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O Little Town of Bethlehem

12/11/2019

The Small Town

“But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you One will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel. His goings forth are from long ago, from the days of eternity.” Micah 5:2

God’s choosing of Bethlehem Ephrathah to become a place of esteem and renown was uniquely tied to the blessing bestowed on Naomi and Ruth (Ruth 4:11). It was foreshadowed in David and fulfilled in Jesus, God’s Anointed King, when he was born in Bethlehem.

I’ve often wondered, however, if God doesn’t delight in choosing “small places” from which to bring people who will trust him in simple faith, who will worship him with simple song, as David did, while going about the normal routine of life. And then He calls them and equips them for His chosen task. And when they finally look back on where they have come from and what God has done, with David they stand amazed and say, “Who am I, O Sovereign Lord, and what is my family, that you have brought me this far?”
(II Chron. 17:16)

Unlikely Place. Unlikely Servants.

I don’t have conclusive evidence that “the small town” produces more servants of God than those called from the city. However, it is interesting that Jesus grew up in Nazareth of Galilee and that his accent would have stereotyped him to the elite of Jerusalem as coming from the “less educated” part of the country. Jesus Himself saw the irony that those who were educated in the Scriptures and worked daily in the Temple were totally ignorant of His identity and purpose in coming. He said, “I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them to infants. Yes, Father, for this way was well-pleasing in Your sight. Matthew 11:25, 26 Sophistication and deep intellectual parsing of words and phrases from the Old Testament not only were not prerequisites to God-pleasing faith, it appears that they were often stumbling blocks to it.

When Paul shared the historical message of Jesus, he found the same response. He wrote: “For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong.” (I Corinthians 1:26-27) Given that Paul himself received a top education in Jerusalem from the top rabbi of his day, he must have been surprised that “just explaining the facts” to his educated friends didn’t lift the veil of blindness from their eyes, while common folks who responded in simple trust were given spiritual sight.

Kind of amazing that out of that hole-in-the-wall place, Bethlehem, God brought His Savior-King to have the name that is above every name.

How silently, how silently
The wondrous gift is given!
So God imparts to human hearts
The blessings of His heaven.
No ear may hear His coming,
But in this world of sin,
Where meek souls will receive him still,
The dear Christ enters in.

"Minor" Prophets

11/22/2019

But know this first of all, that NO PROPHECY OF SCRIPTURE is a matter of one's own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God. II Peter 1:20-21

What makes a prophet "minor"?

The books of the Old Testament prophets are divided into "major prophets" (Isaiah, Jeremiah/Lamentations, Ezekiel, and Daniel) and the remaining twelve "minor prophets."
Usually the distinction is one of length (except that the book of Daniel is only 12 chapters long).
Usually the content of the major prophets includes prophecies concerning Israel and many nations and spans great periods of time, whereas the minor prophets often speak to one issue or have a narrower focus. Let's take a look at 4 "minor" prophets in particular.

Joel, Obadiah, Nahum, Habakkuk.

These four "minor" prophets have almost no biographical details attached to them.
Compare the opening verses:
"The word of the Lord that came to Joel, the son of Pethuel." (Joel 1:1)
"The vision of Obadiah. Thus says the Lord God concerning Edom..." (Obadiah 1:1a)
"The oracle of Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite." (Nahum 1:1)
"The oracle which Habakkuk, the prophet, saw." (Habakkuk 1:1)

Notice: they all credit the source of what they are seeing and saying to God.

The message was from GOD.

The message they are writing down is revealed.
They are not making up words out of their own minds.

The contextual background of the prophet is not the most important piece in understanding the message. Yes, it is helpful to know that these were written during the times of the kings, between the impending Assyrian and Babylonian exiles. But it is not essential to know the exact time of the message, or the prophet's hometown, or his personal life, or daily struggles.
The MESSAGE is the primary focus.

The message was short.

How long does it take to read through these messages?
Joel: 12 minutes
Obadiah: 4 minutes
Nahum: 8 minutes
Habakkuk: 9 minutes
And yet, Obadiah's 4-minute message about Edom is not "less" Scripture than Isaiah's or
Jeremiah's or Ezekiel's 3-1/2 hours covering years of writing which included many personal life details.

The message was enduring.

Apart from these "one time" messages, we wouldn't even know about these faithful prophets of God.

The rest of their lives of faithfully following God was not insignificant--but it was unknown. It took a lifetime of persevering endurance for ONE message
that was 4-12 minutes long...the Word of God.

I'm not a prophet. I'm not writing oracles. So what is the point of application?
There is always a subtle danger in Christian "ministry" to want to have a great accomplishment to attach our names to in order to feel satisfied with our contribution to God's work. In the end, it is not what we "do for God" that is of significance, but what He has done for us and through us. Let us then focus on faithfully persevering in following our Lord Jesus, whether in big or little things.
Should He use us over a lifetime or for a 4-minute message--that is His prerogative.

"So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, BUT GOD who causes the growth. Now he who plants and he who waters are one; but each will receive HIS OWN REWARD according to his own labor." (I Corinthians 3:7-8)

Three Times!

11/4/2019

"This happened THREE TIMES, and immediately the object was taken up into the sky." Acts 10:16

God was doing something BIG.
A major shift was about to happen--His Spirit was about to be poured out on a believing Gentile named Cornelius, and Peter was the means through which it would happen. The problem was that for a Law-abiding Jewish believer like Peter, it was forbidden to go eat with a Gentile. (Acts 10:28)

To get the point across to Peter that believing Gentiles were not to be considered "unclean" if God had cleansed them through faith in Jesus, THREE TIMES God sends a vision of unclean animals that descend in a sheet, and Peter is commanded: "Arise, kill and eat!" Interestingly, in the vision, Peter knows who the command is coming from. He replies, "By no means, Lord..." Just then the Gentile men knock on his door and ask him to come to their Gentile master's house. Peter finally understands the meaning of the message....and realizes that he must obey God even when it goes against his natural inclination and upbringing.

This wasn't the first time Peter had rebuked the Lord. Just after proclaiming in confidence that Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of the Living God, Jesus tells His disciples that He will be beaten and crucified and rise again. Peter proclaims loudly: "God forbid it, Lord! This shall never happen to you!"
(Matthew 16:22)

Peter had an idea what the Messiah plan should look like--and it didn't include crucifixion. He had no idea that God's plan was for salvation for Jews and Gentiles, and that it could only happen through Jesus' death on the cross.

Again we find Peter countering Jesus when it is announced that all the disciples will fall away and leave Jesus alone to be crucified. Peter proclaims loudly: "Even though all fall away from You, I will never fall away!" (Matthew 26:33) Jesus tells him, "Before a rooster crows, you will deny me THREE TIMES."
There it is again...it wasn't until the third time that Peter realized how fully he had failed his Lord.

After the resurrection when Jesus met with Peter in Galilee, He asked him THREE TIMES: "Simon, son of John, do you love Me?" And THREE TIMES He told him what his new job was going to be..."Tend my lambs. Shepherd my sheep. Tend my sheep."

So...what is the significance of the THREE TIMES?
Peter didn't have any idea of his own weakness nor of the bigger plan of God. Again and again he was rebuking THE LORD JESUS and telling Him how things should go. And over and over it took Peter three times before the Message sunk in to him.

How many times does God send a Scripture, a truth, or an exhortation from a believer to speak something that we are just not comprehending because His ways are not our ways and His thoughts are not our thoughts?
Patiently He repeats what we are to do until we realize that God is working out His bigger picture according to His wisdom in ways we cannot comprehend.

The Voice of God

10/22/2019

The Lord called Samuel; and he said, “Here I am.”
Then he ran to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” But he said, “I did not call, lie down again.”
1 Samuel 3:4–5

It's interesting that when Samuel heard God, it sounded like Eli, the high priest.
Eli was old. He still had some reverence for God, but he had grown fat on the choice meat of the sacrifices that his sons were taking from the worshipers at the Tabernacle. When his sons were turning the Tabernacle into a place of adultery, Eli scolded them, but did not remove them or impose any consequences for their behavior. He honored his sons over God. It is obvious that Eli had not earned the respect of his sons. In contrast to his lax attitude toward his relatives, he was quick to judge and openly rebuke a godly woman pouring out her request to God.

It was not Eli's "godly example" that earned Samuel's respectful service, but that he was God's anointed authority over him. Samuel's job was to attend to Eli.
THREE TIMES when Samuel heard GOD call his name...he heard the voice of Eli and got up quickly to attend to his needs. It is likely this was in the very early hours of the morning. No grumbling. No second-guessing. An unmistakable voice. A quick response.
When Eli finally realized that "the voice" was not Samuel's imagination but was, in fact, God Himself calling to Samuel, he told Samuel to respond: "Speak, for your servant is listening."

Because Samuel was attentive to his God-given authority, as undeserving as it was, he was in a position to be attentive to God, as worthy as He was.

Samson's Weakness

10/4/2019

Judges 14:1, “Samson went down to Timnah and SAW A WOMAN in Timnah, one of the daughters of the Philistines.” And Judges 16:20 is another summary theme: “And Samson awoke from his sleep and said, ‘I will go out as at other times and shake myself free.’ But he did not know that the Lord had departed from him.”

These two verses highlight the two major themes developed in Samson's life:

Samson was living by what his eyes saw, even when it was forbidden by God.
Samson thought that there were no consequences for breaking his vow to God.

Most people who have heard of Samson know about “Samson and Delilah,” but there are actually three women in the story of Samson: all of them are Philistines and all of them appeal to his eyes and desires.
At least five times Samson broke his Nazirite vow, but only on the last time do we see the complete collapse of his life.

When you put the two threads together, what we see is that
Samson was a man set apart for God’s purposes, who instead was living for his own pleasures,
And thinking there were no consequences for doing so.

Praise the Lord!

10/1/2019

Praise the Lord!
Praise God in His sanctuary;
Praise Him in His mighty expanse.
Praise Him for His mighty deeds;
Praise Him according to His excellent greatness.
...Let everything that has breath PRAISE THE LORD!
Psalm 150:1-2

The End...

The Psalms are the hymnbook for any situation--fear, failing, faithfulness, family, following God...but the very last Psalm summarizes the End of it all: Praise to God!
Here, in the structure of the book of Psalms, we have the foreshadowing of the book of Revelation:
trials, tribulation, troubles--but at the end: a great multitude that no one could number, and angels, and elders, and four living creatures worshiping God and saying: “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.” (Rev. 7:9-12)

...is Jesus.

Here, in the structure of the book of Psalms, we have the foreshadowing that at the NAME OF JESUS, every knee will bow of those who are IN HEAVEN, and ON EARTH, and UNDER THE EARTH, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Phil. 2:9-11)
In Jesus, the Psalmist's admonition is finally fulfilled: everything that has breath WILL be praising the Lord!

Praise is not dependent on the situation happening at hand in our lives, but the situation going on in heaven for the rest of eternity, which is based on the unchanging character of God and the finished work of Jesus Christ.
Praise to the Lord!

God is with you, Mighty Man of Valor!

9/25/2019

I've been really challenged by the lesson of Gideon this week. Here are the highlight thoughts:

Gideon Judges 6-7 transcript pdf

"Don't Believe It!"

9/18/2019

“Now the parable is this: the seed is the word of God.
“Those beside the road are those who have heard; then the devil comes and takes away the word from their heart, so that they will not believe and be saved. Luke 8:11-12

The Seed Doesn't Change.

In the familiar parable of the four soils, the sower goes out to sow the seed.
Jesus explains that the "seed" in the story is The Word of God. The seed never changes. It is good and effective in its ability to produce fruit. It is the soil of the heart that makes a difference in the results.
How often does a teacher or proclaimer of God's Word "see no results" or have someone seem to respond and then watch their excitement "fizzle" and think that there is something wrong with the message? The temptation is to think that something other than God's Word would be "more effective" in producing transformation--or that the power of fruitfulness is in a method rather than the message.

Satan is Actively Involved.

All three accounts of this parable mention "Satan" or "the devil" or "the evil one" but only Luke's account tells us what his aim is..."so that they will not believe and be saved."

Whenever and wherever the Word of God is proclaimed, no matter how small or how young the group is, Satan is ACTIVELY involved in blocking understanding.
His purpose is always to destroy a genuine response to what God has said.

Choosing a Traitor

9/12/2019

Luke 6:12-16
It was at this time that He went off to the mountain to pray, and He spent the whole night in prayer to God.
And when day came, He called His disciples to Him and chose twelve of them, whom He also named as apostles: Simon, whom He also named Peter, and Andrew his brother; and James and John; and Philip and Bartholomew; and Matthew and Thomas; James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon who was called the Zealot; Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.

Jesus relied on His Father.

The Scriptures often record Jesus' times of slipping away alone to pray to His Father. On this occasion, the critical selection of twelve men to establish God's kingdom on earth was at hand. The selection wasn't based on their personality or request, but by the choosing and purposes of the Father.

The Traitor was not a Mistake.

The amazing thing is that Judas Iscariot was chosen after a night of prayer.
He was not a mistake that somehow got into the group unnoticed. From the outside, he looked just like the rest of the disciples. His covetous, unbelieving heart was unknown to the other apostles, but it was not unknown to God. From the beginning, Jesus knew that "not all of them were clean" (John 13:11) and that one of them would betray him. He knew that one of them was a "plant from Satan." (Matt. 13:38) From the very beginning, the choosing of a traitor was to fulfill the words given to the prophets made about Messiah. (Luke 22:22) The choosing of the Traitor was eventually going to lead Jesus to the Cross: the purpose for which He had come. (John 12:27)

When I am praying for wisdom about a situation, I often have in mind that there is going to be a "good outcome"...that all will "turn out well."

I don't often consider that a Judas Iscariot might be as much a part of the answer as a Peter and James and John--or that the long-range answer to my prayer is the way of the Cross.

Jesus did good to His enemies.

Immediately after choosing the Twelve Apostles, including the Traitor, Judas--
Jesus gives the Sermon on the Mount. His words take on a new understanding when seen in light of Judas: "Love your enemies. Do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you." This wasn't pious advice delivered at a Temple teaching. It was the daily example of how Jesus treated a close friend who was going to sell Him to His enemies to be crucified for 30 pieces of silver.

Level Ground

9/11/2019

In Luke 5 Jesus tells Peter to let down his nets for a great catch of fish. Peter grudgingly does what Jesus has asked, and then realizes: "I am a sinful man!" He wants Jesus to depart from him, but instead, Jesus tells him not to be afraid and that he would be a "fisher of men."
What was Peter's response then?
In verse 11 they LEFT EVERYTHING AND FOLLOWED JESUS.

Immediately following that account, we discover that Jesus cleans an unclean leper, and forgives the sins of a paralyzed man. Then, seemingly random, He notices a tax collector (dubbed a "sinner" by the Pharisees) and says, "Follow Me." What was Levi's response? He LEFT EVERYTHING AND FOLLOWED JESUS.

Jesus then answers the grumbling of those who objected to the type of people who were coming to follow Him: "I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance."

Whether it was an overconfident fisherman, an unclean leper, a helpless paralytic, or a despised tax collector--the ground was level for all of them: a sinner in need of a Savior.

The Pharisees were welcomed to come to Jesus as well, but the stumbling block for them was the first step: admitting that they were "common sinners" in need of a Savior just like everybody else.

Not only was the ground level when coming to Jesus, the cost of following Jesus was the same as well.

Whether leaving a fishing business or a lucrative taxing business: both Peter and Levi "left everything" in order to follow Jesus.

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