Category: Articles and Devotionals

John 14:12 I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. 13 And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. 14 You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.

In the business world and in education, even at home, there’s something to be said for setting performance goals.

Jesus starts the ones for His disciples with “I tell you the truth” which in the Greek is the solemn double Amen.  In other words, it’s really important that we get this one.

With Christ in the Upper Room, Jesus sets performance goals for believers of all time, culminating in verse 13-14’s Promise-Prayer-Promise ( I will do…you may ask…I will do).

Throughout this section we see some key points:

1. We will do what He has been doing (i.e. teaching, making disciples, making God known).
2. We will do greater things than Jesus did because He is going to be with the Father in heaven and we can pray to the Father through Jesus.
3. We will bring glory to Jesus and Jesus to the Father because Jesus will make sure to answer our prayers when we pray “in His Name” (i.e. in alignment with His will)

Having watched Jesus perform miracles, drive out demons, and teach with authority, the goal of doing what He has been doing might have seemed a bit daunting.  Then Jesus ups the ante: you’re going to do greater things than He did.

Isn’t that expecting a bit much?” the disciples might have thought.

Maybe our problem is that we expect too little. 

Too little of God.  Too little of ourselves. 

And we offer too little back to Him as a return on God’s investment in us.

(Aw go ahead.  Articulate that ouch.  I did when writing it.)

Greater things than these.  Greater things than these.  Greater things than these.  Greater…in number?  Greater…in kind?  Yes.  I think the answer is probably “Yes.”

Let’s reword things a bit:

“Because I am going to the Father,” [a disciple] “will do even greater things than these.”  More than just miracles that testify to divine power and make it visible to the world, Jesus’ disciples—by teaching, making disciples, and making God known through His Word—we will unleash the divine power of God upon the world, as He gives and fulfills His promise of eternal life to others.

The show of divine power in miracles for us to see isn’t something that God views as particularly impressive for Himself.  But here’s what brings Him great joy and glory:  Because Jesus is going ahead of us…in Resurrection…as the Risen Son of God…to be back at home with the Father, the resurrection power of God increases with every disciple we make.

And His glory increases with every one saved. 

Greater things in number because of each one saved.  Greater in kind because God’s glory keeps increasing as He pours out His divine power and reclaims His image bearers.

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Give it Up for Lent: Low expectations of God and self.

Put it On for Lent: Performance goals of doing what Jesus did by making disciples and teaching them

For further thought:

• Today’s passage is vastly misunderstood and misapplied.  John 14:12 “I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing” has been used to suggest we will all be performing miracles, walking on water, etc.  How is this a misrepresentation of the main activities of Jesus and the purpose of miracles in attesting to Jesus’ Messianic fulfillment?
• John 14:12b He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.”  When someone says “I’m going to do even greater things than Jesus did!” what does that sound like to you?
• John 14:13 “And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. 14 You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.”  Will a magic “In Jesus Name I pray” –like “Roger, Over and out”–serve to ensure Jesus does what you want Him to?  Rather than that, what does it mean to ask in His Name?  Read 1 Corinthians 2:1-16 for more insight.

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You can receive these devotional studies in your email (Monday through Saturday during Lent) by entering your email address on the SeminaryGal.com home page in the space provided in the sidebar.  Let’s meet With Christ in the Upper Room.

John 14: 7 If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.” 8 Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.” 9 Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. 11 Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves.

The disciples are trying so hard to get their minds around something that we struggle to understand, even though we have it written out for us.  Some ideas are just too big to fit well within the human mind.   With Christ in the Upper Room, the disciples are still wondering where Jesus is going.

• Peter, the leader of the disciples, tries to get Jesus to tell him the destination and Jesus says you can’t come now.  Worse, you’ll deny Me.
• Thomas, Mr. Evidence, tries (in his own way) to get at the destination via logic.
• Now Philip tries the back door approach.  If You show us where the Father is, we can figure it out ourselves

Then, BOOM! 

Jesus blows their minds wide open.

Philip says “Lord, show us the Father

Jesus responds,

Don’t you know ME, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time?” 

Jesus and the Father are One.

I’m not sure we’ll adequately understand the Trinity until we’re in heaven.  We’re too limited and Jesus knows that.  We either (1) imagine 3 separate guys (Father, Son and Holy Spirit), or (2) a mixture that morphs around sometimes looking like Jesus, sometimes looking like an old guy like Father Time, and sometimes looking like a dove.

Both of those are the stuff of heresies.

The Trinity is neither separate nor a mixture.  It is the Godhead, three-in-one.  Jesus is not a separate god nor is He just simply part of God, like 1/3 God.  I have offered an analogy before with the caveat that all analogies fall apart if pressed that you can read about here http://seminarygal.com/advent-12-2013-love-came-from-the-father/ .  While it’s not a perfect analogy, it’s important that we see that

Jesus is “God-accessible”, God Incarnate, Emmanuel, God with us. 

When we see Jesus, we see the Father.

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Give it Up for Lent: Heresies about the Trinity, imagining 3 gods or a mixture.

Put it On for Lent: Humble acceptance of a concept being too big for finite minds.

For further thought:

• How ought the miracles referred to by Jesus be evidence enough, even for Thomas?
• Put yourself in the sandals of the disciples for a moment.  You’re following a Rabbi you think is a great human teacher.  He says He’s the Son of Man and alludes to His being the Messiah.  However, your expectations are earthly, not that you’ve been in the presence of God this whole time, even though the calming of the sea and the feeding of the 5000 might have caused you to think.
• How might Jesus’ words in today’s passage be very confusing, even unsettling for men who think they’ve been in the company of a political leader who does miracles…when all along they’ve been in the presence of God?
• Why is it so hard for us to trust the simplicity of Jesus and the Father being One?  Why do we insist on trying to understand how it all works?

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You can receive these devotional studies in your email (Monday through Saturday during Lent) by entering your email address on the SeminaryGal.com home page in the space provided in the sidebar.  Let’s meet With Christ in the Upper Room.

John 14:4 You know the way to the place where I am going.” 5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?” 6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

Desperately seeking a destination. 

I try to give the disciples a break though–they don’t have the benefit that we have of being on this side of the written New Testament.  With Christ in the Upper Room, Jesus tells them they know the way and Thomas who was scientifically minded and driven by evidence (not so much doubt as his caricature suggests) states the obvious:

Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”

It’d be like leaving the destination blank on MapQuest and trying to get directions from where you are to where He is…wherever that may be.  The red asterisk says it’s a required field.  You can’t get directions to follow if you don’t have a destination.  Perfectly logical, Thomas.

Except for one thing: we don’t find directions to the place He goes.  We don’t get there on our own. 

Jesus responds with one of the greatest statements ever spoken, one of the “I AM” statements of the Bible:

I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

We don’t work at finding Him.  We are found by Him.  So, Thomas, take a step back and think about it.  You’ve been found by Him therefore you know the way.  He’ll take you the rest of the way there Himself.

* * *

Give it Up for Lent:  Trying to find other ways or your own way to heaven

Put it On for Lent: Trust in Him

For further thought:

• To a world that likes inclusiveness and diversity, needing Jesus (and only Jesus) to take us the rest of the way there sounds remarkably narrow.  Is a narrow way still better than none at all, when it comes to salvation?  If yes, then why do you think so many people reject Him as the Way?
• Do you think Thomas could have comprehended the directions or the destination if Jesus had spelled it out?  Why or why not?
• What are some benefits that we have being on this side of the New Testament and being able to read the rest of God’s Word explaining matters?
• Read John 1:18 ”No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father’s side, has made him known.”  How does this help Jesus to know where to go and to be the Way?

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You can receive these devotional studies in your email (Monday through Saturday during Lent) by entering your email address on the SeminaryGal.com home page in the space provided in the sidebar.  Let’s meet With Christ in the Upper Room.

NIV John 14:1 “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. 2 In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.

With Christ in the Upper Room, Jesus is in the midst of His farewell address we often call the Upper Room Discourse. Consider all the confusing things He’s been saying:

• He’s just finished telling the disciples that one of them is going to betray Him, but they don’t know who and He doesn’t tell them.
• He’s told them confusing stuff about glory and how they’re going to look for Him but they will not find Him.
• He gives them a new command that’s actually really old.
• Then Peter asks Jesus where He’s going and Jesus doesn’t give him a destination, only a process.  He just simply says “You can’t follow now” and predicts that even Peter will deny Him.

Could it get much worse?

They’re sad and confused.  Just when they should be comforting Jesus who is about to go to the Cross to die for the sin of all humanity, they’re like deer in the headlights.  Confused.  Worried. 

So Jesus tells them not to let their hearts be troubled. The solution to a troubled heart is to trust in God.

The process is this:  Jesus (who definitely trusts the Father) will go ahead of the disciples.  While He’s gone, He will prepare a place for them and other God-trusters to be. Then, He’ll come back to take them to be with Him in the mysterious place He is.

The destination is still not a location.  Instead it’s “with me” and “where I am.”  He gives them a final instruction on a place prepared, even if He still doesn’t name a geographical place.

Give it Up for Lent: Troubled hearts needing a map

Put it On for Lent: Trust in God (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit)

For further thought:

• If you’re with Jesus and you are where He is, does it matter where the location actually is?  Why or why not?
• If Jesus had spelled out a location, do you think the disciples would have understood?
• Jesus knows that in His Father’s house there are many rooms.  How does Jesus know that?
• Jesus is not working overtime at Hotel Heaven making beds and sweeping rooms.  How was He going to prepare a place?
• Read Matthew 7:21-23 and  Matthew 25:31-34.  When do we get to come to the place Jesus prepares for us?
• Read also Romans 10:9″ That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”  Is doing good stuff for others enough to earn our way to where Jesus is?
• Read Hebrews 10:12-14, 35-39.  Jesus rose from the dead, but then went away, ascending into heaven.  When is Jesus returning to take us to be with Him?  What do we do until then?

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You can receive these devotional studies in your email (Monday through Saturday during Lent) by entering your email address on the SeminaryGal.com home page in the space provided in the sidebar.  Let’s meet With Christ in the Upper Room.

John 13:36 Simon Peter asked him, “Lord, where are you going?” Jesus replied, “Where I am going, you cannot follow now, but you will follow later.” 37 Peter asked, “Lord, why can’t I follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.” 38 Then Jesus answered, “Will you really lay down your life for me? I tell you the truth, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times!

Peter wanted a destination.  Jesus offered none.

Peter wanted to follow, even accompany Jesus on this trip.  Jesus said the equivalent of “You have no idea what you’re saying.  You’re not even able to.”

(You see, Peter was a sinner and Jesus was not.)

Peter didn’t understand because he was looking for the wrong thing: a destination like Nazareth or Capernaum that he could map out.  Instead Jesus tells him an order of events: I go first because I am able to.  You come later because after I do what I do, then you’ll be able to. Peter doesn’t get it and asks “Why can’t I?”  And to prove his willingness, he even offers to lay down his life.

Sometimes in our foolishness, we’re nearer the mark than we realize. 

Laying down a life was about to happen…to Jesus.  It was the process.  No one really knows the destination exactly.  Yes, the Cross.  Yes, the grave.  Yes, risen from the grave, but what the actual destination was…well, it’s part of the mystery of this whole thing.  Where did Jesus go when He died?  We don’t know.  But we know He didn’t stay there because He didn’t stay dead. Peter offers to lay his own life down, but Peter’s offering to go ahead of Jesus wasn’t the same as Peter following Jesus.  He had the order all mixed up because he confused the destination with the process of being made clean.  With Christ in the Upper Room, Jesus tells us His last word on following which is a process, not a destination.

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Give it Up for Lent:  Control

Put it On for Lent: Humble acceptance

For further thought:

• Have you ever wanted to do something you weren’t able to do?  Why weren’t you able to do it?  How did you react?
• Read about an exchange with Peter and the Beloved Disciple, John.  To Peter, Jesus says, John 21: 18 I tell you the truth, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.” 19 Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to him, “Follow me!” 20 Peter turned and saw that the disciple whom Jesus loved was following them. (This was the one who had leaned back against Jesus at the supper and had said, “Lord, who is going to betray you?”) 21 When Peter saw him, he asked, “Lord, what about him?” 22 Jesus answered, “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? You must follow me.” 23 Because of this, the rumor spread among the brothers that this disciple would not die. But Jesus did not say that he would not die; he only said, “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you?”
• What does Peter’s question, “What about him?” say about Peter’s understanding of what laying one’s life down truly entails?  What might be some of the reasons Peter would have asked that?
• Read 2 Peter 1:12 “So I will always remind you of these things, even though you know them and are firmly established in the truth you now have. 13 I think it is right to refresh your memory as long as I live in the tent of this body, 14 because I know that I will soon put it aside, as our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me. 15 And I will make every effort to see that after my departure you will always be able to remember these things.”   Church tradition suggests that Peter was crucified but asked to be crucified upside down so that he would demonstrate his unworthiness to die in exactly the same manner as Jesus.
• Toward the end of Peter’s ministry (in 2 Peter 1 above), what did he understand about sin and ability to follow Jesus by laying down one’s life that he obviously didn’t understand in our John 13 passage from today?

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You can receive these devotional studies in your email (Monday through Saturday during Lent) by entering your email address on the SeminaryGal.com home page in the space provided in the sidebar.  Let’s meet With Christ in the Upper Room.

John 13: 34 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

With Christ in the Upper Room, the disciples were probably still scratching their heads over the concept of increasing glory and wondering where Jesus was going.  Now He says He has a new command for them, but it’s one they heard before—a long time ago, in fact.  Leviticus 19:18 “‘Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD.”

They must have felt totally confused and wondered,

What’s so new about it?

A: The yardstick.

A while back Emeril Lagasse had a cooking show on the Food Network before he was banished to different time slots, networks, and roles.  One of his characteristic statements was “BAM!”  Another was to “Kick it up a notch.”

That’s what we’re seeing in the new command Jesus gives.  It’s a whole new level of love.  Suddenly BAM!  Jesus kicked it up a notch: “As I have loved you.”  That’s the new standard of love.

“As I have loved you, so you must love one another.”

* * *

Give it Up for Lent: Settling for lower standards of love

Put it On for Lent: The love of Christ

For further thought:

• The movie 50 Shades of Gray is in theaters right now and many people went to see it for Valentine’s Day.  Pray about all the ways this cannot even begin to approach a celebration of love.  Instead of raising the standard, how has Hollywood deformed love beyond recognition and substituted God-given physical intimacy in marriage with Hollywood’s lowest, most perverted cultural form?
• Living by a new yardstick, how can your life display the kind of love Jesus commands?
• Read 1 Corinthians 16:13 “Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be men of courage; be strong. 14 Do everything in love.”  What qualities do you see here that reflect the love Jesus is talking about in the new command?
• Identify ways you can measure your love by the new yardstick of Christ’s love for you.  What are some things you can do?

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You can receive these devotional studies in your email (Monday through Saturday during Lent) by entering your email address on the SeminaryGal.com home page in the space provided in the sidebar.  Let’s meet With Christ in the Upper Room.

John 13:31 When [Judas] was gone, Jesus said, “Now is the Son of Man glorified and God is glorified in him. 32 If God is glorified in him, God will glorify the Son in himself, and will glorify him at once. 33 “My children, I will be with you only a little longer. You will look for me, and just as I told the Jews, so I tell you now: Where I am going, you cannot come.”

There was a test Jesus just passed.  There would be a few more before the Crucifixion (even if we don’t usually think of them that way).  But for now, Judas was gone to do quickly the evil work of betrayal of the Son of God and Jesus hadn’t done anything that would interfere with God’s plan.  Jesus was a willing and humble servant of His Father in heaven, having passed a test of self-will by His continuing onward to the Cross.

He now begins the Upper Room Discourse (a farewell address) to His faithful disciples in order to prepare the remaining 11 for what was going to unfold over the next 15 hours or so while they are still With Christ in the Upper Room.

I remember a time I had graduated from Purdue University and was preparing to go down to Texas A&M for further studies.  I said my goodbyes.  And then over a period of the next couple of days, I saw many of those people again and again, each time having more tearful goodbyes, and then finally a few of them said, “Would you get out of here already?  I’m tired of saying goodbye to you only to see you again so soon.”

For the disciples, this was not a tearful goodbye (though later we’re told, they’ll grieve). 

The disciples didn’t understand enough right now to cry.  They didn’t fully comprehend that Jesus would be going away and would not return to them without first experiencing death. 

There is a great irony in that pathway to Jesus’ restored glory was the shame of the Cross.

Now that Judas is gone, the events leading to Jesus’ crucifixion were an inevitable domino effect (so long as Jesus obeyed the Father’s will, that is).  It was a path of no return because it’s the whole reason Jesus came.  No turning back now.  So He looks ahead:

Jesus says, “31…Now is the Son of Man glorified and God is glorified in him. 32 If God is glorified in him, God will glorify the Son in himself, and will glorify him at once.” 

I won’t often ask you to look at verbs because grammar scares the socks off many and bores most of the rest.  But there are some things I want us to see:

• “Now IS” the time and “God IS glorified” in verse 31 (both present verbs).  Now that Judas is gone, the glory is already happening.  It’s a done deal because of the inevitability of the Cross for Jesus.
• More verb stuff:  the Son of Man and God are “passively” glorified which means that the Son is glorified by the Father.  The Father is glorified by the Son.  Kind of a swap in that they’re glorifying one another.  But it’s more than that: the glory is increasing because Jesus is faithful.  So picture the expanding universe or a puddle expanding because more paint is poured into it.
• Now take a really deep dive look at the second part of verse 32 (the first part missing in some of the old Greek manuscripts and begins with IF, but carries no doubt that “God is glorified in him”).  The verbs change to a future tense: God WILL and WILL…at once! The glory increases both now and later. You see, after the Cross, God will be actively glorifying Jesus…because of the Cross. Why glory instead of shame? (Stick with me here, I know it seems complicated.) Because the magnitude of the love and the grace of God was displayed for all creation to see in Jesus’ perfect sacrifice.  Jesus was faithful and God received glory from His death for our sins.  I know it sounds kind of bizarre, but it shows how much God loves us (His image bearers)!  If we don’t focus on Jesus’ death itself and how it happened, but rather on the love demonstrated in it, we can see how great the Father’s love for us truly is!  He sees His image in us and as we’re rescued, His glory increases.
• Therefore, God goes further and restores all of Jesus’ former glory plus some because now, there’s even more glory to go around.

Maybe it seems like a complicated nuance to us, but it wasn’t to Jesus. 

Knowing that God was going to glorify Jesus and be glorified by His actions was actually the driving factor of Jesus’ going to the Cross.

We go really wrong when we think that we’re so amazing that Jesus came to die so that He could save me or you.  Jesus came to die because that was the pathway to God’s increasing glory.  He was sent on a rescue mission to save God’s image from a hell-bound journey for all mankind.  Jesus would do it by the Cross.  There is no worth we bring to the table.  All we bring is sin.  So it’s no nuance that the glory ahead in restoring God’s image bearers propelled Jesus to the Cross.  It’s not at all about us.  It’s all about Him and His glory.

* * *

Give it Up for Lent: A sense that we deserve to be saved

Put it On for Lent: True sense of our worth found only in Christ and His forgiveness

For further thought:

• Jesus says in John 13:33 (above) that He already told the Jewish leaders, “Where I am going, you cannot come”.  What was their response?    Read John 7:34 You will look for me, but you will not find me; and where I am, you cannot come.” John 8:21 Once more Jesus said to them, “I am going away, and you will look for me, and you will die in your sin. Where I go, you cannot come.” 
• The full passage in John 7 states that some of the listeners respond by saying “This man is the Prophet” ( v 40) and “He is the Christ” (v 41), or even the temple guards acknowledge “No one ever spoke the way this man does” (v 46).  Notably in verse 50, Nicodemus tries to help Jesus by insisting upon the leaders’ following Jewish law.
• But by the time we get to John 8:21 and the verses following, the Jewish leaders to whom Jesus is speaking are explicitly told they will die in their sins because of a persistent unbelief regarding who Jesus is.
• The disciples were told they could not follow now but in a few verses, Peter will be told he will follow later (John 13:36).
• What is the key difference between the disciples, the listeners who responded, and the people who will die in their sins?

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You can receive these devotional studies in your email (Monday through Saturday during Lent) by entering your email address on the SeminaryGal.com home page in the space provided in the sidebar.  Let’s meet With Christ in the Upper Room.

John 13:27 As soon as Judas took the bread, Satan entered into him. “What you are about to do, do quickly,” Jesus told him, 28 but no one at the meal understood why Jesus said this to him. 29 Since Judas had charge of the money, some thought Jesus was telling him to buy what was needed for the Feast, or to give something to the poor. 30 As soon as Judas had taken the bread, he went out. And it was night.

Have you ever marveled that Jesus didn’t try to talk Judas out of it?  Have you ever thought about what you’d do with 11 remaining disciples after your betrayer left?  Especially if they started asking questions or tried to stop him from leaving?

How we handle betrayals says more about us than it does about those who betray us.  Because betrayers are a given in this world.  There’s always someone around to put you down or stab you in the back.  Someone to sell you out to their own advantage.

Jesus offers us some final instruction on handling betrayers by how He dealt with Judas.

Grace is how Jesus dealt with it.

Grace is the same sentiment behind what is often called “The Serenity Prayer.”  The original prayer is attributed to Reinhold Neibuhr and in the better known 1951 version, it includes the word grace.

• God, give me grace to accept with serenity
• the things that cannot be changed,
• Courage to change
• the things which should be changed,
• And the Wisdom
• to distinguish the one from the other.
• Living one day at a time,
• Enjoying one moment at a time,
• Accepting hardship as a pathway to peace,
• Taking, as Jesus did,
• This sinful world as it is,
• Not as I would have it,
• Trusting that You will make all things right,
• If I surrender to Your will,
• So that I may be reasonably happy in this life,
• And supremely happy
• with You forever in the next.
• Amen.

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Give it Up for Lent: The agony of betrayal

Put it On for Lent: The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ

For further thought on the topic of betrayal and its antidote: grace.

• God had a will.  Judas had a role.  Was there anything to be gained from Jesus’ getting in the way of either?
• Why would Jesus want Judas to do this quickly?  How did this show grace?
• What do you find significant about it being night when Judas left?
• Read Ephesians 2:1 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. 4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions– it is by grace you have been saved. 6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith– and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God– 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. 11 Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called “uncircumcised” by those who call themselves “the circumcision” (that done in the body by the hands of men)– 12 remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ. 14 For he himself is our peace.
• Jesus’ pathway through suffering and Crucifixion became our pathway to peace with God.  How is God’s grace shown to us in Jesus?  What must we do to experience His grace and His peace?

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You can receive these devotional studies in your email (Monday through Saturday during Lent) by entering your email address on the SeminaryGal.com home page in the space provided in the sidebar.  Let’s meet With Christ in the Upper Room.

John 13:18 “I am not referring to all of you; I know those I have chosen. But this is to fulfill the scripture: ‘He who shares my bread has lifted up his heel against me.’ 19 “I am telling you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe that I am He. 20 I tell you the truth, whoever accepts anyone I send accepts me; and whoever accepts me accepts the one who sent me.” 21 After he had said this, Jesus was troubled in spirit and testified, “I tell you the truth, one of you is going to betray me.” 22 His disciples stared at one another, at a loss to know which of them he meant. 23 One of them, the disciple whom Jesus loved, was reclining next to him. 24 Simon Peter motioned to this disciple and said, “Ask him which one he means.” 25 Leaning back against Jesus, he asked him, “Lord, who is it?” 26 Jesus answered, “It is the one to whom I will give this piece of bread when I have dipped it in the dish.” Then, dipping the piece of bread, he gave it to Judas Iscariot, son of Simon. 27 As soon as Judas took the bread, Satan entered into him. “What you are about to do, do quickly,” Jesus told him, 28 but no one at the meal understood why Jesus said this to him.

There are times it’s helpful to rewind and replay something to see the most pertinent scenes again.  Like when watching a favorite movie or some sort of thriller in which there are crucial scenes on which the entire plot turns.  This is one of those scenes With Christ in the Upper Room.

Suddenly Jesus says he’s not referring to all of them and turns to the idea of betrayal.  So let’s back up to the last mention of that:  John 13:10 Jesus answered, “A person who has had a bath needs only to wash his feet; his whole body is clean. And you are clean, though not every one of you.” 11 For he knew who was going to betray him, and that was why he said not every one was clean.

Judas was one of the selected Twelve.  He was a companion–walking along, following Jesus, listening to His teachings as one included in close fellowship, and participating in the sending out of the Twelve (Luke 9).

But there was something missing.  Judas had the heart of a betrayer.

Judas’ individual sins would never be repented and Jesus knew it.  Jesus had given him one last chance knowing full well that it would not result in Judas’ change of heart.  It was only for Scripture to be fulfilled.

Jesus didn’t single out Judas to plead with him to change his mind.  He didn’t engage him in a theological discussion of why Judas was heading down a bad path.  He did not do it to shame him in front of the other disciples.  Instead, He told these disciples beforehand–not so they would grieve for Him–but rather so they’d know later on that Jesus had known exactly what He was getting into.  There wasn’t even a warning at the table for the other disciples about what Judas was about to do and the consequences of such an action so that Judas might have second thoughts.

Judas was already too far gone.  Who knows when Judas crossed the line of no return?

Jesus was troubled in spirit.  He felt what we often feel. 

Pain of betrayal.  A wounded heart.  Grave distress.

But He set an example for us in these final preparations before He’d leave.  Jesus looked betrayal in the face and accepted that sometimes God’s will requires the ugliest aspects of humanity to do quickly what betrayal will do.  Sometimes, in order for God’s greater will to be done in other places, even to bring about the goodness we all need.  God’s salvation for us coming through suffering is a reality of a broken world–a world filled with sinners in need of redemption.  The gift of salvation, amazing and beautiful, could hardly have been predicted through something so difficult and ugly as the Cross.  Crucifixion was as ugly as it gets.  But this should serve to drive home how ugly sin is and how–in a sense–we’re all God’s enemies and betray Him all the time.  What should be our response?  It should give us great gratitude for God’s example to us on handling betrayal and it ought to make us even more thankful for salvation knowing the heavy cost to Jesus: His very life.

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Give it Up for Lent: Any bad path you may be on.

Put it On for Lent: Forgiveness of our enemies.

For further thought, read the following Scriptures and pray about sin and enemies and forgiveness.

• Romans 5:8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
• Hebrews 10:26 If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, 27 but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. 28 Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. 29 How much more severely do you think a man deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God under foot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified him, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace? 30 For we know him who said, “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” and again, “The Lord will judge his people.” 31 It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
• Colossians 1: 19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. 21 Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. 22 But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation– 23 if you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.
• Pray with thanksgiving that God didn’t require us to clean up our act first since none of us could be saved.  Pray also that we would be preserved from taking for granted God’s forgiveness. Finally pray about what it means to be presented as holy in God’s sight, free from any of the ugliness we bring to the table by our sin.  Thank God for the incredibly high price He paid for this to happen: the shed blood of Christ.

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You can receive these devotional studies in your email (Monday through Saturday during Lent) by entering your email address on the SeminaryGal.com home page in the space provided in the sidebar.  Let’s meet With Christ in the Upper Room.

John 13:12 When [Jesus] had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. “Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asked them. 13 “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. 14 Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. 15 I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. 16 I tell you the truth, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. 17 Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.

Judas is still here by the way, With Christ in the Upper Room.  Just thought I’d mention that since it’s easy to forget that Judas, the betrayer, was there during much of the Last Supper and Jesus knew it.  It can be reasonably inferred that Judas was sitting next to Jesus in a place of honor at the table of fellowship during Jesus’ final Passover feast with His disciples.

Jesus, there He was giving final preparations to all His disciples knowing the Crucifixion was around the corner and around the calendar.  And the very one who would set these horrific events in motion–happily from Satan’s perspective—was being served at the table of fellowship by Jesus, the Son of Man and Son of God, whom Judas would willingly betray in only an hour or so.

And yet, what do we see here?  Jesus was setting an example by continuing to give last chances for Judas and opportunities for the rest of the disciples to learn what it means to serve others.  To love the brethren, yes, but also what it means to love our enemies.

Just as the contrast of Peter’s you…my feet in the Greek of verse 6 is no accident of grammar to emphasize how offensive this idea was to Peter, neither is the reversal of Teacher and Lord in verse 13 with what we see in verse 14.

How often do we put the emphasis on Teacher when we should put the emphasis on Lord?

If the Lord could stoop to serve as an example to us, teaching us (i.e. sinners) by His divine authority, is it really that hard for us to stoop to a lesser degree to serve our virtual equals in life compared to what Jesus did?

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Give it Up for Lent: Seeing others as better or as inferior, especially if they have hurt us

Put it On for Lent: Love of our enemies

For further thought:

• Is there a real difference for you between Jesus being just a teacher or the Teacher?  What about His being a Lord and your Lord?
• Remembering His lordship, what difference might it make in how you respond to His teachings?
• Do you think Judas was seeing Jesus as both Lord and Teacher?  Why or why not?
• Read Luke 6: 27 “But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. 29 If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also. If someone takes your cloak, do not stop him from taking your tunic. 30 Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. 31 Do to others as you would have them do to you. 32 “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ love those who love them. 33 And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ do that. 34 And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ lend to ‘sinners,’ expecting to be repaid in full. 35 But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked.”  What does this tell us about enemies and God’s example for us?
• Read  1 Corinthians 2:8 None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.  Read also Luke 23: 33 When they came to the place called the Skull, there they crucified him, along with the criminals– one on his right, the other on his left. 34 Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”  How would Jesus continue to teach us?

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You can receive these devotional studies in your email (Monday through Saturday during Lent) by entering your email address on the SeminaryGal.com home page in the space provided in the sidebar.  Let’s meet With Christ in the Upper Room.