Posts Tagged ‘Christ’

Jesus Christ is the Bread and the Word. Part of God’s plan for us is that we are humbled and hungry – we must learn to feed on Him. The children of Israel often grumbled that they were well fed in Egypt and wanted to go back to that familiar place of comfort rather than die in the desert from hunger. Like us, they had short memories regarding their own actions and God’s provision. They were not satisfied in Egypt and had grumbled in those circumstances. God brought them out of Egypt in a most miraculous manner and chose to be in their presence; they refused to accept communion with Him. Moses spoke of bread and word during one of his final sermons to the congregation.

“And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.” (Deuteronomy 8:3 ESV)

Jesus quotes this verse during a time of temptation; He shows that Scripture is a great way to combat temptation; he demonstrates an understanding of what man needs for life.

“But he answered, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”” (Matthew 4:4 ESV)

Jesus unmistakably speaks of himself as the bread that satisfies in John 6, right after feeding five thousand and walking on water.

“Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.’” (John 6:35 ESV)

Of course, the reason belief in Christ quenches thirst is that he provides living water in abundance to those that ask.

“Jesus answered her, ‘If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.’” (John 4:10 ESV)

“On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, ‘If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.” (John 7:37-39 ESV)

So God allows us to be humbled and hungry, in order that we look to Jesus. He is the bread that we need, and the Word that satisfies.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men… And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:1-4,14 ESV)

I know that the chapter and verse designations in Scripture aren’t part of the original documents, but … I couldn’t help but notice the similarity in message between John 3:16 and 1 John 3:16.

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.

Christ set the example and lived the life of love without faltering. When we have that same love, “we know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers.” (1 John 3:14a)

Observations from Tony; Scripture quotes from ESV.

Merry Christmas:  During the past few years people have debated the demise of the term “Merry Christmas” and have begun to fight back and proclaim that removing Christ from Christmas is a line they are not willing to cross. “Season’s Greetings” just doesn’t cut it in denoting the ‘holiness’ of that particular holiday.

The year of our LORD:  “Anno Domini” (AD) and “Before Christ” (BC) make Jesus Christ central in our most common calendar system. Every time you said or wrote ‘2009’ last year you were remembering that our LORD is central in all things, even in our perception of how we mark time. Many people desire that we change the usage to “Before Common Era” (B.C.E.) and “Common Era” (C.E.) in order to not offend individuals that don’t accept Christ as the Messiah.

Days of the week  and month names:  Friends (Quakers) make a practice of not using the names of the days of the week because those names are based on or derived from pagan gods. Friends prefer the simpler, more Biblical form of attending Meeting on First Day, going to work on Second Day, and resting on Day Seven (or Seventh Day). The usage of Sunday (Sun’s day), Monday (Moon day), Tuesday (Tiw’s day), Wednesday (Woden’s day), Thursday (Thor’s day), Friday (Frig’s day), and Saturday (Saturn’s day), brings glory to false gods and shouldn’t be spoken by followers of Christ. Friends would also use numbers to denote the month names because many of the names of the months are based on ancient Roman Paganism (Janus – a two-headed Roman God, Februa – a Roman Pagan festival, Mars – a Roman God of war and fertility, Aprilis – the Roman Goddess of love, Maia – the Roman Goddess of the springtime, Juno – the Roman Great Mother Goddess, Julius Caesar – a Roman dictator, and Augustus Caesar – a Roman emperor).

Word Usage:  For more regarding how we use words, see the post “Hank and Awesome.”

Last evening, at Youth Group, Sage gave a teaching about false teachers (prophets) stealing our thoughts from THE WAY.  He taught from Jeremiah 23, Matthew 16, and 2 Peter 2, and warned that we cannot allow God’s Holy Word to be watered down or His message of holiness to be compromised by people telling us that “it’s just a little thing” or “it’s not that important” when we start dipping our toes into the things of the world.

So, where do we draw the line? The One True Teacher chose Scripture’s fulfillment over His comfort and His life. In Matthew 26 Jesus points out to His disciples that He could call on His Father and have more than twelve legions of angels (that’s over 72,000 angels) at His disposal, “But how then would the Scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen in this way?” Christ chose the cross because His Words are important and they do have meaning. His life, death, and resurrection indicate that He knows what lines cannot be crossed, whether out of convenience, custom, or comfort. Let us be transformed by the renewing of our minds and become mature enough to know which lines cannot be crossed in our lives.

“He chose us … to be holy and blameless in his sight. He predestined us to be adopted as His sons … in accordance with His pleasure and will – to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ. … to the praise of His glory.”

 Ephesians 1:4,5,10,11,14 (NIV)