2010 April | Paula Wiseman

Q: Is It the Works or the Words?

For which of those works do you stone me? John 10:32

Jesus had just finished explaining that He was the Good Shepherd, and His sheep hear His voice. He gives them eternal life, and no one can snatch them from the Father's hand. Then He dropped the bombshell, "I and My Father are one." Not just one in purpose, but one and the same. He and the Father were the same Being. For the third time in His ministry, the Jews picked up stones to stone Him to death for blasphemy. Not the works, the WORDS

As long as Jesus is doing good deeds, healing people, giving them hope, everything was fine. But when HIS WORDS required people to face the reality of who He is, that's when the trouble started.

People are no different. As long as the church, or individual believers are taking care of them, helping them out, encouraging them, they don't mind having us around. But WORDS about a holy God who holds them accountable to His standards bring a quick end to civil conversation.

We as believers aren't much different. We love Jesus as long as He stands beside us, comforts us, carries through, His works. But do we become indignant when faced with the reality of His WORDS? "If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow Me." Or "If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you." OR "Whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it."

We might never throw rocks, but do we ignore the commands that don't sit with us? Or rationalize the difficult sayings? (He didn't really mean THAT.)

We cannot accept Jesus' works, especially those on our behalf without embracing His WORDS, ALL of His WORDS.

Filed Under: Questions Tagged With: Good Shepherd, Gospel of John, Jesus

Q: Do You Believe?

By Paula

Do you believe in the Son of God? John 9:35

Jesus healed a man who had been born blind. Immediately, the man was subjected to an intense interrogation at the hands of the religious leadership. They suggested that he was an imposter, that he and the healer were rank sinners for breaking the Sabbath, and finally they kicked him out of the synagogue, thereby sealing his spiritual doom. So they thought.

Jesus found him and asked him this simple question, do you believe? Do you believe in Me, the Son of God? Do you believe that just like I gave you physical sight, I can cure your spiritual blindness? Do you believe I have the answers?

When we are misunderstood, do we believe in the Son of God?

When we are doubted, questioned and falsely accused, do we believe in the Son of God?

When we are abandoned and alone, do we believe in the Son of God?

Or do we believe we can figure something out, we can make it on our own … Are we blind also?

Filed Under: Questions Tagged With: blindness, Gospel of John, healing, Jesus

Q:Who Condemns You?

By Paula

Where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you? John 8:10

Jesus asked these questions to a woman caught in adultery, "in the very act", the account says. Imagine being this woman for just a moment. It doesn't say she was a prostitute, so I don't believe she was. We don't know if she was married, like the woman in Proverbs 7, or having an affair with a married man.

We can infer, though, that this religious posse burst in on her and her partner, and dragged her, not them, out into the street, and threw her at Jesus' feet. Imagine her shame, her humiliation and the betrayal. Her lover must have been in on it to have escaped without comment. Her "lover" was willing to risk her death by stoning to prove a point with this Galilean rabbi.

She was one hundred percent guilty as charged and she knew it. She also had to know that nobody had been stoned to death in Israel for adultery in a long time. Which way would this Jesus go? Would He call for her stoning? Would He come to her defense?

Several powerful lessons emerge from this simple story-
1. Sin is sin in God's eyes. He doesn't rank sin by severity the way we tend to do. All sin [our sin] deserves death, not just the ones "others" commit.
2. It is the ultimate hypocrisy to accuse others before God. It will backfire. The New Testament gives careful instructions on how to deal with sin in the body of Christ- with grief and humility, not self-righteous finger-pointing.
3. Jesus accepts everyone who comes to Him for mercy, regardless of the circumstances.
4. The most important words in the passage – Go and sin NO MORE. In our search for grace and mercy, we often forget our responsibility to repent, to change. By changing, we demonstrate that we grasp the seriousness of our offense, the reverence that a holy and just God deserves, and the depth of grace that a second chance brings.
5. When we have no other recourse, and find ourselves at the feet of Jesus, the only one who has the RIGHT to condemn us, DOESN'T. He delivers us from the punishment of sin, and from the baggage of sin, the memories, the shame, the crushed spirit.

If the Son sets you free, you are free indeed, as free as free can be.

Filed Under: Questions Tagged With: Adultery, Gospel of John

Q:What Is the Real Problem?

By Paula

Are you angry with Me because I made a man completely well on the Sabbath? John 7:23

The religious leaders- the ones Jesus asked this question- weren't angry about the healing. They were angry about breaking the Sabbath. Observance of the Sabbath was their yardstick for holiness. If you didn't observe the Sabbath (the way they prescribed) then you couldn't be in God's righteous favor.

The religious leadership was perfectly in tune with one another. They held the same opinions, and acted as one. Except for Nicodemus and Simon, none of them are named. They were interchangeable.

Jesus was in tune with God. He was unique in His culture. People were irresistibly drawn to Him.

Do we ever take the role of the Pharisees and discount the good that a person or a group or a ministry is doing because they aren't doing it the "right" way?

Do we ever take the role of Jesus and do the right thing, knowing we'll be misunderstood?

Filed Under: Questions Tagged With: Gospel of John, Pharisees

Q:Is It All Talk?

By Paula

Did not Moses give you the law, yet none of you keeps the law? Why do you seek to kill Me? John 7:19

Jesus public ministry was marked by several run-ins with the religious leadership of the day. In chapter 7, Jesus arrived in Jerusalem for the Passover and went to the temple to teach, showing a mastery of Scripture and an authority unseen in the other teachers. They began to question Him about His doctrine. Jesus answers, "Why are you so worried about doctrine when none of you DO the things you claim to believe in? Otherwise, why would you want to kill Me?"

For instance, it's one thing to SAY we have no other gods but the Lord, but when our actions prove that we value self or system above the Living God, we align ourselves on the wrong side of the battle.

We esteem God's word. We hold to our traditions. But do our actions (and our heart's motivation) show we discount or disregard what God calls us to obey? Are we like those in Luke's story of the Good Samaritan, seeking to weasel our way out of a commandment through a technicality? (Who, exactly, is our neighbor?)

'You call yourself God's people, but you don't carry out His commands and you seek to undermine Christ's work.'

God help us have hearts and minds that hunger after You, and not merely our preconceptions of You…

Filed Under: Questions Tagged With: Gospel of John, Moses