Category: Band

As Jesus was in Jerusalem at the time of the Feast of Tabernacles, we see a scene that seems very familiar to me. There is a great amount of confusion in the crowd:

Thus the people were divided because of Jesus.

John 7:43

We see that people say this about Jesus or that about Jesus, thus dividing themselves, based primarily upon their misunderstanding or ignorance of him.

For example, the crowds are confused because of their understanding of where the Messiah is from. They say that the Messiah doesn’t come from Galilee, but should instead come from Bethlehem, the down where David lived.

Did Jesus come from Bethlehem? Yes, he was born there! But because they were ignorant of this background, they immediately pass judgment and say that he can’t be the one.

Or rather, Jesus says that he will go away for a short time to a place that they can’t find him. Jesus, of course we know now as we look back on it today, is speaking of when he will ascend to the Father in heaven. Those that are here on earth won’t be able to find him as they won’t have the ability to see him. And yet the crowds wonder if he will be going to preach to Jews who are scattered amongst the nations, or even to speak to the Gentiles.

Or furthermore, Jesus asserts that he is here on earth – or there in Jerusalem – not on his own authority, but on the authority of the one who sent him, speaking of course of his Father in heaven.

And even this causes division because the people know that the Jewish leaders want to kill him for “blasphemy” because they are understanding that Jesus is saying that he is, himself, God, but they aren’t arresting him and instead are allowing him to continue to speak.

There is confusion everywhere – all over who Jesus is.

As I mentioned, this is the same confusion that I still see today. Philosophies, religions, and cultures all seek to define him and new ideas come to us on a regular basis, and some insistently. Insistent that their ideas are correct. And yet, similar to what we see in this situation in John 7, they aren’t based on the evidence, the truth, or even who Jesus says that he is. Instead, they are based simply on what someone else says of who Jesus is.

Let us dig into the words and stories of Jesus. Let’s let the truth come in and inform us instead of us attempting to form the truth in our own way, in our ignorance of the facts.

Lord help us to know you as you want us to know you!

Jesus healed a man who had been lame, unable to walk, for 38 years. He had been laying next to a pool in Jerusalem hoping that he would be healed by the waters there when Jesus arrived, asked him if he actually did want to get well, and then had him stand up and walk away.

Not amazed by the fact that a lame man was walking, but instead incensed that Jesus had done this on a Saturday, the sabbath, the Jewish leaders begin to persecute Jesus. While we don’t see it specifically said in this case, we often see the Jewish leaders ask Jesus upon what authority he is acting as he is, breaking the Jewish customs. And Jesus is happy to explain it to them:

In his defense Jesus said to them, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working.” For this reason they tried all the more to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.

John 5:17-18

The Jews clearly understood that Jesus was comparing himself to God. They even try to kill him because they think that he is blaspheming.

Yet Jesus is showing them through what he is doing that he is telling the truth. He is working, he says. Is there anyone else walking around doing miracles like I’m doing? My Father is at work…and so am I. Guys, we are one and the same. I am God.

“If I testify about myself, my testimony is not true. There is another who testifies in my favor, and I know that his testimony about me is true.

John 5:31-32

Jesus goes on to say that John the Baptist had testified about him, but even that testimony is not enough. It is the testimony of God himself that Jesus is discussing. The Father has given the Son work to do, and that is what he is doing. Because the Father has given him these works, he speaks to who Jesus is.

But there is a problem. Jesus says that they cannot understand this testimony because they do not believe the one that the Father sent. In other words, because they aren’t willing to believe Jesus, they can’t understand the Father.

You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life.

John 5:39-40

The Jews put their faith in the law that Moses wrote, believing that because they have God’s law, they are the people of God. And in one way this is true, but God doesn’t want them just to have the law, he wants his people to give him their hearts. To give him all of themselves.

The Jews miss something very important within the scriptures that they rely upon. They miss the fact that the scriptures talk about and point toward the Messiah, who is Jesus. Jesus points toward these scriptures saying that they actually speak about him!

So, any questions? These are the things that Jesus speaks of as he explains under what authority he is doing what he is doing, and why he is doing them in the timing that he is doing. He is, himself, the Lord of the Sabbath. He can do his work in his timing because he has all of the authority to do as he would please.

As I was growing up, this was a popular saying: We have all of the time in the world. Of course, it simply means that there is no rush, no hurry. We can do whatever we want. We can take our time and slow down. We have nothing that we need to be concerned about at this point.

Louis Armstrong, as it turns out, even solidified this saying into a song that became a theme for a 007 James Bond movie. Just for fun, here is that song. I think it even appropriately sounds like the sentiment itself:

Jesus pointed out to his disciples that they had a similar saying in their day and in their culture. The Samaritans from the town of Sychar had heard about Jesus from his “chance” meeting with the woman at the well and many of them were coming out from the town to the well to meet Jesus and see if his claim to be the Messiah could actually be true.

As the people were on their way, Jesus was speaking to his disciples and said to them:

Don’t you have a saying, ‘It’s still four months until harvest’?

John 4:35

Jesus is quoting a proverb to them from their culture. He’s saying that they are essentially saying:

There is no need to hurry!

We have plenty of time!

The harvest isn’t for another four months…

…You can’t do anything about it anyway. The grain just needs to grow.

But then Jesus immediately follows up this retelling of the proverb with a rebuke of this mentality. Instead of thinking, “We have all the time in the world” or “It’s still four months until harvest”, they should instead be thinking:

I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest.

John 4:35

Jesus is saying that there is urgency to this task. Get going! The fields are ripe for harvest and we are just sitting here.

Jesus wants his disciples to realize that there is work that has been done, and is continuing to be done amongst the people. Seeds have been sown. God’s work is going forward. It is his work, and now it is time to bring in his harvest.

Cruise Boat or Battleship

I have a friend who used to say that we, as the church, need to decide whether we are cruise boat or a battleship.

What was he saying?

The point to his statement was that the church can see itself as a nice place where we have received the blessing of God and enjoy one another in a nice environment. We can relax. We don’t really need to do anything. We’re forgiven, right? We can sort of just cruise our way into heaven.

Or, on the other hand, we can see ourselves as a battleship. We can not only say that we are ready, but we can train. We can prepare – theologically, practically, and in any other way that is needed… and then we can go to war.

Our war is a war of love for the people around us and a desire for God to receive glory for who he is and what he has done for us.

It is time for God’s people to decide. The church must come alive and come out of its stupor to realize that God made us to be a “battleship” of sorts. He intended that we go into the enemy’s territory and take people from him and back into peace and reconciliation with God. Will we complete the role that God has given to us? Will we be the ambassadors that Christ has intended us to be?

Or will we continue to slumber and cruise along because we have all the time in the world?

David wrote these words in what is now Psalm 142 as he hid from the king, Saul, who was hunting him. David expresses this sentiment:

Look and see, there is no one at my right hand;
no one is concerned for me.
I have no refuge;
no one cares for my life.

I cry to you, LORD;
I say, “You are my refuge,
my portion in the land of the living.”

Psalm 142:4-5

Even when we feel like things are crumbling around us, God is there. He is our refuge, the one we can run to and cry out for help, and he will respond.

There are stories that we hear as children that, at the time, we may or may not know are not real, but they enthrall us. If you think of Peter Pan, the story of a boy who is able to fly over Neverland, fighting the evil Captain Hook, and leading the Lost Boys to victory, you find a great story that any one of us would like to relate to. Good vs. evil. A love story with Wendy. Even the ability to fly with magic pixie dust… How great is that?

Or consider Santa Claus. How cool it is that there is someone who packs up a sleigh, flies it a light speed all over the world with flying reindeer, only to deliver toys to young boys and girls who will be excited to wake up the next morning.

In our post-Christian western culture, I think that we often have the tendency to look back to the stories that we heard about Jesus, either in church as we were growing up or in other places, in a similar way. We know that they should be true, but we can’t really put our finger on them, so it is easy to discount them. The facts become fuzzy and the reality, not to mention the implications of the reality, become difficult to comprehend.

And therefore, there are many that dismiss what they have heard and move on with the rest of their lives.

But these aren’t the stories of Peter Pan. These aren’t the stories of Santa Claus.

Peter, who was Jesus’s disciple and who became an apostle 2000 years ago, said this:

For we did not follow cleverly devised stories when we told you about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ in power, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. He received honor and glory from God the Father when the voice came to him from the Majestic Glory, saying, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” We ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven when we were with him on the sacred mountain.

2 Peter 1:16-18

Peter is saying that the disciples didn’t create, nor listen to stories that someone else told. He says, in summary:

We were there.

We saw it.

And I’m telling you, this is for real.

Imagine what it would mean if there was a God who created you and me and everything that we see around us.

Imagine what it would mean if God decided to come in human form to live amongst his people.

Imagine if God himself spoke from heaven, declaring and confirming that this man, Jesus Christ, was actually divine. That he came from a spiritual kingdom that reins over all other kingdoms.

Imagine that he came to pay a ransom price of blood specifically for each of us, to win us back to be with God once again.

If that were true, it would change everything about our lives. It would change all of the priorities of our lives. We would no longer be so concerned about our positions of power or how much money we made. We would want to concern ourselves with knowing this One that came seeking us. We would want to align ourselves with him and everything that he says.

But we don’t need to imagine. Peter is clear: We were there.

And he isn’t the only one. There are many just like him. They aren’t making up Peter Pan and Santa Claus stories. These are facts that they are telling us. Let us live in the true story that God has told and that he is continuing to tell in our time, even today.

This last Friday, we had a meeting with a man that has believed, and continues to believe deeply, in changing the world through politics. But in this discussion, there seemed to be a crack in his way of thinking because he started the conversation by saying that the people that he saw politically protesting that day were wasting their time.

“Why do you say that?”, we asked.

“Because they are just out there yelling and no one is listening. If you are going to protest, you need to be specific and you need to get people to listen.”

He went on to talk about how, in the 1970s in our area, people were committing violence to get the politicians to listen. He said that, while he didn’t condone what those people were doing in committing violence, he did understand it because it finally made the politicians listen to what was being said.

We went on to talk about needing true and lasting change, not just a temporary political change – one that goes into effect in one council or one administration and then changes with the next. Is there any way that could be accomplished? Is that even possible?

My other friend explained to this man that this is the nature of the revolution that Jesus started. What Jesus came to re-establish was the kingdom of God, with he himself as King over all. But instead of a kingdom that would have politicians who held up power, greed, or fame as its ideals, this kingdom would bring humility, generosity, and self-sacrifice as its modes of operation.

And so I was reminded of this when I was reading 1 Peter 5 this morning and I came to this section:

In the same way, you who are younger, submit yourselves to your elders. All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because,

“God opposes the proud
but shows favor to the humble.”

Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.

1 Peter 5:5-7

Interestingly, I have a situation going on my life at the moment where I have been experiencing anxiety related to a scenario like this one. But I love the reminder that Peter gives here when he says that we must not be proud and instead be humble. Often my pride can rise up and bring me to the point of demanding what I perceive to be my “rights” if I allow it to do this. But instead I need to cast my anxiety upon God in humility and he will make everything go forward in its right timing.

And so I think that this is the answer that our friend, from the beginning of this story, is looking for. If we mutually submitted to the authority of Christ and his ideals, we wouldn’t have scenarios of one person lording over another or one attempting to unjustly gain from another. Instead, we would have true and lasting change. Not change that can be made through politics, but a change that is made through a new and changed heart.

Peter was writing to new believers that were scattered throughout the area that is roughly today the nation of Turkey. Many of these people have come to Christ through Paul’s church planting work and now Peter is calling them to continue to grow in their faith.

In chapter 2, Peter says:

Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.

1 Peter 2:2-3

What is it that Peter is saying when he says that these new babies should “grow up” in their salvation? Growing up, in a spiritual context, would refer to a few different things:

Righteousness: First and foremost, growing up means growing in righteousness. We have been reborn and made into a new creation, so we leave behind our old life of sin and live a life of righteousness. This is the first meaning of growing up.

Produce fruit of the Holy Spirit: Instead of producing fruit of the flesh, we begin to produce fruit of the Holy Spirit. Growing up in our salvation means to preemptively act in ways that accord with the fruits of the Spirit.

Produce fruit in the Kingdom of God: We look for ways to see the Kingdom expand. We make disciples of Jesus. We equip others to do good works. This produces more fruit.

In this particular case, Peter says that the people should crave pure spiritual milk. Very simply, Peter is saying that the people need to take their first steps in growing in their relationship with Christ. Peter is saying that this isn’t a simple “transaction” where the people were saved and now can just go on living their lives as they did before. No. Instead, he is calling them to growth, to become mature, to live as people who are growing beyond their infancy into maturity to adulthood.

In our daily reading plan, we’ve now switched into the book of Daniel. There is so much to say, but today, as we’ve read Daniel 3 and 4, we can see a process that has been underway as God has revealed himself to Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon. Here are some things that I see:

First, at God’s direction, Nebuchadnezzar has conquered Jerusalem, bringing punishment to the Jewish people because they would no longer obey him. This conquering had been prophesied by several prophets, including Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and others, and now it came to pass.

At Nebuchadnezzar’s direction, the kingdom of Babylon brought many people from Judah and Jerusalem into his kingdom and to the city of Babylon to serve him as slaves. By doing this, God brings himself into the presence of the nations through his people who serve him.

So we see that Daniel remains faithful to God, including his eating in the way that God had commanded him, despite being in this foreign land. When the king had a dream, Daniel prayed to God, and with revelation from God, was able to both recount and interpret the dream, the result of which was King Nebuchadnezzar giving praise and worship to God.

Then King Nebuchadnezzar fell prostrate before Daniel and paid him honor and ordered that an offering and incense be presented to him. The king said to Daniel, “Surely your God is the God of gods and the Lord of kings and a revealer of mysteries, for you were able to reveal this mystery. ”

Daniel 2:46-47

From there, we see the famous story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego who were through into a fiery furnace because they wouldn’t bow down to the golden statue that Nebuchadnezzar had set up to be worshipped. God saved Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego from the furnace, apparently even by showing up himself in the furnace to save them. This also causes King Nebuchadnezzar to worship God:

Then Nebuchadnezzar said, “Praise be to the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, who has sent his angel and rescued his servants! They trusted in him and defied the king’s command and were willing to give up their lives rather than serve or worship any god except their own God.

Daniel 3:28

But God wasn’t yet done with King Nebuchadnezzar. Despite his praise of God in the individual situations, the king had still not fully acknowledged God as the true King over all kings. Nebuchadnezzar still saw himself as the true king over all himself.

But God will not give up his position as the sovereign ruler over all of the earth. He will not give up his glory to another, and so Nebuchadnezzar has a dream that prophesied his downfall and was then, in reality, driven off of his throne and out of his kingdom for a time, until he was eventually sought out by his advisers and nobles to become, once again, the king over the kingdom of Babylon.

But now, Nebuchadnezzar was ready to give praise, honor, and glory to God, the ruler over all kingdoms, the true King of kings:

At the end of that time, I, Nebuchadnezzar, raised my eyes toward heaven, and my sanity was restored. Then I praised the Most High; I honored and glorified him who lives forever.

His dominion is an eternal dominion;
his kingdom endures from generation to generation.
All the peoples of the earth
are regarded as nothing.
He does as he pleases
with the powers of heaven
and the peoples of the earth.
No one can hold back his hand
or say to him: “What have you done?”

At the same time that my sanity was restored, my honor and splendor were returned to me for the glory of my kingdom. My advisers and nobles sought me out, and I was restored to my throne and became even greater than before. Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and exalt and glorify the King of heaven, because everything he does is right and all his ways are just. And those who walk in pride he is able to humble.

Daniel 4:34-37

So this is our lesson as well. Even if we aren’t kings over a kingdom as Nebuchadnezzar was, we each have a choice of to whom we will exalt. We can choose ourselves, glorifying ourselves, honoring ourselves, living for ourselves…or we can choose to praise, exalt, and glorify God for what he has done in our lives.

This becomes very practical as we begin to truly look at our lives. Who do we really believe has accomplished the good in our lives? Who do we really believe will lead us out of trouble when it comes to us? Who do we really believe will be our salvation? If we are honest, even if we say that we give honor and glory to God, we frequently find ourselves managing our problems through our own strength and our own wisdom instead of depending upon God for his strength, his dominion. Therefore, we look for glory for ourselves instead of exalting and giving glory to God. This is our task – to focus our minds and hearts upon remaining dependent upon God for all that we are, all that we have, and all that we will need.

God tells Ezekiel to “take up a lament” for Tyre, the city that rejoiced at Jerusalem’s downfall because it would benefit from an economic perspective as a result of the destruction of Jerusalem.

But Tyre would also fall and now Ezekiel is writing out and listing what was once considered beautiful about this city, because of its arrogance and pride, would become ugly and broken.

At one time, Tyre traded with all of the cities around it. At one time, it had a port that would be a gateway to the rest of the world. At one time, they had ships that would cover the seas. And all of this brought great prosperity and great prestige to their city.

But they were proud and they would also be destroyed by God’s judgment as he stirred up the king of Babylon against them.

Very frequently, we can think that we have obtained, by ourselves, our prestige and wealth, our beauty or our fame, and we can imagine that this a result of our own great intelligence or how well we have done in our lives because of our skill. But we routinely forget that God has made us and is guiding our paths. We allow our arrogance and pride to blind us and make us think that we are great.

But the truth is that we become like Tyre if we do this, and we risk destruction as a result of our pride. We haven’t done simply done these things. We are only unable or unwilling to see, and we are setting ourselves up for our own downfall, for someone to one day give a lament over the same story that continues to repeat itself through the ages. Only by humility and acknowledgement of God’s work in our lives can we avoid this end.

In Ezekiel 26, he says:

For this is what the Sovereign LORD says: From the north I am going to bring against Tyre Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, king of kings, with horses and chariots, with horsemen and a great army.

Ezekiel 26:7

Tyre was a city in modern-day Lebanon that, in times past, had been friendly with Israel, but now that Jerusalem has been destroyed, Tyre is rejoicing because they will profit materially from its destruction.

As a result of this, though, we see that God is moving upon the king of Babylon to bring him against Tyre.

So what is the significance of this? Throughout the prophecies, we see God primarily speaking to Israel, to his people. He calls them to repentance, back to himself, which is right given that he has made a covenant with them. God is their God and they are his people.

But God’s reach goes beyond that of the people of Israel. God is the God of the entire world. The one true, and only, God. He is able to direct events throughout the entire world, moving the kings and the peoples to affect history, to raise up nations and bring them down. As the creator of the entire world, we see that God is also sovereignly moving to direct its path.

So if that is true, then God is sovereign over all things, and he is the one who is able to bring change, just as we see him doing here is this situation with the kingdom of Babylon and the nation of Tyre.

And yet he also calls upon us to participate with him. He wants us to ask him for change, for his kingdom to come. He wants us to participate with him in giving his message of redemption and reconciliation from him to others. So we are invited to work alongside of the one and only sovereign God who has the power to change world events.

As his people, we are called to call upon God for change. We need to look and see where the kingdom of God has not yet come and ask God to move. Instead of standing idly by thinking that there are things we cannot change, we must engage, asking God to make a change, asking him to bring all of his resources to the situation so that he can reign within and over that situation. May we be a people that continuously call upon him to move throughout the world in those situations where he is not currently called upon as Lord.