Alternate Plans
Bible Order: Deut 9–11
Chronological Order: Num 8–10
He Knows You’re Toiling In Rowing
I liked what J. Vernon McGee said about a section of our passage for today in his “Thru the Bible” commentary so I thought I would let you read that instead of me.
“I do want to call your attention to verse 48 where it says, “And he saw them toiling in rowing.” Those men were in the boat that night and they were mingling their sweat with the waves whose salt water was breaking over their little boat. They were straining at the oars and they actually thought they were going down. But He saw them toiling and rowing. I love that! I don’t know where you are today or what position you are in. You may be in a hard spot right now; you may be sitting alone in a corner of darkness. You may be facing temptations and problems that are too great to bear. You may find yourself out on a stormy sea and you feel as if your little boat is going down.
I have some good news for you, Christian friend. “He saw them toiling in rowing.” He sees you. He knows your problems. You don’t have to send up a flare to let Him know. He already knows. Oh, that today you might commit your way to Him in a very definite way. That is something that so many of us need to do in times of darkness—just commit our way unto Him. “He saw them toiling in rowing.” Only Mark, by the way, records that. Then we find that He came to them and He entered into the ship with them. And Mark says that they were “amazed in themselves beyond measure.”
McGee, J. V. (1997). Thru the Bible commentary (electronic ed.). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.
Have a blessed day!
Your brother and servant in Christ,
Bill
Dying to self, living to serve!
Alternate Plans
Bible Order: Exod 24–26
Chronological Order: Gen 35–37
You Have The Keys
In these few short verses today we have two extremely controversial statements by Christ that continue to confound many to this very day. One of these statements has become a wedge that divides the body of Christ.
Matthew 16:18 ESV
“And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”
Jesus began this conversation by challenging His disciples to properly identify Him. There was much controversy among the people of that day as to who Jesus was. Was He a prophet like Jeremiah? Was He the resurrected Elijah as promised in the Bible? Was He John the Baptist, that is to say a great teacher, but nothing more? These were the various opinions being bandied about as Jesus walked the Holy Land. It is confession of Jesus as the Son of God which leads to salvation. It is this very question “Who is Christ?” which every person to this day must answer for themself.
Now Peter, being led by the Holy Spirit answered “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” Peter’s answer resulted in Jesus telling him that he was blessed because flesh and blood had not revealed this to him. Now wait a minute. Wasn’t it Jesus who mentored Peter and the other disciples? Why would this have been revealed by God in Heaven rather than by Jesus on Earth? Some of us today wish we could have been there 2,000 years ago and sat at the Master’s feet as He taught. We seem to think it would have made belief in who He is somehow easier. Evidently not. It was the Holy Spirit who revealed the identity of Christ to Peter and the others back then just as He does today.
Okay so now we have this statement that “on this rock I will build my church”. Some believe that Jesus was saying that He would build His church on Peter or on his efforts. The Catholic church believes it is this very verse that gives the Pope spiritual authority over all Christians. Well this verse and the next:
Matthew 16:19 ESV
“I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”
Others believe that verse 18 refers to the idea that a confession of faith in Jesus Christ is that upon which Christ will build His church. Still others believe that Jesus is saying He will build His church upon Himself. I find the first interpretation rather tortured and flimsy. I view the other two as rather viable. Let’s take a closer look at verse 18 shall we?
“You are Peter and on this rock I will build my church”. In the original Greek we read “You are Petros and upon this petra I will build my church.” “Petros” means “a little piece of rock” and “petra” means “bedrock”. Now clearly Jesus is using a play on words to communicate a truth. Is that truth that He will build His church on one little rock, one rather week minded and week willed fisherman nicknamed “little rock”, or is it that He will build His church on something more substantial like bedrock? Is that bedrock a confession of who Jesus Christ is or is Jesus Christ Himself? I can almost see Jesus pointing to Peter as He says “little rock” and to Himself as He says “bedrock”. Can you?
My current favorite biblical commentator is J. Vernon McGee and he thought it is upon Jesus Himself that His church is being built. I can’t argue with this but the entire context of the conversation revolves around a confession of Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God. It seems to me we are splitting hairs. The church is built upon Jesus the Christ and a confession that He is the Christ for no one comes to the Father except through Him – not through Peter.
Where in Scripture does it say that Peter will pass on this alleged spiritual authority to only one person at a time? I’m afraid some weak Pope centuries ago saw in scripture a perversion that would allow him more power. He twisted scripture to suit his own desires for power. I am sorry for him. Meeting his maker must have been rather uncomfortable for him.
All of this, however, brings us to the issue of Peter being given the keys to the kingdom of heaven and the power to bind and set free. What are the keys of heaven? I’m afraid I do disagree with Mr. McGee who says that the keys are the Word of God. I’m sorry but I just don’t see that. Keys unlock an entry way. Can Scripture open the door to heaven? No, I’m afraid many a non-believer has read the Scriptures and walked away as lost and banished as when they started.
What allows us in to Heaven? Jesus Christ allows us in to Heaven. His bloody death and glorious resurrection open the door for us. By confessing Jesus as the Christ, the One who died, was buried, and was raised three days later just as Scripture foretold, one gains forgiveness for one’s sins and entry to Heaven. So Jesus is the key as is confession of who He is. But what about this binding and loosing business?
When we don’t share Christ with a lost person they are bound on Earth and excluded from Heaven. When we share Christ, and the Holy Spirit draws that person to saving faith in Him, that person is set free on Earth and gains entry to Heaven for eternity. The promise of the keys to Heaven was not a promise to Peter alone but to every Christian as we each are given the keys and the responsibility to set people free with them.
Did you realize you have the power to set people free? You do in that you can share Christ. You can’t save anyone, only the work of the Holy Spirit can work that miracle just as He did with Peter, but if you don’t share Christ with the lost they will be forever doomed.
Okay I guess I’m going to have to hit the second controversy quickly.
Matthew 16:28 ESV
“Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”
Jesus has not yet returned and all the people who heard Jesus speak are long dead. How can this statement by Jesus be true? I don’t have space to go into detail but tomorrow we are going to read about the transfiguration of Christ. It was at the moment that Peter, James, and John witnessed the transfiguration of Jesus that His prophecy was fulfilled. These three saw the Son of Man coming in his kingdom at that very moment.
Let me ask you, where do you think Jesus is right now? You say Heaven right? Brothers, that is His Kingdom. Those three fellows saw Jesus as He is today. This is not a dud of a prophecy. It has already happened.
Okay, I’m closing in on 1,200 words so I’ll have to leave it all at that. Let me know what you think and have a blessed day!
Your brother and servant in Christ,
Bill
Dying to self, living to serve!
Alternate Plans:
Chronological Order: Job 4–5
Sermon On The Mount
Today we begin reading the Sermon on the Mount. It will actually stretch over several days. I had wanted to comment on Jesus calling us Christians “salt of the earth” but we needed an introduction to the Sermon on the Mount and that will take all the space we have for today. I read several commentaries but as usual old J. Vernon McGee in his “Thru the Bible” commentary really had a lot of great stuff to say about this sermon. I have provided a heavily edited version of his comments below. They continued on with great stories and more information but we only have so much space and frankly if you are interested in what he has to say you might want to go buy his commentaries.
Well, with all of that said, here is what J. Vernon McGee had to say about the Sermon on the Mount.
“The Lord Jesus gave four major discourses. Matthew records three of them: (1) the Sermon on the Mount, chapters 5–7; (2) the Mystery Parables Discourse, chapter 13; and (3) the Olivet Discourse, chapters 24–25. The Sermon on the Mount is the manifesto of the King. The Mystery Parables Discourse gives the direction that the kingdom of heaven will take after Christ’s rejection. The Olivet Discourse is prophetic, looking toward the future. There is a fourth discourse, recorded in John’s gospel, which deals with new truths and relationships in view of Christ’s death, resurrection, ascension, and intercession. You and I are vitally connected with this latter discourse, by the way.
While the Sermon on the Mount is in Matthew 5–7, excerpts of it are in the other gospels, also. It is unlikely that our Lord gave it only one time. He repeated, as you know, a great deal of the truths that He gave and probably gave this message, which we call the Sermon on the Mount, on many occasions. Luke records only a portion of it and mentions the fact that our Lord came down and stood on the plain, indicating that this was a different occasion. …
Those who reduce the Christian message to the Sermon on the Mount represent a very large segment of liberalism in our day. But please notice that the content of the Christian gospel is not found in the Sermon on the Mount. For instance, there is absolutely no mention of the death and resurrection of Christ. Yet Paul said to the Corinthians, “… I declare unto you the gospel….” What is the gospel? The Sermon on the Mount? No. Paul made it clear that the gospel is this: “… that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures” (1 Cor. 15:1, 3–4, italics mine). My friend, the gospel is not in the Sermon on the Mount, and that is the reason a great many people like to claim it as their religion. The preaching of that doctrine has made more hypocrites in the church than anything else. It is nothing in the world but verbiage for men to say, “I live by the Sermon on the Mount.” If a man is honest and will read the Sermon on the Mount, he will know that he is not living up to it.
My friend, if the Sermon on the Mount is God’s standard (and it is) and you come short of it, what are you going to do? Do you have a Savior who can extend mercy to you? Do you know the One who can reach down in grace and save you when you put your faith in Him?…
It is true that there is no gospel in the Sermon on the Mount, and it is tragic indeed to give it to unregenerate man as a standard of conduct, and to tell him that if he tries to measure up to it, he is a Christian.
The Sermon on the Mount is Law lifted to the nth degree. Man could not keep the Law in the Old Testament. So how in the world can he keep, in his own strength, the Sermon on the Mount which is elevated to an even higher degree?
It is likewise true that the modus operandi for Christian living is not really found in the Sermon on the Mount. It gives the ethic without supplying the dynamic. Living by the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit is just not one of the truths taught in the Sermon on the Mount. Paul says: “For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit” (Rom. 8:3–4).
You don’t find that teaching in the Sermon on the Mount. It contains nothing of the ministry of the Holy Spirit. However, it does contain high ethical standards and practices which are not contrary to Christian living; in fact, it expresses the mind of Christ which should be the mind of the Christian also. The great principles set down here are profitable for the Christian to study and learn, but he can never attain them in his own strength; he must go elsewhere to look for the power. What you have in the Sermon on the Mount is a marvelous electric light bulb, but you do not have the generator that produces the power that will make the light. And it is the light, not the bulb, that is all important.
The primary purpose of the Sermon on the Mount is to set before men the law of the kingdom…. It will be the law of this world during the Millennium, and then it will find full fruition. Christ will reign on earth in person and will enforce every word of it. The Sermon on the Mount will finally prevail when He whose right it is to rule shall come. Now it’s inconceivable to me that anyone who acknowledges Him today as Lord would despise this document or turn from it. The Christian who calls Jesus Christ Lord, will seek to do what He commands, but he can obey only in the power of the Holy Spirit. It is worse than futile to try to force the Sermon on the Mount on a gainsaying and rebellious world. Only the gospel of the grace of God can make men obedient to Christ, and it was given to bring men into obedience to God.
The Sermon on the Mount needs to be preached to bring conviction to the hearts of men. This document lets men know that they have sinned, and it reveals that none are righteous and that all have come short of God’s glory.”
McGee, J. V. (1997). Thru the Bible commentary (electronic ed.). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.
Have a blessed day!
Your brother and servant in Christ,
Bill
Dying to self, living to serve!
The Second Letter To The Corinthians
Fellas, I’ve had one of those weeks where you have so many things to do you just don’t know where to begin and then just when you’re feeling like you can’t handle much more you get hit with intense parenting challenges. That is my lead-up to saying that I am completely brain dead as I sit down to write a post about today’s reading. Instead of pouring out some drivel from my addled brain I think I will lean on my old friend J. Vernon McGee. Below is his introduction to the Second Epistle to the Corinthians from Thru the Bible with J. Vernon McGee.
Introduction
The author of the epistle is Paul. Paul had written 1 Corinthians from Ephesus where he had been engaged in a great ministry. He had written, “For a great door and effectual is opened unto me, and there are many adversaries” (1 Cor. 16:9). I believe that Paul had his greatest ministry in Asia Minor—Ephesus being the springboard and the sounding board for the gospel. I believe that the gospel covered that area in a manner that was probably more effective than it has ever been in any other place at any other time. That is what Paul meant—“For a great door and effectual is opened unto me.”
Because of that ministry, Paul just couldn’t leave and go over to Corinth. In Corinth was that baby church which he had started. That church was filled with carnal Christians. They acted like babies. They wanted Paul to come, because they wanted attention. They wanted food and they wanted a change of garments—I guess you could say they were all wet. They were crying as babies cry. Paul couldn’t come, and they were a little miffed and a little hurt by it. So Paul had written his first letter and had told them that he would be coming later.
Paul remained in Ephesus approximately three years. He didn’t get to Corinth, and the Corinthians were still disturbed. He had sent Titus to Corinth because he could not personally go there at that time. Timothy had been with Paul in Ephesus, and these two left Ephesus and proceeded to Troas to wait for Titus to bring word from Corinth (see 2 Cor. 2:12–13). When Titus did not come, Paul and Timothy went on to Philippi. It was there that Titus met them and brought Paul word about the Corinthians. He brought good news from Corinth—that the Corinthians were obeying the things that Paul had told them to do in his first answer to their questions; that is, in 1 Corinthians.
At Philippi Paul sat down to write this second epistle. The Corinthians still wanted the great apostle to come and be with them. However, any breach between Paul and the Corinthian church was healed. In this epistle Paul opens his heart in a very wonderful way. To tell the truth, Paul lets us come to know him better personally in this epistle than in any other letter.
Second Corinthians deals with conditions of the ministry within the church. (First Corinthians dealt with conditions and corrections in the church.)
McGee, J. V. (1997). Thru the Bible commentary (electronic ed.). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.
Have a blessed day brothers!
Your brother and servant in Christ,
Bill
Dying to self, living to serve!
Measuring Up
Amos 6-9
Brothers, as often happens, I’ve been burning the candle at both ends and am exhausted. Work is demanding a great deal of me just at the moment. With that said I don’t want to cheat you out of a comment on today’s reading so I thought I would share something written by J. Vernon McGee in his Thru the Bible commentary concerning the following verses.
Amos 7:7-9
“This is what he showed me: behold, the Lord was standing beside a wall built with a plumb line, with a plumb line in his hand. And the Lord said to me, “Amos, what do you see?” And I said, “A plumb line.” Then the Lord said,
“Behold, I am setting a plumb line
in the midst of my people Israel;
I will never again pass by them;
the high places of Isaac shall be made desolate,
and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste,
and I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword.”
Israel has been rebellious and disobedient for a long time and God is ready to punish. God told Amos what He was going to do and Amos pleaded with the Lord for the sake of Israel. Finally God revealed His plumb line to Amos. Here is what J. Vernon had to say about these verses.
“We find the plumbline used many places in the Word of God. In Jeremiah 31:38–39 we read, “Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that the city shall be built to the Lord from the tower of Hananeel unto the gate of the corner. And the measuring line shall yet go forth over against it upon the hill Gareb, and shall compass about to Goath.” The “measuring line” is the plumbline, if you please. Every time that you have a vision of the plumbline in Scripture (see Isa. 28:I7; Zech. 2:1–2), it means that God is getting ready to judge. In the Book of Daniel, the prophet of God said to King Belshazzar, “… Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting” (Dan. 5:27). When God begins to measure either in length or in weight, you can be sure that the people have not measured up to God’s requirements, and judgment is the thing which He has in mind. Amos does not intercede for the people again, realizing that God’s judgment is just.”
McGee, J. V. (1997). Thru the Bible commentary (electronic ed.). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.
God has set a standard and it won’t be lowered. You either measure up or you don’t. You and I cannot measure up if we do not have Christ in our life. If we have Him in our life then we are about His business. Are you about His business? Are you measuring up?
Have a blessed day!
Your brother and servant in Christ,
Bill
Dying to self, living to serve!
The Deity of Christ
Psalm 108-110
Psalm 110 is considered Messianic – a Psalm about the Christ. Psalm 110 was specifically referred to by Jesus when discussing the Messiah. I found J. Vernon McGee’s treatment of this interesting.
“This psalm is remarkable because it sets forth the deity of Christ. You could not in any way consider this psalm and still deny His deity. This psalm is referred to many times in the New Testament (Acts 2:34, 35; Heb. 1:13; Heb. 5:6; 6:20; 7:21; 10:12–13).
At the time the enemies of Jesus were making their final onslaught upon Him, the Herodians, a political party, tried to trap Him by forcing Him to make a political statement that would mark Him as a traitor to Rome. When they failed to do that, the Sadducees, a liberal religious party, tried to trap Him with a ridiculous question regarding the Mosaic Law. When they failed, the Pharisees, a religio-political party, tried to trap Him. Jesus’ answer puzzled the Pharisees; so while they huddled again to plan further strategy, Jesus asked them a question: “While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, Saying, What think ye of Christ? whose son is he? They say unto him, The son of David. He saith unto them, How then doth David in spirit call him Lord, saying, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool? If David then call him Lord, how is he his son? And no man was able to answer him a word, neither durst any man from that day forth ask him any more questions” (Matt. 22:41–46). Notice that Jesus asked a straightforward question: “What think ye of Christ?” The Pharisees answered that He was the Son of David. Upon hearing this answer, the Lord pointed them to Psalm 110 to show them their insufficient knowledge of that particular portion of Scripture which the Jews interpreted as messianic. This psalm, written by David, shows Jehovah talking to Messiah. David calls Messiah “my Lord”; and any Jew who admitted Messiah was David’s descendant was faced with this psalm, where David calls Messiah his “Lord” and claims that He is superior. This showed that Messiah would be more than a king who would merely be a political ruler upon a throne. Also since David called Him “Lord” in this psalm, how can He be his son? The Lord cannot be his son by natural birth; it had to be by supernatural birth. This psalm is telling us that the Lord Jesus Christ, Israel’s Messiah, was virgin born.
“The Lord said unto my Lord ….” This is an equal speaking to an equal. This is God speaking to God, if you please. Hebrews 1:13 says, “But to which of the angels said he at any time, Sit on my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool?” This sets forth the deity of Jesus Christ, and it could not be given to us in any stronger fashion. When folk say that the Bible does not teach the deity of Jesus, they are not acquainted with this section of the Word of God, I can assure you.”
McGee, J. V. (1997). Thru the Bible commentary (electronic ed.). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.
Have a blessed day!
Your brother and servant in Christ,
Bill
Dying to self, living to serve!
Mark 6:45–7:13
