Monday, March 1, 2010

Starting Over

Been away from the blog for 2 months.  I think the long entries on a weekly basis makes it a challenge to keep up.  I am going to try for short and daily.  That means I will need to work a passage over several days in order to do it justice.

 1 Now it happened on the second Sabbath after the first that He went through the grainfields. And His disciples plucked the heads of grain and ate them, rubbing them in their hands. 2 And some of the Pharisees said to them, “Why are you doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath?”
3 But Jesus answering them said, “Have you not even read this, what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him: 4 how he went into the house of God, took and ate the showbread, and also gave some to those with him, which is not lawful for any but the priests to eat?” 5 And He said to them, “The Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath.” (Luke 6:1-5, New King James Version)

What are some of the unfamiliar words in this passage?  We will take one a day to complete the story.

  1. Sabbath
  2. Pharisees
  3. Lawful
  4. David
  5. Showbread
  6. Priests
  7. Son of Man
  8. Lord of the Sabbath

We already talked about the Pharisees in a previous post called Short and Sweet.

So lets talk about the Sabbath.  It was a day of rest for the Jewish people as prescribed by God through Moses.  You might remember this is one of the ten commandments, Exodus 20:8-11.  Essentially the point is to rest from all busyness.  How are the Israelites to have a relationship with God if they are always running around doing stuff.  On the Sabbath "you shall not do any work".  It was set aside (made Holy) by God for the benefit of the Israelites.  It wasn't enough for the words that God had given through Moses to understand what this means, so a whole group of folks like the Pharisees, Scribes and Priests created volumes of books describing the rules on not working.

I think this will give us enough background as we look at the other terms over the coming days ahead.

Saturday, January 2, 2010

Happy New Year

Well the New Year is off to a white start.  I little snow earlier this week, some yesterday, a little today and they are predicting a real strange change of direction for a storm off shore in the Gulf of Maine to loop back and stall tomorrow night into Sunday morning.  Not sure what our plans will be for church Sunday morning.  I am hoping we can still have the service time.  I really miss the folks and I will be in India the following Sunday.

I have a sense of anticipation coming into the new year more than I have had in the past.  Some of my anticipation is a concern for where people are at.  We are living in tough times, though some have been able to pretend that life is normal.  It isn't.   It doesn't take much to look around and see that evil abounds, suffering is everywhere and we are living in a world and age without purpose.  Yes there are glimmers of light, the promise of hope, generosity and kindness.  There are still vestiges of our Christian heritage.  But these are being challenged all the time.

Lets take a test to see if I am right.  Lets focus on who Jesus Christ is according to our society:
  • A philosopher
  • A teacher
  • A Jew
  • A religious person
  • The founder of Christianity
  • A man
  • Someone to be mocked - See Best Church of God   (this is not an endorsement for this site).  I could have filled up this blog with internet references to sites dedicated to the demeaning of Jesus Christ.
  • Someone to hate
  • Someone to ignore
  • irrelevant
  • A name to be used when your mad

Now lets look at the truth from God's Word as we continue our study of Colossians:

Col 1: 15He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. 17He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. 19For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.


 What a contrast in these verses where we see:

  • Jesus is the image of God.  We can't see God since He is Spirit.  He is not created.  But Jesus is the manifestation of God in the flesh.
  • Before creation, Jesus existed.
  • All things were created through Jesus.  Apologizes to those who believe that stuff just happened.  It didn't.  Including things we see and can't see.  Interesting that the Bible acknowledges that there is an unseen creation, even before microscopes, telescopes and shows like Cosmos.
  • Rulers were created by Him
  • Jesus is what holds all things together.  No matter how clever we become with scientific investigation, there are given forces that just exist that hold all things together.  
  • Christ is the head of the church of true believers
  • Jesus Christ is the first born of the dead, we refer to this as the resurection.
  • Jesus Christ is fully God.  Not a god, not a little god, not one of many gods, but the only true God.
  • Jesus Christ is the savior for reconciling our lost relationship with God.  We can have peace with God because Jesus died on the cross for our sins.
I hope my sense of anticipation is that lives will be changed.  That many will leave behind the self serving philosophy of this world.   As is always my prayer I hope that your search for a savior ends with finding the true Savior Jesus Christ.

Thursday, December 24, 2009

This Special Night

Well here it is Christmas Eve.  This morning my sister-in-law came over to start the fig pudding.  Had a chance to play with Andrew my nephew.  The rest of the day was bringing in the wood, cleaning up in the family room and garage, along with puttering on projects around the house.

I now have a break to reflect on the significance of the celebration of Christ birth, while waiting on the kids to show up for supper.   They will all be here the plan is to have supper, go to the Christmas Eve service at the church and then dessert at Heather's our oldest daughter.

I always have the same thoughts this time of year.  I think of my family, friends and co-workers.  Do they know that this isn't just a casual celebration?  That the birth of Jesus is one of the most significant events since the creation.  What God has done by sending His only Son is to demonstrate a love far beyond our imaginings.  We are truly a hurting and sinful people.  Despite injustice, violence, broken homes and relationships we live in a world that denies there is sin.

You might be thinking that faith is for some people.  You might also think that Christianity is just another religion.  I just want to call your attention to 2 verses only.

Luke 2:10 But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. NKJS

The news of Jesus birth is for all people.  This is great news.  We have a choice on whether to accept this good news.

The next thing I think about is that so many folks are hurting this holiday.  Those I know, those I don't know.  Some are lonely.  Some have lost a loved one.  Some have suffered abuse.  Some have suffered from physical hardship.  Some are in the hospital.  Some are in the military overseas.  Some can't buy presents for their kids.  Some will go hungry.  Some are dying.  Some are lost. Some are homeless.

As we celebrate what God has done, I don't think we can simply ignore the suffering around us.  Truly Jesus birth is good news.  Truly He is the only hope we can have.   As a result of God's gift to us we need to be praying for those who are suffering.  We need to be reaching out to help.  We need to be the light on a hill.

Please join me this night in praying for those who are lost, praying for those who are suffering and remembering to celebrate what God has done for us, by doing for others.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!