Go They Must

“And straightway they forsook their nets, and followed him.” (Mr 1:18 AV)

Today is both an exciting day, but also a sad day.  Today, my son and his wife are taking our grandchildren to the land of Brazil to serve the LORD as foreign missionaries.  It is a sad day because we will miss them terribly.  It is a glad day because the LORD has decided to use them for His service.  There will be remorse because a large portion of our lives will change.  But it is also exciting to consider all the adventures that await them as they seek to serve our great God.  I look forward in the very near future to the video calls as we hear what the LORD is accomplishing through them.  Churches will be started and souls saved in parts of the world that have no gospel witness.  How exciting.  When we read the passage above, we never consider a simple truth.  When the LORD called the twelve, they immediately left their occupation to serve the LORD.  They dropped their lives, left their families, and followed Christ without even so much as a few months lapse.  It was immediate.  For this to happen, there is something we need to consider.

For these twelve men to drop what they were doing and follow Christ had to require two things.  First, they had to have some knowledge of who Christ was and what his ministry might be like.  This most likely happened at the baptism of John. Perhaps they were there when the Spirit descended and the voice of God spoke from heaven.  Second, the Spirit had to have been dealing with their heart to prepare them for this calling.  Thoughts of inadequacy of purpose as they fished for food.  A feeling of bigger purpose if suffering persecution while collecting taxes.  An understanding that doctoring the flesh when it was going to die anyway was not nearly as high of a calling as doctoring the soul. Whatever the means, they were ready when the LORD called and they had to go away immediately.

But what of the families they left behind?  What of Zebedee?  He lost two sons to the ministry.  What of Mary?  She lost two sons to the ministry.  What of them?  As hard as it may be, there is no holding back the call of God.  One must go if called.  One cannot delay.  As soon as the LORD calls, one must drop those things in life that are a hinderance to that calling and go.  So, we will miss you terribly, Zack, Steph, Kaitlyn, Remi, and Chole.  But you have to go!  It is the LORD calling.  Drop the nets and go.  We are so humbled at the opportunity it has been to be a part of your lives, being one small piece of a grand divine plan to shape you for this moment.  God is good.  But go you must.  We will pray for you every day!  Count on it.  But go!

One Hour Minimum?

“And he cometh unto the disciples, and findeth them asleep, and saith unto Peter, What, could ye not watch with me one hour?” (Mt 26:40 AV)

The LORD is not asking them to watch for the sake of protecting him from harm.  The watching here is watching in prayer.  He invited these three men to the darkest hour of his life and asked them to pray with him until such a time they came for him.  All he asked for was for one hour of prayer.  Not so hard of a request, is it?

When was the last time you spent an entire unbroken hour in prayer?  Not to mention it was in the middle of the night.  They were tired.  They were weary.  Anxiety was running high.  Christ asks this question not as a means to excuse their slumber.  He simply asks because it was the one hour which He need their devotion the most.  This begs the same question.  When was the last time we spent an hour in prayer?

I am reading a book on famous men of Christendom from the last two hundred years.  Men who have shaped the very fabric of Christianity.  One practice seems to be common among most.  They would rise early, prior to their family getting up, and spend two to three hours in prayer and bible study.  They did this before family breakfast.  It was the first thing they did.  Two to three hours of prayer and bible study.  No wonder these men impacted the world.  Today, if we pray but for a few minutes, we think we have done a great deed.  One wonders what would happen to the world if God’s people were able to watch with the LORD for one hour a day.  It seems as though the one-hour time frame is the minimum expected from Christ.  One hour. One hour of communion with the LORD.  We are not too busy.  We just have too many things on our plate.  What, could we not watch but one hour?

The Will to be Broken

“And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder.” (Mt 21:44 AV)

On the face of it, this verse doesn’t seem all that encouraging.  But it is.  Being broken is not necessarily a bad thing.  In fact, it is a good thing.  As long as one chooses to be broken.  Being ground to powder, not so much.  I thank the LORD that He breaks me.  It is a hard experience, but a cleansing one for sure.  An experience that brings me to the core of who and what I truly am so that He can build me back up to what He desires me to be.  This experience removes all pretense and reveals what otherwise remains hidden.  This experience brings out the true reality of who and what we are.  This experience is repeated oft times in a person’s life.  The more he walks with God, the more he falls upon the Solid Rock of his salvation for a time of brokenness.  A holy time.  A wonderful experience.

There were times in my life when I was pushed to the limit.  There was the newspaper route delivery during the blizzard of 1997.  There was the second change of High Schools in three years.  There were the many challenges in ministry that drove me to my knees.  There was the death of loved ones year after year.  Then there was the task of dragging two dead deer three miles out of a wilderness preserve.  Or, on that same trip, becoming temporarily lost while having the charge of two young men.  These times and many more drove me to my limit.  But one particular time had driven me to the point of complete brokenness.  There was nothing I could do.  I was totally at the mercy of a gracious God.  It was this time that God broke me like never before.  I wouldn’t want to ever have to go through that again.  But I also wouldn’t trade it for the world.  The growth which the LORD was gracious to grant was the largest since the first few years of salvation.  It was beyond difficult.  I would not have survived had it not been for the LORD.

I would encourage all who claim the name of Christ to pray for such an experience.  It doesn’t stop at salvation.  You fell upon the mercy of God and it broke your pride and fear.  There are other things that need to be broken.  Fall upon Him while He is near.  The transformation is miraculous.  It is traumatic.  But it is wonderful.  Fall upon Him.  Allow Him to break your will.  Allow Him to remove all that needs pruning no matter how painful it might be.  On the flip side, He will transform you like you could never imagine.

The Integrity of Availability

“And about the eleventh hour he went out, and found others standing idle, and saith unto them, Why stand ye here all the day idle?  They say unto him, Because no man hath hired us. He saith unto them, Go ye also into the vineyard; and whatsoever is right, that shall ye receive.” (Mt 20:6,7 AV)

Just think how much integrity it took to stay in the market for almost an entire day looking for work until the last working hour of the day.  Most would assume there comes a time when time is money and waiting for work for an entire day is wasteful.  Not these laborers.  Those who were hired at the beginning of the day may have had integrity.  But we will never know because they were hired at the beginning of the day.  To make oneself available for hire up to the very last-minute takes integrity and an honorable work ethic.  To make oneself available for service no matter how much or little the opportunity would be is a person of character.  These men did not lack for character or initiative.  They lacked for opportunity.

It is often said this parable was the LORD’s way of describing rewards given to different times of a dispensation.  The early church had a wide open door.  The church prior to the rapture, not so much.  The point He is making is that God rewards willingness and initiative, not necessary results based on opportunity.  This is what those hired at the beginning of the day could not understand.  But we want to look at it from the perspective of the later day laborer.

Years ago, I caddied with my sons at a private club.  I got these boys up really early so that we were the first ones there.  More times than not, we were the last ones to be called.  They didn’t like if very much when I made them stay until it was obvious there were no more loops to be had.  When the vast majority of other caddies left, we were still there.  Sitting out in the caddy yard waiting for a member to show.  They didn’t understand that one has to pay their dues.  But even if we were not rewarded for our integrity and initiative, it was still the right thing to do.  The most profitable single loops we ever worked were those loops when everyone else went home.  We still got paid the same as those who went out early.  Sometimes, even more.

As we are confronted with a failing dispensation where it seems as though fewer and fewer truly come to Christ, the integrity of the saint will be tested.  Will he remain faithful even though opportunity wasn’t what it once was.  Will he still knock on doors?  Will he still teach a Sunday School class even though it is a fraction of what it used to be?  Will he still come to church?  Will he still tithe?  Will the church still seek ways to serve the LORD even though opportunity is becoming less and less?  It all boils down to character and integrity.

Faith In God's Ability Not Enough

“Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour.” (Mt 15:28 AV)

Sometimes our lack of faith is not in the ability of God, but rather, in the nature of God.  When the LORD rewarded this gentile woman for her faith, it was not her faith in the ability of Christ to heal her loved one.  She proved that by approaching and asking.  The context is Christ being sent unto the lost sheep of Israel and not the Gentiles.  Yet, she argued that even the dogs eat of the crumbs that fall from the Master’s table.  She was making an absolute statement of her faith in the mercy of God.  Surely, if she was willing to exercise faith in asking, she could have equal faith that God would show mercy.

The reason we have a problem with our faith in the nature of God is that we are still trying to prove that we deserve it our have in some way earned it.  But this is contrary to mercy and grace.  There is no way we can earn it or it wouldn’t be mercy and grace.  I knew of a man who suffered such a torture.  He was going through significant trials all at once.  One of those trials was trouble from the adversary.  In his mind, he believed he was doomed.  He believed that God wanted to destroy him for all that he has done in his life.  He was saved, walking with God, and serving God faithfully.  Yet, the past still haunted him.  He didn’t have a problem encouraging others in the mercy of God.  Surely God’s grace would extend to others.  But he had a problem believing God’s grace applied to him.  For salvation, absolutely.  But for the rest of his life, not so much.  It wasn’t until he cried out to the LORD and reasoning that if God’s grace applied to others, surely it applied to him, that God moved mountains for him.

There are two wrong reactions we can have towards the grace and mercy of God.  We can either presume upon it and make choices in life which we know are wrong, expected God to bail us out.  Or, we can presume that God is always angry with us and never see not ask for His grace.  Both are wrong.  Faith in His ability is not enough.  Faith in His nature must also be exercised.  Knowing that God’s eyes roam the earth in search of those to whom He can show Himself strong is the basis of faith in His nature.  If God is merciful and full of grace towards others, He will be towards you as well.

Public Declarations

“What I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in light: and what ye hear in the ear, that preach ye upon the housetops.” (Mt 10:27 AV)

When we think of someone making proclamation from a housetop, we are probably considering calling the men in the white coats for a house visit.  This would not be normal behavior.  This would be considered abnormal.  What the LORD is speaking of here would not be abnormal because of the cultural use of the housetops.  What we are challenges with here in this text is to become as declarative in our faith in Christ as we have been of other things.  Let me explain.

The housetops in this part of the world at that time were a normal place for a proclamation.  These rooftops were flat.  It was not out of the ordinary to have some sort of activity on the housetop.  It was a place for religious observance such as prayer and meditation.  It was used for entertaining guests.  There may even be a separate bedchamber for a visiting guest.  One of the activities that was quite normal was the declaration or proclamation of news.  Primarily, the calling of a congregation for a holiday feast.  The owners of the homes would ascend to their housetops at a designated time, blow a trumpet, and declare the beginning of a special event.  There were times when a special announcement was made from the housetop.  Perhaps the birth of a child or engagement of a young lady.  No matter the reason, proclamations from the housetops was common.

What the LORD is telling his disciples was to use a public and acceptable way to preach the gospel.  Sometimes we are too embarrassed to share the gospel with those around us, but not too embarrassed to support our favorite sports team.  We will proudly show off pictures of our children or grandchildren at the water cooler, but we will not share the image of Christ as found in the scriptures.  There are those who are comfortable preaching on a street corner, but they have little courage to engage someone in the normal course of life.  Engaging conversation in the normal course of life is far more effective in reaching the lost than making a fool of oneself, becoming a turn off to the public at large.  What Jesus is encouraging his disciples to do is be public of their faith, but in a way that the public will not ridicule.  The real challenge for us today is to be consistent.  To share our faith as we would anything else!  More so, as we see the lost dying without Christ.

What Is Your Fruit?

“Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.” (Mt 7:16-17 AV)

This passage is often used to justify the practice of discerning who is a believer and who is not.  However, this passage is about false prophets in the business of their prophesying, not the believer in his lifestyle.  It can be helpful to attempt to discern the genuineness of a profession of faith when considering an individual for membership or service.  Sometimes it is even necessary.  Using this passage as a means of judging one another was not the intent.  What Christ was teaching his disciples was the principle of following qualified leadership and one way we do that is to see what they are producing.

The Spirit wishes us to consider this passage from the prophet’s point of view.  In short, what are we producing?  What kind of disciples are we bringing forth?  Are they wholly following the LORD?  Do they care about what the Bible says?  Do they pray oft?  Are they reproducing themselves in the lives of others?  Do they last?  I am afraid in our rush to build bigger and better kingdom estates, we have neglected the fruit.  Are our churches just as riddled with sin as the world?  Do we see any distinction between those who attend church and those who do not?  Just because there are professions and the baptismal waters stir does not mean there are conversion.  When we begin to look at our own ministries, do we spend as much or more time on discipleship as we do winning the lost?  What are we leaving behind?  How much Bible do our converts know much less how many verses can they recite from memory?

Being a prophet of God is a great honor.  However, if the fruit we leave behind hasn’t truly made a difference, then we are not doing a service to the LORD Jesus.  We are much like the false prophets who love to be heard but do not wish to do the hard work of raising babes in Christ.  It is sad to see so many churches struggling today.  Not so much with numerical growth.  But a lack of true holiness.  We have the drums, but not the diligence.  We have to fellowships, but not the following.  We have the services, but not the sacrifice.  We have the happy times, but not the holiness.  Something is missing and it starts with the pulpits!