Good Morning Friends,
Last Friday’s post has an error. As I often do, I take ideas from previous posts on the same scripture as a basis for that day’s post and in my poor editing included a section I should have taken out. I said that 30 million people a month ago that were employed are now seeking employment because of the pandemic. And whereas this may well be true for places like India, it is not true today for the United States even though it was true a year ago. It is kind of embarrassing, so I do not want to diagnose the reasons for the mistake. Often churches have a similar mindset on purpose and interestingly some relate to healthcare. We like churches are reluctant to do any serious self-examinations for fear of a diagnosis. We get into a mindset that we will live forever and cannot fail. Well, that is how some think. The thought is that a diagnosis of sin, like the diagnosis of a disease is what gets you. That is why most churches live with a ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy with spiritual bodily functions. People are kept in a mystery and are in denial about the church’s purpose beyond its economic reality. People want to be saved but for most Christians, the Bible is like a Microsoft product license. Who actually reads it? People in the pews, and especially virtual pews just scroll to the bottom and click I Agree. They have no idea what is in it. But we need to read the fine print of the law and prophets. And what might interest us in this, is that for Jesus to come back the full complement of Gentiles need to be evangelized and the blindness needs to come off the eyes of the Jewish people. So today I confess my egocentrism. If God’s promise to the Jews is not allegorical but a promise which has a literal purpose for Gentiles too, we need to do some repenting. Sure, some things in the Bible are symbolic but the decision on which ones is the sign of great debate. But can you imagine how much easier it would be to evangelize if more Jews believed in Jesus? Think this through. Jesus went to Jews first and so did Paul and Peter. Maybe you know a few outwardly pious gatekeepers who are more than happy to serve in a religious institution denying the importance of Jews and spouting a replacement theology. If they are full of pride and privilege and promised prosperity with a misplaced purpose that denies our spiritual heritage with Hebrews, is there not a problem? The reality is that we have a choice, but that does not mean it is easy culturally. In the face of such challenges Peter has a vision of the extension of the Way to the Gentiles that is no replacement for God’s Covenant of love for the Jews but an extension of it through Jesus. The setting is in the gateway city of Joppa, the same city that Jonah sailed from and the place where Peter in the power of the Holy Spirit shared in the experience of the resurrection of Tabitha, AKA Dorcas, Gazelle… a widow of means. But the image is not just of commerce and of leading the flock to greener pastures. It is about the spread of the early church through relationship of people in the business of these port cities and their message for us today seeking a covenant relationship with Jesus. It should be instructive for the church. So, Are You In Search Of Peace At The Gate To A Pasture Where The Church’s Purpose Is Being Fulfilled?
Scripture: But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them, “Men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say. Therefore let the entire house of Israel know with certainty that God has made him both Lord and Messiah, this Jesus whom you crucified.” Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and to the other apostles, “Brothers, what should we do?” Peter said to them, “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you, for your children, and for all who are far away, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to him.” And he testified with many other arguments and exhorted them, saying, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.” So those who welcomed his message were baptized, and that day about three thousand persons were added.
Acts 2:14a, 36-41 (NRSV)
If you endure when you are beaten for doing wrong, what credit is that? But if you endure when you do right and suffer for it, you have God’s approval. For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you should follow in his steps. “He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.” When he was abused, he did not return abuse; when he suffered, he did not threaten; but he entrusted himself to the one who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the cross, so that, free from sins, we might live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed. For you were going astray like sheep, but now you have returned to the shepherd and guardian of your souls.
1 Peter 2:20b-25 (NRSV)
Now the apostles and the believers who were in Judea heard that the Gentiles had also accepted the word of God. So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcised believers criticized him, saying, “Why did you go to uncircumcised men and eat with them?” Then Peter began to explain it to them, step by step, saying, “I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision. There was something like a large sheet coming down from heaven, being lowered by its four corners; and it came close to me. As I looked at it closely I saw four-footed animals, beasts of prey, reptiles, and birds of the air. I also heard a voice saying to me, ‘Get up, Peter; kill and eat.’ But I replied, ‘By no means, Lord; for nothing profane or unclean has ever entered my mouth.’ But a second time the voice answered from heaven, ‘What God has made clean, you must not call profane.’ This happened three times; then everything was pulled up again to heaven. At that very moment three men, sent to me from Caesarea, arrived at the house where we were. The Spirit told me to go with them and not to make a distinction between them and us. These six brothers also accompanied me, and we entered the man’s house. He told us how he had seen the angel standing in his house and saying, ‘Send to Joppa and bring Simon, who is called Peter; he will give you a message by which you and your entire household will be saved.’ And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them just as it had upon us at the beginning. And I remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said, ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ If then God gave them the same gift that he gave us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could hinder God?” When they heard this, they were silenced. And they praised God, saying, “Then God has given even to the Gentiles the repentance that leads to life.”
Acts 11:1-18 (NRSV)
“Very truly, I tell you, anyone who does not enter the sheepfold by the gate but climbs in by another way is a thief and a bandit. The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. They will not follow a stranger, but they will run from him because they do not know the voice of strangers.” Jesus used this figure of speech with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them. So again Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and bandits; but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.
John 10:1-10 (NRSV)
The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures; he leads me beside still waters; he restores my soul. He leads me in right paths for his name’s sake. Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I fear no evil; for you are with me; your rod and your staff— they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord my whole life long.
Psalm 23 (NRSV)
My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and behold the face of God? My tears have been my food day and night, while people say to me continually, “Where is your God?” O send out your light and your truth; let them lead me; let them bring me to your holy hill and to your dwelling. Then I will go to the altar of God, to God my exceeding joy; and I will praise you with the harp, O God, my God.
Psalm 42: 2-3; 43: 3-4
Message: John 10 is really a continuation of Jesus’ dialogue with the Pharisees that we have been reading in past devotionals. And it is also the continuation of the “I Am” Statements of Jesus. If you ever wondered why, they crucified Christ, this should give you an understanding of how difficult Jesus was for those in power in Jerusalem. He is essentially calling them both thieves and robbers at the same time he is extending his case for being the Messiah. Some Jews are enemies of the faith and some are not. Jesus points out that instead of caring and feeding sheep they took advantage of them. The sheep are helpless without the shepherd, but it was worse yet with a resentful group eager to lead the sheep astray. But with no Shepherd, rather than going through the door, they creep I over the wall…the Way protecting the sheep. So, today’s text from John is really not so much about those who would try to sneak into heaven by going over the wall but about those who would lead the sheep astray and even slaughter them for their own purpose. Against this difficult political situation, we get the story of Peter’s dream of offering another path that would include repentance and the possibility of an abundant life for Gentiles as well. And because of the setting in Joppa, it brings to my mind the missionary sailing trips of Paul that would follow and of the merchants like Lydia that helped connect the forming of faith communities in other lands and gateway cities like Corinth and Ephesus and eventually to the gates of Rome. The strategy was revolutionary. Life in Jerusalem was about to change under pressure from Rome. The time was right for the light of Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit to shine not just in the darkness but into the world to every nation as Jesus had commanded. Friends, sometimes the abundant life is easy and sometimes it is hard, so we will grow. If you are in Christ, this life is waiting for you now. God will not require more of you than you can take. Ask and it will be given to you in ways that are better than you can envision. Know the real sign of spiritual maturity is looking to God not for comfort and convenience but for purpose and perspective. Here embrace the law of love and match it to the experiences of your life and the truth of scripture. Here we are to find symmetry with scripture and relationships that glorify God. Friends, we are to point both Jews and Gentiles to the door of truth that leads to life… Jesus.
And So, our world is filled with unhappy and dissatisfied people seeking answers to the eternal question of how to live a complete life. Sometimes we literally get it right and sometimes we do not even symbolically come close. While some stories in the Bible are obviously symbolic, division remains concerning the literal versus symbolic interpretations of some passages. Many are spending a lot of energy on avoiding the issues and related suffering when in fact the real issue is having a cause so that when the suffering comes it can be turned into a blessing. Most think that if it were easy, it would not be worth doing and, in some ways, they are right. Daily we are guided by the world in what seems right, but in the end, produces death. We may well ask if the abundant life really exists. We hope for a Kingdom of continuous continuity. We hear message after message that we need to purchase the next thing to be happy, knowing even before we do that the joy of it will be short lived. It is here that we might just discover that there are some things we cannot buy…some things we cannot even steal. It is here when we discover that we are at the mercy of laws over which we have no control that we begin to see the gate though which we must follow Christ. The Kingdom can be ours if we listen to our heart, and believe with our mind that we are being called to possess the abundant life and all its wonderful qualities of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, compassion, purity, humility, modesty, faith, character, wisdom, enthusiasm, dignity, optimism, confidence, honesty, and foremost a relationship with God that still loves the people of Israel. Here we discover that the abundant life is full of all the things money cannot buy. This is no illusion….no delusion. It is a separation to God and from evil….it is freedom found only in Christ and is found nowhere else if we embrace the cause of Christ. During his life, Jesus focused primarily on interacting with his fellow Jews, but did not shy away from interactions with Gentiles when they crossed paths. Immediately after Christ’s death and resurrection, the church understood the mission to reach beyond the cultural borders of the Hebrews to all people groups. The transition occurred at precisely the moment when it was no longer possible to sit at Jesus’ feet. His followers depended instead on His Spirit, which was not tied to a particular location on Earth with the idea that together we can be more effective in bringing people to prosperity. In other words, we are to preserve our freedom but make the right use of it as well in the Spirit of God’s purpose in us.
Pray we are inspired by those who have gone before. Pray the Keys of the Kingdom unlock a Gateway to the life abundant that embraces to cause of Christ. Pray we fix our attention on the King…Jesus. Pray we keep on running the race that has been set before us. Pray we realize that if our cause is Christ, we can manage the suffering. Pray therefore, with praise and purpose that we pattern ourselves after Christ. Pray we share our love with Jews and Gentiles both. Pray we accept the gift of the plentiful life and share in the enjoyment of Shalom with others. Pray we take the next step with Jesus. Pray we realize that a life glorifying God is not a life of comfort and ease in a worldly view but a journey of refinement that brings us to recognize that our joy is not dependent on outside circumstances. Pray we recognize, confess, develop, and use our God given physical, mental, and spiritual abilities to the glory of God and for the benefit of mankind. Pray we have a purpose, perspective and persistence that makes life full. Pray we be unified in our faith in the hope of a Kingdom where our relationship with God is manifested in a continuous symmetry matched with the law of love. Pray we have a relationship with God that opens doors to life. Pray we realize that the darkness cannot put out the light of Christ. Pray the valleys and voyages on of the journey of Christianity transform us into the image of Christ. Pray the Bible is more than an allegory of our journey from darkness into light. Pray we make the connections and appreciate the symmetry of the Bible reflected in our life and missions.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 