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Easier, Quicker, Better—and Wrong!

5×5×5 Bible Plan

Read: Mark 8
Meditation: Mark 8:33

But when Jesus had turned around and looked at His disciples, He rebuked Peter, saying, “Get behind Me, Satan! For you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.”

Shift Your Focus… What a dramatic moment this must have been for the disciples—especially Peter. Jesus had just asked the disciples this question, “Who do people say that I am?”

And Peter’s simple yet profound prophetic response was one for the ages: “You are the Christ!” (Mark 8:27-30)

But when Jesus began to speak of his impending sacrificial death, Peter didn’t like it one bit, so he began to rebuke Jesus. How could one who was to be “Christ” suffer and die? This certainly wasn’t in line with God’s will, Peter thought. Peter had an entirely different definition for what it meant to be “Christ”, and a far better agenda than the one Jesus was suggesting.

That’s when Jesus turned on Peter and gave him the spiritual smack-down of all smack-downs. Anyone who reads these dramatic words — “Get behind me, Satan” — certainly must think, “Wow! Glad that wasn’t me!”

It was then that Jesus went on to talk about the cost of discipleship. True discipleship requires one to jettison his own agenda — “let him deny himself”; commit to God’s agenda — “take up his cross”; and make daily, continual obedience his highest priority — “and follow Me.” (Mark 8:34)

As dramatic as this rebuke seems in print, however, may I suggest that perhaps it wasn’t as focused on Peter as we might think. When you look at the context, what you see is that Jesus wasn’t so much upset with Peter, the person, as with Peter’s misguided agenda. You see, Peter’s plan would have taken Jesus off the Father’s mission. It was the easer, smarter, less painful path, but as Jesus said, it was “not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.” (Mark 8:33).

In a sense, we really were there when Jesus uttered that rebuke. We were not only there — we were Peter! How so? Haven’t we, too, been the tool of Satan in desiring the things of men rather than the things of God. How often have we preferred our way — the easier, cheaper, quicker, pain-free way — to discipleship rather than the way of the cross? How often has the essence of our prayers, if not our desires, been, “not your will but mine be done”?

Peter took the brunt of Christ’s rebuke that day—but he did so as the representative head of a class of spiritual dunderheads of which you and I are members.

Peter ultimately got his spiritual act together, and so can we. What it requires, however, is that we get the things of God rather than the things of men in our view-finder, and keep our sights there.

“No pain, no palm; no thorns, no throne; no gall, no glory; no cross, no crown.” ~William Penn

Prayer… Lord, deliver me from the Evil One, who would lure me onto the easier, quicker, pain-free path of the things of men.  May your will be done—not mine.  May your kingdom come today in my life, just as it is done in heaven.

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Not Impressed!

5×5×5 Bible Plan

Read: Mark 7
Meditation: Mark 7:6-8

Jesus answered and said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ For laying aside the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men…”

Shift Your Focus… As Jesus began to preach and minister the Kingdom of God, conflict with the Pharisees, religious leaders and other “stakeholders” in traditional Judaism increased dramatically. They didn’t like the fact that Jesus wasn’t holding to their traditions at all—and Jesus wasn’t intimidated by their pressure to conform.

In this particular conflict, they were upset that his disciples didn’t go through ritual washing before eating. This was just one of many “violations” that upset them. When they questioned Jesus about it, he let loose a holy tirade against their ridiculous traditions. In dressing down these leaders, we see something of what is truly irksome to God: Shallow, hypocritical, spiritually incongruent religiosity. Jeremy Taylor writes,

“The Pharisees minded what God spoke, but not what He intended…They were busy in the outward work of the hand, but incurious of the affections and choice of the heart. So God was served in the letter, they did not much inquire into His purpose; and therefore they were curious to wash their hands, but cared not to purify their hearts.”

God wasn’t impressed with the Pharisees, nor is he impressed with your rituals; he wants to be in relationship with you. Holding onto tradition for the sake of tradition is meaningless to God; he wants your acts of worship to be authentic. Lips that affirm one thing but a heart that holds to something else is completely odious to God—be very alert to that.

God desires integrity in our behavior, intimacy in our walk with him, and authenticity in our worship practices. Spirituality devoid of integrity, intimacy, and authenticity is even more repulsive to God than people who know they are sinners and don’t try to hide the fact.

Now there is an obvious application to this particular reading: God wants your heart. And he wants the heart you offer him to be pure. But let me suggest a riskier application of this text, as well as all the other accounts of Jesus’ confrontations with the Pharisees: Rather than reading them and feeling a sense of spiritual justification, why not read yourself into the story as one of the Pharisees. You see, the longer you are in the faith, the greater the likelihood that you will slip into some of the very practices God found so odious in the religious establishment of Jesus’ day.

Whatever it takes, keep your relationship with God fresh and vital!

“The Pharisees are not all dead yet, and are not all Jews.”  —John McClintock

Prayer… Lord, keep me close to you.  Don’t let my heart ever grow insensitive.  Keep me tender and constantly, passionately pursuing a loving relationship with you.

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Tying God’s Hands

5×5×5 Bible Plan

Read: Mark 6
Meditation: Mark 6:5-6

Jesus could do no mighty work there, except that He laid His hands on a few sick people and healed them. And He marveled because of their unbelief.

Shift Your Focus… This is one of the most amazing texts in the entire Bible. Jesus, the second person of the Trinity, the visible image of the invisible God; the one who existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation; the one through whom God created everything in the heaven and on earth, the things we can see and the things we can’t see—thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world; the one by whom all creation is held together (Colossians 1:15-17)…

This Jesus who had raised the dead, healed the sick, delivered the demonized, fed the five thousand, and walked on water, could do no mighty works in his own town because of the unbelief of the people who knew him.

And even he—the one who had seen it all—was amazed by their unbelief. I would dare say it must take an awful lot to stump Jesus!

What is the one thing Jesus can’t do? Violate a person’s willful unbelief, that’s what. He will help a person’s humble admission of unbelief (Mark 9:14-25), but he will not impose his Lordship on someone’s refusal to give him a chance.

Now before we get all huffy about Jesus’ neighbors, do you think we sometimes do that with Jesus, too? Haven’t we seen his glory; haven’t we tasted his goodness; haven’t we been touched by his love and grace and power, yet we still question his right of Lordship over our lives?  You might say, “but I don’t do that!” Yes you do—so do I!  How? We do that when we give in to doubt, worry, fear, depression, anger—or engage in any number of other self-medicating, self-destructive acts—overspending, overeating, oversleeping, over-talking, over-sharing, over-indulging, sexually addictive behaviors, substance abuse…

Why would we surrender to any of those harmful and deceptive things when we have seen and touched the power and glory of the Lord Jesus Christ? Truthfully, I don’t know why we would. Sometimes my own propensity to resist Christ’s loving Lordship amazes me.

Here’s what I do know: If we will take an honest look at where we are resisting Jesus’ right to rule over us—both passively and willfully—and come to him with a humble request that he help our unbelief, even that crack in the door will be enough for him to do his mighty works in our lives.

Otherwise, you will be tying God’s hands. And that will amaze even him—and not in a good way. So offer him instead your humble, simple faith, and Jesus will likewise be amazed—and I mean in the best way possible. (Luke 7:9)

“Beware in your prayers, above everything else, of limiting God, not only by unbelief, but by fancying that you know what He can do. Expect unexpected things, ‘above all that we ask or think’. Each time, before you intercede, be quiet first, and worship God in His glory. Think of what He can do, and how He delights to hear the prayers of His redeemed people. Think of your place and privilege in Christ, and expect great things!” ~Andrew Murray

Prayer… Jesus, there are still areas of my life where I resist your Lordship. Help my unbelief. I open the door of my heart to you, and invite you to burst through it to accomplish your mighty works in me.

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Raise The Dead

5×5×5 Bible Plan

Read: Mark 5
Meditation: Mark 5:35

While He was still speaking, some came from the ruler of the synagogue’s house who said, “Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the Teacher any further?” As soon as Jesus heard the word that was spoken, He said to the ruler of the synagogue, “Do not be afraid; only believe.”

Shift Your Focus… A young man in the church I was pastoring came up to me asking for prayer that God would give him the faith to raise the dead. It wasn’t a general request, mind you; it was to literally raise a friend of a friend who had just died.

I faced a moment of awkwardness. I do believe that the dead can be raised. Jesus said we would do the works he did, which included raising the dead, and even greater works. I have read about the dead being raised throughout the history of Christianity. I have heard missionaries tell stories of the dead being raised on foreign fields. In my work in Africa, I have interviewed church leaders who have, themselves, actually raised the dead. In fact, there are reports of the dead being raised in the country where I am currently planting churches to the tune of about one every twenty-four hour period.

While I suspect more Biblical authorities today would question what I have just said than what would accept it, I have no doubts whatsoever about the validity of such testimonies. Yet as this sincere young man stood before me with his request, I struggled with how to pray. Did I really believe God could use him to raise the dead? Do I believe that resurrections are for everywhere else but America? Do I believe in it theoretically, but not in reality?

I suspect that the young man, and the others who were engaged in the conversation, sensed my hesitancy. In the seconds that passed, I faced a crisis of belief. But in that moment, the conviction of the Holy Spirit won out, and I said to him, “Yes, I will pray for you. If the dead were raised by New Testament Christians, then we ought to expect that God can use us 21st century American believers to raise the dead too!”

Do you believe that’s possible? Not just in theory, but in reality…right here, right now, in the good ol’ USA?

I completely understand if you hesitate—that’s what I did. Yet Jesus’ words to Jairus nearly two thousand years ago are for you and me today: Don’t be afraid; only believe.

Who knows—maybe one of us just crazy enough to believe will actually raise the dead one of these days. I sure hope so!

“…The question whether miracles occur can never be answered simply by experience. Every event which might claim to be a miracle is, in the last resort, something presented to our senses, something seen, heard, touched, smelled, or tasted. And our senses are not infallible. If anything extraordinary seems to have happened, we can always say that we have been the victims of an illusion. If we hold a philosophy which excludes the supernatural, this is what we always shall say. What we learn from experience depends on the kind of philosophy we bring to experience. It is therefore useless to appeal to experience before we have settled, as well as we can, the philosophical question.” ~C.S. Lewis

Prayer… Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief. Let me see your miracles—even the dead being raised here in America—in my generation.

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Choke Points

5×5×5 Bible Plan

Read: Mark 4
Meditation: Mark 4:18

“Now these are the ones sown among thorns; they are the ones who hear the word, and the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things entering in, choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.”

Shift Your Focus… The proclamation of God’s Word—whether from pulpits, in casual conversations, or simply through its reading in your quiet time—is meant to produce Kingdom expansion in your life. That is, the Kingdom of God, which simply put, means the rule of God within you, is no static thing. It is either thriving and bearing fruit, or it is stunted and shriveling.

A critical question you and I must constantly ask ourselves is this: Is God’s Kingdom expanding in my life? Is God’s rule gaining ground in every detail of my world? Am I bearing fruit?

If the answer to those questions is “no”, or “not a whole lot”, then the culprit will be one of three things Jesus identified in his Parable of the Sower as choke points to the growth of God in your life: One, the cares of this world—worry over the things we have to do; Two, the deceitfulness of riches—the wastefulness of pursuing wealth; Three, the desires for other things—wanting to keep up  with the Jones’.

Jesus’s antidote to these three choke points is found in this classic verse from Matthew 6:33,

“But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.”

If you are caught up in the cares of this life, turn worry into meditation on the goodness of God. What is worry anyway, except thinking continually about things you cannot control? Just flip that around and train yourself to think about the things God can control. Learn to do that continually—call it reverse worry—and it will do wonders for you.  Begin by spending time this week reading and reflecting on Matthew 6:25-33 and watch how the things that worry you get put in their rightful place—under the feet of Jesus.

If you are getting sucked into the money trap, start giving away what you have. True wealth, with the joy and satisfaction that comes from it, is to leverage your assets to resource the Kingdom of God. Jesus said, “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, cf. Acts 20:35)

If you are in the proverbial rat race, competing with the Jones’, just stop. Let them be the only rats in the race.  Who cares if they have a bigger house, a better car, or spend more time enjoying exotic vacations! Do you think that will matter five minutes into eternity? Listen to Jesus’ sobering words in Luke 12:15-21,

“Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses.” Then He spoke a parable to them, saying: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully. And he thought within himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, since I have no room to store my crops?’ So he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods. And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry.”’ But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?’ “So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”

What are the choke points to the growth of God in your life. Identify your weeds, as Jesus called them, and then try some weed killer.  In other words, shift your focus and start getting rich toward God.

Do that and just watch the Kingdom grow in your life.

“I will place no value on anything I have or may possess except in relation to the kingdom of Christ.” ~David Livingstone

Prayer… Lord, may your Kingdom come in my life. May it expand into every nook and cranny of my private world. May it grow in fruitfulness day by day until it can truly be said of me, “the Kingdom of God comes first in his life.”

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Unforgivable Sins

5×5×5 Bible Plan

Read: Mark 3
Meditation: Mark 3:28-29

“Assuredly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they may utter; but he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is subject to eternal condemnation”

Shift Your Focus… Jesus revealed unlimited forgiveness through his death by which God’s great grace covers all our sin. All our sin, with the exception of one: Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit—the unforgivable sin as it has been called.

These three words—the unforgivable sin—have caused untold anguish for many who have misunderstood their meaning and thought they had committed this grievous sin of sins. Maybe they had become angry in a time of bitter disappointment or loss and let their rage fly, cursing God. Perhaps they fell into a sin they had vowed to God never to commit again. Maybe they had toyed with something Satanic, or mocked the work of the Spirit in a church service only then to be hit with the terrifying thought that they had insulted and blasphemed the Holy Spirit and so, based on this passage, were hopelessly and eternally damned.

But one of the chief problems with this passage is that it is always the wrong people who obsess over it. It’s usually either those who have a high degree of moral sensitivity and care deeply about their relationship with God, or it’s those who suffer the religious symptoms of a psychological illness.

The context of this confrontational encounter gives us a better understanding. Jesus has been performing many outstanding miracles (Mark 3:10-11, see also Matthew 12:22-30 and Luke 11:14-28), plainly evident for all to see. Most of the people were astounded by Jesus’ power over disease, demons and death, but out of sheer jealous and condescending elitism, the religious leaders scorned Jesus’ ministry as the work of the devil.

So Jesus’ declaration of this unforgivable sin here is clearly a response to the sin of these few. It is not the sin of blurting out some momentary blasphemy against the Spirit of God. It’s the much more sinister offense of looking into the very face of Truth and calling it a lie. The teachers of the law were seeing the undeniable healing imprint of God’s Spirit and still deliberately calling it a work of evil.

We need to understand that these leaders were not simply ignorant or perhaps confused in this matter; they knew exactly what they were doing. It is worth noting that verse 30 doesn’t translate very well from the Greek text in most English versions. An imperfect tense is used which suggests that theirs was a chronic attitude. In other words, they were continually declaring that Jesus had an evil spirit. This was not simply a spur-of-the-moment declaration, but an ongoing fixation.

Why couldn’t they be forgiven? Not because God’s grace was withheld from them, but because with each denial, they became increasingly incapable of responding to the Spirit of Grace.

Now here is the real danger in this—and the message for us who read this sobering text: When we deliberately choose a lie when confronted with God’s Truth, it is not that God then withholds his Truth—or his love and redemption for that matter—but that with each such deliberate choice, we become less able to respond to these graces.

Bottom line: There is such a thing as an unforgivable sin. It is the steadfast refusal to be forgiven! The only sin that cannot be forgiven is un-repentance.  However, when we bring to him a soft and sorrowful heart, we find as King David did, that “a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.” (Psalm 51:17)

“God has promised forgiveness to your repentance, but He has not promised tomorrow to your procrastination.”  ~Augustine

Prayer… Father, create in me a tender heart.  Keep me sensitive to the convicting work of your Spirit and cause me to be quick to repent.

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Holy Desperation

5×5×5 Bible Plan

Read: Mark 2
Meditation: Mark 2:3-5

Then they came to Him, bringing a paralytic who was carried by four men. And when they could not come near Him because of the crowd, they uncovered the roof where He was. So when they had broken through, they let down the bed on which the paralytic was lying. When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven you.”

Shift Your Focus… I am not recommending that you knock over the pews to get to the altar for prayer or anything, but I wonder what you would be willing to do just to touch Jesus—either for yourself or someone you care about very deeply.  I personally like things a little more calm and controlled than that, but there was just something about a person’s holy desperation that seemed to move Jesus to action:

The blind man named Bartimaeus who wouldn’t shut up until Jesus healed him (Mark 10:46-52) …

The Canaanite woman who wouldn’t back down just to get Jesus to deliver her demonized daughter (Matthew 15:22-28) …

The woman with the issue of blood that pressed through the crowd just to touch Jesus (Mark 5:24-34)…

The guy named Zacchaeus who shimmied up a tree just to see Jesus (Luke 19:1-10)…

So how desperate is your faith?  Perhaps that’s the reason God doesn’t seem to do as much in your life, and mine, as we read about in Scripture or hear about in third-world Christianity.  When we become truly desperate for God, maybe we will see God move as he did in days of old.

There is a story told about a proud young man who came to the great philosopher, Socrates, asking for the knowledge necessary to be wise.  He said, “Great Socrates, I come to you for knowledge.”  Socrates, who recognized a disingenuous and arrogant numskull when he saw one, led the young man through the city streets to the sea, where they walked chest deep into water.

Then Socrates asked, “What do you want?”

“Knowledge, O wise Socrates,” the young man said with a smile.  So Socrates put his strong hands on the man’s shoulders and pushed him under.  Thirty seconds later Socrates let him up.

Again Socrates asked,  “What do you want?”

“Wisdom, great and wise Socrates,” the young man sputtered.  So Socrates shoved him under again. Thirty seconds passed…thirty-five…forty.  Finally when Socrates let him up, the man was gasping.

“What do you want, young man?” the venerable old teacher asked again.

Between heavy, heaving breaths the man wheezed, “Knowledge, O wise and wonderful…”

Before he could finish, Socrates pounded him under again…forty seconds passed…fifty…a minute.  “What do you want?”

“Air! …I need air!” he gasped.

And then Socrates said, “When you want knowledge as you have just wanted air, then you will have knowledge.”

When we want God like we want air—when we long for him as desperately as we long for the breath of life itself—we shall have God.

“The stiff and wooden quality about our religious lives is a result of our lack of holy desire. Complacency is a deadly foe of all spiritual growth. Acute desire must be present or there will be no manifestation of Christ to His people. He waits to be wanted.”  ~A.W. Tozer

Prayer… Lord, bring me to a place of holy desperation where I desire you as I desire life itself.  Cause dissatisfaction with the things of this world and create in me a passionate thirst for the things of heaven.  As the deer pants for water may my soul long for you.