Letter of James Clarifies Theology

Dear friends:  This upcoming Sunday our passage for consideration is James 4:7-5:6.  Please take a look at it before Sunday.

 

The Letter of James is a powerful document.  It was written to correct errors in theology that had crept into some corners of the growing Church.  Paul, in his Letter to the Romans, had made it clear that we are saved by the grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ.  It's not an easy concept to accept; imagine, God, the Creator of the entire Universe, loving ME (substitute your name!!) enough to die on the Cross so we might live!  And to prove God's Almighty power over anything that can resist us and our faith walk, He rose from the dead, proving that even death is no longer an undefeatable enemy.

 

Some Christians, however, took Paul's teachings and ran the wrong way with them.  They thought that since we are saved by faith, then we can act in relation to others in any way we desire.  James comes along in this Letter to say "No, No, No!"  Our faith is and always must be the basis of our ethics.  The fact of the matter is that when we believe in Christ and receive the Holy Spirit we are indeed new people!!  And our changed heart must be reflected in changed actions.  As James says, "Be doers of the Word, and not hearers only!"

 

In Sunday's passage, we are going to explore a concrete application of this theology.  We are going to explore what true humility is, and how it influences the way we live before God and people.  Simply put, humility is not putting the self down, or letting others run all over you.  Humility is living in recognition that God is the source of our life, that He has given us unique gifts, and that He is our strength when we use these gifts to the glory of God and the spreading of the Gospel by word and deed.

 

Contrary to this is living arrogantly.  James gives three specific examples how living arrogantly is not the way God wants us to be.  We'll take a closer look at this on Sunday, and apply it to our own Christian walk.  So I'll see you Sunday!!

Who we say Jesus is?

Dear Friends: This Sunday we are going to consider one of the most challenging passage in all the Gospels. Mark 8:27-38 is a passage well worth reading prayerfully more than once.

Interestingly enough, in the overall layout of the Gospel of Mark, this passage is in the exact middle of the Book. Before this passage, Jesus concentrates on healing and teaching; after this passage, Jesus is on the way to Jerusalem, discussing His death and Resurrection with His disciples. Since these verses are the hinge-point of the whole book, we need to thoroughly understand what Jesus is saying.

The site of Caesaria Philippi is still in the Holy Land today, in the territory that we call the Golan Heights. It lies up in the mountains to the Northeast of the Sea of Galilee, not quite 50 miles from Damascus, Syria. It is an amazing view of the Sea of Galilee and the Jordan River Valley. In Jesus' day, Caesaria Philippi was home to a huge temple dedicated to the god Pan. So looking back towards all of Galilee, recalling their past ministry, and within site of a pagan temple, Jesus inquires of the disciples "Who do people say that I am?" And then, really putting them on the spot, Jesus asks them, "Who do you say that I am?"

Jesus then launches into a discussion of what the true Messiah must be like. Rather than being a powerful military general, He is a suffering servant. And then Jesus tells us who He really is. So as we find out in this passage, who we believe Jesus is has great relevance to who we are in relationship to Him.

Lot's to discuss here. We begin with Who we say Jesus is? A great prophet? A brilliant teacher? Or the Son of God who died so we might live? Our answer to that will tell us what kind of disciples we are. See you Sunday.

Jesus more than a miiracle worker

Dear friends:  This Sunday we are going to talk about secrets.  Our text will be Mark 7:31-37, and I encourage you to take a look at this between now and Sunday.

 

The passage is very straightforward enough.  Jesus heals a deaf-mute, restoring him back to health and wholeness.  Oddly enough, the Master is very secretive about this healing, .  They go off to a private place for the miracle to take place.  And Jesus makes a number of gestures -- touching his tongue, putting His fingers in the man's ears -- to effect the healing.  It's all very strange, closed to the public, almost like a secret society!

 

And then at the end of the healing, with the man restored to health, Jesus orders the people to tell no one!  Like, they're not going to talk about a miracle!!  And so the Gospel tells us that the more Jesus ordered the people not to talk about the incident, the more they did! 

 

Why all the secrecy?  Some scholars say that this "Messianic Secret", that is, Jesus' reticence to tell about certain incidents, was done to keep the crowd size to a managable level.  Certainly that may be true, but it didn't seem to work.  The size of the crowd seeking the Master was enormous!  Some scholars say this Messianic Secret was reverse psychology.  You know, when you tell someone not to do something, they usually go right out and do it.  But I think there is a simpler explanation.

 

Perhaps Jesus wanted the miracle kept a secret because no one would understand who Jesus really is by just watching the miracle.  To the crowd, a miracle per se might just indicate that Jesus is the powerful conquering Messiah, ready to take away all their problems and restore the Jewish Kingdom of old by kicking out the Romans.  But Jesus' Messiahship can't be understood without the reality of the Cross.  By looking at the miracles He did through the vantage point of the Cross, we see Him ushering in God's Kingdom -- a Kingdom of transformed lives -- by being a suffering servant. 

 

This Sunday we're going to talk about all this, and what it has to do with each one of us.  Have a blessed holiday weekend, and I'll see you Sunday!!