How would you like to have an angel of the Lord appear to you in a dream? That’s what happened to Joseph right in the middle of his most trying time. He did not know what to do about Mary.
The angel gave him the news he needed. This baby in Mary’s womb was going to be special, the One who would save His people from their sins. It was God’s nudge to Joseph to hang in there. And he did. He named the baby Jesus, just as the angel instructed.
In Joseph’s dream, it was revealed that all this was to fulfill God’s word through the prophet Isaiah that a virgin would conceive a child and give birth to a son who would be called Immanuel.
Another name for Jesus. What does this one mean?
The name Jesus gives us insight into His mission to save His people from their sins. Immanuel tells us who He is. The name means God is with us. This babe was God in human flesh.
Jesus grew, carried out His mission, was raised from the dead and then ascended into heaven to take up His rightful place at the right hand of God the Father.
But He also takes up residence in us through the Holy Spirit. As Paul wrote to the Galatians, “…Christ lives in me…” As believers, God is with us everyday, living in and through us. Let that sink in. It is truly mind-boggling.
What’s in a name. When it comes to Jesus, our Immanuel, it is good news!
Tag: Jesus
A Command to Keep — Grow in Grace and Knowledge
This is the imperative Peter leaves us with at the end of his second letter. The verse reads, “But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen” (2 Peter 3:18 NIV).
Sunday morning at Metro, Richard and I will be discussing the idea of growing in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ. If you do not have a regular church service you attend, join with us via your computer. We stream the service to the internet. Go to http://realanswers.net and click the Metro television icon. The service starts at 10:15 central time.
If you have questions or comments you would like to submit for the discussion, do so in the comment section below.
I do look forward to hearing your thoughts on growing in grace.
I looked up the word grow in the Complete Word Study Dictionary. The definition is fascinating. The word is auxano. The general definition is to grow, increase, or to augment. This growth is not self-initiated. “For someone to grow,” Zodhiates wrote, “he/she must be acted upon by an outside power or have the element of life within him/her.”
Believers have life within them, Jesus’ life. Jesus causes us to grow.
We grow in grace because that is where we live. In Christ, we are never outside the realm of God’s kindness and favor.
This sets the stage for Sunday’s discussion. We will get specific as to what it looks like to grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ.
But for now, I leave you with this question. In what ways have you grown in grace and in the knowledge of Jesus?
My Favorite Bible Passages — #3
Why does the Bible exist? What is its purpose? These questions make for some very interesting and lively discussion. Here are a few of the ideas that people throw out in response.
- The Bible is God’s rule book.
- The Bible is a manual for life.
- The Bible is a code of ethics.
- The Bible is God’s plan for man’s salvation.
- The Bible is a history book.
This list is by no means exhaustive. Maybe you have of thought of the Bible in these terms. And certainly, these are partially true, but they don’t give the big picture.
Jesus actually weighed in on the subject. In one of His many conversations with the Pharisees, He had this to say:
You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life. John 5:39-40 (ESV)
The Bible is God’s testimony concerning His Son. From start to finish, it is the story of Jesus. He is the key to understanding the Bible, both the Old Testament and the New. He is God’s word to man.
Why does the Bible exist? Jesus gave the answer. The Bible bears witness about Him.
What is the Bible’s purpose? So that we may have life in Him.
The next time you read the Scriptures, keep Jesus’ words to the Pharisees in mind. You’ll realize you are reading His story.
What Happens When He Calls Your Name?
Mary went to the tomb early in the morning. It was still dark. She was surprised by what she saw. The stone had been rolled away and Jesus’ body was gone.
She thought that someone had taken it. She ran to tell the disciples. Peter and John ran to the tomb to see. When they arrived, it was just as Mary said. The tomb was empty. Peter and John left while Mary stayed.
She wept outside the tomb. She did peer in and encountered two angels. They asked why she was crying. She told them the same thing she told the disciples, “They have taken my Lord away.”
She turned from the tomb and saw someone in the garden. Mary thought it was the gardener. He asked her who she was looking for. She thought this man may have taken the body. And then a single word from Him changed everything for her.
“Mary.”
The mention of her name penetrated the clutter and confusion in her mind. She recognized Him. Jesus was alive!
She wanted to cling to Him, but He had other things to do. She returned to the disciples with the good news, “I have seen the Lord!”
How personal the Lord is that He would call Mary by name. But isn’t that what He does with each of us? We do not have the privilege of hearing Him face to face like Mary did. But through His Spirit He calls us out individually. He speaks our name.
When He does, our confusion disperses and we know. He is alive. It is that moment everything changes. Like Mary, we become witnesses of the most significant event that has ever occurred, the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Every day, Jesus tenderly calls out the names of others in this world. He uses our voices to do so. When a person responds, they are added to that great chorus of believers declaring the greatest news of all, “He is alive!”
Seven Reasons to be New Covenant
To the fence sitters, here are seven reasons to get off the fence and boldly declare that you are a New Covenant believer.
Paul stated the reasons plainly in his letter to the Corinthians. The passage is 2 Corinthians 3. Read through it. I think you will find the seven reasons to be compelling.
- Life — As Paul wrote, “the law kills, but the Spirit gives life.” The end of the law is death. That is the wages of sin. In the New Covenant, you receive life, Christ’s life.
- Righteousness — The law is a ministry of condemnation. No way to feel close to God or even know that He truly loves you when you keep failing to live up to His commands. In the New, God makes you righteous in Jesus. You are accepted.
- Eternal Security — The Old Covenant was temporary. It had a limited purpose – to show you your need for Christ. The New is eternal. Jesus’ promises and provisions last forever, which means that you are saved completely and eternally.
- Hope — The weight of the law squeezes out all measure of hope. As the writer of Hebrews stated, apart from Christ, you live in the fearful expectation of God’s punishment . In this New Covenant, your sins have been taken away once and for all. You are forgiven. You have Jesus and He is your hope of glory.
- Freedom — Under the law, you were in bondage to sin and death. Sin was your master, as Paul wrote. But in this New Covenant, the Spirit of Life sets you free from the law of sin and death. Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
- Transformation — Self-effort keeps you stuck in the Romans 7 trap: the things I want to do, I don’t, and the things I don’t want to do, I do. But in the New Covenant you are transformed into the likeness of Christ, from glory to glory.
- Jesus — Under law, it is all about you and your ability to live up to the standards. In the New, Jesus lives His life through you. He was the One who was revealed when the curtain in the temple was torn. He is God’s gift to you.
It is time to get off the fence. Make the declaration: “I am a New Covenant believer!”
What If…
What if the Old Covenant was God’s final word to man?
What if the Ten Commandments were the only means available to us to gain entry into heaven, or to earn God’s love and acceptance?
Where would this leave us?
What would our eternal fate be?
How would this affect our lives here and now?
The Old Covenant was God’s word to Israel. Not His first word to Israel, nor was it His last. But it did define Israel’s way of life as a nation from Moses until Jesus. The teachers of the Law believed Israel’s role in the world was to live out the righteous requirements of the Law, and in so doing, become a blessing to all other nations.
Where did this leave them? The same place it leaves anyone who attempts to gain God’s acceptance through obedience to Law – judged, condemned, fearful and dead in sin.
That’s the Old Covenant, a ministry of condemnation and death.
When read correctly, the Law is God’s word about man, the plain, stark truth. It answers these questions: What is the destiny of a people caught in the throes of a lie? What will be their end? According to the Law, the final stop is death, but only if the Old Covenant is God’s final word.
The denouement of this story has a twist. It is revealed on a hill called Calvary, outside the walls of Jerusalem. A man hung there on a cross, suspended between heaven and earth. He was no ordinary man, and the death he died was no ordinary death.
The man whose hands and feet were pierced was the Lord Himself, the unblemished Lamb of God. His death was in place of ours. Live out the full story of the Law and it ends at the foot of this cross. Look up and see God’s final word to man – Jesus.
Death is not God’s end for man, it is Jesus. In Him we have forgiveness of sins, righteousness and a new way of life defined by the New Covenant. That leads to several questions.
What if we truly believed that Jesus was and is God’s final word to man?
Where would this leave us?
How would it affect us here and now?
The New Covenant answers – in Jesus totally forgiven, completely loved and fully alive!
How You Can Have a Vibrant Faith in 2012
If you want to experience a vibrant faith, then ask and answer this question.
Jesus first posed this question to His disciples at Caesarea Philippi. The curiosity of the people of Israel concerning the identity of Jesus had the nation abuzz. Who was He? Jesus asked His disciples for feedback. Then He asked them, “Who do you say that I am?”
Most of us think of this question in terms of apologetics, defending the faith. Yes, Jesus’ identity is central to Christianity, and we as believers must be well versed in sharing the truth of His claims to be God.
The question, however, is much broader in scope. The answer has continuing effects in our day-to-day lives. It relates to our faith as individual believers.
“Who do you say that I am?” is not a question to be asked and answered merely once in a lifetime. We should circle back to it time and time again.
Our faith, to have value and substance, must be tied to an object. Without an object, faith is a meaningless word. For Christians, the object of our faith is Jesus Christ Himself. As our knowledge of Christ grows, our faith in Him expands within our souls.
This far exceeds the facts the question initially invokes. Peter answered the question correctly when Jesus asked it. He boldly delivered the answer that had been revealed to him, “You are the Christ, the Son of God.” Yet, when Jesus, in response to Peter’s answer, shared His ultimate mission, Peter recoiled. Jesus rebuked him saying, “You are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of men.” The fact of Jesus’ identity was clear in Peter’s mind, but fact had not yet blossomed into full faith.
Faith is a dynamic word that is lived out in trials and tribulations. Sometimes, in trials, we carry on as if we had never come to terms with the truth of Jesus. We act as if He is irrelevant to our life issues. However, it is in those times, we need to come back to this most significant question: Who do I say that He is? When we come back to the truth that Jesus is God and is living in us, then we can release our burdens to Him and confidently trust that He is capable of working the situation together for our good.
In 2012, make a point to circle back to the most compelling question ever asked time and time again. If you do, you can count on experiencing a vibrant faith in the New Year.
The Shepherd
Sheep need a shepherd.
The Bible says that we are like sheep constantly going astray. What does that say about us? Regardless of how smart we may think we are, or how much we believe we have matters in control, we need a shepherd.
This is a hard truth to swallow. It goes against the grain of our independent, rebellious, fleshly selves. But it is true none the less. Without a shepherd, life is painfully difficult.
After an intense period of ministry, Jesus retreated with His disciples for a time of rest. But the crowds followed and pressed Jesus for more attention. Matthew wrote that when He saw them, “He had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd” (Matthew 9:36).
Harassed and helpless; that is where we end up when we do not listen to the voice of Jesus; when we lean on our own understanding to figure out life.
I’ve been there and so have you. Even today as someone who knows Christ, my pride and ego can convince me that I have life under control. Pride and ego are not very good shepherds. I think the Bible would call them wolves. They never lead us down the right paths or restore our souls, or protect us. They lead us into chaos and rob us of our peace and security.
But not Jesus. He is the good shepherd, our good shepherd. He laid down His life for us. He secured us as His own. John emphasized this in His gospel account. “I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand.” He guides us down the paths of righteousness, He protects us from the deceitfulness of the world and He restores our souls.
As we grow in our knowledge of Christ, we learn to lean more and more on Him as our great Shepherd. Our spiritual ears become more sensitive and responsive to the sound of His voice. That is just one aspect of the change that takes place inside of us once we are made alive in Christ. We hear His voice and we follow.
There was a time in my life that I was a sheep without a shepherd. I had no sense of direction or purpose. I was quick to listen to the voices of the world which only added to my inner turmoil. Life was miserable. I needed a shepherd, the Great Shepherd and overseer of my soul.
How the Bible Comes to Life
At the beginning of my freshman year at the University of Georgia, I had determined to be God’s guy. Reading the Bible daily, I thought, was the key to getting me to that goal. The first morning of my college career I picked up my Bible and started reading the Gospel according to Matthew. I read four chapters that day, and four the next, and so on for several months.
I have to confess. I didn’t get very much out of what I was reading. If someone asked, I could tell them the chapters I read, for example, Matthew 9 – 12, but I couldn’t speak with understanding about the content of what I read. Honestly, it was nothing more than words on a page. But why? What was I missing?
It was four years before the answer came. When it did, the Bible came to life. Here is what I learned and what I am continuing to learn.
- The Bible is about Jesus; it is God’s testimony concerning His Son. Jesus put it this way: “These are the Scriptures that testify about Me” (John 5:39). We are to read the Bible to know Jesus and discover all that He has done for us. That is what I missed. I was reading to ascertain the rules and regulations I was to live by in order to be God’s guy. For some reason I was trying to make the Bible about me. But the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, points us to Jesus. The Bible is His story, and when we read it with that understanding, we grow in our knowledge of Him.
- God’s Spirit teaches us the meaning of the Bible. We cannot figure out the mind of God through human intellect, logic or reason. Our finite minds are not capable of such an enormous undertaking. Paul made this point to the Corinthians: “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him”– 1 Corinthians 2:9 (NIV). God wants us to know what He has prepared for us. He never intended for His love and grace to be unlocked mysteries. He sent His Spirit to us so that we can understand what He has “freely given us.” Apart from God’s Spirit, we cannot comprehend the meaning of the Scriptures. When reading the Word of God, do so with a dependent attitude, a teachable spirit, trusting God’s spirit to open your heart and mind to the meaning.
- The Spirit of God reveals the meaning of the Bible to us through the lens of the New Covenant. As believers in Jesus, we live in the New Covenant, not the Old. Trying to blend the purposes of these two covenants leads to great confusion. Everything in the Old Covenant was written to point us to the New. The Old consists of shadows and types and examples. In the New Covenant, we see and experience the realities of all that God has for us in Christ. Those days in college, I approached the Bible with an Old Covenant mindset. I was looking for rules, regulations and commandments. I was reading the Bible with a veil over my eyes and I missed Jesus. Seeing the Bible through the New Covenant lifts the veil and enables us to see the glory of God in the face of Christ.
The Bible is unique among all other books. It contains the very words of God, and specifically His word, or testimony, concerning His Son. God wants us to know Jesus and to share His life. The next time you open the Bible, do so knowing that God’s Spirit will take the message of Jesus and make Him real in your heart.