Love 2

I wrote last week on the subject of love.  This is such an important matter that it seems appropriate to spend this session on some further thoughts.  This is not a complicated subject, but one that we all can contemplate and seek for a higher level.

1 Peter 1:22,23 gives us some ideas to ponder:  "Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart, having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever..."

The first part, "..in sincere love of the brethren.." uses love with the Greek word "phileo." This is a brotherly love kind of thing, a love like you would feel for your siblings.  This is a noble love...and one that we should feel toward our brothers and sisters in Christ, members of the family of Christ.

The second part of this passage is in 1 Peter, "..love one another fervently with a pure heart...." uses love with the Greek word "Agape."  Agape love goes further in our relationship to one another.  In agape love we want the best for the other person.  We may not know the other person, at least not well; we may not like the other person.  The other person may even be our enemy, remembering that Jesus taught us to love our enemies.  This of course, is hard teaching.  But we can agape even the worst.

And this brings us to the thought that we might have to love the unlovable.  Romans 5:5-8 shows us that we aren't the first to face this situation.  "..the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.  For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.  For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die.  But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."  Christ died for us....sinners....ungodly.  Thus, it isn't too much for us to love those who aren't lovable.

And Philippians 2:4,5 instructs:  "Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.  Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus..."  We can do this! 

Thank you for reading.  I hope your week is great!

Love

I love this passage from 1 Peter 4:  "But the end of all things is at hand; therefore be serious and watchful in your prayers.  And above all things have fervent love for one another, for 'love will cover a multitude of sins.' "  Love is a great subject because it is at the base of what the Christian is, at the very core.  There are many other things that go into making up the Christian such as faith, practice, worship and more, but love is at our core....and must be at our core.  The early part of 1 John talks about the importance of the Christian keeping "His commandments," and "test the spirits."  But love must still be at the core and of prime importance.

And note this passage in 1 John 4:  "Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.  He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.  In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him.  In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.  Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another."

And no discussion of love would be complete without the reference to the love chapter of 1 Corinthians 13.  It begins: "Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become as sounding brass or a clanging cymbal.  And it concludes with "And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love."

Love reigns above all.  That is what we are, what we are to be.  As mentioned in 1 John 4, "God is love."   And He expects us to be love.  It manifests itself in us when we love Him, but even more when we love each other.  God knew that it would not always be easy for us to love each other.  But He expects that, demands that.

So, beloved.....I love you.  Let us strive to complete this teaching by loving each other.  Thanks for reading.  Have a great week!    And feel the love........

Tolerance

I will have to work at not becoming political in this blog entry because of the nature of the title; and I have promised to keep this discussion strictly Biblical.....certainly not political. 

Tolerance is a major practice in America today, perhaps more than ever before.  You will notice that most other countries, for what it is worth, do not tolerate what we do in our society.  And tolerance sounds like a good thing, like a great thing.  I would suggest that the Bible does not teach that. 

We see in the Old Testament that God was very specific in what He wanted from His people.  The examples would be too numerous to even mention.  But we can mention that even in His first people, Adam and Eve, He was very demanding in what He expected from them.  And in the case of Cain and Abel, the first children, we see that Cain did not do what God expected of him.  Even that early in history, God was intolerant of bad behavior. 

Then there was Jesus.  Jesus taught a less exact type of religion, wanting people to give their heart to the Lord, not just outward sacrifice.  But even here, Jesus was specific about many things.  For example, He was quite critical of the Jewish leaders in Matthew 23....and in many other places.  He taught His followers to do certain things in their worship in the future days, like: remember Him by taking the communion (He taught them this in Matthew 26, Mark 14, and Luke 22).  In Matthew 28:19, He told His apostles to "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...."  In John 14:6, He said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through Me."  And in Matthew 7:21, He said, "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven."

I get the idea from these teachings and many more that Jesus was serious about this.  It wasn't "Do what you want to do", but rather "Do what I say!"  He didn't stress tolerance in matters of morality.  And we should not be so quick to accept every thing that comes our way, that comes into our society.  There still is right and wrong.....and there is plenty wrong in our society today, in our movies, our tv, our language, our behavior.  Let's stand up for right.  Jesus certainly did.

Thanks for reading.  Have a great week!

Jesus in Capernaum

In looking closely at the New Testament teaching about Jesus, specifically in the gospels, the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, we see that the town of Capernaum played a key role in the life of Jesus.  We know that Jesus grew up in Nazareth, a town in Galilee.  But when He began His ministry He moved over to Capernaum and made this His new home base, His new home town (Matthew 4).  And the reason for moving was the rejection of the people of Nazareth; they couldn't accept that this son of a carpenter could be the Son of God. 

We read more about Capernaum in a number of places in the NT.  But I like the events that we find in Mark 1 and 2.  In chapter 1 we read that Jesus went into the home of  Peter and Andrew and healed their mother of a bad fever.  She was apparently quite sick, but immediately recovered and proceeded to serve the others.  He also healed others at this time and drove evil spirits out of some.  We read that the crowds were so great that He had to get out of town, move around some.  But in Mark 2, He returns home to Capernaum and is teaching a large crowd of people who have gathered.  This is where four men carrying a paraplegic cannot get to Him, go up on the roof and cut a hole, lowering the crippled man down to Jesus. 

This is an amazing miracle considering how much trouble these men went to in order to get this man to Jesus, the Healer.  Jesus, upon seeing how this was accomplished, remarked that He was impressed with their faith and proceeded to say first that the man's sins were forgiven.  Some in the crowd challenged Jesus about His forgiving sins, so He then healed the man.

We aren't told who repaired the roof.  Oh, but I know a good carpenter!  Jesus would be the perfect one for that.  But, of course, the roof isn't the point.  We cannot help but be amazed at the miracles that our Lord performed....and at the compassion that He exhibited. 

All of this builds our faith, reminding us that Jesus is Lord.  And just as He took care of this crippled man, He will take care of us, too. 

Thanks for reading.  Have a great week!

The Gospel Creates Problems

From the very beginning of Christianity, the Gospel message has created problems.  We know that when Jesus was teaching He often encountered difficulties and challenges.  Many of these early challenges came from the Jewish leaders.  But that would be expected because He was teaching in a Jewish environment, in the land of Israel, and largely in Galilee.  These were Jewish people for the most part.  And He was teaching them of a new Way, a new Kingdom, a new Law....and the Jewish leaders especially did not want to hear it.  And they were willing to kill Him to stop it. 

We might want to note that Jesus didn't start this new Way immediately.  His plan was to leave it to the apostles to carry out after He died and left.  But He told those who wanted to listen that it was coming soon, and He told the apostles that it was coming with power.  This coming is recorded for us in Acts 2.

Later, as recorded in 1 Corinthians chapter 1, Paul warned of the difficulties that the Gospel message presented to the Jews and Greeks alike.  The effect, the resistance, was different between the two groups but equally a problem.  He begins this discussion by saying, "For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God."  Then in verse 22 he continues:  "For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness...."   Then he concludes, "...but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.  Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men."

There are two separate cases here: To the Jews, the Gospel presented a stumbling block.  It got in the way of their traditions and practices.  It was going to require them to change their worship lives completely.  Everything would be different....and that was unacceptable to many, especially to the Jewish leaders.

To the Gentiles, the non-Jews that Paul addresses as Greeks, it just seemed like foolishness.  To them, everything has to be according to what they would consider "wise."  But Paul points out that their kind of Wise, is not true wisdom.  Only the wisdom of God is truly wise.

And today we have many of the same kinds of rejection of the Gospel.  It is a stumbling block to some, requiring considerable change in lifestyle.  And others just don't think it is reasonable, that it fits their idea of "wise."  But we know that it is true, that it is the only true wisdom, wisdom from above. 

Let us honor the Word of God.  Thanks for reading again.  All the best to you. 

The Timing of Jesus' Death

I find it very interesting to look at the timing of the death of Jesus.  And there are facts around this particular time that I find most people unaware.  So we will take a close look in this blog at the timing and events of His death.

First we should note that Jesus kept the Old Law, the Jewish Law throughout His lifetime.  He didn't start Christianity; He taught, prepared the Way; but He left the actual beginnings of it for His apostles to carry out (see Acts 1 and especially Acts 2).  In demonstration of this fact, we see that Jesus met with His apostles just before His death in the upper room to partake of the Passover feast, a key Jewish feast.  Immediately following His celebrating the Passover, Jesus is taken by the Jewish leaders, tried, turned over to the Roman authorities, and all events move to the crucifixion.  He is taken down from the cross before the Passover Sabbath to be in accord with Jewish law.  But note that this Passover Sabbath is especially important for several reasons.  It is the last one in which Jesus will partake.  It begins the process of the death of Jesus.  It is the occasion of the teaching of the Lord's Supper, the communion.  And in fact, it is the last real Passover, for Christianity is about to begin in its fullness and the Jewish Law will no longer be in effect.  Finally, it begins a 50 day period that concludes with the Jewish feast of Pentecost...Pente meaning 50 in the Hebrew.

Acts 1:3 tells us that "...He presented Himself alive after His suffering by many infallible proofs, being seen by them during forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God."  This is the only verse in the Bible where we learn that Jesus spent 40 days showing Himself on the earth after his resurrection from the dead.  And of course He would teach about the kingdom of God because it was about to begin in its fullness.

But thinking about the Pente, the 50 day period, it began on the Passover Sabbath, Saturday, Jesus rose on Sunday; that is one day; then Jesus was alive for 40 days; that is 41 days into the 50.  And we read in Acts 1 that Jesus told the apostles to wait in Jerusalem for the power of the Holy Spirit to come.  That happens on Sunday, the day of Pentecost, 50 days after the Passover Sabbath.  So Jesus ascended into heaven, see Acts 1:9, and it was just a few days of waiting by the apostles before they were endued by the Holy Spirit with the power, the power to do miracles, heal, etc, on the day of Pentecost, described in detail in Acts 2. 

This period between the last Passover feast and the Pentecost feast was an amazing period, a period in which Jesus brought to an end His ministry....and His life on this earth.  And it was a beginning.  a beginning of the church, of Christianity, of growth. 

Thanks for reading.  Feel the love. 

Communion....or The Lord's Supper

Our Lord, Jesus Christ, came together with His apostles right before His death on the cross to observe the Jewish Passover feast.  Jesus was a Jew and kept the Jewish Law throughout His lifetime.  But at this last Passover feast, Jesus used the opportunity to command these apostles to remember Him in the future by partaking of unleavened bread, representing His body, and fruit of the vine, His blood.  The account of this event is stated in three places in the New Testament: Matthew 26, Mark 14, and Luke 22.  The fourth of the gospels, John, does not cover this teaching of Jesus.  We might note, just as a way of remembering, that the location of these three accounts is 2 chapters back from the end of each of these books.

We also read that Paul recounted this occurrence in His first letter to the Corinthians.  Read 1 Corinthians 11 where Paul is chastising the church in Corinth for their poor observance of the Lord's Supper.  Some were using it as a common meal, some eating while others were not, some just not giving it proper respect.  This is good teaching for us in seeing the importance not only in taking it but in taking it in an appropriate way.

Then in the book of Acts, the fifth book of the NT, as the church begins to grow, we find Christians getting together to observe the Communion, or Lord's Supper, on the first day of the week, Sunday.  Note Acts 20:7, "Now on the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul, ready to depart the next day, spoke to them and continued his message until midnight."  The Christians were following the typical practice now of worshiping on Sunday and taking the bread and fruit of the vine to remember Jesus, just as He had taught them to do. 

In these passages, the first 3 spoken by Jesus Himself, the teaching of Paul on the subject, and the passage in Acts, written by Luke, we learn clearly what the Lord wanted of us in the matter of taking the supper in remembrance of Him.  Thus, we come together on Sunday, each Sunday, to do the same. 

Thanks for reading.  And keep the faith!