JESUS WAS A GOOD TALKER. Matthew 22:22,33,46.

Do you ever wish you knew what to say? When Jesus confronted the Pharisees, He left the crowds speechless.

“When they heard this, they were amazed.” Matthew 22:22. “And when the crowds heard this, they were astonished.” 22:33. “No one was able to answer Him at all, and from that day, no one dared to question Him.” 22:46.

(Later, Jesus spoke not a word in His own defense and even his SILENCE left Pilate “greatly amazed” Matt. 27:14.)

He amazed the crowds, and did it without using what the Bible calls “coarse language.”

But that doesn’t mean He was not critical of those who deserved criticism. But rather than call people names or insult them with scatalogical references and bathroom humor, He identified their specific sins using names that showed them their need for change. Here they are in order from today’s reading:

Hypocrites. Hypocrites. Hypocrites. Blind guides. Blind fools. Blind people. Hypocrites. Blind guides. Blind Pharisee. Hypocrites. Hypocrites. Snakes. Brood of vipers. Fox.

GUESS WHAT?

You can speak powerfully without bad words. Your speech can leave people amazed when God is in it. And you can confront your enemies boldly without getting sloppy with four-letter words. 

“And there must be no filthiness, or silly talk, or coarse jesting, which are not fitting” Ephesians 5:4.

God, bless our speech. Give us the power to articulate Your truth, to confront lies and hypocrisy, and to speak boldly but with proper language. Help us glorify You with powerful, truthful, godly words.

Read Matthew 22.

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JESUS, THE WHIP, AND THE TEMPLE. John 2:15.

Jesus felt defensive and protective about God’s Temple. He was offended by the men selling animals for sacrifice at high prices, ripping off the poor. He was offended by the CAMBIO (Spanish for exchange)—those were the folks exchanging dollars for pesos (or maybe Roman money for Israeli money?) because they took too much off the top, getting rich by defrauding the poor.

“He made a scourge of small cords” John 2:15.

Jesus MADE A WHIP! This was no sudden flash of temper. He PLANNED it, driving the thieves from His Father’s house. Why?

Because “The zeal of Thine house hath eaten me up” v.17.

Jesus was passionate about the temple and about NOT ripping off poor people who were simply trying to worship. We should share these passions.

Do you think Jesus still has those same passions?

Of course.

APPLICATION?

Don’t rip off people trying to worship Jesus. Don’t be so tied up in money-making that it distracts from the gospel. Don’t be a preacher who is a fraud, taking money from little old ladies eating Alpo (true story)* so you can live like a king. 

Can you imagine the anger God feels about scammers, hucksters, and con-men in the church? Wow. 

Give your money to a church that will spend it with integrity. Give—we must give. Give generously. But give to churches and ministries that take stewardship seriously.

God, make us frugal and wise with our money. Help us honor you with our giving and spending. And lead us to support ministries with integrity, that honor God in all that they do.

*There have been a variety of news stories from time to time reporting that the poor find canned pet food the most affordable options. This may be the article that first brought that to light: https://www.nytimes.com/1975/12/16/archives/meanwhile-humans-eat-pet-food.html

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JUSTICE. John 2:15-17.

Have you ever cheered when the bad guy gets it? When Commodus dies in GLADIATOR, or when Tavington dies in THE PATRIOT? Everyone loves justice. God loves it even more than we do. He IS just. So He cleansed the temple.

The bad guys had taken over the Father’s House—and Jesus had swallowed His indignation for 30 years. Finally, the time had come. Did He march in and lose control? No. He planned ahead. He sat down and made a whip—because He would be one lone cowboy—on foot—driving herds of animals toward a single exit. He needed a powerful motivator.

“The Lord is a Warrior, ‘Warrior’ is His name” Exodus 15:3.

God is a warrior! He fights for holiness, mercy, and justice. And Jesus fought for holiness at the House of God. First, He braided a whip. Then He entered the temple.

“After making a whip out of cords, He drove everyone out of the temple complex with their sheep and oxen. He also poured out the money changers’ coins and overturned the tables. He told those selling doves, ‘Get these things out of here! Stop turning My Father’s house into a marketplace!’ And His disciples remembered that it is written: ‘Zeal for Your House will consume Me’” John 2:15-17.

The bad guys FINALLY got what they deserved. For years, they had taken advantage of those who do not raise livestock and thus have to buy animals for sacrifices. Jesus cracked the whip on the backs of the sheep and the cattle, driving them and their owners out into the streets of the city where they belonged. The temple would again be a place of reverence, no longer a noisy auction house full of bleating sheep and lowing cattle.

Are there bad guys in your life? Enemies? Temptations? Bad influences? Jesus is ready to crack the whip. But do you share His zeal? Are you consumed with your own desperate need for holiness? Will you cheer when the bad guys finally get what they deserve? If not, pray for HOLY ZEAL.

Read John 2.

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Jesus Was Not Defeated by the Lethargy of Senioritis. Luke 19:41-46.

After my 17 years of poor-motivation and a general lack of achievement, God dramatically led me to make the most of twelfth grade. That fall, I studied like never before, and though my spring grades would not count toward class rank, I kept at it, motivated by my own goal of making a 4.0 for the first time ever. I was impervious to “senioritis” because my motivation was not connected to graduation. I had bigger plans.

When I found myself teaching high school seniors eight years later, I constantly told them I did not believe in senioritis, and that it was not even a real thing.

And that’s true: senioritis is not a real thing—that is, it is not a clinical diagnosis. Rather, it is a colloquial name for the decreased motivation students feel when they see the end approaching. And THAT is a real thing. We have all experienced that.

Most of us experience it not only during our final years in school, but even during the final day of the work week. Of course, “Fridayitis” doesn’t have the same ring to it. But motivation decreases anytime you see the end in sight, whether it is the end of the day, the end of the week, or the end of high school or college. (Be like a track star—run faster when you see the goal approaching.)

Jesus knew the cross was coming. He saw the end in sight–He saw His goal approaching.

But rather than do less, He chose that time to pick His biggest fight ever with the religious authorities. Would He heal on the sabbath again? Or raise another dead man? Call the chief priests hypocrites and whitewashed tombs? No. This time He would employ actual violence, cracking a whip and driving a crowd of people and animals out of His Father’s house. 

“And after He had made a scourge of small cords, He drove them all out of the temple” John 2:15.

Think about that: He MADE His whip. He did not simply “lose it” and start causing a scene. This thing was planned. He spent the morning weaving a whip so He could use it to drive the cheating merchants out of the holy place. The whole scene was calculated. Jesus knew it would increase His enemies’ determination to kill Him. (Maybe that was one reason He did it?)

But follow His emotions. Before pulling out the whip, He told the Pharisees about the coming destruction of Jerusalem (which many would live to see in 70 A.D.). “The day will come when your enemies will … crush you and your children to the ground … they will not leave one stone on top of another…” Luke 19:43-44.

Jesus knows He will be dead within the week.

And He knows the temple will soon be destroyed and the people of Jerusalem along with it.

Jesus could see the end in view—the end of things He loved deeply. But rather than lose His motivation, Jesus went on the offensive. He “poked the bear” and made things even more challenging for Himself.

Even when He saw His goals approaching, Jesus was not a man defeated by the lethargy of senioritis. Are you?

Read Luke 19.

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THE WHITE-STALLION MOMENT. Matthew 21:5.

Have you felt a moment of glory? Circling the bases after a home run? Walking into a room, knowing you’re the best dressed? Playing a leading role on stage? Driving an amazing car. Or riding up on a crowd while sitting atop a magnificent horse—that feels like glory.

Do you know that feeling? Riding an amazing horse, feeling his power under you, his skin like a wall, his neck like a tree trunk, head flashing this way and that, keen eyes taking everything in, heart filled with explosive energy. There’s nothing like a horse.

Don’t believe me? Try a donkey. They’re ugly and awkward and always too-loud, like a buck-toothed bumpkin wearing overalls to a beauty pageant.

Have you seen NBA champions ride in parades? Today’s athletes can’t touch Roman generals returning from battle, conquering heroes. They would ride into the city in golden chariots pulled by white stallions, the celebrations including days of over-hyped drinking and debauchery.

Into that world comes Jesus—God in the flesh—and He rides through the gates of Jerusalem on a little donkey colt. Not a majestic stallion, but a lowly, slightly comical beast of burden. He fulfilled prophecy:

“Look, your King is coming to you, gentle, and mounted on a donkey, even on a colt” Matthew 21:5 (quoting Zechariah 9:9).

Jesus did not come to impress. He came to love you. To win you. He does not need the glory that comes from dazzling crowds. His WHITE STALLION-MOMENT will come in the future—at His Second Coming:

“Now I saw Heaven opened, and behold a white horse. And He who sat on it was called FAITHFUL and TRUE… His eyes were a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns… He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is the Word of God. And THE ARMIES IN HEAVEN, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, FOLLOWED HIM ON WHITE HORSES….” Revelation 19:11-14.

God, make us humble. We do not need glory on Earth. Make us humble. Make us content with donkeys, knowing we will ride white stallions with You in Heaven.

Read Matthew 21.

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Leave Things Better. Matthew 21:18-22.

My Boy Scout troop went camping one weekend of every month. As we packed up to go home on Sunday mornings, we would “police the area,” picking up even the tiniest specks of trash. Some bits of trash—such as cigarette butts—were clearly not dropped by any of us, but we picked them up anyway. Our goal, or at least the goal of the men who were our leaders, was to leave the campsite in a better condition than we found it. Even as a lazy kid, that goal spoke to me somehow.

The Cultural Mandate[1] is a Christian doctrine with the same goal: God’s people must strive to leave this world in a better condition than we found it. Many careers have such a goal built-in.

But what about when you leave work? Are you bearing fruit AFTER HOURS? Are you making the world a better place ALL the time? I hope so.

Yet these ideas—at first glance—stand in contrast to the actions of Jesus in Matthew 21:18-22. One morning when Jesus was hungry, He walked up to a fig tree hoping for a sweet snack. But the tree had no fruit, only leaves. “And He said to it, ‘May no fruit ever come from you again!’ At once the fig tree withered.

What just happened? Jesus was feeling a bit ‘hangry,’ found nothing on the tree, so He cursed the tree on the spot? Wait. This man who fasted for forty days? He let Himself become so annoyed by a barren fig tree that He cursed the tree? How is Jesus fulfilling the Cultural Mandate? Is He leaving the world a better place than He found it? Or is He just pouting because He wanted a Fig Newton?

Of course, I am speaking facetiously. Jesus was neither hangry, nor pouting. He was teaching His disciples a lesson about faith (see Matthew 21:20-22). But more than that, He was addressing the matter of fruitfulness.

Jesus did not destroy a tree that was bearing fruit, but a tree that was not bearing fruit.

This is simply an act of pruning. As Bruce Wilkinson explains so well in his book, THE SECRETS OF THE VINE, a gardener cuts away excessive leaves to make more room for grapes.

By disposing of a fruitless fig tree, Jesus made more room for the trees that will bear fruit.

This cutting, this pruning, fulfills the cultural mandate by leaving the world more fruitful than it was before.

So the question comes back to you and me. Are we making the world a better place, both in our vocation and our avocation—our job and our hobbies? Are we blessing people and the culture at large? Are you a good influence? Am I? Do we spread love, joy, and hope?

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch that does not bear fruit, and every branch that does bear fruit He prunes, so that it will bear even more fruit” John 15:1-2.

You must bear fruit. That is your entire purpose.

Read Matthew 21.

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[1] https://institutefc.org/the-cultural-mandate-embracing-divine-and-cultural-responsibilities/#:~:text=This%20concept%20of%20living%20a,the%20earth%20and%20subdue%20it.%E2%80%9D

REVIEW SHEETS. John 12:48; 2 Corinthians 5:10.

How do you respond when professors give you review sheets? Do you study with them, or do you ignore them and study what you want? If you have not figured it out yet, let me tell you: FOCUS ON THE REVIEW SHEET.

Don’t be distracted by your usual habit of outlining your notes. That’s an incredible practice and often results in excellent grades. But when you have a review sheet, it is the key to the city! Study it, focus on it, MASTER IT!

Some never figure it out. They never print review sheets, or print them and lose them, or study what they like and ignore review sheets—and those are the students who fail!

Something similar could be said about job postings. If you want to be hired, study the job posting. MASTER it. Be ready to talk about everything described and to explain why YOU are the best candidate. It’s the same for acting gigs—if you plan to audition, MASTER the audition notice. MASTER what the director is looking for, and bring exactly that to the audition. Bring comedy to a clown role. Bring Hamlet or Othello to a tragic/leading man role. Match your performance to the director’s need.

Jesus gave us a REVIEW SHEET:

“The word I have spoken will judge you on the last day” John 12:48.

Prepare for eternity by MASTERING His word. And not just for salvation! Believers will face judgment too.

“For we must all appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ, that each may receive his reward for deeds done IN THE BODY” 2 Corinthians 5:10.

Jesus will judge the deeds you have done as a believer. Are you bearing fruit? Using your gifts and talents to give light and grace and forgiveness and hope to those around you?

And think of this: are you a BLESSING on SOCIAL MEDIA? Let’s face it—it is a real thing and a huge opportunity. Do you bring joy, hope, and love to your friends and “followers”?

There is a FINAL EXAM coming. MASTER the words of Christ so that you will do well!

Read John 12.

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PREPARE. Mark 14:33-38.

Before cooking, you prepare ingredients. Before a battle, you prepare a battle plan. Before a test, you study. We know preparation matters. And sometimes you have to stop in the middle of something to prepare.

Remember the cliché—if you fail to plan, you plan to fail.

When Jesus faced the final hours of His life, He prepared with prayer. His disciples “prepared” a little differently:

“He began to be deeply distressed and horrified. Then He said to Peter, James, and John, ‘My soul is swallowed up in sorrow, even to the point of death. Keep watching and praying, that you may not enter into temptation.’ He went a stones’ throw away and prayed, ‘Abba, Father! All things are possible for You. Take this cup from me. Nevertheless, not My will, but Thine be done.’ Then He returned and found them sleeping. ‘Couldn’t you stay awake with Me for one hour? Keep watching and praying. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.’ Then His soul was in anguish and He prayed again….” Mark 14:33-38.

The story goes on: Jesus was so stressed He sweat drops of blood. Three times He prayed for a way out, but three times He also said, “Not My will, but Thine be done.” And He was strengthened. PREPARED. When Judas arrived, Jesus spoke so boldly the men with torches fell to the ground (John 18:6). He remained bold and courageous throughout the ordeal.

But what about the disciples? What did they do after their nap? Peter attacked someone with a sword, for which he was rebuked by Jesus. The other disciples fled. The soldiers grabbed Mark but he twisted out of his clothes and ran away naked. Peter denied Christ three times. Judas hung himself. Thomas said he would never believe in a resurrection. All twelve experienced a massive FAIL. Because they were NOT PREPARED.

Follow Jesus’s example: Prepare by praying. And pray for God’s will—not yours.

Dear God, you know my needs and wants. I give them to You: NOT MY WILL, BUT THINE BE DONE.

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DON’T WAIT FOR THE MOVIE.

In high school, my brother Dennis and I talked about our faith a few times with the boys on our street. One of them said the Bible was too boring to read. “I’m waiting for the movie to come out.”

We answered by talking about the chorus of a Christian song that had just been released, “Read the book. Don’t wait for the movie,” by Whiteheart.

Of course, there are so many great Bible movies. There are. But there’s no substitute for reading the text itself.

There are so many powerful things in the Bible that no movie or song or sermon can convey. Here are four interesting details I read today:

When Jesus prayed in the Garden, Mark 14:33 reports, “He began to be deeply distressed and HORRIFIED.” That’s a powerful word, ‘horrified,’ so much worse than anxious, worried, fearful, or tense. The God-man was seriously scared. Details.

After the arrest, Peter was not the only one afraid to be associated with Jesus. John was following along and the mob tried to arrest him. “They caught hold of him, but he left his linen cloth behind and ran away naked” Mark 14:52. That’s fear—for a Jewish man to twist out of his clothes and run away naked? These men were terrified. Details.

What was the weather like that night? Do you know? “The slaves and the temple police had made a charcoal fire because it was cold. They were standing there warming themselves and Peter was standing with them, warming himself” John 18:18. It was too cold to wander away from the fire. They could have seen their own breath that night. Details.

Finally, do you know how the men reacted when they came to arrest Jesus? They were scared of Him. They knew He had miraculous powers. Everyone knew He had raised Lazarus and healed thousands. They probably were afraid He would use His power to slay His captors. And when He saw them coming with torches and clubs, Jesus walked up and spoke to them boldly:

“Whom do you seek?”

“Jesus, the Nazarene.”

“I am He.”

And when He said it, they stepped back and fell to the ground. (Did you know that? They were scared to death of the man they were arresting.) A second time He asked, and a second time they fell back in terror. But His concern was for His disciples: “I have told you that I am He. If you seek me, let these other men go.” John 18:7-8. Details.

Read the BOOK. Don’t wait for the movie. That’s the only place to learn the details.

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Sing. Matthew 26:30.

Think of the film THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST. Jesus was a tough, courageous warrior who went to the cross for you and me. He was scared enough that He sweat blood (an actual condition known as hemahydrosis)—but He did not run. He did not call 10,000 angels to rescue Him. He went forward boldly, in spite of the fact (as I believe), the Father had revealed to Jesus most of what would happen during His final week.

You can tell by the things Jesus says to His disciples that He already knows every detail of the days ahead, such as what stranger will give them a “safe house” in which to eat the Passover meal without interruption. He knows Judas will betray Him and Peter will deny Him. I don’t think there is any time in His ministry when Jesus predicts the future in more precise terms than He does in the days before His arrest.

“Then Jesus, knowing everything that was about to happen to Him, went out…” John 18:4.

The Father had shown the Son what was coming. And Jesus, though terrified on some level, said, “Not my will but Thine be done.” Strength is COURAGE in the face of a TERRIFYING FUTURE.

Has anyone faced anything more terrifying? Could there be a stronger man than this One, WHO HAD A CHOICE, and chose to bravely submit to His Father’s will?

This is a Man of incredible integrity—which gave Him INCREDIBLE STRENGTH.

And you know what He did after the Last Supper with His disciples, His dudes? He led them in singing. They sang together. Imagine that—twelve men singing church songs. And that was the encouraging, comforting sound Jesus took with Him into the Garden of Gethsemane. SINGING MEN.

This strongest of men was a SINGER.

Wrap your mind around that. There is nothing unmanly about singing, though parts of our culture seem to think so. Singing is powerful and the robust singing of deep-voiced men—there is nothing like it.

“After singing psalms, they went out to the Mount of Olives” Matthew 26:30.

“Ours is a singing faith.” –Billy Graham.

Dear God, may the men among us SING LIKE MEN! Teach us to worship as Jesus worshipped.

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