Gospel for May 12, 2024

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
John 17:6-19
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

This passage in the Gospel of John has been called the High Priestly Prayer of Jesus.  This is a deeply intimate glimpse into his relationship with the Father. From John 14 to 16, he has been speaking to the disciples of the things of God; here he is speaking to his Father about his disciples. He is praying earnestly on their behalf.

Because of his own relationship with the Father, these disciples now also have a relationship with the Father because they have believed and obeyed Jesus.  Because they have accepted the testimony of the Son, they now know the Father as well.

And then the intercessory aspect of his prayer becomes very clear.  He isn’t praying for the world, he says.  Nor is he even praying for himself.  He is praying only for his friends.

The reason for this is that Jesus is leaving the world, and they will be staying behind; therefore he prays for their protection through the power of his own name.  In other words, because a name in the ancient world contained in it the identity of its bearer, he is saying “remember them for my sake.”  Or, if it isn’t too irreverent to put it this way, he has given the disciples authority by saying “When you need something from my Dad, just mention my name.”

Ultimately the goal is oneness, unity — between Father and Son, between the believers and God, and then among believers themselves.

He has protected his followers from harm up until now — although he makes a brief reference that can only be about Judas:

None of them is lost, except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.

He then makes an interesting series of comparisons and contrasts:

• Just as he has been hated by the world, so the disciples will be hated.
• Just as he is not of this world, so they are not of this world.
• As he is sanctified, so they are to be sanctified.
• As he is sent into the world, so they are to be sent into the world.

But if they are in the world, they are not be of the world, as the saying goes:

they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.

Nevertheless, although they don’t belong to this world, they are still to be in it:

I pray not that you would take them from the world, but that you would keep them from the evil one.

His prayer is that the Father will protect them in his absence, give them joy, and sanctify them by his truth.

APPLY:  

We know that the Scriptures tell us that Jesus has ascended into heaven and now prays for his church as our high priest.  So in a sense this High Priestly prayer still speaks to us and for us as believers today.

It is astounding that we find Jesus praying here wholeheartedly and passionately for his followers — he is the one who is about to cross over to the Mount of Olives, to be arrested in the darkness, and crucified the next day! Yet his thoughts are not of himself but of his friends!

We take comfort and strength in what he prays.  And we also receive guidance.

For example, what is our relationship to be like with the world to which he refers? Jesus says:

 The world hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.

The world is this present darkness, the culture which has been infected by the evil one.

We are to engage the world, but we are not to reflect the world’s values.

As you sent me into the world, even so I have sent them into the world.

This is consistent with Paul’s clear statement in Romans 12:2

 Don’t be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what is the good, well-pleasing, and perfect will of God.

This is the delicate balance of the Christian — not to curse the world and turn our backs on it, but to stay engaged and seek to win some to Christ — without allowing the world to draw us into its gravitational pull.

Jesus was accused of being a gluttonous man, and a drunkard; a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’  (Luke 7:34), because he hung out with such folks in an effort to reach them.  He made it quite clear that:

 Those who are healthy have no need for a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance (Mark 2:17).

The only way for a doctor to heal Ebola is to go into the ward with the patients.  The trick is for the doctor to be insulated from the effects of the disease by careful protocols.  So, Jesus is praying here that we as disciples will remain in the world, but will be uncontaminated by the world.  We have a mission to save the world, but not become the world!

And this is where Jesus’ prayer for our sanctification hits home.  Note that he doesn’t say we are sanctified by moralism, or by legalism.  We aren’t even sanctified by love, here.  That doesn’t mean that morals and law and love are irrelevant.  They are very relevant.  But he says this:

Sanctify them in your truth. Your word is truth.

In other words, the root and ground of holiness begins in discerning the revealed truth of God, which is found in his word.  As we study and apply his word — i.e., “trust and obey, for there’s no other way” as the old hymn says — then we are sanctified.

Isn’t that essentially what Paul means in Ephesians 5:25-27 when he says:

Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word,  and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless (NRSV).

So,  we are to go into the world as healers, without being infected by the world;  we are not to be affected by the world, but rather sanctified by the word of God.

RESPOND: 

I take Jesus’ prayer for his disciples personally.  I believe that as our High Priest, he continues to intercede for all who believe in him.  As Hebrews 7:24-25 says:

 But he, because he lives forever, has his priesthood unchangeable. Therefore he is also able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, seeing that he lives forever to make intercession for them.

And I would say that he continues to pray for the same things he prayed for in John 17:

• That we will be one with him and with one another.
• That we will be protected from the evil one.
• That we will be sanctified.

Speaking for myself, I especially need his prayers to be protected from the evil one even while still engaged in this world.

There are so many distractions, temptations, and confusions in this world that threaten to undo us — not all of them necessarily sinister or inherently evil, but all tending to bend us toward a “worldly” perspective.

I could cite the more dangerous temptations in our culture.  We know those all too well.  We can see them coming.  But there are also lures in our culture that seem good in themselves, but may present their own dangers.

For example — soccer, baseball, volleyball, and cheerleading offer good, solid opportunities for building character and teamwork, etc.  Unfortunately, good, solid, decent Christian families find themselves conflicted because these events are often scheduled on Sunday mornings. What has once been the Lord’s Day has become a prime day for aspiring young athletes.  The culture is winning that particular battle.

So — the prayer of Jesus that declares that his followers  are not of the world, even as I am not of the world — how does that apply to our Christian world today?  Where do we draw the boundary?

I find myself yearning ever more for the prayer of Jesus to be fulfilled in me:

Sanctify them in your truth. Your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, even so I have sent them into the world.

As I am sanctified by his word, then I will be equipped to be sent into the world on his behalf.

Lord, I am so profoundly grateful for your intercessions on my behalf.  You have revealed your truth to me, although I am still learning and growing.  Keep me united with you and with other believers.  Protect me from the evil one, and send me out into the world even as you protect me from its gravitational pull.  Sanctify me with the truth of your word.  Amen. 

 PHOTOS:
“Thy Word is Truth” by Charles Clegg is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic license.

Epistle for January 15, 2023

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
1 Corinthians 1:1-9
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

The Apostle Paul is writing a letter to a church that he knows well — he had helped establish the church in Corinth, and had accomplished significant ministry there for a period of one and a half years (Acts 18:1-17).  The introduction itself uses many of the conventions used in formal letters of the time, and transforms this letter-writing style as a means of sharing the Gospel.

First, though, there is an intriguing detail in this introduction — Paul mentions his Christian brother Sosthenes who is apparently a co-author or at least a transcriber of the letter.  In Acts 18, we are reminded of Paul’s typical method of evangelization — whenever he visited a new city, he went to a synagogue and sought to persuade the Jews that their own Scriptures had been fulfilled by Jesus.  Paul himself was a practicing Jew.

The response to his message was received positively by some of the Jews — Crispus, the leader of the synagogue, was converted and baptized, along with his whole house (Acts 18:8).  Other Jews, and God-fearers (God-fearers were Gentiles who had come to believe in the God of the Jews, but had not undergone circumcision) had also come to faith in Christ.  However, there were leaders of the synagogue who were offended by Paul’s message and complained to Gallio, the Roman proconsul.  Gallio wanted nothing to do with their arguments about theology, and curtly dismissed them (Acts 18:12-16).

This is where events become fascinating.  Gallio drives the Jews, including the defendant, Paul, away from his judgment seat.  This is what happens next:

Then all the Greeks laid hold on Sosthenes, the ruler of the synagogue, and beat him before the judgment seat. Gallio didn’t care about any of these things (Acts 18:17).

Who is this Sosthenes, and why are the Greeks beating him?  Is it because he is a Jew, or because he is a Jew who has converted to Christianity?  Is he the same Sosthenes named by Paul in this letter?  We don’t know for sure.  But the possibilities are intriguing.

One thing is very clear — Paul is reminding the Corinthian Christians of his own credentials as an apostle, and establishing his authority to interpret the Gospel and its message:

Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God…

His audience is the entire church at Corinth, which he defines as:

those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ in every place, both theirs and ours…

Already, we begin to see an expression of his theology of grace.  The Corinthians are not sanctified (made holy) because of what they have done, but because of what Jesus has done.  They are called to be saints (to be holy) by Christ, and they are able to fulfill this calling because they have reciprocated by calling on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.  Jesus has called on them, and they in reply have called on Jesus!

His next phrase is a greeting that would have resonated with a reader of letters in that time:

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Secular letters might have said something like “Prosperity and peace be with you.”  Paul is including two key characteristics that are fruits of the Gospel of Jesus Christ:  grace and peace.  And Paul is clear that they come from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Note that he names God the Father and The Lord Jesus Christ as equal sources of this grace and peace. They are differentiated as persons, but they are nonetheless equal in status.  Jesus is Lord, which is usually interpreted as a description of God.  We have here evidence that will be used to explain the doctrine of the Trinity later in the church.  The Father and Jesus are equal and united in their purpose, and yet are differentiated as persons. Christians believe that God is one God in three persons.

In the next few verses, Paul outlines some of the themes that will appear in this letter to the Corinthians.

• Paul gives thanks for the grace of God given to them (v. 4), and grace is a consistent theme in all of his epistles.
• Paul alludes to an interest that the Corinthians have in eloquent speech and knowledge (v. 5), that Paul will elaborate on later in the letter (1 Corinthians 1:18 – 2:5). He knows that they are quite susceptible to eloquence and philosophy — as are many Greeks — but insists that the real enrichment of speech and knowledge come from the testimony of Christ.
• Paul also prays that they will lack no gift — which presages his rebuke of those who claim to have superior spiritual gifts, and his clear declaration that there are a variety of gifts that come from God and all are equally important to God (1 Corinthians 12).

And Paul doesn’t lose sight of the ultimate goal — that this practical letter, dealing with issues of divorce, diet and other matters, still focuses on the: 

revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ; who will also confirm you until the end, blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

This faith and this promise is grounded in the nature of God the Father and empowered through the work of his Son:

 God is faithful, through whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord.

APPLY:  

We do well to remember that this letter, like all the epistles in the New Testament, wasn’t written to us.  Paul’s readers were a part of his times and his culture; they would have understood the conventions and forms of  his letters; and they would have understood his references.  For one thing, the letters to the Corinthians appear to have been written in response to specific questions raised by these new Christians, and by the circumstances of their church and community.

However, the reason that this letter, as well as the other letters, are regarded as Scripture by the community of faith is because they do speak to us today.  Our needs and hungers are the same; our yearning for God is the same; our hopes are the same.

That’s why when we read Scripture, we should read it as God speaking to us.  The eternal principles are the same because human beings are essentially the same.  And our need for a Savior is still the same.

We find that we are seeking God’s wisdom, the gifts of the Spirit, and the coming day of our Lord Jesus Christ, just as the Corinthians were.  So we might even experiment, and substitute our own church or our own names for those ancient Corinthians, and find this letter every bit as relevant today as they did!

RESPOND: 

At first, I am a bit intimidated by Paul’s greeting to these Corinthian Christians.  He refers to them as sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints.  Although I aspire to those qualities, I know my own limitations all too well.

But reading more deeply into the letter is also reassuring.  The same personalities, the same spiritual pride, the same sexual temptations, divorce, insensitivity to the dietary preferences of others, the same envy of the gifts of others, the same tendency to factionalism, were all just as present in that church as in our churches today.

Paul’s word to them, as to us, is aspirational — he is telling the Corinthians, as he tells us, that we are called to holiness and to be saints.  But we are also reminded that this holiness is the result of grace, not the prerequisite for receiving grace.

We are called to be saints, and therefore we:

call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ in every place.

And it is he who will confirm us to the end. 

Lord, thank you for calling us to be your people.  Thank you for calling us to be holy.  What you call us to be and to do only you can accomplish in us.  Finish what you have started in us, we pray. Amen.

PHOTO:
“Epistles of the Apostles” by Matthew Kirkland is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0 Generic license.

 

Gospel for May 16, 2021

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
John 17:6-19
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

This week’s lectionary readings do not focus on the Day of Ascension.

Ascension Day always falls on the Thursday forty days following Easter Sunday.

If you prefer to use the Day of Ascension Scripture for this Sunday, click here for “The Gospel for May 24, 2020”.

OBSERVE:

This passage in the Gospel of John has been called the High Priestly Prayer of Jesus.  This is a deeply intimate glimpse into his relationship with the Father. From John 14 to 16, he has been speaking to the disciples of the things of God; here he is speaking to his Father about his disciples. He is praying earnestly on their behalf.

Because of his own relationship with the Father, these disciples now also have a relationship with the Father because they have believed and obeyed Jesus.  Because they have accepted the testimony of the Son, they now know the Father as well.

And then the intercessory aspect of his prayer becomes very clear.  He isn’t praying for the world, he says.  Nor is he even praying for himself.  He is praying only for his friends.

The reason for this is that Jesus is leaving the world, and they will be staying behind; therefore he prays for their protection through the power of his own name.  In other words, because a name in the ancient world contained in it the identity of its bearer, he is saying “remember them for my sake.”  Or, if it isn’t too irreverent to put it this way, he has given the disciples authority by saying “When you need something from my Dad, just mention my name.”

Ultimately the goal is oneness, unity — between Father and Son, between the believers and God, and then among believers themselves.

He has protected his followers from harm up until now — although he makes a brief reference that can only be about Judas:

None of them is lost, except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.

He then makes an interesting series of comparisons and contrasts:

• Just as he has been hated by the world, so the disciples will be hated.
• Just as he is not of this world, so they are not of this world.
• As he is sanctified, so they are to be sanctified.
• As he is sent into the world, so they are to be sent into the world.

But if they are in the world, they are not be of the world, as the saying goes:

they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.

Nevertheless, although they don’t belong to this world, they are still to be in it:

I pray not that you would take them from the world, but that you would keep them from the evil one.

His prayer is that the Father will protect them in his absence, give them joy, and sanctify them by his truth.

APPLY:  

We know that the Scriptures tell us that Jesus has ascended into heaven and now prays for his church as our high priest.  So in a sense this High Priestly prayer still speaks to us and for us as believers today.

It is astounding that we find Jesus praying here wholeheartedly and passionately for his followers — he is the one who is about to cross over to the Mount of Olives, to be arrested in the darkness, and crucified the next day! Yet his thoughts are not of himself but of his friends!

We take comfort and strength in what he prays.  And we also receive guidance.

For example, what is our relationship to be like with the world to which he refers? Jesus says:

 The world hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.

The world is this present darkness, the culture which has been infected by the evil one.

We are to engage the world, but we are not to reflect the world’s values.

As you sent me into the world, even so I have sent them into the world.

This is consistent with Paul’s clear statement in Romans 12:2

 Don’t be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what is the good, well-pleasing, and perfect will of God.

This is the delicate balance of the Christian — not to curse the world and turn our backs on it, but to stay engaged and seek to win some to Christ — without allowing the world to draw us into its gravitational pull.

Jesus was accused of being a gluttonous man, and a drunkard; a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’  (Luke 7:34), because he hung out with such folks in an effort to reach them.  He made it quite clear that:

 Those who are healthy have no need for a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance (Mark 2:17).

The only way for a doctor to heal Ebola is to go into the ward with the patients.  The trick is for the doctor to be insulated from the effects of the disease by careful protocols.  So, Jesus is praying here that we as disciples will remain in the world, but will be uncontaminated by the world.  We have a mission to save the world, but not become the world!

And this is where Jesus’ prayer for our sanctification hits home.  Note that he doesn’t say we are sanctified by moralism, or by legalism.  We aren’t even sanctified by love, here.  That doesn’t mean that morals and law and love are irrelevant.  They are very relevant.  But he says this:

Sanctify them in your truth. Your word is truth.

In other words, the root and ground of holiness begins in discerning the revealed truth of God, which is found in his word.  As we study and apply his word — i.e., “trust and obey, for there’s no other way” as the old hymn says — then we are sanctified.

Isn’t that essentially what Paul means in Ephesians 5:25-27 when he says:

Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word,  and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless (NRSV).

So,  we are to go into the world as healers, without being infected by the world;  we are not to be affected by the world, but rather sanctified by the word of God.

RESPOND: 

I take Jesus’ prayer for his disciples personally.  I believe that as our High Priest, he continues to intercede for all who believe in him.  As Hebrews 7:24-25 says:

 But he, because he lives forever, has his priesthood unchangeable. Therefore he is also able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, seeing that he lives forever to make intercession for them.

And I would say that he continues to pray for the same things he prayed for in John 17:

• That we will be one with him and with one another.
• That we will be protected from the evil one.
• That we will be sanctified.

Speaking for myself, I especially need his prayers to be protected from the evil one even while still engaged in this world.

There are so many distractions, temptations, and confusions in this world that threaten to undo us — not all of them necessarily sinister or inherently evil, but all tending to bend us toward a “worldly” perspective.

I could cite the more dangerous temptations in our culture.  We know those all too well.  We can see them coming.  But there are also lures in our culture that seem good in themselves, but may present their own dangers.

For example — soccer, baseball, volleyball, and cheerleading offer good, solid opportunities for building character and teamwork, etc.  Unfortunately, good, solid, decent Christian families find themselves conflicted because these events are often scheduled on Sunday mornings. What has once been the Lord’s Day has become a prime day for aspiring young athletes.  The culture is winning that particular battle.

So — the prayer of Jesus that declares that his followers  are not of the world, even as I am not of the world — how does that apply to our Christian world today?  Where do we draw the boundary?

I find myself yearning ever more for the prayer of Jesus to be fulfilled in me:

Sanctify them in your truth. Your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, even so I have sent them into the world.

As I am sanctified by his word, then I will be equipped to be sent into the world on his behalf.

Lord, I am so profoundly grateful for your intercessions on my behalf.  You have revealed your truth to me, although I am still learning and growing.  Keep me united with you and with other believers.  Protect me from the evil one, and send me out into the world even as you protect me from its gravitational pull.  Sanctify me with the truth of your word.  Amen. 

 PHOTOS:
“Thy Word is Truth” by Charles Clegg is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic license.

Epistle for January 19, 2020

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
1 Corinthians 1:1-9
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

The Apostle Paul is writing a letter to a church that he knows well — he had helped establish the church in Corinth, and had accomplished significant ministry there  for a period of  one and a half years (Acts 18:1-17).  The introduction itself uses many of the conventions used in formal letters of the time, and transforms this  letter-writing style as a means of sharing the Gospel.

First, though, there is an intriguing detail in this introduction — Paul mentions his Christian brother Sosthenes who is apparently a co-author or at least a transcriber of the letter.  In Acts 18, we are reminded of Paul’s typical method of evangelization — whenever he visited a new city, he went to a synagogue and sought to persuade the Jews that their own Scriptures had been fulfilled by Jesus.  Paul himself was a practicing Jew.

The response to his message was received positively by some of the Jews — Crispus, the leader of the synagogue, was converted and baptized, along with his whole house (Acts 18:8).  Other Jews, and God-fearers ( God-fearers were Gentiles who had come to believe in the God of the Jews, but had not undergone circumcision) had also come to faith in Christ.  However, there were leaders of the synagogue who were offended by Paul’s message and complained to Gallio, the Roman proconsul.  Gallio wanted nothing to do with their arguments about theology, and curtly dismissed them (Acts 18:12-16).

This is where events become fascinating.  Gallio drives the Jews, including the defendant, Paul, away from his judgment seat.  This is what happens next:

Then all the Greeks laid hold on Sosthenes, the ruler of the synagogue, and beat him before the judgment seat. Gallio didn’t care about any of these things (Acts 18:17).

Who is this Sosthenes, and why are the Greeks beating him?  Is it because he is a Jew, or because he is a Jew who has converted to Christianity?  Is he the same Sosthenes named by Paul in this letter?  We don’t know for sure.  But the possibilities are intriguing.

One thing is very clear — Paul is reminding the Corinthian Christians of his own credentials as an apostle, and establishing his authority to interpret the Gospel and its message:

Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God…

His audience is the entire church at Corinth, which he defines as:

those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ in every place, both theirs and ours…

Already, we begin to see an expression of  his theology of grace.  The Corinthians are not sanctified (made holy) because of what they have done, but because of what Jesus has done.  They are called to be saints (to be holy) by Christ, and they are able to fulfill this calling because they have reciprocated by calling on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.  Jesus has called on them, and they in reply have called on Jesus!

His next phrase is a greeting that would have resonated with a reader of letters in that time:

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Secular letters might have said something like “Prosperity and peace be with you.”  Paul is including two key characteristics that are fruits of the Gospel of Jesus Christ:  grace and peace.  And Paul is clear that they come from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Note that he names God the Father and The Lord Jesus Christ as equal sources of this grace and peace. They are differentiated as persons, but they are nonetheless equal in status.  Jesus is Lord, which is usually interpreted as a description of God.  We have here evidence that will be used to explain the doctrine of the Trinity later in the church.  The Father and Jesus are equal and united in their purpose, and yet are differentiated as persons. Christians believe that God is one God in three persons.

In the next few verses, Paul outlines some of the themes that will appear in this letter to the Corinthians.

• Paul gives thanks for the grace of God given to them (v. 4), and grace is a consistent theme in all of his epistles.
• Paul alludes to an interest that the Corinthians have in eloquent speech and knowledge (v. 5), that Paul will elaborate on later in the letter (1 Corinthians 1:18 – 2:5). He knows that they are quite susceptible to eloquence and philosophy — as are many Greeks — but insists that the real enrichment of speech and knowledge come from the testimony of Christ.
• Paul also prays that they will lack no gift — which presages his rebuke of those who claim to have superior spiritual gifts, and his clear declaration that there are a variety of gifts that come from God and all are equally important to God (1 Corinthians 12).

And Paul doesn’t lose sight of the ultimate goal — that this practical letter, dealing with issues of divorce, diet and other matters, still focuses on the: 

revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ; who will also confirm you until the end, blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

This faith and this promise is grounded in the nature of God the Father and empowered through the work of his Son:

 God is faithful, through whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord.

APPLY:  

We do well to remember that this letter, like all the epistles in the New Testament, wasn’t written to us.  Paul’s readers were a part of his times and his culture; they would have understood the conventions and forms of  his letters; and they would have understood his references.  For one thing, the letters to the Corinthians appear to have been written in response to specific questions raised by these new Christians, and by the circumstances of their church and community.

However, the reason that this letter, like the others, are regarded as Scripture by the community of faith is because they do speak to us today.  Our needs and hungers are the same; our yearning for God is the same; our hopes are the same.

That’s why when we read Scripture, we should read it as God speaking to us.  The eternal principles are the same because human beings are essentially the same.  And our need for a Savior is still the same.

We find that we are seeking God’s wisdom, the gifts of the Spirit, and the coming day of our Lord Jesus Christ, just as the Corinthians were.  So we might even experiment, and substitute our own church or our own names for those ancient Corinthians, and find this letter every bit as relevant today as they did!

RESPOND: 

At first, I am a bit intimidated by Paul’s greeting to these Corinthian Christians.  He refers to them as sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints.  Although I aspire to those qualities, I know my own limitations all too well.

But reading more deeply into the letter is also reassuring.  The same personalities, the same spiritual pride, the same sexual temptations, divorce, insensitivity to the dietary preferences of others, the same envy of the gifts of others, the same tendency to factionalism, were all just as present in that church as in our churches today.

Paul’s word to them, as to us, is aspirational — he is telling the Corinthians, as he tells us, that we are called to holiness and to be saints.  But we are also reminded that this holiness is the result of grace, not the prerequisite for receiving grace.

We are called to be saints, and therefore we:

call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ in every place.

And it is he who will confirm us to the end. 

Lord, thank you for calling us to be your people.  Thank you for calling us to be holy.  What you call us to be and to do only you can accomplish in us.  Finish what you have started in us, we pray. Amen.

PHOTO:
“Epistles of the Apostles” by Matthew Kirkland is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0 Generic license.

 

Gospel for May 13, 2018

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
John 17:6-19
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

This week’s lectionary readings do not focus on the Day of Ascension.

Ascension Day always falls on the Thursday forty days following Easter Sunday.

If you prefer to use the Day of Ascension Scripture for this Sunday, click here for “The Gospel for May 28, 2017”.

OBSERVE:

This passage in the Gospel of John has been called the High Priestly Prayer of Jesus.  This is a deeply intimate glimpse into his relationship with the Father. From John 14 to 16, he has been speaking to the disciples of the things of God; here he is speaking to his Father about  his disciples. He is praying earnestly on their behalf.

Because of his own relationship with the Father, these disciples now also have a relationship with the Father because they have believed and obeyed Jesus.  Because they have accepted the testimony of the Son, they now know the Father as well.

And then the intercessory aspect of his prayer becomes very clear.  He isn’t praying for the world, he says.  Nor is he even praying for himself.  He is praying only for his friends.

The reason for this is that Jesus is leaving the world, and they will be staying behind; therefore he prays for their protection through the power of his own name.  In other words, because a name in the ancient world contained in it the identity of its bearer, he is saying “remember them for my sake.”  Or, if it isn’t too irreverent to put it this way, he has given the disciples authority by saying “When you need something from my Dad, just mention my name.”

Ultimately the goal is oneness, unity – between Father and Son,  between the believers and God, and then among believers themselves.

He has protected his followers from harm up until now – although he makes a brief reference that can only be about Judas:

None of them is lost, except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.

He then makes an interesting series of comparisons and contrasts:

• Just as he has been hated by the world, so the disciples will be hated.
• Just as he is not of this world, so they are not of this world.
• As he is sanctified, so they are to be sanctified.
• As he is sent into the world, so they are to be sent into the world.

But if they are in the world, they are not be of the world, as the saying goes:

they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.

Nevertheless, although they don’t belong to this world, they are still to be in it:

I pray not that you would take them from the world, but that you would keep them from the evil one.

His prayer is that the Father will protect them in his absence, give them joy, and sanctify them by his truth.

APPLY:  

We know that the Scriptures tell us that Jesus has ascended into heaven and now prays for his church as our high priest.  So in a sense this High Priestly prayer still speaks to us and for us as believers today.

It is astounding that we find Jesus praying here wholeheartedly and passionately for his followers — he is the one who is about to cross over to the Mount of Olives, to be arrested in the darkness, and crucified the next day! Yet his thoughts are not of himself but of his friends!

We take comfort and strength in what he prays.  And we also receive guidance.

For example, what is our relationship to be like with the world to which he refers? Jesus says:

 The world hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.

The world is this present darkness, the culture which has been infected by the evil one.

We are to engage the world, but we are not to reflect the world’s values.

As you sent me into the world, even so I have sent them into the world.

This is consistent with Paul’s clear statement in Romans 12:2

 Don’t be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what is the good, well-pleasing, and perfect will of God.

This is the delicate balance of the Christian — not to curse the world and turn our backs on it, but to stay engaged and seek to win some to Christ — without allowing the world to draw us into its gravitational pull.

Jesus was accused of being a gluttonous man, and a drunkard; a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’  (Luke 7:34), because he hung out with such folks in an effort to reach them.  He made it quite clear that:

 Those who are healthy have no need for a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance (Mark 2:17).

The only way for a doctor to heal Ebola is to go into the ward with the patients.  The trick is for the doctor to be insulated from the effects of the disease by careful protocols.  So, Jesus is praying here that we as disciples will remain in the world, but will be uncontaminated by the world.  We have a mission to save the world, but not become the world!

And this is where Jesus’ prayer for our sanctification hits home.  Note that he doesn’t say we are sanctified by moralism, or by legalism.  We aren’t even sanctified by love, here.  That doesn’t mean that morals and law and love are irrelevant.  They are very relevant.  But he says this:

Sanctify them in your truth. Your word is truth.

In other words, the root and ground of holiness begins in discerning the revealed truth of God, which is found in his word.  As we study and apply his word – i.e., “trust and obey, for there’s no other way” as the old hymn says  – then we are sanctified.

Isn’t that essentially what Paul means in Ephesians 5:25-27 when he says:

Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word,  and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless (NRSV).

So,  we are to go into the world as healers, without being infected by the world;  we are not to be affected  by the world, but rather sanctified by the word of God.

RESPOND: 

I take Jesus’ prayer for his disciples personally.  I believe that as our High Priest, he continues to intercede for all who believe in him.  As Hebrews 7:24-25 says:

 But he, because he lives forever, has his priesthood unchangeable. Therefore he is also able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, seeing that he lives forever to make intercession for them.

And I would say that he continues to pray for the same things he prayed for in John 17:

• That we will be one with him and with one another.
• That we will be protected from the evil one.
• That we will be sanctified.

Speaking for myself, I especially need his prayers to be protected from the evil one even while still engaged in this world.

There are so many distractions, temptations, and confusions in this world that threaten to undo us — not all of them necessarily sinister or inherently evil, but all tending to bend us toward a “worldly” perspective.

I could cite the more dangerous temptations in our culture.  We know those all too well.  We can see them coming.  But there are also lures in our culture that seem good in themselves, but may present their own dangers.

For example — soccer, baseball, volleyball, and cheerleading offer good, solid opportunities for building character and teamwork, etc.  Unfortunately, good, solid, decent Christian families find themselves conflicted because these events are often scheduled on Sunday mornings. What has once been the Lord’s Day has become a prime day for aspiring young athletes.  The culture is winning that particular battle.

So — the prayer of Jesus that declares that his followers  are not of the world, even as I am not of the world — how does that apply to our Christian world today?  Where do we draw the boundary?

I find myself yearning ever more for the prayer of Jesus to be fulfilled in me:

Sanctify them in your truth. Your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, even so I have sent them into the world.

As I am sanctified by his word, then I will be equipped to be sent into the world on his behalf.

Lord, I am so profoundly grateful for your intercessions on my behalf.  You have revealed your truth to me, although I am still learning and growing.  Keep me united with you and with other believers.  Protect me from the evil one, and send me out into the world even as you protect me from its gravitational pull.  Sanctify me with the truth of your word.  Amen. 

 PHOTOS:
“Thy Word is Truth” by Charles Clegg is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic license.

Epistle for October 8, 2017

START WITH SCRIPTURE:

Philippians 3:4-14

CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

Paul focuses on his own autobiography as a witness to the Gospel of grace that he proclaims.  In this passage we see through Paul’s  eyes his own transition from a self-righteous overachiever to a man completely dependent upon Christ.

He begins by demonstrating to the Philippians that he has a great personal resume, in purely human terms.  He has every reason to have confidence in the flesh if the goal of salvation is to be reached through human achievement.

The list he offers highlights his accomplishments as a highly committed, deeply  religious person:

circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; concerning the law, a Pharisee; concerning zeal, persecuting the assembly; concerning the righteousness which is in the law, found blameless.

His place in the Judaism of his day, regarded as the true faith of the Chosen People, was absolutely secure.  Not only had he received all the normal marks of an observant Jew — circumcision, a place in the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews — he was a member of the most exclusive religious “fraternity” of his day — the Pharisees.

To be a Pharisee was to be a part of a highly scrupulous group.  The word Pharisee means those who are set apart. They were renowned for their strict observance not only of the Law of Moses, but also of the Oral Law, that body of traditions, interpretations and applications that had been passed down by generations of rabbis.

Moreover, Paul’s zeal for his faith was so intense that he sought to root out those whom he regarded as heretics, this new Jewish sect that were called Christians.  His quest to rid the world of this threat led him to Damascus — and conversion!

Yet, Paul could honestly say that his devotion to the law of Moses was so impeccable that he was blameless.

However, compared to the glory and grace that Paul had come to know in Christ, his own accomplishments are meaningless to him:

However, I consider those things that were gain to me as a loss for Christ.  Yes most certainly, and I count all things to be a loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I suffered the loss of all things, and count them nothing but refuse, that I may gain Christ….

Note the three-fold reference to loss, which illustrates that Paul has given up all  of the achievements and credentials of his former life.  In comparison to knowing Christ, his long list of merits are mere trash.

Paul reiterates the core of his message of grace when he outlines his new aim, to be found in Christ:

not having a righteousness of my own, that which is of the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith.

Throughout his epistles, Paul has made it clear that it is impossible to establish one’s own righteousness by obedience to the law.  While the law is holy and just and good, the human capacity to fulfill the law invariably falls short.  Only by complete surrender through faith in Christ does the believer receive the:

righteousness from God based on faith.

Paul states clearly his own personal mission statement:

that I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, becoming conformed to his death;  if by any means I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.

This highlights an important aspect of Paul’s spirituality — that faith in Christ means identification with Christ’s cross and his resurrection.  We can see that very clearly in Galatians 2:19-20.

 For I, through the law, died to the law, that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I that live, but Christ living in me. That life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself up for me.

Nevertheless, Paul confesses his own deep humility, acknowledging that he is still in the process of growing when it comes to following Christ:

Not that I have already obtained, or am already made perfect; but I press on, if it is so that I may take hold of that for which also I was taken hold of by Christ Jesus. Brothers, I don’t regard myself as yet having taken hold, but one thing I do. Forgetting the things which are behind, and stretching forward to the things which are before, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

There are two key points that are striking here.

First, there is the paradox that Christ has already made Paul his own, yet there is a response still required in order for Paul to continue to make Christ his own.  Christ’s grace has already accepted Paul as he is.  But Paul is aware that identifying with Christ’s crucified and resurrected life requires that he press on to make it his own.

There  are several analogies that spring to mind — we are embraced by someone who loves us, but we also must embrace them in return if we are to experience the completion of affection.

But Paul’s own analogy brings us to the second point — Paul uses an athletic analogy to describe his spiritual journey:

Forgetting the things which are behind, and stretching forward to the things which are before, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

One can almost see the stadium and the runners as they are being cheered on by the crowds.  Paul runs his race so that he may cross the finish line and receive the ultimate prize.

So, the analogy prevails.  He has been selected for the “team” by the grace of Christ. It is time to forget those previous efforts of self-directed achievement that fell short of victory, without looking back.  And now he strives to excel in the spiritual contest with his utmost effort so that he may fulfill the high calling of Christ.

APPLY:  

Ours is an achievement-oriented society.  From our first report cards that our moms put on the refrigerator to the lists of awards and honors and degrees that follow our names in our resumes — we are hungry for recognition.

While this may be admirable and desirable from a human point of view for our resume building, this is not how we experience the glory of Christ.

Christ’s grace is available to all, from the president of the United States to the homeless woman pushing a shopping cart filled with her only possessions.

As Paul tells us, Christ has taken hold of us by grace.  He has already offered himself to us completely and without reserve.  He emptied himself of all but love, and offered his life on the cross so that he might raise us up with him.

What response should this elicit from us?  If we fully grasp what Christ has done for us, it inspires us to give all that we have and all that we are to follow him.  This is the path to sanctification.

We remember, however,  that even this striving toward the goal for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus is still not our accomplishment.  It is not something that we achieve, but rather something that we receive by grace.

As Paul reminds us in his paradoxical statement earlier in this letter to the Philippians:

work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.  For it is God who works in you both to will and to work, for his good pleasure. (Philippians 2:12-13).

No matter how intense our effort, how earnestly we press toward the goal, we are enabled to do so only by God who is at work in us.  That is why we are truly humble before God, who is the author and finisher of our salvation.

RESPOND: 

When I was a young man, I went to a Christian counselor concerning my depression.  He recommended a book that helped me to apply all of my theological training to my personal problems.

The book was The Search for Significance by Robert McGee.  I can sum up the message very simply — we are taught in our culture to base our self-worth on our performance and the opinions of others.  Our accomplishments and the opinions of others become the mirror in which we measure ourselves.

Unfortunately, even the most accomplished and most popular persons in the world, in their most honest moments, must accept that they fall short of perfection. The Gospel of Jesus Christ has nothing to say to those who do not accept that they are sinners.

The Gospel of grace tells us that we are already accepted for Christ’s sake.  We are loved.  There is nothing more that we need do in order to be more acceptable to God. Our acceptance by God is not based on our performance or the opinion of others. Christ has performed all that needs to be done for us to be reconciled to God. And Christ’s opinion of each of us is that we are worth dying for!

When I read McGee’s book, and began to apply its message in my own life, it liberated me from the effort to establish my own righteousness or to “prove” myself.

And, when I could accept that I was already accepted by Christ, I was free to give my very best effort to press on toward the life that he envisioned for me.

I had “made the team” already.  But now I didn’t want to simply sit on the bench.  I wanted to excel and perform at the highest level possible – not for my own sake but for Christ’s sake.  My motivation for obedience and excellence was no longer to bolster my ego or my resume, but gratitude for what Christ has done for me.

Our Lord, whatever I have accomplished is rubbish in comparison to the glory of knowing you through your death and resurrection.  I receive your grace with humble gratitude, and press on toward the goal of your high calling.  Amen. 

 PHOTOS:
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Epistle for January 15, 2017

START WITH SCRIPTURE:

1 Corinthians  1:1-9

CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

The Apostle Paul is writing a letter to a church that he knows well — he had helped establish the church in Corinth, and had accomplished significant ministry there  for a period of  one and a half years (Acts 18:1-17).  The introduction itself uses many of the conventions used in formal letters of the time, and transforms this  letter-writing style as a means of sharing the Gospel.

First, though, there is an intriguing detail in this introduction — Paul mentions his Christian brother Sosthenes who is apparently a co-author or at least a transcriber of the letter.  In Acts 18, we are reminded of Paul’s typical method of evangelization — whenever he visited a new city, he went to a synagogue and sought to persuade the Jews that their own Scriptures had been fulfilled by Jesus.  Paul himself was a practicing Jew.

The response to his message was received positively by some of the Jews — Crispus, the leader of the synagogue, was converted and baptized, along with his whole house (Acts 18:8).  Other Jews, and God-fearers ( God-fearers were Gentiles who had come to believe in the God of the Jews, but had not undergone circumcision) had also come to faith in Christ.  However, there were leaders of the synagogue who were offended by Paul’s message and complained to Gallio, the Roman proconsul.  Gallio wanted nothing to do with their arguments about theology, and curtly dismissed them (Acts 18:12-16).

This is where events become fascinating.  Gallio drives the Jews, including the defendant, Paul, away from his judgment seat.  This is what happens next:

Then all the Greeks laid hold on Sosthenes, the ruler of the synagogue, and beat him before the judgment seat. Gallio didn’t care about any of these things (Acts 18:17).

Who is this Sosthenes, and why are the Greeks beating him?  Is it because he is a Jew, or because he is a Jew who has converted to Christianity?  Is he the same Sosthenes named by Paul in this letter?  We don’t know for sure.  But the possibilities are intriguing.

One thing is very clear — Paul is reminding the Corinthian Christians of his own credentials as an apostle, and establishing his authority to interpret the Gospel and its message:

Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God…

His audience is the entire church at Corinth, which he defines as:

those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ in every place, both theirs and ours…

Already, we begin to see an expression of  his theology of grace.  The Corinthians are not sanctified (made holy) because of what they have done, but because of what Jesus has done.  They are called to be saints (to be holy) by Christ, and they are able to fulfill this calling because they have reciprocated by calling on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.  Jesus has called on them, and they in reply have called on Jesus!

His next phrase is a greeting that would have resonated with a reader of letters in that time:

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Secular letters might have said something like “Prosperity and peace be with you.”  Paul is including two key characteristics that are fruits of the Gospel of Jesus Christ:  grace and peace.  And Paul is clear that they come from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Note that he names God the Father and The Lord Jesus Christ as equal sources of this grace and peace. They are differentiated as persons, but they are nonetheless equal in status.  Jesus is Lord, which is usually interpreted as a description of God.  We have here evidence that will be used to explain the doctrine of the Trinity later in the church.  The Father and Jesus are equal and united in their purpose, and yet are differentiated as persons. Christians believe that God is one God in three persons.

In the next few verses, Paul outlines some of the themes that will appear in this letter to the Corinthians.

• Paul gives thanks for the grace of God given to them (v. 4), and grace is a consistent theme in all of his epistles.
• Paul alludes to an interest that the Corinthians have in eloquent speech and knowledge (v. 5), that Paul will elaborate on later in the letter (1 Corinthians 1:18 – 2:5). He knows that they are quite susceptible to eloquence and philosophy — as are many Greeks — but insists that the real enrichment of speech and knowledge come from the testimony of Christ.
• Paul also prays that they will lack no gift — which presages his rebuke of those who claim to have superior spiritual gifts, and his clear declaration that there are a variety of gifts that come from God and all are equally important to God (1 Corinthians 12).

And Paul doesn’t lose sight of the ultimate goal — that this practical letter, dealing with issues of divorce, diet and other matters, still focuses on the: 

revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ; who will also confirm you until the end, blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

This faith and this promise is grounded in the nature of God the Father and empowered through the work of his Son:

 God is faithful, through whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord.

APPLY:  

We do well to remember that this letter, like all the epistles in the New Testament, wasn’t written to us.  Paul’s readers were a part of his times and his culture; they would have understood the conventions and forms of  his letters; and they would have understood his references.  For one thing, the letters to the Corinthians appear to have been written in response to specific questions raised by these new Christians, and by the circumstances of their church and community.

However, the reason that this letter, like the others, are regarded as Scripture by the community of faith is because they do speak to us today.  Our needs and hungers are the same; our yearning for God is the same; our hopes are the same.

That’s why when we read Scripture, we should read it as God speaking to us.  The eternal principles are the same because human beings are essentially the same.  And our need for a Savior is still the same.

We find that we are seeking God’s wisdom, the gifts of the Spirit, and the coming day of our Lord Jesus Christ, just as the Corinthians were.  So we might even experiment, and substitute our own church or our own names for those ancient Corinthians, and find this letter every bit as relevant today as they did!

RESPOND: 

At first, I am a bit intimidated by Paul’s greeting to these Corinthian Christians.  He refers to them as sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints.  Although I aspire to those qualities, I know my own limitations all too well.

But reading more deeply into the letter is also reassuring.  The same personalities, the same spiritual pride, the same sexual temptations, divorce, insensitivity to the dietary preferences of others, the same envy of the gifts of others, the same tendency to factionalism, were all just as present in that church as in our churches today.

Paul’s word to them, as to us, is aspirational — he is telling the Corinthians, as he tells us, that we are called to holiness and to be saints.  But we are also reminded that this holiness is the result of grace, not the prerequisite for receiving grace.

We are called to be saints, and therefore we:

call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ in every place. 

And it is he who will confirm us to the end. 

Lord, thank you for calling us to be your people.  Thank you for calling us to be holy.  What you call us to be and to do only you can accomplish in us.  Finish what you have started in us, we pray. Amen.

PHOTO:
“Epistles of the Apostles” by Matthew Kirkland is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0 Generic license.