Posts Tagged: Jesus the Lamb of God

“When You Feel Lost”

On May 31, 2021 by Dteb With 0 Comments - down to earth believer

“I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek your servant,

            for I do not forget your commandments.” (Psalm 119:176, English Standard Version)

I grew up on a working farm, but we did not have sheep by the time I joined the family. I once asked my dad why we didn’t. His answer was terse: “They can’t take care of themselves.” He went on to explain that he had tried to raise sheep, but neighbors dogs ran them to death—literally.

God’s people are often compared to sheep. This is true of Israel, both in the Old Testament and the New Testament. Followers of Jesus in the New Testament are also often called sheep. This is not a flattering comparison.

I have been feeling pretty down for the past several days. Sunday morning, my prayer consisted of one remembered verse from the longest chapter of the Bible, Psalm 119. “I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek your servant,

for I do not forget your commandments.”

I looked at the Hebrew for the verse, but I also checked a couple of commentaries to see what those who are wiser than I am might have written. I was tremendously comforted by two very wise and humble students of the Word—Derek Kidner and J.A. Motyer.

Derek Kidner comments, “The note of urgent need on which the psalm ends (lost could be translated ‘perishing’) is proof enough that the love of Scripture, which has motivated the scribes of every age, need not harden into academic pride. This man would have taken his stance not with the self-congratulating Pharisee of the parable, but with the publican who stood afar off, but went home justified.”

J.A. Motyer writes, “[Verses] 175-176 focus on personal needs, the sense of ebbing vitality and the tendency to stray. The clue to vitality and to recovery is the sustaining and unforgotten word.”

“All we, like sheep, have gone astray,” says Isaiah (53:6). Yep, that sounds about right. But to be aware of our lostness and of God’s Word, and to vocalize those awarenesses in prayer—these are perhaps enough. Sometimes, they are all we have.

Oh, I almost forgot. I only quoted the first part of Isaiah 53:6 just now. The whole verse reads as follows:

“We all, like sheep, have gone astray,

each of us has turned to our own way;

and the LORD has laid on him

the iniquity of us all.”

The New Testament applies the “him” who carried our iniquity to Jesus. When I feel lost, I need to remember who called himself “the great shepherd,” and who was called “the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.” I need to remember. I need to remember.

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“ONE GRACE AFTER ANOTHER”

On May 11, 2017 by Dteb With 0 Comments - down to earth believer

“From his abundance we have all received one gracious blessing after another” (John 1:16, New Living Translation).

“For we have all received from his fullness one gracious gift after another” (John 1:16, New English Translation).

Commentators and translators disagree about what the last phrase of John 1:16 means.  An older commentator named Matthew Henry lists six different possible understandings of the Greek phrase.  He seems to favor all of them at once.

The truth is that I don’t know precisely what it means.  I’m not sure that John did either.  Sometimes we all (including those who wrote the Bible) speak of mysteries that they didn’t understand, and that we don’t fully understand either.

However, whatever the phrase means, this much I believe with all my heart: It sounds awfully good!  Linked with the first phrase about receiving from the fullness of Christ, the phrase seems to be saying that there is an endless supply of grace.

Grace means many things, and I have not even begun to understand it.  Leon Morris, in his commentary on John, has some good thoughts.

“Clearly John intends to put some emphasis on the thought of grace.  Probably also he means that as one piece of divine grace (so to speak) recedes it is replaced by another.  God’s grace to His people is continuous and is never exhausted.  Grace knows no interruption and no limit.  . . .  But grace is always an adventure.  No man can say where grace will lead him.  Grace means an ever deepening experience of the presence and the blessing of God.”

But, of course, if I am receiving an endless supply of grace, I need to also show grace to others.  This is part of the adventure which is grace.  However, there is a catch: I don’t always want to show grace to others.  Sometimes (often?), I want others to get what they deserve.

Perhaps I need to keep reading.  A few verses after John 1:16, in verse 29, John the Baptizer says concerning Jesus, “Look, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”  If that is true, then passing along grace to others is not an option.  If Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, who am I to try to dam up the flow of grace?

But while showing grace to others is not optional, it is a choice.  I can choose to withhold grace from others.  However, if I do that, those others may be harmed.  And I will most certainly be harmed.

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