Don Hamlin

Have you ever heard someone (or maybe you!) pray something like this, “Lord, for the hungry people in the world, I pray that you will help them find food.  Please meet their need so they will not go to bed without a meal.  Amen.”?

Well, as it turns out, the disciples prayed about the same thing when they spoke to Jesus, saying, “This is a deserted place, and already the hour is late.  Send them (the multitude) away, that they may go into the surrounding country and villages and buy themselves bread; for they have nothing to eat” (Mark 6:3b-36 NKJV).

Jesus’ response?  Just do it!  Actually, He commanded, “You give them something to eat” (Mark 6:37 NKJV).

The disciples must have been shocked when Jesus said that.  But to their credit, when Jesus told them to go and see how many loaves of bread can be found, they went out and found five, AND TWO FISH.  Apparently, in their going out to do the will of Jesus, they discovered that, “Hey, we might actually be able to do this.  Here’s two fish.  Hey little boy, get back here with those fish…”  Okay I made up that last line.

But the point is, when we are doing what our Lord has sent us to do, we are likely to uncover blessings, especially if our hearts are in it.  So what if they are small blessings.  They are just the things that magnify Jesus.  Little things like kind words, a sincere conversation, an unexpected gift, a friendly note of thanks, a little time, or secretly providing for someone’s need.

When we just do it, uncovered blessings abound – for everyone.

Paul writes in I Corinthians 5:6-8, “Your glorying is not good.  Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?  Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened.  For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us.  Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.”

God calls on His children to get rid of the sin that corrupts His good work in us.  That would be leaven, according to the Scripture here.  Because we are God’s workmanship, we are His unleavened bread – touched by His loving hands, sifted by His unlimited mercy, and purged by His Son’s blood.

He commands us to celebrate our unleavened-ness with sincerity and truth.  Sincerity, because our fellowship must be real and genuine, pure and clear.  Truth, because that is how we must worship Him.  Unleavened in this way, our gatherings, our feasts, are free from worldly ways.  Ours should be a pure and simple fellowship with Jesus and with each other.  Anything else is a recipe for disaster.

But there’s more in the Scripture.  For just before these verses, and immediately after them, Paul addressed the matter of faithful followers tolerating sin in their midst.  That is relevant today – in 2012 – because we don’t have the Biblical authority to do that.  But we do have the Biblical authority to put away from yourselves the evil person (I Corinthians 5:13).

There is no glory in tolerating sin or the person who has leavened himself with the sins of the world.

The Bible says, “Destruction comes; they will seek peace, but there shall be none” (Ezekiel 7:25 NKJV).

As much as we want world peace, war shall always be with us, even the very rumor of it (Matthew 24:6).  Likewise, as much as we want spiritual peace, war rages on within our very souls.  But the Mighty Soldier who is our God gave us freedom from tyranny, saving us from a personal government of sin.  He sent the greatest Man, Jesus Christ His Son, to wage war on the evil that was personified all around us and in us.  It was a battle only He could fight – one Man against the wickedness of worlds.

It was a battle to the death.  Both fell but only Jesus got back up.

He is sin’s deadliest enemy, tyranny’s worst nightmare.  And much more, as revealed in Revelation 19 and 20:  Jesus is our Rescuer.  The Omnipotent One.  The Avenging Husband.  The Lamb betrothed.  He is the Rider on the White Horse.  Faithful and True.  Righteous Warlord.  Nameless Monarch.  He is the Word of God.  Nation-striker.  The real Iron Man.  Angry Wine-treader.  Jesus is King of kings and Lord of lords.  Beast Master.  Dragon Slayer.  Master and Creator of the Universe.

No one or no thing in the universe can be all these things…  at once.  Only Jesus.

What do you think about this Afghan proverb:  If you think you’re leading and no one is following you, then you’re only taking a walk?  Jesus asked a similar question in Matthew 18:12.  What do you think?  If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them goes astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine and go to the mountains to seek the one that is straying? (NKJV)

Since my Lord asked this of His disciples, I’ll gladly answer.  I think that the shepherd as leader did well in leading 100 sheep.  At least one was bound to go astray and he knew it.  And when that one went off, the leader went after him – successfully I might add.

It says a lot about the shepherd leader.  It also says something about the straying one:  he is worth the search, worth finding, worth celebrating, and worth restoring to the group.  Of course, that is the point of Jesus’ parable.

But there’s always more when the depth of Scripture is sounded.  The shepherd leader did such a good job at leading that he could walk away from the 99 and search for the obstinate one.  The 99 were trained – they knew they jobs.  They knew how to find food, where to drink without drowning, and when to rest without worry.  They also knew that they needed not follow their leader into the mountains where the way was hard and danger lurked.  That was their leader’s job.  Their job was to keep order in the group as they followed without following.

That’s not only phenomenal followership, it’s phenomenal leadership.

I’m fascinated by the unnamed centurion who was in charge of executing Jesus.  At the end of his normal day’s work, there was something that moved this soldier to a life-saving confession when Jesus exhaled His last breath.

Here’s a man who ordered his cohorts to finish the ugly deed of executing the criminals they had just strung up on crosses.  Here’s a man who was stained with the blood of the crucified Man and who stood just feet away from His family.  Here’s a man who knew very well that this Man’s mother saw everything he was doing:  stripping her Son naked, pounding spikes into His hands and feet, raising Him up in humiliation for all to see, gambling for His clothes, hearing His last words, and caring not…  until the end.

Then, when the Son’s lungs collapsed and His great heart stopped beating, the centurion glorified God.  His was a confession of faith in the Man whose blood now soaked the warrior’s soul:  “Truly this Man was the Son of God!” and “Certainly this was a righteous Man!”  (Matthew 27:54; Mark 15:39; Luke 23:47).  You can’t glorify the Father this way unless Jesus has changed your life forever.

There’s no question about the salvation of a man who is diligently seeking to know the Savior, like the eunuch and his confession of faith in Acts 8:37:  I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.  It’s a done deal.  But what of the man who is suddenly ambushed by the Cross?  Was the centurion’s confession enough?

With the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation (Romans 10:10).  I say it was enough.  And when I meet the centurion in heaven, I think I’ll say to him, “The second Man…  He wouldn’t have done it without you.  Thanks.”

The blood of Jesus is unique, having man’s physical properties and God’s supernatural power.  His blood is red and warm, sticky and serous.  Blood that once flowed through the veins of Jesus at 98.6 °F.  Blood that still flows today.

His blood cannot be confined to days or dimensions.  It transcends time and space at the same time and for all time.  It defies all that could ever be known about hematology.  It washes clean the dirtiest and filthiest sins mankind could ever invent.  It doesn’t spoil, ever.  That’s the miracle of its life-giving essence.

It’s a reproachable thing that Jesus died – bled to death on the Cross – so that we could be forgiven of ugly sins and live forever.  But we must bear this reproach if we are to know Him as Lord.  It’s the Way, the only Way – a blood rite that must be experienced if one is to be a blood-brother to the Son of God.  Not just dabbing the repentant person here and there like a mother licking her fingers and wiping away grime from her little boy’s face.  This is a full scrubbing as if a sponge were dipped in some type of crimson cleansing agent, thoroughly white-washing away sin and its stench.

When a man believes in his heart that God raised His Son from being dead and when he confesses Jesus is Lord, the blood of Jesus washes him clean.  Then it cleans someone else, then someone else, with plenty to go around.  There’s beauty in the blood regardless of the curse of cross.

See:  Hebrews 13:12-13; Acts 24:14; Revelation 1:5; Romans 10:9-10; Galatians 3:13.

You can’t develop disciples by running into and out of their lives, or with capricious obligation.  It takes dedication, commitment, and energy – and usually sleepless nights, broad shoulders, and tough skin.  You make disciples by:
- standing your ground as a pastor;
- standing by your disciple as a mentor;
- standing strong as a boy develops into a man…  and for this, he’ll need a pastor and a mentor who know how to stand so strongly that when the smoke clears and the dust settles, and having done all, they are still standing (Ephesians 6:13).

If you’re not tithing, you are robbing God.  That’s what God said as recorded by Malachi (3:8-12).  I always thought that that meant we robbed God of money.  Well, in one way, that’s true.  Here are three ways we rob God – money, I think, being the least of things:

1.  We rob God of the provisions for His house (v. 10a) – Sure, He doesn’t need our money but it’s nice when the house of God, whether a building or a body, is properly maintained:  paid bills, cleaned carpet, and nice furniture; or good nutrition, healthy living, and well-read brains.

2.  We rob God of the pleasure to bless us (v. 10b) – The blessing comes to individuals, not to buildings which should be supplied by tithes!  Jesus proclaimed in Luke 12:32, “Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.”  That would be hard to do if the flock is not listening to and obeying the Shepherd.

3.  We rob God of proof of His Lordship (vs. 11-12) – Just to be clear, Jesus is Lord of ALL, whether or not a person confesses Him as Lord (one day everyone will confess but it’ll be too late for some, according to Philippians 2:9-11).  But wouldn’t it be cool if others recognize His Lordship because we are blessed by Him and a delight to Him?

Will a man rob God?  Yes, he would, if he’s not sold out to Jesus.  And that has very little to do with money.

I just returned from a good meeting in Kentucky.  Our keynote speaker commented on the two types of miracles Jesus performed:  miracles of transformation and miracles of multiplication.  I shared this with my 6th grade Sunday School class this morning and they spent a few minutes documenting Biblical examples, like when Jesus transformed water into wine, and turned sick people into well people; and when Jesus fed over 5000 people, and when the woman obeyed Elisha by pouring oil into all the containers her two sons could find.

It occurs to me that there is another type of miracle performed by Jesus:  the miracle of conversation.  Think about it.  Jesus spoke to thousands of people outdoors where the waves of the sea crashed onto the beach, and birds chirped loudly, and the wind blew regularly, and babies cried and children played (loudly).  And still, in every setting, the people heard Him.  It was a miracle of conversation.

Jesus continues the miracle of transformation, turning dead people (in their sins) into living people (in the kingdom).  And by virtue of the Great Commission, we’re to be about making disciples – multiplying believers for the work of the kingdom, at least according to the way 6th graders see it.  I happen to agree with the kids on this.

And the miracle of conversation still takes place, too.  We speak the name of Jesus and people respond to it in some way, either turning to Him or running from Him, or maybe just enjoying the Christian fellowship that comes with the territory of speaking the name of Jesus so that all may hear:  saved and unsaved, new believer and seasoned believer – enjoying the conversation that miraculously occurs when the name of Jesus is spoken.

You never know what will happen when the name of Jesus is lifted up out loud.

In Jesus’ teaching of the Parable of the Sower, one verse catches my attention.  It’s an easy verse to memorize but it speaks so much to the expectation Jesus has of every faithful follower.  In Mark 4:14 we read, “The sower sows the word” (NKJV)…  As Jesus explains it, that means in difficult places around the world…  in hard places of every day life…  in busy places where distractions rule…  as well as on good ground.  No place is ruled out.  And we don’t get to pick where we sow the word.