Faithful Obedience

Posted on by November 16, 2014
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Genesis 11:31-12:4 — And Terah took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran his son’s son, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram’s wife; and they went forth with them from Ur of the Chaldees, to go into the land of Canaan; and they came unto Haran, and dwelt there. And the days of Terah were two hundred and five years: and Terah died in Haran.
Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will show thee: and I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: and I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. So Abram departed, as the Lord had spoken unto him; and Lot went with him: and Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran.

Whenever I go through a time of spiritual struggle I find myself returning to the principles that are at the core of my faith … trust and obedience. There are plenty of great role models to look at. There’s Noah, who went ahead and built his ark, even though the very idea of rain was a mystery. There’s Moses, who returned to Egypt to face down Pharaoh without knowing whether he might be called to account for the man he had killed. Or we might consider the people of Israel, who faithfully executed what must have seemed a crazy plan to overrun Jericho.
Abraham is the one I always go back to. “By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went.” (Hebrews 11:8) Actually, it wasn’t just Abraham. Terah moved himself, Abraham, Lot, and their families from Ur to Haran. But after Terah’s death, Abraham moved the family not just from one place to another, but from the known to the unknown — that’s an unimaginable leap.
If you read yesterday’s piece, you might be wondering what the connection is. I can only show the connection by saying that it relates to my past experience.
Whenever God has put me in the penalty box in the past, making me irritable, and making it hard for me to focus on things I’m trying to do, I have found only one remedy. I must do what I’m told, return to Bible reading and prayer, and trust Him to show me what’s going on.
I can hear you saying, “Well that’s no big deal … that’s hardly trusting and obeying on Abraham’s scale!” Well you’re right. It isn’t. That’s just as well. I’m no Abraham. I’m no Noah. God only gives me as much as I can deal with … which isn’t that much. But that’s not the point. We’re not all meant to be heroic champions of the faith. We’re meant to give God just as much trust and obedience as He asks us for. I’m working on it.

Time To Get Up!

Posted on by November 15, 2014
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Psalm 139:23-24 — Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

Since early this afternoon I have been irritable and short on enthusiasm. I really don’t know why. At least, I don’t know the detail — but in general I know what’s going on. God’s getting my attention about something.
I don’t know what it is, but there is a “wicked way” within me. That phrase carries the sense of “anxious toil, hardship or agony”, or of idolatry …
I’m sorry to say that from time to time I fall into this state. Not often, but often enough to allow me to recognize it. I want to share some of the things that have been causes before, in case you fall into the same state now and then, and have no idea what’s going on. If you have some different causes, perhaps you can share too and we can help one another.
One cause is when my prayer life is inadequate — wrongly focused, insubstantial, skimpy. I know there have been times when that has been the case. Just imagine. There have been times when I presumed to talk to the Almighty God and my attention has been less than it should be, focused on the wrong things, hurried …
Another cause has been inadequate faith. When I have failed to relax in God’s all-embracing arms, failed to trust Him for all my needs — present and future — He’s pushed me away a little.
Another cause has been when I focused on things — things I thought I wanted. Not things that were bad in themselves — not even, necessarily, things that God didn’t want me to have. But things I was paying too much attention to, when I should have been paying more attention to where His focus is.
The last big cause that I recall is that sometimes I fall into the folly of caring about who I am and what people think of me. There are times, God forgive me, when I want “my due”. I want “what is owed to me”. On my better days, of course, I know that nothing is owed to me … that all I have, I have as the gift of His grace.
So. How am I doing? Pride, idolatry, faithlessness and superficiality. A pretty good collection of reasons for God to put me in the penalty box. I know I’m going to be praying hard for a while until He shows me how I’m falling short this time. My first hope is that my tour through the back alleys of my sin life might help you avoid some of the dark corners.

Unchangeable Love

Posted on by November 14, 2014
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Isaiah 54:7-8, 10 — For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee. In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord thy Redeemer.

For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee.

My every devotional thought, recently, seems to have led me right back to the cross.
God’s love is astonishing. Do you love anyone? Do you really love them? Do you love them no matter what they do? I know that that’s what God’s love is like. He loves me and nothing I can do can alter His love for me — make it lesser or greater in the tiniest degree.
Shakespeare wrote beautifully about unchanging love:

… Love is not love which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:
O, no! it is an ever-fixed mark,
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose worth’s unknown, although his height be taken.
Love’s not Time’s fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle’s compass come;
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom. (Sonnet 116).

The trouble with this beautiful poem is that it describes an ideal of romantic love that many men and women aspire to yet few really achieve. God’s love, though, is exactly this way.
God’s love doesn’t change if I change. Satan cannot play the “remover” and steal God’s love from me. God’s love will not change if there are upheavals in my life. Even if I try to wander far from Him, His love for me will not waver. Even time, that most determined of enemies, cannot change His love for me, which spans not a few brief hours and weeks, but the infinity that includes all of time.
The contemplation of God’s love for you might leave you speechless for a long time. But it’s the last line of the sonnet that leaves me breathless when I think of God’s love for me. His love “bears it out even to the edge of doom”. It is that that leads me to the cross, for there it was that Jesus loved me even to the edge of doom … and beyond. He loved me to the cross, and then to the grave. He loved me to the grave, and to resurrection, and to all eternity.
Everlasting kindness, mercy, grace … God’s love is amazing, unchanging, unending …

Our Provider

Posted on by November 13, 2014
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Genesis 22:14 — And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah–jireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of the Lord it shall be seen.

As Myra drove me from the optician’s to our church early this evening I was wondering what today’s devotion would be about. It was a beautiful time, just before sunset, and I was struck, once again, by the knowledge of God’s provision.
A famous politician said, a little while ago, “look, if you’ve been successful, you didn’t get there on your own… If you were successful, somebody along the line gave you some help. If you’ve got a business—you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen.” He came in for some pretty fierce criticism but, you know, he wasn’t completely wrong. We all owe everything we have to somebody else.
There is nothing that I have, nothing that I have done that does not depend entirely on God’s provision. Nothing that could be achieved without the materials, time, opportunities and talents that God provided.
Pastor reminded us of this passage in scripture in his message tonight. God told Abraham to take Isaac up Mount Moriah and sacrifice him. Abraham duly obeyed, but at the last moment the Lord steps in and provides a ram for the sacrifice. Abraham called the name of that place “Jehovah-Jireh”, “The Lord will provide.”
The provision of the ram for the sacrifice was a picture showing just how far God was prepared to go in providing for us. The time would come when he would provide the perfect lamb — His Son — for our salvation from sin.
There are times when I forget. I forget just how much I owe to God. That’s everything. In his book “The Great Doctrines Of The Bible” Martyn Lloyd-Jones lists ten aspects of God’s provision — providence.
First, God’s providence controls the universe.
Second, God’s providence controls the physical world.
Third, God’s providence controls the creatures of the land, the sea, and the air.
Fourth, God exercises His providence over the affairs of nations.
Fifth, God’s providence governs the birth of men.
Sixth, God’s providence dictates the success or failure of men’s endeavors,
Seventh, God’s providence governs even those events and circumstances that seem most trivial.
Eighth, God’s providence protects the righteous.
Ninth, God’s providence provides for the needs of his people.
Tenth, and last, as Lloyd-Jones writes, “you will find that every single answer to prayer which is in the Scriptures is just a statement that God providentially orders things in this way for His people.”
God’s provision is comprehensive, inclusive and absolute. By grace He provides every last thing that we need — salvation, sustenance, support and sanctification. All we have needed, His hands have provided. I’ll try not to forget!

Death Where Is Your Sting

Posted on by November 12, 2014
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1 Corinthians 15:51-57 — Behold, I show you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

I hope this week’s devotions aren’t seeming morbid. That’s not my intention at all. Perhaps it’s because on Saturday I’ll be attending the third memorial in three weeks that I’m focused on last things. I’m wanting to set a hopeful tone, because there is no doubt in my mind that God’s provision for us at that time is as gracious and merciful as everything else he provides.
Remember the story. Adam and Eve were in the garden, in fellowship with God. Satan tempted them and they sinned. Satan thought he’d won, with the best of God’s creation under his control — and, if he could get them to eat of the other tree, perhaps he has them for all time. God provides a limit to that control by expelling Adam and Eve from the Garden, guaranteeing a limited lifespan.
God’s plan, of course, went much further. He would restore the fellowship. He made it clear, right back in Genesis: “and I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.” (Genesis 3:15) The plan depended on another death. God’s Son — His partner in the Trinity — would join with man in death, so that man could join with Him in going beyond death to eternal life. There are those who claim Jesus did not really suffer death and corruption. They are wrong. He absolutely did. “But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.” (Hebrews 2:9)
Death was never a punishment. It was a natural part of life in the Garden before the fall, and it has been used by God to redeem His fallen children. It is our gateway to living with Jesus — who has gone ahead to prepare a place for us.

The Mercy Of Original Sin

Posted on by November 11, 2014
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Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: for until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam’s transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come. (Romans 5:12-14)

Yesterday I wrote a little about original sin.
Sin is sort of odd. Why does God allow it, what’s it for? And if that’s not weird enough, why is there such a thing as original sin? Why do we all have to start on the wrong side of the law?
Let us clear one nonsense out of the way right away. God was not surprised by sin. Satan did not blindside Him by suckering Adam into eating the apple. It was foreseen and planned for. In fact in some way I can’t understand, it might even be part of the plan. Lewis Sperry Chafer lists seven reasons for God’s permitting of sin:
— It is a recognition of man’s free will
— It allows man to gain through experience what God knows by His nature
— It provides God with a means to demonstrate His hatred of evil
— It provides for the punishment of evil
— It allows God to show his grace
— It serves for the education of angels
— God places great value on redeemed souls
Every one of those reasons needs analysis and explanation. To be honest, I’m not sure I understand them all. But then I don’t need to, do I? It’s part of God’s plan, and He’ll teach me all I need to know? In summary, I think there is what you might call an eighth reason. In some way, the very existence of sin shows God’s limitless love for us.
So much for “why sin?”. But why in the world is there such a thing as original sin — and why would I call it a mercy?
Let us accept Dr. Chafer’s reasoning. Sin is, even if we don’t fully understand why, a necessary part of God’s plan. Then we must all sin. It follows that we must sin because we have each chosen to be sinful, or for some other reason. So here’s the mercy. We are all born on a level playing field. We each are born with the handicap of original sin — not one of us chooses a sin nature. After that, of course, we do have to take responsibility. We can choose Jesus as our Savior, Lord, and Master, and start to work on overcoming our sin nature … or we can choose the other way.

Why Do We Do It?

Posted on by November 10, 2014
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2 Kings 23:28-32 — Now the rest of the acts of Josiah, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the Chronicles of the kings of Judah? In his days Pharaoh–nechoh king of Egypt went up against the king of Assyria to the river Euphrates: and king Josiah went against him; and he slew him at Megiddo, when he had seen him. And his servants carried him in a chariot dead from Megiddo, and brought him to Jerusalem, and buried him in his own sepulchre. And the people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah, and anointed him, and made him king in his father’s stead. Jehoahaz was twenty and three years old when he began to reign; and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his fathers had done.

Josiah led a great revival. He drove the worship of false Gods out of Judah, destroyed the idols, put the false prophets to death. As soon as he died, his son came along and reversed his work. “Oh yes”, we say, “that’s one of those familiar sin/repentance cycles in Israel”. But it’s not that simple. If I look at my own life I can see a similar cycle.
I sin. Something happens to draw my attention to my sin. I repent. I forget. The cycle happens again. It’s an old, old, process. King Solomon knew all about it – “As a dog returneth to his vomit, so a fool returneth to his folly.” (Proverbs 26:11).
So what’s the cause? Am I a willful child, choosing the wrong path time and again, for my own pleasure? Well yes, I am – but there’s more to it than that. There’s a reason for it … In fact, I have a nasty disease that I share with you, and we both share with everyone we meet. Definition. Ever since Adam sinned, every person ever born has been born into a sinful state that is the root of all the actual sins they commit. That corruption of our nature is called “original sin”. The good news is there is a cure! In fact you might say I’m in remission.
So what’s the cure? Paul lays it out in his letter to the Romans. The key part for answering this question is in chapter 5:

Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: …
… For if by one man’s offense death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ. (Romans 5:12, 17)

Adam brought the sickness. Jesus brings the cure. When I took Jesus as my Savior, He started driving sin out of me. It’s a long job. I still sin. It’s a stubborn infection … but thank God, I will be well.

Living Together

Posted on by November 9, 2014
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Mark 2:23 — And it came to pass, that he went through the corn fields on the sabbath day; and his disciples began, as they went, to pluck the ears of corn.

I remember endless summers when I was a boy. From my last year or so in elementary school it seemed I was a free agent, free to roam as long as I was home before dark. Re-reading the passage in Mark this morning, about Jesus and his disciples picking corn on the Sabbath brought back a memory, powerfully.
I was walking one hot summer’s afternoon through a field of corn. I can’t have been much more than ten years old. I wasn’t four feet tall. The field looked huge to me, the sun was hot and I had taken the direct line from one side to the other. The corn towered over me. I was hot, sweaty and bothered — but as a great explorer, I was bound to press on, and then …
Then the farmer saw me. He was mad. My little ten year old body, pressing through his precious corn, was destroying his crop. Even now, fifty years later, I can’t see it. But it was a principle — ever since the enclosure acts in England eliminated the open field system and most common land, many English farmers have been deeply resentful of anyone using anything but the minimal path around the edge to get from one side to the other.
It was different in Jesus’s day. In fact it had been different all through Israel’s history. What bothered the Pharisees was not that the disciples were walking through the field. There were paths. They weren’t worried about the disciples picking ears of corn. It was expected! No, they cared about hungry young men grabbing a snack on the Sabbath!
The Israel of Jesus’s day had something we seem to be lacking more and more of. It had an assumption of community. As to this exact business of picking grain, way back in the law of Moses it says:

When thou comest into thy neighbor’s vineyard, then thou mayest eat grapes thy fill at thine own pleasure; but thou shalt not put any in thy vessel. When thou comest into the standing corn of thy neighbor, then thou mayest pluck the ears with thine hand; but thou shalt not move a sickle unto thy neighbor’s standing corn. (Deuteronomy 23:24-25)

The Jewish society wasn’t perfect, but there was general sense that neighbor would share with neighbor. Another passage in Deuteronomy says:

If there be among you a poor man of one of thy brethren within any of thy gates in thy land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not harden thine heart, nor shut thine hand from thy poor brother: but thou shalt open thine hand wide unto him, and shalt surely lend him sufficient for his need, in that which he wanteth. (Deuteronomy 15:7-8)

Nothing in Judaism has ever changed the obligation to charity. What has happened along the way to Christians that so many of us don’t know who our neighbors are, and might even shy away from those in need? In July 2013 in “Relevant” Magazine, wrote “Tithers make up only 10-25 percent of a normal church population. Only 5 percent of the U.S. tithes with 80 percent of Americans only giving 2 percent of their income. Christians are giving at 2.5 percent per capita, while during the Great Depression they gave at a rate of 3.3 percent.”
How have we got so far off track? Giving, of course, is only one aspect of the breakdown in community. I could point to a hundred others. What will you do to help us get back on track?

It’s Not Just Talk

Posted on by November 8, 2014
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Ephesians 4:11-16 — And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: that we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; but speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ: from whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.

I know it’s a long scripture … but it’s one that needs to be read completely — or we risk repeating the very thing that I want to write about. We risk taking a verse out of context. In fact it can get worse. What started me on the trail is the way one phrase from a key verse is so often taken and used to justify an entirely un-Christlike behavior. Verse 15 says “but speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ:”. That phrase “speaking the truth in love” — it is so often used to tell somebody something that the teller knows is not welcome to the hearer. All too often it’s not even true …
So what does this text really have to say to us?
We’ll come back to that key phrase in a little while, but first let’s start unwrapping the passage.
First Paul says, “Look, we’ve all got different gifts, but they’re given for the same purpose — to build up the church so that we all grow into the image of Christ.”
Next he says, “We need to grow up, and stop being fooled by the lies of those who distort the Gospel” and then comes “speaking the truth in love” …
The idea of “speaking” really doesn’t get the full sense. The Amplified version says it much better:

Rather, let our lives lovingly express truth in all things, speaking truly, dealing truly, living truly. Enfolded in love, let us grow up in every way and in all things into Him Who is the Head, even Christ the Messiah, the Anointed One. (Ephesians 4:15 AMP)

It’s not just talking — it’s living a life that expresses love in all it’s aspects. Harry Ironside says about love:

Note once again the emphasis on love: “forbearing one another in love” (Eph. 4:2); “speaking the truth in love” (Eph. 4:15); “the edifying of itself in love” (4:16). Love is the circulatory system of the body. It has been discovered that isolated, unloved babies do not grow properly and are especially susceptible to disease, while babies who are loved and handled grow normally and are stronger. So it is with the children of God.

“Expressing love we grow up,” says Paul “into the image of Christ, and thus the church is built up with love.”
It is so important not to take verses, or even worse, parts of verses and separate them from the surrounding text. Paul was not writing to provide a miserable excuse for unkind words — true or false. He was writing of the power of love to build the church. It’s not just talk …

Drifters

Posted on by November 7, 2014
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Hebrews 2:1 — Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip.

This verse speaks very directly to one of the things that I am most wary of about my own faith. I need to keep careful watch on myself. I need to make sure that I don’t drift away from my faith.
Alexander MacLaren explains that “drifting” is a more accurate picture of what the Greek word “pararreo” conveys than “let them slip”.

‘Drifting’ is the thing to be afraid of. Just as some boat, not made fast to the bank, certainly glides down stream so quietly and with so little friction that her passengers do not know that they are moving until they come up on deck, and see new fields around them, so the ‘things which we have heard,’ and to which we ought to be moored or anchored, we shall drift, drift, drift away from, and, in nine cases out of ten, shall not feel that we are moving, till we are roused by hearing the noise of the whirlpools and the falls close ahead of us; and look round and see a strange country.

It is so easily done. Be too concerned with the things of the world and silently, oh so silently, the connection to the things of faith will be washed away, and church, Bible study, worship, quiet time … all will recede into the background and eventually out of sight.
I’ve seen this happen to people, and I’m sure you have too. The golf game, or the fancy home, or the social life, or stress, or temptation… It washes away the connection and the anchor slips. For me, I suppose, it could be work. There have been times when I have been so caught up with what I’ve been doing that I could have been set adrift. I’ve become very aware the risks, and watch for the symptoms.
It’s not just something we need to watch for in ourselves. We ought to remember that to be a Christian is to be in a war — and we’re not in it on our own. We have fellow soldiers, brothers and sisters, and we need to be watching their backs. We need to be looking out for the drifters. Who’s not in their usual place of service? Who’s not in Sunday school class? Who’s not in the worship service? If that’s one of our fellow soldiers being washed away, we owe them the duty expressed in another great passage from Hebrews:

And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching. (Hebrews 10:24-25)

Don’t be a drifter … and don’t let anybody else drift away either.