Tag: Words of Jesus

Today’s Word Is … BURDENS

Mon-Jan-27-2020

“Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” – Jesus (Matthew 11:28)

Another version says, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened…”

The heaviest burden many people carry is the load of expectations placed on them by others. Trying to live up to an image of who others think we should be can become a weight too great to sustain.

One of the reasons people flocked to hear Jesus was because he talked more about a God who cared, than one whose heavy hand wanted to control them and punish them for not being good enough or for breaking too many rules. I wonder if a single rabbi (teacher) had ever in their lives invited them to come follow so they could rest!

But Jesus was doing just that, which essentially was an invitation to live a life of trust in the goodness of God. Those who felt hopeless, oppressed, and tired of trying and failing were intrigued by these words … “Come to me, and I will give you rest.”

Now, this was not an invitation to stop trying, nor to escape responsibility, but to receive an internal shift from dependence on the approval of others to dependence on the grace of God. Worldly living says, “I will love you if” … and then there comes the expectations.

Kingdom living (God’s Kingdom, that is), says that you are loved by your Creator and your Savior for who you are, not for what you accomplish. The first step of Kingdom living is to get rid of the baggage, the load of expectations, the fear that you might not prove to be worthy, … and in exchange receive the following reality … You are accepted because God made you and loved unconditionally because that’s who God is and what he does.

After that, there are lots of things we do to accomplish Kingdom purposes, but they are not done to prove we are acceptable, they are done out of thanks that we were “declared” to be acceptable as God’s primary gift. (We call this salvation or conversion.) We are no longer laboring and heavy laden under a load of disapproval, but rather there is rest from it.

Welcome to the Jesus life. Now, I need to complete the picture. In the beginning, I only gave you one of three verses to describe the Jesus invitation. Here’s the “rest of the story”:

Matthew 11:28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

You may notice that after Jesus offered rest, he told us to take his yoke upon us, which is the equipment placed on the shoulders of oxen and other work animals, for the purpose of carrying or pulling loads. How about that! … Invited to rest and put to work! But that’s it! Rest, work, rest, work. Not work, work, work, work.

In the Pharisees’ world, the “working” at proving ourselves to be religious and obedient was primary. In Jesus’ world, the “resting” is primary. The Sabbath is the holy day when God rested. For God, six days was “enough” to complete creation. Get it? This faith we practice has works of righteousness involved, but not to the extent that they become a burden we can’t carry. The most important day of the week is Sabbath, meaning the most important aspect of the Kingdom life is rest.

Is this making sense? Jesus invited us to turn around, to stop thinking of religious performance as the basis of life, but rather to let rest and assurance be the focus of life, with an attitude towards works of faith that sees it as necessary, but not a burden, and certainly not the way to prove anything to God.

The result is rest for our souls, because the yoke (workload) is easy, and it burdens us only lightly, because it was given to us by a Savior who is both gentle and humble.

Blessings,

Chaplain Mark

BY THE WAY … this has been my favorite passage of Scripture for 40+ years. When I was a young pastor, I had read this passage many times, but the first time I used it as a sermon text, I began preparing and spontaneously became overwhelmed with tears at Jesus’ invitation to come to him and get rid of my burdens in exchange for his rest and a yoke that was much easier than the burdens I had been carrying for such a long time. I say this because when we are first saved, we understand our salvation as we experienced it at that point. But later on, more revelations of the nature and glory of this new life in Christ will touch us in deeper and richer ways. This passage became my best symbolism for the illustration of salvation … to give him what I have, and in return get what he has. That’s the best bargain anyone in the world will ever get!

Today’s Christmas Word Is … PEACE

Tue-Dec-17-2019

This week I am giving you four key words for Christmas … hope, peace, joy, and love.

Yesterday’s word was hope. Today consider that the message to the shepherds in Luke 2:13-14 was about peace:

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favors!”

Jesus came so that you might have peace. Hope and peace work together. You hope that good things will happen, but while you are waiting, the peace of God can reign in you, because you can trust God that everything will be okay.

Sometimes the issue of control can interfere with our peace. The ability to exercise control is an important human characteristic, but there is an unhealthy extreme at which others begin to think of us as controlling. When things don’t go as we desire, there is a delicate balance by which we must decide whether to try harder or to trust God for outcomes beyond our reach. If trying harder results in a loss of peace, then we must surrender control and our dependence on it and instead exercise trust.

The famous author, Catherine Marshall, told a story about her friend Marge, who was “aboard a plane bound for Cleveland, waiting for takeoff. As she settled into her seat, Marge noticed a strange phenomenon. On one side of the airplane a sunset suffused the entire sky with glorious color. But out of the window next to her, all Marge could see was a sky dark and threatening, with no sign of the sunset.

“As the plane’s engines began to roar, a gentle Voice spoke within her. ‘You have noticed the windows,’ God whispered beneath the roar and thrust of the takeoff. ‘Your life, too, will contain some happy, beautiful times, but also some dark shadows. Here’s a lesson I want to teach you to save you much heartache and allow you to abide in Me with continual peace and joy. You see, it doesn’t matter which window you look through; this plane is still going to Cleveland. So it is in your life. You have a choice. You can dwell on the gloomy picture. Or you can focus on the bright things and leave the dark, ominous situations to Me. I alone can handle them anyway.’”

In the words of Jesus, “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” John 16:33

God’s gift of his son at Christmas reminds us that he wasn’t going to try to convince us from afar that when we arrive at the end, we will finally find peace.

He came as the baby Jesus, born in a manger. He didn’t send us a map, he sent us a trail guide!

He came to accompany us home, so that we might have peace now, and every moment along the way!

Merry Christmas!

Chaplain Mark

Today’s Christmas Word Is … HOPE

Mon-Dec-16-2019

The movie The Pianist portrays the story of Wladyslaw Szpilman, a Polish musician who survived the horrors of World War II, including the execution of his family, to become a leading concert pianist of the 20th century.

For a time, Szpilman is living underground, hidden by friends, and shuttled from place to place to avoid detection by the Nazis. In one scene he is ushered into a small barren apartment by a friend, who cautions him to remain silent. This hiding place is next door to the head of police and across the street from a hospital caring for wounded German soldiers.

“You are now living in the heart of the lion’s den,” says his friend. “Keep as quiet as possible.”

When the friend leaves, Szpilman eyes an old piano in the corner of the room. Having not played for many months, he is drawn to open its keyboard and lift the felt cover off the keys.

A symphony orchestra begins to play, and we see Szpilman seated at the piano with his hands above the keys. As the music proceeds, his his hands go into motion , and the piano can be heard. The viewer is led to believe that Szpilman cannot resist playing, and the thought comes into your mind that he has just given himself away. But as the camera pans downward, you realize that while his fingers are moving as if playing every note, his hands are not actually touching the keys. The music you are hearing is all in his head and his heart.

This soon-to-be famous pianist is existing in the hope that he will play again before crowds of people. Hope is a powerful thing. It will keep you going in the direst of circumstances.

Most of the people in this world have limited hope. They live without the inner presence of the true God as revealed in the Scripture. Their reality is based merely in the physical world. In this sort of existence, the only way to have hope is to mentally figure out what is and isn’t possible. A coworker may say, “You’ll never get that promotion.” A doctor may say, “You’ll never walk again.” A counselor may say, “Your child will never be able to overcome this handicap.” From this perspective, certain things are not possible, so why hope for something that you think could never happen?

But for those who belong to the Lord, who have given themselves in faith to Jesus, and in whom the Holy Spirit of God is alive, there is always hope. How is that? Because for God, “All things are possible.” A friend of mine prayed for decades for his father to come to faith, and when his father was in his late eighties, he repented and gave his life to the Lord. There is no time limit on hope and prayer.

Is there something or someone in your life that you have given up on? Remember this verse: Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” (Matthew 19:26}

Christmas is first of all about hope, a hope which began long before the Christ child was born in Bethlehem.  The Israelites had waited for hundreds of years and were still waiting and hoping. The Scripture said that the Messiah was coming, and “if God says it, I believe it.” An old hymn says, “Hope is an anchor.” Without it, you can lose your position and your bearings. But with hope, you can remain firm.

May your hope be renewed this Christmas,

Chaplain Mark

Prayer for the Day:

Dear Lord, Thank you for the hope that you have planted deep in my heart and soul. I must admit, Lord, that there are some days when that is about all that keeps me going. Other times it is easy to have hope, because things improve, and I start getting a little excited. Give me the kind of faith that remains steady. Remind me today and every day that you are the God of hope, and that you are faithful to sustain me. If there is anyone I am about to give up on, or something that I felt was a promise from you which is taking a long time to come to pass … renew my hope and put me back at ease. And Lord, if there is someone around me who seems to be losing hope, let me be their reminder of your faithfulness. In your Son’s name I pray, Amen.

An Old Testament prophecy about the coming Messiah:
Isaiah 42:1- “Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him and he will bring justice to the nations.
2- He will not shout or cry out, or raise his voice in the streets.
3- A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out. In faithfulness he will bring forth justice;
4- he will not falter or be discouraged till he establishes justice on earth. In his law the islands will put their hope.”
5- This is what God the LORD says– he who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and all that comes out of it, who gives breath to its people, and life to those who walk on it:
6- “I, the LORD, have called you in righteousness; I will take hold of your hand. I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people and a light for the Gentiles,
7- to open eyes that are blind, to free captives from prison and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness.

Today’s Christmas Word Is … GREATNESS

Tue-Dec-10-2019

James and John, two brothers who were disciples, came to Jesus and asked if they could sit at his right and left hands when Jesus came into his kingdom. (Their mother was also interested in this proposition!) At least they knew that Jesus was number one, they just wanted to be two and three! This request upset the other ten disciples, who perhaps resented the two for being so selfish … or … maybe they wished they had thought of it first!

But Jesus called them [all] to Himself and said to them, “You know that those who are considered rulers over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you shall be your servant. And whoever of you desires to be first shall be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.” (Mark 10:45)

Christmas is a reminder that, although someday the world will see that Jesus is King, his mission among us was one of humility, sacrifice, and servanthood. The self-centeredness of the world we live in is designed to push us away from humility. If you are person of faith, then Jesus says, “Not so with you!” He is telling us that we are to be different …

By Jesus’ definition of greatness, it happens to those with the heart of a servant. Those who are fighting to be in first place in life, making demands, stepping over and on others heading for the top of the heap, are eventually going to find themselves in last place, not first.

Those who focus on serving others are the ones Jesus calls the greatest in the Kingdom. They gain the trust of others and receive favor from God.

Express your servant heart and see what happens. If this is a big change for you, it may shock some of your friends, family, or co-workers … but … they will just have to get used to it. Don’t let them talk you out of it by telling you it won’t last or it’s not worth it. Your new attitude will lead you to life at its best, a life of greatness. In the Kingdom, you don’t achieve greatness, you strive to be humble and receive greatness as a gift from the Father. To him, servanthood is greatness.

Christmas Blessings,

Chaplain Mark

KEY VERSE:

In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross!

Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Ephesians 2:5-11)

Today’s Christmas Word Is … SHINE

Christmas 2019
Mon-Dec-2-2019

“Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” (Psalm 119:105)

I have my own Murphy’s Law: “You can’t find a flashlight when you need one.”

However, in the world of faith, light is in abundance. God is showing us the way by shining into our world in as many ways as possible. Sometimes we think it is a drawback that he usually gives out his light in such small doses. We wish that we could see much further down the pathway of our lives, but as the above verse points out, God’s Word and his divine presence typically give us just enough light to see our feet and to take the next step. The only way to operate in this manner is by faith.

So, a good way to launch this year’s Christmas journey would be to give thanks for the love and mercies of God, to trust in his faithfulness, and to be willing to take one step at a time, according to how much light he provides.

The reason I said above that he “typically” lights the path in small doses is that there are occasionally circumstances in life where you may need to take a bold and giant step, even a leap. At those moments, God provides whatever extra light is required. Right? Are there some small steps or even bold steps that you need to take?

Remember also, that the light shining before you is freely provided. It is his light, a gift. That light has a source. Jesus said, “I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.” (John 8:12)

But then again, Jesus also said, “You are the light of the world.” (Matthew 5:16), meaning that his light is also reflected through us in various ways and multiplies in new directions. Jesus wants to give you his light because there are certain people whom he specifically wants to reach through you.

God is providing a way for you to see clearly what you are doing. Believe that. And may his light shine in you, through you, upon you, around you, and ahead of you. Not only does this help you to find your way but also assists others to find their way.

If you are going to a attend a Christmas Eve candlelight service, as my wife and I do every year, then at the end of the service you will find yourself standing tall along with those around you and lifting up high your “one little candle,” declaring that “I want my light to count!” It is a solemn and emotional act of courage, commitment, and hope.

Whether you attend such a service or not, take a moment to make a declaration that “I want my one little candle to make a difference in this world!”

Shine On!

Chaplain Mark