The Deeper Need

Matt 9:2b "Son be of good cheer, your sins are forgiven you."

Here is the scenario: Some people had compassion for a guy who was paralyzed. They probably knew him well. Who knows, it may have been a family member that some in the family thought that Jesus could heal. Anyway, some people had compassion for this guy. As a result, they carried this man on his bed to Jesus. Their expectation (from yesterday) was that Jesus would also have compassion on him and heal him of his paralysis. Interestingly enough, Jesus saw their faith…their expectation, and He did something else. He said: "Son be of good cheer…". Great words. "Be of good cheer." The next thing you would think would come out of this Healer's mouth would be: "Get up and walk." So here are these people, and here is this guy, both expectantly waiting for Jesus to heal him, to say, "Be of good cheer, get off your bed and walk" and Jesus says: "Be of good cheer, your sins are forgiven you." They may have thought: "Hey. Wait a minute. That isn't why we came. We came for healing. We came for restoration. We came for freedom from this bondage." Exactly. Jesus knew why they came and He did something that would bring healing, that would bring restoration, that would bring freedom from bondage…he forgave this guy's sin.

Isn't that like me? I want something so I go to God and I ask. He answers, but He answers in a way that I don't expect. He answers in a way that I don't understand initially. He answers in a way that touches my deeper need, not my perceived need. And that is what happened here. This guy had a deeper need for forgiveness. His main problem was not his paralysis. His main problem was his sin. And Jesus took care of that. (It just so happened that this caused a stir resulting in Jesus confirmation of His deity as well as physical healing for this guy. Jesus knew this was going to happen, too.)

What is my deepest need? My deepest need is my need for forgiveness. My deepest need is my need for restoration. My deepest need is my need for cleansing, and purity, and being right before God. My deepest need was accomplished on the cross. God knew my deepest need and He did something about it. He sent Jesus to live and teach and then die on the cross. He sent Jesus to shed His blood so I could have forgiveness. He sent His only Son to be the perfect sacrifice for my sin so that my deepest need could be met. Thank you Lord, that I am clean in your sight because Jesus said: "Be of good cheer, your sins are forgiven you."

Now, I think about this world's need. I think about all of the stuff that is going on and our desire to help those who are in Japan and the Middle East and even in our country as we see things go down. Our desire is to provide assistance. To give food and water and money and the basic necessities of life. We should do this…but we need to look deeper. We need to look beyond the perceived need and aim to resolve the deeper need…the need for forgiveness…the need for restoration…the need for salvation. When we give food to people in need (and I think that this is going to happen more frequently in our country in the future) we need to do so with the intent to meet their deeper need…their need for forgiveness through Jesus.

God, keep us focused on the deeper need.

Expectation

Matt 8:13b "Go your way; and as you have believed, so let it be done for you."

Expectation. When you look this word up in Websters it means: " the state of looking forward, to anticipate, to consider probable or certain." When I was a kid I loved Christmas morning. (I still do.) The night before, I would go to bed expecting that when I got up there would be gifts under the tree that I would be able to open and that I would like. When I got up in the morning, I was not disappointed. I was right, and there were gifts of cool things under the tree. (Sure, I got that occasional bummer of a gift, but that was the exception, not the rule.) I looked forward to Christmas morning. I anticipated what I would see and get. I was certain that this was going to happen the next morning.

This guy that came to Jesus was really an amazing Roman. He was a centurion who had a sick servant. This centurion loved this servant and so he did the only thing he could think to do to resolve his servant's problem…he went to Jesus and asked Him to heal his servant. Jesus heard his request, offered to come with him and heal his servant, and this guy did an amazing thing. He believed that Jesus did not even have to come to heal his servant, all He had to do was speak the word. What faith. What belief. What expectation. This guy knew in his inner man that if Jesus said "Be healed" it would happen, no matter what the distance between the healer and the healee.

So Jesus said to this guy: "Go your way; and as you have believed, so let it be done for you." Jesus knew this guy's heart. Jesus knew that this centurion's heart was full of expectation. He knew that the centurion expected to go back home and find his servant healed. He looked forward to it, he anticipated it, he was certain of it. So much so, he walked away with confidence…and it happened.

This is a real challenge for me because I find that sometimes my expectation quotient is lacking. Do I expect to go to heaven? Yes. But what else do I expect God to do…so much so that I walk away with confidence? Do I expect Him to meet certain needs? If I do, do I live like it? Do I expect Him to work in people's lives? If so, do I give up worrying about stuff? Do I expect Him to work out plans? If so, do I let go of control? My problem is that I rely on me too much and I don't give God room to work. I think that if it is going to get done, I will get it done. The Centurion was not like this. He knew he could not get this done. He was helpless and he relied upon the One who could meet his expectations.

What a lesson for me.

 

Rob Bell

Matt:7:13,14 "Enter by the narrow gate, for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life and there are few who find it. "

This really is a sad verse. Jesus is telling his guys that there are two options…two gates to walk through. One gate leads to life and the other gate leads to destruction. When you look up the word life in the Greek it means: "life real and genuine, a life active and vigorous, devoted to God, blessed, in the portion even in this world of those who put their trust in Christ, but after the resurrection to be consummated by new accessions (among them a more perfect body), and to last forever." (Strongs) When you look up the word destruction it means: "utter destruction, ruin, perishing, the destruction which consists of eternal misery in hell." (Strongs) Now we have to remember that the One who is preaching this sermon is Jesus…the eternal God. The One who made it all. The One who knows everything. And the fact is this: There is eternal life and there is eternal destruction. The sad part is that there is eternal destruction and that it is going to be the majority of people who walk through that gate. Only a few are going to find the narrow gate that leads to life. This really makes me appreciate what God has done for me. Why am I one of the individuals who was able to find the narrow gate? Why am I not included in with the majority? The amazing grace and mercy of God in my life.

Now, I know that there are many who have a difficult time with what Jesus is saying here. The thing is, there are alleged evangelical leaders who doubt Jesus' words. I say alleged because these guys are not evangelical at all. They are not Biblical at all. I read this week about Rob Bell, the pastor of Mars Hill Bible Church in Grand Rapids) who just wrote a book called Love Wins. The premise of the book is that love wins out…that there is no way that a great number of people will find themselves in a place of eternal destruction. His thought is that some may even find their way to heaven and not even trust Christ. The idea that only those who have put their faith in Christ will be in heaven he calls:"misguided and toxic". In other words, Rob Bell knows more than Jesus does. Even though Jesus said that there is a place of destruction and many will go that way, Rob Bell says: "No, this is wrong." He is saying that Jesus is wrong. He is saying the Bible is wrong. He thinks that Gandhi will be in heaven even though he may never have trusted in Christ as his rescuer. Frankly, it is not those who preach what Jesus preached who are misguided, it is those who embrace the pabulum of this teaching.

The weird thing is this. The words that Jesus spoke after He gave this warning are: "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves." V15 The teaching that Rob Bell is espousing is false teaching. It is unbiblical. It directly contradicts what Jesus said and it ignores the fact that Jesus had to die for something…and that something was the eternal destruction that Jesus warned about. If there are other ways to heaven and I don't have to put my personal faith in Christ, then Jesus would not have had to die. His death was a stupid move on His part if this is the case. I mean, go the way of Gandhi or some other good works effort. Jesus did not have to suffer and die on a cross if there is another way to get to heaven and avoid hell.

What did Paul say about this? "...if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain." Gal. 2:21 No. The reality is this: Jesus had to die and only those who put their trust in Him for their salvation will be in heaven...the narrow way, not the Rob Bell way.

I thank God that He chose me. That he bought me with His blood. That I have the assurance of eternal life. Now my heart has to beat for more people to find the narrow gate.

Persistence

Matt 7:7,8 "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened."

I would have to say that last night was an amazing night at our men's Bible study. James MacDonald was teaching on the Holy Spirit and how the Spirit of God works in our lives. When he was done we did what we normally do and had a discussion. It was kind of slow at first, but then something happened. It really picked up steam when our conversation started to center on people that we know who do not know Christ. I think it began when a question was asked about how we see the Spirit of God working in our world today. That lead to a discussion on what has happened in Japan, and that somehow lead to what is happening in our country and the economic situation that we find ourselves in, and that lead to a discussion about how we, the church, the body of Christ are the only ones who have hope. We are the only ones who should have stability. When it all comes crashing down around us, we are the ones who should be able to say to the world: "Look. Here is the answer…it is Jesus. He gives hope. He provides stability. He meets needs. He insures your eternal destiny." Well, that lead Doug Daugherty to tell us what he asked the Lord to do for him on our retreat last weekend…that God would make him bolder about his faith. Now there is a prayer. "Ask and it will be given to you." That then lead to Dave Wible to talk about a list that he created of people who needed to know Christ that he put in his Bible years ago. He told us that out of 100 names, 98 of them had come to faith. Then we were challenged with a story about a guy who was praying for his children and how he was impressed that he was the only guy in the world who was praying for his kids. This was shared with a group of men and they then shared names of people that they wanted to pray for and now a bunch of guys are praying for a bunch of people whose names may have not been lifted up to heaven other than by one or two other people. Now God is being bombarded with names from all kinds of guys who care.

The challenge for us was: Why don't we do this? Why don't we create a list of people who need Christ and everyone start praying. "Ask and it will be given to you." Let's start to repeatedly go to God and give Him names. Don't give up. Don't let up. Why? "Ask and it be given to you." Don't just stop there, though…"Seek and you will find." But don't just stop there. "Knock and it will be opened to you." Ask, seek, knock. Why? Because, as we were reminded last night: "You have not because you ask not." We need to keep asking. God needs to see our hearts. We need to be persistent and then watch what He does.

Don’t Worry

Matt 6:33 "But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you."

 

If I had to pick a verse that I would claim as my life verse, I think this is it. Why? Because I remember when I was attempting to pass the bar exam many moons ago and I was having difficulty. God reminded me back then: "Glen, pursue Me first. My kingdom. My righteousness. And then watch me work." After I got my priorities straightened out, then I saw what He did.

 

The thing is, this lesson is easy to forget. We get so wrapped up in everyday living that we start to run after other things. We run after money (v19-21). We are concerned about our needs..what we will eat, what we will drink and what we will wear. (v25-32) We worry about what is going to happen in our economy and we start to get a little frantic. I mean if you listen to the prognosticators in the next year gas will be $11 a gallon. Milk will be $10 a gallon. Eggs will be $4 a dozen. I just heard this yesterday…something called America's Economic Armageddon. Frankly, if you soak yourself in this stuff you will go crazy worrying. Jesus told His guys and He tells us: "Don't worry. The way that you insure that all your needs are met is not by buying gold and silver and dumping your stocks. The way that you insure that all of your needs are met is to seek, to desire, to crave My kingdom and My righteousness. When you do this everything else will come. All of your needs for food and clothing will be met."

 

I wonder if we really believe this? Do I? I know that I woke up this morning telling my wife that we need to think about stocking our freezer because of what I heard yesterday. This may not be a bad idea. It may be smart to prepare…but I can't get consumed by it. I, instead, have to be consumed by the kingdom of God and His righteousness. I have to be consumed with the eternal, not the temporal. I can't worry about tomorrow (v34)…I have to pursue the eternal today.

 

So what am I going to do today that will show that I am running after His kingdom and His righteousness first? How will I practice law that will make it an eternal endeavor? How will this affect my conversations, my actions, my attitudes? If I seek God's kingdom and His righteousness absolutely first, every day, food and clothing will be there when I need it. He promised.

 

Temptation

Matt. 6:13 "And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom, and the power and the glory forever. Amen."

 

It is actually kind of weird. The very thing that the Spirit did with Jesus, Jesus tells us to pray would not happen to us. In chapter 4 we read: "Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil." Jesus was lead into temptation. He was taken to the wilderness for the very purpose of being tempted. Not so with us. We need to pray that this not happen. Not only should we pray that God deliver us from sin, but we need to pray that He deliver us from temptation and the schemes of the evil one.

 

Jesus knows what we are like. We are unlike Him. He was able to be battle Satan effectively. We can as well, but we are humans and we fall. We sin. We succumb to temptation. Paul knew this: "No temptation has taken you but such as is common to man. But God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted above what you are able, but will, with the temptation, make a way of escape, so that you can endure it." I Cor 10:13. As my pastor says: We sometimes can't avoid birds flying over our heads, but we can avoid them making a nest in our hair. It is going to happen. We are going to be tempted, but we can even avoid that if we ask God to not lead us there. If we ask Him to deliver us, to rescue us from the evil one. Satan is tricky. He knows where we are weak. He knows our soft spots. I need to ask God to firm those soft spots up and rescue me from the tendency to give in.

 

Frankly, I don't hear people pray like this very often. In fact, I don't pray like this very often. I wonder why that is? We think we can handle it on our own? We are just oblivious to the arrows that are shot at us? We/I have to open my eyes and realize that Satan is out to devour us. He wants to take us down. We need the strength and power of God in our lives. We need what comes next: For Yours is the kingdom, and the power and glory forever. Only God can handle this stuff and I need to rely upon Him, not me.

 

This is God's kingdom. He is the One who rules and is in control. This is God's power. He is the One who has the might to deliver us. This is God's glory. He is the One who will be exalted, forever. Amen. So be it.

 

Forgiveness

Matt 6:12 "And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors."

Forgiveness. It is an amazing thing. I know that I hate it when I screw up. I hate it when I sin. I hate it because I know that I have disappointed God and I have violated what I believe. Not only that, but I hate the conviction that I have to deal with. It really is not any fun to be convicted of sin. I thank God for it because I know that He is working. I know that He is living in me. I know that I am His kid, but it still is not something that I enjoy. And then the guilt. The guilt that I deal with when I sin is crazy. It can eat you up.

That is why this verse is so beautiful: "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness." I need to let that sink in. If I acknowledge my sin before God, because of His faithfulness and because of His righteousness He will deal with it. He will forgive it. And He will do something that is totally amazing…He will cleanse me from all unrighteousness. That is all unrighteousness. Not just some of it, not just a part of it, not just a little of it…all of it. Praise God! It is gone. Conviction is gone. Guilt is (should be) gone. (I say should be because I know that I like to keep beating myself up over what I have done, but God does not.) Totally clean. Totally forgiven. Amazing.

And Jesus says that we are to do this. We are to come to God and confess. We are to come to God when we pray and say: "God, I have messed up. This is what I have done. Please forgive me." And He does.

But then look at this: "As we forgive our debtors." The word for debts and debtors actually means those who owe. It also means those who are owed punishment for a wrong they have committed. That is us. God owes us punishment for our sin…for our violation of His character and His word. But He extends forgiveness when we ask for it. And He does it in the same way that we extend it to others. Ouch. If someone has offended me, if someone has sinned against me, if someone owes me something or better yet if I have a right to take revenge for something someone did to me and I go after that, or I hold a grudge, or I am bitter or hold animosity toward that individual and I do not let it go, I let it fester, I hang on to it, then forget about coming to God and asking for the beautiful forgiveness that He offers.

Jesus was so intent on this He continued to talk about it. "For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses." Pretty serious stuff.

So I need to ask myself: Is there anyone out there that I have an unforgiving spirit toward? If there is, let it go. Bury it. Forgive them and soak in the sweet forgiveness of God.