May 28, 2010

May 28, 2010 Deuteronomy 1

“I alone am not able to bear you.” As Moses was recounting the administrative and leadership problems of leading 2million+ people, we are reminded of a time when the strain of leadership was more than he could bear. Are there times in your lives when you feel stretched like a rubber band? Do the limits of your abilities feel like they are being squashed by the preponderance of demands weighing upon you? From the testimony of Moses, the Lord provided help for him so that he was able to bear it. His glory includes His provision such that when we are being squashed by our responsibilities or circumstances that He provides a way out. Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today!

--Pastor john


John 10:22-42

I was in McDonald’s with Liam the other day. A man was also there with his daughter who was about Liam’s age. While they played, the man began to express what was in his mind. As the conversation unfolded he began to talk about his niece who seemed to make one bad choice after another. He talked a lot about how some people’s problems are simply because they make one bad choice after another. I eventually waded in and said, “Have you ever made the choice to trust Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior.”

He quickly replied, “Yes, but I am not religious.” Then he went on to explain what he meant by that. As he meandered on in his soliloquy, it became obvious to me, but not to him, that actually he was religious but had never made the choice to trust Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior. By being not religious he meant that had a hard time believing the Bible and that Jesus Christ really was who He claimed to be and that He had risen from the dead. My thought is, “How can one trust in Jesus as Lord and Savior if you think He is a mere man and that He is still dead?” I don’t know about you but I wouldn’t trust a dead man to save me. That is the height of spiritual suicide. On the other hand, to be religious is to follow a certain path in the hope of obtaining right standing with God. This man felt that as long as he did what he thought was right that, if there was a God, that God would receive Him. Now that is religion!

Jesus makes some astonishing claims in today’s passage. He says, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.” This man did not hear the voice of Jesus. He did not follow him. The glory of Jesus is that He does not leave us as orphans. When we trust Him as Lord and Savior, He gives us His Holy Spirit. Through the Holy Spirit and through the written Word of God, all those who have trusted Him can hear His voice. When we hear His voice, we follow Him. This does not necessarily mean that every step of every day we always follow Him. But rather it means that if we truly are His sheep, over the course of time we can look back and see that He has kept us in some kind of close proximity to Him. As wicked as my heart is, that is truly amazing.

Jesus says, “I and My Father are one.” You cannot get a better claim to Divinity than that. He uses the neuter pronoun for one rather than the masculine pronoun. The classical explanation for this is that Jesus is referring to the essence of the Father and the Son are the same, they are one. His claim is not to be in the person of the Father, otherwise He would have used the masculine pronoun and there would have been no room for the Trinity as we understand it. Had He used the masculine pronoun, Jesus would have been claiming to be the person of the Father. As it is, He is claiming to be God (one in essence) but different in person. This is the glory of Jesus, He is God.

Jesus calls us to believe on Him not only on the basis of His claims but also His works. He says, “Believe the works, that you may know and believe that the Father is in Me, and I in Him.” He is the one who turned water into wine. He demanded purity in worship. He discerned the hearts of men. He called the social pariah to Himself. He healed the Nobleman’s son. He healed the man who was infirm for 38 years. He fed five thousand with five loaves and two fish. He walked on the sea. He forced men to acknowledge their sin in front of the woman caught in adultery. He healed the man born blind. He raised Lazarus from the dead. But His greatest work was done upon the cross and in the resurrection. His resurrection was the sign, the work upon which He calls us to believe in Him. This is the glory of Jesus. He has defeated sin and death. He lives again to evermore intercede for us! Now that is glory! Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!

--Pastor John

P.S. I wish I could say that I was able to introduce the man at McDonald’s to the Lord Jesus. But it was apparent that he was more interested in expressing his own thoughts than gazing upon the glory of Jesus. Let us not be that way.