Sharing Life and Christ

Luke 7:36-50 tells the story of a Pharisee named Simon inviting Jesus to eat in his home. A “woman of the city, who was a sinner,” hears that Jesus is going to be there and brings an expensive flask of ointment for Jesus’ feet. She falls at His feet weeping and wiping His feet with her hair as Simon and his friends look on with disgust and condemnation. Jesus discerns what these self-righteous men are thinking and uses a parable to illustrate the faith of this woman. A certain moneylender had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. When they could not pay, he cancelled the debt of both. Now which of them will love him more? Simon answered, “The one, I suppose, for whom he cancelled the larger debt.” And He said to him, “You have judged rightly.” Luke 7:41-43 Jesus goes on to tell Simon how he failed to honor Him as a guest while this woman had gone above and beyond in her love for Jesus. Then, amazingly, Jesus...

Now the word of the L ORD came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me.” But Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the L ORD. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish. So he paid the fare and went on board, to go with them to Tarshish, away from the presence of the L ORD. Jonah 1:1-3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ whose Word is not bound by time, environment, or circumstance. As I was waiting with the rest of the band to perform our final piece at graduation today, I had a moment to turn to Jonah. In that short window of opportunity, God revealed something great to me, but before I get to that, I’d like to share some thoughts about this passage. I’d also like to recommend Surprised by Grace by Tullian Tchividjian to anyone looking for a Gospel-centered commentary on the Book of Jonah. ...

Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving. Colossians 2:6-7 So far in our look at Colossians we’ve seen Paul’s praise for the Colossian church, the preeminence of Christ, and an overview of Paul’s ministry as a pastor and church planter. We’ve seen how Paul has pointed everything back to the central figure of the Gospel: Jesus Christ. We’ve seen how Paul draws his own encouragement, energy, and strength from the person of Jesus Christ. And we’ve seen Paul’s pastoral labors aimed at the church at Colossae. Paul moves on from his joy for the church to offer two verses of exhortation. The section of Scripture that we will deal with in this essay comes from chapter 2 beginning with verse 6 and going through verse 15. Paul’s desire is for the Colossian church to walk in Christ. He longs to present everyone mature in Christ ( 1:28 ...

Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. Isaiah 53:11 This verse is taken from what is probably the most complete messianic prophecy of Jesus Christ in all of the Old Testament. Isaiah 53 tells the story of how the Christ will suffer at the hands of the very ones whom he came to save. It speaks of a suffering servant who is acquainted with grief and of lowly disposition. It speaks of a righteous, innocent servant of God who didn’t even offer a response when being led to his own execution. In verse 11, we see that this servant humbly submitted to this treatment so that many would be accounted righteous in the sight of the living God. Blessed is the Lamb, Jesus Christ, who was slain and incurred God’s wrath that we might be reconciled to God through Him! I want to do something very “Spurgeon-like” with the first phra...

Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. Isaiah 53:11 This verse is taken from what is probably the most complete messianic prophecy of Jesus Christ in all of the Old Testament. Isaiah 53 tells the story of how the Christ will suffer at the hands of the very ones whom he came to save. It speaks of a suffering servant who is acquainted with grief and of lowly disposition. It speaks of a righteous, innocent servant of God who didn’t even offer a response when being led to his own execution. In verse 11, we see that this servant humbly submitted to this treatment so that many would be accounted righteous in the sight of the living God. Blessed is the Lamb, Jesus Christ, who was slain and incurred God’s wrath that we might be reconciled to God through Him! I want to do something very “Spurgeon-like” with the first phra...