Gospel of John | Craig T. Owens

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Love For A Traitor

November 9, 2011 — Craig T. Owens

Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.

Just a couple of hours before He would be arrested and so cruelly mistreated, Jesus had one last meal with His disciples. The meal began after Jesus had assumed the lowest of all positions, and washed all of His disciples’ feet.

Then He took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you.” (Matthew 26:27)

Do you realize that this “all of you” included Judas the traitor?

Judas, the betrayer of Jesus, was there. He ate the bread and drank the wine of the first Communion. Jesus washed Judas’ feet. The traitor was right there when Jesus said, “This is My Body broken for you. This is My blood spilled for you.”

But it’s even heavier to think that He also said to me, “Drink of this cup, Craig.”

For Jesus surely saw my sin and my betrayal before He went to the Cross. I was the traitor, and He washed my feet. I betrayed Him by my sin, and He told me to eat and drink the reminders of His suffering for me.

How can I ignore such wondrous love?

How could I ever treat lightly such a sacrifice?

How could I ever hang on to my betraying sins in light of the forgiveness He purchased for me?

Jesus loved me—the traitor, the betrayer—and died for me. What a beautiful Savior!

My friend Dilip has released his debut album The Great Reversal (I hope you will buy this amazing CD), but I love the words of his song Beautiful Jesus:

All my words cannot describe just how beautiful You are

Earthly love cannot compare to the Perfect Love that bled and died

Beautiful Jesus, I stand in awe of You

Beautiful Jesus, I’m captivated by Your wondrous love

So I bow my knee, humbled by this mystery

How can it be? King of Majesty, You rescued me

You gave it all for me

More than I could ask for

All I ever need is You, Jesus, Lover of my soul

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Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: Communion, Cross, Dilip, forgiveness, Gospel of John, Gospel of Matthew, Jesus Christ, Judas Iscariot, Last Supper, lyrics, music, passion, sin. Leave a Comment »

Watch Your Prepositions

November 7, 2011 — Craig T. Owens

Prepositions are interesting words: they tell us the position of something relative to something else. Changing just one small preposition changes the whole meaning—“I left my wallet in the car” or “I left my wallet on the car.” In the first case, you can probably find your wallet again. In the second case, your wallet could be anywhere along the side of the road!

There’s a well-known story in the Gospels where a woman anoints Jesus with an expensive perfume. Some people are upset that she would “waste” something so valuable. But as Jesus corrects their incorrect view of this, notice the preposition He uses:

She has done a beautiful thing TO Me. (Matthew 26:10)

Most of the time we think we do things for Jesus. But He really doesn’t need us to do anything for Him, does He? After all, He is all-sufficient, all-powerful, all-knowing.

But Jesus loves when we do something beautiful TO Him!

We often praise God because of what He has done; that is, we praise Him for His deeds. But what if we praise God for Who He is; that is, give praise TO Him?

For is good, but TO is best.

I’m going to be watching my prepositions, to make sure I’m not only doing things for Jesus, but to Him as well—not just giving praise for what He’s done, but praise TO Him for Who He is.

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: Gospel of John, Gospel of Luke, Gospel of Mark, Gospel of Matthew, grammar, Jesus Christ, lifestyle, worship. 3 Comments »

Thursdays With Oswald— Publicly Holy

November 3, 2011 — Craig T. Owens

This is a weekly series with things I’m reading and pondering from Oswald Chambers. You can read the original seed thought here, or type “Thursdays With Oswald” in the search box to read more entries.

Publicly Holy

Try and develop a holy life in private, and you find it cannot be done. Individuals can only live the true life when they are dependent on one another. …

In the early Middle Ages people had the idea that Christianity meant living a holy life apart from the world and its sociability, apart from its work and citizenship. That type of holiness is foreign to the New Testament; it cannot be reconciled with the records of the life of Jesus. The people of His day called Him “the Friend of publicans and sinners” because He spent so much time with them.

From Biblical Ethics

Jesus never told us to stay, but to go.

He didn’t tell us to separate, but to season and shine.

We cannot influence people from a distance. We must live and work and interact where they are.

Jesus taught us: “Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:16)

Jesus prayed for us: “My prayer is not that You take them out of the world but that You protect them from the evil one. … As You sent Me into the world, I have sent them into the world. (John 17:15, 18)

I must be around people who need to see The Light.

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: Christianity, community involvement, friendship, Gospel of John, Gospel of Matthew, holiness, Jesus Christ, Oswald Chambers. Leave a Comment »

Thursdays With Oswald—God’s Silence

October 13, 2011 — Craig T. Owens

God’s Silence

Has God trusted you with His silence—a silence that has great meaning? God’s silences are actually His answers. Just think of those days of absolute silence in the home at Bethany [John 11:1-6]! Is there anything comparable to those days in your life? Can God trust you like that, or are you still asking Him for a visible answer? God will give you the very blessings you ask if you refuse to go any further without them, but His silence is the sign that He is bringing you into an even more wonderful understanding of Himself. Are you mourning before God because you have not had an audible response? When you cannot hear God, you will find that He has trusted you in the most intimate way possible—with absolute silence, not a silence of despair, but one of pleasure, because He saw that you could withstand an even bigger revelation. If God has given you a silence, then praise Him—He is bringing you into the mainstream of His purposes.

From My Utmost For His Highest

Can God trust you like that, or are you still asking Him for a visible answer? Wow! I need to think about this one for awhile…

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: Gospel of John, Oswald Chambers, prayer, silence. Leave a Comment »

Thursdays With Oswald—Fasting From Eloquence

July 21, 2011 — Craig T. Owens

Fasting From Eloquence

Belief in Jesus is a miracle produced only by the effectiveness of redemption, not by impressive speech, nor by wooing and persuading, but only by the sheer unaided power of God. The creative power of redemption comes through the preaching of the Gospel, but never because of the personality of the preacher.

Real and effective fasting by a preacher is not fasting from food, but fasting from eloquence, from impressive diction, and from everything else that might hinder the gospel of God being presented. The preacher is there as the representative of God—‘as though God were pleading through us…’ (2 Corinthians 5:20). He is there to present the Gospel of God. If it is only because of my preaching that people desire to be better, they will never get close to Jesus Christ. Anything that flatters me in my preaching of the gospel will result in making me a traitor to Jesus, and I prevent the creative power of His redemption from doing its work.

From My Utmost For His Highest

So much of pastoring focuses on the preaching. And yet Chambers says, “If it is only because of my preaching that people desire to be better, they will never get close to Jesus Christ.”

He’s right: It’s not about me or my preaching. My focus is on what Jesus said: “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto Me” (John 12:32).

Posted in Pastoring, Uncategorized. Tags: 2 Corinthians, Gospel of John, Jesus Christ, Oswald Chambers, pastoring, preaching. Leave a Comment »

How To unDo unChristian

July 18, 2011 — Craig T. Owens

Yesterday at Calvary Assembly of God, we continued our series called In It Not Of It, in which we are considering how to biblically engage our culture. In alarmingly high numbers, more and more people have thoughts that are positively unChristian toward those who call themselves Christian.

How do we undo this cultural bias? I think we have to be people of overwhelming grace.

Being grace-filled people is the only way I can see for us to unDo the unChristian mindset. To see how Jesus did this, see His interaction with a particular woman in John 8:2-11.

The Apostle Paul also gave us a good example of grace-filled living. In his letter to the Romans, Paul says he is indebted to all mankind, which makes him eager to preach the Gospel (Romans 1:14-15). I love Oswald Chambers’ commentary on these verses:

“Paul was overwhelmed with the sense of his indebtedness to Jesus Christ, and he spent his life to express it. The greatest inspiration in Paul’s life was his view of Jesus Christ as his spiritual creditor. Do I feel that same sense of indebtedness to Christ regarding EVERY unsaved soul? As a saint, my life’s spiritual honor and duty is to fulfill my debt to Christ in relation to these lost souls. Every tiny bit of my life that has value I owe to the redemption of Jesus Christ. Am I doing anything to enable Him to bring His redemption into evident reality in the lives of others? I will only be able to do this as the Spirit of God works into me this sense of indebtedness. …

“Quit praying about yourself and spend your life for the sake of others as the bondservant of Jesus. This is the true meaning of being broken bread and poured-out wine IN REAL LIFE.”

I am committed to living a life of overwhelming grace poured out for EVERY unsaved soul. And I am SO BLESSED to be able to pastor a church that feels and acts the same way! We’re not going to be passive reactionaries to the unChristian cultural bias … we’re going to live IN REAL LIFE as proactive, grace-filled people, so that we can unDo unChristian!

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: apostle Paul, Calvary Assembly of God, Christian, Gospel of John, grace, Oswald Chambers, quote, Romans, sermon, unchurched, video. 1 Comment »

Does Either-Or Work?

May 18, 2011 — Craig T. Owens

Sometimes I read about this debate whether churches should be “attractional” or “missional.” The first approach says that church should attract people first, and then share the gospel with them. The second approach says that if churches simply focus on sharing the gospel they will then attract people.

Either-or. Either missional or attractional.

What about both-and?

Consider the life of Jesus. No one would ever argue that He wasn’t “on mission” all the time. In fact, numerous times He says, “I’m doing what My Father wants me to do,” or even, “It’s not time for me to do that yet.” Jesus was missional.

And yet… “Tax collectors and other notorious sinners often came to listen to Jesus teach. This made the Pharisees and teachers of religious law complain that He was associating with such sinful people—even eating with them! (Luke 15:1-2). People loved being around Jesus. Jesus was attractional.

Jesus exemplified both-and missional-attractional. I think He was able to perfectly balance this because of the work of the Holy Spirit. I can aim for the both-and of missional-attractional in my life … I can give it my best shot. But the only way I can truly achieve anything is by allowing the Holy Spirit to shape and direct my life, just as He did for Jesus. Henry & Melvin Blackaby, in their book Experiencing The Holy Spirit, wrote:

“The world doesn’t need to see good people giving their best to God; they need to encounter God doing in and through us what only He can do! …Our best isn’t good enough when it comes to kingdom work; we need the Holy Spirit in our lives if we’re going to be of use to God.”

I need the Holy Spirit in my life if I’m going to be of use to God, and be of any benefit to people.

I need the Holy Spirit in my life if I’m going to balance both-and missional-attractional like Jesus.

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: attractional, Both-And, Either-Or, Gospel, Gospel of John, Gospel of Luke, Henry Blackaby, Jesus Christ, Melvin Blackaby, missional, quote. 1 Comment »

Failure To Recognize

April 1, 2011 — Craig T. Owens

The Apostle John opens his gospel account with these sobering words:

[Jesus] was in the world, and though the world was made through Him, the world did not recognize Him. (John 1:10)

Commenting on this verse, A.W. Tozer wrote:

My fellow man, do you not know that your great sin is this: the all-pervading and eternal Presence is here, and you cannot feel Him? Are you not aware that there is a great and true Light which brightly shines—and you cannot see it? Have you not heard within your being a tender Voice whispering of the eternal value of your soul—and yet you have said, “I have heard nothing”? This is, in essence, the charge that John levels at human kind: Jesus Christ, the Word of God, was in the world, and the world failed to recognize Him.

I never want to be guilty of failing to recognize Jesus! Sometimes in the busyness of life—even the busyness of the ministry of the church—I can become guilty of being focused on the activity, instead of focusing on Christ, Who is supposed to be the focus of my activity.

So we’re taking a “time out” today. As a church we are fasting and praying for 24-hours to cleanse our hearts to recognize Jesus, and to recognize what He wants to accomplish as we commemorate Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday later this month.

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: A.W. Tozer, apostle John, busyness, fasting, Gospel of John, Jesus Christ, prayer, quote. Leave a Comment »

Thursdays With Oswald—Spiritual Overloading

March 17, 2011 — Craig T. Owens

Spiritual Overloading

One continually finds an encroachment of beliefs and of attachment to things which is so much spiritual overloading. Every now and again the Spirit of God calls us to take a spiritual stock-taking in order to see what beliefs we can do without. The things our Lord asks us to believe are remarkably few, and John 14:1 seems to sum them up—“Ye believe in God, believe also in Me.” We have to keep ourselves alertly detached from everything that would encroach on that belief; we all have intellectual and affectionate affinities that keep us detached from Jesus Christ instead of attached to Him. We have to maintain an alert spiritual fighting trim.

From Facing Reality

Probably because I’m still studying and preparing for our Overloaded series, but I’ve been especially tuned into to the idea of all sorts of overload… even (especially) spiritual overloading. I never want to fall victim to the same trap the Pharisees were in:

Then Jesus said to the crowds and to His disciples, “The teachers of religious law and the Pharisees are the official interpreters of the law of Moses. So practice and obey whatever they tell you, but don’t follow their example. For they don’t practice what they teach. They crush people with unbearable religious demands and never lift a finger to ease the burden.” (Matthew 23:1-4)

I don’t want to overload myself; nor do I want to overload those I teach. So I’m taking a hard look in the mirror—and listening closely to the Holy Spirit—about those spiritual overloading things that may be crushing me.

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: Gospel of John, Gospel of Matthew, Holy Spirit, introspection, Jesus Christ, Oswald Chambers, Pharisees, religion. Leave a Comment »

Happy To See You

March 13, 2011 — Craig T. Owens

Do you like being around people? Or maybe a better question is: Do people like being around you?

In the case of Jesus, the answers are “yes” and “yes.” Check this out:

When Jesus returned to Capernaum several days later, the news spread quickly that He was back home. Soon the house where He was staying was so packed with visitors that there was no more room, even outside the door. (Mark 2:1-2)

People like being with Jesus.

They invited Him to their weddings…

They invited Him to their parties…

They invited Him to their dinners…

And when Jesus showed up somewhere, people flocked to that house.

If you and I are Christians—followers of Jesus Christ—the same thing should be said of us: People should like having us around, and they should like being around us.