Category: devotional

Mark 8:4

And his disciples answered him, “How can one feed these people with bread here in this desolate place?”

Mark 8:16-21

16 And they began discussing with one another the fact that they had no bread. 17 And Jesus, aware of this, said to them, “Why are you discussing the fact that you have no bread? Do you not yet perceive or understand? Are your hearts hardened? 18 Having eyes do you not see, and having ears do you not hear? And do you not remember? 19 When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?” They said to him, “Twelve.” 20 “And the seven for the four thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?” And they said to him, “Seven.” 21 And he said to them, “Do you not yet understand?”

Do you ever wonder about the feeding of the 4,000? Not long after the feeding of the 5,000, Jesus again feeds a crowd of people. This time he does so with 7 loaves, not 5. But right before it happens, the disciples ask Jesus how in the world they can find food for the people in such a desolate place. Later in the chapter, when the disciples again worry about their provision, Jesus reminds them of feeding both crowds.

Imagine, even though the disciples are with Jesus, even though they have seen him miraculously provide food, even though they know better, the disciples still worry about simple provision.

How like them are we? God created this world. He will keep his own. Yet we worry. We worry about whether we will have what we need. We worry about whether we will have the health we want. We worry about things in the government we cannot control. We worry about the future in a thousand ways. And we forget that God knows us, knows our needs, and will take care of us in a way that is best until the day that he takes us home. He will keep us, even through suffering, and carry us in Christ to glory.

And how like the doubting disciples are we? Jesus is God in the flesh. He has provided for our forgiveness. How often do we doubt it when we fear or are ashamed? Rest in Christ. Trust in his finished work. Remember and keep the gospel in the front of your mind.

Yes, we are like the doubting disciples. But how kind is it that God would record for us that the disciples did doubt? This should not make us embrace our doubts, but it should help us to remember that God has handled this issue with his followers before. We are in good company as we struggle and press on toward the Lord who loves us, keeps us, and provides for us.

Mark 6:20

for Herod feared John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and he kept him safe. When he heard him, he was greatly perplexed, and yet he heard him gladly.

Herod knew. Herod knew that John was righteous and holy. Herod knew that a righteous and holy preacher of the ways of God clearly condemned Herod’s immoral relationship. Herod knew enough to protect John from harm until he was backed into a corner. Yet Herod did not change his behavior.

Sometimes we think that knowledge, data, is the need of the world. If only we can convince people of the truth, the rightness of the right and the wrongness of the wrong, people will change. Herod gives the lie to that thought. Herod had a hard and impenitent heart. Herod heard true words from a man he knew was telling the truth, but Herod did not change.

So, do we stop telling the truth? No, of course not. But we should not think that information is the issue. People’s hearts change when God changes them. For people to have life, they need more than an argument. They need the enlivening power of God’s Holy Spirit. Thus, for us, the right answer is to prayerfully tell the truth as we ask the Lord to work a miracle in the hearts of those who need new life.

John 16:33 – I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”

This morning, we are 1 day from election day in the United States. Some folks are hopeful. Some are stressed. Things may go the way you want. Things may go the way others want. But keep this in mind: Christ has overcome the world.

The world refused to recognize Jesus. Jesus still told us that he is God in the flesh, God the Son, our only Savior.

The world ridiculed Jesus. Jesus loved the lost world and showed them that he is the way, the truth, and the life.

The world called Jesus a threat and put him to death. Jesus told us that he willingly laid down his life to pay for our sins. Then Jesus rose from the grave, conquered death, and showed that all who let go of the mastery of their lives and put their trust in him will live forever with him under God’s grace.

The world thought Jesus was defeated, that he disappeared, that his disciples hid his body. But the risen Jesus is enthroned in heaven, reigning as King of kings and Lord of lords, and will return to rule forever.

Jesus warned his church that in this world, we will have tribulation. That is true. The more we love Jesus, the Jesus they hated, the more we will find the world opposed to us too. But the more we love Jesus and trust in him, the more courage we will take as we remember that he has in fact overcome the world. The battle is won. Our Savior reigns. Let us never lose heart. Let us always rest in and hope in our Savior.

When were you last star-struck? Perhaps you were in a place where a celebrity showed up. Perhaps you stood on a plot of ground where an important historical figure once stood. Perhaps you met one of your heroes.

I’ve had a few star-struck moments. Once, I had the privilege of meeting the greatest St. Louis Cardinal of all time, Stan Musial. Once, I held in my hands a piece of history, a Tyndale New Testament that was printed around 1526; so, yes, I was star-struck by a book. As a child I was star-struck when I met “Leaping:” Lanny Poffo, brother to the “Macho Man” Randy Savage—If that one does not impress you, I truly do not know what will.

People, places, and even objects can leave us wide-eyed and giddy. And, in general, I do not think that’s all bad. But I wonder if we realize that there is a danger when it happens to us in the church. Have you ever thought of the danger of Christian celebrity?

Just as I was star-struck when Stan “the Man” signed a ball for me, or when Brett “the Hit Man” Heart gave me a high 5—OK, now I’m just name-dropping—I have also found myself feeling the wonder of celebrity in Christian conferences or events. I know what it is like to feel a rush when hearing someone speak who I know wrote one of my favorite books or whose sermons I have only heard on podcasts. And I wonder just how good or bad such a thing is.

On the one hand, God is clear in his holy word that we are to rightly, in the church, honor faithful servants of God.

Philippians 2:29–30

So receive him in the Lord with all joy, and honor such men, for he nearly died for the work of Christ, risking his life to complete what was lacking in your service to me.

When Paul wrote to the Philippians about Epaphroditus, the apostle commended the man’s faithfulness and self-sacrifice. Paul wanted the Philippian Christians to honor Epaphroditus and others like him who were willing to give their lives to the service of the Lord. So, there is most certainly a rightness to us honoring faithful ministers, authors, speakers, and missionaries through whose ministries the Lord has blessed our souls and the church at large. There is a rightness to a local church loving a faithful pastor, a long-serving deacon, or a godly woman who has served the church with a true heart and self-sacrificial zeal.

There is, however, a danger we should not ignore in the cult of Christian celebrity. And this danger is not at all new.

2 Corinthians 11:3–5

But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or if you accept a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it readily enough. Indeed, I consider that I am not in the least inferior to these super-apostles.

Part of Paul’s struggle in his letters to the Corinthians is the dangerous influence of powerful preachers who apparently swept into Corinth and shook the faith of some in the congregation. These men presented themselves as big deals, super-apostles. They made fun of Paul’s public speaking and rhetorical skill. They mocked Paul for being bold in writing and meek in person. And they introduced false teaching to a people who were willing to eat it up because of the teachers’ charisma.

This passage shows us that celebrity teachers were influencing local churches in the first century, not merely today. While that influence might have been to the good had these men not been greedy and dangerous, the influence of the super-apostles was deadly, because their influence included a false gospel. And platforming these men in Corinth was clearly leading to some people being drawn away from the true faith.

Christian friends, see the balance we need. Honor faithful Bible teachers. Beware of being influenced by celebrity. You can do both. You should do both.

How do you guard against being overly influenced by celebrity? First, I would suggest that you guard yourself best by being most committed to your local church. Love your local congregation. Learn from your pastor, your elders, your Sunday School teachers, even the ones who cannot speak like the conference platform giants. Be careful when the only spiritual conversations you have with others involves the latest podcast you listened to or the most recent blog or YouTube you took in. Be sure that you and your fellow believers can talk about what each other is reading in the Scriptures and where you are encouraged or convicted by the message in the local pulpit.

Second, watch out when you find yourself quoting anybody a lot. I know, this is subjective, but I assume that you can figure it out. If not, ask a friend to help you. Do you sound like a disciple of a mega-church pastor or bigtime author? Are you constantly sending folks links? Be careful of being proud of having a puritan quote for every situation (after all, celebrity in the church need not be current).

Dear friends, hear this: The outside celebrity, the bigtime speaker, the passion-stirring author is not your pastor. These teachers can be a gift from God, and I do not want to have you ignore them. But you must realize that these folks do not know you and cannot care for your soul. You are not their responsibility before God. So, learn from faithful teachers, but do not let yourself be drawn to them like a kid to a pro athlete or rock star. Remember that the public persona you see may have nothing at all to do with the person’s real personality or character. Realize that the giddiness you may feel when you hear the bigtime speaker can also be a pathway to danger as your fandom can leave you vulnerable to accepting false teaching.

From the garden to today, followers of God have faced opposition to the faith. Sometimes that opposition comes in the form of hatred and persecution. Sometimes it comes in the form of sly temptation. And sometimes it comes in the form of well-intentioned but dangerous godlessness.

Think about the strategies that the devil has used against the people of God which have made the most headway. Often times, persecuting the church with out-and-out aggression has served to strengthen the faith of believers—the blood of the martyrs being the seed of the church. But sometimes the devil’s plots are much more intimate, much more subtle, and honestly much more dangerous than violence. When the enemy of our souls tempts us through people we genuinely care for, the temptation is significant.

God is not surprised that humanity is often swayed by the influence of our loved ones. IN fact, in Deuteronomy, the Lord spoke a dire warning to the people of Israel regarding this very topic.

Deuteronomy 13:6-11

6 “If your brother, the son of your mother, or your son or your daughter or the wife you embrace or your friend who is as your own soul entices you secretly, saying, ‘Let us go and serve other gods,’ which neither you nor your fathers have known, 7 some of the gods of the peoples who are around you, whether near you or far off from you, from the one end of the earth to the other, 8 you shall not yield to him or listen to him, nor shall your eye pity him, nor shall you spare him, nor shall you conceal him. 9 But you shall kill him. Your hand shall be first against him to put him to death, and afterward the hand of all the people. 10 You shall stone him to death with stones, because he sought to draw you away from the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 11 And all Israel shall hear and fear and never again do any such wickedness as this among you.

As a quick explanation for any who are apt to misunderstand this passage, the legal standards for national Israel in the Old Testament were quite strict. This nation was uniquely the people of God in this time period, given the law of God, in the presence of God, under the direct instruction of God, and carrying the promise of God to send Messiah, the only plan God ever had for the salvation of people from all nations. Thus, for these people, offenses against the following of God were often death-penalty offenses. The Lord knew that, should Israel become as corrupt as any other sinful nation on the planet, the Lord would, under the obligations of the covenant, have to destroy them, which would destroy the promise, which would destroy humanity. In order, therefore, to protect the nation and preserve the promise, offenses such as blasphemy against the Lord or leading people to worship other gods met severe penalties.

With that said, what is an appropriate truth for a modern Christian to draw from Deuteronomy 13:6-11? What is, as the Second London Baptist Confession calls it, the “general equity” principle we should find? I believe it is an important one, a very helpful one.

Look back at the text. God knows that, in the lives of faithful believers, we will face the temptation to walk away from the faith. Sure, there will be times when that temptation will come to us from outside of our inner circle. Sometimes the world will try to tempt us to turn away through persecution or greed. But one of the more effective and more dangerous temptations we face is when someone we deeply care about tries to call us away from faithfulness to the Lord. When a friend, when a family member, when a romantic interest is the voice saying to us that we should be more open-minded toward other faiths, this is when temptation can be most risky.

What was King Solomon’s failure? He married many “foreign” wives. This was not a failure based on ethnicity. The wives of Solomon led him to worship their gods. The Lord warned against it, but Solomon was unable to overcome his desire—this in spite of the fact that he was the smartest king in the Old Testament.

The same ploy is in play today. As we watch young men or young women suddenly walk away from the church, what is regularly at the root? So very often, the turning away of a young person is about their romantic interest in someone or their deep friendship with someone. Christianity is an exclusive faith. Jesus is the only way for a person to come to the Father (John 14:6). It is hard, when a young person develops romantic feelings for another, for the Christian to accept the lostness of someone they find so loveable.

What then might we want to carry with us from Deuteronomy 13? No, I do not recommend we put the death penalty in place for those who would challenge our faith. But the warning is strong, and it is not something we can ignore. If someone you care about is calling your heart away from the Lord, you may have to figuratively enact the death penalty on the relationship. At minimum, you have to guard your heart with all your might so as not to allow a lost person to influence your soul. You should most certainly pray that the Lord will protect you and that he will draw your lost friend to himself. No Christian should willingly enter into a romantic relationship with a nonbeliever—Scripture is clear on this time and time again.

Ultimately, we need to grow in wisdom from the law of God. Deuteronomy 13 warns us that we will face temptations from friends and family to turn from the faith. We must be aware, we must be wise, and we must be committed to faithfulness to the Lord above all. Particularly, we should watch out for those relationships with the lost that can dig deeply into our hearts, as this is a temptation that the Lord has warned against. Yes, love your family. Yes, care deeply. Yes, be prepared even to be wounded as they push against the faith or try to draw you away. But learn from the law of God not to allow yourself to be pulled from the faith by one close to you.

Ever notice that we have become a nation of consumers? We love restaurants with giant menus that offer burgers and tacos, sushi and pasta, sandwiches and steaks. And we want that restaurant to be happy to reconfigure anything at our request without complaint. We want our phones to make musical playlists that play only the songs we thumbs-up and never expose us to the unfamiliar. We have come to expect that we have the right to only experience what we like.

This is also true in the church. We want a church that plays the music we like in the way that we like. We want a fellowship that is made up of people who look like us and have our same hobbies. We even want to b able to pick and choose which parts of the church’s doctrine we hold to and which we ignore.

There is a phrase in Scripture that has my attention: “right in his own eyes.” When you read that phrase, you probably think of the end of the book of Judges, though I recently ran across it in Deuteronomy.

Deuteronomy 12:8 – You shall not do according to all that we are doing here today, everyone doing whatever is right in his own eyes…

See also Judges 17:6; 21:25; and Proverbs 12:15; 16:2; 21:2; 26:5; 26:12; 26:16; 28:11.

As the Lord led his people, he repeatedly spoke of people doing what was right in their own, individual eyes. And every single time God talks about it, God condemns it—every time. In Deuteronomy and in Judges, the thought is that the nation was not to determine its worship or its morality by their own personal opinions. Instead, the people were to submit to the Lord’s word. In Proverbs, the common thread is that a man who is wise in his own eyes, a man who will not learn from others or receive counsel from others, is actually a fool.

Think well, dear Christian friend, about how well you receive counsel and wisdom from others. When you think of your theology, as an example, to whom do you submit? Are you picking and choosing doctrines based on your wisdom alone? Or are your thoughts actually shaped by the wisdom of others who have gone before you?

Carl Trueman writes about people who say they have no creed but the Bible. There is, of course, a sense in which this is a noble-sounding thought. The problem is that such a declaration is not true. Every person who reads and loves Scripture develops doctrine. You have to. Every Bible reader decides what he believes about God, about salvation, about the church, about baptism, about marriage, about morality, etc. Hopefully those beliefs are based on accurate interpretation and application of Scripture. But in no way is the reader without a set of beliefs that summarize what Scripture teaches. The person, as Trueman points out, who says they have no creed actually has a creed, they are just unwilling to have that creed written down so that others can examine it and question it.

A faithful Christian has an interestingly narrow road to walk, one with ditches on either side. On one side of the road is the faulty belief of the Roman Catholic Church that councils and the collected teachings of the church are equal in authority with Scripture. On the other side of the road is the fault of the consumeristic Christian who believes that he can pick and choose all doctrine a la carte. On the one side of the ditch is a person who bows to tradition and unthinkingly swallows whatever he is fed. On the other is the one who develops a strange hodgepodge of differing, even contradictory, doctrines.

In our church-shopping, individualistic culture, we would be wise to take into consideration the warnings in Scripture against only doing what is right in our own eyes. There is great wisdom in learning from the spiritual giants of the past who wrestled down important theological issues far better than we are likely to do today. Faithful statements of faith and the classic creeds of the early church are helpful guardrails to keep our thinking on a biblical track. We should not, of course, give any of these the weight of holy Scripture. At the same time, we should think twice, three times, even twelve times before we determine that we have figured something out on our own about how the church should function that the faithful before us have never quite gotten right.

What about you? Do you pick and choose doctrines like a la carte menu options? Is there anyone to whom you submit yourself for instruction and counsel on the complicated issues of the faith? Do you embrace a creed, confession, or statement of faith as a true and helpful summary of right doctrine? If not, is there some reason that you believe that not having a statement to which you subscribe is better—that your own wisdom is safer than the wisdom of others which has stood the test of time?

No, I do not assume any statement of faith to be perfect. We will read them and say that we would say this or that differently. We will wish that the old statements clearly addressed modern issues. But, it should concern a Christian if he or she cannot find even one statement of faith among the classics that fairly summarizes his beliefs. Let us learn from others and not be guilty of only doing what is wise in our own eyes.

One of our favorite songs to sing in worship in recent months is “Christ the True and Better.” In this piece, we see that Christ is the true and better Adam, Isaac, Moses, and David. As the second Adam, Jesus lived the perfection that Adam failed to achieve and thus brings salvation to his people. As the true and better Isaac, Jesus offered up his life as a sacrifice to save ours. As the true and better Moses, Christ leads his people home by himself parting the waters of judgment. And as the true and better David, Christ is the promised King of all kings who will be enthroned eternally over the entire universe.

This song came to my mind as I read through a section of Numbers that is often quite easy to skip over.

Numbers 34:1-2 – 1 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Command the people of Israel, and say to them, When you enter the land of Canaan (this is the land that shall fall to you for an inheritance, the land of Canaan as defined by its borders),

For many of us who are not map enthusiasts, a description of the borders of the land of Israel, however that land is allotted, is just not that interesting. But a thought grabbed my mind this time through. Are we seeing what could be another verse to “Christ the True and Better?” Israel had borders, simple and clearly defined borders, limits to the reach of the nation.

Isaiah 9:7

Of the increase of his government and of peace
there will be no end,
on the throne of David and over his kingdom,
to establish it and to uphold it
with justice and with righteousness
from this time forth and forevermore.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.

Isaiah 45:21–23

21 Declare and present your case;
let them take counsel together!
Who told this long ago?
Who declared it of old?
Was it not I, the Lord?
And there is no other god besides me,
a righteous God and a Savior;
there is none besides me.
22 “Turn to me and be saved,
all the ends of the earth!
For I am God, and there is no other.
23 By myself I have sworn;
from my mouth has gone out in righteousness
a word that shall not return:
‘To me every knee shall bow,
every tongue shall swear allegiance.’

Matthew 28:18–20

18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Philippians 2:9–11

9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

While god gave Israel defined borders, distinct places where the authority and power of the nation would stop, he promised Israel a King who is far greater than those borders. Isaiah 9 tells us of this King over Israel, the King on David’s throne, who would have no end to the increase of his kingdom. Isaiah 45 shows us the kingdom reaching the ends of the earth. In Matthew 28:18-20, the Great Commission, Jesus claimed to have authority over all the heavens and the earth. And In Philippians 2:9-11, the Lord declares that Jesus has the name above all names, the name before which every knee will bow, the name worshipped by all peoples everywhere just as Isaiah 45 predicted.

Israel would have a land, borders, and even kings like David. Christ rules a kingdom just as David ruled the kingdom, but unlike David, there are no longer any boundaries or borders. There is no authority to oppose our King. Christ, fulfilling God’s promises, with no borders, including all people groups in his grace, is the true and better King over the true and better nation.

Are we really so different? Are we really supposed to be? Why cannot the church and the world hold hands and get along?

Throughout the age of the church, Christians have faced the temptation to compromise. Once Constantine made Christianity officially the thing in Rome, the church had to wrestle with the temptation to become more like the world in order to be more well-liked by the world. During the rise of theological liberalism, teachers began to tone down claims of the miraculous to look more like a naturalistic and scientific culture. And in a world that embraces new concepts relating to sexuality, gender, the family, and so much more, churches are tempted to reshape the message of the Scripture to be more widely accepted.

Sometimes Christians are tempted to compromise as they hope for popularity. The feeling is that, if we can just get folks to think we are a helpful part of our community and we do not cause trouble, we will become the place people in town want to be. Sometimes Christians shift their values out of fear, not wanting to face the hardships of persecution. Sometimes folks have compromised out of a desire to be evangelistic. The misguided hope of these folks is that, if we stop talking about sex or about the latest pet peeve of the media, people will give our gospel a hearing; and isn’t that what is most important?

But I wonder if, as we are tempted to compromise and value the things that the world values, we are forgetting just how big is the gap between the ways of the Lord and the ways of the world. Have we forgotten that there really are different sides, and those sides are far apart when it comes to being right with God?

In Luke 16, Jesus confronted the Pharisees who had become lovers of money. These men compromised for the sake of personal, financial gain. They loved the applause of men.

Luke 16:14-15

14 The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all these things, and they ridiculed him. 15 And he said to them, “You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God.

Consider that last line from Jesus once again: “What is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God.” How true is this in our culture? Our society is exalting things today that God calls abominations.

What should we do with this thought? Let me suggest two things. First, we should pray that God would give us a heart to exalt what he loves and see as abominable what he calls abomination. Let us not think that we are so cultured that we have gone beyond the standards of God. God’s standards are not out-of-touch with reality. On the contrary, modern reality is out-of-touch with truth.

Think about your own heart here. What does it chase? What do you value? Do you love the things God loves? Do you hate the things God hates? Do you want things for yourself that God has called dangerous or destructive? Do you accept as the new normal things that God says are unacceptable? Ask the Lord to shape, cleanse, mold, and renew your heart and mind.

Second, let us be careful, as we seek to shift our hearts, that we not become cruel or nasty people in the process. There must be a way to see things in our society as abominable before God, speak the truth, and do so in a way that is not itself mean-spirited. We must pray that we will stand firm, avoid compromise, and speak the truth in love.

The word abomination is a harsh one. But since it is God’s word and not ours, we ought not avoid it. But you can call a thing an abomination with sorrow or with arrogance. One way of speaking includes compassion, kindness, and humility. The other way looks like the Pharisee and is sharp, bitter, and cruel.

May we learn to have the compassion that Christ showed when sinful people were around him. May we learn never to embrace or even accept sin. May we never be so foolish as to think that ignoring evil will make our churches grow to the glory of God. But may we also, even with tears, hold out a true gospel to a lost and dying world.