Reflective Bible Study Gospel Adventure

Being a Disciple: Matthew 10:16-42

Published July 26, 2024 in Written Journal Entries

Focus Passage: Matthew 10:16-42 (GNT)

¹⁶“Listen! I am sending you out just like sheep to a pack of wolves. You must be as cautious as snakes and as gentle as doves. ¹⁷Watch out, for there will be those who will arrest you and take you to court, and they will whip you in the synagogues. ¹⁸For my sake you will be brought to trial before rulers and kings, to tell the Good News to them and to the Gentiles. ¹⁹When they bring you to trial, do not worry about what you are going to say or how you will say it; when the time comes, you will be given what you will say. ²⁰For the words you will speak will not be yours; they will come from the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.

²¹“People will hand over their own brothers to be put to death, and fathers will do the same to their children; children will turn against their parents and have them put to death. ²²Everyone will hate you because of me. But whoever holds out to the end will be saved. ²³When they persecute you in one town, run away to another one. I assure you that you will not finish your work in all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes.

²⁴“No pupil is greater than his teacher; no slave is greater than his master. ²⁵So a pupil should be satisfied to become like his teacher, and a slave like his master. If the head of the family is called Beelzebul, the members of the family will be called even worse names!

²⁶“So do not be afraid of people. Whatever is now covered up will be uncovered, and every secret will be made known. ²⁷What I am telling you in the dark you must repeat in broad daylight, and what you have heard in private you must announce from the housetops. ²⁸Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather be afraid of God, who can destroy both body and soul in hell. ²⁹For only a penny you can buy two sparrows, yet not one sparrow falls to the ground without your Father’s consent. ³⁰As for you, even the hairs of your head have all been counted. ³¹So do not be afraid; you are worth much more than many sparrows!

³²“Those who declare publicly that they belong to me, I will do the same for them before my Father in heaven. ³³But those who reject me publicly, I will reject before my Father in heaven.

³⁴“Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the world. No, I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. ³⁵I came to set sons against their fathers, daughters against their mothers, daughters-in-law against their mothers-in-law; ³⁶your worst enemies will be the members of your own family.

³⁷“Those who love their father or mother more than me are not fit to be my disciples; those who love their son or daughter more than me are not fit to be my disciples. ³⁸Those who do not take up their cross and follow in my steps are not fit to be my disciples. ³⁹Those who try to gain their own life will lose it; but those who lose their life for my sake will gain it.

⁴⁰“Whoever welcomes you welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. ⁴¹Whoever welcomes God’s messenger because he is God’s messenger, will share in his reward. And whoever welcomes a good man because he is good, will share in his reward. ⁴²You can be sure that whoever gives even a drink of cold water to one of the least of these my followers because he is my follower, will certainly receive a reward.”

Read Matthew 10:16-42 in context and/or in other translations on BibleGateway.com!

During Jesus’ initial “job description” for His disciples, He outlines a number of challenging ideas. But even with these challenging statements, Jesus shares a promise and He describes a bigger perspective regarding our life on planet earth.

Tucked within this challenge near the beginning of their time together, Jesus tells the disciples, “So do not be afraid of people. Whatever is now covered up will be uncovered, and every secret will be made known. What I am telling you in the dark you must repeat in broad daylight, and what you have heard in private you must announce from the housetops.” (v. 26-27)

In these few verses, Jesus gives the disciples their mission. The disciples are to repeat Jesus’ words and His teaching, regardless of whether it makes them “friends” or not. I put friends in quote marks because someone who will only be your friend if you choose to give up something is not a very good friend. But neither is someone who will only be your friend if you must do something for them to keep the friendship.

The truth of history would show that the disciples made more enemies than friends by sharing Jesus’ message following His death. While the disciples succeeded in sharing God’s message and opening the door for the Holy Spirit to draw thousands into the truth about Jesus, many more people chose to ignore or be hostile towards what Jesus’ disciples taught. Many of the most hostile ones were the Jewish leaders – the very same ones who put Jesus to death.

Our big perspective shift comes in the next statement, and it focuses on where we should place our fear. Jesus cautions the disciples by saying, “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather be afraid of God, who can destroy both body and soul in hell.” (v. 28)

Some might take Jesus’ words in this verse as a license to convert people by inspiring them to fear God and His “Hellfire” punishment. By itself, this definitely sounds like it supports a cruel picture of God, but Jesus again puts this fear statement in perspective with the next three verses. “For only a penny you can buy two sparrows, yet not one sparrow falls to the ground without your Father’s consent. As for you, even the hairs of your head have all been counted. So do not be afraid; you are worth much more than many sparrows!” (v. 29-31)

Jesus describes how we are so much more valuable than the least valuable living thing at that time. In the market, one could purchase two sparrows for a penny, meaning that each sparrow was worth half a penny. In some ways, we might believe that God sees us in a similar way.

In the expanse of the universe, on a speck of a planet, are some tiny two-legged and two-armed creatures. It might be easy to picture God like the first century culture pictured sparrows: “worth less than a single coin”, but Jesus counters this idea by first giving value to sparrows, before giving value to each of us humans. “yet not one sparrow falls to the ground without your Father’s consent. As for you, even the hairs of your head have all been counted. So do not be afraid; you are worth much more than many sparrows!” (v. 29b-31)”

The reason we serve God is not because He will destroy our body and soul in hell if we don’t. The reason we serve Him is because He values us so much that Jesus came from God to be a sacrifice for our sins. God loves us so much that He was willing to pay the penalty of sin so that we could be restored to Him. This endless, limitless love is the reason we serve, and when time ends and the heavens and earth are recreated, we will live together with God because of His love for us!

This thought was inspired by studying the Walking With Jesus “Reflective Bible Study” package. To discover insights like this in your own study time, click here and give Reflective Bible Study a try today!

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A Grain of Wheat: John 12:20-36

Published July 25, 2024 in Audio Journal Entries

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Following Jesus riding into Jerusalem on a donkey, John shifts focus and draws our attention onto what was likely Jesus’ biggest proclamation in the temple during His entire ministry. In this declaration, John draws our attention onto a dilemma the crowd faced when hearing Jesus predicting what will happen and having that conflict with what they knew the scriptures said concerning the Messiah.

This event begins with an interesting detail that is not really resolved anywhere in the Bible. Our passage is found in John’s gospel, chapter 12, and we will read it from the New International Reader’s Version of the Bible. Starting in verse 20, John tells us that:

²⁰There were some Greeks among the people who went up to worship during the feast. ²¹They came to ask Philip for a favor. Philip was from Bethsaida in Galilee. “Sir,” they said, “we would like to see Jesus.” ²²Philip went to tell Andrew. Then Andrew and Philip told Jesus.

Pausing briefly here, nothing is said, implied, or suggested in the passage regarding whether Jesus left where He was standing to talk with these Greeks who wanted to see Him. I can suspect that Jesus went to speak with them, because it would have been the polite thing to do, but nothing in the Bible passage that I can see suggests this.

What follows next might be after Jesus has went out into the outer court where the Greeks would have been, or it may have happened immediately when Andrew and Philip told Jesus about the Greek individuals’ request but prior to Jesus heading to the outer courtyard to meet with these Greeks.

Either way this event happened, we continue in verse 23, which tells us:

²³Jesus replied, “The time has come for the Son of Man to receive glory. ²⁴What I’m about to tell you is true. Unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only one seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. ²⁵Anyone who loves their life will lose it. But anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it and have eternal life. ²⁶Anyone who serves me must follow me. And where I am, my servant will also be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.

²⁷“My soul is troubled. What should I say? ‘Father, keep me from having to go through with this’? No. This is the very reason I have come to this point in my life. ²⁸Father, bring glory to your name!”

Then a voice came from heaven. It said, “I have brought glory to my name. I will bring glory to it again.” ²⁹The crowd there heard the voice. Some said it was thunder. Others said an angel had spoken to Jesus.

³⁰Jesus said, “This voice was for your benefit, not mine. ³¹Now it is time for the world to be judged. Now the prince of this world will be thrown out. ³²And I am going to be lifted up from the earth. When I am, I will bring all people to myself.” ³³He said this to show them how he was going to die.

³⁴The crowd spoke up. “The Law tells us that the Messiah will remain forever,” they said. “So how can you say, ‘The Son of Man must be lifted up’? Who is this ‘Son of Man’?”

³⁵Then Jesus told them, “You are going to have the light just a little while longer. Walk while you have the light. Do this before darkness catches up with you. Whoever walks in the dark does not know where they are going. ³⁶While you have the light, believe in it. Then you can become children of light.” When Jesus had finished speaking, he left and hid from them.

In this passage, we discover some powerful ideas, and we also discover God the Father’s third declaration about who Jesus is. It is interesting to pay attention to the moment God the Father spoke, because with the crowd’s reaction, we find an interesting conclusion. When God spoke from heaven, everyone heard it. I suspect that the disciples understood it. Others recognized that it was a voice but they did not understand it. Even others simply discounted it as thunder and not a true voice.

I wonder if this reflects our varied experience with God. When God speaks into our lives, it’s most likely not going to be with a thunderous voice, but I wonder if God speaking into our lives might be met with the same three varied responses. Some people might understand God when He speaks. Others may recognize that God is speaking, but they are unsure exactly what He is saying. Still others might simply discount God’s voice as insignificant and ignore it. Whichever case we might fall in, the issue is with us and not with God.

However, what Jesus tells us in verse 24 is also significant: “Unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only one seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.” In this verse, we have an opening for Jesus predicting His upcoming death, and Jesus understands that it is through His death that His life will produce the greatest harvest. In an interesting way, we also discover the powerful truth that without Jesus’ death, there would be no harvest, because without Jesus’ gift, the only ones able to pay for our sins are ourselves and the payment is death.

God loves us more than we could possibly imagine, and because of this, God made a way for us to be redeemed while also keeping His Law in effect. If God discounted His Law in order to amplify forgiveness, then Satan would win by claiming God is truly unjust, holding different people to a different standard. If God upheld His Law without any hope of forgiveness, Satan would also win because his claim is that God is unloving towards those who break His Law.

The path where Satan loses and God achieves victory is through God paying the punishment for our sins, because this path proves both justness and love, and this was demonstrated through Jesus’ death on the cross.

In this declaration, we also have the powerful promise that Jesus gives us in verse 26, when He tells us that: “My Father will honor the one who serves me.”

If we want to be honored by God, the best way for us to do so is by serving and obeying Jesus. We are able to serve Jesus by obeying what He commanded His followers to do, and by modeling Jesus’ life and His love to the world around us. Jesus’ life consisted of helping as many people as God brought into His life, challenging those who wanted to build themselves up at the expense of others, and opening the door to God when the religious elite had tried to close the door and lock it for those outside of their clique of legalism.

We serve Jesus the best by proclaiming God’s love and inviting all who are willing to come to Jesus and accept the free gift He offers to us. Through Jesus’ death, we can have a new life with God, and because Jesus gave His life for us, we are guaranteed an eternal life with God when we accept Jesus’ life and His sacrifice on our behalf.

As we come to the end of another podcast episode, here are the challenges I will leave you with:

As I always challenge you to do, intentionally seek God first in your life and choose to accept Jesus’ gift of His life on your behalf. Reject Satan’s lies about God being unloving and unjust, because looking at what Jesus accomplished for us proved once and for all how big a liar Satan really is, and how much God was willing to go through to demonstrate His love for all of us.

Also, continue to pray and study the Bible for yourself, paying special attention to Jesus’ life and His mission to this world. The whole Bible draws our attention onto the theme of God’s love and His justice, and even with the challenging parts of the gospel message, when we look at them in light of the cosmic conflict over God’s character and Satan’s accusations, we discover a bigger picture of God than we realized before.

And as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never stop short of, back away from, chicken out of, or give up on where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!

Year in John – Episode 30: When we think of metaphors for Jesus, probably last on the list would be a grain of wheat. However, discover how this metaphor might be one of the most significant metaphors for Jesus and what we can learn when we look closer at the time Jesus describes Himself in this way.

Join the discussion. Share your thoughts on this passage.

God-Given Peace: John 14:15-31

Published July 24, 2024 in Written Journal Entries

Focus Passage: John 14:15-31 (GW)

¹⁵“If you love me, you will obey my commandments. ¹⁶I will ask the Father, and he will give you another helper who will be with you forever. ¹⁷That helper is the Spirit of Truth. The world cannot accept him, because it doesn’t see or know him. You know him, because he lives with you and will be in you.

¹⁸“I will not leave you all alone. I will come back to you. ¹⁹In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me. You will live because I live. ²⁰On that day you will know that I am in my Father and that you are in me and that I am in you. ²¹Whoever knows and obeys my commandments is the person who loves me. Those who love me will have my Father’s love, and I, too, will love them and show myself to them.”

²²Judas (not Iscariot) asked Jesus, “Lord, what has happened that you are going to reveal yourself to us and not to the world?”

²³Jesus answered him, “Those who love me will do what I say. My Father will love them, and we will go to them and make our home with them. ²⁴A person who doesn’t love me doesn’t do what I say. I don’t make up what you hear me say. What I say comes from the Father who sent me.

²⁵“I have told you this while I’m still with you. ²⁶However, the helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything. He will remind you of everything that I have ever told you.

²⁷“I’m leaving you peace. I’m giving you my peace. I don’t give you the kind of peace that the world gives. So don’t be troubled or cowardly. ²⁸You heard me tell you, ‘I’m going away, but I’m coming back to you.’ If you loved me, you would be glad that I’m going to the Father, because the Father is greater than I am.

²⁹“I’m telling you this now before it happens. When it does happen, you will believe. ³⁰The ruler of this world has no power over me. But he’s coming, so I won’t talk with you much longer. ³¹However, I want the world to know that I love the Father and that I am doing exactly what the Father has commanded me to do. Get up! We have to leave.”

Read John 14:15-31 in context and/or in other translations on BibleGateway.com!

Often when reading a passage from a different translation, I catch new words or ideas that I have never seen before. Perhaps this is the translation’s or translator’s fault, or maybe, the original language used a word that conveyed something more that this translation wants to draw out.

Whatever the reason, this passage includes a word and an idea that I have not ever noticed before.

In verse 27, we read Jesus’ promise, and see this “new” word/idea: “I’m leaving you peace. I’m giving you my peace. I don’t give you the kind of peace that the world gives. So don’t be troubled or cowardly.”

Jesus tells us not to be cowardly?

What does that have to do with the peace He promises?

Some might believe that God gives us peace in situations where we have no power to change the circumstances. This is often the case. But where people go too far in their thinking is that God’s peace excuses them from being engaged. Receiving God’s peace is not a sign that we can now retreat. That would be “cowardly”.

The peace God has promised comes on a deeper level. His peace fills your heart. His peace assures us that we are loved, forgiven, saved, and now empowered to act. His peace says that He will be with us as we face whatever the future holds.

Peace that the world gives is different. This peace is bartered and temporary. It could be the lull in a storm of circumstances. The world’s peace is nice, but it cannot fill our lives like God’s peace. God’s peace is present when things get out of control. God’s peace remains when the world’s peace has expired and left.

God’s peace is peace that I want. When life throws us doubts and uncertainties, with Jesus’ peace, we can be empowered and freed to move forward – and moving forward with God is not cowardly!

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A Greater Testimony: John 5:16-47

Published July 23, 2024 in Written Journal Entries

Focus Passage: John 5:16-47 (NIV)

¹⁶So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jewish leaders began to persecute him. ¹⁷In his defense Jesus said to them, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working.” ¹⁸For this reason they tried all the more to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.

¹⁹Jesus gave them this answer: “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. ²⁰For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. Yes, and he will show him even greater works than these, so that you will be amazed. ²¹For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it. ²²Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son, ²³that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent him.

²⁴“Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life. ²⁵Very truly I tell you, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live. ²⁶For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. ²⁷And he has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man.

²⁸“Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice ²⁹and come out—those who have done what is good will rise to live, and those who have done what is evil will rise to be condemned. ³⁰By myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, for I seek not to please myself but him who sent me.

³¹“If I testify about myself, my testimony is not true. ³²There is another who testifies in my favor, and I know that his testimony about me is true.

³³“You have sent to John and he has testified to the truth. ³⁴Not that I accept human testimony; but I mention it that you may be saved. ³⁵John was a lamp that burned and gave light, and you chose for a time to enjoy his light.

³⁶“I have testimony weightier than that of John. For the works that the Father has given me to finish—the very works that I am doing—testify that the Father has sent me. ³⁷And the Father who sent me has himself testified concerning me. You have never heard his voice nor seen his form, ³⁸nor does his word dwell in you, for you do not believe the one he sent. ³⁹You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, ⁴⁰yet you refuse to come to me to have life.

⁴¹“I do not accept glory from human beings, ⁴²but I know you. I know that you do not have the love of God in your hearts. ⁴³I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not accept me; but if someone else comes in his own name, you will accept him. ⁴⁴How can you believe since you accept glory from one another but do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?

⁴⁵“But do not think I will accuse you before the Father. Your accuser is Moses, on whom your hopes are set. ⁴⁶If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me. ⁴⁷But since you do not believe what he wrote, how are you going to believe what I say?”

Read John 5:16-47 in context and/or in other translations on BibleGateway.com!

During a response Jesus gave to a group of Jewish leaders, He shares a statement and concept that is incredibly profound when we stop to think about it – and in this statement is something that we can all apply in our lives 2,000 years later.

While giving His response, Jesus told the Jewish leaders, “If I testify about myself, my testimony is not true. There is another who testifies in my favor, and I know that his testimony about me is true.” (v. 31-32)

Perhaps you have known someone who seems to speak highly of themselves and their accomplishments. Individuals like this will brag about things they have done, who they know, what they own, or any number of other things that help them look good in whatever conversation they are having.

However, the principle Jesus shares is that testimony about oneself should always make us cautious about believing it because it is rarely ever true. When someone else says something positive about the individual, it is more believable.

Jesus says that His testimony about Himself, if it were by itself, would not be valid, but there is another who testifies about Him, making Jesus’ claims valid. While we might be quick to point out John the Baptist, who was Jesus’ cousin and forerunner in ministry, Jesus immediately acknowledges but discounts John by saying, “You have sent to John and he has testified to the truth. Not that I accept human testimony; but I mention it that you may be saved. John was a lamp that burned and gave light, and you chose for a time to enjoy his light.” (v. 33-35)

Jesus mentions John the Baptist as a secondary witness that would be someone everyone would know of – including the non-believing Jewish leaders. However, Jesus Himself does not need to rest on John’s testimony. Jesus continues His response by saying, “I have testimony weightier than that of John. For the works that the Father has given me to finish—the very works that I am doing—testify that the Father has sent me. And the Father who sent me has himself testified concerning me. You have never heard his voice nor seen his form, nor does his word dwell in you, for you do not believe the one he sent.” (v. 36-38)

God the Father is Jesus’ second witness, and God the Father validated Jesus’ ministry by giving Him the power to do the tasks that He had send Him to do. God the Father even spoke from heaven on a number of occasions, but those present who didn’t believe did not understand what was being proclaimed.

The key in Jesus’ words to learning the truth about Him and the key to being able to hear the Father is simply by believing in the One He sent and by paying attention to the truth He has already shared in the past. These Jewish leaders did not believe in Jesus, and because of this, they missed out on seeing, hearing, and experiencing what He was doing during their lifetimes – and their unbelief led them to crucify their own Messiah.

For us, we should focus on the testimony we have been given regarding Jesus and on the truth God has revealed through the Bible, and when we have these two things in place, we can move forward through life with Him by our side directing our steps.

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