ALL – Psalm 107:1-43
ALL – Proverbs 27:11
OT – Ezekiel 20:1-49
NT – Hebrews 9:11-28
Interesting passage for the day: Nor has he offered himself again and again, as the high priest down here on earth offers animal blood in the Holy of Holies each year. If that had been necessary, then he would have had to die again and again, ever since the world began. But no! He came once for all, at the end of the age, to put away the power of sin forever by dying for us. – Hebrews 9:25-26, The Living Bible
Thought: We still sin, but we no longer need new sacrifices. Have you ever thought about that? It feels like there’s something wrong with this picture. Shouldn’t we need to bring fresh sacrifices to God every time we sin?
Under the Old Testament, they had to bring fresh sacrifices. Regularly. So what’s the difference now?
There are three differences: 1) our high priest, 2) our sacrifice, and 3) our temple. The Old Testament high priests were themselves sinners, so they kept having to seek forgiveness for their own sins, let alone the people’s. And the Old Testament sacrifices were bulls and sheep—nothing nearly good enough to truly cover the weight of a guilty human conscience. Also, the Old Testament temple/tabernacle was just a copy of the heavenly tabernacle, and was not truly the holiest place to come to for forgiveness. But under the New Testament/Covenant, our high priest is sinless and has no need to offer a sacrifice to cover his own guilt. And under the New Testament, the sacrifice that has been offered is the perfect, sin-free blood of Jesus Christ, the Son of God and Son of Man. And this sacrifice has been accepted in the heavenly tabernacle, where nothing impure can ever enter and defile it.
And so when we sin now, no new sacrifices are needed. The high priest is still sinless. The sacrifice is still enough to cover every sin. The tabernacle is still holy and untouched by defilements. We’re covered. Jesus’ death was enough for us, and still is.
Question: When we know that we have been forgiven so completely, what keeps us away from living the righteous lives we’ve been given the freedom to live? “He who has been forgiven much loves much.” What greater forgiveness could there be?
To review the Bible reading plan options, please visit http://tinyurl.com/yj2o7jz.
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Monday, November 8, 2010
Rules and Rituals
ALL – Psalm 106:32-48
ALL – Proverbs 27:10
OT – Ezekiel 18:1-19:14
NT – Hebrews 9:1-12
Interesting passage for the day: For the old system dealt only with certain rituals—what foods to eat and drink, rules for washing themselves, and rules about this and that. The people had to keep these rules to tide them over until Christ came with God’s new and better way. – Hebrews 9:10, The Living Bible
Thought: When you look at the Old Testament laws, it really is pretty amazing to think that you don’t actually have to love God in order to obey them. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying that anyone could obey them perfectly—whether she loved God or not. But the laws themselves are rules about men’s actions and behaviors. They’re all outward, and anyone can follow them as much as he wants to or is compelled to.
Would it make a difference to have a heart that wanted to follow God’s laws? Sure, and the laws are sometimes accompanied by purpose statements where God says, “Here’s the law, and you need to follow it because...” Follow the law because you love Me. Follow the law because you’ll show your concern for your parents. When the laws are joined to purpose statements like these, it’s obvious that God was never calling people to a heartless religion. But at the end of the day, laws are still laws, rules are still rules, and it’s all too easy for them to usurp the focus of humanity’s religious devotion to God.
Now we’ve been set free from rules. We Christians are still called to live good, upright and moral lives. But we’re called to such lives not by rules, but by love—Christ’s love within us, compelling us to love God and one another wholeheartedly, with every cell of our bodies. And we’re free to live by love rather than by rules because God first loved us and sent His Son to die for our sins, so that we need never face their penalty.
Love begets love, not rules. Even though they sometimes look the same.
Question: Are you living by love, by rules, or by both? Take a moment and ask yourself whether you would live differently if rules weren’t a part of the equation? How would you live differently? In what ways would your life look exactly the same?
To review the Bible reading plan options, please visit http://tinyurl.com/yj2o7jz.
ALL – Proverbs 27:10
OT – Ezekiel 18:1-19:14
NT – Hebrews 9:1-12
Interesting passage for the day: For the old system dealt only with certain rituals—what foods to eat and drink, rules for washing themselves, and rules about this and that. The people had to keep these rules to tide them over until Christ came with God’s new and better way. – Hebrews 9:10, The Living Bible
Thought: When you look at the Old Testament laws, it really is pretty amazing to think that you don’t actually have to love God in order to obey them. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying that anyone could obey them perfectly—whether she loved God or not. But the laws themselves are rules about men’s actions and behaviors. They’re all outward, and anyone can follow them as much as he wants to or is compelled to.
Would it make a difference to have a heart that wanted to follow God’s laws? Sure, and the laws are sometimes accompanied by purpose statements where God says, “Here’s the law, and you need to follow it because...” Follow the law because you love Me. Follow the law because you’ll show your concern for your parents. When the laws are joined to purpose statements like these, it’s obvious that God was never calling people to a heartless religion. But at the end of the day, laws are still laws, rules are still rules, and it’s all too easy for them to usurp the focus of humanity’s religious devotion to God.
Now we’ve been set free from rules. We Christians are still called to live good, upright and moral lives. But we’re called to such lives not by rules, but by love—Christ’s love within us, compelling us to love God and one another wholeheartedly, with every cell of our bodies. And we’re free to live by love rather than by rules because God first loved us and sent His Son to die for our sins, so that we need never face their penalty.
Love begets love, not rules. Even though they sometimes look the same.
Question: Are you living by love, by rules, or by both? Take a moment and ask yourself whether you would live differently if rules weren’t a part of the equation? How would you live differently? In what ways would your life look exactly the same?
To review the Bible reading plan options, please visit http://tinyurl.com/yj2o7jz.
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Living in a Blueprint
ALL – Psalm 106:13-31
ALL – Proverbs 27:7-9
OT – Ezekiel 16:43-17:24
NT – Hebrews 8:1-13
Interesting passage for the day: Their work is connected with a mere earthly model of the real tabernacle in heaven; for when Moses was getting ready to build the tabernacle, God warned him to follow exactly the pattern of the heavenly tabernacle as shown to him on Mount Sinai. – Hebrews 8:5, The Living Bible
Thought: How effective is life in a blueprint? The way that God commanded the Israelites to worship Him through Moses was just a blueprint of the way that we would all be called to live through Jesus.
Blueprints are guides. They aren’t comfortable. They aren’t harsh. They aren’t solid. They aren’t very satisfying. They aren’t reality. That is, they’re real visions and plans, but they still need to be realized before they can be very beneficial. Even if you go from blueprint to small-scale model, they’re only so satisfying. Which is more amazing, more useful, more fulfilling, more real: a full-sized train that drags tons of supplies across a nation or a model train that carts a few ounces of model cars and cabooses around our living rooms?
The old covenant was a blueprint and its tabernacles and temples were mere models. They were like samples given out at a grocery store—mere tastes of the full product. They were designed to prepare people for the glory of Jesus Christ and His heavenly tabernacle. Trying to live in them is like trying to live in a blueprint. But Jesus Christ has already done His work in the heavenly tabernacle on our behalf, and we can already begin to live in the realization that our sins are done for, even though we still live on earth. And one glorious day, we will experience the full life of heaven.
Question: How are you trying to build your relationship with God? What are you depending on? Where did you get your pattern? How’s it working for you? How much of a role does Jesus Christ play in your answer? He is the life our earthly blueprints have pointed to all along.
To review the Bible reading plan options, please visit http://tinyurl.com/yj2o7jz.
ALL – Proverbs 27:7-9
OT – Ezekiel 16:43-17:24
NT – Hebrews 8:1-13
Interesting passage for the day: Their work is connected with a mere earthly model of the real tabernacle in heaven; for when Moses was getting ready to build the tabernacle, God warned him to follow exactly the pattern of the heavenly tabernacle as shown to him on Mount Sinai. – Hebrews 8:5, The Living Bible
Thought: How effective is life in a blueprint? The way that God commanded the Israelites to worship Him through Moses was just a blueprint of the way that we would all be called to live through Jesus.
Blueprints are guides. They aren’t comfortable. They aren’t harsh. They aren’t solid. They aren’t very satisfying. They aren’t reality. That is, they’re real visions and plans, but they still need to be realized before they can be very beneficial. Even if you go from blueprint to small-scale model, they’re only so satisfying. Which is more amazing, more useful, more fulfilling, more real: a full-sized train that drags tons of supplies across a nation or a model train that carts a few ounces of model cars and cabooses around our living rooms?
The old covenant was a blueprint and its tabernacles and temples were mere models. They were like samples given out at a grocery store—mere tastes of the full product. They were designed to prepare people for the glory of Jesus Christ and His heavenly tabernacle. Trying to live in them is like trying to live in a blueprint. But Jesus Christ has already done His work in the heavenly tabernacle on our behalf, and we can already begin to live in the realization that our sins are done for, even though we still live on earth. And one glorious day, we will experience the full life of heaven.
Question: How are you trying to build your relationship with God? What are you depending on? Where did you get your pattern? How’s it working for you? How much of a role does Jesus Christ play in your answer? He is the life our earthly blueprints have pointed to all along.
To review the Bible reading plan options, please visit http://tinyurl.com/yj2o7jz.
Saturday, November 6, 2010
The Church’s Perfection
ALL – Psalm 106:1-12
ALL – Proverbs 27:4-6
OT – Ezekiel 14:12-16:42
NT – Hebrews 7:18-28
Interesting passage for the day: Under the old system, even the high priests were weak and sinful men who could not keep from doing wrong, but later God appointed by his oath his Son who is perfect forever. – Hebrews 7:28, The Living Bible
Thought: “Why do church-goers sin?” I hear that kind of question all the time, whether it’s just in my own mind as I reflect on my life and my personal sinful failures or whether I’m dialoguing with an atheist who’s trying to prove that there’s no benefit in being a Christian.
It’s a legitimate question. At least, it seems to be. The church claims to be the group of earthly people who will end up in heaven. And heaven is only for sinless people. Nothing sinful or impure will ever enter its gates. So you would think that finding sin in the church would be harder than finding a needle in a haystack—nearly undetectable.
But you’d be wrong. Finding sin in the church is more like finding candy at the Swanton Corn Festival parade: you can find loads of it everywhere you look. Perhaps the sin we find in the church is more subtle than the sin we find outside her walls. Outside the church, sinners sin proudly and don’t care whether you think they’re sinning or not; the lie they proclaim is that their sins aren’t actually sins. Inside the church, sinners sin stealthily and cover every sinful flaw with a veneer of spirituality; the lie we try to proclaim (not with our lips, but with our masks and patterns of projecting over-spiritual images of ourselves) is that we’re beyond sinning. So inside the church we’re more subtle about our sins; we’ve learned at least to admit that sins are sins and to strive to separate ourselves from sin.
But sometimes we go too far. And we end up feeding the world the lie that we are going to heaven because we’re such deserving, upright people. That’s absolutely not why anyone in the church is going to heaven! Just like always, even the best of us on his or her own is a weak and sinful human. I’m not saying that we have no one in the church who lives an incredibly good life, because I’m not denying that Jesus Christ changes His people from sinners into saints. But what I am saying is that our hope, and the hope that we should constantly let our friends and neighbors in on, is that we get to go to heaven because Jesus Christ is our new high priest, and He is righteous. He always has been. He always will be. And that is why we are always going to be acceptable to God—because our high priest Jesus Christ is always acceptable, and He is representing us. It’s definitely not because we manage never to sin.
Question: Do you sometimes find yourself wishing you weren’t part of the church—or glad that you aren’t part of it? If so, is it because you’re looking at how messed up the church’s humans can be? What difference would it make in your perspective being part of the church if you focused instead on the perfection of the church’s sinless high priest Jesus Christ?
To review the Bible reading plan options, please visit http://tinyurl.com/yj2o7jz.
ALL – Proverbs 27:4-6
OT – Ezekiel 14:12-16:42
NT – Hebrews 7:18-28
Interesting passage for the day: Under the old system, even the high priests were weak and sinful men who could not keep from doing wrong, but later God appointed by his oath his Son who is perfect forever. – Hebrews 7:28, The Living Bible
Thought: “Why do church-goers sin?” I hear that kind of question all the time, whether it’s just in my own mind as I reflect on my life and my personal sinful failures or whether I’m dialoguing with an atheist who’s trying to prove that there’s no benefit in being a Christian.
It’s a legitimate question. At least, it seems to be. The church claims to be the group of earthly people who will end up in heaven. And heaven is only for sinless people. Nothing sinful or impure will ever enter its gates. So you would think that finding sin in the church would be harder than finding a needle in a haystack—nearly undetectable.
But you’d be wrong. Finding sin in the church is more like finding candy at the Swanton Corn Festival parade: you can find loads of it everywhere you look. Perhaps the sin we find in the church is more subtle than the sin we find outside her walls. Outside the church, sinners sin proudly and don’t care whether you think they’re sinning or not; the lie they proclaim is that their sins aren’t actually sins. Inside the church, sinners sin stealthily and cover every sinful flaw with a veneer of spirituality; the lie we try to proclaim (not with our lips, but with our masks and patterns of projecting over-spiritual images of ourselves) is that we’re beyond sinning. So inside the church we’re more subtle about our sins; we’ve learned at least to admit that sins are sins and to strive to separate ourselves from sin.
But sometimes we go too far. And we end up feeding the world the lie that we are going to heaven because we’re such deserving, upright people. That’s absolutely not why anyone in the church is going to heaven! Just like always, even the best of us on his or her own is a weak and sinful human. I’m not saying that we have no one in the church who lives an incredibly good life, because I’m not denying that Jesus Christ changes His people from sinners into saints. But what I am saying is that our hope, and the hope that we should constantly let our friends and neighbors in on, is that we get to go to heaven because Jesus Christ is our new high priest, and He is righteous. He always has been. He always will be. And that is why we are always going to be acceptable to God—because our high priest Jesus Christ is always acceptable, and He is representing us. It’s definitely not because we manage never to sin.
Question: Do you sometimes find yourself wishing you weren’t part of the church—or glad that you aren’t part of it? If so, is it because you’re looking at how messed up the church’s humans can be? What difference would it make in your perspective being part of the church if you focused instead on the perfection of the church’s sinless high priest Jesus Christ?
To review the Bible reading plan options, please visit http://tinyurl.com/yj2o7jz.
Friday, November 5, 2010
Perfect Relationship with God
ALL – Psalm 105:37-45
ALL – Proverbs 27:3
OT – Ezekiel 12:1-14:11
NT – Hebrews 7:1-17
Interesting passage for the day: And the Psalmist points this out when he says of Christ, “You are a priest forever with the rank of Melchizedek.” – Hebrews 7:17, The Living Bible
Thought: For most of us, our first thought when we think about Jesus isn’t, “Priest.” We might think Son of God. We might think King. We might think teacher. We might even think prophet. But priest?
What’s so important about priests, anyways?
Kings are important because they make sure that everyone follows God’s laws. Prophets are important because they speak for God and show people how to follow God’s laws (or sometimes/often warn people that they’re not following God and need to repent). Priests, though, stand between men and God as mediators who work to keep our relationship intact. Priests proclaim God’s blessings on His people, and priests offer sacrifices on behalf of the people to atone for sins. Priesthood is all about a wholehearted relationship with God.
Jesus could never have become a priest under the OT law. The priesthood was only for the descendants of Jacob’s son Levi. But it was vitally important that Jesus be a priest, right? After all, none of Levi’s descendants was able to bring humanity back into a good relationship with God. So we needed Jesus to be a priest so that we could finally reconcile with God after all our rebellion and sin.
And that’s why Hebrews takes the time to tell us that Jesus was a priest. Not a Levitical priest, but a priest in the order of Melchizedek. You’ll have to read Hebrews 7 to see what that’s all about, but essentially there was one priest in the book of Genesis who was a priest of God, and Abraham expressed his relationship to God partially through this priest. Abraham offered a tithe of his recent victory spoils to this priest, and Melchizedek proclaimed God’s blessings for Abraham. So there was an order of priests in the Old Testament that was not made up of Levi’s descendants, and Jesus was declared to be a priest—not in the typical group of priests, but a priest all the same.
And because Jesus is our great High Priest, we have a perfect relationship with God. We have a relationship with God where our sins are perfectly forgiven and cleansed. That had never happened before. Also, other priests could sin, and by their sin they could become a hindrance to God’s blessings for His people. But we have a relationship with God through our High Priest Jesus that guarantees every blessing God wants to bestow on us to come our way, because our perfect and sinless priest is never himself a hindrance to our relationship with God.
Jesus is our priest. And because He is, we need no other priests at all. Our relationship with God made perfect through Him.
Question: Where do you turn when you’re trying to straighten out your relationship with God? How can we do a better job of reminding one another that the full benefits of a perfect relationship with God are available to us through Jesus Christ alone?
To review the Bible reading plan options, please visit http://tinyurl.com/yj2o7jz.
ALL – Proverbs 27:3
OT – Ezekiel 12:1-14:11
NT – Hebrews 7:1-17
Interesting passage for the day: And the Psalmist points this out when he says of Christ, “You are a priest forever with the rank of Melchizedek.” – Hebrews 7:17, The Living Bible
Thought: For most of us, our first thought when we think about Jesus isn’t, “Priest.” We might think Son of God. We might think King. We might think teacher. We might even think prophet. But priest?
What’s so important about priests, anyways?
Kings are important because they make sure that everyone follows God’s laws. Prophets are important because they speak for God and show people how to follow God’s laws (or sometimes/often warn people that they’re not following God and need to repent). Priests, though, stand between men and God as mediators who work to keep our relationship intact. Priests proclaim God’s blessings on His people, and priests offer sacrifices on behalf of the people to atone for sins. Priesthood is all about a wholehearted relationship with God.
Jesus could never have become a priest under the OT law. The priesthood was only for the descendants of Jacob’s son Levi. But it was vitally important that Jesus be a priest, right? After all, none of Levi’s descendants was able to bring humanity back into a good relationship with God. So we needed Jesus to be a priest so that we could finally reconcile with God after all our rebellion and sin.
And that’s why Hebrews takes the time to tell us that Jesus was a priest. Not a Levitical priest, but a priest in the order of Melchizedek. You’ll have to read Hebrews 7 to see what that’s all about, but essentially there was one priest in the book of Genesis who was a priest of God, and Abraham expressed his relationship to God partially through this priest. Abraham offered a tithe of his recent victory spoils to this priest, and Melchizedek proclaimed God’s blessings for Abraham. So there was an order of priests in the Old Testament that was not made up of Levi’s descendants, and Jesus was declared to be a priest—not in the typical group of priests, but a priest all the same.
And because Jesus is our great High Priest, we have a perfect relationship with God. We have a relationship with God where our sins are perfectly forgiven and cleansed. That had never happened before. Also, other priests could sin, and by their sin they could become a hindrance to God’s blessings for His people. But we have a relationship with God through our High Priest Jesus that guarantees every blessing God wants to bestow on us to come our way, because our perfect and sinless priest is never himself a hindrance to our relationship with God.
Jesus is our priest. And because He is, we need no other priests at all. Our relationship with God made perfect through Him.
Question: Where do you turn when you’re trying to straighten out your relationship with God? How can we do a better job of reminding one another that the full benefits of a perfect relationship with God are available to us through Jesus Christ alone?
To review the Bible reading plan options, please visit http://tinyurl.com/yj2o7jz.
Thursday, November 4, 2010
The God Who Swore
ALL – Psalm 105:16-36
ALL – Proverbs 27:1-2
OT – Ezekiel 10:1-11:25
NT – Hebrews 6:1-20
Interesting passage for the day: God also bound himself with an oath, so that those he promised to help would be perfectly sure and never need to wonder whether he might change his plans. – Hebrews 6:17, The Living Bible
Thought: “Cross my heart and hope to die.” Remember being a kid, when we told so many tall tales and tried so often to trick one another that any time we were being serious, we had to promise we were telling the truth on pain of death? Maybe you’re still there…
So perhaps we’re not the most trustworthy people in the world. But there are some trustworthy people. My grandmas, for instance. I trust them. When they tell me something, it’s true, and if it’s not true, at least I know that they believe it’s true.
As trustworthy as my grandmas are, God is much more trustworthy. And He has made some pretty amazing promises—promises about saving His enemies and those who have rebelled against Him. Promises about forgiving us, counting Jesus’ death on the cross as the punishment for our sins, restoring our relationship with Him. Promises about raising us from the dead and giving us eternal life with Him. Promises about living in us through His Holy Spirit.
How can people not trust Him? Yet the reality is that people struggle to trust God.
So even God has backed up His promises. Even God has essentially said, “Cross my heart and hope to die.” Even God has given an oath: “I swear by myself, declares the LORD, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me” (Gen. 22:16-18, NIV).
Are you a part of “all nations on earth”? Then you are among those whom God has not only promised, but sworn, to bless through Abraham’s offspring. And that offspring who brings us God’s blessing is Jesus Christ (Galatians 3:16).
Question: What more does God have to do to earn your trust? If you can admit that God is completely trustworthy, then what leads you to live as though you don’t believe that all of God’s blessings for you come to you through Jesus Christ? How can you look for the good life anywhere else?
To review the Bible reading plan options, please visit http://tinyurl.com/yj2o7jz.
ALL – Proverbs 27:1-2
OT – Ezekiel 10:1-11:25
NT – Hebrews 6:1-20
Interesting passage for the day: God also bound himself with an oath, so that those he promised to help would be perfectly sure and never need to wonder whether he might change his plans. – Hebrews 6:17, The Living Bible
Thought: “Cross my heart and hope to die.” Remember being a kid, when we told so many tall tales and tried so often to trick one another that any time we were being serious, we had to promise we were telling the truth on pain of death? Maybe you’re still there…
So perhaps we’re not the most trustworthy people in the world. But there are some trustworthy people. My grandmas, for instance. I trust them. When they tell me something, it’s true, and if it’s not true, at least I know that they believe it’s true.
As trustworthy as my grandmas are, God is much more trustworthy. And He has made some pretty amazing promises—promises about saving His enemies and those who have rebelled against Him. Promises about forgiving us, counting Jesus’ death on the cross as the punishment for our sins, restoring our relationship with Him. Promises about raising us from the dead and giving us eternal life with Him. Promises about living in us through His Holy Spirit.
How can people not trust Him? Yet the reality is that people struggle to trust God.
So even God has backed up His promises. Even God has essentially said, “Cross my heart and hope to die.” Even God has given an oath: “I swear by myself, declares the LORD, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me” (Gen. 22:16-18, NIV).
Are you a part of “all nations on earth”? Then you are among those whom God has not only promised, but sworn, to bless through Abraham’s offspring. And that offspring who brings us God’s blessing is Jesus Christ (Galatians 3:16).
Question: What more does God have to do to earn your trust? If you can admit that God is completely trustworthy, then what leads you to live as though you don’t believe that all of God’s blessings for you come to you through Jesus Christ? How can you look for the good life anywhere else?
To review the Bible reading plan options, please visit http://tinyurl.com/yj2o7jz.
Weekly Sermons in Swanton: Push Back the Darkness
The message, preached on October 31st, 2010, covered Romans 15:20-22, and it can be heard via streaming audio at http://www.swantonalliance.org. Our ambition to push back the darkness calls us to lay new foundations, talk to strangers, and make tough choices. Note: Past sermons can be accessed through the resources page.
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