What Was Jesus’ Relationship With the Crowds?

Mike Leake

rob-curran-sUXXO3xPBYo-unsplash“I don’t have any money for gas, and I have to take my four year old in for brain surgery tomorrow, and I just started this new job, and I don’t get paid for another week…oh, and what time are your services, I’m looking for a church…”

I notice the meth sores. I smell the cigarette smoke. I can see the glazed over look in her eyes.

I also saw them pull up into the parking lot. Nice car. There’s a dude out there, probably in his twenties, clearly strung out on something—and now making his lady go in to beg for some cash. I don’t see a car seat.

It’s that last line of her speech that kills me. I’ve heard it so many times before. She’s learned that if a pastor or church thinks they might have a potential disciple they’ll be more inclined to opening the coffers.

This lady isn’t sincere. She is trying to play us. She wants church money to buy meth.

If you have limited resources in the face of seemingly unlimited need, you have to make judgment calls like this all the time. Should you help somebody who isn’t all that serious? Should you help somebody who is “coming to Jesus” for all the wrong reasons?

I end up telling her that we don’t have the resources right now to help. She leaves in an angry huff, upset that the church doesn’t care about her daughter enough to give $20 for gas so she can get her brain surgery.

What Would Jesus Do?

What do I do with this?

I think about situations like this when I read about Jesus feeding the 5,000. They didn’t pack their own lunch. They weren’t taking responsibility. The gospel accounts, especially in John, tell us that they are fickle. They aren’t serious disciples.

But what does Jesus do? He says, “you feed them…”

I also think of these decisions when I read something like Mark 3:7-10,

7 Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the lake, and a large crowd from Galilee followed. 8 When they heard about all he was doing, many people came to him from Judea, Jerusalem, Idumea, and the regions across the Jordan and around Tyre and Sidon. 9 Because of the crowd he told his disciples to have a small boat ready for him, to keep the people from crowding him. 10 For he had healed many, so that those with diseases were pushing forward to touch him.

Mark is clearly framing these would-be disciples as fickle. They only want to follow Jesus for what they think they can get from him. They are so misinformed and self-conceited that they’ll trample over Jesus just to get a potential healing touch. They aren’t interested in His person. This isn’t discipleship, this is just an excited crowd hoping to get a little touch of goodness.

But what does Jesus do? He tells the disciples to get a boat ready because things could get out of hand. But he also stays for a bit. He doesn’t immediately flee. He meets the crowd where they are.

We need to wrestle with this for a little bit. Jesus isn’t about simply gathering a crowd. He is after deeper discipleship. There is a sub-thread that runs through the gospel accounts where Jesus is constantly trying to escape the crowds. But woven into that thread is another thread—Jesus’ compassion. He still ministers to the crowd, even when they are insincere.

If Jesus were to define his relationship status with the crowds, he’d have to put “it’s complicated”. The crowds here are both a thing to be celebrated—Jesus’ ministry is thriving in spite of the religious leaders opposition. But it also serves as a potential danger.

Maybe I should have forked over that $20…

Should I Have Given the $20?

Jesus’ complicated relationship with the crowds is also seen in places like Luke 4:40-44. The people are begging for Jesus to stay—but he leaves so he can preach the gospel elsewhere. He doesn’t give the $20 it seems.

I believe the Scriptures call us to both compassion and wisdom. Jesus knew His mission. This is why at times He’d stop for a couple hours and chat with a Samaritan woman, but at other times he’d pack up bags and head elsewhere when there was still ministry to be done.

I don’t think the Scriptures call us to an easy answer on these questions. There is not a “you must always give $20” type of answer. Nor is there a “you must never give that $20” answer. We’re called to trust the Spirit and use the wisdom and compassion that God gives to us. Cold, distant, and uncaring attitudes are not permissible. But neither are irresponsible ones.

Conclusion

I think I made the right decision…kind of.

Looking back upon this now, I believe that I should have been bold and brave enough to tell the lady exactly why I wasn’t going to meet her request and invite her into a deeper conversation. Invite her into getting more profound help.

What do you think?

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Photo source: here

Is Everything Filthy Rags?

Mike Leake

isaiah-64-6-meaningImagine being able to transport back in time to late 18th century England. And you’re sitting around a table with some of the brightest evangelical minds of the day. Each week one of the ministers proposes a topic and they discuss it together.

You may not be as big of a nerd as I am. I would totally geek out for the opportunity to sit in those rooms and listen to these men discuss Scripture and the pressing issues of their day. That is why one of my favorite books is The Thought of the Evangelical Leaders: Notes of the Discussions of the Eclectic Society London during the Years 1798-1814.

The discussion I read today was proposed by Henry Foster. Foster was studying Philippians 3:8 and believe that most of the commentaries that he was reading were wrong. Foster believed that when Paul spoke of “everything a loss” this included even his works after becoming a believer.

“All our righteousness are but as filthy rags” noted Foster. And he believed Paul was saying that whatever attainments he had—even those produced by the Spirit—were as nothing in the sight of God.

Foster’s View Alive in Our Day

I’ve heard Foster’s view repeated often in our own day. In fact, I would almost be persuaded to argue that his view is the dominant view in more Reformed circles. It is often argued that we are but filthy worms and everything we produce is but filthy rags.

Have you ever heard someone say, “the human heart is an idol factory”? That’s part of a quote from John Calvin:

From this we may gather that man’s nature, so to speak, is a perpetual factory of idols…Man’s mind, full as it is of pride and boldness, dares to imagine a god according to its own capacity; as it sluggishly plods, indeed is overwhelmed with the crassest ignorance, it conceives an unreality and an empty appearance as God.” –John Calvin, Institutes, 1.11.8

But is this an accurate view of the heart and righteous acts of a redeemed person? Is our heart still an idol factory? Is everything we produce as believers still nothing but filthy rags in the sight of God?

An Answer From John Venn

I’ve argued that Calvin’s idol factory is an appropriate image for the unregenerate. But it is not an entirely appropriate illustration for the heart of a believer. We are, as it were, under new ownership. We might still produce idols but it’s now considered a defect. There is a better image. Is Your Heart An Idol Factory?

And I think John Venn’s answer to Foster is also helpful on this point. Venn says,

We must take care not to extend the meaning of this expression, all things, beyond the rest of the passage. There is a material difference between the works wrought before and after justification…He would not use such a degrading expression as dung to describe the works wrought by the Spirit. Since his great end was to attain the power of the Spirit on him, is it likely that he would count the Spirit’s graces, though wrought in him imperfectly, so low? (Eclectic Society, 319)

I think Venn is correct. We need to stop debasing the Spirit’s work in our lives. The Spirit of God within us isn’t producing righteousness that is nothing but filthy rags. It is actually God-honoring works which are being produced by the Spirit in our life.

Does God Answer the Prayer of Unbelievers?

Mike Leake

ben-white-ReEqHw2GyeI-unsplashIt’s always interesting for me to read things I wrote a few years ago. I don’t think I’ve changed all that much—but there are subtle shifts in my theology and certain emphasis today that weren’t present back in 2017.

I noticed this when my editor for Crosswalk approached me with a request to rewrite and lengthen a piece I wrote back in 2017.

Does God Answer the Prayers of an Unbeliever?

I had to add about 800 words to that piece to create the new piece. I changed the introduction and I also reframed it a little. I don’t necessarily agree with MacArthur or others who use John 9:31 or Isaiah 59:2 to argue that God doesn’t hear the prayer of an unbeliever.

I still believe that we are asking the wrong question here. And I still don’t think we have firm ground to stand upon to say that God does answer the prayer of an unbeliever.

If you’re interested you can check out the new version of this article here:

Does God Answer the Prayers of Unbelievers?

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Photo source: here

What Is The Difference Between Tradition and Traditionalism?

Mike Leake

B_R_fiddlerGuy: “I hate tradition!”
Same Guy: “I want to leave a legacy.”

Tradition often gets a bad wrap. And sometimes deservedly so. But tradition can actually have a positive impact on our well-being. Tradition can help us to stay grounded. I appreciate these words from Donna Rockwell, writing for Psych Alive:

Understanding that I do not live in a vacuum, that this period of time is connected to all other periods of time — those that preceded me and those that will come after — I become part of something larger than myself, part of the eternal mystery, taking my place in the fabric of life itself. It is during the holidays that our unique cultural traditions have the greatest potential to help in this process of self-definition, to contribute to well being, and to cultivate an all-important sense of belonging and a healthy perspective of our place in the world.

But we also know the dangers of tradition. You could almost argue that Jesus was crucified because of tradition gone bad. Part of their hatred of him was because he eschewed their traditions. He was new wine into old wineskins.

So, is tradition good or bad?

I love this quote from Os Guinness (or maybe John Seel):

Tradition as the living faith of the dead and traditionalism as the dead faith of the living are two very distinct things. –Os Guinness, No God But God, 19

This helps us to see the difference between tradition and traditionalism. Tradition is when the living faith of another is passed down to a present generation. In this sense, tradition is a good thing. It’s the guy saying he wants to leave a legacy. If that legacy is grounded in Christ, then it’s a good thing.

But if the living faith is not passed on to the next generation then tradition quickly becomes traditionalism. We go through the motions and mimic what our ancestors did, we fight to keep the outward expressions alive, but we have no part in the inner faith that gave rise to those outward expressions.

At this point tradition becomes deadly because it’s the “dead faith of living” but it is still masquerading as the legitimate thing. It carries the same name but it has lost its heart. It’s a zombie.

Andy Crouch, in his book Playing God, tells of the impact of zombie institutions:

Zombie institutions are institutions that have not faced the truth about their own failure. And because of their access to privilege—their ability to continue collecting rent—they continue to exist, crowding out institutions that might create true shalom. Zombie institutions are dedicated first and only to their own preservation, not to anyone’s flourishing. (Crouch, Playing God, 199)

He then speaks of zombie churches:

Because every church is built and sustained by volunteers, almost every church was at some point a thriving institution that contributed to real flourishing. But over time the imperatives of self-preservation can create a risk-averse culture that prevents continued learning and growth. Zombie churches exist to keep the lights on rather than to be the light in dark places; they turn inward rather than outward; they serve insiders and ignore outsiders. (Crouch, Playing God, 199-200)

What is the difference between tradition and traditionalism?

One word.

Life.