Month: February 2012

RE Verse reading–Matthew 16:13-26 (day four)  “From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he MUST go to Jerusalem and suffer many things . . .and that he MUST be killed and on the third day be raised to life.” (vs 21)  There is a dark side of the moon.  I am not sure why, but there is a side we never see.  The moon is like God.  There is a side of Him that we rarely see (or don’t want to).  For most of my life, the Spirit of God has been a source of salvation,peace and joy.  Gradually, I’ve come to see the side of Him that is a source of pain and loss.  His holy wrath and unspeakable love required Christ to die.  God calls me to join Him, to carry a cross, to suffer and serve. It is a dark message.  I don’t always want to see it (neither did Peter), but I MUST!

RE Verse reading–Matthew 16:13-26 (day three)  “Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.  “Never, Lord!” he said.  “This will never happen to you.”  (vs 22)  The second step following Christ is often the hardest.  It is when the high cost of surrender becomes clear.  Most of us have a bias or “box” into which we expect God and His plan to fit.  Peter certainly did.  His confidence in Christ and his unrecognized ambitions made him expect a victory rather than suffering and a cross.  He was adamant on this!  “This will NEVER happen”, he said and earned the Lord’s rebuke for his presumption.  Sometimes we imagine that if we surrender to Christ once we will be finished–that the hard decisions and real losses all come early.  Not true.  All along the way we learn that our thoughts are not His (Isaiah 55:8)  To call Jesus Lord is as much about the second surrender as the first.

Re:Verse reading–Matthew 16:13-26 (day two)  “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets” (vs 14)  There were many opinions.  Jesus was polling the disciples on the conclusions of the crowd.  For several months (Galilean ministry) they had all seen and heard remarkable things.  They had to make up their minds.  Most had come to respect Christ.  They compared Him to John the Baptist or one of the prophets.  It was not enough!  Not until Peter, speaking for all the disciples, confessed that Jesus was “the Christ, the Son of the Living God” was the savior satisfied and the church born (cf vs. 18)  We should all remember.  It is possible to respect Jesus and fall short of the reverence due Him.  It is possible to support and still not surrender to Him as God.  Danger!  To go “part of the way” with Christ is to not arrive at all.

Re:Verse reading–Matthew 16:13-26 (day one)  “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God” (vs 16)  “Never, Lord!” he said, “This shall never happen to you” (vs 22)  It was a spectacular start and an equally spectacular stumble.  Peter had just identified Jesus as the Christ.  Already thinking higher and clearer than most of his contemporaries, he still had some learning to do.  When Jesus began to talk about the cross and the resurrection, Peter’s reaction was less commendable.  His reluctance is instructive.  None of us should confuse one spiritual step (even a successful one) with the whole race.  It is possible to pass first grade and fail second–especially if we refuse to learn or do homework.  “I buffet my body. . .lest possibly, after I have preached to others, I myself should be disqualified” said Paul.  (1 Corinthians 9:27)  Want to follow Jesus?  Don’t stop with one step.  Every step is a commitment to continue with the next. Follow all the way!

RE Verse reading–Matthew 9:35-10:31 (day seven)  “When He saw the crowds, He had compassion on them because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd” (vs 36)  These are sobering words for me.  Having heard from the Lord early in my life, “if you love me, feed my sheep”, I am challenged to be what I need to be so that people can have what they need from God.  I am not be alone in this responsibility.  All of us have shepherding roles.  Parents to children.  Fathers to families.  Friends to friends.  Churches to cities.  Like it or not, we ARE our brother’s keepers.  If we love them, we will lead them to safe places.  May the Lord help us to see our opportunities.  May He send us to prayer and then out into this “ready harvest”.  People need a shepherd!  Our job is to point them to Him.  I will look for you in a few hours.   Don

RE Verse reading–Matthew  9:35-10:31 (day six)  “Whatever town or village you enter, search for some worthy person there and stay at his house until you leave” (vs 11)  Even with persecution coming, Jesus knew one thing.  Not everyone would be angry. Some would be willing to help.  Some (in every town. . . almost) would offer hospitality.  A worthy person (axios–“weighty, respectable”) would recognize the integrity of the message and give assistance.  The disciples were told to ask for it.  Sometimes, we make ministry too one-sided.  We are strong.  “They” are weak.  We have answers. “They” have only confusion.  Not only is this prideful perception false, it divides us from the kind of friendships upon which the kingdom is built.  Like Jesus on the cross, we are to say ” I thirst” in the face of a heartless world.  This vulnerability will raise ridicule from some. It will identify others who are willing to help.  Is it possible to be too self-sufficient?

RE Verse reading–Matthew 9:35-10:31 (day five)  “If anyone does not welcome you or listen to your word, shake the dust off your feet when you leave that home or town” (vs 14)  Such practical advice!  Such powerful help!  The disciples learned early to “shake the dust off” from experiences of failure or rejection.  They were to discard every reminder of the experience.  “Forget it!” said the Lord.  Don’t brood over it.  Don’t rehearse the hurt or wonder what you could have done differently.  It is a waste of energy.  Paul learned the same lesson.  “FORGETTING what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead” (Philippians 3:13)  How would your life be better if you stopped thinking about the failures and hurts of the past?  Jesus calls us to a fresh start, to accept His forgiveness, to leave vengeance (and even the need to be understood) behind.  Shake the dust off!  Get forward into the new adventure that God has for you!

RE Verse reading–Matthew 9:35-10:31 (day four)  “I tell you the truth, it will be more bearable for Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgement than for that town” (v 15)  It is a stretch for us.   A supernatural vision of a day of judgement is unfamiliar territory to us. We have been raised with a material/scientific world-view.  We rarely think about it.  Jesus thought about it constantly.  He thought about the choice the cities of Israel would soon make–to listen to the disciples or not, to welcome them or not.  He thought about the eternal consequences of such choices.  Sodom was a notorious, historical example of the judgement of God.  What kind of insight into the Mind of God caused Jesus to  consider the rejection of light a more serious crime than the practise of darkness?  To be bad is bad.  To refuse to get better is worse. “Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade men. . .” (2 Corinthians 5:11)

RE Verse reading–Matthew 9:35-10:31 (day three)  “Behold, I send you out as sheep among wolves” (vs 16–not printed in our curriculum book)  It was a shocking image.  Notice the word behold. (ie look here!)  A shepherd NEVER sent his sheep out among wolves.  He spent his life defending against such a possibility.  Why would the Lord do so?  It was His love!  In verse 9:36, Jesus “saw” the multitudes, and realized their desperate condition.  His love moved Him to act, to risk, to sacrifice.  Paul would later report the same.  “The love of Christ CONTROLS us” (2 Corinthians 5:14).  The Lord had no illusions that ministry would be cost free.  Jesus knew that His apostles would sometimes be ignored (vs 14) and eventually persecuted (vs 17).  He knew that His own life would be forfeit to this grand enterprise. It was still worth it the Him. May God give us such love.  May we say, at our worst moment, “He sent me here.”