Jesus Found Eating with Others

Jesus Found Eating with Others

The last chapter of John describes the third time Jesus appeared to the disciples after His resurrection. He had manifested Himself to them when Thomas was absent, then again when Thomas was with them. This chapter describes how seven of the disciples (including Thomas) had spent the entire night fishing and had caught nothing. They did not recognize the Man who told them to cast the nets on the right side of the boat, but they did as He told them.  The events which followed convinced them, and they saw and recognized that the “stranger” was Jesus. They rushed to shore and discovered He had prepared a fire and had fish and bread ready for them to eat. Think for a moment about the Lord and His eating with them. The Jesus who had been raised from the dead was the Jesus who had walked among them. It was His nature to share food with those around Him.

Jesus often ate with others. Just a few days earlier He sat in the upper room and ate the Passover meal with the apostles, and now He shared that fish beside the Sea of Galilee. They had toiled all night in their boat, but without fishing He had a fish already cooked for them. Jesus ate with others.

He ate with sinners and tax collectors. Shortly after He called Matthew to become a disciple, He went to Matthew’s house where there were many other tax collectors and shared a meal with them (Mark 2:15-16). The religious leaders of Jesus’ day would never have eaten with such “evil” men, but Jesus came to live among sinful men and lead them to heaven.

He fed the multitude of followers with only a handful of loaves and fishes—five thousand and then four thousand men (not counting the women and children who also ate). What is remarkable is that many of them only followed Him because of the food He gave (John 6:26).

He ate at the home of a Pharisee and did so without washing His hands (Luke 11:37-38). The Pharisees always ritualistically washed their hands, but Jesus did not do this. He was not concerned about how one ate food but was gravely concerned about sin which in the hearts, even of those who washed their hands.

There are many other accounts of Jesus eating with men while on this earth but take time to consider one special account of Him eating with others. In the upper room, He spoke of how the Passover was to be fulfilled in the kingdom of God where He would assemble again with them in a weekly feast, the Lord’s supper (Luke 22:15-16). He gave them a direct command to insure that it was done remembering Him. He longs to eat around that table with you every week. How can anyone choose to fail to be at that special feast with Him!

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Never Give Up

Never Give Up

Dating all the way back to elementary school, I have loved sports and competition.  The mind set has always been “We can win this!”, regardless of who the opponent was.  The score may have been lopsided, but my motto was “Never Give Up!” My brain always told me that there was some key or action that would counteract anything the other team could do.  The issue was figuring out what that key was and working together to win.  To win may mean doing something completely out of character, position, tradition, orthodoxy, etc.  To accomplish this meant communication, trust, resilience, and despite the belief that a win could be had, humility.

We have not seen the final victory of God over this world.  God has communicated that it will happen.  “Death is swallowed up in victory”.  He has throughout the Old Testament demonstrated His power to deliver and conquer despite seemingly overwhelming odds from a human point of view.    God provides a clear path in scripture of how to overcome the world and by the hands of angels, judges, prophets, Jesus, and apostles communicated this frequently.

God never fails those whose ears and heart are open to His direction.  A statement like this implies that the recipient of communication trusts the giver of the message and engages in the course of action provided.  Someone who simply says, “I believe” or “I have faith” or “I trust” and does nothing, really did not have trust.  This is the sentiment provided in the second chapter of the book of James.  Do you trust God?  Then engage in His plan for victory.

There are times in scripture, where God has tested the faithful.  They did not see victory instantly.  They lost battles.  They were scattered.  They failed momentarily.  They were allowed to engage in the foolishness of sin.  Yet, in resilience, Israel finally marched away from Egypt, the walls of Jericho came tumbling down, and the people of AI fell to Israel.  Of the men of Judah in the days of Nehemiah as they tried to rebuild the city wall it was said, “The strength of those who bear the burdens is failing.  There is too much rubble. By ourselves we will not be able to rebuild the wall.” Yet, they continued and finished the wall despite harm threatening from all sides.  David in his foolishness, committed adultery and was guilty of the murder of Bathsheba’s husband Uriah.  Upon the confrontation of his sin through Nathan, David could have given up.  Yet, David was resilient in repentance.  He did not give up.  He acknowledged his failure, and continued His walk with God.

Communication, trust, resilience, all of these are fine attributes to have within a team and a relationship with God.  However, these falter if not joined with humility.  The Pharisees had put themselves in the seat of Moses.  They saw themselves as guides to the blind.  The shared the communication of God with the people.  There was an appearance of trust in the many works that they observed and commanded.  Truly, there was resilience in holding to the commandments of the Old Law even when the teachings and signs of Jesus and the apostles confronted them.  A blameless Pharisee zealous for the Law of God named Saul persecuted the Christians vigorously.  Did He know the communication of God?  Yes. Did he trust God? Yes.  Was he a resilient man?  Yes!  Yet, until Saul humbled himself before God, there was nothing he could have done to see the victory over this world.  It is the poor in spirit to whom belongs the kingdom of God.

There is a similarity in the book of Esther to scriptures in Revelation.  The Jews of Esther’s time were subject to an edict initiated by Haman an official of the king of the Persian Empire.  The Persians controlled most of the known world and the edict called for the elimination of all the Jews in the kingdom.  Why not give up and renounce God?  It appeared the end of the people of God was at hand.  Similarly, in Revelation 20, Satan and the nations of the world emerge immanently positioned to destroy the Church of God.  In Esther, the Jews are given victory by the hand of God.  The same occurs in Revelation 20 despite what appeared to be overwhelming forces.  The world menaces wickedly as a Goliath in comparison to the small shepherd boy of the faithful, yet, for those that hear the Word of God, trust in it, endure in their obedient faith, and submit themselves to the Almighty God, the band of believers which compose the Church will be victorious.

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A Goal to Help

A Goal to Help

Charlie and I went up to the Ouachita Mountains in Arkansas to go to the Little Missouri Falls.  Our goal was to take some pictures for the photography club that we are in, and we accomplished that goal.  After we were done looking at the falls, a man with a big number on his shirt approached Charlie and said that he was running a marathon and lost the trail.  Nick was only twenty years old, alone, tired, and thirsty.  So we gave him some water, a granola bar, and set off to find the start of the race.  There was only sporadic cell service in that whole region, and so we had to drive around a lot to different places, but he was eventually able to use our phone to get in touch with his family.  We ended up in Langley, Arkansas at a small gas station around 5:00 PM where we met the race director, and Nick was reunited with his wife and family. goal of help

After we dropped Nick off, Charlie commented to me, “Dad, helping people is hard work,” and it is true.  You never know what you are going to get into when you start helping someone else.  It involves real sacrifice because you are giving yourself over to them fully and putting your interests behind their needs.  Paul wrote: “Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others” (Phil.2:3-4).  Being a Christian is not something that we do on Sundays only, take up as a part-time hobby during the week, or only practice at home with our family.  Being a Christian is something that takes place every moment of our lives as we render service to God in whatever situation we are in at that moment.  God has blessed us greatly!  May we be a blessing to others as we serve the Lord Jesus.

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God Created Good

God Created Good

“In the beginning, God created the heaven and earth.”  Within days, God would make mankind. Man did not know good from evil, but he did know what God had commanded him to do and what not to do.  God declared what He had created was good.  When a child is still in the womb, the apostle Paul directed by the Spirit of God declares a child has “done nothing either good or bad” (Romans 9:11).  The prophet Ezekiel proclaims the Word of God in Ezekiel 28:15 declaring the king of Tyre was blameless in his ways from the day he was created (all children are).  Ezekiel 18:20 teaches that a son does not inherit the sins of his father.  Finally, Matthew 18:3 “…Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.” Men are encouraged to be like children, because Children are good and innocent, not sinful.  All the above being presented, when someone living a life contrary to the pattern established by scripture makes the statement “God made me this way”, what is to be made of it?God Made Me

Micah 6:8 “He has told you, o man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humble with your God?”  Walking humbly with God, is when someone avoids living a lifestyle identified as sinful in the eyes of God.  God created man good, so when man does something evil, it is their own choice.  James 1:14-15 “But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.”  Making the choice to sin is what all mankind apart from Jesus has done. Romans 3:23 “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;”.  However, though a person chooses to sin, they can also choose to walk in righteousness instead of sin.  Sin does not have to become an individual’s way of life.  God did not make man that way.  The idea God made man sinful is completely false.

Today, our society rightly teaches a person that they have the choice to engage in homosexuality, have sex with someone to whom they are not married, commit adultery, engage in watching pornography, drink alcohol, use marijuana and other drugs socially, dress immodestly, pretend they are not their biological sex, gossip, cheat, be unkind, be dishonorable to their parents, lie, disobey law, create their own morality, and so much more.  Television, radio, the internet, universities, high schools, elementary schools, government officials, and the world around them screams “Your body! Your choice!”  Yes, they are right.  God gives man the choice to obey Him in righteousness or to commit sin against God and man to their own destruction. Acts 17:30-31 “… And the times of this ignorance God winked at but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent: Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness…” 2 Thessalonians 1:7-9  “And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power;” This is the end result of the choices the world is encouraging you to make.

You are lying to yourself if you think God made you to engage in sin.  In fact, “…we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.”.  The good God wants us to walk in is characterized by “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, [and] self-control”.  This is what God has created you to represent. God created you in His image.  Jesus was the “exact imprint” of the nature of God.  He taught that those who saw Him, had seen the Father.  If he was the image of God, and He was sinless, then that is exactly how you were created.  If you are engaged in sin, break free from that captivity.  Return to the abundant life of purity God created you to fulfill.

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Paul’s Motivation In His Writings

Paul’s Motivation In His Writings

The history of the life of David is recorded in three Old Testament books, but it is in the book of Psalms that we begin to understand the heart of David. His heart is so important because it is so much like the heart of God (1 Sam. 13:14). There is somewhat of a parallel to David in the life and writings of Paul.

It is in the book of Acts we learn so much of the details of the life of the great apostle, but there are historical events revealed in his epistles. In a similar way, the heart of Paul is revealed in his letters, and they often give us insight as to the spiritual depth of his devotion to God and the truths of God showing the nature of his heart in serving God. Consider the following to see some of these truths.

“I AM PERSUADED that neither death nor life…nor things present nor things to come…shall be able to separate us from the love of God” (Rom. 8:38-39). Do you wonder how he could give up so much and endure such suffering? Do you struggle in your trials and seek motivation for all that is around you? Write these words from Paul on your heart. Be fully persuaded that there is nothing on this earth, neither in the demons of hell, which can keep God from loving us.

I AM NOTHING. “Though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing “(1 Cor. 13:2). Imagine having complete understanding of all things and having all faith. Paul emphasizes something far greater than these and that is love. It was not that he was just persuaded of God’s eternal love. Written deeply on his heart was his responsibility to place love above all of these. Write these words on the depths of your soul as you seek to imitate Paul as he imitated the Lord (1 Cor. 11:1).

“I…AM PERSUADED that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day” (2 Tim. 1:12). The life of every person on this earth is committed to something. We are investing all of our time and energy to self, to sin or to things much higher. Paul looked at every decision he made as an investment and knew the Lord would never forget them. You may, like Paul, have to turn the other cheek to those around you. You may have to bless those who are cursing you and to make decisions about what you must give up to follow Him. Think about these choices as being registered in a heavenly book which some day will be opened. Trust God to remember it all, even to as small a matter as a cup of cold water.

As you read Paul’s doctrinal discussion in his writings, remember to discover hidden truths which show his heart.

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