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I learn a little bit about myself from time to time. Recently I had a surgical procedure and kept it kind of quiet. Like a need to know basis… my kids, my office and some Volleyball players who wanted me to play in a tournament with them.
I didn’t ask for a bunch of prayers because first of all I have a lot of confidence in the surgeon and the anesthesiologist. Plus, I have a lot of confidence in God. The morning of the surgery I prayed to him and requested that I live a long life with my wife surrounded by my kids and my grand kids. I know he heard me.
Logically, I know that probably I am not God’s favorite son but I do feel like I might be his favorite… its possible… maybe not probable but possible. After all he has blest me and blest me and there is no other explanation except that he must like me.
So, for me, it felt a little bit like an insult to Him that I would beg for the prayers of others when I know that he is watching me and listening to me. I hope you understand that.
When I was in recovery and in some pain my first thought was about Julie and I felt the emotions well up in me. In fact I told the nurse… I think I’m going to cry. Every time I thought about Julie I felt emotional until finally I did some sobbing. Julie told me later that the nurses said “He’s asking for you”.
Totally surprising to me… I had not anticipated that.
I guess that thing about the two shall become one flesh must be true. Neither one of us is perfect and in fact we annoy each other from time to time but we have learned that those feelings are of little consequence compared to the deep love we have for each other. And I guess I understand that a little bit better when I sat in a recovery room with pain and only a stranger who had no idea who I was to keep me company instead of the love of my life.
Sometimes I think she understands me better than I understand myself.
Like I said… sometimes I discover things about myself and that makes me appreciate my friend and Father all the more.
Luke 13:6-9, contains the story of the fig tree that didn’t have any fruit on it. The master wanted to cut it down put the gardener wanted to fertilize it first and see if that would do any good.
I made the point to my Bible class that God wasn’t interested in trees that just looked good. You know stately tress with a lot of beautiful foliage. God wants trees that produce a fruit. He’s fruit oriented.
One of my students asked a good question. He said what about the young Christian who is just a sapling and needs to learn his Bible better to become more productive?
That’s a great question but its based on a faulty premise. The premise that you have to be Bible experts to produce fruit. You see… you don’t have to be a great biblical genius or a spiritual brainiac to produce the kind of fruit that God wants. You just have to live according to biblical principles and let your light shine.
The example I gave was of the newest christian at Parkway baptized just a few weeks ago. Her husband has since been baptized and the last two Sundays she has had several family and friends in attendance. She is not the little Einstein of Bible knowledge… yet. But she knows enough and is spiritually smart enough to be productive. You see… her family asked her what she wanted for her birthday and she said I would like you to go to church services with me. Smart… very smart. But wait! They were at services the next Sunday too! I asked her… is it still your birthday?!?
Let’s make some Figs.
In Luke 12 Jesus tells a parable about being ready for when the Son of Man comes. Then in verse 41 Peter asks a great question…
“Lord are you telling this parable for us or for all?”
That’s a question we should always ask ourselves while reading the scriptures… for instance, are all christians supposed to sell all of our goods or was that specifically for a few? Were all christians supposed to go to all the earth (the great commission) or just some specific individuals? Like I said it was a great question.
It was a simple question and could have been answered simply. Yes Peter just for you disciples or no Peter to all the multitude. It was a simple question.
Jesus, however, didn’t give simple answers. Instead he told another parable. In that situation I, for instance, might have been a little frustrated and thought… can you just answer my question plainly and succinctly?
Let me suggest that Jesus answering with a parable was by design. It was designed to stimulate Peter’s brain and make him think because if you just give answers then you will always be answering. But if you can make someone think they can come up with their own answers.
Kind of like if you feed a guy a fish every day you will always be doing that but if you teach him to fish then he can feed himself and more importantly he can teach others how to fish.
So in short what was Jesus’ answer? In verse 48… “Everyone to whom much was given (the disciples), of him much will be required. And from whom they entrusted much (the disciples), they will demand the more”
I’m sure Peter went home and thought and thought about Jesus’ answer and was better off for the process and was prepared for when the Son of Man might come… even if the Son of Man came unexpectedly because the Son of Man had entrusted him much and Peter knew that much was expected of him.
So the next time someone asks you a question… consider, like Jesus, answering with a parable. That will exercise your brain too.
In Luke 12:1, Jesus told his disciples… “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees which is hypocrisy”
In the preceding verses Jesus had illustrated some characteristics of the Pharisees… they liked to look good on the outside but inwardly were rotten, they were over zealous for the relatively minor points of the law but neglected the major points and they loved attention.
A friend of mine told me that she used to attend one of the mega churches locally but quit attending because the leaders acted one way during the assembly but behaved the opposite way outside the assembly.
Instead of assembling with fellow christians my friend now prefers just to listen to preachers on the radio.
This particular church my friend attended (in her opinion) was like the Pharisees… it looked good on the outside but with closer inspection was … rotten.
Hence Jesus’ warning to his disciples who were the future leaders of his people. Sometimes leaders and preachers are affected by their position of prominence and the adulation that accompanies and let it go to their heads… please don’t.
I asked my Bible class how you might recognize Pharisee-like leaders today. They said those who liked to look good on the outside, those who liked to sit in the best seats, those who loved attention and those who neglected kindness, love and compassion.
That certainly fits the text but another way to tell is if people leave the congregation because of the rottenness of hypocrisy.
An old adage is that congregations will never rise above the level of its leadership. If true, and I suspect it is, fellow leaders let’s see how high we can set that bar.
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?
