Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.” John 18:36 If you were of the world, the world… Read More
“Look,” said Naomi, “your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and her gods; follow her back home.” (16)But Ruth replied: “Do not urge me to leave you or to turn from following you. For wherever you go, I will go, and wherever you live, I will live; your people will be my people, and your… Read More
Then they are to take some of the blood and put it on the sides and tops of the doorframes of the houses where they eat the lambs. (8)That same night they are to eat the meat roasted over the fire, along with bitter herbs, and bread made without yeast. (9)Do not eat the meat raw… Read More
Philippians 2:7,8 Jesus made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death — even death on a cross! Shoppers hurry out into the December chill, hear the… Read More
For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, (39) neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our… Read More
Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. (4)Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. (5)Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, (6)who, though he was in… Read More
“But all my friends have one!” Every parent of a teenager has heard these words. And every parent remembers being a teenager who said these words. God’s children – the Israelites – were just as whiny and just as driven to be like everyone else. God brought his children out… Read More
John 21:15-17 When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Feed my lambs.” 16 He said to him a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” He said to him,… Read More
EZEKIEL 36:16-20 The word of the Lord came to me: (17)“Son of man, when the house of Israel lived in their own land, they defiled it by their ways and their deeds. Their ways before me were like the uncleanness of a woman in her menstrual impurity. (18)So I poured… Read More
Ben Azzai was a renowned Jewish sage of the second century. Once, while he was teaching, mysterious flames appeared around him. I was linking up the words of the Torah with one another, and then the words of the Prophets, and the Prophets with the Writings, and the words rejoiced… Read More
What’s so special about foreigners, orphans, widows, and the poor? Why are these groups of people mentioned so often in scriptures that deal with justice? It goes back to the early days of Israel. When it was one nation divided into twelve tribes, God gave every tribe a portion of… Read More
Who said THAT? “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven.” -Jesus (Matthew 5:43-45a) Who was going around in Jesus’… Read More
For 430 years the descendants of Abraham were enslaved in Egypt. Their sons were killed, their backs whipped, their ankles shackled, and their prayers unanswered. But then God sent Moses to deliver them from Pharoah and, well, you know the story: the plagues, the blood applied on the door frames,… Read More
We’ve been talking a lot about justice here lately (or, really, I’ve been writing a lot about it and you’ve kindly put up with it). For instance, I wrote recently about how biblical justice is, at the very least, about applying God’s standard to all people equally, without favoritism or… Read More
Biblical Hebrew is a word-poor language with only a few thousand words – most words having several meanings like diamonds with many facets. Today we’ll look at just one facet of “mishpat.” When you hear the word justice you probably think of the legal system: a courtroom, a judge presiding,… Read More
Adam and Eve (and their descendants) chose to order the world their own way instead of God’s. Scarcity and harm spread across creation until God flooded the earth. I would have quit on us at that point! But God is stubbornly merciful. After the floodwaters receded, God stuck with the… Read More
We’re continuing to build a biblical theology of justice together that will eventually lead us to Jesus and the part He has given us to play in doing justice. First, we talked about what it means for humans to be the “image of God” on earth. Then, we looked at… Read More
First, we looked at the ancient Near Eastern practice of calling kings “the image of god.” As the image of god, the king represented the character of his god and ordered his kingdom on earth the god’s good way. Likewise, in Genesis 1:26-18 our God created humans as His image… Read More
It was common in the ancient Near East for kings to claim to be the image of a god. The king ruled on behalf of the god, ordering their kingdom on earth their god’s good way. Over time, some kings claimed to be gods and made images of themselves. These… Read More
First, we looked at what (little) the bible has to say about church music styles. Then, we explored what the word “worship” means in the bible and what (little) music has to do with it. Today we answer an important worship related question I was asked recently by a minister… Read More
Last week we looked at what (little) the bible says about church music styles. We saw that Christians have always bickered loudly over church music styles and we ended by wonder…That’s because worshiping God is super important to us, right? Well, let’s begin to answer that question by looking at… Read More
Pliny the Younger, the governor of Bythinia, wrote a letter to the Roman emperor Trajan around 112 AD seeking advice on how best to persecute the Christians. In that letter, he said Christians did were doing a weird thing – they gathered together before the sun came up and sang… Read More
The Bible says our God is the “God of gods.” Does that mean there are other gods? Sort of. Who Created Everything? The Bible begins by telling us that “God” created everything, right? Well, Genesis 1 actually says “elohim” created the heavens and the earth. Who or what is “elohim”?… Read More
Before moving to Washington, DC, Vince Foster had been a partner at Rose Law Firm in Little Rock, Arkansas, where he worked alongside Hillary Clinton. A friend of Bill Clinton’s since childhood, Vince took a job as White House deputy counsel when Bill became president. Vince didn’t enjoy the work… Read More
There were two main political parties in Israel when Jesus arrived. He didn’t side with either of them, but chose a disciple from each of them. Herodians supported the Roman occupation of Israel and Herod Antipas as king. Rome, after all, had improved infrastructure, its large army protected Israel from… Read More
Shaun Groves