Blog Archives - WELCOME TO THE JOY OF TROY

May 21, 2021

5/21/2021

The Cost of Discipleship

        Now great multitudes went with Him. And He turned and said to them, "If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple. And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it. Luke 14:25-28, NKJV.

    Jesus didn't lack for disciples. Gaining followers was apparently one of the easiest things for Him to do. After all, He could heal their illnesses, miraculously feed them if the need arose, and He had great stories. All in all, Jesus was wonderful entertainment.

    Many of those following Him had not the slightest idea about what it meant. As a result, Jesus stops, turns to the crowd, and gives them the brutal facts of life regarding true discipleship. It means "hating" your family and even your own life.

    Here Jesus is speaking in hyperbole (an extravagant statement used as a figure of speech) to get their attention. The core meaning of what He is trying to get across is that nothing in all the world can come before God in our lives--that no love in life (not even love for our selves) can compare with the love we have for Him. Becoming a follower of Jesus means being willing to give up all for Him, even life itself.

    Undoubtedly Jesus caught their attention with His forthright statements about hating their families and their lives. And now that He has their notice He pushes on with the fact that following Him is not a casual choice.

    That brings Him to His sermonette on the cost of discipleship, which concludes in Luke 14:33 with the dictum: "Whoever of you does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple" (RSV).

    Counting the cost is crucial for would-be disciples. Thus it is important for me.

    And what is that cost? It is not merely my tithe (10 percent of my income) and offerings. It means to let Him be Lord of all of my money.

    Nor does it merely mean one seventh of my time on the Sabbath during which I worship Him. No! It means to let Him be Lord of all my time.

    So what is the cost of following Jesus? Nothing less than total dedication of all that I am and have to His kingdom and glory.

    Help me today, dear Lord, not only to count the cost, but be willing to pay it.

May 20, 2021

5/20/2021

Spiritual Nearsightedness

        And he told them a parable, saying, "The land of a rich man brought forth plentifully; and he thought to himself, 'What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?' And he said, 'I will pull down my barns, and build larger ones; and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample good laid up for many years; take your ease, eat, drink, be merry.' But God said to him, 'Fool! This night your soul is required of you; and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?' So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not right toward God." Luke 12:16-21, RSV.

    Nothing like having a conversation with yourself. The good news in that approach is that at last you have found someone who agrees with you. The bad news is that "both of you" might be wrong. Conversations with ourselves have no room for a reality check. They just might based on nearsightedness.

    Jesus is the ultimate reality checker. He is the ultimate optometrist and ophthalmologist to fix our eyes for better vision.

    Someone has said that money is like seawater: the more you drink, the thirstier you become. That is certainly the case with the man talking to himself in today's passage. Never once did it seem to come to his mind that he might share some of his "bounty" with others less fortunate than himself. Helping others transcended his mental world. The really important thing was taking care of himself. And that meant getting more and more and more so that he could build better and better and bigger and bigger barns so that he could get still more and more and more.

    He never saw beyond this world. And he made all his plans accordingly. In that he was a "normal" human being.

    William Barclay tells the story of a young man conversing with one who had been around longer. "I will learn my trade," said the younger. "And then?" asked the older. "I will make my fortune." "And then?" "I suppose that I shall grow old and retire and live on my money?" "And then?" "Well, I suppose that someday I will die." "And then?" came the question that hit him hard. The person "who never remembers that there is another world is destined some day for the grimmest of grim shocks."

    Jesus put it right when He set the stage for the parable of the rich fool with its theme text: "Take heed, and beware of all covetousness; for a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions" (Luke 12:15, RSV). Here is a real pair of spectacles.

    Try them on today.

May 19, 2021

5/19/2021

Cup-of-Water Religion

        Whoever gives to one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple, truly, I say to you, he shall not lose his reward. Matt. 10:42, RSV.

    Too many of us have it all backward. We think of greatness in the kingdom as doing some strenuous thing for the Lord. Perhaps we consider it as having the most amount of inspired writings stored up in our heads so that we have a Bible answer for every question that comes up. Or we might regard it as correct worship in church or spending our thoughtful hour with Jesus each day or making great exertions in missionary outreach.

    We have all kinds of theories on the topic. But most of them not only put our "selves" at the center of the "great" venture, but they miss the point. True Christianity, as we noted earlier, is letting Jesus live out His heart of love in our lives every day. The items listed above may or may not be significant, depending on how we relate to them, but something as simple as passing out a cup of cold water to the thirsty is always important.

    Our religious ideas get into trouble when we take the initiative of separating Jesus' two great commandments. We get all worked up about honoring God with all our hearts, minds, and souls (Matt. 22:37), but then sail through life not loving our neighbors as ourselves (verse 39). Sometimes we are even hard and cruel to them in the name of Christ if they are not doing what we think is right.

    And here we make the mistake of religionists down through the ages. The ancient Jews were like us. They got all excited about the outward focus of religion, but forgot what it was supposed to accomplish in their lives. Thus Micah asks, "With what shall I come before the Lord, and bow down myself before God on high?" The answer was not some great offering. Rather, "He has showed you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?" Micah 6:6, 8, RSV). And James writes that "religion that is pure and undefiled before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world" (James 1:27, RSV).

    All too many are excellent on the "unstained" part of that text but miss the rest of it. Jesus didn't. He had to deal with "unstained" Pharisees daily. It is in that context that He set forth His cup-of-cold water theology. People who live His life of love will find their reward in God's kingdom.

May 18, 2021

5/18/2021

Fear's Solution

        He who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for my sake will find it. Matt. 10:38, 39, RSV.

    A cross was no laughing matter or casual symbol in the time of Jesus. He and His disciples knew what it stood for. In A.D. 7 Judas of Galilee had led a revolt against Rome. After the general Varus had broken the revolt, he had crucified some 2,000 Jews. So that the Jews would get the message, Varus placed their crosses along the roadside of Galilee.

    The idea of being crucified doesn't do much to our twenty-first-century imaginations.

    We have never seen a crucifixion. But not the disciples. When they saw a knot of Roman soldiers escorting a person through town carrying or dragging part of a cross, they recognized it as a one-way trip. They knew the cross to be the cruelest and most humiliating of death--and one that the ruling Romans were more than willing to use frequently to keep troublesome areas such as Palestine under control.

    Yet here was Jesus telling His uncomprehending disciples that every Christian would have a cross. They must have wondered what He was talking about. After all, they were expecting to hold high level positions in His government, not be criminals suffering crucifixion. While at the moment they didn't understand, they would be in the years ahead.

    More incomprehensible yet was Jesus telling them that taking up their cross would lead to life, that "he who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for my sake will find it."

    But what was puzzling then would become clearer after Jesus experienced His own cross and the apostles began teaching the message of the cross. It declares not that all of us will die on literal crosses, but that our self-centered way of living and thinking will come to an end and we will live for God's kingdom rather than for our self-centered and selfish goals. Paul put it succinctly when he penned: "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now life in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me" (Gal. 2:20).

    One of the paradoxes of life is that by clinging to our selfish goals we lose out in the end. But by living the way of the cross we find life eternal. And it is when we recognize that fact that the despicable cross puts an end to (crucifies) all fear.

May 17, 2021

5/17/2021

Fearful Decisions

        Do not think that I have come to bring peace on earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and a man's foes will be those of his own household. He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. Matt. 10:34-37, RSV.

    That is quite a statement from One called the "Prince of Peace" (Isa. 9:6).

    Here we find Jesus at His realistic best. His followers may not need to fear, but there is plenty about which to be fearful, including in one's own family when some decide to walk with Him in line with His principles, while others choose to go against Him and His principles, each with strong views on the topic.

    His statement that "I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law" probably impacted His hearers at two levels at the same time. On level one Jesus was using language familiar to His Jewish audience. The prophet Micah had written: "The son treats the father with contempt, the daughter rises up against her mother, the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; a man's enemies are the men of his own house" (Micah 7:6, RSV).

    The rabbis took that verse and applied it to the time of the Messiah (m. Sotah 9:15). Again, they taught that one of the events to take place at the coming of the Messiah would be division within families. Thus we read: "When Messiah comes" "daughters will rise up against their mothers, and daughters-in-law against their mother-in-law" (b. Sanhedrin 97:a).

    With that background in mind, Jesus may have been making a Messianic claim in a place and a manner that the modern casual reader doesn't see. But a first-century Jew may have easily made the connection.

    More on the surface is Jesus' teaching that He will be absolutely first in the life of every true follower. He will be more important than even life's closest human relationships, more important than anything.

    Jesus is setting forth no abstract theoretical problem. All through time individuals have had to make an excruciating decision to follow Him in the face of the objection of a spouse, or of children, or of the larger community. Such choices are among the most painful we ever have to make. Yet they are just as important for eternal life as they are painful.

    Lord, give me grace to get my priorities right. Amen.

May 16, 2021

5/16/2021

More on Fear

        Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven. Matt. 10:32, 33, NKJV

    It doesn't look as if we are through with fear yet. Now, I know that today's passage does not use the word "fear," but fear is in the context and underlies the only reason that a believer would not "confess" or "acknowledge" or "stand up" for Jesus. The Message vividly brings out the dynamic of fear undergirding the passage: "Stand up for me against world opinion and I'll stand up for you before my Father in heaven. If you turn tail and run, do you think I'll cover for you?"

    While Jesus has pounded home three times that He followers don't need to fear, we still find ourselves tempted that way. I am. Of course, there is no one who is out to take my life right now or to do me physical harm. But if I really say what I think they might make fun of me or consider me unsophisticated, some kind of hayseed who should have been born 200 years ago. It is hard for us humans not to fear--it seems to be in our very bones.

    But if we let Christ handle our fears about our precious selves, the rewards are great. Those who stand up for Christ have an advocate in heaven. That's good news on the days we are strong, but frightening on those that we fail.

    And here the good news gets even better. The Jesus of grace is even willing to stand up for us when we have denied Him if we confess our sin and rededicate ourselves to His "no fear" agenda. Peter discovered that grace when he fell flat on his face the evening before the Crucifixion. He not only denied Jesus in the face of fear, but cursed and swore that he didn't know Him. That forceful testimony convinced his hearers.

    The good news is that Peter eventually found his knees and was restored again. For the rest of his life he confessed his Lord (although not perfectly) until he finally met crucifixion himself.

    And further good news is that Christ willingly confesses us before the Father when we acknowledge Him in our words and lives. But the bad news is that if we persistently choose to deny Him in our daily walk, we only hurt ourselves in the long run.

    I suppose the only question I need to ask myself is "Whom should I fear most--other people or God?"

May 15, 2021

5/15/2021

Still More No Fear

        Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground without your Father's will. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows. Matt. 10:29-31, RSV.

    I have been making God's job easier for the past few years in the hair-counting arena. A bad hair day for me is now "hair" in the singular. But still I have never taken the time to count what's left.

    In fact, I don't know of anyone who has ever numbered the hairs they have attached to their cranium. And here we come to Jesus' point. Namely, that the Creator-God knows us far more intimately than we ever will ourselves. In short, He cares.

    Christ's main illustration in today's reading is just as illuminating about the concern of the Father. "Are not two sparrows sold for a penny?" He asks. Now a penny was about the smallest coin in a Jewish wallet. Being one sixteenth of a denarius, it wasn't worth much. And you could buy two sparrows with only one penny.

    Luke's Gospel puts it a bit differently, noting that five of the little birds sold for two pennies (Luke 12:6). That tidbit of information makes the illustration even more powerful. Apparently the sparrow market operated on the same principle as many stores do today. If you were willing to spend a penny you got two birds, but if you spent two pennies you could get double the birds with an extra one thrown in for free. What a bargain! If we combine Matthew's and Luke's accounts we realize that God cares even for the sparrow that had no value at all. Or as one writer has pointed out, "even the forgotten sparrow is dear to God."

    So why should Christ's followers have no fear? Because they are of infinitely more value than many sparrows and hairs, and if God cares for them we can be sure that He has far more concern for us.

    So there we have it. As Christians we should have no fear because"
        1. The judgments of eternity will set things straight and correct those of time (Matt. 10:26, 27).
        2. People really can't do anything to harm us permanently (verse 28).
        3. And God cares for each of us, including those who seem to be forgotten by the world and even the church (verses 29-31).

    We can rejoice today that we have a God who cares, a God who is powerful, a God who will make all things right in the end.

May 14, 2021

5/14/2021

More No Fear

        Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. Matt. 10:28

    No fear again! "Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul." Taken in the context in Matthew 10, those who can "kill the body" are those persecutors who will eventually put several of the disciples to death (see verses 17-23). Those oppressors may be able to put people to death, but they are unable to destroy the person eternally. Following death and sleep in the grave (Dan. 12:2) there comes a resurrection (see 1 Thess. 4:13-18).

    It is that hope of resurrection that made the cowardly disciples fearless. After they met the resurrected Christ who claimed to have the keys to death and the grave (Rev. 1:18) and realized that because He had risen, they would also, they were absolutely unafraid.

    Their gospel became that Jesus not only died, but that He resurrected on the third day (1 Cor. 15:1-4). His resurrection served as a guarantee of their own at the end of time (verses 51-53). The resurrected Christ became the theme of apostolic preaching (Acts 2:24; 3:15; 5:30). That hope made the apostles "fearless." They had "no fear" because their enemies could kill their bodies but could not destroy them as individuals. Thus they had "no fear" because of the resurrection hope.

    On the other hand, there is someone whom we should fear. That is "him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell"--God Himself. Here we need to take a look at the word "soul." The Bible does not hold to the Greek belief that individuals consist of a material body and an immortal soul. To the contrary, immortality is a characteristic of God Himself (1 Tim. 6:16) that will not be bestowed on Christ's followers until the resurrection at the Second Advent (1 Cor. 15:51-53).

    The soul, meanwhile, is merely the whole person. Thus we find in Genesis 2:7 that "the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground [the material aspect], and breathed into his nostrils the breath [or spirit] of life; and man became a living soul." The Revised Standard Version and most other versions translate the Hebrew word for "soul" as "a living being." The soul is nothing less and nothing more than a living being or person. And it is only God who can eradicate a person eternally, a task called the "second death," the punishment of the wicked in the lake of fire that totally destroys them at the end of the millennium.

    Because they serve God, Christians can have "no fear," even in the midst of trouble.

May 13, 2021

5/13/2021

No Fear

        A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. It is enough for the disciple to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more will they malign those of his household. So have no fear. Matt. 10:24-26, ESV.

    No fear! Really? Does Jesus know what He is talking about? Has He gone off the track? After all, He had just listed all kinds of things that would happen to them in verses 17-23. In verses 24 and 25 He noted that they would not be above Him but would be persecuted like He was. And He already knew that His life was heading toward a Roman cross. Yet He instructs His disciples to have "no fear."

    "No fear" and the reasons for it will dominate this part of Jesus' sermon on mission, being specifically mentioned three times in verses 26, 28, and 31. The obvious fact is that from a human perspective the followers of Jesus have a great deal they could fear, since they will face rejection, persecution, and even death. But still He tells them to have "no fear."

    Here all of us who have accepted Christ need to listen up. We often get cold feet and exuberant intestines (signs of fear) at the slightest rejection because of our faith or when we need to speak up for it in difficult contexts. And if what Jesus is true, then it could get a lot worse. Yet He says, "no fear" or "fear not." How can He be so sure of that command? How can He say "have no fear" in the face of things inherently filled with fear?

    In verses 26-31 He will provide three forceful answers to those crucial questions. First, we are not to fear "for nothing is covered that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not not be made known" (Matt. 10:26, RSV).

    In other words, things will not always be as they are now. We see things through a cloud here, but in the future we will perceive them as they really are. Then truth will triumph and God and His people will stand vindicated. At that point in time the principles of the persecutor and the Christian heroism of the believing witness will manifest their true value, and each will receive their due reward.

    Witnessing for Christ can have "no fear" because they know that the judgments of eternity will correct the judgments of time.

May 12, 2021

5/12/2021

The Upside of Persecution

        Beware of men; for they will deliver you up to councils, and flog you in their synagogues....When they deliver you up, do not be anxious how you are you speak or what you are to say; for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour; for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you....You will be hated by all for my name's sake. But he who endures to the end will be saved. Matt. 10:17-22, RSV.

    Not a particular happy message! You will preach peace, but end up receiving violent treatment.

    Those disciples with ears to hear must have thought that they were experiencing echoes of the final beatitude. "Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when men revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so men persecuted the prophets who were before you" (Matt. 5:10, 11, RSV). Luke's version of those statements tells us that we should "leap for joy" when all those evil things happen to us because of our stand for Jesus (Luke 6:23).

    One thing you may never have noticed about that beatitude is that it is the only one repeated. Jesus gives a double dose of the "blessed are you when persecuted" message, undoubtedly because it was so distasteful and difficult to grasp.

    But the blessing is there. Most readers of this page are probably not being persecuted today. But some will encounter it from their families as they take their stand for Jesus. Others are feeling the brunt of the evil one's power because they have decided to live for Jesus in the workplace. And still others because they live under political forces that oppose the principles of Christianity. And if you are safe now, Revelation 13 is a clear prophecy that things will get more lively in the persecution realm as earth nears the end of its course and the forces of evil make their final attempts to crush Christ's followers.

    Meanwhile, according to Jesus in Matthew 10, those followers will have no need to fear. Jesus will be at their side, even giving them words to say in time of crisis. And when they have endured "to the end" they "will be saved." That is the upside of persecution.

    Dear Lord, help me to be a faithful messenger of Your Word. Help me in times of peace and in times of trouble. Thank You.