The Least of These

Wednesday, July 31, 2013                   The Least of These

“And the King will say, ‘I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!’” Matthew 25:40

 Parable of the Final Judgment Matthew 25: 31-46

The religious leaders opposing Jesus believed that the nations of the world would be judged, at the Final Judgment, on the basis of how they treated the nation state of Israel. In this parable, Jesus the Messiah of God confronted their understanding of the Final Judgment. In this story Jesus tells, he redefines Israel, the people of God, as his followers. Jesus says that at the Final Judgment all people will be judged on the basis of how they have treated his followers.

This parable is often twisted out of shape to have Jesus saying Christians will be judged on the basis of how they have been kind to "the least of these," meaning the prisoners, poor and dispossessed people of the world. However, there is sufficient support elsewhere in Scripture for prison and hospitality ministries. Let's try and hear what Jesus is saying to us today through this parable.

The context of the first hearers of this parable is helpful to us in this quest. Matthew was writing his Gospel for the church in Jerusalem at a time when the persecution of Christians was severe and not long before the Romans ended the revolt in Jerusalem by destroying the entire city. This parable was very comforting to the followers of Christ in Jerusalem. Through this parable, they knew Jesus took notice of their suffering, and they knew that in the end they would be vindicated. This parable would also have been encouragement for the followers of Jesus to extend a helping hand to their brothers and sisters in the faith.

On the day I am writing this, Rick Warren, the pastor of Saddleback Church, is returning to his pulpit four months after his son's tragic death. He and his wife, Kay, have experienced both sides of this parable. The popular culture vilified them because of their faith in Christ, many suggesting it was their faith that caused their son to commit suicide. However, countless thousands have lifted them up in prayer. Pastors from across the country have filled his pulpit while he took the time to grieve. Thousands have reached out to Rick and Kay through cards, email, Facebook and Twitter. This latter group reached out to "the least of these." The former group will be judged for the abuse they heaped on Rick and Kay.

Often the persecution of Christians is inflicted by other followers of Christ. I can't imagine that those who overtly inflict abuse on others will be surprised at the Final Judgment, but I do believe there will be countless Christians who are shocked when the Good Shepherd separates the sheep from the goats and they are judged for their failure to extend kindness to "the least of these." It is not enough that we do not abuse our brothers and sisters in Christ. Jesus is calling us to extend our helping hearts and hands to our fellow believers. He is also telling us if we do nothing, if we remain silent when others are being abused, he will put us in line with the goats.

Sē’lah 

<><  <><  <><  <><

(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  In addition to this BLOG they are distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

·        Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at Amazon.com. The Kindle version will follow soon.

·        The second edition First Think – Then Pray has been released as an e-book on Amazon Kindle.

·        Meditations on The Story of My Life as told by Jesus Christ has been released as an e-book on Amazon Kindle.

Go and Do the Same

Tuesday, July 30, 2013              Go and Do the Same

“Now which of these three would you say was a neighbor to the man who was attacked by bandits?” Jesus asked. The man replied, “The one who showed him mercy.” Then Jesus said, “Yes, now go and do the same.”

Luke 10:36-37 (Parable of the Good Samaritan Luke 10:25-37)

Let’s begin with a little illustration. Please read the following sentence:

FEDERAL FUSES ARE THE RESULT OF YEARS OF SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH AND STUDY AND THE EXPERIENCE OF YEARS.

Now, count the number of fs in the sentence. Many people count two fs, but most people see three fs. However, some people have counted four and others have counted five and even six fs in the sentence. There are in fact six fs in the sentence: one f each in, federal fuses and scientific and 3 fs in the word of that is used three times.

We can draw many lessons from the variations in the number of fs observed in this exercise, not the least of which is how easy it is to overlook the obvious. In the Parable of the Good Samaritan, the expert in religious law revealed his affliction of overlooking the obvious when he “stood up to test Jesus” (Luke 10:25). Jesus’ response to the test makes clear that he isn’t calling us to try and be better people. He is calling his followers to come with him to live in a new realm, the Kingdom of God, where life is altogether different. Here all people are valued as the precious creation of God. The contrast between life in the Kingdom of God and the world’s culture is illustrated by the expert in religious law when he affirms the commandment to love his neighbor as himself, as long as he is the one determining his neighbors.

Jesus contrasted the expert’s worldview and the Kingdom of God with a story: “A Jewish man was traveling from Jerusalem down to Jericho, and he was attacked by bandits. . .” In this story Jesus tells, three different people encountered the man who was attacked by bandits: a priest, a Temple assistant (a Levite) and a despised Samaritan. Two passed on by. Only the Samaritan stopped to help. What did he see that the other two overlooked? The adjective, despised, was equally applied by the Jews to the Samaritans as it was applied by the Samaritans to the Jews. That adjective made it easy for the priest and Levite to overlook the obvious; there was a person in need. Jesus doesn’t tell us how or why the Samaritan could see what the others did not; he just tells us he did and for us to “go and do the same” (Luke 10:37).

I find it helpful to occasionally include with my evening devotions or meditations, some quiet time to simply reflect on all the places I have been throughout the day and the people I have encountered. In this hindsight, that at times is actually 20/20, I find I have missed opportunities to “go and do the same.”  I then pray, “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts” (Psalm 139:23) as I seek God’s wisdom on why I am overlooking the obvious.

  

Sē’lah

<><  <><  <><  <><

(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  In addition to this BLOG they are distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

·        Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at Amazon.com. The Kindle version will follow soon.

·        The second edition First Think – Then Pray has been released as an e-book on Amazon Kindle.

·        Meditations on The Story of My Life as told by Jesus Christ has been released as an e-book on Amazon Kindle.

How Much More

Monday, July 29, 2013               How Much More

“Even he rendered a just decision in the end. So don’t you think God will surely give justice to his chosen people who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off?”

Luke 18:7 (Parable of the Persistent Widow Luke 18:1-7)

Near the conclusion to his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus used a powerful phrase to illustrate our need for persistence in seeking the life in Christ: “So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask him” (Matthew 7:11 Emphasis mine). Jesus has urged his followers to keep on, keeping on because of the contrast between what we are able to accomplish adhering to our performance-based-acceptance standards and trusting in God’s grace. Jesus is saying if we think we can work out the meaning of our existence through our own efforts, how much more can we realize our potential through the grace of God!

The parable of the Persistent Widow is an affirmation of human ingenuity. As Steven Covey so well taught in his 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, the ultimate secret to a happy, well balanced, effective life, is taking responsibility for your own life. The Persistent Widow took responsibility for her life and used her resources and her wits to pursue vindication of her issue before the judge. While the facts and truth may have been on her side, she encountered a judge who neither feared God nor cared about people. Yet her persistence won over the unjust judge. Jesus calls us to “Learn a lesson from this unjust judge” (Luke 18:6). Jesus is saying that if persistence and ingenuity can prevail over an unjust judge, how much more can we rightly expect from our God who is Justice, Mercy and Grace!

Jesus is not saying that we will win more from God through persistence and ingenuity. Jesus is saying that in this life we will confront adversaries who neither fear God nor care about people. Perhaps through our persistence and ingenuity, we will prevail against our adversary; perhaps not. But in the only eternal issue that matters, our Judge is Just. What then can we rightly expect from our Judge? The Apostle Paul answers this question by contrasting the old way of relating to God through the law, and the new way of grace: “If the old way, which brings condemnation, was glorious, how much more glorious is the new way, which makes us right with God!” (2 Corinthians 3:9).

“But now we have been released from the law, for we died to it and are no longer captive to its power. Now we can serve God, not in the old way of obeying the letter of the law, but in the new way of living in the Spirit” (Romans 7:6). Because of this foundational truth of the life in Christ, because we serve a “how much more” God, we can with joy obey Jesus: “Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened (Matthew 7:7-8).

Sē’lah

<><  <><  <><  <><

(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  In addition to this BLOG they are distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

·        Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at Amazon.com. The Kindle version will follow soon.

·        The second edition First Think – Then Pray has been released as an e-book on Amazon Kindle.

·        Meditations on The Story of My Life as told by Jesus Christ has been released as an e-book on Amazon Kindle.

Everything I Have Is Yours

Friday, July 26, 2013                  Everything I Have Is Yours

“His father said to him, ‘Look, dear son, you have always stayed by me, and everything I have is yours.”

Luke 15:31 (Parable of the Prodigal Son: Luke 15:25-32)

Jesus told this parable because the Pharisees objected to Jesus keeping company with tax collectors and sinners. The Pharisees were masters at living their life by PBA – Performance Based Acceptance. Not only were they adept at measuring their good works in keeping their religious rules, they were the ones writing the rules. From their lofty peaks of self-assurance, they looked down their noses at all the people who failed to meet their standards. Their whole sense of self-awareness was wrapped up in keeping the law. When Jesus told this parable, he hoped the Pharisees would recall Ezekiel’s vision of the valley of dry bones (Ezekiel 37). In that vision Israel, who was lost, is made alive again by the power of God. Israel wasn’t made alive again by their own power. They were made alive by God’s Spirit.

In this story Jesus tells, the older brother represents the Pharisees. Not just the Pharisees who listened to Jesus, but the Pharisee in all of us. Like the older brother, we all are prone to find our identity, our sense of self-awareness, in the things we do, the things we own, and in how well we perform according to whatever standard we choose to measure our lives. When we fall into this trap we miss the whole point of the Gospel message. The Good News of Jesus Christ is that our life is not about our performance; our life is about our identity. At our core, our truest identity has been established, once and for all time, through the life, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus. Through faith in Jesus, we are now and for all time the beloved children of God.

The older son’s confrontation with his father is a compelling vision of our life in Christ. The father, when he divided his estate between his sons, had already given to the older son all that was his. The older son sinned against his father by refusing to celebrate his brother’s return, and by denying his own kinship with his brother. Yet, the father goes out to him, and continues to affirm the older son’s identity as his beloved child, affirming that “everything I have is yours.”

God’s will for all of His children is that we would learn to rest in the assurance of His love and acceptance of us. God wants us to learn to live out of the reality of our true identity: we are children of God. This truth allows us to get off of the performance-based-acceptance ways of our culture. The unconditional love of God fulfills our needs to be loved, to be accepted and to be valued. When we know who we are in Christ, we can get off of the performance-based-acceptance treadmill. When you are resting in your assurance as God’s beloved, you do not need any outside validation of your identity.

Sē’lah

<><  <><  <><  <><

(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  In addition to this BLOG they are distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

·        Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at Amazon.com. The Kindle version will follow soon.

·        The second edition First Think – Then Pray has been released as an e-book on Amazon Kindle.

·        Meditations on The Story of My Life as told by Jesus Christ has been released as an e-book on Amazon Kindle.