MarkDaniels.Blogspot.com
A sinner saved by the grace of God given to those with faith in the crucified and risen Jesus Christ. Period.
Friday, March 08, 2024
Thursday, March 07, 2024
Hateful Politics Isn't Christian
The hatred and vitriol I hear from people who confess Christ as Lord is appalling.
Revelation, Part 4
Thematic Arrangement of the Seven Revelation Letters, per Johnson
Thematic Arrangement of the Seven Letters
(Revelation 2:1-3:22)
Dennis E. Johnson. Triumph of the Lamb: A Commentary on Revelation
According to Johnson: “The letters are grouped in two triads, with the longest of the seven, Thyatira, serving as the hinge between the triads.”
First Triad (Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum)
Central Letter: Thyatira
Second Triad (Sardis, Philadelphia, Laodicea)
In all of the last four letters, the order is reversed: promise to the victor precedes the summons to hear.
Within each of the two triads, “the center letter (Smyrna, Philadelphia) contains commendation without rebuke, reference to opposition from those who falsely claim to be Jews, and the promise of a crown.
“The opening and closing letters of the second triad (Sardis, Laodicea) are those in which the dominant tone is rebuke.” (All quotes from Johsnon)
The Sequence of the Seven Letters in Revelation, according to Brighton
The Sequence of the Seven Letters
(Revelation 2:1-3:22)
Louis A. Brighton, Revelation (Concordia Commentary)
There appears to be a sequence of spiritual deterioration, moving toward alienation from Christ, in the seven letters. Of this, Brighton says, “each sin, when encountered in temptation and then, in commission, leads to the following temptation or sin.”
When Christians lose their first love (2:4)
↓ (it leads to)
The sin or temptation to fear (2:10)
↓ (it leads to)
The attempt to serve God and mammon (2:14)
↓ (it leads to)
Syncretism (denying the uniqueness of Christ) (2:20)
↓ (it leads to)
Deadness (3:1)
Template of the Seven Letters in Revelation according to Johnson
Template of the Seven Letters
(Revelation 2:1-3:22)
Dennis E. Johnson Triumph of the Lamb: A Commentary on Revelation1. Address
2. A command to write down what is given
3. “Thus says”
4. Identification of the speaker (Jesus)
5. “I know” description of the individual church’s situation
6. Call to repentance or faithfulness (reinforced by a threat or a promise)
7. A summons to hear
8. A promise to the victor
A note from Pastor Mark: I believe that by this outline, helpful though it is, Johnson may be conflating the two separate ways in which God (Jesus) always speaks to us, either by Law or Gospel. Brighton however, maintains the distinction between the two. The Law is that Word from God that commands us to love God and love neighbor, which we fail to do, preventing us from having life with God. The Gospel is that Word from God that comes to us freely from Jesus that, in Him, all our sins are forgiven. This Word empowers us to repent and to believe in Jesus so that His righteousness covers our unrighteousness.
Pattern of the Seven Letters in Revelation, from Brighton
Pattern of the Letters to the Seven Churches
(Revelation 2:1-3:22)Louis A. Brighton Revelation (Concordia Commentary)
1. The addressee (the angel of a city’s church)
2. A descriptive phrase about the glorified Christ, the Author / Sender
3. Acknowledgment of a particular circumstance or work of the addressed church
4. A danger or dangers confronting the particular church, owing to its sins, flaws, or weaknesses
5. A call to repentance, lest the individual church lose its place in the kingdom
6. A promise of blessing
7. An appeal: “Those with ears…” The appeal explicitly is made to all the churches, meaning that the addresses made to individual churches for all the churches of all time
Brighton sees the seven letters as preparation for the three sevenfold visions Christ will reveal to John and, through John. to us all in the ensuing chapters. The visions that follow are not chronological, but all describe the same era between Christ’s ascension and His return at the end of world history.
Tuesday, March 05, 2024
What Does It Mean to "Take Up Our Crosses"?
Mark 8:31-38
Each person gave a theory. The answers included low self-esteem, poverty, academic difficulties, peer pressure, mental health, and parental abuse. With each theory, there were affirming nods all around. The last person to speak was Clarence. Clarence headed a program that helped youth get off drugs. He himself was an addict in recovery. “I’ve seen all of the issues that have been mentioned as factors,” he said. “But, in the end, I think addiction is a spiritual problem. People turn to drug and alcohol abuse to find the life and hope only found in Christ.”
I think there was one major reason for that silence.
But like the people on that community committee, we Christians don’t always like to hear any of that. Even the resurrection part.
Wait a minute, the disciples must have thought: The Christ, the Messiah, God’s anointed, is supposed to be a king who conquers and makes everything right. What’s this about the Messiah suffering, being rejected, and being killed?
But the difference between the disciples’ expectations of a triumphant Messiah and Jesus’ prediction of His own suffering, rejection, and murder isn’t the only reason for what happens next.
After Peter rebuked Him, Jesus rebuked Peter, saying, “Get behind me, Satan! [Jesus knew that the self-righteous words coming from Peter’s mouth were coming from Satan, echoing the words of Satan to Jesus in the wilderness when he tried to tempt the Savior not to go to the cross to save us.] [“Get behind me, Satan”] For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.” (Mark 8:33) Then Jesus says, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel's will save it.” (Mark 8:34-35) And then this: “For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?” (Mark 8:36) Take all the power, prestige, money, and advantages of this world into your hands and it will all still one day crumble to ashes, as surely as you and I will in our graves or in our urns.
But the story of both this life and the one to come ends differently for those who take up their crosses and follow Jesus.
Jesus warns that when we lack the humility to acknowledge our sin or confess Him as “the way, and the truth, and the life,” there will be consequences in eternity. (John 14:6) If we refuse the shelter of His grace and forgiveness, our sin will be our eternal undoing. Jesus says: “For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.” (Mark 8:38)
Friends, God’s Law says that we deserve death.
Friday, February 23, 2024
Sunday, February 11, 2024
Retirement Gathering Thank You, February 10, 2024
Today, I thank God that in Jesus Christ, all my sins and all your sins are totally, completely forgiven.
Jesus, God the Son, achieved the forgiveness of our sins by dying on the cross.
God the Father confirmed this victory by raising Jesus from the dead.
Today, Jesus sits at the right side–the power side–of God the Father, the Conqueror of sin, death, and the devil, all for our sake, all to give us life with God that is ours today and will be forever.
Our call is to daily turn from sin and death–to repent–and to follow Jesus, trusting that–as you’ve heard me say before–when Jesus said, “It is finished,” He meant it.
He has done everything needed for your salvation, everything needed for you to be reconciled to God, everything needed to set you free to love God and love your neighbor.
Today, I also thank the people who have helped me to partake of the freedom of Christ and who have supported, encouraged, and nudged me not only as a child of God, but in my calling as pastor.
I thank Ann for being my wife for more than forty-nine years, for nagging me into going to Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Columbus, where I, a rebellious sinner, an atheist, heard the Word of God that convicted me of my sin and then set me free with the Gospel about Jesus.
I thank Ann that she was supportive to me when I threw her the most unexpected curveball of her life. “Ann,” I said, “I think God is calling me to be a pastor.”
I thank our kids for enduring the lives of “pastor’s kids.” Both planned on being here when this gathering was originally scheduled. But after COVID scrubbed that and our son had to eat the cost of his airfare, we told both kids they didn’t need to be here.
Thank you to Living Water for going to the trouble of putting this gathering together. I feel a bit guilty about it when I consider all of the people who come to the end of their working lives without so much as a pat on the back. But thank you anyway…and thank you for the past ten years!
Thank you to my internship congregations and my internship supervisor and his wife, Pastor Jim and Jan. They gave me opportunities most pastoral interns don’t get: to preach and lead worship every single week.
Thank you too to the other congregations I’ve been privileged to serve as pastor–Bethlehem at Okolona, Ohio; Friendship of Amelia; and Saint Matthew in Logan.
Thank you too, to those from those congregations who are here today–and those who showed up a few weeks ago to find that the event had been indefinitely postponed. It has been an honor to serve as a Minister of Word and Sacrament and to have acquired lifelong friendships in each of these churches and communities.
Thank you to all of our friends–those we’ve known since elementary school, high school, college, seminary, early married life, and through all the subsequent years. We have laughed with you, cried with you, worshiped and prayed with you, in some instances traveled with you…and lived to tell about it. Each of you have been important in helping us to know God’s grace and in keeping our sanity, what’s left of it.
Thank you to all of you!
In retirement, I pray that God will help this saint and sinner to proclaim in whatever ways I can that, because in Jesus Christ, God the Son, all our sins ARE forgiven, we can trust in Him.
“For,” as Saint Paul tells us, “I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:38-39)
Thank you.