By John Stallings
Back in 1972 a little song called “I can see clearly now” entered the American music lexicon without much fanfare. But, as they say, it had legs.
There are few people on the planet who haven’t heard it at least once and it somehow seems to stick with you.
I don’t begrudge Johnny Nash his song but as I’ve said about lots of pop songs, I wish some gospel writer could have thought of it first and written it around a spiritual theme.
The words to the chorus are;
I can see clearly now, the rain is gone,
I can see all obstacles in my way
Gone are the dark clouds that had me blind
It’s gonna be a bright (bright), bright (bright)
Sun-Shiny day.
In Mark 8:22-26 when Jesus came to Bethsaida, they brought a blind man to him desiring Jesus to touch him. The Bible doesn’t give us the name of this blind man. He was destitute of the precious sense of sight. He had long been a stranger to beholding the beauties of nature. He could not see the lovely region around Bethsaida, the shimmering waters of the lake, the lovely flowers of the Galilean hills, nor the stars and the moon as they decorated the sky on a clear night. This man had a problem, and the people brought him to Jesus.
The healing of this blind man is one of the most fascinating miracles Jesus performed during His earthly ministry. It is also one that has produced a lot of conjecture and misunderstanding.
Let’s unpack this story and try to unravel some of the questions it presents.
The story is related to us very succinctly in five short verses, but in fact contains teaching that impacts our understanding of several spiritual truths. The disciples were granted the opportunity of witnessing a remarkable miracle in a city that was condemned for its unbelief.
Listen to Jesus’ words…
“Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works, which were done in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment, than for you” (Matthew 11:21-22).
Note that Jesus chose three Jewish cities and rebuked them for their unbelief. They had heard His preaching and seen His miracles yet had not repented. He compared them to present and past Gentile cities filled with sexual perversion, idolatry, and heathenism. These were the present cities of Tyre, Sidon, and the Old Testament city of Sodom. Jesus said these cities were better than the cities of Israel. If these cities had seen the same miracles and heard the same preaching, they would have repented. It will be more tolerable at the Great White Throne Judgment for the heathen Gentile cities than for Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum in Israel.
Jesus took the blind man by the hand and led him out of town before healing him. This blind man lived in Bethsaida so Jesus separated the man from the unbelief of the city. Jesus didn’t need snide remarks and insults to be hurled at this man who was young in faith. He could heal in the midst of unbelief, but this man could not maintain his healing surrounded by the ridicule of the city in which he lived. This is why Jesus led the man out of town and healed him away from the view of the religious population of Bethsaida.
The grave opening, deaf destroying, lame restoring, water walking, multitude-feeding, eye opening Jesus then spat on his eyes and touched him with his hands, then asked him if he could see. The blind man answered by saying, "I see men as trees, walking."
WHY DID JESUS SPIT ON THE BLIND MAN'S EYES?
Regardless of how you examine spitting in the Bible, it’s a great insult to spit on someone or to be spit upon. Anyone under the law who was spit upon had to wash themselves and their clothes and were considered unclean until the evening. (Leviticus 15:8) Other scriptures deal with the insult of being spit upon. (Numbers 12:14, Deuteronomy 25:9) Jesus was spit upon as a great insult before He was crucified. (Matthew27:30)
Some folk miss the point of the miracle and the insult Jesus was giving by bringing spit into the transaction. Jesus didn’t spit on the blind man; He spat on the blindness. This was the ultimate insult to sickness and disease. If Jesus could speak to sickness and rebuke it, then apparently sickness can hear. (Luke 4:39) If sickness and disease can hear, it can also be insulted. Jesus released all of His contempt for Satan and his works when he spit on the blindness.
Jesus spat on two others in the New Testament. He healed another blind man by spitting in the clay and rubbing it in the man’s eyes. (John 9:1-7) He also spit on the tongue of a man with a speech impediment. (Mark 7:33) Notice in each of these cases, Jesus spat on the diseased part of the body demonstrating He was spitting on the disease, not the person. Jesus did not always lay hands on the diseased part of the body. He touched Peter’s mother-in-law on the hand to heal her of a fever. He touched people, but He spit on the devil and his works.
WHY DID JESUS PRAY FOR THE MAN TWICE?
Jesus spit on the blindness, but He laid hands on the man for healing. In fact, He laid hands on the man twice. After laying hands on this man once, his eyes opened partially and he told Jesus he saw men walking, but they were blurry, they looked like trees. This man was not born blind, but somewhere in his life, perhaps through an accident, he had become blind. He knew what men looked like. He also remembered what trees looked like. When Jesus laid hands on the man a second time, his vision was completely restored. He saw clearly.
This is the only case recorded in the word where Jesus laid hands on a person more than once. Why? Because of the unbelief of the city of Bethsaida where he resided. He was filled with doubt concerning the ability of Jesus to heal him. Being separated from the people of the city allowed him to open himself up, albeit with skepticism, to the healing power of God. Once he could see partially, he resolved himself to being healed completely. Jesus didn’t lay hands on this man twice to release more of God’s power. God's full power was in manifestation. Jesus prayed twice because the man was now more open to God's healing power.
Although this is the only case where Jesus prayed twice for a person, it’s not the only case where a person was prayed for more than once. Jesus had to cast out the devil from a boy who had already been prayed for by the disciples. Jesus cast out the devil and then upbraided the disciples because of their failure due to the skepticism of the religious leaders and the pressure of the crowd. They had failed because of their unbelief.(Matthew17:20)
MANY PEOPLE DON’T SEE SPIRITUAL THINGS CLEARLY.
Listen to 2 Corinthians 4:4;
In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not…..
Also in Ephesians 4:18…
“Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart” (Ephesians 4:18)
When we read the Bible we need to pray like the Psalmist, "Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law" -Psalm 119:18.
Humanistic religion won’t make you free; rationalism will not make you free; existentialism will not make you free; denominationalism will not make you free. All of these isms will keep you from seeing clearly.
There are many kinds of sight: physical, spiritual, intellectual, and hindsight, and there are so many people who need a second touch. A famous actress was recently asked why she remained single but adopted children. She said, "I had a baby at twenty five because I wanted to have a baby and I could afford it. I didn’t get married because I firmly believe that marriage destroys relationships.” Really? I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that in the grand scheme of things this woman isn’t seeing the big picture. She just isn’t seeing clearly.
Apollos, the eloquent preacher, did not see clearly and was given a second touch of teaching by Aquila and Priscilla. After that he could say “ I can see clearly now.” (Acts 18:24 28). The twelve men at Ephesus didn’t see clearly when they only knew of the baptism of John; but a second touch of teaching by the apostle Paul caused them to see clearly. Acts 19:1-5. Even though they had been saved they hadn’t even heard of being Spirit filled. After Paul expounded they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, just like on the Day of Pentecost.
You can’t be taught wrong, understand wrong, believe wrong, obey wrong and end up being right. Paul taught the Ephesians right; they understood right, believed right, obeyed right and were filled with the Holy Spirit.
The Ethiopian Eunuch was a church-going, Bible-reading man, but he did not see clearly. He was reading in the Old Testament and didn’t understand what he was reading. But evangelist Philip gave him a second touch of teaching by preaching Jesus to him and then the eunuch could sing –I can see clearly now. (Acts 8:27-39). There are many church-going and Bible-reading people who do not see clearly. They need a second touch of divine revelation.
This story under scores the fact that…
GOD DOESN’T TREAT US THE SAME WAY.
God isn’t limited by anything or anyone and he doesn’t treat us all the same. He heals one with a touch, another with a word, another with a glance, and yet another at a great distance. He touches one and never sees the other, and yet all are healed.
It’s a mark of maturity to say, “Lord, you don’t have to treat me the way you treat my neighbor.” We all understand that truth theoretically, but it is hard to come to grips with it when your child is sick unto death and your neighbor’s children are healthy and happy. No one knows exactly why two people get cancer and one lives while the other dies.
Many people struggle with this concept. They think that because God did something for a friend or a neighbor or a loved one, then God must be bound to do the same thing for them. But it doesn’t work that way. God can deliver your neighbor from cancer and not heal you. Or vice versa. Envying your neighbor because he has something you don’t have is a waste of time because God treats us as individuals, not as groups. The truth is, he might do for you exactly what he’s done for someone else, or he might do more or he might do less or he might do something entirely different. He’s God. He can deal with us the way he wants.
When Peter asked about John’s fate, Jesus brushed him off with a mild rebuke, as if to say, “Don’t worry about it.” In essence he was saying, that’s him, not you. God deals with us as individuals. The Lord isn’t obligated to bless you the same way he blesses anyone else. And he is not obligated to put you through the same trials [either greater or lesser] that anyone else goes through. Our only business is to make sure we are following Jesus closely. If we do that, we don’t have time to worry about how he treats our friends.
When Jesus entered the room to raise Jairus’ daughter from the dead, the mourners had already arrived and laughed Jesus to scorn for declaring the daughter was not dead but asleep. Jesus removed them from the room before He prayed. This was for Jairus’ sake. The father had already begun to fear when he heard the report of his daughter dying. (Mark 5:36) Jesus didn’t want this man surrounded by the unbelief so rampant in Capernaum. Jesus separated the man from the atmosphere of skepticism.
Notice the last thing Jesus told this blind man after his sight was restored. “Go back to your home, but do not go back into the city or tell anyone of your healing.” What a wonderful statement to anyone needing healing today who is bothered by the reports of unbelief given by friends, relatives, church or business associates. We can go home but we need to separate ourselves from the village of unbelief that could so easily sway us and cause us to be defeated. Home is where we can be alone with God to pray and study His Word.
God still asks us today, “whose report will you believe?” To believe His report, we must dwell on it and study it until it becomes a part of our lives.
WE DON'T GET BETTER AT THE SAME RATE OR THE SAME WAY
For every man who is suddenly, radically, completely transformed, it seems that there many more who must grow in grace slowly, through stages, and whose spiritual vision starts off cloudy and only slowly gets better. To say that is not to give in to pessimism. Often it’s for our benefit to get better gradually. Spectacular healings always amaze us—and thank God they do happen yet we should realize that God often chooses to heal slowly.
This principle works across the spectrum of spiritual life. Some people come to Christ and grow quickly, becoming strong Christians in a short period of time. Others take much longer to learn the Word and become strong in the faith. Many will struggle with blurry vision for a long time. I daresay that all of us have areas of “blurry vision” where see things very unclear. Every believer has blind spots which by definition we don’t see because if we saw them, they wouldn’t be blind spots.
A WORD ABOUT HOW YOU CAN RECEIVE HEALING
If you desire to be healed and are not a Christian, you should first find healing for your soul. Repent of your sins and seek God with your whole heart. When you repent of your sins, believe in the Lord Jesus [not just some things about Him, but believe Him and trust Him and what He says in His Word], and confess Him with your mouth, - then you will be saved (see Romans 10: 9, 10). When you are born again by the spirit of God and born into the family of God, you are eligible to ask in faith for any of His promised benefits.
THE CHRISTIAN AND HEALING
If you are a Christian and haven’t received healing, examine your life and attitudes in light of God's Word. God hasn’t shown respect of persons in your case, as that’s contrary to His divine nature. If you are still sick, there is a reason, and God's Word will reveal it to you if you’ll diligently seek His face. When you find the problem and correct it, God's healing touch will be yours. This is God's guarantee, and God cannot lie.
Many fail to receive healing because they have been taught that sickness and physical suffering is God's way of bringing out the best in them, or developing the fruit of the Spirit in their lives. They believe that they must be patient in affliction and wait until it’s God's time to heal them. They believe that God is working out patience and long-suffering in them. Or perhaps God is chastening them for some unknown sin.
It’s true that sin opens the door for sickness to enter, but all God asks is that the sin be confessed and forsaken. God doesn’t say, “Is any sick among you? Let him patiently wait until God has finished chastening him" but rather…
Confess your faults one to another [now, today], and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The promise is, The prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him (James 5:16, 15).
God is not glorified when Christians continue in sickness. Build your faith on the Word of God. Search the Word to find the reason you have not been healed. Get rid of the problem, and then accept your healing joyfully, in whatever way God sees fit to give it.
God may choose to heal you instantly or He may choose to let the healing be gradual. He may choose to give a sudden manifestation of your healing, but at a little later time. Or, as in the case of one whose time has come to go, He may bring deliverance from pain and suffering by taking the person to his eternal rest.
Lay aside your own ideas of how God is going to heal you and accept the healing God's way. Believe God and take Him at His word. God says healing is for you. God, who cannot lie, says to- believe that ye receive it and ye shall have it.
Don’t cast away your confidence if recovery doesn't come immediately. Hold fast to your faith in the Word of God. Stand upon the promise and God guarantees that your healing shall come.
SAVED BY HIS HONESTY
What finally saved this poor blind man was his honesty. He didn’t lie to Jesus. That’s a crucial insight. He could have said, “Lord, I see all things clearly.” If he had said that, he would never have gotten better. His honesty gave him the sight he did not have.
Sometimes it’s hard to be honest with God. How difficult to admit our weakness.
Jesus didn’t ask this man, “Can you see anything?” in order to get information he didn’t have. Jesus knew the answer to the question. He wanted the man to be honest about his true condition.
We must come to the Lord just as we are, and when we do, he takes us as we are, but he never leaves us that way. That’s why the invitation of Jesus is always very personal.
Cast yourself upon the Lord and he will not turn you away.
Blessings,
John
Sunday, August 26, 2018
Wednesday, August 22, 2018
Someone To Watch Over Me
By John Stallings
I remember when I was a kid and my parents would go out of town. As soon as we heard they were leaving my sister and I would quickly ask, “Where are you going?”
After being told where our parents were going, somewhere in the exchange of information one of us would ask “Can we go with you?” My parents didn’t go on vacations without us so we invariably knew; they being preachers, -where they were going had something to do with ministry. Maybe a convention or a ministerial seminar. More times than I can count I remember one of my parents saying, “Johnny, son you can’t come this time.”
My next question would be “Well, how long will you be gone?” After gleaning these details either my sister or I would ask the most important question of all, “Who’s gonna look after us?” An overwhelming majority of the time the person who would keep us would be my grandmother, my mother’s mother. It hurts me to say it but she and I didn’t get along all that famously but she was a great cook. Grandma Manley made the best Apple turnovers you ever tasted. Somehow we were always able to “tough it out.”
When Jesus told His disciples he was going to leave them and return to His Father, they naturally had lots of questions to ask also. “Where I’m going you can’t come” Jesus said. Like confused children the disciples asked, “Who will take care of us?” They probably asked, “Where are you going and how long will you be gone?” Jesus’ answer was, in essence; “this much I can tell you; I’m not going to leave you alone. I’ll ask my Father to send you another comforter to stay with you. He will be with you until I return.”-John14:16
In this story Jesus is the “parent” ready to take the next stage of the trip to the cross and to infinity and beyond, and the disciples are the children. Jesus even calls them “little children.” So, is it too much to think of the Holy Spirit as our “babysitter,” the one looking after us while Jesus is away getting things ready, just like he promised?
As we speak, Jesus is in heaven practicing with the heavenly angelic choir so they can roll out the red carpet and give us a rousing welcome to heaven, polishing those pearly gates so that they shine when we arrive. Or, maybe he’s at the great “Wal-Mart in the sky” picking up our favorites. Or, maybe he’s in the garden cutting fresh flowers for our rooms. He’s got to be doing something, right? He’s got to be doing something because he’s taking his own sweet time coming back. I think it safe to say that heaven is in her “last day operations” right now and Jesus is making one last check of the banquet tables.
When it comes to the Rapture, I’ve got to be frank, I cannot for the life of me figure out what’s the hold-up? I’m about ready to get outside and start doing “rapture practices.” But I’ll restrain myself. Just exactly how bad do we have to act before the Holy Spirit picks up the phone, calls Jesus, and says “Hey, man, you gotta come home. This place is out of control.”
When you asked your mother when dinner would be ready, and she said, “in a little while,” you knew you’d better get a snack. Or, when you ask your wife how long ‘til she’s ready and she answers, “in a little while,” how long is that? Suffice to say you might as well watch a John Wayne movie because it’s useless to watch the clock.
I’ve said it before but I still haven’t figured out what takes women so long to get ready to go somewhere. I can be ready to go to the Moon in thirty minutes but it’s not that simple for Juda. Women even have “nighttime rituals” for something as simple as going to bed. Women “get ready for bed.” I’ve never gotten ready for bed in my life, other than brushing my teeth. I just go to bed and I suspect most men do the same.
Biblically speaking, “in a little while” seems to mean 10 years, 100 years, 500 years, 1000 years. From where we sit in 2016, it’s been so long since Jesus said, “I’ll be back in a little while” that some folk wonder if he has forgotten. They ask, “Is he gone for good? And if he is gone, where has he gone and what in the world will we do without him? And what is he doing, exactly, and why doesn’t he show himself?” It’s just like the child waiting for their parents to come back and take charge. “Who will watch over us? And, what do we do in the meantime?”
AN ALL IMPORTANT QUESTION
That’s the question of questions. What do we do in the meantime? Well, one thing’s for sure, the ministry must go on in the meantime. If the disciples could do it, we can do it. No offense to them, but they were no better than us. Jesus promised an Advocate to these disciples and us. This is important - he did not expect them – or us – to be faithful all by themselves. He didn’t expect them to do anything by themselves. In fact, in the Gospel of John, he tells them they CAN’T do anything by themselves.
He is sending an advocate – in the Greek, the word Advocate means- one who is called alongside. The Holy Spirit is called alongside them to strengthen them to do all kinds of things that they could never do for themselves. Someone to teach and advise, but also someone who watches over us, comes alongside and handles situations that baffle us. We could all use an Advocate.
IN OBEDIENCE TO CHRISTS COMMAND THE BELIEVERS WAITED AND THE HOLY SPIRIT CAME.
And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. -Acts 2:1-4
Do you remember the TV show “Designing Women?” I usually don’t get interested in these “all girl sitcoms,” but occasionally I enjoyed this one. I guess it’s the “Georgia Boy” in me and also the fact that I liked Dixie Carter, at least her character in the show.
She died a while back, and columnist Connie Schultz wrote a tribute to her and her Designing Women character, Julia Sugarbaker. In this article, she says, “The passing of actor Dixie Carter has reminded me just how much most of us could use a friend like Julia Sugarbaker… the smartest and sassiest woman in the Southern Georgia foursome of "Designing Women."
Oh, the thrill whenever Carter's Julia Sugarbaker set her sights on someone who had committed the crime of small-minded thinking, be it prejudice, sexism or just plain stupidity.” That was Julia’s thing – getting riled up – her loyalty made her a fierce power to behold. My favorite scene is at a beauty pageant after Julia hears an arrogant Miss Georgia bad-mouth her baby sister and former Miss Georgia, Suzanne Sugarbaker.
Carter comes alongside of this beauty queen, Marjorie, and lets loose the storm of sisterhood: she defends Suzanne and her baton twirling talent so passionately and so eloquently that you want to stand up and cheer. This is her finale: "And you probably didn't know, Marjorie, that Suzanne was not just any Miss Georgia; she was the Miss Georgia. She didn't twirl just a baton; that baton was on fire. And when she threw that baton into the air, it flew higher, farther, faster than any baton has ever flown before — hitting a transformer and showering the darkened arena with sparks. And when it finally did come down, Marjorie, my sister caught that baton, and 12,000 people jumped to their feet for 16 and one-half minutes of uninterrupted thunderous ovation as flames illuminated her tear-stained face. And that, Marjorie — just so you will know and your children will someday know — is the night “The lights went out In Georgia."
Connie Schultz ends her article by saying, no matter how old we get, there’ll always be a Mean Girls Club. Most of us yearn for that Julia Sugarbaker kind of friend who overhears the nasty gossip and steps up to unravel the yarn on our behalf.
Friend, the Holy Spirit is kind of the Julia Sugarbaker of the Trinity. The Holy Spirit is the one who gets fired up, riled up, fed up and who steps up, who Advocates, who strengthens and inspires and who is in charge, and who does not mind reminding us that he’s in charge until Big Daddy comes home. That’s the plan Stan!
God knows that the Christian life is too difficult to be done alone. When it comes to following Jesus, nothing is done alone. We have his spirit inside us.
We can’t change God’s schedule, but, in the meantime, we have this Advocate watching over us, ready to come along side us and inspire us and lead us on.
It is interesting to note that the word "comforter" was also used for legal aid or the counsel for the defense; so the Holy Spirit is that. Jesus is our aid at the right hand of the Father; the Holy Spirit is our aid on earth. Jesus is an advocate in Heaven; the Holy Spirit is a conditional advocate on earth.
The reason Jesus had to return to Heaven was twofold. First, He went to do His work. Hebrews 7:25,
"Wherefore He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them."
Second, He went to give the Holy Spirit HIS work to do.
There are other times when He will empower and strengthen OTHERS to say just the words you need and give you just the comfort you need. This does not mean the Holy Spirit is not doing the comforting. He is leading and strengthening someone and using him to comfort us and strengthen us in our time of need. At times He runs alongside to help and there is no human aid in sight. At other times, He leads someone to come to us to be our aid, our comforter, to pick us up. In either case, this is the work of the Spirit. He simply sometimes chooses to use human help.
In my own life there have been many times the Holy Spirit alone has been my comforter. In the mid-nineties, I lost both my parents within a six month period. I can remember standing by their caskets and though my heart was breaking I could feel the Holy Spirit comforting me. I could almost feel fingers touching my arm. It was the Holy Spirit coming HIMSELF to watch over me, to look out for me and give me comfort.
Then this same Holy Spirit led others to speak words of comfort to me; He led loving friends to encourage my heart. He was comforting and strengthening me both WITH and WITHOUT human instruments. The Christian should yield himself to the Holy Spirit in order that the Spirit may use him to comfort, strengthen and restore others.
When the Christian writes a note of comfort, he should ask the Holy Spirit to deliver it for him and to use it as a strength and comfort. When a word of comfort or strength is spoken to a bereaved or weary friend, the power of the Holy Spirit should accompany that word. Hence, the Christian should speak to the Holy Spirit BEFORE he speaks the word of comfort, asking Him to speak words that he cannot speak and to leave impressions that he cannot leave in order that he may be used as a tool of the Holy Spirit to comfort and strengthen the discouraged, weak, lonely, bereaved or fallen brother. There is a wonderful truth in John 14:26,
"But the Comforter, Which is the Holy Ghost, Whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you."
Notice the words, "and bring all things to your remembrance." The Spirit-led and Spirit-filled Christian may so yield himself to the Holy Spirit that when he comforts , the Holy Spirit will bring to mind what he ought to say. The Christian will enter into the very work of the Spirit Himself as a tool to be a comforter.
Thank God for those times the Holy Spirit Himself has come to lift me up and strengthen, and to comfort me. Thank the Lord for those times when He has touched a friend and spoken through him as a human instrument to comfort me and strengthen me and lift me up. And thank God for those times when He has used me as a tool to comfort others! My prayer is,-Oh, Holy Spirit, use me again and again and again and again to strengthen the weak, lift up the fallen, encourage the discouraged, offer fellowship to the lonely, give a smile to the sad and comfort to the bereaved and weary.
It is interesting to note that in a sense Jesus had to leave in order for the Holy Spirit to come, that the Christian might be benefited to the fullest. For one thing, Jesus can serve us better in his glory and we can do greater works because the Holy Spirit came.
"Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on Me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto My Father." –John 14:12
Jesus entered the very presence of the Father; at the Father's side He can help us and intercede for us. He knows our needs more. He felt them while He was here, so He can send the Holy Spirit to dispense the fulfillment of our needs. Hence, He helps the Father to know our needs. Though He doesn't have to persuade the Father to help us, He does remind Him of what help we need. Jesus isn’t interceding for sinners, that’s our job. He’s interceding for you and me.
When I was a young pastor, I did so many things myself that I later had others to do. I have filled the baptistery, prepared the communion cups, cleaned the building, turned on the lights, turned on the heat/AC, printed the church bulletin, drove the church bus, taught a Sunday School class and of course preached. Sometimes I even led singing. However, with the passing of the years and the increasing of the church membership I‘d have others to do what I used to do. Though I’d miss the personal contact and many of the tasks, it is expedient to my church people that I administrate so that greater works can be done than were once done when I did it all myself. I could say to my people, "It is expedient that I go to administrate, for I can send many others to do the work that I did and get more done."
Jesus was our comforter while He was here, though in a sense He continues to comfort from the right hand of the Father. He has sent us the Holy Spirit to comfort us and through that Holy Spirit greater works can be done than were done when our Lord was here.
I am sitting in our computer room now writing these words. If Jesus were in Jerusalem tonight, I would catch the first plane tomorrow morning and I would fly to see Him. However, in all probability I wouldn’t get to see Him or talk to Him, for millions of others would be seeking the same privilege as I.
If He were here on earth, it just may be I would never get to touch His hand, see His face or talk to Him personally. But now that He’s gone and has sent the Holy Spirit, He is in this room with me in the wee hours of the morning, and I feel His presence. I can talk with Him. In this sense, it was expedient for me that He go away, for through the Holy Spirit, I can be with Jesus anywhere I am, even in the wee hours of the morning in a quiet room in Florida.
Isn’t it comforting that we have this Third part of the trinity to strengthen us, lift us up when we’re trodden down? Isn’t it thrilling to know we have…
…Someone to watch over us?
Blessings,
John
I remember when I was a kid and my parents would go out of town. As soon as we heard they were leaving my sister and I would quickly ask, “Where are you going?”
After being told where our parents were going, somewhere in the exchange of information one of us would ask “Can we go with you?” My parents didn’t go on vacations without us so we invariably knew; they being preachers, -where they were going had something to do with ministry. Maybe a convention or a ministerial seminar. More times than I can count I remember one of my parents saying, “Johnny, son you can’t come this time.”
My next question would be “Well, how long will you be gone?” After gleaning these details either my sister or I would ask the most important question of all, “Who’s gonna look after us?” An overwhelming majority of the time the person who would keep us would be my grandmother, my mother’s mother. It hurts me to say it but she and I didn’t get along all that famously but she was a great cook. Grandma Manley made the best Apple turnovers you ever tasted. Somehow we were always able to “tough it out.”
When Jesus told His disciples he was going to leave them and return to His Father, they naturally had lots of questions to ask also. “Where I’m going you can’t come” Jesus said. Like confused children the disciples asked, “Who will take care of us?” They probably asked, “Where are you going and how long will you be gone?” Jesus’ answer was, in essence; “this much I can tell you; I’m not going to leave you alone. I’ll ask my Father to send you another comforter to stay with you. He will be with you until I return.”-John14:16
In this story Jesus is the “parent” ready to take the next stage of the trip to the cross and to infinity and beyond, and the disciples are the children. Jesus even calls them “little children.” So, is it too much to think of the Holy Spirit as our “babysitter,” the one looking after us while Jesus is away getting things ready, just like he promised?
As we speak, Jesus is in heaven practicing with the heavenly angelic choir so they can roll out the red carpet and give us a rousing welcome to heaven, polishing those pearly gates so that they shine when we arrive. Or, maybe he’s at the great “Wal-Mart in the sky” picking up our favorites. Or, maybe he’s in the garden cutting fresh flowers for our rooms. He’s got to be doing something, right? He’s got to be doing something because he’s taking his own sweet time coming back. I think it safe to say that heaven is in her “last day operations” right now and Jesus is making one last check of the banquet tables.
When it comes to the Rapture, I’ve got to be frank, I cannot for the life of me figure out what’s the hold-up? I’m about ready to get outside and start doing “rapture practices.” But I’ll restrain myself. Just exactly how bad do we have to act before the Holy Spirit picks up the phone, calls Jesus, and says “Hey, man, you gotta come home. This place is out of control.”
When you asked your mother when dinner would be ready, and she said, “in a little while,” you knew you’d better get a snack. Or, when you ask your wife how long ‘til she’s ready and she answers, “in a little while,” how long is that? Suffice to say you might as well watch a John Wayne movie because it’s useless to watch the clock.
I’ve said it before but I still haven’t figured out what takes women so long to get ready to go somewhere. I can be ready to go to the Moon in thirty minutes but it’s not that simple for Juda. Women even have “nighttime rituals” for something as simple as going to bed. Women “get ready for bed.” I’ve never gotten ready for bed in my life, other than brushing my teeth. I just go to bed and I suspect most men do the same.
Biblically speaking, “in a little while” seems to mean 10 years, 100 years, 500 years, 1000 years. From where we sit in 2016, it’s been so long since Jesus said, “I’ll be back in a little while” that some folk wonder if he has forgotten. They ask, “Is he gone for good? And if he is gone, where has he gone and what in the world will we do without him? And what is he doing, exactly, and why doesn’t he show himself?” It’s just like the child waiting for their parents to come back and take charge. “Who will watch over us? And, what do we do in the meantime?”
AN ALL IMPORTANT QUESTION
That’s the question of questions. What do we do in the meantime? Well, one thing’s for sure, the ministry must go on in the meantime. If the disciples could do it, we can do it. No offense to them, but they were no better than us. Jesus promised an Advocate to these disciples and us. This is important - he did not expect them – or us – to be faithful all by themselves. He didn’t expect them to do anything by themselves. In fact, in the Gospel of John, he tells them they CAN’T do anything by themselves.
He is sending an advocate – in the Greek, the word Advocate means- one who is called alongside. The Holy Spirit is called alongside them to strengthen them to do all kinds of things that they could never do for themselves. Someone to teach and advise, but also someone who watches over us, comes alongside and handles situations that baffle us. We could all use an Advocate.
IN OBEDIENCE TO CHRISTS COMMAND THE BELIEVERS WAITED AND THE HOLY SPIRIT CAME.
And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. -Acts 2:1-4
Do you remember the TV show “Designing Women?” I usually don’t get interested in these “all girl sitcoms,” but occasionally I enjoyed this one. I guess it’s the “Georgia Boy” in me and also the fact that I liked Dixie Carter, at least her character in the show.
She died a while back, and columnist Connie Schultz wrote a tribute to her and her Designing Women character, Julia Sugarbaker. In this article, she says, “The passing of actor Dixie Carter has reminded me just how much most of us could use a friend like Julia Sugarbaker… the smartest and sassiest woman in the Southern Georgia foursome of "Designing Women."
Oh, the thrill whenever Carter's Julia Sugarbaker set her sights on someone who had committed the crime of small-minded thinking, be it prejudice, sexism or just plain stupidity.” That was Julia’s thing – getting riled up – her loyalty made her a fierce power to behold. My favorite scene is at a beauty pageant after Julia hears an arrogant Miss Georgia bad-mouth her baby sister and former Miss Georgia, Suzanne Sugarbaker.
Carter comes alongside of this beauty queen, Marjorie, and lets loose the storm of sisterhood: she defends Suzanne and her baton twirling talent so passionately and so eloquently that you want to stand up and cheer. This is her finale: "And you probably didn't know, Marjorie, that Suzanne was not just any Miss Georgia; she was the Miss Georgia. She didn't twirl just a baton; that baton was on fire. And when she threw that baton into the air, it flew higher, farther, faster than any baton has ever flown before — hitting a transformer and showering the darkened arena with sparks. And when it finally did come down, Marjorie, my sister caught that baton, and 12,000 people jumped to their feet for 16 and one-half minutes of uninterrupted thunderous ovation as flames illuminated her tear-stained face. And that, Marjorie — just so you will know and your children will someday know — is the night “The lights went out In Georgia."
Connie Schultz ends her article by saying, no matter how old we get, there’ll always be a Mean Girls Club. Most of us yearn for that Julia Sugarbaker kind of friend who overhears the nasty gossip and steps up to unravel the yarn on our behalf.
Friend, the Holy Spirit is kind of the Julia Sugarbaker of the Trinity. The Holy Spirit is the one who gets fired up, riled up, fed up and who steps up, who Advocates, who strengthens and inspires and who is in charge, and who does not mind reminding us that he’s in charge until Big Daddy comes home. That’s the plan Stan!
God knows that the Christian life is too difficult to be done alone. When it comes to following Jesus, nothing is done alone. We have his spirit inside us.
We can’t change God’s schedule, but, in the meantime, we have this Advocate watching over us, ready to come along side us and inspire us and lead us on.
It is interesting to note that the word "comforter" was also used for legal aid or the counsel for the defense; so the Holy Spirit is that. Jesus is our aid at the right hand of the Father; the Holy Spirit is our aid on earth. Jesus is an advocate in Heaven; the Holy Spirit is a conditional advocate on earth.
The reason Jesus had to return to Heaven was twofold. First, He went to do His work. Hebrews 7:25,
"Wherefore He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them."
Second, He went to give the Holy Spirit HIS work to do.
There are other times when He will empower and strengthen OTHERS to say just the words you need and give you just the comfort you need. This does not mean the Holy Spirit is not doing the comforting. He is leading and strengthening someone and using him to comfort us and strengthen us in our time of need. At times He runs alongside to help and there is no human aid in sight. At other times, He leads someone to come to us to be our aid, our comforter, to pick us up. In either case, this is the work of the Spirit. He simply sometimes chooses to use human help.
In my own life there have been many times the Holy Spirit alone has been my comforter. In the mid-nineties, I lost both my parents within a six month period. I can remember standing by their caskets and though my heart was breaking I could feel the Holy Spirit comforting me. I could almost feel fingers touching my arm. It was the Holy Spirit coming HIMSELF to watch over me, to look out for me and give me comfort.
Then this same Holy Spirit led others to speak words of comfort to me; He led loving friends to encourage my heart. He was comforting and strengthening me both WITH and WITHOUT human instruments. The Christian should yield himself to the Holy Spirit in order that the Spirit may use him to comfort, strengthen and restore others.
When the Christian writes a note of comfort, he should ask the Holy Spirit to deliver it for him and to use it as a strength and comfort. When a word of comfort or strength is spoken to a bereaved or weary friend, the power of the Holy Spirit should accompany that word. Hence, the Christian should speak to the Holy Spirit BEFORE he speaks the word of comfort, asking Him to speak words that he cannot speak and to leave impressions that he cannot leave in order that he may be used as a tool of the Holy Spirit to comfort and strengthen the discouraged, weak, lonely, bereaved or fallen brother. There is a wonderful truth in John 14:26,
"But the Comforter, Which is the Holy Ghost, Whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you."
Notice the words, "and bring all things to your remembrance." The Spirit-led and Spirit-filled Christian may so yield himself to the Holy Spirit that when he comforts , the Holy Spirit will bring to mind what he ought to say. The Christian will enter into the very work of the Spirit Himself as a tool to be a comforter.
Thank God for those times the Holy Spirit Himself has come to lift me up and strengthen, and to comfort me. Thank the Lord for those times when He has touched a friend and spoken through him as a human instrument to comfort me and strengthen me and lift me up. And thank God for those times when He has used me as a tool to comfort others! My prayer is,-Oh, Holy Spirit, use me again and again and again and again to strengthen the weak, lift up the fallen, encourage the discouraged, offer fellowship to the lonely, give a smile to the sad and comfort to the bereaved and weary.
It is interesting to note that in a sense Jesus had to leave in order for the Holy Spirit to come, that the Christian might be benefited to the fullest. For one thing, Jesus can serve us better in his glory and we can do greater works because the Holy Spirit came.
"Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on Me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto My Father." –John 14:12
Jesus entered the very presence of the Father; at the Father's side He can help us and intercede for us. He knows our needs more. He felt them while He was here, so He can send the Holy Spirit to dispense the fulfillment of our needs. Hence, He helps the Father to know our needs. Though He doesn't have to persuade the Father to help us, He does remind Him of what help we need. Jesus isn’t interceding for sinners, that’s our job. He’s interceding for you and me.
When I was a young pastor, I did so many things myself that I later had others to do. I have filled the baptistery, prepared the communion cups, cleaned the building, turned on the lights, turned on the heat/AC, printed the church bulletin, drove the church bus, taught a Sunday School class and of course preached. Sometimes I even led singing. However, with the passing of the years and the increasing of the church membership I‘d have others to do what I used to do. Though I’d miss the personal contact and many of the tasks, it is expedient to my church people that I administrate so that greater works can be done than were once done when I did it all myself. I could say to my people, "It is expedient that I go to administrate, for I can send many others to do the work that I did and get more done."
Jesus was our comforter while He was here, though in a sense He continues to comfort from the right hand of the Father. He has sent us the Holy Spirit to comfort us and through that Holy Spirit greater works can be done than were done when our Lord was here.
I am sitting in our computer room now writing these words. If Jesus were in Jerusalem tonight, I would catch the first plane tomorrow morning and I would fly to see Him. However, in all probability I wouldn’t get to see Him or talk to Him, for millions of others would be seeking the same privilege as I.
If He were here on earth, it just may be I would never get to touch His hand, see His face or talk to Him personally. But now that He’s gone and has sent the Holy Spirit, He is in this room with me in the wee hours of the morning, and I feel His presence. I can talk with Him. In this sense, it was expedient for me that He go away, for through the Holy Spirit, I can be with Jesus anywhere I am, even in the wee hours of the morning in a quiet room in Florida.
Isn’t it comforting that we have this Third part of the trinity to strengthen us, lift us up when we’re trodden down? Isn’t it thrilling to know we have…
…Someone to watch over us?
Blessings,
John
Saturday, August 18, 2018
Malice...Esther's Story
By John Stallings
…… lay aside all malice. 1 Peter 2:1
A while back we saw the TBN produced movie “ONE NIGHT WITH THE KING.” We were moved by the excellent way the story was told & our hats are off to all who made that movie possible.
I don’t know about you but I have noticed through the years that Esther has been preached on very little. In Sunday School we sometimes had a lesson on her life but generally speaking, at least from my perspective, I can remember precious few messages or lessons that had as their theme the events & characters of the Book of Esther. Also, very few books have been written about the life of Esther.
We may as well say it, the Book of Esther isn't nor has it ever been a very popular book. This is one reason the movie TBN made is so needed.
Sadly Esther has always been the forgotten women & this is a shame for there is so much to learn from her story. I encourage the reader to go back & read through the book of Esther, hopefully with a new perspective. Deal? Deal!
This little gem in the Old Testament is extremely rich & historical. The story begins in the empire of Persia. It’s set about 500 years or so before the birth of Christ. The following are a few reasons for Esther not being well understood by many people; God’s name isn’t mentioned in the whole of the book of Esther, neither is the word Lord. Search high & low in the book & you will not find Him. Also omitted are; any mention of prayer, worship, the Temple or Jerusalem. Also left out is any mention of heaven or hell or for that matter anything particularly religious. The story took place when Israel was being held captive in Babylon. A man much like Hitler arose during this time & tried to stamp out the whole Jewish nation. The book is a bit like the story of Joseph where God is hardly mentioned though his actions are clearly acknowledged at the end. Though in Esther, God’s name doesn’t appear at all, as we read between the lines in the story we see God’s hand everywhere, moving in behalf of His people.
In this book you have one of the most exciting stories of all time. It reads like a novel but it's not fiction. This is a true story. If you haven’t read it lately, let’s recap the highlights. In the interest of understanding this story, lay aside your 21st century ideas & assume the ideas of a culture many hundreds of years ago. If you don’t do this you’ll be lost in the fog of the story & miss how God is engineering the plots & sub-plots from start to finish. Remember to watch for God at every turn though His name is left out.
WHEN GOD SEEMS TO BE MOST ABSENT FROM HUMAN AFFAIRS, THAT’S WHEN HE IS PROBABLY THE MOST PRESENT & AT WORK.
What do you do when God seems to be absent? Has God forgotten you? Were His promises unfounded? Perhaps you’ve moved away from God. Does this mean that He has no part in your life & destiny now? These were the sorts of questions that exercised the minds of the Israelites in exile in Babylon, then later in Persia. They knew they’d been sent into exile as punishment for their rebellion against God. They were no longer in the Promised Land, the place of God’s blessing. So they feared that God’s care for them had ended, that they were on their own.
But that wasn’t the case. God was still their God & still interested in their welfare. He had sent Jeremiah to reassure them that even in exile God was looking after them. God had told them; --For surely I know the plans I have for you, plans for your welfare & not for harm, to give you a future with hope. Jer.29:11. There are times when you & I wonder when things seem to argue against God’s presence with us, if God is watching over us; when life seems too hard for someone who had God on their side. But we have verses like Romans 8:28 & Heb. 13:5-6 that we can go to & see the promises to reassure us of His love & care. That’s where the book of Esther comes in.
The story is set after the first group of exiles returned to Jerusalem, but this group has chosen to stay in Persia. It’s about a king & his kingdom; a king who divorces his wife thereby becoming lonely by his own decree. King Xerxes, king of Persia, has banished his first queen. Therefore he has nothing especially to do except throw a party & lavishly display the glory & beauty of his kingdom. The extravagance & decadence of the event is shown by the fact that it last’s for 6 months & there are hundreds & thousands of people present. Can you imagine a party that last’s so long? Xerxes turns his palace into a frat party.
Xerxes has too much to drink & makes the mistake of sending for his wife Vashti, his queen. Not wanting to be paraded around a bunch of drunks she refuses to come. It is probable that she was to be paraded in a carnal way to arouse the lust of the men present, for we are told that she was very beautiful. We aren’t given the reason she didn’t come but her refusal causes a stir because of the example it set for other wives in the kingdom. What can the king do to save face but to have Vashti banished from the kingdom? Color her gone.
OUR AVAILABILITY TO GOD IS ALL IMPORTANT
Maybe Vashti had good reasons for not showing up when she was summoned. I’ll grant you that. But it’s also possible that she was just bored with it all & no longer had the motivation to participate in life. But one thing is certain & that is; Esther did show up & it was at a crucial moment. And in so doing she was mightily used by God. We need to ask ourselves the question; do we show up when God calls us? If we want our lives to count we must be willing to say with Saul of Tarsus, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do, & with young Samuel, speak Lord for thy servant heareth, & with Esther, if I perish I perish.It’s been two years since Vashti has gone & during that time Xerxes has taken an army to Greece to try to expand his empire with no success. So he’s bored & lonely & starts to fret over the loss of Vashti. When he asks his advisors what to do, they suggest he begin a search for the most beautiful girls in the kingdom.
The search begins throughout the land for beautiful young girls to take Vashti’s place. Mordecai, an expatriated Jew entered his orphaned cousin Esther whom he’d raised as if she was his daughter, in the beauty contest to become the queen of all Persia. Esther, this young Jewish girl is chosen. She’s a peach both inside & out. She’s a young girl who’s blessed with a shapely body & a beautiful face. For a year she’s prepared for the time in which she would come into the presence of the king. Beauty treatments were given to her & she was kept & groomed until the big day. That's a lot of Oil of Olay!
But as the story progresses we learn that she’s much more than a pretty face. She is blessed with great humility, courage, resourcefulness & knows how to deal with people. Her understanding of court politics comes out in the way she ultimately traps the stories villain. Wait for it!
Here’s a shocker for you. Esther is in all probability, though we aren't sure, being a young virgin, only around fourteen years old & probably under twenty at the end of the story. Think about the pressure that was put on Esther, barely out of girlhood being thrust into a setting where she had influence with one of the most powerful men in the world. And all this at an age when most young women are concerned with school proms & geometry exams. Throughout this story she has to bite her tongue, grit her teeth, put on a face, hide her grief & hold her tears. The first time she cries, as far as we’re told in the story is in chapter 8:1.
It’s hard for us to grasp how people in such a different culture view such a practice as kings having a harem, with so many women that they see them individually only about once a month. But this is the way things were during this era. When Esther was selected, she would have no choice but to go along with it. But there is something about Esther’s character that causes people to warm to her. Witness- the king falls in love with her & she becomes his queen.
Esther’s adoptive father, who is also her cousin Mordecai, has thwarted an assassination attempt against the king, though he was inadvertently never rewarded for it. We’re not told what Mordecai’s position is though he lives in the citadel, the areas around the palace. He has access to the area beside the harem courtyard & we find him sitting in the palace gates, the place where judgment is given for civil cases. So it seems he is held in some esteem by the king. He is without doubt a clever Jewish bureaucrat & is a descendant of Kish, a Benjaminite.
Let’s back up here for some historical background. In 1 Samuel 15 we read that God commanded Saul to eradicate the decadent Amalekites, ruled by King Agag. Saul chose to do it halfway & let some of the people, King Agag & some of their livestock live. 400 years later, Mordecai & Israel are confronted with Haman, a slimy character who was a descendant of Agag & very much hostile towards God’s people.
What a lesson to us about not going all the way in obedience to what God has told us to do.
Though nothing was done to show appreciation to Mordecai for saving his life, the king has promoted Haman, who we discover is a natural enemy of Mordecai going back many generations. Haman is a government official who is climbing to the top as fast as he can. He was a particularly nasty piece of work. Haman is self-important, self-promoting, & intoxicated by his success, & those are just his good traits. He expects everyone to bow down to him but Mordecai refuses which “puts the pepper in the gumbo,” so to speak.
So Haman decides to take his revenge for that not only on Mordecai but on his entire race. Haman had the king’s ear in just about everything & when he proposed something to the king, he would usually rubber-stamp it, no questions asked. He was to be treated as if he were almost the king himself. People were to bow to him & do obeisance, honor & glory. Everyone, out of fear, did precisely that. Haman immediately goes to work to convince the king that for the king’s own benefit, he should eliminate these Jewish people. He arranges for the king to sign an edict that sentences every Jew in the kingdom to be killed on a certain day at the end of the year.
The idea that a king on such a whim O.Ks this kind of mass murder is another thing that seems foreign to us, but obviously it was nothing out of place or out of the ordinary in that culture. The Jews were a foreign race who were only there because they’d been defeated so what did it matter if they were destroyed? Xerxes’s kingdom extended from India to Ethiopia & there were plenty of other races. We can also see by this that Xerxes is a man who acts on whims, & doesn’t “check-before-he wrecks” where his wife & others are concerned. Not a sweetheart guy to say the least. So the scene is set for the destruction of the Jews.
MORDECAI CONTACTS ESTHER TO INTERVENE WITH THE KING.
In chapter four, Mordecai, knowing what was now happening, put on sackcloth & ashes to grieve. This is another proof to me that God’s at work here. His Spirit has caused Mordecai to be so grieved that he goes into the center of the city & cries with a bitter cry. Esther sees that he’s terribly traumatized so she sends him a change of clothes thinking that will help his feelings. Somehow Esther is uniformed or as yet hasn’t grasped the gravity of the situation. If you’ve ever been hit by Holy Ghost grief, you know that some superficial change won’t correct the matter. Mordecai knows Esther is in a unique position to do something so he sends her a message. Esther agrees reluctantly. The king had stopped asking to see her & she’d be risking her life to try to see him. Then Mordecai utters the famous words that -she may even have been brought to the kingdom “for such a time as this.” She asks the other Jews in the city to fast (prayer not mentioned) on her behalf for three days, and then she’ll do what she can.
Haman thinks he’s “all that” & feels he’s the most important person apart from the king himself. He thinks nothing can get in his way. Haman’s pride means he underestimates both Mordecai & especially Esther. In the end he’s caught by a spiraling set of circumstances devised to drag him under. Pride goes before destruction & Haman will soon be caught in the trap he has set for Mordecai.
Psalm 7:16 warns;…. “Their mischief returns upon their own heads…..
You will probably remember the CBS newsman Dan Rather, who a few years back resigned in disgrace because he had such malice toward President Bush that he aired unconfirmed & probably fabricated documents about President Bush’s National Guard records. At the time I thought, if Rather had only been familiar with the story of Esther, Haman & Mordecai, he could no doubt have saved his career. Rather got so caught up in his malice for Bush that he crossed the line going 150 mph. He crossed it so far that it got him in trouble with his superiors who themselves weren’t exactly Bush-promoters. I’m sure you noticed that malice usually carries with it a strong sense of self- righteousness if not downright craziness.
Mr. Rather wasn’t hanged but was put out to pasture.
Haman later hangs on the gallows he had built for Mordecai, the Jew for whom he had so much malice. The same scenario existed in what happened to Dan Rather. There’s an old Chinese proverb that says, “If you set out to destroy someone, dig two graves; theirs & yours.” Sadly malice rears its ugly head in our day -in political life, church life as well as business and family life.
ESTHER TAKES A RISK
Esther knows that to appear before the king without being summoned risks punishment by death. But this situation is worth the risk. She figures, if I perish I perish. So she dresses in royal clothes & stands in the inner court where Xerxes can see her. Her faith & courage are rewarded. Xerxes sees her & holds out his golden scepter as his invitation for her to enter. He offers to give her whatever she asks. But a strange thing happens. She doesn’t make a request. She simply invites the king & Haman to come to dinner that night. Again, though just a youth, she understands that timing is everything.
So why didn’t she tell the king her message up front? Why delay any longer when she’s so obviously won the favor of the king? She has a problem, & that’s to get the king to see that Haman isn’t his friend,- but this will be sticky. Remember, the king in his folly believes that Haman is his “new best friend,” so Xerxes may have thought she was just responding to Palace gossip & committing treason in the process of accusing the Prime Minister of such a crime. To do this before all the court servants & other people present was to risk the king going into “damage control mode” & simply dismissing her complaint. Far better to do it with Haman present; catch him off guard & who knows what he might say or do that would confirm his guilt. Don’t “hot-heads” usually go over-the top? In fact that’s exactly what happens. There’s another time honored saying;--“Give a man enough rope & he’ll hang himself.” Hot-headed Haman is headed for a “melt-down.”
Again, ---GOD, THOUGH NEVER MENTIONED, IS RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF THIS STORY.
God had something to arrange before the time would be right. Esther seems to have done all the arranging but God has something else to do as well. Esther invites the king & Haman to join her the same night for a banquet that she’s prepared for them. The king sends for Haman & he hurries to join them. He’s still clueless.
You gotta-love this man Haman.- but only as a character in the story. He’s so self-absorbed & egotistical he can’t see what’s about to happen to him. He leaves the first banquet in high spirits because he’s receiving so much attention from the king & queen. Then he sees Mordecai, & his mood changes. He goes into a purple rage, immediately arranging for a gallows to be built to hang him. He never thinks that anything could go wrong. His false confidence is about to destroy him. Not only will his pride bring him down, but God’s divine sovereignty will also play a part.
That night the king can’t sleep so he gets up & asks for a copy of the Chronicles of his reign, maybe thinking a little “ego-salve” will calm him down so he could sleep. As he reads he comes across the account of the time when Mordecai had foiled an assassination attempt against him. So he asks his attendants what reward had been given Mordecai, & is told that nothing had been done to honor him.
By now its morning & so he asks who there is in the court that he could ask for advice. Surprise, surprise, old Haman is waiting in the outer court to speak to the king about hanging Mordecai. When the king asks Haman what should be done for the man the king delights to honor, Haman immediately thinks the king means him; WHO ELSE-RIGHT? If only Haman’s parents had taught him, “It’s not just about you, Haman!” But noooo. He’s so self-absorbed he falls right into the trap God had set for him. So he comes up with an ideal answer; & it’s all good except that it’s Mordecai who’s about to receive an honor & it’s Haman who’ll be the one leading the horse around the city praising Mordecai. It’s hilarious isn’t it? That is unless you’re Haman of course. Haman is totally humiliated & rushes home to tell his wife & friends what’s happened & light starts to dawn, for his wife at least. Haman’s pride tells him he’s still in control, but he’s being hurried along by Esther’s plans.
MALICE IS HAMAN’S PROBLEM
Haman’s big sin is the malice he bears towards Mordecai & the Jewish people. Malice is the deep-seated hatred that feels delight when our enemy suffers & pain when our enemy succeeds; a mean-spirited, thoughtful intention to hurt somebody & make them suffer. 1 Cor. 5:8 likens malice to yeast. It may start small but it swells like cancer eventually permeating the whole of our being the end result being the spoiling of our enjoyment of life. Haman complains that seeing Mordecai sitting at the king’s table as he walks by has taken all the pleasures he’s gained from being invited to the private banquet with Esther & the king.
But it also takes away his good judgment & he builds a 50 feet high gallows never thinking that it could be used on him as well. Nor does he wonder why Esther has just invited him to the banquet with the king. The king & Haman arrive at the banquet & are drinking wine when the king asks, for the second time, what is Esther’s petition & request. Esther replies, “Let my life be given me—that is my request; for we have been sold, I & my people, to be destroyed, to be killed, & to be annihilated.” Haman knows he’s been found out & hadn’t realized that Esther was one of the Jews he’d sentenced to death. Haman is now terrified & trembling in his sandals.
The king goes into a rage & his blood starts to boil. He has to walk out of the room to calm down in the garden outside & decide what to do with Haman. While the king is absent, Haman makes his final mistake & throws himself at Esther’s feet begging to be spared. Well, the king walks back in & sees that Haman is draped across Esther’s couch & that’s the last straw. He’s arrested & hung on the gallows he’s just built for Mordecia. And that’s the end for old Haman. Esther is given all of Haman’s possessions & Mordecia is promoted to the position of Prime Minister.
But there’s still the problem of the king’s edict about the Jews. Esther pleads with the king to revoke it but he can’t. In Persia, once a law has been made it can’t be revoked. Instead the king allows Mordecia to write a second law allowing the Jews to gather to defend themselves on the appointed day. When the day comes those who seek to attack them are killed, though the majority of the population takes their side. Esther asks for a second day of retribution for the Jews. Happily the crisis ends & so is instituted the feast of Purim that’s been celebrated by the Jewish people ever since.
It’s sometimes asked why this story is in the Bible, particularity as God isn’t mentioned in the entire book. Is it just there to explain the feast of Purim, or is there more to it than that? How might this story be relevant to us? Esther lived in a world where God wasn’t known & honored. The world of Susa had no real understanding of a personal God, of a living God, of a God who cared for His people wherever they were. Esther lived in a time when God’s people were waiting for redemption. They were in a foreign a land where they didn’t belong. They were waiting for God to come & take them home.
God has sometimes used armies & great miracles to rescue His people but He isn’t limited to those strategies. He can just as easily use an obscure person such as Esther & allow them to be the agent of His Salvation. We might be tempted to think God can only work in a situation where there is freedom of religion & worship like we enjoy in America. But this story shows us that He can enable His people to function within whatever system they find themselves. Joseph, Daniel & Esther all served totally pagan kings & won favor with them because of their exemplary conduct & example.
Esther & Mordecia had to live by faith & not by sight. There was no Temple to go to, to remind them of God’s grandeur & sovereignty. Israel was no longer a great nation reflecting God’s power & glory to the world. In fact, Haman’s order to destroy them showed just how powerless they were. We too must live by faith & not by sight. We are waiting for an inheritance that can’t be seen. It’s a sure & certain hope but it’s a hope that we hold on to by faith.
Like Esther, God may have put you where you are to allow you to find a solution in a situation where you & you only will fit. But don’t forget, you are never alone. God walks the corridors of production plants, offices, school & the Halls of Government, anywhere His people are. God is always working in the background bringing His plans for you, indeed for the world to completion. If you are a person who sees the gloomy side of things & you gaze into the future & don’t see that things could ever get better, Esther speaks to you.
We can rest in the knowledge that our welfare is in God’s hands. His help comes from unexpected quarters, unwilling partners, & unseen forces. He numbers the very hairs of our heads; he’s awake, alert, attentive & active.
His name may never be mentioned in our world except as a swear word but He is active & present.
As in the story of Esther, you too may be the target of malice. But if you’re faithful to Him, He’ll allow no weapon formed against you to prosper. Also, lets keep in mind the power of one person , like Esther, to make a difference.
In 1845, one vote brought Texas into the union.
In 1868 one vote saved President Andrew Johnson from impeachment.
In 1876 one vote gave Rutherford B. Hayes the U.S presidency.
In 1923, one vote gave Adolph Hitler control of Germany's Nazi party.
In 1941, one vote saved the Selective Service System just 12 weeks before Pearl Harbor.
Let’s follow Esther’s courageous example & be ready to step out on faith & use the wisdom God gives us to do what’s needed
......right where we are.
Blessings,
John
…… lay aside all malice. 1 Peter 2:1
A while back we saw the TBN produced movie “ONE NIGHT WITH THE KING.” We were moved by the excellent way the story was told & our hats are off to all who made that movie possible.
I don’t know about you but I have noticed through the years that Esther has been preached on very little. In Sunday School we sometimes had a lesson on her life but generally speaking, at least from my perspective, I can remember precious few messages or lessons that had as their theme the events & characters of the Book of Esther. Also, very few books have been written about the life of Esther.
We may as well say it, the Book of Esther isn't nor has it ever been a very popular book. This is one reason the movie TBN made is so needed.
Sadly Esther has always been the forgotten women & this is a shame for there is so much to learn from her story. I encourage the reader to go back & read through the book of Esther, hopefully with a new perspective. Deal? Deal!
This little gem in the Old Testament is extremely rich & historical. The story begins in the empire of Persia. It’s set about 500 years or so before the birth of Christ. The following are a few reasons for Esther not being well understood by many people; God’s name isn’t mentioned in the whole of the book of Esther, neither is the word Lord. Search high & low in the book & you will not find Him. Also omitted are; any mention of prayer, worship, the Temple or Jerusalem. Also left out is any mention of heaven or hell or for that matter anything particularly religious. The story took place when Israel was being held captive in Babylon. A man much like Hitler arose during this time & tried to stamp out the whole Jewish nation. The book is a bit like the story of Joseph where God is hardly mentioned though his actions are clearly acknowledged at the end. Though in Esther, God’s name doesn’t appear at all, as we read between the lines in the story we see God’s hand everywhere, moving in behalf of His people.
In this book you have one of the most exciting stories of all time. It reads like a novel but it's not fiction. This is a true story. If you haven’t read it lately, let’s recap the highlights. In the interest of understanding this story, lay aside your 21st century ideas & assume the ideas of a culture many hundreds of years ago. If you don’t do this you’ll be lost in the fog of the story & miss how God is engineering the plots & sub-plots from start to finish. Remember to watch for God at every turn though His name is left out.
WHEN GOD SEEMS TO BE MOST ABSENT FROM HUMAN AFFAIRS, THAT’S WHEN HE IS PROBABLY THE MOST PRESENT & AT WORK.
What do you do when God seems to be absent? Has God forgotten you? Were His promises unfounded? Perhaps you’ve moved away from God. Does this mean that He has no part in your life & destiny now? These were the sorts of questions that exercised the minds of the Israelites in exile in Babylon, then later in Persia. They knew they’d been sent into exile as punishment for their rebellion against God. They were no longer in the Promised Land, the place of God’s blessing. So they feared that God’s care for them had ended, that they were on their own.
But that wasn’t the case. God was still their God & still interested in their welfare. He had sent Jeremiah to reassure them that even in exile God was looking after them. God had told them; --For surely I know the plans I have for you, plans for your welfare & not for harm, to give you a future with hope. Jer.29:11. There are times when you & I wonder when things seem to argue against God’s presence with us, if God is watching over us; when life seems too hard for someone who had God on their side. But we have verses like Romans 8:28 & Heb. 13:5-6 that we can go to & see the promises to reassure us of His love & care. That’s where the book of Esther comes in.
The story is set after the first group of exiles returned to Jerusalem, but this group has chosen to stay in Persia. It’s about a king & his kingdom; a king who divorces his wife thereby becoming lonely by his own decree. King Xerxes, king of Persia, has banished his first queen. Therefore he has nothing especially to do except throw a party & lavishly display the glory & beauty of his kingdom. The extravagance & decadence of the event is shown by the fact that it last’s for 6 months & there are hundreds & thousands of people present. Can you imagine a party that last’s so long? Xerxes turns his palace into a frat party.
Xerxes has too much to drink & makes the mistake of sending for his wife Vashti, his queen. Not wanting to be paraded around a bunch of drunks she refuses to come. It is probable that she was to be paraded in a carnal way to arouse the lust of the men present, for we are told that she was very beautiful. We aren’t given the reason she didn’t come but her refusal causes a stir because of the example it set for other wives in the kingdom. What can the king do to save face but to have Vashti banished from the kingdom? Color her gone.
OUR AVAILABILITY TO GOD IS ALL IMPORTANT
Maybe Vashti had good reasons for not showing up when she was summoned. I’ll grant you that. But it’s also possible that she was just bored with it all & no longer had the motivation to participate in life. But one thing is certain & that is; Esther did show up & it was at a crucial moment. And in so doing she was mightily used by God. We need to ask ourselves the question; do we show up when God calls us? If we want our lives to count we must be willing to say with Saul of Tarsus, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do, & with young Samuel, speak Lord for thy servant heareth, & with Esther, if I perish I perish.It’s been two years since Vashti has gone & during that time Xerxes has taken an army to Greece to try to expand his empire with no success. So he’s bored & lonely & starts to fret over the loss of Vashti. When he asks his advisors what to do, they suggest he begin a search for the most beautiful girls in the kingdom.
The search begins throughout the land for beautiful young girls to take Vashti’s place. Mordecai, an expatriated Jew entered his orphaned cousin Esther whom he’d raised as if she was his daughter, in the beauty contest to become the queen of all Persia. Esther, this young Jewish girl is chosen. She’s a peach both inside & out. She’s a young girl who’s blessed with a shapely body & a beautiful face. For a year she’s prepared for the time in which she would come into the presence of the king. Beauty treatments were given to her & she was kept & groomed until the big day. That's a lot of Oil of Olay!
But as the story progresses we learn that she’s much more than a pretty face. She is blessed with great humility, courage, resourcefulness & knows how to deal with people. Her understanding of court politics comes out in the way she ultimately traps the stories villain. Wait for it!
Here’s a shocker for you. Esther is in all probability, though we aren't sure, being a young virgin, only around fourteen years old & probably under twenty at the end of the story. Think about the pressure that was put on Esther, barely out of girlhood being thrust into a setting where she had influence with one of the most powerful men in the world. And all this at an age when most young women are concerned with school proms & geometry exams. Throughout this story she has to bite her tongue, grit her teeth, put on a face, hide her grief & hold her tears. The first time she cries, as far as we’re told in the story is in chapter 8:1.
It’s hard for us to grasp how people in such a different culture view such a practice as kings having a harem, with so many women that they see them individually only about once a month. But this is the way things were during this era. When Esther was selected, she would have no choice but to go along with it. But there is something about Esther’s character that causes people to warm to her. Witness- the king falls in love with her & she becomes his queen.
Esther’s adoptive father, who is also her cousin Mordecai, has thwarted an assassination attempt against the king, though he was inadvertently never rewarded for it. We’re not told what Mordecai’s position is though he lives in the citadel, the areas around the palace. He has access to the area beside the harem courtyard & we find him sitting in the palace gates, the place where judgment is given for civil cases. So it seems he is held in some esteem by the king. He is without doubt a clever Jewish bureaucrat & is a descendant of Kish, a Benjaminite.
Let’s back up here for some historical background. In 1 Samuel 15 we read that God commanded Saul to eradicate the decadent Amalekites, ruled by King Agag. Saul chose to do it halfway & let some of the people, King Agag & some of their livestock live. 400 years later, Mordecai & Israel are confronted with Haman, a slimy character who was a descendant of Agag & very much hostile towards God’s people.
What a lesson to us about not going all the way in obedience to what God has told us to do.
Though nothing was done to show appreciation to Mordecai for saving his life, the king has promoted Haman, who we discover is a natural enemy of Mordecai going back many generations. Haman is a government official who is climbing to the top as fast as he can. He was a particularly nasty piece of work. Haman is self-important, self-promoting, & intoxicated by his success, & those are just his good traits. He expects everyone to bow down to him but Mordecai refuses which “puts the pepper in the gumbo,” so to speak.
So Haman decides to take his revenge for that not only on Mordecai but on his entire race. Haman had the king’s ear in just about everything & when he proposed something to the king, he would usually rubber-stamp it, no questions asked. He was to be treated as if he were almost the king himself. People were to bow to him & do obeisance, honor & glory. Everyone, out of fear, did precisely that. Haman immediately goes to work to convince the king that for the king’s own benefit, he should eliminate these Jewish people. He arranges for the king to sign an edict that sentences every Jew in the kingdom to be killed on a certain day at the end of the year.
The idea that a king on such a whim O.Ks this kind of mass murder is another thing that seems foreign to us, but obviously it was nothing out of place or out of the ordinary in that culture. The Jews were a foreign race who were only there because they’d been defeated so what did it matter if they were destroyed? Xerxes’s kingdom extended from India to Ethiopia & there were plenty of other races. We can also see by this that Xerxes is a man who acts on whims, & doesn’t “check-before-he wrecks” where his wife & others are concerned. Not a sweetheart guy to say the least. So the scene is set for the destruction of the Jews.
MORDECAI CONTACTS ESTHER TO INTERVENE WITH THE KING.
In chapter four, Mordecai, knowing what was now happening, put on sackcloth & ashes to grieve. This is another proof to me that God’s at work here. His Spirit has caused Mordecai to be so grieved that he goes into the center of the city & cries with a bitter cry. Esther sees that he’s terribly traumatized so she sends him a change of clothes thinking that will help his feelings. Somehow Esther is uniformed or as yet hasn’t grasped the gravity of the situation. If you’ve ever been hit by Holy Ghost grief, you know that some superficial change won’t correct the matter. Mordecai knows Esther is in a unique position to do something so he sends her a message. Esther agrees reluctantly. The king had stopped asking to see her & she’d be risking her life to try to see him. Then Mordecai utters the famous words that -she may even have been brought to the kingdom “for such a time as this.” She asks the other Jews in the city to fast (prayer not mentioned) on her behalf for three days, and then she’ll do what she can.
Haman thinks he’s “all that” & feels he’s the most important person apart from the king himself. He thinks nothing can get in his way. Haman’s pride means he underestimates both Mordecai & especially Esther. In the end he’s caught by a spiraling set of circumstances devised to drag him under. Pride goes before destruction & Haman will soon be caught in the trap he has set for Mordecai.
Psalm 7:16 warns;…. “Their mischief returns upon their own heads…..
You will probably remember the CBS newsman Dan Rather, who a few years back resigned in disgrace because he had such malice toward President Bush that he aired unconfirmed & probably fabricated documents about President Bush’s National Guard records. At the time I thought, if Rather had only been familiar with the story of Esther, Haman & Mordecai, he could no doubt have saved his career. Rather got so caught up in his malice for Bush that he crossed the line going 150 mph. He crossed it so far that it got him in trouble with his superiors who themselves weren’t exactly Bush-promoters. I’m sure you noticed that malice usually carries with it a strong sense of self- righteousness if not downright craziness.
Mr. Rather wasn’t hanged but was put out to pasture.
Haman later hangs on the gallows he had built for Mordecai, the Jew for whom he had so much malice. The same scenario existed in what happened to Dan Rather. There’s an old Chinese proverb that says, “If you set out to destroy someone, dig two graves; theirs & yours.” Sadly malice rears its ugly head in our day -in political life, church life as well as business and family life.
ESTHER TAKES A RISK
Esther knows that to appear before the king without being summoned risks punishment by death. But this situation is worth the risk. She figures, if I perish I perish. So she dresses in royal clothes & stands in the inner court where Xerxes can see her. Her faith & courage are rewarded. Xerxes sees her & holds out his golden scepter as his invitation for her to enter. He offers to give her whatever she asks. But a strange thing happens. She doesn’t make a request. She simply invites the king & Haman to come to dinner that night. Again, though just a youth, she understands that timing is everything.
So why didn’t she tell the king her message up front? Why delay any longer when she’s so obviously won the favor of the king? She has a problem, & that’s to get the king to see that Haman isn’t his friend,- but this will be sticky. Remember, the king in his folly believes that Haman is his “new best friend,” so Xerxes may have thought she was just responding to Palace gossip & committing treason in the process of accusing the Prime Minister of such a crime. To do this before all the court servants & other people present was to risk the king going into “damage control mode” & simply dismissing her complaint. Far better to do it with Haman present; catch him off guard & who knows what he might say or do that would confirm his guilt. Don’t “hot-heads” usually go over-the top? In fact that’s exactly what happens. There’s another time honored saying;--“Give a man enough rope & he’ll hang himself.” Hot-headed Haman is headed for a “melt-down.”
Again, ---GOD, THOUGH NEVER MENTIONED, IS RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF THIS STORY.
God had something to arrange before the time would be right. Esther seems to have done all the arranging but God has something else to do as well. Esther invites the king & Haman to join her the same night for a banquet that she’s prepared for them. The king sends for Haman & he hurries to join them. He’s still clueless.
You gotta-love this man Haman.- but only as a character in the story. He’s so self-absorbed & egotistical he can’t see what’s about to happen to him. He leaves the first banquet in high spirits because he’s receiving so much attention from the king & queen. Then he sees Mordecai, & his mood changes. He goes into a purple rage, immediately arranging for a gallows to be built to hang him. He never thinks that anything could go wrong. His false confidence is about to destroy him. Not only will his pride bring him down, but God’s divine sovereignty will also play a part.
That night the king can’t sleep so he gets up & asks for a copy of the Chronicles of his reign, maybe thinking a little “ego-salve” will calm him down so he could sleep. As he reads he comes across the account of the time when Mordecai had foiled an assassination attempt against him. So he asks his attendants what reward had been given Mordecai, & is told that nothing had been done to honor him.
By now its morning & so he asks who there is in the court that he could ask for advice. Surprise, surprise, old Haman is waiting in the outer court to speak to the king about hanging Mordecai. When the king asks Haman what should be done for the man the king delights to honor, Haman immediately thinks the king means him; WHO ELSE-RIGHT? If only Haman’s parents had taught him, “It’s not just about you, Haman!” But noooo. He’s so self-absorbed he falls right into the trap God had set for him. So he comes up with an ideal answer; & it’s all good except that it’s Mordecai who’s about to receive an honor & it’s Haman who’ll be the one leading the horse around the city praising Mordecai. It’s hilarious isn’t it? That is unless you’re Haman of course. Haman is totally humiliated & rushes home to tell his wife & friends what’s happened & light starts to dawn, for his wife at least. Haman’s pride tells him he’s still in control, but he’s being hurried along by Esther’s plans.
MALICE IS HAMAN’S PROBLEM
Haman’s big sin is the malice he bears towards Mordecai & the Jewish people. Malice is the deep-seated hatred that feels delight when our enemy suffers & pain when our enemy succeeds; a mean-spirited, thoughtful intention to hurt somebody & make them suffer. 1 Cor. 5:8 likens malice to yeast. It may start small but it swells like cancer eventually permeating the whole of our being the end result being the spoiling of our enjoyment of life. Haman complains that seeing Mordecai sitting at the king’s table as he walks by has taken all the pleasures he’s gained from being invited to the private banquet with Esther & the king.
But it also takes away his good judgment & he builds a 50 feet high gallows never thinking that it could be used on him as well. Nor does he wonder why Esther has just invited him to the banquet with the king. The king & Haman arrive at the banquet & are drinking wine when the king asks, for the second time, what is Esther’s petition & request. Esther replies, “Let my life be given me—that is my request; for we have been sold, I & my people, to be destroyed, to be killed, & to be annihilated.” Haman knows he’s been found out & hadn’t realized that Esther was one of the Jews he’d sentenced to death. Haman is now terrified & trembling in his sandals.
The king goes into a rage & his blood starts to boil. He has to walk out of the room to calm down in the garden outside & decide what to do with Haman. While the king is absent, Haman makes his final mistake & throws himself at Esther’s feet begging to be spared. Well, the king walks back in & sees that Haman is draped across Esther’s couch & that’s the last straw. He’s arrested & hung on the gallows he’s just built for Mordecia. And that’s the end for old Haman. Esther is given all of Haman’s possessions & Mordecia is promoted to the position of Prime Minister.
But there’s still the problem of the king’s edict about the Jews. Esther pleads with the king to revoke it but he can’t. In Persia, once a law has been made it can’t be revoked. Instead the king allows Mordecia to write a second law allowing the Jews to gather to defend themselves on the appointed day. When the day comes those who seek to attack them are killed, though the majority of the population takes their side. Esther asks for a second day of retribution for the Jews. Happily the crisis ends & so is instituted the feast of Purim that’s been celebrated by the Jewish people ever since.
It’s sometimes asked why this story is in the Bible, particularity as God isn’t mentioned in the entire book. Is it just there to explain the feast of Purim, or is there more to it than that? How might this story be relevant to us? Esther lived in a world where God wasn’t known & honored. The world of Susa had no real understanding of a personal God, of a living God, of a God who cared for His people wherever they were. Esther lived in a time when God’s people were waiting for redemption. They were in a foreign a land where they didn’t belong. They were waiting for God to come & take them home.
God has sometimes used armies & great miracles to rescue His people but He isn’t limited to those strategies. He can just as easily use an obscure person such as Esther & allow them to be the agent of His Salvation. We might be tempted to think God can only work in a situation where there is freedom of religion & worship like we enjoy in America. But this story shows us that He can enable His people to function within whatever system they find themselves. Joseph, Daniel & Esther all served totally pagan kings & won favor with them because of their exemplary conduct & example.
Esther & Mordecia had to live by faith & not by sight. There was no Temple to go to, to remind them of God’s grandeur & sovereignty. Israel was no longer a great nation reflecting God’s power & glory to the world. In fact, Haman’s order to destroy them showed just how powerless they were. We too must live by faith & not by sight. We are waiting for an inheritance that can’t be seen. It’s a sure & certain hope but it’s a hope that we hold on to by faith.
Like Esther, God may have put you where you are to allow you to find a solution in a situation where you & you only will fit. But don’t forget, you are never alone. God walks the corridors of production plants, offices, school & the Halls of Government, anywhere His people are. God is always working in the background bringing His plans for you, indeed for the world to completion. If you are a person who sees the gloomy side of things & you gaze into the future & don’t see that things could ever get better, Esther speaks to you.
We can rest in the knowledge that our welfare is in God’s hands. His help comes from unexpected quarters, unwilling partners, & unseen forces. He numbers the very hairs of our heads; he’s awake, alert, attentive & active.
His name may never be mentioned in our world except as a swear word but He is active & present.
As in the story of Esther, you too may be the target of malice. But if you’re faithful to Him, He’ll allow no weapon formed against you to prosper. Also, lets keep in mind the power of one person , like Esther, to make a difference.
In 1845, one vote brought Texas into the union.
In 1868 one vote saved President Andrew Johnson from impeachment.
In 1876 one vote gave Rutherford B. Hayes the U.S presidency.
In 1923, one vote gave Adolph Hitler control of Germany's Nazi party.
In 1941, one vote saved the Selective Service System just 12 weeks before Pearl Harbor.
Let’s follow Esther’s courageous example & be ready to step out on faith & use the wisdom God gives us to do what’s needed
......right where we are.
Blessings,
John
Saturday, August 4, 2018
The Master Key To Great Relationships
By John Stallings
The following story will tell us the main cause of divorce in this country. It will tell us the main cause of church splits. The main cause of broken friendships & family dissension is in this story. The main cause of strained relationships indeed, the root cause of many of life’s problems is in this story.
LET’S READ THE STORY
The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure that a man discovered hidden in a field. In his excitement, he hid it again and sold everything he owned to get enough money to buy the field. Matt13:44—The New Living Translation
WE ALL KNOW WHAT A TREASURE IS
A treasure is something that can change your lifestyle. A treasure is something that can take you from- rags- to- riches. A treasure is life changing money. A treasure is something to be coveted & much desired. Men spend their lives searching for treasures. They go to the ends of the earth for treasures. Sadly some people kill & steal in the hopes of gaining a treasure.
WE ALL KNOW WHAT A FIELD IS
A field is a basically untouched uncultured piece of land, a place where briars & scrubby things grow. A field is a place where snakes crawl & small rodents like rats scurry about. Often larger things like wildcats & raccoons take up residence in a field. A field is a place where people dump garbage & even carcasses of animals. A field is a place where poison Ivy might grow along with weeds of every description. A field is a non-descript place with no real utility, no crops growing, just a field.
The man in this story finds such a field & then he finds a treasure hidden in the field. He covers the treasure back up, keeps mum about it & then goes & sells everything he has to buy this field. When the man comes back he gets a chance to evaluate the field he’s purchased. He’s got more time now & starts to evaluate his new acquisition. As he walks off the property he finds some startling things. There’s no doubt he’s bought the treasure, but;
• He’s also bought some weed-thickets,
• He’s bought some rocks,
• He’s bought some ants & spiders,
• He’s bought some gopher-holes,
• He’s bought some field-mice & rats,
• He’s possibly bought a skunk or two & some snakes,
• Maybe he’s bought a raccoon & a opossum,
• He’s bought some garbage someone dumped on his land,
• He’s bought a few dead trees, & many old stumps,
• He’s bought some poison Ivy.
This man has bought all this stuff because he wanted the treasure buried in this field.
I can imagine the man as he goes into his field to start digging & all at once a big Iguana comes scampering out of his hole. Then he sees poison Ivy growing & as he turns around a large rat runs between his feet & he smells the odor of a skunk. What if this man got so disgusted with all the junk on his field that he forsook his field & the treasure buried there because of his negativity? It might be that close to this piece of land is a beautifully cultivated piece of property. He could go there & things would be much more pleasant for him. But wouldn’t it be silly for him to go to the other field where there is no treasure?
I realize that this story alludes to the kingdom of God & the hidden treasure in Christ. But let’s broaden the scope & application a bit & see another truth that presents itself to us here.
WE SEE THIS SCENERIO PLAYED OUT OFTEN IN PEOPLE'S LIVES.
Far too often in life, people forfeit treasures because the treasure is surrounded by a field that looks too foreboding. We can’t escape the fact that almost 100% of the time great treasures are “guarded” by some sort of unpleasantness.
• This treasure wasn’t in a bank- it was in a field.
• It isn’t in a museum -it’s in a field.
• You may have to smell the odor of a skunk to get this treasure.
• You may have to run from a raccoon.
• You may have to stumble over some garbage.
• You might have to get stung by a few wasps.
• But some folk don’t want to encounter these negatives.
1. A FRIEND IS A TREASURE---BUT ALL FRIENDS HAVE FIELDS
When we first meet a friend we are enraptured with him. He appears nearly faultless. And then all of the sudden we see a few weeds in his life. We see a few negatives, a few warts. Perhaps not stopping to think that we all have weeds in our fields, we turn away from that friend. We were looking for the treasure in the person’s life but maybe a skunk pops up & we break up with that friend. We get mad with our friend & in some cases we won’t speak to our friend after we find out about his field. So we go seeking another friend only to find sooner or later that friend will also have undesirable things in his field. In the process of seeking friends we must keep in mind that we also have our own fields containing rats, nettles & weeds & briars. We shouldn’t be surprised when trying to be the best friend we can be if our lizard jumps up & scurries across our field at the most inopportune time.
2. -A YOUNG MAN FINDS A YOUNG LADY--BUT SHE HAS A FIELD
He falls in love with her because he sees so much to love & appreciate. He never stops to think that this angel he loves is really a human being, a person with a field. After he marries her & gets close to her he starts to see that she has enormous weeds in her field. He sees a mouse or two scampering in her field & maybe a little garbage. Then he decides he doesn’t want the treasure after all. But in all honesty, there’s not a woman in the world who doesn’t have a field. And by the way, the treasure the man saw is still in this girl, but he decides he doesn’t want to keep looking hard to find it. Maybe the lady doesn’t screw the lids back on bottles or containers & you’ve put ketchup on the ceiling more than once because of that. Many thousands each year are ending their marriages simply because of finding out that the person in whom they saw great treasure also has a field. No matter whom they move on to next they’ll find out that person also has a field. But the next person might not have the same treasure as the one they left behind.
The message is- if you have a good woman & find out she has some weeds growing & opossums running in her field, stay committed to her anyway because there’s great treasure there. She’s a good hearted woman who loves you, loves God, loves His word & loves her children. Like us all, she isn’t perfect but don’t throw away that treasure just because she has a field. Sir if you have a woman who’s cooking for you, washing & ironing your clothes & is loving & loyal to you she’s a treasure no matter what kind of field she’s got -so keep looking at that treasure.
3. A YOUNG WOMAN FINDS A YOUNG MAN--HE ALSO HAS A FIELD.
He’s a dreamboat at first but then he gains enough weight to sink a ship. After a while she finds out he has a field, which all men do. She finds out while he’s smart he’s also stubborn. He has a field with weeds growing & garbage here & there. He’s a hardworking, faithful man who loves her with all his heart but he does have a field. He loves God & the things of God so don’t give up the field because there’s great treasure there. A lady told me once that she got furious at her husband for taking a nap on the couch in the afternoon & she divorced him basically for that reason. Years later she told me with tears in her eyes she’d do almost anything to see him once again napping on that couch.
I’m deeply troubled by the fact that in today’s America young people are marrying & divorcing many times just for the sex. Our sex-saturated society tells young people that their marriage bed will be like the sometimes lewd love scenes enacted in the movies they see. To make it even more tragic, many young men who’ve exposed themselves to pornography enter marriage thinking their marriage bed will resemble what they’ve witnessed in pornographic images. Though you may find it hard to believe, many marriages break up because one or both the partners feel the sex isn’t “wild” or “kinky” enough. A father told me once why his young daughter was divorcing her husband & marrying another man. He said, “It ain’t a thing in the world but sex.” As if the sex act was something that could comprise a large segment of a marriage. It’s true that sex within marriage is a beautiful thing & the bed undefiled, but anyone married or single who tries to make sex the center of their lives will sooner or later become jaded by it & learn that God didn’t design sex to dominate our lives but to enhance them. It will take much more than sex to keep us happy & build satisfactory relationships.
4.-CHILDREN & THEIR PARENT’S FIELD
There is obvious treasure in a parent but most kids would laughingly say they have to dig deep to find it. I remember when I was a kid how at times I would get livid with my parents. As I grew older I realized that they did the best they could & were right most of the time. My dad would make me lie down across the bed from time to time & use his belt on me but I can’t remember a time when I didn’t have it coming. Parents may be stubborn from time to time & have a temper but when we look at what they do for their children we can overlook a little field mouse scurrying around occasionally. It would be tough to grow up with no roof over your head & be forced to study by candle light, on an empty stomach. Don’t give all the treasures up because you see a weed or two in their field. Dads don’t get a lot of appreciation in life but every once in a while why not to go to dad & say; "Dad, I sure do appreciate this electricity you keep turned on for us. I can read so much better in the light. And I sure do like that good food you buy & the lunch money you give me every day."
5.-STUDENTS & TEACHERS--ALL HAVE FIELDS
A pupil looks at the teacher & says-- “Boy is she hard-boiled?” As I look back at the teachers I had as a kid, the ones I liked least then are the ones I like most now. The ones that let us get by with just about anything are the ones I respect the least looking back. There’s a treasure in a hard-boiled teacher. A kid might say, “But she gave me some demerits.” No she didn’t, the kid gave himself the demerits, and she just wrote them down. It’s a sad thing how unwilling we are to take a few negatives so that we may have a chance to get the positive
It’s possible that by looking around you might find a field with a little less garbage on it or fewer weeds growing but it’s very likely that the field you find won’t have a treasure either. If we go through life always taking the easy way or the line of least resistance, we can have an easier life but it won’t be a fulfilling life. The human spirit doesn’t thrive on ease & comfort. The human spirit thrives on challenges & accomplishments. If we’re to accomplish something worthwhile we’ll have to dig for it in some sort of field. The situations may be less than ideal because life hides its treasures. Blessed is the young person who learns this lesson early enough for it to do them some good.
6.-EVERY CHURCH HAS A TREASURE AND--IT ALSO HAS A FIELD.
You might start to attend the church & say to yourself what a treasure you & your family have found. The singing is superb & the pastor’s preaching is straight from the portals of Glory. But pretty soon you see some things that you don’t understand & you wonder about it. You see some weeds & you see a rat or two run across the church. Then you start to notice that the church people have a field & then you see that the pastor also has a field. There are problems in the church choir, in the Sunday school & in the Nursery. There are problems in the parking lot if the church is a large one & now you’re beginning to see all the flaws or the churches “field.” You saw the treasure first but it took a little time to see the field. Not only that- if you & I join the church, now there’ll be more treasure but alas, we’ll also bring our fields.
I can tell you, as someone who’s spent over half a century in the ministry, every church in the world has a drawback of some kind & if you aren’t aware of this principle it could be a terribly off-putting to you.
Several years ago we went to one of the most beautiful vacation spots in the world, out of the United States to conduct a revival in a large church. Each night we ministered to overflow crowds. We sold out of CDs on the second night & had to have more made locally. God confirmed His Word in every service & we saw many miracles take place. We stayed in a beautiful Condo, ate local cuisine daily & relaxed on a private beach.
You might say, “Brother John. What’s not to like about that?” Remember the principle; no treasure is ever going to be without its field? There was a couple on the ministry team who were given the assignment of working with us on the platform each night, & somehow they must have felt their job was to keep us humble. And that they did. Without going into detail, I’ll tell you that if a psychologist was to have observed it, I have no doubt he’d have called it professional jealousy.
In times like this you look at the person & think, “what have I ever done to you? You hardly even know me. What food have I ever taken off your plate? What child of yours have I kidnapped & held for ransom? Everything they could do to make us feel unwelcome is what this couple did, but nothing they tried did anything to harm the work God was doing. Sometimes novices in the ministry get the idea that if you go to a foreign country, folk are much more spiritual, but friend, our experience has been that people are the same everywhere.
When our work was done & we boarded the big jet that would bring us home, we looked down at that beautiful land shimmering in the ocean & had a warm feeling that we’d found treasure there & hopefully some of the sweet-spirited people had found some sort of treasure in us. But we still had to acknowledge that, consistent with the principle, that treasure was nestled in a “field.” Please know that absolutely every person you’ll ever know & every church you ever visit & every situation in which you become involved will have a treasure. But there’ll also be a field you’ll have to contend with. You will probably have to look hard for the treasure but the field is never hard to find.
ALL THE GREAT MEN IN THE BIBLE HAD GREAT TREASURE -BUT THEY ALSO HAD THEIR FIELD!
• Moses had great treasure but he was hot-tempered & his field kept him from entering the Promised Land.
* Noah had a great treasure but he had a field.
• Peter had a treasure but he also had a problem with impetuosity.
• David had a treasure but most of us know what his field was.
• Jacob had great treasure but he was a con-artist with a large field.
• Paul had a great treasure but he had a field.
• James & John had treasure but they also had a field.
Every pastor you’ll ever meet will have a field.
Friend, why spend your life going from church to church trying to find a treasure without a field? Why go from spouse to spouse trying to find one without a field? Why go from friend to friend trying to find one without a field?
There is no such thing as a treasure without a field.
If all this be true & it is, if it’s true that we can’t find a treasure without a field, why don’t we go to that person we’ve fallen out with & make things right with them? Go to the person you’ve been criticizing & say you’re sorry. You saw something good in them at some point or you’d never had gotten closer to them in the first place. That good is still there- but be advised; in all probability their field is still there too. Tell them you saw a mouse & got spooked but you still see the treasure that’s within them & care enough about them to want to pursue your friendship.
Why not go to your wife or husband & tell them you’ve been pointing out all their mistakes but they are still the most precious person to you on the face of God’s earth. Look them in the eye & say, “Sorry sweetheart, I’ve been looking at the weeds in the field instead of the treasure that dwells inside you. Look at the person with whom you’ve been disenchanted & say—“Will you forgive me for I’ve been looking at the field instead of the treasure?
7.-THERE’S ONLY ONE GREAT TREASURE WITH NO FIELD!
What a pity it would be to close this piece & not remind you of One who has no field, across whose path a rat never ran. One who never knew what it was like to have a weed in His field. One who each time you dig you’re not disappointed, you find treasure. Over the years in many parts of the world I’ve asked many people if they knew my Savior-the Lord Jesus Christ. I remember asking a lady in the Orient that question once & she told me in no uncertain terms she wasn’t a Christian & would never be because of the Christians she’d come in contact with. I told her “I wasn’t asking her to trust those people but I was asking her to trust Jesus. Can you find anything wrong with Him?” She said “No, & if more of your people were like Him more of our people would become your people.”
We don’t point people to the Pope, or an Archbishop or any other individual. They all have weeds. We don’t point them to a preacher, priest, rabbi, evangelist, we all have weeds. We point them to the Lamb of God who is faultless & without blemish & paid our sin debt on the cross of Calvary & offers us all eternal life.
Let’s go back & find the fellow with the field. He’s felt the sting of the nettles & weeds & he’s smelled a skunk or two. But he kept digging. One day all of the sudden he finds the treasure he’s been looking for. It was worth all of it because finally he’s got his hidden treasure.
In every human relationship there’s a treasure, but there’s also a field. Will we spend our live’s complaining about the field or rejoicing over the treasure.
IT’S UP TO US!
........But we have this treasure in earthen vessels (jars of clay) that the excellency of the power may be in God not us. ----2 Cor.4:7
Blessings,
John
The following story will tell us the main cause of divorce in this country. It will tell us the main cause of church splits. The main cause of broken friendships & family dissension is in this story. The main cause of strained relationships indeed, the root cause of many of life’s problems is in this story.
LET’S READ THE STORY
The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure that a man discovered hidden in a field. In his excitement, he hid it again and sold everything he owned to get enough money to buy the field. Matt13:44—The New Living Translation
WE ALL KNOW WHAT A TREASURE IS
A treasure is something that can change your lifestyle. A treasure is something that can take you from- rags- to- riches. A treasure is life changing money. A treasure is something to be coveted & much desired. Men spend their lives searching for treasures. They go to the ends of the earth for treasures. Sadly some people kill & steal in the hopes of gaining a treasure.
WE ALL KNOW WHAT A FIELD IS
A field is a basically untouched uncultured piece of land, a place where briars & scrubby things grow. A field is a place where snakes crawl & small rodents like rats scurry about. Often larger things like wildcats & raccoons take up residence in a field. A field is a place where people dump garbage & even carcasses of animals. A field is a place where poison Ivy might grow along with weeds of every description. A field is a non-descript place with no real utility, no crops growing, just a field.
The man in this story finds such a field & then he finds a treasure hidden in the field. He covers the treasure back up, keeps mum about it & then goes & sells everything he has to buy this field. When the man comes back he gets a chance to evaluate the field he’s purchased. He’s got more time now & starts to evaluate his new acquisition. As he walks off the property he finds some startling things. There’s no doubt he’s bought the treasure, but;
• He’s also bought some weed-thickets,
• He’s bought some rocks,
• He’s bought some ants & spiders,
• He’s bought some gopher-holes,
• He’s bought some field-mice & rats,
• He’s possibly bought a skunk or two & some snakes,
• Maybe he’s bought a raccoon & a opossum,
• He’s bought some garbage someone dumped on his land,
• He’s bought a few dead trees, & many old stumps,
• He’s bought some poison Ivy.
This man has bought all this stuff because he wanted the treasure buried in this field.
I can imagine the man as he goes into his field to start digging & all at once a big Iguana comes scampering out of his hole. Then he sees poison Ivy growing & as he turns around a large rat runs between his feet & he smells the odor of a skunk. What if this man got so disgusted with all the junk on his field that he forsook his field & the treasure buried there because of his negativity? It might be that close to this piece of land is a beautifully cultivated piece of property. He could go there & things would be much more pleasant for him. But wouldn’t it be silly for him to go to the other field where there is no treasure?
I realize that this story alludes to the kingdom of God & the hidden treasure in Christ. But let’s broaden the scope & application a bit & see another truth that presents itself to us here.
WE SEE THIS SCENERIO PLAYED OUT OFTEN IN PEOPLE'S LIVES.
Far too often in life, people forfeit treasures because the treasure is surrounded by a field that looks too foreboding. We can’t escape the fact that almost 100% of the time great treasures are “guarded” by some sort of unpleasantness.
• This treasure wasn’t in a bank- it was in a field.
• It isn’t in a museum -it’s in a field.
• You may have to smell the odor of a skunk to get this treasure.
• You may have to run from a raccoon.
• You may have to stumble over some garbage.
• You might have to get stung by a few wasps.
• But some folk don’t want to encounter these negatives.
1. A FRIEND IS A TREASURE---BUT ALL FRIENDS HAVE FIELDS
When we first meet a friend we are enraptured with him. He appears nearly faultless. And then all of the sudden we see a few weeds in his life. We see a few negatives, a few warts. Perhaps not stopping to think that we all have weeds in our fields, we turn away from that friend. We were looking for the treasure in the person’s life but maybe a skunk pops up & we break up with that friend. We get mad with our friend & in some cases we won’t speak to our friend after we find out about his field. So we go seeking another friend only to find sooner or later that friend will also have undesirable things in his field. In the process of seeking friends we must keep in mind that we also have our own fields containing rats, nettles & weeds & briars. We shouldn’t be surprised when trying to be the best friend we can be if our lizard jumps up & scurries across our field at the most inopportune time.
2. -A YOUNG MAN FINDS A YOUNG LADY--BUT SHE HAS A FIELD
He falls in love with her because he sees so much to love & appreciate. He never stops to think that this angel he loves is really a human being, a person with a field. After he marries her & gets close to her he starts to see that she has enormous weeds in her field. He sees a mouse or two scampering in her field & maybe a little garbage. Then he decides he doesn’t want the treasure after all. But in all honesty, there’s not a woman in the world who doesn’t have a field. And by the way, the treasure the man saw is still in this girl, but he decides he doesn’t want to keep looking hard to find it. Maybe the lady doesn’t screw the lids back on bottles or containers & you’ve put ketchup on the ceiling more than once because of that. Many thousands each year are ending their marriages simply because of finding out that the person in whom they saw great treasure also has a field. No matter whom they move on to next they’ll find out that person also has a field. But the next person might not have the same treasure as the one they left behind.
The message is- if you have a good woman & find out she has some weeds growing & opossums running in her field, stay committed to her anyway because there’s great treasure there. She’s a good hearted woman who loves you, loves God, loves His word & loves her children. Like us all, she isn’t perfect but don’t throw away that treasure just because she has a field. Sir if you have a woman who’s cooking for you, washing & ironing your clothes & is loving & loyal to you she’s a treasure no matter what kind of field she’s got -so keep looking at that treasure.
3. A YOUNG WOMAN FINDS A YOUNG MAN--HE ALSO HAS A FIELD.
He’s a dreamboat at first but then he gains enough weight to sink a ship. After a while she finds out he has a field, which all men do. She finds out while he’s smart he’s also stubborn. He has a field with weeds growing & garbage here & there. He’s a hardworking, faithful man who loves her with all his heart but he does have a field. He loves God & the things of God so don’t give up the field because there’s great treasure there. A lady told me once that she got furious at her husband for taking a nap on the couch in the afternoon & she divorced him basically for that reason. Years later she told me with tears in her eyes she’d do almost anything to see him once again napping on that couch.
I’m deeply troubled by the fact that in today’s America young people are marrying & divorcing many times just for the sex. Our sex-saturated society tells young people that their marriage bed will be like the sometimes lewd love scenes enacted in the movies they see. To make it even more tragic, many young men who’ve exposed themselves to pornography enter marriage thinking their marriage bed will resemble what they’ve witnessed in pornographic images. Though you may find it hard to believe, many marriages break up because one or both the partners feel the sex isn’t “wild” or “kinky” enough. A father told me once why his young daughter was divorcing her husband & marrying another man. He said, “It ain’t a thing in the world but sex.” As if the sex act was something that could comprise a large segment of a marriage. It’s true that sex within marriage is a beautiful thing & the bed undefiled, but anyone married or single who tries to make sex the center of their lives will sooner or later become jaded by it & learn that God didn’t design sex to dominate our lives but to enhance them. It will take much more than sex to keep us happy & build satisfactory relationships.
4.-CHILDREN & THEIR PARENT’S FIELD
There is obvious treasure in a parent but most kids would laughingly say they have to dig deep to find it. I remember when I was a kid how at times I would get livid with my parents. As I grew older I realized that they did the best they could & were right most of the time. My dad would make me lie down across the bed from time to time & use his belt on me but I can’t remember a time when I didn’t have it coming. Parents may be stubborn from time to time & have a temper but when we look at what they do for their children we can overlook a little field mouse scurrying around occasionally. It would be tough to grow up with no roof over your head & be forced to study by candle light, on an empty stomach. Don’t give all the treasures up because you see a weed or two in their field. Dads don’t get a lot of appreciation in life but every once in a while why not to go to dad & say; "Dad, I sure do appreciate this electricity you keep turned on for us. I can read so much better in the light. And I sure do like that good food you buy & the lunch money you give me every day."
5.-STUDENTS & TEACHERS--ALL HAVE FIELDS
A pupil looks at the teacher & says-- “Boy is she hard-boiled?” As I look back at the teachers I had as a kid, the ones I liked least then are the ones I like most now. The ones that let us get by with just about anything are the ones I respect the least looking back. There’s a treasure in a hard-boiled teacher. A kid might say, “But she gave me some demerits.” No she didn’t, the kid gave himself the demerits, and she just wrote them down. It’s a sad thing how unwilling we are to take a few negatives so that we may have a chance to get the positive
It’s possible that by looking around you might find a field with a little less garbage on it or fewer weeds growing but it’s very likely that the field you find won’t have a treasure either. If we go through life always taking the easy way or the line of least resistance, we can have an easier life but it won’t be a fulfilling life. The human spirit doesn’t thrive on ease & comfort. The human spirit thrives on challenges & accomplishments. If we’re to accomplish something worthwhile we’ll have to dig for it in some sort of field. The situations may be less than ideal because life hides its treasures. Blessed is the young person who learns this lesson early enough for it to do them some good.
6.-EVERY CHURCH HAS A TREASURE AND--IT ALSO HAS A FIELD.
You might start to attend the church & say to yourself what a treasure you & your family have found. The singing is superb & the pastor’s preaching is straight from the portals of Glory. But pretty soon you see some things that you don’t understand & you wonder about it. You see some weeds & you see a rat or two run across the church. Then you start to notice that the church people have a field & then you see that the pastor also has a field. There are problems in the church choir, in the Sunday school & in the Nursery. There are problems in the parking lot if the church is a large one & now you’re beginning to see all the flaws or the churches “field.” You saw the treasure first but it took a little time to see the field. Not only that- if you & I join the church, now there’ll be more treasure but alas, we’ll also bring our fields.
I can tell you, as someone who’s spent over half a century in the ministry, every church in the world has a drawback of some kind & if you aren’t aware of this principle it could be a terribly off-putting to you.
Several years ago we went to one of the most beautiful vacation spots in the world, out of the United States to conduct a revival in a large church. Each night we ministered to overflow crowds. We sold out of CDs on the second night & had to have more made locally. God confirmed His Word in every service & we saw many miracles take place. We stayed in a beautiful Condo, ate local cuisine daily & relaxed on a private beach.
You might say, “Brother John. What’s not to like about that?” Remember the principle; no treasure is ever going to be without its field? There was a couple on the ministry team who were given the assignment of working with us on the platform each night, & somehow they must have felt their job was to keep us humble. And that they did. Without going into detail, I’ll tell you that if a psychologist was to have observed it, I have no doubt he’d have called it professional jealousy.
In times like this you look at the person & think, “what have I ever done to you? You hardly even know me. What food have I ever taken off your plate? What child of yours have I kidnapped & held for ransom? Everything they could do to make us feel unwelcome is what this couple did, but nothing they tried did anything to harm the work God was doing. Sometimes novices in the ministry get the idea that if you go to a foreign country, folk are much more spiritual, but friend, our experience has been that people are the same everywhere.
When our work was done & we boarded the big jet that would bring us home, we looked down at that beautiful land shimmering in the ocean & had a warm feeling that we’d found treasure there & hopefully some of the sweet-spirited people had found some sort of treasure in us. But we still had to acknowledge that, consistent with the principle, that treasure was nestled in a “field.” Please know that absolutely every person you’ll ever know & every church you ever visit & every situation in which you become involved will have a treasure. But there’ll also be a field you’ll have to contend with. You will probably have to look hard for the treasure but the field is never hard to find.
ALL THE GREAT MEN IN THE BIBLE HAD GREAT TREASURE -BUT THEY ALSO HAD THEIR FIELD!
• Moses had great treasure but he was hot-tempered & his field kept him from entering the Promised Land.
* Noah had a great treasure but he had a field.
• Peter had a treasure but he also had a problem with impetuosity.
• David had a treasure but most of us know what his field was.
• Jacob had great treasure but he was a con-artist with a large field.
• Paul had a great treasure but he had a field.
• James & John had treasure but they also had a field.
Every pastor you’ll ever meet will have a field.
Friend, why spend your life going from church to church trying to find a treasure without a field? Why go from spouse to spouse trying to find one without a field? Why go from friend to friend trying to find one without a field?
There is no such thing as a treasure without a field.
If all this be true & it is, if it’s true that we can’t find a treasure without a field, why don’t we go to that person we’ve fallen out with & make things right with them? Go to the person you’ve been criticizing & say you’re sorry. You saw something good in them at some point or you’d never had gotten closer to them in the first place. That good is still there- but be advised; in all probability their field is still there too. Tell them you saw a mouse & got spooked but you still see the treasure that’s within them & care enough about them to want to pursue your friendship.
Why not go to your wife or husband & tell them you’ve been pointing out all their mistakes but they are still the most precious person to you on the face of God’s earth. Look them in the eye & say, “Sorry sweetheart, I’ve been looking at the weeds in the field instead of the treasure that dwells inside you. Look at the person with whom you’ve been disenchanted & say—“Will you forgive me for I’ve been looking at the field instead of the treasure?
7.-THERE’S ONLY ONE GREAT TREASURE WITH NO FIELD!
What a pity it would be to close this piece & not remind you of One who has no field, across whose path a rat never ran. One who never knew what it was like to have a weed in His field. One who each time you dig you’re not disappointed, you find treasure. Over the years in many parts of the world I’ve asked many people if they knew my Savior-the Lord Jesus Christ. I remember asking a lady in the Orient that question once & she told me in no uncertain terms she wasn’t a Christian & would never be because of the Christians she’d come in contact with. I told her “I wasn’t asking her to trust those people but I was asking her to trust Jesus. Can you find anything wrong with Him?” She said “No, & if more of your people were like Him more of our people would become your people.”
We don’t point people to the Pope, or an Archbishop or any other individual. They all have weeds. We don’t point them to a preacher, priest, rabbi, evangelist, we all have weeds. We point them to the Lamb of God who is faultless & without blemish & paid our sin debt on the cross of Calvary & offers us all eternal life.
Let’s go back & find the fellow with the field. He’s felt the sting of the nettles & weeds & he’s smelled a skunk or two. But he kept digging. One day all of the sudden he finds the treasure he’s been looking for. It was worth all of it because finally he’s got his hidden treasure.
In every human relationship there’s a treasure, but there’s also a field. Will we spend our live’s complaining about the field or rejoicing over the treasure.
IT’S UP TO US!
........But we have this treasure in earthen vessels (jars of clay) that the excellency of the power may be in God not us. ----2 Cor.4:7
Blessings,
John
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
