January 11, 2015
At first the disciples were afraid of the storm outside the boat, then they were afraid of the Man inside the boat. “Who can this be?” They wondered. He commanded and the sea and even the demons obeyed Him. He demonstrates authority over both the seen and the unseen creation. Who but God could do such things? Yet, having the Son of God in our life does not guarantee the absence of storms. Storms will come. The guarantee is that He will never leave nor forsake us. Perhaps the storms of life help us to understand who Jesus is. Not just in our heads, but in our hearts. We finally experience the reality that we have believed: Jesus is greater than any storm.
Take your eyes off the storm and turn them upon Jesus.
January 10, 2015
Notice the approach of the leper. First, he came to Jesus, second, he worshiped, third, he asked for the Lord’s will, then finally, he expressed his faith that the Lord was completely able to heal and make him clean. We can learn much from the order and attitude of the leper’s “prayer.”
Then notice Christ’s response. First, he touched the leper. Don’t miss this. He could’ve just healed him from a distance like He did the centurion’s servant. Leprosy was a devastating disease. It made one unclean, so that they were excluded from Temple worship. Lepers were excommunicated from the community. They were required to yell, “Unclean!” as they approached to warn others away. The disease was progressive and caused sores and white scales to appear, damaging the skin, nerves and eventually muscle tissue. Extremities (nose, ears, fingers, toes, etc.) would die and rot away over time. No one would touch them for fear of catching the disease. Yet, Christ touched the leper, expressed His willingness to heal him, then with a word, said, “Be cleansed.” And he was.
Christ was willing not only to heal us from a distance, but to come to us, touching us, and taking our sin upon Himself and thus cleansing us from all unrighteousness. Christ is willing and able to save those who come to Him.
January 9, 2015
What foundation is your life built upon? Your beliefs, your passions and loves, your pursuits… what is your guiding principle? On what basis have you built your house, your marriage, your parenting, your life? Jesus never promised that those who followed Him and built their life on Him would avoid life’s storms. But He did promise that when the storms come that they would be secure. Have you built your life on the Rock?
January 8, 2015
When two of the three “men” who visited with Abram left towards Sodom, the third one turned aside to reveal their destination and purpose. When Abram heard that they intended to see whether the “outcry” of Sodom’s sin was as great as it sounded, Abram began to appeal to God’s justice for the sake of the righteous. As the story unfolds, we see that the two men visiting Sodom are in fact, angels. And we see that the One remaining to speak to Abram is revealed to be the Lord. In Abram’s prayer we hear him appeal to God’s sense of justice. We are learning about God’s character here and also Abram’s. In a crazy kind of prayer/negotiation, God agrees not to destroy Sodom if there are but 10 righteous there. I think Abram must’ve known the wickedness of Sodom, but he didn’t want his nephew, Lot, to fall under judgment. We learn from Abram’s prayer how we should passionately and reverently pray for the salvation for our family, neighbors and friends. We also learn how God heard Abram’s prayer and preserved Lot, even though there were no righteous found in Sodom and it fell under God’s judgment.
January 7, 2015
That which is called the “Lord’s Prayer” might rightly be called the Lord’s teaching prayer or model prayer, for He gives it to us to teach us how to pray. Even the order of the prayer should be considered as we learn to pray. Notice He teaches us to begin with God’s Name and holiness, then moves to request God’s will to take place above our own requests. We tend always to rush to our daily worries, bringing our laundry lists to God before recognizing Him in worship and asking for His will before ours. We see prayer as getting what we want from God, rather than God getting His will with us. Who should be changed by coming into God’s throne room? Do we inform God of needs we have of which He is unaware? No. He knows our deepest needs before we do. Jesus teaches us to pray in order to seek God’s face before seeking His hand. Having seen His face, we may even find our deepest needs already met there. Have you learned to pray to get with God, to see His face, to hear His voice, to be the one who is changed? Have you learned to pray “Thy” Kingdom come prayers, instead of “my” kingdom come ones?
January 6, 2015
After Abram (His name before God changed it to “Abraham” – “Father of nations”) had divided the sacrificial animals and arranged them according to God’s instruction, a great sense of “horror” came over him with the setting of the sun. God was approaching. One commentator has observed, “Holy fear prepares the soul for holy joy; God humbles first, then lifts up.” This meeting with God was preceded by Abram’s questioning of God’s promised seed. Abraham had questioned, “Lord God, what will You give me, seeing I go childless?”
Have you ever spent the night in prayer questioning God and waiting for an answer? If you have, you may have experienced what Abram did, holy terror. God let the hem of His holiness touch Abram and it was enough to horrify. Then, God made a covenant (Literally “cut” a covenant, as the origin of the word covenant implied the shedding of blood to seal it.) with Abram by passing between the sacrificed animals, prophesying his offspring’s slavery in Egypt and God’s deliverance. When the sun arose the next morning, Abram’s questioning and terror had been replaced with faith and holy joy.
January 5, 2015
This is the first of the Beatitudes in Christ’s Sermon on the Mount. Each one begins with the word, “Blessed” (Μακάριοι, Makarioi – blessed, happy, completely satisfied). This is not a state related to circumstance, but to God’s divine grace. Each one is also somewhat paradoxical or ironic, in that the recipient of the blessed state is not one usually considered so by the world. This is the world-turned-upside-down, Kingdom economy that Christ introduces. Here, the one who admits his spiritual poverty (“poor in spirit”), who confesses his sin and separation from God, this is the one who will be blessed by God giving him the Kingdom of Heaven. Yet, the opposite is also implied, that the one who thinks himself rich spiritually, already satisfied, this one will not enter the Kingdom. Are you spiritually hungry and impoverished in yourself? The recognition of this is a gift. Admitting your spiritual poverty apart from God is the first step into the blessed life.
January 4, 2015
Notice what Jesus didn’t say. He didn’t tell Peter and Andrew to work on applying their fishing skills to reaching men to see if they might qualify to be one of His disciples. He didn’t ask for their resumes or past accomplishments. He didn’t request proof of their bar mitzvah or rabbinic studies. He simply said, “Follow Me.” That’s it. If you can follow Me, “I will make you” what you need to be as my disciples. Many say they want to get their life in order first, clean things up and get organized, then follow Christ. But Peter and Andrew “immediately left their nets” and followed.
January 3, 2015
There is much about the book of Genesis (From the Greek translation meaning “beginnings”) that troubles the modern mind. In today’s reading we encounter the incredible longevity of man (Methuselah lived to 969 years), the building of an ark to save Noah, his family, and a remnant of the animals of the land and air, and finally, a worldwide deluge. Some view these stories as myth or fairy tale, yet Jesus referred to Noah and the flood as a literal event. Both Matthew and Luke record Jesus’ words describing the “days of Noah” as a foreshadowing of the end times when He would return to judge the living and the dead (Matt. 24:37-38, Luke 17:26-27). If Jesus referred to Noah and the flood as literal past and predictive of the future, then so do I. That’s why I’ve decided to believe into Christ our Ark. for “there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 8:1).
January 2, 2015
Some have asked why are there four gospels? The answer is uncertain, but clearly, each gospel has a unique perspective and purpose. Matthew shows us Jesus the King, Mark describes Him as Servant, Luke sees the Man, and John leads us to worship Jesus as God. In our Matthew reading today there are many references to “fulfilled” prophecies. Matthew is the most concerned to point these out to us. He clearly wrote to a Jewish audience and wanted to give them confidence that Jesus was the true Messiah and the rightful born King in the line of David. The lineage Matthew records in chapter one is to establish legal right to the throne through His adoptive father, Joseph (Whereas, Luke records Mary’s lineage, establishing Jesus’ biological connection to the house of David). In Matthew’s gospel, Jesus is presented as a child living in a house in Bethlehem to which Magi bring Him gifts fit for a king (While in Luke, He is a lowly infant born in a manger). In Matthew 2:15, he quotes from the prophet Hosea (Hos.11:1) explaining His connection to Egypt. In Matthew chapter two alone there are four Messianic prophecies mentioned to point out how Christ fulfilled them.
Why did Matthew write His gospel? I believe the Spirit inspired him to organize his gospel, so that we might see Jesus as the One who fulfilled every Old Testament prophecy to be recognized as the Christ, the Son of David, the Son God and the King of Kings.