There is a question about how Jesus would handle or feel about the government's dealing with the poor; i.e., who should be responsible for the poor; the government, the church, the individuals? And would Jesus weigh in on the Republican/Democrat wrangling over how the government should budget and assist the poor, lower and even middle classes?
I can't say that I have all the answers on this one. Of course, we always want to go to the Bible to get our answers. The best way to solve this is to look at what Jesus said, and what He did during His time on earth. Note these passages:
Matthew 22:17 Jesus was asked, "Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not? He realized that they were trying to trap Him, so He called them "hypocrites." Then He said, "Render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's, and render unto God that which is God's."
Matthew 26:8 The woman came and anointed Jesus' feet with expensive perfume. His disciples asked, "Why this waste." Jesus answered, "..the poor you have with you always; you will not always have me." This is just one of the many passages that show that Jesus was not about the physical...but the Spiritual.
Matthew 6:34 Jesus told them not to worry about what they would eat, or drink or wear. Here again, Jesus is putting the emphasis on the Spiritual, not the physical.
In all of Jesus teaching, He showed that He was not interested in the actions of government. His interest was in the soul, in serving God, in preparing for the next life. He did teach about the good Samaritan who reached out to the injured man; taught us to help our "neighbor."
Jesus lived during the oppression of the Roman Empire. He could have railed against the abuses; but rather, He showed respect for the government and impressed upon us the need for individual responsibility.
Thanks for reading. Have a God filled week.
Sunday, April 29, 2012
Sunday, April 22, 2012
Last Words-Part 2
We read in Acts 1 that Jesus stayed on the earth for 40 days after He rose from the dead. He showed Himself to many people including the Apostles during this time. The last words that He spoke to the Apostles, at least those recorded, are as follows:
Matthew 28:18-20 "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."
Mark 16:15-18 "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will follow those who believe: in My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will be no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover."
Luke 24:46-49 "Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And you are witnesses of these things. Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high."
And finally, in Acts 1 He was asked, "Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?" He replied, "It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth."
These are the last recorded words of Jesus before He left the earth. To me this is powerful; who else have you ever heard of that had their last words recorded and remembered for all time? And here we have four different accounts of it! It says that we should take note of these last words and make sure that we do our part to see that His wishes are carried out.
As always, thanks for reading. Have a great week!
Matthew 28:18-20 "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."
Mark 16:15-18 "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will follow those who believe: in My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will be no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover."
Luke 24:46-49 "Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And you are witnesses of these things. Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high."
And finally, in Acts 1 He was asked, "Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?" He replied, "It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth."
These are the last recorded words of Jesus before He left the earth. To me this is powerful; who else have you ever heard of that had their last words recorded and remembered for all time? And here we have four different accounts of it! It says that we should take note of these last words and make sure that we do our part to see that His wishes are carried out.
As always, thanks for reading. Have a great week!
Sunday, April 15, 2012
First and Last Words of Jesus
I always enjoy the first and last of any writing; the first page of a good book...and certainly the last page. When we look at the sayings of Jesus, it is interesting to see His first words and His last.
His very first recorded words were recorded in Luke 2, where at the age of 12, He had gotten separated from His parents on a trip to Jerusalem. They looked for 3 days, then found Him in the temple conversing with a group of teachers. His mother said to Him, "Son, why have you done this to us?" He answered, "Why did you seek Me? Did you not know that I must be about My Father's business?" That is a fascinating story and exchange.
The very last words of Jesus before He dies are: "It is finished." This is a very powerful statement that carries a lot of meaning with it. Rather than just His life being finished and the suffering that He endured being finished, it is likely a statement with much broader significance. Throughout time, in all of the buildup to this great event, considering all of the prophesies of the prophets that Jesus fulfilled, all of this comes down to this last moment on the cross when Jesus finally says, "It is finished." But we know that the story was not over at that point; in fact, it marked a great beginning where Jesus would triumph over death, walk on the earth for 40 days (Acts1:3), ascend to heaven, and following all of this, the apostles would be visited by the Holy Spirit (Acts 2), and the church would be established. So we see that there is great meaning to Jesus' last words on the cross.
This leaves us with a discussion of Jesus' last words before He leaves the earth. Perhaps we will discuss this next week in the blog entry then. These are powerful and meaningful as well. Hope you have a great and meaningful week yourself!
His very first recorded words were recorded in Luke 2, where at the age of 12, He had gotten separated from His parents on a trip to Jerusalem. They looked for 3 days, then found Him in the temple conversing with a group of teachers. His mother said to Him, "Son, why have you done this to us?" He answered, "Why did you seek Me? Did you not know that I must be about My Father's business?" That is a fascinating story and exchange.
The very last words of Jesus before He dies are: "It is finished." This is a very powerful statement that carries a lot of meaning with it. Rather than just His life being finished and the suffering that He endured being finished, it is likely a statement with much broader significance. Throughout time, in all of the buildup to this great event, considering all of the prophesies of the prophets that Jesus fulfilled, all of this comes down to this last moment on the cross when Jesus finally says, "It is finished." But we know that the story was not over at that point; in fact, it marked a great beginning where Jesus would triumph over death, walk on the earth for 40 days (Acts1:3), ascend to heaven, and following all of this, the apostles would be visited by the Holy Spirit (Acts 2), and the church would be established. So we see that there is great meaning to Jesus' last words on the cross.
This leaves us with a discussion of Jesus' last words before He leaves the earth. Perhaps we will discuss this next week in the blog entry then. These are powerful and meaningful as well. Hope you have a great and meaningful week yourself!
Sunday, April 8, 2012
Easter
Celebrating the Easter holiday is a fun time and a meaningful thing for many Christians. Easter is the traditional remembrance of Jesus' resurrection. Starting with Palm Sunday, when Jesus rode into Jerusalem past cheering crowds and continuing through the death, burial and Resurrection, this is a powerful series of events to recall.
Easter creates a problem for many Christians in that there is no mention of this in the Bible. It has its origins in Pagan religion, is named after Pagan figures, and only got its American beginnings in the 1870's. Some would say, "Well, that doesn't matter. The death, burial and resurrection are surely in the Bible." And that is certainly true. But it is also true that neither Jesus, nor any Bible character, ever made any reference to celebrating Easter as a religious holiday. Now many would say, "Well, it doesn't matter. It still is a good thing to celebrate." And that may be true; it is not for me to say. I'm just giving a few facts here.
What we do see in the Bible is a clear teaching by Jesus to remember his death; this is recorded in Matthew 26, Mark 14 and Luke 22. This is where Jesus, at the time of taking the Passover feast, institutes the Lord's Supper, telling them to take bread to remember His body and juice of the vine to remember His blood being sacrificed. Then we see in the book of Acts, after Jesus has left them, that the Apostles and other Christians were keeping this Lord's Supper remembrance each Sunday. Thus, many Christians today celebrate this remembrance every week; kind of an "Easter" every week.
But what does God want? You will have to answer this for yourself. All I see is that Jesus taught nothing about an annual celebration, but was very specific about keeping the Lord's Supper...and it seems to be a regular weekly thing in the early church. For sure, these are powerful events and deserve to be remembered.
Have a great week!
Easter creates a problem for many Christians in that there is no mention of this in the Bible. It has its origins in Pagan religion, is named after Pagan figures, and only got its American beginnings in the 1870's. Some would say, "Well, that doesn't matter. The death, burial and resurrection are surely in the Bible." And that is certainly true. But it is also true that neither Jesus, nor any Bible character, ever made any reference to celebrating Easter as a religious holiday. Now many would say, "Well, it doesn't matter. It still is a good thing to celebrate." And that may be true; it is not for me to say. I'm just giving a few facts here.
What we do see in the Bible is a clear teaching by Jesus to remember his death; this is recorded in Matthew 26, Mark 14 and Luke 22. This is where Jesus, at the time of taking the Passover feast, institutes the Lord's Supper, telling them to take bread to remember His body and juice of the vine to remember His blood being sacrificed. Then we see in the book of Acts, after Jesus has left them, that the Apostles and other Christians were keeping this Lord's Supper remembrance each Sunday. Thus, many Christians today celebrate this remembrance every week; kind of an "Easter" every week.
But what does God want? You will have to answer this for yourself. All I see is that Jesus taught nothing about an annual celebration, but was very specific about keeping the Lord's Supper...and it seems to be a regular weekly thing in the early church. For sure, these are powerful events and deserve to be remembered.
Have a great week!
Sunday, April 1, 2012
The Christian Walk
We know that Jesus said in Matthew 11, "..My yoke is easy and My burden is light." And yet it can be quite a challenge to resist the devil and walk the Christian walk. We get some help and guidance from Ephesians chapter 4. Note that the first 3 chapters of Ephesians tells us about the great gifts that we have gotten from God. The last 3 chapters talk more about how we are to live.
Note these thoughts in Ephesians 4:
verse 1, "walk worthy of the calling." We got a great gift from God; now we need to live it.
verse 2, "...with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love."
verse 3, "endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." There is the stress on "unity." He follows this with, "There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all."
verse 12, gifts were given "for the edifying of the body of Christ.." He is talking about the church, the body of Christ. Following this, the primary emphasis is on the individual. The church is important, but the individual is critical; that is us.
verse 14, "..we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine....grow up in all things into Him who is the head--Christ..."
verse 17, "This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind.....be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man..."
And so, we are challenged to walk the walk, talk the talk, live as Jesus would have us to live, challenging as that may be. Let's try to live it this week. Have a good one!
Note these thoughts in Ephesians 4:
verse 1, "walk worthy of the calling." We got a great gift from God; now we need to live it.
verse 2, "...with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love."
verse 3, "endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." There is the stress on "unity." He follows this with, "There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all."
verse 12, gifts were given "for the edifying of the body of Christ.." He is talking about the church, the body of Christ. Following this, the primary emphasis is on the individual. The church is important, but the individual is critical; that is us.
verse 14, "..we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine....grow up in all things into Him who is the head--Christ..."
verse 17, "This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind.....be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man..."
And so, we are challenged to walk the walk, talk the talk, live as Jesus would have us to live, challenging as that may be. Let's try to live it this week. Have a good one!
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