Forward Thinkers

At the end Luke chapter 9, just after Jesus has suffered rejection from some Samaritans and just prior to Him commissioning 72 disciples to expand His Kingdom, we have some pretty confronting interactions between Jesus and three of His would-be followers. Today I just want to hone in on the third.

Yet another said, “I will follow you, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my home.” Jesus said to him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.” – Luke 9:61-62 ESV

To me, this man’s request seems quite reasonable, commendable even. After all, he just wants to go and say goodbye to the members of his household before leaving them behind to follow Jesus. I mean, what could be the harm? Although, I guess his close relatives might try to talk him out of it. “Just how well do you know this Jesus character anyway?” So Jesus’ response can seem complementary or harsh, depending on whether you decide that this man is a shining beacon or a cautionary tale. In any case Jesus’ point is not lost.

We can all imagine a farmer attempting to guide a plow while getting distracted by something behind him. We can also picture the crooked furrow he would leave behind and we can even anticipate the knock on effect of added difficulty for sowing and reaping. Or to modernise the image a bit, looking in the rear view mirror is handy when you are backing up your car but obsessing with it when you are moving forward is bound to end in disaster. Working for God’s kingdom demands we focus our attention on what is ahead, not on what lies behind.

Sadly, for some of us, following Jesus will mean separation or even estrangement from our families, though it is rare in western civilisation. Now that may seem like too steep a cost but we must weigh it against what Jesus says elsewhere, “Everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for my name’s sake, will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life” (Matthew 19:29). That is an exceptional return on your investment. A hundred times what you’ve given up, and life without end.

The passage in Luke calls to mind someone who infamously turned back in the Old Testament. She is slighted in the history of God’s people where her is name omitted. She is known only as “Lot’s wife” in Genesis 19. After being warned specifically not to look back or even stop (she was meant to be fleeing God’s judgment) she was drawn back to the fleeting pleasures of this life which incur God’s wrath. Her judgment was instantaneous as she was transformed into a pillar of salt. Which, I’m quietly confident, isn’t what Jesus had in mind when he said to be salt and light. All of us, then, are called to leave behind our old sinful way of life, of which we should be ashamed, but how does Jesus wants us to move God’s kingdom forward exactly? I think the answer comes just a couple verses later in Luke:

And he said to [his disciples], “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. – Luke 10:2

Earnest prayer to the Lord of the harvest. Primarily we move God’s kingdom forward on our knees. So, let’s pray.

Father, we eagerly ask You to propel forward-focused workers into Your harvest field. We are ashamed of our sin that provokes Your wrath and we thank You for Jesus who bore Your anger in order to shield us. Help us leave behind everything, including our sin, that prevents us from following Jesus wholeheartedly and may we never look back. When we have Christ we are more than compensated for anything we have to give up. We seek first Your Kingdom, “forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, pressing on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:13-14).

Top Ten

It is no coincidence that the greatest countries in the world to live in are those most heavily influenced by Judeo-Christian values. In mercy and judgment, God gifted His people Israel with one commandment for each of the ten plagues He severely chastised Egypt with (Exodus 7-12).

And God spoke all these words, saying,
“I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
“You shall have no other gods before me.
“You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.
“You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.
“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labour, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
“Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.
“You shall not murder.
“You shall not commit adultery.
“You shall not steal.
“You shall not bear false witness against your neighbour.
“You shall not covet your neighbour’s house; you shall not covet your neighbour’s wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbour’s.” – Exodus 20:1-17 ESV

These rules for living have never been improved upon, although Jesus distilled them down to just two guidelines, borrowed from the Old Testament (Deuteronomy 6:5; Leviticus 19:18):

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbour as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” – Matthew 22:37b-40

Lord, to cherish You above all else is to abide by Your first four commandments, and to love all others as much as we love ourselves will prevent us from transgressing the remaining six. Thank You Jesus that when You walked this earth You upheld the Law and the Prophets in perfection, that when we trust in You You clothe us in Your right standing before God. By Your Spirit, enable us to please You by keeping Your commands, and so stand out as a source of good in this world.

The Significance of Seven

Of all the numbers that are significant in the Bible, ‘seven’ is arguably the most important. As a number symbolising fullness, completion or perfection, many consider ‘seven’ to be God’s number. This goes some way in explaining why the number of the beast (and of a man) is 666, a constant falling short of God and His perfection (Revelation 13:18).

For Jews, the seventh day of the week was to be set aside for contemplating God. They were, as an entire nation, to take a break from the ordinary humdrum routine of the working week to reflect on their history, the fact that God flexed His muscle and released them from slavery in Egypt in spectacular fashion.

“‘Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, as the LORD your God commanded you. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter or your male servant or your female servant, or your ox or your donkey or any of your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates, that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you. You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the LORD your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.” – Deuteronomy 5:12-15 ESV

Presumably in order to reinforce this sabbath teaching, the Genesis creation account is fashioned around a seven-day week, with God Himself upholding the pattern of resting on the seventh day after creating everything in six days. This seventh day is notably described without “evening and … morning” which rounds out each of the previous six days. This points us inexorably towards God’s future eternal rest in Heaven.

Seven also features in the New Testament, perhaps nowhere as prominent as in Revelation with seven churches; seven spirits; a scroll with seven seals; seven trumpets; and seven angels with seven plagues in seven bowls. Jesus, when quizzed by Peter, urged us to forgive a brother not seven but seventy-seven times (Matthew 18:21-22). There were seven baskets of leftovers after Jesus fed the 4000 from seven loaves of bread and a few small fish, indicative of a God of abundance (Matthew 15:32-38).

Father, You are perfect and complete, when we have Jesus we lack nothing. Thanks that Jesus has procured for us Your rest without end. Help us offer forgiveness as freely as You’ve offered us in Christ, releasing us from our bondage to sin in spectacular fashion by the cross. Thanks for not being a miser, You did not even withhold from us Your only Son, You treat us with such lavish abundance.

Three Days

Even though Jesus had just openly healed a man with a withered hand, right in their religious gathering place no less (Matthew 12:9-14), the upper echelons of Jewish society demanded Jesus prove His credentials as the Messiah by performing a miracle on cue.

Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered [Jesus], saying, “Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you.” But he answered them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. (Matthew 12:38-40 ESV)

The only proof anyone needs that Jesus is the long awaited ‘Son of David’ — our rightful King — is that He was resurrected after three days in the grave. It took Jesus three days to change the world. In Jesus we vicariously make the arduous three day trek out of the clutches of the tyranny of slavery.

Then [Moses and Aaron] said [to Pharaoh], “The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please let us go a three days’ journey into the wilderness that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God, lest he fall upon us with pestilence or with the sword.” (Exodus 5:3)

Father, we are sorry for being evil and adulterous, for wanting You to perform for us. Thank You that in Jesus we encounter You. His sacrifice released us from slavery to sin and brings us to Your holy mountain, into Your presence. In Jesus we escape Your judgment.

One and Three Are One

Faulty math? Despite accusations to the contrary, Christianity is monotheistic. That is, on the point that ‘there is only one God,’ Christianity, Islam and Judaism are all in agreement. This claim accompanies the first and greatest commandment in the Hebrew Scriptures:

“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.” — Deuteronomy 6:4-5 (ESV)

The Koran often forbids the joining of gods with God. Yet Christianity maintains that Yahweh the Father, Christ Jesus the Son and the Holy Spirit are all God. Math would dictate that that makes three gods. Enter the profound mystery of the doctrine of the Trinity. Three, yet one. The New Testament, perhaps most clearly, demonstrates this doctrine in Jesus’ instructions to His disciples in Matthew 28:19,

“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,”

The keen observer will note the intentionality in Jesus using the singular “name,” as opposed to “names,” for the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, indicating their unity. The inseparable oneness of the Father and the Son can also be observed in John 10.

Father, Son and Spirit, You are our One God. May our love for You be undivided and without peer, may we love You with all our being. Thank You Jesus, for paving the way (via the cross) to bring us into the mysterious bond of unity between You and Your Father. By Your Spirit, help us draw others into this deeply intimate relationship.

Build God’s Kingdom

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It is important to keep building God’s Kingdom in the face of heckling, being ridiculed or looked down upon. If the King “is for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31)

Then I said to them, “You see the trouble we are in, how Jerusalem lies in ruins with its gates burned. Come, let us build the wall of Jerusalem, that we may no longer suffer derision.” And I told them of the hand of my God that had been upon me for good, and also of the words that the king had spoken to me. And they said, “Let us rise up and build.” So they strengthened their hands for the good work. But when Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite servant and Geshem the Arab heard of it, they jeered at us and despised us and said, “What is this thing that you are doing? Are you rebelling against the king?” Then I replied to them, “The God of heaven will make us prosper, and we his servants will arise and build, but you have no portion or right or claim in Jerusalem.” — Nehemiah 2:17-20

According to Jesus, only those who keep their eyes fixed on the job at hand will feel at home in God’s Kingdom.

Jesus said to him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.” — Luke 9:62 ESV

Father and King, strengthen our hands so we can persevere in good work of building Your Kingdom, whatever difficulties we might face. Thanks for Jesus, in Whom we gain a share in Your Kingdom, the New Jerusalem. May You delight to see us prosper.

Be Ashamed

After punishment at the hands of foreigners, God has repatriated the Jews of the Southern Kingdom (Judah) and they are floored as they rediscover God’s Word, realising they come up short.

Then all who trembled at the words of the God of Israel, because of the faithlessness of the returned exiles, gathered around me while I sat appalled until the evening sacrifice. And at the evening sacrifice I rose from my fasting, with my garment and my cloak torn, and fell upon my knees and spread out my hands to the LORD my God, saying: “O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift my face to you, my God, for our iniquities have risen higher than our heads, and our guilt has mounted up to the heavens. From the days of our fathers to this day we have been in great guilt. And for our iniquities we, our kings, and our priests have been given into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, to plundering, and to utter shame, as it is today. But now for a brief moment favor has been shown by the LORD our God, to leave us a remnant and to give us a secure hold within his holy place, that our God may brighten our eyes and grant us a little reviving in our slavery. For we are slaves. Yet our God has not forsaken us in our slavery, but has extended to us his steadfast love before the kings of Persia, to grant us some reviving to set up the house of our God, to repair its ruins, and to give us protection in Judea and Jerusalem. — Ezra 9:4-9 ESV

We gain nothing but shame and death when we fall short of God’s expectations:

For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. — Romans 6:20-23 ESV

Father, teach us to tremble at Your Word. We gather together as those who recognise that we have acted faithlessly and are ashamed at having missed the mark. Thanks for Jesus, who has set us free from our slavery to sin. Help us, by Your Spirit, to live as Your slaves and so reap life eternal in the Christ.

Get Rid of Distractions

A variety of things can detract from purity of worship, holding us back from seeking Yahweh alone and so experiencing His peace.

And Asa did what was good and right in the eyes of the LORD his God. He took away the foreign altars and the high places and broke down the pillars and cut down the Asherim and commanded Judah to seek the LORD, the God of their fathers, and to keep the law and the commandment. He also took out of all the cities of Judah the high places and the incense altars. And the kingdom had rest under him. — 2 Chronicles 14:2-5 (ESV)

Asa was, rightfully, ruthless in rooting out idols and purging them from the consciousness of Judah. Foreign religions had exerted their influence on the kingdom which retained God’s temple. Asa sought to put things back on track. I am sorry to say that many Christians these days dabble in the occult, consulting with clairvoyants or star signs and the like. Others give priority to God’s good gifts, elevating them above Christ. Even family, which is now so highly prized, must not complete with Christ for our affections. Jesus said:

Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. — Matthew 10:37 ESV

Father, please help us put away all the distractions that prevent us from seeking You wholeheartedly and loving Christ, our Saviour and Lord, more than all else. May we know your rest.

Be Open to Correction

Correction from the Lord can be unpalatable.

At that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah and said to him, “Because you relied on the king of Syria, and did not rely on the LORD your God, the army of the king of Syria has escaped you. Were not the Ethiopians and the Libyans a huge army with very many chariots and horsemen? Yet because you relied on the LORD, he gave them into your hand. For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him. You have done foolishly in this, for from now on you will have wars.” Then Asa was angry with the seer and put him in the stocks in prison, for he was in a rage with him because of this. And Asa inflicted cruelties upon some of the people at the same time. — 2 Chronicles 16:7-10 (ESV)

King Asa had started out well. But now Asa has raided his God’s temple of treasure, as well as treasures from his own palace, in order to enlist the help of the world superpower, Syria, to defuse an escalating crisis Asa was having with Israel. When his folly is pointed out, Asa becomes belligerent and cruel instead of teachable and Hanani must bear the shame of being imprisoned for his part in attempting to reboot Asa’s reliance on God. Asa would not stand correction and, as a result, he forfeits Yahweh’s peace and aid. Sadly, this rift with God wreaks havoc on Asa’s prayer life.

In the thirty-ninth year of his reign Asa was diseased in his feet, and his disease became severe. Yet even in his disease he did not seek the LORD, but sought help from physicians. — 2 Chronicles 16:12 (ESV)

Father, thank You for Jesus who lived before You without blame and that, by faith, His blameless life becomes ours. By Your Spirit, make us bold—even when it’s costly—to correct our brothers and sisters when they stray from You. Also, humble us and soften our hearts so we will be ready to accept Your correction, wherever it may originate, that we may experience Your peace and powerful support. Let us not become angry when rebuked and, while it isn’t wrong to seek help from doctors, may we also pursue You, the God of healing.

 

God Sees Our Tears

Hezekiah was looking down the barrel of terminal illness. His future sealed, or so it seemed. . .

In those days Hezekiah became sick and was at the point of death. And Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came to him and said to him, “Thus says the LORD, ‘Set your house in order, for you shall die; you shall not recover.'” Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the LORD, saying, “Now, O LORD, please remember how I have walked before you in faithfulness and with a whole heart, and have done what is good in your sight.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly. And before Isaiah had gone out of the middle court, the word of the LORD came to him: “Turn back, and say to Hezekiah the leader of my people, Thus says the LORD, the God of David your father: I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. Behold, I will heal you. On the third day you shall go up to the house of the LORD, and I will add fifteen years to your life. I will deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria, and I will defend this city for my own sake and for my servant David’s sake.” — 2 Kings 20:1-6 (ESV)

Unlike Hezekiah, I wouldn’t like to appeal to God on the basis of my performance, but there you have it. While Hezekiah was in distress on his deathbed he poured out his heart to Yahweh and, amazingly, God changed His mind and miraculously intervened. God is not distant and disinterested, rather God is intimately involved, hanging on our every word. God is concerned about our wellbeing. Our tears do not fall to the ground unnoticed. God hears. God sees. God cares. God acts.

“Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.” (1 Peter 5:6-7 ESV)

Father, You oppose the proud but give grace to the humble, therefore we weep bitterly before You at our unworthiness. By Your Spirit help us to walk with You, trusting wholeheartedly in Your servant Jesus, through whom we obtain Your deliverance. Will You heal us now? or must we wait till we go up to Your eternal abode for Your healing hand?