Matthew 4-5
- Jesus knew the Scriptures. Every time that the devil came to Jesus to tempt Him, Jesus used the Bible to defeat Satan's attacks.
How many of us know the Bible well enough to quote Scripture (that makes sense in the situation)? I don't think that me quoting John 3:16 is going to help someone struggling with life. Reminding people that "all have sinned and fall short of God's glory" isn't really helpful when they are dealing with temptation.
I think too often we think of Bible memorization as children's church. Adults rarely (if ever) take time to seriously memorize Scriptures.
I know for me, even as a pastor, I don't memorize the Bible. (unless of course it is to show off my "holiness")
Each week I "memorize" 2 or 3 lessons that I teach to teens, but I don't take time to memorize Scripture. I can pretty much spout off 3 or 4 pages of text, but 3 or 4 sentences of the Bible... not so much.
- "Galilee of the Gentiles." Jesus lived in Galilee which was not a Jewish only province. I don't think that I have ever noticed that before.
- Simon, Andrew, James, and John IMMEDIATELY left everything. The disciples have always dumbfounded me. I understand that Jesus is the Messiah. He is God in flesh.
BUT... the disciples seem to fall for the world's corniest "pickup line." I will make you fishers of men. What kind of line is that?
And they seem to follow Jesus so easily. They left their homes, their jobs, their families, everything... and it seems to be such an easy decision.
Maybe the fact that I think it is weird... is actually weird. Maybe this should be the norm. Maybe I shouldn't be so attached to my "life."
- Jesus is an A-list celebrity. Imagine the life of a celebrity with paparazzi following you everywhere that you go. Now multiply that by 1000s of people everywhere you go. This is Jesus' life.
He spent 3 years of His life being hounded by masses of sick people. Pretty much everyone in the entire area of Israel heard about Jesus and wanted to meet Him and be healed by Him.
I once saw a special on a faith-healer and his "ministry." Every single stop on his tour is full of all the sick and lame people within a 300 mile radius. There are people lined up for days just to have an opportunity to get inside to possibly be healed.
Jesus couldn't eat breakfast without being hounded. He couldn't even sleep in town because people would not leave Him alone. He ended up sleeping outside of the city, so He could get some privacy.
- Jesus isn't a very good preacher. If Jesus didn't do miracles, His ministry would be almost non-existent. He never spoke to make people feel good about themselves.
In fact, Jesus always spoke contradictory to having a good life. Blessed are the poor in spirit, those who mourn, the meek? Does Jesus really think that any of us want to mourn or be meek?
So many preachers today have a ministry of teaching, but their message is I'm OK... you're OK... let's all get along and sing about Jesus. That's not Jesus' teaching. That's not John the Baptist teaching.
They said REPENT. Turn away from your evil sin. You're dying. You are headed for destruction. Turn around. REPENT.
That doesn't please my ears very much.
- I am a Christian to show God to the world. Do I really need to rant about this one? No thanks... I might get too personal.
- It's not the just the action that is the sin; it is the thought. How often in our society do we label some things as OK and some things as bad? As long you don't act on your thoughts, you are doing nothing wrong...
Pornography is the number one business in America. And how does society view porn? It's how boys become men... It's men's stress release... It's just education for the future...
Most of our society will tell you that pornography is not adultery. It is not cheating on your spouse. Oh really? I'm pretty sure you are having sex with that person in your mind.
And it is the same way with wishing someone was dead, or wanting to steal something, or thinking dirty thoughts about somebody. Thoughts are sin.
- Be honest. One of my favorite Bible verses is Matthew 5:37. It is so simple, and yet if you have ever been out in the world this verse gets abused.
- Love your enemies. Isn't it a whole lot easier to just love your friends? Can't I just love people who get along with me?
I love what Jesus says here... even the pagans and tax collectors love their friends. Even Nazis love other Nazis.
How will the world know that Christians are any different? It's not because we are nice and kind people. It's not because we say 'please' and 'thank you.' It's not because we love poor people. Unsaved people can (and do) do all of those things.
It is our love for our enemies that sets us apart. It is our love for Muslims. It is our love for gays. It is our love for Nazis. It is our love for Barack Obama (oops... stepped on some toes there). Love your enemies... Brent didn't say it, Jesus did.
How many of us know the Bible well enough to quote Scripture (that makes sense in the situation)? I don't think that me quoting John 3:16 is going to help someone struggling with life. Reminding people that "all have sinned and fall short of God's glory" isn't really helpful when they are dealing with temptation.
I think too often we think of Bible memorization as children's church. Adults rarely (if ever) take time to seriously memorize Scriptures.
I know for me, even as a pastor, I don't memorize the Bible. (unless of course it is to show off my "holiness")
Each week I "memorize" 2 or 3 lessons that I teach to teens, but I don't take time to memorize Scripture. I can pretty much spout off 3 or 4 pages of text, but 3 or 4 sentences of the Bible... not so much.
- "Galilee of the Gentiles." Jesus lived in Galilee which was not a Jewish only province. I don't think that I have ever noticed that before.
- Simon, Andrew, James, and John IMMEDIATELY left everything. The disciples have always dumbfounded me. I understand that Jesus is the Messiah. He is God in flesh.
BUT... the disciples seem to fall for the world's corniest "pickup line." I will make you fishers of men. What kind of line is that?
And they seem to follow Jesus so easily. They left their homes, their jobs, their families, everything... and it seems to be such an easy decision.
Maybe the fact that I think it is weird... is actually weird. Maybe this should be the norm. Maybe I shouldn't be so attached to my "life."
- Jesus is an A-list celebrity. Imagine the life of a celebrity with paparazzi following you everywhere that you go. Now multiply that by 1000s of people everywhere you go. This is Jesus' life.
He spent 3 years of His life being hounded by masses of sick people. Pretty much everyone in the entire area of Israel heard about Jesus and wanted to meet Him and be healed by Him.
I once saw a special on a faith-healer and his "ministry." Every single stop on his tour is full of all the sick and lame people within a 300 mile radius. There are people lined up for days just to have an opportunity to get inside to possibly be healed.
Jesus couldn't eat breakfast without being hounded. He couldn't even sleep in town because people would not leave Him alone. He ended up sleeping outside of the city, so He could get some privacy.
- Jesus isn't a very good preacher. If Jesus didn't do miracles, His ministry would be almost non-existent. He never spoke to make people feel good about themselves.
In fact, Jesus always spoke contradictory to having a good life. Blessed are the poor in spirit, those who mourn, the meek? Does Jesus really think that any of us want to mourn or be meek?
So many preachers today have a ministry of teaching, but their message is I'm OK... you're OK... let's all get along and sing about Jesus. That's not Jesus' teaching. That's not John the Baptist teaching.
They said REPENT. Turn away from your evil sin. You're dying. You are headed for destruction. Turn around. REPENT.
That doesn't please my ears very much.
- I am a Christian to show God to the world. Do I really need to rant about this one? No thanks... I might get too personal.
- It's not the just the action that is the sin; it is the thought. How often in our society do we label some things as OK and some things as bad? As long you don't act on your thoughts, you are doing nothing wrong...
Pornography is the number one business in America. And how does society view porn? It's how boys become men... It's men's stress release... It's just education for the future...
Most of our society will tell you that pornography is not adultery. It is not cheating on your spouse. Oh really? I'm pretty sure you are having sex with that person in your mind.
And it is the same way with wishing someone was dead, or wanting to steal something, or thinking dirty thoughts about somebody. Thoughts are sin.
- Be honest. One of my favorite Bible verses is Matthew 5:37. It is so simple, and yet if you have ever been out in the world this verse gets abused.
- Love your enemies. Isn't it a whole lot easier to just love your friends? Can't I just love people who get along with me?
I love what Jesus says here... even the pagans and tax collectors love their friends. Even Nazis love other Nazis.
How will the world know that Christians are any different? It's not because we are nice and kind people. It's not because we say 'please' and 'thank you.' It's not because we love poor people. Unsaved people can (and do) do all of those things.
It is our love for our enemies that sets us apart. It is our love for Muslims. It is our love for gays. It is our love for Nazis. It is our love for Barack Obama (oops... stepped on some toes there). Love your enemies... Brent didn't say it, Jesus did.
Brent,
ReplyDeleteYou stated in Day One: "I think so often we read the Bible and assume that everyone has a "blind faith." They are almost robotic and just characters in a story. We tend to forget that these are real people, with real emotions, and real lives."
This certainly applies to the disciples, doesn't it? Jesus just didn't pass by one day and say, "follow me, I'll make you fishers of men", and so they wandered off with him. These guys were seekers. They had been discussing and searching for the Messiah. Where did He meet them first? They were following John the Baptist and when John pointed Jesus out, Andrew and John followed Him and questioned Him and spent the day with Him, then they got Peter and Nathaniel and said, "we have found the one". Then they all traveled back to Galilee with Him and attended a wedding. Then there was a period after the wedding, when they were taught by Him and discussed Him, before He came by and called them to be fishers of men. It certainly wasn't blind faith or a spur of the moment whim.
Neither do we follow in blind faith. You are doing in your blog what they did. Spending time with Jesus, questioning, pondering, seeking and not building your faith blindly, but understanding the truth of what it is based on. And you are doing what they did in that you are telling others of whom you have found.
Larry