Jesus: The Deliverer

When I was a kid growing up, at some point a cat “adopted” us. What I mean by this is that this cat consented to let us admire it, pet it, and give it the free reign of our property. The cat had no tags but was actually a very pretty cat, and as most cats do, it took very good care of itself. I was somewhat indifferent to it until I realized that my mom didn’t like it, and at that point I became much more interested, and even, you could say, a “fan” of that cat.

One reason my mom didn’t like the cat is that it wanted free reign not only of our property, but of our house. When my mom would be carrying groceries into the house, the cat would try to run in. Well, my mom would have nothing to do with that, and so she decided to start spraying the cat with a water hose when it came around. The cat did not like that at all. And for a while it seemed that things had more or less settled down – the cat ran away when it saw my mom, but when it was just the rest of our family outside, the cat would happily walk between our legs and consent for us to give it a gentle scratch at just that place behind the ears which would make it loudly purr.

Jesus: The Light

I John 1:5 tells us that God is Light. And for us, those who believe in Him, He is our light.

Let’s take a moment and pray:

Jesus, you are the light of the world. In You there is no darkness at all. Your light shines in us and through us. We pray that you would light our paths through your Word today. We are dependent on Your direction. Apart from You, everything is darkness and confusion to us. Shine on us and through us Lord Jesus. Amen.

The last 3 weeks, we’ve begun studying through the book of Daniel. Last week we talked about the fiery furnace. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were joined in the furnace by a fourth man. This fourth man had a different appearance than the three friends. He is described by Nebuchadnezzar as a son of the gods and later as an angel. Likely, the fourth man had an appearance of light or brilliance to gain such a description.

Two weeks ago, we talked about how God miraculously revealed Nebuchadnezzar’s dream to Daniel. King Nebuchadnezzar said he would not tell his dream to anyone but that his wise men had to prove their worth by telling him the dream and interpreting it. Otherwise, he would kill all the wise men. Daniel stepped in and asked the king for time. That night, God revealed the dream to Daniel. Daniel had a beautiful prayer at that point.

Jesus the Vine

Welcome! This morning in a little while we will remember the Lord with the bread and the cup, continuing a practice that Jesus Himself taught His disciples shortly before He was crucified. There are almost countless names and titles for Jesus described in the Bible. Some of these were names He gave Himself. One of these is the Vine. This morning I would like us to spend a little time reflecting on what it means for Jesus to call Himself the vine.

As we have been going through characters of the Old Testament over the past months, I thought it would be appropriate to look at the symbolism of the vine in the Old Testament. These images and scriptural references would be immediately familiar to many of the Jews at the time of Jesus.

Many scriptures refer to the nation of Israel as a vine. One example is Psalm 80, a psalm of Asaph.

Jesus: the First and Last

Today we are going to spend time remembering Jesus’ willing sacrifice of Himself on the cross for us. We will remember Him in the way Jesus Himself taught His disciples 2000 years ago, with the bread and the cup, symbols of His body broken for us and His blood shed for us. In preparation for the time, I want us to meditate on one of the titles for Jesus, the First and the Last. This phrase is used repeatedly of Jesus in the Book of Revelation:

When I saw Him, I fell at His feet as though dead. Then He placed His right hand on me and said: "Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. – Rev. 1:17

These are the words of Him who is the First and the Last, who died and came to life again. – Rev. 2:8

I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End. – Rev. 22:13

Jesus: the Bread

Today we have a shortened teaching followed by a time of remembering the Lord with the bread and the cup, as He has asked us in His Word to remember Him. We will follow this with a “sharing time” in which anyone is welcome to share what the Lord has been teaching them in the past month. And then we will spend some time in prayer together.

There are some grand themes in the Bible, and as we have been going through this current series on Broken Vessels, looking at the imperfect lives of the Old Testament that God has used to further His purposes on Earth, one theme I have noticed is that of the provision of food. The actual historical events of the Old Testament not only simply happened and were recorded for us to learn from; they also were shadows of things to come. These things are often veiled, partially hidden, but they are there for those who look, for those who seek, and they point to our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Jesus the Author

Today we are going to spend time remembering Jesus’ willing sacrifice of Himself on the cross for us. We have the bread and the cup, instituted by Jesus Himself as a way for us to continually remember Him. Now, this month we have been going full speed into our Broken Vessels series, examining the lives of a number of the personalities in Genesis who are also described as people commended for their faith in Hebrews 11. Today I want to start with a familiar passage from Hebrews 12.

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. – Hebrews 12:2

What does it mean that Jesus is the author of our faith? In addition to author, the word also means chief leader, or prince, as well as one that takes the lead in something and becomes an example. I believe all of these meanings apply here. The same word is used in Hebrews 2:10, where Jesus is called the author of salvation.

Jesus: The Returning One

One day in a stable a baby was born;

He was the King’s Son, but came unadorned.

That special Babe would be Savior to all.

He was called Jesus and born in a stall.

He was brought to the Temple and praised by some,

Though more did not know what soon was to come.

Joseph and Mary, His father and mother,

Knew not that their Son was above every other.

Jesus was born a poor carpenter’s Son,

But whatever He did was always well done.

He went back to the Temple and got scholars mad;

They said He was crazy; He called God His Dad.

Jesus, the Risen One

Christ is Risen! He is risen indeed!

In The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, C. S. Lewis makes the lion Aslan a Christ figure by having him killed and then resurrected back to life. Aslan himself says, “though the Witch knew the Deep Magic, there is a magic deeper still which she did not know. Her knowledge goes back only to the dawn of time. But if she could have looked a little further back, … she would have read … a different incantation. She would have known that when a willing victim who had committed no treachery was killed in a traitor’s stead, the Table would crack and Death itself would start working backward.”

Is this an appropriate picture of Christ? How deep does the analogy go? Is there a “deeper magic”? What is it? Let us not waste any time and get right into reading John’s account of the resurrection.

Jesus, the Crucified One

Today we begin a 3-week series called Jesus: The One. The title for these series comes from a number of verses, including this:

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. – John 1:14

The word in Greek for “One and Only,” also translated “Only Begotten” in some translations, is monogenes. It is only used in the context of sons and daughters. Like logos, (The Word), it is a deep word, when you spend time thinking about it. In purely human terms, Jesus was not an only child; Matthew 13:55 and Mark 6:3 mention four “brothers” of Jesus: James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas. And the same verses talk about unnamed “sisters” as well. And although there is some question whether these people were Jesus’ half-brothers and sisters, His step-brothers and sisters, or even His cousins (personally I take the verses at face value and assume they were half-brothers and sisters), we can be absolutely certain that in no way were these people Jesus’ full brothers and sisters, because God and not Joseph was the true father of Jesus. In this Jesus was truly the One and Only.