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Jesus caught people off guard all the time. Whether it was before His arrival with an angel visit for both Mary and Joseph, or in all of the events that we look at this week in Matthew 8 & 9. Galatians 4:4 says that He came in the “fullness of time”. His timing will always be perfect. Maybe not from OUR perspective, but in God’s overall plan, He is “right on the money”. God sent His Son to the Jewish people initially after 400 years of silence. Some weren’t ready to listen. The religious leaders had “job security”. But He came to fulfill all that God had promised and also to “undo” (or actually “destroy”) the works of the devil. Our devotional thoughts this Monday thru Friday just happen to focus on those (and the things) Jesus “had a heart for”. The folks around Him seemed taken back at times. Jesus wasn’t there just for the “shock value” of scaring people into the Kingdom, but He did “interrupt things” consistently. But they NEEDED to be interrupted and clarified! So let’s get started rediscovering more RED LETTER WORDS from Jesus…..but be ready for Him to do something you never saw coming! MONDAY…”Jesus Had a Heart for the POSSESSED “(Matt 8:28-34) Take a moment and read the passage. Wow! They never saw that coming! Jesus did, but no one else seemed to. The demon possessed men didn’t. The demons didn’t. The pigs didn’t. The Pork Producers Association didn’t. The locals didn’t. If you read the parallel passage in Mark’s gospel chapter 5, we see the man’s name, who will soon be referred to as “The Man Formerly Known as Legion”. He didn’t see it coming either! Some of the greatest blessings in life we might not see coming. When John Newton, a slave-trader finally repented of his horrific sin and wrote the song, “Amazing Grace”, I’m not sure he ever saw grace coming….at least not to him. These two men (Legion, in particular) who were obviously “possessed”, were violent and surprisingly enough wanting to pick a fight with Jesus. The Bible says “they confronted Him”. They sound like rebellious high school kids offended that they’d been expelled. Notice their language…..”Have You come to torture us, Jesus, before the time?” You see they’d been angels who turned to demons after following Lucifer (Satan) along with a third of heaven’s angels. They knew Jesus. He had created them long ago. However they had defected. They knew their time on earth was limited and restricted, and they were in it for all the damage they could do to thwart the glory of God. They begged to be cast out and thrown into the pigs. Of all possible “relocations”, I wouldn’t have anticipated that request! But Jesus accommodates with one word, “GO”! And they leave the men and….well, you know the rest. And I’m sure you’ve heard the pastoral humorous remark in a sermon before that this was the first account in the Bible of “deviled ham”. Only some of us “finishing well” age folks will remember that sandwich selection not to be found at Jimmy Johns! Now before we accuse Jesus of hurting the local economy, let’s realize pigs were unclean animals, forbidden to be consumed by Jewish families. So what was this all about in the big picture and grand scheme of things? In some ways, it was just another day of Jesus doing “spiritual battle” with some bullies from long ago, but not so far away. It came early in His ministry, so His followers saw the intense conflict there was between good & evil, heaven & hell. Everyone saw His power that turned storms into smooth sailing and now violent public nuisances into well-behaved altar boys with a powerful testimony of life change! But in other ways it was too much for some to handle. The “locals” begged and pleaded for Jesus and His crew to leave the area. Was this going to happen to all of their businesses? Some folks would rather have their income and tolerate evil in the community as long as they could control it a little bit. Today there are many spiritual truths to unpack. Jesus’ one word for the demons….”GO”. And His 2 words seen in the other gospel accounts to the man now free was “GO TELL”. But before He could use the “now clean men”, they had to be “REPOSSESSED”, so to speak. They had to be free of the dominating evil in their hearts and lives. This is such a great reminder that no one is too far gone. No one is too evil to be changed by the power of Jesus. No obsessing political party or person, no addictive behavior, no hateful & violent person is beyond hope. But the demons have to go. Make no mistake, the evil has to be removed FROM God’s presence for the person to be blessed IN God’s presence! Now I’m doubting than any of our readership of Finishing Well would fit into this category…..but I’m guessing we know someone and even perhaps a “loved someone” who is overtaken in hatred, resentment or sinful addictive behavior that can’t find their way out and desperately need to! So our job is to faithfully pray for their deliverance thru repentance in that person’s life. Some kinds of demons, Jesus said later, only come out with prayer & fasting. That’s the mark of “seriousness”. He is able. He is willing. Are we able & willing to pray on another’s behalf who is deep into the enemy’s territory and painfully in his grip? Jesus has a heart for the “possessed” or “obsessed” or “oppressed” or whatever term you’re inclined to use. Spiritual battle is a very real thing and leaves all of us wounded who claim the name of the Lord but don’t acknowledge the gravity of the conflict. Mike Breaux’ recent message @Northside from Ephesians on spiritual battle is very appropriate and timely. Jesus had a heart for His people who fight the fight, wear His armor and take the hits of the Enemy. Make you be strong in the Lord this day….this week….this holiday season. Armor up my friend! TUESDAY…”Jesus Had a Heart for the PARALYZED” (Matt 9:1-8) Take a moment and read the passage. This is one of the neatest Biblical accounts of “friendship”. Jesus is now in His hometown. The same story is recorded in Mark 2 and Luke 5 with a few more details. Notice what Matthew mentions in his writing. There’s a paralyzed guy….his friends who got Him to Jesus….some critical scribes in the crowd….and the crowd itself. The PARALYTIC is immobile and at the mercy of his friends, whose faith Jesus acknowledges. The FRIENDS believe enough to transport the man to Jesus in hopes that what did happen would happen. But even MORE happened! The CROWD is just the crowd making the call of impressive or unimpressive….and they were impressed! Actually they were awestruck glorifying God for giving “such authority” (to forgive sins) to Jesus. And the SCRIBES within the crowd were being religious scribes finding fault with Jesus for not fitting into what they thought should happen. Just a few QUESTIONS for us today…. What kind of faith does it take for you to BRING A FRIEND to Jesus? What kind of faith does it take to LET YOUR FRIENDS DRAG YOU into a crowd in hopes of a miracle? What kind of animosity does it take to CRITICIZE this “out of the ordinary teaching” with such incredible proof? And what kind of faith does it take to RECOGNIZE that someone greater than the typical rabbi or scribe is in your presence? Jesus has a heart for those in life who are paralyzed. From fear, from accident, from birth defect, from anything. He wants them initially to be SPIRITUALLY free and whole and that comes from faith. Our personal faith with the assistance of “COMMUNITY FAITH”. Let me once again point out Jesus noticed THEIR faith! Is anything locking you down or making you feel immobile emotionally or physically today? The paralyzed man could have not shared his “hope to be whole” again with his friends…..but apparently it was the touch of Jesus that he wanted and His friends wanted FOR him! So I’m sure they talked about it….prayed about it …. and then got to Jesus. It might be in an instant….it might take years to heal…..but notice every kind of healing took place that day….spiritually and physically and I’m sure even emotionally & relationally. But it only happens FULLY when we come to Jesus….or in this case….are BROUGHT to Him by a few close friends. May we HAVE friends like that today. May we BE friends like that today. WEDNESDAY…”Jesus Had a Heart for SINNERS over SAINTS” (Matt 9:9-13) Take a moment and read the passage. This is the call of Matthew, the author of the gospel account we’re looking at in our RED LETTER RECALL series. So this literally is THIS IS HOW IT HAPPENED FOR ME by the guy writing. Jesus says to those sitting, “FOLLOW ME”, and if they’re sitting like Matthew was, they get up and follow. Now we immediately get a glimpse of the party that Matthew threw in hopes that Jesus would “rub off” on his lost friends. In the next verse without any color commentary, Matthew gets to the point of how people far away from God (but not far away from Matthew) MATTER to Jesus! The SCENE is most likely Matthew’s house….didn’t take long for him to “put together a get together”…. The CROWD is the tax collectors Kiwanis Club, so to speak…or it at least appears to be Matthew’s professional friends….all despised by their job of working FOR the Romans to collect taxes FROM the Jews….always ACCUSED of taking too much and in many cases probably so…. The ONLOOKERS are the Pharisees….(who invited them?) Their COMPLAINT was Jesus ate with sinners & tax collectors….their complaint wasn’t to Jesus but to His disciples….and it was simply that He ASSOCIATED with people who were in their opinion “bad”…this was “out of bounds” for a rabbi to hang with folks like that….let alone PREFER to hang with them! Did they feel LEFT OUT? I think so. Because they were. Jesus’ RESPONSE was classic as He said, “the healthy don’t need a doctor…the sick do!” Then He quotes Hosea 6:6 and tells them to go figure out the importance of that verse! Then Jesus clarifies His target audience and purpose of His coming….”I didn’t come for the righteous….I came for the sinners”! Don’t you love it when Jesus has a “put that in your pipe and smoke it” kind of response! Let’s unpack a little now. Hosea 6:6 comes at the height of a broken-hearted prophet appealing to God’s people to ACT like God’s people. This verse is in the middle of a paragraph entitled ,“A Call to Repentance”, and Jesus simply clarifies what that looks like. The verse He quotes from the Old Testament is “I want you to show love, not offer sacrifices. I want you to know Me more than I want burnt offerings.” In other words, He is hitting the Pharisees upside the head with a spiritual truth that God’s desire is ALWAYS that our HEARTS are humble before Him. And that is shown by loving and forgiving rather than checking off a box of church attendance, giving, and other ways of “going thru the motions”. He’s kind of saying, you guys don’t give a rip about these tax collectors who need God! You see them as unclean and yourselves as clean, but you ALL are unclean and need to be cleansed by your Heavenly Father! He’s saying how dare you say they don’t matter! For crying out loud, show them a little love! And in that way, I think Jesus was tipping the scales of the VALUE of lost people in the eyes of God. They were their Jewish brothers even though their integrity was in question. I think the hard thing about this passage is I feel convicted all over again about how the gospel is to be shared with those who are left out. And to be honest, I struggle with having margin in my life to have time for a relationship with folks. Time has “a way of getting away “from us. So maybe it’s just the moments that God specifically gives us to reach out to someone. So who might be the “tax collectors” that need Jesus? Might not be IRS folks. Might be people at a place you do business with. I love seeing our Finishing Well folks “reach out” and bring someone to church (or a Christmas Event at the Grand) just to let them know “they matter to God and they matter to them”! We can get away with all sorts of “acts of love and kindness” this holiday time of year! Remember the “Jesus Love the Little Children” song as a kid? The powerful words of…. “ALL ARE PRECIOUS IN HIS SIGHT”. They sure are. But are they precious in our sight? Are they on our radar? As Jesus told the Pharisees, “let’s show a little more genuine love and less obligatory sacrifice” this Christmas! Love you guys…. THURSDAY…”Jesus Had a Heart for the GOSPEL over RELIGION” (Matt 9:14-17) Take a moment and read the passage. WOW….with Thanksgiving around the corner and our devotional reading is about FASTING! I’ve gotta work on my timing! But take heart….Jesus clarifies things once again. This wasn’t a hostile inquiry, but simply John the Baptist’s followers needing a little insight as to why THEY had to fast but Jesus’ disciples DIDN’T? Seems to be a legitimate question. And Jesus points out graciously that He’s still here and you don’t miss the newlyweds (GROOM in particular in His case) until they leave for the honeymoon! THEN you miss them. Then the party would be over and you’d fast. And in that moment, Jesus brings a much deeper truth about the “EXPECTATIONS” of the gospel. This good news that will be coming of His death on the cross for our sins and His resurrection from the dead is going to blow the top off all the Old Testament history they’ve ever known! It will be the FULFILLMENT of God’s salvation being offered to the world….to those who would believe in His Son! So Jesus says don’t expect everything to stay the same. And His illustrations of not putting a new cloth as a patch on an old garment because it will pull apart, or WINESKINS, if they’re old, not being able to hold NEW WINE because the skins are already stretched, are incredible visuals for the followers of John to somehow begin to realize things are about to change big time! Much like when Jesus would tell John’s followers later, when they asked if He was the One or should they keep looking for another Messiah, Jesus listed the things that He was doing. Things like the blind seeing, the lame walking, the dead being raised to life, & the gospel being preached to the poor. Then Jesus used a phrase that stuck with them all the way back to prison as they returned to tell John. He said, “Blessed is the one who does not FALL AWAY on account of Me.” For many religious leaders of that day, they couldn’t accept Jesus’ fulfillment of His role as the Messiah, because He wasn’t what they had in mind. But Jesus knew they needed a “word picture”. Don’t expect the ceremonial Jewish rituals to contain the explosive redemptive nature of the Kingdom of God! Today, the Lord might just want to remind you and me that He wants to do far more in our lives and THRU our lives than we can ever imagine. We might need to change our “wineskins” that limit us in what we think He’s capable of. Ephesians 3:20-21. Remind us He’s able to do far more than we can imagine possible for His glory in our hearts, our minds, our families, our health & wealth and even our friendships. May He do far more….as we follow Him….and as we change wineskins from time to time! FRIDAY…”Jesus Had a Heart for “INTERNATIONAL HARVESTERS” (Matt 9:18-38) Take a moment and read the passage. I learned to drive on a tractor growing up. It was an old 1949 International H. Red as a firetruck. Had the little dump lift on the front. Mostly used as a manure scoop. Those two close front wheels would nearly twist your arm off if you hit a hole as the wheels would jar the steering wheel one way or the other in a heartbeat. Dad put a handle on it so I could steer it loosely & not put both hands on the wheel as a precaution. We later went to a John Deere but I am reluctant to tell Jay Jacobi that since he’s a big IH guy. The passage that we read today begins not with tractors but ends with them. Jesus finishes the chapter raising from the dead a little girl who had passed away…..and on His way there He is “touched” by a woman who had been hemorrhaging for 12 years….she’s the one who touched the border of His cloak or “hem of His garment” in the KJV. Soon after that healing and raising, He encounters 2 blind men begging for His mercy, calling out for the Messiah as the “Son of David”. It’s always good to approach Jesus with respect knowing who the Bible says He is! He verifies that they believe in His ability to restore vision and heals them immediately, warning them not to tell anyone, but small chance of that happening! Next was a demon possessed man unable to speak brought to Him and after that healing, the crowd was beyond amazed saying nothing like this had ever happened in Israel. They were right! But the Pharisees were upset again. They even tried to explain away His miracles by crediting Him as the “ruler of demons” casting out other demons. But Jesus keeps on preaching the Kingdom, healing every disease and casting out demon after demon. Then He seems to catch His breath and notices the crowds. He feels this deep compassion come over Him as He realized they are “sheep without a shepherd”. Now the final 2 verses of this chapter are huge! He acknowledges a truth and encourages a prayer. The TRUTH is that the harvest is overwhelming and plentiful. People need teaching, healing and real freedom from the evil around and within them. Still true today, I believe. And the PRAYER? The prayer He encourages us to pray is for God (the Lord of the Harvest) to send WORKERS so these people can be reached. So it might seem different than Isaiah’s volunteering of “Here am I, send me”. Kind of a “there they are, Lord, send them”! But I think He’s talking to His disciples close to Him who are already in the game and on the field. I love seeing God raise up someone and send them into their calling in the Kingdom. If you were at Northside a weekend or so ago at the Mission Weekend, you caught Nic and Olivia Meriweather who are going to Albania as missionaries with Pioneer Bible Translators in January. They’re making a big commitment that is near and dear to our hearts. They’re going as “educated linguists” to translate the Bible over the next 20 years into the Roma (gypsy) language. Those are the people group our daughter Rachel and her family have been working with the past 20 years. What a joy it is to see God “call them” as….you guessed it….”INTERNATIONAL HARVESTERS”! I couldn’t comment on this passage of Scripture without mentioning their incredible faith and supportive families who are behind them all the way! Praying for you, Nic and Olivia and all your families! That is our prayer and that is His job. We pray that He will send workers. And He calls, prompts people to prepare and allows loving churches to SEND them to do what we can’t do but can help get done…..the reaching of those needing to be harvested into the Kingdom before the Lord Himself returns. So with all due respect to John Deere lovers down on the farm….I’m out of the green and back in the red….praying the Lord of the Harvest would send “international & intergenerational Harvesters” like you and me…to the field….while we can….even if the field isn’t across the world, but just across the street. And don’t forget to buy your tickets for Christmas at The GRAND….there’s still some left! Praying His blessing on you all weekend long…. May the Lord “sneak up” on you with something really good…. Love you guys, george
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