Read Matthew 20

“Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant,
and whoever wants to be first must be your slave — just as
the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve,
and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
(Matthew 20:26-28)

Thoughts… Now that’s not something you hear everyday from the CEO of a major corporation. You most likely will never hear the boss tell you that the way to the top of your company’s org chart is by humbling yourself and giving your life as the servant of all.

Yet that is the upside down logic of the Kingdom of God. Jesus said the surest way to greatness is by way of descent—you’ve got to lower yourself into it. And that’s not something Jesus just preached; it’s what he practiced. Serving was the core value of his very existence and the primary purpose of his coming.

Jesus understood, modeled and taught that greatness, as well as a whole host of other Kingdom values, came only by authentic humility and willing servanthood. C.S. Lewis described it this way: “Jesus descends to re-ascend.” Paul, in Philippians 2:5-11, said,

“Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

Paul says the secret to spiritual authenticity and Christian greatness is to adopt the attitude of Jesus; to make his mindset our mindset. Verse 5 says, “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus…” What was that mindset? Verse 7 says Jesus “made himself nothing.” Literally, when he left heaven and was born into humanity, he emptied himself.

Emptied himself of what? Not of his Divine identity, of course. Jesus the man was always God. Take that away and our faith is no more useful than any other religion. Jesus emptied himself of his Divine prerogatives. He lowered himself to human status. And if that weren’t low enough, he descended further into the role of servant to all mankind. Really, the term “servant” is too clean! He literally became a bond-slave: one without rights or privileges of his own.

This amazing Jesus who crafted the solar systems with ease, stooped to learn a trade in his father’s carpentry shop. The Sovereign Lord whom all creation worships donned a servant’s towel, stooping to wash the feet of those who should have washed his. This incredible Jesus, ruler of all mankind, stooped to the humiliation of the cross to pay for sins that should have nailed you and me there! He emptied himself of his Divine prerogatives to become a slave to redeem us from our slavery to sin and death.

So Paul says that if we have grasped the love of God and the grace of our Lord Jesus and the work of the Spirit in the least, then we will understand that at the very least, our duty is to think like Jesus thought, to serve like Jesus served, and to live as Jesus would if he were living in our place.

Jesus came to serve, not to be served, and to give his life away. That is your call, too.

It is said that a western tourist visiting India observed Mother Teresa stoop down and hold a dying leper in her arms. The tourist disgustedly commented, “I wouldn’t do that for a million dollars!”

Mother Teresa looked up at the visitor and said, “Neither would I.”

That’s the kind of stooping servanthood that is eternally celebrated by heaven. and it is the pathway to greatness in God’s Kingdom.

I hope you will make the descent into greatness this week!

Happy stooping!

Prayer… Lord Jesus, transform me into your character. You were a servant, make me one too. Do whatever it takes, O Lord, to make me, both in attitude and behavior, exactly like you.

One More Thing… “A Christian is a perfectly free lord of all, subject to none. A Christian is a perfectly dutiful servant of all, subject…to all.” —Martin Luther

Read Matthew 19:16-30

“Jesus said to him, ‘If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you
have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in
heaven; and come, follow Me.’ But when the young
man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful,
for he had great possessions.”
(Matthew 19:21-22)

Thoughts… The rich young ruler had a real problem: His whole belief system was fundamentally flawed. He had three very common, but deadly serious misconceptions as it related to money, wealth and happiness. On this particular day, he got into a dangerous conversation with Jesus, and like a skilled surgeon, the Lord cut into these misguided beliefs and laid bare the young man’s flawed thinking.

The first flaw was a misguided belief about security. The young man misunderstood what it would take to give him that basic sense of wellbeing that every human being desires. He believed that his good works would earn him favor with God, which he hoped Jesus would affirm when he asked the question in verse 17: “What must I do to inherit eternal life?”

So Jesus rattles off five of the Ten Commandments and says, “here’s a starting point.” Why only five; why these five? These five rules were very measurable, and Jesus knew this young man would equate them with the good works needed to feel secure.

Notice in verse 20 the guy’s starting to feel proud and justified: “All these I have kept since I was a boy.” But here’s the thing about good works: You can never do enough. You always feel you need to do more.

Notice the irony. This rich young ruler is feeling good about himself and wants Jesus to justify his lifestyle, but he forgets the reason that drew him to Jesus in the first place: He’s empty inside, and doing these good things still isn’t enough.

Jesus is trying to help this young man to see that the very law that he was so proud of keeping was in reality meant to show that no matter how hard you tried to keep it, you could never measure up, and that was the reason for his insecurity.

You have probably noticed by now that Jesus didn’t list out the first 4 Commandments — the one’s that have to do with loving God? That’s the real issue here. If you do really well in these measurable areas of the law, and yet fall short in this not so measurable area of wholeheartedly loving God, then you have truly failed and will feel far more miserable. Why? Because if you fail at this one, you’ve failed in keeping the whole Law.

That’s why we are told in verse 22 that this young man went away sad. Not just because he’s rich and doesn’t want to part with his possessions, but mainly because he’s failed at the very thing he thought he so good at: Keeping the law, and in doing so, having a life that is pleasing to God.

Jesus has pulled back the curtain on this guy’s life, revealing that in reality, he’s a law-breaker. He’s stumbled at the most basic law—the very first one: Loving God perfectly.

Did you also notice that Jesus left off the Tenth Commandment, “You shall not covet”? Again, what Jesus didn’t say would have been deafening to this young man. What he had earned—the wealth he had gained, the stuff he had accumulated—had become his god. And when Jesus challenged him to give it up, an arrow went right to the heart of the issue of coveting.

The second flaw was a misguided belief about salvation. It was the classic mistake of thinking that what I do will save me: “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” Notice the emphasis is on I: What must I do. So many people stumble at this point of salvation by grace through faith, not works.

When you ask churchgoers about eternal life, what a high percentage of them will say will be no different than the rich young ruler: They believe being good and doing good will earn them salvation. But salvation by grace through faith is not about anything you can do—you cannot do enough! Never! It’s all about what Jesus has done! That’s grace: He did for you what you can never do in a million years for yourself! The only thing you can do is humbly accept this gift!

The third misguided belief is about satisfaction. The flaw was his thinking that what he had would satisfy him. It’s another irony in this story: The things he depended on for happiness are the very things that have left him so empty, yet he’s still addicted to them.

Did you see what Jesus’ antidote for his emptiness was? “Give to the poor, come follow me.” (verse 21) Jesus is challenging him to re-prioritize his life if he wants to be happy. Priority #1 must be to love God first—“follow me.” And priority #2 is a close second: love people before loving his possessions—“give to the poor.”

Jesus challenges him to totally surrender his priorities. And that’s really what this conversation is all about—a call for the total surrender of our priorities to God. If you hang around with Jesus long enough, he’ll challenge you in the same way. He’ll call you to…

Surrender your financial security…in exchange for eternal security.

Surrender your need for the approval of people…in exchange for God’s favor.

Surrender your relationships…in exchange for intimacy with the God of the universe.

Surrender all your priorities…in exchange for peace that passes all understanding.

Surrender your life—your comfort, your lifestyle, your things, your goals…in exchange for the unimaginable, incomparable blessings of God.

The rich young ruler was looking for satisfaction—Jesus showed him that it only comes through surrender.

Jesus invites you to do the same: Surrender everything to him, and by so doing, find everything your heart desires in him.

Prayer… Lord, in all likelihood, I am more like this rich young ruler than I realize. Money and material possessions are more important to me than I care to admit. I, too, have been sucked into the deception that stuff will make be happy. Deliver me, I pray. Help me to truly and fully love you and use my stuff to honor you.

One More Thing… “Man should not consider his material possession his own, but as common to all, so as to share them without hesitation when others are in need.” —Saint Thomas Aquinas

Read Matthew 19

“Then Jesus said to His disciples, ‘Assuredly, I say to you that it
is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.’”
(Matthew 19:23)

Thoughts… When you read the entire story in Matthew 19:16-30 of Jesus conversation with the rich, young ruler, you’ll notice that twice Jesus said how hard it is for the rich to enter the Kingdom of God…as hard as it would be for a camel to slip through the eye of a needle! Now that’s both intriguing, and because of our culturally accepted belief that money will make you happy, it more than a little intimidating!

Over the years, I’ve heard this explained by referring to a gate in ancient Jerusalem called the “Eye of the Needle”. This gate was designed so pedestrians could use it, but not marauding bandits on their camels. The only way a camel could get through this “Eye of the Needle” gate was to be unloaded and crawl through on its knees. The spiritual lesson is clear: The camel could go through the gate, but only after being stripped of its baggage—its wealth!

The only problem with this interpretation is that it’s not true! There is absolutely no archaeological or historical evidence for the existence of such a gate. That “interpretation” is simply a case of trying to make Christ’s words fit our own concept of what he meant. Jesus clearly says that it would be easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle. Can this be done? Of course not! That’s the whole point!

Yet people have tried in vain to make it happen. Some have suggested that there’s a misprint in the Greek. The Greek word kamelos, meaning “camel” should really be kamilos, meaning “cable” or “rope”. Others suggest this was an Aramaic play on words, since kamelos and the Aramaic kalma, which means “vermin” or “louse”, are so similar. Okay, try threading a rope through a needle. Try nudging a gnat through the eye of a needle. It’s still impossible…even with WD40!

All this theological maneuvering is ridiculous—and unnecessary. Jesus was using hyperbole, just like in Matthew 7 when he speaks of the “plank” being in your eye while trying to remove the “splinter” in a brother’s eye. No serious theologian would claim that Jesus really meant a toothpick, not a 2×4. Everyone understands that this was exaggeration for effect. In Babylon, where portions of the Jewish Talmud were written, since the elephant was the largest animal, it was substituted for “camel” to make this kind of point.

So this hyperbole in Matthew 19 is easily explained: A camel was Israel’s largest animal, and contrasted with the smallness of a needle’s eye shows the impossibility of squeezing the former through the latter.

Why such great efforts to make palatable what Christ “really meant”? Is it because we secretly — or even openly—desire wealth and don’t want biblical restrictions getting in the way of what we want? Just in case we inherit big bucks from Uncle Jeb when he croaks, or make a ton of dough in business, we don’t want any spiritual stigma attached to our money!

Now if this conversation bothers you a little, you’re in good company because it bothered the disciples, too. They were so shaken they asked, “Who then can be saved?” They were unnerved because popular Jewish thought had it that wealth and prosperity were a sign of God’s blessing.

Here’s the deal: Wealth itself isn’t the problem. It’s our attitude toward it…our over-dependence on it! This is really a very simple thing Jesus is saying: Through your own efforts, you cannot be saved. The wealthy cannot be saved through money—nor can one be saved by skills, talents, intellect, good looks—or even by living a good life!

Wealth is not the overriding issue here. As you can see, it would be just as dangerous for an underprivileged person to think that his poverty gave him spiritual piety and eternal favor.

In truth, anything can lead us from the path of righteousness: Not only wealth, but drink, food, television, leisure, entertainment, or any number of things available to us in this world.

In II Timothy 4:10, Paul writes, “Demas has forsaken me, having loved this present world.” What caused this close friend and ministry companion, Demas, to leave Paul and walk away from Christ? He loved the world; the particulars aren’t divulged.

Whatever it was, the simple fact is that a camel cannot go through the eye of a needle, and someone who loves the world more than God, whether rich or poor, forfeits the approval of God.

I John 2:15-17 says, “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world–the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does–comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.”

The point is that we do not achieve salvation through our own efforts, nor can we gain lasting security and satisfaction by worldly means; it is from God alone.

So the real issue Jesus is addressing—back then and right now—is about priorities, not possessions. He isn’t teaching that wealth is wrong… it’s not money that’s evil…it’s the love of money that’s at the root of all kinds of evil.

Jesus’ real concern is this: What possesses us—not what we possess.

I’ll have more to say about this story tomorrow–hope you will come back!

Prayer… Dear God, I want you to possess all of me. Deliver me from the deceitfulness of wealth…or any other thing that I have substituted for you to bring me happiness and security. Bring me to that place where I am ready to let it all go in obedience and devotion to you should you ask.

One More Thing… “Money is like muck, not good except it be spread.” —Francis Bacon

Read Matthew 18

“Moreover, if your brother sins against you, go and tell him
his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you,
you have gained your brother.”
(Matthew 18:15)

Thoughts… Jesus understood that one of the greatest threats to life in Kingdom would be disharmony in the family of God. Conflicts between brothers and sisters in Christ could potentially derail God’s purposes in the local fellowship and give Satan the upper hand if they weren’t handled properly.

So he provided his twelve disciples—and by extension, followers in every age, including you and me—a template for conflict resolution.

To resolve a conflict with a God-honoring outcome, the most foundational and critical principle that must be followed comes from the first part of Christ’s words: “If a brother sins against you.” The offended party must assess whether the offense was truly a sin, or if it was simply an act that irritated or violated their personal preferences.

In my experience facilitating conflict resolution over the years, much of what people find offensive never rises to the level of a sin that needs to be confronted. In these cases, the offended party was, in reality, the culprit, and simply needed to grow thicker skin, develop greater tolerance, and/or learn to more effectively communicate their upset with the offender with grace and love.

Another essential to conflict resolution, once it has been determined that the offense was indeed the result of a sin, is to do it privately, just between the two parties. Many people are far too trigger happy at this point, going right to group involvement rather than first going privately to the individual. If you have not addressed your hurt with the offender, do not take it to others and try to get them on your side. That kind of action will not be honored by God, and it will not produce reconciliation.

Jesus does provide a clause by which others should be drawn into the dispute in verses 16-20. These participants should be godly and objective representatives of Christ’s church (not necessarily church officials—simply mature Christians). Christ himself has placed his mantle of authority on this group to settle the dispute and if needs be, administer discipline to an unrepentant brother or sister—discipline that will stand up even in the courts of heaven.

And a final essential to conflict resolution is that the desired outcome it restoration. Jesus said, “If he hears you, you have gained a brother.” Unfortunately, some people believe that getting what they want is the goal. It is not. Resolving the dispute, forgiving the offence, restoring the relationship, and preserving the harmony of the church is what is most honoring to God.

Conflict is an unavoidable fact of life—in general and in the family of God. It can either be a cause for fractured relationships and deep hurt, or it can be an opportunity for personal, relational growth, spiritual and Kingdom growth.

Though not always easy, if we simply follow Christ’s template for conflict resolution, we will experience the latter.

Prayer… Father God, teach me to so absorb these principles of conflict resolution that I will be highly skilled in one of the greatest areas of need in your family—restoration of bruised and broken relationships. Use me today to bring peace, forgiveness and harmony to your church.

One More Thing… “Snowflakes are frail, but if enough of them get together they can stop traffic.” —Vance Havner

Read Matthew 17

“Now as they came down from the mountain,
Jesus commanded them …”
(Matthew 17:9)

Thoughts… We love mountaintop experiences; “spiritual highs” — experiences so wonderful that we never want to lose the good feeling of their warm afterglow. Like the good feelings we had at the moment of salvation, or an ecstatic encounter with the Holy Spirit, or when we cried our eyes out at the altar during summer youth camp, or at a revival meeting when God’s presence seemed so thick you could slice it.

The problem with those kinds of experiences is that we tend to fixate on them, and then rate the rest of our Christian walk against them. Unfortunately, nothing can quite live up to the warm fuzzies of a mountaintop high.

We love to stay on the mountaintop with Jesus, Moses, and Elijah. It feels good! Going back down the mountain is way overrated.

But following Jesus always means we have to “come down from the mountain to do as he commands.” We have to leave the sanctuary, the worship service, the warm incubator of our small group Bible study and get back into the game of extending the Kingdom to those who don’t know Jesus yet.

Jesus took Peter, James, and John to high mountain where he was transfigured—literally, morphed—right before their eyes. And not only that, two of Israel’s greatest prophets appeared before them—Moses and Elijah. Predictably, Peter suggested what the other two disciples were thinking: “Lord, it is good for us to be here; if You wish, let us make here three [shelters]: one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”

Who wouldn’t want to stay there! I would. I would want to can that spiritual experience and pull it back out of the can everyone once in a while—okay, a lot—to enjoy the moment of that “spiritual high” all over again.

Here’s the deal: God never intends for us to fixate on “spiritual highs”; they are meant for fuel to empower us for some spiritual assignment. Jesus didn’t have this encounter with Moses and Elijah just so he could feel special. Luke 9:31 says that these two Old Testament prophets came to encourage him about his upcoming departure—literally, in the original text, his “exodus.” Jesus was about to face the greatest assignment of all—the cross. This mountaintop experience was meant as fuel for his impending death for the sins of the world.

I am not down on “spiritual highs.” They are wonderful, and necessary. Just don’t fixate on them. Resist the urge to erect a shelter and live in their warm afterglow. Don’t rate the rest of your Christian experience against them. Simply see them for what they are: fuel for the assignment ahead.

Then get off the mountain and back in the game. Get out there and give ‘em heaven!

Prayer… Father, as I begin this day, empower me with a fresh encounter with the Holy Spirit so that I might be ready and able to extend your purposes in this world through my life.

One More Thing… “Serve God by doing common actions in a heavenly spirit, and then, if your daily calling only leaves you cracks and crevices of time, fill them up with holy service.” —Charles Spurgeon

Read Matthew 16

“Then Jesus said to his disciples, ‘If anyone would come
after me, he must deny himself and take
up his cross and follow me.’”
(Matthew 16:24)

Thoughts… Does Christ’s call to discipleship seem a little extreme in comparison to the “easy believism” that passes for discipleship today? You will likely hear a lot more about a life of comfort, security and success these days from spiritual leaders than straight talk on self-denial and cross bearing.

Jesus made no of promises of an easy, breezy, carefree Christianity. Rather, he demanded complete obedience, costly sacrifice, and selfless servanthood from those who would follow him. He told them that they would have to eat his flesh and drink his blood if they wanted a part in him. He said people would hate them, misunderstand them, reject them, persecute them, and put them out of the synagogues. And he even promised that people would kill them, believing that in so doing they were helping God out.

Yet the eleven disciples (one of them, Judas, got cold feet) fully bought into Christ’s call to costly discipleship. They left everything they had and everything they knew for a life that promised nothing except a chance to advance God’s kingdom in a resistant, hostile world. They fully understood that the overwhelming bulk of their rewards would come only afterwards, in the afterlife.

And, despite Christ’s less than appealing recruitment campaign, these first disciples, followed in the years to come by countless thousands of other hungry seekers, flocked to this self-denying, cross-bearing brand of Christianity. Jesus was a tough act to follow, to say the least, but these disciples eagerly signed up—and they changed the world.

How? Simply by doing what Jesus had asked: They denied themselves, took up their crosses, and laid down their lives for his sake. Without a political voice, financial resources, social standing, and military might, this unlikely ragtag band of followers conquered the Roman Empire in less than three hundred years.

Such was the radical power of this brand of fully committed discipleship.

Do you worry, as I do, that Christ’s call to costly discipleship would empty most churches of its people in our day. Though most believers give mental assent to cross-bearing and self-denial, in reality there is very little evidence of it in their lives, or in their churches.

If Jesus rebuked Peter (verse 23) — “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men” — for suggesting Christianity without a cross (verse 24), what do you suppose he would say to us who have suggested Christian discipleship without cross-bearing?

Dietrich Bonhoeffer once remarked, “Christianity without discipleship is always Christianity without Christ.” We need to remind ourselves of that truth, because you likely won’t hear it from too many pulpits today. A.W. Tozer commented that “it has become popular to preach a painless Christianity and automatic saintliness. It has become part of our ‘instant’ culture. ‘Just pour a little water on it, stir mildly, pick up a gospel tract, and you are on your Christian way.’”

We must aggressively and boldly reject that brand of faith, because that is not the discipleship to which Jesus has called us. And that is not the discipleship that I want for my life.

How about you?

Prayer… Jesus, though my flesh from the inside and my culture from the outside are constantly calling me along the path of easy spirituality, deep in my heart I want to take up my cross and follow you. Enable me by your indwelling Spirit to die to myself so that I might live unto you.

One More Thing… “Salvation is free … but discipleship will cost you your life.” —Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Read Matthew 15

“You have made the commandment of God of
no effect by your tradition.”
(Matthew 15:6)

Thoughts… Tradition gets a bad rap in Christian circles these days. Much of modern, so-called “seeker-sensitive” spirituality has pretty much done away with anything that smacks of tradition.

But not all of tradition is bad–if, that is, it brings us into a more intimate relationship with God, a better understanding of his will, and a fuller obedience of his Word.

Having said that, I must add that the reason modern Christianity is down on tradition is that, unfortunately, in many churches and denominations, tradition has done what Jesus warned against: Nullifying the Word of God.

That is the kind of tradition we must be careful to avoid.

Anything that gets in the way of seekers experiencing the reality of a God who loves them so much that he allowed his Son to be sacrificed for their sins; anything that keeps believers from walking more deeply in an intimate relationship with Jesus Christ; anything than stands as an obstacle into the presence of the God who has gone out of his way to remove all barriers to peace with him must be seriously looked at and, if those traditions have indeed become barriers to belief, they must be removed.

What traditions am I talking about? I don’t know—you tell me.

Perhaps it has to do with style of music, of appropriate worship attire, or a preferred version of the Bible, or how you do communion. It could be any number of things that in themselves may not be wrong, but because they have been elevated to a status that in all reality, is treated as worthy of worship, they have become mindsets and practices that have nullified the Word of God.

Take a hard look at your traditions, and the traditions of your fellowship. And if you find a sacred cow, it may be time to heat up the barbecue.

Be wise. Be prayerful. Be careful. And enjoy the burnt offering.

Prayer… Lord, keep me from the sin of elevating my preferences to worship-worthy status. May your Word never be nullified by my traditions. Keep my worship fresh, my relationship with you vital and my obedience lovingly alive all the days of my life.

One More Thing… “To do things today exactly the way you did them yesterday saves thinking.” —Thomas Woodrow Wilson