Friday 27 June 2014

Luke 18:18-30

http://walkworthy.org/money-you-cannot-serve-god-and-wealth-mammon-matthew-6-24/
"Truly I tell you," Jesus said to them,"no one who has left home or wife or brothers or sisters or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God will fail to receive many times as much in this age, and in the age to come eternal life." 
Luke 18:29, 30 (NIV) 

This is the third account by Luke of our Lord telling us that we must make decisions between our families and His kingdom. Whether we downplay this aspect of discipleship or not in our own lives, it is very clear that Luke wants Theophilus to know, with certainty, that a disciple of the Lord Jesus must make a choice between family and the Lord.

Many of us give up trying to understand this passage when we read the account of the rich ruler, especially when we hear the Lord say that it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for the rich to enter the kingdom of God! Yet the truth is that the man came looking for eternal life - he knew that he was lacking something and - when our Lord pointed out to him that what was keeping him from attaining eternal life was his wealth, he went away sad. His wealth had reduced the narrow door to the size of the eye of a needle!

According to Luke, a person who claims to be a Christian and who has never had to make a choice between financial security and the Lord, or between pleasing family versus pleasing God, lacks something. The ruler went away sad not angry, which gives us hope that he eventually found his way into the kingdom; that the Spirit made the kingdom so compelling to him, that the eye of the needle became a narrow door that he was able to enter.

There is hope for him and hope for all of us who know that there is something lacking in us. What wonderful promises the Lord gives to all who make these tough choices. The promise for this life gives us hope for our families and our finances right now today, and the promise of eternal life to come is the most precious promise of all!

The Bible contains only one over-arching message: TRUST GOD! This is surely the message of this text. Will I trust His Son for salvation? Will I trust His promise? Will I choose to follow Jesus over finances, over my dad’s family, and over my family, in the specific situation I find myself in today?


Thursday 26 June 2014

1 Corinthians 7:1-15

http://spiritualinspiration.tumblr.com/post/37034740756/my-grace-is-sufficient-for-you-for-my-power-is
"But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness."" Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me." 
2 Corinthians 12:9 (NIV) 

As we concentrate on our Lord’s requirement to put kingdom ahead of family, it seems to me to be a most unbearable strain. Our Lord condemns those who place burdens on people’s backs without lifting a finger to help (Lk11:46), and He promises that if we come to Him, He will give us rest (Mt11:28) - and so I want to remind all of us that no matter what family situation we find ourselves in, His grace is available for us to help us in what really seems to be an impossible situation.

It is hard for us in in our gospel saturated society to really understand the culture that the Christians were in, to whom Paul wrote 1 Corinthians 7. The news stories from Sudan about the lady who converted from Islam to Christianity and married a Christian give us some insight into the culture 2,000 years ago. These disciples of Christ were in difficult situations and Paul was giving them wisdom to help them make decisions about following their Lord and their responsibilities in their family life.

We aren’t facing life and death in Canada, but many people in Canada, and actually in Parkdale, face severe opposition from their spouses, parents and friends, because of their commitment to our Lord and Saviour. They face family members who tell them that any decisions that they make placing discipleship above family, proves that they hate their family. The pressure is very acute and the burden is heavy. Friend, remember what the LORD taught the Israelites: He led them into need so that they could learn dependence upon Him and Him alone. Paul learned this lesson as well; 3 times he pleaded (Paul was a man of faith and apostolic power) and 3 times the Lord refused to change the situation, but instead promised His grace and His power so that Paul could endure and even thrive.

Oh friend - His grace is enough!



Wednesday 25 June 2014

Luke 14:15-35

http://www.thepoachedegg.net/the-poached-egg/2011/11/luke-1426-hate-or-hyperbole.html
"If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters - yes, even their own life - such a person cannot be my disciple." 
Luke 14:26 (NIV) 

Is our Lord using hyperbole/exaggeration here to make a point? Does anyone really believe that our Lord wants us to live a life of hate towards those who are closest to us? Surely our Lord wants His disciples to be the mothers, wives, dads, husbands, children and siblings that bring God glory. Surely love, which is greater than both hope and faith, is to be the chief characteristic of how we interact with our families. So what truth is our Lord teaching us with this statement about hate?

The context would tell us that He is speaking to us about regular every day decisions, for the story about the banquet is all about people deciding not to attend, but instead putting regular life ahead of the kingdom. Our Lord has already given us an example of what He means. Gary Chapman has identified 5 love languages or ways that love is received by us: gifts, quality time, words of affirmation, acts of service, and physical touch – and when you examine how the Lord treated His family as recorded in Luke 8, and put yourself in their shoes, you quickly realize that our Lord’s determination to continue with the mission communicated to His family that He didn’t love them. He had no time for them, He didn’t speak or touch them; He wouldn’t even listen to what they had to say. They would be thinking, and even saying to each other, “Well I guess we know where we stand with him.”

The truth that Jesus is teaching us is that regular life (especially family life) will come in conflict with the kingdom and we will have to make decisions between kingdom and family - which will come first? Unless we hate (chose kingdom over family) we aren’t His disciples. Do we consider ourselves disciples of Christ? When was the last time that we put kingdom ahead of family? Or do we use family as an excuse to not be involved in Christ’s mission? For years I have heard from church leaders that family is first - how about we listen to the Lord for at least 1 hour; family is important – but kingdom is #1 for a true disciple of Christ. If we truly want to bless our families, we will follow closely after our Lord.

Tuesday 24 June 2014

Deuteronomy 8

http://www.plentyplace.com/were-singing-the-same-song/
"He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD." 
Deuteronomy 8:3 (NIV) 

I don’t like being in need! I have no desire to be in a situation where I have no food or water. Nor do I want to be in a situation where I have no money. We do everything we can to be sure that we don’t end up in need.

This text teaches us that God deliberately leads us (His children) into need. He brought them out of Egypt and put them in the desert, where there was no water, no food and no stores. They didn’t enjoy this aspect of being the children of God, and they actually say that it be better to be slaves in Egypt with food, than free with God and starve (Ex 16:3). The text tells us WHY by teaching us that God leads His children into need for the purpose of cutting us down to size.

The definition of humble (as a verb) is: to make someone understand that they are not as important or special as they thought. God is doing something in our lives constantly. He works and works away with us, bringing us, steering us, guiding us into the place of blessings, the place of safety, into true reliance on the Presence of the Most High God. At first glance it seems harsh, even mean, that God would deliberately humble us. Yet if we take a moment and consider the lesson that they (we) needed to learn, we begin to see the grace, mercy and love behind this humbling.

They needed to learn that humans don’t live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD! All creation is sustained by His mighty Word! (Heb 1:3) We think we can do it - we have the ability to make it happen - which changes to - we have to do it - we have to make it happen, and then God cuts us down to size. He puts us in an impossible situation, in a place where no matter what we do we can’t help ourselves. Then we call out on God and He provides; He moves and it causes us to realize that every aspect of our lives is dependent upon His grace (2 Cor 12:9) and provision. Moses even points out that we forget that God gives us the ability to produce wealth.

How quickly we forget that we NEED God, and then how quickly we realize our need when He leads us into an impossible situation. You know what - why don’t we resolve to sing this prayer to Him every morning, and then our hearts will be ready to say it to Him when all we have in our lives is NEED!



Saturday 14 June 2014

Psalm 23

http://weeklywisdomblog.wordpress.com/2012/09/12/91012-psalm-23/
"Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to him, "Follow me!" 
John 21:19 (NIV) 

Dad used to always talk about Aunt Betsy traveling with grandma; in many of his ‘historical’ stories, Aunt Betsy was beside his mom. She was my grandfather’s sister and became quite close to my grandmother in their old age. One of my cousins remarked at a funeral service this week about Aunt Betsy’s faith. He said that she didn’t say much about the Bible, but every now and then she would look into his eyes and say: “The Lord is my shepherd.” After the service another older lady approached me and said: “The Lord is my shepherd too.”

I wonder friend, “Is the Lord your shepherd?” In our churches these days, we don’t talk about this aspect of discipleship very much. We talk about mission – Proclaiming, Healing and Feeding - but don’t dwell on the wonderful aspect that a follower of Jesus Christ can say with certainty, that Jesus is my shepherd! This 23rd psalm is all about that wonderful aspect, and what a beautiful psalm it is.

Friend, can you say with David that the Lord is your shepherd? Can you testify that you have a personal connection to Him? Our Lord tells us that His sheep know His voice and they follow Him. (Jn10:4) Do you know His voice? Do you follow after His Words? Do you obey Him above all others? If the answer is yes, then friend Psalm 23 is your personal testimony!

The words of this psalm bring comfort; they bring hope and they bring peace into our souls. To stand by the death bed of a disciple of Christ and to speak the words: “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies” is to speak into them the truth, that at that very moment the Lord Jesus is about to take them from the jaws of defeat at the hands of our worse enemy called Death, and sit them with Him at a glorious table as He welcomes them home!

The Lord is my Shepherd and I shall not want!

O Lord keep me close, keep me close!

Wednesday 11 June 2014

Luke 10:25-37

http://trishborgdorff.wordpress.com/2011/05/03/are-you-a-good-samariatin/
"Then he said to them all: "Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me." 
Luke 9:23 (NIV) 

Luke is writing his gospel so that Theophilus may know the certainty of the things he had been taught. Luke not only wants Theophilus to know who Jesus is, he also wants him to know the pattern of disciple making that Jesus set during His ministry.

As we read Luke 9 we discover that Jesus made disciples who Proclaim, who Heal and who Feed - they perform His mission - they do the things Jesus did, and they are expected to pay the price that Jesus paid. A disciple of Jesus, a follower of Jesus, knows that in order to do the mission of Jesus, they must take up their cross and follow Him.

The story of the good Samaritan appears only in Luke’s gospel and illustrates the principle of taking up your cross in order to Heal and Feed. Many of us give out of our excess; we give God our spare time, and we give God our spare money, and we think that we are fulfilling the mission of Christ and we call ourselves a disciple of Christ. However if we only give spare money and only give spare time, then we don’t know the certainty of the things Jesus taught. The good Samaritan is on Mission. He has pity on the human in need and he Heals him and Feeds him. He used his time and his money, his donkey, his purse, his oil, his wine, his bandages, and he told the innkeeper he would be back to pay any other expenses incurred. The Samaritan is the neighbour that God wanted Cain to be, that God wants every one of us to be.

We talk about being friendly and helping people as a witness to them as an evangelism strategy, and yet our Lord helped everyone, although some of them crucified Him later. He helped them without expecting them to become believers. He helped them because our Lord Jesus is a good human. He is the human Adam was meant to be and so we are to be the good human that He was as He lives in our hearts through faith. No expectation of conversion or an evangelism strategy - come on what is that all about anyway? Just pity or mercy. Just take our money, take our time and help those around us who need help.

People read this story and wonder where the Proclaim is in the story. Friend, if we would take our money and our time and help those around us – the Proclaim will happen and the gospel will have power! Let us be the good humans that God wants us to be!


Tuesday 10 June 2014

Luke 10:25-37

http://victoryhighway.com/2014/01/who-is-my-neighbor/
"But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?"
Luke 10:29 (NIV) 

This dialogue between the expert in the Law and our Lord reveals so much about the typical human heart (or at least my heart - surely not your heart!). I chuckle every time I see the NIV expression, “expert in the law”. The other English translations read “lawyer” but the NIV expression gives us the ability to see this man’s title as a pun, for by seeking to justify himself, he reveals to all of us that he is an “expert at getting around the law” which many present day lawyers seem to be good at as well. Not only that, but this human “expert” is “testing” the Eternal Word, the One who wrote the Law.

I’m telling you - this situation is hilarious. No doubt Luke wrote it this way on purpose to illustrate the absurdity of us seeking to make excuses for our hateful behaviour - no less absurd than Cain answering God’s question with a self-justifying question. Our Lord had answered his question with a question and then congratulated the “expert” on his correct response, but the man’s heart is exposed by his follow up question.

May I say that typical of a typical human - the follow up question is designed to make the man feel good about his own lack of obedience to what he clearly knows is the overriding commandment of all of Scripture - to care for the needs of the human beside you. Jesus’ answer tears the man’s pretense all away and places the responsibility back on us to help every human that God places in our way!

The Jew who was in trouble was not the Samaritan’s neighbour by any human definition. But the Samaritan became the Jew’s neighbour by acting in accordance with the Law and with the responsibility placed on Cain by God. The answer to the question: “Who is my neighbour?” is “Go and be a neighbour to anyone who needs help.”

I wonder today who needs my help? Who is it that I pass by without seeing? Who is it that is calling out that I am ignoring? My wife, Wanda, will describe the bad behaviour of children at school as a “cry for help”. She is much better at being a good human than I am; I would say that she has the gift of mercy! But that doesn’t take my responsibility away. NO - God asks me to care for those in need around me, and He asks you to do the same. But really He isn’t asking, He is commanding!

Oh Lord – forgive us for our callous behaviour.

Forgive us for our lack of love and care for those around us.

Please Lord give us your eyes and give us your heart today!


Monday 9 June 2014

Luke 10:25-37

http://www.christophersmith-op.com/category/catholic-intellectual-tradition/scripture/
"Then the LORD said to Cain, "Where is your brother Abel?"" 
Genesis 4:9 (NIV)

“I don’t know,” he replied. “Am I my brother’s keeper?”

LORD always means YWYH - it is the personal name of God. From the account at the burning bush, we understand it’s meaning to be “I AM who I AM” (Exodus 3:14). To place this verse in proper context we need to see it as the Person of God speaking to the human race after the fall.

Cain is the firstborn of Adam and Eve – Cain and Abel are the human race at this point in time. This question from God to Cain reveals for us the truth that the situation of other humans is our responsibility. The Person of God is placing on each of us the responsibility of knowing where (that is - the place and the situation) all humans are at. To put it very simply: God requires each human to care for the humans beside them. This defines the term a “good human” for us. What is a good human? One who pays their own way? One who is a great warrior? One who achieves prominence in their field of work? One who has statues built and their names written in history books? NO - a good human is someone who knows where the humans around them are at.

The other truth revealed by this verse is the ugly condition of the human heart. How quickly we degenerated into pride and hatred and murder! How quickly our lives turned into me above all everyone else. Me! Me! Me! God says to each one of us: “Your brother! Your sister! Your mother! Your father! Your neighbour!

I chose this verse to start our look at the story of the Samaritan to put this wonderful story by our Lord into the proper biblical context. The command of our Lord to “Go and do likewise” is a command to be a good human in a fallen world. Jesus came into this world from heaven to show us the way to God’s side. In response to a man’s question about getting to God’s side, He gave us the command to go and do likewise.

Where is your brother today? Where is your sister today? Are we thinking that someone else will care for them? Oh friend may we know this truth: God holds me responsible for their care! May our Lord who gave His all to help us, give us the grace and the unction to help those around us.