5/31/13

From Gary... It could happen to you


OK, it is a little hard to believe her, based on previous experience, but give her a chance.  She just might be truly willing to change- to turn her life around.  It can be done, because about 40 years ago, I did.  People laughed at me, made fun of me, even called me things like "Moses Ben Rose".  But God gave me the strength to somehow overcome my problems and life has been vastly different since then.  Here is an example from Scripture of someone who really changed- and it took awhile for people to accept it...

Acts, Chapter 9

 1 But Saul, still breathing threats and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest,  2 and asked for letters from him to the synagogues of Damascus, that if he found any who were of the Way, whether men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.  3 As he traveled, he got close to Damascus, and suddenly a light from the sky shone around him. 4 He fell on the earth, and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” 

  5  He said, “Who are you, Lord?” 

The Lord said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.   6  But rise up, and enter into the city, and you will be told what you must do.” 

  7  The men who traveled with him stood speechless, hearing the sound, but seeing no one.  8 Saul arose from the ground, and when his eyes were opened, he saw no one. They led him by the hand, and brought him into Damascus.  9 He was without sight for three days, and neither ate nor drank. 

  10  Now there was a certain disciple at Damascus named Ananias. The Lord said to him in a vision, “Ananias!” 

He said, “Behold, it’s me, Lord.” 

  11  The Lord said to him, “Arise, and go to the street which is called Straight, and inquire in the house of Judah for one named Saul, a man of Tarsus. For behold, he is praying,   12  and in a vision he has seen a man named Ananias coming in, and laying his hands on him, that he might receive his sight.” 

  13  But Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he did to your saints at Jerusalem. 14 Here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on your name.” 

  15  But the Lord said to him, “Go your way, for he is my chosen vessel to bear my name before the nations and kings, and the children of Israel.   16  For I will show him how many things he must suffer for my name’s sake.” 

  17  Ananias departed, and entered into the house. Laying his hands on him, he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord, who appeared to you on the road by which you came, has sent me, that you may receive your sight, and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” 18 Immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and he received his sight. He arose and was baptized.  19 He took food and was strengthened. Saul stayed several days with the disciples who were at Damascus.  20 Immediately in the synagogues he proclaimed the Christ, that he is the Son of God.  21 All who heard him were amazed, and said, “Isn’t this he who in Jerusalem made havoc of those who called on this name? And he had come here intending to bring them bound before the chief priests!” 

  22  But Saul increased more in strength, and confounded the Jews who lived at Damascus, proving that this is the Christ. 23 When many days were fulfilled, the Jews conspired together to kill him,  24 but their plot became known to Saul. They watched the gates both day and night that they might kill him,  25 but his disciples took him by night, and let him down through the wall, lowering him in a basket.  26 When Saul had come to Jerusalem, he tried to join himself to the disciples; but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he was a disciple.  27 But Barnabas took him, and brought him to the apostles, and declared to them how he had seen the Lord on the way, and that he had spoken to him, and how at Damascus he had preached boldly in the name of Jesus.

Paul changed, I believe it because the Bible tells me so.  And I believe it because I know it can happen.  Someone, a long time ago, used to say to me- If I even enter a church building it will fall on me.  He felt this way for a good reason- he had done some terrible things.  But God could have changed him if he was willing; he was not.  I was and am still malleable in the hands of the great physician. How about you, would the thought of people laughing at you deter you from following God to your fullest?  Think about it- anything is possible!!!

From Jim McGuiggan... The Word of the Cross


The Word of the Cross

The Corinthian church, made up mostly of Gentiles and some Jews knew they had come to God through Jesus Christ. Paul everywhere insists on that.
It wasn't that they didn't know it and admit it--it was that they didn't have a real understanding of how cutting the cross was. They didn't know (any more than we) how the way God made himself known in the cross of Christ subverted all other approaches to living and self-understanding.
Non-Christian Jews and Greeks rejected the crucified Christ. Their presuppositions became their view of reality and their view of reality led them to conclude something about a message of a crucified Messiah and a human dying on a cross to enable us to know God (or rather be known by God).
Jews sought signs that proved God was with them; the kind of signs they were used to in ancient times, the kind of signs that fitted in with their history and theology. When offered the sign of the crucified Christ they called it an insult.
Greeks looked at the young Jew dying on a tree as the way to knowing God and they called it "dumb".
In coming to Christ the Corinthian Christians said "no" to what the world said "yes" to and "yes" to what the world said "no" to. That should have meant they wouldn't be bringing their pre-Christ ways of judging into their "in Christ" relationships. But they did. In having (essentially) a Jewish (kind of Christ) or a Greek (kind of) Christ they were parceling Christ out; they were dividing him. "He appeals to us all by submitting to our cultural shaping" they seemed to be saying. "No," said Paul, "he appeals to us all by repudiating our cultures with their fixed ways of approaching God. He repudiates our 'wisdon' and 'power' and offers wisdom and power of a different order."
Paul wasn't absolutely opposed to "signs" or "wisdom" because he offered both (1 Cor 2:4,6; 2 Cor 12:12). He was opposed to boxing God in. (C.S. Lewis' The Silver Chair. In it Aslan gives Jill four signs but warns her that they won't look like what she has in mind so she must keep her eyes open.) To say this or that is the only way God will signify his presence, or that this or that wisdom won't compute well--that's to box him in with our presuppositions.
In discussing Liberal Protestantism, Alister McGrath (Mystery of the Cross, page 69) says, "Its exponents had unconsciously turned their cultural presuppositions into a view of reality which dictated what Jesus must have been like-on the basis of which they asserted that this was what Jesus was really like, this is what the real significance of Jesus was."
And their return to the "simple teachings" of Jesus Christ was a return to a Jesus stripped of all the creedal statments about him, it's a Christ stripped of dogma. He is, in some ways, more understandable, less mysterious, but he is less worthy of our trusting ourselves to him, he is less worthy of the trouble it takes to understand him. Forsyth knew the non-theological Christ is more popular, that he gets more applause, but he isn't mighty to save, he doesn't break us down and then recreate us. He gives us a tonic, a bit of inspiration, some assurance that we can truly follow in his steps. In short, he is like us, only very much better in every way. Truth is, Christ is precious to us in the ways he is like us but he in infinitely more precious to us in the ways that he is unlike us.
Jew and Greek judged the cross and found it lacking. Paul claimed the cross judged Jews and Greeks and found them lacking.
Liberal Protestantism's culture judged the cross and found it lacking, found it uncivilized, found it didn't fit into a humane way of looking at things, so they tamed it. They made it into something it wasn't--a straightforward moral pattern. They couldn't dismiss it right off as absurd or as fundamentally offensive (after all it was in the Bible), so they made it into an heroic deed we should all follow. Self-denial, self-sacrifice, heroism--all these "lessons" could be drawn from the cross, and God admired the response of Jesus. He admired it because he saw a gallant and incredibly good man showing us how to live; but it said nothing about the character or purposes of God. It confirmed our already existing views of the kind of God God was. And it wasn't really God's idea. A cross was a human invention, a cross was a symbol of man's capacity to torture another. The cross revealed sick humans; it revealed nothing about God! If anything, the cross repulsed God and wha! t he was able to salvage from the whole affair was Christ's heroic bearing of it. So the liberal view of things told us.
But the message of the cross isn't only a call to moral uprightness, it isn't only a pattern of how to live. To reduce it to that was one of the great errors of Protestant Liberalism and it looks no better on us than on them. We need to allow it its full programme (to the degree that we recognize it), we need to allow it its offence to reason and status quo religion.
We may reduce the word of the cross to: "We are to live humbly, self-sacrificially, keeping our commitments and treating one another with justice and mercy." All this is derivable from the cross, of course; but none of it offends the Jew, none of it appears stupid to a Greek. The OT and Greek moral teaching is filled with instruction and encouragement to live in these ways, but this is not the message of the cross. Paul has something more radical in mind when he addresses the Corinthians about the word of the cross. I'm not suggesting that we can get to the bottom of it but I am saying that reducing the cross to a call to certain forms of moral uprightness is to narrow it and lose its power and wisdom.
The word of the cross is supposed to offend. God meant it to expose as foolishness and disbelief the ways of humankind in their approach (or lack of approach) to him.
The cross is the peculiar, even unique way to "know" God. It's only there we can get a picture of who God is. See how Paul reworks the Shema in 1 Corinthians 8:5-6 which tells us our inherited doctrine of (Jewish) monotheism needed a Christological reframing.
Paul isn't saying that humans had to be agnostics before Jesus came on the scene, so when he claims that it is through the crucified Christ (the cross) that we know the wisdom and power of God he is speaking of a particular depth and kind of knowledge that comes only through that crucified Lord.
1 John 3:16 says, "This is how we know what love is..." How radical is that? Would John have denied the love of God prior to Christ's coming? Obviously not. Would he have said no one knew anything about the love of God prior to Christ's cross? That can't be true. He knew that God loved humanity and that many humans understood that God loved them, but he still wants to say, "This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us."

©2004 Jim McGuiggan. All materials are free to be copied and used as long as money is not being made.

Many thanks to brother Ed Healy, for allowing me to post from his website, the abiding word.com.

From Mark Copeland... Cursing And Cleansing


                          "THE GOSPEL OF MARK"

                    Cursing And Cleansing (11:12-19)

INTRODUCTION

1. In our previous study, we saw where Jesus and His disciples arrived
   in Jerusalem...
   a. Together with a large crowd coming to observe the Passover week
   b. With the first day of their visit (Sunday) beginning with the
      triumphal entry and ending with a quick visit to the temple - Mk 11:1-11

2. On the next day (Monday), two things occur which may seem out of
   character for Jesus...
   a. The cursing of the fig tree - Mk 11:12-14
   b. The cleansing of the temple - Mk 11:15-19

[The two may be related, so let’s consider them together beginning
with...]

I. THE CURSING OF THE FIG TREE

   A. THE NARRATIVE...
      1. Having spent the night in Bethany, Jesus and His disciples make
         their way back toward Jerusalem - Mk 11:11-12
      2. Hungry, Jesus sees a fig tree with leaves from a distance and
         approaches to see if there is anything on it - Mk 11:12-13
      3. There is nothing but leaves, Mark noting that it was not the
         season for figs - Mark 11:13
      4. In response, Jesus says to the tree, "Let no one eat fruit from
         you ever again" - Mk 11:14
      5. Mark commented that it was heard by His disciples - Mk 11:14

   B. SOME OBSERVATIONS...
      1. In Palestine fig trees produced crops of small edible buds in
         March followed by the appearance of large green leaves in early
         April. - Bible Knowledge Commentary
         a. This early green "fruit" (buds) was common food for local
            peasants - ibid.
         b. An absence of these buds despite the tree’s green foliage
            promising their presence indicated it would bear no fruit
            that year - ibid.
         c. Thus this fig tree gave the appearance of offering edible
            food, but did not
      2. The way in which Mark organizes his material in these verses
         (fig tree/cleansing of temple/fig tree) suggests a connection
         between the cleansing of the temple and the cursing of the fig
         tree - ESV Study Bible
      4. The incident of the fig tree both interprets the cleansing of
         the temple and is interpreted by the latter incident - New
         International Biblical Commentary (NIBC)
         a. Jesus’ disappointment with the fig tree is like his
            disappointment with Israel and the temple, her chief shrine
            - ibid.
         b. His judgment pronounced upon the tree is like the threat of
            God’s judgment soon to fall upon the city of Jerusalem,
            which Jesus’ words and actions in Mk 11:15-19 prefigure
            - ibid.
      5. The cursing of the tree (v. 14) is known as a prophetic
         sign-act, familiar to readers of the OT, an action in which a
         prophet demonstrates symbolically his message (e.g., Isa 20:1-6;
         Jer 13:1-11; 19:1-13; Ezek 4:1-15) - NIBC
      6. The act is not to be taken simply as a rash act of anger, but
         as a solemn prophetic word pronounced for the benefit of the
         disciples (and for the readers) - ibid.

[Seeing that the two events (the cursing of the fig tree and the
cleansing of the temple) appear related, let’s now look more closely
at...]

II. THE CLEANSING OF THE TEMPLE

   A. THE NARRATIVE...
      1. Jesus returns to Jerusalem and enters the temple - Mk 11:15-16
         a. Driving out those who bought and sold in the temple
         b. Overturning the tables of the money changers, the seats of
            those who sold doves
         c. Not allowing any to carry wares through the temple
      2. He teaches in the temple - Mk 11:17-18
         a. "Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of
            prayer for all nations’ ? But you have made it a ‘den of
            thieves.’" - cf. 1Ki 8:41-43; Isa 56:7
         b. The scribes and chief priests heard this and wanted to kill
            Him
         c. They feared Him, for all the people were astonished at His
            teaching
      3. At evening, He left the city, spending the night on Mt. Olivet
         - cf. Lk 21:37

   B. SOME OBSERVATIONS...
      1. The "temple" was the court of the Gentiles, an outer court
         where non-Jews were permitted
         a. Tables were set up to enable pilgrims to change their
            respective currencies into coins for the annual temple tax,
            as well as to purchase pigeons, lambs, oil, salt, etc., for
            various sin and thanksgiving sacrifices - ESV Study Bible
         b. The business activity turns the house of prayer into a den
            of robbers (Jer 7:11); Gentiles in particular were hindered
            by the temple commerce in the outer court - ibid.
      2. This may have been the second time Jesus cleansed the temple
         a. John records a similar incident at the beginning of Jesus’
            ministry - Jn 2:13-17
         b. Many commentators think it happened only once; but with
            Jesus’ zeal for His Father’s house, there is good reason to
            believe He did it twice
         c. The cleansing of the temple may have been to fulfill
            prophecy - Mal 3:1-3
      3. Was the act of cleansing the temple "out of character" for
         Jesus?  No!
         a. Jesus had been angry before, and would be again soon - cf.
            Mk 3:5; Mt 23:13-36
         b. Jesus was filled with righteous indignation, consistent with
            the qualities of deity - cf. Ro 2:4-6; 2Th 1:7-9
      4. It may helpful to remember...
         a. When it came to personal affront, Jesus bore it meekly - cf.
            Isa 53:7; 1Pe 2:23
         b. But when God or His temple were maligned, especially by
            hardhearted and self-righteous religious leaders, then
            Jesus acted with righteous indignation in defense of God’s
            honor
         c. We tend to defend selves rather than God, displaying
            self-righteous indignation

CONCLUSION

1. The moral and religious depravity of the religious leaders prompted
   Jesus’ actions

2. Both the cursing of the fig tree and the cleansing of the temple were
   prophetic sign acts that foretold the impending judgment upon the
   nation of Israel that would occur with the destruction of Jerusalem
   (fulfilled in 70 AD) - cf. Mk 13:1-2

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5/30/13

From Gary... Two things


Yet another photo from that photo-shoot Lizzie and I took some time ago.  I must say, I am pleasantly surprised at the quality of my little point-and-shoot camera.  This picture is important to me for two reasons. First, because of the bend in the road and second, because of the length of the shadows in the picture.  Seeing these things, I couldn't help but think of this chapter from the book of Matthew...

Matthew, Chapter 24

  1  Jesus went out from the temple, and was going on his way. His disciples came to him to show him the buildings of the temple.   2  But he answered them, “You see all of these things, don’t you? Most certainly I tell you, there will not be left here one stone on another, that will not be thrown down.” 

  3  As he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be? What is the sign of your coming, and of the end of the age?” 

  4  Jesus answered them, “Be careful that no one leads you astray.   5  For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will lead many astray.   6  You will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you aren’t troubled, for all this must happen, but the end is not yet.   7  For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; and there will be famines, plagues, and earthquakes in various places.   8  But all these things are the beginning of birth pains.   9  Then they will deliver you up to oppression, and will kill you. You will be hated by all of the nations for my name’s sake.   10  Then many will stumble, and will deliver up one another, and will hate one another.   11  Many false prophets will arise, and will lead many astray.   12 Because iniquity will be multiplied, the love of many will grow cold.   13  But he who endures to the end, the same will be saved.  14  This Good News of the Kingdom will be preached in the whole world for a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come. 

  15  “When, therefore, you see the abomination of desolation,  which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand),   16  then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.   17  Let him who is on the housetop not go down to take out things that are in his house.   18  Let him who is in the field not return back to get his clothes.   19  But woe to those who are with child and to nursing mothers in those days!   20  Pray that your flight will not be in the winter, nor on a Sabbath,   21  for then there will be great oppression, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, nor ever will be.   22  Unless those days had been shortened, no flesh would have been saved. But for the sake of the chosen ones, those days will be shortened. 

  23  “Then if any man tells you, ‘Behold, here is the Christ,’ or, ‘There,’ don’t believe it.   24  For there will arise false christs, and false prophets, and they will show great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the chosen ones. 

  25  “Behold, I have told you beforehand.   26  If therefore they tell you, ‘Behold, he is in the wilderness,’ don’t go out; ‘Behold, he is in the inner rooms,’ don’t believe it.   27  For as the lightning flashes from the east, and is seen even to the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.   28  For wherever the carcass is, there is where the vultures gather together.   29  But immediately after the oppression of those days, the sun will be darkened, the moon will not give its light, the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken;   30  and then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky. Then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory.   31  He will send out his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together his chosen ones from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other. 

  32  “Now from the fig tree learn this parable. When its branch has now become tender, and produces its leaves, you know that the summer is near.   33  Even so you also, when you see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.   34  Most certainly I tell you, this generation  will not pass away, until all these things are accomplished.   35  Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.   36  But no one knows of that day and hour, not even the angels of heaven, but my Father only. 

  37  “As the days of Noah were, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.   38  For as in those days which were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ship,   39  and they didn’t know until the flood came, and took them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.   40  Then two men will be in the field: one will be taken and one will be left;   41  two women grinding at the mill, one will be taken and one will be left.   42 Watch therefore, for you don’t know in what hour your Lord comes.   43  But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what watch of the night the thief was coming, he would have watched, and would not have allowed his house to be broken into.   44  Therefore also be ready, for in an hour that you don’t expect, the Son of Man will come. 


The question about the temple is important, but THE TEMPLE HAS BEEN DESTROYED.  For us, the second question is our focus here and verse 36 with verse 44 gives us what we need to know.  Only the father knows WHEN judgement will happen and only each of us really knows whether we are in a real state of readiness to meet our maker.  Just as we can't see around the bend in the picture, so we can't know the future, BUT we can get right with God and do it RIGHT NOW.  The day is late and the shadows are lengthening!!!

From Jim McGuiggan... The Tree of Knowledge


The Tree of Knowledge

The Corinthians for all their giftedness were missing the person and character of the God who had shown himself in and as Christ. Knowledge had become the centre-piece of their religion and by their intellectual ability they found themselves separated from the pagan world around them. Not really by Christ, you understand, but by their grasp of the truth about Christ. They had found truth; they had become knowing ones! But, in sinners, the capacity to know, and knowledge as its fruit, has the almost invariable effect of "puffing up" (8:1).
Their intellectual grasp had freed them from polytheism and other pagan superstitions but it was this very sense of freedom that was going to their heads. F.W. Robertson said:
"The real emancipation from false gods is reverence for the true God. For high knowledge is not negative, but positive; it is to be freed from the fear of the Many in order to adore and love the One. [in youth] the pride of intellect sustains us strongly; but a time comes when we feel terribly that the Tree of Knowledge is not the Tree of Life...Separate from love, the more we know, the profounder the mystery of life becomes; the more dreary and the more horrible becomes existence. I can conceive no dying hour more awful than that of one who has aspired to know instead of to love, and finds himself at last amidst a world of barren facts and lifeless theories, loving none and adoring nothing."
A man isn't getting to know God if the more he learns he more he leans on himself. An expanding stock of knowledge isn't the same as an expanding heart. True knowledge should increase the mystery of what is wondered at. This is true of God or a dandelion. If looking at a fluffy dandelion drives us to wonder, we ought to be casting a glance heavenward and wondering about the God who made the dandelion. We ought to have the experience of one boy who grew up and found:
As wider skies broke on his view,
God greatened in his growing mind,
Each year he dreamed his God anew,
And left his older God behind.


And how could someone know "there is no God but one; and there is one Lord Jesus" and still hold his brothers and sisters in contempt? Once they were all fellow-pagans, filled with ignorant superstition, self-service and happy immorality. Friends together in a great moral and spiritual darkness. Then they met God! The God who made himself known in and as the crucified One; and everything was filled with light. Caught up by grandeur of the message they joined it (not quite) as they would join a new school of thought. And when they discovered some of their brothers and sisters couldn't grasp the exalted concepts of one God and one Lord, they came to despise them. Through the cross (!) they learned to despise those for whom Christ died on the cross?
This whole section shows there were tensions and cracks in the fellowship between the "strong" and the "weak". The strong thought the stupidity of polytheism was obvious (compare 8:4) so the only thing for the weak was for the strong to teach them and for them to grow to be like the strong. In the meantime, not everyone had the freedom that comes with correct views (8:7).
These were weak in knowledge, but that's not the same as being weak in purpose to please God (compare Romans 14:6-8). If the strong, claiming to "know" God walk all over their weaker brothers and sisters to their destruction (8:11), they are despising and slaying those ignorant ones for whom Christ died. If that's the case, then who are the truly strong and weak? The cross is strength operating from the position of weakness. The cross is God siding with the weak. The cross says the weak are worth dying for. To act in opposition to that in the name of "knowing" God is not to know the God of the cross who died for the weak and ignorant (among whom the knowing ones were once numbered).
Jeremiah 9:24 (quoted twice by Paul in the Corinthian literature) says: "'Let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,' declares the Lord."
The job of the strong is to make the weak strong (no bad thing) but they wanted to carry it out from a position of power and strength rather than to become weak. "Make them come up; after all they're the ones with the problem, they're the weak and we are the strong. We have truth on our side." In this they refuse the pattern of the Christ who was crucified "in weakness" (2 Corinthians 13:4) and who in becoming weak became strong to carry out God's purpose. If He who knew God in completeness made the ultimate move toward weakness to gain the weak what does that say about the knowing ones who despise and isolate the weak and the ignorant?
Paul makes the point that because of Christ's example in showing us what knowing God means (1 Corinthians 11:1) the weak have veto power over our knowledge and the liberties that come from it.
Well, it isn't quite veto power over our knowledge, but veto power over some of the things we do with that greater knowledge (which is the potential for greater power). The needs and vulnerability of others places limits on our power and puts a fence around our liberties. The loveless heart that worships knowledge will resent such restraints, but the lover doesn't wish to be completely free.
Greater knowledge is not despised, nor is it ever consigned to oblivion. It is given a context it is knowledge "en Christo" and its purpose is to serve the God who has shown himself as the reconciler of the world in and as the crucified Christ, the one who identified with the weak.


©2004 Jim McGuiggan. All materials are free to be copied and used as long as money is not being made.

Many thanks to brother Ed Healy, for allowing me to post from his website, the abiding word.com.

From Mark Copeland... The Triumphal Entry


                          "THE GOSPEL OF MARK"

                     The Triumphal Entry (11:1-11)

INTRODUCTION

1. From chapter eleven forward, the events of Mark’s gospel take place
   in or near Jerusalem...
   a. From His triumphal entry to His resurrection from the dead
   b. Occurring within the time span of eight days

2. The first day is often remembered as "Palm Sunday"...
   a. In which Jesus made a triumphal entry into the city
   b. Accompanied by crowds who laid branches on the road before Him as
      He road into town on the colt of a donkey

[The significance of this event was not understood by His disciples
until later (Jn 12:16).  With the benefit of hindsight and further
revelation, let’s first take a closer look at...]

I. THE NARRATIVE

   A. THE PREPARATION...
      1. Jesus and His disciples draw near to Jerusalem - Mk 11:1
         a. By way of Bethany ("house of dates") and Bethphage ("house
            of unripe figs")
         b. Two small villages near the Mount of Olives between Jericho
            and Jerusalem
      2. Jesus arranges for two disciples to get a colt - Mk 11:1-3
         a. A colt on which no one sat
         b. By foreknowledge or previous arrangement, Jesus knows the
            owner will consent
      3. The disciples get the colt just as Jesus predicted - Mk 11:4-6

   B. THE TRIUMPHAL ENTRY...
      1. Jesus mounts the colt - Mk 11:7
         a. It is brought to Him, clothes placed on it, and He sits on
            it
         b. Matthew mentions two animals, likely the mother to calm the
            colt - Mt 21:2,7
      2. Many spread their cloths on the road, others cut leafy branches
         and place them on the road before Jesus on the colt - Mk 11:8
         a. The significance of the clothes placed before Him might be
            found in 2Ki 9:12-13
         b. John mentions palm branches - Jn 12:13
      3. Many praise Jesus as He rides the colt - Mk 11:9-10
         a. Crying "Hosanna!" ("Save!" or "please save!") - Ps 118:25
         b. "Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!" - Ps 118:26
         c. "Blessed is the kingdom of our father David that comes in
            the name of the Lord!"
         d. "Hosanna in the highest!"
      4. Jesus enters Jerusalem - Mk 11:11
         a. He goes straight to the temple, and looks around
         b. But the hour is late and so He does not stay

   C. THE RETURN TO BETHANY...
      1. Jesus returns to Bethany with the twelve - Mk 11:11
      2. Where He likely stays each night during the week (until the
         Passover)
      3. Likely at the home of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus - Jn 12:1-2

[With this brief look at the narrative, let’s offer...]

II. SOME OBSERVATIONS

   A. THE FULFILLMENT OF PROPHECY...
      1. Matthew explains that all this was in fulfillment of prophecy
         - Mt 21:4-5; Zech 9:9
      2. Some view the short visit to the temple as fulfilling prophecy
         - cf. Mal 3:1

   B. THE NATURE OF THE KINGDOM...
      1. The actions and words of the crowd reflect Messianic
         anticipation - Mk 11:10; Jn 12:12-13
      2. Earlier some had tried to force Jesus to become a king, but He
         refused - Jn 6:15
      3. Many were looking for the Messiah to be a physical king, but
         Jesus made it clear that His kingdom was not of this world
         (i.e., a spiritual kingdom)
         a. To the Pharisees - Lk 17:20-21
         b. To Pilate - Jn 18:36
      4. Paul made it clear that the kingdom was spiritual, not physical
         - Ro 14:17; 1Co 15:50
      5. Jesus’ selection of the colt indicated the spiritual nature of
         His kingdom
         a. Normally kings would ride on a horse, symbolizing war and
            power
         b. But the donkey symbolized peace, befitting the nature of His
            kingdom - cf. Isa 9:6

   C. THE PRAISE OF THE CROWD...
      1. How exciting it must have been on that day!  The anticipation!
         The joy!
      2. The praise of Christ reached eternal heights after His
         ascension - Re 5:8-14
      3. Today, we can join in the praise of Christ each Lord’s day!
      4. And we can look forward to praising Jesus when He returns, when
         we will be glorified together with Him! - 2Th 1:10

CONCLUSION

1. What a triumphal entry that will be when Jesus returns...!
   a. Not to offer Himself for sin, as He did with His first coming
   b. But to offer eternal salvation for those who believe! - He 9:27-28

2. But that will be a day of salvation for those who eagerly await
   Him...
   a. For others, it will be a day of condemnation - 2Th 1:7-9
   b. For others, it will be a day of destruction - ibid.

As we await His "triumphal entry" at the last day, let us faithfully
serve Him today in His spiritual kingdom of righteousness, joy, and
peace...!

      "Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the LORD!
             Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!"
                              Luke 19:38



Executable Outlines, Copyright © Mark A. Copeland, 2011

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5/29/13

From Gary... Lessons from Chipmunks


This morning I had a pleasant surprise.  When I sat down to the computer, there was an envelope on the keyboard.  When I opened it, I saw the image above on a card, with a "Love, Chip" at the bottom.  Chip is short for chipmunk; which is one of the pet names I gave my Linda while we were going steady in high school.  I looked around a bit and found this passage from the book of Ecclesiastes, which seemed to fit nicely...

Ecclesiastes, Chapter 9
 9 Live joyfully with the wife whom you love all the days of your life of vanity, which he has given you under the sun, all your days of vanity: for that is your portion in life, and in your labor in which you labor under the sun.  10 Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in Sheol, where you are going. 

It occurred to me that although the message is directed towards the husband in the relationship- it also applies to the wife as well.  And the verse following applies as too.  Enthusiasm after four years of going steady and forty-five years of marriage.  My guess is... we are doing OK!!!!   If you haven't given the one you love a card lately--- hummm... couldn't hurt!!!!!! 

PS.  I am supposed to be the one on the left (the larger one)

From Jim McGuiggan... The Cross and the Godhood of Jesus Christ


The Cross and the Godhood of Jesus Christ

In Euripides's Alcestis the Spartan king, Admetos, is to die unless he gets a substitute. His wife Alcestis becomes his substitute but the thought of losing her is driving Admetos crazy. Heracles (Hercules), son of the gods and a regular guest at Admetos's house comes to visit, learns of the situation and goes out and rescues her from Death.
The poet Robert Browning zeroes in on the reputation of Heracles as a helper of mankind against the forces that are too strong for it. He makes the point that this going to humanity's defence is one of the authenticating marks of genuine godhood. Here's how he puts it:
Gladness be with thee, Helper of our world! 
I think this is the authentic sign and seal 
Of Godship, that it ever waxes glad, 
And more glad, until gladness blossoms, bursts 
Into a rage to suffer for mankind, 
And recommence at sorrow: drops like seed 
After the blossom, ultimate of all. 
Say, does the seed scorn the earth and seek the sun? 
Surely it has no other end and aim 
Than to drop, once more die into the ground, 
Taste cold and darkness and oblivion there: 
And thence rise, tree-like to grow through pain to joy, 
More joy and most joy,-do man good again.

Browning lays hold not only on the theme of suffering to help humanity, he stresses the gladness of heart in which the enterprise is undertaken. It isn't a grim, reluctant, foot-dragging approach to the matter (Heracles "strode" off to effect the rescue). And it was "for the joy set before him" our Saviour despised the pain and loss barring his way.
As P.T. Forsyth insisted, the coming of God as the weak and wounded Jesus Christ is not only not surprising, it would be astonishing if he had not come in Jesus Christ in a rage to suffer on humanity's behalf. In this, Forsyth doesn't only have in mind the tender side of God, his gentle love and compassion though he does have that in mind; he's thinking of God's infinitely holy character. If God was moved in love, it was a holy love. Christ doesn't come simply blessing, being sweet, talking kindly and taking us in his loving arms—he comes sharing the suffering of the judgment that holiness must bring upon sin in order to deal with it!
The forgiveness of sins, the reconciliation of the world is achieved through love's judgment—the word of the cross says that!
And it had to be God's cross or it wouldn't be the love of God that worked the rescue. And it had to be a representative human in and through whom reconciliation was accomplished because a repentance worthy of the sin must come from humankind. In the cross Jesus repents for us. I don't mean he repents so that we don't have to—I mean what R.W. Moberly and McCleod Campbell have taught us, that he alone could give humanity a repentance which gives complete homage to the righteousness of God and to which we can (by faith in him) add our "amen" to his.
It was God and it was God in Christ who came to our rescue. The motivation for this coming/sending of God is that God "so loved the world" (John 3:16).
Not to be able to see that in the cross blinds us to the possibility of seeing it anywhere else in the world.
Would it make any difference to our suffering if we saw it as part of the saving process? If we saw it as part of the destiny of Christ in and through the "body of Christ" as they suffer for the rescue of humanity? What if you in your pain saw it as saying you are a co-worker with God in bringing the reconciling message to the world?
[Sufferers don't suffer alone, as if they were isolated units. They're shaped and enabled by the believing community and the faith, the gospel, that that community has lived out and proclaimed down the centuries. Specific members of the body bear the specific pain and loss to be endured but they don't suffer as independent units. In and through them the body suffers. But it is the body of Christ and in and through them the Christ continues to suffer on behalf of the world, making known his once-for-all atoning sacrifice to every generation. See Colossians 1:24 and 1 Peter 4:13, for example.]

©2004 Jim McGuiggan. All materials are free to be copied and used as long as money is not being made.

Many thanks to brother Ed Healy, for allowing me to post from his website, the abiding word.com.

From Mark Copeland... The Healing Of Blind Bartimaeus


                          "THE GOSPEL OF MARK"

               The Healing Of Blind Bartimaeus (10:46-52)

INTRODUCTION

1. As we continue our studies in the gospel of Mark...
   a. Jesus and His disciples are making their way toward Jerusalem
      - cf. Mk 10:32
   b. We now come to the last healing miracle described in the gospel of
      Mark - Mk 10:46-52

2. It involves the healing of a blind man near the city of Jericho...
   a. Identified by name as Bartimaeus
   b. Whose persistence, faith, and gratitude can serve as an example
      for us today

[Let's first take a closer look at...]

I. THE NARRATIVE

   A. THE SETTING...
      1. The city
         a. Mark reports that the miracle occurred on the way out of
            Jericho - Mk 10:46
         b. Luke says it occurred on the way to Jericho - Lk 18:35
         c. There were two Jerichos at the time of Jesus, about 15 miles
            NE of Jerusalem
         d. The old Jericho from the days of Joshua was mostly abandoned
         e. The new Jericho built by Herod the Great was an attractive
            city
         f. It may be the miracle occurred as Jesus was leaving one and
            heading to another - Expositor's Bible Commentary
      2. The crowd
         a. Included Jesus' disciples and a 'great multitude' - Mk 10:46
         b. The multitude was likely even greater because it was the
            time many Jews were on their way to Jerusalem observe the
            Passover
      3. The blind man
         a. Matthew reveals that there were actually two blind men- Mt 20:29-32
         b. Luke focuses his account on "a certain blind man" - Lk 18:35-43
         c. Mark does also, identifying him by name, Bartimaeus - Mk 10:46
         d. Bartimaeus sat by the road, begging - Mk 10:46

   B. THE MIRACLE...
      1. The desperate plea
         a. Learning that Jesus of Nazareth was walking by, Bartimaeus
            began to cry out
         b. "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!" - Mk 10:47
         c. Many sought to silence him, but he cried out all the more
         d. "Son of David, have mercy on me!" - Mk 10:48
      2. The gracious healing
         a. Jesus commanded for Bartimaeus to be called
         b. Some encourage him:  "Be of good cheer. Rise, He is calling
            you." - Mk 10:49
         c. He throws aside his outer garment (which might hinder his
            steps) and comes to Jesus - Mk 10:50
         d. Jesus asks Bartimaeus what he wants Him to do - Mk 10:51
         e. "Rabboni (Master, Teacher, cf. Jn 20:16), that I may receive
            my sight."
         f. Jesus' response:  "Go your way; your faith has made you
            well." - Mk 10:52
      3. The new disciple
         a. Immediately Bartimaeus receives his sight - Mk 10:52
         b. He follows Jesus on the road, glorifying God - cf. Lk 18:43

[The people that saw this miracle also praised God (Lk 18:43).  How
might we best praise God for such a miracle?  Perhaps by learning from
the example of blind Bartimaeus.  In that regard, here are...)

II. SOME OBSERVATIONS

   A. PERSISTENCE...
      1. Bartimaeus displayed persistence despite the efforts of others
         to silence him
      2. He exemplifies the truth of what Jesus taught about persistence
         - Mt 7:7-8
      3. Are we willing to be persistent in our prayers? - cf. Lk 18:1-8

   B. FAITH...
      1. Bartimaeus was healed because of his faith
      2. Similar to the woman healed of a flow of blood - Mk 5:34
      3. Do we have the faith to receive what is God's will for us?
         - cf. 1Jn 5:14

   C. GRATITUDE...
      1. Bartimaeus followed Jesus and glorified God
      2. Like the Samaritan leper, he expressed gratitude - Lk 17:12-19
      3. Do we express gratitude for the many blessings God gives us?
         - cf. 1Th 5:14

CONCLUSION

1. Bartimaeus, who many sought to silence, has much to teach us about...
   a. Persistence
   b. Faith
   c. Gratitude

2. May the healing of blind Bartimaeus serve to always remind us to...
   a. Persist in our requests to God
   b. Develop the faith necessary to receive such requests
   c. Never fail to express gratitude when God answers our prayers

Finally, note that Bartimaeus followed Jesus.  Are you willing to show
your gratitude to Jesus by following Him as His disciple, responding to
the gospel of Christ...? - Mt 28:18-20; Mk 16:15-16



Executable Outlines, Copyright © Mark A. Copeland, 2011

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