Tag: Luke

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Week 6 is here

This week we finish Exodus, seeing the completion of the numerous pieces of the sanctuary that God instructs his people to build.

Luke has so much it is hard to preview it for the week. How about this–Jesus continues to wow and amaze.

What has been a joy for me in the last weeks is seeing and hearing all the number of ways God has used these readings to influence you. If you have some experience in which the Year in the Bible texts have come up in your life and how the Spirit is using them, let me know. It would make my week to hear from you about it.*

*Unless our baby is born this week. That would then make my week.

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Story So Far, Week 5

In Exodus we see the way God has instructed the Israelites in how to be a people of his own, including how they should order their lives with law and how they should order worship. In Luke, Jesus called his disciples, continued teaching, and showed the people his great power, even power over death.

In Luke 7, a pharisee questions Jesus’ interactions with a sinful woman. Jesus responds with a story of forgiven debt, making the point that the one who has been forgiven much, loves much, and the one who has been forgiven little, loves little.

What we must remember is that we have all been forgiven much. We are all sinful and our debt is far more than we could ever repay. Left to our own ability and effort, we would be lost. But God has forgiven this debt–in fact he paid this debt for us himself in the work of Jesus Christ. If we daily remind ourselves of this, of how abundant God’s grace is, it will spur us on to love much. As forgiven sinners we cannot treat with disdain other sinners in this world. We all suffered under the weight of great debts. Therefore we should share love with others as recipients of grace.

Having this constant remember of grace is part of why I think God describes himself to his people in the beginning of the Ten Commandments with the words, “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.” Whenever God describes himself in this way, he is reminding his people that they have been redeemed from slavery, they have been given abundant grace, and they have much to be thankful for.

When we recognize how much God loves us and how abundant is his grace, the more we will be propelled to love and forgive those who God places in our paths.

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Keep Building on a Solid Foundation

I’m sure that you’ve already learned a great deal from God’s word in these last few weeks, and that may be encouragement enough to make you want to continue along in reading all of the Bible. But even so, it is great to have passages that make it explicitly clear that what we are doing is of great importance. If we read these words, take them to heart, let God speak to us through them to challenge, comfort, and shape us, then we are building our lives on a solid ground.

In Luke 6 Jesus shares an illustration about not only listening, but being doers of God’s word. He compares two builders. One digs deep and lays a foundation on rock. The other builds a house on the ground with no foundation. When a stream breaks against these two houses, the one with a foundation is not shaken, but the other falls and is left in ruin.

The one who listen to the words of Jesus and does them is building upon a foundation of rock. It is a strong, well built life, firmly fixed upon Christ’s every word. Those who hear and disregard, those who learn yet fail to heed the call of Christ, they are left in ruin when a storm hits.

It is a striking comparison especially since it is not the comparison of a strong foundation to a lesser one. Building on Christ’s words is the foundation, and neglect of him is no foundation at all. These are words of warning, but also of great encouragement.

Continue in God’s word. They are the words of life, they are trustworthy, they reveal God to us and point us to Jesus Christ. But do not stop there. Hear this word as a word for you, a word of instruction and of call. These pages we read every day speak to us now, just in the place where we are, and we are to build our lives upon them. If we fail to do so, Jesus tells us plainly what to expect.

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Simon Says

“One on occasion,” as Luke 5 begins, a crowd was gathering around Jesus to hear the word of God. Jesus was by a lake so he got into a boat, and had Simon, the owner, push off from shore so he could speak to the people.

After he finished speaking, rather than return to shore, Jesus tells Simon to go further out into deep water. Jesus, the carpenter, then proceeds to instruct Simon, the fisherman, in how to fish. “Let down your nets for a catch.” Simon’s first response is to say that he and his partners have already toiled all night and have caught nothing. Maybe he thinks this isn’t going to work or perhaps this isn’t a good idea. I can’t hep but think there was at least a slight pause and recognition on Simon’s part between his first words, “we have caught nothing”, and his following response to Jesus. Maybe just as he is finishing his complaint his tone changes, his eyes turn away in embarrassment for his doubt, and he realizes who it is that is speaking to him. Simon then says, “But at your word I will let down the nets.” What follows is by now to be expected from the reader. Simon and his crew catch so many fish the weight begins to sink the boats.

Jesus’ simple command to let down his nets is a challenge to Simon’s wisdom, experience, and expertise. Jesus isn’t having a discussion, he is issuing a command. But Simon has to battle what he knows and feels. He just had been fishing in this water all night long. What sense does it make to let down his nets one more time? So he responds to Jesus accordingly and it is a contest between what Simon says and what Jesus says. But thankfully Simon ignores his own words and heeds the words of Jesus.

All the crowds had gathered and pressed in around Jesus to do just that, “to hear the word of God” (Luke 5:1). Now his word was directed to Simon. How could he not respond? What followed was an incredible show of God’s power.

Being in the presence of the Lord and witnessing such power, Simon is terrified, as are others around him. He confesses his sin and unworthiness. But Jesus didn’t leave him in fear. He had made Simon a successful fisherman that day, and Jesus now calls him to continue to heed his words–not Simon’s own. He wants Simon to follow him, stop catching fish, and start catching people. When they all got to shore, they left everything and followed Jesus.

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Week 5

We start today another week and in the Old Testament we follow along to see what the people of God do having been freed from the slavery of Egypt. God guides them in setting up life around the worship of the one, true God and in this section God reveals his ten commandments to Moses.

Jesus calls his disciples in Luke and continues his public ministry with amazing signs and wonders, as well powerful teachings, like Luke’s account of the beatitudes in chapter six. Our focus passage this week comes from chapter eight when Jesus is confronted with a man possessed by many demons, so pay close attention to that section.

Enjoy these passages and the Psalms as well. As always, send your questions my way.

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The Story So Far, Week 4

This week we made it through some of the most monumental events in the history of God’s people: their captivity in Egypt, the Passover, and the Exodus. It was a lot to cover in only sixteen chapters. In Luke we see the birth of Jesus and John foretold, people recognize Jesus’ for who he is, whether it is Simeon or shepherds, and Jesus initiates his public ministry with fasting and teaching in the synagogue. We also read the first four of the psalms.

Like in the beginning of the Gospel of John, John the Baptist plays a large part in the opening chapters of Luke. What I love about him is his amazing humility. The people around him see his boldness and how he speaks with authority, and his followers don’t want anyone to detract from his notoriety, but John recognizes that he is only to prepare a way for Jesus. He is unworthy to untie Jesus’ sandals. John’s job, and a job he is delighted to do, is to point others away from himself and to Jesus.

It’s a humility that recognizes that we shouldn’t seek out glory for ourselves or try to claim credit for work that only God can do. God is the center of this whole story.

We see God as the main player in our Old Testament readings. Looking back to Joseph, we saw how only God could bring him from slavery into the courts of Pharaoh, and only God is able to do it again with Moses. Because of the persecution of the people of Israel, when he is just a baby, Moses is set adrift and found in a river. It is the daughter of Pharaoh who finds him, has him cared for, and makes him her son. Joseph and Moses have two very different ways to be brought into Pharaoh’s courts, but God is there in both.

When Moses is called by God to return to Pharaoh’s courts, to the very person who had sought to kill him, again it is only achieved because God is with him. God gives him words, God reveals his name to Moses, he promises he’ll work signs and wonders through Moses, and he even provides Aaron. Moses is a great character from our history, but like John the Baptist, his greatness is only in that he points others to God. There is no way Moses is taking credit for parting the Red Sea. His job is to make sure the world knows that it is our God who has done such a marvelous work.

That is our job as well. We don’t broadcast how great we are or what great things we have done. We just point others to our God and give him credit for all the good things that he has done.

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Jesus Quotes Scripture

In Luke 4 we see Jesus, led by the Holy Spirit, going into the wilderness. After forty days he is tempted by the devil and in each of Jesus’ replies, he uses Scripture to rebuke him.

It is written…
Man shall not live by bread alone.

You shall worship the Lord your God,
and him only shall you serve.

You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.

(Luke 4:4, 8, 12)

We see in Jesus one who treasured the words of God and knows well how to use them in times of trials. Truly an example for us.

But what I want to draw our attention to is from which books Jesus quotes. Each time he is pressed by the devil Jesus find words fitting to the temptations from the book of Deuteronomy. He quotes from Deuteronomy 8:13, 6:13, and 6:16.

There are parts of the Bible that, for whatever reason, attract our attention and we find ourselves reading them more often. We think they are full of great insight and wisdom and aren’t the “boring ones.” Deuteronomy doesn’t always top that list.

Seeing Jesus faced with temptations greater than what I have faced and speaking the words of Deuteronomy reminds me that I shouldn’t assume I know where God is going to speak to me. God can and does speak to us throughout the whole of Scripture and we must keep ourselves humble before him and remain open to hearing his words on every page.

It is good to remember that sometimes it is in the unexpected places that God speaks, and that is where it may be the hardest to hear.

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According to Luke

We are a few days into the week, and if you’ve started with Luke, what have you noticed about it in comparison to John? What is the same and what is different? Are there different tones, different emphases?

Right away you see that their “beginnings” are very different. John starts in the very beginning and Luke starts with the forerunner to Jesus, John the Baptist.

Try to pay attention to what stands out in Luke that is different and ask yourself, why?

Here is a bit of further information to help you along your way. Luke is believed to be a physician, as Paul says in Colossians 4:14. He was not one of the 12 disciples (nor was Mark). His gospel brings attention to the fringes of society and to the international appeal of Jesus’ message. Luke also wrote the book of Acts, which will be next in our readings. We’ll notice then how the two books flow together.