Year 5, Day 273: Psalm 129-130

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Forgiveness

• Forgiveness: Forgiveness is when our sins are absolved by God.  We do not deserve this forgiveness, but God grants it to us anyway.  We cannot earn forgiveness, but God gives it to us anyway.  As we are forgiven by God, He also asks us to forgive others.  In fact, Jesus Himself teaches us to pray for our forgiveness in the Lord’s Prayer when He says, “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.”

This is a very interesting pair of psalms. In fact, I think a better description of these psalms is that they are dichotomous.  Don’t get me wrong.  I think both parts are worth listening to.  But they are very distinct parts.

Psalm 129 is a psalm of vengeance.  The psalmist feels as though they have been oppressed.  They’ve been kicked while they are down.  But the psalmist goes one step further.  The psalmist asks the Lord to repay the evil that’s been done.  He also asks that all those who reject God and His holy city be put to shame as well.  Of course this is a natural human feeling.  Who doesn’t want to see the downfall of the people who persecute them?

On the other hand, we jump straight from this call of vengeance into a plea for mercy and grace and forgiveness.  The psalmist looks to God and asks for their transgressions to be forgotten.  The psalmist readily understands that nobody can stand under God’s judgment without His grace.

The reason I find these psalms interesting is their position beside each other.  One psalm is a call for vindication upon others while the very next psalm is a cry for grace for the self.  I don’t know that two ideas could be contrasted much more clearly in scripture.

Again, though, don’t hear me saying that either one doesn’t have its place.  God will judge and give out recompense – although it is never our place to determine who is guilty and how much recompense they deserve.  God will also give out mercy and grace – and again it is never our place to determine who gets grace and how much they receive.  That is the realm of God.

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Year 5, Day 272: Psalm 126-128

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Provision

• Provision: God gives us what we truly need.  God knows our needs better than we can know them.  We learn to trust God to provide for us.

As I read through these three psalms for the day, the word blessing leapt off of the page.  In Psalm 126, the psalmist is pleading with the Lord to restore His blessing upon the people.  In Psalm 127 the psalmist speaks about the need for the involvement of the Lord in order for something to be blessed.  In Psalm 128 we again her the reinforcement that God is the root of all blessing.  In summary, He blesses our marriages.  He blesses our children.  He blesses the efforts of our hands.

I cannot help but wonder if this is how I go through life.  Yes, academically I understand that God is the source of all my blessing.  I can talk about how God is the origin of all good things.  But do I live that way?

When something good happens, do I give the Lord credit for His provision?  When something I try actually works out, do I give God the credit for actually giving me the ability?  When I have a good experience, do I give God the credit for providing me with the opportunity?

We can also look at this from the opposite perspective.  Do I trust God to provide blessing?  Do I trust God to provide opportunity?  Do I trust God to give me the ability?

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Year 5, Day 271: Psalms 124-125

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Protection

• Protection: In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus teaches us to pray that God might deliver us from evil – even the Evil One.  Sometimes we need God’s protection from the sin around us.  Sometimes we need protection from the sinful people around us.  Other times we need protection from the sin that lies within ourselves. In any case, Jesus’ point is clear.  We need protection from the Father to make it through each and every day.

Psalms 124 and 125 speak to us about protection.  In Psalm 124 we have a great blunt statement.  God has not given us as prey to their teeth!  God has allowed us to continue!  God has not abandoned us to neither our sinfulness nor the sinfulness of other people.  He watches over us and keeps us from the full brunt of evil in the world.

Psalm 125 takes this idea a little more abstractly.  The main thrust of Psalm 125 is that evil cannot abide in God’s righteousness.  Evil cannot reside where God is present.  Our greatest form of protection is the presence of the Lord.

I know that this is true in my life.  Many times people have come against me with the desire to do harm.  Yes, they have been able to impact my life.  But I’m still here.  God’s righteousness is still with me.  I am still to be found in god’s kingdom.  The evil of this world has not overcome me.

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Year 5, Day 270: Psalm 122-123

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Kingdom

• Kingdom: We live in God’s creation, but it is fallen.  We do not yet live in the fullness of God’s Kingdom.  But we do know that the Kingdom of God is drawing near.  We do get to see glimpses of the kingdom each and every time that God works in us and through us as He tries to demonstrate Himself to the world.

These psalms are a great Old Testament perspective on the idea of kingdom.  Of course, these words are written before God’s plan has been fully revealed in Christ.  Therefore, they are indirectly talking about concepts that we who follow Christ speak about directly.

For example, can you hear the longing that the psalmist in Psalm 122 has for Jerusalem?  He desires to be in the Holy City.  He decides to be with the Lord.  The psalmist longs for the peace and security that comes from being in God’s kingdom.  In the same way, we live in God’s spiritual kingdom while longing for the full revelation of His eternal kingdom.

We can also turn to Psalm 123.  In this psalm the psalmist is looking to God for mercy.  It has been a difficult stretch of time.  The psalmist feels as though the people have endured their share of scorn and judgment.  So the psalmist looks to the Lord and a time when the people will know God’s grace.  We know that feeling, too.  We live in a broken and fallen world while experiencing God’s grace in the small and subtle moments in life.  We also know what it feels like to anticipate the full revelation of His grace in the kingdom to come.

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Year 5, Day 269: John 21

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Forgiveness

• Forgiveness: Forgiveness is when our sins are absolved by God.  We do not deserve this forgiveness, but God grants it to us anyway.  We cannot earn forgiveness, but God gives it to us anyway.  As we are forgiven by God, He also asks us to forgive others.  In fact, Jesus Himself teaches us to pray for our forgiveness in the Lord’s Prayer when He says, “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.”

This passage has been my favorite passage of forgiveness since the time that I went to seminary and studied it in depth.  Here we see Jesus appear once more to His disciples.  Here we see Jesus continue the post resurrection teaching.  These are the same disciples that fled when Jesus was arrested in spite of their declaration that they would never abandon Him.  Jesus had every right to carry a grudge but He doesn’t.

But there is more to it than this.  Jesus takes an opportunity to sit down with Peter.  Jesus knows that when Peter was left to himself that he denied Jesus three times.  Left to his own strength, Peter wasn’t willing to give up his own life.  So Jesus sits down with Peter.  He personally eats with Peter.  He has a loving moment between disciple and mentor.

Three times Jesus asks Peter if he loves Him.  Three times Peter asserts that he does.  Jesus is giving Peter an opportunity to assert his love for Jesus for each time that Peter denied Jesus.  That’s forgiveness.  That’s what Jesus is about.  He isn’t one who holds onto grudges.  He is one who looks beyond our mistakes and seeks opportunities to give us another chance.

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Year 5, Day 268: John 20

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Competency

• Competency: Being able to accomplish what one is called to do.

I’m going to take a bit of a strange approach on this blog post today.  This post is going to stem from John’s summary note in John 20:30-31.  Why did John write this Gospel?  John wrote this Gospel so that we might believe and that we might have life in His name.  John wrote this Gospel so that we might be competent followers of Christ.  John wrote this Gospel so that we would have the courage and faith to respond to God as He calls us.

In a sense, John wants us to be like Mary.  Mary met Jesus and carried His Gospel to the Twelve.  Even if they didn’t believe her at first, she was still competent because she had heard the story for herself.

John wants us to be like the Twelve.  They might have doubted Mary at first, but after they heard the story from Jesus Himself they believed.  After they heard the story, they were able to be competent followers of Christ.

John even wants us to be like Thomas.  We’ll have moments of doubt.  We’ll have moments where faith is hard to come by.  But John wrote this Gospel so that once we’ve heard the story of Jesus we too would be competent in spite of our doubt.

This Gospel is written so that we would be competent.  John wants us to be able to accomplish what God the Father has called us to do.  Some days that will be hard.  On those days especially we will need the story of Jesus to inspire us and give us a model of godly living.

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Year 5, Day 267: John 19

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Ambition

• Ambition: We all need a goal to which we can strive.  When our ambition comes from God, we find fulfillment in our obedience into that for which we have been equipped because our Out is in proper focus.  But when our ambition comes from ourselves, we find ourselves chasing after our own dreams and trying to find fulfillment in accomplishments of our own making.

I think that it would be really easy to do a post for John 19 about the concepts of authority or power.  Jesus practically lectures Pilate on these points!  Certainly it wouldn’t be a wrong discussion to have.

However, today I feel like talking about ambition.  We have so many perspectives through which we can analyze the concept of ambition.  For example, take the crowd and the religious elite.  They just want Jesus dead.  They want to see Him crucified.  They want His version of truth to be snuffed out.  What is their ambition?  They want to rule.  They want the power.  They want to hold onto their status quo.  They don’t want to change.  They don’t want the kind of life that is lived by having a relationship with the Father.

We can also look at the ambition of Pilate.  From John’s perspective, I think Pilate is genuinely trying to do the right thing.  He seeks to save Jesus.  He seeks for a way to release Him.  He even dialogues with Jesus, certainly something that didn’t have to be done.  In the end – at least in this part of Pilate’s life – I think Pilate’s ambition rests in his power and prestige of being a Roman governor.  While I think he desires to do the right thing, his ambition of being in charge causes him to acquiesce and le the religious elite win the day.

Finally, we can see the ambition of Jesus.  There is no desire to save Himself.  There is no desire to avoid the cross.  Jesus’ ambition is not on Himself.  Jesus aspires to what the Father has called Him to do.  Jesus’ ambition is rooted in the Father, not His own personal needs, desires, or wants.

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Year 5, Day 266: John 18

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Power

• Power: This is the natural outcome when we truly get our authority from the king.  When our authority is from God, we are equipped with His power to accomplish His will.  We act on His behalf in a world that He desperately loves.

I love looking at John 18 through the perspective of power because we need to remember that this is the chapter in which the arrest happens and the crucifixion story truly begins.  On the surface, this chapter reads like Jesus’ defeat.  Even if we remember that this is God’s will and God will triumph over death and raise Jesus from the dead, it still reads like a defeat.  But if we look deeply, we can see that this is indeed a passage about Jesus power.

First of all, look at Jesus’ arrest.  When they ask Him to identify Himself and He does, they draw back.  They cannot approach Jesus unless He lets them.  They cannot draw near to the presence of God without His assent.  Jesus is in control, even if He is arrested.

Second, look at what happens after Jesus is questioned by the high priest.  He speaks the truth and is struck.  However, Jesus doesn’t back down one bit.  He asks why He is struck for telling the truth.  Because they can’t deal with Him – because they don’t have the power to do so – Jesus is sent away.

Finally, let’s look at Jesus and Pilate.  Jesus is going before the Roman governor and he is the one who ultimately holds Jesus’ life in his hands.  But Jesus does not buckle.  He speaks honestly and straight with Pilate.  He dialogues with Pilate.  He doesn’t acquiesce to Pilate’s power; He asserts His own.  In fact, He even reminds Pilate that His kingdom is not of this world.  Jesus tells Pilate that His power lies elsewhere.

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Year 5, Day 265: John 17

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Identity

• Identity: Our true identity comes from the Father.  Only when our identity comes from God can we be obedient in ways that satisfy our person to our core.

John 17 is an incredible identity chapter.  After all, this chapter is laced with the ideas that we are from the Father and we are for the Father.  How many times does Jesus tell us that we have everything that has been given to Christ because His disciples are in Christ and Christ is in the Father?  Jesus guards His disciples.  Jesus protects His disciples.  They are not lost; rather they are kept secure in the Father.  Our identity is that we are Christ’s because we are in the Father.

However, there is more to this than simply a passage of encouraging identity from the Father.  Jesus prays that His disciples be kept from the evil one.  Now, let’s remember that all of Jesus’ disciples were wither exiled or killed for their faith. At first, this feels like Jesus’ prayer isn’t answered.  After all, His own disciples have lives of strife and persecution!

But this is actually Jesus’ point.  Our identity is in the Father and not our greatness, glory, and peace!  Our identity is in living out our obedience to the Father and not to the world.  Our identity is rooted in our eternal security not our temporal ease!

We are the Father’s.  Jesus has kept us, matured us, and helped us grow.  But that doesn’t mean that we will have it all or have it easy.  We will be the Lord’s and our identity in that will always be secure.  But that doesn’t mean our life will be free of difficult decisions and potential hardship.

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Year 5, Day 264: John 16

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Authority, King

• Authority: Our calling.  This comes from God as king.  Because He calls us as His representatives, He gives us authority to go and do His will.
• King: This is the pinnacle of the Kingdom Triangle.  When we look towards God’s position in the universe, we acknowledge that He is an omnipotent king.  Authority comes from Him.  Power comes through His authority.  He is looking for representatives for His kingdom.

As Jesus prepares His disciples for the time to come, He takes some time to make sure that they understand the world.  Jesus’ opening words in this chapter are haunting.  There will be people who think that by persecuting the disciples that they are doing the work of God.  In other words, human beings can become so twisted in their thought process that they become convinced that they know what the will of God is and they stop checking with Him.

This is both an issue with authority and King.  We will start with God as King.  If we truly believe that God is King, we will continue to check in with Him.  We will continually study God’s Word.  We will always approach life with a perspective that I might be wrong – which will keep us humble.  We will always approach life with a perspective that we have something to learn.  All of these attitudes in a Christian come from believing that God is King, not me.

When we are humble before the King, we will then be able to work out of God’s authority.  When He is King and I realize that I may make mistakes, I realize that my authority isn’t worth much unless it comes from Him.  When I am always pausing to make sure that what I am doing is from God, I’m truly working out of His authority rather than out of my own.

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Year 5, Day 263: John 15

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Abide

• Abide: This is a moment, day, or even a season when we focus on God.  It is a time when we are rejuvenated by God.  It is the time for us to gather up what we will need for the coming growth after a season of pruning.  However, abiding is not the end.  We abide so that we can grow, bear fruit, prune, and abide again.

This is a classic passage for looking at abiding.  Jesus even tells us in the majority of this chapter that we are to abide in Him so that He will also abide in us.  Jesus knows that abiding is the place to start when looking to order our life in obedience.

Jesus is clear about another thing in this passage, too.  We cannot bear fruit on our own.  If we are the branches, we cannot bear fruit without the vine.  If we do not take time to abide in Christ, we will not have good fruit.

This is really an important passage.  So often the focus of our life is on the fruit.  We tend to put the emphasis on the fruit.  We tend to evaluate based on the fruit.  Clearly, fruit is important.  But in order to have good fruit, we cannot forget to abide.  We need to realize that everything we are comes from the Father.  We must be fed by the Father in order to genuinely bear fruit worth having.

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Year 5, Day 262: John 14

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Obedience

• Obedience: Genuine and satisfying obedience comes out of our identity.  Our true identity comes only from our Father.

John 14 is another great chapter on obedience.  Before we look at what Jesus says, let’s examine why Jesus says these things.  Jesus is about to go to the cross.  Jesus is about to die for the sake of humanity.  Jesus is about to crush all the dreams of anyone who is hoping for a worldly Messiah who would rise up against Rome.  Jesus does not want His disciples confused.  Jesus wants His disciples to understand that obedience to the Father is our highest goal.

In that spirit, we now turn to Jesus’ words.  John 14:12 tells us that whoever believes will do the works that Jesus does.  Belief is inherently tied to obedience.  If we believe, we do.  We don’t earn our salvation by doing; rather we do because we believe that God has saved us.

John 14:21 tells us that “whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me.”  In this verse we hear Jesus tie obedience to love.  If we love God, we will obey.  If we love God, we will keep His commandments.  John 21:23-24 reinforces this idea in both the positive and the negative.

In this chapter, faith, obedience, and love are all tied together.  Obedience is a very important perspective of faith.  We have a great model of obedience in Christ, who not only teaches us about obedience but puts it forth in action as we’ll see in a few chapters.

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Year 5, Day 261: John 13

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Obedience

• Obedience: Genuine and satisfying obedience comes out of our identity.  Our true identity comes only from our Father.

Do you know what makes this passage spectacular?  Look at what has just happened in Jesus’ life.  He has performed an incredible miracle in healing a blind man.  Jesus was hated for it and the man was excommunicated from his community.  Jesus performed an incredible miracle in raising Lazarus from the dead.  Jesus was hated for it and the plot to kill Him escalated even more.  Judas has just accused Mary for wasting an expensive oil as a perfume.  Many of His followers have abandoned Him as He draws nearer to the cross.

So how does Jesus respond?  Jesus washes some feet.  Jesus becomes a servant.  Jesus gives us an example to imitate.  The world seems to be collapsing around Him, yet Jesus is still focused on God’s will.  Jesus is obedient.

In contrast, let’s look at Judas.  Judas leaves to hand Jesus over to the Jewish leaders. At the very same time that Jesus is humbling Himself to God’s will, Judas is looking to make His own desires come true.

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Year 5, Day 260: John 12

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Capacity

• Capacity asks whether or not the person has the time in their life to obey God.

This is a great chapter to study the idea of capacity.  We’ll take four looks, but the reality is that there are so many more perspectives in this chapter.

First, let’s look at Mary.  She blesses Jesus with an incredible anointing.  But let’s stop for a moment.  Jesus is a man that she’s grown to love.  Jesus also just raised her brother from the dead.  Why wouldn’t she celebrate His presence?  She sees her opportunity to glorify the Lord and she takes advantage of it.  That’s capacity.

Of course, we then have a look at Jesus, who also has capacity.  He receives Mary’s sacrifice.  He lovingly chastens Judas’ rebuff of Mary.  He welcomes the questions of the Greeks, who themselves have the capacitance to see God and follow Him.  He teaches an unpopular teaching that leads to many of His followers walking away (again).  Jesus has what it takes to do the will of God.  He doesn’t always get the results for which we might think He deserves.  But He has the capacity to obey.

Of course we have Judas.  Here is a man who just doesn’t have the capacity.  My hope and prayer is that He finds forgiveness.  But the reality is that he just doesn’t have the capacity to obey.  He is unable to accept Mary’s sacrifice for her Lord.

Finally, we have the rest of the disciples.  At the triumphal entry, they just don’t get it.  But here’s the cool perspective on this.  They don’t get it while it is happening, but they do get it eventually.  After the resurrection, they do understand it!  Therefore, they do have the capacity to understand, just not in this particular moment.  But that is so true about all of us.  None of us are always prepared to act and understand in our full capacity.

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Year 5, Day 259: John 11

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Challenge

• Challenge: God does not merely wish us to be in relationship with Him as we are.  He challenges us to grow, stretch, and transform as we take on the mantle of being His representatives to this world.

For several years now I have seen the 11^th chapter of John as a huge chapter of challenge.  But this really shouldn’t surprise us.  John is clear that miraculous signs are times of challenge in peoples’ lives.  The wedding at Cana brought challenge to Mary, the mother of Jesus.  The feeding of the Five Thousand brought a huge amount of challenge to the crowd and even those who were calling them disciples.  The healing of the blind man in John 9 brought challenge to the blind man, his parents, and the religious leaders.  It should not be a surprise that the chapter of John devoted to the raising of Lazarus is a huge challenge to the community around Jesus.

Jesus lays down a challenge to His disciples.  Lazarus is dead.  Jesus goes to his side.  However, I love the words of Thomas.  “Let us go so that we may die with Him.”  He has no idea how prophetic his words will be.  Jesus is marching into conflict with the religious leaders.  While His disciples might flee in the moment of Jesus’ arrest, they will all face persecution, strife, and all but one will pay with their lives.

Jesus challenges the family of Lazarus.  Both Mary and Martha are brought to confession and points of faith.  They meet Jesus’ challenge head on and grow through the challenge.

The religious leaders continue in the downward spiral of reaction to which we are accustomed.  As Jesus performs this great miracle over the power of death, they are challenged to accept Him for who He claims to be or to get rid of Him.  In the end, they choose to dispose of Jesus.  They feel Jesus’ challenge and opt to get rid of Him.  They choose to maintain their current status quo rather than meet the challenge head on and grow as we saw in Lazarus’ family and Jesus’ disciples.

Challenge is a powerful and threatening thing.  Through challenge, people can find themselves growing in faith rapidly and with vigor.  But challenge can also bring persecution upon our heads.  Jesus knows this.  But knowing this, He still asserts the challenge.  The goal of spiritual growth is worth the price to pay.

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Year 5, Day 258: John 10

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Capacity

• Capacity asks whether or not the person has the time in their life to obey God.

I find Jesus’ question to the religious leaders haunting.  “I have done many good works from the Father, for which of these are you going to stone me?”  Jesus lays the truth before them plain and simple.  He has come and demonstrated His power again and again.  He turned water into wine.  He fed a tremendous crowd with only a few fish and a small amount of bread.  He healed a blind man.  In every single one of these instances the focus was neither on the miracle nor on Jesus’ reputation.  Each of these acts happened so that the power of God might be put on display and He might receive the glory.

The religious leaders are blind to this reality, however.  They ask tell Jesus that they will stone Him because of His blasphemy.  The truth is, they just do not have the capacity within them to believe.

As I finish this passage, I have to ask myself why they do not have the capacity to believe.  I don’t actually know the answer to this question.  But I can take a few guesses.  Yesterday I made the case that they were seeking the approval of the people around them.  I have often spoken on this blog about the religious leaders’ desire to retain power and status in Jerusalem.  I think these are excellent reasons to explain their lack of capacity.

However, I think that the Gospel of John brings out yet one more huge dynamic: pride.  To follow Jesus would imply that they didn’t know everything.  To hear Jesus would imply change.  To adhere to Jesus’ teaching would mean that they might have to admit that they had made some mistakes.  They weren’t willing to do that.  They didn’t have the capacity for change.  Because of their prideful incapacity for change, they also have a natural incapacity for following Jesus.

This makes me wonder about myself.  Where am I prideful and unwilling to change?  Where am I so stuck in my human tradition and human understanding that I will be deaf to God’s Word of truth in my life?  where am I no different than the religious leaders with respect to my capacity to be obedient to the Lord?

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Year 5, Day 257: John 9

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Approval

• Approval: We all need to feel as though we are accepted.  When we seek the approval of God, our Up is in the right place.  But when we seek the approval of other people besides God, we open the door to pursuing false gods and risk putting someone or something other than God in our Up position.

Much like yesterday, today’s passage gives us multiple perspectives on a discipleship topic.  Today we get a glimpse of the power of approval in the life of a human.  We also get a glimpse into the hardships that can come when we choose to get our approval from the Father alone.

1. Let’s look at the case of the religious leaders.  They are not seeking the approval of Jesus.  In fact, they are not also seeking the approval of God the Father.  They are seeking the approval of Moses and the strict legal code that they have built around the Law.  This means that they are largely seeking their own approval.  They desire to live their life so that the people who are around them will look into their life and see how well they are living.  They seek the approval of the people around them who are just like them.  This leads them even more deeply into darkness.
2. Now let’s take the sad case of this blind man’s parents.  The Bible is clear that they spoke because they were afraid of being put out of the synagogue.  That’s a really nice way of saying that the religious leaders had threatened to excommunicate anyone who followed Jesus.  The parents of this blind man are seeking the approval of the community around them more than they are seeking the approval of God and those people of God around them.  They are afraid that if they stand up for truth that their livelihood might be affected.  They are seeking the approval of mankind and not putting their faith in God.
3. Then we get a chance to look at the blind man.  I love this man and his boldness.  He even mocks the religious leaders by asking them if they are looking to become Jesus’ disciples.  Of course, this comment gets him expelled from the synagogue.  He does find himself expelled from his religious community – and probably from the people who could support him in life.  But God does not abandon him.  Because he is seeking the approval of God, he finds himself welcomed quickly into a different community.  This blind man finds himself welcomes into Jesus’ community, where he receives the approval from God that he seeks.
4. Lastly, we look at Jesus.  Obviously He is looking to receive approval from the Father.  Certainly He has it.  The people around Him confirm as much.  They witness about Jesus that no sinner could perform the kind of works that Jesus was able to perform.  His great power is a demonstration of the approval that He has from the Father as Jesus goes about doing the will of the Father.

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Year 5, Day 256: John 8

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Identity

• Identity: Our true identity comes from the Father.  Only when our identity comes from God can we be obedient in ways that satisfy our person to our core.

In John 8, we can catch three very detailed examples of identity.  The first one is the adulterous woman.  Clearly she is an adulterer.  The religious leaders see her as an adulterer.  She even sees herself as an adulterer.  But how is it that Jesus sees her?  Jesus sees her as a woman in need of redemption.  Jesus removes the external identity imposed upon her by the religious leaders and substitutes his own influence of her identity after the religious leaders leave.  He tells her that He does not condemn her.  He also tells her to go and sin no more.  He gives her a new identity and a challenge to go with it.

Speaking of the religious leaders, we can see their identity in this chapter as well.  They see themselves as the chosen ones.  They see themselves as Abraham’s descendants.  They see themselves as superior to the world around them because of their lineage.  However, Jesus sees them differently.  Jesus sees them as slaves to sin.  Jesus sees them as liars who refuse to see the truth.  The religious leaders and Jesus find themselves in conflict because they cannot agree on the identity of these religious leaders.

That same point is true about Jesus, too.  The religious leaders and Jesus cannot agree on His identity.  They believe that Jesus is demon possessed.  They believe that Jesus is a dangerous teacher leading people away from genuine belief in the Father.  They see Him as a threat to all that they value.  However, Jesus sees Himself as the Son of the Father.  He sees Himself as a person who seeks to do the will of the Father.  He sees Himself as one who speaks and acts with the authority of the Father.

Of course we know who is right in each of these situations.  Jesus is getting His identity from the Father.  He also perceives the identity of the others – religious leaders and the adulterous woman alike – through the eyes of the Father.  Jesus gives us a great picture here in this chapter of how to see through the eyes of the Father in addition to how to understand the difficulties that will come when we cannot agree on identity with the people around us.

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Year 5, Day 255: John 7

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Authority

• Authority: Our calling.  This comes from God as king.  Because He calls us as His representatives, He gives us authority to go and do His will.

Authority is one of the main themes that runs through the book of John, so it is clear that I will be writing about authority as much as I write about challenge.  This chapter of the Gospel of John is all about the authority of Jesus in comparison to the authority of the religious elite in Jerusalem.  In the end, we can say this much: they seek to kill Him, but they cannot arrest Him because they don’t have authority over Him.  His time has not yet come; they could not arrest Him.  That is a demonstration of their authority.

However, Jesus gives us a very powerful statement about why He can do the things that He is able to do.  The one who has access to God’s authority is also the one who seeks to do God’s will.  In other words, if we desire to be able to act with the authority of God, then we need to submit to Him and pursue His glory.  If we pursue His glory, then it makes sense that He will share His authority with us.

This is exactly the tension of the Gospel of John.  Jesus can do what He does because He is obedient to the Father, following His will and seeking His glory.  The religious elite cannot do what they desire until God allows it to happen because they are pursuing their own will and seeking their own glory.

In the end, we have a simple choice.  Do we want our own glory with limited authority?  Or would we rather seek the will of God and live in whatever portion of His unlimited authority that He desires to share with us?

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Year 5, Day 254: John 6

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Challenge

• Challenge: God does not merely wish us to be in relationship with Him as we are.  He challenges us to grow, stretch, and transform as we take on the mantle of being His representatives to this world.

I remember the first time I read the Feeding of the Five Thousand story from John’s perspective.  I was about six years old and I thought it was the coolest story ever because all those people got food.  I remember being incredibly impressed simply at the awesomeness of God.

I also remember the first time that I read the whole of chapter 6 all together.  It was about 10 years ago.  I remember my eyes being opened at the realization that the Feeding of the Five Thousand isn’t actually just a story about some incredible work of God’s hand.  I remember seeing first how John makes the point that the Feeding of the Five Thousand is an event that reveals mankind’s thirst for power.  The people want to forcibly make Jesus a king.  They want to force Jesus into conflict with the Romans.  The Feeding of the Five Thousand isn’t just about God’s awesome power but really a mirror for us to see ourselves.

And then I remember about 5 years ago reading the rest of the chapter quite deeply.  As we get to the end of chapter 6 what we see is that Jesus turns this Feeding of the Five Thousand experience into a place where people have to decide if they are buying what He is selling or not.  The reality is that most of the people leave.  In fact, we can assume that most if not all of the people who were following Jesus after the Feeding of the Five Thousand – except for the Twelve - actually abandon Jesus at the end of this chapter.  This incredible display of God’s power actually results in fewer people following Jesus!

This is the challenge.  This is why challenge is what it is.  God’s power and God’s truth is very challenging.  It causes us to face change.  It causes us to decide what is more important: being ourselves or being the person that God desires us to be.  And this is why so many people leave after hearing Jesus’ challenge.

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Year 5, Day 253: John 5

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Authority

• Authority: Our calling.  This comes from God as king.  Because He calls us as His representatives, He gives us authority to go and do His will.

John 5 is all about authority.  This story begins with Jesus healing on the Sabbath.  Of course, that sets up a huge conflict between Jesus and the religious leaders around Him.  But this conflict is all about the idea of authority and where Jesus is getting His authority.  Jesus claims His authority is coming from the Father – which makes the religious leaders even surer that Jesus is blaspheming!  However, Jesus also makes sure that He asserts that the authority of the religious leaders is coming from Moses, not the Father.  Of course, this doesn’t sit very well with them, either.

Jesus makes it very clear that the only authority for Him is the authority that comes from the Father.  This is a fundamentally huge point.  There are many sources of authority out in the world.  We often try to be our own authority.  We often have authority based on someone else.  Sometimes we try and make authority out of a position or title that we hold.  But Jesus is right.  The only legitimate authority is the authority that comes from the Father.  All other sources of authority will fade, pass away, or diminish.

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Year 5, Day 252: John 4

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Challenge

• Challenge: God does not merely wish us to be in relationship with Him as we are.  He challenges us to grow, stretch, and transform as we take on the mantle of being His representatives to this world.

What an incredible chapter for looking at challenge.  Jesus brings the challenge in incredible amounts here.  Let’s take a look:

1. Jesus asks the woman for a drink.  He’s a Jew and has every reason to look down on her.
2. Jesus tells her that He has living water, but has no means for drawing water.
3. Jesus invites her to call her husband, but this only forces her to admit that she’s had five husbands.
4. Jesus challenges her to accept that her place of worship may be subject to change.
5. Jesus challenges her to realize that she doesn’t know what she worships as well as she should.
6. Jesus challenges her to go into town and tell the people what has happened here.

However, look how the woman responds.  With every challenge the woman grows.  With every challenge she is brought into deeper interest in what Jesus is telling her.  With every challenge the woman becomes more and more prepared for the task that lies ahead.  By the time Jesus is done with her, she is prepared to go and tell her whole town about the challenge that Jesus has invoked in her life.  Through Jesus’ challenge, the woman is able to prepare even more people to expect challenge form Jesus.

A town is drawn closer to God because Jesus challenges a single woman.  That is the power of challenge. 

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Year 5, Day 251: John 3

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Challenge

• Challenge: God does not merely wish us to be in relationship with Him as we are.  He challenges us to grow, stretch, and transform as we take on the mantle of being His representatives to this world.

This interaction between Jesus and Nicodemus has always been one of my favorite interactions in the Gospel of John and perhaps in the whole Bible.  Of course it has one of the most often quoted passages in it, but that isn’t why.  What I love about this passage is the fact that Jesus brings challenge without fear.

Remember that Nicodemus is a teacher of the Law.  John 3:1 calls him a ruler of the Jews.  John 7:50 indicates that Nicodemus was one of the religious elite.  Nicodemus had friends in high places.  Nicodemus had enough power to ruin somebody if he wanted to do so.  Nicodemus could have been a threat to Jesus if he desired to be so.

But Nicodemus wasn’t a threat.  Jesus knows what is in Nicodemus’ heart and he brings the challenge.  Jesus demonstrates to one of these elite religious people just how human their own understanding actually is.  Jesus takes Nicodemus and gets him to realize that he hasn’t arrived in terms of understanding but actually has quite far to go!  Jesus challenges Nicodemus to push through the manmade legality of the religious elite and seek a true understanding of God and His ways.

Jesus played a very dangerous game here.  Nicodemus could have been a powerful enemy.  But in the end – because Jesus lays out the challenge correctly – Nicodemus is swayed.  Nicodemus is sent on a journey that ends with this powerful religious figure partnering with Joseph of Arimathea to take Jesus off of the cross.  Jesus’ challenge is received by Nicodemus.

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Year 5, Day 250: John 2

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Competency

• Competency: Being able to accomplish what one is called to do.

This is a great chapter in order to study Jesus – especially in the beginning of His ministry.  We have three examples of Jesus and humanity.  All three examples bring out a sense of challenge among human beings.  But what is really important to note is that in each place, Jesus is competent to do as God desires.

In the first story, Jesus turns water into wine.  Notice the level of challenge that Jesus gives to even His own mother.  He tells her that His time has not yet come.  In other words, she does not get to choose when He puts God’s power on display.  Just because He has the power of God does not mean that He is on her beck and call.  Jesus is not just competent enough to turn the water into wine, He is competent enough to even stand up to His mother and make sure she knows that He is submitting to the Father, not her.

In the second story, we get to see Jesus clear the temple.  In this story we see Jesus competent in standing up to the community around Him.  In clearing the temple, He would no doubt make a name for Himself.  He would no doubt make enemies.  He would not doubt draw attention to Himself and that attention would not be all that good.  Yet Jesus does not shy away from any of these things.  He is competent enough to stand up for the Father in spite of the consequences.

Finally, we get to third story about trust.  This last story is easy to overlook, especially with how well known the other stories are.  But in this story we see a great point with respect to competency.  Jesus does not put his trust into just anyone.  He pauses to consider who is trustworthy and who is not.  This is such an important understanding in life.  We shouldn’t air our needs and frustrations and desires and weaknesses to just anyone.  Find people that are worthy of your trust who will walk beside you in life and put your trust in them.

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Year 5, Day 249: John 1

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Evangelist

• Evangelist: One who looks for opportunities to proclaim the truth and is excited by it. The evangelist specializes in interacting with the world and reminding Christians that there are non-Christians in the world.  An evangelist is not timid about the faith and is often found have discussions with other people about the faith.

I think one of the neatest elements of the first chapter of John is found in the second half of the chapter.  As Jesus begins his ministry, John the Baptizer becomes an evangelist telling people about Him.  As Jesus begins to call individual people around Him, we see Peter respond to the call and go and invite Andrew.  As Jesus calls Phillip, we see Phillip go and tell Nathaniel.

One of the inspirational moments of this opening chapter is to see that when a person really meets Jesus, he goes out and talks to other people about it.  When a person’s life is challenged by Jesus, that person goes out and influences and challenges others.  When a person is changed by Christ, that person goes out and seeks to do the same in other people.

The result of Jesus is evangelism.  That doesn’t mean other people always listen, mind you.  But meeting Jesus does result in spreading the message to the people who are in our influence.

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Year 5, Day 248: Psalm 120-121

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Guidance

• Guidance: God grants us His guidance.  Sometimes this guidance is God leading us away from temptation.  Sometimes this guidance is helping us to follow in a direction for which He has chosen.  Our default position should be to wait for God’s guidance and then follow when it comes.

It would be really easy to go with the idea of protection for these psalms.  After all, Psalm 121 is all about the psalmist feeling as though he is among enemies while he desires to be among people who are about peace.  Psalm 122 is all about God’s ability to watch over us.  These are natural themes for talking about protection.

However, I believe that the deeper sub-tone of these psalms is guidance.  Anytime a person is among enemies they need protection.  But if we really look at that for which the psalmist is asking the Lord, we actually see a desire to move from living among people of war to living among people of peace.  The psalmist is looking to move from one context to another.  The easiest way to move from one context to another is with great guidance.  There is no greater guidance than that offered up by the Lord our God.

As Psalm 121 tells us, our help does come from the Lord.  God doesn’t fall asleep on the job.  He is always there for us.  He doesn’t strike us when we aren’t expecting it.  His guidance makes all things possible.

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Year 5, Day 247: Psalm 119

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Teacher

• Teacher: One who holds forth the truth and is excited by it. The teacher looks for ways to explain, enlighten, and apply truth.  A teacher's authority doesn't come from how smart they are but from the Word of God and the power of a transformed life.

Psalm 119 is a teacher’s psalm.  There is so much going on in this psalm that pairs with everything that a teacher is all about.  But it all begins with God’s Word.  The teacher looks to learn from God’s Word and bring the application of God’s Word into the lives of the people around them.  That is the point of this psalm.

If we look at this psalm, we can see one incredible pattern.  Each stanza begins with a different letter in the Hebrew alphabet.  All eight verses in each stanza begin with that letter.  What that means is that this psalm is designed for learning the Hebrew alphabet.  It is also designed to aid in memorization.  This truly is a teaching psalm.

Furthermore, if we look at the main thrust of each stanza, we see that the Word of God is at the heart of this psalm.  You can look at my theological commentary from 3 years ago for a more detailed explanation.  But in this psalm we are told about the memorization of God’s Word.  We are told about the righteousness of God’s Word.  We are told about how God’s Word can impact our life.  This psalm is all about bringing God’s Word into our life.

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Year 5, Day 246: Psalm 118

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Protection

• Protection: In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus teaches us to pray that God might deliver us from evil – even the Evil One.  Sometimes we need God’s protection from the sin around us.  Sometimes we need protection from the sinful people around us.  Other times we need protection from the sin that lies within ourselves. In any case, Jesus’ point is clear.  We need protection from the Father to make it through each and every day.

It would have been simple to write another blog post on Up, especially in this chapter.  However, I believe that three days on a single focus is good enough.  So today I am going to focus upon protection.

Look at what the psalmist says.  The Lord answers us in our distress.  The Lord is on our side, why should we fear?  We can take refuge in Him.  Our enemies may surround us, but He surrounds them!  When we fall, the Lord helps us up!  He answers us.  He has become our salvation!

This psalm is full of reasons to give God praise.  But most of the reasons for this praise are that the Lord can protect us.  He is capable of being what we truly need Him to be in our darkest moment.

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Year 5, Day 245: Psalm 116-117

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Up

• Up: Up is the word we use for what we worship.  If we are following God’s will, God will occupy the Up position.  Our life, our identity, our mission, our family on mission is all derived from Up.  This is why God needs to be in our Up position.

How about a third day for focusing on Up?  I think Up is a natural for these two psalms.  Of course, Psalm 117 is all of 28 words long, so it doesn’t have too many themes to pick from.  Each of those 28 words is focused on Up, though.  It calls us to praise God.  It calls us to extol His name.  Yes, Psalm 117 is most definitely about Up.

Psalm 116 is a slightly different story.  Psalm 116 begins by talking about how the psalmist loves God because of how God’s hand is at work in His life.  Then, the psalmist continues by talking about all of God’s characteristics.  But if we look at the end of Psalm 116 we can see that all of this turns us to the worship of God.

What shall I render to the Lord?  What can I give to the Lord?  What do I have that the Lord cannot have on His own?

The answer is simple.  I can give God my worship.  Yes, He doesn’t need it.  God is still God whether I worship Him or not.  But it is what I can give to Him.  I can turn to God and lift Him up and proclaim His name as great.  I can focus on Him and what He has done in my life.  That’s what Psalm 116 is all about.

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