God created family as a loving support system in faith and in all areas of life. It is, and we thank God he gave us family as a blessing all the way back to perfection of the Garden. In the imperfect world of sin we now inhabit, however, that blessing can be twisted into what it was not intended to be. We can even experience the unfortunate truth of the saying that those who are closest to us can be the ones who hurt us the most.
The early patriarchs of the faith had their share of family conflict. There were land disputes between Abraham and his nephew Lot. The half-brothers Isaac and Ishmael were the subject of controversy as to which one was the heir of the promise. Jacob and Esau famously fought for their father’s blessing, and were separated for about 20 years. Some of the same continued in the generation of Joseph and his brothers.
It’s true that Jacob, Joseph’s father, favored him over his other sons, which was not a wise . . . . parenting strategy. It led to jealousy and anger at the young Joseph.
But it certainly did not justify the actions of Joseph’s brothers. They allowed their anger to reach a boiling point. One day they were out alone in the fields with Joseph and decided it was time to end it all. The first suggestion was to kill him and pretend it had been a wild animal. The more “reasonable” brother, Reuben, finally convinced them to sell Joseph as a slave. What a terrible thing to do to their own flesh and blood, especially with Joseph being at the tender age of around 17! Joseph was off on his own in the foreign land of Egypt, as a slave, with no idea how his life would go.
By God’s grace Joseph did not let anger or revenge become his driving emotion. He knew and believed the Lord was with him in all things and faithful to his promises (Genesis 39:2). He still saw God’s purpose in his life. You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. (Genesis 50:20) He realized in faith that ultimately God was the judge. Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God? (Genesis 50:19)
God’s mercy to him brought about a forgiving reunion and reconciliation some 13 years later. 14 Then he threw his arms around his brother Benjamin and wept, and Benjamin embraced him, weeping. 15 And he kissed all his brothers and wept over them. Afterward his brothers talked with him. (Genesis 45:14-15)
None of our family challenges take away from the wonderful blessing of family life under the Lord. It does point us to the ongoing need for forgiveness, whatever the situation, just as God gives us ongoing forgiveness in Jesus Christ, our Savior. There’s no better place to practice this than in family.
Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. (Romans 12:21)
A worldwide goal of all people is to find a happy and blessed life. It’s also clear there are countless different ways to go after it.
You can find plenty of churches now that will preach to you some form of “Blessed are the rich, the well-fed, those who are laughing, and regularly praised for who they are.” That’s really just churches imitating the ways of the world and trying to give the people what they want.
What a shocker to read that Jesus puts all those words and phrases of earthly comfort into the category of “woes” (Luke 6:24-26). If your life is filled with ease because . . . . you are not following Christ faithful to his actual teachings, woe is you! You can’t expect God to consider that to be a blessed life or shower you with heavenly treasures.
Blessed instead are the poor, the hungry, those who are weeping, and the insulted (Luke 6:20-22). Very contrary to what anyone would think without God’s Word to guide them.
This is all true when it is because of the Son of Man (v.22). Even though we’re not here to pursue earthly riches, we don’t want to be confused on the other side by these verses. Struggles or poverty or sadness in themselves are not commands of Christ to his disciples, or in any way meriting the reward of heaven. Put simply, just suffering doesn’t open heaven for us.
Christians may have some disadvantages in accumulating earthly wealth or enjoying the praise of society because we have different priorities. But if we find ourselves in that situation, we are still blessed. We still have God’s gracious reward of heaven through faith alone in Jesus Christ who gave his life for us.
God rearranges our view of being blessed and distressed. What we see and feel naturally as humans can easily trick us. Listen to the voice of the Lord on this one (as well as in any question of life). What a joy to know God’s favor to us has nothing to do with our ease of life or the favorable opinion of others!
The Apostle Paul tells us where our blessing lies: Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. (v.3). Blessing is in the spiritual gifts of the heavenly kingdom we receive through Jesus Christ. Leap for joy! You are blessed by the Lord.
Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. (Luke 6:23)
Fishing usually brings out feelings of relaxation, not fear. Maybe you have a day off or it’s the weekend. There’s the soothing rhythm of casting over and over. And if anything bites, maybe the reward of sitting down to a fresh-caught meal and great conversation with friends.
Some fishing is extreme and dangerous. There are fishermen who spend days and weeks sailing through icy seas with little sleep. I just heard about a small group on the East Coast that wades out at night in stormy, shark-filled waters to catch the largest of the striped bass. Not for the faint of heart!
One of Jesus’ early acts was the miraculous catch of fish. But that miracle was really just . . . . the lead-up to a bigger call to “go fishing.” The first disciples, Peter, James, and John, were told they would now “fish for people” (Luke 5:10-11). Peter was filled with fear and awe right before that call: “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man” (Luke 5:8). He wasn’t scared to be a fisherman. That was his job. But he was afraid to be in the presence of a holy and powerful God.
God doesn’t just go about ministry by himself. He calls sinful people. That can be intimidating to any of us. Why me? Why would I be the one to serve or lead God’s people or share the precious and mighty gospel of Jesus Christ? Fear can be a big hindrance in our personal work for the Lord.
Jesus says to Simon, “Don’t be afraid.” He has redeemed us on the cross. We are fully and completely washed of all sin through faith in him. We can do ministry without the fear that we’re not the right person for the job. God makes us all as believers the right ones to go fishing for people!
Then Jesus said to Simon, “Don’t be afraid; from now on you will fish for people.” 11 So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him. (Luke 5:10-11)
What we speak often comes from somewhere else. Our first words were very likely our best imitations of what our parents said to us. As we grow up we repeat what we hear in class, from friends, from books we read. We develop our own style and original ideas over time, but if we’re honest a huge percentage of the words and ideas that come out of our mouths were, in some way or another, put there by someone else. And that person is probably just repeating to some extent what he or she heard in another context.
When Jeremiah was called to be a prophet, he responded that he . . . . didn’t know how to speak. God, in a dramatic way, reached out his hand and touched {[Jeremiah’s] mouth and said to [Jeremiah]: “I have put my words in your mouth (Jeremiah 1:9).
If we’re to go out and speak on the Lord’s behalf, that has to be the picture. We say what God has given us to say.
It’s dangerous to talk about God’s kingdom, faith, salvation, and forgiveness with teachings that are not from God, even if it’s done unknowingly. Have we ever spoken of “God’s will” more because it lines up with what we want than with the Word? Is it possible we’ve repeated phrases we’ve heard on Christian radio or books or from psychologists without really knowing if they reflect the Scriptures?
Without the benefit of God literally reaching out and putting his Word in our mouths, we know what he would have us do. Open our Bibles! Listen to good preaching. Meditate on the Word. Although church leaders are specifically called to watch over the Bible’s teaching, the whole family of faith also has the responsibility to speak with God’s words.
God has given us his Word. Let that be the message that comes out of our mouths!
“Ouch! That doesn’t feel good.” A manager is told she’s not ready to get a promotion to the next level even though the job is available. A guy asks a girl to dinner and she says she’s not interested. A parent has to live with his or her child being very upset at discipline and refusing to speak. Being rejected is not fun. It’s painful. We almost universally assume right away that we have somehow failed, or that something is wrong with us. Truth be told, that’s a mixed-up perception on our part. Rejection does not equal failure. Sure, there can be some feedback on what we can do better, and maybe we did do something wrong. But it’s not necessarily a problem on our side at all. Maybe we did things right and there are other reasons it didn’t work out. Everyone’s been rejected on some level in life. Does that mean no one has value? We know that’s not the case. It’s just part and parcel of our experience on earth. Maybe we can find a “rejection-free” experience in the Christian faith? That would be nice, but . . . . it’s also not the case. All believers faced people who did not like their faith or the principles God taught them. Jesus, Son of God and Son of man, was rejected. And often. One day early in his ministry he went to his hometown of Nazareth and preached in the local synagogue. Only words of truth and hope. Good news and freedom! The Lord’s favor for all people in the world! The Anointed One from prophecy was standing before them! Who could possibly be upset at this preaching? The Nazarenes sure were. They did not like a Messiah for those who were outside the nation of Israel. Their anger took them to the point of wanting to toss Jesus over a cliff and be rid of him. However, it was not Jesus’ time, so he walked right through the crowd and went on with life. None of their opinions that day changed his teaching or mission. Rejection and criticism of our faith will happen from time to time. That’s not a failure of our following of Christ, and most definitely not a failure of God’s Word and the gospel. We face opposition with the strength of the Lord. We have been fully accepted, forgiven and saved by Jesus, the Anointed One, who preached good news to us as well. Others’ opinions don’t change our commitment to God or thankfulness for his grace and mercy.
The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. (Luke 4:18)
When you host people at your house, what are you called on to do? Are you the organizer, the grill master, the shopper, the cleaner, the game planner, or some combination of those things? We take hosting in our space as a responsibility to make sure everyone enjoys their time with us. When it’s at someone else’s place, and an event they invited us to, we don’t consider it our event. If something goes wrong, we may well respond, “I’m sorry, but that’s not my problem.” Very early in his public ministry Jesus was at a wedding in the town of Cana, just a few miles from his hometown of Nazareth. His mother Mary was also on the invite list, as were his disciples. Partway through the celebration, Mary pulls her son aside, “They have no more wine.” An embarrassing situation for the host to say the least. Hospitality was big in that culture. You just should not run out of wine. Even today it would not be considered very hospitable to run out of drinks or food while the wedding reception was underway. Jesus does take this on, even though it isn’t necessarily his problem. He asks for the water jars to be filled. Then his well-known miracle of changing water into wine takes place. The wine is better than the original batch offered to the guests. This was the first miracle. The first of many more to come. Plan out your hosting events. Don’t count on a miracle to supply what you need for food and drink. But also, don’t hesitate to go to your Savior with your requests, rooted in the Scriptures and the needs that affect you and others. Jesus does incredible works of compassion for his people! He makes our problems his own. Often even simple everyday problems. His interventions go beyond what we might think are normal ways to aid us. His help is powerful, and often surprising. And it always points to him as the Messiah, the Savior of our souls.
What Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee was the first of the signs through which he revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him. (John 2:11)
“I had an epiphany” is another way of saying “It just dawned on me” or “I finally figured it out.” An epiphany is when something that was hidden to us becomes known or revealed. What we realize in that moment may well change the way we see life.
You have little “epiphanies” all the time as you learn more about your spouse’s personality, find out about a great new product, or pick up on a better way to do things at work. Maybe the “epiphany” was there staring you in the face the whole time, and you just didn’t know it!
We know quite a bit about Jesus from the gospels, from the prophecies concerning the Messiah, and from the apostles’ letters which tell us more about the meaning of his life. Of course, when Jesus first appeared on the scene as an adult ready to go about full-time ministry, the people of his time knew little about him and didn’t have the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke or John to help. Every teaching, every miracle, every conversation was an epiphany for them as they learned about the great Savior in their midst.
It began with Jesus’ baptism when God the Father spoke from heaven and declared to the world that this was his Son in human form.
9 At that time Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. 10 Just as Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. 11 And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.” (Mark 1:9-11)
And it continued like that with revelation after revelation for three years until his death and resurrection.
We invite you on Sunday mornings to be amazed at the Savior among us! This Sunday a new series begins, “Epiphany Moments.” The Lord has much to tell you about his Son.
