I am starting an online Bible Study. Each week I will raise a Scripture verse or a few and ask for your thoughts. How do you understand this Scripture? Take the surrounding verses into account. Use your translation (I will usually give the NIV plus the Message and Amplified) and use your commentaries and give a short view of the Scripture(s).
This week: John 14:23
John 14:23 - Jesus replied, "If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. NIV
Here is the Message for the same verse.
John 14:23 - "Because a loveless world," said Jesus, "is a sightless world. If anyone loves me, he will carefully keep my word and my Father will love him — we'll move right into the neighborhood! THE MESSAGE
Here is the Amplified version:
John 14:23 - Jesus answered, If a person [really] loves Me, he will keep My word [obey My teaching]; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home (abode, special dwelling place) with him. AMP
What are your thoughts? What do your study notes say?
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When Quoting Scripture Inflicts Harm
6 years ago
1 comments:
Of course this leads into the wider question:
What exactly are Jesus's teachings?
I don't mean the stuff that our westernized ritual and interpretation have led us to believe, but what was actually the message of Jesus?
We get so caught up in the stuff of doing devotions, going to this meeting, keeping track of going to church, who's there and who's not, and on and on and on, that we sometimes miss doing what is important because, like Martha, we are caught up in doing what we perceive (or what others tell us) to be "necessary", when really we should be spending more time listening to Jesus's prompting, and responding to Him.
So often, the stuff we consider to be a "normal christian life" is nothing more than a means to keep score of how we are doing in relation to each other, but at the end of the day, has nothing to do with eternity. In Matthew 25, Jesus lets us know what is important:
For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat,
I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink,
I was a stranger and you invited me in,
I needed clothes and you clothed me,
I was sick and you looked after me,
I was in prison and you came to visit me.
In the Kingdom of Heaven, doing the important stuff means reaching out to people who are "the least of these", physically, spiritually, emotionally, financially, whatever the tag you choose to apply. The important thing is that the Kingdom of Heaven reaches out, it does not sit back amassing spiritual points based on church attendance, devotions, the number of sermons you listen to, how long you pray for, how much you give to the Church, etc. These things are all man's attempts to quantify (as if it could be done) spiritual well-being, and in the end of the day, they are meaningless when weighed against the Agenda of Jesus.
Michael
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