Faithful and Wise (Matthew 24 - P 62)

We are in Matthew 24 ... and are listening to Jesus prepare his disciples what what is to come.  As Matthew records the words, there seems to be movement between the coming destruction of Jerusalem which occurred in 70 AD and the second coming of our Lord which will signal the end of this era of time as we know it.  Deciphering which verses apply to which event is difficult for me!
Let's keep listening ... and see what God's Spirit speaks into you as you as you read ...

Matthew 24: 32 - 51

One question from Jesus' lips leaps off the page to me.  It is the message that speaks with the loudest voice as I read these verses anew today.  Did you hear it?  Verse 45 ...

Who then is the faithful and wise servant ...

Are you?

"Faithful" ... In Strong's Lexicon we learn that this word means:  "of persons who show themselves faithful in the transaction of business, the execution of commands, or the discharge of official duties"  

And from Easton's Bible Dictionary, we learn that this word means:  "as a designation of Christians - means full of faith, trustful, and not simply trustworthy"

So I go back to my question ... are you?  Am I?  Faithful?  

"Wise" ... In Vines we learn that this word means:  "prudent, sensible, practically wise"

Are you?  Am I?  Wise?  

You and I are living in the time before the second coming of our Lord.  And His challenge is to be faithful and wise as we live out our days on this earth.  

Faithful in the way we execute the business of being "Christian" ... of wearing the name of our Father ... of responding to and executing the commands that he has left for us.  We are to be trustful - full of trust.  

Wise in the way we deal with life ... with people ... with circumstances ... with success and with failure.  We are to be wise, prudent, sensible.  

Oh Lord.  Give us eyes to see our own times of faithlessness ... times of foolishness.  Our heart's desire is to be found faithful and wise.  Through your Spirit ... with your strength ... we surrender our hearts to you yet again.  

Jesus' Foretelling (Matthew 24 - P 61)

After entering Jerusalem at Passover time, we observed Jesus as he engaged in heated exchanges with the religious leaders.  All of that took place in and around the temple.  All of that took place in front of the Passover crowds.  Jesus terminates the interchange with the scathing words of chapter 23.  Jesus now leaves the temple area accompanied by his disciples.  And another interesting and challenging conversation ensues.

Read Matthew 24: 1 - 31

This chapter presents us with major challenges.  Interpretations abound!  Rigorous debates among biblical scholars swirl around this chapter.  The questions of "when", and "how" surface, confuse and challenge us.  Rather than describe the varying interpretations in my space here, I want us to try and focus our attention on what we can know.  

     1.  Some of these verses are about the destruction of Jerusalem that happened in 70 AD.  The siege under Titus, the Roman general, was horrific ... and the descriptions in the writings of Josephus are difficult to read because of the horror described ... the famine, starvation, cannibalism, death, destruction.  Jesus warns the people to flee ... don't stay in the city.  Instead, Josephus tells us that people flocked INTO  Jerusalem when the Roman army approached ... and they were locked up inside.  The military strategy was to starve them out.  And they did.  

Any lessons for you and I?  Remember - God raises countries and governments, and God takes them down.  The size of the temple stones and buildings that so wowed the disciples (24:1) are actually marvels of ancient engineering.  Angle stones from the temple have been found which measure 20 - 40 feet and weigh more than 100 tons.  But man-made things will always fall when it is time.  Be amazed at God ... be awed by Him.

     2.  Some of these verses deal with the "day of the Lord".  There is a new age coming ... future to the disciples and future to us still.  Jesus will return.  He is coming back.  This I know.

Any lessons for you and I?  God is not finished with this old world!  He has a new order already created and planned ... awaiting his perfect timing.  I want to be ready.  Jesus takes that issue up in chapter 25. 

     3.  Some of these verses deal with the persecution that will accompany faith.  Jesus is so wonderfully honest.  He certainly cannot be accused of painting a "rosy" picture for the disciples concerning their lives as followers of him.  And he does not paint a "rosy" one for us either.   

Lessons?  We are foolish when we expect life to be smooth and easy and always healthy and wealthy because we are followers of Christ.  We pray for strength ... for courage ... for perseverance ... for endurance ... for wisdom ... as we navigate life in this fallen, chaotic, messed-up world.  And messed up it is!  

     4.  Some of these verses deal with the issue of timing.  Precisely ... no one knows exactly when these things will occur.  No one.  No one.  In fact, when someone begins to explain why and how they know exactly when the second coming will happen ... I know they are blowing smoke rings.  Because Jesus said ... no one knows.  

Lessons?  I choose to not stress out over the "end of times" debates.  I don't know when it will be.  I just know it will be.  I don't know what it will look like.  I just know it will be.  I don't know the timeline.  I just know it will be.  

Michael J Wilkins wrote:  "Our challenge is not to solve the mysteries of prophecy, but to be faithful in our lifetime."

And that is my prayer for you and I ... Lord, find us faithful today.  

Jesus' Anger (Matthew 23 - P 60)

Have you ever known someone who was very even-keeled?  Didn't get angry often?  Was patient and kind to all around them?  Things just didn't seem to throw them out of balance ... they could go with the flow in any and all circumstances?  If you have ... when that person DID get angry ... you paid attention!

Jesus was such a person.  We stay amazed at his patience with the crowds ... with his own disciples ... with the complexities of life and people.  We stay amazed at how he did not get angry ... when you and I would have blown up!

In chapters 21 and 22 of Matthew, we observed Jesus as he entered Jerusalem for the Passover festivities.  His time and attention had been dominated with the malicious questioning by the religious leaders of his day.  When the badgering was finished ... he lets loose!  And we listen as Jesus blasts those "religious leaders".

What made Jesus angry?  He put up with so much during his short ministry on earth.  What was it that made him angry?  Today we will read an entire chapter.  Read it out loud if you can.  Identify the things that made our Lord angry.

Read Matthew 23

I have written in this series before about the fact that "religion" is not a dirty word.  In and of itself it is a fine word, even a beautiful word.  The Webster's dictionary definition is:

1

 (1): the service and worship of God or the supernatural (2): commitment or devotion to religious faith or observance

2

: a personal set or institutionalized system of religious attitudes, beliefs, and practices

3

archaic: scrupulous conformity : conscientiousness

4

: a cause, principle, or system of beliefs held to with ardor and faith 

Why do hundreds of thousands people in our own country claim faith in God and Jesus but want no part of religion?  Why are they leaving churches in droves?  This chapter in Matthew, these scathing words from Jesus give us insight into the "why" of the previous 2 questions.  

What made Jesus angry?  It was the abuse and misuse of religion.  It was the twisting of religion to meet personal agendas.  It was the perversion of religion.  I see six things about the way the Pharisees and scribes had used and misused religion that incited Jesus' indictment.  Do you see others?  

Jesus gets angry when ...

1. people turn religion into a burden.  It is to be a support and an encouragement and a connector, not a set of rules and regulations that are burdensome to try and carry.  
2. people turn religion into an ostentatious show.  It is not to be another American Idol show where individuals are the "stars".  It is not to be another system of political posturing where there are winners and losers, where I vote my way in.  
3. people turn religion into an exclusive sect ... for the few who are willing to march according to a humanly prescribed set of criteria.  More specifically, for those who "look and think just like me!"
4. people turn religion into a set of minutiae to bring honor and prestige to a few rather than principles established by God
5. people turn religion into a cover-up for uncleanness of heart and mind
6. people turn religion into an excuse for murder.

So what is religion TO BE?  It is TO BE a support system for followers of Jesus to become more and more like him.  It is TO BE the hands and feet of Jesus in our world today.  It is TO BE an avenue for people to experience the grace of God and the love of God.  

Matthew 22: 37 - 40     Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.  This is the first and greatest commandment.  And the second is like it:  Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.

Micah 6:8     He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?

James 1: 26 - 27     If any think they are religious, and do not bridle their tongues but deceive their hearts, their religion is worthless.  Religions that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this:  to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.

Hebrews 10: 24 - 25    And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

Are you religious?  How?  Examine your heart and mind under the microscope of Matthew 23.  Then, through prayer and perseverance, be religious!  But follow the religion of Christ ... alongside Christ followers for encouragement and strength.  

First Law (Matthew 22 - P 59)

In Matthew 22 we are in the midst of a very confrontational encounter between Jesus and the leaders of His day.  The Pharisees, Sadducees, the Herodians, the scribes ... all have joined forces to discredit Jesus in front of the Passover crowds, and to manipulate some way to eliminate Him.  Our reading today continues the interchange ...

Read Matthew 22: 24 - 46

By Jesus' day, the scribes and Pharisees remained in continual discussion and debate over how to prioritize the laws of God from the Pentateuch.  They had boiled them down to 613 laws ... 248 were positive commands and 365 were negative.  But still that is a mountain of things to remember!  Perhaps this was what was in the mind of this lawyer.  Perhaps he was asking Jesus how he would prioritize the laws.

We listen as Jesus pulls from the Old Testament scripture to answer.  He quotes:

Deuteronomy 6:5  Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.

Leviticus 19:18  Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself.  I am the Lord.

The lawyer had not asked for the top two.  He only asked for the top one.  I wonder if Jesus included the 2nd in light of what he knew these religious leaders were about to do to him!  And yet these two are closely related.  Love God first ... then let that love spill out, like an overflowing cup, onto those around you.

God is love.  Love is at the core of worship ... love is the foundation of service ... love is the transforming power in a life ... love is the only antidote strong enough to deal with our addiction to 'self'.  God is love.

The nineteenth century novelist and poet, George MacDonald wrote to his daughter, Mary ...

God is so beautiful, and so patient, and so loving, and so generous that he is the heart and soul and rock of every love and every kindness and every gladness in the world.  All the beauty in the world and in the hearts of men, all the painting, all the poetry, all the music, all the architecture comes out of his heart first.  He is so lovable that no heart can know how lovable he is - can only know in part.

I suggest that when we cannot love the "other" as we love ourselves ... the primary issue is our lack of love for God.  That hurts!  So when we find ourselves unable to 'love your neighbor' ... perhaps we need to pray a prayer of confession to God about our lack of love for Him.  It is at its root a love issue.

The final verses in the chapter, verses 41 - 46, turn the tables.  Now Jesus asks a question ... and it is a question of identity.  He no longer needs to veil his true identity.  He no longer needs to keep the animosity at bay.  So he challenges the questioners with a theological question of his own.  Who is "Messiah"?  All good Jews would respond as they did ... Messiah will be son of David.  Jesus takes them fully into the mystery of the identity of the Messiah.  Son of David?  Yes ... physically.  But LORD.  Son of God.  Divine.

And the antagonistic questioners are silenced.

Lord, forgive us for only wanting to love the people we like.  Forgive us for only caring about the people that are like us ... look like us, think like us, are like us.  You created all mankind.  You love all mankind.  Grow our love for You so that we can love the "other".  It begins with loving You.  We do love You ... help us in our limited love ... expand it ... grow it.  YOU ARE LOVE.  And we worship ... 

The Ultimate Wedding Banquet (Matthew 22 - P 57)

The chapter break between Matthew 21 and 22 is unfortunate.  Chapter 22 begins with a parable that is the last of a set of parables Jesus told the religious leaders who were questioning His authority (Matthew 21: 23 - 27).  His response to their belligerent challenge was to tell stories.  First there was the parable of the two sons.  Point?  Obedience matters ... your behaviors are more revealing about your heart than are your words.  The second story was the parable of the tenants.  Point?  The ones to whom God had entrusted care of His vineyard had rejected, not only their task, but also Jesus himself.  And their end would be "wretched".  And then Jesus tells two more parables to those antagonistic Jewish leaders ...

Read Matthew 22: 1 - 14

Our verses today contain two parables:  verses 1 - 10 followed by a twist on the story in verses 11 - 14.  

There was a wedding banquet - not just any random wedding banquet - the king's son!  The custom at Jesus' time was to send out two invitations to a wedding.  The first was an invitation saying that you were invited to a great banquet.  A time and date were not included.  The preparations began ... and when all was ready ... the second call went out announcing that the time had arrived ... come!  

Since we are not part of the Jewish religious leadership, are there any lessons for you and I?  What can we learn?  

1. The invitation into God's kingdom is now for all.  All are invited.  There is not an exclusive invite list.  It is not for one echelon of people - not for one social strata - not for one nationality or culture - not for one gender ... it is for all.  Have you ever been guilty of predetermining who will be accepting of Jesus and who will not?  I must confess that I have.  We tend to make assumptions about people or categories of people.  And we tend toward selectivity.  We prefer people like ourselves - however your "self" looks.  We must hear Jesus' words in this parable and know that God extends the invitation  ... our task is to deliver it ... without deciding beforehand who will be receptive and who will not.  Is there someone in your life who needs to hear you speak about Jesus?  Have you been hesitant because you are so sure they are not interested?  Have you been afraid to say anything because of lifestyle or political preferences or any host of other reasons?  Read this parable again ... the invitation is from God ... to all ... your job is to deliver it.
2. The things that keep us from the kingdom of God are not always bad things.  There was nothing wrong with taking care of business, or tending to your field.  It's still a matter of priorities.  Don't let the good rob you of the best!  Let your focus be on the best ... and take care of the good along the way.  
3. The invitation is into joy ... into celebration.  The driving force behind the kingdom of God is not avoiding punishment.  The driving force is the joy that would be missed if one does not respond.  Remember Jesus' picture is one of a great celebratory banquet.  THAT'S what God wants to offer you.  
4. It is an invitation of grace.  No one deserves to be invited ... but invited you are!  Pure gift.  

Verses 11 - 14 take the parable down a different trail.  The imagery that Jesus uses is familiar to these religious leaders.  Note the following:

Psalm 132:16  I will clothe her priests with salvation, and her saints will ever sing for joy.

Isaiah 61:10  I delight greatly in the Lord;  my soul rejoices in my God.  For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness ...

Zechariah 3: 3 - 5  Now Joshua was dressed in filthy clothes as he stood before the angel.  The angel said to those who were standing before him, "Take off his filthy clothes."  The he said to Joshua, "See, I have taken away your sin, and I will put rich garments on you."  Then I said, "Put a clean turban on his head."  So they put a clean turban on his head and clothed him, while the angel of the Lord stood by.

And the imagery continues ...

Revelation 19: 7 - 8  Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory!  For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready.  Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear..  (Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of the saints.)

So do you see the problem in the story Jesus told?  The guest assumed it didn't matter how he came to the banquet.  He could stay filthy.  Yes, the invitation is pure grace ... one does not have to get "cleaned up" to receive the invitation, to come to the feast ... you come "just as you are" ... but one must consider what going to that banquet means in their lives.  I love the way William Barclay describes this:

The way in which people come to anything demonstrates the spirit in which they come.  ... This parable has nothing to do with the clothes in which we go to church; it has everything to do with the spirit in which we go to God's house.  It is profoundly true that church-going must never be a fashion parade.  But there are garments of the mind and of the heart and of the soul ...

And there is the garment of Christ himself.  Without being clothed in Christ, we are not clothed at all.  Without being clothed in Christ, we remain filthy and unrighteous.  And you cannot participate in the wedding banquet of the Son if you are filthy and unrighteous.  Hence, the ABSOLUTE NECESSITY of Jesus.  It is his righteousness - his cleanness - his covering - that allows us to be full participants in the most glorious celebration in all eternity.

So my question is ... are you clothed?  Please put on the pure, clean garment that is our Lord!  

The invitation is in your hand ... what will you do with it?

Jesus - THE Way (Matthew 21 - P 56)

Matthew 21: 23 - 46 needs to be read together because there is really no break in the verses.  The scene is set up in verse 23.  Jesus had gone to the temple area and was teaching there.  Enter the chief priests and elders who came to question Jesus' authority to teach.  The scene closes in verse 46 when these "leaders" of the Jews began to plot to arrest Jesus.  These verses contain the conversation that takes place during this encounter.

Read Matthew 21: 23 - 46

A few observations from these verses ...

Observation #1:  Jesus was a master of perfect timing.  It was not yet time for him to be taken away.  The week was not finished ... there were still some things to do ... it was not yet time for the sacrifice of the Passover lambs.  Therefore Jesus won't answer the chief priests question.  He deflects ... he takes their questions and turns them around.  What can we learn?  

GOD MAKES NO MISTAKES IN TIMING!

We must remind ourselves of that truth so often!  We wait for God to answer our prayers ... and those answers don't seem to come ... and we wonder ... sometimes we doubt that He has even heard.  When those doubts begin screaming in your own mind ... remember this truth.  Remember ... God makes no mistakes in timing.  The actress, Jeannette Clift George has a wonderful way with words.  She has written:

God's timing is perfect.  He is never late.  He misses a few good opportunities to be early, but He is never late. 

and ...

Patience wouldn't be such an awkward traveling companion if it would just move a little faster.

Are you willing to discipline yourself to wait God's timing ... to trust God's timing in your own life?

Observation #2:  When we refuse to look truth in the face because of our own posturing or politicizing, we end up looking a bit like fools.  We end up like these chief priests whose only answer to Jesus' question was "We don't know".  William Barclay wrote:

There is a grim warning here.  there is such a thing as the deliberately assumed ignorance of cowardice.  If we consult expediency rather than principle, our first question will be not 'What is the truth?' but 'What is it safe to say?; ... The deliberately assumed ignorance of fear and the cowardly silence of expediency are shameful things.  If we know the truth, we are under obligation to tell it, though the heavens should fall.

Do you speak truth?  Even when it is politically inopportune?  Even when it is unpopular?  

Observation #3:  I learn from the parable of the two sons the truth in a saying that I have heard all of my life.

ACTIONS  SPEAK  LOUDER  THAN  WORDS  

What you do ... is a louder commentary on what you believe than the words you say.  It is so with your children ... and it is so with your friends.  We all can talk a good talk ... however, the talk is only smoke screens if the actions do not follow the same trail.  

When your child or friend asks what you believe ... can your answer be:  "Watch me"?  If not, what needs to change ... right now?!  

Observation #4:  I learn from the parable of the tenants that rejection of Jesus will result in loss of my place in the kingdom of God.  It's that important.  It's that foundational.  Never loose sight of Jesus' words:

John 14:6  I am the way and the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me.

and from Hebrews 10: 19 - 23

And so, dear brothers and sisters, we can boldly enter heaven's most Holy Place because of the blood of Jesus.  By his death, Jesus opened a new and life-giving way through the curtain into the Most Holy Place.  And since we have a great High Priest who rules over God's house, let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting him.  For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ's blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water.  Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise.

A. W. Tozer said:

Christ is not one of many ways to approach God, nor is he the best of several ways; he is the only way.

Do you accept Jesus as "THE Son of God"?  THE Way that allows you into the presence of God?  

Debbie Cissna penned the following lyrics ... let them give voice to your own prayer today:

Lord, I lay my heart before Your throne;

Lord, I bow my knee to you alone,

And thought I know I'm guilty,

You forgive my sin;

Cleanse me with your blood,

So I may enter in.

In Your presence,

that's where I want to be;

In Your presence for all eternity.

And though I know I'm guilty,

You forgive my sin;

Cleanse me with your blood,

So I may enter in

To Your presence,

To Your presence.

Purpose (Matthew 21 - P 55)

Jesus is in Jerusalem.  It is the final week of his earthly life.  He is headed to the cross.  He knows the time has arrived.  Our reading today is ...

Matthew 2: 12 - 22

We read of two encounters in this passage.    Today I want us to draw from both of these stories the same conclusion ... the same lesson.  And, by the grace of God, that lesson will penetrate our own hearts and, if pertinent, bring us to needed change.  The lesson is:

Lack of purpose and uselessness is the path to destruction.

Can you see it in both stories we read today?  

First, in the Temple. The NIV says, "the temple area".   An older NIV version uses, "the temple courts".  Other translations simply say, "the temple."  The word in Greek indicates the entire temple compound rather than just the building itself.  There is a different word used in the New Testament for the building.  The word used here would include the court of the Gentiles ... then the court of the women ... on to the court of the Israelites ... then the court of the priests ... and finally the building structure housing the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place.  

This event would have taken place in the court of the Gentiles.  Anyone could be there.  It is Passover time so the court would be teeming with people, Jews and Gentiles alike.  There was a temple tax ... required payment ... only particular coins could be used.  Therefore, pilgrims from away provinces would need to exchange currency for the correct coin.  OK.  Also the sacrificial animals would need to be purchased.  This was the area to do that.  OK.  So what's the problem?  Exploitation was taking place.  And our Lord witnessed people being mistreated and abused all in the name of religion and religious practice.  And He said, "No more."   Two observations:

• The people seem to have forgotten the purpose of the court of the Gentiles.  This was the place, the only place in the temple compound, where seeking Gentiles could come for worship and prayer.  And it seems that the "business" of the religious practice had taken over the "purpose" of the religious practice.  When that happens, purpose is lost.  And Satan wins a little victory.  
• Exploitation of people is never OK.  Abusing the naive or the innocent or the vulnerable is never OK.  And doing it in the name of religion is the most odious of all!  

I was privileged to take a trip to Jerusalem in 2012.  The myriad of vendors hawking religious paraphernalia around the city was staggering - religious relics, colored beads, inscribed ribbons, plates, pictures, crucifixes, candles - and the bartering and bickering - the noise and confusion - pilgrims more interested in their 'relic' than in the place itself, more interested in a good buy on a souvenir than 'being still in the place where Jesus was.'  And I wonder ... 

However, William Barclay wisely reminds us ... "Let the individual and the church without sin cast the first stone."  

So how do we apply this?  For me ... for what I can do at my church ... I will pray to remember purpose.  I will strive to keep my focus on purpose.  I will guard my heart from the power and the lure of materialistic commercialism.  And you?

The second encounter we read about was this business with the fig tree.  We need to be careful with this.  It presents some interpretive challenges.  Jesus never used his miraculous power to satisfy his own human wants.  So this can't be a story about Jesus wanting a fig and not finding one!  Jesus also never threw temper tantrums.  So this can't be a story about Jesus being mad because his expectations were not met.  I'm not wise enough to be able to sort out all of the difficulties with the story ... but I can glean a lesson for us that, to my mind, is powerful.  And that lesson again is usefulness and purpose.  Some observations:

• Profession without practice is deadly.  This tree had all the signs of a fig tree except ... the reality of figs.  Jesus offers us profound warning in this:  If you profess faith, practice faith.  There is an element of practicality here.  It reminds me of what I have read about Gandhi ... in South Africa ... in Pretoria:

Mahatma Gandhi inquired into Christianity.  For several Sundays, he attended a Christian church; but, he noted, 'the congregation did not strike me as being particularly religious; they were not an assembly of devout souls, but appeared rather to be worldly-minded people going to Church for recreation and in conformity to custom.'

Are you a professing Christian?  Oh my friend ... practice it!  

• Uselessness invites disaster.  We are called into a community when we accept Christ.  We are called into a body ... a community of faith.  Be useful!  Serve there.  It does not matter what gifts you have been graced with ... it doesn't matter your age ... it doesn't matter your gender ... or even your physical abilities or inabilities.  There are places for you to serve ... to be useful.  

So ... what's your purpose?  Are you living in congruence with that purpose?  Are you being useful for your Lord?  ... in your church? ... in your community?

Lord, give us eyes to see ourselves.  If our activities and attitudes reflect only self-interest and self-service ... let us see it!  If we profess to be your children and then behave as if we are anything but ... let us see it!   You are the God who gives sight ...