It's Not About Me!

As I’ve been studying the Scriptures lately, one of the themes I have seen cropping up time and again is the fact that life doesn’t revolve around me. Far too often, my first reaction to things is to ask, “How does this impact me?” And while it is a perfectly good (even necessary!) practice to look for ways to apply the Bible to our own lives, I would argue that we need to go much further than that in our application of God’s word.

Let me show you what I mean. Consider 1 Timothy 1:15-17…

15 The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. 16 But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life. 17 To the King of ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.

In verse 15, we see Paul urging Timothy to maintain humility, realizing that he has received mercy instead of what he deserved. To remember this truth on its own would be good, but it is altogether insufficient to simply end there. Verse 16 goes on to explain that this mercy was not intended to terminate on him, but was to be an example to others so that they might trust in Christ as well, and similarly experience his mercy. At this point, it might be tempting for us to think that this is where Paul is going with what he is saying, but then verse 17 reminds us that it’s not even those other believers who are, in the end, the focus of God’s work. What is most important is that all honor and glory would forever be God’s alone.

Last Sunday I preached from Mark 6:45-52, which (falling right on the heals of Jesus feeding over 5000 from just five loaves and two fish) tells the story of Jesus walking on water. As Jesus climbs into the boat, Mark informs us that the disciples were utterly astounded, “for they did not understand about the loaves, but their hearts were hardened” (v. 52). The reason they were astounded was not ultimately that Jesus had walked across the water nor that he had silenced the wind and the waves. As amazing as these things were, Mark suggests that if they had “understood about the loaves,” they would not have been so astounded at what Jesus had done.

The problem is that they (like the crowds) thought that what Jesus was doing in feeding the 5000+ was merely filling empty stomachs. Yet again though, Jesus intended for the glory of God to be made manifest. What he had actually done was display that the laws of nature do not govern him, but rather he governs them; he was showing them that he is God!

God is constantly at work meeting our needs. He does so with such frequency that quite often we don’t even notice it. When we do notice it though, let us remember that this is not all that he is doing. He is yet again drawing our attention to the fact “that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:10-11).

In That Day the Deaf Shall Hear...

I just saw this today; perhaps you've already seen it. If not, check out the video below and prepare to have your heart warmed as this eight-month-old baby who was born deaf has his cochlear implant turned on. Note specifically his reaction to hearing his mother's voice for the very first time.

I had the following three thoughts when I saw this:

1. I must be having troubles with my contact lenses, because my eyes are getting a little watery.
2. As cool as that was, that's the kind of thing the disciples got to regularly see when they followed Jesus (the restoration of hearing to the deaf, sight to the blind, etc.).
3. As much joy as you could see in that little baby's face when he first heard his mother's voice, how much more joy will I experience in that day when I hear the voice of my heavenly father and see him face to face!

(HT: Joel Hathaway)

Your Faith Has Made You Well

I recently finished going through Luke (which I’ve done many times before) and I noticed something that I’d never really seen before. In Luke, there is a certain phrase which Jesus says four times.

In chapter eight we read of the woman who had suffered from a discharge of blood for 12 years. She touches Jesus’ garment and immediately the discharge ceased. In 8:48 we read the words of Jesus: “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace.”

In chapter 17 we find the story of the ten lepers who Jesus cleansed, having sent them to the priests to be declared ceremonially clean. When only one returns to thank Jesus, he tells the former leper in 17:19, “Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well.”

A chapter later we come across the story of the blind beggar who pleaded with Jesus to restore his sight. In 18:42 we read that Jesus healed him with the words, “Recover your sight, your faith has made you well.”

The one other place where we find the exact same words come out of Jesus’ mouth (other than three parallel accounts in Matthew and Mark) is in chapter seven of Luke. Jesus is a guest at the house of a pharisee named Simon. While he is there, “a woman of the city, who was a sinner,” came with a flask of expensive ointment. She wet the feet of Jesus with her tears, wiped his feet with her hair, and annointed them with the ointment.

Simon thought that Jesus should rebuke her, sinful woman as she was. But Jesus’ response was quite different. He said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.” When those at the table questioned “Who is this, who even forgives sins?” Jesus said to the woman in 7:50, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”

We miss it in the English, but in Luke’s original Greek, the wording is the exact same. In fact, “saved” is a more literal translation of the word that is translated elsewhere “made… well.” For all four of them, perhaps it would be better to understand Jesus’ words as meaning, “Your faith has saved you.”

This realization of the Greek behind the English helps us to see a wonderful truth. The miracles of Christ are not to be seen merely as benevolent demonstrations of His awesome power. They always point to a greater truth. In the case of the blind man, he was given physical sight, but more importantly, by faith, he had received spiritual sight as well.

Both the leper and the woman with the discharge had conditions that made them ceremonially unclean. Jesus’ healing of them meant that they indeed were no longer sick nor unclean. It also pointed to the greater truth though, that by faith, they were no longer stained by the filth of sin. Now they were clothed in the righteousness of Christ.

May we all know today the joy that they knew, the joy of being made well, truly well. And may the words of the Apostle Paul ever resound in our hearts: “For it is by grace you have been saved through faith…” (Ephesians 2:8a).