PRAYER AND TEMPTATION 2

In my last post I was reflecting on Gethsemane.  Jesus told the disciples to pray that they would not enter into temptation.  Then he went off by himself to pray, seeking the Father’s face and wrestling with the temptation to avoid the cross.  He prayed and the Father sent an angel to him to strengthen him.  But the temptation was not finished.  He continued to pray even more earnestly until his sweat was like drops of blood.  Jesus rose from prayer without falling into temptation.

But his temptation did not stop there.  The crowd had come to arrest him and he could have walked through them and disappeared.  He was led to the house of Caiaphas and mocked and mistreated.  Jesus could have incinerated them with a breath.  Taken before Herod he was treated contemptibly.  He could have stopped their hearts with a word.  But Jesus did not fall into temptation.  He had prayed.  He had been strengthened by an angel.  He walked the path laid out for him.

So what is the connection between prayer and falling into temptation?  First off, we need to consider what Jesus meant by prayer.  If we want to understand this we must look at his prayer in the garden.  Do I pray like Jesus prayed?  American evangelicalism has compartmentalized prayer.  When asked how we are to grow in our faith the pat answer comes forth, “Pray and read my Bible.”  We “say our prayers.”  We pray at dinner and bedtime. 

But do we pray like Jesus prayed?  Do we stay in the presence of God when it is difficult to do so?  Do we practice coram deo, waiting before the face of God?  Do we listen for God’s voice?  Or do we just do all the talking, go through our shopping list of prayer requests, and then get on with our day?

Prayer is being in God’s presence.  The more we are in God’s presence the more we know God.  The more we know God (not about God) the better we know ourselves.  The more we know God the more we love God.  The more we love God the more we leave the world behind.  I remember the words of that old gospel song we used to sing, “And the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace.”  The more we know God the more we want God.  The more we want God the less attractive are the things of this world.  It is by investing time in the presence of God that makes us want him more!  Satan can dangle all the pretty things of this world in our faces and we cry, “I want God!  Get behind me Satan!  Your things cannot draw me away from the face of my beloved!  Give me God lest I die!”

This is so much more than “saying our prayers.”  It is so much more than keeping a prayer journal!  It is embracing the God who made us to love him!  It is seizing his robes and hanging on while the world tears at our feet.  And the more we pray, the more often we will sense the help of God the Holy Spirit, strengthening us and encouraging us in prayer!  Our hearts will be lightened and our desires for this world will weaken and die away.

   

PRAYER AND TEMPTATION

Jesus went out as usual to the Mount of Olives, and his disciples followed him. ⁴⁰ On reaching the place, he said to them, “Pray that you will not fall into temptation.” ⁴¹ He withdrew about a stone’s throw beyond them, knelt down and prayed, ⁴² “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” ⁴³ An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him. ⁴⁴ And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.

⁴⁵ When he rose from prayer and went back to the disciples, he found them asleep, exhausted from sorrow. ⁴⁶ “Why are you sleeping?” he asked them. “Get up and pray so that you will not fall into temptation.”   (Luke 22:39-46)

 

When I was in seminary I was taught the principles of hermeneutics which is a fancy phrase for “rules of interpreting” the scriptures.  One of those rules has to do with repetition.  When something is stated more than once then it is something that deserves special attention.  That rule applies to this passage from Luke 22.  Twice Jesus says to the disciples, “Pray that you will not fall into temptation.”  The phrase appears at the beginning of the account and at the end so that which is between the statements explains the meaning.

After telling the disciples to pray Jesus goes off by himself to pray.  It is clear from his prayer that he himself is struggling with temptation in a way I can never comprehend.  “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.”  He is wrestling with the cross!  The temptation is to avoid it.  His prayer is that the Father’s will be done, not his own.  His conflict with temptation is so severe that God sends an angel to minister to him and strengthen him in his spirit.  And the battle with temptation still goes on!  He prays even more earnestly to the point that his sweat was like drops of blood.  Jesus won the battle!  He prayed and he did not fall into temptation!

 

When he returns to his disciples he finds them sleeping, “exhausted from sorrow.”  The sorrow and the exhaustion is completely understandable.  No problem with those things.  But the sleeping was not prayer!  The sleeping was not the thing that was going to keep them from falling into temptation.  So Jesus warns them again that they must pray so they won’t fall.  But for now it is too late.  Look at what happens next…

The crowd came to arrest Jesus and Judas approached him to betray him.  The disciples did not know what to do.  They called to Jesus, “Lord, should we strike with our swords?” (v. 49).  See the confusion?  See the lack of understanding of what was happening?  Some refrained from striking but we know Peter impetuously struck the servant of the high priest and Jesus rebuked him.  They had not prayed.  They fell into temptation.

 

Then what happens?  Luke does not record it but Matthew does.  “All the disciples deserted him and fled” (Matthew26:56).  Fear overcame them and the fell into temptation.

And then?  Peter follows Jesus at a distance and enters into the courtyard of the high priest.  There he is recognized by a little girl who was a servant in the household.  She announced that Peter was one of those who were with Jesus.  Peter denied Jesus, not once, but three times.  He fell into temptation.

 

Obviously there is a connection between prayer and victory over temptation as well as the lack of prayer and falling into temptation.  It is worthy of careful consideration.  That is what I am going to do…think, pray, and consider.  More to come….

TEMPTATION OF CHRIST

 “And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness for forty days, being tempted by the devil.”  (Luke 4:2)

“Do not love the world or the things in the world.  If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.  For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and the pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world.  And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.”  (1 John 2:15-17)

 I was reflecting on the temptation of Jesus this morning when I suddenly had a flash of recognition.  You know how that happens.  You are thinking about one thing and all of a sudden your brain makes a connection with something else.  Sometimes that’s the Holy Spirit showing you something.

So I was thinking about the various temptations Satan brought to our Lord in the wilderness.  Jesus had been fasting for forty days and was hungry and Satan tempted him to end his fast miraculously by turning stones into bread.  Then Satan “took him up” somewhere and showed him all the kingdoms of the earth and offered him all riches and power.  Finally, Satan transported Jesus to the pinnacle of the temple in Jerusalem and tempted him to jump and force God to save him with an intervention of angels.  It hit me!  “Make these stones bread”; desires of the flesh.  “It will all be yours”; desires of the eyes.  “Make God save you”; pride of life.  It really amazed me to see that John’s “categories” of temptation paralleled the temptations of Jesus exactly.  Just a little reflection should show us that we can actually anticipate the kinds of temptations Satan will throw at us!  We can be prepared!

Speaking of being prepared… Did you notice the first clause of Luke 4:2?  “And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit…”  As Jesus walked out into the wilderness he was filled with the Holy Spirit!  Think about that a second.  The Son of God filled with the Holy Spirit!  This tells us something about the humanity of Jesus.  He was able to be filled with the Spirit and he experienced temptation as a human being, depending on the Spirit.  How are we best prepared to meet with temptation?  Be filled with the Spirit, as Paul says.

Just a note… Many people seem to think that Satan came and tempted Jesus three times at the end of his forty-day fast.  If you look carefully at the text you will see that he was being tempted throughout the forty days.  The three temptations mentioned are only three that he endured.

Can I just add one more reflection?  Luke records Satan’s departure from Jesus in 4:13.  “And when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from him until an opportune time.”  This verse further demonstrates the broad extent of Satan’s temptation of Jesus.  It says, “When the devil had ended every temptation.”  Also, Satan left Jesus to wait for an opportune time.  Ah ha!  Satan looks for opportune times to attack his targets!  It would be foolish for us to think that this only applies to the temptation of Jesus!  He looks for opportune times to tempt us too!  What are those opportune times?

In answer to that question, something very interesting occurred to me.  Satan must have thought that he was coming to Jesus at an “opportune time.”  Apparently he was unable to see that Jesus was “full of the Holy Spirit”!  It seems that Satan can’t tell if we are filled with the Spirit.  He may be able to see what we do or neglect to do.  He may be able to see if we are praying or reading our Bibles.  But he doesn’t seem to be able to look into our souls and identify the working of the Holy Spirit in us.  He thought he had Jesus in a good place and misread the situation.  All the more reason for us to carefully seek to be in step with the Spirit!

ON WORLDLY ATTACHMENTS

And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” ¹⁸ And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. ¹⁹ You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.’” ²⁰ And he said to him, “Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth.” ²¹ And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” ²² Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.²³ And Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How difficult it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!”   Mark 10:17-24

A very familiar passage, The Rich Young Ruler.  He has become representative of so many kinds of people.  He is the example of the person who has lived his life legalistically.  He is the person who is sincere and sincerely wrong.  He is most often, the man who loved his wealth more than he wanted eternal life.  I found myself reflecting on his encounter with Jesus.

Here is a person who wants to be sure that he has done what is necessary to have eternal life.  He makes it plain to Jesus that he has tried to live by the law.  Even before his bar-mitzvah he was already trying to keep the commandments.  His entire adult life he has lived according to the teaching of the rabbis.  Still, it seems he finds himself still unsure of having eternal life.  Maybe he came to Jesus because it was possible that Jesus could give him something additional to do.  Maybe he was trying to cover his bases, as it were.  Or maybe he had an uncomfortable spiritual sense of shortcoming.  After all, he had tried to keep the law but he knew he had not done so perfectly.

One thing really convicted me when I thought about this.  Jesus looked at the man and loved him!  I realized that this is not the kind of person I am naturally attracted to.  He strikes me as being privileged and self-righteous.  He is also extremely wealthy.  I confess that I have a tendency to look down my own self-righteous nose at wealthy people who seem to have it all together.  But Jesus loved him!  And he loved him with agape love!  Who do I think I am to judge people whom Jesus loves?

When the rich man dejectedly walks away from Jesus’ offer it is easy to feel superior and justified.  “See?  He just couldn’t give up his wealth to follow Christ!”  Jesus teaches his disciples, “How difficult it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!” 

Why is it so hard for the rich to enter the kingdom?  It seems that Peter understood.  In verse 28 he says, “We have left everything to follow you!”  Yes, that is what is required.  For Christ we give up this world and everything in it.  We die to this world.  We shun the things of the world in order to embrace our Lord.  As long as we have attachments to the world and its things we will not be able to be fully attached to Jesus and his kingdom.

Why do I feel so self-righteous in comparison to this poor man who came to Jesus?  When I look at myself I see far too many worldly attachments.  Jesus was speaking about most of us in America when he said how hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom.  I need to listen and wait on the Lord to put his finger on the attachments that may be hindering my journey with him.

WHY ARE YOU JUST STANDING THERE?

Then he led them out as far as Bethany, and lifting up his hands he blessed them.  While he blessed them, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven.  And while they were gazing up into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven?  This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”  And they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and were continually in the temple blessing God.

(Luke’s account of the ascension combining Luke 24:50-53 and Acts 1:10, 11)
 

Our small group at church has been watching R.C. Sproul videos and last Sunday we saw the one on the ascension.  I’ve been thinking about Luke’s accounts of the ascension ever since. 

Jesus had told the disciples he was leaving them.  They were broken-hearted but he encouraged them by telling them he was going to his Father’s house to prepare a place for them.  His departure was not unexpected.  Just before Jesus ascended into heaven he told the disciples that they would be his witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and even to the ends of the earth.  Then they stood there, seemingly transfixed by what they had just seen.  They had not moved when the angels spoke to them and asked them what they were doing still there looking into heaven.  Wasn’t there something they were supposed to be doing?

We have all heard the saying, “He’s so heavenly-minded that he’s no earthly good!”  We know where Jesus is and we know what he is doing!  He is preparing a place for us!  But the time we have on earth is not meant to be spent waiting around for Jesus to return or waiting to die and “go to heaven.”  We have inherited the charge Jesus gave to the apostles!  We are to be witnesses!  Active witnesses!  Making use of the time we have been given to spread the good news of Jesus to whomever we can!  That is the reason we are still here and not taken up to heaven already!

It seems that the angels shook the disciples back to reality.  They began worshiping Jesus and made their way back down the Mount of Olives celebrating with great joy.  The Christian life should be characterized by deep, authentic joy!  Yes, we have all kinds of problems and troubles in this life.  Yes, we have sorrow and grief.  Yes, we have pain and sickness.  But in the depths of our redeemed souls there should be joy because we are certain of where Jesus is and what he is doing!  He is enthroned as King of kings and Lord of lords and we are his no matter what happens here on earth.  Our lives are meant to be full of worship and joy.

Then finally notice where the disciples went when they returned to Jerusalem.  They went to the temple!  Can you imagine these guys making their way into the temple that day worshiping and praising Jesus?  Talk about the persecuted church!  They walked right into the mouth of the lion and praised Jesus for being the Son of God and the messiah!  One might think they would retreat to the upper room and have their own quiet time of praise and worship together!  But no, they were drawn to the Father’s house and they would praise the Son in his own house!  It didn’t matter who saw them or who might have disapproved of their worship.  They had eyes and hearts only for their Lord.  They were continually meeting in the temple for worship!  Not just this once, but day after day!

I compare my life and my thoughts and my attitudes to those of the disciples and it seems I hear the voices of angels saying, “Moorhead, what are you doing sitting there?  Isn’t there something you are supposed to be doing?”

SHEEP AND COMPASSION

The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all they had done and taught.  Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, “Come with me by your selves to a quiet place and get some rest.”  So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place.  But many who saw them leaving recognized them and ran on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them.  When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd.  So he began teaching them many things.                 

                                                                                    Mark 6:30-34

 

This is the well-known passage that precedes the miracle of the feeding of the 5,000.  It is the “set-up” for the gathering of the great crowds out in the wilderness.  But there are a number of things that give me pause before we get to that famous miracle.  Just a few reflections…

Jesus had sent the disciples out two by two and he had given them authority to heal the sick and cast out demons and proclaim the good news.  Their mission accomplished, the Twelve returned to Jesus to report on what had happened.  They were surely weary.  I know what it is like to be on a mission and being “on duty” all day, day after day.  And there isn’t even anything mentioned about the spiritual wear and tear of the mission.  Surely the Enemy had not left them alone as they went about proclaiming the Kingdom and planting the seeds that would eventually destroy Satan’s own kingdom.

So the disciples are trying to debrief Jesus but there is so much hustle and bustle around Jesus that they couldn’t even sit down to have a meal while they talked.  Jesus saw this and obviously was concerned for the welfare of his guys.  He could have said, “Buck up!  It’s like this for me every day!”  Jesus thought about the needs of the disciples and decided to take them off to a quiet place where they could retreat and rest.  Isn’t that what a shepherd does?  Doesn’t he lead his sheep into quiet pastures and beside still waters?

Off they went in their famous boat…off into the wilderness where they could be alone.  But people on the shore recognized them, or their boat, and spread the word that Jesus and his men were on the move.  Mark reports that people from all the villages hustled and ran ahead to the place Jesus was going.  The people got there first and were waiting for Jesus’ boat to land.

I try to put myself into that boat when it is still a couple of hundred yards from shore.  The size of the crowd is apparent.  There are thousands of people waiting!  There will be no rest here!  No retreat for the weary disciples.  I would have been thinking, “Jesus, give the order to sail on!  Let’s find another place!  Please!”

When Jesus saw the crowd he did not heave a deep sigh of frustration.  He did not consider sailing on.  He saw the people and had compassion on them!  Why?  Because they were like sheep without a shepherd!  Here is the shepherd heart of Jesus again!  How did the people resemble sheep without a shepherd?  What does a flock of sheep do without a shepherd?  They wander without direction.  They become hungry and thirsty because they cannot find food and water by themselves.  They are in constant danger from predators because they cannot protect themselves.  If there is hope of food they all run together to the source of that hope.  And so the people of the villages around the Sea of Galilee were like sheep without a shepherd.

The Great Shepherd is brought into contact with a shepherd-less flock.  He must shepherd them.  That is what he does.  How does he shepherd this flock?  He “began teaching them many things.”  The most important nutrition is teaching the truth of God.  That comes before anything else.  The very teaching is shepherding.  The still pastures and quiet waters would come later when the bread and fish were passed among them.  Jesus taught the sheep who had no shepherd!

A message for me and all other pastors/teachers and under-shepherds of the Lord.  Compassion might well include giving people food and drink.  But the Good Shepherd first taught the sheep and showed them they had a shepherd who was willing to set aside everything else to show them the way to the truth.

THINGS WILL NEVER BE THE SAME AGAIN

Things will never be the same again.

We had so many successes.  Everything went according to plan.  Even when that fool Pilate tried to release him we were able to get the mob to call out for the criminal, Barabbas.  Barabbas was a problem for us but better him than the carpenter’s son.  We got the crowd riled up and on the verge of a riot before Pilate gave in. 

Things will never be the same again.

A lot of us decided to make the hike out to Golgotha to celebrate our victory.  We had been working so long for this result that we didn’t want to miss the culmination of our efforts.  The Galilean was in such bad shape that they made some poor pilgrim carry his cross.  Some of us weren’t sure he would even make it to the place of crucifixion.

Things will never be the same again.

When the centurion and his soldiers finally had him nailed to the cross there was a real sense of relief.  We weren’t happy about the “King of the Jews” sign they hung over his head but I thought it was better to fight the battles we could win.  Some of us were practically giddy.  They were shouting things at him and mocking him.  Things like, “Hey, Son of God, come down off the cross!”  “You promised to save people but you couldn’t even save yourself!”  “If you come down we will believe in you!”  They were practically elbowing each other in the ribs in laughter.

Things will never be the same again.

That’s when it happened.  All of a sudden, around noon, the sun just disappeared.  It was blacker than night and I have to admit, I had chills running up and down my spine.  It was eerie.  I had a feeling like I never had before.  The darkness wouldn’t go away.  It lasted for hours.  There was something supernatural about it.

Things will never be the same again.

The rabbi called out for Elijah and then it looked like he just…died!  The ground beneath our feet started to rumble and shake violently.  I never felt anything like it in my life.  The rocks were tearing apart.  The very ground upon which I lived my entire life seemed to come alive in anger.

Things will never be the same again.

That’s when I noticed the centurion.  He was kind of a scary-looking guy.  Grizzled.  Tough.  Battle-hardened.  I had tried to stay out of his way all day.  But there he was, standing at the foot of the cross with a look of wonder on his face.  It was like everything around him had disappeared and he was transfixed.  I was close enough to hear him say, “Truly this was the Son of God!”

Things will never be the same again.

Finally the sun came out again and we all hurried home to get ready for Sabbath.  The next couple of days were discomforting.  I wasn’t myself.  It was like there was a thought in the back of my head that wouldn’t reveal itself.  On the first day of the week I was with the chief priests when the guards who had been out at the tomb came rushing in.  They were terrified.  They had been at the tomb when the second earthquake hit this morning.  All they could remember was the appearance of a bright and glorious person.  When they woke up the tomb was open and the dead man was gone.  We bribed the soldiers to lie about what happened.  I went home feeling sick.  My heart was pounding and my head ached.  All I could think about were the words of the centurion, “Truly this was the Son of God.”  I drank some wine and lay down but nothing helped.

Things will never be the same again.

 

A RENEWED MIND

Romans 12:2

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what the will of God is, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

I read this verse in my devotions the other morning and saw it in an entirely new light.  How can a verse that is so well known continue to reveal truth and wonder?  It is by the power of God’s living word that continues to shape us and show us new things.

Paul is talking about the process of sanctification, that work of the Holy Spirit whereby he changes the child of God from the worldly sinner he once was into the image of Jesus Christ.  The verse is more easily understood taken from the end.  The goal of the work of the Spirit in our lives is to bring us to a place where we are discerning and obeying God’s will.  What he wants us to do is that which is good, acceptable, and perfect (or holy).

It is almost impossible to imagine how God, through his Spirit, changes us so dramatically.  Before we come to faith we live in the world and the world is shaping us according to its own pattern.  That’s what the word “conform” means.  There is no resistance to this process of worldly conformation on our part.  We are passive recipients of the pressures of the world that shape us. 

But God intervenes in this process and does an amazing thing.  He gives us faith and we believe in the atoning work of Jesus on the cross.  We confess our sin and recognize that we have been shaped by the world.  God grants us the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and he begins to go to work on us.  How does he do this?  He renews our minds.  I think Paul means more than just the way we think.  I believe he uses the word “mind” to refer to our inner being, our heart, our way of relating to God.

The renewing of our inner being is the work of the Holy Spirit.  We cannot renew ourselves.  Neither can we transform ourselves.  That is why Paul writes “be transformed” in the passive voice.  This is something that the Holy Spirit does to us.  However, we can resist the work of the Spirit through disobedience and rebellion.  That is why the passive verb is still in the command form!  It could be translated, “Continue to allow yourself to be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”

As the Holy Spirit transforms us (metamorphoses), we learn to discern the will of God in our lives.  We are tested in many different ways and as we apply our renewing minds to what we have learned from scripture and from our relationship with God we begin to see what the people who are still in the world cannot see, the will of God.  With the renewing of our minds, our new passion for God and his will, we see the good and acceptable and perfect that God wants us to do.

I continue to be amazed at the love and goodness of God who does not leave us on our own to become righteous.  He does the transformative work in us!  We can’t even change our own minds so he does that for us as well!

FEASTS AND HOLY DAYS

¹⁴ “Three times in the year you shall keep a feast to me. ¹⁵ You shall keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread. As I commanded you, you shall eat unleavened bread for seven days at the appointed time in the month of Abib, for in it you came out of Egypt. None shall appear before me empty-handed. ¹⁶ You shall keep the Feast of Harvest, of the firstfruits of your labor, of what you sow in the field. You shall keep the Feast of Ingathering at the end of the year, when you gather in from the field the fruit of your labor. ¹⁷ Three times in the year shall all your males appear before the Lord God.  (Exodus 23:14-17)

The Hebrew nation was camped at the foot of Mount Sinai when Moses came down off the mountain and delivered God’s law to them.  Included in that law were directions for their three national religious festivals, the Feast of Unleavened Bread (including Passover), the Feast of Harvest (also known as the Feast of Weeks or Pentecost), and the Feast of Ingathering (Feast of Booths or Tabernacles).  This is not meant to be a theological study of the major feasts of Israel.  Rather, as I reflected on this portion of the Law I was struck with several realizations that apply to my life and the church.

God commanded the people to “keep a feast to me.”  God was meant to be the focal point of their festivals.  He was the reason for them.  Each of the festivals was a reminder of what God had done for his people.  Unleavened Bread and Passover reminded them of the fact that God had brought them out of bondage in Egypt.  The Feast of Weeks was to remind them that God gave them his law, that they as a people lived according to God’s good pleasure and according to his will.  The Feast of Tabernacles not only was a recollection of the time they lived in booths or tents in the wilderness, but that it was God who finally brought them into the Land of Promise.  It was a picture of the completion of God’s deliverance and pointed to the fulfillment of all his promises.  Three times a year the people stopped their routines and celebrated the works of their God with festivals.  The feasts were all about God. 

In the last part of verse 15 God says, “None shall appear before me empty-handed.”  Part of the celebration was bringing an offering to God.  Surely this helped the people remember that this was not just a party.  They were keeping a feast to God!  When they prepared for the feast they also prepared an offering to bring so they could not forget the significance of their celebrations.

The third thing that caught my attention is the fact that the people of God were meant to celebrate these feasts corporately.  It is true that there was a definite family aspect to Passover, but God says “Three times in the year shall all your males appear before the Lord God.”  All the men of Israel came together to present their offerings to God.  They were not merely individual followers of Jehovah; they were the family of God who were created by their God and called to live together as the people of their God!

So what?  It occurred to me that the church has two major holy days (holidays?) on our calendar, Christmas and Easter.  More liturgical denominations celebrate more holy days, but let’s just think of these two that we all share.  Both of them point to what God has done for his people.  Christmas, of course, reminds us of the incarnation; God sent his Son to live among us as a man.  Easter is similar in some ways to Unleavened Bread and Passover in that we celebrate Holy Week; Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and then Resurrection Day.  Jesus gave his life as a propitiation for our sins and on the third day rose victorious from the grave.  God is meant to be the focal point of our celebrations. 

Here is the “so what…”  Is God really the central person in these holy days as we observe them?  Do we make certain that he is the “reason for the seasons?”  While we spend amazing amounts of money on gifts and feasts that we share with one another, do we appear empty handed before God?  And finally, are we really intentional in recalling the corporate aspect of our celebrations?  Or is this just another example of how our faith has become private and individual in nature?  If we celebrate, should we not celebrate together, as the people of God for whom these days are so significant?  Is there something we should consider changing?  Just wondering…

DUST ON THE SCALES

Our men meet for Bible study on Friday mornings at 6:30.  This morning I was talking with our patriarch and he was telling me about his grandfather who came to the United States from Holland as a very young man.  He was unchurched and an unbeliever.  By God’s providence there was a connection made with a family in South Dakota and he went to live with and work for them on their farm.  This family was a Christian family and by God’s grace the young Hollander came to faith through their testimony.

In our conversation this morning my friend told me that his grandfather always included in his prayers the phrase, “for we are but dust.”  We decided to look up the passage in Isaiah 40:15-17.

Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket,

And are accounted as the dust on the scales;

Behold, he takes up the coastlands like fine dust.

Lebanon would not suffice for fuel,

Nor are its beasts enough for a burnt offering.

All the nations are as nothing before him,

They are accounted by him as less than nothing and emptiness.

We noticed something.  The text does not say that we are like dust on the scales; it says the nations are like dust!  We began to wonder in awe at the immensity and supremacy of our God!  Entire nations, scores of nations, are like dust on the scales!  What is the significance of the dust on the scales?  We thought back to the days when shopkeepers would have a scales on their counter.  They would weigh their products on one side of the scales and the gold or coins used in payment on the other.  The buyer would want to make certain that the shopkeeper’s side of the scales was completely clean so he would get his full weight in product while the seller wanted to make sure the other side of the scales was tidy so he would receive his full payment.  The scales would be wiped clean.  Perhaps only specks of insignificant dust would remain on the balance.  Insignificant dust.  Dust that meant nothing to either the buyer or the seller.  Entire nations are no more than that insignificant dust which is of no concern to anybody!  In God’s eyes the nations are “less than nothing and emptiness” (v. 17).

Nevertheless, “Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men…” (Philippians 2:6, 7).  Can we even begin to imagine the immensity of the step the Son of God took to become a human being residing in one tiny nation, one tiny speck of his own creation?   Why?

“In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him.  In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins…We love because he first loved us” (1 John 4:9, 10, 19).  Stunning!  Completely and absolutely stunning!  That he should love one who is a single individual, less than a speck of dust!

WISDOM OF THE REVEALING GOD

“But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory.  None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.  But as it is written, ‘What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him…’” (1 Corinthians 2:7- 9). 

The rulers of this age are the elite of the world but they could not grasp the mystery of God’s wisdom.  They saw the Christ with their own eyes but they did not recognize him as the Lord of glory and they put him to death.  We must stop and realize this truth:  we would be in the same situation as they if God had not decreed (foreordained) glory for us!  We would be right there beside them!  We know that we have not arrived at this blessing that God prepared for us through our own powers or abilities.  We could not have even imagined it on our own!  It is undiscoverable by men!

“The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. ¹⁵ The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. ¹⁶ ‘For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ’” (1 Corinthians 2:14-16). 

The “natural person” is the unspiritual person, the one whom the Spirit of God has not “completed.”  He does not accept (or “receive,” same Greek word) the things the Spirit teaches.  He rejects them because they are folly to him.  The Greek word for folly here is literally “moronic.” He rejects them because he “is not able” to understand them.  He does not have the power to grasp them.  He rejects them because they can only be spiritually discerned and he is merely physical, not spiritual!  The truth is all around this man but he has not the power to see it because he has not been illumined by the Spirit.  He lives in spiritual darkness! 

But the spiritual man (pneumatikos) is the exact opposite of the natural person!  He is able to judge all things (same Greek word as “discern”).  He can tell the worldly from the spiritual, truth from falsehood, and even grasp the mysteries of God’s wisdom.  In verse 16 Paul quotes Isaiah 40:13 and anticipates a negative response from his readers.  “Who is able to know the mind of the Lord in his own wisdom?”  No one!  But through the ministry of God’s Spirit we have the mind of Christ!  We have been called into fellowship with Christ.  We are one with Christ.  Therefore, we can be taught spiritual things by God through his Spirit and we can know the mind of God to the degree he has revealed it.

            With this understanding of the nature of salvation there is no reason to glorify man and every reason to glorify God alone.  There is no reason to glorify human wisdom and every reason to glorify God’s wisdom.  There is no place for human pride and every reason for humility.  There is no reason for division in the church and every reason to find our unity in Christ.  We learn that we can know the mind of God as long as we are led by the Spirit.  He communicates God’s truth to us as we study God’s word and pray.  He directs us with God’s wisdom as long as we wait upon him and seek him guidance.  Oh the grace, mercy, and goodness of God, that he should pour out his Spirit upon a sinner like me and grant me a glimpse of his wisdom in Christ Jesus!

MUTUAL ENCOURAGEMENT BY FAITH

For God is my witness…that without ceasing I mention you always in my prayers, asking that somehow by God’s will I may now at last succeed in coming to you.  For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you—that is, that we may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith, both yours and mine.”   Romans 1:9-12

Paul calls upon God to bear witness to his promise to the believers in Rome that he is faithfully praying for them.  He does not only think of them occasionally in his prayer; he prays for them unceasingly!  They are always on his heart and in his mind.  As a pastor, this really strikes at my heart.  Do I understand that prayer for the people who are part of our fellowship is not just part of the work of ministry but a central aspect of pastoral work?  These are the people Jesus died to save and these are the people God has called me to love and serve.  Can I really call myself faithful if I am not bringing them before the Lord in prayer “without ceasing?”  Do I hope that they will grow in their faith simply because I am doing the visible work of a pastor?  Do I hope the church will be strong and healthy because I study and teach and preach regularly?  Do I hope the people will find spiritual strength because I spend time with them and try to encourage them?  That is a very human way of approaching ministry!  If I think that what I do is enough to build a strong church then I don’t understand the church at all!  The very heart of the pastor’s work is unceasing prayer for the people in the church!

One of the things the apostle prayed for was an opportunity to finally get to Rome to be with the people for whom he had been praying so faithfully.  He “longed” to see them and spend time with them.  Why does he want to be with the Roman Christians?  To “impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you…”  He says that he wants to be able to minister to them.  He wants to be able to share spiritual truth with them and strengthen them in their faith.  This is the kind of work most pastors understand and with which they identify.

But Paul goes on…”that we may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith, both yours and mine.”  Here is a simple truth that seems to be beyond the understanding of most American pastors and congregations.  God designed the body of Christ, the church, to edify and encourage one another.  In other words, the people in the church serve and minister to each other by sharing life experiences and encouraging faith.  Pastors are part of the body.  They not only give but they are meant to receive encouragement and edification from the rest of the body. 

This is something I have understood for a long time.  I love to spend time with the people of the church.  Time without an agenda.  Time without a scheduled start and finish.  Just time.  Why?  Because as they share their lives with me I am encouraged in my faith.  I grow in faith!  I learn from them.  I trust that it works both ways but it will not work unless there is time allowed for it to happen.  Neither will it work unless the pastor is willing to come out of his study and the church members see him as a brother who wants to share life with them.  If the people think they have nothing to offer their pastor he will be left without spiritual encouragement and will find himself drifting away and drying up!

Pastors…there is much important work to be done.  We cannot neglect study.  But that is not all we are to do.  We have to be praying without ceasing for our people.  We have to get out of the study and spend time with the folks.  We should have a right perspective of ourselves, ready to hear and learn from people who share in our fellowship.

Church people…your pastor is a sinner saved by grace just like you.  He needs time with you, not to evaluate you or judge you, but to be encouraged by you, your life, and your faith.  This is the way God designed the body of Christ to function.