We serve a God who is sovereign over all the universe. He commands nations and leaders to rise and fall at His will, When He does, nothing in His purpose fails to come to pass. His timeline can stretch thousands of years, and yet His memory never fades. In one night, God can slay 185,000 soldiers in the strongest army in the world with a single messenger. He can work through generations to accomplish His purposes.
And yet God can remember the poor, forgotten foreign widow who is starving. He can hear the cries of an Egyptian slave woman who has been cast out into the wilderness by her mistress. He can hear the call for children from a man and woman and give them a son who would be a deliverer and the strongest man who ever lived.
God’s capacity to accomplish things is not human. The phrase, “walk and chew gum” doesn’t scratch the surface when we think about what He can do. Sometimes, we impose our weaknesses upon God and forget that He is the God over the cosmic as well as the insignificant.
Yes, God has the nations at His commands. The world scene will play out exactly how the Sovereign allows it to. He stops and He allows events and people to proceed as He desires. But when a man in Wylie, Texas is struggling with a problem and reaches up to heaven, the same God has the ability to focus 100% on what this insignificant person needs. And He can spend as much time molding this man as He does the leaders of the mightiest nations who threaten each other with war.
Consider Luke 1:
“In the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah, of the division of Abijah. And he had a wife from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. And they were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord. But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and both were advanced in years.” (Luke 1:5-7 ESV).
These were two insignificant people. They were old and childless, yet the Master of the Universe knew them. He heard them and He remembered them. Zechariah was a Levi and he was about to win his personal Superbowl, the chance of a lifetime that many would never experience. He was chosen by lot to have the honor to burn incense in the temple of the Lord.
“Now while he was serving as priest before God when his division was on duty, according to the custom of the priesthood, he was chosen by lot to enter the temple of the Lord and burn incense. And the whole multitude of the people were praying outside at the hour of incense.” (Luke 1:8-10 ESV).
Only the lot was not random. God, who was about to do a cosmic thing on the world stage would also do for the insignificant. The last time that God sent a messenger to Israel was over 400 years prior. To put it in perspective, our country is not even 250 years old. If the Lord had visited us on our founding, we’d have to wait until the year 2176 before hearing from Him again. Think about all that has changed in the last 400 years for us.
And yet, the promised Messiah was about to come into the world. That is a cosmic event prophesied at the beginning of time in the Garden of Eden. This event would change the world. The eternal Kingdom would conquer all other nations and it would begin to come to pass at the moment that Gabriel appeared to Zechariah.
“And there appeared to him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense. And Zechariah was troubled when he saw him, and fear fell upon him. But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John.” (Luke 1:11-13 ESV).
We know the story. This good man could not wrap his head around the truth that he and his wife would have a child in their old age and God gave him a sign by making him mute until all came to pass. But the wonderful story is how God can be involved in the cosmic events of time and still be able to be intimately involved in the insignificant. What a wonderful, powerful God we serve; a God who can do both the great things and the small things with equal purpose and devotion.
When we pray to God, we understand that He is busy being sovereign in the affairs of nations and the world He created. But He is also intimately aware of the needs of the insignificant who may never have their names recognized by men. He hears my prayers and He hears yours. He really does.
And God is never too busy to talk to you. You never have to make an appointment to see Him. He has an open-door policy that He urges you to use daily. Paul said to use it without ceasing. And He will sit down with you as though you were the only person in the world at that moment.
Luke 1 teaches us that God can do the cosmic things while still doing the insignificant things at the same time, equally well. Never underestimate His power or His willingness to work in your life.
May I share what the most amazing verse in the Bible is to me?
You will definitely be able to challenge my verse because God's holy Word is full of amazing verses.
But this is the one that causes me to scratch my head and ask, “Why?”
It is the verse that shows what is possible with God.
It tells of a love that is impossible.
When we dig into the verse, we see the only way by which man has hope.
It defines sacrifice
It defines love
It defines providence
It defines protection.
When we read and understand this verse, we have no recourse but to drop to our knees.
To me, this is the most amazing verse in the Bible; a verse that explains all other verses...
“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14 ESV).
There is a parable that I think we may not appreciate like we should. It is the parable of the barren fig tree in Luke 13. Perhaps, a better way to think about it is the parable of the patient vinedresser.
There are different ideas on who the vinedresser is; who the land owner is; who the fig tree is. Here is what Jesus says:
“And he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. And he said to the vinedresser, ‘Look, for three years now I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and I find none. Cut it down. Why should it use up the ground?’” (Luke 13:6-7 ESV).
Rather than immediately carrying out the landowner’s decree, this is what the vinedresser proposes:
“And he answered him, ‘Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and put on manure. Then if it should bear fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.’” (Luke 13:8-9 ESV).
That’s it. That’s the extent of the parable. We might be tempted to walk away and simply think that we need to be producing more fruit, to be productive in the Kingdom of Christ. And I would say that is true. But let me put forth a dynamic that I believe is playing out in this parable for your consideration. It may change the way you see it and the way you see our Father and our King in heaven.
I believe that the landowner is God. The vineyard is what He planted. Immediately, it’s the people of Israel. But it can also refer to us as well. Whatever God plants, He does so with the expectation of producing fruit. He gives all that the fig tree needs to flourish.
First, let’s recognize that we are the work of God’s hands. He planted us. We are not wild fig trees that He stumbled across. We are His handiwork.
Second, He demonstrates patience with us. He doesn't cut us down when we first go without bearing fruit. He comes back year after year. But God in His justice and righteousness will bring judgment upon those who are willingly unfruitful.
And then we read about the vinedresser. This is the one who stays the hand of the Landowner, pleading for just a little more time that He may nourish and give every opportunity for the fig tree to blossom and produce fruit. This, I believe, is our Lord and King Jesus.
Jesus understands what will happen to the unfruitful fig tree. But His heart is bathed in love, not willing that the fig tree should parish, and in grace not deserved, pleads for just a little more time to work on this tree that it should produce fruit.
And the Landowner, the Father, in love is quick to give the vinedresser, His Son, another season to work on the fig tree that perhaps it might become fruitful.
Isn’t that an amazing story of love and of grace? That’s why I said I think we might do better to think of this as the parable of the patient vinedresser. Perhaps we never know how close we are to justice demanding that we be cut down.
But in an act of intercession, Jesus pleads for just a little more time that He might help us become fruitful. My earnest plea is that we turn to the Lord in repentance before it’s too late and we surrender to His work in us that will make us fruitful.
Let’s all appreciate the loving grace that the Lord extends to us on our behalf and become the fruitful tree in the Land Owner’s vineyard before there is truly no remedy but to be cut down and cast into the fire.
I have learned that there is a practical thing I can do to help my walk with God. It is found in this message from Jesus:
“The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!” (Matthew 6:22-23 ESV).
You see, our heart will be fashioned by what we put into it. And once fashioned, it will help us do the things it is fashioned after. If we want a heart fashioned after God and His Word, then we need to put His Word into it.
And what Jesus says is that the eyes are the lamp of the body. It is through the eyes that many things enter into our heart. If we allow good through the eyes, then our whole body will be full of light. But if we let bad pass through our eyes, then we will have a dark body, a dark heart.
Listen to what the Psalmist says:
“I will not set before my eyes anything that is worthless. I hate the work of those who fall away; it shall not cling to me.” (Psalm 101:3 ESV).
Why go to the trouble of working to set nothing worthless before our eyes? Because of what Jesus says. And the more life-experience we have, the less we need to have someone teach us this lesson. We know it to be true.
Job knew the dangers of letting the wrong things through the eyes and he made a covenant with his eyes to help keep his heart pure:
“I have made a covenant with my eyes; how then could I gaze at a virgin?” (Job 31:1 ESV).
Indeed, the eyes are the lamp of the body. We need to be careful what we let into them, because they will have an impact on the whole body, on the heart.
Our eyes can let in the things that cause our feet to walk toward evil.
Our eyes can let in things that cause our tongue to say things that we shouldn’t say.
Our eyes can let in things that can cause our hands to do evil things.
Or…
Our eyes can let in things that can help our feet go to godly places.
Our eyes can let in things that can help our tongue say godly words.
Our eyes can let in things that can help our hands do godly things.
Why is it important to turn off the television when evil is on? Because we will be affected by what it sends through our eyes. We are fools if we think otherwise. Instead, seek out godly programs and videos to pass through our eyes to bring light into the body.
Be careful what we watch; be careful what we read; be careful what we look at; for we will train our heart based in large part by what we let enter through the lamp of the body.
What kinds of things should we seek to let in through our eyes? Let Paul give us guidance:
“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” (Philippians 4:8 ESV).
Let the things we want to think about pass through our eyes.
Life is an open book test. On the Day of Judgment, there will be books opened before us.
The Book of Life will have every name of those who will receive life with Him.
But the books of the Bible will be opened as well. On that Day, we will be judged by what is written in those books.
So, if God in His goodness has given us the answer key to the greatest judgment we will ever face, what should we do?
Read daily. If we are not spending time in His Word, then how can we have assurance of our salvation? Our assurance comes from knowing His Word so we know how to live and what to do.
No one will accidentally stumble into heaven. We must know and we must do, and we can only do that if we read.
I know time is at a premium for us all, but honestly, is there anything in our lives more important than to read the answers in the Books that will be opened on Judgment Day? May I suggest that if we are too busy to find time in His Word daily, then we are just too busy.
Judgment is coming. The Book of Life is being written at this moment.
The Books that will determine if our name is written in the Book of Life are in our hands now.
Judgment is coming. The earth will be burned up. We have the answer key to eternal life right now.
“Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness,” (2 Peter 3:11 ESV).
Read His Word today, tomorrow, until the Day we stand before Him. It is the only way to know and to prepare.
Election season is upon us. For many, it’s a time of excitement and activity. For others, it’s a drudgery and they can’t wait until it ends. But for Christians, I have some advice that I lay before you as we see the political activity elevate.
I am not going to tell you to go out and become active, using your influence during the political season.
I am not going to tell you to stay home and have nothing to do with the affairs of men.
Either path is yours to choose. And one side has no cause to throw stones at the other. But let me share what the Lord says in the 146th Psalm to help everyone, regardless of your political persuasion; regardless of your level of political activity or passiveness.
“Put not your trust in princes, in a son of man, in whom there is no salvation. When his breath departs, he returns to the earth; on that very day his plans perish.” (Psalm 146:3-4 ESV).
If you have a man you stand behind- good. Go out and do all in your heart to support your candidate. But be careful that you do not put too much trust in that man or woman.
“Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the LORD his God,” (Psalm 146:5 ESV).
At the end of the day, politicians come and go. They always have and they always will. But whether good ones come or evil ones come; whether competent ones come or foolish ones come; there is one truth we should never forget:
We need to put our trust in the God of Jacob. He is our enduring hope. He is there when the wise and the fools pass on and off the stage of time.
So, go out and do what you wish this political season, whether actively working for your man or staying home to bide your time. But whatever your choice, remember this when it is all over so that your pride or your despair does not overtake you:
“The LORD will reign forever, your God, O Zion, to all generations. Praise the LORD!” (Psalm 146:10 ESV).
Given a choice, do you choose to repent or ball your fist at God?
Let us be careful not to fall into the same condemnation of the Sadducees. One of their core beliefs was that they didn't’ believe in a resurrection. Perhaps it was some of these converts Paul addressed in 1 Corinthians 15 when he defended the resurrection and said:
“If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.” (1 Corinthians 15:19 ESV).
Now, I trust that we all believe in the resurrection. But I want us to be careful not to fall into the logic trap that they fell into which led them into believing that there is no resurrection. Perhaps we use the same flawed logic trap to arrive at conclusions that are equally in error.
In Matthew 22, the Sadducees, who denied the resurrection, tried to set up a trap for Jesus. They tell of 7 brothers. The first married a woman and when he died, the next brother married her. Each of the brothers died and married the woman. Their question to Jesus: In the resurrection, whose wife would she be since they all were married to her?
Do you see the logic trap that they used to arrive at their false conclusion? They created a scenario and made assumptions not supported in Scripture. Then they arrived at a doctrine based on fallacious assumptions. What a dangerous thing to equate the Law of God to our flawed assumptions.
Jesus explains their error in one verse and then corrects their assumptions. This is the verse we need to be careful to hear when we are tempted to equate our conclusions to God’s Law:
“But Jesus answered them, “You are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God.” (Matthew 22:29 ESV).
There were two errors in their logic that Jesus calls out:
1. They did not know the Scriptures: He shows that the Scriptures indeed teach that people are still living after death.
2. They did not know the power of God: He shows them that God was powerful enough to create an afterlife that would be far superior than anything we have here.
We need to be careful that we arm ourselves with knowledge of the Scriptures as we formulate answers to our questions. Otherwise, we become tossed to and fro by all sorts of tales that capture the imagination rather than letting the truth in Scripture guide us.
We also need to recognize the power of God as we formulate our answers. If God said it, we don’t have to worry ourselves about how He will do it. If we don’t understand or can't figure out how something that the Word said will happen, we need to recognize the power of God as the answer.
We live in a world that demands explanations for everything. Sometimes the explanation is simply that God said it. If we discount that explanation and look for another, then we fall into the same trap that the Sadducees fell into.
Know the Scriptures. Know the power of God. These two things will help us all arrive at the truth we seek.