Text: Matthew 8:16-23
The call to discipleship is the call to follow Jesus. That requires a lot of moving. Jesus is always up to something. Being reminded of that coupled with the statement - "between the altar and the door", I found myself seeing the choices set before me, daily, even hourly to decide whether I will choose the altar or the door. As the pastor's wife, I sit in the second row, figuratively closer to the altar than just about everyone else in church. But, the power is AT the altar, not being near it. Sitting in the second row makes me no more a beneficiary of the power of the altar, than the person sitting in the back row.
We all must come to the altar... if we are to be followers. Followers can't sit ANYWHERE between the altar and the door.
I considered the scribe who so boldly announced to Jesus, I will follow you wherever you go. Scribes were the Bible experts. They knew it well. If Jesus had failed to follow the law in just one point, I don't think this scribe would have wanted to follow Jesus. In Jesus, this scribe had found the real thing. But, scribes were used to the niceties of life. So, in verse 20, Jesus reminded him that following Him could mean walking away from those things. The next disciple in the story wanted to take care of the demands and cares of this life first. So, in verse 22, Jesus challenged him.
We don't know how either of these men responded. Maybe, because I have a natural tendency to be like the scribe, I'd like to think the scribe took Jesus up on His offer. If the Word of God was important to this scribe, how much more would be the One who was able to follow it and make it real?
Hopefully, we were all challenged this morning. Hopefully, the Lord spoke to us in that area that tends to keep us from following Him (in whatever turns He takes). And, hopefully, we will choose the altar. The door is a bad option. So, is any point between the door and the altar.
And when Jesus saw great multitudes around Him, He gave a command to depart to the other side. (verse 18)
Now, when He got into a boat, His disciples followed Him. (verse 23)
In between those two verses is a call - Follow Me and a challenge that reminds us that, when Jesus calls, He knows exactly the demands and priorities of our lives. Yet, He calls us anyway. Will we walk away like the rich young ruler of another story? Or will we choose to get in the boat like the disciples of verse 23?
As we can read in the next verses, getting in the boat did not enable them to avoid the storms of life. But it did enable them to be eye witnesses of God's work and His protection in the storm. We discover that at the altar.
This message was extremely powerful, and challenging. I found myself considering the word "follow," and the fact that it means movement. I was challenged to look back at the past year and consider how much moving I had actually done in my Christian walk. Was I in the same place spiritually as this time last year? Had I grown in faith, obedience, service, worship? Or had I been found going in circles or worse, standing still?
ReplyDeleteI remember being challenged by the song "the Altar and the Door" when it was first released - hearing the words today was a good reminder. If my ultimate goal is to hear "well done, good and faithful servant" I must not be found standing still, but kneeling at His altar, ready to follow wherever He will lead.
I was challenged by Dale's message to remain in a more attentive state. Jesus was on the move...standing among the crowds one minute and getting into a boat the next. I don't want to "miss the boat" in seeing Him work, in being a part of it. Even at a "the door" it's hard to miss the obvious, yet amazing, works of God, even the unbeliever can see them. But the intimacy is in being close enough (AT the altar) to see the details that only His intimates are privy to.
ReplyDelete"For to this I am called, because Christ also suffered for me, leaving me an example, that I should follow His steps."
I Peter 2:21 (personalized version)
During church services I tend to also sit close to the altar because I am easily distracted! For me where I sit in church is an object lesson in relation to yesterday's message. The closer I am to the altar/the Lord the less tempting and alluring the door/my flesh is.
ReplyDeleteGalations 5:17 For the flesh lusts against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh, and these are contrary to one another; so that you do not do the things that you wish.
There are times when being led by the Spirit/following Jesus comes as effortlessly as taking my next breath and then there are times that the battle is intense. For instance, when someone emotionally hurts one of my children my (flesh) tendancy is to seek justice, retribution and inflict the same intense pain. The "door" of destruction is wide open. But the Spirit gently draws me, like a gentle hand on my back, towards the altar, towards Jesus and His covering.
The "door" is always ready to be swung open ALONG with the glorious truth of His welcoming altar, always a place for me to kneel, confess and repent!
I have been pondering the option of where I place myself ...either at the the door or the altar and the word cost.
ReplyDeleteThere is a cost for both options.
Waiting at the door is a place of complacency, leanness of soul and a place of settling.
Remaining at the alter is the abundant life, the spirit filled life, the life that honors and glorifies my Lord.
The cost of following Jesus has a lot to do with denying myself. Taking up my cross and following hard after Him. I treasure that Jesus commands me (us) to follow Him. Since He says to follow after Him then I can be certain that He will make the way possible for me to do so.
If I choose to stay at the door there is also a cost. I miss out ! I miss out on absolute closeness with my Lord. I miss out on seeing Him work in my life as well as the life of others. Boy is this a hard place to be!
I was reading my devotional yesterday....John was able to go through a door God opened for him because he came to the altar.
Revelation 4:1
After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven. And the first voice which I heard was like a trumpet speaking with me, saying, “Come up here, and I will show you things which must take place after this.”
I am challenged this next year to remain at the alter and follow my Lord more closely. Yes there is a cost to remaining at the alter, but there is a greater cost if choose not to.
Sheri
in order for me to continue to follow Jesus, I need to come to the alter and in order to come to the alter, I need to get in the boat that the Lord is in. While I served in The U.S. Navy, I remember that every ship I reported to, I had orders to board that ship, to get on that ship I had cross the gangway which a walkway between the pier and the ship. once on the on gangway before I could get onto the ship, I had to salute the ensign and request permission to come aboard. I have my orders in my heart from my commanding officer Jesus, He is my permission to get in the boat where He is at, that will help me to come to the alter where Jesus will me to take care of the coming year. I reported and have come to a relationship with my Lord and Savior, now each day I have to muster to receive my marching orders from my Lord. In Jesus Rudy
ReplyDeleteLOVE the analogy Rudy! Thanks!
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