Tag: grace

Matthew 1:1-17

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year ALeave a comment
            If you looked up these verses, you might wonder if you’ve got the right text.  Is there really a genealogy in the lectionary?  Am I really going to get something out of this?  Yep, you are.  All of God’s Holy Scripture drips with grace, and the opening genealogy in Matthew is no exception.  At the heart of Matthew’s gospel is a presentation of Jesus and his teaching that centers on the kingdom of God with Jesus as King, the one whom is the fulfillment of all the Old Testament promises.  So, then, the genealogy is not just a chronicle of Christ’s lineage, but is a theological statement made by Matthew that Jesus is the promised Messiah.
 
            The genealogy includes four women in the lineage of Jesus:  Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and Bathsheba.  Just so you know, women are central to the kingdom of God.  They may not have been important to ancient kings, but to King Jesus they play a significant role.  All four of these women were Gentiles.  King Jesus operates differently.  No matter your gender, your race, or your past (all four had a dubious sexual history), the kingdom of God is for everyone, and is not an exclusive club.  If God can use scandalous Gentile women to accomplish his purposes, who are you or I to tell God whom he can use and whom he can’t use?
 
            God acted in history by sending Jesus, the rightful king of the universe.  He is the Anointed One, sent to restore people to God.  He himself is our peace and our hope.  The kingdom of God operates on grace, and not in typical power position fashion of imposing self-serving agendas.  No matter our past or station in life, grace trumps it all.  Jesus is the One whom makes all the difference.  He is the rightful king.  And he uses his power to save and deliver people from sin, death, and hell.
 

 

            Merciful God, thank you for sending your Son, the Lord Jesus, to save, redeem, and love humanity, including myself.  Help me to walk in his steps of grace every day, in the power of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Galatians 4:21-5:1

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year ALeave a comment
            There can be something oddly comforting about law.  Having clear black-and-white no-nonsense rules can give a sense of security.  You always know where you stand.  You’re either in or out, pure or sinful.  Yet, here’s the deal on the law:  it is meant for the immature; it is designed as a guide to lead us to maturity.  If we live by law, we are bound by law.  Law can only take us so far in our walk with God.  Slavish commitment to rules must, at some point, give way to the greater virtue of grace. 
 
            The Galatian church wanted a religion they could hold in their hands.  But Paul was dogged on his devotion to a life of grace:  “Christ has set us free!  This means we are really free.  Now hold on to your freedom and don’t ever become slaves of the Law again.”  We are free to live in such a way that brings grace, love, and hope to others.  We are free to bask in the forgiveness we possess in Christ.  If our Christianity is reduced to some sort of point system and following the rules, then we have missed the point of the law to begin with – that it is meant to lead us to Christ and it must, at some point, give way to the larger law of love.
 
            Yes, the law has its place.  But we are perpetual slaves if we never outgrow it and move into freedom.  This is not an anything goes kind of life; it is a life attuned to the Spirit, and aware of living for Jesus through the fruit of the Spirit.  It doesn’t break laws; it fulfills them.  All Christians must grow up and become spiritual adults.  That means leaving childish ways of the law behind and embracing the freedom of the Spirit.  So, where are you in your Christian life?
 

 

            Gracious God, you have sent your Son, the Lord Jesus, to fulfill all the demands of the Law.  Help me so to live for Christ through the Spirit that I ooze his love, grace, and truth in all I do and say.  Amen.

Galatians 4:8-20

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year ALeave a comment
           I wonder if any one of us could say, with the same confidence as Paul, this statement:  “I beg you to be like me.”  Paul was a committed follower of Jesus – so much so that he ached and longed for others to embrace a life of grace, just as he had.  “My children, I am in terrible pain until Christ may be seen living in you.”  Paul was referring to the same pain as childbirth.  In other words, he was laboring and working hard to give spiritual birth to those that would become like Jesus.
 
            If you are a person who has experienced a transformed life in Jesus, as if you have been born again by grace through the Spirit, then you likely feel and resonate with the travail of Paul.  Knowing the elixir of grace, you want everyone to drink it in and be inebriated with its effects.  You want it so bad that it hurts.  You desire it to the point of exclaiming, “I beg you to be like me!”
 
            You may be spending the upcoming Christmas with some family or friends that are strangers to grace.  Either they are stuck in the clutches of the law and are complete stick-in-the-muds because of it, or they simply do not know what they are missing.  Either way, let’s together offer our passionate prayers to God for the grace of Jesus to overwhelm us all.  Like old Ebenezer Scrooge, perhaps grace will change everything.
 

 

            Gracious God, may you weave your way into the lives of those who need you the most, so that mercy will be more than a theological idea.  Work in me in such a way that I can stand with Paul and encourage others to be like me.  Amen.

John 3:31-36

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year ALeave a comment
            “The Son was sent to speak God’s message, and he has been given the full power of God’s Spirit.”  Well, there you have it.  This is a statement that every person on planet earth needs to contend with.  I, personally, have found in Jesus grace and truth.  I have come to believe the New Testament Gospel accounts of his birth, life, teaching, death, resurrection, and ascension.  None of that belief and faith came quickly or easily – it came as a result of primarily two things:  plain straightforward reading of the Bible; and, the wooing of the Holy Spirit.
 
            It really isn’t my job to convince you of the veracity of Jesus.  It is my task to point you to him and let God take over.  There is only one thing that I refuse to put up with in talking with people about Jesus:  If you haven’t read the Gospel accounts and you have rejected Christ, then, for honesty’s sake, have the gumption and the integrity to give Jesus an honest real hearing before you dismiss him with a slight of hand.  It is one thing to genuinely not know about Jesus, and it is another thing altogether to ignore him when you have some knowledge about how to find out about him.
 
            Everyone who has faith in Jesus has a life-giving connection with God.  Those who don’t, don’t.  If you do not agree with that statement, then contend with Jesus himself.  Give him a hearing.  Watch him in action.  Observe how he deals with people.  See if he lives up to his words.  Then, come back and we’ll talk.
 

 

            Blessed Father, Son, and Spirit, you are the Holy Trinity, the God whom I serve.  Lead me to those you are leading to yourself so that we can talk about Jesus, my Savior and Lord.  Amen.