Bible in 90, Day 13: Image Bearers, Not Image Makers

Numbers 33 – Deuteronomy 7

Originally at Words of Reason

Bible in 90, Day 76: His time

John 6-15

image courtesy of sibaudio at stock.xchng

The right thing at the wrong time is the wrong thing.

I guess the first time I heard this was in Josh Harris’s I Kissed Dating Goodbye. It’s true of sex, it’s true of just about anything in the Christian life.  There are some things that are good, but only in a certain context.  Fire is wonderful.  Put it in a fireplace, and it can heat your home, cook your food, and roast your marshmallows.  Put it on your couch and it’s not so wonderful!

Jesus knew this.  He was constantly speaking of His appointed time, and the apostle John mentions it frequently as well, especially in today’s reading (John 7:1-9, 7:30, 8:19-20, 12:23-37, 13:1).  He stayed home from a feast because it was not yet time for Him to reveal Himself to the world.  Crowds of people couldn’t seize Him because His time had not yet come to be given over to the authorities.  Eventually, His time did come, and knowing this, He willing submitted to all that the authorities did to Him.

Jesus had a clear view of God’s plan and timing.  Because of this, He knew exactly what to spend His time on.  No moment of Jesus’ life was wasted, even if it appeared that way to those around Him.  There was an appointed time for the fulfillment of the prophecies about Jesus’ being betrayed, abused by the Jewish leaders, and finally killed.  He knew this, and walked in confidence that nothing could happen to Him before this time.

Jerry Falwell used to say that God’s man in the center of God’s plan is invincible until He’s done with him.  If we are doing what God has called us to do, and are walking in obedience to Him, then nothing can touch us to harm us unless it is part of God’s plan and will for us.  Jesus knew this and lived in light of this.

Let’s remember that God has a plan for us.  Let’s live confidently, expressing bold obedience to God, knowing that we’re invincible until He calls us home.

originally at Words of Reason

Bible in 90, Day 75: I find no fault

Luke 21 – John 5

image courtesy of leocub at stock.xchng

Fear of man is a terrible thing.  It can lead a perfectly rational man to do irrational things.  Take Pilate for example (Luke 22 and following).  He was a Roman governor and therefore had a great deal of power in his region of influence.  The Romans withheld capital punishment from local authorities, reserving it for Roman officials use only.  They could not legitimately find Him guilty of blasphemy in their own court, so, when the scribes and Pharisees plotted to kill Jesus, they brought him to Pilate on trumped up charges of treason.

Pilates dilemma was complex.  First of all, he saw right through the plot.  Had he been actually convinced that Jesus was guilty of treason, he would have had no problem putting Him to death.  But the governor had enough sense to see that they were simply trying to have this man killed out of fear for their own power.  Secondly, Pilate was afraid of the Jewish leaders.  If he had confidence in his own leadership, authority, and ability to keep the region under control, he would not care that they wanted Jesus dead and would have sent them away.  Third, and most difficult of all, Pilate knew that Jesus was innocent.  He affirms this three times in Luke’s account of the trial (23:4, 14, 22).  He declared, “I find no fault in this man” (23:4, KJV).  Matthew tells us that Pilate’s wife even had a dream about Jesus and warned Pilate to stay away from that innocent man (Matthew 27:19).

What, then, is Pilate to do?  Does he judge according to the truth, the truth he openly confesses?  Or does he condemn an innocent man because of the crowd?  Mark tells us the answer – he wanted to please the crowd (Mark 15:15).  He let his fear overrule his knowledge of the truth.

It is interesting to read all four accounts of this trial and note how violently Pilate wiggled to try and get out of this nasty situation.  He knew beyond any shadow of a doubt that this man Jesus was not worthy of death.  Jesus was a sinless man, so far above reproach that even false charges that were planned ahead of time could not stick (Mark 14:53-64).  It would be one thing for His disciples to assert Jesus’ sinlessness after His death, but for a Roman governor to affirm it in open court should speak volumes to us.  The Pharisees claimed that Jesus’ testimony concerning Himself was not valid (John 8:13), but here an official judge has declared Him innocent and they did not accept it.

Jesus lived the sinless life that none of us can.  He was truly the sacrificial Lamb who was without spot or blemish.  He came and lived out the Law, and fulfilled all the Law.  He died in our place, and He could do so because He did not have to die for Himself.  He did not deserve to die, not only by Pilate’s Roman standards, but even by God’s holy standards.  He was not only innocent, He was sinless.

Let’s look to Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith (Hebrews 12:2).  Let’s examine his sinless life and follow in His steps as closely as possible.  We will never be sinless while we still live on this earth.  Try as we might, we will still fail.  This should drive us to Christ all the more!  Let’s fall at His feet, knowing that we still need the gospel of His grace today.

originally at Words of Reason

Bible in 90, Day 37: If only there were a mediator!

Job 8-24

*image courtesy of creationc at www.sxc.hu

While Job’s friends hurl their insults at him, he realizes that there is only One who’s accusations and judgments really matter.  Job knows that he will stand or fall before God, the Judge.  He uses frightful imagery to describe this Judge in chapter 9.  He speaks of the Judge as Creator, the One who made the stars and constellations, One whose wisdom is profound and His power vast.  He portrays God as an unstoppable force.  He sums it all up saying, “If it is a matter of strength, he is mighty! And if it is a matter of justice, who will summon him?” (Job 9:19).

Job realizes his guilt before a Holy God.  He knows that even if he were “innocent” before man, he is guilty before God.  He knows that God is not a man that can be taken to court.  Job cannot summon Him before some tribunal, for He is the Judge!  God is God, and Job is not.  Realizing this, he cries out in desperation:

“If only there were someone to arbitrate between us, to lay his hand upon us both!” (Job 9:33).

Job knew that man cannot stand before God and hope to be found innocent.  He cannot stand before God’s holy judgment.  He needs an advocate, a mediator, an arbiter that can put his hand on both God and man.  This is the perfect picture of Christ’s mediating work.

“For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,” (1 Timothy 2:5).

There’s a quote, the source of which I cannot find, that goes something like this, “Man had a debt he could not pay.  God could not pay a debt He did not owe.  We need a God-man!”  That is precisely who Jesus Christ is!  He is the God-man, a unique being in the universe, 100% God and 100% man.  He is the only possible mediator between God and men because He is the only one who’s on both sides!  Job cried out for someone who could lay his hand on both him and God.  In Jesus Christ, you and I witness the answer to that hope.

“For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin” (Hebrews 4:15).  As God, He is holy, righteous, and just.  He embodies the righteousness of the Father.  As man, He can sympathize with our weakness, pain, and temptations.  He took on flesh and dwelt among men.  He is the go-between, the Mediator that Job hoped for.  For us today, He is the Mediator that we must turn to to gain access to God.

Let’s remember this great truth!  Let’s remember that we have the Mediator which Job desperately sought.  Let’s live in the knowledge that because of Jesus’ death on the cross, we can go and, as Job wised he could do, speak to God without fear of Him (Job 9:35).

*originally at Words of Reason

True Love Doesn’t Wait

Did I really say that?

I’m going through some random books until I kick off the Bible in 90 Days Challenge on Sunday.  I don’t want to get out of my habit, so I’m upping my listening time for the next few days and going through some shorter epistles and minor prophets.  Today was 1-2 Peter, Jude, and Haggai.  Try those in one shot sometime!

God grabbed me right away this morning in 1 Peter 1:22-25.  I’m reading The Peace Making Pastor by Alfred Poirier, and in chapter 1 he makes a great connection between truth and love.  He says on p. 22 “First, the Christian faith unites truth and love.  Second, it is love of the truth that supports true love.”

Dizzy yet?

He goes on to say of 2 John, on p. 23 “The apostle roots the call to love like Christ (peacemaking) in the truth about the person of Jesus Christ (Christology).”  So, with all this swirling in my head, I hear the apostle Peter say, “Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart”

Again, truth and love are interconnected!

In Greek, this passage’s syntax is somewhat ambiguous.  The phrases are all over the place, so if you survey the different translations, you’ll find several ways to translate it.  I think the NIV is headed in the right direction when it says “obeying the truth so that you have sincere love…” because the Greek preposition eis is used.  Roughly, this is “obeying the truth unto/towards an unhypocritical love.”  It is because of our understanding of the truth that we have this sincere (unhypocritical) love towards our brothers and sisters.  Beyond this, it is because we have applied (obeyed) the truth.  So how do I justify a statement like “true love doesn’t wait”?

Love is a verb.

Love is what we do, not just how we feel.  Here, Peter tells us that sometimes love begins in our understanding (“the truth”), is strengthened by our actions (“obeying”), and then moves to our emotions (“love one another deeply, from the heart”).

So true love doesn’t wait.

True love doesn’t wait until it feels like loving someone.  True love is rooted in the truth of Christ’s love, and acts in response to that love. “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.” (1 John 3:16.)

True love doesn’t wait until someone is lovable.  True love sees the beloved as Christ sees them and loves like Christ loves.  “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8)

When true love has the opportunity to show itself, true love doesn’t wait.  Are you a true lover?  Am I?  Today, I will not wait.  I will show love where I see the opportunity to do so.  I will not wait until I feel like.  I will love.  “God is love” and so I must be love.  If I am not a true lover, I do not truly know God (1 John 4).