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A LOOK BACK: Risky Business

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Read Matthew 8:1-4

ALSO IN SCRIPTURE
“And these signs will accompany those who believe: by using my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes in their hands, and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover.” (Mark 16:17-18)

As I have mentioned before, one of my favorite TV shows as of late is the AMC series, “The Walking Dead.” Aside from it being about a world overrun by zombies, the show is filled with situational ethics, moral dilemmas, as well as metaphors for life.  Each character is tested to their limits with the things they have to deal with. They are literally living in a nightmare world and it is hard to imagine yourself having to live in a world like that.

Then again, take a look at the world around you. Our world may not be overrun by the walking dead; however, when you think about it, our world is filled with much worse. There are children being used as human shields, women being treated like property or worse, boys being forced to join armies and die for tyrants and murderous leaders. There are people starving because their economies are being undercut by rich, Western economies. There are people dying of common illnesses because corrupt governments won’t allow humanitarian aid into their countries.

We live in a broken, and often times ugly, world. Our reality may be different than the one found in “The Walking Dead”, however, if it is different, it is only so on the surface. In one episode of the series, the group is being threatened by a nasty illness that is highly contagious. In fact, there is an outbreak in the group and many of the people are isolated to keep the illness from spreading. The healthy people were separated from the sick. The sick, in essence, were left to choke on the blood they were coughing up…until they die.

One man, named Hershel, decided he wasn’t going to sit by and watch those people die. He went out and collected berries to make a tea that he knew was helpful for people who were sick with illnesses like the flu, and he was hoping that it would help buy others enough time to go and find medicine to bring back. But in order to give the people the tea, he had to go into the isolated area and risk being infected himself.

Though the others tried to talk him out of it, he couldn’t be persuaded. He went into the isolated area and began to treat one of the doctors who had fallen ill because he had been treating others. He cared for the man and even had blood coughed up on him in the process. Despite the personal risk to his own health, he chose to be present to someone in need of his help.

When I saw this, I instantly thought of Jesus. How many sick, disease-ridden people did Jesus surround himself with. How many of them touched him, breathed on him, coughed on him? He was laying his hands on people with contagious skin diseases such as leprosy. He was constantly putting himself at risk for others. Ministry, after all, is totally risky buisness…and God is calling us to it.

We have been given the opportunity to not value ourselves above others. We have been given the opportunity to take the next step in our faith and be present for people in need, no matter what the cost is. We have been called to be healers for those who are not well. We are called to risk it all for “the least of these”, just as Jesus did for us. Whether or not people are suffering from a physical illness, from oppression, from poverty, from starvation or anything else, Christ has called us into an active and living faith. Today’s challenge is for you, if you haven’t already, to begin to answer that call.

THOUGHT OF THE DAY
“Healing is a matter of time, but it is sometimes also a matter of opportunity.” – Hippocrates

PRAYER
Lord, use me to bring hope, healing and wholeness to those who need it. Use me also to bring others your peace. Show me what you would have me do today. Amen.

Devotional

God’s People, part 290: Luke

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Read Colossians 4:14

ALSO IN SCRIPTURE
“Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, sends you his greetings. So do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke, my co-workers. May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit” (Philemon 23-25, NLT).

When we think of God’s people, we tend to think one of two things. We might think of the Israelites who were God’s “chosen people”, or we might think of specific characters in the Bible. Either way, we tend to idealize the people we are thinking about. For instance, we may think that God’s people are super faithful, holy, perform miracles and live wholly devout and righteous lives. Unfortunately, this idealism enables us to distance ourselves from being God’s people, because we feel that we fall short of those ideals. As such, I have decided to write a devotion series on specific characters in the Bible in order to show you how much these Biblical people are truly like us, and how much we are truly called to be God’s people.

Part 290: Luke. Luke is probably the most well-known of Paul’s companions and co-workers. The reason for this is that the Gospel According to Luke and the Acts of the Apostles have been attributed and probably were written by him. Of course, those works are anonymous; however, there is some convincing textual evidence that has been argued in favor of Lukan authorship. Out of all of the missionaries, Luke certainly is the most recognizable.

At the end of Colossians, Paul sent greetings from Luke, of whom he referred to as the beloved doctor or physician. Luke was a gentile man who would have no doubt had some modest wealth as a physician. In ancient Rome, private practicing doctors made anywhere from 300,000 to 600,000 sestertii per year. To put that into persepctive, soldiers got paid a measly 900 sesterii a year.

Luke would have received a good education in order to become a doctor and would have been a prolific writer, which can be seen in his Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles. Doctors in the ancient world were known to extensively write and, to this day, we have writings from doctors in the ancient world. When one reads the Gospel of Luke and Acts, one gets the sense that he was a highly educated man. In Luke, he opened his Gospel up with, “Many people have set out to write accounts about the events that have been fulfilled among us. They used the eyewitness reports circulating among us from the early disciples. Having carefully investigated everything from the beginning, I also have decided to write an accurate account for you, most honorable Theophilus, so you can be certain of the truth of everything you were taught” (Luke 1:1-4, NLT).

In that introduction, Luke was indicating that he had done his research and was putting together an ordered account for Theophilus, and we can see that he had the approach of a well-educated man who researched, used reason, and history in order to be as accurate as possible. From this introduction, we also gather that he was not an eyewitness to Jesus and that he was drawing from many sources, not just three. How many Gospels were there? We don’t know, but there were multiple accounts circulating, both orally and in written form.

This is the Luke that Paul refers to in our Scripture reading today. He was a fellow co-worker and occasional companion with Paul. He was with Paul in Colossae and he was with Paul while he was imprisoned in Rome as well. No doubt, Luke attended to Paul’s medical needs as well as to his Spiritual needs. He was a man of loyalty and well-respected among the early Christian churches.

Beyond this, we know little more about Luke. In fact, there are two traditions on how he even died. In one tradition, based off of early written accounts, Luke settled in Greece, wrote his Gospel, wrote Acts, and, at the age of 84, he peacefully died in Boeotia. In the other tradition, he was martyered by Nero after being accused of practicing sorcery. In that tradition, Nero cut off Luke’s hand after which Luke performed a miracle by reattaching the hand to his wrist. That miracle caused all of Nero’s cabinet to believe in Christ and, as a result, Nero ordered all of them, including Luke, to be beheaded.

It is hard to really know what is true when it comes to these traditions and, honestly, it doesn’t really change who Luke was either way. Luke is, yet again, another important faithfulness is and how powerful faithful witness can be. Luke’s Gospel emphasized God’s affinity for the “least of these” and how important it was for wealthy people, such as himself, to value God’s Kingdom and human life over and above finances. Luke used his resources to help others, including Paul, and he humbly served and made a huge impact in the development of the New Testament canon and of Christianity itself. In fact, his Gospel and Acts make up one quarter of the entire New Testament.

Luke’s traits should challenge us to grow in our own faithfulness and commitment to being a faithful witness. Evangelism is vital to spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ Luke’s example shows us how important that is in ushering the Kingdom of God, where the last shall be first, where the poor shall be rich, and where the the lost and the least shall be welcomed in by a Father (e.g. the Prodigal Son) who is waiting with open, loving arms.  Let our commitment to evangelism be renewed and let us continue to grow in our faithfulness.

THOUGHT OF THE DAY
“The Great Commission is not an option to be considered; it is a command to be obeyed.” – Hudson Taylor

PRAYER
Lord, I love you and praise your holy name. Please give me the strength to be a powerful witness to your Good News and for your Kingdom. Amen.

Devotional

God’s People, part 285: Holy Coalition

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Read Romans 16:6, 8-23

ALSO IN SCRIPTURE
“Now all glory to God, who is able to make you strong, just as my Good News says. This message about Jesus Christ has revealed his plan for you Gentiles, a plan kept secret from the beginning of time. But now as the prophets foretold and as the eternal God has commanded, this message is made known to all Gentiles everywhere, so that they too might believe and obey him. All glory to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, forever. Amen.”  (Romans 16:25-27, NLT)

When we think of God’s people, we tend to think one of two things. We might think of the Israelites who were God’s “chosen people”, or we might think of specific characters in the Bible. Either way, we tend to idealize the people we are thinking about. For instance, we may think that God’s people are super faithful, holy, perform miracles and live wholly devout and righteous lives. Unfortunately, this idealism enables us to distance ourselves from being God’s people, because we feel that we fall short of those ideals. As such, I have decided to write a devotion series on specific characters in the Bible in order to show you how much these Biblical people are truly like us, and how much we are truly called to be God’s people.

Part 285: Holy Coalition. In today’s Scripture, Paul continues asking the Roman church to greet the list of people he was sending. Here is the list of people that Paul sends his greetings to in Rome:

Priscilla and Aquila, Epenetus, Mary, Andronicus and Junia, Ampliatus, Urbanus, Stachys, Apelles, the believers in the household of Aristobulus, Herodion, the household of Narcissus, Tryphena and Tryphosa, Persis, Rufus and his mother, Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermes, Patrobas, Hermas, and the brothers and sisters who meet with them, Philologus, Julia, Nereus and his sister, and to Olympas and all the believers who meet with them.

On top of those believers, some of whom we have already discussed, Paul sent the letter with Deacon Phoebe and asked the church to treat her with the highest of honor. This list of names are each of the people Paul knows in Rome, all of whom had been partners in mission and ministry. These were the people who carried on Paul’s work in Rome and how Paul, though he had never been there, had a connection to the believers in that city.

That is quite an extrodinary network Paul had built up; however, Paul continued by also sending the greetings of others who were with him in Corinth, where he wrote the letter. Those people included: Timothy, Lucius, Jason, Sosipater, and Tertius. In fact, Tertius was the one who was pyhsically writing the letter as Paul dictated it to him. It is well established that Paul’s eyesight was bad and that he had people who would write down what he dictated to them. Sometimes, as we will see in future devotions, Paul would sign the letter in his own hand to prove to the receiving community that it was, indeed, him.

What we see at the end of Romans was an extensive network of people that Paul had worked with and befriended over his many years in ministry. Nay, this was more than a network, it was a Holy Coalition of believers, revolutionizing the pasgan Western world with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. What an amazing legacy we see! What a lesson for us, as modern Christians, to learn.

This should remind all of us that we are a part of a Holy Coalition of believers! We are a Holy Coalition of ministers of the Gospel of Jesus Christ! You need not be ordained in order to be a minister; you merely need to follow Jesus and deliver the Good News of Jesus Christ to those who have not come to him as their Lord and Savior.

Who are in your Holy Coalition? Who are in your network of believers that you can join with in mission and ministry? We were not created to spread the Gospel by ourselves, but as a community of believers. It is in this Holy Coalition that we find the strength and the support to carry the Gospel of Jesus Christ to all people. Let us continue to build up that Holy Coalition so that more and more people come to know, love, and surrender to their Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

THOUGHT OF THE DAY
It’s hard to survive alone on an island. This is especially true in our faith.

PRAYER
Lord, help me to see the value of spiritual networking, or coalition building, and of being a part of your community of believers, that I might be supported in my mission to serve you. Amen.

Devotional

God’s People, part 265: Priscilla and Aquila

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Read Acts 18:1-3

ALSO IN SCRIPTURE
“I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a deacon of the church at Cenchreae, so that you may welcome her in the Lord as is fitting for the saints, and help her in whatever she may require from you, for she has been a benefactor of many and of myself as well.” (Romans 16:1-2, NRSV)

When we think of God’s people, we tend to think one of two things. We might think of the Israelites who were God’s “chosen people”, or we might think of specific characters in the Bible. Either way, we tend to idealize the people we are thinking about. For instance, we may think that God’s people are super faithful, holy, perform miracles and live wholly devout and righteous lives. Unfortunately, this idealism enables us to distance ourselves from being God’s people, because we feel that we fall short of those ideals. As such, I have decided to write a devotion series on specific characters in the Bible in order to show you how much these Biblical people are truly like us, and how much we are truly called to be God’s people.

Part 265: Priscilla and Aquila. In our passage today, we are told that Paul became aquainted with a disapora Jew in Corinth, named Aquila, and his wife Priscilla. They were actually from Italy, but had moved to Corinth after the Emperor Claudius deported all Jews from Rome. This much debate as to why Claudius deported the Jews. The Ancient Roman historian Seutonius, as well as Acts 18:2, are two sources, independent of each other, that mention the event. Seutonius states that this was because of multiple disturbances caused by Jews in Rome at the instigation of Chrestus.

Scholars debate that Seutonius might have been mistaken in his hearing and spelling of Chrestus, as that word is awfully close to the word Christus, or Christ. In other words, Jews in Rome might have been angered by Christian missionaries claiming that Jesus was the Christ, and this caused a disturbance of the peace. We really cannot be sure exactly what happened; however, whatever caused Claudius to expel the Jews from Rome, it led Aquila and Pricilla to Corinth, where they met Paul.

The couple, like Paul, were tentmakers and carried that vocation out in Corinth. That is how Paul met them. In order to support himself and his mission, Paul worked as a tentmaker. In other words, Paul was a bi-vocational minister. He served Christ as the Apostle to the Gentiles, but he was only able to support that mission by working as a tentmaker. Working alongside of Paul in tentmaking, Pricilla and Aquila got to know him and join with him in Christian ministry.

There is also something else that is noteworthy about this couple and that is how Paul referred to them. In Acts they are first introduced as “Aquila, and his wife, Priscilla”. This was done because that was the social norm; however, Paul referred to them differently. In Romans 16:3, he wrote, “Give my greetings to Priscilla and Aquila, my co-workers in the ministry of Jesus Christ.” In 2 Timothy 4:19, Paul wrote, “Give my greetings to Priscilla and Aquila and those living in the household of Onesiphorus”  (2 Timothy 4:19, NLT).

Paul almost always put Priscilla’s name first, followed by her husband’s name and, truth be told, despite his intial introduction of the couple, Luke followed suit throughout the rest of Acts. This is no accident as name placement was a way of bestowing authority and honor. The fact of the matter is that Priscilla was an important minister and co-worker of Pauls, as was Aquilla. This is further evidence that Paul had a favorable view of women in ministry.

This should challenge us. For those who are opposed to women in ministry, a few select verses are always brought up to support that position; however, if we look at the totality of Paul’s ministry, we see that he worked alongside of women, even benefited from some of the, and he was quite comfortable to admit that. Women such as Priscilla was someone that other churches new and so Paul sent them her greetings as well. This is not a woman who was sitting quitely in the back of the church, but one on the frontlines of the mission of Jesus Christ among the Gentiles.

Let us, like Paul, not oppose people who desire to enter into ministry. Regardless of whether one is a male or a female, God created us and calls us all into ministry. Some of the best ministers/pastors/clergypeople I know are women. In fact, I am the pastor I am today because of the women who taught, mentored, and encouraged me. Let us be a people who encouarage all people to answer the call that God has placed on their lives. Amen.

THOUGHT OF THE DAY
“Help me, Lord, to remember that religion is not to be confined to the church… nor exercised only in prayer and meditation, but that every where I am in Thy Presence.” – Susanna Wesley

PRAYER
Lord, help me to see value in all people answering the call you have placed on their lives. For who am I to deem unworthy whom you have deemed them worthy. Amen.

Devotional

God’s People, part 174: The Zealot

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Read Luke 6:12-16

ALSO IN SCRIPTURE
“After him, at the time of the census, there was Judas of Galilee. He got people to follow him, but he was killed, too, and all his followers were scattered.”  (Acts 5:37, NLT)

When we think of God’s people, we tend to think one of two things. We might think of the Israelites who were God’s “chosen people”, or we might think of specific characters in the Bible. Either way, we tend to idealize the people we are thinking about. For instance, we may think that God’s people are super faithful, holy, perform miracles and live wholly devout and righteous lives. Unfortunately, this idealism enables us to distance ourselves from being God’s people, because we feel that we fall short of those ideals. As such, I have decided to write a devotion series on specific characters in the Bible in order to show you how much these Biblical people are truly like us, and how much we are truly called to be God’s people.

Part 174: The Zealot. Because of the nature of the Gospels and the way they were written, we lose a lot of of the nuances when we merely read them like bedtime stories. Because the Gospel writers’ main focus was presenting a theology on Jesus’ identity as the Son of God, and on his death and resurrection, they did not trouble themselves with getting mired in many of the details.

Their focus was on the major people in the Jesus movement, starting with Jesus himself. Peter, James the Just, James and John (sons of Zebedee), Andrew, Philip, and Judas were all given their due and we can tell a lot about them because of the detail in which they’re described in the Gospels. The other disciples, however, were merely listed off as a record of their existence, with next to no other information provided about them.

In the last devotion, we looked at one such disciple named James, son of Alphaeus. Today’s focus is on another such disciple, Simon the Zealot. Most of us might gloss over the list of disciples without giving much thought to who they were; however, this Simon, who is given the descriptive label “the Zealot” to distinguish him from Simon Peter, can be revealed to us through the aforementioned label. Just by reading his name, we can actually figure some pretty important stuff about him and about Jesus as well.

The zealots were a Jewish sect that believed the only way to usher God’s Kingdom was to violently revolt against the powers that be, overthrow them, and restore the Kingdom of Israel. The zealots got their start through a revolutionary named Judas of Galilee who revolted when the Roman Governor Quirinius ordered a census in 6 AD. Out of that revolt came the group we now call the Zealots and it was this group that eventually went on to wage war against the Romans, kicking them out of Jerusalem and Judaea in 66 AD. By 70 AD this group and much of Jerusalem were destroyed by the Romans when they besieged and reclaimed the city.

Simon, being a Zealot, would have been aligned with this philosophy on how to deal with one’s enemies; however, there he was among Jesus’ twelve disciples. How did this come to be? Did Simon see Jesus as the Messiah who would eventually lead a revolt against the Romans? Questions such as these cannot be answered with certainty, as those details are not provided to us by the Gospel writers.

With that said, we learn a great deal about the expansiveness of Jesus’ Gospel and his willingness to include anyone who wished to be included. The Fourth Philosophy of the Zealots could not have been more antithetical to Jesus’ Gospel than it was. In fact, it is in reference to the Zealots that Jesus’ warns his disciples to not be duped by people claiming to be “Messiah”. Judas the Galilean, Simon bar Kochba and many others were such people. Each of them lead their followers, and many other innocent people, to their bloody deaths.

Jesus’ teachings were the complete opposite of the Zealots’ philosophy; yet, there Simon was following Jesus. It is likely that he didn’t fully understanding Jesus and that he was hoping Jesus would become the Messiah the Zealots were hoping for, yet despite that he grew in his understanding of Christ and went on to be one of the Twelve Apostles who spread Jesus’ Good News of God’s radical love and redemptive sacrifice.

While there is no Biblical record of how Simon carried out his apostolic call, and many of the traditions around his travels, ministry and martyrdom vary, one thing is certain, Simon was among the twelve who carried on the earthly ministry of Jesus after he ascended to the Father. Let this challenge you to reflect on your own life and beliefs. What about you and your beliefs are antithetical to the Gospel of Christ? What within you needs to change? In what ways is God trying to deepen your understanding of who Christ is? Like Simon the Zealot, you too can become a faithful and effective witness to our Lord and Savior.

THOUGHT OF THE DAY
“Don’t let anyone mislead you, for many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah.’ They will deceive many. And you will hear of wars and threats of wars, but don’t panic. Yes, these things must take place, but the end won’t follow immediately.” – Jesus Christ (Mark 13:5-7, NLT)

PRAYER
Lord, reveal to me who you are and transform me from who I am to who you’ve called me to be. Amen.

Devotional

Risky Business

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Read Matthew 8:1-4

ALSO IN SCRIPTURE
“And these signs will accompany those who believe: by using my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes in their hands, and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover.” (Mark 16:17-18)

As I have mentioned before, one of my favorite TV shows as of late is the AMC series, “The Walking Dead.” Aside from it being about a world overrun by zombies, the show is filled with situational ethics, moral dilemmas, as well as metaphors for life.  Each character is tested to their limits with the things they have to deal with. They are literally living in a nightmare world and it is hard to imagine yourself having to live in a world like that.

Then again, take a look at the world around you. Our world may not be overrun by the walking dead; however, when you think about it, our world is filled with much worse. There are children being used as human shields, women being treated like property or worse, boys being forced to join armies and die for tyrants and murderous leaders. There are people starving because their economies are being undercut by rich, Western economies. There are people dying of common illnesses because corrupt governments won’t allow humanitarian aid into their countries.

We live in a broken, and often times ugly, world. Our reality may be different than the one found in “The Walking Dead”, however, if it is different, it is only so on the surface. In one episode of the series, the group is being threatened by a nasty illness that is highly contagious. In fact, there is an outbreak in the group and many of the people are isolated to keep the illness from spreading. The healthy people were separated from the sick. The sick, in essence, were left to choke on the blood they were coughing up…until they die.

One man, named Hershel, decided he wasn’t going to sit by and watch those people die. He went out and collected berries to make a tea that he knew was helpful for people who were sick with illnesses like the flu, and he was hoping that it would help buy others enough time to go and find medicine to bring back. But in order to give the people the tea, he had to go into the isolated area and risk being infected himself.

Though the others tried to talk him out of it, he couldn’t be persuaded. He went into the isolated area and began to treat one of the doctors who had fallen ill because he had been treating others. He cared for the man and even had blood coughed up on him in the process. Despite the personal risk to his own health, he chose to be present to someone in need of his help.

When I saw this, I instantly thought of Jesus. How many sick, disease-ridden people did Jesus surround himself with. How many of them touched him, breathed on him, coughed on him? He was laying his hands on people with contagious skin diseases such as leprosy. He was constantly putting himself at risk for others. Ministry, after all, is totally risky buisness…and God is calling us to it.

We have been given the opportunity to not value ourselves above others. We have been given the opportunity to take the next step in our faith and be present for people in need, no matter what the cost is. We have been called to be healers for those who are not well. We are called to risk it all for “the least of these”, just as Jesus did for us. Whether or not people are suffering from a physical illness, from oppression, from poverty, from starvation or anything else, Christ has called us into an active and living faith. Today’s challenge is for you, if you haven’t already, to begin to answer that call.

THOUGHT OF THE DAY
“Healing is a matter of time, but it is sometimes also a matter of opportunity.” – Hippocrates

PRAYER
Lord, use me to bring hope, healing and wholeness to those who need it. Use me also to bring others your peace. Show me what you would have me do today. Amen.

Devotional, Previous Post

A LOOK BACK: What Did Jesus Do?

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This past month has been a busy one, filled with pressing work and fast-approaching deadlines. As a result, I taken the liberty of sharing some devotions from the past that, I believe, are just as relevant now as they were when I first wrote them. Of course, I have written a couple of new ones over the course of the month and, once November 1st passes, I will get back to my usual discipline of writing new devotions every week. I thank you for your patience and for journeying with me, looking back at some very relevant messages.

Click here to read today’s devotion.