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In Luke 11:1, Jesus’ disciples requested that Jesus teach them how to pray whereupon he said… like this…
“When you pray, say: “ 'Father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread. Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us. And lead us not into temptation”
If that was the extent of his lesson on prayer it would be a short lesson indeed but consider dear reader that the lesson goes though verse 26.
In the model prayer Jesus introduces the concept of the coming of “kingdom” that word is mentioned two more times…
- If Satan is divided is divided against himself how will (Satan’s) kingdom stand?
- If by the finger of God (Jesus) casts out demons then God’s kingdom has come upon you.
In the model prayer Jesus introduces the concept of praying for food and contrasts asking a neighbor for food and his reluctance to provide said food with God’s quick answer for the request to provide the necessary provender.
And contrasts their ignorance in even knowing what to ask for by adding… if you asked for the “Holy Spirit” he would give it to you (instead of mere victuals).
This giving of the Holy Spirit segways nicely into Jesus casting out an evil demonic spirit from a human being (who could have prayed for the Holy Spirit)
Then Jesus tells the story of a man who had an evil demonic spirit removed from him… perhaps referring to the individual he had just removed the demonic spirit from. Jesus describes the demonic spirit wandering around looking for another human host… and being unable to find one goes back to his previous residence and original host and finds a nice, tidy home and invites seven other demons to live with him… the house was vacant.
That poor human being… his last state was truly worse than the first.
How did that happen?
Let me suggest that if the individual had invited the Holy Spirit to live in him it would have been impossible for a demonic spirit to live there.
It may have even been the case that the individual became a believer but as suggested in the model prayer… don’t expect forgiveness of sins if you don’t have the capacity to forgive others.
You see that attitude is like inviting a demon to come in and live comfortably within you.
Jesus gave a brief example of a prayer but used it to educate his followers about the coming kingdom, what they could ask for and when to expect results and how to live in Spirit without having to worry about demon possession.
Now the disciples could pray better.
Aaron was a weak leader. When his brother Moses was preparing to go up on Mt. Sinai to receive the Ten Commandments he gave Aaron one job to do until he got back… to keep the people under control. Aaron failed his one job.
Moses was gone longer than expected and the people were worried that maybe he had died and approached Aaron to make for them a god that could lead them.
When Moses came off the mountain and found the people worshipping a golden calf and partying and celebrating and running wild. Moses was furious. He asked Aaron… what did they do to you for you to allow this?
Like did they torture you? Did they threaten you? Did they tickle you until you couldn’t stand it and finally gave in? No they didn’t… Aaron just bowed to the will of the people. He failed.
Moses accused Aaron of “leading the people into sin” The wrong kind of leadership indeed.
God wanted to kill all of Israel except Moses and make another nation out of Moses.
Elders are leaders in God’s church. Like Aaron their job is not only to keep the congregation under control but to help make the bride of Christ beautiful… not ugly and running wild.
I’ve heard of Elders who poll the congregation to make a decision. I’ve heard of congregations whose Elderships basically allow the Preacher to be lead the congregation and just rubber stamp his decisions. I’ve heard of congregations whose members make all kinds of decisions without even consulting the Elders.
God qualified and appointed Elders based on those qualifications for a reason. To lead with wisdom and strength.
Elders shouldn’t have backbones made of cartilage. Elders need to protect their position against any and all who would seek intentionally or unintentionally to weaken it. Otherwise like Israel God might want to kill the congregation and start over.
Elders… don’t be weak like Aaron. Be strong leaders. Listen to the congregation and carefully evaluate what the congregation tells you but in the end the decision is yours… don’t be afraid to make it.
Publicans in the New Testament were Jews empowered by the Roman government to collect taxes on behalf of the Roman Government. They were not very popular among the Jews generally and among the Pharisees specifically. Even today Tax collectors are not very popular.
First of all the Jews couldn’t have been happy about paying taxes in addition to paying their 10% tithing. And the fact that the Roman Caesar claimed to be a God had to be bothersome. The general opinion among Pharisees was that Publicans were sinners and spiritually filthy.
Lukes Gospel contains five references to Publicans:
Luke 3:12… at the preaching of John the Baptist the Publicans asked “What should we do” whereupon John says “Extort no more than that which is appointed you”.
Luke 5:27… Jesus told Levi the Publican… “follow me” (to become ultimately an Apostle)
Luke 7:29… “all the people (and the Publicans) when they heard, justified God, being baptized” but “the Pharisees and Lawyers rejected the counsel of God”
Luke 18:11-14… contrasts the self righteous prayer of the Pharisee with the humble prayer of the Publican.
Luke 19:1-10… the story of the rich, Chief Publican Zaccheus (presumably rich due to extortion). Jesus goes to eat supper with Zaccheus and the people murmur… Jesus is eating with a sinner! Whereupon Zaccheus stands up and defends himself… “Lord I give half of my goods to the poor and if I have wrongly exacted anything of any man I will repay four times the amount”
Keep in mind that Jesus used the dregs of jewish society to attack the self righteousness of the Pharisees.
The Pharisees hated Samaritans so Jesus elevated Samaritans, they hated unclean women so Jesus elevated them, they hated Publicans so Jesus chose one to become his Disciple, he baptized Publicans when the Pharisees refused to be baptized, he commended the prayer of a Publican over the prayer of a Pharisee and he found a righteous chief publican (who was rich) and went into his home and ate with him.
If there is any lesson in this at all its that we shouldn’t be so spiritually arrogant that we despise those who have been marked up by Satan and the world and choose to have nothing to do with them.
I wonder who would fall in those categories today? Racists? Those we differ with politically? Sexual misorietation? Muslims? Atheists?
I was listening to a comedian the other day and he said he went out to dinner with a guy that was worth 100 million dollars. He said he himself was worth only 40 million dollars but they still ordered the same steak. Lol.
That seemed to validate the idea to me that you can only do so much with wealth… there’s only so much you can buy. And yet its almost like a game or contest with rich people to see how much wealth they can accumulate.
It must be a real struggle to figure out what to do with money unless your real goal is just to use it to make more money or to risk it in a big gamble just for the thrill of a big pay out.
Those who don’t love money try to figure out how they can help other people. i.e. they love people more than money.
I’m all for responsibility in handling wealth. I think the Parable of the Talents suggests that concept. Invest it wisely and use the proceeds to help others.
I heard of a group of Christians who pooled their monies and went to some of the villages of fellow Christians in Africa and drilled water wells for them so they wouldn’t have to walk to the river.
That seems to me to be the perfect example of people who love others more than they love money.
I like eating a nice steak every once in a while but I’m also quite happy to eat a chili cheese dog.
Lets be careful not to pamper ourselves so much that we neglect the paupers. Maybe we should pamper the paupers.
Luke 7:28 I tell you, among those born of women there is no one greater than John; yet the one who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.”
Interesting verse. I wonder why Jesus said this?
Jesus, of course, in this text identified how great John (the Baptist) was. John’s mission (successfully completed) was great and John performed it with great humility.
I suppose Jesus said this to give believers in Christ great hope that as great as John was that they could be greater.
1 Corinthians 12:12-31, illustrates God’s people as a body. I don’t know what body part John was just like I don’t know what body part I am or what body part you are. But I do know that whatever part we are the body of Christ needs all of its parts… that’s important.
I also know that the members of the body had God given spiritual gifts and could perform miracles but that the spiritual gifts (as great as they were) were not greater than love. Although God worked through people with spiritual gifts we are the ones who control how we work our love.
So you may not have the great mission that John the Baptist had but we still have a great mission… a world wide mission.
The only way therefore that we can be greater than someone like John the Baptist is in the mission of love that we demonstrate to each other and to the world. Even the least in the Kingdom can be great in love. Love is the greatest.
Luke 10:17-27 tells the tale of the rich young ruler. Then in verse twenty-one Jesus says this…
“Looking at him, Jesus showed love to him and said to him, “One thing you lack: go and sell all you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” But he was deeply dismayed by these words, and he went away grieving; for he was one who owned much property”
The question is raised who does Jesus’ instruction apply to? Does it include all believers? Because if it does apply to all believers then all believers would be obligated to sell all of our possessions and follow Jesus. So who does it apply to?
This verse specifically only applies to the “rich young ruler” and no one else. He didn’t tell Nicodemus to do this. He didn’t tell the Samaritan woman to do this. He didn’t tell Zaccheus to do this (for instance)
Jesus gave specific instructions to specific people and the instructions often differed widely.
So what can we learn from this? We can learn by studying Acts and the Epistles how they applied Jesus’ and the Apostles teaching.
Generally people who had money were generous to those who did not have much. They even sold things. There is no example of anyone selling all that they had.
We can also learn to question how we interpret the Bible and how to make applications.
We see a lot of behavior problems in dogs. Primarily anxiety/fear and its manifestations like aggression and biting. A lot of these issues are owner related… they let their dogs get away with inappropriate behaviors as puppies because they think they are cute then when the pets get big they are too big to control. Sometimes the pets are dangerous and owners choose to euthanize their beloved pets that were so cute as puppies.
Certain breeds are worse than others.
Usually ugly/dangerous behavior problems can be addressed by simple training in the basics… sit, stay, heel. You are not training them primarily not to bite but you are exerting dominance in smaller areas (sit, etc.) that translates over to larger areas (Biting, etc.)
This also (in my opinion) translates over to the behavior of children and training them.
Sometimes we run across believers that hold some pretty strange doctrinal issues and the root of the problem is they don’t know their Bibles very well. Sometimes then instead of butting heads on an issue and just ending up with head aches it makes sense to go back to the basics and re-learn the Bible.
Of course that takes time and patience and may not have the exhilaration that comes with a good fight and the recounting of the fight… whether you are talking about your pets, your children or the weak in faith.
Love is patient, love is kind.
