Month: January 2014

Categories
Christian Living

What Business Do You Have With Me?

In the strange exorcism I mentioned in my last post, we find that Jesus’ great compassion shows how He places much greater value on people than on property. But the men who owned the pigs in the encounter were furious that they lost their property, even though two men were radically healed. In fact the men of the town then came out and asked Jesus to leave their town.

The problem is that the men “preferred their property to the Savior.”

“It is no uncommon thing for men to love the world so much; to love property so much as to see no beauty in religion, and no excellence in the Savior; and, rather than part with their material belongings, to ask Jesus to withdraw from them” (Albert Barnes).

They wanted to have no business with Jesus.

Interestingly enough, at the beginning of this encounter, the demon “spokesman” asks – “What business do you have with me, Jesus?”
question mark die But isn’t this really the question everyone should be asking? In the demonic encounter we find that…
The business Jesus had with the demons was to get them out of the two men.
The business He had with the owners of the pigs was to give them spiritual healing, but they were not willing due to their focus on self.
The business He had with one of the healed men was to send him as a witness to others who lived nearby.

What a great question for us to ask as well – Jesus, What business do you have with me today?

What do you think He would answer and say?
And after you heard His answer, would you be ready to obey?

The gap between peoples’ beliefs & actions seems to be growing wider every day.
We know what to do and yet we don’t do it.
Others have decided to sit and not grow – they still “need milk” and are not yet ready for the “meat” of truths in God’s Word.

If we have committed to making Jesus the Master of our lives, then we will be in the process of asking Him what is the next step He wants us to take and we will be obedient to actually take it.

Too many people are not serving nor are planning to serve in their church; they are not living in joy; not serving God with their marriage; not making disciples of their children; not growing spiritually; they are choosing immorality over purity & obedience.

Maybe today we need to ask – What business do you have with me, Jesus?
And then listen… and obey.

Categories
Relationships

Valuing Property Over People

One of the strangest miracles we see in the Bible is the exorcism of demons which causes a herd of pigs to rush into the sea and drown. Other than the cursing of the fruitless fig tree, this is the only miracle of Jesus’ where we see property destroyed (even though it was the demons who actually caused the destruction).

Jesus’ miracles were almost all done in a way that directly benefited people. Even in this case, we find that it was the healing of two people that led to the destruction of the property. The miracles Jesus performed were done to show that He was God. Jesus said on a number of occasions something along the lines of: “If you don’t believe that I am God for any other reason, then believe in Me because of the signs & miracles I do.” Of course, Jesus could’ve shown His divine power and nature through miracles such as making water run uphill or by constantly levitating as he travelled or by causing the sun to rise in the west and set in the east. But instead, Jesus chose to show His divinity by blessing people – because of His great compassion.

To this “testimony of His compassion,” someone might argue – “But these pig farmers lost their property!” True, but what we learn from this loss is that God puts a very small value on temporary earthly property compared to the value of people.

house on water The problem is that the men in that city did not have the mind of Christ. They could not see that the healing of these two men was more important than the money their pigs would bring them. “The cure of two men… was of far more consequence than the amount of property destroyed. To restore a deranged man… would be an act for which property could not compensate and which could not be measured in value by earthly means.” We might not can relate to a herd of 2000 pigs, but what about a house? That’s property. Is the value of your house greater than the value of the spiritual health of another person?

Too often I find that I am like the men who lost their property – caring more for stuff than for people.
friends

What if you had lost that property?
Could you have celebrated that two of your neighbors were made well?
Do you love your neighbor as yourself?
Or would you have been angry at Jesus?

It is so easy for us to value property over people.
To value our stuff over their needs.

I’m so glad Jesus doesn’t.
Aren’t you?

Quote from Albert Barnes’ Notes on the New Testament

Categories
Relationships

Hypocrisy

One of my favorite quotes that I memorized as a teen was from a DC Talk album:
“The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today is Christians… who acknowledge Jesus with their lips… and walk out the door and deny Him by their lifestyle. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable.” –Brennan Manning

Even if an unbelieving world doesn’t believe in God, they know that the God we claim to follow tells us to consistently live out His teachings. And part of living out those teachings is loving others.

Instead of loving people and speaking the truth in love to them in hopes of them changing toward more God-honoring behaviors, many Christians instead choose to judgmentally condemn others. We are told that we can view peoples’ behaviors in order to judge how to win them to the Lord in love. But we are not told to be harshly condemning of people, pointing our fingers at them as if to say “shame, shame, shame.”
Pointing finger
Passages such as “Do not judge so that you will not be judged” aren’t about us accepting peoples’ ungodliness as OK, but rather they are about the issue that God’s problem with our judging is that we not only judge right from wrong, we then stand in judgmental condemnation.

Too often we condemn while we hold onto our own similarly ungodly behaviors. This is called hypocrisy.
Some examples:
We condemn murder, while we hold onto hate;
We condemn those who won’t forgive us, while we are still angry with others;
We condemn adultery, while we are filled with lustful thoughts;
We condemn liars, while we hold back the truth to benefit us;
We condemn greed, while we are not generous;
We condemn criminals, while we find little ways to break the law (such as speeding);
We condemn those who gossip, while we talk about them behind their backs.

We condemn ungodly behaviors, while refusing to see how ungodly we are in the same areas.

What we are doing is standing in judgmental condemnation of others, rather than trying to win people for Jesus through an attitude of loving reconciliation.

We are all sinners. We cannot stand before God on our merits. Therefore we are not to condemn others for being in the same boat as us. Instead we are to use our wisdom and compassion to judge only with an eye toward loving reconciliation… to help others get on track (or back on track) with God.

God says that He does not take pleasure in the death of an evil person, but that every person who is doing evil should turn toward Him and find life. Do we have the same attitude of compassion as God?

There will be a day of judgment. And God will be the One to preside. My hope is that I will have fulfilled my role of pointing more people to life in Him through loving reconciliation on that day.

Categories
Christian Living

Broken Things

Brokenness.
Have you ever felt broken? a broken, shattered lightbulb
Most of us have at some point in life.
The pain seems so strong at that point. All joy seems gone. We are broken-hearted and feel as if we will never be able to smile again.

Peter had promised his friend Jesus that he would stand by His side no matter what. Then Peter denied Christ three times. The rooster crowed. Peter looked over at Jesus. Jesus’ eyes caught Peter’s. Peter remembered what Jesus had said. Peter had failed. He ran out of the courtyard weeping in his brokenness.

You’ve likely been in a similar place.
In pain.
Weeping.
Broken.

But there is good news about finding ourselves in a state of brokenness…

“God uses broken things.
It takes broken soil to produce a crop,
broken clouds to produce rain,
broken grain to give bread, and
broken bread to give strength.
It is the broken Peter, weeping bitterly, who returns to greater power than ever.
God can often use our brokenness to reveal His power to us and show us our dependence on Him.”

Paul tells us:
“…to keep me from exalting myself, there was given me a thorn in the flesh…. I implored the Lord three times that it might leave me. And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults , with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.”

For when I am weak and broken… I find I can rely on God’s strength and become strong.

When we are dealing with “brokenness,” whether physically, emotionally, or spiritually, we are often more open to receive healing from God. This is due to the fact that at this point in life we become more ready to cry out to God in the midst of the brokenness. God often uses the brokenness of our spirit to bring us to a spiritual healing like he did in both Peter’s & Paul’s cases.

Categories
Relationships

Obtaining Real Satisfaction

From my last post about filling our lives with Christ to find satisfaction, two questions were posed: What is “real satisfaction”? and How do you “fill your life with Jesus”?

The answer I shared was that the ever-increasing number of dissatisfied and depressed people in our nation is an indication that too many people are putting their hopes for satisfaction in the wrong place. So reading devotions, studying the Bible, getting involved in a church, listening to uplifting Christian music – all of these help us to fill our lives with Christ.

Two other quotes from Matt Chandler’s ‘Creature of the Word’ also spoke to this issue. Both quotes have to do with the satisfaction we try to gain through relationships and connectivity to others.

#1 – “We simply ask too much of our relationships. Women, you’ll never find a man who completes you. Regardless of what the TV shows and movies promise you, no one can fix what’s broken in your heart…. No man is enough. You need a Savior.” And the same goes for men – there is no woman out there that is enough. You need a Savior. We can so easily believe the lies of Hollywood…that there is some Mr. or Ms. Right out that there that will meet our every need. Perhaps that’s why Hollywood is filled with so many failed relationships – these actors believing the lies of their own TV shows and movies. When we believe these lies, we place too much stock in the belief that the other person should bring us all the happiness we need. Only Jesus can bring lasting joy. Once we have Him as our foundation, then we will develop a proper understanding of the roles of our other relationships – to supplement the lasting joy that He brings.

#2 – “Connectivity does not equate to community. Being able to make quick connections with people doesn’t automatically require any depth to the relationship…. So although we are more connected than we have ever been, we also feel more alone and unknown than at any other time in human history. We relate without relationships, all together but all alone. Thus, without the gospel forming community, We are doomed to connectivity and aloneness in the midst of crowds. Only the gospel forms deep community.” It is so easy to see the truth of these statements from the social media explosion that has taken place. We quickly find that connectivity does not equal community. The need for a Savior and the relationship transformations that He provides within His church – the forming of true, deep friendships with unity and interdependence – are essential for our total well-being.

So how else would you answer the two questions of:
1. What is “real satisfaction”? &
2. How do you “fill your life with Jesus”?