Category: sermon-archive

Matthew 13:51-52

⁵¹ Jesus asked “Have you understood all these things?” They said to him, “Yes.”

⁵² And he said to them, “Because of this, every scribe who has been discipled for the kingdom from the sky is like a homeowner, who can take out of his treasure new stuff and old stuff.”

Unpacking the text

Picture Jesus with his twelve disciples. He had just been out in the open air, teaching them the familiar parables of the soils, the weeds, the mustard tree, and the yeasted loaf. They were probably outside so that Jesus could use nature itself as his visual aid. There were crowds all around them, and they heard the same words as the disciples did.

· But many of them did not understand. Jesus’ words were like seed sown along the path, that never penetrated into the soil, and was soon stolen away by the evil one.

· Some did understand, but they were not grounded in the faith. At the first sign of opposition or trouble, they were going to bail.

· Some were going to embrace his message, then get sidetracked with other desires or worries.

Next, Jesus and his disciples move inside for some further instructions. Jesus explains the parable of the weeds to them, and them only. In fact, this entire section (verses 36-52) is only found in Matthew’s Gospel. These parables and explanations are the insider information about the kingdom that Jesus preaches about. These few men were Jesus’ good soil, so he was going to spend his quality time on them.

· First, they ask Jesus to explain the part about the weeds. Jesus takes every single element of that story and explains its meaning for his disciples.

o Jesus himself is the farmer who broadcasts seeds. Now, it is important to remember which parable Jesus is explaining here. In the parable of the soils, the farmer is the evangelist. Jesus used the parable of the soils to explain to his disciples that as they proclaimed the gospel there would be different responses. In that parable, the seed is the word of God.

o But the parable of the weeds takes only one element of that parable and expands upon it. That one element is what Jesus calls “the good seed.” The good seed is the fruit bearing disciple. In verse 38 Jesus calls them the “children of the kingdom.”

o The field is the world. The world is going to contain true children of the kingdom and false children of the kingdom. We might be tempted to go back to the parable of the soils and try to teach ourselves how to discern who is the real deal and who is not. But Jesus does not tell us to do that. His point is that in the case of the weeds, we are not going to be able to tell. The field is going to be covered with crop, but only some of it is going to be genuine.

o The weeds are poisonous weeds that look just like wheat. Jesus calls these weeds “sons of the evil one.” The devil himself planted them in the field. They look like children of the kingdom, but their purpose is fulfilling Satan’s will, not God’s will.

o The only time that we will actually be able to truly discern who is genuine and who is not is at the harvest. That is when the angels will gather all “causes of sin” and “law-breakers.” and throw them into a fiery furnace. Jesus had already taught his disciples that God is able to destroy soul and body completely in a place called Gehenna at the end of the age. So, the disciples knew that the fiery furnace in this parable was the second death. Jesus said that in this place was going to be weeping and gnashing of teeth. You weep when you are sorrowful, and you gnash your teeth when you are angry. It is not hard to understand why both of those emotions will be felt by those who will be condemned on judgment day. I think Jesus is implying that a lot of people are going to be actually surprised that they did not make the cut.

o The final element of this parable is a picture of the true harvest, shining like the sun in the Father’s kingdom. After hell had destroyed all that is false, the true is what you have left. The good news of this gospel parable is that if you are the real deal, you are going to have eternal life.

· Next, Jesus tells two very similar stories. One is about a treasure hidden in a field. A guy finds it, and then sells all that he has to buy the field, knowing that the treasure will come along with it. The next is about a pearl of great value. A guy sells all that he has to buy that one object.

o Now, we are used to using these parables to talk about the cost of discipleship. After all, in another context, Jesus told these same disciples “any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.”[1]

o I wonder if we are getting what Jesus meant to say here though. You see, the valuable thing that survives into the next age in the first parable is the good seed: the children of the kingdom: us! That’s something to think about.

· The final story Jesus tells in this setting is about a net that is cast into the sea, and it collects fish of every kind. The good fish are gathered up and put into containers, and the bad fish are thrown away. Jesus once again tells his disciples that this story is about the end of the age, when the righteous are preserved, but the evil are thrown into that same fiery furnace and destroyed.

· Verse 51 has the all important question: “Have you understood all these things?” Have we? Let me rephrase the question. Do we as believers understand how important we are to God? We are the children of his future kingdom – his kingdom coming from the sky. We are the good seed. We are the treasure hidden in a field. We are the pearl of great value. Jesus gave his life for us. We are not throwaways; we are keepers!

· Then, in verse 52, Jesus says “Because of this, every scribe who has been discipled for the kingdom from the sky is like a homeowner, who can take out of his treasure new stuff and old stuff.”

o Some scholars think that Jesus used the word scribe here because at that time it was an alternate term for disciple. That makes sense if you remember that Jesus was inside a house speaking to only his disciples at the time.

o So Jesus says that if a scribe can be discipled in the concepts of the kingdom, then it is like he has both antique valuables and shiny new stuff as well.

o Let’s think about that for a minute. How does that statement follow from what Jesus had just been teaching? I mean, there must be a connection. Jesus begins his statement with the words “because of this.” That means that everything he has just been teaching his disciples is the ground for the statement about disciples being homeowners with new stuff and old stuff. Does anyone else have a problem with this, or am I just dense?

o Maybe I don’t understand Jesus’ words so easily because I have never been a home owner. We have always rented, or had parsonages or mission houses. But I can understand the concept of home ownership. Also, if you went to my apartment today you could see some old stuff in it – some hand-me-downs from our parents and a lot more hand-me-ups from our children. We don’t have a lot of new stuff, but we do have some.

o What I’m trying to do is make the connection between the spiritual lessons Jesus was teaching in verses 36-50 and his statement in verse 52. The key must be the comparison between the old stuff and the new stuff. I’m thinking that the new stuff is the kingdom coming down from the sky stuff. The old stuff must be everything else – that is, all the good things that were part of their lives before they came to Christ. The old stuff is not good enough to save you, but it isn’t necessarily bad stuff.

o But what does that have to do with hell? You see, I am not forgetting that Jesus was teaching his disciples that there is going to be a harvest some day, and lots of people who think they are wheat are going to find out that they were weeds. The angels are going to collect them in bundles and burn them up. They think they are priceless treasure or good fish but some day they are going to find out that they have a furnace with their name on it. That is the essential message that Jesus is teaching, and it is true. But I’m trying to connect that truth to what Jesus says in verse 52, because at face value it seems like the punch line to a different joke.

o So, in verse 52, Jesus says “Because of this, every scribe who has been discipled for the kingdom from the sky is like a homeowner, who can take out of his treasure new stuff and old stuff.” Because of what? Because we are the new stuff. Because we are God’s plan for the next universe. Because we are precious, valuable, and important to the creator of all things. We are the real deal. There are a lot of people in this world who have a lot of things to offer. You can hang out with them, but be warned, all the stuff they have to offer is the old stuff. It’s not going to make it to the new life. It’s not going to make the cut. The old stuff is going to burn.

Summarizing the timeless Message

OK, I’ve unpacked the text, now it’s time to summarize all that into one statement that gets to the point. The timeless message is not about fields or farms or fish. It’s about people. This world we are living in is made up of two kinds of people. You probably have some of both kinds in your family; I have. You might have some Facebook friends in both categories; I do.

Jesus is not saying that one of these groups is made up of perfect people, and the other is made up of smelly, broken riffraff. That’s not how this salvation thing works. No, what Jesus is saying is that he has invested in the lives of his disciples something new: the gospel. Believers accept the gospel, and unbelievers reject the gospel. The gospel is taking root inside us, and changing us. That treasure is inside us, but it’s planted. Sometimes it does not show because it is hidden. But it is there.

At the end of this age, when Jesus returns, he is going to rescue those people that he planted. They are going to survive into the next age. The others are not. Today, we have some of the old world in us, and some of the new world. Sometimes, it is not even easy to tell which team we are on. But here is the big idea, so simple I have to apologize for saying it: GOD’S PEOPLE ARE IMPORTANT TO HIM!

We are the true wheat, so we are going to survive harvest. We are the treasure hidden in the field. We are the pearl of great value. We are the good fish. Hell is real, and it is going to destroy everything in this world that will not make it into the next. But we have the new stuff. Yes, we still have a bunch of the old stuff too, but that does not define us. God’s grace defines us. The Master of the harvest determines what crop gets saved. The owner of the boat determines which fish get kept.

Applying the Message today

I have been a Christian for over 40 years, and I have been preaching and teaching the Bible all that time. I am not saying that to brag, I am saying it to confess. If what I have been reading from this passage is true, then I have been misinterpreting it and misapplying it for a long time. You see, I still wake up sometimes at night wondering if my faith is real. I wonder if I am really the wheat or if I am some gluten free but poisonous genetically modified substitute. I wonder how I could be a treasure worth Christ dying for. I smell like bad fish. When I’m having thoughts like that, frankly, the reality of a coming day of judgment and hell as a fiery furnace – these are not encouraging thoughts to me.

But of the twelve disciples that Jesus was teaching that day, only one was a bad fish: Judas. Jesus was teaching the eleven that they were really important to him. They were not as mature as they wanted themselves to be. They knew they did not measure up to their own standards, much less those of the people they were trying to reach. But Jesus invited them to take a peek into their future. He was telling them that he was not going to give up on them. They were going to make it. They were going to make the cut.

So I can take some encouragement from these words, and so can you. Jesus is telling us that he started this, and he’s going to finish it. He planted his gospel of the coming kingdom in your heart, and he will suit you for that kingdom. He’s the one who caught you, and he’s going to keep you. He loved you enough to die for you. He’s not going to give up on you now.

If you are a Christian today, you are a homeowner, and you have a bunch of old stuff in your garage. But you also managed to pick up something else along the way. You have a relationship with God, bought by the blood of Christ – a relationship made possible by the grace of God. Not everybody has one of those. That’s the new stuff that you have, and on judgment day, it will make all the difference.

If you are not a Christian today, then all you have is the old stuff. It does not matter how new your stuff may seem; it is still the old stuff. All the old stuff is going to burn. Come to Jesus! He promises the gift of eternal life.

 

This sermon was preached at Fellowship Advent Christian Church, Taylorsville, NC, on Sunday, January 19th, 2014.

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[1] Luke 14:33 .

“So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”” Acts 1:6-8 ESV

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I would not blame anyone for being a little distracted right now. There is a great deal going on globally, and things here in the United States seem a bit shaky. I would not be surprised if the history books list this as a crucial time, a time when major decisions were made with lasting effects.

I am going to ask you to go back with me in time to the first century AD, the time when the words of this text were first spoken. They were given in a time like this. They were spoken when powerful men made decisions that plunged the world into war, decisions that cost millions of lives, and brought pain and ruin to the lives of millions of others.

All of these words were spoken in Jerusalem, a city whose inhabitants were convinced that they would someday rule the world. The believers in Jesus got together and were sure that now was the time for them to take over. Jesus had demonstrated his power over everything. Even death could not stop him. Logic dictated that the believers form armies and overcome their oppressors. Jesus said no.

Jesus did not object to the theology behind his disciples’ question. He implied that some day his people would join him in a reign over all the earth. Jesus objected to the mission implied by their question. He commanded that they gear themselves up for a different mission.

That mission is still ours today. In fact, it is the only mission we have. Jesus’ great commission was essentially the same. We were commanded to make disciples of all nations, and this was to begin in Jerusalem. It was a mission that would be ours until the end of the age,[1] and we are not to stop until we have reached the last unreached place on earth.

A HOLY MISSION

The power behind our mission is the Holy Spirit himself. The believers at Pentecost were empowered by the Holy Spirit to reach Jerusalem for Christ. They were filled with the Holy Spirit and began telling the mighty works of God in different languages. Those who heard their words responded to the gospel as preached by Peter, and came to Christ themselves. Soon, the whole region was filled with the message. Then the Holy Spirit moves Philip to preach in Samaria, and Peter and John get in on the action, “preaching the gospel to many villages of the Samaritans.”[2] Then The Holy Spirit sends Peter to Joppa, and sets aside Paul & Barnabas to preach the same message to other gentiles. So, the book of Acts records how the Holy Spirit began accomplishing the mission.

Wherever the Holy Spirit goes, holiness happens. He takes our ordinary lives and reboots them, restoring them to their originally intended function. Wherever the gospel goes, people are confronted with their own sinfulness, because they meet Christ. He does not demand that we change, he offers grace. But his grace changes us.

A JESUS MISSION

From that point on, life ceases to be about us, and what we are about. Life becomes about letting the world know that Jesus lives, who he is, and what he has done. That is what it means to be a his witness. A witness is someone who testifies of something that he has seen and experienced.

You cannot be Jesus’ witness until you actually experience him. Once you experience him, you cannot help being his witness. You may not do it well, but you already are his witness.

A WORLD MISSION

The scope of our mission is always global. No matter who you are, no matter what your gifts, no matter what your background, Jesus challenges you to have an impact on every nation on the planet.

We are living in a time when that is more possible than it ever has been. Although we travel every year, there is no way for Penny and I to visit even the seven Asia –Pacific countries whose ministries we oversee for the denomination. But we can still be regularly involved in the ministries of those countries because of this remarkable time we are living in. We keep in regular contact with church and mission leaders in 20 countries, as part of the Global Training Initiative. I write and post articles and devotions on the internet that are being read by people in over 90 countries.

You and your church are making a global impact when you pray for missionaries and national leaders. You are making a global impact when you give to missions. I applaud you for doing that. But I want to challenge you to go beyond that. There is no telling what you and your church could do if you caught on to what it means to be a world Christian today.

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[1] Matthew 28:16.

[2] Acts 8:25.

 

Today’s message at Relevant Church in Williamsburg, Virginia

 

 

Then he said, “Beware! Guard against every kind of greed. Life is not measured by how much you own.” ¹⁶ Then he told them a story: “A rich man had a fertile farm that produced fine crops. ¹⁷ He said to himself, ‘What should I do? I don’t have room for all my crops.’ ¹⁸ Then he said, ‘I know! I’ll tear down my barns and build bigger ones. Then I’ll have room enough to store all my wheat and other goods. ¹⁹ And I’ll sit back and say to myself, “My friend, you have enough stored away for years to come. Now take it easy! Eat, drink, and be merry!”‘ ²⁰ “But God said to him, ‘You fool! You will die this very night. Then who will get everything you worked for?’ ²¹ “Yes, a person is a fool to store up earthly wealth but not have a rich relationship with God.” (Luke 12:15-21 NLT).

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I’m a fan of time travel stories, and often wander what it would be like to go back in time and see how people reacted to the words that Jesus said. I suspect that the reactions were not “oh, how wonderful!” or “my, how profound!” No, I suspect that Jesus made most normal people scratch their heads in confusion, and he made most “important” people bang their heads against the wall in anger.

Today’s text is a good example of this. Two things prompt Jesus to tell this little parable. First, he had warned his disciples (with thousands looking on and listening in) not to follow the example of the Pharisees, because they were hypocrites. They were acting like they had right relationships with God, but they were really serving self. Their outward religion was a cover for inward corruption. Jesus told his disciples to beware of their leaven. In other words, don’t touch a Pharisee with a ten foot pole. They are unclean. The odd thing about that is that the popular understanding that people had in Jesus day was that the Pharisees were spiritual supermen. They were the ones who got it right, and that was why they were rich. Jesus said, no, that’s not right. The “normal” people scratched their heads.

The Pharisees themselves were convinced that they were following the rules. They saw wealth as a blessing from God, given precisely because they had followed the rules. When John the Baptist – and then Jesus – opposed them, they got mad. “How dare these ‘prophets’ condemn us. Can’t they see that we are blessed by God? They must be demon possessed.” The “important” people got angry at Jesus.

The second thing that prompted Jesus to tell this particular little parable is a request that someone from the crowd gave him.

“Teacher, please tell my brother to divide our father’s estate with me.” (Luke 12:13 NLT).

Now, the Bible does not give us the details of that man’s issue. He may have had a legitimate legal grievance with his brother. Or, he may have been trying to get Jesus to intervene over his father’s wishes. Those details are not really important to Jesus right now. The point is, the man was trying to gain from his association with Jesus. So, Jesus asks “Friend, who made me a judge over you to decide such things as that?” (Luke 12:14 NLT).

Jesus is not Santa Claus. We’re not going to get what we want just by sitting on his lap and spilling our Christmas list. That is not why he came to this earth. When we really start realizing this, a lot of stuff is going to be taken off our prayer lists.

OK, with that established, let’s look at today’s text:

Then he said, “Beware! Guard against every kind of greed. Life is not measured by how much you own.” (15).

That statement is just as radical today as it was two millennia ago. Today the popular belief is that those who have the most stuff have the best life. The rich are idolized no matter what they believe, and no matter who they serve.

Then he told them a story: “A rich man had a fertile farm that produced fine crops. He said to himself, ‘What should I do? I don’t have room for all my crops.’ Then he said, ‘I know! I’ll tear down my barns and build bigger ones. Then I’ll have room enough to store all my wheat and other goods. And I’ll sit back and say to myself, “My friend, you have enough stored away for years to come. Now take it easy! Eat, drink, and be merry!”(16-19).

This was the man’s 401K – his retirement plan. He said “I got some good stuff. I’m going to make bigger barns, so that I can hold all my stuff. Then I’m going to kick back, go to Barbados, and get some sand between my toes.” Well, that was the plan. But God knew something that the would-be retiree did not know:

But God said to him, ‘You fool! You will die this very night. Then who will get everything you worked for?’ (20).

The man was rich, resourceful, productive, and successful. He had made a plan that would provide for his needs and (presumably) those of his family. He would have been praised by the popular culture of his day, and ours. But in just one moment – one last heartbeat – he was going to lose all that he had ever gained.

“Yes, a person is a fool to store up earthly wealth but not have a rich relationship with God.”(21)

This is the moral of the story. Jesus tells his disciples and the others who have ears to hear “don’t waste your life just collecting stuff. Bigger barns are not the answer.” So, what is the answer? The answer is “a rich relationship with God.” But how do we get that? Jesus told another parable that explained that:

“…the Kingdom of Heaven is like a merchant on the lookout for choice pearls. When he discovered a pearl of great value, he sold everything he owned and bought it’ (Matthew 13:45-46 NLT).

The “pearl of great value” in Matthew 13 is that “rich relationship with God” of Luke 12. Once you discover that it exists, you also discover that it is going to take everything you have, and everything that you can ever get to obtain it. You then have a choice: you can be like the Pharisees, and just pretend to have it, but still keep building bigger barns for yourself. Or, you can invest in God. That’s a crude way of putting it, but it is what it is.

Big Idea: Invest in a rich relationship with God, instead of more stuff.

I started investing in my relationship with God when I was ten. I regret that I wasted ten years of my life on building useless barns. But, as long as you are alive, it’s not too late. What made the rich fool a fool was that he died before he got the chance to do what he was made for.

Here are a few investment tips:

1. Pay very close attention to what God says.

The Bible just happens to be God’s word. As such, we can find out what God wants, what he does not want, what he has planned – things like that. If you are serious about getting a rich relationship with God, start there.

For me, paying attention to what God says means spending regular quality time reading and studying the Bible. Some of you know that I write a devotional blog. I read a Bible passage every morning and comment on it. It was really hard at first, but now I cannot wait to do it every morning. Sometimes it is easy, and sometimes it is not. This has been the hardest year in the plan, because this year covers the prophets of the Old Testament. These guys often had to give voice to God’s heart when his heart was hurt by his people’s sin. As a result, there are a lot of negative confessions, and threats of judgment. No one is comfortable with this because it goes against our cardboard cutout of God. God is supposed to be a peaceful good shepherd, not a wrathful, vengeful destroyer. But the more I pay attention to his whole word, the more I realize that he is both.

2. Spend quality time in conversation with God.

I’m still working on this one. I don’t pray as often as I should, but I suspect that everyone who is honest says that. Prayer is hard to do because it is like talking to the school principal when you are in the 3^rd grade, and have just been sent to his office.

The good news is God is like a grandfather when it comes to prayer. I love to hear Jeffrey and Elena and Simon and Quenton speak. Even when they have been bad, I love to see them and hear them.

Notice what Paul told the Philippians about prayer:

Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:6-7 NLT)

Paul is talking about what happens when we pray. Prayer is a way of exchanging our worries for his peace. We may go into prayer like a third grader expecting punishment, but we can leave the throne with a smile from grandpa!

3. get involved with the church.

Jesus Christ has two bodies. He has a body in heaven at God’s throne, and a body on earth: the church.

There are three foundational commands in scripture: Love the LORD, love your neighbor as yourself, and make disciples. In the church and as the church, we can obey all three of those commands.

As the church, we are gathered together for the purpose of intentional investment in God and his kingdom. A rich relationship with God includes fellowship with each other, and ministry to one another. John said: “We know what real love is because Jesus gave up his life for us. So we also ought to give up our lives for our brothers and sisters.” (1 John 3:16). Investing in God implies investing in our fellow believers too.

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When we come to the communion, we celebrate Jesus’ willingness to give up his bigger barns in heaven and to invest in us. That investment cost him his life. As we take these emblems, we can celebrate and be thankful that he cared enough to invest his life in us. We can also remember his challenge for us to invest in a rich relationship with God.

 

A chapel message at Oro Bible College

Cagayan de Oro, Philippines

 

Based on James 5:13-20

1. Pray what you feel (13).

“Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise.”

So many of our prayers are just reciting formulas and words that we have learned. The LORD is more interested in our being honest with him. He wants to hear our complaints when we are suffering, and our praises when we are happy. He’s our Father and he wants to hear our voice.

2. Get help when you need it (14-15a) (16a).

“Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him” “pray for one another”

Sometimes our pride keeps us from getting the benefits of prayer, because the LORD wants others to minister to us, but we want to do everything ourselves. The LORD loves us all, and he is pleased when we pray for others, and others pray for us.

3. Unconfessed sin can ruin your prayer life (15b-16a).

“if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.” “Therefore, confess your sins to one another”

Sin puts a barrier between us and the One we are praying to. It cuts off the connection. Nothing destroys relationships like guilt. We need to keep short accounts with God, so that our prayers are not hindered.

4. Pray for both spiritual and physical healing (16b) (19-20).

“pray for one another, that you may be healed” “whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death.”

Sin and sickness are both evidence that there is something wrong with this world we live in. God created the universe in a state of perfection, but when our ancestors rebelled, sin and sickness and death entered in. Our prayers are not always going to stop people from sinning, being sick, or dying. But we do know that reconciliation and restoration can happen, and the LORD encourages us to keep praying until it does.

5. You do not have to be a spiritual giant to pray powerfully; you just have to pray in tune with God’s desire (17-18).

“Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently”

Elijah was an ordinary man whom God used. The LORD is looking for ordinary men and women who are willing to pray. That way, he gets the glory for his work, not the instrument he uses. When we find out what God wants, we pray accordingly, and let God be God. But, even then, there are no guarantees. That is why it is called the prayer of faith.

 

“One of the teachers of religious law was standing there listening to the debate. He realized that Jesus had answered well, so he asked, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”  Jesus replied, “The most important commandment is this: ‘Listen, O Israel! The Lord our God is the one and only Lord.  And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.’” (Mark 12:28-30 NLT)

At it’s heart, this is a commandment for God’s people to be loyal to him.  You do not have to be an expert in the Old Testament to know that staying loyal to the LORD was the challenge the Israelites faced.  The people of the exodus struggled to stay loyal in spite of their wilderness wanderings.  The people of the conquest struggled to stay loyal in spite of the fact that it meant fighting what seemed a hopeless cause.  The people of the monarchy struggled to stay loyal in spite of the constant temptation to give in to other deities – often being tempted to do so by their own kings and priests.

Every generation has its own test of loyalty.  Ours is no different that the ones who have come and gone.  It is our test – it is not God’s.  He knows who he is.  He knew the time in the beginning when no one else existed.  He had no rivals.  He also knows about eternity future.  He has appointed a day of judgment.  He knows that there will be no rival standing after that day.  He has a day of destruction coming that will deal effectively with all his enemies. One by one, all humans and all demons who have dared compete with him for the allegiance of others will be judged, punished, and destroyed, until the last enemy (death itself) will be destroyed (1 Cor. 15:26). The Judgment Day is the Final Exam. It is the time when all will see who made it to the next term (which, in this case, is eternity).

The standard is this: loving the LORD as the one and only lord.  The apostle Paul said:

“There may be so-called gods both in heaven and on earth, and some people actually worship many gods and many lords. But we know that there is only one God, the Father, who created everything, and we live for him. And there is only one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom God made everything and through whom we have been given life.” (1 Corinthians 8:5-6 NLT)

Living for the one creator and trusting in his one means of life is what Christians do.  It is how we show our loyalty to our LORD.  We have been born into a generation of religious pluralism, but we dare to be religious singularists. We will tolerate and befriend others who hold to other faiths, and accept them as individuals.  We may even defend their right to believe what they do.  But we cannot join their worship, not allow our children to be proselytized.  The Bible teaches the truth. Things that contradict the Bible’s message cannot be taught or accepted without breaking the most important commandment.

Our God looks beyond this age with its relativism and uncertainty.  He sees into eternity, when no rival to his throne exists.  He knows what is real and what is just a passing fancy.  The Christian is challenged to see this world as God sees it.  Today it is filled with things that are temporary, but there are some things that will remain.  Loyalty to the LORD makes sense, because only he and those who cling to him will last. It is not just that we want to be on the winning team. It is that we understand that even the contest is temporary.  God’s enemies will be destroyed.  Those who follow them will be destroyed.  Jesus is not just one of those offering life: he is the life.

“And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.  The one who has the Son has this eternal life; the one who does not have the Son of God does not have this eternal life.” (1 John 5:11-12 NET).

The life we are born into is a gift from our creator.  The life that we expect to receive at our resurrection is a gift from our redeemer.  He is coming in the clouds one day, and he has a gift with him.  We are so certain that he is coming back and has that gift for us that we can talk about having it now.  It is a done deal, because it is a promise from the one who loves us so much that he went to the cross for us.  He is not going to let us down.  So, whether we are alive when he comes, or asleep in death, we know we will live along with him.  He is the firstfruits from among those who sleep (1 Cor. 15:20,23).  Just as he was raised (awakened) to life again, so we will be raised (awakened) as well.

THE ORGAN OF LOYALTY

In ancient days, the heart was more than the seat of the emotions. It was the organ of loyalty.  When God told the Israelites that they would rebel against him, he also promised that “The LORD your God will also cleanse your heart and the hearts of your descendants so that you may love him with all your heart and soul and so that you may live.” (Deuteronomy 30:6 NET).  If the opposite of loving God is rebellion, how do we show our love for him?  Those who rebel must return.  You cannot love God if you remain distant.  The first Christians were taught how to live because “the aim of our instruction is love that comes from a pure heart, a good conscience, and a sincere faith” (1 Timothy 1:5).  You have a heart which is capable of clinging to the LORD in loyal love.  The Father knows that you will do it.  He sees into the future, and sees you loving and serving him forever (if you are a believer now). 

THE LOYAL LIFE

Your soul is not some invisible life force which survives death and flies away when the body dies.  Your soul is your life itself.  The Old Testament Hebrew word nephesh is related to a Ugaritic  word for neck or throat.  It had to do with eating and breathing.  The word came to express one’s life.  In the New Testament, Jesus said:

“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?” (Matthew 6:25 ESV). 

That word “life” was the word psuche, the Greek word for soul.  It had to do with eating and drinking. Disembodied souls do not eat and drink, but living souls do, because eating and drinking keeps them alive.  Jesus was challenging his disciples to live lives so loyal to him that the LORD was more important that staying alive. That is what it means to love the LORD with all your soul.

THE LOYAL MIND

To love the LORD with all your mind entails surrendering your mind to his.  It is not simply allowing someone to indoctrinate you in religious things.  It is setting your mind free to become what God intends it to be.  A mind loyal to God is always open to learn.  The prophets in the ancient world has students, and taught them how to see what God sees.  Jesus gathered disciples around him, invited them to follow him, and promised to turn them into something more than they were.  To simple fishermen, he promised to make them into fishers of men (Matthew 4:19; Mark 1:17).  To teachers in Israel he promised to teach them heavenly things (John 3:12).

Satan wants to keep us from devoting our minds to the LORD’s service.  He likes to convince people that God is not interested in their minds: he only wants their hearts.  But this commandment requires us to be completely and comprehensively loyal to the LORD.  There is no hierarchy of loyalty.  Our thought lives are just as important to God as our emotions are.  Especially in this age where all religions are criticized for being primeval, we need men and women who dare to challenge that assumption.  We need Christian doctors and lawyers and teachers to unashamedly proclaim that God is sovereign in the classroom as well as the prayer room.

PRIME TIME LOYALTY

For the Hebrews, the word strength had the connotation of youth and vigor (Joshua 14:11).  Another strategy that the Enemy uses against the LORD is to convince people to waste their strong years on themselves, and to put aside the LORD’s work until retirement.  But the LORD commands prime time loyalty.  He wants the years of our strength.  In fact, if we dedicate our strength to loving him, he will renew that youth (Psalm 103:5). This appears to have been what happened in Caleb’s life.  Sadly, the Calebs of this world are few, because Satan has convinced most that there is plenty of time for religion later on, after you spend your life on other pursuits. But, imagine a generation of young men and women whose hearts and souls and minds and strengths are wholly committed to the LORD!

ONLY ONE THING

The greatest commandment challenges us to forsake a life of many pursuits and to concentrate our devotion and efforts on God: the one and only.  Most of us who want to be good Christians struggle with this.  Like Martha, we are “distracted by (our) many tasks” (Luke 10:40 NRSV).  Jesus commended Mary because “There is only one thing worth being concerned about. Mary has discovered it, and it will not be taken away from her” (Luke 10:42 NLT).  Have you discovered it yet?  Life is like a puzzle that only makes sense when you see the big picture. Then, you can put it all together.  Discover Christ – the one and only — and keeping the greatest commandment can be done.  Come, sit at his feet, and your life will have meaning.