Month: December 2020

Most parents can tell you that they know their children. After all, they were   there when the child was born. They were there when the child took their first steps. They were there when the child first learned how to color. They were there at every stage of the child’s development. Yet as the child grows into an adult, many parents are surprised by the abilities and talents their child develops and the choices their child makes. People are complicated, and even a loving parent who watches their child grow every day can come to realize that they really didn’t know them that well. Yet if that is true of our children, how much more is it true of God? Jesus said, “No one knows the Son except the Father…” 

We may come to know the Son as Christ our Savior. But everyone who does still needs to get to know Him as Lord. Once we know Him as our Savior and Lord, we yet need to know Him as our Sanctifier. And once we’ve known Him as our Sanctifier, we still need to know Him as our Healer. And once we’ve known Him as our Healer, we still need to know Him as our Coming King. There is always much more of the Son to know than we have presently grasped. Infinitely so. Only our Father in heaven can really know the Son, because only our Father in heaven has the infinite capacity and the perfect communication, surrender and intimacy to truly know the Son. 

Of course, much of that is revealed in the Bible. But even that has limitations. Consider that if the love of our lives were to write us a book about themselves, it still couldn’t hope to contain all they are or all they’ve done. People are dynamic and complicated. The life and lifetime of a single person cannot be reduced to ink on the pages in a single book. How much less can God be reduced to a few thousands of words? To that point John ended his Gospel with, “Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.”   

The human capacity to remember, to put into context and to apply the teachings of Jesus is limited. Jesus Himself is not limited. So even though what we can know of Him is currently restricted to what we read in the Scriptures and perceive in prayer, there is simply no way for us to grasp the awesome wonder and the infinite mystery of all Jesus is, or all He has done and is doing. After all, He hasn’t stopped teaching or doing wonders since the close of the Biblical canon. He’s just been doing them through His body (the church) for the last two thousand years! Besides which, we can’t even exhaust what the Word teaches us about Jesus, because God’s Word is living and active. From that perspective surely no one can really know the Son, except the Father. 

The reality of this is both practical and manifold. Not only can we preach and teach about Jesus for our whole lives and not run out of enormously applicable content, but we can also look forward to spending eternity in ever-deeper relationship with Him, knowing we’ll never get weary of spending time with Him. There is always something fresh, something exciting and something new to discover about our Lord Jesus Christ!  That fact alone makes the Christ-life an abundant life, because we are constantly discovering something new about the author of life! 

Professor Schaefer, a five-time nominee for the Nobel Prize who has also been cited as the third most quoted chemist in the world, said, “The significance and joy in my science comes in those occasional moments of discovering something new and saying to myself, ‘So that’s how God did it.’ My goal is to understand a little corner of God’s plan.

Mark Water

APPLICATION: Thankfulness

The Lord has given us this day at least in part to discover something new about Him. Let us seek Him for that and joyfully return thanks when He shows it to us! 

Jesus said, “All things have been committed to me by my Father.” The beloved Son has   everything that the Father has. Not in the same sense as we often understand ownership; as in, “This is mine, that is yours,” but in the sense that the Father holds nothing back from the Son, and that the Son uses all the Father has to bless Him. Obviously, that is true of physical resources. Jesus is King of Kings and Lord of Lords, and therefore sovereign over all the earth. All of creation is thus committed to the Son by the Father. But His statement is also true of prophetic understanding, which is the context in which Jesus is speaking. 

Jesus had heard the Father voice concern over the same Galilean towns He did most of His miracles in. Having heard the Father’s judgment on Korazin, Bethsaida and Capernaum, Jesus gives that information to those within earshot – even though they are young in their discipleship – so that they might give glory to God for having been blessed with God’s insight. Jesus knows that to hoard such information to Himself is to render it ineffective, because a prophesy quietly received in your spirit becomes a matter of public history after it happens. Subsequently, Jesus takes the insight the Father has told Him and shares it with His disciples at the appropriate time and place. “At that time Jesus said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure.”  

The disciples know such prophetic insight is a weighty thing, not for the faint of heart. It is not only fact that one can eagerly nod their head to and then ignore. Prophetic insight mandates action. Action that is very much to the glory of God. Jesus shares prophetic insight with them so that they might consider the awful (meaning awe-inspiring) responsibility that comes with a revelation from God. 

After all, Korazin, Bethsaida and Capernaum had seen God’s working through the Son and therefore much more was expected of them than the other Gentile towns (that had not seen such miracles). To that point Jesus had cried out, “Woe to you, Korazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! If the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.” The implication was clear – much more would likewise now be expected of the disciples! 

In the Kingdom of God, ownership is merely a term to denote who is using a particular resource at the moment, not a term denoting who will hoard a resource until it is spoiled. Further, ownership mandates wise stewardship to the blessing of those God created. Having any resource committed to you is both a responsibility and a privilege. A responsibility first, because it was given into your care by the Father for a reason. A privilege second, because you get to bring glory to God through wise application.

And that is true be it physical resource or ability or prophesy. Amen.

Prophecy and miracles argue the imperfection of the state of the church, rather than its perfection. For they are means designed by God as a stay or support, or as a leading string to the church in its infancy, rather than as means adapted to it in its full growth.

Jonathan Edwards

APPLICATION: Thankfulness

Lord we give thanks to you for the gifts You have given us. Let us even today use them to bring You glory, to bring blessing to those around us who You made in Your image, and to strengthen the church, which is Your body. Amen. 

In Jesus’ day, the Pharisees and leaders of the temple (teachers of the law)   were considered the wise and learned. After all, it was they who studied the law all day long. It was they who conversed with each other about the application of the law and they who taught in the synagogues. They, together with the scribes and the very wealthy, were the few who were literate. The vast majority of the population could not read or write. They were far too busy trying to survive to sit down, and far too poor to pay a teacher to help them learn. Consequently the rest of the people looked up to the Pharisees and teachers of the law to dispense knowledge and insight, much as most of Europe looked to the priests during the dark ages. 

Matthew writes, “At that time Jesus said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure.”  

Being young in the faith is not a barrier to learning things about God that even the wise and learned do not know. The disciples have only known Jesus for a year or two, but it was the disciples, not the temple leaders, who were getting the real spiritual ‘meat’. It was the Christ followers who were taught how to advance in God’s Kingdom through humility when Jesus said, “he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than [John the Baptist.]” It was the Christ followers who were given knowledge of the true nature of John’s ministry when Jesus said, “if you are willing to accept it, he is the Elijah who was to come.” It was the Christ followers who were given prophetic insight to the future of the Galilean towns when Jesus said, “Woe to you, Korazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida!”

This is the good pleasure of God; that He reveals more of Himself – His wisdom and insight and even His thoughts and intention – to those who truly want Him. 

He reveals this to those who hang around Him and listen intently to what He is saying. Not to those who just want the honor and attention that comes to those who know more about Him than everyone else. The honor that the wise and learned get from others is enough for them. After all, in many ways they do get what they are seeking, because the honor and attention of men is all they are after. The practical revelation of God’s character and wisdom is not for them. It is revealed to those who come to God as children, hungry to hear and immediately apply that He says. 

That practical application is perhaps more profound today than it ever has been. For in our day, entire congregations gather to hear what their favorite Bible teacher says. But are they gathering to seek God in prayer? Are they looking to hear directly from Him? 

Perhaps the most important and difficult lesson we need to learn in the school of prayer is how to quiet ourselves so that we can hear His voice in the tumult of our lives.

Terry Glaspey

APPLICATION: Worship

Let us approach Him in awe and reverence. Let us listen to Him speak to our souls. 

Jesus, discouraged at the fickleness of the crowd who had gathered around Him while   He spoke to John’s disciples, now begins to denounce the towns He had done most of His miracle in – likely the same towns the crowd had largely come from; “Woe to you, Korazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! If the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I tell you, it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment than for you. And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted up to the skies? No, you will go down to the depths. If the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Sodom, it would have remained to this day. But I tell you that it will be more bearable for Sodom on the day of judgment than for you.” 

Philip, Andrew and Peter were from Bethsaida. Chorazin was Bethsaida’s neighboring town. Capernaum was the base from which Jesus chose to minister from. All three are in the same general area in the northern part of Israel known as Galilee. Although they were smaller population centres, they had seen firsthand the kindness and goodness of the Father through the work of the Son. Not only had they heard Jesus preaching, but also John before Him. Further, they had – as all the Jews did – the words of God in the Torah and the ways of God given to them by their forefathers. And now they had seen the Son, and still they did not believe and repent. The result was Jesus’ indignation and condemnation. 

Do not think that unkind. Jesus the Son is kind. So much so that God’s judgment of unbelief is – in some proportion – to how much of Himself and His kingdom has been revealed to us. To those who have seen and heard much, much is expected. To those who have seen little, less is expected. It is not that Jesus is excusing the Gentile cities of Tyre and Sidon, but that He is expecting much of those who both have the Word of the Lord and experience the working of the Lord. 

In fact, that He so harshly speaks of these rural towns tells us that He will have an even higher expectation of us and the cities and towns we live in. For we have both the Torah and the New Testament. We have experienced the works of God first hand through salvation via the preaching of the Gospel. We have the indwelling Holy Spirit, given to all believers to daily guide and teach us. We have the incredibly rich history of all the Christ-followers who came before us – the writing and encouragement of pastors, preachers and believers from every generation prior, all the way down to the New Testament! 

We – and those around us – do well to remember the exhortation of Psalm 2; “Kiss the Son, lest he be angry and you be destroyed in your way, for his wrath can flare up in a moment. Blessed are all who take refuge in him.”  

What then will He say of us and our cities on that final day? 

God has promised forgiveness to your repentance, but He has not promised tomorrow to your procrastination.

Augustine

APPLICATION: Intentionality

When was the last time you participated in a significant outreach event?

What Jesus preached as He went from town to town is not a secret. Matthew   has already recorded it way back at the beginning of Christ’s ministry. As John had done before Him, Jesus made repentance His primary and main theme. Even His miracles of healing and deliverance were to that very end. His every demonstration of the kindness of God was to draw people back to a relationship with the Father. As Romans 2:4 says, “God’s kindness leads you toward repentance.” But though His ministry impacted individuals, it was not only individuals that Jesus was and is after. 

Clearly, the fruit of all evangelistic effort begins to manifest as individualistic response. One by one, individuals make decisions for God for and by themselves, just as in an orchard each fruit ripens of itself. But the owner of the orchard only begins to treat each orange or apple as individuals after they are harvested. While the fruit is growing, they treat the whole tree as a unit, and often the whole orchard as a unit also. 

So it is that when Jesus looks to see His Father’s kingdom come He does not consider individuals only. To do that would be to see the world as made up of billions of people without ethnicity, home town or familial roots. God knows better, because He based people on Himself, and He is a God who lives in intimate relationship as Trinity. Consequently Jesus looks at people as creation living in community and expects that what we experience of His kindness and grace will eventually have a broader community impact. In fact, He expects that so much that His judgment is predicated on how the community as a whole responds, “Then Jesus began to denounce the cities in which most of his miracles had been performed, because they did not repent.” 

Matthew notes that Jesus reproaches the towns, not the unsaved as a group unto itself. In Jesus’ eyes it is the responsibility of the whole to respond to the Gospel, not only some within the whole. There is of course no doubt that some were very positively influenced by Jesus in each of those towns. Yet He judges the whole as deficient because it is clear in His eyes that the impact He made in each of them did not have the desired impact on the whole. 

It shouldn’t have been that way. Jesus did most of His work in those towns. They saw the majority of God’s acts of kindness and power. They should therefore have been the most vocal proponent of Jesus and His Gospel. But they were not. The city leaders, the spiritual leaders, the economic drivers – they who defined the city (if not the majority of the population) simply did not repent – even though some within them did. 

Perhaps those who received His touch just didn’t adequately express the impact to those around them. Perhaps those around them didn’t care to listen. Either way the result is the same; the condemnation of the whole town as a unit. 

Our salvation is not just for us – it is for all those in our circles of influence. Our families, our coworkers, our friends, our home towns and our people group. Each of those widening circles of influence depends on us who know Christ. For without our witness, they may not hear the Good News. That is why we are where we are; in this generation, in this place – that they may yet be saved. 

Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them warning from me. If I say to the wicked, ‘You shall surely die,’ and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, in order to save his life, that wicked person shall die for his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand.

God Most High, speaking to His prophet (Ezk 3:17-18)

APPLICATION: Intentionality

Who have you witnessed to in your town? 

What is wisdom?  When pressed for a definition, most Christians will turn to Job, who   famously said, “‘The fear of the Lord—that is wisdom, 

and to shun evil is understanding.’” David said the same thing in Psalm 111, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” But if the fear of God – holy reverence for God in light of knowing who He is – is the beginning of wisdom, what does mature wisdom actually look like?

Proverbs 1 includes the call of Wisdom. An antropromophic image, it tells us much of the character of wisdom, saying in part, “Wisdom calls aloud in the street, she raises her voice in the public squares; at the head of the noisy streets she cries out, 

in the gateways of the city she makes her speech: “How long will you simple ones love your simple ways? How long will mockers delight in mockery and fools hate knowledge? If you had responded to my rebuke, I would have poured out my heart to you and made my thoughts known to you. But since you rejected me when I called and no one gave heed when I stretched out my hand, since you ignored all my advice and would not accept my rebuke, I in turn will laugh at your disaster; I will mock when calamity overtakes you.” 

It is a powerful word picture. Wisdom is looking to be accepted by those made in God’s image. But they are ignoring her. They seem oblivious to her cries, through she goes to the most populous and popular part of the city and raises her voice to be heard above the din of the crowd. She seeks to enlighten them, to cause them to turn from ignorance and take her hand in submission to her enlightenment. 

We don’t have to dig too deep into that passage to see that mature wisdom is involved in prophetically calling others to God’s counsel. Jesus knew that. Jesus not only knew that passage, as God incarnate He embodied it. So it is not without intention that Jesus notes, “But wisdom is proved right by her actions.” In other words, the wisdom of wisdom incarnate is made obvious by particular action. Specifically, the action of calling those made in God’s image to Himself. Everyone who has wisdom does that. Every wise person does as John did and as Jesus did; They call others to repentance! They call others back to relationship with God. More than that, they go to where people are, and they do all they can to reach them with the knowledge of God, just as Wisdom itself does in the book of Proverbs. 

Obviously, we are not justified or vindicated by our participation in evangelism. But our wisdom – our sense of God’s mind alive in us – is clearly shown (or if you will – vindicated) by our action of calling others to Him in contextually appropriate ways. This is wisdom, that we are not perfected apart from incarnational participation in God’s mission. 

Know for sure that evangelistic intent can replicated apart from wisdom. It can be assigned – either by guilt or by zeal. But if it is done by mere human assignment it is done by sheer human willpower – and it consequently is not prophetic nor incarnational.  Subsequently, it is an exhausting and mostly fruitless exercise, because we are trying to lead God instead of the other way around.

As we gain maturity we learn how to walk in step with the Spirit’s leading instead of trying to lead Him. Then our participation in God’s mission becomes natural. It becomes the joyful outworking of a holy mind set on God’s purposes instead of a willful act virtually independent from the Spirit. And then you know that it is Wisdom, being vindicated by her actions. 

The works of wisdom are always done by the children of wisdom.

R.C.H. Lenski

APPLICATION: Intentionality

How do you feel when called upon to intentionally witness for Christ? What does incarnational participation in God’s mission look like in the context of your life? 

Jesus has just given a hard message to the crowd who had gathered after His   dialogue with John’s disciples. He had told them that John was the last prophet of the old order, and in fact also one of a different order, because John was Malachi 4:5-6 incarnate. That’s a difficult thing to grasp. So difficult it could cause those who heard it to turn away from Jesus and His teaching. To this same crowd Jesus now says, “He who has ears, let him hear.” In other words, if you have any spiritual hearing, listen! Jesus is not fooling around here. He is telling a profound truth. We do well to carefully consider what He has said and is about to say. 

All through His teaching Jesus sprinkled difficult to grasp concepts that challenged those who were listening. He did that so that those who wanted more of Him would be intrigued and drawn in, and those who were just along for the ride would be offended and leave. Jesus seems to have little patience for gathering a crowd around Him who are not sold out for the Father and His kingdom. He knows much of the crowd is only curious, not serious. Such people murmur and grumble as soon as their curiosity is no longer tickled. They are after entertainment, not spiritual truth. Jesus knows this. 

Grumblers and back-biters have no stomach to be challenged with difficult-to-accept spiritual meat. Their spiritual appetite is immediately put off, and they turn away in disgust. Those who are left are genuinely after truth. That is who Jesus is after. He wants His followers to be sold out for the Father and the Father’s ways. 

Unfortunately as Jesus looks at the crowd, He knows most of them are not really there for Him. But then, they weren’t really there for John either. 

“To what can I compare this generation? They are like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling out to others: “ ‘We played the flute for you,  and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not mourn.’ For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon.’ The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and “sinners.”’ But wisdom is proved right by her actions.”

In a most interesting way, Jesus is saying the crowd lacks spiritual maturity. They are like children playing games, so focused on themselves they refuse to respond to either happy music or sad. They saw John practicing baptism for repentance in the desert and they labeled him possessed. They see Jesus bringing the Good News of God everywhere He goes and they label Him unrighteous. In both instances they focus entirely on circumstance, as though they cannot hear a word being said by either John or Jesus. They are deaf to good news and sad news. No doubt such an analogy would be highly offensive to those listening. But Jesus is unconcerned about offending them. He knows they aren’t listening to a word He is saying. 

It is one of the saddest scenes in all of Matthew’s Gospel. Jesus’ teaching is like the most beautiful music mankind could ever hear, being played by a professional orchestra to a crowd of people who have no ears to hear.

How unresponsive we are to the voice of God: we have to be told again and again what we must do and what we must avoid. There is so much self-will, so much in us which is opposed to God, that a single order from Him is not sufficient. What vile and intractable creatures we are, still are, even if regenerate.

A.W. Pink

APPLICATION: Intentionality

Michael Barrett noted, “Few things are more disappointing and frustrating to parents than unresponsive children.” If that is so for us, how much more so for God? Let us ask God to search our hearts and point out any ways we disappoint Him. 

One of the interesting things about prophetic office is that often the   prophet is not merely someone who speaks God’s mind about past, present or future. Sometimes the prophet is also prophetic in their person and life. Abraham, for instance, does not simply hold the office of prophet. His life story is kind of advance narrative of the story of the nation of Israel. Being called of God, going down into Egypt (and getting into trouble with Pharaoh), coming up from Egypt and receiving the covenant, only to eventually go back and repeat the mistake (as Israel did, and wandered the desert for 40 years). 

John the Baptist was this kind of prophet. For not only does he speak the mind of God that the people of God should repent by re-enacting their deliverance from Egypt in baptism, but John himself represents a line of demarcation in history. Jesus said John marks the close of the Old Testament canon and the opening of a new phase in God’s dealing with His people, “For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John.” That is, the old order of how God spoke to His people lasted until John. John is the beginning of a new order. From John onward the prophetic is incarnate. The message of the prophet is not just what they say, and more than how their lives play out. It is who they actually are. 

In that sense John was unique. He was a prophet as of old, but also a shadow of the new. Jesus affirmed, “And if you are willing to accept it, he is the Elijah who was to come. He who has ears, let him hear.” Jesus is not affirming reincarnation. He is saying that John embodied the prophesy of Malachi 4:5–6, “See, I will send you the prophet Elijah before that great and dreadful day of the Lord comes. He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers; or else I will come and strike the land with a curse.” That is who John was. John is Malachi 4:5-6 fulfilled in a person. Jesus, who comes after John, is prophesy incarnate too, but much more than just prophesy. Jesus is God’s message to His people. His words, His life, and all He did in His life – it all speaks to us of God’s character and will. Jesus is the message. Not just the words He spoke (as John 3:16), but all He spoke and all He did. Including the miracles and signs and wonders. Including the suffering and crucifixion and the resurrection. All of Him is God’s message to all His people. 

The direct application is seen in our life goal as Christians. We are to be like Jesus. We are to emulate Him in how we live our lives. In fact, the whole point of having the Holy Spirit poured out upon us from Pentecost onward was that we might embody God’s message to a lost world, and all the lost people in it. Christians really don’t have a choice in the matter. We are more than prophets. All who belong to God through Jesus literally are God’s message to a lost and hurting world. 

The question then is, “Is God accurately reflected in us (so people can see Him), or are we distorting His message so much as to make it indecipherable?”

It is a question we should ask ourselves often. 

It costs something to be a true Christian. Let that never be forgotten. To be a mere nominal Christian, and go to church is cheap and easy work. But to hear Christ’s voice, follow Christ, believe in Christ and confess Christ, requires much self-denial.

J.C. Ryle

APPLICATION: Intentionality

When was the last time you picked up a new spiritual discipline, so that you might reflect God’s holiness better than ever before? Is today that day? 

Jesus has just told us that in His eyes, John the Baptist is someone who stands above   others, but that the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater. Knowing that God honors the humble (that is, the ‘least of us’), one realizes that it is possible to humble oneself to the point of being great in God’s kingdom. But let us not deceive ourselves. We will not become great in the kingdom of heaven without activity. Strenuous activity, marked by significant opposition. Discipline, fortitude, a sturdy mind, courage and determination are the order of the day if we want to humbly submit to God.

For it takes much discipline to submit to God as John the Baptist did, in living in the desert. It takes much fortitude to live a sacrificial lifestyle – like John did – in subsisting on food most would turn away from, all so he could put his full attention to the work God gave him to do. It takes a sturdy mind to persist in doing what the Spirit leads you to do, especially when it is completely counter cultural to the society around you. John did that too – baptizing people for repentance of their sins. Reminding them of their historic call through the Red Sea in leaving Egypt to become the people of God. It takes much courage to call a spade a spade as John did. Especially when those needing rebuke are the very ones who hold societal and political power. 

Scripture records John doing so unabashedly; “…when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them: “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?” Such talk only seems easy if you are so young and inexperienced that your words don’t carry weight. 

It takes strength of character and a steely determination to stare down the opposition, as John the Baptist did when he demanded of the Pharisees and Sadducees, “Produce fruit in keeping with repentance.” Further, it takes much dependence on the Holy Spirit to prophesy and speak for God, as John did in saying, “And do not think you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham.” All these things take mental, emotional and spiritual energy. They take forcefulness in both character and action. 

That is why Jesus said, “From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it.”  It is true of course that there is violent opposition to God’s rule and reign. There has been since Eden. It is also true that the blessings of the Kingdom – including the resources and wealth of the earth – have been and now are being wrestled out of the hands of God’s people by the violent of the earth. But more importantly, what Jesus is saying is that in this present era (prior to His return as King of all), the things of heaven are grasped by those who act decisively. 

Humility is not a synonym for passiveness. While the day will come when the meek will inherit the earth, the blessing of the kingdom of heaven is there only for those who want it enough to decisively act for the Lord, even in the face of much opposition.

Marginalization is the space where we find out where our loves and our allegiances really lie.

Matt Chandler

APPLICATION: Worship

Let us humble ourselves before God, even as we pour out our lives before Him. He will lift us up in due time.