When Jesus Gets Specific

Today’s Reading:

• 2 Chronicles 29:3-31:21

Faith-Stretching Verse(s):

• “If you return to the LORD, then your brothers and your children will be shown compassion by their captors and will come back to this land, for the LORD your God is gracious and compassionate. He will not turn his face from you if you return to him.” – 2 Chronicles 30:9, NLT

Thoughts:
Jesus blesses those who put their hope in Him.

It’s one thing to make broad, general promises about how Jesus will care for everyone who trusts in Him. “Make Jesus your hope, and He’ll be with you no matter what you go through.” Promises like that are easy to make and hard to challenge. Even when someone’s been forced to walk through the gates of hell itself, who can say that the promise failed?

But specific promises – that’s another story. “Pray, and Jesus will heal her.” “Sell your possessions and give to the poor, and Jesus will still feed and clothe you.” What if Jesus doesn’t heal her? What if you sell, give… and starve? Specific promises are testable. Which is scary. For one thing, what happens to me if I risk everything and lose? For another thing, what does it say about the whole question of God’s existence and trustworthiness and goodness when specific promises fail? Someone who has experienced a failed promise is left in the dust of life to sift through his questions and decide whether it was truly God who failed, or merely a man.

And yet specific promises are very much a part of the Scriptures. And they are used to motivate people (more cynical people might suggest that they’re used to manipulate people) to obedience and conformity.

Here in 2 Chronicles, newly crowned King Hezekiah starts off his reign with a zealous push for religious reform, and he wants everyone to get back on board with him to worship the LORD. He not only urges the people of his country, Judah, to attend the Passover – he sends couriers up into the country of Israel to invite them to the celebration, too!

And his couriers carry promises that are founded in earlier prophecies. If the people will repent of their wickedness and live faithfully for the LORD, God will bring their families back from captivity and oppression. What a promise! What a chance for joy! And what an opportunity for discouragement—if the promise fails.

Some of today’s “ministers” abuse the power of God’s hope-giving promises for personal gain. There are those who take every single promise—at least, every “good” one—written in the Scriptures and apply it to themselves and their followers, even when a promise is clearly intended for a specific Bible character. And there are too many who freely make promises on God’s behalf whether the promises are found in God’s Word or not. Because of the abuses, it is tempting to allow disillusionment to set in and to discard the belief that any of God’s specific promises are for us.

But when we listen to what Jesus says in the Scriptures, we can’t help but discover that some of His promises are meant for us. And rather than just claiming to “believe in Jesus” in general, He asks us to trust Him with His specific promises.

Do we dare?

For an overview of this year’s blog, please see http://threequartertank.blogspot.com/2011/01/why-do-believers-believe.html.

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.

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.

Gospel Love, Life Love

ALL – Psalm 79:1-13
ALL – Proverbs 24:30-34
OT – Jeremiah 12:1-14:10
NT – 1 Thessalonians 1:1-2:8

Interesting passage for the day: We loved you dearly—so dearly that we gave you not only God’s message, but our own lives, too. – 1 Thess. 2:8, The Living Bible

Thought: That’s what ministry should look like. It should be about love. Love is the motive for telling people about Jesus—for giving them the bad news that they have rebelled sinfully against their King who created them, but also giving them the good news that this Creator King Jesus loved them so much that He Himself died for their sins so they wouldn’t have to pay their own penalty, rose to life, ascended to heaven, and invites them from heaven to become loyal to Him, to receive His Holy Spirit, and to look forward to eternally unblemished life with Him.

But love goes beyond delivering a message—whenever possible, love should cause us to give people ourselves, too.

Confession time: This is where I feel like I fall short, personally. I do pretty well at making sure that I deliver God’s message (in love, too!). I really want people to know Jesus. But giving myself is a lot harder. I feel like I have given people too little time with me—not that it would be a great privilege for them to spend time with me, but just that I want to be a more of a blessing to the people I’m around all the time than just the blessing I offer as a professional preacher. Am I clearly also a friend? Am I helpful? I pray that I will love well—not just well enough to “do my job,” but well enough to give myself to those around me.

Question: Where does your love fall shortest—in giving yourself to your neighbors, co-workers, families and friends, or in sharing God’s good news with them (or both)? Let’s cry to Jesus to make us people who love well in every possible way for the good of every person we meet.

To review the Bible reading plan options, please visit http://tinyurl.com/yj2o7jz.

Much Has Been Given!

ALL – Psalm 27:1-7
ALL – Proverbs 20:20-21
OT – 2 Chronicles 35:1-36:23
NT – 1 Corinthians 1:1-17

Interesting passage for the day: Now you have every grace and blessing; every spiritual gift and power for doing his will are yours during this time of waiting for the return of our Lord Jesus Christ. – 1 Corinthians 1:7, The Living Bible

Thought: Sometimes it feels like we just get loaded down when we come to church. You know what I’m talking about. We’re grateful that Jesus died for our sins, don’t get me wrong. But Jesus’ call to holy living sometimes seems overwhelming. Even though we’ve been saved from our sins, avoiding them isn’t always easy.

Today it’s time for some encouragement! Jesus’ goal isn’t to drain you of every last drop of life, to squeeze every last ounce of goodness out of you like orange juice from an orange, leaving you crushed and worthless. Jesus came to give you life! To fill you! He not only died to free you from sins, but He ascended to heaven to pour out His Holy Spirit into your life! God Himself is filling you! He is filling you with strength, with His thoughts and words, with holiness and righteousness, with new motives! God is infinite, so His Holy Spirit will never stop supplying your every need!

Some of you may hear this the wrong way. You may think, “Oh, Matt’s just telling me I have no excuse for feeling exhausted, discouraged, worn out and fed up. He wants me to get up and work harder.” That’s not what I’m saying. If you’re exhausted, Jesus says, “Come to me, all you who are weary and heavy-burdened, and I will give you rest.” If you’re overwhelmed, spend some significant time with Jesus. See if you can lay other expectations aside for a few hours, or a day, and go to the King who wants to fill you with His riches. I’m saying to take a break. But I’m not advocating the kind of break many people are tempted to take. They step back from serving Jesus and His church because they’re exhausted, but they seek to be refreshed only via the world’s ways: sleep, food, entertainment, lounging. These things can be gifts from Jesus, so go ahead and receive them during your break. But make sure that you spend significant time with Jesus, too. One on one. Praying. Reading or listening to His Word. Being refreshed by godly songs. Unless you spend time being refreshed by Jesus, you’ll never find the motivation you need to stop taking your break. Only when you are receiving Jesus’ blessings can you be ready to share them. If you’re empty, stop trying to share what you don’t have. Go to Jesus and be filled up with His life. Then, once you and Jesus agree that you’re ready, come back to the harvest field singing and refreshed.

Question: Have you been working to the point of exhaustion? What would it take to get some time to spend alone with Jesus? Or perhaps you’re taking a break. Have you been taking that break with Jesus, or without Him? How can you re-work your time to receive the rejuvenation that Jesus gives us by His Spirit?

To review the Bible reading plan options, please visit http://tinyurl.com/yj2o7jz.

Mother Mary vs. You and Me

ALL – Psalm 77:1-20
ALL – Proverbs 12:18
OT – Deuteronomy 28:1-68
NT – Luke 11:14-36

Have you ever wondered how much of a blessing it would have been to be Jesus’ mother Mary, or perhaps to be Joseph, her husband? Were they such special people that they deserved this honor more than all others? Should we give them special respect, special attention, special awe? Where do you and I stand in God’s sight, compared to Mary?

As [Jesus] was speaking, a woman in the crowd called out, “God bless your mother—the womb from which you came and the breasts that gave you suck!” He replied, “Yes, but even more blessed are all who hear the Word of God and put it into practice.” – Luke 11:27-28, The Living Bible

Make no mistake. Mary was blessed to be Jesus’ mother. Joseph was blessed to be called His father. But there is a blessing far greater than the blessing of being Jesus’ parents, and the blessing is available to you and me. It is a blessing which God bestows on all who not only hear His Word, but also put it into practice.

What’s keeping you from pursuing the blessing of God today?

Please find the rest of this week's readings below. To review the Bible reading plan options, please visit http://tinyurl.com/yj2o7jz.

April 6, 2010

ALL – Psalm 78:1-31
ALL – Proverbs 12:19-20
OT – Deuteronomy 29:1-30:20
NT – Luke 11:37-12:7

April 7, 2010

ALL – Psalm 78:32-55
ALL – Proverbs 12:21-23
OT – Deuteronomy 31:1-32:27
NT – Luke 12:8-34

April 8, 2010

ALL – Psalm 78:56-64
ALL – Proverbs 12:24
OT – Deuteronomy 32:28-52
NT – Luke 12:35-59

April 9, 2010

ALL – Psalm 78:65-72
ALL – Proverbs 12:25
OT – Deuteronomy 33:1-29
NT – Luke 13:1-21

April 10, 2010

ALL – Psalm 79:1-13
ALL – Proverbs 12:26
OT – Deuteronomy 34:1-Joshua 2:24
NT – Luke 13:22-14:6

April 11, 2010

ALL – Psalm 80:1-19
ALL – Proverbs 12:27-28
OT – Joshua 3:1-4:24
NT – Luke 14:7-35