St. Johns News

[Jesus said] “If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go into hell, where the fire never goes out. . . . And if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than to have two feet and be thrown into hell. And if your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell.”
Mark 9:43,45-47

The Struggle

Does today’s Bible passage seem like strange words from Jesus’ lips and make you raise your eyebrows a bit? Am I really supposed to mutilate my body so I don’t end up in hell?

No. Jesus hasn’t lost his mind. And no, you are not to start cutting off body parts.

But Jesus does want you to understand that there is a part of you that would like nothing more than to spend forever apart from him, suffering in a place of pain, loneliness, and death. This ugly part of you is called your sinful nature. You were born with it. You received it from your parents. It’s the part of you that is bad to the bone—totally selfish, utterly hateful, and completely opposed to God’s will for you.

Fight against the desires of your sinful flesh every moment of every day! Say “no” to all that is sinful and “yes” to all that is pleasing to God. For spiritual strength, work out and exercise each day with God’s Word and prayer. Attend a worship service each week to “pump up” your new self (the part of you that loves God, trusts him, and wants to do his will). When you give in to your sinful nature and sin, don’t despair. Take your sin to Jesus and confess it. Stand beneath his cross and see him on it for you, wounded, bleeding, and dying to pay the full price for your sins.

Restored and forgiven by Jesus, continue with confidence the struggle that is your life. It won’t be easy on this side of heaven. But in Jesus, you will win eternally!

Prayer:
Jesus, help me in my daily struggle against my sinful nature. When I fail, forgive me. Give me strength to overcome temptation and live a life that pleases you. Amen.

[Jesus said] “Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
Mark 10:43-45

Upside Down Glory

Martin Luther King Jr. once observed, “We all want to be important, to surpass others, to achieve distinction. This quest for recognition is the basic impulse of human life. Our first cry as a baby was a bid for attention. Children are a little bundle of ego. Now in adult life, we still have it, and we really never get by it.” (The Drum Major Instinct, 4 February 1968)

But Jesus tells us, “That is not the way it is to be among you.” Instead, we are to put others before ourselves—just like Jesus did.

Jesus is true God, but he didn’t hang on to living like God. He came to serve. He came to save. It took him to the depths of hell. He walked through the jaws of death. He was humbled to the point of death for one reason: he loved us. He wanted to set free all who have sinned, suffered, been separated from the love of God. And, by rising from the dead, he became the source of eternal salvation and the promise of a new world for everyone who believes in him.

You might feel like a speck of sand on the shore, a nameless face in a sea of people, vapor in the wind. You are, in fact, great to God. In Jesus, you have all the rights of sons. You have a place in his family, a piece of his future, and a purpose for your present.

You are free to serve your neighbor. You are free to love your neighbor. And there’s great glory in that. They get to see Jesus in you.

Prayer:
Lord Jesus, like you, help me not so much seek to be served as to serve. For it is in serving that you are glorified. Amen.

Though I am free and belong to no one, I have made myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. . . I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel.
1 Corinthians 9:19,22,23

Something for Something

Quid pro quo.

That’s Latin for “something for something.” If I give you something, I expect you to give me something fair in return. If I work for a company, I deserve to get paid a fair wage. It’s my right.

And that’s all fine and good, as long as we remember that it goes both ways. If I put in the work, I deserve fair wages. But if I don’t put in the work, I deserve to be fired.

But God works a strange economy. He doesn’t give us what we deserve. He gives us what we don’t deserve. For our sins of crossing the line with God or not measuring up to his standards, we deserve to be punished. Instead, God, who is rich in mercy, gave us his Son.

Jesus had equal status with God because he is God. But he wasn’t so full of pride that he had to hold on to that status. No! He set aside his divine privileges and enslaved himself to his Father’s will so that he might save us. In perfect obedience to his Father, Jesus lived a selfless life and died a selfless death. And as a result, we are free from sin’s curse and Satan’s accusations.

Now, we are free to be all things to all people. For the sake of other people’s souls, I don’t have to insist on my way or my rights. I can meet people where they are at. I can listen to their point of view and try to understand. Then, I can point them to Jesus so they might share in the freedom that comes from his forgiveness.

Prayer:
Lord Jesus, teach me true humility, so that I help rather than hinder the cause of your Gospel. Amen.

There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from their works, just as God did from his. Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest.
Hebrews 4:9-11

Strive for Rest

The soldiers, rough and run down, file out of the truck. Their clothes are ragged. Their bodies are stiff and sore. For months, they fought hard and slept little. To say that these soldiers are tired would be an understatement. They have been on the battlefront too long.

As they line up, the commanding officer reminds them why they are here. They must use this time wisely. They have only one responsibility: rest and recuperate. It will take a few days for their bodies to respond, but gradually their energy will return as they find rest.

Is your soul tired? Are you worn down by your battle against your spiritual enemies–the devil and your own sinful flesh? Are you exhausted from trying to live up to God’s standard only to realize day after day that you fail?

Let God’s promise in today’s Bible reading comfort you. It promises that it is not our efforts that make us worthy to be with God. Jesus has already done that work. He carefully carried out his Father’s orders in everything. You don’t have to sweat or strain to soften God’s anger or try to win his love. Jesus has dismissed you from that wearying and worrying work.

So, you can rest. You can rest in him.

Prayer:
Dear Jesus, when I am weary, help me find rest in you. Amen.

After Uzziah became powerful, his pride led to his downfall. He was unfaithful to the LORD his God, and entered the temple of the LORD to burn incense on the altar of incense.
2 Chronicles 26:16

Arrogant Pride

What were you doing at the age of sixteen?

For most of us, our teenage years were typical. Our time was consumed with dating, school, sports, and getting our driver’s license. Uzziah didn’t have a typical teenage experience. By the time he was sixteen, Uzziah was ruling the nation of Judah.

Uzziah was a great king. But the legacy he left behind is that arrogant pride will result in personal ruin. His name means the Lord is my strength and early in his reign Uzziah lived up to that name. He followed God faithfully. He lived in humble obedience before the Lord. As long as he did, God gave him tremendous success. Uzziah became the greatest ruler since Solomon.

Unfortunately, greatness went to Uzziah’s head. He forgot that the Lord’s hand, not his own, had achieved these great things. In arrogant pride, Uzziah forgot his place, strutted into the temple, and took over. The priests tried to stop him. Uzziah lost his temper. God struck him with a skin disease that stuck with him. He had to live out the rest of his reign in quarantine.

Uzziah serves as a reminder for all of us: In all things, give God glory. He is the source of all our successes. His hand, not ours, accomplishes great things for us. We would have nothing if God did not give it to us.

But even when pride goes to our head, and we fall flat, God remains faithful in his goodness. He lifts our eyes so we can see Jesus, who lived in perfect humility before God, as our substitute. And although he was without sin, God inflicted him and caused him to suffer the guilt of our arrogant pride.

So, whether it is success we have in this life or our hope of eternal life in heaven, we owe it all to God. May this reality keep us thankfully humble.

Prayer:
Lord Jesus, make me mindful that all I have is a gift from you. Amen.

Yet it was the LORD’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the LORD makes his life an offering for sin . . . the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand . . . By his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many . . . Therefore I will give him a portion among the great.
Isaiah 53:10-12

Our Great Redeemer

You are a hardened criminal. For as long as you can remember, you have been in trouble with the law. When the authorities finally apprehend you, they charge you with society’s worst imaginable crimes and drag you to court.

You stand with your court-appointed attorney in front of the judge. Over the next twelve hours, the prosecution presents witness after witness and produces evidence after evidence. Beyond any shadow of a doubt, you are guilty. The judge sentences you to 10 consecutive life sentences with no possibility of parole.

Just as the judge is about to close the case, your attorney speaks up. “Your honor,” he says, “I am willing to take responsibility for this person’s crimes. I will assume his guilt. I will accept the consequences. I will satisfy the sentence.”

“Very well,” the judge responds. “I will allow it. The accused is free to go.”

You can’t believe your ears. This is great!

As great as this news would be, the good news of what Jesus has done for us is even greater.

We fall short of God’s approval. He has his limits, and we continually cross the line. He has his demands, and we keep missing the mark. There is no such thing as a misdemeanor in God’s courtroom. If we break one law, we are guilty of breaking them all. It’s a death sentence—hell without parole.

But Jesus is our God-appointed attorney. And since he could not argue our innocence, he stepped in and assumed our guilt. When he went to the cross, he suffered our punishment. With his dying breath, Jesus satisfied God’s sentence against us. By raising Jesus from the dead, God drives away all doubt for the sake of Jesus; we are forgiven. We are free!

Isn’t Jesus great?

Prayer:
Dearest Jesus, thank you for being my great Redeemer, for suffering my sentence and setting me free. Amen.

Therefore, holy brothers and sisters, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, whom we acknowledge as our apostle and high priest. He was faithful to the one who appointed him, just as Moses was faithful in all God’s house.
Hebrews 3:1,2

Perfection

In the 1986 fighter pilot movie “Top Gun,” the theme was the need to be perfect. The fighter pilots often heard the phrase “there are no points for second place.” That meant as a fighter pilot you needed to be perfect because anything less meant that you would likely die in an encounter with the enemy.

We live in a very competitive world. People strive to be the best they can be. But how good do we have to be for God to accept us? How can we reach the level of perfection that God demands?

The truth is that if we try to be perfect before God, we’re always going to fail. It is the hard cold reality of sin. God demands that we be perfect. Yet just one wrong deed or a single bad thought causes us to fail.

But there is hope in Jesus! “He was faithful to the one who appointed him.” God appointed his eternal Son, Jesus, to be the world’s Savior. Jesus accepted that mission and accomplished it. He left heaven and lived a perfect life here on earth. Yes, he never sinned once. That’s important because God, in his love for us, credits Jesus’ perfection to us. Jesus was also faithful to his heavenly Father by submitting himself to death. He didn’t deserve to die because he was perfect, but he died because we are not. God laid the guilt of all our imperfections—our sins—on Jesus for which he paid the penalty of death in our place.

By faith in our faithful Savior, we will stand before God with the assurance of a blessed eternity in heaven!

Prayer:
Thank you, Jesus, for being faithful to your Father and saving me from my sins. Keep my eyes fixed on you and the hope of eternal life you provide. Amen.

We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Romans 5:1

Peace in Our Hearts

Do you know the story of the little boy who loved the Lord Jesus with all his heart? The boy had a very serious heart problem, so serious that the surgeon found it necessary to operate on his heart. The surgeon told the boy, “Tomorrow morning, I will open up your heart….” “You will find Jesus there,” the little boy interrupted. Being a bit annoyed, the surgeon took the boy by the hand and explained, “I will cut your heart open. I have to see how much damage has been done…” “But when you open up my heart, you will find Jesus in there,” the little boy said again.

The next day following the surgery, the surgeon recorded the notes “…damaged aorta, damaged pulmonary vein, muscle degeneration. No hope for transplant or a cure.” Tears flowed from his eyes as he recalled the faith in this little boy’s heart. When he awoke from the surgery, he whispered to the surgeon, “Did you cut open my heart?” “Yes,” said the surgeon. “What did you find?” asked the boy. “I found Jesus there,” said the surgeon.

In this story a well-educated and learned surgeon learned from a child. He learned what it meant to have child-like faith and to believe in Jesus so that even in the face of death, we need not worry but be at peace and have the confident hope that we will be with him in heaven. All this is because Jesus suffered, died, and rose again to pay for all of our sins.

Prayer:
Lord Jesus, give me a child-like faith, a faith that does not doubt or question what God’s plans are for me, but a faith which trusts his precious promises for my physical and eternal well-being. Amen.

[Jesus] said, “Go, sell everything you have . . . Then come, follow me.” At this the man’s face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth.
Mark 10:21,22

Ouch

You have an area on your left side that has become uncomfortable. You go to a doctor. The doctor seems to examine everything except the area in question, “I see no problems. You look just fine,” he says. As you go home, you’re uneasy. For while you’ve just been to a doctor who’s given you a clean bill of health, you sense he has failed to put his finger on the problem.

In Mark chapter 10, the man who approaches Jesus presumes that his spiritual health is in good shape. He believes he has lived a decent life. He does not see any glaring problems in his relationship with God.

Jesus, however, is the Great Physician. He conducts his diagnosis of this man in a way that the man discovers he is hurting where he did not even realize he was hurting. The man happens to be quite wealthy. When Jesus challenges him to part with all his wealth for the sake of following Jesus, the man is crestfallen. He walks away sad. In love, the Great Physician has placed his finger on the area that hurts. He has gotten the man to say, “Ouch.”

In my sinful weakness, I often possess a genius for sliding into the presumption that my spiritual health is in pretty good condition. Sure, there are garden-variety sins here and there, but my self-diagnosis frequently comes up with a clean bill of health.

And this is why we need our Savior. Through his Word and his hand in my life, our Great Physician puts his finger on that area of my life where I am truly hurting. In love, he gets me to say, “Ouch.”

Is this pleasant when he does this? No, it isn’t. But Jesus loves me enough to do it. For when he causes me to wince, I then realize even more how much I need his blood to wash me clean, to forgive my sin, to bring me his healing.

And through faith in him, that’s what I have—you and I both.

Prayer:
Great Physician, you make me realize how much I need you. Thank you for the healing I possess in your blood. Amen.

Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral.
Hebrews 13:4

Tender Subject

Today’s Bible verse touches on a tender subject. Many of us carry deep emotional wounds from the misuse of God’s gifts of marriage and sex. These wounds may be self-inflicted. Or we may be carrying them due to the actions of others. Our Lord cares about us enough, however, to speak to us about it in loving candor.

The Lord tells us, “Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure”—the “marriage bed” referring to God’s wedding gift of sexual intimacy. Our Heavenly Father is clear on this matter. His wedding gift of sexual intimacy is for a husband and wife to enjoy within the exclusive security of marriage—not before it and not outside of it. To emphasize his serious concern about this, his Word goes on to say, for God will judge the adulterer” (that is, anyone who is unfaithful in marriage) “and all the sexually immoral” (that is, anyone who misuses God’s wedding gift of sexual intimacy in any way, whether that person is married or single).

Several decades ago, our culture, to a great degree, bought into the premise that what God’s Word says about marriage is unnecessary. The implied promise was that if you threw off the old notions about marriage and sex, your life would be happier, healthier, more pleasurable, more free.

Sadly, the results are in: broken homes, broken trust, emotional scars for both parents and children, resentment, isolation, loneliness. Such is the nature of sin, of course—your sin and mine. It promises a better life if we only ignore God’s will for our lives. But sin can never deliver on its promise.

Jesus, however, does. Always. In our place, he lived a life of purity, a life of perfect obedience to God’s will. At the cross, his blood washed away our every unfaithfulness, our every dark sin. When we fix our eyes on him in repentant hearts, all is forgiven. All!

Which empowers us to begin again when it comes to our approach to marriage. All to the glory of our Savior.

Prayer:
Forgive me, Lord, for where I have fallen in this area of my life. Empower me to trust your will. Amen.