A Pastor's Joy

3 John 4 I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.

4 μειζοτέραν τούτων οὐκ ἔχω χαράν, ἵνα ἀκούω τὰ ἐμὰ τέκνα ἐν τῇ ἀληθείᾳ περιπατοῦντα.

John is telling Gaius here that his greatest joy is that his spiritual children are walking in the truth. He uses a comparative adjective  μειζοτέραν to explain this. That is where we get the "than" in English since it is difficult to express this in Greek. The first clause is something like, "I do not have greater joy than this" which is connected to the ἵνα clause. What gives him such great joy? He loves to hear that his children are walking in the truth. Note that he uses the participle περιπατοῦντα, which suggests that he is particularly glad to hear that his children are in a general, continuous state of walking in the truth.


What does this mean for us? It means that we need to walk in the truth. How do we know what the truth it? We learn it by reading, studying, and memorizing God's Word. That's the truth. How do we bless and honor our pastors? Letting them use your beach house for the week is a nice thing, but what they want more than anything is to hear about you walking in the truth.


As someone who is getting ready to go into ministry I can testify to this. I want to see God glorified in changed lives. I know that God's Word is powerful and active. I know that the Holy Spirit transforms hearts. I am fine with someone who wants to apply Galatians 6:6 to me in an appropriate way, but I would much prefer that someone note this verse if they really want to honor me for anything they may have learned.


Any pastors out there who want to comment on this? Is there any greater joy than to hear that your people are walking in the truth?

Unworthy to Untie

Matthew 3:11 "I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.


11 Ἐγὼ μὲν ὑμᾶς βαπτίζω ἐν ὕδατι εἰς μετάνοιαν, ὁ δὲ ὀπίσω μου ἐρχόμενος ἰσχυρότερός μού ἐστιν, οὗ οὐκ εἰμὶ ἱκανὸς τὰ ὑποδήματα βαστάσαι· αὐτὸς ὑμᾶς βαπτίσει ἐν πνεύματι ἁγίῳ καὶ πυρί·

This is one of those verses that is strange for a native English speaker to read in Greek.  The phrase ἰσχυρότερός μού ἐστιν is translated "mightier than I."  But quite literally you have "mighty is me."  This is because Greek does its comparative adjectives differently than English.  Greek doesn't do "good, better, best, " or more regularly, "strong, stronger, strongest."  Again, you can trust your translators here.

While that is an interesting linguistic note, I think that John's statement is worthy of reflection.  Later on Jesus will say that no man born of woman was greater than John the Baptizer.  And yet here we have John's statement.  He did not consider himself worthy to do the most menial servant work for Jesus.  John understood his place before the Lord.

Do we?  Here in America we try to turn Jesus into a vending machine or a cosmic genie.  We want Him to give us the lives that we want.  Yet this verse makes it clear that we are always going to be subordinate to Him.  If John the Baptizer was not worthy to carry Jesus' sandals, where does that leave us?  It is true that Jesus is that "friend who stays closer than a brother," but He is also God.  We say that He is worthy of praise and honor and glory, etc.  But do we act like we believe that?

This verse helps me remember just who He is.  Let's respond accordingly, amen?

Undeserved Freedom

Romans 5:7 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person--though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die-- 8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

7 μόλις γὰρ ὑπὲρ δικαίου τις ἀποθανεῖται· ὑπὲρ γὰρ τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ τάχα τις καὶ τολμᾷ ἀποθανεῖν· 8  συνίστησιν δὲ τὴν ἑαυτοῦ ἀγάπην εἰς ἡμᾶς ὁ θεός, ὅτι ἔτι ἁμαρτωλῶν ὄντων ἡμῶν Χριστὸς ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν ἀπέθανεν.

Romans 5 is one of the Calvinist's favorite chapters.  Here we see the nature of mankind.  It's not a pretty picture, is it?  As Paul continues his argument in this chapter we see that man inherits Adam's sin.  We are sinners by nature and by choice.  We deserve nothing but God's righteous wrath.

But in these two wonderful verses we see a strange truth.  Instead of giving us what we deserve, Christ came to earth to die for sinners.  Keep in mind that Paul is writing to saints here.  He is saying that while those saints were still sinners Christ came to die for them.  Paul should know since he committed more than his fair share of sin while he was still Saul.  The construction of ἔτι ἁμαρτωλῶν ὄντων ἡμῶν uses an infinitive and an adjective to show that they were in the state of being sinners.

Think about this from the perspective of Paul's argument.  Let's say that you just witnessed someone commit a cold-blooded premeditated murder.  How eager would you be to help this person out?  How eager would you be to die for that person?  If you're anything like me, you would want to do whatever you could to bring this person to justice.  In many states that person would get the death penalty.  Would you die in behalf of that person?  I know that would not be my instinct.

Yet that is what Christ did on the cross.  We were dead in our sins, but He died to make us alive with Him.  We do not deserve this, but it is our gift for the taking.  There is a cost to following Him, but is any cost higher than the death penalty?

Profession of Faith

 John 20:28 Thomas answered him, "My Lord and my God!" 29 Jesus said to him, "Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."

28 ἀπεκρίθη Θωμᾶς καὶ εἶπεν αὐτῷ· ὁ κύριός μου καὶ ὁ θεός μου. 29  λέγει αὐτῷ ὁ Ἰησοῦς· ὅτι ἑώρακάς με πεπίστευκας; μακάριοι οἱ μὴ ἰδόντες καὶ πιστεύσαντες.

If you want to get a moniker hung on you for eternity, just doubt who Jesus is.  "Doubting" Thomas refused to believe in the resurrection of Christ until he was able to touch the wounds himself.  This is his response to doing just that.  There is nothing fancy to point out in the Greek other than to say that ὁ κύριός μου καὶ ὁ θεός μου is written as explicitly as it can be.  Putting μου on each side of the καὶ removes all doubt about what Thomas was saying.  Jesus is both his Lord and his God.

There are those who say that Jesus was the son of God, lived a perfect life, was crucified, and on the third day rose again; however, they also say that He was not God.  Let's assume that they are correct for a minute.  Take a Rabbi who was perfectly devout.  If He was not truly God then Thomas just committed blasphemy here.  Jesus rebukes Thomas a bit, but not for blasphemy.  He simply makes a point about how weak Thomas' faith was and how much more blessed those who would know Him later (read: us) would be because they required a measure of faith.

It is inconceivable how Jesus' would let such blatant blasphemy slide if He was not God.  By His silence Jesus gives tacit approval to Thomas' statement.  In fact, He also gives implicit agreement by what He says.  In other words, Jesus says, "You believe rightly, but only because you have seen me.  Those who believe rightly without the physical benefits you just enjoyed will be even more blessed."

Jesus is God.  I don't see how else you can read this with integrity.

The Door

John 10:9 I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.

9 ἐγώ εἰμι ἡ θύρα· δι᾽ ἐμοῦ ἐάν τις εἰσέλθῃ σωθήσεται καὶ εἰσελεύσεται καὶ ἐξελεύσεται καὶ νομὴν εὑρήσει. 10  ὁ κλέπτης οὐκ ἔρχεται εἰ μὴ ἵνα κλέψῃ καὶ θύσῃ καὶ ἀπολέσῃ· ἐγὼ ἦλθον ἵνα ζωὴν ἔχωσιν καὶ περισσὸν ἔχωσιν.

Jesus uses some interesting imagery here.  I can't really relate to what a sheepfold looks like beyond what I saw in the movie "Babe".  It seems that sheep go into a pen and they need a trustworthy shepherd to take care of them because they aren't real bright or self-sufficient.  They need to have a good shepherd and the shepherd may use a good dog to help protect the sheep and keep them together.  They can't live in the sheepfold because they need to pasture.

Jesus provides the gate for us.  We want to be in His sheepfold.  He is the good shepherd that will take care of us.  In Him is not just life, but abundant life.  His promise is that  ἐγὼ ἦλθον ἵνα ζωὴν ἔχωσιν καὶ περισσὸν ἔχωσιν.  The adjective περισσὸν refers to excessiveness or abundance.  What a glorious promise!

Keep in mind that this does not necessarily refer to material wealth.  I suppose that God could do that, but that is not what this verse is about.  It is about the very foundation of our lives.  Whether you live in a palace or a cardboard box this refers to you if you know Christ.  The abundant life is within.  Plus, as we die we move on to more abundance that we can possibly imagine.

How is your life?  You may have a fine one on the outside, but how is it on the inside?  Is there abundance in your heart or is there a constant nagging for something more and something bigger?  Check out this video for a great example.  Here is someone married to a supermodel who has 3 Super Bowl rings and he knows that there is something greater out there.  The answer that he's looking for is Jesus.