|
MONDAY.....a TRIBUTE to John the Baptist
Matthew 11:7-19 (take time to read)
the INTRO...
There's always an impact when someone pays tribute to another. It's the beauty of a memorial service where God is honored, our loved one is celebrated, and the family is comforted.
In this passage, Jesus is honoring John the Baptist, who hasn't been executed yet, but will be soon. I heard a saying long ago that "if you think that praise is DUE him, now's the time to give it TO him, because you can't read your tombstone when you're dead."
Although that little rhyme ends abruptly, it's very true. Jesus simply gave honor to the one who "plowed the road and cleared the path" before His ministry began.
the PLAY BY PLAY...
Jesus initiated this speech with a rhetorical question. He asked the people what they really expected from John the Baptist. Was it a calm voice reading poetry with harp music in the background, dressed in comfortable clothes? John the Baptist was anything but that!
His attire was very humble & basic. His diet was the high protein of locust and the simple carbs of honey. And his message was fiery, calling people to repentance. Leonard Ravenhill, a great evangelist once said, "John the Baptist left blisters on men's souls". He definitely turned the heat up as he was supposed to, preparing people to hear the good news from Jesus that followed the bad news John preached, that people were still lost in their sins, so repent & turn to God!
Jesus then lets the people know that nobody was greater than John among the prophets, and yet the least in the kingdom of Heaven are better than him.
Now at a glance, this doesn't quite make sense. But please understand that John the Baptist was still an Old Testament prophet, simply pointing to Jesus, and something greater was yet to come, which was grace, forgiveness, & the dwelling of the Holy Spirit!
Jesus then finishes His thought by declaring that John the Baptist was "symbolic Elijah who was to come" prophesied about in the book of Malachi. The Jews still look for Elijah to come. They not only reject Jesus as the Messiah, but also John the Baptist as that "forerunner".
Jesus also confronts the people for not taking John the Baptist seriously. He makes a stark contrast of playing flute music & inviting children to dance, but they didn't dance. Or playing funeral songs inviting people to grieve and they didn't mourn. He contrasts John's ministry & His own by saying, John came with a very aesthetic lifestyle, denying himself & fasting, and you called him "demonic", while the Son of Man comes associating with those who attended happy hour frequently & are seen as questionable characters, and the critical people say "he's a glutton and a heavy drinker".
He points out their hypocrisy of resisting any word from God just because they don't like the way it was packaged, and the messenger wasn't what they had in mind.
the TAKEAWAY...
The Takeaway is in the last part of verse 19, where Jesus says "wisdom is vindicated by her deeds". In other words, actions speak louder than words & you can't judge a book by its cover. The essence of the person is what matters, rather than the misperceived image folks many times have. The impact of John & Jesus has proven that public opinion isn't always right.
So our application of today is we have to let people see the essence of who Jesus is in us. They'll see it by our words & deeds as our values are lived out. Does GOD matter to us? Do all kinds of PEOPLE matter to us? And do godly VALUES direct us as we stand for them?
the PRAY AWAY...
Now I know most of you will pray pretty often all throughout the day. If you struggle with that, then remember what we talked about last week…putting our prayers in 2 categories....
What am I GRATEFUL for?
What am I HOPEFUL for?
Thank God for the gracious things He's done in your life.
And let Him know what your hopeful for that He brings about…like healing in a friend's life…or comfort for those who are grieving.
If you're reading this on Monday, many of us will be celebrating the memory of a dear friend and faithful member of the Northside family, Mike Stewart. Mike & Sheila, have been faithful servants & joyfully married for 52 years. In Mike's words, he's been "living on borrowed time" since his heart attack 29 years ago. Mike "finished well" with his loving family by his side.
His life, like so many in our finishing well fellowship, has been a testimony of gratitude to the God who saved him, blessed him and now has ushered him into eternity.
Love you guys…
And looking forward to seeing you tomorrow night as we help EACH OTHER finish well!
TUESDAY...A WARNING to Sinful Cities... Matthew 11:20-24 (take time to read)
Wow, only five verses today, but in that short amount of time, Jesus leans on the cities who didn't receive His message!
Jesus does something that He didn't normally do, which was to name names. He specifically mentions the cities of Chorazin and Bethsaida to receive a major "Woe". Thats a woe, not a wow.
Now, what really is a "woe"? I did a little further and discovered it means "divine displeasure" & "impending judgment". Jesus was saying it's not gonna end well for you and here's why.
Turns out, Jesus had done some great miracles for those two cities and they were not appreciative. And He contrasts those two cities with ungrateful hearts, the cities of Tyre and Sidon. Jesus says if they would've seen what you saw, they would have repented long ago!
Then Jesus really lets them have it with both barrels & throws in the Sodom reference (without Gomorrah), which might be where that social commentary came from I heard years ago, that "if things get any more ungodly in our culture, the Lord might need to apologize to those two cities".
Well, I don't think that's gonna happen. But Jesus does go out of his way to make a strong point that when He touches a life, heals a person, or delivers a wounded or addicted soul, then there should be repentance, rejoicing and gratitude!
So how can we pull a devotional thought out of a passage like this today? It's much easier to look at "the Beatitudes" & see the encouragement to have a pure heart, be meek & a peacemaker, & then make an application from those red letters.
But here, Jesus is saying if God has done something good in your life, don't take it for granted! If you've experienced amazing grace, then sing about it, tell a friend, love a neighbor, & remain "dependent upon Me" in this new life you've been given!
So take a moment to ask yourself as we head out for the day.... How has God been good to you? What has He done in your life that you realize was by His hand, not your own?
And how can you & I let Him know we're grateful & will remain "repentant and dependent" on Him as we go throughout our day? We will have many distractions, we can count on it.
Praying your day has at least 1 "God Moment" that leaves you saying, "I never could've orchestrated that like He did"!
Hope to see you all tonight @ the GRAND!
WEDNESDAY.....An INVITATION to the Weary & Wounded...
Matthew 11:25-30 (take time to read it)
This is a classic red letter passage today! I remember it best in the King James Version… "Come unto me all who are weary & heavy laden and I will give you rest".
I don't think I ever really knew what "heavy laden" was until the NIV translation came out and called it "burdened". I get that. We all get that.
We, of course, sing a lot of Christmas songs this time of year. One of the all-time favorites would probably be, "White Christmas". It was a song very popular during World War II, just as was the song, "I'll Be Home for Christmas", and rightly so, as many soldiers longed to be home with their families during the war…"if only in their dreams".
One of the lines from White Christmas is simply a wish for people…"may your days be merry & bright, and may all your Christmases be white". The reality is all of our days are ordained by God, but not all of them would be considered in that cheerful category. Many can be filled with pain and disappointment. And while God is good all the time, sometimes life is hard and difficult.
And in our passage today, Jesus thanks God that it's not just the wise and intelligent who understand His message, but those who are weak, young and hurting. In His prayer, He thanks His Heavenly Father for the opportunity to come and save all of humanity. And then He invites us who are hurting to simply "come to Him".
"Religion" had made the people tired. They were weary of the "yoke" (teaching) that the rabbis and Pharisees had placed upon their necks. They were taught to observe every little detail of the law, but they missed the heart of it. Jesus came to restore the "HEART of God found in the law of God". And He did it with not only His teaching & healing, but with the greatest act of love the world has ever known!
His teaching was to love God with all your heart & your neighbor as yourself. Even though that can be difficult, it's far more simple than the "complex structure of perfectionistic obedience" the Jewish leaders "pretended to portray" and "consistently demanded" of the people.
Jesus asked, "Are you tired of the hoops you've been told you have to jump through"? Then come find rest with Me. The incredible thing is, He does the same for us today. Even if we've walked with Him for a long time & had some disappointing moments.. even though we might've had some "over extended" seasons of life... some times of being overwhelmed when we need the peace and comfort available only in a close walk with Him.
Amy Grant sang a song years ago at Christmas time…"I Need a Silent Night". It was about the need for a less frantic pace during the holidays. Truth is, we need more than just one silent and holy night in addition to the "history-changing" one that happened long ago.
We need some continued moments of sitting at the feet of Jesus... putting everything else aside... and as we talked about Tuesday night, we all need time to "make room for Jesus".
So let me invite you to simply do that as you start or end the day. Make room in your heart . The song says "it may set you apart". Trust me, it will. I love the simple message in this song...
"Is there room in your heart for God to write His story... when you trade your dreams for His glory".
Sometimes "trading in" what we thought we wanted for what we NOW realize He's always wanted for us can be a great blessing. It many times can be painful and you might need to "leave the flag at half-mast" for a while. But only for a while.
So maybe today, one of the hard things might be letting go of one our dreams. Not "giving UP on them", but "giving them OVER to Him". May today we find the grace and strength to do that… through the power of His Word, His Spirit, and even His People, who are nearby willing to help us... and in doing that, may we finish well together!
Love you guys,
george
THURSDAY...ILLUSTRATIONS & CONFRONTATIONS for the Pharisees...
Matthew 12:1-21 (take time to read it)
OK, we're turning a corner today. Jesus has given a great tribute to John the Baptist. He then gave a strong warning to the cities where He performed many miracles to help them believe, but they rejected Him. Yesterday we read that beautiful passage of inviting all of us when we're weary and worn to lay down our unattainable religious efforts and fully embrace Him & His teaching of mercy and grace.
But today in our reading, the Pharisees come after Him. First, in a field of grain, then later in a synagogue.
In the fields, his disciples were hungry, and even though it was the Sabbath, they pulled a few heads of grain & apparently had some "trail mix", to which the Pharisees objected because it was on the Sabbath and therefore unlawful.
Not as how Jesus confronts him for not going to Sunday school and paying attention. He says haven't you read what David did? Any retails Story of when David was hungry and his "band of warriors" went in and ate the sacred bread which was only allowed for priests. Of course that wasn't lawful, but you have to understand why that law was given. To make sure people rested and honored God on the Sabbath, but not at the expense of godly people starving!
And then Jesus teaches strongly in verses 5-8. He reminds them that the priests work on the Sabbath and yet they're innocent. Just like preachers, ministry staff & a boatload of volunteers who work hard at weekend services, yet God does not accuse them of violating a sabbath principal based on that activity.
Then an even deeper teaching… "Something greater than the temple is here", Jesus said. In other words, I'm the Savior of the world, the Messiah, and I'm revealing the full intent of the heart of the law that you leaders appear to use against people.
He goes on to say that if they had understood the principal of "compassion over sacrifice", they would not have condemned the innocent.
So Jesus isn't pulling any punches. Especially in verse 8 before He leaves and says "the Son of Man is the Lord of the Sabbath". The Pharisees have no come back immediately, but trust me they will come back with further accusation, looking for every opportunity to remove Jesus from His rightful place because He's threatening their job security.
Then Jesus goes to a synagogue and a man with a withered hand is there. The Pharisees set up this scenario by asking Jesus, if it's "lawful to heal on the Sabbath" with the intent to bring charges against Him. Jesus confronts them again with the truth, that any of them would lift their sheep out of a pit if that's what happened on a sabbath day & how much more valuable a person is over a sheep, so it is permissible and even a good thing to do something like this…even on the sabbath!
Then Jesus heals the man's hand and the Pharisees get to work to conspire how they can literally destroy Jesus, so he withdraws. And as He leaves & gets away from that resistance, notice in the passage that many follow Him and He heals them all, but warns them to be quiet about who He is.
This fulfills the prophecy from Isaiah in verses 18-21 about how God "delights in His servant, who has His Spirit, who proclaims justice to the Gentiles...& He won't break off a bent reed or extinguish a dimly lit candle until He brings justice to its rightful place".
That's a lot of prophecy to fulfill and be aware of! But the Pharisees had no clue. They couldn't see past their resentment of all the attention Jesus was getting, which exposed them for being shallow spiritual leaders who were only concerned about "rule-keeping".
Now we could go on, because the passage continues within an event that follows immediately after, but I think we'll save that for next week. And tomorrow, I think we'll be good to do a little reflecting because anytime you look at these red letters and words of Jesus and everything behind it, it can be like drinking from a fire hose! Sometimes we sit down and breathe and let God sink into our minds and hearts the deeper simpler truth of what was going on and why.
Did you see the pattern that's happening? The Pharisees are criticizing Jesus. Then they're questioning and setting Jesus up. Then they conspiring to destroy Him.
He never initiated an attack on them, they always attacked first. But He never backed down from "clarifying the heart of God" as He interacted with them.
May we not be judgmental and attack. But may we never fail to clarify the intent of have a loving, and holy God, who is called us to represent Him as He is… holy, loving and just.
Looking forward to tomorrow…
A little catching of our breath and reflecting on the goodness of God!
FRIDAY...a Day to REFLECT...
It's always a good thing to stop & process what's going on around us. Sometimes we don't have the luxury for that in a busy world. For folks like us in the "finishing well age bracket", if we're retired, we might find ourselves busier than we were when we had a formal job!
Rather than add anything new to read today, I'd like for you just to take this moment to pause and breathe in and out.
BREATHE IN....the blessing of God... the hope that He gives… The truth we find in Jesus' words…
BREATH IN...the assurance of our salvation because of what Jesus did on the cross… the indwelling of his Holy Spirit in our life, whom at times we might grieve, He'll never leave…
And BREATHE OUT....the worries that are right in front of you… The doubts that the devil echoes in our mind… The preoccupations keep us from being more like Mary (Lazarus' & Martha's sister) hanging on every word of Jesus...
Take a moment to breathe....in...and out.
Take time to be GRATEFUL.....
(Good to make a list of blessings)
Take time to be HOPEFUL....
(Good to make a list of requests)
Now all from your prayer faith… entrust the outcome to him… And believe.
Believe He is able…
He is willing...
He is vigilant....
And He is faithful to complete the work that He began in you!
May He bless you with an incredible weekend that you've placed into His hands!
Talk to you on Monday...
gr
|
