Category: Devotions

The power of thankfulness

 

Luke 17: 15-19 “One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. ¹⁶ He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him—and he was a Samaritan. ¹⁷ Jesus asked, “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? ¹⁸ Has no one returned to give praise to God except this foreigner?” ¹⁹ Then he said to him, “Rise and go; your faith has made you well.”

 

We now see that this group was a mixture of Jews and Samaritans. They were usually divided and hated one another. It is strange how a disease can unite the greatest of enemies.

Where are the other 9? Was this man the only Samaritan?

Maybe the rest were Jews and being cleansed meant even more than the Samaritan because for them it meant they could be accepted back into the worship life of the community. As they were on the way to the priests they were healed and cleansed, but the most important thing was still to happen and that was they would be officially welcomed into society. So they just kept going. They needed to get to the priests and then they needed to be back into the heart of the community. They never thought of returning either when they were healed or when the priests gave them the full bill of health and by the time they were in the village doing life again, meeting long lost friends and family, Jesus was a distant figure to them.

Except this one man. It seems he never got to the priests. He turned around as soon as he was healed and he ran back to the cleanser of his life. As he is laying prostrate before Jesus he receives something that the others never did. The thankful always receive more.

Don’t move from these verses too quickly. The man was an ex-leper and very thankful and in acknowledgment of the Healer is in a position of worship. His return and submission, his acknowledgment of Jesus the Healer equals faith and this is what made him well. But that is not speaking of his leprosy. He was already healed. “Well” is sozo and it means ‘to save’. This man received far more, he received salvation, a healing of his soul which previously lay sick underneath a healed skin disease.

Let us live a life of thankfulness.

Why move on when you can turn back and thank Jesus for what He has done?!

 

Obedience leads to miracles

Luke 17: 14 “When he saw them, he said, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were cleansed.”

Only the priests could declare the ‘unclean’ clean and fit to come back into society.

Everyone needs community and acceptance from others.

Everyone needs to know they belong.

Everyone needs to know that God and God’s people want them.

Jesus orders them to go to the men who had the authority to make this happen.

Now why do you think they hadn’t thought of that before?

They were unclean. They knew what the response would be. Rejection was waiting.

So what’s different now?

Their leprosy was still there, it wasn’t their circumstance for they had not been healed.

The difference was they had met Jesus and they heard his command to ‘GO’.

They knew what that meant. This was not blind obedience. This was obeying with faith. They knew something was going to have to happen to them prior to getting to the priests. They were going to have to be healed to avoid rejection.

There are times when even though our circumstances have not changed and we are still in pain that we have to walk in obedience to what Jesus is saying. He wants us to GO, to move forward and to walk down a certain direction which may even cause anxiety to do so.

As they went, Luke says they were cleansed. I love the fact that Luke makes us understand that actually it was the great High Priest who made sure they were cleansed. They were not just healed they were cleansed. By the time they got to the priests they were already cleansed!

 

Unclean people

Luke 17: 12-13 “As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance ¹³ and called out in a loud voice, “Jesus, Master, have pity on us!”

If you became leprous then life as you knew it ended. You would never be the same again. You were stigmatised, marginalised and not only from society, but seen as God’s judgment on you.

The unclean are still with us today. They are not leprous people, but they are seen as displeasing to God.

1. They can be found outside.

They are not welcomed. They have to change their ways to be accepted. If they came in they would make us all unclean.

From the borderlands of Samaria and Galilee Jesus is now approaching a village. On the border of the village are ten men who all had leprosy. The ‘clean’ people are in the village and the ‘unclean’ are outside.

2. They usually gather in like-minded groups.

If the ‘Church’ doesn’t want them then they will form new churches, communities that are held together not so much in what they believe but in who is against them.

3. They are at a distance to the body of Christ.

They do not know how to draw near. Some have tried and found rejection and condemnation. A distance is safer for them.

4. They can make a loud noise even for a small number.

The level of noise is not indicative of how many are speaking but the level of passion even if for only a few.

5. They often don’t ask for what they truly need.

They are conditioned to ask for ‘stuff’ to survive their life, whether that be money or food etc. They don’t ask for healing.

Jesus met the unclean that day and something unexpected was about to happen!

Grey

Luke 17 v 11 “Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus travelled along the border between Samaria and Galilee.”

Can you walk down the grey path? It is a lot more difficult than the black and white paths of life.

The border between Samaria and Galilee is a grey path, It is neither one or the other. The Samaritans were definitely considered as unclean people by those in Galilee. This is borderland and an unclean place. They haven’t even arrived yet in the next border town of the leper colony and here they are, Jesus leading them in uncomfortable places. They would meet their own kind there but also people who were known as below them, people who didn’t please God though they tried by following Scriptures, they never worshipped in the Temple of Jerusalem and so were sub-standard. Galilee was where Jesus had performed miracles and had cleansed so many lives. But along the border is where a new culture develops between the acceptable and the not so.

Does everything have to be clear cut for you?

Are there certain streets you will never walk down?

Is your favourite verse in the Bible, ‘Come out from among them’? (2 Corinthians 6:17)

Do you never like to use grey?

Jesus walks in the questionable places.

Jesus walks in the places that were united but now stand divided.

Jesus walks where no one really wants to.

Jesus walks in the messy places.

He likes the grey.

 

 

 

Duty

 

Luke 17 v 7-10 “⁷ “Suppose one of you has a servant ploughing or looking after the sheep. Will he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, ‘Come along now and sit down to eat’? ⁸ Won’t he rather say, ‘Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink’? ⁹ Will he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do? ¹⁰ So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.’”

 

Having just taught that as disciples we should treat people with respect and that we should live a life of continuing to forgive, Jesus then warns the disciples not to be like the Pharisees and think themselves superior for doing so. This is after all our duty. The English translation says we are servants. But the Greek ‘doulos’ is slave. The slave in this parable is ploughing the field, farming the sheep, preparing the food and getting everything ready for the master. That was his duty. Now we might think he deserved to be thanked. The parable suggests otherwise. There is no room for entitlement whether that be of thanks or a sense of achievement. If you receive from God it is purely grace. Nothing of what you have done has earned the praise. It is your duty to obey. I am not sure there is much discipleship without duty.

Let us go and do our duty today by serving God in all we that we do.

10 healthy rebukes.

Luke 17: 3-6 “So watch yourselves. “If your brother or sister sins against you, rebuke them; and if they repent, forgive them. ⁴ Even if they sin against you seven times in a day and seven times come back to you saying ‘I repent,’ you must forgive them.” ⁵ The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” ⁶ He replied, “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you.”

There are times that a rebuke is needed. The word means ‘to express strong disapproval of someone, to speak seriously, to warn’ in order to prevent an action or bring one to an end.

There are a lot of rebukes that lead to division and hurt. Can there ever be a healthy rebuke? Here are 10 thoughts:

1. A sin needs a rebuke from the one sinned against, v3.
2. It will be a healthier rebuke if we see the sinner as family, our brother or sister, v3.
3. A rebuke is for the purpose of repentance which leads to forgiveness, v3.
4. The one who rebukes has relationship in sight, v3.
5. A rebuke is not to gain advantage or to harm but it leads to the eventual surrender of the one rebuking as they forgive the sinner, v3.
6. A rebuke may be ignored or non-effectual, the sinner may continue to sin and keep coming back, the rebuke may need patience, v4.
7. The measure of the rebuke must not increase even if you spend all day rebuking the same person, it should still lead to forgiveness not division, v4
8. This controlled and compassionate rebuke seems beyond us at times, v5.
9. The rebuke needs faith because without it you can never live a life of forgiveness, v5.
10. It is easier to rebuke into forgiveness than move a mulberry tree into the sea. If we can do the latter with a little faith then we can muster enough faith that God can restore that relationship, v5.

 

 

Treating the mikros with respect.

Luke 17: 1-2 “Jesus said to his disciples: “Things that cause people to stumble are bound to come, but woe to anyone through whom they come. ² It would be better for them to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around their neck than to cause one of these little ones to stumble.”

Jesus is still speaking about the religious leaders and the ordinary Jew as he addresses his disciples. The ‘little ones’ does mean children but it also means anyone of any age who is under our influence. In fact the word is ‘mikros’ and it means the ‘unimportant’ or the ‘insignificant’. These religious leaders were not only lovers of money but they were lovers of themselves. They were burdening people. The ordinary Jew were being tempted to believe that they would never please God unless they performed every religious duty devised by man. You see the things that were causing people to stumble were not the obvious tempting sins. It was this religious nonsense and it still exists. The Pharisee is still amongst us. Deceptive and manipulative leadership causes people to stumble in this life. Any authority that views people as unimportant and insignificant in the way they are spoken to and treated needs to be removed. In the words of Jesus, if they cause needless harm then they need to be hurled to the bottom of the sea. Strong? Yes but that’s how wrong it is.

I believe this applies to everyone and not just leaders. But come the position comes the responsibility. I heard a few days ago how a young person has stopped going to church simply because she was told by her Pastor, “You are not a very good Christian.” That comment no matter how much the leader felt justified to say it tempted the girl to think, “You’re right, I’m not going to be able to do this life,” and she walked away. She was tempted and she surrendered to it.

But how can the Church show discipline? How can we lead if we are unable to use strength and challenge? We do it the Christ way. We go via the cross and we lay our life down in total humility. This is how we treat the mikros. He showed us no other way.

Our responses and actions towards people either causes them to thrive or trip. We cause them to grow or to stumble. The temptation trap is always available to us and we must resist picking it up at all costs.

Mikros should never be used.

If you miss the opportunity then you’ve missed it.

 

Luke 16 v 27-31 “²⁷ “He answered, ‘Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my family, ²⁸ for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’ ²⁹ “Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.’ ³⁰ “‘No, father Abraham,’ he said, ‘but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’ ³¹ “He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’”

The revelation of the Scriptures (the Law and the Prophets) all point to the fact that it is Jesus, the Messiah, standing amongst them.

But they missed it.

The rich man appeals to Abraham that if Lazarus bridged the chasm and went to the home/gate of his family then they would repent. In a prophetic moment in the parable Jesus speaks of his resurrection, ‘even if …’ but even then they would not listen. Jesus did cross over that chasm when he rose from the grave.

But they missed it.

The first readers of Luke would definitely be thinking of Jesus in this parable and how even his physical resurrection was not enough to convince the religious leaders and hardened Jews.

The point is if you have missed it then nothing will change that.

What did they miss?

Jesus, the Messiah of course.

But also the opportunity to be big-hearted to the poor. They were lovers of money and stingy with mercy. They missed the chance to have a generosity of heart, to be loving and kind. They did not open the gate to the poor, to those burdened by life, to people who were ‘below’ them.

The opportunity to be loving is here right now. Open the gate today. Swing wide your arms, embrace even those who you do not like.

We have those same opportunities today.

We will have so many excuses and reasons not to be so.

Let us not miss it.

The closed gate becomes the chasm.

Luke 16: 22-26 “²² “The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. ²³ In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. ²⁴ So he called to him, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.’ ²⁵ “But Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. ²⁶ And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been set in place, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.’

 

If you don’t open the accessible gate in this present life and help people then the chasm will be too wide in the next life to receive any help that you need.

What you do on earth has massive consequences to what happens to you in the next life.

Jesus is welcoming the sinners, the Pharisees who love their money (v14) are not.

The 2 men, one rich and one poor are no longer separated by the closed gate. Now it is an eternal chasm that can never be crossed.

What you have on earth is no indicator of what you will have after you have died.

The 2 men die. Even the rich and the ones who lord it over others get old and die.

The beggar is named first, his death seems more prominent.

The rich man also dies. He isn’t carried by the angels. He is buried in Hades. The Jews saw that as a resting torturous place before the final judgment.

You reap what you sow. This is not about what you have or don’t have. This is about what did you do to others with what you had?

The rich man never even gave a cup of cold water. Now he is longing for just a finger of cold water.

How he must have wished he could turn the clock back and have opened the gate to the poor man. But it is too late. The chasm is set.

The sad fact is that this is not just a rich man, this is a son of Abraham (v25), a religious man. How can the religious not have big generous hearts to people? Shocking that this may sound, the religious man will have a long time to think that over.

Swing wide the gate, welcome the sinner and get onto the right side of the chasm.

What is on the other side of your gate?

Luke 16: 19-21

“There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores.”

 

Jesus tells another parable, again it is to teach about the kingdom.

 

There are 2 men. They are separated by a gate.

 

A rich man who lived a life of luxury. He didn’t need a thing. His clothes were expensive ones. His life was one of opulence. His days were full of celebration and rejoicing.

 

The other man is not rich. Far from it. He has to beg. He is sick. He has sores. Dogs are his friends. He is miserable. He is hungry. He longs for the throw-away food.

 

Two men separated by a gate.

 

Around the world the poor live alongside the rich. Those in despair with those who have more delights than they can manage. One street can be rich and the other side of that street can be poor. In my lifetime the world has shrunk, it is reachable now, there is just a gate that separates.

 

This morning I woke to a text from a friend in Burkina Faso. It doesn’t take long to get to this country, less than 6 hours flight from Paris. It is just the other side of the gate. I woke in the comfort of my home to read the following: “Church planter Y. reported just now that church planter A.C in Gorom Gorom in the north was woken up and forced out of his home late last night by two armed men with guns. As they were leading him out of his home he managed to swiftly escape in the dark and they fired several shot at him but God indeed protected him, the bullets missed him. His family (wife and children) have run away to his in-laws. A.C is now hiding in a different town, where Y is on his way to visit him and bring him support and encouragement.” As I was sleeping last night I had no idea that someone close to me (the Church planter of my friend) was going through the valley of the shadow of death. He is just the other side of my gate, what will I do?

After reading that text and before I began to open the Bible and write this I looked at my news app and something caught my eye. “A BBC investigation has uncovered a secret world of sexual exploitation of children and young women by religious figures. Clerics are grooming vulnerable girls in Iraq and offering them for sex, a controversial religious practice known as ‘pleasure marriage’”. I then read of a painful testimony of a young girl called Rusul, a teenager who ‘married’ too many times to count. My app news brought Rusul into my home. She is the other side of my gate, what will I do?

One thing is important to me is that I never become cocooned into my own world of comfort, provision and small-mindedness.

 

What’s on the other side of your gate?

Who are those below you? Who are those who have diseases you will never have? Who are the hungry and the destitute? They are on the other side of your gate. Take a look.

The gate that divides. The gate that encloses you into your world. The gate that keeps you focused on self. The gate that makes your world smaller.

Take a look. They are there waiting and hoping.