Month: October 2020

The writer of the Gospel of Mark skips over the calling of Matthew, the feast at   Matthew’s house and questions the Pharisees and John’s disciples ask. But Mark gives us a better picture of what happened next, “Then one of the synagogue rulers, named Jairus, came there. Seeing Jesus, he fell at his feet and pleaded earnestly with him, “My little daughter is dying. Please come and put your hands on her so that she will be healed and live.”

Matthew had only referred to Jairus as ἄρχων <archōn>, a Greek word meaning a ruler/leader. Mark adds not only the man’s name, but that he was the leader of a synagogue. As such, Jarius is understood as a man of influence among the Jewish people group that Jesus is primarily ministering to. What follows then appears to be a very logical and natural response, “Jesus got up and went with him, and so did his disciples.”

What is most unnatural about Jesus’ response is that what the man just asked for is nothing short of the most astonishing miracle. For while Mark’s Gospel makes it clear that the girl is at death’s door, Matthew makes clear what everyone hearing the story understood, “My daughter has just died. But come and put your hand on her, and she will live.”  We can know she was not merely sick. She was almost dead when Jarius left, and expected to be dead by the time Jarius returned. Jarius is asking that Jesus raise the dead!  

This is something Jesus has not yet done to this point in His ministry. Yet He shows no discomfort, no exasperation or even hesitation. 

There are times when we are asked to minister in ways that are clearly beyond how we have historically worked, and sometimes those occasions arise with little warning and/or with more than a degree of urgency. Think of the when you were first asked to pray for healing, or first asked to witness to a large group! That may have been scary, but in Jesus’ case, one such time was when He was first asked to raise the dead! 

Such times call upon us to exercise our faith. They are not occasions to sit down and think about it, or have a pro-vs-con conversation about whether or not to engage. A decision is called for on the spot. It really is a scary moment. But once that first step is taken to act, our faith rises. The Christian experience is truly as the song Oceans says;

Spirit lead me where my trust is without borders. 

Let me walk upon the waters.

Wherever You would call me.

Take me deeper than my feet could ever wander

And my faith will be made stronger
In the presence of my Savior…

Like Jesus, we must be willing to be used of the Father as the Spirit leads, even though we know that the Spirit delights in leading us further into ministry and deeper into the Father’s care than we’ve ever purposed for ourselves. Walking by faith is sometimes scary, but it is always worthwhile!

There are many of us that are willing to do great things for the Lord, but few of us are willing to do little things.

D.L. Moody

APPLICATION: Intentionality

Sometimes we have to act on our faith. Sometimes we don’t have enough faith of ourselves, so we have to act by faith on the faith of others. And sometimes we have to act by the faith of the Holy Spirit who leads us, because He is the only one with enough faith for the moment. 

“While he was saying this, a ruler came and knelt before him and said, “My daughter has just died. But come and put your hand on her, and she will live.”

The context of this request is that Jesus has recently exited Matthew’ house, where Matthew and his friends were celebrating Matthew’s new decision to follow Jesus. No doubt much worthwhile conversation had been happening with Matthew’s invited guests, but at some point Jesus was interrupted by a question about the value of eating with ‘sinners’. The Pharisees had asked that question – unwilling to enter a house of feasting during a fast day, they had asked it through His disciples. Consequently, Jesus addressed the question to those present. 

When Jesus exited the house (possibly to look for the Pharisees so He could respond to their faces), John’s disciples came and also asked Him a question. Their question was along the same lines – that is, why Jesus and His band were feasting while the rest of religious society was fasting? Jesus had begun His explanation by means of a couple of parables. Like all His parables, they are deep, full of meaning and application. 

But before He can expound on what He meant, and before they can ask further questions about what it means, they are interrupted by a man of some importance. This man – a local ruler -makes his interruption into a bigger scene by bowing down before Jesus in front of all gathered there. Jesus will have to respond. 

Three interruptions, back to back. 

Ministry is often a series of interruptions arising from a single act of obedience. Jesus called Matthew, then went to one place (Matthew’s house) expecting something (a party), but while He was there another thing happened (the Pharisees’ question), and He had to respond. While He was responding to that, something else happened (John’s disciples’ question), and now He must respond to that. Yet while He responds to that, something else happens (the ruler’s request). 

Jesus’ composure through it all is a sight to behold. He doesn’t seem perturbed or flustered by the compounding of intrusions. He takes each disruption as a signal to move on to the next thing instead of a frustration to His own timeline. He knows that each interruption is another opportunity for the Kingdom of God to grow. They all build on each other – some who were there for the last ministry moment will carry on to the next, and in this way many are ministered to. He also knows that each opportunity – each interruption – is timed by the Father. Timed to demonstrate not only His wisdom, but His patience and His grace. As He takes each with patience and grace, the Father is revealed to the every growing crowd of those watching and listening to Him.

He does this all because Jesus is about the Father’s business in the Father’s timing. So there is nothing to be upset about, though from a human viewpoint frustration and exasperation would be the order of the day.

Every intrusion is an opportunity to bless those made in His image. Such is the life we are called to. It is a wonderful life, because every interruption we encounter for His sake is another opportunity to see His wisdom and His grace and His power working through us. It is an opportunity to see His Kingdom expand. It is an opportunity to remember that God is in control and sovereign over all things, and we are not.

Amen.

Interruptions are not irritants; they are part of the rhythm of life. Rigid adherence to schedules is not valued, because it reduces people to little more than blocks of time.

A. Scott Moreau

APPLICATION: Intentionality

In all likelihood, today at some point you will be interrupted. Remember how Jesus responded. 

Jesus has just come from Matthew’s place, where Matthew and many  ‘sinners’ were  feasting. Those outside were observing a day of fasting. When they questioned Him about what He and His disciples are doing, 

Jesus responded with an analogy of a bridegroom being with friends. 

A wedding celebration – the fulfillment of a long time of preparation – is not an appropriate time for mourning. It is a celebration, a time consistent with spending and feasting and enjoyment. The time of saving toward the event, of setting aside for the event and the busy work of preparation is over. One has to celebrate. In fact, it is absurd to think that the way one acts during a time of preparation would be consistent with the way one should act during a time of fulfillment. 

Jesus now drives home the application of that point through two parables, “No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch will pull away from the garment, making the tear worse. Neither do men pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst, the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.” 

Jesus knows that weddings involve new clothes and wine, so He uses those two touch-points in His parable. In His time garments were very expensive and rare purchases – you used them until they were nothing but patches. Further, no one had glass bottles, but everyone had a wineskin. Of course, in modern Western society most just buy new garments when the old wears out, and no one uses wineskins anymore. But Jesus knows that John’s disciples (who asked Him the question to start with) will innately know what He is saying: Just as a celebration is in order, so also new believers cannot be expected to act as long-time believers. 

It is just wrong to expect a brand new Christ-follower to immediately be mature, and it is also wildly inappropriate to not celebrate their first step of faith with them. 

Imagine leading someone to Christ, and then instead of rejoicing with them that they are now forgiven, you immediately insist they begin observing a day of fasting just because all of the very religious of society are doing so that day. They will immediately connect the two events, and conclude that being forgiven is not enough. Effectively, you will have taught them legalism instead of relationship, and led them into mortal error. Expecting instantaneous maturity actually damages the fabric of their being – just as force-feeding meat to a newborn endangers the baby’s life. 

To make disciples for God is to lead people into a new relationship with Him, and then walk with them toward maturity. We cannot lead them into making a decision for God and then demand maturity. Leading people requires that we start where they are at, not where we want them to be. That means giving them both time and space to grow. It means celebrating when celebrating is appropriate, and fasting when fasting is appropriate. 

When we live like that, both we and those we lead are blessed. 

Amen.

God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him.

John Piper

APPLICATION: Thankfulness

Jesus does not want religious timekeeping as much as He wants relationship. We can know that because His Word says, “Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.”  – Romans 12:15

John’s disciples have come to Jesus right after the feast at Matthew’s house.  They’ve noted that while they were fasting, Jesus and His group were having a party. Seeking enlightenment about the discrepancy, they ask Jesus about it. He replies, “How can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while he is with them?”

Jesus’ question is sometimes used as a reason to never practice fasting. After all, Jesus specifically said that His disciples would fast when He was taken from them, and we know that time is over. He rose from the grave. He appeared to His disciples again, and He promised, “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”  Indeed, His Word promises that He pours Himself into each believer through the Holy Spirit; “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever—the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.” 

These precious statements affirm that Jesus is with us by His Spirit. For Jesus and the Spirit are One just as Jesus and the Father are One. Somehow, omnipresent God is always with us and in us in a way and manner which we cannot understand. It is therefore logical to ask that if the bridegroom is with us, why should we fast? Yet while it is absolutely true that omnipresent God is always with us and in us in a way and manner which we cannot understand, it is also true that He is with us in a way we sometimes cannot even perceive. 

The pace of modern life, the business of work and tyranny of the urgent can often drown out His voice. Some seasons, the clouds of grief hide His presence. Regularly, our own sin hides His face from our prayers. What a grief it is that He seems so distant! What anguish of spirit to walk through the desert, seemingly alone! But it is these seasons of mourning – short or long – that must drive us to fast. They are the built-in snooze alarms of our lives, sounding off every time the dullness of the world or the appearance of evil threatens to cloud over our eyes of faith. They call us to stop – to interrupt our normal routine, so that we can come before the Lord in repentance for ourselves, in repentance for others and in sorrowfulness of spirit.

Fasting is an expression of lament. Though it is not often practiced in our days, the Scripture is full of lament. It is a very legitimate, even necessary practice. A practice that is always fruitful, because praise God, “The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.” 

It is because God answers the heartfelt cries of His people that fasting is useful. Not because it is a magic key to unlock answers to prayer (it is not), but because it resets the eyes of our hearts on Him who does answer prayer. 

Amen. 

Father, open my eyes to the reality that Christ’s righteousness is mine. May I, despite my struggles with sin, rejoice that Jesus represents me to You. Though I mourn over my sins, may I not be disheartened. Help me to look to Jesus, and not my own performance, as a basis of my acceptance.

Erwin Lutzer

APPLICATION: Worship

After looking at yourself through the lens of God’s Word, set your eyes on Jesus.

That Jesus practiced fasting is illustrated for us in Matthew chapter 4, where  He fasts 40  days and nights in the desert prior to the temptation. It is also expected that He fasted on the Day of Atonement as Lev 16:29 commands. 

That Jesus taught fasting is obvious from His Sermon on the Mount (Matt 6:16-18). 

Yet in spite of personal practice and appreciation for it, Jesus and His disciples were clearly not known for fasting. 

One particular day, the contrast could not have been greater. “Jesus and his disciples had just come from the feast in Matthew’s house; and this seems to have occurred on a day when the disciples of John and the Pharisees likewise thought they had to fast (Mark 2:18). Here they were fasting, and the disciples of Jesus were feasting!”  

Matthew records, “Then John’s disciples came and asked him, “How is it that we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?”  Jesus answered, “How can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while he is with them? The time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast.”

It was Pharisaic practice to fast on Mondays and Thursdays. Such a regular practice (which John’s disciples apparently emulated in some fashion) is impossible to keep secret. But if one is not careful, it becomes a signpost of personal piety to all who look on. Indeed, that others notice can easily become the whole point of the fast if one’s fleshly desire for recognition and importance has not been thoroughly replaced by humility and an overwhelming desire to hear from God. Like everything we do for the Lord, it can become a point of personal pride – a statement of the flesh that we are better and more deserving than others. More deserving to have our prayers answered. More deserving of favor. More deserving of honor for self-sacrifice. More deserving than the others around us, who are not achieving the same level of piety. 

Such thoughts occur naturally when the eyes of our heart have moved from attention on God to attention on self. But these sentiments are worse than foolish. They are diametrically opposed to what the practice is supposed to be for. 

Jesus equated fasting with mourning. Fasting is meant to be driven by a hunger for God so great that we deprive ourselves – the thought of feeding one’s stomach gets completely lost as we mourn our own brokenness and long to be reunited with Him in spirit and in body. As one commentator noted, “Fasting accompanies mourning and is not to be a mechanical arrangement that is followed merely on fixed days. When the heart is bowed down, fasting is a proper expression of its feelings.”

Fasting is not primarily a tool of self-expression or self-discipline. It must be understood as an expression of lament. Like a friend of the bridegroom who finds out the bridegroom is taken just before the wedding day, we mourn for what is lost, and we grieve that all is not as it should be.

Fasting prepares us for the deepest and richest spiritual communion possible. It clears and liberates our minds to understand and grasp what God is saying to our spirits, and conditions our bodies to carry out His perfect will which is good and pleasing and perfect.

Julio Ruibal

APPLICATION: Intentionality

Why and when do you fast?

“For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”  

Hanging around godly people is a blessing. They are worshipful people, and worship of God Most High is what we were created for. It is a special kind of blessing to stand with others who know Christ and sing songs of praise, because enjoying God together is something only the godly can experience. Godly people are also hospitable, kind, gracious and generous. So being with them means we are generally treated well. More than that – they are at peace with God, at peace with themselves and at peace with others. That means they are safe. We can be ourselves and know that our rougher edges are not building walls. These things mean godly people are generally a lot of fun to be around. 

Besides which, God’s people are commanded to gather together. Gathering together gives us opportunities to praise Him, to testify of His glory and power, to fellowship with each other and to practice the sacraments. As Hebrews 10:25 says, “Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” 

That commandment, together with how enjoyable it is to be around each other, makes it easy for the believer to assume that the Kingdom of God consists entirely of surrounding oneself with other believers. But the Kingdom of God does not consist of trying to live in glory while we are still in a fallen world. The joys of being with godly people are only one part of the Kingdom. There is another joy to be had – to physically see God taking new ground in expanding His Kingdom. 

Of course, if you want to see that, you have to look for where it is happening. That’s primarily in the lives, and in the work, and in the family life of sinners. For when His Kingdom invades those places, they become altogether different places; Peace replaces fear, love replaces apathy, grace replaces vengeance. It truly is a sight to behold. 

You can of course see the Kingdom of God expand when the godly get together too; Some have been healed while worshipping, others have been visibly affected through teaching and preaching. But those are – in great honestly – rarities. Mostly, our experience of the Kingdom when we are with godly people is the Spirit’s witness that it (the Kingdom of God) is expanding in their (and our own) hearts and minds. 

But when we are with those who recognize their own sin, we can hear it expand in their confessions and testimonies. We can see it expand in both the loss of old habits and in newfound thirst for God’s Word. Being with those who are being transformed into disciples of Christ is a visceral experience of the Kingdom of God for us, as well as them! 

This is a particular joy that all disciples of God are called to experience – the joy of making other disciples. It is this work that Christ came to do, and it is the joy He calls all of us to experience. As often and as much as we can!

Friendship can be a bridge for bringing people to Christ. Many times we try to influence people without first making them our friends. It seldom works.

Robert Shannon

APPLICATION: Thankfulness

The wonder of the Kingdom of God is that doing the hard things God asks us to do brings  far more joy into our lives than doing the say things our selfishness desires. 

The goal of any disciple is to be like the master they follow. Likewise God’s  disciples seek to have a character that reflects God. To this end the disciple of Jesus Christ learns about God by studying God’s Word and practices living out His character in day-to-day life. Learning about God is helpful, but practicing His character is even more helpful. Not only because doing so blesses others, but because doing so helps mold our own character into ever greater Christ-likeness. In fact, it is so helpful to live out what we know of God that one could rightly say it should be the far greater focus of our lives. For what value is it, if we know much more about God and His Word, but the people around us never get to see His character in the slightest?

Jesus quoted Hosea 6 to the religious leaders of His day, “‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’” In Hosea 6, God addressed the nation of Israel. He considered Israel’s behavior and laments. He said, “Like Adam, they have broken the covenant— they were unfaithful to me […]. Gilead is a city of wicked men, stained with footprints of blood. As marauders lie in ambush for a man, so do bands of priests; they murder on the road to Shechem, committing shameful crimes. I have seen a horrible thing in the house of Israel. There Ephraim is given to prostitution and Israel is defiled.” 

Hosea notes that Israel – and Israel’s spiritual leadership – may have said and studied all the right things, but they have not put any of it into practice. They are living just like the world around them, and it is so offensive to the Lord that He brings a charge against His own people in His court, “Hear the word of the Lord, you Israelites, because the Lord has a charge to bring against you who live in the land: “There is no faithfulness, no love, no acknowledgment of God in the land. There is only cursing, lying and murder, stealing and adultery; they break all bounds, and bloodshed follows bloodshed.” “

God’s prescription for them is not to double down on weekend religious duties. He does not want any more sacrifices to be offered, or visits to the temple to be made. It is that they repent and do as He would do, every day of their lives. “For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings.” It is the outward exemplification of God’s character that must mark the people of God. He is looking for mercy. He is looking for honesty. He is looking for grace, for love, for faithfulness and long suffering. He is waiting to hear His people bless others. He is wanting His people to honor the vows they made, and rescue the weak instead of killing them. 

As the prophet Micah said, “With what shall I come before the Lord and bow down before the exalted God? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”

The Christ-follower’s obligation before God is to do justly (for that is what is right), to love mercy (for that is what imparts hope) and to walk humbly (for that is what brings peace), and to do it all with God. This is what Christ did, and this is what exemplifies His kingdom. “For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.”  Amen.

How do you love others into the Kingdom? “Fervently pray for them, asking God for their salvation. Let them see your faith. Let them feel your kindness, your genuine love, and your gentleness. Buy gifts for no reason. Do chores when you are not asked to. Go the extra mile.

Ray Comfort

APPLICATION: Intentionality

Today, go the extra mile for the sake of another. 

It is not hard to visualize the scene. It is a banquet with the worst of the lot –  drunkards,  womanizers and traitors. Jesus arrives. But instead of preaching from the street against the sinfulness this group embodies, He goes in, sits down and begins eating a meal with them. The Pharisees look on, wondering how it can be that a known teacher can so willingly contaminate himself by sitting and eating with the unclean. 

Of course, the Pharisees do not know the heart condition of the guests. They call the group “sinners”, but how sinful is someone who has just been redeemed? After all, it is probable that many of them were being renewed in spirit right there on the spot. They came to Matthew’s place to rejoice with Matthew that he met Jesus, and now they are meeting Jesus too! But while the guests listen to Jesus speak of the Father’s forgiveness, the Pharisees stand off and sneer. In their eyes, Jesus is sitting among the diseased, and eating from the same table. 

Being offended, the Pharisees should’ve waited and asked Jesus privately what he was doing and why. But instead they speak to his disciples. Probably out of a heart that wants others to see Jesus as discredited as he is in their eyes. 

On His part, when Jesus finds out what they wondered, He straight to the source, “On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” 

Jesus’ comments are biting and sharp to the Pharisee’s ears. First He pokes at the gaping chasm between how the Pharisees talk and how they act. He quotes a Greek proverb about only the sick needing doctors, implying that the Pharisees (who saw themselves as healthy in their walk with God) should’ve been ministering to “the sick” if that’s really how they saw it. Then He pokes at their religious ignorance, using a phrase that religious teachers would commonly use with brand new students, “But go and learn what this means.” He couples that phrase with an ironic quote from Hosea (“I desire mercy, not sacrifice.”), a prophet who was called of God to marry a prostitute as a blunt and scandalous object lesson of how God had to deal with Israel. 

Even more to His point, the actual Scripture in Hosea is the summary point of the book, a central point in Micah 6, and an allusion to Samuel’s prophetic judgment of Saul (see 1Sam 15:22). God’s focus on mercy and obedience over ritualistic observance is something that every student of the Scripture ought to have known well. That Jesus reminds them of such a basic Scriptural point would not be unlike telling an experienced math teacher how to multiply two digit numbers. The irony is thick, and it would not be lost on the Pharisees. 

Altogether, it is a very pointed rebuke indeed. 

Jesus concludes His sharp remarks by reminding Israel’s religious leaders of God’s mission: The whole point of a chosen people is that they might represent God to the rest of the world, so that all nations would know Him! And that is a lesson we who are Christ’s disciples must not miss. To stand off and criticize Jesus (or one of His disciples) for doing exactly what you are supposed to be doing is the very height of spiritual dullness and pitiful ignorance. 

Those that oppose and disquiet gracious and good men are enemies to their own good; they cut the bough which they stand on; they labour to pull down the house that covers themselves, being blinded with malice and a diabolical spirit. Take heed of such a disposition. It comes near to the sin against the Holy Ghost to hate any man for goodness.

Richard Sibbes

APPLICATION: Intentionality

God calls us each of us to His work, not to sit in judgment of others who are doing His work. When you see a brother or sister sacrificing their reputation for the lost, how do you react

Jesus had been walking through Capernaum. He saw Matthew at the tax   collector’s booth and called him to follow. Matthew responded positively, and invited both his past circle of friends and his newfound friend Jesus to a meal. “While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and “sinners” came and ate with him and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and ‘sinners’?” 

The Pharisees were the religious authorities of His day. They ‘see’ Jesus behavior. Whether that was by witness of sight that same day or by word of mouth later we are not told, but we do understand that they took note. Not only did they take note – they took offence. “The Pharisaic approach to being pure before God involved active separation from sinners.” It bothered them that a man who felt he had something to say in a synagogue (and so teach others about God) would at the same time break bread with known sinners. 

Of course, Jesus undoubtedly knew that having a meal with sinners will be seen as a provocative move on His part. He knows that some will say that He is debasing Himself by breaking bread with the ungodly, and is therefore unfit to be followed. Others will disastrously conclude that His presence among sinners condones sinful behavior. There are many conclusions to jump to if you do not understand His mission. 

Yet Jesus doesn’t seek to head off any wrong conclusions by onlookers or questions by recognized religious leaders. He does not pause to first inform those who see what he’s about to do or give a lecture on what His mission is and how best to go about it. He simply goes in and eats at the celebration with Matthew and friends, and leaves the Pharisees and onlookers to their own thoughts. 

Jesus knows that saving the lost isn’t pretty work – getting close to sinners always seems like a moral comprise to those who pride themselves on their own self-righteousness. But it is a work the truly righteous know is worthy of the cost of one’s reputation. Eternal souls are worth so much more than a passing thought of affirmation in the minds of the proud, and light shines all the brighter in the dark.

The challenge for the believer is to imitate Jesus. To not to shirk away from having a beer with the guys or an opportunity to sit down and eat with a Muslim neighbour. Rather, to have the spiritual maturity to be intentional in every situation about letting others see Christ in you – wherever you are, whenever you can. To be more confident in our  identity before God than we are in our identity before others. We must place a priority on shining the light of Christ into the darkness others are trapped in, and at the same time not let that darkness push its way deeper into ourselves and darken our own souls. 

Make no mistake – this is the front line of the spiritual war. Not only the war for others, but the war to keep you from maturing as a disciple. Sacrificing one’s reputation so that others can know Him is but the first round of rifle fire in that war. 

Amen.

Love would have its object worthy of itself. It will sacrifice reputation for God, with whom our reputation is safe, by condescending to the low for his benefit.

Henry D.M.S. Jones

APPLICATION: Intentionality

To save the lost, we must go to where the lost are. We must go to where the Gospel is not preached. We must go to where the light shines not so brightly. For that is where the lost are.