The Virtues of Christ – Patience

December 17, 2024 — jwwealand

One of the best examples of the patience of Jesus is seen in his reply to Peter, after healing the ear in which Peter had cut off from Malchus’ head, (Matthew 26:53) Mercy in action was powerful as the fact of Christ’s angels were being withheld from delivering Jesus, but Malchus got deliverance from Jesus. In-turn, Malchus and the soldiers would send Jesus off to be condemned & crucified. But Jesus was patient with the impetus Peter and all of the false-accusers that would torture him to death.

In light of God’s patience, we are to live out the virtue of patience toward others. In the New Testament, the virtue of patience is called a “fruit of the Spirit”, as the evidence of the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives (Galatians 3:23). We are to pursue and pray for growth, by the power of the Spirit, to become more patient with ourselves, with God, and with others. In fact, Paul addresses this in Romans 2:4. Speaking to those who would judge others, yet live the same way, Paul says, “Or do you despise the riches of his kindness, restraint, and patience, not recognizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance?”.  

Paul continued his teaching of patience to Timothy in this manner, “This saying is trustworthy and deserves full acceptance: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—and I am the worst of them! But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life.” 1st Timothy 1:15-16

In fact, throughout the New Testament, believers are commanded to be patient. In Colossians 3:12-13, Paul says, “Therefore, as God’s chosen ones, holy and dearly loved, put on compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, bearing with one another and forgiving one another if anyone has a grievance against another. Just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you are also to forgive”. In Romans 12:12, we are called to “Rejoice in hope; be patient in affliction; be persistent in prayer”. In Ephesians 4:1-3, Paul entreats us, “Therefore I, the prisoner in the Lord, urge you to walk worthy of the calling you have received, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, making every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace”. The bottom line, we are to practice the art of patience. 

Love is PATIENT , love is kind, it is not envious, love does not brag, it is not puffed up (1st Corinthians 13:4) Let’s start here.

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The Virtues of Christ – Kindness

December 17, 2024 — jwwealand

Perhaps the most attractive virtue of Christ during his ministry was the way he was so approachable and gentle in his response to anyone. Yet, today, most people are really attracted to the reason he died and was raised from the dead. But his character was full of grace and mercy during his work in training the twelve disciples and teaching the public. Jesus also points out that kindness is in the character of our Father:

Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is KIND to ungrateful and evil people.  Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. (Luke 6:35)

Do we accept that being kind towards ungrateful & evil people is part of our discipleship? 

How do we even define our discipleship?

The way we learn to emulate the attitude and cause of Christ is what should shape our personal and public discipleship towards Jesus. What is the most common word used to describe members of the church in the New Testament? Disciples! Jesus knew that his followers should be more than just believers, but using the term disciple, meant believers in Him should be learning and putting to use what they learn. What did Jesus want all of his believers to learn in Matthew 11:29-30?

 “Take my yoke on you and learn from me because I am gentle and humble in heart, 

and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is EASY to bear, and my load is not hard to carry.” (Matthew 11:29-30)

The Greek word for describing the yoke we are to bear, can be translated “kind”, but the word “easy” is used to describe an object like a yoke, but if your yoke is discipleship, then kindness is exactly how we should be treating others when we try to emulate Jesus. Our discipleship should be full of kindness, that is taking it easy on how we treat everyone we meet.

To the apostle Paul, kindness was like part of the clothing of Christ we dress ourselves with, described in Colossians 3:12-14. How do you show off kindness like apparel you may wear? Doesn’t the kind of clothes you wear affect your posture and maybe even the way you act? What are ways you can be kind to others?

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The Virtues of Christ ~ Compassion

November 10, 2024 — jwwealand

The love of God is most commonly and obviously seen in the different ways Jesus was moved with compassion. His compassion was sourced from the fact that His Father God is love, and from love comes grace & mercy. 

 Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with a heart of 

__________, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, bearing with one another and forgiving one another, if someone happens to have a complaint against anyone else. Just as the 

Lord has forgiven you, so you also forgive others. And to all these virtues add ________, which is the perfect bond. (Colossians 3:12-14)

A feeling of sympathy that evokes the desire to refrain from vengeance = __________

This type of compassion is absent in Hebrews 10:28, where punishment is death! When this type of compassionate mercy is shown, it usually describes God, Romans 12:1 & 2nd Corinthians 1:3.

God is portrayed as the type of Father that is full of compassionate mercy, 2nd Cor. 1:3. So when Jesus was forgiving people, he was taking away the offenses that one day would kill them. If we struggle with forgiveness it is because we lack mercy. We need mercy in order to be forgiving towards others.

be kind to one another, ________________________, forgiving one another, just as God in Christ also forgave you, Ephesians 4:32.

If we struggle with forgiveness we need to pray like Jesus instructed us in Matthew 6:9-15

Do not be guilty of counting the times you must forgive the same person you already have forgiven, but realize that only God knows when you have reached 490.  We will lose count before we get there. See Matthew 18:20-21.

The most obvious way Jesus shows his compassionate nature is in the fact that he did not hide his tears, see John 11:35 (towards others grieving) and in Luke 19:41 (towards others facing judgment) and in Hebrews 5:7 (when facing his torture for our sins). Are we moved to tears when we see people lost, vexed, helpless and wandering in sin? See Matthew 9:36

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The Humility of Christ

October 28, 2024 — jwwealand

Consider the submission Jesus has towards his Father. Read John 5:17-20. When Jesus healed a man at the pool of Bethesda on the Sabbath, religious leaders were worse than critical about his work. Christs’ response was very humble. In John 5:30 we have a companion verse to Jn. 5:19

“By myself I can do _____________; I judge only as I hear….” (John 5:30)

This is what we learn about the relationship between Father and Son in these amazing verses:

The Son doesn’t operate independently from the _____________.

The Son is in constant touch with the Father, and does what he _______________ the Father wants to do.

If Jesus were trying to promote himself, he would be emphasizing his own actions; but, he emphasizes his dependence on the Father. If we are following Jesus. We must learn from Jesus how to listen to the Father and then follow his instructions here on earth. In fact, if we attempt to live independently of the Father, (just doing religious things that we’ve learned to do from others) we will be powerless and ineffective. Jesus isn’t taking the credit, but giving the Father credit. We can do that. We must do that if we want to learn true humility.

Jesus invites people to come to him because he is “gentle and humble in heart” (Matthew 11:28-30). “Gentle” here includes the ideas of being considerate and humble, not impressed with his own importance. “Humble in heart” suggests being lowly, not pretentious, comfortable to approach and be around.

Jesus says that even the exalted Son of Man came to serve, and give himself as a ransom for mankind (Mark 10:45)

Jesus washes the disciples’ feet as a way of demonstrating lowering himself to serve others (John 13:1-17).

Jesus is motivated by compassion for people because they were bewildered & helpless, not because they were sick, injured or poor, but vexed & discouraged. (Matthew 9:36; etc.). Jesus is tender with weak and spiritually wounded people (Matthew 12:20, quoting Isaiah 42:3). Jesus associates with the moral rejects of society because he longs “to seek and to save the lost” (Luke 5:30-32; etc.) This is a humble concern for the spiritual, emotional & mental well being of our fellow man.

Jesus tries to limit the crowd size, because rather than doing spectacular things to increase crowd size, he wants to prevent them from glorifying him in a worldly way, he is not trying to win a popularity contest or become a physical leader or a political ruler, (Mark 1:44-45).

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Prophecies Fulfilled in Jesus from the Gospel of Luke

October 5, 2024 — jwwealand

Luke 1:17 quotes Malachi. 4:6, The success of John the immersionist is not measured by longevity, because his life was cut short, not by riches, because he lived in poverty and ate poor, not by miracles because he didn’t perform a single sign, but by the acceptance of God’s word into the hearts of many Israelites, (Lk. 3:21 “ALL”). Jesus said John the immersionist was the greatest of men born amongst women because of his ability to practice what he preached in holy living (Matthew 11:8-11).  The word “Turn” is a great word for describing the emphasis of John’s message of repentance, Mark 1:4 & Luke 3:3. In John’s ministry, baptism was immersion expressing a changed lifestyle in exchange for forgiveness, however in Christ’s ministry, baptism is immersion expressing death to sin and being raised to new life in exchange for a forgiven heart that can receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, Acts 2:37-39.

Luke 4:18-19 quotes Isaiah 61:1-2, The success of Jesus Christ (Anointed) – ‘Masah’ Isa. 61:1, would be emphasized in preaching, the word “Preaching” is repeated 3 times in this passage. Proclamation of God’s word, not necessarily the acceptance of His word. The miraculous healing and many other powerful signs was simply the proof or confirmation of power from God in the word’s message, see Mark 16:20 & Hebrews 2:3-4. The preaching is described by two words, firstly, “Euangelizo” which is a reference to the inherent goodness of the message. Secondly ‘preaching’ or proclaim is “Kerysso” which is a reference to publication of the message. This kind of message is always public, never private. The fact that the Christ (Anointed) one did the preaching fulfilled the prophetic promise in Isaiah to make the “year of the Lord’s grace” known. Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ, Jn 1:17, not Moses or any other prophet or religious leader of any kind, it was only Jesus who can deliver gracious words and absolute truth, see Luke 4:22.

Luke 23:30 quotes Hosea 10:8, Jesus points to the destruction of Jerusalem impending with warnings, from prophets of the past, to his own generation. A sign of mercy to those who accept his word as God’s word, to flee and escape the judgment of God. Reference Matthew 24:15 & Daniel 12:11. If non-believers stay in Jerusalem to see this wrath they will cry out for creation itself to fall upon them, see Revelation 6:15-17, because the destruction is so thorough there will be no hope anywhere else but under the earth, i.e., dead!

Luke 24:27 quotes “all the prophets”.., after Cleopas said “but they did not see him”, v24. Jesus replied with a rebuke towards their wondering curiosity and wherever in the Old Testament Christ was spoken of prophetically, Jesus explained his fulfillment. What is amazing about this encounter, is that Christ’s knowledge did not open their eyes, but rather it was fellowship and prayer over dinner! A prayer of blessing opened their eyes, v30-31. Do you pray about what you read in the Bible?

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Prophecies Fulfilled in Jesus from Mark’s Gospel

September 17, 2024 — jwwealand

Mark quotes from Old Testament passages which Matthew & John do not, so we will look into the following passages that are unique to Mark.

Isaiah 53:12 & 66:24

Jeremiah 7:11 & Isaiah 56:7

Zechariah 13:7

There are some other Old Testament scriptures which Mark quotes from, but they have already been covered in our past discussions in John & Matthew. Next week, we will look into Luke for the Old Testament passages he quotes.

Mark 9:44, 48, quotes Isaiah 66:24. The last chapter of Isaiah is about how Jerusalem will be punished but in the future they will be revived along with “all people” Isa. 66:18-23. They will see both “new heavens & a new earth” as well as punishment in judgment that is perpetually ongoing or eternal. The new heavens and earth will “remain standing” as well, Isa. 66:22.

Mark 11:17 quotes both Isaiah 56:7 & Jeremiah 7:11. God’s Temple is to be holy and a place for all nations of anyone to pray. But Jewish leaders took their unique position with God and robbed the world of both spiritual and physical blessings. This desecration angered Jesus so much that he stopped their retail work and damaged the wares of priests who were running a currency exchange and marketplace for sacrificial animals. The “den of robbers” and “marketplace” see John 2:16, which is a reference to Zechariah 14:21 “trader”

Mark 14:27 quotes Zechariah 13:7 to emphasize the horror of striking the Shepherd, which the sheep could not face and then fled. Jesus quoted this during the last supper to warn them while at the same time he knew they were too weak to withstand the horror of what would happen to him. This is true love, love that endures death as a sacrifice for your friends while your friends forsake you.

Mark 15:28 & Luke 22:37 both quote Isaiah 53:12, The fact that the Jewish leadership in Jerusalem treated Jesus as a criminal before a “trial”, and after their version of a mock-trial, all the way to the cross was prophesied and publicly obvious in it’s fulfillment. Isaiah points out that “my servant” (Isa. 53:13) will carry their sins and willingly be falsely accused to death. No one forced Jesus to accept wrongful conviction or be willingly executed as a criminal. The sole source of power to submit and carry our sins was from his love for sinners to be our sacrifice for sin of his own volition.

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