Greater Love...

I awoke early this morning, my mind immediately drifted to the reality of the love that has been given to us in Christ.  Then, I read chapter 49 in the John Piper book that we have been reading as a church.  Here is an excerpt as our Easter weekend continues.                                                                                           

"Most of us have grown up thinking that being loved means being made much of.  Our whole world seems to be built on this assumption.  If I love you, I make much of you.  I help you feel good about yourself.  It is as though a sight of self is the secret of joy.  But we know better.  Even before we come to the Bible, we know this is not so.  Our happiest moments have not been self-saturated moments, but self-forgetful moments.  There have been times where we stood beside the Grand Canyon, or at the foot of Mount Kilimanjaro, or viewed a stunning sunset over the Sahara, and for a fleeting moment felt the joy of sheer wonder.  This is what we were made for. Paradise will not be a hall of mirrors, it will be a display of majesty.  And it won't be ours.                                                              

If this is true, and if Christ is the most majestic reality in the universe, then what must his love to us be?  Surely not making much of us.  That would not satisfy our souls.  We were made for something much greater.  If we are to be as happy as we can be, we must see and savor the most glorious person of all Jesus Christ himself".  p 117

 Let's enjoy Him today and make much of Him today as we reflect on His death and Resurrection.

Jesus and His Going Away

2,000 yrs ago tonight, Jesus said these words to some hearts that were really troubled.

John 16:7 Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you.

Enough said!

A Few Tuesdays Ago...

Good Tuesday morning!  As I write to you, the sun has come up on our campus, the birds are singing, the grass is greener, (I can smell the cows), and I find myself reflecting on a Tuesday about 2,000 yrs ago.  On Tuesday of Christ's last week on earth, he spent the majority of the day teaching.  As he came in from Bethany, he spent much of the day communicating truth to the crowds.  Since He is truth, He spent the day proclaiming who He was and the implications of Truth in our lives.  Just as the people in the temple on that Tuesday were "hanging on His words" (Luke 19:48), I pray that we would do that today as well.

So...as this day begins, I wanted to write to you something from the John Piper book "50 Reasons Why Jesus Came to Die", that we have been reading as a church.  Here are some thoughts as our day begins from chapter 43, pages 104-105.

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John Piper:

"Gospel means good news.  It's news before it's theology.  News is the reporting that something significant has happened.  Good news is the announcement that something has happened that will make people happy.  The gospel is the best news, because what it reports can make people happy forever.  What the gospel reports is the death and resurrection of Christ.  The apostle Paul makes the news quality of the gospel plain:

1 Corinthians 15 [1] Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, [2] and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. [3] For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, [4] that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, [5] and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. [6] Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep.

The heart of the gospel is that "Christ died for our sins...was buried...was raised...and appeared to more than five hundred people.  The fact that he says many of the witnesses are still alive shows how factual the gospel is.  He meant that his readers could find some witnesses and query them.  The gospel is good news about facts.  And the facts were testable.  There were witnesses of Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection life".

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As our day starts, let us remember that our faith rests on someone who is real (not was real), He was like us in every way (Heb. 2:17), and that He alone is the good news of the gospel.  All we know of Him is true and let's walk in the joy of this reality.