Notes to the Lord: Not...or maybe so...

The teaching of the cross must always be framed within the context of execution, within the framework of the law and within the context of curse.

Lord Jesus you became a curse for me.

Galatians 3:13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: "Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree."

Peter could not stand to think of You, Lord as becoming a curse. He wanted with all his being for You to be his King...to rule from Jerusalem and to restore Israel to what it was called to be.

22Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. "Never, Lord!" he said. "This shall never happen to you!"

Lord Jesus--There are teachings that You bring that hit me right where I live. My immediate reaction is...not that. Why do we have to go there, Jesus? Any place but there, Lord. Peter listened to this new teaching and in his heart he instinctively knew that this was a turning point. He knew that his dreams of your earthly kingdom in Jerusalem with the Romans kicked into the Mediterranean Sea was not going to happen. I can relate to that...dreams die hard. Sometimes restoration begins with rubble.

23Jesus turned and said to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men."

Lord Jesus--This is one of the more stinging rebukes that Peter gets in his walk with you. Just a point of context...it is not the last. There would be others...Peter do you love me? Feed my sheep. Then there would be the words that hurt from Paul that ended up being the Galatians incident. Peter got in trouble at a fellowship dinner right over the roast pork...I mean over the fact that he was not eating kosher.

Peter and I could have hung out. I can get into trouble standing still in the back yard all alone on a sunny day. Sometimes sorting out the things of man and things of God gets very confusing. Peter had trouble with it but somewhere along the way it got clarified. As time went on, clearly he integrated and clarified why the wait, why the need go where he didn't really want to go.

2 Peter 3:9
The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.

Lord Jesus--Peter knew of your patience...I know of that same patience. In this day remind me of lessons learned, of grace received, patience experienced. Lead on in this Day Lord Jesus to the places where we need to go.

Notes to the Lord:Surprised?

Scripture Reflection:Matthew 16

21From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.

Lord Jesus--The reaction of the people to your ministry resulted in the cross...could it have been different? I suppose that will be a question that will have to wait for heaven. But in my heart I have to believe that each of these leaders who rejected you could have chosen differently. If there is anyone who has free will everyone must have it.

But the reaction that these leaders had to your ministry was an attempt to control You and when that was not possible to kill You. Lord Jesus, I don't want to make the same mistake. I want to follow You where ever You lead. Not to attempt to control but allow you to guide me to the place where control is not an issue...to a place that defines my life but doesn't confine my life...a place where authenticity rules my heart, my mind and my actions.

For You to be fully in control there has to be an end to meandering in my following you...this journey of faith isn't always a walk in the park on a sunny day, or a stroll though the pines on a summer evening. Sometimes it is a forced march, with danger on either side headed to a place that I would not choose to go to if I were the one doing the choosing. But a place where I can be Yours and where I am needed, where I am uniquely prepared...a place of ongoing surrender. Keep my feet following yours Lord Jesus...

A line of a worship song keeps going through my mind...

Please take from me my life
When I don't have the strength
to give it away to You Jesus

Up close and personal today...

The cross did not surprise you, Lord Jesus. Your will for my life is not a surprise to you, even if it is for me at times. The giving away must happen each day... in the giving there is hope and safety ...there is the faith of a child. Keep me safe in your care today.

Notes to the Lord:Bed Rock Foundation

Scripture Reflections: Matthew 16

¹⁸And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.

Lord Jesus--I am not quick enough on the up take of this word play...it is lost in English. Peter is not really the focus. It is more like...You are a chip off the old block but on the bed rock of this confession I will build my church.

The confession of You as Lord, the son of God, Messiah, and savoir of the world is what everything else in the church is based. The implications of the Your Lordship is something that will take me the rest of my life to work out the implication of. This confession will stand the test of time and nothing even Hell itself can not overcome the results of this confession.

Lord Jesus--When my world shakes, and it does from time to time. Your Lordship is what I put my hope in. When everything around me seems trite, cheap and time limited, I can be sure that you are still Lord. When the waves crash and bring down the things that though were permanent in my life...your Lordship stands like rock.

¹⁹I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven." ²⁰Then he warned his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Christ.

Up close and personal... out of this passage:
You are Lord, Christ, Messiah Son of God.Your church will not fail and not even the gates of Hell are a match for what you are doing in the world.Your church has responsibility to work out the implications of that Lordship over a life time. It seems to me that over time that demands or requirements...change, morph and demand continued growth. Can I depend on you in this new situation...that you are Lord and that you will lead, guide and protect? That is question that leads me on...today.
Jesus be Lord of this day.

It Is Really Pretty Simple

Scripture Reflections: Matthew 16

¹³When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, "Who do people say the Son of Man is?"

¹⁴They replied, "Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets."

Lord Jesus--Your ministry was not over looked or missed by the people, that is a good thing as far as it goes. They could change at a moments notice. They saw the miracles, but their understanding of the events and teachings was another thing. They put you in a good group of people...a group of people who would have had to have been resurrected. A whole new meaning to the the term...the Grateful Dead....correction...Elijah was the only one not offically dead. He had been taken by God to heaven. You were a part of a crowd that divine intervention would have been required to have made your presence possible.

That is a good start, but as is usually the case, just not exactly enough. In their minds you were a sound bite, a picture frozen in time in their thinking, a step beyond a physician, but not the Son of God. For these people, you were a part of the past but not the embodiment of the future.

¹⁵"But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?"

¹⁶Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."

¹⁷Jesus replied, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven.

Lord Jesus--Peter had such ability for insight and such a capacity for messing it all up. Here he got it exactly right. He saw you for who you are. The Christ is the annointed one of God, the Messiah, the one sent from the Father who would do for us what we could never do for our selves: save us from our sins.

Lord Jesus--It is really such a simple thing...it is with the help of the Father whenever I can see the world the way that you do. Give me that ability today.

Notes to the Lord: Being a Slow Learner Spiritually

Scripture Reflections: Matthew 16

⁵When they went across the lake, the disciples forgot to take bread. ⁶"Be careful," Jesus said to them. "Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees." ⁷They discussed this among themselves and said, "It is because we didn't bring any bread."

Lord Jesus--The disciples found themselves knee deep in conflict that they did not fully understand. There were political forces that were at work within the nation arraying against your ministry which the disciples had not worked out the full implications of. You understood the full ferment of Pharisees and Sadducees thought process. You understood that they were more concerned with the agenda of their pressure group than anything else. They had come to the place where spiritual formation was not the point, power was the point...attention was the point.

The disciples heard you mention yeast and they thought literally and you were to speaking of yeast metaphorically. They were in the slow reading group spiritually. How many times have I been there? Some place where I have all of the data but just can't put the pieces together to make the puzzle work.

Lord Jesus when I am in that place it is not always because I want to be or intend to be...sometimes I get stuck on the simple things. But then you already knew that. It almost always has something to do with the way that I am able to get a hold of the idea of faith worked out in the real world where I need to eat and where the pressures of meeting deadlines get in my way.

⁸Aware of their discussion, Jesus asked, "You of little faith, why are you talking among yourselves about having no bread? ⁹Do you still not understand? Don't you remember the five loaves for the five thousand, and how many basketfuls you gathered? ¹⁰Or the seven loaves for the four thousand, and how many basketfuls you gathered? ¹¹How is it you don't understand that I was not talking to you about bread?

Lord Jesus--You will not let me off the hook, just like you confronted the disciples. It is all about faith. The issues is not bread, or any of the everyday needs that have to be filled to make a living. You were able to feed the masses, the inference is ...don't you silly little boys think that I can feed you when you need to eat?

But be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees." ¹²Then they understood that he was not telling them to guard against the yeast used in bread, but against the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

Lord Jesus--It is in the simple things of trusting you in the everyday things of life that the implications of faith are worked out. The teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees was more about power and retaining power than about spiritual formation and of coming face to face with God in everyday life. You do not need political pressure groups watching out for your political agenda. You did not need that then and you do not need that now. Spiritual formation is not something that is about power bases or the politics, it is instead saying yes to you in the everyday choices that are right in front of me.

Lord Jesus--Forgive me when my lack of faith for the simple things gets in the way of the spiritual formation that you are waiting on me to catch up to...forgive me for my slow learning spiritually.

Notes to the Lord:Faith in the MIddle of Signs and Wonders

Scripture Reflections:Matthew 16

1The Pharisees and Sadducees came to Jesus and tested him by asking him to show them a sign from heaven.

Lord Jesus--When I read this I want to feel superior...I am not someone who is looking for you to do signs and wonders. But the truth is I am looking for the miraculous in my life.

Lord Jesus I guess I understand some of the what the leaders of these pressure groups were asking for. Maybe a difference is that their question were a precondition to being willing to follow...my desire to see the miraculous at work is more a validation that I am where I need to be.

2He replied, "When evening comes, you say, 'It will be fair weather, for the sky i s red,' 3and in the morning, 'Today it will be stormy, for the sky is red and overcast.' You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times.

Lord Jesus--The times that I live in are much like the times that You found Yourself living through, times of transition and change. Times when it is easier to predict the weather than who you might agree with in politics...the combination of pressure groups that came to question are interesting. These represent the liberals and the conservatives joining forces to meet a mutual foe.

4A wicked and adulterous generation looks for a miraculous sign, but none will be given it except the sign of Jonah." Jesus then left them and went away.

Lord Jesus--The sign of Jonah was a prediction of your death. Jonah was in the belly of the beast three days...You were in the grave three days.

So the up close and personal edge, is simply this: Your resurrection from the grave is the center of my hope. It is the sign of all signs, it is the miraculous at work within my heart and soul. You take death and make it a sign of the power of God. It is in following where ever the will of God leads that radical faith and miraculous results can occur. It is so easy to loose the point right in the middle of doing your work and following Your call Lord Jesus.

Lord Jesus--Lead me in the day that will begin very soon. Help me to follow you today and to see the signs all along the way of your grace, your glory and your watch care over your own.

Notes to the Lord: Need meets Intention

Scripture Reflections: Matthew 15

³²Jesus called his disciples to him and said, "I have compassion for these people; they have already been with me three days and have nothing to eat. I do not want to send them away hungry, or they may collapse on the way."

³³His disciples answered, "Where could we get enough bread in this remote place to feed such a crowd?"

Lord Jesus--As I write this it is the middle of the night and I am awake again...reading, and writing and talking with you while music plays in the background. Insomnia is something that you knew a little about...you stayed up all night to pray.

As I think of these people who were all around you...they were surrounding you with need. You could sense their need. You had healed their sick and now the hunger of the crowd was so thick in the air that it could almost be tasted. You could not see those eyes that were newly opened and so full of hope come to harm for lack of food at this moment.

You did not send them away without meeting their need...there had been celebration in the air, but now there was immediate need...hunger. Lord Jesus--you knew thier need that day in that deserted region between the Sea and the mountains not too far from Magadan. You remind me tonight that you did not turn these people away in their need nor will you turn me away in my need. Lord Jesus speak to me tonight.

Lord Jesus--You fed these needy people even though these two incidents of mass feedings became the 1st century equivalent of a sound bite repented endlessly out of context and twisted in a knot and stood on it head. Thank you that you still met their need even knowing what it would ultimately cost you. The road to the cross runs right straight through the feeding of the five thousand and the four thousand.

³⁴"How many loaves do you have?" Jesus asked."Seven," they replied, "and a few small fish."³⁵He told the crowd to sit down on the ground. ³⁶Then he took the seven loaves and the fish, and when he had given thanks, he broke them and gave them to the disciples, and they in turn to the people.

Lord Jesus--You were thankful for the far too little bread and fish for too large a group. I see the little and you see the possible...forgive me Lord for allowing myself to be overwhelmed by the little in the middle of the very place where faith has enough room to work.

³⁷They all ate and were satisfied. Afterward the disciples picked up seven basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. ³⁸The number of those who ate was four thousand, besides women and children. ³⁹After Jesus had sent the crowd away, he got into the boat and went to the vicinity of Magadan.

Lord Jesus--There are those who believe that the real miracle was the you helped people to share what they all already had...if that was what happened that would have been a pretty big miracle. But that leaves the miracle in the hands of the people. I have no idea how you met the need that day on the lake, it overwhelms me that you care about the needs that confront me. I know with out a doubt that you are able to meet whatever need is waiting for me in tomorrow light.

Lord Jesus continue your work inside me.