-->

Pastor Joynt's Devotionals

in Questions
0

Questions Week 5 Day 3

main image

DAY 3 TUESDAY

LUKE 15:11-32

In fact, Jesus did show a different Father to the world. Only through Jesus do we learn of God’s concern for the lost and confused, and only through him does God’s universal sacrificial love become clear. God’s mercy takes on new dimensions, faith becomes a primary category that encompasses obedience, and all self-sufficient ways to achieve righteousness are ruled out. Salvation becomes a gift of Grace, and Jesus teaches us, in a novel way, about God’s being as well as his character. We learn about the Son and the Spirit, about what we have come to call the Trinity, and we see God’s capacity to enter history, to suffer, to redeem, to renew, and to change us through the gift of his presence within us. The Father of the Prodigal Son, who throws a party for the wayward ones who have been strangers to his heart and values, is seen in Jesus’ teaching alone and nowhere else in any other religious tradition. To encounter this Father, you can only do so through him. Does the distinction I have been making over these last two days make sense to you?

FAMILY TIME— What new things do we learn about God through Jesus?

Posted by David Joynt with 0 Comments
Tags: salvation, trinity
in Questions
0

Questions Week 5 Day 2

main image

DAY 2 MONDAY

JOHN 14:1-7 | PSALM 96:1-6

What was Jesus’ view of this issue? The locus classicus for this question is John 14:1-6, in which Jesus says, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life, no one comes to the Father except through me!” Now on first reading, this single statement seems to support the exclusivist claim that Christianity is the sole route to truth, life, and salvation, and that every other religion must be simply and completely false. In support of this perspective, one can adduce the enormous amount of O.T. material on idolatry, which insists that there is only one true God and that nonexisting pagan “gods” are man-made versions of the divine, without power or genuine reality. While it is certainly true that there is much in other religions that is simply false, I read Jesus’ intent differently in this passage. Notice that he points to the fact that no one can know, or discover the Father, without doing so through Jesus. He is asserting the uniqueness of what he has revealed about God, not invalidating everything in other religions completely. Do Jesus’ unique claims excite or worry you?

FAMILY TIME— What is Jesus saying to his disciples about the life to come?

Posted by David Joynt with 0 Comments
Tags: christianity, truth

12345678910 ... 178179