Tag Jesus

The Sovereign Over Our Blessings

Todd R 1 Comment

40 years after God first made a covenant with Israel, promising to be their God and bless them if they would love and obey Him, the covenant had to be renewed.  Israel had been led through wilderness for decades after refusing to enter the Promised Land, but Moses eventually gathered them again to finally cross the Jordan River and take the Land.  Moses prepared them by renewing the covenant, but before that, Moses reviewed blessings and curses from God that would come with obedience or disobedience.

We know that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”[1] and therefore any blessing is an act of grace because only Jesus lived a life of full obedience.  However, the choices of the ancient Israelites, and modern people, have consequences, and these blessings and curses carry a lesson about God’s sovereignty.  God would not make promises or threats that He is unable to carry out and therefore He must have the power and control to deliver on all of them.  Consider these parallel verses in Deuteronomy 28 showing God’s control over…

…all places, rural or urban:
“Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the field.” (verse 3)
“Cursed shall you be in the city, and cursed shall you be in the field.”  (verse 16)

…reproductive and agricultural success:
“Blessed shall be the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground and the fruit of your cattle, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock.”  (verse 4)
“Cursed shall be the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock.”  (verse 18)

…military success:
“The LORD will cause your enemies who rise against you to be defeated before you. They shall come out against you one way and flee before you seven ways.”  (verse 7)
“The LORD will cause you to be defeated before your enemies. You shall go out one way against them and flee seven ways before them. And you shall be a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth.”  (verse 25)

…the weather and its related benefits:
“The LORD will open to you his good treasury, the heavens, to give the rain to your land in its season and to bless all the work of your hands.”  (verse 12a)
“And the heavens over your head shall be bronze, and the earth under you shall be iron.  The LORD will make the rain of your land powder. From heaven dust shall come down on you until you are destroyed.”  (verse 23-24)

There are further curses, without parallel blessings, where God is declared as sovereign over…

…disease:
“The LORD will make the pestilence stick to you until he has consumed you off the land that you are entering to take possession of it.  The LORD will strike you with wasting disease and with fever, inflammation and fiery heat, and with drought and with blight and with mildew. They shall pursue you until you perish.”  (verse 21-22)

…human psychology:
“The LORD will strike you with madness and blindness and confusion of mind.” (verse 28)

…nature, including the smallest worms and crickets:
“You shall plant vineyards and dress them, but you shall neither drink of the wine nor gather the grapes, for the worm shall eat them.”  (verse 39)
“The cricket shall possess all your trees and the fruit of your ground.”  (verse 42)

…and even over the fates of nations:
“The LORD will bring a nation against you from far away, from the end of the earth, swooping down like the eagle, a nation whose language you do not understand.” (verse 49)

As we know, Israel was eventually carried away into captivity by Assyria in 722 B.C., and Judah to Babylonia in 586 B.C. because of their ongoing unfaithfulness to God, however God fulfilled His covenant through Jesus Christ, descended from the tribe of Judah, centuries after they returned from Babylonian exile.  In Christ, people from all nations can be His people, and He will be their God.

We are all in exile, sojourning on this earth, but our God, sovereign over all, has Promised a new Land, a new heaven and a new earth, and we know He is faithful, even if it takes centuries.  Therefore, praise God for the blessings He gives His people in all of the areas under His control, which is everything!

Nothing escapes His notice and nothing is beneath Him to be concerned about.  Pray for His blessings in all areas of life, no matter how large or small.

Amen.

[1] Romans 3:23

Minding Our Own Business

Todd R 3 Comments

Have you heard the term “virtue signaling”?  The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines it as “the act or practice of conspicuously displaying one’s awareness of and attentiveness to political issues, matters of social and racial justice, etc., especially instead of taking effective action.”  The phrase seems like it’s been around a long time, but the first use of it may have been as recent as 2013.[1]

Maybe the words “virtue signaling” are new, but the idea is at least as old as the Bible.  In chapter 26, verses 6-13 of Matthew’s gospel, he tells the story of a woman who came to Jesus with “an alabaster flask of very expensive ointment” which she poured on Jesus’ head in front of the disciples.  In Jesus’ view “she has done a beautiful thing to me…to prepare me for burial.”  But the disciples didn’t see it the same way Jesus did.  They indignantly said “Why this waste?  For this [ointment] could have been sold for a large sum and given to the poor.”

Jesus responded how it was “a beautiful thing”, but also made another comment that made it clear the disciples were virtue signaling.  He told them not to “trouble the woman.”  “For you always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me.”  I think Jesus had at least 3 points in this phrase, related to virtue signaling.

The first is that knowing what to do isn’t enough.  In fact, it just increases our responsibility.  James 4:17 says: “So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.”  Although the disciples knew that giving to the poor was good, in this case were more concerned about sharing that knowledge than about using it.  Today, we might call such people virtue signalers, but the Bible calls them “busybodies” and “meddlers”[2]  People who go from person to person evaluating and criticizing their work instead of minding their own responsibilities.  These people are common on social media.

Second, that there is always an opportunity to help the poor – they always will exist and aren’t hard to find – and each disciple surely missed opportunities every day.  On what basis could they pick on someone else’s failure to help the poor?  By criticizing the woman, they revealed that virtue signaling was more important to them than actually being virtuous.

Photo by Guillaume de Germain on Unsplash

The last point is that service flows from worship, not the other way around.  When we worship Jesus, the ultimate servant, our own ability to sincerely serve others increases as a result.  The woman with the ointment knew this may be the only opportunity to anoint Jesus for burial, and knew she shouldn’t miss it.  On the other hand, the disciples wanted Jesus to punish the woman when they should have been minding their own business.  An internal posture of worship may be the best antidote to hypocrisy and the temptation to merely signal virtue.

The phrase “mind your own business” usually is said to someone we want to leave us alone, but the words actually mean that we should consider our own activities and motives more important than the policing of other people’s activities and motives.  We “always have the poor” with us and fall far short of the standard we need to meet to judge other people’s use of resources.

When we all stand before God in judgment, Jesus will tell the blessed: “I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’”  In other words, the blessed minded their own business instead of just criticizing others (virtue signaling).  Jesus notices when we take effective action and doesn’t care much about our opinions of others’ effectiveness.

Therefore, pray that we can all mind our own business, in worshipful service, “for you always have the poor with you,” and thank God for His forgiveness, because I know I don’t mind my own business nearly as often as I should.  Sometimes I just blog about it.

“Many a man proclaims his own steadfast love,
            but a faithful man who can find?” – Proverbs 20:6

[1] https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/virtue signaling
[2] 1 Timothy 5:13; 1 Peter 4:15

Who We Shall Be

Todd R Leave a comment

The apostle Peter wasn’t always a follower of Jesus.  He also wasn’t always Peter; he was originally named Simon.  He got his new name when his brother Andrew took him to meet Jesus.  Andrew “brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, ‘You are Simon the son of John? You shall be called Cephas” (which means Peter).’” (John 1:42).

Photo by Lionel Gustave on Unsplash

Something that stands out in Jesus’ words are the phrases “You are,” and “You shall be.”  It’s as if Jesus saw 2 people: the one Simon was, and Peter that Simon would be.  The Simon of the present and the Peter of the future.  Jesus knew there was work to be done with this Simon who would become His disciple, but He also knew that the work would be completed.  It was inevitable that Simon would become Peter, the rock, which is what the name Peter means.  Cephas also means rock in Aramaic, but Peter is the Greek name we know him by.

But in the meantime, Peter was going to be a work in progress, like all of us.  Jesus sees everyone as they “are” and as they “shall be.”  He sees the raw material and He sees what it will take to finish each competed work of art.  Jesus takes us as we are, begins our transformation there, and will complete it in eternity.

Revelation 2:17 says of believers: “To the one who conquers I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, with a new name written on the stone that no one knows except the one who receives it.”  This new name represents our future, eternal identity.  The person we will be when God is finished with His work of creation in us, the person Jesus sees in us, but that is beyond our wildest imagination. C.S. Lewis wrote that believers will “one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship.”  This is how completely we will be changed and conformed to the image and likeness of God that He intended for us from the beginning.[1]

So, if you ever feel disappointed in yourself, if you feel unworthy of God’s attention, if you wonder how God could love someone like you, remember: God sees who you “are” and who “you shall be.”  And who “you shall be” is beautiful beyond what we can imagine, but not beyond what He can see.

“You are Simon the son of John? You shall be called Cephas” (which means Peter).”

[1] Genesis 1:26-27

The Depths of David’s Emotion

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One of my favorite things about the Psalms is the honesty and outpouring of emotions from the authors.  Even King David is very transparent in the many Psalms he wrote as prayers to God, making him more relatable to us.  We can see he’s not perfect, we can empathize with his pain, and we can often see ourselves mirrored in David’s experiences.

Since David is known as a man after God’s own heart, we often see the depth of his concern for others.  One such passage is Psalm 35:13-14, where David cries out:

“But I, when they were sick—
            I wore sackcloth;
            I afflicted myself with fasting;
I prayed with head bowed on my chest.
I went about as though I grieved for my friend or my brother;
             as one who laments his mother,
            I bowed down in mourning.”

How often do any of us put this much effort into crying out to God for someone else’s well-being?  But who are the “they” at the beginning of the verses?  Who is David so concerned about?  We can see that it is someone who was sick, but it wasn’t a brother or his mother, so probably not a family member.

David. Photo by Jack Hunter on Unsplash

The depth of David’s pleading to God for the “they” in Psalm 35 is even more striking because the “they”…are his enemies!  The Psalm begins with:

“Contend, O LORD, with those who contend with me;
            fight against those who fight against me!”

The rest of the Psalm suggests there are many people making false accusations about David, “malicious witnesses” out to destroy him.  David cries out to God in verse 8:

“Let destruction come upon him when he does not know it!
And let the net that he hid ensnare him;
            let him fall into it—to his destruction!”

David vents a lot of negative emotions before getting to verses 13 and 14, but he does get to the point of concern for these enemies.  He lets off a lot of steam begging God for justice, but never writes about taking justice into his own hands.  This is the honesty I love about the Psalms – if you’re angry, it’s ok to vent to God!  But it’s not ok to pray to God so you can take vengeance on your enemies yourself.

It’s only natural to be angry at our enemies, but in Christ we are more than natural, so we don’t have to do what comes naturally.  Here is what Christ expects of His people, as written in Matthew 5:43-46:

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’  But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.  For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?”

David’s venting in Psalm 35 is the part that anyone can do, but what really stands out is the depth of David’s love for his enemies!  As I wrote earlier, how often do we put this much effort into crying out to God for someone else’s well-being?  Even if they are our friends?

Jesus enables us to be supernatural, which is sometimes what we need to love unconditionally and pray as David did.

“But I, when they were sick—
            I wore sackcloth;
            I afflicted myself with fasting;
I prayed with head bowed on my chest.
I went about as though I grieved for my friend or my brother;
             as one who laments his mother,
            I bowed down in mourning.”

A Ministry Lesson From Jonah

Todd R 2 Comments

In the Old Testament, God’s people – the Jews – were supposed to be a blessing to other nations[1], pointing them to God.  Ultimately this blessing came through Jesus Christ, but in the meantime God’s people didn’t always live up to His expectations.  One disappointing example was Jonah.  God said to him in Jonah 1:2 –

“Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me.”

But Nineveh was in Assyria, one of Israel’s enemies.  God said in the call to Jonah that they were “evil.”  50 or so years later Assyria would conquer Israel.  Jonah hated his enemy Assyria and didn’t want to prophesy to them even though God told him to, so what did he do instead?  He ran away.

In his commentary on Jonah, Warren Wiersbe wrote: “When you turn your back on God, the only direction you can go is down.”[2]  What did he mean?

Notice that in verse 3, Jonah goes “down to Joppa,” and “down into” a ship he found to take him to Tarshish, far away from both Israel and Nineveh.  Later in verse 5, Jonah “had gone down into the inner part of the ship and had lain down and was fast asleep.”  From the minute Jonah decided to run from God, he found himself in a descending spiral and ended up in despair, asking the sailors to throw him (down?) into the sea to calm a storm.  The Bible doesn’t use the word “down”, but you could say that after Jonah was tossed in the sea that he went down into the belly of the great fish when he was swallowed up.

It is only when Jonah prays a prayer of thanksgiving to God for saving his life and he says “you brought up my life from the pit, O LORD my God” that things start to look up for him.  He is then “vomited…out upon the dry land”[3] and given a second chance.

Like the ancient Jews, the modern church is also called to be a blessing to the nations, for example in Matthew 28:19-20, the verses known as the “Great Commission”:

“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

This commission is to bless “all nations,” and note Jesus said to “make disciples,” not to “make converts” which means that the Great Commission goes beyond evangelism.  While we are all called to evangelize, and some are particularly blessed in it, the commission includes each Christian’s ministry to the church as well as we help each other live as Christ did, blessing those around us.  As Paul wrote in Romans 12:4-8, we all have a role in making disciples:

“For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.  Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.”

This isn’t a full list of what are called “spiritual gifts,” but prophecy, service, teaching, exhortation, generosity, leadership and mercy cover a lot of different activities and ministries.

While Jonah had his call to preach to Nineveh, and all Christians have the call to “make disciples of all nations,” but like Jonah do we also have certain people or types of people – maybe those we consider evil – we’d rather not minister to?  Are there tasks that we run away from, even if we feel God is calling us to do them, because of who else is involved?  Are there times where we, like Jonah, are what Wiersbe called a “narrow-minded patriot,”[4] more concerned about being on the right side from our worldly or political perspective than about being on God’s side?

If so, the lesson from Jonah is: don’t neglect what God has called you to do, because when you do, “the only direction you can go is down.”

Maybe even into the belly of a big fish.

Who is God asking us to minister to today?

[1] Genesis 12:3
[2] Wiersbe, Warren.  Be Amazed (Minor Prophets Hosea – Malachi) (1996).  P. 99.
[3] Jonah 2:10
[4] Wiersbe, Warren.  Be Amazed (Minor Prophets Hosea – Malachi) (1996).  P. 113.