Prophets are known to use sarcasm at times. Elijah famously told some Baal worshippers that their “god” was silent because perhaps “he is relieving himself” (1 Kings 18:27); he encouraged them to “cry aloud, for he is a god.” Isaiah used sarcastic irony to convey contempt for those who cut down a cedar tree to make an idol, who then pray to it, saying “Deliver me, for you are my God!” while they burn the rest of the cedar wood and say, “Aha, I am warm, I have seen the fire!” (Isaiah 44:16). These are famous examples. But have you ever considered the sarcasm Zechariah employed when describing the offerings of the children of Israel? This one might hit a little closer to home.

“Put a price tag on my forehead!” That’s pretty much what Zechariah demanded. “Pay me what you think I’m worth!” Zechariah wanted to know how much the people valued his ministry. Or better, given the context of Zechariah 11, he wanted to force the people to provide a number that would allow them to see how little they valued the word of the Lord, how little they were willing to give to the God who gives them everything.

The people knew that Zechariah was a prophet. Now Zechariah was requiring them to put a value on hearing the word of the Lord. It wasn’t that Zechariah was greedy for “filthy lucre” (Titus 1:11 KJV). He would soon prove the opposite by throwing all the money back into the Temple (Zechariah 11:13). But he wanted the people to see how little value they were assigning to the ministry of the Word.

They offered up thirty pieces of silver. Zechariah was not impressed…sarcasm warning! Zechariah described their offering as a “magnificent sum” (Zechariah 11:13 NLT). Thirty pieces of silver was the “handsome price” (NIV) assigned to the prophet. In calling their offering “handsome” (NIV) or “magnificent” (NLT) or “lordly” (ESV), Zechariah delivered a heavy dose of sarcasm. Such was his assessment of the paltry valuation they gave him; thirty pieces of silver wasn’t good at all. True prophets will let people know how God really feels about how they are doing, including what they offer. A prophet may even use sarcasm to do it.

But let’s go a little deeper and take this more seriously, by considering how Zechariah’s words relate to Jesus. Jesus is also a Prophet, not to mention a Priest and King, even “the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:16). When He presented Himself to Israel, Judas Iscariot valued him at the same price Zechariah got—thirty pieces of silver. Judas was “a thief, and having charge of the moneybag he used to help himself to what was put into it” (John 12:6). Judas had always been a greedy sell-out, but when he went to the chief priests and offered to deliver Jesus into their hands, he finalized the deal. He exchanged the whole of His time with Jesus for a paltry price. He collected on what His relationship with Jesus was worth to him. In so doing, he put a price tag on Jesus’ forehead. To Judas, the Son of the living God was worth thirty pieces of silver.

An entire sermon could be preached on the parallels between Zechariah 11:12-13 and Judas’ betrayal of Jesus, recorded in the Gospels. That the Lord said to Zechariah “throw it to the potter” (11:13) is a prophetic type that finds its antitype in the usage of Judas’ blood money to purchase a potter’s field (Matthew 27:7). That the money was “thrown into the house of the Lord” in both cases is another prophetic analogy.

But the prophetic image that ought to arrest our attention the most, in the parallels between the two betrayals, is that in both cases the money ends up back at the feet of those who offered it. The coins bouncing on the pavement is a vivid image of an offering rejected! Picture the chief priests picking up the money with their fat, greedy fingers. They, like Judas, valued Jesus at no more than thirty pieces of silver, and the providence of God displayed that day in the Temple was essentially saying, “keep the money!” When Zechariah threw the thirty pieces of silver “into the house of the Lord”, there were those in attendance who would have scurried about to grab the scattered coins. Maybe a few hands arrived at the same piece at the same moment and jostled against each other in the effort to grab it. Thirty meager coins loose on the floor, free for the taking, drew out a pitiful display of misplaced priorities. How many people only saw bouncing, sparkling silver opportunities while missing that it was a word from the Lord?

Zechariah 11:13 is a word from the Lord. The “lordly price” (ESV) needs to be worthy of our Lord. When we come to “the house of the Lord” we ought to bring our best offering to the Lord. A poor widow did that. She gave a handsome, magnificent, lordly valuation of her Lord. Materially, that valuation was only two mites. But the two mites were all she had. The sum did not matter. The Lord saw her heart (1 Samuel 16:7). Jesus then gave an assessment of her offering. Without sarcasm or hyperbole, but “Truly” (Luke 21:3), He evaluated her gift this way: “I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them” (Luke 21:3). It’s not the sum we bring that determines whether the Lord will accept it or send it scattering back at our feet. The determining factor is whether or not our offerings reflect a heart that values the Lord of glory. David rightly said, “I will not offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God that cost me nothing” (2 Samuel 24:24).

Let’s each bring our best this Sunday morning and on every Lord’s Day. Paul instructs the Corinthians, “On the first day of every week, each of you is to put something aside and store it up, as he may prosper, so that there will be no collecting when I come” (1 Corinthians 16:2). Paul was referring to his missionary visit. How much more should we be looking forward to the coming of Jesus Christ? The first day of every week is the Lord’s Day. Part of how we worship Him is by putting something in the offering box (or in the proverbial “offering box” when giving on the app). This offering is “as he may prosper,” meaning that to whom more is given, more is expected (Luke 12:48). Perhaps today, the Lord is asking one of us to increase his weekly offering by $2, and obedience to that will bring about God’s pleasure, just as with the widow’s two mites. The Lord may be asking another to increase their weekly offering by $30, and obedience to that will bring about God’s pleasure. But let each one respond to the Word of the Lord in Zechariah 11:13. Those who prayerfully offer the best they can will receive the Lord’s commendation. Those who flippantly offer a poor valuation might one day see the handsome price bounce back at their feet, with a dose of sarcasm. Wouldn’t we rather hear, “Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master” (Matthew 25:23).

There are two ways to describe what happened to the shattered plate lying on the floor. One is in the passive voice; the other is in the active voice. One would be an irresponsible answer to the owner of the plate who discovers it lying on the floor; the other would be to take responsibility. The guy who dropped the plate could say, “It fell from my hand,” or he could say, “I dropped it.”

Both constructions form true statements, but one sentence is better than the other. To say “It fell from my hand” might seem like the better option in the moment. Let’s say another family member upstairs slammed a door, and the guy carrying the plate was startled by the sound, resulting in the fumble. Given this added circumstance, the fumbler might want to pass at least some of the blame off upon the originator of the jarring sound. Or maybe the owner of the shattered plate has questioned the fumbler in a harsh tone, perhaps with an angry face and with such excessive volume that the guy who dropped it feels afraid and wants to protect himself. So he emphasizes the accidental nature of the slippage; he chooses to say, “It fell from my hand.”

But who is responsible for the loss? The truth is that we ought to be more careful and sure handed with other people’s things than to carry them so loosely that a mere noise upstairs would “cause” us to drop something. Furthermore, we shouldn’t be so high strung and jumpy that noises affect us that way. Moreover, we shouldn’t be so fearful and timid that angry faces and angry words make us wilt like a drying flower. No, the appropriate—and godly—answer to the question is that the dropper is responsible for dropping it. If he was getting slugged in the face when he dropped it, then, no, he is not responsible. But in the above scenario, he is responsible. Therefore he should word things this way: “I dropped the plate.”

Such ownership should be followed with a sincere expression of being sorry. To be “sorry” doesn’t mean to break out in tears, but “sorry” does come from the same root as “sorrow”; it means to show a sign of emotion, some compassion for the one who suffered loss. This expression of being sorry should then be followed by an apology. An apology is a “defense” (1 Peter 3:15) and an “excuse” (Romans 1:20); both “defense” and “excuse” are translations that come from the root “apologia”—apology—in the Greek New Testament. To “apologize” means to recount the events, explaining what happened, owning the sin or error or mistake in one’s own actions, and stating, or at least implying, that what you did is now a learning experience that should result in better outcomes in the future.

If the guy who dropped the plate speaks in the active voice, saying, “I dropped it,” and he then expresses being sorry and gives an apology, then he can move forward in good conscience. If he’s a Christian, then he is likely to be a good and growing one.

But I am convinced that the greatest danger we face after being saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ is getting stuck in our own irresponsibility. If justification is a free gift—and it is—then what incentive do we have to progress in righteousness? After all, “I’m already saved!” Since Christianity is not a performance based religion (it’s the only one that’s not), it is quite possible for Christians to go on sinning, letting grace make up the difference between irresponsible and responsible behavior. Christians can sometimes become very irresponsible people.

Christians who remain irresponsible after being saved have failed to duly consider that genuine salvation takes us further than justification. To be declared righteous is a glorious start to the Christian life. Justification is also a matter of eternal rejoicing. But salvation includes elements that precede our justification, for example, the accomplishment of our redemption at the cross of Christ, where Jesus said, before any of us were even born, “it is finished” (John 19:30). Salvation also includes elements that follow the moment of our justification as God applies the redemption He accomplished to the individual lives of believers. We are positionally sanctified (John 3:2-3) the moment we believe, which then initiates a life-long process of progressive sanctification (John 17:17). This progressive sanctification finally reaches its mark when we are glorified (Romans 8:30) at the moment of our death (2 Corinthians 5:8) or at the Rapture of the Church (1 Thessalonians 4:17), whichever comes first.

All this to say, salvation includes sanctification, not “just” justification, so to speak. And if we are not pursuing holiness, then we are not saved (Hebrews 3:6, 3:14, 12:14). Christian, you have a responsibility to grow in godliness:

2 Peter 3:14 “Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace.”

Colossians 3:5 “Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.

Hebrews 12:1 “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.”

James 4:7 “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”

Romans 8:13 “For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.”

Pursue holiness. Practice godliness.

Decide today to take responsibility for your own sanctification. Our effort doesn’t take away from God’s work of sanctification. “Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure” (Philippians 2:12-13). When we work out our own salvation, it is because God is at work. It is only because He has given us His Holy Spirit (1 Peter 1:2) that we stand to make progress.

We can really start moving forward in sanctification when we learn to start saying, “I dropped it.” That sense of responsibility is often the missing ingredient when a Christian starts to feel “stuck” in their walk with Christ. Each of us needs to relearn responsibility and be reminded to say, “I am responsible for my own motives, thoughts, words, and actions.” We will continue to progress in godliness only if we learn to take responsibility for our failures. We must take responsibility for our own sanctification.

There were no migraine headaches in the Garden of Eden. No back or hip pain. No cancer. Adam and Eve wouldn’t even have been sore in the morning after going for an especially long walk the day before. The pains of this life came into existence through the fall of man into sin.

Genesis 3:17-19 records the curse: “And to Adam he said, ‘Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, “You shall not eat of it,” cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.’”

Pain is a product of the fall. Thorns and thistles are twisted things, instruments of pain that do not come from the original design of a plant, but from the contortions caused by sin. All creation now groans because of what Adam did.

The only remedy to the curse of sin and death is the suffering and death of Jesus Christ on the cross. He wore a crown of thorns on His head to signify the work of the Man, the new Adam, as He bore the curse for us. His bloody death and bodily resurrection loosed the pains of sin and death.

But we are not home yet. While we wait the consummation of God’s plan of redemption, which will include the freedom of the creation itself from its bondage to corruption (Romans 8:21), we still live in a thorny world. When Christians die, we are released from the pains of this world (2 Corinthians 5:8). When Christ comes, He releases those of us who now remain here in the waiting (1 Thessalonians 4:17).

Until that day, there will be thorns. Migraines, back and hip pain, cancer, and sore muscles are part of this life until Christ returns.

But there’s more to the story. The thorns of the flesh are not merely a brute fact to be endured until Christ comes. Because we are heirs of redemption, the thorns of the flesh have a purpose in this life and in the one to come. “For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison” (2 Corinthians 4:17).

Paul suffered a thorn in his flesh. Some scholars think it was a back problem. Others think it was poor eyesight or a severe limp. Others think it was more of an emotional wound. But whatever it was, Paul describes it as tormenting (harassing):

“So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12:7-10).

In this world, we, like Paul, will have trouble. This trouble will sometimes include physical and/or emotional ailments. But the thorns in the flesh are instruments that God is wielding for our good. Sure, Satan is happy to inflict us with them, and we do well to plead with the Lord to “deliver us from the evil one” (Matthew 6:13), but if we pray again and again for deliverance from a thorn and the Lord still leaves it in our flesh, then we can rest assured that God is accomplishing some important purpose by leaving it there.

In Paul’s case, God left the thorn in the flesh to keep him humble. After all, Paul was the Apostle who was taking the Gospel to the entire known Gentile world (Romans 11:13). Paul was also writing half of the New Testament. It would be easy for pride to creep in on Paul, or perhaps for Paul to grow a little bitter toward other Christians when he noticed that they didn’t run as hard as he did. Paul did notice that he “worked harder than any of [the apsotles]” (1 Corinthians 15:10). But that never made him bitter. It never caused him to look down on them or any of the “ordinary” Christians.

How did Paul retain such a positive attitude? He remained grateful by remembering who he was before Christ saved him (Acts 9, Acts 26). He also remained humble by enduring a thorn.

Physical pain was one of many instruments that kept him close to God. Whenever the pain lifted enough for Paul to go preach, Paul was overwhelmed with gratitude. He realized that apart from the grace of God, the thorns of this life would have him six feet under. If it weren’t for grace, Paul couldn’t draw his next breath.

Paul’s thorn reminded him of grace. God’s power is made perfect in weakness. Thorns will not be part of the eternal state. We’ll have no sin nature, which is what makes thorns useful to us in this life. Without a tendency toward pride, we won’t need thorns to keep us humble. But in this life, we are prone to complain (a form of pride), prone to wander (Lord, I feel it), and thorns are instruments that God uses to keep us reliant upon Him.

Thank you Jesus for wearing our thorns, that we will not wear them for all eternity. Thank you Jesus for giving us grace to endure the thorns of this short life, because if Paul needed them, then how much more do we?

By Grace,

Pastor Jeff

Hudson Taylor called it “the exchanged life.” It was his spiritual secret, his superpower. “If I had a thousand pounds, China could have them all. If I had a thousand lives, I’d give them all to China. No, not to China, but to Christ. Can we do too much for such a Savior?” The exchanged life is letting this life go for God’s eternal reward.

The exchanged life is the paradox that “whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it” (Matthew 10:39). Jesus offers abundant life to anyone who lays down all the substitutes that this world has to offer.

The people of Haggai’s day were caught up in the deceitfulness of wealth, even though they had very little. Paneling their houses had begun to take priority over rebuilding the fallen temple of God (Haggai 1:4). They are exhibit A that you don’t have to be rich to be greedy. They lived in a ransacked homeland and they were still trying to find their lives in the rubble, rather than giving their lives to the work of the Lord. Can you relate?

The people of Haggai’s day demonstrate the futility of settling for this world’s substitutes. They proved that the substitutes don’t fulfill what they promise. “You have sown much, and harvested little. You eat, but you never have enough; you drink, but you never have your fill…” (Haggai 1:6).

But the people responded to Haggai’s preaching when he pointed all these things out to them. They “obeyed the voice of the Lord their God…And the people feared the Lord.” From that moment when they exchanged the pursuit of decorated houses for the pursuit of God’s purposes on earth, everything fell into place. They even received by grace some of the very things they were willing to sacrifice! “Consider from this day onward, from the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month. Since the day that the foundation of the Lord’s temple was laid, consider: Is the seed yet in the barn? Indeed, the vine, the fig tree, the pomegranate, and the olive tree have yielded nothing. But from this day on I will bless you” (Haggai 2:18-19).

The exchanged life is not a poverty vow. It is a willingness to enjoy poverty if that be the will of the Lord. It is a willingness to enjoy some, or perhaps even much, of this world’s goods, if that be the will of the Lord. The key is doing the will of the Lord.

And what is that will? Hudson Taylor reminded us, “The Great Commission is not an option to be considered; it is a command to be followed.” Jesus told us what He wants us to do, “And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation” (Mark 16:15).

Give your life to evangelism and discipleship and you will find abundant life in so doing. The exchanged life is a Great Commission life. It may be that God will call you to endure the privations of a missionary life in the interior of China. That was the life that Hudson Taylor enjoyed so much. He discovered how capable God is to provide everything a Christian needs for life and godliness; Hudson Taylor loved to say, “God alone is sufficient for God’s own work.”

Or perhaps God will give you much of the fruit of the vine, the fig, the pomegranate, and the olive tree, right here in our prosperous land, as He did for the people of Haggai’s day. But only be willing to live for Christ, to take Him alone as your treasure, and you are sure to experience His abundant life. “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21).

With Love in Christ,

Pastor Jeff

Years of blood, sweat, and tears blasted off into the sky as SpaceX attempted to be the first private company to put a rocket into orbit. The first attempt had failed due to a fuel-line leak that ignited a fire. Here then was the company’s attempt to redeem itself.

But as the starship moved into the second stage of its flight, the fuel in the tank began to slosh…the dreaded slosh. The SpaceX team had “slosh” ranked eleventh on the list of things that could scuttle the shuttle. But every risk they addressed would come with a tradeoff. In this case, adding a slosh inhibiter would also increase the weight of the ship. So they had decided to mitigate the first ten risk factors and accept the small risk of slosh, and hope for the best. It turned out to be a disastrous decision. Like the rocket they launched before it and the one they would launch after it, the second mission went up in a blaze of optimism and came crashing down on their heads in fiery defeat and soul-crushing debris.

In this world, you will have slosh, but take heart, Christ has overcome the world. The SpaceX story is not about Christ, but Christ does teach us to take note of admirable qualities that we see in the world. We are not to emulate the sinful stuff, but we are to learn from what the world does well. “The master commended the dishonest manager for his shrewdness. For the sons of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than the sons of light” (Luke 16:8).

In the case of Elon Musk, you’ve gotta hand it to him for his grit. When a fuel leak brought down his first rocket, and slosh brought down his second, and a cooling system failure brought down the third, most people thought SpaceX was dead. But within hours of the third failure, Elon wrote, “SpaceX will not skip a beat in execution going forward. There should be absolutely zero question that SpaceX will prevail in reaching orbit. I will never give up, and I mean never.”

When the SpaceX team read Elon’s words, they were inspired. One said, “He told us to go for it, and it blew me away.” Another said, “I think most of us would have followed him into the gates of hell carrying suntan oil after that. Within moments, the energy of the building went from despair and defeat to a massive buzz of determination.”

Now, you have to understand, in early 2008, both SpaceX and Tesla were on the brink of bankruptcy. None of the SpaceX rockets had made orbit and none of the Tesla roadsters had made it to the road. Production costs in both of Elon’s companies were ballooning. The financial crisis of 2008 made it more likely than not that the companies would fail. The only thing that could keep them afloat was raising more capital investment. But remember, this was during the financial crisis of 2008. Who was willing to pour money into risky projects during the financial crisis?

The advice that most experts gave Elon was to tank either Tesla or SpaceX to let the other one survive. However, Elon Musk, not raised Christian, did have some biblical background. There were seasons of his life where his divorced mother dragged him to Sunday School. And from those days, Elon remembered a story about Solomon, the one where Solomon said “split the baby,” but only in order to test the contending women as to who truly loved the baby.

1 Kings 3:25-27 tells the story: “And the king said, “Divide the living child in two, and give half to the one and half to the other.” Then the woman whose son was alive said to the king, because her heart yearned for her son, “Oh, my lord, give her the living child, and by no means put him to death.” But the other said, “He shall be neither mine nor yours; divide him.” Then the king answered and said, “Give the living child to the first woman, and by no means put him to death; she is his mother.”

Elon remembered this story when he considered the advice he was being given about his companies. These were his “babies”, so to speak. And from this story, he decided that he cared too much about the people and the missions of Tesla and SpaceX. He would sooner work himself into the ground than give up on either of them, to let it die. He refused to divide the baby. Instead, like a man in a trance of steadfast determination, he worked day and night to make a way to keep his babies alive. And he did. Barely. But he did.

Elon is far from an example of Christlikeness. But he does exhibit a commendable character trait that Christians can learn from. Elon has grit. The old expression is helpful, “when the going gets tough, the tough get going.” Grit is the resolve to never quit. We can learn from Elon Musk, a picture of grit and determination. Sometimes you have to grit your teeth, agonize over ways to save your babies, like Elon did with SpaceX and Tesla.

Jesus would apply the Luke 16 parable of the shrewd manager this way: “One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much. If then you have not been faithful in the unrighteous wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches? And if you have not been faithful in that which is another’s, who will give you that which is your own? No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money” (Luke 16:10-13).

So, Jesus’s lesson is not about building companies to become the richest man in the world. But he does want us to notice something (Luke 16:8) about the richest man in the world. He got that way by grit. And grit is commendable.

If you run a marathon and you seem to be failing, show some grit and push yourself to make it to the finish line, even if the blisters bleed. If you run a ministry and it seems to flailing, show some grit and make it better. If you run anything in life, from the dishwasher to a fortune 500 company, show some grit and find a way to make it work.

The people of this world are living for their own kingdoms; we’re living for the kingdom of Christ. “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might, for there is no work or thought or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol, to which you are going.” (Ecclesiastes 9:10). “And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him” (Colossians 3:17). “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ” (Colossians 3:23-24).

In this world, you will face slosh, but take heart, Christ has overcome the world. So, show some grit. Say, “I will never give up. And I mean never.”

In Christ,

Pastor Jeff