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

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....

Thursday SOAP: Contact with the holy objects is made possible only by covering them with the veil. The veil represents the incarnation of Jesus. We are saved from wrath through Him. S: The LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, “Let not the tribe of the clans of the Kohathites be destroyed from among the Levites, but deal thus with them, that they may live and not die when they come near to the most holy things: Aaron and his sons shall go in and appoint them each to his task and to his burden, but they shall not go in to look on the holy things even for a moment, lest they die.” (Numbers 4:17-20) O: Some of this is so methodical, so matter-of-fact, that this is inserted to remind the workers of how serious their work was. Only Aaron and his sons could wrap up the Ark and other furnishings of the Tabernacle. (vv. 5-15) The Kohathites were to carry them after they had been covered, but were not allowed to touch them (v. 15) or even look on them, upon penalty of death. A: Is it scar...

Wednesday SOAP: In the book of Numbers, God re-states His claim on Israel's firstborn. This is because of His deliverance of them from the final plague on Israel - the death of the firstborn. The Levites were substituted for the firstborn in sort of a substitutionary redemption. This makes me wrestle once again with the question of who were really saved in the Old Testament, and what exactly did they understand about it? I think this makes a significant analogy for our day - we ought to resist the over-simplification of "say this prayer and you're in," because the Jewish culture had their own over-simplifications - and we're taught they fell short. (Why "SOAP?" See http://www.enewhope.org/firststeps/journaling ) S: And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “Behold, I have taken the Levites from among the people of Israel instead of every firstborn who opens the womb among the people of Israel. The Levites shall be mine, for all the firstborn are mine. On ...

Monday SOAP: Questions about how to harmonize the Resurrection stories in the Gospels? Anyone who has read them all has wondered how to put them together. Here are some thoughts about why the various descriptions' differences are a good thing, and how that serves as a warning to absolutely refuse to tamper with the Bible's words. S: And he said to them, “Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen; he is not here. See the place where they laid him. (Mark 16:6) O: Just looking at this one chapter of Scripture for today reminds me of my job in answering "Difficult Theological Questions," the name of one of my communities at my ministry, Global Media Outreach. This one chapter is so full of controversies: how do you reconcile the order of events on Resurrection Sunday? Did Christ really stay in the grave three days and three nights as He said? Did He rise on Sunday morning, or Saturday evening before sunrise? Why did He appear firs...

Friday SOAP: Fig tree, part II - when these things begin to take place, He is near. What is the generation that will not pass away until all these things are fulfilled? Is it possible for us to make the same mistake as the religious leaders of Jesus' day, who identified a number of ways Jesus didn't fit the prophecies of Messiah. S: “From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts out its leaves, you know that summer is near. So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that he is near, at the very gates. Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. (Mark 13:28-31) O: Taken with the last chapter's sign of the fig tree, it seems safe to say that the fig tree here represents Israel again. Jesus says, speaking of the fig tree's progressive growth, "so also.... you" and then "this generation will...

Thursday SOAP: What is fruitfulness, really? Productiveness? Activity that brings results? A return on God's investment? It is all of those things, but it is far more. The fruit of the Spirit is love. When it's quoted that way, if I feel "shortchanged" in an OCD way on the sum of Galatians 5:22-23's fruit (yes, there should be nine, shouldn't there?) I may have missed something far more important than a list of nine virtues. S: On the following day, when they came from Bethany, he was hungry. And seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to see if he could find anything on it. When he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. And he said to it, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” And his disciples heard it. (Mark 11:12-14) O: I won't be tedious enough to quote two-thirds of this chapter and a third of the next - but I think the fig tree is closely connected with the parable in the next chap...

Tuesday SOAP: We are the salt of the earth; doesn't that sound nice? But do you know what was salted? Sacrifices offered with fire! I can even trick myself into looking at presenting my body a living sacrifice in too abstract a sense: it means self-denial, but also trouble, opposition, persecution, purifying fire. This must be faced without complaint if we really want to claim to be salt of the earth. S: “Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea. And if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than with two hands to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire. And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame than with two feet to be thrown into hell. And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes...

Monday SOAP: Jesus knew that what He taught the disciples would be handed down. (Matthew 28:20) So all of His words are full of meaning, even... or maybe especially... those you don't hear many sermons about. I have the choice: make His doctrine my practice, or mix it with the arrogance and hypocrisy of conventional wisdom. S: Now they had forgotten to bring bread, and they had only one loaf with them in the boat. And he cautioned them, saying, “Watch out; beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.” And they began discussing with one another the fact that they had no bread. And Jesus, aware of this, said to them, “Why are you discussing the fact that you have no bread? Do you not yet perceive or understand? Are your hearts hardened? Having eyes do you not see, and having ears do you not hear? And do you not remember? When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?” They said to him, “Twelve.” “And the...

Friday SOAP: A different sower parable. Jesus emphasizes how crops grow, having patience for the harvest, and understanding the suddenness of the end of it. Lest I should think the first sower parable is a lesson on carefully directing my seed, this one makes it clear that growth isn't of my own selection or careful wisdom, but primarily of abandonment of myself to the process that will be blessed. S: And he said, “The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground. He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; he knows not how. The earth produces by itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. But when the grain is ripe, at once he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.” (Mark 4:26-29) O: Here's a slightly different "sower" parable. Whereas the emphasis on the first one, the most common (repeated in all 3 synoptics), is on the types of soil, to help those who sow understand why their eff...

Thursday SOAP: What's showing in my life? Old cloth? A form of godliness with no real power behind it? Am I most comfortable when I look like the religious people? Or am I OK with an anointed head and a washed, smiling face? S:     Now John's disciples and the Pharisees were fasting. And people came and said to him, “Why do John's disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?” And Jesus said to them, “Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in that day. No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. If he does, the patch tears away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear is made. And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins—and the wine is destroyed, and so are the skins. But new wine is for fresh win...

Tuesday SOAP: Vows to the Lord - what can and cannot be redeemed. A macabre example of a vow in the Old Testament reveals a few important principles about our free will, God's sovereignty, how His impowerment may work, and why we should be grave and humble about assumptions about the future. S:     The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, If anyone makes a special vow to the LORD involving the valuation of persons, then the valuation of a male from twenty years old up to sixty years old shall be fifty shekels of silver, according to the shekel of the sanctuary. If the person is a female, the valuation shall be thirty shekels. (Leviticus 27:1-4) “But no devoted thing that a man devotes to the LORD, of anything that he has, whether man or beast, or of his inherited field, shall be sold or redeemed; every devoted thing is most holy to the LORD. No one devoted, who is to be devoted for destruction from mankind, shall be ransomed; ...

Monday SOAP: Old Testament laws of ownership sometimes seem sort of confusing. Did the people own the land or not? Could they do anything they wanted with it? The way God closes Levitcus 25's revelation about all these things ties them together and explains what they are to illustrate about God. S:     For it is to me that the people of Israel are servants. They are my servants whom I brought out of the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God. (Leviticus 25:55) O: Leviticus 25 is a chapter about the Sabbath year, the Jubilee year, and laws of redemption. A: That's a sermon right there, as far as I'm concerned. God makes it very clear that because of HIS redemption, ownership is holy. The redeemed slaves didn't really own property; they had it assigned to them by family. They could lease it out to others, but it returned to the ones to whom it was assigned in the Jubilee year. They could farm it, but they were to trust God in allowing it to rest on the Sabbath year. ...