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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.

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Other Disreputable Sinners

Read: Matthew 9

Matthew invited Jesus and his disciples to his home as dinner guests, along with many tax collectors and other disreputable sinners. But when the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with such scum?”  (Matthew 9:10-11)

I love that about Jesus, don’t you?  He didn’t come to impress the religious elite or hang out with spiritual celebrities. He didn’t set up shop in Jerusalem and buy airtime on JBN (Jerusalem Broadcasting Network).  He didn’t write a book about himself or put on a leadership conference or lead a church growth seminar.

He hung out with sinners!

The reason?  He explains in the next verse: “Healthy people don’t need a doctor—sick people do.” (Matthew 9:12, NLT) It would have been a complete dereliction of duty and an abject failure in his mission if he would have done anything else.  People were lost—they needed to be found. People were in bondage to sin—they needed to be delivered.  People were sick and dying—they needed a healer. People were confused and hopeless—they needed a Lord. People were beat down and harassed by a religious system that squeezed the life and joy out of them—they needed a champion.  What a champion they got in Jesus—and then some!

What a hero!  Jesus was exactly what the poor, outcast, marginalized and hopeless needed.  That was the purpose for which he came and he fulfilled his purpose brilliantly. That is why I love this story so much.

Yet that is why this story makes me extremely uncomfortable.  You see, if Jesus were to come today, would he feel comfortable in my church?  Would he want to hang out with my friends?  How would he fit in my social circle?  The very fact that I find this contemporary portrayal of Jesus hanging out with beer swilling gang-bangers offensive–and my guess is that it does you, too–tells me that I would have been right alongside those Pharisees questioning the kind of invitations to dinner Jesus had been accepting.  Perhaps Jesus would say to you and me what he said to the Pharisees,

“Now go and learn the meaning of this Scripture: ‘I want you to show mercy, not offer sacrifices.’ For I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners.” (Matthew 9:13, NLT)

Ouch!  I’ve got to be honest: There are not a whole lot of “other disreputable sinners” hanging out in my world.  Something tells me that really ought to change if Jesus if going to fit in my world—or more importantly, if I am going to fit in Jesus’ world.

“When Jesus came to earth, demons recognized him, the sick flocked to him, and sinners doused his feet and head with perfume. Meanwhile he offended pious Jews with their strict preconceptions of what God should be like. Their rejection makes me wonder, could religious types be doing just the reverse now? Could we be perpetuating an image of Jesus that fits our pious expectations but does not match the person portrayed so vividly in the Gospels?” ~Phillip Yancey

What If God Took Over?

 

If you don’t have any “other disreputable sinners” in your life, your assignment is simply this:  Get some!

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Showing Off

Read: Matthew 8

When Jesus heard this, he was amazed. Turning to those who were following him, he said, “I tell you the truth, I haven’t seen faith like this in all Israel! (Matthew 8:10, NLT)

We have all done things from time to time to impress people—it’s just human nature. Little kids act up to get the attention of adults in the room; teenage boys do strange things to impress the young ladies; twenty-eight-year olds return for their ten-year high school reunion to show how successful they’ve become compared to their classmates. Men with a receding hairline and an expanding waistline buy a little red sports car to prove they can still get a second look from the gals.

Showing off is just a part of human nature.  We do it because we want to feel significant, valued and alive.  It is not always a bad thing; it is usually not a good thing.  We human beings have a “show off” gene that before the arrival of sin led us to lean into God for our security, significance and satisfaction.  Now, at best, it mostly results in wasted energy; at worst, it steers us into deep weeds.

As much time as we spend showing off to impress others, what if we spent it showing off to impress God?  What?  Do you mean that we can actually do something that causes God a second look?  Well, apparently Jesus was pretty impressed with this Roman officer here in Matthew 8.  When he saw the faith of this guy, he was blown away.  The Greek word for “amazed” in this text means that he marveled at this man and truly admired him.

Yeah, faith impresses God.  It gets his attention—it always has.  Check out Abraham in Genesis 15:6 or read the long list of the ruthlessly faithful in Hebrews 11.  In fact, Hebrews 11:6 says that without faith, it is impossible to impress God.

Faith gets God’s attention.  There is just something about a person who realizes their total dependence on God, expresses their utter helplessness before him, declares both in their words and by their actions radical trust in his loving and benevolent character, and then adjusts their entire being going forward to reflect security in his care and competence.  That gets a second look from the Almighty.  In fact, the God of wonder stops in admiration of such childlike faith.

I would say that God is easily impressed.  It just takes a little faith.  I’ll bet you can do that!

“Unwavering trust is a rare and precious thing because it often demands a degree of courage that borders on the heroic.” ~Brennan Manning

What If God Took Over?

Memorize Hebrews 11:6, “It is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him.” Now reflect that verse back to God every day this week in prayer, asking God to help you to exercise that faith more often and more ruthless than ever before.

 

 

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Sobering

Read: Matthew 7

“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. On judgment day many will say to me, ‘Lord! Lord! We prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and performed many miracles in your name.’ But I will reply, ‘I never knew you. Get away from me, you who break God’s laws.’” (Matthew 7:21-23, NLT)

“I never knew you!” Those are truly sobering words, aren’t they! They used to scare me a lot in my younger day of faith.  I mean, if a person can be doing all those things for God—prophesying biblical truth, casing out demons, even performing miracles…all things that are pretty high on the “things I’d like to do for God” list—and still get rejected by God, wow, who can walk confidently in their faith, who can truly have the assurance of salvation?

But here is the deal:  True Christianity is not first of all a religion of the hands, it is a relationship of the heart.  It is not so much what you do for God to earn his favor, it is accepting what God has done for you through the death and resurrection of his Son Jesus Christ that counts.  Before anything we do for God must come a heart full of love for him. What does a heart full of love for God look like?  Simply this: gratitude for what he has done and wonder at his undeserved gift of mercy and grace that saved a wretched, unworthy sinner like me. It is the heart that matters!

Now obviously, measuring the love within a person’s heart is not such an easy thing to do.  That’s why people want to base their worth and acceptability before God by what they do—something far more easily measured.  But over and over again, the Bible points out that it is not what we do that earns any credit with God, it is all based on what he has done for us.  We cannot earn our salvation—we can only give effort to doing the good things that gratefully saved people ought to do.

There is one thing, however, that evidences our love for God more than anything else: When we love other people as ourselves.  In fact, Jesus said the first greatest law of God was to love God heart, mind and spirit, and the second greatest law was to love your neighbor as yourself. (Matthew 22:37-39, NLT)  Here is another way to look at that: You can’t love God without loving people, and you can’t truly love people without loving God.

So when Jesus said to those who had worked so hard for their salvation, “I never knew you, get away from me you who break God’s laws”, what he was really saying was this:

“Go away! You obviously didn’t know me because you didn’t fulfill the two greatest laws of all—to love God wholeheartedly, and out of that love for him, to love others as much as you loved yourself.”

God wants your heart—your response to his love that shows itself in a delighting, awestruck, grateful head-over-heels love for him and a tender, compassionate, serving love for others.

Really now, isn’t that relieving?  All you and I have to do is love God so much so that it just overflows from our hearts back toward him and out toward others.  And after all that he has done for us, I personally think that shouldn’t be such a hard ting to do!

“The litmus test of our love for God is our love of neighbor.” ~Brennan Manning

What If God Took Over?

Memorize Revelation 3:4-5,  “Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first.”