Week 13
The Lords Day, Week 13!
Thoughts on 1 Corinthians 9 & 10:
· 1 Cor. 9 - The one who preaches the Gospel is free to make his living from preaching the gospel. But with that also comes an obstacle in making your living from preaching the gospel, you are open to the charge that you are only doing this for the money! Now, granted, in most cases people aren't really getting rich off the TRUE Gospel, emphasis TRUE. But nevertheless, this can happen. Paul, in order to not put up any obstacles stayed clear of this charge by not making his money off preaching the gospel. Notice the care with which Paul takes here in not condemning the one who chooses to do so. This is a matter of liberty, of freedom, and though this could give him ground to boast, the gospel itself removes that ability. The Gospel rightly proclaimed requires the removal of all boasting in anything but Christ. So even in Paul not making his living off the gospel, it is only the Gospel that remains free of any charge and the only in the Gospel that he may boast. Pauls posture in ministry as that of a servant, as should be all of ours, but it's not a servant in that he allowed people to walk all over him, or to order him around, but a servant in that he was there to provide for peoples greatest needs. To serve them their greatest needs, and sometimes in order that nothing get in the way of that he would lay down other desires, other things that weren't as important. So when with Jews who still followed the ceremonial law, Paul would follow it, when with gentiles who didn't, Paul wouldn't. When people have customs that weren't sinful in themselves, Paul would follow those customs. For example, in Japan it is customary to bow, there's nothing sinful about it, so when in Japan, bow. Paul isn't declaring, do whatever you have to in order to please people! Today, this principle is taking to turn the church into concert hall. People love loud music, lights and fog machines, so, you know, all things to all people right! NO! That's not what Paul is saying, for sure he is not implying that we are to turn our worship around and make it all about the people instead of the God we are worshipping. This has primarily to do with evangelizing and issues of tradition, not of merely preference. O.k... enough about that.
· 1 Cor. 10 - Here we start with a discourse on idolatry, and Paul sums it up, flee from all idolatry! Much of todays worship is idolatry, when a Lords Day service is focused on the people, and getting the people in the seats, its idolatry, it's not worship. Think about that! Then Paul goes on to encourage the believers that in all things, they are to do it to the glory of God. This sort of ties up the two chapters together, bringing it all back to the focal point, the glory of God. Chapter 11 verse 1 should have been the ending of this, "Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ." many teachers and leaders today would have you be imitators of them. (full stop) but that's not the command here, Paul knows he isn't perfect, he doesn't want anyone to imitate him in Sin, or in his flesh, no, only as he is an imitator of Christ, and every Christian should desire the same. If there be any areas that I am succeeding in imitating Christ, I pray that you'd imitate those areas, and if there be any areas where are you are succeeding, I pray that I too would learn from your example, that together we would bring glory to Christ, to God as we are both conformed to his image.
As we have been providentially hindered from meeting in these few weeks, I pray that you wouldn't stop that from meeting in your homes, praying as a family, reading the word, listening to the word of God preached together, and finding your rest in the Lord. May the Lord bless you and keep you.
Monday, Week 13!
Thoughts on Genesis 48-50:
· Genesis 48 - We come to the end of Israel's (Jacob) life, and before he dies he blesses the two eldest sons of Joseph, counting them as his own. But even in this blessing he blesses saying that the younger will be greater than the older. Throughout Genesis we've seen Gods sovereignty in choosing, He doesn't work the way we do, or according to mans rules. For Joseph, the older should be the one with the greater blessing, but not for God. He shows no partiality and chooses according to His own desire.
· Genesis 49 - The blessing of the Sons of Israel, and even in the blessings, we see that the true character of the children isn't overlooked. Reuben, Simeon, and Levi all receive harsh words because of their sinful actions. Judah is the first to receive a true blessing, and his blessing is prophetic, for the Lion of Judah will be none other than the Messiah, Jesus. The remainder of the tribes then receive their blessings and Jacob passes away.
· Genesis 50 - There's one verse that I think sums up most of Genesis, verse 20: "As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good..." Here in this statement we have two Truths stated clearly, you cannot get around this by trying to appeal to somewhere else in scripture. The rest of scripture, supports what's being said here. What you meant, here is mans responsibility, there was intention behind the actions of the brothers, they are responsible for those intentions, they wanted, desired, evil for their brother. God sees that, and holds people accountable for their intentions, for their choices. God meant it, here is Gods sovereignty, God had His own intentions in having Joseph sold into slavery, this was also Gods choice but Gods intentions were good not evil. It is not that God USED an evil action, that's not the language but that God intended human actions, which were evil for the human, He intends them for good purposes, there's no evil in Gods intention, He meant it for good! When we suffer hardships, the promise for the Christian is that God works all things together for the good of those who are called according to His purpose. We suffer, the cause in one sense is sinfulness in the world, sometimes it's our own sinfulness, sometimes the sinfulness of others and sometimes its just sin in this world, and we feel pain, we suffer and from a human standpoint our suffering was the cause of evil. But from Gods standpoint, our suffering is meant for good, He is doing something with it, working it out for our good and His purpose. You may never experience the good that Joseph did on this earth, that's not the promise, but you will experience it in glory with our Savior, Father and Spirit.
Continue in the word this week, I'm still considering doing a weekly devotional on here! I'll let you know. God bless, let me know how we can be praying for you!
Tuesday, Week 13!
Thoughts on 1 Samuel 11-15:
· Rather than go through each chapter and have this post be extremely long, I am going to give you one over-arching theme. The importance of obedience... Saul began his time as king as someone who was truly attempting to follow the Lord and honor Him in all he did. We even see that the Spirit of the Lord was with him in many of his actions. The Israelites would not have defeated their enemies without the Lord being with them. But Saul was still just a man who allowed himself to default to human wisdom over the word of God. Consider the instances of his disobedience. First it's in the unlawful sacrifice, the instructions were to wait for Samuel, only Samuel could conduct the sacrifice, Saul was the King, not a priest. But, he waits, people are getting anxious, the 7th day comes and Samuel was supposed to be there. In Sauls mind, well God surely doesn't want the people to be afraid, he doesn't want the people to go away and he surely doesn't want us to lose, so... I'll just do it! God will understand, I mean he can't be such a stickler for rules, right? Wrong. Theres also the rash vow, which sucks in all the people when they decide to ransom Jonathon, this to was sinful, they don't get to redo the terms of Sauls vow...
· Then in Chapter 14, Saul is given very specific instructions. Destroy everyone, even the animals, men, women and children, all of them need to be destroyed. (on a side note, Yes, this is Gods command, He alone is the giver of life, and He alone gets to say when it can be taken away, and He needs not give us any reason why, He is God.) Even when you read this, you thought, no way God, how can you kill innocent children by the sword? how is that possible? why? Right??? That's because you and I are just like Saul. We start to reason from mans perspective, we start to think, well, God said this, but I have an even better idea!!! That was Saul, though notice he didn't have a problem killing the women and children. No he let's the king, Agag, live, probably as a trophy of his conquest, and then saves the best of the animals, after all why waste such good meat, and healthy livestock. He even decides they would save some to sacrifice burnt offerings to God, they would use it to worship Him! But his foolishness, that is what it is, when you deny God, you are a fool, costs him the kingdom. Verse 22 - it is better to obey than to offer sacrifices... Poor Saul, he thought he was doing ok, he thought, how could this possibly upset God? he said destroy, but look at this meat, and keeping the king will show how powerful a nation we are, that to will bring honor to God! In verse 24, we have Sauls confession, he feared the people... You see, the voice of man, the wisdom of man was louder to him, than the wisdom and voice of God.
· The commands of God will look foolish to human wisdom, His ways are not our ways, and God doesn't need to tell you why you have to do something, He is God. Ours is only to obey, to honor Him, to trust Him, to believe Him. With this whole corona virus issue, I can't help but ask the question, how much have we allowed ourselves to hear the wisdom of man over the voice of God today? If I'm honest, I am struggling with us not gathering for worship... I don't want to be Saul, I rather obey God even if it kills me. Now in Gods providence he has made it so that as a church, CICC can't currently meet, we need to find a location! lol But nevertheless, I want to obey. Maybe for you, it's another area of obedience, where mans voice is overpowering Gods... Please, read these passages again and see the seriousness of obedience. I'm not saying anyone is going to lose their salvation over obedience, but if we are His children, and if we say we love Him, then He says we will obey.
God bless! I hope you all have a wonderful day...
Wednesday,Week 13!
Thoughts on Psalms 36-38:
· Psalm 36 - Notice the contrast, the first 4 verses are all about the wicked, he has no fear of God, no shame in his actions, only act in deceitful ways, always plotting and looking for evil... But where is there good found? Only in God, His steadfast love, His faithfulness, His righteousness, His judgements, His provision. So how do we keep ourselves from becoming the wicked? Our only hope is in Him, to know Him, to be protected by Him. You either are the wicked, or you trust in Him, the one from whom all good things flow.
· Psalm 37 - It's easy to look at the world and think, wickedness pays! But the truth is, the wicked will pay! Don't get confused by what you see, trust in who you know, delight yourself in His ways, trust in Him alone. For there is a future for the man of peace, but the transgressor will be destroyed.
· Psalm 38 - If you've never felt this way, then I would pray and ask God to get you there... This is the prayer of a truly broken and contrite heart. Who knows what he deserves, and is trusting in God alone for His salvation, trusting in God alone for His help. Oh Lord, rebuke me not in your anger or discipline me in your wrath... May we all start our prayers this way regularly, and confess and truly be broken over our sin. God did not have to save you or I, He'd be just as holy sending us all to hell, that's the truth, He'd be just as merciful, just as loving, and so on. To many of us take His salvation for granted, we treat it as something we are owed. But the potter owes nothing to the clay, the creator owes nothing to His creation but rather all they have is owed to Him.
Final thoughts for today, please pray for our nation, for its leaders, and pray for the church and its leaders. We find ourselves in uncharted territory and no-one should be quick to act, but should instead be prostrate before God seeking His wisdom and pleading for His mercy. God bless.
Thursday, Week 13!
Thoughts on Job 25 & 26:
· Job 25 - Up until this point Jobs friends haven't been really good friends, often making very pointed accusations towards him. Bildad here, doesn't go that way this time. Instead, he seems to just agree with Job when it comes to the holiness of God. The distance between God and man is so great, man can never be in the right, or never be pure, man is ultimately nothing before God. Job has ultimately been making this part of His case all along, that God does as He pleases and man can't even begin to comprehend His ways. On this, it seems Bildad and Job are in agreement. We too should be in agreement. We look at the world today and everyone wants to attempt to discern the signs of the times, as if we are able too! God is sovereign over these times, He is in control of it all, and yes, it may be judgment, it may mean something else too, but the church's role is always to call people to repent and believe. One thing is for sure, this virus has shown the world how weak humanity is, and how vulnerable we are. But God is not weak, He is not vulnerable, death will take out 100 out of 100 human beings. But for those who die in Christ, there is a better life waiting on the other side. Point people to the tremendous chasm between us and God, and call them to repent and trust Jesus, Believe God.
· Job 26 - In the beginning of Job's reply, he is telling his friend that the things he has said, he already knows. Bildad hasn't added anything new to the conversation, it's more likely friendly then anything else. One friend saying to the other, "now tell me something I don't know!" The rest of his discourse is just Job adding to what Bildad said, kind of showing off his own knowledge, but in complete agreement with him.
This is such a great reminder for us today. God is great, He is Holy, the thunder of His power who can understand? Be encouraged brother and sister, you don't understand Him, but if He is God then you shouldn't expect to. He is working bringing all His enemies under His feet. Working to bring about a new heavens and new earth, and one day every knee will bow and tongue confess! Jesus is Lord!
Friday, Week 13!
Thoughts on Jeremiah 1-6:
· Let me start by saying these are some very sobering chapters, the majority of it is judgement over Israel and Judah. As I read them today I couldn't help but think about how many Christians would call God unloving for speaking the way He does. If you were not struck with the seriousness, and weight of these passages, and the way in which God deals with those He loves, then go back and read this again. He does not mix-words and the fact that they are in the Old Testament, doesn't make them any less true for us today. We serve the same God, we are loved by the same God, and He will still not allow Himself to be mocked. I am not going to go through all the chapters here, just some highlights.
· Jeremiah 1 - I was a new Christian the first time I read Jeremiah 1:17, and I happen to read it in the NIV, "Get yourself ready! Stand up and say to them whatever I command you. Do not be terrified by them or I will terrify you before them." The CSB I think does the best Job with this passage, "Do not be intimidated by them or I will cause you to cower before them." Who's them? in specific terms it's the people of Israel and Judah, but in general terms its men. Jeremiah did not want to do what he was called to do, and God doesn't coddle him, he doesn't speak sweet nothings into his ear, but tells him, do what I'm telling you or you will regret not doing it. If you are a pastor, or teacher of the Word, or any kind of leader in the church, please, I beg you, take this verse, memorize it, and hear it as if God is speaking it to you. Our job is to speak His words after Him. That's it. We don't get to soften it for the sake of the hearer, we don't get to try to make it more palatable so that more people will listen. NO! God has spoken, so stand up, and say all that He has commanded! The fear of man must not be allowed to influence you, and if you see God for who He is, it won't!
· Israel's unfaithfulness - Israel is given the title "whore". She has rejected her husband and turned to stone and trees, in other words, idols. In her unfaithfulness she refuses to be ashamed, and instead continues in it. "For My people are foolish, then know me not, they are stupid children; they have no understanding. They are 'wise' in doing evil! But how to do good they know not." chapter 4:22. God will judge them, He will use another wicked nation to bring His judgment, to punish the people and make the land desolate. But even in their whoredom, God continues to offer salvation if they would only repent. In fact God says if even one would turn to Him. He is a merciful God and only in Him is their Salvation. But Israel will not repent, they will instead continue to commit adultery, and God will consume them. Disaster is the only thing that Israel has to look forward to.
Imagine you are Jeremiah, this is your message to the people. Jeremiah is known as the "weeping Prophet", his task was to pronounce judgement over Israel, and as you could imagine, the people hated him. There were plenty of false prophets running around proclaiming, "peace, peace, when there was no peace". But that was the message the people wanted and so Jeremiah paid the price, having to undergo persecution for simply proclaiming the word of God which was like fire in his bones. The God of this book, is the same God we serve today, and He will still not be mocked. Our nation needs to desperately repent, there is innocent blood on our hands, we call that which is evil, good, and have a much greater fear of man than we do of God. God has no need happy go lucky preachers who tickle the ears of the people in order that they be liked and accepted. Those who do such things will be judged. If we want to see things turn around here in the US, it will take calling people everywhere to repent and believe the Gospel, it will take us standing up against the wickedness of men, being willing to be mocked and even persecuted for His sake... My fear, is that to many of us value our way of life just to much to be willing to live like this for God. Sorry to end on such a hard note, but we are living in difficult times. difficult times, call for difficult messages...
Saturday, Week 13!
Thoughts on Mark 5 & 6:
· So here we have the miracles of Jesus, notice what the response often was to this. Fear, we see it three times in these two chapters. A show of His power results in fear in those experiencing it. Even his own disciples in seeing Jesus walking on the water were struck in fear, and when He gets on the boat they are in shock. That though they just witnessed Him feed 5,000 people, they had not recognized what the miracle itself was pointing to. They had obviously not recognized what any of the miracles were pointing to, for even their hearts were hardened. There's a lot of people seeking God for a miracle, but I wonder how many of, once we received the miracle would even recognize the miracle worker and give Him the proper honor due? Fear is actually a good response, it's the right response when you recognize that you are in the presence of God, in the presence of the All Mighty. The comfort is that when fear strikes, Jesus says, "Do not be afraid". He's come to save, but if there is no fear, we should be asking ourselves if we have truly come to understand who He is. The only other thing I want to point out is that Jesus gives authority. No one has any authority in and of themselves, all authority is given by God. In a sinful world that means that sometimes authority is given to even the wicked, but God intends to use them even for His glory. We have a wicked government today, but God has given them authority, and He will use it all for His glory.
Another week has past, please encourage one another, pray for one another, and be safe in all you do! How many of you have managed to keep up these last 13 weeks???? Let us know below where you're at!!!! God bless.