Category: faithfulness

As Jesus walked about Jerusalem he encountered a paralytic by the pool, which some supposed had healing power. As He has done in the past, He does so now. He asks a simple question, do you want to be made well? One would think that this would result in a yes or no answer but that is not what Jesus heard. Instead, the man gave reasons he couldn’t get into the pool! What would you have answered? 

Have you ever encountered people like this paralytic? You might ask them if they want to be saved or would you like to be sure of going to heaven. Listen to how they answer: I think I have done all I need to do. No yes or no but the word “I” sits squarely in their answer. “I think,”. “I need.” Thus they think there is a work they need to do to be assured. Jesus simply says: Believe and you will be saved. There is no work that you can do to be saved. There is no work you can do to measure up to going to heaven because all of our works are like filthy rags in God’s sight. So if I asked you that same question what would you say? 

Do you often ask the question why when you do not understand? In this chapter four people ask Jesus either to him personally or to his disciples: Why does he do this or that? Jesus responds with wisdom to answer each and yet none give Him their hearts to follow Him. Today is no different. People ask that same question but when they receive an answer they have a choice. Will they believe He who is the author of life or do they refuse to believe. Think of some of the questions: Why is there evil in the world? Why do some people become ill and others do not? Why do some people die early and others live past 100? It is not for us to have all the answers but instead to present the Christ who can transform a heart.  What questions do you have? Where do you go to find the answers? Do you go to men who are fallible or do you go to Christ who has the answers of life here and beyond?  

As we ponder the words of John, Matthew and Luke about the Healer,Jesus, we wonder what our response would be. Peter was ashamed and astonished because he saw Jesus as the miracle worker to multiply fish. Levi and some others chose to follow Jesus at His command. But, then as today, there were scoffers as they listened to Jesus speak healing to the paralytic. If you had been in that company, how would you have responded? Would you be more like Peter who fell at his feet and worshiped? Would you be more like James and John that left all walking away from their family business? Or, would you be like the religious leaders who, faced with the miracle of healing, scoffed and refused to believe? 

The wonder is that God chose not just one person to record these stories but many so that no one author could not take credit. Matthew was a tax collector John was a fisherman. Luke was a medical doctor. Each recorded and witnessed the healer do miracles so that we might believe Jesus is the Son of God.                                                                                                                                                                                                    

The story of  John the Baptist is not only intriguing but is so profoundly full of God’s answered prophecies. As he was fulfilling his God given task to proclaim the word of God and to prepare the way for Jesus, the Messiah, to come, it came about that as they were transformed from sinner to saint. But, Jesus didn’t need to take that step as He was already a saint, already pure in heart, mind and actions. After John baptized Him, the heavens opened and a voice proclaimed: This is my one dear Son in whom I am pleased. 

Right after this experience, Jesus was led into the wilderness where he was tempted for 40 days. It was during that time we read that the angels were ministering to him. What a marvelous truth to encourage us as we face temptations from the evil one. We too are nourished and protected by angelic beings who minister to our daily needs when we are in a difficult circumstance. 

Do not fear, for God is with us and his angels are all about us to minister and meet our needs. What a wonderful promise. 

We read this story about how the king Herod sought to kill the baby Jesus and we think this is amazing. The enemy of heaven is still at work today as he was in the time of Herod! Yet God’s ways are not our ways and He used dreams to bring about His plan for the protection of the Son of God. Further today God is using that same way to speak His Word to those who walk amongst the unsaved. Isaiah 55:8 says “Indeed, my plans are not like your plans, and my deeds are not like your deeds,” says the Lord,” What God has planned is superior to our ways. The enemy is all about us and seeks to kill and destroy the NT says, and it is as true now as it was in the time of Isaiah and the author Matthew in the NT. Satan was busy then and he is busy now. 

So what are you amazed at today? Do you stand amazed or do you praise Him for His perfect plan. 

Matthew records the events that led up to the birth of Christ and in that he wrote using the OT as his source. Isaiah’s words are the balm of Gilead to a sin sick world. In addition, Matthew wrote: This all happened so that what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet would be fulfilled. That prophet was Isaiah along with other prophets of old and is proof that this Word is true. It is given that we might believe and be transformed. This is not just a story we recount for Advent but it is the truth of God that we might know God’s Word is true and complete. 

How has this account transformed you? Will you choose to believe and then share this truth with others? 

The truth hurts if we are living a life of lies and yet does nothing to change a person. That is the point that Malachi is saying to the people. “You have wearied the Lord with your words. But you say, “How have we wearied him?” Because you say, “Everyone who does evil is good in the Lord’s opinion, and he delights in them,” or, “Where is the God of justice?” The fool has said in his heart, there is no God. Such is the way of the unregenerate. They think because God has not punished them, they are as righteous as the one who is not. What a warped sense of right and wrong. That is what I love about Malachi. He puts the cards on the table and they and us are found wanting just as Belshazzar was. 

So what is the prescription to correct us? It is for us to speak truth, live truth and obey truth. God has made His Word clear and it is up to us to listen and believe and be transformed by it because if we don’t then the words of Romans 1:20 are  going to come from God: you are without excuse. You heard and rejected. You saw the transformation and you denied it. 

Today be a disciple of His and proclaim the truth, live the truth and speak the truth. 

If there is one book that addresses both congregant and leader it is this one. Malachi was chosen to speak words that condemn those in leadership because of their unfaithfulness, but it also speaks to the congregation for their unwillingness to speak for the Lord. So, this is a timely book for all generations. 

In today’s world we see many who stand in the pulpit espousing God’s word but behind the pulpit their lives do not mirror the truths they proclaim. As a member of the congregation, we are to listen and examine both their words and their lives. God is saying, I am holding you all responsible both then and now. 

Listen to the Lord: ”For the lips of a priest should preserve knowledge, and men should seek instruction from his mouth; for he is the messenger of the LORD of hosts” The pastor or priest is to speak for God to the people. Are we listening? 

When you or I as a child played games such as follow the leader, we were challenged to follow the leader’s instructions “to the letter” or forfeit the goal’s results. The Israelites were in a quandary about whose leadership should they follow. On the one hand, as long as Nehemiah was in their presence, they felt secure and followed what he said.Then Ezra came on the scene and he read from the scriptures and their hearts were challenged to obey God. Then there were the enemies outside of Jerusalem who taunted the people and sought to challenge them from following God and His ways. It is the same today. There are many voices calling us to follow their way and we must be discerning. 

The psalmist seems to have understood this and as he wrote, he said, following God’s ways is as if they were dreaming. They had spent years in Babylon and now they were in Jerusalem with new rules, new regulations all coming from the Word of God. How then to discern? How to know which leader should they follow? But, as Ezra read the Book of the Law and Nehemiah raised a choir to sing God’s praises it became clear: Follow Jehovah or be left behind. It was then that the psalmist recorded these words: “The Lord did indeed accomplish great things for us. We were happy.” 

How about you? Which leader are you following? Are you happy or still in line following a leader that may lead you astray? Choose ye this day whom you will serve are the words of Joshua and they are still today challenging and apropos.

Today we enter the sanctuary and the reader of the scripture, or the one chosen to impart the Word for that day are, for the most part, clearly understood. However, place yourself in a foreign culture and you will soon find yourself lost as to the meaning and understanding. Those Ezra addressed were like the latter since they had lived many years in Babylon and knew that language but not the Aramaic of the land. Ezra could have just read and hoped for understanding but instead he had men who were bilingual stationed by groups of people to help them understand. These could listen to Ezra and then translate what he said to the people. Reading and listening are two different skills. Today we have several translations of the Bible and in that way no matter your language, you are able to understand the written word. We also have bilingual vocal translators to add to our understanding. 

Today let’s stop and thank God for these wonderful opportunities to hear and read. God has gifted men and women who have the gift of translation. Men, women and children now have access to these gifts and the gospel is being proclaimed around the world through them.