Reflective Bible Study Gospel Adventure

A Full Day’s Pay: Matthew 20:1-16

Published May 18, 2022 in Written Journal Entries

Focus Passage: Matthew 20:1-16 (NIV)

¹“For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. ²He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard.

³“About nine in the morning he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. ⁴He told them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ ⁵So they went.

“He went out again about noon and about three in the afternoon and did the same thing. ⁶About five in the afternoon he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, ‘Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?’

⁷“‘Because no one has hired us,’ they answered.

“He said to them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard.’

⁸“When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.’

⁹“The workers who were hired about five in the afternoon came and each received a denarius. ¹⁰So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. ¹¹When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner. ¹²‘These who were hired last worked only one hour,’ they said, ‘and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day.’

¹³“But he answered one of them, ‘I am not being unfair to you, friend. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? ¹⁴Take your pay and go. I want to give the one who was hired last the same as I gave you. ¹⁵Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?’

¹⁶“So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”

Read Matthew 20:1-16 in context and/or in other translations on BibleGateway.com!

There are a few big ideas I saw in today’s passage, and the big idea I want to focus on today is something that I would be surprised if it will happen at the end of time. In this parable, God, represented by the landowner, pays all of his workers equally, even though they all work for different lengths of time.

It is fairly easy to see a parallel in the people who grew up as Christ-followers and are saved as being those who were “hired” early. We also can see the contrasting parallel in the people who live their whole life not knowing Jesus, but who right before death, turn to Jesus, and are saved (i.e. the thief on the cross).

When we get to Heaven, what this parable implies is that those who followed Jesus all their lives will be jealous and envious of those who lived sinfully for 99.9999999% of their lives. I don’t really see this as happening when we all get to Heaven because we will be thrilled to be there, we will be focused on Jesus, and we will be happy meeting those who we are able to share eternity with.

Why would we be jealous? At that point in time, the past is over, and we’ve won. It really doesn’t matter.

However, what if someone we really didn’t like, or who we thought was a horrible person is in Heaven? Will that bother us? Looking at it from our perspective on earth, while we are still “working in the field”, it is easy to be jealous and/or envious of those who are no longer in the field—especially if we believe they made it to Heaven after something horrible they had done. But when we are looking from the heavenly perspective, and we’re together with them in Heaven, I still have a difficult time thinking I would be jealous.

However, I do feel that this misses the point of the parable. This parable isn’t as much about the reward as it is about God’s generosity. God rewards everyone who worked in the field with a full day’s work even though none of us deserve a full day’s pay. That in my mind is an amazing thought and one that it is hard to feel any jealousy about.

This thought was inspired by studying the Walking With Jesus “Reflective Bible Study” package. To discover insights like this in your own study time, click here and give Reflective Bible Study a try today!

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Revealing Your Secrets: Luke 8:16-18

Published May 17, 2022 in Written Journal Entries

Focus Passage: Luke 8:16-18 (NASB)

During one of the times that Jesus preached, Jesus points our attention to a very insightful truth that is incredibly challenging to every single person who has ever lived. While Jesus was talking about light, He makes the following statement, “For nothing is hidden that will not become evident, nor anything secret that will not be known and come to light.” (v. 17)

In essence, Jesus is saying that no matter how dark your secret is, no matter how far down you have buried it, no matter if everyone has forgotten about it, there will be a point when your secret will be revealed. A shorter way to say this is simply: All secrets will eventually be revealed.

Now this is a challenging truth for every one of us. Many of us have secrets we don’t really want others to know about. Perhaps there are even some secrets that we want no one to discover. However, what we don’t have control over in Jesus’ words is whether these secrets stay hidden.

But we do have control over something: We can let time reveal our secrets on its terms, or we can reveal our own secrets on our own terms. While sharing secrets is never easy, and often times pain and tears follow, almost always is it better to reveal secrets on our own terms, because when we reveal it on our own terms, we give ourselves release from the pressure of keeping the secret.

While it might be a little obvious when I share it, there is another angle to secrets that we have control over. In your life and in my life, we can choose to make choices that are not secret-worthy. If we consistently act in a way that we don’t mind other people being aware of, then there is freedom from the need for secrecy. Some might call this “integrity” – living the same way in private as you do in public.

Jesus promises us that every secret ever kept will eventually be revealed. We have the choice to share our secrets on our own terms now, or let time spontaneously reveal our secrets on its terms.

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Flashback Episode — Interrupted By Faith: Mark 5:24-34

Published May 16, 2022 in Audio Journal Entries

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As we continue forward through the gospels looking at the miracles Jesus did to help people, we come to a set of miracles that are both completely unrelated, but also connected. During this episode and the next one, we will look at these two miracles. About the only reason these two miracles are connected is because of their proximity to one another. Other than this, these miracles are about as opposite of each other as we could find. About the only thing that connects these two miracles is the simple detail that Jesus does one miracle while on the way to do the other.

For this reason, I debated which miracle to focus on first. While the event and verses surrounding the miracle that happened second begin first, I ultimately decided to focus on the miracle that happened first. The first miracle to happen would otherwise be unknown if it weren’t for Jesus treating this miracle as a necessary interruption while on His way to help with the other situation in need.

Let’s read what happened. Our passage is found in the gospel of Mark, chapter 5, and we will be reading from the New Century Version. Jumping into this event in the second part of verse 24, Mark tells us that:

^24bA large crowd followed Jesus and pushed very close around him. ²⁵Among them was a woman who had been bleeding for twelve years. ²⁶She had suffered very much from many doctors and had spent all the money she had, but instead of improving, she was getting worse. ²⁷When the woman heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his coat. ²⁸She thought, “If I can just touch his clothes, I will be healed.” ²⁹Instantly her bleeding stopped, and she felt in her body that she was healed from her disease.

³⁰At once Jesus felt power go out from him. So he turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my clothes?”

³¹His followers said, “Look at how many people are pushing against you! And you ask, ‘Who touched me?’ ”

³²But Jesus continued looking around to see who had touched him. ³³The woman, knowing that she was healed, came and fell at Jesus’ feet. Shaking with fear, she told him the whole truth. ³⁴Jesus said to her, “Dear woman, you are made well because you believed. Go in peace; be healed of your disease.”

In this miracle, we discover something amazing as we see what Jesus does here. While almost everyone present in this event is clueless to the thought that a miracle has actually occurred, and while this woman would rather remain anonymous, Jesus insists on shining the spotlight on this situation. If Jesus had ignored the sense that power had gone from Him, or if He had simply honored the woman’s desire to remain secret, we would never have this amazing example of faith.

When reading this passage, we discover that Jesus knew very well what was happening around Him, and we discover through the story of this woman that she had tried everything else she could think of before placing her hope, faith, and belief in Jesus. When the medicine of that era had failed her, this woman knew that Jesus could help.

In an interesting way, this woman’s desire to remain anonymous actually puts more emphasis on this miracle than if she had looked for a more normal opportunity to ask for healing. If this woman had come for help along with a crowd of others during one of the events when Jesus was teaching, preaching, and healing, we might also never know her story. If this woman had looked for a miracle in any other way, we might never know she was healed.

Through this woman’s healing, we discover that faith in Jesus doesn’t need to be extraordinary for it to result in a miracle. Instead, this woman’s faith in Jesus could be described as a persistent, determined faith. Granted, maybe in today’s culture and world, a persistent, determined faith actually is extraordinary when we look out at the culture of the Christian church. Unfortunately, we don’t see extraordinary levels of faith from people sitting in pews, or even from most of those standing up front, like we might have in previous years. When the church faced struggles and trials, faith was clearly present, but when the church gains status and comfort, the faith of Christian believers suffers.

This woman’s faith was so persistent and determined that she pushed through the crowd of people who were pushing to be near Jesus while Jesus was hurrying as best He could to help someone else who needed help. She had determined that all she needed to do to know whether Jesus could help her is for her to simply touch the edge of His robe. At this point in Jesus’ ministry, the crowds likely were well aware that any illness, defect, deformity, or even death could not diminish Jesus’ power from God for healing and helping others. The woman, knowing all of this, knew Jesus was well able to heal people of significantly worse diseases than she faced, and because of this, she knew that simply touching Jesus in the least significant way would be just enough to significantly improve her situation.

It is this faith that Jesus wanted to showcase, and the only way He can do this is if He stops everything and everyone to bring this miracle into the open. While the clock is ticking and the situation Jesus was on His way to help was growing more bleak by the minute, Jesus is more interested in focusing on the example that this woman can give all of us regarding faith in Jesus.

When seeing how persistent Jesus was on bringing this woman’s story to the spotlight, we discover that Jesus was just as persistent as this woman was at pushing her way through the crowd. Jesus focused on bringing this woman’s story to the spotlight because in this story, we discover a faith that God wants us to model in our own lives. While it is easy for us to live as lukewarm Christians with little to no faith in today’s world, God warns us that living without faith is significantly worse than we might realize.

Like the first disciples and the early church learned through this miracle, God is looking for a people who are determined, persistent, and won’t back down when their faith is challenged. God is looking for His people, living today, to be persistent, passionate, and determined to live our lives with a faith that will not be shaken by anything that comes our way. We are called to live with a faith that leads us into eternity.

As we come to the end of another podcast episode, here are the challenges I will leave you with:

Always seek God first and intentionally place your faith, hope, trust, and belief in Him. Choose to follow and obey God regardless of what the world, or even tradition, teaches. Choose to place your faith in Jesus and in what the Bible has revealed to us from His word.

To learn and know what this is, always pray and study the Bible for yourself and filter everything you learn through the truth the Bible teaches. While a speaker, pastor, author, blogger, or podcaster can give you ideas you can think about, only trust it if it aligns with the truth the Bible teaches. God plans to keep us safe through eternity, and this means that He is more than capable of keeping His truth alive in the Bible through a few thousand years.

And as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never stop short of, back away from, chicken out of, or abandon where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!

Flashback Episode: Year of Miracles – Episode 20: While going to help someone, Jesus is interrupted by the sense that power had gone out from Him. If you do not know what happened, or even if you do, discover how this almost unknown event shapes how God wants His people to live their lives of faith in Him.

Faith Needed: Mark 6:1-6

Published May 13, 2022 in Written Journal Entries

Focus Passage: Mark 6:1-6 (GNT)

¹Jesus left that place and went back to his hometown, followed by his disciples. ²On the Sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue. Many people were there; and when they heard him, they were all amazed. “Where did he get all this?” they asked. “What wisdom is this that has been given him? How does he perform miracles? ³Isn’t he the carpenter, the son of Mary, and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas, and Simon? Aren’t his sisters living here?” And so they rejected him.

⁴Jesus said to them, “Prophets are respected everywhere except in their own hometown and by their relatives and their family.”

⁵He was not able to perform any miracles there, except that he placed his hands on a few sick people and healed them. ⁶He was greatly surprised, because the people did not have faith.

Then Jesus went to the villages around there, teaching the people.

Read Mark 6:1-6 in context and/or in other translations on BibleGateway.com!

During one of Jesus’ return trips to Nazareth, He visits and teaches at His home synagogue. The people were amazed and impressed with what Jesus had said, but this led them to be skeptical towards Him instead of believing in Him.

Mark tells us that those in the synagogue asked, “Where did he get all this? What wisdom is this that has been given him? How does he perform miracles?” (v. 2b)

These people had a dilemma. They knew Jesus (the boy) and Jesus (the carpenter’s apprentice) very well. They didn’t know Jesus the Messiah. With the group of followers Jesus brought with Him came Jesus’ reputation of being a miracle worker, and this didn’t fit with their picture of a former carpenter. Becoming Messiah was not the next step up above carpenter for these people.

These people were more interested in figuring out the trick Jesus must be pulling than on simply having faith. They wanted to discover the secret to how He could perform miracles rather than accept that His miracles were performed because there was faith present.

This passage concludes in a fascinating way: After the synagogue service, Jesus stayed to help people, but “He was not able to perform any miracles there, except that he placed his hands on a few sick people and healed them. He was greatly surprised, because the people did not have faith.” (v. 5-6)

The people rejected Jesus as being worthy of faith, and because of this, their desire to uncover the source of Jesus’ miraculous ability (the Holy Spirit) was hidden from them. Nothing Jesus could do would be able to break the preconceived ideas about Him that these people had in their minds, and because of this, only a few people out of the hundreds of people needing help were actually helped.

This wasn’t Jesus’ fault. It was the fault of the people present. These people didn’t think a former carpenter was capable of helping them. They lacked faith in God and faith in Jesus, and that is why we read that Jesus “was not able to perform” miracles. (v. 5)

While Jesus knew that God could heal those who were sick and hurting, He needed some faith from the people present, and in Nazareth, there was little to no faith.

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