New Testament

The Other Brother

May 20, 2021 by David Noland Leave a Comment

“Now his older son was in the field, and as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. And he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant.

And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf, because he has received him back safe and sound.’

But he was angry and refused to go in. His father came out and entreated him, but he answered his father, ‘Look, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command, yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him!’

And he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. It was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found.’
Luke 15:25-32

“That’s not fair!” Every parent has heard these words ring loudly in their ears. The inevitable response we generally default to is “Life isn’t fair.” And it’s true. Life isn’t fair and the world doesn’t care about what is fair by your personal standards. That means actions have consequences – sometimes unintended and undesired, even undeserved. But life isn’t about what is fair or equitable. It’s about how you respond to the circumstances around you. It’s about how you respond to your own circumstances as well as the circumstances of others.

Often lost in the reading of the story of the prodigal son is the response of his older brother, who remained at home working in the fields while his younger brother wasted away his inheritance. Any reasonable person would likely agree that he was justified in his anger and disgust at his father’s celebration of the return of this wasteful son. But if you look closely at the response of the father, you’ll find that the older son was just as wasteful with his own time.

Relationship Exposes Everything

Have you ever been disgruntled because you were passed over for a promotion that you felt you deserved? Didn’t get the recognition that your peers received for a job well done? Didn’t get that raise, even though you felt you were more committed to your employer than the slacker who did get their raise? It sounds unjust, but in each case, the focus isn’t on the job, the work performed, or even the other person – the focus is entirely on yourself and what you believe you deserve. Self-centered attitudes lead to self-centered living, and when your eyes are completely on yourself, you’re blind to the opportunities that are truly before you.

The older son in this case could only see that he deserved everything that the younger son received. He had been faithful. He had put in the work. He hadn’t squandered his father’s wealth. And he spent all his time waiting for his father to give him more gifts of appreciation for his work. Meritorious rewards for a job well done. What the son didn’t realize is that he wasn’t a hired hand – he was a son. In the same moment that his father granted the inheritance of the younger son, not only did the nature of the younger son’s relationship to the father change, but his own relationship changed as dictated by his own attitude of ingratitude. Instead of seeing his father as such, he saw his father now as an employer with whom he needed to seek approval. And that approval would be measured by the rewards he would receive from his father for his work, as opposed to his position in relationship to the father.

Relationship Defines Everything

When you are a hired hand on a farm, you have limited access to the resources of the farm. When you are a son of the farmer, you have much greater access to those same resources as defined by your relationship to the farmer. The same goes with the older son. He had spent “these many years” serving the father, yet he wasted all of his time waiting on the approval of a father from whom he was already approved.

“Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours.” (Luke 15:31) All of this time he was serving the father, his attitude of service redefined his relationship with the father. In the same way, the Pharisees to whom this parable was directed defined their relationship to the father based on merit – their ability to keep the law and live in obedience to the letter of the law, often to the exclusion of the spirit of the law. As a result, more deference began to be given to the oral traditions of the rabbinic interpretations of the law in the Mishnah than to the heart of the law in the books of the Torah. Their relationship to God became a matter of obligatory subjugation which they in turn enforced upon the people around them in legalistic fashion. As a result, they missed the blessing of a relationship with the Heavenly Father who love them and wanted to extend to them grace.

Relationship Rebuilds Everything

Which brother are you in this story? So often we want to identify as the younger brother, the repentant “hero” of the story, although the true hero was the father who demonstrated grace in the midst of overwhelmingly deserved judgement. All too often, however, we more accurately identify as the older brother. We sit in judgement of our brothers and sisters who humbly return to the father in repentance, recognizing their dependence on a relationship as a child of God, rather than as a hired hand. Even in their own repentance they come fearing a change in relationship as they come home seeking to be treated “as one of Your hired servants.”

A servant/master relationship is very different from a father/child relationship. A servant/master relationship is predicated on merit, work, and earned favor. A father/child relationship is predicated by the blood and love of the father. If your perspective of your relationship to God is that of one who must work for His favor, then you are missing out on the blessings of freedom that is only found in the realization of your position as a child of the King. And the sooner you realize this relationship, the sooner you can join in the celebration and count yourself as having been lost, and now found.

A New Creation: Separation

May 6, 2021 by David Noland Leave a Comment

And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness….And God said, “Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.” And God made the expanse and separated the waters that were under the expanse from the waters that were above the expanse. And it was so.
Genesis 1:4, 6, 7

Growing up in a rural community can be quite an adventure. I can remember many an afternoon, weekend, or summer day rummaging through the woods surrounding our home, or running through the pastures at my grandfather beef cattle farm. Often we would spend the summers “bushhogging” one or both of the large fields behind my parents’ home and letting the cut grass sit for a week and dry in the hot Louisiana late summer sun. The following weekend, my brothers and I would join my grandfather, dad, and uncle and occasionally other hired hands and partners of my grandfather to rake the hay in a giant spiral and follow behind with a baler. My younger brothers and I would scramble to stack the bales on a old trailer while my dad or uncle would drive the truck alongside.

One of the joys of the end of summer was the annual trip to the auction near Forest Festival time. Grandpa would gather all the same folks together again and we would round up selected cattle that were ready for market. Typically he would separate out six to eight heads, including all bull calves, unless it was a year where he needed to keep a bull calf as his stud bull would reach age. I was always fascinated with the precision and careful eye that my grandpa would take in selecting the cattle that were ready for market in an effort to maximize the return on his investment in raising them for market. Only the best cattle would be chosen, those that were destined to bring honor to his farm (and his wallet).

There were times as well that I recall grandpa separating diseased cattle from the healthy, in order to protect the health of the herd. He would call in a vet to have the sick bovine examined and treated and would leave the cow in isolation until the sickness had abated before returning her to the herd. But one of the most amazing miracles of being raised on my grandpa’s cattle farm was to witness the birth of new calves. The birth of new calves would often occur in isolation, so as to protect the young from the potential of being trampled by rival mother cows. Grandpa would watch over the mother but would only assist when necessary in order to allow the calf to be born as naturally as possible. In rare cases, grandpa would “arm up” and assist with the birth in order to save both the mother and the newborn from a potentially disastrous birth experience.

Typically, grandpa would keep the mother and her newborn calf in isolation for a couple of weeks in order to give time for the two to bond and the calf to strengthen and get used to walking on its wobbly legs. In cases where the calf wouldn’t feed from the mother or the unfortunate incident of the mother dying during birth, I would mix up a special milk formula bottle for the calf and go out and feed her from the bottle and nurture the calf until she was ready for the pasture. It was a beautiful time of bonding with the calf and building up trust between the calf and I, until ultimately it was time to turn the calf loose on her own.

A New Birth

Jesus compared the beginnings of a transformed life as His follower to that of being “born again.” Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” (John 3:3) The Greek phrase for “born again” is gennaō anōthen, which can literally be translated “to be born from above”. A new life in Christ is indeed a bit of a birthing process that requires careful transition from an old life shrouded in the darkness of sin to a new life following the “light of men.” (John 1:4) And with this new life, it is important that the transition and growth begin immediately in order to allow the new convert to stand on their own two feet as quickly as possible. This is the process that we know as discipleship.

The study Real-Life Discipleship¹ describes discipleship as progressive and typically occurring in stages, much like the same stages that we as humans go through – infant, child, young adult, and parent. As a new believer, it is true that we are very much like spiritual infants, very dependent upon mature believers in order to learn and absorb the reality of this new life we have been given. Without a spiritual “parent” to walk alongside and feed us and encourage us and hold our hand in those early days, we will not only struggle with understanding but we can often find ourselves starving and crying out in frustration, hungry for some sense of understanding, until eventually we either “die out” or fade away from the faith altogether. “Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation – if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.” (1 Peter 2:2, 3)

Separated for Growth

Feeding a separated calf at Mississippi State University Veterinary Extension

From a practical standpoint, just as my grandpa would isolate a newborn calf and her mother from the rest of the herd, new believers should be corralled into a fellowship and one or two mature believers should invest time and energy is helping to grow this new believer. This should always be at the initiative of the mature believers, not the new believer. The new Christian doesn’t know what they don’t know. In fact, they likely do not even understand that they need to be nurtured in their new faith so that they can grow up and be stronger to walk on their own, before they are thrown in with the rest of the herd.

Small group Bible Studies are great for introducing new believers to other members of the flock, but are not always conducive for answering the basic questions that new believers are going to have as it relates to understanding Scripture, understanding doctrine, understanding Biblical truth as it applies to their lives. This is best done in isolation, with one or two mature believers walking with the new believer together in an effort to give them the strength and encouragement to walk on their own, to answer the questions they may have about what they are studying in the Word, to encourage them when they inevitably encounter the fear of sharing their new faith with their peers who may not readily accept them.

Yes, they will cry. Yes, they will scream in frustration. Yes, they will sometimes call in the middle of the night hungry for attention and guidance and understanding. And we must be patient guides and spiritual “parents” to help them grow in order that they can learn how to turn over, crawl, pull themselves up, walk, and eventually run on their own, sharing the gospel truth with those around them.

Separated for Service

The apostle Paul once referred to himself as “set apart for the gospel of God.” (Romans 1:1) In his final letter to his protege Timothy, he writes “Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work.” (2 Timothy 2:21) Throughout Paul’s letters, he encourages believers to be different from the world around them, to be transformed and grow into the likeness of Christ. “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” (Romans 12:2)

In Peter’s first epistle, he exhorts the readers “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.” (1 Peter 2:9) The careful choice of words that Paul uses here harken to the words of Paul in 2 Corinthians 4:6 – “For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” However, he also alludes to Jesus’ words in John 15:19 – “If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.”

Even the Psalmist of the Old Testament understood what it meant to be separated for service when he wrote “But know that the Lord has set apart the godly for Himself; the Lord hears when I call to him.” (Psalm 4:3) God has called us to be set apart, different, transformed and reshaped for His glory.

Separated for His Glory

Just like any farmer keeps his livestock separated, so does Christ keep His own flock separated. Just like any farmer will brand his cattle in order to more easily identify which livestock are his compared to others, so does Jesus write His word on our hearts to identify us as His own. As believers, as we have grown into maturity, we will bear the fruit of service to Him for His glory, and His glory alone.

When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’
Matthew 25:31-40

Transformation Through Separation

As a believer, we are called to be separated from the world, even though we are in the world and must be active within it. We are called to be transformed into a new creation, progressing to the image of the Son into Christlikeness. The gospel is both transformational and conformational, but it requires separation from the ways of the world for that to take place. While we are not meant to be “conformed to the ways of this world” (Romans 12:2), we are called to be conformed to the image of Christ. “For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.” (Romans 8:29, 30)

This means repenting of our old ways and learning how to live in accordance with the word of God. Sometimes, separation can be painful and requires time to adjust, but it will always require patience and determination on the part of the disciple and the discipler. God knew you before the world was even created and He called you. He justified you. This is transformative and a cause for conformity to the image of Christ. For in the end, the glory we receive through our justification is His and His alone, that only He can impart unto us.

Putnam, Jim; Avery T. Willis, Brandon Guindon, Bill Krause. Real Life Discipleship. (Colorado Springs: NavPress. 2010)

A New Creation

May 3, 2021 by David Noland Leave a Comment

Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.
1 Corinthians 5:17

"Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come." (1 Corinthians 5:17 ESV)

The very first thing that the Scriptures declare is that the overarching theme of the library of the Bible is that God is. The very first thing that the Scriptures declare as the activity of God is that He creates. The overarching theme of the Scriptures is that God creates, He redeems, and He recreates. God creates that which He loves and He blesses that which He loves. He redeems that which He loves. And He recreates that which He redeems.

Over and over throughout the history of Israel, God is continually pursuing His creation. He is continually making a way for the redemption of His chosen people. He is continually disciplining those who abandon Him in favor of their own selfish ways. He is continually rebuilding Israel and rebuilding His people when they repent of their sin of abandonment and submit to His authority as Creator and Re-Creator.

But what does it mean to be a “new creation”? Does God just snap His Almighty fingers and suddenly our lives are completely changed? Do we go from a life consumed by sin to a life engulfed in righteousness in the twinkling of an eye? Honestly, no. The apostle Paul likened the Christian life to a growth process starting with a spiritual re-birth and growth to maturity. But what is this process? What are the steps or phases of this growth? Surely there must be markers along the way to show us how far we have come on this new road. Like a growth chart in crayon on the door frame of life, God has indeed given us a picture of where our life has been and where it will eventually be. We have but to look no further than the first chapter of the Bible itself to find the steps that God takes us through in the act of re-creating our lives.

Day 1: Illumination

“The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. And God saw that the light was good.” (Genesis 1:2-4a) Before we come to faith in Christ, our sinful lives are in darkness. We wander aimlessly through life not seeing the truth of where we are or where we are going. From the very beginning, the Father has always been about the business of illuminating darkness, shaping formlessness, and filling emptiness. “For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” (2 Corinthians 4:6)

Day 2: Separation

“…God separated the light from the darkness.…And God made the expanse and separated the waters that were under the expanse from the waters that were above the expanse. And it was so.” (Genesis 1:4b, 7b) Once we see the light of the truth of salvation in Him, we are called to a new life, separated from the life that we once knew. We are called to a life of obedience to God’s Word, rather than obedience to the world’s point of view. “If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.” (John 15:19)

Day 3: Foundation

“…let the dry land appear…” (Genesis 1:9b) One can’t be expected to “walk on water” from the moment of salvation. It just doesn’t work that way. You must have a firm foundation to build your spiritual house upon. Otherwise it will sink under the long haul of life. That foundation is the life of obedience to His Word, the Bible. “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock.” (Matthew 7:24-25)

Day 3-4: Preparation

“Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, on the earth. [day 3]…Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years and let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth. [day 4]” (Genesis 1:11a,14,15) We must have food in order to survive in the physical world. We also need direction to know which way to go. Both of these hold spiritual connotations as well and both are found in the local body of believers. “not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another…If you put these things before the brothers, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, being trained in the words of the faith and of the good doctrine that you have followed.” (Hebrews 10:25a, 1 Timothy 4:6)

Day 5-6a: Multiplication

“So God created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves…and God blessed them, saying, ‘Be fruitful and multiply…’…And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that creeps on the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.” (Genesis 1:21, 22a, 25) Be fruitful. Multiply. We cannot multiply unless we are fruitful. Multiplication is a natural result of fruitfulness. Good fruit produces good fruit just as bad fruit produces bad fruit. “So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit.Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.” (Matthew 7:17, 20) “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.” (Galatians 5:22-23) “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:19, 20a)

Day 6b: Sanctification

“So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” (Genesis 1:27) Created in the likeness of God. Born in the likeness of Adam – fallen in sin. Recreated in the likeness of the new Adam – Christ. “Thus it is written, ‘The first man Adam became a living being’; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. But it is not the spiritual that is first but the natural, and then the spiritual.…and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.” (1 Corinthians 15:45-46, Ephesians 4:24)

Day 7: Relaxation

“And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good.…and He rested on the seventh day from all His work that he had done.” (Genesis 1:31a, 2:2b) The ultimate reward for a hard week of work is a day of rest. The ultimate gift following a life of devotion to Christ…eternal rest instead of torment. “In my Father’s house are many rooms… And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.” (John 14:2-3)

The process of re-creation is found in the original process of creation. God’s plan never changed from the beginning. He is always in the work of creating and re-creating to make you into his likeness. Over the next couple of weeks, we are going to explore this process of creation, redemption, and recreation in greater detail as we seek to draw closer to our Creator. “And the vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter’s hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to do… like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel.” (Jeremiah 18:4, 6b)

The Covenant Kingdom Promise of Deliverance Fulfilled

November 30, 2020 by David Noland Leave a Comment

The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.
Matthew 1:1

As we enter the advent season, it is reasonable to investigate what the gospel writers have to say about the events surrounding the incarnation and birth of the most important person to have ever walked the earth. Matthew, as a Jewish disciple of Jesus and known outcast as a tax collector, provides us with some keen insights into the purpose of his gospel and the nature of the who Jesus was.

The word that is rendered as “genealogy” in the first verse is the Greek word “genesis”, meaning simply “the beginning.” Just as Moses began the Pentateuch with the story of human origins, Matthew’s gospel begins with telling us the origins of a new human – a Messiah who was promised, A King who would deliver, and a Covenant He would fulfill.

The Messiah Who Was Promised

As far back as Genesis 3:15, God had promised to deliver mankind through a Messiah that would crush the head of the serpent that brought deception and death to humanity through a sacrificial offering of Himself. “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring, he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heal.” This the first promise of salvation for humanity that found its fulfillment in a descendent of the woman – Jesus. The gospel of Luke meticulously traces the lineage of Jesus all the way back to Adam and Eve, illustrating the fulfillment of this prophecy recorded by Moses in the beginning. It is a prophecy that finds its final fulfillment on the cross of Calvary.

The King Who Would Deliver

As Matthew was a known tax collector, it is reasonable to extrapolate that he had an intimate knowledge of law and quite possibly the implications of inheritance law. As a result, he leveraged this knowledge as he traced Jesus’ lineage through his earthly, foster father Joseph as a descendent of King David, of the tribe of Judah. This establishes Jesus’ legal right to the throne of Israel, in spite of the occupation of the Roman Empire of the day. Again, a Kingdom prophecy spoken by Jacob over his sons finds its fulfillment here:

“The scepter shall not depart from Judah,
nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet,
until tribute comes to him;
and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.
Binding his foal to the vine
and his donkey’s colt to the choice vine,
he has washed his garments in wine
and his vesture in the blood of grapes.” (Genesis 49:10, 11)

The Covenant That Is Fulfilled

Matthew further traces back to his own Jewish roots to illustrate fulfillment of a covenant promise of the Messiah as the son of Abraham, the ultimate patriarch of the Jewish people. By invoking the Abrahamic covenant, Matthew reminds his readers that not only was Abraham a sojourner in a foreign land, Israel was effectively the same under Roman rule. Yet God promised a new covenant to Abraham in that He would bless him and through his descendants all people would be blessed:

“And the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven and said, “By myself I have sworn, declares the Lord, because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his[a] enemies, and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice.” (Genesis 22:16-18)

It is through this Son Jesus that God has made it possible for all the nations of the earth to be blessed, not just the nation of Israel. As a result, any who places their faith in Him as the Messiah is adopted into the Abrahamic family covenant of blessing as promised by the Lord Himself. Because Abraham did not withold his only Son from the Lord, God Himself chose to not withhold His only Son, Jesus from the sacrifice of Calvary that paid the price for sins of the world.

Grace to you this Christmas advent season, my friend. Cling to the promised Messiah. Bow to the delivering King. Remember His covenant just as He remembered it 2000 years ago and continues its fulfillment to this day.

The Heart of Reproach

November 17, 2020 by David Noland Leave a Comment

Then the disciples of John came to him, saying, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?” And Jesus said to them, “Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast. No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch tears away from the garment, and a worse tear is made. Neither is new wine put into old wineskins. If it is, the skins burst and the wine is spilled and the skins are destroyed. But new wine is put into fresh wineskins, and so both are preserved.”
Matthew 9:14-17

If another of the faith does not publicly worship in the same manner that you do, does that make you holier than the other? The disciples of John (the Baptist) challenge Jesus who has on other occasions told His disciples to practice their fasting in private (Matthew 6:16-18). However, here they come boasting of their spirituality and equating themselves with the Pharisees, who we have already seen challenge Jesus with their own disagreements with His methods and teaching. When you associate with the prideful, your own pride will quickly surface and lead to your own downfall.

Using a religious practice to demonstrate your piety is shallow faith, like putting a shiny new patch on an old pair of jeans. When it comes time to wash that garment, the compatibility will quickly become apparent and lead to damage of the main garment. In the same way, using a religious act to demonstrate your faith instead of allowing a heart that is consumed with love and compassion for your neighbor be the measure of your faith produces the same damaged results.

In the same way, if you try to put freshly fermented wine in old, worn out wineskins, the wineskin will not be able to handle the weight and corrosive action of the wine against the weakened leather and lead to the entire crop of wine to be spilled and wasted, unusable – unfit for consumption.

Is your faith fit for consumption? Then preserve it in a true vessel of compassion and grace and a heart that is prepared to offer restoration and reconciliation instead of furthering division and bitterness. Is your faith restorative? Then prepare it first with immersion in the water of the Word before applying it to the visual edifice of your life. This way, your deeds do not stand out as a sore thumb and not reflective of the garment you wear before witnesses.

When you are in the presence of the Bridegroom, it is time to celebrate His grace and His love. It’s not a time for dour piety. It’s not a time for drawing attention to yourself and your religiosity. It’s a time to focus on the Savior. The time for fasting will come in due course. And when it does, do not do so like the hypocrites and draw attention to yourself.

Grace to you, my friends. Revel in the presence of the Savior. Celebrate Him for He is indeed worthy of our attention.

A Heart for Restoration

November 11, 2020 by David Noland Leave a Comment

As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he rose and followed him. And as Jesus reclined at table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and were reclining with Jesus and his disciples. And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” But when he heard it, he said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”
Matthew 9:9-13

One of the recurring themes throughout the gospel of Matthew is the theme of reconciliation and restoration. Additionally, we see repeatedly how when Jesus fulfills this missionary mandate, He is met with resistance from the religious elites. And Matthew himself was no stranger to being an outcast in his own society. Tax collectors across the Roman Empire were often despised by their local communities – much the same as they are today even. However, as tax collectors were handsomely rewarded by their Roman overlords for their meticulous, and often excessive, collection of revenues, local communities would often look at tax collectors as traitors to their own people – parasitic leeches living off the fruits of the labor of others.

And this colored the perspective of the Pharisees who prejudiciously viewed tax collectors as cheats and traitors, thus classifying them as societal “sinners”. The truth of the matter we don’t know how much tax collectors cheated their charges, but the fact that they served a foreign occupier in deference to their own people was sufficient reason for their shunning.

But Jesus, as He always does, looks past the circumstances and status and offers grace and restoration, much to the consternation of the Pharisees. Jesus had already been criticized by the scribes and experts of the law for forgiving sin. Now the Pharisees, the elite priests and teachers of the law of Moses, criticize Him for relating to the outcasts.

We have seen this attitude play itself out all too often in today’s society, most especially in the intersection of faith and politics. We find ourselves divided in the camps of red and blue, each shouting down the other as out of touch, reprobates, and sometimes worse. In each camp, members are more concerned about furthering their agendas than fostering reconciliation and relationship. Each camp has different ideas of how to address the common problems we both see, but one camp sees it as a problem for the government to fix while others see it as a problem for private individuals to address. Is it possible that there is somewhere in the middle where both could be right? To hear the rhetoric from both camps, one would think there isn’t any common ground upon which we can stand. As a result, the dividing wall of separation continues to stand stronger than ever before, but I digress.

It should come as no surprise that Jesus would quote from the prophet Hosea to His critics in this circumstance. He directly quotes the first part of Hoses 6:6, but I believe He intentionally left out the second part of the same sentence and when you read it, you can easily see why:

“For I desire steadfast love [mercy] and not sacrifice,
the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.”
Hosea 6:6

To know God is to love Him; to love Him is to desire to know Him more. This is first and foremost on the heart of God the Father – a restored relationship with His children. This is why Paul referred to his ministry as a “ministry of reconciliation” (2 Corinthians 5:11-21). Our number one mission in this world is to restore relationships between mankind and God as well as between each other. The heart of the gospel is redemption and restoration.

As we enter into this festive holiday season of Thanksgiving and Christmas, I challenge you to seek opportunities to restore broken relationships. I challenge you see opportunities for redemption at the foot of the cross. I challenge you to humbly set aside your pride and prejudices and seek reconciliation in the name of the Father of grace.

Above is a video from Season 1 of The Chosen, available in your mobile device app store, showing a creative take on the call of Matthew. The attitudes I described before are prevalent in this scene, but are also setup in earlier episodes. I encourage you to download the app today and experience this unique presentation of the life of Christ and His disciples in your app store today.

Apple: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/the-chosen/id1473663873
Google: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details…