Exodus Notes (1)

 Calling

“He went out the next day, and behold, two Hebrews were fighting with each other; and he said to the offender, ‘Why are you striking your companion?’

“But he said, ‘Who made you a prince or a judge over us? Are you intending to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?’ Then Moses was afraid and said, ‘Surely the matter has become known.’” (Exodus 2:13 – 14). 

On the first day, Moses saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew and killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. On the second day Moses saw a Hebrew beating a Hebrew, and when he intervened was not only rebuked, but learned that his deed of the previous day was known. 

When Pharaoh learned of Moses killing the Egyptian, Pharaoh in turn tried to kill Moses and Moses fled Egypt for the land of Midian. As a friend of mine says, “This is a fine kettle of fish.”

What was Moses thinking? 

We don’t have to guess at the answer to this question, for Stephen gives us insight in Moses’s thinking in Acts 7:20 – 29. Here we see that Moses was educated in all the learning of the Egyptians, that he was “a man of power in words and deeds.” We learn that when Moses was about 40 years old that he decided to visit his brethren, the sons of Israel. Then we learn what was in his mind when he defended the Hebrew and killed the Egyptian, “He supposed that his brethren understood that God was granting them deliverance through him, but they did not understand” (Acts 7:25).

God had spoken to Moses, someway, somehow Moses had a sense of calling implanted in him by God. Sometimes, perhaps most of the time, when God gives us a sense of destiny and calling, we don’t know what to do with it, but since we feel and think we need to do something, we do the wrong thing. We think that doing something is better than doing nothing, and because our actions are often based on the assumption that others will somehow automatically realize our calling, what we do is often wrong. 

Joseph had a similar experience when he shared his dreams with his father and brothers. Apparently he had no inkling that they would be offended by his hubris, a hubris which would lead to being sold into Egypt, but which would also be used by God for His glory and the blessing of his father and brothers. Moses and Joseph both had to experience the work of the Potter before being placed in Divine service. 

In modern times this reminds me of Winston Churchill, writing to his friend Murland Evans:

“Great upheavals, terrible struggles, wars such as one cannot imagine; and I tell you London will be in danger – London will be attacked and I shall be very prominent in the defense of London…I tell you I shall be in command of the defenses of London and I shall save London and England from disaster.”

Churchill wrote this in 1891, when he was sixteen years old. As with Joseph and as with Moses, Churchill would experience what has come to be called his Wilderness Years, when he was even banned from the BBC. The King and Government only turned to Churchill when there was no one else to turn to, they did not do it willingly. Jacob and Joseph’s brothers did not come to Egypt (in terms of the process) willingly, Israel did not follow Moses out of Egypt and through the Wilderness willingly. We do not seem to be a willing People, by and large. 

Paul wrote, “For if I preach the Gospel, I have nothing to boast of, for I am under compulsion; for woe is me if I do not preach the Gospel” (1 Corinthians 9:16). 

“The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:28). 

Joseph’s brothers did not recognize him, Moses’s brothers did not recognize him, Paul’s Jewish brethren rejected him, and Jesus came unto His own, and His own rejected Him. Is it possible we still don’t recognize Him? 

Our Father and Lord Jesus have a purpose for our lives, we are not accidents looking for a place to happen. This purpose has many facets, all centered in our Lord Jesus, for we are to be conformed to His image (Romans 8:29). God’s purposes are unfolding, and as a friend of mine likes to say, “What we call the process, God calls the goal.” 

Joseph, Moses, Paul, they did not have callings as much as they were the captives of callings. As another friend says, “You never own a farm, the farm owns you.” This is why Paul wrote, “Woe is me if I don’t preach the Gospel.” 

Moses would learn, as Paul did, that Christ’s strength is made perfect in weakness. Moses would learn that he could not fulfill God’s destiny by his own ability and power. Joseph’s dreams would be tested in prison, so that it would be a different Joseph exalted to Pharaoh's right hand, a Joseph who had experienced death and resurrection. 

How is our Father working out His purpose and calling in my life today?

In your life?

In the life of our congregations? 

Real I. D.

 

In a few months Real I. D. takes effect in the United States. To fly on a commercial plane or to enter a federal facility we will need either a state – issued Real I. D. drivers license, or a passport. 

Since my driver’s license doesn’t expire for a few years, and since I don’t want to go through the process of getting an eye exam and having it forwarded to the DMV right now, I will carry my passport with me to comply with Real I. D. requirements. 

Now you may ask, “Why carry your passport? Won’t it be cumbersome to carry the little booklet?”

I won’t be carrying the passport book. When I renewed my passport, I also obtained a passport card which fits nicely into my wallet, it is the same size as my driver’s license.

When Real I. D. takes effect, there are going to be some surprised people who try to board flights and are refused entry. Some may show their traditional driver’s license and argue that it should be enough to allow them on a plane or into a federal facility, but they will be turned away. Being a verified Virginian (as close to heaven as that is), an Iowan, an Ohioan, or even a Texan will not be enough; we must be verified citizens of the United States of America. This is going to be hard for Texans to swallow but I think they’ll work through it. 

As a boy reading history, I marveled at the short-sightedness of the Greek city states, refusing to work together to oppose foreign aggression – they would rather fight each other than the Persians. I saw the same dynamic as I read the history of Scotland, the clans would rather slaughter and betray one another than stand against English invaders. In fact, clans would often align themselves with the English in order to achieve their own ends, which often meant revenge on other clans. There would be no Real I. D. for the Greeks or Scots!

About the only dumber thing I have seen than the Scots and Greeks are the Christians. 

Jesus prays that we will be one as the Trinity is one (see John 17) and we don’t care, not really. We teach our people to be Congregationalists or Baptists or Pentecostals or Roman Catholics or Lutherans or Orthodox or Nondenominational (whatever that is), and we justify this in any number of ways for any number of reasons.

We are not honest enough to say, “We’ve messed this up. Jesus help us.” 

Nope, we’d rather let the Persians or English tear us and our people apart – in fact, we’ll even align ourselves with those opposed to God’s Kingdom and justify our actions than embrace the prayer and call of Jesus for unity in Him.

This is stupid, and it is rebellious. After all, Jesus purchased us with His blood, and we are no longer our own. He did not purchase us to be Presbyterian or Methodist or Brethren or Conservative or Liberal or Evangelical; He purchased us to belong to Him and in belonging to Him, also belonging to one another.  

Won’t we be surprised when Jesus asks us for our Real I. D.?

Philippians Notes (1)

Only Christ, Always Christ

“I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but filth so that I may gain Christ” (Philippians 3:8). 

When I walk into Philippians I come home. Yes, I am home in other dwellings in Scripture for sure, and no, I do not have a favorite – I love all the wings of the Palace, though I wear some shoes more often and more comfortably than others. As with geography and topography, I may find myself by the seashore one moment, and in the Himalayas the next. Thankfully, in the Holy Spirit we (usually) do not need to acclimate to the altitude, but we often do have to catch our breath. 

I see and hear the beauty of Philippians, allowing it to wash over me, refresh me, challenge me, and above all, reveal Jesus Christ to me. 

What a foundation we have, that we can trust Jesus to finish the work He has stared within us, both as individuals and as His People; that He will complete His testimony in us to the world – let us not judge by outward appearances, Jesus is the Author and Finisher. (Phil. 1:6).

It is God who is working within us to accomplish His will, and as we respond to Him we know the joy of koinonia (communion, fellowship, shared Life) with Him (Phil. 2:12–13). 

What an assurance to know that when the time comes to leave this earthly vessel, that we will be with our Lord Jesus (Phil. 1:23; 2 Cor. 5:1–8). 

Then I consider that all of this is because of Christ Jesus loving us, coming to us, living for us, dying for us, rising for us, and drawing us into His family and kingdom (Phil. 2:5 – 11). This is all about not what we have done or what we do, but rather what Jesus Christ has done and what He is doing. Whatever we do, which is important – and let’s not mistake how critical our obedience is, we do because of His redemption and His life within us.

I think of ballroom dancing, we dance with Jesus, He is always in the lead and we learn to respond to Him as we move around the ballroom of life. When we try to backlead we have problems. 

Consider also, that while Paul is in prison he is declaring that Roman authority is not the final word, Rome is not the final name, but rather Jesus Christ is the final Word and ultimate Name (Phil. 2:10–11).

We are on a pilgrimage, a mountain climbing expedition, which calls us into and above the clouds, which rises upward, always upward (Phil. 3:12 – 14; 2 Cor. 3:17-18; Proverbs 4:18). We are citizens of heaven (Phil. 3:20; 1 Peter 1:1; 2:11) and the higher we climb the more we realize our heavenly citizenship, for our hearts draw closer to our true Home, and we more and more realize our true identity in Jesus Christ. 

So much, so much, to contemplate, to enjoy, to challenge us, to encourage us to live for others. 

A moment comes, a season comes, when we realize that “whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ” (Phil. 3:7).

And then we see that all things are rubbish so that “we may gain Christ” (Phil. 3:8). 

That we may gain Christ. All other things mean nothing, less than nothing. The one gain that matters, the one possession that matters, is Christ Jesus, simply Christ Jesus. We learn to only seek Christ and to always seek Christ. 

Did you know that Paul was in an expansive place when he wrote Philippians? He was in a place greater and more spacious than Versailles, Buckingham Palace, and Biltmore put together.  

You ask, “How can this be? Paul was in a Roman prison. Have you lost your mind?”

No, I have not lost my mind, I have found it. Have you not yet learned that in Christ the inside is greater than the outside? 

Paul was before time began with the Son before the Incarnation (Phil. 2:6), he was with the Father and Christ as the present age concludes  (2:10–11). He wrote while experiencing wave after wave of joy in Jesus Christ: 1:18; 2:17-18; 4:4, 10–13). His focus throughout his letter is not on himself, but on Christ and the welfare of the Philippians. 

I imagine that the Philippians made the ironic connection between the joy Paul expresses, the joy he desired for them, and their first meeting Paul (Acts 16). After all, when Paul and Silas were beaten and thrown in prison in Philippi, what did they do? How did they respond? 

They prayed and sang hymns of praise to God! (Acts 16:25). Once again, the inside was bigger than the outside! Paul rejoiced in prison in Philippi, and he hasn’t changed, he is now rejoicing in prison in Rome. 

“And the prisoners were listening to them” (Acts 16:25).

Well dear friends, someone is always listening to us.  What are they hearing? 

Let us hope they are hearing one song, one theme, one message.

“That I may gain Christ, and that you may gain Him too.”

Pondering Proverbs 22:1

 Pondering Proverbs – 22:1

“A good name is to be more desired than great wealth, favor is better than silver and gold” (Proverbs 22:1).

When we read Scripture Christologically, that is, when we read it looking for Jesus and allowing Jesus to reveal Himself to us, we never know what we might find. 

As we think about Proverbs 22:1, let’s also consider these two verses:

“There is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).  

“For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:9–11). 

While we certainly do want to have reputable names that glorify God, the Name above all names that we should desire is the Name of Jesus. His Name is the best name of all, better than great wealth, and the favor we find in Jesus is far far better than silver and gold. 

Where our treasure is, there our hearts will also be. 

James Notes (2)

 The Third Rail

When I was a lad living in the D.C. area, I loved riding the streetcars. There was something about the swaying back and forth, the creaking, and watching the overhead electrical connections spark again and again. There was no belching diesel smoke as with transit buses, no sudden starts and stops. Because the streetcars received power from an overhead grid, you could safely walk across (and on) their tracks in the street without fear of electrocution. 

Not so with subways which derive their electrical power from a third rail on the ground, adjacent to the two track rails. To touch the third rail of a subway line means either severe electrical burns or death. Why would anyone, in their right mind, want to touch a third rail? 

Have you learned to recognize third rails in life, and having recognized them, have you learned to avoid them? 

James writes about a third rail in James 1:19–20:

“This you know, my beloved brethren. But everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger; for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God.”

Many years ago, as I was pondering this passage, I was struck to the core by the realization that the anger of Bob Withers does not achieve the righteousness of God. As the Holy Spirit drove a convicting dagger into my heart, I took a pen and wrote above the word “man,” Bob. From that time on, when I read this passage, I read, “For the anger of Bob does not achieve the righteousness of God.” I realized that anger is a third rail, a rail of destruction and death, not only for me but for those around me. 

When we touch the third rail of anger, we conduct a destructive charge to those touching us. This is not just about us, it is about others. 

It seems to me that our society, and much of the professing church, operates on anxiety and anger. We are driven by anxiety, manipulated by anxiety, and intoxicated with anger. Rather than being repelled by the third rail of anger, we seem to be attracted to it. 

I know that many of us read a chapter of Proverbs a day, and yet I wonder if somehow we gloss over its many warnings about anger. How can this be? Of course this is a danger we all face, myself very much included. It reminds me of a typical Sunday morning after preaching, when greeting people after the service there are two kinds of comments a preacher often receives, one is, “Thanks Bob, that challenged me, it gave me something to think about.” The other is, “Thanks Bob, people need to hear that.” What the latter might as well say is, “The other guy really needs to hear that.”

Well, again, we all face that danger. 

“Do not associate with a man given to anger; or go with a hot-tempered man, or you will learn his ways and find a snare for yourself” (Proverbs 22:24–25). Do we really think we can imbibe with immunity so-called news outlets, or so-called Christian movements, or political and social movements, that are energized by anger and vitriol?  This has been a mystery to me for decades, yes, decades. Again, I have been deeply convicted of this in my own life, I am looking in the mirror.

Jesus says that the peacemakers are blessed, that they are the sons of God, not those who are on a perpetual rant. How do we miss this?

James returns to this theme in Chapter 3, where we read, “But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy. And the seed whose fruit is righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace” (James 3:17–18). 

Many times I have been convicted of my anger by 2 Timothy 2:24–25, “The Lord’s bond-servant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged, with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth.”  

Even though for many years I have been conscious of my anger not achieving the righteousness of God, I still have occasions when I touch the third rail. One difference between now and years ago is that now I fear the third rail, I fear my anger. I know I am not drinking from the cup of the Lord when I drink anger. Another difference is that I am quick to repent and ask forgiveness and apologize – the sooner the better because the longer I wait the worse I feel and the more likely the wounds will fester. This is a matter of obedience to Jesus and a matter of putting others before myself. It is a matter of survival with me – there is absolutely no merit to it.

Sin is stupid, and anger is sin (yes, yes, there is a godly anger but we aren’t talking about that exceptional condition, which certainly needs to be under the Lordship of Jesus – let’s not justify our behavior and attitudes). 

If you’ve ever had food poisoning, that is the way I feel when I have been angry; the difference is that food poisoning only hurts me, but my anger hurts both me and others and pollutes my relationship with Jesus (and my testimony!). 

How can professing Christians align themselves with the poison of anger, vitriol, sarcasm, and violence? How can men and women who are supposed to be Christian leaders lead their people into such poisonous pastures? To some degree I understand the fears that other leaders have in speaking out against such practices, for they need to eat and pay their bills; however, our collective failure of nerve is a collective shame and an indictment on the professing church. 

As individual disciples of Jesus we can say “No” to Satan and “Yes” to Jesus. We can say “No” to the demons of anger and “Yes” to the Lamb, the Prince of Peace. 

We can refuse to touch the third rail, and when we do touch it, we can run to Jesus in repentance and seek forgiveness and reconciliation with others. 

The streetcars of my youth drew their energy from above, subways draw their energy from below. It may seem like a mundane analogy, but maybe the visual will help us. 

Isn’t there enough hell on earth without us adding to it? 

Aren’t we called to be the Peace and Presence of God to our generation?

“Each will be like a refuge from the wind, and a shelter from the storm, like streams of water in a dry place, like the shade of a huge rock in a parched land” (Isaiah 32:2). 

Let’s watch those third rails!

END NOTE: It puzzles me that so many brothers and sisters think they only have the options of earth, disciples of Jesus always have the choice of following Jesus, for we are citizens of heaven (Philippians 3:20). Is it really all that terrible if we stand alone with Jesus, even if no one else stands with us? Jesus never calls us to choose the lesser of evils, that would be like a Dad consenting to his daughter marrying a criminal convicted of ten hideous crimes instead of a criminal convicted of twenty hideous crimes.

Once again, Jesus never calls us to choose the lesser of two evils, He calls us to choose Him. His Way is the Way of the Prince of Peace, the Way of the Lamb. 

James Notes (1)

Consider It All Joy!

“Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing” (James 1:2–4).

I learned this passage many years ago,  and I have recited it to others and have been encouraged when others have recited it to me, for it is our Father’s promise that not only is no sorrow or trial in life wasted, but that He will use them to transform us into the image of Jesus (Romans 8:29; Hebrews 2:10–11).

This is the Way of Jesus, for in Hebrews 5:8–9 we read, “Although He [Jesus] was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered. And having been made perfect, He became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation.” 

When James says that we are to “count it all joy,” he means that this is the way we are to view trials, this is how we are to respond. We offer our trials and temptations to our Father, trusting Him to be with us and work in us and to mature us in in our Lord Jesus. 

Therefore, our first response to trial is obedience, and that obedience is in our initial response, and that initial response is a joyful recognition that God is working in us. Our natural response is to want the situation changed, but our obedient response is to be joy and a willingness for God to change us. As our Father changes us into the image of Jesus, the situation may or may not be changed, we must trust our heavenly Father in these things. 

This joy is sacrificial. That is, it makes no sense to be joyful in trials, at least to our natural thinking. Nevertheless, we “offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips giving thanks to His name” (Hebrews 13:15). 

Peter writes that we “greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, we have been distressed by various trials” (1 Peter 1:6). 

Counting our trials as “joy” is an act of the will, it is offering ourselves to God as living sacrifices (Romans 12:1–2). This is not a denial of the reality of trials and challenges, but rather a declaration that God is greater than what we are facing and that He will work His transformational purpose within us for His glory. 

But note that we must “let endurance have its perfect result.” Again we have an act of the will, for we must submit to God’s work of endurance within us, we submit ourselves to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Do we believe that God is the Potter and we are the clay? If so, then let us trust our all-wise heavenly Potter to form us into the image of His Firstborn Son. 

When we take control then we mar the work of the Potter, and we will likely be given another opportunity for submission and learning and growth…let us hope so. Let us learn not to waste the challenges that our Father allows into our lives. 

As I heard long ago, “God fixes a fix to fix you, but if you fix the fix that God fixed to fix you, then God has to make another fix to fix you.” 

This is one pithy saying that actually has some truth to it. 

Jacob spent much of his life conniving to get his way, and conniving to escape from things he had done. He avoided permanent and transformational change until he was brought to the end of his own strength in wrestling with God (Genesis 32:24–32). The sooner we learn to submit to the working of our Father, to trust Him, and to consider trials and challenges "joy,” the better for us and for those around us. The sooner we can be the blessings that God has called us to be.

In one sense we may never know why certain things transpire in our lives, but in another sense we can always know that, whatever we are experiencing, our Father desires to reveal more of Himself to us than we have ever seen before. We know that our Lord Jesus wants us to have a deeper friendship with Him, and a greater experience in the Holy Spirit. 

O dear friends, this life is important for sure, it is to have eternal meaning and significance. We are not accidents looking for a place to happen, but women and men and young people made in the image of God, an image restored in Jesus Christ. Let us learn to see as our Father sees, and to trust His incredible love for us. In doing so, we can consider it all joy when we face challenges, and we can expectantly look for the appearing of our Lord Jesus in the fires of trial and uncertainty – for He is always certain, and His love is always sure. 

Let us have a joyful day in Jesus!

Mark Notes (5)

Come and Die – A Call of Freedom, An Invitation to Destiny

Mark 8:34 – 38

I was sitting on the concrete platform that was the base of our flagpole at Western High School in Washington, D.C., reading my pocket New Testament and Psalms. It was spring and my life was changing, I was coming to know Jesus. Most family and friends didn’t know what to think. After all, during the summer of 1965, after somehow completing the 9th grade, I ran away from home in Maryland to New York City. Now here I was, less than a year later, reading the Bible and telling others about Jesus. 

My Dad, with whom I went to live after my New York excursion, didn’t know what to think. My Mom, in Maryland, didn’t know what to think but probably had the sense to know that reading the Bible was better than reading the train schedule from D.C. to N.Y.C. My great-great-Aunt Martha, who loved me dearly didn’t know what to think but did say, “You’ll get over this.” This was one of the few times she was wrong. 

My teachers didn’t know what to think, but likely thought that I was better off reading the Bible than disrupting classes, and indeed the entire school. As a result of my participating in a protest movement, the vice-principle of boys once called my father at work and said, “Mr. Withers, your son is disrupting the entire school.” (A notable but unlikely feat, even for me). To which my erudite father replied, “Not my boy. You can go to hell,” and hung up the phone.

As I was reading my New Testament at the base of the flagpole, Frank, one of my best friends, came up to me and knocked the New Testament from my hands onto the ground while uttering words of disgust at the direction my life had taken. I don’t recall what he said, nor did I ever discover the underlying reason for his anger. I calmly retrieved the Book as he stormed away and continued reading. 

I don’t recall what I was reading at the time, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it was Mark 8:34–38, for that passage was being burned into my soul during those early months in 1966. I can still see the red letters of that New Testament, I can see the words of Jesus, I can hear them, I can them then and I can hear them now. That’s the thing about the Voice of Jesus, we hear Him now, we hear Him speaking to us from times past, and we hear Him calling us from the future, from eternity. His Voice surrounds us. 

Now if you are relatively young, what I’ve just written may not mean much to you, but I am almost 75 years old and they are a great assurance to me, for I am closer to the finish line today than I was yesterday. It is 5:00 A.M. as I write this, and it may be the last 5:00 A.M. I ever know; while it probably won’t be, since you never know, if I go to the grocery store today I will purchase ripe bananas. Yes? 

Mark 8:34–38 is the call of Jesus Christ to follow Him. We must deny ourselves and take up the cross and follow Him, this is what Jesus says. We are to lose our lives for His sake and the Gospels, this is what Jesus says. We are to tell others about Him, not being ashamed of Him. This is what Jesus says. Does this matter to us?

Jesus is always asking questions in the Gospels, and He asks some bottom-line questions in this passage: “What does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and lose his soul? What will a man give in exchange for his soul?”

Do you understand why we don’t ask these questions along with Jesus? 

I have often thought that all businesspeople ought to be followers of Jesus as a result of common sense. Why? 

When I am in a conference room in which financial statements are handed out for review, every person in the room will do the same thing. They will immediately go to the last page of the income statement and look at the bottom line, then they will go back to page one and work through the statement to see how the bottom line was arrived at. 

What is the bottom line of life? This is the commonsense question, and yet as Pascal noted, we spend our lives avoiding it. Pascal tells us that the primary advantage that the rich have over the poor is that the rich are able to spend money to divert their attention from this question. Aren’t we a group of idiots? 

I have recited Mark 8:34–38 to congregations and individuals more than any other extended passage of Scripture, for it is the call of Jesus to us, His invitation to us to true freedom and our true destiny – in Him, always in Him. I never tried to memorize this passage; it simply was planted in me in my process of coming to know Him. 

Note that just preceding this call of Jesus, Peter attempts to spare Jesus from going to the Cross (Mark 8:31 – 33). Jesus rebukes Peter with the words, “Get behind me Satan; for you are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but man’s.” Ouch!

Then Jesus summons the crowd and issues His call to discipleship. It is as if Jesus is saying to Peter, "Peter, not only am I going to the Cross, but you and all who follow Me are also going to the Cross.” 

What do we think about that? 

It seems that we much prefer the role of Peter in that context than the call of Jesus. It seems that much of our teaching and preaching and church marketing is about avoiding the Cross of Christ and the Christ of the Cross. 

There has been much in the news lately about the decline in church attendance. Honestly, if we had something to say maybe folks would see something worth listening to and participating in. A message that requires nothing is worth nothing. 

Not long after I came to know Jesus I was introduced to the writings of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Some things you only have to read once for them to be planted in your soul, such as, “When Christ calls a man, He bids him come and die.” Doesn’t this encapsulate Mark 8:34–38? What do you think about this statement? 

Later in life I would absorb Jim Elliot’s bottom-line statement, “He is no fool, who gives what he cannot keep, to gain what he cannot lose.” (This framed statement hangs in our home, a gift from a friend years ago.)

O dear friends, we are called to follow Jesus and call others to Jesus. Not to a particular worldview (including a “Christian” worldview), not to our “best lives now,” not to social, political, economic, or nationalistic agendas, not even to the religious equivalents of Moses and Elijah (see Mark 9:2 – 8) – but to Jesus, always to Jesus.

The great thing about all that I have written is that Jesus’s call to us in wrapped within His amazing love and grace and mercy for us. He doesn’t expect us to follow Him based on our own willpower or ability, He knows we can’t, and the sooner we realize that the better. 

What Jesus is doing is calling us to live in deep relationship with Him, allowing Him to live within us as we learn to live within Him…and with one another (see John 15:1–17). Jesus is calling us into an incredible freedom and destiny. 

In Him we are free from the fear of death (Hebrews 2:9–18), from guilt and sin, from condemnation, from alienation from God (2 Cor. 5:14–21; Rom. 8:1–39). In Him we are called to the freedom of the love of God, as sons and daughters of God, forever and always loved. In Him we find our eternal destiny, a destiny entered through the portal of the Cross, a destiny of resurrection and glorious life beyond comprehension (Revelation chapters 21 – 22; 1 John 3:1–3).

And here is the thing, it is never too late to return to the call of Jesus, or to hear His call for the first time, or to renew our hearing of the call. Our Father is always watching for our return, always prepared to run to us and embrace us and throw a party for us. Again and again Jesus assures us of the love of the Father, His Father and our Father. Again and again Jesus stretches out His arms for us. 

But let us not be so foolish as to ignore the call of Jesus in Mark 8:34 – 38, let us not be so foolish as to think that anything else can possibly be the call of Jesus. This call of Jesus is what we are called to conform to, and to conform to His Call, is to conform to the Cross. It is what we call “cruciform living.” 

“I am crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and give Himself for me” (Galatians 2:20). 

It is my prayer that today will be the best day of your life…and that all of your tomorrows will be even better. 

Mark Notes - (4)

One Way or Another Faith

Mark 2:1-12

I love the story of the four friends who not only carried their paralyzed friend to Jesus, but who carried him up on the roof, made a hole in the roof, and then lowered their friend through the roof into the room where Jesus was. 

“And Jesus seeing their faith” (verse 5). This is really faith in action, these friends really believed that Jesus was going to heal their friend, and I suppose the friend believed it too…or did he? Well, we don’t know. Maybe he did and maybe he didn’t. Maybe he trusted the belief that his four friends had in Jesus. In a sense the paralyzed man put his life in the hands of the friends who carried him. In turn the four friends put the life of their paralyzed friend in the hands of Jesus. 

How did he feel when he was being carried up on the roof? How did he feel when he was being let down through the roof? 

Most of us are familiar with the story of footprints in the sand, but perhaps we lose sight of the fact that there are times Jesus uses His Presence within others to carry us, as He did with the paralytic and his four friends. O how we need one another. Community is elusive in our individualistic society and in our churches. Whether a congregation is large or small, true koinonia is elusive. Programs are poor substitutes for relationships.

Programs are not going to produce friendships that result in four friends carrying another friend up on a roof, through a roof, and down to see Jesus. 

I don’t know whether these five men were discouraged as they approached the house where Jesus was and saw the crowd, they may have thought, “We’ll never make it through the crowd, we’ll never get to see Jesus.” If they did have such a thought it didn’t last long, for they were determined to get to Jesus, one way or another. 

I think Jesus encourages and honors “one way or another” faith. This is a faith that defies convention, including religious convention, and wants to get to Jesus no matter what, one way or another. 

We see similar determination in the woman of Mark 5:21–34, one way or another she is going to make it through the crowd, as sick as she is, as drained of energy as she is, she is going to touch Jesus. She is thinking (5:28), “If I just touch His garments, I will get well.” 

Lots of people were making contact with Jesus physically (5:31), but only the woman was actually “touching” Jesus, and Jesus sensed that touch, He sensed that transfer of Divine Life and healing. 

Then there is blind Bartimaeus in Mark 10:46 – 52. As he is sitting by the road he senses a large crowd. When he asks what the commotion is about and is told that Jesus is passing by he starts crying out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” When people tell him to shut up he cries out even louder, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” 

Jesus stops and says, “Call him here.” Bartimaeus throws aside his cloak, jumps up, and comes to Jesus. 

No one, and no set of circumstances, was going to stop the four friends from getting their paralyzed friend to Jesus. No crowd was going to prove a barrier to the terribly sick woman touching Jesus. No amount of telling him to “Shut up” was gong to quiet Bartimaeus’s crying out to Jesus.

These are three examples of “whatever it takes” and “one way or another” faith in Jesus Christ. Let’s take note, that in each case Jesus was there for these people, in each case Jesus responded to them, in each case Jesus acknowledged, affirmed, and honored their faith. 

“And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him” (Hebrews 11:6).

Well friends, how can we exercise our “one way or another” faith today? Who can we carry to Jesus? Who can we help touch Jesus? 

And what do we need to bring to Jesus in our own lives? What are our own burdens? Our questions? Our struggles? 

He will never turn us away, never, ever, not ever. 

Let’s go through the roof, let’s push through the crowd, let’s keep crying out to Jesus…because we can be assured that He is here for us.

Mark Notes (3)

 Do We Recognize Him?

As I’ve pondered the contrast between Jesus the Son of God (Mark 1:1) and ancient rulers who claimed to be the son of God, who claimed divinity, I’ve thought of my dear friend Bill DeWorken. Many people who were looking for Jesus to act like the Son of God, as they understood the term, missed Him. Many who were looking for the Messiah, missed the Messiah. 

My friend Bill was a speaker on the program of a meeting of business executives and managers. Bill’s topic was relationships with customers, coworkers, and clients. While the program listed the speakers and their topics, it did not provide photos. 

Bill arrived at the venue well in advance of his session and attempted to mix with the crowd of attendees, he was unsuccessful. Why? 

Instead of dressing up as an executive (which he was) or like most speakers, he dressed down. Because Bill’s attire didn’t fit in with the crowd, people avoided him. When the session began and the program facilitator announced Bill, Bill paused for a moment before walking to the front of the room. The man who people had been avoiding was about to speak to them concerning how to treat people, and that included learning to not judge by appearance. 

How many people missed Jesus because He did things that Caesar the son of God would not do? How many missed Jesus because He did not match their expectations of the Messiah? 

I recall sharing Jesus with a young man in Nashville years ago. When I invited him to church he said he couldn’t go because he didn’t have church clothes. While I was new to Nashville and hadn’t yet attended a church, I knew of one not far from where we were staying and I had had wonderful experiences with churches associated with that particular denomination. 

“Look, let’s go to this church and I won’t wear my Sunday clothes, I’ll dress like you. These people are great and they will welcome us.” As they say, it seemed like a good idea.

As I recall, not one person spoke to us. Now it is really no big deal that these folks missed me, but that they missed an opportunity to share Christ’s love with someone interested in Jesus…someone who was open to God’s grace. Well, what does one say? It was an upper-class congregation, and we were hardly upper-class visitors. I’m surprised they didn’t give us money and tell us to go away. 

The Son of God of Mark’s Gospel does not fit the image of the son of God that many people had in the ancient world. The Messiah of the Gospel does not fit the image of the Messiah that many people had. My friend Bill did not fit the image that his audience had of a speaker – they ignored him, he was invisible to them. 

How often do I miss Jesus in my life because He doesn’t look the way I think He should look? Because He doesn’t appear to me dressed appropriately?

What about you?

Matthew 25:31–46.

Mark - Notes (2)

 “Jesus stretched out His hand and touched him.” Mark 1:41.

What might the first century reader have expected to read about the Son of God? Let’s remember that Caesar employed the term, “Son of God,” to refer to himself; let’s recall the radical nature of Mark’s first words, “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” 

What might we expect of a regal ruler, an all-powerful potentate? 

Who would we expect this ruler to associate with? How accessible would this person be? 

“And a leper came to Jesus, beseeching Him and falling on his knees before Him, and saying, If You are willing, You can make me clean. Moved with compassion, Jesus stretched out His hand and touched him, and said to him, I am willing; be cleansed. Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cleansed” (Mark 1:40 – 42). 

What would we have thought had we witnessed this?

While we might have been amazed at the healing of the leper, we may have also been amazed that Jesus touched him, for lepers were considered unclean and anyone who touched them was considered unclean. Touching lepers just wasn’t done, people kept their distance from lepers. We may have wondered why Jesus just didn’t speak a word of healing, why did Jesus touch the leper? 

What kind of a ruler touches lepers? Is this truly the Son of God?

In our own time rulers and political leaders stage photo opportunities with common people in order to portray certain images and gather support and votes. By and large these photo ops are deceitful for they don’t represent the real relationship these leaders have with the mass of people. Most leaders live lives distanced from the average person and they have no idea of the hopes and fears and struggles and challenges and desires of the people in the photos – they are using the people to their own advantage. 

But what of this Jesus, the Son of God? How shall we compare Him to the Caesars of the world?

We see that Jesus was “moved with compassion” for the leper, and that He stretched out His hand and touched Him. Jesus touched the untouched. The One who was, and is, altogether clean, touched the unclean. You and I can take encouragement in this, for to be sure without Jesus we are unclean, and to be sure He has compassion on us. To be sure, Jesus has stretched out both hands, both arms, for us on the Cross where the Clean took on Himself the unclean, and the Clean became unclean and the unclean became clean. 

“He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Corinthians 5:21).

Will we touch the unclean on behalf of Jesus?

Who else does the true Son of God associate with? Certainly He seeks and commands the acquaintance of the rich and powerful, of those who will provide Him with support and honor and accolades and power. He will no doubt choose those with political, military, economic, and religious power and authority.

But wait, who are these four men He is choosing to follow Him? Are they not fishermen? (Mark 1:16 – 20). Where are their pedigrees? Their academic degrees? Their bank accounts? Their political capital? Their following in the synagogue and religious hierarchy? 

And then, shame upon shame, the fifth one Jesus calls is a tax collector, of one of the most despicable classes in all Judea and Galilee! (Mark 2:14). Jesus obviously does not know how to curry favor with the people or the powerful. 

As we look inside Peter’s home (Mark 1:29 – 31), we see them telling Jesus  about Peter’s sick mother-in-law. Why bother a Rabbi about a woman? But wait, what is Jesus doing? He is going into the woman’s room – O no! He is touching her, raising her up and taking her by the hand. Doesn’t He know that such things are not done? That women have no worth? What kind of ruler and leader is this? 

Then we have the problem of Jesus casting out demons in synagogues on the Sabbath (Mark 1:21–27; 39). This is problematic for two reasons, the first is that it is on the Sabbath and the second it that it is in synagogues. After all, if Israel is supposed to be a holy people, how could there be demons in the synagogue? If the rabbis and scribes and Pharisees are so close to God, how could they not discern demons and save people from them? If the teaching of the rabbis was truly that of Moses and the Prophets, how could demons tolerate it? 

The people noted that Jesus teaches with authority, and not as the scribes (Mark 1:27; Matthew 7:28–29).

In Mark 2:15-17 we see Jesus having a meal with tax collectors and sinners, for there were many following Him; note that Jesus’ disciples were with Him. Would we expect Caesar to associate with such people? Would we anticipate our world leaders today to associate with such commoners? 

Jesus, the Son of God, begins His ministry by being with people; by loving and caring for the unclean and disenfranchised, by touching them, by receiving them, by seeking them, by embracing them, by healing them. This is the way of life of Jesus Christ the Son of God. His way of life does not change, He does not change.

It is likely that when many first century readers first read the words, “Jesus Christ, the Son of God,” that they had no idea of what would follow, for they would have associated the title “Son of God” with Caesar or another ancient ruler, persons who ruled by worldly might and military and economic power. 

The religious leaders in Judea and Galilee made the mistake of associating the Messiah on the plane of worldly power, as did the masses. They anticipated a Messiah greater than Caesar on the same earthly plane as Caesar, but with greater power and might than Caesar. 

Do we make same mistake today when we align the Gospel with national agendas, political ideologies, economic systems, sociological dynamics, and worldviews (including those labeled “Christian”)? Are we not to worship and hear Jesus, and Jesus alone? (Mark 9:7; 1 Corinthians 1:30–2:2).

Toward the conclusion of His public ministry Jesus says that, in contrast to the rulers of the world, “The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:28). 

The disciples were with Jesus as He enjoyed eating with tax collectors and sinners. Is this still the case? Is this our way of life? Are we serving the invisible, those people who those in power do not see, those who have no political or economic power? Are we, as Jesus Christ, touching the untouchable and loving the unlovable? 

The unfolding image of Jesus Christ in the Gospel runs counter to likely first century expectations of the appellation “the Son of God” in Mark 1:1. 

As Jesus stretches out His arms and hands to touch us, let us give ourselves to touch others. 

Mark - Notes

 

Mark 1:1

“The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.”

This was written to people living in an Empire in which the Caesar proclaimed himself to be the Son of God. It was a radical statement, and while it proclaimed Jesus Christ, in doing so it challenged the prevailing political and cultural ethos of its time. 

Over the course of history rulers have proclaimed themselves to be the sons of God, the embodiment of God, both by direct proclamation and by their actions and attitudes and the powers they assumed to themselves. 

To such rulers, and to people seduced by these rulers, Mark’s first statement can be a shocking challenge. Let’s not forget that the early Christians were persecuted for being atheists (they did not worship the gods, and you could not see the God they did claim to worship) and for not worshipping Caesar. 

Had the early Church also worshipped Caesar they would likely not have been persecuted, at least to some of the extremes that occurred. 

But how do Christians today read Mark’s opening statement? 

Do we read it thinking, “Of course Jesus is the Son of God,” without a sense of worship and discipleship? Is this just something we’ve heard in Sunday school and church, something we’ve grown up with? 

Is this a statement of fact, a piece of information, that has no effect on our affections, our decisions, our daily lives? Do we take it for granted the way we take for granted that Washington and Lincoln and Edison and Babe Ruth once lived? That “Son of God” is a title we assign to Jesus but that it has no direct relevance to our lives?

This is an exclusive statement; Jesus is the Son of God. Do we read this in an exclusive manner? 

In other words, when we read it do we also think, “Well, Ceasar is also the Son of God”? 

Now you may say, “Bob, Ceasar is long dead.”

Thank you for reminding me of that. Let’s put this another way:

Do we think, “My political leader is also [functionally] Son of God. My political, economic, social, national, agendas are Son of God”? 

Let us not be so foolish as to not see that political leaders across the globe, from all spectrums, certainly speak and act as if they are indeed gods, and that includes the expectation that we will functionally worship them and give ourselves to them. The same is true in economics, sports, entertainment…even within Christianity and other religions. Within Christianity, how many “leaders” point to themselves rather than to Jesus? How many institutions seek their own self-preservation and power rather than serving Jesus and people? 

Are we living in a syncretism that blends (what we take to be) Christianity into our political and national and economic and social culture to the point where Jesus Christ is no longer our exclusive Lord and God, where He is no longer the focus of our love and worship and commitment? Have we molded Jesus Christ into our image, our national image, our cultural image, so that Mark’s opening words have become mundane rather than soul challenging? 

“The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God,” let’s recall that “gospel” means Good News. The fact that Jesus is the Son of God is Good News, it means that we have a God, a Savior, a Redeemer, who loves us and who has come to restore the image of God within us, drawing us into deep familial friendship with Himself. It means that we need no longer be slaves to the economic, political, national, tribal, religious, and other elements of this world, that we no longer need serve our own foolish lusts and greed and pride and egos – nor those of others. 

Imagine a Ruler who is kind and just and good and holy and righteous and who can always be trusted. (Isaiah 9:6–7; 11:1–10).

Mark’s opening words were radical when he wrote them, and they ought to be radical now. 

Are they radical in my life? 

Are they apparent? Can others see their effect in me?

In our congregations?

In your life?