Daily Manna (Coffee with Jesus)

We want peace at all costs—but we want it our way in our time—as quickly as possible.  We don’t like to wait for what we want.  Once we have a desire of getting, selfish pride takes over and we will do everything within our power to get it. 

But once we get it, we are still not fully satisfied because we have built our faith on ourselves.  Feeling empty inside, we wearily worry, “is that all there is?” as we seek more.  We want more food, more clothes, more cars, more homes, more vacations, more days off work, more friends, more money to get what we want…and the more is never enough.

When we can’t have what we want, we throw childish tantrums while warring with others to demand what we think we deserve. After all, we have been told repeatedly by the world: “have it your way,” “you deserve a break today,” “be all you can be.”

In a world of warring competitions of power, comparing ourselves with each other, fueled by envy, greed, jealousy, arrogance and pride, we will never be satisfied.  All these traits are characteristics of our enemy whose goal is to distract, deceive, deconstruct, and eventually destroy our relationship with the One who loves us most and the Only one who satisfies our every need. Ahh, we get it now—but do we?

It’s time to get serious, says James.

James 4, The Message

Get Serious

4 ^1-2 Where do you think all these appalling wars and quarrels come from? Do you think they just happen? Think again. They come about because you want your own way, and fight for it deep inside yourselves. You lust for what you don’t have and are willing to kill to get it. You want what isn’t yours and will risk violence to get your hands on it.

^2-3 You wouldn’t think of just asking God for it, would you? And why not? Because you know you’d be asking for what you have no right to. You’re spoiled children, each wanting your own way.

^4-6 You’re cheating on God. If all you want is your own way, flirting with the world every chance you get, you end up enemies of God and his way. And do you suppose God doesn’t care? The proverb has it that “he’s a fiercely jealous lover.” And what he gives in love is far better than anything else you’ll find. It’s common knowledge that “God goes against the willful proud; God gives grace to the willing humble.”

^7-10 So let God work his will in you. Yell a loud no to the Devil and watch him make himself scarce. Say a quiet yes to God and he’ll be there in no time. Quit dabbling in sin. Purify your inner life. Quit playing the field. Hit bottom, and cry your eyes out. The fun and games are over. Get serious, really serious. Get down on your knees before the Master; it’s the only way you’ll get on your feet.

^11-12 Don’t bad-mouth each other, friends. It’s God’s Word, his Message, his Royal Rule, that takes a beating in that kind of talk. You’re supposed to be honoring the Message, not writing graffiti all over it. God is in charge of deciding human destiny. Who do you think you are to meddle in the destiny of others?

Nothing but a Wisp of Fog

^13-15 And now I have a word for you who brashly announce, “Today—at the latest, tomorrow—we’re off to such and such a city for the year. We’re going to start a business and make a lot of money.” You don’t know the first thing about tomorrow. You’re nothing but a wisp of fog, catching a brief bit of sun before disappearing. Instead, make it a habit to say, “If the Master wills it and we’re still alive, we’ll do this or that.”

^16-17 As it is, you are full of your grandiose selves. All such vaunting self-importance is evil. In fact, if you know the right thing to do and don’t do it, that, for you, is evil.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

If we rely solely on ourselves, who are only “wisps of fog, catching a brief bit of sun before disappearing, we need to get serious with God who is forever faithful, always loving, and has a unique plan for our lives that gives us His extreme best for our good and His glory.  That plan begins with Jesus who satisfies all that we have been seeking in a relationship of acceptance that promises and delivers unfailing faithfulness.  This union is intimately personal and relentless loving, merciful and full of grace—MORE than we ever hoped or dreamed!

It bears repeating…

“So let God work his will in you. Yell a loud no to the Devil and watch him make himself scarce. Say a quiet yes to God and he’ll be there in no time. Quit dabbling in sin. Purify your inner life. Quit playing the field. Hit bottom, and cry your eyes out. The fun and games are over. Get serious, really serious. Get down on your knees before the Master; it’s the only way you’ll get on your feet.”

Lord,

Help us to know you more because you are more than enough and you are all we need.  Relieve the worry from wanting want the world wants and thinking we must have our “fair share.” How utterly hopeless and ridiculous the thought! Guide our hearts to seek you first.  We know you will provide all we really need when we really get serious about our precious, faithful, loving relationship with you. 

You are the Bread of heaven and the Living Water that satisfies my soul forever.  You are all I need.  Forgive me when I fall for the enemy instead of falling on my knees before you, the King of kings and Lord of lords!  Cleanse my heart, renew my mind, refresh my soul and restore the peace and joy of your salvation work within me.

In Jesus Name, Amen

“You can catch more flies with honey than vinegar” my grandmas used to say when the cousins would gather and disagree over the rules of playing a game.  As the disagreements grew, nasty, hurtful words were said as weapons to get their own way.  It is that action that truly hurts the hearts of grandmas who love us unconditionally.  So, this phrase was used to help us see that sweeter words might be more convincing. It is more effective to be polite and encouraging than to be hostile or demanding.  I also overheard my grandparents say this to our parents when disagreements in church would arise.

“Kind words are like honey—sweet to the soul and healthy for the body.” Says the writer of Proverbs 16:24, known as the book of wisdom.  Wisdom is defined as “skills for living.” We all need skills of wisdom to get along with each other!

James takes time to write to us about the most offensive part of our body—the tongue.  All in one day of living we can use our tongues to encourage and later curse those who bother, oppose us, or get in our way!  Yep, it’s time for a checkup with close inspection of our tongues for a defining diagnosis for better health. 

Our tongues can make us or break us while taking others down with us.  So, open wide!  It’s time to take a long hard look—at the tongue!

James 3, The Message

When You Open Your Mouth

3 ^1-2 Don’t be in any rush to become a teacher, my friends. Teaching is highly responsible work. Teachers are held to the strictest standards. And none of us is perfectly qualified. We get it wrong nearly every time we open our mouths. If you could find someone whose speech was perfectly true, you’d have a perfect person, in perfect control of life.

^3-5 A bit in the mouth of a horse controls the whole horse. A small rudder on a huge ship in the hands of a skilled captain sets a course in the face of the strongest winds. A word out of your mouth may seem of no account, but it can accomplish nearly anything—or destroy it!

^5-6 It only takes a spark, remember, to set off a forest fire. A careless or wrongly placed word out of your mouth can do that. By our speech we can ruin the world, turn harmony to chaos, throw mud on a reputation, send the whole world up in smoke and go up in smoke with it, smoke right from the pit of hell.

^7-10 This is scary: You can tame a tiger, but you can’t tame a tongue—it’s never been done. The tongue runs wild, a wanton killer. With our tongues we bless God our Father; with the same tongues we curse the very men and women he made in his image. Curses and blessings out of the same mouth!

^10-12 My friends, this can’t go on. A spring doesn’t gush fresh water one day and brackish the next, does it? Apple trees don’t bear strawberries, do they? Raspberry bushes don’t bear apples, do they? You’re not going to dip into a polluted mud hole and get a cup of clear, cool water, are you?

Live Well, Live Wisely

^13-16 Do you want to be counted wise, to build a reputation for wisdom? Here’s what you do: Live well, live wisely, live humbly. It’s the way you live, not the way you talk, that counts. Mean-spirited ambition isn’t wisdom. Boasting that you are wise isn’t wisdom. Twisting the truth to make yourselves sound wise isn’t wisdom. It’s the furthest thing from wisdom—it’s animal cunning, devilish plotting. Whenever you’re trying to look better than others or get the better of others, things fall apart and everyone ends up at the others’ throats.

^17-18 Real wisdom, God’s wisdom, begins with a holy life and is characterized by getting along with others. It is gentle and reasonable, overflowing with mercy and blessings, not hot one day and cold the next, not two-faced. You can develop a healthy, robust community that lives right with God and enjoy its results only if you do the hard work of getting along with each other, treating each other with dignity and honor.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

Within the Body of Christ, there will always be someone with an agenda of arrogance, wanting their own way, seeking a higher position of importance within the Body. Sometimes that person is us! I am reminded of what Paul had to say about striving instead to be a heathy Body while growing and maturing in the love of God.  Here are some sweet honey wisdom statements from Ephesians 4:

“Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.”

“Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.”

“Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.”

“…speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ.”

“You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires;to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.”

 We strive to be more and more like Jesus, by God’s Holy Spirit power helping us in transforming our thinking, saying, and doing in our new life which leads to greater spiritual health and to life eternal!  May the Holy Spirit control our tongues!

“Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbor, for we are all members of one body.”

^“Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.” 

“And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.”  (Or your grandmas!)

“Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.”

HOW?  THINK before we speak!  This is a great filter, prayed in Jesus Name, to help us use our tongues wisely;

• T- Is what I am about to say the Truth?
• H- Is what I am about to say going to be Helpful?
• I- Is what I am about to say going to be Inspiring?
• N- Is what I am about to say Necessary and Holy Spirit led at this time?
• K- Is what I am about to say going to be Kind and compassionate?

If what we are about to say tics all the boxes of THINK then use those words to build each other up, dripped in honey, “wonderful words of Life” delivered over our lips by our Holy Spirit-controlled tongue!

Avoid sarcasm, arrogance, boasting, deceitfulness and truth twisting and spinning with political maneuvering–at all costs!  For it may cost us our lives!

And Jesus said, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” John 13:34-35

Lord,

We need your help!  Cleanse our hearts, for what flows from our hearts comes over our tongues.  Renew our minds to THINK before we speak.  Refresh our souls with your tender mercies.  Restore the joy and peace of your salvation at work within us.  May your Holy Spirit lead us and may we respond in ways that help each other and please you!

In Jesus Name, Amen

Love and marriage, love and marriage
They go together like a horse and carriage
This I tell you, brother
You can’t have one without the other

You can’t read this without singing it, right?  (By now the tune is stuck in your head!)  As Randy and I celebrate 53 years of marriage at the end of this month, I am recalling how important our belief in each other has kept our love for each other firmly grounded—through challenging times as well as the good times in our lives together.  Without love, marriage is merely a word used to describe your current living arrangement.  Without marriage, the intimacy of real love between two people is fleeting, a lack of commitment that suddenly fades away like the morning dew.

Love in marriage that is built on the foundation of our royal love of Christ in us; grows and matures into a love that seeks to please the other with acts of love.  When you believe in each other we “act” in distinctive ways toward each other.  For example, we look at each other with a smile when they enter the room.  We pray for each other daily.  We help each other and work as a team to accomplish life tasks.  We look for ways to please each other throughout the day.  When one is discouraged, we know it.  We either speak words of encouragement or don’t speak at all and just listen with a warm embrace.  These are learned behaviors from submitting ourselves to each other as we submit ourselves to Jesus.

James give us a new pairing of words—faith and doing.  Spoiler alert:  They are closely related to trust and obey!  According to James, you can’t have one without the other!

James 2, The Message

The Royal Rule of Love

2 ^1-4 My dear friends, don’t let public opinion influence how you live out our glorious, Christ-originated faith. If a man enters your church wearing an expensive suit, and a street person wearing rags comes in right after him, and you say to the man in the suit, “Sit here, sir; this is the best seat in the house!” and either ignore the street person or say, “Better sit here in the back row,” haven’t you segregated God’s children and proved that you are judges who can’t be trusted?

^5-7 Listen, dear friends. Isn’t it clear by now that God operates quite differently? He chose the world’s down-and-out as the kingdom’s first citizens, with full rights and privileges. This kingdom is promised to anyone who loves God. And here you are abusing these same citizens! Isn’t it the high and mighty who exploit you, who use the courts to rob you blind? Aren’t they the ones who scorn the new name—“Christian”—used in your baptisms?

^8-11 You do well when you complete the Royal Rule of the Scriptures: “Love others as you love yourself.” But if you play up to these so-called important people, you go against the Rule and stand convicted by it. You can’t pick and choose in these things, specializing in keeping one or two things in God’s law and ignoring others. The same God who said, “Don’t commit adultery,” also said, “Don’t murder.” If you don’t commit adultery but go ahead and murder, do you think your non-adultery will cancel out your murder? No, you’re a murderer, period.

^12-13 Talk and act like a person expecting to be judged by the Rule that sets us free. For if you refuse to act kindly, you can hardly expect to be treated kindly. Kind mercy wins over harsh judgment every time.

Faith in Action

^14-17 Dear friends, do you think you’ll get anywhere in this if you learn all the right words but never do anything? Does merely talking about faith indicate that a person really has it? For instance, you come upon an old friend dressed in rags and half-starved and say, “Good morning, friend! Be clothed in Christ! Be filled with the Holy Spirit!” and walk off without providing so much as a coat or a cup of soup—where does that get you? Isn’t it obvious that God-talk without God-acts is outrageous nonsense?

¹⁸ I can already hear one of you agreeing by saying, “Sounds good. You take care of the faith department, I’ll handle the works department.”

Not so fast. You can no more show me your works apart from your faith than I can show you my faith apart from my works. Faith and works, works and faith, fit together hand in glove.

^19-20 Do I hear you professing to believe in the one and only God, but then observe you complacently sitting back as if you had done something wonderful? That’s just great. Demons do that, but what good does it do them? Use your heads! Do you suppose for a minute that you can cut faith and works in two and not end up with a corpse on your hands?

^21-24 Wasn’t our ancestor Abraham “made right with God by works” when he placed his son Isaac on the sacrificial altar? Isn’t it obvious that faith and works are yoked partners, that faith expresses itself in works? That the works are “works of faith”? The full meaning of “believe” in the Scripture sentence, “Abraham believed God and was set right with God,” includes his action. It’s that weave of believing and acting that got Abraham named “God’s friend.” Is it not evident that a person is made right with God not by a barren faith but by faith fruitful in works?

^25-26 The same with Rahab, the Jericho harlot. Wasn’t her action in hiding God’s spies and helping them escape—that seamless unity of believing and doing—what counted with God? The very moment you separate body and spirit, you end up with a corpse. Separate faith and works and you get the same thing: a corpse.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

If we were unsure how our faith affects what we do in Jesus Name for His glory and our good; James makes it crystal clear.  Faith in God is tied to our obedience to God.  Our true belief is reflected in our behaviors.  Believing is defined by James as “acts of faith” that please God.  It is that profoundly simple.  You can’t have one without the other! In fact, faith without acts of faith is a dead faith.  Yikes!  Yes, James said that out loud for the church to sit up and take notice!

“To obey is better than sacrifice” Samuel said to God’s people when they were fooling around with idols and practices not of God in their world.  God clearly told his people then and now; what counts before Him is our complete, unrestrained, loving, committed obedience. 

“Do you think all God wants are sacrifices—empty rituals just for show?
He wants you to listen to him! Plain listening is the thing, not staging a lavish religious production.
Not doing what God tells you is far worse than fooling around in the occult.
Getting self-important around God is far worse than making deals with your dead ancestors.
Because you said No to God’s command, he says No to your kingship.” 1 Samuel 15:22, MSG

When God invites us to join Him in His work, it is a privilege!  Our response to the God, who we say we believe, must be an eager yes!  Feeling inadequate, humbled by the request, overwhelmed by the immensity of the work or underwhelmed by the smallness of the task, the time it will take, or the people it will affect are not considered by God as excuses.  Where God guides, He provides all we need to fulfill what He has asked us to be and do.  ALL for His glory and for our good because He is God and He is Good.

When Jesus walked the earth, He pointed out the same principle of obedience to the people who wanted to believe in what He said but had all kinds of reasons and excuses for not acting on their believing faith with following Him.

“On the road someone asked if he could go along. “I’ll go with you, wherever,” he said.

Jesus was curt: “Are you ready to rough it? We’re not staying in the best inns, you know.”

Jesus said to another, “Follow me.”

He said, “Certainly, but first excuse me for a couple of days, please. I have to make arrangements for my father’s funeral.”

Jesus refused. “First things first. Your business is life, not death. And life is urgent: Announce God’s kingdom!”

Then another said, “I’m ready to follow you, Master, but first excuse me while I get things straightened out at home.”

Jesus said, “No procrastination. No backward looks. You can’t put God’s kingdom off till tomorrow. Seize the day.”  Luke 9:57-62, MSG

Wow, what’s my excuse?  That’s the question I am pausing to think about this morning as I ponder the royal rule of love of Christ in me. 

Is my love expressed by my commitment to follow in obedience to God’s invitation? 

Is the real love of God realized and expanded in me as I think of how deep Jesus authentic relentless love must be as He demonstrated this act of love on the cross for me?

Does my love, faith and hope cause a great desire in me to please God in all I think, say, and do?  For certain, what I believe in faith will be reflected in my acts of faith behaviors. 

Lord,

Cleanse my heart, renew my mind, refresh my soul and restore the joy of your salvation work that transforms me to be and do all you created me to be and do.  I’m listening and ready to obey.  Help us, Lord.

In Jesus Name, Amen

We gather in a comfortable common place with others and form a community called church.  We sing from our hearts to God, listen to His Word spoken, and say we believe in Jesus who is responsible for our salvation and who called us to imitate His love to others. Because of this love of God in us, we are commanded and joyfully committed to reconcile to God through Jesus.  We are then given the ministry from God of helping others reconcile to Him, too.

What could go wrong?

“When Christian believer gather in churches, everything that can go wrong sooner or later does.  Outsiders, on observing this, conclude that there is nothing to the religion business except, perhaps, business—and dishonest business at that.  Insiders see it differently.  Just as a hospital collects the sick under one roof and labels them as such, the church collects sinners.  Many of the people outside the hospital are every bit as sick as the ones inside, but their illnesses are either undiagnosed or disguised.  It’s similar with sinners outside the church.”

“So Christian churches are not, as a rule, model communities of good behavior.  They are, rather, places where human misbehavior is brought out in the open, faced, and dealt with.”

“The letter of James shows one of the church’s early pastors skillfully going about his work of confronting, diagnosing, and dealing with areas of misbelief and misbehavior that had turned up in congregations committed to his care. Deep and living wisdom is on display here, wisdom both rare and essential.  Wisdom is not primarily knowing the truth, although it certainly includes that; it is skill in living.  For, what good is a truth if we don’t know how to live it? What good is an intention if we can’t sustain it?”

“According to church traditions, James carried the nickname “Old Camel Knees” because of thick calluses built up on his knees from many years of determined prayer. The prayer is foundational to the wisdom.  Prayer is ALWAYS foundation to wisdom.”          –Eugene Peterson, Intro to James, The Message Bible

James 1, The Message

I, James, am a slave of God and the Master Jesus, writing to the twelve tribes scattered to Kingdom Come: Hello!

Faith Under Pressure

^2-4 Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don’t try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way.

^5-8 If you don’t know what you’re doing, pray to the Father. He loves to help. You’ll get his help, and won’t be condescended to when you ask for it. Ask boldly, believingly, without a second thought. People who “worry their prayers” are like wind-whipped waves. Don’t think you’re going to get anything from the Master that way, adrift at sea, keeping all your options open.

^9-11 When down-and-outers get a break, cheer! And when the arrogant rich are brought down to size, cheer! Prosperity is as short-lived as a wildflower, so don’t ever count on it. You know that as soon as the sun rises, pouring down its scorching heat, the flower withers. Its petals wilt and, before you know it, that beautiful face is a barren stem. Well, that’s a picture of the “prosperous life.” At the very moment everyone is looking on in admiration, it fades away to nothing.

¹² Anyone who meets a testing challenge head-on and manages to stick it out is mighty fortunate. For such persons loyally in love with God, the reward is life and more life.

^13-15 Don’t let anyone under pressure to give in to evil say, “God is trying to trip me up.” God is impervious to evil, and puts evil in no one’s way. The temptation to give in to evil comes from us and only us. We have no one to blame but the leering, seducing flare-up of our own lust. Lust gets pregnant, and has a baby: sin! Sin grows up to adulthood, and becomes a real killer.

^16-18 So, my very dear friends, don’t get thrown off course. Every desirable and beneficial gift comes out of heaven. The gifts are rivers of light cascading down from the Father of Light. There is nothing deceitful in God, nothing two-faced, nothing fickle. He brought us to life using the true Word, showing us off as the crown of all his creatures.

Act on What You Hear

^19-21 Post this at all the intersections, dear friends: Lead with your ears, follow up with your tongue, and let anger straggle along in the rear. God’s righteousness doesn’t grow from human anger. So throw all spoiled virtue and cancerous evil in the garbage. In simple humility, let our gardener, God, landscape you with the Word, making a salvation-garden of your life.

^22-24 Don’t fool yourself into thinking that you are a listener when you are anything but, letting the Word go in one ear and out the other. Act on what you hear! Those who hear and don’t act are like those who glance in the mirror, walk away, and two minutes later have no idea who they are, what they look like.

²⁵ But whoever catches a glimpse of the revealed counsel of God—the free life!—even out of the corner of his eye, and sticks with it, is no distracted scatterbrain but a man or woman of action. That person will find delight and affirmation in the action.

^26-27 Anyone who sets himself up as “religious” by talking a good game is self-deceived. This kind of religion is hot air and only hot air. Real religion, the kind that passes muster before God the Father, is this: Reach out to the homeless and loveless in their plight, and guard against corruption from the godless world.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

Walk the talk!  When God leads, follow his direction.

How?  I have discovered that following God’s Holy Spirit prompting is much simpler than we think.  Living the Truth is not necessarily a grand jester but a whisper from God’s heart to ours.  Who hasn’t had the experience of suddenly having a particular person come to mind?  That’s God!  He will place a person in our minds for reasons we might not know but can help. We must stop to pray for them immediately on their behalf in response to God!  “Act on what we hear,” says James.

In other moments, God’s Holy Spirit will give us simple action idea to do to encourage someone who is facing a challenging circumstance.  Sometimes, God tells us to sit with a family while their loved one is in surgery.  Maybe it is sharing a meal with those in need without waiting on a committee’s sanctioned plan.  Wherever, whenever, and however God calls us, He will provide a way to accomplish His will through us to help others know Him and be reconnected (reconciled) to Him.  Serving is a gift from God to us as a privilege to join Him in His work of reconciliation of relationships. Great are these gifts to us!

God never runs out of gifts to serve and help others. James teaches us that all the gifts God gives to us are used to gift others so they will see the Light of His love in us and be drawn to His Light, too!  “So, my very dear friends, don’t get thrown off course. Every desirable and beneficial gift comes out of heaven. The gifts are rivers of light cascading down from the Father of Light.”  All comes from God, our Father, the only wise and good God.

Act on what you hear.  God will give us all we need in the action.

Lord,

Thank you for James who deals with our human temptation of self satisfaction and guides to reach out to others in response too God’s leading.  Cleanse our hearts of thinking only of ourselves, renew our minds and transform our behaviors, refresh our souls with your new mercies, and restore the joy of your salvation at work within us.  May we love others like you love us.  May they know we truly believe what you say as they see our love for you and each other.

In Jesus Name, Amen

“In simple humility, let our gardener, God, landscape you with the Word, making a salvation-garden of your life.” –James, Old Camel Knees

“Go after a life of love as if your life depended on it—because it does.” 1 Corinthians 14:1, MSG 

FACT:  We have changed the meaning of the words “as if.”  Today’s idiom is used as a jester of unbelief.  “Are you getting that raise you wanted?”  “As if…”  sarcastically said, meaning that will never happen. Sometimes we use the words humorously to show that what you are about to say is the opposite of what you really think.  But, for the most part, “as if” are words said to show that you do not believe something is possible.

Jesus changes everything. Jesus, sent from heaven to move into the neighborhood of humanity teaches us a new language.  Jesus, who is the unchangeable, reliable Truth who never changes; changes everything about us—from the inside out! 

When we believe, really believe in Jesus as the One who died and rose again to save us from our own sins, knowing He would remove them—new life begins for us!  We begin His transform what we think, say, and do by the power and strength of God’s Holy Spirit who now lives deep within us. 

Jesus says that with God all things are possible.  That’s why with God and His love growing in us, we can now love as if our lives depended on it—because it does! He is Life! We help each other as if we needed the help ourselves—because we do!  We live as if Jesus is always with us—because He is!

The closing words of the writer of Hebrews teaches us how to this “as if” life to the full in the Name of Jesus.  Pay close attention, believe, pray, help, living life in Jesus Name.  These precious words reveal the skills for living—God’s wisdom—transforming us day by day.

Hebrews 13, The Message

Jesus Doesn’t Change

13 ^1-4 Stay on good terms with each other, held together by love. Be ready with a meal or a bed when it’s needed. Why, some have extended hospitality to angels without ever knowing it! Regard prisoners as if you were in prison with them. Look on victims of abuse as if what happened to them had happened to you. Honor marriage, and guard the sacredness of sexual intimacy between wife and husband. God draws a firm line against casual and illicit sex.

^5-6 Don’t be obsessed with getting more material things. Be relaxed with what you have. Since God assured us, “I’ll never let you down, never walk off and leave you,” we can boldly quote,

God is there, ready to help;
I’m fearless no matter what.
Who or what can get to me?

^7-8 Appreciate your pastoral leaders who gave you the Word of God. Take a good look at the way they live, and let their faithfulness instruct you, as well as their truthfulness. There should be a consistency that runs through us all. For Jesus doesn’t change—yesterday, today, tomorrow, he’s always totally himself.

⁹ Don’t be lured away from him by the latest speculations about him. The grace of Christ is the only good ground for life. Products named after Christ don’t seem to do much for those who buy them.

^10-12 The altar from which God gives us the gift of himself is not for exploitation by insiders who grab and loot. In the old system, the animals are killed and the bodies disposed of outside the camp. The blood is then brought inside to the altar as a sacrifice for sin. It’s the same with Jesus. He was crucified outside the city gates—that is where he poured out the sacrificial blood that was brought to God’s altar to cleanse his people.

^13-15 So let’s go outside, where Jesus is, where the action is—not trying to be privileged insiders, but taking our share in the abuse of Jesus. This “insider world” is not our home. We have our eyes peeled for the City about to come. Let’s take our place outside with Jesus, no longer pouring out the sacrificial blood of animals but pouring out sacrificial praises from our lips to God in Jesus’ name.

* * *

¹⁶ Make sure you don’t take things for granted and go slack in working for the common good; share what you have with others. God takes particular pleasure in acts of worship—a different kind of “sacrifice”—that take place in kitchen and workplace and on the streets.

¹⁷ Be responsive to your pastoral leaders. Listen to their counsel. They are alert to the condition of your lives and work under the strict supervision of God. Contribute to the joy of their leadership, not its drudgery. Why would you want to make things harder for them?

^18-21 Pray for us. We have no doubts about what we’re doing or why, but it’s hard going and we need your prayers. All we care about is living well before God. Pray that we may be together soon.

May God, who puts all things together,
    makes all things whole,
Who made a lasting mark through the sacrifice of Jesus,
    the sacrifice of blood that sealed the eternal covenant,
Who led Jesus, our Great Shepherd,
    up and alive from the dead,
Now put you together, provide you
    with everything you need to please him,
Make us into what gives him most pleasure,
    by means of the sacrifice of Jesus, the Messiah.
All glory to Jesus forever and always!
    Oh, yes, yes, yes.

^22-23 Friends, please take what I’ve written most seriously. I’ve kept this as brief as possible; I haven’t piled on a lot of extras. You’ll be glad to know that Timothy has been let out of prison. If he leaves soon, I’ll come with him and get to see you myself.

²⁴ Say hello to your pastoral leaders and all the congregations. Everyone here in Italy wants to be remembered to you.

²⁵ Grace be with you, every one.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and asked, “Who then can be saved?” (Rich young ruler episode) Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”  Matthew 19:25-26, NIV

It is God who puts our lives back together again and directs us back on the road to His best for His glory and our good.  Believe, repent, and be saved for Life eternal.  Surrender to His transforming work in us.  God is God, we are not.  Jesus saves us, we cannot save ourselves. 

Grow in Truth. Trust and obey what He says.  Help each other as if we were doing all for God in Jesus Name!

Lord,

Thank you for the help and wisdom of Hebrews to make your message clear about who you are with what pleases you.  I love you, Lord, with all my heart, mind, and soul.  So, continue to daily cleanse my heart, renew my mind, refresh my soul, and restore the joy and peace of your salvation work of transforming me to be all you created me to be…

In Jesus Name, Amen.  Yes!

Tell me the story of Jesus,
write on my heart every word;
tell me the story most precious,
sweetest that ever was heard.

(Fannie Crosby, 1880)

Sing them over again to me
Wonderful words of life
Let me more of their beauty see
Wonderful words of life
Words of life and beauty
Teach me faith and duty

Beautiful words, wonderful words
Wonderful words of life
Beautiful words, wonderful words
Wonderful words of life…

(Philip Bliss, 1838)

The Blessing

The Lord bless you and keep you
Make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you
The Lord turn His face toward you
And give you peace

Amen, amen, amen
Amen, amen, amen…

May His favor be upon you
And a thousand generations
And your family and your children
And their children, and their children

May His presence go before you
And behind you, and beside you
All around you, and within you
He is with you, he is with you

In the morning, in the evening
In your coming, and your going
In your weeping, and rejoicing
He is for you, he is for you
He is, He is

Amen, amen, amen

(Songwriters: Chris Brown / Steven Furtick / Cody Carnes / Kari Brooke Jobe, 2020)

This medley of songs from past to present play in the background as I read Hebrews 12.  I thank God for the pioneers of faith that have gone on before us, showing us how to stay focused of Jesus, the beginning and perfecting finisher of our faith!  I thank God for Jesus who saved us from our sins once and for all.  “When you find yourselves flagging in your faith, go over that story again, item by item, that long litany of hostility he(Jesus) plowed through. That will shoot adrenaline into your souls!”

Sing them over again to me
Wonderful words of life…

Hebrews 12, The Message

Discipline in a Long-Distance Race

12 ^1-3 Do you see what this means—all these pioneers who blazed the way, all these veterans cheering us on? It means we’d better get on with it. Strip down, start running—and never quit! No extra spiritual fat, no parasitic sins. Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we’re in. Study how he did it. Because he never lost sight of where he was headed—that exhilarating finish in and with God—he could put up with anything along the way: Cross, shame, whatever. And now he’s there, in the place of honor, right alongside God. When you find yourselves flagging in your faith, go over that story again, item by item, that long litany of hostility he plowed through. That will shoot adrenaline into your souls!

^4-11 In this all-out match against sin, others have suffered far worse than you, to say nothing of what Jesus went through—all that bloodshed! So don’t feel sorry for yourselves. Or have you forgotten how good parents treat children, and that God regards you as his children?

My dear child, don’t shrug off God’s discipline,
    but don’t be crushed by it either.
It’s the child he loves that he disciplines;
    the child he embraces, he also corrects.

God is educating you; that’s why you must never drop out. He’s treating you as dear children. This trouble you’re in isn’t punishment; it’s training, the normal experience of children. Only irresponsible parents leave children to fend for themselves. Would you prefer an irresponsible God? We respect our own parents for training and not spoiling us, so why not embrace God’s training so we can truly live? While we were children, our parents did what seemed best to them. But God is doing what isbest for us, training us to live God’s holy best. At the time, discipline isn’t much fun. It always feels like it’s going against the grain. Later, of course, it pays off big-time, for it’s the well-trained who find themselves mature in their relationship with God.

^12-13 So don’t sit around on your hands! No more dragging your feet! Clear the path for long-distance runners so no one will trip and fall, so no one will step in a hole and sprain an ankle. Help each other out. And run for it!

^14-17 Work at getting along with each other and with God. Otherwise you’ll never get so much as a glimpse of God. Make sure no one gets left out of God’s generosity. Keep a sharp eye out for weeds of bitter discontent. A thistle or two gone to seed can ruin a whole garden in no time. Watch out for the Esau syndrome: trading away God’s lifelong gift in order to satisfy a short-term appetite. You well know how Esau later regretted that impulsive act and wanted God’s blessing—but by then it was too late, tears or no tears.

An Unshakable Kingdom

^18-21 Unlike your ancestors, you didn’t come to Mount Sinai—all that volcanic blaze and earthshaking rumble—to hear God speak. The earsplitting words and soul-shaking message terrified them and they begged him to stop. When they heard the words—“If an animal touches the Mountain, it’s as good as dead”—they were afraid to move. Even Moses was terrified.

^22-24 No, that’s not your experience at all. You’ve come to Mount Zion, the city where the living God resides. The invisible Jerusalem is populated by throngs of festive angels and Christian citizens. It is the city where God is Judge, with judgments that make us just. You’ve come to Jesus, who presents us with a new covenant, a fresh charter from God. He is the Mediator of this covenant. The murder of Jesus, unlike Abel’s—a homicide that cried out for vengeance—became a proclamation of grace.

^25-27 So don’t turn a deaf ear to these gracious words. If those who ignored earthly warnings didn’t get away with it, what will happen to us if we turn our backs on heavenly warnings? His voice that time shook the earth to its foundations; this time—he’s told us this quite plainly—he’ll also rock the heavens: “One last shaking, from top to bottom, stem to stern.” The phrase “one last shaking” means a thorough housecleaning, getting rid of all the historical and religious junk so that the unshakable essentials stand clear and uncluttered.

^28-29 Do you see what we’ve got? An unshakable kingdom! And do you see how thankful we must be? Not only thankful, but brimming with worship, deeply reverent before God. For God is not an indifferent bystander. He’s actively cleaning house, torching all that needs to burn, and he won’t quit until it’s all cleansed. God himself is Fire!

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

Surrender to God in Jesus Name for his cleansing grace and loving discipline. (Romans 12 tells us how)

Only by the grace of God are we set free—all because of Jesus, His Son!  Grace wins every time!

Stay focused and alert to what God says for what He says is His best for us! (Hebrews 12)

If we forget, lose focus, grow weary in doing good—Go back over the story again and again, pouring over the details of what Jesus did to save us and teach us how to live.

Tell Me the Story of Jesus

Tell of the cross where they nailed Him,
writhing in anguish and pain;
tell of the grave where they laid Him,
tell how He liveth again.
Love in that story so tender,
clearer than ever I see:
stay, let me weep while you whisper,
love paid the ransom for me.

Lord,

Cleanse our hearts, renew our minds, refresh our souls with your new mercies for today and restore the joy of your salvation at work within us. 

“Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in you.
Show me the way I should go, for to you I entrust my life.
Rescue me from my enemies, Lord, for I hide myself in you.
Teach me to do your will, for you are my God; may your good Spirit
    lead me on level ground.” Psalm 143:8-10, NIV

In Jesus Name, Amen, Yes!

If my existence depends on living a life of perfection, I’ve already failed miserably.  Take me now, because if my life depends on perfection, I’m hopeless.  Perfection is beyond earth living.  If I depend on my own wisdom in decision making; troubles are exponentially multiplied.  Even if I seek the advice of successful men and women who seem to have it altogether, it’s just not enough. 

What is enough is knowing and believing in Jesus, our Perfect Savior.  It is our faith in God who sent His Son to save us that assures us of our redemption.  Our decision to trust in Him makes this life worth living.  Our faith in God, believing without seeing, is the foundation upon which our relationship with God through Jesus grows in the wide-open spaces of His love, mercy, and grace!

Hebrews 11, The Message

Faith in What We Don’t See

11 ^1-2 The fundamental fact of existence is that this trust in God, this faith, is the firm foundation under everything that makes life worth living. It’s our handle on what we can’t see. The act of faith is what distinguished our ancestors, set them above the crowd.

³ By faith, we see the world called into existence by God’s word, what we see created by what we don’t see.

⁴ By an act of faith, Abel brought a better sacrifice to God than Cain. It was what he believed, not what he brought, that made the difference. That’s what God noticed and approved as righteous. After all these centuries, that belief continues to catch our notice.

^5-6 By an act of faith, Enoch skipped death completely. “They looked all over and couldn’t find him because God had taken him.” We know on the basis of reliable testimony that before he was taken “he pleased God.” It’s impossible to please God apart from faith. And why? Because anyone who wants to approach God must believe both that he exists and that he cares enough to respond to those who seek him.

⁷ By faith, Noah built a ship in the middle of dry land. He was warned about something he couldn’t see, and acted on what he was told. The result? His family was saved. His act of faith drew a sharp line between the evil of the unbelieving world and the rightness of the believing world. As a result, Noah became intimate with God.

^8-10 By an act of faith, Abraham said yes to God’s call to travel to an unknown place that would become his home. When he left he had no idea where he was going. By an act of faith he lived in the country promised him, lived as a stranger camping in tents. Isaac and Jacob did the same, living under the same promise. Abraham did it by keeping his eye on an unseen city with real, eternal foundations—the City designed and built by God.

^11-12 By faith, barren Sarah was able to become pregnant, old woman as she was at the time, because she believed the One who made a promise would do what he said. That’s how it happened that from one man’s dead and shriveled loins there are now people numbering into the millions.

* * *

^13-16 Each one of these people of faith died not yet having in hand what was promised, but still believing. How did they do it? They saw it way off in the distance, waved their greeting, and accepted the fact that they were transients in this world. People who live this way make it plain that they are looking for their true home. If they were homesick for the old country, they could have gone back any time they wanted. But they were after a far better country than that—heaven country. You can see why God is so proud of them, and has a City waiting for them.

^17-19 By faith, Abraham, at the time of testing, offered Isaac back to God. Acting in faith, he was as ready to return the promised son, his only son, as he had been to receive him—and this after he had already been told, “Your descendants shall come from Isaac.” Abraham figured that if God wanted to, he could raise the dead. In a sense, that’s what happened when he received Isaac back, alive from off the altar.

²⁰ By an act of faith, Isaac reached into the future as he blessed Jacob and Esau.

²¹ By an act of faith, Jacob on his deathbed blessed each of Joseph’s sons in turn, blessing them with God’s blessing, not his own—as he bowed worshipfully upon his staff.

²² By an act of faith, Joseph, while dying, prophesied the exodus of Israel, and made arrangements for his own burial.

²³ By an act of faith, Moses’ parents hid him away for three months after his birth. They saw the child’s beauty, and they braved the king’s decree.

^24-28 By faith, Moses, when grown, refused the privileges of the Egyptian royal house. He chose a hard life with God’s people rather than an opportunistic soft life of sin with the oppressors. He valued suffering in the Messiah’s camp far greater than Egyptian wealth because he was looking ahead, anticipating the payoff. By an act of faith, he turned his heel on Egypt, indifferent to the king’s blind rage. He had his eye on the One no eye can see, and kept right on going. By an act of faith, he kept the Passover Feast and sprinkled Passover blood on each house so that the destroyer of the firstborn wouldn’t touch them.

²⁹ By an act of faith, Israel walked through the Red Sea on dry ground. The Egyptians tried it and drowned.

³⁰ By faith, the Israelites marched around the walls of Jericho for seven days, and the walls fell flat.

³¹ By an act of faith, Rahab, the Jericho harlot, welcomed the spies and escaped the destruction that came on those who refused to trust God.

* * *

^32-38 I could go on and on, but I’ve run out of time. There are so many more—Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, the prophets. . . . Through acts of faith, they toppled kingdoms, made justice work, took the promises for themselves. They were protected from lions, fires, and sword thrusts, turned disadvantage to advantage, won battles, routed alien armies. Women received their loved ones back from the dead. There were those who, under torture, refused to give in and go free, preferring something better: resurrection. Others braved abuse and whips, and, yes, chains and dungeons. We have stories of those who were stoned, sawed in two, murdered in cold blood; stories of vagrants wandering the earth in animal skins, homeless, friendless, powerless—the world didn’t deserve them!—making their way as best they could on the cruel edges of the world.

^39-40 Not one of these people, even though their lives of faith were exemplary, got their hands on what was promised. God had a better plan for us: that their faith and our faith would come together to make one completed whole, their lives of faith not complete apart from ours.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

Faith is more than believing. It’s living in a way that shows our trust in God no matter what’s going on in our lives.

Hebrews has spoken Truth to us today.  Faith is the key to God’s heart.  Relentless faith pleases God.  Human striving perfection, especially when we boast about what we have done is not what God seeks from us as much as He seeks Faith in Him, trusting that He knows what is good for us and believing that He will do what he says! 

God smiles when our faith is evident in our hearts and foundational in our walk as His direction is obeyed with blessed assurance from Him.  God is pleased when our lives are laid before Him as an offering and then His character reflected in our behavior as we strive to be more like Jesus, His Son.  But perfection?  Perfection is only found in Jesus.  That’s why only Jesus could be the perfect sacrifice for us. Jesus did what we could not do for ourselves. Faith begins when we truly believe what Jesus did for us—God’s Plan.

By faith, we are led by God’s Holy Spirit to move forward, fully trusting in His love while we learn to walk in His perfect ways; knowing that we are imperfectly earthbound for now.  There will be a Day when Jesus comes back to take us to our forever home.  Only then will perfection be made complete.  But for now, we live by faith, lived out loud in our existence today, as we wait for that Day that will come “soon.” 

And “soon” is only in the mind of God in whom we trust and obey.

Lord,

Thank you for reminding us that faith has been shown through the ages to be what we seek most from us.  Thank you for building our faith as we live for you here.  Thank you for your blessed assurance by reading of the acts of faith from those who have gone on before us.  Thank you for saving my soul and directing my path.  I trust you with my life for you are Life!

In Jesus Name, Amen

“For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all people. This has now been witnessed to at the proper time.” 1 Timothy 2:5-6, NIV

At the cross, at the cross,

Where I first saw the light,

And the burden of my heart rolled away –

It was there by faith I received my sight,

And now I am happy all the day. 

This is the chorus of “At the Cross,” one of the many hymns written by Isaac Watts (1674 – 1748) and was published in the year 1707. This hymn echos in the recesses of my mind as we read Hebrews 10.

Hebrews 10, The Message

The Sacrifice of Jesus

10 ^1-10 The old plan was only a hint of the good things in the new plan. Since that old “law plan” wasn’t complete in itself, it couldn’t complete those who followed it. No matter how many sacrifices were offered year after year, they never added up to a complete solution. If they had, the worshipers would have gone blissfully on their way, no longer dragged down by their sins. But instead of removing awareness of sin, when those animal sacrifices were repeated over and over they actually heightened awareness and guilt. The plain fact is that bull and goat blood can’t get rid of sin. That is what is meant by this prophecy, put in the mouth of Christ:

You don’t want sacrifices and offerings year after year;
    you’ve prepared a body for me for a sacrifice.
It’s not fragrance and smoke from the altar
    that whet your appetite.
So I said, “I’m here to do it your way, O God,
    the way it’s described in your Book.”

When he said, “You don’t want sacrifices and offerings,” he was referring to practices according to the old plan. When he added, “I’m here to do it your way,” he set aside the first in order to enact the new plan—God’s way—by which we are made fit for God by the once-for-all sacrifice of Jesus.

^11-18 Every priest goes to work at the altar each day, offers the same old sacrifices year in, year out, and never makes a dent in the sin problem. As a priest, Christ made a single sacrifice for sins, and that was it! Then he sat down right beside God and waited for his enemies to cave in. It was a perfect sacrifice by a perfect person to perfect some very imperfect people. By that single offering, he did everything that needed to be done for everyone who takes part in the purifying process. The Holy Spirit confirms this:

This new plan I’m making with Israel
    isn’t going to be written on paper,
    isn’t going to be chiseled in stone;
This time “I’m writing out the plan in them,
    carving it on the lining of their hearts.”

He concludes,

I’ll forever wipe the slate clean of their sins.

Once sins are taken care of for good, there’s no longer any need to offer sacrifices for them.

Don’t Throw It All Away

^19-21 So, friends, we can now—without hesitation—walk right up to God, into “the Holy Place.” Jesus has cleared the way by the blood of his sacrifice, acting as our priest before God. The “curtain” into God’s presence is his body.

^22-25 So let’s do it—full of belief, confident that we’re presentable inside and out. Let’s keep a firm grip on the promises that keep us going. He always keeps his word. Let’s see how inventive we can be in encouraging love and helping out, not avoiding worshiping together as some do but spurring each other on, especially as we see the big Day approaching.

^26-31 If we give up and turn our backs on all we’ve learned, all we’ve been given, all the truth we now know, we repudiate Christ’s sacrifice and are left on our own to face the Judgment—and a mighty fierce judgment it will be! If the penalty for breaking the law of Moses is physical death, what do you think will happen if you turn on God’s Son, spit on the sacrifice that made you whole, and insult this most gracious Spirit? This is no light matter. God has warned us that he’ll hold us to account and make us pay. He was quite explicit: “Vengeance is mine, and I won’t overlook a thing” and “God will judge his people.” Nobody’s getting by with anything, believe me.

^32-39 Remember those early days after you first saw the light? Those were the hard times! Kicked around in public, targets of every kind of abuse—some days it was you, other days your friends. If some friends went to prison, you stuck by them. If some enemies broke in and seized your goods, you let them go with a smile, knowing they couldn’t touch your real treasure. Nothing they did bothered you, nothing set you back. So don’t throw it all away now. You were sure of yourselves then. It’s still a sure thing! But you need to stick it out, staying with God’s plan so you’ll be there for the promised completion.

It won’t be long now, he’s on the way;
    he’ll show up most any minute.
But anyone who is right with me thrives on loyal trust;
    if he cuts and runs, I won’t be very happy.

But we’re not quitters who lose out. Oh, no! We’ll stay with it and survive, trusting all the way.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

Jesus paid the debt for our sins and removed them by His once and for all sacrifice. 

“It was a perfect sacrifice by a perfect person to perfect some very imperfect people.”

“I’ll forever wipe the slate clean of their sins.”

Two choices of response:

Believe in the One who paid our ransom; repent of sins in Jesus Name, be reconciled to God in relationship with God forever allowing us to come boldly with confidence to the throne of God unashamed with humbled gratitude.  We build our faith on God’s relentless love, tender mercy, and rich grace poured out daily in our lives lived for Him.

OR

Reject the offer of sins removed and turn our backs on God and His Son who died to save us and rose again to give us hope to live forever with Him.  Living apart from God is to be disconnected and forever in bondage by the enemy. We are living on our own, depending on our own devices to get by without divine protection.

There is no in between or “gray area.”  We either believe or we do not.  I pray now that all who are reading this and wondering what to do next would see the Light and come to the One who loves us so much, He was will to lay down his life for ours.  There is no sin that He will not forgive.  There is no circumstance He doesn’t already know about and no heart he cannot see.  Watch God change us by His strength through it all.

To reject the Savior and live in Enemy territory is to crucify our Christ yet again.  “If we give up and turn our backs on all we’ve learned, all we’ve been given, all the truth we now know, we repudiate Christ’s sacrifice and are left on our own to face the Judgment.”

Accept the work of the Cross, Come boldly to the Throne of God!  No death, only Life!

Was it for crimes that I have done

He groaned upon the tree?

Amazing pity! Grace unknown!

And love beyond degree! 

At the cross, at the cross,

Where I first saw the light,

And the burden of my heart rolled away –

It was there by faith I received my sight,

And now I am happy all the day. 

But drops of grief can ne’er repay

The debt of love I owe:

Here, Lord, I give myself away –

‘Tis all that I can do! 

Lord,

I came by faith and received my sight all because of your relentless love, mercy, and grace.  Thank you, thank you, thank you!

In Jesus Name, Amen

There is no better feeling of relief than when a problem that has been monopolizing our thoughts for months, maybe even years, is finally resolved.  The problem was produced by us and others but a solution to resolve the problem presents itself clearly.  The wait is over; the heavy load of burden lifted.  The unknown becomes known.  There is no more worrying about what comes next with how we will cope in the wait. There is no more wondering and overthinking consistently about how it will all turn out and how you will deal with the fallout.  No more holding your breath until the verdict is given. The final, once and for all, solution has arrived.  All is well!

Hebrews 9, The Message

A Visible Parable

^1-5 That first plan contained directions for worship, and a specially designed place of worship. A large outer tent was set up. The lampstand, the table, and “the bread of presence” were placed in it. This was called “the Holy Place.” Then a curtain was stretched, and behind it a smaller, inside tent set up. This was called “the Holy of Holies.” In it were placed the gold incense altar and the gold-covered ark of the covenant containing the gold urn of manna, Aaron’s rod that budded, the covenant tablets, and the angel-wing-shadowed mercy seat. But we don’t have time to comment on these now.

^6-10 After this was set up, the priests went about their duties in the large tent. Only the high priest entered the smaller, inside tent, and then only once a year, offering a blood sacrifice for his own sins and the people’s accumulated sins. This was the Holy Spirit’s way of showing with a visible parable that as long as the large tent stands, people can’t just walk in on God. Under this system, the gifts and sacrifices can’t really get to the heart of the matter, can’t assuage the conscience of the people, but are limited to matters of ritual and behavior. It’s essentially a temporary arrangement until a complete overhaul could be made.

Pointing to the Realities of Heaven

^11-15 But when the Messiah arrived, high priest of the superior things of this new covenant, he bypassed the old tent and its trappings in this created world and went straight into heaven’s “tent”—the true Holy Place—once and for all. He also bypassed the sacrifices consisting of goat and calf blood, instead using his own blood as the price to set us free once and for all. If that animal blood and the other rituals of purification were effective in cleaning up certain matters of our religion and behavior, think how much more the blood of Christ cleans up our whole lives, inside and out. Through the Spirit, Christ offered himself as an unblemished sacrifice, freeing us from all those dead-end efforts to make ourselves respectable, so that we can live all out for God.

^16-17 Like a will that takes effect when someone dies, the new covenant was put into action at Jesus’ death. His death marked the transition from the old plan to the new one, canceling the old obligations and accompanying sins, and summoning the heirs to receive the eternal inheritance that was promised them. He brought together God and his people in this new way.

^18-22 Even the first plan required a death to set it in motion. After Moses had read out all the terms of the plan of the law—God’s “will”—he took the blood of sacrificed animals and, in a solemn ritual, sprinkled the document and the people who were its beneficiaries. And then he attested its validity with the words, “This is the blood of the covenant commanded by God.” He did the same thing with the place of worship and its furniture. Moses said to the people, “This is the blood of the covenant God has established with you.” Practically everything in a will hinges on a death. That’s why blood, the evidence of death, is used so much in our tradition, especially regarding forgiveness of sins.

^23-26 That accounts for the prominence of blood and death in all these secondary practices that point to the realities of heaven. It also accounts for why, when the real thing takes place, these animal sacrifices aren’t needed anymore, having served their purpose. For Christ didn’t enter the earthly version of the Holy Place; he entered the Place Itself, and offered himself to God as the sacrifice for our sins. He doesn’t do this every year as the high priests did under the old plan with blood that was not their own; if that had been the case, he would have to sacrifice himself repeatedly throughout the course of history. But instead he sacrificed himself once and for all, summing up all the other sacrifices in this sacrifice of himself, the final solution of sin.

^27-28 Everyone has to die once, then face the consequences. Christ’s death was also a one-time event, but it was a sacrifice that took care of sins forever. And so, when he next appears, the outcome for those eager to greet him is, precisely, salvation.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

Jesus is the final, once and for all, solution to our sin problem. And ALL have this sin problem.  The Old System carved a path for The New and Only Way to reconcile with God.  No more ritualistic blood sacrifices of unblemished animals to “cover over” the sins of people once a year.  Now Jesus, our Messiah, he who knew NO SIN, went well beyond what the old plan provided as He willingly sacrificed himself once and for all—as the final solution to sin.  In Jesus, repented sins are now removed “as far as the east is from the west”— “to be remembered no more”!  Forever!

There is nothing we have done that Jesus will not forgive.  There is no one who repents that he will not hear and forgive.  “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” John 3:16-17

Jesus—The Final Solution.

Don’t overthink it.  Just believe, repent without excuses, and be saved for eternity.  Surrender to the One who knows us best and desires His best for us.

Pause to reflect:

Do we really believe what God has said and done to be really real? 

Do we truly believe that Jesus is the final solution? 

Can we trust Him with our lives? 

Have we surrendered all to Jesus?

The writer of Hebrews clearly emphasized that Christ’s sacrifice surpassed the sacrifices of the Old Testament. There will never be a greater sacrifice. Christ’s perfect sacrifice should affect the way believers see and serve God.  

Are we living in humbled obedience to God in Jesus Name because of our love for HIm?  Our behaviors will reflect what we really believe.

Lord,

I believe you are the final answer and solution for sin.  Cleanse my heart, renew my mind, refresh, and fill me with your Holy Spirit of love, mercy, and grace. Daily restore the joy and peace of your salvation at work within me.  Thank you, thank you, thank you!

In Jesus Name, Amen

True repentance is not just confession of sin but a sincere willingness to not do that sin again. If your conscience is not clear toward God in even one area of your life, repent and ask God to cleanse you because of his shed blood.

May it be well with your soul…

Humans have created new rules for life as we grow from children through adulthood.  As children, we made up the rules of the games we played.  The “rules” of the game were not set in stone, but fluid and always changeable.  The games were led by a self-appointed or group influencing leaders most times.  But sometimes a new leader would emerge and offer a new way to play the game.  When the leaders clashed, the emerging leader would shout, NEW RULE!  If the new leader was influential enough to persuade the other players that the new rule was good for all playing, then the new rule was put into play immediately.  The former leader became second to the new leader.

As children who just want to play, changing leaders and rules was acceptable.  If the former leader, did not comply, he just stormed off for a while.  But the games went on.  When the former leader would enter back into play, he was welcomed.  Kids are very forgiving as they accept the former leader and got on with playing together.  The ultimate goal is to keep playing until the teacher calls you back into class!

In the workplace, it is the same.  If learned procedures are not producing the desired results and are no longer efficient and effective; a new plan is put into place.  This happens most often when a new boss is hired with the ability to see the “big picture,” evaluate the workplace, and offer new approaches for better outcomes.  New rules are written.  People are trained.  We all know it becomes “law” when the rules are laminated and posted for everyone to see!        

Hebrews 8, The Message

A New Plan with Israel

^1-2 In essence, we have just such a high priest: authoritative right alongside God, conducting worship in the one true sanctuary built by God.

^3-5 The assigned task of a high priest is to offer both gifts and sacrifices, and it’s no different with the priesthood of Jesus. If he were limited to earth, he wouldn’t even be a priest. We wouldn’t need him since there are plenty of priests who offer the gifts designated in the law. These priests provide only a hint of what goes on in the true sanctuary of heaven, which Moses caught a glimpse of as he was about to set up the tent-shrine. It was then that God said, “Be careful to do it exactly as you saw it on the Mountain.”

^6-13 But Jesus’ priestly work far surpasses what these other priests do, since he’s working from a far better plan. If the first plan—the old covenant—had worked out, a second wouldn’t have been needed. But we know the first was found wanting, because God said,

Heads up! The days are coming
    when I’ll set up a new plan
    for dealing with Israel and Judah.
I’ll throw out the old plan
    I set up with their ancestors
    when I led them by the hand out of Egypt.
They didn’t keep their part of the bargain,
    so I looked away and let it go.
This new plan I’m making with Israel
    isn’t going to be written on paper,
    isn’t going to be chiseled in stone;
This time I’m writing out the plan in them,
    carving it on the lining of their hearts.
I’ll be their God,
    they’ll be my people.
They won’t go to school to learn about me,
    or buy a book called God in Five Easy Lessons.
They’ll all get to know me firsthand,
    the little and the big, the small and the great.
They’ll get to know me by being kindly forgiven,
    with the slate of their sins forever wiped clean.

By coming up with a new plan, a new covenant between God and his people, God put the old plan on the shelf. And there it stays, gathering dust.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

Jesus is the priest leader of all priests!  He came to fulfill what was written while being the new plan of God created since the beginning of time. The Old Covenant prepared people for the New Covenant—Messiah come to save us from our sins! 

New Plan-New Commandments!

Believe in Jesus who sacrificially died for our sins.

Repent of sins in the Name of Jesus and be forgiven directly without going through a human priest.

Strive to be like Jesus who came to earth to “seek and to save” and to serve others, setting His own interests aside for the sake of others.  (Philippians 2)

Leave behind religious traditions, (old plan) and run to Jesus (new plan of salvation).

ASK, SEEK, KNOCK on the door of God and the door WILL BE open by Jesus.  Seek  a growing, loving, intimate relationship with God through Jesus!  All are welcome!

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. ⁸ For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.”  Matthew 7:7-8

“So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.” Matthew 7:12

Old prepares the Way for the New.

Lord,

You have opened our eyes to see you from Genesis to Revelation.  The Old didn’t do the complete work to grow the relationship you longed to have with us.  But you, dear Jesus, came to take the intentions of the Law to new Kingdom of God thinking!  Then you laid down your life for ours.  There is no one like you!  You changed everything.  To you be the glory!  Thank you for saving my soul and making me whole through your teaching. Thank you for your gentle patience as I grow in our relationship!

In Jesus Name, Amen—All for Your Glory and our good!