Devotional Thoughts for Today
Lk. 10:25-9 (ESV): And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” [26] He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?” [27] And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” [28] And he said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.”[29] But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
We read many conversations between Jesus and individuals in the Gospels; and these similar conversations continue to take place today. So, when asked, “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” did Jesus answer, “You’re asking the wrong question; everlasting life is not earned through good deeds; it is ‘by believing you may have life in [my] name’?” (Jn. 20:31). We would assume that would be His answer, but that’s not what Christ said; rather, he asked, “What is written in the Law?” Seeing that the lawyer responded correctly (“Love God and your neighbors”), Jesus said him, “Do this and you will live.”
But isn’t that a wrong response? Didn’t Paul say, “It is by grace you have been saved, through faith . . . not by works” (Eph. 2:8-9)? Here, Jesus wasn’t giving the lawyer the gospel; rather, Christ was helping him to recognize the spiritual blindness that was undermining his need for the gospel.
To do that, Jesus went along with this man’s thinking based on the Law of Moses: “Keep my decrees and laws, for the man who obeys them will live by them” (Lev. 18:5), that is, obtain eternal life. Therefore, “Do this and you will live” implies that the lawyer had failed to keep God’s law perfectly, and as a result didn’t have eternal life. Feeling slighted, since he thought otherwise, the lawyer “wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, ‘And who is my neighbor?’” This is when the parable of the Good Samaritan is given, not necessarily because Jesus wanted to emphasize a lesson on loving our neighbors, but to help the lawyer see that “all our righteous acts are like filthy rags” (Is. 64:6). Once the lawyer recognizes that, he is ready, not only to hear the gospel, but to believe it as well.
Too many of us believe the right facts about Jesus and stop there; but he wants us to grow as a person. Therefore, he continues to engage in probing dialogues with us through the Holy Spirit so that we can own up to our mistaken assumptions about life, God, and us. Listen to him: believe and live.
Prayer
O God, we eagerly keep up with our Facebook, posting that one photo out of 100 that makes us look attractive and having fun, as if our significance depends how many likes we get. But seeing that the Son of God desires to have dialogues with me as if I matter to him, I feel very significant. Thank you! Amen.
Bible Reading for Today: Isaiah 38
Lunch Break Study
Jesus said that his “sheep listen to his voice” (Jn. 10:3). That means Christ continues to speak, but in what sense? Since the voice isn’t referring to a new revelation apart from the Scripture, what is it?
Rom. 8:16 (NIV): “The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.”
Jn. 16:13 (NASB): “But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. [14] He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you.”
Acts 16:19 (NIV): “During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, ‘Come over to Macedonia and help us’”; 17:11: “For [the Bereans] received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.”
Question to Consider
- How does Christ continue to speak to us today?
- What is the basis for the voice of Christ spoken through the Spirit to our spirit?
- What do we need to do in order to hear and discern what Christ is saying to us? If you were to do that today, what would you hear?
Notes
- He speaks to us through the Holy Spirit who is in communication with our own spirit, making it possible for us to hear what Christ wants us to know and/or do at a given moment. This doesn’t just happen; or even if He speaks, we may not hear due to allowing too many noises in our lives. Nevertheless, Jesus himself told us that we will be guided to all truths through the Spirit.
- Whether it is an image, vision, word or impression that we believe came from the Spirit, it must correspond to what is plainly stated in the Scriptures. That’s what the Bereans did with Paul’s teaching, and we should do the same as well. For example, I know of a person who felt that the Spirit told him to divorce his wife and marry this other woman to become a missionary. That cannot be from God.
- Any measures taken to improve our physical hearing would apply to our spiritual hearing as well: get rid of noise (e.g., too much entertainment); lower the volume of other sounds (e.g., perhaps reading too many theological books), pay attention to what is being said (e.g., praying in a quiet place); if not clear, ask questions (e.g., staying in prayer); jot down what you hear.
Evening Reflection
We began the day thinking about how Christ, who, while on earth, conversed literally with people, continues to speak to us today in our spirit. Let’s tune out any noise and stand before “the council of the LORD to see and hear his word” (Jer. 23:18). His sheep listen to the Shepherd’s voice.
While some teenagers may come to church to meet cute boys or girls, and some grownups for business opportunities, this lawyer came to Jesus for an entirely different reason. Here, the lawyer came “to test” Jesus, which the Greek word ekpeirazō is used; but the same Greek word is used when Jesus tells the devil, “Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God” (Matt. 4:7 KJV). While testing measures a student’s progress, tempting is to seek his downfall; this lawyer “tempted Jesus” (KJV). He probably belonged to a group of “Pharisees and Herodians” who tried “to catch [Jesus] in his words” (Mk. 12:13) to accuse him.
The first film to win 11 Oscars is “Ben-Hur,” based on the bestselling novel, Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ, by Lew Wallace in 1880. He began that project with “no convictions about God or Christ”; writing was only an outlet for his creativity. But, an unexpected thing happened. Wallace said, “I need to do the research; I need to learn the Bible. . . . Long before I was through with my book, I became a believer in God and Christ.”
There was a girl I knew very well when growing up. Though she was not a believer, she was curious about what we believed and sometimes attended my local youth group. However, during a one-on-one conversation, a member of my church told her without further explanation, “You are going to hell!” Deeply offended, she stopped speaking to us and stopped showing any interest in coming out again. Nobody knew how to explain the Gospel with great sensitivity, and though we tried to mend some bridges and attempted to explain more fully each person’s true need for Christ, it seemed too much damage had been done.
In this recounting, Jesus drives demons out of two demon-possessed men who had been living among the tombs. Either by the demons’ choice or their own, these men were isolated from society due to their condition. Upon meeting them, Jesus frees them by sending the demons into a nearby herd of pigs (which promptly drowns), much to the shock of those tending the pigs.
Lk. 7:37-50 (ESV): And behold, a woman of the city, who was a sinner, when she learned that he was reclining at table in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster flask of ointment, [38] and standing behind him at his feet, weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head and kissed his feet and anointed them with the ointment. [39] Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him, for she is a sinner.” [40] And Jesus answering said to him, “Simon, I have something to say to you.” And he answered, “Say it, Teacher.” [41] “A certain moneylender had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. [42] When they could not pay, he cancelled the debt of both. Now which of them will love him more?” [43] Simon answered, “The one, I suppose, for whom he cancelled the larger debt.” And he said to him, “You have judged rightly.” [44] Then turning toward the woman he said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. [45] You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not ceased to kiss my feet. [46] You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. [47] Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven—for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little.” [48] And he said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.” [49] Then those who were at table with him began to say among themselves, “Who is this, who even forgives sins?” [50] And he said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”
For a long time, the judge shows zero interest in addressing the widow’s grievance; her lack of stature only adds to his indifference. But the judge’s mind wavers as she keeps shouting and even banging on the door; he is clearly overwhelmed by it. As the days turn into weeks, the judge, out of sheer exhaustion, relents; she gets what she came for: justice.
Read Lk. 2:46-55 (NIV): “And Mary said: ‘My soul glorifies the Lord [47] and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, [48] for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed, [49] for the Mighty One has done great things for me—holy is his name. [50] His mercy extends to those who fear him, from generation to generation. [51] He has performed mighty deeds with his arm; he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts. [52] He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble. [53] He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty. [54] He has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful [55] to Abraham and his descendants forever, just as he promised our ancestors.’”
“How much?” asks the merchant, to which the owner responds, “It’ll cost you everything you have.” Although the buyer offers all his cash and property, the seller demands even more. Upon being told, “I’ve nothing else except my wife and children,” the owner says, “They become mine too.” Though the merchant is troubled by what this is costing him, he reluctantly gives them up, but the seller isn’t done, saying, “There is one more thing I want.” Feeling indignant, the buyer shouts, “I don’t have anything else!” But the seller retorts, “You become mine, too.” Does the merchant want the pearl that desperately? He must have, since the phrase “sold everything he had” could extend to selling himself as a slave, especially in the antiquity when this was practiced (Gn. 44:16). But as the pearl is being handed over to the buyer, the seller says, “You can take back everything—cash, property, you and your family –I’m lending them to you; when I need it, I’ll take it back.”
This parable tells us not to “offer sacrifice to the LORD . . . that cost [us] nothing” (2 Sam. 24:24). Since everything we own belongs to Christ who paid for them with His life, when He calls for them, whether it be our availability, money, career, kids or spouse, we “give . . . to God what is God’s” (Matt. 22:21). What is He asking you for right now?
A famous author on leadership (a former pastor) was impressed by how Enron got so huge, very fast (“A decade later . . . the revenues were $101 billion . . . its assets . . . $53 billion”). No one knew then that the heads of this energy company hid, using deceptive accounting methods, enormous debts from bad deals. The oversight made by this author is the kind that some pastors and businessmen make: being mesmerized by anything that grows very fast, and then copying what appear to be impressive methods.
A while back, I met a Vietnamese pastor who suffered for 3 years in prison for his faith. But his church, instead of dwindling during his absence, grew; and some 30 years later, it had 423,213 members in 2,388 churches. In China, after the communists drove out all western missionaries following the Cultural Revolution in 1949, many in the West worried that the church would die out under communist persecution; instead, it flourished throughout China: from 840,000 to 100 million believers by 2007.
During my morning jog in Villahermosa, Mexico, I slowed down to share the gospel with a young man coming my way. After a few minutes into the conversation, he said he’ll return to his former church—“Kingdom Hall.” Then I realized that he was a backslidden Jehovah’s Witness, but knew very little of its teaching (See Lunch Break Study 1/23). So, I was in an awkward position of having to inform him of their beliefs, and then to refute them afterwards.
It seems that many who “love” theology (e.g., “I’m a 5-point Calvinist”) lack love, while others who promote love find doctrine not as essential; yet instead of an “either/or” attitude, we should be balanced and have both doctrine and love: “Speak[] the truth in love” (Eph. 4:15). So, in love, I shared with the young Mexican some guidelines to find a church that preaches the true gospel.
The Samaritan woman mentioned in the verses above has often been described as one of Jesus’ first evangelists. After meeting Jesus, she enthusiastically praised Him and shared about His impact in her life with others; and as a result, many became believers. As people who have encountered Jesus in our lives, we too should praise Him and share about His life-changing effect with others. No doubt we may face barriers, but keep in mind that the Samaritan woman had her own obstacles as well. Her inferior status as a woman in Middle Eastern society and her reputation as an adulterer did not prevent her from sharing about Jesus in wise ways (i.e. using a rhetorical question instead of the declaration “He is the Messiah”, which others might have scoffed at or ignored).