Virtual Vitamins

Mark 12:43-44 Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything–all she had to live on.”

Two things stand out to me in this story. The first is of course the point that Jesus made, that God judges our giving on the basis of what we have, rather than any external standard. Despite this story being well known, that’s a lesson many people have a hard time learning. The second thing that stands out is that Jesus made perfect use of an opportunity He apparently didn’t expect, to teach His disciples this important truth. This is something all Christians need to be aware of, and especially those in specifically teaching ministries. This sort of thing is called a “teachable moment,” and most parents are aware of it. There are times when words of instruction or admonition are received and absorbed, and there are times when they are no more than background noise. The difficulty is that we can rarely predict when teachable moments will occur. In our relationship with God, they will occur much more often if we are actively seeking to be led and taught by Him. Every teacher knows, and rejoices in, those students who come to class eager to learn. Teaching them is a delight! We need to examine ourselves and see if we are that sort of student/disciple to the Lord.

As a secular teacher as well as a pastor, I am very strongly aware of this phenomenon, but I can’t claim that I’m perfect in being teachable toward God. However, I believe that by God’s grace I am seeking to be teachable, to keep pressing into Him. As a pastor, I need to seek the help of the Holy Spirit in recognizing teachable moments in those I serve and making full use of them. Sermons are of course to be under His full orchestration and direction, but that’s just the beginning. I need to be prepared to communicate God’s truth in love at all times to everyone, and I need to train the believers to do the same. That’s what Peter was talking about in 1 Peter 3:15, when he said “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.” When someone asks about faith, there’s a teachable moment right there! I need to encourage the believers to expect teachable moments in those around them and trust God to speak through them. (Luke 12:12)

Father, this is good training in trust and listening, because we can’t predict with any accuracy when teachable moments will occur. Help me, help us all, be in constant communication with You by Your Spirit, so that we ourselves will be teachable and so that we will make full use of teachable moments with those around us, drawing them into Your kingdom by Your grace and love, for their salvation and Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!

Mark 10:27 Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.”

The Japanese specifies that Jesus looked at them steadily as He said this. Was He wanting to see their reaction, or wanting to be sure this got through to them? Probably both. This simple, fundamental truth is one we forget all too often. Anthropologists correctly observe that in general, religious conceptions of God, or gods, are based on human models, only “faster, higher, stronger,” as the motto for the Olympics has it. The atheists among them conclude that God doesn’t exist, but there’s an essential fallacy to that. The problem doesn’t lie with God, but with our trying to imagine Him, instead of accepting what He has revealed of Himself through the Scriptures and through His Son. God had to spell it out to Isaiah: “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:9) We are very quick to look at ourselves and then at the situation and then say, God can’t fix that. That’s simply not true! We have an immediate example of that in this church right now, with a couple in their 70’s clearly and beautifully born again as spiritual babies in Christ, to the utter amazement and delight of their son in his 40’s. He has said repeatedly that he had essentially written his parents off, that they would never come to Christ, and right now they are an inspiration to the whole rest of the church.

I’ve got to remember and apply this myself, instead of just haranguing the church members over it. It is true that it is much easier to believe God for a situation when we are at some remove from it. That is why it’s so important to pray for one another. However, God wants us all to believe that He can do anything in our lives, and not just in the lives of others. I need to be an example of faith, not trying to generate it on my own, because no one can do that, but receive it from God with childlike simplicity. Only then will I be able to lead others to do the same.

Father, thank You again for all You are doing in this church. Thank You for the service yesterday and for the farewell party that followed. Thank You for Your faithfulness to speak through me. Thank You for the abundant expressions of love that were poured out on the one leaving, and for all that You have done in and through him in the three years he has been part of this church. I pray not only for Your perfect provision for him in every area, but that You would give him the faith to trust You for that provision ahead of time. Help him grasp the magnificence of Your love for him, so that he will not hold back from any of what You want to do through him, for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

Mark 6:37 But he answered, “You give them something to eat.”

When the disciples recognized this legitimate need, Jesus told them to meet it. He knew as well as they that they didn’t have the resources in themselves to do that, but He needed to teach them that God has no such limitation. Even today He does the same thing. There are some who bemoan the need and say it can’t be met, but they are looking at themselves and ignoring God. God isn’t much interested in answering whims, but He is very good at meeting needs! In the first place, Jesus asked the disciples what they did have. When they had yielded that to Him, He proceeded to multiply it to fit the need. He will do that, and does that, even today, but we have to be willing to give Him everything we’ve got. Saying “God will meet the need” while we are holding back what we have, is saying “God can’t meet my need if I give what I have away.” That’s not faith! This is not advocating either poor stewardship or presuming on God. There are plenty of people who do each of those! We are not to run around giving everything away just for the sake of giving it away, but we are not to hang onto anything either. We are not to try to force God to act by putting ourselves in precarious situations, but we are to listen carefully and strive to do everything He tells us. This whole principle applies to spiritual supply as well. God tells pastors to feed His sheep (John 21:15-17), but those same pastors have to rely on Him for the food. If they try to generate it themselves, not only will they run out in no time, what they produce will be dry and tasteless. However, they have to be willing to spend the time in prayer and the Word to receive God’s supply, or that supply will be intermittent at best.

Since I am a pastor, constantly confronted with spiritual and physical need, this applies to me all the time. I have discovered the joy of being a channel of God’s supply, but far more spiritually than physically. I am not to be anxious about that, but recognize that there are different ministries. I am simply to be careful that I trust God in both areas and that I’m faithful in my obedience in both areas. I need discernment to recognize what is truly a need, and also whether people have hearts to receive God’s supply. Jesus Himself coined the phrase, “pearls before swine.” (Matthew 7:6) Recognizing that issue is part of good stewardship. However, I must never be stingy, either physically or spiritually, but trust God for His abundant supply.

Father, thank You for this reminder. Thank You for the privilege of being a channel of Your supply. Thank You for the Word You have given me for this morning. It’s one that is greatly needed by many. I pray that You would give all of my listeners hearing ears, so that the Word may sink into them and do its full work. We all need to learn to let go of the past, while being grateful for Your blessings, and live in joyful appreciation of what You are doing now and anticipation of what You will do in the future, in full faith and trust. I ask You to work that in each one of us, today and each day, for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

Mark 6:3 “Isn’t this the carpenter? Isn’t this Mary’s son and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas and Simon? Aren’t his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him.

People are experts at putting people in boxes. Not only do they put each other in boxes, they put themselves in boxes. They let the past be the final arbiter of what the present is and what the future is going to be. On top of that, often enough, that’s based on a false interpretation of the past! They had seen Jesus as a carpenter, a local boy, without recognizing that He was also the sinless Son of God. He was indeed a carpenter and a local boy, but they weren’t able or willing to see Him as more than that. We do the same thing to ourselves and others. It is tragic to watch adults, and parents in particular, destroy the dreams of children by denying that they have that potential. Parents are generally proud of their children’s accomplishments, but all too often they project, to the child and to others, that such accomplishments are highly unlikely. That teaches the children, who grow up to be adults, not to expect much of themselves. God has placed amazing potential in every one of His children, but only a small percentage of that is ever realized, because of our failure to recognize potential in ourselves and others.

I was incredibly blessed to be raised by parents who never denied potential, but encouraged me to try my hand at whatever interested me and do my best at it. That caused me to gain a wide spectrum of abilities that is often amazing to other people. A few years ago I attended a conference where Wayne Cordeiro was the speaker. His theme was being a “Dream Releaser,” and I still have some very simple notes I took then.
Train your eyes to see potential. Loving people makes you a nice guy. Loving their potential makes you a shepherd and mentor. God will not be impressed by how great I become as by how many people become great because of me.
My notes continue: Include these people in my life. A dream releaser includes people in his life. Celebrate their dreams.
I wish I could say I have done well at that since I took those notes, but that would not be honest. I too tend to put people in boxes! However, just because I haven’t done well at this in the past doesn’t mean that I can’t, by the grace of God, do well at it in the future!

Father, thank You for this reminder this morning, and thank You that those notes were right at hand. This fits in perfectly with the message You’ve given me for tomorrow, but the theme is more than I can handle in the one message. Guide me not only in when and how to share it, but especially in how to put it into practice. Lord, You have placed amazing potential in this church. Help me be an enabler, an equipper, a releaser, so that each member of the body may recognize and rejoice in all that You have prepared for them to be and do, for building up the Body of Christ and for Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!

Mark 4:33-34 With many similar parables Jesus spoke the word to them, as much as they could understand. He did not say anything to them without using a parable. But when he was alone with his own disciples, he explained everything.

As Jesus is our ultimate example in everything, He is certainly so in teaching. The important point here is that He tailored His delivery to His audience. He didn’t distort the truth in any way, but He taught people according to their ability to receive what He was saying. At times, as John records in chapter 6, He delivered truth that greatly thinned the ranks of those following Him, but that was to counteract the ground swell of people wanting to make Him king because he had fed them. That makes it clear that He wasn’t pandering to His audience, but He was feeding them as much truth as they could handle, in ways that would stick in their minds and hearts. All too often pastors today will either preach to itching ears (2 Timothy 4:3), that is, pander to their audience, or else use such technical terminology that the majority of their audience has very little idea what they said – but they sure sounded intelligent and holy! Neither style accomplishes anything good. Preaching over the heads of the congregation doesn’t feed them or equip them, and pandering goes even worse, confirming them in sins instead of leading them out of them. God isn’t pleased with either one!

Of those two, I tend much more to the “preaching over their heads” style, and I’ve got to be careful. Even in this blog I tend to use vocabulary that confuses more than enlightens, and that doesn’t advance the kingdom of God. As someone steeped in Scripture from infancy, I often have difficulty relating truth effectively to those who have had no exposure to the Bible at all. Just the other day I was talking to some men about some things that seemed completely obvious to me, and they thanked me for sharing such deep, helpful information! I certainly need God’s help in tailoring what I say and how I say it to each situation. At the same time, I’ve got to remain an active learner myself, pressing into God for all He desires to pour into and through me. This is one of my motives for desiring a congregation of disciples, because I want to be able to pour out the Word and have it received, rather than just be like water on a duck’s back.

Father, keep me from blaming my audience! Help me seek and receive Your wisdom to tailor Your Word to each one who is hearing. I pray that Your Spirit would take the words that come from Your heart through me and illuminate them to each hearer. May I be faithful in feeding the flock, not requiring the infants to eat steak but not depriving anyone of the nutrition they need. Again I am face to face with the reality that I don’t have the wisdom for the task. I ask You to do in and through me what needs to be done, for the sake of the Body of Christ and for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

Matthew 28:18-20 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Growing up in a missionary family, this Great Commission has been familiar as long as I can remember, but my early understanding condensed it to, “Go and make disciples of all nations, and I am with you always, to the end of the age.” I did realize that “baptizing them” was part of it, but the section about “teaching them to observe” was almost completely missing from my awareness. I’m sure my parents were well aware of it, but still, discipleship training wasn’t a very big part of church structure. At that point in the US, many Southern Baptist churches had Sunday School on Sunday mornings and Training Union on Sunday evenings, with the mornings geared to informational instruction and the evenings supposedly geared to practical application. The thought wasn’t bad, but the implementation left a lot to be desired. Very few churches had a real vision for making disciples, training people to live out the Gospel in every area of life, and as a result, Sunday evenings generally degenerated into “fun” times. My understanding is that few churches even try to have Sunday evening training programs any more. That situation has come from, and fed into, the false idea that there are different tiers of Christians, and that discipleship is only for the top tier. The result has been tragic, with little expectation of holiness or accountability on any level. Nowhere does the Bible present spiritual growth as an option!

This is of course of the utmost importance to me now as a pastor. From that perspective, I realize that the pace of modern society has a lot to do with the trends I’ve mentioned. People don’t think they have time for discipleship training! That’s particularly acute in Japan, where for many people Sunday is their only day off the whole week. I have at least considered Sunday evening programs several times, but the people haven’t been able to keep it up. Believer burnout can be a real issue! The thing is, Jesus didn’t hold scheduled classes, and I’m not at all sure He intends for us to, either. The question then becomes one of how to provide training in a less structured pattern. The message series we’re on right now is a good step in the right direction, but as has been pointed out to me, I need to give more practical examples of application, of how to live out the truth of the Word. In this church, those who have the most free time are at the furthest distance from the church building, so that must also be brought into the calculations. I need the help of the Holy Spirit to know what and how to teach and train, but I also need to be praying more for each believer that they would appropriate and apply the truth they are given.

Father, as usual, this is entirely beyond my wisdom and ability. Thank You for that awareness, and for Your grace. I ask You to raise us up to be a body of disciples indeed, and I offer myself as Your tool toward that end. May Your name be hallowed and Your kingdom come as Your will is done in this place, for Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!

Matthew 26:27-28 Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.”

The different records of the Last Supper all supply slightly different details, but they don’t really conflict with each other. Matthew, who was writing particularly to Jews and probably wrote in Aramaic, rather than the Greek that was disseminated, is careful to note that Jesus didn’t leave out any of the steps of the Passover meal, but gave thanks for this cup as well. The Church through the centuries has celebrated the glorious truth that Jesus’ blood was poured out for the forgiveness of sin. He didn’t say “for all people,” but “for many,” not because His blood wasn’t sufficient for all, but because not all would repent and receive it. Universalism, that says everybody is going to heaven eventually, cannot be found in the Bible. It is true that God desires that everyone be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth (1 Timothy 2:4), but human free will is not an illusion, and many do not choose to receive what God offers. That kind of throws a wrench into hyper Calvinism! Because He sees the end from the beginning, God knows who will repent and believe and who won’t, but He doesn’t force anyone to do so. That’s why “doing the work of God” is believing in Jesus. (John 6:28-29) Some people deride “easy-believism,” and it is true that there can be no true faith without repentance, but as Luther re-discovered, faith indeed covers it all. Such faith will work, but works without faith are meaningless.

I’ve not been one to go line by line on doctrine from the pulpit, but I’ve got to be sure the foundations are fully laid in each believer’s heart and understanding. The only thing required for salvation is faith, but I can’t get away from the reality that saving faith is possible only with repentance. I must proclaim God’s grace, but that is not cheap grace, to use Bonhoeffer’s phrase. I must remember and proclaim that the grace we receive cost Jesus His life, in terrible agony. The major motivation, for me and for each believer, should be gratitude for what God has already done for us in Christ. It’s something we could never earn, and we must never take it for granted.

Father, help me be the shepherd and teacher that You want me to be, equipping the believers with understanding of themselves and of You and training them to be the disciples You want them to be. Thank You for the message You gave me last night for this coming Sunday. Help me get those notes in shape, and help me deliver the message in the grace and power of Your Spirit, so that each one who hears may be set free indeed, for their salvation and Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!

Matthew 24:4-5 Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name, claiming, `I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many.

Deception in the Church doesn’t seem like a personal problem to perhaps the majority of Christians today, but sadly, many are indeed deceived. The Unification Church is an obvious example, with Sun Myung Moon claiming to be Christ. Many people dismiss that group as “those Moonies,” ignoring the fact that millions have indeed been deceived. The Jehovah’s Witnesses don’t claim a Christ figure outside of the Bible, but their interpretation indeed presents a different Christ than the Son of God, the Savior of the world. And then there are the Mormons, who are currently making real inroads in the US, all the while teaching that we can become gods. In places like Japan with a very low percentage of Christians, all of these look like Christians to most people, and indeed are counted as such in national statistics, which makes presenting the Gospel all the more difficult. On top of that, many within the framework of true Christianity are distorting the Gospel beyond recognition for the sake of their own gain, either financial or prestige. Standing in clear resistance to all of these is lambasted as “intolerant,” and that is considered a major insult. The challenge for true Christians is to discern and combat deception without erecting walls that keep out those honestly seeking Christ.

I have tended toward an all-inclusive sort of stance, drawing the line only at clear heresy, such as with the Unification Church, the Jehovah’s Witnesses, and the Mormons, but I realize there are many somewhat more subtle heresies that drive wedges between people and God, and I need to be on my watch against them. Those who have been deceived are still loved by God, and I must express God’s love to them, but I must lay a secure foundation in the believers under my care to help them recognize and stand against such deceptions. That said, I must be very careful to walk in humility, because I know that I’m not 100% right myself. The answer isn’t heresy hunting, it’s clinging to Christ and His Word and allowing His Spirit to flow through me in love.

Father, thank You for Your grace toward me. Help me express that grace accurately toward those around me, with Your strong love that cares more about salvation than comfort or social acceptability. Help me indeed lay Your firm foundation in each believer here, so that they, as true disciples, may go on to raise up many more disciples for You, for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

Matthew 23:1-3 Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: “The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. So you must obey them and do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach.

The first point I get from this is that we can learn from bad examples as well as good ones. I well remember Kevin Conner talking about having been given exactly that Word when he was on a church staff as a young man. The Bible is clear in many places that we are not to be judgmental, but we are to be discerning, and that is what it takes to learn from bad examples. We are surrounded by such, and need to strive to avoid falling into that category ourselves. The second point I get from this is that someone can exercise legitimate spiritual authority even while they are being disobedient themselves. That can be a hard one to swallow at times! This is where real discernment is called for, because even horrible examples can be used by God as His mouthpiece to speak His truth. And that brings us to the third point, which is that saying something doesn’t mean you are doing it. This is a major snare and trap for any minister of the Gospel. We are admonished by James to be doers and not just hearers of the Word (James 1:22), but this goes beyond that to teaching the Word without obeying it ourselves. That was one of Paul’s concerns. (1 Corinthians 9:27) It is often helpful to hear ourselves speak God’s truth. That can be a real faith strengthener. However, having spoken the truth, we need to seek God’s help in putting it into practice.

Of course this applies to me on all levels. I have seen some really bad examples, and I have learned from some of them. The biggest point for me is in applying the Word I speak. My familiarity with the Bible from childhood is a huge blessing, but it opens up the temptation to take the Word for granted and do exactly what the scribes and Pharisees were doing in Jesus’ day. I need to pay attention to my own sermons! I am to recognize my own weakness and allow God’s Word to have its full work in me, never dismissing it because of familiarity. I want to be a good example indeed, because there are many who watch me and not a few who actively look to me as an example.

Father, You know even better than I do that I can’t follow through without Your help. I’m back to that song, “I can’t even walk without You holding my hand.” Help me be faithful as an example to the flock, and not as a bad one! Help me apply the Word You speak to and through me, so that Your Word may indeed do all for which You send it, for Your glory. (Isaiah 55:11) Thank You. Praise God!

Matthew 22:16 They sent their disciples to him along with the Herodians. “Teacher,” they said, “we know you are a man of integrity and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. You aren’t swayed by men, because you pay no attention to who they are.”

It is interesting that Jesus’ enemies, while trying to set Him up for a trick question, gave an accurate description of His style of ministry. This should be an accurate description of any minister of the Gospel, but sadly, I don’t think it is. As Paul lamented, there are those who twist the Gospel and try to make it a money machine (1 Timothy 6:5) or operate under other false motives (Philippians 1:15-18). Every minister needs to be personally true, that is, honest, and teach the way of God according to the Truth of God. As important as that is, the next area is where even more people fall short, and that is in being swayed by who people are in human society, and by how they respond. It is sad to go to Christian meetings and see the adulation that is given to some people, while others are ignored. It is even sadder to see some who act as though such adulation were their due! A minister of the Gospel should be able to express God’s love equally to the wealthy and the poor, to the powerful and the powerless. I often think how things might be different if, for example, some Christian physically close to the Beatles had expressed the Gospel clearly to them. However, once they became famous, they were deemed “out of reach.” There have been some shining examples of people who shared the Gospel with heads of state and the like, but such stories stand out because they are so rare. A true minister of the Gospel needs to see everyone around them as someone in need of the salvation that Jesus died to provide, and have the courage to share the news of that salvation with them.

I have acquired a reputation for treating the high and the low equally, but that doesn’t mean I necessarily share the Gospel with them, and that’s a problem. Treating people equally isn’t something to be proud of if I fail to communicate Christ to them! The Lord has given me favor and standing in Omura over the past 30 years, and I need to make use of that in obedience to His Spirit to communicate the Gospel. As it is, I tend to wait for people to come to church before I express the Gospel to them. That’s certainly not how they operated in the 1st Century! I need to seek the Lord for opportunities to share the Gospel in all settings, so that as many as possible may receive it and be saved.

Father, thank You for those who do receive Your Gospel. Thank You for the two who will be baptized this morning. I pray not only for their full re-birth, but also for their full acceptance into the family here. I ask for clear guidance in teaching and training them, and I pray that each member of this body would be active in that process. As they do so, sharing what they have been taught, may they grow actively themselves, so that we will indeed be the children and disciples that You desire, for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!