He who humbles himself

So He told a parable to those who were invited, when He noted how they chose the best places, saying to them: “When you are invited by anyone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in the best place, lest one more honorable than you be invited by him; and he who invited you and him come and say to you, ‘Give place to this man,’ and then you begin with shame to take the lowest place. But when you are invited, go and sit down in the lowest place, so that when he who invited you comes he may say to you, ‘Friend, go up higher.’ Then you will have glory in the presence of those who sit at the table with you. For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” – Luke 14.7-11

Just suppose you invited to a dinner and somehow you got the impression that you  were going to be the guest of honour. You get to the dinner and say your hellos and pass the time. Eventually they call the guests to dinner and you walk up to the head table and sit down. The host is obviously uncomfortable and says ‘uh, excuse me, that’s not your seat. I need you to move to the other end.’ Then he calls the other guest and puts him where you had sat down.

Embarrassing, huh? Jesus uses that as a warning for those who are so proud of their own way that they won’t humble themselves to accept Jesus’s offer of salvation. Some assume that is they are good enough or religious enough or give enough or whatever they are going to get a spot at the heavenly table. Pride destroys the eternal hopes of far too many people. Anybody who humbles himself in this life will be exalted in the next and those who exalt themselves in the this life will be humbled in the next.

Any who think they can be good enough to go to heaven on their own need to think again. It is going to mush worse than the embarrassment of being moved from the head table.

Jesus is coming

Be ye therefore ready also: for the Son of man cometh at an hour when ye think not. – Luke 12.40

When I was saved back in 1974 the Second Coming of Christ was one of the things that the churches I went to focused on all the time. We had prophecy conferences and prophecy Sundays and books and periodicals and even movies and films all about the Second Coming. Christian publishers could sell any book that featured exciting accounts of what the Rapture and Tribulation and Second Coming and millennial reign of Christ were going to be like. All kinds of technological advances were seen as the Mark of the Beast and political and economic leaders were scrutinised the see if they might be the Antichrist.

I don’t see as much of that kind of thing any more. Maybe we were just overwhelmed with is and when none of it came we kind of kind tired of it.

And that’s sad because the truth is that the Son of man is still coming, and an hour when we don’t think it is going to happen. I wish I could say that I was solid in my mind about how all that is going to work out but I don’t. This I do know – Jesus is coming back as certainly as the day John wrote ‘even so come Lord Jesus’ and as Patrick wrote ‘I wait for the soon advent of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.’

I am through trying to figure it all out. Jesus is coming and He wants me to stay faithful and keep loving Him, loving others, and sharing the gospel till He comes again. 

What we treasure

For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. – Luke 12.34

What do you and I treasure? What do we go after and pursue and focus our life on? It is easiest to treasure all of the world’s stuff and fun and entertainment and such. An old beer advert said ‘You only going around once in life so grab all the gusto you can.’

The quest for gusto doesn’t just apply to the world though. We Christians can also be caught up in the quest for all the gusto we can grab. We treasure our homes and cars and computers and phones and prestige and our daily comforts. We treasure recognition by men. We treasure ‘success.’ We treasure stuff.

The problem is that when that is what we treasure that is what we are going to go after. That is what is going to drive us.

Why? Because that is where our hearts are.

But what happens when we treasure the heavenly over the earthy? What happens when we treasure the spiritual over the fleshly? What happened when we treasure the invisible over the visible? What happens when we treasure the kingdom of God over the kingdom of men?

Well, first of all it shows where our heart is. When our heart is right we will treasure what is right. When our heart is not right we treasure the things that will one day all be gone.

If people were to judge our heart by what we treasure, what would they see?

Our Father knows what we need

For all these things do the nations of the world seek after: and your Father knoweth that ye have need of these things. But rather seek ye the kingdom of God; and all these things shall be added unto you.  – Luke 12.30-31

What kinds of things does the world seek after? They are not necessarily bad things. Clothes and food and shelter are things that we need. They are necessities, but here we read that these are the things that the world seeks after. So what’s the point? Is it wrong to go after them?  

No, we need those things, but the point is that these are the not the things that we ought to spend our lives pursuing. This is not what should occupy our time. This isn’t where we put our focus.

God knows what we need. Because He knows what we need and He is our Father we don’t have to focus on all the other stuff. That gives us time to spend our focus on the kingdom of God.

This is pretty profound. God is telling us that if we focus on furthering His kingdom He will take care of the rest. God knows what you and I need. We do what we can do to take care of ourselves, we focus on doing God’s work, and let Him sort out the details of what we need.

He knows better than we do. Can’t we trust Him to do what He says?

Storing up treasure

And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully: And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits? And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided? So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God. – Luke 12.16-21

Jesus talks a lot about treasures in the next few days. He approached them from a couple of angles.

The first approach here is a more practical, the second in a couple of days is more spiritual.

Jesus here warns about depending on building up earthly treasures and relying on them. In Hos story a man is all set. He had more than he can handle so he is going to build more barns to hold his more stuff. He is pretty happy and satisfied that he is set for life.

Jesus says that that very night the man’s soul, something that he has given no consideration to, is going to be required of. The man is going to die and all of his stuff is going to do him no good.

We need to take care of ourselves. We need to do our best to provide for our families. We need to make plans for the future. All that is true, but we had better not get to the point where that is where we put our reliance. Our life here on earth is short and eternity is forever. Where are we storing up treasure?

God will not forget us

Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them is forgotten before God? But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore: ye are of more value than many sparrows.  – Luke 12.6-7

Let’s be honest. Has there ever been a time when you have felt like maybe, just maybe, God has kind of forgotten about you and where you are and what you are going through? Do ever feel like maybe He is missing something?

Maybe not, but I don’t think I have ever really though that God has forgotten me, but I sure have wondered about if He really sees the straits I am in.

Now that is absurd. The Lord has really given me a good life. I have a roof over my head (it’s not my roof, but it is a roof). I have decent clothes to wear. I have heat. I have a decent car. I have a wonderful bed. I have a chruch and family and friends in abundance. I have plenty to eat.

But there are couple of niggling things that really make me anxious. Sometimes I can get caught off guard and wonder it God really knows what is going on. My eyes can’t make sense of it.

I love my kids. I can’t imagine every forgetting them. One of the saddest things about illnesses like dementia has to be the idea of forgetting your children. But God doesn’t get dementia. He will never forget us. No matter what we are going through and how it seems God has not forgotten.

We are his children. We are not forgotten. We can trust Him.

Nothing hidden

In the mean time, when there were gathered together an innumerable multitude of people, insomuch that they trode one upon another, he began to say unto his disciples first of all, Beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. For there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; neither hid, that shall not be known. Therefore whatsoever ye have spoken in darkness shall be heard in the light; and that which ye have spoken in the ear in closets shall be proclaimed upon the housetops. – Luke 12.1-3

When we do wrong we secretly deeply hope that we are going to be able to ‘get away with it.’ If no one sees it how bad can it be? If I keep it to a whisper how much trouble can it cause? If nobody catches me on my sin is it really sin?

Too many times it is easy for us to live that way. We have sins that we deal with that we know are wrong and we know we need to deal with and yet we still hold them dear hoping against hope that no one will ever find out. I have dealt with a couple of situations of late where people refused to acknowledge and confess their sin and repent even against overwhelming evidence. Eventually though truth won out. ‘Be sure your sins will find you out’ became reality.

We can be assured that when we choose to sin we will not get away with it forever. I heard it preached one time that at the Bema seat all of our sins will be broadcast so everyone who ever lived will see the dirty little sins we ever did. I think that’s taking it a bit too far, but we need to know that our can’t be secret forever. We will be found out.

Wouldn’t it be much easier to deal with now and move on?

Taken away the key of knowledge

Woe unto you, lawyers! for ye have taken away the key of knowledge: ye entered not in yourselves, and them that were entering in ye hindered. – Luke 11.52

Religious people have always added to religion to make it harder and to add more rules and regulation. Religion is merely man’s attempt to build a path to God. Religions don’t like their ways threatened. Leaders don’t like their authority threatened.

The religious leaders of Jesus’ day were no different. In their effort to promote their ways and traditions they took away the core of what was supposed to be their faith – they took away the key of knowledge. They had never used the key of knowledge. They hindered others who wanted to pursue it.

The key of knowledge, of course, is the word of God and the understanding of Him. The fear of the Lord is, after all, the beginning of knowledge. If we lose that than we lose our ability to know and our professed knowing is always going to be confounded and confused.

Men try to put their ideas and notions and preferences in the place of the ‘key of knowledge’ and trap people in a system of religion. When we take away the key of knowledge we doom men to fearing men instead of fearing God.

I spent part of my Christian life who set standards by the preference of men instead of the word of God. Sadly today a lot of people were hindered by that kind of thinking, some of which I spread myself. May God forgive us for not making the key of knowledge our standard.

Let it shine

No man, when he hath lighted a candle, putteth it in a secret place, neither under a bushel, but on a candlestick, that they which come in may see the light. The light of the body is the eye: therefore when thine eye is single, thy whole body also is full of light; but when thine eye is evil, thy body also is full of darkness. Take heed therefore that the light which is in thee be not darkness. If thy whole body therefore be full of light, having no part dark, the whole shall be full of light, as when the bright shining of a candle doth give thee light. – Luke 11.33-36

Nobody who lights a candle then goes and hides it away or puts it under a bushel. When we light a light we do it so that it will shine and give us light. Normally when we light a light we put it on a stand so that its light shines clear and bright and illuminates the area around it. It casts away darkness and dispels the shadows.

We read a lot about light. I like this section though because it talks about the singleness of light that allow no room for darkness. We have an adjustable lamp in our sitting room behind my chair. If I just barely turn it on there are still a lot of things you can’t see very well.

That’s how we all shine our light sometimes. The light never goes out but sometimes there is barely a glimmer. Now, that glimmer is better than no light, but we ought to strive by the grace of God that our light shines at its full capacity. We can’t do that if we are weighted down by the distractions of the world or sin in our lives.

How is my light shining today? Is it shaded and shadowed, or am I shining the light with all the Light of the World?

...and keep it

And it came to pass, as he spake these things, a certain woman of the company lifted up her voice, and said unto him, Blessed is the womb that bare thee, and the paps which thou hast sucked. But he said, Yea rather, blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it.  – Luke 11.27-28

Jesus’s mother, Mary, was a very blessed and special woman. She was chosen by God to be the mother of the Son of God. It was Mary who nursed Jesus and changed His nappy and cooked His meals and washed His hair and bathed Him and generally took care of Him. She did all of the motherly things. A certain respect for her apparently developed early on and remains to this day in some circles. In some circles it has moved beyond respect to veneration and even in some cases to worship.

Here a woman came up to Jesus and said to Him ‘blessed is the womb that bore You and the breasts that nursed You.’

Jesus agreed, but added ‘even more blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it.

That’s such a blessing, but it is also a challenge. Our great blessing comes, not when we only hear the word of God. Hearing the word is a good and great thing and it something we all should be striving to do.

We read of Ezra that he prepared his heart to seek the Lord – and to do it. James tells us that if we are not doers of the word we are fooling ourselves. Are we truly doing God’s word daily, or are we content to just know it on our  heads?

Giving good things

And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent? Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him? – Luke 11.9-13

As part of what we call the ‘Lord’s Prayer’ we have a segment here that reminds us what kind of Giver our God is. Jesus says ‘ask, and it will be given; seek and you shall find, knock and the door will be opened.’ Jesus says that God is a Father who knows how to give what is best.

God knows how to gift ‘good gifts’ to His children just like we know how to give good gifts to our children and grandchildren. He is not going to give us bad things even when we ask for them. Remember, God knows all of the ramifications of what He gives us. Things that I think must be right God knows are not for our best. We need to trust Him to give us the good things to us when we need them.

The greatest gift Jesus is talking about here, of course, is the gift of the Holy Spirit that He gives to all who ask Him. His presence is the greatest gift of all as we strive to get through this world. The Holy Spirit is the greatest gift of all.

Teach us to pray

And it came to pass, that, as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples. – Luke 11.1

I have said before that prayer is surely one of my weak points in my Christian life. That’s tragic because prayer is the most important single thing that we can do. I don’t have any excuse because here the disciples kindly asked Jesus to pray and we get to benefit from His response.

So Jesus told them how to pray. He gave them some things remember in their prayers. There are some key elements to remember. God is in heaven. God is holy. All we pray for should be for the advancement of His kingdom. God provides our daily bread. God forgives our sin and expects us to forgive others. God has a perfect divine will that we ought to want to see accomplished.

This is not a simple prayer to be repeated over and over by rote. It reminds us of the kinds of things we ought to include in our daily prayers.

But I think the key thing is that it is a reminder of who we are talking to. It is help us reflect on our Father who is a heavenly, Holy, providing, forgiving God who has a perfect will for our lives. Coming into communion with God is what prayer is all about. It is not about changing Him, it is all about changing us.

When we pray, as we with confidence enter that throne of grace, may we be keep in mind who we are talking to.

Cumbered about

But Martha was cumbered about much serving, and came to him, and said, Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? bid her therefore that she help me. And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things: But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.  – Luke 10.40-42

I love the few glimpses that we get of Jesus and His friendship with Mary and Martha and Lazarus. It looks like He was a regular visitor in their home and often saw them outside of that setting. Jesus loved these friends as a man and as God loves.

One day Jesus was visiting them. The sisters had two responses. Mary stopped what she was doing and sat and Jesus’ feet for fellowship and teaching. Nothing was more important to her.

Martha had a servant’s heart. She was busy about tidying up and preparing the tea. As the old KJV put it ‘she was cumbered about with much serving.’ Like any of us, she got frustrated. ‘Lord, don’t You care that Mary as left me to do all this work by myself?’  

There was nothing wrong with Martha’s serving. Service is good. But service is not enough. Mary had chosen to sit at Jesus’s feet and Jesus said that ‘was the good part.’

We all need to be careful that we don’t confuse ‘busy-ness’ for service.

Blessed are you

And he turned him unto his disciples, and said privately, Blessed are the eyes which see the things that ye see: For I tell you, that many prophets and kings have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them. – Luke 10.23-24

Jesus turned to speak privately with His disciples. He told them that they were especially blessed that they were going to see the fulfilment of the plan of salvation. All of the prophets and kings looked forward to the day, and did not get to see them, but the disciples saw them and still did not believe.

All through the Old Testament the people looked forward to the coming Messiah. They longed to see the day, but up to this point no one had actually seen it come to fruition.

But here they were in the midst of the fulfilment of prophecy. They were seeing the miracles and the healing and hearing the teaching of the Messiah.

Now, if they were blessed by what they had seen, what about us? Not only can we see what they saw, but we have the full record of the death and burial and resurrection of Jesus. We have the record of the spread of the gospel and we have the 2,000 years of testimony as to the wonderful power of the gospel of Christ. Those of us who are saved for a while have seen God work in our lives over and over again. It is amazing that I can ever doubt His promises today?

Sure they were more blessed than the prophets, but how much more blessed are we?

Your names are written down

Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven. – Luke 10.20

Jesus sent the disciples off on a short term missions blitz. They were to keep moving and it a town would not receive them they were to move on to another. God gave them special signs and wonders to confirm their authority. They were given power over illness and demons. It was powerful trip.

But Jesus said it was not that special authority that they were to rejoice in. The greatest cause of joy is not in what we do or don’t do or achieve or fail to achieve but the basic fact that our names are written down in heaven.

No matter what happens here or how bad it gets we can trust that when it is all said and done we can have confidence our eternity is secure. We are already registered in heaven. Our reservations are made. We are on the books.

So in the meantime we plug away and stay faithful. We can rejoice because everything here is temporary and everything there is eternal.

The labourers are few

Then He said to them, "The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few; therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into His harvest.  – Luke 10.2

We are studying the book of Acts in church at the moment. Acts is all about the birth of the church and the early attempts to spread the Gospel through all the known world. From the very first days of the church it was an A1 priority. Just a handful of men ‘turned the world upside down’ through their witness.

But Acts is the result of what Jesus is talking about here. Jesus knew He was going to send to the uttermost parts of the earth’ and that the harvest was going to be huge. He also knew that one day the harvest would be more than 7 billion people. Jesus knew then that the supply of labourers would be few, then and now. The harvest is plenteous, but the labourers are few.

There are some places where there is a greater number of labourers, but as a whole 7 billion people is a mighty big harvest field. Somebody has to go, so Jesus says pray that the Lord would send forth labourers into the harvest field.

But we can’t forget about us. While we are praying we need to be putting feet to our prayers. While we pray for the 7 billion we need to start with our own neighbours and friends and family and associations. They too are part of the harvest field and we can do something about  them. 

Are you sure you want to do this?

Now it happened as they journeyed on the road, that someone said to Him, "Lord, I will follow You wherever You go." And Jesus said to him, "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head." Then He said to another, "Follow Me." But he said, "Lord, let me first go and bury my father." Jesus said to him, "Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and preach the kingdom of God." And another also said, "Lord, I will follow You, but let me first go and bid them farewell who are at my house." But Jesus said to him, "No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God." – Luke 9.57-62

Jesus was becoming quite popular at this stage of His ministry. Huge crowds were turning out to see Him do great works and to heal the sick and give sight to the blind and make the lame walk. His message was appealing as He talked about peace and deliverance and the Kingdom of God.

Along the way someone said ‘I’ll go with you Jesus!’

Most of us, I think, would have said ‘great, come on, join the crew!’ We all like to have more people on our team or in our group or part of our church.

But Jesus said, in essence, ‘don’t be so quick to jump on board, are you sure you want to do this? I don’t even have a place to lay my head, are you sure that’s what you want?’ Jesus called another man to follow Him and the man said ‘hold on a second, I need to go take care of some family stuff.’ Jesus said to him ‘somebody else can deal with that, go and preach.’ Another said ‘Lord. I’ll follow you, but let me go and say goodbye.’ Jesus said ‘if you can’t focus on the task you’re not worthy to go.’

Wow, that’s sounds pretty harsh.

But Jesus was making a point. Following Christ was never going to be a lark. It is a serious decision. It is a difficult decision. It is fraught with fears and apprehension. It is no use thinking it is a light decision to be persuaded into with emotional appeals or heart stirring music.

We can get emotional decisions to serve and follow Christ, but what happens when things get tough? What happens when the road is rocky and we stumble and fall and while we are fallen the enemy attacks. If we had been told that following Christ is a bed of roses we are going to despair. Following Him means tough times and hardship, but it leads to great blessing and joy.

Can we call down fire?

Now it came to pass, when the time had come for Him to be received up, that He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem, and sent messengers before His face. And as they went, they entered a village of the Samaritans, to prepare for Him. But they did not receive Him, because His face was set for the journey to Jerusalem. And when His disciples James and John saw this, they said, "Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them, just as Elijah did?" But He turned and rebuked them, and said, "You do not know what manner of spirit you are of. For the Son of Man did not come to destroy men's lives but to save them." And they went to another village. – Luke 9.51-56

This is quite a story. Jesus and His disciples were headed down to Jerusalem. It is near the end of His ministry. He was determined to go, but he sent of couple of guys out to decide on the proper route. The came to a town to prepare for Jesus to pass through, but the village would not receive Him.

James and John were furious. ‘Lord, they wouldn’t let us through! Can we call down fire from heaven to destroy them like Elijah did?’

I read this and it is kind of like ‘What? Where did that come from.’ No wonder these guys were called the ‘Sons of Thunder.’ They were so angry at the rejection by this town that they just wanted to wipe them out.

But Jesus made it clear that they were not there to kill or destroy. They were they there to save men’s lives. That was their purpose and their goal and their A1 priority. They didn’t have time to be bothered by opposition or the things of the world. They had a saving gospel to share and they could not afford to get side-tracked.

We have that same task today. We have that same gospel to share. There is no more important thing we get. Don’t get drawn away for the things that offend us. Keep loving and keep preaching.

Jesus' family

And it was told Him by some, who said, "Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside, desiring to see You." But He answered and said to them, "My mother and My brothers are these who hear the word of God and do it." – Luke 8.20-21

I can feel for Jesus’ mom and His brothers and sisters. I don’t know where Joseph is by now, but many Bible experts think he may have died. To be honest though, they have no evidence – it is just a guess. No one really knows.

Anyway, His family was worried about Him. He was making quite a name for Himself, but it has to be getting kind of scary. He was getting a lot of opposition from the religious leaders. They did the logical thing; they went to talk to Jesus.

But when they got there they told the disciples that they wanted to see Him. And what did Jesus say? ‘These people, the ones who hear the word of God and do it, they are my true family.’

I don’t think He was putting down His earthly family in any way. I think He was simply saying that He has a spiritual family who are His brothers and sisters, the children of our heavenly Father, and joint heirs of His kingdom.

And we, you and me, those who have put their faith in Christ, have heard God’s word and done it, are also Jesus family. What an amazing thought that is. How does that even happen?

It happens because God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, to gather into His family others sons and daughters. I’m so glad I’m a part of the family of God.

And certain women

and certain women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities—Mary called Magdalene, out of whom had come seven demons, and Joanna the wife of Chuza, Herod's steward, and Susanna, and many others who provided for Him from their substance.  – Luke 8.2-3

I did a lot of my growing up in the American state of Alabama. I was reared on good manners and respect. Two groups I was always taught to respect were older people, whom we always called ‘sir’ and ‘ma’am.’

I also learned at an early age to respect women.  People think the notion of respecting is deprecating of demeaning. I never thought that. I was just taught that women deserved an extra measure of decency and respect because of who they were.

Some folks try to claim that the Bible is somehow ‘anti-woman.’ And yet all through the gospel accounts, the book of Acts, and the epistles we find women everywhere doing nearly everything. They are not doing the same work as men, but there are always there and just as vital in Jesus’ work.

Men and women are not the same – it is just that simple. I know there are exceptions, but in a general sense men and women have different skills and abilities. Instead of all of us trying to be the same why not build on our strengths for the work of God?

Every city and village

Now it came to pass, afterward, that He went through every city and village, preaching and bringing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God. And the twelve were with Him,  - Luke 8.1

Long before the Great Commission Jesus was setting an example of it. As He went He preached the gospel in every town and village and brought them ‘good tiding of great joy.’

Jesus instructs us that one of the great tests of whether or not we trust Him is if we follow Him. The proof of the saying is in the doing. Are we looking, wherever we go, for those opportunities to preach the gospel and bring the glad tidings of God’s kingdom to those around us?

Later on Jesus would give the commission to go ‘into all the world’ to preach the gospel. He would say that we are to be His witnesses in Jerusalem, and Judea and Samaria, and the uttermost parts of the earth.

There is a whole world of people who need to hear the good news of the gospel. We must be willing to do our share.

Go in peace

Therefore I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little." Then He said to her, "Your sins are forgiven." And those who sat at the table with Him began to say to themselves, "Who is this who even forgives sins?" Then He said to the woman, "Your faith has saved you. Go in peace."  - Luke 7.47-50

The problem that the world faces, and the problem that leads to so many bad choices, is a desire to find peace in a troubled world. Folks try everything to find that ever elusive peace in our hearts that the world cannot give. The world tries everything, drink, drugs, sex, pursuit of riches and things but no matter how hard they try they can never provide the peace that we want.

But as this women left Jesus said to her ‘your faith has saved you. Go in peace.’

Finally, after all the years of turmoil and struggle and a warfare with her soul she left that room with peace in her heart and life. No more guilt in her life. No more feeling like a failure. No more shame. Peace on earth was finally her peace. It is the peace that passes all understanding.

Thank God for that kind of settled peace.

Her sins, which are many

Then He turned to the woman and said to Simon, "Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave Me no water for My feet, but she has washed My feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head. You gave Me no kiss, but this woman has not ceased to kiss My feet since the time I came in. You did not anoint My head with oil, but this woman has anointed My feet with fragrant oil. Therefore I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little." – Luke 7.44-47

Jesus was constantly seeing the unseen and unwanted people in His world. Here Jesus and disciples were gathered together for dinner at the home of a Pharisee. The topic of discussion was forgiveness. A woman was at the table. She was probably, from what we can tell, a highly paid prostitute. Suddenly she got up and went over to Jesus. The men there must have been shocked because He did not send her away. Then she bent over, weeping because she was in the presence of Jesus, washed his feet with her hair and tears, then she anointed His feet with oil.

The was scandalous..

Until Jesus spoke.

He said to Peter ‘I came into the house and you did not even give me water to wash my feet. You didn’t greet me. You didn’t anoint me. But this woman did all that and more. She loved Me much because her many sins were forgiven. Those who have little forgiven show little gratitude.’

The lesson is pretty clear. Those who realise how much is forgiven cannot help but show great gratitude. I look at my life and see how much Jesus forgave me. Does my life reflect what He has done for me? Do I show my gratitude by my service?

This woman is an example for us all. Let us remember her and what Jesus did for us and how she responded and how we are responding.

But the Pharisees

And when all the people heard Him, even the tax collectors justified God, having been baptized with the baptism of John. But the Pharisees and lawyers rejected the will of God for themselves, not having been baptized by him.  – Luke 7.29-30

Jesus has just explained the ministry of John the Baptist. The people responded in two ways.

In the first group, including some tax collectors, there we some who ‘justified God’ in their lives and were baptised with John’s baptism. John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance which means that they acknowledged their sin, turned from it, and awaited the message of the Messiah John was preaching about.

But the Pharisees and the experts in Jewish Law rejected God’s will for their lives. They refused to submit to John’s baptism. They could not bring themselves to deal with their sin and repent. These guys took pride in the fact that they were religious men and that they were above needing repentance.

We all need to be sure that we are not resting in our ‘religion’ but instead on depending on repentance and faith to justify God on our lives.

I've never seen such faith!

Then Jesus went with them. And when He was already not far from the house, the centurion sent friends to Him, saying to Him, "Lord, do not trouble Yourself, for I am not worthy that You should enter under my roof. Therefore I did not even think myself worthy to come to You. But say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I also am a man placed under authority, having soldiers under me. And I say to one, 'Go,' and he goes; and to another, 'Come,' and he comes; and to my servant, 'Do this,' and he does it." When Jesus heard these things, He marveled at him, and turned around and said to the crowd that followed Him, "I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel!" – Luke 7.6-9

I enjoy getting to know the lesser known characters in the Bible. This is a guy who amazes me more every time I read about him. We don’t know his name. He is only called a ‘certain centurion.’ He was a professional Roman soldier who commanded between 80-100 men. He had served in the military for a while. Centurions had to be educated men with experience and leadership ability. They were very highly regarded in Rome.

But somehow this soldier had been assigned to one of the least desirable posts of his day. We have no idea why. Maybe he was being punished or maybe he was so good that he was sent there to try to sort out a mess of some sort. Either way he was in Capernaum the same time Jesus was.

Apparently he knew about Jesus. Maybe he was on a policing duty because of the crowds that came to hear Jesus. Maybe he was just curious and had heard Jesus preach, but he knew there was something special. He was close to the people. They thought highly of him. He loved Israel and had even arranged for the building of a synagogue.

Now he had a servant who was dying. He didn’t feel worthy of coming to Jesus himself. He wasn’t a Jew, how could he go? So he sent Jewish friends to go to Jesus. The soldier understood authority. He gave orders and his soldiers obeyed. He recognised Jesus’ authority over death and disease so had the faith that Jesus could fix.  He knew that Jesus’ word alone was sufficient to heal.

Jesus’ response was that He had never seen such faith, even among the Jews. What a great testimony. He had never seen such faith anywhere.

How does my faith compare to this centurion? Jesus could certainly not say of me ‘I have never seen such faith’ unless He was talking about my lack of it. Without faith it is impossible to please God. This Roman soldier pleased God, my question whether or not mine does.

The Wise Man Built His House

He is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently against that house, and could not shake it, for it was founded on the rock. But he who heard and did nothing is like a man who built a house on the earth without a foundation, against which the stream beat vehemently; and immediately it fell. And the ruin of that house was great." – Luke 6.48-49

There is a song which I have sung, I am sure, hundreds of times. It is one of those choruses that, working with children, is a normal part of that ministry. Some children’s songs, I will admit, are silly. Some are weak, and sadly, some just teach bad doctrine. But the song I am thinking about teaching a good, godly, necessary lesson.

The song is ‘The Wise Man Built His House’ and you can see it in this blog and probably sing along. The song, and this passage tell the story of two men building their houses. One man had done the wise thing, built his house on good solid footing, and his house endured the storms. The other guy didn’t lay a good foundation. It built on sandy soil and the storms that came washed his house away.

Of course, we say, what else could have happened?

Jesus applies this by saying that the first man, who laid his foundation deep in the rock was like the man who lays his foundation in the True Rock, Jesus Himself. We are told that there is no other foundation can be laid except that which is laid in Christ.

Banks accounts and homes and jobs and friends are all good things. Family is a good thing. Spouses are good things. If, however, we lay our foundations on these things we will fail – every time.

So, as the kiddie song goes, build your life on the Lord Jesus Christ, build your life on the Lord. 

How can you call Me Lord

"But why do you call Me 'Lord, Lord,' and not do the things which I say? – Luke 6.46

There seem to be A LOT of people who call themselves Christian. A lot of people profess Jesus as Lord with their lips. People all over the world go to church every week and sing to the Lord and give praise and say ‘amen’ and act like they are true followers of Christ.

But are they? Are we? The Pharisees recognised Jesus as Teacher and some even called Him lord, but in their actions they did not do what He said. Jesus asked how can you call me Lord, when you don’t even do what I say?’

That’s a question we might very well ask ourselves. How can we call Him Lord and be full of doubts and fears? How can we call Him Lord and ignore the poor and needy? How can we call Him Lord and hate our enemies and political opponents? How can we call Him Lord and ‘curse those who curse us?’ How can we call Him Lord with vengeful, angry, inhospitable spirits?

We can do it because we still live in these bodies of flesh. We can do it because we are sinners who struggle with the flesh. We can do it when we get our eyes off of Him.

If we are going to call Jesus Lord, we ought to act like He is Lord. Entertainment is not our lord. Sport is not our lord. Politics and nationalism and patriotism are not our lords. Money is not our lord.

Jesus is. Let’s act like it.

Spiritual angiogram

A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.  – Luke 6.45

I was saved in 1974 while in college in Pennsylvania. I thank the Lord for the good churches I found and the things I learned and the foundations that we laid in my life. They had a role in making me the man I am today.

But along the way I came across situations where folks seemed to think that the best way to make good Christians was to fix the outside with the hope that the inside would somehow follow.

Needless to say, that didn’t work. It forces, compels, and encourages people to conform on the outside, without any change where it matters. Nothing of eternal value happens when that is our focus.

Instead, we need to learn that, as a song I heard puts it, we need to change our hearts before we can change our shirts.

Jesus makes it clear that it is our heart that is the source of all we say and all that we do. A good man with a good heart will bear good fruit and an evil man with an evil heart will bring forth evil fruit.

So our focus must be on ensuring our heart is right. We do that as we read and apply God’s word in our lives. We do that as we hear God’s word taught and allow the Holy Spirit to impact on our hearts. We do that by seeking the mind of Christ and focusing on things above.

Nearly three years ago now I had major heart surgery. Nothing would have fixed my health without no matter how I lived or what medicines I took. It needed to be fixed. After my angiogram the doctor showed me exactly what needed to be fixed.  Maybe we need to do a spiritual angiogram to see how are hearts are doing. Search me O God, and know my heart…

Give

Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you."  - Luke 6.38

This whole section of Jesus’ teaching is focused on getting our focus onto the needs of others and getting our hearts right in God’s service. He has been talking about a ‘negative’ when He said ‘don’t be so quick to judge’ and now He turns to a positive when He talks about giving.

‘Give,’ Jesus says, ‘and it will be given you.’ A lot of folks have taken this as a key verse to preach what we call the ‘prosperity gospel’ where giving is the way to get rich. Thousands of people have been deluded to supporting wealthy ‘ministries’ by a misapplication of this verse. That teaching goes totally against the bulk of scripture. It is a scam to make people and ‘ministries’ rich.

The message is clear though. We don’t give to get rich, we give then there is a need and we trust that God will take care of us. We are to be conduits that take what God gives us and then trust Him to continue to take care of us. What we give will be measured out back to us so that we can continue to take care of others. It means that we never have to worry about giving when we do it with the right attitude.

God gives to us, we give to others, and God will take care of us in ways we can’t even imagine.

Don't be so quick to judge

"Judge not, and you shall not be judged. Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.  – Luke 6.37 And why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but do not perceive the plank in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, 'Brother, let me remove the speck that is in your eye,' when you yourself do not see the plank that is in your own eye? Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck that is in your brother's eye.  – Luke 6.41-42

It is kind of scary how quick the world has become in jumping at the chance to judge  others for nearly anything. It is even worse to see how Christians do the same thing. Whether it is sports or politics or anything it seems that the first thing we do now, before we even talk about the issue, is to condemn the other side. We seem know to judge people or groups by whether we like them or not. If our side does something it is fine, if the other side does something it must be bad. We won’t forgive, we won’t give the benefit of the doubt – we would rather just judge, condemn, and move on.

But God calls His people to a different standard. Stop judging others. You have enough issues of your own. You are so quick to judge that you ignore your own issues. Deal with your flaws and then you can help others with theirs.

Someone must do something to break the cycle that we are spiralling down into. It is time for God’s people to take the high road and set a pattern. Love instead of judge because love chooses not to think evil. We can’t overlook known sin, but we don’t have to deal with it in an arrogant, holier than thou judgemental attitude. Keep in mind what we have been forgiven us before we judge others.

Kindness

But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil. Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful.  – Luke 6.35-36

Love your enemies. Do good. Lend without expecting repayment. Your reward will be great and this is the mark of the children of God. God is kind to the thankless and the evil.

God is kind to the thankless and the evil. Isn’t that something? God is kind to the ones who we would think don’t deserve kindness. That doesn’t fit into our way of thinking. God shows kindness to those we think would be the last to deserve.

And He wants us to do the same. He wants us to love and do good and give.

In other words God wants us to show mercy, as He has shown mercy. If we can be merciful to ‘me a sinner’ how can I not be merciful to those around me?

Kindness is such a simple thing. It is easy to be kind to the nice people and to the good people and those who are thankful when we are kind, but it’s not so easy to be kind to people who never show gratitude. It’s not easy to be kind to evil people.

What a wonderful thought. Be kind to one another, forgiving each other just like God was kind to you and forgave you.

Be kind.