1 Corinthians 5

New King James Version (NKJV)

Immorality Defiles the Church  

 ¹ It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and such sexual immorality as is not even named^[a] among the Gentiles—that a man has his father’s wife! ² And you are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he who has done this deed might be taken away from among you. ³ For I indeed, as absent in body but present in spirit, have already judged (as though I were present) him who has so done this deed. ⁴ In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when you are gathered together, along with my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, ⁵ deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.^[b]
6 Your glorying is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? ⁷ Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us.^{[c] 8} Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

Immorality Must Be Judged
⁹ I wrote to you in my epistle not to keep company with sexually immoral people. ¹⁰ Yet I certainly did not mean with the sexually immoral people of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. ¹¹ But now I have written to you not to keep company with anyone named a brother, who is sexually immoral, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner—not even to eat with such a person.
¹² For what have I to do with judging those also who are outside? Do you not judge those who are inside? ¹³ But those who are outside God judges. Therefore “put away from yourselves the evil person.”^[d]

^{As God's children in the church, Paul makes it clear to me, in the above scripture, that we must judge each other, brothers and sisters in Christ, with regard to sexual immorality especially.  A close relative of mine told me recently how a former spiritual mentor became involved in a sexually immoral relationship.  This former mentor was confronted by my relative.  The person told my relative they had no right to judge what the person was doing.  My relative seemed very hurt by this prospect but did not back down.  Based on the above scripture, the actions of my relative show great humilty and honesty and true love for the person involved and great reverence for God too.  It is hard to tell those who we love, admire, and have come to understand in a deep way that they are wrong, but clearly Paul, one of our church fathers, writes that this is necessary.  If we Christians, children of God by the blood of Christ, don't hold each other accountable and show it by reproaching and distancing ourselves with those who say they "love God" but don't show it by their actions, we risk losing more than just a friend/mentor.   Based on the above scripture, we risk losing an entire community of believers who will be contaminated by the "leaven" of one person's willful disregard of God's law, which according to His Word never, ever changes.} 

The way

 

John 14

Jesus Comforts His Disciples

 ¹ “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God^[a]; believe also in me. ² My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? ³ And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. ⁴ You know the way to the place where I am going.”

 ⁵ Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”

 ⁶ Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. ⁷ If you really know me, you will know^[b] my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”
 ⁸ Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.”
 ⁹ Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? ¹⁰ Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. ¹¹ Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves. ¹² Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. ¹³ And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. ¹⁴ You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.

These verses are so full I am having a tough time focusing on one aspect.  The overall theme is clear though.  Jesus has authority over ... everything.   I believe Lord.  Continue to help my unbelief.

John 9 

The Pharisees Investigate the Healing

 ¹³ They brought to the Pharisees the man who had been blind. ¹⁴ Now the day on which Jesus had made the mud and opened the man’s eyes was a Sabbath. ¹⁵ Therefore the Pharisees also asked him how he had received his sight. “He put mud on my eyes,” the man replied, “and I washed, and now I see.”
 ¹⁶ Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath.”
   But others asked, “How can a sinner perform such signs?” So they were divided.
 ¹⁷ Then they turned again to the blind man, “What have you to say about him? It was your eyes he opened.”
   The man replied, “He is a prophet.”
 ¹⁸ They still did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight until they sent for the man’s parents. ¹⁹ “Is this your son?” they asked. “Is this the one you say was born blind? How is it that now he can see?”
 ²⁰ “We know he is our son,” the parents answered, “and we know he was born blind. ²¹ But how he can see now, or who opened his eyes, we don’t know. Ask him. He is of age; he will speak for himself.” ²² His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders, who already had decided that anyone who acknowledged that Jesus was the Messiah would be put out of the synagogue. ²³ That was why his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.”
 ²⁴ A second time they summoned the man who had been blind. “Give glory to God by telling the truth,” they said. “We know this man is a sinner.”  
²⁵ He replied, “Whether he is a sinner or not, I don’t know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!”
 ²⁶ Then they asked him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?”
 ²⁷ He answered, “I have told you already and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become his disciples too?”
 ²⁸ Then they hurled insults at him and said, “You are this fellow’s disciple! We are disciples of Moses! ²⁹ We know that God spoke to Moses, but as for this fellow, we don’t even know where he comes from.”
 ³⁰ The man answered, “Now that is remarkable! You don’t know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes. ³¹ We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly person who does his will. ³² Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind. ³³ If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.”
 ³⁴ To this they replied, “You were steeped in sin at birth; how dare you lecture us!” And they threw him out.

______________________________________________________
I absolutely love this scripture.  The way the "religious leaders" get mad at the healed man is rather comical if it weren't so tragic.  How many times do we ask God for a "sign" to show us he is with us?  Instead today, I will take this scripture as a sign and ask Him to show me the other signs already in my life.  For starters, I praise God that I am alive because my wife diagnosed my endocarditis before any doctor did and without her in my life I would not be here any longer. 

Praise God and forgive me Father for my blindess.  I really didn't see the truth then, Lord.  I know now that you have showed me how blind I was so I can see how great your mercy is to us all.

<sup>John 8

19</sup> Then they asked him, “Where is your father?”
   “You do not know me or my Father,” Jesus replied. “If you knew me, you would know my Father also.” ²⁰ He spoke these words while teaching in the temple courts near the place where the offerings were put. Yet no one seized him, because his hour had not yet come.

 ²¹ Once more Jesus said to them, “I am going away, and you will look for me, and you will die in your sin. Where I go, you cannot come.”

 ²² This made the Jews ask, “Will he kill himself? Is that why he says, ‘Where I go, you cannot come’?”
 ²³ But he continued, “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. ²⁴ I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am he, you will indeed die in your sins.”

Just in case you aren't sure who Jesus is, he spells it out pretty clearly here.  He does this throughout the gospels.  Jesus does not give us a choice to view him as a "good prophet".  He is either the son of God or something terrible. 

<sup>John 6

26</sup> Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw the signs I performed but because you ate the loaves and had your fill. ²⁷ Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on him God the Father has placed his seal of approval.”

Oh Lord, have mercy on me that I have not worshipped you in spirit and in truth.  Thank you for your grace. Jesus is God.  Trust in him.

Jesus came to seek the lost

^{Luke 19
1} Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. ² A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. ³ He wanted to see who Jesus was, but because he was short he could not see over the crowd. ⁴ So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way.
 ⁵ When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.” ⁶ So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly.
 ⁷ All the people saw this and began to mutter, “He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.”
 ⁸ But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.”
 ⁹ Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. ¹⁰ For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

This is a well known passage to me.  I was raised in the Baptist Church.  I can sing the little song I learned in Vacation Bible School about Zacchaeus to this day.  The song however does not touch on the redemption that is so apparent in this great scripture.  The song in fact ends when Jesus says to Zacchaeus "For I am going to your house today."  There is no mention of verses 7 through 9 in the song.   First, Jesus is muttered about for going to a sinners house.  Then, Zacchaeus repents and gives money to the poor and makes amends to those he has stolen from.  Finally, Jesus tells him that he is saved.  It might seem that Zacchaeus is saved because of his repentance, but this is not so of course.  It is Zacchaeus repentance that proves that he is already saved.  Zacchaeus' love for the Lord has made him repent, turn away from his wrong actions and become generous.  Zacchaeus is even willing to return his stolen goods with interest.  This is an act of real repentance.

A troublesome verse for me....

Luke 14
 
 ¹² Then Jesus said to his host, “When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or sisters, your relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. ¹³ But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, ¹⁴ and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”

I have often been invited to other peoples homes to eat dinner when I could not afford to invite them to my home because I couldn't afford to feed them.  This simple command from the Lord is clear that those people who fed me have rewards in heaven.  I am called, now that I have more means, to do likewise to others less fortunate than me.  Now, do I obey the Lord or do I ignore Him?

Lord, Forgive me for not caring for those less fortunate than me as I should.  Remove my selfishness and replace it with a generous spirit.  Thank you for being so generous to me and my family.  You have lavished my family with food, drink, peace, and love.  Help me see the people already in my life that I can be generous to.  I am willing to obey your command.  Jon

Hypocrisy.

Luke 12

Warnings and Encouragements

 ¹ Meanwhile, when a crowd of many thousands had gathered, so that they were trampling on one another, Jesus began to speak first to his disciples, saying: “Be^[a] on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. ² There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. ³ What you have said in the dark will be heard in the daylight, and what you have whispered in the ear in the inner rooms will be proclaimed from the roofs.

 

I have said some stuff in my day that I definitely do not want shouted from the roof of my house.  How about you?  Of course we all have.  Jesus puts us in our place and he encourages us to cling to him and to stay away from the "yeast" of the Pharisees, who were hypocrits.   My counselor once told me that in all his years of counseling teenagers that the one thing that made them most mad at a parent was hypocrisy.  When their parents would tell them not to do something and then turn right around and do it themselves they would get very upset.  I can relate to that.  We all can of course. 

Once, when I was about 13, my Dad caught me smoking. I can remember how afraid I was when he caught me.  I was hiding in our back yard and he silently walked up beside me and asked in very level tone, "What ya doing son?".  I hurriedly snuffed the cigarette and tried to fan away the smoke and answered in a squeaky voice "Nothing".  He moved along side me and I actually remember fearing for my life for a second as he squeezed my shoulder till it hurt me.  Then he began to speak.   Honestly, I don't remember what he said.  I think he tried to put the fear of God in me.  I was quite afraid. My dad had an imposing personality.  He didn't talk long and then he left me alone outside under the stars.  I stood there, confused for quite a while, still churning fromt he emotional aspect of it all.  He had mentioned no punishment.  I wasn't sure what would happen next.  Eventually, and I don't recall how long I was outside, I must have come back inside, though I don't remember anything else about the evening.  The lack of memory indicates that nothing substantial  happened.    

As I think on it, I actually do not recall my Dad ever punishing me for smoking.  The question is why? I am sure now that he knew I was smoking.  I stopped smoking around the house of course but continued to steal his packs of cigarettes from his cartons.  Did he really not notice I was taking his whole packs of cigarettes?  Maybe, he didn't.  Only he knows.  Later, when I turned 18, he told me that he knew I smoked and said I was old enough to do what I wanted and invited me to smoke with him on the back porch.  I was so proud of being a real man at that moment.  

Why do I think he didn't ever punish or rebuke me?  I think now that it was because my dad did not want to be a hypocrit.  I think the feeling of being hypocritical was something my dad wanted to avoid so much that he couldn't bring himself to say anthing to me about smoking.  Of course, there is another issue here for each of us to ponder. 

Right now, I know that there are behaviors I tell my  kids to do or not do and when I think no one is looking I do that very thing myself.  It makes me sick at the  heart sometimes when I think about it now, but often in the moment I justify this behavior with inner thoughts of how it is different rules for me because I'm the adult, etc as nauseam.  But what does Jesus say about this?  Jesus says, "Jon, beware of the yeast of the Pharisees." 

Beware!  The words bring up "Beware of dog!" imagery in my mind.  Why does Jesus use such a strong word here?  It's obvious by now.

If I am not willing to address a sin in my life I better not beat my kids up over it.  What I need to do is pull the plank out of my own eye and then help my kids with their problem.   

God, I know you have forgiven me of all my past, present, and future sins by your blood shed on the cross.  I don't want to be a hypocrit with my children.  Make it clear to me when I am being hypocritcal with others.  Help me to avoid sin and have you remove any habitual sins from my life.   Amen

 

Woe the Experts in the Law

<sup>This passage speaks to me about being careful not to become a Pharisee.  I should proclaim the moral law (i.e. do not lie, cheat, commit adultery, be sexually perverse, etc.), but if I don't help those who are breaking it I am breaking the most important law, the law of love and mercy. 

God,  Forgive me and show me how to help those who are bound up by their sin as I once was.  Amen.

Luke11
42</sup> “Woe to you Pharisees, because you give God a tenth of your mint, rue and all other kinds of garden herbs, but you neglect justice and the love of God. You should have practiced the latter without leaving the former undone.
   ⁴³ “Woe to you Pharisees, because you love the most important seats in the synagogues and respectful greetings in the marketplaces.
   ⁴⁴ “Woe to you, because you are like unmarked graves, which people walk over without knowing it.”
 ⁴⁵ One of the experts in the law answered him, “Teacher, when you say these things, you insult us also.”
 ⁴⁶ Jesus replied, “And you experts in the law, woe to you, because you load people down with burdens they can hardly carry, and you yourselves will not lift one finger to help them.
   ⁴⁷ “Woe to you, because you build tombs for the prophets, and it was your ancestors who killed them. ⁴⁸ So you testify that you approve of what your ancestors did; they killed the prophets, and you build their tombs. ⁴⁹ Because of this, God in his wisdom said, ‘I will send them prophets and apostles, some of whom they will kill and others they will persecute.’ ⁵⁰ Therefore this generation will be held responsible for the blood of all the prophets that has been shed since the beginning of the world, ⁵¹ from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who was killed between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, I tell you, this generation will be held responsible for it all.
   ⁵² “Woe to you experts in the law, because you have taken away the key to knowledge. You yourselves have not entered, and you have hindered those who were entering.”
 ⁵³ When Jesus went outside, the Pharisees and the teachers of the law began to oppose him fiercely and to besiege him with questions, ⁵⁴ waiting to catch him in something he might say.

The Title of My Blog

Over the last several years I have learned Jesus is God.  Of course, I should have known this before.  After all, I was saved at around 10 years of age.  Why did I miss this?  Why did I not understand this?  There were several reasons.  I didn't read the Bible.  I wasn't brought to church regularly.  I did not pray daily.  I did not hang out with Christians.  These are things I do now, so consequentially I am learning about Jesus.  That is why this blog is entitled "Who is Jesus?".   I am learning about how clearly Jesus shows who he is.  The Bible is my standard.  Thank you Lord for bringing me out of the darkness into the light.

VERSE OF STUDY FOR TODAY

Luke 10
¹ After this the Lord appointed seventy-two^[a] others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go. ² He told them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. ³ Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves. ⁴ Do not take a purse or bag or sandals; and do not greet anyone on the road.

I am struggling with the below passage from Luke 10:1-4.  Specifically I am focusing on verses, 3 and 4 because they seem to be jumping out at me today. In verse 3, Jesus is tellling me to go into the world.  First I ask this obvious question.  Is Jesus even talking to me?  The fact is he was talking to 72 followers.  He was not talking to the 12 disciples was he?  It doesn't appear so, because in verse one he calls them 72 others.  Wait, I've always been taught that I was a disciple of Jesus.  Am I?   I would argue based on this that I am one of these 72 others and not a disciple.  Why?  First off, I don't want to give myself even that much credit and second, I don't spend all day with Jesus yet (big grin) just a few hours in the morning.  So, I will say for arguments sake, and the fact that no scholar will prove me wrong (since no scholar will read this blog), that I am more of a "follower" than a disciple.  Let's say for the purposes of this discussion that I am 1 of the 72 and not 1 of the 12.  (Don't get me wrong here. I want to be a disciple.  I just wonder whether I have even reached the disciple level yet, if there is such a thing.)

So, using that premise of being one of the 72 followers mentioned below, Jesus is telling me to go into the world and make other followers, right?  He says, go into the world as "lambs among wolves". So, here I go with my little lamb self surrounded by wolves.  I can relate to that.  I am not even a grown up sheep.  Grown up sheep are dumb, and I am even dumber than them.  Sounds about right (smile)!  But let's move on to Verse 4.  Jesus says, to the little lamb, to not to take purse, bag, or sandals and to not greet anyone on the road.  What!? I  have learned about sheep a bit.  Sheep are helpless creatures.  Here Jesus is telling these baby sheep, lambs, to go out into the world with nothing.  He tells the baby sheep to take no money, clothes, or shoes.  So Jesus tells the baby sheep go on out into that pack of wolves with nothing to protect them.  How long does he expect the baby sheep to last?  I imagine that a pack of wolves will tear apart a grown sheep.  A herd of grown sheep would probably be scattered and several would be killed by a the wolf pack.  What would they do to one baby sheep with nothing to protect itself?!    They'd have their meal served to them, that's what would happen.  They wouldn't have to run after the lamb at all.  They would just surround the lamb, kill it, and begin the meal.  But wait!  Jesus says I do get a companion.  Great!  I am not alone!  I have someone to watch my back!  I have...  I get help from a ... lamb?!!!  Another lamb with nothing to defend itself!?  (Yes I am being incredulous here!)  Are you kidding me Jesus?!!  Well at least the wolves will have more lamb meat to go around.  So, why does Jesus make this statement?  Come on, it's obvious!  Even a kindergartener who's been raised in a church knows the answer!  Jesus is protecting the lambs!  Wait, so that means they will not be killed! Yah!  Jesus will protect them!!!  Great!  I don't have to be afraid!!!  I will be taken care of!  I won't get eaten by the wolves (nothing about not getting banged up a bit though).  So, it's all good.  So why am I so sad about this scripture.  It's clear to me why I am sad.  I am sad because I haven't done this, or if I have, I am not doing it enough.  Not nearly enough.

You see, one of my goals is to bring one 1,000 people to know Christ.  I made this goal around a year ago.  I made this goal, because of what Jesus has done and is continuing to do for me.  He is giving me joy, peace, love, and the ability to believe in Him more and more.  I have more power and purpose than ever before.  I am free of many sins that have plagued me for years.  I am becoming someone I actually like to see in the mirror.  The closer I get to God, to Jesus, the closer I want to become.  He has given me a new heart.  I want to love like he loved.  I want be like Jesus. I know that some of you will read this and mock me.  Some of you may read this and say, "Well Jon was always idealistic."  or "Jon has always had such a good heart."  or "Has Jon lost his marbles?!"  Heck, I might have said those things about you several years ago had you been writing this stuff.  The truth is that the person I used to be would likely I not have read the first sentence of this blog simply based on the title.  Well, thanks for reading this. If you got this far God bless and forgive me if I revealed too much.  I do that sometimes.  

I love you all.   I know God will help me in this journey.  Thanks and Praise to God.