Category: Snapshots (Page 4 of 45)

Deuteronomy 32:7¹NIV New International Version Translations
⁷ Remember the days of old; consider the generations long past. Ask your father and he will tell you, your elders, and they will explain to you.

Background

Before we start our study, it is a good idea to reflect for a moment on the “The book of Deuteronomy,” and exactly what it is. Deuteronomy is the last of the books of the law, the set of five being called the Pentateuch. It is part of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy). The five books are traditionally ascribed to Moses as the author. However, the modern view now held by scholars is that the five books are a compilation from texts of the 9th to 5th centuries named  the Torah. Being the last book, the Jews sometimes called it “five-fifths of the Law.” The name Deuteronomy means “spoken twice”. Some have called it the “second law” or more appropriately, the second rendering of the law. The entire book is a reminder of the truths of God. Deuteronomy does not offer Israel a “new law,” but it gives us a reminder of the established law of God that was given in the previous four books.

Verse 32:7 has been called by some the key verse to the book. This verse commands Israel to do exactly what the entire book is about, that is to REMEMBER. Deuteronomy is a book about remembrance. The word remember or remembrance appears 16 times in Deuteronomy. Furthermore, if you consider the various derivatives of these words and consider the many translations we have of the Bible, you will find typically over 300 references to remembering in the average Bible. Not only is Deuteronomy a book about remembrance, but the whole Bible is a book about remembrance. Much of the work of the Church is to get us to remember.

Much of God’s interaction with the world and our lives are all about getting us to remember. God allows people and trials, pain, heartbreak, and difficulty in our lives many times for the sole purpose of pressing us to pause, remember, and consider. If there ever was an example of a failure to remember, it would be the New Testament and Christ Himself. How He was treated in His time on earth clearly was inconsistent with everything the Jewish nation had been taught. In Deuteronomy, specifically, the author was trying to summarize what was important for the people to remember. To start with, the history of the Jewish people begins in Egypt. Enslaved, God led them to freedom and through the wilderness, and into the land of Canaan. Why? So they might they be led on to higher and better things. They were originally led to the provision and occupation of a good land for them in the times of Noah and his sons, which they are referred to in Deuteronomy 32:8. Later, their rejection of God’s Law and the prophets resulted in their captivity in Babylon. They would be led by Isaiah and others, and  by David, and Solomon his son. Time and time again, generation after generation, their failure to remember would result in their pain and suffering. There goes that “free will” thing again!

God’s point in this verse is really that He created the first government of the world, his own people. Everything else was mapped out after He had set them apart and provided a place for them. The PLACE was sufficient, large, fruitful, and in an admirable position, that there they might multiply and enjoy all the good things which God so freely gave them. In one of God’s strongest assurances, God promised His people that while  dynasties rise and fall and kings would reign, they would be scattered by defeat. God’s church, however, would be upheld in the world.  His one and only purpose and the spread of His glorious truth would go on for ever.

Items for Discussion

• What do you see as the benefits of knowing history, of remembering the past? Name all the benefits you can.
• Why do you think that is it so hard to pass the lessons of history from one generation to the next?
• What do you think God wants us to remember?
• How does the narrative of history get corrupted by the world? What are the negative influences that seem to change history?
• What do you remember about the history of your church(s) that is of help to you today?
• How does history, “remembering,” give us evidence of God’s existence in our world?
• There are many things we are called to remember in Scripture. Can you think of some that are important to us now in the current COVID-19 crisis?
• Why should remembering an accurate history sustain a person’s hope?

Discussion Challenge

• Besides the Law, the author of Deuteronomy is reminding Israel of all God’s goodness to them. How does an honest and accurate reflection of history bring a greater conviction of sin and remembrance of God’s love and grace? 

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1 Corinthians 1:31¹NIV New International Version Translations
31 Therefore, as it is written: “Let the one who boasts boast in the LORD.”

Background

A glance at the map will show that Corinth was made for greatness. The southern part of Greece is very nearly an island. On the west the Corinthian Gulf deeply indents the land and on the east the Saronic Gulf. All that is left to join the two parts of Greece together is a little isthmus only four miles across. On that narrow neck of land is where Corinth stands. That location and circomstance made  Cornith one of the greatest trading and commercial centers of the ancient world. All traffic from Athens and the north of Greece to Sparta and the Peloponnese had to be routed through Corinth, because it stood on the little neck of land that connected the two.

Not only did the north to south traffic of Greece pass through Corinth of necessity, by far the greater part of the east to west traffic of the Mediterranean passed through her by choice. The extreme southern tip of Greece was known as Cape Malea (now called Cape Matapan). It was dangerous, and to round Cape Malea had much the same sound as to round Cape Horn had in later times. The consequence was that mariners followed one of two courses. They sailed up the Saronic Gulf, and, if their ships were small enough, dragged them out of the water, set them on rollers, hauled them across the isthmus, and re-launched them on the other side. If that course was not possible because the ship was too large, the cargo was disembarked, carried by porters across the isthmus, and re-embarked on another ship at the other side. This four mile journey across the isthmus, where the Corinth Canal now runs, saved a journey of two hundred and two miles round Cape Malea, the most dangerous cape in the Mediterranean.

Corinth is remembered for wealth and luxury, for drunkenness and immorality and vice, and then read 1 Cor.6:9-10. Paul stayed longer in Corinth than in any other city, with the single exception of Ephesus. News came to Paul from various sources of trouble at Corinth. Here we see Paul, the shepherd of his flock, bearing the sorrows and the problems of his people on his heart. The church was struggling and Paul was giving advice. One might conclude that churches today can learn a lot from Paul.

Verse 31

The message  from the Apostle Paul to both the church at Corinth and today’s Christians is simple: Christianity and its message of salvation is based on the death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Capitalism, globalism, and now technology, coupled with a media-filled world present us with ever changing challenges to our Christian faith. While we may see faith and salvation in context to Christ’s death on the cross, dying on a cross may never make sense to a world that cannot find the benefits from such a death. Paul is always trying to teach that through a suffering God, the world was redeemed and humanity was given hope of eternity.

While people are still hungry for the word of God and a desire to have an encounter with the risen Lord, our 21st-century churches often struggle to fill the soul.  Preachers must preach and teach theologies and spiritualties that help people to grow in their understanding and the meaning of Christ’s death and resurrection. Today, this is complicated by the need to use unfamiliar, new technologies and distance learning techniques. The proclamation of Christ’s death and resurrection is still the basic message to be heard in the midst of people who are living in today’s new challenges. It is times like now that Christian faith is in need of a great revival.

Paul picks on the notion of God’s call on people’s lives by reminding them that God calls people who do not align themselves with the wisdom of the world. The turning of the world from the ideal to the abnormal is fascinating because God calls and works through the weak members of the society (verses 26-28) to preach to the world. In some way, the ones who have been called to serve God must be open to the leading and guidance of the Trinity and do things that seem counter cultural in our world today, like bragging about the Lord and not about themselves.

Paul continues to argue that being divided among ourselves, denies the gospel of Christ to the world. While technology may direct us to teachers and preachers who command worldly power, there are dangers that can limit wisdom by the consolidation of ideas to a few people or methods. God’s wisdom and power will always outpace His human counterparts that may be defining themselves as wise and powerful.

What, then, is power in today’s world? It is God, by God’s own doing, uniting people to Christ (verses 27-30). These are the lead in verses to our Scripture passage for this week. Christ is the wisdom and power (verse 30). Union with the crucified Christ, then, is to play out in all aspects of the church’s life. So now let’s go to our study verse 31.

Once we come to the realization that Christ is the substance of everything we could ever want, the wind is taken away out from the sails of any argument that would draw us to specific people and churches. We are not to boast of successful earthly leaders, we are boast only in the Lord Jesus Christ (verse 31). The path for us is not to strive in being good orators, pastors, teachers or even church members. Paul is encouraging all Christians to function under the Holy Spirit, whose power enables an authentic proclamation of the gospel.

William Barclay, a most famous theologian focus’s our attention on these four great things which Paul insists Christ is for us.

• He is wisdom. It is only in following Him that we walk right and only in listening to Him do we hear the truth. He is the expert in life.
• He is righteousness. In the writings of Paul, righteousness always means a right relationship with God. Through our own efforts we can never achieve that. It is ours only by realizing through Jesus Christ that our relationship with God exists because of what He has done for us.
• He is consecration. It is only in the presence of Christ that life can be what it ought to be. There is no “as if” about our relationship to Christ. The Christian walks with Him and only in that company can anyone keep their clothing unspotted from the world.
• He is deliverance. Who but Jesus Christ can deliver a man from past sin, from their present helplessness, and from future fear. Jesus  is the emancipator from slavery to ourselves, from COVID-19 and even from all sin.

Items for Discussion

• Where are the areas in a church that point us to Christ?
• Which areas might not point to Christ but, instead, to people or groups?
• How would you measure whether a church has its mission, its goals properly focused?  What would your metrics be?
• How is our community like Corinth? How are we different?
• Why is the cross foolishness to some?
• How does the Cross destroy the “wisdom” of men?
• What in your church makes you want to have Christ’s life more than the world’s life?
• What are your favorite methods of keeping focused on the death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ so that your faith is strengthened?
• What benefits do you see that come to people  when they hear you “boast in the Lord?”

Discussion Challenge

• People like the message of the “prosperity gospel” – How might it conflict with our message from Paul?

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Genesis 22:1-13¹NIV New International Version Translations
¹ Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!” “Here I am,” he replied. ² Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.” ³ Early the next morning Abraham got up and loaded his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about. ⁴ On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. ⁵ He said to his servants, “Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you.” ⁶ Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together, ⁷ Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, “Father?” “Yes, my son?” Abraham replied. “The fire and wood are here,” Isaac said, “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” ⁸ Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them went on together. ⁹ When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. ¹⁰ Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. ¹¹ But the angel of the Lord called out to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!” “Here I am,” he replied. ¹² “Do not lay a hand on the boy,” he said. “Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.” ¹³ Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son.

Background

The sacrifice or should we say requested sacrifice by Abraham of his son is not an easy thing to understand. It is clear that God respects and protects life. There are sufficient biblical texts that expressly forbid child sacrifice (e.g. Leviticus 18:21; Jeremiah 7:30-34; Ezekiel 20:31). The practice is known in the cultures surrounding Israel and may have even been practiced in Israel as well during those times (hence the prophetic condemnation of it). However, the sacrifice of a ram in place of Isaac is to become the foundational act for all the Temple sacrifices that will follow in Jewish history.

For Christianity, the sacrifice of the beloved son is obvious comparative to Jesus’ death. That’s why Genesis 22 is frequently used as one of the readings for the Easter season. In addition.  Abraham’s willingness  to sacrifice his son is one of the greatest examples of early Christian faith: “By faith Abraham, when put to the test, offered up Isaac…..  He considered the fact that God is able even to raise someone from the dead” (Hebrews 11:17, 19). In the history of Christianity, Genesis 22 continues to be a story of faith against all odds, and as a foretelling of God’s unselfish act of the giving of His own son Jesus Christ. If this was a scene in a Broadway play, we might consider that there are three principle actors: God, Abraham and let us not forget Isaac.

The Prologue:

“After these things God tested Abraham” (22:1). And what do “these things” include?

• God’s call to Abraham to go to a land he has never seen.
• God’s promises Abraham that he will be the father of a great nation.
• Abraham and Sarah go many years without a child.
• The gift of the birth of Ishmael;
• Abraham, at Sarah’s insistence and with great sorrow, casts out his first son, Ishmael.
• And now, God demands a most horrid thing: “Take your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go  to the land of Moriah and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains that I will show you” (22:2).”

First, let’s look at God:

Abraham and his descendants are the means by which God has chosen to bless the whole world (Genesis 12:3). And God has innitially chosen Abraham to be the catalyst.  It is clear, God has a plan that He wants to execute and He would like Abraham to be part of it.  Since God is ultimately in charge, we must assume that this plan is very good for the world, the whole world.

Let’s look at Abraham:

Abraham has not always proven to be up to the task (e.g., the wife-sister charade, Hagar and Ishmael). Now God needs to know whether Abraham is willing to give up the one thing most precious to him for the sake of being faithful to the God who gave him that gift in the first place. God clearly is going to test Abraham and Abraham is going to be free to either pass or fail this test. This is an example of the “free will” God gives to each of us.

Let’s look at Isaac:

We often leave out the person who had the most invested in this test of faith, Isaac. We do not know if Isaac fully understood that he was the sacrifice. Here again, however, we are reminded of the relationship between father and son. “He bound his son Isaac … Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to kill his son” (22:9-10). This is the most intense scene we have. At this point in this story, Isaac tied up, laying on a wood pile and looking up at his father who is holding a sacrificial knife. Our understanding, however, cannot move past the fact that all through this story, Isaac is placing his full faith in his father. We should not miss this part of the lesson. This is the very thing that every person in the world is being asked daily. Do you place your full faith and trust in your Father, God, even when you are bound, lying on a wood pile and looking up to only see a sacrificial knife?

The Main story:

The two of them walk on together, father and son, the son carrying the wood for his own sacrifice. The first century rabbis, with no connection to Christianity but with ample experience of Roman executions, said of this detail: “Isaac carries the wood for the sacrifice like one who carries his own cross.” As the many generations of Christian interpreters have seen through the events of history, this story foreshadows the foundation of Christian faith – the story of the death and resurrection of a beloved son, the son of Abraham, the son of David, the Son of God.

The Final Scene:

Isaac knew that there should be a lamb for the sacrifice.  Abraham had told Isaac, God provides. Now we have a “narrator” in this final scene. An angel of the Lord calls out to Abraham from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!” and Abraham is quick to reply,  “Here I am.” Abraham, having passed this most excruciating of tests, hears the best news ever. “Now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me” don’t lay a hand on your son. Don’t do anything to hurt him. With relief, Abraham looks up and sees a ram caught in a thicket nearby. Sure enough, God provided the sacrifice! Our Broadway show ends happily with applauses. Isaac is untied, the ram sacrificed. Abraham names the site of the intended sacrifice “The LORD will provide” (22:14). And as they say, both Abraham and Isaac walk off into the sunset and the rest is history!

At this time in our world, the COVD-19 virus is looming over the world. We find ourselves bound, laying on what feels like a sacrificial alter and woodpile. Each of us is looking up to see the “COVID-19 Knife” held over us and the entire world is being asked that most important of all questions, “Do you place your full faith and trust in your Father, God?” You have the full free will to answer as you so choose.

Items for Discussion

• What does it mean to have complete trust in God?
• What are examples of trust? What are examples of mistrust?
• Is there a difference between trusting God and knowing His will for us? 
• The Christian belief is that God dignifies us with free will, the power to make decisions of our own rather than having God or fate predetermine what we do. What influences our “free will?” Some discussion ideas are:
  • Past experiences may distort our response to God
  • Personal limitations require us to seek clarity in God’s will (e.g., a handicap)
  • Observations may distort our opinion of what God controls, permits, or is just happenstance
  • Beliefs, formed from childhood and experiences (good and bad) can completely corrupt society
• With the evil side of our world taking advantage of “free will,” how is it that people can remain faithful to God’s will? Some discussion ideas are:
  • Obedience – How do we know for sure, we are following God’s will?
  • Attitude – Regardless of outcomes, can the glass always be “Half full?”
  • Expectations – How do we set them, who do we let influence them?
• Did Jesus demonstrate His free will and complete trust of God? How?
• What do you think we should be praying for with respect to God’s will?
• Are there current examples in our society today of people demonstrating the “Faith of Abraham?”
• Are there current examples in our society today of people demonstrating the faith of “Isaac?”
• The Bible uses the Father and Son relationship examples throughout. How might the current crisis of growing numbers of single parent homes be affecting the ability of new generations to fully understand who God is? In other words, can you know God without understanding a father’s role? Can you know Jesus without knowing what it is to be an obedient child?

Discussion Challenge

• What do you think the greatest influence of the Christian Church should be on a society that is fearful? 

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Luke 24:28-35¹NIV New International Version Translations
²⁸ As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus continued on as if he were going farther. ²⁹ But they urged him strongly, “Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over.” So he went in to stay with them. ³⁰ When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. ³¹ Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. ³² They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?” ³³ They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven and those with them, assembled together ³⁴ and saying, “It is true! The LORD has risen and has appeared to Simon.” ³⁵ Then the two told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus was recognized by them when he broke the bread.

Background

By the time of the actual writing of Luke’s Gospel, most of the church was composed of Christians who had not personally witnessed Christ in the flesh. This story is meant to connect them (and us today) with Christ, who is still revealed through the reading and interpretation of scripture (v. 27) and the Lord’s Supper (vv. 30-31). We should not view ourselves at a disadvantage because we have not personally seen Jesus.

The term “two of them” refers back to “the eleven and all the rest” (v. 9). Cleopas²https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cleopas, the disciple in this story, is never mentioned in any list of the apostles, so these two are among “the rest” rather than among the original eleven apostles. They may very well be husband and wife, in part because they offer hospitality jointly as would a husband and wife. This is Easter afternoon—just hours after Jesus rose from the dead. We know little about the town of Emmaus, which was about 7 miles from Jerusalem . All of Jesus’ resurrection appearances take place near Jerusalem. The story does not tell us why the travelers were going to Emmaus, although their hospitality to Jesus, their invitation to stay with them, makes it likely that Emmaus is their home.

Jesus’ preaching had made a deep impression upon their hearts, (Luke 24:32), and now they feel it their greatest privilege to entertain the preacher and offer hospitality. This is a constant effect of the doctrine of Christ: Jesus’ words, when heard, always dwell in the heart. His words make an impact. In verse 28, they come to Emmaus and Jesus acted like He would go further” (v. 28). This sounds as if the two disciples have reached their home. Jesus proceeds to leave them. Custom of the times requires them to invite Jesus to dinner, and custom would also require Jesus to decline unless they insist. Hence, the urging to stay with them.

This story involves highly liturgical language we still use today, including” He took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them” (v. 30); “The Lord has risen indeed” (v. 34); and “the breaking of the bread” (v. 35). The risen Christ is revealed through the telling of His story, the interpretation of Scripture, and the breaking of bread. Something we as Christians still do today. These are almost exactly the words that Luke used to describe Jesus’ actions at the Last Supper (22:19). Note the four verbs: took, blessed, broke, and gave. Jesus took these same actions at the feeding of the five thousand (9:12-17). Normally, the host would perform these actions in a home. Jesus, the guest, becomes both host and celebrant at His table.

Earlier, their eyes were being kept from recognizing him (v. 16). Their eyes are now opened, and they recognized Jesus (v. 31a). It has been the conversation and words of Jesus who opens their eyes. The Emmaus disciples show hospitality to Jesus, and are rewarded with a private audience with the risen Lord. We never know what blessings we might receive by giving hospitality or what blessings we might lose by foregoing it. As the disciples reflect upon what they have experienced, they comment on how their hearts were affected when Jesus opened the Scriptures to them (v. 32). This is the intended revelation that should come from the breaking of bread: We are preparing to recognize Jesus in our midst. Our hearts then are being opened to personally hear from our Lord.

The Emmaus disciples run to share their story with the other disciples in Jerusalem. They had to go seven miles to get to Jerusalem, and the hour was late, but their good news of seeing Jesus alive energized them for their journey. This is the goal of the communion experience. Once the Emmaus disciples arrive in Jerusalem, they find the eleven apostles and their companions discussing Jesus’ appearance to Peter. Remember, after Judas’ death, we occasionally hear of “the eleven” in the New Testament. Each time we hear “the eleven,” we are reminded that there should have be twelve. Also, we are reminded that there were others with the eleven (v. 34c). Presumably these include the women and others, totaling about one hundred twenty, mentioned in Acts 1:14-15.

Items for Discussion

• What is it about the Communion Experience that helps you in “recognizing Jesus” as your Savior?
• Which are the elements of communion that impact you most? Make you excited so you run and tell others?
• What do you do to help yourself prepare for communion: In worship together? When we are doing it over a computer, live streaming?
• If the “Word of God” and Jesus Himself have an impact upon a person’s heart, then how should we be using these great gifts? In Worship? When worshiping “Virtually? When just together with friends and family?
• In this story, Jesus is not just giving the disciples a “sermon.” What is making this event so different?
• How do you think Jesus’ blessing or the reliving of the Last Supper is impacting the two disciple’s understanding of God’s word? 
• In what way does the sharing of other human experiences (life’s journey along the road) strengthen one’s faith?
•  All encounters with Jesus’ are not on a “Road to Damascus.” What differences do you see here that made this so effective?
• The two disciples immediately shared their experience with other believers. How do you think this helped the other believers?
• What would have been missed if the two disciples just went to bed after Jesus disappeared?

Discussion Challenge

• The COVID-19 challenge of these times has diminished the Church’s ability to offer hospitality and worship together. Can we still repeat the experience shared by the two disciples through “virtual” experiences? How?

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Romans 5:1-8¹NIV New International Version Translations
¹ Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, ² through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. ³ Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; ⁴ perseverance, character; and character, hope. ⁵ And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. ⁶ You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. ⁷ Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. ⁸ But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Background

This might be called a lesson on hope. To be hopeful is to look on the future positively, to see opportunity in challenges (rather than challenges in opportunities), to “look on the bright side of life.” It is the ability to see the possible good in future events, especially when those events are potentially detrimental. Today we know that hope reduces feelings of helplessness, boosts happiness, reduces stress, and improves our quality of life. So let’s try to understand the Apostle Paul’s vision of hope for us all.

You and I have been made right with God, through Christ.

We don’t have to wonder whether we’ll be found acceptable when we stand before God. We don’t have to keep trying to earn our salvation. Why? Because of what Christ has done. For us, who so often fall short, have been made right with God.  Lets look at how.

We receive all this simply through faith.  Since people cannot or will not do what is right or righteous, we fall short of the glory of God. Consequently there is a chasm between us and God. Peace with God cannot exist. Christ is the only one and only way to bridge that chasm and restore peace with God.

• Through faith in Jesus we are forgiven and counted righteous in God’s eyes.
• Through faith in Jesus we are declared innocent and acquitted of any wrong doing.
• Through faith in Christ we are declared guiltless and blameless.

Apart from Jesus that’s not possible. What kind of resurrection would it be if suddenly, we rose to face our sins, all of our sins! That’s not the kind of resurrection Jesus was talking about. When Jesus went to the Cross, He was offering anyone forgiveness and freedom from guilt. We are forgiven and made righteous. Remember the two thieves crucified with Jesus? The journey toward justification and acquittal before God starts when we acknowledge our guilt and place our faith in Christ alone.

You and I have been made right with God through trust in Jesus

Jesus challenges us to trust Him completely and follow Him, to move beyond our comfort zone. Jesus calls us, like the Disciples, to step out in faith and follow Him. It may not be safe, but it’s still a good thing. For when we put our faith and trust in Christ, and Christ alone, we are justified before God.

The word “Justify” has three different yet major uses.

• First: it is a legal term which means the opposite of condemn; it means to show or give a satisfactory reason for having done something.
• Second: it’s a printing term used to describe the process of taking the ragged edges out of a printing job by lining up both edges of the text and spacing the letters correctly. (Most Bibles and newspapers are printed this way.)
• And Third: it’s a theological term which means to make one righteous through freeing them from the blame or guilt of sin through forgiveness.

And all three apply here.

1. First, in John 3:17 Jesus says, “God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him.”
2. Second, in the process of Salvation, God straightens up all our ragged edges and lines up our lives with Scriptural Holiness.
3. Third, we are set free from the guilt of our sin and offered forgiveness. And that’s a joyous thing if we simply trust Christ and trust God.

You and I have been made right with God through our own suffering

As Christians, we are an optimistic people. We believe tomorrow will be better than today. Our rational is that we believe in a  God that holds the future. The light at the end of the tunnel is the light of God’s glory, the light of Christ,  not a train. The good news is that we can continue to have faith even if we should do wrong again, or if things should go terribly wrong in our lives. God will continue to be faithful. Because God is ALWAYS FAITHFUL. There is nothing we have to do to earn His faithfulness. It is given to us in the form of the free gift of GRACE.

Nothing that happens in this world is in vain if we entrust it to God. Most of us will say that some of the most valuable lessons we learned in life are learned through adversity. Paul sums it up like this: “We boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.”

To conclude these verses is to come to the understanding that this is very good news. All we really need for eternal life is to trust God and trust the faith that we claim. Fear often comes from the concern that our lives must go through some radical change and, unless we do, nothing we can do will count. When we are justified we are not nullified but rather dignified and classified and identified with the one who was crucified and glorified God. Our lives are purified and strengthened by the one who showed us the reality behind God’s love. And while it still remains a mystery on how we can be justified by faith to the one who was not happy with the world as it was, Christ teaches, strengthens and continues to revive our faith. That relationship certifies us as a child of God. And what do we get? We get peace with God through faith in Christ.

Items for Discussion

• Why is mankind at war with God?  Or are they? Your opinion
• What are some things man does so God will be at peace with him?
• Does anyone know of an example of someone dying for a good person? Bad person?
• Why is it bad to carry guilt? Is there any benefit?
• How do you personally overcome the anxiety that is caused by the “world around us?”
• Is there an upside to anxiety?
• How do hard times bring about perseverance?
• Can you give some examples of hope that disappoints us?
• The three things this lesson tells us are that we are forgiven, we need to trust Jesus and we will suffer – How would you summarize this into a “statement of faith,” that is why you are a Christian?

Discussion Challenge

• What is the role of the Christian Church during hard times?

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Luke 24:5b-9¹NIV New International Version Translations
^5b “Why do you look for the living among the dead? ⁶ He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: ⁷ ‘The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’ ” ⁸ Then they remembered his words. ⁹ When they came back from the tomb, they told all these things to the Eleven and to all the others.

Background

Last week was Easter Sunday. We looked at these same verses.  Last week’s study talked about our personal belief that Jesus is Alive! For this week’s study, just seven days have transpired. The COVID-19 virus is still playing havoc with our world and it is a good time to reflect on the miracle of the “Empty Tomb.” Jesus just showed the world how to defeat death itself.  So let’s look at that empty tomb one more time but from a slightly different perspective.

Jesus was crucified. Jesus is dead, and his followers assume that He remains dead (24:1-3). The women come to the tomb because that is where the saw the body of Jesus was placed after his crucifixion (23:55-56). At the end of the prior chapter, Luke described a group of women who first followed Joseph to the tomb and then planned to return to the tomb in order to further prepare Jesus’ body for burial following the Sabbath, the Jewish day of rest. (Luke 23:54-56) Their names are given in Luke 24:10 (Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James other women). For women to go to a place of burial, near a crowded city, before sunrise, faith and courage were needed. John notes that Mary Magdalene arrived earlier while it was still dark (John 20:1). Evidently all the women set out just before dawn while it was still dark, but Mary got to the tomb ahead of the others. The women brought spices which they had prepared.

Please recall that the body had already been anointed so this would have been additional anointing by the women. Nicodemus, a prominent Pharisee and almost certainly a member of the Sanhedrin (see John 3:1), joined Joseph at the tomb, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds in weight. Together, Joseph and Nicodemus took the body of Jesus, and bound it in linen wrappings with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews (John 19:39–40). Bodies in Jesus’s time were simply encased  in strongly perfumed burial cloths to help mask the smell of decay. Frankincense and  myrrh were typical burial ointments. Many think that the gifts given at the time of Jesus’s birth by the Kings from Persia were symbolic of His eventual sacrifice and death.

So lets pause here for a moment. We have our first witnesses. Joseph and Nicodemus surely knew Jesus was dead. While being observed by a group of women, our next set of witnesses, we see they were convinced enough to go back to their homes, gather further spices and perfumes, and then risk the darkness of the morning to go back and finish the burial on the third day. Now our arriving women meet the man or men (depending on which gospel) who ask them why did they come looking for a body?  Our third angelic witness says you came to the wrong spot, no one is dead here! The discovery of the empty tomb does not lead to an easy change of perspective. It brings confusion, not clarity. Bodies that are dead presumably remain dead.

The women receive a word that runs counter to what they understand, He has risen (24:5). The angelic messengers are not the point. The focus must be on the message, not the messengers (24:4-7). What our first witnesses encounter is the concept of the resurrection. They are told that Jesus has risen, but they do not see the risen Jesus himself.  This brings the Easter experience down to one word, resurrection. One would think God would work differently. It would seem so much easier to have the women come to the tomb and watch Jesus walk out into the light of a new day. And it would seem much easier for Jesus simply to appear in dazzling glory to us, who gather on an Easter morning generations later.  Like the women on the first Easter, we are all given a message of resurrection, which flies in the face of what we know to be true.

The only logical response to such a message is doubt. Experience teaches us that death wins. The Easter message says that Jesus lives and death loses. Easter is where contradictory claims collide. Unfortunately for most of our world, it makes sense to continue believing the way they do.

The women bring the message of resurrection to the others, and the others respond as thinking people regularly respond. They thought that the message was “an idle tale, and they did not believe them” (24:11). Unbelief does not mean that people believe nothing. Rather, it means that they believe something else. Yet this is where the Easter message begins its work, by challenging all we know to be certain. Experience teaches that death wins and that even the strongest succumb to it. Experience teaches that life is what you make it, so get what you can while you can because it will be over soon enough. And the Easter message says, “Can you be sure?” Death is real, but Easter teaches us that death is not final.

In the eternal realm of God, Jesus gets the last word. The Easter message calls you from your old belief in death to a new belief in life. The claim that the tomb could not hold Jesus, and the idea that the one who died by crucifixion has now risen is so outrageous that it might make you wonder whether it might, just might, be true. The apostles seemed convinced that the message was nonsense, nothing more than “an idle tale” (24:11). Death was death. Yet the message was so outrageous that Peter had to go and take a look for himself (24:12). He had to wonder, “What if it is true?”

Here we are only one week after Easter. As we gather for worship whether virtually over the Internet or in person, we do nothing more than follow in the footsteps of Peter. You have heard the rumor that Jesus is alive and come back again to hear for yourself: “What if it is true?” What if death is real, but not final? What if Jesus is not merely a person in the past but also lives in the present and even the future? What if Jesus were to meet you here today? What would life be really like for you with Jesus?”

Items for Discussion

• Are there modern day experiences that help people believe that God has power over death?
  • Miraculous recoveries?
  • Near death experiences?
  • Power of prayers?
• What do you think the difference is between a “natural body” and a “spiritual body” that Paul talks about in I Cor. 15:44-49?
• Are Christian’s saved by Jesus’ death, His resurrection, or both?
• When does this resurrection of the believer come, when we are dead or can it come when they are alive?
• Have you ever been tempted to “un-believe”? By what experiences?
• What might help someone “re-believe” if they’ve ever “un-believed”?
• Have you ever thought about the resurrection being the foundation on which your faith, and the church, is built, rather than the scriptures? Do you agree? Why or why not?

Discussion Challenge

• How can the modern Christian Church become a “remover of doubt?”

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Luke 24:5_b-9¹NIV New International Version Translations
^5_b “Why do you look for the living among the dead? ⁶ He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: ⁷ ‘The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’ ” ⁸ Then they remembered his words. 9 When they came back from the tomb, they told all these things to the Eleven and to all the others.

Matthew 28:6-7
⁶ He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. ⁷ Then go quickly and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.’ Now I have told you.”

Background

The challenging and quintessential question in this story is that of the messenger(s) in the tomb, “Why are you looking for him who is alive among the dead?” Many of us still go looking for Jesus among the dead. There are those who regard Jesus as the greatest man and the noblest hero who ever lived, as one who lived the loveliest life ever seen on earth; but who then died. That is not the description you should ever accept. Jesus is not dead, He is alive. He is not merely a hero of the past but He is a living reality of the present. And that reality is what Easter is all about!

First, lets dispose of a few Scriptures discrepancies.  We find it in the accounts of the resurrection of which the opponents of Christianity seem to make so much about.

• In Mark the messenger in the tomb is a young man in a long white robe (Mark 16:5);
• In Matthew he is the angel of the Lord (Matthew 28:2).
• In Luke 24:4, it is two men in bright white robes;
• and in John it is two angels (John 20:12).

Matthew’s version of the resurrection story, including the women’s experiencing an earthquake and seeing the angel descend, roll away the stone, and sit on it. The guards quake with fear at the events unfolding before them.  Matthew also identifies the first people to hear the news of the resurrection. In other Gospels, the stone is already rolled back when the women and witnesses arrive at the tomb.

In the east tombs were often carved out of caves in the rock. The body was wrapped in long linen strips like bandages and laid on a shelf in the rock tomb. The tomb was then closed by a great circular stone like a cart-wheel which ran in a groove across the opening. The groove sloped downwards so that to roll the stone back and open the tomb would take a team of people, no simple task.  We also find documented in Matthew:

• A rich man of Arimathea, named Joseph, also a follower of Jesus went to Pilate and received the body.
• Joseph wrapped the body in a clean linen cloth and laid it in his own new tomb where he rolled a great stone to the door of the tomb, closing it and then departed.
• The next day, the chief priests and Pharisees came to Pilate and were concerned of Jesus’s claim of resurrection in three days.
• Pilate commanded the tomb be made secure until the third day. Roman guards were posted until the women showed up.

Jesus’s tomb

It is true that there are differences in the Gospels. However, it is also true that, whatever the description is of who is in the tomb when the women show up, the basic fact is they find the tomb empty. Jesus is gone. No two people ever described the same dramatic event in the same terms. This is no doubt true of the resurrection. The heart of this story is the all-important fact that Jesus is not in the tomb. The women returned with their story to the rest of the disciples but disciples refused to believe them, calling it an idle tale. The word used is one employed by Greek medical writers to describe the babbling of a fevered and insane mind. Only Peter went out to see if it might not possibly be true.

We need to stop for a second and consider Peter himself, the man who was a fearful person on the way to become a rock upon which Jesus would build His Church. The story of Peter’s denial of Jesus was not something that could have been kept silent. Those around Peter knew that story. Yet he had the moral courage to face those who knew of his prior cowardness. So Peter was both a coward and a hero. Peter was the first of the disciples to go to the tomb and see for himself.

The angel’s first words, expressed with a present imperative in Greek, strongly contrast the guards with the women: “Don’t you be afraid,” or “As for you, stop being afraid.” The angel is commanding them to reject their current state of fear, for his news brings great joy: “I know that you are looking for Jesus the crucified one. He is not here, for He was raised just as He said.” The resurrection has already happened. The stone has been rolled away not to let Jesus out, but to let the witnesses in. The angel sends the women to give the good news to the disciples, along with an additional message: Jesus is going ahead of them into Galilee, and they will see him there. The angel does not specify exactly which disciples the women are to tell  or even single out Peter (compared to Mark 16:7).

The women immediately, “with fear and great joy” obey the angel’s command. Mark has them reacting with fear and silence, but in Matthew they run to announce the world-changing news. On the way, Jesus meets them and reiterates the angel’s command to stop being afraid. He is alive and present with them. Jesus has one final command for them: “go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me” (Matthew 28:10). If this was made into a movie, we would have a final scene where the eleven disciples are meeting with Jesus in Galilee, so at minimum Jesus is sending the women to tell the eleven. Given that one of the women is Jesus’ mother, it would be quite natural to assume that he means for her to tell James and Joseph and Simon and Judas as well (see 1 Corinthians 15:7, where Paul says that Jesus appeared to James). But are the women bearers of a message intended only for men?

It is important to point out that grammatically the Greek word translated as “brothers” could also be translated as “brothers and sisters.” Greek uses masculine plurals for any group that includes males, even if the group is comprised of nine women and one man. Though there are no women among the eleven, Matthew clearly includes women in the larger group of Jesus’ disciples. Furthermore, the shift in language from “disciples” to “brothers” recalls the scene in Matthew 12:46-40, where Jesus asks who His mother and brothers are and then answers His own question by saying, “Whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister (26:50).

Items for Discussion

• Of all you have heard or read in Scripture, your church, from others in your life, why do you believe that Jesus died on the Cross and in three days, rose from the dead?
• The angel’s message could be called the “First Easter Sermon.” Why do you think so many people still do not believe it? Why should they believe this Easter’s Sermon?
• What is the root of fear? Why do we fear something that we do not understand fully? 
• How can we, the Church, overcome the world’s fear of death with the hope of resurrection? What do we need to do differently?
• Why is the resurrection and forgiveness, the Cross and the Empty Tomb, explicitly linked to our faith?
• What effect did Jesus have on not only His disciples but His followers when they finally understood and believed He was alive?
• If the acceptance of a Living Savior dramatically changes people, how can we help those around us come to that acceptance?
• What is the role of the Holy Spirit in Easter?

Discussion Challenge

• In a COVID-19 virtual world, how can we show Jesus is alive? That is what Jesus is waiting for!

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Matthew 21:1-10¹NIV New International Version Translations
¹ As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, ² saying to them, “Go to the village ahead of you, and at once you will find a donkey tied there, with her colt by her. Untie them and bring them to me. ³ If anyone says anything to you, say that the LORD needs them, and he will send them right away.” ⁴ This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet: ⁵ “Say to Daughter Zion, ‘See, your king comes to you, gentle and riding on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.'” ⁶ The disciples went and did as Jesus had instructed them. ⁷ They brought the donkey and the colt and placed their cloaks on them for Jesus to sit on. ⁸ A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. ⁹ The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD!” “Hosanna in the highest heaven!” 10 When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, “Who is this?”

Background

Matthew’s messianic proclamation throughout the Gospel have distinctive royal connotations. His genealogy introduces Jesus as “son of David,” and Herod fears the birth of a new king. Matthew’s portrayal of the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem emphasizes this royal dimension. The quotation from Zechariah, “son of David,” calls our attention to the distinctive way in which Jesus will display His kingship. Zion’s king is indeed humble (Matt. 21:5): His yoke is easy, and His burden is light (Matt. 11:30). The crowd recognizes Jesus for who He is, the Son of David, as do the children (Matt. 21:9, 15). Jesus’s choice to ride a donkey is not by accident or convenience. It is all part of the plan.

Zechariah 9:9-10 gives us the prophet’s foretelling of how the Messiah will come to the people of Israel, in peace, riding a colt, the foal of a donkey. Jesus is just fulfilling the prophesy. In Zechariah’s time, when a king entered a city as a conqueror in warfare, he road a large horse, typically white. There were exceptions, however. When the king entered in peace, he would ride on a donkey. As we place ourselves in the crowd that first Palm Sunday, keep in mind that while Jesus enters from the east, there is another event occurring on the west side of Jerusalem.

Also entering Jerusalem at Passover, from the west, was the Roman governor Pontius Pilate. Like the Roman governors of Judea before him, Pilate lived in Caesarea by the sea. Pilate spent most of his time at his beach house. But with crowds of devout Jews flowing into Jerusalem to commemorate their liberation from Egypt, the Roman Governors would put on a display of force, to deter the Jews from getting too exuberant about the possibility of liberation from Rome. Pilate’s procession was the visible manifestation of Imperial Roman power. Once a year, during the Passover, the Roman procurator moved his headquarters to Jerusalem in a show of strength designed to prevent any outbreaks of insurgency or violent rebellion against Roman rule. Such outbreaks were a constant danger, both because Roman rule imposed real hardship economically on their subject nations, and because, no one likes the foot of a foreign power on their necks. In a show of military force, the second parade included, “cavalry on horses, foot soldiers, leather armor, helmets, weapons, banners, golden eagles mounted on poles, sun glinting on metal and gold.”

The essential clue to this purposeful act is provided by the name of a donkey in the Hebrew language. In the book of Genesis, God gave Adam a specific assignment: “Now the Lord God had formed out of the ground all the wild animals and all the birds in the sky. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds in the sky and all the wild animals…..” (Gen. 2:19–20). So what name was given to the donkey? It was the Hebrew name “Chamor“. The root of this name is pronounced nearly identically to another Hebrew word: chomer, meaning “material, substance.” This word generates many related words that are similar to English words derived from “material”—chomrani (materialistic), chomranut (materialism), and so on. We might draw a quick assumption here that Adam noticed that the donkey liked to say in his shelter, have lots to eat, be out of the weather and was not to interested in working hard.

This special feature of the donkey’s character, namely, being tied up to “material things,” is addressed by the prophet Isaiah when he describes the people of Israel: “The ox knows its master, the donkey its owner’s manger, but Israel does not know,
my people do not understand.” (Isa. 1:3). Please read it again: “The ox knows its master, the donkey its owner’s manger!” Riding a donkey simply implies that Jesus is rising to such spiritual heights that all materialistic considerations are subdued, put aside and subjugated to God. This symbolism is not by coincidence.

If we were to attempt to define some of the characteristics of a humble person,  list might look something like this:

1. Silence
2. Self-control
3. True leader
4. Serves willingly
5. Teachable, correctable
6. Gentle
7. Pursues a greater good
8. Small before his God and the Universe

Feel free to add any of your own characteristics of a humble person to this list. Now ask yourself the questions, have you just described the character of Jesus Christ? What then should we be doing with this example of Jesus’s character?

The Jewish Priesthood had no room for a would-be king who might lay claim to the Temple as his own house. Although the quotation about “My house” (Matt. 21:13) may refer to God’s ownership of the Temple, nothing in Matthew’s account clearly distinguishes God’s ownership from that of Jesus. Jesus continues to exert His messianic identity in His own distinctive way, not by taking up arms but by bringing healing to ordinary people. Matthew has not yet informed us that it is Passover season, one of Judaism’s three major pilgrimage festivals.

By ancient standards Jerusalem was a significant but not massive city, with a residential population of about 25,000. The Romans preferred to keep it lightly garrisoned, leaving local affairs to the Temple authorities. Only during the major festivals did the Romans perceive a need for additional security, especially so for Passover, which had political undertones. Passover, after all, celebrates Israel’s deliverance from captivity, and occasional outbreaks of sedition typically accompanied the season. Thus, the Passover season brought crowded and somewhat tense conditions to Jerusalem.

There was a large crowd of people with Jesus. Many of them had travelled from Galilee and from other regions. Many people had come from Jerusalem to see Jesus and Lazarus in Bethany (John 12:9). Perhaps those people joined the crowd as well. Many people spread their coats on the road in front of Jesus. And they cut down branches from the trees. They spread them on the road as a carpet for the donkey to walk on. Some people went on ahead of Jesus. The rest of the people followed behind Him. Even more people came out from Jerusalem to meet Jesus. Those people had palm branches in their hands as they came (John 12:12). And all the people shouted as they praised Jesus.

They praised God because of all the great things that they had seen. They saw Jesus as the king whom God had sent to them. He was their king who was coming to his capital city. He was coming to receive his kingdom. They shouted as they praised. ‘*Hosanna to the Son of David.’ (Hosanna means, ‘Please save us.’ They were declaring that He was able to save (rescue) them. So they asked for his help. ‘Lord. God bless the king who comes in God’s name. Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest places.’ (Psalm 118:25-26; Mark 11:9-10; Luke 19:37-38; John 12:13).

This event was on the Sunday before the Passover. By tradition, the name for Sunday before Easter became Palm Sunday.
From the Mount of Olives, there was a full and magnificent view of the city. But as Jesus rode in and saw the city’s future, He wept over it (Luke 19:41-44). He wept because the people had not trusted in God. If they had done so, God would have brought peace to Jerusalem. Jesus knew that the future of the city of Jerusalem was bleak, the Roman army would destroy the city in AD 70-72.

The triumphal entry and Temple demonstration should be understood in this context: Jesus is initiating conflict during a stressful period with revolutionary associations. The “son of David” acclamations only fuel the tensions. Matthew focuses the action upon Jesus as if his actions disrupted the entire city and everyone in the city could see what He was doing. Even a modern tourist would realize that could not be the case. Ancient Jerusalem, with its grand temple, was far too large and its streets too narrow for even a processional parade and a Temple demonstration to gain more than street-level attention. However it is Jesus who initiates the action, Jesus whom the crowds acclaim, and Jesus for whom the priests and elders are waiting the next day (21:23).

Indeed, Jesus is not an innocent victim. At least, not in the sense of being passive. Having condemned corruption in the Temple, He initiates hostilities with the Temple authorities (Matt. 21:46). But Matthew delays that sort of conflict for later in the story, focusing for now upon the royal acclamation Jesus receives. He does not come with weapons or armies, although He does bring crowds. He is David’s Son, come to claim His throne. The question for Matthew’s readers and hearers is whether now that they have acclaimed Jesus along with the crowds and the children, will they continue in this way as conflicts escalates?

Items for Discussion

• If humility is being shown to us as a critical characteristic of leadership, why is it so hard to find?
• Is humility taught, learned? How do we grow our society, its children to be humble leaders?
• What gives humility its power? We are told that humility triumphs power.
• How does humility help us with our faith’s requirement to ask God for forgiveness?
• Can a narcissist learn to be humble? How?
• How can people, now ordered to “shelter-in-place” become like the donkey? What would Jesus do?

Discussion Challenge

1. Godly humility is being comfortable with who you are in the Lord and therefore putting others first.
2. Humility also is recognizing that you need God’s help, knowing you can’t truly succeed in your own strength. It is thanking God for your talents and gifts, and giving Him credit for your accomplishments.
3. It is being comfortable with who you are in Christ and seeking to build others up, not yourself. It is gratefully walking in God’s grace, love, and forgiveness.

• How then, during these times of the COVID-19 Pandemic, can the church use humility to serve those in need?

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Luke 6:32-34¹NIV New International Version Translations
³² “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. ³³ And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that.

Background

In the years just prior to the birth of Jesus (31 B.C. or thereabouts), Greek culture flourished, spreading through the Mediterranean and into the Near East and Asia and centering on Alexandria in Egypt and Pergamum in Turkey. It was a widely accepted idea that we see in the verses for this lesson.  Relationships were viewed as reciprocal. A person who behaved generously towards another person did so in the expectation that in the future, the generosity would be returned. Jesus notes that such relationships are so much a part of life in our world, that even sinners love, do good to, and lend to their friends. If Jesus’ followers relate to others based on nothing more than reciprocity, they simply reinforce the qualities of life in the old age that was, not the qualities in His new Kingdom to come.

Jesus starts  off by telling  us how to respond to people who are not fair and honest with us. He is instructing us to give good for good, but take no special credit for doing so. 

•  “If you love those…”
• “If you do good to those….”

Giving good for good is simply reciprocity, and reciprocity is not a “kingdom” behavior. Even people who do not follow Jesus give good for good. As Jesus’s disciples, we are to give good whether we have received good or bad. In the verse following our lesson, verse 35, Jesus also adds that we are not to be motivated by debts that we owe other people or that they owe us. We are to break the cycle of equal reciprocity by giving good—period!

In Luke 6:35, Jesus instructs His disciples to replace those old-age qualities of behavior with characteristics of His new “kingdom,” to imitate God who is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. To be “kind” does not mean to approve but  to seek the best interest and outcome. God wants even the ungrateful and the wicked to repent and become a part eternity with Him.

Christians sometimes mistake the call to stop judging and condemning in Luke 6:37 to mean that the church should never make a moral judgment. That is not the case. Jesus is saying that the church should not act like it knows the final verdict on those who are or are not going to be part of God’s eternal plan. Human perception is always limited because our vision is finite. All Christians should remember that the  enemies of God have been given the opportunity to repent until the apocalypse. The Greek word “kind,” chrestos, is related to the word “grace,” charis. God’s grace is freely given to all and God’s kindness is infinite for all.

Items for Discussion

• What is the hardest part of doing good for someone who hurt you?
• What benefit to both ourselves and mankind is a patient, merciful and kind God?
• This story might be renamed “Quid Pro Quo.” How has the old world concept corrupted our world today?
• In the time of national crisis, where are the opportunities to do good without benefit?
• Where do you see the lessons for children now in the events of the recent pandemic?
• Many churches are existing as “virtual communities.” How should Christians keep their churches alive “virtually?”

Discussion Challenge

• This, of course, is a lesson given during the times of the COVID-19 Virus Pandemic. The challenge will be how we, as a Christian family, restart our churches? With risks to older and health challenged families, how will congregations restart and minister to each other?

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Matthew 6:17-18¹NIV New International Version Translations
¹⁷ But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, ¹⁸ so that it will not be obvious to others that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

Background

Here we sit embroiled in a man-made disaster of epic proportions.  Our world is under attack from an invisible killer, Covid-19 (also called the Corona Virus). Plagues and disasters of this type are not the first ones ever to impact mankind. Just read your Bible sometime.  So for this lesson, is there something we can learn to summon up the powers of our God to save our communities, countries from this virus? Or is it the real enemy? Is our own fear and divisiveness the real enemy to fear?

Fasting involves abstinence from food and/or drink for a period of time. Fasting was used to express grief (1 Samuel 31:13; 2 Samuel 1:12; 12:20-23) or penitence (1 Samuel 7:6; 1 Kings 21:27). It is also used to prepare the person for prayer (2 Samuel 12:16-17; Psalm 35:13) or divine revelation (Exodus 34:28; Deuteronomy 9:9; Daniel 9:3; 10:3) or to seek the Lord’s favor (Judges 20:26; 2 Chronicles 20:3). The only fasting required by Jewish law had to do with the observance of the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16:29-31; 23:27).

In the past, the people of Israel complained that they had fasted and God had not noticed. God responded that their fasting had been self-serving (Isaiah 58:3-4). God added, “Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover them, and not to hide yourself from your own kin?” (Isaiah 58:6-7).

So our Christ allowed fasting, even encouraged it. However, Christ’s kind of fasting was quite different kind from that of the Jews. In these two simple verses, we can interpret that fasting was not about an outward abstinence from food, and other conveniences of life, and refreshments of nature. Fasting was to be an abstinence from sin, the acknowledgment and confession of it; and in the exercise of faith and hope in God’s pardon for our transgressions and sin. As Isaiah had reminded the people of Israel, (Isaiah 58:6-7), fasting was about changing one’s heart, becoming more tolerant, more generous, more serving to each other.

So why would Christ say, “put oil on your head and wash your face?” To understand, lets take a quick view of Jewish law. To put oil on your head and wash your face directly contradicted Jewish laws. These laws (rules) forbid these things on fast days. The rules stated that on the day of atonement, a man is forbidden both eating, drinking, washing and anointing and the putting on of shoes and the use of a bed. When anointing was permissible, the head was always first. The reasoning was that because the “head” was king over all of the rest of the body. Anointing and washing were all meant to be signs of cheerfulness and joy.

Anointing the head with oil can have any of several meanings. It can be a sign of being set apart for a particular work (Exodus 29:7; 1 Kings 19:16; Isaiah 61:1). It can be a sign of well-being (Psalm 23:5). It can be done in conjunction with fasting or healing. In that setting, it was a common practice—normal behavior. Now when we add “and wash your face” (v. 17b), the action provides an outward display of well-being. Anointing one’s head and washing one’s face would help any person to convey an appearance of normality or well-being. The person who does these things would attract neither sympathy nor praise.

During these times when we are asked to sacrifice, to shelter in place, to meet in small groups, to even suspend the normal actvities of life, God asks us to consider how others will see you through this crisis. We are called to joyous duty for the benefit of God’s kingdon, to lift up those around us who are in need. Whether we do these things in public or secret do not matter because it is our God who we seek to please.

Items for Discussion

• Can you think of things to add to your day that demonstrate normalcy to those around you?
• What would be the visible signs in a person’s life that their life is normal?
• What are your ideas to seek normalcy in an abnormal world that are visible, provide comfort to those who see and know us?
• Who are those in our community that you would like to help?  How? What are your ideas?
• Where does prayer fit in?
• How does anger advance sin?
• How do we yield to fear? How do we shield from fear?

Discussion Challenge

• During a time of fear and social distancing, how do we keep Christ alive in this world?

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  NIV New International Version Translations