Acknowledgments<\/p>\n
The man who was, I think, the most creative and engaging preacher I ever heard died in a car crash when I was in sixth grade. I say \u201cI think\u201d because I never really cared about what he was saying at the time. After all, I was only twelve years old, and there were better things to do to pass the time until noon. But I sensed his impact because of the way my parents and all the other adults in my small country church reacted when he preached. They loved it\u2014and him. The congregation leaned forward. Even our 1965 Chevy Impala seemed eager for church every Sunday!
\nCarl Johnson, our pastor, a journalism grad student at Syracuse University, apparently mixed humor with ways to enter a biblical text that disposed of the traditional three-point sermon with the tearjerker story at the end. Again I say \u201capparently\u201d because I didn\u2019t get the jokes or insights; I just heard the appreciative laughs and appreciable amens around me.
\nAnd even though I vowed at age ten I would never be a preacher, I knew what a preacher needed to be from sitting in the pews Sunday after Sunday inside that atmosphere of rapt attention. So when I did eventually become a pastor-teacher\u2014even though my \u201ccall\u201d was initially more coincidental than covenantal\u2014I had an unchosen but unwavering passion: to help people see the Bible with fresh eyes and expectancy.
\nNow that forty years of preaching and teaching have passed, I can see how the \u201cspirit\u201d of Carl Johnson\u2014I should really capitalize that word\u2014permeated and still permeates how I approach biblical examination and exposition. That Spirit led me to preach two back-to-back sermons one Sunday while running the entire time on a treadmill in order to illustrate the significance of Peter\u2019s use of the word spoudazo (meaning \u201cmake every effort\u201d) in 2 Peter 1:5. It led me to build and preach inside a black cloth-covered enclosure just so I could come to the finale and demonstrate with one thrust of a spear how praise and proclamation pierce spiritual darkness.
\nI never wanted to use gimmicks, but very often the Lord prompted me to see something unusual and use something visual. As a result, I have enjoyed kind comments from the people of four congregations over the years telling me how much they looked forward to what I was going to do and say on Sunday. I always deflected those comments with \u201cYou mean, what the Lord is going to say.\u201d And they would nod, \u201cOf course.\u201d
\nHowever, the fact remains that the human roles of careful study and creativity combine to make what God wants to say through His Word clear and compelling. Creativity is inherently mnemonic.
\nAt the outset of this Fresh Eyes series, I want to acknowledge Carl Johnson and the gifted thinkers and teachers he represents who have inspired me toward preaching that reveals rather than regurgitates truth. And even more, I thank all the congregations of believers among whom I have lived and served who have shown me what it looks like to lean forward to hear a word from the Lord: for three years with the kids of the South Presbyterian Church high school group in Syracuse, New York; for thirteen years with the people of Fountain Square Church in Bowling Green, Kentucky; for five years with the students and staff of the Oakdale Christian Academy boarding school in Jackson, Kentucky; and for the past eleven years with the people of Greenville (IL) Free Methodist Church.
\nFor fifteen years I served as editor of Light & Life, the denominational magazine of the Free Methodist Church. This was also a significant time in my life when I learned to communicate more broadly through writing to people I would never see from the Sunday pulpit. That opportunity and training would never have occurred without the courage of four bishops who hired me\u2014a pastor with no journalism or seminary degree\u2014simply because I had what they regarded as an anointed, albeit \u201cunsafe\u201d (their word), creative approach to communication.
\nMy role as editor led to my speaking periodically at writer\u2019s conferences\u2014most often at the renowned Mount Hermon Christian Writers Conference. I owe a great debt of thanks to Dave Talbott, who hardly knew me when inviting me to preach on Palm Sunday in 1998 in the rustic auditorium beneath the praising redwoods to the crowd filled with professional writers. And he continued to do so for several years, even though I had not yet joined the ranks of published authors.
\nThat is where I was first heard and shaped by these professionals, many of whom became friends. One of them, Wendy Lawton, committed herself to me as my agent long before there was any sign I would ever repay her kindness with even a dime of compensation. I couldn\u2019t have been given a more gifted, wise, and dedicated agent than she and the Books & Such Literary Agency.
\nOne day she and Janet Grant, founder of the agency, approached me with a clear vision of how to position me as an author. They said, \u201cYou need to just do what you do\u2014open people\u2019s eyes to Scripture in fresh ways.\u201d Within a few months, I had a contract with David C Cook, thanks to them and Alice Crider, senior acquisitions editor, who championed this multi-book project with an accompanying app.
\nSuddenly I had a contract, and the initial drafts of three books had to be written from scratch in five months. This was a daunting task made more feasible because over the years I have learned how to write with intense focus as my Greenville church staff graciously accommodated my need to get away several times a year to work on various writing projects.
\nHowever, when this massive project came along, I needed something more than intense focus. I would need big blocks of time and a sense of the Lord\u2019s permission. A series of God-ordained events gave me that green light and changed my ministry responsibilities dramatically. Two of those events involved divine instruction that came miraculously and separately through Ben Dodson and Sarah Vanderkwaak. I am grateful they risked speaking when they could have remained silent. I am also grateful for dear friends Ivan and Kathie Filby, and my gifted superintendent Ben Tolly, for seeing a future ahead of me I would not have imagined.
\nAlice Crider was gracious enough to honor my request to select my own editor, Mick Silva. We had met at Mount Hermon and had only two casual conversations, but that was enough for me to have confidence in his spiritual sensitivity and professional skills. This initial confidence proved to be well-founded as our friendship grew and as Mick\u2019s expertise sharpened and supported the mission and message of the Fresh Eyes books chapter by chapter and line by line.
\nI was also pleased to have been brought into the David C Cook family at a time when the company was retooling its focus and functions in fresh ways to fulfill its long-standing mission to resource and disciple the church worldwide. That mission, so evident in the processes and people at David C Cook, convinced my wife and me to come under their banner in this project. I have enjoyed how much I have learned every step of the way through the enthusiastic encouragement of Alice Crider, Toben Heim, and the team of people assigned to guide me through this project to completion and distribution: Rachael Stevenson, Diane Gardner, Kayla Fenstermaker, Nick Lee, Susan Murdock, Megan Stengel, Annette Brickbealer, Nathan Landry, and Austin Davco.
\nFinally, it probably goes without saying, but it is impossible not to shout from the rooftops how much I owe to my family. My two girls, their amazing husbands, and combined five kids. They have not only given me their love and respect over the years, but they have also let me experience what it means to live knowing your kids are proud of you\u2014and tell you! That lubricates the mechanics of life through the grind of large projects like Fresh Eyes.
\nThen there\u2019s Margie. She\u2019s my hero, my model, my friend, my encourager. There has been a sparkle in her eyes from the very beginning of being \u201cus\u201d that comes from her love for Jesus. That sparkle is my north star. It keeps me navigating through life, no matter what comes, toward greater love for the Lord. Without that sparkle in her eyes, my own would have long since grown dim with cares and worries and doubts preventing me from seeing anything\u2014life itself or its Author\u2014with fresh eyes. But when you have someone who loves you unconditionally in such a way that helps you know the love of God, your eyes will sparkle too with expectancy of seeing new and fresh things in the world and in the Word.<\/p>\n
Doug Newton
\nMarch 2018<\/p>\n
About the Fresh Eyes Series<\/p>\n
What if the commonplace understanding of a Bible story or a well-known Scripture passage is the very thing keeping us from seeing the text in a new, life-transforming way?
\nWe all find ourselves facing this problem when we study the Bible. We believe Scripture is living and powerful. But many of us, after a genuine encounter with God followed by faithful Bible study and many sermons, became so familiar with Scripture that it lost its impact. The Bible became a book of riddles to be solved. Once we \u201cfigured out what a passage meant,\u201d we checked it off and moved on. We\u2019ve seen these stories too many times, and everyone who\u2019s been a Christian for even a year or two knows how that voracious appetite for the Word quickly fades.
\nPastors and Bible teachers craft a message from a particular text, and the lesson they convey becomes the way we understand the passage from that point on. Within a few short years, it feels like we\u2019re hearing the same thing over and over again. We begin to approach the Bible with less zip and zeal. Familiarity may not always breed contempt, but it does tend to breed complacency.
\nYet consider Jesus\u2019 remedy: \u201cYou have heard that it was said, but I tell you . . .\u201d He invited His listeners to break away from well-worn thinking to see something new and different. We need to look with fresh eyes at what we think we know well. A passage\u2019s common interpretation may have taken a wrong turn somewhere along the line and been passed along like an urban legend. The application may need to shift in a different direction or include something not considered before. There\u2019s new hope for our lives to change when we can say, \u201cI never saw it that way before.\u201d
\nMy primary mission with this book series is not to share new insights I\u2019ve uncovered. My greater desire is to reveal specific techniques that will allow you to make new discoveries about familiar passages that can revive your love for the infinite Word and transform your work in teaching and testimony.
\nThe interactive section at the end of each chapter includes a \u201cVision Check,\u201d which describes Fresh Eyes study techniques. These reveal how I found something new and inspiring by reexamining the text and context of a passage, the life situations involved, the cultural perspectives reflected, and other details and how I began to see Scripture more imaginatively. You\u2019ll also find more resources at dougnewton.com and on the Fresh Eyes app to help you gain additional insights.
\nI pray you find the treasures in God\u2019s Word are truly inexhaustible when you come with fresh eyes.<\/p>\n
Introduction<\/p>\n
I once spoke at a Christian college for a week of chapel services and showed a film clip from the classic movie Rudy, in which the unlikely hero is an undersized football player for Notre Dame who never got to play until the last seconds of the final game of his senior year, Rudy made the game-ending tackle, and his teammates hoisted him on their shoulders. The students in my audience cheered as the music soared and chanted, \u201cRudy! Rudy! Rudy!\u201d with the film\u2019s stadium crowd. The room pulsed with energy and excitement.
\nThen I replayed the scene\u2019s final moments again. The same cheers, but fewer and less strong. Then I played it again. And again. By the sixth time, no one in that chapel was cheering. A smattering of polite applause, and mostly confused faces, evidenced my audience\u2019s waning interest.
\nWhat had changed? I showed the same scene. The volume of the cheers in the movie was as loud as before. But the thrill had diminished through repetition. The danger, I explained to the students, is that the weekly rehearsing of the gospel in our churches can become exactly like this.
\nIt\u2019s the same with these famous Bible sayings. The more well-known they become, the more they get preached and taught and printed on T-shirts and calendars, the less their message inspires us. The life-changing truths haven\u2019t changed; we\u2019ve just gotten used to them. Of course, no one wants that to happen, but it seems a fact of life that enthusiasm dies with familiarity.
\nWhat if that didn\u2019t have to happen with the Bible? What if those old famous sayings could be made new? What if we could see them afresh as revelation and inspiration? And what if you could learn to rediscover a passage\u2019s original insights and find an endless shelf life in such familiar passages all on your own? That\u2019s what this book is about.
\nEach chapter focuses on one famous Bible saying, which together organize loosely into two categories: teachings on kingdom morality and teachings on kingdom ministry. We\u2019ll reconsider and reframe each saying much as Jesus did with familiar Old Testament passages in the Sermon on the Mount. \u201cYou have heard that it was said . . . but I tell you . . .\u201d We\u2019ll do this not to abolish what came before but to renew it and even take it further. You\u2019ll see beyond what you\u2019ve always heard or already thought and discover some refreshing and challenging ideas. But my greatest hope is to give you the tools to reframe Scripture yourself. New inspiration from our ancient Scriptures could transform our churches and our own lives. We would go into worship services, small groups, and daily conversations with transferable truths and true enthusiasm about the timeless and inexhaustible treasures available in God\u2019s Word.
\nI am excited to welcome you into the pages of this book. I\u2019m convinced when you realize what God has given you to discover in these passages, it becomes impossible to read Scripture and not feel like celebrating, raising up our Hero on our shoulders, and shouting, \u201cJesus! Jesus!\u201d<\/p>\n
1<\/p>\n
What Makes the Old Cross So Rugged?<\/p>\n
Take Up Your Cross<\/p>\n
Luke 9:23<\/p>\n
If we\u2019re supposed to follow Jesus, we\u2019d better make sure we know what His cross is like.<\/p>\n
Do we really think the best way to prove God\u2019s love is to splash blood all over the crucifixion story? We essentially do all year long but especially during the Easter season. When preachers want to hammer home the enormity of Jesus\u2019 sacrifice, they often resort to giving detailed descriptions of His suffering. They try to do verbally what Mel Gibson did visually in his 2004 blockbuster The Passion of the Christ. Who could watch without wincing? Gibson took us inside Jesus\u2019 torn flesh deeper than we wanted to go. Sermons can\u2019t match cinema.
\nBut we try. Preachers describe the whips that tore Jesus\u2019 flesh. They point to where the nails were likely driven in\u2014through the wrists, not the palms\u2014and why: Jesus\u2019 body weight would have ripped His hands loose between His middle and ring fingers. Attempting to add visual emphasis to the verbal explanation, they demonstrate with their bodies how being hung in that fashion would have constricted His airways. In order to take a breath, Jesus would have had to push down on the nails driven through His feet. Excruciating.
\nSome drag out the description to simulate the length of Jesus\u2019 suffering, until they finally talk about the spear and the watery blood gushing as the spear\u2019s tip penetrated the pericardial sac, adding notes of medical science to make it sound more believable, more factual. All this is designed to attract the listener to God\u2019s love through the most repulsive image of death imaginable.
\nYou\u2019ve likely heard similar descriptions as well. Ironically, such painful portrayals have helped create a severe misunderstanding of the nature of the cross we are supposed to \u201ctake up\u201d in order to follow Jesus. To a degree, understanding what a crucifixion really involved\u2014and what Jesus likely endured\u2014may help some listeners both grasp God\u2019s love and understand something unfamiliar to our culture. As such, preachers who teach this way do so with commendable motivations. However, a heavy-handed, unbalanced focus on Christ\u2019s suffering can lead to some significant, though unintended, misunderstandings.<\/p>\n
Not Just Any Kind of Suffering
\nWhen preachers belabor the many horrific elements of Jesus\u2019 death, it is understandable that people primarily equate the cross with suffering. Consequently, we tend to perceive any unwanted or unfair suffering as our \u201ccross to bear.\u201d Whether we encounter a thoughtless person at work or a traumatic experience, we may pray about such things, but most of us still think there\u2019s simply nothing to be done about them. It\u2019s injustice that God wants us to learn from. Didn\u2019t Jesus warn us there\u2019d be trials?
\nYet suffering in and of itself, even for godly reasons or with a godly attitude, does not necessarily constitute the cross of Christ. Perhaps you are finding it hard to imagine a Christian even saying this. How can this be?
\nSimple. Something is missing. The true cross has a specific purpose: accepting the burden of suffering in order to provide a remedy for the suffering of others. Jesus paid the penalty for our sin by taking our place. When Jesus was sentenced to death, He had committed no wrong. He deserved no punishment. We, on the other hand, owed God an unpayable debt because of our many, many sins committed out of negligence, ignorance, disobedience, and rebellion. The death sentence hung justly over our heads. When Jesus hung on the cross, He suffered the consequences of our failures, pure and simple, so we could be forgiven. Our sin wasn\u2019t His fault, His problem, or due to His neglect. Yet He paid the price. He exchanged places with us. He provided the remedy at great personal cost. As Paul put it, \u201cGod made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God\u201d (2 Cor. 5:21).
\nThis is the true character of the cross. It can be stated simply: something isn\u2019t a cross until you are paying a personal price to provide a remedy for someone else\u2019s suffering whether due to sin, foolishness, or misfortune. So when a person crosses the street to help a neighbor through a financial crisis after getting fired from his job or when missionaries cross the ocean, taking their kids away from grandparents and familiar surroundings, to serve an unreached people group, they are following the way of the cross.
\nOnly when we give up something rightfully ours or put ourselves in harm\u2019s way or jeopardize our security for another is it like Jesus\u2019 cross\u2014and even then, it only faintly reflects what He endured.
\nThe unsettling thought is that Jesus seems to expect us to do this\u2014daily! Even if we could, do we honestly have that many opportunities? I believe we do. There are sometimes dramatic ones, but more often, there are simple daily interactions. But they\u2019re always divine moments.<\/p>\n
The Cross May Sometimes Be Dramatic
\nAs a college freshman, I became our college newspaper\u2019s assistant editor. I wanted to be the editor in my sophomore year, but underclassmen weren\u2019t allowed to hold that position. I appealed for an exception and was granted approval, provided I study under the editor that year\u2014a college senior.
\nIn a bewildering turn of events, he made a bizarre sexual request of me. I refused, and he threatened suicide if I did not grant his request. Frightened but resolute, I refused again.
\nLater that week, with the editor present, I informed the faculty adviser of my decision to resign, forfeiting my opportunity to be editor. I remember that night vividly. The adviser was frustrated because he had gone to bat for me to get the rules changed. \u201cWhy?\u201d he wondered.
\nBut I wouldn\u2019t say why. I knew it was a sacrifice. The editor was agnostic, and I knew his reputation would be ruined if I shared. So I remained silent. But the editor jumped in and bitterly \u201cexplained\u201d that my change of heart was due to immaturity and other severe character flaws.
\nThe adviser turned to me, bewildered. \u201cHow can you just sit there?\u201d he asked. \u201cIf someone was saying about me what he\u2019s saying about you, I\u2019d hit him in the mouth.\u201d
\nWanting to be Christlike in that moment, not sure I was doing the right thing\u2014and even though speaking up is often critically important\u2014I believed in this case my silence and sacrifice, even if ultimately unnecessary, would honor Jesus and He could use it somehow. So I entrusted myself to the One who judges justly and renounced my position on the college newspaper staff.
\nI completed my college career with a cloud over my head, my reputation damaged. But ten years later that editor wrote me a letter apologizing and sharing his newfound faith, attributing it largely to my testimony of silence under false accusation. And although I thought that episode derailed my track toward journalism, twenty years later, with no further journalistic experience, my denomination unexpectedly asked me to be the editor of its national magazine. It was like a resurrection took place, which mirrored what taking up a true cross should ultimately produce, though often no such direct restoration for our sacrifices seems forthcoming.<\/p>\n
The Cross Occurs Daily
\nI share that dramatic story to offer hope. We don\u2019t always know what to do or whether our decisions for Jesus\u2019 way will even matter in the end. But we face choices every day to give up something we may never regain (time, money, credit) to provide something others may never deserve (grace, forgiveness, a second chance). That\u2019s the cross.
\nHow do you know when you\u2019ve arrived at one of these daily \u201ctake up your cross\u201d moments? Your insides will resonate and moan with a single question: Why should I have to be the one? We hear this voice in small ways every day.
\nNo one ever takes a class to learn this line. Kids aren\u2019t taught it in kindergarten like the Pledge of Allegiance. Yet there\u2019s probably never been a human being who hasn\u2019t said those words exactly, word for word, in his or her native language: Why should I have to be the one?
\nJust as a streak of lightning illuminates your home for a split second, your internal sense of justice instantly highlights the unfairness: I wasn\u2019t the one who made the mistake. I\u2019m not the one to blame. We reasonably fear enabling mistreatment and worse.
\nI\u2019m always having to make up for what she doesn\u2019t do.
\nI\u2019m the one always bending over backward.
\nHe never says he\u2019s sorry. If we ever make up, it\u2019s because I initiate it.
\nShe almost always misses her deadline; then I\u2019m left with too little time and look bad.
\nBut there is no way around it. The true cross of Jesus calls you to lose what you may never regain to give what others may never deserve. And perhaps\u2014but only perhaps\u2014others will see the love of God demonstrated through your grace.
\nThese kinds of situations happen every day, particularly ones involving your use of time and resources. The cross is accepting unfairness. It\u2019s receiving poor treatment. It\u2019s not fighting back.<\/p>\n
The Cross Will Always Be Divine
\nTaking up the true cross can also mean taking on others\u2019 pain when they\u2019re victims of improper treatment or have made innocent mistakes.
\nYears ago, my wife took some city kids on a field trip to the country to expose them to the wonders of nature. She led them high and low through the woods, spying plants, tiny flowers, birds, and bugs. They carved names on tree fungus and made hiking sticks. It was a wonderful couple of hours, until she got back to the landowners\u2019 home. When she told them where the kids had gone, they gasped. \u201cOh no, you took them right through undergrowth full of poison ivy!\u201d
\nMy wife felt heartsick. To think that her desire to inspire them to love nature might actually leave them stricken with terrible allergic reactions and a fear of nature! But in that moment, a hope shot through her\u2014an impression of something, maybe the only thing she could do. Pray. And not just any prayer, but a costly one. \u201cLord,\u201d she prayed, \u201cplease protect the kids. If any of them got poison ivy, put it all on me so none of them suffers with it.\u201d
\nWouldn\u2019t you know, the next day poison ivy welted her arms and legs\u2014the worst case she ever had\u2014but none of the kids ever broke out. I don\u2019t pretend to understand how and why the Lord chooses to work as He does. But I did wonder, If He could do that, couldn\u2019t He have rid poison ivy from them all without my wife breaking out? Such questions are hard to answer definitively. However, the apostle Paul pointed us in the right direction when he shared that he thirsted to know Jesus to such a degree that everything else in his life amounted to nothing more than garbage in comparison. As he saw it, \u201cknowing Christ\u201d involves experiencing resurrection power. But it also includes the other side of the coin: \u201cI consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. . . . I want to know Christ\u2014yes, to know and the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death\u201d (Phil. 3:8, 10).
\nI know no one more Christlike than my wife. I believe Jesus made her that way. He\u2019s making all of us that way. When we suffer for others\u2019 sake\u2014whether innocent victims or guilty villains\u2014we enter into His suffering and become like Him. Why would Jesus want to short-circuit that?
\nIt doesn\u2019t take preachers splashing blood to make the cross a wonder to behold. It just takes people like my wife showing what the cross is like.<\/p>\n
20\/20 Focus
\n1. 1. When we suffer in the place of another person, we are truly taking up the cross of Christ. But that doesn\u2019t mean other times of suffering are pointless. What other reasons may God have for allowing us to suffer?<\/p>\n
2. 2. Why do you think we tend to miss the central nature of the cross\u2014taking on someone else\u2019s suffering\u2014when it comes to carrying our cross?<\/p>\n
3. 3. This chapter mentions a few examples of daily opportunities to take on the consequences of other people\u2019s neglect or mistakes. Can you think of a few examples from your own life or the life of someone you know?<\/p>\n
Lord, now that I have a sharper focus on the nature of the cross I am supposed to carry, I realize why You mentioned self-denial first. I never will be able to take up a cross like Yours unless You fulfill the purpose of Your cross in me: set me free from selfishness and fill my heart with Your self-sacrificing love. Amen.<\/p>\n
Vision Check
\nA secondary element in a Scripture passage or biblical event that has come to dominate our attention can sometimes overshadow a passage\u2019s main point as in this case, in which the popular emphasis on the violence done to Jesus has come to overshadow the purpose of His suffering. Always ask yourself, What is the primary element in this text or event?
\nRead the creation account in Genesis 1, noting its chronological structure. For years the question of a six-day creation process has dominated people\u2019s attention. Debates rage and so do people over this issue. Is this a secondary or primary issue in the biblical account? What else might deserve to be raised to a primary position of attention and application? If you make that the issue of greatest importance, do you see the creation account in a new way? See my discoveries by going to dougnewton.com or the Fresh Eyes app.<\/p>\n
2<\/p>\n
Would Having<\/p>\n
Do unto Others<\/p>\n
Luke 6:31<\/p>\n
There\u2019s only one way to keep the Golden Rule shiny.<\/p>\n
If rarity gave the Golden Rule its value, it wouldn\u2019t be worth a plug nickel. Rare it is not. Nearly every religion and philosophical system teaches some form of the Golden Rule (aka \u201cthe law of reciprocity\u201d) about treating others in ways you want to be treated.
\nMost of those versions state the rule in the negative. \u201cDo not treat others in a way you do not want to be treated.\u201d For example, six hundred years before Christ\u2019s birth the Greek scholar Pittacus wrote, \u201cDo not to your neighbor what you would take ill from him.\u201d1 Soon after but about five thousand miles away, Confucius wrote, \u201cNever impose on others what you would not choose for yourself.\u201d In the Ud\u0101navarga, an early Buddhist collection of \u201cutterances\u201d attributed to the Buddha and his disciples, it is written, \u201cHurt not others with what pains yourself.\u201d3
\nIt disturbed me when I first discovered the Golden Rule was not an exclusively Christian contribution to the world. I had assumed that without Jesus uttering this ethical standard, no one would have thought of it or aspired to live according to it. Imagine my disappointment when I discovered that even Wicca, the modern pagan religion centered around witchcraft, promotes a form of the Golden Rule in the Book of Ways: \u201cHear ye these words and heed them well, the words of Dea, thy Mother Goddess, \u2018I command thee thus, O children of the Earth, that that which ye deem harmful unto thyself, the very same shall ye be forbidden from doing unto another.\u2019\u201d
\nTroubled by these findings\u2014and to preserve my sense of Christianity\u2019s moral superiority\u2014I sought to mark out a new territory of exclusivity. I quickly jumped to a conclusion: all the others state the rule negatively. Do not do what you do not want others to do to you. Jesus brought a whole new slant on the rule, I thought. It\u2019s not about what you shouldn\u2019t do to others; it\u2019s about what you should do. That\u2019s harder.
\nImagine my increased disappointment when I discovered other religions also phrase the rule in the positive form. A passage in the Mahabharata, an ancient epic of India, portrays the wise minister Vidura advising King Yudhishthira, \u201cOne should behave towards all creatures as he should towards himself.\u201d5
\nDouble rats! I thought Christian ethics was unique. Again, not true. It turns out that in 1993 at the Parliament of the World\u2019s Religions, 143 religious leaders from the world\u2019s major faiths signed the \u201cDeclaration toward a Global Ethic,\u201d which declared the Golden Rule to be one of the common principles they all shared. Signatories included leaders of the Baha\u2019i faith, Brahmanism, Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Jainism, Judaism, Native American religions, neo-paganism, Sikhism, Taoism, Theosophist beliefs, Unitarian Universalism, and Zoroastrianism. It turns out we Christians must share our favorite moral ideals like toys in the world\u2019s sandbox.
\nBut that\u2019s not all. Here\u2019s a famous moral story I wish we could claim as exclusively Christian. Renditions of it are found in Jewish and Asian cultures. This is a Hindu version.<\/p>\n
The Swami was having a conversation with Lord Shiva one day and said, \u201cLord, I would like to know what heaven and hell are like.\u201d Lord Shiva led the Swami to two doors.
\nHe opened one of the doors and the Swami looked in. In the middle of the room was a large round table. In the middle of the table was a large pot of stew, which smelled delicious and made the Swami\u2019s mouth water.
\nThe people sitting around the table were thin and sickly. They appeared to be famished. They were holding spoons with very long handles that were strapped to their arms and each found it possible to reach into the pot of stew and take a spoonful. However, the handle was longer than their arms, so they could not get the spoons back into their mouths.
\nThe Swami shuddered at the sight of their misery and suffering. Lord Shiva said, \u201cYou have seen hell.\u201d
\nThey went to the next room and opened the door. It was exactly the same as the first one. There was the large round table with the large pot of stew which made the holy man\u2019s mouth water. The people were equipped with the same long-handled spoons, but here the people were well nourished and plump, laughing and talking.
\nThe Swami said, \u201cI don\u2019t understand.\u201d
\n\u201cIt is simple,\u201d said Lord Shiva. \u201cIt requires but one skill. You see they have learned to feed each other, while the greedy think only of themselves.\u201d7<\/p>\n
What a great parable! It sounds like something Jesus could have used when He taught the Golden Rule. But alas, it came from a Hindu teacher.
\nIs the Golden Rule tarnished because it is not exclusively Christian? Not at all. In fact, Christian thinkers like C. S. Lewis have pointed out how moral values common to all religions argue for the existence of not only a god but the God revealed uniquely through the Christian faith. There is no need to claim that an exclusively Christian context forged the Golden Rule. The teaching\u2019s true luster comes not by its pedigree but by its specificity. For when we look closer, we find it raises an ethical standard that can be reached only through the divine resources of the Christian faith. Look at Jesus\u2019 use of would have. \u201cDo to others as you would have them do to you.\u201d<\/p>\n
Would Having versus Wanting
\nWe could simply restate the Golden Rule: do to others what you want them to do to you. Yet many modern Bible translations have resisted that rendition. Why? Probably because would have better captures a mental process. When a person writes a Christmas list of their wants and puts those items on a wish list or emails the list to family members, the mental work of wanting is over and done with. That list expresses the person\u2019s wants, but once it is posted online, that person may not give it another thought.
\nIn contrast, the mental process involved when you would have something draws our attention to the emotional event of desiring. So would having is the still-in-process, ongoing act of forming a mental image of what you want. It is that moment when your desire and the object of that desire are both present to your consciousness.
\nThink of it this way. I like lots of different kinds of food. When I\u2019m hungry, any number of options would satisfy my want of nourishment. Hamburger. Pizza. Thai fried rice. Fried chicken. Cannelloni. Roast beef sandwich. Fish and chips. The list can go on and on, which explains my lifelong struggle with my weight. But when I am running errands with my wife and we plan to eat out and she asks, \u201cWhat do you feel like tonight?\u201d I might need ten to fifteen minutes to come up with an answer. I consider many options. My mind travels from restaurant to restaurant, considering their menus. That\u2019s would having. And that\u2019s when we play the Where Do We Eat? game.
\nI say, \u201cI chose last time. It\u2019s your turn.\u201d
\nThen she says, \u201cNo, I chose last time, remember? We did Italian.\u201d
\nThen I say, still trying to pawn off the decision on her, \u201cYou only chose Italian because I narrowed it down to two options.\u201d
\nSo she says, \u201cOkay. I\u2019ll narrow it down to three options.\u201d
\nBut even with three options, I can\u2019t decide what I would have. So I finally play my trump card. \u201cI\u2019ve been making decisions all day. I really don\u2019t want to make another.\u201d My wife is such a gracious person, that one usually wins.
\nThe game reveals the difference between wanting and would having. When you are would having, you are actively wrestling with options. You are very conscious of a decision to be made. Would having is immediate. Ongoing. Unresolved.<\/p>\n
The Moment the Golden Rule Turns Gold
\nWith this in mind, let\u2019s turn our attention back to the Golden Rule and the salient question: When do you would have when it comes to how someone should treat you? When does your mind get caught up in the conscious act of wishing\u2014of imagining\u2014how a person should act toward you? (You may want to read the following slowly and out loud. Just a suggestion . . .)
\nDo you would have when a person is already doing what you would have them do to you? Of course not. You spend time would having only when someone is not doing what you would have them do to you and you are imagining what you wish they were doing.
\nRight here is when the Golden Rule becomes pure gold. At the very time people are not doing for you what you would have them do for you, that\u2019s when you are supposed to do that kind and caring thing for them.
\nWhen you aren\u2019t getting the thoughtfulness you would have them show you\u2014and their disappointing neglect preoccupies your mind\u2014that\u2019s precisely the time you are supposed to be thoughtful to them. When people are not treating you with the respect you deserve, that\u2019s precisely when you are supposed to treat them with respect.
\nThe gold in the Golden Rule is found precisely in the timing. It\u2019s one thing to do nice things for other people who have done them for you. You can do those things anytime\u2014send them a thank-you note for their hard work or offer to help them with a project. But what if they never do those things for you? What if they never show gratitude for all your hard work? What if they never offer to help you when you could use an extra hand? You see, it\u2019s a completely different matter to do those very things for them (i.e., what you would have them do for you) right when they are failing to do them for you! That\u2019s when the Golden Rule glistens.<\/p>\n
The Difference Jesus Intends
\nThe Golden Rule found in other religions does promote doing things you would like done for you. However, none of their versions emphasizes the timing we\u2019ve just identified: giving grace precisely when another does not deserve it. This is the unique slant Jesus intended when He stated the Golden Rule in Luke 6. Let\u2019s examine this passage in more detail.
\nNotice how in each case Jesus expects you to extend grace toward those who are actively engaged in graceless behavior toward you. Your enemies\u2014they are being hateful toward you and cursing you. You would have them love you, do good to you, and pray for you instead. But they are not. So Jesus said to do that for them: \u201cBut to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you\u201d (vv. 27\u201328).
\nPeople are striking you and taking from you. You would have them stop hurting and taking and start loving and giving instead. But they are not doing that. So Jesus said do that for them: \u201cIf someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also. If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them. Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. Do to others as you would have them do to you\u201d (vv. 29\u201331).
\nIt\u2019s easy to be kind to others when they are being kind to you. There\u2019s no particular moral luster to that, Jesus said. \u201cIf you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that. And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, expecting to be repaid in full\u201d (vv. 32\u201334).
\nBut helping your enemies in their time of need? Could there be anything more golden and godly than that? \u201cBut love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful\u201d (vv. 35\u201336).
\nDo you see the point Jesus repeated and what makes His use of the Golden Rule so different. The brilliance of God\u2019s mercy is the gold standard. Jesus\u2019 version of the Golden Rule focuses our attention on doing kind and loving things for others precisely when our hearts ache and our lives suffer from others\u2019 negligence or nastiness.
\nFor months King Saul sought to destroy David, his divinely appointed replacement. Saul threw spears at David, ran him out of town, and hunted him down. Saul would have mounted David\u2019s head on a spike if he could have found him. Then one day the king wandered into a cave for a pit stop (1 Sam. 24). He did not know David was hiding in that cave, which provided David with the perfect opportunity to sneak up on Saul during his moment of preoccupation and put an end to his persecutor. However, because David would have Saul show mercy and spare his life, he did that very thing for Saul.
\nThere are many reasons God called David \u201ca man after his own heart\u201d (13:14). Chief among them was how David\u2019s mercy mirrored God\u2019s. \u201cBut God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. . . . For if, while we were God\u2019s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!\u201d (Rom. 5:8, 10).
\nChick-fil-A\u2019s infamous stand opposing gay marriage in 2012 resulted in backlash and boycotts by gay marriage activists. Their efforts marginalized the company and maligned its senior leaders. In spite of the vitriol, Dan Cathy, the company\u2019s chief operating officer, slipped behind the headlines to befriend Campus Pride director, Shane Windmeyer, an openly gay man and activist. That act, proven sincere over time, won Windmeyer\u2019s respect. Windmeyer said, \u201cDan expressed a sincere interest in my life, wanting to get to know me on a personal level. He wanted to know about where I grew up, my faith, my family, even my husband, Tommy. . . . He had to face the issue of respecting my viewpoints and life while not being able to reconcile them with his belief system. He expanded his world without abandoning it. I did as well.\u201d
\nEventually Windmeyer publicly came out . . . as Cathy\u2019s friend.
\nThere is nothing easier, especially in today\u2019s moral climate, than to repay evil for evil. Or at least to pine over what we would have people do for us when they neglect or mistreat us. And there\u2019s nothing harder than blessing and loving others in precisely those times. But that\u2019s when the Golden Rule shines. That\u2019s when you stand at the brink of a choice that can be truly and singularly Christian. That\u2019s what Jesus\u2019 love makes possible. And beyond question, that\u2019s what Jesus would have.<\/p>\n
20\/20 Focus
\n1. 1. This chapter reveals that some of Christianity\u2019s core values, like the Golden Rule, are found in other religions and even are shared by the secular world. Make a list of two to three other highly touted Christian values that even non-Christians prize and try to practice.<\/p>\n
2. 2. What are some other biblical examples of people treating others with grace precisely when they were being mistreated?<\/p>\n
3. 3. Can you think of a time someone treated you according to the Golden Rule when you were treating them poorly?<\/p>\n
4. 4. Many times we face a moment when someone\u2019s neglect or thoughtless behavior disappoints us and we forget to practice the Golden Rule. What could you do to help yourself remember?<\/p>\n
Lord, I can see why the Golden Rule is pure gold, but I\u2019m afraid I am not. I get so frustrated and disappointed when people aren\u2019t thankful or understanding when I need them to be. Then if they actually have done something unkind, I fume and stew about it. That\u2019s exactly when I need Your Holy Spirit to convict me and give me the will to choose gold rather than grudge. Amen.<\/p>\n
Vision Check
\nThis chapter\u2019s Fresh Eyes insights come from appreciating the nuances of the phrase would have. Whenever you identify a keyword in a Scripture verse, it\u2019s often helpful to ask yourself, What unique connotation does this word have in comparison with another word the author or character might have used?
\nPsalm 139 includes the profoundly humble prayer that begins, \u201cSearch me, God . . .\u201d (v. 23). The psalmist goes on to ask the Lord to see whether there is any \u201coffensive\u201d way in him (v. 24). That\u2019s the word the NIV chose when translating a Hebrew word that other versions chose to translate as wicked (KJV), grievous (ESV), or hurtful (NASB). What comes to your mind when you think of the word offensive in comparison with these other words? Check out my thoughts on dougnewton.com or the Fresh Eyes app.<\/p>\n
3<\/p>\n
Stop Trying to Be Like Jesus<\/p>\n
Fruit of the Spirit<\/p>\n
Galatians 5:22\u201323<\/p>\n
When you try to be something you\u2019re not, it never turns out the way you hope.<\/p>\n
Have you ever watched a guy speed off on a motorcycle with his helmet on backward? I know three high-school girls who did. They were walking down Main Street in Chittenango, New York, chatting away about their day at school. Nearby, a guy with long hair came out of the corner drugstore. They didn\u2019t pay much attention, but one noticed he carried a motorcycle helmet under his arm and that he was taking his time mounting his 250cc enduro-type bike. One girl bumped shoulders with another girl, giggled, and looked down at the sidewalk\u2014signals that said it all. \u201cCute guy. Play it cool . . .\u201d
\nMeanwhile, the young denim-clad biker dude had noticed them and started his bike. He revved it several times to grab more attention, and when they looked up, he put on his gloves one finger at a time.
\nAs the girls strolled closer, he tossed his long hair, clearly reveling in the none-too-subtle attention, as if to say, \u201cWatch this!\u201d
\nAnd they did. They saw everything, even as he drew out each overconfident movement, revving the engine one last time and then plunking the helmet onto his head . . . backward, the face mask rubbing his neck and chin straps dangling as he slinked away from the curb. The girls pointed in unified peals of laughter.
\nSadly, I know all this because I was the boy. I learned a huge lesson that day when I could do nothing but ride off with my backward helmet and deflated ego: there\u2019s nothing worse than trying to be something you\u2019re not. And trying to impress others is not just a problem among teenage boys.
\nNothing is more pathetic than a seventy-year-old man trying to look and act like a college student. Nothing is more comical than a person without rhythm thinking she can dance. There\u2019s nothing more pointless than a high school athlete trying to shoot like LeBron James. And even though it may seem to contradict Scripture, nothing is more futile than a Christian, no matter how devout, trying to be like Jesus. Don\u2019t get me wrong. I believe it is possible to be like Jesus, and we should want to be. But we won\u2019t get there by trying to be like Jesus. Before you start boiling the tar and sending out for feathers, grant me a few pages to explain.
\nThe quick reason is this: He\u2019s way out of our league. So stop trying.
\nThe only way we can come close to Christlikeness is to experience the enabling and transforming power of God\u2019s Spirit. But you don\u2019t get the Spirit\u2019s aid by sitting back and waiting either. It requires effort. Numerous passages make that point, including Philippians 2:12\u201313: \u201cContinue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.\u201d
\nThese verses reveal the symbiotic relationship between our efforts and God\u2019s internal work of empowerment and transformation. Christlikeness requires much effort on our part, but it is not the effort of \u201ctrying to be like Jesus.\u201d What kind of effort is it? To answer that question, we turn to the famous list of the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22\u201323.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s Missing?
\nLook at that list. It is interesting and important to notice how many crucial moral traits this list lacks. The missing traits give us clues into the kind of effort required of us. For example, courage is missing. How can anyone progress in Christian development without obedience, and how can anyone obey without courage? Yet courage is not mentioned among the Spirit\u2019s fruit.
\nThink about honesty. None of us can take the first step of repentance without honesty. And without repentance you get nowhere. But nowhere does the Bible say God makes us honest. The same is true of thankfulness and gratitude. Did you realize the lack of thankfulness is a primary cause of God\u2019s wrath on all people? \u201cThe wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness. . . . For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened\u201d (Rom. 1:18, 21).
\nThankfulness is just that crucial, and it\u2019s required of all people, yet it is not mentioned as specifically supplied by the Spirit.
\nThe list can go on. Diligence. Perseverance. Respect. These are all desperately important moral traits missing from the list of the fruit of the Spirit. Plus, you will find no place in Scripture that promises God\u2019s Spirit produces them in us. Very interesting. Yes, circumstances and hardships can stimulate the growth of these traits, and God can orchestrate character-producing circumstances, but does God\u2019s Spirit alone produce them? Or are they developed only in concert with God\u2019s Spirit, through the exercise of the human will, and in the faith required to experience the Spirit\u2019s transforming work?
\nSo you see, Christlikeness is a joint effort between God and us. And why does this matter?<\/p>\n
Say It with Me: Spooo-dahh-dzoh!
\nIn 2 Peter 1:3\u20138, the apostle Peter described how this joint effort enables us to \u201cparticipate in the divine nature\u201d (v. 4). Peter first affirmed God\u2019s role: \u201cHis divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life . . .\u201d (v. 3). But then he spent four verses measuring out the high degree of human effort necessary to become fruit-bearing Christians. Apparently, God wants our cooperation.
\nThe Greek word translated effort implies making haste and being zealous to accomplish something. It\u2019s based on the memorable-sounding word spoudazo. For a fun memory aid, try saying it like an Italian chef tasting his special marinara, \u201cSpooo-dahh-dzoh!\u201d
\nFor Christians to avoid being \u201cineffective and unproductive\u201d (v. 8), Peter urged his readers to \u201cmake every spoudazo.\u201d \u201cFor this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love\u201d (vv. 5\u20137). God\u2019s enabling power to be like Jesus is available. But whether we experience it is largely a matter of spoudazo\u2014making every effort.
\nPeter tossed the ball into our court with the implied repetition of the word add. God does not take full responsibility to \u201cadd\u201d goodness, knowledge, and self-control to our faith. We must make the effort, with all spoudazo. But we do not focus our effort on trying to be like Jesus. We direct it toward doing our best with the moral strength and spiritual blessings we\u2019ve already been given.
\nThink of the woman who had bled for twelve years (Mark 5:25\u201334). She had gone to every doctor available and spent all her money on possible cures. Nothing had worked. Then one day she heard Jesus was in the vicinity, so she sought Him out. But the crowd was too dense. She could not get to Him.
\nShe thought, I don\u2019t even need to get His attention. If I can squeeze through the crowd and inch my way close enough to touch the hem of His clothes, I will be healed. So that\u2019s what she did. Risking humiliation and even severe rebuke for being so bold as to intrude, she pressed through, touched Jesus\u2019 garment, and experienced healing.
\nAs the story recounts, Jesus sensed power going out from Him without His triggering it, and He stopped dead in His tracks, knowing that someone had just been healed. \u201cWho touched me?\u201d He asked (v. 31). The disciples thought He was crazy to ask since the whole crowd was jostling Him. But Jesus insisted on finding that one particular person. When the lady made herself known, Jesus made His point: she had been healed because of her faith (see v. 34).
\nWhat gets lost in this story is that her faith was expressed through her effort, her spoudazo. Yes, faith healed her. But she possessed it and used it. Without personal exertion, without doing everything she could in her own power, she never would have connected with Jesus for that miracle. In fact, a willingness to exert herself characterized her life before that moment. That\u2019s what she had been doing for twelve years: weathering frustration and disappointment but still going to doctor after doctor, believing and using up all her money. That\u2019s spoudazo.
\nDo the moral traits missing from Galatians 5:22\u201323 reveal our part in the process of becoming more and more like Jesus?<\/p>\n
The Spoudazo Paradox
\nHow does this work? Pick out any godly quality you can think of. Should you give it your best and just keep trying harder to be like Jesus?
\nLet\u2019s say you want to be as patient as Jesus would be with some troublesome person. Pretty sure you can\u2019t do that on your own. But maybe what love you already have in your heart can be mustered to produce a certain amount of patience on your own. Or maybe mustered isn\u2019t the right word. Maybe it\u2019s spoudazo. If you honestly want the patience of Christ, use all the patience you already have. Don\u2019t worry about being as patient as Jesus. Do you see the difference? Focus on what you are capable of, not what you aren\u2019t and never will be on your own. And just do that much.
\nAs a road cyclist, I have a goal of someday completing a nine-mile time trial at twenty-three miles per hour\u2014an achievable goal for a sixty-four-year-old. Younger guys in my area are doing it at twenty-nine miles per hour. Should I train for that pace? I doubt I\u2019d ever make it. I\u2019d probably break down my body. So instead, I push myself toward my limit, not theirs.
\nSame thing here. You want to be like Jesus, but don\u2019t try to be as good as Jesus. It\u2019s when you push yourself to your limit that the miracle happens and God supplies what you lack.
\nJesus taught this principle of honest effort and reward. It\u2019s illustrated in the parable of the talents (Matt. 25:14\u201330). A master gave three people varying amounts of money to put to good use for his benefit. Two of the three did just that and generated a return on the money. One of the three did nothing except protect his money from loss. When the master returned to settle their accounts, he rewarded those who had used what they had been given and punished the one who had done nothing. The servants who invested all the master gave them, though entrusted with different amounts, received exactly the same reward. If you are faithful with what you have\u2014however little\u2014more will be given.
\nApply this principle to anything our Master gives. Because God created us with willpower, each of us possesses some capacity to act with Christlike qualities. Therefore, if you try to be as patient as you can be with what patience He\u2019s given, you\u2019ll gain a supplemental dose as you do.
\nIsn\u2019t this absolutely freeing? You don\u2019t have to be like Jesus by your own willful determination; just be like you\u2014as good as you can be\u2014and you\u2019ll become more like Him by the blessing of God!
\nThat\u2019s the idea of spoudazo. God\u2019s divine power for godliness is available but only to those who are \u201cmaking every effort\u201d to act on what He\u2019s already given, and He\u2019ll add to whatever measure of character they already have.
\nWhich now raises two questions.<\/p>\n
Honest Answers Needed
\nDo you know how to spoudazo? Our culture prizes comfort and ease. It tends to shape people who don\u2019t like to push themselves to the limits of their own capabilities. So the first question spoudazo challenges us to ask is this: Is there an area of your life where you\u2019re working with all your might (i.e., spoudazo-ing) to do the best you can?
\nI have twin nephews. They didn\u2019t like to do much around the house when they were young boys. Their granddad thought they were kind of lazy. However, by the time they were in junior high, they had acquired their black belts in karate and performed well in national competitions. When they went to college, they were excellent hockey players at an NCAA Division I school. As upperclassmen, they began playing guitar and writing their own music, eventually forming a Christian heavy-metal band that went on the road, got a recording contract, and had an album on the shelves in a national big-box store. After college, they entered graduate schools and obtained doctorates in philosophy.
\nOne thing after another, they devoted themselves to their goals with steady exertion\u2014spoudazo. Karate. Hockey. Music. PhDs. And by the way, they both were born with cystic fibrosis, a frightening disease that leaves people who were born with it in the 1980s with a life expectancy of about thirty to thirty-five years. They could have grown up sitting on the couch, fearing too much physical exertion. But they pushed themselves to the edge of their capabilities! Is there any area in your life where you are spoudazo-ing?
\nThe second question is more personal: Are you willing to spoudazo to become like Christ? If so, push yourself to do what you are already capable of doing. Want to have Christlike kindness in the face of ill-treatment or neglect? Be as kind as your heart already knows how to be. But that gets tiring, you protest. That\u2019s true. It takes tremendous effort to use the right tone of voice when you\u2019re frustrated. It\u2019s so much easier to snap at someone and be done with it. It takes a huge effort to allow no unwholesome talk but only edifying words to come out of your mouth when someone is acting poorly (Eph. 4:29). It\u2019s significantly easier to make that sarcastic comment.
\nEvery day while we contemplate passing on a little criticism or paying someone back with a cold shoulder, our consciences say, \u201cYou know better than that. Your heart can do better than that.\u201d But it\u2019s so much easier not to press our hearts toward forgiveness, understanding, and grace. We can go through our lives saying that we want to be like Christ but demanding too little of our own hearts, even as we expect Him to give us His.
\nGod\u2019s \u201cdivine power has given us everything we need for a godly life\u201d (2 Pet. 1:3). But we must be willing to do more than wait for the fruit of the Spirit to miraculously appear. We already have the capability of some self-control in the face of abuse, some kindness in the face of criticism, some gentleness in the face of disrespect, and some faithfulness in the face of neglect.
\nSo make every effort\u2014spoudazo\u2014to be as good as you already can be. Push your heart to the level of its capability and you\u2019ll be filled with the capabilities of God\u2019s heart.<\/p>\n
20\/20 Focus
\n1. 1. Try to put into your own words the relationship between God\u2019s transforming works of grace and your effort.<\/p>\n
2. 2. Can a person become honest, grateful, and respectful without becoming a Christian? If so, how do these virtues develop?<\/p>\n
3. 3. Name something you have done or are doing that required or still requires spoudazo.<\/p>\n
4. 4. Ask the Lord to help you identify some Christlike trait you lack toward which you could put more of your own effort.<\/p>\n
Lord, on the one hand, I find a great deal of freedom knowing I don\u2019t have to try to measure up to Your impossible standards of character. On the other hand, when I am lacking in areas like patience, gentleness, peace, joy, and the other fruit of the Spirit, I know I can\u2019t just sit back and wait for You to make them happen. Strengthen my resolve to give my best efforts toward expressing those virtues and then add to my efforts the blessing of Your Spirit\u2019s increase. Amen.<\/p>\n
Vision Check
\nIn this chapter we learned how to discover new insights in a familiar passage by paying attention to what is missing. Do that when you come across lists (as in the \u201cfruit of the Spirit\u201d) or with observations you make over a span of several chapters in Scripture or between books of the Bible. For example, why didn\u2019t Matthew, Mark, and Luke include most of the miracles John included in his gospel? Why does the entire book of Esther never use the word God?
\nRead the New Testament\u2019s two versions of the Lord\u2019s Prayer as recorded in Matthew 6:9\u201313 and Luke 11:2\u20134. Compare them with each other as well as with the common version we often recite in church. What\u2019s missing in Luke compared with Matthew? What\u2019s missing in both compared with what we commonly recite? Ask the Lord for help as you seek new insights based on those observations. Check out dougnewton.com or the Fresh Eyes app to see what I observed.<\/p>\n
4<\/p>\n
The Importance of Well-Built Septic Tanks<\/p>\n
Neighbors<\/p>\n
Luke 10:29<\/p>\n
You have neighbors right next door you\u2019ll never meet but you\u2019re supposed to love.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe can\u2019t help it. He wasn\u2019t brought up to know any better.\u201d That was my dad\u2019s mantra whenever I pointed out some kid cutting across the neighbor\u2019s yard or tracking dirt into the church foyer. Looking back, I\u2019m grateful for his gracious perspective, but at the time it frustrated me. Occasionally I returned a wry imitation of his words when he noted some flaw in my performance: \u201cI can\u2019t help it. I wasn\u2019t brought up to know any better.\u201d
\nHowever, his quotable words made a lasting impression on me, and I try to practice the policy of grace he taught. But there\u2019s at least one irresponsible act I can never pass off no matter how hard I try: littering.
\nI enjoy road cycling, so I cover several thousand miles of country roads every year. Hardly a day goes by when I don\u2019t see a flattened fast-food bag with its entrails smearing the asphalt or empty cans of beer, soda, and chewing tobacco speckling the roadside. My dad\u2019s words always come back to me, but I argue against his grace. I don\u2019t care how they were brought up. This is not a case of family culture. This is a case of a faulty conscience. Some person rolled down his car window, reached for a crumpled fast-food bag on his front seat, then must have ignored that twinge of conscience just before he thought, I don\u2019t care. I don\u2019t want this in my car. And out it went. The trash-throwers know they shouldn\u2019t litter\u2014and not just because the law says so. It\u2019s a matter of common decency. You don\u2019t just shove something out the window and expect somebody else to deal with your mess. They know better.
\nOne day, however, God\u2019s Word rebuked my judgmental spirit as I meditated on the idea of loving my neighbor. I saw how I could be just as thoughtless. Maybe I wasn\u2019t chucking cheeseburger wrappers out my car window, but in less-blatant ways I was prone to do something similar. This became clearer as I thought more carefully about the question, \u201cWho is my neighbor?\u201d (Luke 10:29).<\/p>\n
Out of Sight, Out of Mind
\nFor five years, I was president of a small Christian boarding school in Appalachia. Throughout its history, it struggled to make ends meet, and the staff always had to be creative to feed the students and care for the facilities with very little money. On one occasion, I had the distinct (with the emphasis on \u201cstinked\u201d) privilege of dealing with raw sewage seeping through the basement walls of one of the campus buildings, an old parsonage. As we dug into the situation, we found the smelly explanation.
\nIn the mid-1930s a group of men building the parsonage began laying a cinder block septic tank for the house. Being committed, as many building committees are, to the long-lost eleventh commandment, \u201cThou shalt save money whereverest thou canst,\u201d these resourceful men took their shot at making the Guinness Book of World Records under \u201cWays to Cut Corners to Save Money.\u201d They used a foundation wall of the house as one of the septic tank\u2019s four walls! If that doesn\u2019t immediately strike you as problematic, think about it for a minute.
\nIs that sinking in?
\nIn fact, it did sink in, and the eroding foundation wall could no longer keep the seepage out. So in 1994, we, the beneficiaries of the aforementioned cost-saving decision, followed the sludge upstream and discovered the not-so-well-hidden source from whence it flowed. Eventually, the problem was solved with a backhoe, a new septic tank (planted well away from the house), and a good stiff northerly wind. And as a bonus of the process, I learned something about loving your neighbor as yourself.
\nWe tend to think of neighbors in geographic terms\u2014someone who lives beside you or nearby. We\u2019d never think of dumping sewage in a neighbor\u2019s basement. Yet that\u2019s effectively what the corner-cutters did. Their past act piped waste into our present day. We may never bump into them, but they\u2019re just as close to us in time as our next-door neighbor is to us in location. The things we do today will directly affect those who immediately follow us. When we leave our table a cluttered mess at the mall food court, we have inconvenienced the family who will sit there after we walk away.
\nWe don\u2019t do a very good job thinking about those chronological neighbors. We wouldn\u2019t dream of taking our trays of wrappers and scraps, dumping them on the table of the people eating lunch beside us, and saying, \u201cWe don\u2019t feel like dealing with this. You take care of it.\u201d Yet that is just what we do to our neighbors in time whenever we leave a mess for other people to clean up or a problem for other people to solve. How is that loving your neighbor?
\nYou must try to see those neighbors in your mind\u2019s eye, the ones twenty minutes or twenty years from now. They\u2019re relying on you. So consider these general rules of neighborly conduct toward those chronological neighbors.<\/p>\n
Don\u2019t Scrimp
\nWe all like to save money and time, especially when we have less than we need. The pressure to get something done that \u201cfits our budget\u201d and \u201cworks for now\u201d tempts us to use duct tape when better-quality work and materials are called for. It is simply not loving your chronological neighbor when you think, This will last as long as I need it. It\u2019ll have to do.
\nSo for example, if doing a repair job properly on the back deck calls for using pressure-treated lumber, then loving your neighbor means using pressure-treated lumber if you can afford it. But I don\u2019t want to spend that much, and anyway we\u2019ll probably sell the house in a couple of years. Sorry, but that attitude violates Jesus\u2019 law of neighbor love. It sounds very much like an Old Testament time when people were tempted not to make helpful loans to needy neighbors because the year for canceling debts was near. God gave a strong warning against this attitude and actually called it a \u201cwicked thought.\u201d \u201cRather be openhanded and freely lend them whatever they need. Be careful not to harbor this wicked thought: \u2018The seventh year, the year for canceling debts, is near,\u2019 so that you do not show ill will toward the needy among your fellow Israelites and give them nothing\u201d (Deut. 15:8\u20139).
\nIf it irks you to think you have to spend more money than you need to get by for now, think of it as an act of worship of the Lord in two ways. First, imitating the Lord who does all things with excellence is the highest form of worship, higher than the most emotion-filled worship music:<\/p>\n
\u2022 \u2022 \u201cLet your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. . . . Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect\u201d (Matt. 5:16, 48).<\/p>\n
\u2022 \u2022 \u201cPeople were overwhelmed with amazement. \u2018He has done everything well,\u2019 they said\u201d (Mark 7:37).<\/p>\n
\u2022 \u2022 \u201cFollow God\u2019s example, therefore, as dearly loved children and walk in the way of love\u201d (Eph. 5:1\u20132).<\/p>\n
Second, helping ensure people\u2019s future well-being at your own expense is an act of self-sacrifice that honors and pleases the Lord. God designed the year for canceling debts to safeguard people\u2019s future even if it meant creating an expense for someone in the present. Those who share the Lord\u2019s interest in caring for people\u2019s future enjoy His blessing. Scripture says, \u201cGive generously to them [by loaning money you will not get back] and do so without a grudging heart; then because of this the LORD your God will bless you in all your work and in everything you put your hand to\u201d (Deut. 15:10).
\nBecause care for people\u2019s future aligns with the heart of God, you can count on His help. Some of us may be living on \u201cdaily bread,\u201d striving to be good stewards of what little we have. God understands. We are simply called to prayerfully do our best with whatever He has provided us and not give Him less than that. When we do, we might be surprised at the sometimes creative\u2014even miraculous\u2014means God uses to multiply those efforts.<\/p>\n
Don\u2019t Dip
\nThis neighbor rule follows logically from the concern for other people\u2019s future. There are many ways in which our actions today may undermine the security and well-being of future generations. It doesn\u2019t matter how desperate the present might be, if we reach into the next generations\u2019 resources in order to make things work out for us today, that is no different from reaching across the fence and taking your next-door neighbor\u2019s possessions. No matter what you believe about issues like global warming or the mounting national debt in America, the motive behind taking action now\u2014regardless of what you feel that action should or should not be\u2014comes from a moral conviction to care for the next generations.
\nHowever, the issues don\u2019t have to be that grandiose. For example, if you are blessed to live into old age, failing health and decreased energy are inevitable. Sooner than later you will want to go through all your belongings in your attic, basement, garage, and closets. If you don\u2019t do that before it\u2019s too late, someone else will have to spend days and weeks sorting through dusty contents in hundreds of boxes. By leaving it to others, you are choosing to confiscate time that rightfully belongs to their tomorrows. Unless you have asked them whether they are willing to use their time and money to deal with your life leftovers, you are dipping into their possessions without permission. Though the incapacities of old age can sneak up on people, try to plan ahead as much as possible. This is just one example of how our present decisions can rob the next generation\u2014or even the next person coming along.
\nConversely, we can also bless our chronological neighbors with kindness that will make their lives easier and their work go quicker. Think of how you clear the table after a big family meal. What do you do? You collect all the plates and silverware and take them to the kitchen counter. Then you scrape off the plates into the trash can and stack them before eventually washing them or putting them in the dishwasher. My wife does that in restaurants. When we finish eating, she consolidates everything into a nice stack easy for the busboy to clear. She also consolidates the trash and used towels and gives the room a once-over before we check out of hotel rooms.
\nI used to think she was silly. \u201cWhy are you doing that? That\u2019s someone else\u2019s job.\u201d
\nShe just smiles\u2014\u201cI know\u201d\u2014and continues undeterred. She\u2019s loving the busboys and housekeepers\u2014chronological neighbors I rarely think about. Thanks to her, I\u2019ve made progress over the years. One day it may come as naturally to me as it does to her.<\/p>\n
Do Protect
\nThis spirit of loving your chronological neighbors will also keep you alert to potential problems in other people\u2019s paths. Even seemingly simple or small things. In fact, our moral development may often advance most by finally seeing and seizing the seemingly trivial opportunities to \u201cdo what\u2019s right.\u201d Sensitizing and fine-tuning the conscience create the alertness and clarity necessary to practice the bigger things.
\nIf you\u2019re riding your bike and notice a nail in the road, don\u2019t just ride around it\u2014stop and pick it up so it won\u2019t puncture some other person\u2019s tire, even though that person will never know you spared his or her tire. Or rather than avoiding the gum in the parking lot, pick it up with a scrap of paper so other people won\u2019t track it into their houses or have to spend ten minutes trying to scrape it off their soles. You could be preventing a much bigger frustration for the next person. Why not take the time to replace the toilet paper on the roll? Or make the bed? Or leave a kind note? Or express gratitude for that small thing someone did?
\nThese little things don\u2019t seem to have eternal significance. They won\u2019t directly communicate the gospel or lead a person to faith. They don\u2019t require divine wisdom or supernatural power. Even other religions and secular ethics propose similar care and kindness for strangers who come after us. The act itself is not the point of loving your neighbor, whether geographical or chronological. The point is why we do it: to honor the Lord by obeying His command to love our neighbor.
\nThat\u2019s our heavenly Father\u2019s mantra.<\/p>\n
20\/20 Focus
\n1. 1. Was this thought of chronological neighbors new to you? Did it make you think of any problem or inconvenience you\u2019re dealing with now because others weren\u2019t thorough or careful in their work?<\/p>\n
2. 2. Are there any decisions you are making or have recently made that will affect others in the future? How might it affect them?<\/p>\n
3. 3. This idea of loving chronological neighbors is not beyond us. It\u2019s how parents and grandparents think all the time: How will my words and work affect my children ten years from now? We simply need to apply this parental instinct to all our words and work. Think of simple ways you could practice broadening that instinct to include nonfamily chronological neighbors. (For example, think of people who will use the sidewalk in front of your house on a snowy day and shovel beyond the boundaries of your own property. Think of the workers who will be collecting your curbside trash and pile it in ways that will be easier for them to pick up.)<\/p>\n
Lord, everything good happening in my life is something You planned long before I was born. I can\u2019t think that far in advance, but certainly I can look further down the road than I normally do. Help me be more conscious of the people who are coming along in the future. Prompt me to think loving thoughts and take helpful actions for them, even those I will never know. Amen.<\/p>\n
Vision Check
\nSometimes all it takes to see something new in Scripture is to stare at the words from new angles, like rearranging letters in a game of Scrabble to see new words to spell. That was the technique used in this chapter regarding the keyword neighbor.
\nPsalm 111:10; Proverbs 1:7; and Proverbs 9:10 all share the famous thought that the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom. We typically concentrate on the word wisdom. What new insights come if you look at these verses from the angle of the word beginning instead? Try reading the verses aloud and vocally emphasizing the word beginning more than the word wisdom to jump-start your thought process. Follow it until you, with the Lord\u2019s help, see something new. After you come up with your own ideas, check out what I discovered on dougnewton.com or the Fresh Eyes app.<\/p>\n
5<\/p>\n
Emanations of God<\/p>\n
The Kingdom Is Within<\/p>\n
Luke 17:21<\/p>\n
There is a way out of common depression and sadness, but it isn\u2019t through the pursuit of your happiness.<\/p>\n
Picture this: a husband comes home from a long workday. Maybe it\u2019s the way he tosses the keys on the counter or doesn\u2019t look at his wife when she says \u201cHi.\u201d Or maybe he says \u201cHi\u201d but his tone, even in just one syllable, says it all. He\u2019s frustrated.
\nYet he doesn\u2019t need to explain his frustration. His wife already knows: it\u2019s that issue with his boss . . . again. Same old thing: no gratitude for all his long extra hours. So she walks over to him and simply touches his hand. No words. She knows he isn\u2019t interested in talking. Her touch is sufficient.
\nAnd she\u2019s right. That touch was just enough to help him come all the way home. He lifts his head and turns toward her; his eyes brighten a bit as he manages a genuine \u201cAnd how was your day?\u201d
\nIsn\u2019t it amazing how much two persons can communicate without words? Animals give off pheromones\u2014fragrances that send signals\u2014but we human beings seem to give off much more complex signals. Scientists who study facial signals tell us that the face is amazingly articulate. It can convey more than 150 emotions, and the average person learns from childhood how to read these expressions.1
\nThe longer we live with others, the better we learn to \u201cread\u201d their unspoken messages, what we might call emanations\u2014outward evidence of inner emotions. More than that, neuroscientists also assert that human beings possess a natural capacity not only to detect but also mirror others\u2019 emotions. This capacity makes empathy possible\u2014feeling the feelings of others. Simply put, people around us can often tell and even feel what\u2019s going on inside us.
\nWe emanate.
\nConsequently, the minute the husband walked in the door, he didn\u2019t need to say anything. His wife knew what he was feeling. She sensed not just his physical presence but his emotional presence as well. This is what people can do, and that leads to something you may never have noticed about Jesus\u2019 statement that the \u201ckingdom of God is within\u201d us (Luke 17:21 KJV).
\nIt would take a whole book\u2014indeed, a whole library of books have been written\u2014to try to define what Jesus meant by kingdom of God. Rather than showing you some new meaning, I hope to share a new implication, a wonderful benefit that comes from the fact that God\u2019s kingdom is inside you. This new insight also helps solve one of the most disappointing problems many Christians encounter in their faith: the lack of the peace and joy the Bible claims they should be experiencing.<\/p>\n
God the Person
\nAlthough it is often a neglected and underappreciated trait of the Holy Spirit, God\u2019s Spirit is a person. Orthodox theology refers to Him as the \u201cthird person\u201d of the Trinity. Of course, we must take great care when we think about God as a person, because there is undoubtedly more to His personhood than ours. He is infinitely more than we are in every way. Yet qualitatively we share many traits with Him simply because we are also persons. So for example, the earthly life of Jesus, who was and is the \u201cexact representation of [His] being\u201d (Heb. 1:3), showed us that God experiences a full range of emotions such as joy and grief, rage and relief\u2014though always holy and pure, of course. Those emotions are part of personhood.
\nTherefore, it is not incorrect for us to conclude that God, as a true person, brings with Him wherever He goes \u201cemanations\u201d of His personhood. If a wife can detect the emanations of her husband\u2019s personhood when he walks in the door, human beings should be able to detect the Divine Person\u2019s emanations when He is near.
\nThere is one difference, however, between the wife detecting her husband and us detecting God. The wife\u2019s experience of her husband is based on his emanations coming to her from outside herself. Our experience of God is based on His emanations coming to us from inside ourselves. That\u2019s because the person of God\u2019s Spirit dwells within every believer. In other words, to say the kingdom of God is within us means we should be able to feel God\u2019s feelings.
\nSomething the apostle Paul wrote to the Roman believers seems to support that preliminary conclusion: \u201cFor the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit\u201d (Rom. 14:17). If peace and joy in the Holy Spirit are realities in the kingdom of God and if the kingdom of God is within every believer, then our sensations of peace and joy are the result of the emanation of God\u2019s peace and joy within us. I believe that is a simple but biblical way of understanding what we mean when we talk about \u201csensing God\u2019s presence.\u201d We are experiencing the emanations of God the Person in our spirits. If that is the case, then we ought to think carefully about what would trigger God the Person\u2019s emotions.<\/p>\n
God, the Person Inside
\nPicture it this way. When you became a Christian, God took up residence inside you, as if He was in your internal living room, the heart of your home. As you go through life, He\u2019s within you, reacting to your decisions and actions, just as the husband in our opening scenario reacted to his boss.
\nMost of the time you don\u2019t \u201csense\u201d God\u2019s presence, because His reactions are minimal. Your life, being relatively routine, is nothing to get excited about one way or another. But what if you make a choice that flatly contradicts God\u2019s expressed will? What if, for example, you lie to your spouse about a purchase you shouldn\u2019t have made? Or what if in frustration you speak demeaning words to him or her? According to Scripture, those actions will actually grieve God\u2019s Spirit (Eph. 4:30). That is, He will react negatively with some degree of frustration. Picture Him stirring within: \u201cNo, no, no! I\u2019ve been over this with you a hundred times. I\u2019ve told you, \u2018Don\u2019t hide purchases from your wife with lies\u2019\u201d or \u201cI can\u2019t believe you did it again. I\u2019ve told you, \u2018Don\u2019t make her feel put down by your criticism.\u2019\u201d
\nGuess what? That \u201cgrief\u201d is an emanation from God\u2019s Spirit you are bound to sense. Of course, that\u2019s not the kind of \u201csensing God\u2019s presence\u201d anyone hopes for.
\nBut imagine this: one day a neighbor comes over to your house to tell you about a rumor going around about your family. He tells you who\u2019s spreading it, and now you have the option to be angry and say something biting against the gossiper. After all, you think, if they\u2019re saying something evil about my family, why should I be kind about them?
\nBut then you remember the Bible\u2019s instruction to bless people who mistreat us, even when they speak evil against us (Luke 6:28). And \u201cDo not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths\u201d (Eph. 4:29). So you resolve, I will say nothing unkind but try to be gracious by God, my great help.
\nAt that moment, you may sense God\u2019s Spirit within you excitedly congratulating and encouraging you. This amazing person inside you responds to your decision to do what is right and call for His help, emanating sheer delight. You will experience His pleasure internally.
\nIs this oversimplifying the spiritual experience? Of course. But with complex realities, oversimplification is a great place to start. I see no reason to clutter up the picture with something too complicated before we acknowledge simple truths. God is a person who dwells inside His people and who reacts to our choices. Why should we not take His reactions to our choices as primarily what we call \u201csensing the presence of God\u201d?<\/p>\n
Sharing God\u2019s Happiness
\nIn fact, here\u2019s how it works. Since the Bible declares God is the source of life and all good things (James 1:17), any experience of true joy must have its source in God. Therefore, since God the Source dwells in you by His Spirit, your experience of joy must be emanating from God\u2019s experience of joy. The simple answer to the question of how peace and joy happen in our lives is this: if the God who dwells in you is pleased and full of joy, you will be too. Does that not align with what the Bible says elsewhere? \u201cThe joy of the LORD is your strength\u201d (Neh. 8:10). It does not say, \u201cYour joy about the LORD is your strength.\u201d It\u2019s God\u2019s joy in you that makes you strong.
\nIf that is the case, one question naturally follows. What kinds of choices stand the best chance of eliciting a joyful response from God? What choices make God satisfied and content, leaving you feeling His peace? Obviously, any obedient act will please God. Here are four verses that underscore that fact and validate our attributing humanlike emotions of pleasure to God.<\/p>\n
\u2022 \u2022 \u201cThe one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what pleases him\u201d (John 8:29).<\/p>\n
\u2022 \u2022 \u201cLive as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord\u201d (Eph. 5:8\u201310).<\/p>\n
\u2022 \u2022 \u201cChildren, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord\u201d (Col. 3:20).<\/p>\n
\u2022 \u2022 \u201cI urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people\u2014for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior\u201d (1 Tim. 2:1\u20133).<\/p>\n
Our obedience creates pleasure in God. But one more place in Scripture affirms my argument and directs our attention to the best way to please God and experience His peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. It\u2019s the famous parable of the talents that includes this well-known, twice-spoken statement often quoted at funerals: \u201cWell done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master\u2019s happiness!\u201d (Matt. 25:21, 23).
\nWhile this parable is usually misunderstood (I explain how in Fresh Eyes on Jesus\u2019 Parables), right now we should notice that last sentence for the way it underscores my claims in this chapter.
\nFirst, what we do can make God happy. The Greek word used in this passage is the word for \u201cjoy.\u201d The faithful servants\u2019 efforts made the master joyful. We must be careful not to automatically equate the master or king figure in a parable with God. That doesn\u2019t always work. But in this parable it does.
\nSecond\u2014and this is confirming and exciting\u2014God wants us to experience His joy. In the original Greek, the sentence reads, \u201cEnter the joy of your master.\u201d God\u2019s heart\u2019s desire is that His servants faithfully work to profit His kingdom, and when they do, He invites them to experience His joy. This gives us hope but also presents a sobering diagnostic question: If a Christian\u2019s experience of peace and joy comes from the joyful emanations of God prompted by our faithful and fruitful service, then what might the lack of joy and peace suggest?<\/p>\n
Enjoying Joy Again
\nIf you have been following the argument so far, then that question is not hard to answer. Under ordinary circumstances, the lack of joy and peace means a person is not \u201cmaking God happy\u201d in some way because of their choices and actions. This is the place to begin looking when a person experiences common depression. (Of course, there are forms of depression that are severe and based in physiological or psychological disorders or trauma, but I am talking about common depression and anxiety that cloud many people\u2019s lives.) If this is the case, then there are generally two biblical courses of action.<\/p>\n
Inspection
\nAsk God to examine your heart, mind, and life for any evidence of sin. The psalmist urged us to pray, \u201cSearch me, God. . . . See if there is any offensive way in me\u201d (Ps. 139:23\u201324). You probably know those verses well, but be very careful. Often Christians try to engage in self-examination. But we do not have a search warrant. Only God does. It is not our place to look for errant ways in heart or mind without the light of His wisdom. We can\u2019t know our inner workings. Too many false impressions and strong compulsions for self-protection make us very poor examiners. However, when we faithfully leave ourselves open to God\u2019s inspection, we can trust Him to reveal \u201coffensive\u201d ways when we need to see them.
\nIf you lack peace and joy, humble yourself before the Lord and ask Him to show you where your heart has gone offtrack. Here\u2019s what you will find. When you see and confess where you went wrong, the joy of the Lord will begin to rise up in you even before you have a chance to change your behavior. Why? Because God the Person in you is thrilled that you have come to Him for correction.<\/p>\n
Circumspection
\nUnlike inspection, which only the Lord should undertake, circumspection is partly your responsibility, because it involves actions you can observe rather than heart matters you can\u2019t. You can hear the words you speak and see the choices you make. Those are open for evaluation. In this regard, the primary question to ask yourself is whether you are engaging in the acts of service and compassion that conform to the ways of God\u2019s kingdom. When you engage in kingdom work as a life priority, everything else you need, including any joy or peace you lack, is added to your life (Matt. 6:33).
\nEven nonbelievers experience this kingdom benefit. Many psychological studies have shown that meaningful, sacrificial service can provide a powerful antidote to common depression. The Lord is so good He pours sunshine and showers blessings on the righteous and the unrighteous (Matt. 5:45). However, the great benefit for believers is that these blessings occur internally as the joy of the Lord springs up from within (John 7:38\u201339).
\nIf you believe this and genuinely pursue pleasing God as your first priority, you will experience fewer days when you come home from work or other activities emanating frustration and discontent. Wouldn\u2019t that be a blessing for you and everyone around you!<\/p>\n
20\/20 Focus
\n1. 1. Sometimes we worry about connecting human personhood with divine personhood. While we must take care when making that kind of correlation, can you recall places where Jesus gave us permission to think about God having traits like us?<\/p>\n
2. 2. This chapter presents a fresh way to think about what it means to sense God\u2019s presence. Can you put that new perspective into your own words? What was a situation when you experienced an inner \u201cemanation\u201d of God?<\/p>\n
3. 3. Have you ever struggled with common depression or some degree of persistent discouragement? How did it lift? Did you ever notice a correlation between engaging in acts of meaningful service to others and a decrease in feelings of depression or discouragement? Is it possible you were experiencing an inner \u201crush\u201d of God\u2019s pleasure?<\/p>\n
Lord, I would like to feel happier than I do most of the time. But I don\u2019t think my happiness should depend on circumstances going my way. I\u2019d like to feel a deep kind of happiness\u2014or call it joy\u2014even when times are tough. This chapter made me realize that, paradoxically, joy comes when I seek Your happiness, not my own. So I ask for life, liberty, and the pursuit of Your happiness. I trust that even this prayer pleases You. Amen.<\/p>\n
Vision Check
\nNew Scripture insights often come when we make logical analogies as this chapter does. If what we mean by the term person includes emotions, and God is a person, then He must have emotions. And if one person can often sense another person\u2019s emotions, then we should be able to sense God\u2019s emotions when we are in His presence. This skill of using analogies must be practiced, but it can increase over time.
\nTo practice, go to Psalm 23:1\u20134, which compares the Lord to a shepherd and describes what a shepherd does for the sheep. However, it says little about what the sheep do. Think about the role and activity, if any, the sheep have in the process of being shepherded and begin making connections between sheep and people. What implications do you discover from this analogy? Jot down your thoughts and then go to dougnewton.com or the Fresh Eyes app to see what I came up with.<\/p>\n
6<\/p>\n
The Burden of Busyness<\/p>\n
Come, All Who Are Weary<\/p>\n
Matthew 11:28\u201330<\/p>\n
If you live on the edge of exhaustion, don\u2019t try to fix it the way the world advises.<\/p>\n
As incredible as it may seem, what may be America\u2019s biggest social problem today is something the Bible never forecasted. We probably have several nominees vying for the top spot. Drug and alcohol addiction, racism, gun violence, poverty, sexual abuse, divorce, and abortion seem to be front-runners. But I think a serious yet often-overlooked problem is busyness.
\nOn the surface, busyness seems innocuous, nothing more than a bothersome pest we try to swat away: \u201cOh yeah, I wish I wasn\u2019t so busy, but that\u2019s just the way things are right now.\u201d However, busyness is not harmless. It does violence to marriages and families. It assaults our spirits and batters our emotions. It causes broken promises and frayed nerves. All the good things in life that bring peace and contentment require time that busyness steals away.
\nIf you asked me, \u201cWhat is the biggest change you have seen in the church over your forty-plus years of pastoral ministry?\u201d I would answer, \u201cPeople have gotten so busy it\u2019s hard to be a healthy church anymore.\u201d What could be more detrimental to the world than the loss of healthy churches? Something has gone dangerously wrong when participation in the body of Christ\u2014one of the Christian\u2019s key callings\u2014becomes one of many secondary \u201cevents\u201d that has to be squeezed into the family itinerary between soccer games and dance lessons.
\nYou would think if busyness was such a huge problem, the Bible would say a lot about it. But surprise . . . the Bible says nothing. Scour the pages of Scripture from beginning to end and you won\u2019t find a thing about the problem of being too busy. Oh, it uses the word busy a few times: \u201cFor the fool speaks folly, and his heart is busy with iniquity\u201d (Isa. 32:6 ESV). \u201cWe hear that some among you are idle and disruptive. They are not busy; they are busybodies\u201d (2 Thess. 3:11). But none of these addresses the problem we call busyness: being overcommitted, running around helter-skelter, having no time for sit-down family meals, struggling to keep all the plates spinning. The surprising and sobering fact is that this huge problem did not exist for most people during the centuries in which the Bible was written. This problem is unprecedented. \u201cStop and smell the roses\u201d is not a Bible saying.
\nIt\u2019s arguable whether people are as busy as they claim. Being \u201cbusy\u201d is a status symbol, it seems, so people like to think of themselves as busy. However, regardless of what a time-management study would reveal, everyone feels rushed and ragged. We clamor for more sleep, because we feel so tired. We jump at the latest time-saving schemes. We can now control and monitor our home lighting, heating, and security through our cell phones, an ability that is becoming more important because we are never home to flip switches and lock doors. Ironically, all these time-saving methods and devices allow us to cram our mobile lives with more activity, not less. Feelings of frustration and fragmentation mount, because our days are full of scattered pieces that don\u2019t hold together thematically.
\nAt this point, we cast about looking for solutions to feeling overwhelmed and tired. The obvious answer, it seems, is to figure out a way to scale back our activities. We devour books about \u201csimplifying.\u201d We commiserate with friends and agree to create margin or boundaries. We think, That\u2019s what I need to do. After all, I\u2019m no good to anybody else if I\u2019m not taking care of myself. We resign from committees or groups we didn\u2019t really want to participate in anyway. For about two weeks we enjoy a little relief from feeling overwhelmed. But human nature abhors a vacuum, and before long we\u2019ve let ourselves get overloaded again. Our time is like money; when we save it in one place, we tend to spend it in another.
\nAttempting to relieve the burden of busyness by trying to slow down, simplify, and create margin is like scooping out a hole in the sand at the seashore. The next wave fills it back in. We need to do something different. That\u2019s where this famous saying of the Lord, which promises rest for burdened and weary people, comes in. It presents us with a solution, but it\u2019s so countercultural and counterintuitive most people miss it.<\/p>\n
A Countercultural Solution
\nWe must never underestimate the influence of the technological culture that surrounds us. It\u2019s the air we breathe. Without our noticing, it trains us to view life according to a push-button paradigm. That is, we approach everything as a problem to be fixed, a need to be met, or a desire to be satisfied, as though we only need to find the right pill, the right routine, the right relationship, or the right opportunity and everything will work out. Most of us have developed a deeply ingrained habit of relying on things outside ourselves and, ironically, within ourselves to figure out how to possess those things we want most. If only we can figure it all out before it\u2019s too late.
\nHowever, Jesus\u2019 famous promise about \u201csoul rest\u201d begins with one habit-breaking requirement: \u201cCome to me\u201d (Matt. 11:28). We read right past that requirement without pausing to recognize its embedded challenge. It implies that there is no hope for soul rest by going to any other source of help. Again, you might be nodding your head as if that point is obvious. And it may be, intellectually. But the ways we fail to act according to that fundamental principle may not be so obvious.
\nThe famous Psalm 23 begins by stating, \u201cThe LORD is my shepherd\u201d (v. 1). It then talks about green pastures and quiet waters where a person can find rest, refreshment, and guidance (vv. 2\u20133). But the most important word in those verses is the pronoun he. \u201cHe makes me lie down\u201d (v. 2). \u201cHe leads me\u201d (v. 2). \u201cHe refreshes my soul\u201d (v. 3). \u201cHe guides me\u201d (v. 3). All these soul-satisfying provisions come because of the Shepherd Lord.
\nHowever, if we look at our lives honestly, too much of the time we live as if \u201cI am my shepherd.\u201d I am looking for green pastures. I am searching for quiet waters. I am taking on the responsibility for restoration. If I am going to relieve this burden of busyness that so wearies me, I will have to take matters into my own hands. Figure it out. Come up with a new game plan. Scale back my activities. Learn to say no.
\nIn stark contrast, Jesus\u2019 promise of soul rest begins with a 180-degree shift away from the cultural habit of figuring things out on our own. No matter how convincing or compelling the advice other sources give us, it is not our domain to make these decisions. We need boundaries against burnout. Yes. But we do not set them. He does. We need time for personal space, but we do not schedule it at our own discretion. And yes, we need breathers\u2014green pastures and still waters. We can\u2019t handle non-stop service. But the Lord is our shepherd, not we ourselves. He knows when. He knows what and how much. When we try to work out self-care in our own wisdom to guarantee rest and restoration, we inevitably fall into the category of those who are trying to \u201csave their life.\u201d This always backfires (Luke 9:24).
\nJust as God led the Israelites out of bondage in Egypt, the only way out of the burden of busyness is to be guided out by the Lord. That brings us to the counterintuitive part of this promise of soul rest.<\/p>\n
A Counterintuitive Solution
\nAs we have already seen, when we try to be our own shepherds, our natural path to rest involves slowing down, backing out of commitments, and learning to say no. But according to Jesus\u2019 invitation to come to Him, rest comes through doing work. Read that again: according to Jesus, rest comes through doing work! (If you are panicking right now, take a deep breath and stick with me.)
\nThis is counterintuitive. You would think rest comes from laying off work. However, notice what Jesus says right after the promise \u201cI will give you rest\u201d (Matt. 11:28). He says, \u201cTake my yoke upon you\u201d (v. 29). Over the years, I\u2019ve heard many teachers explain how the yoke works, and it\u2019s very interesting. But ironically the main point gets lost in the detailed explanation. It\u2019s lying right on the surface: a yoke symbolizes work, even hard work. You don\u2019t take on a yoke to sit on the couch. You don\u2019t find soul rest by looking for ways to relax. You look for ways to do work\u2014just a special kind of work. You join Jesus in His work. But I am not talking about \u201cthe Lord\u2019s work\u201d in a generic sense. Lots of people get exhausted doing the Lord\u2019s work, generally speaking. They live their Christian lives as if there\u2019s a to-do list from here to kingdom come\u2014literally.
\nJesus\u2019 yoke differs from that. There may be a thousand things we could do that fall into the category of \u201cthe Lord\u2019s work,\u201d but on any given day or during any given season, the Lord is saying something more specific: \u201cWork with Me on this.\u201d Listening for those more specific instructions, finding that personal yoke, is the only kind of work, the only thing, that will bring soul rest. And it really does . . . even when you\u2019re bone tired physically.
\nA few years ago, I was leading a midweek small group. One night the end of the meeting neared, and we generally closed our group meeting with an open time of prayer. On this night I was tired and hoping the prayer time would be short. I was more eager to get home, kick up my feet, and watch a favorite TV program than I was to \u201cpray for one another.\u201d However, during this time in my life I was learning how to sense the Lord\u2019s prompting toward specific prayer. So even though I was not in an enthusiastic \u201clistening\u201d mode at that moment, I did unfortunately \u201chear\u201d something in my mind that aroused my attention: \u201cSay to her, \u2018Susan, you were a good child.\u2019\u201d
\nThe thought came out of the blue, and it did not seem fitting for what I knew about Sue. Plus, it seemed like a strange thing to say to a person in that setting. So I faced a decision. Should I act on the thought or pass it off as bogus so I could get home to my comfy clothes and bag of chips? Probably driven more by potential guilt than spiritual vigor, I interrupted the prayer time and tentatively delivered the message. \u201cSue, I think I\u2019m supposed to tell you that you were a good child.\u201d And I\u2019m glad I did.
\nThe second I said the words, Sue and her husband wept with tears of joy and freedom. After composing themselves, they explained what was going on. Without going into the somewhat-chilling details, unknown to me or anyone in the group, this couple had been going through a very hard time. Over the previous months they had experienced some traumatic moments that led to Sue seeking counseling. The counselor tracked some of her problems back to childhood issues related to her dad and her parents\u2019 divorce.
\nThe counselor had assigned Sue to write a letter to herself as a child to tell her child-self, from her adult point of view, that she was a good child. That very afternoon before our group meeting, she sat at her kitchen table with a blank sheet of paper, trying to complete the counselor\u2019s assignment, but she couldn\u2019t. Sobbing, she told her husband, \u201cI can\u2019t do it because I wasn\u2019t good! I wasn\u2019t good!\u201d
\nSo when I spoke those words\u2014words I couldn\u2019t have known to say\u2014Sue and her husband were enabled to embrace the liberating truth she struggled to accept, because the message clearly came from the Lord. And me? It didn\u2019t matter whether I got home to get some rest, because my soul was restored. I had the thrill of working alongside the Lord. Wow, His yoke was light!
\nThese kinds of situations don\u2019t happen every day. But their impact lingers. Plus, they can happen frequently enough to keep us living consistently in that paradox of soul rest through yoke work.<\/p>\n
How to Step Under the Yoke
\nPeople wonder how to stay in a listening posture so they hear these kinds of \u201cyoke\u201d instructions from the Lord. The fundamental answer is to \u201cremain\u201d in the Lord through prayer and immersion in His Word. But I have found an additional, more specific habit to develop that keeps us sensitized to God\u2019s voice. Live a permission-seeking life.
\nWhen you bring the Lord into the loop of all your decisions, not just the major ones you worry about, your ability to perceive God\u2019s voice increases. However, so often we don\u2019t even think to ask the Lord for permission before we act, because we tend to assume if something is not morally wrong, it is automatically right, as if it comes with built-in permission. That is not true. We must develop the habit of consulting the Lord to give Him opportunity to speak into every situation. \u201cLord, there is nothing inherently wrong about spending our money to take a relaxing trip to the mountains, but is that okay with You?\u201d Initially, the act of pausing to include the Lord before simple decisions may seem artificial and even unnecessary, but that habit develops spiritual sensitivity.
\nMy wife, Margie, and I have been married forty-three years. I know her very well\u2014what she likes, doesn\u2019t like, values, and doesn\u2019t value. If we played the Oldywed Game (rather than the Newlywed Game), I would probably guess her answers correctly every time. Paradoxically, however, the longer I have loved and trusted her and the more I know about her heart and mind, the less likely I am to make decisions without getting her input first. That\u2019s what love and respect create: a passion to keep the loved one in the loop.
\nDon\u2019t assume you know what the Lord wants you to do without asking. In our Christian subculture, we are often told that having a passion for something good, plus the personal gifts and strengths to accomplish it, is how you discern God\u2019s will. After all, He wouldn\u2019t have made you with those passions and gifts if He didn\u2019t want you doing those things. Yet even this is not necessarily true. Something can be good, you can be gifted and even feel called, but you still should seek God\u2019s permission before you act. You may not be the person He wants to use in that situation, this may not be the time to act, or you may not be ready. In other words, never assume you have God\u2019s permission until you explicitly seek it. When this becomes your habit, your listening skills increase.
\nSo don\u2019t quit everything, buy a small farm in South Dakota, and raise chickens, thinking you\u2019ll fix the problem of busyness\u2014unless He tells you to. You can find green pastures right where you are. Jesus, your Shepherd, is inviting you to off-load your heavy burden of busyness, accept the easy burden of His daily business, and the rest\u2014as promised\u2014will follow.<\/p>\n
20\/20 Focus
\n1. 1. State in your own words the common advice the world gives to people who are overwhelmed by busyness.<\/p>\n
2. 2. In what ways have you attempted to follow the world\u2019s advice or tried to be your own shepherd? (Be as honest as possible.)<\/p>\n
3. 3. Make a list of some of the good things you have been doing but which the Lord may not have directed you to do.<\/p>\n
4. 4. Is there something you have sensed, perhaps for a long time, that the Lord has been wanting you to do but other good things have kept you too busy?<\/p>\n
Lord, I am tired of being tired. I\u2019ve been relating to You all wrong. I\u2019ve been asking You to step under my yoke to help me pull my load, rather than stepping under Your yoke to join Your work. I want that to change, but I\u2019m scared I won\u2019t recognize Your voice and I\u2019ll just start taking on more things I can\u2019t handle. I really need rest\u2014true spiritual rest. So I\u2019m ready to listen and do only what You tell me. Help me trust You to show me Your yoke. Amen.<\/p>\n
Vision Check
\nAlmost everything Jesus said or did was counter to the common ways of thinking and acting, as seen in this chapter about the way true rest comes through divinely directed work. One way to discover something new in Scripture is to expect to find principles and perspectives that are upside down or backward in relation to conventional thinking. Start by writing down a sentence that captures conventional wisdom. Then ask yourself, What if that is not the right way to look at things? and imagine the exact opposite.
\nTry this: a common assumption among Christians is that we are supposed to be about the Lord\u2019s work. That\u2019s our calling: to be doing the Lord\u2019s work. But what if, in one sense, that\u2019s not the case? Read two portions of Scripture (John 1:19\u201334; 3:22\u201330) that describe John the Baptist\u2019s work and expect to see things differently from what conventional thinking would suggest. Write down your ideas. Then go to dougnewton.com or the Fresh Eyes app to see what I saw.<\/p>\n
7<\/p>\n
Good Impressions<\/p>\n
My Ways Are Not Yours<\/p>\n
Isaiah 55:8\u20139<\/p>\n
Wouldn\u2019t it be nice if we could know what God was thinking and doing?<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve accidentally ruined a few things in my life. Like the time I decided to repair our 1971 Volkswagen van with the help of Volkswagen Repair for Dummies. Apparently I should have purchased the coloring-book version, Volkswagen Repair for Ultra Dummies.
\nThen there was the time we installed new carpet in our bedroom. After doing that, the doors wouldn\u2019t open, of course. Because of the carpet\u2019s extra height, there was not enough gap between the floor and the bottom of the door. So I took the door off the hinges, carried it out to the garage, laid it on two sawhorses, marked a line where I would cut off a half inch, and set up a guide rail to make sure the line was straight and smooth. Proud of myself, I thought, That\u2019s just like Dad would have done it.
\nUnfortunately, Dad was not there to head me off at the pass. When I laid the door across the sawhorses, I noticed a gash on the face of the door. Might as well cut that end and get rid of the unsightly scratch, I thought. I did everything right\u2014safety glasses, perfect cut, remounted it on the hinges, dropped the hinge pins in\u2014and realized it still dragged on the carpet . . . because I had cut the wrong end. There was now a huge half-inch gap between the top of the door and the doorframe. Smart? No.
\nI could keep describing other ruinous mistakes I have made. Perhaps you\u2019ve accidentally wrecked some things too\u2014and if you would send me an email, it would make me feel better. Sometimes those ruinous mistakes prove more costly than comical. Such is the case with the famous saying about God\u2019s higher ways and thoughts highlighted in this chapter. No one set out to mess up this text, but the standard application has caused harmful effects.
\nOver my years of pastoral ministry, I have found most people come out of the spiritual starting gate with a preformed view of God as distant and austere. Then they hear these two verses as reminders of how different and far above us God is. I\u2019ve even heard the text read with a stern voice and an index finger striking the air percussively: \u201cFor my thoughts are not your thoughts . . .\u201d The preacher\u2019s tone of voice seems to add, \u201cAnd don\u2019t you forget it!\u201d The passage continues, \u201c\u2018Neither are your ways my ways,\u2019 declares the LORD. \u2018As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts\u2019\u201d (Isa. 55:8\u20139).
\nThat unfortunate view of God\u2019s distant otherness increases our struggle to view Him as approachable. We hear, \u201cWarning! Watch your attitude! Know your place. He is God. You are not!\u201d Even if Bible teachers didn\u2019t sound so harsh, their point was still that God is not like us. He is totally \u201cother\u201d than we. The things going on in His holy heart and His genius mind are vastly superior to the things going on in ours morally and intellectually. So don\u2019t expect to discern His ways and understand His thoughts.<\/p>\n
By Invitation Only
\nWe understand the motive behind this kind of \u201cotherness\u201d talk. With succinctness, it keeps our heads bowed and hearts humble. The problem is that this idea of God\u2019s otherness\u2014while true\u2014is not the point of the chapter within which these verses are found. In fact, the chapter teaches quite the opposite. It is all about the Totally Other One wanting to bridge the unbridgeable gulf between us. You\u2019ll see that more clearly after noting four observations.
\nObservation 1: notice the striking rapid succession of imperative verbs in the opening. An imperative verb gives a command of some sort. Some commands are pushy, but others are pleasant, because they act as invitations. That\u2019s what we read here. The first six verses contain fifteen invitations; I\u2019ve put them in italics: \u201cCome, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and you will delight in the richest of fare. Give ear and come to me; listen, that you may live. . . . Seek the LORD while he may be found; call on him while he is near\u201d (Isa. 55:1\u20133, 6).
\nDoes this sound like someone who wants to keep His distance? Is His point to make sure we remember how far removed He is from us?
\nObservation 2: To whom is God extending all these gracious invitations? What is their condition? They are penniless. They are identified as those \u201cwho have no money\u201d (v. 1)\u2014people who lack the ability or resources to get what they need.
\nObservation 3: What is He offering these people? Wine, milk, and bread that can be bought in a figurative sense, because they are offered \u201cwithout cost\u201d (v. 1). It is important to note that God is inviting them to more than a soup line of basic sustenance. His invitation includes a banquet table spread with the \u201crichest of fare\u201d (v. 2).
\nObservation 4: What will result if people accept His invitation? The rich fare is symbolic. The cuisine God offers delights the soul, not just the palate, and gives life (v. 3).
\nThe context of this famous saying is God offering rich spiritual food to people who have no resources or ability to obtain it\u2014even encouraging them to come enjoy it. That being the case, we must approach the \u201chigher ways and thoughts\u201d verses not as a warning but as an invitation as well. Here God invites human beings to receive, drink, and eat His life-giving and life-delighting thoughts and ways\u2014thoughts and ways that are far above and beyond our own. The whole point of the chapter is not for us to be afraid to come and get this greater \u201cfood\u201d from Him or even to encourage our humility before God! The context totally destroys the common idea that these verses tell us what we can\u2019t know. In fact, in stark contrast, they declare the heights of what we can know, if we\u2019ll only come and seek.<\/p>\n
Rain in the Forecast
\nHow do we draw near to obtain His thoughts if they are so high above ours? Do we try to meditate our way up to some state of heavenly consciousness? No. God bridges the unbridgeable distance by sending His thoughts and ways to us. He told His people, \u201cAs the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth . . . so is my word that goes out from my mouth\u201d (vv. 9\u201311).
\nThe parallels in verses 9 and 10 establish that the starting location of God\u2019s thoughts is the starting location of rain and snow and that the rain coming down to produce buds, seeds, and bread is like God\u2019s words. They come from heaven out of His mouth to produce and promote His will on earth. God promised, \u201cSo 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\u201d (v. 11). God sends words from heaven that express and enact His ways and thoughts to those who come, buy, eat, listen, delight, seek, and call, according to His invitation.
\nBut this promising invitation comes with one condition and prerequisite: \u201cLet the wicked forsake their ways and the unrighteous their thoughts\u201d (v. 7). It is simply logical that before we should expect to receive what God has to offer, we must clear away the clutter of our own ways and thoughts. Once we have done that, then the rest is up to God. God continuously showers the earth with His ways and thoughts, and they are free to anyone who responds to His invitation. But don\u2019t we already have this \u201cfood\u201d from God in His Word?<\/p>\n
The Danger Zone
\nGod already deposited His thoughts and showed us His ways in Holy Scripture. His written Word provides an inexhaustible storehouse of spiritual food. In its pages, we meet the Spirit of God and find life, as Isaiah 55 promises. But the gift of God\u2019s ways and thoughts is not exclusively there.
\nThe clearest and best revelation comes in the person of Jesus Christ, the way, the truth, and the life. As we know from John\u2019s gospel, He is the very Word of God made flesh and the bread of life (1:14; 6:35). Jesus embodied the invitation of Isaiah 55 and its fulfillment.
\nBut God also deposits His thoughts directly into our minds. Our thoughts actually often are His thoughts. This is the third and often-neglected location where the raindrops of God\u2019s ways and thoughts land. It\u2019s neglected because of the well-known dangers involved in making assumptions in this area. Much damage has been done by people who claim to have a \u201cword from God\u201d or an \u201cimpression\u201d that is way off base. Yet rather than steer clear, we should learn to steer carefully.
\nScripture provides a great deal of evidence that God wants to deposit His thoughts directly into our minds. Scripture explicitly states that happened for many of the Old Testament prophets (Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, for example). Since Pentecost, ordinary people also enjoy this privilege, according to Acts 2:17\u201318. Paul claimed we have the mind of Christ so that what we cannot conceive will be revealed to us in words the Spirit teaches (1 Cor. 2:9\u201316). Our responsibility is to let the Spirit control our minds. When we do so, God\u2019s words remain in us and the Spirit helps us pray when we don\u2019t know what to say. He even gives us words in challenging situations and wisdom when we ask (Matt. 10:19\u201320; James 1:5). The Bible says God\u2019s mind and our minds can be in much greater union than we often think.
\nThe Old Testament prophets foretold a kind of union with God wherein His will moves our wills (Ezek. 36:26\u201327; Jer. 24:7). Jesus often spoke of the possibility of spiritual union with Him (e.g., John 15), and the apostle Paul reaffirmed it several times (e.g., Col. 1:27; Gal. 2:20; Rom. 8:9\u201311). Paul also stated that Christ is living and working in us \u201cto will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose\u201d (Phil. 2:13). God obviously desires union with His people.
\nSo here\u2019s a question: Does this spiritual union mean God moves only our wills? Does it not also mean His heart moves our hearts and His mind moves our minds? Of course. There are things He wants us to know, but there are also things He wants us to do, to join Him in, so we can be informed and instructed in His ways and thoughts all the more.<\/p>\n
A Case in Point
\nOne day a fellow came into my church office on the brink of suicide. He was an ex-con whose wife of twenty-seven years had just announced her decision to divorce him. She could no longer handle his chronic lying that year after year led to innumerable tall tales and serious crimes. But he was also a \u201cgood guy\u201d who had served his country in the navy. This Jekyll-Hyde moral split in his character had become unbearable to her\u2014and now to him as well. He wanted to end it all.
\nI had never met him before, so I spent some time learning his story. Our conversation seemed to stabilize him for the time being. Eventually I offered to pray and asked him to come back the next day to see me at the same time, hoping an appointment of that sort would give him a reason not to take suicidal action when he left.
\nThe next day he returned. I was relieved, and we talked some more. He did not have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, so once again near the end of an hour I asked if I could pray with him. He agreed, and I began. I was no more than two sentences into my prayer before a thought sprang to my mind\u2014dare I say \u201ca strong impression\u201d\u2014to ask him to do something.
\n\u201cJim, I don\u2019t know why, but I think the Lord wants me to ask you to stop at a store tonight on your way home and pick up a brand-new notebook, one of those \u2018composition\u2019 types, and a brand new pen. I\u2019m not sure why, but it may be the Lord wants you to document some of your costlier lies and to seek specific forgiveness from Him and the people you might have deceived. Are you willing to do that?\u201d
\nI barely finished before, with an astonished look, he jumped in. He said, \u201cWhen I left here yesterday, I stopped at the store to pick up milk and was walking past the school supplies section. I had the strongest compulsion to go down the aisle. I didn\u2019t know why. Then I saw the section with notebooks\u201d\u2014he reached for the backpack he had brought\u2014\u201cand I bought a new notebook. Then I thought I should get a new pen. So I did. And I brought them with me today.\u201d As he was explaining, he pulled out the new pen and composition notebook and placed them on the table in front of us!
\nNow we were both astonished, but I gathered myself enough to say, \u201cJim, you see? God is letting you know that He wants to save your life\u2014not just physically but spiritually.\u201d
\nThat was several years ago, and since that time, Jim has grown spiritually. His marriage was restored and now thrives. And though he has faced serious physical problems, taking him to the brink of death several times, his faith and Christian witness are vibrant.
\nI can\u2019t think of any better reason for God to want His ways and thoughts to rain down on people like us\u2014who are not nearly wise or holy enough to handle situations like Jim\u2019s\u2014so the world around us would have a chance to know God is real and close at hand. Lord, forgive us for misusing this famous saying as a warning to humble us rather than an invitation to nourish and employ us.<\/p>\n
20\/20 Focus
\n1. 1. For some reason many, many Christians seem inclined to see God as distant and austere\u2014as if He\u2019s unapproachable and ready to zap us if we become too familiar. Why do you think that is?<\/p>\n
2. 2. This chapter focuses attention on the indisputable spirit of invitation in Isaiah 55. Can you think of other passages in Scripture that similarly encourage people to accept an invitation to connect with and receive from the Lord?<\/p>\n
3. 3. Most of the chapter talks about the Lord giving us His thoughts. But Isaiah 55 also promises us we\u2019ll be given His ways. What might that mean?<\/p>\n
4. 4. Think about some area of uncertainty or responsibility you face that requires more knowledge or wisdom than you currently have. Reconsider this passage and accept the Lord\u2019s invitation to \u201ccome, buy and eat\u201d what you need.<\/p>\n
Lord, the fresh insights from this Scripture open up my heart and mind to new possibilities. But my faith still feels weak. Will You really supply me with Your ways and thoughts? I want to believe that You will, especially in light of how frequently I feel at a loss about what to do or think in tough times. Help me trust You enough to reach out and receive. Help me be a living example of a person who hears and speaks Your words and walks in Your ways. Amen.<\/p>\n
Vision Check
\nCarpenters have a rule of thumb: measure twice; cut once. In other words, double-check to make sure you\u2019re right before doing something you can\u2019t undo. We need to apply that rule to interpreting a Bible passage. Am I sure I understand the context? Check it again. Even if it seems as if there\u2019s no other way to think about it, check it again. In the time you take to check and recheck, you are giving the Lord time to show you something new.
\nRead Romans 7:18\u201319, where Paul spoke candidly about his struggle to do what\u2019s right against his sinful impulses. He said, \u201cI know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do\u2014this I keep on doing.\u201d This Scripture is often used to describe Christians\u2019 inevitable struggle against our sinful natures. Is that what Paul was getting at? Double-check the context starting from the beginning of the chapter. You may even have to triple-check it. Here\u2019s the question: Was Paul referring to his present or his former condition? What do you see? Find out what I saw by going to dougnewton.com or the Fresh Eyes app.<\/p>\n
8<\/p>\n
The Greater Commission<\/p>\n
Go and Make Disciples<\/p>\n
Matthew 28:19\u201320<\/p>\n
Are you sure you\u2019re hearing the same commission the disciples heard?<\/p>\n
Christmas usually disappointed me as a kid. Even though I grew up in a stable Christian home with wonderful parents who invested a lot of effort in holidays like Christmas, I often felt a vague sadness at the end of Christmas Day. Yes, we had fun opening presents, and I usually got the top items on my wish list. But the way it was over so quickly\u2014this day I had waited weeks for\u2014left me depressed. Santa didn\u2019t deliver anything that lasted. By December 26, I had drained not only the batteries for the remote-control car I had wanted for so long but also my enthusiasm for it.
\nEven though Mom and Gram always baked sweet rolls, pecan pies, and sugar cookies that lasted for several days, some ingredient must\u2019ve been left out of the overall holiday recipe, because Christmas itself tasted flat. Navidad was always less feliz than I hoped.
\nSometimes I caused that disappointment. I snooped. One year I had to know whether I was getting the ukulele I\u2019d begged for. Four days before Christmas I found it under my parents\u2019 bed. Couldn\u2019t their hiding place have been more creative? Christmas was spoiled. My fake surprise on Christmas morning added to my guilty feelings, and I crawled into bed that night a downcast deceiver.
\nAs the years have gone on, I have come to accept the fact of life I first faced on those lackluster Christmases: things rarely are all they are cracked up to be. I am no longer disappointed about that, however. Every once in a while, the real surpasses the anticipated. Like my wife and kids. What can I say? Better dreams than you ever dreamed do sometimes come true. But most of the time the key to staving off disappointment is having realistic expectations . . . yet not low expectations.
\nSadly, low expectations abound in Christian circles. Don\u2019t have high hopes and you\u2019ll not be disappointed. Pessimism of that sort often infiltrates our personal faith in the form of conventional wisdom. Don\u2019t expect the sense of peace to last. Don\u2019t expect to feel God\u2019s presence consistently. Don\u2019t expect to see cases of healing very often, if ever.
\nLike a low-grade fever that lingers and saps a person\u2019s strength, low expectations often infect otherwise potent biblical texts because of the way we interpret them. I hope to clarify this problem by looking at one of the most-quoted but most-misinterpreted Scripture texts: the so-called Great Commission. These amazing final earthly words of Jesus have been appropriately memorized but also unfortunately vagurized. I don\u2019t usually coin words, but there needs to be a verb for making something vague, because that\u2019s what we\u2019ve done to this famous saying. And by making it vague, we have drained it of its implicit promise and power.
\nHow have we made the Great Commission vague? By not hearing it as the disciples would have heard it, especially the part where Jesus said, \u201cTeaching them to obey everything I have commanded you\u201d (Matt. 28:20). We hear that command as people who now have all four gospels that include all Jesus\u2019 commands. We live almost twenty centuries down the line, with twenty centuries of church history and of scholars and practitioners who have tried to explain the disciple-making process. As a result, it\u2019s as if an eighteen-wheeler has backed up to the church\u2019s loading dock and all the discipleship experts have filled that semi with every command Jesus ever gave, every technique Jesus ever used, and every doctrine Jesus ever taught. Then in response to the question, \u201cWhat do we need to teach in order to make disciples?\u201d we ship out this truckload of discipleship commands and resources.
\nHowever, that truck delivers very little of what the disciples would have heard that day. Boxes and boxes of accumulated content Jesus never meant to include in that discipleship command cram our minds. And as we\u2019re about to see, this once \u201cgreat\u201d commission has become a gorged commission and, consequently, vague.<\/p>\n
The First Commission
\nHappily, we have a way of knowing\u2014or at least making a sound assumption about\u2014what Jesus meant and the disciples heard. How so? Scripture provides us with a parallel event, a prior commissioning moment, which Jesus referred to when He said, \u201cTeaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.\u201d Matthew 10 records the details of what I call the First Commission, when Jesus called His first twelve disciples and gave them their marching orders. Can you imagine how memorable that moment would have been? \u201cJesus called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out impure spirits and to heal every disease and sickness\u201d (v. 1).
\nIt is important to note two things about this verse. First, it begins by conferring authority to act in His name. That parallels the Great Commission: \u201cAll authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations\u201d (28:18\u201319). Second, the First Commission immediately follows Matthew\u2019s account of Jesus \u201chealing every disease and sickness\u201d (9:35) among the multitudes out of compassion for their \u201charassed and helpless\u201d state (v. 36). This was when He looked longingly at His disciples and stated that \u201cthe harvest is plentiful but the workers are few\u201d (v. 37) and urged them to \u201cask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field\u201d (v. 38).
\nIt is crucial to see that context for the First Commission. Clearly, it reveals the deep concern and chief purpose behind the commands Jesus gave His first disciples: bring life-giving preaching and healing to the masses. That\u2019s what He was longing to see more of. So that\u2019s why He commanded them, \u201cAs you go, proclaim this message: \u2018The kingdom of heaven has come near.\u2019 Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give\u201d (Matt. 10:7\u20138). These were the core mission commands He gave them. Until that point, His disciples had been admiring followers but still idle spectators. Imagine how surprised and even startled they might have been to hear themselves being sent out as the answer to Jesus\u2019 prayer for harvest workers.
\nThen Jesus added a series of strategic commands to follow as they fulfilled the key mission commands. We can summarize them this way: travel light, stay focused, prepare for opposition, and remain hopeful.<\/p>\n
Travel Light Matthew 10:9\u201310
\n\u201cDo not get any gold or silver or copper to take with you in your belts\u2014no bag for the journey or extra shirt or sandals or a staff, for the worker is worth his keep.\u201d
\nStay Focused Matthew 10:11\u201316
\n\u201cWhatever town or village you enter, search there for some worthy person and stay at their house until you leave. As you enter the home, give it your greeting. If the home is deserving, let your peace rest on it; if it is not, let your peace return to you. If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, leave that home or town and shake the dust off your feet. Truly I tell you, it will be more bearable for Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town. I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore, be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.\u201d
\nPrepare for Opposition
\nMatthew 10:17\u201325
\n\u201cBe on your guard; you will be handed over to the local councils and be flogged in the synagogues. On my account you will be brought before governors and kings as witnesses to them and to the Gentiles. But when they arrest you, do not worry about what to say or how to say it. At that time you will be given what to say, for it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death. You will be hated by everyone because of me, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. When you are persecuted in one place, flee to another. Truly I tell you, you will not finish going through the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes. The student is not above the teacher, nor a servant above his master. It is enough for students to be like their teachers, and servants like their masters. If the head of the house has been called Beelzebul, how much more the members of his household!\u201d
\nRemain Hopeful Matthew 10:26\u201333
\n\u201cSo do not be afraid of them, for there is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight; what is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the roofs. Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father\u2019s care. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don\u2019t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows. Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before others, I will disown before my Father in heaven.\u201d<\/p>\n
In summary, the First Commission contains numerous strategic commands associated with undertaking the five mission commands. Those core mission commands, in particular, would have rocked the disciples\u2019 world: \u201cYou mean we are supposed to do the works we have been watching Jesus do?\u201d After that, the strategic commands would\u2019ve added a sense of gravity to the entire commission\u2014their obedience would be costly.<\/p>\n
Focusing the Great Commission
\nNow let\u2019s return to the Great Commission and notice the ongoing parallel with the First Commission. Jesus conferred authority in both cases. Then in both cases He commanded His disciples to \u201cgo.\u201d In both He left them with words of hope, as in the Great Commission when He said, \u201cAnd surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age\u201d (Matt. 28:20). It would have seemed to the disciples as if Jesus was rewinding the tape and replaying the First Commission, except that this time they were to make disciples who obeyed the commands they had received at their initial commissioning.
\nDo you see it now? By uprooting the Great Commission from the context of how the disciples would have understood \u201ceverything I have commanded you\u201d (v. 20), the specific commands Jesus meant are lost. We\u2019ve made the Great Commission a multiplicity of commands Jesus made elsewhere but wasn\u2019t talking about here. As a result, disciple-making has become both more complicated and more vague.
\nIn fact, the goal of disciple-making is much simpler and clearer than we tend to make it: send out disciples who fulfill the First Commission\u2019s core mission commands. \u201cAs you go, proclaim this message: \u2018The kingdom of heaven has come near.\u2019 Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give\u201d (10:7\u20138). Sadly, in spite of all our disciple-making efforts and programs that emphasize doctrinal knowledge, kingdom values, and holy behavior, we rarely produce disciples who embrace\u2014much less obey\u2014these specific core commands. Of course, obeying or even attempting to obey commands like raising the dead seems inconceivable to our modern minds. Yet reputable, documented reports of such occurrences in history and around the world, such as in Craig Keener\u2019s scholarly two-volume work Miracles, should leave us open even to that possibility.<\/p>\n
Fulfilling the Great Commission
\nTherefore, the next logical question is this: How did Jesus develop disciples who were prepared to fulfill the First Commission? The answer once again proves disconcerting if we assume important questions always require complicated answers.
\nI studied philosophy in graduate school. I understand the impulse\u2014goodness knows I fight it daily\u2014to analyze ad absurdum. So when an answer comes along that seems too simplistic, I resist planting my feet there. However, as I face Scripture honestly, I see only three things Jesus did to shape disciples who fulfill their commission:<\/p>\n
\u2022 \u2022 Observation: He let them listen and watch as He lived in communion with the Father and powerfully declared and demonstrated the kingdom.<\/p>\n
\u2022 \u2022 Impartation: He made sure they had authority and power in His name. He both conferred it and commanded them to wait for it (Luke 24:49).<\/p>\n
\u2022 \u2022 Delegation: He sent them out to do what they had seen Him do\u2014heal and deliver, both spiritually and physically, the helpless and harassed. He did not put His followers through ministry school or require proof of competence. Their task was to step out boldly and act, in on-the-job training.<\/p>\n
How will we ever hope to fulfill the Great Commission unless we focus our attention on these basic commands Jesus gave in the First Commission? Imagine what kind of disciples we might develop and fruit we might see if we employed His simple, focused method: powerfully declare and demonstrate His kingdom, make sure disciples are filled with spiritual authority and power, and place them in front of dire human need that only the power of God can meet.
\nMaybe we need to become true disciples before we can make such disciples. Maybe we are followers who need the boldness to bring the kingdom ministries of healing and deliverance back into the center of the church\u2019s mission.
\nHave we lost confidence in what the Holy Spirit will do to enable Jesus\u2019 followers to obey Jesus\u2019 commands? Whenever that happens, human beings make things more complicated, as we substitute discipleship programs for divine power. What would happen if we appealed to the Lord, \u201cLord, we promise bold action if only You would release Your enabling power and authority among us again\u201d?
\nMaybe my Christmases were usually less than satisfying for a similar reason. But for every disciple ready to obey Jesus\u2019 core mission commands, God has gifts just waiting to be opened that will never disappoint.<\/p>\n
20\/20 Focus
\n1. 1. To say that our common understanding of the Great Commission is vague is not to say it is wrong or bad; it just lacks helpful specificity. How does the specificity supplied by the so-called First Commission help you?<\/p>\n
2. 2. What might a local church have to do in order to redesign its discipleship program to align more closely with what Jesus meant by \u201cteaching them to obey everything I have commanded you\u201d?<\/p>\n
3. 3. Notice that Jesus\u2019 \u201cTeach them to obey everything . . .\u201d includes commands to heal. But Jesus did not say \u201cTeach them to heal.\u201d Does that make any difference in your thinking?<\/p>\n
4. 4. With this new understanding in mind, what are some steps you can take now to begin to fulfill the Great Commission?<\/p>\n
Lord, I imagine You in the moment You gave the First Commission looking out over the multitudes, longing for more harvest workers. I\u2019d love to be one of the answers to Your prayer. But wow! That\u2019s quite scary if I take the disciples\u2019 First Commission seriously as the benchmark. If You want me to do that, I\u2019m going to need a strong sense of calling just as You gave them or I don\u2019t think I could ever step out. So here I am. Call me. Commission me. Send me. Amen.<\/p>\n
Vision Check
\nVagueness is the enemy of truth. Truth may sometimes be elusive, but when found, it\u2019s always crystal clear. Razor sharp. Whenever you come across a conventional teaching that leaves you wanting more specificity, don\u2019t stop with wishing. Keep searching. You can find other Scripture passages that will dial the focus knob toward more clarity.
\nPerhaps one of the greatest verses in the Bible states simply, \u201cGod is love\u201d (1 John 4:8). Wonderful! But obviously too vague. In what ways is He love? What does that look like? What does it mean? Pick out a Scripture passage that describes God\u2019s love in more specific detail\u2014or use Psalm 136\u2014and see how you can focus your understanding of God\u2019s love in a way that brings you fresh insight. Then hop on dougnewton.com or the Fresh Eyes app to check out how I used Psalm 136 when searching for a sharper answer.<\/p>\n
9<\/p>\n
A Big \u201cIf\u201d<\/p>\n
Faith as a Mustard Seed<\/p>\n
Matthew 17:20<\/p>\n
If I pray for someone\u2019s healing and that person isn\u2019t healed, is there something wrong with me?<\/p>\n
If you\u2019re sitting at the breakfast table with your family and your sister says, \u201cPlease pass the milk,\u201d what do you do? Do you pour some milk into the palm of your hand and pour it on her cereal? Of course not. You know what she meant. \u201cPlease pass the milk container.\u201d
\nVerbal shorthand like that, in this case called metonymy, fills our daily language. We encounter a special kind of shorthand, a metonymy, when a news reporter asks a spokesperson for the president, \u201cDoes the White House have any comment?\u201d In this case, the White House stands for the official position of the president and his team of advisers. Or when Shakespeare\u2019s Mark Antony famously appeals \u201cFriends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears\u201d (i.e., \u201cyour undivided attention\u201d).
\nMost people develop the ability to recognize such speech nuances by the time they\u2019re preteens. Until then, the misunderstandings can be comical. One Christmas season my friend\u2019s brilliant six-year-old son saw a poster on a storefront window that stated, JESUS IS THE REASON FOR THE SEASON. The precocious boy shook his head, went up to the lady at the cash register, and complained, \u201cI know Jesus is the reason for Christmas, but the reason for the season is the 23.5-degree tilt of the earth as it revolves around the sun.\u201d
\nA well-known children\u2019s book series featuring Amelia Bedelia capitalizes on the humor of taking words too literally. When Amelia is told to \u201cpitch a tent,\u201d she literally throws it into the bushes.2 When told to \u201cweed the garden,\u201d she takes that to mean she should plant weeds in the garden. Even small kids understand and giggle over her silly misunderstandings.
\nHowever, that doesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s always easy to tell when something is to be taken literally. We frequently run into this problem in Scripture. Did Jesus mean that you should literally pluck out your eye if it causes you to sin (Mark 9:47)? I knew a person whose brother did just that! Does God have hands and arms and a face? Many Bible verses describe Him that way. Are we supposed to track how many times we forgive someone (Matt. 18:21\u201322)? If so, it\u2019s important to know which translations are correct, because there\u2019s a difference of 413 times between forgiving \u201cseventy times seven\u201d and \u201cseventy-seven times.\u201d If the statement is literal, we should all hope for the lower number.
\nThose examples, however, are not too difficult to discern as nonliteral. Don\u2019t go plucking out your eyes; just be very aware of how you use them. Don\u2019t start counting the number of times you forgive; just keep forgiving. And don\u2019t expect God to reach out to touch you with an actual hand or to have an iconic face like Charlton Heston.
\nHowever, sometimes we can\u2019t tell for sure whether the verse is intended to be understood literally. Sincere Christians come down on different sides of the issue when reading the same verses. For example, when Jesus said we should \u201cturn . . . the other cheek\u201d (Matt. 5:39), was He meaning we should allow ourselves to be hit a second time? Was He speaking literally when He said to lend money to our enemies and not expect to get anything back (Luke 6:35)? Is the creation account in Genesis referring to six twenty-four-hour days? We have to make up our own minds, prayerfully, on these kinds of statements. That brings me to my experience trying to understand how to take this chapter\u2019s famous saying about mountain-moving faith.<\/p>\n
Desperate Dependence
\nA few years ago, I reached a point where I had to know what to make of Jesus\u2019 words about moving mountains. I assumed Jesus wasn\u2019t encouraging us to go around rearranging the geologic furniture on earth. But clearly, He was calling His disciples, then and now, to break through impossible situations with potent faith. What\u2019s more, Jesus embedded this fact of faith in a context of rebuke that meant, You should have been able to save the boy. If small faith is all it takes to move a mountain, you should have been able to get rid of a measly demon.
\nThat\u2019s where my concern began\u2014in a place of guilt over the lack of mountain-moving results up to that point in my life. I had prayed on numerous occasions for people needing healing who weren\u2019t healed. I had also experienced lots of other impossible situations I couldn\u2019t budge. So I had to know what I should expect of myself. Was something wrong with me? All I could hear was Jesus saying, \u201cIf you had faith . . . If you had even a little faith . . .\u201d I could only assume my lack of mountain-moving faith must have been my fault. So I had to know how to understand this frustrating famous saying.
\nBy that point, I had searched the text, the original language, and all the commentaries I had in my library for help. However, more study did not cast a brighter light. I realized that my only hope for insight on this text was a gift of revelation from the Lord.
\nBefore I move on to tell you what I discovered, I am eager to emphasize one wonderful point that puts in proper order everything else this book attempts to teach about having fresh eyes: ultimately, no matter how much we creatively engage with Scripture, we always depend on God\u2019s grace to help us see truth.
\nThis moment in my life was simply a case in point. My only hope was to come before the Lord on my knees with this text open and this simple request: \u201cLord, tell me how to understand this saying.\u201d So\u2014talk about being literal\u2014that\u2019s exactly what I did. I opened my Bible to this text, laid it on the couch, got on my knees, and told the Lord, \u201cI will not move off this text, I will not study anything else\u2014however long it takes\u2014until You help me see what I need to understand about faith and moving mountains.\u201d<\/p>\n
The KeyWord
\nThe next morning in my devotional time I was back at that spot. And the next. And the next. My Bible open. Praying the same prayer. Reading the same text and nothing else. I did that for at least two weeks, until one morning the simplest thought entered my mind like a key being inserted into a lock. What I saw and confirmed elsewhere in Scripture has become a foundational idea God has used over the years to bring not only freedom from the guilt this verse had previously triggered but also greater boldness to face impossible situations with faith.
\nThe Lord took me to the little word if that leads off the conditional clause, \u201cIf you have faith.\u201d Then He seemed to pose a question: \u201cWho is ultimately responsible for your having faith?\u201d
\n\u201cMe.\u201d I didn\u2019t say it out loud, but it seemed like I was in conversation and the Lord asked next, \u201cReally? Children grow if they have food, but is it up to them?\u201d
\nThat question was all it took to launch me into a new way of thinking. Yes, in the Christian life, faith is required. Clearly, Jesus expected the disciples to have faith in this situation. But that does not mean faith is generated by a person\u2019s will. None of us can grit our teeth and produce faith by the sweat of our brows. Here\u2019s how it comes: faith is a gift of God that is produced by the Word of God in people ready to affirm the truth of God. Let\u2019s pull this sentence apart into three sections.<\/p>\n
A Gift of God
\nThe fact that faith is a gift from God sometimes gets buried in another famous verse and thus limited in scope. Paul wrote, \u201cFor it is by grace you have been saved, through faith\u2014and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God\u2014not by works, so that no one can boast\u201d (Eph. 2:8\u20139).
\nWhen Paul wrote \u201cIt is the gift of God,\u201d the pronoun it refers to the whole scenario: being saved by grace through faith. The gift of God is not just salvation and not just grace and not just faith. All of it is a gift, including faith. If not for God\u2019s grace we would have neither the capacity for faith nor the content of faith.
\nPaul\u2019s Damascus Road experience certainly formed his viewpoint. The intense light that blinded him physically paradoxically opened his eyes spiritually. He had nothing to do with the inception of his ability to perceive Jesus as the Christ. That faith was a gift of grace. Because of what Paul learned through that experience, he prayed prayers like the following for his people: \u201cI keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you\u201d (1:17\u201318).
\nIt is true\u2014when God opens our minds (the capacity to understand) and dispenses revelation (the content we should understand), He expects us to act on what we come to know. That action is the expression of faith. That is our part. The failure to act in faith is what Jesus rebuked the disciples about. They had the capacity necessary to express faith in that moment, because they had been with Jesus long enough to know what was possible. But for some reason they did not act with the necessary confidence. They had the gift but didn\u2019t open it. That was their problem.<\/p>\n
Produced by the Word of God
\nEven though the disciples and people like Paul had the benefit of direct contact with Jesus, that is not necessary for faith to be produced. Paul wrote, \u201cSo faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ\u201d (Rom. 10:17 ESV). What initiates faith is the spoken Word of God. In fact, according to the apostle John, from the time of creation and beyond, everything God chooses to produce is accomplished through His Word (John 1:3), including faith. So today, when people like you and me engage with the text of Scripture, faith will be produced in us because we are encountering God\u2019s words, first spoken by the Spirit, then inscribed on paper. When the disciples and others were in direct physical contact with Jesus, they were engaging with the Word of God made flesh. But whether it\u2019s the Word made flesh or God\u2019s words made print, it\u2019s the Word of God that creates faith.
\nHowever, that doesn\u2019t occur automatically. If that was the case, then even skeptics and atheists who read Scripture would always wind up as believers.<\/p>\n
People Ready to Affirm the Truth of God
\nThe Word of God creates faith in people who are open to the truth of God. Notice that Jesus prefaced His comments about faith that moves mountains with the phrase, \u201cTruly I tell you\u201d (Matt. 17:20). That phrase\u2014or \u201cVerily I say unto you\u201d (KJV) or \u201cTruly I say to you\u201d (NASB)\u2014is an elaborated translation of the words Amen, amen.
\nYou probably know that Jesus often prefaced His primary teachings this way. But while it was common for Jesus, it was uncommon in His time. The usual practice then was to conclude prayers or statements of spiritual truth with \u201cAmen.\u201d That custom is still practiced today when preachers sometimes conclude their prayers with \u201cAnd all God\u2019s people said . . .\u201d then wait for the congregation to say \u201cAmen.\u201d That custom captures the purpose of the \u201cAmen.\u201d It is the way people take the opportunity to say, \u201cSo be it. We agree with that. We believe that. That\u2019s the way we want it.\u201d
\nSo why might Jesus have begun His words with \u201cAmen\u201d? By starting with that word, He was emphasizing the importance of affirming whatever He says before we even hear the words. It\u2019s as if Jesus was saying, \u201cI\u2019m about to tell you something important, but before I even say it, I expect you to be ready to believe and act on it simply because I am speaking My Father\u2019s words.\u201d
\nThat readiness to trust whatever God says is the prerequisite for faith being created by the Word of God. You shouldn\u2019t wait for more proof. Faith is not likely to be created in those who come to God\u2019s Word in stubbornness or skepticism.<\/p>\n
Got Unction?
\nLet\u2019s go back to the mountain-moving faith saying so I can show you how liberating this understanding of faith can be. Remember our summary statement: faith is a gift of God that is produced by the Word of God in people ready to affirm the truth of God. If faith comes from God, then whether or not you have faith is not up to you. Your part is to engage consistently with God\u2019s Word as someone who already has affirmed it in your heart. Your whole life is to be one big \u201cAmen\u201d to anything God says. If that\u2019s your spiritual habit, then from situation to situation God will give you the faith you need to perform anything that is His will. If the faith is not there, that\u2019s not necessarily a sign of failure. Rather, it likely points to something that is not God\u2019s will at that moment.
\nLet\u2019s take the question of healing as a case in point. Very often sincere Christians get confused about praying for healing. Many times we pray but nothing happens. Did we not have enough faith? Well-meaning fellow Christians might say that is true, using this mountain-moving passage as evidence. \u201cO me of little faith,\u201d we moan.
\nBut I have learned how anyone can be freed from that sense of condemnation. If you are sincerely and consistently engaging with God through His Word and Spirit and if you are cultivating a spirit ready to trust everything God affirms and promises, then He will provide you with a spiritual gift of faith for someone\u2019s healing if that is His will in that moment.
\nThat gift of faith usually comes with a surge of boldness to pray with unaffected authority\u2014what the old-timers used to call \u201cunction.\u201d I have experienced that unction on numerous occasions, like the time I prayed long-distance for a teenager in a distant city who struggled with severe psychological issues that caused bizarre and violent behavior. I had never met him but knew of his parents\u2019 desperation for him. One Sunday morning, I gathered my whole congregation of six hundred around the altar to pray for him. I had been fasting for a few days prior, and as I began to pray, a surge of faith overcame me and seemed to flow out of me like lava from a volcano. It was neither my personality nor my practice to speak so boldly in prayer. But that was how the words came out for his complete freedom and healing. Three days later I got word from his father of a remarkable and lasting change in his life that returned him to normalcy.
\nBut if that sense of bold faith\u2014that unction\u2014is not present, then you can relax and just offer or, as Scripture says, \u201cpresent\u201d your requests and petitions with thanksgiving (Phil. 4:6). Then if your request is not granted, you do not need to feel guilty as if the lack of faith was your fault. The little \u201cifs\u201d are your part. But the big \u201cif\u201d\u2014the gift of faith\u2014is up to God.<\/p>\n
20\/20 Focus
\n1. 1. This chapter claims that Jesus rebuked the disciples\u2019 lack of faith as a failure to act on their God-given ability to believe through evidence they had already received. But we should not feel condemned if we lack faith we have not yet been given. Is this a biblically sound distinction? If so, does this help ease your mind?<\/p>\n
2. 2. Based on the argument presented in this chapter, put into your own words how you know when to pray boldly for healing versus when to ask humbly.<\/p>\n
3. 3. Is there another verse like this mountain-moving verse that confuses you? What is it? How about doing what this chapter describes and bring it before the Lord in prayer until He graciously provides soul-settling insight?<\/p>\n
Lord, it is such good news that I can count on You to give me faith when I need it for obedience and bold action. I get so worried\u2014Is there something wrong with me?\u2014when I pray for healing for people but have doubts. Did I just ruin their chance for healing? Now I see the process. I will stay close to You, I will be a person eager to affirm Your words and promises, and I will trust You to give me faith when it\u2019s Your will to heal. In the meantime, thank You for the peace that comes when I present my requests. You are good. Amen.<\/p>\n
Vision Check
\nAll spiritual insight comes as a gift of revelation from God, usually in combination with our searching the Scriptures. Sometimes, however, our only hope for fresh eyes is based not on our effort to study the Word of God but on our waiting for a word from God.
\nHere\u2019s another passage people struggle to understand, so they wind up watering it down or skipping over it. \u201cIt is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age and who have fallen away, to be brought back to repentance. To their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace\u201d (Heb. 6:4\u20136). What does impossible mean? Doesn\u2019t the Bible say that \u201cwith God all things are possible\u201d (Matt. 19:26)? How can it be impossible? When does the \u201cimpossible\u201d kick in? Take this question to the Lord over the span of a few days and see what comes to mind. Then compare your insights with mine on dougnewton.com or the Fresh Eyes app.<\/p>\n
10<\/p>\n
Good News for Eunuchs<\/p>\n
House of Prayer or Den of Robbers?<\/p>\n
Matthew 21:13<\/p>\n
Even if 100 percent of your congregation comes to daily prayer meetings, that doesn\u2019t mean your church will be a \u201chouse of prayer.\u201d Interestingly, what makes a true house of prayer is not prayer.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve been hit in the face three times in my life. Once when I was in junior high and riding the school bus, a high school girl did not appreciate how mouthy I was, so she tried to shut my mouth with her fist. The second time came at the hands of my fourth-grade gym teacher. This deserves a more-detailed explanation, as it was a clear case of religious persecution.
\nI grew up in a family of conscientious objectors, though not to war. My dad was a World War II tank commander in the Battle of the Bulge. Our objection was to something worse than war: dancing. Like many other churches of the day, ours took a stand against drinking, smoking, and dancing. And as a young boy it seemed to me that people involved in such activities were not just bound for hell; they were already citizens there. So when my elementary school\u2019s physical education program included the annual do-si-do into square dancing, I neither bowed to my partner nor to school authorities. My refusal was not belligerent, however. All it took was a note from home expressing our church\u2019s and family\u2019s moral stance against dancing along with a request to be excused. Every year that worked, and I was allowed to skip the week of square dancing, which usually came in the spring.
\nHowever, in my fourth-grade year, without warning, the gym teacher substituted a week of square dancing in the fall for the normal week of dodgeball. So when I came to gym class that October day, the record player was already blasting out the twangy sounds of square-dance music. I was horrified. Caught off guard, I had no note from home. What could I do? Without proof of my diplomatic immunity, I would be forced into dance damnation.
\nThen I thought, If I make a joke out of it, God will know I\u2019m not wanting to dance and I won\u2019t be subject to His wrath. So I got paired up in the square with the other kids and began to display the dictionary definition of cavorting. I cavorted to the left and cavorted to the right, acting a lot like a marionette being controlled by a drunken puppeteer. Actually, I was having fun being a conscientious cavorter, until out of nowhere I was struck to the floor by a blow to the side of my head. The angry gym teacher bellowed, \u201cNewton, quit goofing around!\u201d That\u2019s what I think he said. It was hard to make out his words with the ringing in my ears.
\nThese days a gym teacher would be hung by his thumbs for such an act of child abuse. But in my childhood days, persecution produced a compliant fourth grader who immediately moved in every direction the stereophonic caller told me to go.
\nTo be fair to the man, his attack might not have been a case of religious persecution. He could have been having a bad day, or perhaps he felt judged by the unintended moral superiority of all those notes from home he had received over the years, or perhaps it was as simple as his having been a teacher for twenty years. It was probably a combination of those factors.
\nHowever, those two memorable blows to my face\u2014along with a bushel of angry rebukes from my parents who might have wanted to smack me themselves for any number of reasons\u2014taught me a lesson: when people get angry, pay attention. They\u2019re telling you something about what they think is very important.<\/p>\n
Temple Tantrum
\nWith that in mind, the goal of this chapter is to focus on one moment when Jesus was \u201cfit to be tied\u201d and, by using the study technique of cross-referencing, answer the question, \u201cWhat was Jesus so passionate about that would make Him so angry?\u201d I\u2019m referring to the time when Jesus stormed through the temple\u2019s public area and drove out people who were engaged in the opportunistic \u201creligious\u201d business of money changing and selling small animals for sacrifice. This episode is often referred to as Jesus \u201ccleansing\u201d the temple.
\nMake no mistake. This was a violent act. Imagine yourself sitting in church during a service when a man bursts into the sanctuary, yelling at the top of his lungs, knocking over pews, pulling down banners, and scattering bulletins. Even if Jesus never struck anyone during His whip-snapping expulsion explosion, people would still have been traumatized as He let His passion loose.
\nHis tirade involved few words. But the two carefully chosen quotations from the Old Testament reveal the reason for His anger, which was not only about the inappropriate business being carried out in the temple but also about the appropriate \u201cbusiness\u201d that was absent: prayer.
\nJohn\u2019s gospel records what may have been a previous temple cleansing\u2014scholars can\u2019t agree\u2014during which Jesus attacked the improper activity: \u201cStop turning my Father\u2019s house into a market!\u201d (John 2:16). His anger that time was turned toward what we might call sins of commission (i.e., things happening that shouldn\u2019t have been). But in Matthew\u2019s account of what is arguably a second event, Jesus\u2019 wrath arose over a sin of omission (i.e., something that should have been going on but wasn\u2019t). That difference gives us good reason to see Jesus\u2019 anger with more clarity and gravity.
\nSo let\u2019s turn to the Old Testament passages Jesus quoted at the top of His lungs. You will discover how the combination of those Scripture texts helps us see the idea of a house of prayer in an encouraging new light. And surprisingly, a house of prayer is not just about people praying. The two key phrases in Jesus\u2019 words are from Isaiah 56:7 (\u201cMy house will be called a house of prayer\u201d) and Jeremiah 7:11 (\u201ca den of robbers\u201d). Let\u2019s take the second one first.
\nThe phrase \u201cden of robbers\u201d is found in a passage where God through Jeremiah accused His people of mistakenly assuming that His temple was automatically a safety zone\u2014that just being there protected them from harm, whether from their enemies or from God\u2019s wrath. Jeremiah said, \u201cDo not trust in deceptive words and say, \u2018This is the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD!\u2019\u201d (v. 4).
\nBut the Lord warned His people that their assumption of safety was off the mark if they were engaging in activities that were contrary to His moral laws. They were asked, \u201cWill you steal and murder, commit adultery and perjury, burn incense to Baal and follow other gods you have not known, and then come and stand before me in this house, which bears my Name, and say, \u2018We are safe\u2019\u2014safe to do all these detestable things?\u201d (vv. 9\u201310).
\nIn the next verse the Lord used the phrase \u201cden of robbers\u201d because that\u2019s where lawbreakers flee, thinking they will escape detection\u2014to their den. \u201cHas this house, which bears my Name, become a den of robbers to you? But I have been watching!\u201d (v. 11).
\nHowever, the phrase \u201cden of robbers\u201d doesn\u2019t capture the words\u2019 true connotation. For these people were more than common thieves; they were government insurgents. They were rebels, working against the purposes of their kingdom. The first-century Jewish scholar Josephus gave the more accurate sense when he compared them to those engaged in \u201canti-government guerilla warfare.\u201d1
\nIf that is likely how Jesus used \u201cden of robbers,\u201d then He was accusing the people of engaging in activity in the temple that not only neglected kingdom work but even contradicted it. Those were strong words. He was essentially calling them traitors! With that as a backdrop revealing the reason for His violent passion, let\u2019s move on to His key reference to Isaiah 56, where we find the phrase \u201ca house of prayer.\u201d<\/p>\n
A Reversal of Policy
\nIsaiah 56 begins with the Lord through the prophet Isaiah forecasting a new era of salvation yet to come: \u201cThis is what the LORD says, \u2018Maintain justice and do what is right, for my salvation is close at hand and my righteousness will soon be revealed\u2019\u201d (v. 1). Although it took a few hundred years for that day to come, Jesus\u2019 public ministry ushered in that prophecy\u2019s fulfillment. He chose His inaugural words in ministry from another portion of Isaiah proclaiming \u201cthe year of the LORD\u2019s favor\u201d (Luke 4:18\u201319) and then periodically announced salvation coming (19:9), the kingdom being at hand (Matt. 3:2; 4:17; 10:7), and righteousness being fulfilled (3:15).
\nThis era of salvation that Isaiah 56 describes involved two categories of people that exemplify a Copernican shift in God\u2019s purposes for His temple: foreigners and eunuchs. Formerly people in these categories were explicitly excluded from the Lord\u2019s house. The Mosaic law says, \u201cNo one who has been emasculated by crushing or cutting may enter the assembly of the LORD. No one born of a forbidden marriage nor any of their descendants may enter the assembly of the LORD, not even in the tenth generation. No Ammonite or Moabite or any of their descendants may enter the assembly of the LORD, not even in the tenth generation\u201d (Deut. 23:1\u20132).
\nDown to the tenth generation! However, according to Isaiah, a new day was coming when all of that would be reversed. First, regarding foreigners, the Lord said through Isaiah, \u201cLet no foreigner who is bound to the LORD say, \u2018The LORD will surely exclude me from his people.\u2019 . . . These I will bring to my holy mountain and give them joy in my house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on my altar\u201d (Isa. 56:3, 7).
\nNotice that God would give them joy in His house of prayer. Those once-excluded foreigners would no longer be excluded. Instead, they would be included\u2014and not just included as visitors with second-class status. The joy of the Lord, which is associated with the blessing of salvation, would be theirs.
\nThe shift that was made possible for the second category of people\u2014eunuchs\u2014was even more remarkable but, following the lead of the passage itself, must be explained delicately. Because of the subject of emasculation\u2014that word itself is conveniently abstract\u2014God\u2019s Spirit speaking through Isaiah employed the grace of euphemism: saying gently what can be embarrassingly awkward. (In case you can\u2019t guess, the following euphemisms are in italics.) \u201cAnd let not the eunuch say, \u2018Behold, I am a dry tree.\u2019 For thus says the LORD: \u2018To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths, who choose the things that please me and hold fast my covenant, I will give in my house and within my walls a monument and a name better than sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off\u2019\u201d (vv. 3\u20135 ESV).
\nA \u201cdry tree\u201d does not bear fruit or even green leaves. That\u2019s euphemism number 1, meaning that eunuchs cannot have children. The word monument is the word for \u201chand,\u201d which in the original language was a euphemism for male genitalia. That\u2019s euphemism number 2. And finally, using a double entendre, God speaks of an everlasting name that \u201cwill not be cut off.\u201d That\u2019s so graphic it barely qualifies as a euphemism!
\nMost importantly, notice the promise\u2019s power and scope. People who have lost all hope of a significant legacy through offspring will gain eternal significance better than sons and daughters. And where will they receive that blessing? God says, \u201cWithin my temple and its walls.\u201d We can paraphrase this verse to be promising, \u201cI will give back more than what you lost, resulting in an incredible, irrevocable blessing better than you would have or could have had before.\u201d<\/p>\n
Open Arms, Healing Hands
\nAfter revealing this unprecedented change in orientation from exclusion to inclusion, the promising prophecy concludes with the summary statement about the temple that Jesus shouted on that day of cleansing: \u201cFor my house will be called a house of prayer for all nations\u201d (Isa. 56:7).
\nA house of prayer is supposed to be a place where excluded and broken people are welcomed within the embrace of God\u2019s inconceivable saving grace and restored to a life better than they ever knew before! In short, true prayer is the expression and action of God\u2019s passion to receive and restore broken and outcast people.
\nThen, to see how God bound Himself to this mission, notice what happened when the gospel spread beyond Jewish Jerusalem to the surrounding non-Jewish world. Who was the first biblical record of a non-Jewish convert from outside Palestine? An Ethiopian eunuch! This wasn\u2019t a coincidence. Acts 8:26\u201329 tells us that God gave Philip, the evangelist, explicit instructions through an angel that led him directly to a eunuch who was reading (coincidentally?) from the prophet Isaiah. God Himself was, as it says of Him in Jeremiah 1:12, \u201cwatching to see that [His] word is fulfilled.\u201d So once again, we say, a house of prayer is to be a place where<\/p>\n
\u2022 \u2022 excluded and broken people are welcomed within the embrace of God\u2019s saving grace,<\/p>\n
\u2022 \u2022 saving grace is a matter of full restoration,<\/p>\n
\u2022 \u2022 and prayer provides the hope of full restoration for people of all nations.<\/p>\n
This is why a true house of prayer is not so much about people simply saying prayers but about a spirit of love and an anointing of power that result in incredible inclusion and restoration of broken people. Instead, in the temple, Jesus found only \u201cbusiness affairs\u201d of religion.
\nIf you need any more evidence, look at what happened in the very next verse after Jesus drove out the commercial clutter: \u201cThe blind and the lame came to him at the temple, and he healed them\u201d (Matt. 21:14). Incredible! If that doesn\u2019t prove the point, I don\u2019t know what would. The moment the wrong kind of business was removed, a vacuum was created that became filled by the right kind of business: healing and restoring those who had been ceremonially forbidden to enter. That\u2019s a true house of prayer. It has little to do with how many people come to prayer meetings and how long they pray.
\nRemember how I started the chapter saying I have been smacked in the face three times in my life? When I finally understood why Jesus got so mad and what makes a true house of prayer, that was the third time. And I\u2014and the churches I\u2019ve pastored\u2014have never been the same.<\/p>\n
20\/20 Focus
\n1. 1. If a true house of prayer is a place where prayer is happening that results in restoring broken people to a condition better than what they\u2019ve known before, how does your church measure up in that regard?<\/p>\n
2. 2. Inclusion is a word that is fraught with divisive political overtones these days. For now set politics aside and answer this question: Never mind the arguments over \u201cwho\u201d we\u2019re talking about, how does the spirit of inclusion behave, based on the Isaiah passage?<\/p>\n
3. 3. Think of the symbolism of foreigners and eunuchs. Who might they represent in our day? Who might you need to embrace with restoring grace?<\/p>\n
4. 4. At first glance Jesus\u2019 passion to make His temple be what it ought to be is rather shocking, but it is also cause for great hope. How so?<\/p>\n
Lord, I was amazed when I discovered in this chapter how You called for a shift in policy from exclusion to inclusion, from law to grace, regarding foreigners and eunuchs. Your explosive passion to make that happen in Your temple is beautiful to behold while at the same time somewhat frightening. I confess I still need to make that shift in certain areas and toward certain people. Help me join You in passionately welcoming broken people into the presence of Your restoring grace, especially in the way I pray. Amen.<\/p>\n
Vision Check
\nWhenever one portion of Scripture contains a quotation from another portion of Scripture, it is important to study that cross-reference. Doing so usually will shed light that gives you fresh eyes for the passage you\u2019re studying. Here\u2019s one to try.
\nIn Acts 4, Peter and John were jailed and then hauled in front of the city officials over the commotion caused by their healing the lame man in Acts 3. When the magistrates demanded an explanation, Peter quoted Psalm 118:22 and correlated their crucifixion of Jesus with the builders\u2019 rejection of the stone (Acts 4:10\u201311). Read Psalm 118:22 and then Peter\u2019s quotation in Acts 4:11. Notice the slight difference and see what you make of it. Then find out what I made of it by going to dougnewton.com or the Fresh Eyes app.<\/p>\n
11<\/p>\n
The Flannelgraph Soldier<\/p>\n
The Armor of God<\/p>\n
Ephesians 6:11<\/p>\n
Sometimes the littlest word can make the biggest difference not only in our study but also in our prayers.<\/p>\n
Long before digital presentations were invented, teachers used flannel. Presenters\u2014often called \u201cMom\u201d if you grew up in a small country church as I did where all the parents had to take turns teaching Sunday school\u2014did not use a laptop or clicker to advance a slide. They told a story while gradually building an illustration on a four-foot by three-foot, flannel-covered board and placing flannel people and objects one by one on the board. The board was tilted back slightly so the objects would cling\u2014usually\u2014to the flannel background. There was no guarantee Jesus wouldn\u2019t droop off the cross before we got to the part where He gave up His spirit. (We tried not to laugh, but you can guess how that went in a class of fourth-grade boys.)
\nThough that presentation \u201ctechnology\u201d seems ancient by today\u2019s standards, the lessons we learned stuck in our heads. Especially the lesson from this famous portion of Ephesians 6 about the Roman soldier dressing for battle. It probably would have lodged in my ten-year-old head had I seen it only one time. After all, it was about a soldier! But I must have seen that soldier get outfitted for battle well over a hundred times, because we breastplated him and shod his feet and girded his loins (whatever that meant) on a weekly basis during our opening ritual for Christian Youth Crusaders, my boyhood church\u2019s sanctified version of Boy Scouts. Ephesians 6:10\u201317 was the organization\u2019s theme text, and it started with \u201cPut on the full armor of God\u201d (v. 11), so that\u2019s what we did.
\nThe teacher started by placing a Roman soldier clad in a modest white toga on the flannelgraph. We couldn\u2019t have held it together had he started out in \u201ctighty-whities.\u201d Then we began to dress him for battle (like a macho Barbie doll).
\nThe teacher asked who wanted to put on the \u201cbelt of truth\u201d (v. 14). Hands shot up. I rarely got called on first, since my mom was usually the teacher and could never show favoritism. She handed the flannel belt to someone else, and he walked to the board and laid the belt across the soldier\u2019s body, being careful not to knock the soldier off.
\n\u201cAnd now we need the breastplate of righteousness . . .\u201d Again the hands. Again not me.
\nHis feet got shod with the gospel, which looked more like sandals, and then came the \u201cshield of faith\u201d (v. 16). The \u201cflaming arrows of the evil one\u201d were next (v. 16), but then came my favorite part\u2014the \u201chelmet of salvation\u201d (v. 17). What is it about boys and helmets? Maybe it was also my favorite because it meant we were nearing the end of the exercise, so maybe Mom would call on me. But the last part\u2014and we all knew it\u2014was the \u201csword of the Spirit\u201d (v. 17), and we all joined the teacher, sounding a bit like pirates proclaiming, \u201cWhich is the word of God. A-a-a-a-r-r-r!\u201d
\nIn retrospect, I can\u2019t imagine the flannel soldier looked anything but ridiculous. But to us he was ready for battle. We were ready for battle. Against what? We didn\u2019t really know, but we were ready for some manly war.
\nUnfortunately, not only did the image of the flannelgraph soldier stick in our minds, but so did a total misunderstanding of the passage.<\/p>\n
The \u201cAnd\u201d Is Near
\nOne day while reading this famous passage, I used one of my favorite Fresh Eyes techniques and ignored the reference markers. I started with verse 10 and read it like a letter. It wasn\u2019t until then I noticed that verse 17 is not the appropriate end of Paul\u2019s thought, even though it was always where we stopped after dressing the flannel soldier: \u201cThe sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.\u201d The end. Or so we thought.
\nVerse 18 begins with and. Why was that and there? Why had it been disconnected? Grammatically, and performs various functions. The two most common purposes are building a list and creating a sequence. You might say, \u201cWhen I packed the car for vacation, I filled the trunk with suitcases, some food, a couple of books, and . . .\u201d The items you mentioned require no particular order. It\u2019s just a list.
\nHowever, sometimes the sequence is important. If you need more milk, you\u2019ll have to get the keys, open the garage door, back out the driveway, and go toward the store. One action follows another necessarily.
\nWith that in mind, I went back to the soldier\u2019s gear and tried out both options: Is this just a list of various elements identified in no particular order, or is this a sequence of actions? I concluded the best interpretation is to see these verses as a sequence of actions. Even though we weren\u2019t Bible scholars, the way we kids dressed the flannelgraph soldier\u2014one step after another\u2014was good Bible interpretation.
\nSo what difference does it make that the and indicates a sequence rather than a list? It makes all the difference in the world, because it ties the actions of the soldier\u2019s preparation for battle (Eph. 6:14\u201317) with the actions contained in the next three verses (vv. 18\u201320): \u201cAnd pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord\u2019s people. Pray also for me, that whenever I speak, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should.\u201d
\nThese verses begin with the word and that links to the sequential actions in the preceding verses. Notice that these three verses emphasize only one activity five times: prayer. When I stumbled upon that observation, my understanding of spiritual warfare instantly did an about-face. The purpose of putting on the armor is to go into prayer.<\/p>\n
The Best Defense Is a Good Offense
\nSince people normally \u201cget dressed\u201d before heading out of the house in the morning, we assume that putting on the armor of God is important preparation for entering the world each day. While it may be, that is not actually what Paul was saying here. Instead, precisely because our battle is not against \u201cflesh and blood\u201d (v. 12), we need to put on the whole armor of God\u2014not to go into the physical realm of problems but to go into the spiritual realm of prayer. Whatever battles we face must be fought in prayer. We serve the kingdom best in the context of prayer. We withstand the opposition not just by putting on spiritual gear but by putting on spiritual gear and praying. That was the reason Paul talked about the armor of God in the first place.
\nIn addition, by missing the significance of the and that begins verse 18, we not only locate spiritual warfare incorrectly (outside the realm of prayer) but we also have the battle strategy backward. We tend to think of the armor primarily as spiritual protection for heading out into the dangerous world. I have often heard preachers point out that the sword of the Spirit is the only offensive element of the soldier\u2019s gear. The rest\u2014breastplate, belt, shoes, shield, and helmet\u2014are defensive. That\u2019s true and not true. It\u2019s true the helmet, belt, breastplate, and shield are defensive armor. But that does not mean the soldier is necessarily in a defensive mode. A soldier also wears protective gear when waging an offensive strike.
\nBecause we have failed to link verse 18 to the preceding verses, we picture an enemy advancing against us, requiring us to take defensive measures. It\u2019s intended to be the other way around. We are the ones on the offensive. \u201cAnd pray\u201d (v. 18) was Paul saying \u201cCharge!\u201d The Enemy will try to prevent our attack with a spray of arrows\u2014accusation, skepticism, fear, distraction\u2014and anything else he can throw at us. That\u2019s why we need the defensive gear; that\u2019s why we must keep standing and not shrink back. But it\u2019s not because he is coming against us. Rather, it\u2019s because we\u2014the church in prayer\u2014are going against him.
\nDidn\u2019t Jesus say that would be the church\u2019s mission and impact? He declared, \u201cI will build my church [offensive tactic]; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it\u201d (Matt. 16:18 KJV). We are ramming the ramparts of enemy strongholds when we engage in prayer.
\nThere\u2019s a good picture of this scenario in Mark 4:35\u201341. In one of my other books in this series, Fresh Eyes on Jesus\u2019 Miracles, I pointed out how the life-threatening storm at sea that battered Jesus and the disciples was a demonic attempt to resist the kingdom\u2019s advance into new territory where an enemy stronghold existed. Rather than turning back in fear, Jesus showed the disciples how to remain firm and keep advancing. This is what Paul was talking about here in Ephesians 6.
\nThis perspective shift that comes from understanding the role of the word and makes a huge difference in how we live and shapes our expectations about the church\u2019s impact on the world around us. And it points us toward the most important kingdom work\u2014prayer.<\/p>\n
Two Worthwhile Tattoos
\nChurch history supports this perspective. Scores of books over the centuries have documented prayer as the single most important catalyst of revival movements and the expansion of God\u2019s kingdom around the world. Indeed, at this point we could spend multiple chapters exploring prayer and how it functions as a transformational instrument. But that topic is too big for now and takes us away from two action points that are much more focused and personal.
\nFirst, don\u2019t do anything to solve a problem until you\u2019ve prayed. If we move in the flow of Paul\u2019s Spirit-inspired admonition, then no matter what problems we encounter, we should never face them as problems of a purely human (\u201cflesh and blood\u201d) nature. That does not mean we should treat every problem as something demons caused. It simply means that our first priority\u2014before we do anything else\u2014is to put on the armor of God and enter a season of prayer during which we arrest any possible shenanigans of our spiritual Enemy.
\nIn that sense, prayer is like what emergency room doctors and nurses do. Their job often is to stabilize victims so the ultimate treatment needed to bring recovery can occur safely and effectively. Prayer is what we do to thwart the Enemy\u2019s obstructive and destructive efforts so that the power of God\u2019s Spirit and wisdom can work effectively through people or circumstances to bring solutions. This is such an important point that it might be helpful to tattoo your forearm as a reminder: I will do nothing to address any problem until I\u2019ve prayed. Seriously.
\nSecond, let the Word and Spirit form your prayers. The text suggests the armor is to protect the soldier on the attack. And if the sword is the only offensive weapon mentioned, then the Word of God is the only offensive weapon needed! Since God ordained this, you can count on the revealing and empowering help of God\u2019s Spirit when you intentionally employ words of Scripture in the development of your prayers. As you search the Scriptures to find promises and truths that fit the problem you\u2019re praying about, God\u2019s Spirit shapes and sharpens those words into prayers that cut through the Enemy\u2019s schemes.
\nOver the years I have known many people who have been assailed by tormenting thoughts of all kinds\u2014to the point they were afraid of engaging in normal activities like sleep, conversation, human contact, eating certain foods, or making ordinary decisions. Most of these folks overcame those fears by employing scriptural truth in their prayers. Jesus Himself modeled this technique when He faced down the Devil during His famous three temptations (Luke 4:1\u201313).
\nOne day a young mom approached a small group of fellow believers after our church service. She\u2019d endured a debilitating case of crushing self-condemnation and the inability to grasp God\u2019s love for her. As we prayed, several people relied on Scripture to declare her worth in God\u2019s sight, and they couched their encouragement in Spirit-prompted images for her to hold on to. Still, she struggled to believe these affirmations. That\u2019s when one group member thought of some Scriptures that speak of the importance of childlike faith and converted that concept into a bold request: \u201cLord, Becky is having a hard time believing that she has great worth in Your sight, so I ask You to use her three-year-old daughter to affirm that message in some way that helps her to know it\u2019s true.\u201d
\nThe prayer time ended, and Becky left to pick up her two kids from the church nursery. As she loaded her one-year-old into a car seat, her daughter\u2014remember she\u2019s just three\u2014sat down on the curb, waiting to get in the car. Becky turned to look at her, and the little girl had her head bowed. \u201cWhat are you doing, sweetheart?\u201d
\n\u201cI\u2019m praying for you, Mama.\u201d Becky\u2019s daughter had never done this before and had no idea of her mother\u2019s struggle. Becky immediately recognized it as an answer to prayer and later reported how at key moments in the following weeks her daughter again said or prayed something encouraging out of the blue. This happened too many times for Becky not to see it as God\u2019s miraculous answer to a specific prayer based on the use of God\u2019s Word.
\nSo . . . \u201cput on the full armor of God\u201d (Eph. 6:11)? Yes, and fight the winning battle in prayer. Years ago when my mom and other faithful parents entered their rotation in the annual Who\u2019s Gonna Take the Fourth Graders This Year? draft, I bet none of them imagined how long the lesson of a flannelgraph soldier would stick in a young boy\u2019s mind. But it did. I since have learned that these and many other adults were not just teaching but were also faithfully praying for us kids all those years. Clearly, these godly people were very good with a sword!<\/p>\n
20\/20 Focus
\n1. 1. People with \u201cactivist\u201d tendencies struggle with prayer, because it doesn\u2019t feel as if you\u2019re getting anything done. If you\u2019re like that, does Paul\u2019s aggressive image of prayer help you get over that hump?<\/p>\n
2. 2. Even though the Bible never uses the term spiritual warfare, plenty of Scriptures use battle imagery and terminology in reference to spiritual matters. See how many you can come up with in just a few minutes. Here\u2019s one example to get you started: \u201cWe are more than conquerors\u201d (Rom. 8:37).<\/p>\n
3. 3. If prayer is designed, in part, to bring God\u2019s power against all forms of spiritual opposition, think of a situation (personal, local, or national) you could pray about more aggressively.<\/p>\n
4. 4. Work your way through each element of the soldier\u2019s gear and consider how those elements might function in the context of prayer.<\/p>\n
Lord, it\u2019s fitting that the last chapter and prayer in this book are about prayer. As I read this passage now with fresh eyes, my heart responds with new excitement about the privilege and power of prayer. Please write this lesson indelibly on my heart so I never forget and drift away from prayer as my primary way of advancing Your kingdom. Amen.<\/p>\n
Vision Check
\nConjunctions (like and, but, nor, and or) and conjunctive adverbs (like therefore, consequently, however, and moreover) are important connectors between ideas, but they often get overlooked. However, whenever you come across one, you should discover its purpose. As they say, what is therefore there for? Treat conjunctions like speed bumps that slow down your thinking.
\nRead the famous story about Jesus visiting Mary and Martha\u2019s home (Luke 10:38\u201342). There you will find the word but used twice. Since that word always indicates things in contrast, spend extra time thinking more deeply about what is being contrasted in each case. You will probably see something new that likely has not been the passage\u2019s focus when you\u2019ve heard it taught. See what I discovered by going to dougnewton.com or the Fresh Eyes app.<\/p>\n
Fresh Eyes on Jesus\u2019 Miracles sample chapter . . .<\/p>\n
1<\/p>\n
Got Wine?<\/p>\n
Turning Water into Wine<\/p>\n
John 2:1\u201311<\/p>\n
If God is able to turn water into wine, why don\u2019t we see more cases of transformation in people and circumstances?<\/p>\n
I pastored for years in southern Kentucky, where the humid summers make you sweat like a cold glass of sweet iced tea. This was usually not a problem, provided you could go from your air-conditioned home to your air-conditioned car to your air-conditioned workplace to the air-conditioned store.
\nBut on too many occasions I had the misfortune of performing weddings in non-air-conditioned churches chosen for their quaint ambience. Funny how the allure of ambience wilts as the congregation waits for the bride\u2019s entry. Every bride wants a perfect wedding day. Did no one think the lack of air conditioning might be a distracting discomfort? Oh well . . .
\nSome things are the same in all places at all times. Weddings need to go well. That\u2019s why even two thousand years later we can relate to the first miracle the apostle John recorded in his gospel. It occurred during a wedding in Cana. The problem at this wedding was not drenching humidity but the disappointing lack of celebratory wine.
\nBefore we delve into the miracle and discover something you may never have thought about, it\u2019s important to realize that this miracle holds a special place in the New Testament Gospels. Only John\u2019s gospel tells it. Matthew, Mark, and Luke for some reason did not include it. On top of that, John handpicked just seven miracles out of scores he could have chosen. He did so because his mission differed from the other gospel writers\u2019. The few miracles he chose ranked at the top of all Jesus\u2019 miracles, because in John\u2019s mind they were not just supernatural wonders. They were \u201cmiraculous signs\u201d pointing to Jesus\u2019 divine identity and unique mission.
\nJohn chose this miraculous sign to be the first\u2014the leadoff hitter for his whole story of Jesus\u2019 glory. We can only guess why. But what could be a better start to the gospel of Jesus than to show Him to be the one who can do miracles of transformation? Isn\u2019t that what everyone needs?
\nJohn started by saying, \u201cOn the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus\u2019 mother was there, and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. When the wine was gone, Jesus\u2019 mother said to him, \u2018They have no more wine\u2019\u201d (John 2:1\u20133).
\nNotice those last five words Jesus\u2019 mother spoke. Don\u2019t just read them. Imagine them. What did she sound like when she voiced them? Certainly she wasn\u2019t flat and emotionless like a computer speech synthesizer: \u201cThey . . . have . . . no . . . more . . . wine.\u201d
\nImagine her tone of voice. Her volume. Her intensity. A little cultural background might help inform your imagination.
\nIn those days, wedding celebrations were major events that often lasted several days. You think wedding planners today have a chore? Imagine having the job of \u201cmaster of the banquet.\u201d Some translations even call that person the \u201cgovernor of the feast\u201d (KJV). A wedding celebration was no small affair if it required a governor to be in charge!
\nWith so much riding on a wedding celebration attended by the whole town, you can imagine the potential outcry if things went poorly. In fact, according to historians, running out of wine at a wedding celebration was grounds for a lawsuit! And you thought we live in a litigious society?
\nThat\u2019s why worry and a shot of desperation probably resonated in Jesus\u2019 mother\u2019s voice. Perhaps she pulled Jesus aside and whispered it, but there would have been a lot of force behind those words, like a pressure valve releasing pent-up steam: \u201cThey have no more wine!\u201d
\nIf you, like me, grew up in a teetotaler home, running out of wine would cause great relief not grave consternation. So I wonder what would give me a similar level of concern, considering my upbringing. Here\u2019s the best I can do: What if they ran out of wedding cake, the kind I love piled high with frosting? I imagine myself attending a wedding in the humid Kentucky heat . . . and trapped in a church basement after the ceremony, waiting uncomfortably, dress shirt sticking to the back of the chair . . . longing for\u2014no, praying for\u2014the good fortune of getting a corner piece of cake adorned with a creamy confection rose. Then finally getting to the buffet table and finding they\u2019ve run out of cake! Yes, I would be considering a lawsuit! Or maybe something even worse involving that cake knife!
\nSomehow that imagined scenario puts me in a place where I can hear Mary\u2019s panic when she cries, \u201cThey have no more wine.\u201d Yet despite her desperation, Jesus seemed unmoved. Let\u2019s read on: \u201c\u2018Woman, why do you involve me?\u2019 Jesus replied. \u2018My hour has not yet come\u2019\u201d (John 2:4).
\nHow would you like to get a Mother\u2019s Day card addressed \u201cWoman\u201d? Maybe that was a respectful form of address in Jesus\u2019 day, but He still sounds reluctant to help. Is He really being unsympathetic? Probably not. He was making a theological point. When He referred to \u201cmy hour,\u201d He was not talking about clock time. The word used here refers to a \u201cspecial moment.\u201d He typically referred to His eventual death on the cross this way.
\nJesus was putting things in proper perspective. He knew His mother wanted Him to use His supernatural ability to fix the problem, which He knew would reveal something about His amazing identity. But was it time for that? Shouldn\u2019t He reserve that revelation for a greater display of glory than solving this wine shortage? I can almost hear Him say, \u201cI came into this world to save much more than one wedding.\u201d That\u2019s where He was probably coming from when He replied to His mother.
\nAmusingly, Jesus\u2019 mother didn\u2019t seem to wait for His reply before she was off rounding up the servants. After all, she was His mother. She knew her boy. She didn\u2019t need to wait for an answer before assuming He would help. John recorded, \u201cHis mother said to the servants, \u2018Do whatever he tells you.\u2019 Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons\u201d (vv. 5\u20136).
\nRemember that fact given about the stone water jars. We\u2019ll come back to them.
\nJesus ordered the servants to fill the jars with water and then take a sample of the water to the master of the banquet. When they did that, the feast master, not knowing the whole story, enjoyed what he considered a fine glass of wine. But that puzzled him: \u201cThen he called the bridegroom aside and said, \u2018Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now\u2019\u201d (vv. 9\u201310).
\nNot only did Jesus convert water into wine, but it was not the boxed variety! This wine would impress the snootiest waiter at restaurants where common people can\u2019t even afford to pay for parking.
\nThink about that. Jesus took water, which consists of only two elements: two parts hydrogen, one part oxygen (H2O). Not only did He remix those two elements, but He also added the element carbon. We know that because the natural sugars in wine grapes include carbon. And He introduced many more compounds that never existed in the water. Wine includes tannins and organic acids: tartaric, malic, and citric. In short, He didn\u2019t just sneak some red food coloring into the water when no one was looking. He somehow accelerated the aging process and turned two minutes into years, as far as the wine was concerned.
\nWithout even waving His hand or whispering \u201cAbracadabra,\u201d Jesus performed a miracle of radical transformation. Only the God who created the universe from nothing could have infused the one-time water with carbon and acids and sparkling flavor. If He could do this to water-filled pots, imagine what He can do with worry-filled people. Imagine how He can create unexpectedly high-quality wisdom or faith or peace where none exists.
\nIsn\u2019t this the basis of our hope, our only hope\u2014that God performs miracles of transformation? So let\u2019s return to the teaser question at the head of this chapter: If God is able to turn water into wine, why don\u2019t we see more cases of transformation in people and circumstances?
\nThe answer emerges when we backtrack to the command Jesus gave the servants and note their response. Remember, Jesus told them to fill the waterpots. Picture those waterpots. Recall that each one held twenty to thirty gallons of water, so they were about the size of a standard galvanized trashcan, except made of stone.
\nHow would the servants have fulfilled Jesus\u2019 command? Would they have pulled out the garden hose, attached it to a house spigot, and lopped it over the top? Probably not.
\nWould they have carried the waterpots to the town well, filled them, and lugged them back to the festivities? Thirty gallons of water weighs about 250 pounds, and that\u2019s on top of the weight of the stone waterpots themselves. No way would even two people be able to carry such a heavy, sloshing, unwieldy container. Even a donkey cart would have proved pointless no matter how hard you tried to keep the pots steady and level over the rough paths.
\nSo how would they have filled the waterpots? By carrying small buckets back and forth from the well, probably located some distance away, over and over again until the pots were full.
\nI\u2019m a pretty hard worker, but the idea of hauling water back and forth in little two-gallon animal skin buckets would not have been a pleasant thought. Bear in mind I probably had already filled those waterpots earlier in the day.
\nWhat would I have done? What would you have done? We should not zip right past this question in order to get on with the miracle story. I got out my calculator and estimated it would have taken about eighty trips back and forth to obey Jesus\u2019 command. Or perhaps only forty trips if using a neck yoke for carrying two skins at a time. Either way, the task was time consuming and labor intensive.
\nIf I had been a servant in this story, I might have filled the first waterpot to within a couple inches of the top, thought That\u2019s good enough, and started filling waterpot number two. I would have filled that one to within perhaps three or four inches of the top, thought again That\u2019s good enough, and started in on waterpot number three. I would have filled pot three to within five or six inches. . . . You see where I\u2019m going? My enthusiasm to fulfill Jesus\u2019 command would have been draining out even as I was filling the waterpots, until maybe\u2014maybe\u2014the sixth and final waterpot would have been about half-full when I decided to draw one more bucket and a final conclusion: That\u2019s good enough.
\nHowever, here\u2019s the shocking observation about the text. John carefully pointed out that the servants \u201cfilled them to the brim\u201d (John 2:7). Most servants in this culture could choose how they went about their work, like employees in our day. That\u2019s why in several places the New Testament urges Christian servants to work diligently and with good attitudes as an act of worship and witness. I must confess the servants at the wedding were more thorough and diligent than I would have been. But what difference does it make whether they filled the waterpots to the maximum level?
\nHere\u2019s the difference. Imagine my sixth half-full waterpot containing only fifteen gallons of water compared with the actual servants\u2019 completely full waterpot. How much wine would I have gotten? Fifteen gallons. How many gallons of wine would they have gotten? Thirty. If I had brought five gallons of water, how much wine would I have gotten? Five gallons. Do you see the point?
\nYes, Jesus could have turned a thimble of water into thirty gallons of wine. But John reported a miracle not of multiplication but of transformation. Jesus intentionally \u201crevealed his glory\u201d (v. 11) by changing the quality not the quantity of the substance brought to Him. He could have snapped His fingers and created enough wine for a thousand weddings, but He chose to remedy the wine shortage by telling the servants to bring to Him what needed to be changed.
\nOnly Jesus could have performed the miracle of transformation. He took H2O and made an elegant combination of elements, tannin, bouquet, and color\u2014from water to fine wine\u2014without touching, adding, mixing, or blending any additional ingredients. But the amount of water that was transformed depended on how much water the servants brought. Had they brought less water, less would have been transformed.
\nThat\u2019s the lesson for us. It turns out that the old gospel song has been right all along:<\/p>\n
What a Friend we have in Jesus,
\nAll our sins and griefs to bear!
\nWhat a privilege to carry
\nEverything to God in prayer!
\nO what peace we often forfeit,
\nO what needless pain we bear,
\nAll because we do not carry
\nEverything to God in prayer.1<\/p>\n
Why don\u2019t we see more transformation in people and circumstances? The amount of wine we enjoy depends on the amount of water\u2014things that need to be changed\u2014we bring to Jesus, particularly when brought in the waterpots of prayer. How many gallons are you bringing?
\nDocumentation and analyses of spiritual revivals throughout history reveal that prior to these events, people \u201cfilled [the waterpots] to the brim\u201d with prayer. What is true of widespread revivals is true of restored marriages, rescued addicts, redeemed prodigals, and rejuvenated hope: prayer should be thorough to the point of nearly overflowing. Whatever needs to be transformed, take it to Jesus in prayer. And do not stop until you experience an incredible transformation either in your world or in how you see it.
\nIt will be like getting the corner piece of a wedding cake over and over again.<\/p>\n
20\/20 Focus
\n1. 1. In Scripture, miracles often include some human involvement. Can you think of other biblical examples when human involvement contributed to the occurrence or impact of a miracle? What does that reveal about God\u2019s purposes? Why do you think He\u2019d want us contributing to His miracles?<\/p>\n
2. 2. What more do you need to bring to Jesus to be transformed in prayer?<\/p>\n
3. 3. Have you ever truly considered how much forfeited peace and needless pain we suffer from not bringing \u201ceverything to God in prayer\u201d? Why do you think you have had a hard time filling the waterpots with prayer?<\/p>\n
4. 4. Is there something else you saw in this story that changes the way you understand it?<\/p>\n
Lord, I thank You that You alone can utterly transform any resource, any situation, or any person into something brand new, exciting, and more fitting to Your purpose. Forgive my lack of trust and when I withhold things, try to fix my problems, and attempt change myself or my situations without looking to You first. Help me fill my life up with prayer to the brim. Amen.<\/p>\n
Vision Check
\nThe study technique this chapter employed involves more fully imagining yourself in the story. Ask, What would I have been experiencing in this situation?
\nRead Genesis 12, which tells of God\u2019s promise to Abram to make him the father of a great nation. Put yourself in Abram\u2019s situation as an elderly man with a barren wife. What might you have been thinking had you been in his place? Write down what insights come to mind and, using dougnewton.com or the Fresh Eyes app, compare them with a few that came to my mind.<\/p>\n
title Fresh eyes on famous bible sayings: discovering new insights in familiar passages
\nauthor Newton, Doug<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Acknowledgments The man who was, I think, the most creative and engaging preacher I ever heard died in a car crash when I was in sixth grade. I say \u201cI think\u201d because I never really cared about what he was saying at the time. After all, I was only twelve years old, and there were … <\/p>\n