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Necessary Adjustments and the Soil of Your Heart

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Ezra 1:1-2 Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia [almost seventy years after the first Jewish captives were taken to Babylon], that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might begin to be accomplished, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom and put it also in writing: 2 Thus says Cyrus king of Persia: The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and He has charged me to build Him a house at Jerusalem in Judah.

Imagine a cataclysmic event occurring in the United States in which every citizen is forced to relocate to Russia and live for seventy years. Then, following this time period, picture the prime minister of Russia proclaiming that their country would pay for every American citizen to return. All expenses paid. What would you do? What changes would have taken place in a persons life in those seventy years? One way to make this more pertinent is to visualize turning back the clock in our nations’ history seventy years. This would place us in the year 1955. I was born in 1963. Since that time I have graduated from High School, College, and Seminary. I’ve been married for 40 years, and have two married adult children, and three grandsons. All of my life would have been lived in Russia. English would not be my heart language – Russian would be. My parents were born in 1944 and 1945. That means my Dad would have been eleven years old when he was forced to move to Russia. My parents’ parents would have been in their early thirties. Their parents would have been in their sixties. That’s six generations of family members impacted by the move.

Now imagine the prime minister of Russia asking you to go rebuild a church back in America. What would you do? From the book of Ezra we can see that only three tribes responded in faith to the invitation. Out of twelve tribes only three chose to return: Ezra 1:5 Then rose up the heads of the fathers’ houses of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests and Levites, with all those whose spirits God had stirred up, to go up to rebuild the house of the Lord in Jerusalem. One fourth of the people chose to act in faith. Only one fourth of the people understood God’s call on their lives. Only one fourth of the people were willing to uproot their way of living and return in faith to God’s Word; His Promises; and His Prophetic Declarations.

We often criticize and judge the unbelief of the Jewish people. It’s no coincidence that in Jesus’ Parable of the Sower, or the soils, only one fourth of the soil bore fruit. Is there a correlation between Israel and the Modern day church? John 14:23 states that we are building God’s House with Jesus and the Father. But how is the soil of our hearts receiving the seed of God’s Word? Are we so entrenched with our families, and our way of life, that when the King summons us to build we choose to remain where we are, and as we are? You cannot stay the way you are and go with God. You cannot stay where you are and go with God. You must make the necessary adjustments in order to join God in what He is doing.

Chief of Sinners

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1 Timothy 1:15 This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. NKJV

Jesus tells a parable in Luke 18:9-13 that is truly reflected in the life of the Apostle Paul: He also told this parable to some people who trusted in themselves and were confident that they were righteous [that they were upright and in right standing with God] and scorned and made nothing of all the rest of men:10 Two men went up into the temple [enclosure] to pray, the one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.11 The Pharisee took his stand ostentatiously and began to pray thus before and with himself: God, I thank You that I am not like the rest of men—extortioners (robbers), swindlers [unrighteous in heart and life], adulterers—or even like this tax collector here.12 I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I gain.13 But the tax collector, [merely] standing at a distance, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but kept striking his breast, saying, O God, be favorable (be gracious, be merciful) to me, the especially wicked sinner that I am!

Paul embodied this message as his life and ministry progressed. In 1 Corinthians 15:9-10 he referred to himself as the least of the Apostles. Approximately 7 years later in Ephesians 3:18 he referred to himself as the least of God’s people. Approximately 2 years later in 1 Timothy, 5 years before he was beheaded, he referred to himself as the chief of sinners. What changed? Was he being insincere, feigning humility, to gain the approval of his readers?

Remember when the woman was caught in adultery and brought to Jesus to entrap Him? Jesus said, he who is without sin cast the first stone. What age group was the first to drop their stones? The old. Let that sink in. Why? They had read, studied and learned more Torah, and Prophets, probably longer than some of the young ones had been alive. They had prayed, fasted, given to God and the poor far more. They had gone to synagogue, and Temple, observed the feasts, and festivals far longer than any of the young. They knew more, and out performed, any of the young who held their rocks tightly in their clenched, fists of rage. But they also knew one thing that the young had yet to see clearly: they had failed God, themselves, and others miserably. The Apostle Paul understood life from this perspective.

Recently, I was engaged in a conversation with one of our younger church members. They had an equally young friend who was growing as a follower of Jesus. Somewhere along the way he picked up the doctrine that he could achieve sinless perfection before the Lord. My response in a nutshell was, he has read the Bible but how much of it has he attempted to obey? In Luke 18:18-19, five verses away from Jesus’ Parable mentioned above, a man approached Jesus regarding what he could do to obtain eternal life. He said: Good Teacher [You who are essentially and perfectly morally good], what shall I do to inherit eternal life [to partake of eternal salvation in the Messiah’s kingdom]? 19 Jesus said to him, Why do you call Me [essentially and perfectly morally] good? No one is [essentially and perfectly morally] good—except God only.

Jesus wasn’t saying that He wasn’t good, or morally perfect. But one thing He made crystal clear: No one is [essentially and perfectly morally] good—except God only. Only God is Good. Only God is Perfect. To claim either is to claim equality with God (and believe it or not there are some that teach that). What am I saying? Often I will say, I deserve to go below hell. Those who are “do-it-yourself” Christians become highly offended at that statement. They pity me. What they don’t understand is I fit in the category of the old pharisees above. I know more, and have experienced more than most. Because of that alone I have a higher responsibility. Because of that I have failed more than most – simply because of what I know, and how I know Jesus. I’ve sinned horribly, and disobeyed things I knew I was to do and not do. Do-it-yourself righteousness has a convenient way of excusing disobedience because of willful ignorance. They compare themselves to others – not Jesus – and congratulate themselves at not being like the other sinners. 2 Corinthians 2:12 addresses that foolishness when it says: Not that we [have the audacity to] venture to class or [even to] compare ourselves with some who exalt and furnish testimonials for themselves! However, when they measure themselves with themselves and compare themselves with one another, they are without understanding and behave unwisely.

The only trophy we are going to receive is Jesus and a crown, or crowns that reward faithfulness. Avoid the snare of patting yourself on the back, and collecting “trophies” for your Christian performance. One day we will dine with saintly nobility who have paid, unimaginable sacrifices, in order to simply love their Savior. In this life we pity them as paupers, but in Jesus’ eyes they are His royalty. When you are tempted to congratulate yourself for your performance – get some perspective. Read or watch what 75% of your brothers and sisters, around the world suffer to faithfully follow, and obey Jesus. You will hang your head in shame. (I have more than once)

Threshing Floors, Separation, and Christmas

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Genesis 50:5, 10, 13 My father made me swear, saying, I am about to die; in my tomb which I hewed out for myself in the land of Canaan, there you shall bury me. So now let me go up, I pray you, and bury my father, and I will come again.…And they came to the threshing floor of Atad, which is beyond [west of] the Jordan, and there they mourned with a great lamentation and extreme demonstrations of sorrow [according to Egyptian custom]; and [Joseph] made a mourning for his father seven days....For his sons carried him to the land of Canaan and buried him in the cave of the field of Machpelah, east of Mamre, which Abraham bought, along with the field, for a possession as a burying place from Ephron the Hittite.

2 Samuel 6:6 And when they came to Nacon’s threshing floor, Uzzah put out his hand to the ark of God and took hold of it, for the oxen stumbled and shook it.

2 Chronicles 3:1 Then Solomon began to build the house of the Lord at Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where the Lord appeared to David his father, in the place that David had appointed, on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.

I am often amazed at the symbolic patterns which are hidden within seemingly, insignificant verses. The reoccurring topic of the threshing floor is one that yields rich treasures of wisdom and truth. Consider again the story of Ruth which on the surface should be the last Scripture a pastor chooses for Christmas – but here we must arrive. Ruth 3:2 And now is not Boaz, with whose maidens you were, our relative? See, he is winnowing barley tonight at the threshing floor.

Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Rachel, Jacob, Leah, Boaz, Ruth, and David – all have one thing in common: the significance of the threshing floor. Why does this topic appear throughout the narrative? Threshing floors were used for one thing: separating. Separating through threshing (crushing), and separating through winnowing (tossing grain and chaff in the air).

In the Gospel of John Jesus refers to Himself as the Temple, and the Old Testament informs us that the Temple was built on a threshing floor. Thus the “rock” on which Jesus stands is the place of threshing and winnowing. It was the foundation of His life, and the path His feet walked. The threshing floor of Jesus is the foundation of the who’s who of the Hall of Faith. It is what Christmas is all about. John 3:19 The [basis of the] judgment (indictment, the test by which men are judged, the ground for the sentence) lies in this: the Light has come into the world, and people have loved the darkness rather than and more than the Light, for their works (deeds) were evil. His Light has entered our darkness. That by itself is separation. Are you cooperating with His process of threshing and winnowing the grains of His Word to rise in your life into Living Bread? Are you becoming living bread?

Happy Yom Kippur!

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What is Yom Kippur? The Bible refers to it as the Day of Atonement or becoming “at-one-in a moment” with God. An article on the website of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews reminds us, in more detail, why Yom Kippur was instituted by God. It states: Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, is the holiest day of the Jewish year and is the culmination of the High Holy Days. In 2024, the observance of Yom Kippur starts at sunset on October 11 and concludes on the evening of October 12. In Jewish tradition, Yom Kippur marks the final opportunity to repent before God before the Book of Life is sealed for another year. This day marks the culmination of the High Holy Days or Ten Days of Repentance, which began ten days earlier with Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. Yom Kippur offers Jews the final opportunity of the holy season to repent of their sins. Yom Kippur is the holiest day of the Jewish year or, as the Bible describes it, the “Sabbath of Sabbaths.” The Bible states, “This is to be a lasting ordinance for you: On the tenth day of the seventh month you must deny yourselves and not do any work—whether native-born or an alien living among you—because on this day atonement will be made for you, to cleanse you. Then, before the LORD, you will be clean from all your sins. It is a sabbath of rest, and you must deny yourselves; it is a lasting ordinance” (Leviticus 16:29–32).

The Yom Kippur Goats

“Then he is to take the two goats and present them before the LORD at the entrance to the tent of meeting. He is to cast lots for the two goats — one lot for the LORD and the other for the scapegoat.” — Leviticus 16:7–8 Today, Yom Kippur is marked with a day of fasting and worship in the synagogue. However, when the Temple stood, the people observed an elaborate service, culminating when a red thread representing the sins of Israel would miraculously turn white when they were forgiven. The service that once took place in the Temple was based on the commandments regarding two goats. Today, we only read about that service; however, it is imperative that we understand the meaning behind this ritual. Once we do, we can still benefit from the message. The Bible instructed the High Priest to select two goats and then cast lots to determine each one’s fate. By way of the lots, God would determine which goat would be consecrated to Him and which would become the scapegoat sent into the desert to die. The commandment required that the two goats be identical in appearance, size, and value. These goats would look like twins – the same on the outside – but their destinies would be completely different.

A Reminder of Jacob and Esau

The idea of twins that are opposite in nature is familiar in the Bible. Although twins, Jacob and Esau could not have been more different. Ultimately, as adults, they took very different paths in life, and Jacob became the father of God’s people while Esau became the father of Amalek – the nation designated by the Bible as God’s archenemy. The twin goats on Yom Kippur are meant to remind us of Esau and Jacob. The message of the twin goats is that while their appearance may fool men, there is no fooling God. He only determines their appropriate fate. “People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7). On Yom Kippur, we have an incredible opportunity for forgiveness. But in order for that to happen, we must admit our errors and resolve to be better. We can only do that if we are willing to uncover our greatest shortcomings and confront our hidden vices. We can fool others and even ourselves, but there is no deceiving God. Yom Kippur is a time to come clean. We need to take an honest look inside the places that only we can see. We have to determine where we have gone wrong and make amends. Only then can God cleanse us of our sins.

Through Jesus we are no longer under obligation to observe most of the Feasts and Festivals (Sukkot or Tabernacles will be celebrated during the Millennial Reign of Jesus). The Old Testament sacrifices were never enough to rid the people of the stain of sin and guilt from their hearts, nor did they have the power to change hearts. Hebrews 10:1-10 echoes this thought: For since the Law has merely a rude outline (foreshadowing) of the good things to come—instead of fully expressing those things—it can never by offering the same sacrifices continually year after year make perfect those who approach [its altars].2 For if it were otherwise, would [these sacrifices] not have stopped being offered? Since the worshipers had once for all been cleansed, they would no longer have any guilt or consciousness of sin.3 But [as it is] these sacrifices annually bring a fresh remembrance of sins [to be atoned for], 4 Because the blood of bulls and goats is powerless to take sins away.5 Hence, when He [Christ] entered into the world, He said, Sacrifices and offerings You have not desired, but instead You have made ready a body for Me [to offer];6 In burnt offerings and sin offerings You have taken no delight. 7 Then I said, Behold, here I am, coming to do Your will, O God—[to fulfill] what is written of Me in the volume of the Book.8 When He said just before, You have neither desired, nor have You taken delight in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings—all of which are offered according to the Law—9 He then went on to say, Behold, [here] I am, coming to do Your will. Thus He does away with and annuls the first (former) order [as a means of expiating sin] so that He might inaugurate and establish the second (latter) order.10 And in accordance with this will [of God], we have been made holy (consecrated and sanctified) through the offering made once for all of the body of Jesus Christ (the Anointed One). AMPC

What does this mean for you and I? Romans 3:23-25 Since all have sinned and are falling short of the honor and glory which God bestows and receives. 24 [All] are justified and made upright and in right standing with God, freely and gratuitously by His grace (His unmerited favor and mercy), through the redemption which is [provided] in Christ Jesus, 25 Whom God put forward [before the eyes of all] as a mercy seat and propitiation by His blood [the cleansing and life-giving sacrifice of atonement and reconciliation, to be received] through faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in His divine forbearance He had passed over and ignored former sins without punishment. AMPC

Jesus made atonement for our sins – making us one with God in a Moment! Jesus’ perfect sacrifice has reconciled all of us, who were enemies of God, to being rightly related to God. Jesus has made peace between God, the Father and all those who are willing to receive and trust God’s Gift of His Son. Paul reminds us that because of Jesus reconciling us to God you and I have been given a ministry and mandate to seek out others who need Jesus’ Atonement and be reconciled to God: 2 Corinthians 5:18 But all things are from God, Who through Jesus Christ reconciled us to Himself [received us into favor, brought us into harmony with Himself] and gave to us the ministry of reconciliation [that by word and deed we might aim to bring others into harmony with Him]. AMPC

Today we are reminded to give thanks for all the wonderful blessings Jesus’ Atonement has secured for us; to be reconciled to God through repenting of thoughts and actions that are an offense to God; to be reconciled to others, making a fresh commitment to seek to bring others into harmony with God (it’s our ministry). Set aside time today to seek God and draw near to Him, and as a reminder realize this is the day we are to Come Up Here in order to enter His Throne Room to worship, and seek Him for what is to come for the new year.

Choices

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Dear Sir: I am writing in response to your request for additional information in Block #3 of the accident reporting form. I put “Poor Planning” as the cause of my accident. You asked for a fuller explanation and I trust the following details will be sufficient. I am a bricklayer by trade. On the day of the accident, I was working alone on the roof of a new six-story building. When I completed my work, I found I had some bricks left over which when weighed later were found to weigh 240 lbs. Rather than carry the bricks down by hand, I decided to lower them in a barrel by using a pulley which was attached to the side of the building at the sixth floor. Securing the rope at ground level, I went up to the roof, swung the barrel out and loaded the bricks into it. Then I went down and untied the rope, holding it tightly to insure a slow descent of the 240 lbs of bricks. You will note on the accident reporting form that my weight is 135 lbs. Due to my surprise at being jerked off the ground so suddenly, I lost my presence of mind and forgot to let go of the rope. Needless to say, I proceeded at a rapid rate up the side of the building. In the vicinity of the third floor, I met the barrel which was now proceeding downward at an equally impressive speed. This explains the fractured skull, minor abrasions and the broken collarbone, as listed in Section 3, accident reporting form. Slowed only slightly, I continued my rapid ascent, not stopping until the fingers of my right hand were two knuckles deep into the pulley which I mentioned in Paragraph 2 of this correspondence. Fortunately by this time I had regained my presence of mind and was able to hold the rope, in spite of the excruciating pain I was now beginning to experience. At approximately the same time, however, the barrel of bricks hit the ground-and the bottom fell out of the barrel. Now devoid of the weight of the bricks, the barrel weighed approximately 50 lbs. I refer you again to my weight. As you might imagine, I began a rapid descent down the side of the building.In the vicinity of the third floor, I met the barrel coming up. This accounts for the two fractured ankles, broken tooth and severe lacerations of my legs and lower body. Here my luck began to change slightly. The encounter with the barrel seemed to slow me enough to lessen my injuries when I fell into the pile of bricks and fortunately only three vertebrae were cracked. I am sorry to report, however, as I lay there on the pile of bricks, in pain, unable to move and watching the empty barrel six stories above me, I again lost my composure and presence of mind and let go of the rope.

Choices. They determine the outcome of so many things. Some choices are weightier than others. Like who you marry, taking a job, buying a car or a house, etc. Then there are the lighter choices in life like, Do I want a third patty on this cheeseburger, buttressed by extra slabs of bacon? (Did I tell you I chose to do a Daniel Fast?) When you read the Bible you discover people making choices that have eternal consequences. Consider the temptations of Jesus in the Wilderness:

And the tempter came and said to Him, If You are God’s Son, command these stones to be made [loaves of] bread. (Mt. 4:3)

Then the devil took Him into the holy city and placed Him on a turret (pinnacle, gable) of the temple sanctuary. And he said to Him, If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down; for it is written, He will give His angels charge over you, and they will bear you up on their hands, lest you strike your foot against a stone. (Mt. 4:5-6)

Again, the devil took Him up on a very high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and the glory (the splendor, magnificence, preeminence, and excellence) of them. And he said to Him, These things, all taken together, I will give You, if You will prostrate Yourself before me and do homage and worship me. (Mt. 4:8-9)

3 Temptations, 3 Choices. The first was occupied with life. What do you live for? The second, what would you die for? And the final, and third choice: Who or what do you worship? Jesus made it clear what we should live: You should live for every word that comes out of God’s Mouth. Another way of saying that is to say that we should be living for a relationship with God. The second choice, requires closer inspection to understand what Jesus was referencing. In Exodus 17 the people demanded water to drink. Moses took note that they were trying, tempting or testing God. But then he adds another nuance: Why do you find fault with….? Not only were the people trying God, they were finding fault with Him. Are we willing to die not finding fault with God? The third and final choice rested squarely in Eternity. The modern church understanding of worship is that it is a song or posture. Whereas Scripture’s definition goes much deeper than that. Worship involved who or what you served. It was a lifestyle of sacrifice.

What happens in the wilderness, in the praying, and the seeking? What happens when you choose to search for Jesus outside the camp? You discover what you are living for, what you are willing to die for, and what or who you really worship. What choices have you been making?