R.P. Nettelhorst's Blog, page 97

Gods

“In your Scriptures doesn’t God say, ‘You are gods’? You can’t argue with the Scriptures, and God spoke to those people and called them gods. So why do you accuse me of a terrible sin for saying that I am the Son of God? After all, it is the Father who prepared me for this work. He is also the one who sent me into the world. If I don’t do as my Father does, you should not believe me. But if I do what my Father does, you should believe because of that, even if you don’t have faith in me. Then you will know for certain that the Father is one with me, and I am one with the Father.”

Again they wanted to arrest Jesus. But he escaped and crossed the Jordan to the place where John had earlier been baptizing. While Jesus was there, many people came to him. They were saying, “John didn’t work any miracles, but everything he said about Jesus is true.” A lot of those people also put their faith in Jesus. (John 10:34-42)

In Jesus’ day, the Caesar of Rome believed himself to be a god. So had many other kings throughout history. Jesus told his critics that even God called some of them “gods.” Of course, when God called the kings “gods,” he was being sarcastic. In Psalm 82, God referred to the kings of the Earth as “gods” as he criticized them for their actions. In Ezekiel’s prophesy, God addressed the king of Tyre as a “god” and then inquired if he’d continue to insist on his divinity in the face of those who killed him.

Why did Jesus reference such Old Testament usage to respond to the criticism of a religious establishment objecting to Jesus’ claim to be God? The religious leaders of Israel would never accuse God of blasphemy for calling monarchs “gods.” They understood the reason God did it. Therefore, Jesus suggested that they should not be so quick to judge him a blasphemer. Instead, they needed to consider the miracles that Jesus was performing, miracles that went far beyond any miracles ever performed by anyone. Unlike the kings of the world who claimed to be God, Jesus had proof.

Jesus said that he is God. He challenged those around him to either believe or not, based on what he said and based on what he did. Jesus’ challenge remains for those who hear him today.

The Question

When he came into the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people confronted Him as He was teaching, and said, “By what authority are You doing these things? And who gave You this authority?”

But Jesus answered and said to them, “I also will ask you one thing, which if you tell Me, I likewise will tell you by what authority I do these things: The baptism of John—where was it from? From heaven or from men?”

And they reasoned among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ He will say to us, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’ But if we say, ‘From men,’ we fear the multitude, for all count John as a prophet.” So they answered Jesus and said, “We do not know.”

And He said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things. (Matthew 21:23-27)

“Don’t you know who I am?” How many celebrities have uttered those words when they don’t believe they’re being treated as well as they think their fame entitles them? The religious establishment didn’t believe who Jesus was. So they asked Jesus who gave him the right to do what he was doing: coming into Jerusalem, cleansing the temple, teaching things contrary to established custom. Jesus’ responded with a question, the same question he asks of all who come to him, even now. The question of John the Baptist. Was John’s baptism from heaven, or was it from men? That is, was it from God, or did he just make it up?

The religious establishment refused to answer Jesus’ question. Instead, they pleaded ignorance. But in reality, they had already decided on an answer. An answer that they were too afraid to speak. They had decided that John was not from God. Likewise, they had already decided that Jesus was not from God. Their question was not designed to relieve their ignorance. They only hoped to get Jesus to say something that would confirm what they believed. They wound up disappointed. Jesus made it even harder for them to deny the reality of who Jesus was.

Jesus is either God, or he is nothing but a human being. Which is it? Everything depends on your answer to that question. If he’s just a human being, then he can safely be ignored. But if he is God, then nothing about him is safe at all.

Misunderstanding

On their way to the other side of the lake, the disciples discovered they had forgotten to bring along bread. In the meantime, Jesus said to them, “Keep a sharp eye out for Pharisee-Sadducee yeast.”

Thinking he was scolding them for forgetting bread, they discussed in whispers what to do. Jesus knew what they were doing and said, “Why all these worried whispers about forgetting the bread? Runt believers! Haven’t you caught on yet? Don’t you remember the five loaves of bread and the five thousand people, and how many baskets of fragments you picked up? Or the seven loaves that fed four thousand, and how many baskets of leftovers you collected? Haven’t you realized yet that bread isn’t the problem? The problem is yeast, Pharisee-Sadducee yeast.” Then they got it: that he wasn’t concerned about eating, but teaching—the Pharisee-Sadducee kind of teaching. (Matthew 16:5-12)

The late Gilda Radner played an odd character on Saturday Night Live named Emily Latella, who was notorious for her misunderstandings and her long winded rants that they inspired. Once she railed for a long time against the movement to limit “violins on television.” When told that the movement was, in fact, against “violence” she got very quiet and then murmured, “never mind.” The disciples often seem to resemble Emily Latella in their equally hilarious misunderstandings of Jesus.

Jesus warned them about the “Pharisee-Sadducee yeast” and they thought he was scolding them for having forgotten to bring bread with them.

But what was wrong with the teaching of the Pharisees and the Sadducees? They took the Bible seriously. They were concerned about sin. They were concerned about the survival of the Jewish nation. How could those be bad things?

Because they missed the point of the Bible completely. They approached scripture as a bureaucrat approaching paperwork. Getting the blanks filled, the boxes checked, and getting everything signed and stamped was all that mattered. But for Jesus, what mattered were not the forms, but the people behind them. The religious establishment had lost sight of the fact that the paperwork ideally existed to make sure that people got helped. It wasn’t to make sure the filing cabinets were full.

Like yeast permeating a bit of dough, so the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees had permeated the thinking of the Jewish people, including his disciples. Jesus warned them not to get caught up in it. He didn’t want them to lose sight of what really mattered.

Unforgivable

“Anyone who is not with Me is against Me, and anyone who does not gather with Me scatters. Because of this, I tell you, people will be forgiven every sin and blasphemy, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. Whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him. But whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the one to come.

“Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for a tree is known by its fruit. Brood of vipers! How can you speak good things when you are evil? For the mouth speaks from the overflow of the heart. A good man produces good things from his storeroom of good, and an evil man produces evil things from his storeroom of evil. I tell you that on the day of judgment people will have to account for every careless word they speak. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.” Matthew 12:30-37)

What happens when an immovable object meets an irresistible force? Though such a riddle may appear profound, it’s really nothing more than a word game. Can you commit the unpardonable sin? It, too, is a silly question.

But many decent people fear they have done something so bad that they can never be forgiven. Weighed down by guilt, they are convinced that they are beyond hope of redemption. Some respond to their guilty consciences by deciding that they might as well try to “eat, drink and be merry” for tomorrow they’re going to die and there’s nothing they can do to change their circumstances.

But there is no one alive today that is guilty, or ever can be guilty, of the “unpardonable sin.” The unpardonable sin was something that the religious leadership of Israel became guilty of when they attributed Jesus’ miracles, done by the power of the Holy Spirit, to the Devil. Such blasphemy against the Spirit of God, Jesus told them, would never be forgiven. And that was only because they didn’t want to repent. They thought they were right.

But Jesus is not walking the earth now, and neither are those Pharisees that spoke against Jesus’ demon casting. Jesus’ death on the cross covers any sin that we have ever committed or ever will or ever can commit. Today, no one is beyond the hope of forgiveness.

God in a Box

A demon-possessed man who was blind and unable to speak was brought to Him. He healed him, so that the man could both speak and see. And all the crowds were astounded and said, “Perhaps this is the Son of David!”

When the Pharisees heard this, they said, “The man drives out demons only by Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons.”

Knowing their thoughts, He told them: “Every kingdom divided against itself is headed for destruction, and no city or house divided against itself will stand. If Satan drives out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand? And if I drive out demons by Beelzebul, who is it your sons drive them out by? For this reason they will be your judges. If I drive out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come to you. How can someone enter a strong man’s house and steal his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man? Then he can rob his house. (Matthew 12:22-29)

If God can do anything, can he make a rock so heavy he can’t lift it? The religious establishment of Israel thought they had just such a way to show up Jesus. They brought him a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute. Since communicating with him was essentially impossible, they figured there was no way Jesus would be able to cast out the demon. According to widespread Jewish belief at that time, only the Messiah would be able to fix such a person and the religious establishment had decided Jesus wasn’t the Messiah. His failure would then prove them right.

But Jesus healed the man easily. The crowd was astonished. They couldn’t help but think that Jesus must indeed be the Son of David—that is, the Messiah—though due to the presence of their religious leaders, they posed it as a question rather than making a clear statement.

Jesus consistently refused to take up residence in the box the religious establishment had created for the Messiah. But Jesus did wonders that only the Messiah could do. So they finally accused Jesus of being powered by the Devil. Otherwise, they’d have to acknowledge he was the Messiah, and that seemed more impossible to them than their ridiculous suggestion. A suggestion that Jesus easily dismantled. People are willing to go to remarkable lengths to shore up their beliefs, especially when their pride is on the line.

Glory

“I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me.

“The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me.

“Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.

“O righteous Father, although the world has not known You, yet I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me; and I have made Your name known to them, and will make it known, so that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.” (John 17:20-26)

One evening, nearly two thousand years ago, Jesus himself got down on his knees and prayed specifically for you and asked his Father to give you the glory that the Father had given to him.

What is glory? Glory is the consequence of actual accomplishment. True glory belongs to victors, to those who perform admirably far beyond expectation or what is required. The basic sense of “glory” is the radiance and brightness of light.

What is the glory that God has given you? The glory that Jesus has from the Father. How so? Because what we do, our accomplishments, are all thanks to him. We have become one with him and one with the Father. What they have, we have. What they are, we are. The glory that Jesus got the Father to give you is the glory of accomplishing his will, just like Jesus did. Of living righteously, just like Jesus did. Of living for others, just like Jesus did. Our righteousness isn’t our doing, it is his doing.

You do not think too highly of yourself. You do not think highly enough!

Pride, boasting, arrogance grow not from genuine greatness, but from insecurity. When the gold medal winner tells his mom that he won, he is not boasting. He is merely describing what is. True glory eliminates boasting.

You Asked For It

“This is what I want you to do: Ask the Father for whatever is in keeping with the things I’ve revealed to you. Ask in my name, according to my will, and he’ll most certainly give it to you. Your joy will be a river overflowing its banks!

“I’ve used figures of speech in telling you these things. Soon I’ll drop the figures and tell you about the Father in plain language. Then you can make your requests directly to him in relation to this life I’ve revealed to you. I won’t continue making requests of the Father on your behalf. I won’t need to. Because you’ve gone out on a limb, committed yourselves to love and trust in me, believing I came directly from the Father, the Father loves you directly. First, I left the Father and arrived in the world; now I leave the world and travel to the Father. (John 16:23-28)

When we pray, who are we really talking to? It’s not Jesus. We don’t actually ask Jesus for anything. Instead, we ask his father. In essence, we’re telling the Father that “Jesus sent me and said you’d do this.” And why do we ask for things from God? Jesus said so we can be completely happy. And it’s not that by invoking Jesus’ name that somehow Jesus then intercedes on our behalf with a reluctant deity. God is not reluctant. Jesus wants us to understand that God loves us as much as he loves Jesus.

God knows what we really want and he knows what we really need. Too often, we don’t actually know what we want or need. We may think we do. But chances are, we’re missing the big picture and are not asking for as much as God wants to give us.

We want a job, for instance, but what we really need is food and clothing and our expenses taken care of. A job may be the way to do it, but God knows the root cause of what we’re asking for and will satisfy that need, rather than giving us what we think will satisfy that need. We’re only human. God knows us better than we know ourselves. Don’t doubt that God has the best of intentions for us; but it’s not just all about us. There’s a whole world interconnected to us as well, and many people involved in the project.

Rose Garden

“If the world hates you, be aware that it hated me before it hated you. If you belonged to the world, the world would love you as its own. Because you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world—therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, ‘Servants are not greater than their master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you; if they kept my word, they will keep yours also. But they will do all these things to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin. Whoever hates me hates my Father also. If I had not done among them the works that no one else did, they would not have sin. But now they have seen and hated both me and my Father. It was to fulfill the word that is written in their law, ‘They hated me without a cause.’” (John 15:18-25)

Jesus actually did promise us a rose garden. But we need to remember, roses have thorns, and they need pruning, and watering, and fertilizing. And they go dormant in the winter. And the blossoms wilt and die eventually.

We’d like to believe that Jesus has promised us a life of ease and physical prosperity, because ease and physical prosperity is what most of us want. But Jesus promised thorns along with the rich blessings. Jesus wanted us to be just as happy as he was. He was happy, even though all his life he knew he’d someday die—just as all of us know a similar fate. Jesus experienced a violent and painful death upon a Roman cross. Jesus promised his disciples that the world would treat them no better than it had treated him.

Does this mean that if you’re happy and prosperous that somehow you’ve been disobedient? No more than being miserable and suffering demonstrates a sinful condition. Rather, Jesus simply promises that life happens and that we have no guarantees of anything beyond what Jesus endured. He had a happy life, and he endured the cross because in doing so, he saved the world. And his death was only temporary, anyhow, just like our own suffering and death. It really is all good. We can see that if we can gain the same perspective on life that Jesus had.

Truth

“If you love Me, you will keep My commandments. And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Counselor to be with you forever. He is the Spirit of truth. The world is unable to receive Him because it doesn’t see Him or know Him. But you do know Him, because He remains with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I am coming to you.

“In a little while the world will see Me no longer, but you will see Me. Because I live, you will live too. In that day you will know that I am in My Father, you are in Me, and I am in you. The one who has My commands and keeps them is the one who loves Me. And the one who loves Me will be loved by My Father. I also will love him and will reveal Myself to him.” (John 14:15-21)

Doing what you’re told is easy if you love the one telling you to do it—and you’re confident he loves you, too. And what did Jesus tell his disciples to do? To love their neighbor and to love God. Every law ever given by God could be wrapped up in those two commands.

What did Jesus promise his disciples? That he wouldn’t leave them to their own devices. He promised to send them the Counselor. Who is that? The Counselor is the Holy Spirit. But why did Jesus say the Holy Spirit was the Spirit of Truth? Because the truth is what sets people free from sin. The truth is what allows us to see clearly what to do versus what not to do. The truth is what allows us to overcome temptation.

Had the disciples really understood what was about to happen that dark night that Jesus was betrayed, would they not have been able to resist the temptation to sleep? If they knew the truth, would they not suddenly have been wide awake and praying desperately for Jesus?

Would you give in to the extra piece of chocolate cake if you saw the truth of what it would do to you? The extra pounds, the need for exercise, the rise in your cholesterol, the heart attack, the shortened life? If you saw the whole truth of sin, would you then sin? Of course not. The indwelling Spirit offers that kind of wisdom, that sort of truth, if we will only listen.

Pests

Then they arrived at the country of the Gerasenes, which is opposite Galilee. As he stepped out on land, a man of the city who had demons met him. For a long time he had worn no clothes, and he did not live in a house but in the tombs. When he saw Jesus, he fell down before him and shouted at the top of his voice, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, do not torment me”— for Jesus had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. (For many times it had seized him; he was kept under guard and bound with chains and shackles, but he would break the bonds and be driven by the demon into the wilds.) Jesus then asked him, “What is your name?” He said, “Legion”; for many demons had entered him. They begged him not to order them to go back into the abyss. (Luke 8:26-31)

What’s in a name? Sometimes much less than first appears. The country of the Gerasenes was in northern Israel, just to the southeast of the Sea of Galilee. The Roman Emperor Augustus had given the region to Herod the Great when he made him king. The population of the region seems to have been mostly made up of non-Jewish people.

Jesus engaged in a very brief conversation there with a demon possessed man—or rather, with the demons that had taken control of him and destroyed his life. They referred to themselves collectively as “Legion.” In the Roman army, a legion consisted of between 3000 and 6000 soldiers. Does this mean that this poor man was tormented by that many demons? Or were they lying and pretending to be more than they were? I think it’s very unlikely they were telling Jesus the truth, since Satan is known to be a liar; I doubt his demons are noted for their veracity. So Jesus was not intimidated or impressed by what they chose to call themselves. And the demons realized they were in trouble. They asked Jesus for mercy, begging him not to send them into the abyss.

What is the abyss? The book of Revelation describes it as a place of fire and smoke, where Satan will be confined for a thousand years.

Jesus didn’t care about the demons. He only cared about the man they inhabited. Jesus doesn’t care about what has a hold of you. Like that demonized man, he’s only concerned about setting you free from it.