A Course in Miracles: Believing 201
05.12.05
Pastor Mark Batterson
This evotional continues the series titled A Course in Miracles. Last week’s evotional was on seeking 101. Next week’s evotional will be on waiting 301. This week’s evotional focuses on believing 201. To check out old evotionals, visit the evotional archive @ www.theaterchurch.com.
Cut-and-Paste Christianity
Let me put a frame around this series. I just finished reading through the gospels and you can’t help but notice the sheer quantity of miracles that happened. Sure, they were spread out over a three year period during Jesus’ ministry. But I think most of us would be happy if we experienced one miracle in three years. Now juxtapose that with what Jesus said in John 14:12: “I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing.” That would be amazing enough if Jesus had stopped right there. But he adds an amendment. Jesus says, “He will do even greater things than these.”
So here is what I realized at the end of my journey through the gospels: there is a gap between my theology and my reality. I believe John 14:12, but I’m not there yet. There is a pretty big gap between what I believe and what I experience. And I’m praying that God would close the gap.
Here is the mistake many of us make: we make our theology conform to our reality. You have probably heard of the Jefferson Bible. Thomas Jefferson could not intellectually digest the miracles in the gospels so he extracted them. Everything that was left he compiled into his own version of the Bible called the Jefferson Bible. It’s a miracle-less Bible.
There are a couple problems with that. First off, to think that the God who created the universe can’t do miracles is absolutely illogical. Secondly, it’s what I’d call cut-and-paste Christianity. We take what we want and discard what we don’t. There is one problem with that: it’s all-or-nothing. We have to accept God on God’s terms! By the way, those who practice cut-and-paste Christianity end up with a god (small g) who looks an awful lot like them! They have simply created a god in their own image. Their theology has conformed to their reality!
Now here’s the thing. Part of us says, “I can’t believe Thomas Jefferson would have the gall to do what he did.” But most of us do exactly what he did. We don’t physically cut the miracles out of the Bible, but we ignore them or explain away why we aren’t experiencing them in our lives.
Upgrade
Can I make an observation? We tend to ignore the things we haven’t experienced. Here’s why: the gap between our theology and our reality causes angst. The bigger the gap the worse we feel. So we tend to ignore the gifts of the Spirit if we haven’t experienced them. We tend to ignore passages about prayer if we aren’t praying. We tend to steer clear of passages that deal with our particular strand of sin. It’s human nature. And very subtlety and subconsciously here is what happens: our theology conforms to our reality instead of our reality conforming to our theology. We water-down or dumb-down the truth. We downgrade our theology when we should upgrade our reality.
This series of evotionals is about upgrading our reality. It’s about closing the gap between our reality and our theology. And that involves a lot of seeking, a lot of believing, and a lot of waiting.
It Not Take Off
We took the kids to the air and space museum a couple weeks ago and there was a ten-foot cross-section of an American Airlines Douglas DC7 airplane that you can board walk through. As we were walking toward the entrance I noticed a concerned look on our three year-old Josiah’s face. I said, “Do you want to see the airplane, Josiah?” He said, “It not take off?” By the way, all day Josiah kept asking me if stuff was going to take off.
It’s hard to explain, but Lora and I marveled at his childlike perspective. It was a ten-foot cross section. It was inside the air and space museum. There wasn’t an engine. No runway. And Josiah thought it might take off! Here is the beauty of childhood: you don’t know what can’t happen. That’s not a bad definition of faith. You know you have faith when you don’t know what can’t happen!
When the disciples started following Jesus I don’t think they had any idea what to expect. At the end of those three years they saw Jesus do so many wild and wacky miracles that they didn’t know what couldn’t happen. And because they didn’t know what he couldn’t do, God did some amazing things!
Go Fish
Matthew 17 records one of the wildest and wackiest miracles in the gospels. It tops my current list of favorite miracles. Verse 24 says, “After Jesus and his disciples arrived in Capernaum, the collectors of the two-drachma temple tax came to Peter and asked, ‘Doesn’t your teacher pay the temple tax?’ When Peter came into the house, Jesus was the first to speak. ‘What do you think,’ Simon. ‘From whom do the kings of the earth collect duty and taxes—from their own children or from others?’ Peter answered, ‘From others.’ Jesus said, ‘Then the children are exempt, but so that we may not cause an offense, go the bank, withdraw four drachma, and pay the tax’.” That’s not what it says.
Jesus said, “Go the lake and throw out your line. Take the first fish you catch; open its mouth, take out the hook; sell it at the fish market and pay the tax.” That’s not what it says.
Jesus said, “Take the first fish you catch; open its mouth and you will find a four-drachma coin. Take it and give it to them for my tax and yours.”
I think we’re so accustomed to Jesus doing amazing things that we can read a story like this and it goes in one ear and out the other. But is this not the wackiest and wildest miracle you’ve ever heard of?
Think about it.
Part of me wonders if Peter thought Jesus was joking. As I read the gospels I’ve got to believe that Jesus pulled his share of pranks. I think he was a practical joker. I wonder if Peter is trying to figure out whether Jesus is serious or joking. This has to rank as the craziest thing Jesus has ever asked Peter to do: fish for taxes.
Been There Done That
So here’s my question: why did Jesus do it this way? I mean he could have provided the four-drachma coin any way he wanted. He could have said, “On the way to the temple you’ll find a four-drachma coin on the sidewalk.” Or “Go to the bank and when you make the withdrawal you’ll discover than a four-drachma deposit has been wired from an account in Geneva, Switzerland.” The possibilities are endless. He could have provided this four-drachma coin any which way he wanted to. So why did he do it this way?
I think Jesus loved doing miracles in different ways. He never seemed to do the same miracle the same way. I don’t think the disciples ever once said, “Been there, done that.” But this one takes the cake, fishing for money! Where did Jesus come up with these ideas? And why did he do it this way?
Here’s a thought.
What did Peter do before following Christ? He was a fisherman right? A professional fisherman. This was his vocation. I think he thought he knew more about fishing than Jesus. He could fish with both hands at the same time. He could cast between his legs and around his back. He could do three-sixties with his boat. He knew the tricks of the trade. It was his area of greatest proficiency and self-sufficiency. It was the thing he knew best. And I think Jesus wanted to do a miracle where he least expected it. Let me explain.
How many fish do you think Peter caught lifetime? Let me do a little math. In John 21, the disciples have been fishing all night and they don’t catch a thing. Jesus tells them to try the other side of the boat and they catch 153 fish. So let’s assume that 153 fish is a miraculous catch. Maybe an average day on the Sea of Galilee is 25 fish. So let’s say the average catch was 25 fish and Peter fished 300 days a year and let’s say Peter is the same age as Jesus, approximately thirty-three years old.
Do the math and you come up with a guesstimate. Peter has caught about a quarter million or 250,000 fish lifetime. Now, out of all of those fish, how many do you think had a four-drachma coin in their mouth? I’m guessing none! And Jesus essentially says, “I know you’ve caught a quarter million fish in your life. I know none of them have had a four-drachma coin in their mouth. I know that you know a lot about fishing. But I’m going to show you something way beyond your level of proficiency or sufficiency. The next fish you catch is going to have a four-drachma coin in its mouth.”
If you’ve caught 250,000 fish and you’ve never caught one with a coin in its mouth, this has to seem like the least likely miracle in the world. That’s why Jesus does it that way. I think Jesus wanted to do a miracle where Peter least expected it.
Now let me ask you a question: where are you most proficient? Where are you most self-sufficient? Maybe that is precisely where God wants you to believe Him to do something wild and wacky that is way beyond your level of proficiency or sufficiency. God can make provision for you in ways you never dreamed of if you’re willing to go fishing for four-drachma coins!
God chose to reveal himself in a new way in the area of Peter’s life where he thought he knew it all. Peter was a professional fisherman, but Jesus one ups him. You may think you’ve seen it all, but you haven’t seen anything yet. God may want to do a miracle in an area of your life where you think you have all figured out.
By the way, I wonder if the coin smelled like fish.
Crazy Promptings
So Jesus tells Peter to go fishing for a four-drachma coin. This may rank as the craziest set of instructions in the Bible. It ranks right up there with God telling Gideon to attack with trumpets and jars or telling the Israelites to leave the battering ram at home and walk around the walls of Jericho or telling Noah to build an ark.
What I love about Peter is his willingness to obey even when it doesn’t seem to make sense.
Has the Holy Spirit ever prompted you to do something that seemed kind of crazy? I think all of us will look back on our lives someday and realize that it’s our willingness to obey the crazy promptings of the Holy Spirit that make us or break us.
I got an email this week that encouraged me and challenged me so much that I asked permission to share it with you.
Pastor Mark,
I had a new and unusual experience this morning. About four o’clock this morning I had a very odd and intense dream. Sparing the details for now, I woke up and felt the Lord leading me to pray for you and your family. I got my roommates up and we prayed for you.
By the way, you really want to make sure it’s from God before you wake your roommates up!
We prayed for you, but afterwards I felt that the Lord wanted me to head to your house. So the three of us got into my car and went over and parked in front and prayed over your house as well. I’m not sure why God put this on my heart. This has never happened to me before. I don’t know why God got me up a four o’clock in this morning, but we prayed for you.
I have two thoughts.
On a personal level, how encouraging to know that someone is praying for you like that! I happened to be out of town and I wouldn’t be surprised at all if the Lord used these NCCers to protect my family in prayer. That email just lifted my spirit this week. But it’s not just because I know that some people are praying for me. It’s because I see a willingness to obey the crazy promptings of the Holy Spirit even when He tells them to pray for their pastor at four o’clock in the morning!
I don’t know exactly what God accomplished through those prayers. But I do know this: if you’re willing to obey the promptings of the Holy Spirit at four o’clock in the morning then God can use you in bigger ways. It’s about being faithful in the small ways. It’s about obeying the still, small voice of the Holy Spirit.
Unprecedented
This miracle in Matthew 17 is totally unprecedented. I shared this last week, but let me say it again: you can’t plan Pentecost. Everything that happened that day was unplanned and unprecedented. I’m praying for God to do something similar in my life.
Are you open to God doing something unprecedented in your life?
I recently read an amazing story that makes me dream bigger dreams. A few years ago, the Great Western Forum (former home of the Los Angeles Lakers) went on the market. It was already under contract when Faithful Central Bible Church got into the negotiation game, but that didn’t keep them from pursuing a dream. They formed a separate for-profit corporation and after a $3 million dollar miracle they purchased the Forum. The Forum still functions as a profit-making entertainment venue for concerts and sporting events during the week. And the church uses it on weekends. I love that combination of ministry and marketplace!
Here’s the interesting part. The church was turned down for financing twenty times because no one understood their vision. Bishop Kenneth Ulmer said, “What we wanted to do had never been done before. There was no model for it.” In other words, it was unprecedented. Several bank presidents said to Ulmer, “Pastor, churches don’t do this.” Well, they do now!
Ulmer shared some “lessons learned” in the article. He said, “I would simply encourage a pastor or leader to move to a solid place of conviction that whatever endeavor he or she is pursuing is truly of God.” That’s the key. No revelation = no conviction. There is a big difference between man-made goals and God-inspired miracles. There is nothing wrong with setting goals, but I’d rather than one revelation from God than a thousand good ideas! Ulmer said, “You have to be positive that you are walking in the revelation of God.”
I have this default setting that is so hard to change: I’m always telling God what to do and how to do it and when to do it. But this series is about seeking God. It’s about fasting and praying. It’s about adding more Scripture to our diet. And it’s ultimately about letting God reveal to us what He wants us to believe Him for. And here is a pretty good way of making a distinction between man-made goals and God-inspired promises. If you know how and when it’ll happen it’s probably man-made. And if it doesn’t make sense it’s probably God inspired. If it’s wild and wacky and somewhat crazy, there is a good chance it is God-inspired.
What Do You Want
I want to close with a question that Jesus asks in Matthew 20:32: “What do you want me to do for you?”
If Jesus asked you that question, what would you say? If Jesus said, “What do you want me to do for you?” how would you respond.
Let me tell you why most of us don’t get what we want. It’s because we don’t know what we want. I think some of us are afraid to asking God for too much so we don’t ask God for anything. And that’s exactly what we get.
Let me share a conviction. I think God is most glorified when He does things that are humanly impossible. D.L. Moody said, “Attempt something so great for God that it’s doomed to failure unless God be in it.” I’m not talking about seeking miracles for selfish purposes. I’m talking about seeking God and allowing God to glorify himself by doing miracles! And it starts with this question: what do you want me to do for you?
This week I identified seven miracles I’m believing God for and I blogged about it (www.markbatterson.com). That’s what this series is about. It’s about identifying what it is that you want God to do for you. I’m not talking about a genie in a bottle that grants us three wishes. What I am talking about is knowing what we’re hoping for, believing for, and praying for. Anything less is lack of faith. Hebrews 11:1 says that faith is being sure of what we hope for. So the inverse of that is this: unbelief is being unsure of what we hope for.
Jesus said, “You have not because you ask not.” Let’s not be afraid to ask!
Batting Average
No one bats a .1000 when it comes to prayer. Let me take some pressure off of you: you will strike out. But my little league coach told me to go down swinging. I’d rather go down swinging than go down looking. Sure, some of our prayers wills strike out. But let’s not let that keep us from getting into the batter’s box and swinging for the fences! If we don’t pray for and believe for miracles it’s like standing in the batter’s box and never swinging! I’m afraid that some of us aren’t swinging because we’re afraid of missing. But here is what I know for sure: you won’t hit all the pitches you don’t swing at. Let’s start swinging!
One more thing.
I had a crazy thought last week: do angels yawn? I sometimes wonder if our sedentary spirituality bores the angels. I want to live a life that causes angel hearts to skip a beat.
