Comments on: March 4, 2010 http://newlife-glastonbury.org/bibleplan/2010/03/04/march-4-2008/ Mon, 02 Jan 2012 17:15:48 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Gordon http://newlife-glastonbury.org/bibleplan/2010/03/04/march-4-2008/comment-page-1/#comment-258 Gordon Tue, 04 Mar 2008 14:57:19 +0000 http://newlife-glastonbury.org/bibleplan/2008/03/04/march-4-2008/#comment-258 The Message translates Matt 41:43 "God's kingdom will be taken back from you and handed over to a people who will live out a kingdom life." "Live out a Kingdom life", for me seems to put it more starkly than "produce its fruit"; although the meaning is the same. As you mention Eric, it is living that kingdom life that is the challenge, and I do not see Jesus anywhere promising that it will be comfortable. Why do I then long to be comfortable? The Message translates Matt 41:43 “God’s kingdom will be taken back from you and handed over to a people who will live out a kingdom life.” “Live out a Kingdom life”, for me seems to put it more starkly than “produce its fruit”; although the meaning is the same. As you mention Eric, it is living that kingdom life that is the challenge, and I do not see Jesus anywhere promising that it will be comfortable. Why do I then long to be comfortable?

]]> By: Gordon http://newlife-glastonbury.org/bibleplan/2010/03/04/march-4-2008/comment-page-1/#comment-257 Gordon Tue, 04 Mar 2008 14:36:38 +0000 http://newlife-glastonbury.org/bibleplan/2008/03/04/march-4-2008/#comment-257 Job has a good word for us all today, "I put my hand over my mouth". Would that Job's fiends had done the same. Job has a good word for us all today, “I put my hand over my mouth”. Would that Job’s fiends had done the same.

]]> By: Eric Stillman http://newlife-glastonbury.org/bibleplan/2010/03/04/march-4-2008/comment-page-1/#comment-256 Eric Stillman Tue, 04 Mar 2008 11:20:07 +0000 http://newlife-glastonbury.org/bibleplan/2008/03/04/march-4-2008/#comment-256 There's a place in 2 Samuel 12, after King David has committed adultery with Bathsheba and had her husband Uriah killed, that Nathan the prophet comes to him to confront him about what he has done. But Nathan doesn't just come out and tell David he has sinned; he tells him a story, a parable about a rich man and poor man and how the rich man took the poor man's only lamb in order to feed a guest, instead of choosing from his own bountiful flock. And as David's anger burns against the rich man, Nathan says, "You are the man!", and proceeds to reveal to him how horrendous his crimes were in the sight of God. And David recognizes his sin and repents. That's the power of the parable. And here, instead of Jesus just coming out and telling the Pharisees and chief priests that they are missing out on the kingdom of heaven by their inability to recognize God's prophets and Messiah, he tells them a story about a man and tenants and servants and a son. I am continually humbled and almost frightened by these passages, because once again, here are the leaders of God's chosen people, supposedly their most spiritual members, missing out on the kingdom of God because of their inability to recgonize God when He actually does show up. Instead of welcoming Him and listening to Him, they want to kill Him and eventually succeed. We pray for God to show up, to reveal Himself, to bring revival. But truly, if He actually did show up, we might hate Him for how He would challenge us and wish Him dead. If He showed up and told us to sell our home, to leave our job, to give all we had to the poor, to trust Him step by step; if we asked Him to give us the words to speak and He gave us words that caused people to despise and shun us; is we asked Him to make us more like Him and we were led into difficult trials and even death, like Him, would we still want Him around? Or would we wish Him dead, as the Pharisees did? Those are sobering thoughts to me, and a reminder that at the core of who I am, I still prefer my comfort and my will over His glory. Lord, I believe; help my unbelief. There’s a place in 2 Samuel 12, after King David has committed adultery with Bathsheba and had her husband Uriah killed, that Nathan the prophet comes to him to confront him about what he has done. But Nathan doesn’t just come out and tell David he has sinned; he tells him a story, a parable about a rich man and poor man and how the rich man took the poor man’s only lamb in order to feed a guest, instead of choosing from his own bountiful flock. And as David’s anger burns against the rich man, Nathan says, “You are the man!”, and proceeds to reveal to him how horrendous his crimes were in the sight of God. And David recognizes his sin and repents.

That’s the power of the parable. And here, instead of Jesus just coming out and telling the Pharisees and chief priests that they are missing out on the kingdom of heaven by their inability to recognize God’s prophets and Messiah, he tells them a story about a man and tenants and servants and a son. I am continually humbled and almost frightened by these passages, because once again, here are the leaders of God’s chosen people, supposedly their most spiritual members, missing out on the kingdom of God because of their inability to recgonize God when He actually does show up. Instead of welcoming Him and listening to Him, they want to kill Him and eventually succeed.

We pray for God to show up, to reveal Himself, to bring revival. But truly, if He actually did show up, we might hate Him for how He would challenge us and wish Him dead. If He showed up and told us to sell our home, to leave our job, to give all we had to the poor, to trust Him step by step; if we asked Him to give us the words to speak and He gave us words that caused people to despise and shun us; is we asked Him to make us more like Him and we were led into difficult trials and even death, like Him, would we still want Him around? Or would we wish Him dead, as the Pharisees did? Those are sobering thoughts to me, and a reminder that at the core of who I am, I still prefer my comfort and my will over His glory. Lord, I believe; help my unbelief.

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