What can we learn from Pilate about proclaiming Christ?

The question almost seems ridiculous.  Pilate?  He was ruthless, not righteous.  What could be learned from him?

Well, from a seeker’s perspective, Pilate wanted to know the truth.  “What is truth?”  he asked Jesus.  Pilate asked lots of questions.  He didn’t allow his opinion of Jesus to be shaped by the doubters and haters, but instead looked at Jesus directly.  He did, however, allow his opinion to be influenced by his wife’s dream (the supernatural).  With all this though, to our knowledge Pilate still never believed.

Yet even as a wicked, ruthless unbeliever, Pilate proclaimed Christ more boldly than most Christians.

“Behold the Man!”

Look at Jesus.  See who He is.  I’ve examined Him, and here is what I have found to be true.

“Behold your King!”

Make a choice.  This is who Jesus is, who He claims to be.  Make Him your King.

Of course, the Chief Priests rejected Pilate’s plea.  They rejected Jesus as their Messiah.  “Away with Him, away with Him!  Crucify Him!”

Pilate presented the truth about Christ.  “Behold the Man!”

Pilate asked for a response to Christ.  “Behold your King!”

In its simplest form, that is evangelism.

Pilate was an unredeemed, evil man.

We know and love Jesus.

We are indwelt and empowered by the Holy Spirit.

We are called and commissioned as Ambassadors.

We, as Christ-followers, shouldn’t let Pilate out-evangelize us!

 

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When does fear masquerade as faith?

When we do something that “appears” bold as a reaction to fear, it’s really just stupidity that we blame on faith.

Consider the Apostle Peter.  We tend to look at his faithless moment as being his three denials of Christ, but I think his faithlessness showed up just before this.

Jesus and his disciples were in the Garden of Gethsemane.  His prayer was interrupted by a hostile crowd.  They’d come to arrest Jesus, led to this spot by Judas, the betrayer.

It appears Peter responded to the situation with great courage.  He took out his sword and cut off the ear of Malchus.  Jesus told Peter to put away the sword and then reattached Malchus’ ear.

But was this an act of courage?  Was it bravery?  I’d always looked at it as misguided bravery, but I don’t think it was.

We read that along with Judas, the Chief Priests and their officers, the Pharisees, the Scribes and the elders of the people, there was a “detachment of troops” that was sent to arrest Jesus.

A full Roman cohort would be 1000 men, but usually it consisted of 600, sometimes as little as 200 men.  So imagine all the Jewish authorities and their officers being accompanied by 200 Roman soldiers as they squared off with Jesus and His small band of followers.

Wow!  Now that makes Peter’s actions look even more brave.  But who did he attack?  Did he fight back against the fierce Roman soldiers?  No!  Did he fight back against the officers, the trained Jewish guards sent with the Chief Priests?  No!  Did he fight back against the politically powerful Chief Priests, Pharisees, Scribes or elders?  No!

Peter attacked Malchus, the High Priest’s servant.  He attacked the secretary, the administrative assistant, a likely unarmed slave.  Could he have picked an easier, less threatening target?  It looks like he picked a fight he knew he would win.  He picked on the “little guy.”  Is that courage?  Is that faith?

Peter acted out of fear, not faith!  That fear would manifest itself again when he would soon deny even knowing his Savior.

Sometimes it takes more faith to do nothing, to wait…  especially when we have a driven, “act now – ask questions later” personality like Peter.  Activity driven by fear seldom produces lasting, God glorifying kingdom fruit.  So before I act, it’s time for a gut check.  Faith or fear?  Which is driving me right now?

 

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“It is to your advantage that I go away.”  John 16:7

How in the world could this be true?  Their best friend, their Savior, their Messiah, their Lord… gone!  Is there any way this could be a good thing?

Jesus’ words here remind me of the Apostle Paul’s words in Romans 8:28. “He works all things together for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.”

How can losing be winning?  How can bad be good?

But what did Jesus’ departure mean for His followers?

1.  The Permanent Indwelling Presence of the Spirit of God

“For if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you.”  John 16:7

While Jesus was with them, they had Him by their side.  Oh, but when He left, the Holy Spirit would come to dwell on the inside.  Now that is better!  The power and the presence of the living God inside of me.   Nothing is impossible!

Jesus gives another reason why it will be to their advantage for Him to leave.

2.  The Unspeakable, Unexplainable, Unstoppable Experience of True Joy

“Therefore you now have sorrow; but I will see you again and your heart will rejoice, and your joy no one will take from you…  that your joy may be full.”  John 16:22-24

The power in sorrow and suffering is that it becomes fertile ground for unspeakable, irrevocable joy.  This too is a gift from Jesus through the Spirit, and the depth of this experience of joy is so transformative, we become permanently marked by it!

“We are more than conquerors through Him who loved us!”   Romans 8:37

So…

“It is to your advantage that I go away.”  

Impossible to imagine, but true, nevertheless.

 

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One day, laying on your death bed, what message would you want to share with those closest to you?  What would you want to remind them of?

On the night of His betrayal, Jesus hammers home two reminders over and over.  These reminders are at the heart of obedience.  These two reminders are at the heart of what it means to walk as Jesus walked.

1.  LOVE ONE ANOTHER!

“Wash one another’s feet.”

“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, as I have loved you.”

“By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

“This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.”

“Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.”

“These things I command you, that you love one another.”

 

2.  DEPEND ON THE HOLY SPIRIT!

“He will give you another Helper.”

“He may abide with you forever.”

“He dwells with you and will be in you.”

He is “the Spirit of truth.”

“The Holy Spirit will teach you all things.”

“He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.”

 

Jesus reminds his disciples that they are to walk in love and walk in the Spirit.

Walking in love for others is evidence of our obedience.  Obedience is evidence of our love for God.  And love is a fruit of the Spirit, produced as we walk in the Spirit.   Love then is evidence of the Spirit’s work within us.

To walk as Jesus walked is to live a life of love empowered through daily dependence on the Holy Spirit.

 

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Where does your attention gravitate towards?  What distracts you?  What can tempt you toward mission drift?

The Olivet Discourse begins with something interesting.  One of Jesus’ disciples- maybe it was Judas, the one enamored with money, or maybe it was James or John, the brothers hungry for power- points out the magnificent construction of the temple.  It was adorned with beautiful stones and donations.

What a striking backdrop for what Jesus is about to teach His disciples.  Herod the Great made the temple one of the most impressive structures in the world.  Some of the stones were 40x12x12 feet.  Massive!  And they were bedecked with gold ornamentation.  The buildings were made with gleaming bright marble. The whole eastern wall was covered with gold plates, reflecting the shimmering glow of the temple for onlookers to see from miles away.  Wealthy people gave gifts of golden statues, golden plaques and other treasures to be displayed on the walls.

All this had caught the disciples’ eyes.  Awestruck by power and riches, Jesus’ words about His return, the destruction of Jerusalem, the misery to come and the great tribulation might have all seemed unfathomable.

Jesus taught them parables highlighting their need to be ready, faithful and righteous.  All these virtues were to be prized greater than the treasures adorning the temple.

It’s interesting to note that the Olivet Discourse begins with a disciple noticing the riches and splendor of the temple, and it ends with Judas leaving to betray Jesus for 30 pieces of silver.

30 pieces of silver was the price of a slave.  Judas sold himself, enslaved himself, for the allure of this world’s wealth.

Like the disciples, shiny things can get my attention.  I need to be reminded to prize faithfulness, righteousness and spiritual preparedness above what this world values.  When I don’t, in small ways and big, I’m tempted to sell out and enslave myself, trading my character for temporal treasure.

 

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What does Jesus have to say about divorce?

It’s interesting to me that the Pharisees would raise the issue of divorce to try and test Jesus.  Was it a cultural hot button in that day like gay marriage and gender preference is in ours?

“Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any reason?”

Any reason?  Really?  Even in our culture, divorce isn’t acceptable for “any” reason.  It might be legally allowable for any reason, but if a man cheats on his wife and then divorces her to marry the “other woman,” that is still something that our culture looks upon with disdain.

Jesus asks the Pharisees, “What did Moses command you?”  Interestingly, Moses made divorce permissible.  But Jesus is quick to point out that this was not God’s plan and was only permissible because of the hardness of their hearts.

So it seems that man’s standards are more lenient, making divorce permissible for a wider range of reasons that what God would tolerate.

Jesus goes back to God’s intent, His design, that man and woman would be united in marriage and would become one flesh.  Because of this, divorce was intolerable.

Jesus gives one “out,” possibly two.  If a husband or wife commits adultery, it is permissible for their spouse to divorce them.  Not preferable, but permissible.  And if it is permissible, then remarriage is also permissible.

The other situation where divorce is permissible is when your spouse chooses to divorce you.  Not that you have much of a choice.  You can and should fight for your marriage, but ultimately you cannot force someone to stay married to you.  In that case, it is also permissible to remarry.

Jesus gives no other “out” for divorce and subsequent remarriage.  The question then becomes:  Can you expand the meaning of adultery to include unfaithfulness of other kinds?  What about cases of abuse?  Abandonment?  What’s the difference spiritually between divorce and legal separation?

All these questions make me wonder:  If Jesus were asked this same question today, how would he answer it?  Would he expand the meaning of adultery to the broader scope of “marital unfaithfulness?”

One thing I know would remain the same.  Jesus would still say ,“For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.  Therefore, what God has joined together, let man not separate.”

God created marriage.  It’s His plan.  He loves marriage.  It’s worth fighting for!

 

To learn more about Walking As Jesus Walked and Discipling As Jesus Discipled, visit:  SONLIFE.COM

How could the disciples be so dense?

In Matthew 20:17-19, Mark 10:32-34 and Luke 18:31-34, Jesus clearly tells them what will happen when they arrive in Jerusalem.

“For the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and to the scribes; and they will condemn Him to death and deliver Him to the Gentiles; and they will mock Him, and scourge Him, and spit on Him, and kill Him.  They will crucify Him.  And the third day He will rise again.”

How could He be any more clear?  Yet immediately after this, James, John and their mother (who might have been Jesus’ aunt), came and asked Jesus for positions of prominence in His kingdom.  Huh?  Positions of prominence?  He said He’d be hung on a cross to die.

After traveling through Jericho where He heals Bartimaeus of his blindness and dines with Zacchaeus, Jesus tells the disciples another parable as they neared Jerusalem.  Luke tells us Jesus told this parable “because they thought the kingdom of God would appear immediately.”  Huh?  Immediately?  After Jesus just told them what would happen in Jerusalem…  betrayed, condemned, mocked, scourged, spit on, crucified and killed… things that don’t sound remotely like a triumphant kingdom.

The disciples were hearing what they wanted to hear, thinking what they wanted to think, believing what they wanted to believe.  The truth can be harsh, inconvenient, abrupt.

And I’m just like the disciples.  Oh, how often I fail to really listen…  to others… to God…

In stubbornness and pride, my mind is already made up.  I hear what I want to hear, think what I want to think, believe what I want to believe.

Father, teach me to truly listen.  In humility, help me to hear what You want me to hear, see what You want me to see, and then live how You want me to live.

 

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What is a Pharisee?  How do we know if we’re in danger of becoming like one?

There is no better phrase to describe the Pharisees than the one we read in Luke 20:20-26.

They were those “who pretended to be righteous.” 

As things heated up with His opposition, Jesus stayed away from Jerusalem because His time had not yet come.  But after telling His disciples repeatedly that He would go to Jerusalem and die, and now being in Jerusalem, He held nothing back.  Jesus said what needed to be said the the Pharisees, even though it would infuriate them and lead to His death.

In Mt 21, Mk 11 and Luke 19, Jesus confronted the wickedness and hypocrisy of the religious leaders by cleansing the temple.  He began His public ministry turning tables and chasing out money changers (extorters), and here He does it a second time.

The Pharisees and Herodians try to trap Him with a question about paying the despised poll tax.  He asked for a coin, points out Caesar’s image, and says “give to Caesar was is Caesar’s.”  Such wisdom!  The people marvel.

The Sadducees see the Pharisees’ failure, so they gave it a try.  They asked Jesus a question about marriage in the resurrection (they didn’t believe in the resurrection).  Again, His answer was  full of wisdom.  The multitudes were astonished.

Where did this kind of wisdom come from?  Remember Luke 2:52, “He grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.”  Jesus had a growing wisdom because He immersed Himself in Scripture and spent hours in communion with the Father in prayer.

Next, a Scribe (a lawyer) and a Pharisee tried to trap him.  “Which is the greatest commandment in the law?”  Rabbis had determined there were 613 commandments contained in the Law.  John MacArthur notes that the origin of the number 613 was that there was one command for each letter of the 10 commandments (interesting).   There were 248 affirmative and 365 negative commands.  They were divided into heavy and light categories, with the heavy ones being more binding.  However, the Rabbis couldn’t agree on the list of what was heavy and what was light.  This was how they were trying to trap Jesus.  Get Him to take sides.

Again, Jesus answered wisely.  Love God. Love people.  Surprisingly, no one else dared to ask another “challenging” question.

So Jesus then had a question of his own.  “Whose Son is the Christ?”  The Pharisees believed the Messiah would be a mere man.  They replied, “The Son of David.”

And here’s the crux of why they wanted to kill him.  It’s what Jesus says next.  “David himself said, ‘The LORD said to my Lord…'”  Two different words are used for Lord here.  Yahweh, all caps, was God’s covenant name.  Then the second “Lord” was a title the Jews used for God.  This phrase was taken from a Messianic Psalm, and Jesus used it to point out that God the Father (LORD) is speaking to the Messiah, God the Son (Lord).  They considered Jesus’ claims of Deity to be blasphemy, worthy of death.

And so, the Pharisees were those “who pretended to be righteous.”  Isn’t that the whole point of his “woes” in Mt 23, Mk 12 and Lk 20.

What does it look like to pretend to be righteous?

• You’re more concerned about what people think than what God thinks.
• You might do the “right things,” but your motive is pride rather than love.
• You justify yourself by your actions without consideration of your heart.
• You justify your actions by the results (the ends justify the means).
• You twist scripture to make it say what you want it to say, so you only see what you want to see and hear what you want to hear.

So that’s what a Pharisee looks like?  What do I see when I look in the mirror?  Can any of that ever be said of me?  Unfortunately, I think the honest answer is “yes.”  But isn’t that the first step away from being a Pharisee…  seeing the truth about ourself.

Father, I want to put heart first.  I don’t want it to ever be said of me that I was one “who pretended to be righteous!”

 

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“See how He loved him!”

The Jews who were there to mourn with Martha and Mary over the death of their brother Lazarus could see the depth of Jesus’ love for His friend.

“See how He loved him!”

But then why did He wait two days after learning of Lazarus’ illness before going to Bethany?  Mary and Martha sent word, “Lord, behold, he whom You love is sick.”  Jesus’ love for Lazarus was evident to them also.

“See how He loved him!”

Jesus said, “This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”

John writes, “Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.  So when He heard that he was sick, He stayed two more days…”

It appears it was because of His love that He stayed, allowing Lazarus to die.  How could allowing a friend to suffer to the point of death be an act of love?  Jesus prized the glory of God, the strengthening of faith and the belief in Christ as Savior above the temporary reprieve from pain and death.

Temporary reprieve?  Lazarus would be raised from the dead, for Jesus said this sickness would “not end in death.”  But it was a temporary reprieve.  After all, Jesus said only that “this sickness” would not end in death.  He did not say Lazarus would be spared of death altogether.

“See how He loved him!”

He loved His disciples, allowing them to experience the glory and power of this resurrection to strengthen there faith and see His power over death before He faces the cross.

He loved Martha and Mary, giving them an opportunity to affirm their belief in Him as Messiah and Lord, even when things weren’t going as they’d hoped.  “Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.”

“See how He loved him!”

“Lazarus, come forth!”  Lazarus became a walking, talking miracle.  His life was given greater purpose.  It was given back to him that he might proclaim the wonders of his Savior.  Many believed in Christ as a result of Lazarus.  Many came to see the walking “dead man” to see if it was true.  The Jews wanted to kill Lazarus to silence the talk about this miracle.  Talk about a powerful testimony!

“See how He loved him!”

I want people to look at my life and say that about Jesus.  I want them to see His love for me in how I treat others.  I want them to see His love for me in how I respond to adversity.  I want them to see His love for me in how I boldly trust Him and walk in faith.

“See how he loved Him!”

“See how He loves ME!”

 

To learn more about Walking As Jesus Walked and Discipling As Jesus Discipled, visit:  SONLIFE.COM

Have you ever been accused of being narrow-minded?  Is that a bad thing?  When eternity is hanging in the balance, narrow-mindedness might be necessary.

Who did Jesus come to save?  When we look back,  the answer seems clear…  For God so loved the world!   But to those living in first century Israel, what was their expectation?

The Jewish belief was that the Messiah would come to save the entire nation of Israel.  Theirs was a very “nationalistic” perspective.  The only Jews that would be excluded from salvation would be notorious sinners:  murderers, tax collectors, prostitutes.  Everyone but them would be saved.

Jesus went back to Jerusalem for another feast.  A few months earlier, it was the Feast of Tabernacles (or Booths) in September.  Now He’s there again, this time for the Feast of Dedication (or Lights) in December.  We also call this Hanukkah.

The Jews wanted to kill Him.  They picked up stones to stone him, because he, a mere man, claimed to be God.  He called himself the Good Shepherd.  Think of David’s words in Psalm 23.  “The Lord is my Shepherd.”  Because of their hostility, Jesus left Jerusalem and crossed over the Jordan to the region where John had been baptizing.

Maybe it’s in response to the hostility He has faced.  Maybe it’s because of the large crowd of followers.  At this point, Jesus makes it clear that not all will be saved.  In fact, many who think they’re in- after all, they’re not murderers, tax collectors or prostitutes- will be out.

He’s asked directly, “Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?”  It’s likely the questioner didn’t have spiritual salvation in mind, but rather rescue from their oppressors from Rome.

“Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try and enter and not be able to.”

“I don’t know you or where you come from.  Away from Me, all you evil doers.”

Jesus’ message here in Luke 13 mirrors His words from the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 7.

The Jewish perspective on salvation, that all would be saved except the worst of the worst, sounds awfully familiar.

Jesus makes the standard clear here and in Matthew 7.  It’s not who you are or what you have or haven’t done…  that’s “wide path” thinking.  It’s who KNOWS you…  that’s “narrow path” thinking.  It’s in the knowing, of and by Christ, that we find salvation.  God’s Law is not the path.  He Himself is the narrow path.

“I am the way!”

So, who do I know that thinks they know but doesn’t know, and do I care enough to point them to the narrow path so they can know?

 

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