Year 5, Day 166: Psalm 7-9

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.

Each of these three psalms speak well to the character of God and why He deserves our praise and worship.  Let’s look at them individually as I’ve done in the past.

In Psalm 7 we are reminded of God’s ability to protect us and save us from our enemies.  We are reminded of how He is roused up against injustice.  We are reminded that He is the ultimate judge of the world – regardless of how much we might actually like to forget about Him.  In the end, we are ultimately faced with a choice.  We can either see His greatness and give Him praise because of it or we can bury our head in the sand and expect judgment in the end.

In Psalm 8 we have a much happier approach to God as our Up.  Rather than focusing on His incredible power to judge over us, we hear about God’s incredible creative prowess.  He put the stars in the sky.  He set the world up around us.  He gave us dominion.  When we didn’t deserve it in the least, God came and set us above the whole of the rest of creation.  Why would we not love a God who does that for us?

In Psalm 9 we get a more personal relationship testimony.  Yes, God judges over the nations.  Yes, He sits over the world.  But He is the stronghold of the oppressed.  He is the one in whom we can put our trust when we are at the end of our rope.  This is a really neat point.  Traditionally, it was assumed that the gods loved the wealthy, rich, and famous because such people obviously had their blessing.  But God is God of the oppressed, the downtrodden, and the social underdogs.  If that isn’t a reason to praise Him, I don’t know what is!

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Year 5, Day 165: Psalm 4-6

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.

Many of the Psalms will cover the topic of protection.  After all, as human beings, when are we most likely to call out to God?  Most of us will always call out to God when we are in need.  we will usually call out to God when we have a cause to celebrate.  We will sometimes call out to God when life is just average and normal.  But most of us will always call out to God when we are in need.  Thus, many of the psalms will fit into the theme of protection.

All three of the psalms today fit into this category.  Psalm 4 starts off in this thought.  Answer me when I call, oh God of righteousness!  David is in distress and God has given him relief.  I especially love the way that this psalm ends.  In peace I lay down and sleep, because God alone makes me dwell in safety.  That is what protection is all about.

Psalm 5 continues this theme.  Once more the psalmist is struggling.  He talks about how the Lord doesn’t take pleasure in the unrighteous.  He destroys those who speak lies.  And how does this manifest in the life of the righteous?  Those who take refuge in God rejoice.  He spreads His net of protection over us and we give praise to His name because of it.  God’s protection over us should bring about our praise of His name.

Of course, Psalm 6 is titled “Deliver My Life” in many translations.  Clearly this is a Psalm of David when his life was threatened and he needed God’s protection.  David is being persecuted and He needs the Lord’s help.  He reminds us that those who are not in the Lord will one day be put to shame.  We may not be in control of the timing, but we know that God is ultimately in control of the end result.  That is God’s protection over us.

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Year 5, Day 164: Psalm 1-3

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Up, Father, King

• 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.
• Father: This is the pinnacle of the Covenant Triangle.  God is the Father.  He is the creator.  He is love.  Our relationship with the Father is rooted in His love for us.  We get our identity through Him.  When the Father is in our life, obedience becomes clear.
• 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.

Up.  Father.  King.  Three different sides to the same coin.  We worship God.  He created us.  He loves us.  He died for our sake.  He saved us.  He will bring us into eternal life.  He is where it all starts and ends.

Psalm 3 reminds us of God the protector.  He is King.  He can save us.  He has dominion over even our enemies.  He can lead us into shelter when we are in need of it.  The King is powerful enough to lead us through the darkest times in our life.

Psalm 1 reminds us of the love of the Father.  His ways are blessed.  His law leads us rightly.  Life with Him is like a tree planted alongside a stream.  In Him we find refreshment that never ends.  In Him we find the source of life that doesn’t run out.  That’s what a relationship with the Father who loves us.

Psalm 2, then reminds us about why we worship Him.  When we don’t have God as the center of our worship, we plot in vain.  He laughs at our human agendas.  The truth is that there is wisdom only in His ways and His agenda.  That’s where the sweet spot of life is.  That’s why we worship Him.

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Year 5, Day 163: Mark 16

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.

Yesterday we talked about obedience with respect to the Son.  What is neat about the Gospel stories – and the subsequent story in Acts – is that Christ’s obedience spreads.  We see it hear, albeit somewhat imperfectly.  After all, we are only human.

Jesus appears to Mary and the other women.  He tells them to go and proclaim the Gospel to the disciples.  They go.  At first they say nothing because they are afraid.  But we do know that eventually they muster up the courage to tell the disciples what they saw and heard.

Jesus appears to a few disciples on the road.  They immediately turn around and go tell the disciples what they saw.  Here is another example of obedience.

Of course, we are told that the disciples didn’t believe at first.  Much like the women, who said nothing for a while as they wrestled for understanding, the disciples wrestle with their own understanding.  But then Jesus comes among them and rebukes them.  He affirms what they’ve heard and then commissions them.  And as the Gospel of Mark comes to a close, we are told that the disciples do go around and tell the world about Jesus and salvation.  They are obedient as well.

Jesus inspires obedience.  When we consider what all He has done for us – and the manner in which He did it – we cannot help but be inspired into obedience.  We might occasionally struggle and wrestle with understanding what God is doing in our midst.  But in the end the followers of God are obedient as the Son was obedient.

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Year 5, Day 162: Mark 15

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.

I’m pretty sure that the topic of obedience is the perfect topic for study on the day we study the crucifixion of Christ.  Jesus’ crucifixion is the perfect example of obedience.  Jesus lays down His own life simply because it is the will of the Father.  It demonstrates to us how human beings can only be made righteous through the sacrifice of God.

Look at how Jesus behaves in ultimate obedience.

• He is brought before Pilate.  Rather than condemn His accusers, Jesus is focused on the task at hand and speaking the truth in Pilate’s midst.
• Jesus is handed over to be crucified.  He is mocked and beaten.  Rather than use His power as God to save Himself, He endures it for our sake.
• Jesus is mocked once more when He is crucified.  He is mocked by the soldiers and the religious leaders as they stand by and watch.  Once more Jesus takes it so that the will of God can be done.
• Jesus dies.  As I mentioned earlier, Jesus forfeits His own life simply because it is the will of the Father.

What I love about the ending of this chapter, though, is that someone gets Jesus’ sacrificial obedience.  Jesus’ disciples are all busy fleeing.  But someone steps up and willingly puts their circumstance on the line.  Joseph of Arimathea – and the Gospel of John tells us that he is joined by Nicodemus – come to claim Jesus’ body.  They are members of the Sanhedrin.  They are putting their livelihood on the line for this act.  They get Jesus’ sacrificial obedience and imitate it.

The crucifixion story is an excellent perspective on obedience.

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Year 5, Day 161: Mark 14

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Grace

• Grace: Grace comes to us when we make mistakes and have a failing of character.  Grace comes to us when we have a typical D₂ moment.  Grace comes to us when we need space to recognize a mistake, repent of it, and allow God to redeem it while calling us back into His will.  Grace is partnered by Time and Vision.

Do you know what I love about the crucifixion story?  In the whole of the story, we don’t see a single good light shed upon the disciples.  Think about it for a second.  Look at the examples in Mark 14 in which the disciples are included.  Then tell me whether you agree or not.

• In this chapter we see the disciples grumble because a woman anoints Jesus.  They grumble because they think that they could do something better with the money.  They miss the important things.
• Judas agrees to hand Jesus over to the religious leaders.  Clearly he missed what Jesus is all about.
• Peter swears that he will not abandon Jesus.  When Jesus tells Him that he will deny Jesus three times, Peter argues with Jesus.  He tells the Son of God something contrary to the truth.  Peter stops being humble when things are said about him that he can’t believe to be true.  He misses what Jesus is all about.
• The disciples follow Jesus out to pray.  They fall asleep in Jesus’ moment of need.  Clearly the miss the boat in what is important at this time in Jesus’ life.
• One of Jesus’ disciples even grabs a sword and tries to defend Jesus!  Certainly this disciple means well, but he misses what Jesus is all about at this point in his life.
• The disciples scatter when Jesus is arrested.  When the buck stops at Jesus, all of the people around Jesus make themselves scarce.  They miss what God’s hand at work.

We don’t see the disciples at their high moments in life during the time of the crucifixion.  We see them being human.  We see them failing – even if they do mean well.  We see them thinking about themselves in Jesus’ need.  We see them in the pit of despair.

What’s cool is that Jesus still loved them.  He still gave them grace.  He still died for them – and for us.  Even when we abandon Jesus when He calls us to stand with Him, He gives us grace rather than condemnation.

We need to be more like Jesus.  It is easy to abandon those who fail us.  It is easy to abandon those who abandon us.  But the example of Jesus is grace.  He gives the disciples love and the time they need to truly see what God is doing.  Jesus welcomes them eternally even though they were completely human at times.

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Year 5, Day 160: Mark 13

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Competency

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

When I read Mark 13, I hear Jesus making sure to get the last points of warning in to the disciples before they see Him crucified.  The worst thing that could happen is about to happen.  Humanity is about to reject the very Son of God and the world of Jesus’ disciples is about to spin completely upside down for a short period of time.  Jesus wants to make sure that they are ready.

Look at His words.  Jesus warns the disciples not to be impressed with the massive constructions of mankind because even those will not truly endure.  Jesus warns them that they will be dragged before people because of the message they preach and that this will happen so that the Holy Spirit will have an opportunity to speak through them.  Jesus warns them that as time goes on that there will be many people who come into our presence and try and deceive us.  Jesus warns the disciples that they won’t always know what is about to happen or even what God is about to do; but they should keep on persevering to the end whether they know what is going to happen or not.

In other words, Jesus wants them to be competent in the face of trial and difficulty.  Jesus wants them to be able to come through difficult times with their mind and eyes still focused on what matters and what is important.  Jesus wants them to be strong so that their witness speaks to others competently.

Let’s face it.  Who among us isn’t going to have difficulty in life?  Who among us isn’t going to face persecution by someone who just doesn’t care for us?  Who among us will never meet someone who believes differently than we do?  These are all realities in life.  Difficult moments will come.  It is important for us to be prepared so that we can competently come through them.

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Year 5, Day 159: Mark 12

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Teacher

• Teacher: One who holds forth the truth and is excited by it. The teacher looks for ways to explain, enlighten, and apply truth.  A teacher's authority doesn't come from how smart they are but from the Word of God and the power of a transformed life.

This is a really neat passage through which we can see the lens of the teacher.  After all, this whole chapter is made up of some of Jesus’ last teachings.  What makes this chapter unique, though, is the variety of contexts in which we see Jesus teaching in such a short time.  Jesus talks to the crowd, Pharisees, Herodians, Sadducees, scribes, and His disciples.  There is one constant through all of the teachings: Jesus is focused on God’s truth and not the approval of mankind.

When Jesus speaks to the crowd, He teaches them about what happens when people do not respect the family of the land-owner.  In other words, Jesus is teaching the crowd what God thinks of those people who do not respect His own Son.  Given that this teaching comes less than a week before Jesus dies at the hands of the religious leaders, it is poignant indeed.  In teaching this, Jesus is seeking truth – even if it gets Him killed.

When the Pharisees and Herodians come against Him, we see Jesus once more focus on the truth.  He refuses to be trapped.  The Pharisees want Jesus to answer with the answer that taxes to Rome are unnecessary so that the Herodians would get mad and there would be justification for His death.  The Herodians wanted Jesus to say that taxes should be respected so that the Pharisees will get mad and have a reason to incite the crowd against Him as a lover of Rome.  But Jesus seeks truth.  He focuses them on the fact that the coin is something made by man.  So there is no conflict between loving God and paying worldly taxes.

The Sadducees come to trap Him.  Jesus sniffs out the truth because He is interested in truth and not pleasing the Sadducees.  He tells them that their focus is wrong.  They want to focus on to whom the woman belongs in the resurrection – which, for the record, the Sadducees didn’t even believe in!  Jesus’ response indicates that they should believe in the resurrection and they should understand that what is important is our relationship with God in the life to come, not our relationship with one another.  Jesus’ interest in the truth trumps the worldly debate of the Pharisees.

With the scribe and the disciples, we finally see how Jesus’ answer gets Him respect.  However, in both cases we see that Jesus once more gives the uncomfortable tough answer even if it is confusing or unpopular.  Jesus reminds the scribe that the greatest commandments are to love God and love neighbor.  In other words, we are supposed to be third in terms of priorities in our own life.  That’s not a popular answer at all, even if it is right.

When it comes to the disciples, Jesus teaches that quality is more important than quantity.  Jesus lifts up the widow who gives next to nothing compared to the wealthy who give much money.  We can’t judge people using world terms.  we can’t count how much they give, how much time they spend in the religious institution, the prestige of the lifestyle that the lead, or how many people have ever heard of them.  This unknown widow who has next to nothing is celebrated by Jesus!  Jesus teaches His disciples that the typical way of evaluating people simply doesn’t work in God’s kingdom.

Jesus is after truth.  He wants the people who are following Him to be after truth as well.  That’s what teachers do.  They lift up the truth, even in the face of crucifixion because of it.

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Year 5, Day 158: Mark 11

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.

Authority is a great concept to look at in Mark 10.  We open up this chapter with Jesus telling His disciples to go and find a colt so that He can enter into Jerusalem according to the tradition of Zechariah 9:9.  Jesus is acting on the authority of the Father through the Father’s word.

Then Jesus clears the temple.  This is one of the few acts of righteous anger that we ever see Jesus do.  Because there are so few, this act becomes the iconic reference to defend the actions of people who act violently in the name of God.  But we need to understand this passage in proper perspective.  Jesus does this righteously because God has genuinely called Him to do it.  It isn’t righteous because God is the subject.  It is righteous because God is the origin of the act.  Jesus is righteous because He is acting out of the authority of the Father, not because He is protecting the Father.  God does not need our protection.  God needs our humble submission and willingness to do His will in His authority.

Then Jesus curses the fig tree.  Again we see the authority that the Father has given to Jesus.  Jesus has authority over even nature.  Jesus can wither the natural world, cursing it when it lives apart from God’s will.

Finally, we come to the place of Jesus’ challenge.  I find that this passage is the great capstone to a chapter where authority is at the core.  The religious leaders come before Jesus and ask where He gets His authority.  In turn, Jesus asks them where John the Baptizer’s authority came.  The religious leaders know that they are trapped.  If they say from God in order to please the opinion of the crowd, then Jesus will ask why they didn’t listen and obey.  But if the religious leaders say that John acted out of his own will, they will offend the crowd.  Because the religious leaders care about the authority and the power given to them by the crowd at least as much if not more than the power and authority given to them by God, the religious leaders stumble.  The key here when looking at authority is to make sure that our authority and power come from God.  As Jesus says elsewhere, we cannot serve two masters.  If we aren’t serving God wholly, we probably aren’t actually serving Him at all.

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Year 5, Day 157: Mark 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.

As I read through the tenth chapter of Mark, I noticed that submission to God, and thus obedience to His ways, is the general overarching theme of most of the stories.  For example, take the first teaching on divorce.  If you have two people who are loving each other in spite of their flaws – in other words, loving each other as God first loved us – why would they ever want to get divorced?  So long as a husband and wife live by putting the needs of the other ahead of their own, why would they ever think about divorce?  Although this is a gross over-generalization, the reality is that divorces all have self-centeredness at the heart.  It might be self-centeredness on behalf of one person or self-centeredness on behalf of both.  But divorce happens when we stop being obedient to God and start putting ourselves and our own desires first.

What about the rich young man?  Clearly this is an issue of obedience.  Jesus tells the rich young ruler what he is missing in life.  His money is more important to him than following God.  He cannot bear to part with his money.  He chooses to obey the call to personal wealth and personal gain over and above the call to follow God.  His unwillingness to obey the words of Jesus leads to his downfall.

And then there is the lack of humbleness in the request of James and John.  They want to be the greatest in Jesus’ eyes.  They want to be in charge of the kingdom of God.  They are thinking about submitting to God and obediently playing whatever role He desires of them.  They want their own fame, reputation and prestige.  Jesus rebukes them, and fortunately for them James and John listen!

Look at the story that is sandwiched in the middle of each of these stories.  Jesus tells His disciples a third time that He is going to Jerusalem to die.  This is what obedience looks like.  While humanity in general seeks to get out of its own arrangements when our desire change, while a rich young man chooses not to part with His wealth, while His own disciples are still wrestling for power and prestige, Jesus is marching towards Jerusalem in strict obedience to the Father in order to sacrifice His own life.  That’s an example for each of us to follow.

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Year 5, Day 156: Mark 9

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Authority, Power

• 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.
• Power: This is the natural outcome when we truly get our authority from the king.  When our authority is from God, we are equipped with His power to accomplish His will.  We act on His behalf in a world that He desperately loves.

Once more we see that authority and power run together.  And this is such a good topic to cover on a chapter that immediately follows Peter’s confession that Jesus is the Christ and the Peter’s rebuke of Jesus’ teaching that He will die.

In this chapter we have two examples of misguided authority and a lack of power.  In the transfiguration, Peter gets all caught up in the moment and flustered.  He wants the moment to last forever.  So he suggests building three tents so that Jesus, Moses, and Elijah can just hang out here forever.  We can’t fault Peter for wanting the moment to last any more than we can fault him for wanting to protect Jesus and thus rebuking His teaching that He will die.  But in the end, it is misguided love.  Peter’s human love for Jesus interferes with God’s love for humanity.  The Father needs Jesus to move on after the transfiguration happened.  Peter’s authority in making his suggestion about the tents comes from himself, not the Father.  Thus he is powerless to do anything about it.

In the following stray we have a man with a demon-possessed son.  The disciples are powerless against it.  Jesus comes in, takes over, and the boy is freed from the possession.  Jesus has power and authority in this situation as well!

The greater question – and the very question that stumps Jesus’ disciples – is why they were powerless.  Jesus’ reply is simple yet multi-layered.  This kind of demon only comes out through prayer.

So what could this mean?  Well, Jesus could be saying that their technique was wrong.  Rather than commanding the spirit out, they should have prayed it out.  More deeply, I believe what Jesus is saying is that their preparation was wrong.  They weren’t prepared to handle the spiritual battle and thus the demon won.  But that leads us to what I think is the deepest explanation.  After all, what is prayer besides communication with the Father?  I believe Jesus is telling the disciples that their authority is not yet coming from the Father and therefore their power was lacking.  As our relationship with the Father grows – as our communication with Him improves and we learn to listen better – our power and authority will grow.

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Year 5, Day 155: Mark 8

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Information

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.

Today I’m going to look at the disciples and their discipleship process.  Our chapter starts with the feeding of the 4,000.  This has a similar theme as to the feeding of the 5,000 except that there are some significant differences.  To see a list of those differences and why they are important, see the theological commentary to which I link above or see the first thought in this post: Matthew 15:35-39

After the feeding of the 4,000 the Pharisees argue with Jesus.  Jesus then gets in the boat and tries to give His own disciples a warning to not become like the Pharisees.  But the disciples completely miss the point.  When Jesus warns them about the Pharisees, they think that Jesus is talking about bread and how they forgot to bring bread.  The disciple miss what Jesus is saying.

I think that this point leads me back to the concept of information.  Information is the first step in being able to imitate Jesus and go out into the world and do as God is asking of you.  But we need to stop and remember how important it is to actually get the information right!

This might seem like a simple lesson.  But remember where this story lies in the grand scheme of things.  This story lies right before the transfiguration.  The transfiguration marks the beginning of the end.  After the transfiguration, Jesus heads to Jerusalem and gets crucified.  This means that the feeding of the 4,000 happens somewhere in the middle of Jesus’ ministry and probably closer to the end than the beginning.  Which means that the disciples have had more than a year – if not more than two years – of training under Jesus at this point.  They still miss what Jesus is saying.

It is so easy for us to think that after we’ve been walking with God for several years then we must know everything.  The sad reality is that we don’t.  We don’t know what God has in store for us.  We don’t know our future context.  We don’t know what God is calling us into after we get done with where God has placed us now.  The truth is that we don’t know a lot more than we actually do know!

This is why it is important to remember that information always precedes imitation of Christ.  Before we can imitate Christ better, we need to learn what it is that God wants us to imitate.  We have to submit to God so that we can learn what He is saying to us.

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Year 5, Day 154: Mark 7

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Approval, Authority

• Approval: We all need to feel as though we are accepted.  When we seek the approval of God, our Up is in the right place.  But when we seek the approval of other people besides God, we open the door to pursuing false gods and risk putting someone or something other than God in our Up position.
• 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 think in many ways the concepts of approval and authority go hand in hand.  After all, if God is truly in our up position, then we will seek God’s approval.  If we are genuinely living with God in our Up position and seeking His approval, then we will also be living with His authority governing our lives and actions.

As proof of this, look at the last two stories in this chapter.  With the Syrophoenician woman, Jesus is clearly living out the authority of God.  He doesn’t even need to be present with the sick girl to cast out the demon from her presence!  With the deaf man, Jesus pulls him aside and is able to cure whatever was wrong with him as well.  Notice that Jesus doesn’t do this act for the praise of men.  In fact, He actual forbids them to make a big deal about it.  Jesus is doing the will of God.  Getting His approval and authority from the Father is enough for Him.

However, what about the people in the region of the Decapolis.  Jesus tells them to keep quiet about the action and they do not.  They were disobedient.  We don’t know why, only that they were zealous in their disobedience.  My guess is that the people were chasing after the approval of others around them.  They wanted to share the gossip about Jesus.  They wanted to be seen as someone who saw the miracle happen.  They wanted to be the center of their community’s attention and get their fifteen seconds of fame.

Now let’s return to the first set of stories in this chapter.  Jesus rebukes the Pharisees for paying more attention to the traditions of mankind rather than the commandments of God.  He does this in two contexts: food laws and honoring ones parents.

The fundamental issue is why the Pharisees would from God’s perspective pay more attention to human traditions than God’s own Law.  The answer is simple, I believe.  The Pharisees were looking from approval from one another.  They could justify each other’s eating habits.  They could justify each other’s giving to sustain the religious institution instead of caring for one’s parents.  In seeking the approval of the religious leaders around them, they were also seeking to increase the authority through which they lived, too.  The Pharisees cared more about the traditions of mankind because their approval and authority were rooted in the human hierarchy around them.

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Year 5, Day 153: Mark 6

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Calling

• Calling asks whether or not God has called the person to the particular work at this point in their life.

Today I’m going to look at this topic of calling from a bit of a negative perspective.  I often hear people talk about calling as if we can discern our calling by whether or not things go well for us.  In today’s chapter, we get three stories that speak against this thought.

First, Jesus heads to Nazareth, His hometown.  Is Jesus called to go to Nazareth?  Absolutely.  However, does that mean things go well there?  Not at all.  Jesus can do very little in Nazareth.  That doesn’t mean that Jesus wasn’t called to go there!  What it means is that Jesus went there and exposed the truth about the people of Nazareth.  God can do little with hearts that are not open to His hand at work.

Second, we hear the interlude story of John the Baptizer.  John goes before Herod and denounces the sin that Herod has chosen in marrying his brother’s wife.  This makes Herodias very angry, angry enough that she has her daughter Salome request John’s head on a platter.  Because John lost his head and things went poorly, does that mean that he went in and did something contrary to God’s calling?  Absolutely not!  John did the right thing.  Sometimes the consequences of doing the right thing are harsh and difficult.

Not unlike Jesus who went and died on a cross, mind you.

Then we get to the third story of difficult calling that is found in this chapter.  Jesus has His disciples get into a boat and row to the other side.  In the middle of the lake they find themselves in a storm.  They struggle mightily with the task of getting to the other side safely.  Does this mean that they are in the wrong place?  Does their struggle imply that they should have disobeyed Jesus and stayed by His side?  No way!  They are right where they need to be.

You see, calling comes from God.  We can only evaluate our calling based on God’s terms.  When we start to evaluate our calling based on the terms of success, or ease, or even personal skill we find that our evaluation is skewed and no longer according to God’s perspective.  Like Jesus, John, and Jesus disciples, God has called us to truth and the proclamation of it.  Proclaiming the truth is not often easy, not often something with which we are comfortably skilled, and seldom easy.  But it is our calling.

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Year 5, Day 152: Mark 5

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Grace

• Grace: Grace comes to us when we make mistakes and have a failing of character.  Grace comes to us when we have a typical D₂ moment.  Grace comes to us when we need space to recognize a mistake, repent of it, and allow God to redeem it while calling us back into His will.  Grace is partnered by Time and Vision.

Three stories.  Three points of grace.  Three people who know what they want but are human in their approach.  Three times God comes to them because they can’t make it the whole way to faith on their own.  That’s what grace is all about.

Let’s start with the demoniac.  Here is a man with a thousand demons within him.  Yet, he comes before Jesus.  The man knows that the only way to be free of the demons is in Christ.  So he comes, even in the condition that he is in.  When he is before Christ, the demons resist.  They struggle and do not want to be freed.

But finally Jesus is victorious over them.  Here is a man who wanted freedom, but his oppression fought back violently.  Christ comes to Him and in grace brings him the whole way to liberation.

Then we have the woman in the crowd.  She knows that Jesus can heal her.  But she doesn’t have the strength to ask.  She merely touches her cloak believing that it would be enough.  She doesn’t boldly enter into the presence of God.  She merely comes to the fringe.  I have to believe that she is afraid of being rejected and this is why she does what she does. 

But look at what Jesus does.  He demands to see the woman who touched His fringe.  Jesus isn’t looking to punish her or chastise her.  Rather, Jesus is looking to bring her fully into grace.  He is forcing her to be bold.  He is forcing her to coming knowingly into the presence of God.  Once she is there, she sees that she is received and welcome.  Jesus gives this woman grace in knowing that she is accepted and welcomed in the presence of God.

Finally, we have the incredibly faithful Jairus.  Here’s a man with much to lose from associating with Jesus.  After all, he was a ruler of the synagogue.  He was a significant man in Jewish circles.  Yet after he risks it all and comes to Jesus, he then receives word that his daughter has died.  I can only imagine what goes through Jairus’ head.  His daughter is dead and he’s risked offending the leaders of his culture by associating with Jesus.

What does Jesus do?  Jesus gives grace to him.  Jesus turns to Jairus and says, “Do no fear, believe!”  When Jairus is at his lowest and weakest, Jesus comes to him and lifts him up.  That’s what the grace of God is all about.

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Year 5, Day 151: Mark 4

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Teacher

• Teacher: One who holds forth the truth and is excited by it. The teacher looks for ways to explain, enlighten, and apply truth.  A teacher's authority doesn't come from how smart they are but from the Word of God and the power of a transformed life.

In Mark 4 we get a great glimpse of what it looks like to be a teacher.  Here’s the cool thing about this chapter.  In Mark 4 we get to see how Jesus taught the crowds and how Jesus taught His disciples.  And you’ll notice that these two are not the same thing.

In His infinite wisdom, Jesus knows something that has taken me the better part of 40 years to figure out.  You can’t teach large groups intimately.  You can only teach people intimately when you know them well.  When you are teaching people who know of you but who don’t know you well, you can only teach truth generically.

This is why we see Jesus teaching in parables when we see Jesus among the crowd.  Jesus is teaching generic truth because that is what the people will understand from Him.  He uses His opportunity with the crowd to plant seeds of truth that others will be able to take to greater root in depth and bring forth greater harvest.

But the truth is that Jesus doesn’t have the connection with the masses to speak truth deeply into all of their lives.  This is an important point to remember.  Because when we speak both truth and challenge into the lives of people with whom we don’t have the relationship to endure the level of challenge it ends poorly.  People become easily offended when we expose faults without having the relationship to sustain it.  Jesus knows this.  He teaches the crowd differently because of this.

However, when we observe Jesus in situations with His disciples, we see Jesus speaking truth at a very deep and challenging level.  How many times does Jesus challenge His disciples with the idea that their faith is still weak as we see in Mark 4:40?  How often do we hear Jesus tell the disciples that they should be at a point in their life where they are understanding more deeply as we see in Mark 4:13?

Jesus has the relationship with the disciples to push them hard and challenge them.  He has the depth of relationship to expose their failings.  He can teach them more deeply because the depth of the relationship can sustain the revelation of imperfection and the specific areas of change that need to happen in the disciples.

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Year 5, Day 150: Mark 3

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Chemistry

• Chemistry asks whether the person in question can work with the other people that God has called.

I think that taking a look at Mark 3 through the lens of Chemistry will be profitable today – especially in the light of protection that we discussed yesterday.  After all, today we have more people come to Jesus and question his ministry.  More religious leaders come to question Jesus about the healing of the man with the withered hand.  They come and accuse Him of being in league with Satan, even!  And then twice we hear about Jesus’ family coming against Him because they think he has lost His mind!  So taking yesterday’s context and bringing it forward into today’s passage, we see that people continue to speak out against Jesus.

But that’s not the whole story, is it.  Crowds begin to follow Him.  The people in the world who are actually seeing people’s lives change are coming to Him.  Sure, some of those people are just coming for the show or they are coming for temporal healing and relief from their present circumstances.  But Jesus doesn’t seem to mind that.  In fact, seldom in any of the Gospels does Jesus speak out against the crowds.  They come, and He uses the opportunity to put God’s power on display.  But the truth is that even this doesn’t really speak to chemistry.  It speaks to opportunity but not chemistry.

In the midst of all of the persecution and the crowds gathering around Jesus to use Him we get a really neat story of chemistry.  Jesus calls the Twelve.  There are legitimate disciples that are gathering in the midst of the persecution and the crowd’s gathering for the show.  In fact, if we think back to yesterday, remember that Jesus called Levi into discipleship in the midst of the religious attack!

That’s the interesting thing about chemistry.  Jesus uses the situation around Him to see who is really interested in following Him.  Jesus uses the conflict with the religious leaders to speak into the lives of whoever might be listening.  Jesus uses the opportunity of the crowd to speak into whoever might be listening.  That’s how chemistry seems to work.  We speak into the situations around us and see who is willing to listen.  Then we find out with whom God has created the chemistry to work together.

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Year 5, Day 149: Mark 2

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.

As I read through Mark 2, I was absolutely amazed by the amount of rejection that this chapter contains.  Yes, Jesus is gathering disciples.  Yes, the crowd – the rabble, even the sinners and tax-collectors – are willing to listen to Him.  But look at the reaction of the religious elite.  They are constantly on His case.

Jesus is accused of blaspheming by saying that He can forgive sins.  Jesus is accused of having bad choices for friends as he calls Levi and then hangs out at a dinner that Levi organizes.  Then Jesus’ disciples are accosted because they aren’t behaving like all the other religious people because they aren’t fasting.  Finally, Jesus and His disciples are accosted because of the timing of the things they do!

When I make a list like that, it seems so petty.  When I consider that the religious leaders are speaking out against the very Messiah that God sent to save them, it seems even more petty!  But let’s not lose sight of the fact that this whole chapter is about how the religious elite reject Jesus and find fault with Him.

This is why we need God’s protection.  The world will find fault with us.  Those who prefer to keep God in their box will find fault with us.  When we follow Jesus, there will be plenty of reason for the people around us to find fault with us because we’ll be living with a different agenda than most of the people around us.  If they find fault with Jesus, they’ll find fault with us, too.  Praise God that He does give us His protection!

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Year 5, Day 148: Mark 1

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Approval

• Approval: We all need to feel as though we are accepted.  When we seek the approval of God, our Up is in the right place.  But when we seek the approval of other people besides God, we open the door to pursuing false gods and risk putting someone or something other than God in our Up position.

When we read about Jesus’ first moments of ministry, there is something that should stick out.  Even before Jesus goes out and officially begins His ministry, he hears words of approval from God.  “You are my beloved Son.  With You I am well pleased.”  Jesus has the approval of the Father.

Have you ever wondered what the reasons for this approval are?  I think there are few broad reasons, and I think that they are very much straight-forward.  First of all, Jesus has the approval of the Father because He is sinless.  Jesus has the approval because His nature is not corrupted by the influence of sinful humanity.  This is the reason that we need Christ.  Without Christ and His sacrifice, we cannot have God’s approval on this point.  Our nature is sinful.  It is only through the sinless sacrifice of Jesus that our sins are done away with and we can know the approval of the Father.

However, at the end of this chapter I think we have a second reason for Jesus’ approval.  Jesus tells the disciples, “Let us go into the other towns, because that is what I came to do.”  In other words, Jesus does what the Father asks of Him.  Jesus is obedient.  Jesus is willing to do whatever the Father sets before Him.  That is reason for the Father to approve of Him.  If we are to be like Jesus and we are to seek the approval of the Father, we need to be obedient to Him as well.  We should be about doing what the Father places in our life before us.

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Year 5, Day 147: Ephesians 6

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.

Ephesians 6 contains one of the iconic passages.  Ephesians 6:10-20 speaks about putting on the full armor of God.  But here’s the thing.  There are two reasons for putting on protection: either you are going on the offense or you are getting ready to go on the defense against an attack for an enemy.

Take a close look at verse 10.  What’s the point of God’s armor?  It allows us to stand against the schemes of the devil.  This is not a passage about offense.  This is a passage about defense.  This is a passage about resisting the pull of Satan through the world.  This passage is about being able to protect ourselves against the attack that will come.

As Paul says, we do not wrestle with flesh and blood.  We wrestle with the powers and principalities of this world.  We wrestle against the cosmic power.  We wrestle against spiritual forces of evil.  We wrestle against this present darkness.

What’s the point of our protection?  It gives us an opportunity to speak about the Gospel.  When we are able to stand, we are able to speak about God and His ways.  That’s the point.  We don’t put on the armor of God to go into the world and beat up the world for God’s sake.  We put on the armor of God so that we can withstand the assault of the enemy and having withstood it we can proclaim the Gospel to those who see us withstand evil and who desire to learn from it.

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Year 5, Day 146: Ephesians 5

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Imitation

• 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.

I think that imitation is one of the hardest things to do in the Christian life.  Yes, we look to Christ.  Yes, we are grateful for His sacrifice.  We are incredibly thankful for His free gift of eternal life.  But then we have to live like He lived.

How exactly did He live?

• He was there when the crowd needed Him. 
• He healed people. 
• He listened to them. 
• He received anyone who wanted to come to Him regardless of how much or how little money they had, how great or how small their reputation was, and what gender they were.
• He taught and re-taught when His disciples didn’t understand.
• He accepted that His disciples would turn on Him and abandon Him.
• He died for us even though He was incredibly innocent.

In other words, He was selfless.  He gave of Himself for our sake.  He didn’t come to achieve His goals, He came to accomplish God’s will for our sake.

This is why I think imitating God is one of the hardest parts of the Christian walk.  Gratitude and thankfulness is natural and easy.  But putting our feet forward and living out God’s truth in our lives is difficult.  Living a life that pursues God’s agenda and pushes our own agenda down is far more difficult in reality than it sounds.

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Year 5, Day 145: Ephesians 4

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Challenge, Invitation

• Invitation: God is always inviting us into relationship with Him. He desires that we know Him and that we know His desire for us.
• 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.

Ephesians 4 is a great chapter with respect to seeing the cycle of invitation and challenge.  God the Father invites us into relationship with Him through His Son.  We’ve been talking about this for the past couple of days.  We are saved by grace.  We are saved through the faithfulness of Jesus Christ as He died upon the cross.  I am in relationship with God at His invitation, not because I am great.

However, look at where this idea naturally leads Paul.  If we are in relationship with God, then we are challenged to rise up out of our sin!  He is pretty blunt when he says to not live as the Gentiles do.  We need to change who we are.  We don’t need to change with respect to physical things such as Kosher laws or circumcision.  What we need to change is our character.

Look at the examples that Paul uses.  Don’t be sensual.  Don’t be greedy.  Don’t be impure.  Put off your old self and let God create something new.  Be angry, but not angry in a way that you sin.  Don’t take what isn’t yours, but instead work hard for what you want.  Don’t corrupt the world around you with your worlds; build it up instead.  Don’t slander God, but embrace His seal upon us.

Invitation and challenge.  We receive grace: God’s invitation.  We are challenged to respond: the good works of God’s character for which we were created.

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Year 5, Day 144: Ephesians 3

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 often wonder about my identity.  It is easy to let the world around me determine my own identity.  I am a man.  I am intelligent.  I am an American.  I like living in a place defined by fried chicken, cornbread, sweet tea, and cheese grits.  I enjoy teaching.  I like hockey.  I have a few favorite restaurants and a few favorite foods.

But is that really the identity that I want to broadcast?  Sure, there is nothing sinful in that list I give above.  There is nothing wrong with having those characteristics in my life.  But is that really my identity?

Read Ephesians 3:16-19 again.  What is Paul’s prayer for the Ephesians?  What identity does he pray for them to have?

• Strong with power through his Spirit
• Christ dwelling in your hearts through faith
• Rooted and grounded in love
• Strength to comprehend
• Knowledge of the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge
• Filled with all the fullness of God.

Honestly, when people should think about me, what do I want them to think?  Do I want them to think of a hockey-loving teacher who likes fried chicken and cheese grits?  Or do I want them to think of a person who embodies the list of attributes that Paul sets forth here?  I think the choice is clear.

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