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Luke 6:7
   It is amazing to see the faithfulness humanity can display to religiosity.  The Scribes and Pharisees were not only very steeped in a religious institution of their own making, but also they were in positions of power in the Jewish community because of it. Here they are vigilant, very diligent, to be sure to catch all that Jesus did and said. This constant attention to Christ is exactly what His followers should give Him, only for totally different reasons.
   What would you and I see if we watched Him closely? Oh yes He is not here physically on earth at this time. But, He is still at work in His church. His healing is still performed in His body, the believers who are faithful to follow Him. For those who will ‘watch closely’ there is something to see. And, as the Jewish leaders would shortly discover, His logic is hard to resist.
   This is an important element of the Person of Christ that we easily overlook. We are very emotional beings, And Jesus is a person with emotions. But, as God, His are higher than ours. For the same reason, however, His reason, His power of logic, is higher than ours. Never did anyone hear what they expected to hear from the lips of Christ. He always brought home the point with a logic that defies our normal way of thinking.
   These men on this day were looking for a specific cause to make an accusation against Him. But the truth is that had His logic been less than perfect, He would already have supplied them with all of the fodder to blast His ministry away. As it stands, even our world of advanced science and high achievement still struggles against the irresistible, irrefutable logic of the carpenter from Nazareth. I will call you to watch Him closely, don’t let Him out of your sight for a moment. For then you will see the overwhelming power and perfection of the LORD’s Christ.

   Heavenly Father, how can we refute Your Christ? We cannot resist Him. We cannot condemn Him. We cannot comprehend Him. We can only fall down in our brokenness and worship Him. He alone may fill the void we find in our souls as we search this world for the truth. If we are looking, watching closely, we can see not just what we want to see, or even just what we need to see, but beyond both, what we were made to see. You have given us a great gift that the most mighty of your celestial creations has not to boast of, we may see and know and by the Spirit begin to understand the Lord Jesus Christ. What a privilege! In the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ I pray and praise You, Amen.

Luke 6:6
On another Sabbath. It is once a week that we are reminded of all that He is and has been. Though the LORD wants to meet with us every day, one day a week is asked of those who claim to be people of faith to remember His claim on all of our days. It may seem strange for the Sabbath to be a time of strife in the life of Christ. But, compared to all of history it fits quite accurately. The LORD still strives with the religious man at least one day a week. This formal ritual actually serves as a reminder that more than formal ritual is needed. Sunday in our church age is also intended not to be merely a formal practice, but a reminder of the uselessness of such. It is truly to be a reminder that He is still there, and still wants to speak with us.

Heavenly Father, help us to remember that Sunday is about You, not about us. Thank you for Your mercy and grace upon us. Give us opportunities to bring praise to You! In the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ I pray and praise You, Amen.

John 3:16

   Recently I ran into the best English translation of the first few words of the old beloved John 3:16. The CSB (Christian Standard Bile – which is the Holman revised) reads as follows: “For God loved the world in this way:” Now, though the rest of the verse in the CSB is fine, it is this portion that really shines. I have for years wondered why this was not translated correctly. Indeed, depending on how you take the word ‘so’ it has been right in the KJV for years. However, our words change meaning over time, mainly losing meaning.
   Why does this understanding of the verse make such a difference? I’m glad you asked. In John 3 Jesus is not telling Nicodemus that God loves him. Nicodemus knew that. That would be like telling a schoolteacher what the alphabet is. No, he was telling Nicodemus HOW God loves. This is so very important, and is often missed even today. Over 2000 years later we still often fail to see HOW God loves us. Oh we have lots of people around still who believe that God loves them. In fact many people have stopped believing in God because they thought He didn’t love them. Indeed, many want to boil all of Christianity down to that one thing, love for all. We hear, God loves you, so you should love others. It all sounds so nice, and is seen as quite orthodox. But, does God love us? Is that what the Bible says?
   The answer is a resounding yes! He does indeed. In fact John says in his gospels that God IS love. But, HOW does He love us? This is of utmost importance. Jesus, and all He is and has done, and shall ever do, is the manner in which God loves us. In other words, Jesus being sent to us is the expression of God’s love. Have you ever loved someone sincerely only to be snubbed? You wanted to help them, love them, do good for them. But, instead they turned away. This is what happens with God. People want God to love them. But He does it in His way. This is the nature of love. It is only as good as the genuineness of the lover. It is only as precious as the value of the lover. It is only as influential as the faithfulness of the lover.
   Sending Christ to save us for all of eternity is the manner in which God has loved us. If we fail to receive that salvation, we fail to receive that love. People don’t go to hell because they are sinners. We die because we are sinners. People don’t go to hell because God wants to send them there. People go to hell because God has opened His arms in love by sending His own Son to pay the price for sin, and they have said ‘no thanks’ and moved on without receiving the free gift.
   This moves me on to one other observation. Many throughout Christian history have had a couple of things backwards. We say God is good. And by that many of us mean to say that there is this universal concept of good, and that God is the ultimate manifestation of it. Well that is just backwards. Good doesn’t define God, God defines good. Jesus said it when He said God alone is good. He means that you cannot separate the two. Without God we would have no conception of good because any conception of good without God would be absolutely meaningless. Without Him my good becomes my good and your good becomes your good and never shall they meet again. The definition becomes just as likely bad as bad can become good too if God is left out.
   Also, love is the same way. Love does not define God, God defines love. John also explains this to us. He says God IS love. Is love God? No. But without God, love is meaningless. It comes in only as a certain creature seeing the good of others as his own ultimate good, and thus love is as selfish as hate depending on the mood at the moment. But, if God defines love, that is something else again. By Him we can see it and know it and express it as it should be. And in John 3:16 we find expressed to us the highest and greatest of all that love is or ever shall be. That is, HOW God loves us.

Luke 6:5 “And He said to them, “The Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath.”

   This is one of Jesus’ most direct claims to deity. The Sabbath commemorates the rest of the Godhead following the creation activity. Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath because He gives it its meaning. It is this passage and others like it that explain why we now worship on Sunday. Just as Saturday marks His work of creation, Sunday marks His work of redemption.

Heavenly Father, we abundantly thank you for the Lord Jesus. We will follow His leading and wisdom. We will look to advance His kingdom. We will eagerly await His return. May we be granted the blessing to bring many to Him! In the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ I pray and praise You, Amen.

Long Sabbatical

   This is the longest break from posting that I have ever taken. It has been a time of refreshing. I hope to return to blogging with new zeal and insight.

Luke 6:4 “how he went into the house of God, took and ate the showbread, and also gave some to those with him, which is not lawful for any but the priests to eat?”

   Jesus always excelled at reminding the Jewish leaders of the actual pages of Scripture. It challenged their traditions on a fundamental level. They couldn’t resist the plain truths, yet they had interpreted so much to satisfy their designs.

Heavenly Father, thank You for the purity of Your word! We can see in it the truth that it is untainted by man. Though You used men to write the words, we see that Your Spirit has guided the whole work. The blessing is therefore great to us. In the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ I pray and praise You, Amen.

Luke 6:3 “But Jesus answering them said, “Have you not even read this, what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him:”

   The Lord Jesus, on several occasions, challenged the Jews to spend more time in the Scriptures. Was this due to a mass ignorance of Biblical knowledge? Yes and no. The Jewish leaders especially would be very familiar with some portions, such as the law. The memorization of large portions of the law was not uncommon. But, like many throughout history, they tended to major on certain passages and concepts. This left other passages and concepts to fade into obscurity. And, it is this filtering of the Scriptures that has led to all kinds of erroneous dogma.

Heavenly Father, what a mercy is Your Word! May we always embrace the whole of Scripture, loving it every part. To know You is a pursuit we must not limit by a narrow view of Scriptural concepts. We would serve You with a full understanding of our marching orders. Without it, we stand in danger of service without knowledge. We will praise You forever! In the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ I pray and praise You, Amen.

Luke 6:2 “And some of the Pharisees said to them, “Why are you doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath?”

   The Pharisees were very strict observers of the law. To them the slightest infraction was to be considered a sin. And, they determined how that such infractions were measured and interpreted. Thus their piety was also pretension to a great degree.

Heavenly Father, give us Your mercy in allowing us to bring glory to You all of our days. In our humanity it is easy for us to do things as we see fit. But, we would serve Your purposes. We will live to love Your Name and bring You glory in Your congregation. You alone are God! In the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ I pray and praise You, Amen.

Luke 6:1 “Now it happened on the second Sabbath after the first that He went through the grainfields. And His disciples plucked the heads of grain and ate them, rubbing them in their hands.”

   This was likely Shavuot, or Pentecost, at the time of the harvest of wheat. The only allowance for the gathering of the grains of wheat was made for the priests, who must make the show-bread. This immediately explains two things. First, it explains why this would be seen as wrong by the Pharisees. Second, it explains why it would be seen as right by the disciples.

Heavenly Father, thank You for the Bread from Heaven, the Lord Jesus! You have put Him above and before all things. Your wisdom and power are so complete! We stand in awe every hour. In the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ I pray and praise You, Amen.

Luke 5:39 “No man also having drunk old wine straightway desireth new: for he saith, The old is better.”

   Wine is a complicated subject. There are persons who spend their whole lives, and a portion of their fortunes, studying wine. This is why Jesus used this illustration. Like other subjects such as sports, politics, tech product offerings, and the like, wine can be a source of debate, discussion, and strongly held opinions.
   Religion is no different. The Jewish leaders preferred their dusty old traditions to the new and very common-sense teaching of Christ. A good example of the difference is the Sermon on the Mount. There Jesus takes the law and draws it out to some intensely practical implications that the traditionalists would have never considered. He once again calls upon persons to examine their heart motives, rather than just their automatic in-bred loyalties.

Heavenly Father, thank You for Your goodness in providing us with Your truth! We can see Your mercy and grace in every page. Give to us eyes to see wonderful things in Your word. Only by Your grace can we know You as we do. We give You the glory oh Lord, for You are worthy! In the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ I pray and praise You, Amen.