Just a few things
+The people misused the temple of the Lord as it became a marketplace rather than a sacred place of worship. We saw Jesus' reaction to this as He displayed his righteous anger. Ok, so we don't exactly sell sheep and cattle at church today (at least I hope not) but this is something to heavily consider when we do go to church. The primary purpose of the church is to worship God, not to socialize.
+Notice Jesus' anger in this passage. I never specifically cited this passage but I used to use Jesus' anger as a justification for my own. I'm called to be like Christ and Christ got angry. Good deal, right? Not really. There was a difference between my own anger and that of Christ's. My anger was often personal. So and so did this and I don't agree with it so I will be angry at that person. So and so and I hold different and opposiing views on how to handle this situation so I will therefore be angry at this person until we resolve it. Stuff like that. It is important to note that Jesus got angry in the passage but His anger was over sin. The Lord was not being praised in the temple.
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
John 1:29-50
Just something to note: John's mission was to point people to Jesus. Upon encountering Jesus, Andrew brought his brother Simon Peter to meet Jesus. Jesus later found Philip, who in turn went and told Nathanael. When placed in the presence of the Messiah, all of these men chose to respond by sharing the good news about who Jesus is. Why can I not say the same about my response to encounters with Jesus?
Monday, March 29, 2010
John 1:1-18
As I am taking a break from 2 Kings, I decided to go back to the gospel of John. I have come to realize that I don't know as much about Jesus's life and ministry as I ought to.
After reading some commentary, here is what I am to expect from reading John.
John starts off by claiming that "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning." Throughout the rest of the book, John continues to talk about how Jesus was fully God and fully human. John also gives accounts of who Jesus is as Jesus states His "I am"'s in this book.
"The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth" - John 1:14
After reading some commentary, here is what I am to expect from reading John.
John starts off by claiming that "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning." Throughout the rest of the book, John continues to talk about how Jesus was fully God and fully human. John also gives accounts of who Jesus is as Jesus states His "I am"'s in this book.
"The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth" - John 1:14
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
1 Kings 21-22
I just finished 1 Kings. In summary...
+Ahab wanted a vineyard but a man refused to give it to him, per instructions of the Lord. Instead of fighting it, Ahab sulked. That wasn't too bad. He wasn't happy about the commands of the Lord but he accepted them. Jezebel, the queen of Israel, was furious that the king was denied the vineyard. She used deceptions and lies to kill the owner of the vineyard.
+This shows the importance of dating/marrying someone of the Christian faith. I'm not saying that Ahab is completely guilt free here but he was willing to let it all go. Had Jezebel been a woman of God, she would have been accepting of the Lord's decrees as well.
+Upon Naboth's (vineyard owner's) death, the Lord sent Elijah to speak to Ahab. Ahab still blamed Elijah for all of Israel's problems. The Lord spoke through Elijah and delivered a prophecy of Ahab's death. Ahab then repented, sort of.
+After this, Judah and Israel wanted to combine forces to go to war against Ramoth Gilead. Ahab, king of Israel, asked Jehosophat, king of Judah, to go to war. Jehosaphat's reply? "First seek the counsel of the Lord." Keep in mind that Ahab previous repented. Ahab then brought together prophets of one of the idols. Jehosaphat wasn't dumb. He then inquired if there was a prophet of the Lord that could advice Ahab. Micaiahthen told Ahab that defeat was on its way. Ahab didn't listen to the counsel or the Lord, went to battle, and died.
+We knew the day was coming when Ahab would die. The Lord declared in His justice that this day would come. Here's the thing: Had Ahab listened to the Lord and not gone to war, his life would have been prolonged for the moment. It is interesting that we see Ahab finally repent in chapter 21. The Lord provided mercy to Ahab in his repentance. We see in chapter 22 that it was not genuine repentance, however, as Ahab turned back to his own prophets. From this...
1) The Lord is gracious and merciful to even the greatest of sinners. In this chapter, Ahab was described as the "vilest" of them all and yet the Lord provided grace for the moment. The Lord does not turn His ear from those who cry to Him in repentance.
2) Repentance is more than "I'm sorry". Repentance is not our "I can do whatever I want!" card. We see the shortcomings of Ahab's repentance in that He did not turn from his ways. Instead of turning to God, he went back to his old lifestyle of serving false idols. This shows one of Ahab's major problems, even something that we noted earlier when Ahab tried to kill Elijah. Ahab wanted things from the Lord but not the Lord himself. He wanted the Lord's forgiveness but not the presence of God. In fact, he hated the presence of the Lord as he hated the prophets of the Lord that spoke about his coming downfall. When you seek repentance, don't just seek repentance in itself. Seek the Lord.
3) Repentance needs to be continual. It's not some one time thing like Ahab made it. As Christians, we are commanded to walk with the Lord and to stay "in step with the Spirit." This means that we should be turning away from sin and growing more like Christ. However, as long as we are here on earth, we will be plagued by the disease of sin making repentance necessary.
I just finished 1 Kings. In summary...
+Ahab wanted a vineyard but a man refused to give it to him, per instructions of the Lord. Instead of fighting it, Ahab sulked. That wasn't too bad. He wasn't happy about the commands of the Lord but he accepted them. Jezebel, the queen of Israel, was furious that the king was denied the vineyard. She used deceptions and lies to kill the owner of the vineyard.
+This shows the importance of dating/marrying someone of the Christian faith. I'm not saying that Ahab is completely guilt free here but he was willing to let it all go. Had Jezebel been a woman of God, she would have been accepting of the Lord's decrees as well.
+Upon Naboth's (vineyard owner's) death, the Lord sent Elijah to speak to Ahab. Ahab still blamed Elijah for all of Israel's problems. The Lord spoke through Elijah and delivered a prophecy of Ahab's death. Ahab then repented, sort of.
+After this, Judah and Israel wanted to combine forces to go to war against Ramoth Gilead. Ahab, king of Israel, asked Jehosophat, king of Judah, to go to war. Jehosaphat's reply? "First seek the counsel of the Lord." Keep in mind that Ahab previous repented. Ahab then brought together prophets of one of the idols. Jehosaphat wasn't dumb. He then inquired if there was a prophet of the Lord that could advice Ahab. Micaiahthen told Ahab that defeat was on its way. Ahab didn't listen to the counsel or the Lord, went to battle, and died.
+We knew the day was coming when Ahab would die. The Lord declared in His justice that this day would come. Here's the thing: Had Ahab listened to the Lord and not gone to war, his life would have been prolonged for the moment. It is interesting that we see Ahab finally repent in chapter 21. The Lord provided mercy to Ahab in his repentance. We see in chapter 22 that it was not genuine repentance, however, as Ahab turned back to his own prophets. From this...
1) The Lord is gracious and merciful to even the greatest of sinners. In this chapter, Ahab was described as the "vilest" of them all and yet the Lord provided grace for the moment. The Lord does not turn His ear from those who cry to Him in repentance.
2) Repentance is more than "I'm sorry". Repentance is not our "I can do whatever I want!" card. We see the shortcomings of Ahab's repentance in that He did not turn from his ways. Instead of turning to God, he went back to his old lifestyle of serving false idols. This shows one of Ahab's major problems, even something that we noted earlier when Ahab tried to kill Elijah. Ahab wanted things from the Lord but not the Lord himself. He wanted the Lord's forgiveness but not the presence of God. In fact, he hated the presence of the Lord as he hated the prophets of the Lord that spoke about his coming downfall. When you seek repentance, don't just seek repentance in itself. Seek the Lord.
3) Repentance needs to be continual. It's not some one time thing like Ahab made it. As Christians, we are commanded to walk with the Lord and to stay "in step with the Spirit." This means that we should be turning away from sin and growing more like Christ. However, as long as we are here on earth, we will be plagued by the disease of sin making repentance necessary.
Monday, March 8, 2010
1 Kings 20
This passage was pretty straight forward. The Lord reached out to Ahab and proved His existence and sovereignty not only once by twice. Twice, the Lord spoke to Ahab through a prophet and said that He would deliver the Israelites in war as a result, the Israelites would "know that [He] is the Lord". The Lord held true to His promises and delivered the Israelites twice. I feel that this in itself was gracious enough. The Lord already proved to Israel that He is Lord through the events surrounding the kingdom and Elijah. Not only so, but does God really need to ever 'prove' Himself to us? He's God.
Twice, Ahab fails to praise the Lord and give Him the glory in the victory. This is completely ridiculous. How much more proof do you need? I'm not sure what caused Ahab to look past all of the Lord's advances to reveal Himself and for the opportunities for Israel to turn back but it's a bit foolish, isn't it? When the Lord comes knocking, we need to answer.
The second time, Ahab even let the enemy of the kingdom, King Ben-Hadad, go. The Lord had delivered Ben-Hadad to the Israelites in a certain victory and Ahab let him go. In another event, the prophet of the Lord had clear instructions from the Lord in which he passed onto another solider. This solider disobeyed and died. In the same way, Ahab disobeyed the Lord's commands and was ultimately sentenced to death.
We love before a throne of grace but that is no excuse for disobeyed the commands of the Lord.
Romans 5:20b-6:4
But where sin increased, grace increased all the more, 21so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? 3Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.
This passage was pretty straight forward. The Lord reached out to Ahab and proved His existence and sovereignty not only once by twice. Twice, the Lord spoke to Ahab through a prophet and said that He would deliver the Israelites in war as a result, the Israelites would "know that [He] is the Lord". The Lord held true to His promises and delivered the Israelites twice. I feel that this in itself was gracious enough. The Lord already proved to Israel that He is Lord through the events surrounding the kingdom and Elijah. Not only so, but does God really need to ever 'prove' Himself to us? He's God.
Twice, Ahab fails to praise the Lord and give Him the glory in the victory. This is completely ridiculous. How much more proof do you need? I'm not sure what caused Ahab to look past all of the Lord's advances to reveal Himself and for the opportunities for Israel to turn back but it's a bit foolish, isn't it? When the Lord comes knocking, we need to answer.
The second time, Ahab even let the enemy of the kingdom, King Ben-Hadad, go. The Lord had delivered Ben-Hadad to the Israelites in a certain victory and Ahab let him go. In another event, the prophet of the Lord had clear instructions from the Lord in which he passed onto another solider. This solider disobeyed and died. In the same way, Ahab disobeyed the Lord's commands and was ultimately sentenced to death.
We love before a throne of grace but that is no excuse for disobeyed the commands of the Lord.
Romans 5:20b-6:4
But where sin increased, grace increased all the more, 21so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? 3Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.
Saturday, March 6, 2010
"What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us. Worship is pure or base as the worshiper entertains high or low thoughts of God. For this reason the gravest question before the Church is always God Himself, and the most portentous fact about any man is not what he at a given time may say or do, but what he in his deep heart conceives God to be like."
- A.W. Tozer
- A.W. Tozer
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