God Motivation and the Divine Block

And taking the twelve, he said to them, “See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished. For he will be delivered over to the Gentiles and will be mocked and shamefully treated and spit upon. And after flogging him, they will kill him, and on the third day he will rise.” But they understood none of these things. This saying was hidden from them, and they did not grasp what was said (Luke 18:31-34).  This is the third time that Jesus had spoken of this to His disciples.  In this gospel, the first two times are recorded in chapter 9, the first of which yields no reaction from the disciples (at least no recorded reaction); and the second time, the reaction is much the same as what we have here.  They didn't understand because the saying was hidden from them.  This humbled me afresh this morning.  It reminded me of how God's plans for the extent of man's understanding are just that: His plans.  Now it seems that what happened at this occurrence was not some sort of time stopping magic.  You know, like those movies where suddenly everyone on the scene except that one individual keeps moving among a crowd of wax-like figures.  The disciples heard what He was saying, but apparently, even though He'd been saying it other times, they weren't getting it, and part of the reason for this is that an actual "block" was being set in place restricting their access to this knowledge.

This does some things for the one reading it.  For one, it brings the reader to a place of quiet.  I like people to know that I know things, but this passage reminds me that truth belongs to God, and He's under no obligation to make all the details of any true thing fully known or understood by you or I.  And while I can have confidence that the Spirit reveals many things and that God gives understanding to His disciples as they seek it, I'm desperately limited and need to remember to always point people straight to Him instead of ever giving the impression that they should terminate on me in their truth seeking.  But secondly, just as I would want to do that directing work, I'm reminded of how I need to keep my eyes on Him as well throughout the learning process; I can't really grasp truth without knowing the Author.  A conduit itself needs to be anchored securely to the right place if it is to make right deliveries and pipe the correct received information.

Remember with me the disciples, people who were right there with Jesus and missed things that were flashing like neon signs right before them.  Remember and be humbled, speaking as a receiver and not as a source, listening as a learner who's got so far to go.  And trust that God gives just what we need to grasp as we seek Him.

God Motivation and the Salt Lick

Remember Lot's wife. Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will keep it (Luke 17:32-33).  Judgment day is no day to linger and neither is today.  I think that's a bit of what Jesus was getting at as He spoke to His disciples on this occasion.  In the broader context of the passage, He was letting them know that there would be a day when the brokenness of this world would be brought to an end, a day when the patience of the Father would be replaced with judgement and salvation, a day when He would return as King.  But then He also wanted His disciples to "remember Lot's wife."  She was the one, who, despite the instruction given to her from the heavenly messengers, looked back at Sodom as her family was running away to be saved from the impending judgement that was about to rain down from the sky.  When she did such, she was able to run no more; she became a pillar of salt.  One little instance of one little longing glance back at what she thought was important crystallized her.  As she ran away with her family, God was saying, "Graciously, I'm preserving you from this" while she was echoing back, "I want to preserve the life I'm running from."  I don't know if God meant it to be ironic or not, but the fact that she turned into an actual unfeeling preservative is a little funny and chilling all at once.

Jesus tells us that it's better (or really necessary) to lose our lives than to try and hold on to them.  As someone committed to following Him, I really wonder sometimes if I get it.  There are so many things in this life that I'm trying to preserve or hold up and keep spinning like plates on a stick, things that I wonder if I'd have a hard time abandoning in an instant if God suddenly pulled me away.  Reputation, good projects, my row of ducks, etc.  I like those things, but they better not be "my life."  No, "my life" needs to consist of daily standing naked before my Maker with no hands behind my back, no fist clenched around a trinket, no glancing back over my shoulder because of a divided heart.  I need to want the life He has to offer, the life that ,by His grace and goodness, I'll keep.  I don't want to be the salt lick.   

God Motivation and Verbal Investments

From the fruit of a man's mouth his stomach is satisfied;
        he is satisfied by the yield of his lips.
    Death and life are in the power of the tongue,
        and those who love it will eat its fruits. (Proverbs 18:20-21)
There is an incredible amount of consequence to what we say.  Think of all the moments we come to when we are faced with the choice of silence or speech, the decision of one piece of information declared instead of another.  The results can yield an unintentional damming up of a river we wished would have continued to flow or might serve as a snowball thrown at the weak point of a white mountain suddenly given to unstoppable avalanche.  When the vocal chords vibrate, we are making some kind of an investment.  The information heads on out and we wait for the return, a return which we hope will taste like sweet, rich strawberries instead of compost.  But shouldn't we do more than just hope for such?  Are our words simply something to be lobbed indiscriminately into the river or to the side of the mountain as little experiments.  Few people want to be that reckless; few people want to be the type that everyone else wants to kick in the shins.

Notice what these verses begin and end with: fruit.  Fruit given returns a satisfied stomach in verse 20, and fruit received satisfies the one who delivered good words in verse 21.  The best way to insure a future production of something sweet is to plant the same.  This doesn't mean of course that our every word needs to be all dripping and sappy to be good; that perfect peach comes from a necessary, nutrient-filled brown pit after all.  But it's true just the same that fruit begets fruit.

Why did people hang on Jesus' words, and why did incredible results come from the message He brought?  There are certainly many theological answers to this that need to be given at some juncture (the Holy Spirit was at work, the Father's will was being carried out, Jesus saw directly into people's souls, etc.), but at that practical, this-is-the-way-the-world-works level, Jesus presented true, beautiful fruitful words of investment during His earthly ministry.  They were so good in fact that He told us just before He returned to heaven that we were to teach the same to the world as part of the disciple-making process.  These are the verbal investments we're called to make.  

God Motivation and Holy Moses

"If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead" (Luke 16:31).  As Jesus was wrapping up a story to prove an important point, He made these Abraham's words to a rich man in eternal torment who wanted his destitute neighbor (now with Abe in Paradise) to go back and warn his loved ones about the realities of life after death.  It's a hard story to hear in a lot of ways.  Here you have this guy who was self-centered through life now wanting to bless others, but the message is, "Too bad; it's too late."  We might take pity on this man in anguish and want to say to Abraham, "Come on, at least just pull some strings up there and give it a try--dead guy coming to life...probably pretty effective."  But the message of Jesus is that it doesn't work that way.  And the message of history is that just because there are signs and evidences in front of people's eyes, they won't give their allegiance to the God who made them and then put the signs in place.  Pharaoh didn't give Him honor as God proved Himself time and again in Egypt.  The vast majority of Israelites in the wilderness didn't believe though the miracles performed before their eyes were beyond spectacular.  The same was true for those who saw the great things Jesus did, and the same is true today.  The call has always been, "Put your faith in God.  Trust in the Messiah."  If seeing somebody rise from the dead were enough to turn everyone's hearts in this direction, everyone would be saved by now (or at least would have been saved during the times when such miracles had happened).  But that didn't happen when Elisha raised a widow's son.  It didn't happen when Jesus "woke up" Lazarus, it didn't happen when the rocks were split at Jesus' death and corpses got their life back, it didn't happen when Jesus Himself, through His own power, gave life back to his rotting body.  The heart of trust must come through one's own inner death and resurrection.  A God motivated heart must be born in faith that Jesus is the needed Savior to rescue us from our sin of disbelief.  Cry out in faith to the Rescuer and quit waiting for another spectacle.  

God Motivation and the Stationary Prodigal

Look, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command, yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him! (Luke 15:29-30)  Who's that whiner?  It's the good boy, the guy who stayed to serve and work and make his daddy proud.  It's the arrogant boy, the young man who would rather see his little brother punished then restored and rejoiced over.  In short, it's the stationary prodigal.  Oh, we're aware of the story of "The Prodigal Son," and even if we haven't read the account in the Bible, there's a lot in the title that gives us a good idea of what happened.  But just for a refresher, here's what went down: Rich dad, two sons, younger says he wants his inheritance while dad is still kickin'.  Little guy (and older son) get the wealth divided between them and baby brother blows it all in Sin City, shortly thereafter hitting rock bottom, repenting, and returning humbly to dad who welcomes back his prodigal.  Enter: comments above from "faithful" big brother.  It's easy for me to read this story and mostly hear, "God (the father in the story) is a gracious God and forgives repentant sinners."  That's true and applies to me as a sinner, but it's not going far enough for me because I'm too much like the older son, doing what's right on the outside and trusting in my own goodness to make Father proud.  What that means is that I have to throw down some hate on the runaway who can't keep his act together.  After all, look at what happens when you're a bad boy; see all the consequences and all the problems you cause...for...me through your...existence!?  Even the argument breaks down without looking for the theological reasons of why I should rejoice any time I see God's mercy extended to the one in need.  Yep, I'm the older son, quietly seeking my own glory and praise.  I'm the one who forgets that a God motivated heart means coming to the Father like the "traditional" prodigal on an everyday basis in humble repentance, overwhelmed by the fact that there is any grace at all left for a whiner such as me.  And I'm the stationary prodigal who needs to extend the kind of love my Daddy shows when that trouble-making bad boy shows his face.