new testament

Chiseled by Grace (Or How “Shifty” Simon Became Peter, “the Rock”)

“Stupid.”
“Inept.”
“Angry.”
“Failure.”
Sometimes we claim labels for ourselves that make us feel stuck, unchangeable, hopeless. But in our rocky times, Christ has a chisel… and he reshapes us by grace. Read Peter’s example in this excerpt from Lysa TerKeurst’s book Unglued: Making Wise Choices in the Midst of Raw Emotions.

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Instead of condemning myself with statements like, I’m such a mess, I could say, Let God chisel. Let Him work on my hard places so I can leave the dark places of being stuck and come into the light of who He designed me to be. God is calling us out — out of darkness, out from those places we thought would never get better, out of being stuck.

The name Peter means “the rock,” but Peter’s given name was Simon, which means “shifty.” I can’t escape the richness of meaning here that Peter “the rock” didn’t get stuck being shifty his whole life. He let God chisel. Remember, Peter was the one who dared to jump out of the boat and walk on water. Then he got afraid, started to sink, and cried out to the Lord to save him. In a matter of moments, he went from being bold to being scolded for his doubt (Matthew 14:22–32).

Peter was also the man who loved his Lord with such passion that he drew his sword and cut off the ear of the guard trying to arrest Jesus (John 18:10). Then, just seven short verses later, we find this same Peter denying he even knew Jesus [John 18:17]…

He sure sounds shifty to me.

But not to Jesus. Jesus saw a courageous man who needed chiseling. Jesus saw a man who, when chiseled, would boldly do what others would not. Jesus saw Peter not as he was but as he could be. Tenderly, Jesus chiseled. After Peter denied Jesus, and Jesus was crucified and resurrected, Peter and Jesus had a conversation in which we get to see Jesus chiseling. Three times Peter denied Jesus. Three times Jesus asked if Peter loved Him. I can almost hear the Master’s chisel clink and chip and smooth [John 21:15-17]…

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This Story Is a Mirror (Jesus and the Woman Taken in Adultery)

(Excerpt from Warren Wiersbe’s Life Sentences: What Sentence Will Sum Up Your Life?)

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How we respond to the account of the woman caught in adultery helps us better understand our own character. The secret sinner who dwells on such things longs for more details or supplies them from his or her own imagination. The legalist is disappointed that Jesus didn’t recommend capital punishment. But the believer who has experienced the grace of God gives thanks that there is forgiveness with the Lord.

We don’t have to commit this particular sin to know how gracious and merciful the Lord is. “Then neither do I condemn you… Go now and leave your life of sin” (John 8:11). If you have ever heard those words spoken to your own heart, then you will want others to hear them too. You want them to be able to say from their hearts, “The Lord is my light and my salvation.”

A trap for Jesus

The scribes and Pharisees had plotted the bringing of the woman to Jesus, hoping to trap Him. If He forgave the woman, then He broke the law of Moses and was in trouble with the Jews. If He condemned her to be stoned, then He was in trouble with the Romans who alone could execute condemned offenders. They must have planned the trap carefully; how could they have caught her “in the very act” unless they had been waiting for it to happen? But where was the man with whom she had sinned? The law required both parties to be judged (Lev. 20:10; Deut. 22:22).

Four different lights are shining in this passage, the most important one being Jesus Himself, the Light of the World.

Light #1: Creation

It was daybreak, and Jesus was in the temple teaching the people. The scribes and Pharisees interrupted His ministry by thrusting the woman before Him and demanding an immediate answer. How rude can hypocritical religious leaders get?

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Jesus on Religious Hypocrites: A Good Show vs. A New Heart

“If you are ever bothered by religious hypocrites,” writes John Ortberg, “if you’ve ever wanted to post a scathing blog about how they turn your stomach, you’ll have to get in line behind Jesus.” Find out why hypocrites got under Jesus’ skin, and explore the difference between good behavior and true goodness, in this excerpt from John Ortberg’s book Who Is This Man. -Adam Forrest

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What makes “a good person”?

The good person is the person whose heart — whose inner being — is bathed and pervaded by divine love. Therefore the good person is not simply one who does good things; it is someone who genuinely wants to do good things…

Jesus’ teaching about the condition of the heart was so compelling that it entered into the moral vocabulary of the human race. The word hypocrite is used seventeen times in the New Testament. Every time it is used, it is used by Jesus. I know of few other words that are so singularly his…

Contrasts between hypocrisy and genuine goodness are laced through much of Jesus’ teaching. But one entire talk, placed by Matthew a few days before Jesus’ death, is devoted to this single topic. If you are ever bothered by religious hypocrites, if you’ve ever wanted to post a scathing blog about how they turn your stomach, you’ll have to get in line behind Jesus, because I do not know of any address by any enemy of religion that is more stinging in its rebuke…

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The Most Awkward Dinner Party of All Time (And Jesus Was a Guest)

If you made a list of History’s Top 10 Best Party Guests, would Jesus make your list? You may reconsider after reading this biblical story from Who Is This Man. Author John Ortberg invites us to a dinner that’s surely the most awkward party these guests would ever attend. In the encounter we glimpse the depth of Jesus’ compassion, and discover how his “crankiness and compassion” arise from the same source. Read, enjoy, embrace the awkwardness. -Adam Forrest

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Jesus could be a very irritating person to be around. We are going to look at a dinner where he deliberately picked arguments four times running.

I say this because compassion is a quality Jesus might be most famous for. When a leper asked for healing, Jesus was “filled with compassion.” When a widow cried out to him, “his heart went out to her, and he said, ‘Don’t cry.’ ” Adulterers and tax collectors and prodigals and Samaritans all evoked his compassion. A compassion makeover was coming to the world.

There is a general perception that Jesus was one of those extremely tender feelers who just couldn’t stand pain. Elaine Aron has written a book called Highly Sensitive People about folks who startle easily, who are easily affected by others’ mood or pain, who care deeply about others’ opinions. There is nothing wrong with being a Highly Sensitive Person. I am one myself. What’s it to you?

But other parts of Jesus’ story do not make him look like an HSP. In a story told in all four Gospels, he saw people exploiting the poor in the temple; he took out a whip and drove them away, scattering their money and overturning their tables and saying, “How dare you.”

Most of us Highly Sensitive People do not throw furniture… Jesus was as militant as he was compassionate. How can this man be that man?

There was a day when he exhibited both qualities together.

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Re:Word Weekly – 2/17/12

Re:Word is a weekly roundup of stories on faith, relationships, and creativity. Read on for generous portions of useful and interesting.

1. 16 Ways to Flirt with Your Husband – A great post in Sheila Wray Gregoire's (@sheilagregoire) series on 29 tips to great sex for married couples.

 

2. A close look at the reliability of the New Testament with the mighty Craig Blomberg. (Tip of the hat to @edstetzer and his blog www.edstetzer.com).

 

3. Getting Creative Things Done: How to Fit Hard Thinking into a Busy Schedule Blogger Cal Newport offers a system for doing creative work in our busy, to-do-list-laden schedules.

 

4. A Prayer for Your Home - A lovely poetic prayer by Ann Voskamp (@annvoskamp).

 

5. A challenge against passivity by author Michael Wittmer. This piece may be soon appear on ourdailyjourney.org, and it's thrilling to me when Wittmer posts his in-progress work to let readers "under the hood" with him. I learn something about faith and the writing process every time.

 

6. The 19th-century invention that annihilated time and space In 1844, the cutting edge of communications technology was the telegraph, and reports of its first success range from the charming to the near hysterical. My two favorite examples:

April 20, 1844
Mr. Morse said that, in conversing with the superintendent at the other end, he sometimes forgot himself, and was about to speak to him as though he were present, forgetting that he was talking with a man eleven or twelve miles distant.

May 31, 1844
Time and space has been completely annihilated.

 

The reactions seem positive, but their force reminds me of the equally strong criticism against new digital technology. For example, see Dr. Sherry Turkle's view that texting and cellphones are means to isolation. While I respect Turkle's point of view, the telegraph craze of 1844 is an amusing reminder that measuring the effects of technology is tricky business.

 

It's Just another piece to keep in mind as we consider ominous questions (such as this one, from Turkle: "people hide from telephone calls because they don't want the commitment of real-time talking… Who knows where it might lead?").

 

Morse's Telegraph Machine

Morse's telegraph machine, aka the Annihilator of Time and Space.

7. A Statement from Christians Who are "Moving Beyond Evangelical" - Put two evangelicals in a room and you'll hear three opinions on what "evangelical" means.

Beyond the word itself, there's confusion about what the evangelical identity is about. If I understand author Frank Viola's post correctly, he finds the character of evangelicalism to be increasingly polemical,  "more about [political and doctrinal] issues than about Jesus Christ."

I don't know that I agree with Viola on all the points of the collective Confession he presents, but when it comes to differences of opinion, we agree with Augustine's rule of thumb:

"In essentials unity, in non-essentials liberty, in all things charity."

Frank Viola blogs at frankviola.org, though this post is from Kurt Willems' Pangea Blog where Kurt wrote a related thought-provoking post, You Might be an Evangelical Reject If….

For further reading, check out Zondervan's Four Views on the Spectrum of Evangelicalism.

 

I'll end with a 2-part question.
Two strangers approach you.
The first asks you if you're a Christian. What do you say?
The second stranger asks if you're an evangelical. What do you say?

- Adam Forrest, Zondervan

 

(Disclosure: Some Re:Word stories are by Zondervan authors. Some are not. All regard words or the Word. Image attribution: 2006 Zubro (image by myself) [GFDL (www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html), CC-BY-SA-3.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/)], via Wikimedia Commons This post does not represent the views of Zondervan or any of its representatives. The writer shares these personal opinions for information purposes only. To receive new blogposts in your reader or email inbox, subscribe to Zondervan Blog.)

 

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Scriptural Insights with Chuck Swindoll – God with Us

The truth of Christ’s dual nature—His unblemished deity and His complete humanity—is vitally important theologically, but it’s crucial in a practical sense as well. When I feel tempted to shake a fist at the heavens or wonder if God is being cruelly indifferent while I suffer down here on earth, John’s gospel reminds me of an important truth. When Adam brought sin into the world, and death with sin (Rom. 5:12), the Lord could have incinerated the world as just punishment and He would have been no less holy or righteous. But He didn’t. Furthermore, when we sin—as individuals and collectively as humans—God has every right to turn His back and say, “Fine. Run the world your way. The mess you make of it is yours to bear.” But He doesn’t.



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On the contrary, the Creator voluntarily became one of us in the person of Jesus Christ, who suffered as we suffer, who was tempted as we are tempted, and who endured injustice as we will never know—yet without sin. I am comforted to know that God understands and empathizes. Through His incarnation, we can appreciate His compassion more fully. Because he lived and died as a man, we can more easily accept that, in His resurrection, the Son is for us even while we feel abandoned, mistreated, or punished by God.

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. – John 1:14

Read more from Chuck Swindoll at www.SwindollInsights.com

 

About Charles Swindoll

Charles R. Swindoll has devoted his life to the clear, practical teaching and application of God’s Word. He currently pastors Stonebriar Community Church in Frisco, Texas, and serves as the chancellor of Dallas Theological Seminary. His renowned Insight for Living radio program airs around the world. Chuck and Cynthia, his partner in life and ministry, have four grown children and ten grandchildren.

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Scriptural Insights with Chuck Swindoll – Innocence Lost

When you become a grandparent, you cannot help but see things differently. Our first step on the road to maturity is a sudden awakening to the fact that the world is not always a good place. Then, after decades of trying to get a handle on the presence of evil in a universe over which God is sovereign, a grandchild brings you full circle again. As you gather that little one into your arms, suddenly glimmer s of something you lost a long time ago flicker in the corner of your mind’s eye. And if you don’t look too hard, you’ll discover it’s the precious, fleeting quality of childlike wonder.

Remember childlike wonder? Puppets really talk. The department store Santa travels all the way from the North Pole just to visit your town. Uncle Bob truly ca n pull a quarter from someone’s ea r and Daddy is, in fact, larger than life. And God really did create the universe, which He continues to watch over wit h fatherly interest. But something sad, yet necessary happened. We grew up to see the world as it really is. We learned the u n happy truth behind puppets and cheap Santa costumes. Sleight of hand tricks no longer mesmerize and Daddy came down to size all too quickly. And, then . . . what of God? In the process of g rowing up, have we abandoned the very quality that Jesus said we must have if we are to embrace His kingdom (Matt. 18:4; Mark 10:15; Luke 18:17)?


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In the early 1920s, humanity enjoyed a few fleeting moment s of childlike wonder when Edwin Hubble pointed the world’s largest telescope toward a dim portion of the sky and made a startling disc over y. Until then, everyone thought the universe was limited to our own Milky Way galaxy. Hubble’s research proved otherwise. What were once thought to be distant stars turned out to be galaxies, many thousands of them. Suddenly, the universe was a great deal bigger, humankind looked a great deal less knowledgeable, and, for a moment — a precious, fleeting moment — humankind gazed with childlike wonder at the magnificence of God’s creation.

Unfortunately, our brush with innocence did not last. As humankind has done for countless millennia, we traded childlike wonder for something easier to manage: the visible for the invisible. And, all at once, our fleeting encounter with truth gave way to a long series of big bang theories and something-from-nothing speculations.

“For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities – his eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.” – Romans 1:20-21

Read more from Chuck Swindoll at www.SwindollInsights.com

About Charles Swindoll

Charles R. Swindoll has devoted his life to the clear, practical teaching and application of God's Word. He currently pastors Stonebriar Community Church in Frisco, Texas, and serves as the chancellor of Dallas Theological Seminary. His renowned Insight for Living radio program airs around the world. Chuck and Cynthia, his partner in life and ministry, have four grown children and ten grandchildren.

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