We can learn a great deal from story of Jesus and the Samaritan woman in John Chapter 4. Jesus went to where she would be, He broke down barriers, and he met her need in spite of all of her previous bad choices. And then she became a very effective evangelist for the Lord!
In his encounter with the woman at the well, Jesus broke three Jewish customs: first, he spoke to a woman; second, she was a Samaritan woman, a group the Jews traditionally despised; and third, he asked her to get him a drink of water, which would have made him ceremonially unclean from using her cup or jar. This shocked the woman at the well. But Jesus tore down barriers between people, and he still will, if we let him.
Then Jesus told the woman he could give her "living water" so that she would never thirst again. Jesus used the words living water to refer to eternal life, the gift that would satisfy her soul's desire only available through him. At first, the Samaritan woman did not fully understand Jesus' meaning.
Although they had never met before, Jesus revealed that he knew she had had five husbands and was now living with a man who was not her husband. Jesus now had her attention!
As they talked about their two views on worship, the woman voiced her faith that Messiah was coming. Jesus answered, "I who speak to you am he." (John 4:26, ESV)
As the woman began to grasp the reality of her encounter with Jesus, the disciples returned. They were equally shocked to find him speaking to a woman. Leaving behind her water jar, the woman returned to town, inviting the people to "Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did." (John 4:29, ESV)
Meanwhile, Jesus told his disciples the harvest of souls was ready, sown by the prophets, writers of the Old Testament, and John the Baptist.
Excited by what the woman told them, the Samaritans came from Sychar and begged Jesus to stay with them. So Jesus stayed two days, teaching the Samaritan people about the Kingdom of God. When he left, the people told the woman, "... we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world." (John 4:42, ESV)
The Samaritans were a mixed race people, who had intermarried with the Assyrians centuries before. They were hated by the Jews because of this cultural mixing, and because they had their own version of the Bible and their own temple on Mount Gerizim. The Jews saw their religion as impure, but Jesus reached out ot them anyway!
The woman at the well came to draw water at the hottest part of the day, instead of the usual morning or evening times, because she was shunned and rejected by the other women of the area for her immorality. Jesus knew her history but still accepted her and ministered to her.
By reaching out to the Samaritans, Jesus showed that his mission was to the entire earth, not just the Jews. In the book of Acts, after Jesus' ascension into heaven, his apostles carried on his work in Samaria and to the Gentile world. Ironically, while the High Priest and Sanhedrin rejected Jesus as the Messiah, the outcast Samaritans recognized him and accepted him for who he truly was: the Savior of the world.
Our human tendency is to judge others because of stereotypes, customs or prejudices. Jesus did not judge people as a groupm but rather Jesus treats people as individuals, accepting them with love and compassion. Do you dismiss certain people as lost causes, or do you see them as valuable in their own right, worthy of knowing about the Gospel?
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Monday, September 20, 2010
Let Your Light Shine So Folks Will Give God the Glory!
Jesus said in Matthew 5:16, "Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven."
Jesus clearly commands that the goal of our lives should be to behave so that God gets the glory. Live so that men will see your life and give your Father in heaven glory, not you. So it should be very clear that glorifying God is not merely an act of worship on Sunday. It is a peculiar kind of living.
Let us look at 1 Peter 4:10, 11. Probably no other New Testament book besides James reflects an acquaintance with the teachings of Jesus as clearly as 1 Peter. In 2:12, Peter gives a loose quotation of Matthew 5:16, "Maintain good conduct among the Gentiles so that in case they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation." But in chapter 4, verses 10 and 11, Peter shows more explicitly what it is about the good deeds of Christians that makes them a means to God's glory.
He says:
We see in Isaiah 43:7 that God's great goal in creating and governing the world was to be glorified. That is, he created us for his glory. Not to increase the beauty of his perfections or fill up some emptiness in God, but rather to display his glory in the way we live and to win praise for himself, which in turn brings Him closer to us and His power more evident in our lives.
To maintain the honor of his name and display his glory—these are the driving motives in all that God does in history, in the church, and in individual lives.
At the end of last week's message two crucial questions remained:
In order for God to get glory from the way we live, we must be engaged in good deeds. It is not so much by avoiding gross sins that God's people display his glory, but rather in the pursuit of good deeds, acts of generosity, works of kindness, ways of love. Since it is God's goal to be glorified in his people, and since Jesus says this happens when his people do good deeds, we would expect the Bible to tell us that God's goal in redeeming a people is that they might do good deeds. And this is exactly what we find.
Paul says in Titus 2:14 that Christ "gave himself for us to redeem us from all iniquity and to purify for himself a people of his own who are zealous for good deeds." Christ died that we might do good deeds and so bring glory to our Father in heaven.
God created us for his glory, says the prophet Isaiah. We bring him glory through our good deeds, says the Lord Jesus. So we are not surprised when we hear the apostle say, God created us for good deeds. Ephesians 2:10: "We are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good deeds, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them." Created for his glory, and created for good deeds, because it is by our good deeds that God gets glory.
One final observation from Matthew 5. It is possible to be a kind of do-gooder that brings no glory to God. There are philanthropists and benefactors and others who for one reason or another spend time and money to alleviate suffering, but who may not even believe in God let alone do it all for his glory.
So when Jesus says, Let your light shine that men may see your good deeds and glorify God, the light must include more than the mere action of the good deed. "You are the light of the world!" (5:14). Not just your bodily motions but your attitude and your motivation also. There is a spirit from which the good deeds must flow if they are to bring God glory and so be pleasing to him.
Remember: To Him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. AMEN.
Jesus clearly commands that the goal of our lives should be to behave so that God gets the glory. Live so that men will see your life and give your Father in heaven glory, not you. So it should be very clear that glorifying God is not merely an act of worship on Sunday. It is a peculiar kind of living.
Let us look at 1 Peter 4:10, 11. Probably no other New Testament book besides James reflects an acquaintance with the teachings of Jesus as clearly as 1 Peter. In 2:12, Peter gives a loose quotation of Matthew 5:16, "Maintain good conduct among the Gentiles so that in case they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation." But in chapter 4, verses 10 and 11, Peter shows more explicitly what it is about the good deeds of Christians that makes them a means to God's glory.
He says:
We see in Isaiah 43:7 that God's great goal in creating and governing the world was to be glorified. That is, he created us for his glory. Not to increase the beauty of his perfections or fill up some emptiness in God, but rather to display his glory in the way we live and to win praise for himself, which in turn brings Him closer to us and His power more evident in our lives.
To maintain the honor of his name and display his glory—these are the driving motives in all that God does in history, in the church, and in individual lives.
At the end of last week's message two crucial questions remained:
In order for God to get glory from the way we live, we must be engaged in good deeds. It is not so much by avoiding gross sins that God's people display his glory, but rather in the pursuit of good deeds, acts of generosity, works of kindness, ways of love. Since it is God's goal to be glorified in his people, and since Jesus says this happens when his people do good deeds, we would expect the Bible to tell us that God's goal in redeeming a people is that they might do good deeds. And this is exactly what we find.
Paul says in Titus 2:14 that Christ "gave himself for us to redeem us from all iniquity and to purify for himself a people of his own who are zealous for good deeds." Christ died that we might do good deeds and so bring glory to our Father in heaven.
God created us for his glory, says the prophet Isaiah. We bring him glory through our good deeds, says the Lord Jesus. So we are not surprised when we hear the apostle say, God created us for good deeds. Ephesians 2:10: "We are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good deeds, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them." Created for his glory, and created for good deeds, because it is by our good deeds that God gets glory.
One final observation from Matthew 5. It is possible to be a kind of do-gooder that brings no glory to God. There are philanthropists and benefactors and others who for one reason or another spend time and money to alleviate suffering, but who may not even believe in God let alone do it all for his glory.
So when Jesus says, Let your light shine that men may see your good deeds and glorify God, the light must include more than the mere action of the good deed. "You are the light of the world!" (5:14). Not just your bodily motions but your attitude and your motivation also. There is a spirit from which the good deeds must flow if they are to bring God glory and so be pleasing to him.
Remember: To Him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. AMEN.
Sunday, September 12, 2010
God Is Doing A New Thing! Keep Pressing on Toward the Goal!
The prophet Isaiah quotes our God as saying: "See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?" (Isaiah 43:19)
The Apostle Paul writes in his letter to the Philippians: …. straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:13-14)
God is still moving, still speaking. Faith, therefore, should not be static either. But rather a process, a journey, a Way of life.
Isaiah proclaims: I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? Or are you set in seeing and knowing God the same way you did five years ago? ten years ago? thirty years ago?
Paul writes: pressing (straining) forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus. Do you share that goal? Are you mindfully on a journey toward that heavenly prize?
In our prayers we regularly pray that, as a people, we might be transformed and conformed into the mind of Christ. There are many reasons, of course, to go to church. But the most important is that going to church makes transformation happen. In church we have an abundant opportunity to cultivate what Walter Brueggermann calls a “healthy imagination.”
There are, in our world and environment, all kinds of images and words, reports and data that can fill our minds and take over our eyeballs with unhealthy things that sap our lives. In church, we have the opportunity to engage our hearts, our minds, our souls, our bodies, in healthy and life-giving ways. Let us become the people God calls us to be. May we be transformed! May we know Whose we are and Who we are in Christ!
The Apostle Paul writes in his letter to the Philippians: …. straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:13-14)
God is still moving, still speaking. Faith, therefore, should not be static either. But rather a process, a journey, a Way of life.
Isaiah proclaims: I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? Or are you set in seeing and knowing God the same way you did five years ago? ten years ago? thirty years ago?
Paul writes: pressing (straining) forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus. Do you share that goal? Are you mindfully on a journey toward that heavenly prize?
In our prayers we regularly pray that, as a people, we might be transformed and conformed into the mind of Christ. There are many reasons, of course, to go to church. But the most important is that going to church makes transformation happen. In church we have an abundant opportunity to cultivate what Walter Brueggermann calls a “healthy imagination.”
There are, in our world and environment, all kinds of images and words, reports and data that can fill our minds and take over our eyeballs with unhealthy things that sap our lives. In church, we have the opportunity to engage our hearts, our minds, our souls, our bodies, in healthy and life-giving ways. Let us become the people God calls us to be. May we be transformed! May we know Whose we are and Who we are in Christ!
Saturday, September 11, 2010
The Chief End of Man is the Glorify God and Enjoy God Forever!
“Enjoy Life, Enjoy God: This is Our Chief End”
Life is meant to be enjoyed. God declared it good. Yet we know that the wholesome earthiness of life is best savored by a robust faith in God through Jesus Christ. Healthy followers of Christ are learning to do both well: enjoy life, and to enjoy God…they are not in opposition, but inseparably connected. May you be encouraged in God’s love. Encouragement, at its root meaning, involves not only a pep talk, or pat on the back, but sometimes a candid voice of exhortation. But it’s all cloaked in the grace of God.
Acts 16:5 leader Rev. Dale Patterson notes that the Westminster Catechism, one of the great documents the church ever produced, is a series of one hundred Q&As. But the first question is the most famous:
Q: What is the chief end of man? A: Man's chief end is to glorify God, and enjoy him forever."
As Paul writes: “For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen.” - Romans 11:36
In light of this truth, there is nothing that deserves our greater care than to fulfill the great end for which each of us was made—to glorify God and enjoy Him forever! ""Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!" (Philippians 4:4)
Life is meant to be enjoyed. God declared it good. Yet we know that the wholesome earthiness of life is best savored by a robust faith in God through Jesus Christ. Healthy followers of Christ are learning to do both well: enjoy life, and to enjoy God…they are not in opposition, but inseparably connected. May you be encouraged in God’s love. Encouragement, at its root meaning, involves not only a pep talk, or pat on the back, but sometimes a candid voice of exhortation. But it’s all cloaked in the grace of God.
Acts 16:5 leader Rev. Dale Patterson notes that the Westminster Catechism, one of the great documents the church ever produced, is a series of one hundred Q&As. But the first question is the most famous:
Q: What is the chief end of man? A: Man's chief end is to glorify God, and enjoy him forever."
As Paul writes: “For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen.” - Romans 11:36
In light of this truth, there is nothing that deserves our greater care than to fulfill the great end for which each of us was made—to glorify God and enjoy Him forever! ""Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!" (Philippians 4:4)
Sunday, September 05, 2010
The Amazing Gift of the Lord's Supper
The Lord's Supper is an amazing gift from God. We are urged to do this sacrament in remembrance of Christ.
We Are To Remember A Suffering Lord - The blood and juice represent the broken body and shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. As we partake of this observance, we need to remember the awful price that Jesus paid to save our souls. Please remember that when He died on the cross, He was dying in your place, and that He suffered greatly when He did, fie you and for me.
We Are to Remember An Achieving Lord - As we take the bread and the juice today, we need to remember that Jesus Christ died, but that three days later, He arose from the dead. He lives, Matt. 28:1-6; Rev. 1:18!
We Are To Remember An Appearing Lord - After Jesus rose from the dead, He ascended hack to Heaven and sat down at His Father's right hand to await the day when He will return to this earth to receive His people unto Himself. Every time we take the Lord's Supper, we are declaring to a lost world that we believe in a returning Lord, who will surely come again! And, if we really believe that Jesus is coming again, we will live like we are looking for Him to come back any day now.
Be Sure You Take It In The Right Spirit - Please focus your heart and mind on the Lord and do your best to be in communion with Him as you receive His Supper. He did it all for YOU!
We Are To Remember A Suffering Lord - The blood and juice represent the broken body and shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. As we partake of this observance, we need to remember the awful price that Jesus paid to save our souls. Please remember that when He died on the cross, He was dying in your place, and that He suffered greatly when He did, fie you and for me.
We Are to Remember An Achieving Lord - As we take the bread and the juice today, we need to remember that Jesus Christ died, but that three days later, He arose from the dead. He lives, Matt. 28:1-6; Rev. 1:18!
We Are To Remember An Appearing Lord - After Jesus rose from the dead, He ascended hack to Heaven and sat down at His Father's right hand to await the day when He will return to this earth to receive His people unto Himself. Every time we take the Lord's Supper, we are declaring to a lost world that we believe in a returning Lord, who will surely come again! And, if we really believe that Jesus is coming again, we will live like we are looking for Him to come back any day now.
Be Sure You Take It In The Right Spirit - Please focus your heart and mind on the Lord and do your best to be in communion with Him as you receive His Supper. He did it all for YOU!
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