Rejection Now Means Acceptance Later

“Jesus saith unto them, Did ye never read in the scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner: this is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes?” (Mt 21:42 AV)

I know Jesus is referring to the gospel going forth to the rest of the world because Israel had rejected Him.  This was foretold in the Old Testament.  God never intended to save only Israel.  However, there was another, more practical thought that came to mind.  Many times, we talk to people who want nothing to do with God.  They simply do not care.  How foolish.  They will stand before their Creator and give an account of their lives.  God created us all to glorify Him and if we do not in this life, we are destined for torment in the next.  It is rather discouraging when door after door rejects the good news of God’s grace.  According to the verse above, we can have hope.  The rejection of most means the saving of some.  Because most reject, there are others whom we speak to who will not.  The fact we are sent even though the majority rejects means some will not.

Have you ever wondered how people in sales survive?  I would give up real quick.  In fact, that is exactly what happened.  It was a time in my life when I was trying to find myself.  I was out of work and answers an ad for sales personnel that could grasp a ‘revolutionary product’ that would change the world.  I sat in presentations.  I learned how the product worked.  They asked we make a contact list of 25 people whom we would contact to try to convince them they needed the product.  There were special incentives.  If our mark would give us so many names, we would discount the product.  I was so excited about it.  I understood how it was supposed to work.  From my limited knowledge, I thought this product would sell like hotcakes and I would be rich.  Not so.  An engineer, whom I tried to sell to, revealed this product would not only not work, but would destroy what it was connected to.  This device was designed to cycle a furnace on and off to save on utilities.  Common sense would have told you it would not work.  Oh, it would cycle alright.  It wouldn’t save any money.  After no after no, I quit.  So, as I said before, I admire those who can sell a product that most will decline.

Which brings me to my point.  The salesman does not have a promise that rejection simply means acceptance somewhere else.  We are ambassadors for Christ.  We are not salesmen.  We are not pushing a product.  We are not out for our own profit or benefit.  We are sent to share the good news of forgiveness and mercy in Christ.  The free gift of salvation is available to all.  The rebuke to Israel above is a great bit of news for the Gentile.  We do not wish Israel to be temporarily rejected.  We want them to accept their Messiah.  However, their rejection turned to our salvation.  The same is true on a micro level.  As we speak to others regarding God’s tenderness and benevolence found in the blood of Christ, most will say no thank you.  All that means is there is someone else out there who will say, “tell me more”.  So, the next time we get a ‘no’, remember all that means is somewhere out there, there is a ‘yes’.

Worship is the Missing Ingredient to Answered Prayer

“And, behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, [thou] Son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil…Then came she and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me.” (Mt 15:22, 25 AV)

There is an interesting detail here.  The woman spoken of here is not Jewish.  The initial rejection from Christ was based on that fact.  He states He was sent to the lost sheep of Israel first.  This did not prevent Him from Gentile ministry.  What this did do was to prioritize Jewish ministry.  When the Gentile woman cried out, she addresses Jesus as Lord.  But also framed her address in the kingship of the Messiah.  She cried after Him as a benevolent King.  However, when she approached, falling down at the feet of Jesus, her only address was a divine one.  Not that calling after Jesus as the Messiah was incorrect.  Rather, the absence of His kingly title while solely addressing Him as God was the missing key.  Worship, in the form of faith, was what Jesus rewarded.  Her faith was evident in her approach.  She called from a crowd.  But not until her faith was matured by falling at the feet of Jesus, was she truly worshipping the One from whom she needed intervention.

One wonders how much of our prayer life includes worship.  What I mean is, does our prayer life begin where the LORD’s prayer teaches us to begin?  The opening statement in the LORD’s prayer acknowledges who and what God is.  The opening statement agrees with God that God is God.  He rules in the affairs of men.  Our Father, which art in heaven, hollowed by Thy name.  To hollow the name of God means to set Him apart from all which He has created.  It means, in our minds and hearts, we set apart God as uniquely God.  Before we ask for His will on earth as it is in heaven, we set our hearts upon the truth that God is God and there is no one else.  Before we seek our daily needs; physical, emotional, and spiritual; we agree with God that God is God, and He can do all things.  We agree with Him that He is the creator of all things and, in His wisdom, determines what our needs are and how they will be met.  Before we seek divine mercy and the strength to forgive others, we come to the truth that in God alone, there is forgiveness.  It is our creator who has been offended.  He demands of His creation compliance to His will.  Perfect compliance.  If God is just one of many to whom we go for eternal forgiveness, we will never attain it.  Lastly, if we seek deliverance from temptation, and the places from which temptation comes, then believing with all our hearts that God is in heaven, that He alone is God, and that His will is certain, our petition is but vain.  Answered prayer comes by the way of worship.  Not merely in seeking and asking.

This mother had a voice!  It was loud enough to hear over a crowd.  She was desperate for her daughter.  No one could question her sincerity.  She did not allow the reality of her lineage to frustrate her in seeking relief.  She was humble.  She knew she had no right to an audience with the King of kings.  This mother’s concern was for her daughter.  That is all she cared about.  But her emotional state did not gain answered prayer.  Her loud and impudent request did not heal her daughter.  This mother’s sincerity did not make her daughter whole.  What worked?  When this mother broke through the crowd and fell at the feet of Jesus, she proved her faith in the divine benevolence of Jesus Christ.  It was her faith, which was her worship, that brought an answer to prayer.  We are told that we are to ask in faith, nothing wavering.  If we do, we will not receive anything from the LORD.  Believing God is capable and willing is the key to seeing God do what God wants desperately to do.  Believing is humiliating.  It takes a desperate and willing heart to depend on an outside person for the absolute needs of the soul.  This is what she did.  Her prayer turned efficacious because she worshipped.  Using titles wasn’t enough.  Sincerity was not enough.  Intention was not enough.  It all boiled down to worship, manifested by faith, that turned a deaf ear into a ‘yes’.

More Care Than You'll Ever Know

“Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows.” (Mt 10:29-31 AV)

A very well-known passage.  However, this morning the Spirit impressed upon me the simple truth of the promise, but also how hard it is to live by it.  When Jesus preached the sermon on the mount, He made a similar comparison.  He compared the disciples to the lilies of the field.  If the LORD adorned them with pedals and foliage, how much more will he clothe us?  In both passages, the love God has for His children is evident.  The thing is, when we suffer, we tend to forget that.

The promise above is not a promise that no harm whatsoever will come to those whom God loves.  This is contrary to how the LORD works.  For several reasons, He does not guarantee this.  First, because we have a free will that sometimes does harm to others, He cannot guarantee the liberty He has given everyone does not affect us.  Injustice is part of life.  We make victims of others and others make victims of us.  It is all part of living in a world where individuals have the power of choice.  Second, faith requires it to be tested in order to mature.  We may believe something, but until it comes under the influence of a crisis, it remains dead.  It remains idle.  Therefore, like the wilderness wanderings, we are placed in uncomfortable situations that require we trust God.  Thirdly, our life faces difficulty because of our own unwise choices.  We heap on ourselves poor circumstances when we refuse to follow God’s perfect law.  The promise from God above is not a promise to keep us from all harm.  Hence the fact the sparrow falls to the ground.  The suggestion is God’s hand of mercy and care will follow times of unfortunate experiences. 

God’s watch-care over us can never be in doubt.  His love is more than we can ever understand.  We fall into a trap when we think the love and watch-care of God translates into a perfect life with no troubles at all.  We are shocked when our lives take a turn we hadn’t anticipated.  We plan on the perfect life where all of our needs are met and we die in our sleep at the exact moment our spouse goes off into eternity.  What really spoke to my heart this morning was the reminder of God’s concern and love.  It doesn’t matter where we are in life, God has not forgotten us.  David, in the book of Psalms, raises that possibility.  But his expression of abandonment was more emotional than it was fact.  God was always there.  He will always be there.  No matter what happens in life, we must assume the truth of God’s love, regardless of how we feel at the moment.  If God can and does life one small sparrow from the ground and restores it to health, surely He cares for those who have a relationship with Him.  You are not insignificant.  You are not of no worth.  God loves you because He sent His Son to die for You.  His love does not cease at Calvary.  His love continues.  He is always there.  He is always watching.  He is always involved.  He has your six.  Don’t worry or fuss.  In the hand of God, it will all be good.

Easier Said Than Done

“Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?” (Mt 6:25 AV)

That is easier said than done.  Especially as these days progress.  The closer we get to the coming of the Savior, the harder it will be to have faith for the basic things of life.  As the world crashes toward anarchy, the more precious a loaf of bread might be.  With all their bragging, the world will end up starving their own.  Jesus is speaking to those who will consider Him as their Messiah.  The implication was lost on them.  Even though they may trust Jesus as their Messiah, the implication will be a time of hardship might follow. This was certainly true.  When Jesus rose again, the disciples knew exactly what Jesus meant above.  There would come times of hardship for those who chose to trust Christ.  And those times might be coming again.

Personal need and comfort are hard things to ignore.  When the stomach aches because it hasn’t had food, it is obvious.  When one is cold and wet, life takes on a whole new meaning.  Growing up in Boy Scouts, we learned what both of these things meant.  We camped in some pretty miserable conditions.  It was part of the scouting experience.  The worst were the winter camps.  There is simply no way to stay warm and dry.  It is near to impossible.  Surrounded by snow and ice, everything from outerwear to our socks was soaked.  Tried as we might, we simply could not get dry and warm.  We placed one set of clothes over the fire while wearing a second set.  That doesn’t dry clothes out quickly enough.  When it came to eating, we had to use the same fire for cooking that we were using to dry our clothes out.  Not an easy task.  Trying to clean up after a meal while sitting in a snowstorm is no easy task.  Suffice it to say, winter tent camping is not for the faint of heart.

So, when Jesus gives the challenge above, I know how hard that can be.  Been there, done that.  I shudder to think of what will happen to our churches if real persecution comes.  There were a high percentage of churches that closed simply because they could not agree to stay unified amid the hardship of COVID.  When the world descends upon our churches, persecutes the believer for their professed faith, and jails our preachers, where will the saint be?  Will they be more concerned about the food on the table than they are living for God?  There is a real possibility that the above challenge will fail.  May God give us the strength to trust Him no matter what!

The Right Way To Look

“For at the window of my house I looked through my casement, And beheld among the simple ones, I discerned among the youths, a young man void of understanding,” (Pr 7:6-7 AV)

At first glance, one might as why the writer looking out a window where he knows ladies of the evening might frequent.  One pillar of righteousness is to avoid places or situations where temptation is known to lurk.  In fact, the same writer above uses those very words.  Speaking of a similar situation, he writes, “Avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it, and pass away.” (Pr 4:15 AV) The best defense is an offense.  There is no cause given why the writer was looking out this particular window or if it was, in fact, a place frequented by illicit behavior.  The statement above is just that.  A statement.  What is important is the observation made.  Solomon did not notice the strange woman as much as he noticed the consequences of the young man who fell to her temptations.  In other words, we can observe sin in one of two ways.  We can see temptation as something to fall to for a mere moment of pleasure.  Or, as Solomon did above, look upon temptation as a trap.  A trap from which a substantial cost is exacted.

It is interesting what happens when one cuts sugar out of a diet.  I am trying to control my A1Cs by cutting back on sugar and carbohydrates.  Not a strict KETO diet.  Just a manageable one.  What happens to the body when refined sugar and bad carbs are reduced is quite interesting.  There are no more sugar highs and lows.  Thirst is more manageable.  Energy is more consistent and long lasting.  The mind improves.  Most of all, I noticed a loss of desire for the things that I cut out.  I am a huge brownie fan.  I love homemade brownies.  I used to drink a lot of coffee with creamer.  Now I drink it mostly black.  My wife is not on such a diet.  So, these things remain in the house.  I have to see them.  I have to look at them.  They are always around me.  How, one might ask, do you resist?  Easy.  When I look at those things I should not eat, there is a part of me that remembers how I felt when I did consume them.  A sick feeling washes over me.  I see those things as rushing energy, but resulting in a crash, a headache, or worse.  So, by looking upon them in a context of the full experience, the will to resist becomes easier.

Mind you, this is not permission to dabble into temptation for the goal of building resistance.  We must avoid places and situations that lend themselves to temptation.  That is Solomon’s first bit of advice.  Not able to avoid temptation, the saint must do the next best thing.  Muse on the consequences.  The luxury Solomon has is he can watch someone else fall to the temptation.  It doesn’t have to be him.  There is great wisdom here.  When tempted to fall away from God’s holy law, if we stopped for just a moment, and observed the consequences befallen on others, maybe we will make the right choice.  Solomon speaks from experience.  Having thousands of wives and concubines, he knows the temptation to chase skirts is not worth it.  He knows no matter how beautify a woman might be, there is only one whom God has chosen for you.  He knows, by experience, if you chase skirts, eventually you will be asked to make greater and greater compromises.  Solomon knows that going down the road of temptation never ends well.  There is a price to be paid and sometimes the price is greater than what one has in store.

Thanking God for Being God

“Rejoice in the LORD, ye righteous; and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness.” (Ps 97:12 AV)

Not our holiness.  His holiness.  We tend to think of holiness only in terms of moral perfection.  This is how Webster’s 1828 dictionary sees it. In reality, holiness is much more than that.  Holiness is the cumulative moral and natural attributes of God that make Him distinctly different from all that He has created.  Not just different.  But different in the sense of right, true, and righteous, etc.  In short, to give thanks at the remembrance of the holiness of God is to give thanks that God is who He is. He is infinitely so, and in His holiness, controls all things.  Giving thanks for God being God is a good thing.  When it all boils down to it, God being God is the truth upon which all faith rests.

There are a few things in life that are constant.  The north star will always point north.  A compass will always point north.  The sun will always rise in the east.  The moon’s phases will always be a twenty-eight-day cycle.  These absolutes are what we often cling to when lost or confused.  I am directionally challenged.  I can get turned around rather easily.  A compass is my best friend.  My soul-winning partner is striving to help me understand and remember direction.  I grew up with Lake Ontario to my north.  I moved from down south, where the Tennessee River was to my north and the Mississippi was to my west.  The Cumberland River was to my east.  Direction was no problem.  All I had to do was acclimate myself to the largest bodies of water and I was fine.  Now I live with Lake Michigan to my east.  One-hundred and eighty degrees to what I am used to.  It doesn’t help that our streets are laid out in a grid that is almost plum to the magnetic north.  Almost.  Relying on the sun is generally OK.  But it lowers into the southern hemisphere as we enter the winter months.  Was true east and west are not southeast and southwest.  Having an absolute that does not change and is not subject to anything in existence is totally reassuring.

We may not have all the answers, but God is God.  We may not know the future, but God will be God.  We may not have the strength for today, but God is God.  We may be confused or anxious, but God is still God.  The world may be falling apart, but God is God.  He always will be.  Our dreams may have come crashing down around us, but God remains the same.  Life is full of change.  Some of it welcomed.  Most if it not so much.  We do not like things to change.  The older we get, the more true that becomes.  Change stinks!  There is One who does not.  It is to Him we plead.  We plead for His holiness.  We remember and give thanks that God is God and God will always be God.  Nothing mankind or creation can or will do will ever change God.  God is holy!  God is true.  God is that unchanging anchor upon which we cast or weakened souls.  So, give thanks that God is God, God will always be God, and God loves and cares for His own!

Heeding, Not Hearing

“For he [is] our God; and we [are] the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. To day if ye will hear his voice, Harden not your heart, as in the provocation, [and] as [in] the day of temptation in the wilderness:” (Ps 95:7-8 AV)

I thought this was very interesting.  The phrase, “to day if ye will hear my voice” implies they frequently heard the voice of God.  In fact, it is suggested they heard the voice of God daily.  This was certainly so.  Under the leadership of Moses, the people of God never lacked for the voice of God.  No matter the subject, they heard the voice of God all the time.  The voice of God might have been a matter of the law.  As they went to Moses at times of dispute, they would hear from him or the seventy elders the legal solution to their dilemma.  The voice of God was evident when instructed to move from one place to another.  In short, there was no lack of the voice of God.  The problem was, the voice of God was not a matter of hearing.  It was a matter of heeding.

The voice of God is all around us.  The voice of God is within us.  From preaching to reading the word to observing the active hand of God, God is not silent.  He is an active God who desires His creation to know Him and walk with Him.  Faith and humility are the keys that unlock this precious experience.  The hardened heart above is the child of pride.  It wishes not to listen.  The prideful heart hears.  What it does not do is heed.  The child of God can hear the word of God, but heeding it is another matter altogether.  The problem is not deaf ears.  Although the word of God talks about the hardened heart producing the deaf ears, I think the deaf ears are a lack of heeding and not hearing.  Conviction comes by way of hearing.  Accountability comes by way of hearing.  God speaks often and God thunders.  To miss the voice of God takes a deliberate choice on our part.

The foundation for the surety of the voice of God is found in the first phrase.  God is the God of Israel.  Israel is the nation of God’s earth.  His pasture.  They are in His hand.  They are in the direct providence of God.  Because of that, the voice of God is seldom in short supply.  In a manner of speaking, the New Testament saint can apply the same principle.  God is our Father.  We are His children.  The church is the bride of Christ.  We are His spokesmen for the grace of God.  We are that which Jesus died for and is precious in His sight.  Jesus is the head of the church and by extension, we are in His hand.  In fact, the LORD tells us as a child of God; we are in the hand of God and no man can pluck us out.  For that very reason, the voice of God is often and obvious.  Not to belabor a point, but the supply of God’s voice is not our problem.  It is heeding God’s voice that has always been the problem.  Listening and doing.  Trusting and obeying.  Hearing and following.  Understanding and applying.  Failing to do the second while trying to do the first is a recipe for failure.  Again, the voice of God is not a matter of hearing.  It is a matter of heeding.