daily java

Daily Java:

As Jesus and the disciples left the town of Jericho, a large crowd followed behind. Two blind men were sitting beside the road. When they heard that Jesus was coming that way, they began shouting, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!” “Be quiet!” the crowd yelled at them. But they only shouted louder, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!” When Jesus heard them, he stopped and called, “What do you want me to do for you?” “Lord,” they said, “we want to see!” Jesus felt sorry for them and touched their eyes. Instantly they could see! Then they followed him.  (Matthew 10:29-33)

Nothing interrupts a good gospel sermon more than people wanting to apply God to their lives.

Here you are preaching away, giving great exegeses, good examples, all that, and someone interrupts asking for application to real life. The problem is that most preachers have trouble applying what they say to real life. To them, as it is to much of their audience, the sermon they are preaching is academic, a presentation of the word of God.

And many have adopted this approach to listening to a sermon. It is full of information, but lacks any real power in life.

A crowd is following Jesus, listening to him, but a couple of men get very vocal desiring a personal touch from God. The rest of the group is busy listening or visiting with each other, having fellowship.

The two blind men begin shouting for Jesus to see them. They are making a scene and people are getting annoyed at them. The crowd begins to yell back at them. “Be quiet.”

This just had the effect of amplifying the men’s desire to get to Jesus. The more people tried to get them to be quiet, the louder they got. They didn’t want sermons. They wanted Jesus.

Finally Jesus hears them and asks them what they want. They want to see. All they wanted was something basic and down to earth. They didn’t want wealth or position of power or glory. They just wanted to see.

Jesus healed them and then they became his followers.

Good sermons have their place, as does teaching. But Jesus himself said that he did not come to teach, but to seek and save the lost (Luke 19). His message was not an academic one, to be looked at and studied and dissected.

It was a message that was meant to be hands on, to be applied to people’s lives. When the men were touched by Jesus, they followed him.

They had heard of him, obviously believed in his power, but they needed a personal encounter with him. And there is nothing wrong with that.

Everyone comes to Jesus differently. Some people accept and believe easily. Others need the personal encounter. Some resist all their lives and finally come to him. Others come early.

But without the hands on part of the gospel, the gospel becomes nothing but schoolwork, nothing but words.

When God touches you through Jesus, then it becomes real.

daily java

Daily Java:  Then the voice that I had heard from heaven spoke to me once more: “Go, take the scroll that lies open in the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land.” So I went to the angel and asked him to give me the little scroll. He said to me, “Take it and eat it. It will turn your stomach sour, but ‘in your mouth it will be as sweet as honey.” I took the little scroll from the angel’s hand and ate it. It tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it, my stomach turned sour. (Revelation 10:8-10)

It is a stone fact that it is easier to read the word of God than it is to do it.

When you read, you feel noble, like you are doing what you should do. it makes you feel good and close to God to read his word, especially if you do it every day. It is a good feeling.

You memorize it so that it will be with you at other times when you cannot stop and read. You study the original languages so you have better understanding of all the nuances of the verses. You are a “right handler” of the word, because you really care.

Then it comes time to put it into practice. There comes the hard part. It is a fat lot easier to read than to do.

That is why Hebrews 4 says that the word is like a two-edged sword. In fact it says, For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account. (Hebrews 4:12-13)

When read it is beautiful. When followed and applied it hurts. The word goes down beyond the literary into the practical. It stops preaching and starts meddling. It speaks not just to actions, but to motives. And any time you start examining motives, you have trouble.

I was just reading this morning in Ezekiel 3. It says: And he said to me, “Son of man, eat what is before you, eat this scroll; then go and speak to the house of Israel.” 2 So I opened my mouth, and he gave me the scroll to eat. Then he said to me, “Son of man, eat this scroll I am giving you and fill your stomach with it.” So I ate it, and it tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth. (Ezekiel 3:1-2)

As God sends Ezekiel towards his ministry to a group of people who will not listen to him, he gives him what he needs: his word, or the knowledge of his presence. He says eat it. Like Jesus talking about his body and blood in John 6, we have to take it into us and make it part of us.

He eats it. It tasted great, but I would imagine that like John in Revelation, it landed hard. After all he was going to go to a group of people that just plain didn’t want to hear what was in the scroll.

That is just like the Bible when we read it. It reads pretty, but it hurts to apply. After all, we have to set ourselves aside when God talks.

I am convinced that so many love the old King James Version primarily because it just sounds so good. But the words and the language are so archaic that it doesn’t sound like something we can really understand, so we just enjoy the flow of words. It is all sweet and no bitter.

But the whole package has to be there. Unless we do it all, take the bitter with the sweet, we can have no part with him.