“These Two Sons of Mine. . .”

 

“These Two Sons of Mine. . .”

 January 31, 2022

Matthew 20:20-28, The Message - It was about that time that the mother of the Zebedee brothers came with her two sons and knelt before Jesus with a request.

“What do you want?” Jesus asked.

She said, “Give your word that these two sons of mine will be awarded the highest places of honor in your kingdom, one at your right hand, one at your left hand.”

Jesus responded, “You have no idea what you’re asking.” And he said to James and John, “Are you capable of drinking the cup that I’m about to drink?”

They said, “Sure, why not?”

Jesus said, “Come to think of it, you are going to drink my cup. But as to awarding places of honor, that’s not my business. My Father is taking care of that.”

When the ten others heard about this, they lost their tempers, thoroughly disgusted with the two brothers. So Jesus got them together to settle things down. He said, “You’ve observed how godless rulers throw their weight around, how quickly a little power goes to their heads. It’s not going to be that way with you. Whoever wants to be great must become a servant. Whoever wants to be first among you must be your slave. That is what the Son of Man has done: He came to serve, not be served—and then to give away his life in exchange for the many who are held hostage.”

 

                You can hardly blame James’s and John’s mother for asking that Jesus elevate her sons to places of honor.  I imagine every good mother wants to see their children excel and most parents see their children as more exceptional than others.  Further, I also want to note that the brothers’ character is not in question here; even Jesus acknowledges that they will also be faithful to the end as Jesus himself will. 

However, the mother’s invention on her full-grown sons’ behalf drives a wedge between James and John and the other disciples.  I can almost feel them cringing as she asks Jesus the question.  They know this isn’t going to go over well with their peers and that worry is confirmed when the other ten disciples are up in arms.  This provides a teaching moment for Jesus about position and power.  What the mother was asking for was for her sons to be given positions of prestige.  Jesus answer is that prestigious positions work differently in the Kingdom of God than they do in the world in which we live.  Greatness in the Kingdom comes from submitting to serve others the same as a slave would do.  Jesus not only teaches this, but His disciples are about to see Him live it out to the ultimate extreme.  He will submit to death instead of staging a takeover – a takeover that He is completely able to execute.  Two thousand years later, the church acknowledges and teaches that it is in Jesus’s submittal to “making himself nothing” (Phil 2:7) that displays His greatest power.  The most powerful force in the kingdom is humble service.

This bears out in my experience.  When I think about the most impactful people in my life, they are not world-renowned leaders, best-selling authors, and star athletes/actors.  They were people who served me as if I were someone more special than I am.  Some of them, to be fair, actually held positions of influence (teacher, pastor, coach etc), but their service to me wasn’t offered from that position, Their interest in and care for me would have been the same even if they didn’t hold the position.  In my mind, they rank higher than the President of United States.  This is the greatness alludes to and you can achieve it regardless of position.  Making the position the goal is to seek to take God’s job for our own.  This is a hard concept to fully grasp, which is why we hear Jesus talking about it multiple times in Matthew’s gospel.  Ultimately, He shows us what it looks like. 

 

Question:  Other than Jesus, who in your life has shown you what the greatness of humble service looks like?

 

Prayer:  Jesus, thank you for your example of humble service.   Show us the way to follow your example in the opportunities that will come our way today. Amen.

 

Prayer Focus:  Spend some time thanking God for putting the specific people in your life that have helped to make you what you are today.

 

Song:  Lord I Lift Your Name on High – Hillsong Worship

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0nn8QT2-VQ

This is Going to Happen. . .for Real!

 

This is Going to Happen. . .for Real!

January 28, 2022 

Matthew 20:17-19, NIV - Now Jesus was going up to Jerusalem. On the way, he took the Twelve aside and said to them, “We are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death and will hand him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified. On the third day he will be raised to life!”

 

As we work our way through Matthew’s gospel, we have heard Jesus issue the above warning multiple times already.  But this time, it seems to take on some extra intensity.  Jesus and his entourage are headed toward Jerusalem now and Jesus knows that the events about which he has given previous warnings are going to be set in motion once they arrive.  So we see Jesus take his disciples aside.  Think about a time when someone has taken you aside to tell you something monumentally important.  This is one of those moments.  Picture the intensity on Jesus’s face.  Imagine the silence in the pause before He speaks.  Sense the stern tone in His voice.  This is a serious moment.

It's really going to happen.  They will get to Jerusalem.  Jesus will be arrested.  He will be found guilty.  He will be humiliated, beaten, and crucified.  Jesus needs them to know that, while they may have tried to ignore His previous warnings,  these terrible things are indeed going to happen and that fateful time has arrived.  The disciples can ignore this no longer.

I totally get the disciples’ denial.  It’s usually after the bad thing has happened that I look back and remember that some part of me felt the pain coming before it arrived, but I refused to acknowledge the signs.  I’m really quite good at mental avoidance.  And so in a state of denial, the bad thing happens and it is all the more devastating because I am not prepared.  Jesus is working to avoid that with his closest friends here.  While his warning is jolting and unpleasant, it is also an act of compassion.  He wants them to know for sure that they remember his warning so that they will also remember the promise comes with it.   

Jesus is going to die and His disciples will be there to see it.  But when they see it, they not only will remember that Jesus told them it would happen, but they will remember what Jesus told them would happen next.  He will be raised to life.  Some worse than they can imagine will happen, but it will be followed by something they will only be able to believe after they see it.  The worst thing they can imagine won’t ever be last thing.

For those who trust in God, that sentence is Eternal Truth.  The worst thing is never the last thing.  Daylight always comes even after the darkest night.  There is a profound calm after the worst of storms.  Tragedy never has the last word.  Death is swallowed up in the victory of resurrection. 

People who know me know that I talk about this Eternal Truth a lot.  I do so not only because I want others to believe it, but because I need to remind myself of it all the time.  In the dark nights, in the midst of the storms, and when tragedy strikes, my tendency is to forget.  Jesus knows this about us humans because He is human.  So reminds his friends that God will always have the last word and God is good all the time.  So I remind myself and I remind you.  No matter how dark the night is or how terrifying the storm, God has the last word and God is always good. 

 

Question:  How do you regularly remind yourself and others about the Eternal Truth above?

 

Prayer:  No matter how many times it takes for it to sink in Lord, help us to know deep in our hearts that You will always have the last word and You are always good.  Amen.

 

Prayer Focus:  Pray for people you know are experiencing darkness and storms right now.

 

Song:  Even If – MercyMe

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6fA35Ved-Y

It’s Not Fair!

It’s Not Fair!

January 27, 2022

 

Matthew 20:1-16, The Message - “God’s kingdom is like an estate manager who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. They agreed on a wage of a dollar a day, and went to work.

“Later, about nine o’clock, the manager saw some other men hanging around the town square unemployed. He told them to go to work in his vineyard and he would pay them a fair wage. They went.

“He did the same thing at noon, and again at three o’clock. At five o’clock he went back and found still others standing around. He said, ‘Why are you standing around all day doing nothing?’

“They said, ‘Because no one hired us.’

“He told them to go to work in his vineyard.

“When the day’s work was over, the owner of the vineyard instructed his foreman, ‘Call the workers in and pay them their wages. Start with the last hired and go on to the first.’

“Those hired at five o’clock came up and were each given a dollar. When those who were hired first saw that, they assumed they would get far more. But they got the same, each of them one dollar. Taking the dollar, they groused angrily to the manager, ‘These last workers put in only one easy hour, and you just made them equal to us, who slaved all day under a scorching sun.’

“He replied to the one speaking for the rest, ‘Friend, I haven’t been unfair. We agreed on the wage of a dollar, didn’t we? So take it and go. I decided to give to the one who came last the same as you. Can’t I do what I want with my own money? Are you going to get stingy because I am generous?’

“Here it is again, the Great Reversal: many of the first ending up last, and the last first.”  

 

Life is not fair.  This is such an obvious truth that it should be self-evident.  Yet everyone must confront this truth at some point in their lives.  Maybe a sibling got a “better” toy for Christmas.  Maybe a schoolmate got a “A” by cheating (and not getting caught) and you got a B- for working your tail off.  Comparatively speaking, we could all make a case that we regularly find ourselves on the wrong side of unfair.  Likewise, although most tend to do this much less, we could also make the case that we are right side of fair.  When we do this, we call it gratitude. 

Here's the problem.  Humans tend to focus on the negative.  Instead of gratitude for what we do have, we tend to obsess over that we wish we had but has escaped us.  We exacerbate the problem by comparing what we have to others that have what we don’t.  This is what happened in Jesus’s disturbing story above.  To make my point, let’s change some of the details. 

An employer with four separate vineyards finds some workers first thing in the morning.  He sends them to work in Vineyard 1 with an agreement on what they will be paid.  At noon, he finds more workers, negotiates the same wage and sends them to work in Vineyard 2.  He does the same with Vineyard 3 at 3pm and Vineyard 4 at 5pm.  At the end of the day, he goes to each Vineyard separately and pays everyone the contracted amount.  None of the workers even know there are three other vineyards.  In this scenario, who believes the agreement is unfair?  Noone, because they got what they were told they would get.  In fact, they are all grateful that the Vineyard owner offered them work that day.  This gratitude is corrupted only when they begin to compare notes later.  Comparison is the enemy of gratitude.

Let’s notice one more thing about this story.  If we put ourselves in the place of the vineyard owner (let’s give this owner the name Pat), the story is completely different.  At 9am, 12pm, 3pm, and 5pm, Pat sees workers who are wanting to work and offers them work.  Pat. sees that all the workers have been willing to work all day, but some were not offered work earlier in the day.  Pat thinks about their families and imagines each worker coming home with a full day’s wage and how that will provide for those hungry spouses and children.  Pat realizes that it is feasible to give everyone the same and still get all the work done and still make a profit.  Pat decides to be gracious and provide for all the same.  From Pat’s point of view, this is a story about a generous and compassionate employer sharing abundance.  

As we have said before, every parable Jesus tells is about how God envisions life in the Kingdom of Heaven.  In this parable, Heaven is a place where comparisons are shunned and resources are graciously shared by the Owner-of-It-All.  That’s a place I’d like to live.  Jesus hears me say that and says, “Make it so.” 

 

Question:  What was a time when something you were really grateful for was spoiled as soon as you compared it to what someone else had?

 

Prayer:  God, forgive us when we call your gracious gifts unfair because we see that someone we have deemed undeserving has the same as us.  Amen.

 

Prayer Focus:  Pray for God to show you someone you can bless today. 

 

Song:  God is So Good - Michael Bethany

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_N8xuE9AsU

What Do WE Get Out of It?!

 

What Do WE Get Out of It?!

 January 26, 2022

Matthew 19:27-30, The Message - Then Peter chimed in, “We left everything and followed you. What do we get out of it?”

Jesus replied, “Yes, you have followed me. In the re-creation of the world, when the Son of Man will rule gloriously, you who have followed me will also rule, starting with the twelve tribes of Israel. And not only you, but anyone who sacrifices home, family, fields—whatever—because of me will get it all back a hundred times over, not to mention the considerable bonus of eternal life. This is the Great Reversal: many of the first ending up last, and the last first.”

 

                I have obviously never met Peter, the disciple of Jesus, but I love him.  He often says what I think I might want to say in the same situation.  The only difference is that I generally only think the Peter says without ever getting the words out of my mouth.  Peter evidently doesn’t have the filter that I do and I honestly love him for it. 

                Take the exchange above between Jesus and Peter.  Jesus has just told the rich young man that, if he wants to receive the kingdom, he needs to give up his wealth.  Peter hears this tough teaching and realizes that he and his compatriots have actually done what Jesus asked.  They weren’t rich (except possibly Matthew), but they left what livelihoods they had.  Most of them had families at home while they wandered around Israel with Jesus.  So Peter, realizing this, blurts out, “What do we get out of it?”

                Had I been there, I would have thought what Peter said, but never said it.  But I’m glad Peter did, because it provides Jesus a great moment to affirm and reassure his most committed disciples.  It also allows us that same affirmation and assurance.  Whatever we have given up to follow Jesus has been noticed.  “Yes, you have followed me,” Jesus says.  Jesus sees the sacrifices, whatever they may be for each of us.  Further, He promises that whatever you and I have left behind, it pales in comparison to what you will receive.

                In a lot of ways, I already see this in my life.  I have, on occasion, thought about how my life might have been different had I chosen a different vocation.  Most of the time, it’s seems impossible to imagine.  I might have made more money, but I’m not sure.  I’m not sure how my family would be different, but I am sure the difference would be night and day.  My guess is that we would have settled in one place and stayed there instead of living in a dozen different places over the years.  Yes, things would have been vastly different even though I struggle to imagine the details.  In the times I have indulged these musings, I always end up with the same conclusion.  I may have given up some possibilities to answer God’s call, but when I think of all that I’ve gained, it hardly seems like a sacrifice. I don’t regret the decision one bit.

                I am aware that my experience is not universal.  I have had colleagues over the years that have deeply regretted following the path that has me so grateful.  I’m also aware that my sacrifices seem so insignificant to those of the disciples for which Peter speaks up.  I am aware that, right now, there are Christians who are being tortured and killed because they decided to follow Jesus.  Jesus has already kept this promise to me, but He will make good on the promise for everyone who follows Him.  The decision to follow Jesus is always the best investment anyone can ever make.  As we watch Peter grow into his calling through the rest of the Gospels and other New Testament books, we see Him live into Jesus’s promise.  A mere fisherman becomes the central leader in a movement that numbers in the billions today.  The Catholic church reveres him as the first Pope. 

                The stories for the rest of the disciples that day vary greatly, but history has shown that Jesus kept the promise to them as well – some of them while they still walked the earth and all after they were martyred.  The bedrock takeaway from this story is that the life Jesus invites us to is one that does require us to say goodbyes to things that, in many cases, seem very difficult to give up.  However, the promise is that, compared to what we will receive in this life and the next, the sacrifice is minimal.  I need to remind myself of that from time to time.  Maybe I’m not the only one.

 

Questions:  What has it cost you to follow Jesus?  What would have been the cost if you had not chosen that path?

 

Prayer: God of provision, your call to follow and serve you requires us to leave things behind.  Help us realize and trust that it is the best decision we can ever make.  Help us catch a glimpse of the great things ahead of those of us willing to trust you.  Amen.

 

Prayer Focus:  Pray for the thousands of persecuted Christians across the Globe.

 

Song:  Lord, You Give the Great Commission – arr. Foster

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZU1jpAu79Y

If You Want Something Done Right…

 

If You Want Something Done Right…

January 25, 2022

Matthew 19:16-26, NIV - Just then a man came up to Jesus and asked, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?”

“Why do you ask me about what is good?” Jesus replied. “There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, keep the commandments.”

“Which ones?” he inquired.

Jesus replied, “‘You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, honor your father and mother,’ and ‘love your neighbor as yourself.’”

“All these I have kept,” the young man said. “What do I still lack?”

Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth.  Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly I tell you, it is hard for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and asked, “Who then can be saved?”  Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

                                               

 

Looking at this passage, I am drawn to the last statement of Jesus.  “Nothing is impossible with God.”  This saying of Jesus has been quoted by many in many different situations, but it occurs to me now that, at least in this case, Jesus is talking about something very specific that is possible for God and impossible for man – eternal life.  The disciples’ minds are blown when Jesus says the bit about how hard it is for rich people to get into the kingdom of God.  That’s because in Jesus day, being rich was equated with being divinely blessed.  Hence the disciples’ question, “who then can be saved?” is understandable. 

These days, we generally don’t have a problem separating the categories of rich and “divinely blessed.”  However, Jesus statement is no less true today than it was when he first uttered it. I like the way Frederick Buechner says it:

“The trouble with being rich is that since you can solve with your checkbook virtually all of the practical problems that bedevil ordinary people, you are left in your leisure with nothing but the great human problems to contend with: how to be happy, how to love and be loved, how to find meaning and purpose in your life.  In desperation the rich are continually tempted to believe that they can solve these problems too with their checkbooks, which is presumably what led Jesus to remark one day that for a rich man to get to Heaven is about as easy as for a Cadillac to get through a revolving door.”

It was not a transaction Jesus was looking for as if the young wealthy man could buy salvation.  Jesus knew that the man would never be able to receive the kingdom unless the tie to that which he truly trusted in (wealth) was severed.  Our connection to eternal life has nothing to do with what we can do for ourselves, but everything to do with what God can do.  Although I know mentally that this is true, the challenge has always been for me to live like I know this is true.  How about you?

 

Question: In what ways do you keep trying to earn some kind of “divine credit” by things you do?

 

Prayer:  God, help us move toward truly trusting you for our salvation and away from somehow trying to earn it. Amen.

 

Prayer Focus:  Pray for God to show you the things you are truly trusting in right now.

 

Song:  Lord, Have Mercy – Michael W. Smith (ft. Amy Grant)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DjPrIVKlvsM

DO Be a Child

 

“DO Be a Child”

January 24, 2022 

One day some parents brought their children to Jesus so he could lay his hands on them and pray for them. But the disciples scolded the parents for bothering him. 

But Jesus said, “Let the children come to me. Don’t stop them! For the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to those who are like these children.”  And he placed his hands on their heads and blessed them before he left.                                         Matthew 19:13-15

 

I love spending time with children.  For more than a year, me daughter’s roommate fostered a 1-yr-old named Bella.  Bella lived with them from the time she was just weeks old.  Because of this, our family has gotten to spend lots of time with Bella, long story short, she stole my heart. 

Jesus says we should be like Bella.  I often wonder what specific qualities of children he was talking about but he never says anything more than “the kingdom belongs to those who are like these.”  The Apostle Paul says, “when I grew up, I put away childish things.” I’m not sure what he meant by that other than he realizes that growing up tends to change things.  I think Jesus is saying there are some ways in which we change that are not for the better. Bella is helping me see some of those this morning.

She never doubts that she is loved.  She doesn’t disqualify herself because she’s not good enough.  She is not ruled by fear.  She doesn’t obsess over mistakes.  She lives fully in the present – not in regret about the past or fear about the future. She likes to play.  She tries new things almost every day, but she doesn’t seem overly concerned about things she can’t do.  You get the idea. You could probably add to the list.

From my perspective, I can read the above description and scoff. “Bella is that way because she doesn’t know what I know or have my responsibilities.”  And I’d be right about that.  To be sure, to be how Bella is in the world is harder and harder as we “put away childish things.“  However, I believe that is precisely why Jesus reminds us that it is necessary. We tend to lose some of the most important kingdom-like things as we grow up. Jesus is asking us to fight that tendency.

Choose to believe that you are ALWAYS loved no matter what.  Believe in what is possible.  Don’t disqualify yourself.  Move pass your mistakes because God has. Live in love, not fear.  Live in the present.  Play. Try new things, even things you think you might not be good at.  Again, you could add to the list. Be childlike in a good way.

 

Question:  What are other ways that children show us how to live?

 

Prayer:  Father God, help us be childlike in kingdom-owning ways. Amen.

 

Prayer Focus:  Pray for the children you know.

 

Song: Childlike Faith (Cover) Original Artist was Larnelle Harris

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IpNch9SRTTw

Jesus’s Position on Divorce

 

Jesus’s Position on Divorce

January 21, 2022

Matthew 19:1-12, The Message - When Jesus had completed these teachings, he left Galilee and crossed the region of Judea on the other side of the Jordan. Great crowds followed him there, and he healed them.

One day the Pharisees were badgering him: “Is it legal for a man to divorce his wife for any reason?”

He answered, “Haven’t you read in your Bible that the Creator originally made man and woman for each other, male and female? And because of this, a man leaves father and mother and is firmly bonded to his wife, becoming one flesh—no longer two bodies but one. Because God created this organic union of the two sexes, no one should desecrate his art by cutting them apart.”

They shot back in rebuttal, “If that’s so, why did Moses give instructions for divorce papers and divorce procedures?”

Jesus said, “Moses provided for divorce as a concession to your hard heartedness, but it is not part of God’s original plan. I’m holding you to the original plan, and holding you liable for adultery if you divorce your faithful wife and then marry someone else. I make an exception in cases where the spouse has committed adultery.”

Jesus’ disciples objected, “If those are the terms of marriage, we haven’t got a chance. Why get married?”

But Jesus said, “Not everyone is mature enough to live a married life. It requires a certain aptitude and grace. Marriage isn’t for everyone. Some, from birth seemingly, never give marriage a thought. Others never get asked—or accepted. And some decide not to get married for kingdom reasons. But if you’re capable of growing into the largeness of marriage, do it.”

 

This passage has been widely misinterpreted and because of that, caused much pain for many.  It has been used to condemn all divorces except for sexual immorality.  This is understandable, for reading Jesus’s words at face value, that seems to be what He is teaching.  However, what we are missing is that Jesus wasn’t making a literal prohibition on divorce.  He was stating his position on a widely-known rabbinical debate concerning marriage.  This is clear from the properly translated question that the Pharisees ask Jesus; ““Is it legal for a man to divorce his wife for any reason?”

                The “for any reason” is the key.  A few decades before Jesus’s time, the Rabbi Hillel argued that Deuteronomy 24 permitted a man to divorce his wife for any cause as long as he gave her a certificate of divorce.  The certificate was to protect the woman from her ex-husband ever “reclaiming” her.  But Rabbi Shammai argued that the only ethical reason for a divorce was sexual immorality.  When the Pharisees ask Jesus their question, what they are asking for is His position on the Hillel/Shammai debate. 

                From Jesus’s answer, we see that He sides with Shammai.   However, what is not commented on at all in this exchange is the larger Jewish framework of marriage that is already in place.  To summarize that framework, it basically stated that the obligation of marriage is to provide three things:

(1) Fidelity – no adultery

(2) Provision – the spouse is to be provided for

(3) Love – the spouse is not to withdraw or withhold love (sexual or otherwise)

The divorce that Moses permitted in Deuteronomy 24 was permitted for a failure to provide any of those three things.  If a spouse was unfaithful, did not provide for you, or basically abandoned the relationship, divorce was permissible.  Jesus, the Apostle Paul, and Shammai would have all said that as well. 

                The Pharisees did not like Jesus’s answer because the “for any cause” divorce had become popular by Jesus’s time.  Jesus is trying to remind them of God’s original plan for marriage which was “the two become one” and “what God has put together, let no one tear apart.”  Jesus’s disciples were obviously not thrilled with Jesus’s answer either for they complain that his position is too hard.  They protest, “then why get married?” 

                Jesus affirms that their question is a good one…a question that everyone considering marriage should answer from a deep place in their heart.  Marriage is a serious covenant and because of that, it’s not for everyone.  If one can’t live up to the above promises, it would be better for them to remain single.  The Apostle Paul says this even more explicitly.

Divorce, in almost every circumstance, is painful.  But sometimes, divorce is necessary to prevent even more pain when one or both spouses can’t or won’t live up to the promises.  When this happens, the community of faith should work to support those who have experienced this regrettable pain, not shun or stigmatize them. 

In Malachi 2:16, scripture states that, “God hates divorce.”  While this passage is often quoted to condemn divorce, it totally disregards the reason behind the statement.  In Jeremiah 3:8, God says through the prophet, “I gave faithless Israel her certificate of divorce and sent her away because of all her adulteries.”  God hates divorce because God has been through it.  The covenant God made with Israel was broken by Israel and God allowed Israel to go her way.  This was why a new covenant was needed . . .a covenant God establishes through Jesus Himself.  One of the primary images of that covenant is marriage; the church is the “Bride of Christ.”  Fidelity, provision, and love are still the core promises of this relationship.  God has never failed to keep those promises even though we sometimes do not. 

 

Question:  What do you understand your part to be in your covenant relationship with God?

 

Prayer:  God, forgive us for the unfaithfulness we have displayed in our relationships with you and others.  Heal our brokenness and strengthen our faith.  Help us to be faithful, provide, and love each other as you do for us. Amen.

Prayer Focus:  Pray for people you know who have been through or are going through a divorce.

 

Song:  Don’t Let Your Heart Be Hardened – Petra

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QWNh1IyFdvM

The Forgiveness Revolution

 

The Forgiveness Revolution

 January 20, 2022

Matthew 18:21-35, CEB - Then Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, how many times should I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Should I forgive as many as seven times?”

Jesus said, “Not just seven times, but rather as many as seventy-seven times. Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants.  When he began to settle accounts, they brought to him a servant who owed him ten thousand bags of gold.  Because the servant didn’t have enough to pay it back, the master ordered that he should be sold, along with his wife and children and everything he had, and that the proceeds should be used as payment.  But the servant fell down, kneeled before him, and said, ‘Please, be patient with me, and I’ll pay you back.’ The master had compassion on that servant, released him, and forgave the loan.

“When that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him one hundred coins. He grabbed him around the throat and said, ‘Pay me back what you owe me.’

“Then his fellow servant fell down and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I’ll pay you back.’  But he refused. Instead, he threw him into prison until he paid back his debt.

“When his fellow servants saw what happened, they were deeply offended. They came and told their master all that happened.  His master called the first servant and said, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you appealed to me.  Shouldn’t you also have mercy on your fellow servant, just as I had mercy on you?’  His master was furious and handed him over to the guard responsible for punishing prisoners, until he had paid the whole debt.

“My heavenly Father will also do the same to you if you don’t forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”

 

In Genesis 4, there is an account of Cain’s children.  One of them, Lamech, who had two wives (their names were Adah and Zillah), said this: 

“Adah and Zillah, listen to my voice; wives of Lamech, pay attention to my words: I killed a man for wounding me, a boy for striking me; so Cain will be paid back seven times and Lamech seventy-seven times. (Gen 4:23-24)

This odd little pericope from Genesis illustrates the sense of justice present in early Judaism.  Shifting back to the Matthew text above, we also see the shadows of Lamech’s statement in Peter’s question about forgiveness.  He asks if seven times is enough forgiveness for a repeat offender, reversing Lamech’s statement that vengeance for Cain will be carried out seven times.  In Peter’s seemingly simple question, we are able to see how the Jewish sense of justice has shifted in the thousands of years from vengeance to forgiveness.  Peter is asking if completing reversing Lamech’s equation is enough; instead of carrying out vengeance seven times, is it enough to instead forgive seven times?

                As usual, Jesus blows up convention by replying, “not just seven times, but rather as many as seventy-seven times,” also recalling Lamech’s statement of extreme vengeance.

                Jesus then tells an outrageous story which we have come to call the “parable of the unmerciful servant.”  I quoted this story in the CEB today because the outrageousness of this story is more obvious.  A servant who is forgiven a debt that he could not pay back in a hundred lifetimes immediately jails a fellow servant who owed him a manageable debt.  Anyone can see how ridiculous this servant’s actions are; to label him “unmerciful” is to be extremely generous. 

                Here’s the kicker.  Jesus is teaching us here that this contrived story about a miserable servant is about anyone who refuses to keep on forgiving forever.  All are offered the same unthinkable mercy that this hopeless servant was offered.  That mercy is given because of the character of the One who gives it.  God wipes unrepayable debts clean because that is who God is.  The hope God has in lavishing such mercy upon us is that we too, will become more lavishly merciful as well.  To receive God’s unimaginable gift and then use it as leverage against others is such a violation of God’s gift that it is no wonder it provokes such anger. 

                This parable portrays the “forgiveness revolution” Jesus incites.  It is a multifaceted revolution that includes many caveats and nuances that I haven’t the time to describe here.  I have been working on a book (off and on) for years that attempts to more adequately explain it, but for today, let’s just focus on one thought.  It is this.  When we nurture a ledger of offenses in our heart, we will be tortured by that very ledger and more than that, we have betrayed the  unfathomable mercy of God.  Forgiveness is the revolutionary alternative.   Jesus embodies that alternative with the whole of His life and death.  The invitation to move toward living our life that way as well.

 

Question:  Can you describe for yourself the pain you have endured, not from the offenses others have committed against you, but from holding on to those offenses in your heart?

 

Prayer:  Lord, you know how I have been hurt by others.  Help me but glimpse how that measures up in comparison to the debt I owe YOU.  Though it seems impossible at times, help me to learn how to forgive like You do.  Amen.

 

Prayer Focus:  Pray for the people you struggle to forgive today.

 

Song:  Broken Vessels – Hillsong Worship

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fiyYoe678yI

What the Heck did Jesus Just Say?

What the Heck did Jesus Just Say?

 January 19, 2022

 

Matthew 18:18-20, The Message -  “Take this most seriously: A yes on earth is yes in heaven; a no on earth is no in heaven. What you say to one another is eternal. I mean this. When two of you get together on anything at all on earth and make a prayer of it, my Father in heaven goes into action. And when two or three of you are together because of me, you can be sure that I’ll be there.”

 

Today’s passage recalls something Matthew says to Peter earlier in the Gospel (Matt 16:18-19):

 

You are Peter, a rock. This is the rock on which I will put together my church, a church so expansive with energy that not even the gates of hell will be able to keep it out.

“And that’s not all. You will have complete and free access to God’s kingdom, keys to open any and every door: no more barriers between heaven and earth, earth and heaven. A yes on earth is yes in heaven. A no on earth is no in heaven.”

 

Matthew is careful to draw attention to the fact that Jesus has used the exact same words on both occasions in order to reinforce an important facet of God’s kingdom.  In chapter 16, Jesus confers the “keys to the kingdom,” meaning the authority of heaven is now shared with the community of those who confess Jesus as Messiah.  Don’t miss this; the authority of heaven is now shared with those on earth. Throughout the rest of the Gospel, we will see Jesus expand upon what this means, but here the issue is the boundaries of community.  Jesus is saying to his followers that a community who follows Christ as Messiah has the authority to determine what is acceptable and unacceptable within that community.  Furthermore, the Kingdom of Heaven will abide by it.  This is astonishing.  This is also the subject of endless debate on what that really means and the limits of this surprisingly conferred authority.  I do not propose to settle those disputes in my little devotional here even if I thought that I could (which, by the way, I do not).  I fully expect those debates will continue until kingdom is established in its fullness. 

So here’s what I do what to point out – the incredible importance of community in the Kingdom of God.  Jesus does not invite us to an individual faith.  While I believe it is technically possible to have a relationship with God outside the church proper, it’s clear from this teaching of Jesus and many others that God’s invitation to have faith is an invitation to place ourselves under the authority of a community that all profess Jesus is Lord and Messiah. The last sentence above is Jesus’s promise that where there is a community of followers, Jesus is there.   I think it bears repeating once again; your faith and my faith are not really your and my faith.  It is OUR faith.  My faith is missing something without you and vice versa.  And specifically, this means that the way I live out my faith is in submission to the grater authority of OUR faith.  This is what Paul meant when he said, “do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.” 

In our uber-individualistic society, this is a counter-cultural idea.  It has enormous implications for how we should live which I could not even begin to describe today.  Instead,  I’m inviting you to consider what might be one implication for you.  We all have our own little “kingdoms,” those domains over which we have authority.  Spend some time exploring that for yourself today. Consider the following questions.

 

Questions:  What specific resources, regular decisions, and relationships do you have influence over?  Do you use your influence over those things in a way that reflects a submission to the larger Kingdom of God?

 

Prayer:  Holy God, you are over all things.  We know that and we say that but sometimes we live as if it were not true.  Forgive us.  Help us see one place where we could more fully put your concerns first.  Amen.

 

Prayer Focus:  Pray for the Church across the world today as we continue to figure out how to be effective in the new realities created by the pandemic.

 

Song:  Where Two or Three Are Gathered – Liam Lawton

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNCFPD1L7F0

When Offenses Occur. . .

When Offenses Occur. . .

January 18, 2022

Matthew 18:15-18, CEB - “If your brother or sister sins against you, go and correct them when you are alone together. If they listen to you, then you’ve won over your brother or sister.  But if they won’t listen, take with you one or two others so that every word may be established by the mouth of two or three witnesses.  But if they still won’t pay attention, report it to the church. If they won’t pay attention even to the church, treat them as you would a Gentile and tax collector.  I assure you that whatever you fasten on earth will be fastened in heaven. And whatever you loosen on earth will be loosened in heaven.

 

                This is a very short, but concentrated passage that offers sound guidance for how to handle offenses within the community of faith.  “Within the community of faith” is key here, because the process Jesus outlines here assumes a healthy community where communication is good and there is an overall commitment to unity.  Where this kind of commitment and care is missing, this process does not work.  With that caveat, let’s walk through the process.

                When an offense occurs between community members, it’s best to try and address it one on one first.  Immediately enlisting allies to go and confront someone almost ensures that the one being confronted will become defensive.  This is easy to envision by thinking about a time when you felt “ganged up on.”  The reality is that even one-on-one, defensiveness still often occurs, but there is a better chance of avoiding that between just two people. 

                Note what Jesus says is the goal in this encounter.  It’s not to shame or convict the offender.  When it works well, Jesus says that the result is that “you’ve won over your brother or sister.”  Restoration of relationship is the goal.  When we have this goal in mind, our approach to correcting the offense is to lovingly point it out in order to create an invitation to come back into relationship.  This is an art and it takes practice, but when it is done well, it is reminder of how redemptive and life-giving community can be. 

                I do feel compelled to say that we live in a time where we are quickly moving away from this kind of corrective action when an offense occurs.  Offenses are often not confronted and many times, when they are, it is done without love and care.  The result is that the offense is multiplied and magnified.  Community is lost.  This is the importance of Jesus’s teaching here.  Offenses will occur in our relationships, so we must determine that we will handle them with love before they happen.  Otherwise, anger and tit-for-tat will prevail.

                When step one is consistently done well, step two would be rare.  But when necessary, step two is one that retains the goal of restoration of relationship, not embarrassment, shame or condemnation.   When the one being approached about an offense will not listen one-on-one, a second and possibly a third person is brought into the process.  The idea here is to convey to the one who has caused harm that the issue is important enough to involve other people.  It is not just one relationship that has been damaged, but there is a danger of damage to the relational fabric of the whole community.  The addition of others also guards against the matter being obscured by a “he-said-she-said” kind of confrontation where the facts give way to exaggerations and needless escalation.  The purpose here is still to create a path back to restored relationship and healthy community. 

                If step two should be rare, step three should almost never happen.  It is at this point that the leaders of the community try to make plain to the offender that the offense has now become a whole community matter.  The offender is given one last chance to turn back toward the community.  If there is still no repentance, then the offender is to be treated as an outsider.  However, that doesn’t mean they are to be publicly shunned.  The community Jesus teaches is a community marked by winsome love and care for the outsider.  The shift that is made here is that the offender is no longer allowed to be engaged in that mission.  Instead, they have now become one of those for which the mission is aimed. 

                This outline for handling community offenses takes a lot of hard work and willingness to handle matters in a way that is foreign to our intensely individualistic culture.  I have tried to practice and foster this kind of process for many years. Still, I have to confess that I am still very bad at it.   But on a few occasions, I have experienced how powerful it can be.  I have seen enemies become allies again.  I have seen community-wide healing occur in a situation where that seemed impossible.  But mostly, I have been able to see how a relatively minor offense can be dealt with effectively and redemptively with love and resolved intention to deal with it before it becomes a much bigger problem.  I unfortunately have also seen way too many small matters quickly escalate into a situation where communities are torn apart.    Jesus is trying to show us how to avoid such tragedy. 

 

Questions:  How would you imagine being effectively and lovingly confronted about something you had done that caused harm? 

 

Prayer:  God, forgive us the offense our sins have caused whether the offense is yours or has hurt others.  Give us the humility to be open to loving correction and the ability to lovingly and effectively communicate with those who have hurt us.  Help us build your beloved community.

 

Prayer Focus:  Pray for God to bless at least three people that you don’t like today.

 

Song:  What If I Stumble? DC Talk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kg6HedZ4xGs

The One That Wandered Away - January 17, 2022

 

The One That Wandered Away - January 17, 2022

 

Matthew 18:12-14 “What do you think? If any man has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go and search for the one that is straying?  If it turns out that he finds it, truly I say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine which have not gone astray.  So it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones perish.

                                               

God is not like so many people who work very hard at keeping what they have.  Of course, God would leave the ninety-nine to find the one.  The ninety-nine WERE that one at one time.  And they know that this is who God is. They are glad about that, for God came for them. To stretch the metaphor a bit more, Jesus, in effect, invited the more mature sheep to join him in looking for the lost one.

I’m glad God comes looking when I wander off.  I’m amazed that He even notices that I’m gone. That is a part of the significant beauty of this story Jesus tells.  The story on the surface seems to describe God as one who is biased toward the lost. After all, he will leave the flock behind to find them.  But under the obvious surface is a God who NOTICES when one wanders away.  That means God is carefully watching all the sheep. God notices the straggler, the self-willed, the clueless, and the rebellious wandering away.  You and I are noticed by the God of the universe.

Another striking feature of this story is the joy of the find.  Because God is soooo about finding the lost, God is also soooo consumed with the joy of the find.  Again, the ninety-nine aren’t upset about this as long as they remember how consumed with joy God was when He found them.  God is, in fact, biased toward the lost, but we tend forget that we were ever lost.  I sometimes don’t even notice when I’m lost now.  But, in this moment, I’m comforted by the thought that even when I don’t notice, God does and God will be so happy when I’m found.  The same is true for all of you and for everyone else too.  That’s what God’s divine bias looks like.

 

Question:  What do you see in this beautiful story that Jesus tells?

 

Prayer:  Lord, we are all the object of your biased love and concern.  Thank you for that!  Amen.

 

Prayer Focus:  Pray for those that have wandered away from faith.

 

Song: One of my favorites from Audio Adrenaline. I think they sound like the Beatles in this one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5VPPILyi6o

Do We Have “Guardian Angels?” - January 14, 2022

 

Do We Have “Guardian Angels?” - January 14, 2022

 

Matthew 18:10, CEB - “Be careful that you don’t look down on one of these little ones. I say to you that their angels in heaven are always looking into the face of my Father who is in heaven.

 

Four reflections ago, when we were talking about Matthew 17:22-23, we learned that in most popular translations of Matthew there is no verse 17:21.  I explained that this is because the translators have to make a decision about what they believe to be the most reliable original copy of the text and go with that.  Biblical scholars call these textual variants.  Today we encounter two more.  Both Matthew 18:10 and 18:11 are not found in all the original manuscripts.  The interesting thing here is that most modern translators have decided to keep verse 10 and leave out verse 11.  As I stated in our earlier reflection, I choose to trust the majority scholar opinion in most cases when it comes to textual variants, so our reflection today is on 18:10 and the next reflection will start with verse 12.  But just in case you’re dying to know what the omitted verse 11 is, you can find it in Luke 19:10. 

                In verse 10, Jesus makes one more warning about children.  He cautions his audience to not look down on children because “their angels are always looking into the face of my Father who is in heaven.”  Who are “their angels?”  This is one of the key biblical texts where the notion of “guardian angels” comes from – the idea that we all have an angel assigned to us to watch over us and help us out at times.  This concept actually precedes the New Testament for within Judaism in the Intertestamental Period (the period between when the last Old Testament book was written and the first New Testament book was written), not only was there a belief that all believers had and angel assigned to them, but also a demon.  That idea survives to this day in the sometimes comical depictions of an angel on one shoulder and the demon on the other whispering into both ears about what they should do. 

                As is often the case, a lot more could be said about this topic than is appropriate for a devotional.  So, for the sake of time, let me summarize what I’ve learned.  There isn’t much biblical evidence to support a well-conceived concept of personal guardian angels.  However, there is an abundance of biblical support for the idea that God uses angels to serve humanity and respond to their needs.  The point Jesus is making to his disciples in the verse above is that angels are watching over the children and those angels have a direct connection to God.  Jesus is pointing out that because God is so concerned with children, we should be too.  This is in keeping with the message Jesus has been making in the first half of Chapter 18.  As for whether the children (and us) have guardian angels assigned to them personally, we just don’t know.  If that is the way God chooses to keep watch and care over us, I’m fine with that.  But what I’m sure of is that God does choose to keep watch are care over us, whether God does it with angels or not.  How God chooses to take care of me is something I can leave up to God.  I’m just glad that I am under God’s watch and care.  I hope you are too.

 

Question:  Do you believe and trust in God’s watch and care over you and those you love?

 

Prayer:  God, thank you for the beneficial ministry of angels to humanity.  Thank you for all the ways You watch and care over us.  Help us to trust more fully in that truth.  Amen.

 

Prayer Focus:  Pray for people today that are completely or almost completely isolated from other people.

 

Song:  Angels Watching Over Me – Amy Grant

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNIO9KH3UC8

A SERIOUS Commitment to Goodness - January 13, 2022

 

A SERIOUS Commitment to Goodness - January 13, 2022

 

Matthew 18:6-9, The Message - But if you give them a hard time, bullying or taking advantage of their simple trust, you’ll soon wish you hadn’t. You’d be better off dropped in the middle of the lake with a millstone around your neck. Doom to the world for giving these God-believing children a hard time! Hard times are inevitable, but you don’t have to make it worse—and it’s doomsday to you if you do.

“If your hand or your foot gets in the way of God, chop it off and throw it away. You’re better off maimed or lame and alive than the proud owners of two hands and two feet, godless in a furnace of eternal fire. And if your eye distracts you from God, pull it out and throw it away. You’re better off one-eyed and alive than exercising your twenty-twenty vision from inside the fire of hell.

 

The child that Jesus placed in the midst of his teaching session with the disciples that we talked about last time is still there in this passage.  Jesus has urged his mentees to rediscover their childlike faith and outlook and now, probably looking sweetly at the child, he issues a particularly harsh warning;  don’t cause children to lose that faith and outlook which grown-ups need to recover.  Those who cause children to stumble will wish they hadn’t.  The extreme threat-ladened language Jesus uses here illustrates Jesus fiercely passionate love for children.  This is a place where I feel a particularly close connection to Jesus because I seem to share that strong urge to defend and look out for the needs of children. 

Jesus uses the warning against causing children to stumble as a segue to a more general warning about anyone or anything that causes anyone else to stumble.  There are a couple of important principles here.  First, this teaching brings to the forefront the truth of interdependence.  What we do does not just affect ourselves.  We can hardly do anything that doesn’t affect others.  Jesus is teaching us that we are, at least in part, responsible for those results. 

I am the oldest of three children and so, many times when I was growing up, I got in trouble for violating this principle Jesus is teaching.  I had led my brother and sister to do something that got all three of us in trouble.  My protest at the time was that I hadn’t MADE them do it;  they made that choice themselves.  In one of these particular times (I can’t recall the details of the situation), I made that very argument to my mother. 

She said, “Eric, if you hadn’t made the choice first, they would not have even thought they could make the same choice.”

She had me. I don’t think I admitted it at the time, but I admit it now.  This is not just a truth for those of us with younger siblings.  We all make choices every day that affect the choices of others.  Living with the awareness of that and acting accordingly is something Jesus teaches us to do.  Furthermore, if anything causes us to veer off course, we need to think about removing it.  We’ve mentioned before that Jesus likes to use hyperbole to make a point and he does so here with the business of cutting off hands and poking out eyes.  The point here is that there may be times when we need to put restrictions on ourselves so that we can stay on the path we you know is right.  If you are an alcoholic, it may be necessary to make sure it’s never readily available whenever possible.  If pornography is a problem for you, you may need to look into available software that limits the websites you can visit.  Those are just two examples.  These are just two examples of how self-imposed restrictions can help you live the way Jesus has taught us.  

The larger thread that runs through all this teaching in the first half of Matthew 18 is that we foster that which is good in us and others and we look to hamper and diminish what is not good for us and others.  The implication is that we are looking for and aware of that goodness and are always actively working to protect it.  We feed and nurture goodness and we starve that which hinders it. 

 

Questions:  Who is influenced by what you do? Might it be necessary to impose some self-restriction in order to get the results you know God wants for you?

 

Prayer:  Lord, show us how we affect those around us and how we are led astray.  Help us be aware of these interdependencies and work to love what is good and shun what is evil.  Amen,

 

Prayer Focus:  Spend some time asking God to show you how you influence others and how you are influenced as well?

 

Song:  Jason Mraz - Look For The Good

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2trTOe8YuX0