What's it mean to pull out a little from shore? To create some distance for better speaking and hearing? To get a better, more full sight line? To create space for a catch? If we do so, might we be surprised by the catch?
Ever felt the need to say, like Simon, "Master, leave. I'm a sinner and can't handle this holiness. Leave me to myself?" What's Jesus say? "There is nothing to fear."
These guys were fishermen. They get sent back to do exactly what they've done before-fish. God wants to be in command of our lives--our work lives, our family lives, our leisured lives. We miss the mark in numerous areas of life, and Jesus says, "Go back in." "Tried that; didn't work." Jesus says, "Do it with me in the boat." Same boat. Same commands. Same nets. But Jesus in the boat--and it makes all the difference.
"If you want to, you can cleanse me." "I want to. Be clean." I think Jesus yearns for us to make the invitation of the first line in this paragraph. Jesus wants to be invited into all of our life, and we have nothing to fear. Doesn't mean all will be honky dory. Just means we don't need to fear. "Your cleansed and obedient life, not your words, will bear witness to what I have done."
"The healing power of God was on Jesus." I had forgotten that the ripping the room off to get the paraplegic to Jesus was also in Luke. Thought it was only in Mark. Oops. Jesus forgives the friends' sins for the faith they show--they didn't ask for themselves. Jesus showed off a little bit--I'll do both if you're going to get upset-heal and forgive sins.
Levi, the tax collector, one who would have been potentially in the upper 1% of income earning households of his day, left everything to follow Jesus. And immediately threw a dinner party--he put out for Jesus, more than just walking away. And Jesus got to hang out with Levi's cronies--think of who that table might include today.
"Who needs a doctor: the healthy or the sick? I'm here inviting outsiders, not insiders-an invitation to a changed life, changed inside and out."
Why are you hanging out at parties instead of fasting and praying? Are you living as if this is Kingdom Come?
2 Corinthians 10-11
The tools of our trade are for demolishing the massively corrupt culture of the world. God-tools for smashing warped philosophies, tearing down barriers erected against the truth of God, fitting every loose thought and emotion and impulse into the structure of life shaped by Christ. Tools are for building a life of maturity and obedience.
"Every bit of my commitment is for the purpose of building you up, after all, not tearing you down."
"What we're hoping is that as your lives grow in faith, you'll play a part within our expanding work. And we'll all still be within the limits God sets as we proclaim the Message in countries beyond Corinth."
"If you want to claim credit, claim it for God." What you say about yourself means nothing in God's work. It's what God says about you that makes the difference.
Pseudo servants of God. Have to constantly check motives, especially when "working" in the church. I may not be the most polished of folks, but I know what I know, and I know whose I am...
Being a fool...for Christ. Comparitive stories of what's been suffered for the gospel. Paul is clearly on the defensive. "If I have to brag about myself, I'll brag about the humiliations that make me like Jesus. God knows I'm not lying." Let me tell you how God has rescued me.
The life of faith was a passion for Paul. There's nothing dull, conventional, or routine about how he pursues Christ. For Paul it was risking his entire life in an act of love. For Paul, being a Christian meant plunging into confrontations and encounters that engaged his emotions and his thoughts in a great contest against evil and a great venture into holiness.
Paul fought with the church, side by side, against the enemies that came against it. He fought against the church when people defected from Christ. But he was always fighting for the church. In so many ways, I want to be like Paul.
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