Jesus on the cross

If I began to sing "Amazing Grace, How sweet the sound..." you'd know how to continue and finish the phrase. Or if I began "For God so loved the..." you could finish the verse. Much in the same way, Israelites in the 1st century could do it, only WAY better. In cultures that don't have access to tons of books, and computers, cell phones, billboards and printed advertisements at every turn, the ability to retain information through oral tradition is astounding. Israelite children would all memorize the Torah..the brightest continued on to memorize scriptures all the way through to Malachi. In Matthew's and Mark's account of Jesus, while Jesus is on the cross, He begins the first line of Psalm 22

My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?

Those listening would have been able to finish out Jesus' thought without Him actually saying all the words out loud...it was a really common thing for Rabbis to do. Notice the second half of the psalm, after David talks about experiencing feelings of depression, let down, fear, and self doubt.

18They divided my garments among themselves, and they cast lots for my clothing. 19 But You, Lord, don’t be far away. My strength, come quickly to help me. 20 Deliver my life from the sword, my only life from the power of these dogs. 21 Save me from the mouth of the lion! You have rescued me from the horns of the wild oxen.
22 I will proclaim Your name to my brothers; I will praise You in the congregation. 23 You who fear Yahweh, praise Him! All you descendants of Jacob, honor Him! All you descendants of Israel, revere Him! 24 For He has not despised or detested the torment of the afflicted. He did not hide His face from him but listened when he cried to Him for help.
25 I will give praise in the great congregation because of You; I will fulfill my vows before those who fear You. 26 The humble will eat and be satisfied; those who seek the Lord will praise Him. May your hearts live forever!
27 All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord. All the families of the nations will bow down before You, 28 for kingship belongs to the Lord; He rules over the nations. 29 All who prosper on earth will eat and bow down; all those who go down to the dust will kneel before Him— even the one who cannot preserve his life. 30 Their descendants will serve Him; the next generation will be told about the Lord. 31 They will come and tell a people yet to be born about His righteousness— what He has done.

For me this shows the connection between Matthew and Mark hearing Jesus say "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?" and John remembering the last line of Psalm 22, Jesus saying "It is finished." How do you think we can better understand Jesus' thoughts and feelings on the cross in light of this?

Caller not Calling

A friend and great Bible teacher, Michael Bennett, last night spoke about John the Baptist and how we can look at his life to help us understand our own callings. I remember reading Erwin McManus' thoughts on John, and how John had this awesome calling to prepare the way for Jesus, then ends up in jail...wondering if he was wrong all along...and then gets beheaded. Its an intense picture about how our lives, with Jesus, are no longer ours to live...as Jesus sacrificed Himself for us, we've also died and been raised INTO Him. It's not ridiculous to say that God could ask you to do something radical, like for example give up all of your possessions,or move to a foreign country....or pray for your professor.
One thing that stuck out from these thoughts about John, was the encouragement to worship the Call-er not the Call-ing. Just like we might say worship the author not the book, or the Creator and not the Creation, there are many things seeking our attention and our worship. But those other things we worship leave us hungry and thirsty for more--we've all experienced that. But the beauty is that when we come to Jesus, we won't ever thirst again and we won't ever be hungry again. Yea. God is good to us.

F.A.I.T.H.--T

F...
A...
I...
Trust
H...

Trusting is another way to say having faith. I heard it a while back, our faith is not whether or not God exists, or whether or not Jesus lived, died and was resurrected... that's just pure fact. Did you know we have more documentary evidence for the resurrection of Jesus than we do for the murder of Julius Caesar? Theres actually more written evidence that Jesus lived than there is evidence that Julius Caesar lived. So if it isn't existence that we have trust in, what is it? Its the faith and trust to believe what God says. Much of it comes down to faith and trust in Jesus' words on the cross IT IS FINISHED.
When I think of praying for forgiveness of sins, and my own right relationship with God, I used to think I was appealing to God's sense of mercy. It was, "hopefully God is still patient and won't zap me this time I messed up" time and time again. I've heard it now said, and it makes more sense now, that when we pray for our right relationship with God, we are actually appealing to God's sense of justice. An example: If I were taken to court and found guilty of a crime...lets say robbery. What if, someone walks in from the back of the court room and says "Nope, I will actually take that punishment onto myself, I'll go to prison for him instead." The judge then sends the guy to jail and he serves out the sentence. It is not the judge's mercy that sends the other man to jail and keeps me free. If the judge were to later send me to jail that would be violating justice. Next time you pray for forgiveness, realize that you are TRUSTING in God's justice. Since it is finished, and the price has been paid, the penalty has been placed on Jesus, we no longer have anything left to do but to trust and place our faith in what was done on our behalf.

Following Jesus vs. Cargo Cult

I had never hear the term prior to a few days ago, "Cargo Cult." I found out it refers to people from islands, predominately in the South Pacific, who saw military personnel arrive on the islands and then receive cargo drops from airplanes. The natives believed that by recreating and doing everything the military did, the airplanes would arrive and drop cargo to them. The natives would dress in camoflauge, organize around camps, and even built runways for airplanes to land at. These natives beleived that by recreating everything, airplanes would arrive and drop off cargo to them. They simply saw what the others had did and did the exact same things, hoping to illicit the same response. What the natives didn't realize was that although they did everything right, saluted, built runways and dressed in camo -- they didn't have a connection to the source of the cargo.
Following Jesus isn't about getting all of the actions correct. Often we think in the same ways as the "Cargo Cults." If we do X, Y and Z then God will do A, B and C. That is a view of God that limits us and limits God. The beauty of following Jesus though, is that we have the connection to the source. The 'Cargo' so to speak, doesn't arrive because we go through the right actions and motions, but instead because that's what happens when you are connected to the source.

Jesus told them "I'm the bread you want"

^{John 6:32-35} Jesus said to them, “I assure you: Moses didn’t give you the bread from heaven, but My Father gives you the real bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is the One who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”

Then they said, “Sir, give us this bread always!”

“I am the bread of life,” Jesus told them. “No one who comes to Me will ever be hungry, and no one who believes in Me will ever be thirsty again.

Come to the person of Jesus, the One sent from heaven and you'll never need anything else. It's not come to church, not come to the bible, not come to small groups and missions trips...but come to the person of Jesus. ALL of those things are good, the gathering of God's people (church), the record and story of God and His people (the bible), discipleship, relationship and going to the ends of the earth to share Jesus. But at the center of it all is the fact that it is only in the person of God that we can be fulfilled. Its not something to earn, or something to attain, its a Father to know.

A way to view God

In Romans 4, Paul is explaining the implications of faith, and the implications of the family and inheritance of God. One way Paul refers to God, in verse 17, reveals something truly unique about our God. Paul refers to God as "the God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were."This is huge! God calls things that are not, as though they were. In other words....in God's view things that we can't understand or see, God understands them and sees them. Its for his very reason that by Jesus death on a cross, there is a victory. Where in human eyes we see death, and defeat--God proclaims victory. This is also why Jesus is able to say "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven." God flips our world upside down.
This is shown time and again throughout scripture--the way the world works is not the way God works. That's also why we can be entirely new, holy, blameless and pure, without really feeling all that different. The Bible teaches that you were crucified with Christ, and the old you has been put away. I don't really feel dead, but in God's Kingdom, He calls things that are not as though they were.
We also have to remember the power of God's speech, if God speaks something it comes into existence, just look at Genesis 1.

Healing from Imprisonment

Mike Erre last night, speaking about the nature of sexual sin and imprisonment,said that healing comes when you get sick and tired of giving in. Healing comes when you get sick and tired of hiding.

When he said that, I thought back to Adam in the garden--isn't that what we all do? We try and hide when we know we've messed up? Trust me from experience, when we finally stop hiding, when we finally say enough is enough I don't want to feel this guilt and this shame anymore....Jesus is right there to take it onto Himself. The beauty is the work has already been done, and the guilt and shame has already been paid for. God doesn't want you to have to go through that, and experience that perishing, that death--because He's already gone through it in your place. He offers the beautiful exchange program. God's gift to us is a new life--not as a result of our trying hard to stop or get it under control but as a result of what God does in us.