This morning I am reflecting on the story of the healing of a man who was born blind, found in John's Gospel, chapter 9. I have reflected on this story many times, and this morning I saw something I hadn't really seen before, concerning the Pharisees. Here are some of the verses from the story, starting with the healing, and following - John 9:6-15,18-21,24-27 NIV:
[6] "After saying this, he [Jesus] spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man's eyes. [7] “Go,” he told him, “wash in the Pool of Siloam” (this word means “Sent”). So the man went and washed, and came home seeing.
[8] His neighbors and those who had formerly seen him begging asked, “Isn't this the same man who used to sit and beg?”
[9] Some claimed that he was.
Others said, “No, he only looks like him.”
But he himself insisted, “I am the man.”
[10] “How then were your eyes opened?” they asked.
[11] He replied, “The man they call Jesus made some mud and put it on my eyes. He told me to go to Siloam and wash. So I went and washed, and then I could see.”
[12] “Where is this man?” they asked him. “I don't know,” he said.
[Section heading - the Pharisees investigate the healing]
[13] They brought to the Pharisees the man who had been blind. [14] Now the day on which Jesus had made the mud and opened the man's eyes was a Sabbath. [15] Therefore the Pharisees also asked him how he had received his sight.
“He put mud on my eyes,” the man replied, “and I washed, and now I see.”
[18] They still did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight until they sent for the man's parents.
[19] “Is this your son?” they asked. “Is this the one you say was born blind? How is it that now he can see?”
[20] “We know he is our son,” the parents answered, “and we know he was born blind. [21] But how he can see now, or who opened his eyes, we don't know. Ask him. He is of age; he will speak for himself.”
[24] A second time they summoned the man who had been blind. “Give glory to God by telling the truth,” they said. “We know this man is a sinner.”
[25] He replied, “Whether he is a sinner or not, I don't know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!”
[26] Then they asked him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?”
[27] He answered, “I have told you already and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become his disciples too?”
As I mentioned before, my focus this morning is on the Pharisees. They became engaged in this story, because people (apparently the man's neighbors and those who had seen him begging) brought the man to them. Apparently they were the experts, and these people were trying to understand how something like this would have happened.
I believe verse 18 is the critical juncture for, prior to speaking to the man's parents, the Pharisees didn't believe the whole story. Once they were confronted by the truth that man had indeed been born blind, then they had to figure out the how and why. So apparently, after talking to his parents the Pharisees now believed that he had been blind and now could see, so they had to backtrack and figure out how he was healed. The how was an answer that clearly confounded them, Jesus spit in the dirt and made mud and put it on the man's eyes. It was so confounding that they brought the man back a second time and asked him to tell his account once more. The whole focus on how he was healed related to the religious observance of the Sabbath, and making mud would be considered work, and was thus forbidden.
However, everyone knew that a miracle of this magnitude, could only be done by someone with God's power. The man himself said, "Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind. [33] If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.” (John 9:32-33 NIV).
They were trying to figure out why the man was healed by looking at how he was healed. They just couldn't wrap their heads around the fact that God, or one of God's servants, would ever break one of His rules or laws. They pretty much completely ignored his actual healing, and focused on the fact that Jesus did this simple loving act on the Sabbath. Talk about being blind! Looking directly at one who was healed of blindness, they couldn't see the miracle in front of their faces!
The spirit of religion has an amazing ability to blind us to the actual moves and works of God! We get so caught up in our own ideas, our own constructs of how God works, how the world works, or what is allowed in church or even outside of church, or whatever, that when we see God moving, we say it can't be Him, like we are some self-appointed experts on every way that God could possibly work. We have people of faith arguing these same basic things even today, for there are those that believe that God stopped doing miracles after the Apostles passed and anything that seems miraculous now, must be from the devil or must be fake, because God doesn't do miracles any more (according to them). We have those that claim any religious group who is experiencing miracles in their midst is clearly heretical, dangerous, and even cults. We have those that believe only in the rules of science (our own observations about how this complex world works) and say that anything outside those rules is fake or not possibly true, as if we have actually figured out everything. We see the Pharisees in this story ending up this investigation by throwing the man out - John 9:34 NIV: "To this they replied, “You were steeped in sin at birth; how dare you lecture us!” And they threw him out."
Paul, in his letters, spoke about this very issue on more than a few occasions. He was one who was schooled in all the wisdom of that age, a Pharisee by training, having studied under Gamaliel (Acts 22:3), and yet he saw the truth and recognized the inadequacy of what he had once believed. He wrote, "For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God's sight. As it is written: “He catches the wise in their craftiness” ( 1 Corinthians 3:19 NIV). Later, in his letter to the church in Philippi, he talked about forgetting all that he attained and had learned. Here is his expansion of that thought - Philippians 3:4-9 NIV:
[4].."though I myself have reasons for such confidence. If someone else thinks they have reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: [5] circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; [6] as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for righteousness based on the law, faultless."
[7] "But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. [8] What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ [9] and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ---the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith."
My encouragement this day is to check my heart and mind, my way of thinking, to make sure that I make room for God to move in ways I have never seen Him move before! I am encouraged to look at my limited perspective on all things and humbly admit that I don't know or understand everything! I am encouraged to recognize that God can do the impossible, the improbable, even the uncomfortable, and that I need to be ok with that. God sometimes offends our minds to get to our hearts.
In this story, Jesus wasn't willing to let His concern about religion get in the way of expressing His love and care for the blind man! He knew full well it was the sabbath and that people would get bent out of shape by His making mud on the sabbath. He knew the "mud-slinging" that would result from that simple act of love and provision. He revealed His heart for the man, and later caught up with him, that he might have real relationship - John 9:35-38 NIV:
[35] "Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and when he found him, he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”
[36] “Who is he, sir?” the man asked. “Tell me so that I may believe in him.”
[37] Jesus said, “You have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you.”
[38] Then the man said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him."
Lord, thank You for loving each of us individually and personally! Thank You for offending our minds to get to our hearts! Thank You for breaking through the man-made rules and boundaries and expressing Your absolute divinity, authority and power! Thank You for exposing spiritual blindness by healing this man of his physical blindness.
Amen!
Tuesday, May 28, 2019
Monday, May 13, 2019
God's Claim of Love On Us!
These verses from Paul's letter to the Romans sums up move of what I have been reflecting on lately, God's amazing Love for us! Here are the verses - Romans 8:31-35,37-39 NIV:
[31] "What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? [32] He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all---how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? [33] Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. [34] Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died---more than that, who was raised to life---is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. [35] Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?"
[37] "No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. [38] For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, [39] neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
As I was reflecting on these verses, I was thinking about how the Lord has chosen us, and predestined us, since before the world was created (Eph 1:4-5). He has a claim on us!
His claim is Love!
He Loves us, even when we were sinners, even before we were created, He Loves us!
He claims us, and He has redeemed us!
We are His possessions, in Love!
I could almost see that claim as a rope of love, as the anchor of our lives, even when we are lost and disobedient, even denying His existence, He never lets go of His claim on us. He is always holding onto the other end of that rope, He will never let go, and nothing and nobody can make Him let go.
Paul writes of this great mystery and gift in his letter to the Ephesians 1:3-14 NIV:
[3] "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. [4] For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love [5] he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will--- [6] to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. [7] In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace [8] that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding, [9] he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, [10] to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment---to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ."
[11] "In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, [12] in order that we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory. [13] And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, [14] who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession---to the praise of his glory."
Amen and Amen!
[31] "What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? [32] He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all---how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? [33] Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. [34] Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died---more than that, who was raised to life---is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. [35] Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?"
[37] "No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. [38] For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, [39] neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
As I was reflecting on these verses, I was thinking about how the Lord has chosen us, and predestined us, since before the world was created (Eph 1:4-5). He has a claim on us!
His claim is Love!
He Loves us, even when we were sinners, even before we were created, He Loves us!
He claims us, and He has redeemed us!
We are His possessions, in Love!
I could almost see that claim as a rope of love, as the anchor of our lives, even when we are lost and disobedient, even denying His existence, He never lets go of His claim on us. He is always holding onto the other end of that rope, He will never let go, and nothing and nobody can make Him let go.
Paul writes of this great mystery and gift in his letter to the Ephesians 1:3-14 NIV:
[3] "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. [4] For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love [5] he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will--- [6] to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. [7] In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace [8] that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding, [9] he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, [10] to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment---to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ."
[11] "In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, [12] in order that we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory. [13] And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, [14] who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession---to the praise of his glory."
Amen and Amen!
Sunday, May 12, 2019
The Spirit Without Limit!
This morning I was struck by the reality of these verses!
John 3:34-36 NIV:
[34] "For the one whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God gives the Spirit without limit. [35] The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in his hands. [36] Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on them."
I like that statement of Jesus, that God gives the Spirit without limit! What an unbelievable, but necessary truth! God limited Himself in Jesus taking on the Human form, but we hear of nothing of God limiting Himself, or taking on a nature as Holy Spirit. Thus the Holy Spirit in us, is the Holy Spirit! We are not walking around with an anemic, watered down Holy Spirit, reduced to man-size. No, we are walking around with the Holy Spirit,, member of the Trinity, living within us!
I am reminded of a scene from Thor Ragnarok, where Thor is being defeated and he has this encounter with his father, and his father says, "You are The God of Thunder, not Thor, bearer of the Hammer of thunder," or something like that. The point was prior to that Thor always depended on His hammer, but it was his true nature, that which was in Him, that was full of a God's power.
In the same way, but much greater, we have in us the Holy Spirit, yet we walk around like the weak humans we are, and barely see or experience this Holy Spirit without limit evident in our lives. Where are the miracles, signs and wonders, confirming signs of the Holy Spirit?? We must learn to walk in who we are, and in what we have been given!
Who are we?
Answer - sons and daughters of God!
What have we been given??
Answer - The Holy Spirit Without Limit!
Oh Lord, help me to fully understand this great gift that we have been given, Holy Spirit! Help me to walk in the fullness of who I am and what I have been given!
John 3:34-36 NIV:
[34] "For the one whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God gives the Spirit without limit. [35] The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in his hands. [36] Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on them."
I like that statement of Jesus, that God gives the Spirit without limit! What an unbelievable, but necessary truth! God limited Himself in Jesus taking on the Human form, but we hear of nothing of God limiting Himself, or taking on a nature as Holy Spirit. Thus the Holy Spirit in us, is the Holy Spirit! We are not walking around with an anemic, watered down Holy Spirit, reduced to man-size. No, we are walking around with the Holy Spirit,, member of the Trinity, living within us!
I am reminded of a scene from Thor Ragnarok, where Thor is being defeated and he has this encounter with his father, and his father says, "You are The God of Thunder, not Thor, bearer of the Hammer of thunder," or something like that. The point was prior to that Thor always depended on His hammer, but it was his true nature, that which was in Him, that was full of a God's power.
In the same way, but much greater, we have in us the Holy Spirit, yet we walk around like the weak humans we are, and barely see or experience this Holy Spirit without limit evident in our lives. Where are the miracles, signs and wonders, confirming signs of the Holy Spirit?? We must learn to walk in who we are, and in what we have been given!
Who are we?
Answer - sons and daughters of God!
What have we been given??
Answer - The Holy Spirit Without Limit!
Oh Lord, help me to fully understand this great gift that we have been given, Holy Spirit! Help me to walk in the fullness of who I am and what I have been given!
Saturday, May 11, 2019
Thoughts on New Wineskins
Recently I have been thinking about the new wineskins that Jesus spoke about in Matthew 9:14-17 NIV:
[14] "Then John's disciples came and asked him, “How is it that we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples do not fast?”
[15] Jesus answered, “How can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while he is with them? The time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast.
[16] “No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch will pull away from the garment, making the tear worse. [17] Neither do people pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.”
Now, Jesus was specifically speaking about some of the traditions of the religious. As I have understood this is also a good way to understand some of the changes that are required in the Body of Christ to engage the new generations, especially those like my kids age, where Church as we practiced and experienced it does not meet their needs. The new wineskin clearly has a flexibility required to allow for the expansion of the new wine. Jesus was speaking of a new age being birthed on the earth, and His message of the Gospel was the new wine.
Where I see new ages in the church begin is in Acts 10-15 when the Gentiles get added to the Body of Christ, and they don't have any of the structure or experience of the Covenant of the Law, and the Church leadership is asked to figure out what of the Law is kept, and it is a minimal list (See Acts 15). The Gospel of Jesus, while being spoken to the Jews, had a message that did not require the Law as a foundation.
Jesus spoke primarily about the Kingdom of God, and demonstrated this Kingdom reality, and His primary commands were to Love God (Luke 10:27) and Love one another (John 13:34). Although complimentary to the Law, these messages transcended the Law. God's Kingdom demonstrated His dominion over all, and His command to Love extended beyond just the Jew, to all mankind and the whole world (Acts 1:8).
This was new wine (This Gospel of the Kingdom of God, available through grace by faith), and the new wineskin was an Apostolic church focused on teaching, prayer, fellowship, the Lord's supper (Acts 2:42), and signs and wonders that demonstrated the reality of the Kingdom (Acts 2:43). The Apostles spoke and Holy Spirit confirmed their words (Mark 16:20 & Acts 14:3).
Somewhere along the way, this new wineskin of the Apostolic church got bottled into wine bottle, different shapes and sizes, but in general unmoving and inflexible. This was in part due to the need to clarify the Gospel, to set down the truth, to refute heresy, to bring correction, to record the Gospel as we now have it. In the same way that when first making wine at home, you don't use the same equipment that is used in the large vineyards and volume wine-making for consistency and purity, the new wine (Gospel) was easier to bottle and transport once it was codified and given its shape and boundaries. Once this occurred the church become more structured and hierarchical.
What we need these days are new wineskins, not new wine. The old wineskins of the hierarchical church are no longer meeting the needs of this new generation. In many ways, it seems we have lost much of the richness and personal uniqueness and application of the Gospel, replacing it with a recipe of tradition and ideas that can be ascribed to without real relationship.
The Gospel is, first of all, personal and relational, meant to birth new sons and daughters of God, new creations, co-heirs with Christ, representatives of God to the world, walking in the realities of the King's dominion, and the power of the Holy Spirit. We are meant to experience the progressive revelation of the Father's love and interaction in our lives, even as Abraham first experienced, for we are all children of the promise. We are called and chosen, and destined for great things, "world-changers" as Bill Johnson calls us. We are meant to walk in the authority of the Lord, as His representatives to a lost world. Our mission is a continuation of that which Jesus spoke in John 3:16-17 NIV: "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. [17] For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him."
Oh, that we would learn to live our lives in the fullness of the Gospel, and our relationship as God's sons and daughters. Lord, lead us to the new wineskins that are needed for these new generations.
Amen!
[14] "Then John's disciples came and asked him, “How is it that we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples do not fast?”
[15] Jesus answered, “How can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while he is with them? The time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast.
[16] “No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch will pull away from the garment, making the tear worse. [17] Neither do people pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.”
Now, Jesus was specifically speaking about some of the traditions of the religious. As I have understood this is also a good way to understand some of the changes that are required in the Body of Christ to engage the new generations, especially those like my kids age, where Church as we practiced and experienced it does not meet their needs. The new wineskin clearly has a flexibility required to allow for the expansion of the new wine. Jesus was speaking of a new age being birthed on the earth, and His message of the Gospel was the new wine.
Where I see new ages in the church begin is in Acts 10-15 when the Gentiles get added to the Body of Christ, and they don't have any of the structure or experience of the Covenant of the Law, and the Church leadership is asked to figure out what of the Law is kept, and it is a minimal list (See Acts 15). The Gospel of Jesus, while being spoken to the Jews, had a message that did not require the Law as a foundation.
Jesus spoke primarily about the Kingdom of God, and demonstrated this Kingdom reality, and His primary commands were to Love God (Luke 10:27) and Love one another (John 13:34). Although complimentary to the Law, these messages transcended the Law. God's Kingdom demonstrated His dominion over all, and His command to Love extended beyond just the Jew, to all mankind and the whole world (Acts 1:8).
This was new wine (This Gospel of the Kingdom of God, available through grace by faith), and the new wineskin was an Apostolic church focused on teaching, prayer, fellowship, the Lord's supper (Acts 2:42), and signs and wonders that demonstrated the reality of the Kingdom (Acts 2:43). The Apostles spoke and Holy Spirit confirmed their words (Mark 16:20 & Acts 14:3).
Somewhere along the way, this new wineskin of the Apostolic church got bottled into wine bottle, different shapes and sizes, but in general unmoving and inflexible. This was in part due to the need to clarify the Gospel, to set down the truth, to refute heresy, to bring correction, to record the Gospel as we now have it. In the same way that when first making wine at home, you don't use the same equipment that is used in the large vineyards and volume wine-making for consistency and purity, the new wine (Gospel) was easier to bottle and transport once it was codified and given its shape and boundaries. Once this occurred the church become more structured and hierarchical.
What we need these days are new wineskins, not new wine. The old wineskins of the hierarchical church are no longer meeting the needs of this new generation. In many ways, it seems we have lost much of the richness and personal uniqueness and application of the Gospel, replacing it with a recipe of tradition and ideas that can be ascribed to without real relationship.
The Gospel is, first of all, personal and relational, meant to birth new sons and daughters of God, new creations, co-heirs with Christ, representatives of God to the world, walking in the realities of the King's dominion, and the power of the Holy Spirit. We are meant to experience the progressive revelation of the Father's love and interaction in our lives, even as Abraham first experienced, for we are all children of the promise. We are called and chosen, and destined for great things, "world-changers" as Bill Johnson calls us. We are meant to walk in the authority of the Lord, as His representatives to a lost world. Our mission is a continuation of that which Jesus spoke in John 3:16-17 NIV: "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. [17] For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him."
Oh, that we would learn to live our lives in the fullness of the Gospel, and our relationship as God's sons and daughters. Lord, lead us to the new wineskins that are needed for these new generations.
Amen!
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