Category: Christianity

LORD OF THE NATURAL AND SUPERNATURAL

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

demoniac

Sometimes it is hard to believe in the supernatural. But it should be obvious that there are giant swaths of reality that will never be explained as anything but supernatural. For example, take the idea of freedom. You can describe what the idea of freedom means, but you can’t study it in the same way you study what we call a “natural phenomenon” (like an eclipse). Instead, it is something “metaphysical,” or, in the old parlance, “supernatural.” There are many other supernatural things as well.

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 29

Matthew #29 . 8:28-34

When He had come to the other side, to the region of the Gadarenes, two demon-possessed men met Him as they came out of the tombs. They were so violent that no one could pass that way. Suddenly they shouted, “What do You have to do with us, Son of God? Have You come here to torment us before the time? ” Now a long way off from them, a large herd of pigs was feeding. “If You drive us out,” the demons begged Him, “send us into the herd of pigs.” “Go! ” He told them. So when they had come out, they entered the pigs. And suddenly the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea and perished in the water. Then the men who tended them fled. They went into the city and reported everything — especially what had happened to those who were demon-possessed. At that, the whole town went out to meet Jesus. When they saw Him, they begged Him to leave their region. (Matt 8:28-34, HCSB)

Mark and Luke record this same incident, but with one fairly large difference from Matthew: they tell of only one demon possessed man (Mark 5:1-20; Luke 8:26-39). This is one of those places that is used by some people to suggest that the Bible contradicts itself and is not reliable. However, I think this misses the point entirely. It reminds me of an old joke. Joe and Jack went down to the lake with Joe’s dog. Joe said, “watch this!” He picked up a stick and hurled it far out into the lake. “Fetch, boy,” he said. The dog immediately went bounding toward the lake, but instead of swimming, the animal ran out on top of the water, picked up the stick, ran back, still on top of the water, and then lay down a few feet away and began gnawing on it. His fur wasn’t even wet.

“So, what do you think?” said Joe.

Jack shook his head sadly. “Pathetic. Your dog didn’t release the stick to you, and he can’t even swim.”

The point of this passage, and of the parallel ones in Mark and Luke, is how Jesus dealt with a serious case of demonization. All three of them agree about that. Changing the number of men involved does not change the message about what Jesus did and who he is.

Secondly, I think the supposed contradiction is easily resolved. First, Matthew was actually there, while Mark and Luke were not; they were reporting something they had heard from other apostles. Mark and Luke do not say “there was only one demon-possessed man.” Instead, it is just that the focus of their telling of the incident is on only the one man – that doesn’t mean there was no second man there with him.

Kari and I have been married for twenty-two years. There are certain stories from our lives and ministry together that we love to tell other people. But usually, Kari tells a story differently from the way I tell it. She focuses on details that are important to her, but don’t seem that significant to me. If you heard both of us tell the same incident, you might notice apparent discrepancies in various small details. If you probed what we were saying, however, you would find that we don’t actually contradict each other – we just tell the story in different ways, with emphasis on different things. I am quite certain that this is exactly the same kind of thing we find when we compare the gospels to each other.

What I think personally, is that there were two demonized men there, but one of them was in much worse shape than the other. I suspect that Mark and Luke decided to focus on the drama of the worst of the two, and kept the story simple by leaving his companion out of it. Matthew, however, experienced it as it happened. He probably didn’t know the back-story of the one man until later. At the time, the most dramatic thing for him was not the back-story of one of the men, but rather the person and actions of Jesus.

So let’s look at Matthew’s telling and see what the Holy Spirit tells us through it.

I find several things here remarkable, and worth looking at. First, there is something about this story that sort of pulls back the curtain, and gives us a glimpse into a corner of reality that frankly, we would often prefer to ignore. I call it the “spiritual dimension.” Others may call it the “spirit world,” or “the supernatural.” Frankly, the Bible doesn’t usually call it something special – in fact, the bible doesn’t really separate it from everyday life – it is just part of reality.

In the Western world, we’ve grown accustomed to the idea that science will eventually be able to account for everything, proving at last that there is no such thing as the spiritual world. For instance, primitive peoples used to think that eclipses of the sun or moon were caused by angry spirits. Now we know that spirits have nothing to do with eclipses. But to any truly thoughtful person, it should be obvious that there are giant swaths of reality that will never be accessible to science. For example, take the idea of freedom. You can describe what the idea of freedom means, but you can’t study it in the same way you study what we call a “natural phenomenon” (like an eclipse). You may come up with some reason, based upon evolution, for the idea of freedom – but that doesn’t explain what the idea actually is. Even if someday scientists are able to isolate the proteins, chemicals and electrical impulses used in the human brain when we think “freedom” they still will not be studying what freedom actually is. If you kill someone who has the idea of freedom, somehow the idea continues to exist. I think it is safe to say that if you raised a generation of people who had never been exposed to the idea, somehow the idea of freedom would find its way into some of those people. Freedom has profoundly influenced entire civilizations – in fact the entire history of the world. Even so, you can’t touch it, or smell it or look at it under a microscope. It has no body; in fact, freedom (strictly speaking) has no physical properties at all. But any intelligent person can see that freedom is a real thing, even if we can’t quite lay hold of it with science.

We know that our reality is filled with non-corporeal things like freedom and hope and love and hate which are real things, and yet cannot be adequately explained or quantified by science. In fact these things are not “natural phenomena” at all. Strictly speaking, we might call them “supernatural,” though most modern people prefer the term “metaphysical.” If we so easily accept supernatural/metaphysical things like these, why should we dismiss out of hand, the idea of non-corporeal spirits?

In any case, if we are to believe the bible, we must realize that this is part of the reality that the bible takes for granted. Jesus, Paul, Peter, Moses, Matthew – all of the biblical writers assume that spirits – both good and evil, are part of what we call reality. In general, it calls evil spirits “demons” and good spirits “angels.” It appears that demons are actually angels who chose to follow Satan when he rebelled against God (Revelation 12:4; Jude 1:6)

I think one of the questions many American Christians have is, “if this is just part of reality, why don’t we see it more?” We always hear missionary stories from places Africa, the Middle-East and my childhood home, New Guinea, describing encounters with demons, but not often from the United States or Europe. I think there are two main reasons why.

First, this passage shows us that in a straight up, power-to-power encounter, Jesus always wins. In other words, demons, when faced with the presence and authority of Jesus, must leave. America and Europe have had, at least until very recently (and perhaps still), a strong presence of Christian disciples throughout the population. If demons operate so obviously, they will be driven out by the authority of Jesus, exercised by his followers. In a culture where there are many disciples of Jesus, it is more effective for the devil to operate through deception and moral corruption, than to risk a direct confrontation with the power of Jesus. In Africa and New Guinea and many other places in the world, the church has not been so strong or present in great numbers. There, demons are less likely to be driven out by the authority of Jesus, even if they overtly torment people.

Second, what there is of overt demonic activity in the United States is often not recognized as such. A few weeks ago I shared a story of deliverance from demonic harassment. If you remember, the individual in question had been diagnosed with a psychiatric disorder. Let me be clear, once again. I do not think that every psychological or mental disorder is demonic. Many, (perhaps most), of them are simply about brain chemistry or emotional injury. But I do know that there are some times when we mistakenly call something a psychological or emotional problem when in reality it is demonic.

I think is absolutely a mistake to suppose that every negative thing is caused directly by demonic activity. However, I think it is just as much a mistake to suppose that nothing is ever caused by it. For further reading I highly recommend reading The Screwtape Letters, by C.S. Lewis. He weaves a compelling picture of how the demonic might work in ordinary modern life.

Back to the text, we have these evil spirits, connected with the bodies of these two unfortunate men, recognizing the Spirit of Jesus, in spite of the fact that Jesus also present in physical bodily form. Though there are physically three men involved, the confrontation is almost entirely spiritual.

The demons immediately knew Jesus as the Son of God. This is actually very important, because it tells us something significant about faith. These demons obviously knew who Jesus was. They weren’t denying that he was the Son of God. They weren’t denying his power or divinity. But they did not willingly embrace his authority over their lives. They knew who he was, but they rejected him as Lord over them. James writes:

You believe that God is one; you do well. The demons also believe — and they shudder. (Jas 2:19, HCSB)

This goes along with the discipleship theme we spoke about a few weeks ago. Sometimes, we think that Christianity is simply about agreeing with a certain set of doctrines, but living our lives however we choose. Well, here we have demons who agree with the doctrine that Jesus is divine. But they did not follow him. They did not submit to him. With his power, he forced them to leave, but they did not leave out of willing obedience. You might say, in a narrow sense, that these demons held the correct doctrine about the identity of Jesus. But what they rejected was a relationship with him based upon love, grace and obedience. The demons weren’t wrong in their belief. They were wrong in attitude toward Jesus; specifically, they refused to willingly submit to him and obey him. They were rebellious.

So, as Jesus approaches and these rebellious spirits recognize him, they shout: “What have you to do with us, Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the time?”

The book of Revelation describes a lake of fire, where the devil and his followers are tormented forever (Revelation, chapters 19-20). Jude also predicts the final judgment of fallen angels:

And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day— (Jude 1:6, ESV2011)

These demons apparently have some sort of awareness of the great torment awaiting them. Once again, we sort of looking behind the curtain at things we might not fully understand. Even though they remained disobedient, the demons knew that Jesus had the power to force them to do whatever he commanded. That alone is worth a thought or two. We find this surprising thing: they begged Jesus to let them go into a nearby herd of pigs. The impression I get is that Jesus normally sent demons to a place of anguish and suffering; perhaps just being among themselves with no opportunity to torment anything else was a terrible punishment for them. So they ask that he doesn’t send them (presumably) to hell, but instead lets them escape into a herd of nearby pigs. Even more surprising, Jesus grants their request.

The irony, of course, is that the demons drove the pigs mad, and they all killed themselves in the lake, presumably leaving the demons with no place else to go but to the place of torment after all. Evil always finds a way to do harm not only to others, but to self also.

The reaction of the people in that area still surprises me. They ask Jesus to leave, please. Some commenters suppose that they didn’t like the fact that they lost all those pigs, which were certainly valuable economic assets. However, Matthew says that the men who told about the incident emphasized not the loss of the pigs, but the fact that the two demonized men were restored to wholeness. Even so, the townspeople begged Jesus to leave.

I think the unfortunate truth is that the presence of Jesus stirs things up, makes changes in people’s lives, and many people would rather not deal with that. In addition, many people are afraid when they realize the kind of power Jesus actually has. It was more comfortable for them if Jesus would simply leave them alone. Yes, it was a hassle that no one could go near the tombs where the demon-possessed men were, but they were used to it, and had learned to work around it. Now Jesus comes along, and anything might happen. It wasn’t a comfortable thought for them. They would rather remain comfortable and live with their issues, than have him come in and shake things up.

So what is the Lord saying to you through this scripture today? Did you need to be confronted with the reality of the spiritual dimension? Have you been ignoring the fact that we have enemies there who would do us harm?

Or maybe you needed to be reminded today that Jesus’ power is infinitely greater than that of any demon – even greater than the devil himself. One whiff of the presence of Jesus, one word spoken in His authority, sends any demonic power away. You can trust Jesus. He is Lord not only of nature (as he showed with the calming of the storm) but also of supernature – the spiritual dimension.

Perhaps for you the important thing to hear was that evil finds a way to harm itself. Maybe you’ve been toying with some sin, or some course of action that, deep in your heart, you know is not right. Maybe you think if God just leaves you alone, you’ll be fine. Perhaps you need to remember what happened to the pigs.

Or maybe you need to be confronted with the fact that you’ve been pushing Jesus off to the side in order to keep your life more comfortable. Maybe he’s showing you that, so that you can make a better, choice, a choice to let him work in your life, however painful or scary that may feel.

Another possibility is that you have been hiding behind the same faith that demons have. You believe in Jesus; you have no problem acknowledging that he is the Son of God. But frankly, you don’t want him to have much to do with your life. You want to be in control yourself, rather than let him be Lord. Don’t be fooled: that kind of faith isn’t Christian faith at all. Surrender your “right” to be in charge of your own life, and give it to Jesus instead.

Let the Spirit speak to you right now! Listen and 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.

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Thank for your prayers, and your support!

WHO IS JESUS? WHAT DID HE THINK OF HIMSELF?

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

Copy_of_Passion_of_the_Christpassion

Most of the world seems to have an opinion about Jesus Christ. Those who aren’t Christians often view him as a good man, a great teacher or even a prophet. What is remarkable, however is that clearly, Jesus did not view Himself primarily in these ways, nor is it how He is portrayed in the Bible. In other words, what most of the world thinks about Jesus is not what Jesus thinks about Himself. These opinions about Jesus are not supported by the only records we have of his life and teaching.

 

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 24

 

 

Matthew #24 . Matthew 7:28-29

When Jesus finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed by his teaching, because he taught them like one who had authority, not like their experts in the law. (Matt 7:28-29, NET)

I want to return again this week to Matthew 7:13-29. We looked in detail at some of the teachings of Jesus. But there is an underlying assumption in His words that we just barely touched upon. Let me set it up, and then we’ll take look at what he said.

Most of the world seems to have an opinion about Jesus Christ. Many Jewish people, even today, view Jesus as a Rabbi – a good teacher. Islamic people consider him a prophet. Hindus and Buddhists view him as a good moral man. Mormons and Jehovah’s witnesses have more complicated and strange views, but both of those religions also have something to say about Jesus. Even many atheists today view Jesus as a good moral teacher. Some people think of him as an admirable revolutionary. Even people who call themselves Christians often seem to think of Jesus mostly as a teacher and a great moral example for us.

What is remarkable about all of this is that clearly, Jesus did not view Himself primarily in these ways, nor is it how He is portrayed in the Bible. In other words, what most of the world thinks about Jesus is not what Jesus thinks about Himself. What most of the world believes about Jesus is not supported by the only records we have of his life and teaching.

In this passage, Jesus says that the gate and road which lead to life are narrow. John records that he said “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except by me.” The Greek word that Matthew uses for “road” is the same word John uses for “way.” In other words, Jesus explicitly claims to be the only way, the narrow road.

Back up now. These are not the words of a great moral teacher. The truth is, Jesus is not a good teacher unless his teaching is accurate and righteous. He is not a good moral person unless he tells the truth. And what he said about Himself is not that he was a moral man, or a prophet or a good teacher. He said he was the only way of salvation.

There have been a few people from time to time who have said that they appreciate my biblical teaching. Some people have even said I’m a good teacher. I’m grateful to hear that. But imagine if I started saying things like this:

On that day many will say to Me, ‘Lord, Lord, didn’t we prophesy in Your name, drive out demons in Your name, and do many miracles in Your name? ’ Then I will announce to them, ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me, you lawbreakers!’

Would I still be a good teacher if I said that? I would be implying that I will be in charge of your eternal destiny on judgment day. I would be implying that I deserve the title “Lord.” I would be implying that people will (and should) do miracles in the name of Tom Hilpert. That sort of thing does not make me a good teacher, or a moral man. Quite the opposite. That sort of talk would make me either insane, or an evil cult leader, or both.

You see, what Jesus said and implied about himself was very startling, and very controversial. If what he said about himself was not true, then it would be ridiculous to call him a good teacher.

Let’s review a few more things he said in the “sermon on the mount”:

“The poor in spirit are blessed, for the kingdom of heaven is theirs. (Matthew 5:2)” Wait a minute now. Who has the right say “the kingdom of heaven is theirs”? Jesus presumes that He has the authority to say to whom the kingdom will belong. That’s not good moral teaching. If He doesn’t have the authority to say it, it is mere arrogance and conceit.

How about this one: “If you are persecuted for my sake, you will have a great reward in heaven” (paraphrase of Matthew 5:11-12). Think on that again. To see how startling it is, imagine you said such a thing. All throughout this “great moral teaching,” Jesus assumes that He himself is the key to goodness, life and the kingdom of heaven. Who is He to say that what is inside someone’s heart (for instance, lust or hatred) is a sin? Who is He to say which person will receive a heavenly reward and which won’t?

Who is He indeed? That is the central question for every person on earth.

As I mentioned, Jesus says that on the last day, many will come to him and say “Lord, Lord…” This title of Lord is very significant. When God called Moses to lead the people out of Egypt, Moses essentially said “Who is talking to me?” God told Moses that his name is YHWH. There are no vowels in Hebrew, but it is generally pronounced “Yahweh.” This is God’s personal name, the name by which He interacts with His people throughout the Old Testament. After God instructed the Hebrew people not to take his name in vain, they began to pronounce it differently, incorporating the title “The Lord” into God’s name. (Incidentally, the result of that is the pronunciation “Jehovah.”) Many English translations today put “THE LORD” in where the Hebrew says “YHWH” because that reflects the Hebrew practice. The Greek translation of the Old Testament, finished two-hundred years before the time of Jesus, uses “kyrios” (“Lord”) for this personal name of God. Although “kyrios” can also mean “sir” or “person in authority” it is most definitely used for God’s personal name.

To sum it all up, when Jesus calls himself “Lord” (kyrios) he is claiming the name of God for himself. When the disciples call him Lord, they are doing the same thing. The phrase “Jesus is Lord” means exactly: “Jesus is Yahweh,” or “Jesus is Jehovah.”

Matthew uses the word “Lord” (kyrios) 73 times. Once, it refers to someone speaking with respect to Pontius Pilate. The other 73 times it refers to either the God of the Old Testament, or Jesus. [Sometimes it is used in parables told by Jesus, but in each case, the figure in the parable with that title represents Jesus or the Father].

So what it comes down to is this: Jesus claimed to God Himself, the personal God of the Old Testament. When we look closely at the sermon on the mount, we see that underneath all of His teachings is the presumption that this is true. We will see that presumption lies underneath everything Jesus ever said.

If Jesus isn’t who he claimed to be, in fact, the Lord, he’s either a liar, or a lunatic. What he most definitely cannot be is a just a moral man, prophet or a good teacher. C.S. Lewis put it like this:

A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic – on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg – or else he would be the Devil of Hell.

Just to encourage our faith, let’s consider these two other alternatives. Was Jesus a liar? Was he just pretending to be divine? People have reasons for the things they do. So what convincing reason would Jesus have to pretend to be God, even when he knew he was not? To ask it another way, what did he get out of it?

Cult leaders in this day and age often collect women for themselves and father children with dozens of their followers. They keep their followers insulated from the world around them, and set themselves up in opposition to the powers that be. So they gain sex and power over others from their lies. Many cult leaders also amass wealth, usually by getting their followers to turn over their assets to them.

Jesus did nothing like this. He did not marry even one woman. He did not gain power or wealth. He wasn’t even in charge of the finances of his little group, and there is no record of him asking anyone for money, though he did tell one person to give money to the poor (not to himself). He didn’t isolate his followers from the world around them.

Jesus turned away potential followers by the hundreds. He told many people not to speak of his miracles. He slipped away from a crowd that was ready to call him King and follow him (John 6:15). Even at his death, he continued to act as if he believed he was God (John 18:36; Luke 23:39-43). Surely, if he was deliberately lying he would have given it up before they killed him. To put it simply, from a human perspective, speaking and acting like he was God did not benefit Jesus in any discernible way. It is simply not realistic to suppose that Jesus deliberately lied when he claimed to be God. Everything he gained by pretending to be God, he gained in eternity, not this life. In other words, if it wasn’t true, he got nothing for his deception. Such a person would be utterly pathetic and pointless. But Jesus clearly acted like a man on a mission. There is nothing pathetic about him.

The second of the three alternatives is that Jesus was insane, that he truly believed he was God, but was not. We have evaluated his behavior as a liar, and found it is simply not plausible. So let me ask this. Does Jesus act like a crazy man?

Bear in mind, we aren’t talking about being “mildly unbalanced.” Consider this analogy. If I think I am the greatest writer of my generation, I am arrogant, and out of touch with reality, but it’s likely that I can still communicate lucidly, and get around in life just fine. I might need to be taken down a peg or two, but I don’t need to be institutionalized. However, if I think I am the 19th century author Charles Dickens, that is much more removed from reality. People speaking with me would leave with the impression that there is something seriously wrong with me, and I would need significant medical intervention. Now, suppose I think I am a skunk, and I behave accordingly. I am so far removed from reality that I won’t even communicate effectively. I would be, to put it clinically, “bonkers.”

A man truly thinking he is the God of the Old Testament God is not just someone with an inflated ego. It is an even bigger break from reality than a man who thinks he is a skunk. If Jesus was wrong, he wasn’t just a few sandwiches short of a picnic – he was short the basket, the blanket and the entire outdoors.

If Jesus believed he was the Lord, and he was mistaken, his words would be the ravings of a lunatic. So I put it to you – does he sound like that to you? Does he come across like a man who thinks he is a skunk, or even a man who thinks he is a celebrity from a previous century? Are his words and ideas nonsensical?

I think anyone who has read the gospels knows that Jesus doesn’t sound or act like a lunatic. On the contrary, he seems to have a very clear grasp on human nature. His parables reveal an incisive awareness of the world around him, and how other people think and behave. He exhibits compassion and humor and even appropriate anger. Though he didn’t try to gather a large group of followers, certainly many people were drawn to him. Can you imagine large crowds following someone today who claimed to be Charles Dickens? How about someone who acted like a skunk? No, I don’t see this as a plausible alternative either.

The finally possibility – the only remaining reasonable alternative – is that Jesus is indeed Who and What He claimed to be, that is, the Lord. He was not a great teacher unless what he said is true. He was not a moral person unless his claim to be God is true. If he was a liar, he was surely the most pathetic and pointless figure in history. If he was crazy, then we are all skunks.

I bring all this up for three main reasons. First, I want to encourage you in your faith. There are many opinions about Jesus. That in and of itself should be a clue. Almost no one can manage to ignore Him. And we find out that that what Jesus says about Himself turns out to be the most reasonable and reliable alternative, though it is also undoubtedly the most remarkable one. Faith is still required. We cannot see Jesus in our day and age, but he still asks us to trust him. But perhaps the leap is not quite as far as you had thought. All things considered, it certainly sounds like Jesus was who He claimed to be.

Second, I think these things are good for us to know when we talk with others about Jesus. Again, faith is required, but reasonable investigations suggests that what we believe is quite likely to be true. It may be helpful for some of your friends, neighbors and co-workers to have the information in this sermon. It may help someone to decide to make that leap of faith. Because in the end, only two opinions about Jesus matter – His own opinion about Himself, and yours about Him. According to Jesus, eternity hinges upon those two things.

Third, I bring this up because I want make sure that in all the details and teachings, we don’t lose sight of Jesus Himself. The gospel message is about our salvation, yes. But more than that, it is about Jesus. Jesus is the focal point of all history and all creation. Our faith isn’t about ourselves, it is about Jesus Christ. Sometimes I get wrapped up in myself and how God can work in my life. But I think God prefers that I get wrapped up in Jesus, and how I fit in to His life. I need to be reminded to take my focus off myself, and put it on Jesus. The writer of Hebrews puts it this way:

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. (Hebrews 12:1-3)

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus. That is the way to avoid growing weary, and losing heart. Why don’t we put that into practice right now?

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.

You could also send a check to:

New Joy Fellowship

625 Spring Creek Road

Lebanon, TN 37087

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

 

Thank for your prayers, and your support!

TREASURING WHAT IS MOST VALUABLE

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

treasure

When we store treasure for ourselves in this life, we are setting ourselves up for major disappointment. The relationships we cherish so much won’t ever be all that we want them to be. We are very unlikely to achieve the success and accolades we desire. Financial security escapes all but a few. Death takes every single person. We can’t count on our dreams here. Even those dreams which are fulfilled are still missing some indefinable thing that leaves us with lingering doubt and emptiness.

I think sometimes one reason we get so angry and disappointed with God is that we want to have it all in this life. But the Lord never promises we will have it all (or, necessarily any of “it”) here in this life.

The answer is not in this life. Our mistake is to seek it here. But the call for Christians is to keep our focus on real treasure.

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 20.5

Matthew #20.5 Matthew 6:19-21

In our church last week, someone suggested that it would be a good idea to dwell a little bit more on what our treasure in Heaven will be. It’s hard to focus on something, to aim your life at something, when you only have a vague idea of what it is. So, I’m going to go back from where we are in the text, and re-visit Matthew 6:19-21. Jesus said:

“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)

Prior to this, Jesus was talking about how our Heavenly Father will reward us, and we should seek that reward, rather than the praise of other people. So, what is heavenly treasure? What is heavenly reward?

So often, we don’t really believe that our real treasure is in Heaven. We are still looking for it on earth. So our eternal future does not figure very much in our day to day plans and decisions.

For Most Christians, heaven is a backup plan. Our primary work is finding a life we can at least get a little pleasure from here. Heaven is an investment we’ve made, like Treasury bonds, or a retirement account, which we we’re hoping will take care of us in the future sometime, but which we do not give much thought to at present. (John Eldredge, Desire, chapter 6).

Part of the difficulty about heaven is that we’ve never been there. Even those Christians who have had death-experiences and returned, have not really been to heaven, but only to the entrance of the afterlife, so to speak, and we cannot give their experiences the same kind of authority that we give to the Bible; and yet the Bible doesn’t seem to have very many specifics. However, the Bible does give us some big-picture ideas about eternity for those who are in Jesus.

First, when the bible talks about “eternal life” the Greek word for life is a special one: zoe. Jesus said that whoever trusts in Him will have zoe (John 3:15). It means much more than just “live forever.” Zoe means not only life that is indestructible, that lasts forever, but also a certain higher quality of life, better life. John says we have zoe when we trust Jesus:

The one who has the Son has zoe. The one who doesn’t have the Son of God does not have zoe. I have written these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal zoe. (1John 5:12-13, HCSB I have substituted the Greek word for the English, where it occurs)

This is important. If by eternal life we meant just a long life exactly as we have known it, that sounds a little daunting. This life leaves a lot to be desired, and extending it forever would not fix most of the problems we have. If eternal life was just more of this life, we would continue to struggle with broken relationships. We would still face unfulfilled desires (only now, for eternity). We would go on being disappointed by others, and ourselves, and not finding as much joy as we think we should from getting what we think we want. We might go on struggling with finances, and with worry, and with feeling insecure, and unattractive. Continuing to live this life forever sounds more like a punishment than a blessing.

Thankfully, the Bible promises not more of the same, but rather, something different; eternal zoe. Our eternal life will be of a different, better quality. In the first place, we will have new bodies. Many Christians don’t realize this. The promise of eternal life is not some ghost-existence where we float around like disembodied spirits. 1 Corinthians 15 tells us that we will have bodies, but that they will be different in important ways from our present bodies.

But someone will say, “How are the dead raised? What kind of body will they have when they come? ” Foolish one! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. And as for what you sow — you are not sowing the future body, but only a seed, perhaps of wheat or another grain. But God gives it a body as He wants, and to each of the seeds its own body. (1Cor 15:35-38, HCSB)

We are like seeds, sitting in a seed packet, wondering what happens after we are planted, but having no point of reference. Back when I thought I could grow a garden, I planted some zucchini squash. The seeds are smooth and flat, roughly the size of a fingernail, but oval shaped. There is kind of beveled border all around the edge of the seed. The seed is cream colored. Now, that seed is pure zucchini. There is nothing in the seed that is anything other than zucchini. It contains every part of the DNA of a full zucchini plant. And yet, the seed is nothing at all like the whole plant – in fact it isn’t even very much like the zucchini squash. The plant is green. It grows to over two feet tall, and more than four feet around of spreading green stalks and leaves. The flowers are long and yellow or orange. The zucchini “fruit” is a foot long or more, with white flesh and dark green skin.

The seeds do not change their essential nature, and yet they are destroyed in order for the plant to grow. The DNA of the grown plant is the same as the DNA of the seed that dies to produce the plant. Yet the plant is so much more than the seed. And no matter how long you took, you would never be able to imagine the plant merely from examining the seed.

So it will be with our new bodies. They will be fully us, and yet very different from how we are at the moment. They will not experience disease or pain or death.

Our new bodies will have a new creation to inhabit. Paul writes that all of creation was “subjected to futility.” That creation will be redeemed when we ourselves are finally resurrected into eternal zoe with our new bodies:

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is going to be revealed to us. For the creation eagerly waits with anticipation for God’s sons to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to futility — not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it — in the hope that the creation itself will also be set free from the bondage of corruption into the glorious freedom of God’s children. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together with labor pains until now. And not only that, but we ourselves who have the Spirit as the firstfruits — we also groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for adoption, the redemption of our bodies. Now in this hope we were saved, yet hope that is seen is not hope, because who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with patience. (Rom 8:18-25, HCSB)

John writes about his vision of the end of the universe as we know it:

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. (Rev 21:1, HCSB)

This world is a beautiful place still. As I type this, I can see three pictures on my wall, all of them taken by me while traveling. One is a sunset scene on the Gulf of Mexico.

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Another is from a mountainside in Northern California, overlooking meadows, forests and the ocean. The third is a majestic and stunning view of Mount Hood in Oregon, clad in winter white, draped with dark green fir forests. I love these MtnViewplaces, and many more equally beautiful, but different parts of the world. And yet, the beach on the Gulf was only recently threatened by a massive oil spill. Just a few miles from my Northern California scene, the city of San Francisco spreads asphalt over the beautiful land, and belches smog above the bay. The north side of Mount Hood has been artificially protected from fire, and the forests there are now filled with dead wood, and primed to go up in smoke across half the mountain. Even if they don’t, Hood is a volcano that could someday erupt, and turn the beautiful scenery into smoking slag rock.

And let’s be honest. In Gulf lurk bull sharks and stingrays that threaten our enjoyments, and at times even our lives. The mountainsides are gorgeous, but a fall, or an avalanche, or a falling tree, or a snake, or a cougar, or a bear, or just getting lost could kill us easily. Even if we don’t die, we can experience discomfort from insect-bites, illness from drinking untreated water and hunger if we can find no food. Our world is beautiful, but it is also still very imperfect and unsafe.

As beautiful as our world is, it is subject to futility. It is not eternal. It is not perfect. It is fragile, and even often unsafe for us. But the promise of the Bible is that we will get a new world, even more beautiful, one that is redeemed and perfected along with us. We can swim in beautiful waters with no fear of sharks. We can wander in the wilderness with no discomfort from mosquitoes, no fear of hunger or wildlife. This is indeed a treasure to look forward to.

John also says this about the new creation to come:

Then I heard a loud voice from the throne: Look! God’s dwelling is with humanity, and He will live with them. They will be His people, and God Himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will no longer exist; grief, crying, and pain will exist no longer, because the previous things have passed away. Then the One seated on the throne said, “Look! I am making everything new.” He also said, “Write, because these words are faithful and true.” And He said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give water as a gift to the thirsty from the spring of life. (Rev 21:3-6, HCSB)

Our eternal zoe-life will be free from death, grief, and pain. Every time you experience grief, or emotional pain, or physical pain, or sorrow, use it to remind yourself of the treasure that awaits you in the New Creation.

In eternal life, we will be reunited with everyone else who has trusted in Jesus and died with faith in Him. A day will come when we see those who have gone before us. Death does not have to be forever. Pause for a minute, and think of those you have lost in this life who are waiting for you now in eternal life. These loved ones are a very great treasure for us. In Jesus, all goodbyes are temporary.

I think one of the clues to our treasure in heaven is the Garden of Eden, before Adam and Eve sinned. They lived in perfect health in a beautiful place, at harmony with nature. Most especially, Adam and Eve lived in complete vulnerability and intimacy with God and with each other. In their intimacy and vulnerability, there was no shame, no danger, no hurt or disappointment. In many ways, the Bible hints that the New Creation will be like the Garden of Eden – only better, and without the snake. Our relationships with God and with each other will be healed and whole and open and joyful and fun.

Sometimes we might think heaven will be boring. Isn’t it just one long worship service? I don’t think so. I think the worship takes place in many ways. In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve had work to do. It wasn’t toilsome – it was joyful. They found fulfillment in doing what they loved to do, and they found that it all came together as they lived according to their purpose. Here on earth, when you try to live for your purpose, it is usually a struggle. Others don’t care about your purpose. It’s hard to make a living doing what you were created to do. Many don’t appreciate the gifts and unique person that God made you to be. But in heaven, our yearning to be significant and our drive to do certain things we love will be fulfilled, not removed. Jesus, in the parable of the talents, describes the Master giving the faithful servants responsibilities and goals that are suited to them. You won’t be bored. You will finally get to do what you were created to do, with no hindrance or frustration.

John Eldredge writes about the eternal life to come for those who trust Jesus. He suggests that maybe one reason we don’t put our treasure in heaven is because we have incorrect expectations of it.

How can the church service that never ends be more desirable than the richest experiences of life here? It would be no small difference if you knew in your heart that the life you prize is just around the corner, that your deepest desires have been whispering to you all along about what’s coming. (John Eldredge, Desire, chapter 7 emphasis mine).

I think Eldredge is on to something. It is true, we can have sinful desires, and these will not find fulfillment in heaven. But our longing for closeness with God and with other people, our desire to be significant and to accomplish something worthwhile, our yearning for beauty and refreshment – all these are little signposts here on earth, pointing toward the eternal treasure that is waiting for us when God renews the heavens and the earth.

Let me give you one surprising example. Many people love the experience of sexual intimacy. At times, it feels almost necessary. That desire is really much more than physical. It is a desire to be close to another person, to be almost “immersed” in the one you love. Sexual desire is a pull to experience the beauty of another person fully, and to be known yourself fully. Of course, on earth, it gets distorted and twisted into all sorts of lesser things, sometimes very ugly and sinful things. But the desire itself is not wrong, and I believe that desire for intimacy and beauty and safe vulnerability will be fulfilled in heaven in a far greater way than it ever can be on earth. If you died without ever having sex in this life, you have not missed out – the real thing, the thing that sex is merely a shadow of – that is waiting for us in heaven, and it is better than what we call sex.

All of the things we love here on earth, and the things that desire most deeply are mere copies and shadows of the reality that is to come.

Therefore, don’t let anyone judge you in regard to food and drink or in the matter of a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day. These are a shadow of what was to come; the substance is the Messiah. (Col 2:16-17, HCSB)

These serve as a copy and shadow of the heavenly things, as Moses was warned when he was about to complete the tabernacle. (Heb 8:5, HCSB)

Even our sinful desires are often just a distortion and deception of something that began as a righteous desire for the heavenly reality. The point is this: one of the great treasures of heaven is that the true deep desires of our soul will be fulfilled. God created us with yearning for heaven. Sin and the devil have distorted and confused the yearning, but they haven’t eliminated it. To put it another way, in heaven is what you truly want. Heaven contains what you’ve been trying to find, trying to achieve all these years, and even more. If that is not something to treasure, I don’t know what is.

When I was in High School, some of the kids acted as if High School was all there was. They immersed themselves in becoming sports stars and prom queens and part of the “in” clique. These folks didn’t want to be “losers,” but they were quite free in calling others by that name. Many of them achieved their High School dreams. But when they graduated, and High School was over, it was almost as if they were surprised. They were lost, and it took some of them a long time to realize that High School is only one very short part of life, and not the most important part, either. Some of these “popular” ended up as “losers” in real life.

Brothers and sisters, this is High School. This isn’t real life. What we have here, what we treasure, is just a shadow of the real thing. What everyone seems to chase after is shallow and it doesn’t last – it isn’t real treasure. You’ve heard the saying “there are no dress-rehearsals; this is real life.” I beg to differ. This is the dress rehearsal. Real life hasn’t even started yet.

So many of us don’t want to acknowledge this. We keep pursuing things that don’t last, things that don’t matter. We keep storing up treasure that we can’t take with us and focusing on what is meaningless. Isaiah wrote about such people:

You were wearied by all your ways, but you would not say ‘it is hopeless.’ You found renewal of your strength, so that you would not faint. (Isaiah 57:10).

He was talking to people who would not give up trying to get what they wanted in this life, people who wouldn’t trust that God had something better for them in eternity.

When we store treasure for ourselves in this life, we are setting ourselves up for major disappointment. The relationships we cherish so much won’t ever be all that we want them to be. We are very unlikely to achieve the success and accolades we desire. Financial security escapes all but a few. Death takes every single person. Some die too young, and others wish they could die sooner, but it comes to every single human being. We can’t count on our dreams here. Even those dreams which are fulfilled are still missing some indefinable thing that leaves us with lingering doubt and emptiness.

I think sometimes one reason we get so angry and disappointed with God is that we want to have it all in this life. But the Lord never promises we will have it all (or, necessarily any of “it”) here in this life. What Jesus said about this life was this:

I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33, ESV2011)

David writes it like this:

Our lives last seventy years or, if we are strong, eighty years. Even the best of them are struggle and sorrow; indeed, they pass quickly and we fly away. (Ps 90:10, HCSB)

The answer is not in this life. Our mistake is to seek it here. But the call for Christians is to keep our focus on real treasure, real zoe-life:

Therefore, with your minds ready for action, be serious and set your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. (1Pet 1:13, HCSB)

So if you have been raised with the Messiah, seek what is above, where the Messiah is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on what is above, not on what is on the earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with the Messiah in God. When the Messiah, who is your life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory. (Col 3:1-4, HCSB)

Set your minds on what is above, not on what is on the earth. Put your treasure in heaven. Keep your life aimed toward real life, eternal life, not this temporary thing. Let your hope be not for this life, but for heaven. Don’t seek just for a comfortable eighty years passing the time on earth, but for an eternity of abundant better life. Store up your hope and treasure for heaven.

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MONEY & GOD: WHERE IS YOUR HEART FOCUSED?

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

 

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The world is full of Christians who are trying precisely to serve both God and money. So many of us think we can have it both ways. We have deceived ourselves in this area.

If you are going to stop serving money, you have to stop worrying about it, and instead, start trusting God to give you and your family what you need.

 

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 20

 

 

Matthew #20 . Chapter 6:21-34

Jesus has just finished instructing his disciples – that includes us, today – to avoid acting religious in order to win praise and admiration from other people. We should, give, pray and fast in order to grow closer to God. He concludes this section, and transitions to the next one with these words:

“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.

If we seek after the praise of other people, we are seeking an earthly “treasure.” Praise and admiration from others does not last. It’s almost like a drug. You are never satisfied – you keep needing more. People can forget about you. They can change their opinions about you. People who admire you can even die, without being replaced by new admirers. The praise of others is a quickly decaying treasure.

Now, let’s talk about the word “treasure.” The Greek word for treasure, or treasury is “thesauros” which instantly brings a smile and a nod to any writer; we know that words are a treasure. But actually, this word does not mean anything like “dictionary of words with similar meanings.” It refers to storing things up by keeping them someplace that is supposed to be safe. You put what you most want to preserve and protect and own in a thesauros. Jesus says, your treasury, your fire-proof safe, should be in heaven. If you are working to acquire, save and protect things here on earth, then your focus will be here, not heaven. Not only that, but your efforts will be ultimately completely useless, since what is on earth does not last.

Jesus adds to this metaphor with this thought:

“The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. So if the light within you is darkness — how deep is that darkness!

I’ve often felt that this comment seems out of place right here. But I think what Jesus was saying is something like this:

“Your eyes show your body where to go and what to do. If they are no good, your whole body is in trouble. In the same way, your hopes, goals and ambitions, what you value, where you place your treasure – these things show your soul where to go and what to do. They are like your ‘spiritual eyes.’ And if your ‘spiritual eyes’ are dark or blinded, your whole soul, your very being, is in deep trouble!”

Jesus then applies these two thoughts to money, which, according to Him, is another worthless, quickly-decaying treasure. Pursuing it reveals that we have problems in our “spiritual eyes.”

“No one can be a slave of two masters, since either he will hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot be slaves of God and of money.

The word “slave” here (repeated twice) is the Greek word “douleuein.” It can mean “be in devoted service” or “yield to.”

Let me be blunt. The world is full of Christians who are trying precisely to serve both God and money. So many of us think we can have it both ways. So many of us deceive ourselves in this area. We convince ourselves that we aren’t really serving money – we certainly aren’t slaves to it (we think, indignantly). And we think, why can’t we have both? Sure, we’re here to serve God. Sure, we trust Jesus to give us eternal life. But what is wrong with the goal of having a little extra money to spare while we wait for heaven? I mean, it isn’t really even to spare, when you think about it. What if I have an emergency? I’m just being responsible.

But it’s funny how “responsibility” grows and grows. Particularly in America, we tend to get involved in all sorts of financial things like swimming pools, boats, unnecessarily large and fancy houses, expensive vacations, vacation homes, beautiful cars, fancy phones and computers. Then, we justify our service to money by saying we are only being responsible.

I don’t think it is wrong in all circumstances for a Christian to own any such thing. But I think we often deceive ourselves about how much we truly are serving money, and about how much of that service is entirely unnecessary.

Here are some helpful questions for determining where you are storing up treasure: Will spending this money make it harder to walk away from what you have invested in? For example, suppose you decide to buy a big beautiful house. Will spending that money, investing in the house, tend to keep you more tied to earthly things? Will it tend to be storing up treasure on earth? Will it strengthen your connection to heaven, or emphasize your connection to this life?

And let’s be honest. If you really don’t care if you have a beautiful house or not, then you probably won’t be particularly motivated to try and acquire it. It may happen that you get one. It may not. You can be grateful and enjoy it, and you can walk away from, knowing that your true treasure never needs a new roof.

We spend a lot of time working for money. Now, the bible is overwhelmingly positive about work, and it clearly teaches that if at all possible, we should take care of the material needs of our families, and to try to help the material needs of those who can’t make it on their own. Here are a few such verses:

But we encourage you, brothers, to do so even more, to seek to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you, so that you may walk properly in the presence of outsiders and not be dependent on anyone. (1Thess 4:10-12, HCSB)

Support widows who are genuinely widows. But if any widow has children or grandchildren, they must learn to practice godliness toward their own family first and to repay their parents, for this pleases God. (1Tim 5:3-4, HCSB) [MY NOTE:In this circumstance, widows and orphans without family were the most vulnerable people in society, with no means to provide for themselves.]

But if anyone does not provide for his own, that is his own household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever. (1Tim 5:8, HCSB)

Jesus expects families will work to take care of themselves, along with donating money to support ministers (1 Corinthians 9:14), and also helping to take care of the most needy in society. So obviously, most of us will be involved in earning money for much of our lives. Even so, he does not want us to pursue money, or desire it for anything other than the above mentioned purposes. The Holy Spirit inspired Paul to write to Timothy:

But godliness with contentment is a great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with these. But those who want to be rich fall into temptation, a trap, and many foolish and harmful desires, which plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and by craving it, some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains. But you, man of God, run from these things, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, and gentleness. (1Tim 6:5-11, HCSB)

So let’s reiterate this: you cannot pursue both God and money. Those who want to get rich fall into temptations and traps and often wander from the faith. You cannot make it your ambition to truly follow Jesus, and at the same time, maintain an ambition to be wealthy.

You may get wealthy as you follow Jesus. If you happen to become wealthy while you live your life as Jesus’ disciple, committing yourself fully to Him and His purposes, it’s probably not a problem. If your goal is never money, but always Jesus, then you might be able to handle wealth in a spiritually appropriate way.

But I have to be honest with you. Most people don’t get wealthy by following Jesus. It could happen, but following Jesus is not a reliable means to financial prosperity. Jesus himself was never wealthy. It didn’t work out for wealth for Peter, Andrew, James, John, Nathaniel, Simon, Philip, Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, or Thaddaeus – the eleven faithful apostles. The other close disciples of Jesus who failed to become wealthy include: Paul, Barnabas, Timothy, Silas, James (the half-brother of Jesus). In fact, we know for sure that there were very few wealthy Christians during the time of the New Testament.

If what you really want is wealth, or even really good financial security, I think you need to make a choice between that and Jesus. That is, after all, what Jesus Himself is saying here: you can’t serve both God and money. So decide which one it is, and if it is money, you might as well stop pretending it is God. It’s not like He doesn’t know. Now, I’m not saying that this can never be a struggle. Of course it is a struggle. But you will wear yourself out, and never win any part of the struggle if you going on deceiving yourself by thinking that you can have both the ambition to follow Jesus, and also the ambition to be wealthy. He isn’t saying that it is easy. But I think he is saying that it is easier if you give up one or other.

Read Jesus’ words yourself, and see if there’s any other way to interpret them without twisting them around.

Now, we get to the good stuff. I like the way the Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB) puts it:

“No one can be a slave of two masters, since either he will hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot be slaves of God and of money. This is why I tell you: Don’t worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Isn’t life more than food and the body more than clothing? (Matt 6:24-25, HCSB)

No one can serve both God and money. This is why Jesus says, “don’t worry about material things.” If you are going to stop serving money, you have to stop worrying about it, and instead, start trusting God to give you and your family what you need. On the flip side, if you want to stop worrying about money, you have stop making it your ambition to be wealthy. You have to stop serving money.

If you want to get wealthy, you will worry about money. If your spiritual eye is focused on something other than Jesus, then you are letting yourself in for worry. There is no way to stop worrying about money as long as money is one of your goals. Even if money is only part of your ambition, simply a means to an end, you will end up worrying about it. [By the way, if there is anyone out there who has a real goal that can be achieved with money, and yet is not anxious about money, I want to hear from you. I mean it. I really want to know.]

I know a lot of people who are much wealthier than me (which isn’t hard to be). I even know some folks who make several hundred thousand dollars each year. I know others who could liquidate their assets and have a million dollars cash within a few weeks. One thing that surprised me the first few times I met such people, is that they are very concerned about money. I tend to think that if I had that much, I wouldn’t be worried. But as a matter of fact, these people appear to worry about money even more than I do. Can I say it this way? Money will not bring you peace.

So Jesus says (I repeat) “this is why I tell you not to worry about money.” He wants us to make the Kingdom of God the goal. He wants us to value and treasure things that cannot be destroyed, to rely on eternal plans that cannot fall apart. The way to peace is to give up money as a goal, and even as a means to a goal. Instead, make it our only goal to be his true disciples.

He spends the rest of chapter six painting this in a positive light, encouraging us to trust. He is like a parent, standing in the water, calling to his little child: “Come on jump! It will be fun and refreshing, and I’m right here to catch you. You’ll be safe, and you’ll even have fun!”

He points the birds and the grass, how they are fed and clothed, and says that God cares for us much more than he does for them.  The birds don’t have banks, or investments. God simply feeds them day by day. Jesus closes with this statement:

So don’t worry, saying, ‘What will we eat? ’ or ‘What will we drink? ’ or ‘What will we wear? ’ For the idolaters eagerly seek all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you.

Therefore don’t worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. (Matt 6:18-34, HCSB)

Notice the attitude toward the future. He says “don’t worry, saying, what shall we eat…?” That “shall” indicates a concern for the future. Up until now, I have been provided for every day. What I worry about is the future. And Jesus expressly tells us not to do that, right here.

Brothers and sisters, Jesus is calling you today to believe this. Give up your other goals, and make Jesus and His plan for you your only ambition. As you do that, trust Him. Your heavenly Father knows what you need. He cares for you and loves you. Give up worry, and embrace trust.

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. After all, we’ve just learned that money is the not the important thing. 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.

You could also send a check to:

New Joy Fellowship

625 Spring Creek Road

Lebanon, TN 37087

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

 

Thank for your prayers, and your support!

MODEST RIGHTEOUSNESS

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

jesus-loves-us

People are supposed to glorify God for the character of Jesus they see in us. They are not supposed to glorify us for the spiritual things they see us doing.

 

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 19

 

Matthew #19 . Matthew 6:1-20

Matthew 6:1 records Jesus moving on to a new subject. He has given us examples of Christian character in action. Now he begins to speak about the practice of religion. He introduces the topic like this:

“Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of people, to be seen by them. Otherwise, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. (Matt 6:1, HCSB)

At first, this sounds a little odd, coming from Jesus, because as part of the very same sermon, he has just said, in Matthew 5:14-16

“You are the light of the world. A city situated on a hill cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp and puts it under a basket, but rather on a lampstand, and it gives light for all who are in the house. In the same way, let your light shine in front of people, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven. (Matt 5:14-16, HCSB)

So which is it? Should we be careful not to practice our righteousness in front of people, to be seen by them? Or should we let our light shine in front of people so that they see our good works and give glory to God? Although it sounds like Jesus is contradicting himself, let’s give him the benefit of the doubt. I think, obviously, he is referring to two different situations.

In Matthew 5:14-16, He has just finished describing the character traits of someone who trusts and follows Himself. When we studied those verses we saw that, in fact, disciples are supposed are supposed to let Jesus manifest His own character through our lives. It is immediately after that where he says, “You are the salt of the earth, you are the light of the world…” and then, “Let your light shine. Let people see it.” What it amounts to is this: we are supposed to let people see Jesus in us. We are supposed to let him live in us and through us in such a way that other people see it, and are drawn, not to us, but to God.

Now, in 6:1, Jesus is talking about something else entirely. We have to understand the culture of the Jewish people during the time of Jesus. In some ways, it was very different from many places today. Religion was a big deal to them. If you were religious, you were respected and admired. Practicing your religion in a very public way was one means to get people to think well of you. Jesus says, your faith should not be about what other people think. You should be concerned only what God thinks. We could summarize the two different situations like this: People are supposed to glorify God for the character of Jesus they see in us. They are not supposed to glorify us for the spiritual things they see us doing.

The end result is supposed to be that people “give glory to your Father in heaven.” If they are giving honor or glory to you, that is when you should be hiding your good works, or at least directing people to look away from you, toward God who is working in and through you.

In fact Jesus says that if you act religious in order to get the reward of praise from other people, that is exactly what you get – and nothing more.

So, we should be public with our faith in our faith in ways that show off the character of Jesus and point people toward him. And we should be private in our practices with things that would tend to call attention to ourselves and our own activities. As one bible commentator put it succinctly: “Show when tempted to hide, and hide when tempted to show.”

Jesus gives three examples of when we should “hide” rather than “show.” These are things we should do because we want to do them for God, to please him and get closer to him. No one else needs to know about them. If we are serious about helping those who are poor, it shouldn’t matter whether or not we get credit for it. The main point is that we do what are led by God to do to help. If we are sincere about praying and fasting to get closer to God, then it doesn’t matter that no one else sees you doing it. The point is, you are trying to be closer to God, and He sees that.

Basically Jesus says, “You can do it to be praised by other people, or you can do for God. If you do it for the praise of other people, you have not done it for God.”

Jesus starts with the subject of giving to the poor. He makes the main point about doing this for God, not others. He then says, “But when you give to the poor, don’t let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, (Matt 6:3, HCSB).” I think the idea here is that we shouldn’t even be doing this to feel good about ourselves. Don’t let your left hand be proud that your right hand gave to the poor. Do it only for God, and for the poor. Now, of course, when you give to a ministry through your local church, someone will know about it. When your local church engages in ministry to the poor, people will need to talk about it, to help make others aware of the opportunity to be involved. We can’t help these things, and I don’t think we should worry about it too much. But we should give for the sake of God and for the sake of the poor, not for the sake of our reputation. God sees your heart, and he’ll know what your goal is.

Jesus uses a second example: prayer. He starts with the example of the Pharisees, who often prayed in public, not because they were moved to turn to the Lord, but because they wanted people to see them doing it. We shouldn’t be legalistic about this. After all, Paul says we should pray without ceasing (1 Thessolonians 5:17), so you ought to be praying while you are out and about. I pray in public sometimes, because I’m always talking to God. But I try to do so in a way that no one notices me doing it. My favorite method is to pretend I’m talking into a cell-phone ear-piece :-). At many other times, I just pray with my “mental voice.”

Now, Jesus is not trying to ban all instances of people praying out loud in the presence of others. In fact, the New Testament records many times when Christians gathered together specifically to pray together. Since some of those prayers have been recorded in the Bible, it is obvious that people often prayed out loud in those situations. Some examples come from: Acts 1:13-14; Acts 2:46; Acts 3:1; Acts 12:12; Acts 16:25; Acts 20:36; and Acts 21:5. In Matthew 18:19, Jesus says that he pays special attention when two or more Christians gather to pray. The rest of the New Testament commands Christians to come together and pray: Ephesians 6:18-19; Colossians 4:2-3; 1 Timothy 2:8; James 5:16, among many other places. The point is, when we do come together and pray, we do it to be in the Lord’s presence together. We don’t do it to impress each other, or show each other how spiritual we can sound. We are simply having a conversation with God together.

I myself am often greatly encouraged when other Christians pray out loud with me. Their concern for what we pray about, and their quiet faith, often provides much-needed support for me.

I do, however, sometimes find myself among people who don’t seem to know what Jesus said about this subject. Unfortunately you don’t have to go very far to find people who pray in ways that seem calculated to whip up energy and enthusiasm among the people who are present. When you step back and listen, it sounds much more like a performance for others than a real conversation with God.

Jesus adds another thought into the mix. The pagan worshippers in ancient times used to babble on and on and use many words in an attempt to get their deities to hear them. He tells his disciples not to do that.

I suppose I am about to hurt some feelings, but I want us to take this seriously. Suppose I was to ask my Dad if I could borrow his truck. While I’m asking, I might think of a few other things I want to say to him. I would probably proceed like this: “Hi Dad. I was wondering if you could loan me the truck on Thursday. I’d really appreciate it. Thanks for all the times you’ve helped in the past. Oh, and the kids would really like it if you could play a card game with them on Thursday. Thanks! Love you!”

Suppose instead, I approached this conversation the way a lot of Christians approach prayer. It might sound like this:

“Oh Dad, dearest Dad, I just come to you today, Dad, I just come to you and praise you, because you are the owner of the truck, the RED truck, the DODGE truck, the truck that has done so much, and meant so much for us over the years. Dad, I really just want to ask you, Dad, if, Dad, you might find it in your plan to let me borrow the truck once more, Dad. And Dad, I just want you to know that I know the truck belongs to you, Dad. It is your truck, Dad. The truck doesn’t belong to me, Dad, it is yours. I just want to use it, Dad, if that that’s OK with you.

Dad, let your BOAT be hauled with that truck, Dad! Yes, Dad, let your BOAT be hauled, Dad! I say, Dad, let your BOAT be hauled your TRAILER used! Yes Dad! Your boat be hauled, your trailer used.

I just want you to know that I love you, Dad. I love you Dad. Oh, I really just love you, Dad. And Dad, I just want to say, Dad… I just want to say that my children…I just want to say that my children, Dad, they just want to play cards with you, Dad. They just want to play cards. Just with you, Dad. Oh, Dad. Oh Dad. Oh Dad, oh Dad, oh Dad.”

I am not trying to offend anybody. But if you are offended by this, think of what God feels! If it is offensive for me to portray a conversation like this, think how offensive it might be to God that we call this sort of thing “prayer!”

I’m serious. Jesus said it, not me. Don’t pray to impress others. Don’t babble on and use many words; your Heavenly Father already knows what you need. How offensive to think that you have the power to convince him to listen by using that sort of blather!

Jesus goes on by giving us a method of praying. We call it’s the Lord’s prayer. I think it is fine to use a prayer in and of itself, because that helps us to remember it well. But more importantly, it is a format for praying. Let me break it down briefly:

1. Our Father in Heaven…Start by recognizing that through Jesus Christ, God has become your loving Father. He cares for you and loves you.

2. Let Your name be honored as holy…Continue by praising God for who He is, for his holiness. Ask him to keep making you holy, and keep helping others to know and grow in His holiness

3. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven…Pray for God’s purposes and ruler-ship to extend in your own life, and in the world. Invite him to be your king. Invite him to be king in specific ways in your life, in the lives of those you know, and in the world. Ask for him to do his work (to fulfill his purposes or “will”).

4. Give us today our daily bread…Pray for what you need for today: spiritually, physically and emotionally.

5. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors… Confess your sins and receive his forgiveness. If you need to, make a decision to forgive others, and offer them that forgiveness.

6. And do not bring us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one…Pray for protection from the devil, sin and temptation.

Hopefully as we pray this way, we will do so in simple faith, and not with an attempt to try to impress others or God by self-conscious, spiritual-sounding phrases, repetition, or many unnecessary words.

Jesus gives one more example of righteousness that should be different from the Pharisees: fasting. It seems clear that Jesus expects that his disciples will give to the poor, pray and fast. He doesn’t say, “Don’t do these things.” Instead, he says, “When you do these things, do it like this…” So fasting should be something that Jesus-followers do, at least occasionally.

What is fasting? The basic activity in fasting is going without. The most common form of fasting is going without food for a period of time. Others ways of fasting include going without meat, or without coffee, or without TV or just about anything else you can think of. I myself prefer to abstain from food when I fast, since going without other things does not seem to affect me as profoundly as not eating. Some people fast by going without food during the day and eating only an evening meal for a specific length of time. Some drink only water; others drink diluted fruit juices. Since I want to encourage you to try fasting, I suggest you try a method that is challenging for you, and yet still sounds “do-able.”

My own experience of fasting has not reflected what I might have thought before I tried it. I used to think that fasting was about having the strength and self-discipline to “do without” for God. I thought it was about commitment and dedication and “getting serious” about God and prayer. The more I fast, however, the more I realize that it is just the opposite. In my experience anyway, fasting is more about weakness and surrender before God than it is about the strength to do without food. Fasting is humbling – it puts me in a place of need. Without food, I feel in a physical way my spiritual helplessness and dependence upon God. Fasting is not a way of demonstrating my strength – it is a way of acknowledging my weakness and my utter need for Jesus. It seems to me that fasting is like holding a door open for Jesus to come in and work in a special way.

Every time I feel a hunger pang, I am reminded of my need for Jesus, of my helplessness without him. I remember that I need him even more than I need food. And when I feel those hunger pains, I am also reminded to pray, to talk to him in the middle of whatever else I’m doing.

One thing Jesus obviously knew is that when you fast without showing others you are doing it, it is like your little secret, between Jesus and you. This makes you feel closer, somehow.

My best experiences of fasting are when I do it in the middle of my everyday routine. When I take a day away from everything, and make the whole day about fasting, it usually doesn’t go so well. My very worst experience of fasting was when a group of us tried to fast together; in other words, we weren’t doing it as Jesus tells to, in secret. I wonder if that’s why it was such a bad experience for me.

Jesus concludes the entire section with these thoughts:

“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 Pharisees had an eye on what they would get here and now from giving, prayer and fasting. Jesus reiterates three times that if we do these things to be admired by people, that is all the reward we get. But if we do them for God, then God himself stores up treasure for us where it can never fade or be taken away. Jesus says, invest in heaven by pleasing God; don’t invest in getting approval from human beings. These things: giving to the poor in secret, praying simply, and often alone and fasting in secret are all ways of investing our lives in the future-life we will have with God in heaven. It keeps our hearts and minds from being focused on the pathetic, temporary things we might get out of this life, and instead, pulls our hearts to the glorious, unfading joy we have waiting for us.

~

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.

You could also send a check to:

New Joy Fellowship

625 Spring Creek Road

Lebanon, TN 37087

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

 

Thank for your prayers, and your support!

YOU DON’T HAVE TO ATTEND EVERY ARGUMENT TO WHICH YOU ARE INVITED

On By Pastor TomIn Bible, Bible Teaching, Christianity, Jesus, Matthew, Podcast, Religion1 Comment

religion-botox-forgiving-forgive-christian_values-vicars-rmon1997l

Jesus wants to live his life in us and through us, and His life is not ordinary. It is very different from the lives people choose live for themselves. He is showing us what it looks when we let him have control of our lives.

 

To listen to the sermon, click the play button:

To download, right click on the link (or do whatever you do on a Mac) and save it to your computer: Download Matthew Part 18

 

Matthew #18. Matthew 5:33-47

Oaths and Revenge

I have mentioned previously that many of the Jewish teachers in Jesus’ day were often teaching from commentary on the Old Testament, rather than from the Old Testament itself. By doing this, they were able to claim that they were following the bible when they really weren’t. This is one reason why in the sermon on the mount Jesus used the formula: “You have heard it said…but I say to you…”

There is another way which the Jews of Jesus’ time used to avoid actually following the Bible. They would twist the actual words of text while ignoring the Spirit behind it. In many cases, the result was that they would greatly distort the intention of a particular command or passage of Scripture. Basically, they played word-games to get around the plain meaning of the Bible.

I think this is one reason Jesus brought up the subject of taking oaths. This is an area where the Pharisees were not only teaching bad doctrine, they were also teaching people how to get around what the bible clearly says.

Many places in the Old Testament, particularly in the Torah (the first five books), it says that when anyone swears an oath to the Lord, that person must be very careful to do exactly what they have sworn to do (Numbers 30:2, Deuteronomy 23:21). Elsewhere it says that an oath sworn in the name of the Lord must be fulfilled, and if not, that is the same as taking His Name in vain (Exodus 20:7; Leviticus 19:12).

So what the Pharisees said was essentially this: “If you swear by heaven, you are not swearing by God’s name, so it is okay if you break your word. The same is true if you swear by the earth, or Jerusalem or your own head.” If someone swore “by heaven” many people would think this was implying God, and would therefore believe the person. If they swore by Jerusalem, they might think the temple was implied, again implying God. But the Pharisees were saying this kind of trickery is just fine. After all, the Bible says “You must not swear falsely by My name, profaning the name of your God; I am Yahweh” (Deut 19:12). It does not say: “You must not swear falsely by heaven, or by Jerusalem,” (at least, it didn’t say that until Jesus came along). In other words, the Pharisees had found a way to obey the letter of the law and completely violate the intent of it.

So, according to the Pharisees, dishonesty among God’s people is okay, as long as you don’t do it in God’s name, or take His name in vain. This is clearly not the original intention of the command telling people to fulfill their oaths taken in connection with God’s name.

Sometimes we don’t recognize this, but this is a form of legalism. The idea behind it is, as long as you do the right thing externally, your heart and your intentions don’t matter. And if you parse your words just right, you can figure out ways so that your external behavior doesn’t even have to be that great. Many people deceive themselves with legalisms like these.

In modern times, former-president Bill Clinton is one of the most famous people who used a legalism like the Pharisees. When asked – under oath, in a court of law – if he had had a sexual relationship with Monica Lewinski he said “there is nothing going on between us” The question was relevant background material for a sexual harassment case against him. When his lie was discovered later he said, basically, “Well, it depends upon what the meaning of ‘is’ is.” There is a case to be made that in a very technical, narrow way, perhaps Clinton was not precisely lying. However, it is clear that he deceived the court and in so doing, denied justice to a woman whom he had harassed. Even if he was technically correct, his heart was wrong.

The heart is the central issue for Jesus. His concern is this: what is in your heart? Are you looking for a way around God’s Word? Are you trying to justify yourself, or get out of trouble by playing word-games?

Let’s not play word games ourselves. One of the plain meanings of this text is that we should honor our promises and commitments, and speak truthfully. When I was young, my mother would never say “I promise.” It was because of this passage. She said, “If I say yes, then that means yes. You don’t need my promise on top of that.” And I learned I could rely on it when my mother said she would do something, or when she told me something was true.

That is one reasonable application of what Jesus says here. Ephesians 4:25, Colossians 3:9 and James 5;12 all affirm that Christians should be honest people, and that we should be people who stand by what we say.

Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self. You are being renewed in knowledge according to the image of your Creator. (Col 3:9-10, HCSB)

You are being renewed in the spirit of your minds; you put on the new self, the one created according to God’s likeness in righteousness and purity of the truth. Since you put away lying, Speak the truth, each one to his neighbor, because we are members of one another. (Eph 4:23-25, HCSB)

Another thing is the very common practice of saying “I swear to God,” or “For God’s sake.” For a lot of people, this is just a habit of speech, and it can be hard to break, because it is barely even conscious. But I think this text teaches that it would be better if we could break such habits. To say those things implies, first of all, that if you weren’t swearing to God, or appealing to “His sake,” you wouldn’t really mean what you say. Second, they kind of cheapen God, implying that “swearing to God” or appealing to something for His sake is not a big deal at all.

Now, Jesus says something that is slightly troubling, if we stop to think about it. He says, “Don’t take an oath at all.” There are two times in my life I have taken oaths: in my wedding ceremony, and in my ordination, to uphold the office of pastor. If you join the military or hold public office, you have probably taken vows to fulfill the duties and requirements of the position you have. Doctors and Lawyers may have similar oaths, as well. In addition, if you are called to testify in a court matter, you generally have to swear to your testimony.

Now thankfully, for most of us we can count the number of times we have taken an oath or a vow on one hand, but even so, what about what Jesus says?

I think we have already looked at Jesus’ main concern, which is the heart. And Jesus was speaking to people who regularly made vows when it was not required of them by law or profession. Personally, my conscience is clear about my wedding vows and ordination vows. But in my ordinary dealings, “yes” means “yes” and “no” means “no.”

What is the purpose of an oath, other than to convince someone you really mean what you say? Isn’t it better to just always really mean what you say? Eventually, your reputation will be such that an oath would be entirely unnecessary, because others know that your word can be trusted.

I want us to briefly cover Jesus’ next statement also. He says:

“You have heard that it was said, An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. But I tell you, don’t resist an evildoer. On the contrary, if anyone slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. (Matt 5:38-39, HCSB)

We need to clarify a few things about this passage in order to understand it properly. First, this is still in the section of the Sermon where Jesus is criticizing the way the Jewish people (particularly teachers of the Law and Pharisees) have interpreted and changed the teachings of the Old Testament. The scriptures do in fact say:

“But if there is any further injury you shall appoint as a penalty, life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, bruise for bruise.” (Exodus 21:23-25).

The original context of these Old Testament verses is the civic law of ancient Israel. In other words, these penalties were given as legal sentences for breaking the law. In our society today, there are maximum sentences allowed to be given, according to the nature of the crime. A judge cannot sentence someone to life in prison without parole for disturbing the peace. In the same way, “an eye for an eye” etc. describes the maximum sentences allowed by Hebrew law during Old Testament times. Thus if you killed someone, you yourself could be executed (capital punishment). If you broke someone’s arm in a fight, you wouldn’t go to jail, instead, your arm would be broken by civil officials. The nation of Israel had no prisons until the time of the kings, therefore, specific punishments were given for specific crimes. In other words, “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth” was intended directly and only for enforcement of the civil law.

But by Jesus’ day, Jewish Rabbis had twisted these verses out of context and used them instead to justify personal revenge and retaliation. In fact, the original intent of these laws was to hold revenge in check, placing punishment in the hands of law. But this got obscured through years of rabbinical interpretation.

What we need to understand from this, is that Jesus is not advocating anarchy. I don’t believe he is telling us to give criminals free reign in society. Instead, he is speaking against personal revenge and retaliation. In fact the New Testament speaks very highly of the concept of government and law, and we are bound, as citizens of any nation, to try and uphold any laws that do not cause us to disobey God. This means that this verse may create tension at times; for as Christians we should not only refrain from retaliating, but even offer more to the one who would hurt us or take from us. And yet at the same time, as citizens, we ought to uphold law and order. John Stott writes:

“For example if my house is burgled one night and I catch the thief, it may well be my duty to sit him down and give him something to eat and drink, while at the same time telephoning the police.”[1]

Jesus is not trying to stop the administration of justice with his comments; instead, he forbids us to take the law into our own hands.

So what does it mean, understanding this context, to “turn the other cheek?” Jesus very deliberately chose the phrase “slaps you on the cheek” (verse 39). The blow described is an insulting blow, not a dangerous, life-threatening blow. Jesus was slapped by the soldiers as they taunted him before his crucifixion (Mark 14:65). He was slapped by a servant of the high priest at his trial (John 18:22). This is a different Greek word, and a different kind of blow, from the beating/flogging he also received at that time. A slap is the sort of thing which might ordinarily start a fight. In other words, rather than be goaded into a fight for your honor, let the one who is inciting you to fight slap you on the other cheek. Another way to put it might be this: respond to provocation with peace-making.

I think however, that there is a definite distinction between brawling, and defending one’s life. It is one thing to be drawn into a verbal war, or a physical fight; defending yourself from harm is something quite different. Even someone slapping you on the cheek is not going to do you great damage unless you start fighting back.

A threat to life, or a threat of great bodily harm can be defended with clear conscience. Rape also falls into a category where self-defense is appropriate and good. In such circumstances we are not talking about retaliation, revenge or responding to insult, but rather, the defense of body and life. Jesus is also not talking about combat on the battlefield. What we do as soldiers of a nation is not the same as what we do as individual Christian persons. It would seem difficult to argue that fighting in a war as a soldier of your country is a matter of personal revenge or retaliation.

Second, I think Christians are excluded from verbal and legal brawling. I have a problem with a computer company that has both “slapped me in the face” and “taken my shirt” (figuratively of course). I don’t think it is appropriate for me as a Christian to sue them for what they owe me, or even to report them to the Attorney General. For me personally, the only thing that would motivate me to do such things would be revenge. I refuse to call them names or insult them in return for the insults given me (I can’t say I haven’t been tempted).

In this day and age, posts and comments on social media can start “verbal brawling” and campaigns of gossip and slander. So can spoken words. Jesus is telling us to stay out of such things, and to refuse to be drawn into quarrels and arguments, as well as brawls.

The example of Jesus is primary in all of this. Isaiah, prophesying about Jesus, said:

“He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He did not open his mouth; like a lamb that is led to slaughter and like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, so he did not open his mouth.” (Isaiah 53:7)

People misunderstood Jesus. They mocked him, made fun of him and insulted him. At the end they arrested him unjustly and beat him and spat on him. And he turned the other cheek. And he made the ultimate sacrifice of love for those who abused him.

The Jewish people of Jesus’ day had another saying “You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.” The first part, “love your neighbor” of course comes from the ten commandments, found in Exodus chapter 20. The second part was fabricated by Jewish rabbis. The “hate your enemy” part is not actually found with “love your neighbor” in the Old Testament. Instead, the rabbis made a case out of various commands to holy war and certain Psalms that highlighted the justice of God. But Jesus is quick to point out that this is an unbiblical, unworthy addition.

“Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,” isn’t a complicated statement: it is just hard to do. But Jesus points out that God loves his enemies, and yours; even when they do evil, even when they are evil.

Jesus concludes with some startling words:

And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing out of the ordinary? Don’t even the Gentiles do the same? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect. (Matt 5:47-48, HCSB)

This is the summary for all of chapter five. Jesus wants to live his life in us and through us, and His life is not ordinary. It is very different from the lives people choose live for themselves. He is showing us what it looks when we let him be in control of our lives.

The standard is his perfection. The very great news is that he covers us in his perfection, so that we meet the standard, not by our efforts, but by trusting him. Instead of striving very hard to do all these things that Jesus has said, he invites simply to say “yes” to him. So, for example we might say, “Jesus, I can’t avoid anger on my own. But I give you my life, and give you permission to deal with it.” And then when he leads or reminds you, let him do what he wants to do with your life. We might say: “Jesus, I can’t love these people who have harmed me. But I know you want to love them through me. You have permission to do that. If you loving them through me means I have to talk with them, I will do that. You can change me and use me as you wish. Thank you for meeting the standard of perfection in my life.”

Let’s let Jesus come and form his own character in us and through us right now.

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.

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Lebanon, TN 37087

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

 

Thank for your prayers, and your support!

[1] John R.W. Stott The Message of the Sermon on the Mount

WHO IS THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD? YOU, OR JESUS?

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

salt and light by bernie rosage

 

 

Picture by Bernie Rosage

 

Some Christians act as if Jesus said that we are the “honey-pot” of the world. We think we can just sweeten things up with love. But Jesus used a very different metaphor. Salt is essential to life, but it is also caustic. It has a bite to it sometimes.

 

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 13

 

Matthew #13 . Matthew 5:13-16

We have come to what I believe is the “theme statement” of Jesus’ sermon on the mount. The character traits of Jesus-followers are listed in 5:1-12. After this, Jesus goes into some specific details about how those character traits play out in various situations. But in Matthew 5:13-16, Jesus explains the point of it all:

“You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt should lose its taste, how can it be made salty? It’s no longer good for anything but to be thrown out and trampled on by men.

“You are the light of the world. A city situated on a hill cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp and puts it under a basket, but rather on a lampstand, and it gives light for all who are in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.” (Matt 5:13-16, HCSB)

We need to be very clear here. Jesus is not speaking to “the world” or “people in general.” He is speaking to his disciples: those who have put their trust in him, surrendered their lives to him.So what exactly does Jesus mean when he tells his disciples that they are salt and light?

Salt. Salt accomplishes essentially two things: it flavors, and it preserves. As Christians, we are to have a flavor that is distinct from the world around us. I remember in High School, most of my friends were not Christians. At the time I felt I had a mission to show them that Christians could be cool, and have a good time – basically I wanted to prove to them that being Christian wasn’t boring. So I went to the same parties as my friends. When they drank, I drank, although I never got drunk, even when they did. What I realize now is that I came very close to losing my saltiness in that period in my life. Certainly, no one became a Christian because of me. I see the church at large in America in the same sort of danger of ceasing to flavor society. Many church-goers have the same primary goals in life as anyone else. They and their children look like everyone else, dress like everyone else, talk like everyone else. What is the main difference between Christians and non-Christians in America? Unfortunately for vast numbers it is only the way they spend one particular hour each week.

The world around us cries “Fit in! Fit in! Fit in! Don’t be weird, conform!” But Jesus calls, “Don’t fit in! Don’t conform! Be different!” Frankly, it becomes very difficult for Him to influence the world through us if we are the same as the world. Flavorless salt is good for nothing. The truth is, there is, and there has to be, a fundamental difference between Christians and non-Christians, between the church and the world. If there isn’t, we are useless, good for nothing.

Salt is also a preservative. It was used in Jesus’ day to preserve meat which would otherwise decay. What this means is that Christians ought have influence in society in such a way that culture’s natural slide into degeneracy and decay is arrested. In plain language, we ought to be so different and flavorful that because of us, society stops becoming so immoral, indecent and wicked.

Helmut Thielicke wrote that some Christians appear to think Jesus said we ought to be the honey pot of the world – and sweeten things up with God’s love. But salt is a harsher agent than sweet. Salt is caustic – it bites, just as the true message of God’s judgment and grace has a bite to it that leaves us in despair of ourselves and hoping in Jesus only. We don’t influence society through sweetness, but through saltiness.

LIGHT. Now, when I first read the part about “light,” I am reminded of something Jesus said in the gospel of John:

Then Jesus spoke to them again: “I am the light of the world. Anyone who follows Me will never walk in the darkness but will have the light of life.” (John 8:12, HCSB)

So which is it? Is Jesus the light of the world, or are we?

Jesus is the light of the world. But now that he has ascended to heaven, and sent the Holy Spirit to live inside of us, Jesus is the Light of the world – through us. I don’t mean that we take the place of Jesus, or that we should consider ourselves divine or messianic. But Jesus now uses us to show the world His light. Since Jesus talks about lamps, let’s adapt this to modern times. The light from a lamp doesn’t come from the lampstand, or the lampshade, or even the bulb. The light comes from the electricity that runs through the lampstand, up into and through the bulb. We function as the lampstand, or the lampshade or maybe even the bulb. But the light doesn’t come from us – it originates from Jesus, and shines out through us.

This fits perfectly with the entire sermon on the mount. Jesus wants to show his character to the world through his followers. His character is humble, dependent upon God for everything; willing to honestly address grief, sin and brokenness; willing to wait on God to act. The character of Jesus manifested through us desires real righteousness, real right-relationship with God. It is merciful, and focuses on true purity of heart. It seeks to reconcile others to God, and to each other. It endures persecution and suffering with a clear vision of the eternal joy that is our future, if we remain in Jesus. This is what Jesus wants to shine through us.

If salt flavors and preserves, light dispels darkness. Throughout scripture, light is often used as a symbol of truth. So when Jesus calls us the light of the world, he is also telling us that we are the vehicle by which his truth is to spread. We are to share the truth of God’s Word with the world, to bring light into darkness. In other words, we are also to tell others about Jesus.

Tony Campolo once said, “Preach the gospel. If necessary, use words.” I don’t like that quote at all, because it implies that words are often not necessary – and that is false. Every Christian has a responsibility to not only live as salt (Christian actions and lifestyle) but also as light (speaking verbally about Jesus). I can show you Muslims and Hindus and Jews who live morally upright, kind and loving lives (at least on the outside). But they are not dispelling darkness. The apostle Paul writes:

“How then they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?” (Romans 10:14, emphasis mine).

So we need to speak out the truth of Jesus in order to have influence in the world, in order to be light.

Now, all this is a very tall order. It sounds good in theory. But how can we really show the character of Jesus to the world through our messed-up lives?

Sometimes we feel that while salvation is God’s work for us, following God after we are saved is all our work for God. Actually, that is false. Andrew Murray writes:

“The idea they have of grace is this – that their conversion and pardon are God’s work, but that now, in gratitude to God , it is their work to live as Christians, and follow Jesus. There is always the thought of a work that has to be done and even though they pray for help, still the work is theirs.[1]”

Murray goes on to explain that as we surrender to Jesus (not as we work harder) His Holy Spirit has more control in our lives, and thus our lives are more and more conformed to God’s holiness. Elsewhere, Murray also writes:

“Oh that you would learn a lesson from the time of your first coming to the saviour! Remember dear soul, how you then were led, contrary to all that your experience, and your feelings, and even your sober judgment said, to take Jesus at his word, and how you were not disappointed. He did received and pardon you; He did love, and save you – you know it. And if he did this for you when you were an enemy and a stranger, what think you, now that you are His own, will He not much more fulfill his promise?[2]”

The apostle Paul writes, in Romans 8:31-32

What then shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all – how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?”

The point is, if we can trust Jesus to accomplish our salvation, we can surely trust him to accomplish our on-going life of obedience to him as well. We need to realize this: through dying on the cross, rising again and sending the Holy Spirit, Jesus has made it possible for anyone to obey. Now I am not suggesting that anyone can attain perfection in this life. But the power of Jesus’ death on the cross is such that when we fail, forgiveness is available to us, and we can continue as if we never failed to obey Him. It does not matter how many times we fail, nor how often, or in what way. All that matters is that we receive the love and grace and forgiveness God has made available to us, and so continue on in obedience. And as we surrender ourselves more and more to him, obedience comes more easily and more naturally – not from working harder, but from surrendering more.

Having made that point, the only way we need to fear the high standards of the Sermon on the Mount, is if we attempt to attain them without Jesus and his Holy Spirit.

We might summarize all this with four main points:

1) We ought to live lives that are radically different from the society around us. It should be obvious that we are distinct from the worldly cultures we live in.

2) We ought to seek to influence culture so as to preserve the good in society. This means supporting families and good government, seeking to change laws and practices that are unjust and destructive, and speaking out about right and wrong.

3) We must speak out the good news –all people are sinners, who deserve God’s wrath and the very worst that life can dish out. But God so loved the world that he sent his only son to die for us, so that whoever puts their trust in Him can be saved to new life now, and to eternal life after death.

4) We do all this by relying on Jesus more, trusting him more and more to let His character shine through us.

<<< >>>

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.

You could also send a check to:

New Joy Fellowship

625 Spring Creek Road

Lebanon, TN 37087

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

Thank for your prayers, and your support!

[1] Abide in Christ. Andrew Murray, Christian Literature Crusade, Fort Washington, PA, 1968.

[2] Same as above

TEMPTATIONS

On By Pastor TomIn Bible, Bible Teaching, Christianity, Jesus, Matthew, Uncategorized1 Comment

 

TEMPTATION

Jesus faced some powerful temptations. We face the same kinds of tests. The way that he overcame them can help us to trust him to overcome them in our lives also.

 

To listen to the sermon, click the play button:

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Matthew #7 . 4:1-11

Last time we saw how, at the baptism of Jesus, the Father and the Spirit showed how pleased they were with him. The next thing Matthew records is that the Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. Mark records that this happened immediately after:

Immediately the Spirit drove Him into the wilderness. (Mark 1:12, HCSB)

There is an important point here. It isn’t the main message of the text, but I think it is very significant for many of us. The Father was pleased with Jesus. The Spirit was with him, leading him. And he was brought into a desert wasteland where he had no food and had to fight with devil.

You don’t have to go very far in America to hear a Christian says something like this: “If you just follow God, he’ll take care of you. Your life will go better.” The Father was pleased with Jesus. The Spirit was leading him. However, his life did not get better, but harder. Following God is not a guarantee that everything will go well for you. That’s hard, but it’s the truth. When we follow God, his goal is to lead us to the place where we understand that this life on earth is not the main focus.

There is something else that many people may need to hear today: Our circumstances do not necessarily reflect how God feels about us. Jesus had nothing to eat. He was assailed by the devil, and living in a desert wasteland. And the Father was so pleased with him; the Spirit was with him. The Father has his reasons for allowing Jesus to go through that. But his reasons had nothing to do with his delight in Jesus.

Sometimes, when I’m going through tough times, I think maybe God is mad at me, or perhaps I’ve done something that has caused him to teach me a lesson. Another thought I have sometimes is that I’m going through hard times because I’ve made the wrong choice, and not listened to the Holy Spirit. But that could not have been the case with Jesus. The Father was pleased with him. The Spirit was leading him.

I think this passage calls us to dare to look at our circumstances differently. In Jesus, the Father is pleased with us, too. What we are going through is not necessarily a sign of how God feels about us. It’s true that, unlike Jesus, we sin. Sometimes we go astray and hard circumstances are a result of our bad choices. But Jesus shows us that you can follow the Spirit and still end up in wasteland with no food and the devil attacking you constantly. Just because you are in a hard time does not mean that God is displeased with you. Trust his love and grace to you!

Now, let’s take a look at some of the specific temptations faced by Jesus at this point. By the way, Matthew does not claim that these were the only ways Jesus was tempted by the devil. These are just a few of the many. But they were very powerful and difficult. You could classify these three incidents as temptation to doubt God’s provision, his protection and his purpose. But I think it’s worth looking at all three more closely.

Jesus was fasting. In some ways, fasting is all about dependence upon God. It’s almost like saying, “I need you more even, than I need food!” In my experience, when done right, fasting leads me to a greater sense of dependence upon God, regardless of what needs I may perceive in my life.

4:2 says that Jesus was hungry. Satan came along and said, “Why don’t you just create some food for yourself? You are God in human flesh, after all.” Pay attention, now. Being hungry isn’t a sin. It was natural for Jesus to be hungry. He was hungry because He himself had created the human body to need food. So, the temptation here is not about eating – it is about control. Satan was saying, “You’re hungry. You can satisfy your own hunger. Just reach out and do it – meet your own needs.”

Jesus, in taking on human nature, committed himself to live in complete dependence upon the Father, even as we humans are called to live in dependence upon him. To live as a human, to fulfill his mission, he had to trust in the Father to take care of him. In reply to the devil, Jesus quotes Deuteronomy 8:3. The whole verse says this:

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)

In that verse, Moses was reminding the people of Israel how God dealt with them in their desert wanderings. The point is, the hunger came about as a result of God’s work, and the hunger was ultimately satisfied by God. Jesus was saying: I will not meet my own needs. I will allow the Father to put me in a place of need, and I will allow Him to meet those needs in His way, and His time.

We experience similar situations, even when we aren’t fasting. Maybe it is in regard to physical needs, like hunger, or physical intimacy. Or maybe we are “hungry” for emotional needs. God wants us to depend on him to satisfy our needs in his way and in his time. Satan wants us to insist upon our needs getting met in our way and in our time. The temptation is to take control of the situation rather than trusting God. Jesus chose to trust God even while his need to eat was not being met. He calls us to that same kind of faith. Can we trust God to meet our need for love, even when we feel unloved? Can we trust him to take care of us, even while we can’t pay the bills?

We can’t manufacture that kind of faith. But Jesus has that sort of trust in the Father, and he put it into action as a human. And if he we trust Jesus, his strength, faith and integrity are available to us. Through faith, we can let Jesus, living inside us, overcome those temptations and bring us to a place of trust in the Father.

The next temptation recorded may not seem like much of a temptation to most of us. The devil suggests that Jesus should throw himself off the highest place in Jerusalem. From there, he would certainly die, unless God saved him. I think there are several temptations here. One is an inducement to suicide. Jesus faced some incredible hardships within a few years. It would be easy to simply retreat from life, and go back to heaven through death.

Without contradicting that, there are other things going here also. I think the devil was trying to cast doubt on Jesus’ sense of identity as the Son of God. He says, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down…” In other words: “You think you are God’s beloved Son? Prove it.” Again, the devil is inviting Jesus to doubt God, to doubt what had been said at Jesus’ baptism. As an evil twist, he is also casting doubt about whether the Father really would rescue Jesus, really protect him.

As a final, diabolical element, Satan quotes scripture, twisting its meaning and purpose, to try and convince Jesus to do it. I think that is a very important point. In this world of sin, anyone’s words can be twisted and misused, even God’s. Psalm 91 (quoted here by Satan) is an assurance of God’s care for his people. It is not an invitation to commit suicide and see if God will stop you. It’s not an invitation to force God to prove something.

But I think we all have the temptation sometimes to want God to prove himself to us. Sometimes we all doubt whether God will really keep his promises, and we think it would be nice if we could make him show us. We also feel the temptation to doubt who we are in Jesus. The bible says that in Jesus, we have forgiveness and redemption; we are holy and blameless; we have every spiritual blessing; we are more than conquerors; we have rest for our souls; we are the righteousness of God; we are a new creation, we have real life, everlasting life; we have peace; we have grace; we stand in God’s favor…and much, much more. It all seems too good to be true. That can’t really be us. The devil will tempt you to believe that it IS too good to be true. He’ll make you doubt your true identity in Christ. When he does, ignore him, and trust Jesus in you to send him packing.

In verses 8-10 the devil makes Jesus an offer: “Worship me, and you can have the world.” I think we read this and sometimes think, “That’s silly! Jesus is Lord, why would he worship the devil?” Remember, however, when Jesus lived on earth, he made himself completely dependent upon the Father, just as we are completely dependent upon him. The Father had a mission for him, and it involved a lot of hard work and pain and suffering. What the devil offered Jesus was a shortcut. Jesus came to save the world. The devil says, “I’ll give you the world without all that suffering. Just call me ‘Lord.’”

Remember, the previous two temptations questioned Jesus’ very identity. Now, the devil is trying to assume he has succeeded, and Jesus is willing to doubt himself enough to do that. Along with that, he is offering the inducement of an easy way out. He’s saying, “You can accomplish your mission without all that hardship and pain and suffering. I’ll just hand it all over to you. The Father is trying to make you jump through hoops – I won’t do that. Just worship me, and I’ll take care of everything else.”

Since the time of Jesus, there have been many stories about people “selling their soul to the devil” in exchange for some wonderful thing. But the truth is, the temptation is not usually so blatant as that. I think it is more like these examples:

You really just need to relax and “check out” of all the stress for a while. You want some peace. There’s pill you can take, or a joint you can smoke that will take care of it all, or you could drink enough alcohol to “take the edge off.” Smoking, pot, taking the pill, or having a few drinks is easy. It’s deals with the pain or the stress quickly. But it doesn’t really deal with it – not permanently. And in exchange, you give up control and end up needing the pot or the pill, or the booze. You trade more and more of your life away in order to keep those things in your life. You think it’s a momentary out, a harmless short-cut. But you are trading your life to the devil in exchange for it.

Let me say something briefly about marijuana. Everyone I’ve spoken with who smokes it tells me that it is not addictive. I think it’s true that physically, there are no withdrawal symptoms if you quit. But the same people who say it isn’t addictive keep smoking it, even when it costs them their jobs or their relationships and even sometimes their freedom. If you are willing to give up friendships and livelihood for it, you are addicted, no ifs, ands or buts.

Here’s another soul-trade. You want security in your life. You want to make sure that you will never be in a place of need. So you work long hours. You give your life to your career, and exchange you get a savings or investment account. But it turns out, no amount is enough to make you feel secure. You work harder, and trade more time with your family, more time with God – more and more of your life – for this security. It’s a deal with the devil. It costs too much.

People do the same thing with status and fame and power. Maybe a little bit of “tough business practice” which is really just cheating, will allow you to get where you want to be. Maybe just a little more time away from the family.

Sometimes people even think they can accomplish God’s mission but do it the easy way. Just go to church, throw some money in the offering plate, and then you can ignore God the rest of the week. It’s easy.

Now, I don’t mean to say that it’s never easy to do what God wants of you. Sometimes it is extremely grace-filled and easy. But we need to pay attention to the deals we make to get what we want.

Real peace comes from trusting Jesus in the middle of hard times. Real security comes from trusting Jesus in hard times. Sometimes God just gives peace, or sometimes he just gives us sense of security. But those things come as we trust him, not from taking short-cuts.

When we look to anything but God for peace, security or comfort, we are in danger of looking to that thing as an idol. I don’t mean that we can only have peace or comfort through severe meditation and scripture study. The Lord may touch you through music, or a friendship, or a good book or movie, or a meal enjoyed (without gluttony). The Lord blesses us through all sorts of things. But we need to look beyond the things themselves to the Lord who gives them. And certain things and activities are just deals with the devil.

Jesus overcame this the third temptation the way he did the other two – he relied upon the scripture, throwing the truth at the temptation. This is one reason why it is important for us to know the bible for ourselves. It is vital ammunition in the spiritual battles we face.

One final thought from this passage. The temptation, the fasting and the desert wasteland were a season for Jesus. It came to end. The trials do not last forever. When it was over, angels came and ministered to Jesus – in other words there was relief from the difficulties that Jesus had faced. Some of us need to hear this – that our hard time does have an ending. We can’t predict when that will be, but there is light at the end of the tunnel, and it isn’t just an oncoming train.

Let the Holy Spirit speak to you right now.

WAS JESUS JUDGEMENTAL?

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

winnow3

While Jesus is not a judgmental figure, the whole world is judged by its response to him. He does “separate the wheat from the chaff,” simply by being who he is.

When we trust Jesus and continue on in that trust, God the Father includes us in all the grace and blessings of Jesus.

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 6

Matthew #6. 3:11-17

Some people have called John the Baptist “The Last Old Testament Prophet.” The Old Testament prophets often pointed out the sins of the Israelites, and of the nations around them, and warned that God would bring judgment upon them if they did not repent. John had a similar message, but there were two key differences. First, while the Old Testament prophets aimed their message at whole nations, John’s message is for individuals. He isn’t calling the nation of Israel to repent – he is calling you to repent. Second, the Old Testament prophets predicted (correctly, it turns out) that judgment would come about through war and destruction. But the judgment that John saw coming was to come about from an individual – the Messiah.

Matthew records a difference between John’s baptism and that of Jesus: John’s was symbolic of repentance; the baptism of Jesus would accomplish something internally – it would bring “the Holy Spirit and fire.” John says some things about Jesus that may seem a little strange to us:

“His winnowing shovel is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn. But the chaff he will burn up with fire that never goes out.”

First, this is strange to us, because we don’t know what a winnowing shovel is, and maybe not even chaff. Back in those days, when people harvested wheat, they would generally take it to a threshing floor. Usually, this was simply a wheatheadcleared, flat area on a hilltop. They would beat the heads of the grain, either by gathering stalks and bashing the heads on the ground, or maybe by hitting the heads with a stick or wooden hammer. They would throw the empty stalks aside. What was left was a mixture of wheat grains, very short pieces of stalk and pieces of the outer part of the wheat seed structure, called “chaff.” At this point, the famers would take a winnowing shovel. They would scoop up the mixture of wheat grains and chaff, and throw it up into the wind that blew across the hilltop. The chaff is lighter than the wheat grain, so the wind would carry that away, while the grain fell back to the ground on the threshing floor. Obviously, the grain was collected and stored. The chaff was sometimes burned up. This picture is one of getting rid of useless material that you do not want, and refining and saving what you do want.

winnow1

Now that we understand what John is saying, it is still strange to us, in that we often do not think of Jesus as bringing judgment. There is no question that judgment is what John means. Those who belong to God are going to found and refined and saved, and those who do not are going to blow off in the wind, and, after, be burned in the fire. John’s main point is: “It’s time to get ready! Repent, be among those who are saved!”

I think in our modern times, we view Jesus as just mellow and loving and sort of “all encompassing.” That is reinforced by many bible verses in which Jesus declares God’s love, and many other bible verses which teach that grace and forgiveness come through Jesus Christ.

But the bible also teaches that Jesus is the dividing point between those who will be saved, and those who won’t. Jesus is the meeting point for both grace and judgment, salvation and condemnation. Even Jesus taught this:

Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. (John 14:6, HCSB)

In Jesus, we know the way, the truth and life. But without Jesus, we are lost. This is both grace and judgment. It is important to understand though, that the judgment and condemnation come only when we reject Jesus. John explains in his gospel:

For God did not send His Son into the world that He might condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. Anyone who believes in Him is not condemned, but anyone who does not believe is already condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the One and Only Son of God. “This, then, is the judgment: The light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil. (John 3:17-19, HCSB)

Thus, everyone in the whole world is judged by how they respond to Jesus. If they respond in faith, the result is grace and salvation. But those who reject Jesus are separating themselves from God’s grace and life:

And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. The one who has the Son has life. The one who doesn’t have the Son of God does not have life. I have written these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life. (1John 5:11-13, HCSB)

So, while Jesus is not a judgmental figure, the whole world is judged by its response to him. He does “separate the wheat from the chaff,” simply by being who he is. If you are in Jesus, you are the wheat, you are safe in God’s storehouse. If you are not in Jesus, you are the chaff.

Throughout history, Jesus has been this dividing point. Many people are willing to look at Jesus as a good moral teacher. Many more are happy to acknowledge him as a prophet. But when it comes to putting faith in Him as fully God (God the Son, one God along with the Father and the Spirit) and as a personal savior, many people seem to balk. I have had many cordial conversations about religion with my Muslim friends. One time, a friend and I had a long talk, and he said, “Tom, we have so much in common. But there is just one point that is a problem. You worship Jesus as God. According to Islam this is the one thing that will send you to hell.”

I said to him, “That’s interesting, Abdul, because that is the one problem I see, also. You don’t worship Jesus as God, and according to Christianity, this is the one thing that will send you to hell.”

Neither one of us was upset with the other. Most Muslims I have met in America are very open to talk about religion without getting upset. But we had both arrived at the same conclusion: Jesus was the point of division. How we respond to Jesus meant life or death, heaven or hell. Though we differed on which response went which way, we agreed that our attitude toward Jesus was the defining thing. Jesus’ very life and message sorts out who belongs to God and who does not.

If you haven’t put your trust in Jesus, if you haven’t surrendered your life to him, now would be the time. You are either in Christ, or you are not. If you are in Jesus, you are in God’s favor. If you are not in Jesus, you are not in God’s favor, and you are in judgment.

By in Jesus, I mean you are continually trusting him as you go through life. It is a daily (sometimes hourly) habit of continuing to believe who Jesus is, what he has done for us, how he feels about us, and continuing to rest upon it. This is not a one shot deal. This is not a situation where you just say, “Well I got baptized, so I’m good now.” Or “Well, I got saved five years ago, so I’m good now.” This is a process of continually putting our trust in Jesus, day by day. That is what it means to be “in Jesus,” and we are saved and safe, only in Jesus. I’m not saying that you have to work hard and live the Christian life on your own strength in order to be in Jesus. But I am saying that to be in Jesus, you need to continually rest in Him with trust in what his Word says, and in what he has done for us.

After John has been talking about Jesus, Jesus himself showed up and asked to be baptized. I’ve mentioned previously that John and Jesus probably knew each other before this; in fact John responded in faith to Jesus when they were both still babies in the womb! So when Jesus asks to be baptized, John is shocked.

But John tried to stop Him, saying, “I need to be baptized by You, and yet You come to me? ” Jesus answered him, “Allow it for now, because this is the way for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he allowed Him to be baptized. (Matt 3:14-15, HCSB)

I think what Jesus was saying there was all about his mission, his very reason for coming into the world. He came to take on humanity, and the sin of humanity. Jesus entered into repentance for that on our behalf. He identified with us through John’s baptism. It was the first public step in fulfilling his mission to bring righteousness to the world. 2 Corinthians 5:21 says:

God made the One who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. (2Cor 5:21, HCSB)

Jesus was baptized as part of that “becoming sin” for us. I don’t mean he became sinful, but I mean he identified with our sinful humanity, and God eventually (at the cross) placed all of the sin of the world upon him, so that we could be called righteous by placing our faith in him.

Matthew writes:

After Jesus was baptized, He went up immediately from the water. The heavens suddenly opened for Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming down on Him. And there came a voice from heaven: This is My beloved Son. I take delight in Him! (Matt 3:16-17, HCSB)

“This is my Beloved son, I take delight in him!” These words came from heaven not only at Jesus’ baptism, but also again, on a mountainside, as recorded in Matthew 17:5-6.

While he was still speaking, suddenly a bright cloud covered them, and a voice from the cloud said: This is My beloved Son. I take delight in Him. Listen to Him! When the disciples heard it, they fell facedown and were terrified. (Matt 17:5-6, HCSB)

The apostle Peter wrote about this in his second letter. He says that the repetition of this voice from heaven means that the message is “strongly confirmed.”

For we did not follow cleverly contrived myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ; instead, we were eyewitnesses of His majesty. For when He received honor and glory from God the Father, a voice came to Him from the Majestic Glory: This is My beloved Son. I take delight in Him! And we heard this voice when it came from heaven while we were with Him on the holy mountain. So we have the prophetic word strongly confirmed. You will do well to pay attention to it, as to a lamp shining in a dismal place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. (2Pet 1:16-19, HCSB)

Peter says we would do well to pay attention to this. So let’s pay attention to it.

First, I think this reminds us that it’s all about Jesus. Sometimes we get confused, and we think faith is all about what Jesus did for us. That’s important, but when we look at things that way, it puts the focus on ourselves. Quite apart from us, Jesus is focal point of history. This word from heaven reminds us that.

Second in Jesus (see above) this is God’s attitude toward us. When we trust Jesus and continue on in that trust, God the Father includes us in all the grace and blessings of Jesus.

Praise the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavens. For He chose us in Him, before the foundation of the world, to be holy and blameless in His sight. In love He predestined us to be adopted through Jesus Christ for Himself, according to His favor and will, to the praise of His glorious grace that He favored us with in the Beloved. We have redemption in Him through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace that He lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding… We have also received an inheritance in Him (Eph 1:3-8,11 HCSB)

The New Testament is full of verses explaining that in Christ, we have what God gives Christ. In other words, if we are in Christ, God looks at us, and has the same attitude toward us that he has toward Jesus himself. So, in Jesus, God is looking at us, and saying “You are my son, my daughter. I am so pleased with you.” Really. I know we are inclined to think that can’t be right, but listen to the Holy Spirit through Isaiah:

Let the wicked one abandon his way and the sinful one his thoughts; let him return to the LORD, so He may have compassion on him, and to our God, for He will freely forgive. “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, and your ways are not My ways.” This is the LORD’s declaration. (Isa 55:7-8, HCSB)

God viewing us “through the lens of Jesus,” so to speak, doesn’t make sense to us. But it makes sense to him. So, if you trust Jesus today, I want you to hear these words spoken to Jesus, applied also to you: You are his beloved son or daughter. He looks at you, in Jesus Christ, and say, “I am so pleased with you.”

~

Clear Bible is a listener supported ministry. We reach more than 15,000 people each year with clear, understandable bible teaching.

 We ask you internet readers/listeners to pray for us. Seriously, before you give any financial support, please give us some prayer support. We value that more than anything else. Pray for this ministry to touch lives. Pray also for financial provision for my family and me.

But then, as you pray, do ask the Lord if he wants you to give financially as well. Be assured, after a small fee to Paypal, 100% of your donations will go to help support my family and me in ministry. In turn, supporting this blog means that you are helping to bless more than 15,000 people each year who visit this blog.

 Some of you may have noticed that I am also a novelist. Often, people have misconceptions about authors. Most of us, including me, make a part-time income through writing, and no more. In other words, we aren’t “raking it in” somewhere else. Now, we trust the Lord to provide, and I don’t want you to give out of guilt or fear. I just don’t want you to get the idea that your donations will only be an “extra” for us somehow.

 If most of our subscribers gave just five or ten dollars each month, (or even less, if everyone pitched in) we would be in good shape. It’s easy to set up a recurring donation when you click the Paypal donate button that is located on the right hand side of this page, down just a little ways.

 You could also send a check to:

New Joy Fellowship

625 Spring Creek Road

Lebanon, TN 37087

 Your check will be tax-deductible. Unfortunately, we cannot do the tax deductible option with the paypal donate button, however the money does go directly to support my family and me.

 Thank for your prayers, and your support!

WELCOMING JESUS

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

002-john-baptist

The kingdom of Heaven is still at hand. The Lord still wants to work more fully in your life. We can still help prepare the way and welcome him in by repentance. The Holy Spirit does the work, all he needs is our willingness.

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 5

Matthew #5 . Chapter 3:1-10

I want to remind you that when I preach, I am really trying to do two things. First, I want to make sure we understand the basic background of passage, and the basic meaning of it. Second, I am always “listening” to see what the Holy Spirit might want to say to us through it. Sometimes I focus more on the first thing, and sometimes more on the latter. I guess my point is, I doubt that any single thirty-minute-teaching can capture everything there is to capture about a bible passage. So, I assume that in some ways I am leaving some things out that might be said about any bible passage. Just keep it mind – there’s always more to learn, even from bible passages you know pretty well.

At this point, Matthew skips from the early childhood of Jesus directly to his adulthood. Luke tells us that John the Baptist was the son of Zechariah the priest and his wife Elizabeth. Elizabeth was related to Jesus’ mother, Mary, and in fact, Mary spent some months with her while they were both pregnant. According to Luke, John responded to Jesus, even when they were both unborn babies.

In those days Mary arose and went with haste into the hill country, to a town in Judah, and she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, and she exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. (Luke 1:39-44, ESV2011)

Because their mothers obviously had a close relationship, it is almost certain that John and Jesus knew each other as children. Certainly, by the time they were adults, before John began to preach, John knew Jesus personally (Matt 3:14), and believed he was the Messiah.

John’s father was a priest, descended from Aaron. This meant that John would have been technically eligible to serve as the high priest. Instead, however, he went into the wilderness of Judea and began to preach. It’s hard to pin down exactly where he was. In the Old Testament, “the wilderness of Judea” referred to an area south and east of Jerusalem, in the vicinity of the Dead Sea. However, it records that John baptized people in the Jordan river, which is north of the Dead sea. Most likely, John wandered around for a little bit.

Not much is said here, but John’s ministry was very remarkable in many ways. The journey from Jerusalem to the Jordan river where John preached was extremely rough. To go from Jerusalem to listen to John would have involved a round trip of several days, and it included very hard travel and the danger of bandits along the way. And yet, his preaching was so compelling that many people made the trip to hear him. Jewish historian Josephus records that John began a significant movement that lasted even into the 100’s AD. Obviously, many of his followers missed his message about Jesus as the Messiah, and started their own sect of Judaism. John the Baptist was a very big deal. Matthew’s concern, however, is not with John himself, but his role in preparing people for the Messiah, Jesus.

Matthew says:

3 For he is the one spoken of through the prophet Isaiah, who said:

A voice of one crying out in the wilderness:

Prepare the way for the Lord;

make His paths straight!

This is the eighth fulfilled prophecy that Matthew refers to. Besides reinforcing his theme of fulfilled prophecy, Matthew shares this to explain that John’s remarkable ministry was all aimed at preparing people to receive the Messiah when he arrived.

How, exactly, did John prepare people to receive Jesus? Matthew says the basic message was: “Repent, because the Kingdom of Heaven has come near” (3:1). That’s a very brief summary, of course. I think the idea was that John preached that God wanted to do something for people personally, that he was drawing near to His people. The appropriate response to the presence of God is realize how we’ve strayed away from him, and turn back to him, away from our sins and wanderings.

The people responded by confessing their sins, and being baptized to show that they were repenting. By the way, the New Testament makes a distinction between the baptism of John, which was for repentance, and baptism into Jesus (see Matthew 3:11; Matthew 28:19; Acts 2:38; Acts 19:4; Romans 6:3).

When the religious leaders came to see John, and to be baptized by him, he had some harsh words for them. As I mentioned earlier, John was enormously influential and popular with ordinary Jewish people. Most likely, the religious leaders came to be baptized by him in order to gain popularity with the “regular folks.” But John saw through that, and castigated them for it.

His response to them made two basic points. First, he told them to “produce fruit consistent with repentance. (verse 8).” In other words, “if you are truly repentant, act like it.” Second, he warned them not rely on their ancestry as Jews to do them any good with God (verse 9).

Let’s stop here for this time, and try and unpack what the Lord might say to us through this text.

First, is the Kingdom of Heaven near? I believe since the coming of the Holy Spirit in about 30 AD, the Kingdom of Heaven has always been near to anyone willing to receive it. If you are reading this and you have never turned your life over to Jesus, he is coming to you right now. He wants to shower you with his own real presence, with grace, joy and a new start on life. The way to receive that is the same way shown in this text: to repent. To repent means to turn back, to go a completely different way. If you can read these words, it is not too late for you to repent. Jesus can handle whatever horrible thing you’ve done, whatever you’ve left undone, and even whatever terrible thing was done to you. But you need to drop it, to turn away from it, and turn to Him.

Many of you reading this blog have already repented and turned to Jesus, and received him as your Lord and your salvation. That’s wonderful. But for us who have done that, Jesus is still at hand. He still wants to show up in our lives in greater and more profound ways. He wants to give us even more grace, more joy, more peace, a more abundant life in Him. To receive these things from him, our path is the same: repent!

Let me give you an example. Suppose there is a Christian man who wants more of Jesus in his marriage. He is not happy with his marriage. He is unhappy with his wife. Jesus wants to come into this part of his life – the kingdom of heaven is near. Now, the Holy Spirit, working in this man, shows him that he often makes cutting remarks to and about his wife. The Holy Spirit is calling him to repent. Repentance is not saying “Yeah, I know that’s wrong. It’s just hard because she never does what I want. Sorry.” It is isn’t even saying “I admit that I do that, and I admit that it’s wrong.” To repent is to fully own the fact that you have been wrong, with no excuses, and then to turn away from it, for all intents, forever.

Now, our turning away forever almost never happens perfectly. In the case of the man with the unhappy marriage, he commits to turning away from cutting down his wife. Suppose normally he makes an average of six cutting remarks each day. When he first repents, he is so sincere that for a week, he makes none. But after a while, he loses some of his focus, and he goes back to making some cutting remarks, but maybe now only three each day. The Holy Spirit reminds him again, and he renews his repentance and consciously relies on the Holy Spirit to help him, and he gets it down to two cutting remarks each day. He realizes he needs help, and so he asks a Christian friend to pray for him about this, and to hold him accountable by asking him about it regularly. Now, the man usually does not make any cutting remarks to or about his wife at all. As time goes on, prompted by the life of Jesus inside him, he begins to actually compliment and encourage his wife. From time to time, he still slips and makes a nasty comment, but it is no longer a habit, and for the most part, he has become kind and encouraging to his wife. Within a year or two, his attitude is transformed, and he and his wife are closer than they have been for years.

I think that is a realistic picture of what the fruit of repentance looks like. Sometimes Jesus transforms us dramatically in a single moment. But a lot of the time, what is actually happening is that we are “working out our salvation” (Philippians 2:12). What I mean is, the Lord uses gradual transformation like this to strengthen our hearts and minds and to make us more like him. When you repent you are on a new path. You may not walk the path perfectly, but you are no longer going the old direction. Your your progress, however slow, however often you might fall down, is in the new direction, toward Jesus.

I want to make something clear however. A lot of people admit their sins, but do not really repent of them. A lot of people feel, in the heat of a moment, that they want to do better next time, and even resolve to do so, but they do not fundamentally commit to going a different way forever. If you are a Christian, and have struggled with the same thing over and over again, and you don’t seem to make any progress, ask the Lord to show you if you have truly repented in that area of your life. If the bible says you need to repent, or if the Holy Spirit shows that you need to repent, then make a decision to turn back from that (action, habit, attitude) forever. Don’t worry about whether you will fail again at times: make the commitment to turn away from it forever, and invite the Holy Spirit to give you the strength to keep that commitment.

John the Baptist had some very harsh words for religious people who did not really want to repent, but only wanted to pretend to do so to look good to other people. Unfortunately, there are still a number of people who take this approach. Let me say with John the Baptist: Give it up. Pretending to repent without really doing it is pointless, and it will not save you or help you in any way.

I will add that people who pretend are the ones that typically give Christians a bad reputation. So you are hurting not only yourself, but others too.

The good news, it is never too late to truly repent, not as long as you are still alive. Jesus wants to come to us; some of you for the first time, others in new and deeper ways. How do you need to prepare for him? Where can you make the way more straight for him through repentance?

~

I want to briefly make you aware of our situation. This ministry (Clear Bible) until recently was supported by our local church. However, we have had some changes there, and we are now a house church. Today, we have about 8 families. Our church cannot fully support me financially any longer.

 In contrast, about 430 people subscribe to this blog, and an additional 300 or so each week come and visit the site. In other words, by far, most of the people who benefit from this ministry are not part of our little church.

 I’m asking you internet readers/listeners to pray for us. Seriously, before you give any financial support, please give us some prayer support. I value that more than anything else. Pray for this ministry to touch lives. Pray also for financial provision for my family and me.

But then, as you pray, do ask the Lord if he wants you to give financially as well. Be assured, after a small fee to Paypal, 100% of your donations will go to help support my family and me in ministry. In turn, supporting this blog means that you are helping to bless more than 15,000 people each year who visit this blog.

 Some of you may have noticed that I am also a novelist. Often, people have misconceptions about authors. Most of us, including me, make a part-time income through writing, and no more. In other words, we aren’t “raking it in” somewhere else. Now, we trust the Lord to provide, and I don’t want you to give out of guilt or fear. I just don’t want you to get the idea that your donations will only be an “extra” for us somehow.

 If most of our subscribers gave just five or ten dollars each month, (or even less, if everyone pitched in) we would be in good shape. It’s easy to set up a recurring donation when you click the Paypal donate button that is located on the right hand side of this page, down just a little ways.

 You could also send a check to:

New Joy Fellowship

625 Spring Creek Road

Lebanon, TN 37087

 Your check will be tax-deductible. Unfortunately, we cannot do the tax deductible option with the paypal donate button, however the money does go directly to support my family and me.

 Thank for your prayers, and your support!