| | i joined a new Bible study group last night. it's basically 6 weeks of the new testament. in a nutshell, the new testament is all the stuff that happened from right before Jesus' birth until the ascension, where he went back to Heaven. Throw in a baker's dozen of letters from paul to churches and a few other letters from James and John and you have the New Testament. Wayy shorter and easier than the old testament.
Anyways, for the first week we talked about John the Baptist.
(Luke 3:1-20 NIV)
John the Baptist Prepares the Way
(1)In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar—when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, Herod tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and Traconitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene— (2)during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the desert. (3)He went into all the country around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. (4)As is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet:
"A voice of one calling in the desert,
'Prepare the way for the Lord,
make straight paths for him.
(5)Every valley shall be filled in,
every mountain and hill made low.
The crooked roads shall become straight,
the rough ways smooth.
(6)And all mankind will see God's salvation.' "
(7)John said to the crowds coming out to be baptized by him, "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? (8)Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.' For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. (9)The axe is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire."
(10)"What should we do then?" the crowd asked.
(11)John answered, "The man with two tunics should share with him who has none, and the one who has food should do the same."
(12)Tax collectors also came to be baptized. "Teacher," they asked, "what should we do?"
(13)"Don't collect any more than you are required to," he told them.
(14)Then some soldiers asked him, "And what should we do?"
He replied, "Don't extort money and don't accuse people falsely—be content with your pay."
(15)The people were waiting expectantly and were all wondering in their hearts if John might possibly be the Christ. (16)John answered them all, "I baptize you with water. But one more powerful than I will come, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. (17)His winnowing fork is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire." (18)And with many other words John exhorted the people and preached the good news to them.
(19)But when John rebuked Herod the tetrarch because of Herodias, his brother's wife, and all the other evil things he had done, (20)Herod added this to them all: He locked John up in prison.
Okay, to understand this a little better, it might help to know who John the Baptist was.
Some basic facts:
-He was born in 7 BC to Zechariah and Elizabeth (any significance? well, the fact that Elizabeth was the sister of Mary would make Jesus and John cousins. And Elizabeth was incredibly old and couldn't have kids anymore, but she happened to have John.)
-He grew up in the wilderness, eating creepy things such as locusts and stuff.
-Around 27 AD, God called to him and he very rapidly gained widespread fame as a preacher who called for all the nations to repent for their sins.
-He was known to baptize people in the Jordan River, which is some famous river over in the Middle East.
Above all that however, comes one point. John was the forerunner to Christ, and the promised Elijah from Malachi 4:5 (See, I will send you the prophet Elijah before that great and dreadful day of the LORD comes.)
That Elijah was John. He came and paved the way for Jesus and His ministry. That is, until King Herod had him beheaded (a great story, but for another day).
Alright, now for the three-part journaling process.
A) Some things that stuck out in the text:
-Verses 8 & 9: Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.' For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. The axe is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.
Okay, this must have come as a big blow to the guys he was talking to. The majority of John's crowd were Pharisees, who I like to think of as the Jewish Church's Police Force. These were guys who were so skilled in the Old Testament that they thought they knew everything. Above all that, they believed that if they follow those laws in the old testament then they were above everybody else, and they used this as their grounds to do pretty much whatever they wanted.
Which is where the whole "We have Abraham as our father" thing comes into play. When John says "Out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham" it stings. Think about it. Rocks are some of the most useless things around. Rocks can't serve God's kingdom and live out His plan. But John is saying that the rocks are equally standing with them there. The Pharisees were using Abraham as an excuse. What they didn't realize is that their faith was so spiritually dead that it meant nothing.
-Verse 16b: He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.
Basically, John knew he wasn't the Christ and that he was only paving the way.
B) Directive statements to the people
-To the crowds: "Produce fruit in keeping with repentance" (Verse 8)
Again with the rocks thing. He's telling them to live their life in a way that pleases God and not to be dead in their faith.
-To the crowds: "The man with two tunics should share with him who has none, and the one who has food should do the same." (Verse 11)
This one is plain and simple: Give!! God loves when you help those in need.
-To the tax collectors: "Don't collect any more than you are required to" (Verse 13)
This is another stinger. Tax collectors were not the most honest people back then. John told them basically to be fair, don't steal or cheat just because you can.
-To the soldiers: "Don't extort money and don't accuse people falsely—be content with your pay." (Verse 14b)
Basically, don't steal/lie/cheat/complain. Be happy with your life and the fact that you actually have a paying job when some don't have anything!
And lastly,
C) Reactions to John's teachings
-Powerful: Many people came to repentance and were baptized by John and believed that their Messiah couldn't be too far away at this point.
-Controversial: John said some pretty tough things to some people who weren't open to hearing tough things. Their reaction: He was thrown in prison and, upon command of the King's daughter, was beheaded and had his head given to her on a platter. |
| | Posted 6/10/2008 11:52 AM - 17 Views - 0 eProps - 0 comments
- recommend
  - recs0
- share
- email
 - sent0
|
