I have 4 sons and a daughter. My second son married when he was 23 years old. My first son was 28 when he married. I was 22 when I married. Laura says I was too young. Oh well, she's stuck with me. Too bad for you, Laura, great for me. I got the good end of the deal. (heh, heh, heh) My third son is 25. Marriage might be on his mind. My daughter is 20. I told her she could start dating when she was 35. My youngest is 10. Right now all he can think about is fighting bad guys and going on adventures. Winning a beauty is not yet one of his concerns. (Yes, I have read Wild at Heart.) Having been a pastor 25 years, I have seen a lot of bad marriage & family situations. Who my children marry is of great concern to me. Nothing makes life more miserable than a bad home life. I guess that parental concern is pretty natural. I remember when my mother found out that Laura was raised in a Catholic background she said, "Be careful. You'll end up with 12 kids." Well Mom, I tried but Laura just wouldn't cooperate. I still have 7 to go and I am 54. If I make it, it will be another Abraham and Sarah story. (In case you are wondering, I am teasing.)
Abraham was pretty intent upon making sure that Isaac did not marry from the Canaanite (Amorite) women. Why? The text does not say why. One can conjecture easily enough. The LORD did not give the land immediately to Abraham because, "The iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full." (Gen 15:16) There are at least three implications here. One is that the Lord was going to take the land from the Amorites as their punishment because of their great iniquity. Two is that if Abraham's descendents were to marry into the Amorites, it might make the extraction of them from the land rather messy. Three is that if Abraham's descendents married into the Amorites their wickedness would lead his descendents into wickedness. Abraham was protecting the purity of the LORD's covenant by forbidding the intermarriage with the people. You see, you don't really marry a person, you marry a family. So, he gave explicit instructions for his servant to go back to his own family in Padan Aram and find a wife for Isaac. Now, to be sure, his own family wasn't exactly the paradigm of righteousness. But at least he wouldn't have to deal with the land issue.
The servant takes off on his trek. Is this guy a believer? It would seem so. He prays for guidance. Granted, he addresses the LORD as, "The God of my master Abraham." But then God had appeared personally six times to Abraham. You know what? God has not appeared to me even once like He did to Abraham. Indeed, in general we rather think of people who claim such visions to be somewhat psychotic, unless we know them well and know them to be otherwise reliable people. But get this--God answers the servant's prayers! Wow! You don't have to be a spiritual giant for God to answer your prayers! You only have to be walking in His path, in His direction. That is the glory of our Lord. He answers our prayer not on the basis of our spiritual giantness but upon the basis of how it brings glory to Him because we are walking in the direction that He is going. He answers it for the glory of His name. Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today!
Oh by the way, Isaac was 37 when his mother died. He was 40 when he married. He was comforted in his mother's death by his wife. I have two things to say. One is what a beautiful relationship they had. The other is, "What a mamma's boy!" Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john
PSALM 23
Hands down, this is one of the most popular and widely used portions of Scripture to encourage and bring comfort to people. It is widely used to read at funerals and to read at times of extreme health problems. I have had friends who raised sheep. I have read Phillip Keller’s, A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23. It is not very flattering to be called a sheep. Sheep are dumb, defenseless, dirty (3D) animals that require constant attention if the flock is to be prosperous. David knew that as a shepherd. That is why he picked shepherd as a metaphor concerning the relationship between God and himself and His people. You see the focus of the Psalm is to explain what God is like in relation to His people. The focus is God. If we are talking about how great God is in comparison to us, then it is an appropriate metaphor.
It is His greatness that feeds, waters and restores our souls. He is the One who makes me capable of living a righteous life. When I have no ability to walk righteously, He enables me. When death surrounds me or my loved ones, He is with me. His tools of correction and protection are ever with me. Even when I am surrounded by enemies, He enables me to relax and I can eat without threat of them. Sheep often have problems with parasites invading the ears. The result could drive a sheep insane with the irritation. Oil poured in the ear would drown the parasite and bring relief. His anointing oil brings healing to the irritations of life brought to me by parasites. He gives me more than enough to satisfy my thirsty life. Goodness and mercy are always following me. To top it off, I get to go live in His house when I die. What more could I ask? All of this is because of His Glory! Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor John
NEHEMIAH 13
Misplaced priorities will quickly lead me away from the glory of God. When the temple was built, it had store rooms on the side for all the things necessary for the continual carrying out of the sacrifices. The sacrifices were central to experiencing the glory of God. Grain offerings, frankincense, the articles used in the daily ministrations, the tithes of grain, the new wine and oil were all articles used by the priests and Levites to do the ministry and to support themselves while they did the daily sacrifices. The sacrifices all spoke of Jesus. They spoke of the cross and what Jesus would accomplish for us through the cross. Because of the cross we can have fellowship with God (grain, wine and oil). Because of the cross we can come boldly before the throne of God where our Great Intercessor dwells, and we can bring our prayers to Him (frankincense).
Eliashib, the priest, cleared the storeroom so that Tobiah could occupy it in some way. Now, Tobiah was one of the leaders of the enemies of the rebuilding of the wall of Jerusalem. Tobiah was an Ammonite. God had instructed Israel not to associate with the Ammonites. What is Eliashib doing? He replaces the materials for the daily sacrifice with the enemy of God! Because of the phrase, “Now before this,” in verse four, some have suggested that Eliashib had perhaps married a relative of Tobiah, and to preserve family unity was why he let Tobiah move in. Marrying people without listening to the instruction of God also demonstrates a lack of priorities.
So what is going on here? Clearly the sacrifice of Christ must be central in our lives, homes and churches. Paul wanted to know nothing among the Corinthians except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Do I make room in my life for things that should be reserved for Jesus? Do I bring movies (even wholesome ones) into my home when I have not first sought Him? Do I yield what should be reserved for Him to my spouse? Do I yield what should be reserved for him to my family? Do I yield what should be reserved for Jesus to my church? Do I yield what should be reserved to Jesus to His enemies? Those are hard and difficult questions, yet they are ones to which the cross-centered life demands an answer.
Jesus lovingly calls us to yield to Him. Nehemiah wasn’t as loving. He pulled out the offender’s beards. He demanded obedience. One solid reading of the book of Hebrews reveals that Jesus also demands obedience. Yes, He will never forsake us or leave us, but when we replace what should be reserved for Him, and we remain steadfast in that direction, then discipline is on the way. Hmm. . . I think I’d rather experience the loving side of Jesus. Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john
MATTHEW 15:1-20
Occasionally I do my own work on my vehicles, not because I enjoy it, but because it is cheaper. It fits my budget better. Whenever I do my own work, my hands get very dirty. I usually have some GoJo around to help clean my hands. It takes awhile. But eventually I get all of the grime off. I know how to clean my hands. We all know how to clean our hands. That is easy. But how do we clean the inside of us? Everyone of us, if we are honest with ourselves, have at least one sin that we have struggled with—if not presently then some time in the past. It is something that, try as we might, we just can’t clean it up. There is something inside us that prevents us from doing it.
The Scribes and Pharisees were concerned with keeping the aspects of the law that they could control. Those aspects were the outward observances of the law such as the washing of hands and what foods one ate. Jesus clearly points out that it is not what we do on the outside but what is going on in the heart that defiles us. The heart that produces evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies, etc., is what needs to be cleaned. How does one clean the heart? I can’t reach down my throat with GoJo and scrub it. Even if I could, it wouldn’t do any good.
That is where the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ comes in! He is able to purify our hearts, if we let Him. He’s better than Clorox! He is better than Tide! He even does a better job than fabric softener. He has cleaned my heart of many evil thoughts and things which defile. Has He cleaned yours? Our glorious Lord can and does clean hearts! Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor John
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