Be sure to check out all the slides for Asking Better Questions – Sermon on the Mount. All 26 sessions.
Matthew 10:5-8 Jesus sends out the disciples
These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: “Do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans. Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel. As you go, proclaim this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give.
Phase II
At this point in Jesus’ ministry he had been teaching and healing publicly for some time, and was known by the public at large and was certainly also on the radar of the religious leaders. His disciples had been with him long enough to have learned some things about the way of the kingdom, and now Jesus was inaugurating phase II of his strategy.
In the preceding passage (Mt 9:35-38), we learn that Jesus although working very hard (Mt 9:35) was not able to meet all the needs he would have liked (Mt 9:36). Time for intern assignments for his disciples!
At that point in time they were to proclaim the message of the kingdom to the Jews only. Nothing against Samaritans and Gentiles mind you, (Jesus ministered to them as well), but just at this juncture, the disciples were still new at this, and probably best off sticking with the culture they can most naturally relate to, and perhaps were less likely to be hostile to (Mt Lk 9:51-56) at that point in their spiritual lives. Also, the beachhead among the Jews was still being established. Ministry to the Samaritans and Gentiles would come in time (Acts 1:8).
The Message
And their message? “The kingdom of heaven has come near.” Twenty-first century Christians need to pause and engage with that. Note how different it is to the typical evangelical message of “Jesus will save you from your sins”. It’s a completely different approach. Contemplate what the “kingdom of heaven” is all about and investigate that, rather than heading down a sin/salvation rabbit hole on the first day in spiritual kindergarten.
This is the same message that Jesus (and John) had already been preaching. The very first words out of Jesus’ mouth in his public ministry were “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near (Mt 4:17).” Not “Repent, so that you don’t go to hell when you die.” See the difference?
Matthew 9:35-38
Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”
Jesus went to the towns and to the villages, that’s what proclaimers do. He went to “their synagogues”. Jesus did not have a temple complex of his own that was the centre of his ministry, he went to theirs instead. Now, think about how churches operate these days. A very typical paradigm is that the group has a building which is the base of operations, and people come from near and far to attend events there. And then every few years they might start another one in another town. You come to us, not we go to you. You come to our space, not we come to yours. It’s quite a different picture of ministry, is it not.
Imagine the village conversation after Jesus left town. “What did you think of that then?” Mary asks her friend Hannah. “Lot better than normal synagogue, and my husband John’s arthritis has just disappeared. I hope he’s coming back soon.”
Harassed and Helpless
Jesus’ message of good news was like music to the ears of the “harassed and helpless”. His gospel met their need, so hence the interest of the crowds that formed. No doubt there was a lot of plain old curiosity that swelled the numbers, the level of competition for interesting goings-on in regional first century Galilee villages not being that high. Nevertheless, the people came – in their droves.
Jesus modelled compassion. He acted on comprehension of needs. He didn’t see the people as a heaving unwell crowd so much as a bewildered, stumbling mass of confused directionless sheep. The text says Jesus had compassion on them after having healed their every disease and sickness. Jesus saw a deeper need. There should be shepherds here. Jesus’ compassion was connected with the subsequent acts of solving the harvest field worker shortage problem. This was not a one-man job anymore.
Transition
This is a transition point for Jesus. It’s time for the next phase. Others need to learn how to do this. Time to get the disciples involved. “Disciples – can you see the harvest field? Do you see the need? Pray for workers. Pray for yourselves”- Jesus is saying.
So, Kingdom. The good news is the good news of the kingdom. The good news that is about the Kingdom or the good news that belongs to and is rooted in the kingdom? When you understand what the Kingdom is all about you can hear the good news that goes along with it. And in this case, part of that good news is that Jesus wants to provide great shepherds to take care of his sheep. You’ll know you are seeing the kingdom of Jesus when you see good shepherds looking after Jesus’ sheep.
Rethinking Evangelism
The Message
There was this guy who appeared one day who started preaching a message he called “the good news”. A lot of people heard, some became followers, and then he got killed by the Romans.
The message lived on through His followers over the next several decades, and spread throughout the whole Mediterranean world, despite significant opposition at times.
Today, Christians still preach a message. But is it the same one that the first guy taught? Or has it become hopelessly syncretised with culture and politics? Or has it been systematised and simplified (ie dumbed down) for efficient consumption and replication? So, the question is, how is evangelism going in the twenty-first century and does it need a rethink?
Growth Parables, Growth Paradigms
There are two short parables in Matthew’s gospel that show Jesus’ thinking about how the kingdom of heaven grows.
He told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. Though it is the smallest of all seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds come and perch in its branches.”
He told them still another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into about sixty pounds of flour until it worked all through the dough.” (Mt 13:32-33).
So how does the kingdom of heaven grow exactly? How can we evangelise in the most effective way in our churches? What are the best programs, resources and techniques? Answer: none of the above.
There is some seed. It gets planted. And then we wait. Or you can use yeast!
That’s it. We plant the seed. The good news of the gospel, the way of God’s kingdom. And we let it do its work. We don’t coerce. Or manipulate. Or trap. Or scare people. It’s good news, remember? Things like “blessed are the poor in spirit”, or “the meek shall inherit the earth”. That’s the way Jesus started out.
The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” (Lk 4:18-19)
There it is again, that “good news”. Freedom sounds good. Getting your sight back sounds good. Freedom from oppression sounds good – certainly a lot better than “you’re lost and you’re going to hell” which has become the essential locus of evangelism in the evangelical world.
Worth knowing that the “eu” part in the εὐαγγελίζω (euangelizo) means “good” (think eulogy, euphemism, even euphonium etc). So, if you want to share the good news make sure it’s actually good.
Fun fact, in Roman times, the euangelion was a political announcement. The king, or the emperor is coming to your town, or has ascended to the throne. Jesus employed this device as he brought the message of a new king, a new kingdom and a new way of life.
The problem for many of us though is that we just can’t get out of a “lost/saved/we have to convert you to our church” paradigm when we think about the euangelion. Yes, this is why Jesus died, and sin is a massive problem, but this formulation of the gospel misses key parts of the overall story.
Conversion Engineering
The enemy of Jesus-style evangelism is industrialised big-church evangelism, engineered to garner those “decisions”. From the sawdust trails of the Great Awakenings, to the Billy Sundays, to the Billy Grahams, to the Bill Brights, packaged, decision-oriented programs, meetings, tracts, TV shows and so forth have all revolved around creating sufficient angst for the individual that can only be resolved by whatever analgesic act the “evangelist” is touting – a walk down that trail, a seat on that bench, a coming forward, a prayer, even a baptism. The long-term stats on these conversions really aren’t that impressive, but is it any wonder? You would never make a life-long marriage commitment after a one-hour date, so why should a life-long commitment to following Jesus, possibly involving the enduring of persecution be thought to be possible after a one-hour sermon? Jesus just didn’t seem to operate that way.
Many groups set growth goals and make various plans to try to achieve those goals. This approach can be quite deeply ingrained in our personal and corporate church cultures. On the surface this looks OK – vision and planning are good things, right? However, there are traps that get armed in this process.
Trap #1: Ministry Imbalance
In the time of Ezekiel, God made it clear to the shepherds of Israel how He would go about looking after his sheep:
I will search for the lost and bring back the strays. I will bind up the injured and strengthen the weak, but the sleek and the strong I will destroy. I will shepherd the flock with justice. (Ezk. 34:16).
Yes, God is concerned for the lost, it’s the first group on his list. But not the only group. There are strays to find, the injured to bind up, the weak to be strengthened.
Jesus, at the beginning of his ministry unrolled the Isaiah scroll and picked out the passage we mentioned earlier:
The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor. (Lk 4:18, Isa 61:1,2).
Good news + freedom for prisoners + healing + recovery + freedom of the oppressed = Jesus’ ministry.
If Jesus preached that today, he would be accused by some of having a “woke” agenda! Point is that the gospel is for people both inside and outside the group. However, when evangelism is highly prioritised then those inside sheep get neglected.
Now what about what happens after happy conversion day… Are we as organised, intentional and serious about the ongoing spiritual formation and growth and needs of the new babe-in-Christ as we are in the initial acquisition process? Maturing takes time, nurturing, encouragement, intentionality, love and effort. To ignore this is shameful. To prioritise conversion over retention is the heart of Simon the Sorcerer (Acts 8:18-23).
Trap #2: Unhealthy numerical focus
There is something that is just so alluring about numbers. Be it a bank account savings balance, social media follower count, or church growth statistics. We can draw graphs, make projections, and can feel that little glow of satisfaction as the numbers creep up. We like to know the numbers. King David fell into this trap.
So the king said to Joab and the army commanders with him, “Go throughout the tribes of Israel from Dan to Beersheba and enroll the fighting men, so that I may know how many there are.”
But Joab replied to the king, “May the LORD your God multiply the troops a hundred times over and may the eyes of my lord the king see it. But why does my lord the king want to do such a thing?” (2 Sam 24:2-3)
Joab felt something was off, and he was the general of the army they were counting – you’d think he’d want to know! David got his census done anyway and received the report. But then we are told that:
David was conscience-stricken after he had counted the fighting men, and he said to the LORD, “I have sinned greatly in what I have done. Now, LORD, I beg you, take away the guilt of your servant. I have done a very foolish thing.” (2 Sam 24:10).
That episode cost 70,000 lives (2 Sam 24:15). David saw his error saying:
I have sinned; I, the shepherd, have done wrong. These are but sheep. What have they done? Let your hand fall on me and my family. (2 Sam 24:17).
Finally, David remembered his roots, and what the heart of a true shepherd should really look like. It was wrong for David to count the people because they were not his to count (cf Ex 30:12).
Numbers have always had a depersonalising way about them, be it an actuarial statistic or a concentration camp tattoo. We give names to our children, not numbers. Jesus only worked with a few. Paul didn’t same to care that much either about the size of the crowd (1 Cor 1:16), but what they had in common was a simple desire to simply preach the message of the kingdom.
Trap #3: Measurement Pride
Apart from a few verses in the beginning of Acts there are no hard numbers in the New Testament about church growth. Three thousand on the day of Pentecost is a remarkable figure (Acts 2:41), so remarkable that the glory can really only go to God. The Lord really was adding to their number (Acts 2:47), and the Jerusalem church grew to a size of 5000 men, plus presumably a lot of women as well (Acts 4:4). But then the reporting of numbers stop. The point has been made – God was with them spectacularly. No more reports on congregation size, just accounts of the amazing things happening as the Holy Spirit conducted proceedings. If Paul boasted at all it was in his weaknesses. He refuse to boast the way the world boasts (2 Cor 11:18). “You want numbers – I’ll give you numbers… 39 lashes 5 times, 3 times beaten with rods, stoned once, 3 shipwrecks, 24 hours in the open sea” (2 Cor 11:24-25). Paul goes to great lengths to make this point in 2 Corinthians, he is not going to do business the way the world does, or the way the false apostles do. No, he lived the way of suffering, of service, of distress, of weakness. No measurement pride here.
Perhaps we are incapable of resisting the lure of the counting of souls to our account? We can say that “God added” x people to our group, but why are we saying it?
Trap #4: Stifling of Creativity
Finally, one problem with programmatic evangelistic methods is that they tend to stifle and quench creativity. Are we still doing the same old things evangelistically we did twenty or thirty years ago? Is everybody in the group doing the exact same evangelistic tasks? Well, the culture has driven right past us in the fast lane. They aren’t listening to the same old approaches anymore. What are they listening to? What are they attracted to? What do they need? Are we listening? Do we even know? Do we think about it? Paul was good at this. He had to be – three different audiences in Acts 17 alone. The Thessalonians were not the Bereans. He preached Messiah to the Jews (Acts 17:3) and an unknown God to the Athenians (Acts 17:22-25). He did his research too (Acts 17:23).
In case we have missed it, “church” is kind-of “on the nose”in many quarters these days, so invitations to come along there may not work that well any more. But perhaps ears prick up when you talk about a radical “equality” rather than a hierarchy. That has currency in the culture. Or show regard for the marginalised and get involved in a community project. Concern about justice issues, human rights and so forth. These sorts of things are totally consistent with the gospel and could be a path-way worth exploring evangelistically. Not to mention that people don’t need too much convincing that the world is in a bit of a mess and are ready for some good news. Go on! Shape that message! Love is always good. The meekness and gentleness of Christ as an antidote to a “muscular’’, “strongman”, “toxic” style of leadership. Oh, and don’t be all judgy (Rom 2:1-3, Mt 7:1-5). There are many possibilities.
The Slow Way
What if we were to simply and intentionally live out what we read in the Sermon on the Mount in our interactions with others. To actually love people, serve them, be compassionate, be there. And then one day the opportunity will arise for some deeper discussion. And if the person doesn’t respond, well you just keep on loving, serving and being compassionate, and maybe things will be different in a couple of years. There will be opportunities to open the Scriptures with people to meet needs as they arise. Living life with people means there will be needs that can be ministered to. That does seem to be the way Jesus did it. There are probably a lot more “living water” conversations (Jn 4:1-24) than “warn and plead opportunities”. (Acts 2:40).
Paul gets the idea also:
What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task. I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and they will each be rewarded according to their own labor. For we are co-workers in God’s service; you are God’s field, God’s building. (1 Cor 3:5-9)
Paul seems to be genuinely comfortable with the idea that he is just a simple co-worker. A seed-planter. A God-partner who is happy to pass the ball. He is convinced that it is God who makes those seeds grow. The thing about seeds is that there is no quick pay-off. You put them in the ground, and you have nothing to show for it but dirt under your fingernails for quite a while. One day there is a sprout, but you better keep on watering it because full-grown mustard trees can take quite a few years (Mt 13:32).
What if you were able to come up with a setting in which you could share and discuss in your day the things Jesus taught that revolutionised the religion of his day? And you did it for a year, with absolutely no “conversion agenda”, but instead just focussed on teaching the good news and allowing the Holy Spirit to do his work? What would that look like a year down the track? Chances are a lot of the poor, imprisoned and blind people would stop by. History tells us that Jesus’ way draws people. They get to listen. They get to figure out in community with others how this all applies to them. They get to engage, to think, to wrestle. That is going to lead to a deeper engagement with the Scriptures and changes in the heart. Then one day, “So what do I need to do?” moments can arise. People do think about these things (Lk 13:23, Acts 8:26-39, Acts 16:30).
This may all seem terribly inefficient and oh-so-slow. But isn’t that how seeds grow? Much better to start slowly, plant those seeds and allow God to cause the growth. Build relationships and intentionally nurture, than to have a “big push” with boast-able numbers only to lose many of those “converts’’ a few months later.
Now don’t get me wrong. I believe we have wonderful news to share and that we need to share it. But I believe our real goal is to creatively make the gospel attractive (Tit 2:10) and form Christ in people (Gal 4:19), understanding that it is God who makes the seeds grow. Constantly reevaluating, rethinking, reshaping our presentation of the gospel for our particular cultural moment.
You Just Need to Forgive (Part 2)
Read You just need to forgive (Part 1) first. In that post we deconstruct common language gambits used by abusers such as “You just need to forgive”.
So Andrew, you appear to be saying it’s OK not to forgive. If someone sins against you and they haven’t repented you don’t have to forgive them, is that right? But what about Mt 6:12 or Lk 23:34 or especially Mt 18:35?
“This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”
What about those verses indeed? Forgiveness is God’s core business, so let us tread carefully. Let us see if we can find a way to help a person who has suffered abuse at the hands of another navigate this difficult path. Forgiveness is clearly a lot more than simply mouthing the words “I forgive you… I’m sorry I brought it up”. The question is how to get from here to there? How to move from a place of psychological and/or emotional trauma to “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing”?
Some people can spend years trying to sort this out, and each person’s experiences, circumstances and journey is their own. Perhaps I can offer a few thoughts to help.
Motion towards forgiveness
Firstly, understand that the motion towards forgiveness is in itself an act of personal agency. Many people may feel that even one step towards forgiveness of a perpetrator is one step too many. But let’s reframe. The decision to begin motion towards forgiveness is something you are doing for yourself; it ultimately benefits you. And, yes, it’s the right thing to do too, but at the beginning helping oneself maybe all that we’ve got to motivate us, right?
Secondly, it is crucial to understand that it is not an additional measure of injustice to forgive a perpetrator. Rather, it can be a turning point in dealing with the hurt. It might feel completely counter-intuitive, but ultimately to forgive those who sin against us is the very best thing we can actually do. It is the wisdom of God, it is the example of Jesus, and it can be the moment that the door of the prison cell flings open.
Learning
Thirdly, Jesus’ way is the way. He said:
Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart; and you shall find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My load is light (Matt. 11:28-30, NASB).
This is for all of you weary and heavy-ladened ones. Jesus invites us to learn from him. Learning is a process that can take a while – I mean how long did you go to school for? But when you graduate… you will find rest for your souls.. And don’t we all want that? You have to enrol in this learning process – that’s the taking on of the yoke part, but rest assured, the load is light.
Jesus is the one who is most concerned for your welfare. If you have encountered abuse in a church situation you may be thinking… “Well I don’t know about that… I feel like Jesus got me into this situation in the first place in that church of his”. Churches can certainly be awful places. Not everyone in church exhibits the true mark of discipleship that Jesus talks of:
A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another. (Jn 13:34-35).
But if you can accept that Jesus is the one most concerned for your welfare, then he is saying the best thing for you to do is to forgive those who sin against you. “Rest for your souls” sounds pretty appealing. Notice that the actions of the other person are still called “sin” – their sin, or “debts” – their debts. Your forgiveness does not change or minimise that or their culpability.
That servant
Let’s do a study of the parable of the unmerciful servant in Mt 18:21-35.
Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?”
Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.
“Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand bags of gold was brought to him. Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt.
“At this the servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’ The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.“But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred silver coins. He grabbed him and began to choke him. ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ he demanded.
“His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay it back.’
“But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. When the other servants saw what had happened, they were outraged and went and told their master everything that had happened.“Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’ In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.“This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”
This famous parable teaches masterfully on forgiveness. Peter, maybe having a frustrating day with someone, asks Jesus how many times he has to forgive this person who is sinning against him. Evidently, Jesus has talked about this before to his disciples, so Peter is doing his best to put this new forgiveness teaching thing into practice, and reaching for the stars says: “As many as seven times?”
Jesus answers: “Not seven Peter. Seventy seven.” Or in some translations, seventy times seven. “You are out by an order of magnitude Peter”. That answer would instantly turn a light on in the mind of anyone familiar with the Torah. Let’s go to Gen. 4:23-24, where Lamech is boasting:
Cain and Lamech
Lamech said to his wives,“Adah and Zillah, listen to me;wives of Lamech, hear my words.
I have killed a man for wounding me,
a young man for injuring me.
If Cain is avenged seven times.
If Cain is avenged seven times,
then Lamech seventy-seven times
Same numbers right? What’s going on here? Well, in Genesis 1 and 2 we had an Edenic garden with no sin, no violence. In Genesis 3 we have the fall. Cain kills his brother Abel in Genesis 4. And now Lamech is totally out of control, wanting to visit vengeance on a disproportionate scale. Things are getting worse very quickly (5 generations), reaching the point that humanity’s thought-life was reaching the point that “that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time” (Gen. 6:5), triggering a deluvian reboot.
The avenging of Cain being talked about here is God’s promise to Cain to protect him even in the midst of punishing him for the murder of Abel. God promised he would avenge Cain’s death seven times over to anyone who would think of killing him. God has the right to punish sin, and the seven times multiple is a significant deterrent (see also Lev. 26:21).
It’s worth remembering that Cain’s sin was not murder alone, but that he stepped away from care of his brother. “Am I my brother’s keeper?” is a rhetorical question from Cain, but that heart paved the way for self-justification of murder, for which actual justice was required.
Amplified vengeance and amplified forgiveness
So Lamech is twisting what God had said to Cain. Lamech is pursuing a path of amplified vengeance. Back to the parable, and we can now see that Jesus is flipping Lamech’s amplified vengeance into a teaching about amplified forgiveness. Any bystander hearing that story for the first time would have been jaw-droppingly indignant at the actions of the unmerciful servant – freshly forgiven an impossible debt of squillions, but in the next moment strangling his fellow servant for a measly hundred days wages. The fellow servants in the story were outraged also and reported the gross injustice to the master. The unforgiving servant was himself thrown into jail to be tortured until he repaid the original debt, which of course he would never be able to do.
Wrapping up
A few points here:
- Ongoing unforgiveness is a prison and is a kind of self-inflicted torture. Don’t lock yourself into one. If you do, you still have the key to get out any time you want.
- The context in Matthew is about our relationships – in church or otherwise. It is good to remember we are our our brother’s keeper. If one persecuted you (e.g. are abusive), they are clearly way off the mark. However you can still be like Jesus, love them and pray for them as enemies (Mt. 5:44) as he taught.
- God will take care of the justice part, and there will be justice (Mt. 18:5-6). Vengeance is not our job, it’s God’s job, and He does it perfectly in this life or the next. Jesus promises accountability for things people say to us, but also for what we say:
“But I tell you that everyone will have to give account on the day of judgment for every empty word they have spoken. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.” (Mt. 12:36-37)
- Forgiveness is really a letting go of the desire to execute our own vengeance.
- In the parable the forgiveness was for a debt. It is possibly helpful to remember that as we move towards forgiveness of another, what we are saying is that that person is a debtor to us. A debtor. They owe us something. They have taken (dignity, freedom, respect etc.) and have not repaid. They might not ever do it. The only thing we can personally control here is our decision to release them from that debt and in so doing free ourselves from the whole wicked contract.
I hope these thoughts are helpful for you in starting motion towards forgiveness. Difficult journey but a freeing one.
Part 3 of this topic is coming soon where we will look at how the Psalmists pour out their incredulous anger and pain to the God who seems far off. We will learn to lament.
The Resurrection
Talk on the street
Jesus made a point of weaving the prediction of his resurrection into his teaching during his earthly ministry, both explicitly (Mt 16:21, 17:22f, 20:19, Mk 8:31, 10:32-34, Lk 9:22, 18:31-33, 24:7), and implicitly (Mt 26:61). Although it didn’t seem to penetrate the consciousness of his disciples at the time, they were able to comprehend eventually when the angel at the resurrection helped them put two and two together (Lk 24:1-8). The whole of Luke 24 shows for us the gears slowly turning in the minds of Jesus’ followers as they process the trauma of the crucifixion. Jesus himself had to jolt them towards clarity (Lk 24:25-26) and remind them of what he had been saying all along. John records this mental process for us also (Jn 2:22).
Even Jesus’ enemies were aware of the “third day” talk which prompted them to warn Pilate to secure the tomb (Mt 27:63-66). Pilate’s risk analysis of the political risk of a missing body prompted him to send guards to “make the tomb as secure as you know how”. This prediction was so well-known that even random passers-by were aware of the three-day thing, as they used it as a slogan in their insults during the crucifixion (Mk 15:29-30).
Proof and fulfilment
John explicitly links for us the “raising of the temple in three days” language to the resurrection (Jn 2:20-22), and further denotes Jesus’ resurrection as a fulfilment of Scripture (Jn 2:22). Jesus also preached a full sermon on this along the road to Emmaus, explicitly linking his resurrection to Scripture – from Moses to the prophets (Lk 24:27, 32). Even a few Psalms for good measure (Lk 24:46, Ps 2, 16, 22, 69, 72, 110, 118). So the resurrection fulfils Scripture.
Jesus also makes an important statement about the nature of proof in Mt 12:39-40. Here he is saying that the only “sign” that was to be given as a proof of his authority and messiah-ship was the sign of Jonah – “three days” in the belly of the earth. That really should be enough proof to trigger repentance. So in this passage Jesus is effectively saying that the resurrection is in a class of its own when it comes to providing divinity credentials.
Outcomes
If we were to take Lk 9:22 and Lk 9:23 together we can detect that the resurrection has a strong link with discipleship. “Saving one’s life” takes on a different hue in light of Lk 9:22.
The resurrection on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures is the cornerstone of the gospel Paul preached (1 Cor 15:3-8). So much so, that without it, Christianity becomes a pointless project (1 Cor 15:14, 17) as well as a deceitful one ( Cor 15:15). However, with Christ’s resurrection an assured event, his followers have the assured hope of their coming resurrection, a new imperishable and glorious body, raised in power and victory (1 Cor 15:42-44). This truth underpins all of Christian hope and joy (Jn 20:20-23).
Matthew 4:12-25
From The Kingdom series.
Matthew 4:12–25 (HCSB): When He heard that John had been arrested, He withdrew into Galilee. He left Nazareth behind and went to live in Capernaum by the sea, in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali. This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah:
Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali, along the sea road, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles! The people who live in darkness have seen a great light, and for those living in the shadowland of death, light has dawned.
From then on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, because the kingdom of heaven has come near!”
Movement
There is a lot of movement in this passage. Jesus was in Judea where he was baptised by John and been through a time of testing in the wilderness. Things were heating up with John’s arrest, so Jesus returned to Galilee region but moved head-quarters from his home town of Nazareth to Capernaum – a city of maybe 10000 people that boasted a customs office (Mt 9:9) and a centurion (Mt 8:5) presumably with his 100 soldiers or so. It was a strategic location militarily due to its situation on major north-south routes (map) and contained two Roman-built cities (Sephorrus and Tiberius).
Galilee
These cities would have been culturally Hellenistic not Jewish. In Jesus’ day Galilee was ruled by the tetrarch Herod Antipas (Lk 3:1) – son of Herod the Great who had been the Herod we read about in the birth accounts of Jesus. John the Baptist had had a fatal encounter with this Herod (Mt 14:1-11) and although Jesus had come on to Herod’s radar (Lk 9:7-9), Jesus did not suffer the same fate at Herod’s hands (Lk 23:7-12). Herod had been curious about Jesus for some time, however when Jesus refused to play ball, Herod made his point about “who was really king here” through ridicule.
The southern Galilean region was much more cosmopolitan and mixed-race than Jerusalem and Judea to the south. Perhaps Jesus’ message had more of a chance of getting through to people in Galilee than in the religious centre of Jerusalem. And that message was the same as John’s: “Repent for the kingdom of heaven has come near”.
It’s the kind of message that demands a response.
The Question
So what does it mean that the kingdom of heaven has come near, why is repentance connected to it, and what does this repentance look like?
Reading on, we can get some clues.
As He was walking along the Sea of Galilee, He saw two brothers, Simon, who was called Peter, and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the sea, since they were fishermen. “Follow Me,” He told them, “and I will make you fish for people!” Immediately they left their nets and followed Him.
Going on from there, He saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and his brother John. They were in a boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets, and He called them. Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed Him.
Jesus was going all over Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people. Then the news about Him spread throughout Syria. So they brought to Him all those who were afflicted, those suffering from various diseases and intense pains, the demon-possessed, the epileptics, and the paralytics. And He healed them. Large crowds followed Him from Galilee, Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea, and beyond the Jordan. (Mt 4:18-25)
So we can see what Jesus is doing as he preaches this message: He is:
- Calling some everyday people to follow him as his disciples.
- Travelling a lot.
- Teaching in the synagogues.
- Preaching the good news of the kingdom.
- Healing many.
He is gaining a large following from a diverse range of people coming from both Jewish and Gentile regions. No doubt, at this early stage, the news of his healing ministry would have accounted for a large part of the interest, but his authoritative speaking style (Mt 7:29) would have played a role as well.
So what is this good news of the kingdom? Are we any closer to finding out?
Healing
Well the healing must be part of it. Healing is certainly good news if it’s you or a loved one getting the healing, but is there a substantive connection between the act and the content of the message? And were we really expecting healing to be part of the messiah package?
The prophets spoke of healing as being a part of future restoration (e.g. Jer. 30:17, 33:6). Ezekiel clarifies the job description of a godly leader as the opposite of:
Ezekiel 34:4 (HCSB): You have not strengthened the weak, healed the sick, bandaged the injured, brought back the strays, or sought the lost. Instead, you have ruled them with violence and cruelty.
Healing and paying attention to the plight of the sick, the injured, the strayed or the lost are very core traits of the kind of leader God is looking for in His kingdom. Jesus goes on later to amplify this further in his later teaching and in his practical ministry.
Peter was right there with Jesus during these early days (Mt 4:18), and he recalls these events a decade or so later when speaking about this business of letting the Gentiles into the kingdom:
Acts 10:34–39 (HCSB): Then Peter began to speak: “Now I really understand that God doesn’t show favoritism, but in every nation the person who fears Him and does righteousness is acceptable to Him. He sent the message to the Israelites, proclaiming the good news of peace through Jesus Christ—He is Lord of all. You know the events that took place throughout Judea, beginning from Galilee after the baptism that John preached: how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, and how He went about doing good and healing all who were under the tyranny of the Devil, because God was with Him. We ourselves are witnesses of everything He did in both the Judean country and in Jerusalem, yet they killed Him by hanging Him on a tree.
So we learn from Peter that what Jesus was doing was freeing people from the tyranny of the Devil. Jesus was rolling back the territory of the Devil’s rule and increasing the territory of God’s rule every time someone was healed. He was bringing God’s Kingdom to earth. And the direct result of that was major improvements in people’s lives. Peter also speaks of the good news of peace, and here he seems to be referring to an establishment of peace on a relational, cultural and racial level. Somehow this good news of the kingdom has the ability to weld together the unweldable.
Repentance
Jesus is calling for a response, and that response is summed up in one word – ‘Repent”. The Greek word is μετανοέω (metanoeo) and the verb in this case is present tense, active voice, imperative mood, second person, plural. This is to say “I am calling all of you to repent now – you must repent!” The meaning of the Greek word speaks to a change of mind, or to think differently about something – an after-thought. Usually connected with sin (Lk 15:10, Lk 17:3, Acts 3:19, Acts 8:22), but not always? This after thought strand of meaning leads us to ideas of “sorrow” or “regret”. There is a Hebrew word teshuvah which is translated by this Greek word, and it carries the idea of “a turning to God”. Jesus is not specific about sin in this call to repentance, so perhaps he is looking for a whole-of-life allegiance and purpose level of changed thinking. Jesus is saying: “Following me into this kingdom of God is a completely new ball game, a whole new way of thinking and operating, a whole new set of priorities, attitudes and markers – so different from the way you are living now. We are saying good-bye to religious-act style religion and getting into bringing God’s kingdom and following Jesus style. Reflect on that!”
In fact his whole ministry approach seems to be quite new. Calling fishermen to be disciples? Dealing with the sick? A ministry focussed on people – catching men and working with them. On the road a lot. First century rabbis had their cream-of-the-crop talmidim for sure, but there is something different about this guy.
The euangelion
And then there is this good news of the kingdom (Mt 4:17). Sometimes translated as the gospel or glad tidings, the Greek word is εὐαγγέλιον – euangelion. This word pre-existed Jesus but Jesus is giving it a new twist.
In Jesus’ day, euangelion was a word used in proclamations in the political world. A well-known example is from the so-called Priene calendar inscription, published in 9 BC. It was found in Priene (an Ancient Greek city in the west of Turkey) in 1899. It reads:
“Since Providence which ordains all things in our life, has restored enterprise and love of honor, it has accomplished for [our] life the most perfect thing by producing the August One, whom it has filled with virtue for the welfare of the people; having sent him to us and ours as a Saviour who should stop war and ordain all things. Having appeared, however, the Caesar has fulfilled the hope of prophecies, since he has not only outdone the benefactors who had come before him, but also has not left to future ones the hope of doing better; the birthday of this God has become through him a beginning of the good tidings.“
The purpose of the inscription was to announce a realignment of the calendar to begin with the birthday of emperor. Notice the themes going on here : the emperor is a Saviour, he fulfills prophecies, he is God, his birth is extremely significant, and the very coming of this king is good news – the euangelion.
Sound familiar? The gospel writers portray Jesus as a direct challenger to the gospel of Rome. Jesus brings the true gospel of peace (Eph 6:19), not a Pax Romana enforced by the tip of a spear.
Matthew 5:1-10
From the The Kingdom series.
Matthew 5:1–10 (HCSB)
The Beatitudes
Itinerant preacher goes up mountain, sits down on the ground and starts to teach his followers.
The Beatitudes. The blessings. The makarisms.
When He saw the crowds, He went up on the mountain, and after He sat down, His disciples came to Him. Then He began to teach them, saying: “The poor in spirit are blessed, for the kingdom of heaven is theirs. Those who mourn are blessed, for they will be comforted. The gentle are blessed, for they will inherit the earth. Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness are blessed, for they will be filled. The merciful are blessed, for they will be shown mercy. The pure in heart are blessed, for they will see God. The peacemakers are blessed, for they will be called sons of God. Those who are persecuted for righteousness are blessed, for the kingdom of heaven is theirs.“
So this how God wants us to be then? Find something to mourn about? If we live out these 8 points we will get some kind of blessing? Or maybe this is a handy to-do list to get through before you die so you can get into heaven?
That is not the way to read the Beatitudes.
One clue is that there is a phrase that book-ends these verses – v3 an v10 both mention the kingdom of heaven. Perhaps Jesus is talking about the way the kingdom of heaven operates. He is describing what it is like when the kingdom is reigning. It is a complete reversal of everything the world holds dear. This kingdom is starting to look like an upside down world where the loser wins. Right up front in this block of Jesus’ teachings the blueprint is being laid out. The kingdom is near (Mt 4), and this is what it looks like (Mt 5).
Look at it:
- In V3 poor in spirit gain the kingdom.
- In V4 mourners are comforted.
- In V5 the gentle get the inheritance.
- In V6 the hungry are filled.
- In V7 the merciful get mercy.
- In V8 the pure get to see God.
- In V9 the peacemakers will be in God’s family.
- In V10 the persecuted get the kingdom.
Normally, the poor in spirit get trampled, the mourners get depressed, the gentle get nothing, the hungry starve, the merciful get taken advantage of, the pure get laughed at, the peacemakers lose territory and the persecuted get locked up.
But now Jesus is saying that his followers will have a different spirit and way of behaving in this life because they want to bring the kingdom of God to this earth. They will no longer operate using the ways of the world. Instead they employ meekness, mercy, and a desire for peace rather than a desire for division. And the world will think they are nuts for doing it. Nice guys finish last right?
But Jesus knows all this and still says that “in My kingdom – this is how we do things. And if you do too, you stand to gain more than you ever could have got through conventional means.’
A little word-study
It is easy for us to miss the radicalness of Jesus’ words. His listeners were tired of persecution and oppression. They were ready for a proper fight with their Roman occupiers and likely would have lined up behind any leader who looked like they could mount a decent attack. And now here is Jesus doing his first big stump speech to the expectant crowd telling them that being a merciful peacemaker is the key to their success.
Not only that, but the Greek word used here being translated as blessed, or happy is μακάριος (makarios). This is not your everyday level of happiness. This word describes those who enjoy the absolute best of everything – no mourning or hunger here. Jesus is insulting them now (at least to Greek readers).
The Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible (the Septuagint or LXX) uses this same word to translate the Hebrew word אֶשֶׁר(pronounced esher ) which occurs 45 times. For example, Deut 33:29 says:
How happy you are, Israel! Who is like you, a people saved by the Lord? He is the shield that protects you, the sword you boast in. Your enemies will cringe before you, and you will tread on their back
The whole book of Psalms kicks off with this word:
Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, (Ps 1:1).
And a few more:
Blessed is the one whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. (Ps 32:1). Blessed are those whose ways are blameless, who walk according to the law of the LORD. (Ps 119:1)
Jesus’ audience would have known these Psalms. This type of blessedness comes about from the choices you make about the way you walk. In sync with the Lord, or something else? Your life will go well if you wisely choose to listen to God’s instruction.
There is also this blessing of having your sins covered (Deut 33:29, Ps 32:1). This has always been part of God’s kingdom plans.
So blessedness seems to be a condition of being in God’s protective realm. Your physical life might not be all that great right now (mourning, hunger), but you still are blessed.
What to do
Do not make economic calculations here, the gain is of far greater value than simple cash – you get to gain the kingdom, receive true comfort, inherit the very earth itself, be filled, receive great mercy, and get to see God, be sons of God, and did I say, receive the kingdom?
So, sit down and listen up! Hearts, ears and minds open. You are in for a radical re-education about what it really means to serve God.
Unburdened
This is an article I wrote several years ago. It has been available also on Douglas Jacoby’s website.
Perhaps the key differentiator Christianity has in the field of world religions is the unique concept of grace. In a world driven by competitiveness, performance measurement and the relentless march for increased return on investment and corporate profits, God’s grace and everything it affects is not well valued, simply ignored or even despised. Yet it is at the very core of our religion. If we have no other virtue as Christians, we must at the very least explain grace to the world in our actions, our words, and in our very thoughts. Yet we are far from this being the case. It is my contention that we have fostered a culture long on performance benchmarks but short on promulgating grace. In the quest for fast growth in our churches, the message of God’s grace has often been distorted, ignored or even hijacked.
The stage of world history is littered with the corpses of men and women who have been trampled in the quest for world domination of an ideology. Christianity, Islam, Communism, Imperialism, Nazism and so forth have all sought worldwide influence and impact. The leaders of these movements in their respective day were driven by the deep belief of the superiority and excellence of their cause. But of course the excellence or purity of a cause in the minds of its leaders is not a sufficient measure of its excellence overall. The human costs of spreading social, political or religious doctrine has been enormous. A curious paradox has emerged’in the pursuit of something so “high” as the pervasiveness of a guiding ideology, the results have been so “low”. The collateral damage of untold millions of wrecked lives did not appear to enter into the calculations. After all, the world was being won…
The word of God however seeks to protect mankind from all of this. Yes, the stakes are high -eternal salvation, but the central tenet that provides this salvation in the first place must not be betrayed in the achievement of it. Paul expresses it succinctly “If I have the faith to move mountains but have not love, I am nothing” (1 Cor 13:1-3). World evangelism at the expense of love for the individual has proved to be a costly error. However apparently noble the mission may be, if it is one without true love and grace, it is in the final analysis and potential effects, no different to the worldwide spread of any other manmade ideology.
Many Christians in our churches today subscribe to a mindset of “burdened-ness”. They have been taught to equate a sense of spiritual acceptability or maturity with a notion of “feeling the burden” sufficiently. One’s burdened-ness can be measured by a blanket evaluation of one’s preparedness to “go anywhere, do anything, give up everything”. Any residual desire to place emphasis on other facets of life could be interpreted as not having an adequate love for the mission or the lost, or even as being ‘worldly’ in outlook. This dynamic is well recognised. The purpose of this article is to provide some Biblical help to embrace what I believe to be a state of heart and mind that God wants his children to have:’a state of being unburdened.
There is a pattern throughout both the Old and New Testaments, about the way God interacts with his people. What we find is a theme of God being all about being a lifter of burdens, not a placer of them.
GOD LIFTS BURDENS
(Num 11:11-17 NIV) He asked the LORD, “Why have you brought this trouble on your servant? What have I done to displease you that you put the burden of all these people on me? {12} Did I conceive all these people? Did I give them birth? Why do you tell me to carry them in my arms, as a nurse carries an infant, to the land you promised on oath to their forefathers? {13} Where can I get meat for all these people? They keep wailing to me, ‘Give us meat to eat!’ {14} I cannot carry all these people by myself the burden is too heavy for me. {15} If this is how you are going to treat me, put me to death right now–if I have found favor in your eyes–and do not let me face my own ruin.” {16} The LORD said to Moses: “Bring me seventy of Israel’s elders who are known to you as leaders and officials among the people. Have them come to the Tent of Meeting, that they may stand there with you. {17} I will come down and speak with you there, and I will take of the Spirit that is on you and put the Spirit on them. They will help you carry the burden of the people so that you will not have to carry it alone.
Here we get an insight into how Moses was feeling as the leader of an ungrateful nation and people of God. He complains of the heavy burden he feels leading all those people. How does God respond to Moses? Does God admonish him to stop his whining? “Be more faithful Moses!” No! Rather God acts to lift the burden. It was a burden. No wonder Moses was feeling it’he was understaffed by a factor of 70!
Let us now examine a key passage in the New Testament. In Mt 11:1-30. Jesus had send out the twelve, and was now on a preaching and teaching tour of Galilee. John sends his disciples with some questions to Jesus. Jesus talks about John, and goes on to address his audience. There seems to be confusion reigning in this passage: John is confused about Jesus, the people are confused about John, and about the nature of the Kingdom of God. Cities that saw miracles are cursed. Worldly seaports and the byword of Sodom itself are lifted up. Religion has blinded the people, and God wants that turned upside down.
There is a common thread running through these incidents. Jesus is challenging the concepts and ideas people have about their religion. John wasn’t sure about Jesus it seems. Healing the sick, curing the lepers, opening the eyes of the blind was perhaps not what John was anticipating. Jesus corrected that notion with a Scripture. Then Jesus addresses the people. “What were you expecting with John? A weak and insipid religious guy? Or a wealthy tele-evangelist type? You got more than you bargained for didn’t you!’ It’s always easier to complain about the messenger than to embrace the message and change.
Jesus goes on to denounce the Jewish cities of Korazin, Betsaida and Capernaum. The Bible belt of the Holy land perhaps. Sodom would be better off? What was Sodom known for? Sodomy. Imagine the furore in conservative religious circles today if Jesus came preaching this!
Jesus thanks God for hiding the truth from the “wise”, and revealing it to the child-like. Soft hearts are needed for this message, not hardened religiosity.
As the true explanation of God (v27), we are encouraged to listen again to Jesus’ message rather than continue to stumble along blindly with deeply held traditional but off-centre religious beliefs. Grace? Are you really sure that’s what the gospel is all about?…
Then there is the key passage of all:
(Mat 11:28-30 NLT) Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. {29} Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle, and you will find rest for your souls. {30} For my yoke fits perfectly, and the burden I give you is light.”
What are the burdens Jesus is talking about? Many people would quickly apply this passage to difficulties in their own lives: their busy job or difficult relationship perhaps. This might be possible, but the context of the passage as discussed above seems to demand that the application of these verses lies in the realm of one’s faith and relationship with God.
Consider also Psalm 146, referred to by Jesus:
(Psa 146:6-9 NLT) He is the one who made heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them. He is the one who keeps every promise forever, {7} who gives justice to the oppressed and food to the hungry. The LORD frees the prisoners. {8} The LORD opens the eyes of the blind. The LORD lifts the burdens of those bent beneath their loads. The LORD loves the righteous. {9} The LORD protects the foreigners among us. He cares for the orphans and widows, but he frustrates the plans of the wicked.
Jesus appealed to this Psalm when answering John’s questions. It portrays God as a keeper of promises, a freer of prisoners, and a lifter of burdens.
A true relationship with God is not about heavy burdens. Jesus makes this point clearly in his famous “woe to you Pharisees’ discourse:
(Mat 23:4 NIV) They tie up heavy loads and put them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.
(Mat 23:4 NLT) They crush you with impossible religious demands and never lift a finger to help ease the burden.
The religious world imposes burdens. Jesus states explicitly that he will lighten the burden.
A doctor working with leprosy sufferers in India wrote of burdens, stress and yokes:
Too much stress on ones body is detrimental. Conversely, too little stress also affects living tissue. Cells need exercise. Without it, they will atrophy’a condition common to anyone who has worn a plaster cast. I once treated an Indian fakir who had held his hand over his head uselessly for twenty years, as a religious act. The muscles had shrunk to nothing, and all the joints had fused together so that his hand was like a stiff paddle. Healthy tissue needs stress, but appropriate stress that is distributed among many cells.
Those principles apply directly to the stress caused by a joke on the neck of an ox. In the hospital carpentry shop in India, I helped fashion such yokes.
If I put a flat, uncarved piece of wood on an ox’s neck and use it to pull a cart, very quickly pressure sores will break out on that animal’s neck, and he will be useless. A good yoke must be formed to the shape of an ox’s neck. It should cover a large area of skin to distribute the stresses widely. It should also be smooth, rounded, and polished with no sharp edges, so that no one point will endure unduly high stress. If I succeed in my workshop, the yoke I make will fit snugly around the ox’s neck and cause him no discomfort. He can haul heavy loads every day for years, and his skin will remain perfectly healthy, with no pressure sores.
And now, I think I understand the strange juxtaposition of phrases in (Matthew 11:28-29). Jesus offers each of us a well-fitted yoke, of custom design. He does not call us to the kind of rest that means inactivity or laziness’that would lead to spiritual atrophy. Instead, he promises a burden designed to fit my frame, my individual needs, strengths, and capabilities. I come to him weary and heavy-laden. He removes those crushing burdens that would destroy any human being, and replaces them with a yoke of appropriate stress designed specifically for me. “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me,” he says, “for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
We are to take Jesus’ yoke upon us. The promise is that the burden will be light. This flows from the yoke being one of custom design, tailored to fit the needs and situation of the individual Christian. Managing such an inventory of one-off yokes does not fit with any man-made system, but it is typical of the glorious variability we see throughout God’s creation.
We however have sought to standardize Christianity and have taught or implied that everyone needs to perform to the same single standard in God’s kingdom. This teaching seems to be at odds with what Jesus is saying here. Jesus’ yoke is a snug fit, not an impossible fit.
If we take an area of spiritual activity such as evangelism for example, what we must acknowledge is that different individuals will have different evangelistic impacts throughout their lives. Some will influence many directly to become Christians. Others will influence only a few. Some may influence no one. The constant admonition to bear fruit evangelistically that has been a feature in many of our churches has produced an ill-fitting yoke on the necks of many disciples. Thy feel burdened, unable to measure up to this demand. Such burdens are not of God, they are of man and his programs. No wonder people feel burdened! They are not carrying Jesus’ load, but somebody else’s!
To add to this notion that God is a lifter of burdens, consider the following:
– (Psa 55:22 NLT) Give your burdens to the LORD, and he will take care of you. He will not permit the godly to slip and fall.
– (Psa 145:14 NLT) The LORD helps the fallen and lifts up those bent beneath their loads.
– (1 John 5:3 NIV) This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome.
– (1 John 5:3 NLT) Loving God means keeping his commandments, and really, that isn’t difficult.
LEADERS LIFT BURDENS
What then does God expect of his leaders? There are many examples of both good and bad leadership to be found in the Bible. Let us look at two of the good ones: Nehemiah and Paul.
(Neh 5:14-19 NIV) Moreover, from the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when I was appointed to be their governor in the land of Judah, until his thirty-second year–twelve years–neither I nor my brothers ate the food allotted to the governor. {15} But the earlier governors–those preceding me–placed a heavy burden on the people and took forty shekels of silver from them in addition to food and wine. Their assistants also lorded it over the people. But out of reverence for God I did not act like that. {16} Instead, I devoted myself to the work on this wall. All my men were assembled there for the work we did not acquire any land. {17} Furthermore, a hundred and fifty Jews and officials ate at my table, as well as those who came to us from the surrounding nations. {18} Each day one ox, six choice sheep and some poultry were prepared for me, and every ten days an abundant supply of wine of all kinds. In spite of all this, I never demanded the food allotted to the governor, because the demands were heavy on these people. {19} Remember me with favor, O my God, for all I have done for these people.
Nehemiah’s actions were in stark contrast to the worldly leaders that preceded him. He willingly forsook certain privileges available to him out of his reverence for God and for the sake of his people. The earlier leaders placed a heavy burden on the people, in the form of taxes. Encouraged no doubt by their superior’s attitudes, the assistants too lorded it over the people. Nehemiah however refused to be like that. Instead, he set a personal example by devoting himself to the work. Instead of dining off the backs of his countrymen, he fed 150 of them every night. He never made use if his rights.
What do we learn from the example of Nehemiah? Great leaders sacrifice for their people. Worldly leaders burden their people.
Let us turn to the example of Paul, perhaps best illustrated in his relationship with the Thessalonian Christians.
(1 Th 2:6-12 NIV) We were not looking for praise from men, not from you or anyone else. As apostles of Christ we could have been a burden to you, {7} but we were gentle among you, like a mother caring for her little children. {8} We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well, because you had become so dear to us. {9} Surely you remember, brothers, our toil and hardship we worked night and day in order not to be a burden to anyone while we preached the gospel of God to you. {10} You are witnesses, and so is God, of how holy, righteous and blameless we were among you who believed. {11} For you know that we dealt with each of you as a father deals with his own children, {12} encouraging, comforting and urging you to live lives worthy of God, who calls you into his kingdom and glory.
(2 Th 3:8-9 NIV) …nor did we eat anyone’s food without paying for it. On the contrary, we worked night and day, laboring and toiling so that we would not be a burden to any of you. {9} We did this, not because we do not have the right to such help, but in order to make ourselves a model for you to follow.
Paul writing to the Thessalonians, asserts that ‘as apostles they could have been a burden to them”. He means, they could have supported him financially while he was with them. But he chose to work night and day so as not to burden this fledgling church. Rather, he was determined to encourage, comfort and urge them as a father does his children. As it turned out, the Macedonian churches did end up supporting Paul financially as we see in 2 Corinthians 11:9.
(2 Cor 11:9 NIV) And when I was with you and needed something, I was not a burden to anyone, for the brothers who came from Macedonia supplied what I needed. I have kept myself from being a burden to you in any way, and will continue to do so.
Such example teaches powerful lessons. Paul didn’t want to be a burden to those he was preaching to. His example taught The Macedonian churches (of which Thessalonica was one) well. We learn that after Paul had moved on from there, they were spectacularly generous despite their severe poverty (2 Cor 8:1-2). There seems to be a strong link between people’s willingness to give financially and the leaders willingness to not take advantage of it.
Time and time again we see godly leaders determined NOT to burden their people, but to serve them.
WE ALL LIFT BURDENS
Serving and burden-bearing leaders are not sufficient for a healthy church however. What is required is that we all become burden lifters in our relationships with one another. This will be a major cultural shift for some, but a Biblically mandated one.
One of the greatest burdens we routinely face in our spiritual lives can be in dealing with our sin.
(Psa 38:4-5 NLT) My guilt overwhelms me’it is a burden too heavy to bear. {5} My wounds fester and stink because of my foolish sins.
Paul talks of vulnerable women, burdened with the guilt of sin and controlled by many desires (2 Tim 3:6), a spiritual condition not limited to women necessarily.
Sin can be a big deal to people. We are all familiar with the power of sin and guilt. It stops people from coming to church or reading the Bible. This is Satan’s home turf. When people need the succour of spiritual encouragement, they feel more driven to avoid it. It is like saying “I am too sick to go to hospital”.
Sin in our lives is certainly a burden. Some however, are over-burdened with “imagined sin”. Every act or thought is put under the microscope and examined for the slightest trace of sin. ‘You’re not submissive enough, faithful enough, bold enough, humble enough, committed enough. Sin, sin ,sin ,sin, sin, sin!’ This type of thinking has also been a feature of our church culture unfortunately, and needs to be reversed.
As Christians, we need to take sin seriously, but not neurotically. Mark 9:42-45 shows that we must deal decisively with the causes of sin, yet we do not see a continual scrutiny on the sin in people’s lives in the pages of the New Testament.
As an example of this, the apostles had a great opportunity to spell out moral requirements to the Gentile churches when they circulated the letter that bore the landmark outcomes of the Jerusalem Council in the mid first-Century. What we see however is just four sins mentioned!
(Acts 15:28-29 NIV) It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to burden you with anything beyond the following requirements: {29} You are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things. Farewell.
The focus was not on burdening people, but on freeing them. The name the sins to avoid and then encourage them by saying ‘You will do well to avoid these things. Farewell!’ They didn’t berate the point. The apostles did not want to burden the people turning to God. We shouldn’t either.
Finally, the Bible has some advice for us in our relationships with one another, in dealing with sin in each other’s lives.
(Gal 6:1-2 NIV) Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted. {2} Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.
The first lesson here is that if you are not spiritual, perhaps don’t get personally involved. But more importantly, we are taught to restore your brother gently. Some of us are more likely to burden people down than to effectively restore. We draw ourselves up to our full height: “Brother, that’s a disgusting sin. How could you. You need to go away and repent. You make me sick.” Such words spring from a false notion of God’s attitude toward the sinner. The ‘go away and don’t come back until you repent’ school of theology is not of God. It does not reflect God’s graciousness and it carves out a deeper foothold for Satan.
We are to restore our brothers gently. Draw him in. Build him up. Point him to God. Carry his burden.
CONCLUSION
The message of the gospel is good news. It is unburdening news. God is a lifter of burdens, not a placer of burdens. Our teaching and our example need to reflect this strongly. We have some work to do in our churches to reverse an ingrained mindset that is the opposite to this. It starts with our individual relationship with God and view of God as a burden lifter. It requires leaders who are prepared to be burden-bearers and it ultimately devolves to how we interact with one another on an individual level as channels of God’s grace, mercy, love and peace.
(Mat 11:28-30 NIV) “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. {29} Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. {30} For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.
Drawing Lines
We love to draw lines. Lines of affiliation. Lines of identity. Lines to be defended. Lines not to be crossed. We see them in the political world, the sporting world, the technology world, and sadly, in our religious world.
Christians will tell you they believe the church is the body of Christ – and rightly so (Rom 12:5). But, along with this spiritual reality there also seems to be an unspoken belief that there are some very real physical boundaries as well. “We need to be able to determine and control who is part of our fellowship”. I wonder if Jesus agrees with that. Let’s us look at a few passages from the gospels.
Jesus told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared.
“The owner’s servants came to him and said, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?’
“‘An enemy did this,’ he replied.
“The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’
“‘No,’ he answered, ‘because while you are pulling the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.’” (Mt 13:24-30)
Jesus is wanting to explain what his kingdom is like. And he needs to explain it because it is so unlike anything that mankind could come up with. It is radically different – so different in fact that we might take a life-time to really understand it.
In this parable, the farmer seemed remarkably relaxed about his enemy’s economic vandalism attempt. His loyal servants want to go and fix it, but the master just instructs them to leave be, we’ll sort it all out at harvest time. In fact, the very process of trying to separate the weeds from the grain may do actual damage to the good crop.
This is one of the parables that comes with a handy explanatory guide. We shouldn’t be too upset with ourselves if we don’t quite get it. It seems the disciples didn’t get it either on the first pass.
Then he left the crowd and went into the house. His disciples came to him and said, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field.”
He answered, “The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world, and the good seed stands for the people of the kingdom. The weeds are the people of the evil one, and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels.
“As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. They will throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Whoever has ears, let them hear. (Mt 5:36-43)
Jesus sows the good seed of the gospel in the world. Over time, it germinates and grows, producing kingdom people. There is an enemy hard at work also, sowing a different kind of seed yielding different results. At the end of the age there will be a harvest and it’s going to matter which message you listened to. Here is your chance.
The second parable I want to consider is the Parable of the Net.
Once again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was let down into the lake and caught all kinds of fish. When it was full, the fishermen pulled it up on the shore. Then they sat down and collected the good fish in baskets, but threw the bad away. This is how it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come and separate the wicked from the righteous and throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
“Have you understood all these things?”
“Yes,” they replied.
He said to them, “Therefore every teacher of the law who has become a disciple in the kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a house who brings out of his storeroom new treasures as well as old. (Mt 13:47-52)
Again we see Jesus painting a picture of the good and the bad co-existing until their day of judgment. Both the whole field and the entire catch were harvested and divided.
The disciples understood. They had probably seen a harvest or two in their lives and remembered poking sticks into the bon-fires. And the fishermen’s sons knew everything there was to know about what to do with a haul of fish. But then Jesus says something really interesting about the teachers of the Law – the highly trained Jewish teachers with detailed knowledge of the Torah and oral tradition. It was possible for someone like that to become a disciple in the kingdom. Rare, maybe, but certainly possible. Maybe Jesus was saying to his disciples – “you are up there with the teachers of the Law boys!” Or, the teacher who becomes a disciple is up there with you. This kingdom stuff is new treasure. We are not throwing away the Law – that’s a real family jewel, but what I am talking about now is a treasure also – hidden in a field or found in an oyster.
One of the unfortunate features of the church landscape throughout history has been the tendency to line-draw. Who’s in and who’s out. Who is in fellowship and who is not. Who is a member, who can be part of our group, and who can’t be.
Reading these parables, this spirit does not appear to be a concern Jesus shared. “In my kingdom”, Jesus said, “we leave it be and sort it all out on judgment day. Don’t try and dig out the weeds – you risk damaging the good crop”. Perhaps “church membership” is an over-rated, possibly harmful, and un-kingdom-like concept.
Young John received a practical lesson about this idea:
Teacher,” said John, “we saw someone driving out demons in your name and we told him to stop, because he was not one of us.” “Do not stop him,” Jesus said. “For no one who does a miracle in my name can in the next moment say anything bad about me, for whoever is not against us is for us. Truly I tell you, anyone who gives you a cup of water in my name because you belong to the Messiah will certainly not lose their reward. (Mt 9:38-41)
Jesus was not bothered at all by the demon-buster who hadn’t signed the franchise agreement. ‘Whoever is not against us is for us” you see.
Of course, there are some passages which discuss church discipline and how it should be applied to “protect the flock”. 1 Cor 5:11 says “But now I am writing to you that you must not associate with anyone who claims to be a brother or sister but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or slanderer, a drunkard or swindler. Do not even eat with such people.”
Fair enough – you don’t want people controlled by these sins, calling themselves a brother or sister anywhere close to your fellowship.
Trickier however, is Paul’s advice to Titus to “Warn a divisive person once, and then warn them a second time. After that, have nothing to do with them. You may be sure that such people are warped and sinful; they are self-condemned”. (Tit 3:10). This verse is probably the acid test. Fresh ideas or a progressive agenda can feel threatening in a church setting, but is it divisive in this same sense? The line-drawer can invoke such a verse to maintain a status quo, but worth noting that Jesus and Paul, (and indeed a long list of prophets) both found themselves on the wrong side of the line (Lk 6:11, Acts 13:44-46), so perhaps it’s not a bad place to be.
The gold-medal line-drawer in the New Testament would have to have been Diotrophes.
I wrote to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to be first, will not welcome us. So when I come, I will call attention to what he is doing, spreading malicious nonsense about us. Not satisfied with that, he even refuses to welcome other believers. He also stops those who want to do so and puts them out of the church. (3 John 9)..
Diotrophes uses a trifecta of tried and true line-drawing techniques. Not welcoming others in, spreading malicious lies, and expelling those who don’t follow his way. Yet, somehow he is running that church. At every turn he has shown himself to be operating totally outside God’s kingdom through his toxic mix of lack of hospitality, lack of love, and lack of truth. John’s response is instructive, he says he will “call attention to what he is doing”. Not a tit-for-tat reply, but a bringing into the light.
Jesus did draw some lines… The gate is still narrow (Mt 7:13-14). You still need to love your enemy to be a son or daughter of the kingdom (Mt 5:44-45). Still need to obey Jesus (Mt 7:21-23). However we would well to remember that we are not the gate-keepers- that is the spot Jesus has reserved for himself (Jn 10).