Monday, February 28

Monday

Jesus continued:  “There was a man who had two sons.  The younger one said to his father,  ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them. “Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living.       - Luke 15:11-13

When I was about 6 years old I ran way from home (sort of).  I vaguely remember my mother telling me that I was not allowed to do something that I felt certain a 6-year-old boy should be allowed to do.  I felt strongly that her rules were totally unjust for a boy of my intelligence and maturity, and that I could no longer remain in such a restrictive environment.  I'd teach her a lesson, I would strike out on my own and experience the world the way a young boy was meant to – totally free and unrestrained.  Actually I don’t recall having any of those thoughts. I think I was just a mad and ornery little boy.  I packed a few things for my journey (comic books and cookies mostly) and headed out into the wide world.  I got as far as the end of our cul-de-sac and sat myself down under a group of pine trees in the corner of my neighbor’s yard.  After about twenty minutes, the cookies were gone, and I got tired of waiting for my mother to come looking for me.  I do recall wondering why she hadn’t organized a neighborhood search party or called the police.  Finally I got up and went home.  I think my mom probably knew where I was the whole time because she didn’t seem to worried when I walked in the back door.

Clearly the story Jesus told in Luke 15 was not a cute little tale about a young boy running away from home. But it is a story about what it means to leave home.  It is a story about selfishness, pain, and broken relationships. Jesus gives us a picture of what our rebellion against God actually looks like.  This young boy left home in every way that a person can leave home.  He left his physical home, his ancestral family home, his relational home, and the home of his faith as well. 

Most of us probably don’t think of ourselves as runaways from home, but the truth is that spiritually speaking, we have all leave home in one way or another.  We all reject the love of our Father.  We all demand our rights and want control of our lives – We all leave home.  In his book The Return of the Prodigal Son, Henri Nouwen writes that “leaving home means ignoring the truth that God has fashioned me in secret and molded me in His image…leaving home is living as though I do not yet have a home and must look far and wide to find one.”

If home is a loving and obedient relationship with the Father, then we have been running from our spiritual home since Genesis 3 when Adam and Eve ran and hid themselves from God in the garden.  We leave home whenever we doubt the truth of God.  We leave home whenever we reject the love of God.  We leave home whenever we fail to seek or to offer the forgiveness of Christ.  We leave home whenever we resist the work God wants to do in our lives.  We leave home whenever we think we know better than God and demand control of our own lives.  We leave in a thousand big and small ways every day. 

How have you left home?

What tempts you to run from your Father?

Father, Help me to know that my one true home is with You.  Jesus teach me that all of my running and wandering will never gain me what I already have in You.  Holy Spirit keep me from any thought or deed that would lead me away from my home with the Father – Amen.

Jeff Frazier

Friday, February 25

Luke 15:25-32

“Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. ‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’

“The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. But he answered his father, ‘Look, all these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours, who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!”

 “ ‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’”

So we come to the end of the week – and the end of the story – and the story does not end well for the older brother. The younger brother, the one whose rebellion and sin are so obvious, returns home confessing that sin and rebellion and begging to be taken back as a hired hand. He is embraced by the father, and the party begins! The older bother, whose outward life is one of model obedience, harbors his sins of pride, self-righteousness and hatred deep within his heart. When his father comes to him with the invitation to join the celebration, the sense we get from the parable is that he refuses.

What’s Jesus trying to say?

Remember that Luke says that the audience for this particular parable included both “tax collectors and sinners” as well as “Pharisees and teachers of the law.” It’s easy to see that the “tax collectors and sinners” would have identified with the younger brother in the story. They are people who have, in a sense, thumbed their nose at God and done their own thing. They are rebels; they are lost – spiritually speaking – and they know it. Some may not even want to be found yet! The “Pharisees and teachers of the law” were good people. They kept God’s law; they were sure to observe all the proper sacrifices; they did not see themselves as sinners and likely resented Jesus insinuating that they were as much in need of God’s forgiveness and grace as the tax-collectors and sinners!

And that’s the point. Younger brothers know they are lost; older brothers don’t. Younger brothers sin outwardly. Older brothers sin inwardly. Younger brothers don’t pretend to love God. Older brothers pretend. When younger brothers “come to their senses” – they repent. Older brothers refuse to repent because they don’t believe they have done anything wrong.

I believe Jesus is saying, among other things, that it is possible for an “older brother” to be in church every weekend and be every bit as lost as the “younger brother” who is still eating with the pigs.

So, as we come to the end of the week – have you discovered any “older brother” tendencies in your heart? My guess is that most of us, if we have spent most of our lives as Christians, have a little “older brother” in us. We keep score; we tend to judge – even if just a little; and we sometimes forget how to receive and offer grace. My God use the truth of this parable to remind us again of who we are, who he is, and to be sure to join the party!

Brian Coffey

Thursday, February 24

Luke 15:25-32

“Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. ‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’

“The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. But he answered his father, ‘Look, all these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours, who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!”

 “ ‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’”

O.K., so the older brother is prideful and convinced of his own goodness. He looks down on his younger brother and resents the party being thrown by his father just because the good-for-nothing little brother dragged himself home because he was out of money. But Jesus wants us to look even a little deeper into the older brother’s heart. He wants us to see that the pride and the self-righteousness are just symptoms of a much deeper issue – and that is, that he older brother despises his father more than the younger brother ever did!

Notice first that he forces his father to come out of the house to plead with him to come in. This is a blatant act of disrespect. Second, notice the accusation embedded in his complaint, “Look, all these years I have been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends…” He insults his father by accusing him of being a slave-driver and cheap-skate. Finally, he accuses the father of both favoritism and foolishness when he says, “But when this son of yours, who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fatted calf for him.”

What the older brother reveals at this point in the story – is that he believes himself to be superior not only to his wayward younger brother – but also to his own father. He doesn’t respect his father. He doesn’t love his father. He resents his father and serves him only in order to get what he so desperately believes he has coming to him.

Again, it is impossible to receive grace when you are demanding justice! The tragedy of the older brother is that he has been invited to join the celebration of his father because his younger brother was “lost and now is found” – yet, he insists on remaining lost himself.

Brian Coffey

Wednesday, February 23

Luke 18:9-14

To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable: “Two men went up to the temple top pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men – robbers, evildoers, adulterers – or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’

“But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’

“I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

Years ago my father had an elder in his church named Mr. Iker. Mr. Iker had been in that particular church forever – and had been an elder since before my father arrived as pastor. Mr. Iker was in church every time the doors were open, but he came to church alone. He was married, but no one ever saw his wife.

In those days my father’s church had a weekly prayer meeting on Wednesday nights. These prayer meetings were attended by only 30 people or so – but Mr. Iker was always one of them. My brother and I were in college at the time and didn’t often attend these prayer meetings – but when we did, we did so partly to hear Mr. Iker pray. I know it sounds terrible – but it really was a kind of “prayer spectacle” that is hard to describe. Mr. Iker would wait until almost the end of the prayer meeting, after others had all had the chance to pray, then he would clear his throat and launch into a long and very holy sounding prayer – almost always focused on his wife. It would go something like this:

“O God, thou knowest all things Lord, and thou knowest all I have been through with the woman you gave me as wife. Lord, thou knowest that she is sharp of tongue, O Lord, and that her heart is bitter toward me. Thou knowest that she persecutes me for my faith and refuses to worship with me; and thou knowest, O Go, that she often takes too much wine…”

In other words, Mr. Iker had a tendency to use his prayer to confess his wife’s sins. We would listen and think to ourselves, “No wonder the poor woman doesn’t come to church with him!”

Mr. Iker was an “older brother.” Mr. Iker was the Pharisee in Jesus’ story. He saw prayer as an opportunity to remind God of his own righteousness and therefore his right to God’s blessing. As a result, Mr. Iker came to church alone; went home alone; and pretty much lived his life alone – because his pride was insufferable and no one wanted to be near him!

I use Mr. Iker’s story here because it reminds me of part of myself. How easy it is to spend most of my energy justifying myself – my thoughts, my actions, my attitudes – while simultaneously judging those of others!

May God teach me – teach us – to learn to pray like the tax-collector in the story, “God, have mercy on me a sinner!”

Brian Coffey

Tuesday, February 22

Luke 15:25-30

“Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. ‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’

“The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. But he answered his father, ‘Look, all these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours, who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!”

Years ago, when I was still in my seminary training, I gave a short devotional to a group of seminary students from different denominational traditions. We were part of a CPE (Clinical Pastoral Education) training group serving for a semester as chaplains at a large suburban hospital. Once a week or so we took turns sharing a devotional thought with the group. When it was my turn, I used a quote from a book I had been reading that I thought reminded me that while I was called by God to serve others in ministry – I was still a sinner in need of grace like those I served. So I read the following quote:

“I am a part –time novelist who happens also to be a part-time Christian because part of the time seems to be the most I can manage to live out my faith…From time to time I find a kind of heroism momentarily possible – a seeing, doing, telling of Christly truth – but most of the time I an indistinguishable from the rest of the herd that jostles and snuffles at the great trough of life. Part time novelist, Christian, pig.” (Frederick Buechner, “The Alphabet of Grace”)

I followed this quote with Paul’s words in 1 Timothy 1:15-16:

“Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners – of who I am the worst. But for that very reasons I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his unlimited patience as an example for those how would believe on him and receive eternal life.”

My main point was that, as those who have been called to ministry, we – above all others – must remain deeply aware of our dependence on the grace and forgiveness of Christ!

Our devotional time was always followed by a time of feedback – usually relentlessly positive – offered to the student who had given the devotional. The feedback I received wasn’t very, uh, pleasant! The group was angry – no, furious with me! “How dare you,” said one woman in a voice quivering with outrage, “how dare you insinuate that I am a sinner! I have dedicated my life to helping others – I’ve never been so insulted!” And it wasn’t just her – one after the other each person in the group – including the supervisor – objected to what they saw as my “inappropriate assumption” about someone else’s sinfulness.

I tried to explain that it wasn’t really my idea – that this was the Apostle Paul talking about the very heart of the gospel – but to no avail. They were mad at me and they stayed mad at me.

Now, looking back, I think two things were going on there. First, the choice of the quote that used the word “pig” as an illustration probably wasn’t the best choice – given that the group was comprised mostly of women! But second, I think the group was comprised of a bunch of “older brothers” – that is, people who had become convinced of their own goodness and moral superiority. I think they may have reacted so strongly because I had suggested that, deep down, we are all were selfish and prideful and sinful, and in need of God’s grace.

The older brother in Jesus’ story believed that his father owed him something. He believed that he deserved better than his younger brother because he was better! He resented his father’s love and forgiveness for his brother because he had never really received it himself. He didn’t want to be loved; he didn’t want to be forgiven – he wanted to be paid what he thought he was worth.

And there’s the heart of the older brother’s sin. Deep down he believes he deserves God’s blessing and therefore he cannot bring himself to receive it as a gift of the father’s love.

May we – younger and older brothers alike – always be humble enough to be aware of our own sinful and selfish nature so that we may always be aware of the astonishing grace of God through Jesus Christ. For only as we marvel at his grace can we actually share it with others. 

Brian Coffey

Monday, February 21

Luke 15:11-32

“There was a man who had two sons. The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them.

“Not long after that the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that county, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.

“When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against you, I am no longer worthy to be called your son make me like one of your hired men.’ So he got up and went to his father.

“But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.

“The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’

“But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.

“Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. ‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’

“The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. But he answered his father, ‘Look, all these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours, who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!”

“ ‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’”

I am an older brother. I grew up in a home with two younger brothers; one just less than three years my junior – and a little brother who was born when I was almost 12. As an older brother, when I read this story, I tend to focus my attention on the sins of the rebellious younger brother! After all, it is the younger brother who demands his share of the inheritance early – thus effectively treating his father as though he were dead. It is the younger brother who then throws his money – and life – away on wild and scandalous living. It is the younger brother who winds up fighting with pigs over the husks in the feeding trough – and deservedly so! After all, isn’t that why this story is traditionally referred to as “The parable of the prodigal son”? The “prodigal” is obviously the younger brother – who wastes his life and resources on “prodigious” sin! Or is it?

Let’s go back and read the first line of Jesus’ timeless story again.

“There was a man who had two sons.”

“Two sons.” That’s how Jesus begins. And he begins that way because there are actually two prodigal sons in the story – as well as a prodigal father! In fact, I think if Jesus had a name for this story, he would probably have called it, “The parable of the father and his two lost sons.” As we learned last week, the word “prodigal” carries the meaning of “lavish, or extravagant, or even wastefully extravagant.” And as we dig into what Jesus is teaching us, we come to see that all three characters in the story are “wastefully extravagant” in their own way. The younger son is extravagant in his rebelliousness. The father is extravagant in his love for both of his sons. And what about the older brother? How is he “prodigal”?

The older brother is also prodigal because he is extravagant in his pride and self-righteousness. He is what Mark Twain once called “a good man in the worst sense of the word.” And there’s a good chance that if you read “10 Minutes With God” every week; and if you worship in a church most every weekend – that you have more in common with the older brother than you do with the younger brother – just like me! If you do have a little “older brother” in you – you tend to “keep score” – that is you tend to compare yourself with others and you secretly hope God is noticing how well you are “performing” for him! And, in the end, you trust that being “good” will pay off in the end.

Jesus tells this story because he wants both younger brothers and older brothers to know that he loves them – and that both of them need his grace and forgiveness in equal measure!

Ask God to help you hear what Jesus has to say to you through this story this week.

Brian Coffey

Thursday, February 17

Thursday

Then he said, There was once a man who had two sons. The younger said to his father, “Father, I want right now what's coming to me.” Luke 15:12-12 (The Message)

"Give me."  Throughout life, our human nature seems to scream out, "give me!" Our hyperspeed technological society wants everything "right now." We crave the instant gratification of our desires. Our entire culture is set up this way; drive thru windows, ATMs, one hour photos, same day shipping, quick loans, with the click of a button (or a touch screen) we can have access to just about anything and everything.  But have you noticed the more quickly you are satisfied, the faster you lose that joy?  Instant gratification is almost like a drug. "Quick - give me another fix!"

This condition of the human heart is not new, it goes back all the way to the beginning.  In Genesis 3:1-6 we read about how this selfish impatience first appeared; 

Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman,  “Did God really say,  ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”  The woman said to the serpent,  “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say,  ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”

 “You will not surely die,” the serpent said to the woman.  “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”  When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.

The serpent said to the woman (in effect) “Why wait, why follow such restrictive rules?  You can have all that you want right now.”  The sad irony is that God does want us to become like Him (Eph. 4:24), but not by demanding it or taking it for ourselves.  There are no shortcuts to God’s blessings!

In know a man who is a real estate appraiser, he has the unique opportunity to go into people's homes and meet a wide cross section of people in his community.  From the seemingly wealthy to struggling laborers, he has seen the consequences of the "quick fix" attitude of instant gratification in some of these homes. (Of course, not all home loan situations are bad.)  He has told me of how he witnessed the damage done to families by the "give it to me now" attitude; the abuse of credit cards and easy loans can be devastating.  My friend told me that the hardest part of his job is doing an appraisal on a repossessed home where children's toys are still lying around the house.  He told me that he can see the despair in some people's eyes as he enters their homes.   He listens as they tell him that their home has to appraise for "this much" so that they can pay off their five or six credit cards that are up to the limits.  More often than not, the home loan is not enough to cover the credit card and finance company debt.

The Prodigal Son story is just as relevant to the condition of the human heart today as it was over two thousand years ago.  The son is saying to his father, "give it to me now!  Give me right now, what is going to be mine later."  His impatience and demand for instant gratification eventually leads him to a place of utter brokenness and despair (sin always does).  Our sinful human natures drive us like that.  It's the "when and then" attitude.  When I get that promotion, then we will be set. When we get into that new house, then we will have made it.  As Christians, we know the only thing humans really need is a gift that is free.  Our problem is accepting the gift and using the power of the gift.  A relationship with Christ is the craving we really seek; it is a desire that will never be filled by anything or anyone else.

The Prodigal had the same attitude. "Father, give me what is mine now, and leave me alone to live my own life!" 

Lord help us to get out of the "give me" mode and into the "take me" mode with You!


Jeff Frazier

Wednesday, February 16

Wednesday

Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says,  ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’  I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.  - Luke 15:6-7

And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says,  ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.’  In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.  - Luke 15:9-10

What gives you great joy?  What events or moments cause you to celebrate?  When was the last time you called a friend or a family member because you were so excited about something that had happened to you? 

I remember when my wife became pregnant with our first child.  I was so excited and I couldn’t wait to tell people the news.  I wanted to celebrate.  I was especially eager to tell my mom & dad that they were going to be first-time grandparents.  Any parent can tell you that raising children gives you lots of moments when you want to celebrate (as well as some moments when you want to weep & wail).  Not too long ago I ran into a woman from our church that I hadn’t seen in quite awhile.  When I saw her I immediately recalled that her son had been in and out of drug rehab and had at one time run away from home.  In that instant I thought of all of the pain and agony that mother had experienced over her sons decisions.  I hesitated for a moment, and then before I could ask about her son, she said with a gleam in her eye, “have I told you about how ---- is doing?”  She proceeded to tell me with barely containable joy, about how God had brought her wayward son back from the brink and restored him to faith in Christ and to his family.

Have you ever wondered what causes a stir in heaven?  Jesus tells us that this same joy that a parent feels over their child is a glimpse of the great joy that exists in heaven.  There is a marked contrast in the verses above between the grumbling of the Pharisees Luke 15:1-2) and the great joy in heaven when the lost are found.  Heaven is already filled with joy, but when a soul surrenders to God, they throw a party!  The angels rejoice before God (by the way, someday we will join them - how cool is that?). 

There is a celebration in heaven when one of those who are lost opens up his or her heart and finds the living Lord.  You may have heard expressions about a party in heaven before, but Jesus tells us in no uncertain terms that this is precisely what happens.  They shoot off fireworks, they ring bells, they swing from the chandeliers (I don’t know if they actually have chandeliers in heaven but it is a good image).  It is a great celebration of unrestrained joy before God over a lost one that is returned.  What an amazing revelation of the heart of God!  God longs to see those who are lost recovered, whether they have wandered away, or whether they are lost right in their own home.

Peter tells us that the angels long to look into the matters of our salvation (1 Pet. 1:12).  The angels know the joys of God’s glorious presence in heaven, where those rescued by the Good Shepherd will spend eternity.  The things that make us happy and cause us to rejoice reflect our values or what is most important to us. Do we rejoice when our stocks go up and we make a huge profit?  Do we rejoice when we make a new purchase?   Do we rejoice when we see our name in print?  Do we rejoice when we hear of someone who turns their heart to God, or do we say, “Oh, that’s nice.”  God greatly rejoices when a sinner repents; so should we. 

It is easier for us to think of God rejoicing over somebody else who turns to Him, but God greatly rejoices when we turn to Him too!  Do you realize that?  God greatly rejoices over you!  If you have surrendered your life to Christ, then angels in heaven have celebrated in the presence of God because of you!  If you have wandered away from God and have returned, the Scripture says that is reason for a party in heaven!


Jeff Frazier

Tuesday, February 15

Tuesday

Now the tax collectors and “sinners” were all gathering around to hear him.  But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered,  “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” Then Jesus told them this parable:  “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it?  And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says,  ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’  I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.  “Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Does she not light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it?  And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says,  ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.’  In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”     -       Luke 15:1-10

It is easy to overlook the fact that before Jesus tells the famous parable of the Prodigal Son, He tells these two other shorter parables about lost things that become found; the lost sheep and the lost coin.  It is very interesting that of all of the animals that Jesus could have chosen for His parable, He chose sheep; not a dog, or a pig, or a monkey, or a peacock, it was a lost sheep.

There is something unusual about sheep. Unlike other animals they do not often deliberately run away.  A dog who wants to be free, given a chance, will bolt out of the yard at the first opportunity.  A horse or cow will do the same.  But sheep do not.  They only wander away, they do not mean to.  They just drift away without realizing it.  Thus Jesus has deliberately chosen an animal which represents people who are lost, but who never intended to be lost.  They never meant to be, and they don't know how it happened.  Without ever meaning to they wander off and suddenly find themselves lost, and they do not know how it happened.

Phillip Keller in his little book, A Shepherd looks At Psalm 23, says that you can watch a sheep get himself lost.  He is with the flock at first.  Then he sees some grass a few paces away that looks good to him so he goes over and begins to nibble.  Then he sees some more grass a few steps away and he moves a little further and then a little further.  He is concerned only about the immediate, and, little by little, he is drawn away without realizing it.  Suddenly he looks around for the flock, and finds they are nowhere in sight.  He begins to bleat and run around, but he does not know in which direction to go, nor how to hide - so he panics, he runs in circles.  Every shepherd knows that a sheep in that condition is utterly helpless.

This is the picture that Jesus gives us of what it means to be spiritually lost.  There are millions of people living for the moment, moving from one experience to another, without considering where they are really headed or why.  Eventually, they look around at their life and think to themselves, “Where am I?  How did I get here?”

Now one of the keys to grasping Jesus’ meaning in this parable is to reflect on how the shepherd responds to his lost sheep.  He left the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and went after the one.  That is most significant. It pictures the activity of God, as expressed in the person of the Lord Jesus himself. He left something to come and find us.  As Paul states it so beautifully in the letter to the Philippians, he did not count the fact that he was equal with God a thing to be held on to, but instead emptied himself, took upon himself the form of a servant, and was found in the likeness of men (Philippians 2:6-7). He left, and he came. You can see how beautifully this is fulfilled in our Lord's own ministry.

A wonderful example of this is how Jesus dealt with his Disciple named Matthew. Remember that Matthew was a tax collector. He belonged to this crowd of extortionists who made their living by overcharging taxpayers (see yesterday’s devotion).  He was one of the outsiders of society.  He had full pockets, but an empty heart.  But one day there stood before him a man whom he had seen and heard speaking, this man from Galilee, this stranger from Nazareth.  Suddenly the man turned and looked at him, sitting there behind his table, with all his money around him.  Those eyes looked into his eyes, and Matthew heard him speaking to him.  He could not believe it - that this man, who was obviously a prophet, should speak to him, an untouchable tax collector!  To his astonishment he heard Jesus say, "Follow me," (Matthew 9:9). And Matthew just left all the money, stood up, and followed him.  What he did next has always fascinated me. He came to Jesus and said, "Master, I have made a feast in my house for all my friends. Would you come?"  And Jesus went.  He went because there were gathered all the tax collectors that Matthew knew, ready to listen to him as he reached out to find these outsiders who were lost in the midst of their own wealth.

The final key to this parable is how the shepherd reacts once the lost sheep is recovered – he celebrates!  This reveals the value that God sets on lost men and women.  They are not worthless in his sight.  They are not written off, nor neglected.  They are made in his image. Therefore they are of unspeakable value to God.  They bear his own mark, marred, defiled, and ruined as that image may be, and he longs to find them and reach them and restore them!

So Jesus, in effect, turns the objection of the Pharisees around on them.  The question is not why does Jesus eat with Tax-Collectors and sinners?  The question is why don’t you?

Jeff Frazier

Monday, February 14

Monday

Now the tax collectors and “sinners” were all gathering around to hear him.  But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered,  “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”    - Luke 15:1-2

For the next several weeks our online devotionals (and sermons) will be centered on Luke 15 and the Parable of the Prodigal Son.  In order for us to get beyond our general familiarity with the basic story and grasp the depth of Jesus’ meaning in it, we must understand something about the culture in which it was told and the people to whom it was first addressed.

In just a few verses here, Luke gives us quite a bit of information about the setting in which Jesus told this parable.  There was a growing controversy surrounding Jesus wherever he went.  Jesus was becoming an irritation and a threat to the religious establishment of His day.  His teaching was a challenge to their understanding of God’s law and His miracles were a challenge to their moral authority in that society.  This would not really be such a big deal if it were not for the fact that Jesus was drawing a crowd wherever he went, people were listening to Him and gathering around Him.  Worse still was the kind of people that were gathering around Jesus, Luke says they were “Tax Collectors and Sinners”.  This was one of the major objections that the religious establishment had against Jesus.

While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and “sinners” came and ate with him and his disciples.  When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples,  “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and ‘sinners’?”  - Matthew 9:10-11

But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law who belonged to their sect complained to his disciples,  “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and ‘sinners’?”  - Luke 5:30

Who were the Tax Collectors and Sinners?  Many of us Sunday School types think of the “wee little man” Zacchaeus when we hear the term Tax Collector.   However, Tax Collectors were really a hated lot by the Jews.  At this point in history, the world is ruled by Rome, from India to England.  Rome was not all the togas and marble that you see in the movies. They were a ruthless empire. In fact, there are historical accounts of Rome conquering a city and then taking thousands of men, women and children, stripping them naked and crucifying them on the road leading up to that city for miles. So that anyone going into the city would get the horrific message, “Don’t mess with Rome!” They were a brutal regime.  Now if you rule from India to England and you don’t have an air force or you don’t have the ability to press a button and launch weapons, the only way you can govern a landmass that size is with a massive army.  How do you fund, supply, feed and train a massive army? Taxes. Heavy taxes on the conquered people, to pay for the army that was killing so many of their own people!

The second group that Luke mentions are the “Sinners”.  For us to understand “sinners,” we have to get out of the Western mindset.  Because we tend to think, you’re a sinner, I’m a sinner, everyone is a sinner. That’s not the case here. To the Jews of Jesus’ day, not everyone was a sinner, for them, “sinner” is marked as a specific class of people in society.  People that are deformed, diseased or whose profession is one that the Jews would have considered wicked.  So they were prostitutes, strippers, slave traders, thieves, or they had some kind of physical ailment that the Jews viewed as a curse being from God.

These people would have had the very clear understanding that they were not welcome in the religious circles.  They were not allowed to go to the Temple, they were not allowed to hear the Torah read aloud in the Synagogue, they were totally cut off from the religious life of the community.

I met with a man several years ago that had been in and out of prison and had led a very troubled life.  Over a cup of coffee, he said to me, “I am just not the kind of guy that God is interested in, and I have accepted that.”  This statement closely resembles the basic view of many of those who were gathered around Jesus.

Now stop and think about this for a moment…

In Jesus day, the moral and religious outsiders were attracted to Him and gathered around to hear His message, while the moral and religious insiders were irritated, annoyed and confused by Him.

I fear that for too many Christians, and too many churches the dynamic is exactly the opposite.  We attract the insiders to our religious club, and those on the outside continue to stay away.

The question is this – Is the church (our church) a place where outsiders and outcasts are made to feel welcome?  Are you the kind of Christ-follower that attracts those who might feel as though they are beyond the reach of God’s love?  If we claim to be followers of Christ then we should examine our lives by His standard.

On hearing this, Jesus said to them,  “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”  - Mark 2:17


Jeff Frazier

Friday, February 11

But you, O Sovereign Lord, deal with me for your name’s sake; out of the goodness of your love, deliver me.

For I am poor and needy, and my heart is wounded within me.

I fade away like an evening shadow; I am shaken off like a locust.

My knees give way from fasting; my body is thin and gaunt…

Help me, O Lord my God; save me in accordance with your love…

They may curse, but you will bless; when they attack they will be put to shame, but your servant will rejoice…

With my mouth I will greatly extol the Lord; in the great throng I will praise him. For he stands at the right hand of the needy one, to save their lives from those who condemn them.                                                                Psalm 109:21- 31

My brother, Joe, and I grew up in the same family and shared many of the same interests and passions. We both gave our hearts to Jesus at an early age – and sensed God’s call to ministry in our early 20’s. But when it comes to emotions – particularly the experience and expression of anger – we are polar opposites. Joe is more likely to express his emotions outwardly; I am more likely to hide my feelings somewhere inside myself. So as we were growing up I was often identified as the “patient one” while he was sometimes seen as the one with a “temper problem.”

Once when we were adults we got into a conflict about something and I said, something like, “If you wouldn’t lose your temper …” To which he immediately responded, “Don’t even pretend you don’t have an anger problem too!  You’ve punished me for years with your silence!”  In that moment we both realized that we were both right.  But, we were each focused on the other’s problem, not our own!

Whether our tendency is toward rage (expressing our hurt and anger outwardly and forcefully) or, toward bitterness (burying our hurt and anger deep in our hearts), the antidote is the same – confession.

Every step of spiritual growth begins with honest confession before God. Psalm 109 is best seen as a prayer of confession – not confession of sin – but confession of emotion, of pain and anger. David knows the only way to healing is through honest confession of his heart before God.

Notice the progression of his prayer.

He has named the wrong done to him (vs. 1-5).

He has expressed his feelings of rage and desire for retribution (vs. 6-20).

Then he moves to a cry for help.

But you, O Sovereign Lord, deal with me for your name’s sake; out of the goodness of your love, deliver me.

For I am poor and needy, and my heart is wounded within me.

Help me, O Lord my God; save me in accordance with your love…

They may curse, but you will bless; when they attack they will be put to shame, but your servant will rejoice…

With my mouth I will greatly extol the Lord; in the great throng I will praise him. For he stands at the right hand of the needy one, to save their lives from those who condemn them.                                        Psalm 109:23-31 (selected)

I am poor and needy.

Deal with me. Deliver me. Help me. Bless me. Save me.

You can almost feel the tension and anger draining from David’s heart as he pours out all his hurt and frustration to his God. The prayer he begins with - great agitation and pain – ends with worship and praise. This is the power of prayer as confession.

Anger is inevitable in human life. Sometimes that anger takes the form of rage and sometimes bitterness. But God is good enough, is big enough, and loves us enough to handle our anger – if we are honest enough to share it with him in prayer.

Ask God to use his word to help you grow in your experience and practice of prayer!

Brian Coffey

Thursday, February 10

In your anger, do not sin. Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold.

Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other just as in Christ God forgave you.                                          Ephesians 4:26, 31-32

Way back in the 1930’s a Chicago newspaper carried the strange story of Harry Havens. One evening Harry was washing dishes with his wife when Mrs. Havens scolded him for not performing his task correctly. For whatever reason, that was the last straw for Harry. He responded to what he felt was unjust criticism by saying, “Well, if that’s the way you feel, I’m going to bed and I never want to see you again.” And he proceeded to blindfold himself and get into bed. And, according to the newspaper article, he stayed there for seven years.

That’s bitterness!

While rage is anger expressed outwardly, bitterness is anger turned inward. Where rage is explosive and violent and often destructive; bitterness is silent and cold and every bit as destructive. Bitterness slowly strangles all relationships – with others and with God.  Scientists used to think it was safe to bury nuclear waste deep underground only to discover that it was so toxic that it leaked into underground water sources and contaminated everything it touches. So it is with bitterness!

In my experience as a pastor I have come to believe that bitterness is one of the “occupational hazards” of many, many Christian people. We love God and want to please him – and we don’t want to be angry. We especially don’t want to hurt others by expressing anger directly in the form of rage.  So we tend to pretend we aren’t angry and we try to bury those unpleasant feelings deep inside our hearts. The result, quite often, is a growing bitterness that threatens to destroy not only our joy but our relationships with others and with God. I think this is what Paul means by giving “the Devil a foothold.” The longer we hold onto our hurt and anger the more we allow our enemy to poison our hearts with bitterness!

So, how do we get rid of the toxic waste of bitterness? We must learn to pray like David prayed in Psalm 109. We must learn to express our hurt and anger in the safety and confession of prayer. When we turn our unpleasant and ugly emotions into prayer we find that those feelings lose some of their power. When we trust God enough to be honest with him we will find that he is willing and able to absorb our bitter feelings and replace them with healing.

So which is your “preferred style of anger”? Do you tend toward rage or bitterness? Are you carrying either in your heart today? If so, take some time to lay those feelings before God in the safety of prayer.

Brian Coffey

Wednesday, February 9

In your anger, do not sin. Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold.

Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other just as in Christ God forgave you.                              Ephesians 4:26, 31-32

Years ago my Dad was in New York City for some kind of meeting (we lived about 40 miles north of NYC while I was growing up). As he walked back to the train station following the meeting he was waiting to cross a busy intersection when he witnessed the following scene:  a stream of pedestrians were walking through the crosswalk while a line of cars waited impatiently for the light to change. It was rush hour so everyone was in a hurry. One of the pedestrians was a very well dressed man who appeared to be in his 60’s and was carrying a fancy, rolled-up  umbrella. The car in front of the traffic was shiny black Mercedes – a beautiful luxury car. As the man crossed in front of the Mercedes the driver allowed his car to just edge forward enough – in an attempt to get a jump on the light – to bump the man’s leg ever so slightly. The gentleman with the umbrella stopped in the middle of the street, glared at the driver through the windshield, glanced up at the traffic light which was about to change, and then slammed his umbrella on the hood of the Mercedes leaving an umbrella-shaped dent. He then turned on his heel and continued across the street while the light changed and the driver had no choice but to drive home with a reminder of the old man’s rage!

In Philippians the Apostle Paul mentions two forms of anger that are sinful and destructive: rage and bitterness. We’ll focus rage today and bitterness tomorrow. The man with the umbrella expressed his anger as rage! Rage is anger expressed outwardly and explosively. Rage is setting off 25 bug-bombs when one would do the trick. Rage is sinful because it hurts and destroys.

While we are all capable of rage, some of us are more prone to the expression of anger as rage than others – simply by personality. Those who tend to “wear their emotions on their sleeve” or those who are naturally more expressive may also tend to express anger outwardly. So how do we “get rid” of rage? Paul makes it sound simple – but our experience tells us it’s not that easy!

Read again David’s prayer in Psalm 109:1-2.

O God, whom I praise, do not remain silent. For wicked and deceitful men have opened their mouths against me; they have spoken against me with lying tongues.

He begins by identifying what other have done to hurt him. This is an important step in getting rid of anger and rage – we clearly identify and name the nature of the offense.

Appoint an evil man to oppose him; let an accuser stand at his right hand.

When he is tried, let him be found guilty, and may his prayers condemn him.

May his days be few; may another take his place of leadership.

May his children be fatherless and his wife a widow.  Psalm 109:6-10

David then moves to expressing his rage against those who have wronged him through a series of “curses.” He is clearly wishing that God would visit swift and severe punishment on his enemies – even death!

But notice that David does not actually attack the men who have mistreated him. He does not scream at them, or commit some violent act against them – nor does he bottle-up his pain and carry it around with him (more on this tomorrow) - rather, he expresses his rage in prayer!

The safest place to express our rage is with God. The only safe place to express our rage is with God!

When we combine Paul’s teaching in Philippians with David’s prayer in Psalm 109 we learn that the way to compassion and forgiveness passes through rage – and rage must be expressed through prayer.

Have you trusted God with your feelings of rage?

Brian Coffey

Tuesday, February 8

Appoint an evil man to oppose him; let an accuser stand at his right hand.

When he is tried, let him be found guilty, and may his prayers condemn him.

May his days be few; may another take his place of leadership.

May his children be fatherless and his wife a widow.

May his children be wandering beggars; may they be driven from their ruined homes.

May a creditor seize all he has; may strangers plunder the fruit of his labor.

May no one extend kindness to him or take pity on his fatherless children…

May the iniquity of his fathers be remembered before the Lord; may the sin of his mother never be blotted out.

May their sins always remain before the Lord…

May this be the Lord’s payment to my accusers, to those who speak evil of me.

Psalm 109:6-20 (selected)

All of us can remember playing the childhood game of “tag.” The game was simple; someone was “it” – and they were “it” until they tagged you – then you became “it” – and so forth. And when you got tagged, the easiest way to escape being “it” was to quickly tag the person who had just tagged you. If you were fast you could then get away saying “Tagged you back!” or “Got you back.” That always worked until someone inevitably would come up with the rule, “No tag backs!”

This part of David’s prayer addresses the natural desire of anger to tag someone back – the desire for retribution. David has been mistreated by those he once considered friends and he is both hurt and angry over the injustice. Here he records a series of “curses” against those who have done evil against him. Notice three things about these curses (read them again slowly).

I’m serious – go back and read the Psalm!

First, notice that David is not expressing a desire for personal revenge. Rather, he is wishing that God would do his job and deliver swift and serious punishment on those who deserve it. Second, notice that anger, pain, and the desire for retribution are dripping from every line. Third, notice that these curses are part of a prayer!

Most of us have heard about the “Hatfields and McCoys” – even if we don’t know the actual story of these two feuding families. The whole story began in 1878 when one of the Randolph McCoy accused one of the Hatfields of stealing one of his hogs. The tensions escalated until Ellison Hatfield was murdered by a McCoy in 1882. Then began a series of “tag-back” that resulted in 11 murders in 10 years – as each family felt the need to “pay back” the other.

While most of us avoid getting into such dramatic and violent quarrels, we do find ourselves far too often in a cycle of “pay-backs” in our own marriages, family relationships and friendships.

Why does David pray such awful things about and toward his enemies? Because he knows that it is much safer and healthier to bring those ugly thoughts to God – and to trust God’s judgment rather than his own – than it is to get into a “pay-back” cycle with his enemies.

Is there someone right now in your life that, if you were honest, you would really like to “tag back”? Can you turn that desire for retribution into a prayer? Can you turn that person and what they have done over to the God who can be trusted to judge perfectly? Make Psalm 109 your own prayer and turn over your hurt and anger to God.

Brian Coffey

Monday, February 7

O God, whom I praise, do not remain silent. For wicked and deceitful men have opened their mouths against me; they have spoken against me with lying tongues.

With words of hatred they surround me; they attack me without cause. In return for my friendship they accuse me, but I am a man of prayer.

They repay me evil for good, and hatred for my friendship.  Psalm 109:1-5

A number of years ago I came across the story of a guy named Steve Tran – who had a cockroach problem in his California apartment. He became so frustrated with both the cockroaches and the apartment manager’s lack of responsiveness to his concerns that he decided to get rid of the pests himself. He went to the local hardware store to look for a “bug bomb”, a product designed to kill insects with a toxic fog released over time. He ignored the instructions on the canisters that warned of fire or explosion if used improperly. He also figured if one bug-bomb was good – 25 would be better. He set off all 25 bombs in his apartment at once and left. When the fog eventually reached the pilot light of his stove – the explosion was so powerful that it blew his front door across the street and set all his furniture on fire – causing $10,000 worth of damage but failing to get rid of the cockroaches!

I’ve used that story over the years as a kind of parable for our experience of anger. Psychologists tell us that anger is an involuntary emotion – like sadness or fear – and is absolutely inevitable in human life. We all feel anger. And there is nothing wrong with feeling anger – for the Bible says we are created in the image of a God who also feels anger.

We feel anger for many reasons – perhaps most commonly in response to what we perceive as injustice or in response to personal pain. In both of these situations the capacity to feel anger can be seen as a gift. Think of the good that has come out of the “righteous anger” or “outrage” that Nelson Mandela or Martin Luther King Jr. felt toward racial injustice. Jesus used a kind of “holy anger” to drive moneychangers from the Temple because they were robbing people in the name of God.

When we feel anger in response to pain, whether that pain is caused by stubbing our toe in the dark or seeing our children mistreated, anger tells us something is wrong and we need to respond in some way.

But while anger is inevitable and can be good – it is also very, very dangerous. I think that’s why God has given us some examples of “angry prayers” in the Bible! Of the 150 Psalms in the great Book of Psalms – at least 10 are called “imprecatory Psalms” – or “Psalms of curses.” These are Psalms written in response to injustice or great personal pain. They are prayers filled with anger, resentment, bitterness and the desire for retribution. In a word, they are honest prayers!

David trusted his relationship with God enough to be completely honest in his prayers. He knows that he can’t trust himself enough to carry his anger and pain by himself! So he gets on his knees, or on his face, and he opens his heart – even the ugly part – to God in prayer. Did you know that you can do the same thing?

Take time to read all of Psalm 109 – and ask God to help you trust him with all of your emotions!

Brian Coffey