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Unable to Trap Him

Satan lays all kinds of traps for us, preying on our weaknesses and sinful natures.  Sometimes, he comes to us in what seems an impossible situation–like David found himself in facing Goliath!  But, the secret is to know who is the real giant!

I. Luke 20:1-19.  Satan talks big (Luke 4:5-7), but because of Jesus’ work on the cross, He’s the true one in authority (Matthew 28:18).  The Goliaths of Jesus’ day roared their challenges to Him, but His stones easily knocked them down.  Jesus knew that those who believed themselves in power were afraid of the people.

II. Luke 20:20-40.  Like a cat pouncing on a red laser dot, those who believed themselves in power tried futilely to trap Jesus.  They did not realize that He was the Word made flesh (John 1:1-14) or that the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom or weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength (1 Corinthians 1:25).  The result of this mismatched battle was that all fell silent and did not dare to challenge Him further.

III.  1 John 5:3-5.  Those who believed they were in power in Jesus’ day were like Goliath in David’s.  So today, the world, for all of its bluster and threats, is not really the true giant when it comes up against those who are in Christ Jesus and have overcome the world through our faith.  In Jesus, we stand before the intimidating champion of the Philistines armed with God’s wisdom and strength.

… if we could only realize it!

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More Will Be Given

Most only know that Zacchaeus was a “wee little man” who climbed a tree to see Jesus as He passed by, but this account is about great grace given because of this chief tax collector’s realization of his great wickedness and his reaction of great repentance.

I. Luke 19:1-10.  Though short in height, Zacchaeus had risen in earthly stature through ill-gotten gain.  So, he naturally believed the way to see this great teacher that some perhaps were secretly murmuring was the Messiah was to climb a tree.  When he saw the true riches that Jesus offered, he realized that the way up with God was to fall to His knees and he repented (Ezekiel 18:21-24).

II. Luke 19:11-26.  The parable that Jesus tells next challenges us to examine our relationship with Him.  How we act with God’s blessings and gifts He’s entrusted to us reveals our true motivation.  We don’t want to be found as the wicked servant who hid what he was given lest it be taken away and given to those who are using their talents for God and His Kingdom.

III.  Matthew 6:19-21.  Where we store our treasure reveals where our heart truly is–whether in heaven or on earth.  Storing treasure in heaven is hard work and requires spiritual training (Hebrews 12:7-11).  It means giving to others how we want to receive from God (Luke 6:37-38) and a conscious understanding of what we are sowing to know what we will reap (Galatians 6:7-10).

Squirrels are often busy, well … squirreling away their treasure of acorns for the winter, but this is a selfish model of what we shouldn’t do.  They won’t share what they’ve been given with other squirrels in other trees.  This is how Zacchaeus was before he climbed down from the tree and hosted Jesus in his home.  What great grace could be yours with your great repentance?

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Bible.09: Carefully Investigated Everything

When I had to do research as a kid, I just hoped that the school library had something on my topic or could get it for me on loan in several weeks.  Today with the internet, the problem is access to too much information … yet we tend to be lazy and take the top three searches on Google!  A person may be confused today by all the Bible translations out there, but we have greater access to better research than ever before in history!

I.  Luke 1:1-4.  Starting with Luke, we can see that careful investigation has always been a part of good Bible study.  Before the printing press in 1455 a.d., the problem was not enough access to God’s Word.  But, once Erasmus translated the Latin Vulgate that had reigned supreme for over ten centuries into Greek in 1516 that was mass produced and read by the common man, the Reformation was sparked, and a host of early English translations came about leading to the King James Version (KJV).

II.  1 John 5:6-8 and notes.  Contrary to popular belief, the KJV did not “fall from heaven in 1611.”  It’s called the Authorized Version because King James, not God, commissioned its translation.  Borrowing its phrases and words heavily from Tyndale’s earlier work, the language of the KJV was updated in 1769 to how we know it today.  The KJV does have the distinction of reigning supreme for over 300 years and settled the New World and fueled the Restoration, but there are struggles with it as with any translation (see “Easter” for pascha in Acts 12:4).  With access to thousands of ancient manuscripts, the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, and the rise of research in the 1900s and now the advent of the internet, many translations and study tools are available that are often based on better study.

III.  Acts 17:11.  So, are you noble-minded like the Bereans who examined the Scriptures daily to see if what Paul was preaching was true?  Do you, like Luke, carefully investigate everything to have an accurate account of what is truth for eternity?

Or, is your salvation based on your top three Google searches?

 

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Train Yourself to be Godly

As Christians in the 21st Century, we have more leisure time than any other people living in any other time period in history.  Technology and inventions have drastically cut down what we need to do just to survive.  But, greater time doesn’t equal better choices.  If we’re honest, we’ve become spiritual couch potatoes–especially if we compare ourselves to the pioneers who worked fifteen hours a day cutting trees and pulling stumps just to plow the ground to grow food to eat.  It was only then by oil lamp that they would study God’s Word to know His will.

I. 1 Timothy 4:6-8.  The process to get into spiritual shape is much like getting into physical shape.  Just as we must choose to deny ourselves unhealthy foods and exercise regularly, so we must deny ourselves, take up our crosses, and follow Jesus (Mark 8:31-35).  Neither happens from the couch!

II.  1 Peter 1:13-16.  To get spiritually in shape we must be holy as God is holy–and this too is part of God’s spiritual training program.  Even though it’s hard, we must choose to be trained by it (Hebrews 12:7-13).  Sexual holiness is a big struggle for us today in this sin-soaked culture (1 Corinthians 6:12-20).

III.  Romans 12:9-13.  Someone who only works out at the gym serves only himself if he doesn’t use those muscles to help a friend move or carry in the groceries … so do those who only have a vertical relationship with God through prayer and study of His Word.  God wants us to serve others (Galatians 5:13).  What personal ministry does your spiritual training propel you to do?

We can either watch the spiritual Olympics from our spiritual couches with the spiritual remotes in our hands or we could participate in them.  Are you in training?

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Will He Find Faith on the Earth?

Perhaps you’ve scratched your head when your friend sees a monster truck and has said, “Wow!  That’s just like my VW Beetle.”  We’re conditioned to see similarities rather than differences, used to comparing rather than contrasting.  That’s why we have trouble with some of Jesus’ parables.  No, Jesus is not encouraging us to be dishonest like the manager who cut his boss’ client’s bills just before he was fired.  And in the parable that begins Luke 18, Jesus is not telling us that God is an unjust judge or that we are to be a pesky mosquito that buzzes continually in God’s ear for Him to even consider listening to our prayers.

I. Luke 18:1-8.  If we start by seeking for the differences between the judge and God in this parable, then it makes more sense.  Both are positions of authority, but the judge is clearly seeking his own interests while God loves us unconditionally–even sending His Son to die on the cross for us.  The point of the parable is that even if this unjust judge will give in to a widow with such persistence, then how much more will a good and caring God give to His children whom He loves?

II. John 17:1-23.  While understanding God’s character so much better in this parable, don’t lose sight of the responsibility Jesus says we have to be persistent, purposeful, and precise in prayer.  So often our prayers are haphazard and vague.  Though names and situations are mentioned before our worship services begin, we pray in general often for the sick and struggling … and then they are forgotten until next Sunday.  Modeling how we in the flesh should pray, Jesus prayed in these ways.

III. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18.  Jesus contrasts the judge with God, but He also contrasts the widow with us.  The last line of the parable in Luke 18:8 asks if the Son of Man will find faith on the earth when He returns.  It took faith for the widow to be so persistent in her supplication.  So, a lack of persistence in prayer would indicate a lack of faith on our part.  We gain a better prayer life by having greater faith, and we gain greater faith by praying about it.

The more we trust the good and loving Judge, the more we will want to speak with Him.  Try it.  He already knows what you need before you ask Him, and He has invited you to His throne to ask Him.  Do you have enough faith to be persistent in prayer?

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Increase Our Faith!

When we’re facing a difficult task or situation, someone often compares it to eating an elephant–that it can be done one bite at a time!  Jesus uses the tiny mustard seed to describe the smallest amount of faith needed to face the challenges in your life (Luke 17:6) and then reassures us that that tiny seed can grow into an enormous tree (Luke 13:19).

I.  Luke 17:1-6.  We must have faith to walk in forgiveness.  Usually when speaking about temptation and sin, the Bible speaks about what we must do to avoid it or persevere against it, but Jesus speaks here about how we must tempt others and always forgive others who have sinned against us.

II.  Luke 17:7-19.  We must have faith to walk in obedience.  We picture ourselves as super-Christians, and beg for the participation trophy for whatever we do for God, but Jesus points out that we owe 100% of all we have and do to Him–without praise or accolades.  Our walk is about God, not us.

III.  Luke 17:20-37.  We must have faith to walk in sanctification.  Jesus tells us here that the Kingdom of God is within us, so that is what we must get cleaned up.  While the world around us engages in evil, we must walk blamelessly before God like Noah.  And, like Lot’s wife, we mustn’t turn back to what we may be missing.  We must lose our lives to preserve them.

Upon hearing the standard to which we are called to live our lives in Christ, our cry is the same as the apostles’, “Increase our faith!”  So, our reassurance is the same.  God demands perfection, but He also gives grace.  Plant your mustard seed faith and watch what grows!

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With Fear and Trembling

With the invention of the printing press in 1455 a.d. there must have been a bunch of unemployed monks who no longer needed to painstakingly copy every jot and tittle of Scripture by candlelight in a dark monastery.  Suddenly, the common man had access to God’s Word.  Okay, it took a while for copies to no longer be smuggled into England in barrels of flour, but there was no quenching the thirst to know God’s will for mankind after fifteen centuries of spiritual starvation.

I.  Once Erasmus translated the Latin Vulgate that had reigned supreme for 1100 years in 1516 back into Greek, Martin Luther the very next year read God’s Word and nailed his 95 challenges to the establishment to a church door in Germany.  The Reformation had begun, and Tyndale published his English translation eight years later in 1525.  This and Erasmus’ work became the backbone of the King James Version in 1611 that reigned supreme for 300 years.

II.  John 4:24.  With greater access to God’s Word came a way to satisfy the spiritual hunger to know and live by the truth.  Contrast that to today with so much availability of God’s Word in stores, our homes, even our phones, and our excused for spiritual laziness fall so short.  Instead of squandering the leisure time that western culture has given us, we must once again recapture a hunger and thirst for God’s Word.

III.  Philippians 2:12-16.  Before this time when only some of the clergy had access to God’s Word, the people had no choice but to accept fallible human mediators for their salvation.  Greater availability to God’s Word meant that people could work out their own eternity with Jesus alone as their go-between.  Spiritual laziness again makes people today desire a return to such a system as they think the preacher is in charge of their salvation.

What a gift to have access to the Creator’s Word to us that tells us what we must do to find salvation through the death and resurrection of Jesus!  How we squander that gift by not studying His Word to work out our salvation with fear and trembling.

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For Everything God Created is Good

“For everything God created is good,” 1 Timothy 4:4 begins.  Really?  What about mosquitoes?  Well, yes.  As much as many of us have wished that Noah had squashed those two on the ark, even mosquitoes have their place in God’s plan.  Even our smart phones can either be instruments of great good or great evil, depending on their use.  “… and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving,” the verse finishes.

At first glance, this sounds like even sin is acceptable, but backing up to get the context of verses 1-5 makes us realize that the hypocritical liars who have abandoned the faith and are following deceiving spirits are being contrasted to “those who believe and who know the truth.”  It is how we interact with and use what good things God has made that is the difference.

I.  Romans 12:9-21.  We must reject sin and wrong doctrine.  We must hate evil and cling to what is good.  This is difficult in a sin-soaked world, but those who believe and who know the truth must make this choice, despite what those closest to them choose or the circumstances they are in.

II.  Matthew 18:15-20.  We’ve all heard the adage that we are free to bind or loose on earth as we please and God is okay with it–as long as we can get two or three to agree with us.  This is how a lot of denominations have developed.  But, backing up to get the context shows us that we are speaking about the status of imperfect people in this imperfect world who are calling themselves ‘brothers’ but are living in conflict with the Word of God.

We might at this point hear someone quote Matthew 7:1, “Do not judge, or you too will be judged,” to further push the idea that we are not to be our brother’s keeper in any way.  But, backing up to get the context shows that Jesus indeed tells us that we are to judge sinful actions in our brother in order to help him, but we can’t be hypocrites when we do it.

III.  Galatians 5:13-26.  Rather, we need to use the freedom we have in Christ to not indulge the sinful nature but serve one another in love.  We see that those who do indulge will not inherit the kingdom of God, but those led by the Spirit, who “believe and who know the truth,” grow the fruits of the Spirit.

God has given us a lot of freedom to interact in this world that contains things to be shunned outright or things to be used for the glory of His Name instead of for our own selfish and sinful pleasures.  Those who believe and who know the truth need to be watchful and carefully examine everything.

… but I still wish that Noah had squashed those mosquitoes!

 

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Even if Someone Rises from the Dead

Nowhere in the text of Luke 16 is “The Rich and Lazarus” called a parable, but even if the characters are fictitious, Jesus doesn’t ever make fantasy out of doctrine.

I.  Luke 16:19-31.  We cannot change anything after death.  The beggar Lazarus, who had a terrible earthly life, received comfort after death while the rich man, who never thought about anyone but himself in life, was in torment.  And that was it.  There was no changing their situation, no prayers or purgatory-like system to move a loved one from one side of the chasm to the other.  Death is final.

II.  2 Corinthians 7:10-11.  The time to repent is now.  Allow godly sorrow to produce in you the fruit of true repentance while you still have breath.  One who procrastinates in obeying the gospel and living a life of repentance and obedience may find that time runs out on him suddenly.  We are not guaranteed even one more minute.  The rich man certainly would have liked a second chance.

III.  2 Timothy 3:16-17.  We have everything we need to repent.  The rich man’s brothers had Moses and the Prophets, God’s Word at that time, the same Bible that the resurrected Jesus preached the gospel from on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24:25-27).  We have the completed Word of God that thoroughly equips the man of God for every good work.

Like the rich man’s brothers, the world today isn’t convinced of the narrow path to eternal life even though Jesus has risen from the dead.  They continue searching for spiritual truth when all they need is widely available to them within the pages of Scripture.  What will convince you to live repentance now while you still have breath?

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Over One Sinner who Repents

We all know the frantic, panicked feeling we have when searching for something that’s lost, such as our keys, wallet, or phone.  Hopefully, we’ve never known the sheer terror of losing a kid in a store, or if so, hopefully we know the sheer joy when that object or person is finally found.  That’s God’s joy in finding us when we repent and turn back to Him.

Most of the time, however, we are like the German groom in a 2013 Daily News article who didn’t even realize that he’d lost his bride when she went to the restroom at a gas station until he had driven 125 miles.  Sadly, many of us are lost in sin, just driving through life, but don’t know it.

I. Luke 15:1-24.  We will never realize that we are lost in sin and want to repent until we realize our worth to God and His incredible love for us.  For Jesus not to eat with sinners, as the charge was made, He couldn’t eat with any of us (Romans 3:23), but the truth was that He was eating with repentant sinners.  In all three parables that follow, God’s love for us and, thus, the reaffirming of our value to Him are the focus–even in the indignity of the watching Father running to His returning son.

II. 2 Corinthians 7:8-11.  A parent will demand his kid say he’s sorry to someone, but this just reinforces worldly sorrow in that child.  Even if the kid means it but continues to do the wrong behavior, he may have reached godly sorrow but not repentance.  Repentance produces actions that are consistent with a change of heart, mind, and attitude toward sin and selfishness.  When the lost son’s money ran out, he tried to fix his own problem by hiring himself out but found his life empty, physically and spiritually, as the pigs were eating better than He was.  Godly sorrow led him to consider that his father’s hired hands did better than he was doing at that moment.  But, it wasn’t until he “got up” and “went” to his father that true repentance was produced.

III. Romans 2:4-7.  Just as Simon the Sorcerer believed and was baptized but was not living out repentance (Acts 8:13-24), it is quite possible that those who have obeyed the gospel warm our pews with only a godly sorrow or worse–a worldly sorrow.  We need to produce fruit in keeping with repentance daily.  Eternity is at stake!

So, what stage are you in: sinning because the money has not run out yet?  Hiring yourself out to futilely take care of the problem by your own resources?  Or, is your stomach growling while you watch the pigs eat better than you do?  If this brings godly sorrow to you, let it produce repentance.  Get up and go to your heavenly Father.  He’s watching and will run to you with open arms.