Blog Archives - WELCOME TO THE JOY OF TROY

May 11, 2021

5/11/2021

The Downside of Apostleship

        Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves. But beware of men. Matt. 10:16, 17.

    Some have felt that Jesus got it all backward. They have met some church members who have been harmless as serpents and wise as doves. There may be some like that in your congregation. And with a little Spirit-guided introspection we might discover those characteristics in ourselves.

    But Jesus didn't have it backward. He knew what He was talking about. Matthew 10 is the second of His recorded sermons in the first Gospel. The initial one was the Sermon on the Mount, in which He set forth the principles of His kingdom. This one finds Jesus instructing His disciples to preach those principles as He sends them out on their first independent evangelistic tour.

    So far the instruction has been very encouraging. Not only were they to preach the message, but like Jesus, they were to "heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, [and] cast out devils" (Matt. 10:8) It sounded like a great deal. They were going to get to do some really neat things. If all went well, they would have power and authority. People, they must have thought, would seek them out. Everything would be wonderful.

    But! And "but" is one of the most important words in our vocabulary. "But" that wasn't the whole story. The reason that they needed to be wise as serpents and harmless and doves soon showed up in Jesus' sermon in the words "but beware of men."

    The disciples would have notoriety all right, but it wouldn't all be positive. After all, it hadn't been thus far in the experience of Jesus. He preached a countercultural message that the individuals already running things in the Jewish world--the high priests, Pharisees, scribes, and the Sanhedrin--would view as an outright challenge to their position.

    He had not made friends by shouting out in public, "You have been told in the past, but I say unto you." His message confronted the powers that be. And they would react, eventually putting Jesus on the cross.

    And now Jesus is telling His followers to do and say the same things. They also would be resisted. As a result, they would need the wisdom of a serpent and the tranquil personality of a dove as they navigated through a complex world.

May 10, 2021

5/10/2021

When Disciples Become Apostles

        These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: "Do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans. Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel. As you go, proclaim this message: 'The kingdom of heaven has come near.' Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons, Freely you have received, freely give." Matt. 10:5-8, NIV.

    The first four verses of Matthew 10 list the names of the 12 disciples, whom Jesus now calls "apostles." Here we have a shift in terminology that points to a change in the role of the twelve. Up to then they had been "disciples," learners or followers. But now Jesus identifies them as "apostles," from the Greek apostolos, meaning "one sent as a messenger."

    Prior to this time the twelve have been like passengers in a car. Now Jesus is handing them the keys. And just as riders often don't pay much attention to exactly how things are done in varying circumstances--when to make this turn and that--and thus need a bit of careful instruction by their parents before they set out on their maiden voyage, so it is that Jesus has some very definite counsel on how the twelve should carry out their mission.

    First, He counsels, stick with Jewish audiences. Don't even attempt to go to the Samaritans or Gentiles.

    That sounds like a strange command from a Man who came as Savior of the whole world. But Jesus had His reasons. For one thing, the disciples weren't ready mentally to deal with the Gentiles. Even years later, Peter in Acts 10 would find it almost impossible to enter the house of a Gentile until God gave him a revelation that it was all right. And afterwards he still had to repeatedly defend his actions.

    A more important reason for not going to the Gentiles was because of Jewish prejudice itself. If Jesus' followers had aggressively begun working among the Gentiles, no self-respecting Jew would have paid them any attention. It would have confirmed Jesus' enemies suspicions that He was in league with the devil.

    The widening of mission will come, and demonstrated by the book of Acts. But meanwhile, Jesus has provided us with an important evangelistic hint. Namely, always start by putting your first energies into that which is close at hand rather than indulging in useless dreams about future "glory" in some far-off land.

May 9, 2021

5/9/2021

The Parable That Brought Me Back to the Church

        Once again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was let down into the lake and caught all kinds of fish. When it was full, the fishermen pulled it up on the shore. Then they sat down and collected the good fish in baskets, but threw the bad away. This is how it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come and separate the wicked from the righteous. Matt. 13:47-49, NIV.

    I am a perfectionist at heart. I not only desired to live a perfect (defined as sinless) life, but I wanted to pastor the perfect church. Converted from agnosticism at the age of 19, I had ideals that were of the highest order. That was OK, but mine were not plugged into biblical reality.

    After several years in the pastorate I could only conclude that the churches I was serving were really messed up. They weren't perfect! And I was beginning to have some doubts about myself. My solution: quit. Not only quit but study philosophy to find the real meaning of life. Mine was to be a progressive journey away from the church and what I perceived as Christianity.

    There was only one problem--the escape hatch didn't work. At the end of six years of study I had come to the conclusion that philosophy held no ultimate answers on the meaning of life. And since I had already explored the Eastern religions for possible hope and had found them wanting, I was somewhat perplexed.

    The only answer that I could envision was a return to the happy hedonism that I had left behind at age 19. At least that held short-term meaning. "Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die." "If it feels good, do it!" But from experience I already knew the emptiness of that solution. I really wanted meaning.

    To put it mildly, I was extremely frustrated. It was at that point in my journey that three things happened at about the same time. One of them led me back to Matthew 13:47-49 and the parable of the net. My secular Jewish mentor by accident helped me see that every religious movement is made up of true believers and those just along for the ride, including cultural "Christians."

    Suddenly the "net" sprang into my mind. Why didn't I see it sooner? Jesus had clarified part of my problem 2,000 years earlier. The church has always been, and until the end will be, a mixed bag of those who really believe and have given up all for the kingdom and those masquerading.

    That, I thought, is the kind of congregations I had known. And with that thought I was on my way back to the church.

May 8, 2021

5/8/2021

Christianity Is No Bargain

        The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up; then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it. Matt. 13:44-46, RSV.

    We all love a bargain. Some people will stand outside a store for hours, waiting until it opens, just to get a good deal. In short, they want to pay less for something than it is worth.

     From the perspective of the bargain hunter Christianity is a really bad deal.

    The parables of the hidden treasure and the pearl of great price bring us back to the human response factor in the rejection of Jesus that He presented in the parable of the four soils. It is little wonder that Jesus' kingdom was not popular with the majority, including religious leaders. And it's still not.

    Why? Because the cost of accepting Jesus as Christ and Lord is nothing less than all we have and all we are. He will later tell His disciples that the price of the kingdom is the crucifixion of their very selves (Matt. 16:24, 25).

    Thus Dietrich Bonhoeffer, whose life ended when he was executed for seeking to put an end to Hitler's madness, writes that "when Christ calls a man, he bids him come to die." There is no cheap grace--no bargains in the store. True Christians are those who see the value of what Christ offers and willingly give up all that they have and are to become part of it. That is no bargain.

    But there are bargain hunters hanging around the church. They want the pearl--the treasure--but only at a discounted price. That perspective goes a long way toward helping us understand the church. Only some of its members have given all. Others are merely weeds masquerading as wheat in the Lord's garden. To become genuine wheat a person must be willing to abandon all for the kingdom.

    Of course, the lack of bargainhood also explains why true Christianity has always been and will always be a minority religion.

    But if we really see what Christ has to offer, perhaps we will recognize that it actually is a bargain indeed. What do I give up? One short little life that will end in death and is beset by trouble throughout. For what? Eternal life in a world that knows no sickness or pain or sorrow (Rev. 21:1-4).

    Not a bad bargain after all.

May 7, 2021

5/7/2021

Small Beginnings Make a Big Difference

    The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed which a man took and sowed in his field; it is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is the greatest of shrubs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches....The kingdom is like leaven which a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, till it was all leavened. Matt. 13:31-33, RSV.

    Have you ever felt insignificant? Have you ever concluded that your church is too small and puny to make a difference?

    I suffer from both kinds of insignificance as I drive through a great city. It makes me wonder, "What is the use in even trying?"

    Christ's earliest disciples must have felt that way. The Jewish leadership must have helped them in their insecurity by pointing out what a motley little crew they were--unlearned peasants and fishermen. And they intimated that Jesus couldn't possibly be the Messiah. His kingdom would never amount to anything.

    By outward appearances the Jews were right.

    It is in the face of all that smallness that Jesus gave the parable of the mustard seed. It wasn't actually the tiniest seed in Palestine, but it was the smallest one cultivated. Yet it became the largest of the cultivated shrubs, reaching a height of from 10-12 feet.

    That little beginnings can make a difference is the lesson of the mustard seed. They can change the world. Outwardly the church of Jesus' day was miserably insignificant. Yet by the end of His life Jesus was telling the disciples to take Christianity to all the world (Matt. 28:19, 20). And they did, thereby illustrating the truth of the mustard seed.

    The lesson: we can make a difference--both as a group and as individuals. Don't be put off by small beginnings, but put your heart and soul into God's work. It is by such dedication that Christ's message has spread to all corners of the earth.

    The parable of the leaven is also about the kingdom growth, but this time in the hearts and lives of individuals. Just as a bit of yeast or leaven transforms the flour into which it is kneaded, so the gospel transforms every part of a person's life.

    The interesting thing about leaven is that it is a symbol of evil in the Old Testament. Hardly looks like one for righteousness. But the truth is that there are two leavens in the world--that of Christ and that of the devil. Therefore choose your yeast carefully.

May 6, 2021

5/6/2021

The Mystery of It All

        The kingdom of God is like a man who casts seed upon the soil: and he goes to bed at night and gets up by day, and the seeds sprouts and grows--how, he himself does not know. The soil produces crops by itself; first the blade, then the head, then the mature grain in the head. Mark 4:26-28, NASB

    The miracle of it all! One day you have dirt and a dead-looking little seed. A week later you have a growing plant!

    We should see the parable of the growing seed as an extension of the parable of the sower (Matt. 13:3-8; Mark 4:1-20), especially the last part, which deals with the fruitfulness of good soil. All in all, the parable of the sower was rather discouraging, since it predominantly spoke of failure for the person sowing the gospel seed, with only one fourth of the hearers truly accepting the Word.

    The parable of the growing seed is in one sense a correction provided by Jesus as an encouragement to those tempted to feel discouraged with the amount of fruitless labor they are expending on those with "hearing" problems. The bottom line in the parable of the growing seed is that things are happening, even when it doesn't look that way--that God is growing His kingdom in the hearts of people even as we sleep. It is a process that we don't understand, but one that is evident in germination and the developing fruit.

    Ellen White sets forth that truth in a way that I have found encouraging throughout the years. Speaking of the resurrection day, she writes, "All the perplexities of life's experience will then be made plain. Where to us have appeared only confusion and disappointment, broken purposes and thwarted plans, will be seen a grand, overruling, victorious purpose, a divine harmony.

    "There all who have wrought with unselfish spirit will behold the fruit of their labors....How little of the result of the world's noblest work is in this life manifest to the doer! How many toil unselfishly and unweariedly for those who pass beyond their reach and knowledge! Parents and teachers lie down in their last sleep, their lifework seeming to have been wrought in vain; they know not that their faithfulness has unsealed springs of blessing that can never cease to flow....Men sow the seed from which, above their graves, others reap blessed harvests....They are content here to know that they have set in motion agencies for good. In the hereafter the action and reaction of all these will be seen" (Education, p. 305).

    The bottom line: don't be discouraged by what you see. The Holy Spirit is working in ways we do not understand.

May 5, 2021

5/5/2021

Why Is the Church Messed Up?

        Another parable He put forth to them, saying: "The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field; but while men slept, his enemies came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way. But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop, then the tares also appeared. So the servants of the owner came and said to him, 'Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?' He said to them, 'An enemy has done this.' The servants said to him, 'Do you want us then to go and gather them up?' But he said, 'No, lest while you gather up the tares you also uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, "First gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn."'" Matt. 13:24-30, NKJV.

    Have you ever noticed that the church is all messed up? That is has some members who are less than they should be? That some of them are downright hypocrites?

    The parable of the weeds (tares) helps us understand the problem from God's perspective. It carries the explanation of the rejection of Jesus a bit further than the parable of the four soils. While the soils emphasize the perversity of human reaction, the weeds parable points beyond the human realm to the supernatural activity of the devil, to the cosmic conflict between Christ and Satan. Thus the rejection of Jesus results not only from human responsibility, but also the work of the devil (the enemy of verses 28, 39).

    The weeds parable also moves the activity of the devil and the rejection of Christ and His principles right into the church. Jesus provided the parable to help Christians down through the ages to understand that the church is not perfect. It is a mixture of weeds (apparent Christians) and wheat (genuine Christians), a condition that will continue to exist until the Second Advent harvest. That does not imply that some weeds should not be removed through excommunication (see Matt. 18:15-20), but rather that in most cases human discernment will not be adequate to carry out the weeding process.

    And that brings us to the final lesson in the parable of the weeds: God did not make us judges of our brothers and sisters in the church, except in cases of open sin. Congregations across history have found themselves torn up and destroyed by those who take over the prerogatives of God in condemning and judging others. Don't worry, Jesus says, God will make things right in the end. Meanwhile, we need to accept the church as what Christ told us it would be--less than perfect.

May 4, 2021

5/4/2021

Parables: A Probing Teaching Technique

        Then the disciples came and said to him, "Why do you speak to them in parables?" And he answered them, "To you it is given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. For to the one who has, more will be given, and he will have an abundance, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand....But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear." Matt. 13:10-16, ESV.

    Now here is a perplexing statement. Was Jesus really saying that He taught in parables to hide the truth rather than make it clear to all His hearers? What did He mean when He told His disciples, "To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside everything is in parables so that they may indeed see but not perceive, and may indeed hear but not understand; lest they should turn again, and be forgiven" (Mark 4:11, 12, RSV)?

    Mark's version is even more mystifying than Matthew's. After all, both John and Jesus brought their ministries into the public with calls to repentance. Did Jesus speak in parables to make ideas clearer or to muddle truth in such a way that people wouldn't be able to understand and repent? Did He really desire them to remain in their lost state?

    His statements have troubled people across time. They seem to contradict the very reason that He used parables.

    One way of resolving the problem is to remember that Jesus was simultaneously speaking to at least four groups of people in the same audience: (1) the 12 disciples, (2) a believing but fluctuating larger group of followers, (3) the "crowd," which included many who were curious but did not necessarily believe, and (4) His adversaries.

    In that context parables had the function of dividing the audience between those who were really interested and those seeking entertainment. Jesus used parables as a method to get His hearers to take hold of the topic and wrestle with it in their minds so that they could arrive at a fuller understanding. He wanted them to think through the implications of the story.

    Conversely, as William Barclay puts it, "the parable conceals truth from those who are either too lazy to think or too blind through prejudice to see." This method of teaching became a kind of judgment as it sifted out the tares from the wheat, those whose thoughts were of this world and those who were spiritually minded.

    The end lesson: God wants me to wrestle with the great truths of His Word.

May 3, 2021

5/3/2021

A Lesson in Evangelism, Part 2

        Hear ye therefore the parable of the sower. Matt. 13:18.

    In Matthew 13:18-23 we find something quite rare in the Gospels: Jesus explaining each part of His parable of the sower found in verse 3-8. The lesson is of crucial importance both to those disciples and to us because it is all too easy to get discouraged in evangelistic outreach and give up, thinking that the problem must be in something we are doing wrong. No, says Jesus. The fault is in the soil?

    Some individuals are pathway hearers or no-growth people. The fields of Palestine tended to consist of long, narrow strips divided by pathways. Anybody who has ever had a vegetable garden knows that such pathways soon come to be packed soil in which even weeds have a difficult time growing. Similarly, some hearers' hearts and minds have been hardened. They have an impenetrable shell of emotional and intellectual defenses that refuse entrance of the gospel message. Satan is all too willing to snatch it away before it has a chance to take root.

    Other people are shallow-growth people, represented by shallow soil underlaid by a sheet of rock. Such hearers have some good soil, some hope. They look like a successful plant at first, but have no adequate possibility for root growth. Such individuals, Jesus says, are shallow-soil people. They have potential, but they don't allow God's Word to enter deeply into their emotions and intellect. It doesn't become the controlling force in their life. As a result, when trouble comes they just fade away like an inadequately rooted plant in the full glare of the summer sun.

    Still other people are stunted-growth hearers. Any gardener knows that weeds grow faster than vegetables. And if not controlled, they will crowd out the good stuff. Such people first respond to the gospel message, then get strangled by the things of this world. Jesus noted that it is the love of things that crowds out and eventually kills their religious experience.

    It is only after that dismal catalog of potential Christians who fail in one way or another that Jesus comes to the full-growth people who bear fruit for the kingdom. They may not be as consistent or as plentiful as the sower may desire, but they will emerge. Failure in evangelism should not cause us to become discouraged. As long as there is sowing, there will be reaping.

    The end lesson: keep on sowing in spite of whatever the level of apparent success.

May 2, 2021

5/2/2021

A Lesson in Evangelism, Part 1

        A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them. Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they had not much soil, and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil, but when the sun rose they were scorched; and since they had no root they withered away. Other seeds fell upon thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. Matt. 13:3-8, RSV.

    Parables always have a context. The rejection of Jesus by so many in Matthew 11 and 12 not only led to a radical shift of His teaching methodology in chapter 13, but also dictated the content of the parables. After all, Matthew faces a dilemma as he writes his Gospel several decades after Christ's death. How is it that so many spurned the Messiah? That rejection seems to go against Jewish eschatological expectations. Why do some respond to Jesus, while most do not?

    Jesus' answer begins with the parable of the four types of soil. In essence, He teaches that the root of the trouble does not lie with God. After all, He has made provision for the preaching of the gospel to all types of people (soils), but all do not respond in the same way.

    Two constants continue throughout the parable. First the sowing seems to be the same for all types of soil. They all get the same treatment, the same Word. Second, all four types hear the message. Where they differ is not in hearing but in responding. One point the four types share is that they are all potential disciples in the sense of being followers of Christ's message. Whether potentiality advances to actuality is not in hearing the Word but in responding to it.

    In the parable Jesus sets forth four types of soil, three of which fail in developing to maturity and one in which the Word succeeds. We are left with two impressions after reading this parable. First, those who receive the Word and remain faithful are definitely in the minority. That insight lines up with the experience of Jesus' first hearers and with the reality of evangelism in our day. Second, fruition depends upon human response.

    The overall message of the parable of the sower to those early disciples and to us is not to give up just because evangelistic results look so meager. Our responsibility is to sow the Word. And if we do so consistently there will be results.

    The end lesson: Keep on sowing in spite of the level of outward success.