Don't Point, People Will Stare!

We read one of the accounts of the last time Jesus sits down and eats with His disciples in Matthew 26:17-35.  It's such a tough scene.  He tells them someone would betray Him.  Judas speaks up and says "It's not me, is it Teacher?"  Jesus answers, basically, "If that's what you say".  Judas seems to be testing Jesus.  Does He know?  Am I busted?  Jesus won't really answer him, but gives him a chance to fess up.  He doesn't.

Then Jesus warns the rest that all of them will abandon Him that night.  He knows.  He doesn't say they might, but that they would.  They all deny it.  There is no way they could abandon Jesus.  But He knows.

It is so hard when Jesus knows us better than we know ourselves, and He calls out things in us we don't want to hear.  He points things out in our life, and we look the other way.  We can try to skirt around it, cover it up, or deny it.  But He steadily tells us the truth.  And it hurts.  I hate it when He tells me things about myself that I am working hard to be in denial of, and He won't let it go.  It burns deep inside my heart, until I come clean and deal with the sin that is there.

By the end of the night, the disciples will run, Jesus will be arrested and beaten, and Judas will be preparing for his own suicide.  Denial is such a completely destructive tool in our lives.  It kills.

What if they had all listened and agreed?  What if they had fessed up? 

What if we do?

I've Heard Some Bad Nicknames in My Time, But Geesh........

As Matthew 26 opens, we are heading for the end of Jesus' life.  The crucifixion is looming, and the scary oboe music from every drama is playing in the background.  You can just feel the coming storm.  At the beginning of the chapter, Jesus tells His disciples in plain language that in two days He will be arrested to be crucified.  In verses 14-16, Judas slinks off to sell Jesus for a few dollars, and sets in motion the wheels of deceit and destruction.

But wedged in the middle is an interesting story.  A woman comes and pours perfume on Jesus while He is in the home of Simon the Leper (what a horrible nickname). There is so much wrong in this picture.  It's Passover week.  Every Jew in the country was working hard to keep themselves spiritually pure so they could celebrate Passover.  Jesus goes into a leper's home (big no-no), eats dinner there (bigger no-no) and a woman is rather inappropriate in public with her affection (big, big no-no).  In John 12, he says the woman is Mary, Martha and Lazarus' sister.  You have this contrast with the religious leaders threatened by Jesus, who want to kill Him; and Judas, who wants the money.  They both know Jesus, and reject Him.  Mary knows Jesus, and worships Him.  All in the same situation, the same setting.

What causes this canyon of a divide in their reactions?  A lot, to be honest.  The religious leader's goals, as well as Judas, are advancement and self-preservation.  They want power, prestige, and money, and they want it on their terms.  Mary has abandoned those things, and just wants God.  One leads to murder, the other to a gift.  One leads to grabbing for all they can take, the other to giving a very expensive gift from very little.  One leads to bitterness and suicide, the other to worship and joy.

Today, you and I face the same choices.  Power or passion?  Self-advancement or self-sacrifice?  Lust or love?  One always leads to death, the other to life.  Which route do you want?

Wanna Go See Jesus in Prison?

Jesus wraps up his teaching in Matthew 25 with the story in verses 31-46.  He talks about the fact that people will be divided at the end of time based on who are His, and who aren't, like dividing sheep and goats.  The fascinating thing He points to that shows the difference is how we treat those who are the least in our culture.  He doesn't define it by who reads their Bible the most, even though that is crucial.  He doesn't base it on prayer, even though that is the lifeblood of a life of faith.  He doesn't discuss how often we go to church, even though spending time with other followers is the only way we can make it through life.  So clearly, He is not trying to define how you become a Christian, or give a list of all of the things it means to be a Christian.

So, what IS He talking about here?  I think He is just showing what it means to really be listening to Him, and obeying Him.  God's heart is always for the broken.  We see it a hundred times in the Bible.  His heart breaks for people who have broken hearts.  So, if we are really following God, it will show up in our lives, specifically how we care for those He cares for. 

Taking care of the poor, the hungry, the stranger, the needy, or those in prison isn't the key to getting into heaven.  That's not Jesus' point here at all.  What He is saying is if we are truly His kids, if we are truly following Him, those things are going to happen, and we aren't going to really even be all that aware of it.  Notice the sheep in the story ask Him, "When did we do these things for you?"  It's an outflow of an authentic faith.

This is where so many of us may end up surprised.  Jesus teaches that if we are truly following Him, the Holy Spirit will work in our lives, and we will obey Him.  He will change things in us, and obedience will be the result.  If we are not obeying, we are not following.  If we aren't following Him, we are really His.  He tells us later that in the end a lot of people will say "Didn't we heal the sick, and cast out demons, and do great miracles in your name?" and He will tell them He doesn't know them.  It seems that it may not be the "great" things you do in Jesus name, but the simple acts of humble obedience (caring for the poor and needy) which point most clearly to a life surrendered to Him.

God is Like Donald Trump. Jesus said it, not me. Kind of....

Matthew 25:1-30 has Jesus telling two stories.  The first is about ten girls waiting on a bridegroom to come.  They wait and wait, late into the night.  They didn't know when he would get there, just that he would come eventually.  Five planned ahead and took extra oil with them for their lamps.  Five didn't.  Finally, when he is showing up, all of their lights were out, and they wouldn't be allowed into the house.  The five with extra oil were able to light their lamps, because they had prepared ahead.  The five without oil missed out.

The second story is about three servants who are entrusted with money.  The first two take a risk and invest it, doubling the money, which is an amazing return on your money.  The third takes no chances, and buries it in the ground, so he is guaranteed not to lose any of it.  His motive is fear.  He is afraid of the master, and lets fear run his poor planning.  He loses everything in the end because of it.

So what is Jesus doing in these stories?  Why does a bridegroom get ten virgins?  Why does He compare God to a tough minded, business executive in the second story?  They are not your normal show-and-tell variety stories for sure.

One thing that is clear is the warning to be ready.  Jesus will come back.  And it will take a long time.  So often, it seems in the Bible His warnings are to be ready, I'm coming soon.  But here, both stories imply that the God figure is gone for a long time, and the people become complacent because of it.  Jesus has been gone a long time.  Where are we complacent?

Secondly, Jesus is telling us that we may not know God as well as we think.  The comparisons in here leave me shaking my head.  God is like a dude marrying 10 girls?  God is like Donald Trump on the Apprentice ("you're fired!")?  I'm not sure about how direct we are supposed to compare God to these characters, but it sure rattles me to think maybe I'm too comfortable with my view on God, and I'm making Him too small.  I need to be careful of becoming complacent in my view of God, as well as my obedience to Him.

The third thing, in both stories, He comes back.  And some people are rewarded.  They did what they were supposed to, and they were rewarded handsomely.  There were parties, and celebrations, and hugs and happiness.  I want to be in that lineup when God comes back for me.  I want to be in that lineup today, and be with Him today.  When He comes back, I want it to be clear that I am waiting on Him, and excited to see Him.  It will be worth it.

What are you waiting on?

Afros, Guillotines, and Peeing in my Pants at Church

We're in that part of Matthew that a lot of people love to really get into, the part about the end of the world, and the end of time, etc.  Hundreds and hundreds of books, movies, websites, etc. have been written about it, from a thousand different views.  When I was growing up, there was a series of movies that came out about all of this.  One of them was called "A Thief in the Night".  You can see the first five minutes, and then even watch the whole thing if you want at Veoh.com if you have a couple of hours to kill.  It scared me to death.  I almost wet the pew when we watched it in church one Sunday night.  I definitely had nightmares about Jesus coming back for weeks after that.  I'd wake up screaming "No! Don't chop off my head!  Helllpppp!"   That was the whole point of the movie, to literally scare Hell right out of all of us so we would trust Jesus and hide behind Him from the anti-Christ and his guillotines of death.  It was the 70's precursors to the Left Behind series of books and movies and coffee mugs.

Is THAT what Jesus is doing here?  Is Matthew 24:36-51 one big crazy ghost story Jesus delivered with a flashlight under his chin in a dark room?  I mean, clearly it's a warning.  But is it a warning that we are not terrified enough, and we don't get just how ugly God is going to make things?  Or is it a warning about ourselves and our values?

Jesus tells three stories here in succession.  The first is about the folks who were around in Noah's day.  It took Noah over 100 years to build the ark.  He preached the whole time he was pounding posts into place.  No one listened.  No one cared.  Story #2 is about a home owner who gets broken into and robbed.  If he had known when the thief was coming, he wouldn't have allowed himself to be robbed.  The third is about a servant who is in charge of others.  If he's smart, he will work hard, and do the right things, even when his boss is gone.  You never know when the boss is going to come back.

Jesus clearly wants those who love Him to be alert, because He is coming back for us (good news) and it will surprise us when it comes (good news).  With the Noah story, the people didn't buy the warning, and got caught up in day to day stuff, making it priority.  In the robbery, the guy wasn't prepared to protect what was his.  He was lazy, and paid for it.  In the last story, the servant leader was corrupt, and abused his power and position, believing He was too smart to get caught.  These three stories have to do with priority over fear.

If we take God at His word, unlike the people of Noah's day; and we value what God values, and protect it; and we maintain our focus on living a life of purity and honor, we don't have to worry about when Jesus comes back.  We're ready.  It's not a lesson to be fearful, because you never know when Jesus might pop around the corner of Heaven and scream "I GOT YA!!".  It's a lesson to be focused on what matters, and live accordingly.  Then we don't have to worry.

Or make kids pee in their pants at church movie nights.

Let It Go

In Matthew 24, there are a couple of things going on.  Jesus answers what the end of time will be like to His disciples.  He tells of wars, earthquakes, and then a desolation that is so bad, it causes people to flee the cities for their lives.  People will talk about how they have found this secret savior here and there, but Jesus says you can ignore it, because when He comes back, EVERYONE will see and know.  And He IS coming back for those He loves.  That's beautiful news, and truly, that is what this chapter is all about.

But today, as I read it, I noticed that the whole thing is prompted by Jesus saying that the Temple would be destroyed.  He was right, it was torn down in 70 AD.  But what about it?  Why does it matter?  The Temple was where God lived, in many people's minds.  It's where He met with them.  Why was it no longer important?  Because Jesus came and met with us in an even better way.  The Temple was obsolete.  Unnecessary.  Outdated.  But they held onto it for another 40 years, hoping to see God again.  They never did.  They missed Him completely.

So, with this promise of Jesus coming back, what is it that we hold onto and hope to see God in, when He has already moved on?  You see, often God works in a certain way in our life (speaks to us through a book, a relationship, a trip, a place, etc.) and we want to keep going back to it to recreate what happened there.  It's comfortable.  It's known.  It's safe, and we have a sense of control.  But God always moves forward, to better plans.  We are called to be a people who live today, looking towards tomorrow.  We aren't to live in what God did yesterday.  Remember it?  Sure.  Be grateful?  Of course.  Learn from it?  We'd better.  But if we are trying to regain the happiness of days past, we are missing the beauty of God's work here and now.  It's time to leave the old buildings behind, Jesus is here in person today.  And time is quickly running out.

Seven Things That Drive God Crazy

Jesus lets us see inside the mind of God with a list of seven things about religious people that drive Him nuts.  Reading through the end of Matthew 23, here's what He tells us:

1. (vs. 15) Convincing people to faithfully follow man made rules.  They were passionate and sincere in their attempts to win converts.  It was a beautiful job they did.  They just won them to their OWN beliefs, not to following God.  Are we winning people to our church, or to Jesus?

2. (vs. 16-22) Missing the point.  They made up a bunch of guidelines for people to follow in how they proved their sincerity, but then missed the whole idea entirely.  They set up rules for how to promise to make sure people knew you were serious (ex. "I swear on my dead mother's grave" trumps "I swear that it's true").  But they had forgotten the whole thing was about speaking truth because God tells us to.  Do the paths to Christian success that we create actually walk people away from trusting God Himself?

3. (vs. 23,24) They worried about money over justice.  They tithed to God what was important to them, their stuff.  They did it brilliantly.  But they didn't help those in the world around them.  Jesus says that justice, mercy, and faithfulness are more important matters of the law than their money, possessions, and how much they were giving to the church.  With today's economy, are we more worried about stewarding the stuff in our hands than we are about helping the hurting around us?

4. (vs. 25,26) They focused on themselves, their image, their respectability, and how they were seen by others.  They ignored the issues of greed and self-indulgence, and worked very hard, and very effectively, to make other people respect them and be impressed with how good they were.  Do we admit that we have issues with greed?  What about how we spend our thought life?  How much of it is focused on us, and how much of it is focused on God and others?

5. (vs. 27,28) They hid their sins.  Inside, they were full of wickedness and hypocrisy, never letting anyone know how broken and hurting they were inside.  They spent their energy on what other people thought of them.  They didn't allow anyone in to see what they were really struggling with.  Do we create a world around us where other people can be honest about their hurts and fears?  Do our words and actions tell our friends and families that they are better off keeping their secrets secret?

6. (vs. 29-31) They denied the past.  They knew that their families and leaders had killed off God's people.  They could see in hindsight that disobedience had cost their leaders everything.  But they distanced themselves from it, without ever stopping to learn from it.  They refused to acknowledge that they were on the same path, committing the same mistakes.  They would shortly after this kill Jesus Himself.  What is in our heritage, our past, that is destroying us and we are afraid to admit to or confront?  What sins and destructive habits are going on in us that we point out in others, but are afraid to own in our own lives?  What will it take for us to admit them, and change the path we are on?

7. (vs. 33-39) They refused God's help when it came to them.  God sent person after person, convicted their hearts, showed them the truth, and they refused to have any of it.  God offered them protection, they chose to stand on their own in the cold.  It cost them everything.  What are we refusing to hear God on today?  What is that one thing He is calling out of us that we are battling Him on?  What will it cost us?