Category: New Testament

Posted in Hebrews, Matthew

Watch!

Posted on by Tom Flaherty

“Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming. But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into.” Matthew 24:42-43 

The word watch means to “keep awake” and be “spiritually alert.” (Vine’s Expository Dictionary) It is the main instruction Jesus gives to His people about the end times. So how does one watch?

First, I think it is important to realize how easy it is to fall asleep spiritually. The flesh or carnal nature is weak and when it’s in control of our lives we go to sleep. It can be hard to recognize you’re asleep because you can still be busy doing stuff, maybe even religious duties. But when we put our identity in doing instead of in the Lord Himself, we start falling asleep spiritually.

Jesus said we have to “keep watching,” so we have to ask ourselves regularly: Have I fallen asleep? Do I find myself compromising in situations that I wouldn’t have in the past? Have I stopped reading the Bible and praying on my own? Do I think most about this world or the one to come? Am I more concerned about what people think or about what God thinks? These are important questions because they warn us when we’re getting sleepy.

If you’re fairly certain you’ve fallen asleep then tell yourself it’s time to wake up. Sound the alarm and don’t hit the snooze button or turn it off until you are all the way out of bed. Take time to repent and ask the Holy Spirit to fill you again. Consider fasting a meal or a day to grab a hold of eternal life in a determined fashion. I’m struck by this verse in Hebrews, “There is a Sabbath rest for the people of God… so make every effort to enter that rest.” (Hebrews 4:9-11)  It really is a paradox – we are fully awake only when we’re resting in Christ’s finished work. Once we’re awake we need to “keep watching.”

Posted in Galatians, Matthew

Keeping the Bats Out 

Posted on by Tom Flaherty

“Now when the unclean spirit goes out of a man, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and does not find it. Then it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came’: and when it comes, it finds it unoccupied, swept, and put in order. Then it goes and takes along with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there; and the last state of that man becomes worse than the first.” Matthew 12:43-45

We had a bat problem in our house in Montevideo, MN. There’s nothing creepier than a bat slithering into your house and flying around in your bedroom.   I remember being awakened one night, and then commanded by my wife to “do something” while she left the room and made sure the door was shut. She snuck a broom back into the room a few minutes later, so I wouldn’t be completely defenseless.

The bat was dealt with that night, but the next morning came with a more difficult problem to solve: how did the bat get in? We ended up hiring a company who came out to bat proof our house. A few days later I was sleeping peacefully when I thought I heard something swooshing around the room. My first thought was a bat but I comforted myself that we had already solved that problem. Surely it’s only a dream.

I wasn’t dreaming. The morning after fighting with the second bat, I called the bat proof company and they assured me that they would come back out and that I didn’t need to be alarmed because this sort of thing happens all the time. He told me something like this: “When bats get evicted from a house they circle that home for up to three days trying to find a way back in. We will find the new way they snuck in and plug it and continue to do so until they find a different home.”

If you’re a believer, the enemy can’t possess you, but if you believe a lie he can bring oppression. When you and I grab hold of the word of God in any area he loses his hold temporarily, but he doesn’t give up easily. He will circle and persecute and test the truth we started believing because he wants his place of influence back.

When we actively believe the truth we plug up any holes that would allow the enemy’s influence back into our lives. Paul told us to “stand firm in our freedom and not be enslaved again to any yoke of bondage.” (Galatians 5:1) So stand firm in the truth and don’t let the bats back in!

Posted in John, Matthew

Shutting the Door

Posted on by Tom Flaherty

“When you pray, go into your inner room, shut your door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.” Matthew 6:6

Think about the words “shut your door.” Are we too available to this world and to the people of this world? Are we so connected that we struggle to shut the door on human contact to make ourselves fully available for fellowship with God? Bob Sorge says: “God’s not disappointed in you when you fail to spend time with Him alone; He’s disappointed for you.” He has so much to give us in the secret place. We lose our fear of man, we hear His whispers, He changes our desires, He adjusts our perspectives, He removes our weights, and of course, He hears our prayers.

Sometimes people do get alone with God and find their time disappointing because they don’t feel they really make a connection. Jesus said, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him.” (John 14:23) If you are a believer the Holy Spirit lives in your spirit and that is where God wants to meet you. Sometimes we close the physical door but we have trouble closing the door of our souls (mind, will, and emotions) so that we can really commune with God in our spirits.

Our emotions, anxieties, and continual thinking can keep us from true communion. Shut the door! Ask the Holy Spirit to help you and become comfortable with the fact that God lives in you. The challenge is to live from our spirits, so that the presence of God and the word of God dominate our souls instead of our carnal nature. When we take time to shut the door to have alone time with God it gets much easier to shut the door of our souls during the day when we need to drink from the Spirit.

The cool thing about disconnecting from this world and its relationships is how much more we will have to bring to them when we reconnect.

Posted in 1Peter, Matthew

God’s Timing

Posted on by Tom Flaherty

“Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God and in due time He will exalt you.” 1Peter 5:6

Timing is very important to God. We want everything right now. I remember when our daughter Christina was only about three years old holding up her cup toward me saying, “Daddy, get me some milk.” Wanting to teach her good manners I replied, “What do you say, Sweetheart?” I’ll never forget that cherubic face that seemed to be a contradiction to her demanding tone as she uttered only one word: “NOW!”

It is the pride in us that demands God and people to do what we want them to do, now. God is gracious and loves us more than we can imagine, yet He wants more for us than we often want for ourselves. We think about our short term circumstances while He thinks about our long term character. Our Father wants to break off our pride, so that we can take on the beauty of His Son who is “meek and lowly of heart.” (Matthew 11:29)

One way He does this is timing. In our text the words, “due time,” are a translation of the Greek word, “kairos.” “Chronos” is the Greek word that measures epochs and periods of time, but “kairos” is a specific point of time; “an opportune time,” “at the proper time,” or as the NIV translates, “in due time.”  They all mean the same thing: “In God’s timing.” Ours is to humble ourselves knowing that God’s hand is mighty and able to do whatever we have asked, if we will only wait for Him instead of trying to manipulate things ourselves.

The next verse gives us instruction on how to humble ourselves: “Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you.” We are to rest in His love and know that He is going to be active in taking care of what we have trusted to Him while we wait expectantly.

Posted in Luke, Psalms

The Lost Sheep

Posted on by Tom Flaherty

“Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it?” Luke 15:4

Jesus came to seek and to save the lost (Luke 19:10) and won’t take “no” for an answer.  When He invites people to follow Him and they choose to go further into darkness instead, He just keeps looking for them like the shepherd looks for his lost sheep, “until he finds it.”

If Jesus doesn’t give up on people then we can’t either.  If people don’t want to be found right now, pray for them, knowing that the time is soon coming when they will need Him.  We are to give this world a taste of His goodness and unconditional love.  God reveals Himself as “an ever present help in the time of trouble,” (Psalm 46:1) so let’s join Him in being present to people when their lives are hard.

If it’s difficult for you to envision God saving someone you know, remember that He saved you.  He kept looking, kept knocking, kept seeking until you finally gave your life to Him.  Remember those who were used by God to help you come to Him, and purpose to be that to someone else.

When I think back on how I came to the Lord, I am amazed.  There was so much darkness around me, yet the Divine pull was stronger.  He used so many different people and books to secure me.  It’s funny because my gratefulness to God doesn’t reduce my gratefulness to those He used to help me.  It really was God, and it really was the people He worked and loved through.

Posted in Matthew, Romans

Our Mutual Debt

Posted on by Tom Flaherty

“I am a debtor both to the Greeks and to the Barbarians; both to the wise, and to the unwise.  So, as much as I am able, I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are in Rome also.” Romans 1:14-15

How can Paul owe people he has never met?  There are two ways to owe a debt (Timothy Keller’s commentary on Romans): one is when someone lends you money and you owe them until it is repaid; the other is where someone gives you something to give to someone else.  Until you have given them what was entrusted to you for them, you are in their debt.  This is how Paul, and we, are in debt to all those who have not heard the gospel.  Think of when UPS is given a package for someone else.  They could be said to be in debt until the package is delivered and signed for.

To all those God has graciously saved, He has given a charge: “Go into all the world and make disciples of everyone.” (Matthew 28:19-20)  “Go” is to be understood as plural because He is speaking to the redeemed community.  Go together, and take the gospel that has saved you, and give it to everyone in the world for My sake.

I don’t like being in debt; but if I have a debt, I certainly want to know about it.  In Charles Dickens’ Christmas Carol, Scrooge’s dead business partner, Jacob Marley, appears to Scrooge as a ghost with a chain he must carry around as a punishment for how he lived on earth.  Scrooge feels the chain is unfair.

“You were a good man, Jacob.  A man of business.”

At this Marly screams his response, “Business!  Mankind was my business!”

Marley had a debt while on earth even if he didn’t own it.  We don’t get to bury our heads in the sand and say to ourselves, “that’s not my problem.”  If you are a real Christian, it is your problem.  We have a mutual debt to reach the nations with the gospel of Jesus Christ.  Let’s own it together and then pray to the Lord of the harvest, “Send us to fulfill whatever assignment you have for us to fulfill.” (Matthew 9:38)

Posted in Philippians, Psalms

The Key to Great Peace

Posted on by Tom Flaherty

“The meek inherit the land and enjoy great peace.” Psalm 37:11

The proud seek to be in control and are continually trying to get what they want. If they can’t get it now, they live in grasping anxiety that blames and complains about everyone in their way.

The meek of heart yield to the One who really is in control. They trust they will inherit everything God has promised in God’s timing, and find great peace in the assurance that God will have His way eventually, even if it seems darkness is winning right now.

A few verses before our text, David writes: “Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him; do not fret when men succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes.” (Psalm 37:7) This may sound like the meek are called to do “nothing” while evil is growing around them, but this is not the case. Here is our part when we those around us are making destructive choices:

  1. Patiently wait on God. We don’t pretend evil isn’t happening; we take that evil to God in prayer.
  2. Don’t fret because of the evil. We don’t just pray, we actually believe God hears us and that He will reverse the evil that seems to be succeeding in the short run.
  3. Walk in peace now. We don’t have to wait for everything to work out because our peace isn’t in our circumstances, it’s in our God.

The New Testament scripture that puts all this together for us is Philippians 4:6-7: “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

Posted in 1John, John

A World at Spiritual War

Posted on by Tom Flaherty

“I have given them Your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world.” John 17:14

When Morpheus offers Neo the choice of two pills in The Matrix he explains that the blue pill will put him back in his bed and back under the deception the world lives under. The red pill will give him the truth and a life of discomfort because he will see “how deep the rabbit hole is in Wonderland.” Neo said earlier that he sensed deep within himself that something was wrong with the world, but the reality of how bad it is will be shocking to him.

When John says that “…the whole world lies in the power of the evil one,” (1John 5:19) he is only expounding on the worldview of Jesus. There is something deeply wrong in the world around us beyond what the eyes can see. The spirit of the world, “the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the boastful pride of life,” (1John 2:15) is being breathed on by spiritual darkness that is in opposition to God and His rule. Human beings have been born into this conflict and every one of us has to choose each day whether we will pretend all is well, or to embrace the truth. If Neo chooses the blue pill, Morpheus tells him he will find himself back in the comfort of his bed and then he can “believe whatever he wants to believe.” A lot of that is going on today, even in Christian circles.

It becomes us to embrace the worldview of Jesus so that we will live wisely in this present age, and be a light to those in darkness. The only way those under the world’s spirit will be able to see Jesus is if we look different than them yet continue to love them. This is the challenge in a world at spiritual war.

Posted in Matthew, Psalms

Mary’s Worship

Posted on by Tom Flaherty

“In Your Presence is fullness of joy…” Psalm 16:11

Have you ever had a one-way friendship?  Someone you genuinely like, but whenever they contact you it’s only because they need something?  They are so busy and focused on their own lives that they may not realize they treat you like a means to an end instead of like a true friend.  Once in a while, true friends just want to be with you with no other agenda except to be together.  In our weekly prayer meeting we begin by emptying our thoughts, worries, and desires at the cross and just worship for a half an hour.  The goal is not to get something but to just be with Him.

What does God do during this time of concentrated worship?  It doesn’t matter because it’s not about us, it’s about Him.  No doubt He will transform us and bless us with a new joy in His presence, but that’s His agenda, not ours.  We just want to be with Him and pour out our worship and thanksgiving for who He is.  Even the disciples said, “Why this waste?” (Matthew 26:8), when Mary poured out her costly perfume on Jesus.  The great temptation of the church today is to make God and our worship a means to an end instead of the main event.  Please listen to Jesus’ response to Mary’s worship: “Wherever the gospel is preached I want this story told.” (Matthew 26:13)

Finally, in this act of worship, Jesus saw the response God is looking for to the gospel.  Abandoned worship that isn’t looking at its watch or at the crowd for approval; someone who just wanted to spend herself on Jesus for His sake.  I want to join Mary’s worship, don’t you?

Posted in John

Free Indeed

Posted on by Tom Flaherty

“Jesus therefore was saying to those Jews who had believed in Him, ‘If you abide in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.’” John 8:31-32

All that believe in Jesus are promised forgiveness, but only disciples are promised freedom. “I thought all believers were disciples?” Apparently not, because Jesus said to believers that they would only be disciples if they abided or continued in His word. Just because someone believes in Jesus doesn’t mean they have disciplined their lives to learn and live out of His truth.

What is the truth that will make us free? Jesus first talks about the slavery of sin and then gives the plan for freedom: “The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son does remain forever. If therefore the Son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed.” (John 8:35-36) A slave is only secure while he performs – his master uses him to get work done but makes no long term commitment. A son, on the other hand, is loved just because he was born. He is born into favor and has nothing to prove.

Jesus frees us by making us the very children of God. Knowing this in our heads may be the beginning of freedom, but it’s when we continue in this truth until the Father fills our hearts with it that we experience the “free indeed.” Are you living your Christianity from the privileged position of favored child, or are you still struggling to perform well enough to be accepted? Let’s persevere in the truth of our favored position until our hearts fully catch it and we become free indeed.