by Sal Huckel
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Read Matthew 3:1–12
Today’s passage invites us to the banks of the Jordan, where John the Baptist was preparing the way for Jesus’ ministry. His humble lifestyle and calls to repentance were already bringing the people to respond to their sins and be baptised by John in the river. Not surprisingly, also came the conflict with the Pharisees and Sadducees.
John’s reprimand and call to repentance is stark. We might feel that it was well deserved. After all, we do know much about the Pharisees and the Sadducees and their apparent hypocrisy. Paul himself was a Pharisee. While the Pharisees and Sadducees had doctrinal disagreements, they were united in their efforts against Jesus. Here, John’s warning is for them all.
What can we learn here today? We can study the baptism John was bringing, how Jesus’ baptism is the one we need and the meaning it has for us now to be baptised into Jesus’ baptism. We can also ponder what it means to ‘produce fruit in keeping with repentance’. How does that look? What do we need to repent of? We sometimes hear that Jesus simplified the Ten Commandments and that we don’t need to worry about all of those anymore; we are not ‘under the law’. However, Jesus said he did not come to destroy the law or the prophets but to fulfil them (Matthew 5:17).
Unless we understand God’s law, we cannot properly repent. We may feel the law is less prescriptive and onerous ‘since Jesus’, but if we begin to unpack the Ten Commandments and look at Martin Luther’s explanations – the Small Catechism is very helpful on this – we will see that they go further than we might expect. It’s a misleading idea that ‘Jesus replaced them’. Helpfully, rather like the ways in which it is best to teach children, Luther offers positive instruction to further expand on the negatives.
Start today with commandment number one: ‘You shall have no other gods before me.’ We don’t have to look very far to see the things that compete for our attention, love and trust. How can you fear, love and trust God above all things today? To produce fruit in keeping with repentance, we need to follow through with this.
Father God, help me to more fully understand the law written in our hearts (Romans 2:15) and produce fruit in keeping with repentance. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Sal is married to Pastor Matthew Huckel, and they live in Victoria with their six children, enjoying their ministry with Moorabbin–Dandenong Lutheran Church. Their two eldest children are excited to study at undergraduate and postgraduate levels during term time in Sydney. Theology, music, philosophy, literature and history are passions the family shares and explores together. Sal loves writing, speaking and walking to the beach at every opportunity.
Endure suffering
by Ruth Olsen
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… keep a clear mind in every situation. Don’t be afraid of suffering for the Lord. Work at telling others the good news, and fully carry out the ministry God has given you (2 Timothy 4:5).
Read 2 Timothy 4:5–8
In the past few days, we have been thinking about the costs involved in being a disciple of Jesus – being willing to lay down your life, rather than clutching on to it, and surrendering to Jesus as central in your life. In this letter to Timothy, Paul says his time on earth for doing that is nearly finished.
Paul has experienced his share of suffering, enduring beatings, stoning and, amazingly, being enabled to continue on his journey in sharing the good news of Jesus, even in a prison cell.
Difficulties and troubles happen in life. That’s just how things are this side of heaven. But because we are in Christ, by focusing on him, we are enabled to endure beyond what we thought was possible, walking with Jesus by the power of his Spirit one day at a time, even one step at a time, one moment at a time.
Keeping a clear mind amid difficulties and hardships is not easy, but keeping our focus on Jesus and asking him to enable us to see the situation from his perspective can make a huge difference. It’s like the difference between seeing the cross as an instrument of torture or as the place of Jesus overcoming sin, death and the power of the devil – for us!
Paul knew he had done what the Lord had asked him to do. Have we? Do we? Being ‘poured out like a drink offering’ involved a deep commitment to walking by faith. Paul is now focused on that finishing line and receiving the crown of righteousness awaiting him. And he calls his mentee, Timothy, to do likewise.
Lord Jesus, help us walk in your Father’s plans and purposes, one day at a time. We desire to honour you in all that we are and do – for your name’s sake. Amen.
Ruth lives in Adelaide, South Australia, with her husband, Steen. Peritoneal dialysis at night is now their settled ‘new normal’. Ruth says, ‘It is in the challenges of life where we grow in recognising the Lord’s enabling and faithfulness. Like the psalmist, we grow in knowing the goodness of the Lord’s love and his great mercy. All praise be to him!’
The cost of being a disciple
by Ruth Olsen
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If anyone comes to me and does not hate [… their family] – yes, even their own life – such a person cannot be my disciple (Luke 14:26).
Read Luke 14:25–35
Families are God’s idea and God’s creation. He has created us as social beings who need others. We are meant to help and encourage each other. When that happens, joy can flow. When it doesn’t, sorrow can flow.
Why would Jesus say we are to hate our family? That seems inconsistent, doesn’t it? Jesus loved his mum, Mary. He loved his siblings, though they may not have understood until later – likewise with his disciples.
To ‘hate’ one’s family is not about emotions but rather priorities. When we surrender to the lordship of Jesus, he becomes central and pivotal in our lives. As we yield to his ways of loving and caring, worked in us and through us by his Spirit, it flows to others and blesses them. He turns things the right way up for us as we learn to die to self, to yield to him, to honour him in all that we are and do. When we live in him and through him by the power of his Spirit, we are his disciples. Yes, that costs us too. After all, it cost Jesus everything, even his last breath, to open the way for us to be brought back into his Father’s family.
When family or our life is held on to more keenly than holding on to Jesus, things go wrong because we have put them in the place that rightly belongs to God. Once we awaken to this reality and say ‘Yes – thank you’ to Jesus and the life he gives, his peace can settle in our soul. This saying ‘Yes’ to Jesus is an ongoing daily choice. Then the focus is no longer on the cost of discipleship; instead, it is on him and our relationship with him, his presence with us each day to enable and empower us to be what he calls us to be. We thereby give him the glory. And we will grow in loving and caring as he works it in us and through us.
Lord Jesus, this sounds easy, but we can’t do it. By the power of your Spirit, continue to grow us in being your disciples. We bless you! Amen.
Ruth lives in Adelaide, South Australia, with her husband, Steen. Peritoneal dialysis at night is now their settled ‘new normal’. Ruth says, ‘It is in the challenges of life where we grow in recognising the Lord’s enabling and faithfulness. Like the psalmist, we grow in knowing the goodness of the Lord’s love and his great mercy. All praise be to him!’
‘Who do you say that I am?’
by Ruth Olsen
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‘But what about you?’ he asked. ‘Who do you say that I am?’ (Luke 9:20)
Read Luke 9:18–26
In this passage, Jesus moves from a general knowledge to the specific. Therefore, I put it to you also: What do people around you say about Jesus, and who he is? Who do you say that he is? Our answer to that determines what can unfold from there. We each need to give our answer.
Peter’s immediate response was, ‘The Christ of God’, in other words, the Promised Messiah! It may seem strange that Jesus then warned them not to tell anyone. The people were waiting for the Messiah, but their expectations of the Messiah were very different to those Jesus had from the Father. Peter recognised but did not understand. The people didn’t recognise or understand. They needed further teaching before Jesus could publicly identify himself. He had a crucial schedule to keep and would not be interrupted by premature and superficial reactions. Yet immediately, Jesus started predicting his death.
Words matter. Words are important. They carry life – and/or death. What you say about Jesus determines whether your life is lost or saved.
When we want to hold on to our lives, we can easily forfeit the life that really matters. When we are willing to let go of our lives, to place them and ourselves in the Lord’s hands and be available to him, we are likely to discover the fullness of life that Jesus alone can give us. We won’t find that by grasping, but by yielding to him, surrendering our will to his will for us. That is the risk and response of faith.
To follow Jesus requires self-denial, self-surrender and the obedience of faith that enables us to endure suffering, building our character through perseverance and hope that holds on to God’s love by the power of the Holy Spirit within us (Romans 5:1–5). Being available to him, the Spirit can work the Father’s purposes in us and then through us to others around us.
Lord Jesus, thank you that you ask me also who I say you are. Here’s my response to you [tell him in your own words]. Amen.
Ruth lives in Adelaide, South Australia, with her husband, Steen. Peritoneal dialysis at night is now their settled ‘new normal’. Ruth says, ‘It is in the challenges of life where we grow in recognising the Lord’s enabling and faithfulness. Like the psalmist, we grow in knowing the goodness of the Lord’s love and his great mercy. All praise be to him!’