I’ll Tell You What…

Luke 9

There’s a lot happening in this chapter. Jesus sends out the twelve, Herod gets confused, the five thousand are fed, Peter correctly responses to the question “Who do you say that I am?”, Jesus predicts His death, the Transfiguration, the healing of the demon-possessed boy, Jesus predicts his death again, the disciple’s learn about being the greatest, minister’s outside the inner twelve, the opposition of a Samaritan village and the cost of following Jesus. *Breathe*

Well, to me one thing that has always stood out in this chapter was Jesus asking his disciples the famous question, “Who do people say that I am?” (Luke 9:18) Why do you think He said that? Do you think He was only asking to get Peter to correctly answer the question? If so, was He asking for Peter’s benefit or for the twelve? Those are tough questions and I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t know the answer to all those questions. And after thinking about it, I’m not going to provide those answers in this text. What I will do, however, is tell you that it’s important to write down your person statement of beliefs. A personal creed, if you will.

A statement of beliefs is important to have since it should be a written list of the core beliefs of your faith. The apostles saw the importance of such a document and hence came up with the Apostle’s Creed. The statements you write down shouldn’t be just what your church has written on their national website or what’s copied down from the back of a bulletin unless you really and truly believe it. After you write them down you should then critically evaluate the statements made in light of scripture. Does anything written contradict what’s said in the Bible? Is anything written based on something a preacher said on TV or in the pulpit without proving it’s truthfulness from the Bible? A critical mind is, well, critical to the process.

Here are some of my beliefs. I believe in the deity of Jesus Christ; in His virgin birth; in His sinless life; in His miracles; in His vicarious and atoning death through His shed blood; in His ascension to the right hand of the Father; and in His personal return in power and glory. I believe that the Bible is the only inspired, infallible and authoritative Word of God. I believe that there is one God, eternally existent in three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

I believe that baptism in water by immersion is a direct commandment of our Lord for believer’s identification with Christ’s death, burial and resurrection. Although water baptism is not essential for salvation, it is a powerful demonstration of a living faith. I believe that salvation is not by good works, but by God’s grace through faith alone, in the perfect and sufficient work of Christ on the cross, by which we obtain right standing with God, forgiveness of sins and eternal life.

See, that’s not so hard. By writing down what you truly believe you can “always be ready to give a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you.” (1 Peter 3:15)

So, who do you say the He is?

Here's a very basic verse of the day-type application that I wrote while playing with Perl and the Tk module. This version is platform independent, ie, it works with Windows, Linux, Solaris, Mac OS X, etc. In order to run this under Windows, you must have ActiveState Perl installed and have the Tk module installed. It may already be installed. For Mac OS X, X11 needs to be running with Perl and the Tk module installed. For all other *NIX platforms, Perl needs to be there as well as the Tk module.

#!/usr/bin/perl -w

use strict;
use LWP::Simple;
use XML::Simple;
use Tk;
use Text::Wrap;

my ($content,$ref,$verse,$title);
my ($passage,$mw,$button,$column);

$Text::Wrap::columns = 40;

# Uncomment and modify the next line if you use a proxy
# $ua->proxy('http', '');
$content = get("http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/share/rss2.0/daily/")
	or die "Couldn't get URL: $!\n";

$ref = XMLin($content);

$verse   = $ref->{channel}->{item}->{description};
$title   = $ref->{channel}->{description};
$passage = $ref->{channel}->{item}->{title};

$verse = wrap('', '', $verse);

$mw = new MainWindow(-background => "#FFFFFF");
$mw -> title($title);

$mw -> Label(-background => "#FFFFFF",
             -text       => "$verse\n\t\t$passage\n")
     -> pack(-ipady      => "10",
             -ipadx      => "30");

$button = $mw -> Button(-text    => "Quit",
                        -command => sub { exit; } ) 
                -> pack(-expand  => "1",
                        -fill    => "x",);

MainLoop;

Winston Churchill once said, “You have enemies? Good. That means you’ve stood up for something, sometime in your life.”

Another famous person once said these things.

“Everyone will hate you because you are committed to me.” (Matthew 10:22, Mark 13:13, Luke 21:17)

“Blessed are you when people hate you, avoid you, insult you, and slander you because you are committed to the Son of Man.” (Luke 6:22)

But the teaching didn’t stop there.

“The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I say that what everyone does is evil.” (John 7:7)

“But I tell everyone who is listening: Love your enemies. Be kind to those who hate you.” (Luke 6:27)

“But I tell you this: Love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you.” (Matthew 5:44)

“Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who insult you.” (Luke 6:28)

Have you prayed for someone in your life who is unlovable?

You are Ephesians.

Which book of the Bible are you?

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What is your calling? Can you honestly say that you know what it is, do you have a vague idea of what it might be or are you completely clueless? What do you mean by “calling” anyway? Do you mean full-time ministry or situational leadings of the Holy Spirit? Those are tough questions! In fact, those kinds of questions plague Christians so much that many doubt they are even saved because they don’t know what God really wants them to do.

It is because of this that many books have been written on the topic. Some books are truly excellent and life changing but others are just plain heresy. Are there really blessings in disguise that we need to look for or are all the blessings to be found in the love that flows from Jesus Christ? How we need to read Proverbs 3 again and see that when we devote everything that we are and have to God we are blessed indeed!

I believe we are all called to minister in some capacity. Some are called to be pastors and teachers and with these positions come great responsibility and accountability while others are called to encourage and serve at a more intimate level. Paul knew what his calling was all about and in Acts 20:24 describes it this way: “to testify to the Gospel of the Grace of God.” (ESV) I like the way The Message paraphrases it: “the job the Master Jesus gave me of letting everyone I meet know all about this incredibly extravagant generosity of God.”

I try to see my bi-weekly Bible study notes as a form of calling. Sometimes I make it a burden, however, and really struggle to get the words on paper but I am never short-changed by God. Whenever I read a chapter knowing that I’m going to be writing notes on it I try to recognize obvious and not so obvious teaching points. Sometimes they are blatantly obvious and other times it seems like I’m reading blank paper where the meaning is hidden from me. This happens to all of us who have had to compose a paper for school or work when some level of creativity is involved. But He always blesses me in some way for being obedient either through just reading His word or by blessing a friend.

The point I’m trying to get across is that wherever you find yourself in life use it to glorify Jesus. Tell others with your mouth, actions and attitudes about the “extravagant generosity of God.” “[I]n all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.” Proverbs 3:6 (NIV). Not just a cliche. Those are truly words to live by.

Oftentimes, I will put myself in Paul’s shoes and try to experience the personal struggles that he faces throughout his ministry. I consider the situation that he’s in and wonder what I would do or how I would react if I were in the same situation. Sometimes I’m the hero that Paul was but sometimes I get so caught up in my past failures that I see myself doing the opposite of Paul.

In this chapter we find Paul in Ephesus. I don’t know what he said or how he did it but verse 1 tells us “he found several believers.” (Acts 19:1) I doubt these people were holding up signs proclaiming the end was near or standing in the market place screaming the Good News of Christ. No, I’m sure these people were either Jews or Jewish converts who were members of the local synagogue. Paul usually went to the Jews first whenever he entered a new town.

Where he found these particular Jews we’ll never know but his encounter with them changed their lives. They were believers in Jesus but didn’t have the whole picture because they only knew about John’s baptism. When Paul told them about the Holy Spirit they were puzzled. “We don’t know what you mean. We haven’t heard that there is a Holy Spirit.” (Acts 19:2) Boy, were they in for a surprise! After their Baptism in the name of Jesus, “when Paul laid his hands them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in other tongues and prophesied.” (Acts 19:6)

This was only the start of change for the people of Ephesus. After Paul’s encounter with the men earlier he went to the synagogue to preach the Good News. Many believed Paul but there were some that did not. There must have been some lines drawn in the sand because Paul left the synagogue, along with the believers, and began preaching daily in the lecture halls of Tyrannus. Paul did this for 2 years. That’s a long time to lecture on a daily basis but when you’re fueled by the love of God for a lost world anything is possible.

It’s also noteworthy to mention that God gave Paul unusual miraculous abilities. The scripture says that “even when handkerchiefs or cloths that had touched his skin were placed on sick people, they were healed of their diseases, and any evil spirits within them came out.” (Acts 19:12) As far as I can tell this particular kind of miracle is unique in scripture.

Much can be said about this chapter with its legal challenge of Christianity and violence in the courtroom but there’s a small detail that I have always overlooked in this passage. I’m referring to the last sentence in verse 18: “Before [Paul] sailed, he had his hair cut off at Cenchrea because of a vow he had taken.”

While growing up, I always had this weird thought in the back of my mind that Paul had lost a bet or something but I just knew that was too silly to be right. After all, everyone knew gambling was wrong, right? In my mind that was true. Later, having entertained that thought off and on for a while I concluded that Paul was shaving his head because he felt guilty about sinning against God. Either way, I was wrong.

It is suggested that Paul’s vow was a temporary Nazirite vow as detailed in Numbers chapter 6. This vow was special because a person would separate themselves from the population and consecrate himself or herself to God. There was always a time limit placed on this vow. It could be as little as 30 days or for a lifetime. Sometimes children were dedicated to God from birth in such a way as in the case of Samson (Judges 13:2-7), Samuel (1 Samuel 1:10-11) and possibly even John the Baptist (Luke 1:15).

There were three main conditions or regulations that the Nazirite had to follow. First, he or she must not drink any wine (or any other product of the vine) or fermented drink. Second, the person’s hair could not be cut nor could the beard be shaved. And third, he or she must not touch a dead person. Numbers 6 explains the situations under which a person would have to “reset” the vow clock.

This whole thing was a very public act. It was obvious who took the Nazirite vow because of the hair but it was equally obvious who had just completed their vow because at the end of the separation period, the Nazirite would shave his head and place the hair “in the fire that is under the sacrifice of the fellowship offering.” (Numbers 6:18). After this, the hair would slowly grow back to its normal length making it possible for the person to easily transition back into society.

Legalism and church splits. Those are touchy subjects. But how many times to we burden someone with requirements that only hinder someone’s Christian walk instead of offering them our help so they are more confident in their walk? Or what about knit-picking over non-issues that only lead to divisions? I’ve contributed my fair share to both of these problems.

It’s not a good feeling to realize one day that you were the cause of someone leaving the faith or the cause of a riff in one’s local church or Bible study. At the time you feel so confident that your way is right. It just has to be. I suppose the issue could be about anything such as religion, politics, money, process, etc. After all, everyone is human and humans make mistakes. Some are bigger than others but they are still mistakes nonetheless.

Many years ago, there was a large Southern Baptist church in my home town (later to become my church). Some issues came about that caused people to start taking sides. I used to know what the issue was but time has taken it’s toll on my feeble brain and the information has been replaced with very useful information like knowing that the power cable going to my hard drive has only four wires. Anyway, people started to second guess the motives of others and a general uneasiness filled the air on Sunday mornings.

In the end, a good portion of the church decided to leave and start their own church about a mile down the road. And, as with most things, the people who were in the wrong stayed in the wrong and went elsewhere leaving behind a congregation that had become thirsty for God. This new church eventually became the sister church to the first and the combined ministries multiplied beyond anyone’s expectations. It is quite amazing how God turned something devastating into something nobody ever thought was possible.

My story is a lot like that of Paul and Barnabas (Acts 15:36-41). Paul didn’t trust John Mark because of his past actions but Barnabas wanted to give him a second chance. Barnabas had a knack for trusting the untrusted. If you remember, Barnabas was the one who gave Paul a chance when no one else would and presented him to the Apostles in Jerusalem. (Acts 9:26-28) That was quite a risk!

Paul and Barnabas went separate ways but I’m sure this split only served to further the Word of God faster. I couldn’t find any mention of Barnabas’ missionary journeys but I’m sure someone has a reference or two. I guess what I’m trying to get at is this: God will allow us to behave badly and cause problems in the lives of other believers that may cause division. But it doesn’t have to end there. I think that after Paul and Barnabas thought about what happened they realized that they were both in the wrong and that they needed to resolve the issue. Ephesians 4:26 hits the nail on the head. “Be angry without doing wrong; let not the sun go down on your wrath.”

What comes to your mind when you hear the term “suffering for Christ?” Do you think of missionaries who are attacked for their faith? Do you think of the Chinese home churches who are constantly being arrested and severely interrogated for information about other home churches? What about Saudis who convert to Christianity only to have the religious police arrest and torture them for turning their back on Islam?

All too often we don’t even think about these things and instead worry about what our neighbor or cube mate might think if he found out we were a followers of Christ. Sometimes we even worry about what someone at church might think if we thanked God openly before or after church during our casual conversation.

At a church I once attended, I had a friend who, after church, asked me how I was doing. Normally, people just say “doing good” or “fine, and you?” when asked that question. Never being one to just acknowledge the impersonal nature of the question I said, “I’m doing ok, I suppose. Looks like a divorce is in my future. But, I’ve noticed that even in the midst of the darkness, God is holding me above water.” (Or something like that.) You would have thought that I had said that God had brought me back from the dead from the look on his face! Unfortunately, that ended our conversation and I walked away a little sad from the response. Is that what we’re afraid of? That? Well, the sad fact is yes in most cases. To us, that is suffering. Boy do those of us in free countries have a lot to learn.

This kind of suffering never came to Paul’s mind. Even before Paul’s ministry began the road to physical and mental suffering was laid out before him. In Acts 9:16, Jesus told Ananias, “I’ll show him how much he has to suffer for the sake of my name.” And did Paul suffer! All throughout his letters Paul mentions, sometimes to justify his right of authority, his beatings and jail stories. Paul even writes a few from jail. And it was because of his experiences with real sufferings that Paul (and Barnabas) tell the churches in Lystra, Iconium and Antioch (in Pisidia) that “we must suffer a lot to enter the Kingdom of God.” (Acts 14:22).

Paul wasn’t despairing when he told them that fact. He was honestly telling them that if they are going to follow Jesus Christ, they will be persecuted. Jesus said so a number of times during His time on earth. If this is such a fact then why are we surprised when people make fun of us or talk behind our backs accusing us of being blind sheep who mindlessly follow whatever their pastor tells them? For me I think it’s because I assume that people will respect my choice to belief in God at the personal level. Maybe it’s because of my environment growing up. I don’t know. But I am sometimes surprised by people’s reactions.

It is struggle to see and read about atrocities committed against Christians around the world these days and still remain in the peace that God provides. But, it will get worse in the long run. Only the Lord knows when that will happen but His word says it will. Maybe we need to be reminded of this fact ever so often so that we will turn our eyes to the Him for answers to those things that trouble our heart the most.

The Christian Research Institute has addressed this issue in the following perspective.

The Metropolitan Community Church claims to be an evangelical Christian church. There’s only one problem: they endorse homosexuality. What does the Bible have to say about homosexuals?

Those who advocate homosexuality use passages such as 2 Samuel 1:26 to support their position. It states that David and Jonathan had a relationship that surpassed the love of women. This is not referring to sexual love, however, but to a special friendship they had which exceeded or was different from any kind of sexual relationship. David and Jonathan would have been stoned under Levitical law had they been homosexuals (Lev. 18:22; 20:13).

God also condemns homosexuality in Genesis 19. Pro-homosexuals respond that the sin of Sodom was not homosexuality, but rape. However, the Sodomites did not initially force Lot’s male guests to have sex with them, but just by them mentioning it, Lot urged them not to do such a “wicked” thing (19:4-8). Other ancient sources such as Josephus and the New Testament (Jude 7) confirm that the sin of Sodom was homosexuality.

Additionally, Romans 1:21-32 and 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 clearly condemn lesbianism and homosexuality (cf., 1 Tim. 1:9, 10). Homosexual advocates reply that Romans 1 refers only to phallic cults who committed idolatry. Along with 1 Corinthians 6, they claim that God is simply condemning excessive and promiscuous sex, not a dedicated relationship between two homosexuals.

First, let me say that if it were true that God is only condemning promiscuity, 90 to 99 percent of all homosexuals would fall into this category! According to recent studies, only about 1 out of 7 homosexuals have had fewer than 50 partners in their lifetime, and 99 percent of the male homosexuals interviewed have had sex with complete strangers! Nevertheless, the context of Romans and Corinthians affirm that homosexuality is completely unnatural (Rom. 1:26, 27). When categorized with the other sins mentioned in these passages, there is no such thing as a moderate form of homosexuality any more than there could be moderate form of murder or adultery. Finally, the Bible condemns all types of fornication which would therefore include homosexuality (Matthew 15:19; Mark 7:21; John 8:41; Acts 15:20, 29; Gal.?5:19-21; 1 Thes. 4:3; Heb. 13:4).

On the problems of homosexuality, that’s the CRI perspective. I’m Hank Hanegraaff.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION

We recommend a tape series by Walter Martin entitled “Homosexuals and the Bible” (C049, two cassettes/$12), Homosexuality and the Politics of Truth by Jeffrey Satinover, M.D. (B342/$20). For those struggling with the homosexual lifestyle, we recommend Coming Out of Homosexuality: New Freedom for Men and Women by Bob Davies and Lori Rentzel (B340/$11) and Desires in Conflict by Joe Dallas (B234/$10). For those with a loved one who is homosexual, we recommend Someone I Love is Gay: How Family and Friends Can Respond by Anita Worthen and Bob Davies (SB902/$11). These resources are available through CRI’s Resource Center and Web site. For additional recommendations, please see our bibliography on homosexuality (DH060/$0.25). For shipping and handling information, to place a credit card order, or to receive a free copy of our Resource Catalog Listing, please call our Resource Center toll-free at (888) 7000-CRI. You also may fax us at (714) 858-6111 or write to us with your request at the address listed above.

What is Christmas? it’s easy to get caught up in the history of the various symbols. Some of which go back several thousand years. To really understand this holiday (or holy day) one need not go any further than the name, Christmas or Christ’s Mass. HolyCross.edu defines Christmas this way:

Christmas is the feast commemorating the birth of Christ. It is fixed in the liturgical year as December 25 and is preceded by four week of fast called Advent. The Gospels recount a census that compelled Joseph and Mary to journey to “the town of David which is called Bethlehem” and while they were there she was delivered of a child. “And she brought forth her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the in.” (Luke 2:4-7).? The birth was heralded by angels who announced to Jewish shepherds that their Messiah had come.? Later, wise men from the east, gentiles, arrived to acknowledge Christ’s birth.? In the Middle Ages, Christmas was not an extremely important feast; it was far less solemnly celebrated than Easter.? For Kempe, however, with her frequent references to Christ and a child, and her imagining that she was present as a handmaiden to the Virgin, the moment had particular resonance.

The most commonly read account of the birth of Christ can be found in Luke chapter 2.

The testimony of Stephen before the council is an incredible account of truth and boldness in the face of hostility and serves as a reminder of how the world will look at those who trust in the Lord Jesus for their strength. (Matthew 24:9) I doubt that Stephen knew that morning that he would be standing before the leaders of Jerusalem but it doesn’t matter. What matters is that Stephen stood firm in his faith when confronted with certain death…

Stephen’s defense before the council after many false witnesses had come forth to testify against him was solid. The only thing the witnesses could come up with was pretty much the same as what was brought against Jesus, that the temple would be destroyed but a twist was added to this new account: these witnesses said that Jesus would destroy the temple and also that He would change the customs that Moses had handed down to them. (Acts 6:13-14) I would venture to say that the last half of their statement was true in that the traditions did change. Jesus had become the fulfillment of the Law eliminating the need for rituals and traditions by allowing the true worshipers of God to worship Him anywhere in spirit and in truth. (John 4:21-24)

Stephen’s testimony before the High Priest is rather long but it could have been much longer given the rich heritage the Jewish nation enjoys. I suppose we have to accept that since Stephen was speaking under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit his account was just the right length. His defense consisted of a recitation of the history of the Jews since Abraham solidifying his belief to his leaders that he was indeed a child of Abraham. But what’s also interesting is that Stephen points out that time after time the children of Abraham fell away from God do to their own choices in spite of what they had experienced first hand.

The culmination of Stephen’s testimony consists of a very straightforward condemnation of the council. Stephen compares them to the religious leaders of old who persecuted and killed the prophets because they killed Jesus, the “Righteous One”. This condemnation sounds amazingly like Jesus’ condemnation of the scribes and pharisees in Luke 11. This, of course, incited fierce opposition towards Stephen. They dragged him outside the city and proceeded to stone him. But that’s not the end of the story. His last words were of forgiveness. As they were in the process of stoning him, Stephen begged the Lord not to hold this sin against them.

It’s amazing how similar the actions of Stephen were to those of Jesus. Stephen’s affirmation that he was a child of Abraham, his condemnation of the religious leaders, his request that Jesus receive his spirit and his prayer of forgiveness of those who were about to kill him. What do you think? If you ever found yourself in the same circumstance, do you think you would remain faithful to the Lord like Stephen? I sincerely hope that no one reading ever is but if you are, remember Stephen’s example.