Christ Might Challenges Our Priorities - Luke 7-8

Luke 8:19-21 (ESV)

Then his mother and his brothers came to him, but they could not reach him because of the crowd. And he was told, “Your mother and your brothers are standing outside, desiring to see you.” But he answered them, “My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it.”

The above incident in Jesus’ adult ministry is referred to in Matthew and Mark’s accounts as well: 

 Matthew 12:46-49 (ESV)

While he was still speaking to the people, behold, his mother and his brothers stood outside, asking to speak to him. But he replied to the man who told him, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” And stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers!

Mark 3:31-34 (ESV)

And his mother and his brothers came, and standing outside they sent to him and called him. And a crowd was sitting around him, and they said to him, “Your mother and your brothers are outside, seeking you.” And he answered them, “Who are my mother and my brothers?” And looking about at those who sat around him, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers!

Jesus is making a demanding statement in these passages.   We talk a lot about having priorities in life.   Read what Jesus will say in a few chapters, as recorded by Luke:

Luke 14:25-27 (ESV)

Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.

We talk a lot about having God first, family second, church third, the rest of the world (work, play, etc) last.   Jesus is very demanding here.  The space between #1 (God) and #2 (family) seems to be a pretty large gap, based upon Jesus’ words.   He is counting those who follow him, greater than His family.   Jesus seems to be inserting the disciples of Christ as more important than family.   That would not fly in the minds of most parents today.   Yes, God is first, in their minds, but disciples of Christ are not before kids/family.   This is why doing things with family on Sunday often trumps being committed to corporate worship with the disciples of Christ.   I am not sure of many churches that would even teach this.   Yet, Jesus seems to be saying that although his family had a need, He was re-defining His family.    Christianity has always held the family unit as paramount.  How do these words of Jesus influence that thinking?   We drop everything for family.   Would we drop everything for God’s family, the disciples of Christ?   Christ demands a lot from those who follow Him.  Note these collection of verses and allow them to help you navigate this struggle between God, family, church, and life:

John 12:25 (ESV)

Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.

Luke 14:33 (ESV)

So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.

Luke 14:26 (ESV)

“If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.

Matthew 10:39 (ESV)

Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

Matthew 16:25 (ESV)

For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

Mark 8:35 (ESV)

For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel's will save it.

Luke 9:24 (ESV)

For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.

Luke 17:33 (ESV)

Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will keep it.

John 12:26 (ESV)

If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.

Jesus is quite demanding and challenges our traditional thought of priorities.   

Sin Steals Joy - Jeremiah 47-52

Jeremiah 48:33 (ESV)

Gladness and joy have been taken away

from the fruitful land of Moab;

I have made the wine cease from the winepresses;

no one treads them with shouts of joy;

the shouting is not the shout of joy.

The last chapters of Jeremiah are written judgments against the surrounding nations to Israel and, specifically, to Babylon, their ultimate captors.  The above passage is in the section of the judgment on Moab.  God is outlining both His sovereign power of the nations, but also His divine wrath based upon His holiness.   All the nations called into judgment in this section are nations who did something against Israel.  The judgments announced are severe.  There is some form of destruction outlined in each of the judgments (referred to as oracles by Jeremiah).   However, in the above verses we see a different type of judgment.  Here we read that one aspect of Moab’s judgment (like all the others) includes not something happening to them but, rather, something taken from them: Their genuine joy.   God can punish and discipline in many ways.  In this section there is death and carnage.   There is burning and flames.  There is banishment and plunder.   That all takes its toll.   But in the above lines we read that God takes their joy.   The drinking of wine will be replaced by the feelings of wrath.  The shouting once indicating joy will be shouting of pain indicating judgment.  God has many ways to discipline, punish and send corrective measures.  But taking away joy and gladness might be one of the most harmful.   It is one thing to inflict pain on the body, but quite another to steal the joy of the soul.   Sin steals joy.  

As We Think, We Are - Proverbs 1

Proverbs 1:8-9 (ESV)

Hear, my son, your father’s instruction,

and forsake not your mother’s teaching,

for they are a graceful garland for your head

and pendants for your neck.

As Solomon moves his pen against the scroll, he is about to layout for all parents and children great truths on how to live their lives in a way that causes them to fear the Lord.   He has just stated in verses seven the main premise of the book:

Proverbs 1:7 (ESV)

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge;

fools despise wisdom and instruction.

Therefore, since that is the beginning of knowledge and instruction and wisdom, what will that look like if we actually take it to heart?  I will look like a garland for the head and a pendant around your neck.  Notice that wisdom, instruction and knowledge are all internal, but the garland and pendant are external.   The point that Solomon is making is that what we think, believe and set our hearts and minds upon will show in the way we behave and interacted with the world around us.  It does not take us long to tell how someone is built based upon observing their behavior.  This is going to be the constant theme of the book of Solomon’s proverbs.  Notice how Solomon will eventually say this same truth:

Proverbs 27:19 (ESV)

As in water face reflects face,

so the heart of man reflects the man.

Proverbs 20:11 (ESV)

Even a child makes himself known by his acts,

by whether his conduct is pure and upright.

When we fear the Lord it is reflected in our walk of life.  When we fear the Lord it is like a garland on our head and a pendant around the neck.  All will know.  

God Protects His Children - Psalms 63-65

Psalms 63:9-11 (ESV)

But those who seek to destroy my life

shall go down into the depths of the earth;

they shall be given over to the power of the sword;

they shall be a portion for jackals.

But the king shall rejoice in God;

all who swear by him shall exult,

for the mouths of liars will be stopped.

Being mistreated in life is one of the most powerful imprints that can impact our entire life.   How we are treated by other human beings often determines how we treat other human beings.  Much of the violence done by youth has been the fostered in an environment of mistreatment by adults.   Most adult to adult violence stems from the desires of an evil heart.  In the above passage we are reading the last part of Psalm 63.  This song is from David when he was hiding in the wilderness, trying to escape the threat of King Saul.  Saul was jealous of David and wanted him dead.  He was seeking to destroy David’s life.   David is praising God that he could find safety in the shadow of God’s wings and that he knew he could cling to God and God’s right hand was holding him. That is when he prays the above words.  Because he knows that God is with him, he also knows that God will care for him.  God will:

1. Destroyer his enemies. 
2. Put his enemies into the depth of the earth. 
3. Give his enemies over to the power of the sword. 
4.  Give his enemies over to the jackals.
5. Shut the lies of their mouths. 

When you are being treated like David, it is a matter of faith to live with this confidence.  He believes that God will protect him.   God will protect us from violent men. Remember, when Jesus was crucified He was ridiculed by the crowd, the religious leaders, the soldiers and the government high ups.   Yet, He did not revile in return.   He committed Himself to the one who would judge righteously.  

Weak Leaders Are Replaced - 1 Kings 1-4

1 Kings 1:1-5 (ESV)

David in His Old Age

Now King David was old and advanced in years. And although they covered him with clothes, he could not get warm. Therefore his servants said to him, “Let a young woman be sought for my lord the king, and let her wait on the king and be in his service. Let her lie in your arms, that my lord the king may be warm.” So they sought for a beautiful young woman throughout all the territory of Israel, and found Abishag the Shunammite, and brought her to the king. The young woman was very beautiful, and she was of service to the king and attended to him, but the king knew her not.

Now Adonijah the son of Haggith exalted himself, saying, “I will be king.” And he prepared for himself chariots and horsemen, and fifty men to run before him.

Someday I would like to write a book about stories in the Bible that seem to be either out of place, or make no sense or reason to record.  Like the story in 2 Kings 6 where the axe-head floated.   Or the story of the bear eating the boys who mocked Elijah’s bald head (2 Kings 2).   The above story might fit into this genre of literature, perhaps.   The book of 1 Kings is about Solomon rising to power.  It is the beginning of the book of the kings that lead Israel, and the division of the kingdoms into Israel and Judah.  So why put a story about King David and his inability to stay warm?   Only until you get old will you understand that concept.  In old age our blood does not circulate the same.  You begin to get cold in the extremities.   Your toes and your fingers get cold first.  Your lips might even tingle due to poor blood flow.   You look for ways to stay warm.  The body is failing and heat is a source of strength.   To accommodate the kind, the people around him thought, “Let’s get the king a hot young virgin and that will solve his problem.”  That might have been fine (although highly immoral) if it weren’t for the fact of David’s age.   David has never been shy about being attracted to women.  He had seven wives.   We know more about some than the other.   But he was attracted to women.  Yet in the above story, that although this young woman was available to the King and attractive for the King, she was not intimate with the king.  This is the point of the story.   Immediately after the writer tells us that the king did not have intimacy with her, he tells about one of David’s sons, Adonijah, making himself king.   The unlimited picture of David’s lack of strength to be king was correlated by the author of his lack of interest to have sex with this virgin.  This is a picture that David’s impotency for sex is being used metaphorically of David’s impotency for leadership.   David is now seen so weak that he can’t have intimacy with a young, hot virgin and remains cold.  So, too, the leadership of his kingdom.   The writer took a usual way to tell us this, but apparently this was in indication in the country that David could no longer lead.  Leadership must demonstrate power and if not, they will be over run by younger and more powerful versions of themselves.   Weakness in leadership will create a vacuum that sucks in those only wanting power.   Leadership needs to show weakness with great caution.   Someone is always looking to step into your role if you show weakness.  

God Dwells With Us! Exodus 33-36

Exodus 34:5-9 (ESV)

The LORD descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the LORD. The LORD passed before him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.” And Moses quickly bowed his head toward the earth and worshiped. And he said, “If now I have found favor in your sight, O Lord, please let the Lord go in the midst of us, for it is a stiff-necked people, and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for your inheritance.”

Moses had been up in the mountain to get the first set of the Ten Commandments.  However, upon return, he and Joshua discovered that Moses’ brother, Aaron, had made a golden calf and that he and the people were worshiping the idol. In anger, Moses throw the first set of the commandments on the ground, shattering them.   One of those broken pieces contained the inscription to not worship idols.  

Now God wanted Moses to return to the mountain to get a new set of commandments, re-written, version two.  As Moses approaches the mountain the second time the above scene unfolds.    God is about to show Himself to Moses.   God wants Moses and the people to see His glory and splendor.   Appropriately, Moses falls to the ground to worship.    Moses, as he does many times, offers a prayer for him and the people.  His intercessory prayer is for God, despite their sin, to dwell among them.   This is the prayer of all the saints.  We simply want to confess to God our sins and failures and ask Him to dwell among us.   John, the disciple and Gospel writer, said it this way:

John 1:14 (ESV)

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

That is why Jesus came.  For us to see the glory of God:

Hebrews 1:3 (ESV)

He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,

Jesus is the one who gives us a living example of the glory of God.   He came to dwell among and died for us and now indwells in us by the Spirit.  Again, John the writer:

John 14:15-17 (ESV)

“If you love me, you will keep my commandments. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, 17 even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.

Moses, John and the rest of the writers of the Bible all make it known, God wants to dwell in us and with us, if we but confess our sins and invite Him to do so.  

How To Handle Christian Conflict in the Church - 2 Corinthians 11-13

2 Corinthians 12:19-21 (ESV)

Have you been thinking all along that we have been defending ourselves to you? It is in the sight of God that we have been speaking in Christ, and all for your upbuilding, beloved. For I fear that perhaps when I come I may find you not as I wish, and that you may find me not as you wish—that perhaps there may be quarreling, jealousy, anger, hostility, slander, gossip, conceit, and disorder. I fear that when I come again my God may humble me before you, and I may have to mourn over many of those who sinned earlier and have not repented of the impurity, sexual immorality, and sensuality that they have practiced.

To even come close to understanding this passage from 2 Corinthians we have to understand the proceeding chapter.  In the church at Corinth false teachers have come in and are not just teaching false doctrine but also claiming Paul was a weak heretic.  

2 Corinthians 11:13 (ESV)

For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ.

Paul is writing them to correct some of this before he returns a third time to them.   He wants them to wake up and not make his return a spectacle.    He is making his case for his authority and authenticity with boldness.  He is not being defensive, he is being demanding of their respect.   He wants them to know that he has demonstrated his apostleship to them many times and does not intend to back away from false teachers and their false claims.  His boldness is found in what God has done in him and with him.  Paul wants to avoid quarreling and strife over all this, he is never-the-less going to be bold concerning their understand.  He has written them before about sexual immorality.  He does not want to go there either.  He wants to find them walking in faith and not in flesh.  Note his last lines in the book:

2 Corinthians 13:5-6 (ESV)

Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test! I hope you will find out that we have not failed the test.

This is a perfect book about confrontation and how to handle Christian conflict.  Paul demonstrates love, faith, truth, grace and humility, with boldness.  But you can’t be bold without the first five.   These are the five markers that Christians, who differ from each other, must show in the midst of conflict.   With them we have resolution.  Without them we have more conflict.  

It Was True Then, It Is True Now - Luke 5-6

Luke 6:24-26 (ESV)

“But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation.

“Woe to you who are full now, for you shall be hungry.

“Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep.

“Woe to you, when all people speak well of you, for so their fathers did to the false prophets.’

The above woes are Luke’s account of what is known in Matthew’s, The Sermon on the Mount, a message preached by Jesus to the crowds.   Since Matthew’s account does not include any woes, this could be a second teaching, at a different time.    The point Luke brings into the framework of Jesus’ teaching is that Jesus gave the blessings to those who would turn to Him and the woes to those who would not.   Notice that the woes attack the very philosophy of our modern day value system (which might mean it was the same then as it is now):

1. Woe to the rich.   We value our money.  We value that status money gives us. We value the things money gives us.  The material goods.  This was true then, it is true now. 

2. Woe to those whose stomach is full.   We value our food.  How many ways can they make a production about preparing food and competing about who can prepare the best.   Good food and full plates is a sign of status.  This was true then, it is true now. 

3. Woe to those who laugh.  Party, party, party.  It is hard pressed to find a Friday and Saturday night when there aren’t parties going on.   We love to laugh.  Laughing (with good food and great riches) is a staple in our society.   It was true then, it is true now. 

4.  Woe to those who have great followers.  To have people speak well of you is something that we all like. To have them say great things about you, is what we all want.  The problem, Jesus says, is that they also said good things about false prophets.  The false prophets must have thought they were so loved because they had so many followers.  It was true then, it is true now. 

Little has changed in this mindset.  We want money, food, laughs and followers who like us.  Jesus tells them, and us, that if these are your values, woe on you.   

We Are Bent To Sin Without A Savior - Jeremiah 42-46

Jeremiah 44:10 (ESV)

They have not humbled themselves even to this day, nor have they feared, nor walked in my law and my statutes that I set before you and before your fathers.

At this point in the book of Jeremiah the majority of the nation of Israel have been carried off to Babylon.   The remnant remains.   Jeremiah was asked by them, “What shall we do?”  They swear to Jeremiah that whatever he says they will do it:

Jeremiah 42:5 (ESV)

Then they said to Jeremiah, “May the LORD be a true and faithful witness against us if we do not act according to all the word with which the LORD your God sends you to us.

Jeremiah tells them to remain in the land and don’t seek help from the Egyptians.  Yet, they do it anyhow.  They run for help to their wicked neighbors.  This is the reason for the above verse.  Jeremiah is in essence saying, “You just don’t listen!”   This was the downfall of Israel to begin with.  This is the reason God has sent them off to Babylon.  Now they immediately disobey again.  When we disobey God we are standing in the path of God’s discipline.  We are not to disobey His laws and statues and rules.   This group does it once again.  Like them, disobedience is in the nature of man.  It has to have a way to replace the sin nature, with, instead, righteousness.   This is why we need a Savior.   

 2 Corinthians 5:21 (ESV)

For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.