Tag Jesus

Who We Shall Be

Todd R Leave a comment

The apostle Peter wasn’t always a follower of Jesus.  He also wasn’t always Peter; he was originally named Simon.  He got his new name when his brother Andrew took him to meet Jesus.  Andrew “brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, ‘You are Simon the son of John? You shall be called Cephas” (which means Peter).’” (John 1:42).

Photo by Lionel Gustave on Unsplash

Something that stands out in Jesus’ words are the phrases “You are,” and “You shall be.”  It’s as if Jesus saw 2 people: the one Simon was, and Peter that Simon would be.  The Simon of the present and the Peter of the future.  Jesus knew there was work to be done with this Simon who would become His disciple, but He also knew that the work would be completed.  It was inevitable that Simon would become Peter, the rock, which is what the name Peter means.  Cephas also means rock in Aramaic, but Peter is the Greek name we know him by.

But in the meantime, Peter was going to be a work in progress, like all of us.  Jesus sees everyone as they “are” and as they “shall be.”  He sees the raw material and He sees what it will take to finish each competed work of art.  Jesus takes us as we are, begins our transformation there, and will complete it in eternity.

Revelation 2:17 says of believers: “To the one who conquers I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, with a new name written on the stone that no one knows except the one who receives it.”  This new name represents our future, eternal identity.  The person we will be when God is finished with His work of creation in us, the person Jesus sees in us, but that is beyond our wildest imagination. C.S. Lewis wrote that believers will “one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship.”  This is how completely we will be changed and conformed to the image and likeness of God that He intended for us from the beginning.[1]

So, if you ever feel disappointed in yourself, if you feel unworthy of God’s attention, if you wonder how God could love someone like you, remember: God sees who you “are” and who “you shall be.”  And who “you shall be” is beautiful beyond what we can imagine, but not beyond what He can see.

“You are Simon the son of John? You shall be called Cephas” (which means Peter).”

[1] Genesis 1:26-27

The Depths of David’s Emotion

Todd R Leave a comment

One of my favorite things about the Psalms is the honesty and outpouring of emotions from the authors.  Even King David is very transparent in the many Psalms he wrote as prayers to God, making him more relatable to us.  We can see he’s not perfect, we can empathize with his pain, and we can often see ourselves mirrored in David’s experiences.

Since David is known as a man after God’s own heart, we often see the depth of his concern for others.  One such passage is Psalm 35:13-14, where David cries out:

“But I, when they were sick—
            I wore sackcloth;
            I afflicted myself with fasting;
I prayed with head bowed on my chest.
I went about as though I grieved for my friend or my brother;
             as one who laments his mother,
            I bowed down in mourning.”

How often do any of us put this much effort into crying out to God for someone else’s well-being?  But who are the “they” at the beginning of the verses?  Who is David so concerned about?  We can see that it is someone who was sick, but it wasn’t a brother or his mother, so probably not a family member.

David. Photo by Jack Hunter on Unsplash

The depth of David’s pleading to God for the “they” in Psalm 35 is even more striking because the “they”…are his enemies!  The Psalm begins with:

“Contend, O LORD, with those who contend with me;
            fight against those who fight against me!”

The rest of the Psalm suggests there are many people making false accusations about David, “malicious witnesses” out to destroy him.  David cries out to God in verse 8:

“Let destruction come upon him when he does not know it!
And let the net that he hid ensnare him;
            let him fall into it—to his destruction!”

David vents a lot of negative emotions before getting to verses 13 and 14, but he does get to the point of concern for these enemies.  He lets off a lot of steam begging God for justice, but never writes about taking justice into his own hands.  This is the honesty I love about the Psalms – if you’re angry, it’s ok to vent to God!  But it’s not ok to pray to God so you can take vengeance on your enemies yourself.

It’s only natural to be angry at our enemies, but in Christ we are more than natural, so we don’t have to do what comes naturally.  Here is what Christ expects of His people, as written in Matthew 5:43-46:

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’  But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.  For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?”

David’s venting in Psalm 35 is the part that anyone can do, but what really stands out is the depth of David’s love for his enemies!  As I wrote earlier, how often do we put this much effort into crying out to God for someone else’s well-being?  Even if they are our friends?

Jesus enables us to be supernatural, which is sometimes what we need to love unconditionally and pray as David did.

“But I, when they were sick—
            I wore sackcloth;
            I afflicted myself with fasting;
I prayed with head bowed on my chest.
I went about as though I grieved for my friend or my brother;
             as one who laments his mother,
            I bowed down in mourning.”

A Ministry Lesson From Jonah

Todd R 2 Comments

In the Old Testament, God’s people – the Jews – were supposed to be a blessing to other nations[1], pointing them to God.  Ultimately this blessing came through Jesus Christ, but in the meantime God’s people didn’t always live up to His expectations.  One disappointing example was Jonah.  God said to him in Jonah 1:2 –

“Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me.”

But Nineveh was in Assyria, one of Israel’s enemies.  God said in the call to Jonah that they were “evil.”  50 or so years later Assyria would conquer Israel.  Jonah hated his enemy Assyria and didn’t want to prophesy to them even though God told him to, so what did he do instead?  He ran away.

In his commentary on Jonah, Warren Wiersbe wrote: “When you turn your back on God, the only direction you can go is down.”[2]  What did he mean?

Notice that in verse 3, Jonah goes “down to Joppa,” and “down into” a ship he found to take him to Tarshish, far away from both Israel and Nineveh.  Later in verse 5, Jonah “had gone down into the inner part of the ship and had lain down and was fast asleep.”  From the minute Jonah decided to run from God, he found himself in a descending spiral and ended up in despair, asking the sailors to throw him (down?) into the sea to calm a storm.  The Bible doesn’t use the word “down”, but you could say that after Jonah was tossed in the sea that he went down into the belly of the great fish when he was swallowed up.

It is only when Jonah prays a prayer of thanksgiving to God for saving his life and he says “you brought up my life from the pit, O LORD my God” that things start to look up for him.  He is then “vomited…out upon the dry land”[3] and given a second chance.

Like the ancient Jews, the modern church is also called to be a blessing to the nations, for example in Matthew 28:19-20, the verses known as the “Great Commission”:

“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.”

This commission is to bless “all nations,” and note Jesus said to “make disciples,” not to “make converts” which means that the Great Commission goes beyond evangelism.  While we are all called to evangelize, and some are particularly blessed in it, the commission includes each Christian’s ministry to the church as well as we help each other live as Christ did, blessing those around us.  As Paul wrote in Romans 12:4-8, we all have a role in making disciples:

“For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.  Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.”

This isn’t a full list of what are called “spiritual gifts,” but prophecy, service, teaching, exhortation, generosity, leadership and mercy cover a lot of different activities and ministries.

While Jonah had his call to preach to Nineveh, and all Christians have the call to “make disciples of all nations,” but like Jonah do we also have certain people or types of people – maybe those we consider evil – we’d rather not minister to?  Are there tasks that we run away from, even if we feel God is calling us to do them, because of who else is involved?  Are there times where we, like Jonah, are what Wiersbe called a “narrow-minded patriot,”[4] more concerned about being on the right side from our worldly or political perspective than about being on God’s side?

If so, the lesson from Jonah is: don’t neglect what God has called you to do, because when you do, “the only direction you can go is down.”

Maybe even into the belly of a big fish.

Who is God asking us to minister to today?

[1] Genesis 12:3
[2] Wiersbe, Warren.  Be Amazed (Minor Prophets Hosea – Malachi) (1996).  P. 99.
[3] Jonah 2:10
[4] Wiersbe, Warren.  Be Amazed (Minor Prophets Hosea – Malachi) (1996).  P. 113.

The Exodus of Jesus

Todd R Leave a comment

Bible translators have a tough job, otherwise one English translation would be all we have or need.  Translation isn’t a straight-forward process. There are many trade-offs, including between ease of reading in contemporary settings, and depth of meaning in the original context, but sometimes I wish different choices were made.

One example is Luke 9:30-31, which says: “And behold, two men were talking with him, Moses and Elijah, who appeared in glory and spoke of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem” (from ESV, emphasis mine). This happened during an event known as the Transfiguration, when Jesus took His disciples Peter, James, and John up a mountain for a vision of His future glory.  Matthew records in his gospel that Jesus “was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light.”[1]

While on that mountain, the 3 lucky disciples also witnessed a conversation about something: Jesus’ “departure.”  In a recent sermon I learned that the word translated “departure” is “exodos” in the original Greek.  For ease of reading purposes, “departure” is a more familiar word and makes a lot of sense to a modern reader, because Jesus was soon to depart the world temporarily through death, then more permanently after His resurrection.  On the other hand, “exodos” literally means an exit, or figuratively a death, but to the original audience and those familiar with Old Testament history, the word “exodos” carries other meanings as well.

So, why would Moses and Elijah be talking to Jesus about His “exodos”?  Because they both had history with such “departures.”

As told in the Old Testament book of Exodus, Moses was called by God while the descendants of Israel (Jacob) were slaves in Egypt.  After performing many miracles in God’s power, Moses led the new nation of Israel on an exodus out of literal slavery in Egypt.

Elijah performed many miracles, and prophesied that the nation of Israel, unless they repent of their disobedience, would be taken back into exile, but later be freed from Assyrian rule in that generation’s exodus.

Again, why would Moses and Elijah be talking to Jesus about His “exodos”?  Because Jesus was going to lead spiritual Israel out of slavery to sin around the entire world, from each nation, in every generation’s Exodus.  Moses, Elijah, and Jesus would have had a lot to talk about.

“And behold, two men were talking with him, Moses and Elijah, who appeared in glory and spoke of his exodos, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem.”

[1] Matthew 17:2

Sodom and Gomorrah’s Selfishness

Todd R 1 Comment

Fellow travelers,

The story of Sodom and Gomorrah from the book of Genesis is well-known even to many who aren’t religious.  Genesis 18 and 19 describe the two cities as extremely wicked, specifically mentioning homosexuality and rape.  The English term “sodomy” even comes from the name of the city of Sodom.  In the Genesis story, Lot and some of his family escape based on Abraham pleading with God for them, “Then the LORD rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire from the LORD out of heaven.  And he overthrew those cities, and all the valley, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground.”  (Genesis 19:24-25).  This is the most well-known part of the story, and some explanations of why the cities were destroyed found on the internet and elsewhere say Genesis has the “full account” of the story.  Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed for their excessive sexual sins.

However, there is more.

Ezekiel, a prophet to Jews captive in Babylon centuries after Sodom was destroyed, said: “Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy.  They were haughty and did an abomination before me. So I removed them, when I saw it.”  (Ezekiel 16:49-50). Ezekiel was describing the sins of Judah to explain why they had been sent into exile from their Promised Land and said they don’t compare favorably even to Sodom.  Surprisingly, Ezekiel doesn’t even mention any sexual sins in this description.  Not that these sins were irrelevant, but in Ezekiel’s view, Sodom would have been destroyed even without them.  Sodom’s other sins were also abominations.

What’s the point?  I can’t say it any better than the Life Application Study Bible, which notes on Ezekiel 16:49: “Sodom was destroyed because of its pride, laziness, gluttony, and unconcern for the poor and needy. It is easy to be selective in what we consider gross sin. If we do not commit such horrible sins as adultery, homosexuality, stealing, and murder, we may think we are living good enough lives.”

We can’t pick and choose which sins are more or less deserving of God’s judgement, because in His holiness and justice, He must and will judge all sin.  While “lifestyle” sins without repentance may be more dangerous to a church or congregation, even sins we may not consider extreme are dangerous as well.  Ezekiel’s point is that selfishness and a disregard for those in need should be repented of as much as any other sin.  Ezekiel wrote, “Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy.  They were haughty and did an abomination before me. So I removed them, when I saw it,” but he also wrote that Judah would be restored by a coming Messiah, the Christ.

That restoration comes through Christ’s sacrifice for all sins, and anyone can have salvation through faith, which drives us to confession and repentance.  As John wrote in 1 John 1:8-10, “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.  If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.  If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.”

At the end of our journey, all of God’s people will be cleansed of all of their sins, not just the most noticeable ones, because “he is faithful.”  Not because any of us are less sinful than others.