Category: Uncategorized

Read Matthew 15.29-31

“So the crowd marveled as they saw the mute speaking, the crippled restored, and the lame walking, and the blind seeing; and they glorified the God of Israel.” (Matthew 15:31)

WHERE’S THE LOYALTY?

How many people did Jesus heal? Was it hundreds or maybe thousands? And what about the friends and family members who experienced a loved one being healed? Now, maybe we’re up to three thousand or more. And then there are the thousands who heard of His good deeds. Wouldn’t all those people have constituted a small army who could have risen to His defense? Surely they were in His camp – they glorified God! And yet, when He stood before His accusers, there wasn’t even one who stood to defend Him in earnest. Perhaps it‘s better to live with a lifetime of infirmities and still glorify Him, rather than an occasional flash-in-the-pan kind of praise that only happens when we treat Him like a cosmic vending machine. Lord, help us to glorify You even when You don’t heal us.

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Read Matthew 15.21-28

“But He answered and said, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” (Matthew 15.18)

DOTTED LINES

The disciplemaker with no boundaries won’t last very long. He or she will be pulled in so many directions that they will eventually lose all sense of direction. But I’ve learned to draw my boundaries with dotted lines like Jesus did. His boundary was “the lost sheep of Israel.” But when the Syrophoenician woman, a Gentile, approached Him, He stepped out of the box. Why? Because of her great faith. Some would see this as a reason not to have boundaries at all, but that would be missing the point. Jesus said no to plenty of people. He had to, in order to stay within His Father’s will and sustain His health for future ministry. But He was not so rigid that He couldn’t take advantage of exceptional opportunities. Boundaries are good; just draw them with dotted lines.

What are your boundaries? What would compel you to step across them?

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Read Matthew 15.15-20

“But the things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart…” (Matthew 15.18)

AIM FOR THE HEART

The young disciplemaker was on the verge of making a big mistake. He had pulled together a handful of guys for Bible study in the dorm of a local college. They weren’t followers of Jesus yet but things were headed in that direction. As he and I discussed the growth of the men, he was fixated on one thing: the guys were smoking cigarettes. I was surprised his aim was so low. I asked, “Why are you going after these minor issues when if you aim for the heart, you’ll see real spiritual transformation?” I told him, “Major on getting them in the Word, pray for them, love them, and let God deal with the cigarettes.” Two weeks later, several of the guys quit smoking. This is key to making disciples of Jesus: if you capture the heart, you capture the man. But if you just focus on the externals, it’s like dressing someone up in a tuxedo for an appointment in Hell.

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Read Matthew 15.1-14

“And He answered and said to them, “Why do you yourselves transgress the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition?” (Matthew 15.3)

TRADITIONS: HANDLE WITH CARE

I was discipling a young man in our ministry who was saturating his life in the Word of God but wasn’t having his quiet time the same way we were. He was memorizing Scripture but it wasn’t the same set of verses that we usually have guys memorize. It seemed his approach to his relationship with Jesus was completely different than most of the folks in our ministry. This irritated a couple of our leaders and they voiced their complaints. My question to them was, “Is he growing in his relationship with Jesus and is he helping others do the same?” The answer was yes, but… This is where we need to be very careful that we don’t become like the Pharisees. We have our methods (traditions) and most of the time they are very helpful. But they’re just methods. The objective is to help people follow Jesus. Let’s not get confused between the commands of God and the traditions of men.

Now what if you have chosen different methods and your methods aren’t helping you grow closer to Christ?

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Read Matthew 14.22-36

And He said, “Come!” (Matthew 14.29)

LET ME TRY

My two sons inherited the “Let me try!” attitude from their father. Whether it was jumping from the bed into my arms, being first to stand in front of the baseball pitching machine, or driving like crazy men on four wheelers, they were always willing to try risky things. Now they’re doing things like Ranger school and learning Chinese. When Peter said, “Let me try!” Jesus encouraged his risk of getting out of the boat and walking on water. While the other disciples were thinking “How is Jesus doing that?” Peter was thinking, “How can I do that? ” I think that thrills our Master. He wants us to imitate Him (Luke 6.40). He encourages us to exercise our faith and take risks, just as He did. Living by faith means getting out of the boat.

What risks are you taking to become like Jesus?

This was my 800th post in my blog! Thanks for your support!

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Read Matthew 14.13-21

When He went ashore, He saw a large crowd, and felt compassion for them and healed their sick. (Matthew 14.14)

“PEOPLED”

The lady at the customer service counter was snapping at the man in front of me. I was thinking to myself, “this isn‘t going to be pretty.” She was obviously, what I call, “peopled.” It’s when people in the people business spend so much time with people problems they can no longer treat people like people. How do I know this? Because I’m in the people business and I’ve been there. That brings me to Jesus. He was in the people business and probably no one in the history of mankind had the potential of being more “peopled” than He. And yet that wasn’t the case. Jesus was mourning the death of His cousin and trying to get away to grieve. And what meets Him on the other side, the place of solitude? 5000 people! And what’s His reaction? Irritation? No, it’s compassion. So what was the greater miracle: feeding 5000 or His attitude toward them?

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Read Matthew 14.1-12

Although he was grieved, the king commanded it to be given because of his oaths, and because of his dinner guests. He sent and had John beheaded in the prison. (Matthew 14.9-10)

WHO REALLY LOST THEIR HEAD?

“I just want to know that I can trust you,” said one thief to another. Some standards of morality just don’t make any sense, do they? When we look at Herod’s life, we enter the state of moral confusion. Herod is willing to commit adultery with his brother’s wife, live in debauchery, and murder John the Baptist. But when it comes to breaking an oath, oh no, he wouldn’t do that. His moral compass was spinning out of control. He had lost his head well before John lost his. His problem was not the absence of a personal moral code. His problem was that his moral code was personal. In order to maintain any real objectivity in our moral standards, they must come from Jesus. He is our consistency. Otherwise, we will be left to the whims of our opinions to guide our sense of rightness.

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Read Matthew 13.53-58

And He did not do many miracles there because of their unbelief. (Matthew 13.58)

SOMETIMES SEEING IS NOT BELIEVING

He was leaning precariously over the edge of the rock but not quite past the point of no return. He was frozen with fear on the 60-foot cliff and he could go no further. I reminded him that the rope held him securely and he had seen others rappel down the rock wall several times. In the end, his faith failed. Simply seeing did not lead to believing. Just like the people of Nazareth. Jesus’ hometown folk had seen and heard the wonders of their prized son. And yet they could not get beyond the arrogance of familiarity or the pride seniority. Jesus’ powers were limited by unbelief.

Are you limiting the power of Jesus by the trumping power of disbelief?

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Read Matthew 13.47-52

“…and will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” (Matthew 13.50)

Ample Warning

I told them three times, “Be careful with that blasting cap, you could blow your hand off.” Now what’s my motivation? Am I trying to be a “Debbie Downer”? Am I overly critical or legalistic? No, I care about these people and I’m teaching them how to handle explosives. Repetition is a technique in instruction and Jesus uses it several times (especially when it comes to people feeling comfortable with their standing in the Kingdom). If Jesus emphasized this over and over again, we can come to two conclusions. First, this must be a very important message. And second, some will still choose not to listen. Remember, Jesus sets the standards. He is the standard.

I’ve heard it said, “There are three ways to learn: repetition, blunt force trauma, and repetitive blunt force trauma. I choose number one!

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Read Matthew 13.44-45

“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.” (Matthew 13.44)

WHAT SACRIFICE?

I know three men who recently left very successful careers to enter full-time ministry. When their peers found out that they were forfeiting their pay, status, and a very comfortable retirement in order to obey God’s call on their lives, well, let’s just say they were a little less than encouraging. But if you were to ask these men and their wives about the sacrifice, you might be a little surprised at their response. They would say, “What sacrifice? We have gained the Kingdom of God!” And by the way, I know of three other men who have answered a call to stay in their careers for the sake of the Kingdom. It’s not about position, possessions, or people. It’s all about the Kingdom of God. (Matthew 6.33)

What is the Kingdom of God worth to you? Do you joyfully give up the things of this world in order to gain the Kingdom?

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