September 20, 2024

John 8.32 (NIV)

“Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

Knowing the truth . . . is crucial to freedom from deception.*

Jesus always chose his words carefully. He knew his audience and he knew how to push their buttons. In this instance, he got the attention of “the Jews who believed him” (verse 31) by mentioning freedom. They became indignant at the implication that they were slaves. “We have never been slaves to anyone,” they claimed. Really? What about Egypt? What about Babylon? What about Rome?

Slaves are not always downtrodden and miserable, and so they might not feel a need to be liberated. Some who are in forced bondage are able to rise above their condition and function almost as if they were free. If it were true that “ignorance is bliss,” then why would Jesus bother to shake us loose from our complacency? If we aren’t aware of the bars, are we really a prisoner?

As someone has observed, “Nobody can be truly better off from believing and advocating a lie.”* While truth and freedom are inseparable,* perhaps we can’t fully appreciate the value of the concept until we realize that we have been in bondage to a lie. Have you ever lived with guilt, believing that God could never forgive you? Have you ever thought that you would finally be happy if only . . . ? Have you ever been involved in a twisted, obsessive relationship and thought it was love? When we believe something that isn’t true, it holds us captive, separating us from our joy. But when we learn the truth, we are set free. When Jesus boldly proclaimed that he is the Truth, he redefined freedom.*

  

Knowing about the truth is not the same as knowing him. Get to know him and get a taste of freedom.

Satan uses lies to bring us into bondage and that bondage leads to destruction; but God uses truth to bring us into freedom and that freedom leads to fulfillment.*

September 19, 2024

John 8.10, 11 (NIV)

Jesus . . . asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” “No one, sir,” she said. “Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”

Jesus doesn’t say, “Go, it isn’t sin anymore”; he says, “Go, and sin no more.”*

A woman, supposedly caught in the act of adultery, was dragged out before Jesus and the crowd so that the Pharisees could trick Jesus. The Law of Moses, they said, commands us to stone such women. Now, they wanted to know, what did Jesus have to say about it? If he said, “Go ahead and stone her,” they could accuse him of usurping authority. If he stood up for her, it would appear that he was denying the authority of the Law. The Pharisees failed to realize that they were dealing with the world’s leading expert on the Law of Moses.

The Law of Moses clearly states that death is the penalty for adultery – for both the woman and the man, and it doesn’t specify the method of execution. I’m no lawyer but it seems to me that before a man or a woman could be convicted of adultery, there would have to be evidence in the form of the other party involved. So, where was their proof that this woman was guilty?

Jesus didn’t answer them right away; he bent down and started writing on the ground with his finger. We can only speculate about what he was writing – or drawing. I suspect he was just giving the tricksters time to think about how stupid they were. When that didn’t work, he suggested that anyone who was without sin should cast the first stone. It seems to me that they just fell into their own trap. Neither they nor Jesus was authorized by civil law to put anyone to death.

After her accusers had all slinked away in defeat, Jesus tells the woman to leave her life of sin. He did not placate her or downplay the seriousness of her offense. It was sin and she needed to stop. Jesus’ job was to call her to repentance, not to pass judgment in a legal sense. His forgiveness did not free her from the physical and legal consequences of her sinful lifestyle, only from the spiritual penalty.

Jesus views our sin the same way. And it is the same attitude we should display towards others. We must not condemn, but with “delicacy and dignity,”* offer the call to repentance, not condone or make excuses for sinful behavior. As someone has said, “We need to call sin, ‘sin.’ Not with vindictiveness, but with tears.”*

A winner rebukes and forgives; a loser is too timid to rebuke and too petty to forgive.*

September 18, 2024

John 6.66, 67 (NIV)

From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him. “You do not want to leave too, do you?” Jesus asked the Twelve.

It’s sad so many people miss the joy of Christ because their personal expectations are not met.*

When I order something new from the menu in a restaurant, I am almost always surprised at what the dish looks like “in person.” I read the description and form my own vision of the item but it turns out to look entirely different from the picture in my mind. What makes this ironic is that when I reread the menu, it turns out that the dish looks exactly as it was described.

Jesus’ disciples heard his words. The Twelve had more opportunities to grasp the concept than anyone else but they understood no better than the crowds.* We don’t always “get it” either. We don’t know what it will mean for us to “remain in him;” to “live for him;” to “feed on him.” It requires faith to keep on looking to Jesus daily to supply our needs, and to sustain us with His grace.*

You do not want to leave too, do you? Can you sense the Lord’s disappointment? Has he ever asked this question of you?

Nothing is more vital to spiritual leadership than being with Jesus – connected to him, remaining in him, abiding in him.*

September 17, 2024

John 6.8-13 (NIV)

Andrew spoke up, “Here is a boy with five . . . loaves and two . . . fish; but how far will they go among so many?” . . . Jesus . . . took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. . . . When they had all had enough to eat . . . they . . . filled twelve baskets with pieces . . . left over by those who had eaten.”

Ironically, many people can’t afford to give precisely because they’re not giving.*

People make various excuses for not giving to the church. One of those is that they don’t have much so it wouldn’t make any difference to the church if they did give. I beg to differ. If Jesus can turn five pieces of bread and two little fish (sardines?) into twelve basketfuls of leftovers, certainly he can take a few dollars and accomplish his purposes with them. Would the crowd have been fed that day if the little boy had kept his lunch to himself? 

When I lost my job, my husband and I continued to give more than 10% of his income to the church but I was uncomfortable with having nothing of my own to give for the first time in my adult life. When I started a part-time job in the church office, I decided that, even though my husband’s giving more than covered the tithe from my pay-check, I would donate 10% of my meager salary to missions. As it turned out, one of my duties in the church office was to help count the church offering and prepare it for deposit at the bank. So, the day after my first tithe, I saw for myself that someone else had made a very generous contribution to missions that week. Would that “basketful of bread” have come in if I had chosen not to contribute my “five loaves and two fishes?” 

 

What was Andrew thinking when he presented the little boy and his lunch basket? Did he feel stupid? Was he trying to make a point? Or did he know that Jesus could take our meager offerings and turn them into abundance? 

Christians who tithe demonstrate their trust in God to provide for their needs . . ., believing that 90 percent of their income with God’s blessing is greater than 100 percent without it.*

September 16, 2024

John 4.34 (NIV)

“My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.”

Can we truly know what Jesus would do without knowing what the Bible says?*

We talk about feeding on the Word. We speak of new Christians being served “milk” while the mature believer is ready for “meat.” But Jesus didn’t tell the Samaritan woman that the spiritual food he had to offer was something to read - he said it was something to do!

Is this new information for you? It was for me. My mind is filled with sermons and lessons about feeding on the Word. I remember instructions about fasting in which I was told, “When you get hungry, FEED ON THE WORD.”  But, there comes a time in our spiritual development when we’re fed not so much by study but by service.* It is the natural progression – from being fed; to feeding yourself; to using the strength you have acquired from your nourishment. Eating – even healthy well-balanced meals - without exercise leads to being weak and flabby.

Jesus tells the Samaritan woman that there is another level to our spiritual growth. He’s not telling us that we don’t need physical or spiritual nourishment, but that doing God’s work and seeking his kingdom must become the food that draws us, fills us, energizes, and strengthens us.*

If you only read the label but ignore the pill, it won’t help. . . . If you only read the recipe but never cook, you won’t be fed. . . . If you only read the [Bible] but never obey, you’ll never know the joy God has promised.*

September 15, 2024

John 1.40–42 (NIV)
Andrew . . . was one of the two who heard what John had said and who had followed Jesus. The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, “We have found the Messiah.” . . . And he brought him to Jesus.

God allows people to step into our territory so we can plant seeds that He can then water and cause to grow.*

I have two sons – twins. They are grown men now, both married. But they are still best friends. I can picture either of them in Andrew’s position. If one of them had wonderful news, he wouldn’t be able to wait until he could share it with his brother. (In fact, when they have news, they call each other before they call me or even, sometimes, their wives!) That’s the attitude of love we should have toward anyone who hasn’t met Jesus.

Peter may have been the charismatic, impulsive, and well-known evangelist but he would not have met Jesus if his brother, Andrew, had not shared the good news of the Messiah with him. Andrew, the quiet servant who led the leader to Jesus, is mentioned two more times in John. Both times he was bringing someone to Jesus.

Perhaps, unlike Andrew, we will never know what fruit is produced from the seeds we have sown, but we still have our assigned tasks: to plant the seed or to water it (I Corinthians 3.5 and 6), and wait for God to make our garden grow.

Discipleship is about the transformation, not the final product. It’s about the journey, not the destination.*

September 14, 2024

Luke 16.15 (NIV)

“What is highly valued among men is detestable in God’s sight.”

Men may honor you because of your wealth and your public display of spirituality. But God sees who you really are.*

Who do you admire and look up to? What is it that makes them special in your eyes? Be honest with yourself – do you respect them for things they have accomplished? Is it because they are wealthy, powerful, famous?

The Pharisees were generally well-off financially, but they were influential and respected for their strict religious lives,* not so much for their wealth. It seems like that should be a good thing - being strictly religious - but this is what Jesus is referring to as detestable and nasty.

 

So what did they do that was so bad? They were meticulous in their obedience to the law, and that included acts of charity. They lived lives that conformed to men’s standards of holiness - but men could not look into their hearts and see their hidden meanness.* Jesus could; and he condemned them because they were hypocrites. While their actions might benefit society and earn them the esteem of the people, their good deeds were an abomination in the sight of God because they weren’t “accompanied by the true sanctifying grace of the Holy Spirit.”*

Before Jesus came along, “looking good” was enough to fulfill the superficial requirements of the law.  Today, under grace, it is still possible to “look good” without “being good.” No one should think of himself as approved of God just because he approves of himself.* That kind of hypocrisy is just as detestable in a Christian as it was in a Pharisee.

It’s not just the rich who have difficulty. So do the educated, the strong, the good-looking, the popular, the religious. So do you if you think your piety or power qualifies you as a kingdom candidate.*