Category Archives: Light

This Jesus God Raised Up

Posted on August 13, 2023 | Leave a comment

Acts 2:29 “Brothers, I may say to you with confidence about the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. 30 Being therefore a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath[a] to him that he would set one of his descendants on his throne, 31 he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption. 32 This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses. 33 Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing. 34 For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says, “‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand, 35 until I make your enemies your footstool.”’ 36 Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.” [b]

“This Jesus God raised up” is the whole point of Peter’s speech.  Some of the “brothers” needed to be convinced. Some of them had heard of, or seen the supernatural signs Jesus had done but they questioned if those were of God.  Some of them may actually have been in the crowd that had chanted “crucify him” and maybe were also part of the ghastly parade that followed Jesus to the cross.  Some of them having witnessed the spectacle of Jesus’s death by crucifixion would certainly eliminate any possibility of life for Him.   Some of them accepted Peter’s confident statement that what they had witnessed was the exaltation of Jesus “at the right hand of God.”  Some had recognized what they’d seen and heard was a new Spirit “from the Father.”  Very few of them would have expected to hear Peter’s words that accused them of crucifying Jesus.  Would you?

Some of the “brothers” response might have been to discredit Peter’s words because of that accusation.  But all of them needed to be reminded they had seen what “God had sworn with an oath” to their revered patriarch, come to pass. God’s choice was no longer a historical record, He had made this death personal…and Peter meant them to feel the sting of those words “whom you crucified.”  God had chosen “the one who would build a house for my Name” from David’s descendants to “establish the throne of His kingdom forever.” “This Jesus whom you crucified,” was made “both Lord and Christ” so you could be certain “this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing” is His Son’s Spirit, received from the Father and forever poured out as a witness to you.“And of that we all are witnesses.”

[a] 2 Samuel 7:12 When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. 13 He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. 14 I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son.
[b] Psalm 110:1

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Posted in 2 Samuel, Acts, Light, Psalms, Sunday

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The Unworthy Servant

Posted on August 10, 2023 | 1 comment

Luke 17:7 “Will any one of you who has a servant(a) plowing or keeping sheep say to him when he has come in from the field, ‘Come at once and recline at table’? 8 Will he not rather say to him, ‘Prepare supper for me, and  dress properly, and serve me while I eat and drink, and afterward you will eat and drink’? 9 Does he thank the servant because he did what was commanded? 10 So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, ‘We are unworthy(b) servants; we have only done what was our duty.’”

One of the most important things I’ve learned in the last year was to pay attention to those “little” letters as I study, particularly when they’re red and relate to the resource Jesus relied on.  For instance because of that one little (a) this parable would begin: “Will any of you who has a bondservant bound to their service without wages, plowing or keeping sheep say to him when he has come in from the field, ‘Come at once and recline at table?”  There’s tension in this parable and it’s about expectations. It’s Interesting to note it isn’t God who uses the word “unworthy” — lacking merit or value, — in verse 10.  It’s the servants who identify themselves that way.  I wonder about that. 

That little letter (b) cross referenced several places in the Old Testament.  That’s where I discovered Jesus probably began there too.  “-Can a man be profitable to God?  Surely he who is wise is profitable to himself. Is it any pleasure to the Almighty if you are in the right, or is it gain to him if you make your ways blameless? -The God who equipped me with strength [has] made my way blameless. -If you are righteous, what do you give to him? Or what does he receive from your hand?”(b)   

We have a lot of Biblical evidence of our worth to God(c) so there is definitely something more to ponder in this parable. The man “who has a slave” rightfully expects a dutiful response from the servant but his reputation will not be changed whether the servant acts in a profitable way toward him or not. The servant is made blameless not by his service but because the owner has taken responsibility for the command’s he’s given the servant to obey by simply doing his duty.  The servant must come to the awareness his only expectation of worth is completing his duty to the master. “We are always debtors to grace before we have done anything and after we have done our duty.”(d)

(a) Bondservant: a person bound to service without wages
(b) Job 22:2-3, Psalm 18:32 & Job 35:7 copied in this sequence
(c) Our Worth to God
(d) John Piper

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Posted in Job, Light, Luke, Psalms

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They Should’a Known

Posted on August 6, 2023 | Leave a comment

Acts 2:22 Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know— 23 this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. 24 God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it. 

Hear these words! Words to those law-less men to whom God provided clear evidence of who Jesus was.  According to God’s definite plan and foreknowledge… those men crucified and killed Jesus!  The crucifixion wasn’t what made them lawless, that was a grisly but legal process.  Their law-lessness was rejecting the signs of God in their midst they should’a recognized. They rejected those signs because their God inhabited the place of their choosing, acted in response to their record of His laws and then waited until they were ready to approach Him with a legal sacrifice.  Their law-lessness was blind unbelief in what God had already made known to them about His presence in their long and revered history.  

25 For David says concerning him, “‘I saw the Lord always before me, for he is at my right hand that I may not be shaken; 26 therefore my heart was glad, my tongue rejoiced; my flesh also will dwell in hope. 27 For you will not abandon my soul to Hades, or let your Holy One see corruption. 28 You have made known to me the paths of life; you will make me full of gladness with your presence.’

Long before Jesus, David knew[a] that God was always present with him and accessible.  He knew even when his sin was revealed God would not abandon him to destruction.  He knew death could not destroy the Holy One.  He knew the Lord had made known the paths of life.  He knew God’s presence filled him with unshakable hope that made his heart glad.  He knew because God had made it known to him.  Even the history of God’s presence that lived in David’s words from the past was not enough for the lawless men to believe God would be present with them, now!   Their law-lessness was that God had come into their midst and made Himself known to them and they rejected Him.  They should’a known!

[a] quoting Psalm 16:8-11

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Posted in Acts, Light, New Testament, Old Testament, Psalms, Sunday

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All the Cost of Discipleship

Posted on August 2, 2023 | Leave a comment


Luke 14:28-33
28 For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? 29 Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, 30 saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ 31 Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? 32 And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. 33 So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.

The highlighted words of the two small stories inside this parable seemed sensible to me.  The completion of projects, plans, desires, security, prestige and authority often depends on counting the cost and then throwing “all” your resources into making it a success.  What makes the “So therefore” of verse 33  so mysterious is that these Words of Jesus, “renounce all,” don’t seem to fit with the careful planning involved in the two illustrations that precede it.

Jesus did NOT say desiring something or counting the cost of getting it done is unwise or that deliberate and careful planning is a bad way to insure a good outcome that can overcome the odds against you.  In fact He details the negative outcomes of NOT counting the cost; mockery and being captured by an enemy.   “So therefore,” I am compelled to read and ponder what does that “renounce all” mean?  

Turns out I’m not the only one with that question. I read a very good paper by Pastor Tim Kelly[a] and because of his exhaustive referencing I learned Jesus didn’t always require the renouncing of “all” possessions even for His own mother or the disciples.  One helpful thing I learned was the verb that is translated “renounce,” apotassomai, can also mean bid farewell, delegate, appoint for, assign to, set aside or dismiss.  I looked back at that string of associated words I’d picked to consider as part of studying this parable — projects, plans, desires, security, prestige and authority and added [even] faith. It was then  I began to see they did have  connection to the wisdom of what Jesus was teaching His disciples. This parable wasn’t an option — they must “renounce all.”  What He did NOT say turned out to be very important  too.  Jesus was not preaching deprivation but that disciples must acknowledge that “all” things they have are already His to use.  This parable is not about personal deprivation at all but about a different reality for His disciples based on Isaiah 61:1-2.  “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound…”  

The cost that requires disciples to bid farewell, delegate, appoint for, assign to, set aside or dismiss everything as less valuable than Jesus is not deprivation but liberation for His disciples.  That’s “all.”

[a] Read Tim Kelly’s paper

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Firsthand Opportunity

Posted on July 30, 2023 | Leave a comment

Acts 2:14-21 But Peter, standing with the eleven, lifted up his voice and addressed them: “Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and give ear to my words. 15 For these people are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day.  16 But this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel:
[Acts 2:17-21 quoting from Joel 2:28-32] “And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions.  29 Even on the male and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit. 30 “And I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke. 31 The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. 32 And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

“Let this be known to you” is exactly what I look for as I study because I believe the Holy Sprit teaches the timeless truth of all God’s promises given long before Acts 2 and long before today.[a]   I want to know what I believe is really mine, firsthand, not truth that someone else learned and I accepted. I write hoping you may find truth here, but if something I write causes you to question, I want you to be compelled to search firsthand too.

Joel prophesied that God said “And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh.  I wondered about that “all flesh” in verse 17/28 enough that I read it in 30+  versions.  Here are the words I found following the “all” in them…“flesh, mankind, everyone, people, humanity.”  It doesn’t say all believers!  What if “all” is exactly what God meant!  I saw two promises here. The first was God’s Spirit in all as the promise of opportunity.  Please don’t be fooled by the inclusiveness of that “all.”  The first promise must lead to the second.  The second promise of salvation could only become reality because of the first and there was a requirement. Peter urges us to “give ear” to his quoting of Joel’s prophecy.  It’s our firsthand opportunity to wonder and ponder God’s truth because someone else’s truth is not going to save you.  Then I wondered about the “afterward.” 

Was “afterward” Jesus?  Was this prophecy the hint of a savior who would be destroyed, then restored to provide opportunity for all?  Did Joel see the last days as the promise of a level playing field created by God’s dedicated choice of His Spirit on all?”  The undetermined number of years of Kingdom life in the mysterious last days was going to be a seesaw of many good and bad events that would culminate in the “great and awesome day of the Lord” when the requirement would be fulfilled “it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
“When Joel looked into the future, God didn’t tell him how many years would separate the different parts of the last days that he was describing. He saw the last days as all one piece. Some of what he saw was nearer to the beginning of the last days, and some was nearer to the end of the last days.”[b]   

[a] John 16:12-13 I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. 13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. 

[b] John Piper

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Have you Understood?

Posted on July 26, 2023 | Leave a comment

Matthew 13:51 “Have you understood all these things?” They said to him, “Yes.” 52 And he said to them, “Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house, who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.”

The lessons Jesus taught with these parables, one after another, are what He wants His trusted friends to learn and what they need to understand. They’re short stories that seem casual in their simplicity but they contain the “secrets of the kingdom of heaven”…you must want to see and hear them.  “Have you understood all these things?” 

Have you understood what it means to be a scribe?  A scribe records all decisions, actions and issues noted by the group during meetings, as well as recording significant discussion.  Have you understood what it means to be trained in a particular skill or type of behavior through practice and instruction over a period of time?  Have you understood it’s the nature of that practice that makes you like the master of a house?  In God’s kingdom you are a house and He’s built it for you to live in.  Have you understood you’re the place He’s storing treasures? Some are new.  They never existed before this training and now for the first time they’ve been discovered.  Some are old.  They are carefully kept remnants from the past that are evidence of what has already been received.  Have you understood that while you are writing your record of decisions, actions and issues in the present, Jesus is saving them all as part of His inheritance for you in the kingdom of heaven?

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Posted in Light, Matthew, New Testament, Parables, Wednesday

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Firstfruits

Posted on July 23, 2023 | Leave a comment


Acts 2:1 When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. 2 And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. 3 And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.  5 Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. 6 And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language. 7 And they were amazed and astonished, saying, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? 8 And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language? 9 Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, 11 both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians—we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God.” 12 And all were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” 13 But others mocking said, “They are filled with new wine.”

History: Pentecost has “arrived.” 
I was surprised to learn Pentecost has it’s roots in the Old Testament.  Long before Acts was written there were annual celebrations of the harvests of two grains, barley and wheat.  The first harvest, Passover celebrated the Jews physical deliverance from Egypt and their desire to refresh their lives by reminding themselves it was God that had made the difference in them.  Barley and wheat were both planted at the same time but wheat took longer to ripen.  The days between the ripening of those two grains ended with the Feast of Weeks, Shavuot.  Pentecost/Shavuot was the celebration of the wheat harvest meant to remind them the time of wandering was over. God had provided for them a spiritual deliverance too.  He’d given them His presence in the land, a time to plant and a time to harvest.

The Harvest:
This beautiful passage begins by filling the “entire house where they were sitting.” Then the mysterious “tongues…”rested on each one of them.” I can’t help it I have to interject right here…Holy Smoke!  I read this and I thought this passage is the harvest!  These people are the firsfruits of the Bread of Life in the gathering place for those who remember the difference God has made in their lives.  The “one place“ where people can still hear a sound like a mighty rushing wind.  It’s the Church where we begin to hear the bewildering words of faith spoken by the Holy Spirit to each of us in the language we hear as our own.  We hear and finally understand “the mighty works of God,” have ripened in us.  The “day of Pentecost arrived” and we have become the firstfruits of the wheat harvest. “Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.” James 1:18

“Passover may have given them their lives, but Pentecost gave them the ability to provide life for others.”a

a More History

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Posted in Acts, James, Light, New Testament, Sunday

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What Do You Think?

Posted on July 19, 2023 | Leave a comment

Matthew 21:28 “What do you think? A man had two sons. And he went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today.’ 29 And he answered, ‘I will not,’ but afterward he changed his mind and went. 30 And he went to the other son and said the same. And he answered, ‘I go, sir,’ but did not go. 31 Which of the two did the will of his father?” They said, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Truly, I say to you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes go into the kingdom of God before you. 32 For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him. And even when you saw it, you did not afterward change your minds and believe him.”

What do you think?  That’s what Jesus’s wants to know.  I think there are two unmentioned words missing here; obedience and submission.  Those two missing words have become the unusual twist I needed to ponder more about this parable.  At first glance neither son’s response to the father would be called obedient or submissive.  The first son’s response to what his father asks is “I will not.” He did not want to be obedient!  The father seems to have accepted the son’s “I will not” and moves on to the second son.  The second son’s response is to please the father, “I go sir!”  They both end up changing their minds and flip-flopping to do exactly the opposite of what they said. That is the point in my pondering where Jesus interrupted my neat little devotion about this parable with an interesting observation: this parable is about that flip-flopping not which son was more obedient and submissive.  

Our human process of life is exactly like those two sons.  It’s built of uneven flip-flopping between our words and our behavior.  God has designed a life of faith through belief in Jesus that will change our minds and offer us a dependable “way of righteousness” that can make us reliable in our obedience and trustworthy in our submission…at first glance.

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Not Forgotten

Posted on July 16, 2023 | Leave a comment

Acts 1:12 Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day’s journey away. 13 And when they had entered, they went up to the upper room, where they were staying, Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot and Judas the son of James. 14 All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers.  15 In those days Peter stood up among the brothers (the company of persons was in all about 120) and said, 16 “Brothers, the Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke beforehand by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus. 17 For he was numbered among us and was allotted his share in this ministry.” 18 (Now this man acquired a field with the reward of his wickedness, and falling headlong he burst open in the middle and all his bowels gushed out. 19 And it became known to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the field was called in their own language Akeldama, that is, Field of Blood.) 20 “For it is written in the Book of Psalms, “‘May his camp become desolate, and let there be no one to dwell in it’; and “‘Let another take his office.’ 21 So one of the men who have accompanied us during all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, 22 beginning from the baptism of John until the day when he was taken up from us—one of these men must become with us a witness to his resurrection.” 23 And they put forward two, Joseph called Barsabbas, who was also called Justus, and Matthias. 24 And they prayed and said, “You, Lord, who know the hearts of all, show which one of these two you have chosen 25 to take the place in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place.” 26 And they cast lots for them, and the lot fell on Matthias, and he was numbered with the eleven apostles. ESV

There are many theories about why Jesus picked 12 men originally but this replacement event may be less about maintaining a symbolic number and more about their desire to honor the leadership structure Jesus had taught them.  The mission of that original team had been clear; spend time with Jesus, learn how to be messengers of God and go out in pairs to preach the truth about Him and His Kingdom to as many people as possible.  That team-building process had been fruitful — “the company of persons was in all about 120” but that leadership team was now one short.  The important task for this group now was to fill the gap betrayal had left them with and to “let another take his [Judas’s] office.”

Matthias’s name is recorded only twice in the Bible, both times in this short passage from Acts. He may only be one of the “about 120” persons, but his name is one of only two that has been “put forward.” He’s met the qualifications Peter identifies. Matthias is “one of the men who have accompanied us during all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us.”  God chooses an almost forgotten follower of Jesus to honor with the title Apostle. 

Matthias walked into his future knowing that God had not forgotten him.   That title, Apostle, was a great reward for a faithful man who’d spent his life learning how to live and speak as a messenger of Jesus, not building his own history.   Matthias’s achievements have been lost in the record of human history. But the title God gave him has preserved his life for all of divine history with another small testimony — “and he was numbered with the eleven apostles.”  Jesus had died, been resurrected, and ascended to heaven. Matthias witnessed that resurrected Jesus with his own eyes and heard Him speak firsthand the words of the Great Commission that confirmed everything he’d done in the past and directed the future of his life to the end of the age — Matthew 28:19:20.  

 “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all
that I have commanded you. And behold,
I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

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Posted in Acts, Light, Matthew, New Testament, Sunday

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The Barren Fig Tree

Posted on July 12, 2023 | Leave a comment

Luke 13:6 And he [Jesus] told this parable: “A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. 7 And he said to the vinedresser, ‘Look, for three years now I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and I find none. Cut it down. Why should it use up the ground?’ 8 And he answered him, ‘Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and put on manure. 9 Then if it should bear fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.’”

There are answers [?] that reveal deeper meanings in this simple story.  They all start “in the beginning” with Genesis and the three trees mentioned in the Garden of Eden; The tree of life, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil AND the fig tree.  The fig tree is an enduring symbol the Bible uses as part of its story of God’s provision [Genesis 3], peace [Micah 4], prosperity [Joel 2], and all the way to the end of the story [Revelation 6] to complete the long planned-for harvest of fruits in that vineyard.

There are two men in this story; an owner [God] with an expected result and a vinedresser [Jesus] with a plan.  The owner desires the fig tree but he relies on the vinedresser to plant and care for it.  Figs and grapes are often grown together because they both thrive in similar conditions and that’s probably what the owner wanted that tree planted. The whole point of adding the fig tree [gentiles?] to the vineyard was that it would provide additional fruit for the owner’s pleasure.  Its broad leaves would benefit the vineyard by protecting the fruit of the vine [God’s relationship with those He desires?]  from wind and scorching sun [the harsh circumstances of life?].   The vinedresser’s advice to the owner is “let it alone this year also”…I’ll dig around it, add fertilizer and give it my special attention.  It takes 3+ years for a fig tree to produce fruit [Jesus ministry was at that 3-year mark]. “Then if it should bear fruit next year, well and good [salvation?]; but if not, you can cut it down.” [judgment?] “And in the fourth year all its fruit shall be holy, an offering of praise to the Lord”[a] to fulfill the desire of God; “the dwelling place of God IS with man.”[b] [the new Eden?]

[a]Leviticus 19:24
[b]Revelation 21:3

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Posted in Leviticus, Light, Luke, New Testament, Parables, Revelation, Wednesday

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