[The following devotional is a part of our 2015 Easter Season Devotional Book “Passion Road.”  We will be posting a devotional each day on this blog between February 18 – April 5, 2014.]

 

Feeding the 5,000 by Mark Robinson

Read: Luke 9:12-17

Luke 9:12-17 records the feeding the 5,000.  This miracle is truly amazing, but the timing of this miracle is also worth noting.  The feeding of the 5,000 comes right after the disciples had experienced their first taste of real ministry.  In Luke 9:1-10, the disciples are sent out by Jesus to preach and perform miracles . . . and they had some success!    I can imagine that this group of disciples would have been pretty proud and confident of their ability as they returned to Christ and told Him all that THEY had done ministering to others.  That is the canvas on which the miracle of the 5,000 is painted by Christ.  Jesus gave the disciples an impossible challenge to make an important point.

Scholars estimate that 13,000 hungry people (5,000 men) gathered on a hillside and listen to Jesus preach.   As Jesus surveys this scene, He gives the disciples an unusual command, “You give them something to eat.”  Surely Jesus knew that the disciples did not have enough food to feed this crowd, so why did He ask?  I think Jesus asked because He wanted the disciples to realize that humanly speaking, they could do nothing about this problem.  Realizing their helplessness, the disciples gave Jesus all that they had: five loaves of bread and two fish.  These gifts were more of a declaration of their inability to answer Jesus’s request than anything else.  “You give them something to eat,” He asked – “This is all we’ve got and it isn’t enough” was their reply.

In the hands of Christ, however, their meager supplies would prove more than sufficient.  Jesus blessed the bread and began to give it to the disciples in baskets to take out and serve the people.  There were only 12 disciples serving 13,000 hungry people.  It would have taken many, many trips back and forth from Christ to the people in order to transport that much food to the masses.  Each trip walking back, the disciples had to wonder if the food had finally been exhausted.  But, to their surprise, there was always enough.  After the twentieth or thirtieth trip back and forth, it surely would have hit the disciples.  Everything they can give to them, they get from Him.

This was a great reminder to a proud group of disciples that any success they had in ministry was not a result of THEIR great power, but of HIS infinite power.  The feeding of the 5,000 taught the disciples a lesson:  their role in ministry was to simply take the blessing of Christ and deliver it to the people.  2,000 years later, it is our role as well.

We are only able to deliver to people that which we have already received.  As you share Christ with a friend, you are simply delivering to them the Bread of Life.  As you comfort a hurting person you are simply taking a cup of the Living Water to a person living in a dry and thirsty land.  We are only able to give to them what we have received from Him.

Question:

• What ministry challenge might God be calling you to?

Prayer:

• Ask God to provide all you need as you minister to those around you.

 

[The following devotional is a part of our 2015 Easter Season Devotional Book “Passion Road.”  We will be posting a devotional each day on this blog between February 18 – April 5, 2014.]

 

Two Blind Men by Jonathan Holmes

Read: Matthew 9:27-31

As Jesus continued to travel, two blind men began to follow Him and cried aloud to Him on the basis that He was the Son of David. This title occurs many times in the Gospel of Matthew in conjunction with the miraculous accounts of healing. The two blind men were indicating their faith that Jesus was truly the Messiah through the line of David and Jesus tests their faith with the question, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” Their faith is proven by their response, “Yes, Lord.”

Imagine for a moment that you have been born blind. You have never seen the rainbow of colors, the beauty of a sunrise, or the breadth of the ocean. In one moment though, your sight is restored. The brokenness of your vision has been made whole and for the first time you see the faces of your friends and the face of the Messiah, Jesus Christ. What is going to be your response? Do leaps of excitement and shouts of joy sound about right? Jesus’ command to keep the healing quiet was asking a lot, but it was more than likely given so that the multitudes don’t surround him for the purpose of physical healing. Jesus’ ministry was marked with many healing of physical diseases, but the purpose of these miracles were to authenticate His claims. The physical healing miracles were the proof that the spiritual healing miracles He shared were true and available to all.

Apparently the joy and excitement of the miraculous healing was too much for the two “seeing men” that they didn’t even try to keep quiet. They left the home and went out into the streets spreading the joy they experienced through the miraculous power of God. Can you blame them though? Sometimes the greatness of something is impossible to keep to yourself. Matt Chandler explained it roughly like the moment you eat something great for the first time. The greatness of the food surprises you with it’s satisfaction so much that you let out an audible, “Mmmmm now that is good stuff!” Sometimes that is still not enough though. If the food is extra tasty then the “Mmm…” may not be enough. You may feel the urge to share it with someone else, “Oh man, you HAVE to try this! Just give it one bite! It’s going to change your life!” In this extra tasty moment your joy is not complete until you share it with someone else. You can imagine how true this is of us when we experience the power of God.  It’s contagious and you can’t help but share it with others.

Questions:

• What is one situation in your life that if Jesus were to ask, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” your answer would be, “No”? How can you work to change your answer to “Yes, Lord!”?
• How have you suppressed your desire to share your joy in Christ with others?

Prayers for Lent

• Thank God for the beautiful display of His power through miracles.
• Ask God to help you find so much joy in Him that you can’t help but share with others what He is doing in your life.

 

[The following devotional is a part of our 2015 Easter Season Devotional Book “Passion Road.”  We will be posting a devotional each day on this blog between February 18 – April 5, 2014.]

 

Right/Wrong by Mark Robinson

Read:  John 4:43 – 5:15

Every year in elementary school, there was one event that attempted to separate the mental men from the boys.  What was this event?  The Science Fair.  Every year, I would make a project . . . and lose every time.

While some students were discovering the theory of relativity, I was relatively impressed with my project, “Which carpet cleaner works best:  Scotch or Resolve!”  While some students were putting together computer “mother boards” to power robots that could make dinner for you, my mother was impressed by my card board box covered with hand drawn images that represented video games I “designed.”

Every year, as the projects would be displayed at the Fair, and as all the ribbons would go to my friends, I would begin to rationalize my performance. “My friend’s father who is a research scientist must have worked his project for him,” I would muse.  Of course, in my reasoning, the answer must not have been that they were just better at science.

As these friends have gone on to become engineers and medical doctors, I am forced to realize that my original assessment was not accurate.  Though I had the right info (their projects were better), I was drawing the wrong conclusions (they must have cheated.)

I was thinking about this reality as I read John 4:43-5:15 and pondered the reactions of people to the miracles of Christ.  Compared to the religious leaders of Jesus day, His actions and methodology stood out in their power and authority.  Though people all saw Jesus’s awesome works, they did not all respond in the same way.  When the Royal Official from Capernaum is told by Christ that his son would be healed, the official “took Jesus at His word and departed.”  Later we find out that the Royal Official and all his household believed.  By contrast, the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem, after seeing Jesus heal a lifelong paralytic, assume that Jesus was cheating the Father’s Sabbath.  The Royal Official in Capernaum and the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem both had right information about Jesus, but only the Royal Official made the right conclusion.

Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and His actions are always impressive, and they are always right, however, sometimes, we find ourselves not reacting rightly to the revelation we receive of Jesus Christ.  Sometimes when things don’t work out the way we had hoped, we might be tempted to draw the wrong conclusion that Jesus is not in control or that He does not care about us in our time of need.  While it may be right that things are not working out to our plan, it is wrong to ever conclude that Jesus is anything less than our holy and loving God.  The spiritual life is not simply a life of observation, it is a life of our response to God’s revelation.

Question:

• Why do you think people draw the wrong conclusion about who Jesus is?

Prayer:

• Ask God how He wants you to respond to Him as a result of this study.

[The following devotional is a part of our 2015 Easter Season Devotional Book “Passion Road.”  We will be posting a devotional each day on this blog between February 18 – April 5, 2014.]

 

Calms the Storm by Jonathan Holmes

Read: Mark 4:35-41 (cf. Luke 8:22-25, Matthew 8:23-27)

I love the disciples. The disciples were the 12 men that Jesus called to leave their jobs and to physically follow him full-time. These disciples spent most of their time with Jesus, but yet they continually missed what Jesus was teaching and even who Jesus is. I love the disciples, because if they can be called followers of Jesus then I just might stand a fighting chance.

We don’t see Jesus resting often in the book of Mark. We’ve seen him teaching into the night and praying before sunrise, but this is the first time that Jesus is mentioned to be sleeping. So you would think that he is asleep in a dark and quiet place, but it is in fact the exact opposite. “And a great windstorm arose…and the boat was already filling.” Being filled with fear, the disciples go to the sleeping Jesus and woke Him up.

When Jesus awakes, he offers two rebukes. The first to the storm saying, “Peace! Be still!” The second rebuke is to His disciples, who even though they called Him Teacher, they did not understand His teaching. Despite the tutoring of Jesus, it had not hit them that the authority and power of God was present in Him. The disciples failed to realize that the protective presence of Jesus was more powerful than any storm, so they had no reason to fear.

When the storms of life come my way it can be easy for me to lose sight of the one who has promised to never leave me (Deut. 31:6, John 14:25-26). In these moments of doubt I am afraid that God has let me go and consequently I have begun spinning out of control. It is in this story that I connect with the disciples in their fear. Im not left there though. I am ushered into the same moment of awe they felt when they said, “Who is this, that even the wind and sea obey Him?” Jesus has complete rule and power over creation. Although at times we struggle with doubt in His protective presence, may we rest in the wonderful awe that this power brings.

Questions:

• How have you felt the protective presence of Jesus in your life?
• Have you had a moment or two when you doubted the power or protection of God? Were any of these moments filled with storms in your life?

Prayers for Lent

• Thank the Lord for the incredible power that he showed during His life on earth.
• Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal doubt that you have in the power of God.

[The following devotional is a part of our 2015 Easter Season Devotional Book “Passion Road.”  We will be posting a devotional each day on this blog between February 18 – April 5, 2014.]

 

In the Weight Room by Mark Robinson

Read:  Matthew 14:22-33

In Matthew 14:22-33, the 12 disciples are on a boat in the middle of the Sea of Galilee amidst a fierce storm when Jesus comes walking to them on top of the water.  What an amazing site this must have been!  Upon seeing the figure walking on the water, 11 disciples decide that it must be a ghost.  11 disciples keep their mouths shut.  11 of them tremble in fear.  One of them speaks.  In Matthew 14:28, Peter says, “Lord, if it’s you, tell me to come to you on the water.”  Jesus says, “Come!” and while 11 other men watch with wide eyes, Peter hops the side of the boat and walks ON TOP OF THE WATER in the direction of Christ.  Now, after Peter gets a good distance from the boat, he begins to remember that he is walking on top of the water.  This sudden realization leads Peter to take his eyes off Christ and sink into the sea.

When Peter sinks, Jesus speaks and says in 14:31, “You of little faith.  Why did you doubt?”  Now the question comes.  Why would Jesus say this to Peter?  Why not say this to the other 11 men cowering in the boat with their jaws on the deck.  Why call Peter out?  I think the answer to this question is found through a weight room analogy.

You see, Jesus goal for every person is that they would grow in their faith in Him.  Jesus wants us to trust Him.  Though His goal for each of us is the same, by faith, each of us (at different times in our lives) can “lift” different “weights.”  Some can only “lift” the bar and others can bench press a mobile home.  Spiritually speaking this translates to the fact that our faith grows over time as we exercise it.  It is a significant faith step for a new Christian to trust God with their forgiveness, but it is an even greater faith step for the mature Christian to trust God with the death of a child or their cancer.  Our faith grows over time, and as God grows our faith, each day/season/year is filled with different “weights” that God has placed on the bar.  Based on who Peter was and all that Jesus had taken Him through (including the initial steps he took on the water) Jesus wanted Peter to persist in that faith and lift even more.  For the rest of the disciples in the boat, their faith steps may have had less “weight.”  Their faith step may have involved just ceasing to be afraid, or believing that Jesus could really perform such a miracle.  This is the progressive nature of growth in the Christian life.

What about you?  As you live out your life today, what are the weights that God is asking you to lift by faith?  It is probably different for every person, but it has the same goal in mind . . . to grow in our depth and relationship with Jesus Christ.  Don’t spend a lot of time comparing yourself to others, growing fearful of participating in the spiritual life because you don’t think you can lift as much as the next guy.  Know that Christ has put the weight on your bar that is appropriate for you to grow in faith.  Believe that and then trust Him.  If you do, you will find that your faith is stronger tomorrow than it is today.

Question:

• What are some of the “weights” God is asking you to lift in faith today?

Prayer:

• List in prayer your current struggles and ask God for the faith to face to trust Him.

 

[The following devotional is a part of our 2015 Easter Season Devotional Book “Passion Road.”  We will be posting a devotional each day on this blog between February 18 – April 5, 2014.]

 

Withered Hand by Jonathan Holmes

Read: Matthew 12:9-14 (cf. Mark 3:1-6, Luke 6:6-11)

It’s ridiculous how easily we take blessings and morph them into curses. We become slaves to the very things that should set us free. In Matthew 12 Jesus is confronted with a view of the Sabbath that has morphed into an enslaving legalistic following of rules. The religious leaders of the time desired to protect and to uphold the Law, so they built a hedge around the keeping of the Sabbath. This hedge looked more like a small book of rules and addendums. Consequently, the Pharisees changed the Sabbath into something it was never meant to be.

The concept of Sabbath is intended to be a blessing rather than a curse. The Sabbath was instituted by God for mankind’s benefit and refreshment. It was not meant to keep regulations (Mark 2:27). Jesus takes the Pharisee’s concept of Sabbath and flips it upside down, revealing the true and intended blessing it was. After the Pharisees pose the legal question, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?” Jesus answers their question, as He often did, with another question. “What shepherd would not lift the sheep out of a pit?” If it is understandable that the shepherd would help his animals on the Sabbath, how much more reasonable is it to take care of people on the Sabbath?

After this pronouncement, Jesus miraculously demonstrates the original life-giving concept of Sabbath as he restores the man’s hand. The healing of this man’s hand is almost expected. The Pharisees are past the point of being amazed by the miraculous power of Jesus, even as it is done right in their midst. They are so stuck on the infraction of their manmade rules, that they miss the blessing of witnessing, firsthand, the miraculous power of Jesus. By this healing, Jesus shows not only that He has power over disease, but also that he has authority over the Sabbath (Mark 2:28).

Questions:

• Are there ever times in your life that you miss experiencing the freedom God offers, because you are so concerned with following rules?
• Can you think of a time when you took a blessing from God and morphed it into and enslaving curse?
• Do you see your daily devotional time as more of a blessing or a curse? Are you motivated by guilt or your love for God?
• How does Galatians 5:1 relate to this passage in Matthew 12?

Prayers for Lent

• Thank God for demonstrating His incredible power over disease through Scripture.
• Ask God to continue to help you enjoy Him through the freedom He offers.

[The following devotional is a part of our 2015 Easter Season Devotional Book “Passion Road.”  We will be posting a devotional each day on this blog between February 18 – April 5, 2014.]

 

The Parable of the Two Sons by Jonathan Holmes

Read: Matthew 21:28-32

At times I walk around my house and think of it as a museum of my own intentions. I go into our office and I see the walls that I intended to paint. Glancing at my yard I notice the leaves that I had intended to rake. Opening my shed I run into the old bookcase that I intended to refinish. I intend to do a lot of things. My intention, however, didn’t help get any of these closer to completion.

Our passage is the first of three parables that are responding to the hostility of the Jewish authorities. In the preceding verses Jesus’ authority was challenged by the religious leaders of the time and he responds by teaching three different parables. All three parables work together to teach about one group of people losing their privileged positions to the very people they despised.

The Parable of the Two Sons illustrates the stark difference between saying and doing and indicates that God cares more about our actions than our intentions. This is a reiteration of the same message Jesus taught earlier in Matthew 7:15-27, “Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.” When Jesus posed the question, “Which of the two did the will of his father?” the answer was obvious, “the first of course!” Jesus immediately applies this to the religious leaders, who did not repent and believe (Luke 7:29-30), and told them that they are the second son. Jesus just told the religious leaders that they stood condemned. They must have been horrified by Jesus’ words. The worst of the worst, the despised and immoral, would be welcomed into the Kingdom and they, the religious leaders, would not.

I can intend all day to complete all of the projects mentioned above, but the truth is they are still left undone until I act. The Parable of the Two Sons teaches us that obedience is more important than intent. In Christianese we say, “God knows your heart,” but our gracious obedience is seen in our actions not intents. Obey God’s will by taking action.

Questions:

• What are some areas in your life in which you have always intended to follow Jesus, but have never acted on your intentions?
• How does Matthew 7:15-27 communicate a similar message to the Parable of the Two Sons?

Prayers:

• Thank God for a kingdom that welcomes ALL who have been redeemed!
• Ask God for greater strength to act on His will rather than mere good intentions.

[The following devotional is a part of our 2015 Easter Season Devotional Book “Passion Road.”  We will be posting a devotional each day on this blog between February 18 – April 5, 2014.]

 

Serious Silver by Mark Robinson

Read:  Matthew 25:14-30

How valuable is something that weighs 75 pounds?  Well, it depends on what that “something” is made of, right?  If it is a 75 pound block of pure gold, it is more valuable than if it is 75 pounds of trash from the local dump!

In Jesus’s day, the word “talent” referred to something that weighed about 75 pounds.  As it referred to wealth, most “talents” were made of silver or gold.  In Matthew 25:14-30, Jesus tells a parable about a wealthy landowner who gave his servants several talents to invest.  It is assumed that these were talents of silver, making them very valuable.  Each talent of silver would have been worth about 16.5 years worth of wages.  The wealthy landowner gave one servant 5 talents, another 2 talents, and finally another only 1 talent.  To translate that to our modern vernacular, let’s assume that a year’s wage is $50,000.  That means the master gave the servants $4.125 million, $1.65 million, and $825,000 respectively.  That is some serious silver!

In the parable, the landowner entrusts this wealth to the servants and leaves for a long journey.  After an extended time away, the landowner returns, and visits each of the servants expecting to receive back the talents (plus profit) that the servants had managed.  Those who managed the money well, received back commendation, blessing, and increased opportunity.  Those who did not manage the talents well experienced a loss of reward.

Jesus tells this parable to illustrate the point He made earlier in His sermon (back in Matthew 24:45-46.)  This sermon was delivered by Jesus to do two things:  predict His return to the earth one day, and prepare His followers for what they needed to be doing while they waited for His return.  In Matthew 24:45, Jesus says that He wants to find “faithful” servants when He returns.  What does it mean to be faithful?  The answer to that question is found in the parable of the talents you read today.

If you are reading this today and you have placed your faith and trust in Jesus Christ, know that Jesus has given you 75 or more pounds of blessing.  These blessing are especially valuable because they are not made from silver or gold which will never leave this earth, but are made with an imperishable combination of eternal blessings and divine opportunity.  Your gifts, skills, education, money, relationships, and opportunities are entrusted to you by Jesus Himself in this interim period between our rebirth in Christ and His second coming.  One day, you will have to give an account for how you stewarded your “talents” in this life.  When Jesus returns, will you be found faithful?

Questions:

• What are the “talents” that Jesus has given you in life?
• What would it look like for you to be a good steward over your talents this week?

Prayer:

• Pray for God to give you eyes to see opportunities to invest your talents in His work this week.