Pastor Jesse's Blog
 
Every week, Pastor Jesse will be posting a new blog, so come back weekly and see what he has to say!
 
Reckless Abandon
Monday, March 31, 2008
 
This little story in 1 Samuel 14 is embedded in the middle of the tragic fall of King Saul. It is a story that is often overlooked and is rarely taught on but I have to say that if it isn’t my favorite story in all of Scripture it definitely is in the top 5.

In working with teenagers for so long there is something that they often have that we as adults can often lose. It’s their reckless abandon no holds barred approach to living out their faith. Although God is calling us to respond with our lives for the advancement of the Kingdom of God we often find a way to rationalize why at this point in our life we can’t. We are too busy, we don’t have the skills, we don’t know enough about the Bible, honestly I have probably heard them all. I once heard in a sermon that there are three types of Christians; rowboat Christians, sailboat Christians, and steamboat Christians. Rowboat Christians need to be pushed or shoved along. Sailboat Christians move when a favorable wind is blowing. Steamboat Christians move forward regardless of calm or storm. What type of Christian are you as it pertains to answering God’s call on your life. Do you need to be pushed into action? Do you respond only when it is easy? Or do you answer God’s call with passion regardless of the circumstances.

Read 1 Samuel 14:1-23. As they often say in sports, Jonathon is one of the most unheralded characters in scripture. I love this story because of Jonathon’s reckless abandon no holds barred approach to following God. Jonathon knew that God was with the people of Israel, Jonathon knew that God had already handed the Philistines over to Israel they just had to take them, Jonathon was not afraid of his call, and Jonathon was tired of watching Saul and his soldiers do nothing for God as they just sit under a pomegranate tree ooing and awing over Ahijah’s priestly robe (italics; my loose interpretation).

What excuses are holding you back from starting (or finishing for that matter) what God has called you to do?

Are you too busy?
What important things in your life are holding you back from accomplishing the great things he has for you? As a friend and mentor once told me, good is often the enemy of great.
Are your own agenda’s getting in the way?
Saul’s agenda was his own glory. At some point in time his pride created a fear of failing that immobilized him from taking action for God. Simply put: I don’t think he was fighting because I don’t think he wanted to look bad.
Are you afraid of what God’s calling you to do?
I want to have the faith of Jonathon. He simply says if God wants us to go up there and fight the army by ourselves then we will go because God is with us. So Jonathon and his armor-bearer climb up the mountain and fight for God killing some twenty men. The incredible part of the story is that is when God stepped in and did the miraculous. It was at that point, after Jonathon took action for God, that God created the panic in the Philistine army with an earthquake. I love it. He waited for Jonathon to take action yet still wanted Jonathon to know that it was only through Him that Jonathon could have success.
Verses 20-23 are my favorite part. It was after Jonathon had moved into action and God had done the miraculous that the rest of Israel joined the battle. I love the way the NIV says it, “they joined the battle in hot pursuit.” My friend, when you jump into action for God, God moves ahead of you, people see the exciting things he is doing, and because of your availability for God to do great things in and through you people join in!

So I ask again, what kind of Christian boat are you captain of, a rowboat, sailboat, or steamboat?
 
posted by jesse at 2:17 PM
 
Saul's Fall from Grace
Monday, March 24, 2008
 
1 Samuel 9-15
Over the years the story of Saul has not only been discouraging and depressing to me but it has also been confusing. Saul never sought or asked to be king of anything let alone God's anointed one over all of Israel. In fact when Samuel gave Saul the news he said, “But I'm only from the tribe of Benjamin, the smallest tribe in Israel, and my family is the least important of all the families of that tribe! Why are you talking to me (1 Sam. 9:21)?” and later when Samuel was to publicly anoint him Saul was hiding in the luggage (some argue that this was a sign of his lack of trust in God that later grew into willful disobedience). Then we see the Spirit of God come powerfully upon him and make him a new man: “...you will be changed into a different person 10:6”; “Saul turned and started to leave, God gave him a new heart...”

Even though this was true Saul made two major mistakes that moved God to reject him as king. In chapter 13 we see Saul facing great odds with only 3,000 troops against the “...Philistine's 3,000 chariots, 6,000 charioteers and as many warriors as the grains of sand on the seashore (13:5).” He is supposed to wait for Samuel to make a sacrifice to the Lord before the battle begins. Saul waits and waits but can wait no longer so he offers the sacrifice himself which was in direct disobedience to the command God gave him (13:13) not to mention it was against the levitical law of Moses . Then after Samuel called him out on that disobedient act in chapter 15 God commanded Saul to completely obliterate the Amalekites but Saul kept the choice animals alive as well as their king. It was after this partial obedient act that God said through Samuel, “so because you have rejected the command of the Lord, he has rejected you as king (15:23b).”

This story of scripture has always bothered me a bit. Relatively speaking it doesn't seem that these mistakes of Saul were that great. It is somewhat troubling to me because I know that I have made a lot more and maybe even a lot worse mistakes than the ones that moved God to reject Saul. So what can be learned from the story of Saul? I think there are probably many things but here are two that have been powerful for me.

In the story we see that the Spirit of God comes powerfully upon Saul. The story tells us that he was a changed man and that he would never be the same again. Like I mentioned before it actually says that God gave him a new heart. Yet, he choses to take things into his own hands and therefore sins directly against the command of God. It is true when we put our faith in Christ that the Spirit of God comes upon us powerfully as well. Scripture tells us that at that moment we become a new creation, the old is gone and the new has come (2 Cor. 5:17). It is true of us as well that we receive a new heart from God. But, it is also true that even though we now live powerfully by the Spirit of God we still have a choice to make everyday between our sinful nature and obedience to God. Although the Spirit of God was upon Saul he still had a free will. Because Saul was driven by his impatience, lack of faith, and selfishness he chose sin instead of God. Although, because we live under the new covenant once we receive Christ as our personal savior we will never be rejected by God, when we put our faith in God we are still faced with decisions everyday that can lead us away from God's chosen path for us. So we must intentionally pursue holiness. It won't just happen even though we have been given a new heart.

The second thing that really sticks out to me in Saul's story is the driving force behind his sinful decisions. Saul struggled with faith. He had a hard time believing in the promises of God especially when the physical evidence seemed to be stacked against him. That is when he stepped in and took things into his own hands. Why did this frustrate God so much? God is in the business of allowing the odds to be stacked against Him so that he can be proved faithful. God is in the business of performing miracles based upon his promises. When Saul took things into his own hands he was stealing God's glory for himself. That is also true in our lives. When we impatiently step in ahead of God not only do we mess things up but we are stealing God's glory for ourselves. That is definitely one sin in scripture that we see that God will not put up with. So...in what area of life is God asking you to wait on him to miraculously step in yet because of your impatience you are trying to step in and take control? It may not be your intention but when you impatiently take things into your own hands your are stealing God's glory as well as missing out on God's miraculous promise. It can be hard to wait on God but I promise you that his results will far outweigh the results that you try to manufacture. “Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD (Psalm 27:14)”
 
posted by jesse at 11:45 AM
 
God in a Box
Monday, March 17, 2008
 
Take a moment to read 1 Samuel 4.

Let me give you a little background to the story. Samuel is referred to as the last judge and the first prophet. This gives us the timeline in which this story takes place. The time of the judges was not a period in which the Israelites were following God. It tells us twice in the book of Judges “In those days Israel had no king; all the people did whatever seemed right in their own eyes (Judges 17:6; 21:25).” Even though God had provided Samuel for the people we can still see their rebellious attitude as they reject God as their king and demand that Samuel anoint a human king:
But the people refused to listen to Samuel's warning. “Even so, we still want a king,” they said. “We want to be like the nations around us. Our king will govern us and lead us into battle.” 1 Samuel 8:19-20.

So as we go into chapter 4 it is important to note that the people of Israel were not following God wholeheartedly. The Philistines then come and attack the Israelites defeating them soundly. The people cry out, “Why did the Lord allow us to be defeated by the Philistines?” Then they come up with a great idea (I am being sarcastic in case you missed it). “Let’s bring the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord from Shiloh. If we carry it into battle with us, it will save us from our enemies (italics mine).” This time the Philistines kill some 30,000 Israelite soldiers and take the Ark of the Covenant from them.

Where did the Israelites go wrong? Well, first of all they were already in a rebellious state when they went into the battles. Secondly, we never see anyone ever consult God about what they should do. And thirdly, they use the Ark as some kind of superstitious rabbit’s foot as though the Ark in itself could bring them victory.

What can we learn from this story? 1.) We can’t expect God to bless us when we are living in sin. Even if we are doing all the activities in which we think are holy such as going to church, reading the Bible, praying, etc. 2.) One of the things that I have done myself and often see people do that gets us into trouble is jump into a direction in life without consulting God and then when it goes wrong we ask, “where were you God?” What we often do is see a direction we want to go and then inform God that’s were we are going and pray that he blesses us. Instead, what we ought to do is present the choices before the Lord, ask Him to lead us in the direction He wants us to go, and then follow. 3.) Although we probably do not use physical trinkets to bring us blessings as the Israelites used the Ark we do use spiritual activities that we believe are holy so that God will give us success. For instance, there are times that we pursue the spiritual disciplines in our life such as reading the Bible, going to church, praying, fasting, etc. not to draw close to God, not to become a fully devoted follower of Christ, but rather we try to use them as a method to success. Maybe that is not you but I am speaking from personal experience. I won’t go into the details but I will never forget this one time in my life that I desperately wanted God to give me something. It wasn’t materialistic in nature but it definitely was selfish. So what I did is go on a 3 day fast. I wasn’t doing this to pursue God, I wasn’t doing it to grow spiritually, I was using a spiritual discipline so that God would give me my selfish desires. I, as the Israelites did, was trying to put God in a box and direct him to act on my behalf for my selfish desires. So I ask you the question, why are you pursuing God? Is it truly to do the will of God regardless of personal cost or is it almost a superstitious action to get God to work on your behalf. Now, God will bless us tremendously as He did Israel when we pursue him with pure motives but that is not the reason why we should pursue him. Take some time to evaluate your motives as you pursue the almighty living God.
 
posted by jesse at 11:16 AM
 
The Son of a Prostitute
Monday, March 10, 2008
 
Judges 11
You may not be familiar with the story of Judge Jepththah but for most people who are they remember him not because his story is one of the most encouraging, uplifting stories in Bible but because of his part in one of the most confusing, difficult, misunderstood passages of scripture. Let me address as quickly as possible the distracting part of the story. When Jepththah was called by God to fight the Ammonites he made a vow to the Lord. “If you give me victory over the Ammonites, I will give to the LORD the first thing coming out of my house to greet me when I return in triumph. I will sacrifice it as a burnt offering (11:30-31).” The Lord then gives him victory and on his way home his daughter is the first thing that comes out of his house to greet him. Obviously Jephthah is distraught and tells his daughter that he cannot take his vow back. His daughter tells Jephthah that a vow to the Lord must be kept. She then goes into the mountains for 2 months to mourn the fact that she will die a virgin. Then verse 29 says, “when she returned home, her father kept his vow, and she died a virgin.” So when we read this in our English Bibles we think this wonderful hero Jephthah sacrificed his daughter as a burnt offering. To fully explain why this could not have happened would take a 10 page essay so let me quickly explain why Jephthah did not sacrifice his daughter as a burnt offering. The first and most convincing reason is because Jephthah was a man of God and to sacrifice a human would be completely inconsistent with the law of God (Lev 18:21; 20:2-5; Deut 12:31; 18:10). Secondly, when reading it in the Hebrew there is evidence that dying a virgin (actual translation: she would know no man) did not mean she would be sacrificed but that because of this vow she would never be married and would end her life, whenever that might have been, a virgin. The last reason that I will mention was that in the law there where alternatives to a burnt offering. One of those alternatives was a life long devotion in service to the Lord in the sanctuary. When a woman was set apart for this kind of service she would never be married and therefore would die a virgin. Almost every commentary you can find will make the argument that this was the action Jephthah took to fulfill his vow. So these verses tell us that she fulfilled a life-long dedication to the Lord in the sanctuary meaning she never was married and died a virgin.

So, now with that out of the way, lets get to the exciting part of the story that we so often miss. Jepthah was an outcaste because of his lineage. Jephthah was the son of a prostitute. His half-brothers rejected him and forced him to leave their land claiming he had no rights to their father’s inheritance because he was not the son of Gilead’s (Jephthah’s father) true wife as they were. He then left and it tells us in verse 3 that a band of “worthless” men followed him. Wow, sounds like life is really going great for him. But in the end those who hated him pleaded with him to come and save them. It was Jephthah that God chose to deliver His people from the oppression of the Ammonites and become a hero. It tells us in verse 29 that the Spirit of the Lord came upon him and he then brought victory to the people of Israel. The reason why I love this story is because it is another powerful example that God is not concerned with how men
define greatness. He can and will use anyone who puts Him first in their life to advance the kingdom of God. He is in the business of using “worhless sons of prostitutes” to bring glory to himself.

This is why I share this story. It doesn’t matter to God who your parents were or what they did, it doesn’t matter to God what neighborhood you grew up in, it doesn’t matter to God if you make the big bucks or not, what matters to God is that He is number one in your life and when He is the Spirit of the Lord will come upon you, He will redeem your background, and will use you to advance the kingdom of God. That is greatness.
 
posted by jesse at 10:32 AM
 
Stones of Instruction
Monday, March 3, 2008
 
If you missed last week’s blog I would encourage you to read it before reading today’s because today’s thoughts build upon what we talked about last week. I mentioned last week if I were to communicate the central theme of Deuteronomy in one sentence it would be something like: Obey the Lord, take sin seriously, and God will bless. As we continue through this wonderful book it seems as though Moses continually pleads for obedience and even gives them the tools to find success. It is interesting how many times he commands them to take physical action so that they can find success in obedience. People with good intentions often have the faulty thinking as they pursue God that if they just desire obedience enough it will surely come to them. Pursuit without action will leave you wanting. I came across something in chapter 27 that I had never noticed before in all the times that I have read through this book. That’s why I love the Word of God so much. Every time that I read through it God points out new and exciting spiritual truths that when applied can help us to become the fully devoted follower of Christ that we are striving for.

When you cross the Jordan River and enter the land the LORD your God is giving you, set up some large stones and coat them with plaster. Then write all the terms of this law on them… set up these stones at Mount Ebal and coat them with plaster, as I am commanding you today. On the stones coated with plaster, you must clearly write all the terms of this law. Deuteronomy 27:2-4, 8

I read that passage a few times because it really triggered my curiosity. I then did some research. I found out that Mt. Ebal’s location is approximately at the center of Israel. Then I looked further into it and discovered that Mt. Ebal is the highest peak of the central mountain range of Israel. (So that I don’t have a ton of e-mails: Mt. Ebal is not the highest peak in all of Israel but it is the highest peak in center section of Israel.) So…as the people enter the promise land God commands them to take large stones covered in plaster with the law written upon them and erect them on the highest mountain in the center of Israel (for those who are curious Joshua obeyed this command in Joshua 8:30-34).

Remembering that the central theme of Deuteronomy is the call to obedience what is the significance of such an action? The first thing that struck me was how this made the law accessible to everyone. I had always pictured that the law was written on just a few tablets that only the priests had access to. Yet with this new information anyone who could read and had the desire to spend time in the law could climb Mt. Ebal (3,080ft.) and read the Word of God for themselves. Secondly, I think God was making a statement to the people of Israel about the importance of the Word of God by placing it where he did, at the center of Israel. Thirdly, what does this mean for us today? Again, God was making a symbolic statement in setting the law at the highest peak at the center of Israel in a book calling for obedience. I think it what it means for us today is if we want to find success in obeying God we must also set the Word of God containing his expectations visibly in front of us. This means we must continually come to the Word of God on a daily basis if we are expecting to find success in obedience. We are not to worship the Word of God but as we strive for God his Word must be central to our lives if we want to find success in obeying him. I will say this; I have never yet met a person in all of my life who is finding success in obedience who hasn’t had the Word of God as a regular part of their life. So I would encourage you again, as I have done so many times, to set an appointment in your schedule everyday to spend time in God’s word. Yeah, there will be days where it isn’t fun, there will be days in which you don’t understand it, there will be days in which you don’t even remember what you read earlier, but as we spend time in God’s word daily through Holy Spirit it permeates into our hearts and we will begin to change.
 
posted by jesse at 10:52 AM
 
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