From the desk of Pastor Ben

Cursing the Light – Part 1

The Pharisees and Sadducees came up, and testing Jesus, they asked Him to show them a sign from heaven. But He replied to them, “When it is evening, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red.’ And in the morning, ‘There will be a storm today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ Do you know how to discern the appearance of the sky, but cannot discern the signs of the times?”
                                    (Matthew 16:1-3)

The Jewish elite did not want to find truth from Jesus but only wanted to discover His “falsehood.” They demanded a sign (miracle) they believed was beyond Jesus, seeking to prove that He was not from God. That way they could publicly discredit Him and vindicate themselves.

In their blindness, the Jews could not recognize that Christ Himself was “a sign from heaven.” This refusal to accept God’s ultimate Sign meant they already had rejected Jesus’ lesser signs, even in the face of irrefutable evidence of their validity. As Abraham warned about the brothers in Jesus’ story of the rich man and Lazarus, “If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead” (Luke 16:31). Like Pharaoh, the more the Jews witnessed divine power, the more they hardened their hearts against it (Exodus 7-11). God will display more heavenly signs in the future (Matthew 24:29-30; Luke 21:11;
Revelation 15:1), but they will indicate the end of the age.

The famous French philosopher and atheist Voltaire once declared, “Even if a miracle should be wrought in the open marketplace before a thousand sober witnesses, I would rather mistrust my senses than admit a miracle.” Unbelief always finds a way to reject God’s truth, even if it must deny the undeniable. How much better a heart that is open to the truth, receives it, and rejoices to obey it.

Ask Yourself:
Rather than getting frustrated with the lack of spiritual soundness around you, make today a day when you begin asking God to reveal Himself to those who are resisting Him. How could you make yourself ready to answer others’ question with His sure Word of truth?

From the desk of Pastor Ben

The Lessons of Ministry – Part 4

“Sending away the crowds, Jesus got into the boat
And came to the region of Magadan.”     (Matthew 15:39)

Two more important lessons from Jesus’ ministry are for our consideration today. Next, in our ongoing list is the lesson of spiritual investment. When the apostles gave the Lord all they had so He could use it to feed the 4,000, they ended up with 7 baskets of leftovers for themselves. “He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully” (2 Corinthians 9:6).

The ninth and final lesson is Christ’s limitless compassion for all our needs — daily, lifetime, and eternal. His compassion extends to all nationalities, and on the merely hungry as well as the severely afflicted. So, believers should follow their Lord’s example and “do good to all people, and especially to those who are of the household of the faith” (Galatians 6:10). The attitude and generosity of our giving measures our compassion, not superficial sentiments.

John Wanamaker, founder of the Philadelphia department store bearing his name, was a dedicated Christian. While observing missionary work in China, he entered a village where believers lacked money to complete a church building. In a nearby field he saw a boy yoked with an ox as the two pulled a plow guided by the boy’s father. Wanamaker’s guide explained that the boy had promised his father he would help plow if his father would sell one ox to raise money for the church. Wanamaker fell to his knees and prayed, “Lord, let me be hitched to a plow that I may know the joy of sacrificial giving.”

Ask Yourself:
What keeps you from being as available to the Lord as He wants you to be? What is it that interferes with your recognition of areas where you could serve and be useful to others for the glory of God? Deal radically and deeply with anything that prevents your full surrender to His Lordship.

From the desk of Pastor Ben

The Lessons of Ministry – Part 3

“Sending away the crowds, Jesus got into the boat
and came to the region of Magadan.”     (Matthew 15:39)

Our continued look at the important lessons from Jesus’ ministry at this time reveals 3 more for us today. First, Matthew’s narrative says God’s resources are never diminished or exhausted. Jesus did not need bread and fish to feed the crowd, because He could have made food from nothing, just as He created the world from nothing. The loaves and fish taught the apostles and now, us, to give what we have into His care (Luke 6:38).

The next lesson is that of a servant’s usefulness. Although Christ can do His work without us, He graciously chooses to accomplish it through us. In an instant, He could have distributed the bread and fish for the multitude, whereas it took the apostles several hours to do it. God, today, chooses to use humans to proclaim the gospel and minister to the world’s needs. In obediently serving others in the Lord’s name and power, we also serve Him, which prepares us for serving Him throughout all eternity.

Today’s last lesson — and 7th overall — is that god gives liberally, in “good measure — pressed down, shaken together, and running over” (Luke 6:38). Everyone on that mountainside ate to his or her satisfaction. By analogy, God always provides for all our physical and spiritual needs — and sometimes far beyond (Ephesians 3:20-21).

Ask Yourself:
How do you sense God wanting to use you in greater ways for His kingdom’s sake? Do you receive this as the honor it is — the God of heaven allowing you to participate in His eternal work? Follow up on what He is leading you to do, and consider it a privilege to be in His service!

From the desk of Pastor Ben

The Lessons of Ministry – Part 2

“Sending away the crowds, Jesus got into the boat
And came to the region of Magadan.”     (Matthew 15:39)

As we continue to evaluate the lessons of Christ’s ministry to the Gentiles, we see that the true goal of ministry is worship. Although the vast majority of those who witnessed Jesus in this particular part of His ministry were Gentiles, when they saw his overwhelming power, they were astounded and “glorified the God of Israel” (15:31). The perfection of what He said and did demanded their worship, and many of the Gentiles offered it as best they could. But Christ was infinitely more concerned to save their souls from eternal damnation and make them citizens of His kingdom. The final goal of evangelism and Christian living is always to “worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers.” (John 4:23).

The priority of worship is an especially important lesson for today when our evangelism likes to make the way of salvation very wide, even though Jesus defines it as narrow (Matthew 7:14). We also like to present the Christian life as an easy one, whereas the Lord says believers must take up their crosses (Matthew 10:38-39).

Another lesson is that we must depend on God’s resources. Like the apostles, we are most usable for the kingdom when we admit the lack of our own resources and turn to the Lord. Jesus did not command the disciples to be His “witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth” until He first promised empowering from the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:8).

Ask Yourself:
Let today be a day when you deliberately seek to worship, not only through song and prayer, but in giving excellence to your many tasks and serving those around you in His name and for His glory. How many ways can you think of to worship with what you know to be in front of you?

From the desk of Pastor Ben

The Lessons of Ministry – Part 1

“Sending away the crowds, Jesus got into the boat and came
 to the region of Magadan.     (Matthew 15:39)

We can learn a number of lessons from Jesus’ ministry to the Gentiles. First, He displayed His divine power because only God could multiply the loaves and fish to feed so many people. Just as He replaced diseased tissues with healthy ones, deformed and missing limbs with whole ones, and blind eyes with seeing ones (Romans 4:17), He multiplied inadequate food into super-abundance. Our Lord did all this in His own name and power because He was and is the source of that power.

Second, Jesus not only cured diseases and restored physical bodies, He restored the maimed and deformed, thus setting Him totally apart from the so-called healers of that time. Their “healings” were at best psychosomatic and extremely minor compared to the many miraculous ones the Son of God performed during His earthly ministry.

Please know that God can still sovereignly heal the most hopeless sick person or restore the most gravely injured adult or child, even creating new limbs as He wills. And that certainty will continue in the present and in the future so that He can demonstrate and inspire our trust in Him.

Ask Yourself:
Rather than reading about Jesus’ miraculous ministry with familiarity, just stop to consider in absolute astonishment what he did for the sick and hurting of His time on earth. How do you respond to such power when its reality hits you again? We serve a mighty God!

From the desk of Pastor Ben

Feeding of the 4,000 – Part 2

“He directed the people to sit down on the ground; and He took the seven loaves and the fish; and giving thanks, He broke them and started giving them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. And they all ate and were satisfied, and they picked up what was left over of the broken pieces, seven large baskets full. And those who ate were four thousand men, besides women and children.”         (Matthew 15:35-38)

Jesus could have miraculously distributed the food without the apostles as easily as He had miraculously multiplied it without human assistance. After all, the Father had provided manna in the wilderness for the children of Israel — fresh every morning, distributed across the entire area of the encampment, and available so the people needed only to gather what was needed outside their tents (Exodus 16:14). But here, in addition to simply feeding the crowd, Christ wanted to teach the apostles. He desired that they learn the practical as well as the theological reality of His compassion for people. Once again, our Lord wanted His men to participate firsthand in God’s concern for people’s daily needs. He wanted them to realize that divine compassion embraces every aspect of human need: eternal redemption, physical wellness, and the daily need of food and drink.

Of these miraculous feedings, author Alfred Edersheim observes:

“The Lord ended each phase of His ministry with a feeding. He ended the ministry in Galilee with the feeding of the 5,000. He ended the ministry in the Gentile area with the feeding of the 4,000. And He ended the Judean ministry before His death on the cross with the feeding of His own in the upper room.

Ask Yourself:
How concerned are you for the hunger of those around you? You cannot do everything for everyone, but you can do something for someone. Ask God to keep your eyes open to human need, and to give you direction on how you can truly minister to them in His name.

From the desk of Pastor Ben

Feeding of the 4,000 – Part 1

“He directed the people to sit down on the ground; and He took the seven loaves and the fish; and giving thanks, He broke them, and started giving them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. And they all ate and were satisfied, and they picked up what was leftover of the broken pieces, seven large baskets full. And those who ate were four thousand men, besides women and children.”         (Matthew 15:35-38)

Jesus displayed compassion for people’s spiritual needs and physical afflictions, but He also had compassion concerning their daily food. He tells us to ask God to “give us this day our daily bread” (Matthew 6:11) because He cares about our practical needs. Here, our Lord was determined that the needy crowd not go home hungry and collapse on the way.

As with the 5,000, the apostles again wondered where they could get enough food for so many people (15:33). They couldn’t possibly have forgotten the miracle of a month earlier, but they were merely noting again their lack of resources. This multitude was slightly smaller, but the disciples could no more provide enough food for them than they could for the 5,000.

This region where they were was likely even more desolate than the area where Christ fed the 5,000. If food was sparse on that earlier occasion, it certainly would not be readily available now. But surely the apostles did not doubt that their Lord could again miraculously feed a large number of people; they remembered vividly the feeding of the 5,000. The apostles’ words to Jesus simply emphasized their confidence that He could satisfy such a multitude whereas they could not. Jesus had no less power than before, and His disciples had no more than before.

Ask Yourself:
The size of our need does not determine the size of God’s provision. He meets needs completely, even when our need is great. Yet, even when our needs are smaller by comparison, we must never think that we are sufficient in ourselves to care for them. Are you depending on Him . . .for everything?

From the desk of Pastor Ben

Jesus’ Response To Great Faith

Jesus said to her, “O woman, your faith is great; it shall be done for you as you wish.” And her daughter was healed at once.     (Matthew 15:28)

The Canaanite woman’s seeking heart did not give up. Her faith remained great to the end of this encounter with Jesus — and undoubtedly beyond. Her faith grew strong through God’s testing, just as Abraham’s did (Romans 4:20). Similar to Jacob wrestling with the Lord (Genesis 32:26), the woman would not let go until the Lord blessed her. She witnessed the promise of God fulfilled, which says, “You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. I will be found by you,” declares the Lord, “and I will restore your fortunes” (Jeremiah 29:13-14a).

Sensing and hearing what He needed to know about the woman’s character, Jesus was greatly pleased with her response and declared, “O woman, your faith is great.” She did not even hear the Sermon on the Mount, but came to the Lord with the kind of humble, mourning, meek, and seeking heart god requires for entrance into His kingdom (Matthew 5:3-6). She displayed the earnest approach described in Luke 13:24 and 16:16 of straining every nerve and vigorously pressing forward to enter the kingdom.

Because of her great faith so humbly and persistently displayed and rightly directed toward Him, the Lord Jesus granted the woman’s desire that her daughter be delivered from a demon. As Spurgeon has observed, “The Lord of glory surrendered to the faith of the woman.” She truly followed Christ’s instruction of “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you” (Matthew 7:7).

Ask Yourself:
God acts for His own good purposes. There’s not a magic word or a certain level of enthusiasm on our part that finally attracts attention. And yet He thrills at the sight of “great” faith in His children. How could you act in “great” faith in the face of your current circumstances?

From the desk of Pastor Ben

Great Faith Is Humble

Se came and began to bow before Him, saying, “Lord, help me!” And he answered and said, “It is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” But she said, “Yes, Lord; but even the dogs feed on the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.”         (Matthew 15:25-27)

The Gentile woman’s bowing down might or might not have been an act of worship toward Jesus, but it was clearly an act of humility. She likely became prostrate at His feet and cried out even more desperately, “Lord, help me!”

But the Savior again put her off with symbolic words about children and dogs that at first hearing were not very complimentary. The woman would have known that children referred to the Jews, and dogs referred to the Gentiles — the Jews commonly used both references. Jesus’ answer, no doubt, sounded to her like the insults Jews frequently hurled at their Gentile neighbors.

The woman, however, was undaunted and showed incredible understanding of Jesus’ words: “Yes, Lord; but even the dogs feed on the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.” She conceded that she was sinful and less deserving than the Jews. Her attitude showed a complete lack of pride and self-reliance that often characterized the Jews. A small, leftover portion of Jesus’ power was enough to heal her daughter, and that was all she was humbly asking.

The Lord’s earthly ministry was primarily to the Jews, but crumbs of the gospel did fall from their table and feed humble Gentiles like this woman with the Bread of Life.

Ask Yourself:
How has Christ tested your faith in days past, not to discourage or resist you, but rather to add new layers of muscle to your trust in Him? Why is it so easy to misunderstand this aspect of His Lordship, and in what ways has it strengthened your faith and loyalty to Him?

From the desk of Pastor Ben

Great Faith Is Persistent

He did not answer her a word. And His disciples came and implored Him, saying, “Send her away, because she keeps shouting at us.” But He answered and said, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”   (Matthew 15:23-24)

Great faith persists; it’s not deterred by setbacks. So, Christ tested the Canaanite woman’s faith by placing barriers in her way. One of those barriers was that at first He did not answer, which can be the most difficult response to accept. When the woman persisted in asking the Lord for help, the apostles came in frustration to Him and asked Him to do something about this nuisance. Finally, they simply asked that He “send her away, because she keeps shouting at us.”

That response was insensitive and prejudiced, and at first glance, Jesus seemed to be equally insensitive to the woman — He didn’t even acknowledge her presence. But the Lord never did anything unloving or apart from His own wise and perfect purpose. He’d had enough of artificial and selfish faith that got what it wanted from Him and then left. So, He chose to test the woman’s faith to bring it to fruition. He put up barriers not to keep her away from Him but to draw her closer. At the same time, He taught the apostles the nature of genuine faith and the value of persisting in it.

Jesus’ words to the disciples about the priority of Israel in the plan of redemption, may have reassured them, but they did not deter this Gentile woman. Her love for her daughter made her determined to free her from Satan. The woman’s pagan gods did not care, and she knew her only hope was to turn to Christ. Her response reiterated Peter’s sentiment, “Lord, to whom shall we go”? (John 6:68).

Ask Yourself:
Have you ever experienced the silence of God during certain seasons of your life? How did you react to it? Why do you think He chose to delay his response to you? What have you learned from those times that can help your faith stay true when He forces you to wait?