Reflective Bible Study Gospel Adventure

Transferable Blessings: Matthew 21:33-46

Published October 26, 2022 in Written Journal Entries

Focus Passage: Matthew 21:33-46 (GNT)

³³ Listen to another parable, Jesus said. There was once a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a hole for the wine press, and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to tenants and left home on a trip. ³⁴ When the time came to gather the grapes, he sent his slaves to the tenants to receive his share of the harvest. ³⁵ The tenants grabbed his slaves, beat one, killed another, and stoned another. ³⁶ Again the man sent other slaves, more than the first time, and the tenants treated them the same way. ³⁷ Last of all he sent his son to them.
Surely they will respect my son, he said. ³⁸ But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves,
This is the owner’s son. Come on, let’s kill him, and we will get his property! ³⁹ So they grabbed him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him.

⁴⁰ Now, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants? Jesus asked.

⁴¹ He will certainly kill those evil men, they answered,
and rent the vineyard out to other tenants, who will give him his share of the harvest at the right time.

⁴² Jesus said to them, Haven’t you ever read what the Scriptures say?

         The stone which the builders rejected as worthless
      turned out to be the most important of all.
   This was done by the Lord;
      what a wonderful sight it is!

⁴³ And so I tell you, added Jesus,
the Kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce the proper fruits.

⁴⁵ The chief priests and the Pharisees heard Jesus’ parables and knew that he was talking about them, ⁴⁶ so they tried to arrest him. But they were afraid of the crowds, who considered Jesus to be a prophet.

Read Matthew 21:33-46 in context and/or in other translations on BibleGateway.com!

One of the parables Jesus shares really hit home with the religious leaders living in the first century. When Jesus shared it, they understood what He was talking about, and they didn’t like it. The Jewish leaders in the crowd who heard the parable knew Jesus was talking about them, and He was saying they were the “evil tenants” because they were unwilling to give God (the landowner) His share. I could discuss this idea further, but I want to zero in on an idea that Jesus concludes the parable with: “The Kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce the proper fruits.” (v. 43)

This brings me to this journal entry’s big idea: The blessing of being a “tenant” of the good news is transferable.

God is looking for people who bless Him with the “fruit” of what He has entrusted them with. If the people God entrusts with His message are not “fruitful”, then the blessing of responsibility can be transferred to someone else. If the Jews were not fruitful towards God, then the blessing could move to the Christians.

However, this transfer is not permanent, because if Christianity is not “fruitful” with the good news, then the blessing can move again. Perhaps you believe the broader Christian faith has lost its way and your [insert denomination, church, or faith community here] has finally gotten it right. I’m not here to challenge your belief, but if your group ever ceases to be fruitful towards God, then the blessing of being a tenant may transfer away.

God’s blessings and responsibilities are not permanent. They are instead given as we are faithful managers of what God has given to us. Part of us managing God’s blessings is returning to Him His share of what He’s blessed us with. He gives blessings to us not only for our benefit, but so we can be a blessing to others and back towards Him.

God is more than happy to bless us and give us the opportunity to be tenants for Him. However, this offer is contingent on us being responsible, and respecting His role in the arrangement.

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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Solving First-World Problems: Matthew 6:25-34

Published October 25, 2022 in Written Journal Entries

Focus Passage: Matthew 6:25-34 (NCV)

²⁵“So I tell you, don’t worry about the food or drink you need to live, or about the clothes you need for your body. Life is more than food, and the body is more than clothes. ²⁶Look at the birds in the air. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, but your heavenly Father feeds them. And you know that you are worth much more than the birds. ²⁷You cannot add any time to your life by worrying about it.

²⁸“And why do you worry about clothes? Look at how the lilies in the field grow. They don’t work or make clothes for themselves. ²⁹But I tell you that even Solomon with his riches was not dressed as beautifully as one of these flowers. ³⁰God clothes the grass in the field, which is alive today but tomorrow is thrown into the fire. So you can be even more sure that God will clothe you. Don’t have so little faith! ³¹Don’t worry and say, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ ³²The people who don’t know God keep trying to get these things, and your Father in heaven knows you need them. ³³Seek first God’s kingdom and what God wants. Then all your other needs will be met as well. ³⁴So don’t worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow will have its own worries. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Read Matthew 6:25-34 in context and/or in other translations on BibleGateway.com!

In Jesus’ discussion about worry, He shares a phrase that I think many people have trouble understanding, or at least applying into their lives. At about the height of Jesus’ message to His followers on this subject, He shares this: “Seek first God’s kingdom and what God wants. Then all your other needs will be met as well.” (v. 33)

What makes this difficult for us to understand and apply is not the idea of seeking God first. That part is easy to understand even if it is hard to apply. The most challenging part of this verse is trusting Him to fill in the second half, where Jesus clearly says that all our other needs will be met as well.

Our lives are filled with so many “what if” style questions, and so many things that mask themselves as needs. Ultimately, we need Jesus. That is a given for those who understand what Jesus really offers us. Aside from Jesus, we need food, shelter, and loving connection with other people. This last part can be fulfilled through relationships with friends and/or family.

That pretty much sums it up. When we start quantifying what food looks like, the size of our shelter, or who our friends are, then things break out of the need category and into the want category.

There is a phrase that has appeared in recent years called “First-World Problems”. This phrase, while oftentimes unappreciated, draws our attention to what we truly need, and what we actually have been blessed with. It points us to realize that there are people living in other parts of the world who don’t have what we have been taking for granted, and they have survived. There are people who have raised huge families in single room buildings. People who don’t know what their next meal will look like, and people who live in fear for who they can trust. Those are real problems. The model of your cell phone, or the number of minutes or data your plan has is not a “real” problem.

The key for me in Jesus’ promise here is in the phrase, “Then all your other needs …”

This stands out to me because our first need is God. Jesus frames God as a need in this statement – specifically as our most important need. Then Jesus goes on to tell us that our other needs will be met as well. Perhaps some of our wants will get satisfied, but if that happens, think of it as a blessing or bonus.

God is looking at the really big picture of life in this passage about worry, and His big goal is not what you will wear, what you will eat, where you will live, but where you will spend eternity. God promises to meet all your needs in this life when you are focused in on placing Him first. It is only through what Jesus did for us that we are saved, and God has given us everything we truly need in the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross for our sins.

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Flashback Episode — Lessons from a Formerly Blind Man: Luke 18:35-43

Published October 24, 2022 in Audio Journal Entries

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As we come closer to the week leading up to Jesus’ crucifixion, we discover two similar miracles. Some gospel records, and many lists of Jesus’ miracles combine these two miracles into one, and while I can understand this because of their similarities, I see their distinct details outweighing the similarities leading me to believe that these are two separate events. Because of this, we will deal with each miracle separately, and even though they are similar, I’m pretty sure we can discover some things we can take away from each.

The miracle we will be focusing in on in this episode is found in Luke’s gospel, chapter 18, and we will read it from the Good News Translation. Starting in verse 35, Luke tells us that:

³⁵As Jesus was coming near Jericho, there was a blind man sitting by the road, begging. ³⁶When he heard the crowd passing by, he asked, “What is this?”

³⁷“Jesus of Nazareth is passing by,” they told him.

³⁸He cried out, “Jesus! Son of David! Have mercy on me!”

³⁹The people in front scolded him and told him to be quiet. But he shouted even more loudly, “Son of David! Have mercy on me!”

⁴⁰So Jesus stopped and ordered the blind man to be brought to him. When he came near, Jesus asked him, ⁴¹“What do you want me to do for you?”

“Sir,” he answered, “I want to see again.”

⁴²Jesus said to him, “Then see! Your faith has made you well.”

⁴³At once he was able to see, and he followed Jesus, giving thanks to God. When the crowd saw it, they all praised God.

In this miracle, we see many similarities with other miracles that took place earlier in the gospels, but in this miracle, many of the key details surrounding Jesus’ miracles are summarized nicely in what Luke describes.

In this event, we see a simple progression we might be able to use to see miracles happen in our own lives as well. To set the stage for this event, we have a blind man begging by the side of the road near the city of Jericho. Since this is late in Jesus’ ministry, the blind man likely knows about Jesus, but it is possible that he doesn’t have any friends willing or able to take him to find Jesus.

Looking at the gospel record, Jesus likely only visited Jericho one time during His entire ministry, and with this visit being later on, this brings a sense of urgency to this blind beggar. Setting the stage for this miracle teaches us that when God sends us an opportunity for faith, we must be ready to grab a hold of it.

When the man asks what is going on and discovers that Jesus is passing by, we discover that he is ready to be heard. The man believes Jesus to be the promised Messiah, the Son of David that God promised, and he honors Jesus with this title while asking for mercy. This teaches us that when asking for God to help, we should remember who God is and give Him honor and respect. It is unlikely God would help someone who is criticizing or cursing Him, even though it is possible.

Then the crowd gets involved, but not in a good way. Whether they were trying to hear what Jesus was teaching, or whether they simply didn’t recognize the opportunity present, those near the blind man scold him and tell him to be quiet. This reminds us that the more vocal we are about God and the more vocal we are about needing God’s help, the more resistance and/or ridicule we will face.

However, this man was ready to face a little resistance. While others might have given up and stayed quiet, this man knows that this is likely his only shot at a miracle for him, and this resistance simply results in him shouting louder. When we face resistance, consider it an opportunity to lean more into God and as an opportunity to further demonstrate your faith and commitment in a visible way.

Jesus then stopped and asked the crowd to bring the blind man to Him. Whether this happened immediately when Jesus heard the blind man the first time, or if there had been several increasingly louder cries for mercy, the faith of the blind man is clearly known. When Jesus calls the blind man to Him, and when Jesus asks the blind man what he wants from Jesus, while the blind man could have asked for anything, only one thing was out of his reach. The blind man wanted to see again.

This detail is fascinating, because it tells us that something had happened to this man’s sight that caused him to lose it. Because he wants to see again, that meant he had been able to see at an earlier point in his life and that he hadn’t been born blind. We can learn from this that sometimes things don’t go our way and sometimes life throws things at us that we would rather not face.

However, while in front of Jesus, the blind man asks for restored sight, and Jesus responds by telling him that his faith had made him well. This reminds us of one big theme within this entire year of podcasting that Faith + Jesus = A Miracle. While we can see some results when placing our faith in other things, Jesus is the only place that we should place our faith because Jesus is the only One who has seen the details of what is coming in our life, and the only One who has also seen how to successfully navigate the trials. While sometimes God works miracles through other sources, this doesn’t mean that God wasn’t behind the miracle in the first place.

At the close of this event, we see the healed man following Jesus, giving thanks to God, and we discover that the crowd praised God. While the crowd wasn’t interested in seeing a miracle at the beginning of this event, we discover that through this miracle, they were given one more reason to praise God. When miracles happen in our own lives, either to us personally or to those we know, let’s use these miracles as opportunities to thank and praise God for what He has done and is doing in our lives and in the world today.

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

Always, seek God first and place Him first in your life. Intentionally look for ways to make your faith in God visible and push past any resistance you face, choosing to see the resistance as an opportunity to demonstrate the faith you have in God. While Satan would have resistance cripple our faith, we can choose to respond to this resistance as an opportunity to show him and others what our faith is made of.

Also, keep praying and studying the Bible for yourself to learn, grow, and move closer to God in your own life. While pastors, podcasters, and other people can share great ideas, filter everything you hear, read, and see through the truth of the Bible, because the Bible is the best source for knowing God’s Truth.

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 be pressured into abandoning where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!

Flashback Episode: Year of Miracles – Episode 43: As Jesus approached Jericho, discover a miracle that only happened because the one needing help was vocal enough to make his faith visible. Discover also how the crowd almost missed out on a miracle and an opportunity to praise God.

Gatekeeper for Jesus: John 6:60-71

Published October 21, 2022 in Written Journal Entries

Focus Passage: John 6:60-71 (NIV)

⁶⁰On hearing it, many of his disciples said, “This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?”

⁶¹Aware that his disciples were grumbling about this, Jesus said to them, “Does this offend you? ⁶²Then what if you see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before! ⁶³The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you—they are full of the Spirit and life. ⁶⁴Yet there are some of you who do not believe.” For Jesus had known from the beginning which of them did not believe and who would betray him. ⁶⁵He went on to say, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled them.”

⁶⁶From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.

⁶⁷“You do not want to leave too, do you?” Jesus asked the Twelve.

⁶⁸Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. ⁶⁹We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God.”

⁷⁰Then Jesus replied, “Have I not chosen you, the Twelve? Yet one of you is a devil!” ⁷¹(He meant Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, who, though one of the Twelve, was later to betray him.)

Read John 6:60-71 in context and/or in other translations on BibleGateway.com!

When the crowds became too large for Jesus’ liking, or perhaps when too many people were simply following Him only because it was the popular thing to do, Jesus seemed to do something that would challenge the crowd and thin the number of people following Him to only those who were really serious.

Perhaps this was the first time Jesus had done this, or perhaps this was one of the more significant times, but here at the end of John chapter 6, Jesus says some very challenging words to those following Him, and it prompts almost everyone to abandon Him.

Immediately before the crowd packs up and leaves, Jesus makes a very interesting statement. He says, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled them.” (v. 65)

In an almost backwards train of thought, we must have the approval of the Father in order to even get to Jesus. This runs opposite to the belief that Jesus came to point us to the Father.

Actually both ideas are equally correct, and they work together.

God the Father sends the Holy Spirit to point people to Jesus. Without the Holy Spirit’s guidance, there is no way for us to even be able to identify Jesus, and without the Holy Spirit’s moving through history, there wouldn’t even be a Christian church today. A locally known carpenter’s Son would have made a local impact, but the movement would have fizzled out less than a century later.

But with the Holy Spirit enabling (and drawing) people to Jesus, the Christian movement has lasted for thousands of years, and it has a present in almost every part of the world today.

Jesus points us to God the Father, and God the Father sends the Holy Spirit to help enable us to find Jesus. Perhaps this was too challenging of an idea for those in the crowd at that time, or maybe those in the crowd were simply following Jesus because they liked seeing His miracles and because it was the popular thing to do. While the crowd had found Jesus-the-celebrity, they had missed seeing Jesus-the-Savior. Only the Holy Spirit can draw someone to seeing Jesus the Savior, and that involves asking for help from the Father.

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