Posts
Hey,
Are you joing with us as we read through Acts? Is your subscription functioning for you? If not, look for two things:
1. You can look in one of your inboxes for a message that says in the subject line: "Activate your Email Subscription to: Bible For Everyday." Once you find that, just do the one click and your will be subscribed.
2. If you have not yet recieved that, you can click on the link to the new blog http://bibleeveryday.blogspot.com/ and subscribe through email or multiple feed options through the site. Look for the directions on the side bar.
Oh, and don't forget to forward the blog to your friends. This is a great way to help people follow Christ!
Marc Lucenius
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Saturday, August 30, 2008
What is next?
Is this working for you? Later today or tomorrow, you will recieve an invitation to our next daily blog that we will discuss from the book of Acts. It will be the same format: one chapter a day until we are done with the book.
For most of you, if you want to keep your subscription, you will not need to anything. For those of you who use a rss feed, you may need to resubscribe. If you would like to unsubscribe, go ahead--no feelings hurt, we don't know who you are. :)
However, if there are friends that you would like to invite to join this, there will be convenient ways at the end of each posting and email for you to link this to your facebook account, email it to a friends and invite others into the journey.
This has been fun! Thanks for taking the challenge to go through the book of John one chapter a day! Now, let's turn the page to Acts
Marc Lucenius
For most of you, if you want to keep your subscription, you will not need to anything. For those of you who use a rss feed, you may need to resubscribe. If you would like to unsubscribe, go ahead--no feelings hurt, we don't know who you are. :)
However, if there are friends that you would like to invite to join this, there will be convenient ways at the end of each posting and email for you to link this to your facebook account, email it to a friends and invite others into the journey.
This has been fun! Thanks for taking the challenge to go through the book of John one chapter a day! Now, let's turn the page to Acts
Marc Lucenius
Day 21, John 21
Blogger: Aaron Martin
Chapter 20 ends with the words, “And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written, that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing, you might have life through His name.” This is the logical summation of a written work. But chapter 21 follows, so chapter 21 appears to be a post script to a first draft. The writer was compelled to record yet one more event.
The dramatic restoration of Peter, along with Jesus’ great charge to him to pastor his flock, really could not have gone unrecorded. How much forgiveness is taught in this chapter? The Lord had been denied, not once, not twice, but three times by this man whom he had declared the rock upon which his church would be built! Even when Jesus was facing crucifixion, Peter would not come to his aid—not even so much as to acknowledge that he knew the man.
Now Jesus extends forgiveness to Peter. But it is not without cost—cost to Peter’s pride. Jesus demands three times from this man if he truly loves him. Three times—the same number of times that Peter denied him. It must have been painful to hear this conversation, knowing the background, much less to be Peter on the receiving end of this rebuke!
But we have here a picture of what Jesus will do for us. We must submit ourselves in repentance before the Lord if we hope to have his blessing upon us and upon any ministry for him. With an abasement of self comes the rise to glory. Peter, of course, went on to become the greatest church leader in the apostolic era. And while there was no concept of an authoritarian papacy in those days (see e.g., Acts 15:4-31), Peter might be rightly viewed as the first among equals. He indeed had been personally commissioned by Jesus to oversee the sheep that Jesus left behind. (The symbolism of the great catch of fish cannot be overlooked—Jesus had told his disciples that they would become fishers of men. No animal fish were caught in this story until the disciples followed the Lord’s instruction to cast their net in the right direction. A lesson to us: do evangelism God’s way and not our way.)
Thus we come to the exasperated summation of the writer/editor of this gospel (see verse 24 for a clue that an amanuensis—writer/helper—may have taken dictation from John): “And there are also many other things which Jesus did, which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written.” It is as though he says, “I’ve given it my best shot. I’ve described all I can. I could go on writing forever, but at some point this book has to be closed. I tried to end at chapter 20, but I had to go on. But this is it folks. Take what you can learn from the rest of this book and go do God’s work.”
Even so, Amen.
Study Notes:
Nathanael – of Cana – in Galilee – he reappears! After Jesus revealed himself to this man in chapter one, the gospel writer was largely quiet on what had happened to the one in whom there was “no guile” (Jn. 1:47). Now he is back for the post script to this amazing book that amplifies the life of the Christ in ways that we could not possibly gather from the “Synoptics” (Matthew, Mark and Luke – so called because they relate the life of Jesus largely from the same perspective.). So Nathanael was a faithful servant. He was there at the first call of the disciples by the sea and he was there at the amazing post-resurrection reunion by the sea.
Chapter 20 ends with the words, “And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written, that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing, you might have life through His name.” This is the logical summation of a written work. But chapter 21 follows, so chapter 21 appears to be a post script to a first draft. The writer was compelled to record yet one more event.
The dramatic restoration of Peter, along with Jesus’ great charge to him to pastor his flock, really could not have gone unrecorded. How much forgiveness is taught in this chapter? The Lord had been denied, not once, not twice, but three times by this man whom he had declared the rock upon which his church would be built! Even when Jesus was facing crucifixion, Peter would not come to his aid—not even so much as to acknowledge that he knew the man.
Now Jesus extends forgiveness to Peter. But it is not without cost—cost to Peter’s pride. Jesus demands three times from this man if he truly loves him. Three times—the same number of times that Peter denied him. It must have been painful to hear this conversation, knowing the background, much less to be Peter on the receiving end of this rebuke!
But we have here a picture of what Jesus will do for us. We must submit ourselves in repentance before the Lord if we hope to have his blessing upon us and upon any ministry for him. With an abasement of self comes the rise to glory. Peter, of course, went on to become the greatest church leader in the apostolic era. And while there was no concept of an authoritarian papacy in those days (see e.g., Acts 15:4-31), Peter might be rightly viewed as the first among equals. He indeed had been personally commissioned by Jesus to oversee the sheep that Jesus left behind. (The symbolism of the great catch of fish cannot be overlooked—Jesus had told his disciples that they would become fishers of men. No animal fish were caught in this story until the disciples followed the Lord’s instruction to cast their net in the right direction. A lesson to us: do evangelism God’s way and not our way.)
Thus we come to the exasperated summation of the writer/editor of this gospel (see verse 24 for a clue that an amanuensis—writer/helper—may have taken dictation from John): “And there are also many other things which Jesus did, which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written.” It is as though he says, “I’ve given it my best shot. I’ve described all I can. I could go on writing forever, but at some point this book has to be closed. I tried to end at chapter 20, but I had to go on. But this is it folks. Take what you can learn from the rest of this book and go do God’s work.”
Even so, Amen.
Study Notes:
Nathanael – of Cana – in Galilee – he reappears! After Jesus revealed himself to this man in chapter one, the gospel writer was largely quiet on what had happened to the one in whom there was “no guile” (Jn. 1:47). Now he is back for the post script to this amazing book that amplifies the life of the Christ in ways that we could not possibly gather from the “Synoptics” (Matthew, Mark and Luke – so called because they relate the life of Jesus largely from the same perspective.). So Nathanael was a faithful servant. He was there at the first call of the disciples by the sea and he was there at the amazing post-resurrection reunion by the sea.
Friday, August 29, 2008
Day 20, John 20
Blogger: James Chang
Imagine if the Gospel of John had ended abruptly at John 19:42, and no record existed of Jesus’ resurrection. What sad ending this would have been for the disciples. This major let-down would have squashed any hope left in them, while constantly being pursued and ridiculed by the Jews for following the dead guy who claimed to be the King of the Jews. There would be no New Testament to speak of, and I wonder how this world would have turned out in the absence of Jesus’ victorious resurrection.
As I read through John 20, I noticed a few things that I thought were important to remember regarding Christ's resurrection. It was a real event -- Jesus’ body was gone, and the tomb was empty three days after his death, to fulfill his claims in John 2:19-21. Secondly, the risen Christ reappeared to His disciples. The initial shock gave way to joy when Jesus showed himself at the secret gatherings, to authenticate his claims of deity. He even allowed them to touch his scars, so they could finally understand that he was the real Risen Christ (see John 2:22). Many of these eyewitnesses were later martyred for boldly proclaiming the gospel. Clearly death had no hold on their eternal souls. Finally, as Jesus reappeared to the disciples, his words were "Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you." He cared so much for the lost sheep of the world that he wasted no time in urging his disciples to go out to evangelize and take the gospel to the rest of the world. It was because of this commission that you and I are believers today.
Can you see Jesus’ passion for humanity in this passage? Don't you wish you shared the same love for the unbeliever? I often ask myself, what am I doing about evangelism in my personal life? What keeps me from inviting someone to a small group, or Sunday service? How about finding opportunities to share a personal story of God's blessing and mercy with someone? Or how about offering a Christian book to a friend who loves to read? We can think of so many ideas, but we need to consider what keeps us from acting on them. Let me challenge you to do something this week that will let others see a glimpse of Jesus in you.
To comment on this article or to look at the other postings and comments, click http://21daysinjohn.blogspot.com/
Imagine if the Gospel of John had ended abruptly at John 19:42, and no record existed of Jesus’ resurrection. What sad ending this would have been for the disciples. This major let-down would have squashed any hope left in them, while constantly being pursued and ridiculed by the Jews for following the dead guy who claimed to be the King of the Jews. There would be no New Testament to speak of, and I wonder how this world would have turned out in the absence of Jesus’ victorious resurrection.
As I read through John 20, I noticed a few things that I thought were important to remember regarding Christ's resurrection. It was a real event -- Jesus’ body was gone, and the tomb was empty three days after his death, to fulfill his claims in John 2:19-21. Secondly, the risen Christ reappeared to His disciples. The initial shock gave way to joy when Jesus showed himself at the secret gatherings, to authenticate his claims of deity. He even allowed them to touch his scars, so they could finally understand that he was the real Risen Christ (see John 2:22). Many of these eyewitnesses were later martyred for boldly proclaiming the gospel. Clearly death had no hold on their eternal souls. Finally, as Jesus reappeared to the disciples, his words were "Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you." He cared so much for the lost sheep of the world that he wasted no time in urging his disciples to go out to evangelize and take the gospel to the rest of the world. It was because of this commission that you and I are believers today.
Can you see Jesus’ passion for humanity in this passage? Don't you wish you shared the same love for the unbeliever? I often ask myself, what am I doing about evangelism in my personal life? What keeps me from inviting someone to a small group, or Sunday service? How about finding opportunities to share a personal story of God's blessing and mercy with someone? Or how about offering a Christian book to a friend who loves to read? We can think of so many ideas, but we need to consider what keeps us from acting on them. Let me challenge you to do something this week that will let others see a glimpse of Jesus in you.
To comment on this article or to look at the other postings and comments, click http://21daysinjohn.blogspot.com/
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Day 19, John 19
Blogger: Greg Lafferty
John 19 is full of ironies. A crown is placed on Jesus’ head to parody is supposed kingship—but he really is the King. His accusers seek the death penalty because of Jesus’ lying claim to be the Son of God—but he really is the Son. Pilate claims to have the power of life and death—but it’s really Jesus who has the power. Pilate sits on the judge’s seat—but it’s really Jesus who is the Judge.
Everything is upside down.
But maybe no statement is more ironic than Pilate’s famous line, “Here is the man!” (v. 5). Really? Jesus looks like anything but “the man.” He’s been mocked and tortured, marred and debased. Dehumanized. This is Rome’s philosophy of justice: Anyone who is not a Roman is inferior, and anyone inferior who commits a capital offense is not even worthy of being called human. By crucifixion we will obliterate them; we will wipe them from the annals of humanity; it will be as if they never existed.
Jesus is “in process.” The mocking irony is part of the recipe.
“Here is the man!” Pilate announces. Yet he speaks the utter truth because Jesus is the very embodiment of true humanity. He is the perfect man. He has no sin or flaw, but rather self-actualizes the human ideal, being the perfect image of God enfleshed. And his standing there all bloody and abused is the icing on the cake, for no one with omnipotent power would ever put up with such vile treatment. Yet Jesus does. His glory radiates in selfless humility. He is The Man!
And so he allows the drama to play out, The Man becoming The Lamb led to slaughter. He fulfills the Scriptures at every point, all the way to his death.
But the last irony is the best: Jesus, the sinless Man, is marred—so that we, the marred men and women, might be made sinless. 2 Corinthians 5:21 puts it this way: “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” No joke. It’s true. Think about that today and praise God for irony!
To comment on this article or to look at the other postings and comments, click http://21daysinjohn.blogspot.com/
John 19 is full of ironies. A crown is placed on Jesus’ head to parody is supposed kingship—but he really is the King. His accusers seek the death penalty because of Jesus’ lying claim to be the Son of God—but he really is the Son. Pilate claims to have the power of life and death—but it’s really Jesus who has the power. Pilate sits on the judge’s seat—but it’s really Jesus who is the Judge.
Everything is upside down.
But maybe no statement is more ironic than Pilate’s famous line, “Here is the man!” (v. 5). Really? Jesus looks like anything but “the man.” He’s been mocked and tortured, marred and debased. Dehumanized. This is Rome’s philosophy of justice: Anyone who is not a Roman is inferior, and anyone inferior who commits a capital offense is not even worthy of being called human. By crucifixion we will obliterate them; we will wipe them from the annals of humanity; it will be as if they never existed.
Jesus is “in process.” The mocking irony is part of the recipe.
“Here is the man!” Pilate announces. Yet he speaks the utter truth because Jesus is the very embodiment of true humanity. He is the perfect man. He has no sin or flaw, but rather self-actualizes the human ideal, being the perfect image of God enfleshed. And his standing there all bloody and abused is the icing on the cake, for no one with omnipotent power would ever put up with such vile treatment. Yet Jesus does. His glory radiates in selfless humility. He is The Man!
And so he allows the drama to play out, The Man becoming The Lamb led to slaughter. He fulfills the Scriptures at every point, all the way to his death.
But the last irony is the best: Jesus, the sinless Man, is marred—so that we, the marred men and women, might be made sinless. 2 Corinthians 5:21 puts it this way: “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” No joke. It’s true. Think about that today and praise God for irony!
To comment on this article or to look at the other postings and comments, click http://21daysinjohn.blogspot.com/
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Day 18, John 18
From intimacy to violence: Jesus and his disciples take a walk east to west across the southern part of Jerusalem, they live the town proper and hike through the Kidron Valley so that Jesus may go to place that has brought him comfort in prayer before. We move from the warm atmosphere of praying with Jesus in the upper room to the cool darkness of a moonlit garden. Jesus begins his descent to darkness.
Not before Jesus gives away one more shot at his identity. In the garden, when they ask for him, Jesus again uses the words, referring to himself, “I AM.” “I AM” is the literal, English translation of the Hebrew name for God that was revealed to Moses as Yahweh (some translate Jehovah). Our Bibles will translate it often in the Old Testament at The LORD. When Jesus speaks these words, something about them has a physical impact upon the soldiers that cause them to fall back over each other.
Throuh the gospel of John Jesus has declared himself as follows:
“I AM the Bread of Life” (6:35)
“I AM the Light of the World.” (8:12, 9:5))
“Before Abraham was born, I AM” (8:58)
"I AM the gate” (10:9)
“I AM the Good Shepherd” (10:11)
“I AM the Resurrection and the Life” (11:25)
“I AM the Way and the Truth and the Life” (14:6)
“I AM the True Vine.” (15:1)
“I AM he” (18:5)
The weight of the collective revelation that Jesus has brought to the people is overwhelming not just physically, but Spiritually. His presence pressurizes the environment to the point that those who will not follow him choose all out opposition. So Annas, Caiaphas and Pilate all line up to figure out what to do with Jesus. Annas and Caiaphas lead the opposition. Pilate represents the passively ignorant--the just as guilty third party. His declarative question, “What is truth,” is supposed to relieve his conscience and guilt.
They cannot oppose Him. Peter cannot even follow Him. Who is this man?
To comment on this article or to look at the other postings and comments, click http://21daysinjohn.blogspot.com/
Not before Jesus gives away one more shot at his identity. In the garden, when they ask for him, Jesus again uses the words, referring to himself, “I AM.” “I AM” is the literal, English translation of the Hebrew name for God that was revealed to Moses as Yahweh (some translate Jehovah). Our Bibles will translate it often in the Old Testament at The LORD. When Jesus speaks these words, something about them has a physical impact upon the soldiers that cause them to fall back over each other.
Throuh the gospel of John Jesus has declared himself as follows:
“I AM the Bread of Life” (6:35)
“I AM the Light of the World.” (8:12, 9:5))
“Before Abraham was born, I AM” (8:58)
"I AM the gate” (10:9)
“I AM the Good Shepherd” (10:11)
“I AM the Resurrection and the Life” (11:25)
“I AM the Way and the Truth and the Life” (14:6)
“I AM the True Vine.” (15:1)
“I AM he” (18:5)
The weight of the collective revelation that Jesus has brought to the people is overwhelming not just physically, but Spiritually. His presence pressurizes the environment to the point that those who will not follow him choose all out opposition. So Annas, Caiaphas and Pilate all line up to figure out what to do with Jesus. Annas and Caiaphas lead the opposition. Pilate represents the passively ignorant--the just as guilty third party. His declarative question, “What is truth,” is supposed to relieve his conscience and guilt.
They cannot oppose Him. Peter cannot even follow Him. Who is this man?
To comment on this article or to look at the other postings and comments, click http://21daysinjohn.blogspot.com/
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Day 17, John 17
Blogger: Dave Wilks
Just as Moses delivered the series of sermons found in Deuteronomy to prepare the Children of Israel to enter the Promised Land, we have seen in the last few chapters that on the eve of his crucifixon, Jesus prepared, taught, encouraged, warned, emboldened and reassured his disciples. Jesus concluded the discussion with the prayer found in Chapter 17. For him, prayer was the most natural and essential of all acts -- as natural and essential as eating and drinking are for us -- because Jesus, even in his fully human form, had a relationship with the Father that provided all that sustained him.
Much can be learned from the three parts of this prayer, but Jesus' most prevalent request is for relationship. We see that Jesus' purpose in leaving the Father's side and coming into the world is to give eternal life, which is defined as knowing who God and Jesus are. vv. 2-3. Jesus prayed that the revelation of that knowledge would saturate us and that we would become one with God. He prayed that our relationship with him would transform us in such a way that we would become one with each other. So, at the end of Jesus' ministry, what does he remind us of? That the greatest commands are to love God and love each other. And that those relationships will change the world by revealing the truth of the gospel to the rest of the world (v. 21).
How do we build the kind of relationship with God that Jesus so badly wants for us? Jesus taught us that, too. We know that Jesus rose early in the morning to pray, prayed late at night and prayed in between. We also know that Jesus was so saturated with Scripture that it was always on his lips. Daily prayer and Bible reading…we can do that. The relationships that are built and nurtured as a result will change us and change the world. That was Jesus' prayer and that was Jesus' promise.
Notes: This passage contains two illustrations of how the gospel teaches that the world is upside-down from the Kingdom. First, in verses 1 through 5, Jesus speaks of how he is about to be glorified, though he was about to die a hideous and humiliating death. Second, in verses 13 through 15, Jesus does not pray that the disciples be spared hardship or persecution, but rather that they experience "the full measure of my joy within them." What's going on here? Simple: we've had it backwards all along. True glory and joy come to the loving, sacrificial servant who is in intimate relationship with God and with others.
Editor note: We are coming to an end of our 21 days. Would you like us to continue a blog with a new series? What would you think of Acts?
Just as Moses delivered the series of sermons found in Deuteronomy to prepare the Children of Israel to enter the Promised Land, we have seen in the last few chapters that on the eve of his crucifixon, Jesus prepared, taught, encouraged, warned, emboldened and reassured his disciples. Jesus concluded the discussion with the prayer found in Chapter 17. For him, prayer was the most natural and essential of all acts -- as natural and essential as eating and drinking are for us -- because Jesus, even in his fully human form, had a relationship with the Father that provided all that sustained him.
Much can be learned from the three parts of this prayer, but Jesus' most prevalent request is for relationship. We see that Jesus' purpose in leaving the Father's side and coming into the world is to give eternal life, which is defined as knowing who God and Jesus are. vv. 2-3. Jesus prayed that the revelation of that knowledge would saturate us and that we would become one with God. He prayed that our relationship with him would transform us in such a way that we would become one with each other. So, at the end of Jesus' ministry, what does he remind us of? That the greatest commands are to love God and love each other. And that those relationships will change the world by revealing the truth of the gospel to the rest of the world (v. 21).
How do we build the kind of relationship with God that Jesus so badly wants for us? Jesus taught us that, too. We know that Jesus rose early in the morning to pray, prayed late at night and prayed in between. We also know that Jesus was so saturated with Scripture that it was always on his lips. Daily prayer and Bible reading…we can do that. The relationships that are built and nurtured as a result will change us and change the world. That was Jesus' prayer and that was Jesus' promise.
Notes: This passage contains two illustrations of how the gospel teaches that the world is upside-down from the Kingdom. First, in verses 1 through 5, Jesus speaks of how he is about to be glorified, though he was about to die a hideous and humiliating death. Second, in verses 13 through 15, Jesus does not pray that the disciples be spared hardship or persecution, but rather that they experience "the full measure of my joy within them." What's going on here? Simple: we've had it backwards all along. True glory and joy come to the loving, sacrificial servant who is in intimate relationship with God and with others.
Editor note: We are coming to an end of our 21 days. Would you like us to continue a blog with a new series? What would you think of Acts?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)