March 24, 2016 | The Children Sing of Jesus

And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who sold and bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. 

He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you make it a den of robbers.” And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them. But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying out in the temple, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” they were indignant, and they said to him, “Do you hear what these are saying?” And Jesus said to them, “Yes; have you never read,
‘Out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies you have prepared praise’?” Matthew 21:12-16 (ESV)
Son of David
Christians sometimes study this final temple cleansing performed by Jesus. That’s wonderful and instructive. However, the cry of the children is often lost in the shuffle. It is very important that Jesus doesn’t silence theses little ones who call him a clearly Messianic name. In the scribes’ accurate assessment of the title “Son of David,” such worship should only be directed to God. By letting the kids praise Him, Jesus is claiming Messianic divinity.
One of the major themes of Matthew is here repeated: child-like trust is necessary to truly understand Jesus. The King is God. He purifies worship, and yet He seems to only be understood by the crippled and the children. As for the big and powerful people, true worship is not realized because they are more concerned about their rules or about what they bring to the table for God. The temple leaders who allow for usurious money-changing in violation of God’s Law are obviously more worried about the amount of coin in their own pocket than they are about worshipping God rightly.
Thank goodness we’re not like that!
Friends, when we Christians worry about “our own” dollars more than worshipping God with His money; when we get wrapped up in legalism or favoritism or pride; when we lose sight of who Jesus really is … We should remember that the resurrected Carpenter who cleared the temple in Matthew 21 promises to cleanse the temples of our lives as well. The Carpenter still has a strong arm.
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March 17, 2016 | Cheerfulness Brings Glory

 

“The Lord will rescue me from every evil work and will bring me safely into His heavenly kingdom. To Him be the glory forever and ever! Amen.” 2 Timothy 4:18 (HCSB)
Walking cheerfully
We were discussing glorifying God, and a friend brought me a 400-year-old sermon on the subject. Thomas Watson wrote the excellent message “Man’s Chief End is to Glorify God,” and I was especially touched by this reminder:
“We glorify God by walking cheerfully. It brings glory to God when the world sees a Christian has that within him that which can make him cheerful in the worst times; that can enable him, with the nightingale, to sing with a thorn at his breast. The people of God have ground for cheerfulness. They are justified and adopted, and this creates inward peace; it makes music within, whatever storms are without.”
– Thomas Watson, “Man’s Chief End is to Glorify God”
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March 10, 2016 | Holy Living

 

“So if anyone purifies himself from anything dishonorable, he will be a special instrument, set apart, useful to the Master, prepared for every good work.” 2 Timothy 3:21 (HCSB)
Those who purify themselves in the Lord are useful to the Master. And the text goes on to say that when we live out who we are in sanctified lives, we are prepared for every good work. In his commentary on the pastoral epistles [Titus and the two Timothy letters], Walter Liefeld nicely summarizes why Paul emphasizes this big idea:
“His concern is for a sound faith that expresses itself in sound living. It is as though he was increasingly disgusted with the “slurry” of falsehood in teaching and living, the filthy mixture of corrupted doctrine and morals that he found in his theological opponents. He realized that what was needed desperately was not only truth in word but truth in the lives of teachers and other church leaders. What characterizes the Pastoral Letters most is not doctrine but doctrine blended with holy living.”
– Walter L. Liefeld
Friend, pray with me that by God’s grace you and I will be holy in doctrine and practice, useful to the Master and prepared for every good work.
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March 3, 2016 | Breathtaking Encouragement

 

“Let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the day drawing near.”
Hebrews 10:24-25 (NASB)
What timing!
The encouragement of God through His people is breathtaking. Today I was fighting through the always-difficult writing process on a new book, when I received this letter:
 
“Wayne, wanted to let you know that myself and six ther men at our church will be starting your “Whatever Happened to Manhood” study tomorrow morning. We are all excited to do it and are looking forward to the journey. Thanks for taking time to write this book. I know writing can be a beat-down at times, but it is and will continue to pay off nicely. Keep being you and know you are prayed for. You are inspiring others to be more like Christ through who you are and how God has made you.” – Chris
 
As you can imagine, I worked with renewed zeal. Friend, I pray you are likewise encouraging and encouraged in what God gives you to do for Him today.
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The Agoge Lifestyle

 

“But you have followed my teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, patience, love, and endurance.” 2 Timothy 3:10 (HCSB)
We should follow biblical doctrine and conduct. In Paul’s excellent flow of reason, following God’s teaching naturally leads to following His expected actions.
 
The Greek word we translate “conduct” is ἀγωγήagoge [ah go gay’]. It means more than just momentary actions; agoge indicates a way of life. Disciples of Jesus are not just doing certain things because they are cool at the moment. We don’t merely tick things off of a to-do list. We act certain ways because that’s what happens to people whose lives of surrendered to God.
As an example, think of a duck. What sound does the duck make? It quacks. Why? Because it’s a duck! If you are a duck, you quack. In the words of the Geico commercials, “It’s what you do.”
In a similar way, Christians do certain things because they are Christians. It’s what Jesus’ followers do. We lack the space here to go into all that conduct at length, so let’s just hit what scripture calls the most important one – love. Look at Jesus’ summary:
By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:35 ESV)
Want to be a disciple of Jesus? Then follow his conduct. Love.
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February 18, 2016 | Daughter of the King of Kings

 

“The Lord’s slave must not quarrel, but must be gentle to everyone, able to teach.” 2 Timothy 2:24 (HCSB)
Know yourself
While teaching on a scripture passage concerned with the Christian’s understanding of his position as the Lord’s slave, I was blessed to interview a young friend. Mandi Havens served for two years as a missionary to China, and I asked her to describe what she learned about herself on the mission field. She answered:
“I learned that I am a lot worse than I ever thought I was. When you are in a strange culture away from everything you have ever known, it puts a lot of stress on you. It sometimes forces you to slip into survival mode and you simply don’t have enough spare energy to put on the mask that makes it look like you have everything together. You can’t hide your fear or your bad temper anymore and it all slips out unbeckoned for the world to see. Fortunately, the Lord is faithful. I learned during my time overseas that my value is not earned. It doesn’t come from my effectiveness as a missionary, my competency as an employee, my fluency in Chinese, my innate “goodness” as a person, or my ability to be a good team member. It comes from God alone. It comes from my status as a daughter of the King of kings. I learned that I was more valuable that I could have ever imagined and I was not alone.”
Friends, I pray that we all know ourselves that well.
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