ResponsiveReiding

3 Short Lessons from Jesus’ Temptations

April 27th, 2011

Matthew 4:1 (ESV) Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.

Three short lessons from the temptation of Jesus.

1. Matthew 4:3–4 (ESV) And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” But he answered, “It is written, “ ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ ”

Lesson: There is more to “life” than physical existence. One may die and yet live (John 11:25), and remain living, while dead to the life of God. The power of the temptation is in the threat of the loss of immediate and temporal life while obscuring the real danger – the loss of spiritual life.

2. Matthew 4:5–7 (ESV) Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, “ ‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and “ ‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’ ” Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’ ”

Lesson: Nothing is more demonstrative of our faithlessness, as when we yield to trying to get Him to prove His love and care for us above the reality of His nature, and His Word.

3. Matthew 4:8–10 (ESV) Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written, “ ‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.’ ”

Lesson: When we value anything God gives or promises above He Himself, we have become idolaters.
Lazarus’ raising as the “first light” of Easter

April 15th, 2011

John 11:1 (ESV) Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha.

Some observations on the greatest type of Easter – in light of our soon celebration of Christ’s resurrection from the dead.

2 / Tragedy and death come to all – even those whose devotion to Christ is superlative.

3 / The privilege of those who know Christ, is to appeal to Him on a very personal level.

4 / We tend to think more in terms of the IMMEDIATE, while God’s chief consideration is the ULTIMATE end of things.

5-6 / Even God’s inscrutable delays or what appear to be refusals to answer are the product of His great love for us.

9 / We cannot work with confidence until we are walking in the light of God’s plan and purpose and reality. But when we ARE about the Father’s business, stumbling is eliminated.

12 / To our God, death is little different than sleep. He is Lord of all!

14-15 / How carefully Christ’s Providences are laid out – that we might believe. How little notice we take of them.

21-22 / OUR failure to understand why God may have acted differently than we might have preferred – is no reason to doubt HIM.

21-26 / Our final hope is in the resurrection, not ease or profit or comfort in this life.

21-26 / Some in their grief, need but to be reminded of the promise of God and what is before us as Believers.

28-35 / Others in their grief need us simply to grieve with them. To be there in their pain. Doubt isn’t the problem – mere sorrow is.

33 / Our God is outraged at the effects of sin – He is not complacent . Though He be judge of all, He takes no delight in the death that is our just reward for sin. He hates the unbelief that brought sin and its effects about, and that continues to sustain it.

40 / Jesus locates the manifestation of the glory of God in the resurrection – in His final triumph over sin and death, in mercy and grace. This is what He wants us to know about Himself above all else.

41-42 / In love, God does not act merely for Himself – but to bless others. This is the nature of love – unselfish and giving.

44 / God’s care for us is not only in reversing death – but in setting us free from all sin has bound us to, and all the sin that is bound to us.

What a Savior!
The fear of the Lord: Does God have your ear?

April 14th, 2011

Proverbs 1:7 (ESV) The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.

Everyone agrees to the truth of this statement, but unpacking it is sometimes a little difficult. What is this “fear of the Lord”, and isn’t it counter to living with God in love and acceptance? Not at all.

The first time the idea of fearing the Lord appears in Scripture in explicit terms is in (of all places) Exodus 9. And it is used in a unique setting. It is spoken of as the response of some Egyptians, who upon hearing Moses’ pronouncement that the 7th plague of hail was about to be poured out. The text reads: Exodus 9:20 (ESV) “Then whoever feared the word of the Lord among the servants of Pharaoh hurried his slaves and his livestock into the houses.”

And if you think back to Genesis 3 and the Fall – although your do not see the words explicitly stated, the principle is there. In fact, this is the very seed from which all sin springs – failure to fear the Lord, to fear His Word.

And what exactly is meant by that? In the final analysis, to fear the Lord is simply to take Him seriously, so that His Word to us is of the highest and utmost importance. Whatever else we may think or feel – His opinion, His view, His warnings, His pronouncements regarding what is good, and what is ill and dangerous – we heed. Above all.

Things are, as God says they are. Reality is what He declares it to be. Sin is what He says is sin and good is only what He says is good. It is when we lose this central “fear” – so that anything He says can be taken lightly, modified, twisted, is optional or can even be downright contradicted – that everything comes apart at the seams.

This is what it means to fear Him. Do you? Does God have your ear?
“I WIN!”

March 29th, 2011

At 11:10 last evening, we had the sweetest privilege, as my wife and me, my brother Ken and his wife Ruth, their daughters Elizabeth and Rebecca and their son Brad – witnessed their other son – 36 year old Barrett Leighton Ferguson step into the arms of Jesus.

We were listening to his favorite hymn at the time – “It is Well With My Soul”. As the song moved into the words: “My sin, O the bliss, of this glorious thought; My sin, not in part but the whole – was nailed to His cross and I bear it no more…” – Barrett stopped breathing and left us to enter fully into that “bliss”.

“Bear” as everyone called him, was one of the world’s truly gentle souls. As big and as strong as a bear, he had a deep, sweet tenderness that you could not miss if you met him for more than five minutes.

Physically, stomach cancer claimed his body. In reality, his Lord and Savior claimed His prize – the soul of the man He died to redeem on the cross of Calvary.

Barrett knew his Savior Jesus Christ, knew he was going home and from the first attempt at futile surgery to reverse his condition declared that whether or not he recovered from the cancer – whether he lived or died: “I win”. He won last night. Won his eternal reward by the grace of the One who loved him and died for him upon the cross two millennia ago to pay the price for your sins, mine, and Barrett’s.

Barrett fought his cancer – but won more than the whole world could ever give by trusting in the grace of God in Jesus Christ.

I leave you these words in his honor –

The Gentle Giant sleeps at last

Now shed this mortal coil

And wakes, anew in Christ’s blest arms

Full finished this life’s toil

And there, he bows, before the Throne

Of Christ he loved so dear

And marvels at the angels’ songs

He’s yearned so long to hear

In waves of glorious rapture’s swells

Convulsed with boundless joy

He weeps and sings and worships there

At beauty unalloyed

The vision of His God unveiled

Fills every livened sense

The Holiness of God now seen

Ecstatic reverence

The mind filled more than ever dreamed

Divinities laid bare

Transcending all he’d loved and spoke

His all – His Christ is there!

No shadows found in any room

No darkness anywhere

He flies from each new wonder, then

To more beyond compare

“He’s greater still!, He’s greater still!”

Is all his lips can say

As each unfolding moment brings

Him more of Heaven’s Day

In this his soul is now employed

Imbibing Heaven’s store

Till all who fell asleep in Him

Shall rise to die no more

The Gentle Giant sleeps till then

His battles fought and won

In sweet repose upon the breast

Of Christ, the Blessed Son
Fearing God, AND the “king”

March 24th, 2011

Proverbs 24:21–22 (ESV) “My son, fear the Lord and the king, and do not join with those who do otherwise, for disaster will arise suddenly from them, and who knows the ruin that will come from them both?”

Most Christians like to think of themselves as those who fear God. We want to acknowledge Him in His rightful reign and in His capacity as – God. Isn’t it strange then, that it is often the case among us (especially in our day and age) to find the very ones claiming to fear God – having little fear of those God puts in civil authority? I will confess my own severe failing in this regard.

While the Scripture nowhere requires that we agree with the policies or philosophies of governmental systems and those who hold offices within them – we are nevertheless to “fear” them, even as we fear God. For the same word in our text is applied to both. We do not fear them AS God, but we fear them as we recognize God’s appointment of them and His institution of them for our good. (Rom. 13:1-8)

It came as a surprise to me that we do not have the right to just lambast Government officials at will. Clearly – the Scripture envisions the Church speaking openly and directly to sin issues – no matter who is involved. Such is the case with John the Baptist rebuking Herod in Matt. 13:3-4. But there is nary a word of disdain to be found for the governing of Herod himself – though we know him to be a pagan, ungodly, self-seeking, unjust and scandalous man. Our arena is sin – not policy. Though at times, certainly, some policies may be sinful too.

More to the point of the text however – is that we are to have an attitude of fear toward offices, and thus the ones who occupy them – irrespective of how well they do or do not rule. We may well disagree – but we dare not disdain or verbally pummel them carelessly. Nor, are we to truck with those who do.

It is not permissible for us to refrain from failing to fear the authorities – only to take up for and support those who do. We are not to join with others who take it upon themselves not to fear those in authority and let them tongue-lash others vicariously in our place. Note why: “disaster will arise suddenly from THEM” – the ones who we think are championing our cause by berating government officials in our place. And who can tell the depth of the disaster that will fall on both of us if we join them in their folly.

This is a place where we simply must not let our freedoms, cross over into license. Beware how you speak of our elected officials. God is listneing.
Margin notes: Death and 1 Cor. 15:55

March 23rd, 2011

1 Corinthians 15:55 (ESV) “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?”

O death, where is thy victory?

O grave, where is thy sting?

Thinkest thou the thought of fools,

Of pow’r o’er everything?

This man for one though mortal be,

Shall not by fear be swayed.

To flee thy cold unyielding hand

Which makes the world afraid.

For One has gone before me now,

He’s plumbed your icy pit.

And rose from out with triumph’s shout,

Life’s candle spark re-lit.

Come now thou dupe of evil’s mind,

Stretch forth your numbing hand.

Unnumbered hordes of demon ranks,

Cannot my Lord withstand.

Sing your final ghoulish song,

Chant your hellish phrases,

And even in those closing hours,

I’ll hear nought, but His praises.

For you O death, can only serve,

To free me from this shell.

And grave, to let this body rest,

You’ll serve me very well.

O death, where is thy victory?

O grave, where is thy sting?

For when your dual works complete,

You’ve but brought me to my King!
Margin notes: The Cost of Forgiveness

March 22nd, 2011

1 John 2:12 (ESV) I am writing to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven for his name’s sake.

Forgiveness is a constant and pervasive theme in the Bible. Apart from God’s forgiveness of our sins, we cannot be reconciled to Him. His provision of forgiveness, the means whereby He CAN forgive us, without also violating His own holiness and justice, is the mystery of the cross. God remains fully just and justice is done – even in His forgiveness, because the penalty has been paid. Justice and mercy meet in Jesus. He dies in our place (meeting justice) and thus the Father freely forgives without contradicting His own nature. What a wonder to behold. I confess it stuns me afresh every time I consider it. What a God, who loved us so – that He would create such a plan to redeem us – and at what a cost!

That last statement of course is something we must consider regularly too. Forgiveness is costly. Many a person doesn’t want to forgive, until it seems as though it isn’t costly anymore. They want to wait until the sting of the offense is gone. Until it isn’t painful to forgive. Of course, if the Father had done that in our case – none of us would be saved. The Father had to be willing to let His Son endure the pain on our behalf, and the Son had to be willing to endure it Himself. Forgiveness is expensive. And what it costs to redeem a human soul is beyond the realm of our ability to see completely – except that it is never less than the death of the eternal Son of God.

Now we often talk about forgiveness being for the benefit of the sinner. For our sakes, Jesus died – so that we might become His and be reclaimed from the bondage and penalty of sin. And, sometimes we talk of forgiveness in terms of the one offended. Haven’t we all been exhorted (and rightly so) that to fail to forgive is destructive to one who refuses. Bitterness ensues and an even greater harm (than the original offense) comes in the wake of unforgiveness.

But our text considers a third aspect of forgiveness – that God has forgiven us for the sake of Jesus’ name. And if you are struggling with forgiveness toward someone today – I would like you to consider this for just a moment. Perhaps the argument that unforgiveness is harmful to you isn’t persuasive. Perhaps the argument that the offending person NEEDS forgiveness isn’t compelling either. But if those two have failed – then consider this: Beloved, we need to forgive for HIS name’s sake. In other words – that the world might see the extravagant, unsearchable, amazing wonder of His mercy and grace displayed through our willingness to bear the cost – that others might know what His forgiveness is like. Do it for Him. Forgive so that others might see Him displayed. For His name’s sake, forgive. Make Him known.
“Heaven is For Real” – But not because Colton Burpo says so: A Review

March 18th, 2011

I know I’m going to be seen by some as a party pooper in this review – but bear with me. I think this little book raises from serious questions we DO need to ask.

That said – let me plunge on into it.

Heaven is For Real, is the (supposed) account of Colton Burpo – son of Todd Burpo, a pastor in Imperial Nebraska. When I use the word “supposed” in parentheses above, I do not wish to imply that there is any kind of fraud being perpetrated in this story. I use it only because a lot of what is reported in the book (beyond the verifiable historical facts), is all dependent upon what may or may not be the genuine experience, or dreams, or hallucinations or combinations of these – of 4 year old Colton Burpo. I do not use it either to impugn the sincerity of the Burpo family in any way. I use it because “experiences” are tricky things. And how we interpret our experiences may or may not be accurate. And herein rests a key problem with this little -quick reading and fun book.

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43.012215 -77.367031
Ten Myths About Calvinism: A Review

March 15th, 2011

In the mid-sixties, my family was in a horrible car crash on Christmas day. The car was totaled. My Dad had a broken ankle and severe lacerations on his forehead. The rest of the family all had their various bruises, cuts, strains, etc. Thankfully, no one was permanently disabled or killed. But my older sister – suffered the strangest of effects. For weeks afterward, she was plagued with uncontrollable crying. It seemed to have no direct connection to her emotional state either. Sad or happy, otherwise engaged or simply thoughtful, nevertheless, she would break out into tears. Everyone thought it would just go away on its own – an after effect of the shock of the whole incident. It didn’t.

One day, my Mom – who had suffered some serious back discomfort from all of this, went to see a Chiropractor who was invaluable in relieving her physical distress. As the whole incident was discussed with him, and all of our various conditions gone over – the curious case of my sister was visited too. And the good Dr. suggested Nancy (my sister) come to see him as well. It was amazing. One adjustment, one thing seriously out of place – put back into place – relieved what everyone assumed was a purely emotional malady. A pinched nerve (or so it was assumed) was producing the episodic and inexplicable crying. It ended that day.

How does all of this relate to Ken Stewart’s “Ten Myths About Calvinism”? Because for lack of a better term – this book is an exercise in ecclesiastical, historical chiropractic. It serves to realign some very critical, misaligned historical conceptions that for some (I have not a doubt in the world) have been producing undiagnosed pains, discomforts and perhaps even tears. It is a healing book. And I am profoundly grateful for it.

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Dressing up for The King

March 11th, 2011

Psalm 45:10–11 (ESV) Hear, O daughter, and consider, and incline your ear: forget your people and your father’s house, 11 and the king will desire your beauty. Since he is your lord, bow to him.

Every woman knows that she can do things which add to her desirability to her husband. We’re not talking about increasing love here, but pursuing attractiveness. Certain perfumes, or that special dress evoke a smiling response. Maybe he’s mentioned how he prefers her hair, or when she does or does not wear makeup – or uses certain makeup – etc. These are simple facts of life. And we wouldn’t imagine any wife unwilling to make herself attractive to her beloved – after all, if the relationship is healthy, she WANTS to be desirable to Him.

For the gal in our graphic – in her culture – this is what beauty looks like. This is attractiveness. But the question is what is beauty in the culture of Heaven? As the Bride of Christ – all of us, both male and female redeemed by the blood of the Lamb – have we given much thought to what makes us attractive in special ways to Him? We have no doubt of His great love for us – we need no other proof than the Cross. But do we consciously consider how we might make ourselves more desirable to Him. How we might bring a smile across His face because we do those things that we know please Him? This short passage mentions one way we can do this that I believe is worth our consideration.

Look for a moment at the first sentence of verse 11 – “and the king will desire your beauty.” What an expression that is! What IS that? What makes our King “desire” our “beauty.” What is so evocative to the King of Glory? This: The heart of Christ is especially moved with desire toward His betrothed, when we forsake all others and cling only to Him. When His words are the dearest to us. When His majesty overwhelms us. That is when He finds us most lovely. We are never more beautiful to Him then when we are wholly and unreservedly – His.

Christian – put on that special dress. Adorn yourself with His favorite jewelry. Make yourself irresistible to the One who has already loved you beyond your wildest dreams. Live in such a way – that He knows you find Him so lovely, that no one, and no thing – even ranks on the same scale of importance. Be wholly and unreservedly – His. He delights in that scent.