In John 6:24 the crowd that Jesus has fed realizes that He and His disciples are not there and they go seeking Him.
The fact that the people were seeking Jesus seems like a really great thing. The people wanted Jesus.
But listen to Jesus’ words in John 6:26, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking Me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves.”
Jesus knew that the people were seeking Him because He had fed them. He had met their physical needs and that was their priority.
In John 6:27 Jesus says, “Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on Him God the Father has set His seal.”
Jesus doesn’t want us to make the physical needs and wants of our lives the priority. We are to make eternal things the priority of our lives. The only thing that is by its nature eternal is God. Jesus is saying “Make Me the priority of your life.”
When God showed this to me, He then caused me to ask a question. The question He put in my mind was - What is my priority in life?
Jesus says in John 6:35 and 6:48 that He is the Bread of Life.
Jesus says in John 6:41 that He is the bread that came down from heaven.
Bread for the time that Jesus physically was here on the earth was the staple of life. It was what primarily the people had to eat.
Jesus is saying that He and He alone has to be our priority.
When Jesus says that He is the Bread of Life, He means that He is:
The Everlasting Life
Jesus says that anyone who comes to Him will not hunger and whoever believes in Him will never thirst.
The life Jesus gives is not temporary; it is eternal.
Jesus uses the word Zoë for life. It means an eternal life that is real and genuine, a life that is active and vigorous, a life that is absolutely full.
Jesus gives life that is not just existing or surviving, but is really living.
John 3:14-15
And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him may have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.
Jesus, as the Bread of Life, is eternal life.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is about seeking Jesus for eternal life.
The Satisfying Life
I love bread. I could make a meal of bread. Some people struggle with sweets, but I struggle with bread. So I can easily see Jesus as the Bread of Life being totally satisfying.
The key to letting Jesus totally satisfy us is to have the same desires for our lives that Jesus has for our lives.
We have made satisfaction about:
Wealth
Success
Position
Comfort
Safety
My Needs Being Met
Jesus makes satisfaction about a relationship with the Father through Him.
In John 17:3 Jesus says that eternal life is knowing the only true God and Jesus Christ who He sent.
I see in the theology of a huge segment of the American church that Jesus is here to fulfill the American Dream so that we as Christians in America will not have to endure any discomfort. Let’s get real. Jesus didn’t die on the cross so you and I could be comfortable, healthy and wealthy.
Jesus died on the cross to save us from the penalty, power, and presence of sin.
Jesus died on the cross to change us from enemies of God to children of God.
Jesus died on the cross to recreate the image of God that humans were created with in the beginning.
It is an abomination to reduce what Jesus did on the cross to simply making me happy and comfortable.
It is not about having your best life now or becoming a better you. It is about yielding your life to Jesus, repenting of anything that is a priority other than Him, and surrendering all you are to Him as the sole authority in your life and the One who satisfies you completely.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is about looking to Jesus for your satisfaction and nothing else.
The Resurrection Life
Jesus as the Bread of Life is the resurrected life.
In John 11 when Jesus has a conversation with Martha at the tomb of Lazarus, He tells her that He is the Resurrection and the Life. He says that whoever believes in Him, though that person dies, yet that person will live.
Paul in Romans 8 tells us that nothing can separate us form God’s love, not even death.
Jesus promises that if we surrender our lives to Him, not only will we live for eternity, one day our bodies will be resurrected and we will live in that eternity with a body that does not get sick or hurt or wear out. I will tell you that the older I get and the more my body hurts, the more that promise becomes awesome.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is about believing the promise that, just as Jesus rose from the dead, we as His followers will be resurrected.
The Indwelling Life
John 6:51
I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is My flesh.
Jesus caused quite a stir among the Jews when He said that the bread He was giving was His own flesh.
Jesus didn’t stop there. In John 6:53-57 Jesus says, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. Whoever feeds on My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink. Whoever feeds on My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on Me, he also will live because of Me.”
Jesus shocks the people by saying that to experience real life, Zoë, they have to eat His flesh and drink His blood.
Jesus is not just referring to Communion here, where we symbolically eat the bread, His body, and drink the wine, His blood. But He is saying “I have to live in you for you to have real life.”
I remember vividly at eighteen years of age an older Christian sharing with me Colossians 1:27. It says “To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.”
Well, it was a mystery to me that Jesus had come and taken up residence in my life.
I thought being saved meant you received forgiveness for your sins, the promise of eternal life in heaven, but you had to work as hard as you could to obey God.
No!
Jesus by the Holy Spirit comes and lives in you. He works from the inside out. He empowers and enables you from the inside to obey and do His will.
Jesus is telling the people in John 6, and you and me, it is not about following rules, rituals, or traditions. It is about an inmate love relationship with the Father through Jesus living in and through you.
Jesus doesn’t want us to try harder, He wants us to surrender. I surrender to the rule of God through Jesus living in me.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is about having Jesus living in you so it is not you who is living but Jesus living His righteous and holy life in and through you.
We are living in an exciting time. It is a time of great spiritual darkness in our nation. But when it is darkest is when the Light of Jesus can most brightly shine in our lives.
Let Jesus be your Everlasting Life.
Let Jesus be you Satisfying Life.
Let Jesus be your Resurrected Life.
Let Jesus be you Indwelling Life.
LET JESUS BE YOUR LIFE!
With Jesus as My Life Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls
Joe
Sunday, July 26, 2015
Sunday, July 19, 2015
Jesus Meets Needs
Why do you follow Jesus?
I believe that is a very important question to ask.
It is a question that comes up in John chapter six.
Jesus and the twelve go to the other side of the Sea of Galilee. A large crowd follows Jesus. We are told in John 6:2 that they were following Jesus because of His healing of the sick.
Many people followed Jesus not for who He is but for what He does. They are focused on their perceived needs, their surface needs and don’t see the greater need that Jesus came to meet.
John 6:5-9
Lifting up His eyes then, and seeing that a large crowd was coming toward Him, Jesus said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?” He said this to test him, for He Himself knew what He would do. Philip answered Him, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread would not be enough for each of them to get a little.” One of His disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to Him, “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are they for so many?”
The needs are identified.
There are two needs here in this passage.
One is the very obvious of how to feed this large crowd of people.
We are told in verse 6 that Jesus knew what he was going to do. Jesus had a plan.
God always has a plan. Nothing ever catches Him by surprise. He is never shocked. He is never unprepared.
Jesus desires to meet our physical needs.
Jesus understands our physical needs because He had the same needs as He lived on earth.
Jesus got hungry.
Jesus got thirsty.
Jesus got tired.
In Matthew 25 Jesus tells that we as His followers are to meet the physical needs of people. Jesus indicates it is a huge determining factor as to who is a true follower of Him.
Jesus loves people and when people hurt, Jesus hurts. He loves us and provides for our physical needs and commands His church to do the same.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is about being the hands and feet of Jesus to meet physical needs in the world.
So if Jesus already knew what He was going to do, why does He ask Philip where they could buy food for the people?
This brings us to the second need. - Faith
Jesus is testing Philip.
All good teachers test. They don’t test to try and get their students to fail. They test to see how much of what they have taught really made an impact.
Jesus was testing to see if Philip got it.
Jesus was testing to see if Philip understood who Jesus was.
Jesus was testing the depth of Philip’s faith in Him as Messiah, Lord, the Son of God.
Why Philip?
Philip seems to be a very analytical guy. In John 14, right after Jesus says, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me,” Philip says in John 14:8, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.”
Philip seems to really struggle in the area of faith. He seems to be a person who needs to see it, touch it, hear it, smell it, and taste it before he can really believe it.
There is nothing wrong with being analytical. We need to make sure that our faith is in the real thing, not a lie or an illusion.
In fact, Paul compliments the people of Berea because they did search out the truth in what Paul was sharing with them. He says in Acts 17:11, “Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica, they received the word with eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.”
We need to make sure that what we are doing and how we are living is based on the truth of God.
But we also have to balance that with faith. Faith will always challenge us to go beyond what we can perceive with our physical senses. Faith will always also be based in Biblical truth.
What was Jesus looking for when He asked Philip that question?
Jesus was not looking for an analysis of the situation.
Jesus was not looking for Philip to come up with a food distribution plan.
Jesus was looking for Philip to give Him an answer based on Philip’s faith in Jesus as the Messiah, the Lord, the Son of God.
An answer that showed that Philip couldn’t feed these people, but he knew Jesus could and would.
Jesus had the plan.
He wanted Philip to acknowledge that He did have a plan.
He wanted Philip to ask what His plan was.
He wanted Philip to trust His plan.
Jesus then is approached by Andrew who brings him a boy with a lunch. The lunch is five barley loaves and two fish.
Andrew has no idea what Jesus could do with such a small amount of food, but he brings it to Jesus.
The contrast between Philip and Andrew is interesting.
Philip analyses the situation and, based on human logic, throws up his hands and says, “No way to do it.”
Andrew looks at the situation and brings Jesus what he found - a small lunch.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is about trusting that Jesus knows what He is doing. It is about trusting His plan.
Jesus meets the needs.
John 6:10-13
Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, about five thousand in number. Jesus then took the loaves, and when He had given thanks, He distributed them to those who were seated. So also the fish, as much as they wanted. And when they had eaten their fill, He told his disciples, “Gather up the leftover fragments, that nothing may be lost.” So they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves left by those who had eaten.
Jesus takes the small lunch and presents it to the Father and the Father then multiples it, not just to barely feed five thousand men plus women plus children, but to let them eat till they were full. Then on top of that, to have twelve baskets of leftovers.
Jesus meets the physical needs of the people.
Jesus meets the faith needs of His disciples.
The people react.
John 6:14-15
When the people saw the sign that He had done, they said, “This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world!” Perceiving then that they were about to come and take Him by force to make Him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountains by Himself.
I see two huge mistakes people make when it comes to how they view Jesus.
Many in the world view Jesus as a great prophet, teacher, or spiritual leader. Jesus is God. Anything short of acknowledging Jesus as God is too short and you miss the real impact of Jesus.
Many people in the church see Jesus as someone to get stuff from. They look to Jesus to give them wealth, health, success, and happiness. They miss the truth that we live in a temporary world. Jesus is at work to prepare us for our real home, our eternal home. When believers focus on the blessings of God instead of the presence of God, they, too, miss the real impact of Jesus.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is about letting Jesus be Himself in and through our lives.
Trusting Jesus’ Plan to Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls
Joe
I believe that is a very important question to ask.
It is a question that comes up in John chapter six.
Jesus and the twelve go to the other side of the Sea of Galilee. A large crowd follows Jesus. We are told in John 6:2 that they were following Jesus because of His healing of the sick.
Many people followed Jesus not for who He is but for what He does. They are focused on their perceived needs, their surface needs and don’t see the greater need that Jesus came to meet.
John 6:5-9
Lifting up His eyes then, and seeing that a large crowd was coming toward Him, Jesus said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?” He said this to test him, for He Himself knew what He would do. Philip answered Him, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread would not be enough for each of them to get a little.” One of His disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to Him, “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are they for so many?”
The needs are identified.
There are two needs here in this passage.
One is the very obvious of how to feed this large crowd of people.
We are told in verse 6 that Jesus knew what he was going to do. Jesus had a plan.
God always has a plan. Nothing ever catches Him by surprise. He is never shocked. He is never unprepared.
Jesus desires to meet our physical needs.
Jesus understands our physical needs because He had the same needs as He lived on earth.
Jesus got hungry.
Jesus got thirsty.
Jesus got tired.
In Matthew 25 Jesus tells that we as His followers are to meet the physical needs of people. Jesus indicates it is a huge determining factor as to who is a true follower of Him.
Jesus loves people and when people hurt, Jesus hurts. He loves us and provides for our physical needs and commands His church to do the same.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is about being the hands and feet of Jesus to meet physical needs in the world.
So if Jesus already knew what He was going to do, why does He ask Philip where they could buy food for the people?
This brings us to the second need. - Faith
Jesus is testing Philip.
All good teachers test. They don’t test to try and get their students to fail. They test to see how much of what they have taught really made an impact.
Jesus was testing to see if Philip got it.
Jesus was testing to see if Philip understood who Jesus was.
Jesus was testing the depth of Philip’s faith in Him as Messiah, Lord, the Son of God.
Why Philip?
Philip seems to be a very analytical guy. In John 14, right after Jesus says, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me,” Philip says in John 14:8, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.”
Philip seems to really struggle in the area of faith. He seems to be a person who needs to see it, touch it, hear it, smell it, and taste it before he can really believe it.
There is nothing wrong with being analytical. We need to make sure that our faith is in the real thing, not a lie or an illusion.
In fact, Paul compliments the people of Berea because they did search out the truth in what Paul was sharing with them. He says in Acts 17:11, “Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica, they received the word with eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.”
We need to make sure that what we are doing and how we are living is based on the truth of God.
But we also have to balance that with faith. Faith will always challenge us to go beyond what we can perceive with our physical senses. Faith will always also be based in Biblical truth.
What was Jesus looking for when He asked Philip that question?
Jesus was not looking for an analysis of the situation.
Jesus was not looking for Philip to come up with a food distribution plan.
Jesus was looking for Philip to give Him an answer based on Philip’s faith in Jesus as the Messiah, the Lord, the Son of God.
An answer that showed that Philip couldn’t feed these people, but he knew Jesus could and would.
Jesus had the plan.
He wanted Philip to acknowledge that He did have a plan.
He wanted Philip to ask what His plan was.
He wanted Philip to trust His plan.
Jesus then is approached by Andrew who brings him a boy with a lunch. The lunch is five barley loaves and two fish.
Andrew has no idea what Jesus could do with such a small amount of food, but he brings it to Jesus.
The contrast between Philip and Andrew is interesting.
Philip analyses the situation and, based on human logic, throws up his hands and says, “No way to do it.”
Andrew looks at the situation and brings Jesus what he found - a small lunch.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is about trusting that Jesus knows what He is doing. It is about trusting His plan.
Jesus meets the needs.
John 6:10-13
Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, about five thousand in number. Jesus then took the loaves, and when He had given thanks, He distributed them to those who were seated. So also the fish, as much as they wanted. And when they had eaten their fill, He told his disciples, “Gather up the leftover fragments, that nothing may be lost.” So they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves left by those who had eaten.
Jesus takes the small lunch and presents it to the Father and the Father then multiples it, not just to barely feed five thousand men plus women plus children, but to let them eat till they were full. Then on top of that, to have twelve baskets of leftovers.
Jesus meets the physical needs of the people.
Jesus meets the faith needs of His disciples.
The people react.
John 6:14-15
When the people saw the sign that He had done, they said, “This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world!” Perceiving then that they were about to come and take Him by force to make Him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountains by Himself.
I see two huge mistakes people make when it comes to how they view Jesus.
Many in the world view Jesus as a great prophet, teacher, or spiritual leader. Jesus is God. Anything short of acknowledging Jesus as God is too short and you miss the real impact of Jesus.
Many people in the church see Jesus as someone to get stuff from. They look to Jesus to give them wealth, health, success, and happiness. They miss the truth that we live in a temporary world. Jesus is at work to prepare us for our real home, our eternal home. When believers focus on the blessings of God instead of the presence of God, they, too, miss the real impact of Jesus.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is about letting Jesus be Himself in and through our lives.
Trusting Jesus’ Plan to Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls
Joe
Sunday, July 12, 2015
God Is At Work
In John chapter five Jesus is in Jerusalem. He goes to the pool of Bethesda.
John 5:3
Crowds of sick people - blind, lame, or paralyzed - lay on the porches.
This was a place where the sick came for the waters in the pool. They believed that if they could get in the water first ,they would be healed.
Jesus goes to one man. The man had been sick for thirty-eight years.
In John 5:6 Jesus asks him, “Would you like to get well?”
Most people would have answered, “Yes!” But this man didn’t say that. In John 5:7, he says, “I can’t, sir.”
Many times, like this man, we live as victims.
The only person in all creation who could heal this man comes and asks if he wants to get well, and he says, “I can’t.”
Jesus didn’t ask if he could. He ask if he wanted.
In Mark 10 Jesus encounters a blind man named Bartimaeus. Jesus asks him, “What do you want me to do for you?”
In Mark 10:51 Bartimaeus answers, “Rabbi, let me recover my sight.”
Jesus knows neither of these men can heal themselves.
Jesus knows that He can heal both these men.
The lame man saw himself as a victim.
Bartimaeus was blind but didn’t see himself as a victim.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is knowing we are (damaged, fallen), but not see ourselves as victims because the One who has overcome everything will heal us.
In John 5:8 Jesus out of compassion tells the man, “Get up, take up your bed, and walk.”
John 5:9 says, “And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked.”
One of the awesome things about Jesus is that He has unlimited compassion and He displays that compassion in ways that totally transform our lives.
But this healing of the lame man brings a question. There were many sick people at the pool. Why did Jesus focus on this one man?
A quick answer is that God is sovereign. But Jesus gives us a more in-depth answer farther down in chapter five.
John 5:17
But Jesus answered them, “My Father is working until now, and I am working.”
John 5:19-20
So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of His own accord, but only what He sees the Father doing, For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise. For the Father loves the Son and shows Him all that He Himself is doing. And greater works than these will He show Him so that you may marvel.”
If we want to learn how to know and do God’s will, we need to look at Jesus. He perfectly completed every assignment the Father gave Him to do.
Jesus never failed to do the will of the Father. Jesus never sinned. He becomes our model of how to obey the Father.
In the John 5 passage Jesus shares two important truths about how He knew what God wanted Him to do.
First, Jesus said He knew that the Father was working.
God is always at work in the world.
The lame man had no idea when he went to the pool that day what would happen. God had a plan to connect him with Jesus so the man could be healed.
Was the Father at work? Yes!
Did Jesus know where the Father was working? Yes!
Did Jesus obey the Father? Yes
Was the man healed? Yes!
When we look at our nation today we need to see more than just the disobedience. We need to see God working.
When we look at our nation today we need to do more than complain and whine. We need to rejoice over what God is doing.
We see the negative.
God sees the positive.
When the nation of Israel was in slavery in Egypt, was God at work? Yes!
God was giving them a desire for freedom.
God was preparing a deliverer.
God brought the deliverer, Moses, together with a people who had a desire to be free.
God delivered His people.
God is always working. We need to watch and see what He is doing and join Him.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is about acknowledging that the Father is at work. It is about really believing that no matter how bad things “look”, God has a plan and He is working it.
Second, the Son could do nothing of His own accord.
John 10:30
I and the Father are one.
Jesus and the Father were one, but Jesus submitted Himself to do the Father’s will so that He would be our model.
In the same way, according to John 15:5, we can do nothing without Jesus, but with Him we will, as He did, produce much fruit.
If Jesus submitted His will to the Father, then how much more do we need to submit our wills to Jesus?
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is about total dependence on Jesus to produce a life that bears fruit for God’s glory.
Third, Jesus didn’t just make up what to do. He did exactly what He saw the Father doing.
We operate much too often like Saul in 1 Samuel 15 where Samuel tells Saul that God has commanded him to wipeout the Amalekites. Saul spares the best of the livestock and the king of the Amalekites. When Samuel confronts Saul over his disobedience, Saul insists that he did obey God.
I have many, many times decided I wanted to do something. Most of the time something good, but “I” decided “I” wanted to do it. I would ask God to bless it after the fact.
That is not the pattern we see in Scripture. We see Jesus watching to see what the Father is doing and joining into the work of the Father.
In John 7 it is time for the Jewish Feast of Booths. Jesus’ brothers tell he should go to Jerusalem because that is where He will get noticed. In verse 6 Jesus says, “My time has not yet come, but your time is always here.”
Jesus let the Father decide the timing of when He did things.
Jesus let the Father decide what He did.
Jesus let the Father decide how He did things.
When Jesus went to the pool, He saw that the Father was working in the life of the lame man. Jesus knew that the Father had brought Him there to heal the man.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is about learning to be dependant on the Father.
Fourth, Jesus knew the Father loved Him and would use Him to do great things.
John 3:16 says that God loved the world so much that He sent Jesus.
1 John 3:16 says that Jesus loved us so much that He gave His life for us.
The words and actions of God tell you beyond any doubt that God loves you.
Since God loves you and has called you into a relationship with Himself through Jesus, He wants to use you to do great things.
Jesus tells us in John 14:12 that we will do the works that He is doing and we will do even greater works because He is going to the Father.
The works we do are done by our obedience and God’s power. If we join God in doing His work, He promises to supply all we need which, in reality, is Himself. He is what we need to do His work.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is about knowing God loves you and letting Him use you to do His work.
Knowing, Relying, and Trusting God in Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls
Joe
John 5:3
Crowds of sick people - blind, lame, or paralyzed - lay on the porches.
This was a place where the sick came for the waters in the pool. They believed that if they could get in the water first ,they would be healed.
Jesus goes to one man. The man had been sick for thirty-eight years.
In John 5:6 Jesus asks him, “Would you like to get well?”
Most people would have answered, “Yes!” But this man didn’t say that. In John 5:7, he says, “I can’t, sir.”
Many times, like this man, we live as victims.
The only person in all creation who could heal this man comes and asks if he wants to get well, and he says, “I can’t.”
Jesus didn’t ask if he could. He ask if he wanted.
In Mark 10 Jesus encounters a blind man named Bartimaeus. Jesus asks him, “What do you want me to do for you?”
In Mark 10:51 Bartimaeus answers, “Rabbi, let me recover my sight.”
Jesus knows neither of these men can heal themselves.
Jesus knows that He can heal both these men.
The lame man saw himself as a victim.
Bartimaeus was blind but didn’t see himself as a victim.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is knowing we are (damaged, fallen), but not see ourselves as victims because the One who has overcome everything will heal us.
In John 5:8 Jesus out of compassion tells the man, “Get up, take up your bed, and walk.”
John 5:9 says, “And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked.”
One of the awesome things about Jesus is that He has unlimited compassion and He displays that compassion in ways that totally transform our lives.
But this healing of the lame man brings a question. There were many sick people at the pool. Why did Jesus focus on this one man?
A quick answer is that God is sovereign. But Jesus gives us a more in-depth answer farther down in chapter five.
John 5:17
But Jesus answered them, “My Father is working until now, and I am working.”
John 5:19-20
So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of His own accord, but only what He sees the Father doing, For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise. For the Father loves the Son and shows Him all that He Himself is doing. And greater works than these will He show Him so that you may marvel.”
If we want to learn how to know and do God’s will, we need to look at Jesus. He perfectly completed every assignment the Father gave Him to do.
Jesus never failed to do the will of the Father. Jesus never sinned. He becomes our model of how to obey the Father.
In the John 5 passage Jesus shares two important truths about how He knew what God wanted Him to do.
First, Jesus said He knew that the Father was working.
God is always at work in the world.
The lame man had no idea when he went to the pool that day what would happen. God had a plan to connect him with Jesus so the man could be healed.
Was the Father at work? Yes!
Did Jesus know where the Father was working? Yes!
Did Jesus obey the Father? Yes
Was the man healed? Yes!
When we look at our nation today we need to see more than just the disobedience. We need to see God working.
When we look at our nation today we need to do more than complain and whine. We need to rejoice over what God is doing.
We see the negative.
God sees the positive.
When the nation of Israel was in slavery in Egypt, was God at work? Yes!
God was giving them a desire for freedom.
God was preparing a deliverer.
God brought the deliverer, Moses, together with a people who had a desire to be free.
God delivered His people.
God is always working. We need to watch and see what He is doing and join Him.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is about acknowledging that the Father is at work. It is about really believing that no matter how bad things “look”, God has a plan and He is working it.
Second, the Son could do nothing of His own accord.
John 10:30
I and the Father are one.
Jesus and the Father were one, but Jesus submitted Himself to do the Father’s will so that He would be our model.
In the same way, according to John 15:5, we can do nothing without Jesus, but with Him we will, as He did, produce much fruit.
If Jesus submitted His will to the Father, then how much more do we need to submit our wills to Jesus?
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is about total dependence on Jesus to produce a life that bears fruit for God’s glory.
Third, Jesus didn’t just make up what to do. He did exactly what He saw the Father doing.
We operate much too often like Saul in 1 Samuel 15 where Samuel tells Saul that God has commanded him to wipeout the Amalekites. Saul spares the best of the livestock and the king of the Amalekites. When Samuel confronts Saul over his disobedience, Saul insists that he did obey God.
I have many, many times decided I wanted to do something. Most of the time something good, but “I” decided “I” wanted to do it. I would ask God to bless it after the fact.
That is not the pattern we see in Scripture. We see Jesus watching to see what the Father is doing and joining into the work of the Father.
In John 7 it is time for the Jewish Feast of Booths. Jesus’ brothers tell he should go to Jerusalem because that is where He will get noticed. In verse 6 Jesus says, “My time has not yet come, but your time is always here.”
Jesus let the Father decide the timing of when He did things.
Jesus let the Father decide what He did.
Jesus let the Father decide how He did things.
When Jesus went to the pool, He saw that the Father was working in the life of the lame man. Jesus knew that the Father had brought Him there to heal the man.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is about learning to be dependant on the Father.
Fourth, Jesus knew the Father loved Him and would use Him to do great things.
John 3:16 says that God loved the world so much that He sent Jesus.
1 John 3:16 says that Jesus loved us so much that He gave His life for us.
The words and actions of God tell you beyond any doubt that God loves you.
Since God loves you and has called you into a relationship with Himself through Jesus, He wants to use you to do great things.
Jesus tells us in John 14:12 that we will do the works that He is doing and we will do even greater works because He is going to the Father.
The works we do are done by our obedience and God’s power. If we join God in doing His work, He promises to supply all we need which, in reality, is Himself. He is what we need to do His work.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is about knowing God loves you and letting Him use you to do His work.
Knowing, Relying, and Trusting God in Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls
Joe
Sunday, July 5, 2015
Breaking Down Barriers
In John chapter four Jesus is leaving Judea to go to Galilee. He goes through Samaria.
On this trip through Samaria Jesus teaches some very shocking truths.
John 4:7-9
A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” (For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.) The Samaritan woman said to Him, “How is it that You a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.)
In the beginning of His encounter with the Samaritan woman Jesus breaks down man-made social barriers. These barriers hindered the Gospel from being shared.
#1: Jesus breaks down the barrier of gender.
In that culture men normally had little or no contact in public with women not part of their family.
Jesus throughout His earthly ministry elevated woman out of the norm of their culture.
He had women who followed Him as a Rabbi.
Women were the first to know that He had risen.
Women shared with the Twelve that Jesus was alive.
Jesus made it very clear that He came for men and women. He showed that women had a place in the Kingdom of God.
Paul shares the truth on Jesus breaking down the gender barrier in Galatians 3:28. He writes, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”
In breaking down the gender barrier Jesus honored the difference between the sexes. He recognized the differences, but also made it clear that both male and female were equal in God’ sight.
We as a culture are trying to break the gender barrier down, but in a very ungodly way.
We want to create the illusion that there is no difference in the genders. To accomplish that the culture is trying to redefine gender and create more “genders”. There are five to six gender “identities” that many people recognize now.
Jesus breaks down the gender barrier to the spread of the Gospel and the benefit of humankind, male and female, not for an excuse to disobey and rebel against God.
Humans try to break down the gender barrier and it harms humankind, male and female.
#2: Jesus breaks down the social barrier.
Jesus was a Rabbi and the woman just an ordinary person.
We have developed many social barriers that hinder the truth of the Gospel from being shared.
Wealth
Titles
Positions
Denominations
In the Galatians 3:28 passage notice Paul says, “slave nor free”. There is no social standing with Jesus.
The Amplified Bible translates Romans 2:11, “For God shows no partiality [undue favor or unfairness; with Him one man is not different from another].
I have had many people over the years that view me, as a pastor, as someone more special in God’s sight than ordinary everyday followers of Jesus. I want to clear that view up right now - I AM NOT MORE SPECIAL BECAUSE I AM A PASTOR!
Pastor, missionaries, evangelist are not more special to God.
Truth is that the everyday, ordinary followers of Jesus will reach more people than all of us “special people” will.
The world is looking for real, authentic ordinary people who will accept them and love them enough to share the truth with them.
Social barriers are man-made and the enemy uses them to separate and divide us so that the Gospel is hindered from being shared.
Jesus broke them down.
#3: Jesus breaks down the ethnic barrier.
I am purposely using the term ethnic barrier and not racial. God’s Word makes it clear that we are descended from one couple, Adam and Eve. We are then from one race, the Human Race.
God’s desire is for people, all people, the human race to come to know Him, follow Him, obey Him and serve Him as Lord.
2 Peter 3:9
The Lord is not slow to fulfill His promises as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but all should reach repentance.
In Revelation 7:9-10 John is given a vision of heaven and he said he looked and saw a great multitude that no one could number from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”
When we view people as people and not by race or their ethnic background we view them as God does. Our desire will be the same desire that God has for them to be saved.
Jews and Samaritans hated one another. A “good” Jew would travel around Samaria to get to his destination even if it took more time.
Jesus not only travels through Samaria and stops to rest and have lunch but then He begins a conversation with a Samaritan woman.
When Jesus tells His disciples in Acts 1:8 that they will be His witness, He says, “In Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
Samaria represents those people who look, speak, dress, act, and think differently than us.
Jesus loves them.
Jesus wants them to know Him.
Jesus has a plan for them.
Because in God’s view “them” and “us” are the same.
#4: Jesus breaks down the religious barrier.
In John 4:10-15 Jesus has a conversation with the woman about living water.
Then in John 4:16-18 Jesus turns the conversation to the woman’s personal life and she does what many people do when the focus of God’s conviction gets too intense: she changes the subject.
She tries to sidetrack Jesus into a discussion about the proper place and way to worship.
In John 4:23-24 Jesus cuts through all the religious ritual and tradition. He says, “But the hour is coming and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship Him. God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”
Jesus doesn’t say that we have to use a certain worship style.
Jesus doesn’t say that we have to use a certain translation of the Bible.
Jesus doesn’t say that we have to dress a certain way.
Jesus says we have to worship in spirit and truth.
Our worship and service have to be real, genuine, and authentic. It is not just about form it is about substance.
It is not just about emotion and fun. It is about truth and sometimes truth is difficult and uncomfortable.
I don’t want to ever come before Jesus depending on saying all the right words, using the right form or using the right Bible. I want to come before Jesus humbled, seeking and real. I want to really experience the presence of Jesus, not just perform a religious act.
Jesus doesn’t let the woman focus on the how and where. He focuses her on the Who.
#5: Jesus breaks down the sin barrier.
Jesus the sinless one relating to this woman who had been married five times and was living with a man she wasn’t married to.
She comes out at noon to get water. Why? Most women came in the morning when it was cooler. This woman came at noon because in all likelihood she was an outcast among the woman of that village.
Jesus knew all this about her before He begins the conversation. He tells her that He knows in John 4:17-18.
I believe that Romans 3:23-24 is becoming one of my favorite passages. It says, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by His grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.”
Everybody has sinned.
Everybody has failed to perfectly obey God.
Everybody can be justified through the grace of Jesus.
Everybody can be forgiven through the grace of Jesus.
What I like about that passage is it says WE ARE ALL THE SAME! Sinners who can be saved and changed through the grace of Jesus.
Jesus didn’t let the woman’s spiritual or moral condition cause Him to avoid or ignore her.
We are not be of this world (buying into and living according to the values and belief of this fallen culture). We are and have to be in the world because that is where the people Jesus came to save and transform are.
Luke 19:10
For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.
The world, humankind are lost sinners and they need a Savior. You and are either lost sinners or saved sinners who knows the Savior. As a saved sinner who knows the Savior we are to being sharing His love and truth so the lost sinners can become saved sinners.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls breaks don’t barriers so the Gospel can penetrate people’s lives.
Another really awesome thing about this encounter between Jesus and the woman is that it was all initiated by Jesus.
He didn’t wait for the woman to address Him; He asked her for a drink.
If there was ever a time when we as followers of Jesus need to be lovingly proactive not angrily reactive it is now.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is about initiating love and grace conversations about the Gospel.
Breaking Barriers Down by Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls
Joe
On this trip through Samaria Jesus teaches some very shocking truths.
John 4:7-9
A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” (For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.) The Samaritan woman said to Him, “How is it that You a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.)
In the beginning of His encounter with the Samaritan woman Jesus breaks down man-made social barriers. These barriers hindered the Gospel from being shared.
#1: Jesus breaks down the barrier of gender.
In that culture men normally had little or no contact in public with women not part of their family.
Jesus throughout His earthly ministry elevated woman out of the norm of their culture.
He had women who followed Him as a Rabbi.
Women were the first to know that He had risen.
Women shared with the Twelve that Jesus was alive.
Jesus made it very clear that He came for men and women. He showed that women had a place in the Kingdom of God.
Paul shares the truth on Jesus breaking down the gender barrier in Galatians 3:28. He writes, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”
In breaking down the gender barrier Jesus honored the difference between the sexes. He recognized the differences, but also made it clear that both male and female were equal in God’ sight.
We as a culture are trying to break the gender barrier down, but in a very ungodly way.
We want to create the illusion that there is no difference in the genders. To accomplish that the culture is trying to redefine gender and create more “genders”. There are five to six gender “identities” that many people recognize now.
Jesus breaks down the gender barrier to the spread of the Gospel and the benefit of humankind, male and female, not for an excuse to disobey and rebel against God.
Humans try to break down the gender barrier and it harms humankind, male and female.
#2: Jesus breaks down the social barrier.
Jesus was a Rabbi and the woman just an ordinary person.
We have developed many social barriers that hinder the truth of the Gospel from being shared.
Wealth
Titles
Positions
Denominations
In the Galatians 3:28 passage notice Paul says, “slave nor free”. There is no social standing with Jesus.
The Amplified Bible translates Romans 2:11, “For God shows no partiality [undue favor or unfairness; with Him one man is not different from another].
I have had many people over the years that view me, as a pastor, as someone more special in God’s sight than ordinary everyday followers of Jesus. I want to clear that view up right now - I AM NOT MORE SPECIAL BECAUSE I AM A PASTOR!
Pastor, missionaries, evangelist are not more special to God.
Truth is that the everyday, ordinary followers of Jesus will reach more people than all of us “special people” will.
The world is looking for real, authentic ordinary people who will accept them and love them enough to share the truth with them.
Social barriers are man-made and the enemy uses them to separate and divide us so that the Gospel is hindered from being shared.
Jesus broke them down.
#3: Jesus breaks down the ethnic barrier.
I am purposely using the term ethnic barrier and not racial. God’s Word makes it clear that we are descended from one couple, Adam and Eve. We are then from one race, the Human Race.
God’s desire is for people, all people, the human race to come to know Him, follow Him, obey Him and serve Him as Lord.
2 Peter 3:9
The Lord is not slow to fulfill His promises as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but all should reach repentance.
In Revelation 7:9-10 John is given a vision of heaven and he said he looked and saw a great multitude that no one could number from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”
When we view people as people and not by race or their ethnic background we view them as God does. Our desire will be the same desire that God has for them to be saved.
Jews and Samaritans hated one another. A “good” Jew would travel around Samaria to get to his destination even if it took more time.
Jesus not only travels through Samaria and stops to rest and have lunch but then He begins a conversation with a Samaritan woman.
When Jesus tells His disciples in Acts 1:8 that they will be His witness, He says, “In Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
Samaria represents those people who look, speak, dress, act, and think differently than us.
Jesus loves them.
Jesus wants them to know Him.
Jesus has a plan for them.
Because in God’s view “them” and “us” are the same.
#4: Jesus breaks down the religious barrier.
In John 4:10-15 Jesus has a conversation with the woman about living water.
Then in John 4:16-18 Jesus turns the conversation to the woman’s personal life and she does what many people do when the focus of God’s conviction gets too intense: she changes the subject.
She tries to sidetrack Jesus into a discussion about the proper place and way to worship.
In John 4:23-24 Jesus cuts through all the religious ritual and tradition. He says, “But the hour is coming and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship Him. God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”
Jesus doesn’t say that we have to use a certain worship style.
Jesus doesn’t say that we have to use a certain translation of the Bible.
Jesus doesn’t say that we have to dress a certain way.
Jesus says we have to worship in spirit and truth.
Our worship and service have to be real, genuine, and authentic. It is not just about form it is about substance.
It is not just about emotion and fun. It is about truth and sometimes truth is difficult and uncomfortable.
I don’t want to ever come before Jesus depending on saying all the right words, using the right form or using the right Bible. I want to come before Jesus humbled, seeking and real. I want to really experience the presence of Jesus, not just perform a religious act.
Jesus doesn’t let the woman focus on the how and where. He focuses her on the Who.
#5: Jesus breaks down the sin barrier.
Jesus the sinless one relating to this woman who had been married five times and was living with a man she wasn’t married to.
She comes out at noon to get water. Why? Most women came in the morning when it was cooler. This woman came at noon because in all likelihood she was an outcast among the woman of that village.
Jesus knew all this about her before He begins the conversation. He tells her that He knows in John 4:17-18.
I believe that Romans 3:23-24 is becoming one of my favorite passages. It says, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by His grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.”
Everybody has sinned.
Everybody has failed to perfectly obey God.
Everybody can be justified through the grace of Jesus.
Everybody can be forgiven through the grace of Jesus.
What I like about that passage is it says WE ARE ALL THE SAME! Sinners who can be saved and changed through the grace of Jesus.
Jesus didn’t let the woman’s spiritual or moral condition cause Him to avoid or ignore her.
We are not be of this world (buying into and living according to the values and belief of this fallen culture). We are and have to be in the world because that is where the people Jesus came to save and transform are.
Luke 19:10
For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.
The world, humankind are lost sinners and they need a Savior. You and are either lost sinners or saved sinners who knows the Savior. As a saved sinner who knows the Savior we are to being sharing His love and truth so the lost sinners can become saved sinners.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls breaks don’t barriers so the Gospel can penetrate people’s lives.
Another really awesome thing about this encounter between Jesus and the woman is that it was all initiated by Jesus.
He didn’t wait for the woman to address Him; He asked her for a drink.
If there was ever a time when we as followers of Jesus need to be lovingly proactive not angrily reactive it is now.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is about initiating love and grace conversations about the Gospel.
Breaking Barriers Down by Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls
Joe
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)