John 12 is probably one of the most magnificent chapters in the entire Gospel account of the Apostle John! Not only does it record the events immediately following the raising of Lazarus and the Jews' plotting to kill him because they were unable to acquiesce to the point of belief in Jesus and obedience to Him (which teaches us a tremendous amount about our own attitudes sometimes when the words of Christ contradict our previously composed beliefs or opinions) but it goes into discussing the triumphant entry of the Christ into Jerusalem and the conversation which ensued and resulted in Jesus' saying that He would be crucified not many days after. 

     But, there is one passage in John 12 that I believe may be overlooked with a cursory reading of this wonderful chapter. That passage is John 12:2-3 wherein the three friends of Jesus are all spoken of doing something. 

     Martha often gets a "bad rap" because she was up working instead of spending time with Jesus, Lazarus might be discussed as someone who is in shock given his recent reentry into the physical world after some four days of eternal bliss and Mary is often the one who receives the praise because, after all, she was the one that spent an extraordinary amount of money in order to praise her Savior and Lord. 

     Just for a moment, let's look deeper into those three characters that we have often read about but probably have not discussed in depth in light of their actions within John 12. 

     Lazarus may seem to be basking in the glory of Paradise which he had just left, but I believe there is more to the story than that. No, Lazarus was dining with the Lord! He was spending time with His Master. 

     Although we wish we could, we do not have the ability to sit down to a meal with Jesus and discuss the funny or discouraging things that happened throughout our day. While we dine with Him in the Lord's Supper, remembering His death, we don't have the blessing of being with Him personally. 

     But, we do have the ability to sit with Him through diligent study of the Scriptures (2 Timothy 2:15)! When we sit down to the table with an open Bible and an open mind and search the Scriptures (Acts 17:11) we are doing what Lazarus was doing. The question is, have you taken some time away from service to others to commune with the Lord in this way lately?

     Mary, the woman who often receives the high fives of Christians when studying this passage, was yet another great example of being a friend of Jesus. Instead of spending time serving others or sitting and being served by the Savior through His teachings, Mary actively served the Lord! 

     She took a costly oil, one that she had undoubtedly saved for or sacrificed to buy, and used it to show her devotion to Jesus. She could have easily been doing something else or spent that money on something which to the carnally minded would seem more beneficial but she didn't. She understood that praise and servitude toward Christ means sacrifice! 

     Have you sacrificed anything lately to praise and serve the Master? If not, why not? What in your life is holding you back from denying self and serving the Savior?

     Regardless of which friend of Jesus you look to in this passage you will find an example of someone who was living out the faith in a great way. By serving others, serving Christ and being served by Him we show ourselves like their example and are, in fact, friends of Jesus. 

     With just a cursory Google search you can find hundreds of images that read, "There are two types of people in this world..." with some funny, catchy or even degrading thing to follow. And while some of those are true, like "There are two types of people in this world: those who have a plan for the zombie apocalypse and dinner" those memes are nothing more than things meant to make people laugh and fill the Facebook feeds of the world. However, Psalm 1 actually defines the two types of people that are in this world; the godly and the godless. As we start our weekly study of the book of Psalms I thought it appropriate to start with the first chapter and understand the two categories into which every person fits. First, read Psalm 1!

   The Godly - Psalm 1:1-3
     If you were to take a study of the entire population of the world and ask them the definition of the word "blessed" chances are you would get an overwhelming majority answer "happy." While it's true that to be blessed is to be content with your place in life and joyful of your surroundings, that isn't the best definition of the word. There are two verses that give us a better insight into the true meaning of this word Psalm 2:12 and Psalm 32:1-2. In Psalm 2:12 the psalmist is attempting to encourage the leaders of government to take heed to the instructions from God (Psalm 2:10-12) and that they must "trust" Him for guidance. Doesn't that show a tremendous relationship between the person and the Creator? So "blessed" has with it the idea of a relationship that results from obedience! But, Psalm 31:1-2 is speaking of salvation, "Blessed is he whose transgression [sin, LMS] is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute [count, LMS] iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit." Taking both verses into consideration, along with the definition of the original word (happiness, Strong's) one can easily see that to be blessed is to be joyful based upon obedience to God's commands and salvation from one's sins. That is going to come into play when we study the rest of this section!

     Let's think of verse 1 as a conditional statement, because it is. If a person considers his counsel (friendships, relationships, those in whom credence is placed) and does not follow that which would lead him away from godliness he will be blessed. But, as many people have realized, notice the progression! The psalmist speaks about the person that walks, stands and then sits in order to hear unrighteous advice. Isn't that the case in our lives sometimes? We begin a friendship with someone who is not a child of God and therefore not "godly," thereby "walking" with them, and we start to consider their statements, and even teachings, and before we know it we have begun to "sit" and stagnate in their falsehoods! The words of Paul could never be clearer, "Evil company corrupts good habits (1 Corinthians 15:33)"! 

     If one can read verse two of Psalm 1 and get from it that a person is godly who does not hold the Word of God in high esteem and importance to life, there is something lacking in his reading comprehension skills. How does one combat the false advice of the world? How am I supposed to make sure that my friends who are not members of God's body (cf. Ephesians 1:22-23) do not cause me to lose my way? By the Word of God! There is a big push today for God to speak to mankind and guide them through what could be called nothing other than individual inspiration and revelation and I am convinced it is because we don't realize how important, helpful and divine the Bible and God's commands are! The person wishing to be "blessed" is going to spend time in the word of God (meditate) and be happy (delightful) knowing that God has given him everything that he will ever need, in written form, in order to please the one who created him (2 Timothy 3:16-17, 2 Peter 1:3)! And when a person does that he will be able to stand firm even though the world tells him to do ungodly things, because he will have God's law in his heart and will be profitable to Him (Psalm 1:3). 

   The Godless - Psalm 1:4-6
     When you study what it is to be "godly" (Psalm 1:1-3) and that it is a conditional statement it is almost common sense to understand what it means to be "godless". It is whatever is in exact contradiction to faithfulness, righteousness, godliness and blessedness. It is frailty of being thrown about like dead hulls in the wind (Psalm 1:4) by different doctrines and examples because of the obvious lack of knowledge when it comes to God's word (cf. Ephesians 4:11-16). It's the weakness of a person not prepared to meet their God (Psalm 1:5a, Psalm 1:6, 2 Corinthians 5:9-11). It is the visible contrast seen in a person that is characterized by this compared to a person that is "blessed" (Psalm 1:5b, 1 Peter 2:9).
     
     Godlessness is the plague of the world and yet it can be stopped by simply doing one thing. - Going to God for guidance through His divine words of instruction and dismissing the guidance given by those that have no more religious authority than a bag of grapes. Why would anyone want to go to their neighbor for advice in religious matters when the one that created religion, action based upon one's beliefs (cf. James 1:27), is standing right there just waiting to give it (1 Timothy 2:4)?