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Is He god or God?

Posted on by Dorci

He had performed miracles, taught in the Synagogues, cast out demons, healed the sick, raised the dead, forgave sin. And if that weren’t enough…

He claimed to be King.

“Tell the daughter of Zion, ‘Behold, your King is coming to you, lowly, and sitting on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey.’”  Matthew 21:5

He claimed to be the fulfillment of prophecy.

“Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. Matthew 5:17

He claimed to be the long-awaited Messiah.

“The woman said to Him, ‘I know that Messiah is coming’ (who is called Christ). ‘When He comes, He will tell us all things.’ Jesus said to her, ‘I who speak to you am He.’” John 4:25-26

He claimed to be the Son of God.

“He said to them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ Simon Peter answered and said, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’ Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.’” Matthew 16:15-17

He claimed to be the Son of Man.

For the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.” Matthew 12:8

He claimed to be the only way to heaven.

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.  John 14:6

He claimed to be the King of the Jews.

“Now Jesus stood before the governor. And the governor asked Him, saying, ‘Are you the King of the Jews?’ Jesus said to him, ‘It is as you say.’” Matthew 27:11

Jesus was all that and so much more.  And the Israelites were thrilled, for a while. But they had expectations of their Messiah that were simply not true.

They expected Him to set up an earthly kingdom, to end their suffering, to take over rule and provide for them, to sit on a throne and be their king.

And it’s in those wrong expectations where things went awry.

Things can go awry for us, too, when we conjure up in our minds a god who simply does not exist.  When life happens and what we expect this god of our imaginations – the god we’ve set inside our parameters, in our little box – to be and to do for us does not happen.  When we want God to conform to our image of Him, and we set up this false god as an idol and worship him, and then tragedy strikes, prayers aren’t answered, what we hear is silence, we can begin to shout “crucify Him!”

Oh, we may not use those words.  We may just stop praying, or reading the Bible, or going to church. We may stop trusting, or witnessing, or believing.  We may just stop walking with Him.

Throughout the week we’ll see that the disciples did that very thing.  Instead of listening and learning and believing the truth, even in the face of overwhelming fear, instead of allowing their expectations of a limitless, righteous, holy God Who can never put in a box to be changed, instead of throwing away their pride, they turned back.  They scattered.  They hid themselves in the darkness of the world.

But, there is redemption…

Badge of Honor

Posted on by Dorci

“If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. Remember what I told you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the one who sent me. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin. Whoever hates me hates my Father as well. If I had not done among them the works no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin. As it is, they have seen, and yet they have hated both me and my Father. But this is to fulfill what is written in their Law: ‘They hated me without reason.’” John 15:18-25

“Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death.You will be hated by everyone because of me, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.” Matthew 10:21-22

More and more I’m seeing headlines about someone in America being sued or fired because of their faith in Christ. This is of course just a small taste of the persecution Christians and Jews are facing around the world.

And every time I see one of those headlines I’m as surprised and disgusted as anybody. But we can’t be; we must expect it. Persecution is increasing, and we need to prepare ourselves that we may one day see it knock on our own door. Jesus warned the apostles and He warns us now: we will be hated.

The word for hated in these verses means to detest, especially to persecute. This is not your run of the mill kind of hatred. It’s not just a feeling. This is hatred that is so vile and deep that it moves the person to act on their hatred, to systematically and methodically harm a person or group.

What I find interesting is that this is the complete opposite of compassion, which is to be so deeply filled with sympathy that it moves a person to action. Regardless of how much Christ was hated, He consistently demonstrated compassion His whole life. He’s our example of how to live a holy life in the face of persecution.

The Spirit enables us, we just need to decide if we’re willing. Let God take care of the persecutors, we must be faithful to Christ, to pray and to live holy and upright lives, not giving the enemy a foothold.

Jesus makes a point to remind us though, that all this is not without the hope of our promised salvation and reward.

In the meantime, we can pray to have the same attitude as the apostles who were arrested and jailed by the high priest and the Sanhedrin – people who claimed to know God and should have believed in His Son alongside the apostles – for teaching and healing in the name of Christ.

The apostles were flogged, ordered not to speak in the name of Jesus (which they promptly disobeyed) and let go. And Acts 5:41-42 says “The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name. Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Messiah.”

Rejoicing because they had been counted to worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name. From our own perspective it’s an awful thing to suffer persecution, but from a spiritual standpoint, the apostles saw it as a badge of honor. It meant they were living their lives for Christ in such a way that they suffered as their Lord had said they would. It meant the Spirit was moving, lives were being changed, souls were being convicted…and the enemy was not happy.

But I’d give anything to see the smile on Jesus’s face as He watched them fulfill what He called them to do.

In His great grace,

Thankful Thursday – Forgiven

Posted on by Dorci

“When one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, he went to the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. A woman in that town who lived a sinful life learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee’s house, so she came there with an alabaster jar of perfume. As she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them.

When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, ‘If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is—that she is a sinner.’

Jesus answered him, ‘Simon, I have something to tell you.’

‘Tell me, teacher,’ he said.

‘Two people owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he forgave the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?’

Simon replied, ‘I suppose the one who had the bigger debt forgiven.’

‘You have judged correctly,’ Jesus said.

Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, ‘Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little.’

Then Jesus said to her, ‘Your sins are forgiven.'” Luke 7:36-48

Nothing gets by Jesus, right? The Pharisee thought he was talking to himself, but Jesus knew what was in his heart: judgement. Legalism never leaves room for love.

He knew what was in the woman’s heart, too: repentance. She came face to face with the Son of God. His glory and grace, in contrast to her sins, brought her to her knees in repentance and humility so much that it spilled out into her actions without a care what people thought. She worshipped Him with all she had.

I’ve been forgiven for much, too. I’ve been called a fanatic for my faith, and by someone who called himself a Christian. But I don’t care. Christ was fanatical about His love for me as He allowed Himself to be arrested, “tried”, and crucified, all for my sins. My only argument with my critic is that I’m not fanatical enough. Christ gave me His life. Is my all too much to give in return?  Never.

In His Grace,

Keeping the Main Thing the Main Thing

Posted on by Dorci

“Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.  I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.” John 15:4-5

Sometimes I wish I could have sat as Jesus’s feet, listening to His words and all the inflection He gave each of them, watching His facial expressions and the gesturing of His hands. Thankfully, the Greek language gives us a peek into what it must have been like for His disciples.

When Jesus refers to Himself as He says “Abide in Me…” and “He who abides in Me…” and “without Me…” the word “me” is a prolonged, or emphasized form of the word me.

“Abide (stay, continue, dwell, be present) in ME…”

I can almost hear His gentle pleading and see the passion in His eyes… “Don’t wander away, even for a moment, don’t get sidetracked, don’t try to find hope or purpose in anything or anyone else but ME!”

In other words, don’t forget why we’re here. There’s so much we need to do in this life – make a living, raise a family, and all the other concerns in life that keep us busy – and those are good and well, but we can’t get so focused on any of those that we begin to abide in them instead of Christ.

He is to be the focus of our lives. Why? Because without Him we can do nothing, He says. We need the power that only He has in order to first, grow in Him, and second, to bear fruit.

I don’t know about you, but I want to be a healthy, vibrant, budding, fruitful branch abiding in the life-giving Vine.

Grace and peace,

Stay Focused

Posted on by Dorci

“Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Hebrews 12:1-2

God knows you’re not perfect. He knew that when He sent His Son to the cross, and Christ knew that when He died for you. Don’t let the enemy keep you focused on your past sins. Repent and keep moving forward.

Then determine to focus on Christ and keep putting your faith in Him every day, in every circumstance.  He will work out the rest!

 

In His Good Grace,