Category Archives: New Testament

The Parable of Separation

Posted on September 24, 2023 | Leave a comment

Matthew 25:31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. 34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ 40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’ 41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’ 44 “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’45 “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’ 46 “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”

My Thoughts 
Remember how Genesis starts?  “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.”  God was complete in that beginning but He had a greater purpose for all time — an eternal kingdom.  Jesus learned the necessity of separation in those early days of eternity as He watched His father define His kingdom by separating light from dark, day from night, land from sea and mankind from dust.

Jesus tells this parable about separation just a few days before His arrest.  It’s more than a story about judgment of behavior, it’s about relationship and firsthand experience.  Did you notice the odd truth all those contrasts in this parable revealed about those two groups?  Both groups were surprised to discover Jesus noticed their choices.  Both were surprised that what impacted their kingdom destiny in such a dramatic way was not just their choices but their relationship, or lack of it, with Jesus Himself. 

Jesus understood the inheritance prepared for the “blessed” was eternity with Himself in a kingdom created for them.  He’d seen it created firsthand.  Jesus’s warning to the “cursed” was separation from Him and a destiny of eternal punishment “in a land of forgetfulness and separation,” not inhabited” by God.  He could warn them of that absolute truth with certainty because He knew in just a few days He would briefly experience the reality of that separation firsthand.

a Leviticus 16:20-22 The goat shall bear upon himself all their iniquities, carrying them to a land cut off (a land of forgetfulness and separation, not inhabited)! AMPC

Leave a comment

Posted in Leviticus, Light, Matthew, New Testament, Old Testament

Tagged , , ,

The Whole Miracle

Posted on September 17, 2023 | Leave a comment

Acts 3:11 While he [the healed lame man] clung to Peter and John, all the people, utterly astounded, ran together to them in the portico called Solomon’s. 12 And when Peter saw it he addressed the people: “Men of Israel, why do you wonder at this, or why do you stare at us, as though by our own power or piety we have made him walk? 13 The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified his servant Jesus, whom you delivered over and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he had decided to release him. 14 But you denied the Holy and Righteous One, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, 15 and you killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead. To this we are witnesses. 16 And his name—by faith in his name—has made this man strong whom you see and know, and the faith that is through Jesus has given the man this perfect health in the presence of you all.  

My Thoughts:
For the first time in his life this lame man was strong. He’d just been miraculously healed but look at what verse 11 says, “he clung to Peter and John.” The miracle was more than physical healing.  It was the actual physical help he needed to stand on his own two feet for the first time.  That miracle was more than a sign of the “power or piety” of Peter and John’s faith, and certainly more than the faith of the crowd. What utterly astounded all the people that day was being eye witnesses of the truth of Peter’s words; “the faith that is through Jesus has given the man this perfect health in the presence of you all.”   “The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our fathers glorified his servant Jesus” in their presence — despite their guilty denial.  And now every time they saw that healed man stand and walk they would remember the power behind the whole miracle.  Jesus, “the Holy and Righteous One…the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead” had shown them His desire was to heal both the lame and the guilty — by faith in His name.

Leave a comment

Posted in Acts, Light, New Testament, Sunday

Tagged , , ,

The Persistent Widow

Posted on September 6, 2023 | Leave a comment

Luke 18:1 Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. 2 He said: “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared what people thought. 3 And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’ 4 “For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care what people think, 5 yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually come and attack me!’”  6 And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. 7 And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? 8 I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”

Why isn’t this widow called The Persistant Whiner?  I find myself whining about my own prayer list that seems to get longer and longer. It’s unusual that almost immediately I see the “more” of this parable for me. This simple story of a whining widow has made me realize how easy it is to have one foot in both camps. This parable has made me aware that I’ve been praying by a wrong set of rules from a judge who cares more about goals than God.  God, forgive me, that’s a depressing “more.”

I’ve begun to think of the requests on my prayer list as if they are goals that God needs to act on so I can check them off.  The power of prayer is not the achievement of a goal but the persistent pleading for “justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night.” Lord, change my heart so my prayers follow your rules and become a persistent part of what empowers your justice, not my shorter list.  Amen

Leave a comment

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

Tagged ,

WHAT HAPPENED HERE?

Posted on September 3, 2023 | Leave a comment

Acts 3:1 Now Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour. 2 And a man lame from birth was being carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple that is called the Beautiful Gate to ask alms of those entering the temple. 3 Seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked to receive alms. 4 And Peter directed his gaze at him, as did John, and said, “Look at us.” 5 And he fixed his attention on them, expecting to receive something from them. 6 But Peter said, “I have no silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!” 7 And he took him by the right hand and raised him up, and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong. 8 And leaping up, he stood and began to walk, and entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God. 9 And all the people saw him walking and praising God, 10 and recognized him as the one who sat at the Beautiful Gate of the temple, asking for alms. And they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.

Directed focus is what struck me about this passage.  This lame man had been at this gate most days of his life.  He certainly had directed his focus on his faith that his needs would be provided for.  He organized his friends to get him to the gate at the right “hour” after the hour of sacrifice had been completed when he could expect the people coming to pray might notice him and have generous hearts.  Peter and John  have come to pray too which is interesting. The focus of their faith is no longer praying for God to accept the Temple sacrifices offered an hour earlier.  It’s been changed into thankful belief because Jesus has fulfilled that hour of sacrifice.  That was the act of God that had changed their own expectations of faith into belief. 

After all these years this lame man was like an unnoticeable fixture at that gate.  Did he expect his faith in their alms would make life on earth more bearable for him? Of course he did. What other choice did he have?  What God did for this lame man was use Peter’s words, “look at us,” to change his focus from the unnoticeable expectations of his faith into the new and miraculous reality of a very noticeable expression of his belief, “walking and leaping and praising God.”  

“Perhaps only medical men can fully appreciate the meaning of these words; they are peculiar, technical words of a medical man. The word translated feet is only used by Luke, and occurs nowhere else. It indicates his discrimination between different parts of the human heel. The phrase ankle-bones is again a medical phrase to be found nowhere else. The word ‘leaping up’ describes the coming suddenly into socket of something that was out of place, the articulation of a joint. This then is a very careful medical description of what happened in connection with this man.”    (The Acts of the Apostles, p97 — George Campbell Morgan)  The miracle was complete, God had changed the focus on expectations of faith for “all the people” and become the reality of belief and they were filled with wonder and amazement.”

Leave a comment

Posted in Acts, Light, New Testament, Sunday

Tagged , , ,

The Parable of Essential Trust

Posted on August 30, 2023 | 1 comment

Luke 18:9 He [Jesus] also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt: 10 “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ 13 But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ 14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

This parable is actually titled “The Pharisee and the Tax Collector” but rather than compare the two men I choose to compare their motives.  Many of the parables I’ve studied so far are Jesus addressing the people who cannot see or hear because they have decided they already DO see and hear and are therefore blind and deaf.  

Simple Observations:
— The Pharisee is standing by himself. He is thankful he’s not like “other men.”  He essentially is justifying himself by reminding God how good he is.
— The tax collector has also separated himself.  He’s standing far off from his own people by working for the Roman occupiers.  His request is essentially to trust God’s mercy to help him deal with his sin.

The hardest part about Jesus’s recap of this parable is the truth that everything the Pharisee claims he is doing is essentially good and desirable. There’s not much information about the tax collector other than he’s essentially aware of his sin and believes God still desires to interact with him.  “Essentially” became the motivation and the keyword of my thoughts to ponder what is “more” essential in this parable.  

Point #1: Both men are Jews.
Point #2: Both men are isolated, one by his prestige, the other by his job for the Roman occupiers that betrays his own people.
Point #3: Jesus speaks the truth that will separate the Pharisee and the tax collector even “more:” God is “essentially” more interested in the awareness of a sinner’s desire to trust His mercy than He is in being instructed about the indicators He should use to dispense it.
Amen!

1 Comment

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

Tagged , , ,

Together Individually

Posted on August 27, 2023 | Leave a comment

Acts 2:41-47
41 So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.  42 And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. 43 And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. 44 And all who believed were together and had all things in common. 45 And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. 46 And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, 47 praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

Just imagine that day. One day when “about three thousand souls” “devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers,” to become a new body, the church. “And” because of their praising God with “glad and generous hearts”…together…the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.” 

“Together” is the mystery of the “body of Christ.”  God has chosen that one word to reveal His purpose for the church; a place where the awe of Jesus’s Spirit in them individually is combined with the ordinary act of meeting…together…to provide for the needs of  “those who [day by day are] being saved.”  Hebrews 10:25 MSG says, “Let’s see how inventive we can be in encouraging love and helping out, not avoiding worshiping together as some do but spurring each other on, especially as we see the big Day approaching.”  

Leave a comment

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

Tagged , , , ,

The Parable of Alienation

Posted on August 23, 2023 | 1 comment

Luke 15:11 Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two sons. 12 The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them. 13 “Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. 14 After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. 15 So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. 16 He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything. 17 “When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! 18 I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’ 20 So he got up and went to his father. “But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him. 21 “The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ 22 “But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23 Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. 24 For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate. 25 “Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. 27 ‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’ 28 “The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. 29 But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’ 31 “‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. 32 But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’”

Define Alienation: a withdrawing or separation of a person or a person’s affections from an object or position of former attachment.  

It’s hard to even begin with this very familiar parable about the prodigal son because there are two sons. It always ends up being a story of their personal choices and here’s the tricky part. This parable seems to be teaching more about their alienation from the father than their choices.  It’s obvious alienation is often the result of a bad choice but you can’t escape the reality that even a good choice with a bad motive also results in estrangement.  

The Younger Son…views his bad choice as freedom and an opportunity to escape. He’s chosen to “set off for a distant country” as a way to avoid the responsibilities of a son to his father.

The Older Son…views his good choice to be obedient and faithful as “slaving.”  He’s chosen to define his relationship to his father in a way that reveals his estrangement from him.

I think every believer has identified with that younger son who valued separation more than his relationship with his father until “he came to his senses“ and experienced the reality that “while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son.”  And I suspect I’m not the only one who’s also identified with the “enslaved” brother using his obedience to justify his entitlement instead of his relationship to his father; “all these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders.” 

The Father’s choice is the “more in this parable.”  Jesus has given an age span the Father is concerned with, younger to older.  He’s given two examples of what the alienation of sin can look like, separation and entitlement.  And He’s given two very human responses to think about.  The Father’s choice is to be “filled with compassion” for repentant sinners, even those with bad motives, and remind them “you are always with me, and everything I have is yours.” “Let’s have a feast and celebrate.”

1 Comment

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

Tagged , ,

The Hidden Treasure

Posted on August 16, 2023 | Leave a comment

Matthew 13:44 “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.”  ESV

POP QUIZ
1. Why did the man choose to cover up the treasure and then go buy the field?
2. What is the treasure?
3. Is the field the kingdom of heaven?
4. What makes the treasure like the kingdom of heaven?
5. Why purchase the field, not just take the treasure?  Matthew 7:21-23
6. Is Jesus challenging our greedy human nature wanting to own the treasure or is He asking us to do whatever it takes to make the treasure ours?   Matthew 6:19 or Matthew 6:21
7. Is the Word the treasure?  John 1:1
8. Is Jesus the treasure covered up in the flesh of man? Philippians 2:7

Think about these things.
“…God’s mystery, which is Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Col 2:2b & 3

Leave a comment

Posted in Colossians, John, Light, Matthew, New Testament, Parables, Philippians, Wednesday

Tagged , ,

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

Leave a comment

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

Tagged , , , ,

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?

Leave a comment

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

Tagged , , ,