Driver's Education and Collapsing Buildings

Suggested Reading: Luke 6:43-49

The first time my dad ever let me drive on the street was when I had just received my permit and was headed to my first driver's ed class. I had read and passed the test on the driving laws and I knew, for instance, that I was supposed to slow down going into a turn and accelerate out of it. Unfortunately, I still didn't know quite what it meant to slow down going into a turn. How much should I slow down? How soon should I slow down? My lack of understanding became apparent when I turned off of the main street onto the little side street which led to the school. I didn't slow down enough and swung around the corner far faster than I should have, turning directly into an oncoming car. Fortunately for me,  the other driver was paying attention and managed to avoid the unskilled teen driver heading straight for him. The experience of actually turning that corner gave me more understanding about driving than the three dozen times I had been told, "slow down going into the turn."

Far too often in our highly educated world  (even with just a high school diploma we have more formal education than 99% of the people throughout history) we make the mistake of believing that reading something or being able to quote something provides the same level of understanding as actually doing it. Then we take that mistake and apply it to the Word of God, somehow convincing ourselves that knowing what God's Word says means we understand it. But, wisely, the psalmist advised us, The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow His instructions have good insight (Psalm 111:10, HCSB). Notice that the ones with good insight are the ones who follow His instructions not the ones who know His instructions.  The psalmist understood that simply being given instructions does not provide the same kind of insight and understanding as actually carrying out those instructions and seeing how they work in the real world.

Jesus passed on that same concept through a parable about a man building a house. Jesus said that those who heard his words and put them into practice were like a man who built a solid foundation for his house so that it would stand against the coming storms. But those who only knew his teachings by hearing them were like a man who built his house on the sand, without preparing a foundation, only to have it collapse when the storms came (Luke 6:46-49).

No matter how long or short a time you have been studying the word of God, greater insights come from putting it into practice, from following God's instructions, than from simply being able to recite back the words found on the Bible's pages. If you want to grow in your faith, if you want to understand God's Word more, you must do more than simply study God's Word from an academic perspective. You must live it out. Knowledge comes from reading and listening. Understanding comes from trying it out in the real world.

Christmas Hams and Farcical Worship

Suggested Reading: Mark 7:1-13

The story goes of a mom who was cooking a Christmas ham with her daughter. The daughter watched patiently as the mom prepared the ham and as she chopped off the front of the ham before putting it in the baking pan and placing it in the oven. The little girl asked her mom why she chopped off the front of the ham and mom admitted she wasn't sure but that grandma had always done that when she was a little girl. So mom called grandma to ask why you were supposed to chop off the front of the ham. Upon hearing the question grandma cracked up laughing and explained, "I chopped off the front of the ham because my baking pan was too small for the whole ham!" Mom had mistaken the way her mother did things for the way things had to be done.

In Mark chapter 7, we find another group of people who had gotten things a little mixed up. A group of scribes and Pharisees came down to see Jesus to examine him and determine whether or not they should support him. Their initial criticism of Jesus, however, had nothing to do with his teachings being wrong or with accusations that he was mistreating the poor or neglecting the widow or fatherless child. Their initial criticism was a question of why Jesus' disciples didn't follow the traditions of the elders and wash their hands before eating!

Now, I think we can all agree that washing your hands is a good thing to do but Jesus replied, “You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you, for he wrote, ‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship is a farce, for they teach man-made ideas as commands from God' (Mark 7:6-7, NLT). While washing one's hands is certainly a good thing to do, there is no command in scripture to wash your hands before you eat. That was a human idea - a good one to be sure, but still human - and these people were judging Jesus' disciples on it as if it were a command of God.

As followers of Jesus, we must make an effort to distinguish between our own ideas and those that come from scripture. Ideas like "drinking is a sin," or "God helps those who help themselves" are ideas that may have logical human reasons behind them but they can't be found anywhere in scripture and may in fact be contrary to scripture. We must have enough respect for God's Word to actually know God's Word -- to understand the difference between what it does say and what it doesn't say. When we start confusing the two and teaching or practicing our own ideas as God's word, our worship becomes a farce.

Having a Sports Fan's Kind of Faith

Suggested Reading: Matthew 4:1-11

As a Texas Rangers fan, I've been a little disappointed the last few years. After two years of being spoiled by World Series appearances, they haven't won a single significant game in October for a while now. But I grew up cheering for and believing in a Rangers team that never went to the postseason. Every year, I started out thinking, this could be the year they win it all. Every game I believed they could win. I didn't care if they were down by 12 runs going into the bottom of the ninth inning. I didn't care if they were so far behind half-way through the season they would have to win almost all of their games to make the playoffs. I believed in my team, even when the odds were stacked against them and it seemed impossible. After all, a true fan always believes in his team, no matter how bleak the outlook.

That kind of stubborn faith, that believes in spite of circumstances, is similar to the faith we should have in our God. In Matthew chapter 4, Jesus had been led by the Spirit into the wilderness where Jesus went without food or drink for 40 days and nights until the Devil showed up to tempt him. The Devil's first temptation should have been very difficult to resist for a man who had been hungry for more than a month. After 40 days of hunger Satan tempted Jesus to abuse his power to create some bread and alleviate his hunger. Jesus' response?  He answered, “It is written: Man must not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God”

(Matthew 4:4, HCSB).

You see, we talk about believing that God can sustain us even when we don't have what we need, but Jesus lived it. Jesus turned down food after 40 days of hunger because he trusted God to sustain him. After all, Jesus had survived more than a month without food when the human body was only designed to survive for a couple of days without water and a little longer without food. Jesus' continued survival was a demonstration of God's ability to sustain. Even when God hadn't provided the food, God had sustained the life.

Do you really believe you can survive on the word of God, on God's promises and on God's unseen power? Or do you talk like you believe and then worry when no-one is watching? Can you turn down something you need because getting it requires moral compromise or do you have to do the "practical thing." Simply put, do you really believe God can sustain your life without providing the need or do you just talk a good game? Do you live by bread alone or are your sustained by the word of God?

Work-at-Home Parables

Suggested Reading: Mark 4:1-20 

Personally, the most annoying commercials are those commercials that are constantly trying to get us to call and become part of their work-at-home program. They always have some lady with an attractive voice telling us how well she and her husband have done working at home, how they were able to quit their normal jobs, and how much they love being at home full-time. But while the commercials try to convince us that we can work as little or as much as we want and can get out of it whatever we choose to put into it, there is inevitably a disclaimer at the end that lets us know that results like those in the woman's testimony are not typical and we probably won't get rich with their program after all.

Unlike those work-at-home commercials, though, Jesus does offer us a system in which the more we put in, the more we can get out. In Mark chapter 4, Jesus begins telling parables and he explains to his disciples that he uses parables so that "they may look and look yet not perceive; they may listen and listen, yet not understand; otherwise, they might turn back--and be forgiven" (Mark 4:12, HCSB). Then he explains to his disciples the parable of the Seed and the Soil.

Jesus explains that the word of God gets sown into all kinds of hearts. Some hearts are cold and unreceptive like pavement which never gives seed a place to grow. Some hearts are less cold and they readily receive the word of God, but they are shallow and unwilling to make it a priority when trouble hits and the word of God shrivels up and dies in their hearts. Some hearts allow the word of God to take root and begin growing, but then they get so distracted by the worries of life and their desires for things that the Word of God gets choked out and never really blossoms in their lives. And then some hearts receive God's word, let it grow and change them and produces fruit in their lives. And since Jesus rarely just gives agricultural lectures, the implication of the parable is that we choose what kind of heart we are going to have, what kind of soil we want to be.

When you combine the parable of the Seed and the Soil with Jesus's explanation of why he uses parables (that they might look and look yet not perceive…), it becomes clear that Jesus is telling us that he isn't simply going to hand an understanding of God to us on a silver platter. He gives us parables so that, if we really want to know and we are willing to think about them and invest ourselves in them, and put some effort into understanding because we choose to be hearts whose soil is ready for the Word of God, then we will understand them and get something meaningful from them. But if we are only interested in being entertained, if we are simply taken with the novelty of Jesus, if we don't really have a vested interest in understanding what God has for us, then we won't get anything out of Jesus' words.

What about you? Are you willing to invest yourself in pondering the Word of God? Are you willing to put some effort into praying through, thinking about, and meditating on what Jesus had to say and how it affects your life? Or are you more interested in being entertained and hearing a story that makes you feel good? Do you listen to the Word of God as it is taught, and preached, and read with an ear that wants to understand? Or have you decided that you'll simply take whatever is handed out to you in simple formulas that don't really require much thought?

When it comes to God's Word, we often get out of it exactly what we are willing to put into it.

Witnessing With Puppy Love Potions

Suggested Reading: Mark 4:13-29

One of my children's favorite fairytale movies is the recent Snow White movie Mirror, Mirror. In this particular telling of the classic fairy-tale, the Evil Queen decides that she wants to marry the handsome prince and she gives him a love potion in order to bring it about. If you have seen trailers for the movie, you already know that she doesn't just give him a love potion, but accidentally gives him a puppy love potion and he begins barking and scratching and fetching and following her around like a little lost puppy dog. Of course, as in all such fairy-tales, the spell is broken and the prince's true affections for Snow White win out. (I hope I didn't just ruin the movie for anyone, but that is what happens in fairy-tales.)

While the Evil Queen's plan is both funny and sad, her attempt to force the prince to love her is often very similar to how we can approach  witnessing to people. Often we want people to be saved so badly, we are so desperate for someone to give their life to Jesus, that we poke and prod and annoy and interfere and bug people as if we can force them to love Jesus. I once knew a young man who was pondering giving his life to Jesus and we had a number of conversations about what Heaven would be like and what it would mean for Jesus to be Lord in one's life. We had some very positive discussions where he seemed to be moving closer and closer to following Christ. But there was another lady in this young man's life who just kept pushing him and forcing the issue as if she could make him love Jesus by the sheer force of her will. Inevitably, after every conversation that this woman forced on him, he was more resistant to the idea of following Christ.

In Mark 4, Jesus told a very short parable about the kingdom of God. He said, "The kingdom of God is like this. A man scatters seed on the ground; he sleeps and rises--night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows--he doesn't know how. The soil produces a crop by itself--first the blade, then the head, and then the ripe grain on the head. But as soon as the crop is ready, he sends for the sickle because the harvest has come" (Mark 4:26-29, HCSB). At this point, Jesus is in a set of parables where the seed being sown is the Word of God. The seed is sown and, in this case, Jesus points out that it grows all by itself. We can't get down into the soil of someone's life and force the seed to grow, it just does -- all by itself.

We are reminded all throughout scripture about the power of the Word of God. Hebrews 4:12 tells us, "For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart" (NIV). Isaiah 55:11 reminds us "so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it" (NIV). God's Word is powerful enough on its own to work and poke and prod people from the inside. Our responsibility is to share God's Word with people, to water that seed as it works in them and produces questions and conflicts that God will use to shape and change them. But we must guard against those instincts and tendencies that make us want to force people to love Jesus. We can't ever force someone to believe or to surrender to God's love.  Love and belief simply don't work that way. But the Word of God is living and active and powerful enough to pull the strings of people's hearts and to persuade people's minds of truth all by itself.

God has called us to sow the seed of his word, to water it and to harvest when the time comes. But God's Word grows in a person's heart all by itself. Let's not harm the seed in someone's life by trying to force it to grow.