Bottom line up front (BLUF): Do you wish to be great? The path may differ from what you envision.

Currently I’m reading a handful of books on significance. Why? Because I’m seeing a trend on the mission field, namely, that many people (younger people, esp.) experience feelings of insignificance. They feel they don’t matter—at work, at play, at home, at church, etc. Their reactions are often to create false images of themselves as important, influential, brave, and sought after. Many of these folks are being disingenuous and they know it. So, how does one speak wisely to such an issue?

The Folly of Secularism: The secular worldview has no transcendent unchanging standard by which to speak to this, of course. Since God is removed in secular humanism, all folks are left with is preferences. If someone experiences feelings of insignificance, too bad. “Suck it up, Buttercup!” talking points is what you can expect. Why? Because there is no objective, unchanging, righteous standard (God) by which to evaluate wisdom from folly in the religion of secular humanism.

Greatness God’s Way: Much of Jesus’s teaching in Matthew’s gospel is consumed with Jesus excoriating the scribes and Pharisees. Why? Well, they should have been the wise, humble, godly teachers and shepherds. Instead, they were foolish, cocky, defensive, ungodly theological bureaucrats who led themselves and their followers into destruction (see Matthew 23, e.g.). But will we listen to what Christ taught all who would be significant and even aspire to greatness: “The greatest among you shall be your servant. 12 Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted” (Mt 23:11-12, ESV).

Encouragement/takeaway: Did we catch it? “The greatest among you shall be your servant.” In a world where people are longing to matter, the secular reflex is to say, “Well, you do you,” whatever that’s supposed to mean. It’s a sort of bubblegum psychological band-aid devoid of substance. But the biblical worldview completely upends that and says to us: The reason you long to matter is because you do matter to God and to fellow pilgrims but human sin has alienated us from our Creator and Redeemer. In short, the bad news is that you and I are sinners, east of Eden, rebels against the Holy. But Christ is the rescuing, redeeming, atoning Savior for all who come to him in repentance and faith. And the way to experience your significance is to know you’re created in the image of almighty God who was, and is, and is to come. He knows the very hairs on your head and the very innermost recesses of your mind and soul. Use your best labors to honor him and those he puts in your path by serving him and others. Why? Because God delights in exalting the humble and humbling the proud.

Bottom line up front: The hubris of inexperience vs. the wisdom of experience and lessons learned.

Introduction: In some of my student days, I was blessed in particular by one of my professors being a man of remarkable giftedness. He was an OB/GYN doctor, a pastor, and a seminary professor. But perhaps more than anything else, he was a true shepherd. He loved us students; his actions made that clear. He invested in us. He was others-centered. If you’ll pardon the awkward syntax, he was very unfull of himself and focused on serving others.

Scripture’s Connection: This morning after PT, I was in said professor’s favorite book of the Bible–Leviticus. I used to marvel at how people could actually enjoy the book of Leviticus–until I understood and learned to see and savor Leviticus for what it teaches about holiness vs. sinfulness, about cleanness vs. uncleanness, about God-centeredness vs. self-centeredness.

As I read and thought this morning over what I was reading, I returned again and again to this: “You shall stand up before the gray head and honor the face of an old man, and shall fear your God: I am the LORD your God” (Lev 19:32, ESV).

Practical Questions of Application for Soldiers in the Military and Soldiers of Christ: Ever experienced trying to follow the lead of one who had positional authority but who was not ready to lead wisely? Sure, we probably all have. Some folks, by hook or by crook, may have titles, offices, or positions of leadership, but they don’t have the character or competence to lead wisely. They’re oftentimes full of themselves. Their aim is not to serve but to be served, the opposite of what Christ commands of his people: “even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mt 20:28, ESV). That’s what my professor-shepherd taught so well–how to be others-focused.

A second question comes to mind, too. Ever recognized a pattern of wisdom wherein a wise leader surrounds himself with many aged and wise and not just the young and ambitious? One of the men of old whose works I continually study penned this: “The young soldier may be more mettled and venturous, but the old soldier is more to be trusted because of his experience and skill. It is no small advantage to have been an eyewitness of the several appearances God has made for his church, and of several storms that have gone over her head” (Thomas Boston, A Complete Body of Divinity).

Encouragement/takeaway: What God is teaching through Moses’ pen in Leviticus remains practical wisdom: Welcome and heed the wisdom of the aged and experienced in your life. Look to them. Why? It’s not just because they’ve lived longer. There is (sadly) no lack of old fools. But there is, by God’s grace, also a body of precious, wise, Spirit-filled, others-focused saints in your midst. Honor them. Seek to learn from them. Listen to them. They’ve seen much but they’ve also learned much. They can be–and should be–your concern, too. May we have the humility to cultivate relationships with the wise in our midst. Or as Moses wrote, we should “stand up before the gray head and honor the face of an old man, and shall fear your God: I am the LORD your God” (Lev 19:32, ESV).

Question 1: Have you not heard something along these lines? “Fear is cowardly!” Or perhaps a Joshua-laden encouragement along the lines of, “Don’t be afraid; be of good courage!” Or perhaps, “Be a man! Don’t wuss out!”? I have. Endlessly. Often completely ripped from their proper context.

Proposal: God blesses (wise) fear.

Scripture: “Blessed is the man who fears the LORD, who greatly delights in his commandments!” (Psalm 112:1, ESV).

Question 2: When’s the last time you heard that taught accurately?

Teaching: The Lord does not solicit pittances or sham honesty. He actually vomits such overtures. There’s a biblical picture for you (Rev. 3:16).

The Lord says to his people that he blesses wise fear. Why? Because once one comes into true recognition of who God is, he/she sees who he/she is, and is broken by the devastation of truth.

Encouragement: There’s no end of acting. (Actually, there is, but that’s for another article.) It’s among the world’s oldest professions, alongside others which go without saying.

Here is all I want to encourage us with for now:

God sees; God knows; and God is altogether holy.

Once we get that in our viscera, we will be changed to fear the Lord, as a wise person ought to and does.

Leave the fools and hirelings to entertain fellow fools. But as for the Christian, let him/her fear the Lord, and discover the benediction of heaven.

Bottom line up front: The devil loves distraction.

The enemy of truth loves to distract people. That way, forces of evil more easily slither in to steal, kill, and destroy (John 10:10). It’s easy to forget the most important truths. Therefore, let God’s people be those who remember accurately.

Historical context: I was studying Isaiah 22. It’s an “oracle” passage. Oracle in theological realms means a pronouncement/announcement from God. Today’s generation might think of computer software when they hear the term “oracle.” Readers may think of Delphi in Athens, Greece. But an oracle in Scripture denotes a pronouncement/announcement from God. Oracles divide into two types: oracles of weal/blessing and oracles of woe/judgment.

Isaiah 22 is an oracle concerning Jerusalem in the 700s B.C. Guess what it was about? You guessed it. The people had forgotten God. They suppressed the truth of God. They took the blessings of water and prosperity as evidence of their importance, their name, their abilities. But God spoke an oracle to call them not to be distracted by the trappings of perceived blessing. He called them via his oracle to remember the fount of all blessing: God.

The oracle reads this way: “You made a reservoir between the two walls for the water of the old pool. But you did not look to him [God] who did it, or see him who planned it long ago” (Isaiah 22:11, ESV).

Encouragement/takeaway: It would be hard to think of a time when people can be so easily distracted. There’s seemingly no end to scrolling, memes, videos, etc. Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman remains a classic read for a reason. The devil loves distraction. Why? Because people can so easily default to self-worship, self-centeredness rather than the worship of God, God-centeredness, and selfless service.

God spoke via an oracle through his servant Isaiah to remind his people: Don’t fall for the distractions. Focus on God. Cut through the pretenders. Love good and hate evil. As Paul phrases it in the New Testament, “Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good” (Romans 12:9b, ESV). Don’t fall for the distractions; discern the true and enduring.

It would be utter folly to try and improve upon the pathos of the biblical account. Therefore, here is Matthew’s version of the crucifixion of the Christ. (A few of my comments follow the inspired text.)

As they were going out, they met a man from Cyrene, named Simon, and they forced him to carry the cross. They came to a place called Golgotha (which means “the place of the skull”). There they offered Jesus wine to drink, mixed with gall; but after tasting it, he refused to drink it. When they had crucified him, they divided up his clothes by casting lots. And sitting down, they kept watch over him there. Above his head they placed the written charge against him: THIS IS JESUS, THE KING OF THE JEWS.

Two rebels were crucified with him, one on his right and one on his left. Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads and saying, “You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! Come down from the cross, if you are the Son of God!” In the same way the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders mocked him. “He saved others,” they said, “but he can’t save himself! He’s the king of Israel! Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. He trusts in God. Let God rescue him now if he wants him, for he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’” In the same way the rebels who were crucified with him also heaped insults on him.

From noon until three in the afternoon darkness came over all the land. About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”).

When some of those standing there heard this, they said, “He’s calling Elijah.”

Immediately one of them ran and got a sponge. He filled it with wine vinegar, put it on a staff, and offered it to Jesus to drink. The rest said, “Now leave him alone. Let’s see if Elijah comes to save him.”

And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit.

At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, the rocks split and the tombs broke open. The bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. They came out of the tombs after Jesus’ resurrection and went into the holy city and appeared to many people.

When the centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and all that had happened, they were terrified, and exclaimed, “Surely he was the Son of God!” (Mt 27:32-54, ESV)

Encouragement/takeaway: Today I closed my office door and read Matthew’s account. No one who knows me will be surprised that I wept as I read it.

He told them exactly what they would do. And they did it all. He told them exactly who they were. And they proved it. He said who he was, and they mocked him. And yet he lived it out till the cross and even beyond the cross, just as he had said.

Here was the only truly fully good man ever. And the world system hated him because of that. It’s tragedy at a level unsurpassed. I don’t care if it’s in Milton, Dante, Shakespeare, McCarthy, Faulkner, Aeschylus, Euripedes, Sophocles, or another. I’ve studied them all. No one was like the Christ. No man ever spoke and lived like that–not even close.

For those who might find themselves within the hearing of the gospel this Sunday, pay attention. Even if the speaker is weak, unprepared, self-absorbed, or worse, don’t focus on that. Focus on the truth of the message: This God of consummate glory came for sinners. And as such, you qualify. Listen to him; study him; read his Word. And come. You are welcome.

Three main images/places/events fill the pages of Scripture on Thursday of Holy Week:

• The Last Supper (Passover)
• Jesus’ Upper Room Discourse
• Jesus’ Prayer in Gethsemane.

In a few hours, Jesus would be betrayed for a month’s wages, arrested, subjected to a mock trial, condemned, shamed publicly, scourged, stripped, crowned with thorns, spat upon, and nailed to the wood.

Matthew’s account reads as follows:

Then Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to his disciples, “Sit here, while I go over there and pray.” 37 And taking with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, he began to be sorrowful and troubled. 38 Then he said to them, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here, and watch with me.” 39 And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.” 40 And he came to the disciples and found them sleeping. And he said to Peter, “So, could you not watch with me one hour? 41 Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” 42 Again, for the second time, he went away and prayed, “My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done.” 43 And again he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy. 44 So, leaving them again, he went away and prayed for the third time, saying the same words again. 45 Then he came to the disciples and said to them, “Sleep and take your rest later on. See, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. 46 Rise, let us be going; see, my betrayer is at hand.” (Mt 26:36-46, ESV).

In Matthew 26, we see how Jesus prayed in his familiar spot in Gethsemane. Judas knew Jesus would be there. And in John 13-17, we see Jesus wash his disciples’ feet, predict Judas’ betrayal, and continue his discourse about the exclusive salvation wrought by Christ alone by grace alone through faith alone.

In Luke 22, we see Jesus teach his followers the gospel and how he is the Lamb slain from before the foundation of the world, and that the Old Testament promises are fulfilled in him (Christ) and his church, the true Israel of God, and Christ institutes the Lord’s Supper with his disciples.

It all coheres. The entire biblical narrative fits together seamlessly because it is one coherent story. When Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper with his followers, he connected the theological doctrines regarding the Suffering Servant and spotless Lamb from Isaiah 53 to himself.

When he taught the disciples in the Upper Room, it was gospel 101—how we sinners are under just judgment, but that Christ is the substitutionary atonement for all who come to him in repentance and faith. And when Christ prayed at Gethsemane and his betrayer did what he did, again it was all in precise fulfillment of the Old Testament (Psalm 41:9; Zechariah 11:12-13, e.g.).

Encouragement/takeaway: If I were an honest skeptic of the Christian faith, I would be drawn to this. Why? Because truth is what matters most to me. If Christ was and is who he demonstrated himself to be, then, as Flannery O’Connor’s character said in “A Good Man Is Hard to Find, “If [Jesus] did what He said, then it’s nothing for you to do but thow (ibid.) away everything and follow Him.”

O’Connor put those words in the mouth of a very sinful character. But as with most things, O’Connor was spot-on, bull’s-eye in her stories. Why? Because all of us must deal with the truth claims and evidence of Christ and the Scriptures.

We can ignore them, suppress them, and mock them, but truth has a way of conquering those who might labor to bury it–even bury it in a tomb in Jerusalem, Israel 2,000+ years ago. After all, Resurrection Day (Sunday) was coming. Again, just as foretold.

Just two days remained before Jesus would go to the cross.

It was Wednesday. Matthew 26 is riveting in its pathos:

When Jesus had finished all these sayings, he said to his disciples, “You know that after two days the Passover is coming, and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified.”

Then the chief priests and the elders of the people gathered in the palace of the high priest, whose name was Caiaphas, and plotted together in order to arrest Jesus by stealth and kill him. But they said, “Not during the feast, lest there be an uproar among the people. (Mt 26:1-5, ESV)

Historical Context: Jesus taught in the temple for days: “And every day he was teaching in the temple, but at night he went out and lodged on the mount called Olivet. And early in the morning all the people came to him in the temple to hear him” (Lk 21:37-38, ESV).

People recognized that no one taught like this. Jesus’ authority was clearly superior to the false religious leaders of the corrupt system of his day. That’s why the entrenched system of self-serving religious hypocrites hated Jesus; he (Christ) called their bluff. He saw through them, and they hated him for that reality.

And yet Christ would die for the ungodly.

The chief priests and the elders, Matthew writes, “plotted together in order to arrest Jesus by stealth and kill him” (Mt 26:4, ESV). Catch that? By stealth. Secretive schemers. Conniving murderers. The innocent Lamb of God was being betrayed, framed, and subjected to a bogus arrest and mock trial, and it was all unfolding per the direct sovereign hand of God.

As Peter says it, “this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men” (Acts 2:23, ESV).

In other words, God used the evil of men to bring about the redemption of all who repent and believe upon Christ. The men are responsible for their choices, their evil. And yet God would use it all to redeem a particular people for himself.

In two days, Jesus would carry his cross as far as he was humanly able, until another had to help him. He had been beaten and scourged so profoundly, he was the flayed suffering servant. And yet he would complete his mission. The cross was still ahead for him.

The Last Supper was coming. And Jesus praying in Gethsemane was closer now. And of course Judas’ ultimate betrayal of the holy.

This–all of it–fulfilled in precise detail, just as was prophesied and written.

Tuesday. This was the day Judas Iscariot made his damning deal. He conspired with the Sanhedrin to betray the Lord Jesus. Betrayal is perhaps the ugliest of sins. It reveals a toxic love of self over and against and in spite of goodness and beauty, truth and righteousness.

Even Dante in his Inferno pictures Judas in the ninth circle of damnation, along with Cassius and Brutus (among others), as men who betrayed royalty.

But Judas didn’t betray just any royalty. Judas betrayed the holy one, the righteous one, the King of kings and Lord of lords, the one who came, and bled, and died, and gave his life as a ransom for many–the Lord Jesus Christ (Matthew 20:28, ESV).

Here’s the way Matthew describes part of Judas’ treachery on Tuesday of Holy Week:

Then one of the twelve, whose name was Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, “What will you give me if I deliver him over to you?” And they paid him thirty pieces of silver. And from that moment he sought an opportunity to betray him (Mt 26:14-16, ESV).

I know of no one who names his/her son Judas. The name causes a bilious reaction of the normal person’s conscience. But Judases are still with us. There’s no paucity of those whose god is money, power, or applause from wicked men. There’s no lack of that type at all.

The marvel of it all is that Jesus knew Judas through and through, and still went to the cross.

This is why we should never get over verses like this one: “but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8, ESV).

Christ died for us, the ungodly ones.

And this year, may we go forward yet again, heralding that same message: “Come, ye sinners, poor and needy.”

Introduction: The world system scoffs, of course, but the tomb of Jesus Christ is still empty. No one has produced his body. And no one will. He will come again, just as he said. Holy Week is upon us. This is the week when Christians remember the passion/suffering of the Christ. On Monday, Jesus entered the city of Jerusalem, Israel, where he would go to the cross on Friday. But everything about the week unfurled in precise detailed fulfillment of prophecies. Even as the world system scoffs, it is nonetheless helpful for believers to know what happened. Why? It bolsters our faith that the events yet to be completed will also unfold just as written.

Matthew’s Record of this Monday in History: “In the morning, as he [Christ] was returning to the city, he became hungry. And seeing a fig tree by the wayside, he went to it and found nothing on it but only leaves. And he said to it, “May no fruit ever come from you again!” And the fig tree withered at once” (Matthew 18:18-19, ESV). This event symbolized God’s judgment upon Israel’s lack of faith and hypocritical religiosity. Where there should have been spiritual fruit, there was corruption. Where there should have been evidence of true conversion to the truth of God in Christ, there was lip service.

Then Jesus entered the temple in Jerusalem. And it wasn’t Jesus “meek and mild” or “gentle and lowly.” Instead, the Jesus of history flipped tables and made of whip of cords. He drove the hypocrites from the temple. He poured out the coins of the moneychangers in the temple (Mt 21:12:22; Mk 11:15-19; Lk 19:45-48; Jn 2:13-17). The world system hated him for it. Why? Because he testified that their deeds were evil. So, they resolved to get rid of him.

That’s just part of Monday in Jesus’s final week, Holy Week, as he entered the city where he’d give himself as a ransom for many on Friday. But much was still to come during that week of suffering. More to follow tomorrow.

Takeaway: Most folks will simply enjoy a day off from work and never connect the dots to the person and work of Christ in history in Jerusalem, Israel on Golgotha’s hill 2,000+ years ago. But the events of that week undergird the history of the world, and one day, each and every knee will recognize it in all its power, grace, judgment, and glory.

Introduction: I was reading the book The Daniel Dilemma: How to Stand Firm & Love Well in a Culture of Compromise recently. It was a gift from friends from Sunday school class. It was an easy read; yet it contained several nuggets of wisdom. One such nugget of wisdom was this: “. . . remembering that our days are numbered can keep us focused on making the most of the time we have.” That is well said. It calls Scripture to mind: “So teach us to number our days, that we may get a heart of wisdom” (Psalm 90:12, ESV).

Connections to Daily Life: Being separated from my family 6/7 days a week gives me a lot of time to realize just how much I miss them. I am profoundly grateful for my military opportunities, but at the same time, I do not relish the family separation it has entailed. I realize viscerally that time ticks only one way, that my time is fleeting. I won’t have opportunities to make up for time that’s elapsed. Our children have grown up way too fast, and I have missed way too much of that time. And that’s one of the reasons that little quote from the book sounded a chord in me: “. . . remembering that our days are numbered can keep us focused on making the most of the time we have.”

Encouragement/takeaway: When I was a student in university many moons ago, I remember watching a movie again and again, Robin Williams’ Dead Poets Society. Williams played the character of a classics/English instructor at a preparatory school for boys. I imbibed the film because it referenced scores of writers with whom I’m quite familiar—Shakespeare, Thoreau, Whitman, etc. One scene particularly gripped me. Mr. Keating (Williams’ character) had the boys look at the faces of boys who had passed through the prep school years and years before. Mr. Keating said to the boys, “Lean in and listen.” The boys, a bit confused by their teacher, thought it strange that their teacher would have them focus so much upon former students who were now long dead. Then Mr. Keating uttered into the boys’ listening ears: “Carpe diem, boys. Carpe diem. Seize the day. Make your lives extraordinary.”

Taken to an extreme, of course, that counsel would be folly. There’s a difference between seizing the day and burning oneself out: balance is crucial. But this little book from Hodges, coupled with the film from the 1980s, reminded me of God’s wisdom: “So teach us to number our days, that we may get a heart of wisdom” (Psalm 90:12, ESV).