R.P. Nettelhorst's Blog, page 90

Training

When He had called His twelve disciples to Him, He gave them power over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease. Now the names of the twelve apostles are these: first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James the son of Alphaeus, and Lebbaeus, whose surname was Thaddaeus; Simon the Cananite, and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed Him.

These twelve Jesus sent out and commanded them, saying: “Do not go into the way of the Gentiles, and do not enter a city of the Samaritans. But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And as you go, preach, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely give. Provide neither gold nor silver nor copper in your money belts, nor bag for your journey, nor two tunics, nor sandals, nor staffs; for a worker is worthy of his food.” (Matthew 10:1-11)

Nothing builds faith better than experience. So, Jesus sent his twelve disciples out into the region around the Sea of Galilee, to all the villages and towns in it, to proclaim that God’s kingdom was near. To demonstrate the truth of their words, Jesus gave them the ability to perform all the miracles that Jesus had been performing: they healed the sick, they cleansed the lepers, they raised the dead, and they cast out demons. None of the gospel writers give us any details about their activities, where precisely they went, or how many people were raised from the dead.

When they discovered they could raise the dead and heal the sick, did the disciples stop worrying about their rather precarious financial situation? Jesus hadn’t let them take any money or extra clothes. They were forced to be dependent upon God and those they served.

When one miracle happened, and then another, as they found their needs provided for at each step of the way, their confidence inevitably grew. Jesus was training his disciples for the time when he would be gone, when these men would be on their own with only the Spirit to guide them. We, as followers of Jesus today, have been sent out into the world with no less than those first twelve disciples.

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Miracles

As he finished saying this, a local official appeared, bowed politely, and said, “My daughter has just now died. If you come and touch her, she will live.” Jesus got up and went with him, his disciples following along.

Just then a woman who had hemorrhaged for twelve years slipped in from behind and lightly touched his robe. She was thinking to herself, “If I can just put a finger on his robe, I’ll get well.” Jesus turned—caught her at it. Then he reassured her: “Courage, daughter. You took a risk of faith, and now you’re well.” The woman was well from then on.

By now they had arrived at the house of the town official, and pushed their way through the gossips looking for a story and the neighbors bringing in casseroles. Jesus was abrupt: “Clear out! This girl isn’t dead. She’s sleeping.” They told him he didn’t know what he was talking about. But when Jesus had gotten rid of the crowd, he went in, took the girl’s hand, and pulled her to her feet—alive. The news was soon out, and traveled throughout the region. (Matthew 9:18-26)

Jesus made it all look so easy. When Jesus healed someone, there were no explosions, no sparkles in the air, no waving of wands or muttering of spells. He didn’t flap his hands about. When the woman who had suffered a hemorrhage for twelve years needed healing, she was the one doing all the physical effort by attempting to sneak up and touch him. Just her belief and her touch was enough for her to become well. When the local official’s daughter was dead, all Jesus did was walk up to where she was lying. Then he grabbed her hand and helped her get out of the bed. She was simply alive.

The miraculous became mundane in Jesus. It was no more spectacular, seemingly no more out of the ordinary, than the work he had done as a carpenter. In fact, it was usually less time consuming and less labor intensive. Jesus, like any carpenter, could take some wood and with a bit of diligent effort, turn it into a table or a chair. With the sick or the dead, Jesus transformed them even more easily.

The miraculous is God’s normal. In fact, if resurrections were as common as sunrises, we’d stop paying attention to them. Which says, perhaps, that we might want to pay more attention to sunrises. God performs miracles all the time. But most of them we’ve learned to take for granted.

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Keep it to Yourself

“Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of people, to be seen by them. Otherwise, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. So whenever you give to the poor, don’t sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be applauded by people. I assure you: They’ve got their reward! But when you give to the poor, don’t let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

“Whenever you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites, because they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by people. I assure you: They’ve got their reward! But when you pray, go into your private room, shut your door, and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. When you pray, don’t babble like the idolaters, since they imagine they’ll be heard for their many words. Don’t be like them, because your Father knows the things you need before you ask Him. (Matthew 6:1-8)

Why did Jesus say that we should be careful not to do our righteousness in front of other people? Because we need to consider carefully what it is that motivates us. Too often, we behave as we do not because we are concerned with others, but because we are concerned with ourselves and what we can get from it. One oddity in Jesus’ behavior that is remarked upon frequently was the fact that he would heal someone, cast out a demon, even raise someone from the dead, and one of the first things he’d tell the person healed was “don’t tell anyone about this.” Jesus practiced what he preached.

It may sound cynical, but our motivations are mostly self-centered. We like the people we like because they like us and are nice to us. We give gifts to people that we like, and who are most likely to give us gifts in return. How reluctant we are to be kind to those who are mean to us! We like to be praised and thanked for what we do. After all, we write not just “to” but also “from” on the gifts that we give. We want people to know who cleaned up, who contributed the money, who fixed the broken pipe. We expect gratitude and become grumpy when we don’t get it. Jesus wants us to rethink our attitudes.

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Blessed All Over

When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. Then he began to speak, and taught them, saying:

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

“Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

“Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.

“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.

“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

“Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” (Matthew 5:1-12

Many believe good things come to the good and bad things go to the bad. But Jesus challenged that lie. When Jesus gave his sermon on the mount, he explained to his disciples and the crowd that those they would least expect to be the recipients of God’s good favor were in fact the ones who were the ones whom God would bless most of all. The word blessed simply means happy—a happiness in this instance given to them by God. Jesus wanted his listeners to discover that having money or power were not the basis of a happy life. Happiness could come when they recognized that their life belonged to God. God loved them and it was his love for them that served as the basis for happiness.

Too often we believe that the reason we are not happy is because we’ve done something wrong, or because we haven’t found the right prayer, church, or program. As if God were a vending machine waiting for the right change. Instead, we only need to realize that because God loves us and we love others, we already have joy, satisfaction, and success no matter the immediate circumstances of our lives. We are God’s children. He walks with us every day and he will always be with us. We have all of eternity to live with him and those we love. How much more blessed could we possibly be?

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Hyperbole

“If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away; it is better for you to enter life maimed or lame than to have two hands or two feet and to be thrown into the eternal fire. And if your eye causes you to stumble, tear it out and throw it away; it is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and to be thrown into the hell of fire.

“Take care that you do not despise one of these little ones; for, I tell you, in heaven their angels continually see the face of my Father in heaven. What do you think? If a shepherd has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go in search of the one that went astray? And if he finds it, truly I tell you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine that never went astray. So it is not the will of your Father in heaven that one of these little ones should be lost. (Matthew 18:8-14)

Does Jesus want his followers to procure small guillotines to get rid of offensive body parts? Certainly not. Jesus used a literary technique called hyperbole: he exaggerated in order to make his point. What was his point? If something is standing between us and the kingdom, then we’d do well to get rid of it. Better that, than to lose our way or to stumble to our destruction. Which is better? To lose something precious and live, or to keep it and die? Like those trapped in rubble who are forced to choose amputation or death, life always takes precedence. We are willing to give up anything in order to save our lives.

The question is, do we really understand what is at stake? Do we really understand what we have with the kingdom of God? If so, then it’s a no brainer to seek first God’s kingdom and his righteousness. We wouldn’t think of eating grass and drinking polluted water when we could be feasting in a fine restaurant on our favorite food. We’d never sleep under a rainy sky on a cold rock when we have a house and a warm bed. In gaining the kingdom of God, we give up nothing but sadness, pain and death.

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Opportunity of a Lifetime

While Jesus was walking along the shore of Lake Galilee, he saw two brothers. One was Simon, also known as Peter, and the other was Andrew. They were fishermen, and they were casting their net into the lake. Jesus said to them, “Come with me! I will teach you how to bring in people instead of fish.” Right then the two brothers dropped their nets and went with him.

Jesus walked on until he saw James and John, the sons of Zebedee. They were in a boat with their father, mending their nets. Jesus asked them to come with him too. Right away they left the boat and their father and went with Jesus. (Matthew 4:18-22)

When Jesus asked his disciples to “come with him” they dropped everything and followed. The disciples had already spent time with Jesus, talked to him, perhaps even witnessed a miracle before Jesus asked them to follow. They were convinced that Jesus was the Messiah. They thought that meant he was going to re-establish the monarchy, become king, defeat the Romans and rule the world. So the chance to join the Messiah’s team was an opportunity not to be missed.

Over time, they discovered that they had misunderstood just what he was offering them. What he offered them was infinitely better than a petty earthly kingdom with physical prosperity and power. He in fact, offered them the chance to become the brothers of the creator of the universe, to join in God’s eternal kingdom forever.

When we understand clearly what it is we have been given in our relationship with Jesus, the problems and trials of life become vanishingly small. It doesn’t seem odd at all that Peter, Andrew, James and John would leave behind all their physical belongings, their businesses, every last thing they had, in order to join with Jesus. In Christ, we get not just the opportunity of a lifetime, but the opportunity of all of eternity.

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Cost Benefit Analysis

Jesus dismissed the congregation and went into the house. His disciples came in and said, “Explain to us that story of the thistles in the field.”

So he explained. “The farmer who sows the pure seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world, the pure seeds are subjects of the kingdom, the thistles are subjects of the Devil, and the enemy who sows them is the Devil. The harvest is the end of the age, the curtain of history. The harvest hands are angels.

“The picture of thistles pulled up and burned is a scene from the final act. The Son of Man will send his angels, weed out the thistles from his kingdom, pitch them in the trash, and be done with them. They are going to complain to high heaven, but nobody is going to listen. At the same time, ripe, holy lives will mature and adorn the kingdom of their Father.

“Are you listening to this? Really listening?

“God’s kingdom is like a treasure hidden in a field for years and then accidentally found by a trespasser. The finder is ecstatic—what a find!—and proceeds to sell everything he owns to raise money and buy that field. (Matthew 13:36-44)

What’s the price of your life? The kingdom of God is worth far more. What is the kingdom of God? It’s not like any worldly government. Instead, Jesus said that it’s like wheat seeds among weeds, which are separated only at the harvest. Then he said that it’s a hidden treasure buried in a field and the one who finds that treasure happily sells everything he has in exchange for it.

So what do Jesus’ two parables, told one after the other, teach us about the kingdom? They teach us that it is not just about tomorrow. The kingdom of God is also now. The seeds planted in the field belong to God’s kingdom now, not just at the harvest. And the kingdom of God has such a high value that the one who gives up everything for it doesn’t feel as if he’s given up anything.

We are friends of the king, his brothers and sisters, reigning with him. We lose sight of reality if we forget we belong to God now. We are children of the king, not tomorrow, but today and our treasure is not here, but with our king.

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The Best Vengeance

“This is he of whom it is written:

‘Behold, I send My messenger before Your face,

Who will prepare Your way before You.’

“Assuredly, I say to you, among those born of women there has not risen one greater than John the Baptist; but he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force. For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John. And if you are willing to receive it, he is Elijah who is to come. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!

“But to what shall I liken this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to their companions, and saying:

‘We played the flute for you,

And you did not dance;

We mourned to you,

And you did not lament.’

For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon.’ The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look, a glutton and a winebibber, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ But wisdom is justified by her children.” (Matthew 11:10-18)

You can’t satisfy all the people all the time. Elijah was a great prophet, who nevertheless faced discouragement. A human being, he wondered at times whether what he was doing was really worth it. He ran in terror when his life was threatened. And yet, he was God’s man in God’s time. John the Baptist’s role was just like Elijah. Elijah stood up to Ahab and John stood up to Herod. While Elijah got taken to heaven in a fiery chariot, John went to heaven by dying.

The religious leaders rejected John the Baptist as demon possessed. He had lived in the wilderness, ate the worst possible food, and never touched wine. Meanwhile, they condemned Jesus as a gluttonous drunk since he spent time in people homes, ate their food and drank their wine.

Jesus responded to both criticisms by claiming that “wisdom is justified by her children.” What does that mean? It means that wisdom—specifically, the wisdom of God—is proved right by its results. If we’re of God, Jesus argued, then that will become obvious soon enough.

According to the old cliché, the best vengeance is to live well. The message begun by John and finished by Jesus has lasted for nearly two thousand years. The truth shall overcome. What we do for God will endure forever.

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Forgiven

And after getting into a boat [Jesus] crossed the sea and came to his own town.

And just then some people were carrying a paralyzed man lying on a bed. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven.” Then some of the scribes said to themselves, “This man is blaspheming.” But Jesus, perceiving their thoughts, said, “Why do you think evil in your hearts? For which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Stand up and walk’? But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he then said to the paralytic—“Stand up, take your bed and go to your home.” And he stood up and went to his home. When the crowds saw it, they were filled with awe, and they glorified God, who had given such authority to human beings. (Matthew 9:1-8)

The biggest miracles are the hardest ones to recognize. When a paralyzed man was brought to Jesus, he didn’t tell him that he was healed. Instead, Jesus told him to be encouraged! And why should he be encouraged? Because his paralysis was gone? No, because his sins were forgiven.

Were his sins the reason he was paralyzed? Not at all. And he hadn’t come to Jesus for what seemed his most obvious need. The reason this man came to Jesus, why his friends cut a hole in the roof to make sure he could get to him, had nothing to do with being healed physically. Instead, the paralyzed man came for spiritual healing. He came in order to be forgiven. Jesus saw his faith and the faith of his friends, and on the basis of that faith, he forgave the man.

What happened to the man after he was forgiven was secondary. And it didn’t happen for the sake of the paralyzed man who already believed in Jesus and who already knew that Jesus was in fact God himself. The paralyzed man was relieved of his paralysis for the sake of those who had witnessed him being forgiven, but still didn’t have a clue about who Jesus was.

Getting healed is great, but what matters most of all is being forgiven of our sins. Jesus gave us the greatest gift we could ever want! Having our sins forgiven and being granted eternal life, is the biggest miracle of all.

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But

But knowing what God’s will for us is and then doing it should be a way to stay encouraged. Right?

Moses met God in a burning bush and reluctantly obeyed his command to go back to Egypt to rescued the Israelites from four hundred years and more of slavery. Few people have ever had such a clear and direct understanding of what God’s will for their lives was.

What were some of the problems Moses faced? He was at least eighty years of age. His wife was not particularly enamored of his choice to go to Egypt, had not embraced his belief in the God of Israel and saw no need to follow that God’s commands. Moses believed himself to be a poor public speaker and had attempted to use that to get out of having to go to Egypt—a place he’d left forty years earlier after having failed to help his people then, and after having murdered an Egyptian so that he’d become a fugitive, in fear of his life for the past forty years.

When he got to Egypt, he got an audience with the king of Egypt, the Pharaoh, and performed the “signs”, the miracles that God had given him to perform: throwing his staff on the ground so that it became a snake, and putting his hand in his clothing and pulling it out covered with leprosy, and then returning it to his clothing and drawing it out clear of the disease.

The Pharaoh was unimpressed; he refused to allow the Israelites permission to travel and accused them of laziness—so he added to their daily work and made their already miserable lives as slaves even more unbearable.

So. Moses did what God asked him to do. It didn’t work and in fact it made everything worse. Not only was the Pharaoh mad at him, so were the people he had ostensibly come to set free. Certainly not an auspicious beginning to his mission.

God reassured him; told him it would be okay and that it would work out. But it would take a while.

And so it did. He repeatedly made the request to Pharaoh that the people be set free. The Pharaoh repeatedly denied the request. Months, perhaps a year or more passed. Finally the Pharaoh let the people go. So now all was well, right?

They left, but then the Pharaoh changed his mind and sent an army to bring them back. They fled, only to find their way blocked by the Red Sea with no way out—but then God opened the sea and destroyed the army.

Then there was a shortage of food, a shortage of water, the people got tired of eating the same food all the time, there were challenges to Moses’ leadership; the people resorted to idolatry, there were plagues and then when they got to the promised land the people refused to go in, so God sent them to wandering in the wilderness for forty years until everyone of that generation died.

Nothing went the way Moses had expected or hoped—and in fact, he hadn’t wanted to get involved in the first place: he was an old man of eighty; shouldn’t he be retired?

I spend a lot of time in the dark place. There are many aspects of my life that are not going well at the moment and sometimes I feel overwhelmed by it all.

Moses was not alone in such feelings. The Prophet Habakkuk expressed the same unhappiness. After hoping that God would do something to fix the nation of Israel, and after learning from God that his “solution” is to have the nation suffer the destruction of a Babylonian invasion and conquest, the prophet Habakkuk is feeling unhappy and stressed. He concludes his book with a statement—or perhaps a prayer—for when nothing is going right, when everything is going wrong, and there doesn’t look to be anyway out and nothing about your circumstances make sense. This is for when you wonder where God is and why he has apparently forgotten you:

Though the fig tree does not bud

and there are no grapes on the vines,

though the olive crop fails

and the fields produce no food,

though there are no sheep in the pen

and no cattle in the stalls,

yet I will rejoice in the LORD,

I will be joyful in God my Savior.

The Sovereign LORD is my strength;

he makes my feet like the feet of a deer,

he enables me to tread on the heights. (Habakkuk 3:17-19)

Daniel’s friends faced death in a fiery furnace. They told Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, the following:

“…the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from Your Majesty’s hand. 18 But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.” (Daniel 3:17-18)

Trusting in God, remaining faithful to God and his calling, is not dependent upon His action or inaction. If it is, then we cannot claim honestly to love Him, because love, real love, is not dependent upon the actions of the beloved.

Of course, this is easier said, then done.

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