Jesus teaches an important three-part lesson in Matthew 18:15-17 (Amplified), one that everyone, including the Church, would do well to learn. “If your brother wrongs you, go and show him his fault, between you and him privately. If he listens to you, you have won back your brother.” Really good advice. But what happens all too often is this: someone offends us then we go behind their back and tell everyone what happened and how upset we are. It’s called gossiping and accomplishes nothing but to create more strife and discourse. It never actually settles a matter.

Misunderstandings like this happen all the time, including among Christians who should know better. Instead of trying to resolve the problem, the offended party too often tries to prove he is right and the other party wrong, garner sympathy, and make the offender look as bad as possible. That’s called a dysfunctional relationship!

We need to confront wrongs and do it Jesus’ way. First we are to go to our offending brother or sister privately, without anyone else around, and speak the truth in love. We are to tell that person how and why they offended us, then give him/her an opportunity to make it right. Then Jesus says, “But if he does not listen, take along with you one or two others, so that every word may be confirmed and upheld by the testimony of two or three witnesses.” Not it gets harder and wisdom needs to prevail. If the situation indeed rises to this level as in domestic violence or sexual abuse, the “witnesses” you bring must be reputable, like a pastor or church elder or someone well respected and impartial. They are to “bear witness” to the conversation and confirm what was actually said to avoid further misunderstanding or confusion. That’s important in order to prevent a “he said, she said” kind of scenario where the truth can be muddled on both sides.

But what happens if that still doesn’t resolve the conflict? Jesus covers that, too, in part three. “If he pays no attention to them, refusing to listen and obey, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a pagan and tax collector.” The situation must be really grave to warrant rising to this level because Jesus is saying that if step one and two fail, it will be necessary to tell the church body, and if the offender still won’t listen, stop associating with him.

This is serious stuff and the last two steps are not meant for minor infractions and probably few, if any, of us will ever need to follow them. But the very first step I do see as needful, that of confronting, privately those who offend us rather than making it a forum for discord or allowing the wrong to fester like a sore that will only become larger over time. I think Jesus’ first step can be successfully used not only with our friends and church family, but between husbands and wives, parents and children, brothers and sisters. In short, anyone who has a gripe with someone would do well to confront that person with love and truth. Doing it will go a long way in resolving issues and creating happy, peaceful relationships. Not doing it will keep the problem festering and over time make it worse.

Until next time,

Sylvia

When the seventy disciples returned after being sent out to heal the sick and preach that the Kingdom of God was at hand (Luke 10: 9-20) they were full of joy because demons were subject to them in Jesus’ name. As usual, Jesus’ response was not what one would expect. He didn’t say, “Good going guys! I knew you could do it.” Rather, he said, “I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven.” That must have sobered them a bit. Jesus was basically saying I know all about Satan’s limited power, about his fall. I was there when it happened. Then He adds, “Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.”

Snakes can be poisonous and their bit deadly, and scorpions can pierce and sting. This so describes Satan’s work, always trying to steal, kill and destroy or at the very least, sting and wound. But Jesus gave His disciples power over Satan and his minions, and we still have this same power today. But it’s interesting to note that “power” is mentioned twice in verse 19 and are two very different words. The first “power,” the power to tread on serpents and scorpions, is exousia and means the freedom, the privilege, the legal right to do this. Jesus was giving us the legal right to thwart Satan. The second word “power,” the power of the enemy, is dunamis and means force, miraculous power and indicates a power Satan has but we do not. And though we have the legal right to stop Satan in his tracks, we need dunamis in order to do it. And the only way we can get it is through Jesus, through the Holy Spirit. It is only God’s power in us that can overcome Satan’s power. We must never forget that.

But here’s the kicker. Even though this is all wonderful and makes us “more than conquerors” and able to overcome adversity, that’s not the thing that should make us want to throw a party because Jesus said, “Nevertheless, do not rejoice at this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.” Written where? In the Lamb’s Book of Life, of course. “And there shall in no wise enter into it (the new heaven and earth) anything that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb’s book of life.” (Revelation 21:27)

That is our real joy. The fact that we will be with our beautiful Lord and Savior for all eternity, living a life we can’t even imagine now. Oh, that all those we know and love will have their names written in the Lamb’s book, too!

Until next time,

Sylvia

Last week I talked about how the pattern of salvation was set in the story of the 100 sheep, the one that was lost and the 99 left; how Jesus, Creator of those sheep, left His glory for the purpose of restoring the lost, which came at great cost to Himself (Matthew 18:12-14).

This week, looking at John 10:1-15 we see the theme of the Shepherd (Jesus) and the sheep (lost mankind) continues. In it Jesus makes several profound and radical statements. He tells us that only the Shepherd can enter the door of the sheepfold, that he “who does not enter by the door . . . but climbs up some other way is a thief and robber.” And the Shepherd knows his sheep, he calls them by name and leads them, and they recognize his voice and follow him. Then Jesus tells us that He Himself is not only the Door to the sheepfold (through His death and resurrection) but the Good Shepherd of the sheep. And that the Good Shepherd lays down His life for his sheep. It’s both clear and beautiful.

But who is the thief, the robber? The one who tries to sneak into the sheepfold? Who comes “to steal, and kill and destroy?” It is, of course, Satan. First He tries to keep the sheep from coming into the fold. When that fails, he will try to invade the fold, to separate it, disrupt it, and create havoc. How many split churches can attest to that? And Satan will do both things through lies and deception. He will first tell us we are gods, that we don’t need a Savior, that we can just “do our own thing,” be the “captain of our ship.” He will dangle all the allurements the world has to offer: money, fame, pleasure. And yes, the Bible tells us there is pleasure in sin for a season. But when that pleasure fades, when that money no longer satisfies and leaves us empty, when we realize that fame is short lived and empty, too, perhaps then we are finally ready to allow the Good Shepherd to do what He longs to do: save us from ourselves and our sins, then lead us onto a better path. But even those in His sheepfold must constantly listen for His voice because if they don’t they could fall prey to the counterfeit shepherd who is ever trying to destroy them.

I once did a blog on how silly and foolish sheep were. They would wander away from the flock and die, or drown in a fast moving stream if it were not for the shepherd. They are also disease prone, easy prey for wild beasts, and utterly unable to protect themselves. I think that’s a pretty good description of what we’re like. And maybe remembering that will make us tender hearted toward those who are still lost. After all, they’re only sheep, too, just ones without a shepherd.

But here’s the best part, while Satan comes to “steal, kill and destroy,” Jesus said He came so that His sheep “may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance, to the full” (John 10:10 Amplified). Pray that all those you know and love will come to know the Good Shepherd and enter into this abundant life.

Until next time,

Sylvia

This is so beautiful! In Matthew 18:12-14 Jesus again reveals His heart. He talks about a man having one hundred sheep and when one goes astray, he leaves the ninety-nine in order to find the one. And when he finds it he “rejoices more over it than the ninety-nine that did not get lost.” That word “lost” in Greek means more than misplaced or unable to find something. It is apollumi and means to destroy, perish, die. Since all of us were lost, dead in sin and perishing due to Adam’s sin and then our own, we all needed to be “found.” So Jesus is talking about us! We are that stray sheep. And each one of us is important to Him.

As I’ve said many times, numbers in the Bible have meaning. The number “one” is the number for God. “Here, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.” (Deuteronomy 6:4) He is the Creator. The 100 sheep are His creation. He made them and He owns them. Thus only God Himself can restore His creation to Himself. When Adam sinned and strayed from God it left the number 99 and foretold the method of God’s restoration. Nine is the number of judgment and finality. “And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani, which means, My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me . . . And Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed out His life.” (Mark 15:34;37 Amplified). It was finished. With His death, the Good Shepherd provided the means of rescuing the sheep.

But notice this part. Jesus rejoices over being able to rescue us, actually rejoices over the fact that His death and payment can bring back the lost if they are willing to be found. Because of His great love, the emphasis of Jesus’ heart is on the joy of it all rather than on the sacrifice. But it is for us to understand this great sacrifice and to accept it. If we don’t, then there’s no way our Great Shepherd can restore us and make us part of His flock.

Who is like our God? Is there a more gentle, loving Savior anywhere? Has anyone done more for us than Jesus? He wants so badly to restore us to Himself. He has done everything possible to make that happen. He has given everything while our part is so small. We have only to accept it. In the face of all this, how can His love not draw us to Him?

Until next time,

Sylvia  

This is a tough one. In Mark 10:1-9 some Pharisees ask Jesus, “is it lawful for a man to dismiss and repudiate and divorce his wife?” They asked this in order to test Him. The Amplified says to “find a weakness in Him.” They were always doing that. But Jesus doesn’t flinch. His answer: “What did Moses command you?” The Pharisees go on to admit that Moses did indeed allow a man to divorce his wife. Then Jesus zeros in on the matter. Yes, Moses did, Jesus concedes, “because of your hardness of heart, your condition of insensibility to the call of God.” But it wasn’t always so. “From the beginning of creation God made them male and female. For this reason a man shall leave behind his father and his mother and the two shall become one flesh . . . What therefore God has united (joined together), let not man separate or divide.” It’s clear that God doesn’t like divorce.

But why doesn’t He? And why is marriage supposed to be forever? Because when you ripe something in two that is supposed to be one, there is damage, there is pain, there is destruction. And this destruction and pain spill over onto not only the former husband and wife, but their children, their families and even their friends as so often times these people are forced to choose sides. Nobody wins here.

Let me say right off that I don’t judge those who are divorced because “there but for the grace of God go I.” Marriage is tough. I wager that most people who have been married for any length of years have been tempted to “call it quits” at one time or another, or at least had it cross their mind, however briefly.  But I do say we need to discuss this topic openly and honestly because divorce in the Church is just as rampant as divorce in the secular world. And this should not be. If anything, the divorce rate in our churches should be much lower. After all, we have God’s Word and His Holy Spirit to guide us.  But how to prevent it? For one thing, we need to be honest with our children. Prepare them for the realities of marriage and discourage living together before marriage. (Aside from it being called “fornication” in the Bible and frowned upon by God, did you know that the divorce rate for couples that cohabitate before marriage is much higher than the average rate? It’s true!) But most of all we need to stress that God must be in the center of their lives and to allow Him to pick out that perfect spouse for us. That means waiting. And most of us don’t like waiting for anything. And when we don’t wait, when we forge ahead and pick our own spouse based on looks, personality, position in life, etc, we could not only be missing God’s best, but we could be entering a relationship bound for serious trouble.

Remember how Jesus said the reason people get divorced is because of the hardness of their heart? Well, here’s the final blow. We all have hard hearts. Hearts that are, by and large, centered on us. We are selfish and want our way, that’s why marriage is so hard. It requires compromise, the giving up of our selves for another. Beloved, only Jesus can plow the crusty patch that is our heart. Only He can change us, give us a heart of flesh and enable us to truly live the life He desires for us, and that includes our married life, too. Remember, it’s “not by might not by power but by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts.” (Zechariah 4:6)

Until next time,

Sylvia

 

 

So right after Jesus heals the blind man in John 9:1-32 and the Pharisees get wind of it, you guessed it, they begin a campaign to prove it was all a hoax. First they try to prove the man was never blind. When that fails, they verbally attack Jesus. “He’s not from God,” they boldly claim as if they really know what they’re talking about, and saying it because Jesus performed this miracle on the Sabbath.

Then the former blind man rises up in Jesus’ defense, but surely in fear and trembling because he’s well aware that he’s coming against the “powerful” of his day—men who can make life difficult for him. “Since the beginning of time,” this man tells them, “it has never been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind. If this Man were not from God, He would not be able to do anything like this.”

At once the Pharisees attack the messenger. “You were wholly born in sin from head to foot; and do you presume to teach us?” (vs 34 Amplified) Then they throw him out of the synagogue. Since the synagogue was the center of Jewish life this was harsh punishment indeed. It meant that this former blind man could no longer fellowship with his people. He was now an outcast. But then, and here’s the good part, Jesus hears about it and goes to him and introduces Himself as the Son of Man who has come into the world to make the blind see, the One who desires to make everyone see with their spiritual eyes.

And this is still happening today. When Jesus comes along and cures our spiritual blindness we often become outcasts, too—misunderstood and rejected by our church, our family, our circle of friends. But as the days grow darker and less certain, we need to be willing to become outcasts for Jesus’ sake. That may mean leaving our church, a church that does not preach the word of God but the traditions of men, or a church that allows its pet theology to trump Scripture. It’s not an easy thing to become an outcast, to go against the “powerful.” But it’s an “either or” situation. Either we stand for God and His word, or we cave and compromise in order to keep from making waves, in order to get along, to blend in. But doesn’t this sound too uncomfortably like the Laodicean church? The one God said He was going to vomit out of His mouth?  As I see it, we are rapidly approaching a time when fence sitting is out and we’ll have to commit one way or the other.

Do I want to become an outcast? Not really. But it may become necessary if I want to be a true follower of Christ, and it may be so for you, too. After all, Jesus predicted it when he said in John 16:2-3 (Amplified) “They will put you out of, expel you from the synagogues; but an hour is coming when whoever kills you will think and claim that he has offered service to God. And they will do this because they have not known the Father or Me.”

Something to think about. Something to prepare for.

Until next time,

Sylvia

When Jesus sees a man, in John 9:1-5, who has been blind from birth His disciples immediately ask Him, “who sinned, this man or his parents?” Jesus’ answer surely had to startle them. “Neither one . . . but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.” What? Does that mean this man was deliberately made blind by God to make a point? Hardly.

Jesus was actually refuting a strongly held belief by many rabbis and apparently by His own disciples, that claimed terrible sicknesses came upon those whose parents had sinned or on infants who had somehow sinned in the womb. The reality is that we live in a fallen world. A world in which God’s perfection has been marred by Satan, and as a result sickness, disease, natural disasters, etc. occur all too frequently. Now here was a blind man, the very product of this fallen world, and the one Jesus chose to use in order to fulfill one of the signs revealing Him to be the Messiah. And when Jesus says “that the works of God should be made manifest in him (the blind man)” Jesus was employing a play on words. “Manifest” means to render, to make apparent. But it also means to lighten, to shine. Just two verses down Jesus declares He is the light of the world. He has come into the world to shine, to disrupt the works of the devil, to show God’s marvelous power and to fulfill prophesy.   

The rabbis knew that the Messiah would be revealed by three miracles: healing a leper, healing the deaf, healing the blind, and they had seen Jesus do all three. Even so, they chose not to believe or acknowledge Him. These three signs had great spiritual significance. Leprosy represented the gross stain of sin on our lives that only God could cleanse, while the deaf and blind revealed our sad inability, without God’s intervention, to hear or understand His word, and to see Jesus for who He really is.

Jesus is still healing the blind today. Every time someone comes into the saving knowledge of Christ, that person’s spiritual eyes first had to be opened, made able to see and understand spiritual things. Unfortunately, there are many like the rabbis in the above passages who, no matter what they see, no matter how convincing the evidence, refuse to believe.

For those we need to pray that their hearts be softened so that the Light of the World may shine in them.

Until next time,

Sylvia

John 8:12-59 is so full of information it would take a large manuscript to fully do it justice. In these passages Jesus reveals many things about Himself. He calls Himself the Light of the World though not of this world; that He did nothing except what the Father instructed Him to do; that His father is God and their father (referring to the crowd) is the devil. He tells them that the truth would set them free, that who the Son sets free is free indeed, and that no one who believes on Him would die. He calls Himself I AM, the very name God the Father called Himself at the burning bush with Moses. To the crowd these were a mouthful of blasphemes and makes them so angry they actually try to stone Him.

What’s also abundantly clear in these passages is Jesus’ foreknowledge of His death. He knew His time was nearly up and He was desperate to make the people understand, to have them come into the Light, to be set free, to know the Truth and thus escape eternal damnation. He’s still trying to do that today, to make people understand, to bring them out of darkness into His marvelous light. But the tables are reversed. It’s our time that is nearly up. We don’t know from one minute to the next when that time will come, but we know that our life is but a vapor that quickly passes. Anyone over fifty understands this all too well.

The best thing we can do with what’s left of our time is to examine these claims of Jesus. To prayerfully study them and ask God to give us revelation knowledge so we can take them to heart. Time is running out for all of us. We need to settle these issues before it’s too late.

Until next time,

Sylvia

 

A man on the road sees Jesus and tells Him, “Lord I will follow you wherever you go” (Luke 9:57). That’s a tall promise. Did he really mean it? Did he fully understand what that entailed? I don’t think so, because Jesus says to him, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests but the Son of man has nowhere to lay his head,” indicating there is a price, the least of which could mean giving up our creature comforts.

Then to another man Jesus says, “follow me” (Luke 9:59). At once the man makes excuses. “Let me first go and bury my father.” Was his father dying? We don’t know, but more than likely what the man was saying was, “once my father passes away, then I’ll be free to follow you.” That could mean seconds or years. But it certainly means that for this man, it was inconvenient to follow Jesus just then. And what does Jesus say to him? “Let the dead bury their dead, but go thou and preach the kingdom of God.”

Then a third man says to Jesus, “I will follow you, Lord, and become your disciple but let me first say good-bye to those at my home.” Jesus’ response left no room for doubt as to how He felt about this. “No man who puts his hand to the plow and looks back to the thing behind is fit for the kingdom of God.” Oh my! What a smack-down!

What does it all mean? Does it infer that Jesus doesn’t care about what’s going on in our lives? No, of course not. But it does tell us that Jesus understands that following Him is inconvenient, and because it is, we can’t wait for the “right time.” Rather, once we are called, once the Holy Spirit draws us, we are to allow ourselves to be inconvenienced by God. What’s more, we are to understand that the road will probably be hard. Perhaps we’ll even loose the fellowship and love of our family and friends because they won’t understand. It could mean loss of material things, too. 

The Apostle Paul said he counted all the things he had lost for the sake of Christ as “dung” (Philippians 3:8). That’s “poop” in modern day language. And we should look at this the say way. To do less, to hold onto the things of this world, our possessions, our creature comforts, even the people in our lives at the expense of God, makes us, in Jesus’ words, “unfit” for the kingdom of God.

Until next time,

Sylvia

Sometimes only one or two of the gospels have a particular story. But this story about the apostles obsessing over their egos is in three of them: Matthew 18:1-4, Mark 9:33-35, and Luke 9:46-48. In the Amplified Luke tells that an actual controversy arose during which they argued over “which of them might be the greatest surpassing the others in excellence, worth and authority.” Really? Excellence, worth and authority? Here they were squabbling over their own positions, their “pecking order” as it were, and all the while the Creator of the Universe, the King of Glory, the living God was among them, eating the dust of the road, wearing coarse homespun, sleeping on the hard ground, giving himself away to anyone who asks, being touched by lepers and prostitutes alike, not worrying one bit about His position or seeking to exalt Himself.

And aren’t we still doing the same thing today? Here we are in the midst of God’s presence, His love, the move of His Holy Spirit, and we worry about our importance, what rung of the ladder we stand on. I suppose pride will always be part of the human condition and will need to be put under subjection. But here’s the thing, like John the Baptist who said, “I must decrease and He (speaking about Jesus) must increase,” the more we decrease, the more secure we actually become and the less need we have of proving ourselves, proving we are worth something.

But what of those who really want to become great? There is a secret to greatness, you know. And Jesus revealed it in these chapters. It’s a stunner and flies in the face of worldly wisdom. And the secret is this: we must become like little children, trusting Him, believing Him, relying on Him. And then the clincher: “For he who is least and lowliest among you all—he is the one who is truly great.” For God, greatness is attached to lowliness, to a servant’s heart, to one who is humble and who trusts Him. Today there are so many looking to promote themselves, to become noticed, to make “something” of themselves, when all the while God is saying we already are something and can be even greater in His eyes if we but follow His example of humility and service and faithfulness.

I think when we get to heaven and God pulls out His honor roll of those greatest in His kingdom, we’re going to be surprised over how many names are on it of people we have never heard of, people who led quiet, ordinary lives, lives submitted to our King, and lived out in holiness and humility. And the wonderful thing is that we can be among them if we care to apply God’s secret.

Until next time,

Sylvia Bambola