John 3:14-21

4 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in him may have eternal life." 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. 17 For God sent the Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him. 18 He who believes in him is not condemned; he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. 19 And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For every one who does evil hates the light, and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. 21 But he who does what is true comes to the light, that it may be clearly seen that his deeds have been wrought in God.

“The Gift Of God”

One of the most difficult truths for us to handle is that it is...”by grace that we have been saved through faith; and this is not our own doing, it is the gift of God...There is nothing here to boast of, since it is not the result of our own efforts.” Eph. 2:8,9

We like to boast of how we have God in our control, as one ‘good’ Christian said recently, “God doesn’t hear Jewish prayers” - as if we know and control who God listens too!

When God becomes predictable, God also becomes impotent!

Grace means that God loves the person who first said, “God is dead.”
God has compassion for the person who rejects him.
For God’s primary concern is that we allow God to love us, to save us, to touch our hearts and change our living; to rescue us from our ability to self-destruct!

God makes it easy for us, as with the Israelites of old. Just look and you will live! Just look at Jesus and live! God wants us so badly that if we just give him the least little excuse, God will shower his grace upon us and call us his own! God is the waiting father!

God also trusts that once this gift of grace hits home, things will start happening in our lives.
For the person who truly lives by grace is the last person who can be judgmental towards others. That is simply a contradiction which leads to hypocrisy of the worst kind.

The line God draws is not a judgment line, but a grace line. To cross that live is to live in love and forgiveness. Faith is crossing that line and letting God have at you!
It is looking at Jesus, and living.

John 2:13-22

13 The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14 In the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers at their business. 15 And making a whip of cords, he drove them all, with the sheep and oxen, out of the temple; and he poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. 16 And he told those who sold the pigeons, "Take these things away; you shall not make my Father's house a house of trade." 17 His disciples remembered that it was written, "Zeal for thy house will consume me." 18 The Jews then said to him, "What sign have you to show us for doing this?" 19 Jesus answered them, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." 20 The Jews then said, "It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?" 21 But he spoke of the temple of his body. 22 When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this; and they believed the scripture and the word which Jesus had spoken.

“Jesus, the Intruder”

Jesus had two faces. He was “meek and lowly in heart”; and “he looked at them with anger”. (Mk 5:5) He was gentle but not anemic, as when he called Herod a “fool” or told Peter “Get behind me, Satan!”

Nor was He anemic when he cleansed the temple. He was a violent intruder, disrupting their comfortable little set up. It must have been a wild scene! The disciples must have been stunned, even embarrassed. The people likewise.

Jesus was not always an easy person to be with. For example, when he said:

“Leave the dead to bury their own dead; for as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” Lk. 9:60
“No own who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”
Lk. (:61
“He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and he who loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.” Mt. 10:37,38

This may sound harsh and in some ways it is. It is also an expression of God’s awesome love which will not let us off easy, but expresses itself even in punishment for sin. It is as Luther prayed, “Ah, God, punish us, we pray Thee...but be not silent...toward us.”

Jesus, would be an Intruder in our lives, harsh though it may seen, to awaken in us our need for a Savior, and then Jesus would be the Savior we need.

Mark 8:31- 38

31 And he began to teach them that the Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. 32 And he said this plainly. And Peter took him, and began to rebuke him. 33 But turning and seeing his disciples, he rebuked Peter, and said, "Get behind me, Satan! For you are not on the side of God, but of men." 34 And he called to him the multitude with his disciples, and said to them, "If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 35 For whoever would save his life will lose it; and whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel's will save it. 36 For what does it profit a man, to gain the whole world and forfeit his life? 37 For what can a man give in return for his life? 38 For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of man also be ashamed, when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels."

“Have In Mind The Things Of God”

It is not always possible to know what someone “has in mind’ by what they say, or even by what they do. It can all be very deceptive. Even in our faith journey. Even when we try to be open and honest. Peter faced this in Jesus words and we do too.

To have in mind the things of God is not something we ever do perfectly. It is a process by which we are being changed into God’s likeness day by day. it has to do with our attitude, pride, lust for life; our wanting to make it and make it big. It has to do with our wanting to bribe God so we will have it easy as we make it.

God has it in mind that we are to be servants, not lords; givers, not takers; helpers not hoarders. God is not really interested in how successful we are, nor how important, nor how secure, nor even how devout we are. God doesn’t have these things in mind. God has in mind how helpful we are, how sensitive we are, how compassionate and loving we are - especially toward the helpless.

To have in mind the things of God is to have in mind the awesome truth that to know God’s love is to share God’s love and to walk as a servant in a world which abuses servants.
The bottom live with God is lowly servanthood - having in mind the things which make for love and letting the love we cherish be felt n the lives we live.