The Presidential debate - a Christian's response

After watching the train wreck that was supposed to be a Presidential debate, most of America was asking, “What was that?”  Neither candidate was presidential.  Neither man was cordial or kind.  There was no civility or discussion of issues.  Instead, we were presented with two men badgering and interrupting each other for the own short-sighted gains and stroking of egos.  It was a whirlwind of antics typically reserved for young children who have not practiced their communication skills.  And when the allotted time was finally up, the people of America were united in wondering what has become of our government and political process.

As I sat thinking afterwards, trying to process what we all had witnessed, an old Hebrew phrase came to mind: “Israel, to your tents!”.  But to help you understand why, we’re going to have to look back into ancient Israel to understand the context:

Solomon had died and the kingdom of Israel, all 12 tribes, was to pass to his son, Rehoboam.  Although Solomon had been a wise, rich, and successful king…he had also been harsh and driving to get the most out of the people when building up Jerusalem and the temple.  After the people came to Rehoboam to ask for relief under his kingship, he consulted with his advisors.  The elders who had served his father advised him to ease up on the people, to win their favor and gratitude.  The young men who grew up with Rehoboam told him to not look weak, and declare that he would be even tougher on the people than his father had been.  When you read Rehoboam’s answer to the nation’s request, you’ll understand the people’s response:

1 Kings 12:13-14, 16-17
Then the king answered the people harshly.  He rejected the advice the elders had given him and spoke to them according to the young men’s advice: “My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to your yoke; my father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with barbed whips.”

When all Israel saw that the king had not listened to them, the people answered him:
              What portion do we have in David?
              We have no inheritance in the son of Jesse.
              Israel, return to your tents;
              David, now look after your own house!

So Israel went to their tents, but Rehoboam reigned over the Israelites living in the cities of Judah.

When the Israelites realized that their government was no longer for them, their cry of rebellion stated that they were better off spending their energies focusing on their own families and communities.  From then on, the nation was split in two: the northern kingdom, with the 10 tribes collectively called “Israel”, and the southern kingdom, with the tribes of Judah and Benjamin collectively referred to as “Judah”.

You may be tempted to imagine that the northern kingdom quickly set up a wonderful government structure that took care of the people and prospered the nation of Israel…but you would be quite wrong to think that.  Instead, in their anger and uprising, they followed a man named Jeroboam.  His selfish ambition and political scheming led Israel into spiritual darkness and idolatry.  That path led to their eventual conquer and exile.

So what does this have to do with the 2020 Presidential election in the USA?  I think the Israelites’ actions can be both an example and a warning to us. 

When presented with dysfunctional political leadership, the people had the right idea…they should make sure their families and communities were taken care of.  However, they quickly put all their hope in the wrong place – another person who was desiring to lead the nation.  Instead, the people should have turned to God for their next steps and protection.

I’m not going to tell you who to vote for.  That’s between you and God.  But after you cast your vote, and regardless of who sits in the Oval Office for the next four years…you need to intentionally take care of your family and your community.  Not just your “Christian community”, but work within your neighborhood, surrounding areas, and the broader population around you.

Two other parts of Scripture come to mind:

Psalm 118:8-9
It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in humanity.
It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in nobles.

Philippians 2:14-16
Do everything without grumbling and arguing, so that you may be blameless and pure, children of God who are faultless in a crooked and perverted generation, among whom you shine like stars in the world, by holding firm to the word of life.

The person elected as President does not prevent you from loving your neighbor as Jesus has loved you.  If there is going to be good in this country, if issues of race, equality, economic prosperity, and security are going to dealt with and improved in our nation, it will have to come from all of us – being the hands and feet of Jesus.  Our hope is not based on either of the politicians we saw on the debate stage.  The life change we desire to see in ourselves and our nation will not come about by a change in political policy...but only from a change to our heart.  

Keep Pressing,
Ken

My prayer group

For nearly two years, I’ve spent almost every Monday morning with a small group of guys from my church.  From 7:15-7:45am, we meet to pray.  We were meeting face-to-face, but during the pandemic we’ve continued to meet together via Zoom.  Throughout our time as a men’s prayer group, we’ve moved from a group of guys who get together to pray into a band of brothers who genuinely care for each other.  We’ve prayed with each other through many uncertainties, especially when it comes to our own health, work struggles, or life events.  Together, we’ve prayed about cancer and kidney stones, car accidents and child raising, job difficulties and times of uncertainty. 

Our ages range quite a bit and our life experiences vary greatly.  Our careers do not intersect, and it’s highly unlikely we would have any meaningful relationships, if not for being part of God’s family.  But here we are, each week, checking on each other and checking in with God.  By doing so, we are fulfilling one of Paul’s directions to his protégé, Timothy:

1 Timothy 2:1-4
First of all, then I urge that petitions, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for everyone, for kings and all those who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity.  This is good, and it pleases God our Savior, who wants everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

The topics we pray about are wide open.  We do not pray for everything and everyone every time, but here is a sample list of topics that we routinely bring before God:

We pray
for each other, our families, our church leadership;
for wisdom in decision making;
for grace when we are offended or attacked;
for help for those who are hurting, how to help those we know who are in pain;
how to reach out to the community to show them that we love them, we are for them, and that, ultimately, God loves them. 

We pray
for wisdom for how we can best invest in the generation coming up behind us;
for those fighting COVID19 – both the patients and the healthcare workers;
for our city, county, state, and national leadership – that God would provide good counselors and wisdom to make the best decisions possible for the situations at hand;
for those who are depressed, anxious, and dealing with doubts. 

At least some part of the prayer is asking God to help us apply the pastor’s message from the day before…it’s fresh in our minds, so we ask God to show us how live out God’s Word and His love.

Do we have to pray as a group?  Not necessarily.  Of course, any single one of us can talk to God about anything and at any time.  Every topic listed above is fair game if I’m going to pray by myself and petition the Creator of everything.  However, this time every Monday is special to me for a variety of reasons:

·       It’s a great way to start off a week – to intentionally focus on God’s agenda for 30 minutes before daily life and the work agenda clamors for my attention.  Listening to their prayer helps keep my mind from wandering.
·       It’s encouraging to hear someone else pray for the things that are on my own heart.  I find that I’m not the only one who needs God’s strength in the weak areas of my life…a friend is asking for help and direction in the same place.
·       It reminds me of other situations that need to be lifted to God in prayer.  There are so many needs – I don’t know them all and for those I am aware of, I can’t remember them all.  However, when I am silently agreeing with their petition to our Heavenly Father, I am reminded of how far God’s love can reach and how deep our world’s needs are. 
·       It’s encouraging to hear others praise God – both for what He has done and for who He is.  Finding out how God is working in other people’s lives reminds me of how BIG God is…and that He is working in ways I cannot see or understand…and without asking my permission or seeking my approval to do so!

Our consistent gathering together for prayer fulfills part of God’s will for us.  Look at how Paul instructed the believers in Thessalonica regarding what they should be doing as a congregation:

1 Thessalonians 5:11, 16-18
Therefore encourage one another and build each other up as you are already doing…Rejoice always, pray constantly, give thanks in everything; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

I encourage you to find a group to begin praying with.  A group of men or a group of women outside your immediate family circle.  Prayer isn’t so much about changing God’s mind as it becomes allowing God to change ours.  When we pray for the things that are on our hearts and desire to match them up with what is on His heart…we are slowly shaped into the likeness of Jesus.  Praying in a group of people who want to do God’s will enriches that process in ways that do not happen when we pray solo.

If you can’t find a group to pray with, ask a friend to meet with you…either in person or via Zoom/WhatsApp/FaceTime/etc…and don’t be surprised when others want to join in as well.

Keep Pressing,
Ken

Flashback Favorite - How God sees us

Sometimes we get a little wrapped up in our skewed mental picture of ourselves. Other times, were prone to believe the words that others use label us. We often try to project “the best image of ourselves” at work, online, or to our friends and family. It’s all too easy to forget what God sees when He looks at us…

How God sees us
originally posted on November 13, 2015

As Paul is wrapping up the transition point in his letter to the believers in Colossae, he makes an incredible statement that reveals how God views believers.  Previously, Paul urged them to kill off their old sinful habits because they

Colossians 3:9-10
…have put off the old man with his practices and have put on the new man

For the rest of the letter, Paul is going to describe what the life and practices of the new man will look like.  Reading ahead, you’ll find that Paul describes a life of freedom, love, and thankfulness.  However, the beginning of this new section says something we need to pause and consider.

Colossians 3:12
Therefore, God’s chosen ones, holy and loved, put on…

These three descriptions – chosen, holy, and loved – come before Paul lists out the qualities that he wants the Colossian believers to put on and practice.  This means that God views us by these descriptions – regardless of how well we live life wearing the practices of the new man.

So what, exactly, do these descriptions mean?

Although some people assume that the word chosen means that Paul is talking about God choosing people out of the world to be believers, the context doesn’t allow for that interpretation.

Keep in mind that Paul wrote to those who already trusted Jesus as their Savior.  Also remember that in the previous sentence, Paul described the family of God, saying

Colossians 3:11
Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, slave and free; but Christ is all and in all.

From this context, we see that all believers are chosen ones.  In fact, this entire section is only dealing with internal, family matters.  After Paul refers to the Colossian believers as chosen ones, the rest of sentence talks about the qualities of a maturing believer’s life.  Therefore, it is clear that God is choosing all believers to mature and become more Christ-like.  Not just some of us.  Not just the “good kids.”  God chooses all of us for maturity.

The word holy conveys the idea of being set apart for a special purpose.  A word that also embodies this idea is the word sacred.  Whenever we refer to something as sacred, we imply that it is in a category all to its own.  Sacred things are handled reverently and carefully…not because of weakness, but because holy and sacred things are considered to have a priceless value.  Notice that God sees us as holy, set apart, and He considers our relationship with Him to be a sacred one.

Lastly, Paul says that God sees us as loved.  We’ve heard that God loves us so many times that we can have trouble remembering the depth of His love.  Here, however, the tense of the verb loved helps to remind us.  Loved is a perfect passive verb in this sentence.  The perfect tense in Greek describes an action which is viewed as having been completed in the past, once and for all, not needing to be repeated.  A passive voice means that the subject is the recipient of the verb’s action.  Taken together, when Paul says that we are loved by God – it means that we are the recipient of His love, and His love for us was firmly established a long time ago.

God sees us as chosen ones, holy and loved.  Think about that.  Smile about that.  No matter what happens today, or how well you handle it, those things do not change.

God sees you as His chosen one, holy and loved.

Keep Pressing,
Ken

We are family

I grew up in a (mostly) stable home.  We had our ups and downs, and, like any family, there are stories on both sides of that coin.  Overall, though, I know we had it better than many other families.  Us kids knew we were loved and supported.  Additionally, we all understood that our behavior reflected on not just us, but the whole family.  And when things were rough, one thing was for sure…we took care of our issues in-house, as much as possible.

Although Jesus was sinless (and therefore the perfect son and brother), did you know that at least for some period of time, His family didn’t fully support His ministry?  They believed that His actions were causing trouble – for both Himself and for them.

Mark 3:20-21
Jesus entered a house, and the crowd gathered again so that they were not even able to eat.  When His family heard this, they set out to restrain Him, because they said, “He’s out of His mind.”

Did you see that?  Jesus’ family…set out to restrain Him.  Not exactly the picture you expected of Jesus’ mother Mary, right?

They were concerned about Him and His well-being.  It’s understandable.  After all, Jesus was doing something new.  He was leading and teaching in ways that upset the cultural and political norms.  And we all know that “new” isn’t always received as “better” by those who lives are wrapped up in the norms.

This family intervention couldn’t have been a spur-of-the-moment decision by Mary and Jesus’ siblings.  They must have talked about Jesus’ teachings, growing fame, and the all the potential repercussions for Him and for them.  They likely debated over the best way to handle it and approach Jesus, but it was at this moment they decided to act.

His family probably thought they arrived just in time, because while they were on their way, some scribes from Jerusalem were making some condemning allegations against Jesus.  In order to explain how He performed miracles and spoke against Israel’s religious teachers, the scribes accused Jesus of being possessed by Beelzebul (i.e. – Satan).  Can you imagine the shame and difficulty that kind of accusation would have caused Jesus’ family?  After walking into this situation, Jesus’ family was ready for Him to pack up and leave with them.

Mark 3:31
His mother and His brothers came, and standing outside, they sent word to Him and called Him.

What kinds of things do you think they were saying?

Jesus.  Jesus!  It’s time to come home.  Stop making crowds.  They’re dangerous and the Romans will get suspicious of you.  Please come out and go home with us!

Jesus!  The religious leaders will remove our family from the synagogue if you keep challenging their authority and making them look bad.  Please come home so we can talk about this as a family.

Jesus did not hear their pleading calls.  It’s entirely possible that He could not hear them due to the size of the crowd.  Somehow, however, they got word to Him inside the house:

Mark 3:32
A crowd was sitting around Him and told Him, “Look, your mother, your brothers, and your sisters are outside asking for you.”

What’s the correct response here?  Should he tuck tail and leave with His mother and His siblings?  However, Jesus was not a small child for them to lead around.  He was a full grown adult…a man with a God-given purpose, even if His family didn’t understand:

Mark 3:33-35
He replied to them, “Who are My mother and My brothers?”  Looking at those sitting in a circle around Him, He said, “Here are My mother and My brothers!  Whoever does the will of God is My brother and sister and mother.”

In the same way Jesus could tell His mother at twelve “I must be in My Father’s house” (Luke 2:41-50), He now tells His immediate family that He must be about His Father’s business. 

This wasn’t so much a rebuke of His blood-relatives, but Jesus is showing His priority to those who are actively seeking Him.  Those in the crowd that Jesus taught were more than just curious, random strangers…often the crowds that followed Him were those who believed in Him and wanted to learn more from Him.  They were the larger group of disciples that the twelve were chosen from. 

With His declaration “Here are My mother and My brothers!”, Jesus shows that He values them as much as He does His natural-born family.  Jesus is committed to them because they are committed to the same thing He is – doing the will of God.

Maybe you didn’t grow up with the kind of family you wanted.  Maybe your family doesn’t understand this “Jesus thing” that you have and are waiting for you to “snap out of it” and come back to them. 

You might even be feeling lonely, wishing you had a mother or a brother or a sister…but never forget that once you accept Jesus’ free gift of eternal life, you are adopted into His family.  And you have connections with more people from more places and backgrounds than you’ll know what to do with.

We won’t always get along.  We won’t always agree.  But as we continue to sit at Jesus’ feet, we’ll begin to understand how close this family really is, and that we’re most united when we have the same goal…doing the will of God.

Keep Pressing,
Ken

Instruction by embarrassment

When I was in my early 20s, I was part of a men’s group that met weekly and was led by one of our church’s staff pastors.  I was, by far, the youngest man in the group…but they never treated me as less than because of my age.  We would hang out before starting the study discussion, and this particular time I was talking with a guy named Mike.  When he asked me how my week had gone, I answered, “Well the damnedest thing happened to me today…”.  That wasn’t a slip of the tongue, either.  At that time, I was very loose with how I phrased things.  I believed that I was old enough to talk however I wanted.  And when you’re among other Christian brothers, who “understand”, it’s ok to speak a little rougher than you would in public, right?  Perhaps I also wanted to impress him a little, thinking that I should add some joking emphasis to what I was about to say. 

Before I could finish my sentence with what actually happened to me, Mike put his hands up and quickly said “Hold on, hold on, hold on.”  And then, to my shock, he raised his voice so the entire group could hear and said, “EVERYONE, I HAVE AN ANNOUNCEMENT TO MAKE: ‘the damnedest thing’ happened to Ken today.  I suggest we all listen to what he’s about to say.”

All the eyes in the room were suddenly staring at me.  Everyone was silent and waiting for me to speak.  I felt the red quickly climb up my neck and onto my face.  I wasn’t mad…I was embarrassed, because I knew that what I had planned to say wasn’t ANNOUNCEMENT-worthy.  It was, in the grand scheme of things, a small thing that didn’t qualify for the title of “the damnedest thing”.  I quickly mumbled to the group that it wasn’t a big deal and I had nothing to say.  Everyone shrugged and went back to their conversations.  I don’t think Mike said anything else about it.  Honestly, he didn’t have to.  I learned my lesson.

Did you know that Jesus once used this same technique to teach an important lesson to His disciples?

Mark 8:27-30
Jesus went out with His disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi.  And on the road He asked His disciples, “Who do people say that I am?”

They answered Him, “John the Baptist; others, Elijah; still others, one of the prophets.”

“But you,” He asked them, “who do you say that I am?”

Peter answered Him, “You are the Messiah.”  And He strictly warned them to tell no one about Him.

Don’t miss this…By not correcting Peter’s statement, Jesus confirmed to the disciples that He was the Messiah.  That was earth-shattering, front-page headline news.  While Jesus’ warning for them to tell no one that He was the Messiah may have frustrated the disciples, they could certainly understand it.  After all, Jesus wanted people to come to that conclusion on their own.  Also, Jesus had not given a specific timeline as to when The Kingdom that He had taught about was going to start; so the disciples could rationalize that it just wasn’t time yet for the big “Messiah announcement”.  However, it’s what happened in the very next verse that began to trouble the disciples:

Mark 8:31-32
Then He began to teach them that it was necessary for the Son of Man to suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and scribes, be killed, and rise after three days.  He spoke openly about this.

Wait…what?  Imagine what the disciples were thinking…

You said we couldn’t tell anyone who you really are, but you’re PUBLICLY talking about being rejected by all of our country’s leaders, being murdered, and then coming back from the dead?  Are you serious?  Aren’t you the Messiah, the King?  Who would be blind enough to reject you?  How can you die?  What purpose would that serve?  And nobody comes back from the dead.

They murmured amongst themselves, trying to figure out what to do.  How do you correct a teacher, let alone the Messiah?  Somehow or another, either at the group’s urging or perhaps acting alone, Peter drummed up enough courage to approach Jesus.  Challenging a rabbi was risky business, a definite societal taboo.  Correcting a rabbi in public would result either in a pupil’s disgrace or embarrassment for the teacher.  They loved Jesus and didn’t want to embarrass Him, but, they thought, something needed to be said.  So Peter opted for the quieter approach:

Mark 8:32-33
Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him.  But turning around and looking at His disciples, He rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan!  You are not thinking about God’s concerns but human concerns.”

I can imagine Peter slinking back to his seat and slumping down into a heap.  Lesson learned.  Peter was the one out-of-line, not Jesus.  In that moment of attempted rebuke, Peter acted like an adversary…like a satan.  When Jesus looked at His disciples to correct Peter, His purpose was two-fold:

1.       to call Peter out for his improper motivation, short-sightedness, and ignorance of God’s plan
and
2.       to use Peter as an example to the rest of the group

Ouch. 

Reading the rest of the gospels, it’s clear that Jesus loved Peter.  However, in this moment, a biting rebuke and public embarrassment were necessary for Peter to learn to trust God’s plan…even if the plan made absolutely no sense to him.

By all indications in the text, Peter humbly accepted his lesson learned.  He didn’t lash out.  He didn’t quit following Jesus.  Peter didn’t stop hanging out with the other disciples or find another group of Jesus-followers to be a part of.

When we are faced with our own embarrassment for our improper motivation, short-sightedness, or ignorance of God’s plan…I pray that we will humbly accept the lesson that God is teaching us. 

Keep Pressing,
Ken

You are my proof

I heard the statement recently “The only thing God is building right now on this earth is His church.”  After pondering over this idea for a while, I believe the person saying it was right.  The speaker was driving home an important point: the only things continuing on from this life to the next will be the people who have believed in Jesus for eternal life.  Everything else will be made new (Revelation 21:5).  This doesn’t mean that everything else – careers, homes, sports, buildings, hobbies, etc. – are considered “evil” or “worthless”, because these events are what God uses to develop and grow us.

So this means that the only eternally lasting work we can do is to build up Jesus’ church.  We can accomplish this work through one of two ways: 1) helping unbelievers understand and accept Jesus’ free offer of eternal life, or 2) encourage and develop those who already believe.

There are many ways to accomplish either of those pursuits; however, we also have to recognize that our time on earth is limited…which means we want to make the most of our time, especially when it comes to investing in other believers. 

At times in his letters, Paul expressed concern that he had not invested properly, that those he had shared both the gospel and his life with were not good “proofs” that his time was well spent.  Other times he commended his former pupils on their development after he had invested in them.  Here are just a few examples:

To the believers in Philippi, Paul wrote to encourage their progress in their relationship with God and how well they imitated Jesus to those around them.  He described how their growth was a benefit to them individually and to the further spreading of the gospel…but also to Paul, himself:

Philippians 2:14-16
Do everything without grumbling and arguing, so that you may be blameless and pure, children of God who are faultless in a crooked and perverted generation, among whom you shine like stars in the world, by holding firm to the word of life.  Then I can boast in the day of Christ that I didn’t run or labor for nothing.

When Paul was correcting the believers in the region of Galatia for becoming confused by false teachers, he didn’t question their salvation, but he was concerned about their fruitfulness:

Galatians 4:11, 5:7
I am fearful for you, that perhaps my labor for you has been wasted…You were running well.  Who prevented you from being persuaded regarding the truth?

When checking up on the believers in Thessalonica, Paul spoke proudly of their progress in faith and love.  He joyfully told them:

1 Thessalonians 2:19-20
For who is our hope or joy or crown of boasting in the presence of our Lord Jesus at His coming?  Is it not you?  Indeed you are our glory and joy!

When I look at two of Jesus’ most famous parables, The parable of the talents (Matthew 25:14-30) and The parable of the minas (Luke 19:11-27), I find that Jesus is looking for a good return on His investment of gifts and abilities in each of us.  When we Christians do give an account to Jesus, what else can we give as evidence other than the lives we have ministered to, invested in, and enriched?  After all, Paul was writing to Christians when he said:

2 Corinthians 5:10
For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each may be repaid for what he has done in the body, whether good or bad.

Just like in The parable of the talents and The parable of the minas, the master will return and He will evaluate what we have done in His absence.  The judgment seat of Christ is only for believers; unbelievers will be judged at a different time.  As such, the judgement seat of Christ is not a place to determine our eternal destiny, instead it will be the time when Jesus determines our eternal rewards and opportunities to serve in His kingdom in the life to come.

I am proof that Joe Rheney did not run in vain.  I am not the only proof of his efforts, but I will be evidence – and I want to be good proof for a man who loved and invested so much in me.  I will also be proof for any Godly investment made by others at various times in my life – my parents, grandparents, teachers, friends.  Similarly, you are my proof that I did not waste my time blogging my Bible study.  It is my hope and prayer that you find good encouragement, a clear explanation of Scripture, and Godly challenges here.  What return on investment (ROI) is there for God if all I have learned and experienced with Him is kept solely for me?  Put simply: If I am not sharing who God has made me into and what God has taught me, then I am not fulfilling Jesus’ Great Commission. 

I know, this is a lot to take in all at once.  And not many churches emphasize this topic.  If this is new to you, or if you are suddenly feeling overwhelmed, here are a few application points to consider:

·       Paul invested in different people for different seasons of life.  Similarly, there will be different seasons when we invest, on God’s behalf, in others.  It’s also likely that we will not always invest in the same way or in the same physical location.
·       If you have children living at home – they are your primary ministry.  Not to say that you can’t or shouldn’t be investing in others, but your children must take priority over all others for this season.
·       The servants in both The parable of the talents and The parable of the minas were responsible for and received rewards based upon how much ROI they had from the master’s initial investment in them.  They were not judged in comparison with each other.  As such, we should not beat ourselves up if we are not “Paul the Apostle” or “Billy Graham”.  Instead, we should focus on being faithful with whatever skills, abilities, finances, and time God has given to us.

Truthfully, this topic can be summed up in just two questions:

Who are you proof for?
and
Who will be your proof that you did not waste God’s investment in you?

Keep Pressing,
Ken

Flashback Favorite - Clarity in a cloud

Clarity in a cloud
originally posted on September 20, 2018

Ever feel like you just gotta get out of the house?  You have no idea where you will go or what you will do, but if you stay indoors much longer, you’re probably going to lose your mind…can you relate?

Well, that happened to me and the Mrs. on Monday evening this week.  We just needed o-u-t, OUT.

Not wanting to waste money or gas, we ended up at a park next to a reservoir, not too far from home.  She sat down in a pavilion to sketch, but I felt like strolling.  I wandered down to a large wooden platform at the water’s edge.  I found that I could sit on the platform and my dangling feet would hover just above the water.  The sun’s rays were warm, the slight breeze was cool, and sound of city traffic was barely above the level of a quiet hum.  That’s when I saw it.

Above the pavilion my wife was sitting under, I saw a large puffy cloud that loosely resembled a bowler hat.  While the breeze at my level was light, you could tell the air at the cloud’s level was moving quickly.  So I watched.

Admittedly, I do not give much thought to clouds – unless they’re going to drop some rain.  And if I happen to think about clouds, I tend to imagine them making their trek across our sky as an unchanging blob, just a fluffy block of moisture.

But as I sat and watched, that’s not what I saw.

What I saw was a mass that was constantly changing shape as it moved.  It wasn’t uniform.  It wasn’t symmetrical.  The cloud, as a whole, was moving in a direction, but it was vigorously forming and reforming as it proceeded across the sky.  In order to really see and understand how it shifted from one movement to the next, I had to focus on one small part of the cloud at a time.  When my eyes moved to a new section – I could only tell that it was different, but I had no understanding of how the cloud made its new edge.  All the while, my previous focus-point continued to roll into new areas of the atmosphere.

What really stood out was the cloud’s depth.  As the cloud would billow and expand, stretching and reshaping, it was obvious there was a lot going on beneath the cloud’s surface that I was not able to see, understand, or predict until the movement happened.

Then it dawned on me…creation was giving me a lesson about our Creator.

God is on the move.
We are privy to the overall direction where God is moving history.
While history is happening, God doesn’t move in ways we expect.
When I try to take in the grandeur of God, I cannot see the beauty in His intricate details.
When I focus on an intricate detail, I am blown away by what He reveals.
While I am focused in, God is still moving in other ways that are outside my vision.
I am unable to keep up with all of God’s details.
There is a depth to God that we are not privy to.
We cannot fully see, understand, or predict how and when God will move, proceed, or pull back.

While even the best of analogies will breakdown (for example – God moves as He pleases, not because He is forced to, like the wind and sun move the clouds), creation can tell us much about our Creator.  Both David and Paul wrote about this:

Psalm 19:1-2
The heavens declare the glory of God,
and the expanse proclaims the work of His hands.
Day after day they pour out speech;
night after night they communicate knowledge.

Romans 1:20
For His invisible attributes, that is, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen since the creation of the world, being understood through what He has made. As a result, people are without excuse.

In order to have this teachable moment with creation, I had to sit down, be still, and think. After all these realizations had flooded my mind, I was convinced that I had sat there too long and my wife was likely waiting on me to come find her. I looked at my phone to see how long I had been there:

Not even 15 minutes.

In less than 15 minutes of looking up at the sky, God used His creation to remind me of His greatness, His beauty, and His depth. Day after day and night after night, the lesson was there, ready for me to learn – but I wasn’t looking or listening. For certain, I am without excuse.

Will you take 15 minutes today to look at creation…and see His eternal power and divine nature?

The heavens declare the glory of God, so let’s take just a few moments…and look up.

Keep Pressing,
Ken

Flashback Favorite - The greatest reward possible

The greatest reward possible
Originally posted on September 26, 2019

Assuming you had the necessary skills and the opportunity, what is the biggest earthly prize you would aspire to?

Maybe it’s directing the highest grossing movie of all time…or Quarterbacking your favorite team to a Super Bowl victory…or building a business up from your garage into a global empire…or perhaps you are content to win the lottery and retire to a private island.  What would be “the ultimate prize” for you?

How does thinking about this feel?  Scary?  Overwhelming?  Unrealistic?

As those who believe in Jesus for eternal life, we know this present life will continue on with Him into Eternity Future.  While there are big dreams and opportunities to be had here and now…we should also wonder if there are eternal opportunities that God has made available to us.  In God’s revelation to John, He reveals a big one:

Revelation 22:3-5
The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and His servants will worship Him.  They will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads.  Night will be no more; people will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, because the Lord God will give them light, and they will reign forever and ever.

They will reign.

Those words carry a weight to them, and they should.  To reign means that a person has obtained or has been given the authority to rule, to lead, and to preside over the lives of others.  While we fully expect Jesus to reign in Heaven and over all creation…John tells us that in addition to Jesus, His servants will reign.

Servant Kings.

Those words don’t seem to go together, but it is exactly what Christ taught to His disciples.

At one point, Peter struggled with comparing the life he left behind with his choice to follow Jesus as a disciple.  He could have believed that Jesus was the promised Messiah, continued to work the family business as a fisherman, and still gone to Heaven.  What Peter struggled with was seeing the tangible benefits to accepting Christ’s invitation to intimately follow Him in Discipleship, to living his earthly life learning how to imitate Christ.  Let’s drop into their conversation:

Matthew 19:27-28
Then Peter responded to Him, “See, we have left everything and followed You.  So what will there be for us?”  Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, in the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on His glorious throne, you who have followed Me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.”

Notice that Jesus does not rebuke Peter for asking this kind of “What’s the reward?” question.  Jesus replies that there is a reward – a reward of authority – to those who have followed him.  Jesus didn’t say that this magnitude of a reward was available to everyone who believes…rather those who will be great at the renewal of all things are those who, after believing, have spent their earthly lives learning how to imitate Christ.

Learning to imitate Christ, the greatest example of a Servant King, is what will qualify His servants to reign forever and ever.

You and I have the necessary skills and the opportunity to do the same.  Will we follow Christ now so that we, too, can become Servant Kings in eternity future?

Keep Pressing,
Ken

The MVP - conflicting interpretations

We’ve learned a lot by going through what Jesus referred to as the key parable of His teaching. 

But if you listen to different preachers or read through multiple commentaries, you’ll find that not everyone agrees when it comes to how to interpret what Jesus was trying to communicate to His disciples and those that followed Him.

Most preachers and commentators will tell you that the parable of the sower consists of 3 “bad” soils and 1 “good” soil.  They argue that no fruit or immature fruit is equal to people who profess to be Christians, but aren’t really believers because they don’t persevere or behave in a measurable “Christian” manner (and that definition is a sliding scale, depending on whom you ask).

What I’ve presented to you is that in this parable, there is 1 “non-believer” soil and 3 “believer” soils, with each believing soil have varying degrees of success in the Christian life.  In my studies for this post series, I even came across some teachers claiming the correct interpretation is half-and-half…they argue that 2 soils represent non-believers (never believed and falsely professed belief) and 2 soils represent believers (because, they argued, immature fruit is still “fruit”).

Logically, all three interpretations cannot be true.  One can be right and the others wrong, or they could all be wrong…but since they contradict each other, they cannot all be right.  That leaves us in a predicament, doesn’t it?  Whose interpretation is the right one?  Or, put more directly…Which interpretation is God’s interpretation?

Before we attempt to answer that question, let’s take this a step further…why would God even allow such varying interpretations to exist?  If this parable really is the Most Valuable Parable, why in the world would God let any of us be confused as to what He really means?

Ok, let’s all take a breath and remember…Jesus taught in parables because, while Israel thought they were ready for the Messiah, they were not ready for Jesus to be their Messiah.  Over the centuries, based upon God’s written word and the teaching of the prophets, the nation of Israel had formed a pre-conceived notion of what the Messiah would do and how he would act.  Jesus didn’t fit their expectation of who the Messiah would be…but He fit God’s definition of exactly what the world needed.

As such, Jesus taught in parables to get the people to think their way through His teachings so they could learn who He was.  And not all of His teachings were instantly understood.  After teaching the crowds the parable of the sower, even the disciples didn’t get it right away:

Luke 8:9-10
Then His disciples asked Him, “What does this parable mean?”  So He said, “The secrets of the kingdom of God have been given for you to know, but to the rest it is in parables, so that

Looking they may not see, and hearing they may not understand.

Jesus quotes a famous verse (Isaiah 6:9) from the passage where God calls Isaiah to be a prophet to the people of Israel.  Using a verse to reference the point of an entire passage was common in the ancient world, so I suggest you go back and read all of Isaiah 6 – it’s an incredible scene in the throne room of God.  Here’s a portion of it, the part where Isaiah gets his assignment from God:

Isaiah 6:9-10
And He replied:

              Go!  Say to these people: Keep listening, but do not understand;
              keep looking, but do not perceive.

              Make the minds of these people dull; deafen their ears and blind their eyes;
              otherwise they might see with their eyes and hears with their ears,
              understand with their minds, turn back, and be healed.

Jesus’ use of this passage speaks to our tendency to look for something, but not put in the continued effort to find it…or our ability to hear words but then not pursue what those words actually mean.  This was how most of Israel treated the prophet Isaiah – they heard his teaching from the Lord, but didn’t bother pursuing God to understand Him and His ways.  They decided they were tired of hearing the same thing from the Lord over and over, so they dulled their minds and stopped listening to God’s prophets.  Isaiah’s teachings were an invitation to Israel to interact with the Lord.  Jesus’ teaching through parables presented the same situation…those that wanted to follow Him, had the opportunity to ask and interact.  But Jesus didn’t force this on the crowds…they had to decide for themselves if Jesus was the Messiah.

So, where does that leave us with the parable of the sower?   While I have given you what I believe – based on my observations – is an accurate interpretation/application of The MVP, it’s up to you to decide if I’m right or not.  This is your opportunity to interact with God through the text of His Scriptures…and walk through the steps of Observation, Interpretation, and Application to find out what Jesus was really getting at here.

You have the same opportunity as the Israelites in Isaiah’s day and the crowds in Jesus’ day…investigate His teachings for yourself.  As you do so, God will remove rocks and thorns from your life so that you can be good ground…someone who endures and produces a great amount of fruit with your life.

If you would like some help learning how to navigate the steps of Observation, Interpretation, and Application, just reply to this blog post or send me a note via the contact page on the website. I’d be so happy to help you get the tools you need to read and understand God’s Word.

Keep Pressing,
Ken

The MVP - good ground

We’re looking into The parable of the sower.  It was this parable that Jesus referred to as the “key” to understanding all His parables (Mark 4:13).  As such, I’m calling it: The Most Valuable Parable – The MVP.  All three of the synoptic gospel writers included this parable.  It can be found in Matthew 13:1-23, Mark 4:1-20, and Luke 8:4-15.  So far, we have looked at the sower, the soil of the path, the rocky soil, and the thorny soil.  We’ve also observed that the word of God produced new life in the rocky soil, the thorny soil, and the good soil.  Now we’re taking a closer look at the good ground:

While we might best identify with the conditions of thorny soil, I think it’s safe to say that we’d all like to be good ground.  The good ground produces good fruit, which pleases God…so why wouldn’t we want that?  And all we have to do in order to be considered good ground is do good things and avoid doing really bad things, right?  Well, that’s not exactly what Jesus said about how good ground believers end up producing abundant fruit.

Luke 8:4-8, 11-15
As a large crowd was gathering, and people were coming to Jesus from every town, He said in a parable:

“A sower went out to sow his seed.  As he sowed, some seed fell along the path; it was trampled on, and the birds of the sky devoured it.  Other seed fell on the rock; when it grew up, it withered away, since it lacked moisture.  Other seed fell among thorns; the thorns grew up with it and choked it.  Still other seed fell on good ground; when it grew up it produced fruit: a hundred times what was sown.”  As He said this, He called out, “Let anyone who as ears to hear listen.”

…“This is the meaning of the parable: The seed is the word of God.  The seed along the path are those who have heard and then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved.  And the seed on the rock are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy.  Having no root, these believe for a while and fall away in a time of testing.  As for the seed that fell among thorns, these are the ones who, when they have heard, go on their way and are choked with worries, riches, and pleasures of life, and produce no mature fruit.  But the seed in the good ground – these are the ones who, having heard the word with an honest and good heart, hold on to it and by enduring, produce fruit.

There are two big observations about the good ground we need to look at – 1) When did it produce mature, abundant fruit? and 2) How was that fruit accomplished?

The first observation question – When did the good ground produce the mature, abundant fruit?  Jesus says that the fruit came when [the seed’s plant] grew up – not before it had grown up and matured, and not immediately when the new life burst forth from the seed.  God’s word needs time in your life to grow in you.  So don’t berate yourself if you still have stress, struggles, and doubts.  God isn’t tapping His foot and being disappointed that you haven’t yet forced out some fruit growth.  That’s not our job.  Mature fruit is the natural result of the seed being planted in good ground.  Our job is to become that good ground.

How was the ground made “good” and not have the same rock issues and thorn issues that the other soils had?  How can we be made into good ground?  As for me, I can tell you that others have helped pull weeds and thorns from my life.  In one of my favorite song lyrics, the singer states he’s “Still pulling weeds from seeds of yesterday’s scheming”.  We often need help to get rid of those.  Also, I can look back and see that God has removed boulders from my life, so that Godly roots can be laid down, often in that same space where the rocks once were.  Lastly Jesus said that good ground will hear the word with an honest and good heart, putting into practice the lessons God is teaching through His word.  Am I learning and applying His lessons?  In all my examples here, nothing was automatic.  God is willing to take the time for me to grow up and then produce fruit.

However, just because ground is fertile and relatively clean does not automatically mean that mature fruit will be brought forth…there is one more step here, and that involves our second observation question: How was that fruit accomplished?  In a word, by enduring.

We can survive just about anything, but if we are to endure and grow and come out stronger after a trial, we’re going to need to rely on God.  We must trust His path and His leading.  2020 has had more societal disruptions than we’ve seen in the last decade, and it feels like it’s just one crisis/problem after another.  Your persistence in these days matter.  Pursue God.  Seek Him out.  Ask Him to make you like His son.  Cling to the promises of God.  Your efforts in doing so will grow, multiply, and echo in ways your can’t imagine right now.  Don’t just survive; instead, endure these times as training, knowing that your Heavenly Father will produce mature fruit in your life because of it.

Growth takes time.  Enduring takes time.  As much as we want successful, spiritual fruit to happen immediately…all throughout Scripture, we find God taking His time to bring about the results He desires.  So let’s be patient with our growth and trust God as He removes rocks, weeds, and anything else that keeps us from becoming like Jesus.  Let us believe Him with an honest and good heart, holding on to the word of God planted in us…so that we can endure the times set before us…and then, because of God, produce fruit in quantities we could have never imagined.

Keep Pressing,
Ken