Monthly Archives: April 2010
What Faith Can Do John 2:1-11
I get the opportunity to preach this weekend. I’m excited it will be my first sermon away from my home church. I’m preaching from John 2 on the miracle at Cana. I’m posting the manuscript I wrote to help me study.
On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there; and both Jesus and His disciples were invited to the wedding. When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to Him, “They have no wine.” And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does that have to do with us? My hour has not yet come.” His mother said to the servants, “Whatever He says to you, do it.” Now there were six stone waterpots set there for the Jewish custom of purification, containing twenty or thirty gallons each. Jesus said to them, “Fill the waterpots with water.” So they filled them up to the brim. And He said to them, “Draw some out now and take it to the headwaiter.” So they took it to him. When the headwaiter tasted the water which had become wine, and did not know where it came from (but the servants who had drawn the water knew), the headwaiter called the bridegroom, and said to him, “Every man serves the good wine first, and when the people have drunk freely, then he serves the poorer wine; but you have kept the good wine until now.” This beginning of His signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory, and His disciples believed in Him.
Context
We are going to be in John chapter 2 today. As you are turning there I’m going to set up the context of this section. John was the last gospel written and it was written John the son of Zebedee and he refers to himself as the disciple that Jesus loved.
John starts off Jesus ministry with a wedding. Theologically this is symbolizing the new covenant and how the church is the bride of Christ. We could spend hours just looking at the symbolization of the wine and blood of Christ and the wedding and the church. I will touch a little on the symbolization but I’m going to concentrate on the text and what is happening here.
Joseph’s Decision
I want to look at Joseph for a minute. In Matthew 1:18-25 we read the story of Joseph learning about the birth of Jesus. Joseph and Mary were betrothed which means that an arrangement for marriage has been made and they would be married after the set time was up. This betrothal process was just as binding as marriage and would require a divorce to get out of.
So let’s put ourselves in the mind of Joseph. He loves Mary and is awaiting the day that they will be married. Then one day she comes up and tells him she is pregnant. To top it off she has come up with a crazy and blasphemous story involving angels and being impregnated by the Holy Spirit.
So Joseph is trying to figure out what to do. The law (Deuteronomy 22:23-24) says he is to take her to the priest, make an example of her, and carry her out to be stoned. He also has the option to quietly go and divorce (Deuteronomy 24:1) her without publicly making an example of her. Neither of these options is pleasing to Joseph, because his heart aches for Mary.
He can not stand the idea of stoning her, yet if he divorces her he will be shamed. Think about this. If he divorces her quietly, when the town realizes she is pregnant they will assume that Joseph and Mary had sex before marriage. That would put shame on them both. Joseph has a hard choice to make.
Joseph drifts off to sleep with these thoughts on his mind. He dreams and an angel appears to him telling him, Mary’s story is true. She is pregnant with a child by the Holy Spirit. This is the promised Messiah you have been waiting on (Isaiah 7:14).
Joseph awakes the next morning with a whole new dilemma. God has confirmed Mary is telling the truth and he should go on and marry her. Yet if he does this he will be shamed forever for having sex before marriage (John 8:41). Joseph being a righteous man and putting his trust in God married Mary.
So my question today is if you knew God wanted you to do something and knew that it would bring public embarrassment to you, would you do it? Are you willing to be embarrassed for Jesus?
Ben Mandrell and Predestination
Friday’s Links 04/16/2010
Doug Wolter has a convicting post over at take your Vitamin Z called Dads Set the temperature in the Home.
Dads control the emotional temperature in the home. We have been given delegated authority from God to guide our children emotionally, but we can abuse this authority and provoke our kids to anger. We can throw cold water on our kids by over-parenting them, criticizing them, and pushing them to perfection.
Read this quote about Acting Like a Soldier of Christ from the J.C. Ryle Quotes website.
He is bound by his baptism to fight Christ’s battle against sin, the world and the devil. The man that does not do this breaks his vow. He is a spiritual defaulter.
Ed Setzer tells us how to become a legalist.
The problem with legalists is that not enough people have confronted them and told them to get lost.
Will Turner at The Land of Confusion points out The People Types in the Church. (from Mark Driscoll’s book Confeessions of a Reformission Rev
Ducks need to stop quacking, or the pastors must go duck hunting before the ducks drown out everyone and everything else in the church.
The Gospel of John 2:12-22
We are in John 2:12-22 and studying Jesus clearing the temple. I think we need to first look at the difference here in John’s account and the account in the synoptic gospels. (Matthew 21:12-13, Mark 11:15-17, Luke 19:45-46) The synoptics record all of this taking place at the end of Jesus ministry and John records it at the beginning. I’m going to take this as it’s written, which means it happened at the beginning of Jesus’ teaching ministry and at the end of his teaching ministry.
So now let’s look at the beginning of Jesus’ teaching ministry. In verse 12 we find out that after the wedding they spent a few days at Capernaum before heading to Jerusalem. In Jerusalem it is almost time for the passover. The priest knowing that the Jewish people must have an unblemished sacrifice have placed merchants in the courts around the temple. (Click 
on picture to see a large picture of the temple from ESV study bible) They also have tables set up where money from the foreign villages can be exchanged for the half shekel coin used as the currency of the temple.
Jesus enters and sees how the temple where everyone goes to worship has been turned into a place to cheat worshipers out of their money. Just picture Jesus standing there and watching everything going on. He came to worship the father at the temple and as he looks around, worship is the farthest thing from anyone’s mind here.
I can picture Jesus standing there and praying, Father forgive them for their greed but teach them of their sin. As he prays he picks up a couple of straps of leather and starts to weave them together. He slowly and prayerful braids the strips together and then with a zealous holy anger he starts to yell sending the animals and people on a stampede through the gates outside the temple.
As they run from Him He turns and looks into the eyes of the men selling doves. “Get these out of here! How dare you turn my Father’s house into a marketplace!” As the dove sellers are packing up to leave, the chief priest come running to see what is the cause of this commotion, the disciples reflect on the Psalm saying,”Zeal for your house will consume me”(Psalm 69.9).
Right here, I believe can be applied to our church worship services. The temple was designed to be a place to go and worship God, over time it changed into something different. When the priest first started allowing the merchants in, it was probably a good thing that helped everyone worship but over time it started to prevent worship. I believe there is a warning for us here to make sure we are not allowing things to enter the church that prevent worship.
The priest approach Jesus and ask, “show us proof that God has given you the authority to clear this temple.” Notice what is going on here. They never accuse Jesus of doing wrong they Just want proof that He is a prophet of God. Its been over 400 years since a prophet has spoken so if He is a prophet they want proof.
In John 2:19 Jesus simply states, “Destroy this temple and I will raise it in three days.” The Jews do not realize that he has answered their question. They just remark that it has taken forty-six years to build the temple there is no way he can rebuild it in three days.
Lets look at Deuteronomy 18:21-22. It is the instruction Moses gave to the Israelites on how to know if a prophet was sent by God. Simply put the God ordained test of a prophet is to see if what he proclaims in the name of the Lord comes true. If it does, God is telling us that the man is truly a prophet sent by God and the message he proclaims is true.
This statement by Jesus in response to the prophets is amazing and wonderful for us. First Jesus did not do like the other prophets and say something about the Lord saying. (2 Samuel 12:7, 1 Kings 13:2, Isaiah 1:2, Jeremiah 1:19, Ezekiel 3:27, etc)All the prophets proclaimed that their message was from the Lord. Jesus did not, because He is the Lord. Second they asked Jesus for proof that He was under the authority of God. He used Moses’ test to prove that He was and therefore showing us that everything He said is the word of God. This means that everything the bible records Jesus saying came directly from God and God put His stamp of approval on it.
That’s why this section ends with the disciples saying they remembered this and then believed the scripture.
Paul’s Defense
In Acts 21 things really start to get exciting for Paul. He goes to Jerusalem and meets with James (Acts 21:17-19). He tells them of the wonderful things that God is doing with the gentiles and they all glorify and praise God (Acts 21:20). Then they tell Paul that thousands of Jews have come to believe in Christ. The problem is they do not agree with Christian liberty and are zealous for the law.
The elders go on to tell Paul that these Jews have been telling everyone that you teach the Jews that are among the gentiles to forsake the law of Moses (Acts 21:21). Of course they have a plan though, they tell Paul to take four men, that are under a Jewish vow and pay for their purification rites, along with doing them hisself. This way everyone will see that you still obey the law (Acts 21:22-24).
So Paul agrees to do this and when they had almost completed the week long purification some Jews noticed him and having seen him earlier with the gentile Trophimus (Acts 21:27-29) they had him arrested. It’s very important that we notice Paul was arrested for bringing a gentile into the temple, (Acts 24:6) which he did not do.
Keep in mind from this point forward, Paul has been arrested for something he did not do. So the Jews nearly rip Paul into before the Roman tribune came and arrested him(Acts 21:31-33), as he is being drug away he asks for a chance to make a defense (Acts 21:40-22:1). I love this part! Instead of standing up and pleading his innocence, Paul jumps up and starts preaching Jesus Christ brings salvation to everyone Jew and Gentile (Acts 22:2-21).
The next day Paul gets a chance to make his innocent plea to the priest and chief council. He preaches the resurrection of Jesus (Acts 23:6). Five days later he is to speak in front of the high priest, the elders, and the governor. Guess what Paul does, he preaches the resurrection of Jesus (Acts 24:1-21, Acts 24:21).
While Paul is in prison he speaks to Felix and his wife Drusilla about faith in Jesus, righteousness and the coming judgment. Think about this Paul is in prison and tells the judge that gets to sentence him that he will go to hell unless he puts faith in Jesus and repents of his sin(Acts 24:24-25).
Finally in Acts 25 Festus meets with Paul and asks if he wants a chance for defense and Paul says I’m innocent and I want this opportunity to speak to Caesar (Acts 25:11). King Agrippa shows up and Paul gets to stand in front of him. Again Paul says he is innocent but he does put forth a case to defend himself, he uses the opportunity to preach (Acts 26:1-24).
What is amazing to me is Paul is using his imprisonment to gain audiences to preach to. Paul says just enough to show that he is innocent and then moves on to preaching about Jesus.
The Cowardly Disciple
Isn’t it amazing how the Holy Spirit can take a man like Peter in Matthew 26:69-75 and turn him into a man like Peter in Acts 3-4.
In Matthew 26 Peter denies Jesus three times. Even swore and took an oath that he did not know Jesus. Peter walks outside and cries because of his failure. He completely gives up and goes back to his old career as a fisherman. (John 21:3)
This broken man who has failed the one he said he would die for completely changes once the Holy spirit comes unto him. In Acts 2:4 the apostles receive the Holy Spirit. This man that was so scared of dying a little over a month ago stands up in Acts 2:14 and starts preaching to thousands of Jews (Acts 2:41). Peter tells them that they murdered Jesus (Acts 2:36) and then calls them to repentance(Acts 2:38).
This same cowardly man was going to the temple in Jerusalem a few days later when he healed a lame beggar. (Acts 3:1-6) While standing right outside of the temple Peter starts preaching again, saying you killed the Author of life. (Acts 3:15) Of course this preaching of Jesus’ resurrection angered the priest so they carried Peter to the council, where Peter again filled with the Holy Spirit asks the high priest, If I am being questioned about doing a good deed done to a cripple then lets talk about the power of Christ that made this possible. (Acts 4:9-10)
This same spirit that empowered a man that denied Christ to stand and preach the resurrection of Christ to the very men that killed Christ is available to us. If we accept Jesus as Lord and Saviour then he will grant us the Holy Spirit and then we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us. Philippians 4:13
The Gospel of John 2:1-11
Today we we will study John 2:1-11, the wedding at Cana. This first section in the second chapter of John is such a treasure of teaching. There are so many things God is showing us in this passage. I am not going to try and go into all of them, but I will try to point them out for further reflection.
We start off in verses 1 and 2 seeing that Mary, Jesus and the disciples are at a wedding in Cana. It says on the third day, which would be from when Phillip introduced Nathanael to Jesus(John1:43-51). Verse 1 states that Mary was there and then as an afterthought it says Jesus and His disciples had also been invited. We can gather from this that while we don’t know who the wedding was for, it apparently was someone close to Mary. Also in verse 3 when Mary tells Jesus that the wine is gone, we can see she cares for these people.
We first must understand that a wedding in Israel at this time was a big event and the celebration could last for a week. It also was a matter of honor to be able to provide for the guest. If this wedding party would have had to end because of no wine the entire family would be shamed for the rest of their lives.
Is There No God In Israel?
King Ahaziah of Israel falls from his balcony in Samaria and is seriously injured. He sends a messenger to go forty mile to the city of Ekron and asks the Priest of Baal Zebub if he will recover. As they are heading to Ekron Elijah stops them and asks them, “is it because there is no God in Israel that they are heading to Ekron.” Then Elijah tells them that The true God has said because you did not trust in Him you will die.
King Ahaziah was the son of Ahab. Ahab worshiped idols and had been warned over and over again that his problems were caused because he did not worship God. There was prophets of God in Samaria that Ahaziah could have consulted, but he didn’t.
So where am I going with this. We are dying in sin just as Ahaziah was dying of his injuries. Yet we do not seek Jesus who can heal us and is always right wee we are. We travel as far as necessary to find our idols. Whether it be money music, sex or what ever your personal idol may be, there is something you go to for healing and comfort.
Just as Baal Zebub was a fake god that could truly offer nothing so are our idols. They promise healing and comfort but after we fill or appetites with them we are still as empty afterward as before. But seek Jesus and we can be filled up. He is the true healer and physician.
The Gospel of John 1:43-51
At this point in the Gospel of John Jesus has John, Phillip and Peter as disciples. Jesus takes Phillip and they go to Galilee. Phillip sees his brother Nathanael and tells him that, “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” Phillip is saying so much in this sentence.
In Genesis 3:15 we see that Jesus will attack Satan. In Genesis 22:18 God tells Abraham that all nations will be blessed by the name of his descendants. In Deuteronomy 18:18-22 God tells the Israelites that he will raise up a prophet like Moses and will punish anyone that does not listen to him. We also learn how to tell if a prophet is true in these verses. Moving on to Isaiah 7:14 Phillip mentions the son of Joseph which would have been doubted by everyone and by mentioning prophets Phillips is saying Jesus is the virgin born. Or even Isaiah 9:6 where it says the child will be called everlasting God and mighty father. Phillips statement is loaded to someone who has a great knowledge of the Tanakh or Jewish Old Testament.
Nathanael responds like any of us would when someone tells us they just saw God in human form. He mocks can anything good come from Nazareth. Phillip simply responds come and see. Phillip then takes Nathanael to introduce Him to Jesus. I’m goin to take a minute here for application. When we meet Jesus and understand the wonderful thing of who He is we should want to go to our family and introduce them to Jesus. It is not our responsibility to convince them that Jesus is who we say He is, the Holy Spirit will do that as we will see in a minute. We just need to make sure we show that we believe who He is and that we want them to meet Him and see for themselves.
Bears Love Mean Kids
Any discussion of 2 Kings 2:23-24 needs to have the Clear Vision Drama video with it! I never get tired of this video.
I have actually seen these verses used on a pro abortion website in an effort to show that God does not value the life of children. They did this because the KJV says little children. Many translations do this the same way giving the idea that these are little children that do not know any better than making fun of an old man. These are actually more as the NIV says and youth. נַעַר na`ar can be translated as young as it is in 1 Chronicles22:5 referring to Solomon or young men as it is referring to Abraham’s Servants in Genesis 22:5 (The NIV translates it as servants here). It also is translated boy in the same verse referring to Issac whom I have discussed before is big and strong enough to carry the wood to build an altar by himself.
Some may say קָטָן Qatan requires the distinction that these are small boys, but it can also be translated lesser (see Genesis 1:16) or of less importance. Regardless it is safe to assume that these boys knew what they were saying which was Go up Baldy. עָלָה `alah should be translated as go up or ascend not go away as some translations incorrectly do.
All this to make the point that these boys were not mauled for making fun of Elisha but because they were mocking God. They did not believe that God had really taken Elijah up in a whirlwind and that is what they are stating here. God punished them for doubting him.
He’s Alive
In the word’s of that great southern theologian Ronnie Van Zant
He’s Alive
Oh yeah, all right
I do believe in you more than myself
I can depend on you when I need help
So when I tell you, please understand
That I do love you, love you man to man
Oh yeah, all right
I remember oh so well when the times were bad
If I needed anything, you’d give me all you had
And when the troubles came you were by my side
You said use God as your guide my son don’t you know
He’s alive, he’s alive
Oh yeah
But now you have gone and I’m on my own
But I realize one thing, one man is never alone
But I wish that you were here right by my side
I would love to tell you that I know
He’s alive
Oh yeah, all right
Friday’s Links 04/02/10
Richard Ross makes a recommendation for the Great Commission Resurgence that Pastors and youth leaders challenge all youth to go on mission for a few months to a year upon graduating High school. First draft has wineskins but not wine.
“By God’s grace, pastors respond well when I speak to them. But the only time they stand and clap is when I ask, “Do you men think we ought to call out every one of our sons and daughters to go to the front lines while they are young?” There is passion in this theme.”
In Christianity today Gary Parrett discusses contemporary remakes of classic hymns that change meaning. I personally love hearing a classic hymn done in a refreshing way, but I agree the words should be left alone. Even if it means the singer or pastor has to explain them. Raising Ebenezer
“Third, I protest on biblical grounds. Robinson’s choice of Ebenezer (which means “stone of help”) is a reference to 1 Samuel 7:12. After the Lord had given a great victory to Israel, “Samuel took a stone and … named it Ebenezer, saying, ‘Thus far has the Lord helped us.’ “
Michael Patton had a post on once saved always saved that asks many of the questions I’ve asked before. Why I Don’t Like “Once Saved-Always Saved”
“I believe that once a person is truly saved, he or she will never lose that salvation. Yet I think we need to warn people that not all faith is true faith.”
Wow, I needed to hear about that comma.
And then, if you go too fast, you’ll miss the comma. You’ll miss the gap that sits quietly between the next thought. You’ll miss it because like me, you might misread the second half of that sentence.
What a curious post by Walker Moore from the Baptist Messenger of Okalahoma.
God must like redundant questions, because I know He saw me squatting and searching under the seats of my truck. But I learned long ago not to lie to Him. I confessed, “Lord, You know how long and hard I looked for those ‘original celebrated curiously strong mints.’”
I anticipated His next question. “How hard have you sought me?” If I would put in half the effort to seek Him as I did a tin of Altoids, I could have “all these things” given to me.
The Fool Says In His Heart, There Is No God.”
The Fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” (Psalm 14:1a)
It is amazing how someone can look around them and say there is no God. I wake in the morning, and it is immediately evident that there is a God. Our bodies are too well designed to be a cosmic accident, or descendants from a single cell. When I get hungry, my body lets me know. If I eat, my body takes the food extracts what is necessary and removes what is not. My body knows when it needs rest.
Even more amazing is when I go outside and think about photosynthesis. I breathe oxygen in then it is turned into a waste product called carbon dioxide which plants take in and turn into oxygen. How can you say that it just evolved that way?
There is no part of life that you can look at and say wow, isn’t that amazing how everything just coincidentally worked out where the different seasons, creatures, and everything else work together.
The Heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge. (Psalm 19:1-2 ESV)
For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. (Romans 1:19-23 ESV)
God created the world. It was a well thought out plan, so that even if there was no one to show us God His creation would reveal Him. Indeed only a fool could say there is no God.
Read Genesis 1 today and then reflect on how God created everything to reveal and proclaim His glory.
