They had to come to go!

It is every parents fear and it seems to happen to all parents that at one time or another they cannot find their child.  It happened to us, it happened to me as a child and it happened to my wife.  When she got lost in a store she did what we tell our children all the time not to do and that is leave the store.  She went out of the store to her parents car and eventually they came out not knowing where else to look and there she was.  Her explanation, "I knew you had to come to go!"
When my in laws lived next door to us we left our son at church.  We thought that he had gone home with his grandparents but when we got home he wasn't with them.  We called the church and the pastor was still there.  Our son figured that he could stay there until the next men's breakfast.  However, this was Christmas eve.
Jesus also got left behind.  His parents thought that he was with his friends and it wasn't until they took stock that night that they realized that he wasn't with them, he had been left behind.  When they found him he was in the temple talking with the elders.  Some think that he was teaching them but I think he was listening and asking questions.  He had a desire to learn.  Yes he was God but he had laid aside his divinity and became a child.  As a child he learned like other children learn.  He learned by asking questions and listening to those older than he.

Aurora Borealis

One of the spectacular sights in the winter night skies in the north is the northern lights or aurora borealis.  When we lived in the north we would occasionally see the wonder of theses lights as they danced across the sky.  Sometimes they were filled with colour.  We would stop what we were doing just to watch the wonder of the moment.

As spectacular as the northern lights may they are nothing compared to what the shepherds experienced on that first Christmas night.  That night the angels showed up.  Now we often see pictures of one or two angels but I imagine that the sky was full of angels.  This was the greatest event in the history of this planet and I know that none of the angels would miss it.  If the northern lights are an spectacular sight can you imagine the sky filled with angels.  What a moment.  What a scene.

Why was Jesus born into the world?

I think if you were to ask a dozen people you may get a dozen different answers.  He came to save us, to give us eternal life, to set the captives free, etc.  However, what did Jesus say?  When Jesus was on trial before Pilate He told Pilate, "In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth."  John 18:37
Pilate asked the question, What is truth?  Little did he know that the One who said He was the truth was standing before him that night.  Truth is never relative.  Truth by definition must be absolute.  Jesus said that He was the truth.
What is truth?  That which reveals the character of God.  Who revealed God to us?  Jesus.
So we can be a people of hope.  Our hope is in the one who was born into a manager in Bethlehem.  The Christmas Carole says it well, "The hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight."

Something to sing about.

When people have no hope then they do not sing.  I am reminded of the Psalmist who said, "By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion. There on the poplars we hung our harps, for there our captors asked us for songs, our tormentors demanded songs of joy; they said, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!” How can we sing the songs of the Lord while in a foreign land?" Psalm 137
However the people in the days of the birth of John the Baptist and Jesus were people who sang.  Mary sang the magnificat where she magnifies the Lord in her song.  Zachariah sang the benedictus where he sings of the Lord's visitation and finally in Luke 2 Simeon sings nunc dimittis and he sings because he has seen the Lord's glory.
Why do we sing?  We sing because we have hope.  We see a world in trouble but we see a God who is in control.  We know that God will someday step into history and everything will be made right.  Mary, Zachariah and Simeon all sang because they saw that God was moving in their day.  Do we have something to sing about?

Be

Just a little word "be" but when we look at Mary's encounter with the angel Gabriel we can learn a great deal from that little word.
It is said of Mary in Luke 1:27 that she was pledged to be married.  She may have been only thirteen years old but her life was already planned out for her.  She was to be married to Joseph the carpenter.

The angel then tells Mary in Luke 1:31 that she will be with child.  Not only does the angel say that she will be pregnant but that the child will be a boy and he will be named Jesus.  He goes on to tell about the greatness of this child.
Mary has a question in v34.  How will this be?  This was not a question of doubt but a legitimate question.  She was a virgin.
Then in v38 we see the faith of Mary when she said, "May it be to me as you said."
One of the amazing things about Mary was that she was unwilling to put her reputation above her obedience to the revelation that God gave her.  She was willing to suffer the shame and stigma of being pregnant but unmarried for the glory of God.
Can we say with Mary, "may it be to me as you said."?

I want to but I cannot.

Continuing on from yesterday.  It was the greatest day of his life and he couldn't wait to tell others about it but he couldn't.  Because he doubted the message of the angel he was stricken deaf and dumb.  We are not told that he was deaf but later when the baby is born we see the people making signs to him.  He just couldn't hear.  Not only could he not tell them about the angel but he couldn't finish his task.  He was unable to bless the people.
For nine months he couldn't speak to his wife or hear her voice.  When the baby was born he didn't hear the first cry.  It was only after he confirmed what his wife Elizabeth said regarding his name that he was able to speak again.
Because Zechariah couldn't tell others about what he had seen and heard because of his unbelief we should be more willing to share the good news of the Gospel.  Luke tells us this story so that we will believe the message.

Holy Imagination

Zechariah's encounter with the angel Gabriel in the temple is a wonderful story to let your imagination run in many directions.  Luke gives us the information but can you imagine what went on in Zechariah's mind that day?
First, it was the greatest day of his life as a priest.  Many priests serve their whole life and never get to do what he was chosen to do that day.  He was already nearing the time for him to retire and he was chosen to offer the incense.
Second, he encounters an angel and not just any angel but Gabriel.  Notice that the first words out of the mouth of the angel were, "Don't be afraid."  As you read scripture you will see many times that the angel's greetings involved a reassurance of their safety.  Angels must be awesome especially Gabriel.
Third, the angel tells him that his prayer has been answered.  What prayer?  I don't think Zechariah went into the temple to pray for a son.  His prayer was for the nation.  He was there offering incense on behalf of the nation.  He probably was praying for the Messiah to come.  Imagine the shock when he heard that his prayer was answered.  Four hundred years had passed without a word from the Lord and now he is told that the Messiah is coming.  I can only imagine that he cannot wait to tell the others as he leaves the temple.  But that was not to be.
I will continue this tomorrow, LW.

Hide and Seek

When I was young we loved to play "hide and seek".  We would always find new places to hide but we were always found unless we made it "home free".
Luke states the theme of his Gospel in 19:10 where he says, " For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”
In chapters 1 - 3 we have the coming of Jesus.  In 4 - 21 we see Him seeking and finally in 22 - 24 we see what He did for the lost.
Unlike in hide and seek we do not know we are lost and we certainly weren't expecting to be found.  However, we are lost and as we turn our eyes to Jesus we will see that we need a Saviour, One who came seeking us while we were still lost.

I don't think I know.

One time a teacher asked a student a question which the student didn't know the answer so the student turned the question back on the teacher.  The student said, "What do you think the answer is?"  The teacher responded with, "I don't think, I know."  The student then replied, "I don't think I know either."
The disciples asked Jesus to teach them about prayer.  This is the first time the disciples asked Jesus to teach them anything.  How fitting it was that they asked Him to teach them to pray.
I think if we were spending time with Jesus we would have asked Him to teach us many things about life but would we have asked Him to teach us to pray?
Luke has a great deal to say about prayer in His Gospel account.  Prayer is another of the themes that we find in Luke's Gospel account.

Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?

Forty seven years ago there was a movie called Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?  In the movie a white girl brings home her date and her parents are anxious to meet him until they find out that he is coloured.  Suddenly someone crossed the barrier.
In Luke's Gospel account we often see Jesus going to dinner.  He is not just with His friends like Mary, Martha and Lazarus but we see Him at dinner with the Pharisees, the ultra conservative religious people of His day, and with the publicans such as Levi and Zaccheus.  Luke shows us much of Jesus' teaching took place while He was at someone's house for dinner.  If it shocked the status quo when John Wade Prentice came to dinner can you imagine the shock when Jesus showed up at Zaccheus' house.

Here is a trailer for that movie:

Kids at our Gate

When we lived in the Philippines every day when we arrived home from school a number of kids would run down the street to meet us at our gate.  These kids were from the squatter area around us and they would appreciate a cold glass of clean water or some cookies or rice.  One of our fellow staff members told us that they came because we gave them something and if we ignored them they would stop coming.  I couldn't help but think of Jesus' words when He said that if we gave a cup of cold water in His name we were doing it as to Him.
These kids were the outsiders.  They lived in squatter huts and didn't always have enough food or proper clothing.  Many of them couldn't afford to go to school.  In Luke's gospel account we encounter children and poor and other outsiders that Jesus welcomed to come in while the rich, the religious elite were often outside.  The Gospel turns things upside down, the outsiders are welcomed in.

Sunflowers

I love a field of sunflowers.  I find it amazing to see all the heads facing the same way.  One of the joys of living where I do is all the different crops that are grown and every year someone grows sunflowers.
We live in an age where we have lost the sense of amazement.  There is a super moon or a meteor shower or a double rainbow and we don't bother taking the time to go outside and look for ourselves.  After all someone somewhere will post it on the internet and it will be better than what we can see from our backyard.
I am afraid that is how we sometimes read the Gospels.  We have become so accustomed to what we have heard that we no longer come to the Gospels with a sense of anticipation.  I can imagine that the first readers were amazed at Jesus.  The teaching, the answers to questions, the miracles, the parables all would have been something very, very new to the original readers.
And what about the people who Luke writes about?  Mary and Zacharias.  The disciples and the Pharisees.  These people were amazed.
As we study Luke's Gospel account together I want to be amazed again.  I want to see it through the eyes of the original readers.

Right Side of History

A catch phrase of the day seems to be "being on the right side of history".  Politicians tell you that if you don't support gay marriage you will find yourself on the wrong side of history.  It sounds right but it also sounds very arrogant.  The speakers obviously has decided what is the right side of history and if you don't side with that side you are wrong.
However, as Christian we can be on the right side of history.  Jesus came and with Him came the great reversal.  He sided with the poor, the weak, the vulnerable, not because they were weak or poor or vulnerable but because those people knew that their salvation was outside themselves and could only be found in the Lord Jesus.
So to be on the right side of history will not be following some political or sociological agenda but siding yourself with the Creator of the universe.  It is the only way to be on the right side of history.

Who is Jesus and What does He want from Me? Part 2

The answer is simple; nothing and everything.

Nothing in that we have nothing that is not His in the first place.  And everything because it is already His and not ours.

As Jesus calls us to follow Him there are four things we need to remember:

1.  We must listen to Him.

2.  He wants to turn from ourselves and be penitent.

3.  He wants us to tell others about Him.

4.  We must leave everything to follow Him.

Many see Jesus as a commodity that we can add onto our lives.  He cannot be added on, He must be our lives.  If we take the approach that He is a commodity then we will try and sell Jesus to the world.  We cannot do that.  We must show Jesus to the world and He will sell himself.

Miracles

Why did Jesus perform miracles?

First, Jesus did not perform miracles so that we would expect a miracle.  Miracles by nature are not common.  Some people would have us believe that we should expect miracles all the time.  Remember that the miracles were given to us so that we would desire heaven, a time and a place where things would be put right.  Miracles were not given so that we would have heaven on earth but that we would live in expectation of a day when all things were made right.

Second, and this is most important, Jesus performed miracles to confirm His identity as the Christ.  John calls these miracles "signs".  These signs are to show us that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.

Jesus did not come as a miracle worker, though He performed many miracles, but He came to proclaim the Gospel.  The miracles Jesus performed showed that the rule of God was breaking through and someday all things will be made right.

So let me ask this question:  Which takes more faith, to pray and a miracle occurs or to believe that there is coming a day when all things will be made right?  Both require faith.  Both require us to live by faith.  But if God does not heal or change that circumstance He is still God and there will be a day when we will understand.

Who is Jesus and what does He want from me?

I grew up in a conservative Christian home.  I was taken to church and Sunday school long before I could walk or talk.  I said my prayers every night and always prayed before a meal.  Of course I knew who Jesus is after all look at my heritage.
However, my knowledge of Jesus was of course flawed.  Growing up on a farm in rural Saskatchewan I didn't know any Jews or Asians or Africans or any other racial groups so of course Jesus had to be a white Anglo Saxon male.  Now that wasn't really a bad thing but it was flawed.
Sometimes when you listen to celebrities or professional athletes they have their own version of Jesus.  A baseball player may see Him as a player sliding into second base to break up a double play.  This is just their creation of who Jesus is.  I am sure that if Jesus was at the ball diamond the pro athletes would not recognize Him as He probably would be out with the kids trying to get a fly ball but here I go with my own version of "Who is Jesus?"
When Luke wrote his Gospel account of Jesus he did not have that problem.  His readers were being introduced to Jesus for the very first time.  They did not have a Sunday School version of Jesus and they had never seen His picture hanging in the church foyer.  In Luke 9:20 Jesus asks His disciples, "Who do you say that I am?"  Over the next ten chapters Jesus shows His disciples the answer to that question.
When we read Luke's account we should read it as his first century readers would have read it.  We are no longer surprised when Jesus identifies with the poor and the outcast but that was not what the people of his day expected.  Why did Jesus identify with these people and not the people of power?
...and what does He want from me?  As Luke unfolds the story we will see the answer to that as well.

Luke

It has been months since I last posted on this blog.  Two weeks from yesterday we will begin a new series in the Adult Bible Class.  This fall we will be looking at the Gospel according to Luke.
Why Luke?

It started about a year ago when a friend gave me a copy of Michael Card's book on Luke.  I read it through and put it on the shelf.  Awhile later I began to think about what I would teach in the fall and I realized that I have not spent any time in the Gospels.  I was drawn back to look again at the Gospels and decided that I wanted to spend time with Luke.
Since then another friend of mine to encourage me in my studies and teaching asked what books I wanted on the Gospel according to Luke.  I asked for the commentaries by Philip Ryken which he bought for me.  I started reading the first volume and realized what I had been missing by not spending time in the Gospels.
I hope you take time to journey with me through this amazing account of the life of our Lord.  I am excited to begin this series.