Fri 8th May: #37. Listen!
Listen! Are you a good listener? It easy to get distracted when someone is speaking to you.
This morning in our reading Jesus tells His disciples to listen (v3), please also listen to what He says -
Mark 4
1Again Jesus began to teach by the lake. The crowd that gathered round Him was so large that He got into a boat and sat in it out on the lake, while all the people were along the shore at the water’s edge. 2He taught them many things by parables, and in His teaching said: 3‘Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed. 4As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 5Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. 6But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. 7Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants, so that they did not bear grain. 8Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up, grew and produced a crop, some multiplying thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times.’
9Then Jesus said, ‘Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.’
10When He was alone, the Twelve and the others around Him asked Him about the parables. 11He told them, ‘The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you. But to those on the outside everything is said in parables 12 so that,
‘ “they may be ever seeing but never perceiving,
and ever hearing but never understanding;
otherwise they might turn and be forgiven!” ’
13Then Jesus said to them, ‘Don’t you understand this parable? How then will you understand any parable? 14The farmer sows the word. 15Some people are like seed along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them. 16Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy. 17But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. 18Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; 19but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful. 20Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop – some thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times what was sown.’
As we read this passage we can think of friends and family who appeared to make a profession of faith and yet now they don't seem to be following Jesus. Life and its many distractions have taken them away from Jesus and what he is saying.
Listen to what Eugene Peterson say -
It is not difficult in our “world to get a person interested in the message of the gospel; it is terrifically difficult to sustain the interest. Millions of people in our culture make decisions for Christ, but there is a dreadful attrition rate. Many claim to have been born again, but the evidence for mature Christian discipleship is slim. In our kind of culture anything, even news about God, can be sold if it is packaged freshly; but when it loses its novelty, it goes on the garbage heap. There is a great market for religious experience in our world; there is little enthusiasm for the patient acquisition of virtue, little inclination to sign up for a long apprenticeship in what earlier generations of Christians called holiness.”
So this morning, make sure you are planted in good soil so that you can hear the word, accept it and become fruitful (v20).
So this morning two things to do -
1) Listen to Jesus,
2) Accept what he says
and the fruit will follow.
Much love
Tim
Thurs 7th May: #36. Above and Beneath
Charles Spurgeon (1834-1892) speaks of “the broad field of God’s promises” where we will find “abundant and precious promises to meet our exact needs.” So let’s venture into this field and pick a promise or two.
As we stroll around this field we come across Deuteronomy 33v26,27:
“There is no one like the God of Jeshurun,
who rides across the heavens to help you
and on the clouds in his majesty.
The eternal God is your refuge,
and underneath are the
everlasting arms.”
Jeshurun? Who is he? The name means “Upright One” and is a symbolic name for the people of God as we should be.
Here is the promise of our Mighty God being all that we need to sustain us in our time of trouble, sadness, anxiety or grief.
First of all, He is above us. He “rides across the heavens to help us”. I guess we’ve all seen films or read books where the beloved is in danger and her loved one is driving fast to get to her and help her; or, more romantically, riding fast on horseback in the rain to rescue the one he loves. This is our God, and we are the beloved! What a picture – Our Loving God riding across the heavens to help us in our trouble! God is above us.
But also God is beneath us: “And underneath are the everlasting arms.” We may feel our knees knocking and our legs giving way in this time of trouble; our strength has gone and we are going to collapse and fall to the floor in a heap of tears and sadness. But hold on, just as we are falling we find that underneath us are the everlasting arms of our strong God. God is beneath us and holds us up.
And we are in the middle of above and beneath, and yet we can be safe for “The eternal God is our refuge.” And the eternal God has everlasting arms. And we can go into this refuge and find safety and peace and shelter in our time of trouble. The Hebrew word here translated “refuge”, is not the usual one for refuge (like we’ve seen in the Psalms). It is more often translated “Den” and is used in Job 37v8 of animals taking cover in their dens. Ah, this we can do too – we take cover in the eternal God.
What more do we need in our troubles, sadness and fear? Our God is above and beneath us, and we are in Him.
So, Mr Spurgeon says “our Master’s field is full and rich. The precious promises lie in front of you. Gather them. Make them your own. Grasp these sweet promises. Thresh them by meditation. Feed on them with joy.”
Love and prayers
Paul
(A kind person bought me a book called, “Beside Still Waters – Words of Comfort for the Soul” by CH Spurgeon. Published by Thomas Nelson. I thoroughly recommend it.)
Wed 6th May: #35. A room with some views
If I was to ask you what people thought of you, what would some of the replies be? Mixed? But I don’t think anyone would say you were out of your mind and yet this is how Jesus’ family describe him. Let’s read today’s account -
20 Then Jesus entered a house, and again a crowd gathered, so that He and His disciples were not even able to eat. 21 When His family heard about this, they went to take charge of Him, for they said, ‘He is out of His mind.’
22 And the teachers of the law who came down from Jerusalem said, ‘He is possessed by Beelzebul! By the prince of demons He is driving out demons.’
23 So Jesus called them over to Him and began to speak to them in parables: ‘How can Satan drive out Satan? 24 If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. 25 If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. 26 And if Satan opposes himself and is divided, he cannot stand; his end has come. 27 In fact, no one can enter a strong man’s house without first tying him up. Then he can plunder the strong man’s house. 28 Truly I tell you, people can be forgiven all their sins and every slander they utter, 29 but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; they are guilty of an eternal sin.’
30 He said this because they were saying, ‘He has an impure spirit.’
So, Jesus is described as ‘out of his mind’ by his family, and the teachers of the law think ‘He is possessed (ruled) by the chief of demons (Beelzebul or Satan)’.
Jesus response was to tell them a story.
Jesus pictures Satan as a “strong man” hoarding kidnapped people in his house like possessions. But Jesus is now freeing these people from the demons that have been oppressing them, and that can mean only one thing: Satan has been locked in the cellar, tied to a chair with gaffer tape over his mouth, and is powerless to prevent Jesus from freeing the captives. The promised Serpent-crusher has arrived (Genesis 3 v 15). The kingdom of God is near (Mark 1 v 15). The Son of God has appeared to destroy the devil’s work (1 John 3 v 8).
Jesus is the super hero. The children sing a song about him called Super Saviour’.
He's the death crusher (death crusher)
Sin smasher (sin smasher)
Who's the mighty Super Saviour?
Jesus![1]
Have a good day and ‘marvel’[2] at your Saviour.
Much love
Tim
[1]: Super Saviour by Colin Buchanan
[2]: A reference to marvel comics which features many super heroes (and villains).
Tues 5th May: #34. Refuge
As I study the Psalms for our Sunday Morning sermons, I’m learning new things from the Lord. For example I never realized how often the Psalmist wrote about taking refuge in God.
Ps 5v11: But let all who take refuge in you be glad;
Ps 7v1: LORD my God, I take refuge in you
Ps 9v9: The LORD is a refuge for the oppressed,
Ps 11v1: In the LORD I take refuge
Ps 16v1: Keep me safe, my God, for in you I take refuge.
Ps 18v2: my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge,
And so many more times throughout the Psalms
And then I noticed that this is how the Psalms actually begin: Psalm 2v12 “Blessed are all who take refuge in him (God)”. So no wonder the Psalmist sought refuge in God…it is the way to be blessed.
And then this morning I read the following from Charles Spurgeon (1834-1892)
“It may be that I am speaking to a sad one who is suffering from mental depression. Some of us are prone to that condition. I have sometimes envied those people who are never excited with joy and consequently who are seldom or ever depressed. Happy people! At the same time, when I rise as with eagle’s wings in joyful rapture, I feel right glad to be capable of the blissful excitement. Yet if you soar to the skies, you are apt to drop below sea level.
If you are so constituted that you rise and fall, if you are a creature who can be excited and then depressed, and worse still, if you happen to have been born on a foggy day and swallowed so much fog, that you have found it shading your spirit ever since, then you can only be strong by faith.
Settle this in your heart. “Whether I am up or down, the Lord Jesus Christ is the same. Whether I sing or sigh, the promise is true and the Promiser is faithful.
Believe in him, though you see no flash of delight or sparkles of joy. You are safe because you are in God your refuge, and not because you are healthy or ill.”
“Blessed are all who take refuge in him (God)”. Psalm 2v12
Love from Paul
Mon 4th May: #33. The Apprentices
It was on Mount Sinai that the LORD appointed the twelve tribes of Israel to enjoy his presence and for them to make Him known throughout the nations. Now, on another mountainside the Lord Jesus chooses twelve disciples to enjoy His presence and make Him know through the ends of the earth.
Let’s read today's passage -
Mark 3:13-18
13 Jesus went up on a mountainside and called to Him those He wanted, and they came to Him. 14 He appointed twelve that they might be with Him and that He might send them out to preach 15 and to have authority to drive out demons. 16 These are the twelve he appointed: Simon (to whom he gave the name Peter); 17 James son of Zebedee and his brother John (to them he gave the name Boanerges, which means ‘sons of thunder’), 18 Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, Simon the Zealot 19 and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.
Last time we saw that the masses were more interested in what Jesus could do rather than what he said. Jesus wanted the twelve to be with Him and to learn from Him, they were after all His disciples. It was not unusual at this time for Rabbis to have disciples as they would follow and learn from their master.
The equivalent word today to the word ‘disciple’ is our word ‘apprentice’. So the disciples were serving a three year apprenticeship under Jesus. Jesus never did ministry alone. His disciples were always near Him. The disciples would watch, learn and listen to Jesus for those three years.
What a mixed bunch they were, and yet Jesus chose them. An apprentice has much to learn as they start their apprenticeship. I am an apprentice and if you follow Jesus you too are an apprentice. So this morning keep watching, listening and learning from the master.
Here’s a prayer
Father God,
Thank you that Jesus has called me to be His apprentice.
I still have much to learn but I am thankful that Jesus is the best teacher who is clear, patient and forgiving.
May I be keen to learn more today as I look to Him through His Word so that I may become more like Him.
May I point people to the great teacher who is my Saviour too.
I praise you for there is none like you.
Amen
Much love
Tim