Day 30 - Game Over

Day 30: Matthew 28

GAME OVER

Read Matthew 28 here first

 

There's a preacher I love called Tony Campolo. I once heard him speak at a youth meeting. His time was up, and the venue we were in was needed for another meeting. As he told us this, thousands of young people protested, saying we wanted to hear more. The next meeting was moved, and we stayed listening to Tony for 2 hours. Now a 2 hour preach might not be something that sounds appealing, but he talked about the kingdom of God in such a way that made you desperate to be close to God and hungry for more.

One of Tony Campolo's most famous messages is called 'It's Friday, but Sunday's coming'. If you haven't heard it, it's well worth looking up on the internet. He gets it from a preacher in his church who talks about the darkness of Good Friday. He talks about the abuse, the persecution, the scattered church. He talks about the cross, and the death of Jesus. As he talks about this, he keeps telling the congregation that Sunday's coming.

He goes on to explain that on Sunday, the grave is empty. Jesus has triumphed over death, hell and sin. Everything has changed. As Jesus rises from the dead, the age of grace begins. An undeserved grace can come to everyone who turns to Jesus and chooses to follow him. We live in this age of grace. We so often take grace so much for granted. We readily accept forgiveness, forgetting just what the price of that forgiveness really was.

So we live in this period after Easter Sunday. Evil has not won, but has been soundly defeated by Jesus. It may not always feel this way, but sin has no stranglehold over us anymore. That doesn't mean that we live easy lives free from temptation, weakness, or sickness. We live in the period between Easter Sunday and the time that Jesus returns. On that glorious day when we are caught up with him, we will be free from pain and fear. There will be no more insecurity, no more sin, and no more failures.

Until then, God has sent the Holy Spirit to us, to fill us, strengthen us, guide and convict us. As Jesus leaves the disciples, he does so knowing there is hope, knowing the Holy Spirit will transform their lives so they are able to live out the message of Jesus in the face of trials and even death.

We may or may not face similar trials in our lifetime for Jesus, but the commission given to the disciples here applies as much now as it did then. As we have looked through the book of Matthew, we have seen and heard many things. We have been shown what matters to God. We have been shown how he would have us live. We have been shown the holiness of God. We have been loved in the greatest way imaginable.

The challenge now comes to us to tell the story. There is a world out there who knows nothing about the truth of the gospel. For too long, all people have heard from Christians has come from the people who make the news for picketing funerals or proclaiming the end of the world. It falls to us to tell this story.

It’s the story of our history, of how a selfish people walked away from their creator, thinking they knew better. The story of a loving God who so wanted them back that he was tortured to bring them home and call them His people.

The responsibility of telling our friends, colleagues, families falls to no-one except us. There is no other plan. If the people of God fail, God has no plan B. His plan is that an ordinary people would be filled with His Spirit and would shout the story of love, hope and redemption to a hurting world, living selfless lives, daring to love when it hurts, and ultimately trusting in the One who makes all things new.

We have been privileged to hear of the greatest story. Not only that, we are a key part of that, being the people who have been rescued by Jesus. We now have a role to play in declaring that hope to others, pouring our lives out in service of a King over and over again until that day we are called home. It is a tough call, but it is the only one that truly matters in this world.

Day 29 - My Sacrifice

Day 29: Matthew 27

MY SACRIFICE (26:57 – 27:64)

Read Matthew 26:57-27:64 here first

 

I have no stupid stories to talk about for these verses. I have no poor attempts at humour to open this day up. These verses are simply too big, too raw. In one sense, these are some of the greatest verses written in the Bible, showing the greatness of God's love, showing the heart of the One who would go through all of this for us. In another sense, these are verses that make me bow my head in shame. As I look at the treatment of Jesus, the treatment he receives is uncomfortable to read.

One of the overriding feelings I get as I read this is an overriding sense of injustice, of how unfair all of this is. I read verses 67-68 and I get angry at humanity, of how we mock God at the time of his greatest act of love. I read verse 69-75 and hate that one of the main leaders of the church denies Jesus just as he is giving his life for all of mankind. I read verses 11-26 and wonder why we would be so stupid to request a criminal to be released above the only sinless man who ever lived. I read verses 27-31 and verses 39-44 and am stunned by the disgusting abuse that takes place.

As we read these verses, we need to take our time on them. We need to be upset by the mocking, the abuse, and the hatred that Jesus took. We also need to love his reaction. When the people he came to save spat in his face, he said nothing. When the people he loved knelt before him in fake worship, he said nothing. When people he was dying for jeered him and told him to come off the cross, he said nothing.

These verses make me wonder about how God felt. These things that seem unjust and painful to me must have been like a giant tear through his heart. As the Father watched the Son go through this, I can't grasp how he could still have loved us. As the one he sent to show us the heart of God is abused and beaten, I don't get how God doesn't just end everything there and decide that we're not worth it. As mankind pours out hatred on the Son of God, as the leaders of the church to come are scattered and afraid, this is probably as dark a time as there has ever been on earth.

Yet through it all, God's love never gives up on us. Somehow God doesn't just decide that we're not worth it. God watches the most painful things, and knows that this is how much His people are worth to Him. In the midst of the ultimate pain, God makes the greatest declaration of our value that will ever be made.

As Jesus hung on the cross, one of the final acts in the greatest love story ever told is coming to an end. Jesus is nailed to a cross, separated from the Father, with all of our sin and shame heaped upon him. There’s a story about a Chinese Christian who was getting baptised and was asked if she affirmed that when Jesus died on the cross, he had no sin. “No”, she disagreed, “He had mine”.

That’s true. Jesus was indeed sinless as he lived, but as we see him on the cross, we must acknowledge that it was our sin that put him there. Our selfish living had taken us away from God and Jesus was paying the ultimate price so that we could return.

The words I write can never do this chapter justice. Nothing I will ever say or write can. A few times in these devotionals we have talked about God's grace being outrageous. Right here, we see why it is so. In this chapter there is something so unjust, and yet so beautiful. There is something so painful, and yet so loving. This is a chapter that should stir up emotions in us as we try to grasp the size of what we are reading.

Let us read these verses slowly and carefully, taking in just what it means. As we read these words, let's allow ourselves to be humbled, realising just how great God is, and try to comprehend just a glimpse of what His love for us cost.

As we do this, I pray that we will find ourselves face down in worship. We can know all about the cross and what Jesus has done for us, but as we look at the reality in these verses, I hope that something in our hearts cries out in praise.

Day 28 - In the Shadow of the Cross

Day 28: Matthew 26

IN THE SHADOW OF THE CROSS (26:1-54)

Read Matthew 26:1-54

 

Matthew 26 and 27 are heavy passages. As we read these, we should read them slowly and carefully, trying to grasp the weight of what Jesus went through. Here, Jesus is preparing for the last supper. This would be the last time he spent with the disciples before the crucifixion. I have no doubt that the events to come would have been weighing heavily on his mind. He would be saying goodbye to the people he had walked with, and was about to willingly be tortured and killed.

Even at this stage, the disciples are still struggling to quite get it. As Jesus is anointed with oil before his burial, the disciples are still questioning things. These are still not perfect guys, with questions and uncertainties, even as we come to the end of Jesus' ministry. Not only are they still struggling to understand things, Jesus sits at the meal knowing that it is one of those present who will betray him, and possibly the closest one to him will deny him as he's giving his life.

It's not recorded here in Matthew, but John records that Jesus begins the meal by washing the disciples' feet. Here is Jesus, with the prospect of abandonment and death hanging over him, and he gets down and washes the disciples' feet. He takes the lowest job, getting in amongst all the dirt and filth that's been accumulated. For me, this is so significant as Jesus is actively taking charge of cleansing the disciples. He knows what needs to be done, and isn't afraid to be humbled, dealing with the stench and the dirt. As he does this knowing that many in the room will soon scatter and abandon him, he cleanses the unworthy. This is a crucial picture to have in mind at the start of the last supper. As Jesus tells the disciples to remember his body and his blood, we remember what Jesus went through to cleanse us all. We remember the pain he was to suffer. We remember the injustice he went through. We remember that we are unworthy, and we are reminded of how outrageous God's love is.

As we then move into Gethsemane, we see that Jesus' death is more than just an inevitable part of what he had to do. When I was younger I figured Jesus knew he had to die, that was the deal and he just accepted it. I think it's easy to lose sight of how horrible it must be to know that you are about to be abused, abandoned, beaten, and killed. I can't imagine how awful that must be even if you deserve it, but to go through that when you are blameless must be awful. To go through it at the hands of the very people you have come to show love to must be close to overwhelming.

We see that in Gethsemane. We see the potential of the cross weighing heavily on Jesus. We see him 'overwhelmed with sorrow', asking for disciples to stay and pray with him. He wants the people who mean most to him to be with him in this darkest of times. As Jesus prays, we get a sense of the intensity of the situation. Jesus is torn. He clearly doesn't want to go through what he is facing, he knows the scale of what is about to happen. As he wrestles with the pain which is to come, Jesus comes to the place where he asks God if there is any way it can be removed. I'm sure Jesus knows that there isn't, but this shows us how intense the feelings are.

As Jesus is wrestling with this, the people he trusts most are asleep. As Jesus goes through the intense sorrow, he must be feeling let down by those who are closest to him. This is similar to other times in his ministry, where people walk away from him, where people are healed and seemingly just disappear. Jesus must have felt disappointment so often as he dealt with people. However, as always, Jesus' love for people and his focus on what he must do are more important than the disappointment. Jesus goes back, and determines that he is ready to face what it is to come.

Take some time out today, just to appreciate Jesus. As we look at this, we know it's not a mindless, easy thing he did. It was a painful, conscious choice. He knew the cost, and was willing to go through with it for the sake of a flawed people. He is that great, and deserves our worship.

Day 27 - Hidden Treasures

Day 27: Matthew 25

HIDDEN TREASURE

Read Matthew 25 here first

 

When we look at this parable, we see a king who has given his servants money and tells them to do something with it. When we look at this, I believe we need to take a good look at everything that God has given us. In the parable, the worst reaction here is the servant who did nothing, who sat on what he had.

There are probably two reasons that we aren't very proactive in making sure we make the most of what God has given us. Firstly, and primarily, I think we're afraid to fail. Society places a high value on 'success' and sometimes it's safer to not try things than to try and potentially fail. Secondly, we often sit back and take things easy. I don't know about you, but so often I need a bit of a shove to get myself going, either from God or from someone else. As we look at this parable, I'd like us to look at 3 areas where we can look at what is in our hand that can be used for God's glory; our finances, our time, and our gifting or skills.

Finances

We've talked about finances a lot already. That's because Jesus has a lot to say about it. We can look at our lives and think we've got less than we really have. As we look at verse 34 onwards, we see the challenge laid down to us in terms of reaching out to others. Jesus calls us to look at what we can do for the homeless, the hungry, the thirsty, the sick and imprisoned.

We live in an unbalanced world, where society would tell us to buy as much nice stuff as we can. I believe Jesus would call us to a radical way of living, taking an honest, painful look at what we do for the 'least' in our world. I know that's not popular, but I believe that's the way Jesus would have us spend our money. It'll be painful, and sacrificial, and I almost certainly will fail to live up to it, but I desperately want to live my life trying to do it.

Time

So often, quiet times, or church ministry, or time spent with people can be the first thing that we let drop when we feel tired or busy. I don’t know about you, but I never feel too tired to watch TV or sit on the laptop. We’ve seen previously that Jesus always had time for people. On an average week, we probably have about 110-120 hours awake. God wants to be central to all parts of those, but often we squeeze him out.

God wants us to live in constant relationship with Him, but I believe that as part of that, it’s important for us to sacrifice our time for things. That will mean something different for us all, but it’s important that we get out of our own homes and interact with people in some way.

As we think about how we can use our time better, and what we can do to serve God with the hours we have, it’s important to figure out what we’re passionate about, and what skills or gifting we feel God has given us.

Gifting

I believe it's important that we look at the different abilities and attributes that God has created us with, to see if we are really using those. I recently heard someone say that most Christians don’t get to use their main talents on a regular basis.

If you're not sure what you're good at ask someone what they think. I know it feels arrogant, but try to work it out. You could think of practical skills that you might have, or emotional attributes. List a couple of things that you come up with, and then try to see how these are currently being used in your life. If you feel they're not being used, then commit them to God, asking what He can do with them, how they can be used.

I would urge you to sit down and write some of this stuff out. If you're anything like me, you'll think about some of this stuff, and it'll drift out of your mind and you forget about it. As you commit things to paper, they can seem a bit more permanent and it just might help you take them seriously. As we sit and work out our passions, our skills, we may find people who care about similar things and out of that God may birth new ideas which change lives.

Day 26 - Back to the Future

Day 26: Matthew 24

BACK TO THE FUTURE

Read Matthew 24 here first

 

When I read this passage, I'm reminded of a couple of friends, who will remain nameless, that believed that Australians lived in the future. They didn't think they just lived in a different time zone, they genuinely believed that they found out about world events first. The second coming of Jesus was one of these. They couldn't quite grasp how everyone would see Jesus at the same time, as Australians would clearly be the first to spot him. It's at those times that words fail me.

Anyway, in Matthew 24, Jesus talks about his return and the end of the world. I flick over this chapter often. If I'm being honest, I flicked ahead and wrote the entry for chapter 25 before doing this one, as I didn't quite know how to face it. I then came back, because I didn't want this chapter to be the final one I wrote. The second coming of Jesus is a difficult topic for me. It's quite often something that depends on people's theological interpretation, and before long it can develop into more a contest of who thinks they know the most, and I tend to zone out of those discussions. My ex-housemate will hate me for saying this, but in my eyes there are educated people on both sides of the fence, each thinking they're right, and I think a lot of our theology around it is educated guessing. Therefore I'm happy to leave the details alone.

However, what I do think is important is that we don't just bury our heads in the sand and ignore the potential return of Jesus completely. We live in these 'end times', where Jesus has gone up to heaven and we await his return. The longer that time goes on, I guess the harder it is to live in that expectation. I guess the early church must have thought he would come back very soon, in their lifetimes, but he didn't. So far, he hasn't returned in our lifetime either, but he might. It's a tough way to live, thinking that Jesus could return at any point. In a way, it's not possible to live our lives completely with this expectation, as then we wouldn't do things like go to university or plan for anything in the future, as there would be no point.

Jesus' return has been used to pressurise or guilt-trip people in the past. I know someone who was told as a kid that if Jesus came back and he was in the cinema, Jesus wouldn't take him back to heaven. That's not helpful. It's about as helpful as T-shirts which say 'Jesus is coming, look busy'.

Jesus' return is not something that's held over us to make sure we're all always doing good, just in case he comes back and catches us out and we won't get into heaven. That's just threats wrapped up in superstition. Religious weird talk with no benefit to anyone. Rather, the knowledge that Jesus is returning is something that should stirs us in a few ways. It should spur us on in the realisation that we don't know how long we have left. If we are to believe that the only way to eternal life is to have a relationship with Jesus, then this should spur us to be open about our lives following him, inviting others to know God for themselves.

Also, it reminds us that God is so much greater than anything else. He is beyond death, he is all powerful, and ultimately victorious. Just as the Bible is a book about Jesus, about this God who is so holy and above us, and yet so loving, passages like this point us to our ultimate destination if we know Him. As CS Lewis famously said, “If I discover within myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probably explanation is that I was made for another world.”

It's tough to have in our minds every day, but ultimately we were made for another world. We weren't made to simply be content with what we have here. Jesus is returning. It may be in our lives, it may not. We still make plans for the future, but we must try to live in the knowledge that there is so much more to come, and a God who will ultimately call an end to this earth and be united with His people for eternity.

As we do that, it helps us keep life in perspective and focus on what matters. It helps us to take our eyes of ourselves, and look to Him, the only constant that there is.

Day 25 - In the Spotlight

 

Day 25: Matthew 23

IN THE SPOTLIGHT

Read Matthew 23 here first 

I have an issue with showing off and pride. I guess I always have. Bizarrely, I have this mix of showing off and getting proud, but at the same time being insecure and feeling like a failure. It's a bad mix, and it's a real character flaw that I'm trying to remove from my life, but it's tough. I guess deep down I know that I'm not very good at life, and feel that I have to show that I'm good or prove myself so that people may think I'm good.

When I speak anywhere publicly, I have this battle. All I want is that my words matter to someone, that they would be used to help people get closer to God. Before I speak, I just stand there praying that I don't mess it all up. The other side of it is that part of me wants people to think I'm good, that I've done well, that I'm funny or wise or 'spiritual'. I hate that battle, but it's something I wrestle with often. The thing is that this often masks an insecurity. When I've finished, I'm always disappointed that I've not done well enough.

Just recently, I told God straight after I’d finished a sermon that I'd had enough of failing, and that I'd love it if He could get someone else in. As the night unfolded, there were healings, salvation and real intimacy. As I sat back and watched the night unfold, I knew that God isn't interested with how 'well' I think I've done. He longs to meet people, turn their lives around and somehow He can even use my words to do it.

Maybe the Pharisees had something similar, but it had spiralled out of control. Maybe instead of drawing their affirmation from a close, loving relationship with God himself, they substituted it for the feeling that they were 'good' because they could follow a set of rules better than anyone else. Maybe they'd got lost, seeing their position as who they were, and were putting themselves above people as a way to make themselves feel worthwhile. Maybe I'm being too generous to them.

Regardless, they'd lost their way. They were supposed to guide the nation, teach them about God and drawing people back to Him, whereas they were seemingly more concerned with status. As Jesus says in verse 23, 'You give a tenth of your spices – mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law – justice, mercy and faithfulness.' The Pharisees could follow the rules, and do what the law said, but they'd missed the point. They'd missed the heart of the King because they were focused on measuring their obedience. They were judgemental and oppressive, and Jesus uses some harsh words, describing them as dead inside and snakes.

We look at the Pharisees and can almost get proud that we're not like them. However, it is so easy to become judgemental with people based on what they watch, or listen to, the way they speak, the things they struggle with. We can hold our habits up as badges of honour, showing how well we're doing, making people feel rubbish about themselves. Even if we don't do that, we can often slip into the trap of living lop-sided lives. Recently in our life group, we considered some important principles and elements to living out a life of following Jesus. This list contained the following:

Bible study, prayer, fasting, using finance as God would, sharing the gospel, helping the poor, service, carrying each other's burdens, being still.

As we looked at the list, we discussed areas we felt we'd let slip, as individuals and a life group. From this, we determined that we would be more accountable to each other in terms of fasting to draw nearer to God. We also looked at what we could do to reach the poor, and hopefully this will lead to vision being formed which could lead to lives being touched by God in the future.

We may not be Pharisees, but take a look at the list. Maybe make one of your own. What areas do you skim over or neglect? Determine to put things in place that you don't miss out on what God would have us do, so that we're not stuck in a routine but missing the heart of God himself.

Day 24 - Nice Day for a White Wedding

 

Day 24: Matthew 22

NICE DAY FOR A WHITE WEDDING (22:1-14)

Read Matthew 22 here first

 

We have a handful of really big days in our lives, days where we want to gather round us the people who matter the most. If I was to think of the big days in my life, I would say that these include my 18th and 21st birthdays, my baptism, the first sermon I preached in Grimsby, the night of my engagement and my graduation from university. However, none of these come anywhere near my wedding day. Your own wedding day is a great thing. As a 29 year old Christian, it feels like I've been to a million weddings, including 16 in one year, which is enough to give you wedding fatigue.

Your own wedding is so different though. Everything matters. You plan the clothes, the songs, the location, the venue, the food, the entertainment. Like everyone, we carefully planned the event. You want everything to be perfect, but that doesn't always happen. For example, we spent a whole day making invites which had the date missing from them and I under-ordered the number of chairs needed, meaning that one table had to sit on garden chairs.

As you go through the planning, you realise it's not about everything being perfect, it's about celebrating the day with the people who matter most to you. Weddings are big deals. Jesus talks about the Kingdom of heaven being like a wedding, giving us a picture of celebration. Revelation 21 paints the amazing picture of the church being the bride of Christ, being dressed in white despite all our blemishes. It's a great picture as we will be united with God forever, with no tears or pain, as He always intended us to be.

The Israelite people had been waiting for the Messiah to come and fulfil the prophecies. Jesus has come to do this, but the many of the Jewish people (especially the leaders) don't want to know. They don't recognise Jesus as the son of God and don't want to be part of his invitation. This parable talks about the fact that ultimately those who refuse the invitation to the wedding won't be there. Whilst this initially is referring to the Israelite people, it can applied to everyone. We live in a time where the message of Jesus has been around for thousands of years. Jesus is clear in the gospels that the only way to be part of the Kingdom of Heaven is to accept his invitation. If not, the alternative is a lifetime without God, or goodness. Sadly, that means hell. It's a hard truth, but it's important that we don't shy away from it.

As we've looked at these devotionals, we've seen a lot about how great grace is, how huge God's love is, and the challenging lifestyle that Jesus calls us to lead. It's also crucial that we recognise that Jesus has come to lay his life down for us, and only through a relationship with him can we gain access to the wedding feast.

So as we look at this parable, the doors have been flung wide open. Jesus again shows us that to be God's people is not reserved exclusively for the people of Israel any longer, but is for all of us. As in Matthew 21, the walls are broken down and we're all invited. Again, this isn't something we take for granted. If we look at verse 13, we see a man rolling up without proper wedding dress, who then gets lobbed out. On the face of it, this seems harsh.

I'm no theologian, but from what I gather, this is saying that we can't just get to the gates of heaven because we were invited. Instead, we need to respond to the invitation by following Jesus and letting it change our lives. As we do this, we will be able to trade our filthy rags for his righteousness, and then we will truly be clothed in white on that day where we come together as the bride of Christ.

In Shakespearean times, it was said that plays could be split into 2; comedies (with a good ending) and tragedies (with a bad ending). It was said that comedies ended with a wedding, and tragedies ended with a funeral. It's great that our story can end with a wedding, but it's up to us to decide whether we want to be part of it.

Day 23 - Demolition Man

Day 23: Matthew 21

DEMOLITION MAN (21:12-17)

Read Matthew 21 here first

 

The story of Jesus turning over tables and chasing people out of the temple is a great one. It also doesn't necessarily fit with the image of Jesus that some of us have grown up with. I can remember growing up and seeing pictures of Jesus in white, stroking a lamb, with a golden glow behind his head. We think of Jesus more readily as peaceful, loving, gentle and kind. Jesus is absolutely all of these, but he is also so much more.

Jesus here shows that he is not just loving, but he is passionate. Whenever Jesus sees the sick, he has the compassion on them to heal them from their disease. Here, Jesus shows us how much he hates injustice. In John's version, Jesus makes a whip and chases them out. I don't know about you, but I've never seen a nice portrait of the angry Jesus chasing out the people who've turned the temple into a place to make a quick buck.

I asked a theology student for a bit more information, and he helped me out on this. Apparently the outer courts of the temple were meant to be for people who weren't Jews but wanted to come and hear more about God. It was intended for the Gentiles, for women, for slaves. The intention was that this would be a place they could come to ask questions about God and hear his word explained, as they weren't allowed to go further into the temple where the worship took place for the Jews.

As Jesus sees this place being corrupted by Jewish people exploiting others, this is what gets him angry. From this, we can see the passion that Jesus has to show that the kingdom of God is for everyone. He has spent plenty of time with lepers, beggars, tax collectors and women, demonstrating that the whole system of exclusivity is not the heart of God. Like most of you reading this, the outer courts is as far as I would have gone previously. I wouldn't have been allowed into the main temple, and certainly not into the Holy of Holies, with the presence of God. By coming to earth with that determination to call us all His people, Jesus is coming to break down that wall, to stop the differentiation between Jew and Gentile, men and women. He is coming to throw open the doors of His kingdom.

So let us remember the image. The image of an aggravated Jesus displaying just how passionate he is about his people. The passion that would drive him to the cross. He was not a man who meekly went to the cross because he just had to, but he was a man that determined to go to the cross because he had chosen to love us, whatever the cost. A man on a mission to lay down his life in the ultimate declaration of a God who longs to have a broken world reconnected to him.

I went to London recently. Somehow, the price of a first class ticket was the same as standard class, so I took it with both hands. That means you can go into the first class lounge. Where all food and drink is free. Chaos. I enjoyed my wait a lot, sitting with my free biscuits. I even had someone serving me coffee. In one way it felt quite flash. In another way, I felt like a fraud, like it wasn't where I belonged. I felt it was for better people, richer people, classier people and that I was only there because of some strange loophole which gave me a cheap ticket.

This is similar to what Jesus has done for us. He has made a way to come to a place which is too good for us. We may feel like we don't deserve it, but we are welcome. We could never pay the price to get into there, but we shouldn't feel that we don't belong. I look at the eternity that is mapped out for me and I get that feeling that it's too good, that I've blagged it a bit or found some kind of loophole. It is no loophole. It is the way into a relationship with God. This was always Jesus' intention.

As we consider our undeserved future, it's not just for us to feel unworthy. It's important that we feel loved, and that in turn we regularly appreciate what the entry price was, and the greatness of the man who was willing to pay it for us.

Day 22 - Crash Course

 

Day 22: Matthew 20

CRASH COURSE (20:1-16)

Read Matthew 20 here first

 

I hated driving lessons. The first set I had were in Grimsby, and I did an intensive course involving 4 hours a day. The main problem was that I really clashed with the instructor, but couldn't change. At times we'd be sat outside his ex-wife's house parked up with him telling me what a terrible woman she was, and at other times he'd be telling me what a terrible driver I was. I remember failing my first test, and him driving me home while telling me how I was rubbish compared to him.

I don't like not being good at things. As an adult, I find that I avoid going through that by only doing things I'm relatively good at. Unfortunately, driving was something completely new that I had to learn from scratch, and I struggled with it. I knew I wasn't much good and I knew I needed help. That whole process was a humbling one for me and I hated it. Eventually I got there, and now I'm an amazing driver. Well, an OK driver. Well, better than Anna. Maybe.

I've found the Christian life can sometimes be like that. As a teenager, I found things so hard that I would throw myself down in front of God with tears in my eyes, desperate to return to Him and not be the same man that I was fed up of being. I read the Bible, tried to live that way, failed and came back to God, clinging to His grace. I wished things were different, but I loved the fact that He would always forgive me and that His love ran out. Slowly, as I prayed and got closer to God, things started to change. God started to mould and shape me, I found that I was happier with life, less reactive and felt better about myself. As I asked that God would change me, I found that He did and I could see the difference he was making in my life.

One day I got asked to speak at a youth event, and I felt completely unworthy. I knew I didn't deserve to be there, so I clung to God. I prayed and prayed, desperate that He would take over. A year later, I was at a baptism service, and one guy said that the first service he came to was the one I preached at, and something that I said made him want to come back. I couldn't believe it. I don't say that to big myself up. Far from it, I know it was one of the worst I've done in terms of content, being interesting, and having any real depth. However, I knew I couldn't do it in my own strength, and I completely threw myself on God for it. I believe as I did that, he took my mediocre words and somehow used them to be part of the journey to change something in the heart of that man.

Since then, I wish I was better at that when I speak. I now have some stories, some messages and I can almost think 'It's OK God, I've got this one, leave it with me'. I know I've done that at times, and I know that I've entertained people, but it's meant very little in their lives. The problem is that somewhere along the line, the tendency can be to think that I'm getting quite good at life. As I struggle with certain things less, the danger is that I can feel that I don't quite need God as much any more. I can treat Him like a driving instructor, there to give me the basics but then feeling like I can handle this and do it on my own. Somewhere down the line I can think that I'm now 'good enough' for God, forgetting just how great He is, and the work that He's done in my life.

As we read this passage, Jesus is telling people not to moan about what we think God owes us for our service. We can forget that we've come to God via forgiveness and grace, and start to rack up what we now think we deserve. Somehow we replace that amazing gift of grace with what we're now due from following Him for years. Grace is unfair, and I'm so glad it is. Without grace, I'd been done for. I deserve nothing from God, and yet He gives me so much. Grace is the most beautiful thing, and we all need it regularly, whether we've been following God for a day or a lifetime.

Let's remember that we're not good enough for God. We never will be. Let's think about the areas in our life where we maybe think we've got it sorted and worked out, and hand them back to God, safe in the knowledge that He will always do a better job than us.

Day 21 - Who Wants To Be a Millionaire?

Day 21: Matthew 19

WHO WANTS TO BE A MILLIONAIRE?

Read Matthew 19 here first

 

There are bits in the Bible we don't like, let's be honest. Not just in the Old Testament, although there's plenty in there that we find strange. I once did a talk called 'Things I wish Jesus hadn't said'. Before you rip this up in disgust at my blasphemy, these weren’t phrases that I don’t believe, but they are phrases that I find tough because I do believe them. That’s the problem. Jesus says a lot of stuff that I believe, but if I choose to live by them, it will mean a complete transformation, and one which will be uncomfortable. This is a part that I wish wasn't in there.

Back in chapter 5 (verses 17-48 if you want to read up) Jesus talks about the Ten Commandments and urges a higher way. Ultimately, the commandments were meant to illustrate things about how God intended people to live, not merely tools to measure our 'goodness' by. He no longer makes it acceptable for us to be proud that we're not murderers. Jesus points us to that higher way, challenging us to not be content but to see the heart of how God wants us to live out our lives.

When the rich young ruler approaches Jesus, he's probably thinking that he's doing well by keeping the commandments. He may be expecting praise, or expecting his position on the ladder to be confirmed. Instead, Jesus tells him to do something which will turn his life upside down. He tells him to sell everything and give it to the poor. Everything. Seems harsh doesn't it?

Jesus says that it's 'easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.' I've read theological arguments around this about whether the eye of a needle is a gate, and quite frankly, I don't care. We can over-analyse something because we don't like what it says. I think this is what we do here. We read this statement and we don't like it. I don't like it. It calls me to a higher way of dealing with my money. I want a nicer car. I want better clothes. I want a nicer house. I want to follow Jesus. I want to take his words as truth. Therefore this is hard.

Of all the passages we seek to ignore from Jesus, most of them involve wealth. We reason that it's not practical to give away all of our wealth to the poor and move on, missing the challenge. As we look at the lives of Jesus and the disciples, we look at people who had no money. We look at men of faith who don't care about living for the financial rewards. The disciples were men who had jobs and in some cases, wives. They gave up that security for following Jesus. We often look for God’s blessings to be financial (and they can be), but that seems at odds with so much Jesus said and what we see from the lives of the apostles.

We love Jesus and admire the disciples, but often long to be able to spend most of our money on ourselves. After all, it is ours. A great person to read on the area of what it means to follow Christ with your finances is a guy called Shane Claiborne. I warn you though; it's challenging, life-changing stuff.

It's a hard teaching. But just because we can't give all our wealth away doesn't mean we shouldn't take a regular, serious look at what we do with our money. A person I really respect recently said to me that there will always be another mouth to feed. While that may well be true, I don't think it's a good enough attitude to take. I don't believe it is the attitude Jesus would take.

Today, I urge you to look at your finances. Sit down, look through your bank statements, and see where your money goes. I’ve done this and it’s been a tough reality. I look at the spending I make on lunch or coffee, compared to what I do to actually change the lives of people who have very little and it’s embarrassing. Shameful, even.

As you do this, ask yourself what Jesus would do with your money. That is a tough question, but pray about it, wrestle with it, and most of all, determine to do it. We have a great responsibility by living in the western world. Let’s make sure we take that responsibility seriously, rather than just turn the page and pretend that Jesus never talked about any of this.

Day 20 - Top of the Class

Day 20: Matthew 18

TOP OF THE CLASS

Read Matthew 18 here first

When you're at school, there's a sort of social ladder system. Most of us have witnessed it. If you're anything like me, you weren't too bothered about being at the top, as long as you weren't the one at the bottom getting the abuse. In my year I was the only kid I knew of that went to church. Coupled with that, I was one of the cleverer kids (not because I'm particularly smart, my school was just that bad). This should have added up to me being picked on a lot. I got a bit of stick, but I generally avoided it as I played for the school football team, which gave me credibility. I'm grateful that I did, as I don't know how I'd have coped otherwise. I don't say that lightly, as I know that people reading this would've had a really tough time at school, and my heart goes out to you. The ladder is an awful thing, and one which can scar people for years.

As we grow up, measuring ourselves carries on. We can compare ourselves to others based on our wealth or our perceived happiness. We can look at others in relationships and feel that if we're single then we must somehow be woth less than them, and tell ourselves we are less happy than they are. This can feel so natural, and also be really damaging, particularly in the area of being single. I've found that as we get into our twenties, people start feeling that pressure of being single, that somehow getting in a relationship is the ultimate goal and will make us happy. Whilst being in a settled relationship is good, and provides us with feelings of security and love that we crave, it is essential that we don't use that as a replacement for God. Getting a boyfriend/girlfriend cannot and will not turn us automatically from unhappy to happy. There is a greater issue of self-worth that we must wrestle with, and it is vital that we let ourselves be defined by our relationship with God, with our security coming in Him and from no-one else.

As well as relationships, or comparisons within society, most jobs carry a feedback or appraisal system. My old job gave you an overall rating on your performance for the year on a scale of 1-4, 1 being amazing, 4 being rubbish. I got a 3, which basically means I’m OK. Fine. Slightly above awful. Not a complete leper. Hardly motivational. If anything, it makes us bitter, feeling that we deserve better, feeling we've been put too low on the ladder. A few of us were so bitter that we started a Facebook group called 'PwC rated me a 3. Treat.' Don't worry, I'm over this now. Stupid accountants.

 

It feels like quite a natural thing to work out our 'position' in life. We can judge our intelligence based on exam results and class scores, we can judge our sporting prowess by being picked on teams, and we could even judge our popularity by our number of Facebook friends. Deep down, we want to know that we're not on the bottom rung of the ladder, alone and unpopular.

This was the same in Jesus' time. The religious leaders had invented so many rules to set themselves apart, so they would be seen as 'better' than the average person. When the disciples ask Jesus the question in verse 1, it's probably quite normal. They're probably trying to work out where they fit compared to the religious rulers, trying to assess what their position is.

Jesus' response is simple, and yet challenging. He calls on them to humble themselves like children. This should free us up from concerns of where we stand. Children need to be loved, and they rely on people around them to look after them. I know that as I read this, I need to forget about whether I think I'm 'better' or 'worse' than the people around me.

I know that without God I am nothing. When I'm distant from God, I don't like myself. I get moody, cynical, selfish and bad-tempered. That's where I start having to wrestle with a couple of things. I know God has transformed my life. I know that any measure of 'success' I feel means nothing compared to knowing how much I mean to God, but deep down I still have this urge to prove myself, to show I'm better than people in some way. It's pitiful, but it's what I feel sometimes.

I never realised the passage about being like children went next to the parable of the lost sheep. It makes sense that Jesus tells people to forget who is 'greatest' and then tells them that God's love has come for us all. Jesus spends so much time with the rejected in society to show us this. Jesus hung out with 'sinners', declaring that the kingdom of God was for us all. God had seen years of us being lost sheep. He had people wandering around, looking for something to tell them they were valuable, looking for something which made them 'good' in some way.

If we understand that there's nothing we can do to make God love us all more or less, then we must understand that it means that everyone is loved the same. That means that the worst of criminals are loved by God as much as charity workers, church leaders, nurses and even accountants. Shocking. I'm not saying that there are no consequences of what we do, of course there are and there must be. However, if Jesus dying on the cross forgives all sins, then the truth is that it must also forgive the things that sicken us. It's a tough thought, but if God's grace can't forgive everything, then it is limited. And God's grace has no limits. 

The truth is that if you don't know God, he sees you as a lost sheep. He loves you so much that He sent His son to come down and die so that you could have the chance to be called His people. He longs for you to turn to Him. He doesn't want you to wander around, trying to get your way through life without Him. He wants you to know Him, to realise that you were made to love Him and be loved by Him.

The other truth is that if you do know God, he doesn't love you any more than He did previously. What it means is that we can enter into relationship with Him, let His love wash over us and transform us, and hopefully get off the ladder of where we think our 'place' in the world is.

Day 19 - God doesn't live in Skegness

Day 19: Matthew 17

GOD DOESN’T LIVE IN SKEGNESS

Read Matthew 17 here first

My final year of university was the laziest year I will ever have. It involved living in a dirty student house (I once fell asleep on my couch and was woken by slugs crawling through a disused pizza box), eating takeaway and playing Playstation. However, in the midst of a lazy man's dream life, I became a bit fed up and a bit bored. I was attending church, but did very little else. I had no small group to meet with, no ministry to get passionate about. I just attended church, did some quiet times and not a lot else. Towards the end of the year I felt dry. Really dry.

That Easter, I went away to Skegness to Spring Harvest, a Christian conference, for 5 days. As I attended meetings, I began to confront some frustrations I had with life. I rang a friend and moaned for an hour, telling her I was fed up with worrying about what people at church thought of me, what friends thought of me, what to do in church, what to do with the future, on and on. I finished the call and went to the meeting.

I remember nothing about the sermon or what the meeting was on. I remember they asked anyone doing exams to come up for prayer so I went up, stood silently and waited. A random guy came, prayed for my exams and finished. As I turned to go, he asked to pray more. I shrugged and said ok, and then he said that he just felt that I was a man fed up of worrying, about what his friends thought, people at church thought, my future, etc. Pretty much word for word what I'd said on the phone. It blew me away, and changed my life. I couldn't figure out how it'd happened, how this stranger knew this.

Deep down, I did know. It was through God. I can't explain it any other way. If we believe in God, we don't just believe in a book with some wise words, but we believe in a God who is living and real, and who breaks into our lives in extraordinary ways. As an accountant, I naturally tend to go towards more logical things that I'm comfortable with, but the simple fact is that God is greater than my understanding and can move so much more powerfully and unexpectedly than I know.

As we read the story of the transfiguration, we can skim it and think it's a bit odd. I know it's there to fulfil Old Testament prophecies and establish that Jesus is the Christ. Beyond that, most of us just shrug and move on. I can too often do that in churches with some ministry as people are touched by the Holy Spirit. I can say it looks a bit weird and be a bit uncomfortable with people falling over, and shut away from that.

However, I believe that as we do this, we miss out. We need to be open to the Holy Spirit moving, cutting through all the stuff that seems a bit 'weird' (and is often people's own reactions to things, I've never fallen over or started screaming). As we open ourselves up to God in this way, I believe that the Holy Spirit will do things in our lives that will have a huge impact, and that we will look back on as testimonies that last for years.

We need these days in our lives. We must be open to the Holy Spirit, in expectation that God will break into our ordinary circumstances and touch our lives. These times are often pivotal, and should be treasured experiences, to inspire and reassure us in times of doubt. These times are small glimpses of eternity, where we will be in the presence of God forever. We must have them, as we were created to know God and live in intimacy with Him.

By the same token, we cannot just chase experiences, just to be where 'God is moving'. Peter isn't sure what to do, and wonders if they should set up camp and stay there. Whilst it's important to take time out of our schedules to spend a prolonged time with God, we have to be careful we don't simply chase what's going on in other locations, rather than getting involved with what God has called to in our own communities. We all love those meetings where the presence of God is overwhelming and could stay there forever, and one day we will have that permanently.

For us, we need to strike a balance. We must be open to the Holy Spirit, in expectation that He will move in our lives. We must also involve ourselves with people, where it is messy and often tough. From what we see from the apostles in Acts, when people are filled with the Spirit and active within their community, then God moves in mighty ways which can change a world.

Day 18 - Guess Who

Day 18: Matthew 16

GUESS WHO

Read Matthew 16 here first

 

The disciples are great. They give up their jobs to follow Jesus, not worrying about money or the future. These are guys filled with faith, just wanting to be near Jesus and be part of what he's doing. As we've already covered, at one point when the crowds disappear, they say to Jesus that there's nowhere else they'd want to go, that only he has the words to eternal life. So often though, they fail to get it. As Jesus tells parables or explains things to them, they miss the point loads.

Here, Jesus warns them about the religious rulers and they somehow take it that Jesus is telling them off for not having bread. Maybe after the feeding of the 5000 and the 4000 they thought they should always have bread on them ready for a crowd and were letting Jesus down. Who knows? Plainly, they often just didn't get was Jesus was saying at first.

This isn't the part of Matthew 16 that I want to focus on though. In verses 13 to 20, Peter shows that he may not get everything that Jesus says, but that he grasps the key to everything. He may not understand the details of all of Jesus' teachings, but he knows who Jesus is.

At this point, Peter shows that he has been listening all along. He has heard the rumours; he knows what people think of Jesus. Ultimately, he knows that Jesus is far more than people have been saying. Peter has followed Jesus and knows who he follows. He declares that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. Jesus doesn't respond by praising him or telling him he's right. He simply acknowledges that he is Peter, and that this ordinary fisherman will be the rock on which the church is built.

In the internet age, we live in a place where everyone can make their opinion known. You just have to look on Facebook, Twitter, forums or blogs to see people giving their opinion on any given subject. People have an outlet to make their opinion known instantly these days, and most people seem to have something to say. If you click around the internet, you will see all kinds of opinion on Jesus. Some people will say he is the Son of God, some will say he had some good teachings; some will say he didn't exist, and some will condemn his words as irrelevant.

Peter didn't listen to the crowd. The religious leaders hated Jesus. Many people thought his teachings were too hard. Peter knew he was the Christ. I think this is one of the main reasons Peter is so pivotal in the history of the church. Even though Peter would make mistakes, most notably denying Jesus, I believe that Jesus knew that Peter was a man who would go the distance. I believe that a crucial part of this was that he was a man secure in the knowledge of who Jesus was.

In our churches, there have been many rocks that the church has been built on. There have been many men and women who have known what it is to truly follow Jesus, acknowledging him as their saviour and trusting him with their lives. We live in a time where we can reap the benefits of their past faithfulness.

It is often said that we live in a 'Post-Christian era' in Britain, where the time of Christianity has passed in our country. However, I believe that same question that was asked of Peter comes to us all in our generation. The question of who we say Jesus is will be relevant for us all.

As we've worked through Matthew so far we have seen a man of miracles, who pointed the way to a kingdom far greater than what we see in our own societies. We have seen a man who has taught us the need to turn our lives back to God, a man who will ultimately sacrifice himself for the sake of calling a broken world His people.

As we look at Jesus, let's acknowledge that he is the Christ, the son of God, and let's live our lives so that we may be the ordinary men and women that God uses to continue to build his church.