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Posted September 9, 2024
NO STRINGS ATTACHED
There’s an assumption held by most people in our culture that it is possible to have a middle-of-the-road relationship with God, where you’re not flat out atheist, nor are you one of those gung-ho fanatic type Christians.
You’re an associate member of the kingdom.
You want to stay on the right side of the Almighty so he can never have an excuse to throw the book at you, but beyond that, you’re going to live your life the way you jolly well want to.
– On the one hand, I don’t want to get on the wrong side of God.
– On the other hand, I sure don’t want God to come along and mess up my plans.
In the back of our minds is the idea that God’s program is pretty dull. If I went along with his program, what kind of life would I have?
So, we go on our own way – do our own thing and God doesn’t interfere. He’ll never violate our will.
We can do what we want to.
And even when we do some pretty dumb things, his love for us is still there.
Then one day, we reach an impasse. Life isn’t as much fun as we thought it would be.
In fact it’s a mess….
– we’re miserable
– heart broken
– walking on the edge of despair.
Now, wouldn’t it be wonderful if I could touch the hem of his garment?
Wouldn’t it be great if the Lord would come along and get me out of this mess?
“Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. Here a great number of disabled people used to lie – the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to be well?”
John 5:2-6
Notice that Jesus ties no strings to his offer.
He doesn’t say;
“I’ll heal you if you agree to straighten out your life.”,
“I’ll heal you if you promise to be my disciple.”,
Just;
“Do you want to be healed?”
“Do you want to be out of the mess you’re in?”
Of course;
if you’re healed, your whole program will change.
You won’t be able to use your sickness as an excuse.
You’ll have to get up and make your way in the world.
Do you want this? “Do you want to be well”?
“Sir,” the invalid replied, “I have no one to help me to the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.” Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.
John 5:7-9
Everybody seems to be so afraid of God’s program.
So, what is God’s program?
– to make people whole,
– to set them free,
– to do for us what he did for the woman who touched the hem of his garment,
– to do for us what he did for this man.
Did it disrupt this man’s life?
You bet it did!
For 38 years he was an invalid. He had to be carried. He couldn’t work. Others had to provide for him. He had become accustomed to it – it was his way of life. Now he’s going to have to get up and make his way in the world for the first time in 38 years.
In the episode that follows it becomes clear this man was not overly grateful for what Jesus did.
“Hey, you. It’s the Sabbath! It’s not lawful for you to be carrying your mat on the Sabbath!” “Why the man who healed me told me, “Take up your mat and walk!” “Who told you to take your mat and walk?
The man didn’t know. Jesus had melted into the crowd. Now suddenly Jesus reappears and says to the man,
“Now you are well; so stop sinning, or something even worse may happen to you.”
John 5:14
i.e. “Start changing your attitude.
And what does the man do? Does he say, “Thank you! Thank you!” No. He runs right to the authorities and puts the finger on Jesus, because he knows this will save his skin and keep those big shots off his back.
Then the man went and told the Jewish leaders that it was Jesus who had healed him.
John 5:15
This man was playing the middle-of-the-road as best he could.
Glad to have his healing. But he wasn’t about to make any commitment or take any risks for this Jesus.
“Yes, I’m healed, but does this mean I owe something to this guy? I think I’ll just keep my options open.”
Jesus doesn’t bug the man, doesn’t send him a bill.
Jesus told the man all he needed to know….
…. and now he’s free to do as he chooses.
That’s how it works for us.
I was at the end of my rope.
I didn’t know which way to turn.
I cried out to God – touched the hem of his garment and help came, healing, life.
For a brief time – while I was going through the crisis;
I saw an open door leading to a world of light,
I heard a voice inviting me to enter.
But when I thought of all the things I’d have to leave behind to walk through that door, I got scared. I think I’m better off out here where I can live my life the way I want to…
….So, I’ll be an associate Christian.
A few chapters later in the book of John, we read of Jesus healing a man born blind.
Again there are no strings tied to the healing.
The man is free to do whatever he wants with it.
And again the authorities are having fits.
“Are you the man they say was born blind?” “Yes.” “How come you can now see?”
“The man they call Jesus made clay, anointed my eyes and said, ‘Go wash in the pool of Siloam’. So I went and washed and received my sight.”
“What do you say about this man since he opened your eyes?” “I say he’s a prophet.” “What do you mean a prophet! He broke the Sabbath by healing you. The man’s a sinner!” “Well… he opened my eyes. If this man were not of God, he could do nothing.”
“What? You were born in sin and you would teach us? From now on you stay out of the temple and you stay out of the synagogue. As far as we’re concerned, you’re a Gentile dog.”
When Jesus heard what had happened, he found the man and asked, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” The man answered, “Who is he, sir? I want to believe in him.” “You have seen him,” Jesus said, “and he is speaking to you!” “Yes, Lord, I believe!” the man said. And he worshiped Jesus.
John 9:35-38
The man saw the open door, heard the invitation, and entered.
Blind all his life, he could now see that whatever he would have to leave behind in order to enter that door was worth nothing compared to the life waiting for him in there. And in he goes – into the kingdom. In the process he gets kicked out of the synagogue. That’s okay. A lot of people have been kicked out of churches after they got serious with God! Martin Luther for one.
The truth is, there is no such thing as an associate relationship with God.
You’re either inside that door or you’re not.
You’re either committed or you’re not.
The fact that you were healed, that your prayer was answered, that you were set free of your demons, does not put you inside that door.
That blessing was simply a sign that the door is now open.
You are invited, but it’s up to you to decide what to do.
The man healed at the pool of Bethesda chose to stay outside.
The blind man healed at the pool of Siloam chose to enter.
Actually, that is one of the few real choices we have in this life.
You didn’t choose your parents, or your time of birth, or the color of your eyes.
From your earliest years, you have had less control than you think over who you are and what you are.
But once that door opens…
Once the Living Word breaks into your life and calls you by name, You Are Free!
You can choose to enter or to stay outside.
And once you enter, every day brings new choices, new freedom, as you move deeper and deeper into the heart of God’s world.
Of course, there has to be a point where we begin…
There has to be a moment when we say, ….
“Here I am, Lord. I’m inside the door. I’m at your service.”
Is it hard to take that step? Jesus says it’s easy. It’s only hard when you’re trying to go your way and his way at the same time.
To answer Christ’s call and come to him…
Just the way you are with all your hang-ups, problems, sins, and fears — is easy.
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
Matthew 11:28-30
“I’m not going to give you a hard time. I’m going to help you. What I’m calling you to is a lot easier than those burdens you’ve been carrying all these years!”
Of course, once you answer that call, the illusion that you can be an associate member of the kingdom is gone.
You now know there is no such thing as an associate member.
You’re a disciple.
You’re committed.
You’re under the yoke with Christ.
A new life has begun. A life that gets better all the time.
You could say that anyone who has had an encounter with Christ through a healing, an answer to prayer – a deliverance of some kind – is standing by one of two pools
– the pool of Bethesda
– the pool of Siloam
At the pool of Bethesda, you take your healing and go your own way – like the sick man who picked up his mat and walked away…
At the pool of Siloam, you open your eyes and follow Jesus through a door into God’s world. Like the blind man who received his sight, committed himself and paid the price for it, you become a servant of God and the people to whom he sends you.
That healing,
That answered prayer,
That deliverance,
… which you can have today, is a sign pointing to an open door.
But only you can decide whether you’re going to go in.
Prayer: Lord, how good you are that you attach no strings for healing us, for blessing us, for rescuing us again and again. Help us to not just be satisfied with you hearing our prayers and rescuing us… and then going our own ways. But help us to open our eyes like the blind man in gratefulness and awe, and open our hearts to you, and hear you calling our names to come to you. Help us to let go of our fears about what we will lose. Help us to take the freedom you offer and to use it to come inside, and say, “here I am.” Help us to stop hanging on the fringes… but choose to be attached to you, yoked to you; Choosing to be committed disciples….serving you, loving you, and starting new lives in you….and finding rest and joy under your easy, wonderful, life-giving yoke. Amen.
Message: Richard E. Bieber 2001 Sharable/Printable Copy
Featured Artist: Most of the images are stills from the Lumo Project via Bible Images. Jesus calling and door images via Pixabay.
Website: LumoProject
#NoStringsAttached #LumoProjectStills #PoolOfBethseda #PoolOfSiloam #OpenDoor
Posted August 30, 2024
THE UNFETTERED WORD
Always remember that Jesus Christ, a descendant of King David, was raised from the dead. This is the Good News I preach. And because I preach this Good News, I am suffering and have been chained like a criminal. But the word of God cannot be chained.
II Timothy 2:8-9
It was harvest time and the farmer was short of help. He was already close to bankruptcy and it looked as though this harvest would be the end of him if he couldn’t get help. One evening there was a knock on the door. It was a stranger looking for work. “You can start tomorrow morning,” said the farmer, “and you can sleep in the barn tonight if you like.”
The stranger didn’t appear to be exceptionally strong … but somehow he did the work of ten men. In a few weeks the harvest was in and things were looking brighter for the farmer. The stranger began suggesting changes in the farm which frightened the farmer at first. But soon it was obvious that the stranger was as wise as he was strong. In a year or two the farmer was beginning to enjoy considerable wealth.
“My house is quite large. Why don’t you move in from the barn?”, the farmer said to his mysterious employee. “I’ll give you two choice rooms upstairs and you can eat in the kitchen with us.”
So the stranger moved into the farmer’s house and things kept getting better and better. Then one day the stranger made a proposal to the farmer. “Up to now I’ve been your servant and I’ve brought you nothing but good. Now I propose that you make me your partner.”
“My partner?” cried the farmer. “Where did you find the nerve to expect to be my partner? The land is mine … the buildings are mine … the animals and the equipment are mine. I take you on because you’re looking for a job and now you want to be my partner? Instead of making you my partner, I, for my own protection, will have to make you my prisoner!”
So the farmer locked the stranger in his room that night. The next day he fixed a chain to the stranger’s left ankle and had bars installed on the windows and the door … to make sure his valuable prisoner would not escape. This man who could do the work of ten men made no attempt to break out of his chains. He dragged his chains out into the field and back again in the evening. Each night the farmer chained the man to the bed and locked the door. Then one morning when the farmer came for his prisoner the door was still locked and the bars were still on the windows and the chain was still fastened to the bedpost, but the stranger was gone … and he was never seen again.
Most of us have already experienced the personal visitation of the Word of God into our lives.
In some way God came to us, spoke to us, and as we received this divine Word our lives began to change.
– We were healed.
– Our minds became sane and clear.
– Our fears went away.
– The Word of God came to us in the person of Jesus as a servant …to help us.
Jesus didn’t tie any strings to the blessings he brought us…. any more than he tied strings to his healings of old. But there came a time when the Word of God, after showing us God’s goodness and giving us such rich blessings, said,
“Now I want to be your partner … not just your helper … your partner.
I want you to get under the yoke with me and learn from me for I am meek and lowly of heart and you shall find rest for your souls.”
And it was at this point that many of us panicked and began to try to put limits on the Word of God in our lives.
Now understand the Word of God is not fettered. No one can hinder the Word of God from coming forth and accomplishing its purpose on this earth.
For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty.
Isaiah 55:10-11
The Word of God will accomplish what it is sent to do on this earth …
….no man, no devil can hinder it.
But we can hinder the moving of the Word of God in our individual lives and in the life of our fellowship.
If we choose to do so we can lock it in that room, put chains on it, bar the windows and the doors.
We can do this just as surely as they could bind our Lord and drag Him off to the High Priest and stretch out his body and nail it to a cross.
Of course the fetters they put on Jesus didn’t last very long. Jesus remained on that cross, lay in that tomb for a short time, then he burst forth never to be bound again. Likewise, the Word of God in us will yield to our chains and our prison only for a short while. If we try to keep it bound and fettered we’ll go there looking for the Word one morning and it will be gone.
One of the greatest marvels of the mercy of God is God’s patience with us as we have tried to hinder his Word in our own lives. Why he didn’t take his Word away from us long ago is a mystery of grace.
The Word of God is not fettered … it can go any time it wants to. Yet, the living Word by which God made the world, submits to these limits we put on it, rather than destroy us by withdrawing and leaving us desolate. Like the lamp stand being removed from the midst of a church.
For a brief season the Word of God waits inside our lives. During this time ….
….we can take off the restraints and
let the Word come forth in our lives with power …
—-
….or we can keep it locked in that room
until our time of grace is passed and the Word departs…
The Word of God will come forth in our lives with power….when we remove the following restraints from our hearts and minds.
- Remove the Hindrance of Unbelief
But faith’s way of getting right with God says, “Don’t say in your heart, ‘Who will go up to heaven?’ (to bring Christ down to earth). And don’t say, ‘Who will go down to the place of the dead?’ (to bring Christ back to life again).” In fact, it says, “The message is very close at hand; it is on your lips and in your heart.” And that message is the very message about faith that we preach: If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
Romans 10:6-9
The divine Word which has the power to raise us into sons of God is already in us … on our lips, in our hearts. But we have to take off the fetters of unbelief and let it come forth — confess with our lips … believe with the heart — and we have to keep doing this constantly, repenting of our unbelief.
Confessing and believing, again and again.
Believers can hinder the power of the Word in them through unbelief. The Book of Hebrews was written to believers who were hindering the movement of the Word, binding the Word in them through unbelief. So the Spirit says to us as he said to them,
“Today when you hear his voice,don’t harden your hearts”
Take off your chains of unbelief.
Let the Word which is in you come forth.
- Remove the Hindrance of the Fear of Man
And now, O Lord, hear their threats, and give us, your servants, great boldness in preaching your word. Stretch out your hand with healing power; may miraculous signs and wonders be done through the name of your holy servant Jesus.” After this prayer, the meeting place shook, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. Then they preached the word of God with boldness.
Acts 4:29-31
Persecution had started and the believers were tempted to be afraid so they prayed for boldness.
Lord, hear their threats, and give us, your servants, great boldness in preaching your word.
Deliver us from fear!
Remove this timidity from our hearts!
And the prayer was answered.
– The place was shaken,
– They were filled with the Holy Spirit,
– They spoke the word of God with boldness.
We have the same problem. Even without persecution we put fetters on the Word through fear of men. We have to ask the Father to help us get rid of this fear that hinders his Word in us until where we are is shaken, and the Spirit falls, and the Word comes forth from us with boldness.
- Remove the Hindrance of Mercilessness
But as the believers rapidly multiplied, there were rumblings of discontent. The Greek-speaking believers complained about the Hebrew-speaking believers, saying that their widows were being discriminated against in the daily distribution of food. So the Twelve called a meeting of all the believers. They said, “We apostles should spend our time teaching the word of God, not running a food program. And so, brothers, select seven men who are well respected and are full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will give them this responsibility. Then we apostles can spend our time in prayer and teaching the word.” Everyone liked this idea, and they chose the following: Stephen (a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit), Philip, Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas of Antioch (an earlier convert to the Jewish faith). These seven were presented to the apostles, who prayed for them as they laid their hands on them. So God’s message continued to spread. The number of believers greatly increased in Jerusalem, and many of the Jewish priests were converted, too.
Acts 6:1-7
Things were not right … Greek widows were being neglected in the daily food distribution. Notice, that as soon as the believers faced this problem and took care of it the Word of God increased.
And so it will be with us … when there is a lack of mercy in us or in our life as a fellowship. When we have an indifferent or superior attitude…. It’s like putting bars on the door and locking the Word in. But when we repent of this and make the necessary changes, the Word comes forth.
We know where we’re being…
Hard.
Unyielding.
Ungiving.
Unforgiving.
….and we know what it’s doing to us.
God help us to remove this fetter.
- Remove the Hindrance of Idolatry
Now Herod was very angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon. So they sent a delegation to make peace with him because their cities were dependent upon Herod’s country for food. The delegates won the support of Blastus, Herod’s personal assistant, and an appointment with Herod was granted. When the day arrived, Herod put on his royal robes, sat on his throne, and made a speech to them. The people gave him a great ovation, shouting, “It’s the voice of a god, not of a man!” Instantly, an angel of the Lord struck Herod with a sickness, because he accepted the people’s worship instead of giving the glory to God. So he was consumed with worms and died. Meanwhile, the word of God continued to spread, and there were many new believers.
Acts 12:20-24
We may shake our heads at the ridiculous idolatry of Herod and the people of Tyre and Sidon. But is there any difference between this and the idolatry of covetousness? … the thorns of cares, riches and pleasures which choke the growth of the Word?
Bring the idolatry to an end.
Turn from the covetous life in whatever form—
–even if it’s just dreaming of riches and playing the lottery — and the Word of God will increase.
- Remove the Hindrance of a Divided Heart.
Many who became believers confessed their sinful practices. A number of them who had been practicing sorcery brought their incantation books and burned them at a public bonfire. The value of the books was several million dollars. So the message about the Lord spread widely and had a powerful effect.
Acts 19:18-20
They were believers but their hearts were still divided. Then they started confessing some things that needed to be made right. And some books which belonged to the kingdom of Satan were burned. And the Word of the Lord grew and prevailed mightily.
And every time we settle an issue over which our hearts are divided and fix them on the Lord, the Word comes forth with power.
“For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty,
In unspeakable mercy this Word has come to us.
God has spoken to us, healed and forgiven us, and made his dwelling in us.
And we have had the audacity to try to put chains on his Word within us, to limit it, to try to make it serve our own purpose.
– Still the Word has not left us.
– Still the Word waits within us for us to get under the yoke and be his partner and learn.
May God help us this day to remove the hindrances we’ve put in his way …
that his Word may not leave us… but come forth in our lives with power…
…and accomplish what it was sent to do.
Prayer: Lord, we confess that we are hindered in many ways. You have been so patient with us for so long. You have given us so much, continuously blessed us and shown us the way…but yet we have not grasped and welcomed a true partnership with you. We want the benefits without the costs. Help us to unfetter your Word within our hearts, remove the chains that restrain us from your Word coming forth with power in our lives. Help us to remove the hindrance of unbelief, rising above it and confessing you and your goodness again and again. Remove the hindrance of our fear of man. Rescue us from our own timidity. Give us boldness. Shake the world around us. Remove the hindrance of mercilessness from us. We repent of holding unto it. Take it away Lord, it’s toxic and ugly and from the pit of Hell. Help us to turn away from all idols in our lives, to turn away from covetousness and the cares of this world. Open our eyes to what is dividing our hearts…and help us to let those things go and make our hearts single and fixed on you alone Oh Lord. And yes Lord, thank you for the unspeakable mercy of your Word which comes to us, for speaking to us, healing us, forgiving us and even dwelling within us. Help us to stop chaining the Word within us, for manipulating for our own purposes. Take these hindrances away so we can accomplish what you send us to do. Amen.
Message: Richard E. Bieber 2009 Sharable/Printable Copy
Featured Artist: Most of the art Kevin Carden…all via Good Salt
Website: GoodSalt.com
#BreakingChains #UnfetteredWord# #KevinCardenArt
Posted August 9, 2024
Quit Pussyfooting
If there was ever a time when Christians needed to be clear about…
what they believe and
who they believe in…it’s now.
I remember taking a group of missionaries to a mosque two miles from the church I was serving in Detroit. Every one of these missionaries was preparing to go to a Muslim country to “preach Christ”. So we waited outside the mosque to have a little trial run, a little conversation, as the men came out from their afternoon prayers.
The missionaries soon discovered that these Muslim men were no pushovers.
They were all fired up.
They were committed.
They tore the missionaries apart with their questions and their words.
Now, it was not a matter of mouthing all the orthodox Christian doctrines, but rather, do I know Christ? Am I as committed to what I believe as these guys are?
The missionaries came back to the church to lick their wounds and realized…..
You need more than theology.
You need more than skills at cross cultural relations.
You need to know the one you’re talking about.
To know him in the power of his resurrection and in the fellowship of his sufferings.
And what holds for the missionaries holds for us.
“Hothouse Christianity” will never survive the storms that are now brewing on the earth.
We need the real thing.
We need to hear the call of Christ.
And do the one thing he told us to do:
Seek God’s Kingdom first.
How do you do that? How do you seek the Kingdom first?
Once we begin to hear the voice of the Lord coming through the confusion of this critical hour, our first response to that voice has to be prayer.
Prayer of some kind.
Like – “Lord, here I am!” or “Lord, help me!”
But it’s exactly there, where so many people are confused.
When it comes to prayer, they have questions, doubts, bad memories, bitter disappointments.
“Prayer?” “What good is it?” “I tried that!”
“If I could believe that God really answers prayer, I’d do a lot more praying. But when I pray, nothing happens. Sometimes it even seems to make things worse. So what’s the point? It all comes out about the same whether I pray or not.”
This church has been praying for a pastor for almost five years. How long are we supposed to keep praying?
Is God listening to us? Are these prayers reaching him?
What’s the problem?
What’s the problem when we pray…and pray…and pray…and nothing happens?
“And he told them a parable, to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor regarded man; and there was a widow in that city that kept coming to him saying, ‘Vindicate me against my adversary.’ “ (Luke 18:1-3)
Imagine what would have happened if the first time the judge said, “Get out of here!” The poor woman would have shuffled out of the courtroom, shed a few tears, and given up. That would have been the end of it.
Or if the widow came every once in a while, tiptoed up to the judge and said, “Excuse me, Your Honor. I hate to bother you, but I need some help.” And the judge would summon a deputy, “There she is again. Get rid of her.”
But this lady didn’t pussyfoot.
She was aggressive.
She was persistent.
She was determined to get the judge’s attention.
Every time the mean old judge turned around, there she was…hounding him with the same plea,
“Vindicate me against my adversary!”
Until the poor judge couldn’t take it anymore,
“This woman’s driving me crazy.
Vindicate her! Take care of it!”
Now let’s face it. How many of us pray like that?
How many of us, even those of us who pray faithfully every day, pray like that?
We pussyfoot!
We tiptoe in and tiptoe out!
We say these prayers with our mouths while our hearts have as much fire as a pile of wet leaves.
And then we complain, “What’s the use! It doesn’t do any good!”
And he told them a parable, to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart.
In other words, keep doing it and put your heart into it like this woman did.
Every one of us has things that are troubling us:
Concern for one of our children.
Financial problems.
Health worries.
A broken friendship.
A strained marriage.
An impossible work situation.
Fear of the future.
We’ve done what we could, but this thing is beyond our power.
So we take it to God.
And we take it to God the way that widow took her problem to the judge.
We don’t pussyfoot.
We pray.
We say it like it is.
We put our hearts into it.
AND…
We keep at it.
Not just once and done.
But day after day after day.
Maybe you skip a meal on a certain day of the week to remind yourself how much this thing means to you. You stay focused.
See, the problem is not with God. It’s not that God is too far away or too distracted with other things, indifferent to our need.
He’s right here.
He’s closer than our own skin.
The problem is our dishrag prayers.
Put something into it!
Stick with it!
Do like Jacob did when he wrestled with the angel…
Hang on and don’t let go.
Think of how much energy we waste worrying about things.
If there’s something you can do about the problem – get up and do it!
If it’s beyond your power, don’t sit there and stew – Pray!
Pray like the widow bugging the judge.
“And the Lord said, ‘Hear what the unrighteous judge says. And will not God vindicate his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? I tell you, he will vindicate them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of man comes, will he find faith on earth?’ “ (Luke 18:6-8)
Will not God vindicate his elect?
Who are the elect?
– The people who pray.
– Who do not lose heart.
– Who cry to him day and night.
They are the elect…
And they will be vindicated.
Their prayers will be answered.
Nevertheless, when the Son of man comes, will he find faith on earth?
The people of faith are the people who pray – really pray
Where this isn’t going on – there isn’t any faith.
You can go through the motions of prayer.
You can mouth the words of prayer.
You can fall on your face five times a day with all the other people who fall on their faces five times a day and still be missing it.
Faith means you look to God and not to man.
You pray and don’t lose heart.
You keep at it even when God seems distant like that grouchy judge.
You keep crying out to God day and night.
Pray like that and you won’t have to wait until you die to be vindicated.
You will see answers to your prayers.
You will see God’s hand coming down and moving those mountains of trouble.
You will see demons scatter.
The lesson of Luke 18 is one of the most practical lessons Jesus ever taught.
Prayer is where the rubber hits the road in the life of faith.
Everything else follows from prayer:
Start praying right … and you will live right.
Start praying straight … and you will see straight.
Pray with your heart … and your heart will hear the voice of God.
“Does God really answer prayer?
If I could believe that God really answers prayer, I’d do a lot more praying.”
Well, you’ll never know whether God really answers prayer…
…Until you really pray.
…Until you quit pussyfooting and put your heart into it and keep at it.
Now you can hold any opinion you like about whether God answers prayer. But the only way you’ll ever find out is to do it.
Don’t waste time reading books about it.
Don’t waste time talking about it.
Do it!
Do it like the widow going after that grouchy judge….
And you’ll soon discover that the One you’re crying out to is….
a good God,
a mighty God,
a Holy God…
Who never fails to answer the prayers of His elect…
– the people with guts enough and heart enough and humility enough to pray to Him day and night.
– who refuse to quit until they get an answer.
Prayer: Dear Lord, we admit we haven’t been persistent enough with not only our prayers…but with seeking you and your Kingdom with all that we have. We’ve been weak and not fully engaged. We have been pussyfooting, tiptoeing, and not throwing our hearts into seeking you, seeking your will, seeking your answers, seeking your help. We admit there are so many things that are beyond our power, that only you can resolve. Dear God, give us the faith to see and trust that you can do it. Give us the courage to not give up on you. Answer our prayers…not just so we can have victory or relief…. but so that we can truly hear your voice and so that we can boldly proclaim your goodness, your holiness, your perfection and power to ourselves and others. Amen.
Message: Richard E. Bieber 2001 Sharable/Printable Copy
Featured Artist: Most of the art courtesy of Chris Hopkins
Website: chrishopkinsart.com
#QuitPussyfooting #Timidity #Boldness #PersistantWidow #Pray #GodAnswersPrayer #ChrisHopkinsArt
Posting July 6, 2024
UNLEAVENED…
…FREEDOM FROM GUILE
Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread; on the first day you shall put away leaven out of your houses, for if any one eats what is leavened, from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel. (Exodus 12:15)
We often make the mistake of thinking that because we have seen signs and had experiences of the Kingdom that we’re therefore in the Kingdom. So when we get a little nervous about where we stand with God, we reassure ourselves. “After all, I must be all right with God. Look at all the prayers He has answered. Look at all the miracles I have seen.”
The Israelites in the wilderness said to themselves, “Why, of course, we’re all right with God. Didn’t He take us through the Red Sea? Didn’t He give us water from the rock? Hasn’t He fed us with manna from heaven all this time?”
But those people never entered the promised land. And there will be many on Judgment Day who will cry;
“Lord! Lord! Don’t you remember us? You healed our bodies. You fed 5000 of us with five loaves and two fish. We ate and drank in your presence! You taught in our streets!”
Yet they will be consigned to the outer darkness.
Be clear about this:
– the fact that God has answered some of your prayers,
– the fact that you felt the power of God sweep over you as you stood praising God in the fellowship one night,
– the fact that your body has been healed….
These are signs … wonderful signs … signs of God’s fathomless love for you.
But you can see signs of the Kingdom and still be outside the Kingdom.
You are in the Kingdom;
– when you know and follow Jesus alive from the dead,
– when you are in Him and He is in you.
Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.
You are in the Kingdom,
– not because you knew Jesus yesterday,
– not because He spoke to you five years ago….
But because you know Him right now, at this moment.
And to know Jesus right now is…
-to know that Jesus is in you and that you are in Him,
-to know that His blood shed twenty centuries ago now covers your sins,
-to know that He is interceding for you before the Father even while He stands in our midst and breathes on us the breath of heaven.
And to know these things there is one absolute requirement, a requirement which is often overlooked.
Everybody there saw Jesus heal the sick, raise the dead, feed the multitude.
Everybody saw Jesus ride into Jerusalem on that donkey.
Everybody who wanted to could go out to Golgotha and watch Him die.
But who saw Jesus after He stepped out of that tomb? Only a very few: Mary Magdalene, the apostles, two disciples on the road to Emmaus, “500 brethren at once.”
What was special about those people?
“Why, they were believers!” “They had faith!”
Faith?
– Who had faith after they saw Him crucified?
– Who was expecting Jesus to rise from the dead?
– Did Jesus show Himself to doubting Thomas because he had faith?
Yet, there was one characteristic that marked every single person to whom Jesus made Himself known after He rose from the dead.
Every single one of them was…
without guile
without pretense.
Their lives were not without sin – but they were without guile.
Their last pretenses had been broken when they saw their Master die that awful death. They weren’t trying to kid anybody anymore.
It was to these people that Jesus manifested Himself – they were the only ones in all Israel who were keeping the feast with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
Integrity.
Being without guile.
After the Lord ascended, He continued manifesting Himself to women and men through the Spirit. But again only to certain ones.
– The signs were for everyone.
– But the self-revelation of Jesus Christ was only for those who divested themselves of guile.
For instance: On the day of Pentecost a sign was performed for all in Jerusalem to see. The apostles were out there in the street proclaiming the wonderful works of God in languages they themselves hadn’t even heard of. A crowd gathered. All that crowd saw was a sign of the Kingdom, they didn’t see the King.
Then Peter stood up and began to speak. And as he spoke certain people in that multitude began to respond to what Peter said by taking off their masks, dropping their pretenses. “Brethren, what must we do?”
They admit their need.
They cry for help.
To these Jesus manifested Himself, enabling them to believe.
Those who received the word were baptized and there were added that day about three thousand souls.
When the Lord showed Himself to Saul of Tarsus, Saul was way off on the wrong track. His heart was loaded with boiling hatred for these disciples of Jesus. But there was one thing about Saul: he was out in the open. He was without guile.
No one has ever met Jesus Christ alive from the dead who was not out in the open. Nor can you continue to have fellowship with Jesus Christ after you put on your mask, and cover your tracks.
The one requirement for meeting Jesus, walking with Jesus, and abiding in Jesus, is that we come out in the open, stay out in the open. That we quit hiding things.
And, there is no one who is more inclined to hide things than the religious person. When we start getting religious we want so badly to be sincere, committed, compassionate, pure, and of deep faith, that every time the opposite qualities appear in our lives we shove them in the closet and lock the door. Or, we get a fancy blanket and toss it over the mess. After a while, we have so many stuffed closets and decorative blankets hiding our sins that we can hardly move or open a door. And every time the wind blows we fly into a panic for fear that our secrets are going to be popping out.
The symbol that Jesus uses for this condition is leaven, that foreign substance you put in dough to make it rise. On the outside that lump of dough looks the same. But once that leaven is in there the dough is no longer pure. The leaven works through that dough – even the smallest amount of it – pervades it with an atmosphere that puffs it up.
Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees which is hypocrisy. Nothing is covered up that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. Whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in private rooms shall be proclaimed on the housetops. (Luke 12:1b-3)
That leaven of the Pharisees continues to pervade the religious world. No wonder our Master says, “Beware!” This leaven is insidious. It makes its way into our lives without our knowing it. As long as we are in these bodies, we are vulnerable.
Your boasting is not good. Don’t you know that a little yeast leavens the whole batch of dough? Get rid of the old yeast, so that you may be a new unleavened batch—as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old bread leavened with malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. (I Corinthians 5:6-8)
How often the phoniest day of the year in the professing Christian churches is Easter. How often the whole thing is a production.
– We dress joyfully.
– We try to sing joyfully, and preach joyfully, and pray joyfully,
… and underneath it all is that leaven.
– The service was beautiful. The music magnificent. The sermon inspiring.
And we walk out the door with a “wonderful feeling” but the leaven is still there. The thing that should have happened when we gathered in Jesus’ name didn’t happen.
The real refreshment we needed didn’t come, because of that leaven.
You can’t celebrate the feast with leavened bread.
You can’t celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead when you’ve got things covered up, when beneath the mask of devotion to God the leaven is still at work.
– In order to penetrate beyond the same old “church thing” and really enter the dimension of Heaven,
– In order for us to pass out of the realm of religion and come into the region of divine glory,
…we have to get rid of all the leaven that’s still working in our lives.
God will do everything else.
– God will send the Spirit upon us with power.
– God will open our eyes so that we can really see Jesus.
– God will break those chains that bind us to earth.
– God will cause the old things to pass away and make all things new.
– God will send upon us a Spirit of Praise that will lift us into the very company of the angels.
But, we have to get rid of the leaven!
Either we purge it out now or our hidden secrets will be exposed on that Day when it will be too late to clothe ourselves in Christ’s blood and righteousness.
For there is nothing covered up that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. –
Nothing!
It will all come out on that Day when kings and princes will be trying to claw their way into the earth to hide under the rocks from the glaring light of God.
Are we hungry enough for God’s righteousness to take off every covering before His glory, open every closet, tear away every mask, remove every screen, and throw open the doors and windows of our hearts to the Spirit of God so that the Spirit can enter any room within us He wants to?
Are we willing to confess to God, this day, every vestige of – lust, pride, greed, bigotry, deceit,
….everything the Spirit puts His finger on?
Are we desperate enough for God’s life to make an actual start right now by confessing things to God that we know haven’t been pleasing to Him?
“Lord, you know I’ve been walking around pretending to be right with that brother while I’ve been wrong – I confess it.”
“Lord, you know how my talk of total commitment and my soft, easy, self-indulgent, private life just don’t match.”
“Lord, you know I’ve avoided for two years taking that step of faith, telling myself I didn’t feel led. But I was led. You showed me. Lord, forgive.”
“Lord, you know how I’ve been nursing injured pride.”
“Lord, you know how unbelief has been lurking beneath these words of faith.”
“Lord, you know how I’ve been ashamed to confess the name of Jesus before men.”
To every person reading this who yields to the call of the Spirit right now…..
….to come out into the open,
To every person who purges out the leaven, Jesus will come.
– Not the Jesus of sign and symbol.
– Not the Jesus of other men’s testimony.
– Not the Jesus of doctrine.
But the Jesus who actually died on that cross, who actually rose from the dead, the Lord who rules with all authority in heaven and on earth,
– will come to you afresh,
– will manifest Himself to your heart,
– will flood your soul with His glorious life.
Will you, right now, lay aside your pride, admit what you are, and draw near to God with a heart that’s unleavened?
Prayer: Lord, we admit what we are…people filled with guile. The leaven of hypocrisy, pride, bitterness, self-righteousness, and unbelief are mixed into every aspect of our lives. We can no longer pretend our hearts aren’t filled with darkness. We expose our hidden sin to you. We take off these masks. We can no longer go on what we had before with you. We can no longer pretend something’s there, that’s not. We lay down our pretenses. Take this leaven out of us. Help us, help us …it’s eating us up. It’s robbing us of joy and life. We want you to come to us again, to be real to us again. We want to have our hearts filled with you and be free from guile. We want to truly celebrate with sincerity and truth. So our hearts are unleavened and yes, our souls are flooded with your glorious life instead. Amen.
Message: Richard E. Bieber unknown date but earliest file is dated 2015. Sharable/Printable Copy
Featured Artist: Courtesy and kindness of Signe Flink
Website: www.deviantart.com/signeflinkart
#Unleavened #Guile #Bitterness #GetRidOfTheLeaven #SigneFlinkArt
Posting June 14, 2024
OVERCOMING THE FEAR OF DEATH…THOSE WHO HEAR SHALL LIVE
Jesus came into this world to set us free from fear and bring us life, now….
For only as a human being could he die, and only by dying could he break the power of the devil, who had the power of death. Only in this way could he set free all who have lived their lives as slaves to the fear of dying. (Hebrews 2:14b-15)
In other words, Jesus was born into the human race in order to set us free from the fear of death. He experienced death, rose from it, and now gives us a life that death cannot destroy.
So that we don’t have to be afraid to die.
So that we have eternal life burning inside us like a fire, right now.
And yet – for most of us that’s not our experience. Most of us are scared to death even to think about our own death.
You’re on a flight at 39,000 feet and look out and see the left engine on fire. What’s your first thought? “I’m going to die!”
Isn’t it ironic that at one time hundreds of young men scattered around the globe were just waiting for the signal to strap on the explosives and go blow themselves up in a crowded subway, or a government building, or willing to kill thousands by vaporizing an entire city with a nuclear device. Or some Christians today, who are willing to attack and kill in an apocalyptic fervor in order to rescue their country from their ideological enemies. These guys aren’t afraid to die. They see themselves as soldiers in a holy war.
They’re angry. “What else do I have to live for anyway”, they say. “If I die and take as many of the enemy with me as possible, it will hasten the day that goodness will reign. Besides, I have been taught and led by people who tell me that violence and insurrection is the righteous, godly thing to do if it destroys the sinful.
The problem with that kind of dying is that it increases misery and suffering for everybody.
And the war goes on until everybody’s so exhausted and demoralized they can’t keep it up anymore or until the whole world becomes a police state.
I’m saying all this because the day when most people die of old age seems to be disappearing. Death by violence, mass shootings, famine, plague is on the rise worldwide; and we now know we’re not immune in North America or any civilized country.
We’re back in the days of Herod, the king. When Herod realized that the wise men had tricked him and refused to guide him to this new baby king in Bethlehem. He solved the problem the way more and more problems are solved ….with violence….“Kill all the male babies two years old and under within a three mile radius of Bethlehem!” he ordered.
Yet, this baby who escaped the massacre, was born to die, to make it possible for us to live in such a world as this and not be afraid.
He came to break the curse of death which is tearing the world apart before our eyes.
He came to deliver us, so that we can walk through the smoke and fire and not be afraid.
“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me; and I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish, and no one shall snatch them out of my hand.” (John 10: 27-28)
He’s not telling you to strap on your suicide bomb and go blow up New York. He’s not telling you to storm government offices and take down your perceived enemies.
He’s saying,
“Walk with me, and no matter what happens, you’re safe.
Whatever fire you have to go through, I’ll go through with you.
I’ll give you a mouth and wisdom which none of your adversaries will be able to withstand or contradict.
I’ll never leave you or forsake you.
I’m your life – your eternal life, as long as you walk with me.”
Ah, but how do we get hold of that confidence?
How do we get the absolute certainty that the Lord Jesus is with me right now and nothing in this world – not even death can separate me from him?
So I’m invulnerable until my work is done.
So I’m free from the fear of death.
That’s where we should be – all of us, all the time.
Joyfully confident that Christ the Lord will never leave me –
That I’m His forever.
That’s where he wants us to be.
But how do we get there? How do we overcome the fear of death?
By taking two simple steps.
1. Finding Life in the Cross
Step one in overcoming the fear of death is to come to the cross and find life. Follow the baby from the cradle to the cross but don’t stay in Bethlehem. Deliverance from the fear of death comes to us not at Bethlehem but at Calvary. Bethlehem was a bloody place when Herod slaughtered the infants. Israel is still the scene of violence.
But Calvary – the cross where Jesus died – that’s where the power of life still flows.
And you don’t have to go to the Holy Land to find the cross -it’s as near as your breath.
You want to experience the power of Christ?
Hang around the cross until the Spirit of God reveals to you what it means.
Until its redeeming life-giving power begins to flow into your heart.
Take Paul…
And, when I came to you, brothers, I did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God. (1 Corinthians 2:1-5)
And the power of God flowing into you from the cross drives the fear of death right out of you and fills you with eternal life.
So do what Paul did. Hang around the cross until it brings you to Paradise, not after you die, but right now.
For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. (1 Corinthians 1:18)
2. Learning to commune with Jesus.
The second step of overcoming the fear of death is to talk to him and let him talk to you.
“Truly, truly, I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.” (John 5:25)
In this case, he’s not talking about bodies in their graves hearing his voice, he’s talking about the walking dead. Men and women who are physically alive, but spiritually dead, brought from darkness suddenly to light and from the power of Satan to God by hearing his voice.
You come to life when you hear his voice.
You stay alive by communing with him.
And this life is yours forever if you keep communing.
When Jesus says…
“Come to me all you who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest”,
…How else can you come to him but by communing with him? Taking his word as a personal word to you. Answering him. Talking to him, who is not only your Lord, but the best friend you ever had.
I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you. (Psalm 32:8)
You don’t have to be some super-saint to talk to the Living Christ. All you have to do is what any child knows how to do. Draw near and talk.
Talk!
Commune with him!
Tell him what’s on your heart!
There’s not a trouble we experience that he doesn’t understand from inside.
He’s here to deliver us from all fear.
He died and rose again to deliver us from the fear of death.
My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me; and I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish, and no one shall snatch them out of my hand.
Eternal life is not something you get after you die, if you’re lucky. It’s a relationship with Jesus which begins on this side of the grave and keeps right on going.
Once you have it, the life of Christ in you is so powerful that your physical death becomes a mere blip on the journey. It’s nothing. When it comes, it comes.. like crossing the bridge, like going through a doorway.
Of course, until we get to that doorway, our job is to spread life everywhere God sends us.
Our job is to do for others what’s been done for us.
To open their eyes.
To bring them from darkness into light and from the power of Satan to God.
That they, too, may receive the forgiveness of sins, and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in Christ —
— freedom from the fear of death.
Prayer: Lord, may we look at your cross, your loving death, and see life. May we look until your life giving power drives out the fear of death in us. Dear Lord, may we hear you speaking to us now…so that we may live, truly live now. May we continue communing with you at all times…may we continuously expose our hearts to you, coming to you with every need, every concern, every thought…knowing you listen, you care. Thank you that you will be with us through every fire, that you will never abandon us, that we will never be alone. Thank you that you are our eternal life now. Thank you that in a mystery your death and resurrection can deliver us from the fear of death, even untimely death or a violent death. We trust that no matter that you will tenderly carry us and be with us in it. Thank you for caring this much for us. And Lord, give us the voice, the joy in this life that we can open the hearts of many to your loving presence, your tender touch delivering them from the darkness, from futility and from the fear of death. So that they can hear you and live now too. Amen.
Message: Richard E. Bieber 2001 aka “Those Who Hear Shall Live”
Sharable/Printable Copy
Featured Artist: Courtesy and kindness of Sinead Kell
Website: Sinead Kell is an amateur artist and does not have an online gallery or store but occasionally posts her art on Prophetic Art Studio on Facebook
#OvercomingTheFearOfDeath #ThoseWhoHearShallLive #TheyShallNeverPerish #SineadKellArt
Posting May 24, 2024
THE GEM IN THE MUD
“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.” (Matthew 13)
One of the ten richest men in the world went to bed one night and had a dream. In his dream he saw a gigantic pile of gold, rising like a mountain before his eyes. Suddenly there was an earthquake. As the earth shook, the mountain of gold melted, and sank and shriveled, until it was nothing but a puddle of mud. In his dream the man began to weep. “My wealth is gone! How can I face my family and friends? How will I survive?” Then, through his tears, the man noticed a gleam of light coming from the puddle of mud. He came closer and discovered a tiny gem lying in the mud.
“Now you’re looking at the real treasure,” said a voice from somewhere above him. “Find that gem, and gold will no longer be your master.”
“But what is it?,” asked the troubled billionaire, “and why is that beautiful gem lying in the mud?”
“The gem is my Kingdom,” said the voice. “You will never find this gem in a mountain of gold. It’s always wrapped in mud. But once you find this gem, you have found the real treasure, and gold will no longer rule your life.”
The man awoke with the memory of the dream branded on his soul. In the days that followed, he was obsessed with finding the gem. “Find my Kingdom,” the voice had said, “and you have found the real treasure.”
The billionaire’s family started to worry, as his business affairs were pushed aside, his social obligations neglected. Is he losing his mind? Has he become a fanatic? What are we going to do?
In his search for God’s Kingdom, our billionaire decided to go back to church for the first time in many years. He began with the church he attended as a child. It was a smaller congregation now, but in other respects, it had not changed. The pastor preached eloquently about global warming, and the need to save the planet, before it’s too late. Beautiful words, and true. But the man knew that this was not the gem.
Then our billionaire remembered driving by a sprawling set of buildings on the edge of town, where the parking lot was jammed with cars every Sunday. The sign out front read, “New Life Center.” He parked his BMW and joined the crowd inside. The music was up-beat, and the preacher knew how to communicate as he waved his Bible in the air and attacked the evils of the world. But the man just knew that this was not the gem.
“Maybe the Jews have it,” he said to himself. “After all, Jesus was a Jew.” So he found a Labovicher Synagogue, where there was great fervor and tons of joy. But this, too, was not the Kingdom.
“Perhaps the Muslims are the ones with the gem,” he reasoned. “They seem to be growing in numbers all over the world.” He was given a warm welcome by the Imam and all the members of the Mosque. But, when it was over, his heart was still empty.
He heard of a group meeting in a hotel downtown, where they practiced meditation and studied the spiritual masters of the ages. A strange feeling came over him as he sat there among the meditators. He felt like he was poised on the threshold of the spirit world, but something in his soul made him wary. No, this was not the treasure.
One day when our billionaire was downtown at a board meeting, the discussion ran late. It was evening when he finally worked his way through the streets to the car park. He noticed a little storefront with a crudely painted sign, “JESUS SAVES” hanging above the door. “What can I lose?” he said to himself. He slipped inside and took a seat in the back, while the folks were singing. Maybe two dozen souls were scattered through the room. A man went up to the front and began to teach about the sower and the seed, when, suddenly, a woman came bursting in the door howling with grief. She stumbled to the front and threw herself on the floor, sobbing in anguish. Two women came and knelt beside her, placing their hands on her shoulders and speaking so quietly, only the suffering woman could hear. All the teaching and worshiping stopped, and a strange silence filled the room, as the focus was directed toward the woman’s anguish.
At last she rose with a sigh and took her place beside the two new friends. Then the worship leader invited everyone to gather in the back room for a simple meal.
“I think I’ve found the gem,” the billionaire said to himself, as he joined the gathering at the meal table. “This is the Kingdom of God,” he told himself, as he broke bread with his sisters and brothers.
It could be a little storefront, or a mega church, or a handful of believers gathered secretly in a basement somewhere in China. It could be some praying souls on the bank of a river in an African jungle.
When it’s the real thing, the gem is always lying in the mud without shame.
A light shining in a dark place, as simple as the sunrise.
Yet the gem is always hidden from the natural eye.
The Kingdom of Heaven is like treasure hidden in a field…
The Kingdom of heaven is like leaven hidden in a lump of dough….
The Kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed buried in the ground.
The Kingdom of Heaven is where God’s will is done on earth as it is done in heaven.
The Kingdom of God is where God rules the heart, not money, or vanity, or lust for power.
The Kingdom of God is where Jesus, crucified and risen… is allowed to speak his simple truth, without some preacher adding his two cents.
Strange thing about the Kingdom of God, we never see it until our pile of gold, or our mountain of vanity disintegrates and becomes a puddle of mud. Only then do we have eyes to see the treasure.
There was a man named Zaccheaus who had a huge pile of gold. That pile was a testimony to his skill at tax-collecting. Zacchaeus knew how to scoop off some of that tax money for himself. But Zaccheaus was uneasy. Something within his soul was telling him that his gold was a dubious treasure. It seemed that his pile of gold was already beginning to lose its shine.
So when Jesus called him down from that tree, and said, “I’m coming to your house for dinner,” Zaccheaus was overjoyed. He knew that he was looking at something far better than his pile of gold. Pretty soon his eyes opened, and he realized that a priceless gem was sitting at his table. Zacchaeus was so delighted that he immediately started dumping his gold.
“Lord, half my goods I will now give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone, I will now restore it fourfold.”
It’s amazing how many people go to church year after year, and never discover the gem.
How many people read their Bibles and quote scripture yet haven’t found the gem.
How many preachers preach every Sunday for years and years, and still haven’t found the gem.
Because they’re hanging on to a pile of gold or some vain ambition, or some ridiculous grudge.
They won’t see the gem until that pile shrivels into mud.
And what about us? Are we willing to pray, “Lord, do whatever it takes to give us eyes to see the gem!”?
Then turning to the disciples he said privately, “Blessed are the eyes which see what you see! For I tell you that many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.” (Luke 10)
Prophets and kings longed to see the gem and never saw it. Thousands of people saw Jesus with their own eyes, but they did not see the gem. Multitudes were touched by his healing hand, fed with bread from five loaves and a couple fish, but they did not see the gem.
Only a handful saw the gem and entered the Kingdom, because their pile of gold, their mountain of vanity, had shriveled, till there was nothing left but mud. And there was the gem, sparkling in the sunshine. So they left their fishing boats behind and followed Jesus. They sat down to eat with him and found themselves at a Banquet of the Kingdom of God.
That gem, lying in the mud, is the door to God’s World.
Out here there’s nothing but darkness. Watch the news, look into your own heart, and what do you see?
But in there, beyond that open door, it’s bright as day. All we have to do is step into the Kingdom and start walking in the light with God and with each other.
Once we’re in there, following the Master, he helps us….
To live by faith.
When we stumble, he lifts us up and helps us keep going.
To walk in love.
He teaches us to forgive, keeps pouring his love into us, until we get over ourselves and learn to wash feet.
To live in hope.
He keeps us from forever looking back. Helps us to look ahead and prepare for the coming glory.
To forget our fears.
He empowers us to defy our fears and walk in the courage of heaven.
Who would have thought that the door to God’s kingdom was so simple?
Who would have imagined that the precious gem was so easy to find?
We complicate things by looking for the big-time stuff. The gem is no more wrapped in “big-time” than it’s wrapped in gold.
Don’t be looking for signs and wonders.
Don’t be chasing after visions and revelations.
Look for the man, the woman, the people, who walk with simple integrity in the footsteps of the Master, and you will find the Kingdom of God. Draw near, and you will be touched by the power of Jesus’ resurrection.
That’s where the billionaire found the gem: breaking bread in that back room in the store front.
The family of the billionaire was convinced he had lost his mind. They felt betrayed by his new-found faith in Jesus. After all, his pile of gold was their security too. And now it seemed to be shrinking by the day. What’s going to happen to us, if this goes on? Doesn’t he care?
So the billionaire called his family together, and told them about his dream. He explained to them how he had searched for the gem in many places until he found it.
“Do I love you any less, now that I have found the Kingdom of God? I love you more!” he said. “If gold is your security, there is still plenty at your disposal. I won’t keep it from you. But I must confess that since I’ve found the Kingdom, gold no longer means to me what it once did.”
“But Father,” said his oldest son, “we are living in the real world. We have to pay our bills and buy our groceries, and pay taxes and look after our children. We can’t live without money!”
“Who said you have to live without money?” answered his father. “Once you find the gem, money will still be an important part of your life. But now money will be your servant instead of your master.”
His family shook their heads in sadness. They saw the poorhouse looming up before their eyes. And then a little girl spoke up and said, “Grampa, I want to see what you see. I want to be where you are!”
Jesus did not come to start a new religion.
Jesus came to bring us that gem….
God’s Kingdom, which will one day fill the whole earth, visibly, with the glory of God. That Kingdom is closer to us now than our breath.
Jesus promises that if we seek God’s Kingdom above all things, everything else will take care of itself.
If we walk in the way of God’s Kingdom, we will already be breathing the air of the world to come.
The way of God’s Kingdom is so simple.
Every day anew, we watch our pile of gold, vanity, fear, resentment, fade in importance.
Every day anew we reach down, pick up the gem and walk in its light.
“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.’
Prayer: Dear Lord, help us to find the gem in the mud. Help us to stop looking for gold in the wrong places. Shrivel our ambitions, our vanity, our resentments, our futile search for gold, for honor and respect until we can see what’s truly valuable…. your gem, your precious Kingdom in the mud…in the obscure, in the mundane, in the lowly. Help us to see the gem in the simple acts of love and kindness that brighten up dark places. Lord, help us to seek and find and live your kingdom in everything we do and everywhere we go. And yes, may the value and pure joy of choosing to live the Kingdom way… cause us to reach down and pick up this gem and walk in its light for the rest of our lives and into eternity. Amen.
Message: Richard E. Bieber 2018 Sharable/Printable Copy
Featured Artist: Courtesy and kindness of Amy Rylander
Website: amyrylander.com
#HiddenTreasure #GemInTheMud # #AmyRylanderArt
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