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To the Interests of Others

The man in the WWII hat shuffled towards the door of the bank I was exiting, and even though I was in a hurry, I waited and held the heavy door open for him.  Surely my general courtesy could extend so far.  Then, he stopped in the doorway, thanked me, and asked if I knew of a Volkswagon dealership in the area.  I didn’t and it would have been so easy to politely tell him that so I could get to my errands, but instead I took out my smartphone and googled the information for him right there.

I. Philippians 2:1-8.  So often we tell ourselves that we love others and, of course, love God when we really are just looking out for our own interests.  God says that if we love others, we first love Him by making His joy complete by being like-minded and one, focused as one on the goal of heaven.

II. 1 John 3:16-18.  We need to love others like Jesus did us: dying for our sins and rising for our redemption.  This means action and sacrifice!  We understand this as parents, but we must extend this to others, some who have done nothing for us or may even be enemies (Romans 5:6-8).

III. 1 John 2:3-6.  When Jesus took on flesh, He did not take a vacation among His creation.  He emptied Himself of His Godness and became like us in every way, so that He could suffer, die, and rise from the dead–for us!  We are to have that same attitude; we must obey to walk as Jesus did.

This time the sacrifice of my time took about half a minute, and I was able to tell this elderly veteran what he needed to know.  Referring to my phone, he said he might have to get himself one of those “frizzly-frazzly” things.  Though it may cost, how do you look out for the interests of others?

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O Jerusalem, Jerusalem

O how it hits a parent’s heart to hear his child cry out, “I hate you!” yet that is exactly how it hits God when we turn away from Him by sinning.  How do we know?  A passage in Luke tells us so ….

I. Luke 13:22-35.  The question that is asked strikes right to the core of God in the flesh, “Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?”  God, who doesn’t want anyone to perish but come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9), knows the reality that few will find the narrow path that leads to eternal life.  And, as Jesus pauses on His way to Jerusalem, we hear the Creator lament that He has often longed to gather those made in His image, who are far from Him because of sin, together.  Here, we glimpse the heart of God.

II. 1 John 4:10-12.  Next, we glimpse the hand of God.  Because He loves us, He will not take away our choice to love Him back.  We must be like Jesus at Gethsemane, who willingly submits to His Father’s will (Luke 22:41-43).  Speaking as God, Jesus admits that He has often longed to gather those He created together, but they “were not willing.”  A good and loving God, He longs to give us many blessings–even eternal life–but we keep ourselves from receiving them because we are not willing to love Him back by our obedience.

III. 1 Peter 4:1-6.  We must return to the arms of God.  If we suffer in our bodies, we are done with sin and live now for the will of God.  We certainly have “spent enough time” in all sorts of sin and selfishness.  How much more do we need?  Aren’t we sick of our sin and the separation from God that it brings?  God calls us to repent–to turn our lives, our attitudes, our ways back to Him.  Once we become willing, He will gather us like a hen does her chicks and bless us in every way (Joel 2:12-14).

God’s love for us is unconditional and deep.  He’s already demonstrated that by His Son on the cross.  And, though He loves you, unless you turn to Him by repenting, He cannot remain just and claim you.  Won’t you return to Him?

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Bible.05: That is Written About Me

The starting bid on ebay for a “signed” copy of the Bible was $1,000,000.69.  That’s ridiculous for anyone who knows anything about the Bible–even if Jesus purportedly used a blue Expo marker and dotted the ‘i’ in ‘Christ’ with a heart!

Yet, God in the flesh did appear to two disciples on the way from Jerusalem to Emmaus and “beginning with Moses and all the Prophets” reportedly “explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.”  Besides being an incredible Old Testament study that most of us would have loved to be a part of, Jesus here confirms the inspiration and authorship of 39 books and reveals their purpose: Him.

I. Acts 2:16-36.  The Old Testament was the only Bible that 1st Century Christians had, outside of up-to-the-minute revelations through the Holy Spirit, to proclaim and confirm the gospel.  A look at the gospel sermons used in the New Testament shows how deeply they mined this resource.  God inspired and preserved the Old Testament through the centuries.  On stone, clay, leather, and eventually papyrus scrolls and codexes, the recording of God’s Word was commanded and maintained by God’s servants until the time of Ezra who, returning from the Babylonian captivity, organized these writings.  Just before Jesus was born, the Greek translation of the Old Testament (that He most often quoted from), the Septuagint, was written and the Qumran community stored away every book but Esther in clay jars near the Dead Sea.  When these were discovered in 1947, the careful copying of the Masoretes through the centuries would be proved true.

II. Romans 15:4.  So, what’s a New Testament Christian’s relationship with the Old Testament?  Why do we still have Genesis through Malachi attached to our Bibles?  The Old Testament deepens our understanding of the gospel (Hebrews 9:1-15).  Without it, we would not truly know God holiness, man’s sin and separation from God, God’s grace in taking a people and giving them priests, a temple, sacrifices, and laws.  We would not understand God’s plan to redeem sinful man from Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses & Aaron, David, Ezra, and Jesus.  We would not learn from the past (1 Corinthians 10:1-13) and so know better how to live our lives in Christ.

III. Matthew 5:17-18.  The New Testament is a fulfillment of the Old Testament.  An illustration I use is that it was my law when our kids were young that they couldn’t go near the road.  Now that they are grown, they go there all the time but do not break my law.  How?  Safety has always been at the heart of it.  When they were little, they did not know how to be safe near the road, but now they do.  The book of Hebrews compares the covenants and explains how the new is, in every way, better than the old.  Jesus, God in the flesh, fulfills all (Hebrews 8:5-13).

And so, the expression, “the Old Testament is the New Testament concealed, and the New Testament is the Old Testament revealed,” is true … and it’s all about Jesus (Luke 24:44-49).

 

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Not Even Solomon

The song, “He’s got the whole world in His hands …,” really puts God’s sovereignty and love for His creation into perspective.  It’s when we believe ourselves abandoned or rejected by God (because of our sins or insignificance) that we turn to our own resources to handle the struggles of life.  Worry is a reliance on self while concern is a reliance on God.  Worry, then, is really a submission problem.

I. Luke 12:4-34.  We worry because we fear the devil or what others think more than we fear God.  We think too much of ourselves and too little of God’s love or our worth to Him.  Possessions and things that are temporary are too important to us.  But, God tells us that … worry is a selfish focus, He will provide for us more than ravens, worry causes us great harm, and He will take care of those things we are powerless to control.  The world that doesn’t know God worries, but we must trust Him!

II. 2 Chronicles 9:5-28.  Everyone can see the simple yet intricate beauty of a lily, yet Jesus tells us that Solomon during the golden age of Israel, with all of his wealth, position, and power, had nothing compared to God’s attention to this temporary flower.  Since nothing is impossible with God or beyond His notice or concern, we can take heart that He finds such great worth in us and takes better care of us than lilies!  Made in His image, we are more precious to Him than anything in creation.

III. James 4:7-10.  Since this is so, we must submit ourselves fully to Him.  If we seek His Kingdom first rather than our own interests, we will have an upward rather than a downward focus … and He promises that He knows our needs and will take care of them.  He tells us that to do that, we must have our treasure stored in heaven rather than here, so that our hearts will be focused on eternal things rather than temporary.  To submit we must trust God fully and let Him handle all of life’s struggles.

There’s an expression that has been around awhile: let go and let God.  To truly let Him take control of our lives, we have to truly let go of any facade of control that we think we might have.

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Lord, Teach Us to Pray

As a teacher, I am amazed at how Jesus was a master teacher.  Without any training or degree from a university to know how to do so, He employed so many techniques to bring about the greatest retention of essential Kingdom concepts, such as prayer:

Luke 11:1-13 (NIV)
1 One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.”
2 He said to them, “When you pray, say: “‘Father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come.
3 Give us each day our daily bread.
4 Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us. And lead us not into temptation.'”
5 Then he said to them, “Suppose one of you has a friend, and he goes to him at midnight and says, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread,
6 because a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have nothing to set before him.’
7 “Then the one inside answers, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is already locked, and my children are with me in bed. I can’t get up and give you anything.’
8 I tell you, though he will not get up and give him the bread because he is his friend, yet because of the man’s boldness he will get up and give him as much as he needs.
9 “So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.
10 For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.
11 “Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead?
12 Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion?
13 If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

I. Prayer, Jesus had previously taught, was a private thing between the person praying and God.  It was not to be done as a show, but this is not what Jesus was doing.  A master teacher will model his teaching through his life.  His disciples either saw Him praying or just knew that He had been, but Jesus, though without sin and despite being God in the flesh, allowed them to see His example of constant interaction with our Father.  If He needed to pray in this way, how much more do we?

II. Knowing that Jesus prayed prompted the request from a disciple that Jesus teach them to pray.  Next, Jesus laid down the principles of good prayer, a mixture of ACTS: Adoration, Contrition, Thanksgiving, and Supplication.  Notice that Luke’s version is different than Matthew’s as it is not a rote recitation of specific words that tend to become meaningless babble after a while.  But, we and the disciples need to understand the types of concepts that should be included in prayer.

III. Finally, Jesus as the master teacher illustrates the concepts of prayer and the relationship between us and our Father.  There is no need to be timid when approaching God’s throne in prayer.  Because God is a good Father, we can be bold in our asking, seeking and knocking.  So pray!

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Who Do You Say I Am?

In our Western culture, we’re used to checklists to remember what items we have to buy at the grocery store or to separate out the tasks we must accomplish at work from who we really are on the weekends!  We have even made our Christian walk a checklist of things to do to be right with God and in doing so have connect our heads without our hearts.  Christianity is a relationship with the Almighty God, and He wants all of us: heart, soul, mind, and strength.

I. Luke 9:18-22.  Peter answered the most essential question.  In Matthew 16:16-18, Jesus adds that upon Peter’s confession of Him as Lord and Christ that He would build His church.  Peter’s confession became a declaration in Acts 2:36-41 and 3000 obeyed and were added to Jesus’ church that day.

II. Philippians 2:9-11.  We all must answer the most essential question.  Atheism is temporary as every knee will bow to Jesus as Lord.  Even those who ignore or avoid the question are answering it in this life.  It is better to confess Him as Lord now while still alive than wait until after death to know the truth.

III. Colossians 2:6-12.  As we have received Christ Jesus as Lord, so we are to continue to live in Him.  This means that confessing Jesus as Lord is not just words we utter.  It goes beyond loving Him from the head; we must love Him from the heart as well: heart, soul, mind, and strength in a close relationship of obedience to Him.

Christianity is what we are, not what we do.  We ‘do’ from the belief we hold.  We must be ‘all in’ for God, so that our every word and deed shows our answer to the most essential question that Jesus asks each and every one of us: Who do you say I am?

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Sticks & Stones

Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me.  Anyone who was ever told this old adage by a well-intentioned person after hearing some really hurtful words knows that they are just a tiny bandage on a gushing wound.  Words do indeed hurt, hurt right to our heart most times, and God has a lot to say about them and how we should use them.

I. Proverbs 15:1 says this about the nature of words, “A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.”  After David and his men had helped to look after Nabal’s sheep while in the wilderness, Nabal’s insulting refusal to allow them to attend the festivities at shearing time caused David to order his men to strap on weapons to seek this fool’s life (1 Samuel 25:10-13).  Abigail, Nabal’s wife, however, prepared food and quieted David’s anger with her words (23-31).

II. Ephesians 4:29 reminds us, “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.”  This same passage gives us great examples of what God means by “unwholesome talk,” and we all struggle to control our tongues (James 3:3-9).  But, this verse is a great guide for the Christian: say it if and only if it will build the person up according to his needs, benefitting him in some way.

III. In Matthew 12:36, Jesus gives us this harsh reality, “But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken.”  Like most sins, speaking careless words that cut people down, gossip about them, are shouted at them, or are coarse or foolish, make us temporarily feel better but have a devastating eternal consequence.  If we choose to live by faith like so many recorded in the Bible, we too will receive what is promised (Hebrews 11:39-40).

Aside from praying for others who may hurt us with their words and seeking opportunities to teach them God’s way from His Word so that their hearts might change, there’s not much we can do to stop them.  We can, however, control ourselves and our responses to such people.  And if we do, we not only show that Christians live differently than the world does, but we have the promise of eternal life.

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Put It into Practice

Many try to go through life with no instructions or bad instructions!  But, what about those who have God’s instructions but don’t read and apply them?  B.I.B.L.E. can stand for Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth.  Jesus says that those who hear God’s Word and put it into practice are His family.

I. Hebrews 8:3-6.  The Bible itself tells us there is a pattern of sound teaching (2 Timothy 1:13-14).  Aaron’s sons tried to follow their own pattern, and it didn’t go well (Leviticus 10:1-2). Because what Moses would build in the desert was a shadow of the reality in heaven, he was told to build the tabernacle according to the pattern shown to him on the mountain.  God’s Word is a pattern for us to build our lives.

II. Luke 8:19-21.  The theme of Luke 8 is putting God’s Word into practice.  In the parable of the sower (Luke 8:4-15), it is the one who hears the Word, retains it, and perseveres in it who produces a crop.  Like a light, we are to put God’s Word on a stand by living it out for others to see (Luke 8:16-18).  So, it is no wonder that Jesus considers family those who hear God’s Word and put it into practice.

III. 1 John 2:3-6.  Though it is popular to call everyone a child of God, it is those who obey God that He considers His children (1 John 3:10).  Since Jesus is the ‘Word made flesh,’ it is no wonder that He is the perfect and sinless example of how we are to live our lives.  When we walk as Jesus did, we hear God’s Word and put it into practice.  We must read and apply God’s instructions to do this.

Many say that ‘blood is thicker than water’ to justify that family is more important than friends or strangers.  But, with Jesus, ‘His blood is thicker than our genetics,’ meaning that those who are walking as He did while on earth, as recorded in His Word, are closer to Him than physical family.

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Do This and You Will Live

A man studies hard for an interview, gets the job, but continually hits the snooze alarm instead of going to work.  How long would he be employed?  Yet, how often Christians have such joy in obeying the gospel but hit the spiritual snooze alarm in the months and years that follow!  Even Jesus told us that we must maintain our relationship with Him by DO-ing something to live eternally.

I. Luke 10:25-28.  In the lead-in to “The Good Samaritan” story, the expert in the Law asked Jesus what he must DO to inherit eternal life.  Rather than tell him that he couldn’t work his way to heaven or that nothing else was required, Jesus confirmed that loving God with all his heart, soul, strength, and mind and loving his neighbor as himself were all that the man had to DO.

II. John 15:9-14.  Jesus’ definition of DO-ing is action that proceeds from obedience.  That’s why faith is not just a mental affirmation that God exists and Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross forgives our sins.  Rather, faith is the actions that come from obedience, the maintaining of our relationship in Christ.  Love for God and our neighbor is the perfect “DO” we must do and reconciles Romans 4 and James 2.

III. Philippians 2:12-16.  We are told to work our our salvation with fear and trembling.  Our salvation, then, is not something we can put on a shelf to collect dust after we’ve obeyed the gospel.  It is something we must constantly (do I dare use the word?) “work” on, but it is not a “works salvation” but actions that come from obedience that maintains it.  Love is the fufillment of what Jesus says we must DO to live eternally.

So, examine your daily walk with Christ.  Are you at your job you interviewed so hard to get … or are you hitting the snooze alarm over and over?

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What You Have Seen & Heard

Pastafarians, worshipers of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, created their religion to mock Christians, declaring that there’s as much evidence for faith in the FLM as there is for our faith in God.  But that simply is not true.  There’s much evidence just in creation to prove our faith (Romans 1:18-20).

I. Luke 7:20-23.  John, who was so sure of who Jesus was (Matthew 3:13-14, John 1:29-34), must have begun to have doubts while he languished in Herod’s prison.  When his followers came and told him all that they had seen and heard Jesus doing, he sent them to ask Jesus if indeed He was the expected Messiah.  Jesus pointed to the evidence of what John had seen and heard to not lose faith.

II. Philippians 3:7-16.  We’ve not had John’s calling as a prophet or seen the Holy Spirit come upon Jesus, so how much more do we struggle to overcome doubts in the midst of trials?  God gives us strategies to do so:

a. Realize that with so much evidence, it is not a blind faith that we have.

b. Value struggles as a way that God is disciplining and growing us (Hebrews 12:4-13).

c. Rest in the faith of the great cloud of witnesses of the past and present (Hebrews 11:1–12:3).

d. Remind yourself of what you have seen and heard.  Keep an answered-prayer journal or, as the songs tells us, “Count your many blessings, See what God has done.”

III.  Matthew 28:18-20.  It’s not enough to just encourage ourselves by what we have seen and heard.  Jesus wants us to “go and make disciples” with it, becoming part of the great cloud of witnesses for others to see and hear!