Where God is Honored

And a man was there whose hand was withered. And they questioned Jesus, asking, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?"—so that they might accuse Him. And He said to them, "What man is there among you who has a sheep, and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will he not take hold of it and lift it out? "How much more valuable then is a man than a sheep! So then, it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath." Then He said to the man, "Stretch out your hand!"He stretched it out, and it was restored to normal, like the other. But the Pharisees went out and conspired against Him, as to how they might destroy Him.


This story exhibits in stark detail the problem of how religious observance can seem right and good, but be totally cut off from the heart of God. The Pharisees were great at looking good, but they had serious heart problems. They cared more for the minutiae of the law over everything else. In this encounter Jesus healed the man and the Pharisees sought to kill Him! They didn't really care that he was actually healed. They only cared about their interpretation of the rules. They missed the point.


Sometimes we do the same thing. We miss the point by focusing on what matters less. We get caught up in plans and programs and agendas. We fall prey to the wrong attitudes. We miss ministry opportunities. We see people through the lens of failure and not through the lens of potential. We lay down compassion for law. We lay down love for judgment. 


I think the irony of this story is in the Pharisee's approach in asking Jesus, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?" Somehow I just don't think a lot of healing was going on when Jesus wasn't around. They had apparently seen Him heal (or they wouldn't have asked the question), but were too blind and jealous to grasp the fullness of the Messiah. So they chose to play petty games and attempt to trap Him. 


Compassion is not all that matters, but it does matter a great deal. Somewhere between legalism and spiritual anarchy there is a place where God is honored. It's a place where misdirected compassion that leads to humanistic narcissism can't exist, and yet it's also a place where the rules become subservient to the heart of God. That's where true ministry takes place. Ministry that changes lives. It's a place where love flourishes and fulfills its purpose. It's a place where we can really seek the best for others because we actually care for them as people. It's a place that reflects the heart of God.

Life Changing Words

"Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear. Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you." (Ephesians 4:29-32)

These are life changing words if we could just grab hold of them. What if our mouths were used to build and not destroy? What if we could be encouragers instead of discouragers? How many marriages could be healed? How many broken relationships could be restored? What if we changed our conversation to line up with this admonition?

How would it change your work place? How would it change your conversation at lunch? How would it change your conversation at church? How would it change the words you speak to your children? How about the words you speak in front of them? Would it make you the person who leads the conversation instead of you becoming the follower that allows it to go places you don't like? Could you be the gossip squelcher? 

Since faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God, how would this effect your faith? You will never listen to anyone else as much as you listen to yourself.

Hallelujah by Brian Doerksen

Building Together

"For in fact the body is not one member but many. If the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I am not of the body," is it therefore not of the body? And if the ear should say, "Because I am not an eye, I am not of the body," is it therefore not of the body? If the whole body were an eye, where would be the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where would be the smelling? But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased. And if they were all one member, where would the body be?" (1st Corinthians 12:14-19)

In the third chapter of Nehemiah we find an account of the rebuilding of the city walls around Jerusalem. Jerusalem had been destroyed in 586 BC by the Babylonians and the people carried away to Babylon. In 445 BC Nehemiah led a third group of exiles back from the captivity to rebuild the city walls. The Temple had been rebuilt around 516 BC, but the walls and gates remained broken, which left Jerusalem vulnerable to attack. In a culture based upon honor, broken walls were also a blight on the city's reputation. Nehemiah was led by the Lord to see that the walls were restored.

Nehemiah completed the restoration of the walls in under two months. In Nehemiah, chapter three, he records the various people who worked the wall. It was true team effort. Instead of having a select group of wall-builders who did all the work, different groups of people worked on sections of the wall. Nehemiah chronicles the work counter-clockwise around the wall.

Eliashab, the High priest, and some fellow priests rebuilt the sheep gate.
Men of Jericho worked next to them to rebuild their section of the wall.
The sons of Hassenaah rebuilt the fish gate.
Further down, Jehoiada the son of Paseah, and Meshullam the son of Besodeiah, repaired the old gate.
Malchijah the son of Harim, and Hashub the son of Pahathmoab, repaired part of the wall and the tower of the furnaces.
Shallum and his daughters worked on a portion of the wall. His father, Halohesh, ruled half of Jerusalem. While some nobles refused to work, they pitched right in to help.
On the south side of the city we find Shallun, the son Colhehez, the ruler of Mizpah, repairing the fountain gate.
A group of priests lived near the horse gate and each repaired the section near his home.
A group of goldsmiths and merchants fixed the walls from the northwest corner to the sheep gate.

I haven't included everyone listed by Nehemiah but I'm sure you get the point. The wall was a collective effort. People from all walks of life worked on it -- men, women, priests, Levites, merchants and goldsmiths. Sons of rulers worked alongside regular folk.

It took everyone to get the job done. In First Corinthians, chapter 12, Paul compares the church to the human body. He makes the point that every part much do its part for the body to function correctly. Everyone doesn't have the same purpose. It's when everybody is fulfilling their individual part that the whole works the way God would have it to work. We all have something to give and a part to play in what God is doing. Don't sell yourself short. Don't look at your own limitations but at the greatness of God!

The Grace In Which We Stand

"Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God." (Romans 5:1-2)

We have access by faith into this grace in which we stand. The eternal theological struggle seems to be the ongoing attempt to answer the questions, "What does God do? What do we do?" In this blog we've looked at different aspects of this relationship between God and man and what I think, personally, is a fruitless attempt to gather all of our theology in a neat little box with a bow on top. We want all the answers. God is just way too big for that. We only really know what He has revealed to us. Thankfully He has revealed a lot to us!

We have access by faith into this grace in which we stand. Grace is what He has done for us. Faith is our response to His grace. Access means that we gain entry to something. In this case we gain entry to God's grace by faith. Paul could hardly make it any clearer. By grace, through the finished work of Jesus Christ, God has made a way for us to enter into relationship with Him. Jesus paid for the sins of the whole world -- everyone. No sin was left out.

And yet, we have to receive this wonderful gift by faith. A gift that is not received does the recipient no good. We stand in this grace by faith. Grace without faith is like an unopened present. Faith without grace has no leg to stand on. Thanks be to God for the wonderful provision He has made for us in Jesus Christ!

"But what does it say? 'The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart' (that is, the word of faith which we preach): that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." (Romans 10:8-10)

An Amazing Rescue

This story is pretty darned incredible and what a great testimony to the Lord and the leading of the Holy Spirit! It's about the little girl who disappeared last week in Florida and how she was found. be sure to watch the video.

The Rescue of Nadia Bloom

They Didn't Believe

"When He had come to His own country, He taught them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished and said, "Where did this Man get this wisdom and these mighty works? Is this not the carpenter's son? Is not His mother called Mary? And His brothers James, Joses, Simon, and Judas? And His sisters, are they not all with us? Where then did this Man get all these things?" So they were offended at Him. But Jesus said to them, "A prophet is not without honor except in his own country and in his own house." Now He did not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief." (Matthew 13:54-58)

These verses open up a conundrum for a lot of believers. Here we have Jesus, back at home, and the outcome of going home is that "He did not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief." There's nothing here about His will or His timing. His will is, pretty obviously from scripture, that people would believe Him. His will is that we would put our faith in Him. What happens when we don't? Now that's a big question with scary ramifications.

Mark 6:5 described the situation this way --"Now He could do no mighty work there, except that He laid His hands on a few sick people and healed them." Mark is pretty definitive.

Here's the conundrum. If God is sovereign why could he do no mighty works there? We have the answer -- because of their unbelief.

In Christianity we have a whole host of beliefs about God and what He actually does. They range from God does everything -- He ordains, arranges, and pulls the string on everything to a tacit deism -- He's out there but He doesn't actually do anything anymore. Most Christian's beliefs fall somewhere on a continuum between these two extremes.

We desperately want to figure out how things work. That includes God. There's nothing particularly wrong with that unless we come to a wrong conclusion and think we have all the answers. Thinking you are right when you are not can have some pretty serious ramifications.

What do we know from the Word? We know that God is sovereign, if the definition is correctly applied. He is in charge. He has plans that will ultimately come to fruition. We also know that faith and unbelief do matter in our individual lives. In His hometown Jesus didn't do much because of their unbelief. People argue this a few ways. Some will say that his power depends on our faith but I think, more likely, the correct answer is that we receive from Him by faith. His power was not the issue. Their unbelief was the issue. We see this all the time. We ask angry questions of God and why he let's things happen the way they do. That's another big theological wringer but the short answer is that we live in a fallen world that we surrendered to Satan. God gave Adam authority and he turned around and gave it away. In Christ we get His authority but we have to exercise it. The responsibility is placed on us. That's a hard truth for us to deal with. It is easier to just blame God.

One of my favorite stories in the Bible is found in Matthew 17. The disciples tried to cast a demon out of a young man and could not. This is an interesting story because of the way it connects illness with the demonic, but what is more interesting (to me anyhow) is how this story plays out. The disciples try to help this boy and fail.

This is where we are so much of the time. We throw a prayer up and see what happens. If something good comes of it we assume God said yes, if not, we assume God said no. But what happened here?

The disciples couldn't help the boy. That's where we invariably say that it must not have been God's will. But what happened when God came down the road?

The boy was healed and delivered.

The disciples asked, "How come we couldn't cast it out?" Jesus did not say that it wasn't His will or it wasn't His timing. He simply said that it was because of their unbelief.

Ouch.

That puts a little pressure on me. In his home country we read in Matthew 13 how "they were offended at Him." They knew Jesus back in the day. It wasn't an easy leap to recognize Him for who He really was. But that's just one of many excuses we can come with.

It doesn't really matter what causes unbelief. What matters is that unbelief will keep you from receiving from God. It will render you powerless and ineffective. God will still love you, That won't change at all. You'll just miss out on so many of the good things He has for you.

"Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them." (Mark 11:24)

Saturday or Sunday?

"So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ." (Colossians 2:16-17)

I read an interesting article today about the "controversy" about the Sabbath. The article was kind of funny because it said that Christians were "at war' over the Sabbath. One gentleman quoted said the Christians meeting on Sunday is "the biggest hoax the world has ever seen." Another said it is "the most flagrant error of mainstream Christianity." The argument in question is what day is the Sabbath? Saturday or Sunday? Saturday was the traditional Sabbath of Israel. Sunday was the first day of the new week. What facilitated the change? There are multiple possible explanations. Jesus was raised between sundown and dawn. Pagan influences caused the change. Maybe it was because of prejudice towards Jews?

While reading the article I was struck by a couple of things. First, 99% of Christians don't care. This is a "war" in the mind of a few. Second, we have an amazing ability to focus on things that don't matter. I know this is a big issue to a few but what a colossal waste of time.

Paul nails the issue. In Colossians 2:23 he comments, "These things indeed have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion, false humility, and neglect of the body, but are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh."

I guess the irony here is how we miss the point despite God's wonderful generosity to us. We no longer keep a day for the Lord. Every day is the Lord's day. We don't go to church. We are the church. The house of God is not a place where we go but now we have, literally, each one become, houses of God.

Paul writes extensively about the grace of God. And you can see why. The ever present need to create rules resides within our hearts. Rules are easier than relationship. Rules are much cleaner. Figure out what they are and keep them as best you can.

Relationship is much more difficult. It's messy and time consuming. It is an imperfect process, one that we have to wrestle with, but relationship is the greatest joy. Knowing God and walking with Him is the real calling of our lives. Jesus did not die so that we would keep one day a week to honor God but that we would come into fellowship with God and live lives every day that honor Him!

Abundant Grace

"And the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus."
(1st Timothy 1:14)

Yes it was. And Christmas is such a wonderful time to remember that. In giving gifts we reflect the nature of God who gave such a wonderful gift to us in Christ Jesus. It boggles the imagination. Jesus Christ was given to us with one condition. The same condition that goes with any gift ever given -- it must be received. Imagine giving a gift on Christmas morning to someone only to be told, "I won't take it. I don't want it." You'd be pretty hurt wouldn't you?

God's grace is such a marvelous concept. God rescues us. He save us. He gives us Himself. He does this in spite of our sin and shortcomings. He does this, not because we are good, but because of His great love for us. Let's remember that this Christmas. We really do have so much to celebrate!

"How silently, how silently,
The wondrous gift is given
So God imparts to human hearts
The blessings of his heaven.
No ear may hear his coming,
But in this world of sin,
Where meek souls will receive him, still
The dear Christ enters in."

(O Little Town of Bethlehem by Phillips Brooks)

What a Wonderful Gift!

"As God has said: "I will dwell in them And walk among them. I will be their God, And they shall be My people." (2nd Corinthians 6:16)

What a precious promise from the Word of God! What a wonderful fulfillment we have in Christ. "I will be their God and they shall be my people." I believe that in this verse we really see the heart of God. Adam walked with God in the cool of the day. Abraham was called the "friend of God." David had a heart after "God's own heart." We were created for fellowship with God.

I believe that this verse expresses the heart of God. He loves humanity. He paid the greatest price that we could be pardoned. He really couldn't have made it any simpler. But, someone might ask, why not just accept everyone regardless? I could write a really long response to that but here's a question to ponder -- is it the fault of the gift giver if someone refuses to accept their gift?

"But the Scripture has confined all under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe." (Galatians 3:22)

Rich in Mercy

"But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us." (Ephesians 2:4)

What a picture of the goodness and love of God. He is rich in mercy. He has an abundance of mercy. When we look at Jesus we see such a wonderful manifestation of God's love for each us. The same God, that sent His son to die for us, is not sitting up there waiting to smack you as soon as you make a mistake. We need a savior because of our inability to live up to God's standard. Instead of changing the standard, He makes a way for us that we could never make on our own, ultimately, changing us. Sometimes people think they've just been too bad to be born again or they think that God has had it with them. But He is rich in mercy. He has more than enough and it is freely available to those who will humble themselves before Him.

"For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin." (Hebrews 4:15)

New Wineskins

"Nor do they put new wine into old wineskins, or else the wineskins break, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined. But they put new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved." (Matthew 9:17)

Wineskins, in Palestine, were usually made of tanned goatskins. New wine would be stored in new wineskins. The weight of the wine and the process of fermentation would stretch the skin to its maximum elasticity. The collagen in the wineskin would break down during this process. As the wine and wineskin aged together the wineskin became stiffer and stiffer. Putting new wine in an old wineskin would risk the loss of the new wine as the old wineskin would break.

In a way we are like those wineskins. We need to remain pliable before God. When you think you've figured it all out where God is concerned you have become an old wineskin. The Christian life is an ongoing process of growth and change that should continue until we die. Don't become an old stiff wineskin. When you read something in God's Word that challenges you don't try to explain it away. Be willing to submit to what God has said! When you are tested with something from the Bible that seems out of synch with your particular group don't fall back on the group and say "we don't believe that." I know ministers that will only teach passages of the Bible that line up with their beliefs. They refuse to even deal with passages that will cause them difficulty.

Let the Word of God challenge you! Let it test you! Dare to wrestle with it instead of trying to neatly package it in some palatable form. In doing so you will remain anew wineskin that God can pour into!

The Hearing of Faith

"Therefore He who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you, does He do it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?" (Galatians 3:5)

Paul is asking a rhetorical question here. The obvious answer is by the the "hearing of faith." The hearing of faith is, in a nutshell, hearing what God has said and believing and applying it to our lives. Paul is addressing the trap that Christians easily succumb to as fallen human beings -- thinking that God's work in our lives is based on our goodness. In reality it is based on His goodness.

That's not to say that there is not a price for sin and disobedience. There is. Sin hurts us. One of the ways it hurts is that it gnaws at our conscience and gives the enemy a place to speak into our lives with thoughts like, "God doesn't listen to your prayers. Look how you sinned." It plays out in our lives by creating a paradigm for God's work in our lives that is based on our ability. We think that God helps us when we're good and abandons us when we're not so good. We've made ourselves the standard.

Paul nails that with this question. God supplies His Spirit and works in our lives by the "hearing of faith." He doesn't do this because we keep the rules and live a really good life. He doesn't do this because we are good but because He is good.

A Whole Hearted Walk

"I will praise You, O Lord my God, with all my heart, And I will glorify Your name forevermore." (Psalm 86:12)

I love the phrasing here -- "I will praise You... with all my heart." It is so easy to approach life and even our walk with the Lord in a half hearted manner. We're told in Colossians 3:23, "And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men." Life is full of distractions that draw our hearts away from what is good. This relationship we have with the Lord is a 24 hour a day, seven day a week relationship. He is always with us. The problem is that we often approach the relationship in a half hearted manner.

We do that, for the most part, because we are distracted by life. Life is busy and stressful. That's why we need some alone time with Him even more. Yes, He is with you wherever you go but there need to be some times when you give Him your full attention. Not for His sake, but for yours.

Doing this really requires you to be intentional. It won't happen by accident or happenstance. Like any other worthy goal in life such as losing weight or trying to exercise it requires some discipline and pressing in. If you don't make it priority it won't be. It's also not about some legalistic quiet time that God requires of you. Please don't approach your fellowship with God as some kind of painful obligation. Walking with Him is the most wonderful thing there is!

"He has shown you, O man, what [is] good; And what does the LORD require of you But to do justly, To love mercy, And to walk humbly with your God?" (Micah 6:8)

Receive the Word

"But these are the ones sown on good ground, those who hear the word, accept [it], and bear fruit: some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some a hundred." (Mark 4:20)

In Mark 4 Jesus told a story about a farmer who went out and sowed seed. Some of the seed was eaten by birds, some fell on hard ground and some was choked out by thorns. But some of the seed fell on good ground and produced a good crop for the farmer. When Jesus explained the story to his disciples he told them that the seed was the Word of God and that the good ground was those people who hear the word, accept it and bear good fruit. The difference in how God's work plays out in our lives often hinges on whether we receive what He has said. Too often we are interested in making the Bible say what we want it to say. We try to bend the scripture to our theology instead of submitting our theology to the scripture.

Sometimes the Word of God does test us. It may say things we don't understand or have trouble accepting. We tend to judge the Bible by our experience instead of judging our experience by the scripture. When you run across scripture that challenges you how do you handle it? Maybe it's something about belief? Or faith? Do you let the Word challenge your heart or do you try to explain it away. For example, the Bible is clear that if we will listen God will talk to us. Does that challenge you to want to learn to hear His voice or do you just fall back on your theology that says God doesn't do that anymore? Your answer to that question has very real ramifications for your life and walk with God.

Don't fight against the Word of God. Take Him at His Word and begin to submit your life to it. You will be glad you did.

"But without faith it is impossible to please [Him], for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him." (Hebrews 11:6)

A Better Covenant

"But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, inasmuch as He is also Mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises. For if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second." (Hebrews 8:6-7)

Hebrews, along with Galatians and Romans, is absolutely critical to our understanding of God's Word -- particularly the relationship between the Old and New Covenants. Trying to mix the two gives us a confusing schizophrenic blend of law and grace. Hebrews 8 talks about Jesus as the mediator of a better covenant that was established on better promises. The comparison here is between the Old Covenant, given through Moses, and the New, established in Jesus Christ. Let's be clear here -- the New is better than the Old and established on better promises. The first covenant was faulty. It sounds almost blasphemous to say that but it's okay -- God said it first.

Why was it faulty? If we keep reading in Hebrews 8 we find that "they did not continue in My covenant." Man couldn't keep his end of the covenant. The covenant was continually being broken. Reading on in Hebrews 8:10 we find that God says, "I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people." The Old Covenant was an external law to be followed but it didn't change the heart. The New is written on our hearts. The Old was based in keeping rules, the New is based in relationship.

In Hebrews 9 we read that Christ came as High priest with the greater and more perfect Tabernacle and not of this creation (9: 11). The elements of the priestly service in the Old Covenant consisted of things made with wordly things. Every element, from the wood and gold to the goats and calves, was part of this creation. But Jesus came from outside of this creation as the perfect sacrificial lamb with the shedding of His own blood. This is critical. The Old Covenant was cut between God and man, who as we have seen, always failed to keep his part. The New Covenant was cut between God and Jesus. God came from outside and entered His creation to bring us redemption. God, literally, cut covenant with Himself. God upholds both ends of the covenant so it cannot be broken. We are partakers of this covenant by faith.

Now that is good news!

"And for this reason He is the Mediator of the new covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance." (Hebrews 9:15)

Right With God

"I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain."" (Galatians 2:21)

Paul makes a very powerful statement here using a negative comparison. If righteousness comes through the law then Christ died in vain. The obvious implication is that righteousness doesn't come through the law, in other words, we are not made right with God by keeping rules. And yet, that's what so many believers base their whole walk and concept of God upon -- keeping rules. God wants me to do this or He doesn't want me to do that. The problem is that there is truth in that belief, it's just misplaced.

Sin is very real and still hurts us. There are very definitely things that God would have us do and things we are not to do. The issue is why. Motivation does matter. I cannot earn my salvation by good works. In Galatians 3:11 Paul goes on to say that "no one is justified by the law in the sight of God."

Jesus didn't die so that we could keep a bunch of rules. He died to bring us into fellowship with God. Using the marriage relationship as a comparison -- there's a very real difference between the man who doesn't cheat on his wife because he's afraid of getting caught and the man who would never do such a thing because he loves his wife. Neither man is cheating on his wife but the first man's attitude is wrong. The law may constrain sin but it doesn't fix the heart. Grace can fix the heart.

God calls us to a love relationship. Ticking off our checklist of do's and don'ts is a poor substitute for the real thing.

"For by grace you have been saved through faith,and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, that no man should boast." (Ephesians 2:8-9)