Over the years I’ve heard people wish again and again that they could have been alive during the days that Jesus walked the earth. Often this desire is expressed when facing something perplexing about our faith, and the assumption is, if I could just see Jesus and ask him I wouldn’t be confused right now.

That, however, is flawed thinking. One consistent element of all the Gospel accounts is the confusion and misunderstanding Jesus’ disciples experienced. There’s no evidence given in the Gospels that Jesus’ disciples had an easier time of believing than we do. In actuality, maybe just the opposite. Those who were closest to him were so unsure about him that betrayal and denial were still ready options. When push came to shove their lack of certitude about him made it easier for all of them to run and hide rather than stand with him in his arrest.

One could argue that they didn’t start taking shape as solid believers until after he wasn’t with them physically. That’s something to really ponder for a while, isn’t it?

The reason for that may be found in the passage we’ll be reading this Sunday, John 14:15-31.

Notice that Jesus doesn’t say “If you keep my commandments I’ll love you”. The only “if” of this statement is connected to our love for him. Obeying isn’t a condition required in order to be loved…it’s a symptom of a condition of love. How does living by Christ’s teachings reveal love?

Jesus introduces the Holy Spirit to us in this passage. Jesus seems to indicate that our journey with him will be that much more stable because he’s sent the Holy Spirit in his stead. Now, instead of being with the Holy Spirit as he’s operated through Jesus, he will be in us, guiding, teaching and helping us on our way. That indicates a quantum leap in our journey. Think of it – a 24 / 7 Counselor and Friend within us, available to us at all times. He will teach us and guide us and empower us. What of life’s puzzles and dilemmas do you bring to the Helper? How has His presence in you provided guidance for your life?

Just as he’s about to be arrested and crucified – with the launch of the church in view with all of the persecution and turmoil it has faced throughout history – Jesus says he will leave us with peace. How can we understand what he’s saying? How can we be peaceful even when there is turmoil surrounding us?

The characteristics of this relationship with God are profound. God IN us manifests in our lives as love, discovery and peace. For as much as I’d really like to see Jesus, I still think we’re better off where we are right now.

This should prove to be an interesting (albeit heady) exploration this Sunday. Hope to see you there!

“Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me.  ~ Jesus

How hard or how easy is it for you to live this encouragement out in real life? Do you ever feel overwhelmed by a troubled world or your own difficulties? Have you ever found yourself frustrated by verses like the one above because, try as you may to believe, your troubles seem relentless? I know I certainly have.

We’re going to be reading John 14:1-14 this Sunday, where Jesus issues the directions quoted above. It is couched in the section commonly called “Jesus’ farewell address to his disciples”. Judas has gone out to betray Jesus to the authorities and Jesus has made it clear that he will soon be gone from them. All in all, the evening has really turned into a bummer. Can you imagine the distress and confusion that is beginning to mount in the midst of this group?

So Jesus gives direction – truth to calm their troubled hearts. His encouragement isn’t given in a promise to make all the troubles go away – but rather, in providing a fresh perspective from which to view the looming wave of adversity.

This section is interesting because it contains three familiar passages that have often been isolated and often misperceived. Something we’ll take a look at as we go on Sunday.

Jesus’ first encouragement is a promise about his Father’s big, big house, with lots and lots of room (if you were a Christian youth in the 90’s, you’re welcome for the ear worm that should be playing in your head right about now). We mostly take this as a picture of heaven, which I think the idea may include, but it has more a sense of the bigger picture of redemption, which is unfolding right now in our lives.  How does thinking about the way that God redeems broken things provide a sense of encouragement and assurance in times of trouble?

This section also contains another of Jesus’ clear self-identifications as being united with God the Father. To see Jesus is to see what God is like. To trust in Jesus is to find the way home to God. Jesus actually promotes an intentional trust; “DON’T let your hearts be troubled” – don’t live there, don’t form your identity from your difficulties. Instead, we’re called to trust Jesus in an act of our will. What are some ways we can intentionally trust Jesus when all hell is breaking loose? Can you identify ways in which that intentional trust would promote assurance in your heart?

V13-14 are problematic verses in this section, in that they have inspired a certain level of materialism within one section of the church which tends to leverage Jesus’ words to name and claim good fortune for themselves. What might it mean to ask for something in Jesus’ name? Is that a magic incantation, or the html tag needed to close a heavenly code….or something else entirely? If someone requested something at your workplace in your name, what would that mean? How might the promise of Jesus’ authority on earth bring us assurance in times of difficulty?

I’m looking forward to exploring these verses together – I hope you can join us!

When a person has on a garnet and gold shirt with a feathered spear emblazoned on the chest, you can get a pretty good idea what college team they root for come football season. Same thing when someone stretches their arms out front, right arm over left and begins moving the arms up and down, you can easily guess what reptilian mascot they pull for. People’s loyalties will often have identifiable distinctives.

But what about a loyalty to Jesus? How can people tell that a person is committed to Him? Some believe that they have to be outspoken about their moral convictions and fight every impure aberration they encounter in order to demonstrate that they are, indeed, a Christian.

Some people are so zealous they could be described as being “in your face” about their faith – all in an attempt to be identified as belonging to Christ. Did Jesus give us any clues about how we could be recognized as his disciples, his followers?

The answer is yes. He told us very clearly, with words that are both ridiculously easy to understand and ridiculously hard to do.

We’re going to be reading John 13:18-38 this Sunday, finishing up the chapter. In this section we have three points – 1) a betrayal is forecast and the betrayer identified, 2) Jesus gives a new commandment, and 3) Jesus forecasts Peter’s denial. Jesus’ command is sandwiched between two revelations of faithlessness – which I believe is intentional to provide a contrast for his command.

When Jesus revealed that someone would betray him, what were the disciples uncertain about? Did they show any predisposition to assume Judas was the betrayer? It seems like Judas blended in with the gang quite well – so with that in mind, how much do you think  an outward show of conformity has to do with rightly representing Jesus?

When Jesus told them all he was leaving to a place they couldn’t follow, Pete zealously announced that he would go anywhere – he would die for Jesus. Jesus had some disconcerting news for him about events that would happen later that night. How much did outspoken zeal have to do with rightly representing Jesus?

V34-35 – what did Jesus say would be the identifiable distinctive of his followers? Is this romantic love, or sentimental love, or something else? How easy or hard is it for you to love people who are unlovely – those who’ve hurt you or offended you? How does loving people like Jesus loves us help us understand the process of loving others? This will be a challenging, albeit, hope-filled study – and I hope you can join us for it this Sunday at 10 am!

Imagine you’ve been asked to a dinner party for the small company you work for. As you’re waiting for dinner to be served and people are sitting and chatting, your boss has quietly gone to the corner of the room and stripped down to his underwear and with a jug of bottled water, starts going down the line of guests and begins washing their feet.

Besides being the basis for a huge lawsuit – how would something like that make you feel? Would it unnerve you? Would you protest this action?

We’re going to be reading John 13:1-17 this Sunday, and the events described above sort of play out in our text. Sometimes we pass this strange display off as a cultural thing, something that everyone was accustomed to – but there is no evidence that supports that assumption. Actually, just the opposite. Foot washing happened, but by and large, guests at a home would wash their own feet. Jewish servants were not even required to do this sort of humiliating and intimate thing. Only gentile slaves were known to do something like this.

John sets the stage for this event by saying that Jesus had become aware that all things were in his hands…that is, he wielded the supreme authority of God. So, with that knowledge, what was the first thing Jesus did with those hands?

I don’t have a lot of questions to prod you with this week – just that image to ponder. If Jesus is our greatest revelation of God…who IS God as we see him on display in this section? What is this God asking of us, based on the last part of the passage?

This is humbling, challenging and potentially life-altering stuff. Hope to see you this Sunday.

This Sunday we will be reading John 12:44-50, which contains the very last thing Jesus says to the crowds during his three year ministry before the cross. After this, Jesus’ words will be reserved for the disciples, the religious leadership, and the people who watch him as he is crucified. Various crowds have been following Jesus for the last three years, and he has but a few moments to speak to them for the last time.

Up to this point in the story, Jesus has proven himself through miracles, healing, wisdom, and compassion. If it were me, I would be tempted to tell Jesus not to waste anymore time trying to explain who He is. I would say, if they don’t get it by now, they are not going to get it. Thankfully, Jesus is better than that. Thankfully, Jesus doesn’t give up that easily.

With only a few moments left, what do you think Jesus will say to these crowds? Do you think Jesus will retract any of his previous statements? Or do you think that Jesus will reinforce them?

I’ve been thinking about this a lot as I have been preparing my teaching this week. If this was my last time speaking, what would I want to say? What would I want people to walk away believing? Is it really possible to change someone’s mind with just a few words? And how do we make those words count?

We invite you to join us this Sunday at 10:00AM for our study in the book of John 12:44-50. Let’s see what we can learn from these few verses and let’s see what Jesus wants us to hear before he journeys towards the cross.

Have you ever heard an audible voice from heaven giving you direction? I never have – though I know people who have had that type of experience. I used to think that if I could just hear God shouting out of the clouds letting me know he was there that I would never doubt again.

We’re going to see from our passage this Sunday that its really not that simple. Well be reading John 12:27-43. This passage includes a supernatural event like I described above, but it certainly doesn’t have the result one would expect.

As we read this passage let’s consider the reactions of the people towards Jesus. I believe there are some pitfalls we can observe and try to sidestep in our own journey to discover more of God and his ways.

For one thing – there were three distinct reactions to the voice from heaven. One, of course, was John who obviously heard the voice of God clearly enough to record for us what the voice said. What were the other two reactions? What do you suppose made the difference in what people heard in that sound from the sky? I find it interesting that there is often so much ambiguity when we encounter the divine. I think if a person is determined to do so, they can always find a way to rationalize what others perceive as a supernatural event. God seems intent on moving in such a way that he’s easily hidden if someone is determined not to see him. I also think there’s a bit of heart-testing in that ambiguity. How open minded are you when it comes to God encounters?

The other thing that I notice in v34-36 is a doctrinal barrier. In v34, the people don’t actually say “it’s written in the Scriptures“…what do they say instead? How would you explain their problem with Jesus and their understanding of the Hebrew Scriptures? How well do you know the doctrines that you hold to as non-negotiables? What are your doctrinal convictions based on – what is written, or what you’ve learned? In what ways could God get obscured by our doctrines. How can we be faithful to our convictions and still be open minded?

Finally, the last verse of this section (v43) is very telling. How can loving the praise or glory that comes from men (that is, the validation and affirmation that we crave so deeply) end up interfering with our loyalty to God? What measures can we take to prevent that from happening in our own experiences?

Should be an interesting study – hope to see you then!

After many successful dodges of the authorities, and many hush, hush miracles, this week we’ll see Jesus boldy riding into Jerusalem to claim his throne as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.  We’ll be picking up in our text this week covering John 12:12-26. We’ll be covering a segment of scripture known as the triumphal entry.

The surprising thing is Jesus doesn’t ride in to town on a majestic war horse dressed for battle, he rides in on a lowly donkey clothed like the poor.  What might this suggest about the Kingdom of God? What might it mean for us his loyal subjects? 

We see the crowds hailing Jesus as Lord and savior, hoping for a conquering King to finally free them from Roman oppression. Just when they expect to hear a battle cry from their hero, he says something completely opposite.  In vs 23-24 He gives a cryptic analogy  about a seed dying, and producing many more seeds filled with that same potential.  It hearkens back to the garden of Eden.  In the garden, the serpent sowed a seed of doubt in Eve’s heart regarding God’s goodness and His intentions for mankind.  That seed grew doubt in her mind that led to death, spiritually and physically for all of humanity.  In our text this week Jesus offers another seed, his very life offered on our behalf to restore all that was lost in the garden.  What does the image of Jesus on the cross reveal about God’s heart for humanity? What difference does the depth of his love for you make in your daily life?

He goes on to explain that a love for our own life in this world will again produce death but that a hate for it will result in life renewed and eternal.  The key to this is the phrase “in this world”.  Of course he doesn’t want us to hate the life He’s given us. The hyperbole he employs emphasizes his point that nothing “this world” or its systems have to offer should be more important to us than our commitment to Christ. A stark contrast to the commitment to self permeating our society.

The choices we face today are the same ones they faced in the garden. Go our way or go God’s way. At some point we have to realize that Father knows best.  

Does the pursuit of possessions or positions (circumstances) dominate your daily life? Do you wake up each day in hopes of being one step closer to that happiness you’ve always dreamed of? What priority does the pursuit of holiness hold for you?  

Jesus invites us to follow him to the cross, to embrace a life of sacrificial love, that reveals his unsurpassable love for our neighbors and all of mankind. He says that in portraying his image into this world, we’ll find that full and purposeful life that our heart is truly longing for.

Have you ever experienced a let down or a low after working so hard in pursuit of a possession or position? Does knowing the temporal nature of what this world offers help to dull the draw towards them?

Our last verse holds a remarkable promise.  vs 26 says that those who serve Jesus will be honored by the Father.  The word honored means valued or prized.  Does the thought of being valuable to God, mattering much to the King of the universe inspire different priorities in your life?

It should be a challenging and promising study this week.  Hope to see you there!

History is filled with accounts of royal coronations. Emperors, kings and queens ascend their thrones amid pomp and ceremony, all of it designed to celebrate the new rule and power over people. Sometimes the ceremony is meant to inspire fear, other times there were assurances of peace and prosperity, but all of it was focused on the new ruler’s power. Coronations of kings and priests run as a thread all through the Hebrew bible – and very rarely did the ruler placed on the throne do well with that power.

It all leads to Jesus – the King of kings and Lord of lords. If we had in mind the grandeur of history’s celebrations of new rulers, we’ll be deeply surprised at how this goes down in Jesus’ anointment as King.

This Sunday we’ll be examining John 12:1-11.

The scene that John describes is one that would have been awkward and uncomfortable in our culture to be sure, but in actuality it would have been weird in Jesus’ day too.  Back in Luke 10, Mary upset her sister Martha by defying ancient protocol when she sat out with the men to learn as a disciple while her sister conformed to the domestic expectations of the day. Here again, Mary behaves in a way that for some people viewing it, might have cast her in an unsavory light. Letting down her hair to wipe Jesus’ feet, pouring out an entire box of oil when just a dab would have done…these were actions that were out of sync with the expected norm, and it created a reaction.

How do you think you would have reacted to Mary’s behavior? Who reacted negatively to this action? What seems to be the most important issue for him? What seems to be important to Mary?

All of the different characters and all of their responses. Who do we relate to the most in this section? The Chief Priests react with their one-note response…they want to kill someone. Let’s hope you don’t relate to that. Mary sacrificed a very expensive box of oil to pour out on Jesus. She also sacrificed her dignity and reputation. All because she wanted to demonstrate to Jesus her love for him. How much of Mary do you see in your approach to worship? How much of Judas?

Everything about Jesus disrupts and inverts the normal expectations of this world’s system, especially as it touches what it means to reign in power.

This should prove to be a challenging study this week! Hope to see you there!

Have you seen any of those videos that inform you that you are incorrectly attending to some menial task you’ve been practicing your whole life? For instance, most of us tie our shoelaces incorrectly. Or we hold the can opener the wrong way. There’s just a plethora of habits and patterns we’ve accepted in our daily lives that can be proven wrong.

That is a startling truth when in comes to how we, as Christians, carry ourselves in this broken world. There are patterns that the world has which we often adopt without thinking about it – patterns which Jesus and the Gospels challenge us about.

We’ll be continuing our study in John this Sunday, reading ch 11:45-57.

The whole section is the fallout from the amazing miracle Jesus performed in raising Lazarus from four days of death. Instead of rejoicing and seeking God to see what such a miracle meant – the religious leaders begin considering the political ramifications of Jesus’ popularity, and come to the conclusion that he must die.

The motives of those religious leaders mirror the motives of the systems of this fallen world. Their story is a cautionary tale for those who claim Jesus as their Lord. We’ll examine those motives on Sunday and identify the responses that would more likely fit a follower of Jesus.

When the religious leaders discuss their Jesus problem – what is their main concern? Try reading the passage in different translations. Who does it seem like they are most concerned with? To what lengths are they willing to go in order to preserve their positions of privilege? How does that contrast with Jesus’ ministry so far in this gospel – and where we know that it’s going?

What are the possible broken patterns that the church today is following, and how might we change those patterns in our own lives?

These will be interesting things to ponder – I hope you can join us this Sunday!

It’s the sad refrain of a broken world: “If only”. “If only he’d entered the freeway five minutes sooner…”, “If only I would have kept my mouth shut…”, “If only the lab results had shown it…”, ….. “If only God had heard my prayers…”.

We live in a world that is painful and confusing so often, and for people who want to seek after God, adding to that pain and confusion is the regular complaint that one prayer or another has gone unanswered. It’s very tempting to assume that God has forgotten, doesn’t care, or has no plan at all for us in the vast scheme of things. If you’ve ever felt that way, please know that you’re not alone. Every honest seeker of God will wrestle with this at some point in the journey.

We’re going to be reading a large portion of text this Sunday, John 11:1-44, which begins the revelation of Jesus’ glory and power – but which also sheds a remarkable light on the subject of delayed answers in prayer.

The text plainly says that Jesus loved this family, yet it also says even though Lazarus was sick, Jesus waited two more days to head to Bethany. Does that seem like the behavior of someone who loves someone else? His reasons for delay are somewhat disclosed in v15 – does this give us any clue as to why God sometimes allows our prayers to seem unanswered? How can we view an apparent silence from heaven differently in light of this?

When Jesus arrives both women confront him with “If only you’d have been here”. In answering Martha, Jesus makes another statement of “I am”, calling himself the resurrection and the life. He was revealing that in some mysterious way, the future hope of God’s plan of redemption was reaching back to the present and infusing life with abundant possibilities, beyond what we can see (HT N.T. Wright). But this wasn’t just a theological exercise for Jesus – he isn’t portrayed as a dispassionate observer of human plight. V33, 35 and 38 make that abundantly clear. If Jesus is the fullest revelation of God and God’s heart toward the human race – what does his reaction tell us about God’s heart in the midst of our plight?

What happens next is one of those too good to be true moments. It forecasts what Jesus himself will soon experience and the hope of Easter morning. But it serves also as a parable for us. What are the bleak situations or hopes that have died which we’ve rolled a stone of resignation over? Even though Jesus didn’t respond when we wanted him to, and things don’t look the way we expected them to…can we allow for the possibilities of him bringing new life in ways we never thought of? Have you experienced this already? Have you faced some pain and seeming disinterest from heaven, only to find that God has revealed some new and unexpected life in ways you hadn’t anticipated? What lessons about God, his patterns and his heart toward us can we learn from this text?

I’m really looking forward to this study – hope you can join us!