Monthly Archives: October 2019

October 10; Pigs and Demons

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Mark 4:30-5:20; Matthew 13:24-52, 8:23-34; Luke 13:18-21, 8:22-39

A friend of mine visited my church on the Sunday my pastor spoke on this passage in Mark. She was not raised in a church that encouraged the reading of Scripture, so this was the first time she’d ever heard about the demon-possessed Gadarene and the herd of pigs. The whole thing really shook her.

Myself, I have heard and read this account of Jesus’ ministry many times and had become de-sensitized to the horror of it. My friend had me looking at this passage through new eyes. I’m grateful for that.

I’ve only seen the movie “Poltergeist” once. But after that experience, I remember jumping into my bed from the middle of the room – for much longer than I care to admit. I was an adult. It was a movie. I knew it wasn’t real. But it scared the living daylights out of me.

What we read in the Gospels about this demon-possessed man isn’t make believe. I can only imagine the people who witnessed it must have been scared out of their minds.

Think of it. Legions of demons pouring out of a man. What did that look like? I can’t imagine it was gentle, or calm. Think of seeing those demons racing toward a herd of pigs, and the pigs going mad. Mad enough to run off the cliff into the sea. Hollywood has nothing on God! No wonder the people wanted Jesus to leave them. That had to be one frightening experience.

That got me thinking. I’ve always felt a little sorry for the pig owners. They lost their livelihood when they lost that herd in such a violent fashion. I’ve wondered why God would do that to people who were just trying to make a living.

I looked on a map, and read what Matthew Henry had to say about it, and was shocked to realize the area of the Gadarenes was right in the middle of the Promised Land. The sea in this account is the Sea of Galilee. Those were most likely Jewish pig owners.

Now all of a sudden I don’t feel quite as bad for them. God had declared all-things-pig to be unclean for His people. There should never have been a herd of swine anywhere near there. That herd was a symbol of a great sin that was being lived in the area of the Gadarenes. When those pigs went mad, God was disciplining sin.

I’ve always read this account and been in awe of Jesus’ command over evil, and of His healing power. Today I am face to face with His fierce judgment.

As a child of God, I need to understand that God will not tolerate sin in my life. And if I don’t deal with it, He will. Sometimes those consequences are very devastating and very public. I can understand why the people wanted Jesus out of there. He’d revealed their sin in a very devastating and public way.

I’m very sure this wasn’t the first time God had spoken to them about their sin. I am very sure there wasn’t a Jewish pig-owner that didn’t know they were breaking God’s Law. But even after this demonstration of God’s seriousness concerning sin, they didn’t repent. I think down deep they knew they deserved it. Even the people who didn’t necessarily own pigs, but allowed the pig-owners their “right” to own them, didn’t repent. Scripture tells us they told Jesus to get out of town.

My prayer today is that whenever God puts a finger on a sin in my life, I’ll repent immediately. I don’t want to wait until He takes matters in His own hands. I want to be like the healed Gadarene who wanted only to be where Jesus was, cleansed, free, and changed.

 

 

October 9; Seeds

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Mark 3:31-4:29; Matthew 12:46-13:23; Luke 8:1-21

I imagine if you are reading this blog you have some interest in the Bible. I, of course, hope it’s more than mere curiosity, that you read the Bible for yourself, and are growing in grace and knowledge of Jesus through God’s Word to you. I pray that the Scriptures are your very lifeline, fertilizer for your blossoming faith.

Jesus told the parable of the seed, and all of us can identify with one of the examples He used.

Is your heart hardened toward anything God would say to you? Do you insist you have all the answers, and don’t need a Savior? Then you are the seed that squanders God’s Word, the seed that allows Satan and his lies to come in and twist and steal the truth God is speaking to you.

Have you heard and accepted the fact that Jesus died for you? You believe the Bible is true, but you don’t really read it for yourself. You hear the preacher on Sunday morning, but by the time the big game is on Sunday afternoon, you can’t remember what he even said. You are the seed with shallow roots. Beware of the storm.

Are you trying to balance the truth of Scripture with fitting in with the world? If you haven’t separated yourself, don’t think you can grow where the weeds of the world are putting pressure on you. You are the seed trying to thrive among thorns.

Or are you planted on good soil, growing and producing fruit? Have you not only received the Savior, but are working with Him to clear the land, grow strong roots, and be exactly what God intends for you to be?

Jesus called this parable “the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven.” He promises if we receive the Truth like the last seed, the growing seed on good soil in His example, we will receive even more: more understanding, more growth, more fruit.

But, He warns, if we fit into any other category of seed in His parable, “even what (we have) will be taken from (us).” That is a sobering thought.

So my challenge for all of us today is, let’s get growing. Let’s be the last seed, firmly established on the Root, which is Jesus. Let’s be growing by reading God’s Word every day, praying, and walking purposefully with our Savior.

Let’s be seeds that produce fruit for God’s kingdom. Any other kind of seed is worthless.

October 8: A Clean House Is Not Enough

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Luke 7:18-8:3, 11:14-26; Matthew 11:1-19, 12:22-45; Mark 3:20-30

Have you ever asked God to forgive a sin, then turned around and committed the same sin again, or ended up doing something much worse than the sin God forgave? Do you constantly ask God to give you victory over a sin, but fail repeatedly to overcome?

I hope you’ll read Jesus’ words today. God is faithful to forgive every sin, every time we repent from broken hearts. But what happens next is crucial in our victory over that sin.

Cleaning house is merely the first step. Allowing God to forgive, to cleanse us from all unrighteousness, is necessary – and wonderful! But we’ve got to fill that house, too.

If God forgave your sin as a result of repentance, if you’ve turned away from that sin, what are you turning TO? If we don’t fill our lives with godly endeavors, study of His Word and prayer, if we don’t replace screen-time with time invested in knowing God, we are opening ourselves up to repeating the sin God forgave, even worse than before.

Scripture tells us to grow in grace and knowledge of Jesus, and you don’t do that sitting on a bar stool, or tucked away in a private spot looking at porn. You can ask God to forgive you a dozen times, but until you replace those things with things of the Lord, you will find yourself right back where you started.

Sure, it’s not easy. It might mean changing friendships, giving your passwords to your spouse or children, getting rid of cable TV, whatever. That deep cleaning is often painful. Do it anyway.

I remember looking for a house a few years ago. I’d walk into empty homes, no pictures on walls, no couches or tables or lamps. It would be barren. Clean. But lifeless. It took someone getting in there and replacing that space with life and love.

That’s what God wants to do with a cleansed heart. I pray you will repent of sin, allow Him to get in there and clean house.

Then make a concerted effort to fill your time, your thoughts, your relationships with the sweet Presence of Jesus. Let Him fill your house with Himself.

October 7; The Miracle Worker

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Luke 6:17-49, 7:1-17; Matthew 8:5-13; John 4:46-54

Jesus was the miracle worker. He turned water into wine, made sick people well, and dead people alive. No wonder people followed Him around. Even if they weren’t sick themselves, who would want to miss seeing crooked legs made straight, and people being raised from the dead?

Jesus said something in John 4:48 that I’ve always read as a bit of a rebuke. He said to the dying boy’s father:

Unless you people see miraculous signs and wonders, you will never believe.

Today as I read Jesus’ words I didn’t hear a scolding. I heard the fact.

Jesus was a great preacher. He was wise, authoritative, and could hold a crowd’s attention for hours at a time. But He knew that wouldn’t be enough to reveal the fact He is God. So he healed some people to prove he was not just another gifted public speaker.

I know there are people, even some “Christian” movements obsessed with miracles today. There is a great argument in the Church as to whether God even does miracles today, or are we missing something if we don’t pursue miracles in 2019? But I am reminded we have something better, something even more convincing as to Jesus’ godship.

We have the Holy Spirit. God living in us. We know Jesus is who He says He is by the changed life of a redeemed soul. We have His Word in the pages of the Bible. And that is all the proof we  need.

The fact is, Jesus didn’t heal anybody to make them healthy, or raise a dead person so they could live a few more years before they died again. Jesus performed miracles so people would believe in Him.

That’s the fact.

I would encourage us all to stop obsessing about miracles. God never intended for anyone to come to Him because of the miracles. That’s why so often He asked people to not talk about what He’d done. It was never about the miracles.

Do you need to see a healing? Read the Bible. Do you need proof Jesus is God? Give your life to Him. Then you will realize the greatest miracle of all.

 

 

October 6; CANNOT

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Matthew 5:21-7:29

Every verse in Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount is a precious Truth that blesses and challenges me every time I read it. Today, however, it was one word that jumped out at me.

The other day I was convicted as I read that the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives has to show Himself in a change in our lives. (September 30; Baptized With The Spirit). There is no room for sin in the life of a believer because God does not stay where sin is.

I was reminded of that when I read 7:18, “A good tree CANNOT bear bad fruit, and a bad tree CANNOT bear good fruit. (emphasis mine)

Jesus was talking about recognizing false prophets. They look righteous, sound righteous, but they are really wolves in sheep’s clothing, Satan dressed up like a Christian.

I am once again reminded how important it is that my actions align with my profession of faith, that I am a light in a dark world, that I am able to address the speck in my brother’s eye because I have dealt with the plank in my own.

God CANNOT bear bad fruit. God CANNOT sin. God CANNOT think those thoughts, say those things, do anything which hurts or angers Himself. He CANNOT.

And if Jesus has really taken up residence in my heart, I can’t either, and be ok with it. If Jesus lives in me He WILL be seen.

Jesus said, “Thus by their fruit you will recognize them.” (verse 19)

People CANNOT NOT recognize Jesus if He lives in me.

October 5; He’s Not Laughing

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Mark 3:1-19; Matthew 12:9-14, 3:7-19, 4:23-50; Luke 6:6-16

He (Jesus) looked around at them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts…”

What is God’s take on stubbornness, disobedience, rebellion? It makes Him mad.

I think sometimes we picture God like a dad who tells his child, “No,” then giggles when the child does it anyway. We might hear the dad say something like: “I was the same way when I was a kid.” Or “The nut doesn’t fall far from the tree.”

When I read God’s Word, I am aware that God never giggles at sin. He was never like us as a kid. And we nuts have fallen so far from the tree it isn’t funny.

All of us need to understand that our sin – in thought, word, or deed – angers and deeply distresses our Heavenly Father. The price for each one of our sins is death, separated from God forever.

Just the idea of us being separated from Him angers God. We need to understand that when we sin, He’s not laughing.

October 4; Getting Ahead of Maturity

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Matthew 9:1-17, 12:1-8; Mark 2:1-28; Luke 5:17-39, 6:1-5

So John the Baptist’s disciples fasted, but they were aware that Jesus’ disciples did not. They wanted to know why. I’ve always loved Jesus’ response:

“Because I’m here.”

But then He goes on and gives examples of garment patches and wineskins. And to be honest, I’ve sat here today trying to make the connection between the Bridegroom, clothes, and wine. I pulled out my old friend Matthew Henry, and wasn’t disappointed.

Henry reminded me Jesus’ ministry was brand-spankin’ new. (that wasn’t a direct quote of the Puritan theologian if you hadn’t guessed 🙂 )  Christianity wasn’t even a thing. Jesus had to grow his disciples before they could be useful.

You don’t put a new patch on old clothes, or new wine in old wine skins, any more than you put new believers into ministry. Jesus is telling us the maturing process is crucial. His disciples needed to spend time with the Bridegroom before the Bridegroom sent them on their way.

I know you’re probably tired of hearing that I’m on the Nominating Committee at church. But as we fill our various committees, these passages of Scripture are timely. There is something for all of us to be doing in ministry, no matter how long we’ve walked with the Lord. But I pray we won’t jump ahead of maturity, by inviting someone to serve where they are not yet spiritually prepared.

Because in Jesus’ example, that results in disaster.

October 3; Hometown

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John 4:27-46; Mark 1:14-15, 21-45; Matthew 4:12-17, 8:1-4, 14-17; Luke 4:14-15, 30-44, 5:12-16

Many of us Baby-Boomers grew up going to church, Sunday School, Bible Schools, and often Wednesday night prayer meetings and youth groups. We were raised with at least a knowledge of God in a country that honored God in many ways. Even the shops were closed on Sundays.

For many of us, our association with all things Christian became more than church attendance. We made it personal when we repented of our sin, and invited Jesus into our hearts and lives.

Fast forward fifty years. Things have changed, haven’t they?

We didn’t give our children the same Biblical foundation. We encouraged them to find truth for themselves. We sacrificed Sunday worship for baseball and soccer games. We stopped meeting on Sunday nights and Wednesday evenings. We chipped away at the foundation that our own lives had been built on. Now our children are raising our grandchildren with no foundation at all.

I know that is a vast generalization. I hope you who are reading this are not described by it. But when I look at our country and our world, I think too many people are.

I got to thinking about this today as I read about Jesus’ ministry in His hometown. Scripture tells us He couldn’t do a lot of great things there among the people closest to Him,  people who had watched Him grow up.

Jesus reminded them that in Elijah’s day there were a lot of starving widows in Israel, but God had to go to Sidon to find a woman of faith. There were plenty of lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha. But it was Naaman the Syrian who had the faith to be healed.

I am reminded it’s not exposure to Jesus, not church attendance, or familiarity with creation, or a belief in a higher power that saves. Living in a house where believers live does not save. You can know everything there is to know about Jesus. But that knowledge won’t save you.

Please don’t assume your kids and grandkids will be saved because of your faith. They, like us, will have to decide to accept grace for themselves. Don’t assume your children know Jesus just because they know about Him. They will have to establish that relationship with the Savior themselves.

Our children can be living in Jesus’ hometown, so to speak, and never put their faith in Him. And God cannot do great things in their lives if that’s the case.

Are we giving our children and grandchildren a chance to build their faith on the Truth of Scripture the sure foundation of Jesus, the Holiness of God, and the only way to the Father? Or are we ok with them watching Christianity from the cheap seats?

People in Jesus day could say, “Yeah. I’m from Jesus’ home town. I grew up with Him.” In our day we can say, “Yeah. My Mom knows Jesus. I grew up in church.”

It’s just not enough.

October 2; The Jesus We Don’t Like To Talk About

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John 2:1-4:26

Today we read the account of Jesus clearing the temple of the flea market. Men were selling cattle, sheep, and doves right there in the temple court. I’m sure someone had thought what a great ministry it would be if they made bringing an animal for sacrifice convenient to the people. Why not sell what they need right there in the temple?

When Jesus saw this “ministry” he was mad. He made a whip and used it on the merchants, overturned their money tables, and ran them out of the temple. He didn’t even consider their noble intentions.

We really don’t like talking about that Jesus. We like talking about the Jesus who tells us to love everybody, to turn the other cheek, to do good to those who harm us. I love talking about that Jesus, too.

But we shouldn’t forget the Jesus who protected the holiness of the temple – with force.

Now, I’ve been accused of having pet-peeves when it comes to modern-day worship. So if you don’t want to hear it, I would suggest you stop reading right here. No hard feelings. I honestly don’t know if it’s pet-peeves, or if God nudges my heart on these matters. But if it’s from God, I don’t want to ignore it.

I know we haven’t turned our churches into flea markets. But many of us have turned them into coffee shops. We tweak our worship services so as not to offend people, or to make it more attractive to people, we change our schedules to make it convenient for people to attend, even if it’s Saturday night.

Sounds like a great idea for ministry. I can see why many people have jumped on that bandwagon. But is there Scripture to back it up? Does God ever in His Word tell us to worship only when it’s convenient, or entertaining, or comfortable? I’m not so sure we have done a good job of protecting God’s House, the place of prayer.

Here’s the other thing: Our bodies are God’s temple as well, the place where God lives on this earth in 2019. Do we protect His holiness in us with as much fervor as Jesus protected that temple in Jerusalem?

Yes, Jesus’ message was love, forgiveness, grace. I love that about Him. I’ll continue to talk about Him in those terms. But I am reminded today that there is another side to Jesus, a side that isn’t so fun to talk about. He never compromised on the holiness of the Temple. He never suggested we take worship of God for anything other than worship of God. He took it very seriously. So I want to, too.

October 1; A Prayer God Loves To Answer

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Matthew 3:13-17, 4:1-11, 18-22; Mark 1:9-13, 16-20; Luke 3:21-22, 4:1-13,5:1-11; John 1:29-51

Did it take much convincing for you to believe Jesus is God, and that He speaks the Truth? Maybe you aren’t convinced yet.

Two disciples of John the Baptist heard him introduce Jesus as, “the Lamb of God.” That intrigued the men, so they spent the day with Jesus, probably asking questions and listening to His teaching. They wanted to know for themselves who Jesus was.

The first thing Andrew did after spending time with Jesus was to find his brother, Simon, to tell him he’d met the Messiah. Andrew brought Simon Peter to Jesus. So later, when Jesus asked the brothers to follow Him, they dropped everything and followed.

Some people who say they don’t believe in Jesus have never really spent time with Him. Oh, they might read a few verses, maybe read the Bible from cover to cover. But if their heart’s desire isn’t to get to know Jesus, they won’t find themselves any closer to the Truth than before.

If you aren’t sure Jesus is who He says He is, I hope you’ll read these Scriptures with us today. But before you do, pray. Ask God to reveal the Truth through His Words. Open your heart and mind to understanding. That’s a prayer I know God loves to answer.