Josh Benner

Author: the Josh Benner Blog

  • The only resolution that matters for 2022

    The only resolution that matters for 2022

    Originally published December 31, 2014

    At the beginning of each year, millions of Americans make new year’s resolutions. Common resolutions include eating healthier, saving more money, quitting smoking, or learning a new skill. All of those are great things.

    But the reason why we create new year’s resolutions is because there are areas in our life where we know we should be doing something and where we aren’t. Maybe it’s something we’ve tried and failed at before, but new year’s gives a sense of optimism. I think before we focus on anything else in 2022, our resolution should be to start (or continue) living each day for God.

    We can feel like we want to get all of our ducks in a row before we can make time for faith. There are always reasons to not pursue God. There are always things that come up, difficulties we have. If we wait until everything is perfect before we do something, it never happens.

    We might want to wait until things settle down at work, or we might have an area of our life where we know we’re falling short and we don’t feel like we can be as serious about faith. We might think “I can’t do it now. I drink way too much.” Or “I can’t do it right now, I have too many anger issues, I have this area that is out of control.”

    But it’s not about taking care of ourselves first and then developing faith. God meets you where you are. No matter what struggles you’re in, no matter what imperfections of your life or places of darkness you have, God wants you to pursue him. this. moment.

    I think a lot of people get it backwards.

    Someone might know that he or she wants to get more involved in church or to get more committed to faith and it doesn’t happen. Or you’re coming to church but you know that you’re just going through the motions. For some of us, we haven’t picked up the Bible in weeks. For others, we haven’t really prayed to God on our own in months.

    For many of us, we do have faith. We do believe that Jesus is God and that he died for our sins. But the hustle and bustle of life makes us complacent. When we have the time to focus on faith, a million other distractions compete for our time. And it’s always going to be easier to turn on the tv or the computer than to pick up a Bible.

    The Greatest commandment is to love the Lord your God with all of your heart, soul, strength, and mind and to love your neighbor as yourself. To love God with everything you have. It was never meant to be a passive thing that we do on the side.

    Maybe there’s a part of your soul that knows that you’re not pursuing God like you should. You know that you have the gifts to grow with God and to love and serve others and to build up God’s Church, but you just can’t seem to get started. You look to that future you and know you’d be happier, you know it’s what God wants.

    But you’re never going to get to that point if you don’t start making God your priority. If faith isn’t something that’s developed, and we’re not pursuing God, then our relationship with him will never possibly be what it could be.

    As I said, any number of resolutions can be beneficial for us, but there’s no better use of our time than continually making God our first priority. If you know in your heart you haven’t been doing that, then make 2021 the year you take your relationship with God to a new level. Let us all make that our first priority this year.

    For all of you, I hope that it can be a year where we start that new career, or where we see healing in that broken relationship. I pray that those of us who are healthy can see that continue in 2022 and that those of us who have health issues can see healing and God working in their lives. But most importantly, the hope is that from this moment, the last day of 2021 to this same time next year, that 2022 can be a time of getting to know God better, of loving him more, of giving more of ourselves to him, to serving more, and loving more.

    Thanks for reading! I’d love to hear what you think, and don’t forget to subscribe! 

  • The Gospel According to Spider Man

    The Gospel According to Spider Man

    Over the Christmas holiday, I saw the new Spider Man movie “No Way Home.” The movie stars Tom Holland. I’m not the biggest fan of the super hero genre but I absolutely loved this new movie. I thought it was the best superhero movie I’ve seen since the Dark Knight.

    Part of what I loved so much about the movie were its rich gospel themes.

    Spoilers, spoilers, spoilers

    If you haven’t seen the movie, I will talk at length about the plot. I never want to spoil a film for anyone, so if you care about seeing the new movie, I’d stop reading here until you’ve viewed the movie.

    Reviled by the world

    At the end of the most recent Spider Man movie “Far from home,” Spider Man’s true identity of Peter Parker has been revealed and he’s been framed for murder. At the beginning of No Way Home, there is intense media scrutiny and a public outcry. The only people who are loyal to Spider Man are his girlfriend, best friend, his aunt, and Harold “Happy” Hogan. These people are the loyal disciples of Spider Man.

    Peter Parker is less concerned about himself but feels terrible that the lives of those closest to him have been turned upside down. He asks Dr. Strange to cast a spell which will erase his identity from everyone’s memories. At first this sounds great to Peter Parker/Spider Man, but it will also erase the knowledge from his loved ones. Parker keeps asking Dr. Strange to alter the spell. In the process, alternate universes are opened up and the villains of previous Spider Man movies are released into the present day.

    A fallen world

    Spider Man quickly contains all of the villains and Dr. Strange creates a way to send all of them back to their original universes. This will result in all of the villains dying.

    Spider Man rejects this idea. He wants the bad guys to get a second chance. He believes that if they could take away their powers, they could reprogram them and they wouldn’t be evil. What’s interesting is that none of the bad guys have the desire to change.

    It makes no sense.

    These people are evil. Watching the movie, you’re thinking “just send them back. These guys are the bad guys.”

    But that’s the gospel. It’s not just that we make a couple of mistakes here and there. We are sinful and live in rebellion against a holy God.

    Given new life

    The bad guys don’t want to change. It actually comes from Spider Man’s work in taking away their power and reprogramming them. That too is a theological point where sinful men do not decide they want to become holy. Even that must come as a gracious act of God.

    The first person whom Spider Man works on is Doc Ock. At first, you wonder “has he really changed?” But before you can see if he has or not, the Green Goblin (who has pretend to be interested in changing for the good) betrays Spider Man. Spider Man’s friends have been holding onto Dr. Strange’s ring and are able to open up portals into alternate universes. They summon two different Spider Man’s from other universes (and former Spider Man stars Toby Maguire and Andrew Garfield).

    The Super Trinity

    While the Holy Trinity is mysterious and nothing in our world can adequately compare, it is interesting that you suddenly have three Spider Man’s who are all distinct from each other and who are all Spider Man. In the movie, they jokingly address themselves as Spider Man “1, 2, and 3.” Spider Man’s 1, 2, and 3 are all Spider Man but 1 is not 2, 2 is not 3, and 3 is not 1.

    With any superhero character, you have this Christian theme of two natures. Spider Man is fully man and fully superhero.

    The Triune Spider Men join forces to work redemption for the villains.

    Born again

    In the Spider Man movie, once he has worked in the villain, there is a supernatural transformation that takes place. They are totally changed. Those who are evil and hateful become humbled and good. Spider Man has a way to cure them of their evil and it’s a cure that can only come from Spider Man.

    Discipleship

    Doc Ock was the first person whom Spider Man had cured. Later in the movie, you see him work to help save Spider Man when he’s in a perilous situation. The transformation that’s happened in him is genuine.

    Sacrifice

    The three Spider Men are ultimately successful in transforming all of the villains. But before the Green Goblin had been restored, he had opened up the multiverse which would bring in any more villains. There is only one option. Spider Man must “die.” He doesn’t actually die in the movie, but his memory must be erased from everyone, even from those who know and love him. And in that sense, he must sacrifice himself and die to the world in order to save the world.

    The gospel

    I know it’s just a movie. But it has powerful gospel themes. Because the world is fallen and sinful. And Jesus bring salvation and a new heart and a new life to all who believe in him and who are redeemed by Christ. And the only way for Jesus to redeem the world was for him to die. Not a symbolic or metaphorical death but to literally die. He lived the life we could not live and died the dead that we deserved so that all who believe in him can have eternal life.

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  • How the virgin birth shows us the gospel

    How the virgin birth shows us the gospel

    The message of the gospel is that it is the power of God for salvation (Romans 1:16). That we have sinned, that the relationship with God has been broken and that there is nothing we can do on our own to restore that relationship with a Holy God.

    We contribute nothing positive to our salvation. Our good deeds count for nothing. The only works that save men are the works of Christ. 

    And it’s fitting that even in his birth, in his incarnation, we see an event which could not have happened without divine intervention. The savior of the world coming into the world required a work of God. Humanity could not have made its own savior.

    Jesus’ birth, his death and resurrection, and everything in between represent a divine, heavenly ministry on earth.

    Jesus was born of a virgin. Something that might be a stumbling block for some.

    How can a virgin be pregnant?

    How can a dead man live again?

    The virgin birth is the beginning of the story of Jesus on earth, and if we can’t accept that miracle, how does one progress in the story any further? For it was a ministry where Jesus fed multitudes, walked on water, calmed storms, healed the sick, and rose from the dead.

    And it is his victory over death and the confidence in that by which we too can have a confidence in eternal life with Christ.

    Furthermore, the virgin birth matters because in it, we see the two natures of Christ: human and divine.

    It matters that Jesus is God because he was worthy to die for our sins. If he had merely been human, he would not have been able to pay such a price. And because he is human, Jesus is able to be our substitute and representative.

    The mighty God, the creator of the heavens and the earth, who holds all things together. The awesomely Holy and glorious God came into the world.

    We could not have made our own savior.

    We could not have made our own way to God.

    And may his incarnation, his coming into the world, be a reminder of that.

    Because the baby was born in that manger in Bethlehem, but when he grew up, he would lay down his life to forgive sins. It was why he came. It was the purpose of his ministry. Reconciling sinners to God.

    Many people in our society just like to think of Jesus as someone who was a good moral teacher. But this passage in the Bible says that he was miraculously conceived of the Holy Spirit, that he’s God with us and that he came to save people.

    That little baby’s primary purpose for coming into the world was not to tell you to be good.

    It was to die for you because you weren’t.

    Originally published December 24, 2017

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  • The wise men and the mission of God. Studying Matthew 2

    The wise men and the mission of God. Studying Matthew 2

    In Matthew 2, verse 1 ends by saying that wise men from the east came to Jerusalem. 

    The ESV says wise men. The Greek word that it comes from is magi, if you’ve ever heard that term. 

    They’re basically astrologers and astrology was respected in the ancient Roman world. 

    The text says that they came from the east. That’s probably referring to either Persia, or Arabia, or Babylon. 

    These wise men came from somewhere where they clearly had some familiarity with Jewish beliefs and Messianic expectations. 

    But, and this matters, they themselves are not Jewish. 

    Also – for the record – the Bible never says that there were three of them. 

    It seems most likely that the number comes from the three gifts they bring of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. 

    The text says that the wise men came to Jerusalem. That makes sense. That would be an obvious starting palace if you’re looking for the Jewish messiah. Jerusalem had been the capital of the promised land. 

    Before they leave Jerusalem in search of Bethlehem, Herod requests that they let him know when they find the young Jesus. 

    Verses 7-8:

    7 Then Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star had appeared. 8 And he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, “Go and search diligently for the child, and when you have found him, bring me word, that I too may come and worship him.”

    When I read the story and Herod tells the wise men to let him know when they locate Jesus so that he too may worship him, I imagine the music in the soundtrack turning more sinister. Herod has no desire to worship Jesus. It’s a ruse. 

    I think of the big bad wolf dressing up as the grandmother of Little Red Riding Hood. I think of Ursula the Sea Witch pretending to care about Ariel in the Little Mermaid. 

    Herod is lying. 

    So the wise men depart for Bethlehem.

    Verses 9-10: 

     9 After listening to the king, they went on their way. And behold, the star that they had seen when it rose went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. 

    Keep in mind that the wise men are not Jewish. 

    They’re pagan astrologers.

    And with that, let’s zoom out of the story for a moment. 

    The wise men in Matthew  

    When we read any Biblical account that’s associated with Christmas, there are different aspects of the story that are embedded in our culture. 

    It’s part of the story that the baby was born at an inn and laid in a manger, and that the wise men followed a star and came to him. 

    And with the idea of the wise men, it’s so embedded into our understanding of the Christmas story, it’s such a normal part of the story to us that I don’t think we consider how utterly bizarre it truly is. 

    You have pagan mystics who are the first ones to seek out newborn Jesus. 

    That’s…weird. 

    Matthew tells us about the wise men. And we see them nowhere else in the New Testament. 

    It’s not like when Jesus does his first miracle, there are wise men who are led to that place. It’s not like when Jesus is at the cross, there are wise men in the crowd. It’s not like when the disciples find the empty tomb on the first easter, that a star leads wise men from the east to the tomb. 

    But they’re the first ones on the scene when Jesus is a newborn? 

    It’s weird!

    Astrology is pretty clearly forbidden in the Old Testament. 

    Deuteronomy 4:19 says: And beware lest you raise your eyes to heaven, and when you see the sun and the moon and the stars, all the host of heaven, you be drawn away and bow down to them and serve them, things that the Lord your God has allotted to all the peoples under the whole heaven.

    Deuteronomy 18:10-12: anyone who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens, or a sorcerer 11 or a charmer or a medium or a necromancer or one who inquires of the dead, 12 for whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord. And because of these abominations the Lord your God is driving them out before you.

    Yet, here we have wise men on the scene. 

    Why? 

    Why does Matthew say there were wise men? 

    Couple of reasons. 

    First, given that astrology is so strongly forbidden in the Old Testament, and continues to be frowned upon in the New Testament, I think that Matthew mentions the appearance of the wise men because it really happened. 

    Why on earth would you make that up? 

    But there’s another very important reason for the wise men in the story. 

    The wise men and the mission of God

    The first people Matthew records seeking Jesus, finding Jesus, giving reverence to Jesus are non-Jewish pagans. 

    We take the idea of the three wise men. We see it depicted in nativity scenes. It’s a quaint Christmas image. 

    But what Matthew is once again doing is showing that Jesus is for the whole world. The gospel that Jesus brings is for the whole world. The light that Jesus gives is given to the whole world. 

    Even for pagans who don’t come from Israel and who have practices that would be looked at as sinful. Jesus is for them too. 

    There will be Jewish people we get to in this section who are oblivious, apathetic, or even hostile to Jesus coming into the world. They’re the ones you’d expect to recognize their coming king and Messiah. But instead, it’s the outsiders. 

    This will also foreshadow two things: Jesus being rejected by Jewish leaders when he is sent to the cross, and Jesus’s global mission when he sends his followers into the world to fulfill the Great Commission. 

    And that’s important because what matters is that they’ve come to seek Jesus. And a person can always seek Jesus just as they are. You don’t clean yourself up and then go in pursuit of Jesus. You don’t get all of your moral ducks in a row and then go and look for Jesus. 

    Jesus meets us as we are. And we to come to him, to know him, to love him, and to believe in him. And when a person does come to know Jesus, it is such a dramatic and impactful relationship that the person who truly knows him is changed by him and can never be the same. 

    We see the reverence they have for Jesus at the end of the passage. 

    Verse 11: 

    11 And going into the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh.

    Again, probably different than how we think of worship. It’s probably more along the lines of prostrating themselves before a royal figure, but they give that homage to Jesus. 

    The gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh might seem like od gifts to bring to a baby.

    My wife and I just had a baby. Those weren’t on our registry. 

    But think of them as less gifts for a baby and more gifts for a king. When heads of state visit today, it’s customary to bring gifts. 

    Gold is universally valued. Frankincense and myrrh are resins which can be used in perfumes. 

    Those were the gifts the wise men brought to Jesus. 

    The gift that Jesus reciprocated with is the gift of eternal life. 

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  • Bethlehem and the Christian life

    Bethlehem and the Christian life

     5 They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet: 6 “ ‘And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.’ ”
    -Matthew 2:5-6 

    That’s a quotation from Micah 5:2 which talks about the coming ruler being born in Bethlehem. 

     ‘And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, 

    Bethlehem is the city where Jesus was born. Because of the Christmas story we’ve heard of it. 

    Without the Christmas story, you’d have never heard of it. First century Bethlehem was very small. It’s about six miles away from Jerusalem. 

    It is mentioned in conjunction with some significant events in the Old Testament. Jacob’s wife Rachel was buried there. Ruth and Boaz meet in Bethlehem. Most significantly, it’s also the birthplace of King Davi. 

    Where the text says Bethlehem in the land of Judah, that is reminding us of Judah and Jesus’ association to the tribe of Judah from which he is born.

    The prophecy says are by no means least among the rulers of Judah 

    That is basically saying that Bethlehem is otherwise pretty insignificant. But what gives it significance is what will happen there in God’s redemptive plan. 

    for from you shall come a ruler 

    who will shepherd my people Israel.’ 

    Bethlehem was very small and insignificant at the time that Jesus was born, but something amazing was going to happen there. 

    Let me illustrate it this way. 

    Tampico, Illinois is a small town in the northwestern part of Illinois. It’s a small town with less than 800 people. Tampico’s claim to fame is that in 1911 a baby was born there who would become America’s 40th president. Ronald Reagan. 

    He’s what put that town on the map. If you’ve ever been to Tampico, I’m going to go out on a limb that it was probably to visit his birthplace. 

    Jesus gives meaning 

    Jesus gives significance and meaning to Bethlehem. No one would really care about Bethlehem were it not connected to Jesus. But Jesus didn’t come just to give meaning to a place. 

    Jesus gives meaning to your life. 

    For a moment, let’s remember the other birth narrative of Jesus in the Gospel of Luke. In Luke 1, you see all of these people. Zechariah and Elizabeth. Mary and Joseph. In Luke 2, you see people like Anna and Simeon at the temple. 

    All of these people. What do they have in common? 

    Their meaning and significance is directly tied to their relationship to Jesus. 

    And that is meant to be true for our own lives. Our meaning and purpose are meant to be grounded in Jesus. Knowing him. Living for him. Loving him. Making him known. 

    Bethlehem is known because it’s where Jesus was born. The cross is known to us today because it’s where Jesus died. May we be known today because we’re where Jesus lives. 

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