PENTECOST • 5

What does a servant of God look like?

Pentecost -  Pentecost marked the beginning of the Christian church’s mission to the world. Jesus has sent us all out into world with the work of restoring and reforming human beings to their intended glory (c.f. Matt 28:16-20). Interestingly, this work unto others was also meant to be His way of forming in us the glory He intends for us. This week we will continue to look at what it means to be a ‘sent church’. We will concurrently be looking at how He is restoring us into Jesus’ image and likeness as God’s servant through the work He has given to us to do.

SONGS FOR PRAYER

reading for: Tuesday Night, 27 JUNE

Matthew 10:40-42

Sorry, but who sent you again?

  • READ

    40 “Anyone who welcomes you welcomes me, and anyone who welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. 41 Whoever welcomes a prophet as a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and whoever welcomes a righteous person as a righteous person will receive a righteous person’s reward. 42 And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones who is my disciple, truly I tell you, that person will certainly not lose their reward.” – Matthew 10:40-42

    Today’s passage sits in the context of Jesus sending His disciple to do the work of His Father. He had given them power to heal the sick and authority over unclean spirits (10:1-5). He gave them instructions for their mission (10:5-15). He cautioned them that they will face persecution (10:16-25). He told them not to be afraid of those they can kill the body, but to rather fear God who has power over body and soul (10:26-28). He assured them of God’s love (10:29-31). He promised them that He would acknowledge before the Father those who acknowledged Him before people (10:32-33), and warned them that He has not come to bring peace but a sword even between them and the closest people in their lives (10:34-39).

    With that in mind, it adds richness of understanding to note that Jesus’ promise of rewards to those who welcomes / receive His servants is within the context of a warzone where the stakes are high. The prophet, the righteous, and ordinary / vulnerable disciple of Jesus are taking risks for Christ, and those who help them take on similar risks. Providing food, clothing, shelter, and money to His servants demonstrate personal support for those standing in the front lines in the war against Satan and His evil forces.

    This passage should not be taken as a general call to be a hospitable person, but rather to the specific call of standing with His sent ones. The costs attached to this is not just financial but also personal and safety compromising for the host and his family.

    This is why welcome and reception is held in such high regard in this text. It is not so much about the reception and welcome of a message but rather Jesus Himself whom the disciples serve and represent. The main point here is not the differing types of rewards or trying to figure out why prophet, righteous ones, and little ones (i.e. vulnerable or young disciples) are specifically mentioned in this text, or how we are to get rewards. Rather, the poignant message is that whatever group you happen to be in, it is important that people are to identify you with Jesus and Jesus with you.

    As a people who have been sent by Jesus Christ Himself, are people who receive you clear about who has sent you?

  • REFLECT

Are we aware that as true disciples of Jesus, we carry His presence and represent Him wherever we go? This is why the apostle Paul said that when a disciple of Christ sleeps with a prostitute, he is actually dragging Jesus into bed along with himself (c.f. 1 Corinthians 6:16)! Paul is very clear of this reality in his service and work for God when he referred to himself and his co-workers as ‘God’s Ambassadors’ (2 Corinthians 5:11-21). He explicitly communicated that they understand their fearful responsibility to the Lord in the work that they do (2 Cor 5:11). He goes on to say without reservation that ‘God is making His appeal through us’ (2 Cor 5:20)!

This poignant message about the oneness and immediate agency of God’s servant is all at once glorious and terrifying. Who among us communicates on a daily basis that ‘If you receive me, you receive Jesus’ (Matt 10:40)? If anything, many of us have been taught to see Jesus merely as the goal to which we should aspire to (but which we will never attain in this life). This seemingly humble statement however is immediately detrimental as it results in us focusing on our gap and separation from God rather than the truth of our oneness with Him that Jesus has restored us to.

Ironically, the devil knows that it is in our oneness and unreserved identification with Jesus that we are saved and glorious, and carrying Jesus’ authority. ‘Disciples’ that live outside of this space are of no threat to him at all – having a form of godliness but emptied of all power (2 Tim 3:5); branches separated from the true vine that have a form of liveliness but that are withering away (John 15). In fact, in Acts 19:15 it even records evil spirits rejecting some people that came ‘in the name of Jesus’ saying, ‘Jesus I know, and Paul I know about, but who are you?’.

Jesus Himself sets the ultimate example for us of the fullness of life that us servants of God ought to live in the following statement, “If you have seen me, you have seen the Father” (John 14:9).

As servants of God, let us then hold fast to the truth and be wary of nice / humble sounding lies. The truth is that you are the temple of the Holy Spirit who lives in you! Come to Jesus afresh and do not grieve His spirit any further. He is with you this moment. Turn to Him and move forward ever abiding in Him. As some of you may have already noticed, the work that God has called us to serves also as an alignment check for ourselves in that we cannot bear fruits that will last unless we are abiding and one with Him.

If that is you today, and God is showing you how you have come to be misaligned, do not squelch His Spirit any longer. Do not be afraid of our lack, brokenness, and sinfulness for a broken and contrite spirit He will not despise (Psalm 51). Do not let fear, guilt, pride, or shame keep you apart from Him. He came for people just like us and is not surprised by our sin and wondering. Rather, He longs that we would simply come to Him and confess our sins that He may also cleanse us and continue to have unbroken fellowship with Him (1 John 1:5-10). He (Jesus) who began His good work in you will also be the one to bring it to completion (Phil 1:6).

Therefore, let us come boldly to His throne of grace (Heb 4:16)! Come to Him and let your hearts burn afresh with His consuming fire.

reading for: Wednesday Night, 28 JUNE

Genesis 22:1-14

An Unimaginable Assignment? Or Relationship?

  • READ

    What kind of man would do such a thing?

    Read in isolation without the broader biblical narrative, today’s bible passage is a horror story, one that I cannot imagine any parent who would not recoil at. What kind of man, (what more a father) would do something like that? And what kind of good God would ask something like that from His follower? How could anyone love a God who would put His friend or child through a test like that?

    Thankfully, today’s narrative is the culmination of Abraham’s journey of faith which bible records began way back in Genesis 12. Abraham had walked with God for decades and had learned that God was trustworthy, incredible, and a promise keeper. God had said that He would bless Abraham greatly and He did. God had shown Abraham His divine interventions to protect him even in his doubts and fears. God had shown Abraham His plans for a city and allowed him to bargain with Him regarding their fate (Genesis 18:16-33). God had said that He would give him a son against all odds and He did. We cannot understand this story without first recognizing that Abraham had learned that He could trust God completely. He had learned over and over again that He was good and that God could do all things – even impossible things.

    Abraham was not faking it when he told his servants that ‘We will worship and then we will come back to you’ (v5). He believed it. Hebrews 11:17-19 gives us further insight that Abraham believed that God could raise Isaac from the dead. He did not know that this was a test, and that God would eventually stay his hand but he believed that God would deliver just as He promised descendants through Isaac more numerous than the stars in the sky (Genesis 15:5). He believed that ‘God himself will provide the lamb’ (v8) because God had always provided for him. He did not know at that time that he had prophetically spoken the very plans of God where He would eventually send His very own son, ‘the Lamb of God who would take away the sins of the world’ (John 1:29). Such was the level of friendship and intimacy with God that God called Abraham a friend of God (Isaiah 41:8)!

    Abraham in the earlier part of his journey with God still did not get it when God told Him in a vision, “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward” (Genesis 15:1). Abram went on to ask ‘what can you give me since I am childless…’ (Genesis 15:2). Abram’s focus was still on the gifts rather than the Giver. But fast forward to today’s scripture, Abraham’s faith actions showed he had truly realized that God Himself was his exceedingly great reward. 

    What kind of man would do such a thing? A man who have come to revere, love, and trust God completely. 

    What kind of God would ask such a thing? A God who has won the heart and trust of the one whom He would ask such a thing.

  • REFLECT

    Genesis 22:1-14 is a wonderful and intimate snapshot of the beautiful friendship between God and Abraham. The reason most of us find it so be such an unimaginable story is because most of us have not experienced such intimacy with God. Our honest answer to the commonly asked discussion question about whether we would respond like Abraham did is likely a sad but true no. Alternatively, we would likely not even recognize or believe it is God speaking. We may even rebuke God thinking that it is the devil who is talking to us!

    Yet such is God’s vision and desire between Him and His servants – ‘I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I will no longer call you servants. Because a servant does not know His Master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything I learned from my Father I have made known to you.’ – John 15:11-15

    ‘You are my friends if you do what I command’ (John 15:14) was not meant to a blind instruction or a childish demand (i.e. listen to me or I don’t friend you); it was meant to be an evaluation tool for you to know if you have hit ‘friendship status’ in your relationship with God. Jesus’ joy and greatest desire for us is that we maybe one with Him and have our joy complete as we bear lasting fruit where we are.

    James 2:21-24 further exhorts us when it says, “Was not our father Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see that his faith and his actions were working together and his faith was made complete in what he did. And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness, and he was called God’s friend. You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone.”

    What is God asking of you this day? What fruits is the Lord wanting to see in your life? Share an assignment or something that God has called you or laid in your heart to do? Share and pray with a fellow Christian that you would faith-fully go about your assignment. And as you go about it, I pray that each of us like Abraham would truly come to know that God Himself is oour exceedingly great prize (Genesis 15:1).

reading for: Thursday Night, 29 jUNE

Romans 6:12-23

Am [I] your Master?

  • READ

    Today’s reading begins with the word ‘Therefore’ to signal to us that what follows in verse 12 onwards builds off what Paul has already written earlier (i.e. Romans 6:1-11). Namely, that by the grace of God, we Christians have mysteriously participated in the death of Christ, so that we are dead to sin and ‘alive to God in Christ Jesus’ (emphasis mine).

    This is important because it provides for us the correct tone and context to what Paul communicates thereafter. Otherwise, we may be misled to think that Paul’s exhortation comes from that of a moral high ground and may perhaps even feel like he is trying to scare his readers into correct behaviour through the warning that the wages of sin being death (6:23).

    Instead, what we read here today is a rather grounded exhortation. Paul recognizes that the power of sin is still active in the world of believers, such that we can very easily find ourselves falling back to becoming slaves to sin again. This will then have the consequence of us becoming numb to God and following our baser ‘only human’ instincts rather than God’s will and leadership (i.e. being ‘alive to God in Christ Jesus’). He then gives his readers a ‘solution’ to turn the tide on this stronghold of sin – give ourselves instead to be God’s slaves (v13). 

    ‘Grace’, therefore is contrasted with ‘law’ (v14), in the sense that ‘grace’ leans into a life that draws from God’s power that is at work liberating the believers from their involvement with sin, while ‘law’ leans into a life where one attempts to live life correctly through the observance of the law by one’s own strength. That is why Paul asserts that the law (though holy, just, and good) is inadequate to resolve the dilemma of our slavery to sin and our inability to break away from it without God’s grace (i.e. God’s power that is doing for Christians what they cannot do for themselves). ‘Sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace’ now makes sense because the difference between ‘grace’ and ‘law’ is that the former is backed up by your new Master’s power.

    This is why proper understanding rejects the idea of continuing to sin now that you are not under ‘law’ but under ‘grace’ (v15). How could you since you have a new Master that is anti-sin? The movement from ‘law’ to ‘grace’ is a shift of masters (v16)! What’s more Paul reminds that we should all be familiar with how our old master leads us towards a life of death (v19-21).

    Instead, Paul reminds and tells his readers that being God’s slaves, as slaves of righteousness (v19) we reap the benefit of holiness, of which the result is eternal life in Christ Jesus (v22-23)!  

  • REFLECT

    Who is your master? Examine your life closely in the light of God’s word and the Holy Spirit. Check-in with a fellow follower of Christ that you trust about what he/she observes about your life. Jesus made it clear that a person cannot serve two masters for we will hate the one and love the other or hold to one and despise the other (Matt 6:24). Make space to pray and repent where necessary remembering that God only disciplines us because He loves us as His children. Recommit your allegiance to Christ as your Master this day and commit to listen and obey Him in your life. God has so much more installed for you and is Himself your exceedingly great reward!

    Choose life and serve God this day!

    “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.” – Jim Elliot     

     “Seeking you as a precious jewel, Lord to give up I would be a fool. You are my all in all.”
    – Dennis L. Jernigan

reading for: FRIDAY Night, 30 jUNE

Psalm 13

What is the foundation of your life?

  • READ

    1 How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever?
        How long will you hide your face from me?
    2 How long must I wrestle with my thoughts
        and day after day have sorrow in my heart?
        How long will my enemy triumph over me?

    3 Look on me and answer, Lord my God.
        Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death,
    4 and my enemy will say, “I have overcome him,”
        and my foes will rejoice when I fall.

    5 But I trust in your unfailing love;
        my heart rejoices in your salvation.
    6 I will sing the Lord’s praise,
        for he has been good to me.

    -Psalm 13

    Psalm 13 is a beautifully preserved Psalm of David, the man after God’s own heart, which shows by extension the deep strength of God’s true servants.

    1. It affirms the real tensions and realities of being a servant of God - that we are not set apart from suffering, persecution, sin, doubts, fears, pain, and enemies (v1-4), but that we are called to be set apart in spite of them.   

    2. It affirms that the deep strength of a goliath-slaying, armies-defeating, mighty-men-leading, wonderful-songs-composing, nation-leading (and the list goes on) servant of God is actually not his very real talents or gifts. Rather, it is found in the servant’s knowledge (heart and head) trust in God and His unfailing love (v5).

    3. It affirms that this trust and love is built over a journey and period of time of experiences, obedience, serving, trusting, and following his Lord (v5-6).

  • REFLECT

    What is the foundation of your life? Is it one that is built on rock or sand (c.f. Matt 7:24-27)? Jesus, Abraham, Paul, and David in this week’s readings all encourage us to cast aside fragile and false foundations for the all-powerful and loving foundations of God. 

    “This is what the Lord says:

    “Let not the wise boast of their wisdom
        or the strong boast of their strength
        or the rich boast of their riches,
     but let the one who boasts boast about this:
        that they have the understanding to know me,
     that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness,
        justice and righteousness on earth,
        for in these I delight,”
     declares the Lord.

    -        Jeremiah 9:23-24

      “Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good;
        blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.”

    -        Psalm 34:8

    Wherever you may be today, its not too late to turn to Him right now. Simply, say a prayer to God and ask Him to come be the Lord of your life anew. Then other matured brothers and sisters in Christ to come alongside you in your discipleship journey with Christ our Lord. Though the journey will still have its struggles, He is definitely good and worthy of it all.

     “Jesus, lover of my soul.
    Jesus, I will never let You go.
    You’ve taken me from the miry clay.
    You’ve set my feet upon the rock
    And now I know.

    I love you.
    I need you.
    Though my world may fall,
    I’ll never let you go.

    My Savior
    My closest Friend
    I will worship you until the very end.”

    - Jesus Lover of My Soul written by Charles Wesley, 1740.

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