Tag: devotional

Luke 17:5-10 English Standard Version (ESV)

⁵ The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” ⁶ And the Lord said, “If you had faith like a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.

⁷ “Will any one of you who has a servant plowing or keeping sheep say to him when he has come in from the field, ‘Come at once and recline at table’? ⁸ Will he not rather say to him, ‘Prepare supper for me, and dress properly, and serve me while I eat and drink, and afterward you will eat and drink’? ⁹ Does he thank the servant because he did what was commanded? ¹⁰ So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.’”

Devotion

Our reading comes in the middle of a long section of parables and teaching on discipleship as Jesus heads towards his triumphant entry and then humiliation on the cross in Jerusalem.  It has been challenging teaching after challenging teaching, with more to come, and so is it any wonder that the disciples here ask Jesus to “increase their faith?”  I, like the disciples, often find myself overwhelmed by the call of obedience to Jesus—to pick up my cross daily and follow (14:27), to care for the Lazarus’ (16:19-31), to forgive over and over again (17:3-4).  And so, in the midst of challenging teaching after challenging teaching, Jesus’ response to the disciples is a relief.  It’s not the amount of faith that matters, it is the mere presence of faith—even a little of it—that makes all the difference.  A mulberry tree has an extensively complex root system, making it very difficult to uproot.  And a mustard seed is tiny.  Yet what a mustard seed lacks in size it makes up for in potency.  So it is with faith.  God can change the world with even our most hesitant and half-hearted “yes’s.”

But saying “yes” to Jesus is rarely glamorous (vs. 7-10).  There is a reason Eugene Peterson describes a life spent following Jesus as “a long obedience in the same direction.”  The life of discipleship is rarely sexy.  It doesn’t make for a lot of “likes” on social media and rarely leads to earthly renown or adulation.  It doesn’t regularly result in invitations to fancy dinner parties or access to impressive people.  No—the life of discipleship means preparing supper, and serving at the table, and obeying the commands of the master.  It is an invitation to a life of humility, of downward mobility, a life spent giving oneself away.

I cannot help but wonder if what Jesus is doing here is preparing his disciples for what is to come.  Most Jews expected a Messiah who would ascend to power, who would literally sit on the throne of David.  They expected the excitement and influence and importance of Palm Sunday, not the humiliation of Good Friday.  They expected an upward trajectory, when Jesus’ trajectory at this point (a fact which he knows, but they do not yet understand) leads down through abandonment, ridicule, and death. 

Following Jesus means following Jesus.  Going where he goes, doing what he does, living like he lived.  It means listening and obeying.  It means serving, expecting nothing in return, a life spent giving oneself away, just as Jesus gave himself away.  The good news?  God is awfully good at doing a lot with a little.  He uproots mulberry bushes with mustard seeds, lifts last week’s lowly Lazarus (ch. 16) into the bosom of Abraham, and transforms the humiliation of the cross into a newness of life.  Jesus goes down in order to come up, and he invites us to do the same.  He invites us to add our mustard-seed “yes” to the whole-hearted “yes” of the cross.

Philippians 2 “So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, ² complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. ³ Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. ⁴ Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. ⁵ Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, ⁶ who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, ⁷ but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. ⁸ And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. ⁹ Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, ¹⁰ so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, ¹¹ and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

For further reflection:

1) Has Jesus ever taken your “mustard-seed yes” and used it in a more significant way than you might have imagined?

2) What does saying “yes” to Jesus in the form of “a long obedience in the same direction” look like in your life?

3) A life of humble “downward mobility” is a striking counter to everything the world encourages.  How does Jesus’ teaching here challenge or encourage you?

4) What are some ways this week you might humbly imitate Jesus by giving yourself away, expecting nothing in return?

Luke 16:19-31 English Standard Version (ESV)

¹⁹ “There was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. ²⁰ And at his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, ²¹ who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man’s table. Moreover, even the dogs came and licked his sores. ²² The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried, ²³ and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. ²⁴ And he called out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.’ ²⁵ But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish. ²⁶ And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.’ ²⁷ And he said, ‘Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father’s house— ²⁸ for I have five brothers—so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.’ ²⁹ But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’ ³⁰ And he said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ ³¹ He said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.’”

Devotion

This parable presents a striking contrast.  First, we have an unnamed rich man, clothed in the finest attire, who feasts on the very best food each and every day.  Second, we have a named Lazarus, broken, poor, and suffering in every way.  One is up and the other is down.

And then, as is so common with Jesus, we have the great reversal.  The first becomes last and the last becomes first, the one who has nothing gains everything, and Lazarus inherits eternal life while the unnamed rich man inherits death.

This parable is found only in Luke, and emphasizes again Luke’s thematic, practical, and tangible concern for the poor.  Jesus, in the telling on the story, makes it clear that what the rich man did with his money in his life actually matters—how he treated the poor, how he stewarded his physical resources—it really matters.  Jesus doesn’t let us off the hook by spiritualizing wealth and poverty.  What you and I do with our money, and how we leverage the resources God has entrusted to us for the sake of others has eternal ramifications.

Jesus doesn’t stop there, however—he takes it a step further.  He reiterates a truism found in all three synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke): one can gain the world and still lose his or her soul.  The rich man in Luke 16 has just about everything the world offers and he still misses out.  In his preoccupation with the riches of the present he failed to invest in that which is eternal.

For Jesus, caring for the poor and fixing our eyes on the eternal is not an either/or, but a both/and.  We have a gospel imperative to care for the poor, to steward the wealth God has entrusted to us for the sake of others, while simultaneously keeping the end in mind and investing in that which will never spoil or fade.

How do we do that?  How do we live faithfully in the present moment while also living in light of eternity?  The parable tells us!  The instruction from Father Abraham is to hear from Moses and the Prophets, to listen to the instruction of the Holy Scriptures when it comes to rules for faithful living—to read the Bible and do what it says.  It’s simple, but not easy.  Come Holy Spirit, and transform us that we might live faithfully as followers of Jesus!

For further reflection: 1) What is particularly challenging or convicting for you in this parable?

2) How do you interact with the Lazarus’s in your neighborhood/life?

2) In what ways are you tempted to live an either/or life rather than a both/and when it comes to caring for temporal and eternal concerns?

3) What is one thing you can do this week to steward that which has been entrusted to you for the sake of others?  Likewise, what is one thing you can do this week to invest in the eternal?

Luke 4:16-21 English Standard Version (ESV)

4 And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read. And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written,

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,

because he has anointed me

to proclaim good news to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives

and recovering of sight to the blind,

to set at liberty those who are oppressed,

to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. And he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

Devotion

I am so thankful that the Lord gave us four unique gospels.  The person and life and ministry of Jesus is too profound and too complex and too important to engage from only one single angle.  Instead, by the power of the Holy Spirit, we are given a well rounded account of Jesus while simultaneously benefitting from the unique voices of each author.

None of the other gospel writers include this particular public teaching—it is only in Luke that Jesus uses Isaiah 61 to begin his public ministry in his hometown.  For Luke, this moment establishes what will be a dominant theme in his gospel—Jesus’ right concern for the poor, the captive, the blind, and the oppressed, and Jesus’ announcement that in him the year of jubilee is at hand (Lev. 25).

Luke doesn’t spiritualize Isaiah 61—he’s not talking about the spiritual poor, or those captive to sin, or the spiritually blind or oppressed.  No, he is talking about physical, earthly realities.  He has come to announce good news for those who are literally poor and for those in physical chains.  He has come to overturn systems of injustice that leave some oppressed.

I have had a very privileged life.  I don’t know much of what it means to be poor, captive, blind, or oppressed.  And yet, because Jesus announced that he was directly taking on the forces that result in such situations, I cannot ignore it.  I cannot ignore him.  Jesus doesn’t let me off the hook.  And so I must wrestle, as must any Christian, what it means to be about the Master’s business, to care about the things that he cares about, to live like him and with him and in him.

For further reflection: 1) What has been your experience being poor, captive, blind, or oppressed?

2) What might it look like for a follower of Jesus to be about the Master’s business when it comes to proclaiming good news for the poor, freedom for the captive, sight for the blind, and liberty for the oppressed?

3) What is one thing you can do this week to be good news for the poor?

Luke 9:51-62 (ESV)

Vs. 51-56: When the days drew near for Jesus to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem. And he sent messengers ahead of him. On their way they entered a village of the Samaritans to make ready for him; but they did not receive him, because his face was set toward Jerusalem. When his disciples James and John saw it, they said, “Lord, do you want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?” But he turned and rebuked them. Then they went on to another village.

Vs. 57-62: As they were going along the road, someone said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” To another he said, “Follow me.” But he said, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.” But Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” Another said, “I will follow you, Lord; but let me first say farewell to those at my home.” Jesus said to him, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”

Devotion

My life is comfortably busy.  I mostly have what I need, and parenting, work, and marriage ensures my days stay full.  Even as a comfortably busy pastor, it is easy to reduce the Christian life to one more obligation amidst soccer practices and lawn mowing and work and trips to the grocery store. 

Verses 51-56 mark a significant turning point in the plot of Luke’s gospel.  Up until this point, Jesus has been doing the sorts of things people expected from a Messiah: healing the sick, expounding the scriptures, even raising the dead.  In verse 51 (and again in verse 53), Luke notes that “Jesus set his face for Jerusalem.”  Luke wants to make clear that Jesus isn’t merely the Messiah everyone expected, who would heal the sick and give sight to the blind and set the captive free.  He is more than that.  He is the Messiah—the King–who would die.

If the first section of our text makes clear that Jesus is the Messiah who would die, the second section makes clear that following Jesus is costly.  If Jesus’ eyes our fixed on the cross, then followers of Jesus must keep their eyes fixed on him, even if that means following him to the most costly of places.

In this instance, Luke repeats himself three times.  Jesus makes it perfectly clear: he is not one obligation among many.  He is not a relationship to be squeezed in when we have some space in our day or when our work schedule isn’t too crazy or when our kids’ swim season ends. 

Most of us live comfortably busy lives.  We have responsibilities and commitments, many of which are good.  I have a friend who once said that “idolatry happens when we take good things and make them ultimate things.”  Likewise, we miss out on the fullness life with Jesus has to offer (even when that life means following him to the cross) when we reduce life with him to one good thing among any number of other good things. 

Jesus is the King who fixes his eyes on Jerusalem, on the cross.  Following Jesus means fixing our eyes on him first, and likewise following him into Jerusalem.  Comfortably busy people—we tend to avoid Jerusalem.  In doing so, we often miss the pain and costliness of death.  But we also miss the joy and wonder of resurrection that lies on the other side.

For further reflection: 1) By setting his face towards death, Jesus is upending everyone’s expectations of the Messiah.  How has Jesus challenged your expectations of who he is or what he is supposed to do?

2) We all find ourselves regularly prioritizing human obligations over following Jesus.  What obligations do you find yourself most frequently overwhelmed by?  What might Jesus say to you in that?

3) Has following Jesus ever been costly for you?  How so? 

4) What is one step you can take this coming week to follow Jesus into the costly places?

Scripture: John 16:12-15 (ESV)

¹² “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. ¹³ When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. ¹⁴ He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. ¹⁵ All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.

Devotion:

Most of us like to know the plan.  We like to know where we’re headed, what comes next, what danger or opportunity lies around the next corner.  And not knowing?  For most of us, not knowing where we’re headed, not having at least a small sense of the plan, produces a great deal of anxiety. 

Can you imagine what the disciples might have been feeling in this moment?  Jesus has just told them that he will be leaving them (13:36) and that they will be hated and persecuted (15:18-20) because of him.  The disciples have left everything to follow Jesus, rested their hopes and dreams on him, walked with him, learned from him—and now, all of that is about to change.

Of course, the plan isn’t really their plan.  It’s Jesus’s plan, and he has every right to reveal it in his own time. Furthermore, Jesus makes it clear that they’re not ready to know the plan yet: “you cannot bear [the things I have to say] now.”  And yet, in this moment of anxiety-producing, everything-is-changing unknown, he makes a promise to his disciples.  They would not be alone.  He might be leaving for a time, but the Spirit would be sent to guide them and comfort them and reveal everything they need to know about Jesus and his plan to them.  The early church father Chrysostom wrote, “In this way, then, he raised their spirits. For there is nothing for which people so long as the knowledge of the future.… He relieves them from all anxiety by showing them that dangers would not fall on them unawares” (Homilies on the Gospel of John 78.2).

Friends, the dangers of the unknown future will not fall on you unawares.  After all, the future and all our plans aren’t really our plans anyway.  They’re Jesus’s.

And so, even in times of transition or turbulence, when everything is changing and the future seems unknown and unknowable, we too have a Helper.  Jesus doesn’t leave us alone and wondering, but sends the Spirit to us, to comfort us and guide us and to reveal to us everything we need to know about Jesus and his plan and our place in it. 

For further reflection: 1) What do you think the disciples were feeling in this moment?  How do you think you would have felt?

2) When was a time you faced an unknown future?  How did it make you feel?  How did you respond?

3) How has the Holy Spirit comforted you in times of change?  What does paying attention to the Spirit look like in your life (how do you do it)?

4) Share a time of stress where the Spirit pointed you back to Jesus and His plan.

Scripture: Acts 16:9-15

⁹ And a vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of Macedonia was standing there, urging him and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” ¹⁰ And when Paul had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go on into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.

¹¹ So, setting sail from Troas, we made a direct voyage to Samothrace, and the following day to Neapolis, ¹² and from there to Philippi, which is a leading city of the district of Macedonia and a Roman colony. We remained in this city some days. ¹³ And on the Sabbath day we went outside the gate to the riverside, where we supposed there was a place of prayer, and we sat down and spoke to the women who had come together. ¹⁴ One who heard us was a woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple goods, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul. ¹⁵ And after she was baptized, and her household as well, she urged us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay.” And she prevailed upon us.

Devotional:

Last week, we observed the journey that God led Peter on in preparation for the coming of the Holy Spirit to the Gentiles.  This week, the text shows us God’s continued commitment to cross the boundaries of man in his relentless pursuit of the lost.  First, Cornelius receives the Gospel and the blessing of the Holy Spirit through the ministry of Peter; now, Lydia and her household receives the Gospel through the ministry of Paul.

In the conversion of Lydia, we see the very first convert on the continent of Europe.  We also see the conversion of a named Gentile woman.  Lydia is not a vague abstraction, but an actual person.  The Holy Spirit’s clear instruction to Paul to go to a specific place results in the conversion of a specific person, as the “Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul.” 

Our lives are often so busy, so noisy, so distracted, that it can be quite difficult to pay attention.  And yet the text makes clear—when we pay attention, we get to participate in the mission of God in ways we might otherwise miss.  Paul goes to Macedonia only because he was paying attention to the direction of the Holy Spirit.  He listens, even when it significantly alters the plans he has already made.  Lydia comes to believe the good news of Jesus only after the “Lord opened her heart to pay attention,” and as a result her whole household is baptized.  Oh Lord, open our hearts that we might be people who pay attention, and give us the courage to respond to Your voice, that we might participate in the transforming work of the Gospel by the leading of Your Holy Spirit.

Response:

1) What are the things in your life that make it particularly difficult to pay attention to the voice of God?

2) Listening to God’s voice—paying attention—is not particularly easy with the constant distractions of modern life.  What has helped you to pay attention to the voice of God?

3) Has listening to God’s voice ever led you to a surprising place?  What was that like in the moment?  What is it like now, in retrospect?

Scripture: Acts 11:1-18

11 Now the apostles and the brothers who were throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God. ² So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcision party criticized him, saying, ³ “You went to uncircumcised men and ate with them.” ⁴ But Peter began and explained it to them in order: ⁵ “I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision, something like a great sheet descending, being let down from heaven by its four corners, and it came down to me. ⁶ Looking at it closely, I observed animals and beasts of prey and reptiles and birds of the air. ⁷ And I heard a voice saying to me, ‘Rise, Peter; kill and eat.’⁸ But I said, ‘By no means, Lord; for nothing common or unclean has ever entered my mouth.’⁹ But the voice answered a second time from heaven, ‘What God has made clean, do not call common.’ ¹⁰ This happened three times, and all was drawn up again into heaven. ¹¹ And behold, at that very moment three men arrived at the house in which we were, sent to me from Caesarea. ¹² And the Spirit told me to go with them, making no distinction. These six brothers also accompanied me, and we entered the man’s house. ¹³ And he told us how he had seen the angel stand in his house and say, ‘Send to Joppa and bring Simon who is called Peter;¹⁴ he will declare to you a message by which you will be saved, you and all your household.’¹⁵ As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on them just as on us at the beginning. ¹⁶ And I remembered the word of the Lord, how he said, ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ ¹⁷ If then God gave the same gift to them as he gave to us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could stand in God’s way?” ¹⁸ When they heard these things they fell silent. And they glorified God, saying, “Then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance that leads to life.”

Devotional:

The early church frequently referred to what we now know as the “Christian faith” simply as “the Way” (Acts 9:1-2).  This indicates that the Christian life is a journey—specifically, the invitation into the Christian life is an invitation into a life spent actively following Jesus.

The motif of a faith journey is evident throughout Scripture, but has been particularly evident as we have followed the life of Peter the last few weeks.  We have seen impulsive Peter declare that he will never betray Jesus (Matt. 26:35.) only to almost immediately betray him three times (Matt. 26:69-75.).  We have seen a humbled Peter reconciled with the risen Savior and commissioned as a shepherd (John 21).  We have seen an empowered Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, imitate Jesus (Mark 5:21-43) as Tabitha is restored to life (Acts 9:36-43).  And now, we see God leading Peter even further into what was previously unimaginable, as the Holy Spirit comes to the Gentiles (Acts 10 and 11).

God had been leading Peter on a journey so that he would be prepared to respond well to this groundbreaking revelation of the Holy Spirit.  We are witnesses to the patience of God as He gently brings Peter along to a place where he is able both to accept and defend the invitation of the Gentiles into God’s mission and family and their receiving of the Holy Spirit.

Of course, this new thing isn’t really a new thing at all, but a fulfillment of God’s promise to Abraham (Gen. 17:4).  But for Peter, this story is a signpost pointing to God’s commitment not just to save His people, but to transform them so that they might participate in the even bigger thing that He is doing—the thing that they might not have been able to comprehend earlier on in their journey of faith. 

Response

1) How does Peter’s story challenge or encourage you?

2) Remember and share a time where God did one thing in your life to prepare you for an even bigger and more difficult thing.

3) How has the Holy Spirit been challenging your previously held assumptions about God or His plans, either for you, the church, or the world?