Monthly Archives: December 2015

Can we really have Peace?

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I’ve been thinking a lot about peace recently.  We are in the midst of Advent, a season of hope, of peace, of love, of joy.  It’s in this season when we proclaim the words of Isaiah 9:6-7:

6 For a child has been born for us,
a son given to us;
authority rests upon his shoulders;
and he is named
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
7 His authority shall grow continually,
and there shall be endless peace
for the throne of David and his kingdom.
He will establish and uphold it
with justice and with righteousness
from this time onward and forevermore.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.

peace11x14The Prince of Peace is born!  That’s what we say.  That’s what we believe.  Let me repeat that

That’s what we believe.  Seriously.  As Christians.  As the church, that’s what we believe. And in the world that we live in, that makes us look different.  Off.  Odd.

And you know what?  Good.  We are supposed to.  We aren’t supposed to be like the world.  We aren’t supposed to be like the culture.  We are supposed to be different.  As Paul says in 1 Corinthians 4:10 – we are fools for Christ.  We ARE supposed to look different.  Believe different.  Act different.  Have a different hope, joy, love, and peace.

As I tell folks, if you tell folks you are Christian, and they say, “really?”  That’s not a good sign.  We have to look/be different from the world.

Now, here’s the thing.  I’m not saying that there aren’t things to be afraid of.  I’m not saying that there aren’t things that can take our peace, take our joy, take our hope, take our love.

Of course, there are.  There are big, scary, worrisome things.  But hear me, please hear.

God is bigger.  He is stronger.  He is more might.  He is.

He is bigger than your fears.

He is.  And as Christians, we have to believe it.  We do.  It’s who we are.

And the world needs us to believe it.

Your peace will not come from an absence of conflict or absence of things that are you are afraid of.  Your peace will come from the trust and assurance of this truth:

No matter what you face, not matter what you are afraid of – God is bigger.

He is the prince of peace.  Yesterday.  Today.  Forever.  He is He is bigger.  He is our peace.

Trust.

Day Forty-Four with Mark: Mark 11:20-33

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Today in Mark, we are going to look at Mark 11:20-33:

The Lesson from the Withered Fig Tree

20 In the morning as they passed by, they saw the fig tree withered away to its roots. 21 Then Peter remembered and said to him, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree that you cursed has withered.” 22 Jesus answered them, “Have faith in God. 23 Truly I tell you, if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and if you do not doubt in your heart, but believe that what you say will come to pass, it will be done for you. 24 So I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.

25 “Whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone; so that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses.”

Jesus’ Authority Is Questioned
27 Again they came to Jerusalem. As he was walking in the temple, the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders came to him 28 and said, “By what authority are you doing these things? Who gave you this authority to do them?” 29 Jesus said to them, “I will ask you one question; answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things. 30 Did the baptism of John come from heaven, or was it of human origin? Answer me.” 31 They argued with one another, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’ 32 But shall we say, ‘Of human origin’?”—they were afraid of the crowd, for all regarded John as truly a prophet. 33 So they answered Jesus, “We do not know.” And Jesus said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.”

I love the juxtaposition of these two passages together here in the end of Mark 11.  We see two groups of people coming to Jesus.  First, we have His Disciples who were with Jesus and were seeking to learn, to grow, to be faithful.

Yes, the didn’t have all the answers, but they wanted to grow, they wanted to learn, they wanted to follow Jesus.  Even if they didn’t fully understand what that meant or how to do it, they wanted to follow.

So, what happens here?  They see the result of the fig tree being cursed and they are shocked. And Jesus says this, if you believe, this is nothing.  You’ll be able to tell the mountain, go jump in the sea.  And it will.  If you believe, it will answers.

Real quick on this notion of belief and prayer, if we believe, God will answer our prayers.  We don’t always pray as boldly as we should. But here’s the key thing on how God answer this.  Our prayers are ultimately not about what we want, but about what God wants.  In prayer, God bends our will towards His.

So, the closer we walk to God, the more our hearts will be his heart, the more we will desire what He desires, the more we will be molded into Him.

And the more we desire His desires, the more He will grant us those desires. Because when we truly desire Him, He will truly give Himself to us.

Keep seeking God.  Keep praying.  He hears.  He does.  He answers.  He does.  Don’t give up seeking Him. God will show Himself to you.  He will.

Don’t doubt.  Believe.

The disciples are seeking Jesus. And they will find.

hb_lamed-adultery.JPGNow, the other group, they aren’t seeking Him.  They are trying to trip Him and trick Him.  They don’t truly want to know Jesus.  They want to test Him.  Their questions are truly about knowing Jesus; they are about causing trouble.

And because they aren’t really seeking Him, they don’t find what they are looking for.

So, in all things, it starts with this.  Are we seeking Him?  Do we desire to know Him?  If so, pray.  Pray boldly.  Pray with confidence.  Pray with hope.  He will hear.  He will answer.

We can trust.

Wednesday we’ll look at Mark 12:1-12.

What questions do you have?  How does this strike you?  Shoot me an email, comment below, or connect with me through social media.

If you’d like to receive these thoughts by email, be sure to click here and join my email devotional group!

Day Forty-Three with Mark: Mark 11:15-19

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Today we look at one of the more well know passages in the Bible, Mark 11:15-19, where Jesus cleanses the temple.

15 Then they came to Jerusalem. And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who were selling and those who were buying in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves; 16 and he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple. 17 He was teaching and saying, “Is it not written,

‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’?
But you have made it a den of robbers.”
18 And when the chief priests and the scribes heard it, they kept looking for a way to kill him; for they were afraid of him, because the whole crowd was spellbound by his teaching. 19 And when evening came, Jesus and his disciples went out of the city.

835_1.jpgOk, let’s unpack what is happening here.  In the Old Testament there were prescribed offerings to made for sin.  But, most people, even back then, didn’t have sheep in their backyard.  So, shepherds and others would bring the sheep, the bulls, the sparrows, all the things prescribed for offerings to the Temple where they could be sold.

Ok, that sounds simple enough.  But here’s the thing.   The Temple treasury wouldn’t accept Roman money, because it had Ceaser on it, and he claimed to be divine.  So, before you purchase your bull or goat or sparrow, you had to exchange your Roman money for Temple money that you could then use to buy your animal for the sacrifice.

And of course, these “money changers” would gouge the people coming to worship.

And that’s the thing that angered, yes, angered Jesus.  Here were people that were coming to worship, and everyone was standing in their way.  Everyone was profiting off of them.  The people that God had sent to them to be a means by which they could worship and experience God these individuals were only using the people as a means to gain themselves.

And this really did make Jesus mad.  One of the many things He did was that He welcomed people in, over and over again.  And here are those that should be helping others worship, instead they are making it hard and just using folks.

And so Jesus hits the reset button.

Jesus cleans it all out.

Because people matter most. That’s what Jesus is saying.  That’s why Jesus is doing.  That’s what Jesus is trying communicate.

People matter.

Today, let’s work to help people know Jesus.  Let’s show grace, let’s show mercy, let’s open doors, let’s be difference makers.

Let’s pull folks in, not push folks away.

Tuesday we’ll look at Mark 11:20-33.

What questions do you have?  How does this strike you?  Shoot me an email, comment below, or connect with me through social media.

If you’d like to receive these thoughts by email, be sure to click here and join my email devotional group!

Day Forty-Two with Mark: Mark 11:12-14

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Today in Mark we look at Mark 11:12-14:

12 On the following day, when they came from Bethany, he was hungry. 13 Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to see whether perhaps he would find anything on it. When he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. 14 He said to it, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” And his disciples heard it.

Lunea-Mare-229x300.jpgThis short passage is one of those one’s that can be difficult for us understand.  This passage is also told to us in Matthew 21:18-22.  In this passage we see Jesus come upon a fig tree and condemn it for not having any fruit.

One of the things that is confusing it that He condemns it for not having any fruit, even though it is not the season for fruit.  Why did He do that?  This is one of those cultural understandings that we talked about yesterday.  While it was not in season, it did have leaves.  And normally when a tree had leaves it would have fruit as well.  It was not uncommon for a tree to produce fruit, even out of season, when it had leaves.

So, from a distance you would have assumed that it would have fruit, all the signs were there.

And this gets to the bigger point of what Jesus is doing here.  Throughout scripture, the fig is often understood to be symbolic for Israel; for the Old Covenant.  One of the commands that God had given was to be a light to the world, and that command was being fulfilled in descendant of David – Jesus Christ.

Just as the fig tree was not longer going to produce fruit, now the Old Covenant of the Law was going to be replaced by the New Covenant of Grace.  Something new was coming.

The old was passing away.  The new was coming.

In Jesus Christ, God was fulfilling all the Old Covenant and all the promises of the Old Testament.  And was doing something new what would change everything.

The fig tree is symbolic of that.

Today, what new thing is God doing in our lives?  What promises is He wanting to fulfill? Where is God wanting to bring forth life?

Today, may we keep our eyes open to what God wants to do.  And may we follow.

Friday we’ll look at Mark 11:15-19.

What questions do you have?  How does this strike you?  Shoot me an email, comment below, or connect with me through social media.

If you’d like to receive these thoughts by email, be sure to click here and join my email devotional group!

Day Forty-One with Mark: Mark 11:1-11

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Today in our walk through Mark, we look at Mark 11:1-11, the Triumphal Entry, Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday:

11 When they were approaching Jerusalem, at Bethphage and Bethany, near the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples 2 and said to them, “Go into the village ahead of you, and immediately as you enter it, you will find tied there a colt that has never been ridden; untie it and bring it. 3 If anyone says to you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ just say this, ‘The Lord needs it and will send it back here immediately.’” 4 They went away and found a colt tied near a door, outside in the street. As they were untying it, 5 some of the bystanders said to them, “What are you doing, untying the colt?” 6 They told them what Jesus had said; and they allowed them to take it. 7 Then they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks on it; and he sat on it. 8 Many people spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut in the fields. 9 Then those who went ahead and those who followed were shouting,
“Hosanna!
Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!
10 Blessed is the coming kingdom of our ancestor David!
Hosanna in the highest heaven!”
11 Then he entered Jerusalem and went into the temple; and when he had looked around at everything, as it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the twelve.

Triumphal-entryOne of the things that we miss here in the West when we read the Bible is that we read it through eyes that are American.  We see things sort of as we see them here.  An example of this for me personally is when I read about Jesus going into the wilderness to be tempted, me being someone that grew up in south Mississippi, when I thought of wilderness, I thought of trees.  It’s just what I pictured in my mind when I thought of wilderness.

Well, when you go to Israel you see that the wilderness that Jesus was tempted in wasn’t trees and forest it the most dreary and desolate desert that you’ll ever see.  Understanding the land and the context really helps you to understand the Word.

Today’s passage is another one that understanding the context really helps you understand.  We see in this Jesus ride into Jerusalem on a donkey, and think of conquering western kings or armies parading into town on the back of a horse or coming in great triumph.

So we see Jesus do this and think – oh, look at Jesus’ humility!  Now, it is true that Jesus is humble, but that’s not what is happening here.  Jesus is not being humble, in coming into town on a donkey, in fact He’s doing just the opposite.  He’s declaring Himself as king.

The triumphal entry is an act of humbleness, sure, but in that context it’s an act of kingly humility. It’s the act of a king.

If someone ever tells you that Jesus never declared Himself as the Messiah, point right to this passage.  That’s exactly what He is doing here.  He is telling everyone who He is.  He is king.

And notice the reaction from the people.  They call Him the one that is to to come from David.  They understood what was happening.  They understood what Jesus was saying.

They understood that He was king.

But, what we will see is that He was not the king that they were expecting.

Today, though, we see Jesus getting the praise and worship that He deserves.  We see Jesus as king.

May He be king in our lives as well.

Tomorrow we’ll look at Mark 11:12-14.

What questions do you have?  How does this strike you?  Shoot me an email, comment below, or connect with me through social media.

If you’d like to receive these thoughts by email, be sure to click here and join my email devotional group!