The Gate and The Beggar

(Redeemer , 1/6/2013)

Acts 3:2-8; 13-23 : THE FIRST MIRACLE - The Gospel in The City

The gate is called “Beautiful”. And a beggar was lame from birth and being carried to the temple gate. When he saw Peter and John, he begged them for money. But Peter replied, “Look at us! Silver or gold I do not have, but what I have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk!” Then he instantly got strong and walked, and praised God.

This beggar felt the beauty of God, since he was lame.  And he knew he was lame.  But did he expect to walk again when he met Peter and John? My guess is he only expected to receive a little sympathy from them and give him some change. But when he received healing instead, he was praising God. He was walking and jumping.

It is just like what C.S. Lewis said in his book,  

“Imagine yourself a living house. [You ask God to make some repairs.] At first…he is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on…But presently he starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make sense. What on earth is he up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of…. You thought you were going to be made into a decent little cottage: but HE is building a palace” (Mere Christianity, Ch. 9)

 Often, even almost always think that the current live is quite alright, probably just need a little fix here and there when problems come.  We try our best to fix what is bothering us at that moment. But as time goes by, some problem remains, and we don’t care much about it. Especially when sometimes it doesn’t bother us anymore, though it’s still there.  It seems okay, and manageable to live with it. Some people say, “time will fix everything”, “Nothing is perfect.” But does it really go away by itself as time goes? Or is it just miracle that God did, and suddenly problem disappeared ,then  “THANK GOD”? The later will seem to bring us more into confusion than understanding.  However, it doesn’t mean that miracles that God did in our Lord Jesus Christ are not true.  I believe those miracles really happened for God’s mercy and grace towards humankind, and God’s compassion toward his creations.  And only those who know how broken we are, will be able to feel HIS beauty.  It is only thru humility, realizing how sick we are, we can truly know how to praise God. We are a total broken being, and only thru God’s mercy alone that we have seen in Jesus Christ, from His miracles He performed, all the way to His dead, as Jesus was torn into pieces; His body was literally broken. That we, who believe in HIM, may live again through His brokenness.  What does it mean? Something more to meditate.

Soli Deo Gloria.

Judging Others (Luke 6:37-42)

Judging - related to tell right and wrong
Condemn - related to punishment Judging and condemning are usually coming from feeling being offended, so Luke relate this topic to "forgiveness".

-Matthew 7:1-6

-John 8:4-11
Where a prostitute was brought to Jesus to be stoned, Jesus said "If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her." Because  this case is the same as a blind man trying to judge others.

Jesus heals a paralytic

Luke 5:17-26; Matthew 9:1-8; Mark 2:1-12

The uniqueness from each author perspectives:

• Luke and Mark mentioned in details how the paralytic was brought to Jesus, by opening up the roof above Jesus.
  
• Mark mentioned there were 4 people carrying the paralytic, but Matthew and Luke only said "some men".
  
• Matthew mentioned that "Jesus came to His own town." ; Mark specified the name of the town, which is Capernaum.
• Matthew and Mark wrote, Jesus addressed the paralytic as "son". However, Luke wrote that Jesus called him "friend". (NIV) -- friend = philos (Greek)

Passages in Old Testament that show God can forgive:

• Psa_78:38 Yet he was merciful;
  he forgave their iniquities
  and did not destroy them.
  Time after time he restrained his anger
  and did not stir up his full wrath.
  

• Mic_7:18 Who is a God like you,
  who pardons sin and forgives the transgression
  of the remnant of his inheritance?
  You do not stay angry forever
  but delight to show mercy.
  

• Jer_31:34 No longer will a man teach his neighbor,
  or a man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,'
  because they will all know me,
  from the least of them to the greatest,"
  declares the LORD.
  "For I will forgive their wickedness
  and will remember their sins no more."
  
  

Matthew 6:19-24 ---Treasures in Heaven

"The eye is the lamp of the body" -- eye, means the eye of your mind.

How to overcome my selfishness?

Selfless heart brings forgiveness to others

How to overcome selfishness? How to avoid becoming a selfish person? The answer to these questions is simply avoiding “self-flesh-ness”. Yes, you’ve heard it right… don’t be self-flesh. Be a more spiritual man instead of a material person. Become more heavenly rather than earthly. Become a spirit over your body.

People become selfish because of their love on the things of the flesh. The flesh desires the things that are not eternal. These things give rise to greed, iniquity and selfishness. If you will ask why a person becomes selfish, you will find out that what makes him that is his love of money, lust and fame. A man, who puts his heart on money and the like, will not care to do charity, humility and equality. This is because these good virtues will surely take away his material possessions. And because he loves his material possessions, he will certainly protect, defend and will sacrifice things just to not lose them.

One reason why we can’t easily get out from selfishness is that our mind, heart and soul are attached to our flesh – our body. Whether we like it or not, we need to eat, we need to drink, we need to have a shelter and we need to have money to exchange for those things. We are created with the materials that come from the Earth itself. Our body is composed of earthy materials, such as the nutrients and minerals that we usually consumed out from the food we eat. However, we don’t need to detach our spirits away from our body. We simply need to overcome our body, instead of being its slave.

The main reason why we can’t escape from selfishness is that we are weak to defeat it. We are weak because we don’t understand the spiritual things. We don’t understand them because we don’t practice them constantly. We don’t practice love, kindness and self-control in a consistent manner. Rather, we are stuck in practicing the demands of our flesh, such as greed and envy. If we will always practice the acts of the flesh, we become spiritually weak. Hence, if you want to become spiritually strong, always practice the acts of the spirit, just like your regular routine of exercise.

To become selfless instead of becoming selfish, you need to become more spiritual. Imagine if your heart is set on the heavenly things. Imagine if the intentions of your soul is on the spiritual things, such as love, compassion, generosity, kindness, joy, humility, forgiveness and peace. Will you become selfish? Will you become iniquitous?

To effectively overcome selfishness and self-fleshness, we must practice the more difficult spiritual acts. One of them is practicing grace. Grace is harder because it is more than justice. It is the act of giving people even if they don’t deserve it. It is the practice of forgiving people, even if they don’t warrant it. If you can be gracious, how much more can you become generous? If you can give people more than they deserve, how much more can you give those that they deserve? If you become selfless, how much more an unselfish?

Grace is a great act; it can only be done by a person who has a virtue of love. Therefore, if you want to conquer the selfishness in you, practice love, practice grace, and practice the great spiritual acts until you become spiritually stronger – stronger enough to control your flesh and overcome selfishness.

After Solomon's death, Rehoboam succeeded his father's position as a king. However, the kingdom then was divided by two, Judah (north) and Israel (south) -- Samaria, which is the most corrupted nation, was located in the south, Israel.

Jonah (793 BC)

Jonah was belong to the category of minor prophets.

God commanded Jonah to go to Niniveh to cry out against it , but Jonah tried to escape, and finally was swallowed by a big fish (not sure if it was a whale or not) for 3 days 3 nights.

ch.1. Jonah flees from the Lord
ch.2. Jonah's prayer
ch.3. Jonah goes to Nineveh
ch.4. Jonah's anger at the Lord's compassion.

The book ended with a question "Should I not be concerned about that great city?" This question showed that Jonah actually repented at the end.

Esther

Esther is a figure of women who was chosen to be a queen of King of Persia in replace to the previous queen who didn't obey the king's command. Although Esther was a Jew, she was chosen and found favor in the eyes of the king, which later on she had to save her own people from the enemy (Haman).