February 23

Exodus 6; Luke 9

Daily Catechism

QUESTION 30: HOW DOES CHRIST PERFORM THE OFFICE OF A KING?
Answer: Christ performs the office of a king, in subduing us to himself, in ruling and defending us, and in restraining and conquering all his and our enemies.
Scripture: Psalm 110:1-2; Matthew 2:6; Luke 1:32-33; 1 Corinthians 15:25.

Exodus 6

Ready:
Yesterday I read Moses’ account of how the Jews listened to his message from God but then Pharaoh really worked to break their will and the people of God were put to the test to expose their weak motives and to show Moses the challenge before him.

Seeing What’s There:
I see God training Moses and appealing to his people with outstretched arms inviting them to trust him.  I see Moses in this inspired text narrating and by listing the genealogy of himself and Aaron I get that the simple fact that he and Aaron were standing before Pharaoh at all is the amazing work of God and perhaps afterward as now being recorded he thought to include this because it ought to have been a thought of his at the time.  The fact that God had delivered one promise of making a nation out of Jacob was evident and now he stands to move the nation into the next of God’s promises.  Yet Moses hesitates and still requires God’s prodding and continual assurance.

Theme:
God works in absence of faithfulness for the sake of his name (glory) and for the good of his people (joy).

Thinking About the Message:
    v1.  Here is God’s response to Moses’ challenging prayer as he seeks understanding of how everything became so messed up by following the Lord’s directions.  I see here that Moses did not know God’s thoughts or ways and so he did not know how to interpret what God was doing and it takes a trust that extends beyond what is seen and beyond the immediate impact of our surrender to God.  The Lord responds to Moses by telling him that he is preparing to do a mighty work whereby God will cause Pharaoh to do his bidding.  He tells Moses that Pharaoh will not only relent but that he will be quite motivated to see the people of Israel leave.  It will be such that Pharaoh will force them out.
    v2-9.  Here God has a curious conversation with Moses and tells him that by his personal name of Yahweh he had not made himself known to the Patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.  The context is that he did make himself known in this way to Moses and through Moses to the people at large and God has tied this name to his promises and the covenant he established with Abraham and his offspring.  Interestingly, God did tell Abraham this name in Gen 15:7 and Abraham used this name of God in Gen 22:14 and there are accounts of many others referring to God by this name prior to this moment when God tells this to Moses.  So what does he mean?  God contrasts his name as El-Shaddai, translated Almighty God, with this personal name Yahweh when he says he did reveal himself the first way but not the next.  In his dealings with Moses God has attached the extension “The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob” to the term Yahweh and perhaps this is related to his meaning.  God showed himself almighty but maybe has not shown his personal commitment to the covenant people of God yet?  Maybe he means something along the lines of he has shown that he can deliver upon his promises but that now he will do it in complete absence of the faithfulness and trust of his own people.  Maybe covenant is covenant because it means keeping it when you are not naturally motivated to.  Maybe the significance of God’s covenant being unilateral in Gen 17 is here going to mean something since the people of God fail to trust him unlike Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob did.  Now the nation will need God to do a work simply for the sake of his name (Yahweh, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob) this time.  So God then goes on with the message for Moses to deliver to the people in response to what has now transpired with Pharaoh requiring the brick production without providing the needed straw.  Through Moses, God declares to his people what he shall accomplish and it hits them flat.  They react like the Pharisees who were silent to Jesus’ question about whether it was right or wrong to help someone on the Sabbath.  The truth of God lands flat on this people because their eyes were on their circumstances and not on their God.  In verses 6-8 God tells them “I am”...“I will”…”I will”…”I will”…"I will”…”I will”…”I am”…”I will”…”I will”…”I am”.  But "they did not listen”... "because their broken spirit and harsh slavery”.  This is surely setting up to be God leaning on his covenant name here because the people are not giving his a reason to deliver them.
    v10-13.  The next verse begins with “so”.  This is great.  God basically takes note of Israel’s deafness and he moves straight into covenant mode and tells Moses that we are moving forward with the plan.  Moses is not to tell Pharaoh simply “Let the People of Israel go…” without reference to the whole “so we can make offering to God in the wilderness” thing.  God has now moved into the simple mode of keeping his covenant and not fulfilling the request of his people.  Moses again makes a plea to God due to his lack of trust in himself.  He could not convince the people of Israel who supposedly trust God and now how can he convince this King who does not know God or care a thing about this people?  Moses is again looking at himself and not at God Almighty.  Verse 13 is vague but God gives him and Aaron some charge concerning both dealing with Pharaoh as well as with Israel.  It could be that he tells them you will simply need to trust me and do what I say and you will need to lead this stiff-necked people step by step knowing that they will resist and they will be stubborn.  Maybe it was simply…"Listen- bring the people out!”
    v14-25.  I take this section as the narrator, Moses, adding for our record what maybe he should have considered in the moment this was happening.  Perhaps he places this here for the reader to see that indeed God was keeping covenant and had displayed his omnipotence and his faithfulness to his promises already by the simple existence of Moses and Aaron.  Maybe he was also calling attention to the one million person strong nation that God had built who all bore his mark of circumcision.
    v26-27.  Moses seems to conclude something from the genealogy in how he uses words like “These are the Aaron and Moses to whom the Lord said…” and “It was they that spoke to Pharaoh…this Moses and Aaron”.  I take it to mean that God was sending a message to humanity that he accomplishes his will through his people and he keeps covenant with them.  Moses is perhaps noting that he was silly for being so uncertain and weak.
    v28-29.  Yet Moses recounts again here that he responded with uncertainty and perhaps this is simply a restatement by him as narrator to come back in follow-up to the genealogy that he felt should have better informed him and perhaps caused him to avoid such a response.

Meaning, Implications, and Significance
    There is a wrestling here between God and Moses within his heart and mind where he is needing to determine if he will trust himself, the people of God, or the God who makes and keeps covenant.  God is putting on display the fact that he is acting not from a position of responding to the faith of his people who are crying out but he now is evidencing that his action will be for the sake of his name.

Valuing the Message:
I value this message because I know that God will act not merely when I call upon him but he knows what is needed and when I fail to pray as I should he will yet intercede and bring me along (Rom 8:26-29).  God is not waiting to see my faithfulness but he has blessed me in spite of my faithlessness out of his faithfulness to his name.  Though I am faithless in the moment, he will ever be faithful to his name and he will therefore restore me unto faith for his own sake (Rom 3:3-4; 2 Tim 2:10-14, Heb 3:14, Is 43:25ff; Is 48:11).  The implication is that my salvation and my destiny is firmly in his hand and I can trust that he will indeed complete the work that was begun by him.  He will indeed bring me to the finish line as a prepared bride (1 Thess 5:23-24).  The significance for me is that I can rejoice even in my weaknesses (2 Cor 12:10) and I can walk without fear and I can repent freely without pressure of my salvation resting upon my own natural faithfulness but upon his alone that is given to me supernaturally by his Spirit (Rom 5:5; Eph 2:8-9; Rom 2:29; Deut 30:6) to maintain my faith in Christ (Rom 2:6-10; Deut 7:12).  If you look at the Deuteronomy verse there you will see a problem.  God’s covenant is conditional upon my keeping of his law!  Wait a minute!  It’s a beautiful thing to know that I have fulfilled the law of God in the body of Christ (Rom 8:3-4) who did what I could never hope to accomplish in my place!!!!!  The covenant was conditional upon the obedience of faith…conditioned upon God guaranteeing (commanding omnipotently) it himself somehow…which he did in Christ Jesus (Rom 1:5; Rom 16:26)!

Reflecting to Feel the Impact of the Message:
I need to consider my heart and my trust of God in the tough spots of life.  I can take great peace and freedom if I can comprehend that he acts not merely in response to my faithfulness, but primarily in the glorification of his name.  His name is the great backstop to Peter’s denial of Christ and my failures.  He has accomplished the work already and he now lives to pray for me to sustain my faith as he did Peter’s (Heb 7:25; Rom 8:34).

Questions to ask:

1. Do I recognize the significance of how God has chosen to reveal himself through a people and how he has kept covenant with them and through them even when they were faithless?  
2. Do I understand that God is at work through people and through me?  
3. Do I trust that is is his work and that he will complete it?

Responding to God & Reacting to His Lesson:
Tell God about your observations and your thoughts and your struggles with the chapter and determine how it will change or impact your thinking and your decisions.  Be sure to react in some way to the truth rather than remain silent.

Proclaiming the Truth to Others:
Decide who you can share what you have learned with and ask for God’s help in reaching out to love others.

Luke 9

Not going to try to catch up.  Picking up comments on chapter 10 tomorrow.

Soli Deo Gloria!

February 22

Exodus 5; Luke 8

Daily Catechism

QUESTION 29: HOW DOES CHRIST PERFORM THE OFFICE OF A PRIEST?
Answer: Christ performs the office of a priest by once offering him- self as a sacrifice to satisfy divine justice, and to reconcile us to God; and by making continual intercession for us before God.
Scripture: 1 Peter 2:24; Hebrews 2: 17; 7:25; 9:28; Ephesians 5:2; Romans 8:34.

Exodus 5

Ready:
Yesterday I read Moses’ account of his difficult conversation with God and his wrestling with his own perceptions of himself.  God gave him powerful signs and worked to convince him that it would not be him accomplishing this work and to simply trust him.  Aaron is assigned to work with Moses and they approach the Israelites with the message of God’s plan to deliver them from Egypt…and it is received with gladness.

Seeing What’s There:
Now Moses and Aaron go to Pharaoh with the request that the Jews be allowed three days travel into the wilderness to sacrifice and worship the Lord.  Pharaoh not only refuses but he reacts with anger and works harder to suppress them by taking away the straw used for making bricks and expects them to keep producing the same quantity while having to go our an scavenge for their own straw.  This is clearly impossible and he is looking to break their will regarding going into the wilderness to worship the Lord.  The chapter concludes with Moses praying to God with a very straightforward and honest prayer.    God uses this episode to teach Moses and the people that they truly are more desiring of comfort than of worshiping their God.  Like always, God acts for the sake of his name and in favor of the elect remnant within Israel but the over-all message here is directed and the whole of Israel and they are pegged by Pharaoh in this case.  They prefer a lighter load to a hope of meeting God in the wilderness and they are ready to bail out immediately.  Pharaoh means to break them and God means to test them.  Moses serves to learn an important lesson at the outset of his leadership of this people and he must know the challenge before him and how it is he will overcome.  Perhaps this Exodus begins with God shaping Moses as a leader more than anything else?

Key Verses:
Exodus 5:1-2, 4, 7-8, 14, 17-18, 20-21, 22-23

Theme:
Comfort is not always part of God’s plan in this life but he works his goodness even through hardship for those that trust him.

Thinking About the Message:
    v1-9.  Moses and Aaron make a plea to Pharaoh first based on nothing but their religion and a desire to honor God.  The Pharaoh’s response is that he does not know this God and he will not let them go.  Moses responds with an amended plea that is now based on his personal experience of meeting with God and receiving this specific direction so that Pharaoh gets the picture that the living God is personal and knowable but that he also holds people accountable for their sinful actions with judgement.  Now Pharaoh reacts with more zeal against them.  Having never met with God before he is likely getting uncomfortable now and he moves to cut them off before this conviction in them becomes a major problem, as he tried to do with their burgeoning population.  He accuses them of simply trying to get out from under the burden and he cruelly reacts by increasing the expectations to an impossible degree.  He determines to break their will by making them labor and strive without hope of accomplishing what he demands and then he beats them for not achieving what is required of them.  I see a couple of things here.  First, Pharaoh tells the task masters to not listen to their lying words about wanting release so they can worship when Pharaoh contends this is a lie and the truth is they want relief from the labor only and God is their excuse (Ex 5:8-9).  Second I see a parallel between what Pharaoh does here and what the law does.  The law (taken alone and apart from the promised offspring) requires something impossible from the people of God without supplying the ability to accomplish it (Rom 7:14; Rom 10:4) and their response should be to run to God for mercy with a trust that he will accomplish the impossible for them and in them by the promised offspring (Rom 8:3-4, Gal 3:18-19).
    v10-14.  Here the taskmasters carry out the order of Pharaoh and the test is set to the people of God.  Will they trust the Lord and hope in his promise or will they prefer comfort and abandon hope?  Will they rejoice in all circumstances due to their trust in God's goodness?  This is a people still learning about God without our advantages of even the OT scripture at this point.  God uses his people to teach the coming generations.  Moses will get a glimpse at the challenge that is before him in leading this people.
    v15-21.  Here there is interchange between the Jewish foremen who are leading the workers in the brick making and they plead with Pharaoh to understand that the task is impossible due to his new limitation.  Pharaoh lays the argument before them that their request is a lie and that they are actually just wanting to get out of work.  Straight in their face he challenges their faith and says they lie.  The question now is this- Have the people of God been merely desiring a deliverance from hardship or are they desiring the coming offspring to deliver them from their sin?  Do they want to be changed or do they merely want their circumstances to be changed (1 Pet 1:5-7; Rom 5:2-5)?  Is their hope in what is seen or unseen (Rom 8:18; Rom 8:24-25)?  God has promised them something very specific (Exodus 3:16-17)…will they trust him or will they take Pharaoh’s bait?  Pharaoh is now slithering on his belly asking them if God really meant what he said and if they really trust him to be looking out for them and if maybe they don’t know better how to proceed with independence from this God.  This is also the message that the television and the radio and the world around me send me incessantly day and night 24 hours a day.  Wouldn’t you rather just be more comfortable?  Are you sure about this?  Are you sure you don’t want the blue pill (Matrix allusion)?
    v22-23.  Here Moses faces the troublesome condition of the people and this difficult test of God.  Moses rightly responds by crying out to God.  Moses comes to God in honest prayer.  This prayer can be seen as a pretty bad way to speak to God but notice God’s response by reading ahead a little into the next chapter and it is clear that God is not offended by this prayer of Moses.  Moses is honest with God and he lays his emotions down without filtering them.  He refers to God with respect and honor as Lord but he expresses his confusion with the results of following God’s directions.  He is asking God for help in understanding how this is good.  He trusts the goodness of God and he is seeking from God some reconciliation between this goodness and what is now happening to the people of God.  Moses teaches me that is is right and good to expect God to keep his promises and to work with a mighty hand.  Moses is coming to God for help with what looks like God not behaving like God.  The truth is that the people of God are not behaving like the people of God and this is what Moses needs to see and understand. Moses needs to get the picture that Pharaoh is right.  The people of God prefer their own comfort.  The people of God are not trusting him.  The people of God are stiff-necked and sinful and Moses needs to know this.  Moses also needs to know that when God made the promise to deliver them from Egypt…it was at that moment accomplished.  They need to learn that God’s ways are not our ways but that he is trustworthy and true.  They need the message to come later in Isaiah 55:6-11.

Meaning, Implications, and Significance
    1.  The message I hear is that God intends to deliver his people but that he will teach them and shape them along the way in order to grow them.  The implication is that I can expect to be learning through adversity in live even as God is guiding and directing me and as he is indeed working all things according to the counsel of his will (Eph 1:11).  The significance to me is that I can look for the lessons in my difficult seasons and I can praise God that he is at work even when I am uncomfortable and it seems like everything is going wrong…probably mostly when I am uncomfortable.  Here Moses was being prepared to lead a difficult people and he needed to trust God supremely.
    2.  I also hear they message that God wants our hearts and not just because of what he can offer us (like deliverance from circumstances).  The implication is that even today God does not seek a church that hopes for comfort and ease but a church that is prepared to die for the cause of Christ in this world.  The significance for me is that I need to check my motives and desires and make sure that I am not disguising my desire for comfort and ease and a perfect little existence behind religious overtones and ideas.

Valuing the Message:
The message is valuable because it is very practical and gets down to the nitty gritty of all the circumstances I deal with in life.  This begins to set the stage for a doctrine of rejoicing always in good and “bad” situations.

Reflecting to Feel the Impact of the Message:
I need to ensure that I have love for God and others that comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith (1 Tim 1:5).  This means that I do not have messed up motives and I am honest and open with God and with others about my actions and I truly trust God to be at work in my life and in the church.  This trust will lead me to “risk” for the cause of love.  If I find myself hiding self-protective or self-seeking motives under a veil of Christianity then I can take that to God in repentance and ask him for the mind of Christ (Phil 2:3-5).

Questions to ask:

1. Where am I seeking comfort as a priority instead of love for God and others?  
2. What is God teaching me right know through my tough situations?  
3. Is God preparing me for something ahead?

Responding to God & Reacting to His Lesson:
Tell God about your observations and your thoughts and your struggles with the chapter and determine how it will change or impact your thinking and your decisions.  Be sure to react in some way to the truth rather than remain silent.

Proclaiming the Truth to Others:
Decide who you can share what you have learned with and ask for God’s help in reaching out to love others.

Luke 8

Not going to try to catch up...moving on.

Soli Deo Gloria! 

February 21

Exodus 4; Luke 7

Daily Catechism

QUESTION 28: HOW DOES CHRIST PERFORM THE OFFICE OF A PROPHET?
Answer: Christ performs the office of a prophet, in revealing to us, by his Word and Spirit, the will of God for our salvation.
Scripture: John 1:18; 14:26; 15:15.

Exodus 4

Ready:
God met Moses in the area of Mount Horeb in a burning bush and he recruited Moses with explanation of what he would do to deliver Israel from the affliction of the Egyptians.

Seeing What’s There:
In this chapter Moses concludes his conversation with God and though resistant to the point of angering God, Moses is convinced to proceed, with Aaron’s help.  Moses meets up with Aaron and tells him all that God had said after God speaks to Aaron and leads him to meet Moses in the wilderness near Mount Horeb.  The two meet up with the Jewish elders in Egypt and with signs convince them that God had indeed spoken and that they were to be delivered.  Their response is belief and worship of the Lord.

Key Verses:
Exodus 4:1, 8-9, 10, 11-12, 13-14, 16, 20, 22-23, 27, 29-31

Theme:
God will make a way for the weak and broken to carry out his mission.

Thinking About the Message:
    v1-17.  Moses makes a couple of arguments in his attempt to resist God’s call upon him.  God had already declared that the Israelites would listen to him, but this doesn’t stop Moses from coming up with reasons to doubt himself.  First he appeals to an inability to overcome their challenge to his story of meeting with God.  After God conquers this fear, by granting him a few amazing signs to evidence his anointing with the authority of God, Moses then appeals to his inability to speak well and to be convincing and proper in speech.  But God then comforted him that God himself was the one who grants speech and silence and who can grant him all the ability needed.  So all-in-all Moses’ fears of inadequacy are dismantled by God but this does not stop Moses.  Next Moses expresses either a failure to trust God or a reluctance to obey God by asking that God send someone else.  This angers God and God finally provides Moses with the help that puts Moses over the edge on agreeing to move forward.  Moses will receive help from his older brother Aaron, who Moses perceives is a better representative before the people.  Moses may not be too accurate is his perception since Luke later refers to Moses as being mighty in his words and deeds.  Surely there can be confidence for any believer here to see that a fearful and weak and resistant shepherd was not only selected, but launched into service and indeed accomplished the mighty will of God despite his apprehensions and weaknesses and sin.  God indicates that he will speak primarily to Moses and Moses will give Aaron the words of God to communicate to the Israelites but God seems also to have some direct communication with Aaron.  In the end God commands Moses to take the staff that he will use to perform signs and to go.  A side note in this passage is a realization in verse 11 that God takes responsibility for the mute and the blind and the deaf…our God is sovereign and I need not fear that my circumstances are out of control or pointless!
    v18-20.  Moses sets out for Egypt with his family after getting the blessing of his father-in-law and after God reveals to him that there is safety due to the Pharaoh who wanted to kill him being dead at this point 40 years later.
    v21-23.  Here God jumps right to the meat.  He gives Moses a summary of what is to happen and tells him that God himself will “harden” Pharaoh’s heart and that Pharaoh will therefore not let the people go easily.  Verse 22-23 indicate that it will take the most serious plague of killing the first born in Egypt to break the will of Pharaoh to resist.
    v24-26.  This is interesting and it seems that Moses had not circumcised at least one of his sons perhaps out of weakness when he first arrived in Midian.  Maybe he did not want to challenge his new wife and father-in-law regarding circumcision with his first child.  Regardless of the reasons, it is clear that Moses did not circumcise at least one of his sons and this became a major problem.  The test indicates that God was in the process of killing Moses, which I take to be a very bad illness that he and his wife perceived to be a judgement of God and they knew the cause…they had not submitted to circumcise their child.  Moses’ wife does what must be done while Moses is perhaps laid up and extremely ill.  She seems to express disdain toward Moses either because of his previous failure to be firm and stick to his beliefs or because of her current dislike of her circumstances altogether.
    v27-31.  Here Aaron is led by God to meet up with Moses and they are reunited after 40 years.  There seems to be no hesitation and not the two approach the elders of Israel with the message and the signs of God.  The people believe and worship God in thanks, no doubt, of this amazing news that God has seen and heard and now acts by revealing himself to Moses as he has.  Unfortunately, this “belief” will prove to not be so deep and true when challenges mount.

Meaning, Implications, and Significance
    1.  I hear a message that God will accomplish what he sets out to accomplish and he will do it through and in spite of my weakness but that he wants me to understand that this is possible because it depends not upon me, but upon him and his power and authority and name.   The implication is that the greatest efforts can fail if God is not behind them to give authority and power while God’s plans carried out by the weakest and feeblest will certainly not be stopped. The significance for me is to take heart and walk in the light of the gospel knowing that I have, as all believers do, a calling to make disciples and to teach others all that Jesus said and did and he can accomplish much with very little.

Valuing the Message:
I value the message because it highlights God’s might and how he overcomes our weaknesses and failures.

Reflecting to Feel the Impact of the Message:
I need to look at my own heart and consider if I am resisting action due to my own fears or sense of inability or lack.  Perhaps I need to put my eyes on the mission and not on me.

Questions to ask:

1. Am I looking to God and to his mission and stepping forward or am I standing still and staring in the mirror as if there is something there that will convince me to take a step?

Responding to God & Reacting to His Lesson:
Tell God about your observations and your thoughts and your struggles with the chapter and determine how it will change or impact your thinking and your decisions.  Be sure to react in some way to the truth rather than remain silent.

Proclaiming the Truth to Others:
Decide who you can share what you have learned with and ask for God’s help in reaching out to love others.

Luke 7

Ready:
Yesterday I read Luke’s account of the sermon on the mount and Jesus spoke a picture of the children of God and thy kind of fruit that they bear and why.

Seeing What’s There:
I see this chapter teaching on the object of faith and the proper response to the mercy of God.  Luke begins with the Centurion (great faith plainly evident) and then to the Widow (no obvious faith until after the resurrection) to John the Baptist (Tested and weary faith), which Jesus comforts and strengthens, to the pharisees holding God in judgement regarding this need for repentance.  The pharisees do not accept the message however it may be delivered because they are simply not placing their faith in a promised offspring.  They have settled their faith upon a law, which happens to lead to death.  In the closing scene Luke recounts the story of the sinful woman who anoints Jesus and washes his feet with tears and her hair and all this to the dismay of the Pharisee who was having Jesus over because he holds contempt for her and does not recognize the place for mercy and forgiveness.  Jesus corrects his unstated opinion and makes it clear that she has not only already been forgiven, but even implies that he has not been forgiven.

Theme:
Jesus is the object of faith.  The one who reacts to God’s mercy with judgement of God rather than worship of God has not experienced forgiveness and knows not wisdom, which is the fear of the Lord.  His faith is not in the right object.

Thinking About the Message:
    v1-10.  Here the Centurion’s faith is plain and he see that Jesus us “under” the authority of the Father and that Jesus has this authority fully vested and that he is free to wield it accordingly for the purposes of God.  The Centurion is highly respected but yet he humbles himself before Jesus making argument that he is not worthy of Jesus’ presence in his home.  He expresses a trust that Jesus has authority to command that illness leave and that blessings or new empowerment come…like sight or hearing or life or faith perhaps.  So plainly in this story the Centurion has faith in Jesus and he expresses it compellingly. Jesus even declares that he has seen no such faith in all of Israel.
    v11-17.  In the next scenario there is no explicit statement of faith in Jesus but it would seem that Jesus acts unilaterally based on his compassion for the widow.  He takes action without any expressions of faith whatsoever and he does something more amazing than he did for the Centurion!  I take the point to these back to back stories to be that what ultimately matters is the object of faith (Jesus) and not the degree of faith possessed by the individual.  We also see a contrast between someone “worthy” and someone “weak and helpless” and Jesus is not partial.  As john 5:25 states, this dead man hears the voice of Jesus and he lives!  The dead are given life.  Life is called into being by Jesus where it was not (Rom 4:17).
    v18-30.  Now we see a man of great faith who was filed with the Holy Spirit from birth but now faces a great test and challenge and he is looking for confidence in his own discernment of the facts.  Jesus warmly sends great news to boost John’s faith just like he prayed for Peter’s faith.  Jesus even turns to the crowd and boosts their faith in their need for his baptism of repentance since they may be injured by this public question from John.  Jesus goes to great ends to lift John up and to tell the crowd that those who were baptized by John will actually be greater than him!  The Pharisees did not agree with this a refused to believe that there was a repentance needed for them.  Their pride and failure to be on the watch fort the promised offspring sinks them.
    v31-35.  Jesus describes their failure like a group of kids who can’t be pleased and who can’t decide what game to play because they hold judgment over the mercy that Jesus dispenses instead of simply rejoicing over it and repenting (Psalm 51:3-6).
    v36-50.  Here Jesus makes it clear that those who are forgiven love mercy and they respond with love for Jesus and they are contrite and grateful.  The woman expresses her love and gratitude prior to Jesus speaking the words of forgiveness and this speaks to the fact that out love is in response to his, not the other way around (1 John 4:19)!  Jesus declares that she was already forgiven when she began blessing him and yet the Pharisee who holds himself to be righteous is yet unforgiven by the implication of Jesus’ quick parable.  I do not take it to mean that the Pharisee may have been forgiven little because there is no such thing.  The debt owed by all is unfathomable and cannot ever be paid except by the unparalleled blood of Jesus.  I take this condemnation of the Pharisee to be a statement that he does not recognize there degree to which he needs forgiveness and he has therefore not been forgiven and he shows it.  This speaks back to verse 35 where Jesus personifies wisdom and basically says that the children of wisdom "get it” and these children are forgiven and these children respond in love and they extend mercy.  

Meaning, Implications, and Significance
    I take it that I need to be a child of wisdom and I need to subject myself to the authority of God in repentance and faith in Jesus and this comes to me as a work of God upon my heart like the dead man who is raised by Jesus.  The implication is that the one who is proud and hides his sin and is unloving and does not show mercy…this person is not a child of God and has not tasted the forgiveness Jesus gives to his sheep.  The significance for me is that it does not matter what I have to offer God, but it matters if I realize what he offers me.

Valuing the Message:
The value here is in God and not in me so I can trust that he works in me the same as he works in some great men of old.  I can trust that the same Jesus died for me as died for them.  I can trust that the same Spirit works life in my soul and I can trust that my love and honor and contrition and hope is not misplaced when it is directed to Jesus.

Reflecting to Feel the Impact of the Message:
I need to consider my heart and my level of comprehension of how needy I am.

Questions to ask:

1. Do I understand how much I would owe if it were not for Jesus canceling my debt?
2. Do I understand the power that Jesus has over my soul and life and body?
3. Do I hold God under judgement by not acknowledging my need for repentance or by looking down upon his mercy toward others?

Responding to God & Reacting to His Lesson:
Tell God about your observations and your thoughts and your struggles with the chapter and determine how it will change or impact your thinking and your decisions.  Be sure to react in some way to the truth rather than remain silent.

Proclaiming the Truth to Others:
Decide who you can share what you have learned with and ask for God’s help in reaching out to love others.

Soli Deo Gloria!

February 20

Exodus 3; Luke 6

Daily Catechism

QUESTION 27: WHAT OFFICES DOES CHRIST PERFORM AS OUR REDEEMER?
Answer: Christ, as our Redeemer, performs the offices of a prophet, of a priest, and of a king, both in his condition of humiliation and exaltation.
Scripture: Acts 3:22; Hebrews 5:6; Psalm 2:6.

Exodus 3

Ready:
In the last chapter Moses came into the scene and ended up hiding out in Midian due to his sin and he is now married with a child.  God has heard the cry of his people and he has remembered his promise to the patriarchs...

Seeing What’s There:
I see Moses working in Midian as a shepherd caring for a flock and minding his own business…seemingly forgetting the plight of his people as he spends 40 years here in Midian before this day where God speaks to him.  But God has not forgotten.  This chapter is a huge turn in the story of redemption because here God reveals himself by his personal name which he has given himself and he expresses his plan to Moses and he recruits Moses to be his prophet and the leader of his people.  The exodus of Israel from Egypt becomes such a grounding historical moment for the Jews that it’s significance cannot be overstated.  God breaks in by his might and does a miraculous delivery of his people that he intends to be remembered forever.  It begins here at this bush with Moses hearing the voice of God.  The whole chapter basically consists of  this conversation between God and Moses regarding what God is going to accomplish.  There is certainty in everything that God shares with Moses- nothing less than stating what will come to pass for his purposes.  

Key Verses:
Exodus 3:2-4, 5-6, 7-8, 9, 12, 13-14, 15, 17-18, 19-20, 21

Theme:
God starts in motion his intention to deliver and establish his people by his own mighty hand as a people who will know his holiness and hallow his name.

Thinking About the Message:
    v1.  Here Moses has settled in with his wife and family and his new life as a shepherd and he has perhaps tried to forget about the poor Hebrews in Egypt and his concerns for them.  Moses has now spent 40 years in Midian and he is about 80 years old (Ex 7:7)…not like its been a few months.  But the Lord has a plan for this octogenarian that involves leading sheep away from trouble.  Something happens when Moses comes near Mount Horeb this time (another name for Mount Sinai where God will soon deliver the law to Israel).
    v2-4.  Moses is stopped in his tracks by God’s appearance to him in burning bush that is not consumed.  The Angel of the Lord here is the very presence of God mediated in this bush for Moses’ protection.  Sometimes the Bible uses the term Angel of the Lord to refer to God’s very presence or even the presence of pre-incarnate Jesus (but other times it is not God at all, but an angel of God (2 Sam 24:16-17).
    v5-6.  This teaches of the holiness of God and how whatever he touches is in that moment made holy…which is fine for a bush or the ground, but deadly for a human with a sin nature (Uzzah’s error in 2 Sam 6:6-7).  But what is holiness?  God tells Moses to remove his shoes and we know that the sole of shoes are seen as unclean things then and now.  God is calling for a hallowing of his name.  He ties the term holiness to the removal of uncleanness and to his identity as the God of the patriarchs who he has revealed himself to and made covenant with.  This begins to unpack the idea that his holiness is a separation from sin and a very core attribute that is inseparably tied to his identity and how he deals with mankind.  R.C. Sproul argues that Holiness is the prime attribute of God that all other attributes come from (e.g., love, justice, omnipotence, omnipresence).  Moses’ reaction to knowing something here of the holiness of God is fear.  This is appropriate and this is good.  He has a sin problem that must be solved (by translation into a glorified state in bodily redemption) before he can openly face the God of the universe (in physical presence).  Right now we can come before God spiritually with boldness and confidence as we are told in Ephesians 3:11-12 thanks to Christ’s work.  I am always struck by God’s choice to identify himself in reference to his people rather than just as the God who made everything you see and know.  God is relational and he desires that his creation would know him in his fullness (no small thing and something that comes at cost- just like all relationships).
    v7-12.  A few things here.  I see God give two (or three) bases upon which he is grounding his action.  One is his care for his people and his faithfulness to his covenant.  Secondly he has seen the wickedness of the Egyptians and so he intends to judge them.  Implied is also the wickedness of the people living in Canaan as he told Abraham that their sin would be complete by the time he brought Israel into Canaan.  Moses can’t imagine how he can accomplish what God is asking and I see God give Moses courage when he lacks it by promising to be with him and declaring that he will indeed bring the people to this very mountain to worship.  Interesting that a sign to give him confidence would be in the future…certainly takes the obedience of faith to benefit from such a sign!  Hebrews 11:24 makes it clear that Moses walked with faith in God from the time he left Pharaoh’s house but now his faith is again called into action.
    v13-22.  It seems here that Moses is on board and now he is looking for all the details on how to proceed.  Moses wants to know a few things here.  What authority do I come with that I can express to the Israelites…how do I describe you?  What is the message to them?  What is the message to Pharaoh?  God gives him this information and he declares that he himself will accomplish what he is asking Moses to do and he will move the hearts of Pharaoh and the Egyptians so that Israel will indeed leave and they will take with them great provisions.  God here makes declaration to Moses that he is a God of covenant.  He begins with making clear that he is completely consistent and never changing.  He simply is and there is nothing that can challenge that.  But going further he expresses how this identity becomes personal and how it is a comfort to Moses.  I take it like “This is who I am and this is what I do”.  He gives him his personal name “YHWH” written as "The lord” (Lord in small caps) in the ESV Bible and relates this name to his covenant promises to the patriarchs.  He says that this will be his name forever thus expressing the nature of his promises to them.  He declares that he shall be remembered this way throughout all generations and already this is seen by the crying out of the Israelites under the Egyptian oppression.  God tells Moses how to speak to the Israelite elders (first-born descendants of the tribal chiefs) and assures him that they will listen.  God gives specific direction on how to speak to Pharaoh and explains that it will take the mighty hand of God to connive him, but that this too will happen.  The message is not freedom for the sake of comfort but the message is "let us go so that we may worship our God as he has directed us to.”  As God promised in Gen 15:14 to Abraham he now details to Moses that the Israelites will leave Egypt with great possessions.  

Meaning, Implications, and Significance
    There is no doubt that here God intends to do a work that only he can accomplish that will express is identity of a righteous God and a Savior (Is 45:21).  God will judge and God will deliver and all by his mighty hand and all in perfect justice for the proud who deny him and mercy upon his chosen people.  The implication is that the work God does here is to be a sign and a remembrance forever of who he is and what he does.  The significance for me is that I too need to remember who God is (holy and omnipotent) and how he works (judges the proud and saves the contrite) and know that this life is not so small as to ultimately be about houses and cars and jobs, but it is about a great God who saves from a coming judgement that I might live to honor him and love others.

Valuing the Message:
This message is valuable because it grounds me and reminds me that God is not a genie or a coach but he is the holy God who has worked at great cost to himself in order to protect me from his own holiness (Rom 5:8-11) so that I may know him in his glory (Rom 9:23-24).  My relationship to God should not be about what he is going to do for me here on earth (James 4:3-4) but should be about knowing him (John 17:3) and making him known (Matt 28:18-20; 1 John 5:11-12; Col 1:24-29) and about enjoying who he is (Psalm 37:4, Phil 1:21).

Reflecting to Feel the Impact of the Message:
I need to reflect upon my understanding of holiness and God’s character and the centrality of God being the prime actor in this story of my life.

Questions to ask:

1. Do I say to God each day “Here I am” or do I look away from the bush and keep my shoes on?  
2. Do I say, “Yes Lord, what do you have to tell me?” or do I say “sometime later I will look and see”.  
3. Do I look for ground where my shoes don’t seem so dirty or do I come near and let him teach me what holiness is?

Responding to God & Reacting to His Lesson:
Tell God about your observations and your thoughts and your struggles with the chapter and determine how it will change or impact your thinking and your decisions.  Be sure to react in some way to the truth rather than remain silent.

Proclaiming the Truth to Others:
Decide who you can share what you have learned with and ask for God’s help in reaching out to love others.

Luke 6

Ready:
The last chapter was about new wine and wine skins and fasting and Jesus calling disciples.

Seeing What’s There:
Luke 6 leads in with Jesus demonstrating in two events that mercy is preferred by God over ceremony or symbols.  Souls are matter more to God than ceremony.  Establishing this, Luke then documents an abbreviated account of the Sermon on the Mount that Matthew spends three chapters on.  I see in Luke’s account one thread of fruit bearing.  I see Jesus basically start from the nesting bird and work his way down into the water that feeds the roots.  Psalm 1 helps here.

Theme:
What the foundation of the building, or the roots of the tree are set into (choose your analogy) determines the strength of the building or the quality of the fruit.  The obedience of faith…taking God at his Word is the bedrock, is the stream of water.

Thinking About the Message:
    v1-11.  In this read I am focusing on the big point that I see from the two events here.  In both the Lord of the Sabbath and the healing of the withered hand I see Jesus declare that mercy is better than ceremony.  Jesus told the pharisees to learn that he prefers mercy to sacrifice in Matt 9:13 and Matt 12:7.  In both those cases the Pharisees are condemning someone for something out of a preference for ceremony (sacrifice) instead of love (mercy).  Jesus makes it plain here that we are to love and care for our fellow humans as a higher priority than keeping tradition and ceremony for what proves to be an empty religion if it does not make us lovers of people in the first place.  This Jesus made clear in Matt 25:31-46 what his sheep look like... and they love mercy.
    v12-16.  Next Luke tells of Jesus getting alone and praying all night long just before picking his twelve apostles who will receive his teaching and guidance up close and who will represent him after he ascends to heaven.  This choosing of the Apostles may be chronologically placed but I wrestle with how it may relate to the thread or mercy being the primary fruit we bear.  Jesus prayed all night for them and the longest prayer of Jesus recorded is for these 12 as well and it is in John 17.  He closes with a request that the love with which God has loved will be in them and Jesus in them.  Perhaps this abiding love is the source of the mercy and the cause of the obedience of faith that grounds it.
    v17-19.  Jesus gets started with some pre-sermon healing and exorcisms.  Jesus obliged them and he showed that he can make the sick well and give freedom to the oppressed.  Now he begins his message…
    v20-26.  The Beatitudes are recorded here by Luke in an abbreviated fashion.  He gives four things that do not scare the children of God.  He gives for risks that his children take in the cause of love.  He gives four things that his sheep risk in order to love mercy.  He describes the four things that the world tries at all cost to avoid but his sheep walk right into because they reflect their teacher (Luke 6:40) and their father (Luke 6:36).  These things are poverty, hunger, sorrow, and persecution.  The world seeks to avoid these with selfish vengeance but the child of God knows that he has everything already (Rom 8:32) and he is not  a blind leader (Luke 6:39), but he knows the love of God because it has been poured into his heart (Rom 5:5).  The woes are merely the opposite of the beatitudes and the picture of the world.  The beatitudes are not an instruction guide but a description of fruit.  This is a picture of the children of God and not a lesson in morality.  Jesus says blessed “are”, not blessed “will be”.  I see Jesus describing the result of the mustard seed of the obedience of faith as it has sprouted by the grace of God into a full blown tree that now serves the good of others (Mark 4:30-32).  Jesus declares that the ones who protect themselves at cost of others are not his own.
    v27-36.  Here he explains that the children of God love mercy and they risk for the cause of love.  They do not fight for their rights (Rom 12:14-21) because their hope is not here in the seen (Rom 8:24-25) because they are not of this world (John 17:15-19, John 15:19) and are not in love with this world (1 John 2:15).
    v37-40.  Here Jesus similarly describes fruit.  God has forgiven us and given us the gift of righteousness to justify us rather than judged us according to our sin, which would therefore have resulted in our condemnation (Rom 5:15-17).  So because we are not blind to this and he has given us eternal life, we bear the fruit of this same love poured out to others in the form of mercy.  Therefore we also do not judge and condemn but we offer grace and mercy.  This fruit is there increasingly as we become like our teacher and our Father.  Yet Jesus offers a point of clarification here…
    v41-42.  Here I see Jesus make known that we do bear a responsibility for helping our Christian brothers out after recognizing our own sin and repenting.  There is a place for “judging” those inside the church (1 Cor 5:11-13) but it should be done with clear eyes.
    v43-49.  I see both of these parables as teaching that quality of our fruit and the strength of our structure will come from what the foundation or roots are sunk into.  This needs be the truth of God in the person of Jesus and we do this by the obedience of faith.  Luke 6:47 sets it up well…”everyone who comes to me [Jesus] and hears my words and does them. I will show you what he is like…”.  Bingo!  The obedience of faith.  Trust what he says and act on it.  Psalm 1 tells us that the one who meditates on God’s Word day and night will be like a tree planted by streams of water and will be fruitful and durable and prosperous…maybe he will bear up the loads of others like the tree in Mark 4:32.

Meaning, Implications, and Significance
    The fruit of mercy and selfless risk in my life is not an earning of anything but it is an outflowing of the love of God that he has poured into me.  My role is to walk in the obedience of faith and his Spirit will push the fruit out.  The implication is that I cannot twist the beatitudes into a list of do’s but it is merely a picture of the believer who is grounded in the truth.  The significance for my life is that I can seek after God like Psalm 1 and Proverbs 2 teach and then I am likely to see my life resemble this picture to the glory of God.  Read those.

Valuing the Message:
I value understanding this message because I know that God is the one who will accomplish these attitudes in my life by my abiding in him and not by my striving to be a really good guy.

Reflecting to Feel the Impact of the Message:
I need to pray and ask for God to search out my motives and drives and desires and I need to reflect upon my heart and ensure that my roots and my foundation are in his truth and that I walk in out of a trusting of his word and not out of a proving of my goodness.  The latter is using these beatitudes as a list of to do’s and this is using the law to try to impress God…he is really only impressed by his Son…better to focus on loving that Son and in time I will look more and more like him, but the sheer grace of God.

Questions to ask:

1. Does my fruit look like the mushy stuff that the world produces or like the ripe and plump fruit that God produces in his children?  
2. Am I busy trying to make fruit when I should be pushing roots down into the soil?

Responding to God & Reacting to His Lesson:
Tell God about your observations and your thoughts and your struggles with the chapter and determine how it will change or impact your thinking and your decisions.  Be sure to react in some way to the truth rather than remain silent.

Proclaiming the Truth to Others:
Decide who you can share what you have learned with and ask for God’s help in reaching out to love others.
Soli Deo Gloria! 

February 19

Exodus 2; Luke 5

Daily Catechism

QUESTION 26: HOW DID CHRIST, BEING THE SON OF GOD, BECOME MAN?
Answer: Christ, the Son of God became man by taking to himself
a true body and a reasonable soul. He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Virgin Mary, and was born of her, yet without sin.
Scripture: Hebrews 2:14; 4:14; 7:26; Matthew 26:38; Luke 2:52; John 1:14; 12:27; Luke 1:31, 35; 2:52; Colossians 2:9.

Comment: I am typing this on a Personal Computer. I have virtu- ally no idea how it works. That it works I am certain: I have typed hundreds of sermons on it. So it is with the “incarnation”--the “how” is (as the old theologians used to say) “ineffable”. We believe it because the Scriptures teach it and because it “works” to make sense out of God’s whole redemptive plan.

Exodus 2

Ready:
The last chapter set the stage and I saw that a new Pharaoh hundreds of years later didn’t so much remember Joseph and was more concerned with how large the Hebrew population was and felt a need to oppress and limit them through slavery and killing their male babies.

Seeing What’s There:
Moses is born and adopted by a daughter of Pharaoh and raised in the royal family until he kills and Egyptian and flees to Midian.

Theme:
God protects his chosen prophet and he sets into motion the answer to Israel’s cry according to his plan that he shared with Abraham hundreds of years ago.

Thinking About the Message:
    v1-10.  Due to the terrible edict by Pharaoh, Moses’ mother is compelled to lovingly place her child in the Nile rather than allow an Egyptian to dash him into the water to die undoubtedly.  In God’s providence and sovereign plan Moses is found by the Pharaoh’s daughter and she ends up paying Moses’ mother to nurse him until he is weaned when she then adopts him as her child to be raised in the royal family.  Interesting that the daughter of Pharaoh took such care for this child and that she risked herself to adopt him and who knows what she revealed to Pharaoh or what it is like to raise a kid in a palace atmosphere…must be lots of help.
    v11-15.  Moses took interest in the Hebrews at some point.  Maybe he was informed from his youth that he was one of them or maybe he learned this just before he documents his observing of their oppression.  He seems to be about 40 years old at this point according to Acts 7:30, Exodus 2:11 and Exodus 7:7.  Moses steps in to protect a Hebrew and he ends up killing an Egyptian and hiding the body.  After he feels found out Moses flees and avoids the anger of Pharaoh who then wanted to kill Moses.  Very interesting that God has arranged for Moses to grow up speaking Egyptian and to have a knowledge of their culture and the royal family.  Moses surely recognizes his sin and now he sits at a well at Midian (East of Egypt) probably not knowing what to do next.
    v16-22.  Here Moses meets the family of the priest of Midian when he protects the priest’s daughters from shepherds who tried to keep them from taking water from the well.  This is the kind of trouble I recall Abraham having in negotiating with the shepherds of the land over wells.  It seems that water was very limited and well were highly valued.  The priest honors Moses and takes him into the family to the point of giving him one of his daughters as a wife who bears him a child named Gershom.
    v23-25.  This is the crux of the chapter and the turning point for the nation of Israel.  God does not listen to the cry of idolators or to a cry that does not acknowledge his truth.  I take it hear that there are God-fearing Jews who walk in the faith of Abraham who cry out to God after all these years of oppression (Job 35:13, Psalm 145:17-20).  This is a cry for deliverance and it comes not from pride or reliance upon merit but upon a trust in what God has promised.  I take the comment that God remembered his covenant to mean that their cry to God was that he would remember the covenant!  Could there have been a remembrance of God’s statement to Abraham about the 400 years of affliction in a foreign land?  Where they watching the calendar?      This is prayer like the Psalmist who pleads with God to take action not with an argument based on the asker but an argument based on the attributes of God and his name.  They had not lost hope…that had not completely forgotten the covenant…fathers had apparently passed this circumcision and its meaning on over these years in Egypt.  Here Moses indicates that God did hear their cry and he intends to answer with might and in a way that will glorify his mighty name.  The chapter closes with “and God knew”.  I wonder if this is not a knowing that the time is fulfilled…that the sin of the Amorites is complete (Gen 15:16) …that the next act in his epic story is ready for action.  The time for God to act in accomplishing his promise has come.  The only aspect of religion that the Jews know at this point is circumcision and remembering the spoken Word of God.  There is no law, there is means of appeasing God other than obedience of faith.  Now God is going to provide more revelation of how he keeps his Word.

Meaning, Implications, and Significance
    Despite terrible circumstances and hundreds of years of oppression with entire generations knowing nothing but affliction under the Egyptians, there is a cry to God based upon his promise and nothing more.  I take the meaning here to be that this cry of dependance and brokenness and trust against all odds is what the faith of Abraham is all about.  It may have taken a long time to get this people to cry out in dependence upon him…but it happened.  The implication is that God looks for us not to ask for his favor because of our promises to behave or our demonstrations of obedience but to ask for his favor based upon his goodness and mercy and based upon the blood of Jesus.   The significance for me is that I should not seek to convince God to act by something in me but my my trust that he will do precisely what he has said he will do and by a complete reliance upon him to deliver me.

Valuing the Message:
I value this message because it can be easy to get off track and think that God is not watching or caring or something when in actuality he has a perfect timing and a perfect plan for how he will execute on his promises.  God does not want an empty cry from me that is based upon me and my demanding or my convincing him of my own goodness.  This message helps me to know how to cry out to him and that my grounds for a plea to be heard is God’s promises and his own words and his purposes being accomplished.

Reflecting to Feel the Impact of the Message:
I need to consider my heart when I am looking for God to act because of my striving instead of my surrender.

Questions to ask:
What is motivating me to cry out to God?
Is it a desire for gain of something other than him?  Is it a sense of deserving his action?  Is it a frustration that he is not meeting my expectations?  Or is it a desire to see him glorified by a demonstration of his faithful and mighty hand?

Responding to God & Reacting to His Lesson:
Tell God about your observations and your thoughts and your struggles with the chapter and determine how it will change or impact your thinking and your decisions.  Be sure to react in some way to the truth rather than remain silent.

Proclaiming the Truth to Others:
Decide who you can share what you have learned with and ask for God’s help in reaching out to love others.

Luke 5

Ready:
In the previous chapter Jesus declared himself the Messiah in Nazareth and escapes the murder attempt by the Jews.  He demonstrates his authority and teaches of his kingdom.

Seeing What’s There:
I see Jesus demonstrate his identity and call disciples.  I see him show the disciples how they will succeed and he adds to his following of people leaving behind kin and nets and boats to follow the Son of God.  Jesus heals uncleanness and deformity and restores wholeness of body and soul in the sight of all.

Theme:
Jesus demonstrates his power in the lives of his creation and he calls them into a life of transformation and mission.

Thinking About the Message:
    v1-11.  I this passage Jesus brings in an impossible catch and then keeps the sinking boats afloat and the breaking nets from failing.  Jesus promises a catch, instigates and guides their actions to trust the promise, delivers what is out of their control to fulfill the promise, despite their sin and weakness he sustains their effort to receive the blessing without being overwhelmed and sinking, and then commissions them to repeat this task without fear and with men as their catch rather than fish.  They are to serve God’s cause now.
    v12-16.  A couple observations in this passage is that Jesus did not tell the leper that his faith lacked when the leper said “if you will Lord, you can make me clean.”  This is akin to me doubting that I correctly interpret God’s will in a situation but confident that God is able to accomplish all his holy will and he can surely do anything.  So the leper did not doubt Jesus’ ability to put a mountain in the sea even though he did not know if Jesus would choose to heal him.  This is the same greek word used in “thy will be done…” and in Phil 2:13 where it is God at work in us “to will and to work for his good pleasure”.  Jesus shows us that he can make clean what was unclean and he wants to do it.  Jesus does not discount the law and therefore directs the man to be viewed by a priest to begin the official process of being declared clean.  So we see a model that he is in the instant that Christ wills it “clean”.  But then he goes through a process of ritual cleansing that Jesus directs him to submit to.  There is a parallel here to our being cleansed of our guilt and sin in the moment of justification where we are reckoned righteous by God, through faith, but then we still live a life of a transformation (2 Cor 3:18, Titus 2:11-15) unto a realization of this cleanness that will someday be perfected (Heb 10:14) in our bodily redemption (Phil 1:6, Rom 8:23).  Luke notes at the end of this paragraph that Jesus would withdraw to desolate places to pray.  Here again I see that Jesus had a pattern of getting alone with his Father and being devoted to prayer.
    v17-26.  Lots of great things in this story about the faith of those around us and the impact of community in the perseverance of the saints but probably the biggest takeaway is that Jesus reveals why he heals people.  He heals people to demonstrate that he has the authority of God to categorically change people from guilty to innocent, from dirty to clean, from sick to well, from lame to strong.  He expects this to be an indication that he can surely accomplish whatever he says he accomplishes in a person when he tells them that their sins are forgiven.  
    v27-32.  I note here that Jesus does not “hang out” with sinners with a sense of being influenced by them or “walking in the counsel of the wicked” as Psalm 1 warns against…rather he says that he has a message for them…”repent and believe” (Mark 1:15).  His mission is the same as the purpose of Apostleship (Rom 1:5) and the same as the eternal command of God (Rom 16:26)…obedience of faith.  The idea here is that all these “sinners” who are there with Jesus know that they are in need of help…these are not the careless sinners who are flaunting their sin and consider themselves good to go.  These are broken people looking for God to heal them…they just don’t happen to be blind or lame.  It can make sense to me therefore that Paul tells me in 1 Cor 5:11-13 that I am not to associate with or eat with a supposed Christian brother who is living in blatant unrepentant sin.  This is one I should rebuke and they should be purged from among the congregation if they remain stiff-necked.  A broken sinner is different than an arrogant, entitled sinner who claims to be clean.
    v33-39.  Two things here.  Awesome that Jesus identifies himself as the bridegroom of Israel (Is 61:10) so of course you don’t fast when he is here and of course you will fast when he leaves.  Fasting apparently is without purpose when the Son of God is in your presence…but is very purposeful when he is absent.  The wine and wineskins has been attributed to an old and new covenant and also to old an new ways of fasting as we understand the work of Christ as a looking back rather than a less defined looking forward of the OT saint’s fasting.  The last verse is curious and deserves more study.  Perhaps is related to Psalm 34:8 “taste and see that the Lord is good”.  I have thoughts here about how there is no new way of salvation and there is unity of the plan of redemption and to paint a very divergent old and new pattern in some ways is inaccurate but clearly Jesus represents a new covenant.  A new covenant, however that does not nullify the old (Gal 3:15-29), just as the law did not nullify the promise to Abraham and so there is a progression of covenants not a replacement or nullification.  The old has not actual power without the new…mercy is not just until the cross.  For these reasons I think more study of this wineskin concept and the closing sentence here is worthwhile…sometime.

Meaning, Implications, and Significance
    I take from this chapter that Jesus is looking to make me whole and looking to change me from the inside out and looking to so radically modify how I see the world and my purpose here that I would need an entirely new mindset and world view.  He came to completely change the world for each of his sheep.  The implication is that following him is not just the adding of Jesus to my old way of thinking and living and valuing and my old perspectives.  Following Jesus is a radical transformation of all that I know with a purpose in life that is centered on seeking him and loving others enough to share my highest joy with them.  The significance for me is that Jesus will rightfully demolish my old life until I put on new patterns and new views and I will either be pressed to dump the new wine or replace the wineskin.  I choose to replace the wineskin because I have tasted and know that the Lord is good!

Valuing the Message:
This message is valuable to me because I know that it represents categorical changes in my interactions with everything in my life.

Reflecting to Feel the Impact of the Message:
I need to reflect on how my love of and trust in Jesus does and should impact my hatred of my sin, my work, my finances, my friendships, my charity, my goals, my time, my attitudes, my fathering, my cherishing, the nurturing and sacrificial leading of my wife, and everything else.

Questions to ask:

1. Where am I trying to put new wine into an old wineskin instead of replacing it?  
2. Do I find myself desiring the old wineskin?  
1. If so, I need to ask God for desire (Psalm 119:36, 141:4) and a right view (Prov 2:5-6, Eph 3:14-19) and for the filling of his Spirit (Eph 5:18) to empower me better sight and hope (Rom 15:13, Psalm 34:8).

Responding to God & Reacting to His Lesson:
Tell God about your observations and your thoughts and your struggles with the chapter and determine how it will change or impact your thinking and your decisions.  Be sure to react in some way to the truth rather than remain silent.

Proclaiming the Truth to Others:
Decide who you can share what you have learned with and ask for God’s help in reaching out to love others.

Soli Deo Gloria!

February 18

Exodus 1; Luke 4

Daily Catechism

QUESTION 25: WHO IS THE REDEEMER OF GOD’S ELECT?
Answer: The only Redeemer of God’s elect is the Lord Jesus Christ, who, being the eternal Son of God, became man, and so was and continues to be God and man, in two distinct natures and one person, forever.
Scripture: Galatians 3:13; 1 Timothy 2:5; 3:16; John 1:14; Ro- mans 9:5; Colossians 2:9.

Exodus 1

Ready:
Placement: Between Genesis and Leviticus
Chapters: 40
Verse count: 1,213
Author: Moses
Date: After the Exodus (1440 bc)
Genre: Narrative prose, history
Book Theme: God fulfills his promises to the patriarchs by delivering the great nation of Israel from bondage in Egypt and he reveals himself to them by his law and his tabernacle.

Written by Moses this book is clearly an extension of the story began in Genesis, but it picks up about 270 years later and the conditions are different.  Within 80 years of the close of chapter 1, Israel will number in the millions and they are oppressed under bondage of the new Egyptian Pharaoh.  The book is made up primarily of narrative (an epic adventure story) but also includes law and poetry.  The huge significance and impact on the remainder of the Bible and establishes theology and history that will flow through the Bible.  The following breakdown of the book may be helpful in considering it’s structure:

I.  God saves Israel from Egyptian bondage (1:1-18:27)
II.  God gives Israel his law (19:1-24:18)
III.  God commands Israel to build the Tabernacle (25:1-40:38)

Seeing What’s There:
The first chapter sets the stage for the epic story to begin.  A nation has been born within Egypt in Goshen and the Egyptian Pharaoh fears their size.  He determines to put them into slavery and to limit their growth by killing the newborn males.

Key Verses:
Exodus 1:7, 8-10, 12, 16, 17, 22

Theme:
Against odds and despite oppression, the nation of Israel grows within the borders of a foreign land.

Thinking About the Message:
    v1-7.  The history is here linked and the storyline of Genesis is extended into the Book of Exodus.  The tribes are identified and there is a formation or structure among the people of Israel.  They were only 70 persons when they arrived in Egypt but by Joseph’s death 80 years later they had grown by a few generations and now 270 years from that they are within 80 years (Moses’ age at the Exodus) of exceeding 600,000 men or probably over one million people (Numbers 1:45-46).  This already is fulfillment of one of God’s promises to Abraham but they are not yet in their own land and they are about to come under heavy oppression.
    v8-14.  The un-named Pharaoh does not remember Joseph and his help to Egypt some 270 years later and it may be that their records are biased in a way that they would not make such note of the aid of a Hebrew in saving their country in the same way that Egypt does not record the events of the Exodus.  So does this new Pharaoh come against and thwart God’s intention for his people?  Nope.  God told Abraham (in Genesis 15:13-14), at the time of the unilateral covenant demonstration, that the people would be afflicted in a foreign land for 400 years and that this was because “the iniquities of the Amorites is not yet complete.”  It seems that God intends to bring into Canaan in a certain timing that has to do with the condition of the Canaanites.  God intends Israel’s occupation of the land to be a judgement upon the sin of it’s inhabitants.  This makes sense considering some of his instructions that will come and some of the observation of the violent nature of their eventual conquest in the land.  God is not just moving his people into a land but he is orchestrating a great judgement at the same time.
    v15-22.  Here the Pharaoh takes steps to limit the growth of the people since the oppression and hard work is not working.  The Hebrew midwives refuse to kill their children and they clearly fear God more than Pharaoh.  This too fails but an edict remains now that puts the Egyptians in a position of being expected to kill newborn males among the Israelites.  The chapter closes there and the time that passes from the death of Joseph at the end of Genesis until the birth of Moses in chapter 2 of Exodus is about 270 years.  Interestingly the Jews have no law or ceremonies or religious observations of any kind yet except for a pattern of building altars for animal sacrifice in thanks and acknowledgement of God, who spoke to the patriarchs to reveal himself and to make a covenant.  What they have is remembrance of a promise and an identity as his chosen people by circumcision…nothing more really.

Meaning, Implications, and Significance
    I take the meaning of this chapter to be that God builds his people under adversity and he does so in a foreign land in order to establish himself as the source of their blessing.  The implication is that there is a cultural understanding among the Jews that God built their nation among foreigners who did not fear him and he would take them out of this place and bring them into a promised land where they would receive great blessings.  This shapes up as a parallel to the church (God’s chosen people) today being formed up as sojourners in a foreign land (this world) and waiting our deliverance to heaven (new promised land) where we hold true citizenship as identified by the Holy Spirit’s dwelling within us (new circumcision).  The significance to me is that I am in the midst of an epic story that continues today as we march toward the New Jerusalem.  I am among a people waiting deliverance and I can ignore this fact and go about my business becoming more and more attached to the foreign land or I can prepare and watch and wait eagerly and I can gather the body together as we wait for the bridegroom with whom our true allegiance rests.

Valuing the Message:
This message is valuable because it puts me in the middle of an epic story and makes my life meaningful beyond myself.  I am part of a people that God is delivering.

Reflecting to Feel the Impact of the Message:
I should consider how I am living and if I am looking ahead to the promised land or if am I settling in here in this foreign land.  I see that God dis not choose to built a great people by prosperity but by adversity and I might need to consider how hard I am fighting for comfort and prosperity here in this world.

Questions to ask:
Have I become comfortable in Egypt?
Am I forgetting that God is coming for us?
Where am I investing?

Responding to God & Reacting to His Lesson:
Tell God about your observations and your thoughts and your struggles with the chapter and determine how it will change or impact your thinking and your decisions.  Be sure to react in some way to the truth rather than remain silent.

Proclaiming the Truth to Others:
Decide who you can share what you have learned with and ask for God’s help in reaching out to love others.

Luke 4

Ready:
Luke has summarized the ministry of John the Baptist and given the genealogy of Christ to indicate his ministry role as the second Adam.

Seeing What’s There:
This chapter presents the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness as the preparation/outset of his ministry and then leads into his proclamation in the synagogue at Nazareth that brings a harsh response from the Jews.  It concludes with him healing and teaching across the region.  What jumps out at me in this chapter is:

• The correlation of the baptism, giving of the genealogy, and the temptation
• Jesus’ demonstration of obedience of faith
• Jesus’ proclamation of the arrival of the Messiah
• Jesus demonstrates his identity and purpose

Key Verses:
Luke 4:1-2, 4, 8, 12, 13, 17-21, 31-32, 36, 40, 44

Theme:
Jesus declares and exhibits his authority as the Messiah but he is rejected by his own.

Thinking About the Message:
    v1-2.  Jesus was led by the Spirit and so he understood that there was a purpose to his fast and the temptation he was facing under it.  It looks here like Satan came along not necessarily at the end of his fast but possibly was involved in tempting him during the whole course of the fast.  This fast was not only a preparation for what he was going to face but it seems itself like it was warfare against the enemy.  The Son of God is embodied with a human soul and human weaknesses and he must triumph over sin or else all humanity dies in Adam.  This story if epic.  There is one hero.  The parallel of the forty days in the wilderness with Israel’s 40 years and the parallel of Jesus being shown as the second who is like Adam makes it clear that he is the substance of what has been long explained through the big story of the Bible.  Jesus here will accomplish what Adam and what the people of Israel have failed at.  Jesus will live to the glory of God by the obedience of faith.
    v3-13.  No time to go into the individual temptations, but this is covered in the post on Matthew 4.  The big picture is that Satan is coming after the weakness of Jesus (his humanity).  Satan knows that one sin breaks the entire hope of the gospel and he knows that the flesh has no allegiance to God apart from the mind that is set upon him.  He looks to deceive Jesus or fool him into trusting himself or relying upon himself or taking the easy way out…each of which would be a failure to obey God by not taking him at his word and then appropriately acting upon it.  Anything that does not proceed from a position of trusting God at his word is sin according to Romans 14:23.  Therefore when Satan challenges Jesus to end his fast, although we do not see a law or a command of God to maintain this 40 day fast, it is clear that Jesus understands the Spirit’s lead to rely on God to sustain him during this time so to turn on that conviction would be a sin.  The reality is any action or thought not in service of the glory of God, but in the service of self or anything else is sin and so Satan has a broad array of directions to go in with his temptations.  Jesus makes it clear to the reader that each of the temptations amounted to Satan either explicitly or implicitly looking to get Jesus to doubt or twist the words of God to serve serve something other than God's glory.
    v14-30.  The biggest thing I see here is that Jesus marches into the synagogue and by his omnipotent and sovereign rule of the universe he is handed the scroll he desires and then he chooses to read (as if he couldn’t recite it from memory) a prophetic word about the Messiah coming to bring deliverance to his people.  He then tells those listening that by reading this word, Jesus has fulfilled it.  This is because he was not just reading it but he was indeed proclaiming in that moment that he had arrived to give the good news and to give liberty to the captives and to give sight to the blind and to free the oppressed and to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.  Jesus was performing what the scripture has prophesied!  He throws down an amazing statement of his purpose and the arrival of the kingdom in a way that would have made John the Baptist rejoice in his prison cell like he did within his mother’s womb the first time he met his cousin, the Christ.  Although they are initially amazed at him, the Jews soon tried to kill him after he ended up offending them with his accusations of stubbornness and unbelief that led to the rejection of previous prophets.
    v31-41.  In this section Jesus now teaches with authority unlike what they are accustomed to and this fits plainly with his proclamation in the synagogue to be the Messiah.  He also heals with such authority and he establishes power over human bodies and demonic spirits.
    v42-44.  Jesus was not going to be held up in one location and he was not going to focus just on healing but his plan included traveling and his kingdom message was for the lost sheep of Israel and not just that area.

Meaning, Implications, and Significance
    Jesus wins the battle and then declares the victory but those who should rejoice instead revolt because his message is one that requires humility and surrender to his reign.  The implication is that regardless of the signs and wonders and amazing things God has done it is still required that, but the grace of God, I place my trust in him alone with an understanding that I contribute nothing toward my own justification before God.  I need to accept my own dead condition if I will welcome the life-giver.  The personal significance is that I need to sit under the authority of God’s Word and allow his truth to rebuke, exhort, train, and sanctify me.  I cannot be in a self preservation of my ego mode.  I must surrender and accept from the fountain of living waters without holding onto my pride that wants to accomplish something on my own.

Valuing the Message:
I value this message because it is easy to reject a message that I feel is attacking me.  It is important that I understand the state of my soul and the level of my need.  It is important that I understand the level of authority that God demands to have in my life if I am to be his.

Reflecting to Feel the Impact of the Message:
I need to consider my level of surrender to God’s authority over every area of my life.

Questions to ask:

1. Do I give God room to train me and correct me?  
2. Do I put up my guard when I read or hear the Word preached in a manner that harms my reputation or ego?  
3. Do I keep back any areas that I want to maintain my own authority over?

Responding to God & Reacting to His Lesson:
Tell God about your observations and your thoughts and your struggles with the chapter and determine how it will change or impact your thinking and your decisions.  Be sure to react in some way to the truth rather than remain silent.

Proclaiming the Truth to Others:
Decide who you can share what you have learned with and ask for God’s help in reaching out to love others.

Soli Deo Gloria!

February 17

Genesis 50; Luke 3

Daily Catechism

QUESTION 24: DID GOD LEAVE ALL MANKIND TO PERISH IN THE CONDITION OF SIN AND MISERY?
Answer: God, out of his mere good pleasure, from all eternity, having chosen a people to everlasting life, did enter into a covenant of grace, to deliver them out of the condition of sin and misery, and to bring them into a condition of salvation, by a Redeemer.
Scripture: Ephesians 1:3-4; 2 Thessalonians 2:13; Romans 5:21; 8:29-30; 9:11-12; 11:5-7; Acts 13:48; Jeremiah 31:33.

Comment: The term “covenant of grace” is filled with sweet and precious hope. It refers to the free decision, commitment and oath of God to employ all his omnipotence and wisdom and love to res- cue and glorify his people from sin and misery. It is wholly initiated and carried through by God. It cannot fail.  It is valid for all who believe. Whosoever will may come and enjoy this grace! And, since this “believing” and this “willing” is a work of God’s sovereign grace, those who believe and come are the elect, “chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world” (Eph. 1:4). Thus the covenant was sealed in the heart of God before the world was.  This “covenant of grace” is the cry of victory over all the battle strife in missions. The grace of God will triumph! He is covenant- bound, oath-bound to save all those who are foreordained to eternal life (Acts 13:48)! “Jesus died for the nation (of Jews), and not for the nation only, but to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad” (John 11:52).  The battle cry of missions is, “The Lord has other sheep that are not of this fold: He must (covenant-bound!!) bring them also. They will (sovereign grace!!) heed his voice!” John 10:16.

Genesis 50

Ready:
In the last chapter Jacob blessed his twelve children and then died, leaving the nation in the hands of the tribal leaders with Judah identified as a leader.

Seeing What’s There:
This chapter closes the first book of the Bible that took me from the primeval period and then through the patriarchal period as well.  Joseph dies in this chapter about 80 years after Israel came to live there in Egypt and dwell in Goshen.  But Moses begins with Joseph taking Jacob’s body by a great procession into Canaan for burial. What jumps out at me in this chapter is:

• Egypt takes great concern over the loss of Jacob and pays him honor
• Jacob is embalmed (Egyptian practice)
• Joseph declares the evil actions of his brothers to have been the will of God for God’s good purposes
• Joseph promises all of Israel that God will bring them back to Canaan in his timing

Key Verses:
Gen 50:13, 15, 17-18, 19-21, 24

Theme:
God will accomplish his good intentions in this world and in my life.

Thinking About the Message:
    v1-3.  Judah may have been identified as a leader and his tribe surely will take that role but for now Joseph is the one in the leadership role and he remains in charge of all of Egypt.  Here it is Joseph who directs the preparation of Jacob’s body for burial.
    v4-14.  Here Joseph convinces Pharaoh to let his family take Jacob’s body to Canaan and Pharaoh sends a whole procession of people with them in honor of Jacob.  Pharaoh is very much a friend to Joseph and realizes that Egypt is alive and powerful because of him.  There is a special time of lamentation once they get into Canaan before they reach the burial place.  Per the command of Jacob his children bury him with his fathers in Canaan.  Physical locale was of great importance to the Jewish faith and it began in the Garden of Eden where God chose to dwell in presence of man in a certain place.  There will be a continuing theme in the Bible of God dwelling among his people in certain locations that will at Christmas change forever.  Then God will dwell in his Son and this will be his presence among us to be transformed next to an indwelling presence within his people in the birth of the church by the unifying power of the Holy Spirit.  In the end we will again dwell in heaven in the presence not only by indwelling but with a direct and visual presence again.
    v15-21.  This passage is important because it sums up what the story of Joseph teaches.  God is sovereign and evil does his bidding.  The horrible sin of Joseph’s brothers was not only a sin, but more than that, it was the will of God for a purpose that they could not have known.  God determined that Joseph would be brought to Egypt to rule there as he has done and therefore the sins of the brothers was completely within the plan of God, though they are still guilty.  I see this as a category that I must maintain in my mind that God can have purpose for sin and evil without himself being the author of it.  I take it to be that there is this evil enslaved will of man doing the works of the devil, but that God has such an amazing wisdom and glorious power over all things that he has planned that this evil will bring good, by purpose and not by reaction or recovery.  Greater than stomping out evil is to force it to do his will and therefore he puts the forces of evil to open shame (Col 2:14-15).  Joseph says “you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good.”
    v22-26.  After burying Jacob everyone returns to Egypt and there they remain and Joseph dies 80 years after his family joined him there.  He makes them promise to bring his bones to Canaan when God takes them back and this comes to pass about 350 years later at the hand of Moses (exodus 13:18-19).  God indeed has a plan for Israel being in Egypt and he revealed it to Abraham in Gen 15:13-16.  It may not seem good to them but God’s definition of good is bigger than ours (Rom 8:28-29).

Meaning, Implications, and Significance
    This wraps up a meaning already acknowledged in God’s sovereignty and his plans for his people that he will bring to pass even through their sin or others’ sin.  God is not limited and his plans are never frustrated (Job 42:2; Is 46:10; Is 55:11).  The implication is that there is no such thing as true chaos or chance or luck or coincidence (Prov 16:33).  The significance for me is that I need not fear my circumstances and I can maintain a hope in God that he has good intentions for me in all that he allows me to face.  There is a poem that helps to express this…

Not grace to bar what is not bliss,
Nor flight from all distress, but this:
The grace that orders our trouble and pain,
And then, in the darkness, is there to sustain.

Further I think I need to see the over-all message of the Book of Genesis. I take the most important ideas from this book to be that I am created and that there is a personal God who I am accountable to and that this God speaks truth and I am expected to hear and to trust and to act upon that. Mankind is fallen and is in a sinful and miserable state and needs rescue from the promised offspring.  God has extended us mercy and he gives us glimpses of his wrath and judgement that makes clear his mercy that we enjoy.  This God chooses to reveal himself not only as a judge but also as a savior and he has selected a people through whom to do this. This God is powerful and he makes promises and he keeps them.  This God is the prime actor and the story he tells is about him.  God’s story gives me value.

Valuing the Message:
I surely value the message of this chapter as critical because it changes how I view suffering and trials and hardships entirely.  God is not merely there to help me recover but he indeed had a purpose for the very thing I am facing (Hos 6:1) and it is his omnipotent hand of mercy upon me.  The message of the whole book is valuable because it is a world view in itself.  Being a created being changes everything.  I am not ultimately autonomous.  I am reliant upon God for my very existence.

Reflecting to Feel the Impact of the Message:
I need to reflect upon my reactions to trials and seek to trust the Lord’s goodness and yet know that evil perpetrated against me remains evil and the perpetrator is still guilty and will be held accountable by God.  I can allow God to deliver vengeance however, trusting that I am not in this position outside of God’s plan for me (Rom 12:17-21).  God’s goodness reigns over evil so I also should not let evil overcome me and cause me to sin.  Regarding the whole book of Genesis I need to define my understanding of reality and of this life in light of God’s intention and God’s plans and God’s purposes and not just what I see and feel and think of my own experiences.

Questions to ask:

1. How do I view God’s rule over the universe he created…and over the circumstances of my life?
2. Why was I made?
3. What is my purpose?
4. Whom do I serve?

Responding to God & Reacting to His Lesson:
Tell God about your observations and your thoughts and your struggles with the chapter and determine how it will change or impact your thinking and your decisions.  Be sure to react in some way to the truth rather than remain silent.

Proclaiming the Truth to Others:
Decide who you can share what you have learned with and ask for God’s help in reaching out to love others.

Luke 3

Ready:
The last reading included the birth of Jesus and the presentation of him in the temple where I saw the OT saints rejoice in seeing the salvation of the world before their very eyes.

Seeing What’s There:
In this chapter Luke presents a summary of John the Baptist’s ministry climaxing at the baptism of Jesus.  He then presents a genealogy of Jesus that extends back to Adam.  Luke is close to Paul and this genealogy draws a connection between Jesus and Adam that Paul will highlight since he presents Jesus as the second Adam and another federal head for humanity.  Luke ties John and the genealogy together by the quotation from Isaiah about all flesh seeing the salvation of God.  Our flesh is born in Adam and Jesus comes to free us from this deadness of belonging to Adam.

Key Verses:
Luke 3:3-4, 6, 8

Theme:
The time has arrived for the world to see salvation.  See your need and look to the promised Son, to whom you must belong, if you hope to be free from the bondage we are under in Adam.

Thinking About the Message:
    v1.  Something important about Christianity is that is is a historical religion.  I do not have a belief system that is contrived in the head of some man or by secret revelation from an angel or a system of morals.  Christianity is embedded in historical events and is based upon actual people and places and times and real history.  All of Christianity hinges on the historicity of the Bible and God was sure to put in his book plenty of historical grounding so that we understand this.  There is a great deal of extra-biblical writing that confirms the historicity of the Bible and I therefore have something concrete to view in history and not just thoughts from one man’s head.
    v2-6.  John was filled with the Holy Spirit from within the womb and he is clearly led by God in his perfect timing to come out from the wilderness and to being the message that he was born to deliver.  John is the last OT prophet and he comes with an extremely important purpose.  He comes in the spirit of Elijah with a message of repentance (Luke 1:17).  John comes to bring a final plea and to put a bow on the entirety of Israel’s history.  John comes to declare that we are guilty and accountable to God and that we need to repent and know that the kingdom of God is upon us.  John’s mission is to remind Israel of their dire need for deliverance and their need to trust God to send this help.  John is to help the people see that a savior to die and pay for their sins is the perfect fit to the entirety of the history of their nation and the revelation of their God.
    v7-20.  John presents the need for specific repentance in people’s lives.  He calls upon people to turn back to God with an obedience of faith.  John does not represent his baptism as the end of the line though.  He clearly tells everyone that there is another coming who will bring them power and he is the one who judges and who saves (Luke 3:16-17).  John makes a straight line of sight from the law to the Christ.  Problem- answer.  John’s message was a call to recognize our dependence upon God and he considered it good news (Luke 3:18).  John’s message was not received well by all because not all responded with the obedience of faith.  Herod felt accused and guilty and he did not see it as good news and he locked John up.  Here John also makes it clear that a physical lineage connecting one to Abraham was worth nothing because God can make anyone an offspring of Abraham (Gal 3:7, Rom 9:8).
    v21-22.  But before John was locked up he baptized Jesus and the entire trinity was revealed there in the Jordan when God spoke from the sky and the Holy Spirit came upon his as a dove.  Other gospels give a more detailed account of this and it is an important event because Jesus teaches us what he comes to do in dying for our sins and not for his own.  John is calling for a baptism of repentance and Jesus had nothing to repent of…but he chooses still to be baptized just like he will choose still to die in our place.
    v23-38.  Probably most important of all is to note that in this genealogy there are two people who do not have a human father (note that Luke makes a point of the virgin birth by saying that Jesus was “supposed” as the son of Joseph.  These two people are categorically different than the rest.  This indeed is a beginning to the understanding that Jesus is a type of Adam in that he is a federal representative of mankind who has the same type of free-will that Adam enjoyed.  Adam and Jesus did not suffer from enslavement to sin from birth, but Adam fell into this miserable state and all who comes by his seed was then condemned by his sin (Rom 5:12, 18) and under the enslavement of sin (Rom 6:6) while Jesus practiced the obedience of faith (Rom 5:19, Phil 2:8) and therefore instead of being condemned by sin, Jesus reversed it and he actually condemned sin in his flesh (Rom 8:1-4)!  Therefore all who move from being born "in Adam” to being born "in Christ” (John 3:5-6, 1 Cor 15:22) are free from condemnation and enjoy a truly free will (Rom 8:1-2).  To the lesser observations- this genealogy differs from that in Matthew and many contend that it represent the line from Mary and not Joseph.  There are good reasons to see this but also challenges since the opening clearly claims it to be Joseph’s lineage.  Study resources by scholars is helpful here.  It is also quite possible that this is just a different way of viewing Joseph’s lineage.  There are ideas about Joseph’s father being different in the two genealogies that suppose one to be his real father and the other to be considered his father because his uncle died with no children of his own and his real father took the brother’s wife and had Joseph as an heir to the dead brother.  Nathan is listed as David’s son that carries this lineage instead of Solomon (from Matthew’s account).  This can be again because Nathan was the real father but legally and royally, Matthew considered Solomon the heir that passed the royal line down. The main point is that Jesus is in the line of King David and Luke's statement about Joseph being thought of as his father when in reality it was only legal could also be a clue about his use of Heli as Joseph’s father as I stated above.

Meaning, Implications, and Significance
    I take the meaning to be that we are under condemnation and wrath by birth and that no special lineage can fix that except to be found in Christ by faith.  The implication is that I can have freedom from sin and death when I, by the grace of God, put faith in Christ and I die a death with him on that cross and I devote my life unto him (Rom 6:3-7; Gal 2:20).  The significance to me is that I can walk in freedom and with the peace of knowing that I am no longer under wrath (Rom 1:18; John 3:36) but I am a justified child of God (Rom 5:1, 9; Rom 8:15-16).

Valuing the Message:
This is a message of freedom only in Christ and nowhere else.  I value this because these are the words of eternal life and freedom to the oppressed.  Without being born again into Christ I remain in Adam and I remain enslaved to sin and condemned.

Reflecting to Feel the Impact of the Message:
I should reflect upon my life and consider the areas where I am willingly allowing sin to still rule me.  This is sad because I am free in Christ and sin has no power over me if I will but walk in the Spirit and put the sin to death (Rom 8:12-13).  I can reflect upon the battle within me between the old man (sin nature) and the new man (new creation in Christ) to ensure that I am setting my mind on Christ for renewal, transformation, and victory (Rom 7:14-25, Rom 12:1-2).

Questions to ask:
Do I see myself as a dead man raised by Christ or as just another living son of Adam?

Responding to God & Reacting to His Lesson:
Tell God about your observations and your thoughts and your struggles with the chapter and determine how it will change or impact your thinking and your decisions.  Be sure to react in some way to the truth rather than remain silent.

Proclaiming the Truth to Others:
Decide who you can share what you have learned with and ask for God’s help in reaching out to love others.

Soli Deo Gloria!