Upward Love and Lateral Love

A lawyer once asked Jesus a question, “‘Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?’  And He said to him, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.  This is the great and foremost commandment.  The second is like it, you shall love your neighbor as yourself.  On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.’” (Mt 22:36-40)

Jesus fulfilled these two commandments perfectly at the cross.  Jesus said to His disciples, “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.” (Jn 14:15)  How can we sinful men keep His commandments?  Evangelism, evangelism is were both upward love (love of God) and lateral love (love of neighbor) meet at the heart.  Upward love expressed in evangelism is worshiping God through faith in Jesus Christ for what He alone has done.  Lateral love expressed in evangelism is your concern for the eternal souls of your neighbor.  Now draw a mental picture of upward love and lateral love.  Do you see the cross of Jesus Christ?

In Christ alone,

Mike Peek

The Book

What is the Book?

The book is an eye witness testimony about Jesus written by the disciple whom Jesus loved.  Church tradition names the apostle John as the author.  There are many arguments for this, but I think the most compelling is found within the text of the book itself.  Let us look at it through deductive logic.  The authorship is obviously an eye witness to the events written, and declares himself to be an eye witness (21:24), therefore, the author must be a disciple.  The author never refers to himself by name, but only as “The disciple whom Jesus loved” (13:23, 19:26, 20:2, 21:7, and 21:20).  The author is precise in naming the other disciples, but John who is mentioned throughout the synoptic Gospels is never named here, therefore, the author must be the apostle John.

What is the Theme?

The theme is that Jesus from Nazareth in Galilee is the Christ (the promised Messiah of Israel), the Son of God (God incarnate), and everyone who believes in Him has eternal life.  The book centers around seven miraculous signs; turning water into wine (2:1-11), healing a Nobleman’s son from a great distance (4:46-54), healing a lame man (5:2-9), feeding five thousand men (6:1-14), walking across the sea of Galilee (6:16-21), giving sight to a man born blind (9:1-12), calling a dead man out of the tomb alive (11:30-44).  Seven Predicate Emphatic I AM statements; the Bread of Life (6:35), the Light of the World (8:12), the Door (10:9), the Good Shepherd (10:11), the Resurrection and the Life (11:25-26), the Way and the Truth and the Life (14:6-7), the Vine (15:5).  And seven Absolute Emphatic I AM statements; 4:26, 6:20, 8:24, 8:28, 8:58, 13:19, 18:5.  Lastly the book concludes with the greatest sign of all; Jesus death, burial, and resurrection.   He then presented Himself alive, after His suffering, to His disciples on three occasions in the book.  It seems that both the numbers seven and three play an important role in the theme of the book.

What is the Purpose?

The purpose is so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name (20:30-31).  There is debate on who the “you” is in the purpose statement.  Some have said that the “you” refers to every person.  This cannot be since some will live and die and never hear this Gospel.  However Jesus said, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand” (10:27-28).  The book is evangelistic, therefore, I use it for that purpose.  I recite it publicly and hand out copies of the Gospel while availing myself to talk with people about the Lord in faith that the sheep will hear His voice and follow Him.

In Christ alone,

Mike Peek

Reading the Bible Daily and Resolutions

Reading the Bible Daily and Resolutions

I’ve never been one to make New Year resolutions, but others do.  A popular New Year resolution among believers is to take up a daily reading plan of the Bible.  To the glory of God I have done just that for many years so I thought I would share some of the things that I do to continue reading my Bible daily.

1. Dependency:  In order to maintain a daily Bible reading plan you must first have dependency on God.  I do not read my Bible daily to meet some goal or quota.  I read my Bible daily because I have too.  Ray Comfort said, “No Bible no breakfast, no read no feed.” (Comfort, 2015).  Reading my Bible every morning is equivalent to eating in that I am not going to go a day without eating, therefore,  I am not going to go a day without reading my Bible.

2. Consistency:  Since I picked up the Bible, I have always read my Bible and prayed first thing every morning.  Have a plan; no matter what time I have to leave the house in the morning I set my alarm clock to go off 2 hours prior to the time I have to leave.  This gives me 15 minutes to get out of bed and sit down in my study, an hour to spend reading my Bible and praying, then about 45 minutes to get ready to depart the house.

3. Prayer: Augustine of Hippo said, “Grant what Thou commandest and command what Thou wilt.” (Augustine, 354-430).  This prayer by Augustine is indicative of his belief in the sovereignty of God.  He prayed for God to command whatever He wills, but to also give Him the ability to do what He commands.  Augustine understood that unless God gives him the ability to carry out his commands that he cannot.  Jesus said to the Jews that believed in Him, “If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth and the truth will make you free.” (Jn 8:31-32).  Pray for God to grant you the ability to read His word daily.  He said that we should continue in His word, therefore, ask Him to give you what He has commanded.

I think it is good for anyone to commit to reading their Bible daily, but understand that this is not a pull yourself up by your own bootstraps and do it kind of thing.  To continue to read your Bible everyday you will need dependency on God, consistency with a plan, and prayer.  May the Lord bless you and keep you during the coming year.

In Christ alone,

Mike Peek