post-postscript

Must read article: Dumb and Dumber

With so many high-profile voices hammering against current US policies, it is always helpful to have well written and reasoned responses.

Postscript

The Biblical Studies Foundation has published another paper of mine. I had earlier serialized this under the title "The Choosing and Training of the Twelve." At BSF you can read the entire paper start to finish without having to follow links as you go. You can access the paper by clicking here.

This is the fourth post in a series that explores the Upper Room Discourse recorded in John 13 - 17. To start from the beginning, click here.

Our Responsibilities

Lets look at John 13:1-5 one more time:

Just before the Passover feast, Jesus knew that his time had come to depart from this world to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he now loved them to the very end. The evening meal was in progress, and the devil had already put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, that he should betray Jesus. Because Jesus knew that the Father had handed all things over to him, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, he got up from the meal, removed his outer clothes, took a towel and tied it around himself. He poured water into the washbasin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to dry them with the towel he had wrapped around himself. (John 13:1-5, The Net Bible)

The first 5 verses of the Upper Room Discourse set the tone for all that follows. It shows Jesus' destiny, which we later learn, is a destiny that we share. In this lesson, we will see how these same verses hint at our responsibilities.

A New Commandment

Our responsibilities as presented in the Upper Room Discourse are centered on loving others and loving God. It begins with a new command that Jesus gave us:

“I give you a new commandment—to love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. Everyone will know by this that you are my disciples—if you have love for one another.” (John 13:34-35)

The depth of meaning and responsibility here is awesome. It starts simple enough, "I give you a new commandment—to love one another." If that were all the Jesus said, then I say bring on all the old songs "What the world needs now, is love sweet love. It's the only thing that there's just—to little of." or "All you need is love." or "Peace train." Those are the unrealistic songs of warm and fuzzy feelings. To my knowledge, not one has changed the world.

Jesus states the commandment and then defines the term, "Just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another." Jesus did not come to earth to share warm and fuzzy feelings to make us feel good. His love began with knowing that "the Father had handed all things over to him" and ended with "he got up from the meal, removed his outer clothes, ... and began to wash the disciple's feet." In other words, it is the kind of love that washes the feet of people who should have washed yours and for whom you are soon going to die. As Paul puts it,

Therefore, if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort provided by love, any fellowship in the Spirit, any affection or mercy, complete my joy and be of the same mind, by having the same love, being united in spirit, and having one purpose. Instead of being motivated by selfish ambition or vanity, each of you should, in humility, be moved to treat one another as more important than yourself. Each of you should be concerned not only about your own interests, but about the interests of others as well. You should have the same attitude toward one another that Christ Jesus had, (Philippians 2:1-5)

So the standard by which I am to measure whether I love my fellow Christian brothers and sisters enough is whether I have loved to the same degree that Jesus loved! God help me, but I am not there!!

What would happen if we got there? Jesus said, "Everyone will know by this that you are my disciples." I have seen churches split. Have you? One thing is for sure: This new command is of critical importance to reaching the world. I shudder to think of who is lost, because we have not loved and so gave excuse. Jesus also said, in this discourse, "No one has greater love than this--that he lay down his life for his friends." Lets press on towards this goal in the Power of the Holy Spirit.

Obedience that Comes from Love

Besides loving others, we are to love Jesus, which will have this result:

Jesus replied, “If anyone loves me, he will obey my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and take up residence with him. The person who does not love me does not obey my words. And the word you hear is not mine, but the Father’s who sent me. (John 14:23-24)

Let me say this 3 different ways. Love is the precursor to genuine obedience. Love comes first and yields obedience. Obedience is not a proof of love, it is a result of love. Let me illustrate this with an example from marriage. If I come home and find a peaceful home, a welcoming wife, and warm satisfying dinner; will this have come from my having published a list of homecoming rules or will it have come from a wife who loves me and knows what pleases me? If I love Jesus, will I not study to know Him better and anticipate what pleases Him? Love seeks to know and do. Indeed, our salvation will be complete on the day we fully know Him:

Dear friends, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet been revealed. We know that whenever it is revealed we will be like him, because we will see him just as he is. And everyone who has this hope focused on him purifies himself, just as Jesus is pure. (1 John 3:2-3)

Abiding

This is really an outgrowth of the entire discussion so far. Here are Jesus' words:

“I am the true vine and my Father is the gardener. He takes away every branch that does not bear fruit in me. He prunes every branch that bears fruit so that it will bear more fruit. You are clean already because of the word that I have spoken to you. Remain in me, and I will remain in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it remains in the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in me. “I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in me—and I in him—bears much fruit, because apart from me you can accomplish nothing. If anyone does not remain in me, he is thrown out like a branch, and dries up; and such branches are gathered up and thrown into the fire, and are burned up. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you want, and it will be done for you. My Father is honored by this, that you bear much fruit and show that you are my disciples. (John 15:1-8)

Abiding comes from loving God and loving each other. It comes from letting the word yield fruit in our lives by the working of the Holy Spirit to bear fruit (Gal. 5:22, 23). It is the key to answered prayer.

No Need to Despair

I suspect that none of us will ever love as Jesus loved. I will say that the first step is our love for Jesus. The second step is the filling of the Holy Spirit. The first gives vision and the second gives power. Starting anywhere else violates Jesus' warning and promise above, "apart from me you can accomplish nothing."

Study the gospels. Find out what motivates Jesus. Who has His favor? Who doesn't? Why? What is the relationship between Him and the Father? How is it maintained? Soon you will discover His worth. Once you have discovered His worth, love will awaken, and so will the desire to please, and so will the ability to hear.

Monday: Our Challenge

<>< Test everything. Cling to what is good. ><>

This is the third post in a series that explores the Upper Room Discourse recorded in John 13 - 17. To start from the beginning, click here.

Our Destiny

Lets look at John 13:1-5 again:

Just before the Passover feast, Jesus knew that his time had come to depart from this world to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he now loved them to the very end. The evening meal was in progress, and the devil had already put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, that he should betray Jesus. Because Jesus knew that the Father had handed all things over to him, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, he got up from the meal, removed his outer clothes, took a towel and tied it around himself. He poured water into the washbasin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to dry them with the towel he had wrapped around himself. (John 13:1-5, The Net Bible)

Jesus had a destiny. He knew that He had come from the Father and was returning. He knew that He now had authority over all things, because He had obeyed.

The incredible thing is that our destiny is to share His destiny. Here are some words from the Upper Room Discourse that reveal this:

“Do not let your hearts be distressed. You believe in God; believe also in me. There are many dwelling places in my Father’s house. Otherwise, I would have told you. I am going away to make ready a place for you. And if I go and make ready a place for you, I will come again and take you to be with me, so that where I am you may be too. And you know the way where I am going.” (John 14:1-4)

As I wrote yesterday, the next hours were going to be hard for Jesus. The tension among the disciples that night increased with time. Jesus' words of comfort to them is that the entire purpose for His descent from heaven to earth was for us to be with Him. Can you sense the desire in Jesus' words here? Put these words in the mouth of a man proposing to a woman and you will get an idea of the emotion here. I hear much of the two Greek words for love used in the New Testament. There is AGAPE love that is described as unconditional. And there is PHILEO love, which is one more of friendship. The one is there through thick and thin. The other rejoices over qualities in the one loved. John 14:1-4 is an expression of Jesus' PHILEO love for us.

To be with Jesus is also to be with the Father:

Thomas said, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going. How can we know the way?” Jesus replied, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you have known me, you will know my Father too. And from now on you do know him and have seen him.” (John 14:5-7)

Our destiny is eternal:

When Jesus had finished saying these things, he looked upward to heaven and said, “Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, so that your Son may glorify you— just as you have given him authority over all humanity, so that he may give eternal life to everyone you have given him. Now this is eternal life—that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you sent. I glorified you on earth by completing the work you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me at your side with the glory I had with you before the world was created." (John 17:1-5)

Our destiny is an incredible unity among ourselves, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It is also to see His glory:

I am not praying only on their behalf, but also on behalf of those who believe in me through their testimony, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me and I am in you. I pray that they may be in us, so that the world may believe that you sent me. The glory you gave to me I have given to them, that they may be one just as we are one— I in them and you in me—that they may be completely one, so that the world may know that you sent me, and you have loved them just as you have loved me. Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, so that they may see my glory that you gave me because you loved me before the creation of the world. (John 17:20-24)

This is such a marvelous concept. Imagine the tone in which Jesus spoke it. As I re-read these passages, I find it hard to believe that these words come from someone who would such face terrors the next day -- and knew it!

Friday: Our Responsibilities.

<>< Test everything. Cling to what is good. ><>

Postscript: This evening the deadline for Saddam Hussein voluntary exit from power has passed. He chose to stay and so brings a huge uncertainty upon the world. There has been a "target of opportunity" to surgically strike unspecified Iraqi leadership. I have prayed that this includes Saddam and his 2 sons. Whether this has happened or not, the Upper Room Discourse contains words for times like these:

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you; I do not give it to you as the world does. Do not let your hearts be distressed or lacking in courage. (John 14:27)

It is our privilege as believers to have inner resources to handle every circumstance that comes our way. Do not think of such things as a crutch. Crutches are for the broken, and there is an aspect of Christianity that is a crutch in a healing sense. But these words are about strength and wholeness. The most powerful artistic expression of this peace was portrayed by the Christian sniper in Steven Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan. He always had a prayer on his lips. He always had a steady aim in the midst of chaos, bullets, and death. He was always able to sleep peacefully. That is the peace Jesus had that night. That is the peace He gives us. 

This is the second post in a series that explores the Upper Room Discourse recorded in John 13 - 17. To start from the beginning, click here.

Setting the Tone

Jesus started at the top and chose to give it up for our sakes.

You should have the same attitude toward one another that Christ Jesus had, who though he existed in the form of God did not regard equality with God as something to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking on the form of a slave, by looking like other men, and by sharing in human nature. He humbled himself, by becoming obedient to the point of death —even death on a cross! (Philippians 2:5-8, The Net Bible)

John 13 gives us a picture of Jesus near the bottom of this descent. Within twenty-four hours he would be dead, cold, and in the tomb. He knew this. He also knew from where He came. Knowing this, Jesus chose a slave's work.

Just before the Passover feast, Jesus knew that his time had come to depart from this world to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he now loved them to the very end. The evening meal was in progress, and the devil had already put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, that he should betray Jesus. Because Jesus knew that the Father had handed all things over to him, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, he got up from the meal, removed his outer clothes, took a towel and tied it around himself. He poured water into the washbasin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to dry them with the towel he had wrapped around himself. (John 13:1-5)

Soon to come would be His final appeal to His Father for a different way. Then would follow betrayal, arrest, a mock trial, beatings, a scourging, crucifixion, the bearing of our sins, death, and burial. The one who existed in the form of God and chose to descend was about to crash in the dirt.

He knew this. He also knew the trials that were ahead for His followers. He knew that they needed support and understanding. He knew that the heightened emotions of this evening would create a teachable moment. Knowing this, Jesus chose to set aside His own emotional needs to minister to the needs of His disciples.

"Because Jesus knew that the Father had handed all things over to him, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, he got up from the meal, removed his outer clothes, took a towel and tied it around himself." I marvel at this word "because" in this text. I can think of a lot of things Jesus might have done because "the Father had handed all things over to Him." Washing dirty feet is not one of them. His action set the tone for the discourse ahead, and it was needed to correct a persistent problem among the disciples. As Luke's gospel records, not long after Jesus washed their feet:

A dispute also started among them over which of them was to be regarded as the greatest. So Jesus said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those in authority over them are called ‘benefactors.’ Not so with you; instead the one who is greatest among you must become like the youngest, and the leader like the one who serves. For who is greater, the one who is seated at the table, or the one who serves? Is it not the one who is seated at the table? But I am among you as one who serves. (Luke 22:24-27)

And of His washing their feet, Jesus had this to say to His disciples:

So when Jesus had washed their feet and put his outer clothing back on, he took his place at the table again and said to them, “Do you understand what I have done for you? You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and do so correctly, for that is what I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you too ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example: you should do just as I have done for you. I tell you the solemn truth, the slave is not greater than his master, nor is the one who is sent as a messenger greater than the one who sent him. If you understand these things, you will be blessed if you do them. (John 13:12-17)

I find this to be incredibly challenging. Your dirty feet are mine to wash. Your needs are mine to meet.

As the Upper Room Discourse progressed, Jesus commanded that we "Love one another." He set the tone for this right from the start.

Thursday: Our Destiny

<>< Test everything. Cling to what is good. ><>

On the Thoughts and Opinions Side

This is the second posting today on top of my regular lesson series. You can skip this stuff and go directly there by clicking here.

Those of you who follow regularly must wonder why I just don't have Biblical Reflections in my Blog title. In part, this is because no teacher can exclude himself from his teachings. So my thoughts on Christian living and other matters are implicitly in my Biblical Reflections.

It seemed good today, however, to share some musings that have travelled with me all day.

1. I have been thinking of Israel and how many times it has done things against the wishes of most countries in the U.N. Every time they have chosen a course of national interest, this august world body has soundly condemned them, while turning a blind eye to the abuses of Israel's enemies. In this, I have admired their strength of resolve and the wisdom they have had to avoid pandering to hostile world opinion.

And here we are in similar, though far from identical circumstances. Many are for us, even if many are against. Israel, except for our God blessed support, has stood alone many times. I am so glad that we have stood by that nation.

2. The trust that I must have in George W. Bush is analagous to faith in God. Just adjust the proportions appropriately to account for sound theology:

• I have to trust that he is good and not following after his own interests.
• I have to trust that he knows more about the situation than I do.
• I have to trust that he has the wisdom to carry out plans of enormous importance to the world.

Now I know that my ultimate trust is in God, and that includes His guiding the directions of Bush, Saddam, Chirac, and all others. It's just that the trust that I have for George W. Bush is an active choice based on observation and evidence and hope. And so in the small thing, I see the larger. My faith in God must be just as much an active choice.

And on a lighter note, even though I thought I would never succumb to putting a "What kind of soap are you?" quiz on this blog, I have found that even I have a weakness for some variations. "What Bible book are you?" Here is my result followed by a chance for your own revelation.

You are Proverbs.

Which book of the Bible are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

Todd Hunter's Blog

Todd Hunter is blogging.

Say who?

Many of you may be familiar with the Vineyard movement which began some 20 odd years ago when John Wimber began pastoring the first Vineyard Church. Todd Hunter became a very close friend of John's and became the Director of the Association of Vineyard Churches when John Wimber died. I respected and learned from both men. After directing for awhile, Todd realized that his heart and his gifting were in church planting. So he resigned and went off to plant a church. I had no further word about him until I stumbled across his blog.

Thanks to Rachel Cunliffe and cre8d journal for having the link to his blog. I saw the name in her global community list and said to myself, "It couldn't be." I linked on over and had to do a lot of searching to know for sure.

Todd is someone worth getting to know.

This is the first post in a series that explores the Upper Room Discourse recorded in John 13 - 17. The Upper Room Discourse is an extended dialog between Jesus and His disciples on the night that Judas betrayed Him. The events, questions, answers, speeches, and prayer are unique to John's gospel and give us a very intimate view of those final hours. Woven into this discourse are the destiny, responsibilities, challenges, and resources meeting the disciples of all generations. By action and word, Jesus also shows His love for all of us who belong to Him.

The structure of this section of John's gospel follows this main outline:

• Chapter 13: Unwashed feet, betrayal, and denial
• Chapter 14: Jesus' leaving and sending another
• Chapter 15: The vine and the world
• Chapter 16: Overcoming the world
• Chapter 17: Jesus' prayer for us

Sprinkled among these movements are some major themes:

• The commandment to love
• Mutual glorification of the Son and the Father
• The purpose of Jesus' leaving
• The coming of the Holy Spirit
• Abiding and mutual indwelling
• The world system

And then there are the well known verses that come from this section in John's gospel.

If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you too ought to wash one another’s feet. (John 13:14, The Net Bible)

I give you a new commandment—to love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. Everyone will know by this that you are my disciples—if you have love for one another. (John 13:34-35)

Do not let your hearts be distressed. You believe in God; believe also in me. There are many dwelling places in my Father’s house. Otherwise, I would have told you. I am going away to make ready a place for you. And if I go and make ready a place for you, I will come again and take you to be with me, so that where I am you may be too. (John 14:1-3)

Jesus replied, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." (John 14:6)

I tell you the solemn truth, the person who believes in me will perform the miraculous deeds that I am doing, and will perform greater deeds than these, because I am going to the Father. (John 14:12)

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you; I do not give it to you as the world does. Do not let your hearts be distressed or lacking in courage. (John 14:27)

I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in me—and I in him—bears much fruit, because apart from me you can accomplish nothing. (John 15:5)

I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. In the world you have trouble and suffering, but have courage—I have conquered the world. (John 16:33)

The glory you gave to me I have given to them, that they may be one just as we are one— I in them and you in me—that they may be completely one, so that the world may know that you sent me, and you have loved them just as you have loved me. (John 17:22-23)

This posting is just a small taste of what is to be found in the Upper Room Discourse. Over the next days, I will explore five topics from this section of Scripture:

1. How Jesus set the tone.
2. Our Destiny
3. Our Responsibilities
4. Our Challenge
5. Our Resources

I encourage you to begin reading it. There is much here to encourage and challenge you.

Wednesday: Setting the Tone

<>< Test everything. Cling to what is good. ><>

This is the sixth and final post in a series that examines Jesus' encounters with individuals and what they reveal. To start at the beginning, click here.

Common Themes and Important Differences

The five preceding posts told the stories and made observations about Jesus' one on one meetings with a Jewish leader named Nicodemus, a Samaritan woman, a rich young man, Peter, and Mary Magdalene. This small sampling consisted of:

• Rulers and common people
• Men and women
• Disciples and non-disciples
• Faithful and non-faithful
• Natives and aliens
• Sinners only

It is interesting that everybody falls into at least one of these categories.

Four of the five episodes come from John's gospel. The striking significance of this relates to the distinct portrait of Jesus made by each gospel:

• Matthew presents Jesus as the King. His genealogy, for example, establishes Jesus legal right the the throne, and as a child He was visited by foreign dignitaries who give Him kingly gifts.
• Mark presents Jesus as the servant. Jesus just appears and busily goes about working in a hurried fashion. Mark does not tell us where Jesus came from and the resurrection account is very sketchy. This is in keeping with the lowly position that a servant has.
• Luke presents Jesus as the perfect man. Luke gives us human details of Jesus conception and his relationship to John the Baptist. He give us Jesus' blood line genealogy through Mary. In Luke, Jesus' power comes by the infilling of the Holy Spirit. Luke's parallel to Matthew's Sermon on the Mount is given on a level plain.
• John presents Jesus as the Son of God. In John we see Jesus as the Word made flesh. He is one with the Father. John records Jesus profound words, "Before Abraham was, I am." John, like Mark, records no genealogy, because Jesus has an eternal existence.

Each gospel, in fact, shows all sides of Jesus. It is just that each chooses to emphasize a different aspect. Four gospels are needed to show this four-fold nature of Jesus work on earth. It would be hard to write a single story that showed such opposites as king-servant and man-God.

Now, the gospel that presents the highest, loftiest, and most unreachable portrait of Jesus is the gospel of John. This is the gospel that most clearly presents Him as God made flesh. But John is, also, the most personal of all the Gospels. This truly informs us of God's love for us and desire to know us as His special and unique creation. One might have expected Luke to be the gospel of personal encounters. But our ultimate end is to be children of God, and so it is John's gospel that is the most personal of all.

Jesus' Purposes Then and Now

Jesus wants people to know Him through:

• The Scriptures: Nicodemus was instructed about the snake that Moses' made in the wilderness. The Samaritan woman was told that the Father wanted those who could worship Him in Spirit and in Truth, which comes from the Jewish Scriptures.
• The Holy Spirit: John 14:16, 26; 15:26, and 16:7 all speak of the other comforter or advocate that was coming after Jesus' ascended to the Father. Jesus told Nicodemus about being born of the Spirit.
• By faith as Peter had to do.
• In love, praise, and worship as Mary and the Samaritan woman learned.

Jesus wants people to follow Him with a love motivation. Obedience, in fact, follows love. Jesus said, "If you love me, you will obey my commandments." The best obedience flows from hearts that love Him.

The Manifest Presence of God

God has always desired to have one on one encounters with His people. Note these verses:

Where would I be if I did not believe I would experience the Lord’s favor in the land of the living! (Psalm 27:13, The Net Bible)

Now without faith it is impossible to please him, for the one who approaches God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. (Hebrews 11:6)

With every prayer and petition, pray at all times in the Spirit, and to this end be alert, with all perseverance and requests for all the saints. (Ephesians 6:18)

By this we know that we reside in God and he in us: in that he has given us of his Spirit. (1 John 4:13)

but when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is present, there is freedom. And we all, with unveiled faces reflecting the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another, which is from the Lord, who is the Spirit. (2 Corinthians 3:16-18)

I was teaching in a non-charismatic church one time. During the worship service, I freely raised my hands. Their worship was good, I closed my eyes, felt connected to God's presence, and worshipped as I knew best. That afternoon, someone leaned over the lunch table and asked, in a friendly fashion, "Are you charismatic? You raised your hands in our service." Here was my answer, "If by being charismatic you mean that the manifest presence of God is legitimately sought and with His presence can come power to heal and have words of knowledge, then I am charismatic." The word "manifest:" is crucial here. It is the ability to sense the Presence of the Father through His Spirit that indwells us. Praise and worship, seeking Him, receiving Him, and our love and affection are all ways that we have to come close to Him and enjoy Him "in the land of the living."

If you have enjoyed this series, you might enjoy this paper by Greg Herrick: The Faceless Deities of Our Culture and Seeking the Face of God.

Tuesday: The Upper Room Discourse

<>< Test everything. Cling to what is good. ><>