Category Archives: Bible Study

This will be where I place my various blogs on Bible related topics other than my daily Bible study

Bible Study

The Parable of the Sheep and the Goats

Every week I receive the bulletin for the upcoming Sunday worship service in my email. It contains the announcements and the Scripture reading which our pastor is going to base his sermon on. A couple of weeks ago, I decided to read the scripture passage and write a blog entry containing my thoughts on the passage as a way to prepare for Sunday morning worship. I do not know how long I will continue doing this, but it seems to be an exercise that has some value.

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    This week’s passage is Matthew 25:31-46, the parable of the sheep and the goats. This is perhaps my favorite parable and I am looking forward to hearing what Mark (the pastor at Butter Valley Community Church) has to say about it. Keith Green did a song about it, titled “The Sheep and The Goats”. At the end of the song, Keith pointed out that the only difference in the parable between the sheep and the goats was what they did and what they did not do.
    After reading this passage we need to ask ourselves these questions: the last time we saw someone who was hungry, did we feed them? How about the person who was thirsty? Do we invite strangers in? Do we clothe the naked? Do we care for the sick? Do we visit those in prison? I think the point I want to make is that this parable is not about how our tax dollars are spent. It is not even about the money we give to charity. No, this is about how we treat people. Do we take the time and effort to identify and meet the needs of those we see in our daily lives?

Bible Study

Working To Improve Ourselves and To Glorify God

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Every week I receive the bulletin for the upcoming Sunday worship service in my email. It contains the announcements and the Scripture reading which our pastor is going to base his sermon on. Last week I decided to read the scripture passage and write a blog entry containing my thoughts on the passage as a way to prepare for Sunday morning worship. I am doing so again this week. I do not know if I will continue doing this or not, but it seems to be an exercise that has some value.

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    The message in this passage is that we should strive to use the resources which God has given us, whether they be material resources or natural talents, to further God’s kingdom. If you have material resources seek to increase those material resources while using those material resources to advance God’s kingdom. If God has given you athletic talent work to improve and increase that talent while using it to glorify God. If God has given you other talents, work to improve those talents while using them to glorify God. This parable always scares me because I identify most with the third servant. However, despite the clear message in the parable I struggle because my failure to make the most of my talents is not a fear of losing them, or a fear of having everything I gain by working on them taken from me. No, my problem is that I have struggled my entire life with finding the way to apply those talents in the best way. Sometimes I have been inspired to something where I could use my talents to bring glory to God, but then I fail to do so because I cannot see how to get from where I am in my life to that place where I can use my talents.

Bible Study

Parables of The Lord’s Return

Every week I receive the bulletin for the upcoming Sunday worship service in my email. It contains the announcements and the Scripture reading which our pastor is going to base his sermon on. One Sunday while listening to the sermon, it occurred to me that I saw a something in the passage which was not part of Mark’s (our pastor) sermon. It then occurred to me that I should write a blog entry on the passage for upcoming service as a way to prepare for Sunday morning worship. Finally, this week I decided to give it a try.

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    These two parables are often treated separately. Yet, they are part of the same lesson from Jesus. Both of them warn us to be ready when Jesus returns. And both of them warn us that His return will be unexpected. The first one tells us that if He finds us doing the tasks to which He has set us we will be rewarded. However, in the first one there is also a warning against abusing others, thinking we will not be held accountable. This parable is directed primarily to those whom God has called to positions of authority. If we fulfill the task for which we have been given authority, we will be greatly rewarded. On the other hand, if we abuse the authority we have been given, we will be severely punished. This applies to authority in the Church, at our job, in politics, and in any groups of which we may be a part.
    The second parable is a reminder that it is not enough not to do wrong. Even if we do not abuse our authority (perhaps because we do not have any), still we need to be prepared at all times for when we will be called to account. It is not enough to accept Christ as our Savior and then go to “sleep”. We cannot say to ourselves that we will do more later. We must seek the tasks which God has set for us and eagerly be about accomplishing them.

Bible Study

Two Women and 12 Years (Luke 8:40-53)

daffodils     This is one of the most poignant biblical accounts for me. Perhaps even more effective since it is told from Luke’s perspective, who was a doctor, because there’s a couple of medical issues here. Luke gave *detailed* accounts. (I like that in a Gospel writer). Like many Bible stories, this one challenges me. We learn about another of Jesus’ miracles here, but even more so, we (or at least I) learn about the power of faith.

     The account opens with Jesus’ coming back to Galilee, from the region of the Gerasenes. This is after the account of Jesus curing the demon-possessed man. The account tells us that the man was not possessed by one evil spirit, but by many, a Legion (Luke 8:30). (To me, demon-possession is like mice-infestation. As anyone who has dealt with the inconvenience of having mice in their house can tell you, a house does not simply have *one* solitary mousey living in it. When a mouse finds a place to live where it’s warm and can find nourishment, a whole horde comes with it and can create a bloody and potentially destructive nuisance, if proper action is not taken. So, too, a similar event takes place with demon-possession. But I digress.)

     When Jesus returns to Galilee, he is met by a crowd, from which emerges a synagogue leader, Jairus, whose 12-year old daughter is ill and dying. Jesus accompanies Jairus to his home. On the way, a woman who has been suffering from hemorrhaging for 12 years with no relief from doctors, touches Jesus’ cloak in the throngs of people and is immediately cured! Jesus stops when He felt the power flow out from Him (I love that!) and asks, “Who touched me?” The newly-healed woman could’ve run away at this point, but she falls to her knees and explains what happened. Jesus tells her that her faith has healed her and to “go in peace”.

     Right after that, someone from Jairus’ household shows up and tells Jairus that his daughter has died and there’s no need to trouble Jesus any longer. Jesus tells Jairus to have faith and they continue on to Jairus’ home. When they arrive at the house, the mourners laugh and mock Jesus when He says the young girl is not dead but merely asleep.

     There’s an enormous amount of juxtaposition here! Just a short time earlier we saw a woman who had been suffering for TWELVE YEARS with a horrible affliction who believed all she had to do was touch a piece of Jesus’ garment and she would be healed! Now we have a roomful of people laughing at Jesus’ claim about Jairus’ daughter.

     I must digress again: Do keep in mind the mourners in this scene were probably not comprised of the young girl’s neighbors and relatives. More than likely these were paid professionals in Hebrew law “who care for the deceased and prepare for the burial”

     I struggle with this portion of the story because I’m pretty sure the mourners KNEW who Jesus was, and WHY He claimed the girl was not dead. This leads me to two conclusions. Either a) they did not believe in Jesus’ power to raise the girl from the dead or b) they laughed out loud and mocked Jesus in front of the family because they stood to lose money were their services not needed. (I am reminded here of the Legion of demons driven into a herd of pigs in Luke 8:32-37, and how the herdsmen witnessed what had happened, which led to the people to beg Jesus to leave and not come back. Those herdsmen lost a mighty big paycheck that day; Jesus was “bad for business”.)

     Nevertheless, I’d like to think the mourners laughed at Jesus because their faith was lacking and not because they were so callous as to be out a paycheck.

     However, it is not only the mourners who are to blame for their lack of faith. Over and over again in the New Testament we see the Twelve, (there’s that number again!) the ones closest to Jesus, failing in their trust in Him. Mark 4:35-41, Luke 9:12-13, John 20:25-28, are just a few examples.

     I love the account of Luke 8:40-53 for so many reasons: We see Jesus perform a miracle while He is on His way to perform a miracle. I love that both of the healed in this story are women. (Okay, one of them is a child, but in Biblical times, Jairus’ daughter is of marriageable age.) The fact that the bleeding woman was afflicted as long as Jairus’ daughter was alive is also particularly poignant. Most of all, I love that Jesus did not discriminate and only heal the important people, i.e., powerful men. The fact that the bleeding woman and Jairus’ daughter are both insignificant members of society Did Not Matter to Jesus! He healed them all: men, women, children, Hebrew, Gentile, lepers, the paralysed, the lowest of Society’s low. Jesus brings His love to, and ultimately saves, every one of us.

     Then there’s the faith and bravery of the bleeding woman! I admire her so much. She knew it was “wrong” by Society’s standards to even look at a man, let alone ask Jesus for healing BUT! so strong was her faith in this Teacher that she knew all she had to do was merely touch Him and she would be cured. Her faith and wisdom are to be commended! Whenever I am desperately praying for the Lord’s healing/guidance/what-have-you, I often fall back on the bleeding woman’s “mustard seed faith”. I want to believe that all I need for Jesus’ healing (be it physical, mental, emotional or spiritual) is to touch the hem of His garment.

“Lord, I believe; help my unbelief.” –Mark 9:24

Bible Study

Advent Season–Trusting God

Joseph in the Christmas Pageant
Joseph in the Christmas Pageant

     Today is the fourth Sunday of Advent, two days before Christmas. Generally, when we read the Christmas story, we use the Gospel of Luke. There is nothing wrong with that it is a very good account of the Christmas story. But the Gospel of Matthew tells us something important too. Matthew tells us that while they were betrothed, Joseph discovered that Mary was pregnant. For those of my readers unfamiliar with it, being betrothed is something like being engaged, but with a lot more commitment and a lot more final. Generally, the bride still lived with her parents and the groom with his parents (although, since the groom was generally older than the bride, perhaps in his own house). However, ending a betrothal required a divorce just as ending a marriage does (although in that day getting a divorce was remarkably easy for a man).
     So, Joseph discovers that Mary is pregnant. We are not told how he finds it out. She may have told him. Someone from her family may have told him. Perhaps there was gossip going around. He knows that he is not the father so he reaches the only logical conclusion. Mary must have been unfaithful to him. She must have had another lover. Joseph was betrayed. But, we are told, Joseph was a good man. Perhaps Mary had her heart set on someone else. Perhaps she wanted to marry the father of her child. There could be many reasons why she had betrayed him. Joseph would have been within his rights to demand that she be shamed in front of the whole community, even stoned for her unfaithfulness. Instead, he decided to divorce her quietly. That way if there was someone she would rather marry, she would be free to do so. He would not bring any additional harm to her reputation, or her life. If he married her anyway, everyone would “know” that he was the father, that he was unable to act appropriately. Either that or he was so desperate for a wife that he would take as a wife a woman who would betray him.
     Having made his decision, he received a vision. An angel appeared to him and told him not to be afraid to take Mary as his wife. The child within her was from the Holy Spirit. Now, I don’t know about you, but I would have found that hard to believe. I would have wondered how I would know it was really an angel. But the passage in Matthew tells us that Joseph believed the angel, that he had faith in what the angel told him. Except that it doesn’t say that. How do I know that Joseph believed? Because the passage tells us that when he woke up, “he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded and took Mary as his wife.” That’s right, we know that Joseph believed because “he did.” He trusted God and acted on that trust. Joseph was willing to take the risks involved in following what the angel had told him to do. He was willing to risk the damage to his reputation. He was willing to be viewed as a fool, or desperate. Are we willing to take the risk of trusting God?

Bible Study

Advent Season-Experiencing Joy

The Third Advent Candle
The Third Advent Candle

     It is hard to speak of joy two days after the shooting at the school in Connecticut, but that is usually the theme of the third Sunday of Advent. This morning the sermon was based primarily on Isaiah 35. The passage tells us that on the day of the Lord, the desert and the wasteland will be glad. It will bloom and burst forth into joy. What could be more of a wilderness and a wasteland right now than the hearts and souls of the parents of those children who were killed on Friday? I can not imagine how those hearts could ever burst forth into joy again. However, God promises, and He is faithful to keep His promises, that there will be singing and joy.
     The prophet tells us to strengthen those who have tired hands, to encourage those whose knees have gone weak. We are to tell those whose hearts are fearful to be strong and not fear. For God is coming, our God and your God. He is coming with divine retribution. He is coming to save us, coming to save those whose hands are tired, whose knees have grown weak, whose hearts are fearful. And when He comes He will open the eyes of the blind and give hearing to the deaf. He will make the lame to walk and those who cannot speak will not only talk, they will sing. When John the Baptist was in prison and starting to feel depressed because things were not turning out as he had expected, he sent his disciples to ask Jesus if He was the One. Jesus answered them by saying “the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised to life, and the Good News is being preached to the poor.” He was telling John that this passage from Isaiah was being fulfilled. Well if the passage from Isaiah was being fulfilled when Jesus was here, why don’t we see more of those things in the Church today? Let us get down and our knees and pray for forgiveness because we have failed to bring the joy of the Lord to our society. There are many reasons why Friday’s shooting took place, but one of them is because I do not spend enough time praying for the souls of those around me. That I do not spend enough time telling them about the joy of the Lord.
     The prophet finishes this passage by telling us of a highway that will be called the Highway of Holiness. The unclean and the wicked will not travel on it. Predators (human and otherwise) will not prey on those who walk on it. There will be no dangers on that highway (no drunk drivers, no people speeding beyond their ability to control their cars, no trucks careening out of control, no dangers). Those who have been ransomed by the Lord will travel this road as they return to the Heavenly Kingdom. Sorrow and mourning will disappear, even for those who have been victimized by a tragedy like the one on Friday. They will be filled with joy and gladness. I don’t know how, but this is a promise from God. Whatever the source of our pain and anguish, if we turn to the one whose coming the Advent Season is announcing, it will be washed away. Think about the suffering that Jesus experienced, is your pain greater than that? He understands.

Bible Study

Advent Season–Responding to God’s Love

Lighting The Second Advent Candle

     This is late this week because I was neither inspired to write something yesterday, nor disciplined enough to do it anyway. However, this morning on the way to work I heard a version of “The Little Drummer Boy” and it brought together some thoughts that have been swirling around in my head for the last few weeks. I am sure most of you are familiar with the story line of “The Little Drummer Boy”, but I will sum it up as far as it is relevant to this post. The drummer boy is a poor orphan child (or so I suppose) who witnesses these fabulous, mighty and wealthy people bringing expensive and rare gifts to a newborn baby. He wants to know why. When he finds out that this babe is the Messiah who will give His life to show God’s love, the drummer boy wants to offer a gift as well. But he has no gift that, in his mind, compares to these wondrous gifts given by these eminent people. When we hear the song we recognize that he is wrong, that his gift is of much more value than the gifts given out of the excess of the rich. The drummer boy gives all that he has, he plays his drum for God in the form of this baby.
     This is oh so important. God created everything that is, He does not need our stuff. What God wants from us is us. He wants us to give Him our basic selves, not because that somehow makes Him better off or more or any of the reasons we want gifts that people give us. He wants us because when we give our essence to Him, we become more and better and better off. Part of the meaning of Christmas is that God loves us so much that He made Himself helpless to spend time with us. He made Himself a baby, there is little or nothing that is more helpless and vulnerable than a human baby. It depends on others for everything.
     Back to my theme. The little drummer boy thought that what he had to offer was of little consequence, but he wanted to offer it anyway. He was right, what he had to offer was of little consequence, but, even so it was of much more consequence and value to God than the wealth given out of the excess of possessions that the wise men brought. This is not to belittle or denigrate the wise men. They saw the signs and came to worship the King of Kings, offering gifts. But God wants so much more than that. God wants us to serve Him with the gifts He has given us.
     He came to us because He loves us. He wants us to offer ourselves up to Him. He wants us to show our love for Him, by showing His love to our fellow-man. As we go prepare to celebrate the memory of His coming as a baby, are we preparing for when He will return? Are we showing His love to those around us in need? Are we seeking out ways to use that which He has given us (and not just the excess) to serve Him by helping those who are suffering or in need? The little drummer boy offered all that he thought he had to honor the new-born king. Let us offer not only all we think we have, but let us dig deep and offer all that we are.

Bible Study

Advent Season–Waiting for God to act

     This is the first Sunday of Advent. This morning our pastor used Isaiah 2:1-5 as his scripture passage. However, he really started from Isaiah chapter 1. In chapter one, Isaiah talks about how God is fed up with the people of Israel’s sinful ways. Isaiah tells them that their religious rituals are sinful and false. Their leaders did not defend the cause of orphans nor fight for the rights of widows. The hands of the people were covered with the blood of innocents. Their leaders took bribes and looked for payoffs. They were a sinful people. Those who sought to follow God were few and they were oppressed. I do not want to go too far with this, but as I look around me I see the same thing today. Rather than seeking to do what is righteous, seeking to help the orphan, the widow and the needy, people strive to gather wealth so that they can spend it on their own pleasure. People are on the look out for what they can get for themselves.
     Isaiah told them that God was going to act. He was going to send out His Spirit upon the world and lift up His Holy Place. People would turn to God and desire to worship Him. We are waiting for God to teach us His ways so that we can walk in His paths. The day is coming when God will judge the nations and people will turn weapons of war into tools of prosperity, nations will not go to war any longer. What a glorious day that will be. Isaiah was looking forward to the day that Jesus would come, but this prophecy looks forward even further to when Jesus returns.
     As we prepare to celebrate the birth of Christ this year, we remember the prophecies that God gave of His coming, but we also look forward to His return. As we are waiting for God to act, for Christ to return, we are told to act. We are to give up our evil ways and learn to do good instead. We are to seek justice and help the oppressed. We need to turn from our sins and obey God. Let us be an example to those around us of what God is bringing. How will people learn of the joy in worshiping God if we do not show them? We are waiting for God to act, but God is asking us to show the world what it means to live in the belief that He is going to act. Jesus has come and taught us His ways. Now we must walk in His paths. We are waiting for God to act, but now is the time for us to act, now is the time for us to show that we believe. We say that we love one another. If we love one another, then when we see someone in need we will give from our plenty (or perhaps like the widow with two mites, even more than from our plenty) to help.

Bible Study

Hurricane Sandy and Faith
In He Who Calmed the Storm

My wife is concerned about the coming storm. She asked me to blog about Mark 4:35-41. I thought about it a bit and as I thought about it, I remembered that the story is also told in Matthew 8:23-27. When I hear the references to this storm as “Frankenstorm” and the fear-mongering that some in the news are pushing about this, I can’t help but think of the disciples and their reaction to the storm. I, also, can’t help but think of Jesus’ reaction to the storm. While the storm raged around Him, Jesus slept. He slept in the back of a boat being tossed by the wind-driven waves. The storm, as severe as it was, did not disturb His sleep. It was the disciples, who were panicking, who woke Him up. Mark reports that they woke Him up shouting, “Teacher, don’t you care that we’re going to drown?” Jesus response was, “Why are you afraid? Do you have so little faith?” then He rebuked the wind and the waves saying, “Quiet! Be still!” (I know I am mixing and matching the order of things a little between the two gospels, but I think it is not a disservice to either account to do so in this case). The disciples were astonished, Mark says they were terrified, Matthew says they were amazed. Before, they were terrified of the storm, now they were terrified of Jesus. “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!”

The disciples didn’t get it. They were terrified. But I can sympathize, it is scary when the powers of nature seem to be out to get you. And they did not have this story. We do. We walk with Him who calmed the storm by His word. Do we have faith? In John 14:12-14 Jesus tells us that anyone who believes in Him will do the same works He did, and even greater works. In Matthew 17:20 Jesus tells us that if our faith is only so large as a mustard seed, we can tell a mountain to move and it would move. So let us pray for all of those in the path of this storm. If all of us who call on the name of the Lord will pray that none of those in the path of the storm suffer harm, do we have the faith to believe that it would happen? Do we have the faith to pray that prayer?

Let us pray together this prayer that my wife composed, remembering the response of the father who brought his son to Jesus for healing. “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief.” :

Dear Heavenly Father,
I turn to You as the disciples did when they cried out for help in their storm-tossed boat.
I invoke the Name of Your precious Son to save us, one and all.
I’m crying out to you now, Lord.
Keep us safe as You always have done, but especially this week.
I lift up all Your children in the path of this hurricane to You.
The evil one has terrified many, be it through the media or other sources,
that folks have resorted to irrational measures.
Help them, Lord.
Send Your Spirit upon them so that they can think clearly,
and prepare responsibly for this storm.
Help me as I enter into another week, be a good witness for You,
and to build others up,
especially those who are scared about what is to come.
Help them, Lord.
Help *me* to not be scared, Lord.
Please strengthen me and keep fear out of my heart.
In Jesus’ holy Name, I pray.
Amen.

Bible Study

The Triumphal Entry (Luke 19:39-44)

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      In Luke’s account of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem the Sunday before his crucifixion, Luke recounts how some of the Pharisees asked Jesus to rebuke his disciples. The Pharisees were concerned because the disciples were a large crowd and were obviously proclaiming that Jesus was the Messiah. There are several different ways to understand what was going on here, but I am going to give the Pharisees the benefit of the doubt (at least for this article). The Pharisees were concerned because they were afraid that those praising Jesus’ entry would rise up in revolt against the Romans. The Pharisees were afraid of how the Romans would respond to this revolt (justly so).
      Jesus’ response was that if these people did not cry out to praise God, the stones would do so. In part Jesus was saying that there was an underlying desire/longing to see God move through the arrival of the Messiah that was going to break through no matter what was done to suppress that. I am not saying that the stones would not have literally cried out if the people had been silent, merely that there is more to what Jesus is saying here than just that. The Holy Spirit had been laying the groundwork and the people were ready for the moving that God had planned. The people were primed and ready to seek the will of God.
     After this Jesus weeps over the city of Jerusalem. He expresses grief over what will happen to Jerusalem. This seems to me to be a response to the Pharisees, and others, resisting the movement of the Holy Spirit. There are two ways to look at this. The first is that Jesus knew the future and knew what was coming in 70 A.D. (more or less). I am comfortable with that understanding. However, the other way to look at it is that Jesus just knew people. He knew that those who rejected God’s plan would attempt to take God’s place and save themselves, with disastrous results. Jesus knew how the Romans would react to this. There is a final way to look at this. That way is that both of those are true.