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Daily Radio Bible Podcast
He Has Come to Give You Himself
Genesis 27 - 28, Psalm 4 and Luke 11
Today’s reading is from Genesis 27-28; Psalms 4 and Luke 11. We are reading through the New Living Translation.
He’s angry, these teachers are a bunch of fakes, he’s angry because these teachers of His word ought to be offering the people something real something true. He’s angry because they’re a bunch of religious, self-righteous, self-serving hypocrites, and Jesus is none too happy about it.
They’re telling lies about God, and the main one is a lie of separation. God is separate, he’s distant, and he’s angry. Angry until you perform the right religious duties, until you wash your hands the right way, until you wash your cup in just the right way. until you give the right amount of everything, tithing even the smallest amount of everything you own, even the herbs in your Garden, and a thousand other things like this were all used as a way of ensuring that you, that God was separate from you, that he was angry with you.
And this message of separation served these guys well. They leveraged it for coercion and control for power, prestige and money. They used this lie to become important in the eyes of those in power. They liked to walk around with their flowing robes in the marketplaces. They liked when important people, powerful people recognized them and honored them. All the while the people suffer. Jesus looked at this, and declared, hogwash! He called them hypocrites, snakes, vipers. In effect Jesus says, “You say that you speak for God, but you don’t know God, says Jesus, if you knew God, you would know HIS justice, not yours, which is so rarely just. You would know HIS love. His love which declares that God is not separate, rather that God is here! God is with them, us. And God is for all people, for all of humanity.
He is wanting his people and his priests, people who use his name, tell the truth. to demonstrate the love and justice of God. To live in the reality of the God is with them, the God who is their present King. Because it’s true, and the world so desperately needs it.
If you read the bible and you are left with a God who is separate, distant, petty and angry, more concerned with how much turmeric you tithe than he is about loving your neighbor and knowing that you are loved, you being set free from all the lies that keep you distant from him, from truly knowing him, than you have completely missed the point of who he is. Because the point of his word is to show us that God is for us, not against us, that God is good, that God is not petty, but abounding in grace and mercy, that God is Present, and he is full of love. And the prayer of my heart is that I will know this.
This was the prophets' message. “God is with you people wake up!” Wake up to the God who is with you! He’s angry that religion has become a way to crush people’s spirits with unbearable religious demands rather than something that sets them free and makes them new. He’s angry that people who should be shepherding people to the gates of Life are actually locking the doors and preventing anyone from finding the way. These people who are supposed to be representing God are representing something entirely different.
Jesus begins this reading in Luke by telling us that God is something completely different than what these Pharisees are selling. Jesus says, God’s not like that. God is good. When you ask him for good things he doesn’t give you scorpions and snakes. He’s a good father. Don’t let circumstances, and the seeming delay in God’s response to your need, dissuade you from the truth of God’s kindness. Like the man who is knocking and seeking and asking for Bread from his neighbor – God comes through. Keep asking, seeking and knocking. God’s not angry with you. He will come through for you. Don’t let others, or your circumstances, prevent you from knowing the kind of father you have. Your father knows what it’s like to give his children good gifts. When you ask for something necessary, he’s going to come through. Earthly fathers know what it’s like to do that. We know what it’s like to give good and necessary gifts to our children. How much more will our good father give good gifts if we ask for them. Jesus is angry at the evil in this world that keeps people from knowing and experiencing His loving kindness. God’s not angry with you. He’s angry with people and lies that keep you from receiving all that he has for you. He has everything for you. What’s the gift the good father is giving? He is giving His holy Spirit.
“…how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him.” (Luke 11:13)
This is the ultimate perfect gift. God is giving us his very life and presence. He is offering us himself, to be with us and in us. Jesus is angry, but not with you. He’s come to give you everything.
Last weeks video: https://youtu.be/f5xOmQ4NAq0
You are loved!
