Jesus Loves His Church

Here is a helpful message from Pastor Mark Driscoll on how Jesus Loves His Church.  Here

"Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her," (Eph 5:25). 

                The supreme human love relationship, marriage, is supposed to be modeled after Christ's love for His people.  Who are Christ's people?  What is the ultimate love relationship in existence apart from God's inner-Trinitarian love for Himself?  It is Christ's relationship to the church.  The church is far from perfect.  It is a group of sinful human beings doing life together.  But, it is a group of imperfect people affected by the perfect love of Christ.  It is imperfect people being slowly made perfect by God.  Much pain has occurred through the church, sadly.  But, God has not given up on it.  Instead, Jesus loves the church and is purifying it so that it glorifies God.  Because Jesus loves the church, Christians must love the church.  Christians must love the organized body of believers both globally and locally.  Christians must pray for the success of the church around the world.  Christians also must actively join and serve in a local body of believers, even when it is painful to do so.  The church is the family of God on earth, and though we are not yet sinless (hence the ongoing pain in earthly churches), we work through the power of the Holy Spirit to serve God and one another better.

Use Worldly Wealth - Luke 16:9

"I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings," (Luke 16:9).

Jesus told a perplexing parable of a dishonest servant who, when he found he was being fired, helped debtors to his master change their debts and steal from his former master. Jesus did not say what the master did to the dishonest servant other than praise him for his shrewdness. Then, arguing from lesser to greater, he encouraged his followers to be shrewd with worldly wealth. However, Jesus was not encouraging unscrupulous methods to gain mountains of money. Instead, he was encouraging Christians to make the most of their dollars for eternal purposes. 

Fire from God for Grace and for Justice

At the end of the first week of the institution of the priestly office for Aaron and his sons, a ceremony was completed to inaugurate the Lord dwelling with His people and mediating His presence at the tabernacle through the priests (Lev 9).  This ceremony included "the entire assembly" of Israel standing before the Lord (Lev 9:5).  A calf was slaughtered before their eyes, cut up, and its blood put on the altar and poured out; then a lamb was cut to pieces.  Next, a goat was killed as a sin offering.  Finally both an ox and a ram were killed.  God had meticulously commanded these sacrifices to cover the people's sins and allow a Holy God to dwell with a sinful people.  This was an incredibly bloody day that all of the people watched.  Imagine the sounds and smells they saw as Aaron and his sons slowly worked to offer the sacrifices.  After Aaron stepped down from the altar, he and Moses blessed the people.  Then, the glory of the Lord appeared and "Fire came out from the presence of the Lord and consumed the burnt offering," (Lev 9:24).

Idolatry Explored

Is idolatry at the root of most sins, or is it only a small problem today, a relic of a struggle from an ancient age when men worshiped what they made?  Do you struggle with idolatry?  Do I?  If we do struggle, how do we know, and what do we do about it?  Each of these questions has been on my mind in some fashion lately.  Below, I have uploaded a preliminary discussion.  More work and more support is necessary, but at this point, I want to share what God has shown me about idolatry.  Please feel free to share with me the passages that have been important to you, or your own struggle to worship God fully and enjoy a heart submitted to the Lordship of Christ above all.

Idolatry Explored

A Good Friday

        Having endured a sleepless night of false accusations before an unfair and prejudiced court, Jesus was hauled to his feet early on Friday morning, and dragged to the Praetorium before the violent Roman prefect, Pontius Pilate.  For the next three hours or so, Jesus endured further false accusations from the envious Jews and easily-swayed crowd.  He endured the skeptic questioning of Pilate and then the mocking requests for miracles from Herod.  He suffered a severe scourging because of Pilate's cowardly attempt to appease the crowd's bloodlust at his expense.  Then, he heard the verdict his Father had told him would come, "Crucify him," (Mark 15:14).

What Do You Own?

What do you own?

Some may answer this question economically - I own my house (or co-own with my mortgage lender). I own my car (or co-own with the bank who holds my auto loan).  I own my phone (or lease it from my cell service company).  I own my computer (but pay fees for the software and licenses on it).  I own my television (but pay a recurring fee to put cable channels on it).  So, I own a lot, but only halfway.

Some may answer this question inter-personally - I have a wife, two kids, a dog, good parents, manageable in-laws.  But, these people are not my personal property, so I do not have true ownership rights over them, even though there are certain laws that grant me care and custody of my children, I do not have full ownership of all their person.  So, I have relationships, but I do not own people.

In Obedience, When Matters

Matthew Henry used the following sentence regarding sinning during the peace offering (Lev 7:16-18), "if any person ate of what was so left their conduct should be animadverted upon as a very high misdemeanor," (Henry Commentary 368).

I had to look up animadversion.  It means "harsh criticism".  There's your word for the morning.