Holy Week - Day 3

In my devotional time this morning I read Matthew 26:17-30 (ESV)
17 Now on the first day of Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Where will you have us prepare for you to eat the Passover?” 18 He said, “Go into the city to a certain man and say to him, ‘The Teacher says, My time is at hand. I will keep the Passover at your house with my disciples.’ ” 19 And the disciples did as Jesus had directed them, and they prepared the Passover. 20 When it was evening, he reclined at table with the twelve. 21 And as they were eating, he said, “Truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me.” 22 And they were very sorrowful and began to say to him one after another, “Is it I, Lord?” 23 He answered, “He who has dipped his hand in the dish with me will betray me. 24 The Son of Man goes as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for that man if he had not been born.” 25 Judas, who would betray him, answered, “Is it I, Rabbi?” He said to him, “You have said so.” 26 Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.” 27 And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you, 28 for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. 29 I tell you I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.” 30 And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.

This passage of Scripture describes the scene as Jesus and his disciples observe the Jewish Passover. Then at the end of the passage, Jesus establishes the Christian ordinance of Communion or the Lord's Supper. But what I really focused on this morning was the fact that Jesus is the fulfillment of the Old Testament Passover remembrance. In the book of Exodus, the Israelites were commanded by God through Moses to pack their bags and get ready to leave Egypt because God was going to send the 10th plague, which was the death of the 1st born son. Moses said that the death angel would "pass over" their homes and spare their eldest son if they observed this ritual. They had to kill a lamb and sprinkle the blood on the top and sides of the doorpost. When the death angel saw that mark, he would "pass over" them.
Now move forward to the Matthew 26 passage. In this passage Jesus is declaring that He is the permanent passover sacrifice. Just as the blood of the lamb spared the house from the righteous anger of God, so the shedding of His blood on the cross would spare the world from the righteous anger of God. With the original passover all were welcomed to participate in the passover feast, both Israelite and Egyptian. But of course only those who believed and worship Jehovah God participated. In the same way, all are welcomed by God to participate in the forgiveness and reconciliation that is offered through Christ's death, but only those who choose to embrace Jesus as Lord and Savior will do so. So this morning I end with these words written by the Apostle Paul, "Thank God for this gift too wonderful for words!" 2Corinthians 9:15 (NLT)


[1]
[1] Tyndale House Publishers. (2004). Holy Bible : New Living Translation. (2nd ed.). Wheaton, Ill.: Tyndale House Publishers.

[1] The Holy Bible : English standard version. 2001. Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.

Day 2 - Extravagant Worship

This morning during my time of prayer and Bible reading I focused in on Mark 14:1-9.

1 It was now two days before the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. And the chief priests and the scribes were seeking how to arrest him by stealth and kill him, 2 for they said, “Not during the feast, lest there be an uproar from the people.” 3 And while he was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he was reclining at table, a woman came with an alabaster flask of ointment of pure nard, very costly, and she broke the flask and poured it over his head. 4 There were some who said to themselves indignantly, “Why was the ointment wasted like that? 5 For this ointment could have been sold for more than three hundred denarii and given to the poor.” And they scolded her. 6 But Jesus said, “Leave her alone. Why do you trouble her? She has done a beautiful thing to me. 7 For you always have the poor with you, and whenever you want, you can do good for them. But you will not always have me. 8 She has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand for burial. 9 And truly, I say to you, wherever the gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her.”[1]
[1] The Holy Bible : English standard version. 2001. Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.

Reading this story I immediately noticed the extravagance of this woman's offering. One denarii is the equivalent of one day's wages. So the amount of this gift could be comparable to $50,000 in today's dollars. Wow! I don't know about you but that is certainly an extravagant gift. Of course, this woman's gift was given in view of the most extravagant gift in history - the gift of Christ's life on the cross. So when viewed in light of God's gift ("For God so loved the world, that He gave His one and only Son"), this gift isn't quite an extravagant as we might think. But never the less, this story of extravagance has been recorded in the timeless pages of Scripture. Here are few thoughts I had about extravagant worship while reading this morning:

1) Extravagant worship requires a change in focus from the temporal (earthly) to the eternal (heavenly).
This woman recognized the coming crucifixion of Jesus. She understood that earthly possessions (perfume) have no comparison to eternal priorities (worship of God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength).
2) Extravagant worship makes others uncomfortable - did you notice the response of others (specifically Judas)? Their response was self righteous and hypocritical. They had been put to shame by this woman and got defensive in the process. I remember a few months back when my daughter wanted to participate in an offering at her school (Prince of Peace Lutheran). If I remember correctly, the offering was to help missionaries in remote parts of the world. She had just begun getting paid to do her chores and I think she got one dollar a week. Now she is a good saver and never spends the money. So after saving up for weeks and weeks, she had about 10 dollars. She said she wanted to give 5 dollars to the offering. Do you know what my first response was? I thought in my mind, "this is unwise, this is half of everything she has, they don't need her 5 dollars." The truth was her extravagant worship put me to shame.
3) Opportunities for extravagant worship are not always available - Jesus said, "For you always have the poor with you, and whenever you want, you can do good for them. But you will not always have me." If this woman had waited just two more days to perform her act of worship, it would have been too late. Jesus would have already been arrested and his trial would have already started. If she had waited, she would have kneeled before him at the cross and wept tears of sorrow for missing her opportunity to express her love.

My prayer for today is this, "May I look for opportunities to express my extravagant worship to God for his amazing, extravagant act of grace towards me."

Day 1 - Palm Sunday

Matthew 21:1-11 (ESV)
1 Now when they drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethphage, to the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, 2 saying to them, “Go into the village in front of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to me. 3 If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord needs them,’ and he will send them at once.” 4 This took place to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet, saying, 5 “Say to the daughter of Zion, ‘Behold, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.’ ” 6 The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them. 7 They brought the donkey and the colt and put on them their cloaks, and he sat on them. 8 Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. 9 And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!” 10 And when he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up, saying, “Who is this?” 11 And the crowds said, “This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee.”

As I read this passage of Scripture, I focused on the line in verse 10 "Who is this?" People have been asking this question for centuries. Now a days it has been rephrased a little bit to sound something like this, "What's the big deal about Jesus?" In our culture, Jesus is a great teacher, a wonderful role model, or a powerful historical figure, but He cannot be who He said He was. I love this famous quote from CS Lewis:


"I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: 'I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept His claim to be God.' That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic -- on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg -- or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to." – Mere Christianity, pages 40-41.

What begins the movement of God in your life and what makes you a follower of Jesus is when you honestly answer the question, "Who is Jesus?" If Jesus is God become man then this week has powerful significance, but if Jesus is just another great teacher or moralist, then we should do away with this week.

The Beginning of Holy Week

Normally I'm not much of a tradition person. In my mind, tradition typically means boring, routine, and very dry. But this year I've decided to do something a little bit different for the days leading up to Easter. I have been really passionate to see God work in my life lately, and so this week I've decided to begin each day focusing on Christ's path to the cross. Part of my plan is to fast from food on Thursday and Friday as a way of preparing my heart for the Good Friday Service. Another part is to read the different stories in the Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) that tell the story leading up to the crucifixion. I hope you will join me this week in asking God to do a great work in your heart as well.

Leprechaun Trap

Who would have known how much I needed to learn when Alanna started kindergarten. This week in celebration of St. Patrick's Day, we had to come up with a Leprechaun Trap. Here is a picture of the finished product...any Leprechauns in our home don't stand a chance :)

Sneak Peak at New Sermon Series

Here is the graphic for the new sermon series starting on Easter. Let me know your thoughts. What's the first thing you think of when you see the graphic? Does it grab your attention? Are you interested in "reading" it?

I hope to see you Sunday at our 7th Anniversary Service. We have a BBQ and Baptism following the 10:35am service. (Cool new baptistry too! Thanks to Ernesto and Drew for helping me pick it up.)

7th Anniversary of Morning Star Church

It's hard to believe that it was seven years ago that Cecil and I started MSC. Time has flown by. Here are a list of a few of the changes we have experienced over that time.

1. We were young and energetic (hopefully we are still energetic but I don't think we feel young anymore)
2. We added two to the family (Alanna and Ethan)
3. We bought and sold our condo, then bought our current home
4. We moved the church from the Marriott, to Musick Elementary, to Ruschin School
5. We started MSC with 1 family and now there are about 150 people in the church family
6. We have had our share of struggles and difficulties but God has been faithful
7. We have learned to find our strength in God
8. We have made many wonderful friendships
9. We have seen people grow in Christ and we have shared the heartache of people walking away and rejecting Christ
10. I finished seminary and received my MDIV degree

I hope you can join us this Sunday at either the 9 or 10:35 service. After the later service, we have baptism and BBQ celebration for everyone.