What if no one can?

Reading the Sermon on the Mount reminded me of school sports. I always appreciated the cheerleaders who inspired us, but on occasion there were cheers that made me wonder. For example, one time I was on the wrestling mat and heard the cheer “Wayne, Wayne, he’s our man. If he can’t do it, no one can!”

And I immediately thought, “What if no one can?” [It was soon after that I developed the capacity to block out all sound while competing.] The point is worthy of consideration. What if no one can? Jesus’ calling in Matthew 5:20 is frankly unattainable. It is a bar set too high.

Thankfully, God doesn’t expect us to cross over that bar on our merits. Remember that Jesus is addressing His followers – people who have been reborn through trust in Him and chosen to follow Jesus. And that changes everything. Dr. Lloyd-Jones explains:

It takes a new man to live this kind of life. This is no theory for the world or for non-Christians. No man can hope to live like this unless he is born again, unless he has received the Holy Spirit…It is to such that our Lord addresses this noble, exalted and divine teaching. It is not comfortable teaching to consider and I can assure you that it is not an easy thing to spend a week with a text like this. But this is the Word of God, and this is what Christ would have us be. It deals with our whole personality, down to the little practical details of life.
– D. Martin Lloyd-Jones, Studies in the Sermon on the Mount

The bottom line is that no one can surpass the holiness of those first-century legalists. But God can. The Spirit of God dwelling in us leaves all Pharisees in the dust. Rely on Him, keep in step with the Spirit, and you will find victory in every wrestling match.

God bless,

Wayne

Sermon on the Mount

As we launch into ATD’s study of the Sermon on the Mount, I pulled together my personal study notes. If you desire more depth of background on Matthew 5-7, you can access my notes here.

God bless,

Wayne

Dumas

I was probably 12 when I first read Alexandre Dumas’ amazing tale of The Three Musketeers. Likely, many recognized the great cry of the (actually 4) musketeers in our series title for the first part of 1 Corinthians. As we close that study, it’s fun to trace the development of that phrase.

“One for all and all for one” originated in Latin as Unus pro omnibus, omnes pro uno. It was adopted by hearty Heugenot Christians fleeing persecution in France. As they settled in Switzerland, the obviously biblical idea caught on among the cantons – so much so that the phrase became the unofficial motto of Switzerland.* Dumas rendered it into French as “Un pour tous, tous pour un.” Loving both the fictional D’Artagnan and the real letter called first Corinthians, I cannot help but think of Paul’s message in 1 Corinthians 1-11 as “One for all, and all for One.”

*Here’s the dome of the Swiss Federal Palace:

God bless,

Wayne

My notes

As we begin a new study on the podcast and radio, I have had a few requests for my personal notes. Assuming they might be of use to others, we are making them available to all through this link.

I pray we are all blessed by our time in 1 Corinthians. As always, we look forward to hearing from you about how the scripture changes you.

God bless,

Wayne

Parallels

The Apostle Paul, for all his evident Greco and Roman strains, was also a Hebrew. As such, he reflexively thought and wrote in parallels, much like the human authors God used to craft the Old Testament.

This is seen in Paul’s wonderful greetings at the close of the Colossian letter. Describing Epaphras, he aligns “wrestling for you in prayer” with “works hard for you.” Now, these are likely describing slightly different activities. Nonetheless, they are parallel on purpose and thus inform each other. Through the construction, Paul is declaring that wrestling in prayer is hard work.

This convicts me. I am grateful for the good work ethic the Lord and my family instilled in me, and I labor to keep developing it. Yet I have not thought of prayer as an aspect of a great work ethic. Prayer is important, of course. It’s commanded of us, allows us to engage in God’s sovereign work, makes a difference in lives, and certainly changes the one praying. However, I tend to look at prayer as less important than physical or mental effort – what we call “work.”

Through Epaphras’ example and Paul’s brilliant prose, I am convinced that praying is work. In fact, it’s mentioned first because it is the most important kind of work.

God bless,

Wayne

Let’s play!

That’s what the precious girls yelled as they came into our house. They were ready to play! They enjoyed games on the VR system, some simple board games, and most of all hide-n-seek. As we started the game, one of the older girls was counting on the couch (which is always “base” at our house). The youngest grabbed my hand, looked up at me, and said “Hide me in your favorite place. Somewhere totally safe.” Of course, I complied.

As I prayed for the ATD podcast and radio broadcasts this week, I was reminded of that story. Colossians 3:3 reminds that Jesus has taken the souls of those who trust Him and has hidden our eternal destiny in His favorite place. We are totally safe in the resurrected Lord.

God bless,

Wayne