A Season of Repentance
The Spring Reading Plan has taken us to the Book of Isaiah for the last few weeks. The past two weeks God’s word has highlighted the folly of relying on idols (things OF creation in which we place our trust) or relying on our own ability, understanding and power. There has also been previews of the Messiah, the Christ who is to come – Jesus.
Isaiah 53
4 Surely he took up our pain
and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God,
stricken by him, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to our own way;
and the LORD has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
Finally, there has been a consistent call to enter into the salvation offered through the Redeemer by repenting. How appropriate for this season of Lent, in which we prepare our hearts for the Cross and the empty tomb. The call goes out to us from long ago to recognize our need for a savior and to repent of our sins.
Isaiah 55
6 Seek the LORD while he may be found;
call on him while he is near.
7 Let the wicked forsake their ways
and the unrighteous their thoughts.
Let them turn to the LORD, and he will have mercy on them,
and to our God, for he will freely pardon. 8 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the LORD.
9 “As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
This Lent, I encourage all of us to take time to unplug from the things of creation that garner so much of our attention and to reflect on our sin and self-reliance. Then, to recognize our need for the mercy shown on the Cross where Jesus was pierced for our transgressions and crushed for our iniquities. And finally, to repent of choosing OUR way instead of submitting to God’s ways.
- Rob
Preview
The Spring Reading Plan now launches us into the Old Testament. We use the season of Lent to help point us to the Cross, while the prophet Isaiah gives us a preview from about 750 years prior. In the weeks that follow, we will be reading some of the most beautiful, heartbreaking, poignant words in all of Scripture. If you haven’t read the four or five chapters per week to this point, I hope you will jump in now as Isaiah walks us to the Cross.
In chapters 40-44, I love how the words of the Lord through Isaiah speak very clearly of two things; the sin of the people resulting in judgment that will land on Jesus as he hangs on the Cross, and the freedom and redemption God has planned for his people. Here is just one example of that interplay.
Isaiah 43
18 “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. 19 See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland. 20 The wild animals honor me, the jackals and the owls, because I provide water in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland, to give drink to my people, my chosen, 21 the people I formed for myself that they may proclaim my praise. 22 “Yet you have not called on me, Jacob, you have not wearied yourselves for me, Israel. 23 You have not brought me sheep for burnt offerings, nor honored me with your sacrifices. I have not burdened you with grain offerings nor wearied you with demands for incense. 24 You have not bought any fragrant calamus for me, or lavished on me the fat of your sacrifices. But you have burdened me with your sins and wearied me with your offenses. 25 “I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more.
- Rob
Kings
One of my small groups is studying 1 Samuel. A couple of weeks ago we were studying chapter 8, a section of Scripture that is one of the saddest in all the Bible. The Israelites come before God and ask that he no longer be their king; that they want “a king like the all the nations around us have.” The prophet Samuel, understandably, begins to respond with anger and hurt, but God says the following.
7 And the LORD told him: “Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king.”
The Spring Reading Plan has us fast forward to John, chapter 19; it’s Passion week, with Jesus standing before Pontius Pilate. We see another discussion about kingship unfold.
14 It was the day of Preparation of the Passover; it was about noon. “Here is your king,” Pilate said to the Jews. 15 But they shouted, “Take him away! Take him away! Crucify him!” “Shall I crucify your king?” Pilate asked. “We have no king but Caesar,” the chief priests answered. 16 Finally Pilate handed him over to them to be crucified.
So the soldiers took charge of Jesus. 17 Carrying his own cross, he went out to the place of the Skull (which in Aramaic is called Golgotha). 18 There they crucified him, and with him two others—one on each side and Jesus in the middle. 19 Pilate had a notice prepared and fastened to the cross. It read: JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS. 20 Many of the Jews read this sign, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and the sign was written in Aramaic, Latin and Greek. 21 The chief priests of the Jews protested to Pilate, “Do not write ‘The King of the Jews,’ but that this man claimed to be king of the Jews.” 22 Pilate answered, “What I have written, I have written.”
A prayerful question that I’ve found helpful in becoming more surrendered to God’s will is, “What area of my life do I prefer me or some other created thing to be King rather than Jesus Christ?” Pray that prayer and see what God reveals to you. Then ask Him for help in surrendering it.
Rob
Servant Girls and High Priests
John 16-18 contains it all, from a narrative standpoint. Incredible love and devious betrayal, soft-spoken truth and violent action, courage under duress and cowardly denial. I strongly recommend you read this weeks selection from the Spring Bible Reading Plan.
In chapter 16, Jesus explains that he is leaving, but that he will send the Holy Spirit to convict us of sin, guide us into all truth, and glorify Jesus who glorifies the Father. Jesus also lays some flat truth on us, “…in me you may have peace. In the world you WILL have trouble, but take heart; I have overcome the world.” Couple quick questions: When the Spirit convicts us of sin, do we respond trying to justify our actions or with contrite hearts ask for forgiveness and strength to sin no more? When seeking to know God more, do we prayerfully rely on the Holy Spirit to reveal God, or on our own abilities to figure him out or construct human boxes to place Him in? Are we paying attention when the Spirit glorifies Jesus in our lives; when was the last time you felt in awe of God?
Chapter 17 is a beautiful, loving prayer. Jesus prays in deep love for his disciples and for those who will believe because of their teaching. ATTENTION: that’s US! Jesus is praying for YOU in chapter 17 of John’s Gospel.
Chapter 18 reads like a great, back-and-forth scene from an Oscar-winning movie. The contrast between Jesus’ determined and courageous march toward fulfilling the Father’s will and Peter’s impulsive drive for survival through violence and deceit is convicting to me. While Jesus stands up to the High Priest and to a powerful Roman official, Peter is lying about his relationship with Jesus to a servant girl. Makes me think, “how courageous is my faith?”
Speaking of courageous faith; if you’d like to be inspired by some, find a way to get to the Love Costs Everything Worldwide Simulcast. Or if you want to help a group of teenagers trying to live out courageous faith, find your way to the Guatemala Benefit Concert.
- Rob
A Short Summary of Jesus
I was reading John 13-15 as part of the Spring Bible Reading Plan on Monday. I found in those chapters a really great summary of Jesus. I went back through those chapters and wrote down what is described there.
Jesus (with the disciples & therefore with us): loves, serves, teaches, “goes before” or leads, prepares a place in heaven, returns for us, shows us the Father, sends the Holy Spirit, does not leave us alone, abides in us, chose us, appoints us to bear fruit, commissions us to go, warns us of troubles in this world, tells us the truth.
Jesus (with the Father): speaks his words, follows the Father’s commands, abides in the Father, the Father abides in him, serves – glorifies – represents the Father.
None of us are Jesus and therefore cannot do all of these things, but we are called to be like him. Certainly we can love by keeping his commands, serve God and one another, be generous, bear fruit, tell the truth, etc. We can surely live out of the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit in order to serve, glorify and be an ambassador for God as he is reconciling the world to himself.
The Little Things Matter When the Big Things Come
As I’m reading through the Gospel of John, following our Spring Reading Plan, I’m amazed at the way Jesus initiates or responds through conversation or action. A woman caught in adultery, one of his best friends turning ill and dying, at one moment keeping a low profile and in the next speaking out publicly against the establishment under threat of being killed by stoning. And then when he explains why he does or says what he does, it comes down to this simple fact, “I do nothing on my own authority, but speak just as the Father taught me.”
Then I read the following article at the Asbury Seedbed site (Asbury is the seminary I attended and this site is shared thoughts from a variety of contributors). I will share a bit of it here, but you can read it in its entirety by clicking here. Notice as you read the article that Jesus does not find a quiet place to pray in order to check off his “time with God” in order to enter his “time in the world.” Rather, he spends time with God to train his mind to hear God and act on what God says in order to do exactly that throughout the rest of his day. God-time and world-time are not exclusive; God is brought into the world in big ways through a small act of training. I hope you enjoy.
- Rob
Early on in Mark’s Gospel, we see Jesus waking up very early in the morning and going to a “solitary place” where he prayed. It’s worthy of note this particular morning came after what must have been a late night ministry marathon. Earlier Mark tells us the whole town gathered at the door where Jesus was staying and he healed many of their diseases and cast out many demons. Luke sums up Jesus practice with nine words: But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed. 5:16.
What if setting aside focused time for prayer is more than a “spiritual” practice? Could daily “quiet time” be a key strategy for training the brain for its ultimate purpose: to perceive the presence of God, facilitating communion with the Creator?
Over the years I’ve seen so many people get mired down in the legalism of maintaining a daily quiet time, as though God would not be with them unless they maintained it.
–What if we thought about “quiet time” as the kind of brain training that leads to the formation of the mind of Christ?
–What if regularly withdrawing to lonely places for prayer actually rewires the brain, developing over time the Spirit empowered capacity to pay sustained attention to the Father, Son and Holy Spirit?
–What if this brain training led to the ability to truly behold the mystery of the Trinity; to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord, looking at one God yet seeing three persons.
–What if the discipleship we see in the life of the Son of God trains us to rhythmically shift our perception back and forth between the King and the Kingdom until we simultaneously see the majesty and the mercy of God.
Though the Mind of Christ be a mystical reality, it just might require submitting to the mundaneness of simply showing up for training. And isn’t this the nature of the Incarnation, the collision of the mystical and the mundane in the glorious pursuit of “on Earth as it is in Heaven?”
The Reading Begins Again
The Spring Semester Reading Plan has begun. This semester we begin with the Gospel of John, and the Psalms. I’m looking forward to periodically sharing some thoughts from the readings with you. I hope that you will continue to read and reflect on God’s Word.
The Gospel of John is ripe with themes. Two of them we see very early in the reading; Jesus speaking about spiritual matters while many who hear him interpret from a worldly perspective. The disconnect can be both comical and sad. A second theme is that Jesus doesn’t act like the world (people and culture) wants him to act or think he should act based on laws or common sense. In chapters 6 & 7 we see this centered on the topic of fame, so to speak; perhaps “becoming known and powerful” is another way to say it.
John 6 (after the feeding of the 5000) - 14 After the people saw the sign Jesus performed, they began to say, “Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world.” 15 Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself.
John 7 – 2 when the Jewish Festival of Tabernacles was near, 3 Jesus’ brothers (who did not believe in him) said to him, “Leave Galilee and go to Judea, so that your disciples there may see the works you do. 4 No one who wants to become a public figure acts in secret. Since you are doing these things, show yourself to the world.”
6 Therefore Jesus told them, “My time is not yet here; for you any time will do. 7 The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify that its works are evil. 8 You go to the festival. I am not going up to this festival, because my time has not yet fully come.” 9 After he had said this, he stayed in Galilee.
10 However, after his brothers had left for the festival, he went also, not publicly, but in secret.
Jesus later says to the Pharisees, “I do not seek to honor myself, but the One who sent me.” It made me think how much time most of us spend trying to increase or defend our honor rather than honoring God.
- Rob
Wisdom – Day 3
One important theme throughout Proverbs (and really, throughout the entire Bible) is that you and I, apart from God, are not very good at being honest with ourselves, or rightly discerning what’s good for us, or understanding our own motives, or grasping our limitations. We are easily duped by ourselves and need a higher perspective; God’s perspective. Here is a brief sampling.
Proverbs 3 - 5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; 6 in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. 7 Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD and shun evil.
Proverbs 12 – 15 The way of fools seems right to them, but the wise listen to advice.
Proverbs 14 – 12 There is a way that appears to be right, but in the end it leads to death.
Proverbs 16 – 2 All a person’s ways seem pure to them, but motives are weighed by the LORD. 25 There is a way that appears to be right, but in the end it leads to death.
Proverbs 21 – 2 A person may think their own ways are right, but the LORD weighs the heart.
Proverbs 26 – 12 Do you see a person wise in their own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for them.
Been fooled by yourself lately? Any chance it could be happening now? Here is a great way to start if you are honestly seeking true Wisdom and are humble enough to gain an honest perspective. Pray the prayer David prayed in Psalm 139:
23 Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. 24 See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
- Rob
Wisdom – Day 2
When I ask people how they are doing this time of year, the answer I get most often is something like, “Stressed” or “Frazzled” or “Super busy.” This is usually followed by, “…Christmas, you know?” as if it should be apparent to me that at Christmas it is only normal that everyone should have their tank full of anxiety. So I thought this quip from Proverbs 12 was appropriate:
25 Anxiety weighs down the heart,
but a kind word cheers it up.
Two quick thoughts about this passage…okay, maybe two and half thoughts; but really, they are quick ones. First, the foundation of Christmas is a joyful celebration of the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ. But it is hard to joyfully celebrate with a heart that is weighed down. Is there something you could do (or, more likely, NOT do) that would help keep your heart lighter for this year’s celebration? Second, might a kind word from you help lighten someone’s heart that has grown heavy? Might that person be the same one you’re about to yell at for taking too long at the store’s register?
Finally, in reflection, it seemed as if the Spirit redirected my thinking about that last line. Might a kind word I give to another actually cheer MY heart up? Could focusing on being kind to others lighten my own heart…your own heart….this Christmas?
- Rob
Wisdom – Day 1
I am an underliner. Sometimes a highlighter, but not in books where the highlighter bleeds through the pages. So last year when I was reading through the Bible, I did a lot of underlining, which made progress slow but now is reaping some benefit. Since the end of our Fall Reading Plan, I’ve been going through various books in my Bible and perusing the underlined sections and using them as the foundation for my morning prayer.
The past few days I’ve been working through Proverbs, which is a somewhat difficult book to simply read straight through, but is a wonderful “review the underlines” book. The focus of the book is simultaneously wisdom, and Jesus – since He is our best embodied model of wisdom. So I thought I would take a week or two to share some of what I’ve underlined, and I’m starting with a pretty rich one that may take several days to get through – chapter 12. Here is the first
16 Fools show their annoyance at once,
but the prudent overlook an insult.
How quickly are you & I annoyed; how fast does it show? Conversely, how likely are you and I to overlook an insult? Finally, how much do you think the answers to those questions have to do with the annoying insulter and how much do you think has to do with us and our foolishness or prudence?
Lord, I pray that your love, mercy and kindness would dispel our insecurities and replace them with wisdom and prudence so that we might humbly shine your light in our dark world. Amen.
- Rob
