Category: Teaching Topics

Jesus and His Arch-Enemy

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For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil. I John 3:8

Wait, didn’t Jesus come to die to redeem mankind? Yes. But God’s over-arching mission was that the works of the devil would be destroyed through Jesus’ incarnation, through His survival as a toddler under Herod’s murderous rampage, through the crucifixion of the innocent Lamb, and through His resurrection unto glory. Throughout His ministry, Jesus didn’t ignore His enemy. He engaged him.  He imposed limits on his freedom. (“Do this, not that.  Go here, not there.”) He engaged him, too, by relentlessly delivering people from sickness and demon oppression.

In Luke 4, Jesus engaged Satan in the desert, giving us a template for how to handle temptation. He looked behind Satan’s smokescreen, identified the real intent, and quoted scripture strategically to shut down Satan’s specific agenda.

  • Satan said, “If you are the son of God, turn this stone to bread.” Behind the smokescreen was this ~ “Prove you are God and fill your stomach now.” The issue was not hunger but getting Jesus to do something God didn’t tell him to do.
  • Satan said, “I’ll give you all this authority and its glory.” Behind the smokescreen was ~ “Waiting is hard and I’ll give you kingly rule early if you worship me.” Satan’s desire for worship was what originally caused him to defect from his place in heaven.
  • Satan said, “Throw yourself down and see if angels will take care of you.” Behind the smokescreen ~ “Let’s just see if God takes care of you.” This time it was Satan who quoted scripture, “For He shall give his angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways.” Psalm 91:11 Jesus was savvy and quoted Deuteronomy 6:16 back at him. “You shall not test the Lord your God.”

There are numerous ways for me to deal with my enemy as well. When I rise up to use conferred authority, with scripture, and in Jesus’ name, limits are placed on Satan’s activity. When I ask God for the spiritual eyesight to see behind the smokescreen of every temptation, the Holy Spirit equips me with strategy and the courage to apply specific arrows of scripture.  Our loving Father does not leave His children defenseless but we must press in to become savvy children-warriors.

Lord, our enemy is not acting like a defeated foe. But he is. He acts like he has all power. But he doesn’t. With Your Word, make my mouth a sharp sword. Amen

Relating To A Disciple

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Follow me. Matthew 4:19

How does Jesus think of me in relation to Himself? What can I anticipate in this sacred relationship?  Jesus ~

  • Calls me to something for which I’m unqualified. Four fishermen became evangelists and teachers. One was a tax collector.  My calling is always God-sized because no skill set can achieve supernatural results.
  • Builds the relationship on love and promises of faithfulness. My relationship with Him began with forgiveness, love and acceptance, followed by promises that won’t ever be broken. This love has turned into fuel and His promises give me boldness.
  • Centers the teaching on faith-growing and character development. Each life lesson at the feet of Jesus grows my faith and makes me more like Him. When I’ve mastered one skill, there are always bigger ones to come. The faith tests get more difficult but infinitely more rewarding.
  • Requires of me a good faith effort, not perfection. As Kevin DeYoung reminded an audience recently, Jesus is aware of my present maturation level and is pleased with my best at whatever stage I am in my journey.
  • Extends mercy before I sin. Jesus told Peter that he would deny him three times. When Peter was visibly shaken, Jesus told him not to be worried and upset but to believe God. There was mercy before the sin. I am forgiven in the past, in the present, and in the future.
  • Forgives without reservation. I will have times of failure in the relationship. That’s inevitable. Jesus forgives no matter how many times I say I’m sorry.
  • Allows testing to reveal our flaws. Jesus was tested in the wilderness. His disciples are tested, too. It equips me with strategies in my use of the scriptures.
  • Is always out front ~ showing me the way home. I’m in the yoke with Jesus. He’s right there, a little in front, bearing the weight and responsibility for my needs.

Disciple me – all the way home. Amen

 

 

When He Points His Finger In My Face

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And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. Rev. 12:10

Satan goes to God to make accusations against me. First, He tempts me to sin, and when I give in, he has material to work with. He entices, then he prosecutes. He reports my sin and demands that the sentence of the Law be carried out. Oh, how he dreams of justice without mercy!

But when Satan arrives in heaven to accuse me, He meets Jesus. He is clothed in righteousness, standing in the presence of His Father on my behalf. “Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess.” Hebrews 4:14

Jesus is ready with my defense. He does not deny that I have sinned. He answers with something greater. He lifts His wounded hands and says, “She’s forgiven. She’s justified. She is Mine.”  This is the moment when the accuser loses his footing.

Having lost  his legal case against me, he’ll then come directly to me to make the same accusations.  If I forget my defense, I become vulnerable to condemnation. Satan is cunning. He knows how to mimic the voice of my conscience. He knows I want to please Jesus. He knows I take sin seriously. So he slips in and speaks in tones that sound almost righteous, as if shame is a holy thing.

Conviction and condemnation are not the same things. The Spirit convicts in order to restore. Satan condemns in order to crush. But the blood has spoken, once and for all, at the cross.  So what is my strategy when the accuser comes?  I do not answer Satan with my feelings, because my feelings fail me. I answer him with this ~  I have been bought, cleansed, pardoned, and declared righteous before God.  Be gone!

Jesus, Your mercy is stronger than my failure, and Your righteousness is my covering.  Amen

He Loves Even The Arrogant

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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 Cor. 1:27

There are people who say, in response to everything said to them, “I know it!”   It’s a poor relational skill as it kills any desire to have a conversation with them. Their need to know it all drives their behavior in every single relationship. This person is usually very vocal in meetings and controlling within a committee. It doesn’t take long for him/her to get under everyone’s skin. The shy person withdraws and avoids them if possible. The extrovert might fall into the temptation to argue and correct them. Neither response is productive nor is it like Jesus.

Jesus did not avoid arrogant people. The Pharisees get a bad wrap for collectively being on Jesus’ bad list. Not true. I can forget that Jesus grew up in synagogues and was constantly in the company of Pharisees. When He was twelve, He stayed in the temple to be in their company. And when He was in active ministry for the last three years of His life, He usually went where they were. Many were close-minded but some believed. Therefore some of the Pharisees were saying, “This man is not from God because He does not keep the Sabbath.” But others were saying, “How can a man who is a sinner perform such signs?” And there was a division among them. John 9:16

To those who rejected Him, Jesus ~

Exposed their hearts.  The strongest language Jesus ever used was directed against them. He said they were hypocrites not practicing what they preached.   The Pharisees tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.Matthew 23:4

Recited the scriptures.  He told them they didn’t know God.  So Jesus proclaimed, as he taught in the temple, “He who sent me is true, and him you do not know.  John 7:28

Extended an invitation to his enemies to believe.  “If anyone, any Pharisee, any chief priest, any officer trying to arrest me, any offended person—if anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.”  John 7:37

Do you remember when Jesus lamented?  “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not!”  Matt. 23:37    Jesus loved them. Even the spiteful, hateful, and arrogant.  He came to serve even the Pharisees rather than be served. 

Give me Your steady heart, humble enough to serve, strong enough to speak truth, and free enough to love without needing to defend myself. Amen

A Locked Door

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When the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!”  John 20:19

The disciples are undone. They had grown to love Jesus with the kind of love that changes the whole shape of a life. He had spoken to them of a kingdom, and they believed Him. But only days earlier, they had watched Him be arrested, condemned, and crucified. Now everything inside them is shaking. The future they thought they were stepping into seems to have collapsed. So they gather behind locked doors—to grieve together, and to hide.

And if sorrow were not enough, fear is there too. If this is what they did to Him, what will they do to us?

Yet into that shut-up, trembling room, Jesus comes. He enters the very place they have sealed off. Not as an intruder breaking in, but as the risen Redeemer coming to His own.

He knows how to enter rooms we have closed tight, the places where the light has gone dim, and hope has lost its edges. No locked place is beyond His reach. The risen Christ comes into spaces barred by unbelief, trauma, sorrow, and shame. He is not unsettled by our fear, nor silenced by our silence. He comes carrying the finished peace of His cross. It is a peace purchased by His blood and made unshakably true by His resurrection.

Lord Jesus, speak Your peace where our hearts have forgotten how to rest. Amen

Beyond What Is Earthbound

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“You have kept count of my tossings; put my tears in your bottle. Are they not in your book?”  Psalm 56:8
Comfort. It’s an embrace when I’m crying. A listening ear when I need to process. A soothing, gentle ballad when my anxious heart needs a non-verbal touch.  All of these offers something extraordinary, but each one is earthbound. They are tangible, yes, but limited.  I need something intangible and limitless.
El Roi is intangible. I am spirit, and I must relate to Him in spirit. This takes more effort and more discipline. It’s easier to replace Him with temporary substitutes.  The problem is ~ they only satisfy for a brief period before I need more. Friends return to their lives. Hugs last only seconds instead of hours.  Teacups eventually empty. Blankets don’t have arms. And, songs end as the noise of life returns.
The world right now is a brutal place to live. Comfort is sometimes challenging to find.  There is only One who can put iron in someone’s spirit.  Jesus knew our problem of reaching out for care and compassion but coming up empty. That’s why He said, “I’m sending you a Comforter.” The Holy Spirit of El Roi brings what earthbound things can not.  He sees us and offers to be a permanent Companion.  He, alone, is able to write hopeful words across the landscape of my desolation.
 

The Yoke of Religion

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They tie up heavy, burdensome loads and lay them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them.  Mattthew 23:4

As a young monk, Martin Luther confessed that he didn’t love God, he hated Him. He felt that he just couldn’t please Him. Luther beat himself, fasted for days, slept outside in the cold, and all because He felt the guilt of his own sin. He couldn’t sleep at night because he thought, “Can I possibly do everything that God requires of me?” His mentor told him that confession is to bring relief to those burdened with guilt, not add more. But Luther was so bound up by a religious yoke that, though he confessed constantly, he found little relief. While some around him made their complete confession in just a few minutes, Luther would go on for hours. It’s a reminder to me that perceived holiness is often driven by forces other than an affection for Christ.

If I suffer under a religious yoke, I have a nagging feeling that I’m not good enough. I have no peace. I don’t feel forgiven. I keep myself insanely busy to dull the ache of unworthiness.  I need to impress God with overachieving. Really, I am the older brother in the prodigal son story who kept all the rules but was probably only looking out for his own inheritance. He felt his father owed him; which is easy to believe if you’re a rule keeper. When hard times come, accusations follow.  “God, how could you? After how good I’ve been?”

If I labor under the yoke of religion, I believe that my good behavior proves to God that I’m really a good child. I forget that I am not bound to the law; Jesus already fulfilled it. He annihilated every reason I believe I have to perform.  He gave me His righteousness and made it possible for me to rest in my salvation.

If I suffer under the torment of a religious yoke, how do I escape it?  By repenting of self-exaltation and for minimizing the power of the cross. This is where Martin Luther ended up – believing that he was saved by faith alone – not by works.  In the silence after my surrender, the cross speaks louder than all my labor, whispering that Christ’s mercy holds what my hands could never earn.

Quiet my striving and anchor me in Your finished work.  Amen

Abba’s Place

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Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. Isaiah 43:1

There’s nothing worse than being parented by someone who is not a good person and one who, ultimately, has it in for me. Every decision made on my behalf has questionable motives. But, there’s nothing better than belonging to Abba.  He sincerely loves me. Every decision made on my behalf is for my benefit. With Him, I can breathe, not worrying about whether or not He will change His mind about me. There was no honeymoon stage.  It started well and it will end well.

Some kids live every day in fear as fickle parents demand performance for the privilege of living at home. Others exist in a marriage where an unstable spouse turns love off and on like a faucet. You never know what mood you’re going to encounter in the morning. Belonging to a master in either of these settings feels like a prison sentence.

Oh, but daughter of God, you never need fear belonging to Abba. He counted the days till you chose Him. He loved you before He made you. You were valuable to Him even when you didn’t love him back. He paid with His Son’s life to make belonging to Him possible. Once His, you’re always His. Once He loves, He always loves.

Finally, you and I have a place to belong that is wonderful. No matter how out of step we are with our world, we know where to go home to feel better. No matter how much we may not fit in with our families, we are at home in God’s family. No matter what powerful person may have rejected us in this life, we have another life that is more real and permanent than this one here. God calls us by name and he tells each of us, “You are mine.” He is a jealous God and that jealousy can be trusted because it is holy!

The spiritual orphan feels alone, trying get her needs met the best way she can. Each day is ‘good’ or ‘bad’ depending on who loves her or who doesn’t. She wanders from person to person ~ looking for a place to belong. She peeks into the windows of seemingly happy homes and dreams of living there. Ah, but she has a home in God. Nothing can shake loose the terms of her adoption and spiritual birthright.  Heaven’s legal papers were permanently signed with red ink.

At my new birth, Jesus gave me His hand and drew me from exile. His voice pierced my soul and He brought me to His Abba Father. The effect was thunder. The call was a whisper.

I am Yours and You are mine!  I will forever speak of the wonder of belonging to You. Amen

And Jesus Gave Him Back To His Mother

Published on by Christine Wyrtzen3 Comments

As he approached the town gate, a dead person was being carried out—the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. And a large crowd from the town was with her. When the Lord saw her, his heart went out to her and he said, “Don’t cry.” Then he went up and touched the stretcher they were carrying him on, and the bearers stood still. He said, “Young man, I say to you, get up!” 15 The dead man sat up and began to talk, and Jesus gave him back to his mother. Luke 7:12-16

A dead son, an only son, was touched by Jesus. He rose to life and then ‘Jesus gave him back to his mother.’   In 2 Kings 4, Elisha laid on the dead son of a godly woman, her only son, and this boy also rose to life. The story concludes with the same line. ‘And he gave the boy back to his mother.’

There are circumstances only God can change. There are people only God can transform. There are loved ones we need to relinquish into God’s hands to do what only He can do. When He’s done, they return to us as different people.  For this mother from Nain, it wasn’t hard for her to let Jesus enter the picture. Things were desperate and death was the end of the road. But in the land of the living, we play the Savior —- trying to fix, inspire, motivate, chide —- and we don’t realize that it’s necessary to step back in order to let God step close. Loving from afar is difficult when we’ve been the caretaker. Entrusting them to Jesus’ care doesn’t seem like the most loving thing to do. His way of bringing about a yielded life is usually much more severe than ours. We like to cushion people to make their journey as easy as possible but Jesus is not so much about comfort as He is holiness. And isn’t that what we want for them? Is any divine measure too unkind if it culminates in surrender? Is any wound too bad if it is a saving wound?

For whom do I want change so badly that I stand in the way of God? Ultimately, it’s an issue of trust. Do I trust God with someone with whom I’ve been intimately involved? Wrapping my arms around a person and bringing them to the Savior in prayer is not failure on my part. It is the beginning of their redemptive story if they will just bow at the feet of Jesus.

Help us know how to apply this. People need You first, then we can love each other. Father us and help us relinquish control. Amen

Yeshua ~ Savior and Deliverer

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Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. And I am the worst sinner of all. I Tim. 2:15

Parenting is hard work and though it’s so very rewarding, it can be painful at times. Ask God. He created, fathered, and sacrificed, only to see the majority of His creation use His name in vain, shake their fist at Him, and chalk up His character as mean, stingy, and vengeful. I’ve heard more than one person say, “What has He ever done for me?”

If you’ve been a parent, it would be like crawling on your hands and knees from San Francisco to Maine to prove your love to your child.  But you arrive, only to have your child say, “You’ve never done anything for me!” With knees still bloody from the journey, you wouldn’t believe your ears nor begin to fathom such blindness to sacrificial love.

Yeshua means ‘savior’.  Jesus came to save. Dying for our sins was His response to the wounds He sustained in the Garden of Eden. The pain was severe. God does grieve. God does weep. The plan of redemption came as a response to our alienation from Him. He asked His Son to leave glory, put on mortal flesh, suffer rejection and persecution at the hands of those He created, and then die the worst death possible to buy us back with His blood.  And yet, the gift seems like a trifle to so many. I contend that, for me, the cross is not just central to Easter, it’s central to every day. At the epicenter of something so gruesome was a love so exquisite that I’ll never be able to fully internalize the power of it.

In closing, here’s another picture. After completing your San Francisco/Maine journey, you see your child waiting for you over the finish line. He is cheering, arms open to receive you, and his face is stained with tears. Today, I offer grateful tears  to Jesus, Yeshua. I cheer Him as being my Savior and Deliverer.

For the many years I treated You casually and the cross recklessly, forgive me. Amen