PASSION WEEK SERIES: A CALL TO REMEMBRANCE

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Then came the day of Unleavened Bread on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed. Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and make preparations for us to eat the Passover.”

“Where do you want us to prepare for it?” they asked.

He replied, “As you enter the city, a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him to the house that he enters, and say to the owner of the house, ‘The Teacher asks: Where is the guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’ He will show you a large room upstairs, all furnished. Make preparations there.”

They left and found things just as Jesus had told them. So they prepared the Passover.

When the hour came, Jesus and HHis apostles reclined at the table. And He said to them, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I tell you, I will not eat it again until it finds fulfillment in the kingdom of God.”

After taking the cup, He gave thanks and said, “Take this and divide it among you. For I tell you I will not drink again from the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.”

And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is My body given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.”

In the same way, after the supper He took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is poured out for you.”

Luke 22:7-20

This ends our reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

It was the last full day Jesus would have on earth, the fifth day in what is known as Passion Week. This day on the Christian calendar is also typically referred to as Maundy Thursday, the day Jesus shared the His final Passover meal with His disciples, which is why we find Communion often referred to as "The Last Supper".

The Gospel of Matthew tells us that it was the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread, a seven day period to commemorate the deliverance of the Israelites from their enslavement in Egypt (Matthew 26:17). And because the Israelites departed Egypt in haste, they had no time to make bread as they usually would. The bread was without yeast, which was also called leaven, and therefore the why we find “unleavened bread” in the festival title.

So given all this, we have the framework for the events taking place in our scripture passage today. It is Thursday, the fifth day of Passion Week, the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread, and the day that the Passover meal would be partaken. Let’s look again at our scripture passage from Luke’s Gospel to see what transpired and the call of Jesus to remember Him:

Then came the day of Unleavened Bread on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed. Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and make preparations for us to eat the Passover.”

“Where do you want us to prepare for it?” they asked.

He replied, “As you enter the city, a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him to the house that he enters, and say to the owner of the house, ‘The Teacher asks: Where is the guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’ He will show you a large room upstairs, all furnished. Make preparations there.”

They left and found things just as Jesus had told them. So they prepared the Passover.

When the hour came, Jesus and His apostles reclined at the table. And He said to them, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I tell you, I will not eat it again until it finds fulfillment in the kingdom of God.”

After taking the cup, He gave thanks and said, “Take this and divide it among you. For I tell you I will not drink again from the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.”

And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is My body given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.”

In the same way, after the supper He took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is poured out for you.” Luke 22:7-20

Since it was the day the Passover meal was to be eaten, we find two of Jesus’ disciples, Peter and John, asking their Lord where preparations for the meal were to be made, preparations that would require the sacrifice of a Passover Lamb. Ironically the next day, Jesus, the One John the Baptist proclaimed as the Lamb of God who came to take away the sins of the world (John 1:29), would be sacrificed Himself on Calvary’s cross so anyone who would believe in Him would have the opportunity for death to pass over them, not perishing but rather living on for all eternity in Heaven (John 3:16). In fact, when we look at Paul’s first letter to the church in Corinth, we find him sharing this:

“Your boasting is not good. Don’t you know that a little yeast leavens the whole batch of dough? Get rid of the old yeast, so that you may be a new unleavened batch—as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old bread leavened with malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.” 1 Corinthians 5:6-8

In response to His disciples’ question, we find Jesus giving very specific instructions to Peter and John, two of His most trusted followers who perfectly carried out the direction they were given. Indeed, things happened just as Jesus said they would as they met the owner of the house where the meal would occur and were led to a furnished upper room where all Passover preparations could be made.

Later that day in the evening, Jesus arrived with the rest of the disciples and they sat down to eat the Passover meal together. We should keep in mind that the disciples had no idea of what was going to transpire across the next 24 hours but Jesus well knew what was ahead. For before evening would fall the following day, He would be dead and catalyst that would propel Him down the road to crucifixion would be the betrayal He would suffer at the hands of one of the twelve who were dining with Him.

The scriptures show us that this wasn’t something that Jesus kept secret because when we study the other Gospels we find that He clearly identified Judas Iscariot as His betrayer (John 13:26). Despite this, Judas still went ahead and sold out his Master for a mere thirty pieces of silver (Matthew 26:14-16), the amount required to be paid to a master if their slave was accidentally killed (Exodus 21:32). It’s a sad testimony as to just how far he (Judas) had fallen into sin, taken there by none other than Satan himself (John 13:27).

Back to the Passover meal for with the disclosure of His coming betrayal out of the way, Jesus got down to what The Last Supper has been known best for, Jesus sharing the bread and the cup with His disciples while giving them a call to remember Him.

First, we read where Jesus took the bread and, after He gave thanks, broke it while telling His disciples that it symbolized His body which would be given up for them. The next day, this would literally happen as He would endure severe beating at the hands of Roman soldiers before being nailed by His hands and feet to a wooden cross and hoisted up to die in public humiliation. We need to always remember that Jesus suffered greatly to save His people, bearing all the judgment for sin upon Himself while paying the penalty that every sinner really deserved.

It was this suffering and brokenness that Jesus didn’t want His disciples to forget. Every time they would break bread together in Communion, present and future, they were to remember Him and the great substitutionary sacrifice He willingly carried out, purchasing the pardon of anyone who would simply place their trust and belief in Him as Savior. In the end translation, He died to a multitude of His disciples could gain eternal life.

After breaking the bread, we see Jesus take the cup, telling His disciples of its significance. For every time they would drink from it, they were to remember the crimson blood that poured out of His body at the cross, a shed blood that would wash them white as snow from their sins, a shed blood that would usher in God’s new covenant, not just for the Jews but the Gentiles (non-Jews) as well. Jesus’ sacrifice was the final one ever needed for the atonement of sins and anyone placing their trust and hope in Him would become a legitimate child of the God Most High and co-heir to His blessed Kingdom (Romans 8:9-17).

Friends, as the classic hymn reminds us, “Jesus Paid It All” and all to Him we owe. He allowed His body to be broken in place of ours and shed His blood, not ours, to bring atonement for our sins. So whenever we participate in the Lord’s Supper (or Communion or the Holy Eucharist…other names for this sacrament), we need to answer the call of Jesus to do it in remembrance of Him. It’s the least we can do to honor Him for all that He pain and suffering He endured to save us.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

GOODBYE TO AN EYE FOR AN EYE

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

“One witness is not enough to convict a man accused of any crime or offense he may have committed. A matter must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.”

“If a malicious witness takes the stand to accuse a man of a crime, the two men involved in the dispute must stand in the presence of the Lord before the priests and the judges who are in office at the time. The judges must make a thorough investigation, and if the witness proves to be a liar, giving false testimony against his brother, then do to him as he intended to do to his brother. You must purge the evil from among you. The rest of the people will hear of this and be afraid, and never again will such an evil thing be done among you. Show no pity: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.”

Deuteronomy 19:15-21

This ends our reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

In the closing verses of Deuteronomy, chapter 19, we find the Lord continuing to speak through Moses on the theme of justice as it applies to witnesses who might come forward and report crimes. The scriptures tell us that “one witness (was) not enough to convict a man accused of any crime or offense he may have committed”. Instead, the “matter (was to) be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses”.

In other words, one person could not come forward and make a false claim against another with the malicious intent of them being harmed.

So what happened if there was a conspiracy against someone? Couldn’t a person get others to say they witnessed the same thing he or she did in order to still get their way?

Well, that could have happened but we see where the Lord puts in a provision that would hopefully deter anyone from bearing false witness.

“The judges must make a thorough investigation, and if the witness proves to be a liar, giving false testimony against his brother, then do to him as he intended to do to his brother.”

The hope here was that the “rest of the people (would) hear of this and be afraid, and never again will such an evil thing be done among you”.

In the end, Israel was to “purge the evil from among (them)” and “show no pity…life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot”. The penalty was to match the crime. Nothing more, nothing less.

This mindset would last in the scriptures until Jesus came on the scene. During His first formal teachings during the Sermon on the Mount, He said this:

"You have heard that it was said, 'Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.' But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.”

“You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in Heaven. He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your Heavenly Father is perfect.” Matthew 5:38-48

Why were these teachings important?

Imagine if the “eye for an eye” principle had remained in place after Jesus was crucified. Anyone who falsely accused Him would have been subject to the same fate He went through. In other words, there would have been a lot of crucifying going on.

But Jesus didn’t come to destroy or avenge. Rather, He came to forgive and He did so out of love, even love for His enemies. In His life, Jesus didn’t just preach these words from the Sermon on the Mount and then not back them up. He modeled them perfectly just as He did everything else in life, and in doing so, taught His disciples, past and present, how to deal with the same matters ourselves.

Given all this, a few questions:

1. Have you been ever been wronged by someone in life to the point where you felt (or maybe still feel) the need to get even?

2. Do you find yourself looking for ways to make someone feel the same level of pain, hurt, and suffering that they brought on you?

3. Has someone made you angry to the point where you feel consumed and blinded by it?

If your answer to one or more of these questions is “yes”, I encourage you to go to the scriptures and see how Jesus handled what was the greatest injustice in the history of mankind. For after being wrongly accused, convicted, and sentenced; beaten and then nailed to a cross before being lifted up to die, Jesus didn’t strike out at those who were mocking Him. He didn’t ask His Father to send legions of angels from Heaven to kill everyone who had something to do with His crucifixion.

No, Jesus simply said these words:

“Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” Luke 23:34

Friends, if Jesus, the One through which we owe our identity as Christians, could do forgive in those circumstances, then we can follow His lead and do likewise. We need to forgive as He did just as much as we do everything in life as He did.

Today and every day, let us honor our Savior by giving thanks for the example He set and then commit ourselves to replicate His every thought, Word, and deed…and that includes forgiving our greatest enemies.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

OUR HOLY CITY OF REFUGE

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Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

In Christ, Mark

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** Follow The Christian Walk on Twitter @ThChristianWalk

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

“When the Lord your God has destroyed the nations whose land He is giving you, and when you have driven them out and settled in their towns and houses, then set aside for yourselves three cities centrally located in the land the Lord your God is giving you to possess. Build roads to them and divide into three parts the land the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, so that anyone who kills a man may flee there.”

“This is the rule concerning the man who kills another and flees there to save his life - one who kills his neighbor unintentionally, without malice aforethought. For instance, a man may go into the forest with his neighbor to cut wood, and as he swings his ax to fell a tree, the head may fly off and hit his neighbor and kill him. That man may flee to one of these cities and save his life. Otherwise, the avenger of blood might pursue him in a rage, overtake him if the distance is too great, and kill him even though he is not deserving of death, since he did it to his neighbor without malice aforethought. This is why I command you to set aside for yourselves three cities.”

“If the Lord your God enlarges your territory, as He promised on oath to your forefathers, and gives you the whole land He promised them, because you carefully follow all these laws I command you today - to love the Lord your God and to walk always in His ways - then you are to set aside three more cities. Do this so that innocent blood will not be shed in your land, which the Lord your God is giving you as your inheritance, and so that you will not be guilty of bloodshed.”

“But if a man hates his neighbor and lies in wait for him, assaults and kills him, and then flees to one of these cities, the elders of his town shall send for him, bring him back from the city, and hand him over to the avenger of blood to die. Show him no pity. You must purge from Israel the guilt of shedding innocent blood, so that it may go well with you.”

“Do not move your neighbor's boundary stone set up by your predecessors in the inheritance you receive in the land the Lord your God is giving you to possess.”

Deuteronomy 19:1-14

This ends our reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

One thing that we see God make clear in the scriptures is that He commands and expects justice. He sets the standard for this and does so in a perfectly just way, and as we see in our scripture passage for today, this included protection for the innocent which is the chief premise behind establishing “cities of refuge”. Look again at the opening fourteen verses of Deuteronomy, chapter 19:

“When the Lord your God has destroyed the nations whose land He is giving you, and when you have driven them out and settled in their towns and houses, then set aside for yourselves three cities centrally located in the land the Lord your God is giving you to possess. Build roads to them and divide into three parts the land the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, so that anyone who kills a man may flee there.”

“This is the rule concerning the man who kills another and flees there to save his life - one who kills his neighbor unintentionally, without malice aforethought. For instance, a man may go into the forest with his neighbor to cut wood, and as he swings his ax to fell a tree, the head may fly off and hit his neighbor and kill him. That man may flee to one of these cities and save his life. Otherwise, the avenger of blood might pursue him in a rage, overtake him if the distance is too great, and kill him even though he is not deserving of death, since he did it to his neighbor without malice aforethought. This is why I command you to set aside for yourselves three cities.”

“If the Lord your God enlarges your territory, as He promised on oath to your forefathers, and gives you the whole land He promised them, because you carefully follow all these laws I command you today - to love the Lord your God and to walk always in His ways - then you are to set aside three more cities. Do this so that innocent blood will not be shed in your land, which the Lord your God is giving you as your inheritance, and so that you will not be guilty of bloodshed.”

“But if a man hates his neighbor and lies in wait for him, assaults and kills him, and then flees to one of these cities, the elders of his town shall send for him, bring him back from the city, and hand him over to the avenger of blood to die. Show him no pity. You must purge from Israel the guilt of shedding innocent blood, so that it may go well with you.”

“Do not move your neighbor's boundary stone set up by your predecessors in the inheritance you receive in the land the Lord your God is giving you to possess.”

Deuteronomy 19:1-14

Here we find God commanding the Israelites to “set aside…three cities centrally located in the land” after entering Canaan. They were to “build roads to them and divide (the land) into three parts…so that anyone who kills a man may flee there”.

The reason this was important was that not all killings were intentional. Just as we see in present times, tragic accidents could and did happen but in biblical times, this unintentional killing of another would put a person at risk. They would face death themselves at the hands of an avenging family member of the deceased and this is the chief reason why God ordered for cities of refuge to be put in place for an innocent person who took a life by accident could there and be protected.

In our passage, we see an example given as to how someone might kill another unintentionally. We read a scenario where “a man may go into the forest with his neighbor to cut wood, and as he swings his ax to fell a tree, the head may fly off and hit his neighbor and kill him”. This man had no intent to murder his neighbor; the death happened by accident. Still, the scriptures tell us that danger loomed as an “avenger of blood might pursue him in a rage, overtake him if the distance is too great, and kill him even though he is not deserving of death”. This is why the city of refuge was needed…so “innocent blood (would) not be shed in (Israel’s) land”.

So what would happen if someone fled into the city of refuge even though they had killed with intent?

God’s Word tells us “…if a man hates his neighbor and lies in wait for him, assaults and kills him, and then flees to one of these cities, the elders of his town shall send for him, bring him back from the city, and hand him over to the avenger of blood to die”. The Lord makes it clear here that the cities of refuge were reserved for the innocent.

As I thought about the innocent and a place of refuge, I couldn’t help but think about our Savior, Jesus. We know He was innocent and yet was crucified on Calvary’s cross and on the surface, it would appear as if evil had won. But Christ’s death was necessary so God’s greatest miracle could be performed, raising His Son from the tomb, delivering Him from death to eternal life and back into the heavenly city of refuge from which He had come. From that point on, no one could ever pass a deadly judgment upon Him again for He ascended and was placed in honor at His father’s right hand, safe there until His glorious triumphant return when He would set creation straight and restore God’s order and justice to earth.

The good news for us is that Jesus opened the gates to God’s heavenly “city of refuge” for anyone who would believe and trust in Him as Savior. Christ’s victory over death was extended to us as well, not because we’re innocent like He was and deserve it, but because He has paid the penalty for us and purchased our pardon. He covered our sin debt with His shed blood, a blood that washed us clean and redeemed us while bringing the sure promise of abiding with our Savior and Father God forever. Further, in the holy city of refuge, the New Jerusalem, no enemy will ever be able to come after us ever again. We will be perfectly at peace because we are perfectly protected.

As we rejoice in this truth, let us give thanks to God for the gift of His Son Jesus, our precious Redeemer and Friend.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

BE CAREFUL WHO YOU LISTEN TO

Can I pray for you in any way?

Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

In Christ, Mark

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** Follow The Christian Walk on Twitter @ThChristianWalk

** Like posts and send friend requests to the author of The Christian Walk, Mark Cummings on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/mark.cummings.733?ref=tn_tnmn

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

"The nations you will dispossess listen to those who practice sorcery or divination. But as for you, the Lord your God has not permitted you to do so. The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own brothers. You must listen to him. For this is what you asked of the Lord your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly when you said, ‘Let us not hear the voice of the Lord our God nor see this great fire anymore, or we will die.’"

“The Lord said to me: ‘What they say is good. I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers; I will put My words in his mouth, and he will tell them everything I command him. If anyone does not listen to My words that the prophet speaks in My name, I Myself will call him to account. But a prophet who presumes to speak in My name anything I have not commanded him to say, or a prophet who speaks in the name of other gods, must be put to death.’"

“You may say to yourselves, ‘How can we know when a message has not been spoken by the Lord?’ If what a prophet proclaims in the name of the Lord does not take place or come true, that is a message the Lord has not spoken. That prophet has spoken presumptuously. Do not be afraid of him."

Deuteronomy 18:14-22

This ends our reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

As we have continued to read about God’s guidance to the Israelites in advance of their entry into the Promised Land, we have most recently seen Him instructing His people on what not to worship in Canaan as well as to who they should and shouldn’t associate with. As we love further into chapter 18, we see the Lord cautioning them on who they were and weren’t supposed to listen to. Look again at those words here:

"The nations you will dispossess listen to those who practice sorcery or divination. But as for you, the Lord your God has not permitted you to do so. The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own brothers. You must listen to him. For this is what you asked of the Lord your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly when you said, ‘Let us not hear the voice of the Lord our God nor see this great fire anymore, or we will die.’"

“The Lord said to me: ‘What they say is good. I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers; I will put My words in his mouth, and he will tell them everything I command him. If anyone does not listen to My words that the prophet speaks in My name, I Myself will call him to account. But a prophet who presumes to speak in My name anything I have not commanded him to say, or a prophet who speaks in the name of other gods, must be put to death.’"

“You may say to yourselves, ‘How can we know when a message has not been spoken by the Lord?’ If what a prophet proclaims in the name of the Lord does not take place or come true, that is a message the Lord has not spoken. That prophet has spoken presumptuously. Do not be afraid of him."

Deuteronomy 18:14-22

Here, we find God telling the Israelites that they would be dispossessing nations who listened “to those who practice sorcery or divination”, two practices that He didn’t permit Israel to be a part of. The Lord didn’t want His people listening to them and so we see Moses letting his brothers and sisters know who they were give their ears to. For it had been the voice of God that the people had heard ever since leaving their Egyptian enslavement and it was that voice (and that voice only) that they were to listen to in the future. That voice could be heard directly or as we see in these words, through an appointed messenger:

“The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own brothers. You must listen to him.”

Indeed, the Lord had told Moses, “I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers; I will put my words in his mouth, and he will tell them everything I command him” and He always does what He says He will do. In the past, He had spoken through Moses and would soon do the same through Joshua who would lead the Israelites into Canaan but many other spokespeople were to follow. Some would be legitimate while others would be counterfeit (i.e. false prophets).

So how would Israel know if they were dealing with a prophet who was truly speaking a message from the Lord?

The final portion of our passage answers that question.

For scripture tells us that if what a “prophet proclaims in the name of the Lord does not take place or come true, that is a message the Lord has not spoken”. This was the litmus test that served as an assurance for Israel, a way to know who they should and shouldn’t believe.

There would always be a potential danger that someone could come forward and lead Israel astray, falsely speaking on behalf of the Lord and so we find Him showing His people, past and present, how they could check the reliability, validity, and believability of the prophet. If what he or she (there were prophetesses in the Bible) said came true or took place, then the message was from the Lord. Otherwise, the message was false and fabricated.

Today, there are plenty of people who claim to be sharing messages from the Lord. Some even choose to label themselves as prophets or prophetesses. Unfortunately, as in biblical times, not all of them are legit and so we need to apply the same principles that we read here in Deuteronomy and test everything before we believe it or trust the messenger. The only difference is that we have the Bible which is the complete and inerrant Word of our Lord. Everything He says to us is found within the sixty-six books between Genesis and Revelation.

Given this, there is no need for anyone claiming they have some additional word from God that isn’t contained or supported by the Word He has already given. If someone does share something, stating that the Lord provided them the words they speak or write, we should pray over what we read or hear, asking for the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Additionally, we should be getting into God’s word to validate what we’ve been told. Using these two things in tandem will expose falsehood and assure that we won’t possibly be led astray.

In the end translation, God’s cautionary warning stands true. As believers, we need to be careful about who we listen to.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

REMEMBER GOD'S CHOSEN LEADERS

Can I pray for you in any way?

Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

In Christ, Mark

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** Follow The Christian Walk on Twitter @ThChristianWalk

** Like posts and send friend requests to the author of The Christian Walk, Mark Cummings on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/mark.cummings.733?ref=tn_tnmn

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

“The priests, who are Levites - indeed the whole tribe of Levi - are to have no allotment or inheritance with Israel. They shall live on the offerings made to the Lord by fire, for that is their inheritance. They shall have no inheritance among their brothers; the Lord is their inheritance, as He promised them.”

“This is the share due the priests from the people who sacrifice a bull or a sheep: the shoulder, the jowls, and the inner parts. You are to give them the firstfruits of your grain, new wine, and oil, and the first wool from the shearing of your sheep, for the Lord your God has chosen them and their descendants out of all your tribes to stand and minister in the Lord's name always.”

“If a Levite moves from one of your towns anywhere in Israel where he is living, and comes in all earnestness to the place the Lord will choose, he may minister in the name of the Lord his God like all his fellow Levites who serve there in the presence of the Lord. He is to share equally in their benefits, even though he has received money from the sale of family possessions.”

Deuteronomy 18:1-8

This ends our reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

As I look back on the spiritual road that I’ve traveled with the Lord, the road of my Christian walk…I can clearly see how blessed I have been to have awesome spiritual leaders and mentors, all who played an important role in making me the spiritual leader I am today.

It all started back when I was growing up in the very small western Pennsylvania town of Brookville. During my youth, my mother took me to the local Presbyterian church and the senior Pastor there was Reverend Darr Briggs. He was really someone that I looked up to as a young man trying to learn how to spell Jesus.

I remember that he never had a harsh word for me but always sought to encourage and edify in my faith and I think this is why I loved going to church so much, discovering gifts that God had blessed me with. At that time, it was playing the trumpet and I played with the choir, accompanying them on selected anthems. I also would serve as an acolyte, carrying a candle lighter/snuffer down the aisle to light and extinguish candles at the start and conclusion of services. To this day, my memories of time in church are more vivid than any others from my growing up and I hold gratitude in my heart for the blessing of my first pastor, Reverend Darr Briggs.

My next church involvement came after a nine year drought in my life. I had joined the Navy and left my beloved Brookville Presbyterian Church as well as Reverend Briggs, ending up stationed on the other side of the country in Stockton, California. Unfortunately, I never sought a church home there and as a result, my spiritual life became a dry wasteland. I didn’t lead my family spiritually and subsequently, my family fell apart. In 1989, after returning to the east coast and Norfolk, Virginia, my marriage ended in divorce and I hit rock bottom.

I vividly remember my heart attitude. I couldn’t believe what was happening to me because I was living the lie that so many non-believers live, convinced that I was a good person. After all, I didn’t drink or do drugs. During my marriage, I was completely faithful and dedicated to my wife and kids, never going off to do my own thing when I was home at the expense of spending time with my family. And while all these things were commendable, none of them was as important as leading my family spiritually. My allowing my relationship with the Lord to die on the proverbial vine led to a steep cost being paid. I found myself at the lowest part of my life but it was there that God - our awesome, loving God - came to my rescue and brought me “Amazing Grace”, both literally and figuratively.

For in 1992, I was working as a volunteer at a Norfolk elementary school when the Lord led me to the assistant principal, a woman by the name of Grace. On that day, we would speak for a few minutes about our plans for the weekend before she was called away to the office but in the moment, something told me this was no chance encounter. I felt a special push to get to know this woman more and little did I know at the time that it was the Lord doing the pushing.

And so I sent flowers to the school for Grace and asked if she would go to dinner with me. She accepted and from that first date, we began dating regularly. As we began to spend time together, I remember how she made it crystal clear that if we were going to be in relationship with one another, the Lord had to be first. I quickly told her I was good with that but inside, I was a raging ball of anxiety with many questions rushing to the surface of my mind.

“I haven’t been to church in years. How will God feel about that?”

”Will I remember the Old from the New Testament? And concerning that, where is my Bible anyways? I can’t remember the last time I used it.”

Well, as I would learn later, God was feeling anxious as well but it was a good anxiousness for like the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-32), He was excited to welcome me home, wrap His arms around me, and show me just what I had been missing all those years I chose to walk without Him.

Well, Grace and I would marry and begin to our life together as one flesh on the sure solid foundation of Jesus Christ. We began attending Bayside Presbyterian Church in Virginia Beach, Virginia, and there I would be pastored and mentored by the Reverend Dick Keever. For the next 14 years, I would go on to learn so much from Dick as he developed me spiritually and groomed me for special leadership roles in the church. I began to teach youth Sunday School and then adult classes. I was selected and ordained as a church elder and served three terms on Session. And I would lead church worship if either Dick or his associate pastor were away. Indeed, the Lord truly blessed me with the Reverend Dick Keever who played a key part in making me the Christian leader and man I am today.

Grace and I felt called to move our ministry to a new church and we ended up at Bayside Baptist Church in Virginia Beach. Drawn there by the Holy Spirit, we were blessed by the leadership of Pastor Mark Pullen, probably the strongest preacher I have ever heard. His sermons were always true to the Word and I recall how he was able to preach without prepared notes. All he needed was the Lord to give him the words to speak. At Bayside Baptist, I began to teach youth and adults again, was ordained as a Deacon, and served as a worship leader with the church’s music ministry, using my gift of singing in the choir, performing solos when needed, and leading the congregation on hymn singing every other week.

Finally, the Lord had yet another move in mind right toward the tail end of the COVID era and we found ourselves at Atlantic Shores Baptist Church in Virginia Beach, now renamed Crossway Church. The lead Pastor there, Ron Jones, is a dynamic preacher who Grace first heard on the radio under Something Good, a ministry he founded that is now also broadcasting on television. We have been blessed to be a part of this body of Christ where I am once again teaching adults and serving on the Counseling ministry, having recently gained certification as a Biblical Lay Counselor.

So why spend so much time and space sharing this with you?

Because I feel we don’t give our spiritual leaders enough credit or attention and they deserve better than that. As I am now ready to begin my latest calling from the Lord, Chaplain of the Virginia Beach Correctional Center, I am seeing first hand just how challenging it is for those who are leading spiritually at the highest levels. It’s definitely not for the faint at heart, that’s for sure.

As we look at our passage today, we see where quality spiritual leadership was important to God and if it was important to Him, then it should be important to us. To that end, here are three points of emphasis we find in these opening eight verses of Deuteronomy, chapter 18:

First, God chose His spiritual leaders.

We read where “…the Lord your God has chosen them and their descendants out of all your tribes to stand and minister in the Lord's name always.” Indeed, these spiritual leaders were hand selected and we should note that not everyone is entitled to lead at the highest levels. Only those God selects and appoints are able to do so and this is why I am so thankful for the men God chose to lead me: Reverends Darr Briggs and Dick Keever and Pastors Mark Pullen and Ron Jones.

Going back to our passage today, given that spiritual leaders were chosen, the scriptures further tell us the following:

“The priests, who (were) Levites - indeed the whole tribe of Levi – (were) to have no allotment or inheritance with Israel. They (were to) live on the offerings made to the Lord by fire, for that (was) their inheritance. They (would) have no inheritance among their brothers” because “the Lord (was) their inheritance, as He (had) promised them.”

In other words, the Lord wanted the Levites to be fully focused on carrying out the work God wanted them to do. They weren’t supposed to worry about what they had or what they might receive from the world but were to rely on God for their provision.

Today, pastors are paid from the church treasury which is funded by the offerings and tithes of the congregation. The spiritual leaders of today still rely on God’s provision through His people in order to have what they need to live and this leads to the second point:

God expected the people to care for His chosen spiritual leaders.

Going back to the scriptures, we find these words from God:

“This is the share due the priests from the people who sacrifice a bull or a sheep: the shoulder, the jowls, and the inner parts. You are to give them the firstfruits of your grain, new wine, and oil, and the first wool from the shearing of your sheep, for the Lord your God has chosen them and their descendants out of all your tribes to stand and minister in the Lord's name always.”

The Israelites, God’s chosen people, were to ensure that His appointed leaders were properly taken care of. And notice that they weren’t supposed to just give the Levites their leftovers. No, our verses for today make it clear that the Levites were to receive the firstfruits from the people, their very best.

Then and now, God gives His best to His people and He expects that they will give their best back to Him.

With this, some questions comes to mind that should challenge us:

How well do we give back to God what He has first given to us?

Do we give Him our firstfruits or does He receive our leftovers, our second best?

Do we really give as we should to the church so that God’s chosen spiritual leaders are provided for properly?

I encourage you to seriously ponder these questions and respond accordingly, if need be. The Lord knows what we do and don’t do, that’s for certain.  

As I get set to close, one final point…

God called His leaders to go and minister wherever He chose.

Let’s go back to the Deuteronomy 18 passage:

“If a Levite moves from one of your towns anywhere in Israel where he is living, and comes in all earnestness to the place the Lord will choose, he may minister in the name of the Lord his God like all his fellow Levites who serve there in the presence of the Lord.”

The Lord did and still does call on His spiritual leaders to move and continue their ministry work at the places He chooses. Speak with any minister who has been doing it for awhile and they will tell you about all the places they have been, sharing their own testimonies about their ministry experiences at each place they’ve been. Very few spend their entire ministry career serving the same congregation.

And so we should always carry a great appreciation for our spiritual leaders who consistently and persistently display and incredible dedication to serve the Lord and those He has given them to shepherd. As we appreciate them, let us also pray over them because they, like we, are always under spiritual attack from the enemy who would like nothing more than to take down every spiritual leader that God raises up.

In response to this message and the Word we’ve looked at, I hope that you will take an extra minute this Sunday or next to tell your pastor, the one God has chosen to spiritually lead you and your family, how much you love and value them and what they do in service to the Lord on a daily basis. Maybe you could also send them a nice thank you card with an added gift card to a restaurant or Christian book store if you can swing it.

The bottom line is that we should be thankful for our spiritual leaders and let them know it. If it was a priority for God, let it be a priority for us as well.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

KING OF KINGS

Can I pray for you in any way?

Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

“When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you and have taken possession of it and settled in it, and you say, ‘Let us set a king over us like all the nations around us,’ be sure to appoint over you the king the Lord your God chooses. He must be from among your own brothers. Do not place a foreigner over you, one who is not a brother Israelite. The king, moreover, must not acquire great numbers of horses for himself or make the people return to Egypt to get more of them, for the Lord has told you, ‘You are not to go back that way again.’ He must not take many wives, or his heart will be led astray. He must not accumulate large amounts of silver and gold.”

“When he takes the throne of his kingdom, he is to write for himself on a scroll a copy of this law, taken from that of the priests, who are Levites. It is to be with him, and he is to read it all the days of his life so that he may learn to revere the Lord his God and follow carefully all the words of this law and these decrees and not consider himself better than his brothers and turn from the law to the right or to the left. Then he and his descendants will reign a long time over his kingdom in Israel.”

Deuteronomy 17:14-20

This ends our reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

As we continue our study of Deuteronomy, we know that the Israelites are set to enter Canaan but aren’t under the rule of any king but this didn’t mean that they wouldn’t have one in the future. Of course, God knows holds the future in His hands and so He knew well in advance that His people would co-exist among other nations who were led by kings so it would only be a matter of time before they would want to follow suit. Given this, we see Him providing guidance on the matter well before it happened in our passage for today from chapter 17. Look again at those words here:

“When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you and have taken possession of it and settled in it, and you say, ‘Let us set a king over us like all the nations around us,’ be sure to appoint over you the king the Lord your God chooses. He must be from among your own brothers. Do not place a foreigner over you, one who is not a brother Israelite. The king, moreover, must not acquire great numbers of horses for himself or make the people return to Egypt to get more of them, for the Lord has told you, ‘You are not to go back that way again.’ He must not take many wives, or his heart will be led astray. He must not accumulate large amounts of silver and gold.”

“When he takes the throne of his kingdom, he is to write for himself on a scroll a copy of this law, taken from that of the priests, who are Levites. It is to be with him, and he is to read it all the days of his life so that he may learn to revere the Lord his God and follow carefully all the words of this law and these decrees and not consider himself better than his brothers and turn from the law to the right or to the left. Then he and his descendants will reign a long time over his kingdom in Israel.” Vv. 14-20

Here, we see the Lord placing certain requirements on the future kings of Israel:

First, the king was to be an Israelite. No foreigner was to rule Israel.

“He must be from among your own brothers. Do not place a foreigner over you, one who is not a brother Israelite.”

Secondly, the king was also supposed to remain modest in the things he possessed. He was to “not acquire great numbers of horses for himself or make the people return to Egypt to get more of them”. They were to “not take many wives” which would lead to the king’s “heart (being) led astray”. He also wasn’t supposed to “accumulate large amounts of silver and gold”.

Why?

Because the Lord said so, that’s why. Any king needed to know that although they were in a position of authority in Israel, they always answered to a higher power.

This truth leads into the third and final requirement for we read that the king was commanded to “write for himself on a scroll a copy of (the) law, taken from that of the priests, who are Levites”. The kings were to do this when they took the throne of the kingdom and were to keep the scroll with them, reading it “all the days of his life so that” they would “learn to revere the Lord his God and follow carefully all the words of this law and…decrees”. This would result in the king not considering “himself better than his brothers” and keep him from turning “from the law to the right or to the left”.

There was no question that the king would hold the highest position of power over the people of Israel however, the human king’s power paled in comparison to his master, the Lord God Almighty, the King of Kings. It was He and He alone who set the standards by which all other kings would rule by and did it because He expected them to rule as He wanted them to rule, with justice and fairness with humility.

My friends, what an awesome assurance this offers us today as we find ourselves under human, worldly rule. For despite who is elected, believers know and understand who is truly in charge, the infinitely omnipotent Creator God, the One that Paul says is the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live” (1 Corinthians 8:6). Despite what happens in government, we can always find comfort in knowing the One who holds the government on His shoulders (Isaiah 9: 6) and is ultimately in control, no matter who the world puts in charge.

In closing, my prayer is that we all can testify the following as Timothy did about God:

“…the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see. To Him be honor and might forever.” 1 Timothy 6:15

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.