“Be like men who are waiting for their master when he returns from the wedding feast, so that they may immediately open the door to him when he comes and knocks. Blessed are those slaves whom the master will find on the alert when he comes; truly I say to you, that he will gird himself to serve, and have them recline at the table, and will come up and wait on them. Whether he comes in the second watch, or even in the third, and finds them so, blessed are those slaves.”

(Luke 12:36-38 NASB)

I was in the midst of these thoughts and prayers when I took a break to make a fresh pot of tea. While the tea brewed, one of my current books caught my eye (a regular occurrence!) and the portion I read revealed an amazing example of exactly what Jesus is describing. Nathaniel Philbrick’s remarkable history Sea of Glory describes the triumphs and failures of the 1838-1842 United States Exploring Expedition. If you are intrigued by bold adventure, leadership, politics, or international law, this is a great book for you. In the passage I read, Philbrick describes a foray made by one of the Expedition’s smallest ships, the tinyFlying Fish. The Flying Fish, commanded by Lt. William Walker and sailed by 14 hands, ventured south to discern whether an Antarctic continent truly exists. Listen to these paragraphs, describing their conditions:

“Huge seas broke across the deck, crushing their two boats and ripping the binnacle, the wooden box containing the compass, off its fastenings and into the ocean. The companion-slide was then torn away by a mountainous wave that flooded the cabin and knocked both the helmsman and lookout off their feet. When a whale rubbed up against the beleaguered schooner and an albatross flapped its wings in the face of one of the men, Walker began to wonder if all nature had somehow conspired against them.

“Three days later, they discovered a leak in the bread-room, requiring that they shift all stores aft. Most of the next day was spent at the pumps. The schooner was now leaking at every seam. Their clothes and bedding were completely soaked. Dispensing with their worthless exploring boots, they wrapped their feet in blankets in an attempt to stay warm. Then it began to sleet, covering the schooner’s deck, as well as the jackets of the men, in a glistening shell of ice. When the jib split, the icy conditions made it impossible to take in the sail, which hung over the side by a single hank on the forestay. Five of the men were now so debilitated by the cold that they could barely stand. Yet all continued to do their duty without complaint.” (Philbrick 97)

What a testimony! Suddenly, my struggles – my bumps and bruises, my anxieties and obstructions – are doused with a spray of cold salt-water perspective.  Not that our problems aren’t real. They are, and God cares about each one. What Lieutenant Walker teaches me is that I can continue to do my duty without complaint. When it seems that “all nature has conspired against” me, I can rely on the God over nature to strengthen my hands for duty. I can indeed sail on.

By the way, the Flying Fish came closer to Antarctic land than anyone ever had before. That’s why the eastern tip of Thurston Island is today called Flying Fish Cape and the interior upthrusts of that land are known as the Walker Mountains. Such tributes to their navigation and sailing prowess are fitting, but looking at Luke’s text I think that kind of applause pales in comparison to what God has in store for you.

Read it again. When we stay the course as faithful servants, the Master of all – God Himself – declares His intent to serve us! He twice calls us blessed! He comforts and cares for us. Now and hereafter, the scriptures promise that those who overcome by God’s grace get to bask in God’s glory. So please friends, sail on.

Lyricists

Recently I asked for some rewrites of Journey’s famous chorus “Don’t Stop Believing.” As a memory tool for Jesus’ call in Luke 18:1, I was looking for something more definitive to hold on to. [Luke 18:1: Now He was telling them a parable to show that at all times they ought to pray and not to lose heart.] “Feeling” in the original song rhymes well but is poor source for life anchoring. Here are some of the responses for “Don’t stop believing…

…God’s truths are all healing.”

…trust Him or you’ll be reeling.”

…in Christ there’s no ceiling.”

…best place to be is kneeling.”

…God’s hand isn’t yielding.”

…God’s truth is appealing.”

Nicely done!

God bless,

Wayne

A thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Corinthians 12:7-10 ESV)

Every week, we receive marvelous notes from All The Difference radio listeners. Each is precious, but one caught my eye this week in particular. The note began, “I am thankful and blessed,because I am needy.” The letter contained a prayer request from a believer accustomed to joyfully serving others. Suddenly, this sister in Christ finds herself in need and dependent on others to care for her.

Her response to this reversal is brilliant:

1. She turns to her Lord and asks others to do so with her.

2. She proclaims “I am thankful and blessed because I am needy.”

May we do the same, following Paul’s example in the strength that is ours in Christ.

The rest of the story

Since that first section was so excellent, I thought you might be encouraged to read some of the rest of that letter. For all who share in the Frisco Bible and ATD family, her words are uplifting:

“I am very glad I reached out to you all. I will continue to trust Him in all things and know that these times of “challenge” are things that will work together for His good. I pray that no matter what happens to me, personally, that God can still use me in some small way, even now.

“I look forward to your teaching and will ask God to continue to bless your ministry. I will continue to ask God to reach out through the radio program to people who don’t have the same sense of assurances I have through the Lord. There are so many people who need to hear what you have to offer. I pray for your congregation to stay strong and clearly focused on the big picture and furthering the cause of Christ. I pray that you and your family are blessed by knowing others are blessed by your ministry.”

God bless,

Wayne

  “And again Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying, ^‘The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son, and sent his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding feast, but they would not come.’ “ (Matthew 22:1-3 ESV)

You see, Watson, but you do not observe

Reading Jesus’ parable, I am first off struck by something that seems odd to my modern eye. Why do people need to be invited to the wedding feast? Aren’t the guests already there after the ceremony? Why don’t they just walk into the fellowship hall from the auditorium as we all did last weekend at the wedding I attended?

Hebrew weddings

To grasp the image behind Jesus’ wedding feast parable it’s necessary to understand the Hebraic background. Part of good interpretation is figuring out meaning from cultural & historical clues. In this particular story, historians tell us that the three-part activity of marriage must be understood as separate, not blended into one whirlwind day as is our modern fashion. In classical Israel, the betrothal, consummation, and marriage feast were separate events. For wealthy families, like the son of the king in Jesus’ story, lengthy gaps occurred between each part. Keep that in mind, and the story become more poignant and pointed.

But wait, there’s more!

However, it’s a mistake to think that only one layer of culture was affecting Jesus’ milieu. His audience did business in Greek and lived under Roman laws. Those layers of civilization also influenced their thought and lives. Further, the Jews weren’t totally singular in their marriage practices. In this Roman carving celebrating a wedding, notice the marriage contract being offered by the groom. It’s clear such was standard practice beyond just Hebrew betrothals. Notice also the mantle being placed on the couple. It’s reminiscent of the chuppah under which a Jewish couple recited their vows. The point is that one should look for all cultural context clues when unwrapping an “everyday” story such as Jesus’ wedding feast parable.

That reminds me of a story…

Time and space press me on, but you get the idea. Once you have observed today’s parable and properly worked through the background necessary to interpret it well, it’s important to correlate the ideas to our own mixed culture. For example, as I was walking through this parable I came to verse 5 (But they paid no attention and went off, one to his farm, another to his business) and some reflection brought up a correlation from my own experience. Under the heading “worldliness is a powerful motivator” I wrote in my journal:

When I was a youth pastor, I would often have lunch with kids from the church at their various high schools. America was less bland then, and such things were allowed. Because I am the funniest man in the world (that joke is for you, Benjamin), we always had lots of students gathered around the tables. It was a joy building relationships in order to invite people to the real King.

But there were always two groups of kids I could count on to dislike me strongly. Even though I was nothing but loving, the super-rich & popular kid would often hate me. He didn’t want to hear anything about any church nonsense. All he wanted was quiet so he could enjoy being the only senior high kid driving a Rolls Royce.

The second group of youth-pastor-haters consisted of kids dedicated to some kind of perversion. Those determined to abuse drugs or sex were rankled by my presence – even though we never discussed such things. Without saying a word, I represented the right & wrong that they desperately wanted to pretend didn’t exist.

The jocks, the atheistic kids, the science nerds, the Hindu or Buddhist or Jewish kids – they all enjoyed me, even if they rejected the kingdom. But the ones caught up in worldliness, they hated me because my love for them was a walking conviction.

Apply to affected area…

That’s what I read on a bandage package the other day, and it fits for our last step in Bible hermeneutics (the art of handling scripture). Once we have observed, interpreted, and correlated – then, we need to apply. You will come up with many applications as the Holy Spirit guides and convicts through this passage. Here’s one of mine, written beside verse 12: “I must impart (live out) the righteousness given to me in the clothing of Christ.”

Have fun! I look forward to hearing and seeing what God does in each of us through His Word.

God bless,

Wayne

“But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him.” (Luke 10:33 NIV)

Biblical Chiasm Parable

Boston Crème Pie.”

Nice! By the way, a chiasm works like a Boston Crème Pie. Each layer is parallel, working to the best stuff in the middle. The Luke 10 structure is:

Robbers steal, strip & wound.

Priest sees but does nothing.

Levite sees but does nothing.

Samaritan sees & helps.

Treats wounds (Levite’s failure).

Transports (Priest’s failure).

Samaritan spends money to clothe & heal.

No man is an island

Another letter referenced the most famous portion of British preacher John Donne’s Meditation 17. Looking at it again, I think much of Donne’s piece is edifying and applicable, so I’ve copied the bulk of it below.

Meditation XVII by John Donne from Devotions upon Emergent Occasions (1623)
Nunc Lento Sonitu Dicunt, Morieris (Now this bell, tolling softly for another, says to me, Thou must die.)
Perchance, he for whom this bell tolls may be so ill, as that he knows not it tolls for him; and perchance I may think myself so much better than I am, as that they who are about me, and see my state, may have caused it to toll for me, and I know not that. The church is catholic, universal, so are all her actions; all that she does belongs to all. When she baptizes a child, that action concerns me; for that child is thereby connected to that body which is my head too, and ingrafted into that body whereof I am a member. And when she buries a man, that action concerns me: all mankind is of one author, and is one volume; when one man dies, one chapter is not torn out of the book, but translated into a better language; and every chapter must be so translated; God employs several translators; some pieces are translated by age, some by sickness, some by war, some by justice; but God’s hand is in every translation, and his hand shall bind up all our scattered leaves again for that library where every book shall lie open to one another. As therefore the bell that rings to a sermon calls not upon the preacher only, but upon the congregation to come, so this bell calls us all; but how much more me, who am brought so near the door by this sickness.

…No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend’s or of thine own were: any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.

Neither can we call this a begging of misery, or a borrowing of misery, as though we were not miserable enough of ourselves, but must fetch in more from the next house, in taking upon us the misery of our neighbours. Truly it were an excusable covetousness if we did, for affliction is a treasure, and scarce any man hath enough of it. No man hath affliction enough that is not matured and ripened by it, and made fit for God by that affliction. If a man carry treasure in bullion, or in a wedge of gold, and have none coined into current money, his treasure will not defray him as he travels. Tribulation is treasure in the nature of it, but it is not current money in the use of it, except we get nearer and nearer our home, heaven, by it. Another man may be sick too, and sick to death, and this affliction may lie in his bowels, as gold in a mine, and be of no use to him; but this bell, that tells me of his affliction, digs out and applies that gold to me: if by this consideration of another’s danger I take mine own into contemplation, and so secure myself, by making my recourse to my God, who is our only security.

Old Goodies

Finally a fan of 60’s music (and who isn’t!) attached this link of the Youngbloods’ 1967 hit “Get Together.” [CLICK HERE]Enjoy!

“And He said to them, “Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses.”

(Luke 12:15 NKJV)

False answer

When I taught Jesus’ remarkable parables recently I received a few questions from well-intentioned people wondering why I didn’t attack capitalism as part of the answer to covetousness. I expected such queries because capitalism-baiting has become quite popular in this age; however, I refuse to engage in the practice because it’s a false answer.

This side of Jesus’ kingdom, all world systems are flawed and worthy of continual scriptural reproof. However, Jesus remarkably avoids any specific attack on human systems – including free markets, private ownership of property, or any other hallmarks of capitalism. If anything, his stories emphasize these practices which of course are codified and protected in the Mosaic Law.

Therefore, according to both what Jesus said and what He didn’t say, the answer to greed comes from human hearts aligned with God’s character and values. The answer is not the elimination of capitalism. I experienced the difference firsthand when I taught in Belarus and Russia. What I learned there, and in many other places around the world, is that most attempts to curtail greed merely shift covetousness to a different place. Further, the bureaucracy established to police the problem usually stifles human freedom and thus violates another of Jesus’ greatest concerns.

Feeding the beast

Daniel Henninger of WSJ has great article on this. Discussing the new Roman Catholic pope, he writes: [You can access the full article Henninger: Capitalism’s Corruptions here]

“The plight of the world’s poor can be summed up in three truly ugly C-words: corruption, collusion and cronyism. All three may be kissing cousins but each in any language makes a mockery of both capitalism and justice.

Some 20 years ago economists began asking why so many countries, especially in Africa, never get better, even amid periods of global growth. An enormous body of economic literature now exists confirming that corruption keeps the poor down. A survey of this work for the International Monetary Fund concluded that countries get stuck in a “vicious circle of widespread corruption and low economic growth.” [WB note: Thomas Sowell’s work is particularly brilliant on this.]

Corruption suppresses growth because citizens in time recognize that honest work produces a lower return than spending one’s energies gaming the system. And, they’ve also found, the vicious circle worsens when real productivity falls alongside an inexorably expanding public sector. Global poverty persists because corruption kills capitalism.”

I’ve been to many deeply impoverished places in the world, and what I have seen lines up with Henninger and Sowell’s conclusions. Thus my heart often breaks when I hear Christians today scream for justice in the underdeveloped places, because our well-intentioned brethren are almost always just feeding the beast. Unless greed is attacked according to Jesus’ model laid out in those Luke 12 and 16 parables, the money sent to needy places will flow down a hole; doing nothing to really deal with the heart issue. In such cases, our efforts will actually place another layer of bureaucracy that will over time be tainted by more greed.

Likewise, I cringe when people applaud the positive power of greed in human systems like capitalism. While they may be economically accurate, they miss the soul for which God cares immeasurably. And the soul is warped by covetousness. This is why Jesus calls us to be on guard against every form of greed. This is an evil wherever humans exist and we can’t settle for political systems (or lack thereof) to eliminate the problem. We must turn to Christ and lead others to the Lord who guides us in God’s character, purpose, and values.

God bless,

Wayne