least significant

Posted on April 27, 2017 by Jefferson Vann

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devotional post #2000

Luke 14:7-11

Luk 14:7 Then when Jesus noticed how the guests chose the more significant places, he told them an illustration. He said to them,
Luk 14:8 “When you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not take the more significant place, because a person more highly regarded than you may have been invited by your host.
Luk 14:9 So the host who invited both of you will come and say to you, ‘Give this man your place.’ Then, embarrassed, you will begin to move to the least significant place.
Luk 14:10 But when you are invited, go and take the least significant place, so that when your host comes near you, he will say to you, ‘Friend, move up here to a better place.’ Then you will be honoured in the presence of everyone who shares the meal with you.
Luk 14:11 Because everyone who lifts himself up will be levelled off, but the one who levels off himself will be lifted up.”

least significant

Jesus is not simply applauding the value of self depreciation here. There is a gospel purpose for this instruction. He had already lamented the fact that his generation had thought themselves too important to embrace his love and join his kingdom. Like the Pharisees who represented them, they wanted to make themselves first. But in order to join Christ’s kingdom, you have to start out at the entry level position. That way, everyone around you becomes someone you can show Christ’s sacrificial love to.

LORD, we are willing to start low, because we are aiming high for you.

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freedom for all

Posted on April 26, 2017 by Jefferson Vann

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devotional post #1,999

Luke 14:1-6

Luk 14:1 Something else happened one Sabbath when Jesus went to eat bread at the house of a ruler from the Pharisees, they were watching him carefully.
Luk 14:2 Notice this man right in front of him suffering from dropsy.
Luk 14:3 So Jesus asked the experts in religious law and the Pharisees, “Is it allowed to heal on the Sabbath or not?”
Luk 14:4 But they remained quiet. So Jesus took hold of the man, healed him, and sent him away.
Luk 14:5 Then he said to them, “Which of you, if you have a son or an ox that has fallen into a well on a Sabbath day, will not immediately pull him out?”
Luk 14:6 But they could not respond to that.

freedom for all

The Sabbath was intended to be a celebration of freedom — the freedom of an entire nation of slaves now set free, and able to set aside an entire day for rest and devotion to their Saviour God. But the Pharisees had turned that celebration into a new slavery. They had become so enslaved to their traditions that they would tolerate this man suffereing in front of them and go about their business. Jesus revealed their hearts. They just did not feel affinity for the sufferer. Jesus’ question — asking them about their own sons and oxen — got to that point.

The gospel offers freedom for all, or not freedom at all.

LORD, we celebrate our freedom every day, and seek opportunities to bring others into that freedom.

Posted in compassion, consideration of others, deliverance, freedom, Sabbath | Tagged | Leave a comment

embracing Jesus’ love

Posted on April 25, 2017 by Jefferson Vann

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devotional post #1,998

Luke 13:34-35

Luk 13:34 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those who are sent to you! How often I have longed to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you would have none of it!
Luk 13:35 Notice, your house is forsaken! And I tell you, you will not see me until you say, ‘Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!'”

embracing Jesus’ love

Jesus compares himself to a mother hen, gathering her chicks to herself to protect them from harm. But the chicks have other ideas. They scatter to the four winds, helpless in the face of danger — a forsaken house. And that is how they will remain until they accept who he is — their Messiah, coming in the LORD’s name.

LORD, we embrace your love and protection, and seek to draw others to you.

Posted in discipleship, ethnic Israel, gospel, Jesus Christ | Tagged | Leave a comment

God’s plan, not Herod’s

Posted on April 24, 2017 by Jefferson Vann

marmsky-devotions-pics-april-2017-24

devotional post #1,997

Luke 13:31-33

Luk 13:31 At that time, some Pharisees came up and said to Jesus, “Escape from here, because Herod wants to kill you.”
Luk 13:32 But he said to them, “Go and tell that fox, ‘Look, I am expelling demons and performing healings today and tomorrow, and by the third day I will complete my work.
Luk 13:33 Nevertheless I must go on my way today and tomorrow and the next day, because it is impossible that a prophet should be killed outside Jerusalem.’

God’s plan, not Herod’s

Here is an interesting bit of commentary on this passage:

“Jesus does precisely what the Pharisees urge him to do (v 33), but only after making it very clear that he is doing it on his own initiative and not theirs (v. 32). They tell him to “go” (v. 31), and in reply he defiantly tells them in turn, “Go and tell that fox, ‘Look, I drive out demons and accomplish healings today and tomorrow, and on the third day I am finished’“ (v. 32). But then he announces his own intention to “go” after all—not at their request but out of divine necessity: “I must go on my way today and tomorrow and the next day, for it is not possible that a prophet should be killed outside of Jerusalem” (v. 33). He does what he is urged to do, but not because of the urging. As an itinerant prophet, he moves according to God’s plan, and no one else’s.” (J. Ramsey Michaels, “The Itinerant Jesus and His Home Town,” in Authenticating the Activities of Jesus, ed. Bruce Chilton and Craig A. Evans (Boston: Brill, 1999), 187.).

Our Saviour had a plan to accomplish, but it was God’s plan, not Herod’s plan. Whose plan are we living by?

LORD, show us your plan for our lives, and give us courage to follow it, no matter who says otherwise.

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wide enough

Posted on April 23, 2017 by Jefferson Vann

marmsky-devotions-pics-april-2017-23

devotional post #1,996

Luke 13:28-30

Luk 13:28 There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all the prophets in the kingdom of God but you yourselves thrown out.
Luk 13:29 Then people will come from east and west, and from north and south, and take their places at the banquet table in the kingdom of God.
Luk 13:30 But indeed, some who are last now who will be first then, and some are first now who will be last then.”

wide enough

The wider hope theory posits that Jesus must save some people apart from their understanding and acknowledgment of the gospel. Theologians suggest this because they cannot see God condemning so many who have never heard about Christ. Yet, this passage shows that God does care about the masses who have not. His solution to the problem is to send us to the far corners of the planet to reach them with the good news of deliverance through his Son.

Christ’s generation had all sorts of evidence of Jesus, yet many of those who were first to hear him and his gospel refused to accept him and it. The multitudes from all nations who were last to see him will accept his kingdom, and celebrate his return, while those who were first will only see the kingdom with regret and shame.

LORD, thank you for the hope we have in Jesus Christ. It is wide enough.

Posted in deliverance, evangelism, hope, missions, second coming | Tagged | Leave a comment

knowing all about Jesus

Posted on April 22, 2017 by Jefferson Vann

marmsky-devotions-pics-april-2017-22

devotional post #1,995

Luke 13:25-27

Luk 13: 25 Once the head of the house gets up and shuts the door, then you will be standing outside and knocking on the door and begging him, ‘Lord, let us in!’ But he will respond to you, ‘I don’t know where you come from.’
Luk 13:26 Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.’
Luk 13:27 But he will respond, ‘I don’t know where you come from! Go away from me, all you wrongdoers!’

knowing all about Jesus

There were some in the crowds who knew all about Jesus. They had heard him preach, saw his miracles, even ate and drank at the same parties he went to. But they remained uncommitted. Jesus warned those “good people” who failed to put their faith in him that on judgment day, he would not acknowledge them. The question for us is not how much we know about Jesus, but whether he knows us.

LORD, break the walls that keep us from committing to you 100%!

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narrow door, or wider hope

Posted on April 21, 2017 by Jefferson Vann

marmsky-devotions-pics-april-2017-21

devotional post #1,994

Luke 13:22-24

Luk 13: 22 Then Jesus travelled throughout towns and villages, all the while teaching and making his way toward Jerusalem.
Luk 13: 23 Someone asked him, “Lord, will only a few be saved?” So he said to them,
Luk 13: 24 “You should make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to.

narrow door, or wider hope?

Struggling with the reality that so many remain unevangelised, some theologians have suggested that there is a wider hope — that is, that Jesus will accept some by his grace in spite of the fact that they never heard the gospel. It is hard to reconcile the wider hope theory with passages like this. In fact, Jesus seems to be saying that there will be a lot of people who want to enter the kingdom through the door (which is Christ himself) but who will be unable to.

I know a lot of “good people” who know everything about the gospel but live their entire lives just on the outside of it. Will Jesus save these “good people” anyway? I want the answer to be “yes” but it is not. Faith in Jesus is the only way to eternal life.

LORD, show us how to show others the door, because they need to enter it before it is too late.

Posted in eternal life, evangelism, gospel, grace | Tagged | Leave a comment

not a club

Posted on April 20, 2017 by Jefferson Vann

marmsky-devotions-pics-april-2017-20

devotional post # 1,993

Luke 13:18-21

Luk 13: 18 So Jesus asked, “What is the kingdom of God like? To what should I compare it?
Luk 13: 19 It is like a mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his garden. It grew and became a tree, and the wild birds nested in its branches.”
Luk 13: 20 Again he said, “To what should I compare the kingdom of God?
Luk 13: 21 It is like yeast that a woman took and mixed with three measures of flour until all the dough had risen.”

not a club

Jesus had just encountered the opposition of those who thought of the kingdom of God as a religious club, which you had to be initiated into, and obey strict rules of membership, like Sabbath keeping. Jesus responded by these two parables, which portray the kingdom not as a club you join, but as something that gets inside and changes you. The mustard seed slowly and permanently changes the shape of the entire garden. The yeast slowly and permanently changes the loaves of bread.

The kingdom of God can be joined, but once that happens, it changes the members. Once the gospel of grace sets you free, you are free to become the amazing person God wants you to be.

LORD, we accept the freedom you offer. Here we are, Change us into who we were meant to be.

Posted in deliverance, freedom, grace, kingdom of God | Tagged | Leave a comment

seek freedom every day

Posted on April 19, 2017 by Jefferson Vann

marmsky-devotions-pics-april-2017-19

devotional post # 1,992

Luke 13:10-17

Luk 13:10 Now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath,
Luk 13:11 and a woman was there who had been disabled by a spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not straighten herself up completely.
Luk 13: 12 When Jesus saw her, he called her to him and said, “Woman, you are freed from your debility.”
Luk 13: 13 Then he put his hands on her, and immediately she straightened up and praised God.
Luk 13: 14 But the president of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, said to the crowd, “There are six days on which work should be done! So come and be healed on those days, and not on the Sabbath day.”
Luk 13: 15 Then the Lord answered him, “You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from its stall, and lead it to water?
Luk 13: 16 Then shouldn’t this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen long years, be released from this imprisonment on the Sabbath day?”
Luk 13: 17 When he said this all his opponents were humiliated, but the entire crowd was jubilant at all the wonderful things he was doing.

seek freedom every day

Rather than addressing Jesus openly with his criticism, this synagogue leader shouted his complaint to the crowd who were seeking him. He had no problem with with them except that they were choosing to seek freedom on a day that was officially set aside for bondage. No, Jesus said, that is hypocrisy, because even the legalists set their animals free on this day so that they could drink at the stall. Every day is freedom day.

LORD, we celebrate your grace and power — open 24/7.

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left alone time

Posted on April 18, 2017 by Jefferson Vann

marmsky-devotions-pics-april-2017-18

devotional post # 1,991

Luke 13:6-9

Luk 13: 6 Then Jesus used this illustration: “A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came looking for fruit on it and found none.
Luk 13: 7 So he said to the employee who had tended the vineyard, ‘For three years now, I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree, and each time I inspect it I find none. Cut it down! Why should it continue to use up the soil?’
Luk 13: 8 But the worker answered him, ‘Sir, leave it alone this year too, until I dig around it and put fertilizer on it.
Luk 13:9 Then if it bears fruit next year, okay, but if not, you can cut it down.'”

left alone time

That fig tree had no awareness of its death sentence. It was just being left alone for a long time, and the employee who managed the vineyard begged for that time. He wanted so desperately for the fig tree to bear fruit, so that it would not have to be cut down.

What Jesus was saying about his generation is that the death sentence for them had already been set. They were merely living in that deceptive period between the sentence and their execution.

If you are one of those people who have waited a long time for God to do something for you, let this text speak to you. Consider the possibility that God also might be waiting during this “left alone time.” He may be giving you time to repent and bear fruit for him.

LORD, change us, so that we do not waste this time which you have graciously given us.

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