(remember, these are unedited/draft show notes, not a transcript — listening is always better…and if you listen AND follow along below, you’ll see why)
Focus Question:
Who makes you right with God relationally?
Intro:
Who makes you right with God relationally?
As is usually the case, the simple Sunday school answer, “Jesus,” is sorta correct, but as is also often the case here on the program, there’s some nuance to be explored that is germane to falling more in love with Him and the people in His world. Stay tuned for the Bottom Line segment.
New Testament segment:
Our NT segment today is longer than usual…one of those times when one chapter in, in this case Mark, is literally twice as long as another chapter in the same book.
Passage: Mark 6
Translation: CSB (Christian Standard Bible)
Verses: 56
Words: ~1185
One thing that’s useful to remember: God’s use of miracles isn’t for helping Sideshow Bob to get attention, they’re for responding to human need and faith.
Old Testament segment:
If some of what we read today sounds familiar, you’d be right. It was just over a week ago that we finished up Revelation and the image of water flowing from beneath God’s throne, trees that heal, and even a new Jerusalem with 12 gates. But I want you to listen for the answer to today’s focus today’s focus question — What makes you right with God? — in maybe an unexpected way. Listen for the imagery of what happens with fresh water and salt water.
Passage: Ezekiel 47
Translation: CSB (Christian Standard Bible)
Verses: 323
Words: ~672
<I riffed a smidge on this here, and I like the way it turned out. You’ll just have to listen.>
Wisdom segment:
Passage: Proverbs 10:18-21
Translation: CSB (Christian Standard Bible)
Verses: 4
Words: ~64
The bottom line:
<NOTE: This is a good time to listen while looking at the words…and remembering that these notes are just that. They’re not a script, and if you don’t listen, you out.>
Who makes you right with God relationally? The reason I said this is sorta correct is because it’s true that God does the purifying that enables you to approach Him, it’s both a who and a what — the person and work of Jesus.
For our reflection on this work, however, remember that right relationship with God requires atonement for our junk, making us “clean” to use the word we see a lot in the OT. Jesus was the last and permanent sacrificial Lamb.
But what I wanted to add is to remind you of what we read a couple days ago about the woman with the ongoing menstrual flow. And for reasons we won’t get into here, remember that in the OT law, meaning the laws God gave to the Israelites, being on your period is one of the things that made you unclean. So this unclean woman comes up and touches Jesus and is healed.
So what’s the big deal? You might also remember that in that OT law that you were made unclean by what you touched…like if you touched a dead body. But what happened with Jesus? He wasn’t made unclean by her…He made her clean, spiritually-speaking.
And what about that river of living water flowing out from underneath the throne where the freshwater river made the seawater fresh? Let me ask you this…in a purely naturalistic sense, does fresh water ever make saltwater fresh when you combine them? No, you just get more saltwater.
I want to be careful not to read too much into this, but it’s a good reminder that a) there is no way in heaven, earth, or hell, that we fix our own junk. It’s God’s grace that is offered freely to all. Of course, in the OT you had the choice not to do what you need to do to be found ritually clean, and analogically, people now could choose to refuse God’s offer.
But when Jesus said to the woman at the well that He could give her living water so she’d never thirst again, I hope you have a whole new appreciation for how that means she’d be in right relationship with God. Forever.
And that, my friends, is Good News worth proclaiming.
I love you. Amen? Amen.
ForTheHope is a daily audio Bible + apologetics podcast and blog. We’ve got a passion for just keepin’ it real, having conversations like normal people, and living out the love of Jesus better every single day.
Roger Courville, CSP is a globally-recognized expert in digitally-extended communication and connection, an award-winning speaker, award-winning author, and a passionately bad guitarist. Follow him on Twitter -- @RogerCourville and @JoinForTheHope – or his blog: www.forthehope.org.
Sources and resources:
(1) D. A. Carson, ed., NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2018), 1481.