Wait! I Think I Might Be Possessed!

Jesus interacted with a lot of people who were “possessed”. That term, as we use it, is generally used in reference to people who have been taken over by a demon. However, he warns us of another type of “possession”…that is when we are possessed by things that we think we possess. In other words, Jesus had a keen eye for seeing that money and the things it buys for us can end up not only providing us with “possessions” but can also very easily possess, or own, us.

As we move along through our series on the toughest things Jesus ever said, this week we come to a whole list of tough things that he had to say about money:

Matthew 10:9 When you go, don’t take any gold or silver with you!

Matthew 5:40 If someone sues you, give him your cloak as well.

Matthew 19:21 Sell everything you have and give it to the poor…

Jesus seemed pretty intent on getting the message across to his disciples that dependency on money and possessions was not something that was compatible with joining his team of followers. He had lots of good things to say about the poor and generally not a lot of good things to say about those who had money. That’s a tough thing to hear for those of us who tend to have some money at our disposal. Or are we at its disposal??

Today we look at a few of Jesus’ radical statements about money and possessions.

Mark

Don't Look Back

I have a friend who is a staff member for a US Senator, and he has some great stories about that particular Senator having an uncanny ability to stand up, talk extemporaneously and say just the right thing. He also has almost as many stories of that same Senator getting on the opposite sort of “roll.” The kind where you dig a hole, and it gets deeper and deeper as you say all the wrong stuff to the wrong crowd!

I wonder if Jesus’disciples ever felt like this? Sometimes he would just get on a roll and say the hardest, most unpleasant, unpopular things. We looked at a section in Matthew two weeks ago where he seemed to do this, and today, we will look at the closing verses of Luke Chapter 9, where he gives us perhaps his most unpleasant example of this.

“I’ll follow you Lord…after my father’s funeral.” “I’m about life not death,” Jesus says. “Let the dead bury the dead.” “I’ll follow you Lord, but I need to at least have the courtesy to go back and say goodbye to my family.” “I need people who are serious,” Jesus replies. “No one who starts plowing a field and looks back is fit to join my crowd.”

I wonder if the disciples felt like crawling in a hole somewhere after Jesus said, “Foxes have holes and birds have nests, but we are not going to be staying in the best hotels!” I can just see the disciples working the crowd afterwards. Surely there must have been a few of them who were sort of like me--spin doctors who said with a nervous laugh, “He has not had a lot of sleep lately. Go say goodbye to your family and meet us in the next town. He’ll never notice.”

Today in our series, The Inconvenient Truth, we look at what Jesus meant when he said, “Put your hand to the plow and don’t look back.”

Mark

Forgiveness

Last week we looked at Matthew Chapter five and all of the difficult things that Jesus had to say in that passage. One transitional thing I meant to say but somehow left out, was that Jesus’ warning of "Unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees you will surely not enter the kingdom of heaven" was not a warning for us to DO more than the Pharisees or to "do better things" than the Pharisees. I think what he was getting at was that the Pharisees managed to know the letter of the law and not live it out. That's why we talked about specific ways we could live it out, practically in service to the poor in our area. However, even that list of good things to do should not be taken as a pharisaic to-do list but rather as a response to knowing God and His will.

While last week we looked at a whole section of various difficult words from Jesus, this week we begin to look at places where he said short and specific things. This week is Matthew Chapter 6:12-15: "Forgive us our debts as we have forgiven our debtors.... for if we forgive others our heavenly father will forgive us, but if we do not forgive others neither will our heavenly father forgive us."

Personally, I can't think of a much more disturbing passage than this passage right in the middle of the Lord’s prayer. Jesus does not mince words in telling us our forgiveness from God is contingent upon the extent to which we are able to forgive others. In short he is saying, "God, deal with us as we deal with others." When I think about how I frequently deal with others unfairly, I sometimes cringe at this. “God forgive me as I forgive my kids!” “God forgive me as I forgive my coworkers.” Truth is, I usually only forgive those who I think deserve to be forgiven. Is that how God deals with us?

If God deals with us the way we deal with others, I think many of us might be in big trouble. This week we want to look at this difficult passage and talk about its implications for our lives, our families, our marriages and our homes.

Mark

The Inconvenient Truth

Summer is in full swing, lots of travels for all of us at Springfield. The Moores are just back from Arkansas where all went well at camp other than an unfortunate broken arm for Grady. We are back for good now with no plans to head anywhere anytime soon! (What a relief.) Many thanks to Kenneth and others who filled in so admirably. One family that is traveling right now is the Strattons who are in Little Rock for the birth of Garrett Alexander Davis who was born on July 5th! Baby and mother are reportedly doing well.

Starting this week we begin looking at a series that will take us through the summer. I am calling it "The Inconvenient Truth".... the 7 toughest things that Jesus ever said. Anyone notice where I got that title? Some of you will recognize that it is blatantly stolen from Al Gore's new documentary about global warming. I have not seen it, but apparently Mr. Gore made the movie to remind Americans that some truths we may not want to hear could turn out to be deadly serious. I read a review recently where even some of his most harsh political enemies suggested maybe some of The Inconvenient Truth is something we should listen to.

As the Lord's church we are not nearly as interested in the Inconvenient Truth about global warming as we are in the Inconvenient Truths about what God expects from his created humans. Jesus had a habit of telling inconvenient truths to people. "Sell everything!" he said. "Unless you hate your father and mother..." he told one questioner. "Let the dead bury the dead..." He had a lot of very difficult sayings that, when we read them today, tend to get explained away as circumstantial or cultural or even meaning the opposite of what he actually said. Our goal in looking at these tough words will be to consider that perhaps some of them should be taken at face value. It might be a little inconvenient to put these messages to work in our lives...but since Jesus claimed to be the Way, the Truth and the Life maybe the adjective "inconvenient" placed before each of those words should be at least part of what we should expect as we follow Him.

Mark

What's On Your Mind?

Basically, what we listen to, look at, think about, ponder—what we experience or expose ourselves to sticks with us, especially if we feed on it regularly.

As I write, I have about 3 or 4 songs I recently listened to taking turns running through my head. My brain collected them several days ago when I found a website where you can watch a variety of full-length music videos, ranging from pop to rap to country and rock. Some songs had positive messages, some negative messages, and some were neutral. Music style is an individual preference, so I’m not advocating any particular kind of music. The point is, good or bad, what we take in, stays in. What we feed on fills us.

Philippians 4:8, then, isn’t just some pie in the sky, out of touch with reality kind of passage, a way to escape what’s happening around us, but direction given based on the facts of how we are made and how our thoughts, what’s on our minds, make a big difference.

Meditating on God’s word (Psalm 119: 9-16), thinking on certain things (Php. 4: 8), and setting our minds on things above (Col. 3: 2) is just plain good for us. We are buoyed up, strengthened, and reassured of God’s hand in our lives and His work in this world. We can focus on His good gifts (James 1: 17) around us.

The way we approach each day, relate to others, and give witness to our Lord begins with what’s on our minds. Take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ (2 Cor. 10: 5) and allow your minds to be renewed (Rom. 12: 2). We can learn to discern what is beneficial (1 Cor. 10: 23) and make better choices about what we let into our lives, doing all in humility, without a self-righteous attitude or placing judgment on others (Gal. 6: 4). What’ll be on your mind today?

CTL