Kingdom of God

Doing Jesus’ Work, #28

/ Bryan Lowe / Leave a comment

“And proclaim as you go, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons.”

Matthew 10:7-8, (context vv. 5-15)

Heal. Raise. Cleanse. Cast out. What a job description for Jesus’ disciples! He truly believes that those who follow Him are ready, and it’s time for them to go to work. I suppose they could keep sitting at Jesus’ feet, just soaking up His teaching, and watching Him do His miracles. But this isn’t what they’re called to do. They’ve sat long enough.

Don’t get me wrong. It’s vital that we absorb His words to us. It’s absolutely critical that we hear His voice and really do find our rest in Him. We must intimately listen to Jesus and be filled with His Spirit. Yet it strikes me that far too many disciples think their life is an inward one; a concentration on personal growth and one’s own spiritual attainment. But I don’t think this is the case.

The disciples must go to work.

Jesus ‘commissions’ them to go out and proclaim the ‘Kingdom come.’ The labors of Jesus must be done by these inadequate (and sinful) men. Heal. Raise. Cleanse. Cast out. It’s time for them to go out and meet the desperate needs of the world. But stepping out can be a scary thing.

The works that these disciples are to do are truly marvelous. They now have an ability and an anointing to do remarkable things. Jesus is comfortable that His disciples are ready, and yet knows that when they return they will have much to learn from Him. It seems however, that we are waiting for a certain amount of “perfection” before we step out.

Most of us, I suppose, are ‘hamstrung’ by our own sin. We see know our inadequacies and deep weaknesses. Most of the time we feel completely unworthy. Seldom do we think we’re ready to spread the Kingdom news to a needy world. Our own sin, we believe, disqualifies us from ministry to others. It seems Satan is very quick to neutralize us, and to annul the “work” of the Father. He accuses us, and we listen.

We’re overwhelmed by what we see within us, and as a result we seldom see the needs around us.

It seems we shelf His work and replace our faith into some sort of personal rehabilitation program. “When we are finally holy enough, we will hit the streets.” Until then, we will try to get enough personal purity to work His miracles. Commendable I suppose, but I don’t think this is what Jesus intends. I’m convinced the work itself is a vital part of our sanctification.

“Have thy tools ready. God will find thee work.”

-Charles Kingsley

Waiting for Our Bridegroom, Entry #22

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“The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast.”

Matthew 9:15 (context vv. 14-17)

I detest fasting, I really do. I blame this spiritual deficiency on the fact I’m quite slender and tall and need all the calories I can get. I don’t think that this passes muster though. But I do it anyway. God forgives me but I suppose I’m missing out on something quite wonderful though. (I hope you’re different.)

Jesus makes an announcement. He intends to leave them behind. The disciples will ‘fast’ instead of partying. They will begin to do this with the understanding that He will return for them.

True fasting will clarify the spiritual.

We begin to understand things that we have missed up to now. When we discipline ourselves like this we begin to see and discern the real and the eternal. Fasting is much like a ‘telegraph line’ to a future glory. We are learning to communicate with the throne room and it teaches us to ‘listen.’

We are being prepared for something quite grand. If we start to see this particular discipline as a way of bringing us clarity, we’ll find it much easier and more rewarding. Fasting is hard for most of us, and maybe we need a refresher course. (Just writing about fasting is easier than doing it, trust me.)

When we start to fast we’ll begin to see reality. We can visualize the return of the true King, who is now setting up our future home. We’ll begin to walk, knowing beyond a shadow of a doubt, that the Bible world is the real world.

“And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.”

Revelation 21:2

 

Eating With Sinners, # 20

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Courtesy of Holy Spirit Catholic Church

“And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” 12 But when he heard it, he said, 

“Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. 13 Go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Matthew 9:11-13 (context vv. 10-13)

God is not against us because of our sin. He is with us against our sin. We barely believe this. It doesn’t make any sense at all. It’s one of those pure and unadulterated grace ideas and somehow that just might confuse us. It’s counter-intuitive to everything we know; and it’s the tragic way of the religious world.

Jesus is now sitting and eating with sinners!

Can we even grasp how amazing this is? His guests at the table were the awful–the nasty dregs of a nice proper society. Tax collectors who had renounced Judaism for Rome. There were the sinners who were the unacceptable. (Even the whores and the drunks showed up!) Can’t He do any better than this?

It seems to me we’re living in this world ‘blind and dumb’ to what grace really is. Our legal analysis seems right on, but we have to admit we’ll sometimes operate under certain dictates of a ‘comfortable’ propriety instead. “What can we do to merit God’s love and become acceptable?” How can we truly fellowship with a God who is completely holy?

We see (or read) of the Lord who chooses to fellowship with the ungodly rather than the religious. That shakes us to the core, as it should. He loves associating with unacceptable people. That alone should floor us-and maybe scare us too.

The religious Pharisees found ‘grace’ to be unacceptable. They walked and breathed legalism. Keeping the Law was their way to be acceptable in God’s eyes. And they were now angry, or maybe somewhat mystified, by Jesus’ incredible desire to associate with evil people. But they’re misunderstanding the grace and mercy that resides in God’s heart.

Man is born broken. He lives by mending. The grace of God is glue.

–Anne Lamott

Do we seriously understand the kindness and grace of Jesus? Does it ‘saturate’ your mind and heart? Are you completely ‘marinated’ in God’s outrageous love for you, the ugly? Think about this; ‘Could it be that pharisees are still alive and well today?’

Eating with sinners. We read that the Pharisees objected. It strikes me that these guys were trying to attack Jesus by ‘splitting’ the disciples from Him. They wanted them to question His actions. This is Satan’s strategy.”Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” ‘Why’ seems to be the voice of the disbelieving and ‘ungraceful.’

Mercy is always better that any “sacrifice” we can make. Does this bother you? (It should.)

The ‘healthy’ don’t need any help. No doctor’s appointments are necessary. And yet Jesus chooses out the sinners” instead. You need to understand this, to be called like this is the ultimate gift. Grace for the ungraceful is unreal. It seems oddly unnatural. And yet the Father’s grace is now waiting for you. You must believe this.

What are you struggling with?

What ‘distracts you? What are you trying to do to be ‘righteous’ in God’s eyes? Do you really believe that He desperately wants to sit down and have a meal with you, just as you are?

“I do not understand the mystery of grace — only that it meets us where we are and does not leave us where it found us.“

-Anne Lamott

Preaching With a Purpose, Entry #17

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“But he said to them, 

“I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns as well; for I was sent for this purpose.”

Luke 4:43 (context, vv. 42-44)

God directed preaching extends the Kingdom of Heaven. Jesus understands this and embraces a calling from the Father to communicate God’s rule in the heart and souls of people. He publicly acknowledges that this was now His ministry and purpose. This was the reason He came for us. He was sent!

Jesus understands that when the Gospel is combined with the Father’s intentional purpose it develops into a true understanding of what He is looking for in our lives. Perhaps it’s the only thing that can. He obeys and the world is completely changed.

Anointed preaching accomplishes Kingdom purposes.

Understanding the Kingdom takes humility and repentance. The message of Jesus is not a ‘given,’ It requires a solid reaction that will take the listener deeper than he has ever gone before. The gospel message must be understood through a ‘broken’ life. It has zero impact when the heart is hard. We are teflon.

Preaching this “good news” is the only thing that can pierce the hard shell of the human heart. I believe that His purpose requires a commitment on the preacher as well as the listener. It demands obedience. It requires a repentant faith.

Jesus seems to agree.

“Go into all the world and preach the gospel, and if necessary, use words.”

― Francis of Assisi

 

A Father’s Love, Entry #15

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“Jesus said to him, 

“Go; your son will live.” 

The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and went on his way.”

John 4:50, (context vv. 46-54).

How do you quantify the love a father has for his son? This nobleman had absolutely nowhere to go, his son was going to die and he could do nothing to stop it. He was half out of his mind with grief and desperation. There wasn’t a thing he could do to save his son. He was going to watch his boy die; and he was powerless to do anything to prevent it.

He finds Jesus and begs for a miracle. He isn’t proud or arrogant, all of that was set aside a long time ago. He’s no longer the king’s official, he is now a very earnest father who is begging for Jesus’ touch on his very sick son. It’s funny how that happens, God uses everything to break through our defenses and touch our lives.

The incredible love this man has drives him to Jesus. He cries desperately out to the Lord and we see him shamelessly begging for his son’s life. He remains insistent even after Jesus seems to turn him down. He continues to hang on to a very feeble hope that Jesus will relent. The nobleman has no other options–Jesus is his last chance.

Jesus chooses to reach out and heal the boy, even at a distance.

“God so loved the world that he gave His one and only son…” (John 3:16). How do we fathom this kind of love? Can we even imagine trading your son’s life for a bunch of proud rebels who detest you? We so easily we forget the incredible pain and loss involved in this act of redemption. Our Father decided His Son must die for you and I. We are criminals, and yet He loves us enough to sacrifice Himself to ‘heal’ us.

“What marvelous love the Father has extended to us! Just look at it—we’re called children of God! That’s who we really are.”

1 John 3:1, MSG 

Nicodemus Finally Understands, Entry #12

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“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

John 3:3 (context vv. 3-15).

He came at night. The questions are burning inside deep inside him and he desperately wants to understand. Nicodemus is a “ruler of the Jews,” (V. 1) and yet it’s not enough. He is unsure and must speak to Jesus, alone and I suppose, “off the record.” Yet he is the rare someone who feels ‘compelled’ to seek God, and will look just about anywhere for an answer.

Nicodemus is a pharisee, “a pure one,” and a teacher of the Jewish people, and yet he is bereft of real answers. He is looking for the missing piece, or maybe something much more then that, but he has to know that it is real and true. There are too many fakes out there after all. He has to know, so he goes to Jesus. Nicodemus needs to understand.

A little baby in a crib, brought to life by a mother’s painful love. It is to this kind of birth that our Lord points to as the very beginning of spiritual life. The real answer to Nicodemus’ questions do not involve ‘rehabilitation’ but rather transformation. Eternal life will not come by personal effort or by ‘working’ for it.

It’ll take nothing less than a new birth to change a person.

Yet somehow Nicodemus is confused by this. He’s trying very hard to “connect the dots” but his mind can’t comprehend the truths Jesus is saying. (A new birth? You’ve got to be kidding.) But Jesus isn’t joking and He isn’t purposefully making it hard for Nicodemus.

New births aren’t possible unless God intervenes. Being freshly birthed is a far cry from being rehabilitated. One is definitely God’s gift of salvation, and the other comes by human sweat and effort. We must understand that we can do nothing that will make us acceptable to God, we can only accept the new birth that He offers us.

It comes not through our effort, but by a repentant faith. We must become spiritually resurrected by believing in His Word, and allowing the Holy Spirit to give us real life. We start completely over it seems, radically receiving a spiritual life. Righteousness doesn’t come through sweaty, ‘grit your teeth’ determination, but by faith alone.

“If anyone belongs to Christ, there is a new creation. The old things have gone; everything is made new!”

2 Corinthians 5:17

Simple Jars of Wine, Entry #10

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“Jesus said to the servants,

“Fill the jars with water.” 

And they filled them up to the brim.”

John 2:7, (context, John 2:1-11) 

Turning water into wine? Easy, right? But let’s think for a moment. Molecules have to be drastically moved and profoundly altered, changed completely. They are totally transformed into something they were not. Chemistry says “impossible,” Jesus says “watch Me!”

We are the jars, clay and water. We stand in the hallway, and wait to be filled. But when Jesus comes to our lives, we are transformed. Our watery life becomes full of precious wine. It is our own personal miracle, we are totally transmuted, radically changed.

We are no longer water, but we have become wine. And not just any old wine, but the very best (v. 10). But why does Jesus do this? He is love, this is how He has chosen to operate.

It’s His primary motive (John 3:16,) “God so loved the world…”

But secondly, it is all for His “glory.” He declares His magnificence in us, puny little “clay” pots.

We sit in the hallway, just waiting for His touch. We bring nothing and become ‘everything.’ We are mere water only, until He speaks. Nothing, but now everything. And not just second-rate–but the very best.


“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”

Romans 12:2

Catching Men, Entry #9

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“The Morning of the Fisherman,” Valentina Kostadinva, oil

“And so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon,

“Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.”

Luke 5:10

Fear is an ugly thing, it turns men into timid cowards who cannot really trust God. Simon Peter is promised courage. Throughout his life this will be a constant battle for him. It seems like Simon Peter will always struggle with what people will think about him. He is ‘crippled’ and he needs Jesus to intervene. And He does.

I remember Jody and I were sent out by a pastor to do “door-to-door” evangelism. I was terrified. We knocked on a door and then I sort of freaked out, I left her on the porch and hid behind a tree. Witnessing scared me. She shared Jesus while I ran away. How ‘Peter-like’ I am.

“Catching men” is a reference to Peter’s occupation as a fisherman. Jesus speaks so Peter will understand. He expresses evangelism in a way that describes the work of the Kingdom. Fishing describes the main task of the believer. All too often we’re ‘fixed’ on self-improvement, and our vision becomes blurred. Evangelism is to be our work.

“Evangelism is not a professional job for a few trained men, but is instead the unrelenting responsibility of every person who belongs to the company of Jesus.”

-Elton Trueblood