Yesterday in Bible class as were studying James I mentioned a book that I have found rather helpful called There’s is the Kingdom by Robert Lupton ( Harperone, 1989). The chapters are short and to the point. Below is chapter 1. Enjoy!
humble gift by ~marielliott
Last Sunday we sang a beautiful song entitled “Mighty to Save.” Oh, how we need this message today!
“A number of ancient and modern philosophers believe God is unemployed. They think God doesn’t do anything. They believe God is not an actor in the world, but only a factor. God is distant, removed, turned in on himself, shut out of our world by the inexorable laws of nature.
The Bible makes straight such crooked lines of thought. . .” Cornelius Platinga Jr. Beyond Doubt (Eerdmans, 2002): 39.
It is fairly easy to find individuals that will challenge God’s authority and might. Just travel down to the kid’s section in the bookstore. Two examples:
1. In the His Dark Materials trilogy, readers will find in The Amber Spyglass that God is merely an old angel. Eventually, the major characters euthanize him.
2. More playfully, but still a little disconcerting is the view of God in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series. Readers find the Greek gods of old are still in charge but only precariously. The ancient Titans that they desposed still exist, still create havoc (and monsters) and everyone concedes that evil has always been and will always be. The major characters stand as heroes and have to rally together against these oppressive, growing forces. Repeatedly, readers are told that the “big G” God is only something that philosophers waste their time over.
Against such a dismal, hopeless outlook stands the clear message of Scripture summarized beautifully in the words of Zephaniah 3:17
“The Lord your God is with you,
He is mighty to save.
He will take great delight in you,
He will quiet you with his love,
He will rejoice over you with singing.”
He – the great, one and only, personal God
Is – In this moment (even today)
Mighty – the only adjective that fits
To Save – We won’t be able to come through. Things fall apart on our watch.
This weekend take in the great truth that God is Mighty Save.
On Sunday, I wrapped a series of lessons that I’ve been teaching on leaving on a godly legacy. One of the easiest biblical passages to see the idea of legacy is in Psalm 78:1-6. Here the psalmist writes:
I will teach you hidden lessons from our past– stories we have heard and know,
Stories our ancestors handed down to us.
We will not hide these truths from our children
But will tell the next generation about the glorious deeds of the LORD.
We will tell of his power and the mighty miracles he did.
The words ancestors, children, and next generation all point to a legacy of faith. We have to ask the question, “How do we pass on faith?” We might break it down in this way:
- Our ideas and the ways we go about thinking fuel our feelings and our choices.
- Almost without thinking, routine choices become everyday habits.
- Habits form and inform traditions.
- Faith takes form in this process and is refined by the struggles losses and gains of living in the world.
If we want to change, if we want to become better parents or deeper Christians, how will that happen. Truly God will have to set the transformation in motion. We will have to respond a sense of emptiness and longing for more, and when we finally surrender to God and His voice, we can start to be free.
But this will take a decision on our part. I asked the class yesterday, “if you knew you had one month to live, how would you live differently?” The perspective of knowing that life is going to end has a way of focusing our minds. Many of the things that are trivial finally become trivial. And we focus on relationships and memories because they are what really matter. Most of all our relationship with God. Do you think you would pray more if you only had one month to live? If so, why not make the decision to change now? Why not discover God in everyday life now and pass on a godly legacy.
Soren Kierkegaard wisely observed, “A choice that is not used is worse than nothing; it is a snare in which a person has trapped himself as a slave who did not become free.”
Jesus calls us by saying, “Come to me all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me.”
What is keeping you from living by different choices? Pray about that and live in God’s Power toward a new legacy.
Doctors learn a lot about a person’s family history from the genetic markers that appear in a blood sample. In layman’s terms, our blood carries genetic markers of all sorts. So as we think about the blood of Christ, we have to be reminded of the humanity of Jesus.
He was born in a stable as the son of Mary. He was in her womb—nourished by her very flesh and blood. As only a mother can experience, His life and Mary’s life were intertwined throughout that entire pregnancy.
To be incarnate means that Jesus had real flesh. It might be right to say that God the Father fashioned Jesus’ humanity from Mary’s genetic traits. That can leave us with lots of fun questions:
Earlier this summer at the Renovaré Conference in San Antonio, Robert Gelinas reminded me about the strange relatives that appear in the ancestry of Jesus. We are often embarrassed by crazy uncles or cousins, and to think we are related to them!
Jesus was related by blood to an interesting lot of people: Tamar, Ruth, and Manasseh to name three. However you want to think about—Jesus was like us in every way. He had blood coursing in his veins. He picked up all the physical genetic dispositions and frailties that come with a family tree.
For our purposes though as we consider his humanity, we have to be struck by his willingness to choose us. Our minds give us the power to make choices, and Jesus chose to love us and to die in our place. All we can do is give thanks that Jesus would give himself for us.
On the other hand, the divinity of Jesus means that His blood was different from ours. He was more than the son of Mary; He embodies holiness and purity and truth. Just as the tabernacle symbolized God’s presence and power on the earth in a real way, the body of Jesus became a temple. The gospel of John indicates the radiance that is God’s glory appeared fully in Jesus. As He shed His blood, the veil that divided God and man was torn asunder.
His resurrection and exaltation to the right hand of the Father has changed everything. Evil and death do not have the last word. By the power of the Spirit, we can be free and holy lives—as Christ lives in us today.
The blood of Jesus makes all of this possible and shows us the real possiblities.
