It's easy for me to make my wife, The Lovely Joanne, upset. All I have to do
Showing posts with label faithfulness. Show all posts
Showing posts with label faithfulness. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 5, 2012
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
Lessons from Levi
Matthew -- also called Levi, and that's what I'll use here today -- was a disciple of Jesus, and wrote the gospel account that comes first in the New Testament. Many people don't know the details of who he was and how hard it might have been for him to follow Jesus. Here are a few background details that help bring the picture into better perspective. Much of this is found in Luke's gospel, chapter 5.
1. Levi was from Capernaum, a town of a few hundred inhabitants on a narrow plain off the beach on the northwest corner of the Sea of Galilee. He became a tax collector for the Roman occupiers, maybe because it offered a good income, but certainly at the expense of relations with his own people. (This would be like becoming a narc or a snitch, in a small town known for not liking the sheriff.) Some of his own people said it was impossible for a tax collector to repent -- so Levi may have been told he was doomed to whatever sorry fate God gave him after his death. Regardless, Jesus didn't call him because he was righteous.
2. Peter and Andrew, James and John (two sets of brothers who were called by Jesus) also lived in Capernaum and were fishermen. How long had they known Levi? Had they paid taxes onto his table? Had they resented paying those taxes, and more so, paying them to one of their own people now turned traitor? When Jesus called Levi into his inner circle of twelve, we don't know if there was friction between Levi and the others, but it must have felt awkward. Levi could have had many excuses not to follow Jesus, but to his credit, he kept going. Others Jesus called weren't nearly as dedicated (see Luke 9:57-62 for some examples).
3. Levi "left everything" to follow Jesus. Many people with big incomes and lots of personal possessions are focused on keeping what they have, and acquiring more. But when Jesus called, Levi answered. He must have been focused on something besides shekels.
I'm sure there are more details from Levi's life that would give us good lessons to consider. But to summarize these, let's say Jesus doesn't save us because we're already righteous, but because we need saving. Like Levi, we may not fit the "righteous" profile, and others who come to follow Jesus may not either -- maybe they could use some encouragement from us. And whatever else you believe, following Jesus will, sooner or later, mean leaving everything else behind. Are you up for that?
I will get to meet this disciple of Jesus one day, and I plan to thank him for giving me some valuable lessons in following Jesus. Will you?
1. Levi was from Capernaum, a town of a few hundred inhabitants on a narrow plain off the beach on the northwest corner of the Sea of Galilee. He became a tax collector for the Roman occupiers, maybe because it offered a good income, but certainly at the expense of relations with his own people. (This would be like becoming a narc or a snitch, in a small town known for not liking the sheriff.) Some of his own people said it was impossible for a tax collector to repent -- so Levi may have been told he was doomed to whatever sorry fate God gave him after his death. Regardless, Jesus didn't call him because he was righteous.
2. Peter and Andrew, James and John (two sets of brothers who were called by Jesus) also lived in Capernaum and were fishermen. How long had they known Levi? Had they paid taxes onto his table? Had they resented paying those taxes, and more so, paying them to one of their own people now turned traitor? When Jesus called Levi into his inner circle of twelve, we don't know if there was friction between Levi and the others, but it must have felt awkward. Levi could have had many excuses not to follow Jesus, but to his credit, he kept going. Others Jesus called weren't nearly as dedicated (see Luke 9:57-62 for some examples).
3. Levi "left everything" to follow Jesus. Many people with big incomes and lots of personal possessions are focused on keeping what they have, and acquiring more. But when Jesus called, Levi answered. He must have been focused on something besides shekels.
I'm sure there are more details from Levi's life that would give us good lessons to consider. But to summarize these, let's say Jesus doesn't save us because we're already righteous, but because we need saving. Like Levi, we may not fit the "righteous" profile, and others who come to follow Jesus may not either -- maybe they could use some encouragement from us. And whatever else you believe, following Jesus will, sooner or later, mean leaving everything else behind. Are you up for that?
I will get to meet this disciple of Jesus one day, and I plan to thank him for giving me some valuable lessons in following Jesus. Will you?
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Pictures from the Old Testament: the Rock
Our ongoing series on the pictures in the Old Testament (the Hebrew scriptures) that point to Christ, takes us to a lot of humans; but today, to another object, not a human but a rock. In the history of the newborn nation of Israel, fresh out of Egypt, Moses twice asks for water from a rock for the thirsty people.
First, in Exodus 17:1-7, the thirsty people ask for water and blame the lack of water on Moses. God tells Moses "I will stand before you on the rock...Strike the rock, and water will come gushing out. Then the people will be able to drink." In Numbers 20:1-13, the people are thirsty again (and cranky as usual), so God tells Moses to speak to the rock, "and it will pour out its water." Instead of speaking, Moses yells at the people, then strikes the rock with his staff. The water comes out anyway but God corrects Moses and doesn't allow him to take the people into the Land of Promise because he "did not trust me enough to demonstrate my holiness to the people of Israel."
Normally, water ran down the riverbeds during rainy season, or there were pools in the wilderness from springs deep underneath the earth. These sound like truly supernatural events, with water coming from an unexpected spot. In one story the rock is to be struck, in another Moses is to speak to the rock but strikes it instead. What's it all mean?
These symbols are interpreted for us in the New Testament, primarily in two passages. In John 7:37-39, Jesus says "anyone who is thirsty" can come to him and drink, and John interprets that as meaning the Holy Spirit. So the physical water given to Israel was just a picture of the greater reality, the Holy Spirit, given from Jesus, the true Rock. In 1 Cor. 10:4, Paul writes, as part of a warning not to take God's provision lightly, that the Israelites ate and drank "spiritual" food and drink in the wilderness, drinking from the "spiritual rock that traveled with them, and that rock was Christ." The manna pictured Christ's body given for us, and the water from the rock pictured the Holy Spirit to be given, so we should read "spiritual rock" as being a picture of Christ, not an actual rock dragging itself around in the desert sand. God's faithfulness was with them, as it would be later in sending his Son -- who was "struck" in order to provide life for us. (Some have read this verse as indicating that the second Person of the Trinity is 'the one' who accompanied the Israelites; but let's remember, God is one, not divided in any way, so "all of God" was there, not just one Person.)
So, Jesus, the Rock of our salvation, is also the source of the promised Holy Spirit, whom he sent to be with us. The Hebrew Scriptures agree perfectly with the Greek Scriptures, that the plan and purpose of God is fully presented in his Son Jesus, whom we know as the Christ. Salvation and reconciliation with God through Christ is the main theme of the entire unity of Scripture. Will you accept what he has worked so hard to offer you?
First, in Exodus 17:1-7, the thirsty people ask for water and blame the lack of water on Moses. God tells Moses "I will stand before you on the rock...Strike the rock, and water will come gushing out. Then the people will be able to drink." In Numbers 20:1-13, the people are thirsty again (and cranky as usual), so God tells Moses to speak to the rock, "and it will pour out its water." Instead of speaking, Moses yells at the people, then strikes the rock with his staff. The water comes out anyway but God corrects Moses and doesn't allow him to take the people into the Land of Promise because he "did not trust me enough to demonstrate my holiness to the people of Israel."
Normally, water ran down the riverbeds during rainy season, or there were pools in the wilderness from springs deep underneath the earth. These sound like truly supernatural events, with water coming from an unexpected spot. In one story the rock is to be struck, in another Moses is to speak to the rock but strikes it instead. What's it all mean?
These symbols are interpreted for us in the New Testament, primarily in two passages. In John 7:37-39, Jesus says "anyone who is thirsty" can come to him and drink, and John interprets that as meaning the Holy Spirit. So the physical water given to Israel was just a picture of the greater reality, the Holy Spirit, given from Jesus, the true Rock. In 1 Cor. 10:4, Paul writes, as part of a warning not to take God's provision lightly, that the Israelites ate and drank "spiritual" food and drink in the wilderness, drinking from the "spiritual rock that traveled with them, and that rock was Christ." The manna pictured Christ's body given for us, and the water from the rock pictured the Holy Spirit to be given, so we should read "spiritual rock" as being a picture of Christ, not an actual rock dragging itself around in the desert sand. God's faithfulness was with them, as it would be later in sending his Son -- who was "struck" in order to provide life for us. (Some have read this verse as indicating that the second Person of the Trinity is 'the one' who accompanied the Israelites; but let's remember, God is one, not divided in any way, so "all of God" was there, not just one Person.)
So, Jesus, the Rock of our salvation, is also the source of the promised Holy Spirit, whom he sent to be with us. The Hebrew Scriptures agree perfectly with the Greek Scriptures, that the plan and purpose of God is fully presented in his Son Jesus, whom we know as the Christ. Salvation and reconciliation with God through Christ is the main theme of the entire unity of Scripture. Will you accept what he has worked so hard to offer you?
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
God, in His Own Words
Who is God? What is he like? We can speculate on and on, or we can read what God said about himself. Hmmm...what might work better?
In Exodus 3, God has confronted Moses from the burning bush, and says about himself "I am who I am" (verse 14, NIV). On first glance that might not tell us much. But let's think about it: "I am who I am" was a self-revealing statement of a God who had been pretty mysterious for the last several hundred years, but who was now determined to open up his chosen peoples' understanding of him. So what might it mean? It means, among other things:
--God is self-existent; he doesn't depend on anything
--God himself determines who he is and how he relates to us; he isn't bound by our preconceptions
--God is eternal; the verb here implies past, present and future tenses rolled into one
--Since God IS, it might be helpful for us to get to know him as he is.
This isn't the only place God reveals himself to Moses and to us. In chapter 34, God tells us something fundamental about himself: "Yahweh—Yahweh is a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger and rich in faithful love and truth, 7 maintaining faithful love to a thousand [generations], forgiving wrongdoing, rebellion, and sin. But He will not leave [the guilty] unpunished, bringing the consequences of the fathers' wrongdoing on the children and grandchildren to the third and fourth generation."
These descriptions (compassionate, gracious, slow to anger, rich in faithful love, rich in truth, etc) all show important aspects of who God is. God has freely chosen -- without being obligated to us by anything we have done -- to be compassionate and merciful to us. He is 'rich in faithful love' which has to do with his decision to be loyal, dependable, reliable and dedicated to his people. In spite of themselves.
This self-description is a good place for us to start in getting to know God. This explains why, for instance, he continued to pursue his chosen people Israel in spite of their constant rebellion, why he never gave up on them. And why, in expanding that relationship of unsolicited love (see Romans 5:8-10) to all humanity, he sent his Son into the world to save us pitiful creatures (John 3:16-17, 1 John 3:16).
There are lots of other points to discuss in this passage, like why God says he is compassionate and merciful, yet punishing sin. But for today, why not meditate on these words that describe the gracious God who created the universe and made you to be his child?
In Exodus 3, God has confronted Moses from the burning bush, and says about himself "I am who I am" (verse 14, NIV). On first glance that might not tell us much. But let's think about it: "I am who I am" was a self-revealing statement of a God who had been pretty mysterious for the last several hundred years, but who was now determined to open up his chosen peoples' understanding of him. So what might it mean? It means, among other things:
--God is self-existent; he doesn't depend on anything
--God himself determines who he is and how he relates to us; he isn't bound by our preconceptions
--God is eternal; the verb here implies past, present and future tenses rolled into one
--Since God IS, it might be helpful for us to get to know him as he is.
This isn't the only place God reveals himself to Moses and to us. In chapter 34, God tells us something fundamental about himself: "Yahweh—Yahweh is a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger and rich in faithful love and truth, 7 maintaining faithful love to a thousand [generations], forgiving wrongdoing, rebellion, and sin. But He will not leave [the guilty] unpunished, bringing the consequences of the fathers' wrongdoing on the children and grandchildren to the third and fourth generation."
These descriptions (compassionate, gracious, slow to anger, rich in faithful love, rich in truth, etc) all show important aspects of who God is. God has freely chosen -- without being obligated to us by anything we have done -- to be compassionate and merciful to us. He is 'rich in faithful love' which has to do with his decision to be loyal, dependable, reliable and dedicated to his people. In spite of themselves.
This self-description is a good place for us to start in getting to know God. This explains why, for instance, he continued to pursue his chosen people Israel in spite of their constant rebellion, why he never gave up on them. And why, in expanding that relationship of unsolicited love (see Romans 5:8-10) to all humanity, he sent his Son into the world to save us pitiful creatures (John 3:16-17, 1 John 3:16).
There are lots of other points to discuss in this passage, like why God says he is compassionate and merciful, yet punishing sin. But for today, why not meditate on these words that describe the gracious God who created the universe and made you to be his child?
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