See Jesus

Some Greeks were among those who had come up to worship at the festival. They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and made a request: “Sir, we want to see Jesus.” Philip told Andrew, and Andrew and Philip told Jesus. Jesus replied, “The time has come for the Human One to be glorified. I assure you that unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it can only be a single seed. But if it dies, it bears much fruit. Those who love their lives will lose them, and those who hate their lives in this world will keep them forever. Whoever serves me must follow me. Wherever I am, there my servant will also be. My Father will honor whoever serves me. “Now I am deeply troubled. What should I say? ‘Father, save me from this time’? No, for this is the reason I have come to this time. Father, glorify your name!” Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” The crowd standing there heard and said, “It’s thunder.” Others said, “An angel spoke to him.” Jesus replied, “This voice wasn’t for my benefit but for yours. Now is the time for judgment of this world. Now this world’s ruler will be thrown out. When I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw everyone to me.” (He said this to show how he was going to die.) (John 12:20-33, CEB)

We want to see Jesus…

Would you like to see Jesus? Most days I think I’m ready, but some days I don’t think I want to yet. But why does Jesus go into this long answer that has nothing to do with some Greeks wanting to see Jesus, or does it…

The Greeks were not part of the Jewish religion and yet Jesus was becoming known across the known world so people who were not a part of the Jewish religion were taking note of Jesus and wanting to know who he was.

So Jesus answer to wanting to be seen was saying that people get it, so now is the time the world will know.

Jesus came for all. Not just Jewish, not just people who believe, all. And so these outsiders want to know more, so now is the time.

How can we show those the church sees as outsiders that they are also part of all, regardless of what they see insiders saying? How can we show the world, and the church, that all means all, and only God gets to decide who isn’t all.

Love like Jesus and include all!

Loving People. Loving God.

Nard…

Six days before Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, home of Lazarus, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. Lazarus and his sisters hosted a dinner for him. Martha served and Lazarus was among those who joined him at the table. Then Mary took an extraordinary amount, almost three-quarters of a pound, of very expensive perfume made of pure nard. She anointed Jesus’ feet with it, then wiped his feet dry with her hair. The house was filled with the aroma of the perfume. Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (the one who was about to betray him), complained, “This perfume was worth a year’s wages! Why wasn’t it sold and the money given to the poor?” (He said this not because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief. He carried the money bag and would take what was in it.) Then Jesus said, “Leave her alone. This perfume was to be used in preparation for my burial, and this is how she has used it. You will always have the poor among you, but you won’t always have me.” Many Jews learned that he was there. They came not only because of Jesus but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. The chief priests decided that they would kill Lazarus too. It was because of Lazarus that many of the Jews had deserted them and come to believe in Jesus. (John 12:1-11, CEB)

Pure Nard. Very Expensive…

Judas gets called out in the gospel of John for being a thief, but there isn’t any evidence of this beyond this passage that I know about. So was Judas a thief? Or was he looking out for the poor? Or does either of those matter?

Maybe the disciples didn’t get this because someone just put a year’s salary worth of perfume on Jesus. And this wasn’t done to the living. This should have been done to Lazarus before Jesus brought him back to life.

Being under the influence of God makes us do things that sometimes we do not understand. I recall a line from a sermon I heard recently on John 3:14-21 and the line started out as, “just when you think things can’t get any better, God says…” And my mind went to “hold my beer…” or you could easily say, “you just wait.”

When God is in control we will not always understand, but it is not really our place to understand, it is our place to follow and do what God is leading us to do. Understanding will come later.

Follow and love like Jesus.

Loving People. Loving God.

honor

Also, let’s hold on to the confession since we have a great high priest who passed through the heavens, who is Jesus, God’s Son; because we don’t have a high priest who can’t sympathize with our weaknesses but instead one who was tempted in every way that we are, except without sin. Finally, let’s draw near to the throne of favor with confidence so that we can receive mercy and find grace when we need help. Every high priest is taken from the people and put in charge of things that relate to God for their sake, in order to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. The high priest is able to deal gently with the ignorant and those who are misled since he himself is prone to weakness. Because of his weakness, he must offer sacrifices for his own sins as well as for the people. No one takes this honor for themselves but takes it only when they are called by God, just like Aaron. (Hebrews 4:14-5:4, CEB)

You do not take honor. It is given.

We are able to come close to God because of Jesus and what God did for us through Jesus. We do not presume to approach the throne of God without Jesus by our side.

God made a way for us to be able to be with God. It is a gift.

Show the world the love God has for them and help others see the gift God has given them.

Love like Jesus.

Loving People. Loving God.

exposed

Therefore, since the promise that we can enter into rest is still open, let’s be careful so that none of you will appear to miss it. We also had the good news preached to us, just as the Israelites did. However, the message they heard didn’t help them because they weren’t united in faith with the ones who listened to it. We who have faith are entering the rest. As God said, And because of my anger I swore: “They will never enter into my rest!” And yet God’s works were completed at the foundation of the world. Then somewhere he said this about the seventh day of creation: God rested on the seventh day from all his works. But again, in the passage above, God said, They will never enter my rest! Therefore, it’s left open for some to enter it, and the ones who had the good news preached to them before didn’t enter because of disobedience. Just as it says in the passage above, God designates a certain day as “today,” when he says through David much later, Today, if you hear his voice, don’t have stubborn hearts. If Joshua gave the Israelites rest, God wouldn’t have spoken about another day later on. So you see that a sabbath rest is left open for God’s people. The one who entered God’s rest also rested from his works, just as God rested from his own. Therefore, let’s make every effort to enter that rest so that no one will fall by following the same example of disobedience, because God’s word is living, active, and sharper than any two-edged sword. It penetrates to the point that it separates the soul from the spirit and the joints from the marrow. It’s able to judge the heart’s thoughts and intentions. No creature is hidden from it, but rather everything is naked and exposed to the eyes of the one to whom we have to give an answer. (Hebrews 4:1-13, CEB)

Nothing is hidden everything is naked and exposed.

Nothing we do will not be made known. And everything we do God already knows about.

We should live our lives so God’s love is shown and the good news is proclaimed in everything we do.

Love like Jesus and let you light shine God’s love for all creation.

Loving People. Loving God.

Where is your father?

Jesus spoke to the people again, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me won’t walk in darkness but will have the light of life.” Then the Pharisees said to him, “Because you are testifying about yourself, your testimony isn’t valid.” Jesus replied, “Even if I testify about myself, my testimony is true, since I know where I came from and where I’m going. You don’t know where I come from or where I’m going. You judge according to human standards, but I judge no one. Even if I do judge, my judgment is truthful, because I’m not alone. My judgments come from me and from the Father who sent me. In your Law it is written that the witness of two people is true. I am one witness concerning myself, and the Father who sent me is the other.” They asked him, “Where is your Father?” Jesus answered, “You don’t know me and you don’t know my Father. If you knew me, you would also know my Father.” He spoke these words while he was teaching in the temple area known as the treasury. No one arrested him, because his time hadn’t yet come. (John 8:12-20, CEB)

Where is your father?

If they would have known whom they were speaking to they would not have had to ask where Jesus’ father is. They would have known.

But do you know where Jesus’ Father is? I would have to say yes and no. I understand that God is every where, yet if God is every where, where actually is God?

We don’t really know and yet we know God is always with us.

We have faith and hope that God is with us because that is what we are told is true. And I believe that.

And I believe you can believe that too.

Love like Jesus. Know God is with you.

Loving People. Loving God.

Temptation

These things were examples for us, so we won’t crave evil things like they did. Don’t worship false gods like some of them did, as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink and they got up to play. Let’s not practice sexual immorality, like some of them did, and twenty-three thousand died in one day. Let’s not test Christ, like some of them did, and were killed by the snakes. Let’s not grumble, like some of them did, and were killed by the destroyer. These things happened to them as an example and were written as a warning for us to whom the end of time has come. So those who think they are standing need to watch out or else they may fall. No temptation has seized you that isn’t common for people. But God is faithful. He won’t allow you to be tempted beyond your abilities. Instead, with the temptation, God will also supply a way out so that you will be able to endure it. (1 Corinthians 10:6-13, CEB)

Lead me not into temptation…

Oh, who am I kidding I know a shortcut follow me. Actually, none of us need help being led into temptation. We can make our way there all on our own. But God will always be with you to guide you from the place you take yourself.

Do not seek out things that pull us from God but live in a way that is pleasing and shows God’s love for all creation through your life.

Love like Jesus.

Loving People. Loving God.

hope gives us…

Therefore, brothers and sisters who are partners in the heavenly calling, think about Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession. Jesus was faithful to the one who appointed him just like Moses was faithful in God’s house. But he deserves greater glory than Moses in the same way that the builder of the house deserves more honor than the house itself. Every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything. Moses was faithful in all God’s house as a servant in order to affirm the things that would be spoken later. But Jesus was faithful over God’s house as a Son. We are his house if we hold on to the confidence and the pride that our hope gives us. (Hebrews 3:1-6, CEB)

We are God’s house if we hold on to the confidence and the pride that our hope gives us.

Our hope is Christ and the life we have in God. The master builder who built the house and gets the most honor.

When we honor God and live in the hope God gives us we show the world the love, grace, and mercy God gives to all.

Live in a way that others see God in your life.

Love like Jesus.

Loving People. Loving God.

might be saved

Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so must the Human One be lifted up so that everyone who believes in him will have eternal life. God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him won’t perish but will have eternal life. God didn’t send his Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him isn’t judged; whoever doesn’t believe in him is already judged, because they don’t believe in the name of God’s only Son. “This is the basis for judgment: The light came into the world, and people loved darkness more than the light, for their actions are evil. All who do wicked things hate the light and don’t come to the light for fear that their actions will be exposed to the light. Whoever does the truth comes to the light so that it can be seen that their actions were done in God.” (John 3:14-21, CEB)

The best known verse from the Bible in the United States is? Probably John 3:16, “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him won’t perish but will have eternal life.”

But I have always said John 3:17 is just as, if not more important. “God didn’t send his Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through him.” God didn’t send Jesus to condemn the world. But God sent Jesus so the world might be saved.

God didn’t send Jesus to condemn but to love. And if God didn’t send Jesus to condemn, God isn’t sending you to condemn either.

Love like Jesus.

Loving People. Loving God.

Nic at night

There was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a Jewish leader. He came to Jesus at night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God, for no one could do these miraculous signs that you do unless God is with him.” Jesus answered, “I assure you, unless someone is born anew, it’s not possible to see God’s kingdom.” Nicodemus asked, “How is it possible for an adult to be born? It’s impossible to enter the mother’s womb for a second time and be born, isn’t it?” Jesus answered, “I assure you, unless someone is born of water and the Spirit, it’s not possible to enter God’s kingdom. Whatever is born of the flesh is flesh, and whatever is born of the Spirit is spirit. Don’t be surprised that I said to you, ‘You must be born anew.’ God’s Spirit blows wherever it wishes. You hear its sound, but you don’t know where it comes from or where it is going. It’s the same with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” Nicodemus said, “How are these things possible?” Jesus answered, “You are a teacher of Israel and you don’t know these things? I assure you that we speak about what we know and testify about what we have seen, but you don’t receive our testimony. If I have told you about earthly things and you don’t believe, how will you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? No one has gone up to heaven except the one who came down from heaven, the Human One. (John 3:1-13, CEB)

Nicodemus is introduced to us in the passage above. Here we see he is seeking out Jesus to ask questions, and he found Jesus at night. Now most scholars assume Nicodemus went at night to avoid being seen seeking Jesus out. Nicodemus was a pharisee and they didn’t agree with Jesus. But Nicodemus had questions.

And it seems to me Nicodemus left that night with more questions than answers.

Sometimes it is the questions that guide us to a deeper understanding.

It is the questions that make us seek the answers.

Do not hide or run from questions. Live into them.

Loving People. Loving God.

down payment

We have been ransomed through his Son’s blood, and we have forgiveness for our failures based on his overflowing grace, which he poured over us with wisdom and understanding. God revealed his hidden design to us, which is according to his goodwill and the plan that he intended to accomplish through his Son. This is what God planned for the climax of all times: to bring all things together in Christ, the things in heaven along with the things on earth. We have also received an inheritance in Christ. We were destined by the plan of God, who accomplishes everything according to his design. We are called to be an honor to God’s glory because we were the first to hope in Christ. You too heard the word of truth in Christ, which is the good news of your salvation. You were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit because you believed in Christ. The Holy Spirit is the down payment on our inheritance, which is applied toward our redemption as God’s own people, resulting in the honor of God’s glory. (Ephesians 1:7-14, CEB)

The Holy Spirit is the down payment on your inheritance!

God made the way for you to be forgiven and for your mistakes to be wiped away.

We get the inheritance because of Jesus and the Spirit. All by God’s doing. Nothing we did will get it for us, and nothing we do will ever take it away.

Know you are loved by God beyond measure. Return that love to the world!

Love Like Jesus.

Loving People. Loving God.