Missions Paul

Some still want signs from heaven.

We only have a short time on this earth. So why spend that time trying to please people? Why waste energy proving yourself, defending yourself and trying to convince those who are only trying to trip you up that you have been sent to them as a gift? Jesus didn’t so why should you?

“The Pharisees and Sadducees came to Jesus and tested him by asking him to show them a sign from heaven. He replied, ‘When evening comes, you say, “It will be fair weather, for the sky is red,” and in the morning, “Today it will be stormy, for the sky is red and overcast.” You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times. A wicked and adulterous generation looks for a sign, but none will be given it except the sign of Jonah.’ Jesus then left them and went away.” (Matthew 16 v 1-4)

Throughout Galilee Jesus drove out demons and healed a man with leprosy. It was a sign.

The Sea of Galilee had never seen so many miracles in its history. Jesus did all these. It was a sign.

Even the feeding of the 5,000 and the 4,000 were all signs.

But these religious leaders were relentlessly pursuing Jesus. They had seen or at least heard of the many miracles of Jesus. So why ask for a sign?

• It was a test. They wanted him to fail. They wanted proof of who he was. They wanted him to try and prove himself to them.
• It was in the middle of questioning. They were the mobile judge and jury. They already had made their mind up.
• It was to authenticate his preaching here on earth. A sign from heaven to prove what he is doing on earth.

If you know you are being trapped by those who are not for you, do what Jesus did? Walk away.

Do you remember that feeling of arriving at a certain place in life when there are more questions than answers?

Where am I? Where am I going? What am I meant to be doing here? Am I meant to be here?

Hold this thought.

“After Jesus had sent the crowd away, he got into the boat and went to the vicinity of Magadan.” (Matthew 15 v 39) However …

“After he had sent them away, he got into the boat with his disciples and went to the region of Dalmanutha.” (Mark 8 v 10)

The fact is no one knows.

Scholars for centuries have thought they knew but then others have successfully discounted their argument. Should Magadan be called Magdala? Was it a copyist error? Is Dalmanutha in Magdala? Are they the same place or places next door to each other? Or are these actually clever descriptive places by the gospel writers?

No one knows.

But what Matthew and Mark do agree on is what happened at Magadan/Dalmanutha’. It was a place for the attempt of the entrapment of Jesus. We will read the verses tomorrow.

But ponder this with me. Within the gospel story there is a moment on looking back when because of a lack of evidence all we have is confusion. We know what happened there but we don’t know where it was exactly nor the reason for being there.

That may be your story too.

There may be a chapter in your life when all you can describe it now as it was a place of confusion. Perhaps you are in that chapter now. If so, then be careful. The confused place could be a place the enemy is trying to catch you out.

You may not know where you are but you know who you belong to. You may not know why you are here but you know who sovereignly led you here.

Confused but caught not by the enemy but the perfect plan of God.

I have been sat for some time just dwelling on a familiar story. Familiar, not because it is a go-to passage in the Bible but because it is similar to a more well-known passage. Here is the story of the feeding of the 4,000 which is preceded of course by the more popular feeding of the 5,000. Some probably think it was the same miracle but it wasn’t as Matthew will reveal later (16 v 9-10).

These 3 words are speaking the loudest to me: Presence; Care; Learn. But let us read …

“Jesus left there and went along the Sea of Galilee. Then he went up on a mountainside and sat down. Great crowds came to him, bringing the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute and many others, and laid them at his feet; and he healed them. The people were amazed when they saw the mute speaking, the crippled made well, the lame walking and the blind seeing. And they praised the God of Israel. Jesus called his disciples to him and said, “I have compassion for these people; they have already been with me three days and have nothing to eat. I do not want to send them away hungry, or they may collapse on the way.” His disciples answered, “Where could we get enough bread in this remote place to feed such a crowd?” “How many loaves do you have?” Jesus asked. “Seven,” they replied, “and a few small fish.”He told the crowd to sit down on the ground. Then he took the seven loaves and the fish, and when he had given thanks, he broke them and gave them to the disciples, and they in turn to the people. They all ate and were satisfied. Afterward the disciples picked up seven basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. The number of those who ate was four thousand men, besides women and children. After Jesus had sent the crowd away, he got into the boat and went to the vicinity of Magadan.” (Matthew 15 v 29-39)

The 5,000 miracle occurred near Bethsaida, a Jewish region; the 4,000 miracle occurred in the Decapolis (according to Mark), a Gentile region.

The 5,000 Jewish miracle had 12 basketful of broken pieces perhaps referring to the 12 tribes of Israel; the 4,000 Gentile miracle had 7,000 basketfuls where the number seven is known as complete perfection (that the complete gospel is for the Jew and the Gentile). The feedings by Jesus were for both groups of people, the gospel is for all.

So come back to the 3 words:

• Presence

“The people were amazed … And they praised the God of Israel … they have already been with me three days”

The crowd lingered with Jesus. Camping out on the remote mountainside and caught up in the powerful presence of Jesus.

Let’s not get caught up with each other too much. I am not minimising this problematic world of social distancing with empty church buildings but what good are crowds without Jesus? His presence is everything. Those moments of feeling ‘marvelled’ (NASB); the place of wonder (ESV); this is what I seek, don’t you? When did we last linger with the presence of the Lord? The people were caught up in the praise of God. Which God? The God of Israel, here in our nation, alongside us, His presence in our presence, the divine exchange. I believe that is still possible for you and me, don’t you?

• Care

“I have compassion for these people; they have … nothing to eat. I do not want to send them away hungry, or they may collapse on the way.”

Jesus was concerned for these people not only whilst they were with him but on their journey home too. The heart of care for people is needed today. People are not a commodity to be used as a statistic; or to feed ego; they are people incredibly loved by Jesus. I don’t think the most important ability for a Pastor is whether they can preach or how charismatic they are or even how evangelistic they are. Give me someone who cares. Give me someone who is concerned that people don’t get harmed along the journey, That’s the heart of Christ which we all should have.

• Learn

Isn’t this interesting?

His disciples answered, “Where could we get enough bread?” “How many loaves do you have?” Jesus asked. “Seven,” they replied, “and a few small fish.”He told the crowd to sit down on the ground. Then he took the seven loaves and the fish, and when he had given thanks, he broke them and gave them to the disciples, and they in turn to the people. They all ate and were satisfied. Afterward the disciples picked up seven basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. 

When are we going to stop asking Jesus the same questions?

When is Jesus going to stop asking us the same questions?

When are we going to keep watching Jesus do what He wants us to do?

Are we learning? Some people never learn and so they go through life with the same scenarios being played out time after time.

Presence; Care; Learn.

In this story of the Canaanite woman appealing for help for her daughter we see that Jesus’ programme to go first to Israel was eclipsed by the faith of this Gentile. My hope is that all our programmes and plans are eclipsed by faith even from the most ‘offensive’ of people.

^“He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.” The woman came and knelt before him. “Lord, help me!” she said. He replied, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.” “Yes it is, Lord,” she said. “Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.” Then Jesus said to her, “Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.” And her daughter was healed at that moment.” (Matthew 15: 24-28)

Why was Jesus so reluctant to drive the demon out of the woman’s daughter?

He wasn’t.

He was testing her faith.

Will she fight back when he indicates that it is not right to take the children’s bread (Israel) and toss it to the dogs (the Tyre and Sidonian people)? Or will she respond according to her knowledge that salvation is for all, Jew and Gentile. That God’s love reaches beyond the barriers that man puts up.

“Even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.” She got it!

She understood even what the disciples would fail to.

That even an outcast, a dog, a second-class citizen of God’s community would get a crumb if she persevered. And one crumb from the master’s table is all she needed. Yes, Jesus was called to Israel first but she saw that ultimately He was called to bring healing to the whole world. This woman had a global perspective which the disciples would eventually understand. But for now her faith is beyond them. Some of the most amazing revelations come from the unlikeliest of places and people.

Jesus gave her more than a crumb. He granted her heart’s desire and he welcomed her to the table.

The Jews of Galilee had not repented; they had not come into the kingdom even though John the Baptist had called them to it and Jesus had performed so many miracles that changed countless lives.

“Leaving that place, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him, crying out, ‘Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is demon-possessed and suffering terribly.’ Jesus did not answer a word. So his disciples came to him and urged him, ‘Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us.’ (Matthew 15 v 21-23)

So he withdraws. He comes away from those who were more easily positioned to receive Him and goes to a place no one would ever think of going.

This season you are in contains at least one of these questions. Slow them down and ponder on them. How will you answer?

Do you know when to leave and withdraw which is far more than just moving on?

Are you prepared to follow Jesus to go to people who the hypocrites never would?

Can you cope with the silence of Jesus or will you misinterpret it and try take control?

Every Sunday I am testing another different hand-sanitiser as I step into a Church building. We are rightly wanting to make sure people are clean when they come in. We don’t seem to be too bothered on their way out but coming in is different. We need to protect everyone from the virus.

Remember how we have been reading about the ‘lifting up of hands’? Jesus was challenging the Pharisees teaching regarding the dietary laws and their desire to protect the purity of the people.

Jesus has told a parable and Peter speaks on behalf of the whole team. They haven’t fully understood.

“Peter said, ‘Explain the parable to us.’ ‘Are you still so dull?’ Jesus asked them. ‘Don’t you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body? But the things that come out of a person’s mouth come from the heart, and these defile them. For out of the heart come evil thoughts – murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. These are what defile a person; but eating with unwashed hands does not defile them.” (Matthew 15 v 15-20)

What needed cleansing and healing wasn’t a person’s hands or mouth but their heart.

You can have ceremonially clean hands but a defiled heart.  So what good is that?

A person can look great and acceptable on the outside but if the heart is bad then it is all a façade.

Your profile picture may look sharp but it is your texts and statuses that follow that count.

So don’t let people burden you with guilt and shame for something you are or are not doing, these are attacks from the outside and are burdensome.

But Jesus cleanses hearts today, the place where sinful practices are born.

The greatest need in the Church today is heart-sanitiser not to get into the Church but for the Church as it moves into the world.

How do you navigate hypocrisy? When impacted by hypocrisy what decisions do you need to make to enable you to get through?

The reply from Jesus to the fact that he had offended the Pharisees was this: “He replied, ‘Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be pulled up by the roots. Leave them; they are blind guides. If the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.’ (Matthew 15 v 13-14)

You can take control of your situation. You don’t have to be swallowed up with the hypocrisy. Here is what we should know about surviving the trap of hypocrisy from the parable Jesus tells in these 2 verses:-

Inevitability: God appoints and so does man. When man appoints it won’t last but with God it does. God will not be mocked and what is sown will be reaped. These are certainties.

The back-story: The reason why it lasts is found in what is not seen. What is important isn’t what is seen. It isn’t the performance. The roots. There is always a motive. Learn to ask the question, why?

Hands-off: So stop fighting. Let it be. Wait. Some campaigns shouldn’t happen. Choose your battles carefully.

Follow your own path: Don’t be like them, don’t follow that kind of appointment, you don’t have to be blinded, it is a choice. Be your own unique self.

He touched a raw nerve and they became offended.

Then the disciples came to him and asked, “Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this?” (Matthew 15 v 12)

The answer was yes. Jesus knew what he was saying. Jesus had purposely touched their raw nerve.

Hypocrites get offended with exposed truth because they have spent all their energy on hiding it. Hypocrisy says ‘I am self-aware I have no faults’ and yet at the same time hides the fault. When the fault is touched on then offence will defend the hypocrisy at all costs.

Hypocrites get offended the most when their raw nerve is touched in public. Hypocrisy has worked to falsely promote them before people. To be then publicly told they are not as good as those around them or at least the same, leads to offence.

Hypocrites that are offended create an anxiety to those around them. The disciples seem anxious when they return to Jesus. They are wondering what will happen next? Are they going to be drawn into this? It could get out of control.

Hypocrites that are offended don’t seem to bother Jesus one bit, as we shall see …

The greatest miracle is that of a changed heart.

Yesterday the UK Health Secretary resigned under shouts of hypocrisy. There are many more in every sphere of society and even in religious circles that don’t even think of resigning. Within the Church we have our own problems with hypocrisy. Amazing gifts and charismatic abilities to soften the most hardened of crowds can mask a desire to perform and gain. Softly-spoken and carrying an atmosphere of pious dignity can mask the raging anger within the heart of men and women in the pulpit and pew.

“Jesus called the crowd to him and said, “Listen and understand. What goes into someone’s mouth does not defile them, but what comes out of their mouth, that is what defiles them.” (Matthew 15 v 10-11)

These Pharisees who outspokenly challenged Jesus over his disciples not washing their hands and so making themselves unclean have not only deceived themselves but others too. So Jesus brings the crowd together to tell them that failure to follow these traditions will not actually make you unclean but it is all about the heart. The Pharisees question was actually an attempt to stop the ministry of Jesus. It had nothing to do with protecting devotion to God and being holy before Him. That is the hypocrisy that Jesus points out. When the reason is veiled and attention is drawn to something which may be real but is used to keep it hidden, that is hypocrisy.

It’s what comes out that counts.

It’s the words we use. The way we speak to others and about them.

It’s the motivation and the reason behind the actions.

Of course, whenever we speak of this kind of thing, offence is never far away. As we shall see …

“The single greatest cause of atheism in the world today is Christians, who acknowledge Jesus with their lips, then walk out the door and deny Him by their lifestyle. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable.” The person who said those words also confessed to: “”boasting, the inflating of the truth, the pretence of being an intellectual, the impatience with people, and all the times I drank to excess”? Brennan Manning died in 2013. Was he a hypocrite? No. A hypocrite is someone who will not acknowledge they are a sinner. Manning knew who he was. “”Don’t think I’m a saint. I’m a ragamuffin, you’re a ragamuffin, and God loves us anyway.” (The Ragamuffin Gospel)

In our next verses Jesus is quoting Isaiah 29:13 which reveals how the main focus for God is our heart, not the outward person we display.

“You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you: ‘These people honour me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules!” (Matthew 15 v 7-9)

Just because people have rules for living and whose behaviour is apparently ‘cleaner’ than most does not mean they are more acceptable to God than those who have no rules. A human rule will not bring you closer to God. Neither will the rules of God, the law of God, it doesn’t bring you closer it actually reveals how far away from Him you are, it distances you.

Just because people are doing what has always been done, it has been passed down generationally, it has become cultural norms and laws, does not mean they were right in the first place. Traditions of men are often a variant of the commands of God. Variants are burdensome, the commands are light. In a particular church the members would always bow the knee and cross themselves before a white wall shortly after taking communion at the altar. A visitor on noticing this asked why they did it and no one could tell him. No one knew why they did it, they just did; they had always done it. One night there was a torrential storm and the rain came through the church roof and leaked all over the white wall causing the paint to peal. The members of the church decided they would fix the wall. As they started to take the paint off they exposed a mural of Mary, the mother of Jesus. Suddenly they all realised that down through the generations when they had all lost the reason for doing so the practice continued even though it had zero meaning. They had carried on the practice but had lost the heart of the practice.

Having traditions but not knowing why doesn’t make you a hypocrite.

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.

There are 4 leaders: Steve, Geoff, Mary and Margaret. Here is the story and on reading it you may find it a mental test and it so often is!

Steve calls me to tell me the following:

Geoff had called Steve about how Mary had called Margaret about some sensitive information that should never have been passed on.

Geoff knows this because Margaret had called Geoff to tell her.

Steve told me that Mary must be careful for she should never have called Margaret.

Now what Steve didn’t know and what I told him was I had already called Margaret regarding the same sensitive information because in my position I had the authority to do so. In that call Margaret had told me that it was Geoff who had called Margaret about the sensitive information and it was then that Margaret told Geoff that Mary had got there first and told her the information.   

Now see the italics again. The italic sentences were switched around to make Geoff look innocent. Mary was wrong and so was Geoff but he had hidden his wrongdoing to simply expose Mary’s.

This is hypocrisy. The centre, the very heart of the matter was changed, ever so slightly, but it radically changed the story and exposed one sinner whilst hiding the other.

When there are prayers, worship and teachings but the heart is twisted then there is hypocrisy.

The more self-aware we become, the more we expose our own sinfulness then the less danger we are in of being hypocrites.

A self-aware sinner never points fingers without pointing at their own life.

A hypocrite only points fingers in one direction, away from their own heart.