Category Archives: John

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Following Christ Without Any If’s

Brassy Boldness

Getting Closer to Jesus: You’ve got to give Peter credit—he was never one to hold back. John outran him to the tomb, but nervously stopped at the entrance to peek in. Not Peter! When he finally arrived, huffing and puffing, Peter, ignoring graveyard protocol and pushed past John right into the place where Jesus was buried.

Of course, the greatest part of this story is that Jesus wasn’t there! He had risen from the dead, the victor over death and sin, and now was alive forevermore. If Peter had found Jesus’ body still sealed behind the stone entrance of that tomb when they arrived, nothing else about this story would matter. But Jesus had risen, indeed, and that is why the other details of this story matter. Even small, seemingly insignificant details become both interesting and instructive—like Peter pressing in past John to witness the reality of the resurrection firsthand.

Peter’s spiritual pushiness is what endeared him to Jesus. His personal deficiencies are well documented, of course; the entire world knows of them thanks to the Gospel writers. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John pulled no punches in their accounts of this braggadocios, foot-in-mouth, leap-before-you-look, think-before-you-speak disciple. Yet it was Peter’s reckless abandon when it came to spiritual expectancy that led Jesus to declare,

“Peter, on your kind of faith, I am going to build this small team of disciples into a worldwide force called ‘the church’ that will take back Planet Earth from Satan and return it to its Rightful Owner.” (Mat 16:18)

Sure, Peter got into trouble more than his fair share, but he was the only disciple to actually get out of the boat to walk on water—albeit a walk that was short-lived and ultimately very wet. He was the first to go into the empty tomb—Ground Zero of the Christian faith. And he was the first one called upon in Acts 2 to give the inaugural sermon of the Christian era—where two thousand people responded to his altar call.

 

Jesus loved Peter’s brassy boldness. That was the kind of raw material the Lord could work with. It was certainly raw, but it was ready. It didn’t take much to light a fire with Peter; he was a tinderbox waiting for combustion.

I think we could learn something from Peter’s example. Peter didn’t have it all together in his life, but he was always willing to offer all that he had, raw as it was, and press into Jesus with full expectancy of what could happen when raw readiness met with resurrection reality.

Take the Next Step: Be Peter-like today in your journey with Jesus: a bit bold, daring to go so far as to be a little spiritually pushy. Chances are, you will encounter some resurrection power. Word has it that it’s still floating around out there.

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Death Is Buried In The Crucified Christ

Mission Accomplished!

Getting Closer to Jesus: Mission accomplished!

The purpose for which God became man was complete! Jesus, the perfect God-man, had just offered himself as the only atoning sacrifice to the Heavenly Father for the sin of the world. He then proclaimed for all of heaven—and hell—to hear: It is finished. Having done that, Luke, one of the other Gospel writers, tells us that Jesus cried out in a loud voice then surrendered his spirit to God.

What I find profound about this is that a man in the final throws of death doesn’t cry out in a loud voice, unless he is a courageous soldier—a war hero dying in battle to defend his cause, liberate his people and defeat an enemy. No, a dying man usually whispers hoarsely, or whimpers pitifully, or expulses a cry of pain—or perhaps just gives up and quits breathing.

But Luke carefully chose the Greek phrase, fone megale —mega-phone—to capture Jesus’ final word. This was a shout of triumph, an outburst of victory! As he hung on that cross, Jesus had in his sites sin and death—those evil twins that had thwarted God’s original intent and tormented humanity since the fall of humanity back in the Garden of Eden.

Now, Jesus had defeated sin. He had offered himself as the once-and-for-all sacrifice for sin (Heb 10:10,12,14), he had forgiven the repentant thief, he had extended forgiveness to the ignorant who had sent him to the cross. Jesus had won! It was finished and Jesus knew it. Not his life; not his future; but his work was finished—complete, mission accomplished.

Yet there was one more thing he needed to do; one more enemy to defeat—Death. As Jesus’ life quickly ebbed toward death, the spirit of death appeared out of the invisible realm, ready to claim yet another victim—this time, to crush the life of the One who claimed to be the Resurrection and the Life. But just as the death demon reached out to take hold of Jesus, the Lord of Life laid hold of death instead.

Death was grasped and dragged until it was absorbed into the bosom of the Eternal One…and so, in that moment, all things were crucified —every last thing! Sin, sickness, and suffering, along with hell, the grave, and yes, death, were crucified—all things!

But wait, there was one more thing to be crucified: you and me. You see, we were crucified with Christ, yet nevertheless, in dying with him, we live in him now and forevermore!

That was the loud voice—the fone megale—the shout of triumph. Our victory had been forever won! And having won the greatest of all victories—our eternal salvation, he bowed his head and surrendered his spirit. And the very next thing he heard on the other side, I imagine, was “well done, good and faithful Servant!”

Take the Next Step: Find a hymnal—you might have to look long and hard these days—and sing the him, “Christ Arose” as a prayer of gratitude to God for Christ’s atoning sacrifice.

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It Got Ugly

This is God At His Best

Getting Closer to Jesus: From our perspective as Christians, nearly two thousand years after the event, the arrest, trial, and crucifixion of Jesus have become a thing of redemptive beauty. This was God at his best—his love, grace, mercy, redemption, and sovereignty on display as Jesus was beaten, mocked, and nailed to a cross for the sins of the world.

Yet on that exact day Jesus was forced to endure this suffering, it got ugly—beyond description. So brutal was his treatment that we would have averted our eyes in horror were we to witness it first-hand. So disgusting was Pilate’s cowardly desire to placate the rabid hatred of the Jewish leaders that we would have shaken our heads had we witnessed it for ourselves. So unhinged was the hatred of the Jewish leaders for their Messiah we would have dropped our jaws in disbelief had we witnessed it with our own eyes.

The prophet Isaiah described the physical horror that Jesus endured as so graphic that we would have had to turn away, unable and unwilling to grasp what Jesus actually experienced:

He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem. (Isaiah 53:3).

John 19:1-3 tells us,

Pilate had Jesus flogged with a lead-tipped whip. The soldiers wove a crown of thorns and put it on his head, and they put a purple robe on him. ‘Hail! King of the Jews!’ they mocked, as they slapped him across the face.

Thirty-nine times the whip, crafted for maximum damage to a human body, was brought down upon Jesus’ back, ripping open the flesh, tearing at the nerves, muscles, and sinew, laying him open to the bone.

Amazingly, Jesus survived a trauma no human should ever—perhaps could ever—have to endure, but only to have a crown of long, sharp Judean thorns forced upon his brow, penetrating down to the skull. Then the soldiers who had mockingly crowned him began to beat the defenseless Jesus, punching him time and again with full force in the face.

It got ugly the day God died—so bad was the physical violence that the prophet Isaiah said,

Many who were appalled at him—his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any human being and his form marred beyond human likeness. (Isaiah 52:14)

Then Jesus was brought before Pilate, the Roman governor, who was to hear his case. After the Jews brought their trumped-up accusations against the Lord, and after Pilate had interviewed him, he tried to release Jesus: “I find him not guilty.” Pilate said. “Take him yourselves and crucify him. (John 19:6) Not guilty—that usually secures freedom for an innocent man, yet Pilate was more afraid of man’s opinion than dispensing deserved fairness. And in that moment, Pilate secured his dark place in history as the one who could have freed an innocent man yet sent him as a lamb—the Lamb—to the slaughter.

It got ugly the day God died—the innocent dying for the guilty:

He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. By oppression and judgment he was taken away. Yet who of his generation protested? For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was punished. (Isaiah 53:7-8)

But what of the Jewish priests and officials! Here we find misguided religion at its worst. The long-awaited Messiah was finally among them—his life of love on display in every action, every miracle, every word—yet they are so blinded by hatred they stop their ears and cry all the louder, “crucify him” as Pilate weakly pleads for Jesus’ release.

It got ugly when God died—those who were his own people willingly, knowingly, viciously sent their Eternal King to his death by claiming loyalty to a temporal king.

Yet for all the human ugliness inflicted upon Jesus, Isaiah tells us that it was “the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer…to make his life an offering for sin.” While man’s darkness was being exposed, God’s sovereignty was powerfully moving events toward a glorious end, the redemption of sinful man.

Yes, it got ugly the day Jesus died, but Jesus had to take the ugliest of human darkness and sin into himself so that he could crush to death what would crush him to death. It got ugly for Jesus, but it became a thing of beauty for you and me.

Take the Next Step: Read through Isaiah 53, taking time to pause after each thought to offer gratitude to God that in Jesus’ death, sin met its match and you found your freedom.

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God Holds All The Cards

He Will Take Care of Me

Getting Closer to Jesus: There is nothing in this world that happens apart from God’s sovereign knowledge and by his sovereign permission.

Jesus understood that as he stood before Pilate, who nervously tried to impress upon our Lord that he held the power to either crucify him or free him: “Why don’t you talk to me?” Pilate demanded. “Don’t you realize that I have the power to release you or crucify you?” (John 19:10, NLT) That is when Jesus, who, up to this point, had held his peace, looked Pilate directly in the eye and informed him in no uncertain terms that even though he might be a high officer of the Roman court, he held no such power—only God did.

In the awful light of what Jesus had been through, and what he knew he was about to go through, what an amazing statement of not only understanding the sovereign will of God, but of complete trust and submission to it. That was the reason Jesus could so calmly and resolutely traverse the terrible way of the cross. And that is the reason you can walk through the difficulties of your life as well—even if your path takes you through the valley of the shadow of death. As King David said,

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. (Psalm 23:4, KJV)

You can know what King David knew that our Lord knew: Because of God’s sovereign control over all the affairs of this universe, and because of his immeasurable love for you, this world is a perfectly safe place for you—even if you are standing before your cross.

Before you begin this day, take a moment to read the Shepherd’s Psalm printed below. In fact, you may want to read it every day this week before you head off into the busyness and challenges of your world:

The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.

He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.

He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.

What a great declaration: The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. Yes, God holds all the cards, so put your confidence in him.

Take the Next Step: Memorize Psalm 23 from your favorite Bible version, and pray it each day—perhaps throughout the day—this week.

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What Kind of God Would Allow That?

Jesus Would!

Getting Closer to Jesus: The great essayist, Dorothy Sayers, wrote, “What does the Church think of Christ? The Church’s answer is categorical and uncompromising, and it is this: That Jesus Bar-Joseph, the carpenter of Nazareth, was in fact and in truth, and in the most exact and literal sense of the words, the God “by whom all things were made.” His body and brain were those of a common man; his personality was the personality of God, so far as that personality could be expressed in human terms. He was not a kind of demon pretending to be human; he was in every respect a genuine living man. He was not merely a man so good as to be ‘like God’; he was God.”

Yes, as Christians, we believe that Jesus was God. But why would a God “by whom all things were made” permit what he had made to treat him thus: to brutally beat him to within an inch of his life with the barbaric Roman cat o’ nine tails, to press into his brow the crown of thorns, to slap him and spit upon him? What kind of Creator would give the created even one second to mock him as they did? Where else could we find Deity submitting to the humiliation of the cross? What kind of God would allow that?

Only the one, true God! No other real god would do that—could do that—not a god that had any power, or goodness, or love, or divinity. The fact that Jesus surrendered to the pain and shame of the cross is evidence itself that he was not merely a man so good as to be like God; he was God.

What kind of God would allow that? Jesus!

Jesus was, and is, a God of patience. The fact is, it should have been sinful man who was brutally beaten, mocked, humiliated, and publicly executed like a common criminal. Our common sin made us offensive to a holy God. He had every right to wipe us out and begin anew—as he did in the days of Noah, or as he threatened with Moses on Mount Sinai—or to never make another creature with the freedom to choose. But so great is the patience of this God that he would submit to our utmost defiance. Thank you, O Lord, that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abundant in loving-kindness; one who relents sending the calamity we deserve. (Jonah 4:2)

Jesus was, and is, a God of mercy. Rather than giving us what we deserve, he took what we deserved into himself as he was punished on the cross. We deserved the cross; he became the crucified. Thank you, O Lord, that you were wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities and that the chastisement that brought our peace was upon you. (Isaiah 53:5)

Jesus was, and is, a God of justice. Sin requires punishment, else God is not holy, righteous, and just. Yet that sin was not atoned for by the guilty, but by the innocent. Jesus received the punishment, endured the humiliation of a trial, and hung upon the cross in our place, not as a victim of man’s anger, but to satisfy God’s wrath. Thank you, O Lord, that the Father laid on you the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53:6)

Jesus was, and is, a God of love. It should never cease to amaze us that God, the holy One, wanted us, unworthy, guilty sinners, to live so much that in an act of extreme love he provided a way of escape from eternal death into eternal life. Thank you, O Lord, that you loved a sinful world so much that you gave your only begotten Son, so that by belief in him, sinners would have everlasting life. (John 3:16)

Jesus was, and is, a God who is for us. What more could Jesus do to prove his love for us and thereby convince us that he has set himself to help us than by his substitutionary, sacrificial death on the cross? Should we ever again doubt that God is for us, that he will help us, that he will fulfill all his promises to us and bring us through the trials and tribulations of this life, and one day bring us into his eternal Kingdom? Thank you, O Lord, that you who did not spare your own life, but delivered it up for us, will also certainly and freely give us all things? (Romans 8:32)

What kind of God would allow his created ones to inflict the cross upon himself? Jesus, that’s who—the God of patience, mercy, justice, and love—the God who is for us and therefore, the One whom we should love, serve, trust, and follow shamelessly and without reservation now and every day until the end of the age.

Take the Next Step: Read Isaiah 53 today, and verse by verse, offer your gratitude to God for the gift of Jesus and his sacrificial, substitutionary death on the cross for you.

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Fighting For The Wrong Cause

This Present World Will Soon Pass

Getting Closer to Jesus: Those around the world who claim Christianity as their faith would do well to think deeply on Jesus’ response to Pilate: My kingdom is not of this world!

Jesus was standing before the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate, who, in a sense, had the power to set him free or to crucify him. So, it would have been expected that Jesus would lay down a defense for his life at this point. Yet Jesus chose not to, instead informing Pilate that if it were about winning his freedom, or winning this turf war against the Jewish religious leaders, or throwing off the yoke of the Roman Empire to establish a new religious kingdom that would rule Planet Earth, his followers would be putting up a fight right about now.

But they weren’t. And Jesus wanted it that way. He had bigger things in mind—like the spiritual revolution that would be set afoot throughout the world by his death for the sins of humankind and his victorious resurrection from the grave as Lord of life. Gaining and maintaining power in the current world order was not what Jesus was about. He knew that humanity had been so totally corrupted by sin that a whole new, recreated world would be the only answer. Now make no mistake, until the time for that arrived, there would be kingdom work to do, but with Jesus, it was never about political, military, cultural, or philosophical domination.

Jesus’ disciples struggled with that at first—but they eventually got it. Following his death, resurrection, and ascension, they set out to take Jesus’ message to the ends of the earth. In 300 years that followed his ascension, without fielding an army, without firing a bullet or swinging a sword, without financial backing, without a huge voting bloc, without academic systems, without TV networks, printing, and marketing campaigns, they subdued the mighty Roman Empire when Emperor Constantine declared Christianity to be the religion of the very empire that had done its best to snuff Jesus out. And all Christ’s disciples did was to do what Jesus had done: they loved fiercely, served humbly, proclaimed boldly, and died sacrificially.

 

It is too bad that around the world today, especially in the Western world, Christianity is known more for its politics than its love. We fight rather than die. We protest, leverage power, build a constituency, and “yell” on social media rather than sacrificially serve and humbly surrender. In Eastern Europe, Christians wage war to cleanse their land of ethnic impurities. In the Middle East, Christians take up arms against the Muslims bent on destroying them. In the United States, Christians flock to a political party and a candidate friendly to their views and use all means at their disposal to tout their platform.

Now, am I saying that Christians should not use all means possible to influence their culture, to defend their families against harm, and to get their person elected? Not necessarily. But there is a fine but firm line between fighting for a system that will soon be destroyed by fire and laying down their lives in the same manner their Savior did to redeem the world.

What I am saying is that true Christians need to think long and hard about what Jesus said—that his kingdom is of another place—and make sure they are not fighting for the wrong cause. What does that mean? It will mean different things in different places. But in your place, like the early disciples, you must figure that out and then begin to live within your culture as Jesus did.

And if the untold thousands of us around the world who claim Christ as Savior did that, we would set afoot a new wave of Christian influence that would capture Planet Earth in about three months, not three centuries.

Take the Next Step: What are you putting your hopes in—a political party, winning an election, an enacting certain laws? Think about that in light of what Jesus said: My kingdom is of another world. If it weren’t, my followers would be putting up more of a fight. Are you fighting for the right cause?

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Passion Over Perfection

A Poor Regulator but a Powerful Spring

Getting Closer to Jesus: Minus the infamous Judas Iscariot, Simon Peter usually takes a beating when evaluated alongside the ten disciples. He gets labeled as the stumbling, bumbling, think-before-you-speak, foot-in-the-mouth, inconsistent goofball from Galilee, who, for reasons God only knows, got chosen to be one of Jesus’ first disciples. Good old Peter—the first-century version of Gomer Pyle in the Lord’s little band of foot soldiers.

But let’s give Peter some credit. He may not have been perfect—by a long shot—but he sure was passionate! And he was there—at least give him that. In John 18, as Jesus was arrested and brought to trial, when everyone else but John had fled, Peter figured prominently. He was like a bull in a china shop—passionate, yes; perfect, no—but he was there:

  • He whacked off the ear of one who came to arrest Jesus. (John 18:10-11, NLT) Passionate—but misguided!
  • He surreptitiously followed as the High Priest’s SWAT team took Jesus to jail. (John 18:15-17, NLT) Passionate—but fearful!
  • He stood among the soldiers as they warmed themselves by the fire. (John 18:18, NLT) Passionate—but silent!
  • He denied knowing Jesus when questioned, but at least he was there to be questioned. (John 18:25, NLT) Passionate—but weak!
  • He doubled down on his denial when questioned again. (John 18:26-27, NLT) Passionate—but fundamentally flawed!

Yes, Peter was all those things we’ve said—there is no doubt about it—but passionate? You bet—imperfect, but passionate to the core! Perhaps that is why Jesus gave Peter so much public attention and placed him so prominently on his leadership team. Like the very flawed King David, Peter had a heart after God.

God can use people like that. In fact, I suspect God prefers them over the perfect. Oh, and just a little a hint: There are no perfect people, only those who think they are. Of course, I am not excusing Peter’s imperfection; only explaining it. But I think the reason the Gospel writers included Peter’s gaffes with regularity was not to put him down as the dunderhead we often think he is, but to remind us that God uses imperfect people, especially the passionate ones!

Take the Next Step: Ask God to give you greater passion. Pray for self-control and wisdom, too—but if you are like me, you probably need more passion than the other two.