April 22, 2010

Leviticus 26

It is the nature of children to test the limits of their parent’s parameters for obedience. Different kids approach it differently. But basically every child tests the limits. Knowing where the boundaries are is part of how they find security. It is also part of how they learn right and wrong. It is also part of how they gain their family identity. You might even say, “Their family glory.” I listened to a testimony of a friend of mine the other day. In their family upbringing, attending movies at a theater was a sin. While in college, he and some friends went to see Ben Hur at the theater. When he went home to visit, his mother said, “The Lord showed me that you went to the theater.” She was angry. He was convicted. Is there anything inherently sinful with attending the theater. Well, no, but it is a gray area. Within his family identity it was wrong all the time.

Have you ever considered that it is the glory of the Lord that He should bless us and curse us in obedience and disobedience? We like the idea of blessing. We don’t want to think about the idea of cursing. It is indeed something to think about. Perhaps it would motivate me more toward obedience if I thought more deeply about the principles of blessing and cursing as it relates to God’s people. How far will a holy God allow His people to walk in disobedience before their disobedience clouds His glory to the rest of the world, and He does something about it? How far will He go in discipline in order to protect the family glory? Pretty far, just read this passage. Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today!

--Pastor john


Luke 17:1-19
I admit it. I was a Home Improvement fan. Tim the tool man Taylor was so much fun to laugh at and with because he was such a good caricature of men in general. He was always endangering or hurting himself in his quest for the best. We want our tool to be bigger and better than the next man's tool. We are always striving to show that we are the best. We are very competitive at heart. It is especially true in the ministry. I was the janitor of a large church for a year. One Monday morning while getting a cup of hot chocolate in the office, the secretary hung up the phone. She was really put out. I asked her what was wrong. She said the phone call was another pastor in town. He had a habit of calling every week to find out how many people they had in worship on Sunday morning. There were several churches that he called frequently to find out. Often times when I tell people I meet that I am a pastor, one of the first questions that I am asked (particularly by men) is, "How many members do you have?"

The disciples were concerned about the size of their faith. Rightfully they come to the Lord to ask Him to increase their faith. For some reason they felt their faith was too small. Now, these are men who have cast out demons, healed the sick and preached the good news of the kingdom, all in the name of Jesus. They are requesting to have their faith increased. Jesus gives a response that does not seem to fit the request. First He tells them if their faith were the size of a mustard seed (an exceptionally small seed) that they could remove trees by speaking to them. Hhmmm. . . Then He launches into a discourse about duty. Jesus, did I miss something?

The comment about the mustard seed implies that the size of one's faith is unimportant. Perhaps Jesus is saying in a nice way, "That's a dumb request. The size of your faith doesn't matter. What matters is the object of your faith. What matters is where you place your faith." Then the next question would be, "What is the object of your faith? Is it your Lord or your goal?" People have a difficult time differentiating between the two. Since we can't see our Lord, we tend to think that if we are promoting what we think that He wants, then we have our faith in Him. In actuality our faith remains in ourselves or what we are trying to accomplish. When we have real faith, it is not that we can order the Lord around to do things for us. He is not a genie in a bottle. A Lord does not come home from a long journey in order to cook his servants a meal. The Lord did not go on a long journey to the earth and to the cross and back to heaven so that He could wait upon us hand and foot to see what we might request of Him. He accomplished that journey so that we might have our focus fixed upon His glory and when He makes a request, we jump into action. And when this life is over, we will be so overcome with the greatness of His glory that when we look back at the things which we did in faith, it will only be things which we should have done anyway in light of the glory of our Lord!

When the disciples asked for greater faith, whose glory were they seeking to increase? I don't know, but I know when they get to heaven and when you and I stand in the glory of the Lord Jesus, we will not be able to say anything but, "We have done what was our duty to do." Why? Only because of the greatness of the object of our faith, our Lord Jesus Christ, were we able to do it. Even if we have uprooted mulberry trees with verbal commands, in light of who He is, we only did what should have been done anyway. Now that is glory I don't fully grasp, and maybe never will. Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!

--Pastor John