Key Verse: John 8:31 “If you abide in My words, you are My disciples indeed.”

I like the way the NIV puts it, “If you hold to My teaching, you are really My disciples.” The word  “hold” is a strong verb; it speaks of mothers embracing their newborn, and ship-wrecked sailors clutching the life-line, refusing to let go. It speaks of commitment.

Whenever young couples come to me for premarital counselling, I tell them there are three words to remember in terms of making marriage last. Those words are, 1) commitment, 2) commitment, and 3) commitment. The marriage ceremony underscores the word –“… to have and to hold from this day forward. For better or for worse. In sickness and in health. For richer or for poorer. Till death us do part.” That’s the kind of foundation you can build a life on!

I’ve sometimes wondered if it might not be a bad idea for some of us evangelical pastors to make a bit more of a person’s commitment to Christ at salvation that merely have the publicly “come forward”. Why not put together a public ceremony wherein vows are expressed to Christ: where a new believer is gripped with the thrilling but awesome responsibility of what it means to call oneself a follower of Jesus, after he has made that initial “come forward” move.

The vows could go something like this: “I _________________ take you now, Jesus Christ of Nazareth, as my Saviour and Lord. I have acknowledged and confessed my sin; now I declare before this body of sin, and walk in a new direction. And, even as I do so, I charge this body with the responsibility of correcting and guiding me, as I grow from faith to faith. I am no longer my own. I belong to Christ even as I now take my place in His Body. I take hold of HIs teaching. I am His disciple. So help me God.” Amen.

Key Verse: John 7:43 “So there was division among the people because of Him.

The setting for this chapter is Jerusalem during the Feast of Tabernacles. As you read it, you get a fascinating insight into the uproar surrounding Jesus in the public sector: He really rocked the boat.

For instance, He was an amazement to people simply in terms of His ability as a teacher — “How did this man get such learning without having studied?”, they asked (v.15). Some were sure He was demon-possessed (v.20); others couldn’t believe how immune He was to arrest, “Isn’t this the man they are trying to kill? Here he is, speaking publicly, and they are not saying a word to him.” So, some reasoned, maybe he is who he says he is, “Have the authorities really concluded that he is the Christ?” (vss. 25, 26)

Then there were those who tried to figure out Jesus’ teaching, but succeeded only in becoming more confused. “Where does this man intend to go, that we cannot find Him? Will he go where our people live scattered among the Greeks, and teach the Greeks? What does he mean when he said, ‘You will look for me, but you will not find me,’ and ‘Where I am, you cannot come’?”

So some thought Jesus a prophet; others the Christ. Still others saw Him as a dangerous revolutionary, the sooner dead the better. But whatever your opinion of Jesus, you couldn’t stay neutral anymore then that today — “the people  were divided because of Jesus” )v.43).

Even the temple guards and the Pharisees were divided, and the Pharisees attributed any credence imputed to Jesus as nothing more than ignorance, “Has any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed in him? No! But this mob that knows nothing of the law–there is a curse on them” (vss. 48,49).

There was only one clear voice in this “mob”, only one clarion note in the chaos: the man Nicodemus. After his talk with Jesus by night, he had become a believer (albeit secret, at this point), and he was prepared to publicly give Jesus the benefit of the doubt (vss. 50, 51).

Jesus still rocks the boat today. He is divisive. He’s an either/or kind of person–there’s no middle ground. You either accept Him or reject Him. He refuses to let us “halt between two opinions”.

Key Verse: John 6:51c “…the bread I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world.”

Jesus certainly was skilled in alienating people. First of all there were His very exclusive claims to deity. Secondly, there was His flagrant disregard for the religious sensibilities of the Pharisees. Then there was His “lonerism”; He would get a big crowd, hanging on His every words, and thought nothing of walking (or boating, as the case may be) away. But the great offense was what is recorded in this chapter.

A day after Jesus had fed the five thousand with five barley loaves and two small fishes, He took the rest of the day off. That night he took a stroll on the lake–much to His disciples’ astonishment. The next morning, some of the crowd from the day before caught up with Him in Capernaum. They wanted another free meal, but Jesus wouldn’t co-operate. Then they asked for a sign–“How about some heavenly bread, Jesus?”, they asked. Can you believe it? The food they had ingested at the previous day’s miraculous meal wasn’t even digested, and they’re asking Jesus to perform “a miraculous sign” so they can believe in Him. Were they blind? Stupid? Or just plain dense?

Jesus ignores their lobotomous density and tells them (to continue the bread imagery) that He is, metaphorically, the “bread of life”. Then comes the great offense.

He tells them they’re going to have to “eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood” if they want to have “life”. While they’re gasping at that, He goes on to compare the bread of His flesh to the manna which their forefathers ate. Little wonder we read, “From this time many of His disciples turned back and no longer followed Him” (v.66). Jesus had gone too far. They had all heard or read enough of pagan religious systems which incorporated cannibalistic practices, and wanted nothing to do with this. “His ego has exploded”, they must have thought. And Jesus just let them go, without any further explanation.

Little did any of His disciples realize that Jesus was speaking of His death on Calvary, where He became the “Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.” The Passover seder’s broken and blessed bread and the outpoured and blessed wine became the symbols of salvation. And every time we partake, we “remember His death, until He comes.”

The great offense has become the great atonement.

Key Verse: John 5:46 “…if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote about Me.”

Can you trust someone who says he is God? Not likely. Maybe you heard the story of the pastor visiting a mental hospital. He walked by tow of the patients sitting on a bench in the sunshine outside the main entrance.

“How ya doin’, Reverend?” one of them asked brightly.
“Oh, quite fine, thank you,” replied the pastor. “And what is your name, if I may ask?”
“Napoleon.”
“Napoleon? The Napoleon?”
“Yep!”, declared the the man proudly.
“How do you know?” the pastor asked.
“God told me,” he said.
“I did no such thing!” the other patient blurted.

One man thinks he’s Napoleon; the other God. Little wonder these poor souls are being cared for in a hospital. It doesn’t matter how sincere you are, or how convinced, the objective evidence doesn’t line up with the subjective claim. So why should we believe Jesus when He says that He is God? The greatest objective evidence, I think, is the empty tomb. But Jesus himself said there were three other powerful objective evidences for His claim to deity. Here they are:

Firstly, “the very work that the Father has given Me to finish” (v.36). Secondly, “the Father who sent Me has Himself testified concerning Me.” (v.37). And thirdly, “The Scriptures–…testify about me” (v.39). The work, the Father, the Scriptures. These are the three witnesses to Jesus.

His work included teaching , miracle working, and disciplining. The Father (His Father) declared both at Jesus’ baptism and on the Mount of Transfigurations that He was His “beloved Son. Hear Him!” And the Scriptures, from Moses to the Prophets, speak clearly and unequivocally about Israel’s Messiah who was to come. “I am He”, says Jesus.

And who, in the light of the empty tomb, the post-resurrection appearances, the ascension and the profound, timeless impact of His work, can build a case against His claim? It’s one thing to say He wasn’t God. It’s another thing to prove it.

Key Verse: John 4:24 “God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”

I love this story. For several reasons. First, because Jesus was such a free spirit that He had no qualms about talking to a woman on equal ground. That ground, in this case was at Jacob’s well near Sychar in Samaria. But what made it even more astonishing, as far as onlookers were concerned, was the fact that this woman was a Samaritan and Jesus a Jew. Jews hated Samaritans, and the feeling was reciprocal.

Secondly, I love it because it’s such and excellent example of Jesus’ Semitic teaching style. It was a style that saw clear, concise, easily understood assertions as artless. In semitic teaching you whet the appetite, you baffle, you lead your student on–to the point where the light suddenly dawns and he asserts the lesson himself. Almost as if he’d known it all along. The Greek philosopher, Plato, had some insight into this method as well.

Jesus whets the woman’s appetite here. Perhaps, more accurately, He creates thirst. He does it artfully, by asking for a drink, as if He’s the one who is thirsty. Then He leads the woman on, until finally He is able to say to her, in reference to the Messiah of Israel, “I who speak to you am He.” It is marvellous!

Maybe one of the reasons I most love this story, though, is the woman’s honesty. She had every reason to hide her marital status from Jesus, but didn’t. She told it like it was, “I have no husband.” I think this honesty was critical in the conversation. Jesus can speak to hones hearts. Expose your heart to Him, and He will expose His heart to you; hidden hearts, on the the other hand, remain hidden.

This is why I chose verse 24 as the key verse. No question, we relate to God on the spiritual level, but our spirits are clouded as long as there is untruth in us. With God you’ve got to tell it like it is.

Key Verse: John 3:3 “…unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

Have you ever been challenged to explain what you mean by the term, when you refer to yourself, or to someone else, as a “born-again” Christian? Maybe you’ve found it a bit difficult to say what you mean. If I can be so presumptuous, allow me to suggest what you mean!

You mean that the kingdom of God is a spiritual reality–unseen except with newly-born eyes. Your physical eyes won’t do. Although, ironically, as useless as your natural eyes are, you can’t have spiritual eyes until you have physical eyes. That’s why u’be got to be naturally born (“of water..”) before you can be spiritually born (“…and the Spirit..”–v.5). First flesh, then spirit. Jesus doesn’t relate to disembodied spirits in the human realm. You’ve got to have a body, both now (“au naturel”) and in eternity (“au glorified”).

You also mean that this spiritual birth is affected by the Holy Spirit–God Himself. “Spirit gives birth to spirit”, Jesus says. It’s only at the initiative of the Spirit that any mere human spirit even considers, let alone commits itself to, coming to Christ.

That’s right–I’ve just introduced a new ingredient: “coming to Christ”. Being “born again” is meaningless without belief in and commitment to Christ. “The Son of Man must be lifted up” on the cross that all men and women throughout history can see Him and decide. If the decision is to believe, then the believer “may have eternal life”.

Finally, you mean that you’ve been born to a new life that is eternally inviolable–no one can take it away from you. Not that the forces of evil won’t try to wrest it from you, or if that fails, to erode it from you casually and swimmingly imperceptibly. But, in being born again you’ve been “saved” from destruction. When Satan counts his victims you won’t be among them. You’ve entered a new life.

Key Verse: John 1:18 (NIV) “No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father’s side, has made Him known.”

I was riding the commuter train the other day and overheard a conversation between two college students sitting behind me. They were dismissing Christianity as untrustworthy because, “Noah’s ark was a fable. And the Bible was written by a bunch of guys we don’t know. How do we know if their writings weren’t the result of some drug-induced hallucination?” They were quite cordial about all this. Their conversation finally eroded to a discussion of the humour of Bill Cosby. As I left the train at my stop, I watched them disappear into the horizon, painlessly unbelieving, arranging for a “burger and a movie” the next Saturday night.

They think doubt about authors and ark is a problem? They should try this on for size: “only God sees God as He sits beside Himself”. That’s what I’ve written in the margin of my Bible beside John 1:18. Somebody on drugs here? Sometimes you’d think so. So much of the Bible (especially what it says about Christ’s divinity) is so far beyond reason that one can at least empathize with those who reduce it all to hallucinatory imaginings: unless it’s true.

Unless it’s true. If it’s true, then we have the authoritative Word of God on the subjects of God Himself, Jesus, the kingdom of Heaven, creation, and the end of days. If Jesus was God, then we have confidence in some of the difficult passages in the Old Testament, because Jesus so often quoted and expressed the highest view of those Jewish Scripture. In fact, He saw Himself as the fulfillment of “Moses and the Prophets”. If Jesus was trustworthy then the Scriptures become trustworthy–and even if we may have no “experience” or facility with some of the “unreasonable” aspects of Scripture, we nevertheless rest confident that Jesus knew and understood all of “Holy Writ”.

One day, in heaven, we’ll all go to school and get the full scoop on the knotty problems of the Bible, but I must stress again that our trust of the Bible is predicated on our trust in Jesus. The word is predicated on the Word. And because that Word became flesh and gave us the “word”, we believe and hope. In fact, I might go so far as to say my religion is predicated on relationship. Relationship with Jesus.

Key Verse: Luke 24:27 “And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.”

The crucifixion was a real blow to Jesus’ disciples. Not just the inner group of twelve, but all of Jesus’ followers were devastated by the news of His death. It was a grim moment.

On Resurrection Day, two of Jesus’ followers left Jerusalem to walk to Emmaus. They had heard the rumours of the empty tomb but were confused, rather than convinced. Depressed and disappointed, they were glumly walking along, discussing the events of the previous few days, when they were joined by a third man. He asked what they had been talking about. One of them, named Cleopas, responded rather curtly, “Are you the only one living in Jerusalem who doesn’t know the things that have happened there in these days?”

Jesus feigned ignorance, “What things?”, He asked. They went on to tell Him what He so intimately knew. After they had finished, He went on to explain that the Christ (“Messiah”) had to undergo all these things in order to fulfil the writings of Moses and the Prophets, then He acted as if He was going farther than Emmaus. The disciples implored Him to stay the night. Over dinner it suddenly became clear. As He broke the bread and gave it to them, “their eyes were opened”. But even as they gasped a greeting, He disappeared from their sight.

What a surprise! Especially to these thoroughly disappointed disciples. They had “hoped that He was the one who was going to redeem Israel” (NIV), and He had died, just like any other zealot. Three year of hope and self-sacrifice had been dashed, and then this! An empty tomb, a flesh-and-blood appearance and disappearance! What was going on?

Here’s what. Jesus was going to redeem Israel, not merely from Roman oppression, but from Satanic oppression. He was going to save His people from their sins. The eternal kingdom was at the door!

Key Verse: Luke 23: 12 “That very day Pilate and Herod became friends…”

In this chapter and the latter half of the previous chapter, we read of the crucifixion. Some have called this the “Passion” narrative. In 22:47-53 we see Jesus arrested (even while His disciples were eager to use those newly purchased swords–“Lord, should we strike with our swords?” v.49b). Then, in vss. 54-62, we read of Peter’s denial that he was a follower of Jesus. After this, Jesus is taken before Pilate and Herod, and then led to Golgotha. He dies and is buried. The story is over; or so His enemies thought.

What happened next must wait for Luke’s concluding chapter. But there is something in this chapter which is very rarely commented on. It’s a reference to two old enemies becoming friends.

We don’t really have any information on why Herod and Pilate were enemies. Maybe it was due to a clash of authority. Both men were accountable to Rome, but Herod, as Tetrarch, had a bit more autonomy than Pilate, as the Governor. Perhaps Herod resented that his autonomy could be challenged or ignored by Pilate from time to time: he could “go over Herod’s head” at will. And Pilate might have shared a common disgust for the paranoid Herod and flaunted it. But this is speculation.

For whatever reason, they were enemies, and Jesus made them friends. Isn’t that ironic? Their new view of one another sprang, not from being new men, but from trying to deal with “that Man”. They were both fascinated with and flummoxed by Jesus. Herod grew tired of his game with Jesus and had him ridiculed and mocked. Pilate had Him crucified. Neither knew exactly why. “And it wasn’t all bad–after all, it pleased the people and we’ve become friends!”

Jesus became a friend too: with sinners.

Key Verse: Luke 22:29 “I bestow upon you a kingdom, just as My Father bestowed one upon Me.”

Here’s a passage of scripture that has been remarkably silent over the years. At least in sermons, that is. We have probably heard a few sermons on Jesus sending out the disciples without “purse, bag or sandals”–the point of our dependency on God was well made in all of them. In fact, the party line has been that if God calls you and sends you out, you can rely totally on Him and have no need of money, extra clothing, or a second pair of Adidas. And the stock response from the faithful, as this principle is preached, is, “Amen!”

But wait a minute! After the disciples affirm that they had no need the first time they were out there ministering without material resources, Jesus now tells them the rules have changed. “But now” He says, “if you have a purse, take it, and also a bag; and if you don’t have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one.” (v.36 NIV). Jesus is telling His disciples to buy a sword, and to sell their overcoat to get one? You mean defending yourself against an attack is more important in Jesus’ eyes than defending yourself against the elements, and you need money and a suitcase as well? Where did you say that reference was again?

What’s going on here? The real world, that’s what. Jesus had already taught His disciples the lesson of complete submission to His will and total dependence upon His provision. Now, He was stressing the complementary role we can play in our ministries by good planning and responsible management. Wha’t more, He was showing us that, as far as our physical safety is concerned, there are some “executive responsibilities” we have in assisting our Heavenly Father and His ministering angels in this business of staying alive. Jesus wants us to be childlike–not childish.

Key Verse: Luke 21:4 “all these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty…”

The question occurring to me as I read this story is, “what would Jesus think or say about some modern ministries that unscrupulously bilk widows of their life savings?” We have no record of what Jesus said or did about this poor widow who put all she had to live on in the temple treasury. All we read is that Jesus saw her do it and was impressed.

What do you suppose motivated her? It was probably the first time she had done this; and probably the last. How often can you give all you have to live on before the well is completely dry, and you die? Maybe she had a great need and felt that her eager gift was a part of expressing her deepest sincerity in petitioning God for help. Maybe she felt especially guilty about some secret sin. Or perhaps she was in such desperate straits that giving all she had was an act of frustration, anger, and acquiescence–a kind of financial suicide. Maybe she thought this might force God to intervene. Then again, may be she gave out of total gratitude for some special answer to prayer. Who knows? But the point Jesus made was that she gave out of her poverty: her gift was costly.

Contrast this to the carefully measured gifts of the wealthy. Many of them, no doubt, were meticulous in their commitment to tithing–every month the first donation was a tithe to the temple. They perhaps even preached the importance of giving first to God before any other bill was paid, and I doubt the Lord would fault them for this. In fact, Jesus said nothing overtly negative about their donations. What He did say, however, related to the relative value of the gifts–not as men saw it, but as God saw it.

The gift of the wealthy was simply that –a gift. The gift of the widow was something else–it was a sacrifice–and sacrificial giving then, as now, was pretty much out of style.

Key Verse: Luke 19:44 “…you did not know the time of your visitation.”

If you have read even a bit of the Bible, you’re sure to have noticed the awfully serious view it takes of decision-making: especially those decisions about our relationship with God. When we’re vague, or try to postpone, if not water down, the demand of the relationship, He is clear-cut and downright inflexible. We want qualifiers, maybe’s, and wait-and-see’s. He wants either/or. He will work for a while at winning us, but warns that His Spirit will not always wrestle with us. If we put the decision off He’ll eventually stop trying to convince us, and the results, He warns, will be disastrous.

A case in point is Jesus weeping over Jerusalem. The city personifies the nation of Israel, Jesus’ own and God the Father’s chosen people. Not that, even in the context of a heart-rending compassion, Jesus is gratingly blunt in His pronouncement of doom: “The days will come upon you when your enemies will build and embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side. They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone ono another…” (vss. 43,44). This is pretty hard stuff; it almost seems that Jesus is foreseeing genocide here.

What makes it even more difficult is the seemingly schizophrenic nature of God in this passage. On the one hand, He loves His people with an everlasting love, on the other He pronounces judgment and appears to be prepared to sit back and let it happen. And this is all because His chosen ones “did not recognize the time of God’s coming” to them.

The lesson? God is love and God is just, and won’t extend His love forever, any more than He will postpone His judgment forever. It’s scary, but true — when God speaks, we’d better listen.