Devotional Thoughts for Today
Matt. 13:47-52 (NIV): “Once again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was let down into the lake and caught all kinds of fish. [48] When it was full, the fishermen pulled it up on the shore. Then they sat down and collected the good fish in baskets, but threw the bad away. [49] This is how it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come and separate the wicked from the righteous [50] and throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. [51] ‘Have you understood all these things?’ Jesus asked. ‘Yes,’ they replied. [52] He said to them, ‘Therefore every teacher of the law who has become a disciple in the kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a house who brings out of his storeroom new treasures as well as old.’”
Many Mexican pastors do not have seminary training; some have barely finished elementary school. One day, a pastor visited my friend who ran a Bible institute in Mexico, begging for an admission. Having preached and taught the Bible for awhile without any formal training, the warning given in James 3:1 suddenly dawned on him: “Not many of you should become teachers, . . . because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly” (James 3:1). Subsequently, this pastor became terrified that everything he had ever taught might have been wrong; instead of treasures, he feared that he had brought out poison. While that is not a healthy attitude, his new found seriousness toward God’s word was refreshing only because too many people take the “teaching of Christ” (2 Jn. 1:9) quite casually.
In the today’s parable, the good fish (i.e., those who hold to the correct teachings of Christ—a.k.a., orthodox) and the bad ones (i.e., those who hold to wrong doctrines—a.k.a., heresy) are in the same net, and they aren’t separated until the end of age. This indicates that the correct teachings of Christ and the incorrect one are very similar. And this similarity is what makes teaching of God’s word not so easy.
For instance, do you know why the Mormon Church is not considered as part of the historic Christian faith? One reason is this: While Christ’s atonement forgives the original sin, it is by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Mormon Church (which there are many) that one’s own sins are forgiven. How about the Jehovah’s Witnesses? They certainly believe Jesus as a deity but not as an eternal being; to them, Jehovah created Jesus who, then, created the rest of the world. While some believers are alarmed by this type of doctrinal deviations, too many folks in the church would “put up with it easily enough” (2 Cor. 11:4). Referring to teachers who spew out false teachings, Paul commented, “For such people are false apostles, deceitful workers, masquerading as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. It is not surprising, then, if his servants also masquerade as servants of righteousness” (2 Cor. 11:12-5).
Sadly, those who thought that they had the truth are thrown into “blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” It’s because “a different gospel . . . is really no gospel at all” (Gal. 1:6).
So, even as we seek to be filled with the Holy Spirit and practice all of his gifts to the church, “watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers” (1 Tim. 4:16). Study the Bible. Get good books to help you understand it.
Bible Reading for Today: Isaiah 52
At age 16, Patrick, living in England, was captured by marauding pirates who took him to Ireland as a slave. During six long years of captivity, Patrick found God. Fortunately, he escaped and returned home where he eventually became a clergy of the Celtic Church (not Catholic). But one day, an Irish man appeared in Patrick’s dream, saying, “We beseech you to come and walk among us once more.” Despite whatever bitterness he might’ve had, Patrick returned in 432 and spent the next 30 years ministering among the Celtics. As a result, not only was Ireland won to Christ, Western Europe was evangelized by Celtic missionaries who came out of his ministry. Thus, I am still puzzled by how a day honoring a zealous missionary like Patrick has become a day of drunkenness and lewd behavior.
Spoiling your Valentine’s Day celebration isn’t the purpose of this blog, but a reminder: “Don’t conform any longer to the pattern of this world” (Rom. 12:1) that shifts with time and always empties your pocket. Instead, hold onto what men like Patrick and Valentine truly stood for: their love for Jesus and their desire to serve Him. So, if you have a hot date tonight, give your waitress an evangelistic tract with a good tip!
It’s the job you’ve always wanted, and you thank the Lord for it. However, after 3 years of the daily grind of meetings, conference calls and business trips, often skipping church on Sundays, you can hardly remember the last time you have prayed or opened the Bible. The present condition is worse than the first!
However, everything changed after Jehoiada died. Joash, after heeding bad advice, “abandoned the temple of the LORD . . . and worshiped . . . idols” (18). When Zechariah, the son of his mentor Jehoiada, spoke out, Joash, “not remember[ing] the kindness . . . Jehoiada had shown him” (22), killed him. Consequently, “because Judah had forsaken the LORD,. . . judgment was executed on Joash” (24). Not only was Judah defeated and looted by Aram, Joash was severely wounded as well. What did him in were his officials who “killed him in his bed” (25). The final condition of Joash was worse than the first.
Here, Jesus, likewise, shows the absurdity of an argument aimed to discredit him. The Pharisees, jealous that “the whole world has gone after [Jesus]” (Jn. 12:19), accuses him of being on the same team as the head of demons. Jesus’ logic is simple: “If the devil and I are partners, why am I casting out his demons? Isn’t that like shooting yourself in the foot?”
So Christ, coming into this world as an intruder to take back what was taken by the devil, must first bind the strong man. He succeeded when his substitutionary death on our behalf “rendered powerless [the devil] who had the power of death” (Heb. 2:14 NASB) since the penalty of sin has been paid.
Serving God is not only important, but it can be quite exciting. Let’s suppose that teaching the Bible interests you, but on what basis will your pastor give you that kind of responsibility? Similarly, in order for a baseball player to move up the ladder to one day reach the Major League, he needs to demonstrate his ability to hit and pitch better than others in the Minor League. One major difference: while God looks for faithfulness and honesty to evaluate, a baseball GM evaluates solely on output.
For that, look at Joseph who had every reason to quit on life. First, after his brothers’ betrayal, he became a slave in the house of an Egyptian official. Instead of pouting, Joseph so faithfully carried out his task that his boss “entrusted to his care everything he owned” (Gn. 39:4). But his life quickly hit rock-bottom when a false accusation landed him in jail. (It’s like going from AAA to A league). But rather than giving up, he continued to work faithfully; seeing this, the warden “put Joseph in charge . . . [of] all that was done there” (39:22). And it was from that pit that God brought Joseph out and “put [him] in charge of the whole land of Egypt” (41:41). What does this show? “Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful” (1 Cor. 4:2).
Nabal from the OT era, described as “very wealthy” for owning 1,000 goats and 3,000 sheep, and this 21st century man have this in common: Not using worldly wealth to gain friends for themselves. During the days when David and his men roamed around to escape from the murderous pursuit of King Saul, they, in effect, protected Nabal’s sheep that were grazing out on the field. In fact, Nabal’s servants told their boss, “These men were very good to us” (1 Sam. 25:15). So, when the festive time of sheep-shearing came, David asked Nabal to share “whatever [he] can find for them” (8). Nabal didn’t gain any friend when he responded, “Why should I take my bread . . . and give it to men coming from who knows where?” (11). David, responding to Nabal’s foolishness with his own imprudence, sought to kill him! Fortunately, though the intervention of Nabal’s wife, Abigail, kept that from happening, Nabal soon died of heart failure upon being told later about David’s plot.
This isn’t the type of illustration that pastors would dare to use from the pulpit. There are several glaring character defects in this manger which no one should emulate. First, he is irresponsible, which got him in trouble with his master who lost money due to the manager’s negligence. Second, he is a lazy freeloader. About to lose his job, he is sure about one thing: “I’m going to neither dig (i.e., work) nor beg” (i.e., swallow my pride). Third, he is a criminal. Changing the numbers around in the accounting ledger so that the debtors appear to owe far less is no different from a desperate student sneaking into the registrar’s office to alter his grade: a reduction of olive oil by 450 gallons would’ve cost the master as much as $5,400 today.
The parable demonstrates that while Samaritans are willing to help a Jew in need, the Jews, including this lawyer, will never do that for Samaritans whom they despise as unholy. When Jesus asks, “Which of these three . . . was a neighbor to the man who fell in the hands of the robber?” and the lawyer’s responds, “The one who had mercy on him” (i.e., the Samaritan), that is a self-admission of guilt: If being a neighbor means having mercy on anyone who is in need of it—regardless of whether he belongs to my tribe or not, then I haven’t kept all of God’s laws because I have not loved the Samaritans.
Allegorizing the Bible can be fun to listen to because it attempts to dig out the “deep” and “hidden” meaning. One seasoned preached allegorized this parable in this way: the priest who walked away represents world religions that cannot save; the wine used to clean the wound points to the redemptive sacrifice of Christ; the olive oil symbolizes the Holy Spirit; the inn represents the church (“God cares for us through the church”); the two coins refer to the Old and New Testament. Though his points may be edifying, his interpretation wasn’t exactly exegetically sound (i.e., reading into the text instead of extracting the meaning). Ironically, the preacher never bothered to address the obvious meaning of the parable staring right at him: “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Matt. 22:39).
Following the aftermath of the L. A. riots in 1992, our church, consisting mostly of Korean-Americans, donated food to a black church in L.A. To that, a close relative commented, “Why would you do that? So that they can beat up some more Koreans?” Some years later, as our church decided to adopt a Japanese unreached group to support the missions work there, church member who grew up in Korea loudly complained, “No, not Japan!”
So, why would a Jew feel uncomfortable hearing this parable? Because Jews wouldn’t do that for Samaritans, since they were considered a contemptible racial hybrid who disrespected their religion. The Samaritans, as offspring of the intermarriage between Jews and Gentiles (2 Ki. 17:24), deviated from Judaism by rejecting all but the first five books of the OT, insisting that the center of worship was mountain Gerizim instead of Jerusalem.