Bible Through the Year: Episode 52
Week 52 Devotion
This first epistle of John neither begins nor ends like your typical epistle. Normally, such letters begin with a typical greeting where the author makes himself known to a specified audience and will also include the specific circumstances which called for the letter to be written. Not so with John’s letters. He opens 1 John by drawing our attention to the glory of Jesus Christ as the eternal Son of God.
But it doesn’t take long for us to find out why John is writing. This is a letter of encouragement and reassurance, sent to a group of Christians who have been confused and discouraged by recent happenings in their assembly.[1] We know from the early church fathers that John was an Elder to the seven churches in Asia Minor that are all referred to in the Revelation. We also know that John was, prior to his exile, a pastor to the church in Ephesus, which was the intellectual center of Asia Minor.
We know that this letter was written late in the first century close to AD 90. and most commentators agree that John writes this letter to oppose a type of false teaching that Paul warned the Elders of Ephesus to watch out for. In Acts 20 Paul has called together the Elders of the church and warns them sternly to “Pay careful attention to yourselves and to the flock...I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you…and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things to draw away the disciples after them.”
John has been allowed by God’s grace to live to a ripe old age that he would be able to strengthen the churches in Asia to stand against the newest heresy and the false teachers who are spreading what amounts to a distortion of the true gospel. These false doctrines primarily denied the full deity and humanity of Christ and these false teachers were troubling to the church, because they had separated themselves from those whom they had formerly claimed to love.
John is writing to Christians who are discouraged, confused and likely broken hearted over the loss of those they trusted were true brothers. But, in the midst of their difficulty God calls upon this elderly apostle to write this letter to strengthen the church as the last living flesh and blood witness to the reality of Christ.
This week we will read Paul’s 2nd letter to Timothy which is a bold call for Timothy, and every minister of the gospel to persevere in spite of the suffering that will come for those who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus. This is one of Paul’s very last letters before he was martyred in Rome under Nero.
We will also be reading 2 Peter which was likely written while Peter was in Rome and it too is the last thing he wrote before his martyrdom.
Jude is a book that the author didn’t want to write and he says so in the opening of the letter. He wanted to write about a letter celebrating our common salvation but instead he felt it necessary to encourage the church to contend for the faith. The gospel was under attack and this letter was aimed to help the church defend it.
The last book that we will read this week is the book of the Revelation of John, literally the Apocalypse. With all that is going on in the world, including the spread of false teaching, the persecution of the church and the martyrdom of Christ’s apostles; the people of God need comfort and this Revelation is aimed to give that to them. This letter is written to show that God is in control of the events of human history and even the terrible things that are taking place in the world, will result in the growth of the church, the triumph of the gospel and the glory of God.
Something to discuss…
There are two things I want us to discuss as we read Johns’ letters and they are statements made about God. The first statement tells us that, “God is light and in Him there is no darkness.” What does this mean? Is this a statement about God’s physical glory, like the shekinah glory cloud that enveloped the temple? Or is this is a statement about God’s righteousness in contrast to the darkness of sin in the world?
I’m not 100% sure but I think the answer is…yes! God is light is a reference to His unique glory that shines so bright that we can’t look upon Him and live. It is a reference to the holiness of God that makes it impossible for man to come into His presence and survive. But this is also a moral statement and we know this is true because God’s light is something that we are called to walk in (I John 1:5-10).
John wants us to view our lives through the lens of God as light while all the world is in darkness. For the truly regenerate believer, the light that is God, has shone into our dark hearts making known the truth and beauty of Christ’s gospel; and now as those who have been called from darkness to light we are compelled by the glory of the light to walk in the narrow way that it illumines for us.
But there is another statement about God here and it is that, “God is love…” This is the message that we have heard from the beginning and it is a message that changes the way we live. God is love and His love has been shown to us through the fact that He sent His Son to die in our place. Christ came to be a tangible display of God’s great love and this truth is meant to not only change our hearts but also our lives.
Since God is love and has loved us, we ought to love God and love others. Love flows from the heart of God and into our hearts and then through our lives to touch the lives of others. The facts that God is light and that God is love are meant to change everything about us. So take some time this week to not only read about these truths but also discussing these truths with others. Discuss how God’s light and God’s love are good news for us but also discuss how God’s light and God’s love are good news through us.
Something to meditate on…
The Revelation (not “Revelations”) is perhaps the hardest book in the Bible to understand, but it is not intended to be difficult. This book makes some things incredibly clear but it does make use of some interesting literary devices along the way. This book falls into the category of Apocoplytic literature and this means that it makes us of highly imaginative symbolism to communicate its message.
There is no denying that this book is difficult to understand and I suggest you keep a good study bible on hand as you read, or even a good commentary. My favorite book on the Revelation is a book titled More Than Conquerors by William Hendriksen. It has helped me more than anything else to understand how to read the Revelation and how to understand its key message.
And what is the key message of the book? The purpose of the book is to comfort the church in its ongoing struggle against the forces of evil in the world. God wants to help us to have assurance that even when life is terrible, our prayers are heard and even our death for the sake of Christ will be precious in the sight of God.
But the theme of the book is the thing that brings the most comfort. The theme is that Christ and His bride, will have victory over the world, the flesh and the devil. Even when the world celebrates the seeming demise of God’s people, this book shows that their rejoicing is premature. In reality, it is the believer who triumphs because even in death we win.
The book closes with a picture of Christ’s final victory and the restoration of all things. Sin is removed. The world is remade. The enemy has been vanquished and God once again dwells in the midst of His people. The end of the book marks the beginning of eternity when all things are put right and we will live in the presence of God forever.
Something to pray about…
The letter of Jude (or Judah) starts by charging the church to contend for the faith. Along the way, Jude points out the problems that have crept into the church and he gives them instruction on how to address those problems. But toward the end of the letter Jude encourages his readers to pray.
He is warning the reader to remember the gospel and to avoid falsehood and then he writes:
V. 20 But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, 21 keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. 22 And have mercy on those who doubt; 23 save others by snatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh.
In our battle to stay faithful to Christ and the truth of the gospel there are some clear things that we must do. We must build ourselves up in the faith, studying the scriptures and growing in our knowledge of the truth. We are to keep ourselves in the love of God, waiting on his final mercy to be revealed. We are to show mercy to those who have doubts about the faith and we are even to snatch some of those doubters out of the fire.
But notice that a big part of our response to false teaching is prayer. All of these actions are to be couched in our active prayers in the Holy Spirit. So, while we are working, we are also praying that God is at work in us. Let’s not wait until things get hard, let’s pray now that the Spirit of God would build us up, grow our love, keep us in God’s mercy and enable us to lead those with weak faith into confidence in Christ.
[1] F.F. Bruce The First Epistle of John pg. 25
Bible Through the Year: Episode 51
Week 51 Devotion
This week we will continue to read the letters of Paul but we will also throw in a little variety by reading Peter’s first epistle and the book of Hebrews. We have a lot of ground to cover this week so I want to try and give a brief overview of each book that we are going to read starting with Philippians.
Philippi was a city that Paul visited because of a dream. In Acts 16 Paul had a dream about a man who was urging Paul to, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” Immediately, Paul, Silas, and Timothy made the arrangements to go to Macedonia to preach the gospel. Philippi was the leading city in the Macedonian region and it was home to a Roman colony that was filled with former soldiers, ex-Roman military officials who had retired and settled down in town.
But when Paul arrived bringing the gospel of Jesus Christ with him, the entire city was turned upside-down. A Church was planted and persecution was swirling around the new congregation of believers. Paul seems to have an intense love and appreciation for this church. In fact, this may have been his favorite church which is why his letter is filled with words of love, joy, and encouragement. He wants these Christian’s to live out their lives with great confidence that no matter what happens in this life, the one to come will be worth it.
Next, we will be reading 1 Timothy, which is one of the pastoral epistles, meaning that it was written to give instruction to Timothy on how to conduct himself as a shepherd/pastor of Christ’s sheep. In chapter 3 Paul actually tells us why he wrote this letter:
1 Tim 3:14 I hope to come to you soon, but I am writing these things to you so that, 15 if I delay, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of the truth.
Paul was hoping to give this information to Timothy face-to-face, but just in case that didn’t happen he wanted to make sure that Timothy knew what to do to help the church grow in faithfulness and love.
Titus is another one of the pastoral epistles of Paul written to help his friend Titus know how to lead the church in Crete. In this letter, Paul helps Titus understand the need to address the false teaching in the church and he helps him understand how to guide the people to live faithfully for Christ.
The last book that we will read this week is the book of Hebrews and it is one of the most important and most informative books in all of the Bible. It is perhaps, the best commentary that we have on the Old Testament because it helps us to see how Jesus fulfills and completes the promises and plans of the Old Covenant. The key word in this book is “better,” because Jesus is better than everything that came before him. He is better than the angels, better than the Mosaic law, better than the Old Covenant priesthood, and better than the Old Covenant sacrifices.
This letter was written to Jewish Christians who were struggling to find their place in the religious landscape. They had lived their entire lives in the old testament system and now that Christ has come all of that system has been rendered obsolete and they are wondering if Jesus really was/is the Messiah that they had been hoping for all their lives. The temptation is for them to go back to their old way of life, their old way of religious practice and this letter is helping them to understand just how much better Jesus is than the old way.
Something to discuss…
The first chapter of Paul’s 1st letter to Timothy majors on instruction for how to address false teachers within the church. In fact, the very first thing Paul says to Timothy after the opening greeting is a reminder to, “charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine than the stewardship from God that is by faith (v. 3-4).” If you keep reading through verse 11 of the first chapter and you will see that Paul is still pointing out the type of false teaching and false teachers that Timothy is responsible to correct.
But in the middle of this challenge is something you don’t expect. In verse 5, Paul gives Timothy a summary of how we ought to conduct ourselves as Christian ministers and it goes like this.
The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.
There are two ways we can view this verse: on the one hand Paul is using it to set up the standard for all of those who claim to be teachers. So, Timothy should be able to measure the teachers in the church with this statement and if they fall short they need to be charged not to teach. But there is a second way to read this verse and it is to see oneself as bound to this aim. In other words, Paul is giving Timothy instruction on how he is supposed to conduct himself in ministry and especially in the task of confronting false teachers.
There is a time for strong words when it comes to false teaching and there is a time for firm action as well, but the aim of our charge is always loved that issues from a pure heart, a good conscience, and a sincere faith. Love is a chief aim of pastoral ministry but isn’t this also a chief aim for the Christian life.
Even when we are addressing false teaching the aim is to love, the aim is not to win an argument but to win a heart. Yes, we want to correct but God wants us to do that in the context of love. Like Jesus, we are called to love even our enemies and to seek to win their hearts to the truth not just to win the argument over theology.
The point that I want you to discuss this week is how can we live as Christians with love as a chief aim in all of our relationships? How can we show love even when confrontation is called for? Why should we show love is a good question as well? What has Jesus taught us by example and by instruction about the scope of love that we should show to the various people in our lives?
Something to meditate on…
In Philippians 4:4-7 we read a familiar passage.
Phil 4:4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. 5 Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; 6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Now, remember that the main theme of this letter is an encouragement. Paul wants to encourage the Christians who are living under persecution in the city. He wants them to be filled with joy and so we see here in verse 4 that he calls them to rejoice. This is an imperative, which means that Paul is commanding them to rejoice, to express their joy to God.
But that is not the only command Paul gives them here. In these verses, we see three imperatives: Rejoice, Be Gentle or Reasonable and Don’t be anxious. Depending on how you look at this verse it can seem encouraging or it can be discouraging. If you read this and think that the way to get over the hardships of life is to simply muster up the strength to obey then, in the end, you might find this discouraging. I mean, if you are already lacking in strength how is it going to help you to try to be strong.
But if you read these verse a different way it can bring life into your struggle. Notice that Paul does not just say rejoice here, he says rejoice IN THE LORD. He does not just say be gentle, he says be gentle and then reminds us that the lord is at hand. He does not just say don’t be anxious, he says take your anxieties to God your father who loves you.
This is a critically important lesson for us to learn about our faith. The imperatives (commands) of the Christian life are rooted in the indicatives (Objective fact) of God’s work of redemption.
It's not rejoicing, or God’s going to get you, it's rejoicing because in Christ He’s already got you. Rejoice because you have been freed from sin’ guilt and power, rejoice because you have been brought near to God even though you were once far off. Rejoice, because you have been reconciled to God through faith in Jesus Christ.
It's not gentle because God sees and can’t wait for you to mess up so He can zap you. He wants to remind us to extend the grace and mercy of God that has already been shown to us. Or like it says in…
Ephesians 5:1-2 “Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children (not so you will be but because you are). 2 And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
Paul is not saying, “What’s wrong with you, why are you worried? Don’t you know God is in control?” Rather, there is a tenderness and encouragement here. This is a loving reminder that our cares and concerns shouldn’t pull us away from God but should cause us to draw near to God and to come boldly to His throne of Grace.
We need to let the truth of the gospel take deep root in our hearts. When we don’t feel his presence in our circumstance, we need to be reminded that He’s still there watching, protecting, encouraging and sustaining our lives. God wants to encourage us with these verses. He knows what you’re walking through, He knows how lonely you are, He knows how dark the horizon looks and he wants you to draw near to him for comfort and peace.
So, don’t just work yourself to death, or worry yourself to death…slow down, remember the cross and the love of God, come to the feet of Jesus and let his peace guard your heart and mind.
Something to pray about…
The motivation for prayer this week comes from Hebrews 4:14-16 where we read:
Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
The backstory on this passage has to do with the fact that within the Old Testament temple system, prayer was offered by a priest. On the day of Atonement, the high priest would enter into the Most Holy Place before the presence of God and that priest would offer up prayers on the behalf of the people. This happened once each year and only one priest, the high priest had the honor of bringing our prayers before God.
But with the coming of Christ, everything has changed. We no longer rely upon a human high priest and he no longer takes our prayers to God once a year. As it stands, Jesus is at the right hand of God and He serves as our great high priest. He is sitting at God’s right hand in this moment and He is ready at all times to intercede for us. He is constantly bringing our prayers before the Father.
So, what do we do? Well, we draw near with confidence trusting that when we pray we are heard. Trusting that when we pray, God is ready to give us mercy and grace. The throne of judgment has become a throne of grace and we have a ready High Priest who ever lives to take our prayers to God. So, let us pray with confidence to God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Bible Through the Year: Episode 50
Week 50 Devotion
This week we are reading Paul’s second letter to the church at Corinth and if we thought the first one was tough, this second one is at least two times as awkward. In the first letter, Paul was writing to help the church understand their lives as Christians through the lens of the gospel. The church had come to know Christ and had embraced the gospel in their minds but they compartmentalized how that gospel affected their day to day lives. So, for 16 chapters we read along as Paul defined the problem that the church was dealing with and he showed them how the gospel helped them to address those problems.
But here in the second letter, we come to understand that some people didn’t care for what Paul had to say in the first. It’s almost as if a number of people in the church at Corinth read Paul’s letter and decided that he just didn’t know what he was talking about and these folks made the situation in the church even worse than it was before. So, Paul decided to come and visit them in person and it wasn’t pretty. In 2 Corinthians 2:1, Paul refers to this as “The Painful Visit” because apparently, he had to address the sins in the church again.
Now, you would think that the first letter coupled with the face to face visit would be enough to get things on track, but it wasn’t. Paul wrote a second letter to the church that was painful for him to write but he wrote it to make clear to the church that Paul truly loved them as brothers and sister in Christ, but we do not have a copy of this second letter.
The only additional letter that we have is what we call 2 Corinthians which is actually Paul’s third letter to the church and in this letter, Paul is still trying to help the church sort through their lack of understanding the gospel. They still don’t understand the role of the gospel in the world and in their lives. They are still struggling with what amounts to a popularity contest among their church leaders and they have allowed all of their problems keep them from engaging in the mission of the church. We will talk about this in a minute.
The other book we will be reading in this week is the book of Romans and this is perhaps the most important letter in the entire world. Ray Ortlund writes,
What is the most important book in the universe? The Bible. Which is the most important part of the Bible? The New Testament. Which is the most important document within that New Testament? Paul’s letter to the Romans. Therefore, Paul’s letter to the Romans is the most important document in the universe. And we have it here in our hands, and in good English translation too! Amazing.
I don’t think this is an overstatement. Paul’s letter to the Romans is the clearest and most thorough explanation of the gospel of Jesus Christ in the New Testament, in the world and this week we are going to read chapters 1-10.
Something to meditate on…
Here are the opening lines of this incredible book…
Romans 1:1 Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, 2 which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, 3 concerning his Son
There are three things in these verses that I want us to meditate on this week and the first is that the central message of this letter and of the Christian faith is the Gospel of God. The word gospel simply means good news. It is good in that it communicates to us what God has done to forgive us of sin and to reconcile us to Him. And it is news in that it is not something that everyone intrinsically knows; it must be revealed, proclaimed, preached and shared with one person to another. So, Paul refers to the good news of the Christian faith as the Gospel of God.
Now this phrase, Gospel of God, is in the genitive case, it is a noun of possession, which means that this gospel belongs to God. This is not man’s gospel, this is not Paul’s gospel; it is God’s gospel. He planned it, He promised that it would take place, He carried it out, He accomplishes His purpose in it, and He has preserved it to this day; the gospel belongs to God. For years men have tampered with it, tried to change it, tried to dress it up and improve on it, they have even tried to stamp it out completely; but God has preserved the gospel because it is His, it has a divine author.
The second thing I want us to meditate on this week is that the central message of the Christian faith is the Gospel of God which He promised in the Scriptures.
The gospel message, though a mystery to earlier generations, has not been a secret. God has been pointing to it all along the way. When Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden, God pointed to one who would come in the future and crush the head of the serpent to bring an end to the rebellion and usher in an age of peace between God and man. When the sin of mankind covered the earth bringing about God’s judgment at the time of the flood; God used a boat to point us to the one who would come and carry us safely through judgment and deposit us into a new land of peace.
When God’s people were in captivity in Egypt; God pointed to Christ by showing them that they would be saved and delivered from captivity by the blood of a lamb. Through the prophets, God promised time and again that one would come to suffer in our place so that by his stripes we would be healed of sin. Every prophet throughout all of scripture has been pointing us to the good news of God’s rescue mission. This gospel was promised in the Scriptures.
The third thing I want us to meditate on is that the central message of the Christian faith is the Gospel of God which He promised in the Scriptures concerning His Son.
Ultimately the OT Prophets were not pointing us to a plan; they were pointing us to a person. They weren’t pointing us to a military strategy; they were pointing us to a divine hero. And when the time came the Son of God, Jesus Christ, was born in human flesh. The hero the world had been waiting for came to us through the line of God’s anointed King David.
Galatians 4:4-5 But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.
This is the essence of the Gospel message. This is the central truth of the Christian faith that our salvation does not rest in our performance before God but in the person and work of Jesus Christ. The good news is not that through the law you can free yourself from sin, nor is it that through grace you are free to sin. The good news is that by trusting in Christ you are free from the power of sin and from the guilt of the law. Jesus is the centerpiece of the Christian message, not our goodness. Jesus is the centerpiece because the only way that we can have peace with God through a perfect sacrifice and Jesus is that perfect sacrifice. Our only hope is Him.
Something to discuss…
In 2 Corinthians, Paul is still working to help the church understand some things about the Christian life and one of them is how Christ calls his people to engage in the mission of making disciples. Our Lord has commissioned us to bear the word/the message of our salvation to all the world.
2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. 20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal to us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.
Paul calls us ambassadors for Christ and this means that we are to live our lives in this world as representatives of Christ, armed with the message of Christ, and imploring/pleading with others through that message to be reconciled to God.
Our mission as the church is to preach Christ crucified. Our mission is not to build giant buildings becoming the biggest church in the city. Our purpose is not to entertain our culture in the hopes that they will like us and join our team. Our mission is not to ensure that we cater to our members by treating them like consumers that we have to please. Our mission is to represent Jesus, the one who gave his life to save us from God’s wrath, by proclaiming the gospel here and wherever we may go in this world.
Like Paul says in 1 Corinthians 1:22-24,
22 For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, 24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
Our mission as a church in this stage of redemptive history is, “We preach Christ crucified!” We preach the gospel, we share the gospel, we teach the gospel, we talk about the gospel, we sing the gospel as the only means by which men can be reconciled to God.
The church at Corinth was a church that had lost its grip on this mission. Corinth was a church that tried to make a whole host of secondary issues into the primary mission of the church. They had begun to make it their mission to have the best and most dynamic leader, but in the end, they were making idols out of mere men and the church suffered for it. They wanted to be accepted by the Roman culture so they began to celebrate deviant sexual behavior as though it was praiseworthy, and the result was that Paul rebuked them for celebrating something that even the Roman’s considered immoral.
The Corinthians elevated one issue after another to a position of primacy, saying this is our mission and this is our purpose; but in the end, they were immoral, idolatrous, immature and Paul rebuked them over and over. Why did this happen? Because they had lost sight of their mission? And Paul had to remind them, “We preach Christ crucified!” Don’t spend your energy fighting to look like the world. Don’t waste your time pursuing things that will not last. Spend yourselves in the ministry to which you have been called, “Preach the gospel.”
How many times have we seen this happen in the church? It starts out as a small thing but over time something other than the gospel takes center stage. It may be a new book, or a new teaching, or a ministry opportunity that has grown to the point that the church is defined by it and in the end, you have a church that has lost sight of the mission of making disciples.
Something to pray about…
Is there anything more important for us to pray about as a church than that we are engaged in the mission that God has given to us? Let’s take time this week and do just that. Let’s pray that God would burden us for the lost people in our lives. Let’s pray that God would help us to be bold to speak the truth about man’s sin and Christ’s love to those around us. Let’s pray for God to help us stay focused on our primary mission of making disciples rather than allowing us to spend all of our time on secondary pursuits.
Bible Through the Year: Episode 49
Week 49 Devotion
This week we are reading Paul’s second letter to the church at Corinth and if we thought the first one was tough, this second one is at least two times as awkward. In the first letter, Paul was writing to help the church understand their lives as Christians through the lens of the gospel. The church had come to know Christ and had embraced the gospel in their minds but they compartmentalized how that gospel affected their day to day lives. So, for 16 chapters we read along as Paul defined the problem that the church was dealing with and he showed them how the gospel helped them to address those problems.
But here in the second letter, we come to understand that some people didn’t care for what Paul had to say in the first. It’s almost as if a number of people in the church at Corinth read Paul’s letter and decided that he just didn’t know what he was talking about and these folks made the situation in the church even worse than it was before. So, Paul decided to come and visit them in person and it wasn’t pretty. In 2 Corinthians 2:1, Paul refers to this as “The Painful Visit” because apparently, he had to address the sins in the church again.
Now, you would think that the first letter coupled with the face to face visit would be enough to get things on track, but it wasn’t. Paul wrote a second letter to the church that was painful for him to write but he wrote it to make clear to the church that Paul truly loved them as brothers and sister in Christ, but we do not have a copy of this second letter.
The only additional letter that we have is what we call 2 Corinthians which is actually Paul’s third letter to the church and in this letter, Paul is still trying to help the church sort through their lack of understanding the gospel. They still don’t understand the role of the gospel in the world and in their lives. They are still struggling with what amounts to a popularity contest among their church leaders and they have allowed all of their problems keep them from engaging in the mission of the church. We will talk about this in a minute.
The other book we will be reading in this week is the book of Romans and this is perhaps the most important letter in the entire world. Ray Ortlund writes,
What is the most important book in the universe? The Bible. Which is the most important part of the Bible? The New Testament. Which is the most important document within that New Testament? Paul’s letter to the Romans. Therefore, Paul’s letter to the Romans is the most important document in the universe. And we have it here in our hands, and in good English translation too! Amazing.
I don’t think this is an overstatement. Paul’s letter to the Romans is the clearest and most thorough explanation of the gospel of Jesus Christ in the New Testament, in the world and this week we are going to read chapters 1-10.
Something to meditate on…
Here are the opening lines of this incredible book…
Romans 1:1 Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, 2 which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, 3 concerning his Son
There are three things in these verses that I want us to meditate on this week and the first is that the central message of this letter and of the Christian faith is the Gospel of God. The word gospel simply means good news. It is good in that it communicates to us what God has done to forgive us of sin and to reconcile us to Him. And it is news in that it is not something that everyone intrinsically knows; it must be revealed, proclaimed, preached and shared with one person to another. So, Paul refers to the good news of the Christian faith as the Gospel of God.
Now this phrase, Gospel of God, is in the genitive case, it is a noun of possession, which means that this gospel belongs to God. This is not man’s gospel, this is not Paul’s gospel; it is God’s gospel. He planned it, He promised that it would take place, He carried it out, He accomplishes His purpose in it, and He has preserved it to this day; the gospel belongs to God. For years men have tampered with it, tried to change it, tried to dress it up and improve on it, they have even tried to stamp it out completely; but God has preserved the gospel because it is His, it has a divine author.
The second thing I want us to meditate on this week is that the central message of the Christian faith is the Gospel of God which He promised in the Scriptures.
The gospel message, though a mystery to earlier generations, has not been a secret. God has been pointing to it all along the way. When Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden, God pointed to one who would come in the future and crush the head of the serpent to bring an end to the rebellion and usher in an age of peace between God and man. When the sin of mankind covered the earth bringing about God’s judgment at the time of the flood; God used a boat to point us to the one who would come and carry us safely through judgment and deposit us into a new land of peace.
When God’s people were in captivity in Egypt; God pointed to Christ by showing them that they would be saved and delivered from captivity by the blood of a lamb. Through the prophets, God promised time and again that one would come to suffer in our place so that by his stripes we would be healed of sin. Every prophet throughout all of scripture has been pointing us to the good news of God’s rescue mission. This gospel was promised in the Scriptures.
The third thing I want us to meditate on is that the central message of the Christian faith is the Gospel of God which He promised in the Scriptures concerning His Son.
Ultimately the OT Prophets were not pointing us to a plan; they were pointing us to a person. They weren’t pointing us to a military strategy; they were pointing us to a divine hero. And when the time came the Son of God, Jesus Christ, was born in human flesh. The hero the world had been waiting for came to us through the line of God’s anointed King David.
Galatians 4:4-5 But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.
This is the essence of the Gospel message. This is the central truth of the Christian faith that our salvation does not rest in our performance before God but in the person and work of Jesus Christ. The good news is not that through the law you can free yourself from sin, nor is it that through grace you are free to sin. The good news is that by trusting in Christ you are free from the power of sin and from the guilt of the law. Jesus is the centerpiece of the Christian message, not our goodness. Jesus is the centerpiece because the only way that we can have peace with God through a perfect sacrifice and Jesus is that perfect sacrifice. Our only hope is Him.
Something to discuss…
In 2 Corinthians, Paul is still working to help the church understand some things about the Christian life and one of them is how Christ calls his people to engage in the mission of making disciples. Our Lord has commissioned us to bear the word/the message of our salvation to all the world.
2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. 20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal to us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.
Paul calls us ambassadors for Christ and this means that we are to live our lives in this world as representatives of Christ, armed with the message of Christ, and imploring/pleading with others through that message to be reconciled to God.
Our mission as the church is to preach Christ crucified. Our mission is not to build giant buildings becoming the biggest church in the city. Our purpose is not to entertain our culture in the hopes that they will like us and join our team. Our mission is not to ensure that we cater to our members by treating them like consumers that we have to please. Our mission is to represent Jesus, the one who gave his life to save us from God’s wrath, by proclaiming the gospel here and wherever we may go in this world.
Like Paul says in 1 Corinthians 1:22-24,
22 For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, 24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
Our mission as a church in this stage of redemptive history is, “We preach Christ crucified!” We preach the gospel, we share the gospel, we teach the gospel, we talk about the gospel, we sing the gospel as the only means by which men can be reconciled to God.
The church at Corinth was a church that had lost its grip on this mission. Corinth was a church that tried to make a whole host of secondary issues into the primary mission of the church. They had begun to make it their mission to have the best and most dynamic leader, but in the end, they were making idols out of mere men and the church suffered for it. They wanted to be accepted by the Roman culture so they began to celebrate deviant sexual behavior as though it was praiseworthy, and the result was that Paul rebuked them for celebrating something that even the Roman’s considered immoral.
The Corinthians elevated one issue after another to a position of primacy, saying this is our mission and this is our purpose; but in the end, they were immoral, idolatrous, immature and Paul rebuked them over and over. Why did this happen? Because they had lost sight of their mission? And Paul had to remind them, “We preach Christ crucified!” Don’t spend your energy fighting to look like the world. Don’t waste your time pursuing things that will not last. Spend yourselves in the ministry to which you have been called, “Preach the gospel.”
How many times have we seen this happen in the church? It starts out as a small thing but over time something other than the gospel takes center stage. It may be a new book, or a new teaching, or a ministry opportunity that has grown to the point that the church is defined by it and in the end, you have a church that has lost sight of the mission of making disciples.
Something to pray about…
Is there anything more important for us to pray about as a church than that we are engaged in the mission that God has given to us? Let’s take time this week and do just that. Let’s pray that God would burden us for the lost people in our lives. Let’s pray that God would help us to be bold to speak the truth about man’s sin and Christ’s love to those around us. Let’s pray for God to help us stay focused on our primary mission of making disciples rather than allowing us to spend all of our time on secondary pursuits.
Bible Through the Year: Episode 48
Week 48 Devotion
This week we will once again be reading in the book of Acts, and this week we are going to see be able to zoom in on one of the cities that Paul and Silas come to as missionaries. As we begin Acts 17 we see Paul and Silas bring the gospel to the city of Thessalonica and while many people believe in Christ there are quite a few others who begin to attack the new believers in that city. The situation gets heated and Paul has to leave the city in the middle of the night.
Now that’s all we see in the book of Acts, but we will also be reading the 2 letters that Paul wrote to the church in that city and this helps us to get a complete picture of how the gospel not only changed the lives of these people but also gave them hope despite the persecution they were experiencing.
Next, we will be reading Paul’s letter to the church in the city of Corinth. In Acts 18 Paul arrived in this city and the same thing happens in this city. Some believed the gospel and some despised the gospel. Persecution broke out, Paul left the city to continue his missionary work and then he wrote several letters back to the church to help them grow in their understanding and application of the gospel.
We will finish our reading in Acts 19 where we see Paul spends some time in the city of Ephesus and you might have guessed that there are two responses to his ministry. Some believed the gospel and others despised the gospel and its messengers. In this case, a riot breaks out and once again Paul is forced to leave the city. But in his letter to the church, we learn more about them and more about the gospel as well.
Something to meditate on…
The city of Corinth was a major port city in the ancient world, which made it a center of both economic and religious influence. Paul came to Corinth in Acts 18 and when he arrived in the city he met Priscilla and Aquila, who not only believed in Jesus but also joined Paul on his later missionary journeys. Paul spent a year and a half in the city of Corinth and during that time He tried to share the gospel with the Jews, but in the end, he spent most of his time evangelizing the Gentiles.
It was great that these Gentiles were coming to trust in Christ but their pagan background proved to be a real problem for them. So after Paul left the city of Corinth he wrote several letters helping them to understand how the gospel of Jesus Christ impacted every part of life from how we view our leaders, to the questions about sex and sexuality, to food and church, and finally how we view the resurrection of Jesus and what life will be like in eternity.
In this letter, Paul follows a very simple pattern of defining the problem that the church has and then responding to how the gospel informs the issue. The main problem the church has is understanding how the gospel shapes every single part of our lives and what Paul does throughout the book is to show how these new Christians need to grow and mature in their faith. Over and over again, Paul uses the metaphor of physical maturity as a way to show the need for Christians to move away from spiritual childhood and into maturity as a follower of Christ.
Here are a few passages that show Paul’s use of this in the book:
1 Corinthians 3:1-2 So, brothers and sisters, I could not speak to you as spiritual people, but instead as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. 2 I fed you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready. In fact, you are still not ready,
1 Corinthians 13:11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. But when I became an adult, I set aside childish ways.
1 Corinthians 14:20 Brothers and sisters, do not be children in your thinking. Instead, be infants in evil, but in your thinking, be mature.
1 Corinthians 16:13 Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong.
So what’s the point? Well, I think one point that we can take away from 1 Corinthians is that each believer has the responsibility to grow in our faith. We aren’t called by God to remain like little children. We should have a childlike faith but not a childish faith. We need to grow in our understanding of who Christ is, of what He has done and how we should live in light of His gospel.
The gospel of Jesus is an announcement about Jesus and the new reality that He has opened up to us and we are personally called to trust in Him and to walk in obedience to Him. This means that you must take this responsibility upon yourself and move away from spiritual childhood and into spiritual maturity.
So, ask yourself these questions: What would you identify as areas of your life where you need to grow in your understanding and obedience to Christ? What specific doctrines or issues do you need to study so that you can have a better understanding? Where are you still struggling with sin and how can you equip yourself to address that sin with Scripture and maturity?
Now there are several ways that we can grow and they include things like prayer, Bible study, learning from other more mature Christians, and faithful participation in the local church. Maybe you need or desire more specific discipleship or mentoring. Maybe you should pick up a book on the subject (s) you have identified. Seek help in this task but understand that if you are a child of God, your Lord has called you to pursue growth in your life of faith.
Something to discuss…
There is so much that can be talked about as we read through the book of Acts, but this week I want us to discuss more of what we see taking place from the thousand-foot view. On the ground, we see the gospel spreading into people’s lives. We see Jews and Gentiles coming to faith, we see the church growing and spreading, we see persecution increasing in every city; but if we get up above the day to day movement of the gospel we see something amazing taking place.
We see the message of Jesus spreading throughout the earth. We see the Kingdom of God coming down on earth as it is in heaven. We see Jesus and the spirit and the church grew from a mustard seed into a tree where birds from all over the earth are finding a branch to make a nest. In just a few short years the disciples of Jesus have grown from being a small group of mostly-Jewish followers of Christ in the city of Jerusalem to be a multi-ethnic and international movement…and it is still spreading.
When the disciples were kicked out of Jerusalem they established Antioch as a base of operations and from there Paul and Silas went out on at least 3 missionary journeys. They took the gospel to Asia and Greece and before you know it the gospel will spread all the way to Rome. Christ said this would happen and it has.
The church remains to this day a spreading movement of Christ followers who share the good news in word and deed, who gather into multi-ethnic communities where all people are equal. Men and women, black and white, rich and poor, young and old are all precious in the sight of God and are called brothers and sisters in the family of God. This gospel is incredible and it continues in our own day.
So take some time as you read the details of the book of Acts, to back up and realize that God is changing the world through His gospel. He is creating a diverse community that the world has never seen and still can’t understand. Remember that you are part of this story and God has a chapter to write with your life.
Something to pray about…
One of the interesting things about Paul’s first letter to the church in Thessalonica is that each chapter concludes with the theme of the second coming of Christ (1:10; 2:19; 3:13; 4:17; 5:23). The theme of the Jesus’ return runs throughout this hope-filled letter, and this is an important theme for us as well. Sometimes Christian overemphasize the second coming but we can be just as guilty of under-emphasizing it as well. This letter helps us to remember and stay focused on the fact that Jesus is going to return to this earth one day and this not only gives us hope but also it means that we should live each day like it is our last.
Another theme in this book is that of prayer. In fact, there are three prayers that tie this whole book together. In chapter 1:1-5 we see Paul’s opening prayer of thanks to God for the faith, love and hope that these Christian’s have. Next in chapter 3:11-13 Paul prays that the believers would increase or grow in that love for one another, in their holiness and in their hope in the second coming of Jesus. Finally, in chapter 5:23-28 Paul prays for God to keep the believers blameless in soul and body as they await the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.
So, here’s what I want to encourage you to pray this week; pray through these passages and give thanks to God for how He has granted you faith in Christ, love for others and hope in Christ’s return. Pray that God would increase your love, your personal holiness and your hope in Christ’s return. Finally pray that God would keep you faithful, preserving your body and soul for the day of Christ’s return.
Bible Through the Year: Episode 47
Week 47 Devotion
This week we will continue reading the book of Acts, which is a continuation of the gospel of Luke. In fact, the books of Luke and Acts are really two parts of one unified story about what Jesus began to do and to teach (Luke) and what Jesus continued to do through His followers throughout the world (Acts). This is a fascinating book that shows how the gospel of Jesus spread from Jerusalem to Judea, from Judea to Samaria, and then to the very ends of the earth.
Next, we will be reading the book of James, who was the half-brother of Jesus and also the man who became a “pillar” in the church in Jerusalem. If you read the book of Acts chapters 12-15 you will see James in action and you will also read about his death at the hands of persecutors in Jerusalem. This book is heavily influenced by Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount and it serves as a strong encouragement for the followers of Jesus to live out their faith in very practical ways.
Finally, this week we will also be reading the book of Galatians which is one of the Apostles Paul’s letters to a church that is really struggling to keep the gospel of God’s free grace at the center of their faith. A problem has risen in this church and it comes in the form of a group of teachers who are teaching that in order to be the true people of God Gentile Christians must obey the Torah, especially the commands to be circumcised, to eat kosher and to keep the holy days. Paul writes this letter to make it clear that salvation comes to those who trust in Christ by faith and not by works of the law. He then explains one of the purposes of the law and helps the church understand how the Spirit brings transformation in the lives of God’s people
Something to meditate on…
The opening chapter of the book of Acts sets up our expectation of what we will read about in the chapters that follow. In chapter 1, Jesus is still with the Apostles and He has spent the last 40 days teaching them about the Kingdom of God but the time has come for Jesus to go back to the Father. Before He ascends back into Heaven, Jesus tells the apostles that they are about to receive the power that Jesus promised them.
In John 13-16, Jesus promised His friends that the day was coming when they would receive the Holy Spirit who would bring to their memory all the things that Jesus had taught them and would bring conviction of sin and righteousness to the world. But here in Acts 1 Jesus lets them know that the Holy Spirit is also going to give them the power they would need to accomplish their mission. They are going to bear witness to Jesus and His gospel in Jerusalem, then in Judea and Samaria, and finally to the very ends of the earth.
The gospel of the Kingdom is going to spread out and bear fruit in all the world. That’s what we see taking place in this book. The Holy Spirit falls on the day of Pentecost filling the followers of Jesus with power and with miraculous gifts. Those people who are filled with the Spirit begin to bear witness to the gospel and the peoples need of salvation through faith in Christ. When new people believe it not only changes their lives but it begins to also change the city where they live. This change makes some people glad but it also angers others and this leads to the church being persecuted. But this persecution doesn’t stop the preaching of the gospel it only serves to intensify it.
This is the story of the book of Acts and we will see this cycle take place over and over again until the end of the book. What began in Jerusalem with just a handful of Jewish Christians ends in the city of Rome where Paul awaits an audience with the Emperor. The book comes to a close with no real ending because there is no end in sight for the powerful spread of the gospel in the world. Our lives today are a continuation of the story that Luke began in the 1st century and God has called us to live out our part of the story as we allow the gospel to spread in and through us today.
Something to discuss…
The book of James is considered by many to be in the same tradition as the wisdom literature in the Old Testament because at times it reads like the Proverbs. In fact, it seems clear that the two main influences on James’ writings were the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus summary of the Torah, and the book of Proverbs.
But some have also worried that James might not be emphasizing the gospel of grace as clearly as other New Testament authors. Some have even suggested that James contradicts Paul’s message of justification by faith alone. But I don’t think the main burden of James’ letter is to develop our doctrine of sanctification, rather he is emphasizing how the gospel affects our lives. He isn’t focusing on gospel doctrine so much as he is focusing on living a life that bears the fruit of gospel transformation.
His point is not to convince us that we are saved by faith alone, but that real faith will never stand alone. Real faith works. It moves us. It changes us and gets us on our feet to fuel our love for God and for our neighbor. The gospel teaches us how to love others, how to care for the poor, the widows and the orphans. The gospel teaches us to value spiritual wealth more than material wealth. The gospel teaches us to guard our words, to mourn indwelling sin and to live each day like it is our last.
This short book is helping us to understand what it means for us to live as wholehearted, grace transformed followers of Jesus. This book doesn’t contradict the gospel of free grace, it complements it and shows us that true faith in Christ is the root that leads to fruit in our Christian life. Take some time this week to discuss how Jesus teaching in the Sermon on the Mount is influencing James’ writing. Discuss how genuine faith serves to motivate the kind of obedience that James is encouraging in this book.
Something to pray about…
The book of Galatians is the earliest letter of Paul and it shows us that it didn’t take long for legalism to become a real threat to the gospel in the churches. Paul begins this letter by voicing his astonishment that the Christians in Galatia have so quickly abandoned the gospel of salvation by grace alone. He spends the rest of the letter dismantling the legalism that is being promoted by those within the church.
In this book, Paul is going to help us understand one of the purposes of the law and he is going to help us to stop trusting in ourselves for salvation. Jesus alone can save us from sin and keep us in the favor of God.
We may think that we are beyond this kind of legalism but I don’t think we are completely free from it. Legalism lives in our hearts. It shows itself time and again. We are naturally bent toward the belief that in order for others to love us we must do something to earn that love. We are naturally bent to think that in order for God to love us, we must make ourselves lovable. But the gospel seeks to destroy the natural bent of our hearts.
The gospel teaches us that, “while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” The gospel tells us that God loved us before the foundation of the world. The gospel is a testimony to the fact that God’s love for us is not a response to our loveliness but is a product of God’s gracious and merciful heart.
As we read through the book of Galatians this week lets pray that God would let the authority, impact, and power of the gospel destroy the roots of legalism that live in us. Let’s pray that the grace of God would overwhelm our hearts again.
Bible Through the Year: Episode 46
Week 46 Devotion
This week we read the climax of the gospels, which also happens to be the climax of the entire Bible. This week we will look on as Jesus is betrayed, stands trial, receives the sentence of death, and suffers that sentence to finality. But the story of Jesus didn’t begin with His birth in Bethlehem and His story doesn’t end with His burial in Jerusalem. Three days after dying and being placed in a borrowed tomb, Jesus rose from the dead.
This week we are going to read about Jesus crucifixion, His death and burial, His triumphant resurrection and the mission that He has given to His disciples.
Something to meditate on from Luke 23:26-43…
With the trial over the only thing left to do is to carry out Jesus’ punishment and Luke chooses to leave out some of the details in how that took place. For instance, we see nothing about Jesus being scourged in Luke’s account but there is no doubt that it took place. Matthew, Mark, and John tell us that upon Pilate’s orders Jesus was scourged before being crucified.
The scourge was a particularly brutal form of flogging that consisted of a short wooden handled whip to which several leather straps were attached. These straps were often embedded with pieces of lead, brass or even bone so that when the thongs came into contact with the victim these pieces would pierce and grab the flesh and when pulled would cause terrible lacerations.
Scourging was often administered by two men (soldiers) who would stand on either side of the criminal whose hands were tied together and stretched over his head to expose his entire midsection to the abuse of the whip. The effect on the body was horrific and it was common for people to die from the scourge itself.
When Pilate’s soldiers finished scourging Jesus they took him into the Roman military barracks or Praetorium where they proceeded to mock him in front of an entire battalion of soldiers (600). They put a scarlet robe on his back, placed a crown of thorns on his head, and placed a wooden scepter in His hands and then knelt in front of Jesus mocking Him for claiming to be the King of the Jews.
Now that the soldiers have had their fun with Jesus they begin to lead Him away to Calvary’s Hill just outside the city gates. But Jesus weakened by the scourge is unable to carry His cross any further. The Roman practice was to place the crossbeam on the back of condemned criminals, a sign bearing their name and crime was hung around their neck, and they were made to walk to the place of their crucifixion. This was done to increase their humiliation.
But Jesus is too weak to finish the journey so the Roman soldiers seize Simon and place the cross on him. The fact that the soldiers make Simon finish the task is not a sign of mercy or pity for Jesus, instead, it shows that the Romans themselves wouldn’t think of carrying a criminal’s cross.
Crucifixion was a means of capital punishment used by Romans but they saw it as despicable as well. The very word crucifixion was hardly spoken of in polite Roman society. No one survived crucifixion. The purpose of the cross was a painful, agonizing and humiliating death, which would serve to deter others from committing similar crimes.
So why did Jesus, the Son of God, suffer and die on the cross? Jesus Christ died for our sins. Jesus didn’t die for His sin He died for our sins. He died in the place of sinners to pay the penalty that our sin deserved. He took our place and paid our debt. He became our substitute and the Lord has laid on Him the sin of us all (Is 53:6).
In God’s righteous judgment He has determined that the just penalty for sin is death and that without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins. And we are all sinners who have fallen short of the glory of God. Sin is any transgression of the law of God and we are guilty because we have sinned times without number. And our dilemma is this; there is no way that we can stop sinning and there is no way that we can possibly atone for our sins. Our sin condemns us before a holy and righteous God.
But Christ’s death upon this horrible cross means life for you and me.
2 Peter 2:24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds, you have been healed.
Christ died, not to pay the penalty for his own sin, but to pay the penalty for our sin.
What an end to the life of Christ. This man who turned the world upside down is dying on a Roman cross between two thieves. This man who wielded supernatural power has now yielded up His life to atone for our sin. This man who once debated and silenced the rulers has now refused to answer their insults. Behold, the silent Lamb of God who willingly gave His life and suffered so that we could be set free
Something to discuss from Luke 22:14-23…
Earlier in the week, Jesus made His entry into Jerusalem, not simply to eat the Passover lamb, but to be the True Passover Lamb. He has come into Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover not because He needs to be covered by the blood of a lamb, but because He is the lamb whose blood will save all of God’s people from judgment. But before He gives up His body and blood as a sacrifice He is going to celebrate with His friends one last time.
All the preparations have been made in the days leading up to this meal. The room was secured. The Passover lamb had been selected. The food has been prepared and now Jesus and the 12 have begun to take their seats around the table.
Jesus took the position of host at this table, which means that He is in the one who will lead them through this meal and teach them about the Passover events along the way. The Passover meal was a time when the people of God would look back and remember how God had delivered them from slavery in Egypt. It was a memorial meal designed to remind Israel of God’s mercy, God’s justice and God’s power.
The meal itself would be broken into 7 parts:
An opening prayer of Thanksgiving was offered by the Head of the house (host) and the first cup of wine was offered to those at table. Jesus does this in verses 17.
Bitter herbs were eaten as a reminder of the bitterness of Israel’s slavery in Egypt.
A child would ask, “Why is this night distinguished from all other nights?” and then the father or host would tell the Passover story.
Psalms 113 and 114 would be sung, the first part of the Hallel, and this would be followed by the washing of hands and the second cup would be passed.
The lamb was served together with unleavened bread and the backdrop of this meal was explained through Exodus 12-13, which describes the night of the Passover. The night when God sent the destroyer, the Jews were set apart because their homes were covered by the blood of the lamb. The unleavened bread was a reminder that they had to be ready to leave in haste the next morning.
The last thing to be eaten was the lamb and then the third cup would be passed.
Finally, they would sing again the last part of the Hallel (Psalm 115-118) and the fourth cup was served.
This is what Jesus and His disciples were set to do on this night. He reclined at table on this night after years of waiting and He led His disciples through the Passover meal, following the tradition of the Jews, but at certain points, he changed the script.
V. 19 And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, "This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me." 20 And likewise, the cup after they had eaten, saying, "This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood…”
Jesus broke script when He picked up a thin slice of unleavened bread and started to break it up and give it to His disciples. He told them that it was His body, a symbol of His body to remind them of His sacrifice. He told them that they were to do this, in the future, and when they do they are to remember Him.
He picked up the cup, the third cup, and he passed it to them telling them that this cup marked the New Covenant sealed by His blood.
In Matthew 26 we read this, “27 And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you, 28 for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.”
Jesus changes everything. Not only has he changed the Passover script; He has forever changed the way we understand the Passover. The lambs used in Egypt and for thousands of years after the Exodus where all pointing to One Final Lamb whose sacrifice would put an end to all sacrifice.
Heb 10:11 And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. 12 But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, 13 waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. 14 For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.
The Lord ’s Supper is for us a celebration of the completed work of Christ. The Supper is a reminder that a New Covenant has been struck between God and His people and it is secured by blood that cannot fail. The Supper is a memorial of the broken body and the shed blood of Jesus that purchased forgiveness and eternal life for all those who believe. Each time we eat the bread and drink this cup we remember the Lord Jesus Christ and we are reminded again of his sustaining grace.
Something to pray about from Matthew 26:36-46…
Even at the last hour, Jesus is still teaching us and this time He is teaching us how to pray in times of trouble. Here He tells them to pray that they may not enter into temptation. Pray for the enemy to be held at bay. Pray to the Father to keep you strong though temptation is present.
In the immediate context, Jesus is probably warning the disciples, especially Peter, against the coming threat of denying Christ and abandoning Him. If Peter was ever going to be serious about prayer it might be now since Jesus just told him that before the night is over he will deny the Lord three times. But this has little impact on the disciples and before long they fall asleep.
But in the overarching context of the Christian life, there is a need for us to pray to the Father to keep us from temptation. We need help to live by faith and our help comes from the Lord. Yes, there is a need for us to be wise as we face trials. Yes, there is a need for us to have counselors and accountability as we face temptations, but there is an even greater need for us to pray for God to protect us, to help us and to keep us from temptation.
We see an example of this in Jesus’ own prayer.
“Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.”
The temptation is to find an easier route. The temptation is to give in to fear and to abandon the cross, but at the same time Jesus asks for the strength to submit Himself to the Father’s will. In this prayer Jesus asks for two things: 1. Remove this cup from me, 2. Let Your will be done. Jesus is open and completely honest with God. He made His desires known, but in the end, He is absolutely committed to the Father’s will.
Oh, that we might grow to such godly confidence and selfless love that we will abandon our own comfort for the sake of God’s will and the good of others. Dear Christian don’t, fall asleep when temptation is crouching at the door, but stay awake and pray. Cry out for God’s protection.