pickledilly

Glorifying God in death means that we are faithful to Christ to the very end, confessing our Savior with praise and thanksgiving on our dying lips. May my life be that kind of testimony that only God can take credit for. May my passing leave a legacy of faith, love, and obedient service that speaks of the goodness and power of God long after I've gone on to be with Him. Jesus' prophetic words to Peter certainly displayed the omniscience of God, as they revealed how Peter would die. God exists outside of the parameters of time, which He created for man's existence. The great Alpha and Omega knows what will happen and how, as He views all of the time line of human history from start to finish. I imagine that revelation to Peter kept him humble and dependent on the Spirit for the rest of his days as he stood firm in Truth and ministered to those who belonged to Jesus.

Jesus gave Peter the opportunity to receive grace and be restored to ministry for each of the three instances when Peter had failed so miserably as he denied Christ before the world. With each repetition of His question and His response to Peter's answer, Jesus gave full assurance that Peter's ministry would be important and valuable to the Kingdom of God. Many of us have heard some version of the saying that “No one ever fails in God's classroom; He just keeps repeating the lesson until we master it”. Perhaps that is what Jesus modeled for us here as He challenged Peter those 3 times to really evaluate the question and its lesson. Evidently, Peter wasn't fully grasping the concept that loving Jesus demands ministry to His sheep. His embarrassment and shame at so readily denying His Lord had probably shaken his sense of any value to the work of God. His guilt probably hung heavy and dark over his heart. But Jesus gently and persistently repeated this lesson of grace and worth until Peter understood that his failure was not greater than God's mercy - and there was still great purpose for him in ministry. I know that feeling of the shame and am so very grateful that God is never done with His children, even when we have utterly failed. I've long appreciated the words of Philippians 1:6: I am sure of this, that He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. While this ultimately refers to the day when His perfection will be fully manifested in us, I think this principle of His work in our lives can apply here. Like any great teacher, He is not going to quit on me or give up on my education, even when I keep failing the test. Now I try to quickly ask the Lord to help me learn the lesson when faced with tough courses in His classroom, so I won't miss the point and He won't have to teach it over and over again.

Jesus is a loving Friend and tender Caregiver. I am certain He looked forward to this time with His beloved disciples with great delight. Not only did He create the moment for that, He made sure to care for the details of their practical needs by making breakfast provisions for these hungry, tired men who had been laboring at the fishing nets. He is always aware of our every need, and ready to provide – before we're even aware of them! From the boat, Peter couldn't contain his joy when he saw Jesus on the shore. Unwilling to wait until the boat came in, He threw on his outer cloak, jumped in the water, and scrambled to shore to greet His beloved Master. Perhaps a bit of his impulsive nature there, but he was moved by his gratitude and love for Jesus. Maybe we should all be a little more impulsive when Jesus "shows up" in our lives!

Jesus knew where the fish were, and the disciples were working on the wrong side of the boat to find them, even though it must have been the usual side they would work. We aren't told why the disciples obeyed, but they probably decided it couldn't be any worse and they'd try the tip from this man on the shore. The result was a catch of fish that couldn't even be hauled into the boat. They had to drag the heavy net with the boat as they returned to shore. And there was Jesus waiting for them with a fire prepared to cook their breakfast. I just love the way Jesus handled this appearance to His beloved friends. With stunned amazement and joy they began to pull at those full nets. They immediately realized this was Jesus as they surely recalled that earlier experience when Jesus first called them to become His disciples and become fishers of men (Luke 5:4-11). They didn't have to ask any questions, for they knew it was the risen Lord who ministered to them. Without saying it outright, Jesus was assuring them He was still the same He had always been, He stilled works miracles, and He would never abandon them. And it's by His wisdom and power that we have success in God's Kingdom. There's one other point I love from this event. Despite a haul of fish that exceeded the strength of the nets, there were no holes torn and not one fish slipped away. When we're doing what Jesus instructs us to do, He will provide exactly what we need for the moment, strengthen our weakness, and make sure nothing will be lost.

John was inspired to write a record of Jesus' earthly life and accomplishment of salvation with the one primary purpose of declaring the deity of Jesus as the Son of God. Within that frame, he had two clear specific purposes in mind, and everything he included had to fit those purposes. So he carefully chose each detail to include in his writings from the wealth of things Jesus did. He did not need to repeat all that had been already recorded by Matthew, Mark, and Luke. In the opening prologue, he presented Jesus the Word as the true light who brings life to the deadness of the world as He overcame the darkness of man's separation from God. John's book had the two purposes of 1) leading us to believe that Jesus is the divine promised Messiah and 2) leading us to the eternal life in Christ that God gives through that belief. This life is not just based on an intellectual belief in Jesus, but on faith from the heart so that we experience His transformation of who we are and how we live. God's gift of spiritual life is not given apart from our faith.

Thomas may have been a pragmatist who had to touch and see for himself to believe. Perhaps he was still in such raw shock and sorrow that he simply couldn't process such a story from the other disciples. Grief is exhausting, and maybe the energy required to hope was gone. When Jesus actually appeared to him face to face in answer to his challenge, Thomas felt a new kind of shock and awe! With great joy and no further demands, he instantly realized there was no question or possibility that Jesus was anyone but his Lord Messiah and his God Yahweh, and he humbled himself in praise. It reminds me of Job's response after all that time of accusing Yahweh of withholding an explanation for all the loss in his life and presuming he deserved answers. When God finally spoke with all the awesome power of Sovereign Creator, all Job's questions were silenced. The only thing he could speak was a confession of his ignorance and pride (Job 42:3-6). With this example of Thomas's realization and confession of truth, Jesus spoke the blessing that covers every person from that day to our day who believes on Him as Lord and God our Savior. Those who have only the evidence and testimony of the Word and other Christ followers, and yet believe, have a word of special blessing from Jesus.

Jesus is the only source of forgiveness of sins. The verses of 1John 1:9 and 2:1-2 make it clear that Christ is the One who forgives sin, purifies us from unrighteousness, and acts as our Advocate before the Father. Our only High Priest and Mediator is Jesus Christ. The only sense in which a person can “absolve sins” would be in making the declaration of forgiveness offered by the Father when the gospel is received, repentance is made, and forgiveness is extended through Christ, according to the promises of Scripture not the directive of man. We may act as His voice in saying the audible words on His behalf, “Your sins are forgiven”. But it is not of us, not our doing. Likewise, someone who rejects the truth of the gospel and refuses repentance is not forgiven. In following the dictates of Scripture we would have to say then that their sins remain held against them, not because of some power we have to make that decision but because of God's clear revelation of the consequence He has established. When someone has wronged us and repents, we are called to extend forgiveness of that transgression against us - in our human relationship. We would forgive because of His life in us, but He does not extend forgiveness to another person on the basis of our actions.Only God can forgive and cover that offense with the blood of Jesus when that person repents and confesses before Him. It may seem like splitting hairs, but I believe that is the bottom line.

When Jesus commissioned the disciples, He also linked this to His giving of the Holy Spirit because we are unfit and unable to fulfill His commission out of our own efforts. Nothing of the flesh can accomplish anything of the holy and eternal Kingdom of God. He told them not to step out into their mission until they received “the promise of the Father”, the power of heaven when the Spirit came upon them (Acts 1:4,8). Only the Spirit equips, enlightens, and empowers us for this service to the Father. I think maybe a primary reason the work of the Spirit tends to be neglected and misunderstood in our day is the compromise of the gospel message that is so prevalent in our feel-good world. We have widely accepted “pastors” who say they represent God's Word but won't even talk about the cross of Christ, for goodness sake! They talk about the power and blessings of the Spirit, but don't challenge people to die to self and welcome the Spirit to strip us and make us more like Christ. In the natural, no one wants to submit to accountability. We trust our own wisdom and self-reliance. And those attitudes suppress and subvert the work of the Spirit. And then another important reason may be that we've pulled back in response to misrepresentations of the Spirit. I think we've allowed satan to deceive us into thinking we must all have some grand public display of the Spirit in our lives. The Spirit may lead in a showy way at times, but I believe His most powerful work is in the quieter intimate moments as He deals with us one-on-one to reveal truth and convict us of personal sin and give guidance as we yield to Him. That kind of openness, brokenness, and honesty before God is something we try to avoid because it's uncomfortable and we resist the change that is necessary. But it's the very way that He empowers us and raises us up to do the work of the Kingdom and fulfill Jesus' commission to us. Generally speaking, we are so full of pride in our day that we have a hard time humbling ourselves in full dependence on Him.

The way the Father sent Jesus and the manner in which Jesus sends us are the same, even though we have different roles in the mission. Jesus established and accomplished redemption and we are to proclaim that news to the world. Like Jesus, we're called to go out into the world as messengers/ ambassadors of God with what we have been given to tell (Mark 16:15) and to do as the Father commands us so that the world may know that we love Him (John 14:31 – this verse has really stuck with me from the John study). The honesty and power of that kind of authenticity is often what opens others to really consider the message and desire what they see in us for themselves. We're accountable to stay true to the Word, never deviating or altering it, even as we may adapt the presentation to our culture and the specific needs of people. It is only the truth that can bring liberty to the captives and set people free. This requires that we know the truth of the written Word and know THE Truth who is the eternal Word in a personal, dynamic way. There is no discernment, no power, and no eternal gain in efforts of the flesh, no matter how worthy they may seem. I have experienced that kind of failure, as well as the glorious joy of “getting it right” in my approach to service. I am always in need of more acute listening and consistent obedience to what Jesus says as I serve the Lord, relying on the guidance and power of His Holy Spirit just as He did on earth.

The body that appeared after the resurrection was the same body that had suffered crucifixion. Jesus' earthly physical body was raised from the dead and bore all the marks of His wounds from the crucifixion. His human physical body was resurrected, and could be touched by others. He ate food, walked, and talked. And yet, His mortal body had been raised to immortality, with new properties that were not bound by any restraint of time or space.

Jesus our King is worthy of our best and utmost everything. Honest, authentic, humble worship. Generous, obedient, faithful service. Heavenly-minded, eternal priorities founded on love. Willing, uninhibited, joyful obedience. I wish I could say I live up to that.

The man was probably “comfortable” in his self-pity. Sometimes it's more frightening to change a bad situation than to stick with what you know. He had never asked God to heal him. There may have been issues he needed to face that were uncomfortable. Jesus was inviting the man to examine his own heart for what it was he wanted from God and to actually make the request. Pastor Ralph's advice to seek discernment about people's need before praying with and for them is wise. We can never know another person's heart on our own. It would be revealing of the deeper need to ask what it is the person really wants from God, and we can pray according to the real need.

Jesus did not perform this miracle in a public way because it was not yet the moment for that. He may have been sensitive to His mother and concerned for the reputation of the host, but if protecting anything, it was ultimately the Father's will and timetable. The quantity of the wine tells us of the extravagance of Jesus' glory. It is abundant, generous, and full. The extraordinary quality of the wine reveals the extraordinary quality of the One who performed the miracle. His glory far surpasses the very best of earth. The fact that this wine came after the best the host had to offer also suggests something. Christ, the superior, had come as the finale to man's best efforts at making provisions for relationship with God - efforts that ran short and were never enough. The primary reason Jesus went ahead with this miracle may have been revealed in verse 11. This first sign He did was for the purpose of manifesting His glory. And the ones recorded for recognizing that purpose and believing with faith in Him because of this miracle were His disciples. There were lessons for Mary, but this quiet display of Jesus' glory may have been primarily for the disciples to prepare them for all that would soon be set in motion as Jesus began public ministry. Regardless of the reason, I am certain He would not have done the miracle apart from the Father's approval (ex. John 5:30).

Alcoholics would only be excited to point out this miracle as an attempt to validate themselves in their addiction. This miracle had nothing to do with drinking to an excess that takes over control of your mind, behavior, and life. My daddy was an alcoholic, so I know something about what that looks like. The sin is that of yielding to excess. I don't drink any alcoholic beverages because of what I saw it do to my daddy and my family. No one intends to become an alcoholic, but who recognizes the line they're crossing as the addiction takes root and the person loses the self-control they were certain they could have over it. No one really knows if they will be a person who becomes entrapped in addiction, so for me, I recommend leaving it alone altogether. We aren't to put ourselves under the influence of anything that would impair of our minds, leaving us vulnerable to poor judgment and uninhibited behavior. Am I legalistic about it? No. But is our accountability to yield only to the Spirit and the possibility of damage to our testimony of the power of Christ at work within and through us worth that risk? For me, that answer is clearly no.

Mary had full confidence that Jesus could provide a miraculous solution to the embarrassing problem that would dishonor the wedding's host (likely her own relative). But I take her “push” in a different way. She didn't tell Jesus what to do, she just told Him of the problem and then told the servants to obey whatever Jesus might tell them to do. She was certainly insinuating that Jesus should take action, but she didn't “order” Him to do something. She made her request clear, but then respected His word of caution and left the decision to Jesus. I think this may have been the first time her son had ever openly challenged her directives. But I also think, as He addressed her as “woman” rather than “mother”, she recognized it was that first moment of practical distinction between Jesus, her precious son, and Jesus, the Son of God. All His life, she had probably dreaded the heartbreaking moment ahead when she must let go of her son and fully release Him to the will and plan of Yahweh, but that time had finally come. I don't think Jesus' words were a rebuke that insulted or dishonored His mother. I am certain He would have spoken with complete tenderness, understanding, and respect for His mother with full awareness of that difficult point they had reached. It was the time when He must separate his family relationships from His Father's will. She was no longer in authority over Him as He now became her Lord. Evidently, Jesus was given inner assurance by the Father to go ahead and perform this first sign that publicly manifest His glory (John 2:11). He had made it clear to Mary that He wouldn't do it because of her desire or position as His mother, but only according to the Father's will and timing. I think that may have been the whole purpose for this exchange – to make that distinction clear to Mary and all of us. Jesus never did/does anything just because of our needs or desires. Ultimately, He acted because of what the Father directed Him to do.

We have so many distractions and demands in our 24/7 modern day world that we are often overwhelmed by the pressures of keeping pace and it can be easy to end up overlooking friends and relatives. I guess we could tend to take those relationships for granted and have our focus on the wrong things for what is most important. We are often self-absorbed and even selfish. Jesus' attendance at this wedding revealed the high priority He placed on family and friends to celebrate that sacred event together. We all certainly have legitimate obligations, but time shared with others is important. Giving of self and nurturing relationships is what makes the difference in other people's lives.

Jesus used the name “Son of Man” that Daniel used to identify the one who would be sent by God as the ultimate and final ruler of all. He used the imagery of Daniel 7:13 of heaven opening and one coming with the clouds. This ministry will be completed when Jesus returns to earth as King of kings and Lord of lords, in the fullness of His majesty and sovereignty. All dominion and glory will be forever His. His eternal Kingdom will be filled with all the nations who serve Him.

Luke 4:6 and Matthew 4:9 record satan's efforts to tempt Jesus into accepting his false gift of power and authority over all the kingdoms of the world and their splendors. But Jesus had already settled that question in overcoming the temptation with His declaration to worship and serve only God, so He wouldn't yield to any demand of the people for Him to seek worldly acclaim, position, and power. They were only looking for Messiah to be a military King who would deliver them from tyrannical oppression. Jesus was ALREADY the true King, but this was not the time for the Son of Man to act on that authority in His humanity . His focus was set on the Father's will, and so He retreated from the disciples and the discerned intent of the crowds for refuge on the mountain to spend time only with the Father. The entire plan of redemption would have been compromised and ruined if Jesus had allowed the people to take Him by force and set Him up as king. When God has given us direction, we can't allow people and their plans to deter us. We need to take every request and demand to Him for discernment.

Every part of the miracle was important, including the leftover scraps. Nothing was to be lost to waste. Even once the need is met, it is disrespectful of the provision to throw out any useful part of it that remains. There was surely other need elsewhere that could benefit from the “leftovers”. And the leftover pieces of bread were just as sacred as those consumed, since they were also part of the miracle from Jesus' hand. The disciples were instructed to gather the leftovers, and each of them ended up with a large heavy basket filled with the evidence of God's generosity. When God pours out blessing in abundance, we must take care not to take any part of it for granted. God doesn't give so generously for no reason. When we experience excess, we should be motivated by gratitude to see the extra we don't even need as blessing to share with someone else. The deeper spiritual lesson here for the disciples was to see beyond the over-abundant provision for physical hunger and strength. Jesus used the loaves and fish to demonstrate His concern about “nutrition” for a strong spiritual life and show them He is the Source of that provision in an abundance we cannot imagine. The need will always be greater than our resources, but never greater than His. He simply calls us to be channels of His abundance to others.

Jesus took the 5 loaves of barley bread and the 2 little dried fish, and blessed them by giving thanks to the Father for the one who gave (I think) and for what the Father was going to provide – before the miracle happened. Then He began to break the food into pieces and fill baskets one by one. Each disciple waited for a basket to take to a section of people sitting on the hillside and then passed out the food, repeating the process until every person in that huge crowd had been given something to eat. And then apparently, Jesus continued to break the food into baskets and the disciples continued to distribute food in an abundance that fed thousands of people until they had as much as they wanted! What an amazing experience this must have been! It was not just a quick word of healing or provision. The disciples were involved in the exhausting physical labor of carrying the blessings of the miracle Jesus was doing out to the people. It had to have taken hours! The initial moments of astonished excitement likely turned into more quiet and profound awe as each man took out basket after basket and handed out food that had no “logical” explanation. Jesus was filled with a power that could create abundance out of practically nothing. And they were literally acting as His hands and feet in carrying the miracle to others.

As the God of order and never chaos, Jesus had the disciples organize the crowd into groups by hundreds and by fifties (Mark 6:39-40). This kept the crowd in control and created a sensible manageable way for the disciples to disperse the food without overlooking anyone. When Jesus gave the command to have the people be seated this way, the disciples still didn't know what was about to happen but their part was to act in obedience by faith. They had seen Jesus do so many miracles for others and now they were going to experience one for themselves as they became the hands and feet of Jesus, in preparation for their future ministries! Their only reason to do that was they trusted Jesus. This detail about how the crowd was seated in an orderly way on the grass also indicates this is eyewitness testimony of a true and actual supernatural event. I don't know that I'd put my experiences in the category of this miracle, but I've certainly been in the position of being led in a direction by the Spirit and knowing it was something I couldn't do myself. I've learned and seen that as you begin to take steps in that direction you don't usually know exactly where you'll end up, so in that sense there's no real way to prepare for it ahead of time. But when you just keep taking those steps by faith in Christ and what He'll do, He has always proved His abundance of grace and provision with more than I could have imagined! His lesson for me in this has been that my faith and my willingness to follow are what He's really looking for.

Jesus used the hunger and need of the huge crowd to test the faith of the disciples when He insisted they take on the task of finding enough food for everyone. He challenges us even today in similar fashion when He directs us into situations that far exceed our ability. The test is whether or not we 1)will surrender and obey, and 2)will acknowledge that we must depend on His strength, wisdom, and resources to be able to do it. I learned long ago if I will just be willing that Jesus will do amazing things I can't even imagine! It is a discipleship lesson about the power of faith. The fact that the only food found among all those people was a boy's lunch of five loaves and two little fish is very significant, especially when we see what actually happened. That tiny amount of food for all those people and the generous faith of a little boy were all Jesus needed. With a hands-on lesson, He demonstrated to the disciples (and to us) that He is bigger than our greatest needs. He has more than enough to provide for us even when there seems to be essentially nothing to work with. When we're incapable, He is entirely capable. “Little is much when God is in it”!

Scripture is a vital source of our spiritual nourishment because it is God's direct Word to man. It feeds our spiritual life with truth and wisdom that the Spirit uses to direct us from within. We must internalize the Word in order for it to transform our minds, guard our hearts, and lead our steps. Scripture is where we learn who God is, what our relationship is to Him, what He has done to redeem us to Himself through Christ, how we are to live, the inheritance He has promised to all who trust Christ. The Word is a living force that gives discernment and wisdom when we submit to the Spirit's application of the Scripture to our hearts. A person could be a devoted academic student of the Bible without ever internalizing the truths contained in it and putting them into practice. If the knowledge is only in the head but is never received into the heart, the Scripture has no influence on one's world view, philosophy of life, understanding of self, foundation of truth, processes of decision-making, motives, goals, or desires. In other words, it has no transformational impact on how one lives or what one believes. That requires the indwelling of the Spirit, because the spiritual realm can't be comprehended in the natural realm. Without Him, it would be a little like an earthworm attempting to understand the human mind. We must teach and know the Scriptures as Christians if we are going to have discernment of spiritual truth and wisdom to apply knowledge for living. But we cannot become legalistic about it, making rules and passing judgment on others. In fact, I think that the more you rightly know and comprehend God's Word, the more humble you actually become as you realize you must rely solely on the grace of God for understanding. And the hard, often painful work of applying the principles of Scripture to our own lives should keep us humble. Also, we should always be dealing with others according to the Royal Law of Love – first for God and then for others.

Jesus did miraculous works among the people with a heart of compassion, but those works had an ultimate purpose to “bear witness about Me that the Father has sent me” (John 5:36-37). The works empowered by the Father were His testimony and witness that Jesus was Messiah, the Son of Man sent from heaven. I think it's important to remember that Jesus was sent to the Jews, who expected signs from God to validate His word. The prophecies about the coming Messiah were filled with signs to look for. So the Father's use of signs and wonders to validate the identity and message of Jesus was right in line with that specific method He had always used with the chosen people of Israel. As Son of Man, Jesus responded to the faith of a few Gentiles with miracles, but it seems His ministry of signs and wonders was almost exclusively to the Jews for the purpose of confirming His identity as Messiah. To miss the purpose for the miracles is to miss gaining any eternal value from them. These signs and wonders were intended to lead people to listen to Jesus' message and believe His words. Faith in the miracles rather than faith in the Miracle-Worker is misplaced, immature, weak, and ineffective. That kind of faith is emotional, which means it isn't enduring. God desires that the wonder of any miracle leads us to faith from the heart, mind, and soul. Miracles today would have to be held to the same standard. The few public scenarios I have personally witnessed have been more like showy circus acts that didn't place the focus on the glory of Jesus. I do believe that, if He chooses, God can still work through miracles to lead people to listen to Jesus' message and believe His words. But this would now have to be in line with the slightly different purpose of the miracles that the apostles were empowered to perform as recorded in the book of Acts as the brand new Body of Christ exploded in growth. The purpose then was that of proving the apostles to be true as they testified to the resurrection of Christ and transformation of relationship with God. Perhaps we don't see this much in our congregations because we're missing His purpose, or because we are not apostles whose radically new message must be proven authentic. Now it is the Spirit of truth who proves what is true. I have seen undeniable miraculous interventions in my family, so I know God still works in people's lives this way. But more importantly, we now have the greater miracles of His Word, which is the ultimate and completed revelation of the Son (Hebrews 1:2), and the Spirit of truth, who bears witness about the Son as He now takes all that was given to Jesus to speak and declares that message to us (John 15:26; 16:13-15).

Jesus didn't come into the world on His own, and did nothing of His own accord or will or desire. He is and has always been God, but His role is unique in the Trinity. Though equal in being, He voluntarily has a subordinate role to the Father and His will. He was not here to act of Himself, only of the Father. So Jesus was completely dependent on the Father for wisdom to do the Father's will as He lived on earth as the Son of Man. There is no authentic and pure wisdom in the world. That is only found in the perfection of God. Jesus was dependent upon the Father for wisdom because the Father is its only source. Growing up as a boy who studied the Scriptures just like all other Jewish boys, Jesus knew very well the teachings on wisdom from the Psalms and Proverbs. Words like “for wisdom is better than jewels, and all that you may desire cannot compare with her” (Proverbs 8:11) and “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight” (Proverbs 9:10) were foundations for His life of seeking the Father's wisdom. As imperfect as I am at always seeking the Father's wisdom, I certainly value it more and more. It's the source of discernment of truth, the shield of integrity, the way of joy, the light for my path, the security for my soul, the peace for my heart. I am skeptical of most everything I see of the world today, and His wisdom is the only thing that is 100% sure, accurate, reliable - and righteous. Thankfully, I don't depend on the culture around me or the opinions of others to define who I am, what I believe, or how I am to live. I try to judge all things according to the standards of His Word rather than the dictates of the world.