Missions Paul

Many commentators have expressed different views on what are difficult verses to truly understand. (When the Bible gets difficult I always hide behind the fact my devotional blog is just that, a devotion. Nothing more and certainly nothing that can be compared to a commentary. So I hide again!)

A final thought on the pursuit of more ….

“Peter answered him, “We have left everything to follow you! What then will there be for us?” Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first.” (Matthew 19 v 27-30)

What was Jesus saying in this context of the wealthy young man? He wouldn’t create the lack in his life for Jesus but Peter and the disciples had. He had pursued more wealth and was pursuing eternal life but wouldn’t pursue lack so walked away sad. However, they had left all to follow and Jesus knew it. He knew they had left their homes and their families for Him.

• They would have positions of authority. Not denying the fact that if I was God I would definitely make sure these 12 were in a good position in our eternal future! (Well not Judas, I would probably swap him for Matthias or the Apostle Paul). But I am thinking more about their authority post Resurrection/Ascension and post-Pentecost when they were filled with boldness, released as missionaries, their gospels and teachings influencing still today the spiritual Israel of God, the Church. These are the thrones of authority.
• Jesus knew that not only the 12 but ‘everyone’ who had stopped pursuing their more and had given up or forsaken for Jesus would gain in this life ‘a hundred times as much’ of new homes of fellowship and new families filled with wonderful relationships. That is the beauty of the world-wide Church and many missionary will tell you their story of finding new families across the world.
• Our eternal home and our life there seems to be impacted by our deposit in our life on this earth. Perhaps we should live more in the light of that fact than we do. What we give up now for the kingdom will be restored to us in our eternity. One day, surrounded by eternal riches (whatever they are) we might be able to say, “We have left all we had to follow Jesus!” It will be so worth it!!
• Finally a reminder of the upside down kingdom of Christ. “the first will be last, and many who are last will be first” in the context of the wealthy young man and the pursuit of more. They are a warning to us all that earthly success will not lead to heavenly reward. In fact our pursuit of success, wealth, fame (even in the guise of goodness and the gospel) can become an entrapment to our lives where we end up losing it all. I have met many who have done so and it began as they commenced the pursuit of more.

If what you are pursuing takes up more time and more focus than pursuing Christ then it has to go.

Even if that be your moral living and keeping every commandment in an ultra-disciplined pious way or you have become wealthy (nothing wrong with that) but the way that happened was the desire for more took over your life, then it has to be surrendered.

 ^“Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly I tell you, it is hard for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and asked, “Who then can be saved?” Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” (Matthew 19 v 23-26)

It is hard for those who are not desperate, who do not have nothing, who do not need to trust and rely on God for their future to get into the kingdom of God. It is these things that the rich man didn’t have that make us rich. Those with nothing but God often look happier than those who have everything but not Him.

The disciples were once again stunned. Everyone believed that the wealthy were the blessed but Jesus says the wealthy have a stumbling block and it is the condition of the heart. It is difficult for them. Jesus uses a funny image of the largest land animal they can imagine going through the smallest hole. It probably was that which he meant rather than a hole in the city wall that traders would pass through at night. Probably because it was the most impossible (and funniest) of images.

So who could make it? Who could be saved if the wealthy couldn’t get there then there is no hope for them? Jesus looked at the disciples and in the look there was a pause, long enough for them to remember this amazing statement which we quote in every context of our lives and so we should: With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.

We can pursue ‘more’ of anything and everything can become an idol if we choose to make it so. The pursuit of more will never satisfy and it will always leave a person outside the rule of God. However, God can meet any person at the place where they have found themselves. He can meet the wealthy, the religious and those who have pursued every idol you can think of and He can break into their life and do what looks impossible. How? It starts with this story of ‘selling everything and giving to the poor’. It is a heart that says all my ‘stuff’ is worthless, all I have become and all I have pursued is worth nothing compared to choosing Christ.

There was no lack.

That is what he lacked.

“All these I have kept,” the young man said. “What do I still lack?” Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth.” (Matthew 19 v 20-22)

If this man had walked into many churches we would have got him saved and certainly a tithing member as soon as possible! However, Jesus seems to purposely offend this man and to make it so difficult for him.

Jesus doesn’t say “repeat the sinners prayer and you’ll get eternal life,”

He says this and it is all pointed towards the commandments he has kept in reference to people.

You have everything

You have done everything

But you lack one thing

There is no lack in your life.

In the one area where you are rich the most, in your relationships, here is what you must do.

This is not another commandment for you to accomplish perhaps using your riches as a crutch.

Sell everything.

Give to the poor.

Lay your life down.

Come to me with lack.

Come to me with nothing.

This is how you follow me.

With lack.

Total reliance on me for your salvation and eternal life.

The response of the man was that the earthly actually mattered more than the heavenly and Jesus knew it.

It is hard for those who have it all and want to pursue it all because they have no lack, no desperate need, no longing. They are full.

Ambition can lead to a trail of hurt people and damaged relationships behind us; it can lead to burnt out people incapable of sustaining the pressure of the pursuit of more; it can mean we will do almost anything to achieve what we set out for even sacrificing the values of our own life and once we reach that place then our downfall is never far away.

Meet our ambitious young wealthy man ….

“Just then a man came up to Jesus and asked, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?” “Why do you ask me about what is good?” Jesus replied. “There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, keep the commandments.” “Which ones?” he inquired. Jesus replied, ‘You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, honour your father and mother,’ and ‘love your neighbour as yourself.” “All these I have kept,” the young man said. “What do I still lack?” (Matthew 19 v 16-20)

This is an incredible young man in that he has kept not only the 5 commandments Jesus mentioned but when he says he has done so he is meaning he has kept them all. This is not unusual as we also know the Apostle Paul would say that he was blameless with regard to keeping the law (Phil 3:6).

Jesus states the 5 commandments perhaps because they are the ones focused on our connections with people or maybe simply because in stating 5 commandments he is meaning them all. In any case, the young man has kept them all.

Be careful when you have evidence that you are doing well in comparison to others.

Be careful when you believe you are pleasing God because of what you do.

Be careful when everyone can see how hard you work.

This wheel of life will demand more and more but it will never satisfy.

The answer was not in his performance or his obedience, he didn’t lack there. We can all get to the place where we are doing everything that is needed but we are still not satisfied. The answers to life are never found in the exterior.

Check your ambition today in what is your true motivation for your pursuit of more.

Pastors, why do you want your churches to grow?

Church members why do you want to take up that position within church?

Parents why do you want your children to succeed?

Workers why are you working every hour in the day?

Ask yourself the hard question: Why? Why am I pursuing more?

“Just then a man came up to Jesus and asked, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?” “Why do you ask me about what is good?” Jesus replied. “There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, keep the commandments.” (Matthew 19 v 16-17)

Here comes a man, a wealthy young man we will find out from Matthew and in Luke a ruler, perhaps a Jewish leader in the synagogue.

Matthew focuses less on who he is and more on what he wants. He is pursuing gain. His heart is to own something, to add to his mounting possessions, this is his one great concern, to have more. The ultimate is to get the ticket for eternal life. Of course he already knows how to do this but it seems hopeless. He knew that works saved and so he tirelessly and slavishly tried to keep everything. Jesus obviously knows this and that is why he tells the man to keep the commandments for eternal life. But performance religion becomes impossible.

Be careful what you are longing for. Be careful what grabs your attention. It may be good but it may not be God.

The young man came to Jesus with his concern and Jesus responded with his concern for the man. The young man came wanting and Jesus responded by wanting him.

Our concerns may not be His.

Desire for greatness, status, fame and fortune masked under religion is hard to expose. It is manipulative and deceptive. Above all it is sad because there is no end to it and once you are hooked you will die trying to be someone you were never created to be.

Response from Jesus: “what are you saying? Only God is good. Are you calling me God?”

He wasn’t. But Jesus brilliantly handles this situation which leaves us with a smile on our face. He does it a lot.

“Then people brought little children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them and pray for them. But the disciples rebuked them. Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” When he had placed his hands on them, he went on from there.” (Matthew 19 v 13-15)

The disciples were not the best crèche workers. There was so much more important things to do than looking after babies and little children. This event reveals once again that it has nothing to do with children’s ministry but everything to do with the heart and Jesus became angry with what was being revealed.

What did the disciples do wrong?

1. The disciples got in the way of people and Jesus.
2. The disciples tried to prevent or at least control the blessing.
3. The disciples saw the blessing as a bothersome nuisance.
4. The disciples failed to know the heart of Jesus.
5. The disciples’ view of the lowest category in society was different to that of Jesus.

The disciples were not the mirror image of Jesus. When you looked at the disciples that day you were not looking at Jesus, in fact their behaviour and responses were the opposite to who He is.

I think the same question should be asked today: are we the mirror-image of Jesus to the world?

1. Do we get in the way of the Way?
2. Are we controllers?
3. Do we get annoyed at our plans being affected?
4. Do we let go of the heart of Jesus, for example, his heart of love for sinners was never condemnatory at any occasion?
5. Do we turn our nose up at the outcast?

Challenging questions perhaps, but no one said it is easy being a disciple, it never was.

I spotted something this morning looking at the start of this chapter. Matthew tells his readers something 5 times in his gospel:

“When Jesus had finished saying these things, he left Galilee and went into the region of Judea to the other side of the Jordan. Large crowds followed him, and he healed them there.” (Matthew 19 v 1-2)

When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, Matthew 7:28

After Jesus had finished instructing his twelve disciples, he went on from there to teach and preach in the towns of Galilee. Matthew 11:1

When Jesus had finished these parables, he moved on from there. Matthew 13:53

When Jesus had finished saying all these things, he said to his disciples, “As you know, the Passover is two days away—and the Son of Man will be handed over to be crucified.” Matthew 26:1-2

There are 5 sections in his gospel and in between each section we see the landscape change, the moment is over and Jesus moves on but though there is change Jesus remains true to His calling.

So in the 2 verses we have read: Galilee is over, the majority of his ministry Jesus has spent with the Gentiles but now he and his disciples are heading to Jerusalem. Matthew reveals the direction, ‘the other side of the Jordan’ and we are reminded of the Baptist who first saw the revelation of Jesus the Messiah. Still, even though there are changes, people are still there and Jesus reaches them and heals them.

So how would this help Matthew’s readers in their ever-changing 1^st century world? More to the point how does this help you in 2021? Perhaps things are changing for you and if they are then you must remain true to who you are.

Don’t stop just because things have changed, you don’t change.

Don’t stop being the person God has made you and called you to be.

Don’t stop reaching out to people.

Don’t stop fulfilling the promises and plans that God has set out for you or is revealing to you.

Don’t stop just because what is ahead is uncertain, move forward with certainty in Him who never leaves you.

The Kingdom of Christ is less about rules and more about the state of the heart. It is possible to keep the rules but with a cynical heart. It is possible to give but without generosity of heart. It is possible to apologise but without contriteness of heart. It is possible to appear to be the finished article but without anything of worth under the surface. So let’s move into a new chapter and into a difficult passage:

“When Jesus had finished saying these things, he left Galilee and went into the region of Judea to the other side of the Jordan. Large crowds followed him, and he healed them there. Some Pharisees came to him to test him. They asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any and every reason?” “Haven’t you read,” he replied, “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’ and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’? So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.” “Why then,” they asked, “did Moses command that a man give his wife a certificate of divorce and send her away?” Jesus replied, “Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard. But it was not this way from the beginning. I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another woman commits adultery.” The disciples said to him, “If this is the situation between a husband and wife, it is better not to marry.” Jesus replied, “Not everyone can accept this word, but only those to whom it has been given. For there are eunuchs who were born that way, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by others—and there are those who choose to live like eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. The one who can accept this should accept it.” (Matthew 19 v 1-12)

The main central point in this passage is not the divorce or whether we have grounds to do it. It is this, the hardness of the heart breaks everything that was good. The sin is not the divorce, it is the hardness of heart. The threat to marriage is not the grounds for divorce it is the hardness of heart. From the beginning the heart was good but then it hardened and as it did rules were needed and Moses had to write them.

But the key to life is a soft heart.

A soft heart is large and incredibly patient.It is gentle and consistently kind to all. It refuses to be jealous when blessing comes to someone else. A soft heart does not brag about one’s achievements nor inflate its own importance. It does not traffic in shame and disrespect, nor selfishly seek its own honour. It is not easily irritated or quick to take offense. A soft heart joyfully celebrates honesty and finds no delight in what is wrong. It is a safe place of shelter, for it never stops believing the best for others. It never takes failure as defeat, for it never gives up. (TPT 1 Cor 13:4-7)

Can you now imagine the scene if the Pharisees had soft hearts and what their discussions would have been? Can you imagine what kind of questions the Pharisees would bring with soft hearts? Can you imagine all those years ago what Moses would have written if marriage partners had soft hearts? Can you imagine marriages today with soft hearts? Hard hearts kill everything. Divorce happens a long time before the divorce papers. It happens because one or both partners have hard hearts.

If we go to this passage looking for the rules on whether we have grounds for divorce and whether people should remarry etc, then we have missed the whole point. This has always been about the hardness of the heart.

May our prayer today be ‘soften my heart Lord’!

The unmerciful servant’s life ended badly because of hypocrisy.

Recently on Facebook I read a trail of statuses from people who were offended by a certain Church leader who had said something he probably shouldn’t have said. The statuses were led by a person I knew quite well and who had on numerous occasions said many a thing he shouldn’t have said!

A hypocrite is a person who purposely deceives others. They appear right, all the while they hide or deflect the reality of their wrongness. They deny the invitation of grace because they deny their own sinfulness to either themselves or their world. The moment we deflect our own wrong in order to expose the wrong in others is when we become a hypocrite.

“Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I cancelled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’ In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed. (Matthew 18 v 32-34)

Almost a century before his parable is told the word ‘hypokrite’ was being used. It means ‘an actor’ and referred to the theatrical mask that was worn. It became to mean the figurative masks that are used when we pretend to be someone or something we are not.

Hypocrite – he looked like he had received, understood and been transformed by mercy until he met that one person that brought the worst out of him.

Hypocrite – his harsh treatment of that one person not only insulted but it denied all knowledge of the mercy he had received from his master.

Hypocrite -he desired justice for that one person but it was not true justice, it was fake, for true justice is only found within mercy which he had received.

Hypocrite – he gave out justice for that one person which he never wanted for himself but what he gave out he ended up receiving himself.

This hypocrite ended his life in torture. For the way we are is the way we stay.

(These messages from this passage on forgiveness are not for those outside the Church. It is for the body of Christ. It is not to say that we must not follow the justice of our legal system for we must. It is for the body of Christ, the Church and how we treat each other.)

There was no conscience, zero self-awareness, no acknowledgment of his own conduct, he was blinded to his own sin.

The mercy that was originally given was not passed on and people saw and they talk.

“When the other servants saw what had happened, they were outraged and went and told their master everything that had happened.” (Matthew 18 v 31)

The ‘other servants’ believed if your debts were forgiven that you should forgive your debtors also, it may have been a cultural rule.

They were outraged. They were ‘deeply grieved’ (NASB) and ‘greatly distressed’ (ESV).

So they reported him because people are watching and people talk.

“Who did? Which person reported me? Who threw me under the bus? Give me their name!” It’s not in the script but the spirit of it is and I have heard these questions numerous of times.

There are 2 stories in this story of Jesus. The story of mercy and the story of justice. The unmerciful servant is in both. When the heart is damaged the person receives the benefits of mercy and forgiveness but isn’t changed by it. They carry the spirit of entitlement rooted in their hearts and demand everything due to them and even what isn’t due but they believe it is! Justice demands details, contexts, agendas and quotations and who said what and who to. The problem with this kind of justice is we forget that there is a fellow servant (the second servant) suffering and hurting having been thrown into prison. The unmerciful want justice when it suits them. They are more important than the trail of hurt people behind them.

But people are watching and people talk.