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Joy to the World by John Piper – Advent Day 23

23 Dec

6 When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners. 7 Now, most people would not be willing to die for an upright person, though someone might perhaps be willing to die for a person who is especially good. 8 But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. 9 And since we have been made right in God’s sight by the blood of Christ, he will certainly save us from God’s condemnation. 10 For since our friendship with God was restored by the death of his Son while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be saved through the life of his Son. 11 So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God because our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends of God.

Romans 5:6-11

Dear God, friends with you? Really? I remember a friend of my dad’s who is gone now, but he used to establish mentoring relationships with young men, usually college-aged or older. He would say he wanted to be their friend. Frankly, we tried, but I didn’t care for him that much. I never felt like the friendship was equal or two-way. It didn’t fit my definition of friend.

So when I read Paul saying that we are friends of yours, I wonder how that can be. Is it this kind of friendship this man wanted? A friendship where one person has all of the power and the other is just lucky to be in their orbit? I mean, I’m good with an image of you as God and worshipping you. I’m good with an image of you as omnipotent and omnipresent. I’m good with an image of you as infallible. But it’s hard to think you could be my friend.

But then I think about the evidence you’ve shown me and the world that you want to be our friend. First, you reach out to us at all. That’s amazing in and of itself. Second, you literally sacrificed a part of yourself for us. Third, you took the time to be with us in the flesh to relate to us and teach us. You cared for us. You wept over us. You love us. Fourth, you are here with me now to just love me where I am. No conditions of where I will be in the future. Just love me where I am. Your influence will mold me as we go along, to be sure. If I am the average of the five “people” or I guess entities I spend the most time with, and I am spending time like this with you then I suppose the more I spend time with you the more I will be like you. But you are taking me where I am. It’s remarkable.

Father, it is amazing that I am a friend to God. I am a friend to you. Holy Spirit, you are sitting with me now as I type this. That’s amazing. You are comforting me. Teaching me. Inspiring me. Interested in me. I hope my love in return is enough. Sometimes, I feel like that is all I have to offer. But I offer it freely, willingly, and joyfully. Thank you, Father, Jesus, Holy Spirit–my Triune God.

I pray to the Father in Jesus and with the Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on December 23, 2024 in Advent 2024, Romans

 

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Joy to the World by John Piper – Advent Day 22

22 Dec

30 The disciples saw Jesus do many other miraculous signs in addition to the ones recorded in this book. 31 But these are written so that you may continue to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing in him you will have life by the power of his name.

John 20:30-31

Dear God, as John sat and dictated this book, I wonder how hard it was to sort things out. “Oh, and then there was the time…” “Oh, and I remember when Jesus…” It must have been a wonder to think back on all that Jesus was and had done and then try to make sense of what was happening in his world at the time. His friends were dead. He was in exile. You hadn’t come back. I don’t know if he wrote this before or after his Revelation, but it almost feels like some of these guys sat down and wrote these books so much longer after Jesus was gone because they didn’t really think they would be around that long after the ascension. I think they still thought you were about to come back any time. I’m sure they would be shocked to know that we are still waiting 2,000 years later.

I know there are people who are living today who are shocked you haven’t come back in our time. The goings on now seem unique. But I think the truth is we all live in a time of confusion for ourselves. None of us really has any more idea of what is going on that our pets do. We have a sweet dog who just lives day to day. She looks to us to provide her meals, her walks–even her opportunities to go to the bathroom. She doesn’t know if it is winter or summer except to wonder why she is cold today. Yes, on a scale of “domesticated dog” to “God,” I am not a zero, but I’m a lot closer to 1 than I am even a 3.

The same was also true for everyone represented in the Bible. Mary didn’t understand what was going on during the pregnancy and birth. She might have learned a little more over the next 30 years and Jesus grew, but then those three years of active ministry must have been very confusing. Then the crucifixion. Then the resurrection. Then the ascension. If you’d have told pregnant Mary, post-Angel visit, that this is how it would all turn out she would have been shocked. Joseph too. “He’s going to what?!? Die?!? Resurrect?!? Ascend?!?…Why?!?” Well, the answer was so much bigger than they could have known–and I’m foolish if I think any of us, even 2,000 years later, really understand the “Why?”

Father, I want to quote Piper’s prayer for us in today’s reading as I close this prayer: “O, how I pray for a breaking forth of the Spirit of God upon me and upon [others}. I pray for the Holy Spirit to break into my experience in a frightening way, to wake me up to the unimaginable reality of [You].”

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on December 22, 2024 in Advent 2024, John

 

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Joy to the World by John Piper – Advent Day 21

21 Dec

28 Jesus’ trial before Caiaphas ended in the early hours of the morning. Then he was taken to the headquarters of the Roman governor. His accusers didn’t go inside because it would defile them, and they wouldn’t be allowed to celebrate the Passover. 29 So Pilate, the governor, went out to them and asked, “What is your charge against this man?”

30 “We wouldn’t have handed him over to you if he weren’t a criminal!” they retorted.

31 “Then take him away and judge him by your own law,” Pilate told them.

“Only the Romans are permitted to execute someone,” the Jewish leaders replied. 32 (This fulfilled Jesus’ prediction about the way he would die.)

33 Then Pilate went back into his headquarters and called for Jesus to be brought to him. “Are you the king of the Jews?” he asked him.

34 Jesus replied, “Is this your own question, or did others tell you about me?”

35 “Am I a Jew?” Pilate retorted. “Your own people and their leading priests brought you to me for trial. Why? What have you done?”

36 Jesus answered, “My Kingdom is not an earthly kingdom. If it were, my followers would fight to keep me from being handed over to the Jewish leaders. But my Kingdom is not of this world.”

37 Pilate said, “So you are a king?”

Jesus responded, “You say I am a king. Actually, I was born and came into the world to testify to the truth. All who love the truth recognize that what I say is true.”

38 “What is truth?” Pilate asked. 

John 18:28-38a

Dear God, an entire book could probably written about these 11 verses. This whole exchange is amazing, but I can’t let go of one thing first. The accusers would not go into Pilate’s place because it would make them unclean for Passover. Isn’t that a little ironic given the fact that they were actually in the process of killing your Passover Lamb? They were so locked into their own deception they couldn’t see they were actually killing you! Somehow, they thought they were pleasing you. Somehow, they thought this was an act of worshipping you. It’s unbelievable to think about in that way. Again, I could probably write thousands of words on how I and others today do the same thing–make tremendous mistakes in your name that grieve you. Let me just say that I am sorry for my ignorance. Sometimes it’s bad teaching. Sometimes it’s bad influence. And sometimes it’s just my sin driving me into errant thoughts and actions. I am so sorry.

But back to Jesus’s conversation with Pilate. By all historical accounts, at least as I understand them, Pilate was a terrible person who was awful to the Jews in Israel at the time. He is not a sympathetic figure. But this account recorded by John almost makes me think that John had compassion for him. He seems confused and helpless. He seems overwhelmed and like he wants to do the right thing by this man in front of him. Even later, the way John records Pilate putting “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews” over Jesus on the cross and telling the accusers, “What I have written, I have written,” (John 19:19-22) communicates an exasperation on Pilate’s part. It’s hard to get tone of voice through writing, but I feel like John captures it here.

For Piper’s daily reading today, he focused on verse 37. Jesus said he came to testify to the truth. What truth? Well, I think it was the truth about you and who you are. It makes me think of Job’s response to you in Job 42:5: “My ears had heard of you, but now my eyes have seen you.” People throughout history had heard of you through the prophets and the writings, but now they had seen you. I have seen you through these stories of who you were as you lived a human life. Jesus showed us the truth about who you are. He also told us the truth about how you think. We know what your opinions are on any number of things. You preached to us. You taught us. You corrected us through Peter and the other people you corrected while here on earth. You taught us about our need to be reconciled to you. You taught us that Gentiles are as precious to you as anyone. You gave us eyes to see beyond what our eyes can physically see. You truly represented “truth” in a whole new way. A complete truth that is really remarkable when we think about it. In fact, Pilate shows the confusion of the world when he simply follows up verse 37 with a simple but profound question for the lost: “What is truth?”

Father, I feel like I am one small, tiny step closer to understanding your truth today than I was yesterday. And, with your grace, I will be one tiny step closer to understanding you tomorrow and the next day after that as well. Oh, how I love you. Oh, how I need you. Oh, how I thank you.

I pray all of this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on December 21, 2024 in Advent 2024, John

 

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Joy to the World by John Piper – Advent Day 20

20 Dec

7 Dear children, don’t let anyone deceive you about this: When people do what is right, it shows that they are righteous, even as Christ is righteous. 8 But when people keep on sinning, it shows that they belong to the devil, who has been sinning since the beginning. But the Son of God came to destroy the works of the devil. 

1 John 3:7-8

Dear God, Piper focused on the second part of verse 8 for today’s reading. I have to say, when I first looked at the passage as a whole, I was thinking it was an interesting one to choose for Advent, but then I got to this part and I thought I could see what he was doing. It kind of goes back to what he said the other day about Satan being the one who did not want Jesus to go to the cross because that was when his power was truly broken. It makes me look at the last three years of Jesus’s earthly life as a time of Satan trying desperately to win a game at the last minute. The temptations in the wilderness. The temptation from Peter to not follow through and die. Even the temptation in the Garden to not go through with it. Why? Because that death of a part of you would bring resurrection and then untold power to our ability to be your children.

So here I am, sitting at my desk on a Friday morning. I have things in my life that ae a delight and things that are sorrowful. Then I have other things that are in between. Just responsibilities and opportunities to serve. Thinking about last night and the words I shared. I pray that they were your words. I pray that they found at least one set of ears who needed to hear them. I pray that you might give me ears to hear them as well. What is it I long for? Am I longing for the right thing?

Father, I offer you my worship and my work today. I offer you my love and my service. Give me eyes to see what you need me to see. Give me ears to hear what you need me to hear. I love you, Lord. I lift my voice to worship you. Oh, my soul! Rejoice! Take joy, my King in what you hear. Let it be a sweet, sweet sound in your ears.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on December 20, 2024 in 1 John, Advent 2024

 

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Joy to the World by John Piper – Advent Day 19

19 Dec

14 Because God’s children are human beings—made of flesh and blood—the Son also became flesh and blood. For only as a human being could he die, and only by dying could he break the power of the devil, who had the power of death. 15 Only in this way could he set free all who have lived their lives as slaves to the fear of dying.

Hebrews 2:14-15

Dear God, when I first read this passage this morning, it made me think of a sermon illustration I heard a year ago that talked about how you became incarnate on a planet of dogs in order to teach them and save them. I did a prayer journal on it at the time. Here is the illustration as I recorded it at the time:

A man had a dream one night, and he met God in his dream. He had been wondering about the incarnation and how it worked. “Why, God, did you have to come to earth as a man?”

God didn’t explain, but decided to show him why instead. He took the and they started traveling through space. Faster and faster until they started to approach a planet. When they arrived at the planet, still outside of its atmosphere, God stopped to tell the man about the planet. “This planet is controlled by dogs,” God said. “They are the highest life form here. The problem is, they are vicious dogs. They are cruel and mean. They destroy each other. They are filled with anger. But somehow, I want to help them. I want to teach them to love. I want them to know I exist and be in relationship with me. I want to show them how I love them. I want to help them take that love and give it to each other.”

The man replied, “That’s wonderful, Father. How will you do that?” 

“That’s where you come in,” God said. “I need you to do something for me. The only way to communicate with them is to become one of them. So I need you to go down there as a dog, tell them about me, and teach them through your example.” 

The man readily agreed. “Of course, I will do that for you and for them,” he said.

“There is a catch,” God added. “You won’t be able to teach them through coercion. That never works. You will need to come from a position of physical weakness to teach them what I need them to understand. They won’t learn if they are physically intimidated by you. So I am sending you as a chihuahua..” 

This caught the man off guard, but he saw the wisdom in it.

“There is another catch,” God continued. “In order to show them my power, you will have to die and let them kill you. Then, I will bring you back to life. This will show that you are truly my messenger and they should listen to you. It will be painful, but it is the only way. I cannot stand their viciousness with each other. I cannot be around it. So I need your perfect life to be a sacrifice for their sins, so that I will have a way to interact with them.”

Now the man was dreading this assignment for the first time, but he was willing to do anything God asked of him. He agreed to God’s terms.

But God wasn’t finished. “There is one more thing. When you are resurrected, you will remain a chihuahua for eternity. You will come to me and be with me, but you will be the chihuahua at my side. I am not a dog. I cannot relate to being a dog. But after you are a dog, I will need you to remain a dog so that you can continue to be my intermediary with them.”

It was then that the man fully understood what the incarnation of Jesus was all about, but instead of sending another sinful creature to be that intermediary, God was forced to send part of himself to earth. He was the only one capable of fulfilling this mission. This reconciliation with humans on earth. They are vicious, selfish, and cruel. But God loves us and wants to know him and live the lives of love and joy he has for us. So he sent a part of himself to teach us and sacrifice for us. To love us. To teach us about himself and what his love looks like. And to establish a way of being in relationship with us.

So here I am. Here I am to worship. Here I am to bow down. Here I am to learn about your son and what you taught me through him–through yourself and your own examples. Here I am to repent. Here I am to love you. Here I am to love others.

I reading Piper’s commentary on these verses, I liked what he said here: “Christ did not risk death, he embraced it. That is precisely why he came: not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many (Mark 10:45). No wonder Satan tried to turn Jesus from the Cross! The Cross was Satan’s destruction.”

I really like that. Satan didn’t want it to happen because the Cross wasn’t Jesus’s destruction but Satan’s. The Cross was my pathway to life. The Cross was everything Satan did NOT want for me and the rest of the world.

Father, thank you for all of this. As I sit here this morning and pray through what you will have for me to share tonight at the special community Christmas service, let it be purely from you, about you, and for you and your purposes in our community and the world through the lives in that room and beyond. Let your Holy Spirit move mightily tonight.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on December 19, 2024 in Advent 2024, Hebrews

 

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Joy to the World by John Piper – Advent Day 18

18 Dec

13 “Now I am coming to you. I told them many things while I was with them in this world so they would be filled with my joy. 14 I have given them your word. And the world hates them because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. 15 I’m not asking you to take them out of the world, but to keep them safe from the evil one. 16 They do not belong to this world any more than I do. 17 Make them holy by your truth; teach them your word, which is truth. 18 Just as you sent me into the world, I am sending them into the world. 19 And I give myself as a holy sacrifice for them so they can be made holy by your truth.

John 17:13-19

Dear God, yesterday was supposed to be a simple day, but several things got very complicated on a lot of different fronts, and now I am sitting here with a bit of a heavy heart. There are some problems to solve today, and I do not know how to solve them. There are relationships to navigate, and I don’t know how to navigate them. There are people to love, and I don’t know how to love them. So as I sit here, a week from Christmas Day, I wonder where my heavy heart should be. How should I be responding to these things?

Piper’s reading today focused on verse 18 and the “sending” of the disciples and all of us into the world. And that is true. You are sending me into the world today. And my job is to be your ambassador. To help people 1.) see the difference worshipping you and serving you makes in my life, and 2.) inviting them into worshipping you and serving you. I am also to help others. When I see need, I need to prayerfully consider how to respond to it.

Piper’s commentary today addresses the persecution that can come with missions and representing you in the world: “The greatest danger a missionary faces is to distrust the mercy of God. If that danger is avoided, then all other dangers lose their sting. God makes ever dagger a scepter in our hand. As J.W. Alexander says, ‘Each instant of present labor is to be graciously repaid with a million ages of glory.'”

Father, it’s funny how I recoil at the part about any sacrifice I make being “repaid with a million ages of glory.” Frankly, that’s not why I do any of this. I do what I do because I love you. Because I get joy from loving and helping others. So do with my life what you will today. Bring your kingdom and your will into this world today. Give me what you need me to have. Forgive me for failing you and others. Help me to forgive others. And keep me from the temptations of my corrupt heart. And to you and you alone be all glory and honor, now and forever.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on December 18, 2024 in Advent 2024, John

 

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Joy to the World by John Piper – Advent Day 17

17 Dec

28 In the past I deliberately uprooted and tore down this nation. I overthrew it, destroyed it, and brought disaster upon it. But in the future I will just as deliberately plant it and build it up. I, the Lord, have spoken!

29 “The people will no longer quote this proverb:

‘The parents have eaten sour grapes,
    but their children’s mouths pucker at the taste.’

30 All people will die for their own sins—those who eat the sour grapes will be the ones whose mouths will pucker.

31 “The day is coming,” says the Lord, “when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and Judah. 32 This covenant will not be like the one I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand and brought them out of the land of Egypt. They broke that covenant, though I loved them as a husband loves his wife,” says the Lord.

33 “But this is the new covenant I will make with the people of Israel after those days,” says the Lord. “I will put my instructions deep within them, and I will write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. 34 And they will not need to teach their neighbors, nor will they need to teach their relatives, saying, ‘You should know the Lord.’ For everyone, from the least to the greatest, will know me already,” says the Lord. “And I will forgive their wickedness, and I will never again remember their sins.”

Jeremiah 31:28-34

Dear God, Piper’s Advent reading for today focused on verse 31, but I wanted to bring in the verses around it for a little more context. Frankly, I love the lead-in for verse 31. I love the description of each person reaping what they sow as opposed to children being punished for their father’s sins (see Noah, Ham, and Canaan). I like this because I would hate to think the mistakes I make would be visited upon my own children. I want them to reap from their own fields, not mine. Not that my mistakes do not affect them at all. Sometimes they do. Of course they do. But knowing they can be free from my mistakes through Jesus… Knowing that I can be free of my parents’ mistakes–my grandparents’ mistakes–through Jesus… Well, that just gives me hope. It gives me a release that I can be at peace before you. Through repentance, I can be clean before you.

No one preparing for the Messiah had a clue what you were setting up for us, the freedom you were setting up for us, through Jesus. They thought they knew what they wanted. They wanted power again. They wanted self-determination. they wanted to rule the land. They wanted to throw off their oppressors. They wanted to see powerful struck down and the rich sent empty away. But you knew that’s not what they (we) needed. We needed freedom from our sin and relationship with you. We needed to all be able to relate to you and love you, Jew or Gentile. Slave or free. Woman or man. These descriptors were no longer material in the New Covenant.

I want to quote Piper’s last paragraph from today: “God is now free, in his justice, to lavish us with the new covenant. He gives us Christ, the greatest reality in the universe, for our enjoyment. And he writes his own will–his own heart–on our heart so that we can love and trust and follow Christ from the inside out, with freedom and joy.”

Father, thank you for not giving me what I want, but what I need. Thank you for letting me reset my life through repentance and relationship with you. I pray for this same freedom for those I love who have not yet found it. I pray for it for everyone. I am going to have an opportunity to speak to a large group of people at a Christmas service in a couple of nights. Keep me from wasting this opportunity. Use me to draw at least one person in that room closer to yourself. Make them hungry for you as I conclude my talk. Be glorified through me. Help me to decrease so that you might increase. To quote the Casting Crowns song, “I’m just a nobody, trying to tell everybody all about somebody who saved my soul.”

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on December 17, 2024 in Advent 2024, Jeremiah

 

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Joy to the World by John Piper – Advent Day 16

16 Dec

3 Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. 4 Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too.

5 You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.

6 Though he was God,
    he did not think of equality with God
    as something to cling to.
7 Instead, he gave up his divine privileges;
    he took the humble position of a slave
    and was born as a human being.
When he appeared in human form,
8     he humbled himself in obedience to God
    and died a criminal’s death on a cross.

9 Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honor
    and gave him the name above all other names,
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
    in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11 and every tongue declare that Jesus Christ is Lord,
    to the glory of God the Father.

Philippians 2:3-11

Dear God, Piper’s selected verses were 9-11, but I felt like they needed the context of verses 3-8, so I included them here as well. Looking out for the interests of others as important, if not more so, than my own. Oh, how you love us. It’s amazing. It’s simply amazing that you love us so much. How much love then do I not only owe you, but those around me as well? And I don’t care about elevation. I just want to be with you. I don’t care about honor from others. I don’t even need you to honor me above anyone else. I just want to be with you. I want to be allowed into your presence. In this moment. In the next moment. In all of the moments to come. In the new earth. I just want to be allowed into your presence.

Why? Well, one reason is that you are the type of God that would become incarnate for fools like me. Your love and sacrifice for us was and still is remarkable. To just sit with verses 6-8 for a minutes and contemplate their reality is almost mind-blowing:

6 Though he was God,
    he did not think of equality with God
    as something to cling to.
7 Instead, he gave up his divine privileges;
    he took the humble position of a slave
    and was born as a human being.
When he appeared in human form,
8     he humbled himself in obedience to God
    and died a criminal’s death on a cross.

I like Piper’s first paragraph as he talks about verses 9-11:

Christmas was God’s most successful setback. He has always delighted to show his power through apparent defeat. He makes tactical retreats in order to win strategic victories.

Father, give me eyes to see when you need me to retreat, and when you need me to advance. When you need me on my knees, and when you need me out in front. When you need me to have serenity to accept the things I cannot change, and when you need me to have courage to change the things I can. I need your wisdom, Father. And I also just want to say thank you this morning. Thank you for this. Really. You are amazing. You are amazing, God.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on December 16, 2024 in Advent 2024, Philippians

 

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Joy to the World by John Piper – Advent Day 15

15 Dec

10 “I tell you the truth, anyone who sneaks over the wall of a sheepfold, rather than going through the gate, must surely be a thief and a robber! 2 But the one who enters through the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. 3 The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep recognize his voice and come to him. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 After he has gathered his own flock, he walks ahead of them, and they follow him because they know his voice. 5 They won’t follow a stranger; they will run from him because they don’t know his voice.”

6 Those who heard Jesus use this illustration didn’t understand what he meant, 7 so he explained it to them: “I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep. 8 All who came before me were thieves and robbers. But the true sheep did not listen to them. 9 Yes, I am the gate. Those who come in through me will be saved. They will come and go freely and will find good pastures. 10 The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.

John 10:1-10

Dear God, okay, I just noticed something. In this parable, Jesus didn’t set himself up as the shepherd or even the gate keeper. He is the gate. He goes on in the next paragraph to say that he is the Good Shepherd, but you and he are one. For the purposes of this parable, at least the way I am reading this passage this morning, Jesus is the gate through which the people go to you, the Father, as their shepherd. Of course, as being one in nature with you, he is the Good Shepherd as well, but the critical role Jesus plays is he is the gate. There is a wall that keeps me from you. There is a wall that Satan uses to get to me. To get to us. But you are good. You are the Good Shepherd, and Jesus provides you a gate to get to us and then us the use of the gate to follow you.

Now, my job is to hear your voice while your purpose is to us a rich and satisfying life. And how do we get that rich and satisfying life? This short life that is so insignificant in comparison with the tens of billions of people who have come before me? Well, it’s to simply lay it before you, be used by you as best as I can, and then get out of history’s way. To let you live through me. Address the problems of a broken world through me.

Father, I consider my life worth nothing to me. If only I am finish the race and complete the task you have given to me. The task of testifying to your grace. Help me to do that today. Help me to do it with my wife and everyone else I encounter today. I love you, Father. I love you, Jesus. I love you, Holy Spirit. I love you, my Triune God. Thank you.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on December 15, 2024 in Advent 2024, John

 

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Joy to the World by John Piper – Advent Day 14

14 Dec

6 But now Jesus, our High Priest, has been given a ministry that is far superior to the old priesthood, for he is the one who mediates for us a far better covenant with God, based on better promises.

Hebrews 8:6

Dear God, the author of Hebrews uses an interesting description of Jesus here. It’s as one of “mediator.” You and Jesus are one, along with your Holy Spirit. So if I had been writing Hebrews (which I would NOT be qualified to do) I don’t think I would have used that description because it makes it sound like you had to be negotiated into it. We had an old contract that wasn’t working. We needed a new contract, but you were a reluctant part and we needed Jesus to negotiate with you. That just feels like an odd way to put it.

I think it’s important to see what the Hebrews author wrote after this in verses 7-13:

7 If the first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no need for a second covenant to replace it. 8 But when God found fault with the people, he said:

“The day is coming, says the Lord,
    when I will make a new covenant
    with the people of Israel and Judah.
9 This covenant will not be like the one
    I made with their ancestors
when I took them by the hand
    and led them out of the land of Egypt.
They did not remain faithful to my covenant,
    so I turned my back on them, says the Lord.
10 But this is the new covenant I will make
    with the people of Israel on that day, says the Lord:
I will put my laws in their minds,
    and I will write them on their hearts.
I will be their God,
    and they will be my people.
11 And they will not need to teach their neighbors,
    nor will they need to teach their relatives,
    saying, ‘You should know the Lord.’
For everyone, from the least to the greatest,
    will know me already.
12 And I will forgive their wickedness,
    and I will never again remember their sins.”

13 When God speaks of a “new” covenant, it means he has made the first one obsolete. It is now out of date and will soon disappear.

He is referencing Jeremiah 31 here, and it’s such a beautiful sentiment. The picture is of you bending over backwards and doing everything you can to love us. To have relationship with us. To draw us to yourself.

Where does your benevolence end? I don’t know. What is the cut line between having eternal life with you and not having it? I don’t know. This passage makes it feel very broad. More broad, in fact, than I would have imagined. It sounds like you really made it beyond limits through Jesus. If that is true, that is amazing. The thing that catches me is that Jesus had so many parables about a sorting that will happen at the end of the age. So I do think that, to some extent, there will be a sorting, but I have a feeling you are taking a lot of things into account at that time.

I was thinking recently about some friends who are not followers of you, but they also have some extreme hurts from earlier in their lives that put a wedge between them and you. Those traumas pushed them towards different paths. I know in my own love for my children, I have a deep love for and longing to be in relationship with them even in times when they do not want me due to some hurt I may or not have been responsible for. But nothing pushes them out of the realm of my love. How much more so then are you willing to love me beyond the acting out in pain that I do.

Father, thank you for Jesus the High Priest. Jesus, thank you. Thank you for mediating a deal that is so gracious towards me. Thank you, Holy Spirit, for loving me and being here with me in this moment. I pray that you will wrap me up today as I go out and deliver gifts for Toys for Tots. Love the children through me. Love their parents through me. Be glorified through me.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on December 14, 2024 in Advent 2024, Hebrews

 

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