NORTHSHORE CHURCH OF CHRIST

Are you a rule-follower? Do you hate it when someone fudges, breaks in line, bends the rules?

The Pharisees hated rule-breaking so much they piled rules on top of rules just to make sure no one broke the rules. The worst sin, for the Pharisee, was rule-breaking, and they came up with lists of over 600 laws which they fastidiously kept before the people. Not only did they keep the laws themselves but they laid their standards on the backs of their brethren. In other words, they believed and taught salvation by rule-keeping.

The Pharisees scoured God's laws to figure out how to stay absolutely spotless.

God commanded priests to wash before they ministered in the tabernacle. To mirror that, the Pharisees required the washing of the hands before eating anything--and the washing of all vessels and utensils--so they wouldn't ingest any unclean thing and thereby defile themselves. That's why they became upset when Jesus' disciples "broke the tradition of the elders" by eating with unwashed hands (Matt. 15.2).

God clearly required the Jews to rest on the Sabbath Day, to cease from their daily labors. They were not allowed to build a fire or gather firewood on the Sabbath. Taking it just a step further, the Pharisees wrote a few extra laws (which logically flowed from God's, right?), which included no picking of grain (harvesting!), no rubbing grain together in the hands (threshing!), and no chewing freshly-picked grain (grinding!). That's why they accused Jesus' disciples of law-breaking when they did all three of these things (Matt. 12.1-2).

Holy men and women of old fasted and prayed to the Lord and gave alms to the poor. The Pharisees then, in order to plumb the depths of righteousness and holiness, gave to the poor (Matt. 6.1-4), prayed (Matt. 6.5-6), and fasted (Matt. 6.16-18) to be seen by men. After all, what good were those holy activities if no one knew how incredibly holy they had become?

Much to their dismay, Jesus spoiled their scene and began to peel the outer layers of their so-called righteousness to reveal empty, dark, and rebellious hearts. Jesus told the Jews their righteousness had to exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees (Matt. 5.20)! How could one possibly out-righteousness a Pharisee? They were the self-appointed keepers of the Law. They sat in the seat of Moses, claiming to speak for God.

One of the leading Pharisees of Jesus' day was Nicodemus, who approached Jesus by night with great praise, calling Jesus "Rabbi" and affirming his belief that Jesus was from God because of the signs He was performing. Did Jesus welcome Nicodemus with open arms? To the contrary, He answered him rather roughly, questioning the Israelite teacher's basic understanding of spiritual things! Don't you know you must be born again before you can see the kingdom of God? Why don't you understand these things? (John 3)

The major point was this--Nicodemus needed JESUS to reveal the heavenly things. Nicodemus could not approach Jesus as a fellow Rabbi. He couldn't think of Him as simply one sent from God. He would have to accept Jesus as God. He would have to accept his own sinfulness before the Almighty One, no matter how carefully he had kept the Law of Moses all his life, no matter how pure he thought his hands and feet and eyes were, no matter how many righteousness points he felt he had racked up over the years. In truth, unless he looked to CHRIST, Nicodemus stood no closer to God than a tax collector or prostitute!

Can we be so in love with God's LAW that we totally miss HIM? In reality, the Pharisees didn't love the law in the same way they might love a person. They really loved themselves. They loved the idea of showing God how righteous they really were. They loved being more righteous than everyone else around them (Luke 18.9).

Yes, we can fall into this trap--quite easily, in fact. Have I done this myself--thought of myself as a gatekeeper of God's law, an interpreter who really knows what God means about almost everything (admitting a few nooks and crannies I haven't totally figure out yet...)? Is my standing before God based on how well I understand His laws and how well I keep them? Is my standing in His kingdom based on my outstanding performance? Is my purity some great gift I give to God, which places me above my peers and gives me something to boast about?

If we think like that, we sit in the camp of the Pharisees. We love law, not Christ. We love ourselves, not our brethren. Examine the gospels and you'll find the Pharisees persecuted and oppressed their own brethren because of their self-righteousness, and worst of all they rejected and slaughtered their own Messiah.

Brothers and Sisters, don't get me wrong--we should love God's law--but for the right reason. We should love God's law because it's God's law. We should love His commandments because they come from Him and we love to obey Him. We shouldn't love the law apart from Him. We shouldn't look to the law to do for us what only God can.

Here's the point: The law does not and cannot save us! Jesus saves

My children hold my heart in many ways. I feel their failures and successes as my own. I want them to thrive and grow and progress in this life well beyond my own wisdom and stature. I want them to hold firm their faith stronger than I have. I’m sure that is the desire of every Christian parent.

John wrote, “I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth” (3 John 4). Amen.

A man named Jonah had two sons who decided to follow a new Jewish Rabbi all over Galilee and Judea. I wonder what Jonah thought about that. As a good Jewish father (I’m assuming, since his sons seem spiritually-minded and kingdom-seeking), I imagine he had misgivings. Who is this teacher? He makes bold claims and performs great signs, they say. He continually challenges the Jewish religious leaders. Could such a man really be from God? Are my boys safe in His care and under his direction?

After three years of following Jesus, what did Jonah think when Jesus was crucified? His boys’ hopes and dreams were dashed. They had been fools to trust in the promises this man continually made them. He had heard there was to be a kingdom, and not just any kingdom but the one the prophets of old had foretold. He had heard his boys were in line to be major leaders in that kingdom. Jesus had said something about them sitting on thrones and judging the people! Why had he dared to hope in those promises, which all were snuffed out in a single day.

But THEN! What did Jonah think when his boys came home and told him, “Jesus is not dead, but risen!” Did he believe? Did he come to faith in Jesus Christ? Did hope spark new in his breast?

I wonder if he ever got to read the words Matthew wrote?

He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” (Matthew 16.15–19)

What a blessing to have your son praised in such a way. Of course, if he read that, he would also have read of Peter’s several foibles, too, and possibly cringed and cried as he saw how Peter had denied Jesus in a moment of weakness. But knowing how the story unfolded, he could breathe easy and rejoice in the new kingdom and the precious gospel which Peter and Andrew continued to preach until the end of their lives.

I hope nothing more for my children than they continue in their faith in Jesus Christ and have Him present them with a crown of victory! Like Peter, they will have moments of weakness and fail and fall at times, but I hope Jesus prays for them as He prayed for Peter, that their faith may not fail. That is my prayer. I hope that is your prayer for your own children.

Let our sons and daughters be like Jonah’s sons.

“When Adam had lived 130 years, he fathered a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth.” — Genesis 5.3

My son is my image passed down to the next generation. He was brought into the world with great anticipation and hope. As a man holds his baby boy, he sees energy to direct, power and potential, endless possibilities.

Sons can make or break a father.

A wise son makes a glad father, but a foolish son is a sorrow to his mother. (Prov 10.1)

A foolish son is a grief to his father and bitterness to her who bore him. (Prov 17.25)

A foolish son is ruin to his father (Prov 19.13)

The one who keeps the law is a son with understanding, but a companion of gluttons shames his father. (Prov 28.7)

Discipline your son, and he will give you rest; he will give delight to your heart. (Prov 29.17)

Holding our little baby, we have only sweet thoughts of his great achievements, brilliant mind, and generous heart, but as he matures and falls to sins (just as have we—but we forget), that little boy can tear us up.

I imagine Simon felt sweet, swelling emotions as he held his little son for the first time, saw his precious wrinkled face, and showed him off to his friends. “This is my boy!”

Was Simon still alive when his son joined a band of followers who travelled all over Galilee and Judea with a new Rabbi? Did Simon think well or ill of his son’s decision to throw in his lot with Jesus? Perhaps he was conflicted, wondering how it would turn out but glad his son was doing something positive and possibly great. Perhaps Simon told his wife, “I have my concerns, but let’s see where this takes him.”

Was Simon still alive when everything fell apart for Jesus and His disciples on that consequential Passover night? Did he receive the news from some of the other disciples about what had happened to Jesus…and what had happened to his son? Did John later show Simon what he had written?

During supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray him… (John 13.2)

For he knew who was to betray him; that was why he said, “Not all of you are clean.” (John 13.11)

I am not speaking of all of you; I know whom I have chosen. But the Scripture will be fulfilled, ‘He who ate my bread has lifted his heel against me.’ (John 13.18)

After saying these things, Jesus was troubled in his spirit, and testified, “Truly, truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me.” (John 13.21)

Jesus answered, “It is he to whom I will give this morsel of bread when I have dipped it.” So when he had dipped the morsel, he gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. Then after he had taken the morsel, Satan entered into him. Jesus said to him, “What you are going to do, do quickly.” Now no one at the table knew why he said this to him. Some thought that, because Judas had the moneybag, Jesus was telling him, “Buy what we need for the feast,” or that he should give something to the poor. So, after receiving the morsel of bread, he immediately went out. And it was night. (John 13.26–30)

I don’t know how Simon raised Judas, but my heart goes out to him, especially if Simon learned later of the great forgiveness of Christ and that his boy could have repented and been restored to the Lord. Instead of reconciliation, Judas’ story ended in bitter suicide.

What a tragedy! I do not want my father to be in the same place as Simon, and I strongly hope none of my sons puts me in that place. Tragedies stand as warnings; they show us what to avoid. It would have been better for Simon’s son had he never been born. But he was born, and he lifted his hand against the most magnanimous friend, the most powerful Lord, the most generous King.

Lord, protect us from an end like Simon’s son!

A startling yet lovely picture of fellowship in the Garden of Eden is when we read, “And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day” (Gen. 3.8). It’s said matter-of-factly, like this was normal for Adam and Eve to walk with God in the garden He had given them. That is an astounding thought to me. This was God’s plan—to have this kind of fellowship with His creatures.

When Adam and Eve broke the covenant and ate the fruit, they broke fellowship with their Creator, affecting themselves but also all the rest of us, since Adam is the head of the human race. Tragically, no one else got to walk with God in the garden.

However, others did walk with God.

The first mentioned was Enoch: “And Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah three hundred years, and begat sons and daughters: And all the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty and five years: And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him” (Gen. 5.22-24). Somehow, God disappeared Enoch from the earth; Enoch did not die the way the rest of us do, and it was because of his close relationship with God. He knew God and walked with God in an intimate way that God loved.

The second mentioned was Noah: “These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God” (Gen. 6.9). In the middle of an out-of-control world in which “was corrupt in God’s sight, and was filled with violence” (Gen. 6.11), Noah stood out in his righteousness before the Lord. He’s another who walked intimately with God, and God saved him and his family in a special way, blessing him and the rest of mankind.

God found Abram many years later and said, “I am God Almighty; walk before Me, and be blameless, that I may make My covenant between me and you, and may multiply you greatly” (Gen. 17.1). If you want to be in relationship with God, He calls you to walk with Him.

In the wilderness, God gave Israel manna to eat, saying, “that I may test them, whether they will walk in my law or not” (Exod. 16.4).

Walking with God, walking before God, walking in God’s law—all of these mean living with Him and for Him. Your walk is your way of life. It is how you go about your daily business.

Dear Christian, do you remember, “you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked” (Eph. 2.1–2)? You were once disobedient to your Creator. Your way of life was characterized by disobedience. You used to walk “as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity” (Eph. 4.17–19). That’s not a pretty picture!

But God called you out of that dead walk and recreated you in Jesus Christ. “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” (Eph. 2.10). Paul urges Christians now “to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Eph. 4.1–3). He calls us to “walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us” (Eph. 5.1), to “walk as children of light” (Eph. 5.8), and to “look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil” (Eph. 5.15).

How are you walking? Are you in step with the Creator? Do you have an intimate fellowship with Him through Jesus Christ? This is the manner of life to which you have been called!

Among David’s three chief mighty men stood Shammah, the son of Agee the Hararite. The Philistines gathered together at Lehi, where there was a plot of ground full of lentils, and the Israelites fled from the Philistines. But Shammah took his stand in the midst of the plot and defended it and struck down the Philistines, and the Lord worked a great victory. (2 Samuel 23.11–12).

When I travel from one big city to another, I’m struck by the sheer numbers of individuals and families. They are everywhere! And each one has a lifetime of stories and struggles, dreads and dreams, loves and losses. It’s mind-boggling for a finite human like me. I cannot comprehend!

God keeps track of all these humans, some of whom perform mighty deeds, some of whom turn darkly evil, some of whom He converts and saves. He knows them all by name.

I find comfort in knowing it’s not my job to keep track of everyone in the world. In fact, even as a shepherd of the church here in Mandeville, LA, it’s not my job to keep track of everyone in my congregation! I try, but it’s impossible. On Sundays I walk my neighborhood and pray for my congregation by name, and it’s always overwhelming to think of every person with his or her troubles and struggles, because we all have them, and God has not equipped me psychologically, emotionally, or physically to bear the burdens of everyone around me.

Praise God, He does!

However, God has equipped me to fight in my own plot of land. I cannot fight in every plot of land, but I can take my stand in the midst of my own plot and defend it. I can fight beside and for the people to my left and right, front and rear. This is all God has called me to do.

On the one hand, God has called me to fight in His army, and to fight hard. On the other hand, he only expects me to fight the enemies immediately around me. If I make this my focus, I will do well.

If I don’t take up the sword in my own home, I lose. If I don’t engage the enemy in my workplace, I lose. If I don’t fight the spiritual forces of darkness in my own town, I lose. Some people, such as emperors, governors, presidents, etc., can affect the world stage in some ways. But most of us are simply given a plot of land to defend.

There is plenty of fighting to do on my plot of land.

And if I fight hard for Him, I could still be numbered among God’s mighty men.