Lk 15.11-32

Psg: Lk 15.11-32 (http://biblia.com/bible/leb/Lk15.11-32)
Date: 6/28/12

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11 And he said, “A certain man had two sons. 12 And the younger of them said to his* father, ‘Father, give me the share of the property that is coming to me.’ So he divided his* assets between them. 13 And after not many days, the younger son gathered everythingand* went on a journey to a distant country, and there he squandered his wealth by* living wastefully.14 And after* he had spent everything, there was a severe famine throughout that country, and he began to be in need. 15 And he went and* hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, and he sent him into his fields to tend pigs. 16 And he was longing to fill his stomach witha the carob pods that the pigs were eating, and no one was giving anything* to him.

17 “But when he* came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired workers have an abundance ⌊of food⌋,b and I am dying here from hunger! 18 I will set out and* go to my father and will say to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and ⌊in your sight⌋!c 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son! Make me like one of your hired workers.’ 20 And he set out and* came to his own father. But while* he was still a long way away, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran ⌊and embraced him⌋d and kissed him. 21 And his*son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and ⌊in your sight⌋!e I am no longer worthy to be called your son!’ 22 But his* father said to his slaves, ‘Quickly bring out the best robe and put it*on him, and put a ring on his fingerf and sandals onhis* feet! 23 And bring the fattened calf—kill it* and let us eat and* celebrate, 24 because this son of mine was dead, and is alive again! He was lost and is found!’ And they began to celebrate.

25 “Now his older son was in the field, and when he came and* approached the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 And he summoned one of the slavesand* asked what these things meant. 27 And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has gotten him back healthy.’ 28 But he became angry and did not want to go in. So his father came out and* began to implore* him. 29 But he answered and* said to his father, ‘Behold, so many years I have served you, and have never disobeyed your command! And you never gave me a young goat so that I could celebrate with my friends! 30 But when this son of yours returned—who has consumed your assets with prostitutes—you killed the fattened calf for him!’ 31 But he said to him, ‘Child, you are always with me, and ⌊everything I have belongs to you⌋.g 32 But it was necessary to celebrate and to rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead, and is alive, and was lost, and is found!’ ”

Record

“And you never gave me...”

Reflect

• The older son is complaining because he is comparing how the father has treating him compared to the other son. The parable exposes his heart, and of the Pharisees present, and how they reject grace in favor of meritorious religiosity, but it is the comparison that they can’t get past that exposes that heart.
• There are plenty of ways that we grumble to God as we wallow in grace because we compare ourselves to others and the grace that they receive.
• The older brother would have been happy with his state if this grace was not extended to his brother (or if he was unaware of it).
• When I whine and moan to God, how often is it because I know of some form of grace that someone else has received that I have not? Some skill or ability, a form of success, an accomplishment, a possession, … Would I be perfectly fine with the grace I have received if I was unaware of the grace given to others, or if they had never received it at all? How much of my dissatisfaction with grace has to do with looking at the grace God gave to someone else?

Respond

• You will not stop transforming me until I can rejoice fully in the grace you give to others but not to me. I resist that work by intentionally dwelling, comparing, wanting, coveting. I cooperate (submit, die to self) by seeing how much grace I have that I don’t deserve, by seeing the grace given to others as grace, by trusting that you actually know how to dispense grace in the right way, and by being responsible with the grace I have already received (being faithful in the little things).
• CR: Every complaint is an opportunity to thank God for the great feast given to the undeserving brother, and a chance to be thankful for the grace I already possess.
• CR: When I pray for others, not only pray for how God can “fix” them, but give thanks for the grace given to them (even if that same grace was not given to me).

Dt 31.1-6

Psg: Dt 31.1-6 (http://biblia.com/bible/leb/Dt31-6)
Date: 6/27/12

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31 And Moses went and spoke these words to all Israel. 2 And he said to them, “I am a hundred and twenty years old ⌊today⌋;a I am not able to go out and to come in any longer, and Yahweh said to me, ‘You may not cross this Jordan.’ 3 Yahweh your God is about to cross ⌊before you⌋;b he will destroy these nations ⌊before you⌋,c and you shall dispossess them. Joshua will be crossing ⌊before you⌋,d just as Yahweh ⌊promised⌋.e 4 And Yahweh will do to them just as he did to Sihon and to Og, kings of the Amorites, and to their land, which he destroyed with them. 5 And Yahweh ⌊will deliver them to you before you⌋,fand you shall do to them according to every commandment that I have commanded you. 6 Be strong and be courageous; you should not be afraid, and you ⌊should not be in dread from their presence⌋,g for Yahweh your God is the onegoing with you; he will not leave you alone and he will not forsake you.”

Record

Yahweh your God is the one going with you.

Reflect

• CFs
• 31.8:  8 Yahweh is the one going⌊before you⌋;j he will be with you, and he will not leave you alone, and he will not forsake you; you shall not be afraid, and you shall not be discouraged.”
• Mark 15:34 LEB … voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” (which is translated, “My God, my God, ⌊why have you forsaken me?”)
• This promise in Dt 31 makes the sacrifice of Christ more clear.
• This was spoken to the people of the Old Covenant, related to that covenant. However, the language is repeated in Josh 1.5; Heb 13.5
• The “One going with you” - See Gen 21:22; 26:3, 28;28:15, 20; 39:2–3; Judg 6:13; Isa 8:10.
• Mt 28.18-20: GC plus “I am with you always.”
• BG
• The Israelites are about to go into the Promised Land after fits and starts, but they won’t have the only national leader they’ve ever known, the glowing one who meets with God. (Although, Joshua has had a front row seat several times.)
• They are going into a completely unknown and dangerous situation, with determined opposition waiting for them.
• It is not just that someone will go with you, but who in particular is going with you - YHWH your Elohim, the God of the covenant.
• Because God has made a promise (3), we can walk into whatever he calls us into, because he goes with us. God goes with us into whatever he calls us to go.

Respond

• I know at least something about what you have called me to. Therefore, I know that you are going with me into at least that much. Therefore, I need not be discouraged or afraid (v. 8), and I can be strong and courageous (v. 6).
• CR: Rather than get caught up trying to measure my activity on worldly standards, focus instead on identifying as much of the call as possible, and then being strong and courageous going full bore into that call.

Php 4.15-20

Psg: Php 4.15-20 (http://biblia.com/bible/leb/Php4.15-20)
Date: 6/23/12

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15 Now you also know, Philippians, that at the beginning of the gospel, when I departed from Macedonia, no church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving except you alone, 16 because even in Thessalonica⌊on more than one occasion⌋g you sent for my need. 17 Not that I seek the gift, but I seek for the profit that increases to your account. 18 But I have received everything in full and have an abundance; ⌊I am well supplied⌋h because* I received from Epaphroditus ⌊what you had sent⌋i, a fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice, well-pleasing to God. 19 And my God will fulfill your every need according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. 20 Now to our God and Father be the glory ⌊forever and ever⌋j. Amen.

Record

… what you  had sent, a fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice, well-pleasing to God. And my God will fulfill ...

Reflect

• Our perspective of giving to ministry can be many different things: duty, privilege, necessity, seeking merit, pride, legalism, pragmatism. The perspective here is of an offering to God that pleases him.
• How can our giving be framed this way, that when I write the check, it’s an offering to God that pleases him?
• First, our attitude in giving needs to be right - we can give him a pleasing sacrifice if we’re giving legalistically, for example.
• It would help greatly if we actually prayed when we penned the check (or clicked the button). Without prayer, it can feel like every other bill we pay. The OT sacrifices (as well as the cross sacrifice) were given with prayer, and were prescribed as such. We look down on the direct instructions in Leviticus, and yet fail to pray when we write our checks.
• Picturing the sacrifice when writing the check, not as covering for sin, but the sacrifices of worship and incense, can help. We are offering this up to the Lord for his pleasure.
• Paul is, from prison, confident that God will provide their every need.
• Is this because of their giving attitude (suggesting that the stingy ought not to expect this kind of promise)?
• What exactly does Paul have in mind, here, considering the physical wants he and others experienced?
• Or, he is saying something a little different than how we read it, such as, “Everything you have for your needs, God will supply”?

Respond

• All we have that is good has come from you.
• Forgive me for the attitude that I need to cling to what you have already given as if you are not going to give in the future.
• Thank you that we can offer to you something that pleases you. It is not because we or our gifts are sufficiently pleasing. You take pleasure in your children becoming more like your Son. Help us to give in a way that conforms us to his image.
• CR: When writing the offering check, pray with the incense of the sacrifice and its pleasing nature to God firmly in mind. Don’t submit any check to the church or ministry without doing so.

Jn 15.1-8

Psg: Jn 15.1-8 (link)
Date: 6/21/12

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John 15:1-8 NET

“I am the true vine and my Father is the gardener. He takes away every branch that does not bear fruit in me. He prunes every branch that bears fruit so that it will bear more fruit. You are clean already because of the word that I have spoken to you. Remain in me, and I will remain in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it remains in the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in me.
“I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in me – and I in him – bears much fruit, because apart from me you can accomplish nothing. If anyone does not remain in me, he is thrown out like a branch, and dries up; and such branches are gathered up and thrown into the fire, and are burned up. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you want, and it will be done for you. My Father is honored by this, that you bear much fruit and show that you are my disciples.

Record

My Father is honored by this, that you bear much fruit and show that you are my disciples.

Reflect

• We can get very focused on bearing fruit as our motivator. I wanna abide because I really wanna bear fruit. That's very egocentric. The purest notice is that the Father is glorified by the fruit bearing and the disciple proving.
• It begins with God, the vinedresser and the vine itself. Then we abide in that vine. Then fruit is borne and discipleship is shown. It then ends with God's glory. God glorifying himself through us, with our part allowing us to be a part of it.
• I cannot conceive of God's glory, but I can conceive of abiding in Christ and in his word, and having his word abide in me. I can get that much. He puts before me something I can understand, and if I commit to that, then he will accomplish the greater things that I cannot conceive.
• However, the greater thing can and should be my primary motivator.

Respond

• You have laid it all out, provided everything. You are the source, the power, the means, and the end. I am a branch that has been given the opportunity to bear fruit to the glory of the vine and the vinedresser. All I really need to do is abide and you will bear fruit to your own glory.
• Forgive me for seeking my own glory and for being more motivated by being the fruit bearing one than by your glory. Jesus told his disciples to not be fixated on the success of their mission, but that their names are in the book - that they have the privilege of being participants in his Kingdom.
• CR: Use the TODO list. Don't check it off until I connect it to God's glory, especially in motive.

Col 2.1-12

Psg: Col 2.1-12 (http://biblia.com/bible/leb/Col2.1-12)
Date: 6/22/12

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2 For I want you to know how great a struggle I have on behalf of you, and those in Laodicea, and all those who have not seen my face ⌊in person⌋a, 2 so that their hearts may be encouraged, united in love and into all the wealth of the full assurance of insight into the knowledge of the mystery of God, Christ, 3 in whom all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden. 4 I say this in order that no one will deceive you with persuasive speech, 5 for even if I am absent in the flesh, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing and seeing your good order and the steadfastness of your faith in Christ.

Made Alive in Christ

6 Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, live in him, 7 firmly rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding with thankfulness. 8 Beware lest⌊anyone take you captive⌋b through philosophy and empty deceit, according to ⌊human tradition⌋c, according to the elemental spirits of the world and not according to Christ, 9 because in him all the fullness of deity dwells bodily, 10 and you are filled in him, who is the head over every ruler and authority, 11 in whom also you were circumcised with a circumcision not made by hands, by the removal of the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, 12 having been buried with him in baptism, in which also you were raised together with him through faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.

Record

In him all the fullness of deity dwells (9) … and you are filled in him (10) … in whom also (11) ...

Reflect

• The filling is mentioned in the same breath as his deity and the burial and raising with him.
• The filling is possible for him to do only because of his fullness as deity.
• The filling is possible in us only through death to the old man and birth of the new man.
• As Christians, we must avoid the position of wanting this filling without embracing his full deity or without accepting our need to die to self.
• We can experience the fullness that God has to offer by embracing his deity and by dying to self.
• The fullness offered by Christ is satisfaction of our souls. The pursuit of that satisfaction defines our drive in life. It seems that everything we do is in pursuit of this fullness, whether we’re looking for it in the right place or not. That drive is expressed through workaholism, sexual promiscuity, pursuit of power, knowledge, substance abuse, religion, and so on.
• This relates to the idea of contentment (cf. Php 4.10-14).
• The pursuit is the pursuit of contentment.
• This is how Paul learned to be content.
• It is found in the fully-divine Christ through the old-man/new-man conversion and life.
• God intends for us to pursue and find that satisfaction, but only in Christ.
• (Is this God-given desire to have soul satisfaction part of the imago Dei, or at least part of how he made us distinct from the animals?)
• Augustine of Hippo: “God, you have made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless till they find their rest in you.”

Respond

• You have made me to want satisfaction for my soul. You have designed this universe to be unable to provide that satisfaction. You have provided Jesus to us as the sole source of that satisfaction. You made us for this!
• When I notice the lack of that satisfaction, my two anchor points are the fullness of Christ as God, death to self, and the new man he created. When my soul wants, it wants you. Turn my want into fullness.
• CR: Note at least one area where I feel lack of soul satisfaction, and pray:
• How does the fullness of Christ provide for what I really want?
• How does death to self, and resurrection life, provide the avenue to the satisfaction I want?
• Then … respond to whatever the answers to these questions are.

Isa 40.25-31

Psg: Isa 40.25-31 (http://biblia.com/bible/gs-netbible/Is40.25-31)
Date: 6/20/12

Read

40:25 “To whom can you compare me? Whom do I resemble?”

says the Holy One.*

40:26 Look up at the sky!*

Who created all these heavenly lights?*

He is the one who leads out their ranks;*

he calls them all by name.

Because of his absolute power and awesome strength,

not one of them is missing.

40:27 Why do you say, Jacob,

Why do you say, Israel,

“The Lord is not aware of what is happening to me,*

My God is not concerned with my vindication”?*

40:28 Do you not know?

Have you not heard?

The Lord is an eternal God,

the creator of the whole earth.*

He does not get tired or weary;

there is no limit to his wisdom.*

40:29 He gives strength to those who are tired;

to the ones who lack power, he gives renewed energy.

40:30 Even youths get tired and weary;

even strong young men clumsily stumble.*

40:31 But those who wait for the Lord’s help* find renewed strength;

they rise up as if they had eagles’ wings,*

they run without growing weary,

they walk without getting tired.

Record

Do you not know? Have you not heard? (28)

Reflect

• The psalmist knows (most likely) that the readers do in fact know and have in fact heard. But it’s their thoughts and reactions that make it appear as though they don’t know and haven’t heard.
• We already have heard and already know a majority of what we need to know about God, what he has done, and what he has promised to do. There is almost an infinite amount more to hear and know, but as far as living out the Christian life until we see Jesus, we know more than enough. Our problem is not a lack of information or a lack of knowledge.
• In what ways, though, do we live as if we have never heard? In what ways do we live as if we don’t know? In which areas of our lives could someone observe and be moved to ask, “Do you not know? Have you not heard?”
• In our self-examination of this, the goal is not to reach a level of sufficient guilt feelings, but to see areas where faith can grow in new ways.

Respond

• Search me, O God, and know my heart;
  Try me and know my idiotic thoughts;
  And see if there be any dunderhead way in me,
  And bop me over the head when needed.

• Do reveal to me ways that I think and act as though I have not heard or do not know.
• In every one of these ways, you are the Creator who put the stars in place and called them by name. You are the eternal God who gives strength and renews. You are more than adequate in every area where I act as though I’ve never heard, never learned about you.
• CR: Ask Lynne if she sees areas where she would have reason to ask these questions.

Creating a Bible Arc

One of my favorite tools for Bible study is called "Bible Arc," which is an on-line tool created by Bethlehem College and Seminary (affiliated with John Piper's ministry). It's available at http://biblearc.com, and it is designed to help you graphically show the structure of a passage.

To me, the structure of a passage is one of the most important ways to really understand the passage. Whether you look at just the high-level structure or the low-level detailed structure, seeing how the passage fits together is extraordinarily helpful in understanding what the passage means. I've talked about the importance of seeing the structure many times before, including how we can see the Trinity show up in Ephesians 1:3-14 by first seeing the structure. There are just a few tools that really open up the meaning of Scripture for me, and finding the structure is one of them.

The difficulty has been having a convenient tool to show the structure. There's always pen and paper, but that usually leads to a lot of cross-out changes, and then there's the issue of filing away all the paper so that you can retrieve it later. There's word processing, and outlining a passage with multi-level lists shows the structure, but it's hard to "see" the structure. If the passage has a complicated structure, then the lists become even less capable of showing the structure well.

The idea behind Bible Arc is that it allows you to graphically show the structure electronically (which also takes care of all the crossing out and filing hassle). It's basic enough for a beginner to use, but it has enough features for experienced Bible scholars to use.

With Bible Arc, you start by selecting which passage you want to study for a new arc. You can pick from several different Bible translations, including the original languages, also allowing the user to make his own translation. You can have two translations side-by-side, or just one translation. You can also choose for the tool to automatically break up the passage by verses or to start with no automatic breaks at all.

After you create your initial arc, then you choose where the "breaks" are in the passage, such as sentences, phrases, if/then clauses, etc. You select between two words where a break should be (in both translations if using two), and then the tool breaks between then and puts a line. You can do this at a high-level or a very detailed level.

Then, after all the "parts" have been separated, then you "arc" the parts that need to be grouped together. For example, you might have two parts to a sentence, with a break between, but you still want to "arc" the two parts because they go together. Again, this can be pretty general or very detailed.

The third step is to identify what role the different parts play, and this may be a step that many people choose to skip (although it is very helpful). For example, if a part is an "if" clause, then you drag the "if" marker from the legend to right next to that part. (There's a Key that help you understand what all the markers mean.) Basically, you are labeling what function each part plays. You can even make up your own markers.


Some of the labels describe not the part, but how two parts fit together. For example, between a part that says "Bob was happy" and the part that says "and then he threw a big party," you would put the "P" marker, which means "Progression." The second part is a progression from the first part.


There are helpful videos of every step along the way to show you how to do it.

The only way to really get the hang of it is to first look at someone else's arc, and then to play with it on your own. You can see one of my simpler arcs (of 1 Tim 1:18-20) at http://biblearc.com?c2g4. Click on "Key" in order to see what the markers mean. But I recommend just playing with it sometime, if you're into methods of focused Bible study. It takes a little while to get the hang of it, but after that, I find that it actually saves time, because it helps me quickly see the structure of a passage.