|
Hagion - holy & sacred stuff
|
|||||||||||||
|
Welcome to my randomized study & miscellaneous thoughts about the Awesome God of the universe, who He is and what He wants us to be.
Hagion (hag'-ee-on):
:: Leonard Sweet :: Relevant Magazine :: Jordan Cooper :: The Ooze :: The Next Wave :: Future Church :: Labyrinth :: DJ Chuang :: Living Room :: tallskinnykiwi :: Postmodern Theology :: Liquid Thinking :: Gink World :: Andy Crouch :: The Journey :: Epic Church :: Solomon's Porch :: Mars Hill :: Mosaic Church :: Doug Pagitt :: North Point Community Church
:: Servant Evangelism :: Purpose Driven :: Rick Warren's blog :: Willow Creek Association :: Evangelism Explosion :: Four Spiritual Laws :: Online Evangelism :: Alpha Course :: GROW Magazine :: Megachurch 2005 Report :: The Church Growth Institute :: Church Marketing Sucks.com
:: Online Bible :: N.E.T. Bible :: Christian Classics Ethereal Library :: Bible Study Tools :: E-Sword Free Bible Study Software :: Audio Bible :: Sermon Cloud :: Theopedia
:: C. H. Spurgeon :: Jonathan Edwards :: Oswald Chambers :: Charles Finney :: Karl Barth :: Real Live Preacher :: David Jeremiah :: Chuck Swindoll :: Michael Youssef :: R. C. Sproul :: Ravi Zacharias :: Jack Hayford :: John Piper :: Alistair Begg :: Answers in Genesis :: The Bible League :: In His Steps :: Key Life :: Iverna Tompkins
:: Leadership Letters :: Pastors.com :: BuildingChurchLeaders.com :: Injoy :: LeadershipJournal.net :: Out of Ur blog :: Smart Leadership :: The Barna Group :: The Church Report :: FutureLead :: DeVos Urban Leadership
:: Pure Heart Christian Fellowship :: Dallas Cowboys :: Texas Longhorns :: Burnt Orange Nation :: U.S. Naval Academy :: Arizona State Sun Devils :: Dad's blog It's Greek To Me:
makrothumia - "Patience, longsuffering, forbearance"
Hebrew Thought:
Bên - "son, offspring, descendant"
Atom Site Feed
|
Saturday, September 27, 2003
Partying with Jesus In the Gospel of Matthew, we find the following account of Matthew being called to follow Jesus: Matthew 9:9-13 9 As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector's booth. "Follow me," he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him. 10 While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew's house, many tax collectors and "sinners" came and ate with him and his disciples. 11 When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, "Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and 'sinners'?" 12 On hearing this, Jesus said, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. 13 But go and learn what this means: 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice.' For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners." NIV Not to get into a deep theological treatise about these verses, I do have a few questions/comments that come to my mind...maybe they'll inspire you as well. (1) Matthew must have felt very empty inside to have suddenly given up his home and career based upon two words from Jesus, "Follow me." How satisfying and fulfilling is your life currently? Are you "sitting" in a booth or "following" Him? (2) Matthew invites Jesus into his home for dinner...the culture was much more hospitable and open that way than we are today...maybe we should change. (3) Many of Matthew's friends came to the dinner as well. Uninvited? Unannounced? Unexpected? Who knows and who cares...they were welcomed to come just as they were. Society has come to believe that we must "become clean" before coming to church or coming to know Jesus rather than the other way around. We must make our friends and sinners all around feel welcome to come dine with Jesus and us! (4) While the Pharisees asked, "Why does...", they didn't really want to know "why does." Instead, they were really saying, can you believe that he is contaminating himself with all that filth??!!! Seems they forgot Genesis 1:27...underneath all the filth remains the image of our Creator. As society is redefining and reinventing itself, I am seeking to understand and realize how I may be used to reach a portion of people who, like our friends the Athenians to whom Paul said, (Act 17:22-23) "So Paul took his stand in the open space at the Areopagus and laid it out for them. "It is plain to see that you Athenians take your religion seriously. When I arrived here the other day, I was fascinated with all the shrines I came across. And then I found one inscribed, TO THE GOD NOBODY KNOWS. I'm here to introduce you to this God so you can worship intelligently, know who you're dealing with." May we have the vision, compassion and effort to introduce the world to this same God, Dr. Larry |
||||||||||||
