READ: John 21

THINK: After experiencing the tumultuous events of the last few days, Jesus’ disciples are both physically and emotionally exhausted…and no wonder. Unsure of the future and overwhelmed by the present, the group revisits the past. Peter declares, “I’m going fishing,” the others eagerly hop on board, and the call to ministry is left behind. Whatever your level of discipleship, be prepared for a time when the best plan for the future seems to be returning to your past. No one ever said being a radical would by easy!

Consider the simple but profound lessons to be learned from this story:

Verses 3-5: These disciples fail to catch any fish. Why? Because they were called to be fishers of men! If we go fishing outside of God’s will, we will come up empty.

6: When we obey Jesus we are full. Jesus provides.

9: Everything we need comes to us through the hand of God. God is involved in our lives.

10: Jesus says, “Bring some fish.” He involves us in his ministry. Did Jesus need a little boy to feed the 5000 or Peter to bring some fish? No, but he allows us to participate in these miracles. We have the honor of being called “co-laborers.” The privilege is incredible…it is overwhelming grace.

15-20: This account parallels Peter’s denial: both take place around a fire, in both events he is called “Simon Peter” and both are three-fold statements. Jesus gives Peter the opportunity to express his love three times and is given three commands: feed my lambs; take care of my sheep; tend my sheep. With what? Peter, at first offended, now realizes that he is restored. And he is not only restored, but he is given a mission and a purpose. We have a similar one after our own restoration in Christ: to reach the world with the gospel message.

19: Our salvation is free, but following Jesus may be costly.

20 – 23: Jesus’ words change Peter. We are sanctified for a purpose – to reach out to our world.

24: We serve a great God!           

Like the disciples, we will experience failure, fatigue, and even the temptation to abandon our Christian walk. But when those times happen, Jesus will be waiting to restore and renew us. And it will all be worth it!

PRAY: If you know this old gospel chorus, sing it quietly as a prayer of commitment today:

I have decided to follow Jesus, no turning back, no turning back.

Though none go with me, still I will follow.

The cross before me, the world behind me, no turning back, no turning back.

By: D. Howard

 

 

READ: Jude

THINK: Reread verses 3-8 from The Message

“Dear friends, I’ve dropped everything to write you about this life of salvation that we have in common. I have to write insisting—begging!—that you fight with everything you have in you for this faith entrusted to us as a gift to guard and cherish. What has happened is that some people have infiltrated our ranks (our Scriptures warned us this would happen), who beneath their pious skin are shameless scoundrels. Their design is to replace the sheer grace of our God with sheer license—which means doing away with Jesus Christ, our one and only Master. I’m laying this out as clearly as I can, even though you once knew all this well enough and shouldn’t need reminding. Here it is in brief: The Master saved a people out of the land of Egypt. Later he destroyed those who defected. And you know the story of the angels who didn’t stick to their post, abandoning it for other, darker missions. But they are now chained and jailed in a black hole until the great Judgment Day. Sodom and Gomorrah, which went to sexual rack and ruin along with the surrounding cities that acted just like them, are another example. Burning and burning and never burning up, they serve still as a stock warning. This is exactly the same program of these latest infiltrators: dirty sex, rule and rulers thrown out, glory dragged in the mud.”

Think about the meaning of license or lawlessness. Now compare that to the meaning of grace and your own experiences of grace. What differences do you see between them? Sit back in silence and think back on experiences you’ve had with license – times you’ve done whatever you felt like, turning your back on what was right. Now consider experiences you’ve had with grace. Ask God to show you one of these experiences to focus on. Recall the details: What was it like for you? What was going on around you? What were you feeling about what you’d done wrong?

If you focused on an experience of license, maybe a time when you did not open up to God’s grace, were you aware of any other options at the time? What motivated you to choose the route you took? What did you feel later after the dust had settled?

If you focused on an experience of grace, recall how God made that grace known to you – maybe through another person or through something you read. What did it feel like to be presented with that option? What was it like to take God up on his grace?

PRAY: Thank God for his grace. Thank him for the incredible gift of forgiveness and all that it means in your life. Ask God what he wants you to take away from this time with him and his word.

Adapted from Eugene Peterson in Solo

 

 

READ: Ezekiel 34-36

BACKGROUND: As always, Ezekiel is thick with imagery. Please feel free to ask in the comments section and I’ll get back to you.

THINK: Last year I was asked by my alma matter, Drake University, to go to a college fair that was being held at a local high school. They wanted to set up a booth and have a presence at the college fair, but none of the members of their recruiting and admissions staff could be there on that day. Being a proud Bulldog, I acquiesced. They sent me some instructions along with the necessary materials and I was ready to go. As the day of the fair approached I was struck with a profound reality: to many, if not all of the students, who would be there that day I was all they would know of Drake University. I was Drake’s representative and my sincere hope was that students would get a good impression of Drake through their interactions with me.

In the same way, and even more profoundly so, all of us who have put our faith in Christ are God’s representatives to the world. They see him and know him through his people. And the stakes are infinitely higher than any college fair possibly could be. The question that we must ask ourselves is this: how well do we represent him?

In Ezekiel 36 God has some harsh words for the people of Israel because of the way that they represented him to the world. His desire and his great plan to draw people to himself had long been for his chosen people of Israel to be a light unto the nations. But instead of fulfilling this role and representing God well they chose to chase after the things of this world and to worship the false God’s of the nations who were in darkness. And when they did this they brought great dishonor to the God they claimed to serve, the God they had been chosen to represent.

We are a people who are called to shine Christ’s light into the world and to bring change through the glorious message of the gospel. But we cannot do that unless or until we allow it to completely transform us. Changed people change people, and nobody who is busy chasing the world can hope to change it.

Unfortunately, I think that the American church has deeply misrepresented God to our culture. Every single one of us is guilty of this to one degree or another, but statisticians like George Barna indicate pretty clearly that the picture of Christ our culture is getting from Christians is one that drives them further away rather than one that draws them in. We ought to take this seriously. If you find yourself, at any point, not taking seriously the fact that you are God’s representative please reread Ezekiel 36 to remind yourself of just how seriously he takes it.

So, how can we do it? A great place to start is to invite God to melt down our hearts of stone and replace them with hearts of flesh (Ezekiel 36:26). A heart of stone is self-centered and calloused to sin. It is a heart that is not deeply troubled by things that break the heart of God and misrepresent him to the world. A heart of flesh is a heart that beats in time with the Father’s. It is a heart that is sensitive to sin – one that is broken and genuinely repentant for each and every time God’s holiness is affronted and his name is misrepresented.

Are you sensitive to your sin or calloused to it? Will you allow God to give you a new heart that breaks for the things that break his? Will you take your calling to be the representative of God’s name and character to all those around you with the utmost sincerity?

PRAY: Confess the times where you have misrepresented God to those around you. Ask God to give you a new heart that helps you take your sin seriously and be sensitive to him so that you can diligently do your best – out of love in response to him and not out of works righteousness or trying to earn salvation – to reflect his love, his grace, and his truth to those around you. As you pray for a new heart today, you may (if you’re like me and you loved 90’s Christian music) want to listen to and sing along with Third Day’s classic Consuming Fire.

READ: Colossians 4

THINK: They call it “Jubilee” and it appears to be unique to one place in the United States: Mobile Bay near Mobile, Alabama. They say it happens on a night after an overcast day with an east wind. And for some unexplained reason, the creatures at the bottom of the bay suddenly become starved for oxygen. As the tide rises, they’re virtually beached in their search for some water that will meet their need for oxygen. Suddenly, somewhere between midnight and dawn, there they are, within your reach: crabs, shrimp, flounder, catfish. It’s seafood for the taking! People who live along the bay know there’s no time to get ready for this opportune moment; you always have to be ready. And there they are, with their baskets and lanterns and tubs always near the door. When it’s Jubilee time, folks run out to the edge of the water to collect the bounty that is suddenly within their reach. It’s enough to enjoy all year long sometimes. And when this incredible moment of opportunity suddenly comes rolling in, people all along the shore shout that exciting word that makes people drop everything – “Jubilee!”

Jubilee is a short-lived season of opportunity when the harvest is within your reach. When the tide recedes, your opportunity is over. You and I may very well be living in our own Jubilee and not even realize it; a time to bring in a harvest that we can enjoy for all eternity. People we know who can be in heaven with us forever if we seize the moment to introduce them to our Jesus.

Jesus’ disciples were about to miss just such a moment in John 4:35 , our word for today from the Word of God They were with Jesus among the Samaritans, a group of people who seemed unlikely candidates to ever come to Christ. The disciples had gone into this Samaritan town for groceries. Jesus’ associates were so caught up in getting lunch they had no thought of getting some lives to heaven. In the meantime, Jesus had turned the heart of a Samaritan woman to faith in Him, and her testimony to her fellow villagers suddenly opened their hearts to check out Jesus. They were, by a work of God, surprisingly and suddenly ready for Jesus. As they were streaming out of the village toward Jesus and His disciples, Jesus gave this wakeup call to His followers, then and now, “Open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest.” In other words, “They’re ready for Me, guys. Don’t just stand there! Help Me bring them in!”

If you belong to Him, He’s saying that to you. In your circle of influence, He’s got some people ready for Him. You can’t see it; they don’t know it, but God has been doing things in their life to prepare them to hear about Jesus. And He’s counting on you to open a conversation about Him while this moment of opportunity is here. In the words of Colossians 4:3-4 , “Pray that God may open a door for our message…make the most of every opportunity.” You can pray that God will make ready people you care about. He’ll do His part. But in a very significant way, you are their chance!

You’ve got to be ready at all times to seize any opportunity that God gives you to talk about the difference Jesus makes. As God’s hand-picked ambassador to the people you know, you need to go into each day looking for opportunities to help someone learn about your Jesus. And we need to be telling other believers that it’s “Jubilee” time. We’ve got a brief opportunity to bring people in our area home to Jesus.

It’s time to do whatever it takes to bring in the people that Jesus died to rescue because Jesus keeps doing things to get them ready for Him. He’s trusting you to go after the harvest, not sleep through it. The opportunities to help people be in heaven with you are the greatest opportunities of your life. It’s time to drop everything and run to the harvest. Jesus is calling to you, “It’s Jubilee!”

– Ron Hutchcraft in A Word With You