Twelve Words of Jesus That Would Change Everything….If We Believed Them

Twelve Words of Jesus That Would Change Everything….If We Believed Them, by Dan Edelen

This may not be Dan’s take, but for me, this is a unique way to approach the “Law/Gospel” Issue. These are Jesus’ Kingdom ethics. It’s his amplification of the law, and his picture of what it means to follow him as King.

What’s needed? The cross. The Good News that for all of us who fall short of all of these all the time, there is a place of forgiveness, and a way to live for Jesus even if we can’t follow him perfectly or even consistently.

Gospel of Mark Study #10: The Healer

Step into the study, pour yourself a cup of coffee, get comfortable and let’s enjoy the Gospel of Mark.

Our passage today is Mark 1:29-45 29 As soon as they left the synagogue, they went with James and John to the home of Simon and Andrew. Simon’s mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they told Jesus about her. So he went to her, took her hand and helped her up. The fever left her and she began to wait on them. That evening after sunset the people brought to Jesus all the sick and demon-possessed. The whole town gathered at the door, and Jesus healed many who had various diseases. He also drove out many demons, but he would not let the demons speak because they knew who he was. Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed. Simon and his companions went to look for him, and when they found him, they exclaimed: “Everyone is looking for you!” Jesus replied, “Let us go somewhere else–to the nearby villages–so I can preach there also. That is why I have come.” So he traveled throughout Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and driving out demons. A man with leprosy came to him and begged him on his knees, “If you are willing, you can make me clean.” Filled with compassion, Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cured. Jesus sent him away at once with a strong warning: “See that you don’t tell this to anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the sacrifices that Moses commanded for your cleansing, as a testimony to them.” Instead he went out and began to talk freely, spreading the news. As a result, Jesus could no longer enter a town openly but stayed outside in lonely places. Yet the people still came to him from everywhere. (NIV)

What is Jesus Shaped Spirituality?

The past year and a half has been the most personally tumultuous time I’ve ever experienced as a Christian believer. At one time or another in this past year, I have re-evaluated every area of my Christianity, often with many tears, prayers and hours of reading. Much of this has been in response to the questions raised by my recent encounters with Roman Catholicism.

I entitled this adventure “Jesus Shaped Spirituality.” It’s a catchy and provocative label, but I’m not sure I could have come to your church and given a talk on what I meant by the phrase.

Today, I’m at a different place on that journey. I’ve now come to the place that Jesus shaped spirituality has some feel, form and substance for me. I have some confidence and comfort in expressing what I’ve discovered, reaffirmed and began to express to others.

I want to be clear that I am not trying to “return to primitive Christianity” or “reinvent the church.” What I am doing is developing a tool, a grid or filter, to interpret Christianity wherever I encounter it, by asking basic questions about Jesus. If I am going to be faulted, it will be for this: I am determined to be satisfied with nothing short of a Jesus-shaped Christianity, as best I can understand what that means.

This isn’t a staking a claim for a new denomination, but simply an expression of the shape of discovering, knowing and following Jesus as the one who reveals both the Father and the shape of human experience.

What does Jesus-shaped spirituality look like?

Gospel of Mark Study #9: The Exorcist

Step into the study, pour yourself a cup of coffee, get comfortable and let’s enjoy the Gospel of Mark.

Our passage today is Mark 1:21-28 They went to Capernaum, and when the Sabbath came, Jesus went into the synagogue and began to teach. The people were amazed at his teaching, because he taught them as one who had authority, not as the teachers of the law. Just then a man in their synagogue who was possessed by an evil spirit cried out, “What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are–the Holy One of God!” “Be quiet!” said Jesus sternly. “Come out of him!” The evil spirit shook the man violently and came out of him with a shriek. The people were all so amazed that they asked each other, “What is this? A new teaching–and with authority! He even gives orders to evil spirits and they obey him.” News about him spread quickly over the whole region of Galilee.

In this passage we see Jesus in two roles that are essential to understanding him: teacher and exorcist. Certainly most Christians are comfortable with the image of Jesus as a teacher and this image influences a great deal of our conception of Christianity. Picturing Jesus as an exorcist, however, raises problems for many modern, western minds. Exorcism is associated with a primitive and pre-scientific world-view, particularly in the area of mental and physical illnesses. It is interesting to note that those Christians who embrace this aspect of the Gospel presentation of Jesus are rapidly growing all over the world, while those churches that have accommodated the modern worldview and exorcised the demonic from Christianity are dwindling in influence and numbers.

Gospel of Mark Study #8: The Calling

Step into the study, pour yourself a cup of coffee, get comfortable and let’s enjoy the Gospel of Mark.

Our passage today is Mark 1:16-20. ” And passing along by the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew the brother of Simon casting a net in the sea; for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, “Follow me and I will make you become fishers of men.” And immediately they left their nets and followed him. And going on a little farther, he saw James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, who were in their boat mending the nets. And immediately he called them; and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants, and followed him (RSV).

The disciples are central characters in Mark’s gospel. They are the witnesses of Jesus’ ministry from beginning to end, thereby qualifying them to testify to others about Jesus. There has been much controversy about exactly how Mark wants his readers to think about the disciples. I am not convinced this question can be entirely answered, but I do believe Mark wants us to identify with the disciples. What Jesus says to the disciples he is often saying to the reading audience. What happens to the disciples is often what is happening to anyone who follows Jesus. The choice, actions and feelings of the disciples are meant to reflect our own.

The Question is God; The Answer is Jesus

“Anything that one imagines of God apart from Christ is only useless thinking and vain idolatry.”- Martin Luther

It’s been a very interesting day. I can’t tell you much about it, but I can tell you something.

When a discussion starts about God, the Christian is not faced with the same choices as other people.

Most people can go wherever they want in the discussion. They can talk about “God as I understand him” or “my higher power” or “my church says that God….” and so on. Really, the choices are practically infinite.

Gospel of Mark Study #7: The Message (Part 2)

Step into the study, pour yourself a cup of coffee, get comfortable and let’s enjoy the Gospel of Mark.

Our passage again this week is Mark 1:14-15. “Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the Gospel.” (RSV) We return to this important summary of the overall message of Jesus and we must prepare to grapple with the essence of what Jesus is telling every person who will listen. We cannot pretend to understand Christianity if these words do not have life-anchoring significance for us.

Most modern Christians believe they are living in the last days. They normally base this on some form of speculative Bible prophecy. But the Bible teaches that the “last days” arrived with the coming of Christ. We see this in Peter’s statement that the time is fulfilled. The Old Testament is full of longing for the Kingdom of God to arrive. The Jews believed that”God’s time” would become evident when the “Day of the Lord” suddenly appeared. From the very beginning, however, Jesus said that the time was fulfilled. God’s day was now here.

Incarnation: A Poem by Denise Day Spencer

He stands,
poised on the brink of two worlds:
One, land of eternal day,
the other, earth of mire and clay.

Behind Him,
legions of heavenly host,
bright faces covered, praising,
all chanting, voices raising.

Before Him,
chaos yawning, swift and deep,
known, yet unknown. Fear unfurling,
death and darkness churning, swirling.

He turns.
One last look at golden glory.
The Three part; He is now One.
The Father’s voice says, “Go well, my Son.”

He leaps
into the abyss.

His next memory will be a Mother’s kiss.

~ Denise Day Spencer, January 1999

Advent With Ted the Loser

This post is inspired by a FoxNews piece updating the situation of disgraced megachurch pastor Ted Haggard. Haggard was a major leader in evangelicalism until he was brought down by evidence of sexual sin and drug use.

Dear Ted,

May I call you Ted? Not “Pastor Ted,” “Reverend Haggard” or any other ministerial name.

You may not feel like it, but you’re at a good place. Finally. It’s taken a while, but you’ve made it to the place where the Gospel of Jesus has its power. On the verge of the fourth Sunday of the season of waiting, you’ve made it to the place where all that can happen now is for a savior to be born to a virgin. Your savior, no less. Yours and all the other losers.

Yes Ted, honesty, your best gift now has arrived.

Gospel of Mark Study #6: The Message (Part 1)

Step into the study, pour yourself a cup of coffee, get comfortable and let’s enjoy the Gospel of Mark.

Our passage this week is Mark 1:14-15. “Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.” (RSV) Because this is the first statement Jesus makes in the Gospel, it will set the tone and direction for the entire book. Mark summarizes Jesus’ entire mission and message in these two statements.

I am always struck by the fact that one rarely hears a sermon from this text in most churches! Yet it is the message of Jesus. There is a tension in much of Christianity between the message about Jesus and the message of Jesus. Some liberals have charged that Christianity itself is a vast misunderstanding of this very point; that we should not be asking anyone to believe in Jesus, but to do what Jesus says. While I believe the basic charge is wrong, I do believe many Christians excuse themselves from dealing with the message Jesus preached because they think believing in Jesus is sufficient. Mark would not understand such a distortion. For him, there is no separation between the message of Jesus and the person of the savior. For the person who accepts the Bible as authoritative, this is why we need both John and the Synoptics. In their quite different approaches to Jesus, they present the whole picture, which will not allow any separation between belief in Jesus and following the message of the Kingdom.