Merry Christmas

Mark 15:24 And they crucified him and divided his garments among them, casting lots for them, to decide what each should take.


24 Καὶ σταυροῦσιν αὐτὸν καὶ διαμερίζονται τὰ ἱμάτια αὐτοῦ, βάλλοντες κλῆρον ἐπ᾽ αὐτὰ τίς τί ἄρῃ.

Here we are on the day after Christmas and I find myself in Mark 15.  This seems a bit macabre given all the sugar we have been consuming to remind us of the sweetness of our Savior.  We exchanged gifts to remind us that Jesus gave us the best gift we could possibly ever receive.  We sing songs like "O Holy Night" and "Silent Night" as we contemplate that first Christmas.

I have always loved Christmas, but now that I am a parent of two small children I love the giving more than the receiving.  I never really understood that until the past few years.  I would still have trouble sleeping on Christmas Eve because of the anticipation.  Now I look forward to seeing how my children react to their gifts.  They rarely disappoint.

But here we see that, in contrast to the sweetness of Christmas, σταυροῦσιν αὐτὸν.  There's nothing fancy about this verb.  It is simply a present active 3rd person indicative.  It means what it looks like it means.  They crucified Him.

My point is that there was a shadow of a cross hanging over the manger where He was laid.  He was born to die as a ransom for mankind.  So while we think about the wonder of Christmas let us be even more amazed as we consider that His death loomed over His whole life.  I don't think that His parents quite understood that, based on how they reacted to His ministry.  As a baby He didn't understand it either.  But as we look back at the gospel accounts we can see how He was born to die as a payment for sin.  What a Savior!

A Pastor's Heart

1 Thessalonians 3:8 For now we live, if you are standing fast in the Lord.

8 ὅτι νῦν ζῶμεν ἐὰν ὑμεῖς στήκετε ἐν κυρίῳ.

There isn't a lot of devotional material in this chapter.  However, I do think that it shows us what a pastor's heart should look like.  Paul decided that it was more important to get news about the Thessalonians than it was to enjoy Timothy's company.  He sent Timothy to get word about them.  This was how Paul expressed his feelings about their church.  Their steadfastness was obviously very important to him.  ζῶμεν is a present active indicative verb.  It seems that the ESV translates this perfectly.

When I read this I think back to my time at Setting Captives Free.  When I started working as a mentor I think that this verse pretty well described how I felt.  But as I proved myself faithful I got more work piled on me.  Eventually I was working with so many guys that I was basically just processing them.  I couldn't really counsel them and, therefore, I stopped caring.  I just wanted to see them get through the course.  I stopped following-up with them and really didn't even notice when they disappeared.

It seems terrible to look back on it that way.  It's not the fault of Setting Captives Free either.  There just simply was not enough time to work with all the men who came through.  But I think back to those early days and I miss that.  I would love to get into a ministry where I could actually work with people.  We'll see if that happens.

Great Inheritance

Ephesians 1:11 In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, 12 so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory.

11  Ἐν ᾧ καὶ ἐκληρώθημεν προορισθέντες κατὰ πρόθεσιν τοῦ τὰ πάντα ἐνεργοῦντος κατὰ τὴν βουλὴν τοῦ θελήματος αὐτοῦ 12  εἰς τὸ εἶναι ἡμᾶς εἰς ἔπαινον δόξης αὐτοῦ τοὺς προηλπικότας ἐν τῷ Χριστῷ.

Ephesians is one of those books where it is hard for me to pick just a single short passage and write about it.  This book has been transformational in my thinking about God.  Any idea of a God who doesn't know the future goes right out the window.  Any idea of a God who is beholden to man's "free will" is also destroyed by this book.

First of all, we see ἐκληρώθημεν, which is an aorist passive first person plural verb.  The fact that it is passive shows that the inheritance is something we receive rather than obtain.  There is a big difference there.  Man is not the actor, but has the action done to him.  We have obtained this incredible inheritance of eternal life through Christ.  Many stories have been written where a long-lost uncle or aunt dies and leaves some ridiculous inheritance.  (This is one of my favorites.)  We have something even better.  We have the God of the universe telling us that we have an inheritance in Him.

Unlike hapless Brewster, we have assurance that this will work out.  Why?  We know it is true because  τὰ πάντα ἐνεργοῦντος κατὰ τὴν βουλὴν τοῦ θελήματος αὐτοῦ.  He works all things according to the counsel of His will.  In other words, anything that happens is according to the counsel of His will.  Katrina?  That cannot happen apart from the counsel of His will.  The 9/11 attacks?  He certainly could have prevented them, but He didn't.  I don't want to get into the arguments about theodicy here, but the text certainly seems to say that everything has a reason behind it.  We just don't know what that reason is.

Finally, we see why God would bother with sinners like us.  He does this for the praise of His glory.  It's all about His glory.  If God were on earth and subject to psychologists He would be called narcissistic.  But the thing is that He is God.  Therefore, He alone deserves to have that kind of praise and glory heaped upon Him.  And in fact we are most satisfied when we feed that by focusing our attention on bringing Him glory.

This whole book is just amazing.  It shows us that God is really big, we are really small, and that this infinite God is also incredibly loving and merciful.  I hope that you enjoy contemplating the greatness and glory of this God, whether things are going well for you or poorly.  It's a reminder I definitely need.

Avoiding Divisions

 Romans 16:17 I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught; avoid them.

17 Παρακαλῶ δὲ ὑμᾶς, ἀδελφοί, σκοπεῖν τοὺς τὰς διχοστασίας καὶ τὰ σκάνδαλα παρὰ τὴν διδαχὴν ἣν ὑμεῖς ἐμάθετε ποιοῦντας, καὶ ἐκκλίνετε ἀπ᾽ αὐτῶν·

Romans 16 is a very happy chapter as Paul speaks so well of so many people and sends them his greetings.  It's always had a special place for me just because I can see my name in the Bible.  That's nice and all, but hardly very deep.

This verse stands out rather starkly in the middle of the chapter.  Paul takes time out to Παρακαλῶ.  This word has the sense of exhorting or asking earnestly.  In other words, Paul isn't just making a suggestion here.  He wants them to consider this.  But what does he ask them to consider?  They need to be careful about those who are causing problems relative to the doctrine that these folks have been taught.  Anyone concerned about orthodoxy can give a hearty "amen" to this, right?

However, I can also see how this verse can be twisted if we're not careful.  This would be a great verse to use to maintain control over a congregation.  Let's say that someone was at a very fundamentalist, KJV-only country Baptist church and the pastor was teaching something that seemed biblical with a verse out of context, but was wrong when examined either systematically or biblically.  Now let's say that one or two congregants are reading their Bibles faithfully and they begin to see the problem with the pastor's theology.  They bring this up in Sunday school.  What is likely to happen?

I bet you dollars to doughnuts that this verse gets used.  These two faithful men would likely get corrected or outright ousted because they are causing division.  Heaven forbid someone goes to seminary and starts to question the text behind the KJV.  Talk about creating a stumbling block!

I am not trying to make a caricature of all churches like this.  I simply give this as an example.  The same thing can happen at big urban churches as well.  It can happen in parachurch organizations, as I know from my own experience.  We certainly need to guard our doctrine, but we also don't want to have a cult-like mentality that we are right and the rest of the world is full of wolves out to get us.

I'm not quite sure how to balance all of this out though.  Any ideas?

Tending the Sheep

John 21:15 When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?" He said to him, "Yes, Lord; you know that I love you." He said to him, "Feed my lambs." 16 He said to him a second time, "Simon, son of John, do you love me?" He said to him, "Yes, Lord; you know that I love you." He said to him, "Tend my sheep." 17 He said to him the third time, "Simon, son of John, do you love me?" Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, "Do you love me?" and he said to him, "Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you." Jesus said to him, "Feed my sheep.

15 Ὅτε οὖν ἠρίστησαν λέγει τῷ Σίμωνι Πέτρῳ ὁ Ἰησοῦς· Σίμων Ἰωάννου, ἀγαπᾷς με πλέον τούτων; λέγει αὐτῷ· ναὶ κύριε, σὺ οἶδας ὅτι φιλῶ σε. λέγει αὐτῷ· βόσκε τὰ ἀρνία μου. 16  λέγει αὐτῷ πάλιν δεύτερον· Σίμων Ἰωάννου, ἀγαπᾷς με; λέγει αὐτῷ· ναὶ κύριε, σὺ οἶδας ὅτι φιλῶ σε. λέγει αὐτῷ· ποίμαινε τὰ πρόβατά μου. 17  λέγει αὐτῷ τὸ τρίτον· Σίμων Ἰωάννου, φιλεῖς με; ἐλυπήθη ὁ Πέτρος ὅτι εἶπεν αὐτῷ τὸ τρίτον· φιλεῖς με; καὶ λέγει αὐτῷ· κύριε, πάντα σὺ οἶδας, σὺ γινώσκεις ὅτι φιλῶ σε. λέγει αὐτῷ [ὁ Ἰησοῦς]· βόσκε τὰ πρόβατά μου.

This is a fairly heavily-preached passage at the very end of John's gospel.  Here Jesus restores Peter after Peter's denials on the night of Jesus' betrayal.  This is a powerful passage that displays God's grace.  I know that I am thankful for it because of my many failures.

Much is often made of the difference between Jesus' question ἀγαπᾷς με πλέον τούτων; contrasted with Peter's response of ναὶ κύριε, σὺ οἶδας ὅτι φιλῶ σε.  It is usually preached something like Jesus asking Peter if he loves Him and Peter responds, "You know that I consider you a close friend."  This is because of the supposedly great difference between αγαπη and φιλεω.  Don't let anyone fool you.  It preaches well, but the differences aren't that great.  Not enough to warrant a sermon anyway.

This is a beautiful passage.  I love how it demonstrates God's persistent grace in our lives.  He loves us when we do not deserve it.  He restores us when we think we can do nothing for Him.  But don't make too big of a deal about these words.

Those That are His

John 17:9 I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. 10 All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them.

9 Ἐγὼ περὶ αὐτῶν ἐρωτῶ, οὐ περὶ τοῦ κόσμου ἐρωτῶ ἀλλὰ περὶ ὧν δέδωκάς μοι, ὅτι σοί εἰσιν, 10  καὶ τὰ ἐμὰ πάντα σά ἐστιν καὶ τὰ σὰ ἐμά, καὶ δεδόξασμαι ἐν αὐτοῖς.

This is part of what is known as Jesus' High Priestly Prayer.  I think that this is a section that merits some time camping.  But for now I want to focus on this part of the prayer.

Jesus' language is curious, isn't it?  Well, it's curious in light of how most evangelicals tend to think of Jesus.  The idea is that Jesus loves the whole world so much and wants the world to come to Him, but they just won't do it.  Now of course there is an element of truth to that.  But on a deeper level it seems clear here that not everyone is His.  Experience in the world bears this out, doesn't it?  Not everyone knows Jesus.  Not even the so-called "good people" out there.

There is a subset of humanity that is sometimes called "the elect," to use a biblical term.  Here Jesus refers to them as ὧν δέδωκάς μοι.  The relative pronoun ὧν is where we get "those."  The word δέδωκάς is a perfect active indicative second person singular.  Generally speaking, the perfect has the idea of "past event with present effect."  In other words, some time in the past there was a group of people that God the Father gave to belong to God the Son.  Those people are called the elect.

I love the book of John for a lot of reasons.  I didn't when I was first coming to know the Lord as I was stuck in my sin.  I just wanted the facts about Jesus.  But John gives us more insight into the character of Jesus and more of a spiritual look at Him and His ministry.  Plus, the more I become convinced of the truth of election, the more I enjoy these passages in John.  You don't even need to go to Paul to find this doctrine.  It proceeds from Jesus' own lips.

If you are part of the elect I hope that this passage fills you with awe and wonder that God would choose someone like you.  I can't believe that He chose a sinner like me.  If you don't know Jesus, but wonder if you're part of the elect then I would submit that you probably are.  If you weren't then you just wouldn't care. But if you feel this nagging inside your soul like there is a void that nothing seems to fill then God is calling you to Himself.  Answer the call sooner rather than later.  You'll be glad that you did.

I Am

John 6:20 But he said to them, "It is I; do not be afraid."

20 ὁ δὲ λέγει αὐτοῖς· ἐγώ εἰμι· μὴ φοβεῖσθε.

The disciples had gone ahead of Jesus in a boat.  They were a few miles from shore and suddenly Jesus came to them.  Since this was night they were understandably afraid.  They thought that they were seeing a ghost of some kind.  Jesus reassures them with this short statement.

This is one area where it really helps to know at least a little Greek.  Jesus makes the statement ἐγώ εἰμι.  He could have simply said εἰμι, but He chose to add the pronoun.  This would likely make the disciples think of:

Exodus 3:14 καὶ εἶπεν ὁ θεὸς πρὸς Μωυσῆν ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ ὤν καὶ εἶπεν οὕτως ἐρεῖς τοῖς υἱοῖς Ισραηλ ὁ ὢν ἀπέσταλκέν με πρὸς ὑμᾶς

See what God told Moses?  His name is simply ἐγώ εἰμι.  The same goes for Jesus.  While this is not necessarily an explicit claim to divinity it is certainly an implicit one.

What does this mean for us?  It means that we need to get Jesus right.  We need to rightly understand who He is if we are to worship Him.  Either He is divine and part of the Trinity or the Arians are right.  You can't have it both ways.  Choose this day whom you will serve.

Crying Praise

(Luk 19:1 ESV) 40 He answered, "I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out." 

(Luk 19:1 BGT) 40  καὶ ἀποκριθεὶς εἶπεν· λέγω ὑμῖν, ἐὰν οὗτοι σιωπήσουσιν, οἱ λίθοι κράξουσιν.

You'll notice that the formatting is a bit different today.  I just got BibleWorks 8 last night and plan to use that going forward.

This response comes after the Pharisees told Jesus to rebuke His disciples for singing His praises.  Jesus' point seems to be that He is so worthy of praise that if they were silent then the stones would cry out.  In other words, He simply must be praised.

There isn't anything special about the Greek here.  οἱ λίθοι κράξουσιν is just a future active indicative construct. In this case it appears to be a future of certainty.  The stones would definitely cry out if the disciples didn't sing Jesus' praises.

Would you get similarly rebuked by anyone today?  Has anyone told you to stop singing Jesus' praises?  Has anyone been offended by your praise and adulation for Jesus?  I'm not saying that you should look for ways to offend people for the sake of offending them.  However, I do wonder if we are too silent in our quest for harmony.

I know that I am guilty of that.  I have a coworker who is not so much so.  He periodically does get rebuked for his passion.  Frankly, that convicts me a little bit.  Shouldn't we be known for our praise of our Lord as much as the disciples were?

Coming to Jesus

Luke 14:23
(23)  And the master said to the servant, 'Go out to the highways and hedges and compel people to come in, that my house may be filled.

(23)  καὶ εἶπεν ὁ κύριος πρὸς τὸν δοῦλον, Ἔξελθε εἰς τὰς ὁδοὺς καὶ φραγμοὺς καὶ ἀνάγκασον εἰσελθεῖν, ἵνα γεμισθῇ μου ὁ οἶκος·

This is part of the parable of the feast.  The first invited guests all had excuses why they couldn't come.  Therefore, the master gave this order to his servant.  What I find interesting is the word "compel."  

This is the word ἀνάγκασον.  Here it is in the imperative as the master commands the servant.  Thayer gives the definition "to necessitate, compel, drive to, constrain."  In other words, these people would come against their will.

Isn't that how it is for those of us who follow Jesus?  I was effectively pulled kicking and screaming.  I didn't want to leave my former life, but I ran out of arguments.  I couldn't say no anymore.  How could I deny the truth of the gospel?  That's what it really came down to.

The fact is that we are dead in our sins.  Dead men cannot make decisions.  Dead men cannot choose to stop being dead.  It takes something supernatural to breathe life into the dead.  That's what happens when we come to know Jesus.  We are compelled to enter the feast.

Where are you?  Are you still fighting?  I can tell you that there can be some serious collateral damage when the servant comes to drag you to the feast.  Haven't you fought enough?  Drop your guard and accept His invitation to the feast.

Doing Mercy

Luke 10:37
(37)  He said, "The one who showed him mercy." And Jesus said to him, "You go, and do likewise."

(37)  ὁ δὲ εἶπεν, Ὁ ποιήσας τὸ ἔλεος μετ' αὐτοῦ. εἶπεν δὲ αὐτῷ ὁ Ἰησοῦς, Πορεύου καὶ σὺ ποίει ὁμοίως.

This is Jesus' statement at the end of the Parable of the Good Samaritan.  I don't think I need to repeat the whole parable because you probably know it.  Of course, it's always worth pointing out that it was a hated Samaritan who had mercy on the man, not the priest or Levite.  That's worth considering.

However, what I want to point out is something that doesn't translate perfectly.  The phrase  Ὁ ποιήσας τὸ ἔλεος μετ' αὐτοῦ could very woodenly be translated as "the one who did mercy with him."  That is not very pretty English, but it is a very strict translation.  I point this out because I think we need to remember that mercy is something we do.

This cuts me to the core.  It's not just something I think.  It's not a feeling I have.  It's not even an attitude.  It comes down to something that I do.  There are a lot of good mercy ministries out there.  Of course, there are lots of folks who "do mercy," but don't have any kind of tie to the gospel.  The ultimate mercy is to tell someone about the gospel.

Where are you?  Are you "doing mercy?"  Or are you just thinking about how important it is?  We do at least one small thing by supporting an orphan through World Vision.  However, there is so much more out there to do.  If you are "doing mercy," is your motivation centered on the gospel or because you're trying to earn points with God?  It's important to assess our hearts as we do this too.  Nevertheless, I think that someone fed with the wrong motives still has a full belly.  However, I'd hate for you to read this and not consider the heart.