Curtis's Blog

Mark’s writings tend to be to the point.  The book itself is the shortest among the gospels.  And while not one of the twelve disciples himself, Mark offers some valuable insight into the life of Christ including this little gem of a passage, recorded only in the gospel of Mark.

After the parable of the sower and the telling of its meaning to his disciples, Jesus goes on to further explain what the kingdom of God is like.

²⁶ He also said, “This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. ²⁷ Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. ²⁸ All by itself the soil produces grain—first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. ²⁹ As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come.”   (Mark 4:26-29)

As we learned earlier in the chapter, the seed is the Word of God.  When it’s spread on the path, rocks, or among thorns it produces no fruit.  But when it is spread on the good soil it produces a crop that can be a hundred times what was sown.  The passage teaches how the word will be received.  Verses 26-29, however, teaches the power of word, and consequently the importance we have to sow it.

The symbolism between sowing and reaping is used repeatedly in the Bible.  The idea of planting a seed and producing a crop is an elementary truth.  In other words, you don’t have to be a farmer to understand it.  Even a small seed can lead to a large crop (The parable of the mustard seed is only a few verses away).   The key, though, is that it needs planted!

There is power in the word of God, power to start small and grow into a large harvest.  When we share God’s word we are planting a seed.  That seed has the power to sprout and grow entirely on its own.  Sure, it’s a good idea to make sure the seed doesn’t get snatched up by the birds, or to make sure the seed is properly rooted, or that it doesn’t have to grow up among thorns.  But, ultimately, when it comes to actually growing the seed does it on its own.

The same is true with the word.  We are called to make disciples, and we’re to do that by sharing God’s word… by sowing.  We sow the seed, and God’s word will do the rest.

On my list of things to do for the past… oh… 11 months now has been to play around with Adobe Lightroom 3.  I finally broke it out this past week, and had some fun.  This is what I ended up with:

In the book of Matthew, Jesus says what appears to be two very opposing statements:

“Blessed are the peacemakers for they will be called sons of God.” (5:9)

“Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.” (10:34)

So how can Jesus, on one hand say that those who promote peace are blessed, while he himself did not come to bring peace? It’s actually pretty simple. On more than one instance, the beatitudes reveal God’s will for how we should act is a peaceful one:

“…anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgement” (5:22)

“…if someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also” (5:39)

“…Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you .” (5:44)

Remember the second greatest commandment, ” Love your neighbor as yourself” (Mark 12:31). How can we say we love our neighbor if we are angry with him? How can we say we love our neighbor if we retaliate against him? And how can we say that we love our neighbor if we hate him? Later on in Matthew 7, Jesus warns us to aware of false prophets. He tells us that we will know them by their fruit. In the same manner, God wants us to be identified by our fruit. Galatians 5 identifies the fruit of the Spirit. “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, [oh and] PEACE…” (Dramatic emphasis added to make my point. )

It’s clear that God wants us to live in peace. So in Matthew 10 when Jesus says “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth…” he must not have been talking about our attitudes. He must have been talking about something else.

Certainly Jesus knew that his ministry was going to be short, and during this sendoff with his disciples, he certainly didn’t want to give them the wrong idea– the idea that he came to bring peace and happiness to the world. He was preparing them for battle, a spiritual war that began in the garden of Eden. He knew that the message they would deliver would bring ridicule and persecution. It would cause children to rebel against their parents, and for households to be split in disagreement. “I am sending you like sheep among wolves. ” (Matthew 10:16)

I think Paul summed it up best. “If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.” (Romans 12:18) Paul acknowledges that it won’t always be possible to live at peace with everyone. It takes two people in a relationship to be in agreement to have true peace. However, in all relationships, we’re to do our part.

Remember, we’re in the middle of a spiritual battle, and conflict, unfortunately, is the inevitable result of the message that Jesus Christ brings. And, Jesus acknowledges that in Matthew 10. However, at the same time, his message of living at peace is clear, and the fruit of peace should be evident in our lives.

This is an extension of the last post that I made.  This past Sunday my pastor caught up with me on the verse I last wrote about (1 John 4:18).  It reads:

“There is no fear in love.  But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment.  The one who fears is not made perfect in love.”

I’ve been struggling with this verse for the past few days, trying to understand it fully.  It seems simple enough, right?  “There is no fear in love.”  The surrounding passage clearly indicates that John was writing about judgement and punishment.  But what about other aspects of life? God made the answer very clear to me last night.

To better understand what I learned, you need to understand what I’ve been going though lately.  There have been many changes in my life recently, and the changes, while good for me, haven’t come without their opposition.  I feel as though satan has been attacking me in every way that he can to instill fear in me.  He’s given me every reason I need to understand why I’m not good enough, or strong enough, or prepared enough.  And at my lowest point last night this verse popped into my head, and God showed me exactly what it means.

He reminded me of two things.  First of all, He is in control.  This is his universe.  There is nothing in this universe he doesn’t control, and there is nothing bigger than He is.  Second, He loves me, and He’s for me.   So if the almighty, all powerful God of the universe loves me… then what do I really have to fear?

I’m so thankful I serve a God who cares for me, and loves me, and won’t set me up for failure!

I’ll admit that today in church I did something that I commonly do on Sunday: reading beyond the passage being preached about.  Today, that led me to 1 John 4:18.   I’m amazed sometimes at how I can read a passage and pick up on something which seems so simple and so true, but yet hasn’t stood out before.

There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear…

1 John 4:18

The verse just prior says that love is what gives us confidence for the day of judgment.  It wasn’t until this morning that I saw the bigger picture.  I’ve known for a long time that it’s by our faith that we can have confidence on the day of judgment, but today I was able to clearly see the connection of faith and love when it comes to our salvation.

For by grace you have been saved through faith.

Let’s not forget that God is love (1 John 4:16), and love is a choice.  God chooses to love us despite our sin, and it’s the love he has for us that results in the grace we see in Ephesians 2:8.  So in a big picture sense, our faith is an attribution of God’s love for us.   It’s because God loves us, and because we believe in that love that we can have confidence in our salvation.

In summary:

There is no fear in love. (1 John 4:18)

God’s love was manifested through Jesus (1 John 4:9)

Fear is the opposite of faith (Mark 4:40).

Our faith in Jesus is what gives us salvation and confidence.

In the past, I’ve written about God’s will and God’s plan and what I thought to be the difference between them.  It’s important to stress that these are merely my thoughts.  I can’t say beyond a shadow of a doubt that I know what I’m talking about.  And I think that’s allowed.  We’re talking about the God of the universe here.  He created everything you see just by speaking… I’d say he’s allowed to have a few secrets.  However, with that being said, I think it’s safe to say that God does in fact make certain aspects of his will very clear.

I remember reading Ephesians 1:4-5 recently and seeing a clarity to it that I’m sad to say, I missed so many times in the past.

For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love  he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will—

I know there’s a fair amount of confusion and discrepancy when it comes to the topic of predestination even among fellow Christians.  But then, I now don’t see how this verse can read any clearer.  Allow me to summarize:

Before the beginning of the world, God intended that every person in history would be holy and blameless; and according to his will, every person in history would be saved through his son Jesus.

When it comes to matters of doctrine I take a stand that refuses to take a stand unless I have a clear understanding of what I’m standing for.   I know, right?  I said “stand” a ton of times just now.  What I’m saying is that prior to my new found inspiration, I didn’t take sides on predestination.  But now it’s clear and I know where I, for lack of a better word, stand.

And it makes sense doesn’t it?  If we say that God is a god of love, and we say that God is perfect, how can we still say that God predestines only some of us.  That doesn’t sound very loving if you ask me.  How can you have a perfect love and only love some of the time?

So if God predestines everyone, why doesn’t everyone go to heaven?

Good question.  I think this goes back to how much God loves us.  God created us to have a relationship with him.  Above all else, God desires love.  He choose to love us enough to send his own son to take the penalty for our sin… to take the penalty that we deserve.  In return he simply asks us to choose love.  If we love God, we accept his gift, and his salvation.  On the other hand, if God were to sit in heaven controlling us like little puppets and forcing us to “love” him… well that wouldn’t exactly be love would it?  Love is a choice.  And God loves us enough to let us make that choice.

So, my advice?  Choose love.  After all… it is God’s will. 

Day 2: We visited a bunch of tech companies in silicon valley: google, yahoo, eBay, ea, cisco, sun, intel, facebook, and of course, apple. After that we went to Santa Cruz to the beach and boardwalk. We had a fantastic dinner out on the wharf.