January 30, 2010 Daily Reading

After the children of Israel refused to listen to God for themselves and asked Moses to serve as a mediator, God began to give them rules and regulations for living as a unique kingdom among the kingdom of the world. These rules cover everything from how to treat animals to how to treat other people. They were told how to approach God and how to stay away from other gods.

But, in the midst of the rules and regulations, we get a glimpse of what could have been, as God dines with Moses, Aaron, Aaron’s sons, and 70 other leaders from among the children of Israel. (Exodus 24:9-11) In the midst of exclamations of God’s holiness and the people’s sin, God make himself known in a person way and to serve a meal to some of those sinners… “and he did not lay his hand” on them.

God had every right to stay away from them… to not allow them in his presence. He had every right to destroy them. They deserved to be punished for their sin… for their grumbling… for their complaining… for their lack of faith. But, instead of punishing them, God chose to serve them dinner.

Could this be a glimpse of how God desires to relate to people? Unfortunately, these people had rejected God and refused to know him personally. (Exodus 20:18-19)

As we turn to Matthew, we remember that God has now come to man… not in lightning and thunder and smoke and fire, but in meekness… in the form of a servant. (Philippians 2:5-11) Jesus never lost sight of who he was or what is purpose was. And, so, he once again reminds his followers that he would suffer, die, be buried, and rise again.

And how do his followers respond? The began seek power and position for themselves. Still thinking that Jesus would be an earthly king, James and John’s mother asked Jesus if her sons could rule with him.

In response, Jesus tried once again to teach them about his “upside down” kingdom. “Do you want to be leaders?” Jesus asked, “Then serve one another.”(Matthew 20:25-28)

Did Jesus mean that leadership is a new type of service… a super-service? No. Jesus meant that servants are the real leaders, and those who follow will be serving right alongside of them. Or, to put it another way, do you want to know who to follow? Jesus would say to follow those who serve.

Jesus demonstrated exactly what he meant. As he was walking along the road, he stopped to serve two blind men… two blind men who had nothing to offer him in return.

God continues to serve others… and calls us to serve others along with him.

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Today’s OT reading has us focusing on of the greatest miracles in scripture, not to mention one of the most popular stories in human history. The parting of the red sea, the Israelites going across on dry land while the Egyptians were swallowed up. Not only did God take the heir to the throne, he also took the throne and showed the world just how great He was. This was catastrophic for Egyptians because now someone else not of the direct offspring of the Pharaoh would assume authority, but God has often showed that He will not share His glory with another. But, we know that story and today I want to focus on our NT reading.

Our reading today starts off kind of odd. It doesn’t seem to appear to be anything in the text that would have caused the Pharisee to ask such a question. He asks “Is it lawful to divorce one’s wife for any cause” this is shortly after many came to Jesus and He healded them.

So Jesus answers the question, and what a shocking answer it is. He says unless for sexual immorality. Now, this is a very debatable topic. But I think I may have adopted Piper’s view on marriage, though I am not 100% there, my thoughts would most likely fall upon those lines. You can find that here, so I will not focus on what I think Jesus meant, I want to speak to the culture today.

Today we have songs that are chart topping pop and R&B charts. The name of the song is called “Papers” by Usher. It is song in which the hook says “I am ready to sing them papers, papers”. I would not be concerned if Mr. Raymond were not a Christian as he is not bound by the New Covenant; however, he is bound by the New Covenant, thus his song ignores Christ’s sacrifice on the cross and the righteous requirement that is to follow those who say they are in Christ. But not to get sidetracked….

“Singing them papers” is the disposition of most today in our culture. Even among “conservative” evangelicals the divorce rate has hovered aroung 50% or so for the last 15-20 years. This is a disgrace and an outright rebellion against Christ and His teaching found in Matthew 19.

Because Eve was taken out the side of Adam, she was “flesh of his flesh, and bone of his bone” and God gave the command even then (penned by Moses himself) that “the two shall become one flesh”. There is a strict permanence in mind here. Paul then goes on to use this in describing our relationship to Christ. Christ is permanently married to His bride and we have become “one flesh” with Him.

You see before sin so clouded our judgement and obscured the face of God, marriage was to be permanent. One man and one woman were to live forever, a sign of that covenant may be sexual intercourse. It is funny that Avatar catches this theology when Jake and Neytiri choose each other as mates. However, we have failed to acknowledge such a theology. The one flesh comes before the fall and thus is the standard of God! Sin interrupted that fellowship, but today we are not slaves to sin but to righteousness and because of this we are to restore and repair and reconcile what has been broken by the fall.

One way to do this is my Christian marriage. Christian marriage is one of the most beautiful witnesses we can portray to the world; however, we find ourselves persistently and even wrecklessly disobeying our Lord, because “God wants us to be happy”. I have even heard such false teaching from pulpits and even from “conservatives.

I don’t want to dig deeper, but I do want challenge you in an area. We have to take this more seriously than we do. This is not just another cultural thing. The marriage union for those who are in Christ is a picture of Christ and His bride. The way we love and submit, serve and give, sacrifice and live for, will show the world how Christ relates to His bride. For those who are “pastors” and constantly remarry those who have been divorced disobediently, maybe should ask who are they trying to please.

In closing we love to fight against gay marriage but will not fight for Christian marriages. I think we are more concerned with the image of marriage versus the purpose of marriage and who marriage actually belongs to. Let the world do what they want, God will judge them. But as Paul said we are to judge those in the church (I guess that “who are you to judge” is a bit overkill).

Divorce, Gospel, Marriage, Matthew, remarriage

The OT passage for today is based upon God preparing the Israelites for departure from Egypt. God is entering into the final plague to unleash unto the Egyptians because of the hard hardheartedness of Pharaoh. God is going to slaughter the first born of the Egyptians if Pharaoh does not adhere to the things that have been spoken. This would cripple the power structure of Egypt for years to come if this maneuver is accomplished. God hardened Pharaoh’s heart and he refused to let the people go.

Once Pharaoh refuses, the Passover is set in motion and we begin to see the prototype for substitutionary atonement. The Israelites were first instructed to “tell all the congregation”(v.3) to get a lamb and share with their neighbor if needed.  The lamb should be without blemish and a male. The lamb will be killed at midnight after the 14^th day of the month. C.F. Keil writes,

“Freedom from blemish and injury not only befitted the sacredness of the purpose to which they were devoted, but was a symbol of the moral integrity of the person represented by the sacrifice. It was to be a male, as taking the place of the male first-born of Israel; and a year old, because it was not till then that it reached the full, fresh vigour of its life.”

This was also synonymous with the makeup of Jesus as being the Lamb of God (John 1:29). He was a man that “knew no sin” (2 Cor. 5:21) but was pure and holy. The sacrificed lamb was a depiction of what Jesus would endure as the Lamb of God thousands of years later. After they had taken the lamb and inspected him for flaws, (Jesus before Pilate and the governmental presence) he is then sacrificed and the blood was to be put over the doorpost. They were to eat all of the lamb and leave none for later. They had to roast the lamb and none of his legs were to be broken. (1 Peter 1:18-19) It was customary for the legs of one being crucified to have his legs broken. But the legs of Jesus were not broken to reflect the perfection of the lamb. (John 19:33)

The doorpost that had the blood over it would be passed by God as he executed his promise to the Egyptians. This would serve as a memorial to the Jews many times over as they would encounter obstacles in their life. They had the opportunity to see God display his sovereignty and magisterial swagger on their behalf.

The NT (Matt. 18:21-35) shares parable of the Jesus explaining to Peter the importance of forgiveness, he uses the parable of a servant owing money to his master. The master forgives him of his debt and allows him to move forward as if he never owed anything in the first place. The servant then finds another man that owes him money and has him put in jail because he couldn’t repay the money owed. Once this is seen by others they report it back to the master and the master throws the servant in jail for not having compassion upon another as he had upon him.

As we view the passages, we find the art of sacrifice and forgiveness being the crux of what we as believers must operate in. Jesus is shown in the OT as the unsuspecting lamb going to the slaughter in order to atone for mankind. In the NT, we find Jesus being depicted as the forgiving master that sets the example for us to follow. The one thing that stands out within both passages is that the view of the bystanders. (Matt. 18:31) As they see what is happening they are “greatly distressed.” Whether they were believers or not is unknown but the impact that was made is visible.

Much of our personal walk has the same impact to others. Whether we display mission through sacrifice or forgiveness we must understand the people that are watching our lives and lifestyle. At the end of the day, we must be mindful of what has been done for us and what we can do for to others.

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Today in our old testament reading Pharaoh’s heart is still hardened. He has seen the miracles of God on numerous occasions. Maybe the duplication of  some of the plagues by his own magicians contributed to his arrogance and pride against God. (Side- note: Why did the magicians duplicate the plagues? (snakes, water into blood, frogs) doesn’t that only add to the problem?) But the acts of God began to be even too powerful for these select mean as well, scripture says that the magicians tried, but could not. Ex.8:18.  God brings plague after plague upon the people of Egypt and on Pharaoh, but Pharaoh, just as God said did not release the people. What is amazing to see and should not be missed is that through all of these plagues (water into blood, frogs, gnats, flies, deceased livestock, boils, hail, locust and darkness) God constantly preserves His people. Pharaoh up to this point has tried a few negotiations but has not yet given God the honor He is due. We will see how this turns out as the story continues to unfold.

This brings us to our new testament reading. Jesus teaches the disciples a lesson on humility. The disciples ask Jesus: “Who then is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” Jesus gives them an answer I personally don’t think they were ready for. I say this because if they were they would not have asked such a question. Jesus tells them that the greatest in the kingdom of heaven is the one who humbles himself as a child. My question to day is: How are you looking in this area? Are you still persuing greatness by man’s standard, by constantly trying to do more than you did yesterday, or more than you neighbor or have you humbled youself as a child before the Father, knowing that He controls all and supplies all according to His will, realizing that it was He and not our good deeds that called us out of darkness into the marvelous light of His son Jesus Christ 1Peter 2:9? I don’t know how you will answer this question but ask yourself,be honest with yourself, take a minute and ponder on it.

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January 23, 2010 Daily Reading

God has chosen to deliver his people from slavery in Egypt by using Moses. Huh? Moses? Are you serious, God? You want to use a murdering shepherd who can’t speak well and who doesn’t want the job?

Yes, apparently that is exactly who God decided to use. And, God even manages to persuade Moses. Apparently, the whole burning bush scene didn’t convince Moses of God’s power, so God had to persuade Moses that he was powerful enough to accomplish his goals through Moses.

Now that Moses and Aaron have agreed, everything is fine, right? No. Apparently, the people don’t like God’s choices of leaders, and they’re not too sure about leaving Egypt. (But, I’m sure that once the miracles start up everything will change… yeah, right.)

God, are you sure you know what you’re doing?

Which brings us to our New Testament reading. The twelve are still having problems understanding Jesus. They can’t get their mind off of their physical circumstances long enough to understand that Jesus is talking about more than (bread).

But, there is a flash of hope! Peter does understand that Jesus is “the Christ, the Son of the living God”! Great for Peter! Jesus even says that he is going to build his assembly based on people like Peter. What joy! What a blessing! What success!

Then Jesus has to start talking about dying. That just ruins everything. I mean, how can Jesus rule a kingdom if he dies? Peter sets Jesus straight… and apparently, in spite of Peter’s misunderstanding, Jesus still plans to build his church around people like Peter… Peter… who sounded more like the devil than like God.

Jesus, are you sure you know what you’re doing?

Yes. He knows exactly what he’s doing. Why? Because he is able. That’s all it takes. We will fail. We will lack the abilities. We will be rejected. We will make mistakes. We will disappoint and be disappointed.

But, God’s plan does not depend upon us being perfect. God’s plan depends upon him, and how he chooses to work through us. Are we willing to allow him? Or are we going to keep giving him excuses like Moses did?

A Little Greek

Ἀπὸ τότε ἤρξατο ὁ Ἰησοῦς δεικνύειν τοῖς μαθηταῖς αὐτοῦ ὅτι δεῖ αὐτὸν εἰς Ἱεροσόλυμα ἀπελθεῖν καὶ πολλὰ παθεῖν ἀπὸ τῶν πρεσβυτέρων καὶ ἀρχιερέων καὶ γραμματέων καὶ ἀποκτανθῆναι καὶ τῇ τρίτῃ ἡμέρᾳ ἐγερθῆναι. (Matthew 16:21)

This sentence marks an important transition in Matthew’s Gospel. First, we see that it is at this time that Jesus begins to tell his followers about his death, burial, and resurrection (Ἀπὸ τότε ἤρξατο ὁ Ἰησοῦς δεικνύειν – “From that time, Jesus began to tell…”).

Also, there is a very small word in this sentence that is very important. The word is δεῖ, which is usually translated “it is necessary” or “one must”. It is a very strong imperative – command. Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection were not just good ideas… no, it was necessary.

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The last few chapters of Genesis and the opening of Exodus looks to be the climax of the children of Israel. Jacob has become Israel, his sons reconciled,  they escaped famine, the offspring has the fertile land (important?) in Egypt they have integrated and permeated Egypt, they have lived their for a generation and it seems like everything is going fine but…..

Their blessing is their curse. Egypt as beautiful and enticing as it may be, will soon become a constant thorn in the side of God’s people. To be clear we will see Egypt as a picture of sin and we will see the only deliverer who can free God’s people will be God Himself. As we read through Exodus we should view this experience from the lens of the New Testament. The metanarrative (grand-story) of the bible is found in the promise of Genesis 3. God will deliverer His creation through the seed of the woman. Who this seed is, is the unfolding theme of our bible (Romans 4:13-16; Galatians 3:10-29).

So we find the Israelites being “fruitful and multiplying” in a land that does not know their God nor their covenant. To be even more direct, this land is ruled by a god who’s name is Pharaoh,  he will not acknowledge the true God and because of this brings God’s people into slavery. If we see the progression of Israel’s slavery it looks much like the progression of sin. First is starts off as an enjoyment, though you know you shouldn’t be there. Then it moves into a burden (Exodus 1:11), then it moves into ruthless oppression (Exodus 1:12-14) and eventually it moves into death (Exodus 1:15-22). James 1:15, has a similar progression of sin.

So now the Israelites have moved from fertile acceptance to ruthless death (“throw them in the Nile” Pharaoh says). We see this early in Matthew with a king who does not want Israel to have another king and many times Romans leaders were viewed as deities. Pharaoh was threatened by the male children much like Herod was, yet God will call His son “out of Egypt” (Matthew 2:15).

In spite of this God, hears the cries of His elect and provides a deliverer! A male child goes into Egypt (he is accepted as an Egyptian) by a miraculous event, guided by the hands of YAWEH and God now calls this son to deliver his elect. He will go in the power of YAWEH, and will deliever the people out of bondage into the land promised (the promise land is a picture of what will be known as the New Jerusalem where Mt. Zion is and God dwells). 

Jesus says “anyone who sins is a slave to sin”. Every human being is in bondage but God has provided a deliverer. The task master is tough, the burden is hard, yet God’s deliverer is loving and has a light burden and just as the Israelites need rest so do we, God’s deliverer provides rest (Matthew 11:28-30). Lets see how the story unfolds

Deliverance, Motif, Picture, Shadow

Today’s reading led me to focus on our New Testament reading. Jesus had crossed over and is now in a port town on the northwest side of the Sea of Gailee. Immediately the people recognize Him and they went throughout the town calling people and bringing them to Jesus so that he may heal them. So much so that even touching a piece of His clothing lead to healing.

But even in the midst of this religious tradition took over. As people are being healed and made well. A little side bar here. We have to understand exactly what healing does. It isn’t simply that people get there limbs back functioning or their eyes opened, or even the flow of blood stopping, or grow back limbs. To be crippled and sick made you an outcast in Israel. You were ceremonially unclean and for the most part the people would believe either “you sinned or your parents”. Other than that if you are obeying the Law of God you should be healthy and prosperous. These paralytics, mute, blind and sick individuals were social outcast. They had nowhere to go, their families often left them, they were unable to work, unable to have families and were left to beg in the city streets. The religious leaders of their day would outright ignore them, thus the apathy that clouds the mind of the pharisees in this section of scripture. How often today are we the same way? But…

So, as many were healed that day, here comes the religous leaders. Instead of giving praise to God, instead of recognizing bones being set straight and families restored and social outcast now being reconciled to their communities, they ask “why don’t your disciples follow tradition”.

Jesus’ response is hilarious. He asks “why do you break the COMMANDMENTS of God”. You see their tradition had so clouded their minds that they believed that their tradition had greater authority than God’s word! And often times today our tradition have more authority than God’s word. Our tradition of what we should watch, or what we should wear, or how we should educate our children, or where we should go to “church” or make-up, or dating or…… you see, Christ has given us a NEW COMMANDMENT. That commandment is “love one another”.

But like the religious leaders our tradition usurps the authority of God’s commandment even to the fact that when we see people accepting the social outcast of our days, and loving the unlovable, and receiving the unreceivable we look and say “how can they do that, don’t they understand our tradition”?

Religious tradition and heritage can be healthy, it just has to be put in the right perspective. God’s word is authoritative, not our traditions. And whenever our tradition usurps the authority of God’s word we should repent and put our traditions in check. This goes for all of us. Lets not be too quick to make our traditions God’s word and ignore the work and power of God in the lives of others, regardless of how “unorthodox” it looks to our tradition. We may end up missing an opportunity to see Jesus working, much like the religious leaders did in Gennesaret.

Healing, Religion, Tradition

I hope that I am not stepping on anyone’s toes or stealing anyone’s thunder by inserting this summary of the life of Joseph as the narrative regarding Joseph does not end until Chapter 50 of Genesis.

In a book that is very free and honest in its portrayal of the weaknesses and sins of its characters and hero’s, Joseph stands as a unique individual. We cannot come to the conclusion that Joseph was sinless as all men have sinned and fall short of God’s glory, but for some purpose we are not told of any of Joseph’s sins and short-comings. Joseph was his father’s beloved or favorite son who was given prophetic dreams and the ability to interpret dreams. ..Dreams that were fulfilled in his person and work. Joseph was despised by his brothers and who in their jealousy betrayed him and sold him for the price of a slave. Joseph was placed in the ground and then lifted up, when his distraught father learned many years later that he was still alive; Joseph was received back to Israel as if back from the dead. He was numbered as and treated as a criminal and in whatever unfair or unjust situation Joseph found himself in, he was always promoted due to his high integrity and ability. He literally fled temptation and sin. In fulfillment of prophecies regarding his life and work, he was elevated to the position of a savior and king over his people and they bowed the knee to him. He not only became a savior and ruler to the circumcised but he also became a ruler and savior of a pagan and uncircumcised people! Joseph had a generous ability to extend forgiveness to those who had sinned against him grievously and to see his life as being used by God for a greater purpose.

Hmmm…does any of this sound familiar?

Now that we are done with reviewing a bit of type teaching, let’s visit a few other things we can learn from Chapters 46-48 of Genesis:

In chapter 46 God speaks to Jacob/Israel in a dream and reassures Jacob that going down to Egypt is all a part of His plan and that Israel should not be afraid despite his and his families dubious past history with Egypt. God comforts Israel with the information that God will bring Israel back up from Egypt and that Joseph would himself close Israel eyes. When all things look grim and we wonder if we are outside of God’s will, God will speak to His children love and encouragement and confirm his plan and commitment to them.

In Genesis 47 we see that as the famine continued to ravage the land that Joseph indicates that he had bought the Egyptians for the one that he served Genesis 47:23. And the people exclaim, “You have saved our lives!”

Thank God that Christ has bought us in our desperate condition to be servants of the Father!

In consternation to Patriarchy People everywhere and in all generations, God in chapter 48 once again sovereignly promotes the younger over the older regarding Josephs sons, this will play out within the OT narrative and redemptive history in interesting ways.

Thank God that in Christ the weak and foolish are used by God to shame the strong and the wise, that’s good news for me! 1 Corinthians 1:25-27.

In our Matthew passage, I will focus on the account of Christ walking on the water:

It is interesting that Jesus had to “make”/constrained his disciples to get into a ship. Perhaps they were afraid to return into the jurisdiction of Herod, or they were unwilling to embark without their Lord and Protector, and would not enter their boat till Christ had commanded them to embark.

Regarding our Lord’s conduct, spirit and practice of prayer, we can observe that He frequently withdrew from the world, elevated His heart to God and sought solitude, I hope and pray that this activity can become a bigger part of my life as it expresses my dependence upon God for strength and His direction for my life and activity.

Meanwhile His disciples are being “Tossed with waves” and “grievously agitated”.  Perhaps the proper meaning was that they where being, plunged under the waves, frequently covered with them; the waves often breaking over the vessel.

Could it be that our Savior is interceding and making petition for us even as we are going through different struggle and difficulties in our lives? Even when it looks like the boat is going to sink?

As the disciples struggle in a situation they cannot control, between the hours of three and six in the morning Jesus makes his appearance to his disciples.

I want us to be careful to see more than just a lesson on personal faith and belief that God will pull us through in this passage, even though God will most certainly come through for His children. I think there is much more here.

Jesus suspending the laws of gravity as a proper manifestation of unlimited power, Though at a distance from his disciples, he knew their distress, He found them out on the lake, and probably in the midst of darkness and He walked upon the water. Job, speaking of those things whereby the omnipotence of God was demonstrated, says this:  He walks upon the waves of the sea: indicating that this was impossible to anything but Omnipotence.

It is I; be not afraid. Nothing but this voice of Christ could, in such circumstances, have given courage and comfort to his disciples: those who are grievously tossed with difficulties and temptations require a similar manifestation of his power and goodness.

Peter is his usual intrepid way says to Jesus, “Tell me to come to you on the water”.  Christ commands Peter to come and however impossible the thing commanded by Christ may appear, it is certain he will give power to accomplish it to those who receive his word by faith. Peter starts out well but when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid. It was not the violence of the winds, nor the raging of the waves, which endangered his life, nor is the temptations and difficulties that swamp our boat that endangers our lives it our habit of taking our eyes off of Christ and focusing on our circumstances that pose us the biggest threat.

Is this just a lesson on the failure or the littleness of Peter’s faith? I think not. Can we see that each circumstance and difficulty in our lives is being used by God to increase our faith and dependency upon Christ? Can we see that even when we fail, as His child he we are only sustained by His mercy as He puts His hand forth and grabs a hold of us to keep us from going under. Are we not saved and sustained in that salvation only by the strong hand of our gracious and merciful God?

In Christ, the Prince of peace is peace and calm where He condescends to enter and abide.

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After reading Lionel’s comment about the parallels between Joseph and Jesus, I have reassessed the story in light of the similarities, and I can barely keep my seat! I saw some connection before, but as the story progresses the connection is getting deeper and more glorious than I’ve ever seen before.

The Lord God used Joseph to preserve a remnant and save the lives of the very men that betrayed him. Let me say that again. By divine intention Joseph was rejected (Isaiah 53:3; John 1:11), falsely accused (Matthew 27:11-26), and bore the punishment of sins he did not commit so that a remnant could be saved (1 Peter 2:24)!

Joseph realized that it was the Lord’s doing that he should suffer separation from his beloved father and the rest of his family so that he could bring deliverance (a salvation of sorts) when the time was right (Romans 5:6). So, when he met up with his brothers again, he did not make them suffer for their former sins. He was so overwhelmed with joy that they would be saved; he wept and hugged them and immediately began making provision for them.

When I see these glimpses of the Savior throughout redemptive history and cannot help but rejoice because I see Him more clearly and love God more deeply.

Allegory, Sovereignty, Suffering

Today’s reading finds Jacob and his sons that reside with him amidst a severe famine. Their sheep, donkeys and money can not create food for them, so now they must turn to Egypt for help. It seems their lives have gone on after the conniving actions they took against their younger brother Joseph. Though they may have some guilt, Jacob has continually bore the pain of losing his favorite son.

So Jacob sends 10 of his sons to get food from Egypt, and when they get there Joseph immediately recognizes them yet they don’t recognized him (there are quite a few years in between these two events).

What is heart warming about this text is the recognition of sin in the lives of the 10. They realize that they are wrong. They realize that God will not let their sin go unnoticed, but what they have not realized is that God has already provided a substitute for them. Joseph being innocent has already suffered and has been elevated to highest office possible in Egypt. God as always has provided a ram for Himself. His promises to Abraham will not prevented, even in adverse circumstances.

After hearing their repentance Joseph weeps. He is broken by his brothers sins and excited that he has been reconciled. He must have thought throughout these years what was his purpose. Was he only their to pepetuate the Egyptian dynasty and go to his grave alone as an Egyptian? No, he is has provided a way of provision for his family, although through hardship.

We see reconciliation and repentance. But to make this practical, we need to think about our lives. If we are in Christ we have repented and have been reconciled and God has also provided Himself a lamb a sacrifice who was also innocent and this was His Son. The one He loves. He bears the suffering on our behalf and we get the provision that only He can make possible. But even more we have been given the ministry of reconciliation. God did not place Joseph in the high position of Pharaohs right hand so that he can eat, drink and be merry. God used Jacob to fulfill His purpose and plan to bring His promise to His people. Joseph could have easily gave them the food and not compromise His position and person. But He didn’t. And neither should we. God has given us a ministry of reconciliation. We are now ambassadors for Christ ( 2 Corinthians 5:18-20).  And we too can be used to reconcile our friends and family to the one true God.

However, Joseph’s position came by his uprightness in his moral character and his integrity. When presented with opportunities to get over, he did not. When presented with sexual immorality he fled, when given the opportunity to use his gifts to get out of prison he passed them along to the his fellow prisoners and they got free and even when they were free he never yelled about how unfair that was. He entrusted himself to God and God gave him the ultimate victory. We will have to do the same if we are to present the ministry of reconciliation. We will have to have upright moral character and integrity. This may cause us to be falsely accused, ridiculed or even persecuted at some length, but Jesus says ” a servant is not above His master…”. Jesus experienced this and so will we from time to time.

As we transition into our New Testament reading Jesus is speaking of the value of the Kingdom of Heaven. He uses the simile literary style.  We see from yesterday that the Kingdom is a seed that is thrown but only a few will bear fruit. It is also like leaven that permeates, a valuable item in which all is sold to pursue and finally it is like a net which may catch a lot of things  yet only some of them will be good, while the others will be discarded. The Kingdom of Heaven in these instances is the Good News. We are to sow it like seed, and let God deal with the soil, we are to let it permeate our lives, it (He) is to be valuable enough to sale everything we have and we are to cast it out and God will do the work of separation (we are not to choose which people get the message, it is God’s kingdom He will decide who gets in and who does not).

Again this is the ministry of reconciliation. The Good News of Jesus Christ. We are the sowers, we are the person who found the treasure it is the leaven in our lives which permeates every part and we are to be fisher of men.

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