Take Up the Challenge

By Richard

A friend has been asking me some questions about faith and Jesus. I think that Jesus offers genuine seekers the ultimate challenge in Luke 11.

Ask and you’ll get;
Seek and you’ll find;
Knock and the door will be open.

(Luke 11: 9, the Message)

More than just asking for material challenge I think he’s saying that if we ASK, SEEK and KNOCK after Jesus we will get an answer. My prayer is for seekers to take up the challenge.

1. To ASK Jesus if he exists because I believe they really will get an answer

2. To SEEK to know the truth about Jesus because I believe that they will find Jesus to be true.

3. To KNOCK on the door of faith for when they do Christ will open the door and everything will become much clearer.

Will you take up the challenge?

The Lord’s Prayer

Great words on how to pray:

Father,
Reveal who you are.
Set the world right.
Keep us alive with three square meals.
Keeep us forgiven with you and forgiving others.
Keep us safe from ourselves and the Devil.

(Luke 11:2-4, the Message)

The Main Course

By Richard

In Luke 10: 38-42 we have the well known story of Mary and Martha. They have Jesus for a meal. Martha busies herself with preparations, while Mary sits at the feet of Jesus, absorbing his every word. Martha, frustrated, asks Jesus to tell Mary to get off her rear end and lend a hand. Jesus reminds Martha that Mary has actually chosen the best. While preparing physical food is of some importance, Jesus was in fact “the main course” (v. 42, the Message) and Mary was feasting on it.

I find it challenging because I am a Martha. Always busy with details. It’s a good reminder that Jesus is the main course. I must be careful that peripheral concerns do not take away too much time and energy from the essential – Jesus.

Pray for the Gospel

By Richard

It’s interesting to note in the Bible the kinds of things that we are commanded to pray for. In Luke 10 Jesus tells his disciples to get on their knees because there’s, “A huge harvest! And how few hands…Ask the God of the harvest to send some harvest hands” (Luke 10: 2, the Message).

One of the things that believers are commanded to pray for is for people to be sent to help with the spread of the Gospel; a work that greatly exceeds the workforce. We are called to pray that God will send people to be sent to help with His Gospel work.

It’s interesting how their payers we are immediately answered, for in the next breath they are sent off by Jesus on a mission trip. But beware! When we start praying for the harvest (as we should) we could find ourselves called, in the next breath, to become part of the solution to the shortage of people available to help out!

The Kingdom

By Richard

Luke uses a series of meetings that Jesus has with people who want to follow him (Luke 9: 43 – 62), to remind us of the importance of the Kingdom of God.

1. The Kingdom of God needs to come before personal comfort.

2. The Kingdom of God is more important than living. It needs an urgency in life

3. The Kingdom of God needs a present reality in our lives. We cannot leave it for a later date

The Greatness of a Leader

By Richard

I love these profound words. The disciples argue about human greatness and so Jesus turns the discussion upside down. “You become great”, says Jesus, “By accepting [me] and not asserting [you]. Your spirit, not your size, makes the difference.” (Luke 9: 36-48).

Greatness as a leader is about the centrality of Jesus in our lives and the spiritual quality of the “universe” within us. It’s not primarily about the size and skill of our visible leadership. Now I’m not saying that growing in skill as a leader is a bad thing, but there is a progression here to leadership.

Great leader with no spiritual substance = USELESS
Unskilled leader with Godly heart = AWESOME
Skilled leader with Godly heart = OUT OF THIS WORLD

The challenge is simply this – let’s work more on our heart's than on our skill level.

Deeply Aware

By Richard

I love it…Jesus has just been transfigured…his full glory revealed. The disciples sleep though these precious moments and when they awaken Peter, seeing the glory and the company, lets his mouth get ahead of his brain. He offers to, “Build three memorials; one for [Jesus], one for Moses and one for Elijah” (Luke 9:23, the Message). But despite all their human weakness and failings we read that a radiant cloud envelops them and they become, “Deeply aware of God” and hear his voice pointing them to Jesus. (Parts of Luke 9: 34, 35, the Message).

I guess what I’m thinking is that we desperately need a deeper awareness of God. We need it badly at Mountainview. We need it badly in our private devotions. But, let us not give up seeking it, for it does not depend on us alone and on our “spirituality”, rather it’s about God covering our human weakness and touching our lives.

Let Jesus Lead

By Richard

It’s interesting that in Luke 9 Jesus’ call to let him lead is made to the disciples first. If you intend to follow Jesus he has to lead, to be in the driver’s seat (as the Message puts it). As leaders, used to leading others, we run a grave danger of forgetting to let Jesus lead us first. Our mandate for Christian leadership comes a willingness to let Jesus lead us first.

The Ministry Chain

By Richard

In Luke 9 Jesus feeds the 5000. We read that he took the bread and fish and blessed them, and then he broke them and gave them to his disciples and they handed out the pieces to the crowd.

What a powerful example of ministry. Leaders are called to be close to Jesus and to put themselves in a place where they can receive from Jesus, so that in turn we have spiritual blessings to pass onto others.

He Knows

By Richard

In Luke 8, Jesus arrives from across the lake to be greeted by a great bustling crowd. People pushing and hands brushing against the master, as Jesus and his disciples push their way through to Jairus’ home. Suddenly Jesus stops. “Someone touched me!” Peter, always bold and honest, blurts back. “Is this some kind of joke Jesus? A thousand hands have touched you!” But Jesus knows that there is a woman in need. Frightened and “unclean” she kneels before Jesus. She, a woman, an “unclean” woman, who was forbidden to touch another had quietly touched the Lord of all purity. But though her trembling and tears she hears a soft and comforting voice, one that is commending her for our faith and sending her home blessed.

It reminded me that our planet, if we are honest, is a noisy place. How the pain of billions must crowd the master. Yet somehow, being God, he senses my need and stops to proclaim me blessed. God please bless me today!

What on earth am I here for?

By Richard

In Luke 8: 26-29 Jesus heals a man possessed by a mob of demons. The man, for the first time in a long time, in his full senses, asks Jesus if he can go with him. But Jesus sends him home, saying, “Go home and tell everything that God did in you.” And we read, “He went back and preached all around town everything that Jesus had done for him.” (Luke 8:39, the Message).

Have you ever wondered why Jesus doesn’t take us right home to heaven the moment we believe and decide to follow him? Well, I think that the story gives us one reason. Jesus keeps us on earth to be his witnesses, to tell others about the good news. Our primary task, as followers of Jesus, is to let others know through deeds and words about the good news of Jesus Christ.

The question that Jesus asks us is this. Will we go and tell others about the good things that God has done for us?

Hold fast to God’s Word

By Richard

I like the phrasing of Eugene Petersons telling and explanation given by Jesus of the Parable of the Sower. It says that the people who go onto produce a harvest of righteousness are those who, “Seize the word of God and hold no matter what, sticking with it until there’s a harvest.” (Luke 8: 15, the Message)

Seize is a strong word. Are we holding onto God’s word tightly? Does our grip get tighter when things get tough or do we easily let go of God’s word? This statement alone from Jesus refutes an easy peasy Christianity. There’s work and challenges involved in holding onto and applying God’s word. But there’s also a promise that for those who do, there’s a harvest, a reward, many times greater than all of the hard investments made along the way.

Really Listening

By Richard

Jesus, we discover at the beginning of Luke 8 has an itinerant ministry. He’s going to village after village, town after town, city after city, doing all that he can to spread the message of the Kingdom of God. One of his challenges to the crowds is this, “Are you listening, really listening!” (Luke 8: 8, the Message). He’s asking is not for a passive nod, as his words go in one ear and out the other, but for our active listening – where Jesus words are actually getting into our lives and making a difference. Let’s be honest, how often do we casually brush over the words of Jesus. Question: Are we really, really listening to Jesus.

Spoilt Children

By Richard

In Luke 7: 31-35, Jesus compares the people of Israel to spoilt children because they were always complaining that they are too tired to play, too busy to talk, and in their opinion John the Baptist is crazy and Jesus is a glutton and drunkard! In their complaining they were missing the treasure on offer – God was standing before them!

We can be like spoiled children. “The service is too early!” “The service is too late!” “The service is too long!” “The service is too short!” We get the picture! Recently a couple showed up at church that had driven 600 kms (450 miles) to attend Mountainview because they were desperate to worship God with other believers and enjoy fellowship and encouragement. I felt challenged – sometimes we don’t know what we’ve got until we don’t have it any longer.

Let’s embrace Jesus and the life that he offers and make sure we don’t keep him at arms length by our complaining!

The Pastoral Challenge

By Richard

In Luke 7: 11-15, Jesus comes across a funeral possession leaving the town of Nain (well known for its Nain bread!). Jesus sees a widow who has lost her only son (we must understand that this is more than simply the loss of life – she’s lost her name, she’s lost her inheritance, she’s lost her source of economic gain). We read that, “When Jesus saw her, his heart broke.” (from The Message)

So often I deal with pain “professionally” when God wants me to deal with it “pastorally”. I’ve built walls around my heart to keep it stable. I fear the shedding of a tear. Yet as Jesus shows us a broken heart is no weakness at all. It lies on the journey towards helping others experience resurrection and new life. God help my heart to break more at the needs I see around me.

Simple Trust

By Richard

The captain had a dying servant and he asked Jesus to help. For cultural reasons (he was a Gentile and Jesus was a Jew) he didn’t want Jesus to visit his home. “I know you have all the authority in the world”, he says, “So just say the word.” I love Jesus response. “I’ve yet to come across this simple trust anywhere in Israel [among] the very people who are supposed to know about God and how he works.” (Luke 7: 9, the Message).

Jesus seeks simple trust. How often have we lost people in our complicated theological arguments? How often have we made theological mountains out of mole hills? Jesus wants our simple trust. There’s a simplicity needed in our approach to God, and the way that we live for Him in front of others. My challenge to us is that we learn to love and trust Jesus more simply and more sincerely.

The Operating System

By Richard

I love the way that Peterson phrases Luke 6: 46-47 in his Message version of the bible. Jesus asks his followers: “Why are you so polite with me, always saying ‘Yes sir’ and ‘That’s right sir’ but never doing a thing that I tell you? These words that I speak to you are not mere additions to your life, home owner improvements to you standard of living. They are foundational words, words to build a life on.”

In computer speak Jesus is saying that this words are not nice little “plug ins” to your life. No, his words are the operating system! Question: What is your operation system? Is it “Me 2007”, with a few bits of Christian software added for good measure, or is it “Jesus AD30”?

Jesus goes onto talk about a wise man that built his house on the rock and a foolish man that built his house on the sand. Continuing with our operating system analogy! If the operating system is based on “me” Jesus warns it will crash at some point and valuable data will be lost. Jesus, on the other hand, is a stable operating system that will hold firm, during power surges and attacks from malicious software.

I recommend that you go to your control panel today and uninstall “Me 2007” and go ahead and install “Jesus AD30”. Reboot your system an enjoy a stable operating system that is guaranteed to last for eternity and one that not only allows - but even welcomes - plenty of personal plug ins!

Popularity is Dangerous

By Richard

In Luke 6: 26 we are reminded by Jesus that living for the approval of others is a dangerous thing. Popularity contests tend to dilute the truth about ourselves and others. Jesus reminds his followers that our call, “Is to be true!”