Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 4301 to 4325 of 4884 results

4301. The Divine King Comes to Judge the Earth

Psalm 96:1-13

Understanding Series

Craig C. Broyles

... order underlies both nature and society. It might seem strange that impending divine judgment should be a cause for rejoicing, but that is because Christian theology gives prominence to judgment as a criminal trial of each person as a sinner before the perfect God. But in the context of the Psalms, Yahweh’s “judging the world in righteousness” means “putting things right” and restoring order and harmony. Judgment thus calls for joy. Also revealing are the agents called to express this joy. In this ...

4302. The Rich Young Man

Matthew 19:16-30

Understanding Series

Robert H. Mounce

... by several early Christian writers). In that account Jesus rebukes him for claiming to love his brother when many of them are “clothed in filth” and “dying of hunger.” When the young man heard from Jesus that in order to reach his goal (to be perfect; Gk. teleios) he would have to sell his possessions and give the money to the poor (v. 21), … he went away sad (v. 22). Unfortunately, he was very rich. Great wealth tends to break down fraternal relationships because it separates those who have from ...

4303. Alone and Persecuted

Psalm 142:1-7

Understanding Series

Craig C. Broyles

... :31; 110:5; 121:5), where the place of the helper was at the right side. 142:5–7 Similar to verses 1–2, verse 5 is also a description of the act of praying but this time it is a report of past confessions. The verbs (Hb. perfect) should be rendered, “I have cried to you, O LORD, I have said . . .” (cf. 140:6). In other words, the speaker claims that the confessions reported here are not insincere and manipulative, as though he had suddenly become religious in the face of an emergency. “You are my ...

4304. Gethsemane

Matthew 26:36-46

Understanding Series

Robert H. Mounce

... a few hours be separated from his disciples until they would meet again in Galilee following the resurrection (Matt. 28:16ff.). How typical of human weakness to be unavailable when needed most! The scene in the garden has profound implications for our understanding of Jesus’ perfect humanity. Leaving the eight disciples (Judas had left the group by then) at a spot perhaps near the entrance of the garden, Jesus took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee a bit farther to be near him while he prayed (see 17:1 ...

4305. Additional Teachings

Luke 16:16-18

Understanding Series

Craig A. Evans

... . Viewed from this angle, then, it is easier to see how v. 17 would have been understood. The third saying (v. 18) supplies an example of the ethical aspect of the law that is never to “drop out” (see v. 17b). This saying on divorce upholds God’s perfect will for marriage (that it is not to be broken), as implied in Gen. 2:24. (In Matt. 19:3–9 Jesus acknowledges that Deut. 24:1–4 allows for divorce, but he views this part of the law negatively, as necessary to control and limit a practical ...

4306. The Rich Ruler

Luke 18:18-30

Understanding Series

Craig A. Evans

... age (Fitzmyer, p. 1200). However, the real significance of the laws of the OT was not always grasped (see Matt. 5:21–48 for several examples). 18:22 Matt. 19:21 begins Jesus’ response by adding the qualifying clause, “If you want to be perfect” (see Gundry, p. 388), a statement that contributes to the Matthean concern to fulfill the true righteous standards of the law (see Matt. 5:20, 48). treasure in heaven: In addition to eternal life, one who follows Jesus will lay up treasure in heaven through ...

4307. More Than Conquerors

Romans 8:28-39

Understanding Series

James R. Edwards

... terms denoting a star’s closest or farthest point from its zenith, and hence personified sidereal powers. But as the dangers heighten, so does the apostle’s confidence in God’s love, transporting him to an ecstatic doxology. I am convinced (a perfect passive indicative in Greek) means an utterly unshakable conviction based on past experience. The source of confidence is the career of Christ summarized in verse 34: our hope began at Christ’s victory at Calvary and is as invincible as Christ’s ...

4308. The Beast out of the Earth

Revelation 13:11-18

Understanding Series

Robert W. Wall

... argue that John intends the number to function as a cryptogram and not as a puzzle to be interpreted by the procedures of Gematria. According to this view, the cryptographic 666 falls short of the number 777, which symbolizes divine perfection, and 888, which symbolizes Christ (since 888 is Christ’s numerical equivalent). If this view stands, then 666 would symbolize the fundamental difference between falsehood, embodied in the beast, and truth, embodied in the exalted Lamb (cf. Beasley-Murray, Revelation ...

4309. Saul's Family

1 Samuel 14:49-52

Understanding Series

Mary J. Evans

... that this is foolish. Even if it is Jonathan who has committed this supposed sin, he must die. The soldiers, who know that Jonathan had inadvertently contravened Saul’s previous oath, loyally say not a word. This time the casting of lots works perfectly, and Jonathan is eventually picked out. He is incredulous that he should have to suffer the death penalty for something so trivial. But Saul swears again and insists that Jonathan must die. Swearing an oath almost certainly involved invoking God’s name ...

4310. The Next Two Days: The Call of the Disciples

John 1:43-51, John 1:35-42

Understanding Series

J. Ramsey Michaels

... the Son of Man is just as much a reality as Jesus seated at God’s right hand and coming to earth again. It is the same reality witnessed by John the Baptist, the reality that Jesus Christ even in his humanity is united to heaven and enjoys perfect communion with God his Father (cf. 8:29; 11:41–42). The disciples will see this reality not in a particular vision of angels, but in Jesus’ ministry as a whole, beginning with the wedding at Cana. Additional Notes 1:39 The tenth hour. The Jews reckoned the ...

4311. Life Through the Son

John 5:16-30, John 5:1-15

Understanding Series

J. Ramsey Michaels

... ministry in general (e.g., 8:42, 49; 12:37, 43, 48) and of this confrontation in particular (5:37–44). Additional Notes 5:22 The Father judges no one. It should be noticed that the parallel between life-giving and judgment in vv. 21–22 is not perfect. The Father raises the dead and so does the Son, but the Father does not judge, having delegated all judgment to the Son. This distinction, however, is perhaps more apparent than real. Elsewhere Jesus denies that he came to judge the world (3:17) or that he ...

4312. Jesus Promises the Holy Spirit

John 14:15-31, John 14:1-4, John 14:5-14

Understanding Series

J. Ramsey Michaels

... would be glad that I am going to the Father (v. 28), especially in view of the fact that he has just defined the world as those who do not love Jesus (v. 24). Until the disciples have overcome their grief and fear, they cannot be said to love Jesus perfectly (cf. 1 John 4:18), and to that degree they are still on the same footing as the world. Here for the first time in the discourse is the implicit recognition of a crisis to come that will test the faith and love of the disciples. It is a crisis ...

4313. Jesus Prays for His Disciples

John 17:6-19

Understanding Series

J. Ramsey Michaels

... too may be truly sanctified (v. 19) that all of them may be one … just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us (v. 21a) that they may be one as we are one (v. 22b) “that they may be perfected into one” (NIV: may they, v. 23a) It is not sufficient to say merely that the disciples are “saved” or receive “eternal life” through Jesus’ death—although that is true. Their salvation is described here in a particular way. They are not only a “saved” but a “saving” community ...

4314. The Death of Jesus

John 19:28-37, John 19:17-27, John 19:38-42

Understanding Series

J. Ramsey Michaels

... is quoted here, two distinct things are intended, and a distinct fulfillment is found for each: They divided my garments among them … (fulfilled in v. 23a), and cast lots for my clothing (fulfilled in vv. 23b–24). Though the narrator understands perfectly well the nature of poetic parallelism, he takes the opportunity (as any rabbinic Jewish interpreter would do) to extract separate meaning from each part if it fits the historical information he is trying to explain. The same interpretive technique is ...

4315. The Burial of Jesus

John 19:38-42, John 19:17-27, John 19:28-37

Understanding Series

J. Ramsey Michaels

4316. The Glory of the New Covenant

2 Corinthians 3:7-17; 4:1-6

Understanding Series

James M. Scott

... with (cf. Thrall, Second Corinthians, vol. 1, pp. 262–63). The simplest answer is to suppose that Paul is contrasting his own apostolic boldness (v. 12) with the Jews, whose minds have been hardened from the time of Moses to Paul’s day (v. 14). One might have expected a perfect tense verb to express this idea, but the aorist is regularly used in the LXX to refer to a past action with results that continue to the contemporary period (cf., e.g., Gen. 47:26; Deut. 3:14; 29:3; Josh. 6:25; 7:26; 22:17; 23:8 ...

4317. Rebellion Against the Lord

Deuteronomy 1:26-46

Understanding Series

Christopher J. H. Wright

... as provider—a powerful combination of metaphors that echoes through the whole Bible. But in spite of this, you did not trust in the LORD your God. In spite of such evidence, they would not move forward in faith. Faith was no leap in the dark, but a perfectly reasonable step forward with eyes opened wide to what God had already done in the past and had promised to repeat in the future. God would be ahead of them as he had been behind them (v. 33). Israel’s refusal in this circumstance was not prudence or ...

4318. The Ten Commandments

Deuteronomy 5:1-33

Understanding Series

Christopher J. H. Wright

... , am a jealous God. The jealousy of Yahweh is a function of his covenant commitment to his people. Having committed himself exclusively to them, he requires exclusive loyalty in return. In a context of committed love, the exclusion of rivals (i.e., jealousy) is a perfectly proper concern, as that celebration of human love declares: Love is as strong as death, its jealousy as unyielding as the grave. (Song Sol. 8:6) So essential is this dimension of divine love to God’s very character that one of the five ...

4319. Freeing Servants

Deuteronomy 15:12-18

Understanding Series

Christopher J. H. Wright

... and from an economic matter of fact (v. 18). The theological reason focuses on present blessing and historical redemption. Give to him as the LORD your God has blessed you (v. 14b). This wonderful text, which could have fallen from the lips of Christ himself, perfectly sums up the reciprocal dynamic of obedience and blessing, of doing to others what God has done for you, that Paul also builds into his theology of Christian giving (cf. 2 Cor. 9:6–15). It is based on the historical motivation of the exodus ...

4320. Witnesses

Deuteronomy 19:15-21

Understanding Series

Christopher J. H. Wright

... in punishment. Contrary to the popular view, the law does not condone rampant physical vengeance but has precisely the opposite intention. It is designed to ensure that penalties in law are strictly proportionate to offenses committed—a perfectly proper and still valid legal and ethical principle. It is very likely that the phraseology was standard and stereotypical, expressing the principle of proportionality, not necessarily intended to be followed literally in all cases (except that of deliberate ...

4321. The Offer of Life or Death

Deuteronomy 30:11-20

Understanding Series

Christopher J. H. Wright

... assumption that ordinary people can indeed live in a way that is broadly pleasing to God and faithful to God’s law, and that they can do so as a matter of joy and delight. This is neither self-righteousness nor a claim to sinless perfection, for the same psalmists are equally quick to confess their sin and failings, fully realizing that only the grace that could forgive and cleanse them would likewise enable them to live again in covenant obedience. Obedience to the law in the OT, as has been stressed ...

4322. Jeroboam Rebels Against Solomon

1 Kings 11:26-40

Understanding Series

Iain W. Provan

... (1 Cor. 1:24), present with the Father from the very beginning of creation (John 1:1–18; Col. 1:15–20; cf. Prov. 3:19–20; 8:22–31). Jesus supersedes Solomon—not least in the fact that in Jesus wisdom and obedience to law are perfectly integrated (Rom. 5:19; Heb. 5:8), whereas in Solomon they were always in tension and ultimately divorced. At the same time, Solomon points forward typologically to Jesus. Once this is seen, it is impossible to read the Solomon story without echoes of the Jesus story ...

4323. Solomon's Death

1 Kings 11:41-43

Understanding Series

Iain W. Provan

4324. Asa King of Judah

1 Kings 15:9-24

Understanding Series

Iain W. Provan

... his immediately preceding ancestors, Asa was a good king—someone who did what was right in the eyes of the LORD (v. 11), whose heart was fully committed to the LORD all his life (v. 14). We are to understand by this, not that he was perfect, but that he followed the Davidic pattern and eschewed idolatry. He took action against the shrine prostitutes mentioned in 14:24 (v. 12), “removed” the idols made in previous reigns, and deposed his own idolatrous mother (cf. the additional note on 15:10) who had ...

4325. Ahab Killed at Ramoth Gilead

1 Kings 22:29-40

Understanding Series

Iain W. Provan

... God’s help in fighting the Arameans already and that Micaiah is well-known for his negativity in relation to Ahab, it is perhaps not surprising that Ahab (and devout Jehoshaphat, v. 29) should side with the 400 (cf. v. 27, until I return safely). It is a perfectly rational choice. What is not quite so rational is Ahab’s decision to enter the battle in disguise (v. 30). If Micaiah has truly been lying, what is the danger? And if he has been telling the truth, Ahab will die whatever he does. So what is ...

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