THE PARABLE OF THE WORKERS IN THE VINEYARD

Matthew 20:1–16

Key Verse: 20:16

“So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”

          Do you care about social justice? Do you want to see people treated equally and fairly? Of course, Jesus did. But in today’s passage, he tells a parable that seems to turn fairness on its head. It’s interesting to note that this parable is recorded only in Matthew’s Gospel. It must have been especially meaningful to Matthew. There have been so many different interpretations of this parable. But Jesus introduces it as an illustration of the kingdom of heaven. What was his point? What does he want us to learn? May God open our hearts and speak to us personally through his word today.

          Verse 1 begins with the word “For.” It tells us that this parable is closely connected with what had just happened. When Jesus mentioned how hard it is to enter the kingdom, Peter protested: “We have left everything to follow you! What then will there be for us?” (19:27) Jesus promised the Twelve a special reward (28). He also promised a general reward for all who sacrifice to follow him (29). He wants his followers to be confident of God’s reward. But he concluded in chapter 19 with a mysterious saying: “But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first” (30). At the end of today’s parable, he repeats this saying. But he flips the order. In 19:30 he begins with the first who become last. In 20:16 he begins with the last who become first. So how does today’s parable help us understand this saying?

          In his teaching, Jesus often used parables to illustrate what the kingdom of heaven is like. He said the kingdom is like a mustard seed, or like yeast, or like a hidden treasure, or like a merchant looking for fine pearls, or like a net to catch fish, or like a man sowing good seed, or like a king settling accounts with his servants, or like a king preparing a wedding banquet for his son, or like ten bridesmaids waiting for a bridegroom. Jesus used things from ordinary life that people of his day could relate to, to help them grasp a specific spiritual truth about God’s kingdom. What does he say this time?

Read verse 1. The main figure in this parable is a landowner. And this landowner owns not a wheat farm, but a vineyard. Many people in Jesus’ day had a small personal vineyard on their own small plot of land that they worked for themselves. But this man seems to have had a large vineyard that was supposed to make him a lot of money. In agriculture there’s a sowing season, then a reaping season. In between, there’s not a lot of work to do. But especially in reaping season, timing is crucial. If the farmer waits too long, what he’s grown can rot on the vines. One day, this landowner went out to his vineyard and saw that it was just the right time to harvest the grapes. So he suddenly needed a lot of workers. In that agricultural society, many lived as temporary workers during harvest seasons. They were not rich; they lived a “hand-to-mouth” existence. In between seasons they may have made things by hand to sell or worked in construction or as servants in people’s homes. But they really needed the temp work at harvest in order for their families to survive. We see in verse 3 that, in order to get hired for the day, people would gather in a town’s local marketplace. The local landowners would get the day workers they needed there.

In verse 1 we notice that this landowner went out early in the morning to hire workers. In verse 8 we see that he had a foreman, a supervisor of his workers. But he didn’t send out the foreman early in the morning; this landowner goes out himself. In Greek, the term for “early in the morning” is literally around 6:00 AM, when the sun comes up. People would work from sunrise to sundown, which was about twelve hours. They started so early so they could have sunlight to see what they were doing, and also because it was not so hot. In any case, this landowner was responsible for his vineyard and diligent.

What happened early in the morning? Look at verse 2. Evidently, there were people already there in the marketplace at sunrise, hoping to get a job for the day. In Jesus’ time, a denarius was the usual daily wage for a day laborer. In our time, it might be something like minimum wage, say $10-15 per hour, which, if it’s a 12-hour shift, would amount to about $120-180. It would be hard work, but it was good money to buy food and essentials for a family. Some landowners might try to be vague with their workers about the pay so as to save money. But this landowner promised these workers a fair amount of money.

Read verses 3–5a. We’re not sure why the landowner goes out again to the marketplace at 9:00 AM. In fact, he may have had enough workers for the day already. Maybe he went there to get some beverages or snacks but noticed some people standing there doing nothing. This is what stands out. The landowner seems to feel bad for these people. Maybe they overslept and couldn’t get there by 6:00 AM. But he understands how much they need the daily income. It seems he hires them not because he needs more workers, but because they need work. Though he’s a rich man, he’s socially aware, and generous. Again, he makes an agreement with them to pay them whatever is right. He’s trying to be a fair employer and contribute to the local economy.

Read verse 5b. This landowner seems not only diligent but maybe even obsessed. There could be many reasons why he did this. Maybe some of the early morning workers couldn’t handle the heat in the middle of the day and left the job. Maybe those he hired weren’t working hard enough, and he was worried he wouldn’t get all the grapes harvested by the end of the day. It’s unusual to be hiring people at noon and 3:00 PM, but it might be understandable.

But then things get quite strange. Look at verses 6,7. It’s 5:00 PM. There’s only one hour left. Nobody with any business sense would be out there at that time hiring workers. But this landowner shows up again and asks the people standing around, “Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?” Who are these people? We haven’t noticed them before. Maybe they’ve been hiding in the shadows. Honestly, they didn’t seem very eager to work, or they would’ve made themselves known. Maybe they only pretended to go there to get a day job, but had no intention of working; they only wanted to tell their wives that they tried. Maybe they just felt like hanging out with friends in the marketplace that day. Or maybe they just didn’t look like very good workers—too weak or too sickly. How do they answer the landowner’s question? They say, “Because no one has hired us.” They might be saying they’re victims of job discrimination. But whether they’re lazy or victims doesn’t seem to matter to the landowner. He tells them, “You also go and work in my vineyard.” They may not get much done in an hour, but this landowner seems to want to help them make even a little money. At this point, though, he seems more interested in the workers in the marketplace than in his own vineyard.

The beginning phrase of verse 8, “When evening came…” is literally 6:00 PM. The sun is going down, and people need to get paid for the day. The owner tells his foreman, “Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.” Why would the landowner want to start with the last ones hired and end with the first ones? Maybe he wanted to just get rid of those who worked only for an hour. Or maybe he wanted everyone to see what he would pay those people.

Read verse 9. It was shocking! Those who’d worked only an hour received a denarius—pay for a full day’s work! It showed how incredibly generous the landowner was. So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more (10a). They were excited while waiting in line, thinking, “Wow! This landowner must be really rich! I can’t wait to see what he gives me!” But when they got their pay, they also got a denarius—the same pay, it seems, as everybody else, regardless of how long they’d worked.

What happened? Read verses 11,12. It’s just not fair! In this parable, Jesus was appealing to all peoples’ inborn sense of fairness. Even children have it. The disciples, especially Peter, were listening closely at this point. Read verses 13–15. Though he was grumbling against him, the landowner calls this man, “friend.” He’s not treating him the way he deserves. When they started out that day of work, these people had had a fair agreement with the landowner. In fact, they were happy to be getting paid a denarius and having the chance to work. They became disgruntled only when they saw others who had worked less getting paid the same as them. Were they being greedy? In verse 15 the landowner calls them “envious.” In Greek it literally says, “Do you have the evil eye”?

It’s a classic example of jealousy. At first it seems to be a matter of being unfair. But jealousy really has its roots in not accepting God’s sovereignty. Like this landowner, God gets to do what he wants, because he’s God. He gets to show his sovereign grace to whomever he wants. We shouldn’t become envious of others because of what God has given them. As Ephesians 4:7 says, “But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it.” The real problem of these workers seems to be that they didn’t understand the landowner’s heart. God loves to show grace to people who really don’t deserve it. While working for God, we need to be his friends. We need to be not so self-centered. We need to understand God’s heart. We need to rejoice when we see him showing his grace to undeserving sinners. When we see evidence of God’s grace in others’ lives, we need to be glad and encourage them (Ac11:23).

This parable teaches us that God’s kingdom is a kingdom of grace. The Bible calls it “the home of righteousness,” where God will root out everything that causes sin and all who do evil (2Pe3:13; Mt13:41). But it’s also a place where those who are least deserving are treated with special honor and God’s great mercy. It’s not a place where the self-righteous brag about their rewards from God and gloat over others. This must have been moving to Matthew the former tax collector, who experienced firsthand the pain of being around self-righteous people who thought he didn’t deserve to be included among the Twelve apostles.

So, to be a member of his kingdom, we need to know his grace personally. It’s our “ticket in.” Paul wrote: “Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the worst” (1Ti1:15). Only when we begin to see how truly sinful we are can we appreciate his grace. For those who’ve lived a decent, moral life, it’s especially hard to know the grace of Jesus deeply. As Jesus said elsewhere, “Those who have been forgiven little love little” (Lk7:47b). We shouldn’t be confused: we don’t need to go out and sin greatly in order to appreciate his grace; we just need to let God’s word show us the real condition of our hearts. And we need to hold onto the gospel, that no matter how faithful we’ve been or how hard we’ve worked or how much we’ve suffered, we never earn our standing with God; rather, we all “are justified freely by his grace” (Ro3:24).

But it’s hard to keep a sense of his grace in our hearts when we work hard and have been faithful. We start thinking we deserve something or have earned something. Jesus promised his followers a reward for following him. But the best reward is the gift of God’s grace. Apostle Paul worked so hard to spread the gospel of Jesus, and he suffered probably more than anybody. But God told him, “My grace is sufficient for you…” (2Co12:9a). We need to be happy and fully satisfied in our souls not with human blessings or recognition or a fruitful ministry, but with the wonderful gift of God’s grace. Heaven is the place where God’s grace fully satisfies everyone—there’s no grumbling, no envy, no jealousy.

Also, we learn from Jesus’ parable that we need to be working for God in his vineyard not to prove something or earn something, but simply in response to his grace. If the workers who’d been hired first had kept a thankful heart for being hired and receiving the fair pay they’d been promised, they wouldn’t have gotten angry about what others received. We need to remember that we never deserved to be hired in God’s vineyard in the first place. We never deserved to work for him and serve him. It’s only by his amazing grace that he chose us and enables us to serve him. So we should work for God and be faithful to him simply because of his grace. As Apostle Paul said, “No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me” (1Co15:10b).

Read verse 16. God is very serious about our living by his grace. Those who think they are first will be last. And those who think they are last will be first. People may not see what we’re thinking in our hearts, but God does. It’s the same as Jesus’ teaching, “For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted” (Mt23:12). As the Bible says elsewhere, “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble” (Jas4:6; cf. Pr3:36). God wants us to live and work for him with the heart of an unworthy servant (Lk17:10).

Praise God who’s so gracious toward undeserving people! Praise God who allows us to work for him! May he deepen our awareness of his grace. May he help us work for him out of genuine gratitude for his grace. And may he help us rejoice to see his lavish grace in others’ lives.

TREASURE IN HEAVEN

Matthew 19:16–30

Key Verse: 19:21

“Jesus answered, ‘If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.’”

          This week we celebrate Valentine’s Day. It’s a day when family and friends and people with a significant other get together and share loving appreciation. Couples with lots of money buy each other expensive jewelry or other luxury gifts and eat at high-end restaurants. Others may have a much humbler celebration. But for many, Valentine’s Day is a test of love. It’s not really about the flowers or the chocolates or what we do, but about what’s in our hearts. Couples may not say it out loud, but quietly they’re wondering, “Does he really love me?” or “Does she really love me?” Today’s passage is another kind of test of love. Jesus encounters a man who earnestly asks him about eternal life, and Jesus tells him to get rid of his earthly treasure. Does everyone really have to get rid of all their possessions to follow Jesus? Again, it’s not really about the outward things, the possessions, but about where our heart is. In a sense, Jesus is asking us about who or what we really love. Though it’s hard, he’s asking us to love him most—not emotionally, but in practice. We also want to take a look at the disciples’ response to what happens, and how Jesus helps them. Through this study may God open our hearts and speak to us personally.

Since chapter 18 Jesus has been teaching us about living in Christian community. We’re to be a humble, loving, spiritual, forgiving community. In our community, we’re to encourage healthy, faithful marriages and welcome children. Now Jesus addresses how we should be relating to our possessions. Little children had just been brought to Jesus for his blessing. They were so simple and trusting. In contrast to them, a man now comes to Jesus. Look at verse 16. This guy is kind of complicated and has a preconceived idea. He thinks he needs to do something good to get eternal life. But there are some admirable things about him. He’s not asking a tricky question; he really wants to know. When most people around him were probably living for the moment, he was serious about what will happen in eternity. And he comes to Jesus for an answer. The problem is, he thinks he has to do something good to earn eternal life.

Actually, so many people think they have to earn God’s favor. Many religions blatantly teach it. They say keeping certain rituals, doing certain good deeds are required, or else we can’t please God and get what we want. Only the gospel of Jesus is different. It’s not about what we do, but about what God has done for us. Jesus gave his life for us, by his amazing grace, and all we have to do is receive it. Nothing else we do can improve our standing with God. This man who came to Jesus had probably already done so many religious things. But he still felt it wasn’t enough. He was wondering what he was missing. He needed an assurance about the soul that he currently didn’t have.

How did Jesus help him? Read verse 17. At first, it’s not easy to grasp what Jesus is telling him here. “Why do you ask me about what is good?” Is Jesus saying he’s not good enough to teach this man? No. “If you want to enter life, keep the commandments.” Is Jesus saying the man needs to refocus on trying harder to keep God’s commands? No. Jesus is trying to help the man come to know himself. “There is only One who is good.” And sorry, but that’s not you.

Knowing oneself is huge. It’s what the ancient Greek philosopher Socrates was always trying to help people become aware of. Sadly, most people go through life without really knowing themselves. Sometimes people close to us try to help us see it, but we become defensive and refuse. In this case, this man thinks he’s basically good and that he can do some good thing to earn eternal life. How can he change? How can he come to know who he really is?

Jesus starts by turning his attention to God. He tells him, “There is only One who is good.” Today young people say: “It’s all good.” Jesus says, “There is only One who is good.” So many people ignore God. But only God is good. Also, so many people don’t understand the fallen nature of human beings. All people are both good and evil—even our loved ones. But it’s really hard to accept. How can we really see it—especially in ourselves? It’s only when we get to know who God is. The more we come into the light of God, the more we can see our own fallen nature. It’s painful but really necessary. It’s the first step of having treasure in heaven.

And to help the man know himself he tells him, “keep the commandments.” For many people, keeping commandments makes them only more self-righteous. That’s what happened to the Pharisees and religious leaders of Jesus’ day. They thought they were really good, though God saw them as frauds. How does keeping God’s commandments help us know ourselves? Apostle Paul’s story shows us. He wrote, “Once I was alive apart from the law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died. I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death. For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment deceived me, and through the commandment put me to death…Nevertheless, in order that sin might be recognized as sin, it used what is good to bring about my death, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful” (Ro7:9–11,13b). The more we struggle to keep God’s commandments, the more we will see how sinful we are.

How did the man respond? Look at verse 18a. Why did he ask, “Which ones?” No doubt he thought he knew and was keeping them all, so he was wondering which ones he might have missed. Jesus helped him further. Read verses 18b,19. Jesus taught him the Ten Commandments. But he skipped the first ones about God and focused on the second half, on five that are about our fellow human beings. Earlier Jesus said that though we may not have literally murdered, we murder when we just hate someone in our hearts; we may not have literally committed adultery, but we commit adultery when we just lust after someone in our hearts. And we notice that Jesus concludes here in verse 19 not with one of the Ten Commandments, but with Leviticus 19:18b that sums them all up: “love your neighbor as yourself.” Jesus was trying to help this man not just live a kinder, more loving life, but to really see what kind of life he’d already been living. This man had been so concerned about himself, but never really concerned about his fellow man.

What did the man say? Look at verse 20. We notice here that the man is now described as “young.” He hadn’t lived long enough to really get to know himself. He still thought he was good. He thought keeping God’s commands was about doing outward things, about technically not breaking any rules. But in his heart he knew something was wrong. So he asks with great sincerity, “What do I still lack?”

How does Jesus help him? Read verse 21. Here, “perfect” can mean “complete” or “whole.” Jesus wanted to help this man become whole. He wanted to get at the root of what was bothering him. So he kind of performed spiritual open-heart surgery on him. He told him to go sell his possessions and give to the poor. Jesus was touching on what this man really loved. What he really loved was not his fellow man, but his possessions. This is one of the traits of fallen human beings. We tend to love material things more than people, and people more than God. This is the opposite of how God made us. God made us to love God most, then love people, then be good stewards of our material things. Jesus wasn’t telling this man that he could earn treasure in heaven by giving to the poor; he was telling him to get rid of the things in his life that were stealing his heart away from God and from people.

Jesus is still challenging us to do the same. He said earlier, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasure in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also…No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money” (6:19–21,24). Jesus is saying it’s foolish to store up treasures on earth, because they all gradually perish, spoil and fade away. On the other hand, it’s wise to store up treasure in heaven, because it lasts for all eternity. When we’re sure about his promise of treasure in heaven, we can let go of earthly treasures. Still Jesus warns us that it’s too easy to give our hearts to earthly treasures. If we do, he says we can’t really give our hearts to God. So he’s asking us, “Where is your heart? Who or what do you really love? Does your life show it?”

The most important part of Jesus’ words to this rich young man are in the last part of verse 21: “Then come, follow me.” Jesus is inviting this man to leave whatever is entangling him and holding him back, and then come and follow him. “Follow me” means not just physically going around with Jesus, but learning from Jesus and imitating him. Jesus is inviting this man to learn everything about him, especially his heart of love for God and for people. Jesus is inviting him to do it not half-heartedly or superficially, but to invest his whole life in this learning. Following Jesus is always a response to his gracious invitation. But for it to be real in our lives, we’ve got to be “all in,” we’ve got to make a decision, take action and make practical changes. Just as we can’t be in a real relationship with someone else if we don’t make it our priority, so we can’t really follow Jesus if he’s not most important to us. If we put our studies or making money or our career first, Jesus can’t be first. If we put enjoying things first, Jesus can’t be first. So Jesus isn’t challenging only this immature, ignorant and greedy rich young man; he’s actually challenging all of us. Read verse 21 again. How did the man respond? Look at verse 22. It was the moment of decision, but he just couldn’t do it. He made the wrong choice.

What happened next? Read verses 23,24. Jesus used this as a teachable moment for his disciples. He’s shattering their view. Everybody thought riches were a sign of blessing from God. But Jesus said just the opposite: it’s so hard for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven, harder than squeezing a camel through the eye of a needle. Why is it so hard? Just like with this rich young man, such people find it too hard to let go of their earthly treasures. People get stuck on their investments and savings and properties and the lifestyle they afford—so much so that they can’t follow truth. So we have the expression, “They’ve sold out.” Sadly, many who are living in affluence have in their deep hearts lost all self-respect. Jesus is inviting us to such a better way, a life of freedom, meaning and love that comes from following him.

How did the disciples respond? Look at verse 25. They were “greatly astonished.” Though they followed Jesus, their worldview and values had not been deeply changed yet. They still were impressed and enamored with and envied the rich. How did Jesus answer their question? Read verse 26. It’s impossible for people to be changed. It’s especially impossible for rich people to be changed. But with God all things are possible. With God, people’s hearts can change. With God, anyone can leave a life of worldly pursuits and really begin to follow Jesus. With God, even slow-changing people like Jesus’ disciples can eventually become spiritual.

Look at verse 27. Why is Peter saying this? Probably he thinks he’s much better than the rich young man who couldn’t give up his possessions. And in light of Jesus’ words that it’s so hard to enter the kingdom, he’s worried that even his great sacrifice isn’t enough. Though he’s following Jesus, Peter has an unhealthy sense of entitlement, and some pretty serious self-righteousness.

How does Jesus respond? Read verse 28. This is a very special promise given only to the Twelve. At the end of the Bible, in Revelation, we see that their names are on the twelve foundations of the Holy City. They have a special place in God’s redemptive history because they were the ones who first followed Jesus when no one else ever had.

Jesus goes on. Read verse 29. Jesus gives us the assurance that any and every sacrifice we have made that was truly for his sake will be remembered and rewarded. The hundredfold reward is in this life, in the sense that we come into the larger community of God’s people. They become our spiritual family who comfort us, and they willingly share what they have with us, so that we lack nothing. And our ultimate reward is to inherit eternal life. He doesn’t say we “earn” it, but that we “inherit” it. Even though we may make significant life sacrifices to serve Jesus and his kingdom, he still gives us eternal life only as a gift of his grace. We can be sure of this reward when we’re sure of his grace.

And Jesus gives a final word that seems kind of cryptic. Read verse 30. Jesus is saying that those who think they’re first because of their sacrifices or their blessings, may find out in heaven that they’re last. And those who think they’re last because they didn’t seem to do much or have many blessings may find out that they’re first. It tells us that in his kingdom, grace reigns.

Let’s read verse 21 again. Today Jesus is asking each of us: “Where is your heart? Who or what do you love? Does your life show it?” He’s also graciously inviting each of us, “Then come, follow me.” Are we really going to do it? May God bless us not to make the wrong choice, but choose to follow him truly, believing his promise of treasure in heaven.

DIVORCE AND CHILDREN

Matthew 19:1–15

Key Verse: 19:14

“Jesus said, ‘Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.’”

          In the previous chapter, Jesus gave his disciples several teachings on how his followers should live in community with one another. Instead of competing for the top position, we should take the lowest one. Instead of avoiding the weak, we should welcome them. Instead of being obsessed with self, we should be careful about our influence on others. Instead of being self-indulgent, we should fight against our own sins. Instead of despising and ignoring the weak, we should treasure them and risk everything to rescue them. Instead of gossiping behind each other’s backs, we should talk to each other directly and personally to work out problems, and we should learn to listen humbly to one another. Instead of holding grudges, we should remember God’s great mercy and forgive one another from the heart.

          Though today’s passage begins a new section in Matthew’s Gospel, it continues the themes of chapter 18. It tells us further about the community of Jesus’ followers. Marriage and children are very practical aspects of any community. In the community of Jesus’ followers, marriage and children are an opportunity to practice the love of Jesus. May God open our hearts to learn how we can be a community that does not hinder but draws people to our Lord Jesus.

          Look at verse 1. The phrase “When Jesus had finished saying these things…” indicates in Matthew’s Gospel that one of Jesus’ major discourses is now over (cf. 7:28; 11:1; 13:53; 26:1). He leaves Galilee and travels to Judea and the other side of the Jordan because he’s on his last journey to Jerusalem, where rejection, suffering, and death await him. Look at verse 2. Though it’s a hard time for him personally, Jesus welcomes these crowds that also need healing. Jesus’ healing ministry shows that he has authority from God to teach.

          Sadly, there are those who don’t see it that way. Verse 3a says, “Some Pharisees came to him to test him.” Throughout Matthew’s Gospel Pharisees come to do this (12:2,14,24,38; 15:1; 16:1; 19:3; 22:15,34,35). No matter how powerful Jesus’ teaching and healing ministry is, they are bent on discrediting Jesus, because they perceive him as a threat to their own positions. Their testing of Jesus literally means they were tempting him. It’s hard to be criticized and challenged constantly. But Jesus handled it with such strength and grace because he was depending on God his Father.

          What did these Pharisees say this time? Look at verse 3b. Then as now, marriage was a hot-button issue. In Jesus’ day, there were two schools of thought about divorce. The conservative side taught that divorce should be avoided; the liberal side taught that it should be allowed. The Pharisees weren’t interesting in learning from Jesus about which side was right; they brought this up to get him to take sides and lose some of his popularity, and maybe, to say something wrong.

          How did he respond? Read verses 4–6. When he was being tested or criticized, Jesus loved to respond by saying, “Haven’t you read?” (cf. 12:3,5; 21:16,24; 22:31) Jesus was always talking about the Bible and basing his teaching on it. Answers to questions and criticisms can always be found in Scripture. In this case, Jesus went all the way back to the beginning of Genesis, in the two stories of creation.

In Genesis 1 the phrase “[God] made them male and female” (Ge1:27b) tells us about the origin of marriage. Marriage began not with a contract between two people, but with creation itself. What’s the point? It tells us that God made one man for one woman and that one woman for that one man. It means God created marriage to be mutually exclusive, and for life. So we have an expression, “Made for each other.” Instead of focusing on each other’s flaws, a husband or wife need to see each other from God’s point of view, as God’s perfect match for me.

Next, in Genesis 2 the man leaving his father and mother and being united to his wife (Ge2:24) tells us that marriage is a lifetime commitment. Now, his wife should be more important to him than even his own parents. The same is true for the wife; her primary commitment in life needs to shift from her parents to her husband. A husband and wife need to be committed to each other even more than to their own children. Without this kind of practical commitment, the marriage is greatly weakened. In Greek, the word “united” in verse 5 literally means “glued.” The commitment glues the husband and wife together, and so does their intimacy. If we neglect intimacy, the marriage glue is weakened. People may have many human ideas about it, but God ordained for the two to become one flesh.

Read verse 6 again. It’s more than a physical union. It’s a mystery that two persons become one, but it’s something God does. We need to think of our spouse not as a burden or annoyance or even as my enemy, but as a person with whom God wants me to be absolutely united. This is Jesus’ answer to those who have questions about divorce. In light of his words, divorce is not just about “irreconcilable differences”; it’s rebellion against God’s sovereign will. We live in a culture where divorce is rampant, even in the church. But God said through the prophet Malachi, “I hate divorce” (Mal2:16, NLT). He’s talking about divorce among his people. It’s not meant to get us to hate all divorced people. God wants us to be merciful and compassionate towards them. But why does God want a believing husband and wife, especially, to stay together? Malachi says it’s because they belong to him in body and spirit, and when they live in him, they also belong to one another in body and spirit. Also, when they keep their marriage alive and healthy and are faithful to each other from the heart, they can raise godly offspring. God especially holds husbands responsible. He wants us to guard our heart and not be unfaithful to the wife of our youth. He wants us not to overwhelm our wives with cruelty, but protect them (Mal2:15,16). This protection includes not complaining about our wives to others. Sometimes marriage can be hard, but people shouldn’t give up so quickly and easily. As the saying goes, “When the going gets tough, the tough get going.” God refines and matures us through being faithful to our marriage commitment. Especially, godly, faithful husbands are so important in the community of Jesus’ followers.

Look at verse 7. Jesus had already talked about this back in chapter 5 in his Sermon on the Mount (5:31,32). At that time, sadly, it was popular among Jewish rabbis and Pharisees to divorce their wives. They were using Deuteronomy 24:1 as their justification: “If a man marries a woman who becomes displeasing to him because he finds something indecent about her, and he writes a certificate of divorce, gives it to her and sends her from his house…” According to Matthew 19:7, the Pharisees call this verse a “command.” But actually it’s not a command, but a concession. It’s a classic case of taking something out of context to get what we want. If we read on in Deuteronomy 24, we find the point is in verse 4: “…then her first husband, who divorced her, is not allowed to marry her again…” When Moses wrote this, he was actually trying to protect women from whimsical, tyrannical men. Men would kick out their wives, abusing their power, but when they got lonely, they’d go out to find them and try to take them back again, even if their ex-wife had remarried.

What did Jesus say? Read verse 8. What did he mean that “your hearts were hard”? It means men’s hearts can become hardened by sinful desire. When their wives don’t satisfy their desires, husbands can harden their hearts and become so cruel. In Jewish society, women had to get special permission from the courts to divorce their husbands. It’s hard for modern people to digest. But Jesus taught against divorce to protect women. Matthew the former tax collector may have known many women who had to turn to “the world’s oldest profession” (cf. 21:31,32) simply because their husbands had cast them out on a whim. Jesus didn’t care that his view on marriage would make him unpopular. Because he was a shepherd who respected women, he strongly denounced men’s right to divorce them based on a vague interpretation of something “displeasing” or “indecent.” Based on God’s creation truth, Jesus upheld the union of marriage.

Read verse 9. Jesus was addressing all the hypocritical rabbis and Pharisees who thought they were so knowledgeable of the Bible, so strict, so spiritual. If they have divorced their wives and remarried, Jesus calls them “adulterers.” What a powerful rebuke! So often, the real motive for divorce is to switch partners. Instead of making many excuses like a smoke screen, we need to be honest about what’s really in our hearts. And we need to ask God’s mercy to help us to stay faithful to him and to our spouse. We really need the help of the Holy Spirit to do this. In light of the parable Jesus just told about the unmerciful servant, we need to remember God’s great grace to us so that we can forgive our spouse from our heart.

In verse 9 Jesus gives only one valid reason for divorce: “sexual immorality.” Why only this? Why not alcoholism, or physical abuse, or mental cruelty? It’s because all these other vices can be addressed, but sexual immorality undermines the very glue of marriage. We also should notice that even in the case of immorality, divorce is not commanded but allowed. It means that great effort first should be made to help the erring partner to repent. It reminds us of Jesus’ teaching on helping a fellow believer who sins. He said the relationship should be ended only when the person refuses to listen to repeated urging from more and more of God’s people (18:15–17).

Read verse 9 once more. Jesus is teaching people who divorced for superficial reasons not to remarry. It could also mean that instead of divorcing, it’s better to stay separated for a while and work on our problems, seeking godly counseling and God’s help. Let’s pray that God may bring healing to many people in our nation who have suffered through painful marriages and divorce. Let’s pray that we may share God’s mercy and forgiveness and help divorced people to have hope in God. And let’s pray that God may raise godly couples in our community who can be a blessing through their loving marriages.

Look at verse 10. The disciples were scared. They thought it was too hard to stay committed and faithful to one lady their whole lifetime. Men are still afraid of committing to marriage. What did Jesus say to them? Read verses 11,12. Here Jesus is saying that marriage is normative for most people. And he gives his followers the only valid reason not to get married. It’s “for the sake of the kingdom of heaven.” It’s not to avoid the struggle of being a responsible husband and father, or wife and mother. And it’s only for the very few people who can accept it. Eunuchs, people who biologically cannot marry and have children, were looked down upon by the Jews. But Jesus isn’t making fun of them; he’s valuing them as precious human beings. He’s also valuing those who “live like eunuchs.” It may mean they never marry, or it may mean they choose to live apart from their spouses for some amount of time so that they can spread the kingdom message. Whether we marry or stay single, we should live for God’s honor and glory, for his kingdom and his will, regardless of what suffering we may have to endure.

Look at verse 13. It was a common custom among the Jews to bring little children to rabbis to be blessed. These little children may have been brought by their parents, grandparents or caregivers. It’s a bit surprising that the disciples rebuked them—especially after Jesus had just recently placed a little child among them and taught them to welcome children (18:2,5). Why did the disciples do this? Clearly they were not really listening to what he taught them. It may be their idea was that Jesus was too tired, or too busy, or too important to be bothered. Or it may be that they thought these people were being too demanding. The disciples’ idea was very different from that of Jesus.

Read verse 14. So many people around the world in history have been so comforted by these words of our Lord Jesus. So there’s the famous hymn: “Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world. Red, brown, yellow, black and white, they are precious in his sight, Jesus loves the little children of the world.” What a beautiful king Jesus is! How humble, how loving, how gracious! He didn’t mind that some of these little children were dirty, full of germs, and smelly. He wasn’t too tired to welcome them, embrace them, place his hands on them, bless them and pray for each one, and they were not his own children or grandchildren! In the community of followers of Jesus, children should be welcomed, not sequestered or dumped somewhere. In his community, marriage is important, and children are also important. We should not sacrifice marriage and children in the name of ministry; we should build up marriages and children as the core of our ministry.

Read verse 14 again. Jesus says here that the kingdom “belongs to such as these.” He the same thing earlier, in 18:3: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” What does it mean to be like little children? It means to be humble, simple and trusting, instead of proud, complicated and suspicious. Jesus wants us to run to him with an open heart like a little child, even with all our weaknesses and sins, asking for his mercy, help and love. We should never become too proud to come to Jesus.

Read verse 14 once more. Jesus said, “do not hinder them.” Perhaps it’s connected with his teaching on divorce. When parents divorce, in many cases it hinders their little children from growing well. Especially when believing parents divorce or have a poor marriage relationship, it hinders their children from wanting to come to Jesus. Parents who truly love each other and are faithful to each other are expressing healthy faith in Jesus and are a blessing to their children. And if little children represent those who are seeking God, Jesus tells us not to hinder such people from coming to Jesus, either. It’s sad but true that many people try to go to church, but they get so disillusioned by the behavior or practices of the church members. We should make up our minds not to put any obstacle or stumbling block in people’s way—whether it be our cultural traditions, rules or expectations. We should do our best not to hinder but help people come to Jesus. May God make us a community that welcomes people who are like little children and shows them how beautiful a life in Christ is.

THE GLORY OF CHRIST

2 Corinthians 4:1­–18

Key Verse: 4:6

“For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory in the face of Christ.”

So it’s 2015. Isn’t that crazy? How was everyone’s New Year? Usually, the New Year brings us to be pretty introspective. We start thinking about all that’s happened to us this past year, what we’ve learned, and usually what we can improve about ourselves. So we make “New Year resolutions.” Anyone make any this year? “This year, I’m going to loose 10 pounds.” “This year, I’m going to manage my money better.”  “This year, I’m going to make new friends.” “This year, I’m going to get all A’s.” These resolutions can be great, but usually most people forget about them in a couple of weeks.

And, New Year’s resolutions can be telling about what we care about. Ourselves. And that’s kind of sad right?  Today, through this passage, we’re going to think about the New Year a little differently.

Ministry: The New Covenant (1-2)

The book of 2 Corinthians is a letter written by Paul to the early church in Corinth. Let’s read verse 1. Paul writes to the church about doing ministry and says it’s done “by God’s mercy.” Why is saying this? Paul was a man who gave his live to doing ministry. Some people in Corinth had been critical of Paul and his credentials to do that. They were basically saying, “Who do you think you are?” So in verse 1, Paul answers these haters by saying God gave him this ministry, he didn’t choose it, and that it was given to him only “by God’s mercy.” This wasn’t just a spiritual sounding phrase for Paul; he really believed this. Before his encounter with Jesus, Paul was doing everything in his power to put a stop to this ministry of Jesus’ followers. He saw the Christian movement as a threat and his putting a stop to it as a career opportunity. Paul calls himself during this time, “an enemy of God.” He was actually putting Christians to death. So, for him, the fact that God would allow him to be a part of that ministry was clearly nothing he had done or merited, but was only because of his God’s mercy. That’s something anyone doing ministry can learn. There are no credentials, degrees, knowledge, people or speaking skills, or any abilities that earn us in any way the right to share God’s love in the gospel. It’s only by God’s mercy.

So, what is this ministry? The Chapter 3, Paul calls this ministry an awareness of a “new covenant…” (3:6). Ministry is “the new covenant.” What’s that? A “covenant” is “a promise”, or “a contract, made between two parties.” Paul says it’s a “new” contract. If there’s a new, there was an old. In the old covenant, God had made a temporary contract with his people. In Chapter 3, Paul talks about the Law of Moses, which he says brought, “death” and “condemnation” (3:,7,9). The old covenant was God’s deal with us—God said, “Here are a set of standards you need to live by to be okay with me and have a relationship with me; you will never be able to reach them.” Kind of rough, but it showed everyone how far apart we are from God. But then Jesus came, and through him God made a new deal with us. This new deal was that all our sins would be whipped away, and we would be made as white as snow (Isa1). The new deal Jesus said was a new deal in his blood. Jesus’ death on the cross was this deal—God himself paying the price for all of our sins. So, because of that, God could make the deal he always wanted to make with us, which is this, “You’ll never be good enough to reach my holy standards or be in a relationship with me, but that’s okay. I’ve taken care of all your sins. I just want to be with you. Come and be with me.” This new deal, Paul is saying, is ministry. In essence, ministry is the message of God’s love. This message of God’s love through Jesus came to be known as the “gospel” or “good news” and Paul was telling everyone about. Paul says in Chapter 3 that it brings “life,” “righteousness,” “freedom” and is a ministry “of the Spirit” (3:6,8,9,17).

Is this what Christianity looks like today? Is this our ministry? It’s something for us to think about as a community looking towards the New Year—what is our ministry about? Is it one of judging people, trying to fix people by our own standards? Or, is it a ministry of God’s love, his forgiveness of our sins, a ministry that wants to bring life, righteousness, freedom, that no matter what we’ve done or will do, or who we are, God loves us so much, and wants to be with us? We were talking about New Year resolutions; maybe this can be our church’s—to be a ministry of the new covenant, of God’s love.

For some reason, telling people God loves’ them and wants to be with them, is difficult. If you walk down the street and say to someone, “God loves you.” Some of them might freak out, call the police, or get upset. People have a lot of personal baggage around the message of God’s love. A lot of people here have given a good portion of their lives to try to share the Gospel of God’s love. But it all can be disheartening. Looking again at verse 1, a lot of things can dishearten us from living in and sharing the ministry of God’s love. It can just be something personal, family issues, health problems, financial problems, personal mistakes we’ve made in life. A lot of times it’s the difficulty of sharing the message of God’s love—misunderstandings, persecutions, rejections. A lot of times it’s a combination of these personal and external things.  In the original Greek, to “lose heart” meant to lose enthusiasm, to become afraid, to give up, to become burn out. Anyone feel like that about ministry? Just burnt out? Over it? Sharing God’s love, to this neighborhood, to college students? Do you feel burnt out and just over it? Paul reminds us that it’s easy to lose heart when we rely on ourselves and what we’re doing and forget that this ministry is very simple—it’s a all about sharing God’s love. There are so many other things we can get focused on, but it’s simple, God’s did everything possible for us to be with him. There’s nothing we have to do to prove it, or earn it; he wants us as we are. We’ve got to know this personally and keep it at the center of what our ministry is about.

Paul goes on to talk about being a part of ministry. Look at verse 2. It’s important to take the sins in our lives seriously, and to renounce the “secret and shameful” of our sins. Basically, we shouldn’t be dualistic in our lives, but if we’re sharing about God’s love and grace, that should reflect in our personal lives. If we have trouble with this, we should really think about participating in ministry. Paul also says that we shouldn’t “use deception” in ministry. So, we shouldn’t be sneaky, or manipulative. Doing ministry shouldn’t be run like a marketing department of a business. We shouldn’t be trying to get people to “buy” the product of the Gospel, and use deception or guilt. We should just share it for what it is. He also says we shouldn’t distort God’s word. In Greek, the word for distort was used for people who sold wine, and they would water down the wine to turn a better profit. We shouldn’t be watering stuff down, telling people what they want to hear so they’ll buy into something, but trying our best to set “forth the truth plainly.”

Veiled (3-4)

Did you ever make tents when you were a kid? I used to put my blanket over my head, and used to bring all my toys under the blanket with me, and just look at them. Hold a dim flashlight underneath, and pretend there was no other world outside of my tent. It felt good, and safe, even though it was just a blanket covering me. Paul says in this passage that, without looking at what we’ll learn is the Glory of Christ, “sin” is pretty much under a tent.

Look at verse 3. Paul talks about being veiled to this message of God’s love. And Look at Chapter 3. Paul talks about Moses, who was the minister of the old covenant. Moses had to wear a veil over his head, because God’s light on his face was too bright. It’s like when someone turns on a light while you’ve been sitting in a dark room for a while. It’s just too intense. Pretty much like spiritual sunglasses. Paul uses this idea of a veil between us and God and having it over our hearts. And according to verse 3, if we have this veil between us and God, we’re perishing. This veil, wrapped around our hearts, keeps us from seeing, understanding, and so accepting God’s love. Look at verse 4. The veil comes from the “god of this age.” You could simply say that that’s “Satan’s doing,” and so pushing away any blame from ourselves, but I think Paul’s wording here is significant. Being wrapped up in a “god of this age” is to have something or someone that we worship, or set up as a god. Whatever is of most worth to us, we’re worshiping, and that our hearts and can blind us from seeing God’s love, or really anything outside of ourselves for that matter.

And so, this is our state of being without knowing God’s love. We could say this is only for “the perishing,” but I think whether we’ve seen God’s love before or not, we can easily slip back under our veils. It’s like we want to slip back under the comfort of our blankets in the morning, our veiled state without God is what we’ve known to be comfortable. And our veiled reality is self-obsessive. Our focus is inward, to ourselves, our little fascinations, to only seeing that all the time. The Bible talks about this veiled-state-of-being as being like we’re drunk with the glories or splendors of this world, craving whatever satisfies us, whatever captures the lust of our eyes, and boasting in what we have and what we do (1Jn2:16). The word glory too significant in this passage, and it comes from the idea of shinny armor. So the things we obsess about are whatever shinny things catch our eyes.

It’s like raccoons. Raccoons love shiny things. They’ll steal coins, earrings but also worthless things like scrap pieces of shinny metal, forks and bring them to their little dark hiding places where they’ll keep them safe for no one else to see. We’re like that. We look around us and try to see what’s shinny, what looks glorious, whether it is or not also like It’s like we’re each under our own blanketed tents, and obsess over them.

We talked about New Year’s resolutions, and how that’s so showing to how self-obsessed we are. Think about how much time a day you think about yourself—what you’re doing, what you’ll eat, your relationships, your aspirations, your struggles, what you want, how much you want people to like you, how much you wished life was a little better, etc. I remember studying that psychologists charted out that on average 60% of our thoughts are self-directed, 30% of our thoughts are about our own relationships and how they affect us, and 10% of our thoughts are about others. That’s how we think as human beings. And yet such a thought-world of self-obsession makes us pretty dark, muddled and nihilistic. Solomon talked about doing everything under the sun, anything of significance that we could try to do or attain—relationships, achievements, money, knowledge—that it’s all kind of meaningless, like chasing after the wind. Paul says that when we’re like this, we’re perishing. Because, although we’re just thinking about ourselves all the time, we really are never satisfied, we’re never good enough, never shinny enough. Do you ever get sick of that? Thinking about yourself all the time? So, how do we get out of this “trap”?

The Glory of Christ (5-18)

Let’s read verse 5. For the veiled to be lifted, Paul says, Jesus Christ has to become out Lord. What does that mean?  A change has to happen. No longer should we be our own lords, our own rulers, the kings and queens of ourselves. Instead, we make Jesus our King. We look to his guidance, his advice, see our lives as his. It’s a big transition for anyone to have. The real message of the gospel, of God’s love, is that we lay down our own rule over ourselves, and give our lives over to God.

But why would we do that? What would compel anyone to give up the rule of their own lives and give it to God? Let’s look at verse 6. Let’s read it. Paul has been talking about a spiritual darkness, ignorance, being under a veil. But to get out of that, is an act of God. Paul reminds us of how, when everything is dark, God spoke saying, “Let there be light,” and it happened (Ge1:3). God’s light broke through and penetrated the deepest darkness of nothingness. In the same way, God “makes” his light shine to us even when we can’t see anything, we’re blinded by the veil of our sinful state. How? In Jesus. In who he is. In looking at him, in seeing who God is in him, his life, his character, what he did for us, the darkness beings to slip away and we begin to see. It says in John 1 that Jesus came into a dark world as a light. It’s a splendor that blows everything else out, including the veil we’ve been under, and we begin to actually see outside of ourselves. We see God, we see his love, we see how he loves us, we see how he loves others, and we see others too. And then, our worldview is completely expanded by the Glory of Christ. Instead of trying to grab the little shinny trinkets, we’re overwhelmed with the glorious light that is Jesus—God’s love for us revealed in him. And this really is revealed in the cross. We look at Jesus, and what God did through him on the cross.

Paul explains in 3:18. To have the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ, Paul says here that we have to “contemplate” it. We have to really think about it, meditate on it. That’s how we get out from underneath the veil, and that’s how we stay out from it—thinking about the glory, the splendor of who Jesus is and what he did for us.

Honestly, how much time do we spend doing that? Do we even have time? To have the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ, Paul says here that we have to “contemplate” it. So I think it takes some effort. We have to make time to do this. It doesn’t really come naturally, because we never knew how to do that in sin. In 4:6 Paul says we look at the face of Christ to see his glory. Of course, this doesn’t mean having a painting of Jesus we stare at everyday. It implies something personal. We get to come to him, look at him, get to know him, study his face, what he’s like, he’s features, which are things like his compassion, patience, his fearlessness, his devotion, his love, when we aren’t contemplating him, we actually remember his face, what he’s like. Ultimately, we see this glory of Jesus in what he did on the cross, by in our places, as God’s great love for us. That’s his luster.

Look at verse 7. Here Paul describes seeing Jesus’ glory has having “this treasure in jars of clay.” It’s easy for us to try to think we’re more than we are. “I’m at least good at this, or at least I look good, or at least I’m pretty smart, or accomplished something.” But really, we’re pretty insignificant. We’re born, we die, and it’s actually rather sad when you think about it. So, we try to bedazzle ourselves with accomplishments, other people, whatever. But Paul’s reminding us that we’re just jars of clay. But inside, that’s what’s priceless. Who we are, is so loved by God in Jesus. He thought us worth giving his own life for, he saw us as invaluable. And so keeping that within us, is holdinging onto that splendor. And that’s a priceless treasure. We essentially live lives where we’re pouring out the glory of Jesus, we’re sharing who he is, his attributes, his love his compassion, his tenderness. And it gives life so much more meaning and value.

Look at verses 8-18. Living like a jar of clay is a tough life. We’re tossed around, we’re wasting away outwardly (8,16). It’s a very different kind of life than what we lived as veiled people. Instead of self-preservations, we live a life of giving, of sharing God’s love. Paul encourages us to do this by, “ fixing our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal” (18).

So, here’s a New Year’s Resolution we can all think about for 2015. Am I looking at myself? Or, am I looking at the Splendor of Jesus?

BECOME LIKE LITTLE CHILDREN

Matthew 18:1–14

Key Verse: 18:3

“And he said, ‘Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.’”

          Everybody loves a winner. We see it in sports, in entertainment, in business and politics. We admire people who make something of themselves, who aspire to be or achieve something great. But in today’s passage Jesus teaches his disciples about the kingdom of heaven, and again, it’s the opposite of how most people think. Jesus says it’s the lowliest person who’s the greatest. He tells us to change and become like little children. What does it mean? And how can we do it? May God speak to our hearts through his word.

A major theme of Matthew’s Gospel is discipleship. Jesus trains his disciples and challenges them to make disciples. But who’s a real disciple of Jesus? It’s the person who obeys everything Jesus taught. In Matthew’s Gospel Jesus’ teachings are organized into five major discourses, and chapter 18 is the fourth one. If we want to be disciples of Jesus and make disciples of Jesus, we need to focus on learning and practicing Jesus’ teachings.

 Before we get started, we should pay attention to the context. It’s now the final months of Jesus’ life on earth, and he’s on his way to Jerusalem. He’s repeatedly been predicting that rejection, suffering and death await him there. He’s been trying to help his disciples grow in personal faith and follow him in the way of the cross. In today’s passage, he begins to help them build a new kind of community among them. Over the next three weeks, we’re going to be taking a closer look at what this new community is like. In today’s passage, we’re going to zero in on the foundation of this new community. What is it? Let’s see.

Read verse 1. We wonder why the disciples are suddenly asking about this. We can understand when we review what’s been happening. Back in chapter 16 Simon Peter had made a confession of faith that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of the living God (16:16). Jesus gave him his new name, Peter, and promised that he would be the rock on which he would build his church (16:18). But when Peter tried to dissuade him from taking the way of the cross, Jesus called him “Satan” (16:23). The other disciples began to wonder about Peter’s leadership. But after that, Jesus took only Peter, James and John with him up a high mountain to witness his transfiguration (17:1ff.). When they came back down the mountain, the other nine disciples were unable to heal a demon-possessed boy (17:16). They were really wondering why not (17:19). We can imagine that Peter, James and John started looking down on the other nine as less than them. And the other nine really resented it. In fact, the other Gospels tell us that at this time they began arguing about which of them was the greatest (Mk9:33,34; Lk9:46). None of them wanted to be second; each wanted to be first. No one wanted to be under anyone else. As human beings we’re all made in the image of God. Because of that, we all have a desire to be great like God, which is good. But we all also have a sinful nature. Our sinful nature makes us want to be great without God; it twists our good desire for greatness into pride and selfish ambition, which are toxic to human relationships (Gal5:19,20; Php2:3a). Even Jesus’ disciples had this hiding deep within them.

How did Jesus respond to their question about being the greatest? Read 18:2–3. Jesus was such a good teacher. Bringing a little child among them, he was showing them a vivid example of what he meant. It must have been so heart-moving to see a little child among all those competitive grown men. At the same time, Jesus was giving them a very powerful challenge. He said if they didn’t change and become like that little child, not only would they not be great, but also they wouldn’t even enter the kingdom of heaven.

What did he mean? Here the word “change” literally means “turn.” They needed to turn from struggling with each other. They needed to turn to a new direction. What was it? It was to become like little children. Really? Little children can be difficult. Little children can be noisy, fighting over candy, throwing tantrums, so self-centered and demanding. Jesus couldn’t mean for us to become like that. We can understand when we see what else he says. Read verse 4. Here, to take “the lowly position of this child” literally means to humble oneself. In their society, children were unimportant, powerless and even invisible. In brief, Jesus meant that to become like little children was to become humble.

So, how can we change and become humble? That’s a really good question! Many people aren’t even aware of how proud they are. Many try to act like they’re humble in many ways, but in their deep hearts, they’re still proud and conceited, thinking they’re superior to everybody else. The Bible calls it “false humility” (Col2:18,23). It’s easy to say, “Change and become like little children,” but it’s so hard to do. Often, we become humble only when God forces it upon us, when he strips us of the things that make us proud. And as soon as we can get out of that adversity, we become proud again. When everyone is striving to go up, it’s so hard to step aside, or even worse, to step down. When people brag about themselves, it’s so hard to remain quiet and make ourselves like nobodies. In church we would expect people to be humble. But even in the church people provoke and envy each other (Gal5:26). In church people compete about how much they know the Bible, how much they are faithful, how much they pray, how much they sacrifice, how fruitful their ministry is. It may be hard to detect at first, but honestly, it eventually drives people away.

So how can we change and become humble? Jesus wants us to start by thinking about little children. Read verses 3,4 again. A little child has no wealth, no power, no wisdom, no achievements. A little child is actually unaware of these things. In a crowd there are many tall adults, but a little child crawls close to the ground. From carefully observing a little child we can learn many things. A little child is totally transparent, unassuming and vulnerable. A little child is trusting. A little child receives and gives love freely. A little child doesn’t despise anyone. A little child is constantly watching and learning. Jesus wants us to become like little children. For that to happen Jesus said we need to “change.” Change what? Change our mentality, our worldview, our value system, as well as our view of ourselves and each other. How can we change that deeply?

Jesus invites us all: “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls” (11:29). Real change starts when we begin learning from Jesus. We especially need to be learning from his gentle and humble heart. We can see Jesus’ gentle, humble heart in the way he treated people. The author Matthew experienced it personally. After living as a selfish tax collector he’d become so sick spiritually. But Jesus didn’t despise him. Jesus saw him with hope. Jesus treated him with grace. Jesus showed him love. So Matthew described Jesus based on the prophecy of Isaiah: “A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out…” (12:20a; cf. Isa42:1–4). Jesus tenderly cared for people who were like bruised reeds or smoldering wicks until they were healed. As we fix our thoughts on Jesus and personally come to him, we learn his gentle, humble heart. Philippians 2 tells us we need to be united with Christ so that we can grow in his humility, especially in the way we treat each other. Changing and becoming like little children isn’t a one-time event, but a life-long process.

Read verse 5. Not only should we be humble like a little child, but also we should welcome little children in Jesus’ name. What does it mean? In light of the first part of verse 6, “little children” aren’t just toddlers, but adults who believe in Jesus (cf. 10:42). Our fellow Christians usually have many weaknesses and struggles. They need a lot of help. It’s not easy to “welcome” them, for the same reasons it isn’t easy to welcome little children: we’re busy, and they’re needy. But Jesus says to do it “in my name.” It means to do it for his sake, for his glory, not our own—mainly because we love Jesus. Welcoming fellow believers in the name of Jesus requires humility.

Many years ago there was a woman who came from Korea as a missionary. Back in Korea she’d been an officer in the army. So when she came among God’s people in Chicago, she was accustomed to teaching and ordering people around. The pastor took notice and gave her training. It was training to be the babysitter for everyone. During the training, changing diapers, feeding and caring for many little ones, she wept a lot, and her inner person began to change. Actually, we all need training in the true humility of Jesus.

Read verse 6. Here we see Jesus’ shepherd’s heart for those who are young in faith. He wants us to take seriously our influence on them. Literally, the word “stumble” means to put an impediment in others’ way, to cause them to trip and fall. It’s an intentional act, but sometimes we do it unintentionally. Spiritually, “stumble” means to “offend.” It’s the same word Jesus had just used when he said we should not “offend” outsiders (17:27). Not offending others is hard, because we can’t always be aware or sure of how we might be doing it. Some of us may have no qualms about offending others—we do it all the time and may even seem to enjoy it. But Jesus says that to grow in true greatness, we need to learn how not to offend others, especially those who’re young in faith. Of course, the message of the cross and the message to repent are offensive, and we should never compromise them. But we should do our best not to offend others with unnecessary words, behavior or attitudes. Why? It’s because being offensive may cause young believers to stumble in their walk with God. In this case, “stumble” means to lose respect for God’s authority, to begin to rebel against him, to be enticed into sin, and thus, to “fall away.” We have to acknowledge that many things Christians have said and done in history have caused people to fall away from Jesus. We may not be able to repair the damage or change the history, but we can do our best to be accountable for our own actions.

          Jesus wants us to be serious about what is going on inside of us, because it seems that when we begin to give in to our own sins, that’s when we cause others to stumble. Read verses 7–9. Here, Jesus uses hyperbole not to make us start cutting off body parts—for that wouldn’t really change the sinful desires within us—but to help us have the right attitude toward sin. Instead of loving and secretly enjoying sin, we need to hate sin and cut it off. We need to struggle against the sins within us before God as a matter of life or death. Then we can be a good influence to others.

Jesus taught more about the attitude we should have. Read verse 10. Here he again mentions “little ones.” They may be children, or, those who are young in faith. To “despise” them literally means to think little or nothing of them, to treat them as not important or significant. This is especially clear in the context of sinning. When we sin, most often it’s because we’re treating others as unimportant. Jesus wants to replace our tendency to despise others with something quite opposite. Read verses 12–14. His point is to teach us God’s heart for even one little one who wanders off. It’s not a smart business plan, but it’s a true shepherd’s heart. This heart is another illustration of humility.

          Today Jesus taught us to change and learn humility, as the foundation of a new community of the heavenly kingdom. May God help us all learn the humility that pleases Jesus.

FAITH AS SMALL AS A MUSTARD SEED

Matthew 17:14–27

Key Verse: 17:20

“He replied, ‘Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, “Move from here to there,” and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.’”

          Have you ever felt overwhelmed? Or like what was being asked of you was way too hard? Sometimes we try to do something, and we fail at it badly. Then we feel ashamed. In today’s passage Jesus’ disciples face some situations like this. Though he’s trying to help them accept the way of suffering, he’s also teaching his disciples lessons in faith along the way. Today we especially want to think about Jesus’ teaching to have faith as small as a mustard seed, how we can have such faith, and how we can exercise it. May God open our hearts and speak to us personally through his word today.

          Verse 14 begins, “When they came to the crowd…” Jesus and his top three disciples Peter, James and John had just been up a high mountain all by themselves, where he was transfigured. A special light from that experience may have still lingered around them for a bit. Now, as soon as they came down the mountain, they encountered a crowd. Somehow these people figured out where Jesus and his disciples were. What else happened? Verse 14b says, “…a man approached Jesus and knelt before him.” He’s kneeling out of deep respect for Jesus. And what does he say? Look at verse 15. “‘Lord, have mercy on my son,’ he said. ‘He has seizures and is suffering greatly. He often falls into the fire or into the water.’” The Greek word for “seizures” here is literally “moonstruck.” Ancient people thought that under the influence of different phases of the moon some people would go crazy. Those who had our modern disease of epilepsy were thought of that way. But in this boy’s case, he would not only have irrational seizures, but also get them right at the time when he was near a fire or near water deep enough to drown in. It suggests that there was a more sinister element in what was going on.

And then there’s one more element to the story. Look at verse 16. “I brought him to your disciples, but they could not heal him.” While Jesus and the other three were on the mountain, the other nine disciples were approached by this man, no doubt with all the townspeople following. But why would this father think that Jesus’ disciples could help? Probably it was because Jesus had already sent out his disciples to heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, and drive out demons (10:8a). News spread that not only Jesus but also his disciples could heal. This man probably came looking for Jesus, but when he found only nine of his disciples, he was sure they could do something, too. It doesn’t say they refused to help him; it says “they could not heal him.” It means the disciples tried, but it didn’t work. Perhaps they tried one by one. The first, most confident one said, “Step aside! Let me do it!” When he failed, his competitor made a big smile and said, “Well, I guess I must.” When he too, failed, only one more was willing to give it a go, and alas, he failed, too. Then the others’ faces became dark. It was a moment of sheer humiliation for Jesus’ disciples before all those expectant people.

But it was an even tougher moment for the father. We can only imagine how his heart sank each time one of the disciples failed to heal his boy. The boy must have had bruises, gashes and burn marks all over his body from the many previous episodes. The father experienced not only the pain of watching his son suffer from such self-destructive behavior, but also the helplessness of being able to do absolutely nothing, and, of seeing others fail at helping his son, too. At painful moments in life, when it seems there’s no hope, it’s so hard to know what to do. It’s so hard to know what to say. We might guess many things about this father. But one fact is clear: at least he brought his son to Jesus, even after the disciples had failed. Their failure didn’t cause him to lose hope in Jesus.

How did Jesus respond to him? Read verse 17. Wow! Those are some fierce words! Jesus was always so kind, so patient. It’s unusual for him to ever express such frustration with people. Why doesn’t he want to stay with them or put up with them anymore? Is he just too irritated with their rude behavior? No. To understand his words, we first need to think about where Jesus had just come from. He’d just been transfigured in heavenly glory high up on the mountain. It was an experience of the glory, power and honor of God. But now, having come down the mount, he was again confronted with human agonies, troubles and failures. It was hard for him, knowing the mighty power and glory of God, to bear with people whose minds were so far away from God, whose lives were slowly and steadily being ruined.

So Jesus laments, “You unbelieving and perverse generation.” It’s a strong rebuke. Why does he say this? Jesus sees the problem at its core. It’s not the boy’s surface symptoms. It’s not the disciples’ failure. It’s not the father’s weakness. It’s the whole generation. Jesus says it’s an unbelieving and perverse generation. It means people are living as if God were not there. Ever since the Fall of Adam and Eve, human beings have been driven from God’s presence and have inherited a sinful nature. Our sinful nature causes us to rebel against God. Our sinful nature makes us think we can do great things without God, that we can build our own lives without him, and glorify ourselves. Our sinful nature even causes us to mock God and his people and all that relates to him. When people freely live according to their sinful nature, the world becomes more and more unbelieving, so much so that most people naturally absorb from it a godless mindset, thinking and living every day as if God were not there; God never even crosses people’s minds. The word “perverse” means to be actively deviant from what is considered moral, right, proper and good. It seems that being unbelieving comes first, and then comes the perversion. Living in a perverse generation everything seems upside down. People call evil good, and good, evil. In such a world, people get so confused. We become numb to what’s right and wrong. Everything seems so relative, and there are no longer any absolutes. Children who have to grow up in such a world can so easily get lost. It’s really tragic.

But there seems to be more to Jesus’ rebuke. Why is he being so harsh? We can understand it in the bigger context. He’s been ministering for three years. He’s healed all kinds of incurable diseases. He’s shown so many miracles. He’s expecting people to have an ongoing, sustainable faith in him by now instead of needing more miracles to believe. Back in chapter 11 he already had rebuked the towns in which most of his miracles had been performed, because they did not repent (11:20–24). He’s not been doing miracles again and again just reacting to problems as they came. And, he’s not able to stay with these people forever. He’s been performing miracles to lead people to have independent, personal faith in him, a faith that would last, a faith they could exercise after he was gone. He especially was expecting more from his disciples.

It tells us that though we still live in an unbelieving and perverse generation, we can’t blame all our problems on the environment around us. Even in the worst environment, we can have faith in God. We can exercise our faith in God even in the bleakest situation. As we live by faith, believe from our hearts and exercise our faith from day to day, even in something as simple as personal prayer, we become a believing influence to the people around us.

Jesus said, “How long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you?” Jesus was always ready to bear with human weaknesses. Being fully human, he fully understands all our agonies. He knows we’re likely to fail again and again, and he has immense patience. But the one thing he finds really hard to bear with is our unbelief. Even though we may have so many problems and so many weaknesses, he just wants us to believe in him. If only we have faith in him, he’s happy to stay with us.

Finally, Jesus said, “Bring the boy here to me.” The boy’s sickness seemed incurable. The nine disciples had failed. But those things didn’t deter Jesus at all. He was sure he could help the boy not because he was so self-confident, but because he had faith in God Almighty, the God who’s greater than all the problems and all the powers of evil. When we follow him, Jesus wants us to have this same conviction.

What happened? Look at verse 18. “Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of the boy, and he was healed at that moment.” It was instantaneous. This verse tells us that it wasn’t epilepsy; it was a demon causing the boy to self-destruct. It also tells us that when people are unbelieving, demons can come in and have a free-for-all. On the other hand, the best protection against the intrusion of evil in our lives is to have faith in God. Finally, we see again that Jesus has authority over any evil power or any problem.

Look at verse 19. “Then the disciples came to Jesus in private and asked, ‘Why couldn’t we drive it out?’” Obviously they’d been so ashamed of their failure. It’d probably caused them to lose all faith that anything could be done for the boy. But Jesus, with one rebuke, instantly cured him. They wanted to know what they were doing wrong in casting out the demon. Jesus was completely straight with them. Look at verse 20a. “He replied, ‘Because you have so little faith.’” In this case, their failure came from too little faith. What does it mean? It means that when they tried to help the father and heal his boy, they weren’t thinking about God who can do everything when we depend on him. They were thinking about themselves. They were trying to prove something about themselves. Perhaps they were even trying to gain glory for themselves and compete with one another. Jesus fully expected that by now, his disciples would be able to exercise their faith without him being physically present.

It’s an important theme in Matthew’s Gospel. Jesus repeatedly calls his disciples “you of little faith.” He said “you of little faith” when their hearts were full of worries about their material needs (6:30). He said “you of little faith” when they were overwhelmed by a storm of life (8:26). He said “you of little faith” to Peter when he was walking to Jesus on the water but starting looking at the scary waves (14:31). He said “you of little faith” when the disciples were thinking again about having no food (16:8). Jesus’ words are a rebuke to us, too: “Because you have so little faith.” We may think we have many problems—money, or people, or health, or situations. But really, our problem is too little faith.

Read verse 20b. “Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” What is he trying to say? He’s teaching us the power of faith. We don’t need great faith. We need even just a tiny bit. Jesus says even a mustard seed sized faith has power to move a mountain. It tells us that faith has great power. Why does it have such power? It’s because faith reflects who God is. God is almighty. He can do the impossible. When we trust in him and depend on him, he can use us to also do the impossible.

But how can we have faith even as small as a mustard seed? We may need to start with changing our way of thinking. Faith is about not quantity but quality. Faith also is not just about getting impossible things done in our lives; it’s about who we believe in—the object of our faith. We can have faith in people, or in things, or even in ourselves. But we really need to have faith in God, faith that God is almighty, God is present everywhere, and God is all-knowing. Genesis 1:1 says, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” He’s still there. He’s still the Creator God. To have faith as small as a mustard seed, we need to turn our thoughts away from ourselves, people and this world to the God who made us and all things. The more we think about him, the more we can have genuine faith, and the more problems and people shrink down to their proper size. To have faith as small as a mustard seed, it’s good to pray. When we believe in God, we should act on it. We should pray about our real life problems. We should step out in faith in real life when things seem impossible. The more we act on our faith in real life, the more our faith becomes real.

In verses 22,23 Jesus again re-focuses his disciples on what he’s really trying to teach them. He doesn’t just want them to be healers or mountain-movers; he wants them to accept his suffering, death and resurrection, and go the same way of suffering in following him.

In the last part of today’s passage is a story unique to Matthew’s Gospel. Peter is confronted by people trying to collect the temple tax. According to their records, Jesus and his disciples were late in paying it. To cover for them, Peter immediately promised that Jesus would pay it. When he arrived in the house, Jesus brought up the matter without Peter even saying anything. Jesus first taught him about their true identity. They are children of the King. So they are exempt from all kinds of legalistic laws. As God’s people we have real freedom in Jesus. But Jesus also taught Peter not to cause offense and to pay the tax. It means we are not to abuse our Christian freedom, but act in love toward those around us. Finally, Jesus tells Peter to go to the lake, throw out his line, and in the first fish he catches there will be a four-drachma coin. It means God will miraculously provide exactly what his children need when we depend on him. It’s another illustration of faith as small as a mustard seed.

Today we thought about faith as small as a mustard seed. We need such faith not only to face various kinds of mountains in our lives, but also to help people who may seem as troubled as the boy in this passage. And we need such faith to live among people who impose their expectations on us, believing God will take care of us. May God grant each of us faith as small as a mustard seed.

You Will Be My Witness

Acts 1:1–14

Key Verse: 1:8

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

Happy New Year! As the year 2018 is about to begin, we can be thinking about so many things. For many, a new year is the chance to make a new start. People make new year resolutions, pledging to lose weight or break bad habits. For the first several months of any new year, gyms are so busy with people working out. Many pledge to get out of debt and start saving and investing. People try to find a new, better direction in life. But what should our direction really be? Our bodies and our money? I don’t think so. In today’s passage Jesus gives his followers a direction. They had failed him. They were stuck in their own fixed ideas and habitual thinking. But it was like Jesus was pressing the reset button. He emphasized his resurrection and the kingdom of God, promised them the Holy Spirit, and told them they would be his witnesses. Today we’d like to think about what it means to be Jesus’ witness, and how we can really live that way today. May God open our hearts and speak to us through his living words.

 Look at verse 1. Here the author addresses someone named “Theophilus.” His name meant “lover of God.” The author also says he wrote a “former book.” Who was this author? He was Luke. Luke’s Gospel is also written to “most excellent Theophilus.” Luke was not one of Jesus’ disciples, but was a Gentile convert later. Luke was actually a medical doctor and became Paul’s personal physician and traveling companion. Then who was “Theophilus”? He was probably a wealthy, high-ranking official who’d become a believer in Jesus and who sponsored Luke to do his research and his writing. Luke summarizes what his former book, Luke’s Gospel, was really all about: it was “all that Jesus began to do and to teach.” It’s what we should be looking for as we study the Bible: what did Jesus do, and what did Jesus teach?

Verse 2b says, “...after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen.” Here, the focus shifts from Jesus to his apostles. Jesus began doing and teaching great things, but now it was up to his apostles to continue his work. What were his “instructions”? It’s a reference back to Luke 24:44–49. There Jesus instructed his apostles in four specific ways: First, he told them his death and resurrection were a fulfillment of the Scriptures. Second, he told them to tell people to repent and receive forgiveness of sins in his name. Third, he told them to be his witnesses. Fourth, he told them to stay in Jerusalem and receive the promised Holy Spirit.

Read verse 3a. Jesus wanted his apostles to be sure he really was alive. He gave many convincing proofs. In Luke 24, he showed them his hands and feet, the places where nails had been driven to fasten him to the cross. He even ate a piece of broiled fish in their presence. Then as now, it’s hard to believe the resurrection. But the resurrection of Jesus is the core of the Christian message. Because he rose from the dead, everything Jesus said and did was true. And because he rose from the dead, we have hope that death won’t be the end for us either; we too will rise from the dead someday and be with him.

Read verse 3b. After his death and resurrection, over a period of forty days Jesus appeared to his apostles. Forty days suggests a time of preparation. This time, it was spiritual preparation for the apostles to take over the ministry of Jesus. During this time Jesus had one main point: the kingdom of God. It’s the core message of the whole Bible: paradise lost, and paradise restored. The Bible says Jesus’ death and resurrection are the gospel, the good news (1Co15:3,4). But the real point, the big picture, is the kingdom of God. Through Jesus’ death and resurrection, we have a living hope in the kingdom of God. In Acts the apostles repeatedly give the kingdom of God as their main message (8:12; 14:22; 19:8; 20:25; 28:23,31). It was actually Jesus’ message (Lk4:43; 8:1; 9:11). To people today, the kingdom of God can sound like a fairy tale. But it’s not a myth, or fiction; the kingdom of God is real, more real than we can imagine. What is it? It’s where God rules in people’s hearts. God rules by his grace. The kingdom of God is where repentant sinners who come to Jesus are welcomed by God’s grace. It’s an experience now but also a place in the future. The Bible describes God’s kingdom as a place of healing, of eternal fellowship with God, of light, love and life, of deep satisfaction for our souls, and true security. To be Jesus’ witnesses, we need to believe his resurrection and experience the hope, peace and joy of his kingdom (Ro14:22). To be Jesus’ witnesses, we also need to be telling people the good news of his resurrection and the hope of his kingdom.

Read verses 4,5. The apostles didn’t want to stay in Jerusalem. Why? Because all Jesus’ enemies were there. And most of the apostles were from Galilee. They wanted to go home. They wanted to go where they could relax, where things would be much easier, where people were much more open to Jesus. But Jesus told them to stay in Jerusalem. Verse 4 calls it his “command.” It was something they would have to obey, by faith. How could they obey this command and stay in that place? Jesus also mentioned a promise: “the gift my Father promised.” If they obeyed his command, they would receive the promised gift, the Holy Spirit. Jesus had already promised them the Holy Spirit (Jn14–16). In fact, John the Baptist had, too. The Bible repeatedly mentions the promise of the Holy Spirit to all believers (Ac2:33; Gal3:14; Eph1:13). It’s such a wonderful promise of God, to receive the Holy Spirit. But God gives the Holy Spirit only to those who obey him (Ac5:32). We receive the Holy Spirit at the beginning of our Christian lives. But from time to time we need to receive the Holy Spirit again. We need to be renewed by the Spirit and filled with the Spirit.

Read verse 6. Wow. Jesus had been speaking for the past forty days about the kingdom of God, but they were thinking only about restoring the kingdom to Israel. He could have lost his patience with them. He could have lost hope in them. But how did he respond? Read verse 7. He didn’t smash their Jewish-centered hope. He just taught them about God’s sovereignty in fulfilling his plan. He told them and us not to waste our time speculating on how God’s plan will be fulfilled. Then he said something else. Read verse 8. Jesus could be patient with them and not lose hope for them because he believed the Holy Spirit would change them. He believed that through the Holy Spirit they would become his powerful witnesses to the ends of the earth. His main point, his main direction, was: “You will be my witnesses.”

The expression “witness” of Jesus is repeated eleven times in the Book of Acts (1:8,22; 2:32; 3:15; 5:32; 10:39,41; 13:31; 22:15; 26:16; 28:23). In Greek, this word, “witness,” is literally our word “martyr.” To “testify” about Jesus is repeated another seven times in Acts (4:33; 10:42,43; 18:5; 20:24; 23:11; 26:22). In Greek, again it’s the verb form of the word “martyr.” So to be a witness or to testify about Jesus is repeated a total of 18 times. This tells us that being a witness of Jesus is a major theme in the Book of Acts.

What does being his witness mean? Literally, his witnesses were the people who’d been with him during his life and ministry, seeing all that he did and hearing all that he taught (1:1,2,21,22; 10:39). It was a very special group known as the twelve apostles. They especially told people that Jesus died and rose again (1:22; 2:32; 3:15; 5:30–32). But it was more than just repeating what had happened. It meant telling people the good news of Jesus (5:42; 8:12,35; 10:36; 11:20; 13:32; 14:15; 17:18; 20:24). It even meant warning people (10:42). Witnesses were people who’d been chosen (1:2,24; 9:15; 10:41; 22:14). Not only that, they’d been changed by God’s grace through Jesus (4:33; 6:8; 11:23; 15:11,40; 18:27; 20:24,32). They’d repented and received the forgiveness of sins by believing in Jesus (2:38; 5:31; 10:43; 13:38; 26:18). It means witnesses of Jesus are a much larger group than just the original twelve apostles.

Apostle Paul is the most famous example. Paul wasn’t there with Jesus during his life on earth. In fact, he’d been an enemy of Jesus’ followers and their message. But the Risen Jesus met him, forgave him, and called him to be his servant. Paul’s story is told in detail in the second half of the Book of Acts. He becomes an inspiring role model of what it means to be Jesus’ witness. So what are the core aspects of being a witness of Jesus?

First, a witness of Jesus has experienced God’s grace personally. Jesus’ disciples had been eyewitnesses of his life and ministry, but that wasn’t really what made them his witnesses. Judas Iscariot had seen everything but had never opened his heart to God’s grace. In fact, Peter hadn’t, either. In his deep heart Peter thought he was better than all the others. He thought he had made great sacrifices for Jesus. He thought he was closer and more loyal to Jesus than anybody. He seemed good outwardly, but underneath, he was self-righteous and didn’t really know himself. In his self-righteousness he thought he knew better than Jesus, and wasn’t really listening to him. Then, he failed. Despite all his big talk, he denied Jesus three times before a little servant girl. Only then could he realize that Jesus was right and he was wrong. Only with Jesus’ help could he remember how Jesus had predicted his denials. Then Peter went outside and wept bitterly (Lk22:54–62). Finally, he began to taste the grace of God through Jesus. Only by experiencing grace could Peter really become Jesus’ witness.

 Paul was the same. From childhood he’d been a Pharisee, conforming to the strictest sect of the Jewish religion (26:5). He was thoroughly trained in the law of the Jews and was as zealous for God as anybody (22:3). But all his training and zeal and strictness only made him self-righteous. Though he heard the testimony of God’s servant Stephen, saw Stephen being stoned and heard Stephen’s prayer for his enemies to be forgiven, he stood there giving his approval and guarded the clothes of those who were killing him (22:20; cf. 7:57–8:1). Then he began destroying the church, going from house to house, dragging off both men and women, putting them in prison (8:3), and breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples (9:1). He was working so hard and thought he was serving God by eliminating heretics. In fact, he was persecuting Jesus. He was so self-righteous, and so blind. Right in the middle of one of his persecuting escapades the Risen Jesus visited him, forgave him, called him to be his servant, and opened his spiritual eyes to see his grace (Ac9). From then on, Paul became a man of God’s grace. He went on to write most of the New Testament, and always wrote about God’s grace. He said, “Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief. The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the worst. But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his immense patience as an example for those who would believe in him and receive eternal life” (1Ti1:13–16). Because Paul knew God’s grace so personally, he poured his life into telling people about it (Ac20:24).

 Experiencing God’s grace in our lives doesn’t have to be so epic. But it does mean we have to turn from our wicked ways, from our self-righteousness, turn to Jesus, put our faith in him, and then, start telling others about God’s grace. It tells us the real motivation of being one of Jesus’ witnesses. It’s not just because it’s the truth, or because it’s our duty. We actually want to tell others, because God’s grace in Jesus is such good news available to anyone.

Second, a witness of Jesus is changed at the core with a new life focus. The apostles heard Jesus speak for forty days about the kingdom of God, but all they could think about was the kingdom of Israel. They were ethnocentric, concerned only about their own culture, race and people. Fundamentally, they were self-centered. Though they’d followed Jesus closely and heard and seen everything, they still were always thinking mainly about themselves. This is why, when he was arrested, they all ran away. For them to be Jesus’ witnesses, their life focus would have to change, from self to Jesus, from their own nation and kingdom to Jesus’ kingdom. With this new life focus, they would willingly go not only to Jerusalem, but to all Judea and Samaria, and even to the ends of the earth. They even would be willing to die for Jesus.

It takes time to be so deeply changed at our core. Again, Peter is an example. He thought he should be ministering to Jews, not Gentiles. He couldn’t get past his racial bias. God had to show him a special vision and give him strong direction to go to a Gentile named Cornelius and share the good news of Jesus with him (Ac10). Paul, too, is a good example. In his former life he had never imagined that God wanted to save the Gentiles. He was only thinking about being the perfect Jew and making a great name for himself. But saving Gentiles is exactly what God called him to do. Paul became so changed that he willingly called himself an apostle to the Gentiles, and he loved and embraced them fully as true brothers and sisters in Christ. To be a witness of Jesus, God has to help us get past our self-centered mentality and see how he wants to use us to reach all kinds of people. The more God changes us at our core, the more we see that ministry is not for us; it’s for Christ and his kingdom.

Third, a witness of Jesus lives a changed life like Jesus. As Jesus was so humble and so loving, so witnesses of Jesus imitate his humble and loving character. The early Christians experienced this. In their community there were no needy persons; they were not selfish with their property and shared with anyone who was in need (Ac2:44,45; 4:32–35). Their Christ-like lives may have been even more impactful than their great preaching. As believers in Jesus, he’s sending us out into this harsh and selfish world to represent him. The Bible calls us Christ’s ambassadors (2Co5). When we claim to believe in Jesus, the non-believers around us start looking closely at our behavior and lifestyle. How are we spending our money? How are we treating people? Often it’s not what we say, but how we behave and how we live that opens and moves people’s hearts.

Fourth, a witness of Jesus is bold. Read verse 8a again. The key word here is “power.” Without the Holy Spirit, we have no power to be Jesus’ witness. In fact, we’re too afraid. We’re afraid of what people will think. We’re afraid of being rejected. We’re afraid of suffering. But when we receive the Holy Spirit, he gives us power. He makes us strong and courageous. He makes us bold. In fact, the early believers prayed for boldness, and throughout Acts it’s repeated that Jesus’ witnesses were bold (4:29,31; 9:28; 13:46; 14:3; 18:26; 19:8; 28:31). We too should be praying to be bold in sharing our faith.

Fifth, a witness of Jesus shares from the Bible who Jesus is and why he came. At the end of Luke 24, Jesus himself explained from the Bible to his apostles about the meaning of his death and resurrection. In Acts 2, Peter explained from the Bible about Jesus’ death and resurrection. In Acts 13, Paul also explained from the Bible about Jesus’ death and resurrection. He did it wherever he went (17:2,3; 18:11; 28:23). Witnesses of Jesus don’t share random things; they explain reasonably from the Bible who Jesus is, what he did, and why people should believe in him. Being Jesus’ witness involves teaching the Bible, whether it’s one-on-one, or in a small group, or bringing people to hear a Bible message.

          So how can anyone be Jesus’ witness? Read verse 8 again. It’s only when the Holy Spirit comes on us. The Holy Spirit gives us power to grasp the meaning of Jesus’ death and resurrection and the hope of the kingdom of God. He gives us power to change deeply, at our core. He gives us power to have a new mindset, to be passionate about serving Christ and his kingdom. He gives us power to live like Christ, humble and full of love. He gives us power to be bold. He gives us power to explain the Bible to others. We live in a world where so many people live without God. It’s not very open to Christianity. In fact, it often lures us to live just the opposite of the way Jesus taught, with false hopes and a self-centered life. At the end of 2017 we may feel like we’ve failed miserably as Jesus’ witnesses. But the power of the Holy Spirit enables us to set a spiritual reset button. He can renew us with resurrection faith and hope in God’s kingdom, with God’s grace and a Christ-centered mind-set. He can empower us newly when we’re exhausted or hurt. He can give us a new heart and mind to understand the Bible deeper and deeper. What should we do? Like the apostles, we need to obey and stay in our Jerusalem. We need to encourage each other and pray together and wait for the Holy Spirit. May God speak to us and give us a wonderful new spiritual direction in our hearts at the beginning of 2018, to live as Jesus’ witnesses by the power of the Holy Spirit.

I HAVE BEEN CRUCIFIED WITH CHRIST

Galatians 2:1–21

Key Verse: 2:20

“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

          Can people ever really change? Some people change their outward appearance, but their inner person remains the same. We all probably know some people who are very set in their ways; for them to be changed may seem impossible. But in today’s passage we see that it is possible for someone to be truly changed, changed at the core. In this letter Paul is writing to Gentile Christians to help them have confidence in their newfound faith in Jesus. In chapter 1 he explains that we’re all called to live in the grace of Christ, not in legalism. Now in chapter 2 he shows that we’re also called to live in fellowship with one another, even though we may be so different. To isolate ourselves from other believers, thinking we’re superior, is not the truth of the gospel. Paul again shares a personal testimony of how his own relationship with Christ changed him and enabled him to get along with all kinds of people. In this study we especially want to learn what Paul’s words, “I have been crucified with Christ,” mean, and how we can share that same experience. May God open our hearts and speak to us through his living word today.

          Look at verse 1. Here Paul picks up where he left off in chapter one, with his personal testimony. In 1:18 he said that three years after his conversion he went to Jerusalem. Now he says that fourteen years after his conversion he went to Jerusalem again, this time, with Barnabas and Titus. During those intervening years a church got started in Syrian Antioch. Today it’s called Antakya in Turkey. It was started during the Greek Empire and developed during the Roman Empire. During Paul’s time it was the third largest city in the Roman Empire, with over half a million residents. This church at Antioch was shockingly different. Antioch was the first Christian church made up primarily of Gentiles. The only other church at that time was in Jerusalem. The Jerusalem church was the first Christian church, led by Peter and the original twelve apostles, and it was all Jewish. When they heard about this new church in Antioch, the Jerusalem church sent a man named Barnabas to go see about it. Barnabas “saw what the grace of God had done” among these Gentiles in Antioch. He encouraged them to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts (Ac11:22,23). Then Barnabas went to look for Paul in his hometown of Tarsus, and he brought him to Antioch, where they both worked together teaching the Bible to these new believers (Ac11:25, 26). This church at Antioch became a giving church; during a severe famine they sent financial help to the Jerusalem church through Barnabas and Paul (Ac11: 27–30). The Antioch church also raised Gentiles as Bible teachers and leaders (Ac13:1); one of them was Titus, who was Greek (3). Titus from Antioch went on to become one of Paul’s greatest coworkers (2Co2:13; 7:6,13,14; 8:6,16,17,23; 12:18; Tit1:4). The Antioch church got together and sent Paul and Barnabas on the first missionary journey in the Roman Empire, to start these new Gentile churches in Galatia. So the Galatian Christians all knew Barnabas.

          Paul goes on to explain his trip with Barnabas and Titus to Jerusalem. Read verse 2. Paul took this trip not randomly, but in response to God’s leading. When he got there, he had a private meeting with the church leaders. According to verse 9, they were James (the brother of Jesus), Peter (Cephas) and John. In this meeting Paul shared the message of good news about Jesus he had been explaining to Gentiles. He had been telling people, Jew and Greek, to turn to God in repentance and have faith in our Lord Jesus (Ac20:21). Paul felt that if the Jerusalem church opposed this message, all his ministry among the Gentiles would turn out to be in vain.

          Look at verse 3. Paul purposely took Titus with him to Jerusalem as evidence of a Gentile who'd been changed by the gospel. During his visit to Jerusalem the leaders got to know Titus as a fine young Christian leader. So the pillars of the church thought it was totally unnecessary to have Titus circumcised. It was a great victory for Paul and for the gospel.

          But why did this matter arise? Read verse 4. These false believers claimed to be Christians. But they were insisting that Gentiles needed to be circumcised in order to be saved (Ac15:1,2). They went to the Antioch church like spies, to judge these new believers who were living in the grace of God. They were very suspicious of the freedom in Christ that they practiced. Paul had been very clear with them. Read verse 5. Paul refused to compromise with their legalism even a little bit. It was so that he might preserve the truth of the gospel. What is the truth of the gospel? The truth of the gospel is that no matter who we are, we’re saved only by faith in the grace of Jesus, not by our works (Eph2:8,9). The truth of the gospel is that no matter who we are, this faith sets us free—free from our sins and free from all kinds of legalism. The truth of the gospel is that no matter who we are, we receive the Holy Spirit, who gives us hope. The truth of the gospel is that no matter who we are, we express our faith in Jesus through love (5:1–6). As Christians we don’t need to learn rules and laws; no matter who we are, we need to learn how to live by faith in Jesus. We learn from Paul that this truth of the gospel needs to be preserved and passed on to all the people of the world.

          Paul goes on to describe the conclusion of this meeting. Read verses 6–10. It turned out to be a most successful meeting. The Jerusalem church leaders recognized Paul’s mission from God (7) and they recognized the grace God had given him (9). They even extended to Paul and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship (9). It means they fully accepted them as brothers, partners and equals in Christ, and they also fully accepted their ministry to Gentiles. In this way Paul protected his Gentile brothers and sisters in Christ. It tells us how important it is not to be critical and judgmental, but to recognize and accept what God is doing in and through others by his grace.

          But the controversy was not over. Read verses 11–14. It’s shocking that Peter and even Barnabas caved in to peer pressure from fellow Jews, not to have fellowship with Gentile Christians. It may have seemed like a smart compromise at the time. But Paul would have none of it. He said they were “not acting in line with the truth of the gospel.” This expression means a lot. It means we can believe the truth of the gospel in theory, but not live it out in our practical lives. We can do this in many ways. We can compromise with sinful behavior. But we can also avoid having fellowship with other Christians simply because they’re different from us. The truth of the gospel is that we’re all children of God through faith in Christ. The truth of the gospel is that we’re all clothed with Christ. The truth of the gospel is that we’re not primarily Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male or female—we’re all one in Christ (3:26–29). If we believe that truth, then we need to treat one another with genuine respect and love, as dear children of God, heavenly princes and princesses. To do that, we need to get out of our comfort zone. We need to embrace people on the basis of their faith in Jesus, not on their personalities or if we like them or not personally.

          Paul explains that Jews and Gentiles share the same faith. Read verses 15,16. Even Jewish Christians knew they were justified only by faith in Jesus. The works of the law are all kinds of efforts to gain God’s approval. The Jews kept rituals and ethical and moral rules to be right with God. But it didn’t work, because they could never keep these rules perfectly. What does it mean to be “justified”? It means that God declares us “not guilty.” God himself wipes away or expunges all our bad records of sin, when we simply repent and accept Jesus. Paul also cleared up a misunderstanding about God’s grace. Read verses 17,18. Simply, it means that we cannot go on sinning in the name of grace (Ro6:1,2). Paul explained his own experience with the law. Read verse 19. What does it mean that through the law he died to the law? It means the law exposed Paul’s sin. Only when he overcame his own self-righteousness and realized what a terrible sinner he was in the sight of God could he be ready to accept the truth of the gospel of God’s grace. When he did, then he could stop living for his own pride and glory and truly live for God (cf. Ro7:4).

          Read verse 20. Here Paul says some things about himself and about Christ. He says he’s been crucified with Christ. He says he no longer lives. He says he now lives “by faith.” He says Christ lives in him. He says Christ is “the Son of God.” And he says Christ loved him and gave himself for him. What does it mean to be “crucified with Christ”? First of all, it means to deeply accept the gospel. It means to accept that my old self was crucified with Jesus on the cross, so that I should no longer be a slave to sin (Ro6:6). Only Christ’s crucifixion can really set me free from my sin, not my zeal or efforts. Secondly, to be crucified with Christ means to die to myself so that I might truly live for God. Without being crucified with Christ, we’re still full of ourselves. We’re constantly thinking of ourselves, our honor and glory and what others are thinking of us. But when we’re crucified with Christ, we’re free of ourselves, free to truly love God and free to truly love others. Finally, to be crucified with Christ means to deeply accept the cross of suffering as the core of Christian life. When we embrace the cross, we humble ourselves and sacrifice ourselves in order to save others. When we’re crucified with Christ, we’re no longer full of complaints, or thinking we’re doing others a great favor, but full of deep thanks for what Jesus has done for us.

          Paul says that “Christ lives in me.” Christ dwells in our hearts through faith (Eph3:17). But Christ dwelling in us isn’t just for our personal enjoyment. Only as we daily identify with Christ who died on the cross will Christ live in us and reveal the glory of his death and resurrection. Before accepting the gospel Paul lived by his own strength and willpower. After accepting the gospel Paul lived by faith in Jesus. It means he now depended on Jesus, not on himself. This was the secret of his fruitful life as a minister of Christ to the Gentiles—living by faith in Jesus.

          Perhaps the most important part of verse 20 is Paul’s personal conviction about Christ. Now that he accepted the gospel, Paul was sure that Jesus loved him and gave himself for him. He was sure of the love of God through the grace of Jesus on the cross. When he tried to keep the law, he could never be fully sure of God’s love and approval. But by accepting that Christ died for him, Paul became absolutely sure of God’s love for him (Ro8:37–39). This assurance of God’s personal love enabled Paul to live as a good shepherd for Gentiles. We too need to be sure of Jesus’ love for us. It may seem like a small thing, but it’s the most important thing in life. When we’re not sure of God’s love personally, we have no real love in us to give to others. But when we’re sure of God’s love, we have a fountain of love within us to share with all kinds of people.

          Read verse 20 again. May God enable us to experience being crucified with Christ so that Christ may live in us. May he especially give us the conviction that Jesus loves me and gave himself for me.

THE INCARNATION

John 1:14a

“The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.”

          Merry Christmas! At Christmas we celebrate the birth of Jesus. But why do we do it every year? It’s a cultural tradition and major commercial event. So many people get swept up in it all. But what does it really mean? When we hear the news, there doesn’t seem to be much reason to celebrate. The world seems so messed up, with more and more fear, mistrust and hatred. Many want to hide from the world like a turtle in its shell. The big city of Chicago seems diverse with people from all over the world, but in reality many live their entire lives here in isolated ethnic enclaves and never get very close to people different from themselves. Even many Christians are isolating themselves, afraid of becoming unspiritual. Some are just focusing on protecting their own children. Those outside the Christian faith tend to see the Christmas holiday as a form of escape, a sentimental, materialistic, self-indulgent time. But Jesus’ birth is actually the exact opposite of all this. He entered into this dark, scary world and broke through all kinds of barriers. John 1:14 describes it briefly, with one profound truth: the Incarnation. Today we want to think about what the Incarnation means to each of us. May God open our hearts and speak to us through his word today.

          John’s Gospel begins with a prologue, and it introduces us to “the Word.” As we read it, we find that the Word is not a concept, or a sound, but a person. Who is he? Read verses 1–3. So, the Word was God. And there’s two more things about him. He was “in the beginning,” before the world began. And through him all things were made. So, he’s the Eternal Creator God. But wait—who are we really talking about here? The Eternal Creator—he’s so great, so awesome, it’s hard for us even to begin to comprehend him. A Christmas poem puts it this way: “Our God heaven cannot hold Him/Nor earth sustain,/ Heaven and earth shall flee away/When he comes to reign…” (cf. 1Ki8:27; Rev20:11).

Verses 1-3 tell us something else hard to comprehend: the Word was God, yet he was also with God.What could it possibly mean? Verse 14 implies that the Word is Jesus. So actually in verses 1-3 John is describing two of the three persons of the Trinity—God the Father and God the Son. We can’t fully grasp it, but by saying “the Word was with God,” John is saying that God the Son existed in eternity with the Father, in perfect fellowship with him (Jn8:29,58; 10:30; 17:5).

And why did John choose to call God’s Son “the Word”? Well, he’s trying to tell us how much God wants to communicate with us. Hebrews 1:1,2 says, “In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe.” God speaks to us through his word in the Bible, but the whole Bible points us to Jesus (Jn5:39). God speaks to us most fully through the person and work of Jesus, the Word. Have you ever stopped to think about it: “God...actually wants to speak ...to me”? What’s he trying to say? The secret is in today’s key verse, but we have to think about it carefully and deeply if we’re going to grasp it.

          Let’s read verse 14a. At first it may not seem like such a big deal, but this statement is shocking. If the Word is the Creator and Eternal Son of God, how could he become flesh? Some have even said that such a notion is blasphemy. Paul calls it a “mystery” that “he appeared in the flesh” (1Ti3:16). John, an eyewitness, insists it was true: God the Son became flesh. Later he wrote, “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us” (1Jn1:1,2). It was mind-blowing, but it was real and true, as real and true as we can see with our own eyes and touch with our hands. To do this, God in a sense had to set aside his glory as God (Jn17:5). He’s eternal and almighty, but in becoming flesh he entered into time and space and took on our human limits. He even knew what it is to be tired, and thirsty (Jn4:6; 19:28).

So what does this word “incarnation” mean? It may sound like a hard word, but it simply means to put on flesh. It’s also come to mean to be the embodiment of something. So we say, “He’s the incarnation of greed” or “She’s the incarnation of beauty.” Some confuse it with re-incarnation—that we’ve had a previous life, and we’ll have another as a different creature. In light of the Bible’s teachings, reincarnation isn’t true, but in a way it has something to do with today’s message. Let’s think about it for just a moment. Some people find the idea of reincarnation both exciting and scary. What if I have to come back as a flea?!? If we could choose, we might like to come back as someone more gorgeous and famous, rich and powerful. Honestly, in real life most people are aggressively trying to step up, not down: Higher position, more recognition, more money, more beauty. It’s just the opposite of what God himself did. Just the fact that the Eternal Creator God became human is staggering and hard to wrap our minds around. But “the” Incarnation is the one and only time in history when God took on human form. There have been many great events, but this was the most important thing that’s ever happened. C. S. Lewis called it the miracle of all miracles.

Other places in the Bible give us even more surprising details about the Incarnation. Luke 2 says that when he was born, there was no guest room available, so he was placed in a manger—an animal’s feedbox: weak and vulnerable, poor and ignored, and born to an unwed mother. Isaiah 53 adds that he grew up like a root out of dry ground, with no beauty or majesty to attract us to him. Philippians 2 says that when he took on human form, he made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, and humbled himself. Matthew 8 says that during his adult life he didn’t even have a place to lay his head. Apostle Paul wrote, “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor…” (2Co8:9a). When he became flesh, Jesus willingly chose probably one of the lowliest human experiences possible. Who in their right mind would do that?

And why would he? Isaiah 53:3a says, “He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain...” The eternal Son of God didn’t hide; he exposed himself to being despised and rejected, and to the full brunt of human pain. Why? It was so he could understand those who suffer—especially those who’ve been despised and rejected, whose lives are filled with pain. Honestly, it can be so hard to understand someone who’s suffering. But because he became a man of suffering, Jesus understands people going through the worst sufferings—like the little child dying of starvation in Yemen, or the lonely senior citizen abandoned in a nursing home, or the humiliated Palestinian living behind barbed wire, or the fragile teenager deeply confused about his identity, or the accomplished person always despised simply because of his race, or the troubled woman abused by animalistic men, or the person ashamed of mental illness, or the one addicted to opioids, or the ambitious young man afraid of failure—Jesus deeply understands each one. Because he was wounded, he understands those who’ve been wounded. In young people’s language, he was “woke” to human oppression, injustice and agonies of all kinds. That’s why, during his ministry, he reached out to heal the sick and diseased, all those whom society didn’t want. Jesus didn’t just identify with suffering people—it says he “took up our pain and bore our suffering” (Isa53:4a). In his suffering, in some sense, he experienced all our suffering.

Hebrews 2:14 says, “Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity…” Verse 17 says, “For this reason he had to be made like them, fully human in every way…” It  emphasizes that when he became flesh, God the Son became fully human. He “gets” what it means to be human, including our emotions: our love of life and family, our longing to be accepted, our joys and sorrows, fears and loneliness. So, he’s so relatable. Sometimes we can be smart, work hard and be getting things done, but at the same time we’re emotionally not present when people really need us to be. Jesus, on the other hand, is so real, not like a human machine, and he always empathizes with us. Because he’s fully human, he’s merciful and faithful to us (Heb2:17b; 4:15). We have many weaknesses but he never looks down on us; he’s unashamed to call us his brothers and sisters (Heb2:11,12). We should never feel he’s too holy and we’re too sinful to come to him. We can approach him with confidence to receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need (Heb4:16).

Look at John 1:14a again. It says “…and made his dwelling among us.” As God the Son, he was the Prince of heaven, but he didn’t isolate himself in a palace with many servants; he chose to live among ordinary folks. In fact, he actually chose to live with those who were spiritually sick (Mt9:11–13). Wow! To do that, he didn’t mind being called “a glutton and drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners” (Mt11:19). He’s still concerned with “the least” among us; they’re “close to his heart” (Mt25:40; Isa40:11). It shows that Jesus is our Shepherd. Throughout the world, shepherds go out into the fields to live with their sheep and stay with them as a matter of life or death. They get to know their sheep by name, meaning each one’s character and needs (Jn10:14). It’s always impressive when an important person goes to visit overlooked, forgotten people. But Jesus didn’t just visit for an afternoon; he stayed and became one of us.

It wasn’t just for some agenda; in dwelling among us Jesus affirmed our value and dignity as human beings. We’re each just one of billions of people, and we’re living on one tiny speck of a planet in an unfathomable universe. King David thought about this mind-boggling reality and wrote a poem to God: “When I consider your heavens,/the work of your fingers,/the moon and the stars,/which you have set in place,/what is mankind that you are mindful of them,/human beings that you care for them?” (Ps8:3,4) When the Word became flesh, God was saying to each one of us: “You matter to me—you may think you’re just one insignificant, flawed person, but you matter greatly to me.”

Then there’s the main reason for the Incarnation. What is it? A little later in chapter 1, when John the Baptist first sees Jesus, he exclaims, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (Jn1:29). Jesus the Word became flesh to become the Lamb of God for us. But what does that really mean, and how does it work? When he was born, he became the only human being since the Fall who was without sin, because Jesus uniquely was conceived by the Holy Spirit (Mt1:18b,20b; Lk1:35). In his flesh he was tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin (Heb4:15b). In fact, in him is no sin (1Jn3:5). Paul says, “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us…” (2Co5:21a). Isaiah 53:5 says, “But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.” 1 Peter 2:24 applies it to our practical lives: “‘He himself bore our sins’ in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; ‘by his wounds you have been healed.’”

In short, Jesus was wounded in his flesh so that we might be healed. Later when Thomas touched the wounds in Jesus’ body he was healed of his doubts (Jn20:24-29). Likewise, when we look intently into the meaning of his wounds, a miracle happens in our hearts. He heals us of our doubts, our pride, our bitterness, our anger, our hatred, our grudges. He also heals us of our slavish desires for sin. People think sin is enjoyable, acting like it’s not a problem, like there are no consequences. But sin definitely has consequences. When we violate God’s moral and ethical laws, we make ourselves spiritually sick. We get enslaved; we hurt others and alienate ourselves from God; the guilt can be like a prison. Jesus became flesh to get us out of that prison. He became flesh to heal us and restore our relationship with God. Because he became flesh, because he bore our sins in his body, because he shed his blood to forgive and cleanse us, we sinners can draw near to the Holy God, and he can make his dwelling with us forever (Heb10:22; Rev21:3). This healing, this restoration with God, is our hope in this hopeless world. Recently so many young people have lost hope in our government. But this is our real hope—to be deeply healed by the Lamb and to worship him for ever and ever (Rev5:12,13).

But the Incarnation is also grounded on this earth; it shows us how to relate to other people (Php2:3,5; Ro12:16). It challenges us to humble ourselves to make friends with people very different from us. To do this, we’ve got to put aside our pride and prejudice. We’ve got to do our best to try to understand people, especially their hearts. It requires learning how to really listen. There’s a new book coaching business people on how to be successful in an increasingly robotic world; it’s called Humility is the New Smart (Hess & Ludwig). Even secular people are finding how effective humility is! So we shouldn’t just be enjoying the beauty of the Incarnation; it should challenge us to make practical life choices: where we live, what we eat, how we speak, how we use our time, who we associate with. It might be even more important than knowing all the right things. Honestly, it’s hard to always intentionally be pushing ourselves out of our comfort zone to relate to others in humility. But Apostle Paul, who may have been the greatest missionary, wholeheartedly embraced this incarnational lifestyle. He said he was willing to become like a Jew to win the Jews, or like a Gentile to win the Gentiles. He said, “I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some” (1Co9:22b).

Being incarnational is more than just learning skills or techniques. Jesus the Incarnate Word is inviting us, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light”(Mt11:28–30). He’s inviting us to be in a personal relationship with him and learn his gentle, humble heart. Why do we get so weary and burdened? Partly it’s because life has so many demands. But really it’s because we have a sinful nature, and because we have to live among other people who also have a sinful nature. The brutal truth is, our sinful nature makes us selfish, proud, prone to gossip, and merciless, just to name a few of our vices. Honestly, it ruins marriages, families and coworking relationships. Being like this and living among people like this can be so exhausting and demoralizing.

But whenever we come to Jesus, the Word who became flesh and made his dwelling among us, we find rest for our souls. Why? Because he’s so gentle and humble in heart. His humble, gentle heart is like a spiritual oasis. In his humility the Bible calls him “the God of all comfort” (2Co1:3). Even with all our weaknesses, burdensome problems and sins, he welcomes us, saying, “Come to me, and I will give you rest.” Through his birth God is inviting us to turn from this restless world, come to him and find true rest for our souls. As we learn his gentle, humble heart, it transforms our inner person to actually become more like him. When our heart is proud, we’re restless. But when our heart becomes humble like his, our souls find true rest.

He’s also inviting us, “Take my yoke upon you.” It’s actually how we really learn from him—not through theories read in books but through the real life experience of being yoked with Jesus. But what is that? What’s his “yoke”? Literally it’s a wooden cross piece fastened over the necks of two animals and attached to a cart or plow they have to pull. It’s a metaphor for the mission God the Father gave Jesus the Son. It’s the mission of saving people from their sins by being with them (Mt1:21,23). Jesus who said, “Take my yoke upon you” is humbly inviting us to share in his mission. Pulling a cart through a yoke may seem strenuous and burdensome. But Jesus promises, “For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” It’s a miracle, but it’s his humility that makes it so. And he’s doing most of the pulling; we get to help only by his grace. When we live for our own ego, we get so burdened and restless trying to impress people. But when we take Jesus’ yoke, we find that it’s easy and light. Working together with Christ isn’t heavy; it fills us with joy.

The Incarnation has many meanings, but ultimately it shows us God’s great, initiating love. In our sin we ignore God and act like he doesn’t exist. But he came to us anyway. He came to us first. He came to us when we were wrong and lived like his enemies. He came so humbly to show us how much he loves us. Can you believe that he loves us that much? 1 John 4:9,10 says, “This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.” No matter who we are or what we’ve done, all we have to do is open our hearts to his love. And when we experience his love, he calls us to love others the way he loves us. He calls us to love humbly and to love first, even when we’re not loved back.

Jesus reached out to me when I was a college student, when I had absolutely no interest in being a Christian. I was just 19 but my soul was already sick with lust and guilt, sorrow and rebellion, and, I was so arrogant. But Jesus was so humble and patient, and he never gave up on me. Finally, after 3 years of intensive Bible study I could experience his saving grace, seeing how he suffered in my place on the cross. He called me to a beautiful life not living for myself but serving young people with the same grace he showed me. I’ve been doing it full-time the past 35 years. Over time, though, I’ve come to feel used, and hurt, and tired. But through this message God has renewed his love and grace in my heart. Now I want to draw ever closer to Jesus to learn his gentle, humble heart and share his yoke of spreading his grace with a new willingness and a new joy.

So as we celebrate Christmas this year, amidst all the music and the decorations and the presents and the cookies and the relatives, let’s think about the core meaning, the Incarnation—that God our Creator became flesh to understand us, to value us, to be with us, to save us, to love us, and to show us how to live a beautiful life like his.

THE BEGINNING OF THE GOOD NEWS

Mark 1:1–20

Key Verse: 1:15

“‘The time has come,’ he said. ‘The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!’”

          To start something new may look easy, but actually it’s really hard. It might be moving to a new place, starting at a new school, starting a new relationship, a new business, or having a new child. A new beginning changes our lives. Lots of preparation usually goes into it. So people say, “I don’t even know where to start!” The main theme of today’s passage is beginnings. It tells us how Jesus’ ministry actually started. New start-ups can often turn out to be flops. But the beginning of Jesus’ ministry repeatedly is described as “the good news” or “the gospel” (1,14,15). As we read today’s verses, they’re written simply, but they’re way more than just dry facts. As we reflect on each verse, it’s almost like a list of ingredients for a recipe. So as we go through the passage we want to think about a few questions. What can we learn here about Jesus? What does it mean to follow him? And what are the essential elements for the gospel to really begin, or to restart, in our lives? May God speak to us through his word today.

First, the good news. Read verse 1. As we’ve said, this passage repeats the words “good news” three times (1,14,15). Verse 1 tells us that the good news is “about Jesus.” Verse 14 says it’s “the good news of God.” And verse 15 says it’s the good news of “the kingdom of God.” Basically, Mark is saying that Jesus came from God, to open the way to the kingdom of God. It’s really good news! Later we’re going to think more about what the kingdom of God means, but for now, the main idea of the good news is Jesus himself. Sometimes we say that such and such a person is “bad news.” But Jesus is good news for everyone.

          Verse 1 also tells us some important things about who Jesus is. It says he’s “the Messiah” and “the Son of God.” These might be one and the same thing. It tells us that Jesus is a very special person. The Messiah means “the Anointed One,” the King God had promised to send through the descendants of David. Jesus the King came to bring God’s salvation. He’s the hope of the people of Israel, and the true hope for people of all the nations. He’s the King of God’s kingdom. Jesus is also more than a mere man. He’s the divine “Son of God.” He came to bring us back to God. He’s the one we need to learn to put our faith in, to follow, and to worship. The coming of Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God, is really good news.

Second, the gospel begins with prophecy. Read verses 2,3. Isaiah the prophet was lived about 700 years before Jesus. God inspired Isaiah through his Spirit to predict the coming of Jesus someday. The book of Isaiah contains a lot of amazing prophecies about Jesus. Here Mark quotes from Isaiah 40. That chapter has quite a few predictions about Jesus, but the chapter opens by talking about a forerunner who would come before him. There were other Old Testament predictions about a forerunner who would appear just before the Messiah’s coming. Malachi 3:1a says, “I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me” (cf. Mk1:2). It’s amazing that prophecies made hundreds of years earlier were actually fulfilled. Why did God predict that there would be a forerunner before Jesus? It was to help us believe. Because God predicted it long before it happened, and because it was fulfilled exactly as he had said, it helps us believe. So, the gospel of Jesus began with prophecy. It tells us that the gospel is not a man-made idea or philosophy—it’s from God himself. In another, more general sense, it also tells us that the gospel can begin in our lives when we start listening to the word of God.

Third, the gospel begins when somebody prepares the way. Read verse 4. It’s striking that John “appeared in the wilderness.” He pulled away from all the noise and distractions of human society, to bring a real focus on God. The wilderness also suggests the spiritual condition of the times: it was like a wilderness, meaning that people had been living far away from God for a long time. That’s surprising, because the Jews had quite an elaborate religion, with Scriptures, a temple for worship, many local synagogues, religious leaders and lots of rituals and religious holidays. Still, the times were like a spiritual wilderness, because these things failed to bring people any closer to God.

          We also see in verse 4 that John was “preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.” Mark doesn’t give us any further details about what John actually said. He only says that John was telling people to repent so that they could receive forgiveness. If they were willing to repent, he baptized them. It’s a strong word: “Repent!” Sometimes we may think it sounds like criticism or being judged. But at its core, to repent simply means to turn around, to turn to God, to come back to God. Basically, John was saying, “Come back to God, and he’ll forgive you.” He was asking them to publicly declare their repentance by being baptized. It was like making a new life commitment to God. Being baptized didn’t earn them forgiveness, but the true repentance that should accompany the baptism would prepare their hearts to receive God’s forgiveness. The message to repent wasn’t anything new; so many Old Testament prophets had been telling the people the same thing. But this time, it was to prepare people to be ready for Jesus. To really receive the good news of Jesus, we all need to repent (cf. 1:15; 6:12). We all need to really turn away from ourselves, from our sin, from the world, and turn to God. It’s not just a once-in-a-lifetime thing; as we live in this world we need to continually repent to have a new mindset that’s focused on God and his kingdom (Ro12:2). The gospel always begins with real repentance.

          How did people respond to John’s message? Read verse 5. It’s amazing that so many people went out to the wilderness to hear John preach and to accept his message. What does this tell us? It tells us two things. It tells us how spiritually thirsty the people were. All their old religious traditions couldn’t satisfy their souls at all. Material possessions and the small pleasures of life couldn’t satisfy them, either. Underneath the surface, people’s souls are still yearning for God. This widespread response to John the Baptist also tells us how powerful he was. John’s preaching was very unlike the teaching of the scribes and Pharisees. They talked a lot about keeping many religious rules, whereas John got down to the core issue. He was saying, “Hey, come back to God!”

          And people believed him because he was authentic. Read verse 6. The camel’s hair garment and the leather belt were the outfit of a prophet, especially of the famous Old Testament prophet Elijah (Zech13:4; 2Ki1:8). Elsewhere God had promised that he would send Elijah before he would send the Messiah (Mal4:5). So by wearing these things John was making a statement, that he was the fulfillment of that prophecy. John was the Elijah who was to come (9:11–13). But the camel’s hair garment and leather belt, the locusts and wild honey, were also indicative of John’s lifestyle. He was living against the self-indulgent trends of the world. He was living a simple, pure life so that he could totally dedicate himself to his mission, to prepare the way for the Lord. His lifestyle gave credence to his message. When people heard how John was living out in the wilderness, they took his message of repentance seriously. If we’re hypocritical or superficial, people won’t take us seriously. But if we’re totally dedicated, and our life shows it, people will notice. So the gospel began when somebody like John fully dedicated his life to challenging people to repent. The same is true today. The gospel begins when somebody is totally dedicated to preparing the way for Jesus.

          And there’s one more thing to notice about John. Read verses 7,8. John was so powerful, so popular, but it didn’t go to his head. He wasn’t vain, gloating over his success. He was so humble, and so focused on Jesus. He was very aware that compared to Jesus the Son of God he was less than the least slave. The gospel begins when somebody is truly humble before Jesus and truly focused on Jesus like that. We also learn something important in verse 8. John only baptized with water. It was only an outward ritual. It had no magical power to do anything. But Jesus would baptize with the Holy Spirit. That totally changes a person, from the inside out. When we’re baptized by the Holy Spirit, we have the deep assurance that all our sins are forgiven. We also gain the power to actually stop sinning. Only Jesus, the Son of God, baptizes with the Holy Spirit.

Fourth, the gospel begins when people work together humbly. Read verse 9. As we saw in verse 1, Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of God. He had no sin in him, nothing to confess. But he still went to John to be baptized. It was to publicly affirm that John was God’s servant, and to affirm John’s ministry. It was also, in a sense, to pick up the torch of gospel ministry from John. John the Baptist was so different from Jesus (Mt11:18,19). But Jesus still accepted him and was willing to work with him. So many people don’t want to be under anybody else; they want to do a one-man show. They want to take credit for everything. Sadly, even in Christian ministry co-working has always been and still is such a serious problem. But Jesus, in humility, worked with John the Baptist. The gospel always begins with such humble co-working.

Fifth, the gospel begins with God’s approval. Read verses 10,11. Verse 10 tells us that as Jesus launched his ministry, God was ready to break in to the human experience. The Spirit represents the mighty power of God. But paradoxically, he descends on Jesus “like a dove,” representing peace, gentleness, innocence, and ultimately, hope. What is key here is in verse 11, the voice from heaven, the voice of God the Father. It is not as though Jesus didn’t already know that he was God’s Son, or that God the Father loved him. God still gave him these very personal words of affirmation. It was because of all the hardship Jesus was about to go through, the temptations, the criticisms, the misunderstandings, the loneliness, the ultimate rejection. Despite all this, God wanted Jesus to remain strong in knowing who he was and in being sure of his love and approval. Why was God so pleased with Jesus, even before he did anything? Of course it was simply because Jesus was his Son. But in this context, it also seems to be because of his obedience. When Jesus went to be baptized by John, it was his act of obedience to his Father’s will. God was so moved by this act of obedience that he declared how pleased he was. This tells us that the gospel begins not with gaining people’s approval, but God’s (Gal1:10).

Sixth, the gospel begins with resisting temptation. Read verses 12,13. We would think that once the Spirit comes on us, life would be peaceful and trouble-free. But here the Spirit led Jesus in the wilderness for forty days to be tempted by Satan. The Spirit led Jesus to do spiritual battle. The forty days in the wilderness fulfills the Old Testament imagery of Israel being tested in the wilderness for 40 years. Mark doesn’t mention the kinds of temptations Jesus faced. But the Bible tells us elsewhere that Jesus “suffered when he was tempted,” and that he “was tempted in every way, just as we are” (Heb2:18; 4:15). Why did he have to be tempted before he began his ministry? We can find the answer in the enigmatic words he would utter later: “In fact, no one can enter a strong man’s house without first tying him up. Then he can plunder the strong man’s house” (3:27). The “strong man” he was referring to was Satan. Jesus went first to tie up Satan by resisting his temptations, so that he could enter the “house” where people are living under Satan’s dominion and get them out. To resist Satan’s temptations wasn’t easy even for Jesus. Spiritually speaking it was like a bloody boxing match. Angels came and attended him. But in the end Jesus resisted them all. Jesus went through all these temptations so that he could empathize with our weaknesses (Heb4:15) and help us overcome temptations (Heb2:18). The gospel begins with overcoming Satan’s temptations. If we’re going to spread the good news of Jesus, we first have to overcome temptations.

Seventh, the gospel begins with the message of God’s kingdom. Read verse 14. In the first part of this verse we notice something really sad: John the Baptist is put in prison. What a dark time it was, when an obviously righteous man had to undergo such an injustice! What a terrible abuse of worldly power! But what did Jesus do? It says he went into Galilee “proclaiming the good news of God.” What a contrast! How fearless Jesus was, knowing what darkness he was facing! But what good news could there be, since John the Baptist was suddenly silenced? Yet from God’s point of view, there really was good news, because Jesus had come. This makes us realize that the good news of the Bible is not like human good news. Human good news is that people’s problems seem to get solved, that our life seems to be getting better. But God’s good news doesn’t mean that; sometimes it can even mean that life gets worse. We can suffer. We can lose. Then what is “the good news of God”?

          Read verse 15. The good news is that “the kingdom of God has come near.” What does that mean? “The kingdom of God” refers to God’s reign as King. It also refers to God’s salvation. It means to be saved from the kingdom of Satan. In the kingdom of Satan, Satan rules people. He keeps people enslaved to sin through temptations. He keeps people deceived. He keeps people feeling powerless, empty and hopeless. He keeps people full of guilt and fear and darkness. But through Jesus, who defeated Satan, the kingdom of God “has “come near.” Now, through Jesus people can be ruled by God. He gives us freedom from sin. He shows us the truth. He gives us power, meaning, and hope. He gives us grace, courage and light. It’s “righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Ro14:17). The kingdom of God starts now in our souls, and one day will be fully realized when Jesus comes again and ushers in God’s eternal kingdom. “The kingdom of God is near” is the best news there is. People mistakenly think Christianity is a religion of morals. While it is moral, it’s way more than that. It’s an experience of God’s kingdom, his gracious rule, right now. It’s entering into a real relationship with God as our gracious, loving King, and having real hope in him. It may seem unrealistic to talk to people about God’s kingdom. But the gospel starts in people’s lives with this message of Jesus.

          How can this good news become real for us? Jesus said, “Repent and believe the good news!” As we said earlier, to repent means to turn to God. When we turn to God, we need to believe this good news of God. It’s what God really wants to give us. It’s available to anyone who repents and believes. It’s really that simple.

Eighth, the gospel begins with calling disciples. Read verse 16. Jesus saw two ordinary, working-class brothers, Simon and Andrew, fishermen in Galilee. They probably had heard the preaching of John the Baptist, as well as Jesus’ message. Now he stops and calls them. Read verse 17. They were nothing but ordinary fishermen. Why was he calling them? It was because he saw them with hope. He saw not what they were right now, but what they could become. He saw that God could help them grow until they could bring many other people to his kingdom. He was calling them to a life of much greater significance than just struggling to catch fish all their lives. Jesus from the start was ready to live with disciples and work together with them for God’s kingdom. The gospel still begins with calling disciples.

          How did they respond? Read verse 18. They knew it right away what this meant; his words “follow me” meant that Jesus was calling them to be his disciples. They must have been so moved that Jesus was calling them. Also, they must have felt meaningless just struggling as fishermen. They didn’t hesitate; they made an immediate decision. The gospel begins today when people respond to Jesus’ calling like that.

          Read verses 19,20. Jesus called two more ordinary fishermen, James and his brother John. This time, what’s emphasized is that they left their father and the hired men in the boat and followed Jesus. It tells us they were in the midst of a family business that was relying heavily on them. It was so hard to just walk away from it all and follow Jesus. But they did. The gospel begins when people make such a radical decision.

          Today we learned that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through him, the kingdom of God is near. We learned that to follow him means to repent and believe the good news, and to make a radical decision to leave everything else behind. We also learned in several ways how the good news of God spreads. May God inspire us to be part of the good news spreading in our time.