Category: Year A

Matthew 8:14-17, 28-34

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year ALeave a comment
            When I was a kid, every evening after the news I watched a show called To Tell the Truth.  The show featured a panel of four celebrities attempting to correctly identify a described contestant who has an unusual occupation or experience.  This central character is accompanied by two imposters who pretend to be the real character.  The celebrity panelists question the three contestants.  The imposters are allowed to lie but the central character is sworn “to tell the truth.”  After questioning, the panel attempts to identify which of the three challengers is telling the truth and is thus the central character.  The host would then say, “Will the real _____  please stand up!”
 
            The four panelists would often miss the real person, mainly because they had certain expectations of what the real person’s occupation or experience would be like.  And their expectations just didn’t match reality.  The people of Christ’s day often missed who Jesus really was because their expectations chiefly centered in a Messiah who would beat up the pagan Romans and establish a strong political kingdom that benefited them economically.  And that is why they missed the real deal because Jesus did not fit their preconceived notions of Messiah.  The real Jesus is compassionate, cares about people, and brings transformation to people’s lives, irrespective of whether it can turn a buck for somebody.
 
            The real Jesus puts people before pigs.  That might sound like a no-brainer, but, believe me, in Iowa I knew of more than one farmer who treated his pigs better than his family.  Jesus continually put people first before anything else.  He delivered two men from a terrible demonic bondage with the result that an entire herd of pigs was lost.  However, the town didn’t rejoice over the transformation of the men.  They just begged Jesus to go away before he messed up their economy even more.
 
            Jesus did not come to boost the local economy and make sure the political system was all warm and fuzzy toward the local merchants.  He changed people’s lives brought deliverance from emptiness.  The irony in the story is that the farmers and farming community had their hearts revealed as the ones who were truly empty.  Will the real empty hearted people please stand up!  What do you expect from Jesus? 
 

 

            Jesus, you are the rightful King of this universe.  May I participate with you in your agenda for this world so that I might exhibit the same care, compassion, and concern for people that you did.  Amen.

Jude 17-25

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year ALeave a comment
17 My dear friends, remember the warning you were given by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. 18 They told you that near the end of time, selfish and godless people would start making fun of God. 19 And now these people are already making you turn against each other. They think only about this life, and they don’t have God’s Spirit.
20 Dear friends, keep building on the foundation of your most holy faith, as the Holy Spirit helps you to pray. 21 And keep in step with God’s love, as you wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to show how kind he is by giving you eternal life. 22 Be helpful to all who may have doubts. 23 Rescue any who need to be saved, as you would rescue someone from a fire. Then with fear in your own hearts, have mercy on everyone who needs it. But hate even the clothes of those who have been made dirty by their filthy deeds.
24-25 Offer praise to God our Savior because of our Lord Jesus Christ! Only God can keep you from falling and make you pure and joyful in his glorious presence. Before time began and now and forevermore, God is worthy of glory, honor, power, and authority. Amen. (CEV)
 
            I don’t know if there is a more pertinent and prescient description of contemporary evangelicalism as that they are turning against each other.  But Jude gives some wonderful and practical direction to such a situation:  build on the foundation of spiritual prayer; keep in step with God’s love; help all who have doubts; rescue the perishing; have mercy on the needy; and hate evil.  To top it all off, Jude reminds us to offer praise to God because of Jesus.
 
            I can’t think of a better approach to contemporary ministry than to adopt this succinct plan of Jude.  I’m not sure we Christians could come up with a better approach.  It only makes sense to follow a clear biblical agenda, especially in these days of uncertainty and unrest.  These verses sound like a good point of conversation for church leaders and bible study facilitators.  How would you implement this into the life of the church, and into your own life?  The answers to that question just might lead to some very fruitful and helpful ministry.
 

 

            Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy, to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.

Luke 3:1-18

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year ALeave a comment
            John the Baptist wasn’t exactly a social conformist.  He lived, acted, and said things that were anything but mainstream thinking.  But John wasn’t out to win friends and please people.  His message was sharp and straightforward:  “You bunch of snakes!  Who warned you to run from the coming judgment?  Do something to show that you really have given up your sins….  An ax is ready to cut the trees down at their roots.  Any tree that doesn’t produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into a fire.”  John was the first-century version of the guy with a placard on the street corner yelling for everyone to repent.  He probably would have been relegated to the category of loony tunes had he not had an actual and substantial following of people who believed his message of repentance.
 
            The reason the masses did not dismiss John as some creepy clown is that he offered them something better than just being stuck in old destructive patterns of dumb decisions, unhealthy relationships, and bad habits.  John points us away from himself and squarely on Jesus.  Christ is the one who can and will unstick us from our downward spirals of complacency, mediocrity, and sinful behavior.
 
            To repent and believe the gospel of Jesus Christ allows us to bear good fruit.  Being with the Lord, rooted and established in him, allows us to spring from the ground like a fresh new shoot growing into something beautiful.  Dwelling in the presence of Jesus brings healthy patterns of life. 
 
            Jesus came once, and will come again.  We need to get ready for that day.  There are roads that need straightening; fires that need to be lit in order to burn away brush; dead trees need to be cut down; and, there are people who need to repent because the kingdom of God is near. 
 

 

            Lord Jesus, you are the rightful King of all creation.  I confess those sinful things I have done, and the good things I have left undone.  Your mercy is from everlasting to everlasting.  Help me to so hear your Word that new life and hope springs within me and produces love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, and self-control.  Amen.

2 Peter 3:1-10

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year ALeave a comment
            The Lord Jesus will return.  He is coming.  A Second Advent shall occur.  Yes, I know we Christians have been babbling on about Christ’s Second Coming for centuries.  It’s been two-thousand years since the incarnation, and here we are still talking about Jesus’ return.  No, followers of Christ are not deluded or unusually weird (well, maybe a little weird).  God is not on vacation.  He isn’t aloof or unconcerned.  He exists, and he is up to something.  “The Lord isn’t slow about keeping his promises, as some people think he is.  In fact, God is patient, because he wants everyone to turn from sin and no one to be lost.”  Like a watching and concerned parent, God is waiting for all kinds of people to turn from empty wayward lives and return to him.  Yes, God has not yet returned because he is waiting for us to return.
 
            What some people often interpret as not caring is simply a cold misinterpretation of reality.  God cares.  God is infinitely patient.  God carefully and adroitly graces individuals with repentance full of faith that leads to a new life of peace, joy, and righteousness.  If we can admit that our perspective on things is typically puny and very limited, then we can begin to entertain a larger notion that God doesn’t operate like we do and his timetable is quite different than ours.
 
            There is no better time than now to participate with God by praying that your prodigal son or daughter, your wayward friend, and your clueless neighbor will come to know Jesus in this Advent season.  If God is waiting for folks to repent and believe the good news of forgiveness and new life in Christ, then he is also waiting for us to have some focused, sustained, and passionate prayer for those in need of Jesus.  May the angels in heaven rejoice on Christmas Day that salvation has come to your world.
 

 

            Saving Lord, your grace and compassion know no bounds.  Let the finished work of Jesus be applied to the homes of my friends, neighbors, and relatives so that they can know the incredible joy of new life through the incarnation, cross, and resurrection of Christ.  Amen.