ResponsiveReiding

Margin notes: Simple Faith

September 13th, 2019

Luke 5:4–6 (ESV) — 4 And when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” 5 And Simon answered, “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.” 6 And when they had done this, they enclosed a large number of fish, and their nets were breaking.

There are some principles in Scripture which need to be revisited over and over. They are like the foundation stones of a skyscraper. If they give way, everything gives way. If they are compromised, instability is the inevitable result. And, as in this text, they can appear quite inconspicuously, unless you really stop to consider them. And they greatly inform key strands in Scripture and the Christian life in such a way that they prevent the Believer from very destructive and debilitating thought patterns.

Of these, developing right thoughts about faith, Biblical faith, is truly one of the utmost importance. I’ve beat this drum before, but rehearse it with me again today.

In vs. 5, the words and actions of Peter in response to Jesus’ “put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch” hold the clearest and most succinct exposition of faith. It reasons in the face of everything else “but at your word.”

So note carefully, faith does not groundlessly hope. It does not pluck its expectation from the air. It is not the product of imagination, or a contrived desire. We cannot have faith regarding that which God has not said. No. It roots itself firmly in one place: What God HAS said. And then acts accordingly.

So many, sadly, do almost irreparable harm to their own faith. They do so when they hold God to promises He never made, or to impressions they thought came from Him. Then, when He appears not to have come through, they inwardly undermine their own ability to believe Him in the things He HAS said.

Though stated in another context, Paul’s words in 1 Cor. 4 :6 have broad application and especially in this issue: “learn by us not to beyond what is written.” What God has said, what He has inspired by His Spirit to have written down for us in His Word – these are the things (rightly interpreted) in which we can have absolute faith. And when we go beyond that into thoughts, desires, impressions or hopes of our own creation – we open ourselves to faith-destroying disappointments.

Let Peter’s example be your guide – “But at your word.” And you will find a safe haven for your soul. A truly firm foundation for your faith.
Margin notes: Symptoms, Disease and Social Justice

September 11th, 2019

Isaiah 1:2–4 (ESV) — 2 Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth; for the Lord has spoken: “Children have I reared and brought up, but they have rebelled against me. 3 The ox knows its owner, and the donkey its master’s crib, but Israel does not know, my people do not understand.” 4 Ah, sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, offspring of evildoers, children who deal corruptly! They have forsaken the Lord, they have despised the Holy One of Israel, they are utterly estranged.

Isaiah is a powerful book in its sweeping condemnation of God’s people for their sin, warnings, visions of the future Day of the Lord both as the day of restoration and of justice, and of ultimate hope in God’s redemptive power. But as it starts out, it deals head-on with the sins God intends to deal with them about.

Balance is an issue of constant concern in the Church, and this text brings us one place of balanced consideration into sharp focus. Here is a very great lesson – the need to distinguish between diseases themselves, and their symptoms. And as we all know, no cure can be had by merely treating symptoms. Ultimately, we must aim at a cure. And a cure can only be had by treating the root cause – the disease itself.

Isaiah is going to rehearse a litany of dreadful symptoms that indicated Israel’s diseased state: Idolatry. Oppression of the poor. Religion without repentance. Sexual immorality. Materialism. Superstition. False religion. Corruption in government. Bribery to pervert justice. Arrogance. Trust in political power and military might. Neglect of widows, orphans and the lower classes of society. And many, many more. All wretched things. And all, just the symptoms. The underlying disease? The same as it was in the Garden, and remains inherent in every sin you and I and society at large manifest today: Rebellion against God’s rightful authority over us, and the pursuit of provision for heart and soul and mind from some source other than God Himself. Not recognizing our absolute need of Him. From these twin contagions spring every manifestation of sinful putrefaction.

We dare not ignore the symptoms. We must respond. They are God-appointed indicators. But we must respond in full, not in part. The symptoms are no more the real issue than the red light on your dashboard is. No bandaids on cancers. Cures are what we need. THE cure. Repentance from sin, and faith toward God in Jesus Christ, resulting in lives lived loving the Lord our God with all our hearts, minds, souls, and strength, and our neighbors as ourselves. For as we have a dual disease, so we must have a dual cure. One that addresses only God and not our neighbor, or only our neighbor and not our God will still be treating only symptoms. There is no such thing as a Christianity which is compassionless to the suffering of men, even as there is no Christianity but brings men to the foot of the Cross, and reconciles them to God in the blood of Christ as the first compassion – compassion on their eternal souls. Tip this boat on either side, and it WILL capsize. No man who loves God can disregard human suffering in all of its manifestations. And no man who truly loves people can actually love them while ignoring the eternal destiny of their souls. There is no social justice apart from reckoning with eternal justice and the Cross of Jesus Christ.

Biblical balance is hard-won.
Margin notes: The power of faith?

September 10th, 2019

Matthew 9:20–22 (ESV) — 20 And behold, a woman who had suffered from a discharge of blood for twelve years came up behind him and touched the fringe of his garment, 21 for she said to herself, “If I only touch his garment, I will be made well.” 22 Jesus turned, and seeing her he said, “Take heart, daughter; your faith has made you well.” And instantly the woman was made well.

As Dr. Smith took us through this amazing passage this last Sunday, I could not help but be caught by those words of Jesus “your faith has made you well” – or “saved you”, or “made you whole.” Jesus alluded to this concept at least 4 times in the Gospels if not more. “Your faith has made you well.” But how are we to understand that? Does this imply that faith is some force that we can just tap into to get what we want? What is really going on here?

It is vitally important to note the context here, as well as in each of the cases where a similar thing is said. And so we MUST see this: Her faith did not do this, did not make her well, in a vacuum, as though faith had power in itself. What her faith did was bring her to Christ, and to trust HE could work.

Faith does nothing on its own. Faith is neither a “work”, nor a generic cosmic force we can somehow tap into for our own uses, it is looking to Christ. If faith could operate on its own, then she did not need to get to Jesus at all. She could have “just believed” where she was. So too with the others where this phrase is used. But in each case, it was faith that brought them into contact with Jesus. It was bringing their need to Him, not just “believing.” This is vitally important to see if we are not to turn faith into a Christianized view of magic. Faith brings us to Christ, and looks to Him to meet the need, as He sees fit. It simply looks to Him. This is always what faith does.

But note the nature of her faith. She did not imagine she needed Him to stand and make pronouncements, move mountains, still seas, rebuke storms or demons – she knew all she needed was the slightest touch. That grace and mercy are so grand, so expansive, that the slightest true touch – even of just His garment, will transform in the most unspeakably glorious and powerful way.

What we need every day, is the sense of our need being great enough, to press through the mob of all that claims our attention and seems to make Him distant, to but touch the hem of His robe. Lord Jesus, let me come to you – today!

This is the place of prayer. Press through. Touch His hem.
Margin notes: Lessons from a former demoniac

September 6th, 2019

Mark 5:18–20 (ESV) — 18 As he was getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed with demons begged him that he might be with him. 19 And he did not permit him but said to him, “Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.” 20 And he went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him, and everyone marveled.

The astounding account of this man delivered from the legion of demons stans on its own as a demonstration of the mercy, goodness and power of Jesus Christ. His authority over the demons. His mercy on this horribly bound man. His sad rejection by the townsfolk. But there are two other things are worth noting in this brief account.

First: Not every good and right desire, is the best desire. There is nothing in this man’s request but what is good and pure and honorable. But God determines what is best. Best for the man, best for the kingdom and best for those he will reach. Do not be discouraged if God chooses some other path for you than the one you think most desirable or proper. How you think you can serve best. Nothing could be more right – in a sense – than wanting to travel with Jesus, sit at His feet, serve Him and listen to Him. But Jesus had other plans. He needed him to go bear witness back in Decapolis. Thus it was personally costly to serve Him this way. To not have what he would rather have, that the King might be served as He best thought fit. Father, give me such a willing heart – that I do not demand to serve you as I see fit, above what you do.

Second: Though it has been discounted in some circles, here is a great encouragement in evangelism. With only the barest exposure to Christ. With little or no theological training. With no more detailed instruction than this – a man may enter upon a fruitful and Christ sanctioned ministry of evangelism: “Go home to your friends and them how much the Lord has done for you, and how He has had mercy on you.” Isn’t that just so abundantly simple and sweet and ready at hand? The telling of how He has met us in our sin, and of His great mercy is enough. Each of us is a ready-made evangelist in this accounting. Don’t wait a minute more. Don’t fear you don’t know enough or haven’t been given techniques or strategies. Just tell them how much He’s done for you. That’s all He asks. It is enough.

But note that the key, the bottom line is this: He needed and received MERCY. Those who do not believe they need mercy, know nothing of true saving grace. If we have not, in mercy, been delivered from our bondage to sin, and the just wrath it deserves, we are not saved. And we cannot be His witnesses.
Margin notes: Psalm 46

September 5th, 2019

Psalm 46
God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
2 Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea,
3 though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling. Selah

4 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the Most High.
5 God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved; God will help her when morning dawns.
6 The nations rage, the kingdoms totter; he utters his voice, the earth melts.
7 The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah

8 Come, behold the works of the LORD, how he has brought desolations on the earth.
9 He makes wars cease to the end of the earth; he breaks the bow and shatters the spear;
he burns the chariots with fire.
10 “Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!”
11 The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah

God IS our refuge, He does not provide one outside of Himself. He desires us to run to Him in everything.

God is our strength – He does not make US strong, He bids us to rely upon Him.

God is VERY present in our troubles. He is not far off. He remains with us at all times.

THEREFORE the Psalmist concludes: Since the One who made the earth is the one we run to when it crumbles beneath our feet; since the one who formed the mountains is our strength, when they begin to disintegrate; since He is ever with us though by all accounts we are to be overwhelmed and drowned – we will not fear. Our reality encompasses more than the created universe. We are loved by the Creator.

And therefore, we can “be still.” Be calm. Be comforted, in knowing that He is God.

That he WILL be exalted among the nations in due time.

That He WILL be exalted in the earth.

That He IS with us.

That He IS our fortress.

Hallelujah!
Margin notes: An encouragement to prayer

September 4th, 2019

Matthew 20:29–34 (ESV) — 29 And as they went out of Jericho, a great crowd followed him. 30 And behold, there were two blind men sitting by the roadside, and when they heard that Jesus was passing by, they cried out, “Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David!” 31 The crowd rebuked them, telling them to be silent, but they cried out all the more, “Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David!” 32 And stopping, Jesus called them and said, “What do you want me to do for you?” 33 They said to him, “Lord, let our eyes be opened.” 34 And Jesus in pity touched their eyes, and immediately they recovered their sight and followed him.

What a great encouragement to prayer this account is.

Note that Jesus is never too busy, never too preoccupied to hear us when we pray. Nor does He fail to hear us because of where we are. These men were unable to go to Him, but He was passing by. He always is. And despite the chaos of the “great crowd” and the rebukes of that crowd to stop pestering Jesus – perhaps interrupting His teaching – He heard. And stopped. And responded.

And note how He did not presume to know what they wanted. He asked them. He does not respond like a machine, but in pity and in an attitude of personal care. While we might think their blindness was the obvious need, who knows what else may have been the case. Might there be an even worse malady, or perhaps someone else they would petition for? But He stops to ask. As He does with us. He waits to hear our hearts and minds. He gives us His tender, personal attention.

Nor is He offended that their prayer centered on their own perceived need at the moment. He did not rebuke them that they did not ask for greater, grander, more spiritual things. They cried out, out of their need. And so do we. And no doubt, there were better, more important things they could have asked for. But this is where they were. This is what filled their hearts at the moment. And Jesus, in His tenderness and compassion meets the need of the moment as they were experiencing it. He is so good and gracious and overflowing with compassion toward us – in all of our needs, great and small.

As they followed Him after their healing, no doubt they learned to pray for many other things far beyond their mere physical needs. But this is where they began. And so with us. We grow in grace in time and the focus of our prayers can and will shift. But we ought never to forget how He meets us where we are, even as He designs to take us beyond where we are in time. Never be ashamed of the smallest need, but cast ALL of your cares upon Him. For He cares for us.
Margin notes: The power of prayer

September 3rd, 2019

Matthew 14:27–31 (ESV) — 27 But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid.” 28 And Peter answered him, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” 29 He said, “Come.” So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus. 30 But when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, “Lord, save me.” 31 Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him, saying to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?”

We all know this famous account of Jesus walking on the water to the Disciples. Here they were in the storm, and here comes Jesus – in the most unlikely way. We can only imagine how mind-boggling this must have been for them. And then Peter – perhaps without thinking it through at all takes the step of asking Jesus to command him to walk on the sea. I for one would never have the nerve. Blessed impetuous Peter.

And then, distracted by the wind and waves, Peter begins to sink. And so he prays. No formally, the way we normally think of prayer – he just cries out in his panic. And it is so very informative and encouraging.

And when it is all said and done, could there be a more eloquent prayer? It is but 2 words in the Greek – “Lord! Save!”

It wasn’t dismissed for its brevity. It wasn’t ignored because it was uttered in terror. It wasn’t denied because the very thing which occasioned it was lack of faith – but it was answered because it was directed at our Lord. Because Christ is a Christ who saves those who call upon Him. Because He is merciful. Because He is faithful. Because He is compassionate. Because He is full of grace. Because He loves us. It is not the power, eloquence, length or glory of our prayers – but the wonder of the One we pray to. Never think your prayer too weak, too poorly phrased, too imprecise, too un-religious sounding to be heard and answered. For the power in prayer is not located in how well we pray, but in how well our Savior hears and responds. He is a prayer-hearing and answering God. And we have full access to Him because of Christ’s death on our behalf.

If your prayer today is only “Lord! Save!” Know it is enough. Because He is enough.
Margin notes: The Gift of Suspicion

August 30th, 2019

Proverbs 30:7–9 (ESV): Two things I ask of you; deny them not to me before I die: 8 Remove far from me falsehood and lying; give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that is needful for me, 9 lest I be full and deny you and say, “Who is the Lord?” or lest I be poor and steal and profane the name of my God.

The two things our writer is concerned about here merge in being kept back from deception by virtue of his own response to external conditions.

Poverty lies to us – in that when we feel deprived, we begin to believe it is a worng doen to us by God and profane Him in theft. Riches deceive in our foolish trust in them. It is this tendency toward self-deception our writer sees within himself and prays that God will not allow him to fall victim to his own perverse inward sinfulness. “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.”

And in this day of the proliferation of the “prosperity Gospel”, who would think to pray this way? In a world obsessed with success (humanly measured), performance, personal achievement and the notion that God seems to exist for me, to make my life what I desire it to be – what a rebuke this is! How it challenges us to examine our desires and priorities. To see if our goal is Christlikeness above comfort; freedom from sin instead of freedom to sin; and self-suspicion above self-confidence. But it seems as though we assume that if we want it, it must be valid and therefore it is God’s mandate to help us secure it. Whatever “it” may be.

Personally, abundance seems to be the more destructive to me. My tendency to take what is abundantly given, and to rest in it apart from the Giver, and to be greedy in it so as to want even more beyond what He has provided is a most pernicious facet of my own soul. But I have also known the sin of self-justifying theft when pinched by circumstances.

Heavenly Father, you know my heart better than I. You know my propensity to grow more stingy when I have abundance, and resentful when in lack. Grant me the gift of suspecting my own motives that I might seek only what will be most in keeping with recreating the image of Christ within me, and honoring you in my life and decisions. Grant only what is most needful for me in your quest to rid me of sin, and make me like Jesus.
Margin notes: Repentance that makes a difference

August 29th, 2019

Psalm 51:10–12 (ESV) — 10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. 11 Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. 12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit.

People often conceive of repentance merely in terms of someone taking responsibility for their sin or saying they are sorry for it, they regret it. And this is right and proper, but it is just the leading edge.

Here, David models the part of genuine repentance that is most often ignored. He does not simply make an empty pledge not to do it again, but he recognizes the pollution of his own heart – that his sin is an inward problem not located simply in wrong actions. Sin is a heart problem. An issue of loving what is not good or right to love. Something that requires far more than human resolutions – it takes the work of God to purify, to cleanse, to bring the very heart to a new and restored place. To have new and better desires themselves. An inward renovation which can only be wrought by the Spirit of God within.

And then he proceeds to a most vital idea: Give me the resolution of heart and mind that I do not find within myself. Give me YOUR strength. Your resolve. Your steadfastness. Your endurance. Fill me with Your Spirit. I am helpless left to myself.

And it is in this light that he prays he will not be rejected. The rejection he fears at this juncture is not a total repudiation by God – but that his prayer will not be heard. In other words, it is a prayer of desperation. He is desperate for God’s working in his heart. He knows apart from that, all is lost.

Never settle for merely asking for forgiveness for your sins. Pray desperately for the enduement of God’s Spirit to create in you as native a love of holiness as He Himself has.

As the hymn writer expressed it:

Breathe on me Breath of God,

Fill me with life anew,

That I may love, what Thou dost love,

And do what Thou wouldst do

Heavenly Father – DO hear that prayer today for me, and for my brothers and sisters in Christ.
Margin notes: No Jennifer, Jeffrey didn’t escape.

August 28th, 2019

Revelation 21:5–8 (ESV) — 5 And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” 6 And he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. 7 The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son. 8 But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”

I read it just this week in any number of places – this from the NewsMax website: Last month, Jennifer Araoz said he had raped her when she was a 15-year-old New York City high school student. On Saturday, she was angry that Epstein won’t have to face the survivors of his abuse in court. “We have to live with the scars of his actions for the rest of our lives, while he will never face the consequences of the crimes he committed,” or the “pain and trauma he caused so many people,” Araoz said in a statement. “Epstein is gone, but justice must still be served.”

Jeffrey Epstein was by all counts and convicted pedophile, serial abuser, and unrepentantly immoral on every level. And just as he was coming to trial, he died in jail. These are facts everyone familiar with the case know. But what the Believer knows, contrary to what many of Epstein’s victims repine – is that in his death he did anything but escape justice. Indeed, if they knew the terror that awaits all who refuse to repent and seek Christ for the forgiveness of sins and for the power to live holily before God, their sense of justice not being served by our judicial system would be wiped away.

It is never right to delight in the death and ultimate demise of the lost. Be it Jeffery Epstaien or any other unrepentant man or woman. But the Christian knows full well justice cannot be escaped by physical death. For the soul lives on. And each must stand before the judgment bar of God – either clothed in the filth of their sin, or in the righteousness of Jesus Christ. And if any stand their apart from Christ, the Scripture is unequivocal: [They] “also will drink the wine of God’s wrath, poured full strength into the cup of his anger, and…will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. 11 And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever, d.and they have no rest, day or night.”

We take no delight in their lot. But we do delight that our God will bring to rights all things amiss, unaddressed and justice seemingly thwarted in this life. And it is why we with the Apostle Paul: knowing the terror of the Lord, we persuade men. (2 Cor. 5:11)

Hence, the Believer rests in the justice and holiness, as well as in the grace and mercy of our God in Jesus Christ. He cannot (not just will not) He cannot, fail to be fully, perfectly and eternally – just. What a miracle then salvation really is. For if Christ had not died in our place – we would face that same, eternal justice.