Josh Benner

Author: the Josh Benner Blog

  • Seeing and believing. Studying John 4:43-48

    Seeing and believing. Studying John 4:43-48

    A crisis 

    John 4:43 begins right where the previous section left off where Jesus was among the Samaritan people. 

    Verse 43 begins: After the two days he departed for Galilee. 

    Jesus is making his way north. Galilee is the region where Jesus grew up. Nazareth was the town where he grew up, but Nazareth was in the region. So Jesus is journeying to Galilee and immediately John interrupts the flow of the story with a side note. 

    Verse 44:
    (For Jesus himself had testified that a prophet has no honor in his own hometown.

    That’s an interesting comment to note. A prophet has no honor in his hometown, and yet Jesus is traveling to his home. 

    Yet verse 45 tells us: 
     So when he came to Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him, having seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the feast. For they too had gone to the feast. 

    On its face, verses 44 and 45 can appear to be at odds. 

    Verse 44 says a prophet has no honor in his hometown, however verse 45 says that the Galileans welcomed Jesus. 

    How can these two things be? The answer to that question is important to making sense of this whole story. 

    As verse 45 reports, Jesus is indeed welcomed by the people of Galilee. 

    Jesus is welcomed by the people having seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the feast. 

    This is referring to the Passover season in chapter 2 where Jesus is at the temple, turning over tables and calling out the religious elites. They have heard and seen Jesus, and they’re drawn to him. 

    But the issue we see in this passage is that they’re coming to see Jesus, not because of who he is, or because of the kingdom of God that he is bringing into the world. We will learn in this passage that they’re drawn to the spectacle. 

    Verse 46, Jesus comes to Cana in Galilee, the very same town where he had made the water wine.

    John is reminding us that this had been the location of Jesus’ first sign back at the beginning of chapter 2. We talked about this at the time, but John’s gospel uses the word signs over miracles. Signs point us to who Jesus is as the divine son of God in the world. 

    So Jesus is in Galilee. 

    The story shifts us to a town about 20 miles away called Capernaum. 

    4:46-47:

     at Capernaum there was an official whose son was ill. 47 When this man heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he went to him and asked him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death. 

    The verse mentions that an official’s son had been ill. When John refers to an official, he’s talking about a man who was an official of the Roman government. It’s likely that this man was therefore not Jewish, although we can’t be absolutely positive. So this Roman official approaches Jesus and his son who is ill. 

    The passage tells us that he’s at the point of death, so it’s very serious. 

    Jesus has become known in the area and this man approaches Jesus to see if anything can be done. 

    Verse 48:

    So Jesus said to him, “Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe.”

    The “you” to whom Jesus is referring is plural. He’s not only speaking to the royal official, but also to the crowd. 

    That brings us back a couple of verses where it talked of a prophet having no honor in his hometown and the crowd that had come out to see Jesus. That’s the larger audience to whom Jesus is speaking. 

    Many are drawn to the things Jesus does, but not to Jesus himself. Jesus does not merely want to be followed for what he can do, but of greater significance is who he is. 

    Jesus is the eternal God of creation who is all powerful. He’s the savior of the world. He is the one who forgives sins. And so what he desires are disciples and not spectators. People who are looking for a savior and not a genie. People who follow him because of who he is, not just what he does. 

    Question: why do we worship? 

    The character and glory of Christ is why he is to be worshiped. 

    In sports, there’s a term for someone who’s a fair weather fan. That refers to someone who is only interested in a team when they are winning but when they’re not playing well, they pay less attention. 

    We are not called to be fair weather Christians. It can be tempting to want to turn our backs on the Lord when things aren’t going how we want. 

    But he is just as worthy of our worship and praise in the difficulties as he is in the victories. 

    If things were always easy…

    God does not always do what we want, give us what we want, even for things that are legitimate and good. 

    The Roman official isn’t asking for something frivolous. He has a child who’s near dying and this man has come to advocate for his child. But no matter how worthy the request, it is not always granted. 

    What is our response to Christ when things don’t turn out the way we wanted? No matter how worthy those requests were? That’s where the rubber meets the road. That is where the gospel becomes foolish in the eyes of the world. 

    In the eyes of the world, a good God would always grant the life and death prayer request. To not do that would make the world’s vision of God not good but evil. 

    Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe

    We need to understand the goodness, and glory, and sovereignty of God. God is worthy of worship and praise because of who he is not just because of what he does. Faith needs to be rooted in the character of God. 

    If we make our worship and love for God hinge on getting our own way, then we are not worshiping God as God. We are not here to serve him, we are not subject to him, we make him subject to us and his goodness contingent upon how he satisfies us. 

    People wanted the signs. They want to be dazzled. We want to see the incredible story, we want to hear the unbelievable testimony. 

    Those things do happen. Praise God when they do. 

    And I’m not saying that an incredible work of life can never be used to turn a person to God. It can and does. But our faith cannot exclusively be in the marvelous and incredible events. 

    Because that’s not most days. And much of life and much of our walk with God is very ordinary. How do we respond in those times? 

    Even today, there is a temptation in our world to be drawn to mystics and faith healers. Our world eats it up. People fill arenas. These people travel the globe promising the miraculous and to heal. 

    “Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe.”

    People who peddle a prosperity gospel revolving around how God wants to bless you and that get away from the gospel of sin and salvation and preach a message that revolves around man’s worthiness of blessing and that puts our focus on material blessings dominate the world of televangelism. 

    In 1 Corinthians 2:1-2, Paul says: 

    when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. 2 For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 

    That must be the basis for our study of the Bible, our preaching and teaching in churches. And it needs to also be the basis for the preaching and teaching to which we expose ourselves. 

  • Life after the flood. Studying Genesis 8:1-13

    In Genesis 8, after the flood, God causes the waters to subside. It is a passage which points us to the gospel. 

    Genesis 8:1: 

    But God remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the livestock that were with him in the ark. And God made a wind blow over the earth, and the waters subsided. 

    As God remembers Noah, it is covenant language. God hadn’t forgotten Noah but when God “remembers,” in the Old Testament it is a precursor to divine action. As God makes a wind blow over the earth, we see God undoing the flood. 

    Genesis 8:2: 

    2 The fountains of the deep and the windows of the heavens were closed, the rain from the heavens was restrained

    From chaos, God is bringing restoration. 

    The most wonderful time of the year

    Genesis 8:4 says: 

    and in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat.

    Genesis 8 says that the boat came to a rest in the seventh month. In the Jewish calendar, the seventh month is the most important month of the year as numerous feasts would be at this time of year including the Day of Atonement, the Feast of Trumpets, and the Feast of Tabernacles (Leviticus 23:23-36). 

    For the birds

    A raven and a dove play a prominent role in investigating the earth after the flood waters subside. 

    Genesis 8:6-7 says: 

    6 At the end of forty days Noah opened the window of the ark that he had made 7 and sent forth a raven. It went to and fro until the waters were dried up from the earth.

    Rabbinic tradition held that the raven was released first because it was not a bird fit for food (Lev 11:15; Deut 14:14) nor suitable for sacrifice.  

    Regarding the release of the raven, Kenneth Matthews says: “Its departure from the ark signified that the impurities of the past had been removed and the creation of the new world had a fresh start.”

    Unlike the raven, the dove was an animal which would be suitable in the sacrificial system (Lev 1:14; 5:7; 14:22). The first time Noah releases the dove, the waters are still too high and the dove returns. 

    Genesis 8:8-9: 

     8 Then he sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters had subsided from the face of the ground. 9 But the dove found no place to set her foot, and she returned to him to the ark, for the waters were still on the face of the whole earth. So he put out his hand and took her and brought her into the ark with him.

    In Genesis 8:10-11, Noah releases the dove a second time: 

    10 He waited another seven days, and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark. 11 And the dove came back to him in the evening, and behold, in her mouth was a freshly plucked olive leaf. So Noah knew that the waters had subsided from the earth. 

    The dove returning with an olive leaf was a symbol of life. 

    In the Old Testament, when kings, priests, and some of the prophets were anointed, it was with olive oil. 

    The oil was not significant in itself, but it was significant as a symbol of the presence of the Spirit of God. 

    1 Samuel 16:13 says: 

    13 Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers. And the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon David from that day forward. And Samuel rose up and went to Ramah. 

    We also see a connection of a dove and the Holy Sprit at the baptism of Jesus. 

    Mark 1:10 says: 

    when he came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove.

    In Christian art, the Holy Spirit is therefore symbolized as a dove. 

    Back in Genesis, Noah sends out a third dove. 

    Genesis 8:12 says: 

    12 Then he waited another seven days and sent forth the dove, and she did not return to him anymore. 

    The dove doesn’t return because the land has dried out. 

    13 In the six hundred and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were dried from off the earth. And Noah removed the covering of the ark and looked, and behold, the face of the ground was dry (Genesis 8:13).

  • Sermon: Introducing Galatians

    Galatians is likely the earliest writing we have in the New Testament, authored by the Apostle Paul within about 10-20 years of the time Jesus walked the earth. In this message, we introduce Paul’s letter to the Galatians and give some background information on this book.

    Sermon manuscript

  • Israel under siege. Studying 1 Samuel 11:1

    Israel under siege. Studying 1 Samuel 11:1

    A perilous beginning

    No president in American history inherited as perilous a situation as Abraham Lincoln. 

    In response to his election to the presidency, and his opposition to expanding slavery to new territories, six states had secceded from the union prior to Lincoln taking the oath of office. Once he became president in March of1861, it took less than six weeks for the Battle of Fort Sumter and the beginning of the Civil War. 

    When we read about Israel and the Promised Land in the Bible, I think we have a tendency to imagine Israel as one unified state. 

    But Israel was composed of 12 tribes who had their own territories within the Promised Land.

    Kind of like a United States of Israel. 

    The tribes did not always get along with each other. For instance, the territory of Benjamin fought a civil war of their own at the end of the Book of Judges. In that war, the rest of Israel went to war with Benjamin. Thousands of Israelites died. 

    Later in Israel’s history, that same Benjaminite territory would be the birthplace of King Saul. 

    We’ll have more on that later. 

    Similar to America, there were also divisions in Israel among the northern and southern tribes. Saul was the first king, followed by David, followed by Solomon. By the end of Solomon’s reign, Israel was a divided kingdom between the north and south and never reunited. 

    But in First Samuel, the even bigger threat to the flourishing of Israel were the surrounding nations. The most prominent foe of the Israelites were the Philistines. In 1 Samuel 4, the Israelites had lost to them in battle and the Philistines actually confiscated the Ark of the Covenant from the Tabernacle. 

    Eventually the Ark was given back but the Israelites but the Philistines remained hated enemies. One of the reasons why the Israelites had wanted a king was to have someone to lead them to victory over the Philistines. 

    Now at the end of chapter 10, Saul became king of Israel. And it was a fairly underwhelming begin to his reign. We don’t see any royal action or speech. 

    Chapter 10 ends. 

    Going to battle

    And then Chapter 11 abruptly changes to a new scene. 

    Then Nahash the Ammonite went up and besieged Jabesh-gilead, and all the men of Jabesh said to Nahash, “Make a treaty with us, and we will serve you” (1 Samuel 11:1). 

    So instead of the Philistines, the Israelites come under threat from another surrounding nation. The Ammonites. It’s another reminder of how weak Israel was at the beginning of Saul’s reign. They have foes on multiple borders. 

    And so in this passage, we see Saul’s first test as king of Israel. And it’s also the high point of his reign. But it’s not primarily a passage about Saul or a battle. It’s a passage about God’s faithfulness. 

    Israel under threat

    Let’s look at verse 1 again: 

    Then Nahash the Ammonite went up and besieged Jabesh-gilead, and all the men of Jabesh said to Nahash, “Make a treaty with us, and we will serve you.” 

    The name Nahash in Hebrew actually means serpent. It’s the same word that’s used in Genesis for the serpent in Eden. 

    And he’s an Ammonite. 

    The Ammonites were cousins to the Israelites. Their genealogy is traced back to Abraham’s nephew Lot having an incestuous relationship with his daughter. 

    Genesis 19:36-38:

    36 Thus both the daughters of Lot became pregnant by their father. 37 The firstborn bore a son and called his name Moab. He is the father of the Moabites to this day. 38 The younger also bore a son and called his name Ben-ammi. He is the father of the Ammonites to this day. 

    And the Ammonites lay siege on a city called Jabesh-Gilead which was in eastern Israel. 

    And the citizens beg for mercy when they say: “Make a treaty with us, and we will serve you.” 

    In exchange for their lives to be spared, they’d rather make a treaty which would effectively make them vassals to the Ammonites. 

    Now, on the one hand, their response is understandable. If you were facing overwhelming might, wouldn’t you be tempted to do whatever you could do to preserve life and limb? To protect your family? To keep your home? 

    I think most people want to take the path of least resistance and avoid pain for themselves and their families. 

    It’s a very challenging situation. 

    But the problem is that the Israelites are overlooking their covenant with God. They are a chosen people who are set apart. It is the Lord who has given them this Promised Land. They have a covenant with God. And it is the Lord who is meant to be the protector of Israel. 

    Israel doesn’t need to cut a deal. What they need to do is to trust the Lord. 

    To look at a couple of Old Testament passages where this idea is expressed. 

    Exodus 23:22 says: 

    ​​ if you carefully obey his voice and do all that I say, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries. 

    We also see this in Deuteronomy 20:1-4: 

    When you go out to war against your enemies, and see horses and chariots and an army larger than your own, you shall not be afraid of them, for the Lord your God is with you, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt. 2 And when you draw near to the battle, the priest shall come forward and speak to the people 3 and shall say to them, ‘Hear, O Israel, today you are drawing near for battle against your enemies: let not your heart faint. Do not fear or panic or be in dread of them, 4 for the Lord your God is he who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies, to give you the victory

    Gospel

    Where are the places in our lives where we forget about God’s promises? 

    I’ll start with the most significant. I think for a lot of Christians, we forget that we’re forgiven because of the gospel. 

    Sometimes we mess up. Sometimes we have an area where we’re really struggling and feel like we’re constantly going two steps forward, and one step back. And we sin, and there can be this shame. And if it’s something really bad, we can feel so down about ourselves.

    Sometimes when we sin, we can try to atone for our own sin or resort to works or other actions we’re doing to try to make ourselves feel like we’re right with God. 

    You can’t do it. 

    Yes we should repent and turn from our sins. 

    But we can’t atone for our sins. We can’t do something good to cancel out our sin. 

    But the good news is the gospel. 

    Ephesians 2:8-9 says: 

    8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

    We don’t have to wallow in shame and despair. We don’t have to go through life feeling like God doesn’t love us every time we don’t get it right. 

    I think we can forget that sometimes. We are not our own saviors. Jesus is and he did it perfectly. 

    And the promise we so often forget is that God is gracious. Not only is God gracious but the only way to be forgiven by God is through his grace. 

    We aren’t given two options. It’s not that we can try to earn God or we can take the option of grace. The first option is not an option because we can’t earn God because we can’t be good enough if we try. 

    Again, I’m not saying our sin doesn’t matter. We should be working to kill sin in our lives. But it’s not so that God can love you. But so you can live a life to God’s glory, so you can serve him and love him more fully, so you can experience joy without being encumbered by sin, and so that you can live a more fulfilled life in living in accordance with the wisdom of God. 

    The people in Jabesh-Gilead either forgot or didn’t fully trust God’s faithfulness to them as his people. And I think we can also be guilty of that sometimes. 

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  • Religious leaders sue in Florida arguing that having abortion is an issue of religious liberty

    Religious leaders sue in Florida arguing that having abortion is an issue of religious liberty

    The Washington Post has an article about a group of religious leaders in Florida who are suing the state over abortion restrictions with the argument that it violates their religious freedom. 

    Florida’s new abortion laws do not ban abortions outright (unfortunately). But they do ban abortions after 15 weeks unless there are risks to the health of the mother. But that doesn’t go far enough for these folks. 

    The article begins: 

    When the Rev. Laurie Hafner ministers to her Florida congregants about abortion, she looks to the founding values of the United Church of Christ, her lifelong denomination: religious freedom and freedom of thought. She taps into her reading of Genesis, which says “man became a living being” when God breathed “the breath of life” into Adam. She thinks of Jesus promising believers full and abundant life.

    Interesting that the article begins by talking about life and the breath of life, and abundant life in an article where pastors are arguing against the right to life of the unborn. We’re alive before we’re born so I’m not sure exactly when all of these rights begin. The Bible also talks about God knowing who we are prior to physical birth. 

    Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you (Jeremiah 1:5). 

    For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalm 139:16). 

    The Lord called me from the womb, from the body of my mother he named my name (Isaiah 49:1). 

    he who had set me apart before I was born, and who called me by his grace (Galatians 1:15). 

    I could continue, but you get the point. 

    The article continues with the “pastor” saying, “I am pro-choice not in spite of my faith, but because of my faith.” 

    Ah yes, that great Christian virtue of taking life of the unborn. There is no taking of innocent life to the glory of God. It is a backwards misrepresentation of Christianity to argue that it is this great thing to support. I can appreciate that there are Christians who believe in the gospel and who are misguided and have a wrong view of abortion. But it’s a sad commentary when a person is a member of the clergy and is advocating against the rights of the unborn. Not only is she arguing against these rights but she’s arguing that supporting the killing of a baby is something which her faith compels.  

    In the article, Hafner says, “​​I think the religious right has had the resources and the voices politically and socially to be so loud, and frankly, they don’t represent the Christian faith,”

    I wouild argue that culturally, it is the left who has the loudest voice and they’re the ones who have largely brainwashed our society into thinking hat abortion is this great good. Not just ab ortion but radical beliefs on abortion such as late term abortion, and for any reason. That’s the stance of the Democratic Party. 

    She says the religious right does not represent the Christian faith. I can appreciate the room for critique, but the Christian left certainly does not represent the Christian faith when its proponents advocate for a whole host of beliefs which are antithetical to historical (and more importantly, Biblical teachings) on sexual ethics. 

    From the article: “Look biblically; Jesus says nothing about abortion. He talks about loving your neighbor and living abundantly and fully. He says: ‘I come that you might have full life.’ 

    Jesus does say nothing about abortion. So then why ought a professing Christian advocate for it? Shouldn’t we er on the side of life rather than on the side of death?

    Love your neighbor? Abundant life? They’re the ones advocating for killing the unborn. I would say to love your neighbor is also to love the unborn.

    Jesus said Let the little ones come to me (Luke 18:16). 

    Jesus said Whatever you did for the least of these, you did for me (Matthew 25:20). Surely the unborn, who are unable to protect themselves and advocate for themselves fall into that category. 

    There are things that can be done to support the mothers. Christians adopt at higher rates than non Christians. I’m all for also supporting mothers, but not at the expense of the life of the baby. 

    The article also interviews a Unitarian pastor named Tom Capo who argues,” “It has to do with the belief in the inherent worth and dignity of every human being,” Once again, that’s incoherent. Inherent worth and dignity of every human being? You’re arguing in favor of abortion. You do not believe in inherent worth and dignity. If you believed it was inherent, you’d be pro life. That’s why I am pro life! Because I believe that we actually have inherent worth and dignity. He believes we have acquired worth and dignity at some point.

    It’s disgraceful. 

    Also, I thought we were supposed to have separation of church and state? That’s what I always hear. Being pro life is not an inherently religious position. But these religious leaders are the ones beating their chests about how “It’s because I’m religious that I’m pro choice.”

    I have no doubt that these people are all very religious but the problem is that their religion is the religion of liberalism and liberalism great sacrament is the right to kill the unborn.

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