Tuesday, May 15, 2012,
6:00 a.m. – The Lord put the song “Not
By Might” in my mind right after I was awakened by my alarm clock this
morning. Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening. I read Matthew 9 (quoting vv. 35-38 NIV 1984):
Jesus went through all
the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news
of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. When he saw the crowds,
he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep
without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful
but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out
workers into his harvest field.”
My Understanding: Jesus
Christ faced much opposition to his ministry when he was on the face of the
earth. Although he was fully God as well as fully man, and although he went
through the same kinds of sufferings and temptations we encounter, he remained
without sin. He was not resisted because of sin in his life, in other words,
but he was combatted because of his righteousness, his love and compassion for
the hurting and for sinners, because he claimed to be who he was – God in the
flesh – and because he stood in opposition to false claims of righteousness,
hypocritical religion, and he exposed sin in sinful man for what it was, as
well as he called man to repentance and to obedience to God.
He was hated, mocked, criticized, falsely accused, even
accused of being of Satan, ridiculed, laughed at, and called “crazy,” etc. He
was an embarrassment to much of his family, too. He was beaten, spat upon,
scourged beyond recognition, abandoned, forsaken, denied and betrayed. This
wave of opposition to his earthly ministry culminated in him being sent to the
cross to be crucified, which was why he came, which was to save us from our
sins.
The Religious
Jesus’ fiercest opponents were not the people of the world, nonetheless,
but were his own people – the religious leaders and teachers of the law in the
synagogue, other Jewish people, and even some of his own family members. These are
the ones who sent him to the cross to die. Yet, in reality, it was all of our
sins that sent Jesus to the cross so that we could go free from the control and
the penalty of sin over our lives.
In reading Matthew 9, I learned that Jesus told a paralytic
who was brought to him for healing, that his sins were forgiven. Yet, the
teachers of the law accused him of blasphemy, because only God could forgive
sins, and to them, he was not God.
Jesus called Matthew, a tax collector (and writer of Matthew’s
gospel), to follow him, and Matthew followed Jesus. Jesus ate at Matthews’s
home one day, and Matthew invited his friends to hear Jesus, yet the Pharisees
(religious leaders) inquired of Jesus’ disciples as to why Jesus ate with “tax
collectors and ‘sinners.’” The Pharisees thought they were righteous and they
did not see themselves as sinners. They thought Jesus should not spend time
with sinners, even though his intentions were pure and his goal was to share with
them the good news of the kingdom of God.
John’s disciples questioned Jesus as to why his disciples
did not fast like they did, and like the Pharisees did. We don’t know their
intentions or their heart motivation for their question. Yet, they were
comparing Jesus’ disciples to themselves and to the Pharisees, and it appears
they thought Jesus’ disciples should act like them. Yet, the Bible teaches it
is not wise for us to compare ourselves to one another. They did seem to display
disapproval.
A ruler came to Jesus asking and believing Jesus to raise
his daughter from death, for she had just died. When Jesus went inside the
ruler’s house and saw all the mourners there, he told them to leave. “The girl
is not dead but asleep,” he said. At this, they laughed at him.
Jesus drove a demon out of a demon-possessed man, and yet
the Pharisees accused Jesus of driving out the demon by the prince of demons.
In just this chapter 9 of Matthew’s gospel we see that Jesus
was accused of blasphemy, of consorting with the lowest of people, of not
following the religious practices of others, and of being of Satan and of doing
his work. As well, he was laughed at and mocked. The really sad reality of all
of this is that what these people opposed in Jesus was his righteousness, his
love and compassion, his grace and forgiveness, as well as his honesty and
integrity. And, Jesus said that we, as his followers, will be treated just like
he was, and for the same reasons, when we decide to follow and obey Jesus
Christ with our lives and we take a stand for our faith and we give testimony
to Jesus Christ and to his gospel message. And, the other really sad part of it
is that his greatest persecution came from his own people – his own race,
religion and family. And sadly enough, often our greatest opposition will come
from church leaders, or church people, or even from our own family members.
In a Box
The “religious” of Jesus’ day tried to put him in a box,
i.e. they tried to make him fit their mold, but he didn’t fit anyone’s mold. And,
that is part of why they hated him, too. He didn’t blend in. He didn’t act like
everyone else. He definitely was not a people pleaser. He always spoke the
truth. He was not a team player. He didn’t placate sin nor make excuses for it.
He was who he was, and he did what he was called to do, and they didn’t
understand either who he was or why he came or why he did and said the things
he did and said.
Sometimes people, out of ignorance, will reject the very
things they claim they believe. The Jews were awaiting the promised Messiah,
yet when he came, they, as a nation, refused to believe in him or to accept him
for who he claimed to be. They had their own ideas of what their Messiah would
look like, act like, do and say, and Jesus just did not fit the mold. Jesus’
mission was one of forgiveness, mercy, grace, and to bring salvation to the
world. He brought with him the kingdom of God and a new era of grace. He was to
transition the people from the Old Covenant to the New Covenant, and much of
his teaching fit right with that transition. Yet, the “religious” resisted the
change. And, they wanted Jesus (the new) to fit within the confines of the old.
Jesus thus taught them a principle which carries over to our
relationship with him. He taught that we can’t patch the new onto the old, or
we can’t put the new inside old containers, because it would just ruin both the
old and the new. The old way and the new way could not coexist together. Jesus
would not conform to the old norms of Judaism because he was of the new way of
God’s grace. The same principle applies when we think we can just add Christ
and salvation on top of our old ways of carnal living in the flesh. They can’t
coexist. Trying to mix salvation and a relationship with Christ with our old
lives of sin is destined to destruction. We must leave our lives of sin behind
us, and we must press on toward obedience to Jesus Christ (the new) and his
ways and laws.
As well, when we come to faith in Christ, and we decide to
follow Christ with our lives, to go where he says, do what he says to do, say
what he commands us to say, and are becoming who he wants us to be, we, too,
will face opposition, even from those closest to us.
Go and Learn
Jesus told the teachers of the law (the religious leaders)
to “Go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have
not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” This is a quote from the book of
Hosea 6. God spoke with his people about their love for him which was like the
morning mist or dew that soon disappears. The people had broken covenant with
God. They were unfaithful to him. They followed all the religious practices of
burnt offerings and sacrifices, but their hearts were far from God. Their
teaching was just rules taught by man. God was not interested in their forms of
religion, though. He wanted their hearts. He wanted them to acknowledge him in
all that they did, not just intellectually or “religiously” (in form only), but
he desired that they honor, obey, and follow him and his ways. If they did,
they would show mercy and love instead of demanding strict adherence to the
externals of religion. And, he is giving us the same message today.
Jesus, unlike the “religious” and “pious” of his day, had
compassion on the hurting, the wounded, the sick and afflicted, the lonely and
hurting. He looked beyond the externals, and reached out to people’s hearts. He
did not just hang out with sinners so they would like him, doing the things
they did, so he would feel accepted by them, though. His goal was real, true
love, which cared more about their spiritual lives and destiny than he did his
own reputation. He cared about what was going on in their lives, and he cared
enough to tell them the truth, too. He knew their greatest need was God/Christ
in their lives, so not only did he heal their sicknesses, but he ministered to
their souls. He taught in their synagogues, he preached the good news of the
kingdom of God, and he healed their diseases and sicknesses, including their
emotional wounds. He had compassion on those who were harassed and helpless,
like sheep without a shepherd.
And, Jesus wants us to show that same love and mercy to
others, too. He is sending us out as workers in his harvest field, not just to
show mercy in the sense of lending a helping hand to people in need, but to show
mercy with regard to people’s spiritual lives and eternal destiny. We will face
the same kinds of opposition Jesus faced, if we are truly his disciples, yet he
promises us that we will not accomplish his work in our own strength and might,
but only in the strength and power of the Holy Spirit within us. So, we are to
be encouraged and to not give up hope, but allow the Spirit of God to
accomplish his purposes both in us and through us for his glory and for the
salvation of human lives.
Not By Might / An
Original Work / March 29, 2012
Based off Zechariah 4
“Not by might, and not
by power,
But by My Spirit,”
says our Lord, God.
“Mighty mountain, O
what are you?
Before Christ you will
become level ground.”
The hands of our Lord,
Savior God,
Formed the foundation
of His church.
He alone will complete
the work
He began in His
servants’ hearts and minds.
Who despises small
beginnings?
Much can be done in
Christ’s strength within.
Be of courage, and
trust your Lord.
All sufficient He is
for all your needs.
Opposition and apathy:
Holy Spirit will set
us free!
We can be overcomers
in our faith
In our Lord, and our
Savior, King.
Don’t be troubled by
God’s timing.
He has ev’rything in
His command.
Hasten to obey His
commands fully,
Trusting Him to work
all for good.
Not by might nor by
human strength,
But by God’s power;
strength within;
My dependency now on
His working
His will in me in
righteousness.
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