June 5, 2018
THE CENTRAL FACTS OF THE GOSPEL
Peter boldly proclaimed the central facts of the gospel to the crowd gathered in the Temple. They gathered in order to see how the man lame from birth, was now able to walk. Yet, Peter’s explanation must have been for more than they bargained. He told them that the lame man had been healed through faith in the name of the One they had killed, but God had raised up! He declared that it was faith in the name of Jesus that made the crippled man whole. This declaration hit many in the crowd like a spiritual lightning bolt, so that many believed.
What were the central gospel facts that Peter preached?
1) “You killed the Author of Life.” Jesus Christ, the Creator and Source of all life, went to the cross to pay for your sin.
2) “God raised Him from the dead.” The resurrection of Jesus is a central fact of the gospel. Life defeated death!
3) “We are witnesses of this fact.” Peter and the apostles were eye-witnesses of everything Christ had done and of his death, burial and resurrection.
4) Faith in the name of Jesus, the Author of Life, is the only way to be saved and receive eternal life.
What irony! What unfathomable mystery! The Author of Life . . . died for our sin? Yet, raised for our justification (Rom. 4:25)? Yes! O yes! These are the central facts of the gospel. We believe the facts. But we put our faith in the Name.
June 4, 2018
FROM FEARFUL DENIER TO BOLD PREACHER
When Jesus was arrested and taken to the high priest’s house for questioning, Peter denied three times that he even knew Jesus. Yet, fifty days later, after witnessing the risen Lord Jesus and seeing His ascension into heaven, Peter and 120 other believers received the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. It was on that day that Simon Peter finally became the “rock” (Greek “Petros” means “rock”), which the name Jesus had given him implied. For Peter went from fearfully denying Jesus in the dark to boldly proclaiming Him in the light of day.
June 3, 2018
LUKE’S SECOND BOOK
The book of Acts, or as some call it, the Acts of the Apostles, picks up where Luke’s gospel left off. Luke was a physician and a traveling companion of the apostle Paul. He wrote an “orderly account” (Luke 1:3) of what Jesus “began to do and teach” in his first book. In his second book, he wrote about the acts and words of the apostles after the ascension of Christ. His primary focus was on two of the apostles, namely, Simon Peter and Paul. Luke addressed both of his books to a man named, Theophilus, whose Greek name means “loved by God” or “friend of God.” Some have suggested that Theophilus was the benefactor for Luke’s two volumes, paying for their publication and distribution. Others take note that since Luke referred to him with the honorific, “most excellent Theophilus,” in his gospel, that he must have been a Roman official or leader.
The truth is no one knows the identity of Theophilus because nothing further is written about him in the Scriptures. But we can know this: The two books written by Luke were written to all those who are “loved by God.”
June 2, 2018
THE LAST LIVING APOSTLE
After Jesus told Peter the manner in which he would someday die for his witness, he asked about John’s future. Peter asked, “What about him, Lord?” The Lord responded that he shouldn’t worry about the plan God had for John’s future. He should focus on following Jesus, not on what happens to John.
John, who was probably the youngest disciple, perhaps still a teen when he started following Jesus, was in fact the last living disciple. He died around the year 100 AD. He was boiled in oil by the Romans but survived. He was exiled to the Island of Patmos where he wrote the book of Revelation. He eventually returned to Ephesus where most accounts state that he died peaceably. All of the apostles died a martyr’s death, except for John. The disciple who Jesus loved lived to see the gospel successfully carried into the next century.
June 1, 2018
THE RACE TO BELIEVING
When Mary Magdalene told Peter and the “disciple that Jesus loved” that the tomb was empty, they ran to see it for themselves. The unnamed disciple won the race, but paused at the tomb entrance, while Peter ran straight in. Finally, John, the beloved disciple, entered the tomb. Remembering the Scriptures concerning Jesus’ resurrection, he believed. John may have been the faster, but Peter was bolder. Yet, both of them won the race to believing.
May 29, 2018
WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO MALCHUS?
All of the gospels tell the story of the high priest’s servant losing an ear to one of the disciple’s swords. Yet, only John names names. We are not surprised to learn that the sword belonged to Simon Peter, but we are somewhat amazed to learn the name of the ear’s owner, namely, “Malchus.” The Synoptics only referred to him as the “high priest’s servant,” but John gave us his name.
John recorded the names, but only Luke recorded the miracle. Jesus healed the ear. Malchus did not have to go through the rest of his life without his right ear. It’s absence would have always reminded him of the sword, but it’s presence no doubt, always reminded him of Christ’s healing touch. I wonder. Does John record his name to add further fact to his testimony? Or is it because Malchus became better known to the disciples later on, having become a disciple himself?
May 28, 2018
CHRIST’S JOY NOW AVAILABLE TO US
What is this joy that resides in Christ? Isn’t it the continual, irrepressible joy that He shares in fellowship with the Father? As Jesus prayed in anticipation for His return to the Father, He prayed that we might become one in this same fellowship. And by being one in fellowship with the Father, Son and Spirit, we might share in their mutual joy.
The apostle Paul wrote that believers are to “be filled with the Spirit” (Eph. 5:18), “walk in the Spirit” (Gal. 5:16), and so bear the “fruit of the Spirit” (Gal. 5:22-23). One of the chief attributes of this “fruit,” second only to love, is joy. This joy comes from being in union with the Spirit.
The apostle John also wrote about this fellowship of joy. In his first epistle, he wrote, “That which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete” (1 John 1:3-4).
What is this joy? It is the joy of being in fellowship with the Father, Son and Spirit. It is being held in the embrace of the One who made us, died for us and now offers to live in us.
May 27, 2018
THE ABUNDANT JOY OF PRAYING IN JESUS’ NAME
Jesus has become our Mediator, opening up the way to the Father by giving Himself as a ransom for our sin (1 Tim. 2:5-6). The veil of separation has been torn, allowing our entrance into the Father’s presence in prayer. Asking and receiving from the Father in Jesus’ name, we “will have abundant joy.” This joy is not the request, nor the answer, but the real experience of praying in Jesus’ name. This joy is not only for the moment, but is abundant, overflowing into every area of our lives.
Do you know the abundant joy of praying in Jesus’ name?
May 26, 2018
THE THINGS OF CHRIST THAT GIVE US JOY!
The disciples were grieved to hear that Jesus would soon be leaving them. So Jesus shared with them the “things” that would belong to them because of His sacrifice. “These things” now belong to all those who abide in Christ, so that His “overflowing joy” abides in them.
What are “these things” of Christ that bring us joy?
1) HIS PLACE. Jesus told His disciples not to be troubled because He was preparing a place for them to live with Him forever (John 14:1-3).
2) HIS PATER. The place that Jesus would prepare would be with His Father (Greek: “Pater”) (John 14:1-6).
3) HIS PARACLETE. Jesus told His disciples that He would ask the Father to send them “another Advocate” (“parakletos”), which is the Holy Spirit to live in them (John 14:12-31).
4) HIS PRESENCE. Jesus told them the parable of the Vine and Branches, that He was the Vine and they the branches, and that they would only be able to bear spiritual fruit by abiding in Him. In this way, Christ would abide in them and they would abide in Him (John 15:1-11).
Happiness is based on favorable happenings. But joy, overflowing joy, is found in “these things” of Christ. His Place, His Pater, His Paraclete, and His Presence, these are the things of Christ that bring us overflowing joy!
May 25, 2018
THE SPIRIT IS ANOTHER OF THE SAME KIND
Jesus sought to comfort His disciples by explaining that although He must return to the Father, He would send “another Advocate” to be with them always. In the Greek, the word “Advocate” is “Paraklētos,” which literally means, “one called alongside.” It might also be translated, “Helper” or “Comforter.” This “Advocate” is the Holy Spirit.
If the Greek word “Paraklētos” is revealing, then the Greek word translated “another” is perhaps even more so. For there are two words translated “another” in the Greek. The first word is “eteros,” which has the meaning of “another” of different character. For example: “I’d rather have ‘another’ piece of fruit, like an apple instead of an orange.” But the Greek word used by Jesus was “allos,” which means “another” of the same kind. As in, “May I have ‘another’ apple?”
Why is this significant? Because Jesus was making the point that the Advocate is “another” of the same character as He. Jesus, the Son of God, was sent by the Father. Now, as He returned to the Father, He would ask the Father to send “another” of the same kind to be with His disciples. The Father, the Son and the Spirit are of the same kind. As the hymn declares, “God in three persons, blessed Trinity.”
This is why the apostle Paul referred to the Holy Spirit as both the “Spirit of God” and the “Spirit of Christ” in the same verse (Rom. 8:9). For if we have received Christ as our Lord and Savior, then we have received His Spirit, which is “another” of the same kind. So, we are able to say along with the apostle Paul, “Christ in us, the hope of glory!” (Col. 1:27). For in Christ, the “Paraklētos” lives in us!