humility’s reward

But when you are invited, go and sit in the lowest place, so that when your host comes he may say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at table with you.

Luke 14:10

Jesus recognizes that true humility is a mark of exceptional character. God can do the most with those who think of themselves the least. He exalts the person who is truly humble.

This was something that Jesus Himself modeled. He humbled Himself. He made Himself a servant. Jesus was obedient to the Father in every way, even submitting to the cross as an act of supreme love, humility, and sacrifice.

Pride was the original sin. It would make sense that humility is the mark of a repentant, obedient, forgiven heart in Jesus. It is amazing how much regular humility from one person can affect so many others for the good over time. It may be the ultimate dividend with blessings into eternity!

“The reward for humility and fear of the LORD is riches and honor and life”. Proverbs 22:4

many believed

And many believed in him there.

John 10:42

So many believed

in the miraculous gift

of a Savior

born a man

yet clearly divine

So many believed

as He spoke the truth

Master and Teacher

words so strong

words of life

So many believed

the sacrificed Lamb

grieving Man of Sorrows

dying our death

to bring us peace

So many believed

now around the throne

a throng of the redeemed

praising forever a mighty God

home… from pain and sin released

Jesus demands repentance.

No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.

Luke 13:3

These are true words from Jesus, true to His mission as Savior, and true for us today. A brief summary of the context for repentance (the statement is made twice in a three verse section) helps us see the urgency Jesus is expressing. First, Jesus is speaking to a large crowd. This is all part of an extended sermon starting in Luke 12:1 and ending in Luke 13:9. So this call to repentance is setting up the conclusion and application to all Jesus has said thus far.

Secondly, a common theme of this sermon involves judgment, the last days, the return of the Son of Man, and persecution that will come to His people. It is clear that Jesus and His kingdom will meet worldwide opposition and only those who repent and believe in Him will escape at the Master’s return to judge (Luke 12:35-48).

The response to Jesus can only be acceptable if it involves true repentance (turning from sin, aware of His holiness and our unworthiness before Him that deserves judgment) and faith (complete assent to Jesus as Savior from sin, giver of new life, and Lord to be obeyed). This is the final appeal of the gospel even today. It isn’t a feel-good soft sell positive affirmation. It is a life or death passionate plea from the lips of Jesus Himself.

more than I worry about

For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing.

Luke 12:23

The longer I live on this earth, the more the wisdom of Jesus’ call to not be anxious about the stuff of this life calms me. We live in a world obsessed with stuff. We miss out on the relationships that God wants to bless us with as we toil in vain for the temporary. Life can’t be about air-fryers, athletic shoes, and 401K’s.

Jesus points us to the real things that matter most: His kingdom driving our ambitions and needs. He who clothes the lilies of the field and feeds the birds of the air will supply all our needs! It is the Father’s great joy to bless us with His kingdom (Luke 12:32). Do we really need anything else?

And so, Lord, I rest in the promise that You are giving me Yourself and Your kingdom that cannot be shaken. I will trust what this life gives me, through Your gracious and good provision, because it all eventually opens up to so much more in You, Lord! Amen

lamp on a stand

No one after lighting a lamp puts it in a cellar or under a basket, but on a stand, so that those who enter may see the light.

Luke 11:33

A lamp on a stand is probably the most common of household items, perhaps overlooked even as it is in constant use. I just did a mental run through of my own home: there are four lamps on stands to give light in four different rooms. Jesus took such a common circumstance and infused it with spiritual significance to teach us about our own utilitarian importance.

The purpose of a lamp is to give light, and the source of that light isn’t nearly as significant as the substance (the light) it produces. It could be a simple candle, an oil lamp, or an electric light. The purpose of the lamp is to be visible so that in turn it makes things visible. What burns from this source is what gives the helpful light.

And so, believers in Jesus are sources of the light of the life of the gospel as we let God’s work and truth shine through us. Each day of our lives we are strategically placed on the stand of God’s own choosing to brighten a dark world, point out the dangers of the darkness, and lead away from it to a much better way and place. Be the light and shine, wherever God has you placed!

harvest labor

And he said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”

Luke 10:2

Lord,

You commanded these 72 to serious prayer for Your harvest field to be filled with needed laborers, even as You sent them to do powerful ministry, serving in Your name. Today, we Your people, have not always served You with this same prayer driving us.

Forgive our narrow-minded view of the kingdom. Forgive our Christian consumerism, selfishness, and “me-first” thinking. Move us to serve and see the bigger need for laborers in a plentiful world-wide harvest. As You supply laborers, may we together reap what the gospel has sown and You are nurturing!

May the day to day circumstances we each face become kingdom-expanding harvests as You save souls. Keep us harvest obsessed, working, unified, and willing to train all willing new hands for Your harvest, O Lord of the harvest!

Amen

He goes before

When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.

John 10:4

No matter what we face

whether less or more

we have a loving Shepherd

Who always goes before

When the path is easy

and the road’s level and sure

it was all laid out by our Savior

Who walked it all before

Sometimes the valley’s dark

and our feelings are unsure

we can still take courage

that our Shepherd leads before

And in the pastures verdant

we rest safe and secure

it’s because Jesus took us

where He has been before

At the end of the journey

as death opens its black door

His light will stream through beckoning

because Jesus has gone before

display the works of God

Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him.”

John 9:3

When attempting to understand God in our broken world, it is easy to come to Him with questions based on our wrong assumptions. That’s what the disciples did. They met a man born blind, and then wanted to tweak out their theology. They assumed the only reason blindness (a bad thing) afflicted the man was punishment for some sin… either this was a pre-emptive punishment for the blind man’s personal sin, or it was retribution as a result of his parents’ sin. Both assumptions were way off mark from the truth according to Jesus.

Jesus, instead states the reason for this man’s difficulty not as theological, but as doxological. God was going to be glorified by displaying His work in this man’s life. This was true while yet a blind man. It would also be true when Jesus restored his sight.

All people everywhere are created to display the work of God. We are made to worship Him by our lives. This is true both in hardship and in blessing, in good times and in bad times, in life and in death. God gets the glory for the amazing things He makes of each life, particularly those who come to Jesus and are transformed by His saving and life-giving power. Praise God for His gracious display in us through Jesus!

never see death

Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.

John 8:51

What does Jesus mean when He promises that any person who keeps His word will not see death? Millions of Christian gravesites seem to contradict this. Generations of faithful disciples have died in Christ. Even His own apostles would be killed proclaiming His gospel and “keeping” His word. Did Jesus make an outlandish false claim?

To understand this we need to see this statement in full context. Jesus is defending Himself to His enemies… the religious elite who would eventually turn Him over to Roman executioners and lead Him to see His own death. And the next part of this extended conversation with these leaders would find them defending their attack on Jesus by invoking Abraham as their “father”.

Jesus responds with a two-fold rebuttal that helps us understand His claim that those who believe in Him live and don’t die. 1) God is His Father and glorifies the Son (8:54-55). Because of this, His claims can be evaluated by the greater witness of the Father. 2) Abraham is not greater than God the Father and himself hoped for Jesus’ day as Messiah to arrive. Jesus existed even before Abraham was born. Abraham rejoiced (alive in God’s presence) contemporary with the arrival of Jesus as the One sent from God the Father as Messiah (8:56-58). Thus those who hope in Jesus live and and never see death. That is our faith! That is our hope! That is our assurance that physical death does not end us, but ushers us into the presence of God to rejoice in our Savior.

Jesus lifted up

So Jesus said to them, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he, and that I do nothing on my own authority, but speak just as the Father taught me.”

John 8:28

Three times in John’s gospel Jesus talks about being “lifted up” (3:14; 8:28; 12:32). Each time these two words carry a lot of meaning. They signify His coming death and resurrection, but also His exaltation, worship, and Lordship. And the truth is believed BECAUSE the Son of Man is lifted up.

Each passage looks something like this:

• 3:14 - lifting up pictured in the bronze snake. - belief in Him brings eternal life.
• 8:28 - lifted up by crucifixion by His enemies. - knowledge of His authority and obedience to the Father.
• 12:32 - lifted up for the world to see.  - all people will be drawn to King Jesus by Jesus.

And now, Jesus is lifted up in worship, obedience, and praise because He was lifted up on the cross, paying our redemption, raised to defeat death and to rule our hearts! All our hope, all our joy, all our meaning is found in the fact that Jesus willingly gave Himself to be nailed to that cross, lifted up, so that looking to Him we now live. Be lifted up, O Lord!

uniquely Jesus

I know him, for I come from him, and he sent me.

John 7:29

Jesus made three exclusive claims in this short sentence that His world rejected but that Christians must all believe. The “him/he” in this verse is God the Father and Jesus has a unique relationship with the Father. These three claims make Jesus worthy of our worship and obedience.

1. I know the Father. This is knowledge based on unique first-hand experience. Literally the original Greek is “I see the Father.” — knowledge based on seeing. Nobody else could say that but Jesus. This is a unique knowledge.

2. I come from the Father. This is a unique position. Jesus was with the Father, but left that exclusive place to be born, to live, to love, to die, and be raised again, all in obedience to the Father.

3. The Father sent me. Jesus has a unique mission/purpose. He is the Messiah… The Savior… the hope for all the world sent by God the Father as God the Son into the world to save the world. All three of these changed the world and all who trust in Jesus!

to generations to follow

Let your work be shown to your servants,

and your glorious power to their children.

Psalm 90:16

Lest we think ourselves too important… vainly delude ourselves into thinking it is our individual lives that only matter most to God… we humbly pray this prayer of Moses, the man of God. Yes, we want God’s work to be shown in our lives. Certainly we serve Him in the conviction He will show Himself in and through us right now. But our lives are limited… a point Moses already made in this prayer (Psalm 90:10-12). God’s glory transcends our spans.

And so we should pray and live… with our mortality accepted and embraced as a reminder of God’s eternal care. We want our impact of faith, our rescue in Christ, our lives that He has radically transformed by grace to ripple into generations of impact. And such is the true hope of every child that God the Father has made His own. This is the kingdom perspective of every disciple who follows Jesus and passes the baton to any who will follow behind and beyond. One generation knows God’s work. And another will know His glorious power.

peace seasoned

Salt is good, but if the salt has lost its saltiness, how will you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another.

Mark 9:50

Differences are many

and often so petty

we think we are greater

but we mock our Creator

when fighting our brother

we divide one another

Salt is good

it flavors our food

yet we lose flavor and delight

when we choose to bicker and fight

when angry in vain

we won’t be salty again

Christ’s peace abides

in us to reside

so His love we must savor

to bring us His flavor

we are now by Him salted

so our Savior is exalted

forgiveness from the heart

So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.

Matthew 18:35

Christians are forgiven people, and because of this great grace that we know in Christ, we are called to be forgiving people. There is no place in our hearts for grudges, spite, or hate.

Jesus told a story to illustrate it. A king had administrators with whom accounts needed to be settled. One of them mismanaged wealth so poorly that he owed more than he could ever pay back. The audit had found his lies and deception and cheating. When he faced the justice of debtor’s prison, he begged for mercy and inexplicably, because the king was a good man, he graciously forgave all the debt… 100%… cleared the record. 

Then the forgiven man went on a personal debt-collection rampage, threatening and imprisoning all who owed him even minor amounts. When word of this reached the king, he rebuked the ungrateful manager and threw him into prison, not just for his debt, but for his petty ungratefulness. He misrepresented the king’s wealth AND he misrepresented the king’s grace.

And this is why Christians seek to be reconcilers and to forgive others well. We want to represent the grace of our King! When we realize the enormity of the guilt Jesus forgave us by paying for it with HIS LIFE, we can forgive those who ask of us. And remember that Jesus is speaking the truth to us… if we choose to be unforgiving people, God will discipline us, perhaps quite severely. The earthly trespasses done against us are so minor, mere bumps and dings compared to the way we have sinned and been forgiven by God. Grace thus liberates us to liberate others with forgiveness from the heart. And it helps us to be people, who by forgiving, represent the grace of our King!

Salvation is the greater miracle.

But while they were all marveling at everything he was doing, Jesus said to his disciples, “Let these words sink into your ears: The Son of Man is about to be delivered into the hands of men.”

Luke 9:43b-44

Jesus never strayed from His mission to save us. In this passage in Luke, He had just cast a demon from an afflicted boy, a task His own disciples had failed to do. He had lovingly accepted the admission of the boy’s father who had pleaded with Jesus honestly, “Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief!” The crowd and the disciples were astonished that Jesus displayed the majesty of God in this miracle.

In the midst of the marvel and the worship, Jesus stood resolutely face-forward, mind on the cross and the redemptive work yet to come. People marveled at His miracles, but soon people would curse Him to be crucified. And this would be no less astonishing a work of defeat over the powers of hell than the demonic deliverance just accomplished with the boy. Satan and his hellish death-grip would be forever vanquished by Jesus’ greater sacrifice. That is the greater miracle.

O Lord,

Help me, even in my struggles with unbelief, to glory in Your cross, seeing in Your love the greatest power I shall ever need, sufficient in this life and for eternity to come!

Amen

Jesus alone… and glorious

And when the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone.

Luke 9:36a

God the Father had just approved, once again, the authority, power, and person of His Son, Jesus. Peter, James, and John were invited up on a mountain top for a prayer meeting with Jesus. And as Jesus prayed, He changed in appearance and His clothing began glowing white hot with the Shekinah glory of God Himself. 

As the disciples awoke from their sleep (like us, they were less than diligent in prayer), they saw Moses and Elijah beside their Master as He was completely transformed. Just as Peter suggested they build some tents for Moses, Elijah, and Jesus to dwell in, God the Father overshadowed them in a cloud and spoke: “This is my Son, my Chosen One: listen to Him!”

With that command ringing in the air, suddenly everything returned to normal. And in the awed silence, Jesus, alone, was understood by these three men for Who He is in a stunning new way. The wonder and power of our Savior, known by us now in glimpses, will one day be known everywhere, glorious, always with us! Jesus alone, right now, and forever, is all we need. Listen to Him! 

The bad news becomes the good news.

And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again.

Mark 8:31

Yes, the disciples believed Jesus was Messiah and the Son of God. But Jesus wanted them clear on what that meant. It was not what people around Him had in mind for the Messiah. In fact, even Peter got it wrong and had to be rebuked (Mark 8:33). They all wanted a popular political leader and an earthly provider. Jesus was much more than a quick fix. He was saving the world. And it meant a different and antithetical path.

Jesus would suffer and in His sufferings take on all our pains and sorrows. Jesus would be rejected, and in His rejection show hope for all those who have ever been hated. Jesus would be killed and in His death defeat the power of sin and death for those who believe. Jesus would rise again from the dead to bless His followers with life in Him forevermore!

In Jesus then, all this bad news that He willingly embraced out of obedience to the Father and love for us, is really good news. The road of suffering in Him, even as we ourselves will suffer, leads to life for us! He doesn’t take away the pain of suffering, He takes it on, bears it with us and for us and transforms it. All our hardships have already been borne by the Man of Sorrows, the Savior of the world, the Lord of all! And the beautiful power of the gospel is that it is sufficient, not just for all the sins we may do, but for our the sorrows we experience! The bad news becomes the good news all because of Jesus! Thank You, Lord!

Sshhhh!

Then he strictly charged the disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ.

Matthew 16:20

Why did Jesus not want the disciples, who in Peter’s confession had clearly reached the understanding of the heart of Jesus’ mission, to NOT proclaim Him as Messiah at that moment? I think there are two clear reasons from the text for this gag order.

1. The crowds wildly misunderstood Jesus already. They had a human-limited perspective of Him. When Jesus quizzed the disciples on the crowd-sourced opinions of Him there were too many wrong answers: John the Baptist, Elijah, Jeremiah, or some other prophet (Matthew 16:14). The crowds weren’t ready because they only had a perception of His humanity, which was too limited.

2. The nation of Israel had a different understanding of the role of Messiah than Jesus was bringing. Perhaps some of the disciples along with Peter got that Jesus as Messiah was the Son of God. But the Jews did not expect this. They wanted a political deliverer not a complete world Savior of sin. Jesus did not want or need the political aspects of their expectations. He demanded worship, and so the disciples needed to wait until He accomplished all of His mission at the cross and after the grave was conquered before declaring Him to be the Son of God.

no argument

The Pharisees came and began to argue with him, seeking from him a sign from heaven to test him.

Mark 8:11

You do the impossible.

You save from sin.

You pull us from hell’s flame.

You feed the hungry.

You heal the broken.

You bring sight to the blind.

And still we can argue

and demand a sign.

How selfish we are about grace!

I trust what You show.

I am saved from my sin.

I am spared what I deserved.

I am satisfied and fed.

I am complete in You.

I see in Your light.

I will not argue although

I wish I could just see this one sign important to me.

I worship instead Your beautiful, perfect, loving grace.