PASTOR’S CORNER, Pastor Phillip Dow, New Beginnings Church, Liberal
Exodus 40 deals with Moses setting the tabernacle up in the exact way that God commands him to. It seems overly perfectionist the way that everything had to be laid out in just the right way. Moses is meticulous to get it the way that God commands. Through a series of overlapping footnotes, you may end up (as I did) in Matthew 10, when Jesus sends his disciples out.
Something about this passage stood out to me. It FEELS different than other passages. Jesus is very direct, very candid, and not very Jesus-y as pop culture sees him. Then it hit me: if Jesus had only told the disciples about the good times and not the times of rejection, they would have been completely crushed at the crucifixion. They would have been even more lost at the ascension.
Perhaps you have grown up thinking that all followers of Jesus were required to wear a facade of happiness regardless of their true circumstances. I can assure you that after nearly 20 years of full-time ministry, the people around you are struggling, we know you are struggling, and it’s a little weird that you can’t acknowledge your issue. Jesus prepares us for sadness and happiness because we experience both ends of the spectrum of emotions. We will have good days and we will have bad days. God does not love us more on good days or less on bad days. He simply loves us and calls us to walk with him and toward him.
Can you imagine a man that you have witnessed healing the sick telling you, “You will be hated by everyone because of me, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved” (Matthew 10:22). This is the awkward and sometimes difficult truth of the message of Jesus Christ to the world. Sometimes standing for the right things means standing in opposition to the wrong things. Our lives are filled with purpose when we are defined by WHO we obey, rather than WHAT we hate. Jesus is pretty direct that following him starts with a free gift of salvation, but there is a cost to our discipleship. We must value his Lordship over our opinions.
Perhaps our 21st century Christianity is missing this Jesus. We like savior Jesus, but not Lord Jesus. We like “for God so loved the world” Jesus, but we want to ignore “I did not come to bring peace, but a sword” Jesus. Jesus came to save us from our sins, and that required the shedding of blood. Perhaps our reason for misunderstanding Jesus is because we wish to define him by our standards instead of allowing ourselves to be measured by his standard.
