Withered Hands, Withered Hearts

“And He entered the synagogue again, and a man was there who had a withered hand. 2 So they watched Him closely, whether He would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse Him. 3 And He said to the man who had the withered hand,“Step forward.” 4 Then He said to them, “Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?” But they kept silent. 5 And when He had looked around at them with anger, being grieved by the hardness of their hearts, He said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored as whole as the other. 6 Then the Pharisees went out and immediately plotted with the Herodians against Him, how they might destroy Him.” (Mark 3:1-6)

Imagine with me that you are a member of a high school football team. Let’s even say that you are the quarterback. The one who gets to call the plays in the game. You have led the team to victory many times and everyone looks up to you. But then, during your senior year, a new player joins the team, who just moved to town from another school. It turns out that this player is better than you, thinks quicker, runs faster, throws better, and becomes more popular than you. He is made the quarterback in half the games and the team does even better than before.

How would you feel? How would you respond? Would you rejoice that your team was doing better under this newcomer? Or would you burn with jealousy because you are being outclassed in a game where you used to be “top dog”?

Well, who were the people in our Scripture passage that were watching for Jesus to heal on the Sabbath so they could accuse him? They were Pharisees. Men who considered themselves the “top dogs” when it came to religion--to keeping the Jewish law. Pharisees were well-respected in the nation of Israel. They were so serious about keeping the laws of God, that they actually wrote some additional laws to protect each other from violating the laws God had given them!

One of the additional laws they had made up said that you could only heal a person on the Sabbath day if the person’s life was in danger. No matter how serious the injury was, if it wasn’t life-threatening, the man or woman would have to wait until sundown on Saturday evening to receive treatment. Because Sabbath was a day of rest, and healing was considered a kind of work. The poor man with the withered hand may be miserable, but not in danger of DYING.

Do you know who also was serious about obeying the laws of God? Much MORE serious than the Pharisees? Jesus. As the second Person of the Triune God, Jesus Christ was the law’s very Author. And as the chosen Messiah, our Lord took upon His human nature the mission of a perfect obedience to that law. A perfect righteousness that would be accounted to those who believed in Him. To guilty sinners who could produce no righteousness of their own.

So, was Jesus breaking God’s law by healing this poor man’s withered hand? Of course not. He was disregarding the Pharisees’ tradition which they had added to the proper keeping of the Sabbath Day. Their additional rules made them appear more holy than their fellow Jews. But true holiness in God’s eyes means more than the outward appearance of “keeping the rules.” True holiness is a matter of the inward person. A matter of the heart.

The religious leaders who sought to accuse Jesus of violating their precious rules cared about keeping their own “top dog” image before the other Jews. They cared so much about looking good. Having a holy image. But what about their hearts? None of the other Jews had x-ray vision and could examine the Pharisees’ attitudes and feelings of love and compassion. But Jesus could.

The man with the withered hand came into the synagogue that day, perhaps with sadness in his heart. After all, his right hand was crippled, malformed, useless. People of that culture were forced to use their hands to labor, to earn a livelihood. And some accident or disease had robbed this poor soul of that ability. He was unable to work, to be useful, to provide for his family, to be able to share his wealth with others. But still, he came to the synagogue, to the church, to worship. In spite of his sadness--perhaps because of his sad heart.

For this crippled man also had hope in his heart. He probably knew that Jesus of Nazareth was in town, attending that very synagogue that Sabbath Day. He likely had heard the stories of this traveling Rabbi who could perform miracles--astounding works of healing! Maybe he found hope in his own heart for the first time in his life. Maybe this will be the day my sadness will end, he may have been thinking. Other poor, injured, sick people have had their bodies healed, even their sins forgiven, by this Man. Why not me, as well?

How excited he must have been when the Master cried out, “Step forward!” Oh, Jesus could have waited and come to him in private, in some isolated place, away from the crowd, as He had done for others at times. Jesus could have avoided the scandal of breaking the extra, man-made Sabbath rules of the Pharisees. But no, the Lord had a lesson to teach, as well as a man to heal. He was interested in affecting hearts, not just bodies.

The question Jesus asked of the religious leaders was so simple and so revealing. “Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil? To save life or to kill?” You are so eager to fulfill the law, He was saying to them. You even add your own rules to make it harder to break the law. So tell me what is lawful. Good or evil? Life or death? Come on now, what do you say? The answer should just spring from your lips, just trip off your tongue!

SILENCE. The Pharisees were stuck. They couldn’t or wouldn’t give an answer. What an opportunity Jesus was offering to them! All they had to do was take the side of “goodness and life,” and admit their own hypocrisy. All they had to do was answer the simplest question of all. But their hearts would not let them. Jesus was not fooled by their outward image. Their outward show. He could see it on their faces. They were not concerned about the awful burden of the crippled man. They were not filled with excitement or expectation about seeing a glorious miracle of healing there in that worship service. All they cared about was accusing Jesus of breaking a Sabbath rule. Taking this rabbi from Nazareth down a peg so they could remain on top of the heap. Their hearts were cold, selfish, lifeless, hardened. They couldn’t face the truth. So they couldn’t speak the truth.

The gospel writer, Mark, is an expert at expressing feelings as well as actions. And when Jesus looked around at those Pharisees, Mark writes that it was a look of anger and a look of grief. The scholars tell us that the Greek word Mark uses for anger is not just a mere annoyance or a minor irritation. But an anger that is burning and furious! Hebrews 5:14 tells us “Be angry and sin not.” To you and me, this takes discernment and constant practice, because so often our own anger is mixed with pride and selfishness. 

But the Son of God burned with a totally righteous fury. Fury at their refusal to speak the truth. Fury at their willful ignorance of right and wrong. Fury at their fear that God might be glorified by this poor man’s healing. Here they all were, in the presence of Him who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and they were refusing to acknowledge Him. Their spiritual eyes were blind because they refused to see. 

Jesus, Mark tells us, was also “grieved” because of the hardness of their hearts. Often the gospel tells us that Jesus was moved with compassion. His heart is a heart of compassion, one of kindness, one of mercy, one of comfort and care. Many times the Gospel of Mark speaks of Jesus reaching out and touching with His hands. Touching people in need. Hurt, grieving, needy, sad, lonely, hopeful people. Sheep without a shepherd, without one to meet their deepest needs. Jesus feels along with them. Jesus cares. 

Do we care? Do our hearts see the needs of others around us? Or are our hearts hardened by our own selfish concerns and sinful pride? If Jesus gave you and me His “heart exam,” what would He find there? Would the compassionate Savior be pleased, or grieved, with what He found?

“Stretch forth your hand,” Jesus commanded. He wanted the crowd to take a good long look. He wanted the glory of God to be manifest, radiant, obvious, unmistakable. The shriveled, withered, powerless hand was changed. The skin was plumped up and full of life. The blood vessels pulsed with new vigor. The crooked fingers straightened and flexed. The hand could now grasp and hold the tools of labor and the hands of loved ones. The withered hand was withered no more!

Jesus did His miracles out of true heart compassion. For that is the very heart of our God. He also did them to give us a preview of the Age to come, where all things will be made new. There are wondrous things to behold in the world God has made, even though it’s a fallen world. But because of sin and its curse, there are also many withered things in our world. There are storms and famines that devastate and destroy. There are mutations and diseases and pandemics that threaten and shorten our lives. There are birth defects and the challenges of aging bodies. 

But the worst withered thing in all the world is a withered heart. A lifeless heart that has no love for God, for Christ, for heavenly things. Such a heart has no desire for salvation--freedom from the bondage of sin. A withered heart might ACT religious for the purpose of LOOKING good to people around it. But it is all for show. Secretly, the withered heart only truly loves itself, and the sinful thoughts and actions it plays with when no one is looking. But Someone IS looking at the heart. Jesus Christ lived and died and rose again to provide LIFE for dead, withered hearts!

Maybe today, you can hear with the ears of YOUR heart, the voice of the compassionate Savior calling you to “Step forward” and “Stretch out your hand” of faith. For today is the day of salvation. Jesus is with us by His Holy Spirit right now. And the Spirit of Christ commands you this day to believe, to trust, this living Savior to give new life to your withered soul. Leave your withered, sinful past behind, and trust Christ today. He’s the Healer of withered hearts.

MNA

11/13/2021

Don't Get Cheated!

 “Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ. For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power (rule and authority).” Colossians 2:8-10

If you are like me, you really hate getting cheated. Maybe you read an advertisement offering a brand new detergent that promised to get your clothes cleaner than ever before. So you go to the store and pay more than you usually do to get this new, improved product, you take it home and try it out. Then, you find out that, not only doesn’t it get your wash any cleaner, it makes your skin break out in a rash when you wear your clothes! “I was robbed!” you might say. “I was cheated! This company promised something they couldn’t deliver!”

The Apostle Paul was writing a letter to a church he had never visited. The church in a small, unimportant town called Colosse. But when we read this letter today, it’s clear that Paul was greatly concerned about the Colossian church. His friend Epaphras came from Colosse, and he had brought Paul some disturbing news. There were some teachers in the town who were offering some ideas to the people that they said would improve their Christian lives.

Now, before I describe these ideas, I want to ask you: “Have you ever read a book or heard a speaker or watched a TV program that made some promises or claims to be able to improve your life with Jesus Christ? Maybe by using this or that special prayer? Or meditating on this or that scripture verse? Or studying this or that new doctrinal view? Doctrine is just another word for a teaching or a basis for belief, a matter of faith. And ever since the Lord Jesus came and walked the earth, various teachings have arisen about Him and His life and ministry. Some of these teachings are true, and some are questionable. Sadly, there are many doctrines being taught that are untrue.

Why was Paul eager to tell the Colossian Christians that the “fullness of the Godhead dwells” in Jesus Christ? And that those believers are “complete in Him,” that is, in Christ? It is because the ideas the new teachers were presenting--the so-called improvements to their Christian lives-- were “not according to Christ.” And because of that, they were unnecessary, untrue, and actually harmful.

Of course, Paul’s friendship with Epaphras had informed him of the teachings about Christ that had originally been shared with the Colossians. The gospel message that Jesus, God’s Son, had come into the world as the promised Savior long foretold by the Hebrew prophets. That He had traveled around the land of Israel teaching and performing miracles, proclaiming the good news of God’s kingdom to the people. And that this Jesus had been condemned by the Jewish leaders and handed over to the Romans to be put to death on the cross. After being in the tomb for three days, Jesus rose from death and appeared to hundreds of people alive again. Finally, He commissioned His followers to “go and make disciples from every nation.” Then He ascended to His Father’s throne in heaven, one day to return to earth in order to judge all of mankind and make all things new!

Learning about Jesus Christ, trusting Him for salvation from sin’s punishment, and following His teachings given through His apostles--these were originally all that the Colossians needed. Those who believed, trusted, and were devoted to Christ made up the Colossian church. But then, some new teachers had made their way into this fellowship of believers. They had originally claimed to be fellow Christians. But soon, they began spreading some strange new ideas.

Paul spends a lot of his letter writing about the sufficiency and completeness of Christ. This is a topic that needs to be emphasized in our own day. In the Colossian church, people began to wonder, “Is it truly enough to trust and follow Jesus, learn to obey Him, and seek to share this simple message with others? Is it not necessary to observe some of the old Jewish traditions like circumcision and special feast days and abstaining from certain foods and drinks? Perhaps the path to greater holiness means communicating with angelic beings and even worshiping them, or learning some mystical truths about the spirit world?”

Paul wrote in our passage that these newer ideas came from “philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ.” Now, let’s be careful here. Not all philosophy is evil and deceptive. Not all traditions and basic principles are wrong or misleading. It is only when these things are designed to ADD something to the gospel and doctrine of God’s Word that they become deceitful and dangerous.

When the Lord Jesus came and began teaching the Jewish people of His day, they had many traditions and philosophies that were not based on the Scriptures God had given them. Jesus said that many of their beliefs were simply based on man’s own ideas and not on God’s Word. For example, it is one of the Ten Commandments that they were to “Remember the Sabbath Day, to keep it holy.” Well in order to do that, the Jewish leaders called Pharisees had come up with hundreds of traditions like how many steps a person could walk on the Sabbath, or what kind of ailment it was permitted to heal on the Sabbath. They had made up so many rules that people no longer looked forward to that day as one of joyful rest, but one of dread and drudgery.

Jesus taught that the Sabbath was made for man’s benefit, not his bondage to a bunch of rules. Well, the religious leaders didn’t like that. They wanted to tie the people to their traditions because it gave them a sense of authority and prestige: “We are holier than you because we keep all of the Sabbath rules and you can’t be bothered to be as serious as we are!”

The new teachers in Colosse claimed that simple faith in Christ and His Word wasn’t enough to make believers acceptable in God’s sight. They wanted to add some suggestions or requirements to strengthen people’s acceptability before God. They taught that if a Christian is really serious about pleasing God, they would add on some disciplines that went above and beyond what God required of them.

But just think about it: If a sinner could please God by following some hard disciplines of abstinence or self-denial, then why did Jesus have to come and become our Savior? If you and I are required to suffer through a lot of man-made requirements to be acceptable to God, then why did the Father require His only begotten Son to suffer and die on the cross in our place? We sing the old hymn: “Jesus paid it ALL. ALL to Him I owe.” We were created by God, and therefore we owed Him all our love and trust and obedience. But none of us have paid that debt. In fact, we were born in sin and alienated from God in our hearts, minds and actions. Only Jesus Christ the Savior lived a perfect, sinless life. Only He kept God’s law fully and completely. Only Jesus.

Sin means more than hurting people, lying to people, cheating people, hating people. Sin is any thought, word, or deed that violates the perfect, holy law of our righteous Creator. Any of His commandments. God is the Supreme King of the Universe, the One who made every person and every thing there is. He is our Author, so He has all Authority. Including the authority to make and enforce His commands. We all have sinned--we’ve rebelled against our supreme Commander.

But God is so much more than a rule-maker. More than a king or a judge. God is first of all a Father. He is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, a Trinity of Persons who have loved one another from all eternity, and who desired to share that love with a beloved, adopted household of children. The Apostle John wrote, “But as many as received Him (Christ), to them He gave the authority to become the sons of God, even to them who believe on His name.”

How do you and I receive Jesus? By believing on His name. By learning who this Jesus was and is, what He came to accomplish, and trusting that He did it all so that my sins could be forgiven and washed away. Jesus came to rescue sinners from their lives of sin, and from the punishment that their sins deserved. He bore the sins of His people while He hung there on the cruel cross. Because He took my guilt and my punishment, I am forgiven and freed from that death sentence. My acceptance by God the righteous Judge is guaranteed since Christ died in my place!

How audacious and ridiculous it is for philosophers and religious thinkers to even attempt to add something to what Christ has already accomplished for sinners like us to be made acceptable. Does such an attempt come from an over-active conscience that just can’t believe that salvation could be that simple? A mind that insists that there must be something a person has to contribute? Perhaps.

But Paul makes use of the word “deceit.” And he also warns his readers that they might be “cheated” by these foreign ideas. Those who cheat and deceive are out to deliberately make us believe what is not true. There are teachers who are merely mistaken in their doctrinal beliefs. But other teachers know full well what the Bible teaches about Christ, and yet they seek to lead believers in His simple gospel astray with teachings that “add” to or contradict God’s message.

The first one to use such tactics was Satan himself, that fallen angel who used the form of a serpent to perform a deception on Eve in the Garden of Eden. He began by questioning the word of God: “Has God said that you may not eat from any of the trees of the Garden?” Notice that this is, on its surface, a confusing question. Did Satan mean to ask if there were ANY trees that were forbidden? Or did he mean to suggest that God had forbidden ANY and ALL trees and their fruit? What is clear in his question is the point of God saying “you may not.” What Satan was hinting at was the idea of God’s authority and His fairness. The suggestion that a God who makes a rule that FORBIDS something is a God who unfairly LIMITS our freedom.

A deception usually begins with a subtle suggestion. The devil is sinuous. He INSINUATES that God is not the loving, kind, gracious Person He claims to be. The same insinuation is evident in the teaching of many religious thinkers. “The gospel seems so simple and so gracious. But there is still more for US to do to gain God’s ultimate approval.” In other words, “Jesus made a down payment...but He did not pay it ALL.”

Satan plants doubts in Eve’s mind about the authority and goodness of her Creator. Then he continues his deception by actually attacking God’s word. “You will not surely die if you eat the forbidden fruit,” he tells her. “You will be like God, knowing good and evil. Disobeying God’s command will make you truly FREE!” 

We know from studying the Bible that Satan was created by God as one of His chief angels. But at one point, this beautiful angel convinced himself that he deserved more than God had given him and created him to be. He was not content with his Master’s word and will. He wanted MORE. Because of his rebellion, many of the angels fell with him, and became God’s enemies.

Paul wrote to Timothy in 1 Timothy chapter 4 that “people will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and the doctrines of demons.” When he describes the teachers who teach such doctrines, he mentions that some of them forbid people from getting married and tell them to avoid certain foods that God has permitted to be eaten with thankfulness. The ideas that false, deceptive teachers use to lead their hearers astray, often involve forbidding something that God permits, in order to rise to a higher level of holiness. To them, the simple gospel of knowing and trusting Jesus Christ and obeying His word, is not SUFFICIENT. 

False teachers who get their ideas, not from God, but from Satan… not from Jesus and the Apostles, but from demons and their own human reasonings--these teachers are trying to sell you something that cannot deliver what they promise. They are trying to cheat and rob you. Like the Pharisees of Jesus’ day who added burdensome rules to their people to make them feel more righteous and holy, all it did was puff them up with pride (if they kept the rules) or fill them with guilt and steal their joy (if they failed to keep them). Either way, they were refusing to rely on God and trust His word, that His will was best for them.

How then, can we keep from being cheated by false teaching? By believing the gospel and trusting our Lord Jesus Christ. He came and lived a perfect, God-pleasing life here on planet earth, and He did so FOR US. We must admit that we are unable in ourselves to live a totally obedient life before God. Jesus offers to His followers His own perfect robe of righteousness. Once we confess our sinful state and trust our crucified, risen Christ to save us and come into our lives, we continue to trust Him to help us live the Christian life in the power of His Spirit.

Our righteousness before God is IN CHRIST. And our ability to live for God here on earth is also IN CHRIST. The more we know and love Jesus, the more we learn to trust Him, and the happier we are to obey Him. “Trust and Obey, for there’s no other way to be HAPPY in Jesus, but to Trust and Obey!”

Jesus truly did “pay it all.” If we remember all He’s done for us, and all He’s doing IN us, then we’ll never GET CHEATED!

MNA

10/30/2021

The Dutiful Art of Adulting

It probably will be futile to learn exactly when the word ADULT became a verb, as well as a noun and an adjective...but…

I have been reading various references to the newly discovered practice of “adulting” for quite a while now. Perhaps I’m late in the game in saying so, but what is now termed adulting bears a close resemblance to what used to be seen as simply “doing one’s duty.”

Now that I am officially a “senior citizen” in every conceivable age-wise sense, I may safely engage in that time-honored practice of bemoaning the newest generation of homo sapiens as having it “nowhere as hard as my generation had it.” Thanks in advance for bearing with me.

When I left the carefree days of home and hearth behind me and ventured to a far-off world of college life and what lay beyond, it was with a spirit of great anticipation as well as a certain degree of fear. But I guess what chiefly characterized my attitude was DETERMINATION. It was a deep desire to prove myself worthy and able to face the challenges that lay ahead, hopefully without begging for help from my parents.

Don’t get me wrong. I had a profound love for my mom and dad. So profound, in fact, that I longed for them to be proud of me--proud, primarily, that they had raised a son who was ready to take on the world by himself! I guess I had read enough rags-to-riches stories and watched enough films featuring two-fisted protagonists facing fearsome foes, that I wanted to prove myself tough enough to survive as a full-fledged adult as soon as possible.

Probably most of the credit for this determinism streak could be given to my upbringing, in which both parents were hard-working and committed, both to their family and their jobs, not to mention our church, where we were all involved. The ideas of honest sweat and serious effort were not so much taught as they were “caught” by observing and following mom and dad’s examples.

So, as the months and years went by at college, and then my engagement at twenty and my entry into marriage a year later, somewhere in there I had crossed--largely unnoticed--into the status of adulthood! And the older adults in my life gradually began to TREAT me as an adult, as I took on the various expected DUTIES that productive maturity entails.

Another key aspect of this transition is the understanding that 1: Things that are worthwhile and lasting in value are worth your strenuous effort and perseverance; and, 2: There is pleasure and a sense of proud accomplishment in reaching those goals.

I had a pretty clear idea of where I was headed in those early years, and although my wife and I had to make adjustments along the way, with counsel from others, lots of soul searching and prayer, and by the grace of God, we sought to do our best, in doing our duty. The path we came to follow was not arrow-straight, or always easy, but there were moments of solid commitment that helped us see things through.

And maybe that factor, COMMITMENT, is one that seems to be lacking in younger people that I observe in today’s world. Perhaps because there are so many more distractions and sources of amusement out there for them. Perhaps too many options to be “kept open” to settle on one path or the other. But, to me, committing to a single ideal and “going for it” no matter what, is the key to entering into true adulthood.

Because it is almost impossible to steer your vessel on the ocean of life, if it isn’t moving forward. Get going SOMEWHERE, and soon you’ll find that your adulthood--your duties--will find YOU!

MNA

10/10/2021

Facts Or Feelings?

During the long checkered history of humanity, most of us have learned that tolerance of varying points of view is generally a good, positive thing. The great American ideal of religious freedom and equal treatment under the law has permitted many brands of religious faith to flourish. The persecution of this or that sect or denomination by other groups, or by the government, has all but vanished from our culture.

However, only the very naive will insist that competition between religious viewpoints has ceased to exist. The fact that all religions (excepting those that promote the victimization of people) are equally tolerated in our land, has unfortunately led some to the mistaken notion that all religions are, therefore, equally valid in their truth claims.

To give an obvious example: One religion claims that its primary historical figure was not only a great teacher and prophet, but God incarnate, the second Person and Son of the true, triune Creator... 

...While a competing religion denies that this same man was divine, and insists that the Creator has no “Son.”

Such a contradiction makes it impossible for both viewpoints to be equally valid. No matter how the question is resolved, sadly, somebody is wrong. To be wrong need not be a terrible problem, so long as both adherents are willing to honestly examine the available evidence and possibly change their mind.

What makes it a terrifying problem is when somebody claims that whether someone is right or wrong makes no difference, but matters not at all! When people begin to say that contradictory truth claims can all be “right” depending on the whim of each claimant, that is when we have passed through the proverbial looking glass into a land of absurdity.

A land in which Jesus can be Lord and God in the world of person A, and not Lord and God in the world of person B. In the real world, the objective world of reality, either Jesus is who Christians believe Him to be, or He isn’t.

When it comes to spiritual things, there are far too many folks walking around feeling instead of thinking. People who are content to “feel” what must be true, instead of facing hard facts and reasoning things out. I might feel like it would be great if I could travel through time in a sports car a la Back to the Future. But reality makes such travel impossible. Imagination might create all kinds of alternate realities for us to pretend in. But objective reality is quite different.

I strongly suspect that many of these “feeling”-type folks live in their make-believe world where right or wrong beliefs don’t matter, simply because, for them, they genuinely don’t matter. They have come to the conclusion that objective spiritual/religious truth doesn’t exist, and that God the Creator, Redeemer and Judge might not exist either, so why sweat the details?

But the Bible clearly teaches that all people, regardless of how they feel, or what they think, will one day stand before their Maker and face ultimate judgment. According to this Book of books, Heaven and Hell are realities that one day will no longer be deniable.

To put it realistically, I am a sinner against a holy God who will one day have to “face the facts.” And according to His word, I will need a Savior on that day to plead my case. Do you have One to plead yours? Read His word and find Him now. 

Jesus Christ is the ultimate reality.

MNA

2/7/2021