Category Archives: Matthew

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Weekend Meditation: You Don’t Need No Stinking Proof!

Read: Matthew 16-17

One day the Pharisees and Sadducees came to test Jesus, demanding that he show them a miraculous sign from heaven to prove his authority. He replied, “…Only an evil, adulterous generation would demand a miraculous sign…” (Matthew 16:1 & 4, NLT)

A sign?  They want another sign?  You’ve got to be kidding!

Keep in mind that Jesus had just delivered the demonized daughter of a Syro-Phoenicean woman (Matthew 16:21-28, NLT).  He had just healed scores of people—“the crippled were made well, the lame were walking, and the blind could see again”—in Galilee (Matthew 15:29-31, NLT).  Then to top it off, he had just fed 4,000 men (not including women and children) with seven loaves of bread and a few fish—with seven doggy bags for his disciples afterward (Matthew 15:32-39, NLT).

Now the Pharisees and Sadducees had the gall to ask Jesus to show them a miracle!  As we used to say when I was a kid (for which I was usually reprimanded by my very prim and proper mother), “what did they want, egg in their beer?” What else could Jesus do, raise someone from the dead before their very eyes? (Oh yeah, he’d already done that!)  Come on, did they expect him to die and come back to life again to prove his divine authority? (Oops, guess he did that, too!)

The point is, Jesus has already done plenty to prove himself to anyone who is half interested in who he is.  The Father has done more than enough to authenticate that Jesus is indeed the Son of God—and as such, is worthy to be accepted as Savior and obediently followed as Lord.  The verifiable claim of the Word of God and the clarion witness of the Holy Spirit in our inner being both shout loud and clear that Jesus is Messiah, Son of God, Savior of the world and Lord of the universe!

At some point with Jesus, we need to stop demanding proof for faith and start proving our faith—whether or not we have signs, wonders and miracles to, yet again, excite our trust that Jesus is who he said he is.

Miracles are nice—but our faith doesn’t depend on them for stability.  You’ve got all the proof you need!  So why don’t you prove your faith in Jesus by giving him your trust today!

Have a great weekend!

Pastor Ray

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Why Jesus Is So Annoying

Read: Matthew 15

Then the disciples came to him and asked, “Do you realize you offended the Pharisees by what you just said?” Jesus replied, “Every plant not planted by my heavenly Father will be uprooted, so ignore them. They are blind guides leading the blind, and if one blind person guides another, they will both fall into a ditch.” (Matthew 15:12-14, NLT)

On a fairly regular basis, Jesus got under people’s skin. In fact, he flat out annoyed them—and it didn’t bother him in the least.  He didn’t come to earth to win a popularity contest, he came to get in the way of people’s headlong plunge into hell.  That meant he had to tell them the truth—even if it ruffled their feathers.  By the way, he is still doing that today, and chances are, he’s fixing to ruffle your feathers, too (if he hasn’t already)!

So why is Jesus so annoying?  How come he doesn’t always play nice?  What is it that makes him so willing to irritate sinners and saints—especially saints—alike? I’ve already given the answer, but let me restate it once again:

Jesus is more committed to your holiness than he is concerned about your happiness!

You see, it is holiness that will get you into heaven and keep you out of hell. Now that’s not just my opinion, that’s a direct quote from the Word of God.  Hebrews 12:14 (NLT) very clearly says, “work at living a holy life, for those who are not holy will not see the Lord.”

That’s why Jesus is so willing to get up in your grill and tell it like it is.  He wants you to be holy, just as he is holy.  That’s why he says things that are uncomfortable, that will make you squirm, that are frankly, offensive…things like,

“Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you cannot have eternal life within you.” (John 6:53, NLT)

“You will perish, too, unless you repent of your sins and turn to God.” (Luke 13:3, NLT)

“I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6, NLT)

“Not everyone who calls out to me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter.” (Matthew 7:21, NLT)

“All who love me will do what I say…Anyone who doesn’t love me will not obey me.” (John 14:23-24, NLT)

And on and on the list of Jesus’ annoying sayings goes. Now of course, Jesus is not annoying for annoyance sake.  He says things that make us uncomfortable because he loves us, and wants us to partake of his holiness.  In fact, in the greatest act of love imaginable, he died on the cross so that you and I could enter through his sacrifice into the very holiness that will put us and keep us in right standing with a holy God.  That is called imputed holiness—which Jesus offers as a free gift, received only and completely by grace through faith.

What a deal—Jesus paid the full price for my holiness, and all I have to do is turn to him in full repentance of my sins, full acceptance of his death and resurrection, full surrender to his Lordship over my life, and I am declared holy.  Moreover, I am then declared legally holy because I now stand before God in the holiness of Jesus Christ.

Now there is one more thing: Hebrews 12:14 said we are to “work at living a holy life”.  Since Jesus has graciously done so very much to make us holy, we ought to gladly and thankfully make every effort (this is not about earning, mind you, you can’t earn what you’ve already been freely given) to live a life of complete and utter holiness before God.

Before you groan about this “holiness” thing—truthfully, it’s not such a bad or burdensome deal.  All you really need to do, in light of what has already been done for you, is to gratefully love God will all our heart, mind, and body.  Then once you’ve done that, just do as you like.

But just remember, to keep you loving God as he deserves, expect Jesus to annoy you along the way!

“How little people know who think that holiness is dull. When one meets the real thing…it is irresistible.” ~C.S. Lewis

What If God Took Over?

Augustine said, “love God and do what you want.” Are there things you are doing that betray your love for God?  Why not take a step today to jettison those behaviors or thought patterns from your life?  Start with repentance, then ask for God’s help, and think about confessing your faults to a trusted brother or sister so that you can become accountable for growth in holiness in those particular areas.

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Water-Walking Faith

Read: Matthew 14

“So Peter went over the side of the boat and walked on the water toward Jesus.” (Matthew 14:29, NLT)

No matter where you go in the Bible, you’ll find that memorable stories of faith always involved risky steps of daring obedience. So it is in this story where Peter leaves the other disciples sitting in the relative safety and comfort of their boat, takes a few steps of faith on the water in the middle of a storm, and walks out to meet Jesus, becoming the first person—and only human being that I know of—to literally walk on the water. Peter, a mere mortal, just a common Galilean fisherman, joined Jesus in a very elite club of which there were only two members: The Water Walker Club.

Now this is more than just another one of those incredible Bible stories we read as kids about the superheroes of the faith. This is a story meant to inspire water walking faith in common, ordinary, garden-variety believers. And within this particular story are several important lessons that Peter’s adventure can teach other mere mortals like you and me that we will need to keep in mind when we finally get up the courage to step out of our boat of comfort to take those bold and daring steps of faith to obey God:

First, the wind won’t stop blowing just because you take a step of faith. In fact, the storm may pick up a little. The truth is, faith needs a storm to be faith, or it is not faith. But the great thing about storms is that although Jesus doesn’t promise to keep you from them, he does promise to be with you in them. And in fact, it is the very resistance of the wind in those storms that provides the lift needed for faith to soar. So take that step of faith into the storm and watch what happens.

Second, when you take your step of faith into the raging storm, you will need to remember the one command that God most often gives his people: “Fear not!” Did you know that there are 366 “fear not’s” in the Bible? That is one for every day of the year (including an extra one of leap year). I don’t think that number is by mistake—I think God knew that you and I would need to be reminded every single day not to give into fear. Every single day, including today, God is reminding you to choose faith instead, because fear and faith cannot coexist in those who would be water walkers.

Three, when the storm is raging, your assignment is simply to keep our eyes on Jesus—and just keep walking toward him. “Don’t give up” is another repeated command in the Bible. To join Peter in the water walker club, you will have to make the determination to stay focused on the One who is the Master over the storm—because it is Jesus alone who will see us through.

Is there an area of faith where you are being tempted to give up because you have come into some unexpected and impossible circumstances? That is the perfect condition, my friend, to exercise water walking faith. So don’t give into fear and keep your focus on Jesus, because yet another heroic faith story is about to be written!

In the 1950’s, the name Florence Chadwick was synonymous with championship swimming. She was the first woman to swim the English Channel–both ways. In fact, she did it three times, each time going against the tide.

But one of her distance swims was not so successful. She failed to reach her goal, all because she lost sight of it. Florence had set out on July 4, 1952 to swim the 21 miles from Santa Catalina Island to the California mainland. But on this particular morning, the 34-year-old found the water to be numbingly cold, and the fog was so thick she could hardly see the boats in her envoy, which were along side her to scare away the sharks.

As the hours ticked off, she swam on. Fatigue was never a serious problem…it was the bone-chilling coldness of the icy waters that threatened her. Finally, more than fifteen hours after she started, numbed by the cold, Florence asked to be taken out of the water, unable to go on.

Her mother, in a boat beside her, urged her to go on, as did her trainer. They both knew that the mainland had to be close, very close. Yet Florence quit. She got into the boat and fell short of her goal. The boat traveled just a short distance until the coastline could be seen. Florence had stopped only a half-mile short of the finish. Upon realizing how close she had come, she dejectedly cried, “If I could have seen the shore I would have made it.”

If you are going to be a faith walker…or a water walker…

…Get ready for the storm

…Choose faith over fear

…Keep your eyes on Jesus

…And above all, never give up!

“Let us not get tired of doing what is right, for after a while we will reap a harvest of blessings if we don’t get discouraged and give up.” ~Galatians 6:9 (Living Bible)

What If God Took Over? Pray this prayer today: “Lord, bless me with water-walking faith. Enlarge my capacity to trust you, even in the storms. And let me be used.

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Unbelief

Read: Matthew 13

And so he did only a few miracles there because of their unbelief. (Matthew 13:51, NLT)

I wonder what those “few miracles” were that Jesus performed in his hometown of Nazareth.  Perhaps he healed a couple of headaches or lengthened a shortened leg or two.  But he did none of the sensational stuff that had been getting the attention of the Jews in that day:  Delivering the demonized, healing the lame, opening the ears and eyes of the deaf and blind, and even raising the dead.

What was it that limited either the divine power or the divine will of Jesus, Son of God, Savior and Messiah?  Matthew says it was the unbelief of the folk in his hometown.  They knew Jesus well.  They had been his neighbors, had gone to school with him, had sat next to him in synagogue services.  They had watched him grow up, shared meals with his mom and dad, bought furniture from the carpentry shop he and his father operated. They were so familiar with the Jesus they thought they knew that they missed his unique standing as the one and only Son of God. To paraphrase S.D. Gordon, God was spelling himself out in language that men could understand through Jesus, but the people of Nazareth didn’t bother to open their eyes to the greatest story ever told. Sadly, limited expectations disqualified them from experiencing the very visitation of God that had been the passionate longing of their hearts for generations.

I sure hope that never happens to me—or to you.  I hope that we don’t become so dulled by the ordinary and routine of a daily walk with Jesus that our limited expectations prevent the very Jesus we long for from breaking into our world with the extraordinary.

Stay open to Jesus!  Expect the unexpected in the routine of your daily walk with him. Perhaps God will write a new chapter in the divine romance in plain but extraordinary language through Jesus Christ in your life today!

“Despite our efforts to keep him out, God intrudes. The life of Jesus is bracketed by two impossibilities: ‘a virgin’s womb and an empty tomb’. Jesus entered our world through a door marked, ‘No Entrance’ and left through a door marked ‘No Exit.’” ~Peter Larson

What If God Took Over?

Offer this prayer to the Father:  “God, I believe—now help my unbelief!”

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100 Proof

Read: Matthew 12

“And his name will be the hope of all the world.” (Matthew 12:21, NLT)

Real hope—that’s what the world needs. People don’t need the empty promises of politicians, not the temporary security of material and monetary gain, not the momentary pleasure fix guaranteed by popular culture, they need the true, indestructible and joy-producing hope that comes only from knowing that the past is forgiven, the present is secure, and the future has been settled in advance.  To be truly secure and fully satisfied in life, people need to know that no failures from the past will come back to haunt them, that the Divine hand will guide them in their every waking moment, and that when life is finally over, there is no doubt where they will spend the rest of eternity.

There is only One who can produce that kind of hope: Jesus Christ.

Jesus is the one true hope of all the world!  So if that is true, how can the world experience the true and lasting hope offered in his name?  Through the best expression of Jesus Christ present in this world today: The church.  The church—boldly proclaiming his story, obediently and lovingly living out his commands in harmonious community, engaging the world on its turf—is the only compelling and transforming force that can provide a glimpse of what a loving God looks like.

In that sense, the church is the only hope of the world.  Since Jesus doesn’t live on Planet Earth anymore, except through his spiritual family—the body of Christ—the church must now represent that one, true hope to a lost world grasping at salvation.  Wherever a church exists, it carries the title of the “last and best hope” of that local community.

But what is the church except a collection of individual believers who disperse from their sacred gathering to represent the Lord of the church in their homes, neighborhoods, schools, places of social gathering and in the marketplace where they make a living.  In that sense, then, it is the individual believer who takes on the role as “the only hope of the world.” As the Apostle Paul said in Colossians 1:26-27 (CEV),

“For ages and ages this message was kept secret from everyone, but now it has been explained to God’s people. God did this because he wanted you Gentiles to understand his wonderful and glorious mystery. And the mystery is that Christ lives in you, and he is your hope of sharing in God’s glory.”

“Christ in you, the hope of glory!” Jesus Christ—the only hope of the world, expressed as the church, made up of people like us—you and me.  Now think about that as you go about your business today:  You are the living proof of a loving God to a lost world.

Just make sure you’re 100-proof!

Christ has no body but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which he looks
Compassion on this world,
Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good,
Yours are the hands, with which he blesses all the world.
Yours are the hands, yours are the feet,
Yours are the eyes, you are his body.
Christ has no body now but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which he looks
Compassion on this world.
Christ has no body now on earth but yours.
~Teresa of Avila

What If God Took Over?

No one else will represent Jesus to the world today.  Tag—you’re it!

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Only God Can Do That

Read: Matthew 11

At that time Jesus said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned, and revealed them to little children.” (Matthew 11:25)

At that time Jesus said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned, and revealed them to little children.” (Matthew 11:25)

Less than twenty-four hours ago*, I saw something that makes no sense—except in God’s economy.  I stood in a twenty-by-fifteen foot building in a rural village in Ethiopia. It was a church, made out of mud and sticks. The back wall was nothing more than a ratty and ripped plastic tarp.  There were perhaps twenty people there when I walked in, most of them were under the age of 15, obviously very poor, and they were worshipping Jesus with such a passion that I rarely witness in my own country—or my own life.

One of the most amazing things about this rag-tag fellowship was that it was only five months old in the Lord.  Five months—and the joy in their hearts and the praise that flowed from their lips was at once profoundly moving yet at the same time deeply convicting as it revealed a spiritual lassitude in my own walk with Jesus.

Yet, even more amazing than the vibrancy of this young congregation was the horrible ordeal they had just endured.  Just thirty days prior, the Ethiopian pastor who planted this church was shot and killed by an enraged husband upset over his wife’s conversion to Christ.  The beloved shepherd of this fledgling flock, Gire Daba, was martyred for his faithful witness, leaving an infant congregation to makes its way in a hostile community.

Gire Daba’s Widow

In the small, dark sanctuary sitting among the worshippers was Pastor Gire’s widow.  A mother of four and seven months pregnant with her fifth child, this grief-stricken woman had decided to stay within the very village where her husband gave his life to make a new life for her family.  I and the team that traveled with me prayed over her, asking God to take what Satan had meant for evil and turn it into something outrageously good.  After we were done, she simply thanked us for our prayer and our pledge of support.

Sitting less that ten feet away was the wife whose husband was now in jail for murdering Pastor Daba.  Like Gire’s widow, she now has no means of support, not to mention an unbearable load of shame for her husband’s despicable act.

Wife of Gire Daba’s Murderer

When she surrendered her heart to Jesus, her husband savagely beat her in order to force her to recant her newfound faith.  She refused, saying, “I cannot deny him—I love Jesus now!” We prayed with this young woman as well, asking God to turn her husband’s evil act into a testimony of grace in her life.  We prayed that rather than living under the shame of her husband’s awful crime, that she would be embraced by her new church family—including Gire Daba’s widow—and that this act of forgiveness, acceptance and reconciliation would be an irresistible testimony in the community.

Unbridled joy, heart-healing forgiveness, open-armed fellowship—only God can do that!  It makes no sense apart from God; it cannot happen apart from a powerful work of the Holy Spirit.  And only child-like faith can embrace something so humanly illogical!  The wise and learned of this world recoil at the notion of a widow embracing the wife of his murderer—but among those to whom God has revealed the kingdom, even so mind-boggling as this becomes a sign of his presence and a token of his grace.

Only God can do that!

“How naturally does affliction make us Christian!” ~William Cowper

*This blog was written while I was in Ethiopia on April 5, 2011.

What If God Took Over?

Ask God to give you a child-like faith that opens your heart and mind to the mystifying ways and means of his kingdom.

 

 

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Congratulations! You Will Be Persecuted

Read: Matthew 10

“Students are not greater than their teacher, and slaves are not greater than their master. Students are to be like their teacher, and slaves are to be like their master. And since I, the master of the household, have been called the prince of demons, the members of my household will be called by even worse names!” (Matthew 10:24-25)

I just received an email not more than an hour ago from my church planting partner in Ethiopia.  It was a request for prayer because sixteen Christian churches had been burned to the ground by Muslim’s who don’t like us. Twelve homes of believers had also be burned, and two of our brothers and sisters had been killed.  Why?  Simply because their crime was Christ!

“If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first.” (John 15:18-19)

Obviously, we don’t see much persecution here in the United States, not of that variety, anyway, and not yet, although we may not be that far away from it.  Yet according to the World Evangelical Alliance, over 200 million Christians in at least 60 countries are denied fundamental human rights solely because of their faith. The International Bulletin of Missionary Research reported in 2009 that approximately 176,000 Christians around the world were martyred during the previous year.

Notice Jesus’ words in verse 23: “when you are persecuted…” He didn’t say “if” but “when”.  Persecution is happening right now, and it will continue with increasing regularity and intensity right up until the time he returns to set things right on Planet Earth.  Of course, we should not meet that eventuality with passive acceptance—we need to use every means possible to appeal to our governments to protect us, we should pray for peace (I Timothy 2:2) and by all means, we should be praying regularly for the persecuted church.

Burned Ethiopian Church

But on another level, we are “to rejoice and be glad” when we are persecuted. (Matthew 5:12)  We are not to retaliate like an unbeliever.  We are not to sulk like a punished child. We are not to lick our wounds in self-pity and hunker down like a dog. We are not just to grin and bear it like a Stoic. We are not to pretend to enjoy it as a hyper-spiritual masochist.  No, we are to “rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven.” (Luke 6:23)

We can leap for joy knowing that if we lose everything on earth—even our lives—we will inherit everything in heaven.  We can leap for joy knowing persecution is our certificate of Christian authenticity, since the persecuted simply belong to a noble succession, “for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” (Matthew 5:12)  But mostly we can leap for joy knowing that we are suffering on his account. When we can grasp the nobility of suffering for the cause of Christ, we can be like the Apostles in Acts 5:41, who, having been beaten and threatened by the Sanhedrin,

“Left the council, rejoicing because they had been counted
worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name.”

They had learned what I hope I can learn—and you, too: Wounds in Christ’s cause are our medal of honor!

“Suffering then, is the badge of true discipleship.  The disciple is not above his master.  Following Christ means … suffering because we have to suffer … Discipleship means allegiance to the suffering Christ, and it is therefore not at all surprising that Christians should be called upon to suffer. In fact, it is a joy and a token of his grace.” ~Dietrich Bonhoeffer

What If God Took Over?

Take a moment to pray for the persecuted church.