Year 5, Day 59: Nehemiah 12

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Up

• Up: Up is the word we use for what we worship.  If we are following God’s will, God will occupy the Up position.  Our life, our identity, our mission, our family on mission is all derived from Up.  This is why God needs to be in our Up position.

What a great chapter on Up.  Imagine, if you will, all the important leaders of an area walking around their area and worshipping God as they do it.  Imagine the prayers they could pray over such an area.  Imagine the testimony and witness that it gives to anyone who is watching about what those leaders really think is the most important thing in their life.

That is what Up is all about.  That is what it means to be devoted to God.  Having God in our Up position means that we are indeed giving a witness that God is the focal point of our life and God is the center of our worship.

And where do we see this great chapter of Up leading?  The moment of Up brings the people together.  That’s In.  The moment of Up drives the people forth in service to God.  That’s Out.  A properly developed Up naturally leads to a meaningful In and Out.

<><

Year 5, Day 58: Nehemiah 11

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Identity

• Identity: Our true identity comes from the Father.  Only when our identity comes from God can we be obedient in ways that satisfy our person to our core.

I was intrigued by my thoughts on this chapter from three years ago.  When I studied this chapter three years ago, I confessed to skimming the list of names in the chapter – much like I did this year when I read it.  However, I remembered the discussion that I put up on the blog about what it meant in an ancient context to live in a city.  Yes, there were benefits: protection provided by the walls and geographical location, social rank from living in an important place, proximity to important people, or even easily felt community.  However, I had forgotten about the negative aspects of living in a city: unable to own land, unable to live off the land, necessity to depend on money to buy things.

In the modern world, we accept all the negatives as a simple assumption in life.  We understand that we work for money and use the money to buy the things in life we can’t make ourselves: electricity, cars, gasoline, computers, cell phones, etc.  Money and economics are a way of life to us.  But to the ancient mind, living in a city was a big risk.  If you owned land, you could farm and raise animals for your livelihood.  You could use the trees and rocks in your land as building materials.  Owning land meant you could get by without money, especially if you were willing to barter.  In the ancient world, depending on having access to money was a huge risk – a risk that could easily end up in starvation and death if a few things went poorly for you.

All of this leads me to identity.  Those people in Nehemiah 11 who went to live in Jerusalem were living in faith.  They were living upon a promise that God would remember them.  Voluntarily giving up their land to live in Jerusalem was an act of faithful submission.  It would have been a humbling experience for each of them.  It would have been an experience that was either a source of frustration from being forced into doing it or a source of satisfaction of doing it because one’s identity is in the Lord.

Winning – or losing, as the case may actually be – the lottery and being selected to live in Jerusalem would have been a trial.  It would have been a moment of finding out where one’s identity really is located.  It would have been a gut-check moment of asking whether I lived to provide for myself or if I was willing to live where God would provide for me.  That’s the fundamental question of identity.

<><

Year 5, Day 57: Nehemiah 10

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Obedience

• Obedience: Genuine and satisfying obedience comes out of our identity.  Our true identity comes only from our Father.

The last few days we’ve focused on God’s forgiveness.  God’s forgiveness is of ultimate importance.  It is precisely what leads us to the cross.  Jesus came because of God’s forgiveness.

But in Nehemiah 10 we get a strong sense of the pattern of life that should exert itself in God.  They declare obedience.  While God is forgiving, our proper response is obedience.  Before we can be anything else in God, we must first respond in obedience.

This makes sense, actually.  Our sinfulness proves that we do not have what it takes within us naturally.  So in order to have what it takes, we need to get it from God.  How will we get it from God?  We will get it from God by listening to Him and being obedient to His ways.  We will be obedient to what we hear Him say.

Nehemiah 10 is all about the people’s response.  They hear about their sins, turn, repent, and declare obedience.  Only then are they ready to move forward.  It is no different for us.

<><

Year 5, Day 56: Nehemiah 9

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Forgiveness

• Forgiveness: Forgiveness is when our sins are absolved by God.  We do not deserve this forgiveness, but God grants it to us anyway.  We cannot earn forgiveness, but God gives it to us anyway.  As we are forgiven by God, He also asks us to forgive others.  In fact, Jesus Himself teaches us to pray for our forgiveness in the Lord’s Prayer when He says, “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.”

I think I’m going to focus on forgiveness for another day.  As we recount this passage in Nehemiah 9, it is clear that the one consistent attribute that God is always employing is forgiveness.  Yes, God is many things.  But every time God interacts with humanity there is an element of forgiveness within.

Look at the history of the Hebrew people.  God was good to Abraham and his offspring.  But by the time of Jacob, God was already being put into the back burner.  Among Jacob’s 12 sons, God was not a priority in most of their lives.  By the time they get to Egypt, God is really only important as they cry out in bondage.  Then there are the wilderness Hebrew people, who die in the wilderness because of their rebellion.  The Hebrew people during the time of the Judges are no better.  Then there are the Hebrew people who come after Solomon when the general decline really takes hold.  Practically the whole time of relationship between God and His people has required Him to be forgiving before the relationship could even exist!

Forgiveness is actually where I think most of the other expressions of faith originate.  Because God is forgiving, we can worship Him.  Because God is forgiving, we can love Him.  Because God is forgiving we can love one another.  Because God is forgiving we do service to reflect His love to others.  Most of what we do is ultimately a response to God’s initial forgiveness.

<><

Year 5, Day 55: Nehemiah 8

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Forgiveness

• Forgiveness: Forgiveness is when our sins are absolved by God.  We do not deserve this forgiveness, but God grants it to us anyway.  We cannot earn forgiveness, but God gives it to us anyway.  As we are forgiven by God, He also asks us to forgive others.  In fact, Jesus Himself teaches us to pray for our forgiveness in the Lord’s Prayer when He says, “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.”

This might seem like an odd day to talk about forgiveness.  After all, the reading today is all about Nehemiah.  It is all about the reading of the Law.  It is all about how the people react to the reading of the Law and how much they are grieved by their trespasses.  Truth is, we should all be grieved about our trespasses.

However, at the same time I was struck at the end of the passage by the leaders reaction to the people and how it was declared that it was to be a time of celebration!  This is the way that it should be.  We should be grieved when we realize just how much we have violated the Law of God.  But as much as we are grieved by that we should rejoice that our trespasses are less than God’s forgiveness and His grace!

You see, God knows how much we get wrong.  He knows when we are genuinely mournful and when we are genuinely repentant.  He sent His Son so that when we are genuinely mournful we can be forgiven.  He sent His Son so that no matter how much we transgress the Law He can forgive.  Our sinfulness is great, but God’s ability to forgive the genuinely repentant is even greater!

On the day we hear about being grieved by the Law, we should also celebrate.  This is a joyous day.  Yes, we are sinners.  But God is a forgiving God.  And that is the greater of the two points.

<><

Year 5, Day 54: Nehemiah 7

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Semi-Circle, Rhythm

• Rhythm: We are designed to work from rest, not rest from work.  God has created us to be a people of rhythm in which we rest (abide), grow, work (bear fruit), and prune.  The better we understand this natural rhythm in life, the more satisfied we will feel in life and the more we will be able to be in tune with succeeding in what God desires our life to be about.

Although Nehemiah 7 appears to be a long list of names – and it is – I think there is some depth here that we can ponder.  Before we get to the names, Nehemiah gives orders about when the gates can be open and when they should be shut.  He also gives orders about setting up guards at the gates and within the cities.  I think both of these things lead to rhythm in life.

Nehemiah is telling us to be careful when we let outside influences in.  With respect to the city, Nehemiah is saying, “Only leave the city vulnerable when the sun is high and there are no places near the wall where people can hide and take you by surprise.”  This is the point of the guards, too.  Nehemiah is telling the people that the city needs guards at the points of entry, but it also needs guards throughout the city as well just to make sure.

For me, these things actually speak about rhythm.  I am less vulnerable to outside influences when I am living in rhythm.  I am best when I know that I am only opening myself up to the outside when I am safe.  I am able to open myself up to the world when I have taken time to assess who I am.  When I have abided with God and grow, I am best able to be open to the world and do the work of God.  But then when the time is right I need to so bearing fruit, close myself up, and return to abide with the Lord and take stock of what is still inside.

When I live like the city of Jerusalem – open when it is safe and guarded internally so as to always be able to take stock of what is happening – I am best able to do the work of God.  When I have a rhythm of spiritual life – abiding, growing, bearing fruit, and pruning so that I can once more abide – I am best able to be obedient to the call of the Lord.

<><

Year 5, Day 53: Nehemiah 6

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Authority

• Authority: Our calling.  This comes from God as king.  Because He calls us as His representatives, He gives us authority to go and do His will.

I am constantly reminded with how much of life starts with having a properly oriented perspective of Up.  If my Up is focused on God, most decisions really become quite clear.  If I am focused on my Father in heaven, then my identity becomes clear and I can be obedient.  If I am focused upon the true King of the universe, then my authority becomes clear and my power is obvious.  It is this dimension of authority that I want to focus today with Nehemiah.  But in truth it all starts with the focus of Nehemiah’s worship.  Who is in Nehemiah’s Up position?  God.

Three attacks come against Nehemiah in this chapter.  The first two attacks are external.  The first attack is a physical attack.  The leaders of the people around Nehemiah try to draw him out away from Jerusalem so that they can attack him.  Nehemiah will have none of it.  He knows his place.  Because God is in his Up position, Nehemiah knows that his authority – and therefore his power – don’t extend out away from Jerusalem.  Therefore, there is no need to go out into Jerusalem and there is no need to put himself at risk.  Nehemiah is able to avoid this threat entirely because he knows the limits of the authority that God has given to him.

The second attack is a case of defaming his character before the King of Persia.  Nehemiah is told that they are going to tell the king that Nehemiah is planning a revolt.  What is interesting is that Nehemiah allows God to fight this battle as well.  Nehemiah responds with truth: “No such things as you say have been done, for you are inventing them in your own mind.”  But then the next comment we hear is Nehemiah asking for God to protect him.  Once more Nehemiah is able to avoid the bait because he knows the extent of his authority.  He is content to let God fight the battle that is outside of his authority to fight – even though it involves him and his character!

The third attack against Nehemiah is a subtle and deadly attack from within upon his character.  Some of the religious leaders in Jerusalem attempt to get Nehemiah to enter into the temple.  They try to smooth-talk Nehemiah into going where he has no right to go!  He is no priest, he has no business being there!  Once more Nehemiah understands his authority.  Nehemiah has been given the authority to lead and rule over the Jews from a political perspective.  He is their governor.  But he is not a priest.  He has not been appointed by God to offer up sacrifices.  Because Nehemiah knows and understands his place, he understands his authority.  Because he understands his authority, he is once more able to sidestep the bait of the trap that had been laid for him.

Understanding our authority is crucial to living a successful life in obedience to God.  But obedience only comes when we are willing to have God in our Up position.  Want to live a life of obedience?  Get your identity and authority from God.

<><

Year 5, Day 52: Nehemiah 5

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Appetite

• Appetite: We all have needs that need to be filled.  When we allow ourselves to be filled with the people and things that God brings into our life, we will be satisfied because our In will be in proper focus.  But when we try to fill ourselves with our own desires we end up frustrated by an insatiable hunger.

Appetite is a funny thing.  The more we have, the more we want.  Logic would tell us that if we have a craving and we get what we are craving then the craving should stop.  Here’s the problem.  Our beings are not logical.  When we have a craving and we get what we are craving, the feeling of satisfaction is such that we want it again and usually in greater quantities.

We have a profound illustration of this here in Nehemiah 5.  The Jews are less than 100 years free of exile.  Many can probably still remember leaving Babylon – or at least know someone who once was captive in Babylon.  You would think that they would remember how much they loathed captivity.

Yet, less than a century away from their national captivity we see the Jews enslaving one another.  We see rich people extorting the poor people with respect to paying interest.  We see families in a position where they have to sell their own land, good, animals, and even themselves in order to pay things like tributes and taxes.  The rich among the Jews are extorting the poor just because they can.

It was one thing for Babylon to come and conquer the Jews.  It is another thing for the Persians to inherit a captive population when they conquered Babylon.  But the Jews were doing it to themselves!  The Jews were making slaves of their own people just because they had an appetite for money, wealth, power, and prestige!

I find this a sad chapter today.  It makes me sad to see the depths to which we fall as human beings in the pursuit of our appetite.  It makes me sad to read a chapter that tells us that Nehemiah had to be so focused on stopping the internal issues of the Jewish people that we have no report of God’s work being done.  This is the problem with appetite and sin in general.  When we focus elsewhere, God’s work stops.

<><

Year 5, Day 51: Nehemiah 4

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: In, Up

• Up: Up is the word we use for what we worship.  If we are following God’s will, God will occupy the Up position.  Our life, our identity, our mission, our family on mission is all derived from Up.  This is why God needs to be in our Up position.
• In: This is the word we use to express our relationships with our spiritual family.  These are often the people who hold us spiritually accountable.  They are the ones to whom we typically go for discussion and discernment.  These are the ones with whom we learn to share leadership.  They are the ones with whom we become family on mission.

This is a neat passage for us to see the challenges of ministry.  Anytime we intend to be obedient to God’s calling – that is, to go Out – we should expect resistance.  The typical human being around us will find it easier to criticize our efforts rather than join in the spirit of following God.  It is always easier to tear down someone else than to rise up to the personal challenge God is bringing to our own life through the example of others.  Thus, most people will tear down before they try to build up.

What do we do when we feel this external resistance – especially external critique?  First of all, we must make sure that we are getting our identity from the Father.  That is to say, we must be sure that we are worshipping and following God.    We must be sure that we are being obedient to His calling.  Because if our Up is in the right place, then we can absolutely know that God will give us the guidance and protection that we need for Him to do His will.

Second, we also need our In.  We need a group of people to help us discern.  We need people who can watch our back.  We need people who can pick us up when we are weak.  We need people who are there for us in our moments of doubt, attack, and confusion.  We need people who will come alongside of us when life is tough and walk that road with us.

This is the example that we see in Nehemiah today.  When persecution started, He talked to God.  Then he organized the people around him so that everyone worked with people who could help.  Nehemiah made sure that nobody was isolated in the work of God.  Nehemiah started with his Up and then made sure that everyone had an IN upon whom they could rely.

<><

Year 5, Day 50: Nehemiah 2 & 3

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Capacity

• Capacity asks whether or not the person has the time in their life to obey God.

As I do every day, before writing this post I went back and edited the theological commentary that I wrote 3 years ago.  This is the commentary to which I link at the beginning of each of these posts.  Today I was inspired by the story of Nehemiah and how he set his spiritual life into motion around him.  I was inspired by the applications of Nehemiah’s example to the realm of spiritual discipleship.

Look at what Nehemiah does in these chapters.  Nehemiah goes about his task in small order at first.  He examines the wall at night so that he won’t have to put up with the distractions of other opinions or curiosity that he would no doubt get during the day.  After he formed his own opinion he consulted the leaders around them to see what they thought.  Then he divided the task up into manageable portions that were not too daunting to accomplish.

So how am I going to apply this thought to the concept of capacity?  Well, the idea of capacity has much to do with time.  If Nehemiah had arrived and invited everyone to talk about how to rebuild the wall, the task would have been too daunting and nothing would have happened because everyone around him would have decided that they didn’t have the capacity – or the time – to accomplish everything that needed to happen.  But by going about the process in small and manageable steps, Nehemiah was able to keep the capacity angle manageable.  By keeping the capacity angle manageable, Nehemiah was able to get other people to invest in the construction and fruit was brought forth.  Not one of the people that Nehemiah invited into the plan refused Nehemiah because they didn’t have the time to do it.

I really think this has direct application to our life as disciples of Jesus.  If I get up every morning and say, “Today I am going to be the perfect follower of Christ that He desires me to be,” well, I’m going to give up before I ever try.  I don’t have the capacity – the time – to live up to that statement with all the other things in my day that need to get accomplished.  However, if I sit back and say, “I’m going to invest a few minutes here in God’s Word.  Then I’ll think about it throughout the day.  Maybe I’ll even try and talk to one person about what God is saying to me.  And while I’m at it, I’m going to find one person this day to whom I can show God’s love.”  No, that’s completely doable.  I can manage that during my day.  In fact, I can manage that most days before I even leave my house in the morning!  I do have the capacity to accomplish that list.

The truth is that if I have the capacity to accomplish that list then I will be inspired throughout the day to do even more.  By breaking up discipleship into small and manageable pieces, I can find that I do have the capacity to follow God and do what He asks of me.  The overarching task is daunting.  But the small daily pieces that make up that list are absolutely able to be accomplished.  We all do have the capacity to follow God on a daily basis if we think about it under the right perspective and plan as Nehemiah did.

<><

Year 5, Day 49: Nehemiah 1

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Hexagon, Prayer

• Hexagon: The hexagon is the symbol that we can use to represent prayer.  The hexagon gives us 6 topics that we can remember in prayer, each coming from a petition in the Lord’s prayer: God’s Character, God’s Kingdom, Provision, Forgiveness, Guidance, and Protection.

Nehemiah’s prayer is humbling.  It demonstrates that Nehemiah is connected with God.  It demonstrates that Nehemiah cares about the spiritual well-being of the Hebrew people around him.  Let’s look at this prayer and what makes it so powerful.

Do you notice where Nehemiah begins?  Nehemiah begins in a fast.  He acknowledges God’s character as provider and sustainer for his life.  After fasting in God’s presence, Nehemiah acknowledges God’s character is words as he calls Him awesome, faithful, loving, and attentive.

Then Nehemiah transitions from talking about God’s character to God’s kingdom.  God’s people are trying to survive back in Israel.  Nehemiah prays that God’s will be done among them.

Nehemiah then turns to a period of confession.  Nehemiah confesses not just the sins of the people around him but also his own sins and the sins of his household.  Nehemiah understands the need for forgiveness in our relationship with God and the people around us.  Nehemiah understands humbleness.

Nehemiah then tells God that He remembers God’s promise.  If the people return to God, then God will guide them once more.  God will provide for them once more.  Nehemiah asks God that His provision and guidance upon the Hebrew people as they come back out of exile and rebuild the temple and the environment around Jerusalem.  Nehemiah knows that the efforts of the people will not prosper unless it is the hand of God that provides for them and guides them.

About the only thing that Nehemiah doesn’t explicitly pray for here is the protection of the people.  However, protection, provision, and guidance go hand in hand.  Although Nehemiah might not say it explicitly here, it is not unreasonable to think that it would be on his mind.  After all, the prayer is brought about because of a report about the danger of the people by the native inhabitants of the land.

We see a clear posture of a man of God here.  Nehemiah humbles Himself before God, acknowledges God’s character, and prays for His will to be done.

<><

Year 5, Day 48: Ezra 10

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Grow

• Grow: Growing is the stage in life that happens after abiding.  If we think about plants, plants abide in the fall and winter as they store up nutrients for the next year.  When spring hits, they grow into their fullness.  When they have grown enough to support their effort, they bear the fruit that they have been created to bear.  Once the fruit has been borne, they prune back and prepare to abide again.  As we can see, in order to bear good fruit we must properly go through a process of growth.

I see growth in this last chapter of Ezra.  Ezra sets forth a plan to deal with the problem of foreign wives.  Ezra wants to make an edict and have it be done in a matter of days.  Like a priest, Ezra sees life in terms of black and white.

However, the people talk to Ezra about life.  It’s the rainy season.  It’s cold out.  There are too many people to gather at once.  Ezra knows that the Hebrew people have been asked to bear fruit in keeping with their repentance, but Ezra sees that they will have to grow into it.  Ezra sees that he will have to go through a process.

Heads of families are appointed.  The tasks are delegated.  After several months of work as the Hebrew people grow into their calling, the fruit is finally borne.  The Hebrew people finally give up their foreign wives and return to the Lord.  The fruit is good because Ezra was willing to allow the process of growth to occur.  The fruit of the Hebrew people was good because it was allowed to happen in a meaningful and supportive way.

<><

Year 5, Day 47: Ezra 9

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Challenge

• Challenge: God does not merely wish us to be in relationship with Him as we are.  He challenges us to grow, stretch, and transform as we take on the mantle of being His representatives to this world.

Ezra 9 is all about challenge.  Ezra discovers that many of the public leaders of the Jews are taking wives from the native people who are in the land.  Ezra knows what this means.

It is easy for us to think that this chapter is a chapter about the purity of marriage and make it all about that.  But marriage is merely the specific case, not the core of what Ezra is upset about.  You see, the fall of the Hebrew nation(s) began with Solomon.  Solomon had wives and concubines from all over the world – largely to support political treaties for peace between the nations.  But the effect of this was that these powerful women would bring their gods with them.  Intermarriage became the major tool that Satan used to pull God’s people away from worshipping God!

This is why Ezra is so upset.  He knows that the kingdom was established under David and in the very next king we start to see decline.  And then he looks around.  They’ve just finished rebuilding the temple.  Jerusalem is just now getting back on its feet.  And Ezra sees the decline already rooted in the people around him.  Ezra isn’t concerned about the marriage per se.  Ezra is concerned that through the marriages the people will be influenced and pulled away from God.

This is true challenge for any of us, isn’t it?  Any time we go out into the world we run the risk of being distracted by something new and pulled away from God.  The challenge of this chapter is to remain true to God.  The challenge of this chapter is to keep our focus on God in spite of what is happening around us.

<><

Year 5, Day 46: Ezra 8

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Protection

• Protection: In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus teaches us to pray that God might deliver us from evil – even the Evil One.  Sometimes we need God’s protection from the sin around us.  Sometimes we need protection from the sinful people around us.  Other times we need protection from the sin that lies within ourselves. In any case, Jesus’ point is clear.  We need protection from the Father to make it through each and every day.

I think this is one of the most remarkable chapters on the topic of protection that ever appears in the Bible.  Ezra is about to set off across the desert with the whole of the communal wealth of the Hebrew people.  Then he announces that he isn’t about to ask the king for military protection.  He won’t ask for protection because he is on record saying that God’s hand is with them.  In Ezra’s eyes, what good will people do if God’s hand is truly upon them?

Now that’s faith in the protection that God can provide.  That’s utterly incredible.  Ezra sets off into the wilderness without any kind of military escort.  He’s asking to be robbed.  In fact, what better opportunity for a smaller nation to not just take the wealth of these people but then take the people and make them slaves, too!  Ezra had much to lose.  He places everything in God’s hands – even the very freedom of the people with whom he is charged.

I am in awe of Ezra’s faith.  I am in awe of God’s protection.  What an incredible testimony we have before us this chapter.

<><

Year 5, Day 45: Ezra 7

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Information, Imitation, Innovation

• Information: This is the initial phase of become a disciple of Jesus.  Before we can do anything meaningful we must begin to understand what we are doing.  We may never gain full understanding of God and His ways, but God calls us to study Him, His Son, and His ways as the foundation of being His follower.
• Imitation: This is the second over-arching step of the discipleship process.  First we gain information, then we imitate our spiritual mentor.  Imitation leads to innovation of spirituality in our own life.
• Innovation: When we have studied God and learned to imitate Him, then we can begin to apply what we have learned and practiced into our life in new and innovative ways.  In this way we truly become the person of God that He sees us to be.

I love the description of Ezra in Ezra 7:10.  Ezra studied the Word of God.  Then he did it.  Then he taught others to do it.  To me, this is absolutely a demonstration of the information → imitation → innovation model.

Ezra studied the Word of God.  If we want to be God’s people, we must be rooted in His Word.  How can we ever hope to talk meaningfully about God if we do not know His Word?  Now don’t get me wrong.  Academic knowledge of the Word is not enough.  As Satan demonstrates when he tempts Christ in the wilderness, even Satan has an academic understanding of God’s Word.  Therefore, academic knowledge of God’s Word is not the end.  But it is absolutely the beginning.  We begin our relationship by learning about who God is and what God wants from us.

Then, we learn to imitate what we see.  We imitate Christ.  We imitate the followers of Christ that we hear about in God’s Word.  We imitate the people of Christ that we see in this world.  In other words, we put what we learn to practice.  Our lives change as we let God’s Word become alive within each of us.

Then we learn to innovate it into our lives and the lives of the people around us.  As we grow in faith and become more skilled in allowing God to shine through us, we find ourselves in positions to teach other people.  We find ourselves to be in a position to invite other people to learn and study God’s Word.  As we approach the innovation stage, through God’s hand we are capable of inviting people around us into the beginning of the information stage.  We see this lived out and celebrated in Ezra in this chapter.

<>< 

Year 5, Day 44: Ezra 6

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Provision

• Provision: God gives us what we truly need.  God knows our needs better than we can know them.  We learn to trust God to provide for us.

God’s provision is amazing.   He knows what we need and when we need it.  Quite often, even while He knows what we need God supersedes that very need into the realm of surplus.  I’m not saying we worship God because He gives us everything.  But He knows the difference between a need and a want.  And He meets our needs.

Look into the chapter.  The Hebrew people are obedient to God.  They are building His temple in spite of persecution around them.  When people go and try to stir up trouble with King Darius, God takes care of His people.  Darius not only writes a letter to the persecutors to get them to stop hindering the work, but they also are told that the work is to be paid for out of the royal treasury!  Talk about windfall!

These Hebrew people now have the verbal and financial backing of the king of Persia.  That’s provision indeed.  They have all that they need to finish the job.  And they do finish it in obedience.

Before we leave this topic of provision, though, let’s look at one more thing.  Look how the people respond.  They worship God.  These are people who hadn’t been able to celebrate the Passover for generations.  The celebrate God’s provision by worshipping Him.  That is worth noting.  We should take God’s gifts and toss them aside or use them unthinkingly.  God’s provision should draw out our praise for Him.

<><

Year 5, Day 43: Ezra 5

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Character

• Character: Having the interior life that is necessary to support the work that God sets before a person.  It is hearing from God and obeying.  It is doing the right thing when nobody is looking.

I really like the hidden nature of Ezra 5.  At first this chapter seems like such a normal chapter.  Here come complaints against the building process once more.  Here come more people who want to interfere with what God is doing in the world.  On the surface, this chapter seems to be about the world and its disruptive influence.

However, this is a chapter that sets us up to understand the character of God.  Yesterday we learned that the sins of the pre-captivity Jews earned them a reputation that caused work on the temple to stop.  But today we see that God is going to use the decree and character of Cyrus to bring forth His righteousness.  Because Cyrus followed God and listened to God’s desires, he made a decree that the temple should be rebuilt.  Cyrus’ character is the tool that God is going to use to save the reconstruction effort!

Isn’t it neat how God can use the character of one person to pave the way for His greatness into the life of another?  Isn’t it neat how God can freely use our character when we are devoted to Him?

<><

Year 5, Day 42: Ezra 4

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Ambition

• Ambition: We all need a goal to which we can strive.  When our ambition comes from God, we find fulfillment in our obedience into that for which we have been equipped because our Out is in proper focus.  But when our ambition comes from ourselves, we find ourselves chasing after our own dreams and trying to find fulfillment in accomplishments of our own making.

Look at the inhabitants of the land and how they react to the Hebrew people returning.  They see what is going on in Jerusalem and ask to participate.  Now, it is possible that they genuinely want to help.  We aren’t told.  But the reality is that when they are refused they go out of the way to hinder the work being done in Jerusalem.  For this reason, many Bible scholars imply that the native inhabitants of the land were merely offering to help so they could sow dissention and problems into the rebuilding project.

In any case, the native people of the land are refused.  So look what they do.  The go to the regional leaders and bribe them to get work to stop.  They write a letter to the king reminding him about the rebellious nature of the Hebrew people.  They want to win.  They seek their own will.  They aren’t willing to leave well enough alone.  Because of their ambition and their need to “win” or “be right,” they pit themselves against God.

And here’s the scary thing.  In the short term, they win.  In the beginning, it looks like they win the day.  Human ambition always does this.  We think we win when we get our own way.  But quite often what we have to realize is that when we win from an ambition perspective we actually lose.  When we pursue our own goals and our own agenda – we are ultimately going to pit ourselves against God and His will.  That’s precisely what these native people are doing in this chapter.

<><

Year 5, Day 41: Ezra 3

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Up

• Up: Up is the word we use for what we worship.  If we are following God’s will, God will occupy the Up position.  Our life, our identity, our mission, our family on mission is all derived from Up.  This is why God needs to be in our Up position.

It is easy to get a sense of the Up that was felt by the returning exiles coming out of Persia.  Ezra is a book that should naturally feel to us like a people starving for Up.  So how do we see that in Ezra 3?  It is most clear in that one of the first things that is built with respect to Jerusalem is the altar.  The people want a place to worship God.

I think that this is a difficult perspective for us to imagine.  Remember that these people were plucked from their homes about 70 years prior by the Babylonians.  (The people of Israel were plucked about 150 years prior to the people of Judah, too!)  They had gone several generations away from their homeland.  They had gone several generations away from their ability to offer sacrifice to the Lord.  They had god several generations without a proper worship time.  They had gone several generations without the assurance of the atonement that comes through the sacrifice.

Can you imagine?  Imagine going several generations without being able to worship.  Imagine going several generations without being able to hear about forgiveness with any kind of assurance.  Imagine a community where most of the religious people around you can’t even remember what worship looks like and feels like.

Can there be any wonder that the people built the altar first and worshipped God first?

I know I can take much from this chapter.  I can’t imagine going a day without seeing a church, much less going more than two weeks without being inside one.  I can’t imagine going several generations!  It is easy for me to take God – and my Up – for granted.  It is too easy to take God for granted.  I rejoice today that because we have Christ, I don’t have to go more than a few seconds without being reassured of God’s forgiveness and love.  Now that deserves the worship of God!

<><

Year 5, Day 40: Ezra 1 & 2

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: King

• King: This is the pinnacle of the Kingdom Triangle.  When we look towards God’s position in the universe, we acknowledge that He is an omnipotent king.  Authority comes from Him.  Power comes through His authority.  He is looking for representatives for His kingdom.

I was humbled as I read through my blog post from 3 years ago.  I was reminded of the fact that Ezra was written after the Jews are allowed to return to the land after 70 or so years in exile.  I wasn’t humbled by this fact; I was humbled by the nature of God that hangs over this fact like an umbrella.

You see, 70 or so years prior, Jeremiah the prophet watched his people dragged into exile.  He watched many of them die from starvation, disease, and the invading army.  He watched as the treasure of God was stolen away from the temple.  He watched, but more importantly God watched too.

I was reminded of this fact that I learned three years ago.  God saw His people go into exile.  God saw His people receive the consequences that were a long time in coming.  God saw His people get punished for a lesson that they refused to learn.  But God watched as the people He loved and all of their possessions were escorted away into a land that belonged to a foreign people.

And why?  How can God let this happen?  How can God sit back and watch as these horrible consequences come down upon His people?  He can watch because He is king.  He can watch because even though a nation is moved from Canaan to the Babylonian Empire they are still His people.  Even though the temple furnishings are escorted out of the temple and into the treasury of King Nebuchadnezzar God knows that he will get them back.  He is king.  You just can’t take anything out of His hand.

How can God watch?  Because from God’s perspective, nothing changes.  What’s His is His and always shall be His.  Sure, His people might be enduring the pain and suffering that they deserved.  But they are still His.  Even in captivity He is still king of the universe.

<><

Year 5, Day 39: Romans 16

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Competency

• In: This is the word we use to express our relationships with our spiritual family.  These are often the people who hold us spiritually accountable.  They are the ones to whom we typically go for discussion and discernment.  These are the ones with whom we learn to share leadership.  They are the ones with whom we become family on mission.

Do you ever wonder who Paul’s In was?  With Jesus, we know that His In was His disciples.  But what about Paul?

Sure, there was Barnabas who took him under his wing.  But they eventually split apart.  There’s Peter as far as other church leaders go, but we really don’t get the sense that Paul and Peter got along all that well.  There’s John Mark the Gospel writer, but they had a rough start to their relationship and likely only were able to patch it up towards the end.  And of course there is Timothy, Paul’s spiritual son, who is the closest thing that Paul has to family.  Of this list, probably only Timothy is In.

Then, of course, there are the people who traveled with Paul.  The aforementioned Timothy would be at the head of that list.  Of course there was Silas.  And Titus.  And Luke, of course.  We can’t forget Phoebe, who is likely the messenger who brought this letter to Rome from Paul.  And there are a few other people, too.

But what I love about Romans 16 is that it gives us some great insight into other people that Paul likely considered In – even though he didn’t travel with them.  At the top of this list is Prisca and Aquila.  This is a married couple that Paul met in Corinth and traveled to Ephesus with after being in Corinth.  Then there is Epaenetus, who likely converted in Ephesus and then took to the road with Prisca and Aquila much like Timothy took to Paul.  There is kinship in the disciple-making process.  Then we meet Andronicus and Junia, who were imprisoned with Paul.  I’m guessing that if Paul ended up in jail with them that it was about God!

These are Paul’s In.  They lived with him.  They lived like him. They followed the same God.  They had the same heart.  Their mission was the same: from God.

Romans 16 is Paul’s Family on Mission.

<>< 

Year 5, Day 38: Romans 15

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Competency

• Competency: Being able to accomplish what one is called to do.

Romans 15:18 is a powerful verse.  “For I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me to bring the Gentiles to obedience.”  Now there is focus.  There is an agenda.  There is a man who understands God’s calling in his life and has the competency to accomplish it.

Imagine what this looked like in Paul’s life.  Everywhere that Paul goes he is looking for ways to speak about Christ and invite people into a relationship with Christ.  Everywhere Paul goes is an opportunity.  Every thought he has is directed to his ministry and his calling.  Again, that’s a comment upon the competency that Paul ahs within him.

Now, do get me wrong.  I’m sure Paul had good days and bad days.  I’m sure there were days that he kept focus more easily.  After all, non e of us are able to be perfect.  But Paul sets a high standard.

I have to ask if that is the standard that I set for myself.  Sure, I don’t attain that standard every day.  But is it even the standard to which I try and attain?  Do I live my life so that I may boast only about what Christ has accomplished through me to bring the Gospel to others?  If I want to be competent in Christ, that’s a great place to begin.

<><

Year 5, Day 37: Romans 14

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Authority

• Authority: Our calling.  This comes from God as king.  Because He calls us as His representatives, He gives us authority to go and do His will.

I often feel like Christianity takes on a synonymous meaning as conformity.  That is, it is easy to feel as if in order to follow Jesus I have to do what everyone else is doing.  Or, perhaps more correctly, that if I’m not doing what every other Christian is doing and if I’m not feeling what every other Christian is feeling then I must be wrong.

This is horrible thinking.

After all, would we call Jesus a conformist?  Was Paul a conformist to either Judaism or early Christianity?  I don’t think so.  Jesus and Paul were mavericks, willing to do what the Father asked of them even if it was out-of-the-box new and extraordinary.

You see, this is ultimately a question of authority.  If God asks me to do something that serves Christ, then what right does any human have to tell me to not obey God?  What right does any human have to tell me that being obedient to God in different mannerisms than they have is wrong?  Do I get my authority from the people around me or do I get my authority from the King of the universe?

Now, don’t get me wrong.  We need to remember that Paul isn’t giving us authority to do anything we want.  We should not cause a brother or sister in Christ to sin.  We should not go that far.  But neither should we let the authority of other human beings damper the authority that comes to us from God.

<><