workers need both wisdom and innocence

Posted on March 3, 2014 by Jefferson Vann

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Matthew 10:12-16

12 As you enter the house, greet it.

13 And if the house is worthy, let your blessing of peace come upon it, but if it is not worthy, let your blessing of peace return to you.

14 And if anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet when you leave that house or town.

15 Truly, I say to you, it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah than for that town.

16 “See, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents as well as innocent as doves.

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workers need both wisdom and innocence

The twelve could expect rejection and opposition, even violence. That is why they had to be wise about who they approached. They had to be cautious like a serpent to whom everyone is deadly. Those who would not listen were to be left, and the LORD would judge them. But the workers needed to be innocent, honest, people of integrity. They were sheep sent out to witness to wolves. Without integrity, they would never win the lost to Christ.

LORD, give us wisdom to seek the lost who are seeking to be found, and the integrity we need to show them how to be found.

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unlikely relationships

Posted on March 2, 2014 by Jefferson Vann

030214Genesis 26:23 – 35

23 He went up from there to Beer-sheba.

24 And the LORD appeared to him in that night and he said, “I am the God of Abraham your father. Do not fear, for I am with you and will bless you and multiply your offspring for my servant Abraham’s sake.”

25 So he built an altar there and called upon the name of the LORD and pitched his tent there. And Isaac’s servants dug a well there.

26 When Abimelech visited him from Gerar with Ahuzzath his adviser and Phicol the commander of his army,

27 Isaac said to them, “Why have you come to me, since you hate me and have sent me away from you?”

28 They said, “We see clearly that the LORD has been with you. So we said, let there be a sworn pact between us, between you and us, and let us make a covenant with you,

29 that you will not do harm to us, just as we have not touched you and have done to you nothing but good and have sent you away in peace. You are now the blessed of the LORD.”

30 So he prepared them a feast, and they ate and drank.

31 In the morning they rose early and exchanged oaths. And Isaac sent them on their way, and they left from him in peace.

32 That same day Isaac’s servants came and told him about the well that they had dug and said to him, “We have found water.”

33 He called it Shibah; so the name of the city is Beersheba to this day.

34 When Esau was forty years old, he took Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite to be his wife, and Basemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite,

35 and they made life bitter for Isaac and Rebekah. _________________________________________

unlikely relationships

The Philistines make a covenant with Isaac here. Isaac was surprised, since they had been enemies when he lived there before, but they explained that they had let him live, so they could not have been that mad at him. Regardless if Isaac bought that or not, he still decided to solidify this new relationship with an oath of mutual protection, and gave them a covenant feast.

Esau makes some new relationships as well. When he turns 40, he marries into two Hittite clans, and these new relatives caused bitterness of spirit for his parents, Isaac and Rebekah. It was another bad choice in a line of them.

LORD, give us the wisdom to choose our friends wisely, based on our commitment to you. Also, may our choices reflect the desire to bring reconciliation and peace between you and the lost.

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his advice to the workers in Galilee

Posted on March 1, 2014 by Jefferson Vann

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Matthew 10:5-11

5 These twelve Jesus sent out, instructing them, “Do not go to the Gentile regions and do not enter any town of the Samaritans,

6 but go instead to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

7 And preach as you go, saying, ‘The kingdom from the sky has approached.’

8 Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons. You received without paying; give without pay.

9 Do not purchase gold or silver or copper for your belts,

10 nor a bag for your journey, nor two tunics nor sandals nor a staff, because the worker deserves his food.

11 And whatever town or village you enter, search for someone worthy in it and stay there until you leave.

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his advice to the workers in Galilee

These apostles had been prayed for, trained, empowered for service, and sent out with a specific target in mind. They were to go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Now, they had to trust that the LORD who sent them on a mission would provide for them while serving him. During harvest, the Lord of the harvest feeds his workers.

So, Jesus tells the twelve not to weigh themselves down with extra provisions. They were to just go, find people to feed them where they went, and keep preaching Jesus until the job was done. These were not the instructions Jesus always gave to those he sent out, but they applied in this case. The Israelites had claimed that they were looking for their Messiah, now it was time for these Galilean villages to prove where their hope was.

LORD, as you send us out, teach us to trust in your ability to provide for your own team.

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making room for peace

Posted on February 28, 2014 by Jefferson Vann

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Genesis 26:12-22

12 And Isaac planted in that land and harvested in the same year a hundredfold. The LORD blessed him,

13 and the man became rich, and succeeded more and more until he became very wealthy.

14 He had so many flocks and herds and many servants, that the Philistines envied him.

15 (And the Philistines had closed down and filled with dirt all the wells that his father’s servants had dug in the days of Abraham his father.)

16 And Abimelech said to Isaac, “Go away from us, for you are much stronger than we.”

17 So Isaac left from there and resettled in the valley of Gerar and lived there.

18 And Isaac dug the wells of water again that had been dug in the days of Abraham his father, which the Philistines had closed down after the death of Abraham. And he gave them the names that his father had given them.

19 But when Isaac’s servants dug in the valley and found there a well of spring water,

20 the herdsmen of Gerar argued with Isaac’s herdsmen, saying, “The water is ours.” So he called the name of the well Esek, because they contended with him.

21 Then they dug another well, and they argued over that also, so he called its name Sitnah.

22 And he moved from there and dug another well, and they did not argue over that one. So he called its name Rehoboth, saying, “For now the LORD has made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land.”

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making room for peace

During a famine, Isaac and his family resettle in Gerar, where Abraham had lived before. He re-dug some of the wells that Abraham had dug, because the Philistines had closed them down. Two of the wells he named Esek (contention) and Sitnah (enmity). The names of these wells show the unsteady relationship that Isaac’s people had with the inhabitants of Gerar. But the LORD did allow Isaac to spread out further away from the Philistines and build a well that they had no interest in. He called it Rehoboth (wide places).

When you come to Christ, an eternal inheritance of peace becomes part of your life. It may not bring peace with your neighbors. But you should seek peace, even if it means turning the cheek a few times, and rebuilding. Giving his neighbors room was part of Isaac’s peace-plan.

LORD, thank you for the peace you have placed in our hearts. Help us to spread that peace to others by avoiding conflict whenever possible. Give us the patience to wait until the third well.

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his commission of the workers in Galilee

Posted on February 27, 2014 by Jefferson Vann

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Matthew 9:37 – 10:4

37 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but those working at it are few;

38 therefore pray for the Lord of the harvest to send out more workers into his harvest.”

10:1 Then he called to him his twelve disciples and gave them the right to cast out unclean spirits, and to the right to heal every illness and every injury.

2 The names of the twelve apostles are these: first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother;

3 Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew (who had been a tax collector); James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus;

4 Simon the Cananaean, and Judas Iscariot, who later would betray him. _________________________________________

his commission of the workers in Galilee

Jesus had a larger group of disciples who followed him, and a smaller group of disciples whom he had been training. He first commanded the larger group to pray for the Lord of the harvest (the owner of the field) to send workers who could complete the harvest in Galilee.

Next, as Lord of the harvest, he chose his workers – the twelve whom he had been training. He sent them out to tell all the Galileans that the kingdom from the sky had approached, and that its king was here. Their evidence: deliverance from demons and healing.

All Jesus asked the larger group of disciples to do was pray.

· He and John the Baptist had planted the seed.

· He had trained the harvesters.

· He authorized them to deliver and heal.

LORD, send your word through us as seed planted in our land. Send your workers for us to harvest in our land.

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Off limits

Posted on February 26, 2014 by Jefferson Vann

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Genesis 26:1-11

Now there was a famine in the land, in addition to the former famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went to Abimelech king of the Philistines at Gerar.

2 And the LORD appeared to him and said, “Do not go down to Egypt; dwell in the land of which I shall tell you.

3 Travel in this land, and I will be with you and will bless you, because to you and to your offspring I will give all these lands, and I will establish the oath that I swore to Abraham your father.

4 I will multiply your offspring as the stars of the sky and will give to your offspring all these lands. And all the nations of the land will be blessed by your offspring,

5 because Abraham obeyed my voice and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.”

6 So Isaac relocated to Gerar.

7 When the men of the place asked him about his wife, he said, “She is my sister,” because he was afraid to say, “My wife,” thinking, “or else men of this place will kill me because of Rebekah,” because she was nice to look at.

8 When he had been there a long time, Abimelech king of the Philistines looked out of a window and saw Isaac caressing Rebekah his wife.

9 So Abimelech called Isaac and said, “See, she is your wife. How then could you say, ‘She is my sister’?” Isaac said to him, “Because I thought, ‘Or else I will die because of her.'”

10 Abimelech said, “What is this you have done to us? One of the people might easily have had sex with your wife, and you would have brought guilt upon us.”

11 So Abimelech warned all the people, saying, “Whoever harms this man or his wife will surely be put to death.”

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Off limits

Isaac borrowed a page from his father’s playbook when he and Rebekah found themselves in a foreign land. He probably knew that this strategy of his father had resulted in his being deported by the king of Egypt, and getting a previous Abimelech, king of Gerar in a lot of trouble. Or, maybe this was a custom among foreigners seeking to preserve their lives at that time. Either way, it shows again that people under God’s grace do not always act the way they should. It also shows that God works through the events of their lives – even the embarrassing ones – to carry out his own plan. By Abimelech declaring Isaac and Rebekah off limits, he enabled them to survive and prosper in a difficult, foreign environment.

Abimelech’s warning of the death penalty to the people of Gerar who seek to harm Isaac and Rebekah is the same warning that God gave Adam & Eve in Eden about the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.[1] Transgressing the set limits is what got us all in this mess to begin with. Failure to obey the king’s warning plunged us all into mortality and eventual death. The tree itself was not the point. Behind the warning was a living king who wanted to protect his subjects from the consequences of their actions. He sees the consequences of our choices when we do not.

LORD, give us the wisdom to see beyond our desires to the consequences of transgressing your limits.

[1] Genesis 2:17.

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his compassion for the abandoned

Posted on February 25, 2014 by Jefferson Vann

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Matthew 9:32-36

32 As they were going away, see, a demon-oppressed man who could not talk was brought to him.

33 And after the demon had been cast out, the speechless man spoke. And the crowds were shocked, saying, “Never was anything like this seen in Israel.”

34 But the Pharisees said, “He casts out demons by the prince of demons.”

35 And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and preaching the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction.

36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were troubled and abandoned, like sheep without a shepherd. _________________________________________

his compassion for the abandoned

When Jesus saw needy people, he did not decide whether or not to help them based on how it would look. If he wanted to avoid criticism, he could have stayed away from the demonically oppressed. His critics were already saying that he uses Satan’s power. But when he saw someone in bondage, he wanted to give them freedom. He still does.

He saw the people in the crowds as victims of abuse and neglect. He could have shunned a great many of them, complaining that they have gotten themselves into trouble. Instead, he chose to be a redeemer. He chose to shepherd the sheep that others had thrown away. That is the kind of ministry he calls his church to.

LORD, give us your compassion for the troubled and abandoned all around us.

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Trading away destiny

Posted on February 24, 2014 by Jefferson Vann

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Genesis 25:21-34

21 And Isaac prayed to the LORD for his wife, because she was barren. And the LORD granted his prayer, and his wife Rebekah conceived.

22 The children struggled together within her, and she said, “If this is right, why am I experiencing this?” So she went to inquire of the LORD.

23 And the LORD said to her, “Two nations are in your belly, and two peoples shall be divided starting from within you; the one will be stronger than the other, the older will serve the younger.”

24 When her days to give birth were completed, see, there were twins in her belly.

25 The first came out red[1], all his body was like a hairy coat, so they named him Esau.

26 Afterward his brother came out with his hand holding Esau’s heel, so his name was called Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when she gave birth to them.

27 When the boys grew up, Esau became a skillful hunter, a man of the field, while Jacob was an orderly man, dwelling in tents.

28 Isaac loved Esau because of the food he brought home, but Rebekah loved Jacob.

29 Once when Jacob was cooking stew, Esau came in from the field, and he was tired.

30 So Esau said to Jacob, “Let me wolf down some of that red stuff[2], because I am tired!” (Therefore his name was called Edom.)

31 And Jacob said, “Sell me the rights to your day of birth.”

32 Esau said, “I am about to die; what is this to me — a birthright?”

33 Jacob said, “Swear that it belongs to me now.” So he swore to him and sold his birthright to Jacob.

34 Then Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew, and he ate and drank and got up and went his way. So Esau despised his birthright. _________________________________________

Trading away destiny

Esau was not a bad man. But God knew from the beginning that his destiny would be decided by a day in which he felt too tired to fix his own meal. The LORD had told Rebekah in prayer that he would serve Jacob, so he knew about this decision. He would be the ancestor of the Edomites, enemies of God’s people. Jacob would be the ancestor of the Israelites. It all came down to one decision. That is how destiny works. What have you decided?

LORD, give us the wisdom to choose you when our destiny is at stake.

[1] The color of the ground – ‘admoni – like Adam.

[2] literally “from that red –red” (min ha-adom ha-adom).

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his touch of healing, and faith

Posted on February 23, 2014 by Jefferson Vann

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Matthew 9:27-31

27 And while Jesus is leaving from there, two blind men followed him, crying aloud, “Have mercy on us, Son of David.”

28 After he entered the house, the blind men came to him, and Jesus said to them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” They said to him, “Yes, Lord.”

29 Then he touched their eyes, saying, “May it happen to you consistent with what you believe.”

30 And their eyes were opened. But Jesus sternly warned them, “Make sure that no one knows about this.”

31 But they went away and spread the story through all that region.

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his touch of healing, and faith

I do not believe in faith healing. But I have faith in Jesus to heal. That was the faith of these two blind men, whom Jesus healed. They believed in who Jesus was. He was the Son of David, Messiah of the Jews, and Savior of the world. They believed that Jesus was able to reverse their blindness, restoring their sight. Their faith was not in their faith, it was in their healer. That is where faith intersects with healing.

Jesus is not obligated to heal us, just as he was not obligated to heal those blind men that day. He heals because he wants to. He has chosen to respond to our prayers of faith. The reason is not that there is power in faith, but that there is love in our healer’s heart. There is not some measure of faith we have to attain to in order to get our healing. We simply have to connect with Jesus. His touch does the rest. Faith is not the solution to the problem, Jesus is. Those two blind men could have believed in anything. They chose to believe Jesus, and asked him to do what their faith could not.

LORD, thank you for Jesus, our healer. Our faith is in him.

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Awaiting destiny

Posted on February 22, 2014 by Jefferson Vann

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Genesis 25:7-20

7 These are the days of the living years of Abraham, 175 years.

8 Abraham stopped breathing and died with a good gray head, an old man and full of years, and was gathered to his ancestors.

9 Isaac and Ishmael his sons buried him in the cave of Machpelah, in the field of Ephron the son of Zohar the Hittite, east of Mamre,

10 that field Abraham purchased from the Hittites. There Abraham was buried, with Sarah his wife.

11 After the death of Abraham, God blessed his son Isaac. And Isaac moved to Beer-lahai-roi.

12 This is the story of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, whom Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah’s servant, bore to Abraham.

13 These are the names of the sons of Ishmael, listed in the order of their birth: Nebaioth, the firstborn of Ishmael; and Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam,

14 Mishma, Dumah, Massa,

15 Hadad, Tema, Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah.

16 These are the sons of Ishmael and these are their names, by their villages and by their encampments, twelve princes listed according to where their tribes settled.

17 (These are the years of the life of Ishmael: 137 years. He stopped breathing and died, and was gathered to his ancestors.)

18 The Ishmaelites settled from Havilah to Shur, which is before Egypt as you are going to Assyria. They settled away from all their relatives.

19 This is the story of Isaac, Abraham’s son: Abraham fathered Isaac,

20 and Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah to be his wife, the daughter of Bethuel the Aramean from Paddan-aram, the sister of Laban the Aramean. _________________________________________

Awaiting destiny

Ishmael is said to have lived a long life, stopped breathing and died, and was gathered to his ancestors. He joined his father Abraham, who had done the same thing. They were not judged at death, nor did they go to separate places, although Ishmael was not part of Abraham’s covenant with the LORD. They both went to Sheol, the place where all the dead go (or a state where they exist unconsciously) awaiting their resurrection. Their destinies await them at the coming of the Messiah who will wake all those who sleep in the dust. The day of our deaths is not the judgment day for us. On the day of our deaths, we begin a sleep which can only be awaken by a resurrection.[1] The only one who has been raised immortal from that sleep is Jesus. He is “the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.”[2] He awoke to his eternal destiny, and someday Abraham and Ishmael (and you and I) will awake to ours.

LORD, thank you for hope after the grave. Thank you that our hope is Jesus, the Resurrection and the Life.

[1] Matthew 9:24; 27:52; John 11:11; 2 Peter 3:4.

[2] 1 Corinthians 15:20-23.

Posted in Abraham, Jesus Christ, resurrection, sleep of death | Tagged | 1 Comment