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Instruments God Has Chosen

John 21:4-17, Acts 9:1-20 In our John passage we have the disciples returning to their trade of fishing yet they are catching nothing. Jesus appears the third time but they don’t recognize him until after he tells them to cast to the right side and there are so many fish it is too heavy to haul in. Then John realizes that it is Jesus. The Lord then serves them breakfast. Afterwards he asks Peter three times if he loves him. This counters with the three times that Peter denied him. After Peter answers yes each time Jesus tells him to tend to his sheep. Christ here is commissioning Peter to shepherd – take care of Christ’s sheep – these being the Jewish people – proclaiming to them the gospel that Jesus is the Messiah. Peter becomes the instrument that God has chosen to reach out and take care of the souls of the Jewish people. Our Acts account tells of another chosen instrument of God – the apostle Paul. It tells of his dramatic conversion to Christ. When Ananias is told in a vision...
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The Witness of the Holy Spirit Within

John 20:19-31, Acts 5:27-32 Our John account tells of Jesus appearing to the disciples after his resurrection. They are in a locked room due to fear of the Jews – not the Romans. Later in Acts we have Peter openly preaching about Christ’s resurrection even when the Jewish High Priests have told him not to do so. He seems to have no fear now. What’s the difference? In our John passage it tells how Jesus breathed the Holy Spirit on them. Now does this differ from the Pentecost account or did the disciples gathered there get a head start? Did Thomas have to wait until Pentecost? The Pentecost event included all of Christ’s followers – so all are given the Holy Spirit. Now Peter in the Acts account tells how the Holy Spirit is given to those who obey Christ – including those who converted after Pentecost – including contemporary Christians. We are the ones who did not witness Christ’s reappearance or see the nail prints and mark on his side, like Thomas did. Christ commends us future f...
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Chosen by God as Witnesses

John 20:1-18, Acts 10:34-43 Our gospel of John tells the account of those who first found Christ’s tomb empty. Mary Magdalene arrives first and finding the stone rolled away goes to Peter and John (the disciple Jesus loved) who run to the tomb. Both of them enter and find it empty with the graveclothes lying there. Seeing this it says that John believed. Still, they did not understand the scripture that Jesus must rise from the dead. They both go home. Mary, however, stays and weeps. Two angels appear asking why she weeps. She turns around and sees Jesus who she thinks is the gardener and asks where Christ’s body is. He says “Mary” and she recognizes that it is Jesus. She is recorded then as the first witness of the resurrected Jesus. She is also the first messenger of Christ being alive telling the disciples what Jesus had said to her. Later on, Christ will appear to Peter, John, and the other disciples, including woman, and to even doubting Thomas. These are the chosen by God a...
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Poured Out to Death

Isaiah 53:3-12, Philippians 2:5-11 Our Isaiah passage is one of the Messianic passages predicting the death of Christ with all its afflictions as an offering for sin for us all. This account prophesizes the agonies Christ goes through during his crucifixion on the cross. It even tells how Christ was buried in a rich man’s tomb. Verse 9 tells how he had done no violence and had no deceit yet we are told over and over in this passage how he was wounded for our transgression and crushed for our iniquities. It tells how by his bruises we have been healed and how the punishment he went through for us has made us whole. God laid on him the iniquity of all . Philippians tells us that this was someone who shared equality with God, yet he didn’t grasp it. He humbled himself embracing humanness and humbled himself to be obedient to God in this way – even though in the Garden of Gethsemane in his humanness he asked for this cup to be taken from him. Then on the cross he quotes Psalm 22, “M...
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Forget What Lies Behind

Isaiah 43: 16-21; Philippians 3:4b-14 We like to hold on to the status quo. We resist change. We lament, “Weren’t things better in the past. Isaiah reminds the Israelites about the steadfast love of God that made a way through the Red Sea when they fled Egypt and kept those chasing them, the Egyptian horses and chariots, back. God not only held the Red Sea back but held back the Egyptians who chased them. Though these were great acts of God they are not to think back or ponder and wish for the good ole days but to anticipate the new thing God is bringing into their lives. It’s happening – springing forth – don’t you perceive – recognize it. God will make a way in the wilderness of their lives, provide water in the drought of their lives, and give drink to his chosen people. One person who considered himself chosen of God was the apostle Paul. In Philippians he tells how he was so confident being born into the right tribe, becoming a Pharisee, and righteously following the law. Bu...
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Reconciled to New Life

Psalm 32, II Corinthians 5:16-21 The Psalmist in Psalm 32 tells how happy he is since his trespasses/wrongdoings are forgiven and his sin covered over. He tells how awful his life was before he repented and asked forgiveness including groaning and aching bones. Yet when he confessed- admitted his sin to God – then God forgave his sin and removed the guilt which was tearing him apart. This theme of forgiveness comes out in II Corinthians where we are not just forgiven but made a new creation due to being reconciled to God through Christ’s work on the cross. It says that God made Christ the one who knew no sin to be sin – take on all our sin so that in Christ we might become righteous. This reflects the Psalm when it talks about his sin being covered over. Jesus blood on the cross covers all our sins so that we can be reconciled to God. Being reconciled means mending a broken relationship. Due to our sin, our relationship with God was broken. This is the old spoken of. The new is o...
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Shelter of God’s Wings

  Psalm 27 CEB, Luke 13:31-35 We have the theme of God’s protection in both of these passages. The difference? The psalmist is seeking the Lord and God’s ways while Herod and the Pharisees are rejecting Christ. Due to this Jesus laments at how he longed to protect them like a hen gathers her chicks under her wings for protection. Yet they reject him – they are not willing. So, the love and protection he would bring them are not theirs. One interesting concept dealt with is fear. The psalmist asks who shall I fear knowing God will shelter him in troubling times. God will hide him and set him up safe on a rock away from his enemies. even in troubled times the psalmist has faith that God will deliver. He says that he has sure faith that he will experience God’s goodness. He has hope in the Lord. Other translations say wait for the Lord. He will again like Jesus wanted to do to the Jerusalemites protect him under his wings like a hen. Herod in contrast fears Christ. He wants to kil...
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