Month: July 2009

Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and the region of Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, while Annas and Caiaphas were high priests, the word of God came to John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness.
Luke 3:1-2

What a list we find in the above verses! It’s full of political and religious leaders of that day, men of high esteem and great power. John seems so out of place in those verses! He paled in comparison to the worldly influence that the previous men had. He seemed insignificant in their shadows. They were at the center of the public eye. No doubt the people spoke to one another about the latest speech Caesar had given or the latest judgment Herod had passed. As in Lk 13:1 where we find Pilate had killed some Galilaeans, when men like Pilate acted, people were interested and wanted to talk about it. Annas and Caiaphas were at the center of Jewish religion in Jerusalem, and when they spoke, people hung on every word.

But, then you have John. You don’t find him in the temple but in the wilderness. He wasn’t feasting on the delicacies that the other men enjoyed, but he had a diet of locusts and wild honey. Instead of kingly attire, he wore camel’s skin. He was a nobody compared to these other guys, but he was greater than them all! As much pull and clout as they had, none of them possessed anything as precious as what John had been given. He had the word of God!

I wonder how many of us today are drawn more to the type of men listed at the beginning of these verses than the man listed at the end. I’m not talking to unbelievers. I’m talking to professing Christians! There is a dangerous trap that Satan has set. I catch myself caught in it at times, and I warn you to beware! There’s such an abundance of information available. News comes at us from countless sources that will keep us informed of the very latest going on in the lives of the political and religious leaders of our day. It’s far too easy to get sucked in and before we know it, we’re spending our time repeating what they’ve said (either in protest or agreement) instead of relating what John had–the word of God!

Can we learn any spiritual lessons from observing the earlier gentleman? Sure. Christ reminded us to render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s but more importantly render to God the things that are God’s. (Mt 22:21) With Pilate, Christ teaches us that all authority, whether wicked or godly, is given from above (Jn 19:10,11) and therefore worthy of our respect and honor (Rom 13:1-7–yes, that includes political authorities we may not agree with). The Herods stand in history as a warning of the great danger of pride. Christ exhorts us in Mk 8:15 to beware of the leaven of Herod, and in Ac 12:21-23, we see the judgment of God upon Herod when he took for himself the glory that belonged to God alone. Finally, Annas and Caiaphas make very clear that simply rising to a place of religious authority is no indication of spiritual wisdom or godly character. Even when the worldly leaders find no fault in our Lord, both of these men condemn Him to die! (Jn 18:12-14,28-32)

Simply put, we may gain some occasional spiritual insight from observing these men (usually in how NOT to be), but we’ll starve to death if our focus is on what they’re saying! The word of God was in the wilderness with God’s prophet–not in the palace or the temple! Godly hunger should draw us to where the word of God is. As newborn babes, we should desire the pure milk of the word (1 Pe 2:2), and if you’ve ever been around a newborn for very long, you know that his desire for milk is passionate and continual. As mentioned last week, we have a responsibility to nurture the children of God being raised up around us. So, what are we giving them? Do we spend our precious moments with these needy souls discussing politics and/or the accomplishments of some religious leader, or are we giving them what they truly need–the word of God?!! Remember what Jesus told Pilate? “My kingdom is not of this world.” (Jn 18:36) Let’s be sure our focus is heavenly as well…

Jamie

Then the brethren immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea. When they arrived, they went into the synagogue of the Jews.
These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so.
Therefore many of them believed, and also not a few of the Greeks, prominent women as well as men.

Acts 17:10-12

The “Jehovah’s Witnesses” rang my doorbell again this morning. I’ve had conversations with many of them and discussed passages that contradicted what they held to be true. It’s always amazed me that I could read one passage in my translation of the Scriptures and that they could read the same passage in theirs but nearly every time, the two would read differently. I’ve examined the words in the original language to prove my translation was correct. I’ve encouraged them to do the same and come back to talk with me. Time and time again, they’ve said they would return after studying these things out, but they never come back. My heart is heavy this morning desiring that these poor souls would search these things out for themselves instead of merely taking someone else’s word for it. God has promised to reward those that “diligently seek Him” (Heb 11:6), and that reward is Himself as we truly desire to know Him more.

One of the most troubling trait that I find among church-goers today is a lack of knowledge of the word of God. John warned us in 1 Jn 4:1 that “many false prophets have gone out into the world.” How can we recognize false preaching if we don’t know what the word of God truly says! Will we trust our eternal well-being to some man just because he wears a suit and stands behind a pulpit or because he speaks eloquently and with passion? It’s time that we quit applying 1 Ti 4:15-16 to the preacher only:

Meditate on these things; give yourself entirely to them, that your progress may be evident to all. Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine. Continue in them, for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you.

The Bereans in our text above are a great example to us all. When Paul and Silas came among them, I have no doubt that their passion was evident to the Bereans. I’m sure that everything outwardly suggested the Paul and Silas were true men of God who loved and cared for the souls they were preaching to; however, the Bereans didn’t believe their word based on outward appearance. They understood that Satan himself transforms himself into “an angel of light” even as his ministers appear outwardly to be “apostles of Christ”! (2 Co 11:13,14) Instead of relying on outward appearance, they relied on that which God has given us which will never fail us, which we can always depend on, and which will never pass away–His word! (Lk 21:33)

Yes, they made it a point to be in church when the preaching was going on, but that wasn’t the extent of their religion. Many today show up for the weekly services, but never open their Bible once that get back home. Experience tells us this is no way to learn. The reason kids have homework is to reinforce what they learned in the classroom. Algebra may make perfect sense when the teacher is working it out on the chalkboard, but the real proof that the student understands it is when he can perform his homework on his own. The Bereans did their homework! They set a good example in church by being present and receiving the word with all readiness, but it didn’t stop there. “They searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so!”

The result of this effort was that “many of them believed.” The word of God will have no power in our lives unless we as individuals are intimately involved with the living Word of God, who is Christ Himself. We must seek Him individually through prayer and self-study of His word in order to profit from our experience collectively when we come together with the people of God. The natural progression for a child is that he grows both physically and mentally. If this doesn’t happen, we’re concerned because it means something is wrong. The same is the case for the spiritual child of God. He must grow! That’s the way it’s supposed to be, and if there is no spiritual growth, something is wrong! There is a rebuke in the letter of Hebrews that states, “For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God.” (Heb 5:12) Why were they still needing milk when they should have been eating spiritual meat? V. 14 explains that “solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.” Until we put the word of God into practice in our lives and our relationship with Him becomes more than just a Sunday experience, we will never grow and be able to teach others as we are called to do.

Jamie

“For the LORD does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”
1 Sam 16:7

Is it just me, or do you find that one of the first questions you’re asked after someone finds out you go to church is, “How big is your church?” I hope we understand that we cannot measure the success of a church by its size. In fact, an increase in numbers may indicate a decline in a church’s spiritual health. As the old saying goes, it’s true that you attract more flies with honey, but we’re not trying to attract flies, are we? I read an article many years ago by Charles Spurgeon entitled “Feeding Sheep or Amusing Goats?” (You can read it at http://www.biblebb.com/files/spurgeon/amusement.htm) This article was written over 100 years ago, but this tendency was already gaining ground among the churches. In an attempt to increase numbers and appeal to the unconverted, churches were watering down the message and shortening the amount of time devoted to biblical preaching. Christ told men and women the truth, even if it offended them. (Mt 15:12-14) We are to be just as faithful to the souls around us. Our calling is not to make the Gospel presentable, but rather to present the Gospel! The effects after that are up to the Lord.

We have at least one church on record who was spiritually sick though they appeared to be thriving. In Rev 2:2-3, the church of Ephesus seemed to be all we would hope for in a church! They were recognized for their tireless labor, exposing of false doctrine, and perseverance in that which was right. But, what a bomb is dropped in v. 4! They had left their first love! We may look great outwardly and yet have left Christ by the wayside. They were probably a church rejoicing at their success, but the Lord said in v. 5 that they needed to be repenting instead of rejoicing. Their offence was serious enough that Christ said they were in danger of having their lampstand removed, that is they would no longer be named among the Lord’s churches (see Rev 1:20)! God’s not looking at our outward successes, but rather the desires and motivations in our hearts.

Some of us may feel like we’ve been spinning our spiritual wheels? We’ve followed the Lord in simple obedience, but there appears to be little fruit from our labor. Be encouraged! Your labor in the Lord is NEVER in vain! (1 Cor 15:58) Look at Noah. Peter called him a “preacher of righteousness” in 2 Pet 2:5. In other words, he was preaching the word of God to the people all those years he was building the ark, but only eight souls got on that boat. Was he a failure? No way! He obeyed God! What about Elijah? Maybe we think he had a glorious ministry–standing against the tyranny of Ahab and Jezebel and slaying the wicked prophets of Baal. Yet in Elijah’s eyes, he stood alone! In 1 Ki 19:10,14, he had no outward evidence that there had been a single convert under his ministry, yet the Lord reveals in v. 18 that the people of God were 7,000 strong! And finally, consider Christ Himself. We know nearly nothing about the first 30 years of His life. Was He spending His time unprofitably during those years because the multitudes weren’t following Him? I hope we’d never be foolish enough to think so! And sure, He had a great following when He was healing the masses and feeding thousands, but where were all of those “believers” when He was hanging on a cross? All outward indications that day suggested that Christ’s ministry had failed, but the children of faith know better. What appeared to the world to be the day of His greatest defeat is known to God and His people to be the day of Christ’s greatest victory! Take heart, dear Christian! Though your ministry may be in secret now and go unnoticed by men, it will not be ignored in the day Christ is revealed in His glory to all the world. “Your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly” (Mt 6:6) because He’s looking at the heart, not the outward appearance!

Jamie