May 20, 2009 | Stories, The Good Word
Matthew 22. Parable of the Wedding Feast. Wow. Praise our amazing God — who saw it fit to speak in parables, so that those who desire to get their hands dirty and wrestle with understanding will find life and encouragement, and truth.
Jesus spoke this parable to the chief priests and the Pharisees. It was a stern warning against their self-righteousness. At this point, the ‘religious folk’ were already pretty ‘peeved’ at Jesus’ preaching, and were trying to figure out how to ‘lay hands on him’ (but not in a nice way). Seeing they may see and not perceive, And hearing they may hear and not understand; Lest they should turn, And their sins be forgiven them. (Mark 4:12 / Isaiah 6:9,10)
In the parable, Jesus says the kingdom of heaven is like a king who arranged a marriage for his son and then sent out his servants to call the people who were invited to come, but the people weren’t willing to come. He sent out other servants, saying “Tell them it’s ready! Come to the wedding.” But the people who were invited made light of it and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his business. And the rest seized his servants, mistreated them, and killed them. When the king heard, he was really really ticked. He sent out his armies and destroyed the murderers and their city. Then he sent his servants out to the highways to invite as many as they found to the wedding. So they did gather together all whom they found, both bad and good, and the wedding hall was packed out for the par-tay.
Then the king came in to see the guests, and he saw a man there who didn’t have on a wedding garment. He was like, “Dude, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?” And the guy was speechless. So the king said, “Handcuff him. Footcuff him. Take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Jesus ended all this by saying, “Many are called, but few are chosen.”
What inspired me to dig a little deeper into this was the realisation that I hadn’t the foggiest idea why that one dude got kicked out just because he wasn’t wearing the right thing. Like what if he was poor and couldn’t afford a wedding garment? Or what if he spilled something on it last week — they didn’t have oxiclean back then! Â But my friends, there is so much to more to the story than just what not to wear!
In this parable, praise God, the feast is the Gospel. It is a continual feast of good things — forgiveness and pardon from sin, favour of God, peace of conscience, hope of eternal life. The King, God, provides this eternal feast for us, through Christ, and His work on the cross. The original invited guests — the Jews — RSVP’d “B.B.R.” “Busy Being Righteous.”
This is Jesus’ indictment against the religious folk of the day — they should’ve been rejoicing that the promised One had arrived, but they were too concerned about losing their power and status to believe Him. The prophets of old were unsuccessful in their continual invitations to the Jews to believe the Gospel. John the Baptist was unsuccessful, and so was Christ himself. They told the Jews the entertainment was almost ready — the kingdom of God was at hand. The apostles and ministers of the Gospel were even sent after the Resurrection, to tell them it was come, it was quite ready; and to persuade them to accept the invitation. The natural man neither discerns, nor desires, the things of the Spirit of God.
The invited guests made light of the invitation — “perhaps the messengers are making too big a deal out of it? It’s probably not all that great.” They could feast just as well at home. Multitudes perish for indifference. It’s kind of like they’d seen invitation after invitation in their Facebook inbox and they were like, “I’d rather just chill out at mi casa.” Clicking ‘ignore’ is missing the feast of all eternity.
So the businessfolk and the farmer folks rejected the invite, (let not your work distract you from the One thing that is needful) and the others — who would’ve been religious leaders, if they weren’t tradesmen — treated the King’s servants spitefully. Like Saul of Tarsus who became Paul, many have persecuted the messengers of God. Â In speaking of the King’s armies, Jesus is prophesying the destruction of Jerusalem and the death of many many Jews at the hand of the Roman armies, 40 years after his time. That happened people!
Now here’s where the story gets really good for us — the invitation is extended to the Gentiles. And unless you’ve some Jewish heritage in your back pocket, this is good news for you! The Lord has extended the invitation to all, through Christ, to enjoy the goodness of the Gospel and right relationship with God. But what of the gent who pitches up in the wrong outfit? This is a warning we should definitely listen to. You or I might be just like him.
There are many professing Christians in the Church today. But when the King comes in, (when God returns in all His glory) He is a discerner of hearts, and He will know who belongs and who doesn’t. As Matthew Henry puts it, “How durst thou claim a share in gospel benefits, when thou hadst no regard to gospel rules? […] Despised sabbaths and abused sacraments must be reckoned for, and judgement taken out upon an action of waste against all those who received the grace of God in vain.”
Jesus is teaching the fear of the Lord. This man, afterwards, could not speak. He was convicted and without excuse. It will be better in the day of judgement for those who never heard about Jesus than for those who heard and did not take heed to follow Him and obey His commands.
So what the heck was this guy trying to wear to the feast? His own righteousness. He was trying to get into the feast on his own merit, in view of his good deeds and good works. Listen to Jesus, people! Your own good works are never going to be good enough for a holy God. Fear God and obey His commands! What TO wear: the righteousness that Christ lived out, and died to give you.
Many are called, but few are chosen:
Setting aside those who made light of the invitation, as well as those who make a profession of religion, but the temper of their spirits and the tenour of their conversation are a constant contradiction to it; setting aside the profane and the hypocritical, you’ll find that few, very few, are chosen … many are called to the feast, few chosen to garment — to salvation, by sanctification of the Spirit.
The Sermon in a Nutshell: Jesus often talked about people being really surprised in the judgement day. “Jesus we were pals! You know me! You’re my buddy — it says so on my t-shirt.” “Depart from me, I never knew you.” Your mission, should you choose to accept it, and your invitation, should you choose to receive it, is to accept the gift of salvation bought for you on the cross by Jesus, and then to begin to demonstrate that you understand the significance of the gift of Jesus by loving Jesus and obeying His commands. Jesus’ invitation is the only invitation you’ll ever receive to the feast that will last for eternity. Don’t click ‘ignore this invitation‘!!!
xCC
May 16, 2009 | Scotland, Stories
Some friends of mine from church here in Edinburgh were part of a mission trip to Nepal a few weeks ago. They helped make a very special Pastor’s Conference happen and, among other things, also began looking into the possibility of helping with the great and grave issue of human trafficking there. This is especially a problem among young Nepali women who are often lured to India with the promise of work, and tricked into forced labour in the continually burgeoning sex industry there. They also visited a wonderful native of Nepal named Nima who was a classmate of mine at the University of Edinburgh. He studying in Edinburgh, but doing field research back in his home country, because he has a heart to see the Gospel effectively spread in Nepal through church planting. Through Nima (whose family currently resides here in Edinburgh) these connections between our local church and the people of Nepal have begun to form. Exciting stuff!
A friend of mine named David was among those on the trip — some of you may remember the story of how he was my first letting agent in Edinburgh, (translation for the Americans: he rented me my first flat/apartment) and was a great blessing to me as my life started here. David shared the following story with me. It is both inspiring and challenging. I hope it touches your heart, too.
One Day a beggar woman that lived in a temple was going down to the river when she saw in the distance a man throwing a sack into the river. He noticed her and ran away. She thought he may have stolen something and so she began to walk over to investigate. The dogs beat her there and were dragging the bag and trying to open it. She arrived and scared them off. Slowly she opened the bag to find a small baby inside, only a few days old. She gathered the baby up and took her back to the temple where she lived and begged for money to survive. She cared for this child for 9 years until she died.
A woman from a church heard about the child (called Didi) and contacted Shanta (pronounced “Santa,” this woman runs the Peace Rehabilitation Centre the team visited) to ask her if she would take the child in. Shanta of course said yes. Sadly the day that the beggar woman died the gurus at the temple raped the girl. Shanta went the next day to see the little girl and asked her if she would like to come with her. She said yes and PRC would become her home and family where she would be educated, find healing and love.
Fast forward many years. Didi had many offers to marry as she grew to be a beautiful young woman, but she turned them all down. One day another man came to ask her if she would marry him. He had been stricken with tuberculosis of the spine as a child, which left him very disabled. To everyone’s surprise, Didi said yes. Shanta asked her why she would choose to marry this man, and this was her reply. “Mommy if I do not marry him who will? You took me in when no one else would, and showed me love. Jesus sacrificed his life for me when he did not have to. I will sacrifice all I have to care for and love this man.”
We had the privilege to meet this couple in our last few days in Nepal. They have two children and you can see the love in their eyes for one another.
Wow. We have so much to be thankful for. And so much work to do. Lord help us to remember, despite how much so many of us have, how BIG, how great, how amazing, and how magnificent a gift the sacrifice of Jesus is, to those of us who have received Him and for those who still need to know.
May 7, 2009 | Stories, The Good Word
Weddings are awesome! This past weekend, I celebrated my sister’s wedding. I had the privilege of serving as her matron of honour (can I say maid though? — that just sounds old!) and of organising her bachelorette party, and there were lots of other special moments, where I just rejoiced that God had answered our prayers by bringing an awesome and godly gentleman into her life. I have long long awaited this special moment, and am overjoyed that it has come to pass! Â Praise the Lord! Yay for Dodi and Andy!
The funny thing about a special weekend like this is that afterwards, as life begins to get back to normal, and you begin to remember all the little things on your plate, concerns for your future, perhaps even financial concerns, you can sort of get some post-wedding (or post-anything-you’ve-been-long-waiting-for) blues. Totally common I suppose. So by Tuesday morning, I was still happy to be in North Carolina (even though there were thunderstorms and I really wanted to enjoy some warm weather and sunshine) but at the same time, I was feeling a little “blah” considering what’s ahead for us when we return to Scotland — financial challenges, spiritual challenges, relational challenges, etc. The first thing I should do when I’m in a funk like that? Open my Bible and get out of it. Monday morning I did dwell in Psalm 91 for a bit, but I must admit it was a half-hearted effort that ended in a nap.
Tuesday, instead of Bible time, I opted for shower time. Slack! However, in the shower, I looked up and saw a Scripture I’d put on the wall some time ago — an encouragement about the goodness of God. In that moment, I was so encouraged in being reminded of the goodness and faithfulness of God — those who look to Him are radiant, and they are never put to shame. This simple reminder of God’s goodness brought a flood of encouragement, and I felt the Lord simply remind me of the principle of compound interest.
I’ve heard that Albert Einstein once said, “The most powerful force in the universe is compound interest.” If you’ve studied finance at any stage, you’ll find that it is truly an incredible principle. Simple interest is only calculated on the original investment. But with compound interest, a one-time investment of £10,000 with 12% interest, compounded yearly, will amount to £299,599.22 after 30 years. If the interest is compounded quarterly, you’ll have a whopping £347,109.87 in the same amount of time!
What I felt like I was to understand from the Lord regarding that moment was that just as the solid investments we make in the natural world will generally pay off in the long term, the spiritual investments we make will definitely have long term rewards and returns — with great interest. I’d previously invested time and effort into my relationship with the Lord — in studying and thinking about His Word regularly, in prayer and fellowship with Him, and in a moment when I simply needed to be reminded of His goodness, those investments brought a return — the reminder was there, just when I needed it.
The greater picture, I think, is that investments in a relationship with God will bring exponential compound interest over time. The Scripture actually promises blessing for your children’s children if you love God and obey His commands. (Psalm 103:17) And when times are hard, the efforts you make to learn God’s Truth, and put it into your heart will pay off. God’s Word in Your heart will keep you from disobeying Him when temptation rears its ugly head in a tough moment — I have hidden your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you. (Ps. 119:11) If you make room for God (see this post for more thoughts about that) and for His Holy Spirit to dwell in your heart, He will help you find joy in times of sorrow. If you deeply endeavour to believe God is good in every circumstance, when you’re not in the middle of a battle, then it will be easier to hold on to the Truth when the battle rages all around you. If you don’t have that Truth firmly implanted in your heart, then your faith is likely to be rocked whenever your world is.
Amazing fruits will be present in your life if you allow the Holy Spirit to be present and at work in your life: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. If you walk by the Spirit, you won’t carry out the desires of the flesh. Even if the investment is as simple as deciding to begin reading a chapter or two of Scripture a day, and then committing to obey what the Word says, you can expect exponential returns on your investments with God. You’ll never out-give Him, out-bless Him, or out-do Him. His Peace, His Truth, and His Presence will mark your life in ways you never expected — and you might just think to yourself, “Wow, that investment of ten minutes a day has brought a return I never expected! I’m gonna bump it up to twenty!”
The Sermon in a Nutshell: Spend more time thinking about the investments you’re making towards eternity. It’ll put the cares in this life into perspective. Whether the economy you’re living under booms or busts in this lifetime, your investments in God’s eternal economy will always bring incredible return — in this life, and the next.
Apr 30, 2009 | The Good Word, Top Ten Lists
Being from the American South, I’m intimately acquainted with cultural Christianity — the kind of Christianity that makes people feel sure they are Christians because they’ve been going to church all their lives and they don’t drink much. Â One particularly interesting thing about the development of this type of ‘cultural Christianity’ is the development, along with it, of a number of ‘sayings’ and even ‘cherished proverbs’ that are most certainly God-breathed Scripture…ahem, not. Â Upon responding to one of these statements with a “whereabouts in the Bible is that?” you might get a “I don’t know, but it’s in there” or a “Well my grandma said it was in there” or even a “somewhere in the middle part.” Be ye warned, friend — and put not your faith in the colloquialisms of the people! Â They’ll nae hold their ground when times are tough!
Do note, there has also been a special development of a world-wide phenomena called Christianese. It probably finds its roots in the American South. This important and related topic deserves its own post on another day. In the meantime, I think we should take a moment to enjoy a few of these ‘cherised proverbs’ together.
Top Ten “Bible Quotes” Not Actually in the Bible:
10. Cleanliness is next to godliness!
9. Seriously. Black people and white people aren’t supposed to get married. [I don’t know if you’ve heard this one, but I heard it all the time growing up.]
8. This too shall pass.
7. To thine own self be true.
6. The Lord works in mysterious ways.
5. Money is the root of all evil. [Misquotation of 1 Timothy 6:10]
4. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.
3. God’ll never give you more than you can handle!
2. Spare the rod, spoil the child. [This is a misquotation of Proverbs 13:24]
1. (A Personal Favourite)Â The Lord helps them who helps themselves.
The Sermon in a Nutshell: If you want to stand on the promises of God, make sure you know what they are!
Apr 26, 2009 | Stories, The Good Word
I have come across this way way too often lately to overlook it and not give it some thought. A church somewhere puts on a conference, or a worship service, and somehow, the video of that service gets on youtube. Oh no. The people are worshiping by spinning their socks or shoes in the air to a Christianese remake of a secular song, or they’re dancing to some random song about victory with these out-of-date 80s moves, or heaven forbid, the name of their band is “Sonseed” and they’re kicking “Jesus is a friend of mine” like it’s the hippest tune to hit the airwaves since kumbaya. And then…the real ‘Christianity’ starts coming out.
Christians, one after another — including myself — start passing the link to the video on to each other, and commenting on the site: “Check out these idiots.” or “Seriously, this is the worst worship service I’ve ever seen.” or “I am so embarrassed to even be a Christian right now.” And these posts turn into arguments even — back and forth one kid saying “I go to a Christian school and my teacher says this is the worst worship service ever and we watched it in class.” Meanwhile another is saying “Go, you guys!  That was really cool. Praise God!”  Odds are if you have been on the internet anytime in the last two years, you’ve seen some of these videos, commented on them, passed them along, or at least laughed at them.
But seriously. Is that what this Christian thing is about? Â Why are we, as Christians, so frustrated when we come across videos like this? Why do we make fun of them, and feel it’s important to let the ‘world’ know that we don’t approve and that real Christians are way cooler than that? The question I’m getting to: WHY do we feel the need to be cool enough for the pagans? (And forgive this terminology — we can discuss it in another post.) Is anyone flocking to your church because the people dress cool and the worship is well-stylized and it’s, like, the happening place to be seen? If so, then they’re flocking for the wrong reasons.
It seems to me that this generation will be more impressed by seeing people so passionate about their faith that they don’t care what anyone thinks. And if that means (even though this isn’t really my personal favourite) grabbing a contemporary song and turning it into a song about Jesus, and worshiping to it, jumping up and down with your socks in the air, then by all means. If that means doing a totally random 70s-80s style dance in front of this weird backdrop with the weirdest choreographed solo ever, then so be it. Â The point is — these people are doing their best with the talents they’ve got to bring honour and glory to God. Who are we to decide what might or might not be pleasing to Him?
If they’re preaching that Jesus is not the Son of God and that He didn’t die for the sins of the world — okay, here’s where we do our best to step in and say “Wait, wait, that’s not what Christians believe!” But if they’re doing the funky chicken to a faith-filled rendition of a Destiny’s Child song, maybe we should just let it be. The more ‘together’ the body of Christ is, in saying, hey, we worship this One, Amazing God, the better.
This spills over into some other areas as well — being critical of certain pastors and their preaching “The tallest trees catch the most wind” — and someone, obviously a Christian, takes the time to post a preacher’s sermon on youtube, and put verses over top of it that demonstrate how it disagrees with Scripture. Â Where does this stuff come from?
Here are my thoughts, if you’re interested.
1. John 13 — Jesus said “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” I don’t think I need to explain that.
2. The Parable of the Wheat and the Tares (Matthew 12: 24 – 30) — Yes, the enemy is constantly sowing “weeds among the wheat” but we are not instructed to try to go out and pull up weeds right now. Jesus (the farmer) said we shouldn’t go out and try to pull up the weeds, because in doing so, we might accidentally pull up the wheat at the same time. Instead, both the weeds and wheat will grow up together, and at the harvest — at the judgement — the reapers will separate out the weeds from the wheat. Understand this — God will judge the thoughts and deeds of each of us, because while we can only look at outer appearances, He can look at the heart. Let God separate the weed from the wheat — we should go about the business of studying the Scriptures so that we can be faithful to do what He has told us to do, for example, go back to number 1.
3. Paul’s Example (Philippians 1:15-18) People were preaching Christ for selfish reasons in Paul’s day, and perhaps they are doing the same thing today. Some were preaching in hopes of adding affliction to Paul, others out of love, knowing that Paul was truly a disciple. His response: “What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is preached; and in this I rejoice, yes, and will rejoice.”
The Sermon in a Nutshell: I am absolutely preaching to myself here. I am quick to criticize a brother or sister with whom I disagree, a sermon that I’m uncertain of, or, especially, some goofy Christians worshiping in a way that doesn’t seem cool. But my conviction is that if we say we are Christians, we need to love each other. We get enough persecution from the world without adding to it by beating each other up. Yes, we will often disagree, but let’s rejoice in the common ground — Christ is being preached and glorified — and that’s the business we’re here to be about.
xCC
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