5/26/13

From Gary... Too close to home for comfort


Have you ever tried to understand something so hard that your effort actually prevented you from seeing the answer? Well, this picture is an example of just such a thing!  Its funny because you just know that it is genuine, due to the fact that this child is just too young to be acting.  The older I get, the more I like humor and have grown to appreciate  how Jesus approached things.  Just consider this passage from the book of Matthew for instance...

Matthew, Chapter 7
 1  “Don’t judge, so that you won’t be judged.   2  For with whatever judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with whatever measure you measure, it will be measured to you.   3  Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but don’t consider the beam that is in your own eye?   4  Or how will you tell your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye;’ and behold, the beam is in your own eye?   5  You hypocrite! First remove the beam out of your own eye, and then you can see clearly to remove the speck out of your brother’s eye. 


John, Chapter 7

 21  Jesus answered them, “I did one work, and you all marvel because of it.   22  Moses has given you circumcision (not that it is of Moses, but of the fathers), and on the Sabbath you circumcise a boy.   23  If a boy receives circumcision on the Sabbath, that the law of Moses may not be broken, are you angry with me, because I made a man completely healthy on the Sabbath?  24  Don’t judge according to appearance, but judge righteous judgment.” 



Luke, Chapter 7

 40  Jesus answered him, “Simon, I have something to tell you.” 

He said, “Teacher, say on.” 

  41  “A certain lender had two debtors. The one owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty.   42  When they couldn’t pay, he forgave them both. Which of them therefore will love him most?” 


  43  Simon answered, “He, I suppose, to whom he forgave the most.”


He said to him, “You have judged correctly.” 




Luke, Chapter 12

 54  He said to the multitudes also, “When you see a cloud rising from the west, immediately you say, ‘A shower is coming,’ and so it happens.   55  When a south wind blows, you say, ‘There will be a scorching heat,’ and it happens.   56  You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky, but how is it that you don’t interpret this time?   57  Why don’t you judge for yourselves what is right? 



Jesus takes a serious subject (judging your brother) and makes it ridiculous.  Imagine a person with a beam stuck in his eye, trying to remove a speck from someone else's?  Many, many people misapply Matthew  7:1 to mean that we should never judge anything (or anybody) at all.  They are very wrong.  Consider the other passages besides Matthew above and you will see that there is nothing wrong in making a judgment- you just need to do it with spiritual insight.  Problems arise because of sinful attitudes and actions on the part of the person making the determination.  However, sin should be confronted in the church and discipline applied when necessary...


1 Corinthians, Chapter 5
6  Your boasting is not good. Don’t you know that a little yeast leavens the whole lump?  7 Purge out the old yeast, that you may be a new lump, even as you are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, has been sacrificed in our place.  8 Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old yeast, neither with the yeast of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.  9 I wrote to you in my letter to have no company with sexual sinners;  10 yet not at all meaning with the sexual sinners of this world, or with the covetous and extortionists, or with idolaters; for then you would have to leave the world. 11 But as it is, I wrote to you not to associate with anyone who is called a brother who is a sexual sinner, or covetous, or an idolater, or a slanderer, or a drunkard, or an extortionist. Don’t even eat with such a person.  12 For what have I to do with also judging those who are outside? Don’t you judge those who are within?  13 But those who are outside, God judges. “Put away the wicked man from among yourselves.” 

The Corinthians made the right decision about the erring brother and later on Paul praises them for it (2 Corinthians 2:1-11).  I admit that they had a bit of an advantage because they had an actual apostle guiding them, but spirituality exists today and we too can judge whether or not to discipline our erring brother. For those outside the church, God judges (verse 13).  Our focus should be on presenting truth and not on being judgmental about that truth.  Remember Matthew 7 and think: attitude, attitude, attitude!!!  And, by the way, I just hate it when a fly gets on my nose and I can't get it; it hurts when I have to cross my eyes!!!

From Jim McGuiggan... Love's the Answer


Love's the Answer

In I Corinthians chapters 12-14 Paul is concerned about the peace of the congregation. The gifts which were given to the body and experienced via the various parts, instead of uniting the body had become occasions of tension. Something was missing and it wasn't the existence of various gifts (see 1:5-7).
The purpose of the gifts was to build up the congregation so that it might be indeed the united body of Christ, that it might know God and rejoice together in his purposes through the body (12:25).
Instead the people pouted, swaggered, dominated or sulked in the background (12:15-16, 21). They had some insights, some knowledge, some flashes of wisdom, they had prophets who spoke some truths and they had people who could speak foreign languages.
Paul insists if they had all these at a maximum they would still only have a partial, limited knowledge of God. What brings a person into the full knowledge of God is love. (And if that is what they all say they want--love's the best way, the more excellent way to pursue it.)
At best, the various gifts result only in a vision seen by reflection in a mirror (13:12). Gifts plus childishness equals near-sightedness. But when the perfect (mature, completed) state arrives (when love is the driving force of the life) then we see, not in a mirror, but face to face. (The word picture suggests someone looking in a mirror and seeing someone behind them. Their mirrors weren't as good as ours. The person turns from the mirror and the poor image he sees in it and now looks face to face at the one he saw in the mirror.)
Depending on the gifts is depending on a poor mirror. The gifts can only bring partial discernment. Love results in a perfect seeing, a knowing "even as" we're known (compare 8:3).
The "even as" isn't speaking of degree of knowing but the way of knowing. It's clear we'll never know God to the degree he knows us. Not now or ever. In Matthew 5:48 Christ calls us to be perfect "as" your heavenly Father is perfect. He isn't taking about degree. That's beyond us--permanently. But the Father's way is the model.
So "when that which is perfect is come" probably speaks of the state of having been matured (see the use of the word in 14:20). But the state of having been matured is the state beyond partial knowledge which comes through gifts. It is the state that comes through love. When a person loves God (8:3) he is known by God. Paul repeats this here and calls it "knowing in full" as opposed to "knowing in part".

©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... Jesus Predicts His Passion And Resurrection


                          "THE GOSPEL OF MARK"

         Jesus Predicts His Passion And Resurrection (10:32-34)

INTRODUCTION

1. On three separate occasions, Jesus predicted His passion and
   resurrection...
   a. In the region of Caesarea Philippi, He emphasized the necessity
      - Mk 8:31
   b. While traveling through Galilee, He stressed the certainty - Mk 9:31
   c. Now on the road to Jerusalem, He describes it in greater detail
      - Mk 10:32-34

2. If you have ever faced an impending ordeal...
   a. You know the anticipation itself adds to the trial
   b. The anxiety and stress of knowing what it is to come

[As we remember what Jesus did to save us, do not overlook the burden of
knowing in advance what He would suffer, and what helped Him to endure.
So let's look a closer look, beginning with...]

I. THE SETTING

   A. ON THE ROAD TO JERUSALEM...
      1. Making their way from beyond the Jordan via Jericho - Mk 10:1,46
      2. This was Jesus' last trip to Jerusalem

   B. THE ORDER IN WHICH THEY WALKED...
      1. Jesus taking the lead - Mk 10:32
      2. The disciples following behind - Mk 10:32 (NLT)
      3. The people further behind - Mk 10:32 (NLT)

   C. THE ATTITUDES AS THEY WALKED...
      1. Jesus with steadfast determination - cf. Lk 9:51
      2. The disciples filled with awe, perhaps by Jesus' determination
         - Mk 10:32 (NLT)
      3. The people overwhelmed with fear, perhaps knowing the danger
         Jesus and His followers faced in Jerusalem - Mk 10:32 (NLT);
         cf. Jn 9:22; 11:8,57

[At some point, Jesus takes the twelve apostles aside and begins to tell
them what will happen to Him...]

II. THE PREDICTION

   A. HE WILL BE BETRAYED...
      1. Betrayed to the chief priests and to the scribes - Mk 10:33
      2. Referring to the Sanhedrin, the Supreme Court of the Jews
      3. Fulfilled - Mk 14:41-46

   B. HE WILL BE CONDEMNED...
      1. Condemned to death and delivered to the Gentiles - Mk 10:33
      2. Referring to the Romans, who alone had the authority to put to
         death - cf. Jn 18:31
      3. Fulfilled - Mk 14:55-64

   C. HE WILL BE MOCKED...
      1. Treated with contempt, ridiculed - Mk 10:34
      2. To imitate with mockery and derision
      3. Fulfilled - Mk 15:16-20,29-32

   D. HE WILL BE SCOURGED...
      1. To be whipped, punished severely - Mk 10:34
      2. "Under the Roman method of 'scourging,' the person was stripped
         and tied in a bending posture to a pillar, or stretched on a
         frame. The "scourge" was made of leather thongs, weighted with
         sharp pieces of bone or lead, which tore the flesh of both the
         back and the breast." - Vine
      3. Fulfilled - Mk 15:15

   E. HE WILL BE SPIT ON...
      1. With saliva or phlegm
      2. Done with anger or contempt - Mk 10:34
      3. Fulfilled - Mk 14:65; 15:19

   F. HE WILL BE KILLED...
      1. Death would follow His mockery and torture - Mk 10:34
      2. Jesus knew the manner of death:  crucifixion! - cf. Mt 20:19
      3. Fulfilled - Mk 15:24,37

   G. HE WILL RISE THE THIRD DAY...
      1. Resurrected from the dead - Mk 10:34
      2. Foretold very early in His ministry - cf. Jn 2:19-22
      3. Fulfilled - Mk 16:1-7

CONCLUSION

1. When Jesus predicted His passion and resurrection...
   a. The first time, Peter took Jesus aside and rebuked Him - Mk 8:31-33
   b. The second time, the disciples did not understand and refused to
      ask Him - Mk 9:31-32
   c. The third time, there is no dispute (though they may have still
      been confused)
2. What strikes me about these three predictions...
   a. Is that it reveals that Jesus knew what would happen to Him!
   b. The stress and anxiety from anticipation only added to His
      suffering for us!

3. How was Jesus able to press on, knowing what was to come...?
   a. The writer to the Hebrews reveals the answer - cf. He 12:2
   b. He encourages us to "consider Him...lest you become weary and
      discouraged" - He 12:3

Yes, let's consider how He died, but also He faced knowing what awaited
Him.  As Erdman wrote...

"Let us pause to gaze on that face and form, the Son of God, going with
unfaltering step toward the Cross! Does it not awaken us to new heroism,
as we follow; does it not awaken new love as we see how voluntary was
His death for us; yet do we not wonder at the meaning and the mystery of
that death?"



Executable Outlines, Copyright © Mark A. Copeland, 2011

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