| Romans 11:33-12:8 by Don Neuendorf |
"Therefore..."
It's always good to pay special attention to words like this. Paul is drawing a big conclusion from what has gone before. He goes into more detail as he continues... "Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices..."
"In view of God's mercy." Since he said "therefore" we have to assume that what we just read in the preceeding paragraphs must have shown God's mercy to us. How did we see it? In some ways that previous chapter may have seemed harsh to us, since Paul talks about the Jewish people being lost without the Messiah, and the gentiles having been lost for so many centuries. The P.C. view today is that God should just love everyone and let everyone be saved... |
| Isaiah 51:1-6 by Don Neuendorf |
"My justice will become a light to the nations..."
Since the end of May we've been dipping into bits of Isaiah for many of our Old Testament lessons. We've been in chapter 49, 55, 44, 55, 56, 51, and we'll read from Isaiah 4 or 5 more times yet this year. And in nearly every case the prophet is talking about God reaching out to the nations, the gentiles... us.
Why is that?... |
| Matthew 15:21-28 by Don Neuendorf |
"I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel."
Why would Jesus say this to a foreigner, a pagan woman, who is in need? It's worth noting that Jesus has at this point left the land of Israel. He and the disciples have hiked out of the Jordan River valley, climbing from 600 feet below sea level to 2,000 feet above the Mediterranean Sea. They are traveling through non-Jewish territory and have left behind the Jewish leaders, the Pharisees, the crowds of people seeking miracles, and those who know what "Messiah" means. Presumably, though Matthew doesn't say so directly, Jesus is using this time to teach his disciples.
And now this woman comes, crying and pleading, and the disciples say, "Send her away..." |
| Romans 11:1-2a, 13-15, 28-32 by Don Neuendorf |
"I am talking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch as I am the apostle to the Gentiles, I make much of my ministry in the hope that I may somehow arouse my own people to envy and save some of them..."
Did you notice that Jesus did the same thing? "The tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you," he told the chief priests and elders.
Do you ever envy someone else's ministry?... |
| Isaiah 56:1, 6-8 by Don Neuendorf |
"And the foreigners who bind themselves to the Lord to serve him... these I will bring to my holy mountain..."
Do you think very much about "foreigners"? Last week, with my son's wedding, we had many out of town guests, several of which were from Canada. One of them complained that our network coverage of the Olympics focused too much on "the Americans". I thought (unkindly) that if Canada had television networks they would probably focus their attention on Canadian athletes, wouldn't they?
And yet, there is something there worth thinking about... |
| Matthew 14:22-33 by Don Neuendorf |
"When evening came, [Jesus] was there alone, but the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it."
Have you ever paddled a canoe or rowed a boat against the wind? I have. I remember one particularly frustrating canoe trip in which I had to go several miles on still water with the wind in my face. I was alone in the canoe and the wind continually forced the bow of the canoe off to one side or the other. It was nearly impossible to go straight and I began to feel like I would NEVER get where I was going. It was as if I was canoeing through molasses, my progress was so slow.
In the midst of this frustration... |
| Romans 10:5-17 by Don Neuendorf |
"And how can they preach unless they are sent?"
I think I can say this fairly, understanding that my personal experience doesn't apply to everyone and that there are always exceptions, but I think I can say with some confidence that most pastors feel some guilt about getting paid. Did you ever suspect that? |
| Job 38:4-18 by Don Neuendorf |
"Where were you when I laid the earth's foundation? Tell me, if you understand."
This is what is called a "rhetorical question." That is, it's a question to which we already know the answer. God isn't asking it in order to gain information for himself. He's asking it in order to gain information for US - to get an idea into OUR head, not his. Look at God's exam... |
| Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23 by Don Neuendorf |
"A farmer went out to sow his seed..."
We just talked about this parable in our staff meeting. (I sure wish that all of you could be a part of our staff meetings, just for the devotion. We have great discussions.) And it occurred to us that when we read or preach on this parable we generally look at it as if it were a lesson about conversion, or about preaching, a description of the various "kinds" of people who hear the word.
But why would Jesus' listeners, seated along the shore of the Sea of Galilee, need a lecture about conversion? No, that's not what the topic was. Jesus was talking to them about... |
| Romans 8:12-17 by Don Neuendorf |
"For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear..."
Who are you? Is it just me, or are we all prone to play different parts - put on different identities for different parts of our lives? I can go into dad-mode or husband-mode as soon as I walk in the door. I can go into pastor-mode as soon as I see someone for whom I must fulfill that role. And I have other modes that I acknowledge less willingly, like aggrieved-and-unappreciated-genius-mode... |