The DEFINER

“My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” Matthew 27:46 [NASB]

This cry by Jesus on the cross moments before He died is a cry many people express when they face very difficult times. We’ve each known, heard about, or experienced these hard times. Times when an infant dies. Times when a car crashes leaving the people inside paralyzed or in a coma for life.  Times when a medical test comes back positive for cancer or some feared disease. Times when an employer closes the business and you and your family are left without an income. Times when you lose your home and don’t know where you will live or sleep. Times when you have failed all your tests and cannot get into university and do not know what you will do with your life. Times when you realize you have arrived at the end of your rope and just can’t hold on any longer. These times are times you might have cried out, “My God, why have You forsaken me?!”

Now remember the times after those very hard and heartbreaking periods in your life. Remember your relief when the tests said you didn’t have cancer, your loved one in a coma awakened, when you found employment, when your school grades came back higher than you expected so you could go to university, times when a new home was provided. In each of these times, you really cannot say you caused them to turn around. God is the One who was faithful to you and provided what you needed at the right moment. He is the One who loved you throughout the ordeal. God saw you at your need and that need included growth in your faith.

Understand this, trials of faith that arise as trials in your life are there to grow you. It’s not that God ever leaves you. Rather, those times grow you to realize the situation does not contradict who God is. Circumstances do not define God. God defines circumstances; He limits them and provides a way for you to get through them with Him and grow because of them. Just as God’s love and power were not restricted and defined by Jesus’ crucifixion, as was seen by Jesus’ resurrection from the death to life, we can know our trials do not define or restrict God’s power and love in our lives. Trials of life are trials of faith. 

Did God cause you to go through that trial? It is possible. What is more important is not how and who started the difficult period of time, but by Whom and how you got through it. Did you hold on to God for strength as you walked through the trial with Him? If you did, your faith relied upon God and grew because of that difficulty. Would we rather have not gone through the trial? You bet! But, if we never go through trials, we don’t grow as Christians. Our faith in God does not grow and we remain little children forever, rather than true disciples who are in the image of Christ.

Here’s the point: Let trials grow you so you recognize they don’t contradict God and redefine who He is in your mind. Instead, look to God and let Him remind you of His might, love, and mercy, and let Him define the situation for you.

GOD defines the situation. The situation never defines who God is.

Lord, it is so easy to get caught up in our day-to-day lives and forget to meet with you in prayer and study of Your Word. When we do this, we lose sight of Who You really are. We allow our circumstances to define You in our minds. Doing this caused us to forget the magnitude of Who You really are. You are the one God, God almighty, ever-present, all-knowing, Savior, Creator, Redeemer, Provider, Protector, Guide, and Friend. Lord, You love me more than I love myself and always have my best interests at heart. Help me to trust fully in and lean on You for each of my days and all that I experience. Help me look to and for You and to join You in what You are doing. Thank you for being my Savior. I trust solely in You. Amen.

Justice Demanded

Justice, people seek, demanding for them.

Railing, begging, striving, and bribing for their suit.

Claiming validity, for their “just” sake.

Unjust they be, though supposed claiming the truth.

Justice is my right, people declare.

Seeking to obtain it for themselves is their claim.

Wanting the profit and advantage from its reaping,

Shouting for justice, requiring, demanding it be made.

Justice, we seek, when we are unjust.

Claiming to be weakened, received harm from a hand.

Obtained unjust actions and words that have harmed,

We cry for justice for us; it’s for what we demand.

Seeking justice when we’re unjust seems unbalanced, untrue.

Why do we seek for our purpose that which we don’t bestow?

Striving always to be ahead, caring not for other’s lives now;

Wanting what we can get, uncaring what they are owed.

Justice we seek, we cry for, we plead.

Justice is not what we give, what we think, or what we heed.

Justice requires a person to be just, an impossible human task.

No one is always just, always right, sin makes sure of that.

Justness, rightness, can’t be defined by humanity;

God’s character defines it, the always righteous Holy One.

Humanity strives but fails to do what is right;

Weakness, temptation, sin separates and makes alone.

For this reason, humanity’s sin and God’s great love,

The Father sent the Son to live as man yet sinless to be the One.

The One who lived to die so sins may be cleansed,

The One who died so God would make righteous, just, everyone.

Justice we seek as if we’re the most important person alive.

Christ came and loved to show each His love and make right.

Nothing we can give nor anything we can do

Gives the salvation Christ gives, and, with it, eternal life.

Come as a child, nothing to give, no way to earn;

Righteousness from God comes by belief in Christ alone.

Jesus taught belief in Him alone, God’s love justifies;

What God asks of you is belief, for His grace makes you whole.

Justice we demand, yet justice we don’t give.

God demanded nothing for your sins to be cleansed.

He provided everything needed for you to be justified;

You pay Him nothing for the redemption price of your sins.

Though you owe God everything since your sins caused your death,

He paid the whole price, redeemed you, now you are fully cleansed.

Once you believe in Jesus as the Redeemer for your sins,

God’s grace and His cost are fully repaid as He welcomes you in.

As one of His children, cleansed, saved, redeemed,

Your only requirement is to answer the “Follow Me” of Christ’s beckoning.

“Follow Me with your life, with your actions, words, and thought.

Love Me, love your neighbor with your whole being, your whole heart.

Sell all you have, give to the hurt, lost, and needy;

Give your right to yourself to serve Me and others to eternity.”

These things Jesus taught as He spoke to the faithful, rich man.

The utmost he wouldn’t give though he followed the law of the land.

All that’s written cannot give you righteousness and peace;

Only through God’s gift, Jesus’ sacrifice, can we be justified, find justice, and all we need.

This all that God gives is eternal life and relationship with Him;

It’s better than all we can think, ever want, demand, or conceive.

It’s the ultimate of God, the source for all good things.

The definer of truth, justice, and giver of everything we need.

Justice we demanded and justice God gave.

At the cost of His Son by Whom we received His grace.

The power of death held no sway over His mighty power;

He rose from the grave and gave us cleansing and victory for every hour.

Jesus calls to us as we called to the judge;

“Justice,” I give, “with mercy and love.”

“Seek Me and find Me, I wait for you to come.

Believe in Me and receive from the depths of My love.”

Come to the Savior, Who for your life He died.

Come see the cross where He was crucified.

Give Him your life, your heart, everything,

And He will give you grace, justification, love, and all you need.

“For it is My Father’s will that all who see His Son and believe in Him should have eternal life. I will raise them up at the last day.” (John 6:40 [NLT])

“The Spirit alone gives eternal life. Human effort accomplishes nothing. And the very words I have spoken to you are spirit and life.” (John 6:63 [NLT])

Note: Read Luke 18 and John 6 for more understanding of Jesus’ teaching as referred to in this poem.

The River Between Us

A spark, a stir, and itch to scratch,

A need to write with no theme upon my mind.

Always thinking of God, about whom I write.

That theme, my greatest interest all the time.

I want more, reflect feelings, to call soul to soul.

Reaching out, reaching for more, want to know what;

Upon what should I reflect, write, offer a thought;

My mind queries, fumbles, grapples, deeply it sought.

Feelings available, at hand, there are many

On whom to focus, consider love, different with each one.

Sister, mother, brother, husband, son and daughter,

Each spark a primary color, the major flame, of that dear one.

Love, the balloon, around each family member,

Crackles, envelopes, embraces, as life evolves.

Rarely does a feeling burst the outer boundary.

Comfort, cushion, life’s safe-haven, love covers all.

When in time storms arise and we falter,

Seeking strength, steady hands and arms, hearts embrace.

Calling out in fear and hope, the light of love’s aglimmer,

Fainting, shaking, sweating, fear’s erased.

What one says cannot remove a life’s experience,

Even if strong winds and actions blur the lines.

As a son or daughter of God almighty,

Love’s never vanquished but stands the test of time.

Those strained boundaries of heart relations,

Bound and strengthened by the might of God’s hands,

Keep the love alive when hope seems vanquished,

Pulsing stronger as God calls His own to stand.

Reaching forward, grasping with His strength,

How can they be here at my deepest need?

God the Father, never leaves or abandons;

His depth of love flows through His child from His mercy seat.

No matter the pull or strain of a loved one,

God’s love still can flow through one straying, but never gone.

Each, if honest, recognizes this eternal truth;

For God is the Model of faithful, enduring love.

Though straying never snatched forever,

God won’t allow His child to be lost, alone;

Just as we turn our backs to Him and He loves us,

So we can love holding strong to our loved one.

Ruptured relations, broken hearts and promises

Don’t break ties forever with those we love;

Because God’s love is the river we share between us,

When in need, our relations know our love’s there to carry them on.

The DOOR

“The door,” He says, “I am.”

The way to peace.

The door is open.

Come, see who He is.

“The door,” whispers people.

“What is it for?”

“Come see,” says He, “Come to Me.”

Closer we come, step one, then two.

Walking, inching closer to see.

Breath held, unsure, inching closer still.

We whisper, “Who is it? What does He do?”

Going closer, to see, who can it be?

Hearing words, glimpsing heart;

What can it mean?

Drawing closer, we see, door open wide;

Blood on the ground, heart calling my name;

Hand on His side, one raised to call;

I hear, I see, curious I slip close to His side.

Looking, hearing, I recognize love.

Step one, then two, I enter in.

The door’s open wide, welcoming all to go in.

Calling all people, all sheep to know Him.

I look around and see life abundant and new.

Peace, rest, and strength provided for all,

Food, shelter, and love, why’d I never see Him?

Before in my life, as I walked outside the door,

I wandered sometimes hungry, no peace to find.

Stumbling in chaos, failing in strength,

The Shepherd still called, “Come home,” but…

I turned my head to see others instead.

Why would I choose to turn, walk away,

When love and grace came my way?

Rebellion, ignorance, deceit, I want my way.

Now as I wander through the door to the fold,

Peace, rest, and love replace

Fear, envy, and death.

Deep sigh, I expel, terrors no more.

The Savior, my door, welcomes me,

Saves me,

Loves me,

Calls me His friend.

The door is always open;

The Shepherd still beckons, “Come in.”

Why wander outside when He gives

Grace,

Mercy, and

Love for all who enter by Him?

“I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” (John 10:9-10 [NASB])

Prejudice & Sight

Nathanael said to him, “Can any good come out of Nazareth?” (John 1:46 [NASB])

Consider a child who walks to school. The parents of that child tell him which route to take. Most times that route prescribed by the parents is for the safety of the child. The route instructed by the parents tells the child which streets to walk past and which to walk through as he goes. Often, the path the parents dictate makes the him walk longer. What causes parents or society to tell a child he can walk down one street but not another? The parents want the child to avoid these streets because he could be unsafe. Consider now, the reasons the parents want their child to bypass certain streets are not because of physical safety, but because of prejudice. Possibly one set of streets has people of another race or religion living or working on it. Why would anyone want to raise prejudiced children? Let’s examine what we learn from Jesus’ discernment of the heart of Nathanael.

In John 1, John testified he was not the Christ. (vs. 20) As He continued to speak to the priests and Levites from Jerusalem, he identified himself as the “voice crying in the wilderness” of which Isaiah prophesied. John believed in the Christ and proclaimed Him. He identified Him as greater than himself, and at Jesus’ baptism in the Jordan River, he proclaimed Jesus as the “Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (vs. 29) John’s heart was true to the Messiah before he met Him.

What makes a person able to believe and testify to Jesus being the Christ, the Messiah? What makes that person unprejudiced against Jesus? What keeps people from believing? John believed without seeing Jesus that the Messiah had arrived. Then when he saw Jesus, he proclaimed this Man is the one of whom he preached. He said, “This is the Son of God.” (vs. 34) Jesus, after His baptism, walked around the Sea of Galilee calling men to follow Him. First, two of John’s disciples followed Him, one of whom was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. Next, Jesus found Philip and told him, “Follow Me.” (vs. 43) Philip found Nathanael and told him he had found the One about whom Moses and the Prophets wrote. He identified this One as Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. (vs. 45)

Nathanael’s reaction is often the reaction of people who express prejudice. In verse forty-six, he said, “Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?” Nathanael had not seen or met Jesus yet and already held Him in contempt because of where His parents raised Him. He did not want to believe a man from Nazareth could be the Messiah and so already had bias against Jesus. Why did Nathanael hold Nazareth in contempt? What was the basis for his prejudice? Is there ever any right reason to be prejudiced?

Nazareth was in the lower region of Galilee on the southwest side of the Sea of Galilee. It was not on a major trade route and had few inhabitants. Bible scholars consider it may have had 500 people living in it during the first century. Nazareth was not a sophisticated or glamourous place. It wasn’t from where the Jews expected the Messiah to come. In answer to the questions posited, Nathanael held Nazareth in contempt because of its size and location. It wasn’t near Jerusalem or in Judah. He based his prejudice on place and what he’d learned from people in his own social sphere. Nathanael did not have a just reason for prejudice against Jesus. He had never met Him. No person can give a good reason for prejudice. God did not make one people with a particular skin color who lived in a preferred place and tell them to rule over the others. He did not make one race, nation, tribe, or tongue and call them very, very good, while all the others He called very good. God created man and woman in His image and declared them very good, then told them to have dominion over the animals and plants, not over other people.

Consider Nathanael’s response to Jesus when he meets Him. When Jesus saw Nathanael coming to meet Him, He said of him, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!” (vs 47) Before Nathanael met Jesus, Jesus knew his heart. Jesus showed lack of prejudice against Nathanael and told him the truth of his heart. Nathanael had no deceit, in Greek, dolos. This means Nathanael did not try to trap Jesus or others with his own ideas but sought the truth for himself. He did not stand back and spout contempt but went to meet Jesus for himself. Jesus confronted Nathanael with the truth of his heart, that he wanted to know the truth about Him. He answered Nathanael’s question about how He knew him in verse forty-eight. Jesus said, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.” He said, “I saw you.” He discerned clearly who Nathanael truly was in his heart and spirit. Nathanael’s response to Jesus’ understanding of himself caused him to proclaim his newly understood certainty of who Jesus is. With the blinds of societal prejudice removed from his mind’s eyes, he declared, “Rabbi, You are the Son of God; You are the King of Israel.” (vs 49)

What made Nathanael able to trust Jesus as the Messiah, the Son of God? Jesus’ revealed truth. What caused him not to view Jesus with prejudice? Jesus’ revealed truth. What keeps people from believing in Jesus? Prejudice, lack of truth. Jesus disclosed the true heart of Nathanael, the heart God created. The heart God created for each person is to love Him above everything else we hold dear and to love other people just as we love ourselves. (Matthew 22:36-40) Nathanael’s society caused him to learn prejudice against other people, particularly the people of Nazareth. Such prejudice is not part of God’s original creation but comes from sin. When Jesus disclosed the truth of Nathanael’s heart as He discerned it, the blinds that shuttered truth and love from his heart, mind, and spirit, fell away. This revelation allowed Nathanael to recognize the truth of Jesus, that He is the Messiah, the Son of God.

Jesus’ gift to Nathanael was sight, truth, and salvation. That’s His gift to every person. Jesus wants each person to receive true sight so he or she can recognize the prejudice-sin-into which Satan tricks them into believing. He wants us to know the truth. Jesus said in John 14:6, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.”

Consider again the parents giving instructions to their child about which way to walk to and from school. Ponder what could happen if a parent allowed a child to walk another way home so he or she walked through neighborhoods unlike his or her own and in which his or her physical safety was not a concern. That child would learn about people different from them socially and culturally. He or she would recognize the sameness of each person as God created them. That child would learn every person wants to be loved, to have a home, to live with family, and to have food, clothes, and drink. Each person wants to feel safe and truly to be heard and seen. If that child could walk the streets of people from different cultures and histories, he or she would learn to love more, understand better, see clearly, and care globally about all people, nations, tribes, and tongues. He or she would learn how to love as God wants him or her to love, without prejudice. Your child and you could hear and meet a man from Nazareth who came to be the Way and give each person salvation.

What roads do you avoid?

What paths in your heart have you closed?

What are you allowing to keep you from knowing Jesus, the Truth, the Light, and the Way?

Jesus sees and knows each of us before we even meet Him. He is ready to tell us the truth and remake us into His own image through God’s grace-offered salvation.

Will you declare Jesus the Son of God just as Nathanael did?

Will you choose sight and salvation,

or prejudice and perdition?

Lord, You’ve done it again; You’ve shown me truth and I don’t want to face what I am and have done. Yes, Lord, I have been prejudiced against people. I have chosen to side against them rather than stand for them. It’s easier that way. But Lord, now I am in the corner facing my sins regarding this. I recognize I am a sinner and truly sorry for the way I have thought about and interacted with and against people. Lord, You’ve shown me truth and I can hardly bare it. Yet, You tell me You will forgive me this. Lord, I am unworthy of Your forgiveness. I deserve punishment, yet You offer me grace; You offer me salvation from these, my sins. Lord, thank you. Thank you for loving me so much that You kept calling to me and showing me You already provided for the condemnation I deserve. Thank you for forgiving and saving me, Lord. I accept Your gift of salvation, forgiveness, and eternal life with You. I am unworthy, but You are almighty, faithful, and loving. Oh Lord, here’s my life, make it Yours completely. Thank you for giving me sight into the truth of myself and providing the Way. Amen.

Chosen, Holy, and Treasured

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. (1 Peter 2:9 [NASB])

Consider being on a boat. You ride it through the waves and up and down through the choppy waters of the sea. Next, you encounter a storm while at sea. You consider, “Ah, I am so glad I put the GPS on this boat and the radio.” When you go to your navigation system, it’s not working. Then you go to your radio asking for help. When a person responds to your call, he or she asks where you are, but you cannot tell him or her because your GPS is broken. It’s been damaged by the storm. This is often what our lives are like.

Peter wrote about people who had forgotten their guidance system, the One who had saved them in the past. They stopped relying on their Savior and walked away from Him. This caused fighting, lying, envying, and slandering. (1 Peter 2:1) Peter wrote to remind the dispersed Christians Whose they are and Who made their adoption by God possible. He reminded them of these things and what their purpose should be now they are not just people wandering on this earth alone.

Read 1 Peter 2:9 again. It says, “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.” (1 Peter 2:9 [NASB]) Upon first glance, Peter’s statement may make it seem the people are these great things, but the thing to remember is, he said they were these people because of the salvation given by God’s grace through faith in Jesus Christ. This point is key to this passage and the first ten verses in 1 Peter 2. God made them these people; the dispersed Christians in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia did not make themselves into these people Peter noted. By God’s power He saves people from their rebellion and they become His people.

God adopts a believer into His holy people.

Consider what Peter said people who’ve received salvation are now that God adopted them. They are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession with a purpose. What do these mean? First, realize, Peter explained in verses four through eight what each of these titles are by teaching to the dispersed believers Jesus is each of these and God appointed Him to be these things before God created humankind. Jesus is the role model of these descriptors and He is the Giver of these in people. How? When a person comes to believe in Jesus as their Savior, His Holy Spirit dwells in that one and with time and devotion to God, that person grows to be more like Christ daily. That does not mean we are not these descriptors when we first place our faith in Jesus Christ, but that we grow more into these roles daily as we grow into Christlikeness.

“You are a chosen race,” Peter said. Jesus is the Chosen One from the beginning. God chose Him to be the Cornerstone of His church, His people, His race, His nation. He chose Jesus to provide a special service, redemption of humanity from the judgment and condemnation due because of their sins. Jesus is the chosen Messiah, God with us and Savior of the world. Because God knew people would sin, He appointed - He made a way - before He created people with free will, for them to be cleansed and made holy so they could be in His presence so He could have a relationship with them. God planned redemption from before time began and chose His Son to dwell in human form on earth, suffer persecution and crucifixion, and then rise from the dead to redeem and save people from the penalty and condemnation of sin. God chose each person to become a believer, to be saved from sin and death. He, through Jesus, provided the status of “chosen race” to the people group who believed in Jesus Christ as their Savior. When a person believes in Jesus, that person automatically becomes a part of God’s race. They are no longer of the Asian race, African race, Anglo-Saxon race, or whatever; they are part of the “chosen race” of God.

God adopts a believer into His race.

Peter next called these dispersed Christians a “royal priesthood.” For the people of the time, the word “priest” brought connotations of sacrifices that were never enough and required dirtying one’s hands repeatedly with the blood of animals, if you were an Israelite. If a person believed in Molech as a god, then their sacrifices left the blood of people on their hands. Being a priest brought with it a position and status of reverence and fear among people, too. As before, Peter showed these dispersed Christians the prime example and the priest-maker with the life of Jesus in verse five. Peter said Jesus is the holy Priest when he told the dispersed Christians they would be a holy priesthood. The believers in Jesus Christ, for whom God planned and provided redemption before He created humans, became priests in the model of Jesus by God. They no longer had to ask a human priest to give a sacrifice for them because of their sins. Believers have direct access to God to ask for forgiveness of sins, to praise and worship Him, and to intercede or supplicate to God. Jesus is our intermediary now. His was the ultimate, perfect, and last sacrifice ever needed by any person to have eternal salvation from sin. Jesus is the door for us to the Father. John recorded Jesus saying this in John 10:9 when Jesus said, “I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.” [NASB]

God adopts a believer into His priesthood.

Peter told the dispersed Christians that God called them “a holy nation.” Again, this descriptor of a person does not come from that person’s efforts, but as a gift from God, as a part of the person’s salvation through belief in Jesus Christ. God gives that descriptor through the great price of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection. Without Jesus, believers cannot be a holy nation. Without God purposing it, the plan for His Son to be the Redeemer of all people, would not have occurred. Being a part of the holy nation of God comes because of God through Jesus. Nothing people do makes them holy or part of a holy nation. The Jews had not understood this when Jesus lived. What does it mean to be a holy nation? Peter used part of what Hosea said in Hosea 2:23 in his prophecy about Israel’s restoration. He said, “I will sow her for Myself in the land. I will also have compassion on her who had not obtained compassion, and I will say to those who were not My people, ‘You are My people!’ and they will say, ‘You are my God!’” [NASB] What makes a person part of God’s holy nation, a people He gathers for Himself and by His name? When a person receives God’s grace and believes in Jesus Christ for salvation, Jesus cleanses the person from all his or her sins and that person becomes holy just as Jesus is holy. Holy means God consecrates and sets apart for His service. In Leviticus 11:44, God told the people to consecrate themselves and be holy. The Israelites and all people cannot make themselves holy and, therefore, cannot consecrate and set themselves apart solely for God’s purposes. Peter referred to this verse in 1 Peter 1:15-16. He said, “But like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior, because it is written, ‘You shall be holy for I am holy.’” In 1 Peter 1:3-5, Peter said Who gives them this holiness and ability to defeat sin. He said,

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” [NASB]

God gives believers in Jesus Christ this holiness and makes them into His holy nation as Peter called them in 1 Peter 2:9. Because of His mercy, He causes each believer to be born again into a living hope through Jesus. Each believer will receive their imperishable and undefiled (holy) and unfading inheritance that awaits him or her in heaven. God gives mercy and compassion even when people do not deserve it. God makes people clean and holy. He calls a people His people. God makes believers a chosen race, God’s race. Through the redemption and salvation of each believer given by Jesus, each of these believers is a part of the royal priesthood, God’s own royalty given to them. They walked through the doorway of Jesus that He held open for them to be in God’s presence.

God adopted and called you His own.

What does this mean for us now? God gave us each of these things and adopted and called us His own. By God through Jesus, we are a chosen race, royal priesthood, and holy nation. What is our charge as God’s people, race, and nation?  What is our purpose? The last part of verse nine gives the charge. Peter said to the believers, “So that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.” [NASB] Each of us understands proclaiming. We make proclamations daily. This proclamation of which Peter wrote is specific. It speaks of what they were to say about God, and not just say, but declare with conviction. The dispersed Christians were to declare God’s excellencies and His marvelous light. What are these excellencies of God? This word comes from the Greek word arete (pronounced a-ree-tay). It means the eminent endowment or qualities of God – His virtues, morals, goodness, compassion, mercy, love, faithfulness, etc. His excellencies include His grace shared with people who rebelled against Him and deserve no favor from Him yet given to them by Him in the form of grace, mercy, forgiveness, and salvation through the death of His Son, Jesus. These and other attributes that describe God fully make up His marvelous light. God, sinless and holy, is the opposite of evil and darkness. He is marvelous light, just as He is love. These excellencies are the charge Peter declares the dispersed Christians must declare or proclaim. God chose these early Christians and all Christians to be a chosen race because of Him, a royal priesthood because of Him, and a holy nation because of Him – because of Who He is and what He gives. Out of reverence, love, and faithfulness, because of the characteristics of God, which He puts into each believer from His character, we love other people and Him and want them to know of God’s grace given through Jesus Christ for those who will believe in Jesus Christ as the Son of God. Did you get that? Because of God’s love that now abides in each Christian, each believer loves every person-believer and unbeliever-and desires them to know Jesus and grow in their relationship with Him. For this reason, every Christian may, can and should, proclaim God’s excellencies and marvelous light.

God chose you as His possession!

Before we end, let’s consider the next-to-last section of verse nine. Peter said, “But you are … a chosen people for God’s own possession.” Understand clearly. Peter wanted to make sure people, Christians and non-Christians, heard this. God treasures and cherishes His people to the utmost. He chose each person to believe in Jesus and calls each believer as part of His people, race, priesthood, and nation. God considers them His possession, not as a child who does not want to share with another child. He considers each Christian His chosen people and will defend him or her against all principalities, angels, powers, death, etc. Paul stated this in Romans 8:38-39 when he said,

For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. [NASB]

Jesus spoke of this, too, in John 10:27-30 when He spoke of His sheep – His disciples. He said,

My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one. [NASB]

God jealously loves each believer. He loves each person, even the non-Christian. You can know this because He planned for yours and my redemption and salvation from before He created humanity. God’s love surpasses each person’s sins. He offers His grace. More importantly, Peter implied, God jealously and fiercely loves and protects each of His children, Christians, and will never allow Satan or any other created being to separate them from Him. Almighty, all-knowing, ever-present God loves you so much that He would protect you. God cherishes you. He treasures you. God calls you His possession, not as a possessive toddler, but as almighty God. Whatever created thing thinks it can take you away from Him will know and you can know that nothing can ever separate you from Him. He loves you that much. Literally, God loves you to death!

God cherishes you.

God loves you.

“Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God. You had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. (1 Peter 2:10 [NASB]) God loves you that much – with the expanse of His whole being.

You’re in that boat on the lake when a storm arises. Have you diligently kept your navigation tools in working order? Is your GPS functioning and keeping track of your exact location? Are you able to tell the person on the other end of the radio where you are? God doesn’t need a GPS or a radio, but He does want to have a continual, growing relationship with you. God knows exactly where you are and is waiting for you to call Him. Are you in tune with God or have you walked away from Him? I encourage you to return to Him. God will remind you He is there waiting for you to return to Him. He knows you well. If you are a Christian, God called you a part of His chosen race, His royal priesthood, His holy nation. He called you. When once you were not chosen, you are now chosen. When once you had no hope, He provided hope through the priesthood of Jesus. Where once you were lost and sinful, God provided the perfect sacrifice to make you holy. Through Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, He gave you these and called you His own possession.

If your GPS locator and radio have not worked since you installed them on your boat, consider what happened in your life. Have you chosen to be your own person, make your own way, and not worry (too much) about what happens when you die? God says you don’t have to worry. He sent Jesus to be your Savior. Jesus said, “I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father but through Me.” (John 14:6 [NASB]) Let God be your GPS. Jesus is the way. Turn on your radio and seek Him. He says you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart. (Jeremiah 29:13)

God loved you even before you believed in His Son for salvation. He loved you your whole life and does not want you to die an eternal separation from Him because of your sins. God wants to give you new life through the redemption and salvation Jesus bought with His life on the cross. You do not have to suffer eternal separation from God in hell. You do not have to pay for your sins. Jesus paid for your sins and the sins of everyone with His perfect once-only-needed sacrifice, His life.

God loves you with a life-giving love.

God cherishes you and will defend you against everything.

God Treasures You.

What keeps you from turning to God and saying, “Yes, Lord. Here am I, save me?”

“Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.” (Romans 10:13 [NASB])

Lord, I have made a mess of my life. I thought I had it all in hand and was in control, but, Lord, I look at what I’ve done, how I’ve done it, and to whom I’ve done it, and I’m ashamed. Lord, please tell me I have not gone too far away for You to save me. Please, Lord, look upon me with love, Your gracious, merciful, and compassionate love, and forgive me. Save me, Lord, for I cannot! You were faithful when I turned away. You loved when I rebelled. You kept the hurricane away when I caused the storm. I do not deserve You. I do not deserve Your love, mercy, or grace, but I fall on my face and plead for Your leniency. Please, Lord, save me, a lost and unclean person. Make me clean with Your redemption. Make me holy by Your salvation. Choose me, Lord, though I am unworthy to be in Your presence. Thank you, most holy, loving, and gracious Lord. Amen.

The Right Way

“And the seed whose fruit is righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.” (James 3:18 [NASB])

Consider great things guided by small things. A ship goes how the rudder is pushed or pulled. A horse goes how the bit is guided. A person guides them both. Our lives, too, go in the way by whom we allow to direct it. When we get behind the steering wheel of a car, we can direct it where we want, assuming no disaster or health matter interferes with the steering of the car. We can decide for ourselves where the car will go. Our thoughts lead our words and actions.

James said in James 3 that though the tongue is a small part of the body, it boasts of great things (3:5). Our tongues may boast of our educational degrees. It may boast of our work status. Our tongue may boast of what we own, where we are going, or what we have done. Yet, none of these things or this boasting gives us the unattainable by humankind.  Nothing of what we’ve done, said, or thought can make us righteous.

Paul explained in Galatians 1 that, of all men at that time, he had more reason to boast than any Jew. In Galatians 1:13-14, he told the church at Galatia he advanced in Judaism beyond many of his contemporaries among his countrymen and was more extremely zealous for his ancestral traditions. Each of us understands Paul’s great goals of being the best at what we do and of wanting recognition for being the best. Still, once Paul met Jesus on that road, he realized his best would never be good enough. He persecuted people just to advance in his job. God does not condone persecution or selfish ambition and jealousy.

We may not physically persecute people. Instead we might “put people in their place.” By doing that, we strive to make ourselves appear greater in the eyes of people. Isn’t that what seeking to be better is about? We do these things to boast, to build ourselves up higher. This way of life is arrogant. James called this “bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart” in James 3:14. Have we considered it that way? Have we realized this drive to get more, be more, and appear greater than others comes from selfish ambition and bitter jealousy?

James continued with this thought. In James 3: 11-12, he pointed out that good and bad cannot come from the same mouth. What comes from the mouth comes from the heart, and that defiles you, Jesus said in Matthew 15:11. We can say the same about our actions. What we allow to guide our mouth and our body comes from our heart. Just like fresh water and salt water cannot come from the same source, so selfish ambition and acts of righteousness cannot come from the same source. Paul said in 2 Corinthians 5:21, “God made Him (Jesus) who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” Jesus in Matthew 5:6 preached on the mountain, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.”

If we cannot be righteous and do righteousness in word and action on our own while seeking greater things, titles, and praise, how do we succeed in the world and do righteous things? If I can’t do it on my own, what do I do? Jesus explained this in John 14:6. He said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.” No one can be righteous and do righteous things in their own strength. We each inherited the tendency to sin. Of our own strength, we cannot defeat temptation and sin. If we are honest, we will acknowledge we have sinned because of our own selfish ambition and jealousy. That is sin. Sin is seeking what we want irrespective of what another person wants or what is good for other people. Sin is turning away from God and His purposes to do what we want no matter what the cost.

But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions (sins), made us alive together with Christ, and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show us the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them. (Ephesians 2:4-10 [NASB])

By God’s grace through faith in Jesus Christ, He imputes (credits) Jesus’ righteousness to each person who believes in Him. This righteousness does not come because we are good or worthy. God gives it to each of us when we believe and because of His grace. From that point in time, the person who believes in Jesus for salvation has imputed righteousness and can do righteousness by the power of the Holy Spirit within him or her. That person can overcome the desire to feel the need to be better than everyone else or own more than anyone else.  That person realizes he or she is not better than anyone else, but is a sinner just like all people. The only difference is that person received salvation from sin and eternal death. This power of Christ in us gives us the desire to do God’s will for His purpose, not for our selfish ambition or jealousy. We live a righteous life when our purposes align with God’s and our resultant actions, words, and thoughts agree with God’s.  

From the point of a person’s salvation, that person sows the seed of righteousness in peace (James 3:18). People see his or her faith in his or her good behavior and gentle wisdom (James 3:13). This wisdom from God is and brings peace, purity, gentleness, reasonableness, mercy, and good fruits.

Now when you get behind the steering wheel of the car (your life) you recognize God gave you, how will you drive it? Will you drive it with righteousness and its resultant wisdom and peace? Or, will you drive it with bitter jealousy and selfish ambition seeking to get what you want at whatever cost?

Remember, Jesus said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.” (John 14:6 [NASB]) We can’t have righteousness and be right in all our actions, thoughts, and words without Jesus. Without Him, we sow discord, anger, jealousy, arrogance, hatred, etc. Is that what you want in your life? Or would you rather have the righteousness and wisdom that creates purity, peace, gentleness, love, joy, patience, kindness, humility, goodness, self-control, and faithfulness? (Galatians 5:22-23 and James 3:18)

It’s time we realize what Paul did on the Damascus road. He said in Galatians 1:15 that God set him apart even from his mother’s womb and called him through His grace. God said this to Jeremiah, too, in Jeremiah 1:5. Both of these men heard God’s voice in their hearts, minds, and spirits, and they believed.

God knew each of us before He formed us and before we were born. He calls us to Himself so He can make us righteous and justify us by His Son. Consider Romans 8:28-30.

And we know that God works all things together for the good of those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose. For those God foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brothers. And those He predestined, He also called; and those He called, He also justified; those He justified, He also glorified. [NASB]

Who’s driving your car?

Righteousness is available to you, to each of us.

Will you accept it and let God drive?

Jesus is the Way.

He gives righteousness.

With Him, we need nothing else.

We can be satisfied.

Lord, I try to do good things. I try to be my best and, also, get what I want. I don’t want to assume I need You to give me everything. I can work and get some things for myself. Yet, when I do it my way, I find an emptiness. I find as I get what I want, things around me don’t always work out right. Someone gets hurt. Another person gets left behind and not helped; and I feel guilty. I wonder if I could have done it another way. I have forgotten You are the Way. You are the best way. Lord, forgive me for seeking things and titles and forgetting You. Forgive me for leaving You to get what I want. I am weak and broken; I’m a sinner. Forgive me, please. Teach me contentment in You. Teach me patience and how to wait for You. Lord, take me where You want me to go. Give me what You want me to have. Use me to speak and do good and righteous deeds. Lord, use me to tell of You and Your glory. I am Your vessel; use me for Your will. Amen.

Old Skin, New Wine

“One puts new wine into fresh wineskins.” (Mark 2:22c [NASB])

In Mark 1-2, Mark pointedly recalled for his readers instances of Jesus’ authority and power from the start of His earthly ministry. In chapter one, Mark told of Jesus’ baptism (vs. 9-11) after which a voice from heaven said, “You are My beloved Son, in You I am well-pleased.” Being the Son of God meant Jesus had the power and authority of God. Many people did not understand what was said or recognize God’s voice and so, the voice from heaven sounded like thunder to them.  After His baptism, Jesus immediately walked into the wilderness for forty days and faced temptations by Satan, against which He prevailed. After John’s arrest and before Jesus called disciples, He declared His purpose and ministry on earth. He said in 1:15, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” Mark continued to tell of Jesus’ ministry and how He spoke with authority and power. He gave examples of Jesus’ power and authority. Consider these excerpts from Mark 1:

·         Mark 1:16-20 Jesus met and called Andrew, Simeon, James, and John to follow Him.

·         Mark 1:20-22 Jesus taught with authority, not as the scribes taught, in the Capernaum synagogue on the Sabbath.

·         Mark 1:23-28 Jesus met a man with an unclean spirit in the synagogue. This spirit recognized Jesus and said, “I know who you are-the Holy One of God!” Jesus rebuked him and commanded it to come out of the man. With agony the unclean spirit left the man.

·         Mark 1:29-31 Jesus went with Simeon to his house, found Simon’s mother-in-law sick, and healed her.

·         Mark 1:32-34 Many people of the city-town of Capernaum brought the sick and demon-possessed to Jesus and He healed them.

·         Mark 1:39 Jesus went throughout Galilee preaching and healing.

·         Mark 1:40-45 Jesus healed a leper.

In chapter one, Jesus taught with authority and showed His authority and power by healing the sick, calling men to follow Him, declaring His purpose on earth, and casting out demons. Notice in this chapter, He did not face resistance from anyone for what He did. With the start of chapter two, Jesus encountered resistance from the Jewish religious leaders.

People continued to follow Jesus in Mark 2, but none yet believed in Him as the Messiah. The resistance He encountered came from the religious leaders of Israel. The leaders felt Jesus usurped their power so, they challenged Him. Beginning with this chapter, Jesus did more than teach with authority, heal, and cleanse. Consider what Mark wrote in Mark 2:1-17.

·         Mark 2:1-12 Jesus noticed four men lowering a paralyzed man through the roof of a home that contained a crowd so large they could not enter by the door. He forgave the man of his sins. The religious leaders questioned in their hearts how this man, a carpenter from Galilee thought He was God. According to the Law and themselves, this was blasphemy. Jesus challenged them by asking if saying your sins are forgiven is harder or saying get up, take up your mat, and walk. To prove Jesus is the Son of Man, just as Daniel 7 prophesied, He told the man to get up, take up your mat, and walk. By doing this, and the man’s ability to walk, Jesus proved He has the power and authority to heal and forgive sins.

·         Mark 2:13-17 Jesus saw Levi the tax collector and called him to follow Him. Levi invited Jesus and His disciples to eat at his house with his friends. The scribes and the Pharisees challenged His disciples. They asked, “Why is He eating with tax collectors and sinners?” (vs 16) Jesus replied, only the sick need a doctor, not the healthy.

In both passages in Mark 2, Jesus met resistance by the religious leaders. First, they questioned His authority in their hearts. Jesus said He knew what they thought and proved His authority to forgive and power to heal. In verses thirteen through seventeen, Jesus called a conspicuous sinner to be His follower then ate with that unclean person and His friends. The religious leaders would never consider associating with obvious sinners. They wanted to be the standard for holiness and have followers themselves. Jesus proved even sinners are worth His time and attention and can become holy, be healed. Jesus did not stop ministering. He taught the gospel, His purpose on earth, and healed, forgave, and cast out demons because of His love for people and to give examples of His power and authority.

To the Jewish religious leaders, Jesus was a blasphemer because He acted as if He was God by forgiving sins and declaring He is the Son of Man. These leaders knew Jesus came from Galilee and was a carpenter’s son. They understood from their reading of the manuscripts, from the oral tradition, and from their training, the Messiah would arise from the tribe of David, be a warrior king, and would re-establish David’s kingdom. This Jesus was not any of these in the religious leaders’ estimation. He must be a blasphemer they decided. According to God’s Law, blasphemer’s punishment was death by stoning. The religious leaders may have at first chose to side against Jesus because He appeared to be a blasphemer. As Jesus’ ministry continued and people decided to follow Him instead of the Pharisees and other Jewish leaders, they became jealous and afraid they would lose their standing among and power over the Israelites. For these reasons, they sought to get rid of Jesus. With these twin emotions flowing through the hearts and minds of the religious leaders, they need not have worried. No one yet believed Jesus was the Messiah. They had not placed their faith in Him as the Messiah.

In Mark 2:18-22, Jesus will again teach by example and will use parables. He will rise to the challenge some people put to Him. Jesus will teach through three common analogies that everyone is unclean, and each person needs a Savior.

In the encounter by Jesus with the Pharisees in 2:12-17, the issue for the Pharisees, besides fear and jealousy, was eating with the unclean, at least the people the Pharisees considered unclean. Under Levitical law, people who were ritually unclean could not be around people who were clean. How was this designation determined? God chose the tribe of Levi to be His priests. He made them the law-teachers, keepers, and givers. They, too, were the judgment-givers God chose to tell the people how to become clean again when a person sinned against God. Remember, Israel was a theocracy, a nation whose head was God. The leaders of the people, the Levites, expanded on the laws God gave. Some of those expansions included not associating with people they considered unclean, sinners. Since the tax collectors took more money than the Roman government required and kept the excess for themselves, the tax collectors were sinners and, so, unclean. Others who the Levites considered unclean were prostitutes and lepers. God had a means by which every person could make atonement for his or her sin daily, the morning and evening sin sacrifice. God told the Levites to take the offering by the people and offer it to Him as a sin sacrifice each day. Until they sinned again, that sin offering for past sins sufficed to make them clean for that time. Yet, the Levites decided for themselves, once a sinner always a sinner, or in their thinking, once unclean always unclean. That is why eating with Levi and his friends was hard for the Pharisees to swallow. It makes the lesson of 2:18-22 difficult for them to grasp, too. Jesus confronts the Pharisees about their religious rituals and what He came to bring and give each person who believes in Him.

While John’s disciples and the Pharisees fasted, some people (other translators say onlookers or some of the disciples of these men.) asked Jesus, “Why do John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast?” (2:18) Again, the question is about rituals. Before that time, the Pharisees instituted more weekly fasts so people would think they were more pious than other people and would look up to them. Those who did not fast as much as the Pharisees, the Pharisees considered beneath them, inferior. Because some of John’s disciples had remained loyal to the Pharisaical traditions, they, too, fasted more often than God required. Fasting in the Old Testament involved abstaining from food and possibly drink for a set period of time to express grief (1 Samuel 31:13, 2 Samuel 1:12 & 12:20-23), or penitence (1 Samuel 7:6 & 1 Kings 21:27), or to prepare one’s self for prayer (2 Samuel 12:16-17 & Psalm 35:13), or to seek the Lord’s favor (Judges 20:26 and 2 Chronicles 20:3). Jewish law required fasting only for humbling one’s self in preparation for and including the Day of Atonement. God declared purpose of the Day of Atonement was so the people could cleanse themselves from all sins before being with Him (Leviticus 16:29-31 & 23:27). In one other place, God commanded fasting as an act of contrition to return to Him with a person’s whole heart/being (Joel 2:12).

The Old Testament did not instruct people to fast two or three times a week. It never told the people to fast so he or she could appear more religious. Jesus confronted that misconception in Matthew 6:16-18. He condemned fasting to draw attention to one’s self and one’s piety. Similarly, Jesus told the people not to give alms or to pray so others would see them do these things. He told them, instead, go into a secret place and let God be the only one who sees you doing these things and He will reward you in secret (Matthew 6:1-8). Jesus did not condemn fasting. He even taught by example when He fasted forty days and nights in the desert in Matthew 4:2 and Luke 4:2. This justified fasting showed a person’s sincere seeking of God. It is a denying of one’s self (one’s flesh) and focusing on God. If we consider the New Testament after Jesus’ death and resurrection, the Christian church fasted in preparation to make important decisions (Acts 13:2-3 & 14:23). They sought God while fasting instead of seeking to fill their flesh. The New Testament has no law requiring fasting.

While we do not know for sure who asked Jesus why He ate with sinners, we realize from the question asked, the person still did not believe about Jesus being the Messiah. By this question, we recognize the questioner realized Jesus did not follow the religious rituals. Jesus’ actions and teachings kept rubbing like sandpaper against the rituals the religious leaders set. They tried to force Him to do as they said, but He determinedly chose to follow God’s will and not what man dictated. Jesus, recognizing the unbelief of the questioner and the listeners, taught by using three commonplace occurrences in the lives of the Jews-weddings, repairing cloth, and storage of wine.

First, He asked, “While the bridegroom is with them, the attendants of the bridegroom cannot fast, can they?” This was a rhetorical question. Everyone knew the answer to this was a resounding, “No.” Jesus continued, “So long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in that day.” (2:18-19) Jesus answered the rhetorical question leading the listeners to His point and alluding to His future-Jesus won’t be with His disciples on earth always. When He is gone, they will mourn and fast during their mourning. Jesus added another depth to this image. In the Old Testament, God is the bridegroom in Isaiah 54:5 & 62:5, and in Hosea 2:19. Since Jesus is the Son of Man, He used this metaphor of the bridegroom to refer to Himself. Now, consider the Israelites culture. When a wedding occurred, the wedding feast lasted seven days. Much rejoicing, eating, drinking, and dancing marked the wedding of a man and woman. Because Jesus has come as the Bridegroom, His followers are His bride and while He is with them, they would eat and drink. When Jesus left, His bride, the church, would mourn. His arrival as the Messiah, the Son of Man, was to be a time of celebration like a wedding, not a time of penitence, atonement, and grief.

Rejoice, the Messiah has come!

In this lesson, Jesus told the people not to use fasting as a marker of a person’s devoutness. When Jesus came, He fulfilled the Law; God required no fasting any longer. He didn’t remove fasting as a spiritual discipline. Jesus wanted the people to realize the gift of salvation came by God’s grace. Salvation requires grace, God’s grace, and nothing else. We cannot gain salvation by doing anything like praying, giving, or fasting. We don’t get more salvation by doing these things. Salvation is salvation. It is complete and sufficient (ample) for each of our sins. Salvation and grace come from God Who is perfect and holy.

Grace + nothing = Salvation

Because people often understand a lesson better by using everyday objects or occurrences, Jesus continued to answer this question using the analogy of a torn old cloth and a new cloth. He said in verse twenty-one, “No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; otherwise the patch pulls away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear results.” Read that verse again. Understand Jesus’ concern for the old cloth. His concern was that the tear would be greater than it was before the repair if the person used unshrunk cloth. Jesus came to give a new way to be in relationship, in covenant, with God. That new way is like the new cloth. If you try to sew new cloth onto the old cloth, the old way of living with its old rituals that did not give salvation, then the new cloth won’t stay attached and the old cloth will have a worse tear.

Consider the next analogy. Jesus said in verse twenty-two, “No one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost and the skins as well; but one puts new wine into fresh wineskins.” In that day, a tanner made a wineskin of a whole and uncut skin from a sheep or goat. He would remove first the neck, then each leg. After the tanner removed the skin, he tied off with a cord all but one opening, sheared the hair close to the skin, tanned the skin, and then turned it inside out. By skinning the animal this way, no leak could occur from a break in the skin. When a person put wine into the skins, the fermentation was not complete. During that fermentation, vapors arose. Those vapors would stretch the skin into which the vintner poured it. A new skin had elasticity to expand as the gasses arose from the fermentation process. An old skin was inflexible. If the vintner put new wine that was still fermenting into an old wineskin, the old skin that was rigid could not expand with the resultant gasses and would burst the old skin. The new wine of which Jesus spoke is His Holy Spirit whom He imparts to each believer. The old wineskin was the rituals of religion each of the Pharisees and John’s disciples used to show his piety. These rituals were something from their past of which they didn’t want to let go.

 Jesus showed concerned for the wine and the skins. He doesn’t want the faith of a person to become rigid and caught in ritual just to show one’s piety and prove he or she is better than other people. Jesus wants to give new life to each person. He wants to have His Spirit abide in each person to teach, equip, guide, encourage, admonish, and grow him or her into a closer relationship with God and likeness with Him.

Jesus lived every day with regular people. Some people were mostly good, some were considered unclean, some were sick, others were possessed by demons, all were sinners. When asked a question, Jesus wanted to make sure people understood Him well and so used analogies from every day life. These analogies are parables. Just as groomsmen do not fast at a wedding, but rejoice, Jesus wants us to rejoice with Him by accepting the new life He offers by grace through faith in Jesus Christ (Ephesians 2:4-5, 8). Grace is God’s gift to us given by sacrificing His Son, Jesus, on the cross to take our penalty for our sins. Nothing we can do would be enough to cleanse us from what we’ve done wrong. Only God’s sacrifice of His sin-free and perfect Son is sufficient. Jesus wanted to make sure people understood this. The new life He gives cannot be added onto old rituals. We cannot and do not have to add any personal works-actions with resultant attitudes-to what Jesus gives us. When we believe in Jesus Christ, we become new like the new cloth and the new wineskin. If we just add what Jesus did to what we already do, the patch will tear off and the hole in the old cloth will be worse. Considering the analogy of the wineskins, when Jesus pours new wine into wineskin, He can’t pour it into an old wineskin of old rituals. It will burst. We cannot add the new way to the old way. The old wineskin of old rituals or religion cannot contain the Spirit of God. Keeping the old rituals means a person has not truly given his or her heart and life to God for salvation and His purposes. The person cannot grow and become more like Jesus daily because of the rigidity and bursting of their old wineskin. 

Each of us must look at our lives. We must ask ourselves what we do in our religious moments that are just ritual and what God requires. We cannot add to our salvation. Jesus paid the full penalty for each person’s sins. His sacrifice was sufficient and perfect. Nothing needs to be added, Nothing we, human, fallible created beings can add to it makes Jesus’ gift of salvation more perfect. Perfection is already perfect. So, what do we do? What religious rituals do we have that make us consider ourselves and ways as better? Do we go to church every time the doors are open? Do we make sure we are on every committee? Do we make sure we give the most money to church? Do we say long, rambling prayers in church, Bible study, cell groups, etc. to prove our piety? Do we fast every week and make sure people know it? People consider and do many other rituals to make themselves feel better and appear better than other people. But we must consider, does God require these of us or are we just doing them for show? The other side of this question is, are you making Jesus fit your idea of church? How are we making Jesus fit into our cloth or His Spirit into our wineskin? Do we think we can we even consider tell God where He is allowed in our lives? What arrogance and self-centeredness!

Perfection is already perfect.

Jesus’ offered salvation is already perfect!

Jesus invites us to His feast. He invites us to be His bride, His church. Jesus doesn’t come to fit our mold. He came to make us new and give us a new life. He calls us to rejoice with Him at the blessings of God each day. The people of Israel had trials, but He taught they could rejoice even while facing trials because He was their Bridegroom and was with them.

Today, we can know and believe with our hearts, Jesus is with us now. We can rejoice because of the hope He gives for now and eternity. Our faith doesn’t have to be old, dry, inflexible, torn, and human ritual. It can be alive because of it being in Jesus Christ. Jesus gave His sacrifice because of God’s grace. He gives us salvation and new life.

You no longer have to go to a wedding and fast.

Go to the wedding and rejoice…even during trials.

Jesus is enough. He paid it all.

God’s grace can save us through faith in Jesus Christ.

God offers salvation to everyone.

Will you accept?

¹And you were dead in your sins. ⁴But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, ⁵even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved). ⁸For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; ⁹not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. (Ephesians 2:1, 4-5, 8-9 [NASB])

Lord, I fail often. I am a sinner. I find what I do is not enough to make me feel good about myself. There’s nothing I can do to make my guilt go away and, Lord, I come today to lay it all down at Your feet. Please, take my pain and my shame. Take my heart; it’s all I have. Cleanse me. Make me new. Give me Your loving grace. I accept You as My Savior, Oh Son of God. Forgive me, please. Amen.