The MVP - rocky soil

We’re looking into The parable of the sower.  It was this parable that Jesus referred to as the “key” to understanding all His parables (Mark 4:13).  As such, I’m calling it: The Most Valuable Parable – The MVP.  All three of the synoptic gospel writers included this parable.  It can be found in Matthew 13:1-23, Mark 4:1-20, and Luke 8:4-15.  So far, we have looked at the sower and the soil of the path.  We’ve also observed that the word of God produced new life in the rocky soil, the thorny soil, and the good soil.  Now we’re taking a closer look at the rocky soil:

Let’s remind ourselves of the setting.  Farmers didn’t have fancy, fast machines to prepare the ground.  Oxen could pull a plow to turn over the soil, so the farmer would do what he could to break up the ground.  The ideal seed depth was 1-3 inches in favorable conditions, but that wasn’t always attainable.  Terrain was often rocky and uneven, sometimes with only a thin layer of top soil.  With scant amount of nutrients and depth, this type of soil presents less than ideal prospects for growth, let alone maturity.

As you read the text, focus on what happens to the seed in the rocky soil:

Luke 8:4-8, 11-13
As a large crowd was gathering, and people were coming to Jesus from every town, He said in a parable:

“A sower went out to sow his seed.  As he sowed, some seed fell along the path; it was trampled on, and the birds of the sky devoured it.  Other seed fell on the rock; when it grew up, it withered away, since it lacked moisture.  Other seed fell among thorns; the thorns grew up with it and choked it.  Still other seed fell on good ground; when it grew up it produced fruit: a hundred times what was sown.”  As He said this, He called out, “Let anyone who as ears to hear listen.”

…“This is the meaning of the parable: The seed is the word of God.  The seed along the path are those who have heard and then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved.  And the seed on the rock are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy.  Having no root, these believe for a while and fall away in a time of testing. 

As we can see from the rocky soil, a believer can experience the initial joy of salvation…but then fizzle out when life gets hard and their beliefs go through a time of testing.  Jesus said that believers akin to rocky soil lack moisture and have no root.  Their growth has been stunted due to the limited room for resources in their lives.

A key word to look at is the Greek word Jesus uses here for fall away – aphistemi – which means to withdraw, to remove, or desert.  Rocky soil believers joyfully trust God for their eternal salvation, but when times get tough, they don’t trust God with their circumstances.  Their choice leaves them painfully withered; however, there’s no indication that God abandons them.  These believers do not lose their salvation, but they lack the life-giving relationship Christ offers for their current circumstances because they have not developed roots.

But that leave us to wonder…what happens to those believers who fall away?  Many commentators advocate that their “falling” means they either lost their salvation, or they take it as proof that they were not “real believers” in the first place.  However, I don’t think either explanation is accurate.

Later on, in the book of Acts, Luke uses aphistemi again.  And it’s when he uses it that provides us with an interesting example and explanation of Jesus’ use of the word in the parable.  Luke uses the word to describe John Mark’s abandoning of Paul and Barnabas (translated to English this time as deserted):

Acts 15:38
But Paul insisted that they should not take along this man who had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not gone on with them to the work.

John Mark had bailed on Paul’s first missionary journey at about the halfway point.  He abruptly left both the Apostle Paul and his cousin Barnabas, who was an influential member of the first century church.  The first part of their journey saw huge success in preaching Jesus to the island of Cyprus. Afterwards (and Scripture doesn’t say why), John Mark high-tailed it for home.  It’s interesting to note that Paul and Barnabas faced many trials during the second part of their missionary journey, which was the part John Mark avoided when left his companions in the lurch.  John Mark’s story fits the model that Jesus described for a rocky soil believer: when they hear, receive the word with joy.  Having no root, these believe for a while and fall away in a time of testing.

However, John Mark’s falling away didn’t permanently banish him from fellowship with Paul, Barnabas, or the rest of the church.  There’s no indication anywhere in Scripture that other believers questioned John Mark’s salvation.  Instead, Paul considered John Mark unworthy of a later opportunity to partner with him, and Paul rejected John Mark’s inclusion in the mission trip.  Ultimately, it was John Mark’s previous desertion that left him disqualified from the next significant opportunity to serve God (Acts 15:36-41). 

However, the good news is that John Mark’s story does not end there.  After Paul’s rejection, Barnabas took John Mark under his wing and mentored him.  Over the years that followed, John Mark went on to do great things for God: he returned to Cyprus with Barnabas (Acts 15:39), many years later Paul calls him useful in the ministry (2 Timothy 4:11), and he also worked with the Apostle Peter (1 Peter 5:13).  During his time with Peter, John Mark collected Peter’s stories and teaching of Jesus’ time on earth – and we now refer to that collection as The Gospel of Mark.

Left to themselves, rocky soil believers will struggle mightily and not produce a fruitful life in Christ.  They need moisture and help to remove significant boulders from their life.  Purposeful mentoring is necessary for them to grow the roots needed so they can endure a time of testing. 

If you are a rocky soil believer, please find a mentor ASAP.  If you want to know what that looks like, I suggest reading a series of blog posts on Biblical mentoring I wrote beginning in February 2106.

If you are a mature believer, please be on the look out for rocky soil believers.  They need your help, more than they realize.

Keep Pressing,
Ken

The MVP - new life

We’re looking into The parable of the sower.  It was this parable that Jesus referred to as the “key” to understanding all His parables (Mark 4:13), or as I’m calling it, The Most Valuable Parable – The MVP.  All three of the synoptic gospel writers included this parable.  It can be found in Matthew 13:1-23, Mark 4:1-20, and Luke 8:4-15.  So far, we have looked at the sower and the soil of the path.

It’s at this point in the parable that many commentators and preachers have stumbled over what Jesus is saying.  As we read the parable, rather than relying on what others may have told us, we need to approach the text with as little bias as possible.  We must allow the text to speak for itself.  Admittedly…this can be hard to do, especially for veteran Christians or those of us who have been in church since we were little.  The attitude of “oh yeah, that story” or “I already know what the preacher is going to say” is quite dangerous.  That kind of closed mindset can prevent the Holy Spirit from teaching us something new or correcting us on something we have gotten wrong.  Therefore, we need to be careful with our observations. 

We’ll see in verse 11, Jesus tells the disciples, “The seed is the word of God.” So as you read the parable, think about what happens to the seed as it is added to each soil.  Also watch for what’s different between the seed that fell on the path and the seed that fell on the other soils:

Luke 8:4-8, 11-13
As a large crowd was gathering, and people were coming to Jesus from every town, He said in a parable:

“A sower went out to sow his seed.  As he sowed, some seed fell along the path; it was trampled on, and the birds of the sky devoured it.  Other seed fell on the rock; when it grew up, it withered away, since it lacked moisture.  Other seed fell among thorns; the thorns grew up with it and choked it.  Still other seed fell on good ground; when it grew up it produced fruit: a hundred times what was sown.”  As He said this, He called out, “Let anyone who as ears to hear listen.”

…“This is the meaning of the parable: The seed is the word of God.  The seed along the path are those who have heard and then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved.  And the seed on the rock are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy.  Having no root, these believe for a while and fall away in a time of testing.  As for the seed that fell among thorns, these are the ones who, when they have heard, go on their way and are choked with worries, riches, and pleasures of life, and produce no mature fruit.  But the seed in the good ground – these are the ones who, having heard the word with an honest and good heart, hold on to it and by enduring, produce fruit.”

Do you see the difference in what happened to the word of God?  It was never accepted by the path, and the birds took it away.  Without the seed there, the path-person could not believe and be saved.  From Jesus’ statement, we can see that belief is the only condition for salvation (just like we learned with the Samaritan woman in John 4).

Many preachers and commentators focus on the maturity of the plant to gauge if a person is a believer or not.  By doing so, they miss Jesus’ point – Notice that even in less than ideal soil, the word of God was accepted and new life was born!  This is true for the rocky soil, the thorny soil, and the good soil.  In all three, the word of God brought forth new life, but their individual fruitfulness – their visible productivity – is what varied.

There aren’t different types of believers (“true believers”, “false believers”, etc) among Christians – either you are persuaded that Jesus is the Son of God and you believe in Him for eternal life…or you don’t.  Based on Jesus’ parable of the soils, we find that after the word of God brings forth new life, each believer’s maturity depends on how long they hold to their belief and if they allow their circumstances to influence their growth. 

Over the years, I have observed how easily Christians write-off others as being “not truly saved” because that other person’s behavior doesn’t match up with how they think a “true believer” would act.  They try to judge a person’s justification by how far they have progressed in their sanctification.  Put simply, they fail to distinguish between having eternal life and bearing fruit.  Christians who are focused on judging others like this end up wasting their time trying to pigeonhole other people’s eternal destiny…and worse yet, put themselves in the place of God.

If your natural-born brother or sister was misbehaving or living a lifestyle that was contrary to your family’s ideals…would you question their status as a member of your family?  Of course not.  We say things like this all the time “I love them and they’re still family, but…” Because the relationship is strained due to their maturity/behavior and there are steps that will need to be taken to help them “come back into the fold”.  We’ll get some more insight into these situations as we look at what Jesus had to say about the rocky soil and the thorny soil.

Keep Pressing,
Ken

The MVP - the path

We’re looking into The parable of the sower.  It was this parable that Jesus referred to as the “key” to understanding all His parables (Mark 4:13), or as I’m calling it, The Most Valuable Parable – The MVP.  All three of the synoptic gospel writers included this parable.  It can be found in Matthew 13:1-23, Mark 4:1-20, and Luke 8:4-15.  Since we looked at the sower last time, we’re now ready to look at what happened to the seed that the sower spread to the various types of soils.

We’re going to evaluate the responses of the soils in the order that Jesus taught them.  First up, we’ll focus in on the seed that fell along the path:

Luke 8:4-15
As a large crowd was gathering, and people were coming to Jesus from every town, He said in a parable:
“A sower went out to sow his seed.  As he sowed, some seed fell along the path; it was trampled on, and the birds of the sky devoured it.  Other seed fell on the rock; when it grew up, it withered away, since it lacked moisture.  Other seed fell among thorns; the thorns grew up with it and choked it.  Still other seed fell on good ground; when it grew up, it produced fruit: a hundred times what was sown.  As He said this He called out, “Let anyone who has ears to hear listen.”

Then His disciples asked Him, “What does this parable mean?”  So He said, “The secrets of the kingdom of God have been given for you to know, but to the rest it is in parables, so that

Looking they may not see,
and hearing they may not understand.

“This is the meaning of the parable: The seed is the word of God.  The seed along the path are those who have heard and then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. 

The path was a hardened surface because it was well-traveled upon.  And as such, the seed was not accepted by ground; instead, the seed was trampled.  This kind of heart was a roadway for many thoughts/experiences…distracted by its own concerns, its own ideas, and its own ambitions, such a heart became a place where the word of God was trodden down, smothered, and crushed by all the preoccupations that had made the heart their highway.

Then…the seed was stolen by the birds – which Jesus says represents the devil coming and taking the seed away before it can germinate.  From this we see that Satan actively works to prevent people from hearing and believing the gospel.  The devil is skilled and purposeful in his work – he’s had thousands of years of practice and insight into manipulating mankind’s psychology.  He will do whatever he can to confuse/distract the one who hears the word…so they will not believe the simple message that if you believe in Jesus for eternal life, you will be saved and He will give you new life.

With the seed taken away, there is no new life – they cannot believe and be saved unless the seed is present to produce the new life.

When reading this parable, most believers tend to skim over this soil.  They figure that this situation no longer applies to them, so it’s not worth their time to consider.  Or maybe they think of someone they know who fits this description.  Either way, most believers do not stop and think about the path…but…

Perhaps a personal illustration will help us find an application.  For a number of years while I was growing up, my family took in foster care kids.  We did what was called “short-term” foster care, which means you could be called to take in a kid for an hour in the middle of the night or have them as part of your family for up to 6 months while the government and legal processes figured out what was best for everyone involved.  We found that the younger the kid was, the more likely they were to fall in line with our family’s rhythm – “This is what we do.”  The older the kid, the more they had built up hardened layers to shield them from the traumatic stuff they had had to deal with at such young ages.  By the time they were teens, they had been physically hurt, lied to, abused, or emotionally scarred so many times that it was nearly impossible to get them to fully trust our family, let alone open up…and their hearts were already beginning to harden.

When you volunteer in children’s ministries at your church, when you coach a youth sports team, or when you financially support operations like Chestnut Mountain Ranch in Morgantown, WV…your efforts are preventing these kids from becoming like the hardened path.  Your invested time, energy, and money slows down the process of building up that hard outer layer which makes it so difficult for God’s word to impact their lives.  Your presence and love makes them feel supported instead of feeling trampled on, run over, or alone.

So the application for believers isn’t directly for us…instead we need to be aware and willing to help others – especially children – from becoming a hardened, lonely path.  Truett Cathy nailed down this idea in his book, titled It’s Better to Build Boys than Mend Men.  We need to reach the next generation with God’s love – before the world forces them to build self-reliant defenses and emotional walls.  Who knows?  Maybe you’ll also get to be a sower in a child’s life.  Or maybe you’ll help them be ready for when another sower arrives.

When you step into a child’s life, don’t let the thoughts of your potential impact scare you, or make you feel too much pressure.  Instead, know just how eternally important you are in these kids’ lives. 

Keep Pressing,
Ken

The MVP - the sower

Although Jesus was Israel’s promised Savior, when He started His ministry, most of the Jewish population had the wrong idea about the coming Messiah.  Many Jews had locked in on the idea that the Messiah’s immediate plans were to conquer Israel’s enemies and set up the Kingdom of God…with Jerusalem as its capital.  Jesus knew those actions were not His mission at that time.  To get the people past this mental stumbling block, as He traveled from town to town, Jesus taught many things to the crowds that came out to meet Him.  The truth about Himself and the Kingdom of God were taught indirectly, through parable-stories.  However, the setting for these parables was always something local and familiar to His audience.

Jesus referred to The parable of the sower as the key to understanding all His parables (Mark 4:13), or as I’m calling it, The Most Valuable Parable – The MVP.  All three of the synoptic gospel writers included it, and it can be found in Matthew 13:1-23, Mark 4:1-20, and Luke 8:4-15.  Before we get to the meat of the parable; however, we need to look at the main character of the parable – the sower.  Understanding his role – in the way Jesus’ audience recognized him – will help us understand the parable as a whole.

Let’s think about the setting.  Farming was everywhere, and sowing seed in a field was a common activity.  Farmers didn’t have fancy, fast machines to spread the seed, either.  They sowed “broadcast” style…casting the seed by hand as he walked up and down the field.  The sower always spread extra seed to allow for full coverage, and he was not concerned about wasting seed.  Every inch of ground on the field was seeded in the hopes of generating the largest harvest possible.  The ideal seed depth was 1-3 inches into the ground, in favorable conditions, but that wasn’t always the case.  Terrain was often rocky and uneven, sometimes with only a thin layer of top soil.

A sower’s activities would have been something everyone would relate to because they had either done the work themselves or they had seen someone else do it.  Focus on the sower’s actions as you read through Luke’s account:

Luke 8:4-15
As a large crowd was gathering, and people were coming to Jesus from every town, He said in a parable:

”A sower went out to sow his seed.  As he sowed, some seed fell along the path; it was trampled on, and the birds of the sky devoured it.  Other seed fell on the rock; when it grew up, it withered away, since it lacked moisture.  Other seed fell among thorns; the thorns grew up with it and choked it.  Still other seed fell on good ground; when it grew up, it produced fruit: a hundred times what was sown.  As He said this He called out, “Let anyone who has ears to hear listen.”

Then His disciples asked Him, “What does this parable mean?”  So He said, “The secrets of the kingdom of God have been given for you to know, but to the rest it is in parables, so that

Looking they may not see,
and hearing they may not understand.

“This is the meaning of the parable: The seed is the word of God.  The seed along the path are those who have heard and then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved.  And the seed on the rock are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy.  Having no root, these believe for a while and fall away in a time of testing.  As for the seed that fell among thorns, these are the ones who, when they have heard, go on their way and are choked with worries, riches, and pleasures of life, and produce no mature fruit.  But the seed in the good ground – these are the ones who, having heard the word with an honest and good heart, hold on to it and by enduring, produce fruit.

So what observations do you have about the sower?

Did you notice these two things?

·       The sower is not responsible for the success of the seed…his job is only to sow.
·       The sower does not pre-judge the soil’s potential or its responsiveness to the seed.  He cast the seed without discrimination or concern that it may not bear fruit or be wasted altogether.

How many times have we looked at someone and not shared the gospel because we assume they wouldn’t respond in faith?  But what we’ve seen in Jesus’ parable is that the sower spread the word of God liberally to all soils, to any ground who might receive it, instead of to just those soils sections that the sower was confident to get a fruitful harvest.

This would have been an encouragement to the disciples and should also encourage us as we encounter opportunities to sow God’s word.  We may not see immediate harvest-results.  The sower certainly didn’t.  Harvest comes later…and the sower may not even be the one to participate in that event.  But that doesn’t matter when it’s time to sow. 

So let’s be faithful and sow as we have opportunity.  Not because we think the person is worthy to hear about the gospel, but because that is the task God has given us to do.

Keep Pressing,
Ken

The MVP - The Most Valuable Parable

Have you ever wondered why Jesus told so many stories?  Or, better yet, why did He tell so many strange stories?

Jesus taught in parable-stories to stimulate a person’s thinking about His truths.  I once heard a parable described as “an earthly story with a heavenly meaning”.  I think that’s a pretty accurate definition.  While some of the parables’ context might seem weird to us, the settings were culturally relevant and understandable to Jesus’ audiences.  This means that we can learn the same lessons Jesus taught, but we need to use our observation skills so we don’t misunderstand first century cultural references.

By teaching in parables, Jesus gave the people a choice to either learn more or walk away.  One of Jesus’ favorite phrases to end a parable illustrates this: “He who as ears to hear, listen!”  However, the crowds were not generally given the meaning of a parable, but the disciples and others who followed Him were.  

Also keep in mind that as Jesus and the disciples traveled from town to town, He would have taught the same parables in each location.  With no internet, email, TV, or radio available, each town was a new place that hadn’t heard these truths yet.  Think about it…the disciples would have heard the parables multiple times and probably could recite them all by heart.  The writers of all four gospels didn’t include every teaching of Jesus, instead they chose to include events, miracles, and parables that fit the purpose/narrative/audience of their gospel.  As such, we need to pay attention if a particular parable is included by more than one of them.

The parable we are going to look at is one of those parables.  It is often referred to by one of two names:  The parable of the soils or The parable of the sower.  It can be found in Matthew 13:1-23, Mark 4:1-20, and Luke 8:4-15.  For starters, we’re going to look at Mark’s account:

Mark 4:1-13
Again He began to teach by the sea, and a very large crowd gathered around Him.  So He got into a boat on the sea and sat down, while the whole crowd was by the sea on the shore.  He taught them many things in parables, and in His teaching He said to them:

“Listen!  Consider the sower who went out to sow.  As he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it.  Other seed fell on rocky ground where it didn’t have much soil, and it grew up quickly, since the soil wasn’t deep.  When the sun came up, it was scorched, and since it had no root, it withered away.  Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns came up and choked it, and it didn’t produce fruit.  Still other seed fell on good ground and it grew up, producing fruit that increased thirty, sixty, and a hundred times.”  Then He said, “Let anyone who has ears to hear listen.”

When He was alone, those around Him with the Twelve, asked Him about the parables.  He answered them, “The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you, but to those outside, everything comes in parables so that
              they may indeed look, and yet not perceive;
              they may indeed listen, and yet not understand;
              otherwise, they might turn back and be forgiven.

The He said to them: “Don’t you understand this parable?  How then will you understand all of the parables?

So we see from Mark’s account that Jesus considers this story to be the master parable, or what I’d like to call The Most Valuable Parable – The MVP.  As such, we must make sure that we understand exactly what Jesus was teaching the crowds whenever He taught this parable.  If we get this one wrong, we could end up misinterpreting His other parables…and it is impossible to correctly apply what we do not correctly understand.

Since the gospel writers included this story, you and I are being included in Jesus’ inner circle.  We are going to be privy to insider information here!

But as good Bible students, we must make sure we approach the passage without any pre-conceived notions or assumptions.  We must let the text speak for itself.  It’s easy to slip into the attitude of The parable of the sower?  I know that one and what it means.

Additionally, I think a number of others have not correctly understood Jesus’ message here; but we’ll get to that as we go through each part of the parable and match it up with Jesus’ explanation. 

But we have the same choice Jesus’ first century listeners had – will we lean in and learn more, or will we walk away, assuming we already know what Jesus meant with this parable?

Keep Pressing,
Ken

No food necessary

Have you ever been so wrapped up in something that you skipped eating?  For me, I wouldn’t say that I’ve ever “forgotten” to eat.  However, there have been a few times that for work deadlines I’ve pushed off eating a meal so we could get the job done.  I was certainly hungry, but the completion timing for task at hand had such a great impact on our customers, that I was willing to shift my eating schedule.

Until I studied Jesus’ interaction with the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4, I didn’t realize that Jesus had made the same choice.

We pick up the story just after the Samaritan woman believed in Jesus for eternal life and she was leaving Jesus at the well to tell everyone in her nearby town about Him.  However, just because the woman had left didn’t mean that Jesus was done teaching for the day.  Next up, He had a lesson for His disciples:

If you recall, before the woman arrived at the well, Jesus had sent the disciples into town to buy food.  They returned to the well to meet with Jesus just as the Samaritan woman was running back into town.  Since they had been successful in their food-gathering mission, they encouraged Him to eat.

John 4:31-34
In the meantime the disciples kept urging Him, “Rabbi, eat something.”
But He said, “I have food to eat that you don’t know about.”
The disciples said to one another, “Could someone have brought Him something to eat?”
“My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to finish His work,” Jesus told them.

Think about this scene from the disciples’ perspective: Why would Jesus refuse food from them?  He sent them to buy food, they knew He was worn out from the journey.  When Jesus refused their purchased food, the disciples wondered if someone else (…the woman, maybe?) had fed Him.  You and I also know that He never did get that drink of water He had asked the woman for.

Instead, Jesus delayed eating because of the work at hand.  He found sustaining satisfaction in doing the will and work of God the Father.  This isn’t the first recorded time Jesus had done something like this, either – check out what Jesus says during His temptation, as documented in Luke 4, Mark 1, or Matthew 4.

Here at the well, Jesus tells them that He has food to eat that they do not know about…after letting them struggle with this concept, He explains that doing the will of God and finishing God’s work was all the food He needed at the moment.

Just like the woman, the disciples also had things they did not know.  Also like the woman, the disciples assumed that Jesus was only talking about the physical, as in physical nourishment.  They were looking for who got there first and served their tired master.  Instead, Jesus was using a physical food example in order to instruct them about spiritual food.

Spiritual food fuels you in ways that physical food cannot.  Physical food doesn’t give you purpose.  Physical food doesn’t sustain your mind’s focus, attitude, and desire like spiritual food does.  Realizing the urgency and opportunity they had right in front of them, Jesus was focused and ready for the task at hand.  When we are using our God-given talents and God-granted time to help others see Jesus, we will find our purpose takes precedence over our physical needs.

Does this mean Jesus had stopped eating altogether?  Of course not!  In just a few verses, we will see Him accepting the hospitality of the Samaritans.  But the task at hand was more important, and physical sustainment was found in working His spiritual mission.  We can eat lots of earthly food and still feel empty.  Jesus shows that we can feast on doing the work God gives us, and we’ll find great satisfaction.

With our observations here, we see that Jesus is the example to follow: He sees spiritual work as food, and He taught others how to eat.  Ultimately, this is our challenge – to do the work God gives us to do, and to finish it.  As we do His work, He’ll supply the food.

Keep Pressing,
Ken

Jesus and the outcasts

One of the peculiar things about Jesus’ time on Earth was the people He chose to spend time with. 

Luke 15:1-2
All the tax collectors and sinners were approaching to listen to Him.  And the Pharisees and scribes were complaining, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”

When someone was welcomed or you would eat with them, it was assumed to be an acceptance, or even an approval, of their lifestyle.

The upper class, who claimed to be closest to God, were baffled and ended up complaining that someone who has such a great following, such inherent authority, and such great wisdom…was not falling in line with the social norms of class and status that they followed.  Even Jesus’ disciples were amazed at who He would take time with.  For example:

Mark 10:13-16
People were bringing little children to Him in order that He might touch them, but the disciples rebuked them.  When Jesus saw it, He was indignant and said to them, “Let the little children come to Me.  Don’t stop them, because the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.  Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.”  After taking them in His arms, He laid His hands on them and blessed them.

Infant mortality was high in the ancient world.  As such, small children were of little value until they grew enough to contribute to the family.  Still thinking within society’s attitudes and values, the disciples thought it would be a waste of time for the Messiah to be with little children.

After recording Jesus’ most famous sermon, ‘The Sermon on the Mount’, Matthew describes the waves of people who were constantly approaching Jesus.  Matthew 8-9 records the following: healing a man who had leprosy, healing a paralyzed man without being physically next to him, healing Peter’s mom of a fever, casting out demons, healing those who were sick, healing a paralytic brought to Him, calling a tax collector to be a disciple, bringing a dead girl back to life, healing a woman who suffered from bleeding for twelve years, and healing two blind men.

All of these individuals were isolated in some way by their disease, their spiritual condition, or their job status.  They would have been on the fringes of society – those with diseases had to be physically isolated from others, it was generally assumed that those with broken bodies were being punished by God, those with demonic influences or behaviors were shunned, and tax collectors were considered to be traitors to their own countrymen.  For people in these groups, acceptance was hard to come by.

And yet, these were the ones that Jesus healed and spent time with.  At the end of Matthew 9, we find out why:

Matthew 9:35-38
Jesus continued going around to all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and every sickness.  When He saw the crowds, He felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and dejected, like sheep without a shepherd.

Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest is abundant, but the workers are few.  Therefore, pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest.”

Jesus felt compassion for those who were cast aside, those who felt distressed and dejected.  He didn’t just acknowledge their plight and move on with His life – He stopped and took the time to interact with and help them.  Even if high society had different values.  Even if the religious leaders expected different behavior.  Jesus saw the crowds as sheep without a shepherd; they needed His compassion and leadership…and no one else thought they were important enough for either one.

Learning to see the crowds as He did was one of the lessons Jesus had to repeatedly teach His disciples.  It’s one we should expect Jesus to teach us, as well.

Jesus rebuked His disciples for hindering those they thought unworthy.  Jesus instructed His disciples to pray that God sends out more of His workers to reach out to society’s outcasts.  And then, in the next set of verses (Matthew 10), Jesus sends out His disciples to work.

Get your thinking corrected, pray for assistance, and then get to work.  That’s Jesus’ plan for those who follow Him.

Why?  Because He values the outcast.

Keep Pressing,
Ken

The End is where we begin

Closing out Revelation, we have these last words from Jesus:

Revelation 22:20
He who testifies about these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon.”

To which John replies:

Revelation 22:20-21
Amen!  Come, Lord Jesus!
The grace of the Lord Jesus be with everyone.  Amen.

Revelation 21-22 has given us an incredible look at the ultimate destiny of mankind – to dwell with and partner with the Creator of the Universe throughout Eternity!  The mind swims with the possibilities and the opportunities…now that the silent longings of our heart have been confirmed.  Sin, selfishness, and death will be permanently removed.  Relationships will be restored and never broken again.  Creation will be liberated and allowed to flourish.  Best of all – we will have a direct, unhindered relationship with the God of Everything.

When we live with the End in mind, we make choices that make absolutely no sense to the “rational human mind”.  Non-Christians won’t get it.  In fact, Christians who are living with the main goal of being happy in this life won’t understand it, either.  We choose to love even when we’ve been hurt deeply and repeatedly.  We purposely shun sexual immorality.  We choose to quit bad habits and unhealthy lifestyles we’ve been living in for years.  Our words are used to encourage, not tear down.  We find focus and purpose in this life by knowing who God is and how much He loves us.  We do these things because He did them all for us, even when we didn’t deserve it.  So we look forward to the day that Jesus makes good on His promise to come back for us.

But it’s been a little while since He made that promise, hasn’t it?  He didn’t come yesterday, might not come back today…or even in the next 10 years.  He didn’t say when, He just said that He would.  Do we trust Him?

Fortunately, we’ve got some help and direction for what to do when this question comes up:

2 Peter 3:3-4, 8-15
Above all, be aware of this: Scoffers will come in the last days scoffing and following their own evil desires, saying, “Where is His ‘coming’ that He promised?  Ever since our ancestors fell asleep, all things continue as they have been since the beginning of creation”…Dear friends, don’t overlook this one fact: With the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day.  The Lord does not delay His promise, as some understand delay, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish but all to come to repentance.

But the day of the Lord will come like a thief; on that day the heavens will pass away with a loud noise, the elements will burn and be dissolved, and the earth and the works on it will be disclosed.  Since all these things are to be dissolved in this way, it is clear what sort of people you should be in holy conduct and godliness as you wait for the day of God and hasten its coming.  Because of that day, the heavens will be dissolved with fire and the elements will melt with heat.  But based on His promise, we wait for new heavens and a new earth, where righteousness dwells.

Therefore, dear friends, while you wait for these things, make every effort to be found without spot or blemish in His sight, at peace.  Also, regard the patience of our Lord as salvation…

Our Lord’s patience means that others still have time to learn about Christ’s death on the cross for the sins of humanity, that God loved them so much that He took the bullet that would have meant Eternal Death for them.  Our Lord’s patience means they have more time to consider who Jesus is and whether or not they accept His free offer of Eternal Life.  So on behalf of our future brothers and sisters, we patiently endure this broken world and look forward to Jesus’ promised coming.

But we’re not to be sitting around, waiting on our rooftops and watching the clouds.  Oh no, we’ve got plenty of work to do – to partner now with Jesus – so that we will be qualified to partner with Him in Eternity Future.  We are alive now because of Christ’s sacrifice; we now live with the aim of eternally working side by side with Him, and working like Him.

Keep Pressing,
Ken

The final warning

We’ve seen that Revelation begins with a blessing:

Revelation 1:3
Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear the words of this prophecy and keep what is written in it, because the time is near.

and now we see that Revelation ends with a serious warning:

Revelation 22:18-19
I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book.  And if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share of the tree of life and the holy city, which are written about in this book.

We understand from our study of Revelation 21-22 that a person’s share in the tree of life and the holy city are rewards for faithful service; they are not connected to a person’s salvation from sin or Jesus’ gift of eternal life.  So what are these penalties then?  On a practical level, how do I avoid them?

Our first clue comes in the beginning of verse 18 – I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book.  The original recipients, the seven churches in Chapters 2-3, also had to deal with those who would distort or minimize God’s Word.

Three specific groups are mentioned among the seven churches – the Nicolaitans, those who followed the teachings of Balaam, and those who followed the teachings of a self-proclaimed prophetess named Jezebel.  Each of these groups taught Christians to live promiscuously and unprincipled in sexual matters.  They also enticed believers to participate in the local feasts which focused on the worship of a Greek god or the emperor through both eating food sacrificed to idols and sexual immorality.

In order for them to teach these things, they either had to add something to what God has already said or to purposefully leave out parts that they didn’t like.  With respect to everything God has said in Revelation, a clear warning is given against either of those practices:

If anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book.

The plagues described in this book are the punishments given to those who refuse to accept Christ’s offer of salvation from their sins – they would rather face God on their own terms.  Similarly, Jesus pronounced severe punishment on those who followed the Nicolaitans, Balaam’s teachings, or Jezebel.  From this we understand that adding to what God has proclaimed in Revelation is to invite significant punishment.

And if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share of the tree of life and the holy city, which are written about in this book.

Remember, this speaks to a loss of future reward, not a loss of salvation.  The warning here is that we could miss out on the full opportunities to partner with God in eternity future if we willfully remove parts of what God has proclaimed in Revelation.

The cure for both of these types of willful errors is the same, whether we would be in danger of adding our own sections to God’s word or purposefully removing sections of God’s word.  The cure is to take God at His word, as He has revealed it…even if we don’t fully understand parts of it. 

For example:
After the fall of Jerusalem in 70 AD and the dispersion of the Jews that happened soon afterward, there was no “nation of Israel” until 1948.  Given the vast amounts of Scripture in the Old Testament and New Testament which speaks to God reigning over the nations of the earth from Israel…how much abuse and ridicule do you think Christians would have suffered prior to 1948 from those proclaiming “There is no nation of Israel, so clearly your beliefs are wrong”?  I’m sure that believers would have been tempted to re-interpret what God had prophesied, either adding a little (like the idea of replacement theology, which is claiming that any Old Testament reference to Israel now relates to the church…it doesn’t, by the way) or by taking a little away (deciding that, maybe that part of Scripture no longer applies).

But God knew that Israel would be a nation again, and that His prophecies were still right, even if in a particular moment in history it appeared otherwise.  So trust God now, take Him at His word – all of it, adding nothing, and taking nothing away.

Keep Pressing,
Ken

Warning: Don't add and don't take away

We saw last time that those believers who hear Jesus properly are to make the invitation to non-believers to take the free gift of salvation:

Revelation 22:17
Both the Spirit and the bride say, “Come!”  Let anyone who hears, say, “Come!”  Let the one who is thirsty come.  Let the one who desires take the water of life freely.

The next two verses also command the attention of those who have ears to hear:

Revelation 22:18-19
I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book.  And if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share of the tree of life and the holy city, which are written about in this book.

Many commentaries will tell you that the warning John adds here at the end of Revelation is equivalent to a copyright in the ancient world, and that you’ll commonly find these types of warnings in other apocalyptic (prophetic) writings of the day.  While this is true, don’t think that this type of warning is something that John added just because everyone else was doing it.

This isn’t the first time that God gave a warning like this, and actually it was given at a similar situation – just on a slightly smaller scale.

Remember, we’ve been looking at eternal rewards that believers can inherit in Eternity Future.  When the Israelites were getting ready to inherit their reward of the Promised Land, this is what Moses told them:

Deuteronomy 4:1-2
Now, Israel, listen to the statutes and ordinances I am teaching you to follow, so that you may live, enter, and take possession of the land the Lord, the God of your fathers, is giving you.  You must not add anything to what I command you or take anything away from it, so that you may keep the commands of the Lord your God I am giving you.

Sounds very similar, right?

Those that hear are the ones expected to do – just as the Lord prescribes.  Those that do are the ones who will inherit, or take possession of the land.  To further his point, Moses gives the following example:

Deuteronomy 4:3-4
Your eyes have seen what the Lord did at Baal-peor, for the Lord your God destroyed every one of you who followed Baal of Peor.  But you who have remained faithful to the Lord your God are all alive today.

This incident is recorded in Numbers 25.  Those that strayed from God’s commands – they either subtracted God out and worshipped Baal exclusively or thought they could add Baal worship to their worship of God – they were not able to inherit the Promised Land.  However, those that stayed true to God’s commands – they were the ones that may live, enter, and take possession of the land the Lord, the God of your fathers, is giving you.

So God has previously made similar statements to what we read at the end of Revelation.  We’ll look more into the details of the warning next time, but there is an unmistakable quality in both passages that should not be missed:

Any believer that hears God’s commands is expected to take what God says very, very seriously.

Keep Pressing,
Ken