Wearing The Belt Of Truth
In the O.T. Saul was a man who could never admit his mistakes he continued to act like a baby and eventually David acted more maturely than he. Ephesians 6 tell us of our Spiritual Armor to put on every single day. One of the most important pieces of equipment a Roman Soldier had was the belt. Paul tells the follower of Christ to “put on the belt of truth”. One of the ways we prove we have it is by being honest enough to admit our mistakes. James told us this another way when he exhorted us to “confess our faults one to another”. Ed Hochuli has been a referee in the NFL for 23 years and has built a good reputation. While he is also known for his big “guns” he is remembered for his “big” mistake in a Broncos/Chargers game. This is a great little clip and lesson on how adults should step up and own their mistakes. By the way, my daughter is helping me type this and while doing so we’re having a great devotional on this. Here’s the link, hope you find it as refreshing as i did.
A word on fasting.
Next week, our Church will be fasting. This always generates lots of questions, like “can I fast from anything?”, “what if I have a health concern?” and “how or when do you know it’s time to stop?”. If anyone wants to have a scriptural basis for fasting, they can get a little book entitled “Gods Chosen Fast” by Arthur Wallis. This is a great classic and is exhaustive and I highly recommend it.
http://www.ccflstore.com/store/product/4973/Gods-Chosen-Fast-MM
Romans 10.9
“If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”
Cultural Jesus
In Luke 4 Jesus began his ministry In the Synagogue of his hometown. He read Isaiah 61 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he has sent me to heal the broken hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord”. Everyone loved it, what gracious words, but then something happened. A recognition, “hey wait a minute, isn’t that Joseph’s son?”. Their familiarity with him, gave them a reason to draw the line and stop accepting what he had to say, the next thing you know they want to throw him off a cliff. One of things this teaches us, is that it’s possible to have a preconceived idea of Jesus like these people did. People can have an expectation of what they think Jesus should say or do. It’s possible to have our own Jesus and not the real Jesus, or a Cultural Jesus who is fashioned by secular people, or carnal people. We like what he says up to a point, the nice things and what he can do for us, but the moment he says something that doesn’t fit with our idea of him, is the moment we draw the line and reject him. The true Jesus. That text is an illustration of what took place in less than one week around Passover/Easter time. On Palm Sunday, he was a rock star. They shouted “Hosanna, Hosanna blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord”. Then in just a few days, they they shouted “Crucify him”. Here is a link to a great song on that theme that I listen to on my iPod. It’s called “Cultural Jesus” by Curtis “Voice” Allen, he’s got a great testimony, but in this song he really hits a home run. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HXnQ0i4DEY&feature=youtube_gdata_player
the rejection of Jesus’ gracious words
I have been studying for this Sunday in Luke 4. Jesus began his ministry by declaring why he came. He opened up the scroll of Isaiah and reads that he is anointed to preach the Gospel to the poor, sent to heal the broken hearted, preach deliverance unto the captives, recover the sight to the blind and set at liberty those that have been bruised. Those that heard it were certainly impressed with the gracious words, but that only lasted for a few seconds. Right after that they want to throw him off a cliff but it says he moves right through them. It’s pretty sobering. That if a person rejects him he will respect their decision and move on. Today is no different, so many people have a preconceived idea about who Jesus should be or what Jesus should be like. They like him up to a point but the moment he doesn’t fit their mold, they are ready well, to crucify him. If we’re going to receive Jesus we have got to receive all of him, and let him crush our preconceived ideas.
