LifeLink Devotional

Tuesday, October 20, 2020

Taking a stance on an issue without all of the facts is somewhat excusable if all the facts aren’t available. But when all the information is available, and the choice is made to ignore it because it doesn’t serve a pre-determined agenda, corruption reaches its pinnacle.

Such was the case with the religious leaders in John chapter 7.

John 7:45-52  The officers then came to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to them, “Why did you not bring him?” The officers answered, “No one ever spoke like this man!” The Pharisees answered them, “Have you also been deceived? Have any of the authorities or the Pharisees believed in him? But this crowd that does not know the law is accursed.” Nicodemus, who had gone to him before, and who was one of them, said to them, “Does our law judge a man without first giving him a hearing and learning what he does?” They replied, “Are you from Galilee too? Search and see that no prophet arises from Galilee.”

The religious leaders had sent temple guards and officers to arrest Jesus. When they returned without Him, they were asked why they didn’t obey orders. There response is powerful.  “No one ever spoke like this man!” The officers, without an agenda, heard the authority of Christ as He taught the truth of Scripture, and determined that they would not arrest Him. They disobeyed an order of the religious authorities because those authorities were wrong.

In an attempt to defend their position, the religious leaders did several things.

1. They accused the officers of being wrong. We tend to do this when confronted with truth, especially truth that requires admission of wrong. We accuse others of being wrong so we don’t have to admit we are.
2. They arrogantly declared that they alone are able to know the truth and to make the right decision. They set themselves above the people, and claimed special knowledge of the things of God. This kind of demeaning behavior is used frequently to suppress not only new ideas but also people themselves.
3. They even more arrogantly declared that anyone who disagrees with them is accursed, or doomed to punishment. The tragedy here is that the people were not declared to be accursed because of sin, but rather because they disagreed with the leaders who had set themselves up as being the only ones who could know the truth. People in power – control freaks – will always condemn those who don’t agree with them to protect their position of control.
4. They manipulated the truth to manipulate people. When Nicodemus suggested that they should not judge Jesus without a proper hearing of the facts, they again ignored that section of the law and rebuked Nicodemus with another section. The problem is that their reference to no prophet coming out of Galilee is a lie. Jonah was from Galilee. Nahum was from Galilee.  When the truth of the law doesn’t serve their own purpose, people will lie and hope others don’t know any better. People in power tend to think others are uneducated, so they think they can get away with lying.

Again, as we did yesterday, make any and all applications to today’s culture and to your own personal life as necessary.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotional

Monday, October 19, 2020

Misinformation. Not having all the facts and not honestly accepting all the facts can cause terrible disagreements and have serious consequences. It’s even worse when the facts are available but ignored because they don’t fit a pre-determined narrative.

That’s where we find the people of Israel at the end of the seventh chapter of John. They were debating and arguing the identity of Jesus. Their statements were based on misinformation.

John 7:40-43  When they heard these words, some of the people said, “This really is the Prophet.” Others said, “This is the Christ.” But some said, “Is the Christ to come from Galilee? Has not the Scripture said that the Christ comes from the offspring of David, and comes from Bethlehem, the village where David was?” So there was a division among the people over him.

Each group of people had a differing stance on who Jesus was because they only considered a small portion of the information available. In the case of the religious leaders, we know that their motivation for misinformation was that their positions or power and authority were threatened by the truth. But in the case of the groups of common people, we are not told their motivation for the stance they each took. However, it is intimated that they each had their own expectations of who they wanted the Messiah to be, and used only the information necessary to prove their point.

The groups who said Jesus is the Prophet were correct.  Deuteronomy 18:15 “The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen.”

Those who claimed Jesus was the promised King, the Messiah, were correct.  God’s covenant with King David was that  “your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever.”  2 Samuel 7:16

Those who claimed that the Christ would be a descendant of David and come from David’s city Bethlehem were correct, even though they were misinformed and believed Jesus was from Galilee. Micah 5:2  But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days.

Each group had some of the truth, but no group embraced all of the truth. They only believed what served their purpose.

Go ahead…make all the applications needed to our present culture, both spiritually and politically.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotional

Friday, October 16, 2020

I love rivers. Any size. Creeks. Babbling brooks. Streams. When water is flowing, I am captivated. I could sit for hours and watch the water surge over rocks and logs. The gentle gurgle of moving water relaxes me. Fresh, clean, pure mountain streams are my favorite because not only do they nourish my soul with tranquility, they also nourish my body with refreshment.

My mind is captivated by the seemingly never-ending flow of water in a river. Where does it all come from? Even when the rain and melting snow have ceased, the water still flows, albeit more slowly. I am fascinated with the almost eternal nature of a river, for I know not its beginning and cannot see its end.

During the great Feast of Booths in Jerusalem, while tensions are rising and tempers are flaring as people debate the identity of Christ, Jesus stands up and loudly proclaims an eternal truth.

John 7:37-38  “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.”

The behavior of the people at the feast was an indicator of their thirst for spiritual truth. Whether they rejected or accepted Christ, they had the same thirst, but different ideas of what water could quench their thirst. Those who rejected Christ sought to eliminate thirst by drinking of religious duty, self-fulfillment, and self-gratification. Those who chose to believe in Jesus as the Christ were about to discover the eternal water of the Holy Spirit of God. Only one group would never thirst again.

When the source of water we drink is man-made, we will always thirst for more. Human solutions to the soul’s thirst for meaning will never satisfy us. But when the source of water is the creator of water, we will drink of living water that revives our soul, refreshes our spirit, and satisfies our thirst.

When we recognize that our greatest thirst is for spiritual satisfaction, and we turn from human solutions to belief in Jesus as Savior and Lord, we are filled with the Holy Spirit who becomes to us a river of living water flowing out of our heart.

Think about this further analogy of water. When water springs up from the earth as a spring and begins its journey as a creek, a brook, a stream, or a river, the water is only so pure as the ground from which it gushed. Water that originates in the soiled ground of man’s sin cannot ever become a river of life. It has its origins in death.

However, water that originates in the heart of God will be pure life, and will bring life to your heart. Your heart will become a source of living water, quenching the thirst of every aspect of your life. Rivers of life will flow from you and nourish others. Out of your heart your mouth will speak words of life to others. Your thirst will be satisfied, and you will eagerly desire to help others quench their thirst also.

Are you thirsty? Do you keep drinking of man’s water, and wonder why you always need more? Then come to Jesus. He will quench your greatest thirst, and you will never thirst again.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotional

Thursday, October 15, 2020

As I sit in my office early on Wednesday morning writing this Thursday devotional, I am stuck in a battle between realism and idealism. From early spring until late fall, Wednesday is my day to join a dozen other men on the golf course for a time of fellowship and ministry. But this morning, it’s raining. The forecast says it will rain until after lunch. The winds are going to increase up to 40 miles per hour by mid-morning. I keep checking the radar to see if the rain will move out of the area by our 9:30 tee time.

Realistically, I won’t be going. Ideally, I will.

I tend to live life idealistically. I believe the best is possible. I am often reminded by people close to me that I need to be more realistic.

In John 7:25-31, I see a contrast between realism and idealism in the life of Jesus. Take a moment to read the whole context.

John 7:25-31 ²⁵  Some of the people of Jerusalem therefore said, “Is not this the man whom they seek to kill? ²⁶  And here he is, speaking openly, and they say nothing to him! Can it be that the authorities really know that this is the Christ? ²⁷  But we know where this man comes from, and when the Christ appears, no one will know where he comes from.” ²⁸  So Jesus proclaimed, as he taught in the temple, “You know me, and you know where I come from. But I have not come of my own accord. He who sent me is true, and him you do not know. ²⁹  I know him, for I come from him, and he sent me.” ³⁰  So they were seeking to arrest him, but no one laid a hand on him, because his hour had not yet come. ³¹  Yet many of the people believed in him. They said, “When the Christ appears, will he do more signs than this man has done?”

The people were debating whether or not Jesus was the Christ, the Messiah that had been promised. They were gathering evidence to justify their positions. Some said the inaction of the authorities against Jesus was proof that even they believed He was the Christ. Others said He was not the Messiah because they thought they knew where He came from, and the promised Christ would come from an unknown place. Still others said that He must be the Christ because He has already done all the works necessary to prove He is.

Each person was trying to be realistic. But what about Jesus? Realistically, using only human reason and the evidence available around him, He might have chosen to withdraw in fear. There was a warrant issued for His arrest. There was a potential for an uprising as people chose sides. Realistically, Jesus was in trouble.

But Jesus chose to view life idealistically. Why? Because He was totally in tune with the Father, who is totally in control at all times. Jesus declares that He came from the Father, that He knows the heart of the Father, that He has a mission from the Father, and the Father is in control of the timing of the mission. Every detail of His life was under the control of God the Father. Jesus did not live for His own benefit. He lived explicitly for the will of the Father. As a result, the reality of circumstances had no influence on His activity. Jesus lived in the idealistic realm of God’s presence and purpose.

How about you? Are you living in the presence of God with such confidence of Christ’s purpose for your life that the reality of circumstances cannot stop you from pursuing the ideal of representing Jesus with every decision you make and every activity you engage?

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotional

Wednesday, October 14, 2020

There’s one more element of prejudice that we need to deal with before moving on in our study of the seventh chapter of the Gospel of John. It’s the matter of prejudice being an irrational attitude of hostility towards others.

It only takes a few minutes of being out in public to recognize this aspect of prejudice in our culture today. People’s behavior is irrational.  The word rational comes from the Latin word rationalis, meaning reasonable or logical. There seems to be very little logic used by people today. In what world is it rational to proclaim that you stand for something and then seek to prove your point by destroying it? We only have to read the headlines or observe the culture to see that irrationality rules.

We must pause for a moment and recognize a very important truth – rational thought can have the appearance of reasonableness but lack logic. Let me explain. It is reasonable for ungodly, self-ruled people to act in accordance with their chosen objective to gratify self. But we are relational beings, not designed for independence but rather for interdependence. Yet every effort to serve self is at the expense of someone else, thereby destroying interdependence. Self-gratification may appear to be reasonable, but it is ultimately illogical, therefore not rational.

Yet our world is being driven by people seeking self as the highest objective. And if self is the highest objective, then hostility towards whatever opposes self is acceptable. No wonder the activities we observe are so irrational.

Massive groups of people claim to uphold the dignity of life, yet they destroy life in the womb. Irrational.

Large numbers of people seeking respect for various races of people, yet they destroy the livelihood of the very people they claim to represent. Irrational.

Leaders of government are elected to represent the people but instead use their authority to strengthen their own positions. Irrational.

I’m sure you can come up with more examples. Irrationality abounds all around us. All caused by prejudice. We are guilty of the prejudice of honoring self over others. The result is hostility towards those who don’t serve our purpose.

My friends, don’t fall prey to the irrational behavior of the world. Rational thought is possible, when grounded in logic. Logic is possible when based on unchangeable truth. And there is only one source of unchangeable truth – Jesus Christ, who is THE WAY, THE TRUTH, AND THE LIFE. Rational thought will return to the world when Jesus Christ does. Until then, we who choose Christ over self are called to be little islands of rational thought in an irrational world.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotional

Tuesday, October 13, 2020

Still Stuck.

The point Jesus makes in John 7:24 about prejudice is not one we can move away from too quickly. Yesterday we were challenged to do some personal evaluation of our own prejudices. I hope it was productive time for you as you considered how first impressions can cause us to form judgments about entire groups of people.

Another aspect of prejudice we must consider is this: we tend to form adverse opinions about people based on insufficient knowledge of them and their circumstances.

Here’s a simple example. How many times do we get frustrated with the driver of the vehicle in front of us? They may be going too slow, swerving, or not using a turn signal, and we determine at that instant that they are a terrible driver or they must be on their phone. Men display the prejudice of categories by calling the driver a woman. We all get frustrated because our needs and preferences are honored above an understanding of their circumstances. We make a judgment about more than just their driving ability; we form an opinion of who they are as a person based on insufficient knowledge of who they are.

Let me state something that we have all probably heard before in one form or another. We have no right to make a judgment about another person unless we have intimate personal experience with that person that validates the judgment. In other words, don’t form an opinion about anyone until you have walked a mile in their shoes. You may have an opinion based on limited contact with someone, but it is only an opinion. When did opinions get elevated to equality with truth? Our opinions must be subject to change. If they aren’t, then we are declaring opinions to be truth. When we form opinions about people, we must be willing to be wrong. Otherwise we are guilty of the sin of prejudice.

In 1970, singer and songwriter Joe South released a hit song entitled “Walk a Mile In My Shoes.” Here are the lyrics.

If I could be you, if you could be me
For just one hour
If we could find a way to get inside
Each other’s mind

If you could see you through my eyes
Instead of your ego
I believe you’d be, I believe you’d be surprised to see
That you’ve been blind

Now there are people on reservations
And out in the ghetto
And, brother, there, but for the grace of God
Go you and I

If I only had the wings
Of a little angel
Don’t you know I’d fly to the top of a mountain
And then I’d cry, cry, cry?

Walk a mile in my shoes
Walk a mile in my shoes
Yeah, before you abuse, criticize, and accuse
Walk a mile in my shoes

Before you abuse, criticize, and accuse, get to know the person. Find out what makes them tick. Imagine how liberating it would be to not have to walk around carrying the weight of so many opinions about people. Discover the freedom of realizing the biggest burden you carry is the elevated opinion you have of yourself that cause you to have adverse opinions of others.

Pastor John

LIFElINK DEVOTIONAL

Monday, October 12, 2020

I’m stuck.

When I got to the end of the sermon yesterday at church, I thought I would be able to move on. But here I am, parked on a truth that is still impacting me. No matter how many times I have tried to move forward into the next section of verses, the wheels of my mind just slip.

I’m stuck.

I’m stuck on what Jesus said about prejudice.

John 7:24  “Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment.”

I’m stuck contemplating questions about judging people by appearances. What is right judgment? What kind of judgments were the people making about Jesus? What needed to change in their thinking to make right judgments? Could I be guilty of prejudice?

Prejudice is defined in several dictionaries as three specific attitudes:

1. a preconceived judgment or opinion;
2. an adverse opinion or leaning formed without just grounds or before sufficient knowledge;
3. an irrational attitude of hostility.

Definition number one is the fatal flaw of first impressions universally applied. We all do it. We create mental compartments designed to help us organize various groups of people. We form an opinion of a certain type of person based on one experience with someone, and then we put everyone like them into the same compartment.  Our judgment is based on nothing more than external appearance. This is prejudice.

Jesus said, ^”You judge according to the flesh; I judge no one.” (John 8:15) Prejudice is inexcusable and unacceptable in Christ’s Kingdom. Yet we justify it in our personal kingdoms. We claim we need to make judgments about people for personal protection. We must guard what is ours from those who would take it. We must protect principles of truth from those who seek to undermine and destroy them. We must make judgments about people so we can remain safe.

There is an element of truth in our justifications, but there is no Godly basis for creating compartments into which we categorize people based on appearances. It is sin to universally apply judgment to a group of people simply because they have the appearance of one person who hurt you. Again, prejudice is inexcusable and unacceptable in Christ’s Kingdom.

Please take some time today and contemplate the level of prejudice that exists in your heart. Are we guilty of having a preconceived judgment about people based on the color of their skin, their political affiliation, their income level, their homeless status, their weight, or countless other labels we place on them so we can place them in the proper category and feel safe?

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotional

Friday, October 9, 2020

One of the easiest things human nature does is to judge others by appearances. We form immediate opinions about people based on first impressions. We categorize people into classifications of “Acceptable” and “Unacceptable.” We instinctively tell others how wrong they are. We thoughtlessly and unsympathetically point out people’s faults. Humanity would do well to look beyond the faults to the cause of the faults with a desire to understand. If only we would learn to look for what drives and invokes the joy, slothfulness, or the melancholy in people. Until we become aware of the real vision, aspirations, desires, and the needs of others, we will continue to criticize.

In the seventh chapter of the Gospel of John, Jesus proclaims a spiritual principle that is based on a miracle He performed six months to a year earlier. On the Sabbath Day, He had healed a lame man at the pool of Bethesda. He starts by asking two questions.

John 7:19  “Has not Moses given you the law? Yet none of you keeps the law. Why do you seek to kill me?”

Question number one – Are you dedicated to obeying the spiritual laws given to you? Jesus answers this question for them. NO! Your actions prove that you are dedicated to serving yourself with the law, not to serving God. There’s real truth in this question for us today. Has not God given us His commands, precepts, and principles so that we might serve Him with pure hearts? Have we not chosen which spiritual principles serve our own interests and discard the rest? Do we not live our lives according to the flesh with only an appearance of spiritual sensitivity?

Question number two – Why do you seek to eliminate me? Have you become so convinced that your ways are higher than my ways that you want to eliminate the threat I pose to your comfort zones? Have you become so enamored with the ways of the world and your own gratification that you would actually seek to remove Jesus from having any influence in your life?  Has the power of self-serving religion become so important to you that you believe Jesus is a danger to true spiritual life? Do you really believe that Jesus is the law-breaker and you are the law-keeper?

Both of these questions are relevant to our lives today, and according to what Jesus asks next, they are rooted in the nature of man to judge by appearances.

John 7:23-24  “If on the Sabbath a man receives circumcision, so that the law of Moses may not be broken, are you angry with me because on the Sabbath I made a man’s whole body well? Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment.”

Two points to ponder this weekend.

1. Do you consider Jesus to be a threat to your chosen way of life?
2. Do you judge others by appearances and potential personal benefit rather than with right judgement that seeks to know their heart?

Jesus declared an eternal spiritual principle in this passage: Understand the spirit of the law before enforcing the letter of the law. Let’s apply that to how we treat people as we seek to understand the spirit of the person before enforcing behavior standards on them.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotional

Thursday, October 8, 2020

Yesterday in our study of John 7, we discovered how we can know the Bible is true. Today, we discover another proof of how we can know that Jesus is true.

John 7:18  “The one who speaks on his own authority seeks his own glory; but the one who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true, and in him there is no falsehood.”

I will never forget my first big research paper I did in high school. I was a sophomore, and our American History assignment was a 20-page paper on a topic of our choosing. I chose the Pony Express. The requirements for the paper were as follows: 20-pages typed and double spaced; a minimum of 20 different sources cited and referenced; grammar, spelling, and punctuation accounted for 20% of the grade

Remember, this is before the internet, so all research was done at the library, requiring the use of the Dewey Decimal System for locating books. There were no copy machines, which required the use of a pencil and notecards for referencing all quotes and information used in the paper. Every paragraph required at least one footnote listing the source of information. You see, no matter what my grandkids think, I was not present to personally witness the Pony Express in operation. All of my information had to come from another source. I wrote the paper based on no authority of my own.

One of the fundamental principles of teaching is to be able to verify the source of information. It is also supposed to be a fundamental principle of journalism. The passing on of information is only so trustworthy as the source of the information.

Jesus declares to us that He never speaks on His own authority. He is never teaching anything that exalts Himself or seeks His own recognition and honor. Everything He says is sourced in God the Father. The result of such commitment to the One who sent Him is that He never utters an untruth. There can be no falsehood in one who proclaims only what they have been told to say. Since Jesus only speaks what the Father has authorized, Jesus is always telling the truth. If we doubt that, we must doubt that Jesus was sent by God, and also doubt that God is perfectly truthful.

The question for us to consider, then, is this: “When we speak, what is the source of our information; by whose authority are we speaking; and for whose glory are we speaking?”

I think I will just leave you with that question to ponder – if you dare. Maybe it will help if you were required to add footnotes listing your sources to every sentence you speak.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotional

Wednesday, October 7, 2020

How can we know that the Bible is true? Jesus answers that question for us in John chapter seven.

John 7:16-18  So Jesus answered them, “My teaching is not mine, but his who sent me. If anyone’s will is to do God’s will, he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own authority.

When we read the Bible we read it through one of two lenses. Lens number one is built into our sinful human nature. It is the lens of self. Through this lens we see the Bible as a challenge to what we want for ourselves. We read it to find loopholes that permit us to do what pleases us. We study the Bible looking for errors or contradictions so we can justify our self-serving choices. We are convinced that our own will is best for us. We doubt that doing the will of God is beneficial. When we read the Bible through this lens we will not recognize it as the authoritative revelation of God, but instead will cast aside anything that doesn’t fit into our own authority over life.

Lens number two is built into the nature of Jesus which we have received by grace through faith. It is the lens of surrender to His will. When the Bible is read through this lens, we have made the choice to bring our will into agreement with God’s will. We find the words coming alive and touching deep into the very fiber of our existence. We recognize their eternal authority. We are transformed by them. We find them beneficial. We desire more and more understanding as our love for Jesus grows with each word.

The Jews of Jesus’ time were using the first lens to analyze the teachings of Jesus. It left them doubting, confused, and ready to eliminate Him as a threat to their agenda.

You do not need to be like them. Those who believe Him, and choose to do the will of God the Father, will have their eyes opened to see that Jesus is the Messiah, the Holy One of God, and will know that His teaching is from God.

Understanding the Bible is a ministry of the Holy Spirit to us. He is limited only by our choice of lens number one. When we read the Scriptures to gratify self, we will not see it as God’s Word. However, through lens number two, the lens of surrender to God’s will, comes the fullness of God’s revelation directly from the Author with all authority.

Which lens are you using?

Pastor John