Look at the following quotes from Jesus:
Luke 12:51-53
51 Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division. 52 From now on there will be five in one family divided against each other, three against two and two against three. 53 They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law."
Luke 14:25-27
25 Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: 26 "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters--yes, even his own life--he cannot be my disciple. 27 And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple."
Can you imagine if Jesus were invited to speak at Focus on the Family and he preached a message like these?! Hate your father and mother? Hate your wife and children? Hate your own life? Certainly these are descriptions of maladjusted, strange people in need of counseling? Or not?
John tells us God is love and Jesus spoke a lot about love, but in these difficult verses he seems to say that there are times when hate and strife are appropriate in the life of the believer. This week we will look at those tough words from Jesus.
Mark
Showing posts with label Toughest Things. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Toughest Things. Show all posts
Sunday, August 13, 2006
Sunday, August 06, 2006
Toughest Things Jesus Said: A Look at Last Words
As we sort through all the red letters in our Bibles looking for especially difficult words from Jesus, eventually we come to his very last words. Perhaps one of the most difficult things Jesus ever said was the last thing he ever said. As he hung on the cross he said, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
You have heard the same explanations of these words that I have heard. Before Jesus, mankind was so sinful and so deep in debt to God that no human being could ever pay it all. So God sent Jesus to die for our sins, erasing the debt once and for all. This is the most traditional view of the cross, but it does not answer the question of suffering. What kind of father demands the death of a son in order to pay off a debt to himself?
According to another view, it was God who died on the cross, putting an end to divine bookkeeping through the voluntary sacrifice of divine power. But this view asks the question, “If Jesus was God, to whom was he talking in the garden and from the cross?” It’s clear he believed that someone else had the power to remove the cup of suffering from him, or at least to be with him while he drank it down--but who, in both cases, declined to do so?
I’m not sure if there is anything worse I could have my sons accuse me of. If they looked at me in a moment of desperation and said, “Why have you left me now?” I would feel horrible as a father. Yet we have those troubling words there at the end of Jesus’ life. This week I won’t pretend to be the final word on Jesus’ final words, but we will look at how difficult they are and try to explore what they mean for us and our lives.
You have heard the same explanations of these words that I have heard. Before Jesus, mankind was so sinful and so deep in debt to God that no human being could ever pay it all. So God sent Jesus to die for our sins, erasing the debt once and for all. This is the most traditional view of the cross, but it does not answer the question of suffering. What kind of father demands the death of a son in order to pay off a debt to himself?
According to another view, it was God who died on the cross, putting an end to divine bookkeeping through the voluntary sacrifice of divine power. But this view asks the question, “If Jesus was God, to whom was he talking in the garden and from the cross?” It’s clear he believed that someone else had the power to remove the cup of suffering from him, or at least to be with him while he drank it down--but who, in both cases, declined to do so?
I’m not sure if there is anything worse I could have my sons accuse me of. If they looked at me in a moment of desperation and said, “Why have you left me now?” I would feel horrible as a father. Yet we have those troubling words there at the end of Jesus’ life. This week I won’t pretend to be the final word on Jesus’ final words, but we will look at how difficult they are and try to explore what they mean for us and our lives.
Mark
Sunday, July 30, 2006
Wait! I Think I Might Be Possessed!
Jesus interacted with a lot of people who were “possessed”. That term, as we use it, is generally used in reference to people who have been taken over by a demon. However, he warns us of another type of “possession”…that is when we are possessed by things that we think we possess. In other words, Jesus had a keen eye for seeing that money and the things it buys for us can end up not only providing us with “possessions” but can also very easily possess, or own, us.
As we move along through our series on the toughest things Jesus ever said, this week we come to a whole list of tough things that he had to say about money:
Matthew 10:9 When you go, don’t take any gold or silver with you!
Matthew 5:40 If someone sues you, give him your cloak as well.
Matthew 19:21 Sell everything you have and give it to the poor…
Jesus seemed pretty intent on getting the message across to his disciples that dependency on money and possessions was not something that was compatible with joining his team of followers. He had lots of good things to say about the poor and generally not a lot of good things to say about those who had money. That’s a tough thing to hear for those of us who tend to have some money at our disposal. Or are we at its disposal??
Today we look at a few of Jesus’ radical statements about money and possessions.
Mark
As we move along through our series on the toughest things Jesus ever said, this week we come to a whole list of tough things that he had to say about money:
Matthew 10:9 When you go, don’t take any gold or silver with you!
Matthew 5:40 If someone sues you, give him your cloak as well.
Matthew 19:21 Sell everything you have and give it to the poor…
Jesus seemed pretty intent on getting the message across to his disciples that dependency on money and possessions was not something that was compatible with joining his team of followers. He had lots of good things to say about the poor and generally not a lot of good things to say about those who had money. That’s a tough thing to hear for those of us who tend to have some money at our disposal. Or are we at its disposal??
Today we look at a few of Jesus’ radical statements about money and possessions.
Mark
Sunday, July 23, 2006
Don't Look Back
I have a friend who is a staff member for a US Senator, and he has some great stories about that particular Senator having an uncanny ability to stand up, talk extemporaneously and say just the right thing. He also has almost as many stories of that same Senator getting on the opposite sort of “roll.” The kind where you dig a hole, and it gets deeper and deeper as you say all the wrong stuff to the wrong crowd!
I wonder if Jesus’disciples ever felt like this? Sometimes he would just get on a roll and say the hardest, most unpleasant, unpopular things. We looked at a section in Matthew two weeks ago where he seemed to do this, and today, we will look at the closing verses of Luke Chapter 9, where he gives us perhaps his most unpleasant example of this.
“I’ll follow you Lord…after my father’s funeral.” “I’m about life not death,” Jesus says. “Let the dead bury the dead.” “I’ll follow you Lord, but I need to at least have the courtesy to go back and say goodbye to my family.” “I need people who are serious,” Jesus replies. “No one who starts plowing a field and looks back is fit to join my crowd.”
I wonder if the disciples felt like crawling in a hole somewhere after Jesus said, “Foxes have holes and birds have nests, but we are not going to be staying in the best hotels!” I can just see the disciples working the crowd afterwards. Surely there must have been a few of them who were sort of like me--spin doctors who said with a nervous laugh, “He has not had a lot of sleep lately. Go say goodbye to your family and meet us in the next town. He’ll never notice.”
Today in our series, The Inconvenient Truth, we look at what Jesus meant when he said, “Put your hand to the plow and don’t look back.”
I wonder if Jesus’disciples ever felt like this? Sometimes he would just get on a roll and say the hardest, most unpleasant, unpopular things. We looked at a section in Matthew two weeks ago where he seemed to do this, and today, we will look at the closing verses of Luke Chapter 9, where he gives us perhaps his most unpleasant example of this.
“I’ll follow you Lord…after my father’s funeral.” “I’m about life not death,” Jesus says. “Let the dead bury the dead.” “I’ll follow you Lord, but I need to at least have the courtesy to go back and say goodbye to my family.” “I need people who are serious,” Jesus replies. “No one who starts plowing a field and looks back is fit to join my crowd.”
I wonder if the disciples felt like crawling in a hole somewhere after Jesus said, “Foxes have holes and birds have nests, but we are not going to be staying in the best hotels!” I can just see the disciples working the crowd afterwards. Surely there must have been a few of them who were sort of like me--spin doctors who said with a nervous laugh, “He has not had a lot of sleep lately. Go say goodbye to your family and meet us in the next town. He’ll never notice.”
Today in our series, The Inconvenient Truth, we look at what Jesus meant when he said, “Put your hand to the plow and don’t look back.”
Mark
Sunday, July 16, 2006
Forgiveness
Last week we looked at Matthew Chapter five and all of the difficult things that Jesus had to say in that passage. One transitional thing I meant to say but somehow left out, was that Jesus’ warning of "Unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees you will surely not enter the kingdom of heaven" was not a warning for us to DO more than the Pharisees or to "do better things" than the Pharisees. I think what he was getting at was that the Pharisees managed to know the letter of the law and not live it out. That's why we talked about specific ways we could live it out, practically in service to the poor in our area. However, even that list of good things to do should not be taken as a pharisaic to-do list but rather as a response to knowing God and His will.
While last week we looked at a whole section of various difficult words from Jesus, this week we begin to look at places where he said short and specific things. This week is Matthew Chapter 6:12-15: "Forgive us our debts as we have forgiven our debtors.... for if we forgive others our heavenly father will forgive us, but if we do not forgive others neither will our heavenly father forgive us."
Personally, I can't think of a much more disturbing passage than this passage right in the middle of the Lord’s prayer. Jesus does not mince words in telling us our forgiveness from God is contingent upon the extent to which we are able to forgive others. In short he is saying, "God, deal with us as we deal with others." When I think about how I frequently deal with others unfairly, I sometimes cringe at this. “God forgive me as I forgive my kids!” “God forgive me as I forgive my coworkers.” Truth is, I usually only forgive those who I think deserve to be forgiven. Is that how God deals with us?
If God deals with us the way we deal with others, I think many of us might be in big trouble. This week we want to look at this difficult passage and talk about its implications for our lives, our families, our marriages and our homes.
Mark
While last week we looked at a whole section of various difficult words from Jesus, this week we begin to look at places where he said short and specific things. This week is Matthew Chapter 6:12-15: "Forgive us our debts as we have forgiven our debtors.... for if we forgive others our heavenly father will forgive us, but if we do not forgive others neither will our heavenly father forgive us."
Personally, I can't think of a much more disturbing passage than this passage right in the middle of the Lord’s prayer. Jesus does not mince words in telling us our forgiveness from God is contingent upon the extent to which we are able to forgive others. In short he is saying, "God, deal with us as we deal with others." When I think about how I frequently deal with others unfairly, I sometimes cringe at this. “God forgive me as I forgive my kids!” “God forgive me as I forgive my coworkers.” Truth is, I usually only forgive those who I think deserve to be forgiven. Is that how God deals with us?
If God deals with us the way we deal with others, I think many of us might be in big trouble. This week we want to look at this difficult passage and talk about its implications for our lives, our families, our marriages and our homes.
Mark
Sunday, July 09, 2006
The Inconvenient Truth
Summer is in full swing, lots of travels for all of us at Springfield. The Moores are just back from Arkansas where all went well at camp other than an unfortunate broken arm for Grady. We are back for good now with no plans to head anywhere anytime soon! (What a relief.) Many thanks to Kenneth and others who filled in so admirably. One family that is traveling right now is the Strattons who are in Little Rock for the birth of Garrett Alexander Davis who was born on July 5th! Baby and mother are reportedly doing well.
Starting this week we begin looking at a series that will take us through the summer. I am calling it "The Inconvenient Truth".... the 7 toughest things that Jesus ever said. Anyone notice where I got that title? Some of you will recognize that it is blatantly stolen from Al Gore's new documentary about global warming. I have not seen it, but apparently Mr. Gore made the movie to remind Americans that some truths we may not want to hear could turn out to be deadly serious. I read a review recently where even some of his most harsh political enemies suggested maybe some of The Inconvenient Truth is something we should listen to.
As the Lord's church we are not nearly as interested in the Inconvenient Truth about global warming as we are in the Inconvenient Truths about what God expects from his created humans. Jesus had a habit of telling inconvenient truths to people. "Sell everything!" he said. "Unless you hate your father and mother..." he told one questioner. "Let the dead bury the dead..." He had a lot of very difficult sayings that, when we read them today, tend to get explained away as circumstantial or cultural or even meaning the opposite of what he actually said. Our goal in looking at these tough words will be to consider that perhaps some of them should be taken at face value. It might be a little inconvenient to put these messages to work in our lives...but since Jesus claimed to be the Way, the Truth and the Life maybe the adjective "inconvenient" placed before each of those words should be at least part of what we should expect as we follow Him.
Starting this week we begin looking at a series that will take us through the summer. I am calling it "The Inconvenient Truth".... the 7 toughest things that Jesus ever said. Anyone notice where I got that title? Some of you will recognize that it is blatantly stolen from Al Gore's new documentary about global warming. I have not seen it, but apparently Mr. Gore made the movie to remind Americans that some truths we may not want to hear could turn out to be deadly serious. I read a review recently where even some of his most harsh political enemies suggested maybe some of The Inconvenient Truth is something we should listen to.
As the Lord's church we are not nearly as interested in the Inconvenient Truth about global warming as we are in the Inconvenient Truths about what God expects from his created humans. Jesus had a habit of telling inconvenient truths to people. "Sell everything!" he said. "Unless you hate your father and mother..." he told one questioner. "Let the dead bury the dead..." He had a lot of very difficult sayings that, when we read them today, tend to get explained away as circumstantial or cultural or even meaning the opposite of what he actually said. Our goal in looking at these tough words will be to consider that perhaps some of them should be taken at face value. It might be a little inconvenient to put these messages to work in our lives...but since Jesus claimed to be the Way, the Truth and the Life maybe the adjective "inconvenient" placed before each of those words should be at least part of what we should expect as we follow Him.
Mark
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