Tag Archives: grace

Discontent, rebellion, and the grace of God

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God led his chosen but stubborn people from Sinai to the cusp of the Promised Land, and then they believed a report that the people of the land were too strong. So they refused to go in. Months of discontent gave way to rebellion. They chose leaders to replace Moses and vowed to go back to Egypt. God’s people can be slow learners. Have you ever noticed that?

In Numbers 14, they heard the spies’ report and refused to enter the promised land. They mourned that they hadn’t died in the wilderness. God told them they’d have their way: everyone over 20 would die in the wilderness over the next 40 years, but their children would conquer the Promised Land.… Read the rest

God’s grace towards the sins of the patriarchs

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God introduced himself to Moses as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. These three names appear together throughout the books of Moses, later in the Old Testament, and nine times in the New Testament. Along with Jacob’s sons, they are the patriarchs who received the Abrahamic covenant. That covenant, more than the other Old Testament covenants, is a covenant of grace.

It is easy to regard major characters in the Bible as either heroes or villains. The patriarchs were neither. They were great men of faith in their own ways, but we see God’s grace most clearly when we look at it against the backdrop of their persistent sin.… Read the rest

Workers in the vineyard: what is the meaning of their strange wages?

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Matthew’s gospel records nine parables of the kingdom, parables that Jesus began with the words, “The kingdom of heaven is like . . .” In this post, we’ll look at the workers in the vineyard (Matthew 20:1-16).

It comes immediately after the story of the rich young ruler and Peter’s response. And it has bookends. The last verse of chapter 19 says (in NIV), “But many who are first will be last and many who are last will be first.” The parable ends, “So the last will be first and the first will be last.”

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The unforgiving servant and the king: parables of the kingdom

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Matthew’s gospel records six parables in Matthew 13 that start, “the kingdom of heaven is like. . .” Three more gospels of the kingdom appear later in Matthew. In this post, we will look at the parable of the unforgiving servant (Matthew 18:21-35), which starts, “the kingdom of heaven is like a king . . .”

The parable immediately follows Peter’s question about forgiveness. According to typical rabbinic teaching, forgiveness was unnecessary after the third offense. Peter asked if he needed to forgive seven times. In other words, Peter asked if forgiving more than twice as much as other rabbis required is good enough.… Read the rest

Small parables of the kingdom of heaven with large meaning

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The kingdom of heaven is a major theme of Matthew’s gospel, including most of the parables in Matthew 13. The chapter begins with the parable of the sower (or the four soils) and its explanation. All the other parables in the chapter compare the kingdom of heaven to something or someone. Four other chapters include parables that illustrate what the kingdom of heaven is like.

This post will examine the short parables at the end of Matthew 13. He spoke these parables to the disciples alone, not to a crowd.

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All things are lawful. Does that mean anything goes?

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Sin. all things are lawful
Nowadays, sin seems like a good thing. / Corey Balazowich via Flickr

In our experience, some things are lawful and others illegal. In that regard, 1 Corinthians 6 has a very odd juxtaposition of ideas. 

Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.

… Read the rest

How the Syrophoenician woman demonstrates great faith

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Jesus encountered a woman in Gentile territory at the end of a particularly hectic time of his life. We know her as the Syrophoenician woman from Mark’s account. Matthew’s account calls her a Canaanite woman. The incidents that finally drove Jesus out of Palestine to are recorded in Matthew beginning with 13:53 and in Mark 6-7.

  • Jesus taught in the synagogue at Nazareth. The townspeople were offended at his teaching. He could do no mighty works there because of their unbelief. That pairing of offense and unbelief is key to understanding his later two meetings with the Syrophoenician woman.
  • He sent out his disciples in pairs for ministry.
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Is Revelation scary? A calm look at a disturbing book

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Someone in my Sunday school class suggested studying the book of Revelation. Someone else immediately vetoed the idea. She didn’t want to spend much time being scared.

Lots of people apparently think Revelation is scary and that therefore they shouldn’t read it. Actually, it’s the only book in the Bible that promises a special blessing for anyone who does read it (Revelation 1:3). In fact, the only people who ought to be afraid of it are the scoffers who won’t bother to look at it.

When the book of Revelation is explained, we can face it calmly and hopefully

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Immanuel: God’s presence we don’t deserve

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After Matthew described how Joseph decided to go through with his marriage to apparently unfaithful Mary, he added a comment: “All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: ‘The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel’ (which means God with us).”—Matthew 1:22-23 NIV

We might be tempted to think that, of course God is with us. Naturally. God is everywhere. But that’s too hasty. The standard warning in such cases is that we shouldn’t take it for granted. Actually, however, we should take it for granted: God granted us his presence by grace.… Read the rest

What does it mean being washed in blood?

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Blood stains. No cleaning product advertises that it contains blood. Yet Christians sing of being washed in Jesus’ blood.

There is a fountain filled with blood,
Drawn from Immanuel’s veins
And sinners plunged beneath that flood
Lose all their guilty stains. — William Cowper

Now there’s a truly unpleasant image. Hardly anything makes me want to wash my hands faster than handling raw meat and getting the blood on them. If sinners are plunged into a fountain of blood, it might cleanse their guilt, but they’ll never get their clothes clean!

To understand the imagery of being washed in the blood of Jesus, we need to consider both the connection between blood and cleansing in the Bible and the role of blood in our own bodies.… Read the rest