Worry and Fear

Before the Sanhedrin - Artist unknown

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Matthew 10:16-31

TO CHEW ON: " ' And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.' " Matthew 10:28

What a grim result Jesus predicts for His disciples as He sends them out. Two words jump out at me from our reading: WORRY and FEAR.

Jesus says, when, as a result of their message, they are brought before synagogue councils, governors and kings, they are not to WORRY beforehand about how or what to say (Matthew 10:19).

[Worry - merimnao comes from merizo which means to divide into parts. The word suggests distraction, a preoccupation with things causing anxiety, stress, and pressure - Dick Mills, Word Wealth, New Spirit-Filled Life Bible, p. 1301.]

They are not to be distracted, preoccupied, stressed and pressured over how to defend themselves because if they are, they'll miss the best defense they could have—the one from the Holy Spirit: " 'For it will be given to you in that hour what you should speak; for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you' "  Jesus says - Matthew 10:19-20.

You'd think words coming from God Himself would guarantee freedom. But not so. For Jesus goes on to speak of continuing persecution and even death which they are not to FEAR (Matthew 10:26,28).

[Fear - phobeo is a panic that grips a person causing him to run away, be alarmed, scared, frightened, dismayed, fill with dread, intimidated, anxious, apprehensive. (Notice the similarity with our word phobia) - Dick Mills, Word Wealth, New Spirit-Filled Life Bible, p. 1308.]

At first this appears puzzling. If the persecutors can do the ultimate—kill one—why would the objects of their persecution not fear?

Because, Jesus implies, killing the body isn't the worst thing that could happen to one. The worst is something only God can do (and reason to fear Him): "destroy both soul and body in hell."

So, Jesus tells His disciples, take the long eternal view. Life doesn't stop here. So don't let your witness be extinguished by worry or fear of the worst that can happen in life. Rather, set your course by how you want to spend eternity.

Jesus' advice about worry and fear is timely for us in our day when expression of our Christian worldview and faith is being met with increasing hostility.

PRAYER: Dear Jesus, Your command to not worry or fear goes straight to my heart. Help me to be so controlled by Your Spirit that I will not only stop worrying about how to defend the gospel, but will speak it with Spirit-breathed boldness. Amen.

MORE: Trinity Sunday

I love how a reference to the trinity (God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit) is embedded so subtly in our reading.  Persecution comes because of allegiance to Jesus. The Spirit of the Father gives the persecuted one the words to speak in a good defense (Matthew 10:19,20).

Today the church celebrates Trinity Sunday. The liturgy for the day begins with this prayer:

Almighty and everlasting God, you have given to us your servants grace, by the confession of a true faith, to acknowledge the glory of the eternal Trinity, and in the power of your divine Majesty to worship the Unity: Keep us steadfast in this faith and worship, and bring us at last to see you in your one and eternal glory, O Father; who with the Son and the Holy Spirit live and reign, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

*********
Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Think long

Image: Pixabay

TODAY’S SPECIAL: Matthew 5:21-37

TO CHEW ON: “‘If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast t from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than that your whole body be cast into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish than for your whole body to be cast into hell.’” Matthew 5:29,30


While I don’t think Jesus was seriously suggesting self-immolation here, His radical instructions do make us take notice. What His comparisons say to me are: if something you see or do is causing you to sin, that organ, reaction, or habit demands serious action.

Why?

Because the consequence of giving in to sinful patterns can reach into eternity.

This is an apt warning in our day when we make so many snap decisions without much thought to how they will impact the next hour, not to speak of forever. Our online life alone encourages quick Yes’s or No’s as with the almost imperceptible movement of a finger we “Click,” “Like,” “Share,” “Send.”

I like a “rule” I heard about on Christine Caine’s “Propel” DVD teaching series—the 10-10-10 rule: When making a decision, ask: How will I feel about that / how will it affect my life in 10 minutes, 10 months, 10 years?

Jesus would extend that even further. He might ask us: “How will your decisions today affect your eternity?"

PRAYER: Dear Jesus, please help me to consider the eternal consequences of each day’s decisions and actions. Amen.

 *********
Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Heaven's work

TODAY'S SPECIAL:  Revelation 21:22-22:5

TO CHEW ON: “And there shall be no more curse but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His servants shall serve Him.” Revelation 22:3

“They say there’s a heaven for those who will wait
Some say it’s better, but I say it ain’t
I’d rather laugh with the sinner than cry with the saints.
Sinners are much more fun" – Billy Joel

“Go to Heaven for the climate, Hell for the company.” – Mark Twain

The attempt to put down something we don’t understand by making jokes about it, as the above quotes do about heaven, is something I’m sure you’ve encountered. C. S. Lewis had his own comeback: “There is no need to be worried by facetious people who try to make the Christian hope of 'Heaven' ridiculous by saying they do not want to 'spend eternity playing harps'. The answer to such people is that if they cannot understand books written for grown-ups, they should not talk about them.” He goes on to explain that much of the imagery of heaven is symbolism and not meant to be taken literally.

While Lewis's interpretation may or may not be accurate, it seems clear that the notion of sitting around heaven playing harps all day is pure fantasy. The Bible talks about the inhabitants of heaven doing something far more prosaic: they serve.

It is interesting to follow the idea of servanthood through the New Testament.

• Jesus taught that for the servant, faithfulness and going beyond one’s comfort is a duty (Luke 17:5-10).

• Serving like He served us involves giving up all rights – even the right to life (John 12:23-26).

• The apostles carried on this idea of serving to the death. In Romans 14:7-8 Paul talks of living and dying to the Lord.

• They equate their service to God with slavery. (Romans 1:1; James 1:1 ; 2 Peter 1:1).

• On earth, serving faithfully in your place of employment (whether voluntarily or as a slave) can be counted as faithful service to Jesus because if you are His, everything you do is service to Him (Colossians 3:22-24).

• Jesus, in the parable about the minas, indicates that our faithfulness in stewarding His gifts and opportunities in this life will lead to future responsibility in the kingdom. (Life on earth is our training ground; our service seminar – Luke 19:16-20).

• In today’s focus verse Jesus’ servants “serve Him.” In Revelation 7:15 they “serve Him continually in His temple.”

So our time in heaven won’t be taken up with playing harps – at least not exclusively (although it might involve some of that; one of the shades of meaning of “serve” [latreuo from latris] is to worship). We will be working, serving God. But that work will be under “no more curse.”

It makes me want to serve here on earth with more intention, realizing my service to Him here is part of a continuum of meaning and purpose that stretches into eternity.

PRAYER: Dear God, thank You for this glimpse into eternity that helps me put my earthly life into perspective. Help me to view all my service on earth as really done for You. Amen.

MORE: In the chapter “Made to Last Forever – of his book The Purpose Driven Life, Rick Warren says:

"Life on earth is just the dress rehearsal for the real production. You will spend far more time on the other side of death – in eternity – than you will here. Earth is the staging area, the preschool, the tryout for your life in eternity. It is the practice workout before the actual game; the warm-up lap before the race begins. This life is preparation for the next….


[…] Measured against eternity our time on earth is just a blink of an eye, but the consequences of it will last forever. The deeds of this life are the destiny of the next. ….Matthew Henry said, “It ought to be the business of every day to prepare for our final day.”

- Rick Warren, The Purpose Driven Life, page 36, 40.

**********
Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Do your 8-12-year-olds have daily devotions? Point them to Bible Drive-Thru.

Jesus' descent

Golgotha - from The Children's Friend - Part 5

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Ephesians 4:1-16

TO CHEW ON: "He who descended is also the One who ascended far above all heavens, that He might fill all things." Ephesians 4:10

Where was Jesus in the hours between His death and resurrection?

Paul suggests one possibility here as he explains a quote from Psalm 68:28, applying it to the ascended Christ:  "Now this, 'He ascended'—what does it mean but that He also first descended into the lower parts of the earth? ..."(verse 9).

What that descent meant has been a source of discussion. Peter, preaching in Acts 2 from the text of Psalm 16:8-11 says:

"…he (David, the writer of the psalm) foreseeing this (the resurrection) spoke concerning the resurrection of the Christ, that His soul was not left in Hades, nor did His flesh see corruption" (Acts 2:31). 

Isn't Peter implying that Christ visited Hades? Was that what we call hell? It was some aspect of the underworld in any case.  Peter refers to this again in 1 Peter 3:19-20.

Another view is that Jesus' descent refers to His coming to earth from heaven. Paul describes the extent of that lowering beautifully in Philippians 2:5-11:

"… Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men.  And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross..." - Philippians 2:5-8.

Still another view is that Jesus suffered in hell. Of that view the writer of my Bible's notes on Ephesians says, "… there is no biblical support for the notion that Jesus suffered in hell, only that He descended to hell to release the righteous dead into eternal glory, proclaiming the adequacy of the Atonement and validating the testimony of the prophets" - Jack W. Hayford, notes on Ephesians,  New Spirit-Filled Life Bible, p. 1650.

Surely He was enjoying Paradise, for at least part of the time. After all, He said to the believing thief on the cross, "Today you will be with Me in Paradise" - Luke 23:43.

Whatever, wherever, it was enough! No part of earth or hell has been unaffected by His death and resurrection. As Paul says it in our focus verse:

"He who descended is the [very] same as He who also has ascended high above all the heavens, that He [His presence] might fill all things—the whole universe, from the lowest to the highest" - Ephesians 3:10 (Amplified Bible).

PRAYER: Dear God, thank You for Jesus and Your plan for my atonement, which was enough. Amen.

MORE: It Is Finished - Gaither Vocal Band

***********

The Holy Bible, New King James Version Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. - Used with permission.

Amplified Bible (AMP) Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation - Used with permission.

That "great gulf"

The Rich Man and Lazarus - Artist unknown

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Luke 16:19-31


TO CHEW ON: "'And besides all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, so that those who want to pass from here to you cannot, nor can those from there pass to us.'" Luke 16:26



There is an aversion in our western society to the idea that some will miss eternity with God. The thought that they will instead spend time without end on the other side of that "great gulf," "tormented in this flame" is out of vogue. Even some who label themselves followers of Jesus have gone soft on the idea of what we call heaven and hell and that some will be in and others out.

Jesus Himself was clear on the subject.

• He compared people to  wheat and weeds growing in the same field. Those who believe to salvation and those who don't will ripen side by side "until the harvest" when the weeds will be burned, the wheat put in the granary - Matthew 13:30.

• Angels are the reapers of that harvest - Matthew 13:49.

• Entire nations will stand before God for His separation judgment - Matthew 25:32,46.

• And for those who are alive when Jesus returns to earth, the separation will happen right before their eyes - Matthew 24:40; Luke 17:34.

The plea of the rich man in Jesus' story, to send Lazarus to tell his unaware family members, shakes me. For I am still on this side of that "great gulf" with the ability to speak to my family and friends of the reality of what I believe is on the other side. Have I been clear? Or will I enter eternity with blood on my hands (Ezekiel 33:7-9)?

PRAYER: Dear Jesus, the thought of eternal separation from You is unimaginable. I need a sense of urgency to warn others—especially those in my close circle—about the possibility of this. Amen.

***********

New King James Version (NKJV) Used with permission. The Holy Bible, New King James Version Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.