Week 31
The Lords Day, week 31!
Thoughts on 1 Thessalonians 4 & 5:
· There should be a stark difference between the life of the one who believes and the life of the one who does not. The Christian is being sanctified, which ultimately means they are being conformed to the image of Christ, and in today’s passage we see that means at least a few things. First it means sexual purity, this should not be a surprise, and yet in our culture today for many, even inside the church, it is. The idea that God created sex for something to be enjoyed between a man and a woman only within the confines of marriage is something very clearly taught in scripture. Paul here is simply stating, that the life of the Christian is one who doesn't give in to the lustful temptations of this world, but rather is actually seeking to live according to the word of God. Secondly, it is marked by love for one another, in this the Thessalonians were doing well, and yet the encouragement was to continue to excel even beyond what they already were doing. This love is not a love towards the world, but predominantly a love towards the other members of the church, this is a one another love. Many Christians today, speak a lot more about loving the world than they do about loving their brothers and sisters, but true sanctification is visible as we grow in our love for one another. The last thing i'm going to mention here has to do with mourning, Christians who being conformed to the image of Christ, don't mourn like the rest of the world. We know the truth, that this life is not all there is, that there is more waiting for us at the end. We don't mourn like those who have no hope, we mourn with hope, clinging to the cross, knowing that those who die in Christ, have simply died to live again. These are just three marks, and be sure there are many more, but today take some time to reflect on these three. Are you dying to your lustful passions and growing in sexual purity? Are you growing in love for brother and sister, even more so than your love for your worldly friends? (Just a quick caveat, your love for your worldly friends is visible in how diligent you are to share the gospel with them.) Lastly, do you mourn differently than those who are in the world? Do you rest well in knowing you belong to Christ, and because you do that this life is not the end? Reflect on this today and let's pray that the Lord would grow us, and continue to work in us that we would be conformed to the image of Jesus, our Lord and Savior.
Monday, week 31!
Thoughts on Leviticus 22-24:
· Perfection is the standard, and nothing but perfection will do! As we read through Leviticus 22 this should be evident. The Lord wants the people to know the standard and is teaching them that nothing, but the standard will do. If you fail to meet the standard, then He will not accept your sacrifice... We are to be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect, that is the standard for mankind. This is important because we continue to live in a world that thinks it can make up its own standard. The majority of people we meet, if they are not Christians will usually assume the best of themselves. When asked, are you a "good person" the response will usually be, "yes, I think so!" But even the question, are you a good person, misses the point and fails at impressing what Gods standard is. Yes, biblically, there is none good but God, but here that's not the point, because Gods standard isn't that we be good! It's perfection! Instead of asking a person, are you good, perhaps we should be asking, "are you perfect?" I have yet to meet an individual that can answer yes to that question no matter how full of themselves they are. Innately we all know, we are not perfect! We all recognize, that even if we get to set the standard, which we don't, but if we did, we don't even meet all those requirements all the time. The Lord is teaching the people, that perfection is the standard, and only perfection will do, perhaps we should be learning from Him, and seeking to go and teach the same. It's only when we come to understand this, that we see how truly great the chasm is between us and God. Even if given a clean slate every morning, most of us have already failed to be perfect before our eyes are fully open. But there's been one who lived His life meeting this standard. He was perfect in all He did, and in the end, He stood accused and condemned for all we've done, taking the punishment willingly and it's because He is perfect that His sacrifice was accepted. Jesus is the only hope for the imperfect, because Jesus is the only one who was ever perfect...
· An eye for an eye... So, what's all that about? Simple, equal and balanced punishment. God believes that the punishment really should fit the crime, unlike our wicked penal system today. God's perfect standard says, if you take someone's life purposely, then your life is to be taken from you, if you break someone's arm, then your arm is to be broken, if you kill your friends cow, then you must make restitution for the cow, you steal, you pay back, and on and on, that's what it is all about. Today, we've come to devalue life so much that many don't think anything is worth forfeiting your life, we've become so unjust, that when a person steals, we all have to pay to feed and shelter the thief... We live in an unjust society, one that is so far gone that we look at Gods law and say, that's to harsh, it's barbaric, and so on. But we are the real barbarians, we are the ones that don't value true victims as image bearers of God, and are partial when it comes to valuing the life of the criminal over and above the life of the one they've offended. We must return to the Lord and see all of His word as true. Only then will there be justice... For believers, we can remain hopeful in an unjust world, because we know final justice will be handed out by God, but we must still fight for true justice today, where all people are dealt with equally under the law, Gods law, and the punishment truly fits the crime.
Tuesday, week 31!
Thoughts on 2 Kings 21-25:
· By the time King Josiah takes the throne, the destruction and fall of Judah is imminent, the Lord has already declared it so and so it will come to pass. The temptation is to question, why polish the brass when the sink is already doomed to sink? This question is only a good question, if you assume this life is all there is... Josiah's actions were not about saving things for this life, they were not about returning to the Lord so that He would bless Judah in this life. We see in Chapter 22, that His actions began out of a conviction of who God is and how they had sinned against Him. When the book of the law is discovered and read to Him, immediately, He is convicted and recognizes that the wrath of the Lord burns against them and his only concern is to surrender and obey the Lord God. The Lord even tells Him that His wrath will not be quenched against Judah. But Josiah's response isn't to just sit home, live out his years and wait for God to call him home and to then destroy Judah. No, He goes out into his kingdom and tears down the idols, destroys the wicked priests, shuts down the worship of all other God, calls people to repent and return to the Lord, only allows the worship of the one true God to take place again. The Lord tells Him, because your heart was tender and you humbled yourself before me, I will let you die without seeing the destruction that is coming. Josiah could have just sat this one out, but he doesn't and the fact that he is so active is what ultimately costs him his life at the age of just 39 years old. But look at how faithful he was in just those 39 years, yes Judah was still destroyed, the Israelites went into captivity, but because of his faithfulness others had the opportunity to be saved, the word of God was again preached, it's likely because of his faithfulness we had people like Daniel, and his friends who were faithful in Babylon. There are many people in the church today in the United States who look at how bad things are and think to themselves, just let it all burn! There's no hope, we've profaned marriage, we sacrifice babies to molech, we have built our own asherah poles to worship the god of self, we are in every way just as wicked as Israel was. So, I’m just going to wait it out, trust God for my salvation, and take comfort knowing that I'm going to be with him when this is all over. I'm not going to shine the brass on a sinking ship! But how dare we? Who do we think we are that we can just walk away from what God has called us to be, because we've determined things are just to bad? It may be, that the end of the United States has already been decided, in fact I would probably put money on it, I myself look around at our wickedness and am amazed by the fact that we are still standing. But the United States isn't the goal! The Kingdom of God is the goal! The Kingdom of God grows like a mustard seed, slowly out into all the world, and it is spreading now, even while earthly kingdoms crumble! So yes polish that brass, preach the word, see people saved, tear down asherah poles, snatch babies out of the fires of molech, lead the pagan priests to their own altars where their gods will see them destroyed! But brothers and sisters, we CANNOT just sit home expecting even waiting for the ship to sink, that's not our command, and if we truly know God, that's not an option at all! There's a story of a man who was on the Titanic, and while he was in the water, death was imminent he spent his final hours swimming from person to person sharing the gospel, calling people to repent and believe in Christ. The ship had already sunk, death was minutes away, but His heart was set on the Kingdom. That's what we see in Josiah, and that's what we need to see in each other. God bless!
Wednesday, week 31!
Thoughts on Psalms 90-92:
· Psalm 90:11&12 "Who understands the power of Your anger and Your fury, according to the fear that is due You? So teach us to number our days, that we may present to You a heart of wisdom." Each and every morning that we get to roll out of bed, there should be a sense of complete amazement... God did it again! He let me open up my eyes, He allowed my heart to continue beating, He allowed blood to continue to flow through my veins and my heart to continue beating! He is able, and would be justified in not allowing any of it, in stopping my heart, stopping me from breathing, He could paralyze me in my sleep, He could do it all, and none of it would be wrong, none of it would be immoral or unjustified. How I've sinned against God deserves nothing but His fury and anger... So, when we wake up in the morning... Consider it, God did it again! He allowed us to live, and we don't know if today's it, we don't know if tomorrow morning will be like today, we don't know if tonight we will gain the privilege of laying down to close our eyes again, we don't know if we will drop dead before lunch. Every moment is an absolute gift. For the non-Christian it's a gift that should lead to repentance and faith in Christ, for the Christian it's a gift for us to live as Christ, to be salt and light and point people back to Him. But for all of us, that's all it is, a gift. How will you spend your gift today? How will you glorify Him today? Or will you only seek to glorify yourself? Or will you take it all for granted? "It is good to give thanks to the Lord and to sing praises to Your name, O Most Hight! To declare Your lovingkindness in the morning and Your faithfulness by night..." Psalm 92:1&2... Let us spend today, singing for Joy at the works of His hands, and proclaiming to all that will listen, and even those who won't, that He is good, He is merciful, and He saves even wretches just like me.
Thursday, week 31!
Thoughts on Proverbs 14 & 15:
· Prov. 14:12, 15 "There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death... The simple believes everything but the prudent gives thought to his steps." How comfortable are you walking in the direction that you are? Do you find yourself taking certain people’s word for it, just on the basis of who they are? Do you find yourself discarding other people’s opinions on the basis of who they are? This is the state of much of our divided culture today. People on either side take everything the elites on their side say as truth, without question, without thinking it through, without giving it much consideration. On the right, it may be Fox news, or some other rightwing source, on the left... well just take your pick, ABC, NBC, CNN, these days, Facebook, Twitter... But the point is, there's no questioning whatever narratives are pushed out by these organizations, or the individuals who run them. We follow blindly, without question, and I have no reason not to believe that many believe they are right in doing so, they have some sort of internal assurance that they are on the right side. Look at our current president, you have those that hate everything he says, it doesn't matter the content, and then those who love everything he says. But the truth is, both groups are ultimately following a path that leads to death. Both groups follow a path that seems right to man, both groups come to the worlds issues as simpletons, thinking that whatever my group says is right, because it is my group, and so I will just believe and go with it... Very rarely today are we exposed in the mainstream media to independent thought. But the bible teaches us that we must question everything that seems right to us, and every step we take must be taken thoughtfully, with careful consideration. In my opinion this current divide that has even infiltrated the church is actually a good thing for Christians. I have seen godly men and leaders, divide on the issues at the forefront today. For the rank and file Christian who usually just goes with the flow of the Evangelical establishment, the decision is no longer as simple as, oh yeah, if that guy says it, I'm with him! Many are being forced back to our bibles for ourselves, to read, study, pray, and seek God to help and guide us, which is what we should've been doing all along, isn't it? It is forcing us out of our comfort zone, and in many cases causing Christians to disagree with some teachers and leaders they may have previously thought they were completely in line with. But how did we ever get so comfortable in the first place? With as much admonition as the bible gives us to heed our steps, to walk circumspectly, to study and show ourselves approved and on it goes... I for one praise God for this time in His church, Christians who walk prudently will only strengthen the church, even if we do end up on different sides of certain secondary and tertiary arguments. Our walk should never be comfortable, our comfort is in knowing we belong to Christ, and picking up our cross and dying to ourselves, is often going to feel like death, but it's not, it's actually the way that seems right to oneself that leads to death, the path of sanctification is one of life, so again, read, study, seek God, pray, and be comfortable being unpopular, or uncomfortable even if it's among those normally on "your side"!
Friday, week 31!
Thoughts on Ezekiel 43-48:
· Ezekiel 44:23 "They shall teach my people the difference between the holy and the common and show them how to distinguish between the unclean and the clean." God wants us to know that He is not like us, He doesn't act like us, He has much higher standards than us, He is creator not created, He is not under the Law but rather the Law giver, His love is greater than any love we've ever known, His wrath burns greater than any wrath human have ever experienced, His judgments are always just, His mercy is always perfect and His grace knows no bounds. He is Holy, and we are not, mankind was meant to be the image of God here on earth and though we are still image bearers, we have marred that image to the point it is hardly noticeable and yet it remains unescapable. It is out of His compassion that He continues to point us to His Holiness, His otherliness! Through Christ we have been made Holy, we have been set apart from the common, but do we yet understand what that means? God has spent so much time teaching us the difference between the holy and the common, and yet so many of our churches desperately cling to the common, forsaking holiness in order to be accepted and praised by the common. This distinction matters to God, that His people be a reflection of Him, matters to God, that His people are Holy because He is Holy matters to God and for all these reasons and more, it must matter to us. When our worship services resemble rock concerts, and lose all sense of awe and reverence, we have forsaken our holiness, our otherliness for that which is common. There's nothing wrong with attending a rock concert, I've seen Billy Joel in concert more times than I care to admit... lol But when that becomes the standard for worship we have truly lost sight of Gods teaching. Holiness is not only about the worship service, but notice all of this teaching here in Ezekiel centers around the temple, this is where God is teaching His people the difference, and so it should follow that the Church should remain the place where this is being taught, and the service should be the place where this distinction remains most noticeable. Our worship should scream to our guests, this place is not like any other place, this space is not like any other space and these people are not like any other people... If you have yet to return to a church today, I want to challenge you to find a local church that respects this difference, that recognizes God as Holy, and sees our worship as that which corresponds to the One we worship. You may lose some of the contemporary music, you will lose the crazy lights, and much more of what is considered cool, but is also common, but you will gain a greater knowledge of who God is, you will gain a greater appreciation of who God is. I understand why we gravitate to the cool, and contemporary, because at heart we desire to be cool and contemporary, and really just desire a god who is like us, or at least like who we wish in our flesh, we could be... But God is not like us, and only until you seek Him for who He is, will you truly begin to desire to be more like His Son. God is Holy, so please, seek to be Holy, and it starts with our worship. God bless.
Saturday, week 31!
Thoughts on John 1 & 2:
· And so we find ourselves at the fourth Gospel. It's hard to believe how fast the year has gone, especially as we consider all that has transpired. John's gospel stands alone, the other three are contain similar information, some in more detail than others, but it is widely accepted that in one sense or another the first 3 gospels shared information. John, on the other hand had one mission in writing his gospel. To show that Jesus is God, and that people would believe in Him for salvation. We see the emphasis from the opening lines, "In the beginning..." no doubt bringing the intended original audience to the first book of creation, Genesis. In Genesis we have the story of the first creation, but in Christ made flesh we have the second creation, the new creation. The connection here is on purpose, John is telling us of a second creation that came through the very one through whom all things in the original creation were made. Jesus part in the second creation is the same, for the most part. In the original creation, all things that were made, were made through Him. In this second creation, "to all who believed in His name He gives the right to become children of God..." to become a new creation. But let us not miss this distinction, "to become children of God..." our world today would have you believe that all are born children of God. We see people of all faiths, even no faith, often touting this line, don't we? "we are all children of god!" All are created by God, but not all are His children, and this is a distinction the bible makes, the inspired word of God, and therefore it is one we must not ignore. The only way into the family of God is through the Son of God. The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. To be a child of God, one must first have his or her sin removed, and it is only Jesus who can do this, because it is Jesus who is the perfect, sinless, lamb of God. His blood was spilled for the children of God, but no one is a child without first passing through His blood. Have you ever witnessed a live birth? I was present at my youngest daughter’s birth, and as messy as it was, it was also one of the most joy filled moments of my life. I continue to have tears form when I consider it even years later. Our second birth is also often messy, it involves blood and tears, in fact bloody tears. Think of Gods glorious workmanship in His plan for salvation, through one man He creates the universe, through one man, He saves all who believe by making them a new creation, through the joyful mess of childbirth He brings in life, and through the joyful mess of the crucifixion He brings new life... Yes joyful, we must rejoice at the cross, in the same way we rejoice over the birth of a child, as painful as it is for a mother, is she not filled with joy when presented with her child? So, it is for our Savior at the presentation of His children, His bride... Jesus, the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Let us rejoice in Johns gospel as he makes this clear for us, that we may believe!