What is not there to draw our hearts to it? Our head is there, our home is there, our treasure is there, and we hope to be there for ever.
Matthew Henry, on setting our affections on things that are above.
Because in his death today, I have died, and my life (not mine, but his), when he rises in three days, is hidden in him who is seated at the right hand of God.
“Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.”
Matthew 18:19-20
Today was a wonderful day in that God answered two prayers of mine, one a longstanding prayer, one a prayer from today. I wanted to read about the faithfulness of God and so I was jumpin’ around parts of Matthew and the Psalms, seeing what the Bible says about how God is faithful.
God led me to this verse and I found something that I had read so many times but never saw before. We all know Matthew 18:20, “For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them,” but if you glance at the verse before it, verse 19, we see an amazing promise that I had somehow missed Jesus telling me.
In this passage, Jesus is talking about church discipline and that if the church makes a just condemnation of someone living in sin, he will uphold their judgement in heaven if the church puts them away from the community of believers, because to live in sin is to proof that there was never any belief in Jesus.
Then, in verse 19, Jesus says that not only will he uphold the church’s decision, if the church will meet and pray together, jointly in unity, according to his will, God will do it.
What did that mean for me today?
When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished, saying, “Who then can be saved?” But Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
Matthew 19:25-26
There is nothing we can do, no work or accomplishment that will save someone. No created power is able to win someone for the Kingdom of God. It is purely by the power of God and his grace and mercy that people come to know Jesus.
Matthew Henry says on this verse:
When we think how good God is, it may seem a wonder that so few are his; but when we think how bad man is, it is more a wonder that so many are, and Christ will be eternally admired in them.
So, therefore we must ask God, praying jointly, that God would do the work necessary to bring all the students at the University of Texas to know Jesus Christ, the great high priest that died for their many sins and who with there is no condemnation!
Pray! Pray with me, I plead with you to pray with me to have broken hearts, drawn to agony of the thought that there is even one who does not know the love of Christ! Please pray, brother! You must pray, sister!
For if we pray, God will do so, because
I know that you can do all things,
and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.
Job 42:2
God is so good to hear us and to answer our prayers!
Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,
and your dominion endures throughout all generations.
The Lord is faithful in all his words
and kind in all his works.
Psalm 145:13
Father, I ask that you change my beautiful friend’s heart and give her faith to put her trust in you. I pray that you show her that in you there is hope, joy, happiness, peace, love, everything that her heart and soul desire. Lord, I lift up to you the three men we met today, especially the one of which you know, that you would work in his heart and reveal yourself as the one, true God, all-loving and all-powerful! It is by your providence that the opportunities arose, because you are faithful to answer our prayers.
Dad, lead us in your word, that we could pray according to your will! Send us by your power, proclaiming the Gospel boldly with your energy and your words, knowing nothing but Christ and him crucified, in order that we would move in demonstration of the Spirit and your power. Though we are afraid, we have faith in you, for you are true!
So he departed from there and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, who was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen in front of him, and he was with the twelfth. Elijah passed by him and cast his cloak upon him. And he left the oxen and ran after Elijah and said, “Let me kiss my father and my mother, and then I will follow you.” And he said to him, “Go back again, for what have I done to you?” And he returned from following him and took the yoke of oxen and sacrificed them and boiled their flesh with the yokes of the oxen and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he arose and went after Elijah and assisted him.
1 Kings 19:19-21
Yesterday, Pastor Mark talked about the last part of Luke 9. He briefly mentioned the calling of Elisha and I had to read it for myself.
Elisha wasn’t poor. The Bible says that he had twelve yokes of oxen, which provided for his family and was the source of their sustenance and provision.
But, when Elisha is called, he follows in obedience. He asks Elijah if he can bid farewell to his family, as Matthew Henry explains, not to ask leave of them, but rather to take leave from them.
His plow was the source of everything he had. Without it, what could he provide?
Before he goes, Elisha lights it on fire.
Is that you? Are you like Elisha?
Has God called you to leave everything behind? (Yes.)
What must you set aflame?
Jesus said to him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”
Luke 9:62
Jesus doesn’t promise that everything will go well for us. We may not have a big house, or a house at all. Jesus didn’t have one. We may hurt; it could be painful. Jesus was betrayed. We might not live to see sixty, fifty, forty, thirty, twenty-one. Jesus died.
These past weeks, God’s revealed a lot of things that I look back towards. Pastor Mark said that those that look back are those that go back. I look back at my relationships. I look back on my career plans. I look back on the need to know what’s going on. I look back on my own importance.
All of that is empty. He took a lot of it away. He taught me how to be happy when it’s just me and him. His love remains constant in times when the Holy Spirit can be felt powerfully, like music filling a room, and when circumstance has everything crumbling apart through your fingers.
His love is always true.
He bids the three in Luke 9 to leave security and comfort: forget about the uncertainty of whatever riches you have and instead place your hope in God who richly provides us with everything to enjoy, that we would look to his glory!
Be ready to set everything on fire; you don’t look back on ashes.
Father, show me what I’m still looking back at—make me an arsonist. Commit my life to the Gospel, that I might live for your Word, willing to die for your Word.
A good friend of mine pointed me to this song.
There is enough in God to furnish us with matter of joy in the worst circumstance on earth.
Matthew Henry, Commentary on Philippians 4
No matter what, Jesus is all I need.
Give Me Jesus
In the morning when I rise, give me Jesus.
Give me Jesus
Give me Jesus
You can have all this world, but give me Jesus.
When I am alone, give me Jesus.
When I come to die, give me Jesus.
