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Category: Christian ministry

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Identifying Our Enemies – Consider the Heart

““You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so? Therefore, you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.” (Matthew 5:43–48)

Who is my enemy? That is the question of the day right; or is it? For people, identifying our enemy is simple as evaluating a person’s intentions toward us. If a person is running toward you with a gun or knife, he is your enemy right? Well, maybe; their intent depends on how they are holding the weapon and what they are saying too. They may be running past you and away from an attacking enemy; on the other hand, they may be pointing the gun or knife at you as they are running toward you – usually, it’s not hard to ascertain their intent. An invading army is a more obvious enemy while a sinister group of leaders may veil their true intent to harm you with deceptive words and promises. If they intend to harm our peace, our families, our livelihoods or our future we usually deem them to be enemies.

But are they really?

In the quoted section of His sermon on the mount, Jesus pointed the listener to a problem not in the scriptures but in the way the listener interprets them. When we read the Bible context is important, often people pull verses out of the context into which they’ve been nested and develop a doctrine, belief or principal which is not biblical; but the local context is not always the only one to consider. For example, Jesus begins this teaching with a quote from (Lev.19:18), “You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord;” and contrasts it with another quote from Moses in (Deut. 23:3-6) where the Israelites were commanded to never seek the peace or prosperity of the Ammonites or Moabites because of the way they treated them as they journeyed through the wilderness away from Egypt and towards the land of promise. The people apparently interpreted those commands to mean love those who agree with you or are like you in terms of national and religious identity and hate or despise those who do not. In (v.46-47) Jesus makes it clear to His audience (then and now) that it is no great act of love to love those who love you rather, to truly offer neighborly love, love those who curse, hate, use, persecute and despise you.

That’s what Jesus did!

Lately, I have been struggling with the question of how to handle my perceived enemies maybe you have been struggling similarly. To be honest, my eyes and ears inform me that I live in a world void of justice, sense, decency, morality – void of everything but hope in Jesus. The world seems to have declared the right to be wrong and the wrong to be right or, put another way – good to be evil and evil to be good. Trust me, I could list my grievances here and chances are that many of you would see it the same as I do but to do so would only fan the flame without arriving at an answer to my question: who is my (our) enemy?

The best way to get to the answer is to consider the question from Jesus’ perspective and to get that, I would direct your attention to the words He spoke just before He was persecuted and killed – “Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out. And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself.”” (John 12:31–32) Satan, is the one Jesus called “the ruler of this world.”

Satan is the great deceiver who darkens the minds of people like Judas which betrayed the Lord for worthless coin. Through His Son, God has “delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love.” (Colossians 1:13) As the apostle Paul made clear in (Ephesians 6:12): “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.” Taken with what we read in (Romans 5:10) “For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life;” we get an understanding that the enemy of Christ was and is the prince of darkness.

Unpacking (Romans 5:10) we see that when we were literally hateful adversaries of Jesus Christ and captive servants of Satan (John 8:43-44) Christ died for us (Rom. 5:8). Jesus died for people conducting themselves as His enemies. Why? Because He did not perceive people to be the enemy to be defeated rather, His war was against the enemy within us – the darkness of the deceiver and knowing that Jesus came to set the captive free should change the way we see those who are adversarial, hateful and worse to us.

The answer to a world full of people who seem to hate God, His word, His people and His church is to love them anyway – not to agree with their foibles or join them in those activities which oppose God; nor to compromise for the sake of our own peace or shrink back from our mission of preaching the gospel and discipling the believer. In order to be effective in evangelizing we must do what God did when He chose David to be king of Israel – “look upon the(ir) hearts.” (1 Sam. 16:7) It’s a common saying but we need to remember that every person is someone for whom Christ Jesus died and if we can see them for their need rather than for what they’ve done we have a chance of reaching them. Above all, we have a chance of sidestepping the bitterness which will no doubt fill our hearts if we let the iniquity abounding in the world today cause our hearts to grow cold (Matt. 24:12).

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Wake Up, Church! (Pt. 3) Return to Your First Works

The words of Jesus to the Ephesian church in (Rev. 2:4-5) needs to be heard by the church today:

“Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place—unless you repent.”

The Ephesians had let their orthodoxy and legalism get in the way of the mission of God – have we? Just as marriages fail because the fighting over whose right outweighs fighting to save the relationship; speaking truth without love (Eph. 4:15) can get in the way of the point of the truth we are trying to communicate. The problem did not come upon the Ephesians suddenly but was a systemic leftover of their sinful nature rising up in them. As Paul was developing that church he wrote in (Eph. 4:31-5:1): “Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another even as God in Christ has forgiven you…walk in love, as Christ also has loved us.”

Look again at (Romans 13:11-14), Paul said that “the night “was far spent meaning the time of Jesus’ absence from us as well as of Satan’s work in this world was nearly finished. Whatever the conflict in our lives, it is ALWAYS darkest before the dawn. Its true, the final push whether in the boxing ring, on the field of competition, on the track or in military conflict is always the hardest. The enemy of God will fight hardest when his day is at hand and the Lord’s return is on the horizon; we therefore must be ready for the fight and as Paul said, “cast off the works of darkness.” Some of those works may be the complacency, apathy, indifference or misplaced zeal which control some believers today. Our lust, our desire to have things our way is dulling our senses and making us less that ready in these days to rescue the perishing. Paul says. “let us walk properly, as in the day – not in strife and envy.”

In a similar message spoken to the Colossian church Paul wrote:

“Walk in wisdom toward those who are outside, redeeming the time….(Col. 4:5) adding in (Eph. 5:16) “because the days are evil.”

Redeem the time…how? Paul said it in (Phil. 2:5):

“Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus…”

As we wrap it up today, I want us to consider the passion of Christ.

Jesus Christ left heaven to dwell among men. He minimized His glory and hid it within the frame of human flesh. He humbly allowed men to handle Him, talk to Him, question Him. He allowed their mistreatment against Him – their accusations, their attempts to harm Him and their mischaracterizations of who He was and why He had come. He allowed them to beat Him, literally ripping the flesh from His body – He did not fight back and as a sheep led to the slaughter so He opened not His mouth (Isaiah 53:7). He allowed them to spit on His face and tear out His beard. He allowed them to nail Him to a cross and raise Him up in their hatred, scorn and unbelief. He allowed this because His passion for the will of His Father and for those who would ever believe in Him was greater that His concern and passion for His own life.

Remembering that when Jesus did these things, we were all enemies of God (Romans 5:8,10) whom God nevertheless loved so much as to sent His Son to die for, His example serves as the best model for us today. His passion for you and for me outweighed His passion and zeal for Himself – He put aside every privilege and right belonging to Him as Creator of everything for us.

As we move forward church – let His example, His mindset change and become yours.

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Wake up, Church! (Pt. 2) Remember Why You Are Here

In (Romans 13:11) the apostle Paul appeals urgently to believers to wake up – to snap out of our stupor; those words were meant to shock his audience who like many of us were preoccupied more with the here and now than with the eternal. If the final salvation of believers was perceived to be nearer them then than when at first they believed, how much closer is it today- and how much further from being prepared for it are we than they were? I don’t mean to say that a believer can be MORE prepared to meet Jesus than to believe in Him rather, what I do mean is that believers have grown slack in the thing that we are to be MOST about today! Did not Jesus Christ Himself give a command to His followers to “occupy,” literally to “do business till (He) comes“? That is not a reference to the retail business but to HIS business! Today, many of us seem much more preoccupied with the world around us than with the kingdom of God today.

What one eternal concern ARE WE to be preoccupied with in these days?

Paul identified it in (v.8 of Romans 13) “Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law.”  There is no caveat here. No – love them only if they agree with you or only if they love you back. Jesus said “love your neighbors” (Matt. 22:39), “love your enemies and those who spitefully use you” (Matt. 5:44) and “do good to those who hate you.” Today, division in our land is thicker than a 50oz T-bone steak; and love seems to be in short supply. In his prophetic warning concerning the last days, Jesus said, (Matthew 24:12) “And because lawlessness (or iniquity) will abound, the love of many will grow cold.” That is more than just a prophetic remark and indicator about the future, I believe its a warning to believers in every age and ESPECIALLY today! If we let our passions and zeal for what we love to get in front of our passion and zeal for God our love will not only grow cold toward our neighbor but by extension it will also grow cold toward God. Tell me that when God’s word clashes with your inclinations and passions that you DON’T shut out His words…

Right now, you may be thinking, “but, I DO love my neighbor!” And I would reply, “how do they know?”

Who have you been Christ to this week? Do they know that you love them from your attitude and words about current events or your angry posts on social media? My friends, the church is majoring on the temporal and frankly minoring or failing in the thing we were actually called to be passionate about – the souls of men! One hymn shouts, “Rescue the perishing!” In the process of doing that, Jude says, “And on some have compassion, making a distinction; but others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garment defiled by the flesh.” (Jude 22–23) Jesus said, (Matt. 28:18-20) “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

Believer, why are you here? To enjoy the freedom and rights you own as a citizen of the greatest country on earth or to share with others the only hope of freedom from bondage to sin and forgiveness with God through His Son Jesus Christ?! Even Paul said, that it was for the sake of the sinful man or woman that we remain here to reach (1 Cor. 5:9-10); otherwise there would be no reason for us as believers to continue in this life.

Many of us are so CONSUMED with temporal passions and zeal that we have forgotten the need of the souls among whom we live. Understanding that we live in a fallen world which will ALWAYS be HOSTILE towards God and recognizing that perhaps we have allowed passion for what we love to cloud our minds from the reason for our being here, we will go on in the last segment to address the question – what can we do about it?

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Wake up, Church! (Pt. 1) Recognize Where You Are

Driving through Hondo Texas you will see a sign declaring the area to be God’s country with a sign saying “This is God’s country, don’t drive through it like hell!” Did the author of the sign mean that just the Hondo area is God’s country? Did he have in mind the larger hill country area? Was he speaking of all Texas…of all America?

Many believers live as if this world is just that – God’s country, and while the Bible does say in (Psalm 24:1) “the earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof” the world is hostile towards God.  We sing a hymn in which we proclaim, “this is my Father’s world” and that all nature is singing His praise. At the same time, we read the words of Paul in (Romans 8:22) stating that “For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now.” The Lord Jesus, while being interviewed by Pilate (John 18:36) hours before He died in our place declared: “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here.” If this was God’s country would it groan – literally suffer and mourn? If this was God’s country, wouldn’t the Lord have been welcomed rather than rejected by the people of it?

God did not give up His ownership of the world He created. He still nourishes and cares for it and through a general grace still cares for every one of us, Christian or not. For now, this world is a land CREATED by God but occupied by the enemy of God and corrupted by mankind and his sinfulness. Why does it surprise and shock us to hear that the world is hostile to God? Why are we surprised at what we see daily happening in this world when we are told in God’s word to EXPECT it? Hear the words of Paul to young Timothy in (2 Tim. 3:1-5):

“But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!”

We are living in a fallen world occupied by Satan, “the prince of the power of the air” (Eph. 2:2). Paul called him “the god of this age” (2 Cor. 4:4); and everything God made and called good has been corrupted by him as well as mankind’s sin and willingness to yield to sinful desires. We live in the temporary territory of the enemy of God – it is his territory for now and that isn’t going to change no matter what we as believers do. In fact, this world will remain occupied by the enemy until Jesus returns at the end of the great tribulation to set up His millennial reign (Rev. 20:1-6) and finally as God the Father makes His abode among us (see Rev.21:3), Satan’s occupation of God’s creation then will be FOREVER ended!

Part of our problem today lies in what we love; the apostle John points that out in (1 John 2:15-17):

“Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.”

We love our rights. We love our freedom. We love our country. We love to have it our way. We love what we love and our passion and zeal is stirred when these things are threatened. All of these things are temporal (temporary, earthly) – they are not everlasting but we allow our love, passion and zeal for things like our rights, freedoms and affiliations to cloud our minds from eternal things. Is it wrong to love our country? No. But even as the Lord reminded His followers that a disciple is marked by loving family less than he or she loves God (Luke 14:26); likewise, the Christian – the citizen of heaven MUST prioritize God before everything else he or she may love.

To accomplish the will of God for us we need to redirect our zeal…the most important thing cannot be OUR anything – it must be the needs of others and in a territory occupied by the enemy of God and man, the need of the hour is rescue.

More on that in (Pt. 2)…

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Wake Up, Church! (Introduction)

“And do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts.” (Romans 13:11–14)

Just when you didn’t think that things could get much worse than they had been for nearly all of 2020, a new level of craziness surfaces only a few days after we welcomed the New Year. To be fair, everything is a matter of perspective. While Covid and the draconian way that leaders of cities, states and even our nation worked to take advantage and manipulate the situation to advance their own agendas we saw opportunities to develop new ways to minister, opportunities to work on relationships with our children and spouses and opportunities to serve those in need among us.

One of the “slogans” that came from the church as we developed a “stay home, stay safe” approach to continuing worship services on-line instead of in person was this one – “the church has left the building.” That statement really bothered me because I deeply believe that the church, that is, the living organism called the ecclesia, the fellowship of the saints and the body of Christ was NEVER meant to be constrained by four walls! In saying that, I am NOT saying that we SHOULD forsake the assembling of ourselves together (Hebrew 10:25) but I AM saying that nowhere in the scriptures are we called to stay within the four walls of our church building and wait for those outside to come to us. Nevertheless, many believers are and have been content for a long time to limit the activities that they associate with church to what happens on the INSIDE of a building. That should not be and I say along with Paul that it is “high time to awake out of [our] sleep!”

To be fair to the context of (Romans 13), (v.11) concludes Paul’s exhortation that believers obey the governing authorities but to me, the the notion that Christians need to “wake-up” is a general statement applicable to every aspect of Christian life. Time is short – the Lord’s return is much closer today that ever has been before and we need to be about His work with more intensity and a greater sense of urgency than ever before as well.

As it happens, these words were laid on my heart the day after the craziness in the capitol took place. Again, and to be fair, craziness seems to be an ongoing problem in our nation and among our leaders but what I saw that day blew me away.  Let me first say to you that I am a patriot! I love my country! My mind and my heart have been full of emotion over the last year as I have seen freedom, the flag, our rights as Americans, our shared faith etc., trampled upon. As I, like many of you watching from our living room TV sets saw the riots, fires and looting taking place in many cities around our county in the name of social justice over the previous year in addition to the mayhem in DC last week, my anger stirred and zeal for my nation was driving it. However, a few months back, after expressing some of my own frustrations on such things on social media and noting that bitterness was filling my heart, the Lord began to remind me of a few things that I feel we all need to remember today – one, we live in a fallen world and two, we need to redirect our zeal.

Over the next few days I hope you’ll bear with me as I unpack what the Lord laid on my heart concerning a godly approach to the days in which we live…

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Overcoming the Thorns

Recently, a question came up during a Bible study I was participating in related to what we as Christians are to do with regard to all that is happening around us. Of particular concern was our response to our state, local and federal leaders concerning the Corona virus as well as our position concerning the ongoing protests throughout our land.

The first thing that comes to my mind concerning the question is the fact that most, if not all of us are easily overtaken by the cares of this world. You might remember the words of the Lord as He taught the parable of the sower and the seed, when he referred to the seed which had come up (or taken root) among thorns, He said:

“Now these are the ones sown among thorns; they are the ones who hear the word, and the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things entering in choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.” (Mark 4:18–19)

Many things distract the follower of Christ from the course He has for them to follow. Our flesh craves and lusts for more, and more, and more of everything – of wealth, prestige, respect, notoriety, attention, the things other people have and our flesh fears many things as well. The cares of this world can drive us into a panic and in our struggle to make sense of a world that makes no sense: we worry, we lash out, we panic and we disregard the One who saved us. All our discontent, our desires to have more and all our fears end up accomplishing is a lack of productivity regarding the one thing every follower of Christ still walks on earth to accomplish – the making of disciples not of ourselves but of Jesus Christ.

A lot of people are so focused on the signs of the times these days, they see the fulfillment of prophecy in things happening today. They are focused on the first few lines of (Matthew 24) concerning “wars and rumors of wars,” “nations rising against nations,” “famines, pestilences and earthquakes in various (or diverse) places” failing to note that little remark in (v. 8) “All these are the BEGINNING of sorrows.” The fact is that the above has been the state of the world since the days that Christ walked among men; even the persecution of believers and abounding lawlessness of men has been with us since those days. Jesus continued, saying that because of lawlessness, “the love of many will grow cold” – how can that happen? How can Christian love grow cold? I suggest that the cold love Jesus mentions is evidence of people whose hearts of love and compassion have been choked by the cares of this world – people who are out of step with the Lord’s plan.

Christians are a people on mission and the mission is clear – preach the gospel!

“And He (Jesus) said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.” (Mark 16:15)

What? You’re not a pastor, minister or missionary – that is NOT a prerequisite for the mission before us! We all are to preach with our words AS WELL AS our lives and every Christ follower is tasked with the same mission: (Matthew 28:19) MAKE DISCIPLES! Note what is said in (Matthew 24:14):

“And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.”

Did Jesus mean to say that every person in every place on the planet will have to hear the gospel before He returns? No, He was actually pointing to the 144,000 Jews appointed in (Revelation 7:1-8) to be witnesses, carrying the message of the coming kingdom over which Jesus Christ will be King just before that kingdom would be established. But the verse also serves as reminder to the believer of what he or she ought to be about today – pointing the way to Christ!

The days in which we live have provided opportunity for us to either lash out against or love others. To those on whatever side who believe that ______ (fill in the blank with your choice) lives matter, we have an opportunity to show that, by His death and resurrection Jesus Christ declares that all lives, every life matters.

“By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” (Hebrews 10:10)

“For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God.” (Romans 6:10)

“Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.” (Hebrews 9:12)

Not only that but to those who are in fear of death concerning the virus (trust me, I understand that no one is in a hurry to die) we also have a message of hope. You see the fear of death is seated in a lack of faith:

“Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.” (Hebrews 2:14–15)

The bondage mentioned above is a bondage to fear and, in our day and time, the fear of death is couched in the notion that after death there is nothing.  But Jesus rose again after He was killed and He yet lives today as both the first-fruit of those who died (see 1 Corinthians 15:20) and proof to the fearful that there is in fact, life after death. Jesus said in (Luke 12:4-5):

“And I say to you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear Him who, after He has killed, has power to cast into hell; yes, I say to you, fear Him!”

Every one who has ever lived, is living or ever will live until the end of the age is an eternal soul (see Mark 9:47-48 and John 11:25-26) – faith makes the difference. Those who believe in Christ will live on in eternity with Him, those who do not believe, will live to experience the penalty of their own sins for eternity in hell.  The message to those in fear of death is plain – there is hope in Jesus Christ for every soul who trusts in Him.

What should we be doing in these days? What we should have been doing all along – reaching out to others in the name of Christ and to lead them to faith in Him by our witness.

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A Light in the Darkness – Sharing the Things Which Make Peace with God Possible

Our celebration concerning the resurrection of Christ, like the ancient Jewish celebration of Passover has certainly changed over the generations since Jesus rose from the grave.  In years past, the occasion has been marked by much tradition – sunrise services, special attire (bows, dresses and suits) along with the more secular aspects of the day – Easter egg hunts, Easter baskets full of chocolates and other seasonal candies as well as family get-togethers; but this year it will be different.

This year it will be like the first Passover in this one way: we will all be “staying safe and sheltering in place.” Just like the Israelites in Egyptian captivity, shut in their homes awaiting the deliverance of God from a plague He was using to set His people free (see Exodus 12:13), we will be shut in our homes awaiting deliverance from a plague as well. For those of us who have believed in the resurrected Lord, the passion week, including Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday will be a time to reflect on the salvation made available to us through the suffering, death and resurrection of our Savior – a time to consider the things which made for our peace.

This year, we will not be able to rely on our pastors and special “in house” church services to share the important message of this season with people who would otherwise not come to church. Even if some church doors ARE open, it is doubtful but that a few of the faithful will attend; the unbelieving, because of the pandemic will most likely stay home as ordered. Now it is up to you (as it really always has been) to share either from across the yard, over the phone, through an email or by a text message – the importance of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and that what He did, He did for your neighbor too (good or bad); now is the time to let your light shine in the darkness. Perhaps you could start by asking them this simple question:

“What does Easter mean to you?” After giving them time to respond, you might tell them that it made peace with God possible for you and then ask them, “Do you know the things that have been done on your behalf to make peace between you and God?”

You could then tell them what Isaiah the prophet said of Jesus over seven hundred years before Jesus did those things:

“The Lord God has given Me the tongue of the learned, That I should know how to speak a word in season to him who is weary. He awakens Me morning by morning, He awakens My ear to hear as the learned. The Lord God has opened My ear; and I was not rebellious, nor did I turn away. I gave My back to those who struck Me, and My cheeks to those who plucked out the beard; I did not hide My face from shame and spitting. “For the Lord God will help Me; therefore, I will not be disgraced; therefore, I have set My face like a flint, and I know that I will not be ashamed.” [Isa. 50:4-7]

Plucked beard, beaten back, spit covered face…this is only part of the price that was paid for your peace with God. Jesus Christ, riding into Jerusalem on a donkey, weeping as He went, was coming there to die on an instrument of torture…for you.  He wept not at the apparent futility of His sacrifice nor in fear of His imminent suffering and death. His tears fell with understanding – He knew what His people (the Israelites) would have to suffer in the future because of their present rejection of His gracious sacrifice (see Luke 19:43-44); likewise, He knows what you will have to suffer for your rejection as well.

Amid the noise of the crowd upon the celebration of the Passover, one Man riding on the foal of a donkey entered into Jerusalem with tears in His eyes – His face was set like flint; His destination: the cross of Golgotha there to fulfill His Father’s will in making peace possible to all who will allow Him to apply His blood to their lives. This is the passion of the Christ – He loved His Father so much as to die at His command for us:

“Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work.” (John 4:34)

“…He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” (Isaiah 53:5–6)

Point them to Him “… who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:2)

It was God’s plan and will that His Son should come and die in our place and for our sins to make redemption from God and peace with God possible for ALL who would believe in Jesus Christ.

Ask them, “Now that you know the things that made for your peace………will you receive it?”

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Am I My Brother’s Keeper?

Tucked away, in the middle of the narrative about Cain and Abel is a question that most people answer incorrectly – “Am I my brother’s keeper?”  First let me say, how brazen this reply was from a man with blood on his hands to answer the question of an all knowing and all-powerful God concerning Cain’s brother. There is much to learn from the passage in (Genesis 4:1-12) about how sin lies in wait with a desire to rule over us (Gen. 4:7) but that instead we should rule over it, however I’d like to draw down on the impertinent question in (v.9) “am I my brother’s keeper” because in light of the current state of the world both prior to and in the grips of the corona virus “pandemic,” it is a question to be addressed and answered by each of us.

I recently read a story on LinkedIn telling about of a couple of Marines who, as pilots were regularly tested on tactics, weapons systems etc. The two “senior pilots” were very knowledgeable and well-studied so as to avoid having their reputations tarnished in those testing situations. In advance of an upcoming weapons test, some younger and less experienced pilots entered into the squadron; the senior pilots did not know and did not care about how or whether the new guys were ready for it. When the “smoke” from the test cleared and they were graded it came as no surprise to the senior guys when they “aced” the test; the new guys however all failed and received a well deserved chewing out but it was when the tactics officer called the senior guys out that the real surprise came – they were chewed out for their irresponsible failure to train their younger “brothers.” This is what the author wrote about it, “We had a responsibility to actively seek out the less experienced pilots, teach them and guide them along the path to success.” It was his understanding from that chewing out by a tactics officer that he WAS his brother’s keeper.

How do you respond when those around you struggle, falter or fail? What’s more, what are you doing to help them succeed?

Are we our brother’ (or sister’s) keeper as Christians?

Perhaps we’re too competitive with each other to care about how our teammate on the field of life – be they a brother in the faith or a fellow human being – is making out, let alone to come alongside them and offer them a word of encouragement or a helping hand. It’s unfortunate, but sometimes it takes a global pandemic to wake people up and even then, many draw down on the one thing that matters most to them – their own survival. But what if more of us adapted the attitude of Jesus “who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.” (Philippians 2:6–8)

Jesus self-sacrificially laid everything down for the sake of others.

When Paul tells husbands to love their wives as Christ loved the church (see Ephesians 5:25) he was pointing to the self-sacrificial mind of Christ towards all mankind and showing us that esteeming others better than ourselves (Philippians 2:3) and looking out for the interests of others (Philippians 2:4) is a Biblical mandate for the follower of Christ.

Consider for a moment that the four men who went to great lengths to get their paralyzed friend in front of Jesus (Luke 5:17-20) were acting as their brother’s keeper. The (HB) word shâmar here translated keeper also means guard, protector and attendant – It conveys the idea that love for one another should drive us to look out for each other; love and concern drove those men to action for their brother’s sake.

Perhaps you don’t think the other guy is YOUR responsibility? Consider these passages:

While arguing for a faith that does, James wrote: “If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit?” (James 2:15-16)

In response to people seeking to know what “works worthy of repentance” looked like John the Baptist said: ““He who has two tunics, let him give to him who has none; and he who has food, let him do likewise.”” (Luke 3:11)

“By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoever has this world’s goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him? My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth.” (1 John 3:16–18)

Laying down our lives doesn’t always mean to physically die but often it means to lay aside our self-interests and selfishness for the sake of those in need (see also Acts 2:44-45, 4:32).

The prophet Isaiah wrote: “Is this not the fast that I have chosen: To loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, to let the oppressed go free, and that you break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and that you bring to your house the poor who are cast out; when you see the naked, that you cover him, and not hide yourself from your own flesh?” (Isaiah 58:6–7)

Jesus said, ““You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’” (Matthew 22:39)

Concerning whatever spiritual , physical or emotional burden or weight, Paul wrote: “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.” (Galatians 6:2)

“Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted.” (Galatians 6:1)

Again Paul wrote: “Yes, you yourselves know that these hands have provided for my necessities, and for those who were with me. I have shown you in every way, by laboring like this, that you must support the weak. And remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’” (Acts 20:34–35)

Are you your brother’s keeper? Like it or not – YES!

We live in a moment of crisis. People need supplies, people need hope, people need encouragement, people need support and most of all people NEED Jesus. There are people in our community working to meet those needs – first responders, doctors and nurses, truck drivers, people in various aspects of Christian ministry like Christ’s Kitchen in Victoria. In the days, weeks and perhaps even months that this crisis continues, pray and seek the Lord for ways that you can attend to, protect and guard your brother or sister in the faith as well as your fellow man. The difference you make may be eternal…

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Stay Sharp

“Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine.  Continue in them, for in doing this you will save (sozo, deliver from bondage) both yourself and those who hear you.” (1 Timothy 4:16)

I recently heard an Irish folk tale that goes something like this: Two lumberjacks – one older and proven; the other, young and with something to prove were taking their lunch break one day when the younger stepped up to the older and challenged him to a contest. The younger proposed that they compete to see which of them could fell more trees in a single day. The older lumberjack accepted the challenge.

The next morning at the sound of a whistle the two began hacking away…the younger relentlessly going at tree after tree; the older lumberjack on the other hand took a fifteen minute break after every tree he felled. At the end of the day the trees were tallied and the older woodcutter won. The younger, astonished at his defeat turned to his opponent and asked, “How did you knock down more trees than I did? I know that you took a break between each tree and I did not.” The older and wiser woodcutter responded, “What you don’t know is that during each break I spent the time sharpening my axe.”

In Christian ministry as in other works where our focus and priority is on those around us it often happens that we neglect ourselves. The Christian minister is often so concerned with discipling others that he neglects to take the time to prepare himself. Just as a dull axe won’t cut wood well, a Christian minister, missionary or witness will have little impact in the lives of others if he fails to take time to work on or sharpen himself.

My friends, let us take the time, everyday to prepare ourselves BEFORE we set out to teach, preach or reach out to others in Jesus name.

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