NT75 Day 8: Galatians 1-3

Without understanding a little context, Galatians can be a little confusing and irritating.  Paul, after all, actually curses at people in this little gem of a letter (twice!  1.8-9).  So what was going on?

Galatia was a region of modern Turkey where Paul had planted churches.  Many of the Jews in those churches had mistaken the Gospel for a new version of Judaism.  So their Gospel went something like this:

Jesus + Law + Circumcision = Eternal Life

Paul's problem with this, and it should be our problem too, is that nothing can be added to the message of the Gospel of Jesus.  He's not who we want Him to be, He is who He is, He said what He said, He did what He did.  Paul makes the argument throughout Galatians that the Gospel is:

Jesus = Eternal Life

You can't add anything to Christ, otherwise His work was insufficient.  He died on the cross but it wasn't enough to satisfy the breach between God and humanity.  So, summarizing, Paul argues that "so we have also have believed in Christ Jesus in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified" (2.16).

That really is Good News.

Sermon Notes from 9.19.10

Here are the sermon notes from today's sermon.  I preached on Jesus' clarifying the nature of life with Him, ingesting both the content of His message as well as His call to commitment from Mark 8.31-38.  To view the notes in PDF and get the sermon audio, visit sermons.heritagepark.org.

Can You See Him?

Mark 8.31-9.1

Content (v.31-32)

• Suffering & Rejection – experiencing the physical and relational fracture in Creation.
• Death – dying voluntarily as a payment for sin.
• Resurrection – rising victoriously as powerful King.

Commitment (v.34)

• Because the content is true, we commit to Him.
• We go deeper into the content of the Gospel as we follow Jesus – we do not move on from it.
• He calls for commitment from everyone, not just a few.
• Discipleship isn’t a second step in the Christian life – it is the Christian life.

Motivation (v.35-38)

• Investment – why give yourself to something that’s guaranteed to fail?
• Purpose – what does the world offer that really and truly satisfies?
• Exclusivity – is there nothing else I can do?
• Judgment – will I stand when all is done?

Calling (v.34)

• Deny Yourself – this is not denying something to yourself but choosing the surpassing value of Christ.
• Take Up Your Cross – this is not a modest adjustment for an admirer but a consistent pattern for the disciple.
• Follow Me – this is not a convoy of experience seekers but a prescribed path with Him as our example.

NT75 Day 6: Matthew 23-28

There's just so much here.

Consider the two failures of the two men who were close to Jesus.  On the one hand, Judas betrayed Him for money.  On the other hand, Peter betrayed Him for safety.  Both felt sorry, Judas so much so that he gave his prize money back.  Peter wept bitterly.  I wonder if that made the difference in his spiritual future. He wept over his sin.

Just earlier we read about those being ashamed of Jesus in the coming age will be surprised by His shame of them.  But Peter repented, weeping bitterly.  Tears mattered.  And restoration came, with ministry as a founder of the church soon on its heels.

No matter who you are, no matter what you've done, Jesus takes the broken lives of those who have betrayed Him (which is all of us) and come to Him.  He receives us and makes us whole.

NT75 Day 5: Matthew 17-22

There are times when I feel bold before the Lord.  I pray in great faith for great things.  I sense and know that God is going to do something, sometimes even what He's going to do.  I preach and minister with strong unction.  I prayer-walk the rows before our Sunday gathering and anticipate how He's going to change people's lives.

And then there are other times.

There are times when I didn't get enough sleep and my emotions are on edge and it's hard for mind to focus.  There are times when I come to God, again, to confess that sin, again.  There are times when I've not parented in love or responded to my wife in something less than a Christlike manner.  There are times in an attempt to be funny that my sarcasm or something else has ended up wounding.  And there are times when I'm just selfish and think I'm entitled to go my own way.

And in those moments, I am glad that Jesus lets little children to come to Him (Matthew 19.14).  Because in those moments I feel so small.  I'm rarely innocent, but I am small.  I'm glad He receives small people posing as grown-ups.  And I'm glad He still desires to give the Kingdom to knuckleheads like me.

But that's just me thinking thoughts...

A Post-Blog Note:  I just got word that our NT75 app is in for iPhones and iPod Touches.  Find it in the AppStore.  Need a link?  Here's one!

NT75 Day 4: Matthew 13-16

"He who has ears, let him hear."

That's what stood out to me today.  Jesus repeats it, so it's worth listening to - listening to an exhortation about listening.  And it's a good warning.

If you have ears and can physically intake the sound of His words, then you need to spiritually intake the content of His words.  Otherwise you walk around like a person who looked in the mirror and walked away forgetting what he looked like, continuing in ongoing self-deception (James 1).  You become the person who has all knowledge but not love (1 Cor. 8.1, 13.1-3).  Scripturally smart but spiritually small.  Head-knowledge without life-knowledge.  Facts without experience.

Which do you need think the world needs more of today?  And what do you need to apply in order to be that person?

NT75 Day 3: Matthew 8-12

In a day when we live with a (sometimes rightful) suspicion of authority and a historical inclination toward rebellion, submission to authority is basically a foreign concept.  We submit to speed limits because we don't want a ticket, to taxes because we have to pay, and airport security because we need to get to where we're going.  Hardly any submission is voluntarily and it seems that none is done with joy.

But here is this centurion, a commander of a cadre of hardened, tough, Roman soldiers.  He probably ate his steak rare, drank Guinness, snacked on beef jerky, and listened to Metallica Black.  Nothing about this guy seems like he's the submission-to-authority type.  But he was.

He told Jesus that He knew how authority worked and demonstrated it with his faith:  "Just say the word and the issue is done."  Jesus said He hadn't seen faith in Israel like this, meaning the people who should've known better were too proud and too independent.  But in their pride and independence, they also missed the authority of the Kingdom coming into their lives.

So here is where it boils down for me:  if I want to be a person of authority, I must be under authority.  Submitting brings authority, which is as backwards to our world as greatness from servanthood, the last being first, and so forth.  

Where does this begin?  It begins with submitting to the authorities we can see, because we can't submit to the Authority you can't see if you can't submit to the authority you can.

But that's just me thinking thoughts...

NT75 Day 2: Matthew 5-7 (and Testament Tuesday)

This portion of the Scripture is famously called the Sermon on the Mount.  When you read its contents, you will recognize ethical imperatives that have held people captive (in discussion, if not behavior) since Jesus spoke it.  I actually preached through this masterpiece a few years ago, taking 37 weeks to do it.  It really is that good!

A few things struck me as I re-read it this morning.

First, the comprehensive nature of this teaching is stunning.  Jesus deals with some of the big questions of philosophy which have been asked for millennia.  What is actually real?  That which is called the Kingdom of God, His reign.  Who is well off?  Those who are in that Kingdom.  Who is a good person?  The one who has internal righteousness, not just external acts of righteousness.  On and on we could go, but suffice it to say Jesus is God, and He's smart too.

Second, the passage ends with the crowd being stunned.  They'd never heard someone teach like this.  They might have heard snippets or pointers, but never anything like this.  This is how biblical teaching is supposed to be:  with authority and awe.

Third, the assumption of my participation in the spiritual disciplines.  Never did Jesus say, "If you give...if you pray...if you fast."  He assumed we would:  "When you give...when you pray...when you fast."  If Jesus assumed it would be true, then He certainly knows that giving, praying and fasting is a better way to live than not giving, not praying and not fasting.

Lastly, there is a foreign righteousness that comes to us from outside of us.  The most important verse in Matthew 5, maybe in the whole book of Matthew, is v.20.  Unless our righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees, we don't get the Kingdom.  That righteousness cannot be bound up in rules and appearances as it was with the Pharisees.  It is ours through trust in Jesus, resulting in authenticity and transformation.

Last comment:  my wife (blog here) has started this thing called Testament Tuesday.  This is my testimony about this particular portion of Scripture.  Once it began to unfold in my life, the message of Jesus and indeed the whole NT has opened to me in a way that I've never been able to get over.  I'm grateful for these three chapters and a book called The Divine Conspiracy which shaped my thinking on it.  I don't buy every jot and tittle of the book, but its thrust has changed my life to be more like Jesus.

But that's just me thinking thoughts...

NT75 Day 1: Matthew 1-4

I saw something this morning as I read the temptation of Jesus in Matthew 4.  Two things struck me...

First, the Enemy will strike, tempt, cajole, condemn, or accuse in the place where I am weakest.  Jesus had just finished a 40-day fast.  Sometimes I have trouble fasting for one day.  For those I know who have fasted for long times (21 days and longer), they talk about the weakness they feel.  Jesus certainly felt the same.  And the Enemy comes and the first temptation:  you want some fresh bread?  Bread has that aroma thing working for it.  Even though it's quiet in the house, I can almost smell fresh bread just because I'm typing about it.  So a question to ponder for you and me today:  where do we consider ourselves weakest?  Craving the approval of others?  Illicitly lusting over another?  Greedily coveting what you see in the neighbor's possession?  Enjoying the angry feeling over the smallest slight?  Perpetually self-justifying what you're doing even though your conscience bothers you?  Whatever you identify, know that the Enemy will come knocking there first.

Second, in the weakest of weak moments, Jesus was convinced that God was enough.  He refuted the Enemy with a quotation from Deuteronomy about being fed by God's Word.  One of the great confessions you can make before, during, and after temptation is that God is enough.  You make it beforehand because you want your mind to be conditioned toward it.  You make it during because that's one way you fight temptation - by focusing on God and His sufficiency.  You make it after in testimony to yourself and others so that you glorify Him for His work in your life.

May God help us all live today with His sufficiency in view.  Amen.

NT75 Challenge Reading Plan

Here is the full reading list for the NT75 Challenge.  Please feel free to link this post to anyone and everyone you desire.  To link to the post (and not just the blog), click on the title of this post, then copy the address in your browser.


Also, for any just jumping on board here, you might want to take a minute and read the posts below about "how to read your NT."  I tried to include some background info and practical things that might help.

Week of 9/13

• Matthew 1-4 
• Matt 5-7 
• Matt 8-12 
• Matt 13-16 
• Matt 17-22 
• Matt 23-28

Week of 9/20

• Galatians 1-3 
• Gal 4-6 
• Hebrews 1-3 
• Heb 4-6
• Heb 7-10 
• Heb 11-13

Week of 9/27

• Luke 1-3 
• Luke 4-6 
• Luke 7-9 
• Luke 10-13 
• Luke 14-18 
• Luke 19-24

Week of 10/4

• Acts 1-4 
• Acts 5-8 
• Acts 9-13 
• Acts 14-18 
• Acts 19-23 
• Acts 24-28

Week of 10/11

• 1 Corinthians 1-4 
• 1 Cor 5-7 1 
• Cor 8-11 1 
• Cor 12-16
• 2 Cor 1-4 
• 2 Cor 5-9

Week of 10/18

• 2 Cor 10-13 
• Ephesians 1-3 
• Ephesians 4-6 
• Philippians 
• Colossians 
• James

Week of 10/25

• Mark 1-4 
• Mark 5-8 
• Mark 9-13 
• Mark 14-16 
• 1 Peter
• 2 Peter

Week of 11/1

• 1 John
• 2-3 John, Jude, Philemon 
• 1 Timothy 1-3 
• 1 Timothy 4-6 
• 2 Timothy 
• Titus

Week of 11/8

• John 1-3 
• John 4-6 
• John 7-10 
• John 11-12 
• John 13-17 
• John 18-21

Week of 11/15

• Romans 1-4 
• Romans 5-8 
• Romans 9-11 
• Romans 12-16 
• 1 Thessalonians 
• 2 Thessalonians

Week of 11/22

• Revelation 1-5 
• Rev 6-9 
• Rev 10-14 
• Rev 15-18
• Rev 19-22

Sermon Notes from Sunday 9.12.10

Here are the sermon notes from the sermon on 9.12.10.  We keep hammering the theme that Jesus isn't who we want Him to be, He is who He is.  In this case, He's the one who calls for our commitment to Him.  I didn't get through all these notes in the sermon, so next week will look somewhat the same.  You can find these notes in PDF format and sermon audio at sermons.heritagepark.org.  May God give us the grace to have eyes to see and ears to hear.  Amen.

Can You See Him?

Mark 8.22-9.1

Some see Him but not clearly.

Some confess Him but don’t know what they’re saying.

Content

• Suffering & Rejection – experiencing the physical and relational fracture in Creation.
• Murdered – dying voluntarily as a payment for sin.
• Resurrected – rising victoriously as powerful King.

Commitment

• Because the content is true, we commit to Him – we are free to follow Jesus.
• We go deeper into the content of the Gospel as we follow Jesus – we do not move on from it.  
• He calls for commitment from everyone, not just a few.
• Discipleship isn’t a second step in the Christian life – it is the Christian life.

Content of Commitment (v.34)

• Deny Yourself – this is not denying something to yourself but choosing the surpassing value of Christ. 
• Take Up Your Cross – this is not a modest adjustment for an admirer but a consistent pattern for the disciple.
• Follow Me – this is not a convoy of experience seekers but a prescribed path with Him as our example.

“Because of” Rationale

• There is no life apart from Him (v.35)  
• There is no possession of greater value than Him (v.36-37)
• There is no shame in confessing Him (v.38)