John…on Love

Have you ever been caught up in a right/wrong situation where you must take a stand, and then when you do, people look for ways to bring you down because of your belief. This is happening more and more these days. We are not trying to judge individuals behavior, we are merely referring back to what Jesus taught us, how to love, how to live, while believing and behaving i ways that cause others to bring us down. Many defend the right to justify their sin. There was a song many, many years ago that impressed Randy and I early in our ministry. It still pierces our hearts, especially today…30 years later…”This Little Child” Meditate on verse two…

Who would of tho’t that long ago
So very far away
A little child would be born
And in a manger laid
And who would have tho’t this little child
Was born the King of kings
The Son of just a carpenter
For whom the angels sing
And who would have tho’t that as He grew
And with other children played
This child with whom they laughed and sang
Would die for them some day
And who would have tho’t this little child
Could make a blind man see
Feed the hungry make rich the poor
And set the sinner free
Oh who would have tho’t this little child
Was who the prophets said
Would take away the sins of man
And rise up from the dead

Chorus 1
O I believe and I will always sing
This little child is the King
O I believe and I will always sing
This little child
He is the King of kings

Verse 2
Many years have come and gone
Yet this world remains the same
Empires have been built and fallen
Only time has made a change
Nation against nation
Brother against brother
Men so filled with hatred
Killing one another
And over half the world is starving
While our banner of decency is torn
Debating over disarmament
Killing children before they’re born
And fools who march to win the right
To justify their sin
Oh ev’ry nation that has fallen
Has fallen from within
Yet in the midst of this darkness
There is a hope a light that burns
This little child the King of kings
Some day will return

Chorus 2
And I believe and I will always sing
This little child is the King
And I believe and I will always sing
This little child
He is the King of kings

Verse 3
Who would have tho’t this little child
Is who the prophets said
Will return to judge this world
The living and the dead
Oh can’t you see that long ago
So very far away
This little child our only hope
Was born a King that day
And can’t you see that here and now
As unto Him we pray
This Lord of lords who is our hope
Is still King today
He’s still the King today

“And they were looking for a way to arrest him…” Then and now.
People are still trying to find ways to dispute, bring down, or totally ignore Jesus, Savior and Lord, the Person of Truth.

John 7, The Message
30-31 They were looking for a way to arrest him, but not a hand was laid on him because it wasn’t yet God’s time. Many from the crowd committed themselves in faith to him, saying, “Will the Messiah, when he comes, provide better or more convincing evidence than this?”

32-34 The Pharisees, alarmed at this seditious undertow going through the crowd, teamed up with the high priests and sent their police to arrest him. Jesus rebuffed them: “I am with you only a short time. Then I go on to the One who sent me. You will look for me, but you won’t find me. Where I am, you can’t come.”

35-36 The Jews put their heads together. “Where do you think he is going that we won’t be able to find him? Do you think he is about to travel to the Greek world to teach the Jews? What is he talking about, anyway: ‘You will look for me, but you won’t find me,’ and ‘Where I am, you can’t come’?”

37-39 On the final and climactic day of the Feast, Jesus took his stand. He cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Rivers of living water will brim and spill out of the depths of anyone who believes in me this way, just as the Scripture says.” (He said this in regard to the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were about to receive. The Spirit had not yet been given because Jesus had not yet been glorified.)

40-44 Those in the crowd who heard these words were saying, “This has to be the Prophet.” Others said, “He is the Messiah!” But others were saying, “The Messiah doesn’t come from Galilee, does he? Don’t the Scriptures tell us that the Messiah comes from David’s line and from Bethlehem, David’s village?” So there was a split in the crowd over him. Some went so far as wanting to arrest him, but no one laid a hand on him.

45 That’s when the Temple police reported back to the high priests and Pharisees, who demanded, “Why didn’t you bring him with you?”

46 The police answered, “Have you heard the way he talks? We’ve never heard anyone speak like this man.”

47-49 The Pharisees said, “Are you carried away like the rest of the rabble? You don’t see any of the leaders believing in him, do you? Or any from the Pharisees? It’s only this crowd, ignorant of God’s Law, that is taken in by him—and damned.”

50-51 Nicodemus, the man who had come to Jesus earlier and was both a ruler and a Pharisee, spoke up. “Does our Law decide about a man’s guilt without first listening to him and finding out what he is doing?”

52-53 But they cut him off. “Are you also campaigning for the Galilean? Examine the evidence. See if any prophet ever comes from Galilee.”

Then they all went home.

Yes, they never could get past that the “son of Mary” (not Joseph, which was a way to bring the family down), this one who they thought merely came from the lowly region of Nazareth could be the Messiah. They would not for they would lose their power and hold on the people…God’s people. They looked for ways, instead, to justify their sin, as the song says.

Dear Heavenly Father, I pray we are not that dull and ignorant of Your Word, Your Story of Your Greatness, Love, Mercy and Grace…all wrapped up in Your Son sent from You to save us from our selfishness. I repent. I stand for Christ. Continue to be with us. In Jesus Name, we live and breathe, Amen. I believe.