Shalom Aleichem...
Reflections is a weekly Christian Teaching Ministry. Each week we will talk about the Bible and lessons we can put to use in our daily life. We will try to, on a weekly basis, provide to you stories, thoughts, and just easy ways to live your life on a straight path.
THIS WEEK'S TEACHING....April 20, 2020
Soul Winners in the New Testament...
This is the second half of our teaching from last week. We are learning about John the Baptist, the precurser to Jesus in the Holy Book.
"Behold! This is the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!"
And interestingly enough, three messages are given to three groups. On day one it is a hostile delegation from the Sanhedrin, the Jewish leading religious council. On day two it is when he sees Jesus coming towards him and to the mass of people that are there. And on day three it is some of John’s own disciples. So three days, three messages to three different groups.
Message two: Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Day one was kind of a private delegation – the Jewish religious leaders. Day two is the public proclamation. And it’s a shock because he sees Jesus coming to him and he knows Him, obviously. And he declares Him to be the Lamb of God, and that’s an exclamation, “Behold!” Look at Him. Why would the Messiah be a Lamb? Why would... because at best, a lamb is i weak, helpless, stupid, dependent, even dirty.
They would have expected him to say, “Behold your King. Behold the triumphant One. Behold the majestic One. Behold the exalted One. Behold the Ruler. Behold the Anointed One.” But he says, “Behold the lamb of God.” At best, as I said, a lamb is iweak. At worst, a lamb is dead. And lambs were sacrificed all the time. All through the centuries Israel knew about a sacrificial lamb—going all the way back to Abraham and Isaac and God providing a sacrifice for Abraham so he didn’t have to kill his own son.
And then back to the Exodus and the Passover Lamb and every Passover after that, and every morning and every evening, there was a morning sacrifice, an evening sacrifice, and lambs were slain as sin offerings over and over and over and over, day after day after day, century after century after century. And they also knew, Isaiah 53, that He was the One who was wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities, and the One upon whom the chastening for our peace fell. They knew all of that. They knew about sacrifice.
But they didn’t know how to interpret the currant events because they never saw themselves as a people needing a sacrifice.
So John testifies “ Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. That’s John’s ministry
But coming to the question of the Pharisees 'Why then do you baptize if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?'" (1:24-25)
“My authority to baptize?” - verse 33.- “He who sent me to baptize said to me”— Yahweh Himself sent me to baptize and why ? “so that He might be manifested to Israel, I came baptizing in water. “ verse 31. So here John is just admitting that “I didn’t recognize Him in the full sense But I was commanded to baptize in water so that He might be manifested to Israel “. And John testified then in verse 32 saying, “I’ve seen the Spirit descending as a dove out of heaven, and He remained on Him.. “ He who sent me to baptize in water,” “said to me, ‘He upon whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining upon Him, this is the One who baptizes in the Holy Spirit.’”
Matthew 3, and Luke 3, states in relation to the baptism of Jesus that the Spirit came down in the form of a dove and the Father said, “This is My beloved Son in whom I am well-pleased.” John at that moment knew At this point John gives us this testimony, verse 31, “I didn’t recognize Him, when I was called to baptize.” Verse 33, “I didn’t recognize Him until the Father told me He’s the one the Spirit descends on.” At that point, verse 34, “I myself have seen, and testified this is the Son of God.”
He did have divine authority. He did what he did because God told him to do it He says, “Look, you’re making too much of this. I’m just doing water baptism here. There’s One that you need to look at who is already among you, and He will baptize with the Holy Spirit. You need to be far more concerned about the one who deals with hearts than you are about me and what I do.” Real baptism, real purification, regeneration, the washing of regeneration, is going to be the work of the Messiah. He will baptize with the Holy Spirit
So on day two John says to the crowd, “Look at Him, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world .”.
Verse 35 takes us to day three, just briefly. “Again the next day John was standing with two of his disciples, and he looked at Jesus as He walked, and said, ‘ behold the Lamb of God.’” The two disciples heard him say that, and they followed Jesus. Who are they? Two disciples of John. John was a teacher and John had followers. So here are a couple of them. By the way, we know who these two are. According to verse 40 one of the two who heard John and followed Jesus was Andrew. Who’s the other one? Well, the writer of the gospel of John is always reluctant to name one of them. Who is it? Himself.
So Andrew and John started out as followers of John the Baptist, getting ready for Messiah. And John, is standing with them and he looked at Jesus as He walked, and he says to these two disciples, “Behold, the Lamb of God!”
“Behold the Lamb of God!’” And what he was saying to them was, “Why are you standing here with me? Follow Him.” “
“The two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus.” And verse 38, “Jesus turned and saw them following Him, and said to them, ‘What do you seek?’” What do you guys want?
They said, “Rabbi, where are You staying?” In other words, this isn’t a short-term interest. Wherever you’re going and wherever you’re going to stay, that’s where we’re going to stay.
John didn’t want anything—he didn’t want followers; he didn’t want disciples; he didn’t want honors; he didn’t want titles. Verse 23 says, “I’m a voice”...“ “crying in the wilderness,” and it was the wilderness. It was the desert. But it was not only a physical, geographical wilderness, it was a spiritual wilderness, of barren hearts.
Therein...therein lies the proper view of the witness . A faithful witness is marked by humility, seeks no honors, no money, no disciples, no titles, no flattery—he is simply a voice. And he directs everything to One greater than himself.
(a) prepare your hearts, the Messiah is here;
(b) recognize him for who he is; and finally
(c) follow him.
That’s the essence, by the way, of witnessing. John had done his job. Are you willing to be a voice crying in the wilderness?
NEXT WEEK...We continue our look at the shephards of the Bible, as we learn about Andrew.
DID YOU EVER WONDER???
The Teacher
Stories like this, always have a way of putting the right perspective on life.
Jean Thompson stood in front of her fifth-grade class on the very first day of school in the fall and told the children a lie. Like most teachers, she looked at her pupils and said that she loved them all the same, that she would treat them all alike. And that was impossible because there in front of her, slumped in his seat on the third row, was a little boy named Teddy Stoddard.
Mrs. Thompson had watched Teddy the year before and noticed he didn't play well with the other children, that his clothes were unkept and that he constantly needed a bath. And Teddy was unpleasant.
It got to the point during the first few months that she would actually take delight in marking his papers with a broad red pen, making bold X's and then marking the F at the top of the paper biggest of all. Because Teddy was a sullen little boy, no one else seemed to enjoy him, either.
At the school where Mrs. Thompson taught, she was required to review each child's records and put Teddy's off until last. When she opened his file, she was in for a surprise. His first-grade teacher wrote, "Teddy is a bright, inquisitive child with a ready laugh." "He does his work neatly and has good manners...he is a joy to be around."
His second-grade teacher wrote, "Teddy is an excellent student well-liked by his classmates, but he is troubled because his mother has a terminal illness and life at home must be a struggle."
His third-grade teacher wrote, "Teddy continues to work hard but his mother's death has been hard on him. He tries to do his best but his father doesn't show much interest and his home life will soon affect him if some steps aren't taken."
Teddy's fourth-grade teacher wrote, "Teddy is withdrawn and doesn't show much interest in school. He doesn't have many friends and sometimes sleeps in class. He is tardy and could become a problem."
By now Mrs. Thompson realized the problem, but Christmas was coming fast. It was all she could do, with the school play and all, until the day before the holidays began and she was suddenly forced to focus on Teddy Stoddard.
Her children brought her presents, all in beautiful ribbon and bright paper, except for Teddy's, which was clumsily wrapped in the heavy, brown paper of a scissored grocery bag. Mrs. Thompson took pains to open it in the middle of the other presents.
Some of the children started to laugh when she found a rhinestone bracelet with some of the stones missing, and a bottle that was one-quarter full of cologne. She stifled the children's laughter when she exclaimed how pretty the bracelet was, putting it on, and dabbing some of the perfume behind the other wrist. Teddy Stoddard stayed behind just long enough to say, "Mrs. Thompson, today you smelled just like my mom used to."
After the children left she cried for at least an hour. On that very day, she quit teaching reading, writing, and speaking. Instead, she began to teach children. Jean Thompson paid particular attention to one they all called "Teddy."
As she worked with him, his mind seemed to come alive. The more she encouraged him, the faster he responded. On days where there would be an important test, Mrs. Thompson would remember that cologne. By the end of the year he had become one of the smartest children in the class and...well, he had also become the "pet" of the teacher who had once vowed to love all of her children exactly the same.
A year later she found a note under her door, from Teddy, telling her that of all the teachers he'd had in elementary school, she was his favorite. Six years went by before she got another note from Teddy.
He then wrote that he had finished high school, third in his class, and she was still his favorite teacher of all time.
Four years after that, she got another letter, saying that while things had been tough at times, he'd stayed in school, had stuck with it, and would graduate from college with the highest of honors. He assured Mrs. Thompson she was still his favorite teacher.
Then four more years passed and yet another letter came. This time he explained that after he got his bachelor's degree, he decided to go a little further. The letter explained that she was still his favorite teacher, but that now his name was a little longer. The letter was signed, Theodore F. Stoddard, M.D.
The story doesn't end there. You see, there was yet another letter that Spring. Teddy said he'd met this girl and was to be married. He explained that his father had died a couple of years ago and he was wondering...well, if Mrs. Thompson might agree to sit in the pew usually reserved for the mother of the groom. And guess what, she wore that bracelet, the one with several rhinestones missing. And I bet on that special day, Jean Thompson smelled just like...well, just like the way Teddy remembered his mother smelling on their last Christmas together.
THE MORAL: You never can tell what type of impact you may make on another's life by your actions or lack of action. Consider this fact in your venture thru life.
BOOKS OF THE BIBLE...A TEACHING
We continue our briefs of the Bible....
6. Joshua
Joshua (Israel’s new leader) leads Israel to conquer the Promised land, then parcels out territories to the twelve tribes of Israel.
Author: Nobody knows
Fun fact: You’ve probably heard of a few fantastic stories from this book (the Battle of Jericho and the day the sun stood still), but most of the action happens in the first half of this book. The last half is pretty much all about divvying up the real estate.
7. Judges
Israel enters a cycle of turning from God, falling captive to oppressive nations, calling out to God, and being rescued by leaders God sends their way (called “judges”).
Author: Nobody knows
8. Ruth
Two widows lose everything, and find hope in Israel—which leads to the birth of the future King David.
Author: Nobody knows
9. 1 Samuel
Israel demands a king, who turns out to be quite a disappointment.
Author: Nobody knows
10. 2 Samuel
David, a man after God’s own heart, becomes king of Israel.
Author: Nobody knows
HAVE A SAFE AND BLESSED WEEK:)
Ho'omaikaʻi ka Pua iā kākou