Tag Jesus

Jesus is the Best Fisherman

Todd R Leave a comment

During His life on earth, Jesus called 12 men to special positions as His disciples or apostles.  Out of these 12, at least 4 and possibly 7, were fishermen, a common trade at that time.  The gospels have many fishing stories, including one in Luke 5 when Jesus is about to call His first disciples.

One morning after Simon Peter and some other fishermen had been working all night without catching anything, Jesus decided to preach from Simon’s boat to the crowd that was following Him.  After teaching, Jesus told Simon: “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.”[1]  Simon answered: “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.”[2]

Simon ended up obeying, but not before objecting: “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing!”  Some questions may have gone through Simon’s mind: Did this travelling rabbi just tell me how to do my job?  Nighttime was the best time for fishing, and they caught nothing, so why did He tell them to try again?  Maybe Jesus, as a non-professional, didn’t know that?  Maybe he felt like “I’m the expert here!”

However, Jesus knew what He was doing because when they obeyed, “they enclosed a large number of fish, and their nets were breaking.”  There were so many fish that, they “filled both the boats, so that they began to sink.”[3]

One lesson of this story is that Jesus can perform miracles by controlling nature.  Another is that Jesus had an unlimited ability to help Simon and the others do their jobs!  And if Jesus was better than professional fisherman at fishing, what does that mean for other jobs?  Jesus always knows better than we do about any job!

So, whether you’ve had a productive day, or you feel like you’ve “toiled all night and took nothing” don’t hesitate to ask Jesus for career advice! As Simon (later known as Peter) wrote in his own letter, “Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.” – 1 Peter 5:6-7

[1] Luke 5:4b
[2] Luke 5:5
[3] Luke 5:6-7

Work, Labor, and Steadfastness

Todd R 2 Comments

Many are familiar with the Biblical triad of faith, hope and love from 1 Corinthians 13:13, which says: “So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”  In this verse, Paul is calling these 3 characteristics the most important, with love above the other 2.

In another of Paul’s letters he joins this triad with another one.  1 Thessalonians 1:2-3 says, “We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers, remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.”  He’s saying that faith and works go together, that love and labor go together and that hope and steadfastness go together.  But how do they fit together and do the 3 relationships have anything in common?

When I think of these verses, I see faith, hope and love as the causes of the other 3 characteristics.  Faith motivates works.  Love motivates labor.  Hope motivates steadfastness.  Without the first thing in each pair, it’s hard to consistently have the second thing.  Let’s look at them in order.

The interaction between faith and work is a tricky one, but paraphrasing John Calvin, we are saved by faith alone, but not by a faith that is alone.  In the New Testament book of his name, James wrote “someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.”[1]  Our Savior spent His life on this earth ministering to others, and if we believe in Him as who He actually is (our God), our faith in Him will naturally result in us ministering to others as He did.  Thus, faith motivates us to work as Jesus worked.  Otherwise, it is a dead faith.

Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash

Paul also noted the Thessalonians’ “labor of love.”  The “love” here is more than an emotion or feeling.  It’s the love (agape in Greek) that is a self-sacrificing concern for others.  Any others.  G.K. Chesterton said, “the Bible tells us to love our neighbors, and also to love our enemies; probably because they are generally the same people.”  True love is hard, like labor.  Strong’s Greek dictionary describes the word translated “labor” as toil that wears us out or even causes us pain.  A labor of love is when we serve people so much in love that it wears us out.    Agape love motivates us to labor for others.

The last pair is the “steadfastness of hope.”  In my experience, hope is only useful when it is steadfast.  If we lose hope when things go wrong, we lose the ability to see beyond our current circumstances to our future in Christ.  Its only when we are able to keep our focus on Christ even in tough times that our hope is steadfast and shows its true value.  In the 2 letters he wrote to the Thessalonians, Paul referred to the second coming of Jesus at least 6 times, which would remind them that their hope is sure and won’t fail them.  Just like the Thessalonians, we need to be reminded again and again of where our hope lies in order to keep living for God.  Hope motivates steadfastness.

Today, if Paul were to write a letter to your church, would he note their “work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ”?  I pray that for my church, including me, he could.  Pray the same for you and yours.

“We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers, remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.”

[1] James 2:18

Does God Like Us?

Todd R 1 Comment

Loving someone and liking someone are not the same thing.  Christians think and talk often about the love of God and how He loves His people.  Love is about sacrificing our own interests for the best interest of another, and the incarnation and the cross show what love is in a way nothing else can.  When we think of God’s attributes, love is often near the top of the list.  God loves His people.

But does God like His people?

If I like someone it means I enjoy being with them.  Their presence and fellowship make me feel good.  I think they’re a worthwhile person and it’s easy to give them my time and attention.  I don’t get tired of them easily and need some time away.  Christians don’t talk about whether God likes them as much as they talk about God’s love.  Sometimes we may instead feel that He just puts up with us.  He doesn’t actually like us, even if His love for us is infinite.  Maybe we even feel He wants to keep us at a distance because He resents all the times we’ve failed Him.  But this isn’t how we should feel.

Consider Psalm 149:4, which says:

“For the LORD takes pleasure in his people;
            he adorns the humble with salvation.”

This verse says that God “takes pleasure” in us.  He wants to be with us, and He wants to see us succeed.  He gets pleasure from our praise and our enjoyment of Him.  It also says He gives His people “salvation.”  Salvation means many things, but it includes the restoration of the saved person’s relationship with God.  The restoration of a relationship He wants to have and was willing to die for!  If He didn’t want us around – if He didn’t like us – He wouldn’t offer us salvation.

Consider also Zephaniah 3:17, which continues the idea:

“The LORD your God is in your midst,
            a mighty one who will save;
he will rejoice over you with gladness;
            he will quiet you by his love;
he will exult over you with loud singing.”

In context, this verse seems to be pointing to either: the condition of God’s people post-exile, after the coming of Jesus, or in eternity in heaven.  My interpretation is that Zephaniah was talking about something that will be partially realized after Jesus’ first coming and fully realized after His second.  It’s one of those “now, not yet” ideas.  So, what is he saying?  He is saying that God is with us and that He will save us, but there’s more.  The second half of the verse sounds like God is celebrating the people that He has saved.  He “will rejoice” and He “will exult” with “loud singing.”  Have you ever pictured God as singing because He has so much joy?  That seems to be what Zephaniah is describing!  When God saves His people, they bring Him so much joy that He sings!

One last verse to consider is Ephesians 2:10, which says:

“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”

I quote this verse a lot, but today’s focus is on the word “workmanship.”  This word is a translation of the Greek “poiema” from which we derive our English word poem.  In sanctifying us – steadily in this world, and perfectly in the next – God is making something out of us.  He is not making something useless or ugly, but something poetic, and He is pouring all He is into it, like an artist would into a piece of art.  We aren’t a dispassionate work, but a passionate one.  One He cares deeply about.  One that He wants to get right.  To get perfect.  God is not indiscriminately cranking out widgets that are indistinguishable from one another.  Each creation of His is a poem, a work of art!  As Veggie Tales used to say: “God made you special, and He loves you very much.”  We are each an individual “poiema” that He takes pleasure in having created and in continuing to create.

So, not only does God love us, but He also likes us!  He doesn’t just tolerate us until we become perfect, and He doesn’t wait to fully love us until we think we deserve it.  Instead, He wants to be by our side every step of the way from our current, imperfect selves until the day He completes His work in us.  And He enjoys it!  He “takes pleasure in His people,” now and forever.

Do you believe this?  Do you feel not only loved, but liked, by God?  If not, consider again these verses and ask God to comfort you in the fact that He wants to be with you, at all times and no matter what.  He will “rejoice over you with gladness” and “exult over you with loud singing.”  We are His beloved work of art.  His “poiema.”

Amen!

The Cross and the Fury of God

Todd R 2 Comments

Shortly after the death of King David, the kingdom was split into two: 10 of the twelve tribes becoming Israel, and the remaining 2 (Judah and Benjamin) becoming Judah.  Much of the OT history and prophets tells the story of how these 2 kingdoms – first Israel and then Judah – fell away from worship of the true God into idolatry.  But the prophets also emphasize that idolatry resulted in social sins – God’s people not treating others the way He wanted them to treat them.  In both nations, religious observance became an exercise in trying to buy God’s favor so people could live however they wanted to, but God condemned this empty religion, saying instead that:

“He has told you, O man, what is good;
            and what does the LORD require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
            and to walk humbly with your God?” (Micah 6:8)

God wanted His people to love people the way He loved people.  But our God is also a God of justice, who cannot overlook any violation of His commands to love Him and others.  When Israel and Judah failed to live as they should, God’s wrath and anger was poured out on them, in sometimes shocking ways.  The book of Ezekiel is full of alarming images and revelations about the sins of God’s people and His vengeance on them, and in Ezekiel 5:10-12, the people are told what the consequences of their sin would be:

“Therefore fathers shall eat their sons in your midst, and sons shall eat their fathers. And I will execute judgments on you, and any of you who survive I will scatter to all the winds.  Therefore, as I live, declares the Lord GOD, surely, because you have defiled my sanctuary with all your detestable things and with all your abominations, therefore I will withdraw. My eye will not spare, and I will have no pity.  A third part of you shall die of pestilence and be consumed with famine in your midst; a third part shall fall by the sword all around you; and a third part I will scatter to all the winds and will unsheathe the sword after them.”

God’s people would suffer siege conditions so severe under their enemies that cannibalism would be the only way to survive!  And most who survive the siege will be struck down: a third by pestilence and famine, a third by the sword, and the last third would be scattered, torn away from the Promised Land God had given to them.  God’s people would go into exile: Israel to Assyria and Judah to Babylon.  These nations would be instruments in God’s hands, executing His judgement on His people Israel and Judah.  As Hebrews 10:31 says: “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God,” and the Old Testament does not shy away from how horrible this can be.

The next verse in Ezekiel (5:13) says: “Thus shall my anger spend itself, and I will vent my fury upon them and satisfy myself. And they shall know that I am the LORD—that I have spoken in my jealousy—when I spend my fury upon them.”  Through conquest and exile, the LORD was determined to show His people that His justice and His fury are real, and He is not to be trifled with.  When He commands His people to do something, He means it.

Photo by Anderson Rian on Unsplash

Which brings us to Jesus and the cross.  The New Testament tells us that the fury and wrath of God toward all of mankind – not just the ancient tribes of Israel and Judah – was spent upon Jesus on the cross.  God the Father poured out all of His fury on God the Son, on our behalf.  The anguish Jesus must have felt comes into a bit more focus when we consider the venting and satisfying of God’s anger in the Old Testament relative to what Jesus had to endure on the cross.  His suffering had to be enough to fulfill the justice necessary in God’s eternal, unchanging character.  Instead of our sin leading to our own suffering, He took our suffering upon Himself.

Jesus went to the cross and died that we may be forgiven and restored to a right relationship with God, but did God pour His wrath on Jesus so we could just continue living as we choose to live?  Certainly not!  God still wants from His church what He wanted from His people in ancient times:

“He has told you, O man, what is good;
            and what does the LORD require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
            and to walk humbly with your God?”

Consider how much God hates sin and consider why.  It’s because sin is the opposite of people doing justice, being kind, and being humble toward the God who loves them and commands them to love others.  Sin harms us and harms other human beings.  Sin repeats Adam and Eve’s determination to live their own way, no matter what God has to say about it.  Sin tarnishes God’s reputation and glory.  Sin even damages our world and environment.  Sin deserves wrath for these reasons, but God has always preserved a remnant of people who would be sinless in eternity.  People who would live the way they were intended to live.  People who would not deserve wrath because they would be sinless.  People who would glorify Him.  These people are His church.

Are we willing to accept Jesus’ sacrifice for us so that we may live this life?

Pray that we will. Amen.

What You Have Forgotten Today He Can Supply

Todd R Leave a comment

The Gospel of Mark records two miraculous feedings of multitudes.  The first was mainly a Jewish crowd of about 5,000 in Mark 6:30-44; the second was a mainly Gentile group of about 4,000 in Mark 8:1-9.  These two stories are very well known, but if you read on Mark adds this about Jesus’ disciples in 8:14 – “Now they had forgotten to bring bread, and they had only one loaf with them in the boat.”

On this verse Warren Wiersbe remarks: “It must have grieved Jesus that His hand-picked helpers were so spiritually obtuse. The fact that He had multiplied bread on two occasions and fed over ten thousand people had apparently made little impression on them! Why worry and argue over one loaf of bread when you have Jesus in the boat with you?”[1]

When well-known Bible stories have little impact on us, remember that these disciples knew the story even better than we do – they were there!  Jesus did not give up on them and will not give up on us.

Have you forgotten to trust Jesus with something today?  He desires to be “in the boat with you” in constant fellowship.  Ask Him to take your anxiety and to supply your daily bread.  He never forgets.

[1] Wiersbe, Warren.  Be Diligent (Mark) (1987).  P. 97.