“I have given you authority” those were the words. Authority to tread on serpents, to suffer no harm. This is a phrase that cuts both ways for those who follow Christ.
The first way it cuts is that it reminds us that we have no authority over evil other than that which has been given us by Jesus Christ. It’s His authority, we just represent Him. Our Church growth strategies, our evangelism programs and our best efforts to win our neighbors to Christ are just that… ours. Sometimes we forget that we are aliens in this world. The power to save, the power to go and make disciples, the power to shine light into darkness doesn’t come from us… it comes from Him. We go under His authority, “All authority has been given unto me” (Mt. 28:18).
second. We have authority from Him! Don’t let anyone tell you that you have no right to speak the truth, comfort the afflicted, and bring healing to those who are hurting. We are doing only what Jesus has told us to do. It’s His authority. Who trumps His authority? No one!
Father,
Today I am both humbled and encouraged. One the one hand I am humbled to remember that I can do nothing on my own. I can only do what I see you doing. I can only act out of the authority that you give. I am also encouraged. I am encouraged because I am your man. You have called me. You have set me apart and you have commissioned me to share your gospel. Father, I ask that I would go boldly today in the authority that you have provided. I ask that I would not act out of insecurity or self-preservation, but that I would be jealous for your glory today.
There they were on the side of the mountain and late into the day. The people were listening to Jesus preach, but it became apparent that they needed a break to get something to eat. Eating is necessary after all. Eating is what sustains us, it keeps up alive. Necessities of life were encroaching upon meeting. They could go on meeting, but they could not go on without food.
The plan was to dismiss the crowd. The disciples had determined that. We don’t have enough, let them go into the villages and purchase food. Who knows perhaps this would have been an economic stimulus for the area they were in. But Jesus had other plans. He looks at his disciples and says, “You give them something to eat.”
I’m sure they looked around at each other at this point. They thought, “We don’t have anything, well not much anyway… maybe one man’s lunch, but not enough for the crowd.” But he takes it, he takes those small rations. He holds them out and blesses them and begins to pass out food to feed the multitude.
But, wait, there is more to this story that just plain old white bread. Jesus was meeting a physical need. He was feeding the hungry. Just like Moses called on God and God provided the manna. Jesus was saying here that he would provide for all that we needed. Not just physically, but spiritually as well. He is the Bread of Life!
So then I remember, this is how ministry works. I truly have nothing to offer, nothing much anyhow. Nothing apart from His blessing. Nothing apart from His hands. He is the one that takes my weakness and exploits it for kingdom gain. He is the one ultimately opens his word before me to feed me and a whole multitude beside.
Father,
I remember today how little I have to offer you and how gracious you are to multiply your grace to me and many more besides. Use me today to open your word before your people. I am nothing if I am not in your hands.
Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.” But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” (John 4:31-32, ESV)
Now the disciples are getting to know Jesus. They were around when he cleaned out the temple, they may have been around to overhear Jesus talking with Nicodemus, they know that sometimes Jesus speaks a little funny. They also know that they just saw him talking to a Samaritan woman which was a very socially unacceptable situation. They also know he is hungry and tired.
Right now they see that he needs something to eat. They knew how hungry they were when they went into town, they know how tired he was when they left him by the well, so they imagine that his number one priority right now is to get something to eat. Jesus, you’re hungry, eat.
They don’t see a man on a mission to save the world, all they see is a hungry and tired teacher. They miss the reality of who Jesus is. They won’t get it until later, much later.
So then they start to look around and see if someone has taken their spot of getting Jesus lunch?
So the disciples said to one another, “Has anyone brought him something to eat?”(John 4:33, ESV)
They see themselves as providers for Jesus, they don’t get that ultimately He is the one who is going to provide for them. They imagine that someone else has brought a party tray by and fed the master. Perhaps they become indignant. It was their job to go into town and buy lunch. Great, now they have too much lunch.
Jesus lets them wrestle with the issue long enough and then fills them in on what he really means when he says, “I have food that you don’t know about.” They need to know that they ultimately do not provide for Jesus, but that Jesus provides for the whole world. They need to see what really drives their master, beyond human appetite. Beyond the desire to have a full stomach, Jesus desires to obey they father. This is worship.
Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work. (John 4:34, ESV)
He challenges his disciples to see past hungry stomachs and see hungry souls, to look beyond the physical reality of a hungry tummy to see that true worship is a heart rightly submitted to God. What fuels Jesus? The disciples must learn here that food is for the body, but worship is for the soul. Jesus is seeing past the physical into the spiritual. If the disciples are ever to be like him they must come to a place where they desire God’s will to be done more than they desire their daily bread. Indeed later Jesus will teach them to pray to the father and before daily bread comes the request that God’s will would be done.
Now like the Samaritan woman before them, he presses his disciples to see all the people coming out of the city. See them with spiritual eyes. They walked into the city to get food, never once did it cross their minds to see the great spiritual need, but now they see it as the whole city comes out to the well.
Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, then comes the harvest’? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest. Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’ I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.” Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me all that I ever did.” So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days. And many more believed because of his word. They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world.” (John 4:35-42, ESV)
It was a common saying in the day of Jesus to say, “there are four months till harvest.” It was a way of saying, “relax,” don’t worry, don’t be in such a hurry, there isn’t anything you can do right now. Our modern saying is something like this, “Good things come to those who wait.” Here Jesus is saying the opposite. He is saying, “look! You didn’t plant anything and now there is a harvest field.” You didn’t tell anybody in the city about me and now the whole city is coming out to meet me.
I can’t help but be reminded of one of our Wednesday nights a few months ago. I was running around trying to get everything set up. I’m a firm believer that service is more caught than taught and so I set out all the chairs, place connect cards and pens in the seats, open the student center, help count out the cash box, etc. I also speak.
One of our girls was talking about her life. Something told me that I needed to sit down with the band who was already engaged in talking with her. She had several great questions and we listened and prayed with her and then it struck me that God was really dealing with her heart. Long story short she prayed to receive Jesus as her Lord and Savior. What was really interesting about the situation thought was that while she was praying, I was thinking, “you have this all backwards. I haven’t even spoken yet. I’m supposed to preach and then people are supposed to respond.”
The truth of the matter is, it rarely ever works out that way. Sure people may respond after a sermon, but most often times someone has been there before. A praying parent or spouse, a concerned youth worker or Life group leader. I may be the one that someone prays with, but seldom do I sow the first seed.
The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.” Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.” The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.” (John 4:15-18, ESV)
She says, almost sarcastically, “give me this water.” And then Jesus does something strange by telling her to go get her husband. To us it looks like he is changing the conversation or we think she may have turned a corner and is really interested at this point in what Jesus is saying. But Jesus is doing heart surgery here. He is helping her to see who He is, by asking her to be honest with herself.
It is not as though divorce in Jesus day was unheard of, or that people didn’t get remarried, they did. So it was socially acceptable to have been in one or more marriages. However, if the marriage ended in divorce, it was the woman who was generally though to be at fault. And even if all her husband’s had died, the rule of the day was 3 marriages, beyond that and you were damaged goods. So for a woman to have had 5 husbands and shacked up with another guy there is no hiding the fact that she is a sinner and now this strange Jewish man knows it.
Jesus knows the weight that she carries around on her shoulders and he presses the conversation in a way that must hurt her. I can imagine that her whole life is spent trying to ignore how many bad decisions that she has made; trying to avoid the stares of the town people.
Some people assert that at this point the pain is unbearable and that she is trying to focus the spot light off of herself and so she brings up a theological question; one to steer the conversation away from her painful personal life. But that’s not it at all. Her question actually centers on the proper place for a sinful person to offer sacrifices for their sins. Her question is about worship.
The woman said to him, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.” Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, he will tell us all things.” Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am he.” (John 4:19-26, ESV)
This woman’s question is about the right place for worship. When we say worship, we may think of songs and preaching, but when she said worship she was talking about making restitution for her sins. In our day the question might look like this, “The Catholic’s say go to a priest and confess my sins, my Baptist friends come forward at an invitation and rededicate their lives. Which way is right?”
Jesus answer is designed to help her see past the physical reality. She is looking for a place, she doesn’t know that worship isn’t about the right place, it’s about the heart. Jesus tells her that the place is about to be made irrelevant. His sacrifice will be the last sacrifice ever needed. What is needed is a humble and contrite spirit; an attitude of the heart. She also needs to know the truth; worship the true God.
She knows that the messiah is coming and she looks forward to that day and there she makes a startling discovery and Jesus makes a bold claim. I am the messiah.
Jesus declares that he is the messiah just in time for his disciples to come up on the conversation. The next few verses will reveal their thoughts and we will look at them, but first see how this woman responds to his declaration. It is as though a veil has been lifted. All at once she see’s who Jesus is; she sees who she is; she sees what worship is really all about and now she sees her home town of Sychar different than she has ever seen it before.
Just then his disciples came back. They marveled that he was talking with a woman, but no one said, “What do you seek?” or, “Why are you talking with her?” So the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people, “Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?” They went out of the town and were coming to him. (John 4:27-30, ESV)
She runs back into town, leaving her water jar (as if to say, “I don’t need it any more, I’m satisfied in Jesus). She runs to all those people who’s stares she has tried to avoid. She is no longer worried about how they see her, she see’s them for the very first time. They are thirsty just like she had been. They need to meet this man. Who cares what they think of her. The reality of her situation has just changed. Before her sign might have read, “looking for love in all the wrong places.” And now it reads “rescued from my sin and shame.” She is different and she sees the world as different.
Her neighbors take note. What has caused this shy sinner to now go running throughout town compelling everyone to go out to the well? Something has changed this woman!
In the meantime Jesus is about to help his disciples see the spiritual reality around them. They have just come from doing business in town to buy lunches for everyone and where they saw filthy Samaritans, this woman was now seeing people who needed to meet Jesus.
When I first saw that video I immediately was convicted. Too often I’m the guy in the first part of the video. I get frustrated at things like traffic and long lines at the coffee shop. I don’t ever pause to wonder or think that someone’s mourning the loss of their best friend when they pull in the parking spot ahead of me… I just think that they’re a jerk. And when I get in the parking space ahead of someone else, I just think that their a loser. (Just kidding!)
I do wonder what life would be like though if we really saw everything that was going on? What would it be like if there were an eye-wear service that would let you know more than what meets the eye? More than just someone’s emotional state, but who they really were?
Often when Jesus spoke with people he was pushing them to see past just what met the eye and see a deeper underlying spiritual issue. In John chapter two he drives the money changers out of the temple and people ask him by what authority he does this… and he answers, “Destroy this temple and in 3 days I will raise it up.” They thought he was talking about a building. They thought worship centered on a place. Jesus was talking about his body, worship centers on the person and work of Jesus. They thought worship was making animal sacrifices, Jesus was saying, “I am the sacrifice.” They thought death defined their world. Later they thought they could kill him and it would be the end. They didn’t know that Jesus was on mission to beat death, deliver us from hell, and that his death was just the beginning.
Later in John chapter 3 Jesus speaks with a man named Nicodemus. Jesus tell Nic that if he wants to see the kingdom of God that he must be born again. Nic doesn’t get it. Nic thinks that it’s impossible for old life to have new life. Jesus wasn’t talking about the physical, he was talking about the spiritual. Nic didn’t understand that you don’t enter heaven because of who your parents are, you enter heaven because of who God is. You don’t enter as a master teacher trying to offer God your services, you enter as a helpless babe completely dependent on God for everything.
Tomorrow as we come John chapter 4 and the story of the woman at the well. As we read this story, as we examine this truth, I want to ask you to put on your glasses. Ask God to give us a glimpse of how to see the world as He sees it. Ask him to help us look past the every day and into the eternal. Ask him to apply this truth to our lives. Ask him to help us see people as he sees people
Truth That Sticks: How to Communicate Velcro Truth in a Teflon World by Avery T. Willis Jr. and Mark Snowden is by far one of the best books I’ve read on how to communicate the biblical message. I’ve read dozens of books just on the subject matter of speaking and dozens more on preaching, yet none with the simplicity and authenticating case studies presented in this book. The idea is simple: The Bible has lots of truth telling stories and stories stick.
The idea is so simple that we were already practicing it with the non-readers in our house. I’ve read the Jesus Storybook Bible to my daughter 4 or 5 times now just by reading a few stories per night. Sunday afternoons we pull out a set of pictures we have that tell the major stories of the Bible and she asks questions about the pictures and I tell the stories. I just never thought of teaching adults, or students through stories… that is until I read Made to Stick by Dan and Chip Heath. Then I thought it was possible, but I struggles with how to go about teaching adults through story. Then this book made it’s way to my hands and has become a primer.
To be honest another book is needed (and I think one is on the way) with more specifics on how to teach small groups, large group, etc. through the power of Biblical stories.
This book is a great for people looking to share the gospel or help disciple others, Sunday school teachers, pastors, etc. I highly recommend it. The retail price is $14.99 (Paperback), and is available at a discount at Amazon.com for $10.19. I gave it FIVE stars
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from NavPress as part of their Blogger Review Program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
What is the one thing that we all come across on a regular basis, but have absolutely no desire to keep. We don’t collect it. We don’t save it up. In fact we have devised creative ways to remove the stuff as far from us as possible as soon as possible. We actually have invented devices and systems to remove this stuff from our house, usually at the push of a button (sometimes 2 buttons on the nicer Eco friendly models). Give up?
It’s “poo!” yes there are other names, but we won’t get into that here. You may find yourself asking… What’s the big deal? Answer: Paul said in Philippians 1:8 that he has suffered the loss of lots of things, but compared to knowing Christ, he counts it all as “poo.” granted your version may say, “rubbish” or even “dung,” but those are just fancier ways of saying the same thing.
The point: You don’t miss your “rubbish!” And Paul is saying He didn’t miss the stuff, power, or popularity he had before risking it all to follow Christ. Not in the slightest.
You see… Stuff, power, popularity… All temporary. Even if I live to 120 years of age, most of the stuff I cling to will be sold at a yard sale for a couple of dollars. Compared to knowing Christ it’s nothing, it’s worse than nothing, it’s something that I can’t get rid of fast enough.
Application: how worried are you about stuff? Does that fancy truck, car, or boat really compare to knowing Christ? Are you over concerned about office politics? Do these things really deserve the amount of affection we give to them? Is it wrong to have stuff… No! Have stuff! But don’t treat it as though it’s anything more than it really is… It’s just stuff and it will pass away like your rubbish is flushed away. We don’t live for stuff, we have been raised to a new life in Christ.
Mark 16 closes out the book of Mark with a brief account of the resurrection and a somewhat controversial last 11 verses. Controversy aside, what stuck out to me was the great commission like statement found in Mark 16:15. The idea is found in all the gospels, Acts… Well really the whole Bible.
God has made the way to rescue sinners from His wrath through the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ who was crucified, buried and risen from the dead. This is indeed good news and the world should hear!
Believers are called to be ambassadors of Christ! We are to take the good news everywhere, including to people who may not count the gospel as good news. We are to go!
It’s the PEOPLE not the PLACE!
But where are we to go? If we are not careful we will become mistaken and think we are to go places (indeed that may be part, but it is not the whole), but the command to go and make disciples is not about geography as much as it is about people. People who at this very moment stand outside the kingdom of God. People who may have never even heard the gospel. The command is to go to the people, not the place. Sometimes we have to go places to get to the people, but please make no mistake we go to share the good news with people.
The implications of this are huge! Tonight as I write this there are people in my city who will lay their head on their pillow to go to sleep and they have never heard the good news. My city has an abundance of churches, and yet there are people who have not heard. The condition of those who have not heard in Pensacola is the same as those who have not heard in another city or country with less churches. Again the command isn’t to go to places, but to go to people! Darkness is darkness wherever it exists. We can no longer use the fact that there are more people without the gospel in another region of the world as an excuse to just give our money and not search out those who are without Christ on our own neighborhood. (We should give and give generously to reach people across cultural divides, but not in replace of sharing the good news in our own culture).
There is so much in Mark 15 to get into, what jumped out at me was when Jesus called out from the cross, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me” (mark 15:34)? It appears like God (the father) is forsaking or abandoning God (the son). My question was… Is that possible? Can God forsake God?
To get the answer I did a little searching. I always like to begin with the context. Remember Jesus is being crucified.
Sometime between 9am and noon some of the religious leaders come through and are mocking Jesus. They say that if he comes down (supernaturally removes Himself from the cross) they will believe Him… This taunt is familiar. Satan tempted Jesus to fling Himself from the temple and angels would hold him up. The problem is that if Jesus comes off the cross He is no longer in perfect obedience to God and He is no longer making a perfect sacrifice for the sins of mankind. Plus he will give them a greater sign by rising 3 days later. It is in this context that Jesus utters, “my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
My next step is to see if these words have been uttered before in scripture. A quick phrase search now available via modern technology reveals Psalm 22. I dare you to read Mark 15 and then Psalm 22. Psalm 22 was written well before the events of Mark 15, before Rome occupied Israel, before crucifixion was the accepted means of execution, yet it describes Mark 15 perfectly… Including the taunting. It also reveals that the end result of bringing people to worship God.
It appears that Jesus is quoting the scripture in this moment of extreme anguish to point those who are there to the real reason He is on the cross. 2 Corinthians 5:21 tells us that God made him who knew no sin, to become sin so that we might become the righteousness of God. There is no doubt that Jesus pleased the Father. He was walking perfectly in God’s will, yet God’s will required Him to bear the sins of the world and for a time to experience the weight of sin and satisfy the wrath of God on our behalf.
So did God abandon God? Not ultimately. Jesus was fulfilling the plan of God, bringing Glory to God, and would be raised from the dead to be seated at the right hand of God the Father.
Did God abandon God briefly then? Possibly, though it was the plan from before the foundation if the world. Jesus bore our sin debt alone and in this (in my mind) there was a sense of abandonment.
The application for us: Don’t miss the big picture behind the question. God went to great lengths to insure that sinners could be made right and enjoy Him forever. Salvation is free, not because it is cheap, but because it is costly and we could never afford it.
Mark 14 details the events leading up to the arrest of Jesus. There is really slot in this passage to unpack, but what jumped out to me was how Jesus prayed in the garden.
He brought a few of the close disciples with Him and then went a little further to pray. He wanted them to watch and pray. However, they let hum down by falling asleep. Jesus comments that they should pray against this temptation because, “the spirit is willing and the flesh is weak.”
This is how temptation often occurs. My desire is to be up early in prayer, but my body says it’s comfortable in bed, my spirit says wake up. I enjoy a reasonable portion for dessert and my body says to try some more, my spirit says you’ve had enough. I see a provocatively dressed woman my body says to stare, my spirit says to look away. I see an opportunity to cheat at a game my mind says no one will know, my spirit says God will know.
We all wage the war of temptation between the flesh and the spirit. Jesus tells his men to watch and pray for their bodies are weak. Jesus was facing his own time of temptation. He asked God if there was another way, but not to do what He wanted, but to execute everything according to the fathers plan.
“I have given you authority” those were the words. Authority to tread on serpents, to suffer no harm. This is a phrase that cuts both ways for those who follow Christ.
by Avery T. Willis Jr. and Mark Snowden is by far one of the best books I’ve read on how to communicate the biblical message. I’ve read dozens of books just on the subject matter of speaking and dozens more on preaching, yet none with the simplicity and authenticating case studies presented in this book. The idea is simple: The Bible has lots of truth telling stories and stories stick.
by Dan and Chip Heath. Then I thought it was possible, but I struggles with how to go about teaching adults through story. Then 
The Hill House 