Tag: Scripture

DAILY PRAYERS FOR GUYS

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For the Blessings Received by Faith

Spirit of Life,
Thank you for the gift of faith, by which we have the sure confidence of our salvation, completed in full for us by Jesus. Faith that is healthy and growing is faith that is blessed. When we listen to your Word and put it into practice, we see and experience the blessings you promise. While this should not surprise us, we often react as if these blessings came out of nowhere and could never have been anticipated – even though you so plainly promise them! How much room our faith still has to grow! Increase our faith so that we boldly expect you to deliver on your promises when we listen and act accordingly. And, fill us with humble gratitude for how richly you still bless us even when we don’t.

In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen. 

DAILY PRAYERS FOR GUYS

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For a Faith That Acts

Spirit of Life,
Thank you for the gift of faith, by which we have the sure confidence of our salvation, completed in full for us by Jesus. Faith that is healthy and growing is faith that acts. When faith listens, its natural response is to act. However, since the Old Adam in me is bent on self-service, it opposes any activity of faith that is directed toward others. Therefore, take me back to my baptism, where that part of me needs to be drowned again and again, and raise me up in newness of life, eager to put my faith into practice. Whenever I hear your Word, allow my heart and mind to collaborate with my ears so that I am contemplating how I might put your Word into practice. Compel me to be not just a hearer of your Word, but also a doer of it. Moved by the power of your grace and grounded in the certainty of your gift of eternal life, grant me a hard-working faith.

In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen. 

DAILY PRAYERS FOR GUYS

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For a Faith That Listens

Spirit of Life,
Thank you for the gift of faith, by which we have the sure confidence of our salvation, completed in full for us by Jesus. Faith that is healthy and growing is faith that listens to you. And, since you speak to us through your Word, drive us to it daily. Protect our ears and our hearts from any voices that aren’t yours, since rather than strengthening our faith, they only starve it. Help us become better at recognizing false teachers by growing more familiar with your true and trustworthy teaching. Shut out all the endless noise in our lives so that we can hear your voice clearly and feed our faith.

In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen. 

The Imminent Arrival of the Messiah

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(Matthew 11:2-11)

Fernando Mendoza. You might not recognize the name, especially if you don’t follow college football (or, even if you do!). But you know a little bit more about Heisman Trophy Winner, Fernando Mendoza (assuming you know that the Heisman Trophy is awarded to the best athlete in college football). With that title, a person can figure out that this relatively unknown-until-recently quarterback of the Indiana Hoosiers is an athlete who probably stands to have a pretty successful future on the football field. A name tells us something; a title in front of that name tells us even more.

Jesus Christ. Did you know it isn’t just a name, but a name and a title? Jesus, which means “one who saves” or “Savior,” was the name given to Jesus. “Christ,” however, is a title. And not just any title, but the most significant title in history. It means “anointed one” or “chosen one,” and God’s people throughout the ages have always understood it as the title that referred to the promised Savior. It’s a title that says, “this is the guy the world has been waiting for,” “this is the One,” “he’s the man.” And this Greek title, Christ, has a counterpart in the Hebrew. It means exactly the same thing as Christ. What is that title? By now, you guessed it: Messiah.

What does this have to do with anything? Everything! When Matthew introduces this section, referring to the Messiah, he’s telling us everything we need to know about Jesus. He was not some imposter. He was not a backup, a reserve, or plan B after the original plan fell apart. No, Jesus was the One designated for the work of salvation that God promised. He was the man! But some needed assurance, which is why John the Baptist sent his disciples to Jesus with the question, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?” (v.3). 

It’s natural for us to wonder why John sent his disciples – was it for his benefit or for theirs? It certainly makes sense that John was asking for his own benefit. Keep in mind where John was: in jail. You don’t have to spend any time in prison to know that those who have are left with plenty of time to think. While that can be a good thing, it can also lead a person to overthink things. When things look bleak, and one’s outlook doesn’t look very promising, as was the case for John, it’s not uncommon to second-guess and doubt. So he may have sent his disciples for validation during this low point in his life. 

Or, since John already knew his divinely appointed role of serving as the forerunner to the Savior, his request may have had nothing to do with him. It may have been entirely for the benefit of his own disciples. Remember how Jesus’ own disciples reacted when he was taken prisoner, put on trial, and crucified? They had their doubts! For John’s disciples to see him imprisoned, they may very well have had their doubts about whether all of this was really from God. So John may have sent them to Jesus with the question for their own benefit, to reassure them. Or, it may have been a little bit of both.

Finally, does it matter? Do we have to know what the reasoning behind the question was for us to benefit from Jesus’ answer? Absolutely not. After all, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, God directed Matthew to record all of this in his Gospel for our benefit. And all who hear his response and combine it with faith have even more proof of who Jesus really was – the Messiah. Jesus confirmed who he was, and he did it in two ways. 

One, Jesus pointed to his own miracles. “Jesus replied, ‘Go back and report to John what you hear and see: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor’” (v.4-5). But, Jesus wasn’t just reminding John of all of the amazing miracles he had performed; rather, he was reminding them that all the amazing miracles he had performed were the very signs about which Isaiah had prophesied as a sign of the coming Savior, the Messiah, the anointed one! Isaiah wrote, “Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped. 6Then will the lame leap like a deer, and the mute tongue shout for joy” (Is. 35:5-6). Isaiah was essentially saying, “Look for these signs and you’ll know when the Messiah has arrived.” Jesus was connecting the dots for John to put it all together for a clear answer to his question. The Anointed One had arrived – the Christ had come – and his name was Jesus!

The second way by which Jesus confirmed he was the Messiah was to point to John the Baptist. He shifted his attention to John, but not to turn the attention off of himself; rather, it was to highlight his identity from another angle: from the perspective of the one who was also prophesied as the forerunner of the Messiah. Whatever a person’s opinion of John the Baptist was, Jesus set the record straight in exactly the same way he had just done regarding his own miracles: he pointed to the Scriptures, which had provided another sign of the promised Messiah. Isaiah didn’t just provide clues to the Christ through miracles, but also through his predecessor, sent to pave the way for Jesus. When that one arrived on the scene, it indicated the imminent arrival of the Messiah. As Matthew quoted, Isaiah foretold, “I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you” (Mt. 11:10). The messenger had arrived – his name was John. So, then, had the Messiah – his name was Jesus. 

What a clear reminder for us who so easily lose the connection between Savior and Scripture! Jesus could have satisfied John’s question in any number of ways, but he chose to go back to the Bible. The One who had performed the miracle didn’t elect to perform more miracles to convince John’s disciples of who he was, but instead opened the Scriptures to them. Is that not a powerful testimony from Jesus himself? If the One who could have done literally anything to reassure John and his disciples of who he was chose to use the Word of God, can we take anything away from that?

Consider our congregation’s Core Values: Rooted in Scripture, Deliberate about developing disciples, Family-focused, Growth-minded, and Community-centered. Let me ask you, what happens when we say we value these things… but essentially set Scripture off to the side? To think we can claim that we value them while the Scriptures remain a foreign concept to us is to set ourselves up for failure. And, since we’ll fail to make a difference in any of those areas that we claim to value, it also makes us out to be liars. For our Core Values to mean anything, the Word of God is foundational. It isn’t optional. It isn’t occasional. It’s foundational.

If not for the Word, what else are we here for? What else draws us to this or any local congregation? The fun seasonal social activities we enjoy together? The amazing teachers at our school? The meaningful relationships we have with people and parents? Those are tremendous blessings that are not to be taken lightly! However, those blessings share a common denominator – the Word of God. 

To pretend those blessings can continue to flourish and thrive without the Word of God is like pretending a small flame will somehow ignite into a roaring fire in the fireplace without any oxygen. It won’t happen. It can’t happen. Just as that roaring fire needs oxygen to burn brightly, so do all of the blessings that we enjoy here need the Word of God to thrive.

So each of us individually needs what is essential for us collectively: the Word of God. How would you describe your relationship with your Bible? How would you explain your use of it to your children or spouse? Is it like your phone – it’s never out of reach and you’re constantly attached to it? Or is it like the exercise equipment covered up under a sheet in storage somewhere? Despite the Bible’s repeated directive to make it a regular part of our lives as believers, we somehow become very comfortable ignoring it, don’t we? 

Imagine piloting a plane without ever having taken a single flying lesson. Try competing in the Kentucky Derby without being able to ride a horse. Go scuba diving without any air tanks. Head off to war without any weapons. Such examples range from silly to downright dangerous or deadly. But how much more absurd is it to think of a Christian existing without the Word of God?!? 

Yet we don’t bat an eye about neglecting the spiritual lifeline that is our Bible. For that alone God ought to lose his patience with us and condemn us! He’s provided all that we need in it and we treat it as optional at best, or like some contagious disease to be avoided at all costs at worst! What an insult to God! If we’re not going to use it, he might as well take it away from us. 

Instead, he continues to point us to it. If Jesus pointed John and John’s disciples to the Word, it’s no surprise that he also points us to the Word, too.

And why does Jesus point us to his Word? Because the Word points us to Jesus.

Just like it did as Jesus demonstrated to John’s disciples. The more time we spend in the Word, the more our faith lights up at the truth that Jesus is the man, the chosen one, the anointed, the promised Savior. The more time we spend in the Word, the more we marvel at how forgiven we are. The more we see how deeply loved we are. The more clearly we see our names written in Jesus’ blood in the Book of Life. And the more time we spend in the Word, the more certain we are that everything is going to be OK. Everything.

John needed to hear that. John’s disciples needed to hear that. Jesus’ own disciples would need to hear that – again and again. Everything is going to be OK – Jesus is the Messiah!

Where do you need to hear that reminder in your life right now? What is going on that needs to be brought under the certainty that everything is going to be OK, because Jesus is the Messiah? Parenting struggles? Marriage tension? Academic stress? Friendship frustrations? Job irritations? Health questions? Retirement concerns? Or, just the unbelievably heavy burden of guilt and shame from sin? Listen again: everything is going to be OK. Jesus is the Messiah!

The person without the Word, though – believer or not – blows off the idea that everything is going to be OK. Because that person cannot escape the tunnel vision of this world and its problems. For them, spiritual sentiments won’t make a difference for real-life problems. 

But the person in the Word, living and breathing it, soaking it up and pondering it and searching it – the Holy Spirit opens that person’s eyes to see that the world’s problems are but a grain of sand on the beach of eternity with Jesus. The Word is everything, for it reminds us that Jesus, the Messiah, the chosen one, is everything we need. Therefore, everything is going to be OK.

DAILY PRAYERS FOR GUYS

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To Enrich My Time in the Word

Spirit of Enlightenment,
I treasure my time in the Word. Nevertheless, I still fall into the trap of thinking there are so many other things that need my attention first, which leads me to put off your Word until “later.” When this happens, the result is often that “later” never comes, or when it does, I have so much on my mind that my time in the Word is unfocused or distracted by other concerns. Guard me from the lie of “later.”

Let me approach my daily time in Scripture like first fruit giving, so that it gets the first and the best of my time. When I am reading it and reflecting on it, enlighten and enrich me, uncovering for me precious promises and truths to feed and refresh my soul. Keep me from treating time in your Word like another “to-do” item on my list. Instead, use that time to deepen the roots of my faith and strengthen my spirit, building me up and maturing me to live for you to produce the abundant harvest of good works which you prepared in advance for me to do. 

In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen. 

DAILY PRAYERS FOR GUYS

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To Bless the Celebration of the Reformation

Heavenly Father,
Sundays are sacred. Worship in many Lutheran churches this morning is special because of the celebration of the Reformation. Thank you, Lord, for how you guided the efforts of so many through the Reformation to restore the good news of the gospel to its rightful place of prominence within the Church. For those who were willing to make such sacrifices for the sake of the gospel, we thank you. For restoring the clear truth that our salvation is by grace, through faith, and not by good works, we thank you. Through the Reformation you allow us to see how serious you are about your promise that your Word will endure forever. Keep our generation steadfast in standing on Scripture, and let it always be central to our worship and life.  

In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen. 

DAILY PRAYERS FOR GUYS

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For Wisdom

Lord God,
Grant me wisdom. Each day is filled with countless decisions. While some of them are weightier than others, I want to make good decisions in all areas of life. I can acquire knowledge through books and research, but knowledge requires wisdom to apply it. The world has its own ideas about wisdom, but I desire the wisdom provided by your Spirit and guided by your Word. Enable me to walk wisely in step with your Spirit. Enlighten me through your Scriptures to acquire a wisdom like Solomon, and let the blessing of that wisdom stretch out to reach others, too. May my every use of wisdom reflect any and all glory and honor back to you.

In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen. 

Popularity Is Not Proof of Success

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(2 Timothy 3:14-4:5)

438. That’s how many followers I have on Instagram. 22 is the number of subscribers I have on this blog. 12 is how many average plays each episode of my podcast gets. With those kind of numbers, it’s probably no shock to you that at the beginning of this year I considered donating 100% of my salary to charity and simply living off the income I generate online. 

The reason you’re laughing right now is because you know how unimpressive those numbers are, so it’s quite laughable to think those numbers represent anything remotely resembling popularity. But it illustrates what we tend to accept as general truth today, which is, if something or someone is popular, that makes them a success. We live at a time when something going viral can lead to celebrity success or product or branding success seemingly overnight. What does that reinforce? Popularity proves that something is successful. If a lot of people like it and everyone has to have it, well, isn’t that success? If it leads to more exposure for the celebrity or generates skyrocketing revenue for shareholders, isn’t that success? 

In my previous sermon post, I mentioned that these two messages would serve as compliments to each other. They are both warnings against determining the success of the Word on the basis of its results. Previously, when we saw Jesus just about corralled off a cliff as a result of how unpopular his message was, the point was made that Rejection is Not Proof of Failure. That is, rejection – the deplorable behavior in response to Jesus’ preaching – did not and does not indicate that the Word is a failure or ineffective. The Word always works. The warning this time, though, may be an even more challenging truth for us to accept in our culture: we may have to be even more on guard against the other extreme of allowing popularity to serve as proof of the Word’s success.

If we’re going to focus on success this, it seems a worthwhile exercise for us to step back a moment and check our definition of success. Are you personally successful? What standard of measurement would you use to answer that question? Is it a matter of income – how much you make? What about how impressive sounding your job is? Does a trophy spouse or a large house equal success? Kids that excel academically or athletically? Is it who you know, rubbing elbows with the heavy hitters and name-dropping left and right? What standard or expectation needs to be met for you to consider yourself personally successful?

How would we answer the same question if we asked it of our churches? What standard of measurement would you use to answer that question? Sunday morning attendance? If so, by total number each Sunday or by percentage of members who worship weekly? Compared to other churches our size across the country or just in CA? Compared to ten years, twenty-five, or forty-five years ago? What did we average last year? 99. If popularity is gauged by numbers and numbers equal success, then we’re failing – quite miserably at that! In forty-five years the best we can do is 8 fewer people in church on average each week (the worship average forty-five years ago was 107)??? 

But if we only go back to COVID, our attendance since then has actually increased steadily each year… Or if we look at this or that or the other thing, well, eventually we’ll find something we can count as successful. Offering totals? Building projects? Awareness in the community? What standard or expectation needs to be met for you to consider our church successful? 

Realize something about our measurements of success: it’s natural for us to find them where we want to look when we’re the ones defining success. But that isn’t terribly helpful, is it? There must be some objective metric for success. Hmmm… I wonder where we could ever hope to find such an indicator of success. Call me crazy, but let’s try the Bible. 

As Paul wrote to Timothy, do you suppose he was providing guidance for Timothy on how to kill his church? Was Paul trying to sabotage Timothy’s ministry so that it would fail miserably? Of course not! Paul was giving advice and encouragement to help him succeed in ministry and life. 

Oh, and if you wish to analyze the numbers Paul highlights in his recipe for success, you’ll only come across one mention of numbers – and it isn’t positive. The only time Paul references numbers is the negative impact that large numbers of false teachers will have in fleecing people by telling them “what their itching ears want to hear” (4:3). 

So if Paul doesn’t point to numbers to encourage Timothy toward a successful ministry, what gets his attention? It may be best summarized in verse two: “Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction.” 

This encouragement is the essence of everything that Timothy should be busy with in his life and ministry, given the gravity of what preceded. Paul set a very serious tone by calling God as his witness! “In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge” (4:1). This verse builds up and crescendos in such a way that we’re hanging on Paul’s words. What is it? What is the charge? What is such a big deal to God? 

That we preach his Word.

Because that is what God uses to do his work. He has given us no other charge as his church and his people, and no other assurance that he works through any other means than his Word. There is no, “the Word and…” – just the Word! Paul was communicating to Timothy that preaching the Word was not just the most important thing on a list of many other responsibilities, but rather that it’s the only thing; there really is nothing else at all than preaching the Word! 

So if we want success, if we want to be and do what God is interested in us being and doing, then he must be the one accomplishing that in and through us. And he does it in only one way: through his Word. 

Earlier I wrote about defining success in your personal life and defining success as a church. But I fear such a distinction may be unhelpful, because it leads us to think of them as separate things: there is my church life over here and there is my personal life over there. 

But that’s a false distinction, because there isn’t one or the other, but simply the believer’s life. When we read the words of Paul to Timothy, Paul doesn’t make some artificial distinction between what happens on Sundays versus the rest of the week, or what happens at church versus everywhere else. 

No, everything Paul is writing to Timothy has to do with his whole life, and more specifically, the role of the Bible in it. He doesn’t refer to what Timothy does during his office hours in his study at church and then what he does later on when he’s at home. He simply points out how the Word is to work in his whole life, including his personal life. 

When we take a good hard look at the Word’s popularity in our own lives, an honest look will lead us to appreciate how off the mark this idea is that popularity is proof of success. If popularity is the criteria for success, how popular is the Word when compared to the time we give to other interests in our life? Does the Word look as popular as, say, sports, whether watching, playing, or shuttling kids around? How about your favorite streaming service? Reading? Hobbies? And that’s all outside of your job, which of course nobody brings home with them these days. How successful does the Word look if based on its popularity in our own homes? Thank goodness popularity is not proof of success, even in our own homes!

Nevertheless, just as Paul’s encouragement to Timothy with the Word was not just a church thing, but a whole life thing, that same encouragement holds for us, too. Do you realize that the work of the Word in the church is synonymous with the work of the Word in your whole life? In other words, the success of the church depends on the success of the Word in each of our lives. The church that is successful is the one made up of people letting the Word dwell in them richly all the time. 

The work of the church is your light shining in the workplace. The work of the church is Bible stories at bedtime with kids. The work of the church is husband and wife focusing together on Jesus in their marriage. The work of the church is the neighbor you point to Jesus when she’s struggling. The work of the church is you promoting the blessings of our elementary school to other families with little ones.

It’s helpful that Paul points out the ways we apply the Word and put it to work in our lives. We spend the time reading and studying it so that we can be prepared, so that we can correct, rebuke, and encourage one another. So that we can be trained in righteousness. So that we – and many others along with us! – can be wise for salvation, the most important thing of all! And flowing from that certainty of salvation, we apply the Word so that we can be equipped for every good work.

But these blessings aren’t only for your benefit; God intends the way he shapes you with his Word to be a blessing to others, too. After all, when Paul brings about the conclusion of the Word’s work, what is it? “So that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work” (v.17). And who do you suppose is blessed and served by good works? My neighbor. 

As we look around in the world today, do we see any need for our good works to make a difference? Absolutely! How can we rely on the world to carry out good works when the world has redefined what “good” is? Isaiah issued a warning regarding those who don’t know what good is. “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter” (Is. 5:20). 

The world doesn’t know what good is. We do. But if we aren’t allowing the Word to work in us to accomplish that good, then what right do we really have to sit back and whine about how bad everything in the world is? Change it! Do good! Let the Word work good in you for the good of the world! 

The same author of these verses to Timothy is the one who wrote to the believers in Rome, “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good” (Romans 12:21). The Word will equip every servant of God thoroughly for every good work. Will you let it? 

When it comes to God’s work, popularity doesn’t indicate success. Neither do numbers. 

What determines success is the Word, when we put it to work. If you do – when you do – then you will know what success is. 

Rejection Is Not Proof of Failure

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(Luke 4:16-30)

There were 1.46 billion iPhone users as of last year. TikTok has over one billion users. Netflix has 300 million subscribers. An estimated 203 million will watch the Super Bowl. 

Those are not small numbers. Yet, if we take those same number as a percentage of the total population of people in the world, the numbers take on a different look. Only 18% of the world owns an iPhone. Just 13% of the world has a Tik Tok account. Netflix has a a mere 3.75% subscribers, and only 2.5% of the people in the world will tune into the Super Bow. Suddenly those numbers don’t seem as large.

Nevertheless, we still wouldn’t claim that such numbers are an indicator of failure. Not at all! Those are very successful companies and services we’re talking about. 

So is it really fair for us to have an expectation for witnessing, or the Word in general, of a 100% success rate when it comes to conversions? Might we be a little too quick to conclude that the Word must have failed when it isn’t embraced every single time, but is instead rejected? 

That rejection doesn’t mean it failed. When we sow the seeds of the Word then, whether that work takes place among believers as we serve the found, or in witnessing to unbelievers as we seek the lost, rejection is not proof of failure. Heads up: we’ll look at the flip side of this in the next sermon post, which is that popularity is not proof of success. In this post, though, we give our attention to the matter of rejection when it comes to people’s reception of the Word of God. 

Rather than just seeing this post as an evangelism encourager or confidence booster, I want you to make it more personal. I want you to think instead of just becoming more comfortable talking about your Savior and your faith. 

Do you know why some in the world think Christians are weird? Because we are. We make it about as awkward as one could when talking about this stuff. We use weird words and terms that others have never heard. We struggle and waffle when someone asks us simple questions, like why we believe what we do. But since this whole subject is the most important thing, shouldn’t it also be the most natural thing for us to talk about?

I mean, let’s be honest, some of us are far more comfortable talking about far weirder things than Jesus and our faith. So let’s focus our attention on working to get comfortable with talking about this stuff so that it becomes second nature to us. We want to be able to speak about our Savior and our faith in him as effortlessly as we share a recipe or bring up last night’s big game, or as naturally as we gush about the latest new series that everyone’s streaming.

We rightly encourage each other when we remind one another that when others reject our message, it isn’t really us they’re rejecting, but Jesus. This account clearly displays that truth. Notice the rather abrupt change in how the people initially received Jesus compared to how it ended up. 

First, “the eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him” (v.20) and they “spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips” (v.22). Imagine having Jesus as  your guest preacher! Imagine how glued to him you’d be! He would have been unlike all the other teachers and rabbis. The Gospels tell us that people heard Jesus and were amazed because he didn’t teach like other rabbis, but taught with authority. He stood out. His teaching was riveting, and they were soaking it all up.

But, as Jesus continued preaching, their mood and reception of him changed. “All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this. They got up, drove him out of the town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him off the cliff” (v.28-29). Quite a drastic change! If Jesus was a Netflix special, he went from being the number one streamed show to “leaving this month” – and all of this over the length of time it took him to preach one sermon! How does one go from such a meteoric rise to almost literally getting thrown off a cliff that quickly?1? 

There seem to be two significant matters that Jesus’ fellow Jewish listeners tend to take issue with. One, his family roots. “‘Isn’t this Joseph’s son’ they asked” (v.22b). They remembered he was just a local. One of them. Nothing special about his background, upbringing, or family name. 

Secondly, what appears to turn their effusive praise into furious rage is when Jesus communicates that God’s favor stretches beyond the reaches of his chosen Jewish people, often even skipping over them. Jesus illustrated that when he brought up the widow in Zaraphath and Naaman the Syrian. In those cases, God’s favor passed over his people onto Gentiles, those non-Israelite people from outside nations. 

So it will likely go with your efforts – if you haven’t already experienced it. When others find out your family roots – that you are a Christian, a member of God’s family, they may sour on you just as they did Jesus on that day. Then, after pointing out that the good news is for all people (yes, even the Hitlers of the world!), when you point out to those who scoff or write you off that this foolishness is for others who won’t reject it, that message may not sit well with them. While you likely won’t have to worry about being thrown off a cliff, you might get unfriended or unfollowed. You might get ghosted as your texts go unanswered. Those you used to get together and hang out with may not end up including you in their social plans much more. 

But just as it wasn’t in Jesus’ day, so neither is rejection today proof of failure. Otherwise, we’d expect to see Jesus go back to the drawing board and drum up a different game plan after this incident. But what do we see him doing in the rest of Luke and the other Gospels? 

The exact same thing. Luke tells us it was his custom to go to the synagogue, just as he had been brought up to do, and he would continue to do that. When he would no longer be invited to speak in the synagogue, he would preach anywhere. But he didn’t do anything differently. He continued to point listeners to the Lord. 

Let us do the same. Even when it’s hard. Which is always. It’s never easy, really, is it? One of the reasons it’s so difficult? 

Us. 

We make it more difficult. Consider an experience just about every one of us has had. You were having a conversation with someone you suspect might to be a nonbeliever. You aren’t absolutely certain, but from what little of her you know, that’s what you’d guess. In your conversation, she tosses you a softball, an opening that was custom fit to bring Jesus into the conversation, an opportunity so easy even a caveman could do it. 

But you don’t. 

Why? Because even though you saw the opportunity and you had a pretty good idea of how you’d go about it in your head, you fast-forwarded and anticipated her negative response. You pre-determined the outcome in your own mind because you were sure you knew how she would respond. So you ended up saying nothing. 

Sound familiar? When we drum up an imaginary negative response someone “will probably have,” we’ve just shut the door on that person’s opportunity to hear the absolute best news they could ever possibly hear in the gospel. Let’s admit that in a number of cases, we make this harder than it needs to be.

Because on the other hand, it couldn’t be any easier. We don’t have to figure out some formula; we just have to proclaim his promises. There isn’t a single believer who is not qualified to share the gospel message: Jesus died for sinners like us. It’s that simple. Jesus came to save sinners, which he did by living perfectly in our place and dying to pay for our sins. Because of that, we have peace right now and the joy of eternal life. It really is that simple.

But, there are a lot of things that are easy – that doesn’t necessarily mean we do them. Just because it’s easy doesn’t mean we’ll do it. 

So what motivates us to do it? The same thing that motivated Jesus: “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” (v.18-19). The spiritually poor need to hear the good news. Those imprisoned by the impossible demands of the law need to hear they’re free. Those without Jesus who can’t see the right religious path need sight. The exact same work that Jesus began on that day with one of his first sermons needs to be carried out by his people today. 

And what happened to Jesus himself will also happen to us: the message will be rejected. But unlike those wildly popular products and services I mentioned earlier, which aren’t very successful at all in terms of the percentage of the overall population, the Word that you share has a 100% success rate. It will not always result in conversions, but it will work 100% of the time. God promises it. His Word doesn’t return to him empty (cf. Is. 55). It always works. So let’s always work it, and let God be the one to decide what kind of results he’ll get from it. 

DAILY PRAYERS FOR GUYS

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For the Word and Those Who Speak It to Me

Sanctifying Spirit,
Your Word is everything. It holds the key to salvation and eternal life. It guides and directs my steps for this life. It shows me how to worship you with my whole life and equips me to love and serve my neighbor. Your Word is priceless!

But as you so often do, you go even further. Not only have you given me your Word, but you also place caring Christians in my life as your messengers to communicate and apply your Word to me. You provide parents to train me to know and love your Word. You give pastors and teachers to preach and teach the Word, helping me understand it. You sprinkle believers out all over the world both to spread the Word and bear witness to it everywhere. You place Christians in the spotlight through prominent platforms that allow them to publicly praise your name. You surround me with Christian friends and my church family who are willing to rebuke and admonish me, or to encourage and uplift me, meeting my spiritual needs through them. Your Word is a treasure – and so are the people you’ve placed in my life to regularly bring it to me. Thank you!

In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.