Category: Christianity

WHO DO *YOU* SAY JESUS IS?

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

Who is

Just as it was in the time of the disciples, many people have opinions about Jesus. Some of those opinions have little basis in fact. Many of them are generally positive. But the key question is: who do you say Jesus is? If you don’t know enough to answer, this may be a good place to start.

 

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 52

 

Matthew #52 . Matthew 16:13-20 (Part A)

Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”

And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”

He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”

Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”

Then he strictly charged the disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ. (Matt 16:13-20, ESV2011)

It is worth taking a long look at these eight verses, because there is so much packed into this one small passage. First, Jesus asks, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” I hope you have noticed by now, that sometimes Jesus referred to himself as “the Son of Man.” We considered this briefly before, but I will add some information here. The prophet Ezekiel, when he records God speaking, says something like this: “He said to me, ‘Son of man, speak to the people of Israel and say…’” Ninety-three times Ezekiel records God calling him “son of man,” in this way. The significance of this is that in the case of Ezekiel God chose human flesh to speak his words. I think sometimes that Jesus called himself “son of man” to remind those around him (who would have been familiar with the prophecies of Ezekiel) that he was speaking God’s words to them.

I also believe that at a certain level Jesus found it unique that he was not just “God-the-Son” as he was before he came into the world, but now he was also “son of man,” like Ezekiel, a human instrument of God speaking. You might say, humanity was a kind of new identity for Jesus, and so he often called himself by that name.

There is further significance. Two particular passages in the Old Testament which prophesy about the coming Messiah call him “a son of man.”

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)

So, by this phrase Jesus is reminding others that he is a messenger from God, embracing his human nature (new since his birth from Mary) and also embracing and reminding others of his identity as the Messiah.

He asks the disciples what others say about him. The answers are interesting. Every one of them is someone who has already died. John the Baptist had already been beheaded at this point, and obviously, many people did not hear anything about Jesus until after John’s death. Hearing his preaching and seeing miracles, perhaps they supposed that John had somehow been resurrected. At the very least, they assumed that spirit of John was somehow manifesting in Jesus.

Elijah, Jeremiah and the other prophets had all died centuries before. Again, the people are either believing that one of the prophets has come back to life, or that Jesus is somehow manifesting the spirit of such a person. All the answers share this in common: the people believed that Jesus was either the physical or spiritual embodiment of some great godly person from the past.

What it amounts to is this: In the general opinion of the people, there was something special about Jesus. However, the answers reveal something else. Though they are willing to give Jesus special honor, they are not willing to grant him the status of being the Messiah, the Lord and savior.

I think this is significant, because most of the world still views Jesus with a similar attitude. Like the people who were alive during his time on earth, many people throughout history and even today, agree that Jesus was something special. The prophet Mohammed attributed many miracles to Jesus, and even said that Jesus lived a sinless life. But Mohammed and Muslims will not grant Jesus the status of Messiah and Lord. They call him only a prophet, no more. Mormons and Jehovah’s witnesses have a special honor for Jesus also. Hindu religious leaders often praise Jesus for his teachings, as do many Buddhists, and even some atheists. Even Jews respect Jesus as an important Rabbi. But all of them stop short of Peter’s confession.

Peter said: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” What does this mean, exactly?

“Christ” is simply the Greek word for the Hebrew “Messiah,” which literally means, “anointed one.” That may or may not be not be helpful. The basic meaning of “Messiah/Christ” is: God’s unique, Holy-Spirit-empowered servant by whom He will save His people and accomplish His purposes in the world. Though many people “foreshadowed” what the Messiah would be like (like David), the Old and New Testaments teach that there is only one true Messiah.

What about: “Son of the Living God?” This means more than meets the eye at first. John, who present at the time, wrote this about Jesus’ son-ship:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. All things were created through Him, and apart from Him not one thing was created that has been created. Life was in Him, and that life was the light of men. That light shines in the darkness, yet the darkness did not overcome it. (John 1:1-4)….

The Word became flesh and took up residence among us. We observed His glory, the glory as the One and Only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John testified concerning Him and exclaimed, “This was the One of whom I said, ‘The One coming after me has surpassed me, because He existed before me.’ ”) Indeed, we have all received grace after grace from His fullness, for the law was given through Moses, grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God. The One and Only Son — the One who is at the Father’s side — He has revealed Him. (John 1:14-18, HCSB)

Here John, teaches us that the “Son-ship” of Jesus means that he shares the same essence with God the Father. There is one God, not three, and yet he is revealed to us in three persons (not three gods): Father, Son and Holy Spirit. One human being = one person. But God is greater than human beings. For God (and God alone) one God = three persons. This is not something we can understand entirely. It is not the type of thing that human beings would ever make up. If you were creating a religion, or even just refining one, you would either go with polytheism (many separate Gods) or single monotheism (just one God, with one “person”), or monism (everything in the universe is just a part of one big whole). All of those are easy to understand and easy to explain. In a man-made religion, these types of verses I am sharing right now would end up in the trash can. On the other hand, if, as we claim, God is infinite and we are not, it stands to reason that we would not be able to fully understand His nature, which gives the Christian doctrine of the Trinity (that is what we are talking about here) a ring of truth that is missing from polytheism, single-monotheism and monism.

To get back to the main point, we know that “Son of God” means that Jesus shared the same essence with God the Father, and directly manifested the glory and purpose of God in a specific time in the history of our planet.

Paul says similar things. In the following passage, he also connects the Son-ship of Jesus (and his shared essence with God) to his work as the Messiah/Christ:

[God the Father] has rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son He loves. We have redemption, the forgiveness of sins, in Him. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For everything was created by Him, in heaven and on earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities — all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and by Him all things hold together. He is also the head of the body, the church; He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He might come to have first place in everything. For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile everything to Himself by making peace through the blood of His cross — whether things on earth or things in heaven. (Col 1:13-20, HCSB)

So “Messiah/Christ” and “Son of God,” go together. Jesus was fully God (one “person” of the One true, three-person God) before the creation of the world. Nothing was created apart from Him doing the creating. Yet he came to earth and took on human flesh, and became not only God the Son, but also “the son of man,” having human nature as we do. He did this because he was the Messiah, the one who ultimately defeated sin and evil through his death on the cross.

Peter may not have understood every single nuance of this at the moment of his confession in Matthew 16:16, but this is what he was saying, this was his confession; this is what it means to say that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God.

There are many opinions about Jesus. Our world today is no different in this respect than that of the first disciples. Only the very ignorant refuse to believe that he was a real historical person. Many people recognize the influence he has had on the world, and explain it by calling him a prophet, a great teacher, an angel or something else.

But I believe Jesus asks us the same question that he put to his disciples: “Who do you say I am?”

I don’t want to be overdramatic, but this question is the key question in all of life. Who do you say Jesus is?

The world says all sorts of things about Jesus. Ultimately, however, we each have to grapple personally with what we believe about him. I have a friend who isn’t a Christian. Once, at the end of an email, he said: “Maybe you could put in a good word for me at the pearly gates.”

I responded with this: “My word is no good in heaven. But I can introduce you to the Guy that I’m counting on to get me in.”

It isn’t enough that our friends or relatives know who Jesus is. It isn’t enough to rely on the opinions of educated people about Jesus, or the opinions of religious people, or of wonderful people, or of someone you met at a party. We are all confronted with the same question as the disciples: who do you say Jesus is?

Hopefully, as you have followed along with these sermons, you have learned a thing or two about Jesus. Matthew has recorded that up to this point, Jesus has fulfilled more than a dozen different Old Testament prophecies about the Messiah, including things Jesus couldn’t manipulate, like the manner and place of his birth, and his early life in Egypt. John the Baptist testified that Jesus was the Messiah. At Jesus’ baptism, a voice from heaven said “This is my beloved son. I take delight in him!”

In the sermon on the Mount, Jesus claims greater authority than Moses. He claims to be the fulfillment of the Old Testament. He says that he is the narrow gate. He prophesies that people will call him “Lord,” and drive out demons in his name and do good works in his name.

So far from Matthew we have seen Jesus heal lepers, and blind people, and lame people, and sick people, and a dead girl. He has healed by touching, and also by simply speaking a word. He has driven out demons. He has miraculously fed 18,000 people or more. We have seen him claim the authority to forgive sins, and then prove that claim by healing a paralyzed man. We have seen him calm a storm and walk on water.

We have heard Jesus say that following him will bring persecution – but that we should follow him anyway. He claims that if we acknowledge him publicly, he will recognize us before the Father in Heaven – he seems to assume that his recognition in this way is all-important. Jesus has called himself the Lord of the Sabbath, and said that the Father in heaven has entrusted all things to him. We have heard him tell the followers of John the Baptist that he is fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies about the Messiah. He has claimed to have authority over all demonic powers because his power comes from Heaven. He promises to give us rest for our souls, and he did not stop people from worshiping him.

We have spent fifty-two weeks getting to this point in Matthew; there are many more claims and miracles by Jesus than those I have referenced here, and we are only a little more than halfway through Matthew’s gospel. I think when you look at them all together like this, it makes an impact. Clearly, Jesus is not a great teacher, or a great man in any way, if all these claims are false. But if they are true…?

I think sometimes in my own walk of faith, I get caught up in me. I think and pray about what I want God to do in my life. At other times, I am into intercessory prayer: I want God to do something in the lives of others, or the world at large. But today I want us to remember: it is all about Jesus. Jesus is who he is, whether we believe it or not, whether we even think about it or not. And the foundation of our faith should be recognizing Jesus for who is, and worshipping him. This confession of Peter is the great foundational truth of all people who call themselves Christians. It is worth contemplating.

So, I ask you today: who do you say Jesus is?

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.

Please also pray for our finances. Pray for us to receive what we need. Please pray for us in this way before you give anything. And then, as you pray, if the Lord leads you to give us a gift, please go ahead and do that. But if he doesn’t want you to give to us, that is absolutely fine. We don’t want you to feel bad about it. We want you to follow Jesus in this matter. But do continue to pray for our finances.

If the Lord does lead you to give, just use the Paypal Donate button on the right hand side of the page. You don’t have to have a Paypal account – you can use a credit card, if you prefer. You can also set up a recurring donation through Paypal. We can make this tax-deductible if you just mention that it want it to be so in the “note” part of the transaction.

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

Thank for your prayers, and your support!

JESUS-FOLLOWERS SHOULD AVOID RELIGIOUS PEOPLE

On By Pastor TomIn Bible, Christianity, Jesus, Matthew, Podcast, Religion, SermonLeave a comment

 

jesusfeet3

The Pharisees were the hard-core legalists, who had no room for trust, or even Jesus, in all their rules. The Sadducees were the cultural “progressives” who compromised in order to fit in with secular society. Faith in a literal messiah was too crude for them, the bible and moral standards unimportant. Jesus said to beware of *both* of these types of religious people.

 

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 Part51

 

 

Matthew #51. Matthew 16:1-12

Our text this week is another one of those “drive-through” passages of Scripture, at least it has been so for me. You know what I mean: it’s a part of the Bible that you read through pretty quickly, more or less skimming, and then you go on to something more interesting. As always, what helps me to truly engage with the text is to ask questions. And Matthew 16:1-12 presents us with one (at least) very intriguing question.

Here’s the setup. Sometime after the feeding of the 4000, two different groups, the Pharisees and the Sadducees, approach Jesus and basically ask him to prove that he is a Messiah. In essence, They’re asking him to do a magic trick. This is the second time that Pharisees have made such a request, but the first time for the Sadducees. The previous occasion is recorded in Matthew 12:38-42, and we covered it in depth in the sermon: Matthew #40.

Jesus here basically gives them two brief answers. First, he suggests that if they want a sign, they should consider “the signs of the times.” In other words, if they were to step back and look at his ministry so far as a whole, and compare it to the Old Testament, it would be obvious to them that he was the Messiah. Second, he clearly declines to do a miracle-on-the-spot for them. As I mentioned in Matthew #40, and also last time, miracles have a very limited value in convincing people to follow Jesus, and Jesus obviously knew that. Instead, as in Matthew chapter 12, Jesus tells them to look for “the sign of Jonah.” This is a reference to his coming death, burial and resurrection.

After this, they leave, and as they are traveling, the disciples realize that no one has brought along bread to eat. Once again, here is another thing that would not have been included by people making up a religion, or shaping a Bible text to suit their own purposes. The 12 apostles were the founders of the church, heroes of the faith. The New Testament is verifiably their own teaching and writing. If I was making up a religion, I would be reluctant to portray the sources of my doctrine as a bunch of silly fools. Yet, here, as in many places, the apostles look like a bunch of idiots.

First, it’s just stupid that with 12 people traveling together, no one remembered to bring food. Set aside what comes after (which is even worse), just look at it for what it is: they are totally disorganized and impractical. Personally, I think it is genuinely humorous.

Jesus hears their discussion and inserts this cryptic comment: “Watch out and beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” This is where the disciples look even worse. They’ve just had an encounter with the Pharisees and Sadducees. Not long before that they were present at the feeding the 4000. And yet, they think that Jesus is saying that the Pharisees and Sadducees make bad bread. After all that they’ve been through they are still concerned about physical bread.

Jesus straightens them out, and makes it clear that what he means is that they should beware of the teaching of the Pharisees and the Sadducees. This for me is the most interesting part of the passage, and the one that begs the question: What is the teaching of the Pharisees and the Sadducees? In other words, what was Jesus warning them about?

First, I think it is reasonable to assume that one of the things Jesus is warning his disciples about is the attitude of the Pharisees and Sadducees when they demanded a sign. I want to make sure we understand that there is a difference between having honest doubts which we bring to Jesus, and demanding that Jesus meet our specifications before we will agree to trust him. The apostle Thomas had honest doubts about the resurrection of Jesus, and he expressed them, not as a demand that the Lord somehow prove himself, but merely voicing his inner struggle. I think this is good and right and appropriate. Most Christians struggle with doubt at one point or another. I think it’s a good thing to be honest about those doubts, to express them, but also to be vulnerable and open before the Lord as we seek answers. In other words, we express our inner turmoil, but we don’t demand that God has to meet all of our requirements before we trust him. This attitude of faith combined with honest struggle is beautifully captured by the man who said in Mark 9:24, “I believe, but help my unbelief.”

The Pharisees and Sadducees, however, were demanding that Jesus perform according to their specifications. They are not coming to Jesus and an attitude of struggling faith looking for help. Instead, they are essentially coming to him and saying, “We won’t accept you or listen to you until you prove yourself to us to our satisfaction.” Their starting point is not faith-with-struggle, but rather, a desire to discredit Jesus altogether.

So when Jesus tells his disciples to beware of their teaching, I think he is warning them about this attitude of extreme skepticism. We have already seen that miracles have a very limited value for convincing people who do not want to be convinced. Jesus is saying, “Don’t be like them. Struggling with doubt is one thing, but demanding that the Messiah, the son of God who created the universe, must explain himself to your satisfaction is something completely different.”

I think this is probably the first thing that Jesus means when he tells them to be where the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees. But when we investigate further, we find that the teaching of the Pharisees is very different from the teaching of the Sadducees. To lump them together seems almost silly. So does Jesus have anything else in mind with this warning?

To find the answer to that question we need to know more about each group. Let’s start with the Pharisees. In many ways, the Pharisees had a lot in common with Jesus. They took the Old Testament and Jewish religion seriously, they believed in resurrection, and in the Messiah. They were zealous, in fact they were hard-core religious conservatives, and quite popular with ordinary people, though they considered themselves set-apart from the ordinary folks.

However, in their zeal, the Pharisees made God’s Word into sets of external duties, and they made all sorts of extra rules that aren’t found in the Old Testament. Sometimes, they used these extra rules as loopholes to get around other rules. For instance, they said that in order to honor the Sabbath and keep it holy, you could only travel so many steps from your house on a Saturday. However, if on another day, you stashed some bread some distance from your house, when it came to the Sabbath, that stash of your food became the “new border of your house,” so you could travel to that location without counting any of the steps you took against your Sabbath total. Deuteronomy 5:14 commands the Jews to even rest their animals (like donkeys) on the Sabbath. However, the Pharisees made rules declaring that riding a donkey didn’t count as making it work unless you carried a switch to spur it on. In other words, though the Pharisees said they believed in the rules, but were constantly making more rules that helped them get around the ones they didn’t like.

Long before the time of the Pharisees, Moses told the Israelites the essence of what it really meant to be the people of God

“Listen, Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is One. Love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. These words that I am giving you today are to be in your heart. (Deut 6:4-6, HCSB)

But the Pharisees took loving God out of it. They took heart and soul out of it. They turned it into a matter of following rules, and when the rules seemed to too hard, they made new laws that helped them get around the difficult ones. It would have been hard to be a Pharisee and follow all the rules. That’s why they were considered hard-core. But it is much easier to follow rules than to have true internal righteousness, to have true love for God, to really follow him with all your heart, soul and strength. By their rule-following, they eliminated the need for a Messiah to address sin and heal hearts. Their rule-following left no room for forgiveness, no room, in fact, for the work of Jesus.

So, although the Pharisees supposedly thought that the Bible was important and authoritative, more important and more authoritative to them were their own rules and ways of doing things. And by these rules, they had taken the heart out of following God, and taken away the need for a Savior from sin.

The Sadducees were quite different. In the three centuries or so before the birth of Jesus, there was a lot of tumult in the land of Israel. For several hundred years, the Ptolemy dynasty of Greece ruled the area. During this time, a number Jews decided they wanted to fit in with the dominant culture around them. A movement arose among them to adopt the intellectual and philosophical ways of Greek society, and to abandon the more primitive-seeming, “hard-core” approach of classic Jewish religion. The Jews who took this approach became known as Sadducees. They wanted political power and intellectual respectability. The Old Testament was not terribly important to them, per se, and though they certainly considered themselves “Jews,” it was more in a cultural sense than anything to do with their core beliefs. They accommodated to and adapted to the dominant culture, abandoning much of the teaching of the Old Testament in order to do so. When the Roman Empire became dominant, the Sadducees had no trouble switching their allegiance to the Romans, who had adopted much of Greek culture themselves.

The Sadducees also rejected Jesus, but for different reasons than the Pharisees. The Sadducees did not take the Jewish scriptures seriously, so, in the first place, they did not even believe in the Messiah as an actual person. Secondly, they felt that the whole concept of Messiah was politically dangerous – it might lead to strife and even violence and war. Finally, that whole approach to religion was out of style with elites such as they, maybe even gauche. The claims, teachings and actions of the actual person, Jesus Christ, simply did not fit with their world-view.

Under normal circumstances, the Pharisees and Sadducees came down on opposite sides of most issues. They were, in general, political opponents. In some ways, you might say the Pharisees were the “conservatives” and the Sadducees were the “progressives.” But on one thing they agreed: they did not want Jesus challenging their dearly-held beliefs and lifestyle.

So, what else might Jesus have meant by: “beware the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees?”

I think we might say that Jesus is warning us about two different problems that come in with religion. One is legalism (associated with the Pharisees). Legalists believe that if they just do the right things, they will be considered right with God. They tend to ignore issues of the heart, mind and soul, and focus only on behavior. Many legalists, like the Pharisees, also find convoluted ways to excuse and justify their own bad behavior, making them also hypocrites. Beware of their teaching!

Unfortunately, sometimes legalists appear to have a lot in common with true Jesus-followers. Jesus had much more in common with the Pharisees than the Sadducees. Officially, legalists generally believe the right things. But there is very little room for Jesus in their rule-following. They’ve taken the heart out of it, literally.

The second thing Jesus warns about is, for lack of a better term, “social religion.” In our day and time, this is associated with religious people who tend toward the “left” end of the political/social spectrum. Personal morality has very little importance for the socially religious. Truth is seen as “flexible,” and the Bible is not particularly valued. What they do value is the respect of the culture around them. They want to fit in with what the majority thinks and does. They do not change the culture around them, though they might wish to think that they do. They will readily attack conservative minorities, thereby hoping to appear as if they are challenging the status quo, when in fact, they are merely agreeing with society at large. Beware of their teaching!

The important thing is that both reject Jesus. They take different paths, and reject him for different reasons, but this is what we must beware of. Hard-core religious legalists may “officially” approve of Jesus but they don’t really want to surrender control to him. They prefer to seek safety in following rules and making others do the same. On the other hand, socially “progressive” Christians may also “officially” approve of Jesus, but when that means anything like admitting the need to be forgiven for actual personal sin, or supporting Jesus’ standards of personal moral conduct, they shudder and back away. They want religion that does not require personal surrender or personal change; they want a religion that is approved by the society around them. The actual teachings of Jesus tend to be too extreme and too absolute to get much approval from culture, so progressives also, set Him aside.

None of this is new. Jesus clearly knew it, as we see from our text today. The apostles also knew it. Paul writes:

For the Jews ask for signs and the Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Gentiles. (1Cor 1:22-23, HCSB)

I was going to say that both legalism and progressivism tempt me, but I want to be honest, and the truth is, legalism has never really attracted me. I just don’t have enough energy or desire for control to be a legalist. However, I do know a number of people who struggle with it, and many more who were brought up in it. I think one of the appeals of legalism is that it feels “safe.” You know what you have to do, and how you have to do it. Very little trust is involved. Of course, that is the problem.

For example, a legalist I knew in Lutheran seminary insisted that if a pastor would simply hold worship services using the correct and approved liturgy, then all the people in the congregation would be spiritually well. This is trust in performing external duties, not trust in Jesus. Simply doing the liturgy the correct way is also a lot easier and more straightforward than walking with Jesus daily in faith. I’ve met legalists here in the South who feel that if you simply “get saved” (answer an altar call), get baptized, and go to church regularly, you can do whatever you want with the rest of your life. This is trust in performance, not real trust in, and surrender to, Jesus.

Legalism is also difficult for true Jesus followers, because legalists are often technically correct in their doctrine; often our argument with legalists is not about core beliefs, but rather about how to apply them.

My temptation is usually more in the other direction. I am little bit of an intellectual guy, and I want the respect of other intellectuals. Jesus-followers at times have had the reputation of being ignorant and bigoted, and not only do I think that is wrong, but I also want to prove it is wrong. I’m tempted to show that I am smart, that I’m not so bad. I want the respect of the culture at large. I realize how silly it sounds to say that I actually believe a man was raised from the dead, and is still alive, 2000 years later. I realize how bigoted it sounds (these days) to simply repeat the moral standards taught by the bible. I am tempted, therefore, by the Sadducee-style approach to religion. A vague and non-demanding “faith message” is not threatening to our culture. But a call to personal commitment to an unseen Messiah who also wants to transform us into new creations – that doesn’t fly so well. These days, people are saying to those who believe in biblical morality “You are the wrong side of history.” That’s the kind of thing the Sadducees paid attention to. When they heard things like that, they changed to suit the culture. Jesus says of them, “Beware!”

So where does this all take us? What is Lord saying to you about this? If you have honest doubts that you share in openness, I think probably you are fine. But some people may be tempted to insist that Jesus meet all their personal requirements of “faith” before they will follow him. That’s something to consider, and watch out for. Perhaps you’ve struggled with legalism. Maybe you feel that if you just do your duty (church-going, following a dress-code, praying a certain way) you are fine. Perhaps you need to remember that Jesus invites you into a daily, living relationship of faith – of trust in him, not in your own doing. Or, possibly you are like me. You don’t like to be thought of as “on the wrong side of history.” You want respect, and you are tempted to alter your beliefs or biblical moral standards to get it. But Jesus was persecuted by society at large – in fact, by the Sadducees, who had some political clout. He said that his disciples should expect the same. Compromise is not the answer – trust in Jesus is.

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.

Please also pray for our finances. Pray for us to receive what we need. Please pray for us in this way before you give anything. And then, as you pray, if the Lord leads you to give us a gift, please go ahead and do that. But if he doesn’t want you to give to us, that is absolutely fine. We don’t want you to feel bad about it. We want you to follow Jesus in this matter. But do continue to pray for our finances.

If the Lord does lead you to give, just use the Paypal Donate button on the right hand side of the page. You don’t have to have a Paypal account – you can use a credit card, if you prefer. You can also set up a recurring donation through Paypal. We can make this tax-deductible if you just mention that it want it to be so in the “note” part of the transaction.

You could also send a check to:

New Joy Fellowship

917 Canyon Creek Drive

Lebanon, TN 37087

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MAYBE FIXING EVERYTHING DOESN’T FIX EVERYTHING

On By Pastor TomIn Bible, Bible Teaching, Christianity, Faith, Jesus, Matthew, Podcast, Religion, SermonLeave a comment

perfect life

Jesus truly cares about our trials and struggles, and sometimes he does alleviate them. We should not be embarrassed or ashamed to ask him for help with earthly problems. Jesus should be the most significant factor in any situation for us. Even so, having our troubles “fixed” often leaves us unchanged, and that’s not always a good thing.

 

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 50

 

Matthew #50 . Matthew 15:29-38

Greetings, dear friends. This week I will be writing about, among other things, how the presence of Jesus should be the most important factor to believers in all circumstances. In terms of energy, time, talent and finances it often seems like I am inadequate to the callings the Lord has for me. But just as the most important thing for the 4000 hungry people to know was that Jesus was among them, so it is with me, and you too, I might add.

For this reason, I invite you to pray with me for the ministry of Clear Bible.

Please pray that the Lord will provide every need to keeping making this ministry what He wants it to be. Pray it 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.

Please also pray for our finances. Pray for us to receive what we need. God really is our true provider, so please do pray for us in this way before you give anything. And then, as you pray, if the Lord leads you to give us a gift, please go ahead and do that. But if he doesn’t want you to give to us, that is absolutely fine. We don’t want you to feel bad about it. We want you to follow Jesus in this matter.

If the Lord does lead you to give, just use the Paypal Donate button on the right hand side of the page. You don’t have to have a Paypal account – you can use a credit card, if you prefer. You can also set up a recurring donation through Paypal. We can make this tax-deductible if you just mention that it want it to be so in the “note” part of the transaction.

You could also send a check to:

New Joy Fellowship

917 Canyon Creek Road

Lebanon, TN 37087

(this is a new address by the way. It is merely an administrative change).

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

Thank for your prayers, and your support!

~

One of the arguments made by skeptics is that the Bible, as we have it today, was shaped and “redacted,” by early Christian communities. In other words, goes the theory, over the first few hundred years of Christianity, various Christian communities changed some of what was originally written, and made up other parts out of thin air. Of course, this theory is destroyed by the known facts of how the Bible came to be. With vast numbers of complete and partial manuscripts in various languages, with a few surviving portions of manuscripts dating back to the time of the apostles, and large numbers of surviving papyri dating to within one generation of the apostles, we know that early Christian communities changed nothing. If they had, we would find widely varying readings in the various surviving manuscripts, with significantly variant readings clearly centered in geographical areas. Instead, we find that by A.D. 250, virtually all Christians across the known world (at the time) were using essentially the same New Testament texts. This occurred while Christianity was still an illegal, persecuted religion, so no one got any wealth or power from what is written in the bible.

Matthew 15:29–38 is another one of those passages that would only be included if the Bible is in fact what it claims to be. In other words, if you were in an early Christian community deciding what the Bible was going to be, you would almost certainly leave this out. If you haven’t already, go ahead and read the text. Now, think about it. We already have the feeding of the 5000. In that story, Jesus healed a bunch of people, and then fed them all with a few fish and some pieces of bread. In this story, we have almost the same thing. Jesus heals a bunch of people, spends three days with them, and then feeds them all with a few fish and some pieces of bread. The main differences appear to be that the second crowd was with Jesus for three days (instead of just one), and there were 4000 men (plus women and children), instead of 5000 (plus women and children). We also have different numbers of bread and fish and of baskets of leftovers.

Why would we include this second story? We already have a story just like it. The answer is simple: the reason Matthew included this story is because it really happened. It wasn’t put in by an early Christian community because they had some sort of agenda; this story does not advance any agenda beyond that of the first mass-feeding. A made-up gospel would simply leave it out. No, the only reason to include this story is because this is what actually happened. By the way, Jesus and his disciples have a conversation in Matthew 16, in which they refer to both incidents.

We might ask, why then, did Jesus repeat this miracle? We can ask this in true faith; it is a reasonable question. Sometimes, however, I think we hyper spiritualize what we read in the Bible. Sometimes the answer is very simple and straightforward. I think the reason Jesus fed the 4000, even though he had previously fed the 5000, was because, at that particular time, he was with the 4000 and they were hungry. In other words, it wasn’t some sort of additional lesson, or spiritual parable. He wasn’t proving a point. He happened to be there with those people. They were in need, and so he healed them; they were hungry, and so he fed them. It was simply Jesus providing for needy people.

Now, I believe this is true, and I think it is the main reason we have this text. I also believe that the Holy Spirit can, and does, use every part of the Scripture, and so I also think that we can hear God speak to us through this text.

First, I want us to notice something about our desires and their fulfillments as we look at this passage. Matthew tells us that he’s only counting men (in a census, only men were counted, which was a good thing for the people when it came to war and taxes). Conservatively, if you assume only one woman and one child for every two men present, on this occasion, Jesus fed about 8,000 people. On the previous occasion it would have been 10,000. So, between the two incidents, Jesus miraculously fed 18,000 people (possibly many more). In addition, he healed many of those people. I am sure that many of them desperately wanted healing for themselves or their family members before they went to see Jesus. I’m sure that many of them were very tired and hungry before Jesus fed them. Well, they got what they wanted: they were healed and then fed. They came to the Lord, asking him to meet their needs, and he did. But what was the result?

Luke tells us that when the dust had all settled after the crucifixion and resurrection, there were about 120 people (men, women and children) who followed Jesus. We don’t know for sure who each one of those 120 people were, but we know that the twelve followed him before the feeding of the five or four thousands. We know also about many women who were already his followers before this, along with several people whom were not present when he fed the five thousand, or the four, but became followers later, in Jerusalem. What this means is that at most, out of 18,000 people who received miraculous healing and miraculous food, fewer than 100 ended up following Jesus. That’s about one half of 1%. It is possible, of course that not a single one of these 18,000 people were among the 120 disciples at the time of Jesus’ resurrection.

The reason I bring this up is because it speaks to the heart of a lie that we human beings tell ourselves so often. We think that if God would just show himself we would put our faith in him. We believe that if God would simply fix our difficult situation everything would change for us. There are many Christian circles where it is popular to say “you cannot minister to a person’s spiritual needs until you have ministered to her physical needs.” But all these ideas are destroyed by this fact: Jesus Christ himself ministered to the physical needs of more than 18,000 people, and virtually none of them followed him; virtually none of them were fundamentally or permanently changed.

Our true need is not for God to simply alleviate our suffering, for him to deal with the thing that we think is bothering us the most. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for the alleviation of suffering, particularly my own. But I do not think it accomplishes as much as we suppose it does. In the lives of these 18,000 people, it did not accomplish much spiritually, it did not fundamentally change the lives, or eternal destinies, of very many of them.

When I have a friend who is not a believer, and is suffering in some way, I usually pray that the Lord would alleviate his suffering. In that situation, I also often tell my friend I am praying for him. I have this idea that if God will simply intervene, my friend will become a believer, surrender his life to Jesus, and be changed forever. But this business about the feeding of the thousands shows me that that is not necessarily the case. Perhaps (!) the Lord is wiser than me when he chooses not to intervene miraculously. Maybe fixing everything doesn’t actually fix everything.

Jesus addressed physical pain, and physical needs, because he loved people, and the Father allowed him to help them. And I think this is another important lesson to take from the passage: Jesus cares, and sometimes Jesus does something about suffering. If nothing else, this passage shows us that he has great compassion on those who suffer. He did his miracles of healing and feeding, not because it led to more people following him, not because through it, more people received his salvation, but simply because it broke his heart to see them in need.

He did not need to do this miracle to show the people something about who he was as the Messiah – he had already done that with the feeding of the 5000. But he cared about the fact that these people were also hungry. He had just provided physical healing for number of them, and he did not want to send them off on a long journey with nothing to sustain them; he did not want hunger to undo the physical healing he had already brought. He cared about their hunger, he cared about their need, and combining his compassion with power, he met that need. The book of Hebrews says “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever (Hebrews 13:8).” That means that Jesus is still like this today: he still cares about our physical needs, and he still meets them, perhaps even miraculously at times. Maybe you need to hear this word for you today: Jesus cares about you, about every single thing in your life.

I don’t think I’m contradicting my earlier point. I think we need to put our own struggles and sufferings in perspective. We need to realize that if Jesus were to miraculously solve all our problems, we would still have a deep need for him. We need to recognize that the resolution of all earthly obstacles does not actually accomplish very much for us in eternity. Even so, Jesus truly does care about our present, earthly trials and struggles, and sometimes he does alleviate them. We should not be embarrassed or ashamed to ask him for help with earthly problems.

There is another thing I find interesting here: the response of the disciples when Jesus suggested that they should provide food for the crowd. It’s easy to judge them; after all they were in this same situation, probably no more than a year or two before (Matthew does not tell us how much time has passed since the feeding of the 5000). To me, their response seems almost incredible, at least on the surface: “Where could we get enough bread in this desolate place to fill such a crowd?” Seriously? Did they learn nothing from the first time?

However, I think perhaps when we judge the disciples in this way we are not being entirely fair. First, it isn’t like Jesus is producing food out of thin air every day. From day-to-day, week to week, month-to-month they are eating with Jesus in the normal way. In fact, we know from Luke that they were generally dependent on help from others for their daily necessities (Luke 8:1-3). It is likely that they themselves had experienced times when they wondered whether or not they would get a meal. Clearly, Jesus did not miraculously provide food on every single occasion when there was a need.

Second, I find that when I am in a place of need, I still often doubt the Lord, even though he has so clearly provided in the past. I think this is human nature, and it may be one of the reasons why the Lord grants so very few Christians the dangerous position of financial security. We are meant to keep looking to him for all we need, and very few of us really do look to him until we are in need. There is something about our relationship with the Lord that keeps inviting us to trust, and in order to truly trust, doubt must be possible. In any case, I have to admit, I’m still sometimes not expecting Jesus to do anything, still sometimes surprised when he does. How often do I, like the disciples in this text, expect that Jesus will not really do anything?

This is a reminder to me to keep looking to him. Once again, I don’t think this a contradiction to anything I said earlier. I don’t think God’s provision turns people into disciples. However, for those of us who have already begun to follow Jesus, it is vital that we remember God as the most important factor in every situation. We have eight thousand hungry people, what shall we do? Look to Jesus. We have a bill we can’t pay, what shall we do? Look to Jesus. We have a broken relationship that we can’t fix, what shall we do? Look to Jesus. Maybe you are lonely, or dissatisfied with life, or overwhelmed. The presence and will of Jesus should be the deciding factor for us in all circumstances.

GRACE FROM HARSH WORDS

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

Canaanite Woman

When we recognize that we are sinners, that we are in desperate need of Jesus, but with no right to ask anything of him, then we can receive the only grace that will save us. I don’t mean that we should spend a lot of time feeling guilty. But the truth is, we cannot receive grace until we believe that we are in desperate need, and yet we deserve nothing. And in this situation, faith inspires us to ask anyway, assures us that there is grace for the humble and repentant.

 

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 49

 

 

Matthew #49 . Matthew 15:21-28

This is one of those places in scripture that is very troubling when you read it through quickly. It just doesn’t sound like Jesus, at least, not until we stop and consider it more carefully.

Jesus is in the region of Tyre and Sidon, the area, where long ago, Elijah healed the dead son of a Gentile woman, while the nation of Israel suffered under famine. A Gentile woman comes to Jesus, asking for help for her demon possessed daughter. Now, I would think this would be right up Jesus’ alley. He has delivered people from demons before and there is no question that he has the power to do what she asks. It is in the tradition of the great prophet, Elijah. In addition, demonization represents the one power that all Christians would call “the enemy.” It seems obvious that Jesus would want to strike a blow against this sort of thing. Not only that, but we have come to see Jesus as a person of great compassion, and this is an opportunity to combine that gracious mercy with a blow against the enemy.

And yet, when this Canaanite woman comes to Jesus, he flat-out ignores her. And when he finally does pay attention to her, his words are almost insulting, and appear to be designed to send her away in shame. But I do not think that what we see on the surface truly reflects the heart of Jesus. In fact, in this incident I believe, we have again an example of how he sees into the heart of each one, and endeavors to give each person what they truly need.

The woman continues her pleading until the disciples are so distracted that they ask Jesus to do something. Jesus’ reply, when it finally comes, sounds harsh: “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.” Somehow, the woman gains admittance into Jesus’ presence and again she begs him to heal her daughter. Again Jesus’ reply is appears unsympathetic, quoting what some commentators believe was probably a common proverb. In any case, it certainly sounds severe. The woman replies, comparing herself with a dog licking the crumbs from the children’s table. Jesus, apparently satisfied, grants her request.

How shall we understand this incident? Is Jesus truly so uncaring? Why did he deal with woman as he did? Ole Hallesby offers some insightful words about this incident:

Every time Jesus sees that there is a possibility of giving us more than we know how to ask, He does so. And in order to do so He often has to deal with us in ways which are past our finding out……

Jesus had somewhat the same thing in mind with the Canaanitish woman when He delayed and postponed the answer to her prayer, first by remaining painfully silent and then by using some sharp, harsh words. he wanted to give her more than a healed daughter. He wanted to give her something for herself besides.

Jesus is seeing something here that we don’t initially see: the heart-need of the Canaanite woman. In his response, he is seeking to address that need. I’m not sure the woman herself was aware of the need in her heart until Jesus got her attention by responding so strangely.

She comes to him initially because she has an obvious external problem: her daughter is tormented by a demon. I think most sensible people understand her position. She has a problem. It’s a serious one; a spiritual one, and here is Jesus who has shown himself willing and able to deal with issues like this. That’s all she wants from him: to heal her daughter. To her (and, I suspect, to us) this seems fairly simple and straightforward.

But Jesus wants to do more than simply fix her problem. This is another aspect of something Jesus said earlier:

“Don’t collect for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. But collect for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves don’t break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (Matt 6:19-21, HCSB)

The woman is looking at the here and now. What she wants is not bad, but it is not eternal. The healing of her daughter is not a treasure that would last forever; in fact, we know this for certain, because both the woman and her daughter are now dead. Jesus wants to give her something that will last forever, a treasure that will neither spoil nor fade.

Let’s look at the progression. I admit, I am reading between the lines a little bit here, but when we are done, I think you’ll agree that looking at the passage in this way gives us a satisfactory understanding of why Jesus would behave like this.

At first, the woman is upset about her daughter. Her mind is focused almost entirely on her daughter’s situation. When she comes to Jesus at first, she is not interested in him for his own sake; she simply wants her daughter to be healed.

When Jesus does not respond at all to her request, it creates tension for the woman. Now, for the first time, she is thinking about something besides her daughter’s condition. She is now also wondering why Jesus won’t even speak to her. In this way, by ignoring her, Jesus is beginning to get her attention. She was upset about her daughter; now she is also upset about Jesus. He has started the process of moving her focus away from her problem and toward himself.

As I believe Jesus had hoped, the woman does not give up, and keeps asking for help. I think, however, that now she was interested not only in the help of Jesus, but also in his behavior. The disciples appear to have less patience than Jesus, and finally they plead with him to respond to her, if for no other reason than to simply get her off their backs.

Jesus’ response, when it finally comes, must have been very unsatisfactory to the woman:

He replied, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”

However, this does not deter her. She kneels before him, and says simply, “Lord help me.” Again, this is reading between the lines, but this is not the same as her initial request. She does not mention her daughter this time. She simply asks him to help her. I think she is beginning to see that she has a bigger need than simply the healing of her daughter.

I think Jesus sees the change in her. However, he wants to make sure she really understands, so his response is still apparently very callous:

He answered, “It isn’t right to take the children’s bread and throw it to their dogs.”

Jesus is trying to help her understand grace. She has no more right to ask anything of him than the dogs have to the food of children. The first lesson of grace is that we desperately need it; the second lesson is that we do not deserve it, cannot demand it, and could never earn it. Her response shows that she gets it:

“Yes, Lord,” she said, “yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table! ”

She understands that she has nowhere to turn but Jesus, and no hope apart from him. She understands also that Jesus owes her nothing, and she has no right to ask. The greatness of her faith is that with this understanding, she asks anyway.

When she acknowledged that she was indeed in the position of “the dogs” – completely dependent on the grace and favor of the Master – then she received the very unmerited grace and blessing that she desired. And because Jesus had brought her to this place by her harsh words, she received God’s grace not only in the healing of her daughter, but in the healing of her soul, as a helpless, needy sinner. Though his response seemed harsh, he succeeded in giving her not only what she wanted, but what her deepest need required.

This is one of the reasons it is so important for Christians to remember the seriousness of sin. If we do not recognize that we are sinners, that we are in desperate need of Jesus, but with no right to ask anything of him, then we cannot receive the only grace that will save us. I don’t mean that we should spend a lot of time trying to make people feel guilty. But the truth is, we cannot receive grace until we understand that we are in exactly the same position as that Canaanite woman: we are in desperate need, and yet we deserve nothing. And in this situation, faith inspires us to ask anyway, assures us that even though our Savior sometimes gets our attention with harsh words, there is grace for the humble and repentant.

There’s something else about this passage that I think is quite important. If we walk with Jesus long enough, sooner or later he will appear to us in the same way that he appeared to this Canaanite woman: unresponsive, distant, and even harsh. We might want something from him that appears to be simple, straightforward and like something he would obviously want to do for us. And yet, sometimes he doesn’t seem to respond at all, and at other times he appears to respond with a harsh or callous answer. When this happens, I want us to remember this Canaanite woman. From Jesus’ response she learned and acknowledged her true position of dependency upon grace; and yet her faith led her to keep seeking Jesus, in spite of the disappointment with how he was initially.

I think it may help for us to remember that sometimes Jesus has a vision that is bigger than our vision, that he often wants to give us much more than the small things that we ask for. The Canaanite woman was not looking for saving faith. She wasn’t looking for eternal life, even though that was so much better than the temporary healing she sought for her daughter. However, because she persisted in faith, she received both things. Sometimes, the Lord appears distant, or even harsh, because he is trying to get our attention. Our focus is so often on present things that will not last, while He wants to give us something eternal. He’s trying to get our eyes off of our problems and onto himself.

Will you allow him to do that in your life today? Allow him to remind you of your desperate need, and the fact that you deserve nothing from him. Allow the Scripture to strengthen your faith however that even when we have no standing, the Lord is gracious, and his heart goes out to those who seek him in humility and repentance.

Hallesby is a source of rich application for this text. How many times have we stormed heaven with an unanswered prayer request, crying out again and again, in distress, because the Lord says not a word to us? How often the Lord’s response to our prayers seems delayed so long, or harsh when it comes. Yet, we see in the way he dealt with the Syro-phoenician woman that his intent is always to give us more than what we ask for. He desires not only that are needs are met, but that we live in greater and closer reliance on Him and His promises. He wants us to see that we have no other hope.

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.

Please also pray for our finances. Pray for us to receive what we need. Please pray for us in this way before you give anything. And then, as you pray, if the Lord leads you to give us a gift, please go ahead and do that. But if he doesn’t want you to give to us, that is absolutely fine. We don’t want you to feel bad about it. We want you to follow Jesus in this matter. But do continue to pray for our finances.

If the Lord does lead you to give, just use the Paypal Donate button on the right hand side of the page. You don’t have to have a Paypal account – you can use a credit card, if you prefer. You can also set up a recurring donation through Paypal. We can make this tax-deductible if you just mention that it want it to be so in the “note” part of the transaction.

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!

WHAT DO YOU GET WHEN YOU FOLLOW YOUR HEART?

On By Pastor TomIn Bible, Bible Teaching, Christianity, House Church, Jesus, Matthew, ReligionLeave a comment

wickedheart

Jesus says our hearts are full of “evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, sexual immoralities, thefts, false testimonies and blasphemies.” Jeremiah calls the human heart “deceitful” and “desperately sick.”  If this is true, is it really a good idea to follow your heart?

All this is pointing towards one important thing. Jesus doesn’t say in these verses, but I read ahead, and it says that Jesus came to give us new hearts.

 

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 48

 

 

Matthew #48 . Matthew 15:1-20

Thanks for making use of Clear Bible. Messages like this one, about what Jesus has done for our hearts, are so very important for many people. This is why we deeply appreciate your prayers. We believe that prayer is the cutting edge of this ministry, that prayer is where it all begins. So we ask you to consider praying for us regularly. Your prayers help in preparing, preaching and promoting these messages.

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. Pray for Tom’s family and for his local church, New Joy Fellowship. Ask the Lord to keep them close to Him and each other. Pray for protection from evil, and for safety.

Please also pray for our finances. We operate week-to-week with this ministry. That is absolutely fine – the Lord has always provided; but we believe that your prayers are an important part of that provision. We value your prayers even more than your financial giving, because we believe that asking God for what we need is more effective than asking only people. So we’d love it if you would ask God to provide for us.

If, as you pray, the Lord leads you to give us a financial gift, please go ahead and do that. But if he doesn’t want you to give to us, that is absolutely fine. We don’t want you to feel bad about it. We want you to follow Jesus in this matter.

If the Lord does lead you to give, just use the Paypal Donate button on the right hand side of the page. You don’t have to have a Paypal account – you can use a credit card, if you prefer. You can also set up a recurring donation through Paypal. We can make this tax-deductible if you just mention that it want it to be so in the “note” part of the transaction.

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 you again for your prayers, and your support!

~

Now to the text. In order to understand Jesus’ words in Matthew chapter 15, we need to remember a few things about the Jewish religion at the time of Jesus. Let’s start by comparing it to Christianity. Properly speaking, Christianity is based upon understanding and applying the Bible to daily life. Many traditions have grown up during the history of Christianity, but these traditions do not carry the same sort of authority that Christians claim for the Bible alone. For instance, many Christians celebrate Ash Wednesday and the season of Lent. This can be a meaningful way for believers to reconnect with the need to live in humility and repentance. However, Ash Wednesday and Lent are entirely optional for true Christians; one can observe them and be a good Christian, or one can ignore them and still be a good Christian. This is because Ash Wednesday and Lent are neither commanded nor taught by the Bible. If they help us in following Jesus, that’s great, on the other hand, it is not necessary to observe them.

What is necessary for followers of Jesus is to learn what the Bible says and to learn how to apply it to our daily lives. So for instance, it says in Hebrews chapter 10

Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near. (Heb 10:22-25, ESV2011)

This teaches us to hold on to the truth we have learned about Jesus, and to continue to meet regularly with other believers for worship and encouragement. Reasonable interpretation leads us to conclude that it is talking about regular involvement in a church community. This is a passage directly from the New Testament, and it is something that all Christians should practice, and most Christians agree that according to the Bible we should be regularly involved in some sort of Christian church.

You see the difference? Ash Wednesday and Lent are traditions that may or may not be useful. They are optional. Regular meeting together with other Christians for the purpose of encouraging and equipping each other in faith is not a tradition, but a biblical command. Churches have not always been completely successful in distinguishing traditions from essential biblical teaching, but officially speaking, true Christianity is based upon Scripture alone.

The Jews in the days of Jesus were little bit different. Jews, of course, share common Scriptures with Christians: the Old Testament. But even by the time of Jesus, Jewish religion involved more than simply understanding and applying the Old Testament. Over time, various Jewish teachers had taught and written about different Old Testament texts, and various traditions had developed. In the time of Jesus, the Pharisees insisted that these traditions were just as important as the Old Testament itself.

So, when some Pharisees came from Jerusalem to see Jesus, they notice that he is not observing all of the traditions taught by rabbis. In this particular instance, they see that Jesus does not engage in the ceremonial hand washing that most Jews thought was proper.

It would be a little bit like someone coming to me and saying, “How can you call yourself a Christian? You don’t even celebrate Lent!” Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not knocking Lent. It can be a very useful season for entering into true repentance and humility. In the same way, I don’t think Jesus was completely against ceremonial hand washing. But what did bother him was the fact that the Jews found such things more important than the essential truths of Scripture, and in fact, had replaced scripture with traditions.

To go back to our Lent analogy, it would be as if there were some people who felt like if you went to Ash Wednesday service and got smeared with ashes, and then avoided meat on Fridays, that’s all you had to do to be truly repentant and humble. You could act and think arrogantly, you could continue in a pattern of willful and deliberate sin, but as long as you observed Ash Wednesday and Lent, you were all good. That was more or less the attitude of the Pharisees – if you dipped your fingers in water in the proper ceremonial fashion, then it didn’t matter what happened in your heart. You were clean.

So, essentially, these Pharisees, who came from Jerusalem to check out Jesus, said, “Look, you and your disciples are not following the traditions, therefore you are not spiritually clean.”

One very important thing that we get from Jesus’ response is the understanding that the Bible trumps our own desires, as well as tradition. The Pharisees had a way of twisting biblical texts. Jesus points this out in the example of “honor your father and mother.” The Pharisees had found a “greater principle” in Scripture, namely, honoring God. And so they created a tradition that said if you are “honoring God,” you do not have to honor your father and mother. Jesus calls them hypocrites, whose hearts were far from God.

I think that this is very important for Christians today, because we have modern-day Pharisees who do the same thing, albeit with different topics. For instance, there are people who teach that the overall point of Jesus’ message was to love one another. Therefore, they say, you can do whatever you like in terms of sexual activity, as long as you are acting in a loving manner. In fact, some of these folks would say that anyone like me, (and also Jesus, truth be told) who repeats what the Bible says, that sex outside of marriage is a sin, is not acting in a loving manner, and therefore we are the ones who are sinning. In the same way as the Pharisees, these people are completely distorting the message of Scripture. They have replaced what the Scripture actually says with their own tradition, and their own desire. Jesus’ rebuke falls upon them just as surely as it did the Pharisees.

Jesus said something very important to his disciples:

But what comes out of the mouth comes from the heart, and this defiles a man. For from the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, sexual immoralities, thefts, false testimonies, blasphemies. These are the things that defile a man, but eating with unwashed hands does not defile a man.” (Matt 15:18-20, HCSB)

Part of my responsibility as a teacher of the bible is to point out and rebuke errors and false teachings. This is more important than ever in these days of the Internet when all kinds of false ideas about Jesus and his teachings are easily spread. I have read some theologians who use this verse to say that your external behavior does not matter – all that matters is what is in your heart. In other words, for example, you can commit sexual immorality as long as your heart is pure (!). You can lie or steal, as long as you do it for the right reason. They do not say it, but if they are right, it also means that you could commit murder without sinning, as long as you were not angry or hateful about it. But clearly, that is not what Jesus means here. Jesus is saying that the heart is the source of sinful actions, and fixing the outside won’t fix the heart. His point is not that external things do not matter; it is that external things come from the heart, and to deal with them we have to address the heart.

This may be surprising to some people. One of the persistent messages in our culture is “follow your heart.” I love how Rich Mullins captured this in a song:

They said boy you just follow your heart; But my heart just led me into my chest;

They said follow your nose, But the direction changed every time I went and turned my head.

And they said boy you just follow your dreams, But my dreams were only misty notions.

But the Father of hearts and the Maker of noses And the Giver of dreams He’s the one I have chosen

And I will follow Him.– Rich Mullins, “The Maker of Noses”

Jesus says here that your heart is the source of all kinds of sin; it is the center of your separation from God. Jeremiah wrote:

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? ​

“I the LORD search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.” (Jer 17:9-10, ESV2011)

If your heart is deceitful and desperately sick, is it really a good idea to follow it? If our hearts are full of “evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, sexual immoralities, thefts, false testimonies and blasphemies,” then maybe we should not simply “follow our hearts.”

All this is pointing towards one important thing. Jesus doesn’t say in these verses, but I read ahead, and it says that Jesus came to give us new hearts. We can’t fix our hearts by washing our hands, like the Pharisees. We can’t fix our hearts by attending Ash Wednesday services, or giving up meat for Lent. We can’t make sin go away by creating new traditions that change what the Scripture says in order to make it easier on us. Not even open-heart surgery can help us – we need an entirely new heart – a transplant. Jesus came to kill our sinful hearts, to bury them. And in that same transaction, he replaces those old sin-filled hearts with new, redeemed, holy ones.

But it all starts with the understanding and acceptance that our old hearts are indeed filled with the things that Jesus says they are filled with, here in this passage. Without the work of Jesus, our hearts are full of sin; our hearts are the problem, they are deceitful and desperately sick. I can’t follow my heart, and I can’t even reform it. Instead, I have to let Jesus kill it.

Once we let Jesus crucify our old hearts, he replaces them with new ones, hearts like his. That heart trusts the Father, and obeys. With that heart, I can follow not myself, but Jesus.

For we know that our old self was crucified with Him in order that sin’s dominion over the body may be abolished, so that we may no longer be enslaved to sin, since a person who has died is freed from sin’s claims. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with Him, because we know that Christ, having been raised from the dead, will not die again. Death no longer rules over Him. For in light of the fact that He died, He died to sin once for all; but in light of the fact that He lives, He lives to God. So, you too consider yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. (Rom 6:6-11, HCSB)

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away, and look, new things have come. (2Cor 5:17, HCSB)

True purity starts in the heart. External behavior is important, but it starts with a new heart. There are several places to go with this. First, have you agreed with God that your natural heart is full of deceit, wickedness and rebellion against God? If not, that is where to begin. Next, have you asked Jesus to take that old heart and crucify it along with him? That’s the next step. Third, we need to agree with Jesus that we need a new heart, and receive the one he gives us. And with that new heart, we can (and should) trust the Lord, listen to him, and follow him.

Maybe you’ve been through the whole transaction with Jesus, but you feel like you are still full of sin and evil. To pursue the analogy, after we get our new hearts, we still have some blood left in our veins that is used to doing what the old heart wanted to do. Our bodies and minds are still sometimes influenced by the way we were with that old, wicked heart. We still sometimes fail to trust and obey. But our sins and failings are no longer central to who we are. We don’t have to live like that anymore. It is no longer who you are.

The bottom line? Jesus Christ came to clean us from the inside out. Actually, not just to clean, but to replace what was wrong. To receive it, we simply need to trust him, to believe it is true. Sometimes we have to believe in spite of what seems to be evidence to the contrary. In such cases, we make a deliberate choice to trust God’s word over our own experience. Over time, we will act more and more in accordance with what we believe.

Let the Holy Spirit speak to you right now.

WALKING ON WATER AND SINKING

On By Pastor TomIn Bible, Bible Teaching, Christianity, House Church, Jesus, Matthew, Podcast, Religion, SermonLeave a comment

Jesus-walking-on-water

…When things go well, that is not proof that we are doing what God wants; and when things go badly that is not proof that we are doing something wrong…

…Where do you see Jesus? Is there some way in which you want to be with Jesus, doing what he is doing, a way that looks crazy or impossible? I suggest that you say, like Peter, “Lord if it is you, call me to come to you in this context.”

To listen to the sermon, click the play button:

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Matthew #47. Matthew 14:22-36

Jesus was on a real roll for these few days. Just as the feeding of the five-thousand accomplished a number of important things, so did his next miracle.

After the big picnic, he knew that some people had the wrong idea, and wanted to make him king, wanted to follow him simply because he had fed them for free. So he dismissed the people, sent his disciples away and withdrew by himself to a remote place, where he talked to the Father. Finally, he had some time alone with the Father to process his grief over John, and to be strengthened through prayer. It was after this that Jesus came to the disciples who were in the middle of the lake in their boat.

As I read this Scripture I find myself asking, why did Jesus do this?

The first answer is ridiculously simple, and yet I think it is one reason for Jesus’ action. He did it because he wanted to catch up with his disciples, and he didn’t have his own boat, and walking is faster than swimming. That’s right: I think the first reason for this miracle is that Jesus found it the most practical way to rejoin his friends.

Second, I think it is obvious that he used the opportunity to show his disciples yet again that he is the promised Messiah.

Third, as with the feeding of the 5000, Jesus used this miracle as a chance to teach his disciples, and us, some important things. It is on this – what we can learn from this incident – that I want to focus.

First, I want us to notice something. Jesus explicitly told his disciples to get in the boat and start back across the lake, and when they did, the wind was against them. In those days, in that part of the world, they had not yet developed the type of sail which allows a boat to move forward close to the direction from which the wind is coming. In short, when the wind was behind them they could use the sail, but when it was coming from the general direction in which they wished to travel they had to row. Jesus knew the wind was against them and he sent them out anyway.

I think this demonstrates an important principle about following Jesus. I’m not sure where we get it, but a lot of Christians seem to think that if we are following Jesus our lives should be easy. In some ways I understand why we might think this way. When we surrender our lives to God and follow Jesus, we are starting to live the way our Creator intends us to live. This naturally makes certain things better in our lives. If we learn from Jesus how to love others sacrificially, our family life is likely to be happier and more peaceful that if we don’t obey Jesus in this way. If we obey what the Scripture says about not getting drunk we are likely to wake up with fewer headaches and fewer regrets. If we follow God’s plan for sexuality, our relationships will be more stable, our children will grow up in loving families and we will not contract sexually transmitted diseases. I could go on like this about any number of topics, but you get the idea.

On the other hand, there is no promise that everything will be easy if we simply follow Jesus, and in fact there is plenty of evidence to the contrary. This particular passage shows us that. The disciples were doing exactly what Jesus told them to, and it wasn’t going well. After hours of struggling they had only made it a mile away from shore. The truth is, it would have been much easier if they had turned around and let the wind blow them back to where they had started. If they wanted easy, they should have done exactly the opposite of what Jesus told them. This encourages me. When I am encountering difficulties, that doesn’t necessarily mean I have made a mistake; it doesn’t mean that I have messed up God’s plan for me. When things go well, that is not proof that we are doing what God wants; and when things go badly that is not proof that we are doing something wrong. This Scripture teaches us not to judge our actions and decisions based upon results.

There is another thing I want us to notice. When Jesus came to them, walking on the water, they were afraid. I imagine that the whole picture was surreal. The HCSB says that they cried out “it’s a ghost!” The Greek word used for ghost is phantasm. You have to remember, many of us have heard the story all of our lives, but none of the disciples had heard any such thing. They were the first ones to experience it. It wasn’t like they had the thought somewhere in the back of their consciousness, “Oh yeah, the Messiah is going to walk on water.” The Old Testament scriptures did not say the Messiah would do this (they don’t say he wouldn’t, either). Nothing whatsoever prepared them to see Jesus coming towards them in this way. This is another lesson for us. Jesus often approaches us in ways that we do not expect; ways that we do not recognize at first.

Now, there are limits to this. I don’t mean that Jesus will somehow suddenly reveal himself as Buddha; or that he will show you some secret knowledge which contradicts the Bible. Our faith is based in the understanding that the Bible is God’s word revealed to human beings. I have preached extensively in the past about why we can trust that the Bible is reliable. Once we go beyond the Bible or contradict it, our faith is meaningless; if we don’t trust that the Scripture is the word of God there is no reason to believe in Jesus in the first place. However, it is important to understand that while the Bible tells us what we need to know, it does not give us all knowledge in the universe. It is quite possible, likely even, that Jesus can surprise us even if we know and trust the Scriptures. Just as the Messiah walking on the water was not predicted by the Old Testament, it was not contradicted by it either.

On the one hand, it is perfectly acceptable for us to be surprised and even fearful when Jesus shows up in a way that we did not expect. As he sees their fear, he calls out to them, “It is I, do not be afraid!” He is comforting them and reassuring them that this new strange thing they are seeing is in fact himself. I think we can trust that Jesus will do the same for us.

Now let’s take a look at how Jesus and Peter interacted during this incident.

I have thought through how I might react in a similar situation, and have come to the conclusion that I am nothing like the apostle Peter. Here are some things I might have said: “Lord, if it is you then please do something about this wind.” Or, “Lord, if it is you, then hurry up and get into the boat.” Here’s another: “Lord, if it is you, will you please explain what you are doing and what is going on?”

But Peter’s response is something that I think is worth aspiring to. He had a little bit of faith, but he wanted more. One of the things that fascinates me about this whole incident is that Peter did not have to get out of the boat. It was Peter who said to Jesus, “call me to come.” It was not Jesus who insisted Peter get out of the boat. I believe this tells us something about Peter. He wanted everything he could possibly have with Jesus. He didn’t want to get to heaven and find out he could have walked on water, or raised the dead, or healed the sick or anything else he could have done. He wanted to push in to everything Jesus had for him. Now, Jesus did not rebuke the other eleven for staying in the boat, but I believe he laughed with delight when he heard Peter’s request. He was glad to show Peter the amazing things Peter could do with his (Jesus’) help. And we see the later fruit of Peter’s desires to apprehend by faith all that Jesus had for him. It was Peter who was the first of the apostles to heal a lame man. It was he who preached aloud in tongues and saw more than 3,000 people converted at one time. It was he who raised Dorcas from the dead, and who was the first to bring the gospel to non-Jews. It was he who walked out of Herod’s prison without a scratch, faithfully following the angel God sent, even though he was pretty sure it was just a dream, just as he had once thought Jesus on the water was a dream.

Now, if we look at this text carefully, Peter does not seem to be asking to walk on water just so that he can say he walked on water. He did not say, “Lord, if it is you, empower me to walk on water in general,” or “Lord, if it is you, tell me to run two laps around the boat.” What he said was, “Lord, tell me to come to you.” What Peter was after was being close to Jesus. He saw Jesus out there and it filled him with love and admiration and inspiration. Just as a child who wants to be like his dad, Peter wanted to be where Jesus was and do what Jesus did. For Peter, the point was not the miracle, but Jesus. He wanted to be where Jesus was, even when that place looked dangerous and uncertain. He wanted to know that the wind and the waves could not stop him from coming to Jesus.

At first, Peter’s faith holds up. He is actually walking on the water toward Jesus! Now, I would think this is even more difficult than we imagine. Forget about sinking: simply walking and keeping your balance on a moving surface that is going up and down underneath you has got to be very difficult. And then comes verse 30:

But when he saw the strength of the wind, he was afraid. And beginning to sink he cried out, “Lord, save me! ”

jesus-walks-on-waterPeter’s first impulse was inspired by Jesus. His heart and his mind were fixed on Jesus; his goal was Jesus. But then something happened: he looked around at his environment. He started paying attention to his circumstances rather than to Jesus. And when he quit looking at Jesus and started focusing on what was going on around him, he became afraid; and when he became afraid, he sank.

But it was all good! Jesus was there, and Jesus made sure he didn’t go under. Peter got soaking wet and probably cold; he had a good scare, but ultimately, everything came out okay.

It seems to me that we can find some obvious applications to our own lives here. First, it is worth aspiring to the kind of faith and focus on Jesus that Peter shows us. He wasn’t the kind of guy to cower in the boat, and because of that, the Holy Spirit was able to use him in wonderful ways later on.

Second, this whole thing reminds me of Hebrews chapter 12:

Therefore, since we also have such a large cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every weight and the sin that so easily ensnares us. Let us run with endurance the race that lies before us, keeping our eyes on Jesus, the source and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that lay before Him endured a cross and despised the shame and has sat down at the right hand of God’s throne. (Heb 12:1-2, HCSB)

Peter’s goal all along was Jesus, and when he kept his heart and attention focused on Jesus, he was able to walk on water. I have met people who would love to “walk on water” so to speak, but I wonder how much of their desire is about wanting to do amazing things as opposed to wanting to be like Jesus and to be close to him. There have been times in my own life when I was so excited about the idea of doing something amazing by faith that my focus was more on what I was trying to accomplish than it was on Jesus. But Peter’s focus, at least in the beginning, was all on Jesus. It shouldn’t be about the amazing things we want to do. Instead, it should be that we want to join Jesus where we see him at work, even if that place looks very strange and impossible.

With that foundation firmly in mind, where do you see Jesus? Where is it that you want him to invite you to join him? Jesus did not command any of the disciples to join him on the water, but Peter wanted to, even though it looked crazy. Is there some way in which you want to join with Jesus, a way that looks crazy or impossible? I suggest that you say, like Peter, “Lord if it is you, call me to come to you in this context.”

And then, no matter where we are in faith, one of the keys is keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, and as much as possible, ignoring the wind and the waves around us. If we want to live by faith, we cannot find security in our circumstances. Our circumstances will often scare us; they may sink us. Like Peter, we are most safe when we keep her eyes fixed on Jesus.

The other thing I love about this, is that Peter was safe. What he tried to do was crazy. Through faith, he was able to do it for a while, but ultimately he failed. What I want to point out is that his failure was not fatal. “Peter” is just the word for “rock” in Greek. I wonder how much fun Jesus and the other disciples had talking about relative buoyancy of rocks. “Hey, Peter! You float like a rock!” Or, “Nice going…Rock!” Even so, Peter was the only one who even bothered to try, and he was no worse off for it. I think this should encourage us. When we step out in faith we may succeed, or we may fail. Either way, Jesus is there.

Be still for a few minutes now, and listen to what the Holy Spirit has to say to you today.

Are you looking at Jesus, or the wind and waves

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WHAT DO YOU DO WHEN YOU DON’T HAVE ENOUGH?

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

 

feed5K

 

It isn’t what you bring that makes a difference. What makes the difference is that you bring it to Jesus. He can take the little you have and make it enough – more than enough.

 

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 46

 

 

Matthew #46 . Matthew 14:12-21

NOTE: THIS IS ANOTHER MESSAGE THAT WILL PROBABLY BE MORE MEANINGFUL IF YOU LISTEN TO THE AUDIO VERSION. IN THE AUDIO, I INVITE YOU TO LISTEN AND GET INTO IT WITH YOUR IMAGINATION.

I love this particular passage of scripture. In one elegant action, Jesus accomplishes so much. First, he shows his miraculous power once more. Second, he takes care of a bunch of hungry people. Third, he uses it as an extremely effective object lesson for his disciples.

Before we start into the “meat” of this scripture, however, let me address a very common, but ill-conceived idea about the feeding of the five-thousand. Many people read about this miracle and say, “Oh, I know what happened here. All the people actually had food with them, and Jesus simply got them to share. The real miracle is that Jesus got ordinary people to share with each other.” I have heard more than one person add something like, “To me, that’s a much bigger miracle than producing a bunch of food.”

To which, I say, politely, “That is a load of male-bovine defecation” (figure it out).

I say this for several reasons. First, the reason most people gravitate toward the idea that the miracle was “sharing” is because they believe in sharing, but they don’t really believe Jesus was capable of providing more food than was there to start with. In other words, it starts from a point of disbelief.

Second, the idea is in itself nonsensical. Everyone ate, and there was a significant amount left over. If there was no miraculous provision by Jesus, then obviously, everyone had more than enough to start with. In other words, in this scenario, sharing wasn’t even required. If that’s the case, the “miracle” is reduced to the fact that Jesus got a bunch of people to sit down and eat their supper. I could see the miraculous aspect of this if they were all three-year olds, but for adults, that is ridiculous.

Third, this was widely reported as a miracle, and it made a huge impression on the people. People don’t generally get excited and worked up just because they heard that some other people ate supper. They don’t usually see it as a messianic sign that one man can get five-thousand people to unpack their bagged lunches and eat them at dinner time. But clearly, the disciples, and the others who were there, took this event as a sign that Jesus was someone special. John records their reaction to the feeding of the five thousand.

When the people saw the sign He had done, they said, “This really is the Prophet who was to come into the world! ” Therefore, when Jesus knew that they were about to come and take Him by force to make Him king, He withdrew again to the mountain by Himself. (John 6:14-15, HCSB)

This response makes no sense if all Jesus did was to get them to eat the food they had already brought.

All right, now that we have settled that if anything happened here at all, it was miraculous, let’s get on with it. As we have sometimes done in the past, I want to invite you to put yourself into the middle of the situation with Jesus.

It’s been a difficult time. You just heard that John the Baptist died. You and some of the other disciples knew John pretty well – in fact, it was John who first told you about Jesus. But Jesus knew him even better than you did. The news of his execution has hit you all hard. Jesus wants to get away from it all for a while, and you agree whole-heartedly. You all climb into Simon-Peter’s boat and head across the lake. The trip is peaceful and healing, but not long after you put ashore, far from any town, people start showing up. Someone must have overheard where Jesus was going, and now they are all here, begging for him to heal their diseases and illnesses.

Jesus is tired and full of grief, but when he looks at the people, you can see his heart going out to them. He closes his eyes for a minute in silent prayer, and then starts going through crowd, healing those who need it, and then speaking about the kingdom of heaven. More and more people keep coming, until there are enough to populate a small town, and even more.

It’s been a long afternoon, and now evening is coming along. You start getting hungry, and then it hits you – what about all these people? You cut across the lake in the boat with Jesus, but these folks spent a good portion of the day walking, and if they make it home at all tonight, it will be very late.

“Jesus,” you say. “You better get these people going before it gets too late. They’re going to get hungry, and there is no place here to get food.”

But then it gets weird. Jesus says, “They don’t need to go. You give them something to eat.”

Now seriously, this isn’t fair. You didn’t want these people here in the first place. Jesus was the one who encouraged them to stay when they started showing up. He’s the one who got you into the situation, and now he tells you to figure it out? You look around the crowd. You would have to work for about nine months and save every single penny of it in order to buy enough bread for everyone to have a small bite. In truth, the cost represents more money than you expect to save in a lifetime. You ask around, after a while, what you come up with is five small loaves of barely bread and two dried fish, each one less than ½ a pound.

You take it to Jesus. Now, honestly, you do that more just to show him how impossible the situation is, than for any other reason. He looks at you with a big, slow smile.

“Perfect,” he says.

He starts by thanking the Father for the pathetic little meal. Then he breaks off some of the bread, and about half of one of the fish, and hands the food to Peter. “Go on and break off pieces, and give it to the people,” says Jesus. He breaks off more bread, and another piece of fish, and hands it James, with the same instruction. Next comes John, and then Judas, and then Philip. You sit down, because at this point, the food is all gone. But it isn’t. Jesus gives some to Nathaniel and then Thomas. He motions to you, and hands you a surprisingly large chunk of fish, and some bread. “Don’t skimp now,” he says, grinning. “Give people as much as they want.” He’s crazy. You know you will run out before you have fed four people.

You find a skinny old man who hasn’t yet been served by the others. He looks so hungry and thin, you don’t have the heart to deny him. You break off a big piece of fish, and tear your loaf of bread in half, and give it to him. Next is a young man, at the age where one is hungry all the time. You give him some, and he asks for more. You tear off some more, surprised there is any left. As you go through the crowd, it dawns on you. No matter how much you hand out, you still have plenty left to give the next person.

It keeps going like that, and once you are done serving, you sit down and eat until you are full. Afterwards, each of you grabs a fish-sorting basket from Peter’s boat, and you go around collecting what the people couldn’t eat.

Later, when you think about it, the whole thing reminds you of how the Lord dealt with your ancestors when they left Egypt. He led them to the desert, where they grew hungry, and then he fed them, to demonstrate that they could and should rely upon him for everything. You recall Deuteronomy 8:3

He humbled you by letting you go hungry; then He gave you manna to eat, which you and your fathers had not known, so that you might learn that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD. (Deut 8:3, HCSB)

All right, now, let’s make this practical in our own lives right now. First, of course, Jesus did this particular miracle in this way to show the people that he was the messiah. His actions are a very close parallel of how the Lord dealt with the people of Israel during the Exodus. They could hardly miss the significance of it all. He led them into the wilderness where they experienced their need, and then he satisfied that need.

Second, this is often exactly how Jesus deals with us. Jesus allowed a difficult situation to develop, and then left it to the disciples, to see what they would do. More than once, I have faithfully followed Jesus to the best of my ability, and I wind up, figuratively speaking, alone and hungry in the wilderness. Instead of great results from trying to be faithful to Jesus, I end up feeling like I’m worse off than I was before. And then comes the worst part. Like the disciples, I go to him with the problem and he says, “Look at your own resources. What have you got? What will you do?”

I’m sure the disciples first thought this was unfair. Jesus got them into this – why should they be the ones to figure a way out? But that wasn’t Jesus’ point, and it isn’t his point when he does this with us. His point is this: whatever resources you have – when you bring them to Him – are enough. Five loaves of bread split between five thousand people is one one-thousandth of a loaf of bread for everyone. It is pathetic, even laughable. We are supposed to look at our resources and see how hopeless it is without Jesus. But when we bring what we have to Jesus – even when it is as pathetic as five loaves and two fish among five thousand – Jesus can turn it into enough.

You probably aren’t reading this on a deserted hillside in Galilee with five-thousand hungry people. But you might be in the middle of another difficult situation, one that seems impossible. Perhaps you are in a very troubled place in one of your important relationships. Maybe you are in the midst of work or career difficulties. Maybe your struggle has to do with finances, or health. It might seem like you got into this mess in the first place by trying to follow Jesus. It might feel like he’s asking you to care of everything.

Take a moment right now, and bring to mind a situation that seem difficult or impossible for you. Stop reading for a bit, if you need to, and enter into that situation. Now picture Jesus. Let him ask you to give him your resources. It’s OK if your resources are pathetic. In fact, imagine him as he looks at the inadequacies you bring to this situation and smiles a big smile, and says “Perfect.”

You see, it isn’t what you bring that makes a difference. What makes the difference is that you bring it to Jesus. He can take the little you have, and make it enough – more than enough.

Now, Jesus did ask the disciples to trust him. He provided the food. He supplied the miracle. But he asked his disciples to trust him, and to act on that trust. They took what he gave, and went out the crowd and gave it away. So also, he asks you to trust him. He will provide. He will take your pathetic resources and make them more than enough. But he wants you to trust that, and act on that trust. Listen as he tells you what to do right now, and then obey.

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.

Please also pray for our finances. Pray for us to receive what we need. Please pray for us in this way before you give anything. And then, as you pray, if the Lord leads you to give us a gift, please go ahead and do that. But if he doesn’t want you to give to us, that is absolutely fine. We don’t want you to feel bad about it. We want you to follow Jesus in this matter. But do continue to pray for our finances.

If the Lord does lead you to give, just use the Paypal Donate button on the right hand side of the page. You don’t have to have a Paypal account – you can use a credit card, if you prefer. You can also set up a recurring donation through Paypal. We can make this tax-deductible if you just mention that it want it to be so in the “note” part of the transaction.

You could also send a check to:

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

Thank for your prayers, and your support!

SUFFERING, GRIEF AND HOPE

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

hope

The truth is earthly suffering is intolerable unless there is a glorious, loving, sorrow-free eternity. We Christians are a people of hope. But our hope is not primarily in this temporary life. Everyone dies, sooner or later. All hopes – for this life – come to an end. Jesus, as usual said it best: “You will have suffering in this world. Be courageous! I have conquered the world.”

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 45

 

 

Matthew #45 . Matthew 14:1-12

The first part of Matthew 14 relates the details of how John the Baptist was killed. It’s important for us to remember that the life and teachings of John the Baptist continued to influence a large number of Jews for at least a generation after he was killed. I think this is one reason Matthew describes this incident in detail – it would have been important to the readers he had in mind when he was writing.

Matthew has already told us that John was in prison. I want to spend a moment dwelling on the reason for that, and the thing that got him killed, because it may surprise us. The short version is, John was imprisoned, and then killed, for publicly supporting biblical sexual morality. He publicly said that Herod was wrong for having sexual relations with his brother’s wife, Herodias.

I point this out because I think it is very relevant today. Our culture is extremely intolerant of people who insist that sex has any moral significance in and of itself.

If you say that sex has intrinsic moral significance, then you set it within a larger moral framework and set limits to the legitimate use of sex. In doing so, you declare certain sexual acts illegitimate, something which is now considered hate speech…

By divesting sex of intrinsic moral significance [an activist] has helped to create a world where those who attempt to set limits to the legitimacy of sexual activity are seen as the moral equivalent of racists and the intellectual equivalent of flat-earthers: Irrational bigots who have no place in the public square. (Carl R Trueman, First Things, 2-23-15 http://www.firstthings.com/blogs/firstthoughts/2015/02/congratulating-wesleyan).

There are many people who call themselves Christians who either don’t know, or don’t believe what the bible says about sex. There are many more who don’t like it, and refuse to adhere to it. A lot of people think that it gives Christians a bad name if we go around saying what the bible says about sex. Even more suggest that sexual morality is a “secondary issue” and we Christians should stay out of it for the sake of the gospel.

But John the Baptist died for it.

He could have said, “Well what Herod does in his own bedroom is Herod’s own business.” It’s likely that he could have made a public apology to Herod and Herodias, and at least have been spared execution. But he didn’t. He insisted upon telling the truth, and doing so publicly, and not retracting it. It got him killed.

Someday, a sermon like this may lead to my own imprisonment. It is no longer a question of disagreement in our culture. The power-brokers in the media, academe and government, as well as millions of narrow-minded citizens, want people like John the Baptist to be silenced. They don’t want to hear something they disagree with.

We have not yet come to executions for saying that adultery is a sin. But our government is already considering laws that make it a hate-crime to say in a public speech that homosexual behavior is a sin. In October of 2014, the city of Houston demanded in a subpoena that pastors turn over any sermon or communication with their congregation that mentions homosexuality, the lesbian mayor or transgender issues. To refuse to turn over the sermons would have been contempt of court, punishable by imprisonment. The government’s position is that pastors were using their religious positions to campaign politically, since there was law on the ballot about gay and transgender issues. But the fact remains, when the pastors spoke about the law (if they did) they did so because the issues raised by it are of biblical concern, and it is manifest that the city government wanted to silence and punish them for it.

Now, please understand me clearly. I am not saying that we should go around investigating everyone’s sex life, looking for something to criticize. But I do think sometimes we Jesus-followers avoid the topic because we don’t like getting flack for calling sin “sin.” I simply want to point out that perhaps this passage shows us that the issue of sexual morality is more important than we want to think, and I do suspect that it is with that issue that the persecution of Christians will begin in the Western world. Lest we think it is a secondary issue, remember that John the Baptist died for speaking the truth about morality. I think we Christians should consider this very carefully before we decide to keep silent about it.

~

After John was killed, his disciples buried his body, and then they did something very important: they went to Jesus. There is no doubt that they were full of grief and sorrow. There is no doubt that some of them wondered why Jesus didn’t do anything to save John. But they went to him anyway.

Jesus’ reaction is also important:

When Jesus heard about it, He withdrew from there by boat to a remote place to be alone. (Matt 14:13)

Obviously, the news of John’s death had an impact on Jesus. He wanted to be alone to process it. Jesus and John were relatives, and they had known each other all their lives. John had worked hard to prepare people for the ministry of Jesus, and he had unfailingly pointed people toward him. In short, they were family, friends and ministry partners. And now John is gone. Jesus knew his eternal home was heaven. He knew he would see John there again. But that didn’t change the fact that just like us, Jesus experienced pain and suffering in the world, and it hit him hard at times.

I think it’s important for us to dwell on this for a minute. We human beings have a very difficult time with pain and suffering. How can a good and loving God let these things happen? The answers to this are only partial, and sometimes complex. But I take comfort from the example of Jesus here. On the one hand, he knows everything is going to be all right. In fact, he knows that in eternity, everything is better than all right. John’s suffering on earth is over. He himself will be with John again in just a few short years. On the other hand, in the present moment, he grieves.

The truth is earthly suffering is intolerable unless there is a glorious, loving, sorrow-free eternity. About a year ago, I spoke at the funeral of a twenty-one year old who died unexpectedly and tragically. I said then that of course it was good and right to grieve. I said that we Christians are also people of hope. But our hope is not primarily in this temporary life. Everyone dies, sooner or later. All hopes – for this life – come to an end. Paul writes:

If we have put our hope in Christ for this life only, we should be pitied more than anyone. But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead also comes through a man. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ, the firstfruits; afterward, at His coming, those who belong to Christ. (1Cor 15:19-23, HCSB)

Jesus shows us that it is good and appropriate to grieve the tragedies of this life. But he also gives us a better hope, an eternal hope. I am reminded of the old song, Wayfarin’ Stranger:

I’m just a poor, wayfarin’ stranger

Travelin’ through this world of woe

But there’s no sickness, no toil or danger

In that bright world to which I go.

 

I’m goin’ there to see my Father

I’m goin’ there no more to roam

I’m just a goin’ over Jordan

I’m just a goin’ over home.

Jesus, preparing his disciples for his own death, said this:

I have told you these things so that in Me you may have peace. You will have suffering in this world. Be courageous! I have conquered the world.” (John 16:33, HCSB)

We will have trouble and suffering in the world. Hope which cannot apply equally to the free man with the possibility of making his life better, and also the man doomed to suffer and die in prison, is not hope at all. Jesus offers us real hope, eternal hope. There is a time for grief, and Jesus himself grieved for his dear friend and cousin John. If this was the experience of Jesus, we should not think that we will be exempt from it. But even in grief, there is hope, hope not based on everything coming out right here and now, but on something greater and more lasting than anything in this life.

Like John’s disciples, and Jesus himself, it is often appropriate to mourn. But also like John’s disciples, let us bring our grief to Jesus, and receive from him the eternal hope we so desperately need.

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.

Please also pray for our finances. Pray for us to receive what we need. Please pray for us in this way before you give anything. And then, as you pray, if the Lord leads you to give us a gift, please go ahead and do that. But if he doesn’t want you to give to us, that is absolutely fine. We don’t want you to feel bad about it. We want you to follow Jesus in this matter. But do continue to pray for our finances.

If the Lord does lead you to give, just use the Paypal Donate button on the right hand side of the page. You don’t have to have a Paypal account – you can use a credit card, if you prefer. You can also set up a recurring donation through Paypal. We can make this tax-deductible if you just mention that it want it to be so in the “note” part of the transaction.

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!

Good and Evil grow together in the Real world

On By Pastor TomIn Bible, Bible Teaching, Christianity, Jesus, Matthew, Podcast, Religion, Sermon2 Comments

 

wheatandweeds

We should be comforted by these words, knowing that it is okay to be honestly ignorant, and to ask Jesus for help understanding. We should be blessed in knowing that our real life experience of seeing good and evil jumbled together is normal. We should rejoice in the word promises that through Jesus we are made righteous and shall shine like the sun in our Father’s kingdom.

 

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 43

 

Matthew #43 . Matthew 13;24-58

24 He presented another parable to them: “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field. 25 But while people were sleeping, his enemy came, sowed weeds among the wheat, and left. 26 When the plants sprouted and produced grain, then the weeds also appeared. 27 The landowner’s slaves came to him and said, ‘Master, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Then where did the weeds come from? ’

28 “ ‘An enemy did this! ’ he told them.

“ ‘So, do you want us to go and gather them up? ’ the slaves asked him.

29 “ ‘No,’ he said. ‘When you gather up the weeds, you might also uproot the wheat with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest. At harvest time I’ll tell the reapers: Gather the weeds first and tie them in bundles to burn them, but store the wheat in my barn.’ ”

At the beginning of Matthew 13, Jesus told a somewhat long parable, and then there is some discussion of why he spoke in parables, and after that, the parable is explained. This next section, Matthew 13:24-43 is similar in structure. Jesus tells one long parable and then two short ones, and then Matthew describes his manner of teaching as a fulfilment of prophecy. After that, the long parable is explained to the disciples. I’m not sure why Matthew took that approach, but obviously he did.

In fact there is something interesting about the entire section of Matthew 13:24-58. There are six parables in total in this passage. Two of them (the wheat and weeds, and the fishing net) appear to be about the idea that the visible kingdom of heaven here on earth is flawed; it contains many individuals who do not truly belong to God.

There is another set of two parables which seem to be related to each other. The illustration of the mustard seed, and also the story of the yeast seem to be about the same theme, which is that the kingdom of heaven starts small and often works secretly and unnoticed.

Finally a third pair of parables describes a third thing: the idea of the extreme value of the kingdom of God, and of sacrificing much in order to gain it.

Let’s begin with the first theme, as expressed in the parable of the wheat and weeds, and reiterated in the parable of the fishing net. Before we jump into this, I want us to notice something. Matthew has told us in several different ways in this chapter that Jesus spoke in parables because the people were hardhearted and did not want to understand. It could be that the parables were a way to keep them from understanding; but it might also be that he spoke in parables in order to try and help them see things from a different perspective so that they might become receptive to him. I know that some people in our groups were concerned about this, wondering if perhaps they themselves didn’t understand. But pay close attention to the disciples in verse 36. They didn’t understand. So what did they do? They asked Jesus. And Jesus was happy to explain it to them. The fact that we follow Jesus does not mean that we automatically understand everything he teaches. We are not in trouble if we don’t. I think we should be encouraged by the disciples here to admit it when we don’t get it, and to go to Jesus seeking wisdom. The only problem with lack of comprehension is when it occurs because our hearts are spiritually hardened against the Holy Spirit. In other words, some people don’t understand because, frankly, they don’t care. Their lack of understanding is a symptom of spiritual insensitivity. But there is another kind of ignorance, and that is an honest lack of comprehension. The Lord delights to help us when we come to him admitting our need for wisdom and instruction:

The LORD is good and upright; therefore He shows sinners the way. He leads the humble in what is right and teaches them His way. (Ps 25:8-9, HCSB)

Now if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives to all generously and without criticizing, and it will be given to him. (Jas 1:5, HCSB)

So the disciples asked Jesus about the meaning of the story of the wheat and weeds.

37 He replied: “The One who sows the good seed is the Son of Man; 38 the field is the world; and the good seed — these are the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one, 39 and the enemy who sowed them is the Devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels. 40 Therefore, just as the weeds are gathered and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age. 41 The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather from His kingdom everything that causes sin and those guilty of lawlessness. 42 They will throw them into the blazing furnace where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 43 Then the righteous will shine like the sun in their Father’s kingdom. Anyone who has ears should listen!

I find this parable tremendously comforting because it affirms my experience of being a Christian, and of being part of the kingdom of God on earth. In the real world, good and bad are often all jumbled together. Let me share a few examples:

  • In these days, there are famous television preachers who are clearly preaching things that are biblically incorrect. It is almost certain that they are leading some people astray; and yet at the same time it is almost certain that the Lord is using their ministries to bring some people closer to himself.
  • I personally know someone who has been used by the Lord to bring actual, physical healing to others; yet he also believes that he should be a preacher, and he preaches things that I would call heresy.
  • Kari and I have friends who were led to Jesus by a group that those same friends would now call a cult. Our friends affirm that this group is a cult, and they reject their cultish beliefs; but they also affirm that they were led to Jesus by those people.

It is obvious that there are many good people who call themselves Christians; it is equally obvious that there are many bad people who call themselves Christians. Our churches are full of both kinds.

In this parable, Jesus describes exactly this type of world, the real world that we encounter every day. Good and evil are growing together, sometimes even found in the same groups, the same individuals.

When we encounter this sort of thing, many times our reaction is to try and do something about it. Jesus included this idea in the parable: the servants wanted to uproot the weeds right away. I find myself often with the same attitude. But the master tells the servants: “No. You might destroy the good plants with the weeds. Instead, let them grow together until harvest, and the reapers will sort it out then.”

I think it is important for Christians to understand the difference between good and evil. The rest of the New Testament clearly affirms the idea that we should distinguish between false teaching and the true word of God.

Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock that the Holy Spirit has appointed you to as overseers, to shepherd the church of God, which He purchased with His own blood. I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. And men will rise up from your own number with deviant doctrines to lure the disciples into following them. Therefore be on the alert, remembering that night and day for three years I did not stop warning each one of you with tears. (Acts 20:28-31, HCSB)

To Timothy, my true son in the faith. Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. As I urged you when I went to Macedonia, remain in Ephesus so that you may instruct certain people not to teach different doctrine or to pay attention to myths and endless genealogies. These promote empty speculations rather than God’s plan, which operates by faith. Now the goal of our instruction is love that comes from a pure heart, a good conscience, and a sincere faith. (1Tim 1:2-5, HCSB)

Hold on to the pattern of sound teaching that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. Guard, through the Holy Spirit who lives in us, that good thing entrusted to you. (2Tim 1:13-14, HCSB)

Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who doesn’t need to be ashamed, correctly teaching the word of truth. (2Tim 2:15, HCSB)

I solemnly charge you before God and Christ Jesus, who is going to judge the living and the dead, and because of His appearing and His kingdom: Proclaim the message; persist in it whether convenient or not; rebuke, correct, and encourage with great patience and teaching. For the time will come when they will not tolerate sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, will multiply teachers for themselves because they have an itch to hear something new. They will turn away from hearing the truth and will turn aside to myths. (2Tim 4:1-4, HCSB)

But in another sense, it is not our job to sort it all out here and now. For instance, I think it is good and proper for me to point out the errors of what we call the “prosperity gospel.” It is part of my job as a teaching elder to keep those under my care from being led astray. But it is not my job to stop the prosperity preachers. I don’t know what to make of some their ministries. I suspect that it will go hard with them when Jesus returns. But I don’t have to sort it all out – that is the Lord’s job, on the last day.

I want to make a few more points, some of which are reiterated by the parable of the fish in the net:

47 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a large net thrown into the sea. It collected every kind of fish, 48 and when it was full, they dragged it ashore, sat down, and gathered the good fish into containers, but threw out the worthless ones. 49 So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will go out, separate the evil people from the righteous, 50 and throw them into the blazing furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Both the parable of the net, and of the wheat and weeds describe a situation where good is mixed with evil until the end of time. But they both clearly also describe an “end time” when good will be separated from evil, and evil will be entirely destroyed, while good is preserved forever. This is important in several ways:

First, there are many people, some even claiming to be Christians, who say that there is no such place as hell, and all people go to heaven. However, clearly, Jesus did not think that was true. He teaches us right here that there will be a time when evil, and evil people, will be punished and cast away from his presence forever. You cannot claim to follow the teachings of Jesus, and that same time, believe that all people go to heaven. For many, this is one of the big negatives about Christianity. I understand why people think this is negative. But you might just as well say that falling is one of the big negatives about gravity. It is what it is. And if gravity were different, we wouldn’t exist. In the same way, the spiritual universe has absolute truths, and if they were different, we couldn’t exist.

Second, there is a positive side to the punishment of wickedness and evil. Most people can still recognize some things as evil. Beheading innocent women, children and men is evil. Making girls, boys and young women into sex-slaves is evil. Rape is evil. At least our culture still agrees with those statements. So do we want those kinds of evil to take place with no justice? What kind of universe would it be if the strong can do these things to the weak with no accountability, ever? Jesus, through these stories, tells us that there is justice. Evil cannot have its way forever. There will be accountability.

I do not want to close without pointing out the grace inherent in these things. We may be thinking, “well, yes, I can see that punishment for the wicked is a good thing, but what if that means me?” It does mean you. It means me, also. But it doesn’t have to. Jesus came precisely to save us from ourselves, from the eternal separation from God that we deserve because of our sins. Hear the end of Jesus’ explanation of the parable of the wheat and weeds:

Then the righteous will shine like the sun in their Father’s kingdom. Anyone who has ears should listen!

I know I’m not righteous. I know you aren’t, either. But Jesus is! And Jesus offers us his own righteousness. That’s one of the amazing things he accomplished in his death and resurrection. Our wickedness and evil were punished, and we were given his righteousness. If we simply trust that he has done this for us, we have the righteousness of Jesus. In this parable, those of us who trust Jesus are “the righteous.” We will shine like the sun in our Father’s kingdom. Jesus meant this to be a comfort to his disciples, and we are his disciples if we trust him and allow him to be ruler of our lives.

We should be comforted by these words, knowing that it is okay to be honestly ignorant, and to ask Jesus for help understanding. We should be blessed in knowing that our real life experience of seeing good and evil jumbled together is normal. We should rejoice in the word promises the righteous – those who trust and surrender to Jesus – shall shine like the sun in our Father’s kingdom.

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.

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.

Please also pray for our finances. Pray for us to receive what we need. Please pray for us in this way before you give anything. And then, as you pray, if the Lord leads you to give us a gift, please go ahead and do that. But if he doesn’t want you to give to us, that is absolutely fine. We don’t want you to feel bad about it. We want you to follow Jesus in this matter. But do continue to pray for our finances.

If the Lord does lead you to give, just use the Paypal Donate button on the right hand side of the page. You don’t have to have a Paypal account – you can use a credit card, if you prefer. You can also set up a recurring donation through Paypal. We can make this tax-deductible if you just mention that it want it to be so in the “note” part of the transaction.

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!

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

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

in-blind-spot-truck-sign-s-4468

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.

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