Bible Jazz

God's original covenant with Abraham was based on his grace to build a COMMUNITY for himself; his covenant with Moses was based on Law for that COMMUNITY, (which failed to keep them close) and God's new covenant reestablished a COMMUNITY of grace

God keeps God's promises. God's COMMUNITY, on the other hand, don't always follow suit. What leads our communities to go astray? What warnings does God give? And what will lead us back, as a COMMUNITY, to the arms of our Savior?

God made a promise to Abraham and remembered it when Abraham's descendents were enslaved. Having rescued them, God created a COMMUNITY defined by God's covenant, to be passed on for generations. They passed it on -- will we?

Two times in his relationship with disciples, Jesus challenged them to do their jobs in a new way. The first time was an invitation to be with him. The second time, however, he was getting them ready for his departure. What would this mean for them and their fledgling COMMUNITY?

The disciples rejected the idea of extravagant offering or the idea that suffering was the path to their own salvation. But later it would prove to be essential for the church to spread. What comes from suffering is the treasure of endurance, patience, experience and hope.

Suffering and God are not contradictions, but go hand in hand. The idea that God suffers with and for us is one of the most persuasive teachings for Christianity. I believe that God is closer to suffering than to happiness and that finding God in our pain brings greater peace and lasting joy than any earthly happiness. “We have found peace with God” is something achieved through the Cross. At the Cross we die to ourselves and surrender our will for God’s. This means every trial and suffering is redeemed for God’s glory.

God has reconciled all things. All means all. Under the Cross of Christ we know that we all belong to one another, that we are brothers and sisters in the same need and the same hope. We are bound together in the body of Christ which means we have the same destiny and purpose. We share the same suffering and joys, the same sorrows and successes, but most importantly the same condition of sin and guilt. Under the Cross we are no longer rich or poor, good or bad, Americans or Foreigners… we are one large congregation. What great love of Christ that binds us all together.

We rarely use the word “bearing” but the bible uses this word frequently. It is a word capable of capturing the whole work of Jesus Christ. That on the Cross he bore the weight of the world’s sin enduring all that was entailed in the Passion narrative. Church fathers use the term, “fellowship of the cross” as the shared burden of all believers to carry their own cross and that of others who suffer. If we are to grow in faith we too must share in the suffering and pain of this world.

It is said that both faith and obedience are only possible by our remembering and repeating. This was the gift and example of the Hebrew traditions and festivals. Remembering becomes a powerful thing in the present because the actions of God in the past are done by a living God who today makes me sure of what he has done. The past is gone but because something decisive happened for me on the Cross, the past lives into the present. It only requires a believing in our hearts. Because it is Christ who saves us, and not ourselves, remembering and repeating are crucial for staying alive in the faith. In my daily remembering of what Jesus Christ has done for me on the cross, I do not forget that God loved me from eternity and has not forgotten me.

How can we truly know God? Either I know about the God I seek from my own experience and insights (along with all the assumptions and meaning I place on history) that are entirely within myself… or I know about him based on his revelation of his own Son. We have to choose. If I say where God will be, I will always find a god who is agreeable and comfortable; one who my world view and preferences. But if it is God who says where he will be found, then it is almost certain to be a place that is not comfortable or easy. That place is the Cross of Christ. And when we draw near to the Cross we must do so in the way that the Sermon on the Mount requires. That doesn’t correspond with our preferences and is most often completely contrary. But this is the place where we find God… the Cross of Christ.

If you want a link to the book that Rob mentioned, you can find it here: http://amzn.to/2odZDVy