Tag Archives: teacher

JUST GET THE JOB DONE

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JUST GET THE JOB DONE

“When He had finished washing their feet, He put on His clothes and returned to His place. ‘Do you understand what I have done for you?’ He asked them. ‘You call me “Teacher” and “Lord”, and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you should also wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him.

“Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.'” John 3:12-17 NIV.

What did the disciples feel as they watched their Master go from one to the other, kneeling on the floor; washing the grime from their feet and wiping them dry with a towel? How they must have winced when He untied their sandals, one by one and lifted their dirty feet into the water, each one’s conscience stabbing him because he should have been doing what Jesus was doing!

This was much more than a visual or verbal lesson. This was a mental picture that played like a movie clip in their minds, over and over again — royalty bowing before commoners! It was not only what He did that plagued their minds but the way He did it, without a fanfare or in an attitude of “Look what I’m doing!” He simply did it as a matter of course, as though it were His duty to wash feet!

Yes, He did have a motive for doing the work of a slave. He did it because He loved them and because their feet were dirty and needed washing. He also did it as a visual aid so that they would clearly remember what it meant to follow Him. He did it because He was God…and that’s what God does. He washes the feet of His children because He is a good Father.

Following Him as loyal disciples meant much more than doing great things like preaching and healing the sick — the things that gathered the crowds and made them ooh and aah in wonder. There were also the little things; the behind-the-scenes things that no-one else saw; that drew no crowds; that received no accolades; that were humble ministries that a slave was obliged to do, like washing His disciples’ feet or cooking breakfast for them on the beach.

Jesus did both kinds, not to draw attention to Himself but because they needed to be done to see to the needs of others and make their lives more comfortable. Isn’t that what following Jesus is all about? It’s not about office or position or recognition or rewards. It’s about doing the job because it needs to be done and someone has to do it. The accolades and rewards will come later, and from God, not from men.

Jesus’ plea that they do for one another what He did for them had nothing to do with setting up another ceremony for them to add to their religious rituals. He certainly did not come to earth to wash feet! He wanted them to look beyond the end of their own selfish noses and to be alert to the needs of others. Whatever form that need took, whether it was for money or food or shelter or for dirty feet to be washed was of no consequence. “Just get on and do it,” was His instruction.

Isn’t that what following Jesus is all about? We all have gifts, talents and skills we can use to ease the burden that others carry. “Carry each other’s burdens and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.” Galatians 6:2 NIV. No one can meet the needs of the whole world but each one can help someone else by carrying his load.

Jesus’ instruction was simple. It’s not our job literally to wash the feet of everyone we come across and certainly not to perform a ceremony in the church. What would be the purpose of that? The really meaningful thing to do would be to cook a meal for a sick friend, to take an old lady shopping because she cannot go on her own, to take care of the children when a harassed mother needs time out or to take a house-bound family to the beach when their vehicle is out of order.

It does not take much imagination to “wash” someone else’s “feet”, just a little observation and a little time given unselfishly to ease the load someone else is called to carry. However, the boomerang rewards are amazing. The burden of selfish living becomes lighter and one has tiny glimpses of the heart of Jesus as He whispers, “Well done, son, daughter.”

Acknowledgement

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

JUSTICE OR MERCY?

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JUSTICE OR MERCY?

“Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. He came to Jesus at night and said, ‘Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one can perform the signs you are doing if God were not with Him.’ Jesus replied, ‘Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.’

“’How can someone be born when they are old?’ Nicodemus asked. ‘Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!'” John 3:1-4 (NIV).

Now here’s an honest Pharisee, if ever there was one! At least he admitted, on behalf of his fellow Pharisees, that Jesus had come from God. I wonder what the others would have said had they heard him. Would they have flatly denied ever saying that, or even thinking it? Or was Nicodemus using the royal “we”?

Nicodemus was honest enough to show Jesus that he had weighed up the evidence and come to the conclusion that Jesus was demonstrating something far beyond the capabilities of ordinary people. Unlike his colleagues, however, he didn’t attribute Jesus’ power to Beelzebub; He connected the dots and came to the conclusion that Jesus and God were doing this together.

What was Nicodemus getting at? In a roundabout way he was asking, ‘Jesus, we are both teachers. What have you got that I haven’t got?’ Perhaps he didn’t get an opportunity to ask his question. Perhaps Jesus cut him short to stop him rambling and get him on the right track.

Jesus’ response was surprising — no explanation, just a bold statement. ‘You’ll never get it, Nicodemus, unless you are born again.’ What did He mean? What is this ‘born again’ idea that Christians bandy about so freely without understanding its meaning?

Throughout the Bible we read that there was special significance in being the firstborn in a family. Firstborn sons, first of all, belonged to God and had to be redeemed by the payment of a sum of money to the high priest. Firstborn animals were sacrificed. Firstborns carried the responsibility for the rest of the family. They received justice for any of their siblings’ wrongdoing while the sibling received mercy.

We see this illustrated in the story of Joseph. It was Reuben, Jacob’s firstborn who refused to kill Joseph but suggested they throw him in a pit… He planned to rescue him from the pit and return him to his father because he would have had to bear the punishment had they killed Joseph.

Firstborn sons also received a double portion of their father’s inheritance. This was to compensate for their responsibility, for example, of marrying a brother’s widow to produce offspring for his deceased brother.

The Bible makes it clear that Adam was God’s firstborn and got justice for his sin. Since we are all “in Adam” we also should receive justice for all our sin. However, Jesus is described as “the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.” Colossians 1:15 (NIV). Why is this so important? As God’s firstborn Son, Jesus received justice in order that we might receive mercy.

However, I thought you said that in Adam we receive justice? True, but since we are “in Christ” we have received justice “in Him” because He died on our behalf. Now here’s the miracle. Jesus is also called “the last Adam” — second-born in God’s reckoning. Since we are “in Him” we received justice as firstborns but we also received mercy as second-borns! Isn’t that amazing? God is so precise and so just!

Jesus is saying to Nicodemus, ‘If you want to understand what is happening in the realm of the unseen — the kingdom of God — you need a spiritual rebirth from justice into mercy.’ No one can understand or receive God’s mercy until he is transferred from the realm of justice to the realm of mercy on which what God’s way of dealing with people is based. Since God’s justice has been satisfied once and for all through the cross, He deals with us all as second borns — mercy, mercy, mercy!

‘Nicodemus, do you understand that? If you want to experience God’s mercy, you need to be transferred from “in Adam” to “in Christ” and that takes a supernatural act of God. It will never make sense to you until that happens and it won’t happen until you believe that I am the Son of God and that my sacrifice paid your debt and offers you mercy.’

Nowadays, many people think that all they have to do is pray ‘the sinner’s prayer’, to be born again. Jesus assured Nicodemus that it would take much more than a prayer to experience the wonders of God’s kingdom. To see God’s kingdom would take nothing less than a powerful work of the Holy Spirit, the effects of which, like the action of the wind, would be seen though the Spirit Himself is invisible.

Wow! Isn’t that something! And it’s freely available for all!

Acknowledgement

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

History Or His Story?

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HISTORY OR HIS STORY? 

“‘How can this be?’ Nicodemus asked. ‘You are Israel’s teacher,’ said Jesus, ‘and do you not understand these things?’

“‘Very truly I say to you, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony.

“I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven — the Son of Man. Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes may have eternal life in Him.'” John 3:9-15 (NIV).

Such familiar words that we can almost recite them from memory! But what do they mean?

Although Nicodemus was a prominent teacher in the ranks of the religion scholars and was familiar with the Word of God, it was obvious to Jesus that he did not understand the truths he was teaching. It had been so long since God has spoken and actively intervened in the affairs of His people that Nicodemus was essentially teaching history.

Jesus must have startled him by saying that, although He was also a rabbi, He wasn’t teaching history; He was teaching truth from experience. He was speaking about reality because He had been in the heavenly realm; He had come from there and was relating what He knew, hence He could speak with authority.

How does one move from history to experience? Once again John brings his readers back to the main theme of his gospel — believing in Jesus. Nicodemus had nothing more than sterile religion to pass on to his learners. He needed something much more than that to have access to the “heavenly things” of which Jesus spoke.

Eternal life is not just unending life somewhere out there when we die. It begins here and now with a transfer from the dimension of existence in a purely self-dominated and soulish way to a dimension of living in union with God, experiencing His presence and His power to live unselfishly for other people and to submit lovingly to His will and purpose.

How can this transfer happen? Jesus put it in a nutshell and in the imagery of what was familiar to Jewish readers — Moses and the snake. This was familiar history to the Jews and to the Gentiles who had embraced the Jewish religion. They knew about Moses and the snake.

During their journey from Egypt to the Promised Land, the children of Israel were familiar with the inhabitants of the desert — the “nasties” of that kind of terrain. But God protected them from their deadly neighbours until they infuriated Him so much with their complaining and rebellion that He withdrew His protection and let the fiery serpents loose on them. Many of them perished from the poisonous bites until the people cried out in desperation.

God instructed Moses to fashion a model of a snake out of bronze and lift it up on a pole. Whoever looked at the snake and trusted God for healing would be saved from the effects of the snake’s venom.

‘This, Nicodemus, is the key to understanding what I am telling you.’ The key to their healing lay in the condition and the promise — if they looked at the snake and believed what God had said, the miracle happened. They were rescued from death and given back their life.

Jesus would also be “lifted up” on a wooden stake for everyone to see, but not everyone would experience the life He promised. Only those who gazed at Him with faith in His promise would make that transfer from death to life. Something supernatural would take place in their spirits. They would literally “come alive” to God; they would have a spiritual awakening to a dimension of living they have never “seen”, a new life thrumming with God, everywhere.

That’s what changes history to His story, and our story.

Justice Or Mercy?

Bible Study, , ,

JUSTICE OR MERCY? 

“Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. He came to Jesus at night and said, ‘Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one can perform the signs you are doing if God were not with Him.’ Jesus replied, ‘Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.’

‘How can someone be born when they are old?’ Nicodemus asked. ‘Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!'” John 3:1-4 (NIV).

Now here’s an honest Pharisee, if ever there was one! At least he admitted, on behalf of his fellow Pharisees, that Jesus had come from God. I wonder what the others would have said had they heard him. Would they have flatly denied ever saying that, or even thinking it? Or was Nicodemus using the royal “we”?

Nicodemus was honest enough to show Jesus that he had weighed up the evidence and come to the conclusion that Jesus was demonstrating something far beyond the capabilities of ordinary people. Unlike his colleagues, however, he didn’t attribute Jesus’ power to Beelzebub; He connected the dots and came up with the conclusion that Jesus and God were doing this together.

What was Nicodemus getting at? In a roundabout way he was asking, ‘Jesus, we are both teachers. What have you got that I haven’t got?’ Perhaps he didn’t get an opportunity to ask his question. Perhaps Jesus cut him short to stop him rambling and get him on the right track.

Jesus’ response was surprising — no explanation, just a bold statement. ‘You’ll never get it, Nicodemus, unless you are born again.’ What did He mean? What is this ‘born again’ idea that Christians bandy about so freely without understanding its meaning?

Throughout the Bible we read that there was special significance in being the firstborn in a family. Firstborn sons, first of all, belonged to God and had to be redeemed by the payment of a sum of money to the high priest. Firstborn animals were sacrificed. Firstborns carried the responsibility for the rest of the family. They received justice for any of their siblings’ wrongdoing while the sibling received mercy.

We see this illustrated in the story of Joseph. It was Reuben, Jacob’s firstborn who refused to kill Joseph but suggested they throw him in a pit… He planned to rescue him from the pit and return him to his father because he would have had to bear the punishment had they killed Joseph.

Firstborn sons also received a double portion of their father’s inheritance. This was to compensate for their responsibility, for example, of marrying a brother’s widow to produce offspring for his dead brother.

The Bible makes it clear that Adam was God’s firstborn and got justice for his sin. Since we are all “in Adam” we also should receive justice for all our sin. However, Jesus is described as “the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.” Colossians 1:15 (NIV). Why is this so important? As God’s firstborn Son, Jesus received justice in order that we might receive mercy.

But I thought you said that in Adam we receive justice? True, but since we are “in Christ” we have received justice “in Him” because He died on our behalf. Now here’s the miracle. Jesus is also called “the last Adam” — second-born in God’s reckoning. Since we are “in Him” we received justice as firstborns but we also received mercy as second-borns! Isn’t that amazing? God is so precise and so just!

Jesus is saying to Nicodemus, ‘If you want to understand what is happening in the realm of the unseen — the kingdom of God — you need a spiritual rebirth from justice into mercy.’ No one can understand or receive God’s mercy until he is transferred from the realm of justice to the realm of mercy on which what God’s way of dealing with people is based. Because God’s justice has been satisfied once and for all through the cross, He deals with us all as second borns — mercy, mercy, mercy!

‘Nicodemus, do you understand that? If you want to experience God’s mercy, you need to be transferred from “in Adam” to “in Christ” and that takes a supernatural act of God. It will never make sense to you until that happens and it won’t happen until you believe that I am the Son of God and that my sacrifice paid your debt and offers you mercy.’

Wow! Isn’t that something! And it’s freely available for all!