(Audio)
Is he not the carpenter, the son of Mary,
and the brother of James and Joseph and Judas and Simon?
We tend to forget who Jesus is. We substitute a prophet or good teacher in our minds because Jesus is beyond our understanding and from that point of view a threat to our sovereignty over our own lives. We speak well of him and marvel at his gracious words. But we don't want him to really shake things up.
Endure your trials as "discipline";
God treats you as his sons.
If we take offense at Jesus then the discipline we are meant to receive as sons won't make sense to us. Trials in our lives will only cause us to take greater and greater offense. It seems like the world is conspiring against us and trying to make us suffer.
So he was not able to perform any mighty deed there,
apart from curing a few sick people by laying his hands on them.
He was amazed at their lack of faith.
If we want to see mighty deeds we must let Jesus be LORD. We must give him the freedom, for he will not demand it, to speak truth into our lives, even to discipline us if he chooses. We must allow him to be the judge of our lives more than ourselves. We must allow him to surprise us when he starts to work on a new area of growth in our spiritual lives. His discipline is given out of love, and it leads to the peaceful fruit of righteousness which has been our secret desire all along. If we take offense at him we won't agree with him about mighty deeds being done. We'll only desire them for pleasure or entertainment and therefore not in accord with his purpose and plan. We will actually set our will against his plans so that we don't need to change our ideas or behavior.
So strengthen your drooping hands and your weak knees.
Make straight paths for your feet,
that what is lame may not be dislocated but healed.
We are called, this morning, to let Jesus be LORD, to discipline us, and to welcome the fruit of peace that follows.
Strive for peace with everyone,
and for that holiness without which no one will see the Lord.
We need not fear or take offense. We have a Father in heaven. Jesus loves us as our elder brother who knows our weaknesses. They desire more than we can ask or imagine. They have the power to bring it about. Come, LORD Jesus! Reign in us!
As a father has compassion on his children,
so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him,
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