Religion
Savor the Cross
A friend of mine has this phrase written on a card that she keeps on her refrigerator. It is one of those things that it is wise to be reminded of frequently. In our day comfort and convenience, self preservation and self gratification tend to be our focus. But Jesus has told us to deny self, take up our cross and follow Him. It is perfectly reasonable for Him to expect us to do this, for this is what He did for us. He not only took up His cross, He experienced it fully.
And when they had come to a place called Golgotha, that is to say, Place of a Skull, they gave Him sour wine mingled with gall to drink. But when He had tasted it, He would not drink. Matthew 27:33-34
Jesus could have taken advantage of the drink that was offered. It was a concoction designed to dull the sense of pain. It was the only bit of mercy He was shown during the whole ordeal. And He refused it. He had a different cup to drink – the cup of the Father’s will. This cup was a cup of pain, a cup of shame, a cup of wrath. And He didn’t shrink from the full experience of drinking this cup.
Often we are found to be seeking ways to rationalize our avoidance of the pain of a cross-ward life. And it goes something like this – If something is difficult or causes us to suffer, it can’t be from God, right? I mean, God is good and He loves us and wants us to be blessed.
Part of the problem is that we have an incomplete idea of what good is. For us, good means happy, healthy, and having everything we need (or want). For God, good means being conformed to the image of Christ. This is ultimate good and it is rarely a pain free process.
You may choose to leave the cross-ward path, however should you forsake the fellowship of His suffering and being conformed to His death, you also forfeit living in the power of a resurrected life.
The cup of comfort.
The cup of Christlikeness
You cannot have both. Choose your cup.
Full of Life
“The One who existed from the beginning is the One we have heard and seen. We saw Him with our own eyes and touched Him with our own hands. He is Jesus Christ, the Word of life. This One who is life from God was shown to us, and we have seen Him. And now we testify and announce to you that He is the one who is eternal life. He was with the Father, and then He was shown to us.” 1 John 1:1-2
Personal, intimate experience with the Lord Jesus is a vital necessity. We need to “see Him with our own eyes and touch Him with our own hands”. Otherwise we will be like the seven sons of Sceva – living in defeat because we use the name of a Jesus we don’t even know. Personal relationship with Christ must be cultivated, maintained and protected. The cares of life – both the good cares and the bad cares – will always attempt to crowd Him out, but we must guard this relationship jealously. And out of the intimacy of our relationship with Him, our heart will overflow with testimonies of the Jesus we have come to know personally. How much more compelling is our witness when others perceive that we are not speaking of a dead Savior, but a living Lord and Friend. One who is able to save to the uttermost. One that we know and that knows us and that we spend abundantly satisfying time with.
“This One who is life from God” is the One we testify of. The world’s experience of dead religion keeps them from our gatherings and from our Jesus. But when we expose them to the One who is life from God, this One we have seen and touched, they will begin to see Christianity as it has forever been meant to be – full of life.
The Silence, the Denial, the Delay
Matthew 15:23 – But He answered her not a word……..
She was a woman of Canaan with a desperate need. How out of the ordinary it must have been for a gentile to come to Jesus; Him being a Jew surrounded by crowds of Jews. Was it awkward for her? Did she draw strange looks and disconcerting stares? An outsider; a gentile. She had no part in the covenant, no reason to think that she deserved anything from Christ. But she is desperate and she had heard about Him (Mark 7:5). Perhaps she had heard about His healing of a centurion’s servant and was clinging to the hope that there was indeed some portion of mercy for the gentiles.
Whatever her state of mind, she comes to the place Jesus is staying and apparently from a distance, she cries out to Him. As she begs Him to cast a demon out of her daughter, He responds with…..silence. Even the disciples take up her cause, asking Jesus to send her away, almost certainly intending that he would do so by granting her request. At this Jesus replies:
“I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” Matthew 15:24
Was she emboldened by this unexpected mediation by the disciples? For she now comes close enough to fall at His feet and worship Him. Undeterred by His previous disregard of her plea, she continues to present her request, only to be met with this response:
But Jesus said to her, “Let the children be filled first, for it is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the little dogs.” Mark 7:27
This would have been enough to crush most of us, but with a bold faith she answers Him:
“Yes, Lord, yet even the little dogs eat the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.” Matthew 15:27
And the result…..
Then He said to her, “For this saying go your way; the demon has gone out of your daughter.” And when she had come to her house, she found the demon gone out, and her daughter lying on the bed. Mark 7:29-30
Did this woman have such confidence in the mercy of Christ that she was compelled to continue presenting her petition, or was she so desperate that she had no other choice?
Although she was ignored – “ and He answered her not a word”
And denied – “I was not sent except to the lost sheep of Israel”
And delayed – “let the children be filled first”
She persisted with a tenacity that would shame the most valiant prayer warriors, and yet with a humility exhibited by few. What a precious combination.
And she trusted that a crumb from the hand of Jesus was sufficient to meet every bit of her need. But because of her faith she was granted the children’s bread.
Hypocrisy
Let all my life be motivated
By the love You demonstrated
And oh Lord let it never be
Desire for my works to be seen
That provokes me to perform
What should be the Christian norm
Of acts of love and charity
That really are hypocrisy
That spring not from a love of God
But rather seeking men’s applause
For You Lord know the heart of man
Before You no dead work will stand
Observing rites of piety
But careless towards humanity
The outside of my cup is clean
But You know what remains within
Let Your truth destroy deception
That has escaped my perception
For to myself I seem upright
But You see what eludes my sight
So make me true outside and in
Remove from me my hidden sin
And Lord please let it never be
That I live in hypocrisy
Be Proud…..and Flee
It happened after this that Nahash the king of the people of Ammon died, and his son reigned in his place. Then David said, “I will show kindness to Hanun the son of Nahash, because his father showed kindness to me.” So David sent messengers to comfort him concerning his father. And David’s servants came to Hanun in the land of the people of Ammon to comfort him. And the princes of the people of Ammon said to Hanun, “Do you think that David really honors your father because he has sent comforters to you? Did his servants not come to you to search and to overthrow and to spy out the land?” Therefore Hanun took David’s servants, shaved them, and cut off their garments in the middle, at their buttocks, and sent them away. 1 Chronicles 19:1-4
Hanun was an inexperienced leader who followed the recommendation of unwise advisors. When he realized that his treatment of David’s envoys had offended David, rather than sending a humble apology to the King of Israel for his error in judgment, Hanun instead employs the services of Syria to assist him in battle against David – a battle that David had not even commenced. Hanun’s expectation of retaliation demonstrates that he knew he was wrong and had offended a king who had previously been an ally. So he prepares for battle.
This is the strategy of pride. It will not bow, so it must fight, oftentimes drawing others into the battle. For not only is Ammon forced to flee in battle, but Syria suffers losses as they flee as well. Needless losses, as the whole thing could possibly have been avoided by an admission of fault by Hanun.
What is more humbling than to admit you were wrong? This is a thing hard enough to admit to ourselves in the secrecy of our own heart, much less to expose our error before the onlooking eyes of others. We fear the loss of respect, the criticism, the perception of ourselves as being weak. So we draw our shoulders back, with chin firmly lifted in defiance, and map out our battle plan….only to end up fleeing.
The Word of God has much to say about pride; none of it good. While we live in an age that promotes self-esteem, self-pride and self-reliance, the Bible still says “without me you can do nothing”. Nothing. How’s that for an ego crusher? But the Lord God does have a way of getting to the heart of the matter.
To eliminate the stronghold of pride in our lives is no easy task, but it is a necessary one. The struggle to be free of it will put us at odds with a society that cannot understand the blessing of a life of brokenness and humility.
For the LORD takes pleasure in His people; He will beautify the humble with salvation. Psalm 149:4
When pride comes, then comes shame; But with the humble is wisdom . Proverbs 11:2
The LORD is near to those who have a broken heart, And saves such as have a contrite spirit. Psalm 34:18
He is my Delight 