Saturday, Ordinary 21/Proper 16-- Aug 23
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Meditation
Saturday, Ordinary 21, Proper 16 faced how easy misunderstandings can happen. There were consequences to what was stated wasn’t always trusted or understood. Joseph’s ‘forgiveness’ wasn’t fully believed by the brothers. While their father was alive, the brothers felt secure that there would be no repercussions from what they had done to the young Joseph.
They concocted a statement from their father, which they sent to Joseph declaring that Jacob had said for him not to hold their past sins against them.
Joseph received the message with sadness, knowing that he had not communicated sufficiently for their consciences to be at ease. His brothers went to see Joseph and they bowed down low (just like Joseph’s dreams had said) and they declared themselves his servants. But Joseph had been humbled by his experiences and he declared that he was not God to judge them. They had nothing to worry about from him. The great words of Joseph to his brothers which we can take for our own lives when things go wrong:
20 You plotted evil against me, but God turned it into good, in order to preserve the lives of many people who are alive today because of what happened.
God worked all things together for their good…and not only the extended families of the brothers, but all the surrounding nations. God managed to help everyone at the same time.
Years ago, we would tell a joke at camp, “Good News, Bad News” where a dialogue between two farmers. One told the story of a young man being drafted into the army. Oh that was bad news, the other replied. No, it was good news; the army stationed him nearby. Oh, that was good news, the other replied. No, it was bad news; he was assigned parachute duty. Oh, that was bad news. No, it was good news; he excelled at it. Oh, that was good news. No, it was bad news; he was assigned to jump before he was ready. Oh, that was bad news. No, it was good news; he went with a great sergeant. Oh, that’s good news. No, that was bad news, his parachute didn’t open. Oh, that was bad news. Oh, that was good news; there was a haystack below…and on and on (depending on the counselor. For every good news, there was bad news. It could end on a good note or a bad note, depending on the counselor.
The point was that things that may be bad can turn into good things. In my version, the soldier ended up hurting his leg (bad) and was put on medical leave (good) to be with his family.
In the larger context of Joseph, God worked all the bad news into good news.
In the New Testament lesson, there was a misunderstanding by Jesus’ followers. He declared ‘beware the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.’ They fixated on the yeast and thought he was talking about bread or lack thereof.
Jesus questioned their thinking—after all, he had fed 5000 and 4000 on two respective occasions, so why would he worry about bread? He explained that bad information spread by people, who others believe to ‘know’ better, was insidious and cancerous in its growth. Like yeast it would spread rapidly to the detriment of all those around.
When I had skin cancer, I had two surgeries on my arms to remove larger sections, since they didn’t have a ‘clean cut’ the first time. Leaving a single cell of cancer would allow it to spread to other skin cells, so they would return until the tests showed a completely clean circle of cells surrounding the area.
Jesus was instructing his disciples to be students of the Word. “Don’t accept something because Pharisee Joe Schmo or Sadducee John Doe said it was true.” As believers, Jesus taught them to be responsible for what they believed.
Years ago, there was a church that started in the San Francisco Bay Area, in 1955, called The People's Temple of the Disciples of Christ, shortened to People’s Temple. It had all the hallmarks of a normal church…building, services, preacher, and elders etc. But it was a cult. It deviated from the Holy Scriptures by placing all authority in Jim Jones, instead of God. There were many other signs, but that was the most obvious. Unfortunately, 920 people, including children, drank cyanide-laced, grape-flavored Flavor Aid and died. Jonestown involved murdering others, too.
The yeast of which Jesus spoke doesn’t have to be as severe as the influence of Jim Jones on Jonestown. It can be intolerance of other Christians by Christian churches claiming to be the only way. As Joseph noted, he was not God. He could not make the judgment of his brothers, even though most of us would think he would have quite the case against them.
But today’s lesson was emphatic. Joseph wasn’t going to judge and he went to his death respecting his oath before God. Followers of Jesus learned that they were responsible for learning the truth. They couldn’t say, “I trusted them. They were my leaders. They said.” Everyone must be responsible for studying the word of God and interpreting it correctly. Anyone, who comes to the Word of God with openness in his/her heart to the leading of the Holy Spirit, will be able to understand.
We must be cautious that our interpretations are consistent with the unity of the Scriptures and don’t contradict the truths such as “God is love” and “all the law falls under the umbrella of love the Lord your God and your neighbor as yourself.”
Thanks be to God.¬¬
All Scriptures printed below are in King James Version for copyright purposes. However, clicking on the verse locations will take you to Biblegateway.com where the text is linked to more contemporary versions.
Prayer: Almighty God, Open my eyes that I might see. Open my mind that I might understand. Open my heart that I might make your words a part of me. May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in your sight. Amen
Ordinary 21, Proper 16
Bible Readings
http://legacy.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm 124;Genesis 49:29—50:14;2 Corinthians 10:12-18&version=KJV;ERV;GNT;NCV;CEV# (multiple versions)
Saturday, Ordinary 21, Proper 16
Psalm 124
Genesis 50:15-26
Matthew 16:5-12
Daily Bible Verses to Memorize for Meditating
Psalm 124:8
King James Version (KJV)
8 Our help is in the name of the LORD, who made heaven and earth.
Single Bible Study chapter to study
Genesis 50:15-26
King James Version (KJV)
15 And when Joseph's brethren saw that their father was dead, they said, Joseph will peradventure hate us, and will certainly requite us all the evil which we did unto him.
16 And they sent a messenger unto Joseph, saying, Thy father did command before he died, saying,
17 So shall ye say unto Joseph, Forgive, I pray thee now, the trespass of thy brethren, and their sin; for they did unto thee evil: and now, we pray thee, forgive the trespass of the servants of the God of thy father. And Joseph wept when they spake unto him.
18 And his brethren also went and fell down before his face; and they said, Behold, we be thy servants.
http://www.wikigallery.org/paintings/284501-285000/284884/painting1.jpg Joseph and his brethren in Egypt; Pier Francesco Mola wikigallery; CCL
19 And Joseph said unto them, Fear not: for am I in the place of God?
20 But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.
21 Now therefore fear ye not: I will nourish you, and your little ones. And he comforted them, and spake kindly unto them.
22 And Joseph dwelt in Egypt, he, and his father's house: and Joseph lived an hundred and ten years.
23 And Joseph saw Ephraim's children of the third generation: the children also of Machir the son of Manasseh were brought up upon Joseph's knees.
24 And Joseph said unto his brethren, I die: and God will surely visit you, and bring you out of this land unto the land which he sware to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.
http://www.wikigallery.org/paintings/288501-289000/288785/painting1.jpg Joseph and His brothers in Egypt; Edgar Degas Wikigallery CCL
25 And Joseph took an oath of the children of Israel, saying, God will surely visit you, and ye shall carry up my bones from hence.
26 So Joseph died, being an hundred and ten years old: and they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt.
OBSERVE:
Take a moment and write three observations of the verses. What strikes you? An observation is an observable fact from the Word.
1.
2.
3.
INTERPRETATION:
What do you interpret these verses to mean for you today?
APPLY:
Today, I learned _____________________________________and apply it to my life.
Prayer of Encouragement
Almighty God, help us to leave our arrogance behind and come to the throne of God as humbly as Joseph In Jesus name, Amen
Conclusion
Saturday, Ordinary 21, Proper 16 gives us pause as we think about how we conduct our lives. We can be like Joseph, who honored his father and God—demonstrating to all of Egypt and the witnesses in Canaan how one respects God and parents. The name of the place became known as the place of Egyptian sadness, because Joseph would have appeared to be an Egyptian even those his roots were of Canaan.
Paul pleaded with the Corinthian church to put away the arrogance. It was a church that had come from pagan gods and had received many ‘gifts’ of the Holy Spirit to compensate for their lack of education about God. But they began to boast that they were better because of receiving the gifts of the Holy Spirit. They took credit, as if they were better than others. They received more gifts for the opposite reason—they we desperately in need of help from God for them to be able to function.
We must be cautious with how we present the work of God that we do. People don’t respect that which is inauthentic or conceited. We must strive to be authentic, humble and gracious.
Go out and be ready for God to do mighty things in your life—for the glory of God.*
Thank you for visiting ChapLynne’s Daily Encouragement and Bible Study. God bless you.
*If you do not know the Lord as your personal Savior and you are seeking, please contact me. A genuine and simple prayer, asking God into your heart for the forgiveness of your sins will also do.
Saturday, Ordinary 21, Proper 16 faced how easy misunderstandings can happen. There were consequences to what was stated wasn’t always trusted or understood. Joseph’s ‘forgiveness’ wasn’t fully believed by the brothers. While their father was alive, the brothers felt secure that there would be no repercussions from what they had done to the young Joseph.
They concocted a statement from their father, which they sent to Joseph declaring that Jacob had said for him not to hold their past sins against them.
Joseph received the message with sadness, knowing that he had not communicated sufficiently for their consciences to be at ease. His brothers went to see Joseph and they bowed down low (just like Joseph’s dreams had said) and they declared themselves his servants. But Joseph had been humbled by his experiences and he declared that he was not God to judge them. They had nothing to worry about from him. The great words of Joseph to his brothers which we can take for our own lives when things go wrong:
20 You plotted evil against me, but God turned it into good, in order to preserve the lives of many people who are alive today because of what happened.
God worked all things together for their good…and not only the extended families of the brothers, but all the surrounding nations. God managed to help everyone at the same time.
Years ago, we would tell a joke at camp, “Good News, Bad News” where a dialogue between two farmers. One told the story of a young man being drafted into the army. Oh that was bad news, the other replied. No, it was good news; the army stationed him nearby. Oh, that was good news, the other replied. No, it was bad news; he was assigned parachute duty. Oh, that was bad news. No, it was good news; he excelled at it. Oh, that was good news. No, it was bad news; he was assigned to jump before he was ready. Oh, that was bad news. No, it was good news; he went with a great sergeant. Oh, that’s good news. No, that was bad news, his parachute didn’t open. Oh, that was bad news. Oh, that was good news; there was a haystack below…and on and on (depending on the counselor. For every good news, there was bad news. It could end on a good note or a bad note, depending on the counselor.
The point was that things that may be bad can turn into good things. In my version, the soldier ended up hurting his leg (bad) and was put on medical leave (good) to be with his family.
In the larger context of Joseph, God worked all the bad news into good news.
In the New Testament lesson, there was a misunderstanding by Jesus’ followers. He declared ‘beware the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.’ They fixated on the yeast and thought he was talking about bread or lack thereof.
Jesus questioned their thinking—after all, he had fed 5000 and 4000 on two respective occasions, so why would he worry about bread? He explained that bad information spread by people, who others believe to ‘know’ better, was insidious and cancerous in its growth. Like yeast it would spread rapidly to the detriment of all those around.
When I had skin cancer, I had two surgeries on my arms to remove larger sections, since they didn’t have a ‘clean cut’ the first time. Leaving a single cell of cancer would allow it to spread to other skin cells, so they would return until the tests showed a completely clean circle of cells surrounding the area.
Jesus was instructing his disciples to be students of the Word. “Don’t accept something because Pharisee Joe Schmo or Sadducee John Doe said it was true.” As believers, Jesus taught them to be responsible for what they believed.
Years ago, there was a church that started in the San Francisco Bay Area, in 1955, called The People's Temple of the Disciples of Christ, shortened to People’s Temple. It had all the hallmarks of a normal church…building, services, preacher, and elders etc. But it was a cult. It deviated from the Holy Scriptures by placing all authority in Jim Jones, instead of God. There were many other signs, but that was the most obvious. Unfortunately, 920 people, including children, drank cyanide-laced, grape-flavored Flavor Aid and died. Jonestown involved murdering others, too.
The yeast of which Jesus spoke doesn’t have to be as severe as the influence of Jim Jones on Jonestown. It can be intolerance of other Christians by Christian churches claiming to be the only way. As Joseph noted, he was not God. He could not make the judgment of his brothers, even though most of us would think he would have quite the case against them.
But today’s lesson was emphatic. Joseph wasn’t going to judge and he went to his death respecting his oath before God. Followers of Jesus learned that they were responsible for learning the truth. They couldn’t say, “I trusted them. They were my leaders. They said.” Everyone must be responsible for studying the word of God and interpreting it correctly. Anyone, who comes to the Word of God with openness in his/her heart to the leading of the Holy Spirit, will be able to understand.
We must be cautious that our interpretations are consistent with the unity of the Scriptures and don’t contradict the truths such as “God is love” and “all the law falls under the umbrella of love the Lord your God and your neighbor as yourself.”
Thanks be to God.¬¬
All Scriptures printed below are in King James Version for copyright purposes. However, clicking on the verse locations will take you to Biblegateway.com where the text is linked to more contemporary versions.
Prayer: Almighty God, Open my eyes that I might see. Open my mind that I might understand. Open my heart that I might make your words a part of me. May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in your sight. Amen
Ordinary 21, Proper 16
Bible Readings
http://legacy.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm 124;Genesis 49:29—50:14;2 Corinthians 10:12-18&version=KJV;ERV;GNT;NCV;CEV# (multiple versions)
Saturday, Ordinary 21, Proper 16
Psalm 124
Genesis 50:15-26
Matthew 16:5-12
Daily Bible Verses to Memorize for Meditating
Psalm 124:8
King James Version (KJV)
8 Our help is in the name of the LORD, who made heaven and earth.
Single Bible Study chapter to study
Genesis 50:15-26
King James Version (KJV)
15 And when Joseph's brethren saw that their father was dead, they said, Joseph will peradventure hate us, and will certainly requite us all the evil which we did unto him.
16 And they sent a messenger unto Joseph, saying, Thy father did command before he died, saying,
17 So shall ye say unto Joseph, Forgive, I pray thee now, the trespass of thy brethren, and their sin; for they did unto thee evil: and now, we pray thee, forgive the trespass of the servants of the God of thy father. And Joseph wept when they spake unto him.
18 And his brethren also went and fell down before his face; and they said, Behold, we be thy servants.
http://www.wikigallery.org/paintings/284501-285000/284884/painting1.jpg Joseph and his brethren in Egypt; Pier Francesco Mola wikigallery; CCL
19 And Joseph said unto them, Fear not: for am I in the place of God?
20 But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.
21 Now therefore fear ye not: I will nourish you, and your little ones. And he comforted them, and spake kindly unto them.
22 And Joseph dwelt in Egypt, he, and his father's house: and Joseph lived an hundred and ten years.
23 And Joseph saw Ephraim's children of the third generation: the children also of Machir the son of Manasseh were brought up upon Joseph's knees.
24 And Joseph said unto his brethren, I die: and God will surely visit you, and bring you out of this land unto the land which he sware to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.
http://www.wikigallery.org/paintings/288501-289000/288785/painting1.jpg Joseph and His brothers in Egypt; Edgar Degas Wikigallery CCL
25 And Joseph took an oath of the children of Israel, saying, God will surely visit you, and ye shall carry up my bones from hence.
26 So Joseph died, being an hundred and ten years old: and they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt.
OBSERVE:
Take a moment and write three observations of the verses. What strikes you? An observation is an observable fact from the Word.
1.
2.
3.
INTERPRETATION:
What do you interpret these verses to mean for you today?
APPLY:
Today, I learned _____________________________________and apply it to my life.
Prayer of Encouragement
Almighty God, help us to leave our arrogance behind and come to the throne of God as humbly as Joseph In Jesus name, Amen
Conclusion
Saturday, Ordinary 21, Proper 16 gives us pause as we think about how we conduct our lives. We can be like Joseph, who honored his father and God—demonstrating to all of Egypt and the witnesses in Canaan how one respects God and parents. The name of the place became known as the place of Egyptian sadness, because Joseph would have appeared to be an Egyptian even those his roots were of Canaan.
Paul pleaded with the Corinthian church to put away the arrogance. It was a church that had come from pagan gods and had received many ‘gifts’ of the Holy Spirit to compensate for their lack of education about God. But they began to boast that they were better because of receiving the gifts of the Holy Spirit. They took credit, as if they were better than others. They received more gifts for the opposite reason—they we desperately in need of help from God for them to be able to function.
We must be cautious with how we present the work of God that we do. People don’t respect that which is inauthentic or conceited. We must strive to be authentic, humble and gracious.
Go out and be ready for God to do mighty things in your life—for the glory of God.*
Thank you for visiting ChapLynne’s Daily Encouragement and Bible Study. God bless you.
*If you do not know the Lord as your personal Savior and you are seeking, please contact me. A genuine and simple prayer, asking God into your heart for the forgiveness of your sins will also do.
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