus is really laying it on the line, here, isn't He? He is speaking forthrightly -- today we'd say He was brutally honest with His listeners. We'll study the last portion of this passage tomorrow. I hope you'll join us!

Prayer requests

This week it is our privilege again to pray together for the needs of each other, and for those we care about. Please leave a comment about what is on your heart -- let us join you in prayer. If it is a personal matter, just let us know it's an unspoken request. God knows what is on your mind, and in your heart.

If you've recently been blessed by an answer to prayer, please let us know so that we may rejoice with you!

I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” John 16:33

Ah, Lord God! It is you who have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm! Nothing is too hard for you. Jeremiah 32:17

John 8:12-30 Let there be light!

¹² When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
¹³ The Pharisees challenged him, “Here you are, appearing as your own witness; your testimony is not valid.”
¹⁴ Jesus answered, “Even if I testify on my own behalf, my testimony is valid, for I know where I came from and where I am going. But you have no idea where I come from or where I am going. ¹⁵ You judge by human standards; I pass judgment on no one. ¹⁶ But if I do judge, my decisions are true, because I am not alone. I stand with the Father, who sent me. ¹⁷ In your own Law it is written that the testimony of two witnesses is true. ¹⁸ I am one who testifies for myself; my other witness is the Father, who sent me.”
¹⁹ Then they asked him, “Where is your father?”
“You do not know me or my Father,” Jesus replied. “If you knew me, you would know my Father also.” ²⁰ He spoke these words while teaching in the temple courts near the place where the offerings were put. Yet no one seized him, because his hour had not yet come.
²¹ Once more Jesus said to them, “I am going away, and you will look for me, and you will die in your sin. Where I go, you cannot come.”
²² This made the Jews ask, “Will he kill himself? Is that why he says, ‘Where I go, you cannot come’?”
²³ But he continued, “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. ²⁴ I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am he, you will indeed die in your sins.”
²⁵ “Who are you?” they asked.
“Just what I have been telling you from the beginning,” Jesus replied. ²⁶ “I have much to say in judgment of you. But he who sent me is trustworthy, and what I have heard from him I tell the world.”
²⁷ They did not understand that he was telling them about his Father. ²⁸ So Jesus said, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he and that I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me. ²⁹ The one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what pleases him.” ³⁰ Even as he spoke, many believed in him.

Last week we studied a good bit about the Feast of Tabernacles. Personally, I learned a lot that I hadn't known before about that celebration; we're going to touch on it again in this passage. I know it's a lengthy passage, so let's introduce it today. 
Let's dig in!

Remember that this is just after the festival, and Jesus has just touched the life of a woman revealed as a sinner, for all to see. She was humiliated; He forgave her.
This was in opposition to what the elders were hoping for. Just another instance of the opposition that Jesus faced in regard to His teachings. He was always bumping right into the status quo. Coming face to face with the stubborn, the arrogant, and the legalistic. The Jewish leaders really considered Him to be an upstart; He was a thorn in their side; He kept getting right where they thought they owned the territory!
And worse, the things He said made it sound as if He had authority over them -- the very ones who thought they were the authorities.

That first verse in the passage is such a wonderful statement. It's one that is so familiar to us, and means so much. But when He said it, there were no responses of warmth and acceptance. No hearts that resonated with His. At least, John seems to be telling us that there weren't any "warm fuzzies" here.  Instead, we find that they were troubled by His statement, instead of comforted.

Again Jesus spoke to them, saying,

 “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

Remember all of the pageantry of the Feast of Tabernacles? The beautiful symbolism that pointed to Christ as the Messiah? Well, another of the special events of the festival was called the "Illumination of the Temple."
In the temple area were four large menorahs (think of them as really large and elaborate candelabras) and they were placed at the highest points on the temple walls. Then when night fell, and they were lit, they brought light to the whole temple area. It must have been a spectacular display, and the people would celebrate by the light of the menorahs.
Why?
This was so they could remember another of the wilderness experiences. During the journey from Egypt, God provided the people of Israel with the pillar of fire. This accomplished two things: it protected them, and it guided them; it was a visible sign that God was with them. At the end of the feast, the lights were put out -- on purpose . . . why? Because their Messiah had not yet appeared.

Got it? (I hear heads nodding.) Good! That's why John wrote his gospel, remember? (Grin)
Against this pageantry, Jesus says, "I am the light of the world." He is saying, I'm the pillar of fire, the glory of God. I will protect you and I will guide you.

So, no wonder that the Pharisees and the scribes were uncomfortable. The symbolism was not lost on them. They "got" what He was saying -- they just didn't want to believe it!  Jesus is making a declaration here; He is declaring His deity.
Remember when God said, "I AM" to Moses? That's how He identified Himself at the burning bush. And Jesus will continue to use "I AM" statements to teach the people about Who He is . . .
He will tell them:

“I am the door”
“I am the Good Shepherd.”
“I am the Resurrection and the Life.”
“I am the Way, the Truth and the Life.”
“I am the Vine.”

Each of these statements are designed to tell the people (and us) about Jesus' identity; they tell us about some facet of His sovereign authority.
Jesus also makes it clear that those who follow Him will have all of the light they need. He will be the Light of life for all of us who stumble. For if we are solidly in Him, if we are close to Him, there will be no stumbling, and no fear, and no confusion. It's up to us to stay where we need to be . . .

Remember that old saying? If you don't feel as close to God as you used to, who moved? Oh, we say, it was God; He moved.
Ahem.
We may think that God withdraws from us every time we sin. But actually, sin is our withdrawal from our Lord. It is choosing our own will instead of the will of God. Sin really does matter -- but not because God moves. It matters because we withdraw from God. So, who moved?
Yep. I did.

He will not let your foot slip -- He who watches over you will not slumber.... (Psalm 121:30

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.  (Hebrews 13:8)

Friday slowdown

Please take a moment today and listen to this song. I hope it will bless everyone who listens -- it voices many of the concepts we've studied this week.

Take care, everyone, and have a peaceful weekend.

John 8:1-11 Drop that stone!

Our study this week has covered the response of Jesus to the woman caught in adultery, and to the proud people who accused her. In conclusion, I'd like to focus our (mine, too) thoughts on OUR response.
Let's switch gears and dig in!
Most of us are carrying stones in our hands. We're a part of that group, even if we don't realize it, or don't admit it. Come on, be honest. Be ruthless. Don't you see that stone in your hand? I know I see one in my own hand . . .

Jesus understood the people who accused the woman that day. And He sees into our hearts, as well. He knows that we all carry around inside us anger, resentment, and the thirst for vengeance that comes from wanting to believe that somehow we are better than others, or at least better than our honest view of ourselves. We are full of these things because we can't get what we want, and in our frustration we blame someone else.

Ever seen a room full of kids playing with toys? What happens when you introduce one more child into the room? Probably he or she will look around and see (in a room filled with toys) the ONE toy that they desire . . .and it will invariably be a toy that is being loved and played with by another child! Oh, but we're adults, you say. We are above this kind of childish behavior.
Really?
Well, why else would there be a multi-billion dollar advertising industry, except that we adults are just as full of desire for what other people have? (Grin) The marketing folks know that we are ruled (many times) by our desires!  The talk around the water cooler is about Josh and the fancy red sports car he bought. Or the talk around the fellowship hall table is about the beautiful cruise photos that Marian is showing off. We won't admit to ourselves that the reason we desire a similar car, or the same kind of vacation trip, is that we are green with envy. We want what they have.
Since we can't afford the car or the trip, we may become resentful toward those people. Or toward our life, in which the money doesn't flow as evenly as we'd like. We become angry -- maybe toward those people, maybe just against the unfairness of life in general.
We've picked up a stone.
And most of the people around us are carrying one, too. Even though we don't realize it most of the time, we are angry and resentful. We're preoccupied sometimes with a "they'll get what they deserve" or a "why don't I have that, I deserve it, too" attitude. Even though we'd be shocked and dismayed if we realized it.
How awful it would be if we acted on those feelings! What if we hurt someone else because we want what they have? It's a problem that has existed ever since Cain and Abel had their own rivalry. It's human nature to act as rivals and tear up the bonds of loyalty and of love.
One way that humans subdue those feelings of anger and resentment and rivalry is to blame someone else for doing something wrong. We can punish them or push them out of our lives, and then we feel more peaceful.
Not reasonable.
But we see it all the time. It's called finding a scapegoat.
From the suffering of the Jews in Germany to the humiliation of this woman in Jesus' time, it is easy to think of examples of people finding a scapegoat, persecuting them, and feeling "holier than thou."
We can imagine the crowd murmuring about the woman that day . . . "I hear she's a sinner;" "oh, yes, I saw her with him, even though she is married;" "I hear her yelling at her husband sometimes;" "I bet she's committed adultery;""the Law says she must be stoned!"
 Today, when our desires are escalated by constant advertising, making us feel insecure about ourselves and wanting what others have, there are lots of scapegoats available, and we can place the blame on them . . .welfare cheaters, rich billionaires who pay little in taxes, drug users, people of different races and cultures, young people acting irresponsibly . . .we paint a whole group with the same brush.

Jesus looked into the hearts of the accusers. And He looked into the heart of the sinful woman. He forgave the woman's sin, even before she asked for mercy or even expressed remorse. Then, He told her to sin no more. Why didn't He ask for her to repent? If He had, she might have started looking for excuses for her behavior. (Aren't we all guilty of that.) By forgiving her first, He let it be known that God loves her unconditionally, in her sinful state. So she could acknowledge her sin, herself. We find unconditional forgiveness in lots of scripture passages:

"Then Peter came up and said to him, 'Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?' Jesus said to him, 'I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven.'" (Matt 18:22)

Ahem.
What's the natural human response when someone offends us? Yep, to condemn them. Two things happen then . . . first, this gives rise to hate, which results in either escalating offences against each other, or resolving our conflict by our blaming and then victimising an innocent scapegoat.
Secondly, when we judge and condemn another, we deflect attention from our own contribution to the conflict. While it is often hard for us to see, we are almost always partially to blame when there is conflict that offends us.

The only way to reconcile with our brother or sister without sin is to imitate God's unconditional love, and forgive them. It's more than just talk, or strategy -- it's what our Christian faith calls us to do.
Many of our brothers and sisters in Christ are celebrating Lent now. Lent is a time for fasting, for giving-up, for focusing on God. But Isaiah tells us that more than anything else our fasting must restore us to good relationships with those around us. When that doesn't happen he says,

Look, you serve your own interest on your fast-day,
and oppress all your workers.
Look, you fast only to quarrel and to fight
and to strike with a wicked fist.
Such fasting as you do today
will not make your voice heard on high. (Isaiah 58:4)

Wow. Isaiah is telling us that God is not interested in whether we give up chocolate or soft drinks or anything else......he is interested in something much deeper, and much more important.
He's interested in our realizing that we have a stone in our hand -- a stone of anger, of resentment, of envy, and it may make us pick out someone to scapegoat and hurt.
He's interested in our learning to accept that God loves us unconditionally, and that we need to unconditionally love others.
He's interested in our learning that the stone we carry in our hand is like the yoke that Isaiah wrote about:

If you remove the yoke from among you,
the pointing of the finger, the speaking of evil,
if you offer your food to the hungry
and satisfy the needs of the afflicted,
then your light shall rise in the darkness
and your gloom be like the noonday.
The Lord will guide you continually,
and satisfy your needs in parched places,
and make your bones strong;
and you shall be like a watered garden,
like a spring of water,
whose waters never fail.
Your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt;
you shall raise up the foundations of many generations;
you shall be called the repairer of the breach,
the restorer of streets to live in. (Isaiah 58:9b-12)

Is there a stone in your hand? I found one in mine.
Can we drop them?

John 8:1-11 A story we must hear, part II

¹ but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.
² At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. ³ The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group ⁴ and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. ⁵ In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” ⁶ They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.
But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. ⁷ When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” ⁸ Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.
⁹ At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. ¹⁰ Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”
¹¹ “No one, sir,” she said.
“Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”

Last time we saw that the legalistic, self-righteous scribes and Pharisees had tried to trap Jesus. They were not actually seeking the solution to the co-existence of justice and mercy -- they simply wanted to destroy Jesus.
When I think about the looks on their faces when they hear His response, I have to smile. After all, haven't we all known some people who tried their best to trap and humiliate us? Haven't we wished later that we'd said something just perfect? A crushing come-back that would set them on their heels?

Jesus refuses to be sucked into their debate over the role of capital punishment for adultery. Instead, He disqualifies these haughty men from being witnesses or executioners and quietly tells them: “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.”Jesus looks right into their hard hearts and sees the hatred and hypocrisy; they are ignoring the details of the law and pressing their own agenda - to get rid of Jesus. They aren't doing this because they love the holiness of God, or fear offending Him. They love themselves, and they are always afraid of losing their power and prestige, the things that allow them to be haughty and look down their noses at others.

Now I can hear some saying, "Wait a minute! She was caught; she was sinful!" And you are correct; she was sinful and the Old Testament Law allowed the death penalty. But God, in His wisdom, recognized the potential for abuse. He made the process precise -- the Law required two things that these men had ignored. First, there was to be no partiality: both the man and the woman were to be apprehended and punished. Second, the Law demanded a trial, not a public humiliation as exhibited here.

Exposed in their own sins (pride, hypocrisy, self-righteousness) they turn and depart. The oldest ones walk away first, for the wisdom of their age helps them quickly realize their trap has sprung -- on them!

So we've seen that Jesus resisted the proud, and discomforted the haughty . . . now let's look at how He comforts the humbled.

Sometimes we hear about a person accused of a crime, "they were let off on a technicality." That is what happened to this young woman. Jesus dismisses the case against her because there are no witnesses or accusers. "Woman, where are they?"
But let's make it clear -- He does not say "You are not guilty."  In essence, He is telling her, you have sinned. You cannot shift the blame to anyone else's behavior. They did not accuse you correctly; they did not bring your "partner in crime," but if you were a woman of upright heart, you would not be betrayed by fleshly desires . . .you have sinned against the Holy God. "Neither do I condemn you; go now and leave your life of sin."
How can God not condemn this sin? Jesus does not condemn because He will be condemned for her . . ."daughter, you have sinned, but when stones are thrown, they will hit Me. You have made dirty what God made precious, but when spears are cast, they will strike My side. You have mis-used God's gifts, but when thorns pierce skin, it will be My blood that is shed."

Are we bruised by life's problems and pain? Have we been beaten down by sin and trouble, even trouble that we've brought onto ourselves? How can Jesus' words help us, as they helped this woman?

1. We must stop blaming others. We must own up to our sins and failures.
2. We look at Christ on the cross, and see that He is broken for our sins and failures.
3. Call Him our Lord and master, and accept His grace -- He is the one Who can change us into the person we want to be.
4. We must accept that true grace doesn't stop at "neither do I condemn you." That love continues on to "sin no more." We must repent, turn away from that sin, and His grace will free us.

Many religions say, "Our god is too great to die." Christianity claims instead, "Our God is so great that He died for us, and then rose to live again."

He does not condemn us; will we come to Him for the grace to go and sin no more?

What are you listening to?

Worshiping God in song isn’t simply a nice idea or only for musically gifted people. The question is not, “Has God given me a voice?” but “Has God given me a song?”

If you trust in the finished work of Christ, the answer is clear: Yes!

So what song is running through your head today? What's the song on your lips?

Recently I have been singing this song by Casting Crowns:

I just looked up today
And realized how far away I am from where You are
You gave me life worth dying for
But between the altar and the door
I bought the lies that promised more
And here I go again

Lord, I know I let You down
But somehow, I will make You proud
I'll turn this sinking ship around
And make it back to You

But all my deeds and my good name
Are just dirty rags that tear and strain
To cover all my guilty stains
That You already washed away

('Cause) All You've ever wanted, all You've ever wanted
All You've ever wanted was my heart
Freedom's arms are open, my chains have all been broken
Relentless love has called me from the start
And all You wanted was my heart

I was chasing healing when I'd been made well
I was fighting battles when You conquered hell
Living free but from a prison cell
Lord, I lay it down today

So I'll stop living off of how I feel
And start standing on Your truth revealed
Jesus is my strength, my shield
And He will never fail me

No more chains, I've been set free
No more fighting battles You've won for me
Now in Christ, I stand complete