A call to a new Reformation in the teaching and life of Jesus' followers
(The following is a lesson I taught for our Advent series at my church Dec. 18th) When Jesus announced the beginning of his ministry, the first prophetic reference he made was to the book of Isaiah: The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up … Continue reading Jubilee is an Advent prophecy!
They hate him who reproves in the gate, and they abhor him who speaks the truth. Therefore because you trample on the poor and you exact taxes of grain from him, you have built houses of hewn stone, but you shall not dwell in them; you have planted pleasant vineyards, but you shall … Continue reading Seven Days of Scripture – Day 5 – Amos 5:10-12 and 21-24
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” This, of course, is Jesus reading Isaiah 61:1-2 at the time he … Continue reading Seven Days of Scripture – Day 3 – Luke 4:
With some frequency, some of my Bible-believing friends who tend toward the conservative end of American politics ask me how I can justify my more left-leaning political views. More than a few have expressed genuine consternation that anyone who believes in Jesus could possibly vote Democratic (as I often have), or could oppose certain Republican priorities (as I usually do even when I’m not happy … Continue reading How my faith impacts my politics
A couple posts back in this series, I wrote how the character of Jesus himself is a major reason why I choose Christianity. Closely related to this reality, I find myself attracted to Christianity because of what it is capable of producing in people. Note carefully, I said “capable of producing,” not “produces.” I am the first to admit that an awful lot of people … Continue reading Why do I believe? Part 10 — By their fruits …
I suppose I should make some numerological significance about the fact that Part 7 of my series just happens to be about the one who is the central focus of my faith, but a good pithy observation eludes me at the moment. Instead I’ll just come out and say it … a strong influence on my faith is the character of Jesus himself as we … Continue reading Why do I believe? Part 7 – Jesus
Scot McKnight’s latest book The King Jesus Gospel: The Original Good News Revisited, is a worthwhile read and I commend it to all who believe that the message of Jesus is, can be, or ought to be genuinely “good news.” McKnight has done an excellent job of analyzing what Jesus and the first-century Apostles meant when they spoke of the “gospel” (gospel being derived from … Continue reading The King Jesus Gospel – Book Review
“The poor you will always have with you…” So said Jesus according to the accounts of three of the four Gospel writers (Matt. 26:11, Mark 14:7, and John 12:8). He said it in the context of someone objecting to a woman pouring perfume on his feet, when the value could have been given to the poor. (aside…Matthew says the disciples objected and doesn’t identify the … Continue reading The Poor Will Always Be With You…Meaning What?
The other day, a Facebook friend of mine posted a big caption on his profile: “JESUS Is With the 99%.” Predictably, he got a bunch of “likes” from his liberal buddies, and just as predictably, he got some major pushback from his conservative friends. The Christian camp has divided along the usual lines, with one side loudly shouting that Jesus would join the rowdy crowd … Continue reading WJOW (Would Jesus Occupy Wall Street)?