28th Mar 2011

John 11:38-44 – Jesus Raises Lazarus from the dead.

• ”Performance”
• Jesus performs a miracle.
• ‘Performing’ a miracle seems like an odd phrase. After all it’s not about the performance is it?
• Well actually yes it is.
• In this particular Jesus emphasizes two aspects of the case the sign and wonder.
1. He prays in order that people understand that He is sent from God and purposely prays it out loud so people around will hear.
2. He tells them they will see God’s glory because He has left it so late.
• Miracles were not simply performed to help people on the surface level; they had a deeper meaning.
• Signs and wonders were literally that; they were a sign of Heaven on earth.
• They were object lessons!
• They were metaphors of Heaven for those who had not seen Heaven yet.
• Importantly therefore Jesus rarely performed them the same way because there were different facets of the Kingdom of God that He was trying to teach.
• He particularly wanted them to understand the miracle rather than just want one either to
1. receive an earthly blessing or
2. in some cases to see something spectacular.
• What about you and I?
• Are we looking for God to do something in our lives for those two reasons or are we also hoping to understand something more about the Kingdom by the way in which God does it?
• Jesus performs a miracle as an object lesson. There are two parts; the object and the lesson. The second part is even more important than the other.
• Hoping to learn my lesson today because every new day is a sign and wonder.

25th Mar 2011

John 11:1-17-37 – Jesus Comforts the Sisters of Lazarus

• ”Understanding beyond doubt”
• Jesus waits for four days.
• This is significant.
• The Pharisees taught and many Jews believed that the spirit hovered over a dead body for three days. It was believed that a person could be ‘resuscitated’ within that time.
• The Jews had a custom that for Shiv’ah [seven] the mourners would mourn very heavily for the first three days, then heavily for the next four and then lightly for the rest of the month. So these first three days were intense.
• Jesus had raised people from the dead before and so had other biblical heroes, but there is no historical evidence that anyone has been raised from the dead after four days.
• Even today there are often medical reports of people ‘dying’ for minutes on a surgeons table but then coming back to life.
• Jesus delayed in order to heal after the forth day – why? To create understanding of who He is.
• Sometime Jesus delays His answer to our prayers because what is more important than an answer is understanding the answer.
• Yes, He could have returned have returned immediately and raised Lazarus from the dead but waiting four days meant it hurt Him to see the family in pain but it was better for them in the long run.
• This connects with a question and answer vI got on Facebook yesterday..
• Question: Hey Paul, just thought I'd give you a question I've always been wondering about. Here we go:How come, God waited so long to send Jesus to die for our sins? Why was it 2000 years ago and not earlier? If he had planned all the time to save us through him, then why wait?
• My Answer: that is a great question that has been asked many times in history. To be honest I cannot give you a definite answer apart from the obvious which is it will have something to do with timing... specifically... preparation. Remember Jesus is very interested is passing on understanding not just knowledge or actions. Something significant happened in the period between the OT and the NT - I don;t have time to write about that know but I unpack it in my next book. The significance effected HOW people received His teaching... one of the problems we have as well is that we think Jesus just came to die on a cross but He came for much more than that. If that is all He came to do He could have done it on day one after the fall. So my one word answer would be... 'understanding'.
• As I said – I’m not completely sure of all the answer but what I am understanding is that Jesus is aiming that we would understand Him beyond doubt. And delaying His response can allow this to happen.
• Praying for patience.

24th Mar 2011

John 11:1-16 – The Death of Lazarus

• ”daylight”
• Jesus hears the news of the death of Lazarus and decides to return.
• Returning is a risky business
• Jesus ministered in various parts of Israel but essentially the north was safer. In fact at times people there wanted to make Him king.
• When His disciples warned Him, Jesus gave a fairly cryptic answer.
• He obviously felt that everything would be fine... but why?
• He had some sense of the Spirit’s leading. He not only decided to act but He was led in how to act. This gave Him both confidence and security.
• In fact rather than making a quick under cover dash back in order to get out again; Jesus for reasons I’ll explain tomorrow, takes His time.
• I’m pretty sure his enemies would have known about Lazarus’ death, and time allowed them to set a trap. But Jesus still waits.
• Thomas on the other hand goes back but without faith.
• Even though Jesus expressly points out that things will be ok; he doubts.
• Faith is not simply the action, it is the attitude we have when doing the action.
• Being afraid is one thing but doubting God whilst we do it is another.
• Jesus and Thomas do the same thing but Jesus injects faith into the team and Thomas injects pessimism.
• Jesus security overflows, Thomas’s insecurity overflows.
• Jesus was walking by daylight, Thomas was walking by night.
• They were both going in the same direction but their experience was very different.
• Praying today that my walk with God is in daylight because I give Him time to guide me and that I inject faith in others.

23rd Mar 2011

John 10:22-42 – Further Conflicts over Jesus; Claim

• ”Stones or Flowers?”
• Here Jesus clearly associates Himself with God.
• It infuriates the religious leaders hearing him and they pick up stones to kill them as their law dictated.
• Jesus in His defense invokes two forms of argument;
• Remez and Kal v’chomer
• Remez is one of the four levels of understanding that we use on Pais HD; is means to hint at something and invoke the full meaning of what you hint at. It gives context.
• In this case Jesus invokes to memory Psalm 82:6 and therefore hints at the whole context of Psalm 82. This Psalm talks about how God will judge the ‘gods’ of the day [the judges, leaders and perhaps angels] and even though He has made them great He says of them such things such as;

•  “The ‘gods’ know nothing, they understand nothing. They walk about in darkness.
• Jesus is hinting that his accusers are those Psalm 82 is talking about.
• Kal v’chomer is a form of arguing religious law and concepts. Made popular especially through Hillel, Jesus often adopts this method of ‘light and heavy’.
• Basically if something has been established to be true then something else may be compared to it as even truer or even more true.
• Essentially; in this case; Jesus is playing with words – if God calls those He created but are so flawed; ‘gods’ – then how much more is He God! He points to the evidence to prove it.
• What I love about Jesus here is that don’t think He is purpoisely trying to wind the religious leaders up – He is still at these last moments while they have stones in their hands through dangerous language, trying to give them understanding.
• He has not given up on them.
• In fact, He does not give up on those who crucify Him even whilst on the cross.
• No matter who it is; if they are asking Him questions, He is willing and keen to impart understanding!
• When people with stones in their hands ask… don’t give up on them!
• Better a man asking a question with stones in his hands than a man with no questions holding a flower.
• Thanking Jesus for yet more wisdom that He teaches.

22nd Mar 2011

An unedited excerpt from my new book.

Thought I would blog small portions of my book from time to time as I am writing it.

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Carrots

Knights realize that each quest determines the next.

At the end of Jesus’ imaginary tale, he leaves us pondering the following kingdom principle.

For everyone who has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. (NIV) 

For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath. (KJV) 

To those who use well what they are given, even more will be given, and they will have an abundance. But from those who are unfaithful, even what little they have will be taken away. (NLT)[i] 

If ‘rubbish in, rubbish out’ is the formulative principle, then this is the focal principle.

It focuses us on what we have and do now.

The command is to be faithful with whatever God has given you, however great or small that may be. The consequence is that if we do so, He will entrust us with more of the same, but not only that, He will give us other talents, opportunities and quests as well.

God does not use a carrot on a stick.

He does not present us with promises that we will never be able to nibble at. He does not want us to be motivated by what we might get if we serve Him. He instead wants us to recognize that we have already been given so much and realize that we have been given it to serve others… not ourselves.

When it comes to serving God, line-dwellers are motivated be their application;

Give me a great thing to work with and then I will do a great thing.

If you prove this will work God, then I will prove myself.  

Cloud-dwellers, however, are provoked by His application;

I need the little you think you have so that I can bless others.

I will increase what you have not what you want.

Line dwellers are caught calculating a sliding scale between two extremes. On one end they see effort and the other opportunity. They look for a balance. They wait for what they have to be worth the endeavor.

Cloud-dwellers do not have a vision of vision; they have a vision of God.

They do not throw away the water they are carrying because they see a mirage.

They do not deal in fantasy but they do take hold of their reality.

[i] Matthew 25:29

21st Mar 2011

John 10:1-21 – The good Shepherd and His sheep

• ”Steeping Stones”
• Jesus declares that He is the Good Shepherd but there are many who would be shepherds: politicians, musicians, false prophets etc.
• I think of Psalm 23…
• He leads me - Jesus does not push us, nor does He drag us! But He leads us where He is going.
• He uses His rod and staff
• A rod was an instrument of authority
• They were used for counting - to Jesus each sheep is significant!
• Used for guiding.
• Used for protecting.
• Used for recuing.
• Perhaps this is the biggest difference between poor leaders and godly leaders.
• Poor leaders use a flock. But Godly leaders love their flock. They are not just using it for their own purposes.
• I must not be like a ‘hired hand’. Which is hard in our Christian leadership culture that has become more and more businesslike.
• People are sheep they are not stepping stones to something else.
• It’s good for sheep to remember that leaders are not stepping stones either.
• Praying for that agape love to put people first.

18th Mar 2011

John 9:34-41 – Spiritual Blindness

• “… and the believing is easy”
• Jesus connects again with the man who he had healed.
• The man had been thrown out and Jesus asks him if he believes in the Son of Man. The man is totally open to believe; so much so that he chooses before he knows all the facts.
• The man reminds me of the good soil that Jesus talks about in the parable of the four hearers/sower.
• As a leader, Jesus has impacted this man’s life in such a real way that he made believing easy.
• This is a great challenge for me. As a leader I should be living in a way that makes believing for those who want to see easy and for those who don’t want to see … hard.
• Jesus then teaches the Pharisees a valuable lesson; the main reason we miss God and His move in our lives is not because we don’t know what He looks like but because we have decided in advance what He looks like.
• The blind man first saw the miracle that was Jesus and then saw the miracles of Jesus. 

17th Mar 2011

John 9:13-34 – The Pharisees investigate the Healing

• “humanity before hedges”
• I’m in danger of repeating myself but what happens in this passage is very typical of Jesus’ ministry.
• The Jews had created hedges around sin. Adding additional commands to act as buffers so that the Jews did not get even close to breaking a commandment. In doing so they veered on the side of caution when determining what work was. So God had commanded that the Sabbath was holy and Jesus had appeared to have broken their additional commands and hedges in three ways;
1. Kneading – he had kneaded the mud when healing the blind man.
2. Building – clay was a building material – building was one of the 39 types of work prohibited in the mishna.
3. Healing as an action.
• Jesus does something that is very rare -0 healed a man born blind – some said that only the messiah would do this.
• The Pharisees had a problem. The man people were believing might be the Messiah was breaking their rules. They considered themselves the guru’s of right and wrong interpretation and were given huge kudos in their Jewish world for doing this.
• If the Messiah did not do things the way they said He would then of course their whole status would be completely undermined.
• I am sure that most Pharisees started off as godly men who wanted to serve God’s people but eventually their status and pride had deceived many of them.
• Now even when facing the facts they struggled to believe they could be wrong.
• In doing so they threatened the blind man’s family with excommunication.
• There were three types of excommunication all uncommon in Judaism today;
1. n’zifah – light – lasted 7 days and could be invoked by one person.
2. niddui – rejection – lasted 30 days and people had to stay 6 ft away.
3. cherem – the most severe – lasted indefinitely and people considered dead.
• For a family as poor as the blind man’s being cast out of the synagogue and therefore society and many of its social safety nets – it would be disastrous.
• But the leaders were obsessed with being right and so…

• They put their hedges before humanity
• They put their status before sense.
• They put their pride before His purposes.

• I must not!

16th Mar 2011

John 9:1-12 – Jesus Heals a Man Born Blind

• “when logic goes wrong and pre-birth sin”
• The first verse opens up a huge discussion.
• Jesus’ disciples believed that the fact that the man was born blind meant there must be sin somewhere in his life.
• Specifically they were asking for commentary on the Pharisees view of this. The Pharisees believed that a man born blind from birth was inflicted because of one of two reasons;

1.    Either their parents sin.

2.    Or more bizarrely; because the person had sinned before birth.

• As strange as these theories were, they were based on logic. But their logic was based on a false premise left over from the times of the Old Testament.
• Judaism has gone through phases; modern Judaism is different in many ways from that of Jesus’ time which is very different again from that of the Old Testament.
• In the OT – everything was black and white – they believed in compensatory ethics – if you sinned something bad would happen to you, if you did good something good would happen to you. So when they saw sin they automatically believed someone must have sinned. If a man was born blind therefore; he must have sinned in the womb or his parents must have.
• During the Second Temple Period however the ‘New Sensitivity in Judaism’ was asking some very serious questions about this thinking and when Jesus came He began to answer those questions.
• Jesus’ thinking turned everything upside down. He replaced logic with understanding.
• And His ideas were revolutionary – I don’t have time to write about them now.
• I write about this in depth in my new book ‘The Cloud and the Line’
• But three things this passage teaches me;
1. Fundamentals are important. If we get them wrong they screw up our logic. It is worth investing time in understanding the roots of our faith.
2. My misunderstanding can lead me to mis-judge people harshly. Imagine the stigma the man and his parents had carried since His birth!
3. Jesus was as interested in raising up the blind man’s self esteem as He was in healing him. The explanation seemed to be His primary concern.
• Praying today that my understanding of the fundamentals will lead me to be as concerned about people’s self esteem as my desire to do something remarkable.

15th Mar 2011

John 8:48-58 – Jesus Claims about Himself

• “Unfortunate Fame”
• The argument really heats up to the point of Jesus’ accusers attempting to stone Him to death.
• Very simply Jesus declares that “If I glorify myself, my glory means nothing”
• I thinking this is danger for all leaders.
• If we try to push ourselves too much as someone special in the eyes of others. If we try to prove ourselves too much to ourselves then we can end up in a lot of problems.
• My enemy will always seek to destroy role models and pull people down.
• If it is God glorifying me then He will help protect my reputation.
• Jesus knew this, even when He was being threatened He was secure in knowing that it was not yet His time to die.
• But how must it feel to be in that vulnerable position when it is me not God who has put me there?
• People seek fame and fortune but sometimes fame can be very unfortunate.
• There was little about Jesus in Himself that could glorify Him.
• The Bible tells us that there was nothing particularly distinguishing about His looks – that could have been actually quite a kind way of saying He was not much to look at. In this passage they say He is “not yet fifty” – some scholars say they were guessing His approximate age and that Jesus probably looked older than He actually was.
• [Fifty was often seen as an age of maturity but the context makes it is unlikely that this is what they were referring to].
• Jesus could only be glorified by God.
• When God glorifies us it lasts forever.
• Praying today I will not exalt myself but allow God to do it if He needs to.

14th Mar 2011

John 8:31-57 – The Children of Abraham

• “Theology is not Anthropology”
• After some of the Jews challenge Jesus’ testimony He now challenges their spiritual well-being.
• Jesus measurement is obedience.
• If we obey Him and take Him at His word we are His disciples and will be set free.
• His accusers offer three defenses;
1. Denial of their position – “we are not slaves”. Technically they may not have been as they did not accept the rulership of the Roman’s over them but in reality they were. Plus they were ignoring the nations that had ruled over them in the past; Assyria, Babylon, Persia and Syria.
2. Religion – “We are Abraham’s Children”. The root word in latin of Religion has been linked to ligament – connection. They thought their connection with God’s servant would be enough.
3. Accusation – “We are not illegitimate” – inferring that Jesus was. They were purposely missing the point and perverting the discussion to one of ancestors. They were accusing Jesus of being a bastard and that instead they had a much better lineage.

• We cannot fight God by our rules.
• This still happens; sometimes I hear a theological discussion and yet the Word of God is never quoted. Essentially we tried to avoid Jesus’ challenges by using anthropology rather than theology. We make our case thinking that God should behave like a good human being.
• But He is not a good Human being… He is God.
• We must study God therefore [theology] and not man [anthropology].
• We cannot avoid His challenges by thinking He plays by our rules.
• Praying today not to allow my human emotions, thoughts and ideas to trump God’s Word.

11th Mar 2011

John 8:12-30 – The Validity of Jesus Testimony

• “Holiness is Holistic”
• Previously in the feast Jesus had used the water drawing and water pouring ceremonies to encourage people to come and drink from Him.
• Here now Jesus uses a festival full of light to declare himself “the light of the world”.
• He is in the temple treasury in the court of women.
• He is surrounded by 16 lit bowls of oil.
• According to the misha there was “there was not a courtyard in Jerusalem that was not lit up by the light of the festivities [sukkah 5:2-4]
• After declaring this, his accusers take Him to task asking Him for the other witnesses He must have to validate His teaching.
• Jesus essentially points to The Father as the only witness He needs as He being God counts as one as well.
• He uses remez to hint that He is God by using the phrase “I am” the phrase God of courses uses to describe Himself in the Old Testament.
• He also, in verse 18, speaking midrashically explains that He and His Father have two independent wills.
• And so using theology, logic, sights and sounds, Jesus gets His point across.
• And because the conversation sounds very confusing at times, the result surprised me:
• “Even as He spoke, many put their faith in Him.” v30
• This teaches me a simple lesson, that as a leader there is no one thing that will validate my position. A title on its own or a talent such as speaking or the ability to research and teach is not enough on their own
• Validation comes holistically.
• I have to be the whole package, gifts, character, commitment etc.
• Praying that today – I don’t try to force people to follow but I help them realize I am worth following.