Month: February 2021

February 28: The Cross Must Come First

Read: Genesis 17:1-7; 15-16; Mark 8:31-38

³¹ And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again. ³² And he said this plainly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. ³³ But turning and seeing his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”

³⁴ And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. ³⁵ For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it. ³⁶ For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? ³⁷ For what can a man give in return for his soul? ³⁸ For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”

In this passage from Mark’s gospel, he tells us how Jesus began teaching his followers about what was going to happen to him in the future. Jesus will repeat this teaching two more times in Mark’s gospel. Here, the first thing we notice is the word “must”. These things he’s talking about aren’t possibilities or probabilities; they don’t make up one potential story arc among many. They must happen.

Jesus tells the disciples he must suffer; he must be rejected by the Jewish leaders; he must be killed; and he must be raised from the dead. Verse 32 tells us that Jesus told them these things “plainly.” It wasn’t in a parable or in figurative language. He wasn’t using a metaphor or simile hoping they would get it. He told them straight out – he must die and be raised from the dead.

Then we read, “And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.” Peter hears the words of Jesus and he is incredulous. “This cannot happen. It will not happen. You are a prophet! You are the Messiah, the Son of God! We’ve left everything to follow you!”

Jesus answers with a rebuke of his own! “Get behind me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.” By setting himself against what God has said must happen, Peter is cooperating with Satan. He is resisting God’s plan. Satan doesn’t want Jesus dead; he doesn’t Jesus to die and pay the ransom that will set those who believe free.

Jesus says in verse 34, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.”  To be his followers and to experience the life and the forgiveness in his blood; to have his death pay the ransom my sin and your sin, we need to value Jesus more than anything. Rather than protecting our comfort or our safety or our reputations, we must die to self. We must be willing to lose everything for him. He must be our greatest treasure.

³⁵ For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it. If we spend our energy trying to protect our lives; trying to keep things the way we like them; treasuring the life we’ve created or the things we amassed, there will be no ransom for our sin. Though we may avoid hard times and suffering, we will ultimately lose our lives. We are wise to heed the words of the late missionary Jim Elliot, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”

³⁶ For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? It’s possible to value the things of the world so much; valuing them even above Jesus; so that when it comes time for your sin to be paid for, you have nothing to offer. There is nothing you can offer for your soul if you have not trusted in the one who came to give his life as that ransom. Nothing else will ever be enough.

³⁷ For what can a man give in return for his soul? There is nothing you or I or anyone else can pay that will gain our souls. Jesus alone can do that.

³⁸ For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.” If a person is embarrassed of their connection to Jesus and the gospel; if the cross seems like foolishness to them and they don’t want people to know they believe it; then the day will come when Jesus separates the sheep and the goats and that person will be judged with the goats. Whoever values their status and reputation in the world more than the scandalous price Jesus paid to ransom them, that person will have no hope on the last day. They will have gained the whole world and lost their souls.

Questions for Reflection

Whose approval do you crave most? Whose praise are you most desperate not to lose? In whose presence do you fear most being shamed? Which relationship is most precious to you?

When you hear the call to “die to self” and to “deny” yourself, how do you respond? What feelings or thoughts come to mind? Why is it so difficult for many of us?

Take a few moments to think about how God has made something of beauty and hope out of the sufferings, rejection, murder, and resurrection of his Son. If we deny ourselves and die to self, can we believe he will make out of the torn pieces and the tangled threads of our lives something beautiful for his glory?

Readings for this week:

March 1:                     Genesis 21:1-7; Hebrews 1:8-12

March 2:                     Genesis 22:1-19; Hebrews 11:1-3; 13-19

March 3:                     Jeremiah 30:12-22; John 12:36-43

March 4:                     Exodus 19:1-9a; 1 Peter 2:4-10

March 5:                     Exodus 19:9b-15; Acts 7:30-40

March 6:                     Exodus 19:16-25; Mark 9:2-8

March 7:                     Exodus 20:1-17; 1 Corinthians 18-25

February 21: Our God Keeps His Promise

Read: Genesis 9:8-17; 1 Peter 3:18-22

⁸ Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him, ⁹ “Behold, I establish my covenant with you and your offspring after you, ¹⁰ and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the livestock, and every beast of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark; it is for every beast of the earth. ¹¹ I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.” ¹² And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: ¹³ I have set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. ¹⁴ When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, ¹⁵ I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh. And the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. ¹⁶ When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.” ¹⁷ God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth.”

When we’ve experienced something traumatic, it’s hard not to worry that it will happen again. A person who has a serious illness might fear it will recur. A person who experiences an assault may find it difficult to walk by themselves or to trust other people. A person who is in a car accident may find driving to be a challenge. We, naturally, don’t want to experience the same thing again.

Unfortunately, with most traumas, we can’t guarantee they’ll never happen again. We might get sick again. We might be assaulted again. We might have another accident.

Despite the many traumas we have or might experience in this life, there is one we can know with certainty we will never go through: God’s judgment. To be sure, we know that each of us will die and face judgment (Hebrews 9:27). But, it is possible for us to know with certainty that though we die, we will escape God’s judgment.

Romans 8:1 tells us, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” God is faithful. He keeps his promises. For those who trust in Jesus, there is no condemnation. There is forgiveness; there is deliverance.

God keeps his promises. He told Noah that the rainbow was a sign of his covenant, his promise to never again destroy the earth by a flood.

Steven Cole wrote, “Just as there is nothing quite as beautiful and breathtaking as a rainbow, so there is nothing as glorious and beautiful as the many splendored grace of God (1 Pet. 4:10). Just as a rainbow allows us to see the various facets of pure, white light, so God’s grace enables us to see Him who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see (1 Tim. 6:16). Even if man forgets the meaning of the rainbow, God says that He will look at it and remember His covenant (Gen. 9:16).”

God destroyed the earth with a flood in the days of Noah. The only ones saved were those who joined Noah in the ark he had built. The day is coming when God will destroy the earth with fire. In that day, only those in Christ will be saved (2 Peter 3:4-10).

Seven times in Genesis 9:8-17, God uses the word “covenant”. He repeats it over and over to emphasize the promise he is making. Noah can be confident, and us too, that God keeps his promises. God promised not to send a flood again to destroy the earth and he will give eternal life to all those who believe in his son.

Jesus said in John 10:27-30, ^27 “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. ²⁸ I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. ²⁹ My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. ³⁰ I and the Father are one.”

During the season of Lent, as we consider ways our hearts and lives have wandered from God; as we seek to realign ourselves with his plans and purposes; we can be assured that if we have trusted in Christ, God’s grace and mercy has taken the sting of death and judgment away. We are no longer condemned. We are saved by grace!

Questions for Reflection

Do you have doubts or questions about whether you are truly saved? Ask God to show you the root of those? Have you trusted in Christ and his work? Are you still trusting in yourself?

Is there ever a legitimate time to doubt your salvation? If so, when?

If you were talking to someone who was struggling with doubts, what verses would you use to help him or her?

Readings for this week:

February 22:              Job 4:1-21; Ephesians 2:1-10

February 23:              Job 5:8-27; 1 Peter 3:8-18a

February 24:             Proverbs 30:1-9; Matthew 4:1-11

February 25:              Genesis 15:1-6, 12-18; Romans 3:21-31

February 26:              Genesis 16:1-6; Romans 4:1-12

February 27:              Genesis 16:7-15; Mark 8:27-30

February 28:              Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16; Mark 8:31-38

February 17: Ash Wednesday

Read: Joel 2:1-2, 12-17 and Matthew 6:1-6

Blow a trumpet in Zion; sound an alarm on my holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of the Lord is coming; it is near, ² a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness! Like blackness there is spread upon the mountains a great and powerful people; their like has never been before, nor will be again after them through the years of all generations.

¹² “Yet even now,” declares the Lord, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; ¹³ and rend your hearts and not your garments.” Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and he relents over disaster. ¹⁴ Who knows whether he will not turn and relent, and leave a blessing behind him, a grain offering and a drink offering for the Lord your God?

¹⁵ Blow the trumpet in Zion; consecrate a fast; call a solemn assembly; ¹⁶ gather the people. Consecrate the congregation; assemble the elders; gather the children, even nursing infants. Let the bridegroom leave his room, and the bride her chamber. ¹⁷ Between the vestibule and the altar let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep and say, “Spare your people, O Lord, and make not your heritage a reproach, a byword among the nations. Why should they say among the peoples, ‘Where is their God?’”

Ash Wednesday is the beginning of the period in the church calendar we call Lent. Lent is a period of six weeks that are set apart for drawing near to God and seeking him with greater focus and intensity. It is a time when many people abstain from food or some other activity to help them face the hold their sin has on their lives or to see where they have wandered from God and clung to something else. Disciplines of fasting and abstinence help us identify and detach from anything that is not from God.

The book of Joel describes a time in Judah’s history the people’s sin had become so great the Day of the Lord was on the brink. God sent a swarm of locusts and allowed incredible destruction to the land. It was a day of great violence and in Joel 2:1-2, we see God warn his people that the Day of the Lord is about to dawn; a day of darkness and gloom unlike any day ever before.

Yet, he declares in verse 12, there is hope. He calls to his people, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; ¹³ and rend your hearts and not your garments.” He calls them to repent. He calls them to return to him. And Joel reminds them that the Lord their God, “is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and he relents over disaster.”

Lent is a time for us to consider our lives. It’s a time to think about where our hearts have wandered from God; where our lives have drifted from what is right and best. It’s a time to invite the Holy Spirit to show us our true condition and to identify in us any sin that needs our attention. It isn’t that we dwell on how bad we are so much as we remember the depths we’ve been rescued from and hold our lives up to the light of the Holy Spirit to help us draw closer to Jesus.

God cares about our hearts. He wants us to be people whose hearts are tuned to his. He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love. He is a loving Father who disciplines his children for our good. He is a loving Father who delights in us. He has forgiven us through the blood of Jesus and is now reshaping us into his image.

Because God cares about our hearts, we need to be careful with our motives for abstaining or fasting from something during Lent. Scot McKnight suggests that biblical fasting is not primarily to get something. Instead, it is a response to some catastrophic event or grievous or sacred moment or event. In the case of Lent, we are aware we are by nature sinful and continue to struggle with our sin nature. Our response is to fast or abstain from something for a time whether we get anything we hope or not.

God may not answer our prayer. God may not draw us closer to him the way we expect. God may do something completely different. But that’s ok. Our fast/abstinence is an act of worship in response to our heart condition and out of a desire for more of Jesus.

Coming back to Joel 2, the people had experienced an incredible disaster. Locusts were destroying everything. God warns them that the Day of the Lord is near and calls them to repent and to seek him through fasting. He calls them to right hearts; to change their ways; and to seek his face in prayer. God wants their undivided allegiance. He doesn’t want to share them with anything else.

In the end, God responds to the people’s repentance and does not bring the final judgment and destruction of the Day of the Lord upon his people. If you read on in Joel 3, you’ll see God speak through Joel of a future day when those events will take place.

Today, as we begin Lent on this Ash Wednesday 2021, let us rend our hearts not our garments. Let us return to the Lord and invite him to cleanse us from any unrighteousness. Let us look to our God who is gracious and merciful; who is slow to anger; who overflows with steadfast love.

The beauty of Ash Wednesday for believers in Jesus is that the blood of Christ has already washed us clean. The Holy Spirit has already been poured into our hearts and lives. Our reflecting on the cross and on our heart condition is not a “woe-is-me” exercise, but an act of love as we yearn to be made into Christ’s image. With Paul, we press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus (Philippians 3:14).

Questions for Reflection

Where in your life do you feel distant from God?

What distractions keep you from cultivating your relationship with God more intentionally?

Is God inviting you to “give up” or rearrange something in your life for this Lenten season to create more space and passion in your relationship with him? What will you do about it?

Readings for this week:

February 18:              Daniel 9:1-14; 1 John 1:3-10

February 19:              Daniel 9:15-25a; 2 Timothy 4:1-5

February 20:              Psalm 32; Matthew 9:2-13

February 21:              Genesis 9:8-17; 1 Peter 3:18-22