Category Archives: Obedience

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April 12, 2022

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A DIFFERENT SORT OF FAST – Part 2

No, this is the kind of fasting I want: Free those who are wrongly imprisoned; lighten the burden of those who work for you. Let the oppressed go free, and remove the chains that bind people. Share your food with the hungry, and give shelter to the homeless. Give clothes to those who need them, and do not hide from relatives who need your help. [Isaiah 58:6-7 (NLT)]

palamedes swallowtail butterflyAs I continued my Lenten fasting, Saturday’s fast was criticism. “A piece of cake,” I thought as I began the day. While criticism can be constructive, it usually is little more than complaint and, as it turned out, I’d blown it by 10:00 AM. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the last time I caught myself being critical. Even though Sundays during Lent are a day free of fasting, I tried going without criticism again Sunday morning. Surely a day without any critical judgment shouldn’t be that hard! I hate to admit, I botched it by 8:00 while watching the news! Granted, I’d already made three hours without complaint but that wasn’t my last criticism of the day. Not every comment was verbalized but whether I said it to myself or to someone else, criticism still is criticism. I continued fasting from criticism yesterday and this fast may turn out to be a year’s work!

Another day’s fast was discontentment—the feeling of not-enough—the feeling that keeps us from being grateful for all that we do have. Like some of my other fasts, I thought this one would be a breeze until I received an on-line ad for a sale at one of my favorite stores. In spite of an over-full closet, I felt discontent creep into my heart as I scrolled through pages of beautiful clothes. I know I have more than enough and yet I still wanted something more! There’s another one to work on for the rest of the year!

Yesterday’s assignment was to fast “God-as-job.” Just because we don’t receive a paycheck to serve the Lord doesn’t mean we can’t slip into thinking of our service as a job rather than a calling or thinking of our prayer and Bible study as a task or duty rather than a blessing. Our relationship with God is no more a job that the relationship we have with our loved ones. Nevertheless, when concentrating on doing for Him, we easily forget about being with Him and, when working for Him, we often stop hearing Him. When God is a job, we’re present in body but absent in spirit.

These weeks preparing for Resurrection Sunday brought me a growing awareness of my spiritual weaknesses. Rather than giving up something I enjoy like chocolate, alcohol, or TV, this fast was about revealing the kinds of things that restrain or control me. Moreover, there were hidden blessings in each sacrifice I made. These last several weeks have been a time of decluttering my mind, sweeping the dust bunnies from my soul, and regaining balance. Of course, I remain a work in progress but, like the author of Hebrews, I’m trying to rid myself of the things that weigh me down.

Lent is a time of going very deeply into ourselves… What is it that stands between us and God? Between us and our brothers and sisters? Between us and life, the life of the Spirit? Whatever it is, let us relentlessly tear it out, without a moment’s hesitation.” [Catherine Doherty]

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. [Hebrews 12:1-2a (NLT)]

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April 8, 2022

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THY WILL BE DONE

“My Father! If it is possible, let this cup of suffering be taken away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.” … Then Jesus left them a second time and prayed, “My Father! If this cup cannot be taken away unless I drink it, your will be done.” … So he went to pray a third time, saying the same things again. [Matthew 26:39,42,44 (NLT)]

water liliesThroughout His ministry, it seems that Jesus knew that the cross awaited Him but we don’t know if the human part of Him knew the exact details. Even so, it’s one thing to know what lays in the future but quite another to know it is about to begin within a matter of minutes. That night in Gethsemane, God showed Jesus the cup from which He would drink and He showed it in gruesome detail. Jesus viewed the betrayal, abandonment, sham trials, mocking, beating, flogging, and suffering torture on the cross along with the jeers of the crowd and the heartbreak and tears of His mother and the other women at the foot of the cross. Had Jesus not known exactly what the next 24-hours held, He would have been no different than the lambs brought to the Temple for sacrifice. They weren’t there of their own volition and had no knowledge of what would happen to them when presented to the priest. Rather than willing sacrifices, they were victims! The Lamb of God, however, needed to know the extraordinary cup—the horrible ordeal—that lay before him because, rather than a victim, He was a willing volunteer! His anguished prayers that night, however, tell us He didn’t look forward to it.

When we look at Jesus’ prayers that last night, there’s a condition to His request to remove the cup: “if it is possible.” If there were an alternative means to accomplish God’s will, Jesus certainly would have preferred it. Knowing exactly what He was facing, the human part of Him prayed for another way and He prayed so intensely that he sweat blood! Judas and the soldiers hadn’t yet arrived and Jesus could have quietly slipped away in the night and disappeared into Jerusalem, but He didn’t! As He prayed for deliverance, He also prayed to do God’s will. Since the Son of God had come to mankind to do His Father’s will, Jesus obediently and willingly stayed in the garden and submitted to all the horror that followed.

Looking at Jesus’ prayers in Gethsemane as a lesson in prayer, we see that since God the Father denied the request of His only Son, we shouldn’t expect God to agree to all we ask. C.S. Lewis says that Jesus’ unanswered prayers that night make it clear that prayer is not to be considered “a sort of infallible gimmick.” There is, however, a greater lesson in Jesus’ prayers in Gethsemane.

He forthrightly asked for the horror of what lay ahead to be removed which is the sort of prayer we typically offer when a loved one lies in a coma, the doctor says “inoperable,” the bank threatens foreclosure, we face 32 more radiation treatments, or a child become addicted. We pray, “Take it away, Lord—make it all right!” That, however, is usually where we stop but Jesus didn’t stop there. After asking for our difficult cup to be removed, do we add “if it is possible,” with the understanding that God’s purpose is more important than our desire? Finally, like Jesus, do we complete our prayer by fully submitting to God’s divine plan (whether we like it or not) with the words, “I want your will to be done, not mine”? Jesus submitted, will we?

If there was not an absolute necessity of his suffering them in order to their salvation, he desired that the cup might pass from him. But if sinners, on whom he had set his love, could not, agreeably to the will of God, be saved without his drinking it, he chose that the will of God should be done. He chose to go on and endure the suffering, awful as it appeared to him. [Matthew Henry]

He walked away, about a stone’s throw, and knelt down and prayed, “Father, if you are willing, please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.” Then an angel from heaven appeared and strengthened him. He prayed more fervently, and he was in such agony of spirit that his sweat fell to the ground like great drops of blood. [Luke 22:41-44 (NLT)]

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April 1, 2022

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PHILIP AND THE EUNUCH – Part 3

When they came up out of the water, the spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away, and the eunuch didn’t see him any more, but went on his way rejoicing. Philip, however, turned up at Azotus. He went through all the towns, announcing the good news, until he came to Caesarea. [Acts 8:39-40 (NTE)]

blue birdWe don’t know how far Philip and the Ethiopian traveled together before the eunuch spotted water. The book of Isaiah is 66 chapters long and there was a lot to cover as Philip told him about the man called Jesus, so it may have been as far as Gaza. It is there that the road split—north to Caesarea and south to Egypt and Ethiopia. While we don’t know the location, we just know that the Ethiopian was baptized when they came to water.

After the baptism, the logical thing for Philip would be to continue south beyond Egypt to the Ethiopian’s homeland. With the support of a rich and powerful man like the Queen’s treasurer, Philip would have been remarkably effective in bringing the gospel to a new part of the world. God’s logic, however, is nothing like man’s. When the men emerged from the water, we’re told that the “Spirit of the Lord” snatched Philip away and the eunuch never saw him again.

The Greek word Luke used was harpazó which meant to seize, catch up, or snatch away. Often used when speaking of a robbery or an arrest, the power clearly belonged to the snatcher rather than the snatchee. Does this mean that Philip was supernaturally carried away north to Azotus? Or does it mean that Philip was carried away by a vision of the Spirit and he immediately changed direction and departed on another God-ordained appointment? It’s unclear whether Luke was writing figuratively or literally, but we do know that the men abruptly departed from one another.

After this significant episode in the advancement of the Gospel, what became of these two men? It hardly seems likely that the Holy Spirit would leave a new convert like the Ethiopian high and dry! Perhaps the scroll, Philip’s words, and the Holy Spirit’s presence were all the man needed. In the 2nd century, Irenaeus, bishop of Lyon, wrote that the eunuch became a missionary to the Ethiopians and, in the 4th century, Eusebius (260-339), the man called “the father of church history,” asserted that, filled with the Holy Spirit, the Ethiopian planted a flourishing church in Ethiopia. All we know for sure, however, is that he “went on his way rejoicing.”

Scripture does tell us that Philip preached the gospel in the coastal cities of Palestine from Azotus north to Caesarea. Because Paul and Luke stayed with him some twenty years later, we know Philip eventually settled in Caesarea, married, and had four daughters. The men stayed with Philip several days and it may have been then when Luke learned of Philip’s encounter with the Ethiopian eunuch.

Rather than an apostle, Philip was one of the seven men selected as a deacon for the early church. A deacon’s job was to distribute food to the widows and alms to the poor and to handle everyday church business so that the apostles could spend their time praying and teaching. Along with identifying Philip by his position as deacon, Luke identified him by his passion and called him “the Evangelist.” The Greek word translated as evangelist was euaggelisté. Used to mean “preacher of the gospel,” its literal meaning is “bringer of good news” or “bearer of glad tidings.”

Evangelism isn’t an occupation; it is a passion. While most of us don’t qualify as “preachers of the gospel,” all can be bearers of glad tidings! When we look at Philip, we see someone who had a passion for Christ—who, when given an opportunity to share the gospel, didn’t say it wasn’t his job. He didn’t doubt, negotiate, hesitate, or refuse—he simply followed the Spirit’s lead and was a “bringer of good news.” Can we do anything less?

This is my solemn charge to you, in the presence of God and King Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and by his appearance and his kingdom: 2 announce the word; keep going whether the time is right or wrong; rebuke, warn and encourage with all patience and explanation. … But as for you, keep your balance in everything! Put up with suffering; do the work of an evangelist; complete the particular task assigned to you. [2 Timothy 4:1-2,5 (NTE)]

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March 30, 2022

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PHILIP AND THE EUNUCH – Part 1

Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Rise and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” This is a desert place. And he rose and went. And there was an Ethiopian, a eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure. [Acts 8:26-27 (ESV)]

firebushOnce day, the Holy Spirit told Philip to go south and then down the desert road between Jerusalem and Gaza. Although Scripture leads us to assume that Philip’s fortuitous encounter with the Ethiopian eunuch quickly followed, a look at the map tells us otherwise. At the time, Philip was in Samaria and, before he could walk the road from Jerusalem to Gaza, he had a 42-mile uphill trek south to Jerusalem before turning southwest onto the 50-mile stretch of road leading to Gaza, the southernmost of the five chief Philistine cities in southwest Palestine and the last settlement before the desert waste stretching away to Egypt. The trip to Jerusalem probably took at least two days and we don’t know how far down the Gaza Road he walked before the Apostle discovered his God-ordained task and met the treasurer of Ethiopia. In actuality, Philip was on this mission for several days before he knew why he’d been sent.

While most translations say the eunuch was from Ethiopia, he was not from the nation we know as Ethiopia. He was from a territory called Cush in the Old Testament and Nubia (meaning black) by the Romans. Present day Ethiopia (once called Abyssinia) is southeast of the ancient Nubia. This large kingdom was located in today’s southern Egypt and northern Sudan, an area considered by the Romans and Greeks to be the outer limits of the known world or “the end of the earth.” Referring to the dark skin of its inhabitants, the Greeks called any place south of Egypt Aithiopia, meaning the land of the “Burnt-Faced People.” When Wycliffe translated the Greek into English in 1382, he called this land Ethiopia and, until the late 1800s, Ethiopia was a general term referring to any of Black Africa.

The Ethiopian man was the Secretary of the Treasury/Chancellor Exchequer for Candace (Kandake in some translations). Rather than a given name, Candance was the title given to the queen mother. Her son, the king, was considered the child of the sun. As such, he was considered too holy to get involved in secular matters so the queen mother ruled the kingdom on his behalf. The Ethiopian is referred to as a eunuch because it was common in the ancient world to castrate trusted male servants in the royal household. It kept them out of the royal harem (or queen’s bed) and, since they were incapable of setting up a dynasty of their own, castration prevented them from plotting to overthrow the government.

Finally, this Philip is not the one from Bethsaida—the one who brought his friend Nathanael to Jesus and was one of the twelve apostles. This Philip is one of the seven men selected as deacons for the Jerusalem church. Following the martyrdom of Stephen and the persecution of Jesus’ followers, Scripture tells us that all the believers (“except the apostles”) fled Jerusalem and scattered. The deacon Philip went north to Samaria where he found his true calling—that of evangelist.

In Samaria, Philip “proclaimed Christ” and brought so many to believe in Jesus that “there was much joy in that city.” [Acts 8:8] Then, out of the blue, the Spirit told him to leave his thriving ministry in Samaria and start to Gaza. Did Philip question God’s reasoning? If he did, imagine his questions and the Spirit’s answers. Where exactly am I going? You don’t need to know. How will I know when I get there? I’ll tell you. What am I supposed to do? You’ll know when the time comes. How long will I be gone? As long as it takes. When do I leave? Now! We don’t know if Philip asked any of those questions but we do know that, when the Spirit said “Go!” he obeyed.

While it made no earthly sense for Philip to leave a successful ministry, it made sense to God because He’d arranged a divine appointment between Philip and the Ethiopian. God knew about the hunger for the Word of God that lay in the man’s heart and knew that Philip was the perfect choice to help fill it. People like Stephen, Peter and John brought the Gospel to Jerusalem and Judea. Philip took it to Samaria and, after he met with the Ethiopian, the Gospel would reach the last geographical sphere mentioned in the Great Commission—Ethiopia—the end of the earth!

Think of what we could do for the Lord if, like Philip, we went when the Spirit said, “Go!”

The Lord of all creation has ordained that he would do his work through us. Our seeking the Spirit’s guidance and obeying what he wants us to do and say is the way he works to bless the world. [Lloyd Ogilvie]

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth. [Acts 1:8 (ESV)]

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March 22, 2022

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HE SAW THE UNBELIEVABLE (Prophecy – 1)

Then I heard the Lord asking, “Whom should I send as a messenger to this people? Who will go for us?” I said, “Here I am. Send me.” [Isaiah 6:8 (NLT)]

green heronBy the time of Isaiah, the Neo-Assyrian empire was the largest one the world had known. Famed for their incredible military strength, tactics, and ruthlessness, the Assyrians were a thorn in the side of both Israel and Judah and both kingdoms lived in fear of them. Assyria’s defeat of Samaria in 722 meant the end of the northern kingdom of Israel and Assyria remained a threat to Judah in the years that followed.

Shortly after envoys from Babylon visited Jerusalem and King Hezekiah foolishly displayed Judah’s wealth to them, Isaiah prophesized that all of Jerusalem’s treasures would be carried off to Babylon and that Hezekiah’s descendants would be taken there and made to serve its king. Since Babylonia was dominated by Assyria and their king was a powerless vassal, Isaiah’s prophecy probably seemed preposterous to Hezekiah. Thinking he could rest easy since it wasn’t going to happen on his watch (and hardly seemed likely to happen at all), Hezekiah remained unconcerned, saying “At least there will be peace and security during my lifetime.” [2 Kings 20:19]

The Neo-Babylonian empire, however, began to rise during Hezekiah’s son’s reign. Babylonia defeated Assyria, destroyed Nineveh, and became the most powerful state in the world. Around 605, Babylon began its conquest of Judah and the first group of Judeans were exiled. After Judah rebelled against Babylon’s rule, Jerusalem was again besieged by the Babylonians and, nearly 100 years after Isaiah’s prophecy during the reign of Hezekiah’s great-grandson Jehoiachin, the king and his family were taken as captives to Babylon, all of the treasures in the Temple and palace were seized, and more Judeans were exiled. Finally, in 586 BC, Jerusalem fell, the Temple was destroyed, and Babylon’s King Nebuchadnezzar II took nearly all of Judah captive.

That Judah would be conquered by Babylon had seemed unbelievable when Isaiah warned of it more than a century earlier! As unbelievable as that may have seemed, nearly 150 years before it happened, Isaiah prophesized that a coalition of Elamites and Medes would attack and lay siege to Babylon and that Babylon would fall to the Medes. 200 years before Persia’s King Cyrus was even born, Isaiah prophesized that Cyrus’ kingdom would be a mighty one and specifically named him as the one who would set the Judean exiles free, rebuild Jerusalem, and restore the Temple. At the time, these prophecies seemed improbable, if not impossible. The Persian Empire didn’t exist at the time and neither Elam nor Media had yet become part of its realm. By 539, however, Persia’s kingdom extended across 2,000 miles and included the territories of both the Assyrian and Babylonian empires. 150 years after Isaiah’s prophecy, Babylon fell and Cyrus allowed the first group of exiles to return to Jerusalem. What once seemed unbelievable actually did happen!

God gave Isaiah incredible visions and the prophet put those visions into words and passed them on to the people. His more than 120 prophecies ranged from the present to the future to the very end of times, from impending judgment to restoration to a new heaven and earth. Have you ever paused to consider what it was like to be Isaiah—to receive those amazing, inexplicable, and seemingly impossible messages from God? For nearly sixty years, Isaiah prophesized to a mostly unbelieving people of inconceivable things like rebuilding both Jerusalem and the Temple when neither had been destroyed. After speaking of a virgin conceiving a child who would be called, “Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace,” he told of a suffering servant who “would be pierced for our rebellion” and “crushed for our sins.” He said that the “Galilee of the Gentiles” would be filled with glory and that the Lord would “punish the world by fire and his sword.” What was it like to speak of such strange things? Did Isaiah even understand or know the particulars or means of all that he prophesized? Nevertheless, he remained faithful to the task even if he didn’t understand all that he was saying.

Most of us hesitate to trust God with tomorrow but Isaiah trusted God’s words until the end of time. Can we ever be as obedient and trusting as Isaiah? Will we ever speak as boldly?

The most critical need of the church at this moment is men, bold men, free men. The church must seek, in prayer and much humility, the coming again of men made of the stuff of which prophets and martyrs are made. [A.W. Tozer]

You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you! Trust in the Lord always, for the Lord God is the eternal Rock. [Isaiah 26:3-4 (NLT)]

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March 9, 2022

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SALT OF THE EARTH (Salt – Part 2)

You are the salt of the earth. But what good is salt if it has lost its flavor? Can you make it salty again? It will be thrown out and trampled underfoot as worthless. [Matthew 5:13 (NLT)]

saltToday, when someone is called the “salt of the earth,” the speaker probably means he or she is a dependable, unpretentious and honest person—someone of moral integrity. That is well and good as far as it goes, but Jesus meant more than that when He called us to be “the salt of the earth.”

Nowadays, salt is inexpensive and a 26-ounce box of generic table salt cost less than 2 cents an ounce. Even if you wanted to go gourmet with some pink Himalayan table salt, you’d only pay about 25 cents per ounce. In ancient times, however, salt was so precious that Roman soldiers received their pay in it. When that became cumbersome, they received an allowance for its purchase. Called salarium argentum and meaning salt money, salarium remains in the English language as the word “salary.” Slave traders often bartered salt for slaves which gave rise to the expression that someone useless isn’t “worth his salt.” It was the preciousness of salt that made it so meaningful when making covenants or treaties in the ancient world. When Jesus said we are the “salt of the earth,” He meant we were as valuable as this precious commodity of the 1st century. But, aside from being valuable, what other qualities could Jesus have had in mind with His metaphor?

Salt is a flavor enhancer and we, as Christ’s disciples can add flavor and meaning to the lives of others. Salt makes people thirsty and we, as the salt of the earth, can make people thirst for and desire Christ. In ancient times, salt water was considered a natural antiseptic. Used to clean wounds and prevent infection, newborns were bathed in salt water. As salt of the earth, we can do our part in preventing sin’s infection.

Salt can lessen the pain of bee stings and bug bites and we, as salt, can lessen sin’s sting. On the other hand, salt rubbed into a wound stings and we, as salt, can rebuke and admonish the world with words that may sting. Salt can remove stains and, as Christ’s salt, we can remove the stain of sin with news of repentance and God’s forgiveness.

A paste of salt, flour and vinegar can remove rust and polish brass and copper; as salt in God’s service, we can certainly polish up this tarnished world of ours. Salt is used to stop food decay and we, acting as messengers of the Gospel, have the ability to keep people from perishing and rotting in Hell. Salt also has destructive properties and the term “salting the earth” refers to the ancient military practice of plowing fields of enemies with salt so that no crops could be grown. In the same way, we want to sow Satan’s fields with our salt to make them barren.

In spite of warnings from our cardiologists, a certain amount of salt is essential for life. Without it, our bodies become chemically unbalanced, our muscles and nervous system cease to function, and eventually we’ll die. Without a doubt, the message of Christ’s saving grace is essential for eternal life. Even though our body fluids (blood, sweat, tears) are salty, we cannot produce salt on our own nor can we obtain salvation on our own! Salvation comes by God’s grace through faith!

Finally, salt is white, the color of purity, and, as salt of the earth we should be pure, which brings us full circle to salt that has lost its saltiness or has become tainted. The salt used in Jesus’ time was obtained from salt marshes and salt lakes. Because it wasn’t refined, it always contained other minerals. If the sodium chloride was leached away by dampness or became fouled by dirt, what remained was without flavor and contaminated. Good for nothing, it was strewn on the roads like gravel. Like salt without flavor, disciples who don’t live out the values of the Kingdom cannot fulfill their purpose.

Moreover, no matter how valuable, pure, flavorful, or essential it is for life, salt that is kept in a sealed package is useless. Jesus wants us to get out of the box and into the world so we can spread our saltiness around in words and deeds as we share His Good News.

Salt, when dissolved in water, may disappear, but it does not cease to exist. We can be sure of its presence by tasting the water. Likewise, the indwelling Christ, though unseen, will be made evident to others from the love which he imparts to us. [Sadhu Sundar Singh]

Salt is good for seasoning. But if it loses its flavor, how do you make it salty again? You must have the qualities of salt among yourselves and live in peace with each other. [Mark 9:50 (NLT)]

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