He Blessed

In Matthew 14:19 we read that, “looking up to heaven, He [Jesus] blessed and broke and gave the loaves to the disciples; and the disciples gave to the multitudes.” A little boy had a packed lunch of 5 loaves of bread and two fish. He offered it to Jesus. Jesus blessed it and fed thousands. When we give thanks at a meal, we are not asking God to make bad food good. God created all things good. We acknowledge that we need God in our lives, that we live because of His Providence and we give thanks. When Jesus blessed the loaves and fishes, he was preparing an extraordinary Provision.

Bring them Here

What does Jesus offer to do with our problems? In Matthew 14:17-18 as with the fish and loaves, He says, “Bring them here to Me.” “Cast your burden on the Lord, and He shall sustain you” (Psalm 55:22). “Fear not, I will help you” (Isaiah 41:13). “humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you” (1 Peter 5:6, 7). “He will feed His flock like a shepherd” (Isaiah 40:11). “The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears, and delivers them out of all their troubles” (Psalm 34:17).

We Only...

When confronted by a huge problem, we look at our resources and say, “We have here only five loaves and two fish.” Like Elisha we need to lift our eyes to heaven, and behold, the mountain full of horses and chariots of fire all around. Like Ruth, we throw ourselves at the feet of our Redeemer and know that He will Provide. When everyone thinks we are insignificant, little people and laugh at us, God can give us the courage to slay the Goliaths in our lives with the smallest of weapons. When foolish people threaten to ruin our lives, like Abigail, God provides us with wisdom to save the day.

You Give them Something

In Matthew 14:15-16 after the disciples wanted to send the crowds of people away, Jesus simply replied, “You give them something to eat.” Church potluck meals can be traced to Jesus feeding this crowd that had gathered on the north shore of the sea of Galilee. The disciples wanted to dismiss them, just as many of us would. Can we hear the selfish political lies? Kick ‘em out! Can we hear the ancient Greek lie that, God helps those who help themselves? Jesus said, “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.” Is Jesus inviting us to be givers instead of takers, compassionate instead of mean?

He was Moved with Compassion

In Matthew 14:13-14 when confronted by a large crowd, we read that Jesus “was moved with compassion for them, and healed their sick.” As a Christian, I am ashamed of the sins of the Church. I admit that we too often lack compassion. A common fiction is that people are poor because they are lazy. Yet, honest analysis of the causes of poverty admits many other reasons including the poor being the victims of crime, overpopulation, low wages, inefficient distribution, corruption, bad education, environmental degradation, political oppression, colonialism, disease and war. The miracle of feeding the five thousand is a radical contradiction of selfish religion. Are we moved with compassion?

Church Growth Jesus Style

In Matthew 13:31-32 Jesus said of a mustard seed picturing the kingdom of heaven, “when it is grown it is greater than the herbs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches.” Church growth advice is for sale at a price. The effective ingredient of church growth is not for sale at any price, Jesus. He said, “I will build my church.” (Matthew 16:18) Is it wrong to get advice? Of course not. Jesus predicted that the kingdom of heaven would grow to be the largest garden plant, a tree. In the garden of world religions Christianity is now the largest.

Tiny Seeds

In Matthew 13:31-32 Jesus called a mustard seed, “the least of all the seeds.” This is conversational speech, like saying, “Isn’t that just the cutest baby!” It is not a scientific or statistical conclusion but an everyday superlative. Those trained in scientific precision may quibble that there are seeds smaller than the mustard seed, but those trained in literary style would be quick to point out that is not the point of the parable. A lot of biblical criticism comes from misunderstanding the genre of speech. Being highly educated in one field we are often totally ignorant of other fields of study. Jesus’ frequently taught with imagery and hyperbole.

Jesus’ Little Flock will Grow

In Matthew 13:31-32 Jesus said, “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed.” What kind of plant was the mustard tree? Some experts believe it was the black mustard, an herb which can grow to three meters (ten feet). The parable of the mustard seed gives the impression that the kingdom of heaven, though once a little flock, will become very large. The mustard seed certainly did correlate to the smallness of the kingdom in the beginning. However, it foretold a far greater, all-encompassing future. Indeed, where Jesus used the term “little flock” He was addressing his disciples, not the eventual size of the Church (Luke 12:32).

The Kingdom of Heaven is …

In Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52 Jesus described some traits of the kingdom of heaven. He spoke in parables because the kingdom of heaven was still a well-kept secret. As it grows, it is becoming less of a secret. The kingdom of heaven has become the largest venture of all time, covering about a third of humanity. Jesus rules the largest kingdom on earth, a spiritual kingdom hidden from plain sight. Like yeast it will someday leaven all of humanity. Like a buried treasure not seen by human eyes, it is the most precious treasure of all. It is currently a mixture of good and evil, old and new.

Jesus, Liberal or Conservative

Liberals and conservatives accuse each other of evil. Do conservatives protect mere human traditions, traditions inspired by God or traditions like Moses’ bronze snake that have become useless idols or all the above? Do liberals depart from the Bible or refuse to interpret the Bible legalistically or both? Jesus is described as liberal or conservative on a variety of issues, but He is always orthodox. In Matthew 13:40-43 Jesus used the term weeds, “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.”

Judgmentalism & Judgment

We’ve all met people who complain that the Church is too judgmental. It’s true — in part — but the statement itself also judgmental. The Church does not own irrational and snobbish criticism exclusively. It’s common to all. We try to make good judgments by discerning between right and wrong. When is judgment right and when is it wrong? In Matthew 13:41 Jesus said, “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.” If someone is condemned or not is not ours to judge? What is Jesus’ alone to judge is not our business.

The Children of the Kingdom

In Matthew 13:38 we read in the parable of the wheat and weeds, “The field is the world, the good seeds are the sons of the kingdom, but the tares are the sons of the wicked one.” Outward appearances can be deceiving. Only Jesus can truly judge between the wheat and weeds in the world. Even in the church, not all professing Christians are righteous. The visible church has always been a mixture of good and evil (1 John 2:19-20; Matthew 7:21-23; Romans 9:6; 2 Peter 2:20-22). At harvest the righteous will be visible because the children of the kingdom “will shine forth as the sun.”

7 Keys to the Parable of the Weeds

Jesus gave 7 keys to understanding the parable of the weeds in Matthew 13:37-39. They help us understand other parables. 1) Who really sows? “He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man.” 2) Where is God working? “The field is the world.” 3) Are we God’s children? “The good seeds are the sons of the kingdom.” 4) Who are Satan’s children? “The tares are the sons of the wicked one.” 5) Who is ultimately responsible for evil? “The enemy who sowed them is the devil.” 6) How long must we wait? “The harvest is the end of the age.” 7) Who harvests? “The reapers are the angels.”

Waiting Until Harvest

Do we get upset and angry with wrongdoing in the Church? Should we excommunicate all remorseless sinners until few are left in the church? Should we refuse to have communion with those who are corrupt and unresponsive to God? What if in so doing, we also offend family members and friends who are sincere Christians? In Matthew 13:30 Jesus said, “Let both grow together until the harvest.” Jesus does not ask us to tolerate evil but be patient because the responsibility is not ours but the angels’. The Church has always been a mixture of sinners and saints. We must be patient, praying for repentance and waiting until the harvest.

Evils in the Church

The Church does much good in the world, like schools, universities, medical care, music, arts, literature, science, human rights, opposing slavery, influencing laws, providing orphanages, care for the hungry and poor. Why is evil also in the Church? Why did Catholics exterminate Waldensians and murder tens of thousands during the Inquisition? Why did Catholics and Protestants murder Anabaptists? Why did Calvinists murder French priests? Why do Orthodox persecute Russian Protestants? Can we weed all corruption out of church? In Matthew 13:28-29 Jesus described evil to his disciples as weeds among the wheat. “‘Should we pull out the weeds?’ they asked. ‘No,’ he replied, ‘you’ll uproot the wheat if you do.”

What are Tares?

In Matthew 13:24-25 Jesus said, “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field; but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way.” The weed was probably darnel, called cockle and false wheat. It exists worldwide, looking similar to wheat until maturity. Wheat ears are heavy. It hangs down. Darnel ears are light. It stands tall. The wicked seem to prosper while the righteous suffer. Cockle has a deeper root. Removing it would pull out the wheat. A solution is to let both grow together until harvest and separate them then, when the righteous will shine.

Fail in Order to Succeed

An old axiom says that failure is the stepping stone to success. Are we afraid of failure? The road to success is paved with failures. Before the farmer in the Parable of the Sower had a successful crop he failed in three areas. We fail in these same areas. We allow the devil to snatch the word of God away from us. We allow the deceitfulness of wealth to choke out the word of God. We are shallow in faith and quit too easily. Paths can be plowed up, thorns can be uprooted and rocks can be pulverized into good productive soil. All our failures can be stepping stones to success.

Sow Indiscriminately

In the Parable of the Sower Jesus spoke of the kingdom of heaven being like an indiscriminate sower. This contradicts theories surrounding church growth of targeting certain statistically measurable demographics. There is no such target audience in this parable. The seed of the kingdom is sown with wild abandon. I like that. It’s more like spreading of the Gospel with faith instead of using man-made formulas. A well-known leader in the church growth movement once said that he could build a church a mile wide but only an inch deep, only a pastor can build depth. Jesus said something quite different. He said, “I will build My church” (Matthew 16:18).

Why Parables

In Matthew 13:10-18 Jesus revealed why He spoke in parables. It was because, “whoever has, to him more will be given, and he will have abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.” So, those who have no interest in learning to obeying God will not understand. Not everyone has ears that desire to hear, but those who have the desire can ask God for understanding. A parable is a story, an allegory that illustrates a moral or spiritual lesson. To those who really learn to understand, Jesus says, “blessed are your eyes for they see, and your ears for they hear.”

He Who Has Ears

In Matthew 13:9 is a familiar saying of Jesus, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear!” What does that mean? It means, Pay attention! It does not mean hearing outwardly only, but deep down inside. It means to comprehend. It means to put to use the parables Jesus taught. It is an invitation to think about the deeper, hidden meaning. Why did Jesus paint such familiar farming pictures? Are there morals to His stories? His parables require more than ordinary powers of superficial thought to understand. Jesus said this proverbial conclusion more than once, perhaps to indicate which of His teachings were of greatest importance. Do we hear?

Fruit-Filled Christianity

In Matthew 13:8, 23 what happens in good soil that causes the seed of the word of the kingdom to grow so well? After describing superficial, shallow and worry-filled lives, Jesus described fruit-filled Christianity. What is the difference? One difference is understanding. The Greek implies being “put together” as in the God-given ability to synthesize the word of the kingdom into a whole picture. The Holy Spirit helps us to put spiritual ideas together producing a fruit-filled Christianity. John the Baptist understood this when he chided the Pharisees about repentance. As a genuine change of heart is seen by its fruits, so does authentic Christianity produce a fruit-filled life.

Anxious & Deceived Christianity

In Matthew 13:7, 22 what happens in the thorns that causes the word of the kingdom to be choked? How do anxiety and wealth suffocate us? Why do we receive the word, and circumstances soon strangle it? Like thorns, worldly cares and affluence suck the life out of us. We are enticed to waste time and effort on worthless materialism. Worldly success becomes all-consuming. Then, important things suffer, like family life and the word of God. The result is that our lives become spiritually dead. On such a treadmill, we have less time to even think about the word of the kingdom. How do we escape our prisons to freedom?

Shallow Christianity

In Matthew 13:5-6, and 20 what happens on rocky soil that causes the seed of  the word of the kingdom to die so quickly? The seed that fell on the rocks did take root, but it was shallow. It had no deep root and died when hard times came. Shallow Christianity focuses on good times and materialism, but not deep spiritual things. For example, health and wealth are a focus of shallow Christianity. Suffering and persecution are rarely or never preached in such circles. The Bible teaches: blessed are those who suffer and are persecuted for righteousness. Shallow Christianity cannot handle the truth and avoids it. But deep-rooted Christianity lives on.

Superficial Christianity

In Matthew 13:4 and 19 the message of the kingdom is snatched away by birds. What happens? If we are careless with the message of the kingdom, it can be taken away. When the word of the kingdom comes, we should take time to understand it, because it is easily lost. We may even call ourselves Christian, but is it only a label, superficial, just on the surface? Is it only an outward show and not a deep Christian life? There is no substitute for the word of the kingdom as a lamp to guide our path (Psalm 119:105-112). Do we take time to understand the word of the kingdom?

A Promise of Rest

Rest for our souls is a topic in Matthew 11 and Hebrews 3 & 4. The Sabbath day and the Promised Land are pictures of eternal rest. “There remains therefore a rest [literally ‘a Sabbath rest’] for the people of God.” (Hebrews 4:9) Though we find rest for our souls now, there still remains an eternal rest. “Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience.” (Hebrews 4:11) We are invited to rest from the burden of sin, our anxieties, the distress of unsatisfied desires, from deep sorrows after a death, and to make every diligence to enter eternal rest.

My Burden is Light

A problem that the church has faced down through the ages is the temptation to add to Jesus’ easy burden, the heavy burden of man-made practices, weights, cumbersome rituals, Pharisaic rules, and unbearable religious demands that neither Jesus nor His Apostles taught. Jesus contrasted His light burden with the heavy burden that religious leaders in His day who taught the Scriptures imposed (Matthew 23:1-12). In the hands of hypocrites who love power, church can become a human-created burden. Those who teach the Bible must beware not to add to the light load that Jesus gave. In Matthew 11:30 Jesus said, “My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

Rest for our Souls

In Matthew 11:28-29 Jesus offers a rest that no one else can give, that no letter-of-the-law Sabbath day observance can give. Our need of rest is twofold, to “all you who labor and are heavy laden.” Labor becomes like a treadmill when we add the burden of sorrow that sin produces. Jesus’ promise of rest is also twofold, “I will give you rest” and “you will find rest for your souls.” These precious blessings are offered to all of us, the rest in coming to Christ, the rest of a quiet conscience, the rest of friendship with God, the rest of forgiveness, rest from fears, and rest for our souls.

I Will Give You Rest

Jesus said, “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28) Our Sabbath rest is in Jesus and eternity (Hebrews 4). No Christian keeps the letter of the law as Deuteronomy, which expounds the Ten Commandments,1 demands. Some want to keep the law in the letter and the spirit, but the letter kills (2 Corinthians 3:6). The only option left is keeping the law in spirit. The New Testament teaches us how. Our true rest is in Him, circumcision is in the heart (Romans 2:29), and love fulfills the whole law (Romans 13:8-10; Galatians 5:14).

1 1st Deuteronomy 6-11; 2nd Deuteronomy 12; 3rd Deuteronomy 13:1-14:21; 4th Deuteronomy 14:22-16:17; 5th Deuteronomy 16:18-18:22; 6th Deuteronomy 19-21; 7th Deuteronomy 22:1-23:14; 8th Deuteronomy 23:15-24:7; 9th Deuteronomy 24:8-16; 10th Deuteronomy 24:17-26:15. Source: Hill, Andrew E. & Walton, John H. A Survey of the Old Testament. Zondervan Publishing House. 1991. 58.

Hidden Things

Why can national leaders not understand how to lead nations to God? Why can the most highly educated and greatest minds on our planet not bring about peace? Why do the wealthy and powerful of the world not understand that their greed and selfishness destroys their own families and the world? There is an answer in knowing God. In Matthew 11:25-27 Jesus prayed that, “You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and have revealed them to babes.” Who alone can reveal the most important secrets of all? “Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.”

Three Insignificant Towns

Why in Matthew 11:20-24 did Jesus denounce three small towns in Galilee? Were they like Sodom and Gomorrah, or Las Vegas and Amsterdam? They were not major sin cities with prostitution, debauchery or even child sacrifice. Jesus said that such cities, “would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.” That’s the problem! While we focus on morality or social justice, Jesus pointed out a far worse problem, unwillingness to repent. What does Jesus say about sin cities? He said, “it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for you.” Why? It’s not where we start, but where we end up that counts.

Eating and Drinking

Matthew 11:16-19 contains an allegory of children in a public square arguing while playing make-believe funerals and weddings. “We played the flute for you, And you did not dance; We mourned to you, And you did not lament.” In the Church we sometimes argue over such things. Some Christian music sounds like a funeral dirge and some sounds festive like a wedding. Are we too often like the children in the marketplace? Is God interested in petty arguments? Do we childishly criticize legitimate choices like John the Baptist “neither eating nor drinking” versus Jesus “eating and drinking?” The children of true, heavenly wisdom approve the conduct of both as justified.