This week’s message is the background for this week’s devo. So if you kinda get lost on this devo, that’s the backstory.

I admit it. It is easy to say “God keeps His promises,” quote 2 Corinthians 1:20 (All the promises of God are “Yes” in Christ), throw down the mic and walk off the stage. It’s even easy to understand how that verse is true. In Christ, God has kept his promises and covenants with the people of God.

But what about…

What about Jesus’ words, “pray with the faith of a mustard seed and you can say to this mountain go throw yourself in the ocean and it will happen?” What about Paul’s words, “God is working all things out for good for those called according to His purposes?” What about the promise of the peace of God in my life? What about 50 other verses I could quote?

Yeah, about that…

Jesus made other promises that I sometimes forget about. The promise that I would be misunderstood and misquoted because of my faith. The promise that the culture around me would get more hostile to Jesus. The promise that I would be persecuted because of my faith. The promise that He disciplines His children.

I have a tendency to forget about those promises.

My life is better with Jesus. I know this to be 100% true. I’m a better person with Jesus. My marriage is better. My kids. My job. There is not any area in my life that would be better without Jesus. I know this because I remember a time in my life without Jesus.

Better is NOT easier. Better is not more comfortable. Better is not safer, richer, or more predictable.

Listen to the stories of those who have come to faith later in their life. Listen to those who have walked with Jesus a long time. Listen to their experience, and you’ll hear a common thread. God has kept His promise – to never leave them, to make them look more like Jesus. These are the promises that matter most.

I can’t explain why I haven’t been able to move a mountain into the sea. Maybe I don’t have enough faith. Maybe the mountain Jesus is moving is me. I can’t always see the good in trauma and crisis. I can’t always see how God is going to use pain, hurt, anxiety, or disappointment.

But I’m always amazed at how God works. Always. I’ve got a list of prayers and ‘promises’ that I am so glad that God said “No” to. He’s proven Himself over and over. So when those times come… I’m choosing to believe that somehow, someway, sometime He will once again prove how H

e kept his promises.

I know it happens. You say, “I’m going to read the Bible this year,” and you mean it. Maybe you mean MORE than what you read last year, or maybe you mean the WHOLE Bible. Either way, it doesn’t take long to realize how in over your head you are. Miss a day, and it seems like you’ve got 23 chapters to make up.

For 2020, things could be different. Allow me to put three tools in your hands.

The 5 Day Bible Reading Plan
You can download a free PDF of the plan right here: biblereadingschedule2020. It’s a simple, front and back sheet of paper. Put it in your Bible or on your fridge. I stumbled across this plan a few days ago, and it’s amazingly simple.

First, the readings are in chronological order – for the most part. There are a couple of exceptions but nothing major. Plus the Psalms are interspersed in the readings when we think they were written. So as you are reading through the life of David, you’ll get to read the Psalms he wrote during that time of his life.

Second, it’s a 5-day plan, not a 7-day plan. That’s right – you get two days to catch up on what you missed or to read something else. It’s a plan with MARGIN in it. How awesome is that? If you miss a day, you’re not behind 23 chapters.

Journal – Online or Analog
If you have a phone, you’ve got a note app on it. Start using it. Write down questions, observations, insights you get while reading the Bible. Doesn’t have to be eloquent. Doesn’t have to be polished or presentable to the public. You could go old school – actually get a pen and paper. That doesn’t really matter either. What does matter is that you INTERACT with God’s Word, not just read it. Pray through it, argue with it, ask questions of it, discuss it.

Connect Group or Read Group
This last tool is super important. It’s also the hardest one to start. Get involved in a small group that is reading the Scriptures with you. It allows you to share your notes (see above). It will help answer questions, see another perspective, grow deeper, get smarter, apply it better.

We’ve got plenty of places you can find a group. Starting Point will kick off on January 13th during LEAD Night. You can find an existing Connect Group. Join our men on Wednesday mornings. Find a women’s Bible study. You could find a couple of other friends to grab a coffee, breakfast, or lunch during the week to do this together.

These three tools – reading the Word, engaging the Word, unpacking the Word in community – used in conjunction with each other are a powerful strategy for spiritual growth. I’ve grown the most when these three tools are clicking with each other. When these three are running together, it pushes me to serve, to apply God’s word, to not give up when I fail. I don’t get as discouraged when times get tough.

Is it possible to do one or two of these without the other? Yes, but your mileage is going to be greatly reduced. You’re just not going to get the most out of it as you could. You’ll miss some things. Perhaps a lot of things. It’s possible you’ll misinterpret or misapply the scriptures. You’ll get discouraged. It will be easier to quit.

What we want – or should want – is spiritual transformation. I want to be changed to look more like Jesus. That’s what these three tools working together do best.

I miss my grandfather.

Pawpaw (as he was called) was quite the character. Everyone called him ‘Mike’ even though his name was Harley. His favorite drink was coffee. Black. Morning. Noon. Night. He took his time doing everything. He walked slow, fished slow, gardened slow. He’d walk every aisle at a flea market (slow) and visit with any vendor that sold knives, wallets, or fishing gear. He’d sit in a restaurant for hours (it felt like hours) after dinner was over. He’d sit in coffee shops long before it was cool to sit in coffee shops.

He’d drive slow – which I might add was the source of much conflict in his marriage. The maddest I’ve ever seen my grandmother was when Pawpaw traded her big Oldsmobile Delta ‘88 with a V-8 engine for a little Toyota truck with a 4-cylinder engine that he called ‘my wheelbarrow.’

We’d show up at his house, and he was ALWAYS sitting on the front porch drinking coffee waiting on us. Always.

“Pawpaw, what you doin’?”

“I’ve been waiting on you!”

I’ve been waiting on you.

How powerful are those words? After all these years, I now realize now how powerful those words are. I understand now how meaningful and full of love those words are. I’ve been waiting on you.

There was a man in Jerusalem named Simeon. He’d spent his life waiting. Waiting on the Messiah. Every day, he would show up at the Temple. Along the way, the Spirit revealed to Simeon that one day he would see the Messiah with his own eyes.

Just waiting. On the Lord. Every day. Doing what he knows to do, doing the next thing. Worshipping. Anticipating. Maybe at times even wrestling with discouragement.

As Joseph and Mary enter the Temple to dedicate Jesus, I wonder what was going on in their minds as this old man approached them. It’d already been a weird few days, so an old man blessing them wasn’t the craziest thing in the world. But his words…

Sovereign Lord, as you have promised,
You may now dismiss your servant in peace.
For my eyes have seen your salvation,
Which you have prepared in sight of all nations:
A light for revelation to the Gentiles,
And the glory of your people Israel.

Simeon, what you doin?
I’ve been waiting on you.

Simeon had been waiting for when all the people of the world would see and know the King. He’d been waiting to see the child that was born for humanity in order to show’s God’s peace and good will toward them. He’d been waiting to see the Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace.

Immanuel. A light for revelation to the Gentiles, the glory of His people Israel.

Simeon teaches us that it’s okay to wait. It’s okay to not get what you want when you want it. Simeon shows us that a life in anticipation is a good thing, not something to dread. He reminds us that while God never operates on our timetable, sometimes being slow is a good thing.

I hope this Christmas we can see through the eyes of Simeon. Eyes that are okay with waiting. Eyes that see hope when it shows up. Eyes that look up in praise when it does.

It sounded like a good idea at the time.

Many years ago, we had the idea of telling the Christmas story from the perspective of the shepherds. Somebody suggested that we ought to get a lamb and tell the story while holding the lamb. In fact, to make it even more impressive, let’s get the kids gathered around with somebody holding the lamb.

What could go wrong? Lambs are cute. Docile. Cuddly. Soft.

Against my better judgment, I agreed to try it. My son, Cooper, was in middle school at the time, and he was ‘voluntold’ that he would be the one to hold the lamb while I gave the devo. Again – it sounds fine and dandy until you actually get face to face with a lamb.

Here are the things I didn’t know about lambs. They are curious. Which means they are not going to just sit still and look cute. They require constant attention. They are noisy. They bleet all the time. They smell… they smell like you would think a barnyard animal would smell. And they occasionally nip at you.

Nothing went wrong per se, it’s just that things didn’t play out like we thought they would. That really shouldn’t be that surprising though, right? I mean, we’re talking about dealing with live animals.

If you think about the first Christmas from the perspective of the shepherds, there are a lot of things that weren’t wrong… It just didn’t play out like it was expected.

First, these shepherds were more than likely looking over the Temple flocks. These animals were located in Bethlehem and raised for the sole purpose of being sacrificed. They would be transported to the Temple to be bought by travelers as their sacrifice.

Shepherds were typically the youngest siblings in the family. It was a dirty job, because you practically lived with the animals. Shepherds had three pieces of equipment that were most valuable to them:  their staff for walking and nudging the sheep along, their slingshot for larger predators, and their flute for their entertainment in the field.

Culturally, they were merely tolerated. They were outsiders. They were necessary – like migrant workers. They were the forgotten ones. Some scholars believe that their testimony wasn’t even allowed in a court of law.

And on the night Jesus was born, God made sure they got a front row seat to the greatest birthday band in the world. Plus an invitation to go see the Christ child. The Messiah. The one who would bring God’s good will to all people.

All people.

The forgotten ones got an invite. They got front row seats to the most extraordinary moment in history. They had to feel at home as they entered the barn and saw the manger. Familiar sights and sounds and smells, except for this teenage girl, her husband… and their child.

It was as if God was saying to them, “Come on, get close. Don’t miss this. Come see the Lamb of God who will take away the sin of the world.“

So in a forgotten town, in an out of the way barn, to two outsider parents, God With Us arrived.

Christmas is for the outsiders. The forgotten. The tolerated.

One of my favorite nativity scenes of all times involves a Delorean and Yoda. I’m not saying it’s accurate. I’m saying I like it. Actually, I love the idea behind it better. Looking at the Christmas story through the eyes of people who we typically don’t think of being a part of the Christmas story. And if that happens to involve characters from movies of my childhood… all the better.

But today I want to think about it from the perspective of Zechariah.

Not sure who that is? It’s John the Baptist’s father. His story is found in Luke 1:5-25 and 1:67-80. Zechariah was a Jewish priest and highly respected. He was considered a righteous and honorable man by his peers, even though he and his wife were unable to have children.

He was nearing the end of his career. They were getting up there in age, and he was selected to serve in the Temple to burn incense before the Lord. While he was in the Holy Place performing this ritual, the angel Gabriel appeared to him.

Gabriel told him that not only would he and Elizabeth have a child, but the child would become a great man. He would turn many back to God. He would be like Elijah and make ready the people for the Lord. It’s understandable that all of this was a bit overwhelming for Zechariah. He interrupted Gabriel’s announcement to remind him that a) he and Elizabeth were really old, and b) they weren’t able to have a child.

Gabriel in return told Zechariah he would be unable to speak until the child was born.

Merry Christmas, brother.

You might be thinking that this is an introvert’s dream. You mean I can be absolutely silent for the next 9 months? YES! But I’m confident it got old quickly. Zechariah and Elizabeth had dreamed of having a child. As the years turned to decades, that dream had died.

Then everything changed. Everything. Where there was hurt, there is now hope. Where there was regret, there is now purpose. There is a life! There is the coming Messiah. This child will be a part of that.

And Zechariah couldn’t speak a word of it.

For nine months.

He couldn’t encourage Elizabeth. He couldn’t prep her for what this child was going to mean for the nation of Israel. He couldn’t laugh with her at the audacity of what God was doing.

All he could do was think. And pray. Be still.

Then again, maybe that’s exactly what God wanted from Zechariah. He’d spent years serving and doing things for God. Now it was his turn to receive from God. To be still and know. To enjoy the journey.

Once John the Baptist was born, Zechariah was able to speak again. His first words were to name his son John. He was able to tell the whole story then. When Mary came to visit and they heard of her pregnancy… what a time to be alive.

I think that we’d do well to take a page out of Zechariah’s book. To find times to be silent and just watch. Be still. Allow Christmas to just happen in front of us, around us. To watch the joy of others. To just be in that moment God has us in and be silent enough to look at how He is moving all around us.

Not a bad way to see Christmas, is it?

Very early in the morning, on the first day of the week, they (Mary Magdalen, Mary the mother of James, and Salome) went to the tomb at sunrise. They were saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone from the entrance to the tomb for us?”

I’m glad these women didn’t wait until they had it all figured out to go to the tomb that morning. They had a significant problem. A two thousand pound problem. Literally. How were they going to get to Jesus with that huge rock in front of the tomb? The Roman guards were going to be no help. The disciples were scattered to the four winds.

But they went anyway.

If they had been part of a ministry team at a local church, they would have been labeled unorganized, scattered-brained… unfocused.

If they had waited until they had it all figured out, they’d still be sitting in that house. They were never going to experience what God wanted them to experience if they had waited until they had it all figured out.

Here’s what they knew – Jesus’ body needed preparing for burial. What about the predictions of His resurrection? What about the fulfillment of prophecy? Shouldn’t they have been holed up in prayer trying to figure out the next step?

I don’t think so. I think they were doing exactly what they were supposed to be doing. Which is – trust God and do the next thing.

Obey first, figure it out later.

Do what you know to do while waiting on God’s next step.

Want to kick-start your walk with Jesus? Stop waiting until you have IT figured out before you obey. Stop waiting until you understand before you put a spiritual principle in practice.

Do what you know to do. Volunteer. Show up. Give what you can. Push beyond what you are comfortable with. Go, even though you may not know what the next step is.

Psalm 119:105 says “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.”

God never promises street lights. He promised just enough light for the path to take your next step. You may not ever be able to see further than that. Which means, the whole time you are waiting for a bigger map, you are missing the journey that Jesus has for you.

This is what real waiting on the Lord looks like. You keep doing what you know you’re supposed to do until it’s clear He’s got something else for you. I’ve never been able to figure out what God’s total plan is and THEN obey. So many times it is – do this little step. Then once I’m over there, He shows me another step I need to take that I was not able to see when I was standing over there waiting.

So many times the places God wants to take us can’t be seen from where we currently are. And He’s not going to show them to us from where we are. He’s never worked like that. See Abram. I’m going to take you to a land where I will tell you about later and bless you in a way that I will explain later. In the meantime, take this step.

So start moving. Start where you are. He’ll show you the next step in due time. He’ll remove that obstacle in His time. Just don’t wait until you’ve figured it out. You’ll never get anywhere.

“Don’t you have an answer to what these men are testifying against you? …Are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed One?” Pharisees to Jesus in Mark 14

I missed this the first hundred times I read it. Just flat out missed it, but there it is – plain as day. And now that I’ve seen it, I see it all over the place.

Jesus is on trial in the middle of the night, and the Pharisees are just bringing false witness after false witness forward. The witnesses can’t keep their lies straight, which isn’t exactly how the Pharisees planned it, but after every false witness they turn to Jesus and ask Him for a response, a rebuttal of some kind.

Jesus just sits there in silence.

Who knows how many hours this goes on, but finally one of the priests loses his mind and asks Jesus the direct question, “Are you the Messiah?”

To this question Jesus answers, “I am.”

A similar scene plays out in front of Pilate next. Witness after witness delivers their created and practiced lies about Jesus. As insults and accusations fly, Jesus sits there and says nothing. I’m sure that some of it is exhaustion. Some of it is that He knows what is coming and has nothing to say at this point.

Then Pilate asks Him a direct question, asks him two actually. “Are you the king of the Jews? Don’t you know I have the power to kill you?”

Now Jesus answers him. “It is as you say. You only have the power my Father has given you.”

So to those who are playing games around Him, He doesn’t answer. Doesn’t mean He doesn’t love them. Doesn’t mean He won’t die for them. He will. It means that while they play this deadly game with deadly consequences, He sits silently.

Then, when He is asked a direct question, He answers. With no pretense or anger. Just truth.

And love.

What am I trying to say? I am trying to point out that we don’t have the language to describe the expanse of God’s grace. That Jesus still seeks and waits on the lost, for those who don’t even believe He is real. And just like on the day He died, He will quickly turn an enemy into a brother. So that’s why He answers when He is spoken to. It’s why He told us to seek and ask and knock.

And why He’ll never just walk away.

May no one ever eat fruit from you again. Jesus in Mark 11:14

FULL DISCLOSURE: The English family runs a hospice for plants.

We can’t keep any kind of potted plant alive. Cactuses are nervous in our house. If it wasn’t expressly forbidden in our neighborhood, I’d put a rock yard in. So Jesus cursing a fig tree and it withering the next day? It’s not the most impressive of His miracles. At least, not in my book.

But then again, maybe that wasn’t the point.

Here’s Jesus on His way into Jerusalem for His last Passover on earth, and He picks out this fig tree that wasn’t even in season to produce fruit in the first place. Yes, the fig tree looked like it was in season. It had flowers and little buds, but everyone knew it wasn’t the season for figs. That tree – no matter how it looked – was never going to produce a fig at this time of year.

Yet – Jesus curses it. Why? Did He hate figs?

It was a message. It was an object lesson. It wasn’t about trees. It was about people.

As Jesus dealt with the religious leaders in the Temple all week, He was dealing with fig trees who looked great on the outside but were never going to bear fruit. He was being questioned and ambushed by people who were incredibly moral but spiritually empty, and Jesus wants His disciples to know – that’s not what following Jesus is about.

The Pharisees and Sadducees were intellectually, theologically, and probably even morally superior to every person in the Temple area, save for Jesus. They were seen as the top of the social system. Many people saw them as God’s representatives. The disciples grew up wanting to be like them.

But they were empty. They could not produce in their life what God wanted. What God wanted out them was a life of loving Him and others. A life that flowed out of a relationship with God, not one defined by rules. God wanted to see love, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness, joy, goodness, and self-control. But they were never going to produce that kind of life on their own, in their own strength.

For some of them, their own selfish kingdoms of power and influence were more important than following God. For others, they were more concerned about appearing good instead of being good. For all of them, Jesus was a huge obstacle, not the Way, Truth, or Life.

The lesson here is Jesus loves humility, loves brokenness. He hates arrogance and pretentiousness. If we set ourselves up as ‘producing fruit,’ as holier than what we are, as ‘having it together,’ but we don’t…. We’ve set ourselves up for discipline from Jesus. If that goes on as a lifestyle – consider the cursed fig tree.

In a few days, Jesus is going to give these disciples the antidote to the cursed fig tree. He’s going to talk about staying connected to the Vine. He’s going to tell them – apart from Jesus they can do nothing, but connected to Him they can do ALL things.

But standing in front of them, Jesus needed to make sure they recognized what it looked like to NOT be connected to the vine.

Looking at him, Jesus loved him… Mark 10:21

I’m changing my mind about the Rich Young Ruler, and it’s pretty much Tim Keller’s fault (pastor and author of many books, two of my favorites being Prodigal God and Jesus The King).

Backstory
In Mark 10, a rich, young ruler approaches Jesus and asks him what he must do to inherit eternal life. He is respectful. He is sincere. He is moral. Jesus informs him that he lacks one thing. If he sells all he owns, gives it to the poor, and then comes and follows Jesus – he will find what he is seeking. The story ends with the young man walking away grieved, because he has many possessions.

For years, I’ve walked away from this story with basically two conclusions:

First, Jesus is not necessarily anti-rich. He’s presenting the rich, young ruler with the one thing that has captured his heart and is his idol. Secondly, the man wasn’t a bad man or even a manipulative one. He genuinely wanted to be a part of what Jesus was doing. He was sincere in his quest.

I think these conclusions are true. I just don’t think that it’s the whole story. And like I said earlier, it’s Tim Keller’s fault. Keller writes this in his book Jesus The King:

So Jesus is saying to the man in this passage, “You have put your faith and trust in your wealth and accomplishments. But the effort is alienating you from God. Right now God is your boss; but God is not your Savior, and here’s how you can see it: I want you to imagine life without money. I want you to imagine all of it gone. No inheritance, no inventory, no servants, no mansions—all of that is gone. All you have is me. Can you live like that?”

Why was this man chasing down Jesus? Why was he so insistent on getting an audience with Jesus? Because by his own admission, his life was not fulfilling. It was successful, and more than likely every single person who knew him would trade places with him. But he knew that it wasn’t enough. It wasn’t enough. He KNEW something was off, incomplete, unfulfilling.

Jesus gives the man a moral checklist to complete the picture for him. Not only was he successful, but he did it the right way. He’s not a cheater or a liar or a thief. He’s not a slimy politician or a greedy tax collector. He’s what every Jew aspired to be. And all of this is good…

But it wasn’t enough. He found no life there. He was gambling that Jesus knew what the answer was. What he couldn’t get his head around is that Jesus IS the answer.

A couple of weeks ago, one of our leaders at church challenged us to imagine Heaven. Then she asked, “Where is Jesus in that picture?” The tension was palatable. She pressed in further by adding if our heaven didn’t have Jesus in it or if He was off to the side, then we probably really didn’t understand Heaven. In fact, it’s probable that we don’t understand Jesus at all.

Keller continues:

Jesus says. I am giving it all away. Why? For you. Now, you give away everything to follow me. If I gave away my “big all” to get to you, can you give your “little all” to follow me? I won’t ask you to do anything I haven’t already done. I’m the ultimate Rich Young Ruler who has given away the ultimate wealth to get you. Now, you need to give away yours to get me.”

That’s the deeper end of the story, isn’t it? Jesus never asks us to do anything He hasn’t already done. Because He IS love.

Whatever it is that is wrapping around our hearts keeping us from fully following Jesus is what Jesus is going to call out of us. Because whatever it is – it pales in comparison to what He has for us – relationship with the Creator being the core of that.

I pray He continues to increase my faith to trust Him. I don’t ever want to walk away from Him grieved. Good news is – neither does He.

“Let the children be fed first, because it isn’t right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.”
Jesus, Mark 7:27

It’s one of the most bizarre interactions in the Gospel. Jesus is hiding from the crowds and finds himself in the out-of-the-way town of Tyre. His hiding didn’t last very long, as He is interrupted by a Syrophoenician woman.

Here’s what we know about her. She’s a Gentile. She’s a mom. She’s smart. She’s quick-witted. She’s got a heart full of faith. And she’s got a sick daughter, which changes everything.

How she knows about Jesus isn’t clear. It’s possible that the stories of the miracles of Jesus were traveling far and wide. It’s probable she knew the family of the house Jesus was hiding out in.

She’s desperate. Desperate for Jesus to heal her daughter. She has enough faith to seek out Jesus. To interrupt His life. To ask for healing. To not even demand that He go back home with her to do it.

And Jesus’ immediate response seems…rude. Calloused. Racist. ‘Dog’ is what the Jews typically called the Gentiles, and it wasn’t a friendly term. Jesus uses a slightly different word – puppy, but it’s her response that gives us a clue as to what is going on here.

Lord, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.