Wednesday, September 16, 2009
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We pray that you will use this devotional each day to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord. It will offer you fresh insights of the Bible and will be a wonderful tool in family devotion. ~Pastor John A. Raulerson
The Harbor
Before you read the Word, first ask the Holy Spirit to teach you, then meditate on what He is speaking to you. Read the comments of others and feel free to leave a comment, share a fresh insight or ask a question.
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- Daily Reading: Luke 23-24
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About Me
- Pastor Johnny
- Through grace I am a child of God and have the glorious privilege of serving His church. I am am blessed to be married to my high-school sweetheart, Wanda Sue, with whom I have three precious daughters.
I love this blog. Thanks for encouraging us to read through the Bible.
ReplyDeleteI love this thing too! And I probably should post more.
ReplyDeleteI find it astonishing that in v.34 of ch. 10 Jesus gives the gospel to His disciples, and immediately following James and John ask to sit in the highest seats in heaven.
And then when Jesus asks them if they go through what He will go through, they actually say yes. They seem very brash. At least they do to me, and He is still very patient with them also. There isn't really a rebuke anywhere over their requests. He just turns it into another moment to teach them something else. He is very patient, and the perfect teacher.
At the end of ch. 10 there is an encounter between Jesus and a blind man. The text describes him both as a blind man, but also as a beggar. As one that is blind he is in darkness. As a beggar he is one that is weak and lacking.
ReplyDeleteWithin this chapter Christ has already dealt with Pharisees, dealing with their pettiness. A reproof to those that wish to spend their time arguing and nitpicking over doctrine or laws, in order to find a reason to hate.
The rich young man, who sees himself as righteous, thinking he has kept all the laws. He calls Jesus good teacher not recognizing that He is God. For Christ tells Him, only God is good. But then tells Him that if He wishes to have eternal life, He must follow Him. Amazing how Christ will seek to remove those idols that lie nearest to your heart! He did not give easy passage to the young man, He did not manipulate nor lower the standard but made it more difficult, revealing that which hindered the young man. Jesus' evangelism techniques would fail by today's standards. And the text says that Jesus looked at him, loving him...
We are to deliver a true gospel, a hard gospel, one that shows forth the power of God not relying upon gimmicks or tricks. But we are to do with a heart full of compassion, looking upon those whom we talk to loving them. Not with pride, nor anger, or haughtiness, but with love.
After the rich young man, His disciples, after having foretold of His death and the resurrection, the most important events in the history of the universe, they're wondering where they will get to sit.
It's amazing how we might miss the forest for the trees. Or be so enamored with our works or rewards that we lose sight of the gospel, of the work of Christ, of His death upon that cursed tree and His triumphant resurrection leading to our justification and newness of life.
Yet we see Christ in all patience and kindness, withholding His chastening hand from His disciples. This time He chooses to warn them, to prepare them of what they will go through for His beautiful Name. Calling them to walk as He walked and will walk. To serve, with compassion, with joy, with delight in the Father for the joy set before us, and because of the work accomplished by the Son.
Part 2
ReplyDeleteAnd then we finally come to the beggar. The beggar is in darkness, just as we were. The beggar cries out to the Light of the world, with whom there is no variation nor shifting shadow.
The one in darkness crying out to Him who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen nor can see. For to cry out to the Son is to cry out to the Father, for they and the Holy Spirit are One, working together in perfect harmony.
Are we to suppose that that He who dwells in such light will ignore such a beggar? Our God is unapproachable let that be clear, but He has sent His Son as flesh, as we are. The Son has come to bring such beggars as us out of darkness, to become saints in light. But what is there for those that do not violently take hold of the kingdom?
The beggar does not listen to the world around him, he is not concerned with them, they think they can see. Son of David! Have mercy on me! What a cry! Are there not others who cry such at their salvation? When He first brought them out of darkness and opened up their eyes? But he does not stop, he cries out again for mercy, he will not quit.
Should we not still cry out for mercy also? Our eyes are not fully opened, the Light is within and our eyes can only handle so much. We must yearn for our eyes to be strengthened, so that we might behold greater degrees of the holiness of God!
The ESV translates his request as "Rabbi, let me recover my sight." The sovereignty of God is recognized by the beggar, He sees that it must be granted unto Him to have His eyes opened. Our God is sovereign, there are many that Jesus passes over, many. If Christ has opened your eyes, know that it is only because He has had mercy, not because it must be given or He is obligated.
The man did cry out make no mistake, and he did not quit, but it was Christ that chose to walk by Him. And it was Christ who answered Him, and it was Christ who opened His eyes. Our savior is kind and full of mercy.
That my eyes would be opened, that He would have mercy, that I might behold His beauty. Is there anything greater to gaze upon? How does television compare? Magazines? Movies? The beggar would be a full to burn his eyes out and become blind again, yet do we not waste our time looking upon those things that blind us? That harden our hearts to sin? That grieve the Spirit? He has called us out of darkness into His marvelous light, let us stay there. Take hope, He is merciful, recognize your sin, repent, and cry out to this Son of David.
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ReplyDeleteThe man in vs 17 in chapter 10 knelt down at the feet of Jesus. He recognized Jesus as having some sort of prominence and authority. He came to Jesus in humility, earnestness, zeal, and knelt down at Christ's feet, asking Him how to gain eternal life. The man believed Christ knew how to gain eternal life. He had some sort of trust and belief in Jesus in that he believed Jesus could tell him how to gain eternal life. The man seemed he desperately wanted eternal life, he seemed to desire it and have a zeal for it as he lowered himself to the dirt. He recognized Jesus as the One who would know. The apostle Paul writes in Romans 10 that his heart's desire and his prayer to God is for the salvation of the lost, particularly his kinsmen, the Jews. Paul prays for their salvation because they have a ZEAL for God, but do not know Him (vs 2). Get that; Paul prays for SALVATION of a people who have a ZEAL for God. One can have a zeal for God and still not be saved, still not truly know Him - frightening. Students can passionately learn the doctrines and all the theology - and still not know Him; pastors can earnestly serve their congregations day in and day out- and still not know Him; churchmen, laymen, can consistently teach the biblical truths to the brethren - and still not know Him; we can sing, we can feed the poor, we can know the doctrine well - we can even search the scriptures because we think that in them we have eternal life - but in reality we still do not know Him (John 5:39 - may we run to Jesus). There could be ones among us who have a desire for God - who want eternal life, but do not know God. May we examine ourselves. Jesus said to follow Him. Is that what we are doing. May this be a test for ourselves and others who claim to know Jesus.
ReplyDeleteTalking about the rich man: I wonder how many of us would consider the man blessed; if we were just looking from the outside, just seeing the man with all his possessions, not seeing the story, not seeing him reject Jesus, just seeing the man, would we consider him blessed? How about after reading the story - do we still consider him blessed. I would imagine just seeing the man we might would say he is blessed; after reading the narrative, we don't consider him blessed because none of that stuff mattered - he lost his life to gain the world. I wonder about our language when we come back from other countries on missions and say how blessed we are. Or we say we want our children to go to see how blessed they are. Blessed in what way? And does this mean that those people in the other countries are not blessed? We do imply this. When it comes down to it, the mindset behind "blessedness" in our particular framework boils down to comfort. This seems to be the consensus - whether one admits it or not, this is how we speak of it. We have air condition, toilets, nice comfortable furniture, refrigerators, cars, etc. Are we really blessed for having these things? Does being born in America mean we are automatically, inherently blessed? How so? Is it because we have more things, more comforts, more leisure, or what? In this narrative, the possessions are the man's curse. If we follow Jesus we will suffer. These things that we call blessings may not be so much blessing as we think, but may be a form of suffering. We come across so much foolishness every day, so much sin - from provocative images, pervasive idols of greed, selfishness, self-preservation - we have to suffer through these things and the daily comforts of our lives to actually live for Jesus as the bible calls us to live. With a humanistic worldview, yes - these possessions that this man had would be a blessing. With a biblical worldview- they were his curse; and with us, they may be a type of suffering in living for Christ. The more things we have, the greater responsibility we have to show that these things are not loves in our lives. I am very thankful for air condition and cars, and being able to go to the grocery store, but if any of my comforts become idols, become loves in my life and I serve them rather than Christ, may I immediately cut off the sin. Where is our eye pointed, where is our love? Is it in Christ and His fullness or in our possessions? What makes us a blessed people? Do we consider ourselves blessed by growing up in America because we have heard the gospel? This rich man heard the gospel - and he rejected it; is he more blessed because he heard it? I don't think so. We should be careful in how we consider ourselves blessed, and make sure it comes from a godly perspective and not a humanistic perspective; yet still giving thanks in all things. Where is your love? If you relish in your comforts and are not willing to get uncomfortable in following Christ, you cannot be His disciple (Luke 14:25-33). If your love is not first Jesus, purge yourself of your idols and follow Him.
ReplyDeleteOh, the backwards thinking of our time. The Lord makes very clear how we are to live and lead in this present time. He calls us to lead by being a servant. This is not fleshly! In fact your flesh hates to serve. Because true service must be accompanied with humility.
ReplyDeleteA few nights ago I was fixing a bowl of cereal and Easton unprompted opened the fidge and took out the milk and said, "here dad!" For a moment i was tempted to believe in aliens, and feared their abduction of my child. However, the day before Summer and Easton had talked about this very verse 43 and she was able to use this practical action of Easton to expain what Christ was talking about.
I must say this verse convicts me to think less like a ruler of the gentiles and lord leadership over people, my family included; and to think more like Christ in order to be a leader i must humble myself and serve like our Lord.