Pure Religion

Jesus came to seek sinners, not righteous people.

Text: Luke 14:15-24  Friends, as I look at Sunday’s passage, I see these exciting things. Exegetical Theme: In this passage, Jesus tells the Parable of the Great Banquet. The host (representing God) invites many people to a feast (symbolizing the kingdom of God). Those initially invited (the Jewish religious leaders sitting at the table with Jesus who represent Israel) make invalid excuses and refuse to attend. The host then extends the invitation to marginalized people who are normally not invited to such gatherings – the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame— (symbolizing ostracized Hebrews like the man with dropsy). Even though they accept the invitation and attend the banquet, there is still room for more who also are invited (symbolizing Gentiles). Meanwhile, those who initially refused the invitation will not (ever) be allowed into the feast. Bottom Line: Don’t let anything get in the way of accepting Jesus’ invitation to eternal life. When Jesus was born the angels sang, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people” (2:10). And when Simeon first saw the baby Jesus in the Temple, he said, “…my eyes have seen your salvation…a light for revelation to the Gentiles” (2:32). Throughout this Gospel, Luke has reminded Theophilus of that great promise. He has already highlighted the Old Testament inclusion of Gentiles in the salvation stories the widow of Zarephath and Naaman. He’s already told the story of the Centurion’s faith and will later tell the stories of the Samaritan leper and Zachaeus before he concludes the book in 21:24 with a word about “the times of the Gentiles…” This is a theme he more fully develops in the book of Acts when the good news leaves Jerusalem for “the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8). He then dedicates the last half of that book to the story of Paul and his mission to Gentiles. Lest we miss Jesus’s love for “…the cripped, blind and lame” (vs 13 &21), Larry LaPlue, the CEO of Luke 14 Ministries, will be with us on Sunday to share how we can serve those “affected by disability” and help them “find community and connection to Jesus through his church.” Fortunately for Northeast Tennessee, Luke 14 is headquartered in Morristown. You can learn more about this ministry at https://luke14ministries.net/ . I hope you will take the time to read this passage every day this week, allowing the word of Christ to richly dwell in you (Col 3:16), transforming you (2 Cor 3:18) into the image of Jesus, who is the Best, most beautiful and perfect person, and in whom it is your best interests to be like. PS. It’s also in the best interest of those you love and the entire world. Lord willing, (Deo volente) I will see you on Sunday. - Reggie Weems

As of this morning, I’ve broken the text, Luke 14:1-14, down into these thoughts. Exegetical Theme: A Pharisee invited Jesus to supper. (Was it one of the “some” in 13:31?) Sitting at the table, Jesus taught several important lessons about kingdom living. The first three, which we will cover this Sunday, include unaffected service, genuine humility and sincere kindness. Bottom Line: Jesus is teaching us how we ought to live, in effect, reversing the curse of Adamic selfishness. He’s not turning the world upside down. He’s turning it right-side-up. This is the way it used to be and will one day be again…and permanently. I’ve put the text together like this. First: The Heart of Unaffected Service. 1-6 Jesus is unaffected by the Jews’ abuse of the Sabbath and heals a hurting man. Second: The Heart of Genuine Humility. 7-11 Genuine humility does not think less of oneself but of oneself, less. Third: The Heart of Sincere Kindness 12-13 The difference between sincere and insincere kindness is expectation. IMP: At some point, I’ll connect all three of these characteristics to Adam in the Garden, demonstrate how he failed at each of them, illustrate how we are affected by his sin and then demonstrate how Christ’s perfect service, humility, kindness serve as the model for the world as it ought to and will be. Friends, Jesus is creating the most wonderful world. This little eco-system that surrounds him in his incarnational ministry is a review of Eden and a preview of the New Jerusalem. Now, we live in the ‘already’ – there are already people who live like this – and the ‘not-yet’ – everyone does not yet live like this (but they will!). The challenge is to believe Jesus, to live like this even though it is counter to the world around us. But the way the world lives now is self-destructive. We witness it every day. Yet Jesus is rebuilding the real world. (He’s not building an alternative world). The challenge for us as Christian disciples and as shepherds of our people is to live this way and to encourage others to live this way. What will it take? Looking to Jesus, not to ourselves, others or the world at large. That can be so discouraging. Instead, “let us also lay aside every weight, and sin [think about the weights and sins of Luke 14:1-14] which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted” (Hebrews 12:1-3). Thank you for loving Jesus, his church and the world over which he cries, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem…” No one’s heart ever broke like the heart of Jesus because no one else has ever seen how beautiful it was, understands how terrible it has become and longs for it to be reconciled to the Father. No one’s heart ever broke like the heart of Jesus because no one else has ever seen how beautiful it was, understands how terrible it has become and longs for it to be reconciled to the Father like our Savior.

Each day we separately walk different sandy roads to arrive at the same destination so that we can talk about Jesus with one another. Then we eat lunch from a common bowl, a symbol of our united hearts. Today, Sunday, we participated in communion, reminding us that we have Christ in common with one another. There is so much that draws us together. But there is also much that is uncommon/different between us and our African brothers and sisters. During the testimony time this morning, M, thank God for taking his family to Heaven. Just last week soldiers pursuing terrorists, massacred 150 people in his village, killing M’s mother, two sisters, cousins, and nieces. And yet today, on Sunday, he, thanked God for grace and Heaven. S was a sheep thief. It’s how he made his living. But one day he met an American missionary, who told him about Jesus. S refused Christ but soon found himself in a sandstorm like no other he had ever encountered. As he covered his face and knelt in the sand, he prayed, “Oh God of the Christians, save me, and I will serve you.” S survived the sandstorm, found the missionary and trusted Christ. As of today, he has discipled a multitude of new believers in his country. When J became a Christian his father shot at him with a shotgun, trying to kill him. Today he says, “I am my father’s favorite son.” Fortunately, his father, who is not a Christian but who carries much influence in his community, has enabled his missionary son to be released from prison multiple times. When E became a Christian, he prayed seven years for a wife. He eventually led a woman to Christ, married her, and they had a baby. But when her Muslim parents found out their daughter and her husband were Christians, they used the country’s law to threaten to take the child. Rather than abandon their baby, E’s wife returned to her family who moved her and the baby to an undisclosed location in their country. He however, considered Christ the greater treasure, and could not turn back from following Jesus. Like every other story, I have told in this post, there are now innumerable believers in these countries, because of the sacrifice these Christians have made. These are just a few of the countless and common stories of common men and women who have opted to follow Jesus in Muslim dominated countries. Suffering and sacrifice is as common to their Christianity as sand is to the ground of the countries in which they serve. Uncommon in our world but common to much of the world.  Today, during the preaching time, I thanked them for loving Jesus, and told them they were the model for the American church. It astounds them to believe this is true, but it is. We have much to learn from our African friends. And we are watching them…thanking God for them…and hoping to imitate them in their love for Jesus.

Last night our little body of believers stood in an upper room in this African country and simultaneously sang, “I have decided to follow Jesus” in almost ten different languages. It reminded me of when TS baptized his son at Heritage in the late 90’s. T asked his son a question that was never previously asked at a Heritage baptism and has not been asked since. That’s because T and his family were born and lived in a Communist country that killed Christians as easily as toppling dominoes. What was the unique question T asked his teenage son? “Are you willing to die for Jesus?” We don’t ask that question at American baptisms because Christians in America have never been persecuted to death. Not yet anyway. But in too many countries, Christians are killed for their allegiance to Jesus’ name. Even so, people around the world continue to believe in him. And Tertullian’s maxim, “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church” continues to prove true. I mean, when killing the Leader results in an undeniable resurrection, what can you do to discourage his followers? Where T lived and where these brothers and sisters live, the defining moment is often baptism, that public confession of faith in Jesus as God’s Son. And yet, presciently knowing the danger but in light of his resurrection, Jesus commanded his followers to take the gospel everywhere, baptizing new believers (Matt 28:18-20). And people continue to be baptized - publically confessing their love for Jesus and symbolizing their faith in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus, as well as death to their past life and new life in Christ - in spite of the inevitable danger. So the next time you witness a safe baptism in America, say a sincere prayer for your brothers and sisters around the world who step into a baptismal pool like the one I took a picture of in this Muslim dominated country where Teana and I are now. They may as well be stepping into a shark infested sea, an alligator ridden lake, or the piranha filled Amazon, risking their very lives to follow Jesus. It seems no one is discouraged by the question, “Are you willing to die for Jesus?” The answer is “Yes. I have decided to follow Jesus,” every time.

I’m not sure which comes first every morning, the Muslim call to prayer or the rooster. They’re almost simultaneous. But the call to prayer eventually stops and the rooster crows all day. Billions of people around the world hear one, the other, or both every morning of their lives. But in the midst of this Muslim dominated world and in some countries where Christianity is outlawed by the constitution, this small Christian mission organization is thriving. Two years ago they had 60 indigenous missionaries in 5 African countries. As of today, they are employing over 130 African missionaries who are carrying the gospel to 14 African countries, “to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8) you might say. It’s a 10/40 window dream come true. Teana and I are here to participate in the third step of their four-pronged strategy to reach Africa: ongoing education. Team leaders representing those 14 countries have gathered to learn shepherd leadership for their various teams. Last year I taught the principles of Jesus’s shepherding heart in the 23rd Psalm at Heritage and those 7 sermons have become one of the sessions I’m teaching here; along with Ez 34, all four Gospels, John 10 and 1 Peter 5. “How’s it going?” you might ask. Well, try teaching shepherd leadership to men who are literal shepherds. Take S for instance. As a desert shepherd in a country that regularly imprisons and kills Christians, he had a compelling dream about the real God. This prompted him to ask his fellow shepherds and villagers if they knew of any Christians. Just to ask the question was dangerous. Someone told him they heard of a Christian in another village, two days walk away. And so S trekked two days in the hope the rumor was true. By God’s grace it was and he trusted Jesus as his Savior. Now, he’s shepherding God’s flock as a team leader of missionaries who evangelize, begin Bible studies that become house fellowships. Once elders and deacons are established and the fellowship is receiving offerings, baptizing new converts and celebrating communion, it becomes a church. At that point, the missionary moves on to another village. It’s an incredible vision and a successful strategy. If you’re a member of Heritage, God is using your prayers and funding to make it happen. As Teana and I have brought greetings from you, these African brothers and sisters send greetings and gratitude to you. In this life we will never meet every convert of this ministry, but one day we will stand together before God’s throne and sing, “Worthy are you…for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation” (Rev 5:9). PS. There are no pictures today. It’s literally too dangerous. One man in this ministry has been jailed 12 times. His response, “Thank God no single imprisonment was longer than six months.” BTW, in one prison specifically created for extremists, they eventually had to put him in solitary confinement because he would not stop telling Muslim terrorists about Jesus.  - Reggie Weems

The differences are stark but the similarities are present as well. Even in the midst of war and winter, Ukraine is still a first world country. Its landscape is pleasantly covered in trees and grass. Its gorgeous black soil makes it the breadbasket of Europe. Here in the subSahara, the sand color of dirt - dirt roads, dirt yards, dirt sandstorms - is by far the dominant feature. And the heat is a natural, constant, even dangerous oppressor. “What similarities!?” you ask. People everywhere need Christ. Ukraine is in war because a Russian leader is personally, literally epitomizing James 4:1-3 - “Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members? You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war.” But the similarities don’t stop there. One of the missionaries I’m sharing with this week comes from a village in which 150 people, including his mother and siblings, were just (the day before yesterday) executed by the government. And yet, he has made his way here to learn more about shepherding the missionary team he leads. How can a person carry on like this? The answer lies in the power of the gospel. The gospel has changed him, and he knows first-hand it is the only hope for his nation. Otherwise, his country (and the globe for that matter) will continue to commit suicide by murdering itself. In the history of the world, only Christianity has and does present a true model of love, joy and peace that can save the world. (This does not deny that non-Christians have abused Christianity to the world’s harm, but that is not the model of Jesus and is not Christianity). We left our hotel in Europe at 4am yesterday and arrived here to be met by our gracious hosts at about 11pm. And so, on this first day here, sing this song with me as a prayer for the Gospel here and the Gospel where you are - “Brethren, we have met to worship And adore the Lord our God; Will you pray with all your power, While we try to preach the Word? All is vain unless the Spirit Of the Holy One comes down; Brethren, pray, and holy manna Will be showered all around. Brethren, see poor sinners round you Slumb'ring on the brink of woe; Death is coming, hell is moving, Can you bear to let them go? See our fathers and our mothers, And our children sinking down; Brethren, pray and holy manna Will be showered all around. Sisters, will you join and help us? Moses' sister aided him; Will you help the trembling mourners Who are struggling hard with sin? Tell them all about the Savior, Tell them that He will be found; Sisters, pray, and holy manna Will be showered all around. Let us love our God supremely, Let us love each other, too; Let us love and pray for sinners, Till our God makes all things new. Then He'll call us home to heaven, At His table we'll sit down; Christ will gird Himself, and serve us With sweet manna all around.” - Reggie Weems

It’s 6am in Warsaw and Teana and I are on board our flight to an African Muslim dominated country. We will arrive at 8pm this evening and I will begin teaching African missionary team leaders on the concept of shepherd leadership tomorrow morning. Teana will be investing in the wives of these leaders. Some of you knew and others correctly surmised that we have been in Ukraine this past week. Oh, the stories we hope to tell… For instance, what would your church do, how would Heritage respond, if a thousand people (and that’s a literal number) knocked on the church’s front door one morning. These are people with only the clothes on their back, no food, no housing, no education for their children, no medical care, and unprepared to survive the winter. Did I mention that the vast majority of them have pets they can’t leave anywhere and have to bring to church with them on Sunday and Wednesday? The Ukranian church has responded magnificently, assisted by churches like Heritage. And although our memories may be short, the war is far from over.  In addition to working with New Horizons for Children during the day. Teana and I invested our evenings meeting with local pastors and missionaries. By the Lord’s grace, we enjoyed supper with two American missionaries and two national pastors. One night we had supper with an American missionary and his wife. When the war began, they’re sending board required them to leave the country and wanted to place them in full-time service in another country. But as soon as they could, they returned to Ukraine several months ago. On Monday night, a local pastor told us that if a Ukranian pastor left the country to escape the war, he would not be accepted by the church if he tried to return when the war ended. That’s a high bar for pastors. But Jesus reminds us that many shepherds are in fact, not shepherds but “hirelings” who…”sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees…” (John 10:12). Contrarily, Jesus, is the “good shepherd [who] lays down his life for the sheep” (10:11) as these Ukranian pastors are doing. Providentially, I’ll be employing that John 10 passage next week in one of my teaching sessions for African missionaries leaders who not only shepherd congregations but lead other missionaries. All of these people live and minister in Muslim dominated countries where, like Ukraine, it would be easier to seek a more comfortable ministry environment than risk one’s life. All of this to say the church of Jesus, comprised of our brothers and sisters around the world, is suffering greatly. It is our privilege to pray for them, and to come alongside them when, and as we can. That’s what we’ve been doing this week on behalf of the people who gather at Heritage Baptist Church. PS. It was in the 30s-40s in Ukraine. I’ll need a change of clothes for the temperatures in Africa. We’re expecting a daily low of 102°. - Reggie Weems

Culture is the language, customs, arts. food, celebrations, attitudes, values, etc., that make a people unitedly unique. It is what makes a people and place different, beautiful, interesting, and worth visiting. Biblically speaking, culture is the beautiful, variegated, human display of Trinitarian glory. Like the Father, Son and Spirit, cultures possess equal status but are wildly different in the best sense of the word. God did not create culture but he did make the now fallen image bearers who (sub)create it. In addition to reflecting the Trinity, culture is also an illustration of God’s own complex creation - night and day, air, earth and water, male and female, etc. Each is important to making the world what God intends it to be. Fundamentally, every culture brings its glorious distinctiveness to the overall ‘Wow!’ of living on planet earth and it’s human pride that makes people think the essence of one culture is superior to another. Or that all cultures should be melted into one. The biblical basis of culture means that any political or religious attempt to destroy a culture is a denial of the Trinity, creation and grace. The church of Jesus should vehemently protest any form of cultural genocide. Such hellish disgrace is what Teana and I witnessed in Ukraine this past week and will witness in Africa next week. Angry, insecure, ungodly people are murdering other people to annihilate whole cultures. Russia in Ukraine and Islam in Africa. But it will not succeed. God will forever be glorified by a multitude of cultures and their continued existence is another proof of his existence and sovereignty. How do we know this? Think on these verses. “After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages [four synonyms for culture] standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” (Rev7:9-10). Think for a moment about that explosion of myriad languages, posture, dress, and dance before God’s throne. Cultural expressions of worship will be innumerable and ceaseless. “…and the kings of the earth will bring their glory [a synonym for their cultural wealth] into it [the New Jerusalem]” (Rev 21:24). Think for a moment about how the glory of those cultures will add to God’s eternal glory. PS. Did you notice that God is glorified in Heaven by various cultures which means that differing cultures will still exist forever in Heaven? So rage on world and religious leaders. You will fail in your attempts to rob God of his glory in all people’s everywhere. “He who sits in the heavens laughs…” at your vanity (Psalm 2:4). Instead of killing people, you should repent and “Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled” (2:12a). Until then, “Blessed are all who take refuge in him” (2:12b), especially the people of Ukraine and Africa. - Reggie Weems