Foundation of Faith

“His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires” (2 Peter 1:3-4).

Let me emphasize the point here… God’s power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of Him. We have it – all of it. We have everything we need because we know Him. Do you get the importance of this?

But it’s not all about our knowledge. After all, knowledge on its own leads to pride and arrogance. We don’t want that. That’s why the next verses give us a process to go with the knowledge.

“For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith, goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love” (2 Peter 1:5-7). We need to grow in all these things – faith, goodness, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, mutual affection, and love.

Notice faith is the foundation of this process. You can read more about the foundation of faith in “Everything We Need: God's Path to Know Him Better.” We start with faith; don’t belittle that because faith is a huge first step! After all, “if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move” (Matthew 17:20).

We might be afraid of terrifying the US Geological Survey with tons of mountain relocation. We may want to try stepping out in a different area. So what else can we do with faith? Let’s look at the example of some of our heroes. I took all of these from Hebrews 11.

Faith helps us…

• Understand the whole big process (vs. 3).
• Offer the right kind of sacrifice (vs. 4).
• Not experience death (vs. 5).
• Attain deliverance (vs. 7).
• Separate from the world and draw near to God (vs. 7).
• Obey God (vs. 8).
• Step out even when we don’t know where we’re going (vs. 8).
• Endure now as we look forward to what’s to come (vs. 9-10).
• Receive power to do the impossible (vs. 11).
• Endure painful testing (vs. 17).
• Bless others even when circumstances don’t seem to make sense (vs. 20-21).
• Rest in the future (vs. 22).
• Conquer fear (vs. 23).
• Stand for what is right (vs. 24).
• Persevere when everything is stacked against us (vs. 27).
• Protect our loved ones (vs. 28).
• Accomplish the impossible (vs. 29).
• Watch our enemies’ defenses crumble (vs. 30).
• Receive God’s people with peace (vs. 31).

And that’s not even the half of it! You can read the rest of the list at Hebrews 11:32-40.

I encourage you to find a little seedful of faith…See what you can do with it!

Moved by Compassion, I... did Nothing

During college, a group from our Baptist Student Union went on a mission trip to New York City. We prepared and delivered meals to AIDS sufferers, served in a homeless shelter, painted some rooms at a Baptist associational office, and many other things.

We stayed at a church in a section of New York known as Hell’s Kitchen. Although this region of the city is currently being refurbished, at that time even many New Yorkers avidly avoided the filthy, unsafe area. New York natives’ eyebrows rose when we answered questions about the locale of our accommodations. We watched as they mentally crossed off their classification as “tourist” and replaced it with “respected” as we willingly laid down our heads there each night.

A few evenings we arrived home a little late. We’d take the subway to the Port Authority Bus Terminal on 8^th Avenue and then walk the last couple of blocks home. The later we arrived each evening, the more people we saw lined up along the buildings; homeless persons curled up asleep, some sitting around talking. Occasionally we even had to step over a passed out or sleeping person in order to continue walking on the sidewalk.

I remember one such incident remarkably well. While walking to a project, we came to a woman curled up on the ground at the foot of one of Manhattan’s towers. This moment stands out in my mind as one of those times that molded me into who I am today. This woman was unique. And not in a good way.

This woman wasn’t in Hell’s Kitchen…she was in a more prominent area of the city.

Although she lay on the street, it wasn’t late in the evening…it was the middle of the day.

She didn’t have the worn, crumpled, dirty clothes of a homeless person…she lay there naked except for a box. She lay huddled inside the box which reached from her chest to part way down her legs.

I would have kept my straight-ahead-no-eye-contact New York gaze except, in her case, I wasn’t worried about making eye contact. Her eyes were shut as she lay there shaking. Shivering? Trembling? Convulsing? Overdosing? I’ll never know.

Regardless of why she lay there in such a condition, I was moved with compassion for her.

And I did nothing except walk on by.

Fast forward to now – this month.

Grow Barefoot focuses on a theme each month for all of our social media. Everyone focuses on love for the month of February, and indeed, that has been our focus during this month for the last two years. This year I wanted something else. Prayer led me to the word compassion. Follow us on Facebook, Google+, or Twitter to see what we’ve been posting.

I looked up all the verses that use the word compassion and was quickly convicted by what I saw.

Jesus told stories about people who were moved with compassion. In each of those stories, when compassion overcame the person – they did something. In the parable of the unmerciful servant, the king’s compassion led him to forgive the servant’s debt (Matthew 18:22-35). In the story of the good Samaritan, the Samaritan man’s compassion caused him to treat the wounds of the injured man and take him to a place to receive care (Luke 10:25-37). In the story of the prodigal son, the father’s compassion made him run to his rebellious son and lavish him with gifts and affection (Luke 15:11-32).

But wait, there’s more.

Jesus didn’t only tell stories about people who acted when compassion overwhelmed them.

Jesus lived it.

Jesus saw a large crowd; He had compassion on them – so He healed their sick” (Matthew 14:14).

Jesus had compassion on a crowd of thousands who hadn’t eaten in three days – so He fed them (Matthew 15:32).

Compassion moved Jesus when two blind men came to Him seeking their sight – so He gave them sight (Matthew 20:34).

A man with leprosy asked Jesus to make him clean. Compassion filled Jesus – so He cured the man (Mark 1:40-42).

Jesus saw people lost as sheep without a shepherd – so He taught them (Mark 6:34).

Jesus felt compassion for a man possessed by demons – so He cast them out (Mark 5:18-19).

Jesus experienced compassion at the sight of a widow grieving the death of her only son – so He comforted her. (Luke 7:12).

Jesus had compassion on so many people needing so many things – so He commanded us to pray for them (Matthew 9:36-38).

Jesus had compassion – so He did SOMETHING.

We may have the tenderest heart of anyone we know. We may weep for starving children, abused women, victims of sex trafficking, people without a home, broken marriages, and those caught up in the world’s deceptions. Compassion requires us to finish the sentence though; we have to add our own “so I…”

I have compassion for my neighbor whose husband just left her so I…

I have compassion for my child’s friend who doesn’t have any food in her home so I…

I have compassion for the people I pass in the street who have nowhere to go so I…

I have compassion for people in countries closed to the gospel message so I…

Invest...The Parable of the Talents

We’ve reached the last of the kingdom parables; they’ve given us much to consider.

A parable is a story. Jesus used them in the everyday world of first-century Israel to teach spiritual lessons. Every element in a parable represents a part of the spiritual lesson.

I wrote about the first seven from Matthew 13 in my new book “Everything We Need: God's Path to Know Him Better.” Today, we’re wrapping up a look at the last five scattered throughout the rest of Matthew’s gospel.

Forgiveness…The Parable of the Unmerciful Servant

Grace…The Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard

Choice…The Parable of the Wedding Banquet

Be Ready…The Parable of the Ten Virgins

That brings us to the final one – the parable of the talents found in Matthew 25:14-30. And here we go…

Like many of the previous ones, this final kingdom parable begins with a man performing an action. The past stories have taught us the man is God. In this story, the man is getting ready for a journey. Based on the word used, the journey will be extensive. The man isn’t going to the lake for the weekend; he’s traveling abroad for a long period of time.

Like the parable of the ten virgins, this parable uses the future tense. Matthew 24-25 set a time context of the period right before Jesus’ second coming. This still future, seven year time period is the tribulation or Daniel’s 70^th Week. This parable will teach us something that will be different then than it is now, even if its lesson is good advice for us now as well.

What’s a Talent?

A biblical talent was a unit of weight or, as in this case, a unit of money. It wasn’t a gift or ability as we use the word today. We talked about them in the parable of the unmerciful servant. The talents in that parable represented an insurmountable debt; the king forgave the debt because of grace.

The talents here don’t represent a debt but rather an opportunity to invest. Accountants record income and expenses, debts and investments. If the parable of the unmerciful servant taught us about the debt, this parable teaches us about the investment.

God gave us grace; we need to invest it in others.

Why the Different Amounts?

The man in the parable gave varying amounts of talents to his servants; God gave to each man “according to his ability.” Does that mean God gives each person a different amount of grace? The point isn’t that God gave them different amounts but rather He gave them what they needed. He gave according to what their ability required.

Even the man who received only one talent received a considerable amount of money. Again, comparisons are hard across millennia and cultures, but the amount was pretty close to sixteen years worth of salary for a common worker. I don’t know about you, but my husband earns a pretty common salary and we’ve never given anyone sixteen years worth! We couldn’t begin to give such a gift; to us, it would be impossible. Yet, God’s supply of grace is limitless.

What do we do with grace?

The first two servants doubled the talents given to them. For our spiritual application, they put grace to work by investing it. They found that when they invested the grace given to them into the lives of others, it returned doubled. But the third servant didn’t share the grace he had been given. He hid it in the ground. Perhaps he was afraid of losing it or afraid of someone taking it. Perhaps he was afraid that if he gave it away then there wouldn’t be enough for him as well. But remember, God’s grace is a limitless supply. It’s ok to give it away and invest it in others because God ALWAYS has more.

Why didn’t he share?

The third servant justified his action by saying, “I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. So I was afraid and went out and hid your talent in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you” (Matthew 25:24-25).

To understand this response, we have to look back at the parable of the tares in Matthew 13. This is one I wrote about extensively in “Everything We Need.” In short, God and Satan both planted seed in the world; God planted good seed who grew into sons of the kingdom whereas Satan planted weeds (tares, specifically) who “are the sons of the evil one” (Matthew 13:38). Only two options – we’re either one or the other. But I follow that path in the book so I’ll leave it alone here. Regardless of who planted the seed, God sends his angels to harvest all of them in the end. In other words, God will harvest where He didn’t plant seed. Their outcome isn't good.

What’s the outcome?

God gives the third servant’s unused talent to the first servant. The first servant had the ability to understand and multiply the value of the gift of grace. Perhaps his gift of grace had already forgiven much in his own life. Regardless of the reason, “everyone who has will be given more, and he will have an abundance.” For the third servant, though, “whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him” (Matthew 25:29). God gave him grace but he never invested it. So God gave it someone else.

In the parable of the tares, the two different plants have two different outcomes. The good plants enter into the kingdom of God but the harvesters burn the tares. Pretty easy to figure out the symbolism there, isn’t it?

Same thing happens here. The first two servants recognize what God gave them and invest it for a greater return in the kingdom. The third servant, however, doesn’t even deposit the grace. The result is the same weeping and gnashing of teeth in hell that we’ve seen in many of these parables.

How is this different during the tribulation?

This is a hard one because I can’t predict the future. Right now, though, when you accept Jesus’ gift of salvation – once God’s grace pours out in your life – nothing can change it. Salvation is sealed. 

For these two tribulation parables, however, the characters start with something but lose it. In the parable of the ten virgins, the unprepared bridesmaids started with oil – symbolic of the Holy Spirit – but they ran out and couldn’t enter the wedding banquet. Likewise, in this parable, God gives grace to the servant but because he does nothing with it, God takes it away again. As I explained earlier, I believe this is at least part of why God gave us the seventy weeks of Daniel – to show that the last week will link to the first 69. It will be a different time than the era of the church in which we now live.

But you know what – we don’t have to wait until the tribulation to invest grace in the lives of those around us. We need to do it now. Extend the grace God gave you into the lives of others before all hell breaks loose on planet Earth.

So ends the kingdom parables. And you know, I didn’t plan this, but “Everything We Need” ends with this same message. God gave us grace; our natural response must be to extend it to others.

Click here for a free, downloadable study on more parables of the Kingdom of Heaven.

Be Ready...The Parable of the Ten Virgins

We are part of the kingdom of heaven but do we really know anything about it? Jesus taught frequently about the kingdom but He did so through encoded parables. He did this for some “because looking they do not see, and hearing they do not listen or understand.” The eyes of others, however, “are blessed because they do see, and [their] ears because they do hear” (Matthew 13:13, 16). I want to be one of the blessed who sees and hears the messages of His parables!

Some of Jesus’ many parables are referred to as kingdom parables. They begin with either the phrase kingdom of heaven or kingdom of God, depending on which gospel you read. I wrote extensively about seven of them from Matthew 13 in the book “Everything We Need: God's Path to Know Him Better.” However, space didn’t permit me to examine all of them. So, here we are – considering them on the Grow Barefoot blog! 

We’ve already looked at the parables of the unmerciful servant, the workers in the vineyard, and the wedding banquet. If you haven’t read the article on the parable of the wedding banquet yet, I encourage you to do so before finishing this article. The imagery in this parable of the ten virgins is the same as the parable of the wedding banquet.

The Parable of the Ten Virgins

Matthew records this story in Matthew 25:1-13. Just prior, throughout Matthew 24, Jesus described the events of the end times in detail. That context is important to remember as we read the first line of this parable. “At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom” (Matthew 25:1). All of the kingdom parables begin with wording similar to this. With this parable, though, the verb tense shifts from present tense to future tense. This shift is also seen in the opening “At that time” as it says in the New International Version. At that time – the time of the tribulation that Jesus just spoke about – the kingdom of heaven will be like… Like what?

Some aspect of this parable is going to reveal something about the kingdom of heaven that will be different at that time than it is now.

Set the Stage

Some translations use the word bridesmaids instead of virgins; either way, they are a group of women who wait with the bride until her groom comes and then walk in the processional from the bride’s home to the wedding banquet. They carried lamps – although a better understanding would be torches – to help light the way for the procession.

In Jesus’ story, the bridegroom came so late during the night that the bridesmaids fell asleep. When they awoke, their torches had burned out. Five of them were prepared with more oil to relight their torch but five were unprepared. The prepared women didn’t have enough to also share with those who were unprepared so the unprepared women had to go find more oil. By the time they had done so, it was too late. The groom had already come for his bride, the procession to the wedding banquet was finished, and the banquet door locked.

Who are the ten virgins?

This is when I’m hoping you’ve already read my thoughts on the parable of the wedding banquet. Just like there, this wedding-themed parable doesn’t mention the bride. Like we also saw there, the unmentioned bride is symbolic of the church. The bridegroom, of course, is Jesus Himself. The bridesmaids have to symbolize a group of people who are invited to the wedding of the Lamb but aren’t the bride or the bridegroom. Again, just as in the parable of the wedding banquet, this would have to apply to believers outside the timeline of the church – either before or after.

John the Baptist referred to himself as the friend – the attendant, if you will – of the bridegroom in John 3:29. He is one, like our bridesmaids, who listened for the voice of the coming groom and rejoiced upon hearing it. The bridesmaids of our parable perform that same job and, like John the Baptist, are believers from outside the church era.

If you’re a number person like me, you may wonder why Jesus specified ten bridesmaids. Why not three, seven, or eleven? I’ve found that when a number is specifically included in Scripture, it’s significant. Otherwise, Jesus could have just said, “the kingdom of heaven will be like virgins who took their lamps.” The number ten in the Bible signifies a portion that represents a whole. For example, the Ten Commandments are a portion of the law but used to represent the whole law. We give a tithe (tenth) as an offering to represent a portion of our whole possessions used to serve God. In this parable, the ten virgins are a portion representing the whole group of believers who come to Christ during the tribulation.

What’s the deal with the oil?

Oil symbolizes the Holy Spirit throughout Scripture. All ten bridesmaids began with oil; unfortunately, some ran out. If the Holy Spirit seals us at the time of salvation – He can’t leave us once we’ve placed faith in Christ as our Savior – then how did some of the women run out? Here’s where we have to remember that this parable began with the future tense.

The Holy Spirit seals members of the church – the bride of Christ. Scripture doesn’t make that promise to believers outside of the timeline of the church. For example, the Spirit came upon King Saul in the Old Testament but He also left again (1 Samuel 16). If you’re familiar with Daniel’s 70 Weeks (Daniel 9:24-27), you know the last week hasn’t yet occurred. God reserved it for a future time also known as the tribulation – a seven year period immediately prior to the Second Coming of Christ. I believe one reason God gave Daniel the prophecy of the seventy weeks was to link the way things worked in the Old Testament and the way they will work during the Tribulation. The time of the church divides the two time periods.

So, in other words, the Spirit may no longer permanently seal believers who accept Christ during the tribulation. A person may have the Spirit at one point – they have oil in their lamp – but then later, they may not – they run out of oil.

So What’s the Point?

Jesus sums up the point at the end of His parable. “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour” (Matthew 25:13). Be ready because when the Bridegroom comes, it’s too late. This parable may speak directly to believers at that time – the time of the tribulation – but we can learn from it as well.

Even though those who accept Christ now rest in the security of their salvation, time will eventually run out for the church as well. We also don’t know when the rapture will occur and the tribulation will start. We can’t know how long we can safely put off accepting Christ as our Savior before it’s too late. Prepare now; be ready now. Don’t wait and also find out that you put it off too long. Click here to read more about what it means to accept Christ.

Click here for a free, downloadable study on more of the parables of the Kingdom of Heaven.