Monthly Archives: March 2013

Day 70: Faithfulness

Deuteronomy 11-13; Mark 13:1-13

The past two days, we have studied the first half of Moses’ 2nd speech to the people. It began in Chapter 5 and has been a general plea for obedience… He winds down this part of his speech at the end of chapter 11 and begins a more specific point-by-point review of the law in Chapter 12…

Moses uses the 10 commandments to structure this review of the law. He introduces Chapter 12 by instructing the people how to worship (1st commandment: you shall have no other gods before me). And by the end of chapter 12, he is pleading passionately for the people not to chase after idols (2nd commandment) and to honor the Lord (3rd commandment). The directions given to purge the nation of idolatry seem extreme, but the harsh consequences for idolatry highlight the severity of the offense.

Moses warns the people of the consequences for both obedience and disobedience…

See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse: the blessing, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you today, and the curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn aside from the way that I am commanding you today, to go after other gods that you have not known (Deuteronomy 11:26-28).

Idolatry exists today. We might not worship carved images but that doesn’t mean we don’t chase after other gods…. comfort, success, security, love… pick your poison. We all have idols. We need to heed Moses’ warning and consider the seriousness of our wandering eyes.

But don’t think you can root out the idols of your heart by sheer will! Even recognizing your idols is a work of the Spirit, so how much more should we depend on the Spirit to help us overcome the idols of our hearts!!

Jesus exhorts his disciples in Mark 13 that faithfulness is a mark of a true believer (vs. 13). It’s tough to be faithful while we’re chasing after other gods…

Oh Lord, forgive my adulterous heart. Help me look to you alone for joy and satisfaction in this life. Show me where I depend on other ‘gods’ to fulfill me and help put them to death in my heart. I can’t do this alone. Please God, help me to persevere… Please, help me be faithful.

Day 69: Circumcise your heart!

Deuteronomy 8-10; Mark 12:28-44

The Israelites were chosen by God. God’s choice was not based on righteousness – in fact Moses goes into great detail outlining the stubbornness of Israel’s heart.

“Know, therefore, that the Lord your God is not giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness, for you are a stubborn people” (Deuteronomy 9:5).

“Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no longer stubborn” (Deuteronomy 10:16).

Moses’ emphasis on the heart is extraordinary. The internal motivations of the heart are of utmost importance to God. Here is Moses, the law giver, ordering the Israelites to circumcise their hearts – to cut away the stubbornness and sin. The law could never root out the sin within their hearts. Moses was pointing forward to the day when the Spirit would baptize the heart (transform it through the dying of self and being raised to newness of life).

Yesterday, we read Moses summarize the whole law in two commands… Today, Jesus follows suit. Obedience must originate from a love of God that comes from a changed heart – otherwise it is not counted as righteousness…

“‘…And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these” (Mark 12:30-31).

Where is your heart? Do you obey from habitual duty – or from a passion for the Savior? Ask the Spirit to make the gospel fresh in your mind and let God’s love be the motivation of your heart!

Day 68: The love of God is set.

Deuteronomy 4:44-7:26; Mark 12:1-27

It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but it is because the Lord loves you… Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations… (Deuteronomy 7:7; 9). 

How could the Israelite nation fall from such esteem? They were the chosen race. The Lord had set His love on this people. Moses implored them to pass on the covenant promises and the law down to each generation…

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise (Deuteronomy 6:4-7).

But the nation would fail to preserve the law, and the subsequent generations would fall away from the Lord. We find Jesus comparing the contemporary religious leaders to murderous tenants. Jesus warns: “He will come and destroy the tenants and give the vineyard to others” (Mark 12:9).

Despite the failure of the nation, the plan of God was not thwarted. The promised Savior did come from the line of Abraham, through Judah, through David and down to Mary and Joseph. He has now thrown open the door of the Kingdom to the nations! All are welcome, Jew and non-Jew alike. And somehow, his word has been preserved for thousands of years so that we might know that God… has set His love… on us!

Day 67: Moses’ great passion

Deuteronomy 3:12-4:43; Mark 11:20-33

Did any people ever hear the voice of a god speaking out of the midst of the fire, as you have heard, and still live? Or has any god ever attempted to go and take a nation for himself from the midst of another nation, by trials, by signs, by wonders, and by war, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, and by great deeds of terror, all of which the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes? To you it was shown, that you might know that the Lord is God; there is no other besides him (Deuteronomy 4:33-35).

In Moses’ first speech to the people, he reminds them of the Lord’s faithfulness and trustworthiness. You can almost sense his desperate desire for the people to obey. He reminds them that the land east of the Jordan has already been given. And he implores the men of Reuben, Gad and Manasseh to go with their brothers to secure the rest of the land west of the Jordan (3:12-22).

He encourages them to remain obedient.. reminding them of how their brothers who worshiped Baal of Peor (Num. 25:1-5) were killed by the Lord “but you who held fast to the Lord your God are all alive today” (4:4). He also warns that if they disobey “that you will soon utterly perish from the land that you are going over the Jordan to possess. You will not live long in it, but will be utterly destroyed” (4:26).

Moses knows that his death is imminent. We’ll continue to see his passion for the people’s obedience and trust in God’s word to build – culminating in his great song of faith in Deut. 32…

Moses was the great mediator between God and Israel. He pointed forward to Jesus – who is the ultimate mediator between God and the nations. I imagine Jesus’ passion for our obedience and trust surpasses that of Moses’! I pray I don’t disappoint him…

Day 66: Israel’s beginning and end

Deuteronomy 1:1-3:11; Mark 11:1-19

Today we begin Deuteronomy.  The ‘experts’ say that it is structured similarly to ancient treaty documents. (I’ve never read an ancient treaty, so I wouldn’t know!)

In any case, Deuteronomy is important because it contains the final words of Moses. We will watch as he recounts their history, reminds the people of the law and implores them passionately to obey all that the Lord has commanded. It’s a powerful book, rich in theology and insight into the character of God.

Deuteronomy begins with the people just east of the Jordan river. They are poised to cross the Jordan and take the land. The promised land. Moses begins his final treatise by recounting the last 40+ years – beginning at Mt. Sinai (Horeb) and following the Israelites through the wilderness, to their failure to obey and take the land – to their 38 years of wanderings – on to their recent victories over King Sihon and King Og.

It has been a long journey – a journey which began hundreds of years earlier with God giving the covenant to Abraham…

I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Genesis 12:2-3).

And I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God” (Genesis 17:8).

We are on the brink of all the promises being fulfilled…all except one: “and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” We know that this promise is fulfilled in Jesus – the Savior that comes from Abraham’s family line.

In today’s reading from Mark, we see Him enter Jerusalem as their King. On the surface, it is a joyous entry, but His entry is a sad shadow of his future glory. He enters Jerusalem to find her spiritually dead. The fig tree, a symbol of Israel, has no fruit and Jesus curses the tree as a symbolic cursing of the fruitlessness of the Jews. He enters his temple to find it corrupt and defiled. He is King – but His people are unworthy. They need a savior – a priest to make peace between them and God. And only after the sacrifice is offered can the final promise be fulfilled – all the people’s of the earth are blessed because of Abraham’s family line – because of Jesus – our priest and King – who gave His life as a ransom for many!

Day 65: The final discipleship lesson

Numbers 34-36; Mark 10:32-52

Jesus has set his face toward Jerusalem. He is resolute in his mission. You can almost see the crowds pulsing behind him – amazed and afraid. If anything is going to happen, it will happen in Jerusalem. If he’s going to become King, it will happen in Jerusalem. Yes. He would be King.

Jesus takes the twelve aside and tries this third and final time to explain that he would not be crowned King in Jerusalem, but rather he would die. He tries to paint a vivid picture of his suffering…  using words like “mock,” “spit,” “flog” and “kill.” But they remain spiritually blind.

James and John reveal their misunderstanding by choosing this moment to ask to sit at his right and left hand in “his glory.” The other disciples become “indignant.” They are filled with ambition and jealousy… The Spirit had not yet come. Their eyes remained closed.

But Jesus knows his time is short. He trusts that the Spirit will bring understanding.. later. He endures their misunderstanding and presses on with his teaching – the all-important teaching…

But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:43-45).

He would become King… but not with the usual fanfare… only by enduring great suffering. His life was and is our ransom.

The disciples’ would not remain blind… the change would come. But only after his death and resurrection… Then the Spirit would be sent and they would understand the call to suffer…. the call to sacrifice. Their eyes would be opened. Understanding would come. The Spirit would not fail.

Just like the disciples, we require the Spirit to understand and obey this hard teaching. Sacrifice does not come naturally, rather it is a slow, painful work of the Spirit that brings great reward. Ask the Spirit for understanding and the power to obey. The Spirit will not fail!

Day 64: A picture lesson in discipleship

Numbers 32-33; Mark 10:1-31

Have you noticed that Jesus’ discipleship lessons center around one topic… Sacrifice.  Today’s reading illustrates the importance of sacrifice in the story of the rich young ruler. I’m borrowing today’s post from my personal blog (which details my journey as a mom to a disabled child). I hope you enjoy it :)

An Unfair Exchange May 18, 2012

Remember the rich, young ruler? He wants to follow Jesus, but Jesus asks him to sacrifice the one thing he loves most – his possessions. The man can’t and leaves broken-hearted. His disciples are incredulous. “Who can be saved?” they ask. Jesus gives the good news. “With man this is impossible, but not with God. All things are possible with God” (Mark 10:27).

I cannot muster the ability to sacrifice from within myself.

I have dreams you know… And they aren’t selfish desires – they are good desires, but for now, I can’t pursue them because of the time it requires to care for my disabled daughter. I have it easy actually. God has given me an clear choice.

  1. Pursue your own desires and let someone else care for my daughter. OR
  2. Sacrifice and care for her myself.

Like I’m going to choose not to care for my own daughter.

But here’s where the mystery is revealed. Here is the paradox that I could have never uncovered on my own. You know what you find when you sacrifice your own desires and wants and dreams? And I don’t mean the “sacrifices” that make us feel better about ourselves. No, I mean the gut wrenching, I HATE THIS kind of sacrifice. Because that’s how I feel most of the time. I HATE THIS.

You know what I’ve found. Do you know what’s at the bottom of the deep well of sacrifice? What’s waiting when you really let Jesus be the King and surrender to that horrible thing he’s asked you to do – the thing you could never do by yourself? Do you know what’s waiting for you? Satisfaction.

As gut wrenching as the sacrifice is, the satisfaction on the other side is… well, it’s other-worldly. Jesus doesn’t ask us to sacrifice because He wants to make our lives miserable. He does it because He knows that it is the only way to find true, soul-filling satisfaction in this world. He asks us to sacrifice because He loves us.

And Jesus, looking at [the rich young ruler], loved him, and said to him, “You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.”

And the rich, young ruler couldn’t. And neither can I. Yet, somehow in the letting go and asking for help, Jesus does the impossible and sacrifices through me – and I get to experience that joy that surpasses all understanding. It’s not fair actually. I definitely don’t deserve it. But I’ll take it :)

Day 63: The 2nd discipleship lesson

Numbers 30-31; Mark 9:1-50

Mark 9 is very similar to Matthew 17… They both begin with an account of the Transfiguration, and then as Jesus comes down the mountain he is confronted with the boy with an unclean spirit.

Jesus then predicts his death for the 2nd time. And he follows it with his 2nd lesson on discipleship…

“If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.” And he took a child and put him in the midst of them, and taking him in his arms, he said to them, “Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me, receives not me but him who sent me.”

The disciples were seeking glory and power. They were arguing over who would be the greatest in the new Kingdom… you know, the Kingdom where Jesus would overthrow the government and became King over the new powerful Israel.

But instead, Jesus suffered and died – and ushered in a Kingdom whose currency was humility and servanthood.

I know a lady. She’s in her fifties. She has two daughters, one in college – the other in high school. She supports her family by working in my daughter’s school as a teacher’s aid and is attending classes at night to earn her degree in special ed. She even volunteers at her church to work with special needs kids. This woman takes care of my disabled daughter at school. Her job is to help her… with everything. She helps her write. She makes sure she eats her school lunch. She wheels her through the school halls. She hugs her and teaches her to read.

This woman is more valuable in God’s Kingdom than ten presidents. Our world doesn’t place much value on weakness… But Jesus does. Jesus essentially says, if you want to be great in my Kingdom… take on lowly tasks that don’t get much fanfare – like caring for people with little status in this world… care for the homeless, the incarcerated, the elderly, the widow, the single mother, the victim of sex trafficking – or the disabled child.

Jesus doesn’t want your status. He doesn’t care about your title. He wants humility. He wants your sacrificial service.

Day 62: The 1st discipleship lesson

Numbers 28-29; Mark 8:22-38

Many scholars teach that Mark’s gospel can be split into two sections… The first 7 chapters show Jesus in action… healing, teaching, traveling and performing miracles. We are now entering the 2nd half of Mark’s gospel where Jesus narrows his focus to the training of his disciples.

We see Jesus begin this hard work in his disciples, and just like us, they are blind, hard-hearted and not easily changed. As I mentioned yesterday, today’s passage begins a section in Mark that contains a pattern. We see Jesus predict his death three times. Each time, the disciples refuse to believe, and Jesus responds with a discipleship lesson. This section in Mark is book-ended by two episodes of Jesus healing a blind man… highlighting the disciples’ spiritual blindness.

Let’s look at Jesus’ lesson in Mark 8:

“If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? (Mark 8:34-36)

This is the essence of discipleship… of being a follower of Jesus. He demands our all – our very lives. This isn’t just a one-time surrender. Rather it is a daily battle with the self. Will you follow your self’s desires or Jesus’? Will you walk in the way of self sufficiency and self satisfaction or will you give up your rights and freedoms to walk in the way of the Savior?

This battle is impossible to win alone. We need the power of the Spirit to do something as gut-wrenchingly hard as sacrificial obedience. But let me tell you something. Something that isn’t intuitive – that’s paradoxical and hard to believe unless you’ve lived it…

At the bottom of the deep well of obedience is inexpressible, unquenchable – JOY. A joy that is other-worldly and powerful. It wraps you up in its warmth and lifts you effortlessly. It sustains you and fills you in a way that following your own will can not. But it takes work to find it…hard, painful sacrificial work. “Is it worth it?” you might ask… Oh yeah. It’s worth it.

Day 61: Setting the stage

Numbers 25-27; Mark 8:22-38

The people are at Shittim – the last stop before they cross the Jordan into Jericho. Except for a major hiccup in Chapter 25 where Israel was “whoring with the daughters of Moab,” the rest of the book of Numbers outlines how God prepares the people to enter the land…

  • First, another census was taken to count how many men could go to war… but also to determine the size of the land inheritance. The larger the tribe, the larger the land allotment (Num. 26).
  • Second, Moses asks for a successor to lead the people, since he is not allowed to cross the Jordan into Canaan. Joshua is named Moses’ successor (Num. 27).
  • And finally, in the remainder of the book of Numbers, Moses summarizes the law (Num. 28-30), defines the borders of Canaan (Num. 34) and introduces cities of refuge (Num. 35).

For the next few days, I want to turn our focus to Mark, mainly because the upcoming chapters in Mark are my absolute favorite :)

This section of Mark (8:22 – end of chapter 10) begin and end with Jesus healing a blind man. This is significant! Because within these few chapters, we see a pattern emerge that vividly illustrates the disciples’ blindness.

This pattern begins in the last verses of Chapter 8.

  • First, Jesus predicts his death (vs 31-32).
  • Secondly, the disciples show (in some way) that they do not accept or believe that Jesus will die (vs. 32-33), and
  • Third, Jesus gives a profound lesson in discipleship (vs. 34-38).

We see this same sequence of events occur three times (in different contexts) over the next 2 1/2 chapters. Repetition in Scripture is usually a sign of importance, so we will concentrate on Jesus’ messages of discipleship over the next few days.

I apologize for today’s textbook-ish post, but we’ll dig deeper into this section of Mark tomorrow! Happy reading :)