The Audacity of Unbelief (III)

Matt 12:22-29; Luke 11:14-23

 

But when the Pharisees heard this, they said, “This man cast out demons only by Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons.”

 

In what I think will be the final installment on the responses of unbelief, I will look at Jesus’ healing of blind mute possessed with a demon.  If the man would have also been deaf, I would insert a Helen Keller joke here, but I digress. Apparently this man who was in dire need of a miracle was brought to Jesus by friends, relatives or maybe even the authorities. Not a lot of detail regarding the healing is given in either of the Gospel accounts. That is alright for our purpose because we are chiefly interested in the response of the unbelievers in the crowd.

 

 The Pharisees who were in attendance saw yet another miracle. Who knows how many times these religious ones saw the power of God exhibited in very real personal ways? They could not deny the miracle. The best they could do was to accuse Jesus of working in league with and through the power of Satan. These men of education, logic and reason whose lives were ordered by the Law of the Old Testament and their years of tradition were reduced to false accusations. Remember that in the previously cited examples, unbelief resulted in ridicule and rage.

 

Jesus knew their hearts and their minds. He immediately provides a lesson on logic and quotes Abraham Lincoln by saying, “any city or house divided against itself will not stand.” I realize some of you may be wondering how Jesus could quote Lincoln, ok, I admit that it was the other way around. In the end, Jesus with seemingly little effort exposed the evil, wicked, unbelieving heart.  It is interesting to think that it was the unbelief of these men and others like them that played an enormous role in Jesus’ death on the cross.  For even when the Pharisees, and Satan thought themselves most victorious, Jesus was providing a way for all who believe to have eternal hope and peace through him. 

A Poem on Unbelief

OK, so I have been known to write a poem or two in my life.  I wrote this almost 10 years ago.  It still seems relevant today.

 

Mediations in a Coffeehouse

 

The coffeehouse revived, resuscitated;

Ideas, opinions flow freely from all.

Post-modern age, renaissance imitated;

The classics and new philosophy call.

 

Average beings now thinking they are wise;

Their thoughts are without true meaning.

The blank stare, the despair, the hollow eyes;

Off of the path of Truth they are leaning.

 

What is the purpose of all their babbling?

Contradictory to the Truth at hand,

Down paths of darkness many are trav’ling,

Sinking deep, buried in ideas of man.

The Audacity of Unbelief (II)

Matt 12:9-14; Mark 3:1-5, Luke 6:6-11

 

“But they themselves were filled with rage, and discussed together what they might do to Jesus.”

 

Again we find an unpleasant response resulting from unbelief in those who are faced with the Truth. Jesus went to the Synagogue on the Sabbath, and saw a man whose hand was pretty useless. The religious elite were watching Jesus to see if he would heal the man.  Being that it was the Sabbath, Jesus would most definitely let the man remain crippled another day, would he not? He would not break the law and heal him, would he?  It has occurred to me that Jesus could have saved himself a lot of trouble with the Pharisees if he had just not gone out on the Sabbath. However, His plan and His purpose were greater than the law. It is interesting to see that every chance Jesus had, He purposed to show people the insufficiency of the law. 

 

Jesus also knew the hearts of the Scribes and Pharisees. He knew the depths of their unbelief and He knew that likely no matter what he did or said there that day, they would not believe. So, in the best interest of the lame man, He healed him. Notice that there is no mention of the man’s faith in any of the three passages. This man received a very tangible blessing from Jesus, yet there is no note as to his faith. Could he simply have been a benefactor of the goodness of God so that Jesus could show His power and expose unbelief?

 

The Pharisees saw the miracle and heard the words of The Word, yet the fires of their unbelief were stoked. Anger and wrath well up inside of them and they immediately went out to see how they might destroy him. A hard to comprehend reaction, yet I wonder if much of the church today would react any differently.

 

From mocking and ridicule to rage and anger, the emotional outputs of unbelief are many. Let us be sure that our response to Truth, the Word of God is one of openness, faith and acceptance. May the unbelief that so characterized those learned men of Jesus’ day never enter in to our lives. 

The Audacity of Unbelief

Matt 9:23-26; Mark 5:35-43; Luke 8:49-56

 “And they began laughing at him.”

 

It is interesting to note the various ways in which unbelief can be expressed.  When faced with undeniable Truth, unbelief exposes itself in ways both illogical and insensitive.  In the passages referenced, an official from the synagogue named Jairus came to Jesus requesting a miracle.  He had a problem.  His daughter was sick and he believed Jesus was the answer to his problem.  He believed this to the point that he was willing to possibly forego the last moments with his only daughter. When Jesus eventually arrived at Jairus’ home, it was too late, she had died. 

 

Apparently she had been dead long enough for the local mourners (everybody loves a party) had already arrived and were worked up into an emotional frenzy of music and tears.  Jesus instructed them to leave because the girl was simply asleep.  The musicians began laughing for they thought Jesus either crazy or at least that He was not very acquainted with death.  Little did they know that He was not only familiar with death, but He was about to exhibit his power over it in a very real way. 

 

Back to the laughter.  It is at this point we get a close up to a shocking example of unbelief exposed. Unbelief is bad enough, however, for the mourners, their unbelief turned to ridicule and mocking. I may be reading into the text a little, but I find it interesting that Jesus made them leave the room before performing this miracle.  I suppose that Jesus had them evacuate because He knew the mourners would likely have not believed even had they seen the girl raised.  I even suppose that later that day when the girl was back to playing outside with her friends, the mourners still lived in unbelief, their empty souls satisfied with rational, logical explanations.

 

When faced with the Truth that is Jesus, do we allow our unbelief to cause us to miss out on the greatest miracle ever performed?  In our attempt to laugh away the truth, are we hardening our hearts to a new, eternal life?

A brief introduction to the Concertina

For those of you wondering what a Concertina is and why I would want to play it, check out this video of Niall Vallely wearing one out.  Ok, I admit that even after watching this you may still wonder why I like playing the Concertina.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_5HqVSMFyc

A more traditional use of the concertina for Irish music can be seen in this video of Noel Hill. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQ3Lt6CaG48

The Publicity Driven Pastor

Rick Warren has invited Barack Obama and John McCain to speak at his church in August.  Rick Warren, the man who first gave purpose to the church, and then gave even more purpose to lives, will now play moderator and host to this year’s presidential candidates.  I digress, but how did the church ever fulfill its role before Mr. Warren discovered something apparently no one knew?  If we only figured out in the 20th century that we as Christians have a purpose, how did the church ever survive the persecutions under Roman Emperors, the dark ages, the persecutions of the Reformation …?  As I said, I digress.  Back to Mr. Warren’s most recent publicity stunt.  This, to me, is wrong on so many levels.  I will admit, I have never concerned myself with Mr. Warren very much.  Having not read his books, I guess I am guilty of having sat on the sidelines as millions have found “purpose” through his books.   

I guess there is much I could say, but instead of fleshing out all the reasons why I do not believe the church pulpit, stage or facilities should be used in anyway to promote any candidate whose worldview appears so opposed to a Biblical worldview, I will instead say this: I feel pity and sadness for the thousands who will attend a church and hear, from at least one of the candidates present empty political promises and a claim to a type of faith that doesn’t guarantee salvation.  I am disappointed that an opportunity to share the simple truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ and Salvation by grace through faith will be shamefully passed up fin exchange for a blatant attempt at recieving publicity.

Rick, if you are out there, there is still time to preach the Word on August 16th.

Everyone say hello to Concertenacious.

First things first, you are likely wondering what ‘Concertenacious’ stands for.  Concetenacious is not a person, therefore, Concertenacious is unable to stand for anything…no legs.  Welcome to my unyielding wit, as I like to call it.  Concertenacious is a word I created to describe my perceived stubborness and my recently found hobby of playing the concertina.  If you read this blog, you will occasionally encounter both.  I hope my religious monologues, music reviews and recommendations and political rants will be of interest to a few out there.  I consider myself to be somewhat of a renaissance man.  No, I don’t hang out at renaissance festivals.  I simply have a wide array of interests and concern myself with both weighty matters and the trivial (my definition).  A small problem with being a renaissance man is that the renaissance was 500 years ago, so as usual, I am behind the curve.  Oh well, off to my first real post.