3 John: Friends

Today’s reading is 3 John 1.

I love John’s final statement:

Peace be to you. The friends greet you. Greet the friends, each by name.

3 John 15 (ESV)

Friends. How would you like an apostle to call you “friend”? That would be simply fantastic, don’t you think? I mean, if John were calling me “friend,” I’d pretty well think I was on the right track.

No doubt, John uses this term to recall what Jesus said to the disciples in John 15:12-15:

This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you (ESV).

Jesus called the disciples friends. He declared that those who did what He said were His friends. He declared His friends need to love one another as He loved His friends. Most importantly, Jesus demonstrated they were His friends by laying down His life for them. No doubt, John calls all this to mind by referring to the disciples as “the friends.”

For all that, I can’t help but think of this in a practical way. If we love each other, we should be friends with each other. Granted, the church in Jerusalem started with 3000 people. I know in that setting everyone was not going to be friends with everyone else. That is, they couldn’t all hang out together. But we shouldn’t just claim to love other Christians, we should actually be friends with them. We should do friend things with them. If we’ve got brothers and sisters we can’t stand, we’re probably doing this love one another thing incorrectly. If we have a relationship fallout with a fellow Christian such that we sit on opposite sides of the auditorium and don’t talk to each other or we decide join the congregation across town, we’re probably doing this love one another thing incorrectly.

Love one another. Be friends.

Next week’s reading is Revelation 1.

PODCAST!!!

Click here to take about 15 minutes to listen to the Text Talk conversation between Andrew Roberts and Edwin Crozier.

PATHS:
Discuss Today’s Meditation with Your Family

What do you want to share with others from 3 John?

1 John 1: What Makes Your Joy Complete?

Today’s reading is 1 John 1.

As happens on occasion, we find a translation difficulty in 1 John 1:4. The English Standard Version of the verse says:

And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.

The New King James Version, however, says:

And these things we write to you that your joy may be full.

Whose joy will be complete? Will John’s joy be complete or will his audience’s joy be full? Apparently, manuscripts disagree regarding the pronoun. Some manuscripts say “our” and some say “your.” Apparently the manuscript witness is pretty evenly split on this one.

First, let’s lay aside some fears. This is the kind of manuscriptal difference skeptics like to make a big deal about. Of course, the manuscriptal differences do not pose nearly as big a problem for the New Testament as manuscriptal differences do for any other piece of ancient literature. In fact, if we are going to let the argument about manuscriptal differences cause us to throw out our New Testaments, we actually need to be fair and toss away all ancient literature. The testimony in favor of our New Testaments is better than every other bit of ancient literature out there. I encourage you to check out the numerous books on this topic. Here, I will simply ask you this. Consider this difference. At the end of the day, is anything about John’s message changed by either approach to this verse? Whether John means his joy will be complete or his audience’s, has any understanding of the gospel of Jesus or how to obey Jesus been changed? Of course not. The overwhelming majority of manuscriptal differences have about as much significance as this one to the message of the gospel and to the teaching of Jesus.

That being said, noticing this difference brings up a question for me. John either says his audience’s joy will be made full by having fellowship with Jesus or he says his joy will be complete if he can help others have fellowship with Jesus. That makes me wonder about myself. What gives me joy? What makes my joy complete?

Most people chase happiness. They keep looking for things they believe will give them momentary pleasure. If they string enough of those moments together, they think they’ll have lasting happiness. They think they’ll have joy. John saw joy in fellowship with Jesus. Whether that joy was for himself or for others, his notion of joy was tied to relationship with Jesus and Jesus’s people.

I have to admit, when I think about pursuing what will make me happy, the notion of fellowship and relationship with disciples isn’t what I’m commonly thinking about. Perhaps that is why when I chase happiness the way I often do, it never works out.

So, here’s the question for you. What completes your joy? Are you striving to find joy by pursuing fellowship with Jesus and His people, or do you look for it somewhere else? How’s that working out for you?

Tomorrow’s reading is 1 John 1.

PODCAST!!!

Click here to take about 15 minutes to listen to the Text Talk conversation between Andrew Roberts and Edwin Crozier sparked by this post.

PATHS:
Discuss Today’s Meditation with Your Family

How does 1 John 1 admonish you?

John 21: What is That to You? Follow Me!

Today’s reading is John 21.

Peter has been restored, given a role, provided reassurance. But he’s still Peter. So, of course, he’ll obviously do something that needs rebuke. And, he doesn’t let us down.

He can’t just let this interaction stand on its own, take comfort, and follow Jesus. Turning, he sees John and asks, “Lord, what about this man?” (John 21:21, ESV). Peter has just been able to tell Jesus he loves Him three times. He’s just been charged not only with fishing for men, but feeding the sheep of Jesus. Further, he’s been told if he will follow Jesus, he will succeed in his greatest promise. But the specter of competition rises up in Peter’s heart. “What about John? What will he do? Will he go as far as me? Will he suffer as greatly as me? Will he do as much for the Master as me?”

Jesus rebukes Peter, “If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow me!” (John 21:22, ESV). Whether John glorifies God by serving Him faithfully on earth until the end of time or he also dies a martyr’s glorifying death, doesn’t change Peter’s responsibility. Peter’s responsibility is not to turn and look at John or any of the other apostles. His responsibility is to follow Jesus.

That is our responsibility as well. This week, we’ve learned even if we fail royally after becoming disciples, we can turn back to Jesus, hang on to Him, and find restoration. We’ve also learned we can still be greatly used by Him. Of course, our first thought was, “But will it be as great as I always wanted? Will it be as great as so-and-so?” Jesus says to us, “If I use them to only provide a cup of cold water for my servants or if I use them to convert kingdoms, what is that to you. You follow me!” And, He is saying, “If I use you to convert kingdoms or only provide water for the one I use to convert kingdoms, what is that to you? You follow me!”

It’s not a competition. We are a team. When we win, I win. When we win, you win. Jesus is our Master. He deserves all glory, honor, praise, and service. Let us just follow Him and be amazed that He uses us for whatever part in the glorious expanse of His kingdom. If we can do nothing more than be a doorkeeper in the house of the Lord, that is greater than being a king in the world, but outside of Christ’s camp.

Jesus is beckoning, “Follow me!” Will you?

Tomorrow’s reading is John 21.

PODCAST!!!

Click here to take about 15 minutes to listen to the Text Talk conversation between Andrew Roberts and Edwin Crozier sparked by this post.

PATHS:
Discuss Today’s Meditation with Your Family

How does John 21 prompt or improve your hope in God?

John 21: He Has a Job for You

Today’s reading is John 21.

Jesus has recreated several important moments in Peter’s life in order to demonstrate restoration. But, let’s face it, this is an example case for all the apostles. None of the apostles stood up for Jesus. They all fled. Those who didn’t deny verbally did not do so mostly because they didn’t go to the trial and weren’t given the opportunity. No doubt, however, Peter’s feelings of guilt and shame were so intense as to be almost insurmountable. At least at this point Peter is doing better than Judas. Judas had only worldly sorrow which leads to death (see 2 Corinthians 7:10).

If you’ve been in Peter’s shoes, you know the horrific feelings of not only guilt and shame, but hopelessness and uselessness. Having failed Jesus in what we knew was most important leaves us believing even if Jesus would accept us back, at best we can come in as second-class, failed citizens. We are sure we will be shunted to the side, never trusted, never used, hoping only that we might barely scrape by in the end.

But see how Jesus responds to Peter. Jesus goes out of His way to bring Peter to restoration. He goes out of His way not only to restore Peter in His own sight, but to make sure Peter can see he has been restored. Further, Jesus didn’t simply restore Peter to the fold, allowing him to be in the sheep pen, but shunted to the side by the more important, more useful sheep. He had a job for Peter. Each time Peter restated his love for Jesus, Jesus charged him, “Feed my lambs. Tend my sheep. Feed my sheep.”

Understand, even when your biggest sins come after being a disciple, Jesus wants to accomplish powerful things in His kingdom through you. He doesn’t bring you back in but only barely. He brings you back in to put you fully to work. And if a survey of Bible characters teaches us anything, it is often those who have failed the biggest who have finally gotten to the level of perceiving their weakness that allows them to be most usable by God (see 2 Corinthians 12:9-10).

Have you failed the Lord? Don’t abandon Him. Turn back to Him. But also, don’t turn back to Him and then try to fade into the unnoticed background. Turn back to Him and humbly do what you know to do in His service. Humbly do what you can. The Lord has a place for you. The Lord has a job for you.

Praise the Lord!

Tomorrow’s reading is John 21.

PODCAST!!!

Click here to take about 15 minutes to listen to the Text Talk conversation between Andrew Roberts and Edwin Crozier sparked by this post.

PATHS:
Discuss Today’s Meditation with Your Family

How does John 21 admonish you?

John 20: That You May Believe

Today’s reading is John 20.

Poor Thomas. His incredible devotion to Jesus and courage back in John 11:16 is forgotten. His declaration to the other eleven, provoking them to follow Jesus to Judea, saying, “Let us also go, that we may die with him,” is lost, hidden behind his doubt in John 20:25: “Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe” (ESV).

But for a moment, let us be thankful for Thomas’s profound doubt. Modern skeptics and atheists would have us believe in a superstitious Thomas, a gullible Thomas, a susceptible Thomas, a foolish Thomas. I for one am thankful for doubting Thomas. While he is singled out, he was no more or less doubtful than the rest who refused to believe until they saw Jesus in the flesh themselves. But what do we see in Thomas? These men were not superstitious. They were not expecting resurrection. They didn’t even believe in it when it happened. They demanded the level of evidence most anyone would demand. “I need to see it for myself.”

Yet, how can that level of evidence be provided for all time? Must Jesus incarnate again and again, die again and again, rise again and again, be witnessed again and again in each generation for everyone to see so they can believe? Jesus is a once-for-all sacrifice, not a repeating one. What is the only option then? Those who demanded such a high level of evidence must give their testimony. They must relate their own experiences. They must share with us the signs they saw. Then we will have to determine whether their testimony stacks up.

And so, Jesus says to Thomas, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed” (John 20:29, ESV). Then John, our author, goes on to explain:

Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

John 20:30-31 (ESV)

We haven’t seen. Jesus will not incarnate again and again, sacrifice again and again, rise again and again. But His ambassadors were left behind to tell the story. John has told us His story. He didn’t tell us everything he could, but he told us everything we need to hear. Recall the signs: the miraculous knowledge of man and woman, the sight to the blind, the healing, the water to wine, the resurrection from the dead. That last one though. He raised others from the dead, He raised Himself. These are the signs. John tells us what he saw, what he heard, what he touched. He is not alone, Matthew also tells us. Mark tells us on behalf of Peter. Luke tells us of the research he compiled. Paul tells us.

All of this given by God through these men that we would believe. If you won’t believe, what will you make of Jesus? If you won’t believe, make sure whatever you do believe actually makes sense of the evidence as we have it.

These things were recorded that you might have life in the name of Jesus. Can we help you consider this further? Can we help you believe? If you believe, can we help you give your allegiance to the Christ, the Son of God, our King, Jesus? If so, let us know in the comments below.

Next week’s reading is John 21.

PODCAST!!!

Click here to take about 15 minutes to listen to the Text Talk conversation between Andrew Roberts and Edwin Crozier sparked by this post.

PATHS:
Discuss Today’s Meditation with Your Family

What do you want to share with others from John 20?

John 20: Considering Testimony

Today’s reading is John 20.

We find it hard today to read one gospel record completely by itself, simply learning what each author wanted to teach. Our Bibles have four records in them. No doubt, one of the greatest puzzles for us today is why the accounts are so different. One might think as important a matter as the resurrection is, the authors would have worked harder to corroborate their testimonies.

That is an interesting question. Why didn’t they work harder at it? If the men were simply lying, if they were fabricating the story whole cloth, the only way it would work is if they corroborated. Otherwise, the ancient readers would be able to tell the gospel authors couldn’t get their facts straight and wouldn’t believe. Yet, somehow, the ancients (who could talk to and question the authors) did read the accounts, the same as we do, and they accepted them as a consistent story about the resurrection of Jesus.

Keep in mind inspiration does not mean God dictated to the apostles and prophets what He wanted written, but it does mean God got what He wanted into the writing. He allowed the men to write from their own experiences, backgrounds, memories, research, personalities. As such, what did Holy Spirit want us to have in the four gospel accounts? Not a singular corroborated, polished, harmonized account from four men. Rather, He wanted us to have the recalled and/or researched testimony of four men regarding a singularly unique event.

Each author provides different details based on what mattered to him or based on his specific goal. Each author writes from a different perspective and with a unique purpose. But each author provides testimony to the resurrection. And, again, we are left asking why, if these men were making it all up, they didn’t work harder to corroborate.

May I point out if they had worked harder to corroborate and we read four accounts saying exactly the same thing, today’s skeptics would not be pleased. Rather, they would tell us it didn’t sound like actual eye-witness testimony or actual recounting of memories and events. Rather, it sounds like a polished, manufactured, corroborated, fabricated fiction.

As it stands now, 2000 years later, we are unable to ask the original authors about the details and the differences. Therefore, we struggle to harmonize with precise detail. However, what we have are the hallmarks of eye-witness testimonies, of recounted memories, and of researched discoveries regarding a singularly magnificent event. Jesus died on a Friday. On Sunday, His tomb was empty. Some women discovered the empty tomb. The disciples were told and at first didn’t believe in the resurrection. Jesus appeared not only to the women, but also to the apostles. In short order, they all believed Jesus rose from the dead and began to proclaim it as such. And their testimony was so convincing, the message dominated the world in a matter of centuries.

Consider this. Recall the last time you and your spouse or you and your best friend tried to tell someone else about an event you experienced together. How many times did you remember details differently? How many different details were significant to each of you to bring up? And yet, did the fact you diverged on some details mean the car wreck didn’t happen or that the waiter didn’t spill the tea on you or that the home team didn’t win the big game? What God has provided for us is not polished, corroborated, manufactured, fabricated fiction, but actual eye-witness testimony, recalled memory, and researched discovery. And He included that with the realistic mess it always includes. Why? Because tales of the resurrection of Jesus do not need to be corroborated, manufactured, fabricated, or polished, they just need to be told.

Praise the Lord!

Tomorrow’s reading is John 20.

PODCAST!!!

Click here to take about 15 minutes to listen to the Text Talk conversation between Andrew Roberts and Edwin Crozier sparked by this post.

PATHS:
Discuss Today’s Meditation with Your Family

How does John 20 admonish you?

John 20: Risen!

Today’s reading is John 20.

There’s no coming back from a spear shoved up into your heart.

Or is there?

The King is Risen! Long live the King!

Friday’s post was a bit of a downer. I admit it. Unless, of course, you already knew what was coming next. And here it is. On Friday, Jesus died. He was really, truly, and in all other ways dead. He was buried. But on the morning of the third day, Mary Magdalene showed up to the tomb, the stone was rolled back, and it was empty. Jesus’s body was gone.

Mary thought the body had been stolen. Apparently, she was so distraught she actually left before the angels spoke to the other women. She told the apostles the body was missing. Two of them came to check out the tomb. Mary stayed behind and met…

…the resurrected Jesus!

The King is Risen! Long live the King!

Jesus had said in John 2:19, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up” (ESV). The apostles didn’t understand what Jesus truly meant when He said it. But after Mary witnessed the resurrected Jesus and the apostles did as well, they understood. He was talking about the temple of His body.

The King is Risen! Long live the King!

Yes, we serve a King that was executed as if He was a criminal. We must not miss that and all it means for us. But, on the third day He defeated death. He rose from the grave. If we want to defeat death and the grave, I suggest we follow the only one in all of human history who has.

Are you willing to join us in following Him? If we can help you, let us know in the comments.

PODCAST!!!

Click here to take about 15 minutes to listen to the Text Talk conversation between Andrew Roberts and Edwin Crozier sparked by this post.

PATHS:
Discuss Today’s Meditation with Your Family

How does John 20 prompt or improve your praise of God?

John 18: He Trusted God

Today’s reading is John 18.

Jesus finished praying and led the apostles across the Kidron Valley to a garden in which He often met with His disciples. In other words, despite knowing Judas was betraying Him and despite knowing Judas knew precisely where to find Him, Jesus did what He commonly did with His disciples. He went out to Gethsemane. Like Daniel who continued to pray at his window three times per day despite the king’s law against it, Jesus went to the garden to pray with His disciples despite Judas’s plans to desecrate it.

One statement in the early verses of this week’s chapter stands out to me. When the band of soldiers and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees came into the garden, John writes:

Then Jesus, knowing all that would happen to him, came forward and said to them, “Whom do you seek?”

John 18:4 (ESV)

Allow me to share with you how this verse would have read if it had involved Edwin. “Then Edwin, knowing all that would happen to him, took off running for the hills.” But not Jesus. Jesus, knowing all that would happen to Him, stood His ground. In fact, leaned into it.

I know the word isn’t used here, but the we witness Jesus’s incredible trust in God in this statement. How easy it is to trust God when supporters with open check books and wallets are coming to meet us. How easy it is to trust God when friends with accolades, confessions, and pats on the back are coming to meet us. But to trust God when a betrayer backed by soldiers with swords and clubs is coming to meet us? We might even find it easy to trust God when we don’t know all that will happen to us. We hang on to the notion God will save us at the last minute. But Jesus knew everything that would happen. He knew the farcical trials. He knew the beatings, spitting, mocking, crown of thorns, scourging, crucifixion, and death. He knew it all and trusted God’s plan was right. So, He stepped forward.

Knowing all that would happen, Jesus stepped forward. He trusted God that much. How much will you trust God today?

Tomorrow’s reading is John 18.

PODCAST!!!

Click here to take about 15 minutes to listen to the Text Talk conversation between Andrew Roberts and Edwin Crozier sparked by this post.

PATHS:
Discuss Today’s Meditation with Your Family

How does John 18 prompt or improve your trust in God?

John 17: Honor God by Standing Out from the World

Today’s reading is John 17.

We honor God as Jesus did by worshiping the Father. Worship transforms us to accomplish the work He has assigned to us, which we discovered by keeping His Word. When we accomplished great things, we recognized the grace of God in our accomplishment and gave Him the proper credit. We might think all of this would lead us to be loved by our neighbors. However, that isn’t how it worked for Jesus. That is not how it will work for us. Sure, those who walk the same path will love us. But those who choose to reject Jesus, will reject us as well.

In this, Satan presents a grand temptation to abandon the glory of God. We know it is the tall grass that gets cut down. The squeaky hinge gets greased. The brightest disciples get persecuted.

Jesus made it clear in His prayer:

I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.

John 17:14 (ESV)

If we are going to honor God, we must commit ourselves to stand out from the world. As the old preachers used to say, we are in the world, but not of the world. It’s okay for the boat to be in the water, but we must not let the water in the boat. The kingdom of Jesus is not of this world, it is not from this world. It’s citizens do not behave the same way the citizens of the world behave. We think differently, value differently, prioritize differently, behave differently. The world will hate us, castigate us, berate us, belittle us, malign us, falsely accuse us. They will do anything to salve their consciences for not being like our Master. Darkness hates light.

Light, however, cannot help but shine. The darker the environment, the brighter the light shines in its midst. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Consider, one of the oddest things about Jesus is how often He told people to say nothing about the work He had done. We would think Jesus would self-promote and try to fan His fame into a bright, fierce flame. Yet, for all His receding into the background, the people kept looking for Him. At first, they looked in order to magnify Him, but eventually in order to murder Him. He couldn’t be hidden. When we honor God as He did, we will not be able to hide either. The world will find us out, they will hate us, they will attack us.

However, be of good cheer. Our Master, our King, Our Lord has overcome the world. Praise the Lord!

Next week’s reading is John 18.

PODCAST!!!

Click here to take about 15 minutes to listen to the Text Talk conversation between Andrew Roberts and Edwin Crozier sparked by this post.

PATHS:
Discuss Today’s Meditation with Your Family

What do you want to share with others from John 18?

John 17: Honor God by Giving Him the Proper Credit

Today’s reading is John 17.

We honor God by worshiping Him as Jesus did. That worship transforms us to go out and accomplish the work He has assigned to us in His Word. As we keep His word and do His work, we will accomplish things, often great things. Then the temptation hits. The temptation to honor ourselves for all we have accomplished. The temptation to expect God to honor us for all we have accomplished. However, Jesus’s prayer grants insight to how we might overcome this temptation and still honor God.

Read John 17:6-19 again. Pay attention to Jesus’s use of “give,” “gave,” and “given.”

…the people whom you gave me out of the world…

…they know that everything you have given me is from you…

…I have given them the words that you gave me…

…I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me…

Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me…

I have given them your word…

Notice how much of Jesus’s work was done because of what the Father had given Him. Notice how much of what the apostles had because Jesus had in turn given to them. Jesus didn’t have apostles because He was simply great at making apostles, but because the Father gave them. Jesus didn’t teach because He was just so great at coming up with the Word, but because the Father had given Him the Word. Jesus’s name was not great because He was so good at wearing a name, but because the Father had given Him the name. The apostles would in turn need to recognize the same principle.

In this, we find the key to overcoming the temptation to self-glorification. Yes, when we keep God’s Word and do the work He has given us, we will accomplish great things. But we accomplish those things not because we are so great but because of what God has given us. In this way we honor God, by giving Him the proper credit for our seeming accomplishments.

Paul asked the Corinthians some pointed questions:

What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?

1 Corinthians 4:7 (ESV)

What do you have that you did not receive? Your house? Your car? Your education? Your family? Your job? Your abilities? Your resources? Your knowledge? Your opportunities? Your accomplishments? What if you had been born to different parents? …in a different time? …a different country? …a different “side of the tracks”? No doubt, we must all choose to use the gifts given to us. Some squander the gifts. What a tragedy. But when we have used the gifts to good, God-glorifying effect, recall we only were able to do so because we first received those gifts from God.

We are all like the Israelites in David’s prayer for the temple collection in 1 Chronicles 29:14. We are only able to offer to God because He first gave to us. We are the five and two-talent servants of Jesus’s parable. Yes, we worked and traded with those talents to produce more, but without the seed money from the Master, we would have nothing to give Him in the end (see Matthew 25:14-30).

Every good and perfect gift comes from the Father. When we keep God’s Word and accomplish His work, we continue to honor God by giving Him the proper credit, praise, and glory for His good gifts.

Praise the Lord!

Tomorrow’s reading is John 17.

PODCAST!!!

Click here to take about 15 minutes to listen to the Text Talk conversation between Andrew Roberts and Edwin Crozier sparked by this post.

PATHS:
Discuss Today’s Meditation with Your Family

How does John 18 prompt or improve your hope in God?