Moments in the life of a Pastor

Walking with God

Monthly Archives: July 2012


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1 Serving like Jesus Part I

Matthew 20:20-28

20 Then the mother of James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to Jesus with her sons. She knelt respectfully to ask a favor. 21 “What is your request?” he asked. She replied, “In your Kingdom, please let my two sons sit in places of honor next to you, one on your right and the other on your left.” 22 But Jesus answered by saying to them, “You don’t know what you are asking! Are you able to drink from the bitter cup of suffering I am about to drink?” “Oh yes,” they replied, “we are able!”23 Jesus told them, “You will indeed drink from my bitter cup. But I have no right to say who will sit on my right or my left. My Father has prepared those places for the ones he has chosen.”24 When the ten other disciples heard what James and John had asked, they were indignant. 25 But Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers in this world lord it over their people, and officials flaunt their authority over those under them. 26 But among you it will be different. Whoever wants to be a great among you must be your servant, 27 and whoever wants to be first among you must become your slave. 28 For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

If you have been following this blog you have been with me on a journey through 30 days alone with God. Getting alone with Him should be the beginning of change in our lives as He does His work in us but as I have found in my life, He not only wants to work in us but through us. Are you ready for another 30 days with God this time in the area of serving as He works in and through you?

As we start day 1 of serving we start with a request, for a position of greatness in the kingdom of God, directed at the one who gave up the greatest position in the Kingdom of God. This wasn’t just a mother’s desire for greatness for her sons but it was also the desire of both of her sons. They were with her and when Jesus asks “Are you able to drink from the bitter cup of suffering I am about to drink?” “Oh yes,” they replied, “we are able!” They had a desire for greatness and when the other 10 hear about this they are indignant! Is it wrong to want to be great in the kingdom of God? And why did the other disciples show such displeasure over this? Were they upset that someone else might be getting their position? What is our position in the kingdom of God?  I think these questions can be answered by looking at Jesus response:

First I want you to notice that Jesus did not rebuke them, instead he just called them together and corrected their misconception about greatness. A rebuke is used when we are heading down a wrong path and we need to stop. I think what we see here is the disciples heading down the right path but for the wrong reason and so they need corrected.

Second when Jesus says in verse 26 “Whoever wants to be a great among you must….” implies that the Lord doesn’t have an issue with kingdom greatness. Is it possible that Jesus is saying “If you want to be great…ok…then this is the way? Does God want disciples that are great or mediocre in His kingdom? Jesus makes it obvious that greatness in His kingdom does not come through a position of ruling but of serving and over the next 30 devotionals as we looking at Serving we need to understand that the journey of serving is not a separate journey but is intertwined with the journey of:

  • Suffering

Before the two disciples and their mother came to ask Jesus about positions in the kingdom, Jesus had been talking about His crucifixion to come (Matthew 20:17-19). About serving them through laying down His life for them, yet they were more interested in a crown than a cross. Thomas A. Kempis, the German scholar, said, “Jesus hath many lovers of His kingdom, but few bearers of His cross. All desire to rejoice with Him; few are willing to suffer sorrow for his sake. Many follow Jesus unto the breaking of bread, but few to the drinking of his bitter cup.”

I think it is human nature to want the good without experiencing the bad; we want to get to the promised land without going through the wilderness! But serving will mean suffering and if we are honest, for most of us, we are not ok with this, we want to serve without the cost. Jesus talked about the “bitter cup of suffering” He was going to drink in serving us. Every time you lift the communion cup of sweet forgiveness to your lips do you think about how bitter a cup it was for our Lord?

I Pet. 4:12-13 “Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.”

As you think about your position in God’s kingdom does it include suffering for Christ?

  • Sacrifice

Worldly greatness is about popularity, kingdom greatness is about humility. We live in a world where everyone wants to be known and we have bought into the belief that popularity is the key to greatness. But in God’s kingdom, the key principle to greatness is humility, and at the heart of humility is a willingness to sacrifice, to give something up for someone else. Verse 28 says “For even the Son of Man came” He came, he showed up and on the surface this seems like just another simple statement, yet it is the epitome of humility. The Lord of glory sacrificed himself to serve by coming in the flesh and giving up the right to comfort, acceptance, the full exercise of His deity, to call his angels and destroy his enemies, the right to save himself from the hands of his executioners, to leave men alone in their wickedness, and the right to back out of His redemptive plan. What would have happened if Jesus upheld those rights to himself? Devastation, every one of us bound for an eternity in Hell! He gave up those rights for our salvation, which was His primary concern. His sacrifice was a life or death decision for Himself and for us! The journey of serving is intertwined with sacrifice. Humility is “the willingness to giving up some of your own rights” so others can get right!  Jesus humbled himself on the cross so we could be right with God, salvation was His primary concern, Is it ours? We are ok with His sacrifice, we are ok with Him dying so we can live but are we ok with dying so others can live? Are you willing to give up some of your own rights for the Gospel of Jesus? Is there something you need to give up? Something you need to sacrifice so you can serve?


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30 Alone with God in the Solution

2 Samuel 12:14-25

“However, because by this deed you have given occasion to the enemies of the LORD to blaspheme, the child also that is born to you shall surely die.” 15 So Nathan went to his house. Then the LORD struck the child that Uriah’s widow bore to David, so that he was very sick. 16 David therefore inquired of God for the child; and David fasted and went and lay all night on the ground. 17 The elders of his household stood beside him in order to raise him up from the ground, but he was unwilling and would not eat food with them. 18 Then it happened on the seventh day that the child died. And the servants of David were afraid to tell him that the child was dead, for they said, “Behold, while  the child was still alive, we spoke to him and he did not listen to our voice. How then can we tell him that the child is dead, since he might do himself harm!” 19 But when David saw that his servants were whispering together, David perceived that the child was dead; so David said to his servants, “Is the child dead?” And they said, “He is dead.” 20 So David arose from the ground, washed, anointed himself, and changed his clothes; and he came into the house of the LORD and worshiped. Then he came to his own house, and when he requested, they set food before him and he ate. 21 Then his servants said to him, “What is this thing that you have done? While the child was alive, you fasted and wept; but when the child died, you arose and ate food.” 22 He said, “While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept; for I said, ‘Who knows, the LORD may be gracious to me, that the child may live.’ 23 “But now he has died; why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I will go to him, but he will not return to me.” 24 Then David comforted his wife Bathsheba, and went in to her and lay with her; and she gave birth to a son, and he named him Solomon. Now the LORD loved him 25 and sent word through Nathan the prophet, and he named him Jedidiah for the LORD’S sake.

David has committed adultery and then murder in an attempt to cover up his sin, God has sent Nathan the Prophet to confront and convict David. David had confessed and repented and many of us want the story to end with 2 Samuel 12:13:

13 Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the LORD.” And Nathan said to David, “The LORD also has taken away your sin; you shall not die.”

We like stories were it all works out and we can have our perfect ending, in reality what we really want is our sin forgiven without consequence. However, in the real world we can be forgiven for breaking down the door but we still have to deal with the gaping hole we created in the house. There are always consequences to our actions, and like it or not, we have to coexist with those consequences, David did.

  • The first consequence was the death of David’s newborn son, which may seem to be an unfair punishment of an innocent child. There are many views on this, including that the child would have lived a painful and disgraceful life, as an illegitimate son, and his death as an infant was merciful. Others look at the ramifications of this illegitimate child becoming king. Still others see the example of atonement, an innocent life being given to redeem the life of the guilty. Me, I don’t know, but this death underscores an important truth; our sin doesn’t just affect us, it also infects those around us. The long-reaching effect of a moment of sinful self-indulgence can be far reaching and deadly. In that moment of temptation we rarely think about others and in moments of rebellion we make life long decisions for more than just ourselves.
  • The second consequence was the judgment proclaimed in verses 11-12 came to pass, David’s sin affected more than one of his sons. Nathan told David that what he tried to keep as a secret would be made public. 2 Samuel 16:20-22 records Absalom’s rebellion as he publicly takes his father’s wives, and David’s public disgrace and humiliation. Talk about a broken family; see, “What happens in Vegas, does not stay in Vegas!”
  • The third consequence affected Bathsheba, she had to live with humiliation and disgrace in the midst of the king’s other wives and in their society, the loss of a son was a sign of God’s judgment upon them that was a matter of deep, scarring disgrace.

Yet the good news is that the story does not end with the consequences of sin but the grace of God. Where there is sin, there are consequences, but where there is grace, there is a cure, restoration and healing:

24 Then David comforted his wife Bathsheba, and went in to her and lay with her; and she gave birth to a son, and he named him Solomon. Now the LORD loved him 25 and sent word through Nathan the prophet, and he named him Jedidiah for the LORD’S sake.

Scripture does not record Bathsheba’s journey of healing as it does David’s, but don’t miss the hand of God in their relationship. What are the chances that that a marriage born out of adultery and death could even survive, much less prosper. God demonstrated His grace in the sanctification of a relationship that had once brought the condemnation of death. This is not a “healed but always crippled” relationship, but a “healed and whole relationship,” which may have been born in death, but after God’s healing, births life. The life of Solomon, a child of wisdom, who succeeded his father as King, and his name appears in the direct bloodline of Christ in the New Testament genealogies. I for one am tired of the “once an alcoholic always an alcoholic” syndrome in the church, are there consequences yes, but then there is God’s healing. God can bring beauty from ashes; it’s not your past bloodline that defines you, it’s the blood of Christ. The restored and sanctified marriage of David and Bathsheba bears the handy work of God and his blessing, not David’s work harder self-effort. Don’t miss the grace of God in who He sends to deliver God’s blessing, it is the same prophet, Nathan, who earlier was chosen to bring the condemnation of sin! The message: God had a special name for this special child: Jedidiah which means “beloved of God.”

God brings condemnation but He always offers grace and healing, this is the recurring theme throughout the Bible culminating in the offering of His only Son, Jesus. God wants to have an intimate relationship with you and He has gone out of His way to invite you into that relationship. The whole point of God’s charge against David was not to punish him, but to restore him, yet too often we don’t accept God’s plan.

David wasn’t the first man to fall into sin and he won’t be the last, there have been both kings and commoners fall, but the ground at the foot of the cross is level for all. It doesn’t matter what you’ve done, or where you’ve been, God’s healing and restoring grace is available to all. Like David, you will have to be honest with God, and with yourself. Are you ready to take the first step toward seeing your life rebuilt? Then you, like David, need to:

  • Stop trying to hide your sin behind cheap excuses and lies
  • Get real and confess your sin and repent
  • Be willing to deal with and accept the consequences of your sin
  • Accept God’s forgiveness

Are you ready for a fresh start? Is it time to get alone with God and allow Him to restored and rebuild your life?