Performance

John 8:12-13 Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world; he who follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” The Pharisees then said to him, “You are bearing witness to yourself; your testimony is not true.”


You know I may be strange, but if I saw baseball player batting 1,000 with no errors in the field, I wouldn't question him if he said he was the king of baseball. It would just be foolish to watch such exhibition and question their position in the history of the game. In our world performance matters, accomplishments are recognized most of the time. 


What would you say if you knew someone who could feed 5,000 with a few loaves and a couple of fish, or who could change water into wine, calm a storm, fraise the dead , heal the sick etc... Jesus was revealing the power and presence of God right in their midst but they did not want to believe it. They denied who he was because their power and control was being threatened.


Yesterday Jesus spoke about our receiving living water that would flow out from our hearts. Today he promises that we will not walk in darkness but have the light of life. Ancient people knew what it was like to walk in the dark. They knew what could happen stumbling around in the darkness. 


I like the idea of having living water and the light of life. How about you?

The Desert Blooms

John 7:37-39 On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and proclaimed, “If any one thirst, let him come to me and drink. He who believes in me, as the scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart shall flow rivers of living water.’” Now this he said about the Spirit, which those who believed in him were to receive; for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.


Once again living water was moving water full of air and life, fit to drink and use without fear, the kind necessary for life. The alternative was cistern water or stagnant water which could become polluted and poisonous. The river of life was predicted to come from the holy place )temple mount) and flow out becoming wider and deeper as it went in the later days. Jesus was replacing this image of the source of the river of life with a new image of the river of life flowing out from the temple of the spirit, which is what we believers have become. 


Have you ever seen the time lapse films of a desert coming into bloom after a rain. The desert just seems to quickly leap into flower and plush greenery. That is the spiritual picture jesus paints of what is meant to happen in the spiritual desert around us. With every step it is pictured that our living water will cause the desert to spring to life. We will bring the water that will quench the spiritual thirst of those who are looking for  a life giving drink. We need to drink deeply from the spring of this life giving water, Jesus, so the Holy Spirit in us will become the spring of living water Jesus expects.

Do You Know Him?

John 7:28-31 So Jesus proclaimed, as he taught in the temple, “You know me, and you know where I come from? But I have not come of my own accord; he who sent me is true, and him you do not know. I know him, for I come from him, and he sent me.” So they sought to arrest him; but no one laid hands on him, because his hour had not yet come. Yet many of the people believed in him.


Jesus so easily tells these men that they don't know God who sent Him. Is that hard to know? Is that so difficult to see? I can certainly see those times in my own life when i show I don't know him. It's not that I never met Him, it's that at that moment I don't know Him. I wish I could say I don't ever make choices that I know are not right. The truth is that as much as I know that God can and will keep from leaving Him in those moments, I choose to turn my back as if I don't know Him and walk the other way. To my credit I can say that is now rare instead of frequent, and maybe if there was a grading system for sin (not in God's eyes however} they might grade as less serious. Facts are facts we all fall short of the glory of God, we all sin. I can even see in others when they show they don't know God. Actions do speak louder than words, and actions are quite observable. 


Jesus spoke the truth, he knew no other way. He spoke what the Father told Him to say and so often even now we don't want to hear it. We want to hide in the worlds view of life like those in Jesus day and say the Jesus is wrong, but that is merely choosing to not know the Creator of the whole world. That is rejecting the author of love in pursuit of inadequate substitute loves. Choices can show we don't know Him and it matters.

Go Home & Act

Mark 5:18-19 And as he was getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed with demons begged him that he might be with him. But he refused, and said to him, “Go home to your friends, and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.” 


I remember my decisive encounter with Jesus. It was the moment when I came to really accept the love of Christ and my own worth in His eyes. I went home from that retreat a changed man. I wouldn't say I was a demoniac like the man in the gospel account, but I was bound and not free. I was bound with pain at my own wrong doing, and my own feelings of inadequacy. I went home free of many of my burdens and with a peace and joy I had never known before. I went home to the same wife and family, the same friends and neighbors, and the same job, but I was definitely different. God was not finished with me and is still not finished with me, but I was definitely different and better.

I'll admit I couldn't have gotten in the boat if I wanted to, but I did want to stay in that environment and avoid the world that had been so hard. I did go home, and back to my work, and all the other normal parts of my life. I too was to tell others about God's mercy on me. Part of the sermon this morning was about silent believers who kind of hide in the world without sharing their life in Christ.

I think that is the Christian story. When we meet Jesus in that personal encounter we are sent to return to our natural environment and share what God has done. We are not meant to be part of the disappearing act. The early church stood out in the midst of their world. It was not easy, in fact it meant persecution. They kept showing the world what Jesus had done for them and it changed the whole world. Did you go home and tell people about God's mercy, or are you part of the disappearing act?

Resistance

John 7:1-5 After this Jesus went about in Galilee; he would not go about in Judea, because the Jews sought to kill him. Now the Jews’ feast of Tabernacles was at hand. So his brothers said to him, “Leave here and go to Judea, that your disciples may see the works you are doing. For no man works in secret if he seeks to be known openly. If you do these things, show yourself to the world.” For even his brothers did not believe in him.


We read in scripture the signs that were given by Jesus through the healings and miracles he performed. Some were threatened by his fame and accomplishments and sought to kill him, while others, even in his family, who had not personally witnessed his signs wouldn't even believe they were true. What is it in us that makes us resist acceptance of Jesus? Some have said that religion just takes away our freedom. I find that deceptive fallacy. We are free to choose and do whatever we want, but God says we should not do those things that hurt others. We are free to do whatever we want, but God says we should love one another and do good to one another. How people see Jesus teaching as anything other than that has to be based on deception.


Did you ever hear or more importantly think that a person was too good to be true. I'm not talking about the con man offering you a deal, like the hustling car salesman stereotype, rather I'm talking about a person that others say is just too nice, too good. Why do we think that way? What is it about our lives that makes us doubt others?  Why this resistance to good?

Searching for What?

John 5 39-42 You search the scriptures,because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is theythat bear witness to me; yet you refuse to come to me that youmay have life. I do not receive glory from men. But I knowthat you have not the love of God within you.


Just because he was talking to the Pharisees and Sadducees, we should not dismiss our own connection to this story. It seems that we play multiple choice with the teaching of Jesus. Our recent preaching series was the beatitudes. I kept following this with another look at the sermon on the mount. What is it that we do with the profound words of this message. I think most of us, perhaps even all of us play multiple choice with the words of scripture. 


I think Jesus was upset with those in the story because they were searching the scriptures for loopholes. They wanted a way out from what they knew God really wanted. They found ways to be law binding citizens while short circuiting the intent of the law. They convinced themselves and they convinced others that the law didn't really mean what it said. That is why the the book that explains the law was thicker than the book of the law. 


When we play multiple choice with the teaching of Jesus we are in the same boat. Turn the other cheek; certainly he couldn't mean that. If I look at a woman with lust I've already committed adultery; he couldn't mean that. Harbor anger; no not that. We amend, dismiss, ignore or re-interpret any part of his teaching that makes me uncomfortable.


Would jesus say the same things to me? Or you? Hmm!!!

Hearing and Believing

John 5:24 Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears my word and believes him who sent me, has eternal life; he does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.


Tonight is my small group studying the program "Experiencing God". It is not complicated but that does not mean that the Christian mission is without challenges. The foundational premise is to follow the example of Jesus who said that he only says what hears the Father saying and he only does what he sees the Father doing. This passage is saying much the same. Hear Jesus and you will be believing the one who sent him. Our blessing comes when God brings to our awareness what he is doing around you and we accept that he wants to accomplish it through us. He would no show you what he is doing around you unless he expects you to be part of it. Other people will see different things than you do because that is what they are supposed to be doing.

Sometimes I think when we have an inkling of what God might be calling us to do, we act the person who sticks his fingers in his ears and yells La la la la la la as loud as they can so they don't have to listen. In order to find the greatest blessings that God can give we need to overcome that reluctance and adjust our lives to follow God's plan. Ask God to give you the desire and confidence to follow, don't duck and hide from the plan that will bless you. I'm not thinking that passing from death to life is only a description of heaven, I think it is a description of moving into the true blessing of God that is intended to begin here.

Want

John 5:2-9 Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, in Hebrew called Beth-zatha, which has five porticoes. In these lay a multitude of invalids, blind, lame, paralyzed. One man was there, who had been ill for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him and knew that he had been lying there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be healed?” The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is troubled, and while I am going another steps down before me.” Jesus said to him, “Rise, take up your pallet, and walk.” And at once the man was healed, and he took up his pallet and walked.


Jesus sometimes asks what seems to be the most ridiculous questions. "Do you want to be healed?" would be among those questions. Who would not want to be healed? I mean if I have something wrong with me, why would I not want to be healed? Doesn't it seem impossible that a person would choose to continue in their infirmity. It was however a question for the ages. When Jesus was walking the earth he was limited to those he met on his journey, but after His death and resurrection he is available to anyone anywhere. My first experience of the healing power of Jesus was not physical healing. I was turned from a person with a negative world view to one who suddenly had a positive world view. I found peace that settled deep in my heart. I found healing for hurts and difficulties in relationships. The funny part is I knew I could go on just the way I was if that was my desire. It was as if Jesus was asking me, "Do you want to be healed?"


I think until you've begun to see the profound effect that Jesus healing creates, it is scary to choose healing. It is an old saying, "The devil you know is better than the devil you don't know." You see the unknown is so scary that even the things we have that need healing are more attractive than the risk of being healed. We walk away from what God can do for us because we have some level of comfort with the way things are. So, "Do you want to be healed?"

Why Do You Believe?

John4:46-53 At Caperna-um there was an official whose son was ill. When he heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he went and begged him to come down and heal his son,for he was at the point of death. Jesus therefore said to him,“Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe.” The official said to him, “Sir, come down before my child dies.” Jesus said to him, “Go; your son will live.” The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and went his way. As he was going down, his servants met him and told him that his son was living. So he asked them the hour when he began to mend, and they said to him, “Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him.” The father knew that was the hour when Jesus had said to him, “Your son will live”; and he himself believed, and all his household. 


The official was desperate with worry for his son who was dying. Today we always seem to have hope that the doctor can cure all, but in Jesus time people knew that certain things led to death. Tomorrow is the second anniversary of my wife Marsha passing away. We first heard the word cancer mentioned for Marsha on January 31st in 2009. It was not confirmed to be cancer until February 13th, but I think we both knew this was not going to end wit a healing. This kind of cancer was not one doctors easily deal with. We did not think the doctors were going to be the answer and Marsha was saying from the start that she knew where she was going and she was ready. For that leader his son's healing was the moment of his transformational encounter with Jesus. Marsha and I had encountered Jesus in many different ways over many years. We believed in Him because he had healed our hearts and lives step by step all along the way starting with our personal encounters with him in the fall of 1979.


In the gospels and in my experience it is not always miracles that lead a person to have that transforming encounter. Jesus treats each of us in a unique and personal manner in a unique and personal encounter. Some he called from their boats, one out of a tree, one a woman by a well, one on a Cursillo retreat. Do you believe? Have you had a personal encounter yet? Are you open to one? 

Encounter With The Christ

John 4:28-29 So the woman left her water jar, and went away into the city, and said to the people, “Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?”


This woman was one of the people that invited others to "Come and see!" She was so impressed by the encounter with Jesus that she left without the water jars. She had walked all the way out from the city in the heat of the day to bring back water and then wasted the trip by leaving the water jars. It is clear that her whole sense of priority had changed in the midst of this conversation.  She was so changed by the event that this woman, who was living in sin and therefor isolated from her community, was all of a sudden an effective witness. 


Have you encountered that Jesus? The natural reaction to an encounter with Jesus is the same as the woman at the well. Such an encounter changes us and creates a new set of priorities. Such an encounter creates such joy that we can't help showing our new joy to others. Such an encounter creates a desire in us to invite others to, "Come and see!" Who have you invited to come and see? If you have great, if not maybe you need a new encounter with Jesus.

Again This Fruit Thing

Mark 4:1-8 Again he began to teach beside the sea. And a very large crowd gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat in it on the sea; and the whole crowd was beside the sea on the land.And he taught them many things in parables, and in his teaching he said to them: “Listen! A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it. Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it had not much soil, and immediately it sprang up, since it had no depth of soil; and when the sun rose it was scorched, and since it had no root it withered away. Other seed fell among thorns and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain. And other seeds fell into good soil and brought forth grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.” 


I want to yield a hundredfold. I don't know about you, but I want to be a fruitful Christian. It is so easy to get excited in the moment and then not to bear fruit. A heart hardened by sin (on the path) just sits on the surface never even sprouting. Rocky soil is a shallow faith which is easily evaporated by the situations of life and can't develop good roots to bear fruit. For me the thorns represent a person who avoids a faith relationship with other Christians. They live in the world without the support or contact with other believers. I want to be the seed that fell on good soil. Good soil is cultivated by the love of God, nourished by good fertilizer like the bread of life, and quenched with adequate water like the river of life. Staying in relationship with Jesus and his church provides all we need to bear good fruit, even a hundredfold.  I want to yield a hundredfold.

It is not for myself that I have this desire. When we bear good fruit and a hundredfold fruit, we become attractive to help others become seeds in good soil. We show others the benefits of that deep relationship with Christ. It was certainly the fruit I saw in others that tilled my soil to receive the seed, and how grateful I am. May others receive the same gift through you and me.

Drawing Water

John 4:13-15 Jesus said to her, “Every one who drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst; the water that I shall give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw.”


Thirst is such a strong motivator. In some third world countries people will drink water they know will make them sick because they are dying of thirst with no other water. Jesus lived in an arid climate where water had great importance. Thirst was a common phenomenon in the lives of those he would meet. It is not this thirst for water however that Jesus desires to meet. He refers to our hunger and thirst in a psychological metaphorical sense. Jesus knew that we find it very hard to be satisfied for long. We seem to be always searching because of a feeling that something in life is incomplete. What is it that you think will make you satisfied? How many things have filled that role in time gone by?


Jesus declares, not just in this passage, but also in others, that when he fills our hunger and thirst they don't return. Many authors in one way or another have written about that place in the human heart that only God can fill. They describe how people seem to wander around from one thing to another until that void is filled.


I don't it's possible to stop wanting for yourself or for others. I still have dreams and desires for my life but even more for those I love. I know human beings create better things because our minds can see things that are better than what we have today, but that has nothing to do with the sense we have that we are incomplete with some piece missing. Even with the best partner a life could have, like my Marsha, without God in the void. we still hunger and thirst for life's true meaning and purpose. 

Rejoice

John3:25-30 Now a discussion arose between John’s disciples and a Jew over purifying. And they came to John, and said to him, “Rabbi, he who was with you beyond the Jordan, to whom you bore witness, here he is, baptizing, and all are going to him.”John answered, “No one can receive anything except what is given him from heaven. You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before him. He who has the bride is the bridegroom; the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice; therefore this joy of mine is now full. He must increase, but I must decrease.” 


One of the reasons that I like John the Baptist so much is that his role has helped me evolve how see my role. Before the time was pregnant for the coming of the Messiah, John was sent to prepare the way. He called the people to see themselves honestly with all their sins and shortcomings. He also pointed to the one who was to follow who he acknowledged was superior to him. Lastly he rejoiced when others came to be followers of Jesus.


Our role is the same, to help people see themselves and then their need for a savior. After they have been opened to the need for a savior, we point them to Jesus and rejoice if they accept a relationship with him. I have had the awesome privilege of seeing the transformation of peoples lives when they encounter Jesus. Rejoice is indeed the right word. 

God's Love

John 3:16-17 For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God sent the Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him. 


The most famous passage in the gospels. Jesus is speaking about himself, and saying some powerful affirming words for those of us who believe and some harsh and difficult words to those who have chosen to stay in the darkness. That part of this section is about those who have avoided facing what they have done wrong. They hide from their humanity which can't be trusted and refuse the help of the God who can be trusted. This is not about being a person in the church or out of the church, it is about those who accepted their need for God's forgiveness, the forgiveness found in Christ. I spent years living as though God did not know my sins. I acted as though I could hide in the dark and God would not see the choices I made that hurt others. From the start my attitude denied the power and very nature of God.

Even as God came in the form of Jesus of Nazareth to save us, he would not take away our right to choose to reject his free gift. He came to save us not to manipulate us. Don't think that admitting your faults leads to the same place it does in the world. In the world admitting our faults and failures often led to judgement and punishment, but with God it leads to freedom. I thank God that I found that love that God came to give me. It changed everything.

Humanity

John 2:23-25 Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover feast, many believed in his name when they saw the signs which he did; but Jesus did not trust himself to them, because he knew all men and needed no man's testimony about man; for he himself knew what was in man.


He came when he knew we could not be trusted. he even picked disciples knowing man could not be trusted. In the end one betrayed him and the others scattered. It is important to see that Jesus was not surprised by the actions of human beings. His choice to live where he lived and do what he chose to do, did not lead to some grand surprise for which he was not prepared. He made a sacrifice by choice, knowing what he was doing and where he was going.


I don't think humanity has changed. We still can't be trusted. I don't think I have to tell you that. You can just make a check of your own memory banks to come up with incidences that will prove my point. Even the people we love the most have hurt us once or twice. When the situation was important it didn't send me packing. I even chose to continue with some people knowing I would eventually be hurt again. I considered the goal or future worth the risk and pain.


Jesus kept on keeping on because the prize was our freedom. He valued us enough to follow the path even though he knew we couldn't be trusted.

Change Anyone

John 2:14-15 In the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers at their business. And making a whip of cords, he drove them all, with the sheep and oxen, out of the temple; and he poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables.


It seems I did not have enough energy to overturn those tables last night. I fell asleep with my computer in my lap by seven o'clock. The coin of the realm in Jesus time was Roman money, but the temple had their own money. You could not make an offering with Roman coins. The money changers and the temple power structure controlled the temple money. They charged a few like banks today for exchanging money from one currency to another. It was all in the name of holiness because they contended that Roman money was not holy enough for the temple. 


Likewise those who sold animal had control of the animal sacrifice. If you brought your own animal for offering you risked the animal being rejected because of some imperfection the authorities would find, but if you bought the animal you could be assured it was acceptable. The powers of the temple controlled the market and profited from the higher prices for approved animals.


Exploitation of people in the name of God never sat well with Jesus. He drove them from the temple and made it clear that God was watching the actions of the people who controlled the church. It is with that thought in mind that I tried to be aware of my position in the church and the way it was used. In our church both the clergy and lay leaders can exploit the church for personal gain. The gain isn't usually money, it could be power for power's sake, or maybe power to control an agenda, but unless it is God's agenda we could be those Jesus wants driven from the temple. It could be those demanding power to make to many changes toward their agenda, or those holding on to prevent any changes at all. 

She Knew

John 2:5 His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”


Mary had been warned what would happen to her son when he was just a baby. She had been told who he was by prophets and prophetess. She was there when the shepherds came to see her new born son leaving their sheep. I'm sure she wanted to hold onto him and stop that future but she did not. Mary from the first introduction to her until the last was faithful to God. At one and only one point in the gospels was she worried enough to try and bring Jesus home when he seemed to be getting himself in trouble. You remember when they told Jesus his mother and brothers were outside and people had been talking like Jesus was insane.


People know who we are, especially those close to us. Sometimes they don't want to admit it, because it is too painful for one reason or another, but people around us know us. We show ourselves every day even as we try to hide. Sometimes the people who knew us the best have the biggest struggle when God changes us. 


I frequently say that I know what Paul meant when he said that in Christ we are a new creation. I am not the same person today that I was when I accept the love of Christ. My skill set is different, my personality is different, my character is vastly different not because I'm a better person but because Christ lives in me. Now I don't take direction from the world so much as I listen to God's instructions. Don't wait for the water into wine thing, but if God told me to do it I'd try.