Is Anybody Listening?

Every now and again, I get that feeling that I'm wasting my time.

These blog articles?  Few people ever post or email me comments.  As far as I know, no one has ever accepted Christ as his or her Savior based on my presentation of the Word in this space. 

The folded tracts I leave on door after door every Thursday morning?  Few people ever come to our church and mention those orange, Scripture-filled papers.  And again, I know of no one who has been saved by my labors.

The ESL students I teach once a week?  Last week, we got hung up on the word dessert.  With such a language barrier, how can I ever successfully communicate the gospel to these people?

In these areas of my life, I feel like I'm shouting with my everything; yet, all around me, everyone is tuned out, quite literally.  In the parking lot, on the street, in the elevator, in the mall--a sea of ears plugged with headphones successfully seal out the world, incubating these individual islands from contact and relationship.

This past week, I was brought back to the prophet Isaiah's calling.

In his infamous vision of God enthroned, Isaiah heard the Lord ask, "'Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?'" (Is. 6:8).  Here, the "Us" demonstrates that whoever answered this call to be sent would do so on behalf of the triune God--the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. 

Isaiah chose to respond to this call, at which time the Lord described his calling further: "Go, and tell this people: ‘Keep on listening, but do not perceive; Keep on looking, but do not understand.’ Render the hearts of this people insensitive, Their ears dull,And their eyes dim" (Is. 6:9-10).

From these three verses, we see Isaiah being required to do two things--go and tell.  Yet, even before Isaiah takes one step or speaks one word in obedience to his calling, God warns him that no one will listen.  And those who do listen will not understand because their hearts are not tender to God.  His efforts will have no success as men understand that term.

Isaiah's response is understandable as he asks, "'Lord, how long?'" (v. 11a).  How long must I speak to these people who do not hear, who do not listen.  How long?

The Lord responds, "Until cities are devastated and without inhabitant, Houses are without people And the land is utterly desolate" (v. 11b).

Isaiah was being told to preach until the walls came down, until the cities were no more...until there was no one left to hear his words.  In short, as long as there was one person left in the land, his job wasn't finished.

Compare Isaiah's calling to Christ's commissioning (or "calling") of His disciples at the end of Matthew: "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age" (Matt. 28:19-20).

Just like with Isaiah, the disciples (and, thus, we, as Christ's disciples of today) were called to go and tell, a calling that was empowered after Jesus' death when on the Day of Pentecost He said, "you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth" (Acts 1:8).  While Isaiah was merely sent to Israel, Christ opened this calling to all the nations.  Likewise, unlike Isaiah, our calling this side of the cross is a bit different in that it also includes making disciples and baptizing.  Still, though, the essential command is much the same, just a broader target audience.

Here, as well, is mention of the "who" behind our calling--the trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  We, too, go on behalf of God in all three persons.

And lastly, just as with Isaiah, we are also called to go and tell "to the end of the age"--until the whole world hears.  Until there is not one person left.

What is interesting is that in this calling of His disciples, Jesus doesn't add a "but they won't listen to you" warning as Isaiah received, even though such warnings are found elsewhere in the New Testament.  Still, the two callings are so similar that one cannot help but understand that if the prophet Isaiah preached the Word of God and no one would listen, the same will be true of us as well.

It is discouraging to sow and not reap.  In one way, it keeps us humble and reminds us that we save no one; that is the Spirit's job to convict.  Yet, still, it can be discouraging in our results-driven society.

No matter what, though, we must believe in our calling--to go, to continue to sow the Word of God--even if no one listens--until the cities are devastated and there is no one left. 

This is our responsibility.  This is our calling as children of the Most High God.

Understanding the Jewish-ness of Jesus

Many Christians know the story of Passover; some even choose to celebrate it each year as a part of Easter.  Yet, the Passover is only one of seven feasts Jews were commanded to celebrate each year, feasts God carefully planned to reveal a part of the story and character of Messiah to come.

In Leviticus 23, God presented His plan for these festivals, saying of each, "This is to be a lasting ordinance for the generations to come, wherever you live" (Lev. 23:14).  Whether they were living as slaves in Egypt, as wanderers in the Wilderness, as exiles in Babylon, or as victors in the Promised Land--these feasts were to be celebrated always.

Coming from a devout Jewish family who presented him at the temple eight days after His birth, Jesus, Himself, would have celebrated these feasts; in fact, several New Testament Scriptures actually document Him doing just that.

As non-Jewish Christians, though, most of us have little to no understanding of these feasts, nor do we have a good working understanding of the Jewish culture in Jesus' day.  As such, we can't understand the "Jewish-ness" of Jesus. Let me tell you--we're missing out!  

The end result of not understanding the culture Jesus lived in is that we often don't understand what His original audience would have understood when they heard His specific word choices, word pictures, or analogies through the parables.

Much as the pieces of the tabernacle reveal Jesus' Christ's true nature, the God-appointed feasts do much the same.  They were God's way of revealing His son to His favored people long before Messiah's birth. 

The seven feasts are a public testimony, a witness to the world of Jesus Christ.

Two weeks ago, we discussed Passover pointing to Jesus Christ as our own Passover Lamb, the one whose blood sacrifice would take cover the sins of all mankind once and for all.  He was crucified on the day and hour that lambs were being slaughtered for the evening's Passover meal.

Two more feasts were also fulfilled at the time of Christ's death and resurrection.

First, the Feast of the Unleavened Bread points to "the Messiah's sinless life (as leaven is a picture of sin in the Bible), making Him the perfect sacrifice for our sin.  Jesus' body was in the grave during the first days of this feast..."1

A second feast, the Feast of First Fruits, points to Messiah's victory over death in His resurrection.  This feast occurred on the day Jesus rose from the grave, which is why Paul says, "But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep" (1 Cor. 15:20).  Literally, Jesus is the "first fruit" from the dead.

Fifty days after the Feast of Unleavened bread comes Shavuot, the Feast of Weeks, a celebration of the wheat harvest.  This feast, though, is more commonly known by its Greek name--Pentecost.

Three important festivals revolved around harvests--"at Passover the barley was just beginning to ripen. At Shavuot, the wheat was just ripening. At Sukkot, the crops were all in, including grapes, olives, figs, almonds, and more"2

Hosting these yearly harvest celebrations may seem inconsequential to those of us who can find grapes or apples year round at our local supermarket, but for the Israelites, the festivals were a reminder that they "were always one disaster away from hunger."2  God continually reminded them through the festival tradition that they were completely dependent upon Him for the harvest.

The Feast of Weeks (Pentecost), though, came to represent something different to the Jews.  

Exodus 19:1 says "In the third month, on the same day that the Israelites had left the land of Egypt, they entered the Wilderness of Sinai." Since the Hebrew word for "month" is the same as the Hebrew word for "new moon," the Jewish rabbis concluded the Israelites arrived at Mt. Sinai on the first day of the third new moon.  

Add to this fact the knowledge that "Moses spent time talking with God [on the mountain].  Then the people had to ritually purify themselves for three days. The great rabbis of history figured it must have been about Shavuot [Pentecost] by the time God got around to giving the Ten Commandments to Moses."3 

Thus, to a Jew in Jesus' day, Pentecost was about celebrating life-giving bread (the wheat) and the Torah (God's law).  To the devout Jew, both were equally necessary for life.

After Jesus' death, the Feast of Pentecost came around again, only this time, God poured out not the law but His Spirit on believers: "When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them" (Acts 2:1-3).

Compare this to the scene 1400 years earlier atop Mt. Sinai.  In Moses' day, the people saw "thunder and lightning, with a thick cloud over the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast. Everyone in the camp trembled....Mount Sinai was covered with smoke, because the Lord descended on it in fire. The smoke billowed up from it like smoke from a furnace, and the whole mountain trembled violently."

At their Feast of Weeks/Pentecost celebration, Moses' generation heard a sound like trumpets; they saw thunder, lightening, smoke...and a mountain-top lit afire.  Now, at this Feast of Weeks/Pentecost, there was a sound like a violent wind and flames of fire lighting atop each believer's head.

Here, on the same day God gave the law, God also gave the Spirit.  Why?  Because both are needed for the great harvest of souls into the kingdom of God--the law to tutor us unto salvation and the Spirit to sanctify us.

As Rabbi Derek Leman says, "Shavuot is about wheat, Torah, and Spirit.  It fits together if you talk it out. Bread [wheat] alone cannot sustain us.  Bread and the Word of God [law] is better, but we still need something more.  We need a power inside helping us do what the Word says [Spirit].4 

The Feast of Weeks.  Pentecost.  It reminds us that God gave us the Law and His holy Spirit to dwell in us to the great harvest of souls to come, which would build God's Kingdom.

Amazing, right?

To say we want to know our Savior but choose not to learn His religious or cultural upbringing is like saying I want to know everything about you but nothing about your culture or religion.  It's impossible to separate the two and get a full picture of a person.  Yet, that's what we've done.

We need to know the Jesus of Scriptures.  However, to understand Him fully, we must not reject His Jewish-ness but must, instead, seek to understand what it has to teach us more about this Savior whom we serve.

1.  "Jesus and the Jewish Feasts."  gotquestions.org/Printer/Jewish-Feasts-PR.html.
2.  Leman, Derek. Feast: Finding Yourself at the Table of Tradition. Nashville: Lifeway P, 2008: p. 38
3. Leman, p. 41.
4.  Leman, p. 45.

When God Tells You to Get Out of the Way!!

I got in God's way this morning, just stuck my size nine narrow sling-back heel in there and offered a quick, soothing word to an upset friend--a word I had no right to give.

She caught me by the water fountain as I rushed into worship service.  After dispersing the last of my six children to a parent, I wanted nothing more than to find my seat so no one would tsk tsk over my tardiness.

In hushed tones, she spoke a fear that she had offended someone when she had made a particular point in class earlier that morning.  I quickly brushed aside her worries, assured her that it wasn't a big deal and that I agreed with her Biblical stance.

In my mind, this was one of those issues that even close family might disagree on but still live quite peacefully on the firm foundation of Christ.  "It's no big deal," I smiled before quickly moving away to take my seat.

Hours later, I closed the door for a Sunday afternoon nap.  The day's ever-present noise and rush stopped, fell to the silence of the rain on the windows.  And in that silence, I felt the sudden, chastening hand of God more strongly than I have in quite some time.

Who did I think I was!?  Was I God to convict her of how she should relate to another sister in Christ?

God clearly told me I had gotten in His way, that He was doing a work in my friend's heart and who was I to give her false reassurance that everything was ok? 

In that moment, I felt like the prophets of the Old Testament, those saying what was in their own hearts versus in God's heart; those speaking what they thought the Israelites wanted to hear--messages of peace, restoration, and prosperity--instead of true messages of repentance and judgment.  Jeremiah said these false prophets, "have healed the brokenness of My people superficially, Saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ But there is no peace" (Jer. 6:14).

Giving advice is easy to do.  Giving Godly advice is harder.

And what's even harder?  Making sure our Godly advice doesn't impede the Holy Spirit's conviction upon someone's soul.

As Oswald Chambers said, "Conviction of sin is one of the rarest things that ever strikes a man. It is the threshold of an understanding of God. Jesus Christ said that when the Holy Spirit came He would convict of sin, and when the Holy Spirit rouses the conscience and brings him into the presence of God, it is not his relationship with men that bothers him, but his relationship with God."

This quotation is true to the non-believer and the believer alike.  Even once one is saved, his relationship with God is still what bothers him most.

After the Holy Spirit convicts a lost soul unto repentance, the Spirit's conviction still continues to play an active role in the believer's life, albeit this time it is a conviction unto a deeper relationship with God, unto a life where we become more like Christ, unto further repentance.  As Christ told His disciples, "when the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine; therefore I said that He takes of Mine and will disclose it to you" (Jn. 16:13-15).

In other words, the Spirit's conviction acts as a guide, making us more like the Father and Son.

When others seek out our counsel, we can unintentionally sidetrack them from what God is doing in their lives if we rush to give a comforting answer above all else (and in all honestly? comfort is what I want to do for my friends). Yet, if we truly have their best interests in mind, we must try harder to speak the truth in love, to not be afraid to say, "Well, if God is convicting you about that, then perhaps you should do something."

And if we do screw up like I did and stick a foot where it doesn't belong?  We must then be courageous enough to go back to that friend, admit our unwise counsel, and thank the Spirit for convicting us so we could make it right. 




Photo credit Michael M. Schwab/Getty Images

God Doesn't Wear Camouflage

Many of us remember spending the six years of junior high and high school just trying to blend in, to be invisible.  More than anything, young people want to be like everyone else.  They want to be liked, accepted, to simply not feel so socially awkward in an environment where standing out for the wrong reasons is the equivalent of painting Target's bright red logo on your back.

Yet, for me, even in a small school, or maybe especially in a small school, invisibility was an impossible goal.

No matter how I tried to camouflage myself, I was always easily identifiable as the smart one--not pretty or popular or athletic.  Just smart.

One day, I learned I was also easily identifiable as something else--a follower of Christ.  Although my teenager self was never bold enough to openly proclaim my faith, it wasn't something I intentionally hid either.  It simply was.

Still, my mouth gaped and my tongue grew thick when one day standing outside in the lunch line, a tall, popular girl turned around and snarled, "You're one of those Jesus freaks, aren't you?"

Her bluntness made me fumble, quite uneloquently, for a proper response. This was my chance to take a stand.  What should I say? What reply would keep me under the radar of persecution yet not be like Peter at the cock's crowing?

"I believe in Jesus if that's what you mean, so, yeah, I guess I am."  

I paused, my face engulfed in flames. She didn't respond, just looked down at me, coolly and without interest, then turned back around to her circle, which promptly began to snicker and giggle at my awkwardness.

It's been almost twenty years since those awkward days, but the pressure to fit in never gets any easier.  With Christianity constantly being labelled as a judgmental, homophobic, bigoted religion, the political correctness police only intensifies this pressure to hide one's faith.

But our God doesn't wear camouflage.

Our God is one who intentionally chooses to not blend in.  Throughout both the Old and New Testaments, He stands out from the crowd.

Our God is one who appeared unmistakable on the monochrome rocky hillside of Mount Horeb as "flames of fire from within a bush" (Ex. 3:2).  He led the Israelites across the brown, barren desert in the most obvious way possible: "The Lord was going before them in a pillar of cloud by day to lead them on the way, and in a pillar of fire by night to give them light, that they might travel by day and by night" (Ex. 12:21).  


Our God is one who sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to stand out like a sore thumb among us: "Jesus was going throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom...The news about Him spread throughout all Syria...Large crowds followed Him from Gaililee and the Decapolis and Jerusalem and Judea and from beyond the Jordan" (Matt. 4:23-25). 

Our God is also one who sent His Spirit to dwell within believers in a very spectacular way: at Pentecost, "they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit was giving them utterance...the crowd came together, and were bewildered because each one of them was hearing them speak in his own language" (Acts 2:4-6).

God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit--all parts of the trinity make their presence obvious, easy to see in a lost and dying world.

Likewise, Scripture cautions us believers to not blend in, to follow the example of the Godhead.

Jesus told His disciples, "You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. 'Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven'" (Matt. 5:14-16).

We are to let the Spirit shine forth from within us so everyone can see God's light even if they're across the room.

Wearing the safe cloak of camouflage may save us from persecution and from losing our jobs.

But sporting politically correct purples and all-is-acceptable aquas won't save the souls around us, those that are looking for the light whether they realize it or not.

Wear burning bush orange and blood-stained crimson instead.


Images: Euonymus, Burning Bush shrub.