​The doorbell rings.  You weren’t expecting company, so you glance through the window and don’t see anyone there.  You realize there is someone at the back door when you hear a light knock.  As you move to answer it, you see the familiar face of your dear friend.  Immediately your heart warms and your face brightens and you open the door quickly to let them in.  They are trusted. 

​After the first miraculous signs Jesus performed in Jerusalem, the crowds were in awe.  John 2:23 says, “Many believed in his name.  But Jesus, on His part, was not entrusting Himself to them, for He knew all men.” (NASB)  Jesus was guarded against the surge of popularity that rested not on genuine repentance of heart, but on fascination with displays of power. 

Nearly two years later, Jesus is with his disciples and asks them who everyone is saying He is.  He then asks, “But who do you say that I am?”  Peter plainly states, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”  Peter is a trusted friend.  At that point, Jesus begins to reveal that He will “go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised up on the third day.”  When Peter tells Jesus that He would never have to suffer and die, Jesus recognizes the words—Satan had also tempted Jesus in the wilderness with receiving a kingdom that did not include suffering, if he would only bow to him. At that moment, Jesus spoke to the enemy and rebuked Peter’s words: “Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; for you are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but man’s.” (Matthew 16:21-23)

​Satan’s attempts failed in the wilderness when he came directly against Jesus because Jesus was guarded with the Word of God.  Satan’s attempts failed when he came indirectly through the crowd’s swooning applause, because Jesus was guarded and saw the unrepentant hearts.  But Satan’s most clever disguise was to come through the back door—the door that friends come through--to use a trusted friend to speak the same temptation.  Satan's attempt failed because Jesus recognized the words and was guarded against the lie being offered to him.  His focus was on pleasing His Father, even if his closest friends were clueless to what that meant.

​Most of the temptations that Christians face do not come from the world that comes ringing at the front door, because they are guarded against those.  Most fall to temptations that come in from close Christian friends that may not be living by God’s truth at that moment—and usually the intentions are quite innocent.  Have you ever noticed that gossip sounds so much more gossipy when you overhear strangers talking with each other?  But it sounds almost like essential information when coming from a close friend! Or a flirtatious gesture from a stranger feels inappropriate, but the same gesture from a close friend can be dismissed as “nothing”?  Or advice from a book by an eastern mystic is immediately seen as opposed to sound doctrine, but the same advice from a pastor sounds so wise?  The goal of guarding the back door is not to distrust of our close friends, but to develop a sharp recognition of the temptations that might be coming in the back door with them.

​The Israelites had made it to Mt. Sinai relatively quickly by the light of the Divine Cloud. Now, after almost ten months of daily routine, the directive came to Moses that they had stayed “long enough.”  Sinai was the memorial place to which God and the Israelites would refer in coming generations. These laws that had been given in the sheltered Wilderness were to be lived out in the new life in Canaan. And now…

They could not wistfully be remembering Egypt, nor wishing for the routine of Sinai to which they had learned to adjust. To turn was to get their mind and heart facing what God was doing ahead.

​The root meaning of this word is “to pull out tent-pegs,” i.e. to break camp.  This word is used over 100 times in the book of Numbers alone!  The reality of moving forward was that they had to “uproot” …to physically pack their things and move their tents to the next stage of the journey. In fact, Numbers 33 records a whopping FORTY-TWO times that they pulled out their tent pegs. That’s a lot of transition! The pilgrimage lifestyle of God’s people reminded them of their father Abraham who had been “a wandering Aramean.” (Deut. 26:5) It was as if to say: “Don’t get too comfortable where you are, because we are looking for a city whose builder and architect is God.” (Heb. 11:10)

​Then God reminds the Israelites exactly WHERE they are going—region by region is mentioned. This had been promised to Abraham, and they needed to be reminded that there was a permanent place ahead that was theirs by inheritance.

​Finally, God reminds the Israelites WHAT the job ahead entailed. They were to go in and possess the land. Their unique role in history demonstrated to everyone that God keeps His promises over generations. They were part of the Big Picture God was accomplishing in the world.  

But what if Paul were telling the truth?  What if he really wasn’t a skilled orator that could work a crowd by the power of his public speaking skills?  Doesn’t that seem like such a necessary, or at least useful, skill in order to carry out his directed ministry? (Acts 9:15)
 
Paul was called in a dramatic fashion.  He was gifted as an apostle and God confirmed his authority with signs, wonders, and miracles. But there are clues that when it came to the skill of public speaking—he knew that his “natural abilities” were inadequate to produce repentant change and spiritual growth in his listeners.

• There were people in the Corinthian church who liked the way Apollos delivered a message better than they liked Paul’s style.
• Those who didn’t like Paul in Corinth specifically pointed out that “his letters are weighty and forceful, but in person he is unimpressive and his speaking amounts to nothing.” (II Cor. 10:10)
• In Troas, when Paul was limited on time with the believers, Eutychus sank into a deep sleep as Paul “talked on and on.” 
• Paul’s passionate writing style is often complex and sometimes difficult to follow.
• Paul twice asked for prayer that when he opened his mouth, the words would be given so that he would be fearless in presenting about Jesus.  He didn’t have his presentation all figured out to “wow” the crowds, but felt his neediness when it was time to speak. (Eph. 6:19 and Col. 4:3)
• In I Corinthians 2:4, he says, “My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power.”  The conviction and change in the listeners’ lives couldn’t be explained away by Paul’s amazing oratory skills—it was the result of the Holy Spirit using Paul’s passionate appeals to the consciences of the listeners 

​When God calls us to a ministry or leads us to a work, He does incorporate the gifts He has given us as His children, but usually in such a way that we can say with Paul: “Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God.”  (II Cor. 3:5)   

​01/15/2012

After the news of John the Baptist's beheading, Jesus withdrew with His disciples in the boat. As soon as they got to shore, there was a great crowd waiting for Him.  Jesus' response? He felt compassion for them and actually welcomed them.  His compassion extended to both their physical needs for which they came, and also the needs of their souls--He told them about the Kingdom of God.  
When Jesus asked His disciples, "Where are we to get bread that these might eat?" it underscored their complete lack of supply for the needs in front of them.  

But Jesus WAS there. And His person was the SUPPLY for the needs of each hungry person: man, woman, and child. In other words, what each person really needed was Jesus. The disciples hadn't figured that out yet, but Jesus was teaching them hands on. As Peter gave out the bread to his hungry group of 50-100 people, he was getting the food from Jesus. As Thaddeus gave out the bread to his hungry group, he was getting the food from Jesus. As Judas gave out the bread to his hungry group, he was getting the food from Jesus. There was no "giftedness" that was needed to hand out the bread. There were no personality advantages to feed a hungry crowd.  There was no time to be comparing who had the larger group--only time to go back to Jesus again and again to refill the basket and head back to the next waiting group. 

​When they had performed everything according to the Law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own city of Nazareth. The Child continued to grow and become strong, increasing in wisdom; and the grace of God was upon Him. (Luke 2:39-40)
 
After reading the lengthy details about the Shepherds finding the babe wrapped and lying in a manger, we find Jesus as an eight-day-old being named and circumcised.  The narrative then moves seamlessly to Jesus’ first trip to the Temple.  Suddenly, in Luke’s account, we are whisked back to Nazareth, where Jesus grows up for twelve years before His next recorded trip to the Temple.

What is so interesting is what is left out. We know from Matthew’s record that Joseph and Mary stayed in Bethlehem for almost two years: the time ascertained by Herod from the magi. (Matt. 2:16) Did they stay because they were too poor to travel back to Nazareth? How much had Caesar’s taxes taken from them?  Was it because they had a connected family network that they stayed? It may have seemed from the day-to-day events that circumstances were keeping them in Bethlehem. Did they know that their extended stay had a Divinely Directed Purpose?
 
God’s Bigger Plan was Being Accomplished.
God drew Gentiles to come and bow before His Messiah and present gifts. (Isaiah 60:6) Jesus was the Savior of not just the Jews, but for the whole world. (Isaiah 49:6). Nations were bowing before God’s appointed King from David’s royal line. (Psalm 72:10-11)
I’m sure the day-to-day events before the magi arrived didn’t look as if anything so momentous was happening at all.  Unbeknownst to Joseph and Mary as they lived life in Bethlehem and were getting settled in a new place, travelers were even then being brought to them, drawn to them, because of God’s bigger plan.
 
God’s Bountiful Provision was Being Activated.
The shepherds’ announcement may not have impacted Herod, but dignitaries from foreign lands certainly did! His first thought was that Messiah had been born. (Matt. 2:4) In his murderous rage, he sent his soldiers to kill the babies. It was time for Joseph and Mary to leave Bethlehem…NOW. IMMEDIATELY!! 
God had kept them there in Bethlehem, hidden and protected, until the magi came and presented their gifts. They now had such an abundance of gold and frankincense and myrrh, not to lavish it upon themselves, but to supply what was needed for their trip to Egypt and getting established there. God’s supply had come exactly at the point of their need.