The Field is the World (Matt. 13:38)

Friday SOAP: When I come across a line of Scripture that has inspired a gospel song, I often spend the rest of the day with the song echoing through my head, even if I last heard it thirty years ago. Today's reading reminds me of a precious one, written to reassure us and inspire us to "make the message clear and plain" that "Christ receiveth sinful men, even me, with all my sin." S: And the Pharisees and scribes murmured, saying, This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them. (Luke 15:2) O: Here's an interesting contrast. Only a few chapters ago, Jesus warned about those who had once been faithful stewards, but decided in their hearts, "my Lord delays His coming" and began to beat their fellow servants and eat and be drunk (the Matthew version says) with the drunken. The implication of the scribes and Pharisees was that Jesus Himself was fellowshipping in this comfortable sort of way with those devoted to sin. (See Matthew 11:16-19) A...

Thursday SOAP: Jesus has every right to chop down a tree that isn't bearing His fruit. Does it happen right away, or does it take a while? Several hints in the Gospels coalesce in the two chapters of my devotional reading for today. S: I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.” Then he told this parable: “A man had a fig-tree, planted in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it, but did not find any. So he said to the man who took care of the vineyard, ‘For three years now I’ve been coming to look for fruit on this fig-tree and haven’t found any. Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?’ “‘Sir,’ the man replied, ‘leave it alone for one more year, and I’ll dig round it and fertilise it. If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down.’” (Luke 13:5-9). So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple. (Lu 14:33). Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to y...

Wednesday SOAP: A faithful servant isn't just (as Dr. J. Vernon McGee used to say) someone who would "vote for" Jesus, but someone who knows His master's will and is attentive - and entirely devoted - to His interests. A well-trained servant knows His master so well that he may be guided without a word - only a simple look, (Psalm 32:8), in contrast to willful animals who must be controlled by leashes, bits and bridles. (Ps. 32:9) S: Blessed are those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will dress himself for service and have them recline at table, and he will come and serve them. (Luke 12:37) O: Here's a promise that really sounds like too much. Jesus sounds like He is describing John 13:3-5 - but He is describing a future celebration for those followers who have been "awake." Christ was free to make any promise He wanted - or make no promise at all - so rather than adopting Peter's false humility that wo...

Tuesday SOAP: Jesus was invited to dinner with a Pharisee and the man noted that He did not first perform a ritualistic washing according to the Jews' oral tradition of interpreting the Law. Jesus uses the opportunity to contrast the traditional emphasis on detailed external performance with the internal reality the commandments of God were supposed to reflect. S: But give as alms those things that are within, and behold, everything is clean for you. (Luke 11:41) O: This is one of those rare cases in which the KJV, NIV, (1984), along with GNT, CEV, NCV and several others, obscure the full meaning by interpreting the passage rather than conveying the literal meaning. The KJV renders it, "give alms of such things as ye have," while the NLT goes too far by saying, "clean the inside by giving gifts to the poor, and you will be clean all over." In context, Jesus is talking about the hypocrisy of the Pharisees, focusing exclusively on those acts which men can s...

Monday SOAP: How easy it is to "justify myself," as the legal expert did in Luke 10. The gospel call is to repent, to believe and to love. At their core, none of these things is a work. But James challenges, "SHOW me your faith... (James 2:18) Because faith shows in good works, or, as it has often been abbreviated, "faith works." If, instead of obedience to Christ's example and teaching, I have long lists of qualifications, rationalizations and excuses, it is time to "examine myself, to see whether I am in the faith." (2 Corinthians 13:5) Let's see how the lawyer fared under cross-examination. S: But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. So likewi...

"Let the weak say, 'I am strong'" (Joel 3:10) I like movie previews. The best ones give us a tantalizing look at the film they summarize. The funny parts. The drama. Just an impression of intense emotional struggle or sudden relief. An expertly-crafted preview can even make a mediocre movie look entertaining. But for the best films, a tiny glimpse of the highlights could never oversell what's in store. Movie previews are like testimonies. A committed Christian's testimony can only represent a few of the highlights—glimpses of God's intervening grace in their lives that they've been privileged to perceive and interpret for us. One of the best parts of helping with the approval and training process for new Online Missionaries is getting to review the testimonies of the applicants. Often the story starts out like a tragedy. For instance, one applicant was molested by her biological father. She felt immense pain and self-loathing. Then...

Thursday SOAP: Is God really that concerned about oxen? Or does this Old Testament Law set forth an important principle for us today? Psalm 1's blessed man doesn't walk in the counsel of the ungodly, stand in the way of sinners or sit with the mockers. The differences between the world view of Christians and non-Christians may seem similar on the surface at times. But, like a donkey and an ox, they are profoundly different. Under a load, these differences will begin to cause problems for the relationship and the effectiveness the believer to walk in God's will. S: You shall not plow with an ox and a donkey together. (Deuteronomy 22:10) O: This, then, is the "unequally yoked" pair to which Paul is referring in 2 Corinthians 6:14. Although it's possible to imagine circumstances in which a farmer might, in desperation, want to hook his donkey up alongside his ox, because of the basic nature of the two animals it would be a bad idea. My family owned both cows ...

Tuesday SOAP: Old Testament prophets and witnesses were held to an extremely exacting standard of faithfulness. Misrepresent God, and you were to die. Bear false witness, and the penalty for whatever charge you claimed would be leveled against you. Wait.. the New Testament believer is a witness who "prophesies," right? (Joel 2:28/Acts 2:17-18; 1 Corinthians 14:1, 39, in the sense of proclaiming God's Word) Where is the continuity? How serious is it if we misrepresent God today? S: But the prophet, which shall presume to speak a word in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or that shall speak in the name of other gods, even that prophet shall die. And if thou say in thine heart, How shall we know the word which the LORD hath not spoken? When a prophet speaketh in the name of the LORD, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him. (De...

Monday SOAP: God's humiliation program for the Kings of Israel: repeated exposure to the Law they could never live up to. Until "the Son of God, the King of Israel" (John 1:49) no one ever did. Repeated exposure to the holy demands of the Law either brings out a person's hypocrisy or humility. S: “And when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself in a book a copy of this law, approved by the Levitical priests. And it shall be with him, and he shall read in it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the LORD his God by keeping all the words of this law and these statutes, and doing them, that his heart may not be lifted up above his brothers, and that he may not turn aside from the commandment, either to the right hand or to the left, so that he may continue long in his kingdom, he and his children, in Israel.” (Deuteronomy 17:18-20) O: God's prescription for the future kings - the authority figures, from a human standpoint, i...

Friday SOAP: So why was it OK for Moses to shatter the Law written by God's own hand, but not OK for him to strike the rock a second time? Like God was doing in Abraham's offering of Isaac, the second son who is called "your only son," (Gen. 22:2), I believe God was picturing something about how He anticipates our fall and lovingly redeems, restores and recreates. S: So I took hold of the two tablets and threw them out of my two hands and broke them before your eyes. (Deuteronomy 9:17) “At that time the LORD said to me, ‘Cut for yourself two tablets of stone like the first, and come up to me on the mountain and make an ark of wood. And I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets that you broke, and you shall put them in the ark.’ So I made an ark of acacia wood, and cut two tablets of stone like the first, and went up the mountain with the two tablets in my hand. And he wrote on the tablets, in the same writing as before, the Ten C...

Thursday SOAP: When he first heard the good news that because of Jesus we could go to spend eternity with God, my son pictured it happening right away. Why doesn't God just immediately take us out of this fallen world to eternal bliss? He has a program for us. It has to do with the consequences of sin, but also our own growth. S: And you shall remember the whole way that the LORD your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not. And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD. (Deuteronomy 8:2-3) “Know, therefore, that the LORD your God is not giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness, for you are a stubborn people. Remember and do ...

Tuesday SOAP: For many offenses, God's penalty for that violation is surrender a person to the result of it. In Israel's case, they ended up having to suffer the logical conclusion of their idolatry: enslavement to idolatrous nations. With no rights and no protection from the excesses of pagan empires, they were stripped of everything, forced to bow down to pagan images or be thrown into a fiery furnace, threatened with a lion's den if they prayed to anyone other than the "god-king," and debased in every imaginable way. As idolatrous as the human heart naturally is, at least the crass worship of empty carved images was purged from them in this experience. S: “When you father children and children's children, and have grown old in the land, if you act corruptly by making a carved image in the form of anything, and by doing what is evil in the sight of the LORD your God, so as to provoke him to anger, I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that ...

Monday SOAP: Two mountains - Pisgah and Horeb - show powerful reasons for honoring God and His Law. Moses, himself the penman of the Law, suffers greatly because he cannot keep the spirit of it. (Deut 6:5; Lev. 19:18) This implies the holiness of the ultimate Source as well as the coming fulfillment and End (telos) of it. (Matt. 5:17; Romans 10:4) S: “And I pleaded with the LORD at that time, saying, ‘O Lord GOD, you have only begun to show your servant your greatness and your mighty hand. For what god is there in heaven or on earth who can do such works and mighty acts as yours? Please let me go over and see the good land beyond the Jordan, that good hill country and Lebanon.’ But the LORD was angry with me because of you and would not listen to me. And the LORD said to me, ‘Enough from you; do not speak to me of this matter again. Go up to the top of Pisgah and lift up your eyes westward and northward and southward and eastward, and look at it with your eyes...

Friday SOAP: The Lord sets forth the bounds of Canaan, both physically (Num. 34:1-35:8) and spiritually. (Num. 35:9-34) The way He does so links the standard with His own nature, a striking conflict with our modern way of thinking. Isn't morality based on whatever we agree is best for a society? As long as it doesn't hurt anybody, you're OK, right? An older version went a different way: "An it harm none, do what thou wilt." Doesn't that sound wise? Where does that quote come from? S: Moreover, you shall accept no ransom for the life of a murderer, who is guilty of death, but he shall be put to death. And you shall accept no ransom for him who has fled to his city of refuge, that he may return to dwell in the land before the death of the high priest. You shall not pollute the land in which you live, for blood pollutes the land, and no atonement can be made for the land for the blood that is shed in it, except by the blood of the one who shed it. You shall ...

Thursday SOAP: Numbers 33 recaps the wilderness wanderings. Maybe its my time spent meditating on "Pilgrim's Progress" but it seems to also hint at God's development program for walking new believers through and out of this world. Or maybe I should say walking the world out of new believers. ;-) S: then you shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you and destroy all their figured stones and destroy all their metal images and demolish all their high places... But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, then those of them whom you let remain shall be as barbs in your eyes and thorns in your sides, and they shall trouble you in the land where you dwell. And I will do to you as I thought to do to them.” (Numbers 33:52, 55-56) O: This chapter of Numbers is Moses' record of their journey. The colorful names of the places help to tell the story in many places. Thorn, knocking, kneading, rest, "graves of lust,...

Wednesday SOAP: How many "reasonable," honorable and well-intentioned deals that we make with ourselves keep us outside God's will for our lives? In Numbers 32, such a deal is struck, without seeking counsel of the Lord, which results in apostasy. While it might be presumptuous of me to say I would have done better, I have the benefit of (and resultant responsibility) of seeing the ultimate outcome and learning from it. (Romans 15:4; 1 Corinthians 10:11) S: But Moses said to the people of Gad and to the people of Reuben, “Shall your brothers go to the war while you sit here? Why will you discourage the heart of the people of Israel from going over into the land that the LORD has given them? Your fathers did this, when I sent them from Kadesh-barnea to see the land. (Numbers 32:6-8) O: The tribes of Ruben, Gad and half the tribe of Manasseh asked, and ultimately received, permission from Moses to settle outside the Promised Land. Yet Moses is shocked at their reque...

Tuesday SOAP: Moses served as the Deliverer of Israel, a prophetic type of the Messiah, (Deut. 18:18), a mediator between the people and God. It was a very burdensome role which took a great toll on him. He ultimately reacted against the people and failed to sanctify God, so God appointed the limit of his service and his end. What an unsatisfying ending to this amazing life. S: “Avenge the people of Israel on the Midianites. Afterward you shall be gathered to your people.” (Numbers 31:2) O: This is a reiteration of God's statement in Numbers 20:1-12, 27:12-14, that because of his actions at Meribah, he would not be allowed to lead the Israelites into the Promised Land, though he would see it. A: At first, I have to smile wryly and wonder a little if Moses may have been ready to go by this time. Certainly he was tired of the rebels. He certainly didn't resist this pronouncement from God as Hezekiah did. (Isaiah 38:1-5) But then again, this was the entire focus of the last ...

Friday SOAP: More reflection on the strange character of Balaam, the self-styled gentile "prophet of the LORD." We are living in a time, sadly, at which it's more important than ever to learn the lesson Balaam provides - not his "doctrine" but the contrary example he makes. (See 2 Peter 2:15, Jude 11, Rev. 2:14, 2 Timothy 4:3) S: "WHEN BALAAM saw that it pleased the Lord to bless Israel, he did not go as he had done each time before [superstitiously] to meet with omens and signs in the natural world, but he set his face toward the wilderness or desert." (Numbers 24:1, AMP) O: This was a strangely worded verse in the translation I read. It said Balaam didn't go up to seek "enchantments." Looking behind the English to the Hebrew word and its definition, I was surprised to see that the word is bascially the same word as "serpent." It means "enchantment" or "divination," but it has this distinctly sinister ca...

Thursday SOAP: Balaam, an apparently gentile prophet of the true God, makes his way perverse before the Lord. His story illustrates why "technical obedience" is actually gross disobedience, and how it can be particularly destructive to my walk with God, the fruit of my ministry, and what others learn from me. S: And the angel of the LORD said to him, “Why have you struck your donkey these three times? Behold, I have come out to oppose you because your way is perverse before me. The donkey saw me and turned aside before me these three times. If she had not turned aside from me, surely just now I would have killed you and let her live.” Then Balaam said to the angel of the LORD, “I have sinned, for I did not know that you stood in the road against me. Now therefore, if it is evil in your sight, I will turn back.” (Numbers 22:32-34) O: The story of Balaam is a mysterious one in many ways, and not just the part about the angel that's only visible to the talking donkey. ...

Monday SOAP: Korah and some notable leaders in the congregation of Israel mount a rebellion. Interpretations of the outcome sometimes seems almost as twisted as the motto of the rebels. Who is the real Captain? (Josh. 5:14-15, Heb. 2:10) Is any challenge of spiritual authority a challenge to Him? Or is it possible for a group who is overseen (Acts 20:28, Heb. 13:17) to be able submit, yet still hold their leader accountable? S: They assembled themselves together against Moses and against Aaron and said to them, “You have gone too far! For all in the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the LORD is among them. Why then do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the LORD?” When Moses heard it, he fell on his face, and he said to Korah and all his company, “In the morning the LORD will show who is his, and who is holy, and will bring him near to him. The one whom he chooses he will bring near to him. Do this: take censers, Korah and all his company; put fire in them and put ...

Friday SOAP: Does it seem like the Old Testament God is more wrathful, less gracious, than in the New Testament? Why is it seemingly so easy to see it that way? Is it God who changes, or is it a matter of perspective? S: You shall have one law for him who does anything unintentionally, for him who is native among the people of Israel and for the stranger who sojourns among them. But the person who does anything with a high hand, whether he is native or a sojourner, reviles the LORD, and that person shall be cut off from among his people. Because he has despised the word of the LORD and has broken his commandment, that person shall be utterly cut off; his iniquity shall be on him.” While the people of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man gathering sticks on the Sabbath day. And those who found him gathering sticks brought him to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation. They put him in custody, because it had not been made clear what should be done to him. And the LORD...

Thursday SOAP: The Ten Spies demonstrate the danger of fearing the wrong thing at the wrong time. Before they were sent out to conquer the land of Canaan, God commanded Moses to send out a man from each tribe to search out the land and report on it. It is said that they brought back an "evil" report. They moved from news to judgment without considering God. As I'm spying out the land we do warfare in, is it possible for me to make the same mistakes? S: And they said to one another, “Let us choose a leader and go back to Egypt.” Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the people of Israel. And Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had spied out the land, tore their clothes and said to all the congregation of the people of Israel, “The land, which we passed through to spy it out, is an exceedingly good land. If the LORD delights in us, he will bring us into this land and give it...

I can’t say it better than our ministry’s founder, Walt Wilson, did in a message to our staff team: “’He is risen!’ [These are] Perhaps the most startling three words ever uttered ... When Jesus walked out of the tomb death was defeated -- forever!” I don’t want to add the Resurrection into a mix of news updates—it’s the one thing that everything we do is about, because it changes everything . Mike was able to participate in the worship team for a wonderful Good Friday service for staff at the Bill Bright Training Center near Campus Crusade’s HQ. Ellis Goldstein hosted a Passover Seder for a packed house across the street from our offices. Mike also sings with the worship team at our church in Kissimmee, which had record attendance for our 6th anniversary service on Easter Sunday. And on April 24, Mike will get to sing with the Worldwide Day of Prayer worship team again. It’s wonderful to have such good news to celebrate! Just think how many still aren’t aware that Go...

Monday SOAP: God's plan for the Levites: they were an offering to the Lord? Make that set aside, wholly designated for the Lord's use, in place of the firstborn. God says that in passing over the firstborn in the final plague on Egypt, He made the firstborn of Israel His own. S: and Aaron shall offer the Levites before the LORD as a wave offering from the people of Israel, that they may do the service of the LORD. (Numbers 8:11) And you shall set the Levites before Aaron and his sons, and shall offer them as a wave offering to the LORD. (Numbers 8:13) And the Levites purified themselves from sin and washed their clothes, and Aaron offered them as a wave offering before the LORD, and Aaron made atonement for them to cleanse them. (Numbers 8:21) O: In some versions, it simply says, "as an offering" (it is one word in Hebrew for wave offering, not two as in English). It is important to read a verse in context! A: Truthfully, this is God saying once again "the ...

Friday SOAP: In today's reading, the Levitical (priestly) blessing is explained. Putting the name of the LORD on the people required a threefold blessing, like Jesus' three-in-one baptismal formula. S: The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying, Thus you shall bless the people of Israel: you shall say to them, The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the LORD lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. “So shall they put my name upon the people of Israel, and I will bless them.” (Numbers 6:22-27) O: I have read and heard this blessing many times, but today is the first time it occurred to me that it is essentially trinitarian. In fact, it is called the "threefold" or "three-in-one" blessing, in harmony with 2 Corinthians 13:14: "The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all....