Honor the Son

For the Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him.

John 5:22-23

All judgment has been given to One

Jesus is judge so honor the Son

The Father’s will is Jesus as Lord

Follow Him and obey His Word

Honor the Son, God is praised

All glory to the One the Father raised

All authority is now in the Risen One

Honor the Father by honoring His Son

There is no worship of anyone

other than the Father’s Son

Jesus is judge as we now see

so bow your heart and bend your knee

Trusting in Jesus alone

He will sin atone

We trust Him as the only One

honoring God we honor the Son

both feasting and fasting

The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in that day.

Mark 2:20

Jesus feasted with sinners and it brought questions from many. He called Levi the tax man to follow Him and the grateful guy threw a party inviting all his notorious friends to join Jesus at his table (Mark 2:13-17). There the questions that were meant to put Jesus on the spot began. First the disciples were grilled on Jesus’ choice of company: tax collectors and sinners. Jesus makes Himself the answer. Jesus replied that He was obligated to be with them in order to call them to repentance.

Then the people questioned the appropriateness of the feast itself given that both John the Baptist and the Pharisees taught their disciples to fast. Again Jesus makes Himself the answer: “I’m here now, so celebrate what God is doing. There will be plenty of time for fasting when I’m gone.”

The disciples slowly got that Jesus was the center. The Pharisees never really did! But will Christians today, both with feasting and with fasting make Jesus the sole focus of our lives? Will we celebrate and commemorate our Bridegroom Saviour as His Church, His Bride, His people?

authority to forgive

“But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he said to the man who was paralyzed—“I say to you, rise, pick up your bed and go home.”

Luke 5:24

The Pharisees, who were the religious leaders in Jesus’ day, challenged Jesus when He first forgave the sins of a paralytic whose friends had the determined faith and initiative to break through a rooftop to lower him to Jesus for healing. The Pharisees were right to believe that only God can forgive sin. But when Jesus both forgave the man’s sin (the greatest spiritual miracle) AND made the man walk (the lesser natural miracle) His authority as God should then have been unchallenged.

When the paralytic picked up his litter and walked away while praising God, Jesus proved Himself to be God in the villages of Galilee. All the people saw it. They witnessed extraordinary things. They saw God at work healing bodies and souls.

Even today, Jesus makes us whole. We are forgiven by the power of His work on the cross and victory over the grave. We are made whole by Jesus to live now in praise of His extraordinary power and person!

on to the next

And he said to them, “Let us go on to the next towns, that I may preach there also, for that is why I came out.”

Mark 1:38

Jesus made His teaching and miracles known from town to town throughout all of Galilee. He had a reputation based not on a few isolated incidents. Instead, literally everywhere people lived, Jesus went to preach His good news, heal the sick, cast out demons, and change lives.

So from town to town, village to village, in synagogue after synagogue, Jesus made Himself known. Crowds followed and the gospel was preached. Sickness was healed and demons fled. And it was always moving on, gaining momentum, growing in reach. The gospel expanded from town to town, a missionary effort from the very beginning.

And so it is today. Christians should not sit still. We move on. We make the gospel known. We are on the move from person to person, place to place, just like Jesus, so that the world can know!

authority that astonishes

And they were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one who had authority, and not as the scribes.

Mark 1:22

When the authority of God speaks, lives are impacted with the message. That was the astonishment of the people who heard Jesus teach. The authority of the Word of God came to them from the God Who had authority over His Word! No one else could ever teach like this.

That is why the gospel has a level of authority unmatched by any other message. Jesus preached the good news first… with authority. He backed it up with miracles and great power… with authority.

And this same authoritative Jesus sent His disciples out to preach the gospel of His death, resurrection, and forgiveness with all authority given to Him in heaven and on earth (Matthew 28:19-20). We now, called to make disciples, do so with the authority of that command under Christ’s powerful authority. And we are constantly astonished as the gospel keeps transforming us to live more like Him. When it comes to Jesus, there is no higher authority! 

an altar by the oak

Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built there an altar to the LORD, who had appeared to him.

Genesis 12:7

In Shechem, at the oak of Moreh, Abram built an altar believing the call and promise of God. Implicit with an altar are two practices of obedience: sacrifice and thankfulness. This first altar built by Abram as he embraced the nomadic call to walk the heighth and breadth of Canaan shows his trust in God.

At the altar sacrifices would have been made. The text does not say that any were, but the first readers of Genesis knew altars were where animal sacrifices were made to atone for sin. Abram built an altar recognizing his need as a sinner for God to forgive him. Thus an altar points to the cross.

Abram also built an altar to praise and thank God. Thanksgiving offerings would have been made to God there. At the altar Abram would have been grateful to God for His covenant care and promises. There Abram would praise God for His provision and guidance. Altars for Abram meant worship, just as a cross for us calls us to worship our Savior.

amazingly rejected

And he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

Luke 4:21

The scripture that was fulfilled in the Nazareth hometown synagogue of Jesus was Isaiah 61:1-2. Jesus was claiming in the fulfillment of this passage to be the Spirit-empowered anointed Messiah sent by God to save His people.

He would preach good news to the poor, a ministry He had already begun. He would set captives free, bring sight to the blind, liberate those under oppression, and proclaim a new favor of grace coming from the Father.

And within the hearing of the town that had seen Jesus grow up, raised as the son of Joseph the carpenter, the mood began to shift against Jesus. At first they were amazed that Jesus spoke such gracious, yet bold words. Jesus knew however that they craved the spectacular, jealous that Jesus had already performed miracles elsewhere. 

They truly did not believe the words He said were prophesied about Him. They rejected the Word of God and the Son of God. When they set out to toss Him off the cliff after He confronted their unbelief, Jesus calmly walked through the mob, leaving Nazareth behind for Capernaum, intent to continue His gospel calling. Nothing could stop Him as He proclaimed the gospel, healed the sick, made disciples, and marched on eventually to give His life at the Father’s appointed time as the only Lord and Savior.

Jesus knows and saves

“Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?”

John 4:29

This compelling and eye-opening invitation led an entire Samaritan village out to their well to meet Jesus. They were intrigued by the truth that Jesus knew a woman’s sinful past, yet chose to invite her to know Him and believe Him by accepting her just as she was.

Jesus had two full days of hospitality and ministry among these willing seekers. He left behind a village filled with believers. Having heard Jesus for themselves at the conclusion of His visit they proclaimed “this is indeed the Savior of the world” (John 4:42).

Jesus loves people that society rejects. He calls them to believe and trust Him. And when they do, a ripple effect draws even more people to a God Who knows, loves, and saves sinners who will come to Him as they are, eventually to be transformed by the God Who knows, loves, and saves in Jesus!

born of the Spirit

That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’

John 3:6-7

The mystery of Spirit birth was revealed by Jesus in His conversation with the seeker Nicodemus. The new birth is new life. It is true conversion. It is a way of new living, no longer led by selfish fleshly impulse, but instead renewed by the Spirit’s refreshing breath of life motivating us into true, holy and different changed lives.

Jesus inaugurated this change with His death and resurrection. He sent the Spirit of God to indwell His followers. Rebirth is now a reality for all who repent, believe, and are raised to walk in a new life led by the Spirit to live like Jesus.

Thank You, Lord Jesus, for the reality of being born again in the Spirit of God! Thank You for abundant life in You! Thank You for eternal life that is everlastingly new!

Amen

The devil is an opportunist.

And when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from him until an opportune time.

Luke 4:13

When hungry

when weary

in a season of heat or want

the devil will taunt

so be wary

and ready

with scripture to answer

his clever lies

When glory

or authority

is what we crave

do not cave

to the devil’s trickery

change the story

resist in the worship

of God alone

Cause to doubt

or lack of trust

the devil exploits slyly

but turn to Satan dryly

if you must

and shout out

“God will not be tested!

Satan, you are bested!”

eye witness to Jesus

“I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God.”

John 1:33-34

Here are some observations from John the Baptist’s own words about Jesus:

1)  John did not know Jesus was the Messiah until His baptism. He wasn’t in some sort of king-making conspiracy to hype Jesus. By John’s own testimony he was still waiting for the Messiah to be revealed to him when Jesus came to him to be baptized in the Jordan.

2). God Himself gave John the means to recognize the Savior. The Holy Spirit would descend on Jesus in a form visible to John the Baptist. This convinced him that Jesus was the One for whom he had been waiting.

3). John knew Jesus was God by this sign. He believed Jesus was the Son of God and would immerse His followers in a new relationship with God by Spirit baptism. Jesus was greater than John because He is God!

Spirit and fire

John answered them all, saying, “I baptize you with water, but he who is mightier than I is coming, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.”

Luke 3:16

With these words John was preparing Israel for the ministry of Jesus among them. A massive spiritual movement was occurring as John baptized along the Jordan river. Vast crowds came to hear him preach in the wilderness of Judea and to submit to a baptism of repentance before God. Souls were receptive to God’s new message through John.

John freely pointed to another greater ministry soon to come after him. He prepared the way. Mightier ministry and mightier messages would come from One Who would immerse His followers in the Holy Spirit and this world in a fire that would separate good from evil, useful from useless, wheat from chaff.

Reflecting on this part of the gospel at Advent brings perspective today. Even as John’s voice cried out in the wilderness to be heard by crowds, so let the gospel ring forth today from our own places! Jesus is the Mighty One. Jesus has baptized His Church in the Holy Spirit. Jesus will immerse this world in a refining fire.