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People want something Real, not necessarily something Easy

This week we’re going to talk about the early church. After Pentecost amazing things started happening. People were being healed left and right, they were selling their belongings, they were gathering every day. They were also being seriously persecuted through all this yet somehow the church grew and grew.  The more the church was persecuted, the more it grew? Why? People don’t necessarily want something that is easy to commit their lives to. What they want is something real / genuine / authentic to commit their lives to. Read the rest of this entry »

In the previous section we talked about Jesus as sin-forgiver, Jesus as Creator / Logos, and Jesus as the I AM.  Now I want to turn our focus to the apostles which give us additional good reasons for believing in Jesus.

#1 The Boldness of the Disciples

After Jesus’ arrest the disciples holed up behind locked doors because they were afraid of sharing Jesus’ fate. Then Jesus starts visiting them. After Jesus’ arrest, the disciples are ready to go back to their old lives, ready to return to their hometowns, and resume fishing / working / etc. They’re ready to forget the last three years of their lives. BUT THEN, something happens to make them advance the gospel for the rest of their lives, in spite of suffering, in spite of hardship and persecution. Something happened to them to bring about such a change. Not everyone is going to believe that it’s the resurrected Christ that visited them, but you have to admit that something changed!

Here’s an interesting summary that Paul gives of the post-resurrection appearances.

³ For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, ⁴ that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, ⁵ and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. ⁶ After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. ⁷ Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, ⁸ and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born. (1 Co 15:3-8). I believe that the radically changed behavior of the disciples prove that Jesus appeared to them. Read the rest of this entry »

The Easter season just ended, and usually that brings up themes of resurrection. Through Jesus’ defeat of sin and death, through his supernatural return from death, we can have victory and life now. Another thing that often happens around Easter is our culture begins to have a more public than normal discussion about the supernatural. Many many people are skeptical about miracles in general, and the resurrection of Jesus in particular. I want to take this post-Easter opportunity to get a little more apologetic than normal, and talk about some good reasons for believing in Jesus, both his divine identity and the validity of his resurrection. I realize that these reasons will not be convincing to everyone, but they have been convincing to me over the years.  First let’s look at the apostle Thomas, a.k.a. “doubting” Thomas.

Doubting Thomas

²⁴ Now Thomas (called Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. ²⁵ So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!”  But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it.” (Jn 21:24-25)

It’s interesting to me that Thomas refused to believe for a solid week until Jesus appeared to him. He didn’t believe the testimony of Mary Magdelene, and he didn’t believe the testimony of all the disciples who were eyewitnesses. And Jesus still worked with him on his unbelief.  I think Thomas is representative of a personality type.  He’s not going to jump on a bandwagon and he’s not going to believe in something without first checking it out.  He’s not going to walk across a rope bridge without first checking out the ropes.  It’s not a bad thing. Read the rest of this entry »

Nicodemus

Our look at the Pharisees so far depicts a bunch of evil legalistic hypocritical idolators with a manmade religious system, who get mad when people are healed and furious when they’re set free from demons! Looking at one particular Pharisee named Nicodemus though, we get the idea that there was hope for the Pharisees, and that God intended not to write them off, but to reform them.

Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council. ² He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him.” ³ In reply Jesus declared, “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.” ⁴ “How can a man be born when he is old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb to be born!” ⁵ Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. ⁶ Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. ⁷ You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ ⁸ The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.” (Jn 3:1-8).

Read the rest of this entry »

I heard an amazing quote recently from a guy named Bruxy Cavey: “To the extent that our knowledge surpasses our love, we are hypocrites.”  That’s the best one-sentence summary of Jesus’ central opposition in the gospels, the Pharisees.  They had significant portions on Scripture memorized, yet had huge blind spots regarding, love, mercy, and justice.

Fence around the Torah

The Pharisees are all about study. During the Babylonian exile it became important for the Jews to preserve Torah study. They were very serious about the people obeying Torah.  The Temple was out of the picture, and they did the parts of the Torah that they could do in exile, Sabbath, dietary laws, etc.  They were extremely serious about it.  Eventually something called the oral Torah developed.  The oral Torah is like taking the written Torah, and making a fence around it.  If working on the Sabbath is against the law, then write five more laws for people so that they don’t even come close to breaking the main law. If my work in the Sabbath would be sending a bunch of emails, then the oral Torah would say, you can use a computer but you can’t open your browser, or even beyond that, you can’t turn on your computer!  This is why they were constantly mad at Jesus, who took the real Torah very seriously, but did NOT take the oral Torah seriously!! We’re going to look at how some of these Jesus vs. Pharisee clashes went down: Read the rest of this entry »

Raising the Bar!

Ok, so far in the Sermon on the Mount we have learned that we need to be meek, humble foot-washers who don’t think highly of ourselves, aren’t self-sufficient, are pure in heart, are peacemakers, and rejoice when we’re persecuted. Got it! Anything else? I’m glad you asked! I’m sure at this point all the disciples had a deer-in-the-headlights look about them. But wait! It get’s worse!

Anger is Murder

“You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ 22 But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, ‘Raca,’ is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell.” (Mt 5:21-22). “Raca” is an Aramaic term meaning “empty-headed one.”  The reason this was answerable by the Sanhedrin was because these were fighting words. You’re goading someone to incite violence against you.  It’s illegal to provoke someone into fighting you.  Also, going beyond just murder and provocation, Jesus says the initial internal contempt is also sin. Read the rest of this entry »

Looking at God’s new strategy in the Sermon on the Mount

Review

In the Old Testament there is this amazing passage that I have been absolutely obsessed with the last couple months. I think I’ve mentioned it the last three parts of this small group teaching.  It’s the passage in Deuteronomy talking about what God’s people were going to be known for among the nations. God desired for His people to be known for four things:

1- wisdom “Wow, those Israelites are really wise!”
2- understanding “Those Israelites are an understanding people!”
3- intimacy with God “Their God is near whenever they pray!”
4- having a just society “Wow, what other nation has laws like that”

See, I have taught you decrees and laws as the Lord my God commanded me, so that you may follow them in the land you are entering to take possession of it. 6 Observe them carefully, for this will show your wisdom and understanding to the nations, who will hear about all these decrees and say, “Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.” 7 What other nation is so great as to have their gods near them the way the Lord our God is near us whenever we pray to him? 8 And what other nation is so great as to have such righteous decrees and laws as this body of laws I am setting before you today? (Deut 4:5-8). Read the rest of this entry »