Seeing Jesus In All of Scripture #LeadersAreReaders May 2022

After the resurrection, Jesus appeared to two of His disciples on the road to Emmaus. This is one of the many post-resurrection appearances. The Scriptures say that “God kept them from recognizing him” (Luke 24:16). Interesting. As they were walking, the two disciples talked about “the things that happened to Jesus, the man from Nazareth” (v.19) to… Jesus. Interesting indeed. I’m not sure whether they believe everything they heard about Jesus was true or not, for sure, they heard that “Jesus is alive!” (v.23). Then, imagine this, Jesus, a stranger to them said strongly, “You foolish people! You find it so hard to believe all that the prophets wrote in the Scriptures. Wasn’t it clearly predicted that the Messiah would have to suffer all these things before entering his glory?” (v.26). There and then, Jesus did an overview Bible Study with them. He “took them through the writings of Moses and all the prophets, explaining from ALL the Scriptures the things concerning himself” (v.27). read the rest of the passage. The good ending is this: “Suddenly, their eyes were opened, and they recognized him” (v.31).

I love this sacred narrative. We can know about Jesus without really knowing Jesus. We can study the Scriptures diligently without recognizing Jesus in them (In John 5:39, Jesus said the Scriptures “point to me!”). And we can outline facts about what happened to Jesus from A to Z without really believing what we said. The two disciples were foolish and so are we if we don’t have faith to see Jesus the Messiah as He is. By God’s grace, He has opened my eyes to see and recognized Jesus in the pages of the Scriptures (This simply means I was foolish then and if I don’t see it now, I’m being foolish again). Now, this is both a supernatural and natural phenomenon. We can’t see and believe if God doesn’t open and make known to us the truth first. So we need to pray, “Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your law [or the Scriptures]” (Psalm 119:18, bracket mine). Yet, we can’t see and believe if we don’t read and study the Scriptures. The supernatural and natural must go hand in hand. For example, in Isaiah 32 verses 1 and 3, “Look, a righteous king is coming! [So we must look]… Then everyone who has eyes will be able to see the truth” [But God is the One who enables us to see].

I have no advice for the supernatural since it is beyond our willpower to do so except to pray and ask God the Holy Spirit with humility. But I do have advice for the natural ways to see Jesus in “ALL the Scripture.” First, read the Scriptures a.k.a. the written Word of God a.k.a. the Bible prayerfully. This is essential and all else is subordinate! Secondly, join sound teaching and Jesus-centered Bible Study (if you want to join #DugDownDeep let me know). And thirdly, read books that can supplement and instruct you deeper into the Scriptures. Good faithful pastors, preachers, teachers, and writers are God’s gifts to us for the growth of His church. Two books that I finished reading in May 2022 that are very instrumental in helping me to see and read the Scriptures with Jesus at the center anew are: 1) Finding Jesus In the Old Testament (2015, 2017) by David Limbaugh. He wrote, “Just as the Old Testament is foundational to the New, our basic understanding of the Old Testament is crucial to our comprehension of how Christ dominates its pages”; and 2) Encountering the Book of Hebrews: An Exposition (2002) by Donald A. Hagner. The Book of Hebrews doesn’t make sense without the Old Testament and the Old Testament - particularly the Law, the sacrificial ritual, the covenants, and typologies - doesn’t make sense without it all being fulfilled by Jesus the Messiah as explained very beautifully in the Book of Hebrews. Blessed!

#ServeToLead #PreachTheWord #LetsMakeReadingCoolAgain #JesusInAllofScripture

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THINK BIG. START SMALL. GO DEEP.

Jesus: Many Have Looked, Few Have Seen Him

One of the most dramatic scenes in the New Testament occurred in a city known as Caesarea Philippi… It was indeed a dramatic picture. In the midst of this carnival of marble columns and golden idols, a penniless, homeless, nameless Nazarene asks His band of followers, “Who do you say that I am?”

The immensity of the question is staggering. I would imagine that Peter’s answer did not come without some hesitation. Shuffling of feet. Anxious silence. How absurd that this man should be the Son of God. No trumpets. No purple robes. No armies. Yet there was that glint of determination in His eye and that edge of certainty in His message. Peter’s response sliced the silence. “I believe that you are… the Son of God.”

Many have looked at Jesus; but few have seen Him. Many have seen His shadow, His people, His story. But only a handful have seen Jesus. Only a few have looked through the fog of religiosity and found Him. Only a few have dared to stand eye to eye and heart to heart with Jesus and say, “I believe that you are the Son of God.”

[Taken from On the Anvil by Max Lucado]

THINK BIG. START SMALL. GO DEEP.

Jesus, the One Who Kept His Focus

One of the incredible abilities of Jesus was to stay on target. His life never got off track. Not once do we find Him walking down the wrong side of the fairway. He had no money, no computers, no jets, no administrative assistants or staffs; yet Jesus did what many of us fail to do. He kept His life on course.

As Jesus looked across the horizon of His future, He could see many targets. Many flags were flapping in the wind, each of which He could have pursued. He could have been a political revolutionary. He could have been a national leader. He could have been content to be a teacher and educate minds or to be a physician and heal bodies. But in the end He chose to be a Saviour and save souls.

Anyone near Christ for any length of time heard it from Jesus Himself. “The Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10). “The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45).

The heart of Christ was relentlessly focused on one task. The day He left the carpentry shop of Nazareth He had one ultimate aim – the Cross of Calvary. He was so focused that His final words were, “It is finished” (John 19:30).

How could Jesus say He was finished? There were still the hungry to feed, the sick to heal, the untaught to instruct, and the unloved to love. How could He say He was finished? Simple. He had completed His designated task. His commission was fulfilled. The painter could set aside his brush, the sculptor lay down his chisel, the writer put away his pen. The job was done.

[Taken from Just Like Jesus by Max Lucado]

How focus are we as Christians to be Christ-like?

THINK BIG. START SMALL. GO DEEP.

Jesus Shows What Love Does

Would you do what Jesus did? He swapped a spotless castle for a grimy stable. He exchanged the worship of angels for the company of killers. He could hold the universe in His palm but gave it up to float in the womb of a maiden.

            If you were God, would you sleep on straw, nurse from a breast, and be clothed in a diaper? I wouldn’t, but Christ did.

            If you knew that those you loved would laugh in your face, would you still care? …Christ did.

            He humbled Himself. He went from commanding angels to sleeping in the straw. From holding stars to clutching Mary’s finger. The palm that held the universe took the nail of a soldier.

            Why? Because that’s what love does. It puts the beloved before itself.

            Love goes the distance… and Christ traveled from limitless eternity to be confined by time in order to become one of us. He didn’t have to. He could have given up. At any step along the way, He could have called it quits.

            When He saw the size of the womb, He could have stopped.

            When He saw how tiny His hand would be, how soft His voice would be, how hungry His tummy would be, He could have stopped. At the first whiff of the stinky stable, at the first gust of cold air. The first time He scraped His knee or blew His nose or tasted burnt bagels, He could have turned and walked out.  

            When He saw the dirt floor of His Nazareth house. When Joseph gave Him a chore to do. When His fellow students were dozing off during the reading of the Torah, His Torah. At any point Jesus could have said, “That’s it! That’s enough! I’m going home.” But He didn’t.

            He didn’t because He is love.

[Taken from 3:16 by Max Lucado]

THINK BIG. START SMALL. GO DEEP.

Jesus: The Foundation of the Church

Could someone build a temple and forget why? Could someone construct a palace, yet forget the king? Could someone sculpt a tribute and forget the hero?

            You answer those questions. Answer them in a church. The next time you enter an assembly of worship, position yourself where you can see the people. Then decide.

            You can tell the ones who remember the slain One. They’re wide-eyed and expectant. They’re children watching the unwrapping of a gift. They’re servants standing still as a King passes. You don’t doze in the presence of royalty. And you don’t yawn while receiving a gift, especially when the giver is the King Himself!

            You can also tell the ones who see only the temple. Their eyes wander. Their feet shuffle. Their hands doodle, and their mouths open – not to sing, but to yawn. For no matter how hard they try to stay amazed, their eyes start to glaze over. All temples, even the Taj Mahal, lose their luster after a while.

            The temple gazers don’t mean to be bored. They love the church. They can cite its programs and praise its pastors. They don’t mean to grow stale. They put on hats and hose and coats and ties and come every week. But still, something is missing. The One they once planned to honor hasn’t been seen in a while.

            But those who have seen Him can’t seem to forget Him. They find Him, often in spite of the temple rather than because of it. They brush the dust away and stand ever impressed before His tomb – His empty tomb.

            The temple builders and the Savior seekers. You’ll find them both in the same church, on the same pew – at times, even in the same suit. One sees the structure and says, “O what a great church.” The other sees the Savior and says, “O what a great Christ!”

Which do you see?

[Taken from The Applause of Heaven by Max Lucado]

THINK BIG. START SMALL. GO DEEP.

             

Jesus the Coming King

His Majesty. The emperor of Judah. The soaring eagle of eternity. The noble admiral of the Kingdom. All the splendour of heaven revealed in a human body. For a period ever so brief, the doors to the throne room were open and God came near. His Majesty was seen. Heaven touched the earth and, as a result, earth can know heaven. In astounding tandem a human body housed divinity. Holiness and earthliness intertwined.

This is no run-of-the-mill messiah. His story was extraordinary. He called Himself divine, yet allowed a minimum-wage Roman soldier to drive a nail into His wrist. He demanded purity, yet stood for the rights of a repentant whore. He called men to march, yet refused to allow them to call him King. He sent men into all the world, yet equipped them with only bended knees and memories of a resurrected carpenter…

Let’s follow His sandalprints. Let’s sit on the cold, hard floor of the cave in which He was born. Let’s smell the sawdust of the carpentry shop. Let’s hear His sandals slap the hard trails of Galilee. Let’s sigh as we touch the healed sores of the leper. Let’s smile as we see His compassion with the woman at the well. Let’s cringe as we hear the hissing of hell’s Satan. Let’s let our voices soar with the praises of the multitudes. Let’s try to see Him.

One warning. Something happens to a person who has witnessed His Majesty. He became addicted. One glimpse of the King and you are consumed by a desire to see more of Him and say more about Him. Pew-warning is no longer an option. Junk religion will no longer suffice. Sensation-seeking is needless. Once you have seen His face you will forever long to see it again.

[From God Came Near by Max Lucado]

THINK BIG. START SMALL. GO DEEP.

Jesus called Himself the Bread of Life, Why?

Can you see why Jesus called Himself the Bread of Life?

I can think of one other similarity. Consider how bread is made. Think about the process. Wheat grows in the field, then it is cut down, winnowed, and ground into flour. It passes through the fire of the oven and is then distributed around the world. Only by this process does bread become bread. Each step is essential. Eliminate the plant, and you have no wheat. Eliminate the winnowing, and you have no flour. Eliminate the fire, and you have no product. Eliminate the distribution, and you have no satisfaction. Each step is essential.

Now, consider Jesus. He grew up before the Lord “as a tender plant” (Isaiah 53:2). One of millions of boys on the planet. One of thousands in Israel. One of dozens in Nazareth. Indistinguishable from the person down the street or the child in the next chair. Had you seen Him as a youngster, you wouldn’t have thought He was the Son of God. You might have thought Him polite or courteous or diligent, but God on earth? Not a chance. He was just a boy. One of hundreds. Like a staff of wheat in the wheat field.

But like wheat, He was cut down. Like chaff He was pounded and beaten. “He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities” (Isaiah 53:5). And like bread He passed through the fire. On the Cross He passed through the fire of God’s anger, not because of His sin, but because of ours. “The Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah 53:6).

Jesus experienced each part of the process of making bread: the growing, the pounding, the firing. And just as each is necessary for bread, each was also necessary for Christ to become the Bread of Life. “Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?” (Luke 24:26).

[Taken from A Gentle Thunder by Max Lucado]

THINK BIG. START SMALL. GO DEEP.

Jesus, the One Who Takes Away Our Shame

I invite you to think carefully about the supreme test Jesus faced in the race. Hebrews 12:2 offers this intriguing statement: “[Jesus] endured the cross, despising the shame.” Shame is a feeling of disgrace, embarrassment, humiliation. Forgive me for stirring the memory, but don’t you have a shameful moment in your history? Can you imagine the horror you would feel if everyone knew about it? What if a video camera of that event were played before your family and friends? How would you feel?

That is exactly what Jesus felt. Why? You ask. He never did anything worthy of shame. No, but we did. And since on the cross God made Him became sin (2 Corinthians 5:21), Jesus was covered with shame. He was shamed before His family. Stripped naked before His own mother and loved ones. Shamed before His fellow men. Forced to carry a cross until the weight caused Him to stumble. Shamed before His church. The pastors and elders of His day mocked Him, calling Him names. Shamed before the city of Jerusalem. Condemned to die a criminal’s death. Parents likely pointed to Him from a distance and told their children, “That’s what they do to evil men.”

But the shame before men didn’t compare with the shame Jesus felt before His Father. Our individual shame seems too much to bear. Can you imagine bearing the collective shame of all humanity? One wave of shame after another was dumped on Jesus. Though He never cheated, He was convicted as a cheat. Though He never stole, heaven regarded Him as a thief. Though He never lied, He was considered a liar. Though He never lusted, He bore the shame of an adulterer. Though He always believed, He endured the disgrace of an infidel.

[Taken from Just Like Jesus by Max Lucado]

THINK BIG. START SMALL. GO DEEP.

Jesus took a Common Name and Made It Holy

He lived among us. He donned the costliest of robes: a human body. He made a throne out of a manger and a royal court out of some cows. He took a common name – Jesus – and made it holy. He took common people and made them the same. He could have lived over us or away from us. But He didn’t. He lived among us.

He became a friend of the sinner and brother of the poor. He touched their sores and felt their tears, and paid for their mistakes. He entered a tomb and came out and pledged that we’d do the same. And to us all, and to all the frightened Freds of the world, He shared the same message. “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me… I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also” (John 14:1-3, NKJV).

And how do we respond?

Some pretend He doesn’t exist. They occupy themselves with a study of the piano and ask no questions about the Maestro.

Others hear Him, but don’t believe Him. It’s not easy to believe that God would go so far to take us home.

But then, a few decide to give it a try. They venture out of their corners and peek up through the opening. Each day they look toward the sky. They, like Simeon, “wait for” and “look forward to” the day Christ comes (2 Peter 3:11). They know there is more to life than the belly of a piano, and they want to be ready when Christ comes.

[from When Christ Comes by Max Lucado]

THINK BIG. START SMALL. GO DEEP.

Jesus: A Personal Shepherd Provides His Presence and Rest

Years after David wrote (Psalm 23), another Bethlehem Shepherd would say: “In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also” (John 14:2-3).

Note the promises of Jesus. “I will come again and receive you to Myself.” He pledges to take us home. He does not delegate this task. He may send missionaries to teach you, angels to protect you, teachers to guide you, singers to inspire you, and physicians to heal you, but He sends no one to take you. He reserves this job for Himself. “I will come back and take you home.” He is your personal Shepherd. And He is personally responsible to lead you home. And because He is present when any of His sheep dies, you can say what David said, “I will fear no evil” (Psalm 23:4).

…And when God calls us into the deep valley of death, He will be with us. Dare we think that He would abandon us in the moment of death? Would a father force his child to swim the deep alone? Would the shepherd require his sheep to journey to the highlands alone? Of course not. Would God require His child to journey to eternity alone? Absolutely not! He is with you!

What God said to Moses, He says to you: “My Presence will go with you” (Exodus 22:14)

[From Travelling Light by Max Lucado]

THINK BIG. START SMALL. GO DEEP.