A Payday of the Just

Luke 14:12-14

How often at school, work, or even at church was a question directed at someone other than you and you were so thankful it was not addressed to you?  Why, because you had not anticipated the question, or maybe you were clueless to what the correct answer is to the question.  Jesus asks a lot of questions of those who He encountered, and one such question He ask of the Pharisees who had invited Him to dinner.  “When you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return and you be repaid.”  (Luke 14:12 ESV)

I know how to answer the question; yes, Jesus is there something wrong with having my friends, brothers or relatives, even my rich neighbors?   If that is the way you responded did Jesus answer?   In Luke’s account the Pharisees did not answer, but Jesus did.  “But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just.”  (Luke 14:13-14 ESV)

A foolish person might say; Jesus you do understand I’ve worked hard and You have blessed me and I no longer live among the under resourced, I do not work around them, to be totally honest; I do not know many who fall in that group. 

But Jesus cares little if you enjoy dinner with friends, neighbors, relatives, or even the rich, but your return on that investment is not eternal, for as Jesus stated so clearly, they can and will return the invitation.  Investing in the under resourced often from a worldly view looks like putting your resources in a black hole with no bottom, but Jesus who tells the truth tells all of us; “For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just.” 

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice

The Real You

Luke 14:7-11

The real you often does not resemble the person that is exposed to those around you; the public you.  The real you is your mind, not your brain, your will, and your emotions.  All of us show-up on planet earth with spirits that are dead to God, and we show-up with flesh that wants to rule, if you doubt that have you ever seen a baby that is considerate of their mother.  The answer is no, when they are wet they want it fixed, when they are hungry, they want food, and the list keeps going.  And if you are still not convinced, go watch a group of two year olds, it’s all about them, and they were never taught to be mean spirited, but they sure are good at it. 

Today we need to look at the flesh, for the Scriptures address it often, these are just a couple of examples: In the book of Philippians 3:3 “… and put no confidence in the flesh -….”.  And in Ephesians 5:15 we are told “Be very careful, then how you live – not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.”  And look at Romans 8:7-8, “For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.” (Romans 8:7-8)  Verse eight is very convicting to me for my unique version of the flesh is much like these Pharisees and lawyers Jesus is addressing at this dinner.

As you read the words of Jesus do a self examination; “Now he told a parable to those who were invited, when he noticed how they chose the places of honor, saying to them, “When you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in a place of honor, lest someone more distinguished than you be invited by him, and he who invited you both will come and say to you, ‘Give your place to this person,’ and then you will begin with shame to take the lowest place. But when you are invited, go and sit in the lowest place, so that when your host comes he may say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at table with you. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” (Luke 14:7-11 ESV)

It has been rare when I’ve been asked to move to the head table, but my flesh wants to be in the place of honor, that is my unique version of the flesh, and it’s a choice, submit to God, or honor the flesh, and guess what, God is not into a redo, or makeover, no His plan is to kill it, and we have the choice, (Will) must rule over mind and emotions, for in the will we have the victory of submitting to the Spirit of God.  The victory is found in Romans 8:5, “For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit.”  It is all about where we set our minds!  And if it was not possible to set our minds then God would be setting us up for failure, and He could not be trusted, but all who have a personal relationship with Christ know Him to be good and trustworthy, a keeper of His promises.

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice

A Sabbath Rest

Luke 14:1-6

Have you been in a situation where someone who knows the answer to the question they put forth, is asking you to give an opinion?   It’s the Sabbath and Jesus is going to dine at the house of a ruler of the Pharisees, and all eyes are on Jesus.  And doctor Luke tells us a man was there who had dropsy, it is a condition that involves swollen limbs resulting from the accumulation of fluid in the body's tissues, especially the legs.  When Jesus saw the man with dropsy he ask the lawyers and Pharisees this question; “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath, or not?”  Many of us are gentiles by birth and by rebirth have entered into the lineage of Abraham, but few of us have a great understanding of the commands of God about the Sabbath.

So shall we look into the commandments on the Sabbath given by God to His chosen?  In Exodus 20:8, “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.”  In Exodus 34:21, “Six days you shall labor, but on the seventh day you shall rest, even during the plowing season and harvest you must rest.”  I’ve been blessed to know a few farmers and if it is plowing season they may rest, but when it comes to harvest time, it is 24/7 the crops must be gathered.  What is so strong about this is God is telling each of us, work is of great value, but I’ve also given you a time of needed rest.  But the greater message is our Father who loves and supplies all our needs has both the planting and the gathering covered, and we are to place our faith in His ability to do so.

Going on with God’s rules for the Sabbath, in Exodus 35:3, “Do not light a fire in any of your dwelling on the Sabbath day.”  You may be wondering if God was really serious about the Sabbath day, look at Exodus 35:2, “Six days work shall be done, but on the seventh day you shall have a Sabbath of solemn rest, holy to the Lord.  Whoever does any work on it shall be put to death.”  Now that does answer that God was serious about a Sabbath day rest.  We find this instruction on the Sabbath in the book of Nehemiah 10:31, “When the neighboring peoples bring merchandise or grain to sell on the Sabbath, we will not buy from them on the Sabbath or on any holy day. Every seventh year we will forgo working the land and will cancel all debts.”

Now the Jewish people and their leaders put a spin on what God had said on the Sabbath and came up with all kinds of new rules to do what they wanted to do without breaking their rules, but God is not into spin, and they suffered the results of being law breakers.

So when Jesus asked the question, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath, or not?” they did not answer.  These men were the religious leaders and lawyers, and it is amazing that a lawyer was silent.  And so Jesus healed the man and sent him away.  The question Jesus is about to ask should be pondered by each of us,  “Which of you, having a son or an ox that has fallen into a well on a Sabbath day, will not immediately pull him out?” And they could not reply to these things.” (Luke 14:5-6 ESV)

“God presents the Sabbath rest as a shelter we can enter. (Hebrews 4:1-11)”
- Charles R. Swindoll

“On the Sabbath day, we are remembering that my relationship with God did not begin with what I've done, it is not sustained by what I do, and it is not guaranteed to the end by my effort or work. I'm saved from beginning to end by Jesus' work.”
- Mark Driscoll

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice

Is your mission worthy of Dying for?

Luke 13:31-35

How important is your mission, or maybe the question should be, do you have a mission?  And if you have a mission is it the correct mission, is your mission worthy of dying for?  Before Jesus created the world He understood that at a point His Father would ask Him to step out of glory, that’s hard for me to grasp! The Creator knowing before His creation that the only fix to restore mankind was going to be the act on His part of leaving heaven where He is worshipped every moment, and to take on the form of His creation.  But the mission was so much greater than just leaving and taking on the form of man, Jesus’ mission was to come and live among us as both man and God, but to not once depend on His Godhood, but to look to His Father for all His actions and needs.  And all missions have an end goal, and this was His end goal, to take your sins and mine, the sins of all mankind to a cross.  He is the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world.  The apostle Paul in his letter to the Hebrews made it very clear for a Jew knew this; “Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.  (Hebrews 9:22)

Remember Jesus is traveling toward Jerusalem and some Pharisees came and said to him, “Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you.”  You are going to see the warrior in our Lord, you also will see an all knowing Jesus who before coming to earth lived outside of time and had been to what we call the beginning and the end of time as He had created it for mankind.  Listen to Jesus’ reply; “Go and tell that fox, ‘Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I finish my course. Nevertheless, I must go on my way today and tomorrow and the day following, for it cannot be that a prophet should perish away from Jerusalem.” (Luke 13:32-33 ESV)

But after saying this, we have Jesus’ lament over Jerusalem; “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! Behold, your house is forsaken. And I tell you, you will not see me until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!’”  (Luke 13:34-35 ESV)  What a price the Jewish people have paid for rejecting the Messiah, all that would happen had been seen by the all knowing and all seeing Christ, as He wept that day, over His chosen. 

The rejection is still going on with many Jewish people, and it is also going on in the hearts and minds of many who go by the name of Christian, as if being born in the United States makes you Christ like.   But I must tell you as a watchman on the wall, John the Baptist’s message is the message for America and the world, repent, confess, and bow your knee to the risen Christ.

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice

Today is the day of salvation

Luke 13:22-30

Are you one of those people who seem to ask the right questions, I’ve always been a day short on asking the appropriate question in a timely manner?   But Luke gives an account of Jesus going through towns and villages, teaching and journeying toward Jerusalem, when someone in the crowd ask Him, “Lord, will those who are saved be few?”  Now is that not a great question, but only if it is directed to someone with the knowledge to give an answer. 

We have no information on whom “someone” is, but “someone” may have been a reader of Isaiah the prophet; “Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near; let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.  For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.  For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:6-9)  For it is clear that “someone” understood he was in the presence of the person who knew the answer.

This is Jesus’ answer, “Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. When once the master of the house has risen and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, open to us,’ then he will answer you, ‘I do not know where you come from.’ Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.’ But he will say, ‘I tell you, I do not know where you come from. Depart from me, all you workers of evil!’ In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God but you yourselves cast out. And people will come from east and west, and from north and south, and recline at table in the kingdom of God. And behold, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.”

(Luke 13:24-30 ESV)

Today’s culture is not built on intimate relations, not in families, not at work, and not in the places of higher learning, it is built on selfie.  So what message does a “Selfie” world need to hear?  The same one any and all who enter the narrow door has heard, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.”  (John 3:16-18)

The narrow door is opened to all who will enter by faith in Jesus alone as the only hope to be free from the power of sin, to enter into a personal relationship with  the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  May I offer some council to all who enter by the narrow door, the world will look like an eighteen lane highway with one lane in the middle going the opposite direction.  The eighteen lane seems faster, and that is because it is, it looks like the cars are nicer, the driver looks well groomed, and it has inviting signage that picture the eighteen lanes as the place for all that the world has to offer.  But it is deceptive, for it is written; “And the world passes away and disappears, and with it the forbidden cravings (the passionate desires, the lust) of it; but he who does the will of God and carries out His purposes in his life abides (remains) forever.” 1 John 2:17 AMP) For many today is the day of salvation, it requires only for you to repent, that means acknowledging your “Selfie” life and asking Jesus to forgive you and believe that He is able to do so.

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice

Using words as needed

Luke 13:18-21

“What is the kingdom of God like?”  Jesus ask that question but it was a rhetorical question, He was not looking for information, and this is clear in that He gives an answer.   But before answering Jesus adds this question: “And to what shall I compare it?”  Have you wondered what the kingdom of God is like, will I be happy in His kingdom, will I have freedom, and will I be needed?

Jesus gives many accounts of the kingdom of God, this is from Luke 13:19-20, “It is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his garden, and it grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air made nests in its branches.”  Jesus is telling you and I that it is going to begin small but it is going to grow where the whole world will find rest in it branches.  My friend Bill would often say imagine the kingdom of God 12” above the ground, we often miss out on the kingdom of God because the cares of the world ensnare us.  Jesus also used leaven to show how the kingdom of God would advance, now most of the time that leaven is used in Scripture it is referring to evil, but in this case Jesus is showing how yeast in a large part of flour can cause it to grow, as will the kingdom of God.  “And again he said, “To what shall I compare the kingdom of God? It is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, until it was all leavened.”

I spend a good amount of time in my garden, and a gardener does not just throw seeds on the ground, he gets the ground ready and plants the seed.  But I do identify with the gospel of Mark’s account of Jesus talking about the kingdom of heaven, this is the account;  “And he said, “The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground. He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; he knows not how. The earth produces by itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. But when the grain is ripe, at once he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.” (Mark 4:26-29 ESV)

When I wanted bluebonnets in my side yard by the garden, I like the man in Jesus’ story scattered the seeds on the ground.  For months I could only hope they had not all been eaten by bugs and birds and then in the fall of the year I began to see blades coming up out of the ground, it was not until late March that the flower, what we call the bluebonnet in Texas came forth and then the seeds.  With death comes life, have you noticed that, for the flower withers and dies, the plant dies and the pods that hold life burst open and the seeds for the next years bluebonnets are spread all over the area.

As a follower of Christ should we be any less than a bluebonnet?  We have the seed of life living in us, but I’ve noticed that when my life is full of self, my faith is weak, my story of what Jesus is doing in my life is also weak, but when I die to myself and ask Jesus to do it all through me, the seed of life explodes from my person into those who are around.   I believe that is what Bill meant by living your life as if the kingdom of God is 12” above the ground.  Oh yes, the answer to my earlier questions; will I be happy in His kingdom, will I have freedom, and will I be needed?  Yes, each day I can experience joy, freedom, and be part of my Fathers plan to tell the world about Jesus.  As someone said, even use words when needed.

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice

Foolish people say Foolish things

I heard a man ask the teacher if it was right to be mad at God for the evil in the world?  That it seemed God was not doing anything about it.  God is real big and this person was not the first to say he was mad at God, but it made me wonder how a created person could be mad at their Creator?  The prophet Isaiah had this to say on the matter, “Woe to him who strives with him who formed him, a pot among earthen pots! Does the clay say to him who forms it, ‘What are you making?’ or ‘Your work has no handles’?”  (Isaiah 45:9)  One might look at what the apostle Paul had to say on the subject; “On the contrary, who are you, O man, who answers back to God? The thing molded will not say to the molder, "Why did you make me like this," will it? Or does not the potter have a right over the clay, to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for common use?”  (Romans 9:20-21)

I’ve often been angry and even mad, most of the time I was the object of my anger, but I can swear before heaven an earth that I’ve never been foolish and angry with God.  And it makes me wonder how a person could understand the grace, mercy, and love the Father has shown to them and make such a statement? 

If I sound offended, that is my Father and this I know about Him, He allowed my Redeemer, His only Son, to step out of being worshipped for sinners like me.  And 700 years before it happened, the Father allowed the prophet Isaiah to tell us about the price our Lord would pay to buy each of us out of sin.  “Surely he has borne our grief’s and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.  But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.  All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.”  (Isaiah 53:4-6)  The old gospel hymn says it so clear; “I never shall forget what He's done for me.” 

Here is my dilemma, not knowing the heart of anyone and sometime not even myself, I cannot grasp how one who has been bought out of the slavery of sin by the grace of God, and the faith He has given us to believe, could make such a statement.  It makes me wonder if they believe God should listen to their council, as if He would.  Isaiah 55:6-9, is a clear message to mere men, “Seek the LORD while he may be found; call upon him while he is near; let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the LORD, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.  For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD.  For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

This I understand, God does not need me to defend Him, it is clear He does not defend Himself in Scripture.  But how will a lost world come to see Jesus if we who are followers of Christ do not understand that we time critters cannot put God into our time, but that the cross put us into Christ’s time line.

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice