WHAT SORT OF SOIL IS IN YOUR SOUL?

On February 9, 2015February 7, 2015 By Pastor TomIn Bible, Bible Teaching, Jesus, Matthew, Podcast, Religion, Sermon1 Comment

In America at least, there are a growing number of churches and preachers who are saying that faith is a means to get the riches and pleasures of this world. But Jesus calls those things a threat to the fruitfulness of God’s word in your life.You cannot pursue wealth without great spiritual danger.

To listen to the sermon, click the play button:

To download, right click on the link (or do whatever you do on a Mac) and save it to your computer: Download Matthew Part 42

Matthew #42 . Matthew 13:18-23

This week, we will look at the parable of the sower, primarily using Jesus’ explanation of it. I want to begin, however, with a few more words about parables. A parable is a story told to illustrate one or more basic points. A parable says “the truth I am telling you is like this…” The point is not usually the face-value of the story, but in explaining a different truth. For instance, in the parable of the sower, Jesus is not saying that the word of God is literally seeds, and people are actually soil. He is saying, “the concept is similar, in these particular ways, to what happens when a farmer plants seeds.”

In addition, it is important not to over-analyze parables. Not every little thing in a parable means something important. For instance, in the parable of the sowers, the birds come down and eat the seeds off the path. Jesus says this is an illustration of how the evil one snatches the word of God away from some people. But it would be wrong to say, “this means that birds are evil. They are agents of the devil.” That is putting too much on the parable. With this in mind, let’s look at how Jesus explains the parable of the sower:

“You, then, listen to the parable of the sower: When anyone hears the word about the kingdom and doesn’t understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is the one sown along the path. And the one sown on rocky ground — this is one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy. Yet he has no root in himself, but is short-lived. When pressure or persecution comes because of the word, immediately he stumbles. Now the one sown among the thorns — this is one who hears the word, but the worries of this age and the seduction of wealth choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. But the one sown on the good ground — this is one who hears and understands the word, who does bear fruit and yields: some 100, some 60, some 30 times what was sown.” (Matt 13:18-23, HCSB)

Remember, the ongoing theme of this section of Matthew is spiritual receptivity. That is what this parable is all about. Jesus describes four kinds of people, four different responses when people hear the word of God. I have struggled a little bit with this parable, because I’m not sure if this is just the way it is, or if Jesus tells it because we may be able to change our level of spiritual receptivity. Jesus doesn’t really make that clear in this text. However, I think as we look at the entire Bible, it does become clear that when we encounter the word of God, the Holy Spirit enables us to say yes, and to receive it, and we have within us also the choice to reject it. In other words, I think our own choices do have a say in how spiritually receptive we are. I think the Holy Spirit gives us an opportunity to become “good soil.” The Lord also allows us freely to choose to reject him, because without that choice our love for him could never be real.

So first, it appears that the word “bounces off” some people. They don’t even really get it in the first place, and the devil snatches it away. You might say that their choice in this situation is to be basically uninterested. This allows the devil an opportunity to simply snatch it away.

Another group of people receives the word with joy, but develops no “roots.” As Bible commentator Matthew Henry writes:

They receive it with joy. Note, There are many that are very glad to hear a good sermon, that yet do not profit by it; they may be pleased with the word, and yet not changed and ruled by it; the heart may melt under the word, and yet not be melted down by the word, much less into it, as into a mould

We may find many people like this in various churches. They are happy enough to go along with Christianity as long as they are not challenged in their lifestyle or priorities, or as long as no sacrifice is required on their part. But when it gets hard to follow Jesus, when difficult choices have to be made, there is no real spiritual substance in them to stick to the word of God. These are the Christians who change their beliefs in order to fit in with the culture, even abandoning Christianity altogether if necessary. It may be helpful to remember that for a time at least, these people are actually calling themselves Christians. Many of them presumably go to church. Perhaps this is one reason the world gets so disillusioned with the church.

Next, Jesus describes a third group. These are people who also appeared to receive the word with joy. They may not bow to cultural pressures like the group that came before them, but other types of strains get in the way of truly receiving the word of God and letting it rule their lives. They find they’re too busy dealing with the stresses and cares of life. They don’t have time to let God’s word rule their lives. It isn’t practical. In addition, Jesus notes not only cares, but “the delight in riches” often chokes out the word. Luke’s version names the “cares, riches and pleasures” of this life as things that choke out the word of God.

I want to dwell on this one for just a minute, because I think these things are some of the biggest threats to true faith for those who live in developed countries around the world. In America at least, there are a growing number of churches and preachers who are even saying that faith is a means to get the riches and pleasures of this world. But Jesus calls those things a threat to the fruitfulness of God’s word in your life. Let’s look at some other bible passages about wealth and pleasures:

From these come envy, quarreling, slander, evil suspicions, and constant disagreement among people whose minds are depraved and deprived of the truth, who imagine that godliness is a way to material gain.

But godliness with contentment is a great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with these.

But those who want to be rich fall into temptation, a trap, and many foolish and harmful desires, which plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and by craving it, some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains.

But you, man of God, run from these things, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, and gentleness. Fight the good fight for the faith; take hold of eternal life that you were called to and have made a good confession about in the presence of many witnesses. (1Tim 6:4-12, HCSB)

As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life. (1Tim 6:17-19, ESV2011)

Don’t wear yourself out to get rich; stop giving your attention to it. As soon as your eyes fly to it, it disappears, for it makes wings for itself and flies like an eagle to the sky. (Prov 23:4-5, HCSB)

Two things I ask of You; don’t deny them to me before I die: Keep falsehood and deceitful words far from me. Give me neither poverty nor wealth; feed me with the food I need. Otherwise, I might have too much and deny You, saying, “Who is the LORD? ” or I might have nothing and steal, profaning the name of my God. (Prov 30:7-9, HCSB)

Better a little with the fear of the LORD than great treasure with turmoil. (Prov 15:16, HCSB)

Clear enough for you? Obviously, the scripture shows balance. While trusting God for everything, we should also work to support ourselves, if possible (2 Thessalonians 3:6-12). However, the desire for, and pursuit of, wealth beyond what we need is a great spiritual danger. It chokes out the word of God. That doesn’t mean that a wealthy person cannot be a Christian. But it does mean that we should not pursue wealth as a goal, and that if we are wealthy, we should use that wealth to share generously, do good works and to support the work of spreading God’s word. You cannot pursue wealth without great spiritual danger.

I want to also talk about cares. Jesus says that not only wealth, but “the cares of this life” choke out the word of God. In this context, I think he means anything that you give priority to above God. You get caught up in worries and stresses and trying to deal with them. But the Lord invites us to unload our cares upon him:

“Come to Me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. All of you, take up My yoke and learn from Me, because I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for yourselves. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” (Matt 11:28-30, HCSB)

Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, so that He may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your care on Him, because He cares about you. (1Pet 5:6-7, HCSB)

Don’t worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses every thought, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. (Phil 4:6-7, HCSB)

When we try to handle our burdens and cares own our own, it gets in the way of the work God wants to do in and through us. Instead, we are to give it all to him, trusting him with our cares, as we let his word become more important in our lives than dealing with burdens or the pursuit of riches.

There is an interesting thing I notice here. In this parable, three out of four types of people end up turning away from God. Now, again, we can’t take too much detail out of a parable, but there is something comforting for me in that. I get disappointed so often when non-Christians persist in rejecting Jesus. I am saddened by those who call themselves Christians but who compromise and go along with the culture, or choose their own sins over the painful path of repentance. I am disheartened by those who become distracted by wealth, the cares of this life, or both. I don’t know if we can say that three out of four people will do such things, but in any case, Jesus knew, thousands of years ago, that at least some people would reject his word in those ways. I am not happy about that, and I don’t imagine he is either, but it brings me comfort in two ways. First, when I feel all alone, as if no one else is following Jesus the way I am, I can see that such a feeling should probably be expected from time to time. Second, when I feel like my efforts to show the truth and love of Jesus to others are failing, it helps to remember that Jesus expected that; not everyone chooses to receive the word and let it take root.

There is a final group that Jesus names: those who receive the word of God, allow it to take root and grow, and produce fruit. This is what Jesus wants from his disciples – from us.

“I am the true vine, and My Father is the vineyard keeper. Every branch in Me that does not produce fruit He removes, and He prunes every branch that produces fruit so that it will produce more fruit. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in Me, and I in you. Just as a branch is unable to produce fruit by itself unless it remains on the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in Me. “I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in Me and I in him produces much fruit, because you can do nothing without Me. (John 15:1-5, HCSB)

Producing fruit isn’t the result of our striving or goodness, but of Jesus’ work and goodness, flowing through us. All we have to do is continue to trust him, continue to receive his word and submit to what he says. His word will be powerfully effective in and through our lives, if we let it.

Thanks again for making use of Clear Bible.

I want to remind you again that we are a listener-supported ministry, and that means, first and foremost, that we are supported by your prayers. We need and value your prayers for us.

Please pray that this ministry will continue to sow good seeds, and that people would receive the word of God through us. Ask God, if it is his will, to touch even more lives with these messages. Ask him to use this ministry in making disciples of Jesus Christ.

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DO YOU SEE WHAT IS DIRECTLY IN FRONT OF YOUR FACE?

On February 3, 2015January 30, 2015 By Pastor TomIn Bible, Bible Teaching, Christianity, Jesus, Matthew, Podcast, Religion, SermonLeave a comment

I think a lot of people have the question: “Why didn’t more people recognize Jesus for who he was when we walked on earth?” We human beings are prone to see what we want to see, and to be blind to things we don’t want to acknowledge. Jesus wasn’t the kind of Messiah that many of the Jews wanted, so they did not “see” him for who he was. Not only that, but the bible is clear that mainly, this is a spiritual condition. We can ignore it, and let it get worse, or we can do some things to alleviate it.

To listen to the sermon, click the play button:

To download, right click on the link (or do whatever you do on a Mac) and save it to your computer: Download Matthew Part 41

Matthew #41 . Matthew 13:1-17

The first nine verse of Matthew 13 are taken up with the parable of the sower, which Jesus explains later in the chapter. We will consider that parable next time, along with Jesus’ explanation of it. This time, I’d like to consider something that Matthew introduces in chapter 13: Jesus’ tendency to teach in parables. Matthew writes:

Then the disciples came up and asked Him, “Why do You speak to them in parables? ”

He answered them, “Because the secrets of the kingdom of heaven have been given for you to know, but it has not been given to them. For whoever has, more will be given to him, and he will have more than enough. But whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him. For this reason I speak to them in parables, because looking they do not see, and hearing they do not listen or understand. Isaiah’s prophecy is fulfilled in them, which says: You will listen and listen, yet never understand; and you will look and look, yet never perceive. For this people’s heart has grown callous; their ears are hard of hearing, and they have shut their eyes; otherwise they might see with their eyes and hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn back — and I would cure them.

“But your eyes are blessed because they do see, and your ears because they do hear! For I assure you: Many prophets and righteous people longed to see the things you see yet didn’t see them; to hear the things you hear yet didn’t hear them.” (Matt 13:10-17, HCSB)

It’s true that parables can often be used to make a point. People have said that Jesus’ use of parables show what a great communicator he was. But Matthew records that at the time the parables confused many people, and especially, he records that one reason Jesus used them was to remain obscure to certain people.

Now, if you think that sounds strange, you aren’t alone. However, this is connected to a significant recurring theme of the bible. Over and over again throughout both the Old and New Testaments, we have the concept of people who do not perceive or understand God or His work; and it is implied that their lack of perception has to do with the fact that they have become spiritually calloused.

But to this day the LORD has not given you a heart to understand or eyes to see or ears to hear. (Deut 29:4)

“Son of man, you dwell in the midst of a rebellious house, who have eyes to see, but see not, who have ears to hear, but hear not, for they are a rebellious house. (Ezekiel 12:2)

As it is written, “God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that would not see and ears that would not hear, down to this very day.” (Romans 11:8)

For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but it is God’s power to us who are being saved. For it is written: I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and I will set aside the understanding of the experts. Where is the philosopher? Where is the scholar? Where is the debater of this age? Hasn’t God made the world’s wisdom foolish? (1Cor 1:18-20, HCSB)

I think a lot of people have the question: “Why didn’t more people recognize Jesus for who he was when we walked on earth?” This is something of an answer to that. We human beings are prone to see what we want to see, and to be blind to things we don’t want to acknowledge. Jesus wasn’t the kind of Messiah that many of the Jews wanted, so they did not “see” him for who he was. Not only that, but the bible is clear that mainly, this is a spiritual condition. It isn’t just an ordinary human tendency – it is a sign that some people have chosen to be oriented away from God. In the last chapter, Jesus suggested that a miracle would not convince the Pharisees. This theme is continued here. They have already made up their minds, and turned their hearts from God. So they see the miracles, or at the least hear about them from many witnesses, and yet they do not “see it.” Though seeing, they don’t perceive, though hearing, they don’t understand.

Paul explains the spiritual workings of this to the Corinthians:

Now God has revealed these things to us by the Spirit, for the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man that is in him? In the same way, no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who comes from God, so that we may understand what has been freely given to us by God. We also speak these things, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual things to spiritual people. But the unbeliever does not welcome what comes from God’s Spirit, because it is foolishness to him; he is not able to understand it since it is evaluated spiritually. (1Cor 2:10-14, HCSB

I don’t think Jesus used parables to confuse people, so much as to reveal the fact that it is the Holy Spirit who leads people into truth. I don’t mean (and I don’t think Jesus meant) that no truth at all can be grasped without the Spirit. Certainly, we can learn many true things without the Spirit, like 2+2=4, and that it’s a bad idea to start a land war in Asia. But the saving truth of who Jesus is, and of what the Bible says: these things come from the Holy Spirit.

When the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all the truth. For He will not speak on His own, but He will speak whatever He hears. He will also declare to you what is to come. He will glorify Me, because He will take from what is Mine and declare it to you. Everything the Father has is Mine. This is why I told you that He takes from what is Mine and will declare it to you. (John 16:13-15, HCSB)

By the way, when we get to the parable of the sower, we will see this theme reiterated. The whole premise of that parable is the idea that some people are spiritually receptive and others are not. However, we will consider that particular parable in greater depth next week.

For now, I’d like to see what all this means for us today. There are many rational and positive reasons to consider Christianity an reasonable and intellectual world view. I sometimes get caught up in trying to explain how rational and reasonable it is to trust Jesus. But the truth is, there are aspects of our faith that go entirely against worldly common sense. And this Scripture, along with the others I have quoted, show us that the key factor in saving faith is our spiritual response, not our intellectual conviction.

For many people, this can be good news. You do not have to be a Bible scholar to help other people spiritually. You do not have to have all of the logical and intellectual answers. The most important thing is not intellectual understanding, but spiritual receptivity. And the Scriptures show us how to increase our own spiritual receptivity, and how to help others do the same.

First, we encounter the Holy Spirit through the words of the Bible.

One believes with the heart, resulting in righteousness, and one confesses with the mouth, resulting in salvation. Now the Scripture says, Everyone who believes on Him will not be put to shame, for there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, since the same Lord of all is rich to all who call on Him. For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. But how can they call on Him they have not believed in? And how can they believe without hearing about Him? And how can they hear without a preacher? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: How beautiful are the feet of those who announce the gospel of good things! (Rom 10:10-15, HCSB)

It is clear that saving faith begins with hearing the word of God.

For the word of God is living and effective and sharper than any double-edged sword, penetrating as far as the separation of soul and spirit, joints and marrow. It is able to judge the ideas and thoughts of the heart. (Heb 4:12, HCSB)

If we would like be people who hear and understand; people who are not spiritually blind, we should spend time reading the Scripture and listening to those who preach it. We would like to influence the world for God, one of the best places to start is to share the words of the Bible with others, and to support preachers who preach the word of God.

There is another thing that we can do to make ourselves more open to the Holy Spirit, and also to help others to be more open. Paul wanted exactly these things for the Ephesians. So he spoke the word of God to them, and he prayed, as shown below. Prayer is a powerful mechanism for opening our own hearts to the Holy Spirit and opening the hearts of others.

For this reason I kneel before the Father from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named. I pray that He may grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power in the inner man through His Spirit, and that the Messiah may dwell in your hearts through faith. I pray that you, being rooted and firmly established in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the length and width, height and depth of God’s love, and to know the Messiah’s love that surpasses knowledge, so you may be filled with all the fullness of God. (Eph 3:14-19, HCSB)

By the way you can take this prayer that Paul prayed here and pray it for yourself and for others. There’s nothing wrong with using Paul’s words, after all, they were inspired by the Holy Spirit. When I pray this scripture, I do it something like this:

Father, I come before you trusting in the riches of your glory and mercy and ask you to strengthen me and my friends in our inner beings so that through your Holy Spirit Jesus can dwell more fully in our hearts and our faith is increased. Make us rooted and firmly established in your love and help us to understand the incredible greatness and depth and height of your love and to be filled with all of your fullness. In Jesus name, amen.

A very important third way to help ourselves and others be open to the Holy Spirit, is to meet regularly with other believers for worship, prayer and encouragement.

Therefore, brothers, since we have boldness to enter the sanctuary through the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way He has opened for us through the curtain (that is, His flesh), and since we have a great high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed in pure water. Let us hold on to the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. And let us be concerned about one another in order to promote love and good works, not staying away from our worship meetings, as some habitually do, but encouraging each other, and all the more as you see the day drawing near. (Heb 10:19-25, HCSB)

I meet people all the time who say, “but I don’t get much out of church.”

What I want to say in response is: “So church is all about you? You feel no need to encourage others? You have nothing to offer anyone else?” I understand that you won’t make good connections in every possible church, and you should certainly try to be in a place where the bible teaching actually comes from the bible, glorifies Jesus, and calls people to trust and obey Him. But it is vitally important to be connected to other Christians, and you need to be there for them, as well as for yourself. Quit “going when you feel like it” and take some responsibility not only for your own spiritual condition, but that of your Christian brothers and sisters. You will struggle spiritually if you are erratic about connecting with other believers for worship, prayer and encouragement. And also, you will cause some other believers to struggle as well, if they can’t count on you to be there for them. We are family, and God is our Father. He wants us to be here for each other.

When we step back and consider this whole topic, there is a downside. Jesus is clearly saying that some people don’t “get it.” It may seem discouraging to realize that some people have a spiritual condition and keeps their hearts closed to the Lord. But if we know anything from Scripture, it is that that spiritual condition does not have to be permanent; it can be changed. Saul of Tarsus was blinded to the truth of who Jesus was; he was not receptive to the Holy Spirit. And yet, he did not stay that way. The Lord broke through into his life, and he became known as “Paul,” a great apostle.

I was recently reminded of how powerfully the Holy Spirit can work, even in someone who seems opposed to it. About six months ago, someone came to this sermon blog. This person, whom I will call “Jane,” for anonymity, did not like what I had written or said in a particular sermon. She posted a long and vehemently negative comment on the blog. It looked to me as if she’d missed the entire point of the sermon, and I tried to encourage her to make sure she understood what I was saying. She replied with an even longer, more angry comment. At that point, I assumed she was just a “troll,” someone who is simply out looking for an argument. It bothered me however, and I shared the situation with one of our elders. He suggested that I should respond at least one more time, and then we said a brief prayer for Jane.

Just this past week, Jane contacted me again. She described how the Lord had been working on her heart, and she asked forgiveness for the negative things she had said in her comments on the blog. If you had asked me six months ago to evaluate Jane’s spiritual condition based on her comments, I probably would have been fairly negative in my assessment. Praise the Lord, it isn’t my job to evaluate anyone else’s spiritual condition! I think it is important for all of us remember that we can’t really see everything that God may be doing in a person’s life.

Maybe it isn’t someone else that you’re frustrated with, but yourself. The same truth applies: God is not done with you yet. The battle isn’t over, you are not doomed to be hardhearted toward the Holy Spirit. As we continue to read the Bible and pray and remain connected to other believers, the Holy Spirit continues to work on us.

It is somewhat like the business of the sin against the Holy Spirit: I think if you have any concern that you might be calloused toward the Lord, that you might be in danger of “seeing but not perceiving, hearing but not understanding,” then your concern should be a cause for hope. The people who are truly calloused toward the Lord are not concerned about it. If you are worried about it, then he still probably has room to work in your heart.

Let’s hear the good news that Jesus shared with his disciples: “the secrets of the Kingdom of Heaven have been given to you to know.” Paul says: “Now we have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who comes from God, so that we may understand what has been freely given to us by God.” We can be among Jesus’ disciples. We can be among those who have received the Holy Spirit so that we may understand what has been freely given us by God. All we need to do is continue to trust him, continue to obey him, and continue on in reading the Bible, prayer, and being connected with other believers.

Pause for a moment and let the Holy Spirit speak to you about this Scripture.

Thanks again for making use of Clear Bible.

I want to remind you again that we are a listener-supported ministry, and that means, first and foremost, that we are supported by your prayers. We need and value your prayers for us.

Please pray that this ministry will continue to be a blessing to those who hear it. Ask God, if it is his will, to touch even more lives with these messages. Ask him to use this ministry in making disciples of Jesus Christ.

You could also send a check to:

New Joy Fellowship

625 Spring Creek Road

Lebanon, TN 37087

Just put “Clear Bible” in the memo. Your check will be tax-deductible.

Thank for your prayers, and your support!

MIRACLES ON DEMAND? MAYBE NOT…

On January 20, 2015January 17, 2015 By Pastor TomIn Bible, Bible Teaching, Christianity, Jesus, Matthew, Podcast, Religion, SermonLeave a comment

G.K. Chesterton writes about miracles that those who believe in them, do so because there is evidence for them, and those who reject miracles do so because they already have a belief against them. Jesus clearly knew that a miracle will never convince someone who demands it as proof.

To listen to the sermon, click the play button:

To download, right click on the link (or do whatever you do on a Mac) and save it to your computer: Download Matthew Part 40

Matthew #40 . Matthew 12:35-50

Remember that the overall theme of chapter twelve is Jesus’ growing conflict with the Pharisees. We’ve covered Jesus’ staggering claims that he is the “Son of Man” who has all authority, and also “Lord of Sabbath” which is a claim to Divinity, and we saw how this was unacceptable to the Pharisees. We considered how some of the Pharisees, by rejecting Jesus, committed to utterly rejecting the work of God’s Holy Spirit, putting themselves in a place where God could not help them. Matthew closes chapter twelve with three more thoughts centered in this conflict.

First, some of the Scribes and Pharisees said to him: “Teacher, we want to see a sign from you.”

Presumably, these are some of the same people with whom Jesus has been speaking. What they are saying is, “Show us a miracle to prove that you have authority to say these things.”

At one level, this is a staggering request. The whole conflict came about first because Jesus healed the crippled hand of a man on the Sabbath. The present conversation was started because he delivered a man from a demon. Before Jesus did that, the man could not speak or see, and afterwards, he was perfectly normal. Matthew has recorded numerous miracles done by Jesus even before those things, and surely the Pharisees had heard of them. Now, it is barely possible that this particular group of Pharisees did not include anyone who had personally seen him do any of his miracles. In this case, their request is, “Do one for us, so that we can see it for ourselves and judge that you are from God.”

This demand for the “sign” was essentially the very same thing the devil had tempted Jesus to do in the wilderness (Matthew 4:2-3). They are saying, just as Satan said, “If you are the Son of God, prove it!” Satan tempted Jesus to prove it by making bread out of rocks and satisfying his hunger. Through the Pharisees, Satan is bringing the same type of temptation: “Prove it! Just do a miracle.” No wonder Jesus calls them “an evil and adulterous generation.” He recognized that they were doing the work of the devil.

Now, why couldn’t Jesus just prove it? I taught about this a little bit in our sermon series: Matthew #7 (Chapter 4:1-11). Remember, part of the sacrifice Jesus made was to set aside the use of his own divine power, and rely entirely upon the Father through the Holy Spirit. Jesus, in taking on human nature, committed himself to live in complete dependence upon the Father, even as we humans are called to live in dependence upon him. To live as a human, to fulfill his mission, he had to trust in the Father to take care of him. He had to trust in the Father to do his work through him when and where he wanted. The Pharisees said, “If you are Divine, you can easily show us.” But that would have ruined his mission. He would no longer be living, as we must, in complete dependence upon the Father. If the Father didn’t want to do a miracle right then and there, then Jesus chose to trust and obey him, rather than “prove” himself.

There is another thing. Jesus clearly knew that a miracle will never convince someone who demands it as proof. Luke records a parable that Jesus told about an unrighteous rich man, and a faithful poor man named Lazarus. After they die, the rich man finds himself in hell, and sees Lazarus sitting with Abraham in heaven. He calls across the void, pleading with Abraham to send the spirit of Lazarus back to earth to warn his family:

“ ‘Father,’ he said, ‘then I beg you to send Lazarus to my father’s house — because I have five brothers — to warn them, so they won’t also come to this place of torment.’

“But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; they should listen to them.’

“ ‘No, father Abraham,’ he said. ‘But if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’

“But he told him, ‘If they don’t listen to Moses and the prophets, they will not be persuaded if someone rises from the dead.’ ” (Luke 16:27-31, HCSB)

Remember, when the New Testament says “Moses and the Prophets” or “The Law and the Prophets” what it means is “the bible.” The moral of this story is that if we do not believe the words of scripture, even a miracle will not be enough. This story of course is also a veiled reference to the fact that Jesus would die and come back from the dead, and even then, most of these Pharisees refused to believe it.

So, Jesus knows that even if he produced a miracle on demand, it wouldn’t be enough. The Pharisees have already convinced themselves that Jesus can’t be from God. They have already decided in their hearts, they have already ignored the scriptures about the Messiah. The truth is, anything can be explained away. G.K. Chesterton writes about miracles that those who believe in them, do so because there is evidence for them, and those who reject miracles do so because they already have a belief against them. This was certainly true of the Pharisees. They have rejected the testimony of those who saw Jesus heal and deliver others. They have rejected the testimony of the people themselves who said they were healed and delivered by Jesus. It is clear that even if Jesus were to perform a miracle in front of their faces, they would find a way to discount it. In fact, we know that Jesus healed the man with the crippled hand in front of some of the Pharisees, and obviously, they rejected it, saying it couldn’t be a miracle from God because it was done on the Sabbath.

I’ve used this illustration before, but I think it’s useful. Consider a person whom you think is entirely reliable. If she tells you that chicken is only $0.99/pound at Kroger on Wednesday, you know that you can go to Kroger and find chicken for exactly that price. If she tells you that she once met the mayor of New York City, it does not surprise you at all when she produces a picture of her with the Mayor, and a signed note from him to her. If you ask her to give you the square root of 361, you can bet your next paycheck that she’ll say 19.

Now, suppose, one day, your friend tells you that she just found out she has cancer. You know she wouldn’t lie to you. You know she wouldn’t be mistaken. You absolutely believe she has cancer. A few weeks later, she tells you that she went to a prayer meeting, and people prayed for her healing. A few days after that, she went to the doctor, and found out she is now entirely cancer-free. She claims she has been miraculously healed. Would you believe her?

The only reason not to believe her, is that you have already decided miracles do not happen. If that was the case, you might attribute good motives to your friend, but you would be ready with a host of alternative explanations for her healing.

It’s a simple fact: miracles won’t convince people who have already made up their minds.

Jesus does tell the Pharisees that they will get one sign/miracle: the sign of Jonah.

For as Jonah was in the belly of the huge fish three days and three nights, so the Son of Man will be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights. The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at Jonah’s proclamation; and look — something greater than Jonah is here! (Matt 12:40-41, HCSB)

This, of course, is a prediction of Jesus’ death and resurrection. This is the first time in Matthew that Jesus has overtly mentioned such a thing. In dependence upon the Father, Jesus can’t decide when and where to do a miracle – he waits for the Father to act. But the Father has shown him his mission: his coming death and resurrection. So that’s the only miracle Jesus can guarantee that they will get to witness. In fact, the resurrection is the main sign that Jesus has the authority to say the things he has been saying. Even so, the Father has revealed to Jesus that most of the Pharisees will reject that sign also.

Jesus continues by chastising the Pharisees and their generation. He calls them evil and adulterous. He says that the people of Nineveh, and the Queen of Sheba will stand in judgment on them on the last day. The point of that is that the people of Nineveh were particularly evil, yet when confronted with the preaching of Jonah they repented and were saved. The queen of the South (Sheba) was a pagan; but she sought the word of God from Solomon, repented and was saved. He is comparing his generation to those people, and pointing out that the main difference is that his generation has not repented. Then he tells a little parable, and basically suggests that they are like a man who was once possessed by a demon which left for a time, and then brought back more demons into the man’s life.

I think sometimes we would get so much more from the scripture when we just pause and think about it for bit, and ask the questions that arise for us. Here’s what strikes me: this is Jesus talking. Jesus is calling people evil and adulterous. He is saying they are going from bad to worse. He is saying they will be judged by previous generations who were considered evil, but repented.

We are inclined to think of Jesus as being loving, and never being judgmental or unkind, so what is going on here?

First, of course, often our idea of Jesus is not much like what the scripture actually tells us about him. We need to let the scripture correct that. Second, I think Jesus says these things because they are true. Third, he says them because it might possibly save a few of these people.

Think of a surgeon performing a heart procedure on a patient. If it is possible, doctors often try to fix blockages to the heart by running a tiny tube through the blood vessels of the patient. Using this method they can clear arteries and insert tiny “stents” which keep the blood vessels open and flowing properly. These types of procedures are best for most patients, because they are minimally invasive. Recovery time after such a procedure is relatively short. Imagine a surgeon doing this, and suddenly the patient goes into cardiac arrest. Nothing the surgical team tries is working. They will progress through a series of procedures that are more and more invasive and dangerous to the patient. The more the patient continues to fail, the more desperate and dangerous the interventions become. If necessary, they may have to cut open the patient’s chest and do open heart surgery. A surgeon may even have to reach in and massage the heart with his own hand.

These difficult and dangerous procedures are not usually recommended, but sometimes, it becomes the only chance the patient has for survival. It may be extreme, but it is done when hope is failing, when all measures are being used to try and save the dying patient.

I think that is exactly what is going on here. The Pharisees are in danger of rejecting the work of the Holy Spirit. A kind, gentle word is not sufficient to save them anymore. That “procedure” has become ineffective on them. Jesus speaks to them so harshly to try and get their attention, to warn them, to save them, if possible. Make no mistake, these harsh words are spoken in love, as Jesus tries everything possible to bring them back to repentance and faith.

Matthew adds a final incident here.

Someone told Him, “Look, Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside, wanting to speak to You.”

We know that Jesus had a least two half-brothers: James, who became a leader in the early church and wrote the Epistle of James, and Jude, who wrote the second-last book of the New Testament, a short letter. Imagine being the younger brother of Jesus! Your teachers at school would never let you hear the end of it. Matthew doesn’t record why they wanted to see him. But Jesus takes the moment to teach those around him.

But He replied to the one who told Him, “Who is My mother and who are My brothers? ” And stretching out His hand toward His disciples, He said, “Here are My mother and My brothers! For whoever does the will of My Father in heaven, that person is My brother and sister and mother.” (Matt 12:47-50, HCSB)

Jesus is putting into action his own words that the kingdom of God is even more important than family relationships. This is also a final word aimed at the Pharisees. True fellowship is found in doing the will of the Father. I want to point out here that in the Greek, Jesus does, in fact, says “sisters” as well as “brothers.” This would have been a bit surprising to the Jews. Jesus is including women as equals members of the kingdom of Heaven.

I have a tremendous spiritual heritage in my earthly family. The first Hilperts that we know about were French Huguenots, who stood up for their faith. They were persecuted for it, and lost land and home and all they owned, but they continued to remain faithful. They had to leave France, and flee to Germany. The next we know of them, the first Hilperts in America came as Lutheran missionaries. Since coming to America, the record is fairly well known, and every generation of my family has had at least one individual who served the Lord full time as a pastor or missionary.

My wife has none of this spiritual heritage in her family. She was the first in her family to follow Jesus. When she was in Bible school, she would meet missionary families like mine, and feel like she was some sort of second-class Christian.

But you know what? As much as I am grateful for the spiritual heritage of my family, it doesn’t do me any good unless I myself trust Jesus and obey. I don’t mean I have to be perfect at it. Jesus knew we weren’t perfect – he knew that’s why he was here on earth, to address our inability to perfectly do the will of the Father. But what he wants is for that to be our orientation, our direction. When we fall, we get back up, and continue in the direction of trust and obedience. In any case, my point is, I have to trust and obey for myself. I am not “born” into Christianity – I enter in faith and obedience, like everyone else. My wife Kari, with no spiritual ancestors, is just as much part of the family of God as I am. He welcomes us all on the same basis.

So, what do we do with all this?

I think the piece about miracles is worth considering. Do we demand that God act in order to satisfy us before we will trust him? Jesus had some harsh words for the Pharisees who were like that. Sometimes, this is a comfort to me. I think, “If only God would do ________, my friend would believe and trust!” But God doesn’t do it. However, this passage shows that my thinking isn’t necessarily right. Miracles do not always help a person in their relationship with God. I suppose it depends on the person and the situation, because clearly, Jesus continued to do miracles after this.

Speaking of Jesus’ harsh words to the Pharisees, I think it is far more difficult for us to judge when harsh words might be needed. Too often, we use harsh words because we are angry, not because it is the extreme act of love in trying to help someone turn back to the Lord. I think great caution is required here. We are not Jesus. It isn’t easy for us to tell when this approach is needed. But I do think it is important for us to understand that sometimes, telling the truth without sugar-coating it is necessary, and it might possibly lead someone to repentance and faith.

I think it’s also important for us to see Jesus’ harshness here for what it is: love, doing everything it possibly can to bring people into reconciliation with God.

Likewise, I love the picture of Jesus looking at his disciples and saying, “You are my family. You are my brothers and sisters. We’re bound more closely than family, because we all trust and obey the Father.”

Listen to what the Lord is saying to you today.

Thanks again for making use of Clear Bible.

I want to remind you again that we are a listener-supported ministry, and that means, first and foremost, that we are supported by your prayers. We need and value your prayers for us.

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Thank for your prayers, and your support!

WHAT IS THE UNFORGIVEABLE SIN?

On January 13, 2015January 9, 2015 By Pastor TomIn Bible, Bible Teaching, Churches in Lebanon, Jesus, Matthew, Podcast, Religion, SermonLeave a comment

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Matthew #38 . Matthew 12:15-45

Matthew, Mark and Luke all record the healing of the man’s hand on the Sabbath as the point at which the Pharisees began to seriously oppose Jesus. Remember, in the exchanges about the Sabbath, Jesus said, “The son of man is Lord of the Sabbath.” When he says, “Son of man (this is the second time he uses it in Matthew) it is clear that he is referring to himself. Not only that, it is clear that he is referring to himself as the Messiah.

Psalm 80 contains this obscure Messianic reference about “the son of man”:

Let Your hand be with the man at Your right hand, with the son of man You have made strong for Yourself. (Ps 80:17, HCSB)

A vision of Daniel makes it even more explicit:

I continued watching in the night visions, and I saw One like a son of man coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was escorted before Him. He was given authority to rule, and glory, and a kingdom; so that those of every people, nation, and language should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and His kingdom is one that will not be destroyed. (Dan 7:13-14, HCSB)

Calling himself the “Son of Man,” and the claims to have authority to determine what was right or wrong on the Sabbath were staggering claims. It would be like someone coming into a Christian church today and saying, “Communion is all about me. I alone have the right to determine how you celebrate communion, and to tell you what it means.” That of course, would be tantamount to a claim to be Jesus himself. In the same way, Jesus’ words at the beginning of Matthew 12 are nothing less than a claim to be God.

When Jesus, not only claiming authority to break the (man-made) rules of the Sabbath, actually breaks them, deliberately, in front of the Pharisees and all the worshippers, this is the last straw for them. It is at this point that they move from being skeptics to enemies. What seems staggering in the middle of all this is that the miracle of healing that was at issue does not seem to figure into their calculations at all, except as something to explain away.

I think there is something important for us to consider here. The Pharisees began to oppose Jesus as soon as he claimed authority over something they wanted to control. It is when they are faced with the challenge to accept his authority over their own lives that they balk. He can have his healing ministry. He can wander around and say stuff to isolated groups of country people. But as soon as he comes into their synagogues, claiming authority to tell them what’s appropriate on the Sabbath, they become his enemies. What he does and says no longer matters – they only want to discredit him and destroy him.

Jesus knew this, and so Matthew records that he withdrew. Though he continued to heal, he tried to keep a low profile. Remember, Jesus came to earth with one mission, broken into two tasks. His first task was to reconcile the world to God by offering his life as a sacrifice in our place. To do that, he had to die. The second part of the mission was to train and prepare his disciples to follow him even after he was gone, and show them how to make new disciples and spread the news about his sacrifice. He could not die until his disciples had been trained. So, he avoided conflict at this point, because he was still training the disciples. Therefore, though Jesus continues his healing ministry, he warns people not to spread the word about him.

Matthew 12:18-21 marks the twelfth time that Matthew explicitly points out how Jesus fulfilled an Old Testament prophecy, in this case, Isaiah 42:1-14. (There are other things that Matthew records which show fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies, but Matthew does not always point them out explicitly).

There was one healing incident to which the Pharisees are privy, however. Jesus heals a man harassed by demon, and the occasion was so impressive that many more people began to wonder if Jesus was the “son of David,” which, in this context, means Messiah.

The response of the Pharisees, and Jesus’ accompanying teaching have become one of the most controversial passages of Scripture. The Pharisees have decided that Jesus is their enemy, so they cannot accept that anything he does is godly or righteous. Therefore, they attribute Jesus’ ability to drive out demons not to God, but to the devil. It is important for us to understand how they arrived at this place. Their minds were already made up: they didn’t want to listen to Jesus or obey what he said, therefore, Jesus could not be approved by God, therefore, whatever supernatural power he seemed to exhibit must come from the devil.

Jesus responds to their allegations with several reasonable thoughts. First, it doesn’t make any sense for Satan to be going about freeing people from his own power. If this is how the devil operates, says Jesus, then the works of the devil would soon fall apart and the world would be free. Second, Jesus points out that some Jews in the party of the Pharisees claim to also drive out demons. The book of Acts makes reference to this, as does the historian Josephus. The Bible doesn’t really tell us if these other exorcisms are genuine or not, and that’s not the point that Jesus is making. His point is that the Pharisees do believe that demons can be driven out by the power of God. He is uncovering their bias, showing that the reason they want to attribute his power to the devil is not because he is driving out demons, but only because they don’t want to listen to him.

Next, Jesus moves from responding to the Pharisees to teaching in general about what is going on in the spiritual realm.

If I drive out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come to you. How can someone enter a strong man’s house and steal his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man? Then he can rob his house. Anyone who is not with Me is against Me, and anyone who does not gather with Me scatters. (Matt 12:28-30, HCSB)

Jesus clearly means to say that he is the one who has entered the territory of the devil, tied him up, and is now doing as he pleases. As a side point, this should encourage us whenever we face spiritual opposition. Jesus is stronger than the devil. It is not a struggle between equals – Jesus wins, every time. Jesus adds this:

Anyone who is not with Me is against Me, and anyone who does not gather with Me scatters. (Matt 12:30, HCSB)

The Message paraphrases it like this:

This is war, and there is no neutral ground. If you’re not on my side, you’re the enemy; if you’re not helping, you’re making things worse.

Christians are often accused of being narrow minded, or demanding that people agree with them. There are ways we do that which are inappropriate, of course. However, Jesus demanded allegiance to him in no uncertain terms. He says, “either you’re with me, or against me.” These are not my words, nor the words of a fundamentalists preacher. These are the words of Jesus himself. The teaching of Jesus is that the world is indeed divided between those who are with him and those who are against him. As Petersen rightly captures in the message, there is no neutral ground. We don’t get to hang back and say, “I don’t follow Jesus, but I’m not against him.” Jesus himself says that can’t be true. Anyone who wants to can be with Jesus, by simply surrendering our lives to Him and trusting him for grace and forgiveness. But if we don’t want to do that, (and particularly, we don’t like the part about surrendering control of our lives to him) Jesus says, “you’re against me.”

Next comes the part that we often find so scary:

Because of this, I tell you, people will be forgiven every sin and blasphemy, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. Whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him. But whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the one to come. (Matt 12:31-32, HCSB)

This is sometimes known as the “unforgivable sin.” It is the only sin in the entire Bible about which it is said “it will never be forgiven.” When we read this, it is natural to want to know specifically what this sin is, and how we can avoid it. I have met tortured souls who are afraid that they have committed this “unforgivable sin.”

First I want to make something clear: I don’t think this is a sin that you can commit by accident. If you ever thought, “Oh my gosh! Have I committed the unforgivable sin?” I want to set your mind at ease. First, you have learned the context of this verse. The Pharisees have made an internal commitment to receive nothing that Jesus says or does as coming from God. If you are worried about committing the unforgivable sin, you probably have not made that same commitment.

I’ve mentioned this before, but it is helpful to revisit it for understanding this verse. Remember that when Jesus came to earth he chose not to use his divine nature to make things easy for himself. He chose to come in human flesh, which meant among other things that he had to rely entirely upon the Holy Spirit working in him and through him. Jesus did not do his miracles as God-the-Son revealing his power; instead he did miracles by relying upon the power of the Holy Spirit to work through him. So when he healed people, it was as a man, relying upon God the Holy Spirit to heal through him. And especially important for this case, when he drove out demons it was by the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus just said that, right here in verse 28.

This may seem all strange and theological but hang with me for a minute. Jesus came to earth to die. In order for that to happen, a number of people had to reject him and despise him. Rejecting Jesus himself could not be the unforgivable sin, because someone had to crucify him, and those who crucified him would have been condemned to hell with no chance for redemption. Someone who blasphemes against Jesus might be mistaken, or blinded by political considerations. However, it is the Holy Spirit who works to bring us to repentance. It is the Holy Spirit through the Bible who tells us the truth about Jesus and gives us the opportunity to receive him in faith. If we reject the work of Holy Spirit, we have cut off any possibility of being saved, since it is only through the power of the Spirit that we are given faith to trust Jesus.

The Pharisees were looking at the work of the Holy Spirit and saying, “this is the work of the devil.” If they committed to viewing the work of the Spirit as the work of the devil, then when the Spirit went to work on their hearts to bring them to repentance and faith in Jesus, they would say, “No! That’s the work of the devil.” They would be left with no way to repent and be saved.

To put it another way, to blaspheme the Holy Spirit, is to totally reject God’s work in the world and in your life. It is to cut yourself off from God. This is unforgiveable, because you are rejecting the only means by which you may be forgiven.

To use an analogy, it is something like this. You are hanging by a rope from a sheer cliff, one thousand feet above the ground. You say, “I don’t want this rope. It does me no good. I can get to the top without it. In fact, it is hindering me.” With that, you cut the rope. You fall to your death, not because the cliff is vindictively punishing you, but because you cut yourself off from the one thing that could have saved you.

Jesus makes it clear with the following comments:

“Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for a tree is known by its fruit. Brood of vipers! How can you speak good things when you are evil? For the mouth speaks from the overflow of the heart. A good man produces good things from his storeroom of good, and an evil man produces evil things from his storeroom of evil. (Matt 12:33-35, HCSB)

The Pharisees’ blaspheming against the Sprit is the fruit – and it reflects the nature of the whole tree, which is the rejection of the work of the Holy Spirit. They said what they did because they had rejected God right down to the core. Their words were an indication of where their hearts were.

All right, what does all this mean for us? What took the Pharisees down the road to the unforgiveable sin was their refusal to let Jesus have authority in their lives. What I mean is, they rejected the idea that Jesus should be able to correct them or lead them, and it began with rejecting his authority over one area of their lives; in their case, the Sabbath. Is there anything about which you are tempted to say, “No, Jesus! You cannot direct me, in this area. No, I retain my own right to do what I want here.” This is very dangerous, spiritually speaking.

But I want us to consider something else. What we tend to focus on in this passage is Jesus’ words about the unforgiveable sin. However, revisit the first part of what he said:

Because of this, I tell you, people will be forgiven every sin and blasphemy, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. (Matt 12:31, HCSB)

Jesus begins this by saying, essentially, “anything except this one thing can be forgiven.” Do you understand – grace is huge. Forgiveness is vast. Turn it around: except for this one thing (because of the Holy Spirit brings us faith), everything else can be forgiven. This is wonderful news. To put it simply, if you still believe you need forgiveness, if you still want forgiveness, it is yours by simply trusting that Jesus has obtained it for you, and turning away from your sin.

When I say “turning away from your sin,” I don’t mean “living a perfect life.” I mean repenting, moving the opposite way, even if you do so imperfectly, and fail from time to time.

Perhaps that is what you need to hear today: You have not fallen so far that you can’t be forgiven and restored.

Listen to what the Holy Spirit has to say to you today.

Thanks again for making use of Clear Bible.

I want to remind you again that we are a listener-supported ministry, and that means, first and foremost, that we are supported by your prayers. We need and value your prayers for us.

You could also send a check to:

New Joy Fellowship

625 Spring Creek Road

Lebanon, TN 37087

Just put “Clear Bible” in the memo. Your check will be tax-deductible.

Thank for your prayers, and your support!

USING THE NEW YEAR

On December 31, 2014December 27, 2014 By Pastor TomIn Bible, Bible Teaching, Podcast, Religion, SermonLeave a comment

These witnesses who have gone before us have experienced everything this life has to throw at them. They have lost loved ones to war, natural disaster, distance and sickness. They’ve been strangers in a strange land, they’ve had rebellious children and tragic love affairs and trouble at work. In all these things, they are witnesses to God’s grace and faithfulness.

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New Year’s Eve 2014

Hebrews 12:1-2

In certain parts of the world, they use a very unique method to catch monkeys. The hunters will create a sturdy container with a narrow opening. The opening is just big enough for a monkey to fit its hand through. Inside the container, the hunters and trappers put many nuts of the varieties that monkeys enjoy. Then they fasten these containers securely to trees in the jungle. The monkeys smell the nuts and come to the containers. They put their hands in the containers to get the nuts. But when they are holding on to the nuts, the hands of the monkeys are in a larger, fist shape, and they can’t withdraw the hand from the container. In order to get its hand out, the monkey must drop the nuts, leaving them in the container, and then withdraw its hand, without any nuts. The amazing thing is, most monkeys won’t drop the nuts. They’ll sit there, holding the nuts, and because of that, stuck in the container which is fastened to the tree. They will continue holding the nuts, even when the hunters return to capture them. To get away, all they would have to do is let go of the nuts and run, but they rarely do.

As we consider what has transpired this past year, and look toward the future, ask yourself this questions: “what are the ‘nuts’ that I’m holding on to?” I am not referring here to your family. What I mean is this: As you face the new year, what are you holding on to that keeps you from going where God wants you? I don’t mean necessarily that God wants you to move physically. But is there some step he wants you take or some relationship he wants you to heal? Is there something that you know you should do, but other things get in the way? Is there a change he would like to make in your life, but you can’t let him because you’re holding on to something else?

Hebrews 12:1-2 is a great passage of scripture, especially for New Year’s Eve. Please turn to it and keep it handy while you read these notes. One reason this passage is so appropriate to New Year’s is because it is a point at which the writer completes the process of looking at the past, and then directs our attention to the present and the future. In Hebrews chapter 11, the author of the book has us consider the lives and events of many of the Biblical heroes of faith. He writes about Noah; Abraham and Sarah; Isaac; Jacob; Joseph; Moses’ parents and Moses himself; Rahab; Gideon; Barak; Samson and many more. All those people lived in the past and experienced joy and suffering, victory and defeat. But they all faced their circumstances with faith in God and in his promises.

Now, the writer says this:

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

Let’s break this down piece by piece. First, we are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses. I think this means essentially two things. It means, for one thing, that those who have gone before us have confirmed and established the truth of what we believe. Their lives were used by God to prove that He is reliable, and that his promises and actions in this world are real. We’re aren’t out here making up a new religion. We aren’t crazy people. What we believe has been proved over and over again in the lives of those who have gone before us. Also, what we have faced in the past and what we will face in the future has been experienced before us by those who trust the Lord – and the Lord proved himself faithful. The text says, in chapter eleven:

Some men were tortured, not accepting release, so that they might gain a better resurrection, and others experienced mockings and scourgings, as well as bonds and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawed in two, they died by the sword, they wandered about in sheepskins, in goatskins, destitute, afflicted, and mistreated. The world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and on mountains, hiding in caves and holes in the ground. (Heb 11:35-38, HCSB)

The second thing about this great cloud of witnesses, is that we aren’t alone in our “race.” I don’t mean that the saints who have gone before, pray for us or give us help.[1] There is only one person who intercedes on our behalf – and that is God himself as the Son and as the Holy Spirit (1 Timothy 2:5; Romans 8:26-27). But there is a sense given by this passage that these faithful people who have gone before are also there, cheering us on, so to speak. Certainly they cheer us on and inspire us by the examples that their lives were.

Now we come to the nuts in the jar. We are told to “throw off everything that hinders.” Something that often goes unrecognized is that many times, good things can hinder us from what is best and most important. Satisfying work that pays well is a good thing. And yet millions of people allow this good thing (that is, a job/career) to hinder them from effectively following Jesus. Many folks put in hours they don’t need to, to make money that they don’t really need, to buy things that they don’t really need. Many people dedicate their lives to the pursuit of career and fortune. Family – and even following Jesus — become things that have only the bits of time which are left over.

I’ve known people who don’t have a problem letting their careers control them, but other good things get in the way. I knew a couple once that went to so many church conferences and special events that they didn’t have time to plug into any Christian community. They didn’t develop real relationships with other Christians, or become humbly vulnerable and when they began to struggle in their marriage there was no one to help.

I’ve known pastors who spend so much time trying to help their denomination or association that they neglect their own church. Sometimes something is as simple as television. It’s not inherently evil, but if you don’t control it, TV can hinder you as you seek to follow Jesus. The same is true of computer games, or facebook, or any one of a thousand things you might do on the internet. What good or neutral things might be hindering you right now? Now, use your common sense here. It is not legitimate to say, “My marriage is hindering me, so I’ll get a divorce.” We know from other scripture passages that to God there is only one acceptable reason for divorce, and even then, it may not have to occur. Likewise this is not necessarily an excuse to quit working altogether, or to evade your responsibilities.

We are also told to get rid of “the sin that so easily entangles.” These are bad things. Things like drunkenness or adultery or rage or bitterness or un-forgiveness or addiction. Usually they’re pretty obvious. Don’t waste time lying to yourself here. Is there a sin that keeps recurring in your life? Are you addicted to the computer, or porn, or alcohol or pain killers or anything?

The writer of Hebrews tells us to “run with perseverance the race marked out for us.” That seems to indicate that it is a somewhat long race and it will require a certain amount of stick-to-it-iveness to finish it. It isn’t a sprint – it’s a marathon. It means we need to pace ourselves, be patient and stay with it. By inspiring the writer to describe the life of faith as a race, I think the Holy Spirit had something in mind. Our Christian life has a definite beginning, standards for qualifying, and a definite goal in mind, with a prize and rest at the end. We aren’t wandering aimlessly through life. We are moving toward a goal, a finish line, and a reward awaits us.

Now, how are we do get rid of what hinders, and get rid of sin and then run the race well? By fixing our eyes on Jesus. How did you forget your High School algebra? Not by saying “whatever happens, I will not remember that x+y=a.” You also didn’t go around thinking “x+y=rabbit.” No, you forgot it because you quit using it, and your mind became occupied with other things. That’s kind of the idea of fixing our eyes on Jesus. Don’t concentrate on not sinning – focus instead on Jesus. Don’t fixate on what might be hindering you. Instead, whole-heartedly pursue a closer relationship with Jesus. Don’t get caught up by other things – get caught up by Jesus.

Another thing that helps us as we focus on Jesus is to realize that he has already endured and gone through this life. He knew he would have some trials and struggles that probably none of us will ever have. But his focus was on the end. I don’t know what 2015 will bring for us. It may be a good year. It may not be. But I do know what the end will bring for us.

And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!

Do you want to lose weight next year? Get rich? Learn to play the banjo? My prayer for you is that you first submit that goal or desire to the Lord. And then, leaving that in his hands, make only one resolution: to simply fix your eyes on Jesus, to endure whatever may come for the sake of the joy that awaits us. Happy New Year!

Thanks again for making use of Clear Bible.

I want to remind you again that we are a listener-supported ministry, and that means, first and foremost, that we are supported by your prayers. We need and value your prayers for us.

You could also send a check to:

New Joy Fellowship

625 Spring Creek Road

Lebanon, TN 37087

Just put “Clear Bible” in the memo. Your check will be tax-deductible.

Thank for your prayers, and your support!

[1] This is one of the verses the Roman Catholic Church uses to suggest that we should ask the saints to pray for us.

WHEN JESUS OFFENDS YOU

On December 2, 2014November 21, 2014 By Pastor TomIn Bible, Bible Teaching, Faith, Jesus, Matthew, Podcast, Religion, Sermon, TN1 Comment

Sooner or later, Jesus will behave in a way that could offend us. Sooner or later he will allow something to happen that we think he should not have allowed, or he will fail to do something that we think he should have done. Our thinking will not appear unreasonable to us; it may not appear unreasonable to anyone. And yet, Jesus won’t conform to it. What do we do when that happens?

To listen to the sermon, click the play button:

To download, right click on the link (or do whatever you do on a Mac) and save it to your computer: Download Matthew Part 36

Matthew #36 . Matthew 11:1-6

When Jesus had finished giving orders to His 12 disciples, He moved on from there to teach and preach in their towns. When John heard in prison what the Messiah was doing, he sent a message by his disciples and asked Him, “Are You the One who is to come, or should we expect someone else? ” Jesus replied to them, “Go and report to John what you hear and see: the blind see, the lame walk, those with skin diseases are healed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor are told the good news. And if anyone is not offended because of Me, he is blessed.” (Matt 11:1-6, HCSB)

I believe that one of the first two or three sermons I ever preached was on this text. I really wish I could remember what I said, because I’m sure it was brilliant. Actually, of course what we do here is always to try and listen for what the Holy Spirit has to say to us through the text right now. So perhaps it would be a bad idea to simply go back to something I said 20 years ago.

Let’s get a little background here. As we know, John the Baptist started preaching before Jesus began his public ministry. We saw already in the book of Matthew, that John (the Baptist) believed that Jesus was the Messiah, and pointing people to Jesus was John’s major mission. In addition, we learned that Jesus’ mother and John’s mother were cousins, and while they were both pregnant they spent some time together. At that time, John, still unborn, leaped in his mother’s womb at the approach of Mary when she was with pregnant Jesus. So these two have a long history together.

There is evidence that after Jesus came upon the scene, many of John’s followers left him to follow Jesus. Apparently John felt that this was good and right and appropriate. The apostle John (a different individual) records that some of the Baptist’s remaining disciples complained about those who left John for Jesus. But John the Baptist responded like this:

“No one can receive a single thing unless it’s given to him from heaven. You yourselves can testify that I said, ‘I am not the Messiah, but I’ve been sent ahead of Him.’ He who has the bride is the groom. But the groom’s friend, who stands by and listens for him, rejoices greatly at the groom’s voice. So this joy of mine is complete. He must increase, but I must decrease.” (John 3:27-31, HCSB)

John viewed Jesus as the bridegroom, the man of the hour, and himself as the best man. This was absolutely correct and good. But no one, not even John, knew before-hand quite what Jesus’ mission on earth was really supposed to look like. As Jesus’ ministry unfolded, circumstances caused John the Baptist to wonder.

What happened was this. Sometime after Jesus began his public ministry, John the Baptist, being the outspoken person he was, criticized Herod Antipas, who, under the Romans, was ruler of Galilee (this was the son of Herod the Great, who had tried to have the Messiah killed as a baby). He chastised him for taking his brother’s wife, Herodias, as his own wife. Herod might have put up with this, but Herodias did not, and John was thrown in prison (Matt 14:3).

John, like most Jews of his time, probably had the idea that the Messiah was going to liberate the people of Israel from foreign oppressors like Herod and the Romans. He went into prison believing that the Messiah was his cousin, Jesus. This is just a guess on my part, but I think it’s a pretty reasonable one: I believe that John expected Jesus to liberate him during the course of his messianic campaign. So John went to prison thinking: All I have to do is wait and when Jesus starts the war to drive out the Romans and the Idumeans, he’ll free me from prison, and I’ll join him in the victorious campaign.

Even if John was not caught up in that sort of thinking about the Messiah, he still probably thought: the Messiah is my cousin. I’ve served him and his cause faithfully. Surely he will not let me rot in prison. After all, that’s reasonable. Friends don’t let friends die in prison, if they have the power to prevent it.

At least, that’s what we think.

So after John had been in the dungeon for a while, it was natural for him to become a little bit impatient. After a little while longer, it is clear that he began to wonder if he had been wrong about Jesus being the Messiah; that is, in fact, the reason he sent people to Jesus as recorded in this text.

Now, I want us to observe something very significant. What caused John to wonder? Think about it. John had a deep knowledge of the Old Testament, and his preaching about the coming of the Messiah was based upon those Scriptures. But those Scriptures had not changed since John was put into prison. John also knew Jesus personally, and Jesus was still the same person that John had known since before he was born, the same person, in fact, whom John had pointed out to others and said “There is the Messiah. He’s the one I’ve been talking about.” So John’s knowledge had not changed, and the Scriptures had not changed, and Jesus had not changed. What caused John to wonder was that his own circumstances had changed, and Jesus had done nothing about it.

This is tremendously important. Jesus was not meeting John’s expectations. He was not behaving the way John thought he ought to behave. As crass as this sounds, the truth is that Jesus was not doing what John wanted him to do, and that caused him to doubt Jesus.

I have met many, many people who have the same struggle as John. For years, I’ve eagerly looked forward to the day I could meet with someone who was an atheist for purely intellectual reasons. In my imagination, when I met such a person, we would have an engaging, far-reaching, stimulating discussion. It would end with the atheist realizing for the first time that his arguments are in fact illogical and not founded on the truth. With the intellectual obstacles removed, the atheist would become a person of faith.

But the truth is, everyone I’ve ever met who claims to have an intellectual objection to Christianity, in fact rejects faith in Jesus because God has disappointed them personally in some way. It never fails. It sounds noble to have intellectual objections to faith. But the truth is that people reject God because at some level he did not behave according to their expectations, or do what they wanted him to do. At times, I’ve had the same struggle myself.

Now, I don’t mean to imply that what John the Baptist wanted Jesus to do was trivial. It was no trivial thing to be put in prison in first century Galilee. The prisons were generally damp and unsanitary, filled with rats and disease. Nutrition was poor, fights and abuse by guards were frequent. Many people died simply from being in these conditions for long period of time. John had no standing, no patron to plead his case with Herod. His prospects were incredibly grim. It wasn’t unreasonable for him to want Jesus to rescue him. What could be more natural than to expect the Messiah to rescue his own cousin, the same man who had proclaimed him to be the Messiah to many people?

Many of the things that we want God to do for us are not unreasonable either: to save the life of a child, to heal a parent, to restore a marriage, to prevent something that any reasonable human being would call a tragedy.

But we find, like John, that sometimes Jesus simply doesn’t do it.

This fact made John wonder, perhaps it even caused him to doubt. At least John did the right thing with his doubts: he was honest about them, and he took them to Jesus.

Jesus did not chastise him for having doubts. He said this:

Jesus replied to them, “Go and report to John what you hear and see: the blind see, the lame walk, those with skin diseases are healed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor are told the good news. (Matt 11:4-5, HCSB)

This little statement from Jesus makes reference to no fewer than five messianic prophecies from the Old Testament (Job 29:15; Isaiah 26:19, 29:18, 35, 61:1-2). In essence, Jesus’ reply is this: “You want to know if I’m the Messiah? I am fulfilling the messianic prophecies about healing the blind, healing the lame, cleansing those with leprosy, healing and death, raising the dead, and proclaiming the good news to the poor.”

To say it even more plainly, Jesus was telling John to remember and rely upon the scriptures. He was reminding him what the Old Testament said about the Messiah, urging him to compare it to Jesus himself, and then to trust.

Jesus then adds this comment: “and blessed is the one who is not scandalized by me,” (my translation). I think Jesus is cutting to the very heart of the matter. He knows that we are sometimes offended or scandalized by the fact that he does not conform to our expectations. Again, in John’s case it wasn’t about social or religious expectations; it was about a personal desire that was entirely good and appropriate, which Jesus chose not to fulfill. In a way, he is saying, “I know you don’t understand, John. But you will be blessed if you don’t let your lack of understanding cause you to be offended by me.”

But Jesus is not only talking to John. His words are for all of us. Sooner or later, Jesus will behave in a way that could offend us. Sooner or later he will allow something to happen that we think he should not have allowed, or he will fail to do something that we think he should have done. Our thinking will not appear unreasonable to us; it may not appear unreasonable to anyone. And yet, Jesus won’t conform to it.

Like John, the best thing to do, the only thing to do, is to bring our doubts and wonderings to Jesus himself. We can be honest with him. He did not rebuke John for doubting, or for his honesty. His answer to John is also for us: Look to the Bible, it is the most reliable witness to whom Jesus is. The Bible has not changed. Jesus has not changed. The only thing that has changed is our circumstance, and that is not a reliable guide to truth. There are hundreds of reasons to believe that Jesus Christ is the same person we read about in the pages of the Bible. There are hundreds of reasons to believe that the Bible is reliable and can be trusted (By the way, if you are not sure about that, I encourage you to go through my 10 part sermon series entitled, “Understanding the Bible.” The first sermon can be found here, and you can go on sequentially from that). We know from all this that Jesus is real, and that he loves us. We know also, that this life is not all there is, and there are many reasons for things that we will never be able to comprehend. Sometimes, we can only see part of the picture, and the rest of the explanation can only be understood in the light of eternity.

And Jesus says to us, “You are blessed when you’re not offended by me.” We are blessed when we allow Jesus to be who he is, even when it doesn’t conform to our own expectations of him. We are blessed when we trust him, in spite of our circumstances.

John never did get out of prison. But Jesus says, later in this text, that while he is alive, John is not as well off the very least individual who is already in the kingdom of heaven. There is a plan. There is an answer. It is just that sometimes the plan and answer extend into the next life, where we cannot see right now. Ultimately, in the light of eterinity, John was better off more quickly because he was not released from prison.

With John, will you hear the words of Jesus now? Will you trust him? Let the Holy Spirit speak to you today.

Thanks again for making use of Clear Bible.

I want to remind you again that we are a listener-supported ministry, and that means, first and foremost, that we are supported by your prayers. We need and value your prayers for us.

You could also send a check to:

New Joy Fellowship

625 Spring Creek Road

Lebanon, TN 37087

Just put “Clear Bible” in the memo. Your check will be tax-deductible. Unfortunately, we cannot do the tax deductible option with the paypal donate button, however the money does go directly to support this ministry.

Thank for your prayers, and your support!

GIVING THANKS EVEN WHEN IT’S HARD

On November 25, 2014November 24, 2014 By Pastor TomIn Bible, Christianity, Podcast, Religion, Sermon1 Comment

Giving thanks is a way to really take hold of, and receive, what God has done and who he is. It is a key component in faith, grace and peace.

To listen to the sermon, click the play button:

To download, right click on the link (or do whatever you do on a Mac) and save it to your computer: Download Thanksgiving 2014 Sermon

THANKSGIVING

Thanksgiving has become an American holiday and tradition, but it does originate from deep, Christian spiritual roots. One of the things that I find interesting is that many of significant Thanksgiving celebrations early in the history of America took place in the middle of very difficult times.

The “original thanksgiving” took place in the New England settlement of Pilgrims during the sixteen-hundreds. It is true that at the time they celebrated, they had a good harvest. But they had just gone through an incredibly difficult year in which large numbers of the Pilgrims had perished from disease and malnutrition. From a simple cataloging of bad events versus good, they had much more to be upset about than to be thankful for. Yet they held a three day feast, thanking God for his blessings.

The first national day of thanksgiving was proclaimed by the brand-new American government in 1777. It is true, at the time many people were elated by the American victory over the British at Saratoga. But also at the time of the proclamation, the British still occupied the capital city of the new country (which was Philadelphia at that point) and also held New York City and several significant southern cities. The war was far from over, and times were still quite desperate, and yet they called for a national day of prayer, thankfulness, and repentance toward God.

Considering this history, perhaps it is appropriate that Thanksgiving became an official national holiday during the middle of the Civil War. Once again, the war was far from over, and many desperate times and terrible battles were both behind and ahead. Yet President Lincoln wrote of the many blessings that persisted in spite of war, and said:

It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and voice by the whole American people. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to his tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility and Union.

It isn’t my intention to give a history lesson. But I want to point out explicitly that the early Americans seemed eager and able to thank God, even in the middle of significant hardship. In fact, the American Thanksgiving tradition arose more from hardship and war than from peace and prosperity. Even more, I want to point out that this idea of thanking God at all times, even in difficult circumstances, is a biblical practice.

Job chapter one records a series of calamites that befall Job, a righteous man. At the end of it all, this is what he did:

²⁰At this, Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship ²¹and said:

“Naked I came from my mother’s womb,

and naked I will depart.

The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away;

may the name of the LORD be praised.”

Psalm 69 was written by someone who felt he was “poor and in pain.” His appropriate response was to thank the Lord:

But as for me — poor and in pain — let Your salvation protect me, God. I will praise God’s name with song and exalt Him with thanksgiving. (Ps 69:29-30, HCSB)

Paul says, “Good, bad, normal, it doesn’t matter. Give thanks all the time.”

Rejoice always! Pray constantly. Give thanks in everything, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. (1Thess 5:16-18, HCSB)

And let the peace of the Messiah, to which you were also called in one body, control your hearts. Be thankful. Let the message about the Messiah dwell richly among you, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, and singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, with gratitude in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or in deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him. (Col 3:15-17, HCSB)

Devote yourselves to prayer; stay alert in it with thanksgiving. (Col 4:2, HCSB)

The older I get, the more I am inclined to believe that thankfulness is a key part in receiving the grace and love and joy that are offered to us through Jesus Christ. I have long known that when I confess my sins to the Lord and repent, what really helps me to feel forgiven is the act of thanking him for that forgiveness. When we thank God, we are, in a way, reaching out and receiving what we thank him for. We are agreeing with what the Bible says about his graciousness and love toward us; we affirming something true about the nature of God. We are saying, “Yes, I have received your love and grace,” and as we declare that to be true, it somehow becomes more real to us. I think this is one of the reasons that the New Testament is so clear about the fact that whenever we pray, part of our praying should involve thankfulness to the Lord. Thankfulness breeds faith and grace.

Thankfulness also leads to peace and contentment. Philippians 4:5-7 teaches that thankful prayer is an antidote to worry:

Let your graciousness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Don’t worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses every thought, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. (Phil 4:5-7, HCSB)

Yes, it is good and proper to ask God for what we need, and to share our burdens with him. It is also important to thank him as we offer up those prayers. Through turning our burdens over with thankfulness, we experience the peace of God, which is beyond understanding. The fact that it is beyond understanding means that sometimes we will experience peace when our circumstances suggest that we shouldn’t be able to do so. It is thankfulness, at least in part, which leads to this sort of peace in all circumstances.

I have found that thankfulness (and the benefits of peace, grace and faith which come with it) can be encouraged by some self-discipline. Sometimes, it is helpful to just make myself start thanking God. I don’t like mornings, and I’m not usually very happy until after mid-morning. But, stepping into the shower grumpy and irritated, I can begin by thanking the Lord for running hot water, and then soap, and then a towel. I can thank him that I have my own bathroom. That reminds me that I have my own house to live in, and it is plenty for my whole family. I can go on, and thank the Lord for warm, clean socks, and the existence of coffee, and then for my wife and children. You see how it goes: once we get started, there are an endless stream of things to thank the Lord for. I think one thing that is biblically appropriate is to frequently thank Jesus for his sacrifice for us, and for his promise of eternal life to us.

Thank the Lord today and this week, and let him encourage thankfulness in your heart!

Thanks again for making use of Clear Bible.

I want to remind you again that we are a listener-supported ministry, and that means, first and foremost, that we are supported by your prayers. We need and value your prayers for us.

You could also send a check to:

New Joy Fellowship

625 Spring Creek Road

Lebanon, TN 37087

Thank for your prayers, and your support!

JESUS CLAIMS #1 SPOT FOR HIS FOLLOWERS

On November 18, 2014November 15, 2014 By Pastor TomIn Bible, Bible Teaching, Christianity, Faith, House Church, Jesus, Matthew, Podcast, Religion, SermonLeave a comment

At some point, anyone who calls himself or herself a Christian is faced with a call to daily deny himself or herself, die to self, be willing to actually die, and follow Jesus. This isn’t just theoretical. It will affect the way we relate to other people. It will affect what kind of jobs we take, and when and where we take them. It should make an impact on how much we indulge ourselves. It may even at some point cost us our lives.

To listen to the sermon, click the play button:

To download, right click on the link (or do whatever you do on a Mac) and save it to your computer: Download Matthew Part 35

Matthew #35. Matthew 10:32-42

Remember, Matthew chapter 10 begins with Jesus sending his disciples out on a training mission. He gave them certain instructions, from which we can gain certain principles, and we looked at those already. Last time, we looked at the words of warning that Jesus gave his disciples. He told them to expect persecution and trouble. But he also gave them (and, by extension, us) many wonderful words of comfort and promise, words which we can hold on to in times of trouble.

After these comforting promises, Jesus begins with this: “Therefore…” One of my old Bible school teachers always used to say “What is that therefore there for?” It’s a useful little question. In this case, it is to remind us that what Jesus is going to say next is connected with what he has already said. In other words, because we have these warnings, and especially because we have these promises, Jesus says this:

“Therefore, everyone who will acknowledge Me before men, I will also acknowledge him before My Father in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father in heaven. (Matt 10:32-33, HCSB)

Jesus doesn’t simply say, “Acknowledge me before men.” He first gives us instructions, and a sure and beautiful promise of his presence and his grace to us in the middle of hard times. Considering those things, he now says, “All these promises are connected to me. To receive them, you must confess me. You must put me before all things.”

The Greek word that is here translated “acknowledge,” might also be “confess.” The two root words of the Greek term, put together, really mean “to say the same thing as,” or “to speak with.” Some translations make it “confess.” I like this better than “acknowledge.” We are to confess Jesus. Confession means not only to admit something, but also to agree with something or someone. We are to say the same things that Jesus says, to agree with him. Jesus makes it clear that we are to do so not only privately, but also in public.

Jesus goes on. He makes reference to a verse in the book of Micah, implying that it is a messianic verse and he is fulfilling it:

Surely a son considers his father a fool, a daughter opposes her mother, and a daughter-in-law is against her mother-in-law; a man’s enemies are the men of his own household. But I will look to the LORD; I will wait for the God of my salvation. My God will hear me. Do not rejoice over me, my enemy! Though I have fallen, I will stand up; though I sit in darkness, the LORD will be my light. (Mic 7:6-8, HCSB)

He also says “Don’t assume that I came to bring peace on the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.” This is one of those things Jesus said that many people don’t seem to know about. You don’t have to go far to hear Christians and non-Christians alike saying, “Why do conservative Christians have to stir up so much trouble? Christians are supposed to get along with everybody. It isn’t Christian to cause controversy.” In light of these verses, I guess maybe Jesus wasn’t a Christian. He is quite clear: He is a polarizing personality; those who follow him will find themselves at times embroiled in conflict, even within their own families. This isn’t an endorsement of violence in any way, shape or form. It isn’t a license to be rude, or to bully. But Jesus does want us to recognize that following him can lead to controversy and difficult relationships.

I don’t believe I’ve ever heard this preached by anyone else before. But obviously, it is right here in the text. If Jesus said anything at all, he said this as well. We can’t ignore it. These days, when we agree with (that is, confess) the things that Jesus said, or the things that his Holy Spirit inspired his apostles to write, it is easy to draw flak. If we agree with the Bible about what the Holy Spirit calls “sin,” we are called hatemongers. If we agree with what Jesus actually said about himself, we are called narrow-minded and intolerant. Following Jesus does indeed lead us to be peaceful and loving. But it does not mean that others will see us that way, or even that our lives will be free from conflict with those who do not follow Jesus or his word.

Now, Jesus ratchets it up a notch. Not only does he suggest that following him can lead us into conflict, but he demands that when there is a conflict, we choose him above anything and anybody else.

The person who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; the person who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. (Matt 10:37, HCSB)

It’s easy to breeze through these words of Jesus. But hold on a minute: we are supposed to choose Jesus even above our own children? That is what He says here. Now obviously, much of the time we are not faced with choices like this. Following Jesus is usually compatible with loving our children. But Jesus is saying, flat out, that we should always love him more than we love our own children, or anyone else for that matter.

Let’s step back a minute and look at this message. This is not merely a great moral teaching about loving other people. It is, in fact, a demand that we love Jesus, and that we do so at a higher level than we love anyone else. Unless Jesus is God, this teaching is either nonsense or pure evil. There is no sense in which Jesus is saying “Follow your own path to enlightenment.” He is not saying, “Follow me, follow Buddha, it makes no difference as long as you are sincere.” He is not saying, “Just love everybody else and you’ll be fine.” Instead, he is clearly saying: “Everything comes down to how you relate to me. I am the basis upon which you must prioritize your life and make your decisions.” To put it another way, the central teachings of Jesus are about himself. No wonder he was such a polarizing figure.

Next he says this:

And whoever doesn’t take up his cross and follow Me is not worthy of Me. Anyone finding his life will lose it, and anyone losing his life because of Me will find it. (Matt 10:38-39, HCSB)

Over the years, this little part of what Jesus said has morphed into this: “I have my own cross to bear.” But this is not at all the meaning that Jesus had in mind. It’s true, each person has their own unique struggles in life; I think it’s fine to recognize that. But when Jesus was talking about taking up our cross, he wasn’t talking about that. This was the period in history when the Romans used crucifixion as a method of execution. Typically, if the condemned person was healthy enough, he had to carry the instrument of his own death to the place of execution. In other words, condemned people could be seen from time to time carrying the crosses upon which they were to be killed. To carry a cross was to be on your way to death. So when Jesus tells us that we must pick up our crosses and follow him, he is saying that we must follow in his example of dying.

I think it is appropriate to understand that Jesus means, among other things, that we must die to our own ambitions, comforts, and goals. Jesus actually repeats this teaching again later on in his ministry. Luke records that the second time Jesus said it, it was “let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” I think this definitely captures the meaning. Taking up our cross means that we deny ourselves. We don’t deny ourselves just to show that we are self-disciplined, but we put Jesus’ goals and ambitions and desires for us ahead of our own. I think it’s useful that Luke says this needs to happen “daily.” But even more than dying to our own desires, right here, Jesus is telling us that in order to follow him we need to be willing to go as far as actual physical death. Throughout the past 2000 years, many Christians have been faced with the choice to either deny Jesus or give up their physical lives. I live in a time and a place where that is unlikely to happen, even so, Jesus wants my willingness. Not even continuing to live should be more important to me than Jesus Christ. As Jesus says, if you save your own life, by compromising your relationship with him, you have actually lost it.

In the next few verses Jesus’ claim is emphasized once more. He says that he is so central to everything, that when people offer respect, regard, or even a cup of water, to his followers, because they are his followers, they will be rewarded. The point here is not the reward, it is the fact of people recognizing who Jesus is and honoring that in the way they relate to his followers. It is about honoring Jesus.

I hope you understand that these words of Jesus are confrontational. He is presenting us with a choice: does he have the preeminent place in our lives? Do we love him more than we love anyone else? Is Jesus our number one priority? He is claiming here that he should be. This isn’t about following a moral code, it isn’t about living according to some sort of principle. It is about making Jesus Christ, the person, number one in our lives.

When controversy comes because you confess Jesus Christ, or you agree with what he says, what is your response? It isn’t wrong to seek peace with those with whom you disagree. But when peace is impossible, when agreement cannot be reached, Jesus unequivocally calls us to side with him.

At some point, anyone who calls himself or herself a Christian is faced with a call to daily deny himself or herself, die to self, be willing to actually die, and follow Jesus. This isn’t just theoretical. It will affect the way we relate to other people. It will affect what kind of jobs we take, and when and where we take them. It should make an impact on how much we indulge ourselves. It may even at some point cost us our lives.

Now of course, we can’t be perfect in putting Jesus first. I know I fail to do that in many ways. I believe Jesus offers me grace and forgiveness when I fail. But I do think he wants me to make the choice to put him above everything, even if at times I fail in following through. It is good to know, that my failures are not the final word.

Once again, we do not have the comfortable choice of viewing Jesus as a kind, harmless moral teacher. In some ways, he has been at the center of controversy for the past 2000 years. We can reject what he has said here, and call him a lunatic, or a megalomaniac. Or, we can receive him as our Lord, take up our crosses, and follow him.

DO NOT FEAR! YOU ARE WORTH MORE THAN MANY SPARROWS!

On November 4, 2014November 4, 2014 By Pastor TomIn Bible, Bible Teaching, Christianity, Jesus, Matthew, Podcast, Religion, Sermon1 Comment

Sorry, there is no audio for this message at this time. As of the post date, I am battling a cold and severe laryngitis.

Matthew #34 . Matthew 10:16-31

Last time we began to look at this passage, where Jesus is essentially training his disciples for mission work. He is sending them out immediately after he finishes speaking, and so much of what he says applies to their immediate mission. However, it is clear that there is much within these verses that also applies to the ongoing mission that the disciples will have after he dies, is resurrected, and ascends to heaven. In fact, it applies to us also as we engage in the ongoing mission of Jesus in this world.

So for instance, when Jesus tells the disciples to go only to the towns of Israel, and to avoid Gentiles, those instructions are limited to this first training mission. On the other hand, there is no evidence that the disciples were particularly persecuted while Jesus was still on earth, and so his warnings about persecutions were given to prepare them for the future, for the time after he had returned to heaven and sent the Holy Spirit.

The point is, most of Matthew chapter 10 is still relevant for us today. As we learned last time, we are called to engage in Jesus’ mission just as those first disciples were. Jesus’ words here are therefore also for our training.

Jesus says that those who follow him can expect to be taken to court. We can us expect public floggings; public trials where everyone would like to see us convicted; ridicule; struggle and strife. Our persecutors may be religious people. They may be people of great worldly power. Following Jesus might even bring strife into our family relationships. It could cost us our lives.

I don’t want to minimize these things. Jesus said them, and he clearly meant them. In fact, these things have been coming true since the day he sent his Holy Spirit to his disciples. From that time on the historical record is filled with evidence that those who followed Jesus are persecuted. For the past 2000 years there have always been places in the world where Christians are persecuted. And it continues even today. Just this week, I have been reading about the severe persecutions of Christians in Iraq and Syria. One Christian couple sat down with their children and explained to them that they might be threatened, even physically harmed, even killed. But they told their kids to hang on, that was only temporary, that soon all of them would be together with Jesus. This happened just this past month; it isn’t just something from long ago.

So why does Jesus tell his disciples these things? Why is it here for us? I think in this day and age, it is very important for us to understand that following Jesus is not necessarily a path to an easy life here on earth. This whole chapter portrays a life that could be hard. If and when persecutions come we should not be surprised, or even dismayed.

In some small degree, I have even felt little bits of adversity myself. Someone in my extended family compared me to an Islamic terrorist for holding to my conviction that the Bible is the word of God. Twice, in my ministry as a pastor, I have been called “David Koresh.” Koresh was a depraved, wicked cult leader, whose actions led to the destruction of many lives. Those who said it obviously meant that I am controlling, wicked and depraved. I’m not perfect, obviously, but I know I’m certainly nothing like either a terrorist or David Koresh. I remember these words of Jesus:

A disciple is not above his teacher, or a slave above his master. It is enough for a disciple to become like his teacher and a slave like his master. If they called the head of the house ‘Beelzebul,’ how much more the members of his household! (Matt 10:24-25, HCSB)

“Beelzebul” was a common name for “ruler of the demons.” Some people said Jesus did miracles because he was in league with the devil (we read that in 9:34), and I think that is what he is referring to. He is reminding all of us that if we are ridiculed and insulted and slandered, we are in good company – his company. These words are a comfort to me.

And in fact, there is a lot more comfort here too. These words are not meant to scare us or depress us – they are meant to encourage us when hardship comes along, especially when the world seems against us for our faith in Jesus Christ. Listen to Jesus:

“Therefore, don’t be afraid of them, since there is nothing covered that won’t be uncovered and nothing hidden that won’t be made known. What I tell you in the dark, speak in the light. What you hear in a whisper, proclaim on the housetops. Don’t fear those who kill the body but are not able to kill the soul; rather, fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. Aren’t two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them falls to the ground without your Father’s consent. But even the hairs of your head have all been counted. So don’t be afraid therefore; you are worth more than many sparrows. (Matt 10:26-31, HCSB)

I think this is a good place to stop and “camp” for a while. What I mean is, let’s give some attention and meditation to these particular verses. In the Greek, verse 29 says, literally: “Are not two sparrows sold for one penny? And yet not one of them falls to earth without your father.” Some English versions say “without your Father’s will” or “consent” or “knowledge” but the Greek is just “without your Father.” The picture here is that even when common a little bird dies, our Heavenly Father is there. To put it a different way: not even a sparrow dies alone. Sparrows do die sometimes. In fact, all them do die, eventually. The same is true of human beings. But the Father is there. He is with us, in every circumstance, even death. He isn’t distant, unaware of what is happening with you. He is right here with you. Not only does he know what is happening with you, he is right there with you in the middle of it. Paul understood this when he wrote this:

What then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He did not even spare His own Son but offered Him up for us all; how will He not also with Him grant us everything? Who can bring an accusation against God’s elect? God is the One who justifies. Who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is the One who died, but even more, has been raised; He also is at the right hand of God and intercedes for us. Who can separate us from the love of Christ? Can affliction or anguish or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: Because of You we are being put to death all day long; we are counted as sheep to be slaughtered. No, in all these things we are more than victorious through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that not even death or life, angels or rulers, things present or things to come, hostile powers, height or depth, or any other created thing will have the power to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord! (Rom 8:31-39, HCSB)

You may look back on your life and remember times of trouble and say “where was God in that?” I encourage you to turn that into a prayer. Instead of complaining, come to him humbly, honestly in your hurt and say, “That was awful. Where were you in the middle of that, Lord? Will you show me?” If you are presently in the midst of trouble or suffering, I encourage you to ask him the same question, only about the present time.

I know someone who was not a Christian until she was fifteen years old. Her childhood before that included some tragedies – the kinds of things that can mess up a person for a long time. In her middle twenties, the Lord began to bring up her memories of the very hard things she had been through. Only this time, she could see Him there in the memories. Obviously, the Lord hadn’t prevented the tragedies, most of which were due to the choices of other people. But he showed her that he had been right there with her in the middle of those things; he offered her comfort in those moments in her memories, and when she was able to see that, she experienced a great deal of peace and healing.

One of my favorite fantasy fiction book series is The Riddle Master of Hed by Patricia A. McKilip. In the story, the main character, Morgon goes through many exciting and terrible struggles as he searches for answers to questions that will change the fate of the world. He suffers pain, loss and fear. He loves his friends, but loses some of them in his quest. Among his other questions, he wonders why he must suffer so much. And then, when he first finds the answer, this is what happens:

[Morgon] closed his eyes. His heart beat suddenly, painfully in his throat. He wanted to speak, but he could not. The harpist’s silence circled him with the peace he had found deep within living things all over the realm. It eased through his thoughts into his heart, so that he could not even think. He only knew that something he had searched for so long and so hopelessly had never, even his most desperate moments, been far from his side.

Even as I write this, Christians in the Middle East are suffering terrible persecutions, like the ones Jesus describes here. But none of it happens without the presence of the Father with them. If you live very long, you will experience hardship and suffering of one sort or another. The Lord is never, even in your most desperate moments, far from your side. Though Jesus warns of this, he also says, “Do not Fear!”

Let the Holy Spirit speak to you today.

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Engaging in the Mission of Jesus (but it isn’t a secret)

On October 30, 2014October 30, 2014 By Pastor TomIn Bible, Bible Teaching, Christianity, Jesus, Matthew, Podcast, Religion, SermonLeave a comment

Today, Jesus still involves his disciples (that is, all Christians) in his mission. I am not saying that you should quit your job. But I am saying that all of us should depend entirely upon the Lord in every way as we seek to be involved in his mission.

To listen to the sermon, click the play button:

To download, right click on the link (or do whatever you do on a Mac) and save it to your computer: Download Matthew Part 33

Matthew #33 . 9:35-10:15

From the end of chapter 9 all the way through chapter 10, Matthew records how Jesus involved his disciples in his mission here on earth. During this period, Jesus was deeply involved in ministry to many people. It seems that he felt more than ever how important it was to train others to continue his mission after he had fulfilled his purposes here on earth.

Although all of chapter 10 properly belongs together, I think there is too much that may be valuable to skip over it quickly, therefore, we will only go through the end of verse 15 today.

The first, and possibly the most important thing to notice, is that Jesus involves his disciples in his mission. It is the mission of Jesus, but because they have trusted him and follow him, it now also becomes the mission of the disciples. At the end of chapter 9 we see Jesus teaching, preaching, healing, and driving out demons. In chapter 10 verse seven and eight, he tells the disciples to proclaim the kingdom, heal, and drive out demons. He wants them to do what he does. He wants them to get involved in the “family business.”

At this point in time, he has not yet released them to go into all the world. He still has work that he needs to do here on earth before that can happen. So he limits their mission to just the people of Israel. But he is preparing them for what will come. This is, in effect, a training mission.

Here, the mission was given just to the 12 disciples. Luke records that later on, Jesus sent out another, larger, group for essentially the same purposes (Luke 10).

Today, Jesus still involves his disciples in his mission. Biblically speaking, anyone who trusts Jesus is supposed to be a disciple. We don’t have “Christians,” and then “disciples.” All Christians are called to be disciples. And all Christians are called to be involved in the mission of Jesus. Though he involves us in his mission in many different ways, and it isn’t the same for every person, what is the same is that he wants us all involved in some way or another, with what he is doing in the world. Virtually every Christian in the New Testament understood this. Not all of them served Jesus full time. Not all of them left their homes to travel to other places. But all of them surrendered their lives to Jesus, and lived as if they were on a mission for him. He is calling you to do the same.

Don’t you know that your body is a sanctuary of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought at a price. Therefore glorify God in your body. (1Cor 6:19-20, HCSB)

For he who is called by the Lord as a slave is the Lord’s freedman. Likewise he who is called as a free man is Christ’s slave. You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of men. (1Cor 7:22-23, HCSB)

For we are His creation, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time so that we should walk in them. (Eph 2:10, HCSB)

The New Testament is quite clear. Trusting Jesus involves surrendering fully to him. We are not here on earth to please ourselves. Jesus does not set us free from sin and selfishness so that we can pursue our own ambitions in this life. Now that we belong to him, we are part of his mission. Now, I will say that in my own experience, pursuing the mission of Jesus with my life has been incredibly rewarding and fulfilling. It hasn’t always been easy, but I can’t imagine living any other way. To put it another way, living for the mission of Jesus, though sometimes difficult, certainly has its rewards.

I don’t think we can simply imitate exactly everything that is here in this text. This was how Jesus wanted his disciples to be part of his mission at that particular time and place. As I have said, he calls us in different ways and in different circumstances. Paul writes about this to the Romans:

Now as we have many parts in one body, and all the parts do not have the same function, in the same way we who are many are one body in Christ and individually members of one another. According to the grace given to us, we have different gifts: If prophecy, use it according to the standard of one’s faith; if service, in service; if teaching, in teaching; if exhorting, in exhortation; giving, with generosity; leading, with diligence; showing mercy, with cheerfulness. Love must be without hypocrisy. Detest evil; cling to what is good. Show family affection to one another with brotherly love. Outdo one another in showing honor. Do not lack diligence; be fervent in spirit; serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope; be patient in affliction; be persistent in prayer. Share with the saints in their needs; pursue hospitality. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice; weep with those who weep. Be in agreement with one another. Do not be proud; instead, associate with the humble. Do not be wise in your own estimation. Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Try to do what is honorable in everyone’s eyes. If possible, on your part, live at peace with everyone. (Rom 12:4-18, HCSB)

So our calling does not have to look exactly like this first training mission given to the 12 apostles. However, I do think there are some principles we can gain from the instructions that Jesus gave to them here in this text.

First, as we’ve already mentioned, Jesus asks them to imitate himself. He tells them to do what he has been doing. I’m not always a fan of the expression “what would Jesus do?” The truth is, none of us is Jesus, and it isn’t always appropriate to behave as if we were. Even so, I think what we can gain here is an important perspective about the mission he has for us. What I mean is, it isn’t our mission, it is the mission of Jesus. We aren’t here to do our own thing, not even to do our own thing for God. We are here to get involved in what Jesus is doing. So as we seek to live our lives in the mission of Jesus, the real question to ask God is not “what is your purpose for me?” Instead, I favor praying more like this: “Lord what are you doing? How do you want to involve me in that?” It may be a subtle difference, but the point is the focus should be on the Lord, and his mission, rather than a self-centered, individualized view of our own particular purpose in life. It isn’t supposed to be my purpose, it is supposed to be the Lord’s purpose.

A second thing I see from Jesus’ instructions to his disciples is that he calls them to rely entirely upon God’s provision. In verse eight, he says “you have received free of charge; give free of charge.” In other words, is telling them not to ask for a set fee for their ministry. They are not to say, “deliverance from demons is 100 denarii; regular healing is $85, healing from leprosy is $97.50.” In verse nine, Jesus tells them not to bring their own money or even to provide anything for themselves. But then he adds “for the worker is worthy of his food.” So if they aren’t to explicitly charge anything, and they aren’t to bring their own provisions, the only thing left is to trust God.

I have met a number of people, (strangely, many of them were quite wealthy), who insist that pastors and church workers should not be paid. They use verses like these to bolster their positions. That’s not what Jesus is saying here. He is telling his disciples not to demand a certain amount of money before they will minister. He’s telling them to go ahead and minister, and especially, to trust God to provide. But he implies that those who are blessed by his mission will in turn give to these ministers (“the worker is worthy of his food”). And I think that is the New Testament model. As Paul explains to the Corinthians, and to others, some people will devote their working lives exclusively to serving God, and God’s people should give money to support those full-time ministers (1 Corinthians 9:13-14; 1 Timothy 5:17-18; 2 Tim 2:6; Galatians 6:6). But those full time ministers should consider God as their primary resource, even their primary financial resource. In other words, as one of those called to full-time service, I think of God as the one who pays my salary. I rely on him. Now, I’m deeply grateful to those people who support my ministry financially, and I think of them as partners in the ministry. But if I look first and foremost to the Lord as the one who supports me, I won’t get upset when people fail to give, and I won’t treat those who give more with favoritism over those who give little or nothing. If I look at God as my primary resource, I won’t decide to engage in a ministry based upon whether or not I can live on what someone will pay me.

It goes beyond finances as well. It’s true, there are a few Christians called to full time service. But every Christian is supposed to be a disciple, and every disciple is called to participate in the mission of Jesus in one way or another (Ephesians 4:11-16; Romans 12:4-8 [quoted above]; 1 Corinthians 12:12-31). Most disciples do not make a living by working full-time in ministry. But we all still need to rely on the Lord to accomplish his purpose through us. We need to trust him for the energy; we need to surrender our time to him. We need to believe that he will do everything necessary to fulfill his mission through us, if we will simply give him our willingness. We need to look not at whether something appears feasible, but rather, at what the Lord is inviting us to do.

I am not saying that you should quit your job. But I am saying that all of us should depend entirely upon the Lord in every way as we seek to be involved in his mission.

There is one other point that I want to highlight today. In verses 11 through 14 Jesus describes how his disciples should relate to others as they fulfill his mission. What he tells them is not at all what most Christians have come to expect. In essence, he tells them to look for good people who are open to the message of the kingdom of God. If they receive that message, well and good. But if they do not receive the good news, the disciples are not to waste time with them. In fact, Jesus says that if people will not listen to them, they should “shake the dust off their feet,” when they leave. It was a custom for Jews to shake the dust off their feet as they left Gentile towns. It was a symbol for them that the Gentiles had rejected God, and that they (the Jews) had nothing more to do with them.

We don’t typically think of this attitude when we think about being involved in the mission of Jesus. But as we have already seen in our study of Matthew, Jesus did not come in order to be popular, or to make a lot of friends. His message offended many people, and he expected that to happen. He is sending his disciples with the same message, and it only makes sense to assume that the message will offend others as well. We should take care never to be unnecessarily offensive by how we behave or by how we go about the mission of Jesus. But if the message of Jesus is not received, that is not our problem. Our job is to participate in the mission of Jesus; the results are up to Jesus, not us.

So what is the Lord saying to you today? Have you fully engaged in the mission of Jesus? Have you surrendered your willingness to him? Do you need to learn to trust more? Is the Holy Spirit encouraging you today to rely upon Jesus truly and fully in everything? Do you need to be reminded today that the message of the kingdom of God is sometimes offensive, and not everyone will receive it?

Let the Holy Spirit speak to you now.

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