Happy New Year!

We’ve been looking at the story of the Magi or wise men visiting Jesus, now we’ll contast them with the priests and scribes who were present at their meeting with Herod (see yesterday’s Bible reading).

The scribes and priests are also knowledgeable, learned like the Magi.  They are called to advise Herod on this apparent threat to his rule – is a new king of the Jews, or the Messiah, really going to be born?

These experts on the scriptures end up helping him with his plan to have the wise men quietly scout things out for Herod, so he can swoop in and violently remove the threat.

But first, Herod needed to know where in Judea this “king” would be born.  This was a question the priests/scribes could answer immediately – they knew the scriptures, the history and answer that it’s Bethlehem, the city of David.

The priests and scribes had all the information to know the messiah was coming, and coming imminently.  But they did nothing but advise his enemy.

Perhaps in their view, the arrival of the Messiah represents a threat to their power and authority in their culture, and to peace with the Romans.  So they go home…Herod will neutralize threat.  They advise and move on.

Question:  What intellectual risks are involved in following Jesus?  How do you calculate those?

Reminder: We are reading the Bible in sync as one community – so check out today’s reading here.

Reminder: The best way to grow spiritually this year is to join our Christianity 101 in the Cafe Course in Pickering starting January 22nd. Register for you and a friend today!

Read the Bible in Sync Today

Ryan Sim - April 17, 2013

Wednesday - Change - Perfection

Jesus said, "Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect." If the Sermon on the Mount was just about a list of rules for us this would be discouraging, hopeless. But it's not. It's about Jesus - his blueprint for his life - showing us what God is really like. We are meant to see that Jesus looks like God. It's not just about how to behave, but how to discover the living God in Jesus, and reflect that into the world. He is the pattern, blueprint for our lives as well. Perfect in greek is teleioi. A word about Identity, where perfection relates to love. God is love…all loving. Some scholars say "all embracing" is what that perfect word means. To be like God is undiscriminating and undifferentiating love toward all. Even those who don’t deserve it. He’s loving and merciful. Of course love doesn’t mean endorsement, or uncaringly saying “I don’t care what you do”. Sometimes God’s love means he protects us, stops us, redirects us, and more. We show we are children of God when we show Christlikeness. All embracing love. Connection back to love last week - Love is not sporadic, but who we are. Even with enemies. "To return evil for good is devilish, to return good for good is human, to return good for evil is divine." - Alfred Plummer Even with Jesus' example, we can be discouraged. He WAS God, so being godly was no great feat. What about us? We'll see tomorrow why there is hope for us being perfect(ed). Question: Jesus actually lived the perfect, loving life he commands us to live. Does this encourage, or discourage you? Why?

Related Topics: Disappointment, God, Perfection | More Messages from Ryan Sim | Download Audio

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