tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3039988708926329512024-03-14T04:03:12.491-04:00VineLifeIn him was life, and that life was the light of men. (John 1:4)Jerry Cisarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15896596409357416689noreply@blogger.comBlogger209125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-303998870892632951.post-30385637263378142232014-09-30T09:58:00.002-04:002014-09-30T09:58:54.678-04:00Two Kings and Two Tables <div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Reading: Acts 11:27-30; 12:20-25</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After the second service on Sunday,
I had one of those, <i>“I could have had a V-8”</i> moments. By
referencing back the completion of Barnabas and Saul's mission in
12:25, it becomes clear that 11:19–12:25 belong together as a unit.
However, something that wasn't as clear to me then, now seems as
plain as the nose on my face: <i>It ties together two stories about
hungry people needing to be fed that result in two very different
outcomes under two very different kings. </i>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in; margin-left: 0.49in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><sup><span lang="en-US"><i><span style="font-size: xx-small;">27</span></i></span></sup><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: small;"><i>Now
in these days prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch. </i></span><sup><span lang="en-US"><i><span style="font-size: xx-small;">28</span></i></span></sup><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: small;"><i>And
one of them named Agabus stood up and foretold by the Spirit that
there would be a great famine over all the world (this took place in
the days of Claudius). </i></span><sup><span lang="en-US"><i><span style="font-size: xx-small;">29</span></i></span></sup><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: small;"><i>So
the disciples determined, every one according to his ability, to send
relief to the brothers living in Judea. </i></span><sup><span lang="en-US"><i><span style="font-size: xx-small;">30</span></i></span></sup><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: small;"><i>And
they did so, sending it to the elders by the hand of Barnabas and
Saul.</i></span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: small;">
(Acts 11:27-30 ESV)</span></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="en-US">The
believers living in Judea were about to enter into a famine. The
prophecy was given in late 43 to early 44 A.D. and is fulfilled in a
4 year famine from 44-48 A.D. The newly formed community of believers
in Antioch determined to respond under Christ's Lordship to the need
and sent help to the believers in Judea. </span></span>
</span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="en-US">Then,
in 12:20-24, we have an interesting little parallel story involving
hunger and the need to be fed. </span></span>
</span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0.06in; margin-left: 0.49in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><sup><span lang="en-US"><i><span style="font-size: xx-small;">20</span></i></span></sup><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: small;"><i>Now
Herod was angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon, and they came to
him with one accord, and having persuaded Blastus, the king's
chamberlain, they asked for peace, because their country depended on
the king's country for food. </i></span><sup><span lang="en-US"><i><span style="font-size: xx-small;">21</span></i></span></sup><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: small;"><i>On
an appointed day Herod put on his royal robes, took his seat upon the
throne, and delivered an oration to them. </i></span><sup><span lang="en-US"><i><span style="font-size: xx-small;">22</span></i></span></sup><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: small;"><i>And
the people were shouting, "The voice of a god, and not of a
man!" </i></span><sup><span lang="en-US"><i><span style="font-size: xx-small;">23</span></i></span></sup><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: small;"><i>Immediately
an angel of the Lord struck him down, because he did not give God the
glory, and he was eaten by worms and breathed his last. </i></span><sup><span lang="en-US"><i><span style="font-size: xx-small;">24</span></i></span></sup><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: small;"><i>But
the word of God increased and multiplied.</i></span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: small;">
(Acts 12:20-24 ESV)</span></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="en-US">The
people of Phoenicia (Tyre and Sidon) were dependent on Herod's
benevolence for food. Given his displeasure with them, they were
coming to resolve this issue. In other words, they were hungry and
suddenly had a liking for Herod. Everyone loves the political leader
responsible for giving them their food—at least to their face. </span></span>
</span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="en-US">This
desire to eat leads to their idolatrous worship of Herod. <a href="http://www.gccc.net/sermons/the-gospels-unstoppable-conquest-acts-1119-1225/">We
heard Sunday some of the amazing details from Josephus' description
of this same event.</a> But there is a contrast I had missed that
speaks volumes about the difference in care under Christ's unseen
reign and Herod the powerful earthly king's reign. That difference is
highlighted by the closing comment of Acts 12. </span></span>
</span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0.06in; margin-left: 0.49in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><sup><span lang="en-US"><i><span style="font-size: xx-small;">25</span></i></span></sup><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: small;"><i>And
Barnabas and Saul returned from Jerusalem when they had completed
their service, bringing with them John, whose other name was Mark.</i></span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: small;">
(Acts 12:25 ESV)</span></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="en-US">Herod
didn't complete his service. The only feeding he accomplished that
day was to feed the worms; the people under his care received
nothing. Barnabas and Saul completed their ministry and, in doing so,
the people under Christ's care are fed through the obedience of His
people. </span></span>
</span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="en-US">This
brief little story reveals the importance for all believers to take
Christ's teaching regarding our responsibility one to another
seriously. In the body of Christ, how we live out our lives in
obedience to Christ becomes an extension of His care for His people.
This then reflects on the Christ's reputation before the world–His
glory. May He be glorified through us. </span></span>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Love the Gospel, Live the Gospel,
Advance the Gospel,</i>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Jerry</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
Jerry Cisarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15896596409357416689noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-303998870892632951.post-55568076151580640342014-09-19T23:28:00.000-04:002014-09-19T23:28:49.243-04:00A Call to Worship Fulfilled in the Gospel: A Meditation in Psalm 47 <div style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Reading: Psalm 47 ESV
</b></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Psalm 47 is a call to worship for
the whole world and finds its fulfillment through the Gospel in our
own day. For many years I read Psalm 47 with the emphasis on the call
to clap your hands and shout. Being raised in a religious tradition
that was very staid in its worship, what was surprising in the psalm
to me as a teenager was that call to clap my hands in worship.
However in the day it was written that was not the startling aspect
of the psalm or even the first sentence.
</span></div>
<div lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0.08in; margin-left: 0.49in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><sup><span style="font-size: xx-small;">1</span></sup>Clap your
hands, <b style="font-size: medium;">all peoples</b>! Shout to God with loud songs of joy! <sup><span style="font-size: xx-small;">2</span></sup>For the LORD, the Most High, is to be feared, a great king <b style="font-size: medium;">over
all the earth</b>. </i>
</span></div>
<div lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What would have stood out
to the original audience is found in the words, <i>“all peoples.”
</i>In this psalm <i>“all peoples”</i> doesn't mean <i>“all
Jewish people,”</i> or <i>“all Israeli people,”</i> but rather,
it is <i>“all the peoples of the earth”</i> for the Lord is <i>“a
great king over all the earth.”</i> In the next verses we
see that the same word is used for the Gentile nations of the world
around us.
</span></div>
<div lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0.08in; margin-left: 0.49in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><sup><span style="font-size: xx-small;">3</span></sup>He
subdued <b style="font-size: medium;">peoples </b>under us, and <b style="font-size: medium;">nations </b>under our feet. <sup><span style="font-size: xx-small;">4</span></sup>He chose our heritage for us, the pride of Jacob whom he loves.
Selah</i></span></div>
<div lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The call to all peoples
of the world to worship God with great expression is rooted in the
fact that He has subdued peoples (other nations) under the feet of
Israel as they inherited the promise land. They can see the evident
uniqueness of the Lord as not merely a local deity but as the Great
King over the whole earth. He is therefore in a unique position to
demand worship from all.
</span></div>
<div lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As the psalm continues,
it becomes even more clear that the theme stated in the second
verse—the Lord is <i>“a great
king over all the earth”</i>—is
the reason for this call to all peoples everywhere to clap and to
shout with loud songs of joy.
</span></div>
<div align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.49in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><sup><span style="font-size: xx-small;">5</span></sup>God has
gone up with a shout, the LORD with the sound of a trumpet.</i></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.49in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><sup><span style="font-size: xx-small;">6</span></sup>Sing
praises to God, sing praises! Sing praises to our King, sing praises!</i></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.49in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><sup><span style="font-size: xx-small;">7</span></sup>For God
is the King of <b style="font-size: medium;">all the earth</b>; sing praises with a psalm!</i></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0.08in; margin-left: 0.49in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><sup><span style="font-size: xx-small;">8</span></sup>God
reigns over <b style="font-size: medium;">the nations</b>; God sits on his holy throne.</i></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Because God reigns over
the nations, the nations (not just Israel) are called to
worship Him. Then the most surprising part of the psalm comes at the
end.
</span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.49in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><sup><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">9</span></span></sup><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: small;">The princes of </span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: small;"><b>the
peoples</b></span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: small;">
gather </span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: small;"><b>as
the people of the God of Abraham</b></span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: small;">.
</span></i>
</span></div>
<div align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0.08in; margin-left: 0.49in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><i>For the shields of the
earth belong to God; he is highly exalted!</i></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The princes of <i>the peoples</i>
(these are the peoples of the whole world again) gather <i><b>as </b></i>the
people of the God of Abraham. Christopher J. Wright points out that
the word supplied in English, “as,” is not in the Hebrew.
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.08in; margin-left: 0.49in;">
<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"The
nobles of the nations" and "the people of the God of
Abraham" are simply set in apposition, the one being identified
with the other. That God in this context should be specifically named
as the God of Abraham is surely significant, in view of the
universality of God's promise to Abraham. So the register of the
nations will not set the other nations behind, beneath or even merely
alongside Israel, but will actually include them as Israel, as part
of the people of father Abraham.<a class="sdfootnoteanc" href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=303998870892632951#sdfootnote1sym" name="sdfootnote1anc"><sup>1</sup></a></span></i></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“<i>The shields of the earth”</i>
is an expression representative of the mighty warriors or leaders of
the earth who belong to God. They are either equal to or closely
connected with the <i>“princes of the peoples.”</i> Not just the
Jewish people but the princes and leaders of the world belong to God,
and by implication therefore, all the peoples who belong to those
leaders belong to God.
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">None of this is particularly
surprising to the New Testament, but it certainly was surprising in
the Old. It is a look forward in keeping with the promise to Abraham
(Genesis 12:3; 18:18; 22:18; 26:4). If the princes of the nations are
to gather as the people of Abraham, indeed all the nations are called
to gather as those people and to clap our hands, and to shout with
loud songs of joy. That is a call to be fulfilled in the New Covenant
people of God.
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Psalm 47 is a call to worship for
the whole world and finds its fulfillment through the Gospel in our
own day as all peoples on earth are assembling as the people of
Israel. So clap your hands and shout with loud songs of joy. It is a
call to worship that, as we are seeing in <a href="http://www.gccc.net/?s=&speaker_id=&series_id=75&book_id=42&btn-submit=Go&post_type=podcast">our
current series in the book of Acts</a>, echoes through the pages of
Acts to the nations of the world.
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Love the Gospel, Live the Gospel,
Advance the Gospel,</i>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Jerry</span></div>
<br />
<div id="sdfootnote1">
<div class="sdfootnote">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a class="sdfootnotesym" href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=303998870892632951#sdfootnote1anc" name="sdfootnote1sym">1</a>Christopher
J. H. Wright. The Mission of God: Unlocking the Bible's Grand
Narrative (Kindle Locations 6716-6719). Kindle Edition.</span> </div>
</div>
Jerry Cisarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15896596409357416689noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-303998870892632951.post-6214969040259372912014-08-31T11:10:00.000-04:002014-08-31T11:10:02.326-04:00Is God Really Bothered? <h2 style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; line-height: 19px;">
Reading: Luke 18</h2>
<div style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">
<p>The parable of the widow and the unjust judge (Luke 18:1-8) is often simplified into a teaching on how persistence in prayer will bring the answer we want, and I wonder if its real impact is altogether missed. Maybe that should be no surprise since the rest of the chapter in which it falls reveals that the disciples also missed its impact.</div></p>
<div style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">
<p>As I will show below, the moral to the story or the meaning of the parable might be succinctly stated as, <em>“No matter how small or trivial your life may seem, God is <strong>not</strong> bothered by your continual appeals for Him to do something about your unjust situation.”</em> Yet, the disciples almost immediately assume that Jesus will be bothered by people bringing their little babies to Jesus in order that He might lay His hands on them (Luke 18:15). Shortly after this, when a blind beggar is crying out for mercy from Jesus, the disciples rebuke him and tell him to be quiet (Luke 18:39).</p>
<div style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">
<p>Had the disciples been characters in the parable of the widow, there is little doubt that they would have been trying to hush the old woman, trying to persuade her to accept her situation, and explaining that the judge's inaction toward her <em>is</em> the answer that he has given. Sadly, this is far too often still the approach that some might take toward people who are continually asking for prayer that God might change the brokenness in their own lives... especially difficult, painful, and hard to deal with circumstances. Like Job's comforters, we think it is better to help them accept, “No,” as an answer rather than join them in crying out to God for help.</div></p>
<div style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">
<p>This widow has no leg to stand on before the judge. Widows were powerless in that society. Her husband left her with no life insurance policy. She has no power to hold over the judge; her life could not be more trivial from a human perspective. There is nothing within this widow that can draw the judge's attention. And even if there were, he couldn't care less—he neither fears God nor cares about man. But cry out she does. Why? Because she refuses to accept the injustice of her situation. She refuses to rest content with the world as it is. She believes something must be made right in this broken and fallen world.</div></p>
<div style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">
<p>The parable offers an alternative to just accepting the brokenness of this world as it is. It invites us to refuse to rest content with the injustice of this world. It invites us to go to God crying out for Him to transform the world as it is into the world as it ought to be. And God will answer our prayers.</div></p>
<div style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">
<p>The parable is not saying that we should keep praying because just like the unjust judge, God will also eventually answer if we are just persistent. Rather, the parable is saying that <strong>unlike the unjust judge,</strong> God who cares deeply about His chosen ones, God who is not bothered by our coming, but rather gladly invites us to come to him and is patient with our cries for mercy, is indeed working out justice for His chosen ones. God wants justice for us and is already at work even in ways we cannot see and do not yet understand. But at work He is in response to our pleas.</div></p>
<div style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">
<p>Part of the problem we have in understanding the parable is rooted in many English translations of the last part of Luke 18:7. MacDonald's Idiomatic Translation captures it well and helps us understand.</div>
<div data-mce-style="padding-left: 30px;" style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; padding-left: 30px;">
<em>Nevertheless, will not God surely make things right for his chosen ones who call to him day and night—while being ever so patient with them?</em> (Luke 18:7 MIT)</div></p>
<div style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">
<p>The idea is not about whether or not God will delay in answering, but whether or not God gladly hears us and is disposed to listen. If He is not patient with us, then we must be ever so careful not to burden Him with our problems. But that is not the case with God. We need not try to encourage people to just accept their circumstances and stop crying out to God. Rather we can join with them in prayer, interceding with them before the Father, because not only will he be ever so patient with them and their cries for mercy, he will be patient with us and our cries for mercy on their behalf.</div></p>
<div style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">
<p>Of course, this would mean prayer. This would mean actually doing more than mentioning it once in prayer because we told them we would pray. This would mean grieving with those who grieve and weeping with those who weep. And maybe for some there is another concern. Not that God will be bothered by the requests of those unwilling to be satisfied with the brokenness of this fallen world, but that we might be bothered with actually having to intercede as persistently with them as this parable calls for.</div></p>
<div style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">
<p>Is God really bothered? God is bothered by the fallenness of this fallen world, or the brokenness of this broken world. So much so that He sent His Son to destroy the works of the devil (1 John 3:8). However God is not bothered by your continual coming to Him and asking Him to do something about it. For those who are experiencing the brokenness of this fallen world, <em>“No matter how small or trivial your life may seem, God is <strong>not</strong> bothered by your continual appeals for Him to do something about your unjust situation.”</em> And for the rest of us, no matter how far out of reach justice and restoration may seem for someone, we should join with them in prayer to our loving Father whom we can trust is already at work and gladly hears our prayers.</div></p>
<div style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">
<p>Love the Gospel, Live the Gospel, Advance the Gospel,<br />
Jerry</div>Jerry Cisarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15896596409357416689noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-303998870892632951.post-812551265255934282014-08-14T11:31:00.000-04:002014-08-14T11:31:53.998-04:00I said, “You are gods”: A Mediation in Psalm 82 <div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Reading: Psalm 82, John 10</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in; margin-left: 0.49in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span lang="en-US"><i>God
presides in the great assembly (ESV: divine council); he renders
judgment among the "gods": </i></span><span lang="en-US">(Psalm
82:1)</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Psalm 82 begins in a way that seems
a bit awkward to our Christian ears. Verse 1 could be rendered, <i>“God
stands among the gods, in the midst of the gods He judges.”</i> Who
are these <i>“gods”</i> he stands amongst? The context makes
rather clear that they are those who stand in leadership over God's
people, those who make judgments that effect the weak, fatherless,
poor, and oppressed of God's people (Psalm 82:1-2).
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in; margin-left: 0.49in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: small;"><i>"How
long will you defend the unjust and show partiality to the wicked?
</i></span><sup><span lang="en-US"><i><span style="font-size: xx-small;">3</span></i></span></sup><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: small;"><i>Defend
the weak and the fatherless; uphold the cause of the poor and the
oppressed. </i></span><sup><span lang="en-US"><i><span style="font-size: xx-small;">4</span></i></span></sup><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: small;"><i>Rescue
the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.</i></span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: small;">
(Psalm 82:2-4)</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Why does God refer to them as
“gods”? Fair question. These rulers were called to dispense
justice on God's behalf. All authority or rulership over people is
delegated from God (Romans 13:1). So the rulers have a responsibility
to represent truth and mercy on God's behalf. In effect, they were to
represent God to the people. However, they were failing miserably.
Calling them “gods” is a bit “tongue-in-cheek.” Now God was
going to render judgment amongst them, and in fact on them.
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in; margin-left: 0.49in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><sup><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">5</span></span></sup><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: small;">The
“gods” know nothing, they understand nothing. They walk about in
darkness; all the foundations of the earth are shaken. </span><sup><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">6</span>
</span></sup><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: small;">I
said, “You are 'gods'; you are all sons of the Most High.” </span><sup><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">7</span></span></sup><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: small;">But
you will die like mere mortals; you will fall like every other
ruler." </span></i><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: small;">(Psalm
82:5-7)</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Then, in the closing verse of the
psalm, it almost seems like a new idea is introduced in the
conclusion out of left field. But it isn't out of left field at all.
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in; margin-left: 0.49in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span lang="en-US"><i>Rise
up, O God, judge the earth, for all the nations are your inheritance.</i></span>
<span lang="en-US">(Psalm 82:8)</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="en-US">God
rising up and judging is no surprise. It's the part about “why”
he will rise up and judge the earth that may surprise. </span><span lang="en-US"><i>“For
all the nations are your inheritance.” </i></span><span lang="en-US">(The
ESV reads, </span><span lang="en-US"><i>“for you shall
inherit all the nations.”</i></span><span lang="en-US">)
It would have seemed more in keeping with the rest of the psalm if it
had read, “Rise up, O God, judge of the earth, for the leaders of
the people are oppressing the people.” And certainly, that is the
reason which has been given throughout the psalm. But now, at the end
of the psalm, it seems as if a new cause is introduced. </span></span>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="en-US">But
it is not new at all. In fact, it is the very reason for the rest of
the psalm. It all began with a promise to Abraham. </span></span>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in; margin-left: 0.49in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“<span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="en-US"><i>I
will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse;
and </i></span><span lang="en-US"><i><b>all peoples on earth will be
blessed through you</b></i></span><span lang="en-US"><i>.”</i></span><span lang="en-US">
(Genesis 12:3)</span></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in; margin-left: 0.49in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: small;">"As
for me, this is my covenant with you: You will be </span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: small;"><b>the
father of many nations</b></span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: small;">. </span><sup><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">5</span></span></sup><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: small;">No
longer will you be called Abram; your name will be Abraham, for I
have made you </span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: small;"><b>a father of many nations</b></span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: small;">.
</span><sup><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">6</span> </span></sup><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: small;">I
will make you very fruitful; </span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: small;"><b>I will make
nations of you, and kings will come from you.</b></span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: small;">
</span></i><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: small;">(Genesis
17:4-6)</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="en-US">These
verses introduce and repeat the promise: God called Abraham in order
that through him he might bless the nations. God's plan for one man
was the nations of the world. Then, in another place we get a glimpse
into how God would reach the nations through him. </span></span>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in; margin-left: 0.49in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span lang="en-US"><i>For
I have chosen him, so that he will direct his children and his
household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing what is
right and just, so that the LORD will bring about for Abraham what he
has promised him.</i></span><span lang="en-US">
(Genesis 18:19)</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="en-US">How
will God bring about this promise? He chose Abraham so that he would
direct his children and his household after him to keep the way of
the Lord. How would they be taught to keep the way of the Lord?
</span><span lang="en-US"><i>“...by doing what is right and
just...”</i></span><span lang="en-US">
Follow the logic. God chose Abraham so he would train his children
and household–which eventually becomes the nation of Israel – to
keep the Lord way. The way they keep the Lord's way is by doing what
is right and just. And when they do this, the Lord will bring about
for Abraham what he has promised—bless the world through him. </span></span>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="en-US">What
does this have to do with Psalm 82? Everything. The leaders of Israel
were given the charge, handed down in the covenant with Abraham, to
do what is right and just. And if they had done this, showing God's
compassion to the people and dispensing God's mercy, the nations
would have looked on and seen the glory of God. They would be the
light of God to the nations (Isaiah 51:4; 60:3). It is through this
obedience that the nations could see the true nature of the God who
chose Abraham and His mercy. But they failed to do so, and so God
must judge them, for God will fulfill His promise and reach the
nations. </span></span>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="en-US">When
one reads Psalm 82 with this understanding, and then turns to the New
Testament and reads John 10, it is easy to see why Jesus quoted from
this psalm there (John 10:34). There he calls the then current Jewish
leaders thieves and robbers who have come to steal, kill and destroy
(John 10:8-10). They are just like those in Psalm 82. </span></span>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="en-US">Then,
Jesus points to Himself as the Good Shepherd (John 10:11). He is the
Messiah who </span><span lang="en-US"><i>“with righteousness
he will judge the needy, with justice he will give decisions for the
poor of the earth.”</i></span><span lang="en-US">
(Isaiah 11:4) He will truly be the “son” of God in a way that no
one else ever could be for He is the Son of God. The promise given to
Abraham that all peoples will be blessed through him will be
fulfilled through Jesus and His people (the church) walking out His
justice and righteousness (love), as the light of the world (Matthew
5:14; Philippians 2:15). </span></span>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Love the Gospel, Live the Gospel,
Advance the Gospel,</i>
</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Jerry</span></div>
Jerry Cisarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15896596409357416689noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-303998870892632951.post-28031462256420488772014-08-10T19:11:00.000-04:002014-08-10T19:11:23.791-04:00What is Korah's Rebellion? <h2 class="western">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">READING:
NUMBERS 16</span></span></h2>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The account of Korah’s rebellion (Korah and 250 men rise up in
rebellion against Moses and Aaron; the earth opens and swallows them
in the end) is sometimes used as a defense of authority against
anyone who might be questioning authority. This event may have some
things to say about authority in the church, but it is not the
primary point. <strong>In fact, the distraction to this issue of
“Who’s in charge?” may prevent us from seeing the glorious
truth that this story is really about.</strong></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong><br /></strong></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We are told at the beginning that 250 prominent Israelite men,
leaders in the community, representatives in the assembly, rebelled
against Moses and Aaron. The claim, <em>“You have gone too
far! The whole community is holy, every one of them, and the LORD is
with them. Why then do you set yourselves above the LORD’s
assembly?” </em>(Numbers 16:3), is not a general complaint about
their authority, nor a general complaint about how they view
themselves as being better than the rest of the community. This
becomes clear when we get to the end of the story. One might call
this verse the moral to the story.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<div style="margin-left: 0.49in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>This was to remind the Israelites
that no one except a descendant of Aaron should come to burn incense
before the LORD, or he would become like Korah and his followers.
</em>(Numbers 16:40)</span></div>
<div style="margin-left: 0.49in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The rebellion, it turns out was about Moses (really, the Lord)
saying that only Aaron and his descendants could burn incense before
the Lord. Korah and the 250 leaders (who already had a level of
authority in the community) were claiming everyone in the community
is holy enough to offer incense before the Lord in the tent of
meeting. This also makes a lot more sense out of Moses telling these
men to come the next day and bring their censors and burning incense
to let the Lord decide who was right and wrong (Numbers 16:6-7). And
it explains why, after all was said and done they were to take the
250 censors they had used and hammer them into a plating to go over
the altar to remind the Israelites that no one except a descendant of
Aaron (a priest) could approach the alter to offer incense (Numbers
16:39-40).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Aaron had already lost two sons in the service of offering incense
because they did not follow the prescribed way (Leviticus 10:1-2). In
some sense, I am sure he would have been happy to turn this
responsibility over to someone else. <strong>Serving as priest was
costly. Korah and his followers seemed to think it was about
privilege. </strong>Worse yet, they did not realize there was a
problem–that they needed an intermediary between them and God. God
is holy; they were sinful. Their incense would not be acceptable to
God. Only incense brought in the prescribed way, through mediation
and sacrifice, would be acceptable.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It may be that Christians sometimes miss the greater point of this
story because of familiarity with the truths of the New Covenant
clearly laid out in Hebrews. As believers in Jesus we are all invited
to draw near without any fear of punishment (Hebrews 4:16; 7:19, 25;
10:19-22, 12:18-22). <strong>There is only one thing that makes the
difference between these verses in Hebrews and Korah’s rebellion.
</strong>The freedom with which Hebrews calls us to draw near to God
in prayer (remember our prayer is incense before God–Revelation
5:8) is only possible because of our Great High Priest. It is not
possible because Korah was right (<em>“The whole community is holy,
every one of them, and the LORD is with them”</em>). Korah was
wrong.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Aaron and his family showed us that we need a mediator. Jesus is
that mediator. The reason the earth doesn’t swallow us alive (or
some other version of God’s wrath) when we approach the throne of
grace is because we come through Jesus Christ. We come by a new and
living way opened through his death on the cross. (See the Hebrews
verses listed above.)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Many today promote the idea that there are many ways to God. That
is Korah’s rebellion. Everything but coming to God through our Lord
Jesus Christ is ultimately Korah’s rebellion. If it were not for
God’s patience and endurance, judgment would long ago have been
poured out.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>Love the Gospel, Live the Gospel, Advance the Gospel,</em><br />Jerry</span>Jerry Cisarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15896596409357416689noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-303998870892632951.post-54619609485881367972014-08-10T18:50:00.000-04:002014-08-10T18:50:56.486-04:00Today if You Hear His Voice: A Meditation in Psalm 95 <h2 class="western" lang="en-US" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin-bottom: 0.06in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, Bitstream Charter, Times, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Reading:
Psalm 95</span></span></span></h2>
<div style="line-height: 0.2in;">
<span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, Bitstream Charter, Times, serif;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;">Imagine
receiving an invitation to eat dinner with the President of the
United States—pick your favorite president just to keep politics
out of this. What would you do? You'd clear your calendar. Psalm 95
is an invitation from a king. Not just any king, </span></span></span><em><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, Bitstream Charter, Times, serif;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;"><span style="font-style: normal;">“the
great King above all gods...”.</span></span></span></span></em></div>
<h3 class="western" style="line-height: 0.2in;">
<span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, Bitstream Charter, Times, serif;">A
Voice Calling Us to Worship</span></span></h3>
<div style="line-height: 0.2in;">
<span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, Bitstream Charter, Times, serif;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;">Psalm
95 calls us to worship. The speaker is a fellow member of the people
of God, presumably a leader of the congregation. The recipients of
this call are the people of God—members of the community of God's
people. It is an invitation to come and sing joyfully with songs of
praise, giving thanks in His presence (Psalm 95:1-2).</span></span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 0.2in;">
<span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, Bitstream Charter, Times, serif;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;">The
ground or basis of this call to worship is the greatness of our God.</span></span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 0.2in;">
<em><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, Bitstream Charter, Times, serif;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;"><span style="font-style: normal;">(3)
For the LORD is the great God, the great King above all gods. (4) In
his hand are the depths of the earth, and the mountain peaks belong
to him. (5) The sea is his, for he made it, and his hands formed the
dry land.</span></span></span></span></em><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, Bitstream Charter, Times, serif;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> (Psalm
95:3-5)</span></span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 0.2in;">
<span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, Bitstream Charter, Times, serif;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;">This
invitation is not like invitations which we are accustomed to
receiving. We receive invitations to various events (weddings,
graduations, etc.) with an R.S.V.P. request. It is optional. If you
don't desire to come it is often hoped you might send a gift. Either
way, your presence is requested, even desired, but there are no
negative consequences for not coming. This invitation, however,
appeals to the recipients not to brush it aside. There are
consequences for not accepting this invitation.</span></span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 0.2in;">
<span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, Bitstream Charter, Times, serif;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;">God, </span></span></span><em><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, Bitstream Charter, Times, serif;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;"><span style="font-style: normal;">“the
great God, the great King above all gods,”</span></span></span></span></em><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, Bitstream Charter, Times, serif;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> the
Creator of and therefore Sovereign over the sea and dry land (the
whole earth), has invited you to come and worship. He has invited you
to come and worship in a certain way: with singing and joyfully. Why?
Is this invitation only for those who prefer to worship with singing
and joyful noises, but not for those who prefer to worship quietly?
No, because the greatness of who He is calls for this kind of
worship—worship that speaks to the greatness of God from
all—especially those of us who aren't naturally inclined toward
this worship.</span></span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 0.2in;">
<span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, Bitstream Charter, Times, serif;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;">We
are called to come and worship in a way that befits the King; in a
way that doesn't belittle the greatness of our God. Worship is about
God and His greatness; it is not about us. And since our God is great
and above all, our worship should be joyful. (This does not mean
there are never times for grieving before God. Even those ought to
ultimately lead to joyful worship.)</span></span></span></div>
<h3 class="western" style="line-height: 0.2in;">
<span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, Bitstream Charter, Times, serif;">Today
If You Hear His Voice - Worship</span></span></h3>
<div style="line-height: 0.2in;">
<span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, Bitstream Charter, Times, serif;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;">There
is something that I have often missed when reading this psalm. It is
found in the relationship between the first part of the psalm and the
second: the call to worship and the warning to heed the call to
worship. It can be identified clearly when we see the logical
connection of verses 6, 7c-8a, and 11.</span></span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 0.2in;">
<span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, Bitstream Charter, Times, serif;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;">INVITATION: </span></span></span><em><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, Bitstream Charter, Times, serif;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;"><span style="font-style: normal;">(6)
Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the LORD our
Maker...</span></span></span></span></em></div>
<div style="line-height: 0.2in;">
<span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, Bitstream Charter, Times, serif;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;">WARNING
TO HEED INVITATION: </span></span></span><em><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, Bitstream Charter, Times, serif;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;"><span style="font-style: normal;">(7)
…Today, if only you would hear his voice, (8) “Do not harden your
hearts...</span></span></span></span></em></div>
<div style="line-height: 0.2in;">
<span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, Bitstream Charter, Times, serif;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;">CONSEQUENCE
OF REFUSAL: </span></span></span><em><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, Bitstream Charter, Times, serif;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;"><span style="font-style: normal;">(11)
So I declared on oath in my anger, 'They shall never enter my rest.'”</span></span></span></span></em></div>
<div style="line-height: 0.2in;">
<span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, Bitstream Charter, Times, serif;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;">It
helps to see that the Hebrew word for </span></span></span><em><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, Bitstream Charter, Times, serif;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;"><span style="font-style: normal;">“come”</span></span></span></span></em><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, Bitstream Charter, Times, serif;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> in
the invitation v 6 is the same as that for the word </span></span></span><em><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, Bitstream Charter, Times, serif;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;"><span style="font-style: normal;">“enter”</span></span></span></span></em><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, Bitstream Charter, Times, serif;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> in
v 11. In English it would be a little more awkward, but to emphasize
the point we might read it, </span></span></span><em><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, Bitstream Charter, Times, serif;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;"><span style="font-style: normal;">"Come,
let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the LORD our
Maker...'They shall never come into my rest.'"</span></span></span></span></em><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, Bitstream Charter, Times, serif;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> The
call to come into worship, if refused, is met with the consequence of
never coming into God's rest. That doesn't seem odd when we
understand that God's rest is found in Him and in glorifying Him.</span></span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 0.2in;">
<span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, Bitstream Charter, Times, serif;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;">What
does this mean? It means the people of God must take seriously the
call to worship our God. The mission of God is ultimately about the
nations rendering to God the worship due His name (see Psalm 96:1-3;
7-9). It means that in order to respond to God's invitation to come
to Him, we come worshiping Him. It also means that to reject God's
call to worship Him in joy is to harden our hearts. That hardening
reflects hearts that have gone astray and have not known God's ways
(Psalm 95:10).</span></span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 0.2in;">
<span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, Bitstream Charter, Times, serif;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;">Psalm
95 is both an invitation and a warning. This invitation and warning
are captured in the book of Hebrews. The book of Hebrews reverses the
order: it begins with a warning not to neglect such a great salvation
(Hebrews 2:1-3), which is restated in the words of Psalm 95 (Hebrews
3:7-13) with an appeal not to allow our hearts to be hardened by
sin's deceitfulness, and then appeals to us to draw near (come) and
call on the Lord for his mercy (always a part of our worship)
(Hebrews 4:16). This appeal to “draw near” and enter God's
presence returns toward the end of the book (Hebrews 10:19-22). The
writer of Hebrews applied the truths of Psalm 95 directly to those
who considered themselves part of the community of faith in Jesus.
This means it applies directly to us.</span></span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 0.2in;">
<span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, Bitstream Charter, Times, serif;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;">The
Hebrew Christians had been around for some time; their faith was not
as white hot as it was in the beginning (Hebrews 10:32-39). They
needed to be reminded of this call to passionate worship of our
magnificent God because of this salvation as great as that wrought by
Jesus Christ. What about you and me? I need to be reminded. God is
reminding me through Psalm 95. But I need more than a reminder. Today
if I hear His voice, I need to respond in worship! Join me. Today, if
you hear His voice...sing, sing joyfully, and render the worship due
His name. Do not harden your heart.</span></span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 0.2in;">
<em><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, Bitstream Charter, Times, serif;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Love
the Gospel, Live the Gospel, Advance the Gospel,</span></span></span></span></em><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, Bitstream Charter, Times, serif;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;"><br />Jerry</span></span></span></div>
Jerry Cisarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15896596409357416689noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-303998870892632951.post-77978283465497165552014-04-17T08:25:00.000-04:002014-04-17T08:46:59.103-04:00Religion or Relationship? <div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Reading:
Romans 12</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">This
past Monday I went to get my oil changed. It's early, I've got my
coffee, Bible, and a couple other books just in case this takes
longer than expected. As I sit in the waiting room, and accidentally
spill some coffee onto the seat next to me, a conversation begins
with the only other person in the waiting room—a woman in her late
50's. Somehow the Bible gets brought into the conversation and I ask
if she has a church. </span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
“<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>Not
right now; I did all that for a long time, going to church, tithing,
being involved, but I traded religion for relationship.”</i>
Now, I know that according to current cultural protocol, she has just
trumped everything. I'm supposed to be awed by the sheer superiority
of such a comment. It is code for, <i>“I've reached a level
of understanding that has allowed me to rise above such inauthentic
practices as organized religion to a new plane of authentic
religion which is just me and the Lord.”</i>
<b>Those words she used,
</b><i><b>“I've traded religion for relationship.”</b></i><b>
What do they mean? What did she mean?</b>
</span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Turns
out, as I inquired, that several years back she and her now late
husband were inspired by a movie, “Bucket List”. And that is when
she turned her religion in for this so-called relationship. They
began traveling the world and seeing places they always wanted to
see. Don't get me wrong, I rejoice that they had some extended time
together before his passing. I would want that for them and anyone
else. However, I would never recommend the trade that was made. </span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>What
was this trade?</b> <i>“Religion
for relationship.”</i> She left
<i>being committed to a group of people outside of herself to
which she was joined by a common belief, for which she sacrificed for
the common good both financially and with her time, which involved
working through conflicts, disagreements, and differences in order to
accomplish something bigger than just ourselves,</i>
and traded that for <i>merely doing what she wants on the
weekends, traveling where she wants, and not being encumbered by such
archaic things such as financial sacrifice for something from which I
get no direct benefit, or time commitments</i>.
The first one she called religion, the second one she called
relationship. Can you see the obvious contradiction? </span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">You
may object saying, <i>“But she meant relationship with God,
not others.”</i> True; that wasn't
missed on me. However, since love of God and love of neighbor are
intricately tied together, and since she had already acknowledged an
immense respect for the Bible as a Divinely inspired book, I heard
her through its grid. And the scriptures tell us plainly that we
cannot love God whom we cannot see while not loving our neighbor,
brother or sister in Christ, whom we can see. (1 John 4:20-21) Love
is never merely a feeling I have toward people while I am completely
uninvolved in their lives. </span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Romans
12 describes what “relationship” looks like. It describes what
authentic religion looks like. Here is a sampling of how this is
described:</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in; margin-left: 0.49in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><i><sup><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">1</span>
</span></sup><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;">Therefore, I urge you, brothers and
sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as a living
sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper
worship...</span><sup><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">5 </span></span></sup><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;">so
in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to
all the others. </span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><sup><span lang="en-US">6</span></sup><span lang="en-US">
</span></span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;">We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us.
If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your
faith; </span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><sup><span lang="en-US">7</span></sup><span lang="en-US">
</span></span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;">if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; </span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><sup><span lang="en-US">8</span></sup><span lang="en-US">
</span></span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;">if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then
give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show
mercy, do it cheerfully. </span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><sup><span lang="en-US">9</span></sup><span lang="en-US">
</span></span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;">Love must be sincere....</span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><sup><span lang="en-US">10</span></sup><span lang="en-US">
</span></span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;">Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above
yourselves. </span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><sup><span lang="en-US">11</span></sup><span lang="en-US">
</span></span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;">Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the
Lord. </span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><sup><span lang="en-US">12</span></sup><span lang="en-US">
</span></span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;">Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. </span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><sup><span lang="en-US">13</span></sup><span lang="en-US">
</span></span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;">Share with the Lord's people who are in need. Practice
hospitality....</span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><sup><span lang="en-US">15</span></sup><span lang="en-US">
</span></span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;">Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. </span><sup><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">16
</span></span></sup><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;">Live in harmony with one another. Do
not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low
position. Do not be conceited. </span></i></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US">It
turns out, she has recently moved to the area and moved about a mile
away from the church in which I am involved. I was able to invite her
and I do pray she comes. I pray this that she might discover
something authentic, something outside any one of us, something of
relationship in a community which bears with each other, forgives one
another, prays through dark times together, helps people in need that
we know and do life together with. I can't speak to what she had
before that she traded for this “relationship” (more accurately
called self-life). </span><span lang="en-US"><b>I can say that I know
a kind of relationship, a kind of authentic worship of God that
cannot be lived apart from a believing community. And that is the
kind of worship to which the Bible calls us.</b></span><span lang="en-US">
</span></span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>Love
the Gospel, Live the Gospel, Advance the Gospel,</i> </span></span>
</div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Jerry</span></span></div>
Jerry Cisarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15896596409357416689noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-303998870892632951.post-41325290674682540332014-02-20T08:36:00.002-05:002014-02-20T08:36:54.370-05:00If Only We Could See: A Meditation in Psalm 126 <div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Reading: Psalm 126 </span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>If only we could
see, laughter and joy would fill our mouths when we think about the
church of our Lord Jesus Christ.</b> I realize that is not the way
many speak of the church today. In fact it is quite popular to speak
disparagingly of the church as if God's great mission in the world
had failed. </span>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">I am not suggesting
that there are not reasons to be concerned–there are. But I am
suggesting that there is much more to the picture. <b>Psalm 126 gives
us a glimpse into the picture.</b> </span>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in; margin-left: 0.49in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><span style="font-size: medium;">When
the LORD restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who
dreamed. </span><sup><span style="font-size: xx-small;">2</span></sup><span style="font-size: medium;">Our mouths were filled with laughter, our
tongues with songs of joy. Then it was said among the nations, "The
LORD has done great things for them." </span><sup><span style="font-size: xx-small;">3</span></sup><span style="font-size: medium;">The LORD has
done great things for us, and we are filled with joy. </span></i>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in; margin-left: 0.49in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><sup><span style="font-size: xx-small;">4</span></sup><span style="font-size: medium;">Restore
our fortunes, LORD, like streams in the Negev. </span><sup><span style="font-size: xx-small;">5</span></sup><span style="font-size: medium;">Those who
sow with tears will reap with songs of joy. </span><sup><span style="font-size: xx-small;">6</span></sup><span style="font-size: medium;">Those who go
out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy,
carrying sheaves with them.</span></i></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i><b>Joy at the Time
of Ingathering</b></i></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">This psalm speaks of
the time when the captive people of God were released from Babylon
and returning to the land of Zion. The people returning were poor and
displaced. They were unsettled. Yet there was joy; joy unspeakable;
joy like a dream; joy that could only be expressed in a mouth full of
laughter and singing. <b>This was a time of ingathering—ingathering
of God's people from where they had been displaced, dispersed, and
dispossessed.</b> </span>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Their prayer was that
the Lord would restore their fortunes like the cracked dry
stream-beds in the dessert. <b>When the rainy season comes, that
which was cracked and dry is now the very source of life for all
around.</b> But notice they weren't waiting to be filled with joy
until they were the flowing stream. They were filled with joy because
the Lord was gathering them in and now they were praying with joy
that they would be restored to become the source of life to all
around. </span>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“<span style="font-size: large;"><i><b>What does any
of this have to do with the church?”</b></i></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: medium;">I'm glad you asked. The
prophets looked forward to this time of gathering God's people from
where they had been scattered. Here are just a couple from numerous
examples.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in; margin-left: 0.49in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><i>Hear
the word of the LORD, you nations; proclaim it in </i><i><b>distant
coastlands</b></i><i>: “He who scattered Israel will </i><i><b>gather
</b></i><i>them and will watch over his flock like a shepherd.”</i>
(Jeremiah 31:10)</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in; margin-left: 0.49in;">
<i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">He
will raise a banner for the nations and </i><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>gather </b></i><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">the
exiles of Israel; he will assemble the scattered people of Judah </i><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>from
the four quarters of the earth</b></i><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">.</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: medium;"> (Isaiah 11:12)</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Notice where they will
be gathered from? From the four quarters of the earth. <b>In the
scattering and regathering of God's people, there is a transformation
envisioned by the prophets. They left the and rather ethnically
Jewish and they are re-gathered from the nations of the world.</b>
This of course is fulfilled in the Gospel as the Gospel goes into the
world gathering Gentiles as well as Jews so that all Israel will be
saved (Romans 11:25-26). </span>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i><b>Do You See? </b></i></span>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">If you are a believer
in the glorious Lord Jesus Christ, you are one of the disinherited
and dispossessed that God has brought back to the land. God has
gathered you into his inheritance. <b>Paul prays for the church in
Ephesians that we would see this.</b> </span>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in; margin-left: 0.49in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><sup><i><span style="font-size: xx-small;">18
</span></i></sup><i style="font-size: large;">I pray that the </i><i style="font-size: large;"><b>eyes </b></i><i style="font-size: large;">of your heart
may be enlightened in order that you may </i><i style="font-size: large;"><b>know </b></i><i style="font-size: large;">the
hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious
inheritance in his holy people, </i><sup><i><span style="font-size: xx-small;">19 </span></i></sup><i style="font-size: large;">and his
incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same
as the mighty strength </i><sup><i><span style="font-size: xx-small;">20 </span></i></sup><i style="font-size: large;">he exerted when he
raised Christ from the dead.</i><span style="font-size: medium;"> (Ephesians 1:18-19)</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">What is the hope to
which He has called you? Certainly heaven, but more than that. He has
made you part of a family. He has restored you to a place in which
you now have an inheritance. You are part of something not only much
bigger than yourself, but something eternal. This hope is a community
of love in which sins are forgiven, offenses are born with patience,
and humility guides our interactions. </span>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Do you see the riches
of His glorious inheritance in His holy people? <b>Do you see that in
Christ you have been joined to a family, a chosen people, a royal
priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may
declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his
wonderful light</b> (1 Peter 2:9)? Do you see that as a part of God's
holy nation you have received a hundred times as much <i>“houses or
brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or
fields”</i> (Matthew 19:29)? </span>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Do you see the power
he has made available to you–that same life-giving power that
raised Christ from the dead–in order that you can be transformed
like the streams in the Negev?</b> You
can be transformed so that you are no longer a dry, fruitless tree
(Isaiah 56:3) but now a life-giving, fruit-bearing tree? Our
lives are to be transformed by the
river of Living Water that flows from Jesus Christ into a life giving
agents in this broken world. </span>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><b>Like the people in
Psalm 126, we may still be poor and displaced in many ways. Our lives
and churches may still be unsettled. But our mouths should be filled
with joy, laughter, and singing because we are no longer displaced,
dispersed, and dispossessed. </b>We
have been restored to the inheritance God has for us! If only we
could see, laughter and joy would fill our mouths when we think about
the church of our Lord Jesus Christ.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>Love the Gospel, Live
the Gospel, Advance the Gospel,</i> </span>
</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: medium;">Jerry</span></div>
Jerry Cisarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15896596409357416689noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-303998870892632951.post-75710861606375246322013-12-31T17:20:00.000-05:002014-09-25T07:48:32.671-04:00How Does Salt Lose Its Saltiness? <div style="margin-bottom: 0.1in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Reading:
</b> Luke 14:34-35; Matthew 5:13; Mark 9:50</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.1in; margin-left: 0.49in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><sup><span lang="en-US"><i><span style="font-size: xx-small;">34</span></i></span></sup><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;"><i>"Salt
is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty
again? </i></span><span lang="en-US"><i> </i></span><sup><span lang="en-US"><i><span style="font-size: xx-small;">35</span></i></span></sup><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;"><i>It
is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile; it is thrown
out. "Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear."</i></span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;">
(Luke 14:34-35) </span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.1in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">A
cou</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">ple Sundays ago I was teaching through Luke 14. (</span></span><a href="http://www.gccc.net/wp-content/uploads/20131215.mp3"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Guess
Who’s Coming to Dinner – Are You?</span></a><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">)
I presented the end of that chapter as an application for Jesus'
</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">disciples of what the whole chapter had been about. I won't repreach
the whole chapter here, but merely pick up in Luke 14:25-27. </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span lang="en-US"><b>In
the context of the whole chapter, I loosely paraphrased those verses
as:</b></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span lang="en-US">
</span></span></span>
</div>
<div lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0.1in; margin-left: 0.49in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>Large
crowds are traveling with Jesus, so he turns to them and asks, “Do
you want to be healed from your dropsy—your greed, self-interest,
love of the praise of men? Or, are you just along for the ride?</i> </span></span>
</div>
<h3>
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i><b>Following
Jesus Will Cost You </b></i></span></span></h3>
<div lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0.1in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Luke
14 is about Jesus freeing us from our craving for others to think
good of us. He does this by taking hold of our lives and calling us
to His banquet. A banquet of misfits, if you will. <b>But there is a
price to pay in order to be healed of our dropsy!</b> <b>When you
accept Jesus' invitation to His banquet, it may be your last
invitation.</b> It is as if you hate your close family (these are the
ones that were on your own invite list in Luke 14:12) but now that
you associate with “those people” you will often be rejected. But
so was Jesus. </span></span>
</div>
<div lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0.1in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>The
cross you bear will be bearing the shame that is often heaped on the
</b><i><b>little ones</b></i><b> you are now associating with.</b> In
the case of the early church, disciples were often rejected by their
Jewish relatives. In our culture today, to be associated with
Christians is increasingly going to cost us. I've never seen an
episode of Duck Dynasty, and honestly have no idea what it is really
about, but recent events in pop-culture show how one might go from
the top of the dung heap to the bottom when we do not play by the
social rules of the world around us. </span></span>
</div>
<div lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0.1in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">After
speaking about the cost of being a disciple, Jesus tells two brief
parables <b>warning us not to start following Him if we aren't going
to finish</b>. In the <i>tower parable </i>(Luke 14:28-29) the point
is: <i><b>Make sure you finish what you start or you will face
ridicule.</b></i> In the <i>war parable</i> (Luke 14:30-32) the point
is similar: <i><b>You better be able to finish or you will be in a
precarious situation.</b></i> </span></span>
</div>
<div lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0.1in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Both
of these little parables lead to the punch line (Luke 14:33) which I
paraphrase as follows: </span></span>
</div>
<div lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0.1in; margin-left: 0.49in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>If
you are going to start as my disciple, you'd better be willing to say
good-bye to everything you have (respect, esteem, possessions), or
you won't make it.</i> </span></span>
</div>
<div lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0.1in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">This
is what precedes the <i>“salt is good...”</i> comment by Jesus in
Luke 14:34-35. These verses are not easy to understand. During my
Christian life I have heard or read a variety of explanations of this
that have remained unsatisfying to me. <b>In the context of Luke 14,
the meaning may be clearer.</b> </span></span>
</div>
<h4>
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i><b>Salt
and Relationships</b></i></span></span></h4>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.1in;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US">First,
in classical Greek </span></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US"><i>to
have eaten a bushel of salt together, meant </i></span></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US"><i><b>to
be old friends</b></i></span></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US">,
or </span></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US"><i><b>to
be bound by ties of hospitality</b></i></span></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;">.</span><a class="sdfootnoteanc" href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=303998870892632951#sdfootnote1sym" name="sdfootnote1anc"><sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">1</span></sup></a><span style="font-size: medium;">
Said another way, </span></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US"><i>to
eat salt with one is to partake of his hospitality, to derive
subsistence from him;</i></span></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US">
and hence </span></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US"><i><b>he
who did so was bound to look after his host's interests</b></i></span></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;">.</span><a class="sdfootnoteanc" href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=303998870892632951#sdfootnote2sym" name="sdfootnote2anc"><sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">2</span></sup></a><span style="font-size: medium;">
Salt symbolized </span></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US"><b>loyalty
</b></span></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US">and
</span></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US"><b>friendship</b></span></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: medium;">.</span><a class="sdfootnoteanc" href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=303998870892632951#sdfootnote3sym" name="sdfootnote3anc"><sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">3</span></sup></a>
</span></span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.1in;">
<span style="color: black;">“<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US"><i>If
the salt loses its saltiness,”</i></span></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">
in the context of Luke 14 (with the host of the </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">wedding banquet being
shunned by all his invitees), then could stand as </span></span></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US"><b>a
warning that w</b></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>hen
you follow Jesus and begin to associate with His guests, you will
loose your saltiness</b></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">
(ties of hospitality) </span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>to
your former friends</b></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: medium;">.
You will lose any commitment they had to your well-being. </span></span>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.1in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“<span style="font-size: medium;"><i>It
is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile; it is thrown
out,” </i></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black; font-size: medium;">means
that </span><span style="color: black; font-size: medium;"><b>those
same friends would have no more use for you</b></span><span style="color: black; font-size: medium;">.
Therefore, the warning is similar to the previous parables: </span><span style="color: black; font-size: medium;"><i>if
you change your mind later because discipleship is too hard, your old
friends </i></span><span style="color: black; font-size: medium;">(in
this case the upstanding-rule-following-Jews) </span><span style="color: black; font-size: medium;"><i>aren't
going to suddenly like you again.</i></span><span style="color: black; font-size: medium;">
They will be concerned for what you might cost them.</span></span><a class="sdfootnoteanc" href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=303998870892632951#sdfootnote4sym" name="sdfootnote4anc" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><sup>4</sup></a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.1in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I</span><span style="color: black;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">f
this understanding of the salt parable is right, it stands as another
warning to </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">make sure you count the cost. </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span lang="en-US"><b>Figuring
out later that you can't finish will leave you not only without the
new community of Christ, you will also have lost your old
self-serving relationships as well.</b></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span lang="en-US">
Then what will you do? </span></span></span></span>
</div>
<h3>
<span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i><b>Salt
and Being Trampled Underfoot</b></i></span></span></span></h3>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.1in;">
<span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">This
understanding of the parabolic use of salt also fits well in
Matthew's Gospel where similar language is used. </span></span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.1in; margin-left: 0.49in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #222222;"><sup><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span lang="en-US"><i>10</i></span></span></sup></span><span style="color: #222222; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span lang="en-US"><i>Blessed
are those who are </i></span></span></span><span style="color: #222222; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span lang="en-US"><i><b>persecuted
</b></i></span></span></span><span style="color: #222222; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span lang="en-US"><i>because
of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. </i></span></span></span><sup><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span lang="en-US"><i>11</i></span></span></sup><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US"><i>"Blessed
are you when </i></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US"><i><b>people
insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against
you </b></i></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US"><i>because
of me. </i></span></span><sup><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span lang="en-US"><i>12</i></span></span></sup><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US"><i>Rejoice
and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same
way </i></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US"><i><b>they
persecuted </b></i></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US"><i>the
prophets who were before you. </i></span></span><sup><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span lang="en-US"><i>13</i></span></span></sup><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US"><i>"You
are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how
can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, </i></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US"><i><b>except
to be thrown out and trampled underfoot</b></i></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US"><i>.</i></span></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.1in;">
<span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">In
the context of persecution, Jesus says it differently here than in
the context of Luke 14. The last phrase reads, <i>“except to be
thrown out and trampled by underfoot.”</i> <b>Sounds like
persecution to me.</b> It could be read, “You are the salt of the
land/soil. (The
word there can be "earth" or "ground" or "land".)
If Jesus meant ground there rather than how we usually read it
(world/earth), that would change the sense. For more on that, see
footnote 4 above. </span></span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.1in;">
<span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Once
again this verse could be referencing how the world will treat us
when we become a follower of Jesus. <b>To them we will lose our
saltiness, the savoriness in our relationship, and they will trample
us underfoot (persecution).</b> </span></span></span>
</div>
<h3>
<span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i><b>Have
Salt Among Yourselves</b></i></span></span></span></h3>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.1in;">
<span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The Gospel of Mark's use of salt adds an interesting twist. </span></span></span>
</div>
<div style="border: none; margin-bottom: 0.1in; margin-left: 0.39in; margin-right: 0.39in; padding: 0in;">
<span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>Salt
is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can you make it salty
again? </i><i><b>Have salt among yourselves, and be at peace
with each other.</b></i>
(Mark 9:50) </span></span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.1in;">
<span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">If
this means the same as I propose in both Luke and Matthew, Jesus
speaks of our losing the saltiness to the world (ties of hospitality,
loyalty in friendship), but then says we are to <i>“have
salt in or among yourselves”</i>.
In following Christ, we will indeed be rejected by many, but we are
<i>“</i><span style="color: black;"><span lang="en-US"><i>to
be bound by ties of hospitality” </i></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span lang="en-US">to
each other.</span></span>
<b>We are called to
embrace the other guests at Jesus banquet (the church) as our family
and friends.</b>
Have salt in yourselves (the church) and be at peace with one
another. </span></span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.1in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>Love
the Gospel, Live the Gospel, Advance the Gospel,</i> </span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.1in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Jerry</span></span></div>
<div id="sdfootnote1">
<div class="sdfootnote">
<a class="sdfootnotesym" href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=303998870892632951#sdfootnote1anc" name="sdfootnote1sym">1</a>New
International Dictionary of New Testament Theology.
</div>
</div>
<div id="sdfootnote2">
<div class="sdfootnote">
<a class="sdfootnotesym" href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=303998870892632951#sdfootnote2anc" name="sdfootnote2sym">2</a>Easton's
Bible Dictionary
</div>
</div>
<div id="sdfootnote3">
<div class="sdfootnote">
<a class="sdfootnotesym" href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=303998870892632951#sdfootnote3anc" name="sdfootnote3sym">3</a>International
Standard Encyclopedia
</div>
</div>
<br />
<div id="sdfootnote4">
<div class="sdfootnote">
<a class="sdfootnotesym" href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=303998870892632951#sdfootnote4anc" name="sdfootnote4sym">4</a>As
to how salt was ever fit for the soil or the dung heap vs. unfit for
it, David Garland notes: <i>The text does not say that it is unfit
to be used on food, but unfit for the earth or the dung heap. Malina
claims that Jesus develops the point from the concrete picture of
the outdoor Palestinian earth-oven or kiln, called earth (see Ps
12:6; Job 28:5). Fire in such an earth-oven was produced by burning
dung. To make the dried dung burn, the bottom of the kiln was faced
with plates of salt, and the dung itself was sprinkled with salt.
The salt served as a chemical agent that helped the dung to burn.
However, over time, the heat of the oven would cause the salt plates
to undergo a chemical reaction which made the salt plates impede and
stifle the burning of the dung. It is when the salt crystals
chemically change that they must be thrown out — the salt has lost
its saltiness. </i>[Garland, David E.; Clinton E. Arnold (2012-01-03).
Luke (Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament) (Kindle
Locations 15111-15116). Garland references Malina, The New Testament
World, 119.]</div>
</div>
Jerry Cisarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15896596409357416689noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-303998870892632951.post-69933599678277844082013-12-19T08:55:00.000-05:002013-12-19T08:55:06.640-05:00What is Your Spiritual Epistemology? <div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Reading: Ezekiel 37 </span>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“<span style="font-size: medium;"><i><b>What is your
spiritual epistemology?”</b></i> is just another way of asking,
<i><b>“How did you come to know the Lord?”</b></i> Ezekiel speaks
a lot about knowing the Lord. This book reveals two ways to know Him.
Ezekiel 37 points us to the second way we can know the Lord. </span>
</span></div>
<h3>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><i><b>Making Dead Bones
Live </b></i></span></h3>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Ezekiel is brought by
the Spirit to the middle of a valley full of bones—dead,
sun-bleached, dry bones. They covered the surface of the valley. He
is asked a question by the Spirit. <i><b>“Can these bones live?”</b></i>
</span>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">One
might quickly answer with an obvious, “No.” However, Ezekiel has
already been brought by the Spirit of the Lord
into a valley, and given his history with the Lord,
He wisely answer, <i><b>“Lord </b></i><i><b>God</b></i><i><b>,
only You know.”</b></i><i> </i>This
is followed first by a description of what the Lord is going to do in
making them alive. </span>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The
Lord
makes them alive in two phases. <b>Ezekiel
speaks to the bones,</b>
prophesying that they will be made alive. As He does, the bones come
together, tendons and flesh grown on them, and skin covers them. Now
Ezekiel stands before a valley of very nice looking dead people. <b>They
no longer look like the dead dry bones they were, but they are every
bit as dead as before.</b> </span>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Then
Ezekiel is told to speak to the wind, or breath.</b>
The Hebrew word for wind, breath, and spirit are all the same. Here,
an allusion to all three is evident. Breath comes from the four
winds, that wind is clearly the breath of life (as Adam received in
the garden), and that wind is a work of the Spirit of God bringing
new life, new birth, as He blows on these “corpses”. <b>The
once dead dry bones covering a valley floor is now a vast army
standing on its feet.</b> </span>
</span></div>
<h3>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><i><b>Resurrecting the
People of God</b></i></span></h3>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: medium;">I've
described the scene, but what does all this mean? We are told.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in; margin-left: 0.49in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><sup><span lang="en-US"><i><span style="font-size: xx-small;">11</span></i></span></sup><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US"><i>Then
he said to me, "Son of man, </i></span></span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US"><i><b>these
bones are the whole house of Israel</b></i></span></span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US"><i>.
Behold, they say, 'Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we
are indeed cut off.' </i></span></span><sup><span lang="en-US"><i><span style="font-size: xx-small;">12</span></i></span></sup><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US"><i>Therefore
prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Lord G</i></span></span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US"><i>od</i></span></span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US"><i>:
</i></span></span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US"><i><b>Behold,
I will open your graves and raise you from your graves, O my people.</b></i></span></span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US"><i>
And I will bring you into the land of Israel. </i></span></span><sup><span lang="en-US"><i><span style="font-size: xx-small;">13</span></i></span></sup><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US"><i>And
you shall know that I am the L</i></span></span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US"><i>ord</i></span></span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US"><i>,
when I open your graves, and raise you from your graves, O my people.
</i></span></span><sup><span lang="en-US"><i><span style="font-size: xx-small;">14</span></i></span></sup><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US"><i>And
</i></span></span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US"><i><b>I
will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live,</b></i></span></span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US"><i>
and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I am
the L</i></span></span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US"><i>ord</i></span></span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US"><i>;
I have spoken, and I will do it, declares the L</i></span></span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US"><i>ord</i></span></span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US"><i>."</i></span></span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US">
(</span></span><span style="font-size: medium;">Ezekiel
37:11-14)</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">At
the time of Ezekiel's experience in this valley of dry bones, Israel
was scattered to the ends of the earth. Note the expression in 37:11,
“the whole</span><span style="font-size: medium;">
house of Israel”. This is not merely a reference to the southern
kingdom of Judah which was in captivity in Babylon, but also to the
northern kingdom which had long before gone into captivity into
Assyria, and never returned when Assyria fell. </span><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>This
is a promise to bring back to life what is obviously very dead. God
is going to resurrect a people for Himself, gathering them from the
four winds of the earth.</b></span><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>I
cannot help but think this is the background to Jesus' conversation
with Nicodemus in John 3:7-10.</b></span><span style="font-size: medium;">
There Jesus speaks of being born again (coming to life again), and
how it will happen as the wind (spirit, breath) blows where it
wishes. Sounds like the wind of Ezekiel 37. If this is so, it may
also explain why Jesus expresses that as a teacher of Israel,
Nicodemus should understand these things. </span><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Nicodemus
should have known Ezekiel 37 and the new birth it pictures.</b></span></span></div>
<h3>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><i><b>Two Ways to Know
the Lord</b></i></span></h3>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">There
is something else that stood out to me as I read through this
chapter. To this point in Ezekiel, we have been told more than 40
times that people will </span><span style="font-size: medium;"><i><b>know the L</b></i></span><span style="font-size: medium;"><i><b>ord
</b></i></span><span style="font-size: medium;">as a
result of His wrath (expressed in one form or another) because they
had forsaken Him. Here however, we are introduced to </span><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>anoth</b></span><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>er
way that one might know the L</b></span><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>ord:</b></span><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><span style="font-size: medium;"><i><b>The
Lord will make dead people alive and they shall therefore live and
know the Lord!</b></i></span><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in; margin-left: 0.49in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><sup><span lang="en-US"><i><span style="font-size: xx-small;">5</span></i></span></sup><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;"><i>Thus
says the Lord GOD to these bones: Behold, I will cause breath to
enter you, and you shall live. </i></span><sup><span lang="en-US"><i><span style="font-size: xx-small;">6</span></i></span></sup><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;"><i>And
I will lay sinews upon you, and will cause flesh to come upon you,
and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live,
and </i></span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;"><i><b>you shall know that I am the
L</b></i></span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;"><i><b>ord</b></i></span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;"><i>.</i></span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;">
(Ezekiel 37:5-6)</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in; margin-left: 0.49in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><sup><span lang="en-US"><i><span style="font-size: xx-small;">12</span></i></span></sup><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;"><i>Therefore
prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I will
open your graves and raise you from your graves, O my people. And I
will bring you into the land of Israel. </i></span><sup><span lang="en-US"><i><span style="font-size: xx-small;">13</span></i></span></sup><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;"><i>And
</i></span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;"><i><b>you shall know that I am the
</b></i></span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;"><i><b>Lord</b></i></span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;"><i><b>,</b></i></span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;"><i>
when I open your graves, and raise you from your graves, O my people.
</i></span><sup><span lang="en-US"><i><span style="font-size: xx-small;">14</span></i></span></sup><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;"><i>And
I will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place
you in your own land. </i></span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;"><i><b>Then you
shall know that I am the </b></i></span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;"><i><b>Lord</b></i></span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;"><i><b>;</b></i></span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;"><i>
I have spoken, and I will do it, declares the </i></span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;"><i>Lord</i></span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;"><i>.</i></span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;">
(Ezekiel 37:12-14)</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US"><b>Note
the order:</b></span><span lang="en-US">
God makes them alive, putting breath in formerly dead people. Then
they know that He is who He declares Himself to be—the </span><span lang="en-US">Lord</span><span lang="en-US">.
It isn't that they finally figure out who God is and submit to Him
and they are made alive. </span><span lang="en-US"><b>Rather,
in their dead state </b></span><span lang="en-US">(think
dry bones scattered across a valley) </span><span lang="en-US"><b>God
has someone speak to them </b></span><span lang="en-US">(speak
to the bones) </span><span lang="en-US"><b>and
pray for them </b></span><span lang="en-US">(speak
to the Spirit/wind), </span><span lang="en-US"><b>and
the Spirit blows where He wills and gives them life and then they
know Him.</b></span><span lang="en-US">
</span></span>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US">This
reminds me of something else Jesus said in John 3. </span></span>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in; margin-left: 0.49in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US"><i>Jesus
answered him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born
again he cannot see the kingdom of God."</i></span><span lang="en-US">
(John 3:3)</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US">Again,
note the order. </span><span lang="en-US"><b>It
does not say,</b></span><span lang="en-US">
“Unless one sees the kingdom he cannot be born again.” </span><span lang="en-US"><b>Rather,
</b></span><span lang="en-US">“Unless
one is born again (made alive by the Spirit of God) he cannot see the
kingdom.” Dead people don't see. </span></span>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US"><b>There
are then, two ways to know the Lord. </b></span><span lang="en-US">L</span><span lang="en-US">eft
to ourselves, we will know Him when He gives us what our deeds
deserve—judgment. </span><span lang="en-US"><b>This
is not the way I want to know Him.</b></span><span lang="en-US">
</span><span lang="en-US">Rather
as believers, we rejoice that He gave us life </span><span lang="en-US"><b>even
while </b></span><span lang="en-US">we
were dead in our trespasses and sins </span><span lang="en-US">(Ephesians
2:1-6). </span><span lang="en-US"><b>Because
of that, we now know Him. Oh the riches of the grace of God.</b></span><span lang="en-US">
</span></span>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US">Like
Ezekiel, we are called to speak to dead bones, and pray and ask the
Spirit to blow life into people. God resurrects the dead before our
eyes and they know Him. </span><span lang="en-US"><b>This
is our confidence in evangelism: God desires to make Himself known.</b></span><span lang="en-US">
</span></span>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>Love the Gospel, Live
the Gospel, Advance the Gospel,</i> </span>
</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: medium;">Jerry</span></div>
Jerry Cisarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15896596409357416689noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-303998870892632951.post-45222816547469124412013-11-29T09:27:00.000-05:002013-11-29T09:27:13.327-05:00A Certain Hope Rooted in a Certain Memory <div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Reading:
Hebrews 6 </span></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Have
you ever forgotten to do something really important?</b>
I have and the sinking feeling I get when I realize it is not
pleasant. God hasn't; nor will He.</span></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0.08in; margin-left: 0.49in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>God is not unjust; </i><i><b>he
will not forget </b></i><i>your work and the love you have shown him
as you have helped his people and continue to help them</i>. (Hebrews
6:10) </span></span>
</div>
<div align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">As evangelicals, we are
all well trained to know that all our righteousness is as filthy rags
to God. We understand that with nothing in our hands we come to God.
…that we are saved by Christ's works, and our own works merit
nothing before God in salvation. <b>However, we often don't know what
to do with verses like this.</b> </span></span>
</div>
<div align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">There are three key
things this verse reveals: </span></span>
</div>
<ul>
<li><div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Why
God will not forget </span></span>
</div>
</li>
<li><div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">What
God will not forget</span></span></div>
</li>
<li><div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">What
you must not forget </span></span>
</div>
</li>
</ul>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Why
God Will Not Forget </b></span></span>
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>The
foundation of all that follows in this verse is the truth that God is
not unjust. </b>In other words, it
would be unjust of God to forget your work as a believer and the love
you have shown Him. </span></span>
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">And
lest we think that <i>“God
is not unjust”</i> is a
distinct statement from the rest of the verse, it is worth noting, as
some other translations make clear, that in the original language <i>God
not being unjust</i> is tied
directly to His <i>not
forgetting your works and love</i>.
For instance, </span></span>
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0.08in; margin-left: 0.49in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>For
God is </i><b><i>not unjust so as to forget </i></b><i>your
work and the love which you have shown toward His name, in having
ministered and in still ministering to the saints.</i>
(Heb 6:10 NASB)</span></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>God
would no sooner forget your works than He would be unjust.</b> What
God remembers, He rewards. The whole point of the writer of Hebrews
reminding us that God will not forget is to assure us that God will
reward us for what He remembers. This gives us hope. </span></span>
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>What
God Will Not Forget</b> </span></span>
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">God
will not forget your works! What works? Works of love which you show
God even as you help His people. It isn't that the work and showing
love are two different things, but more like we might use “and”
in the expression, “I'm sick and tired of...” wherein the second
expression modifies the first. <b>The works which God will not forget
are the works of love which we show to His name.</b> </span></span>
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">When
do we do works that show love toward His name? When we minister to
the saints; when we serve God's people. The saints aren't a group of
people who are up in heaven. <b>The saints are the people of God to
whom He has joined us in fellowship.</b> Often they are the weaker
brothers and sisters to whom whatever we do to them we do to Christ
(Matthew 25:40). </span></span>
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Do
you realize that your works matter to God? <b>For God to remember
your works means that He will reward them.</b> <b>The labors you do
caring for God's people are not lost on God.</b>
They are not lost in the grace of God so that they don't
matter. </span></span>
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">How
could all of this be true? How could “our righteousness is as
filthy rags” and “God won't forget your works” both be true?
This is the beauty of salvation. In salvation, God promises to
remember our sins and lawless acts no more (Hebrews 8:12; 10:17)! <b>In
His mercy, God will not remember our sins; in His justice God will
not forget our works and the love we show.</b> This is possible
because of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ for us (Hebrews 10:11-18). </span></span>
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Do
you ever think your works don't matter
to God? You are showing love to God when you help His people. <b>This
means your work in caring for people is a form of worship.</b> </span></span>
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Do
you think that your care for God's people doesn't really matter in
eternity? It matters. You are washing Jesus feet when you are washing
the feet of the saints. <b>There will be a day in the future when all
our serving God's people, the least of his brothers and sisters, will
be brought up again and remembered.</b> These things will be
remembered in a way that will matter in eternity (Matthew 25:31-40). </span></span>
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Why
does this matter to God? Because God loves His people. He loves them
more than you can know. He gave His one and only Son. </span></span>
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>What
You Must Not Forget </b></span></span>
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Since</b>
God will not remember your sins and lawless deeds, and <b>since </b>He
will reward your works of love to His people, <b>we must not forget
that He will not forget</b>. <b>If we remember this, we will also not
forget to continue those works of love.</b> </span></span>
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0.08in; margin-left: 0.49in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i><b>Do
not forget</b></i><i> to show hospitality to strangers, for by so
doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing
it.</i> (Hebrews 13:2)</span></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">This
is a call to share our lives with those who aren't just our good
friends—those who can't reward us. The “stranger” in our midst.
</span></span>
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0.08in; margin-left: 0.49in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US"><i><b>Continue
to remember</b></i></span><span lang="en-US"><i> those in prison as
if you were together with them in prison, and those who are
mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering.</i></span> <span lang="en-US">(Hebrews
13:3)</span></span></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US">This
is a call to suffer with those who are suffering for the Gospel. It
is a call to suffer with those who are unjustly suffering. </span></span></span>
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0.08in; margin-left: 0.49in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>And
</i><i><b>do not forget</b></i><i> to do good and to share with
others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased. </i>(Hebrews
13:16)</span></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">This
is a call to continue to live lives that do good and share with
others. And notice the reason given: <i>with such sacrifices
God is pleased.</i> </span></span>
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">For
us to know that God will not forget our works and that He will not
remember our sins is intended to encourage those who have been doing
good works. And it is intended to encourage them to continue and not
give up doing them. <span lang="en-US"><b>The
context of Hebrews 6:10 is that because God remembers, we have
certainty that we will inherit the promise of God's blessing.</b></span><span lang="en-US">
God will not be unjust. God will never fail to keep this promise.
</span><span lang="en-US"><b>(See
Hebrews 6:11-15.)</b></span></span></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>God
would no sooner forget your works than He would be unjust.</b> Do you
realize that your works, the love you show God's people, matter to
God for He cannot be unjust. <b>This gives us a certain hope rooted
in God's certain memory!</b></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>Love
the Gospel, Live the Gospel, Advance the Gospel,</i> </span></span>
</div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Jerry</span></span></div>
Jerry Cisarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15896596409357416689noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-303998870892632951.post-47397609415304975192013-11-22T09:47:00.000-05:002013-11-22T09:47:59.448-05:00Is Your Bible Ever Hard to Read? <div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Reading:
Ezekiel 21–22</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>This
is a very hard section of Scripture to read.</b> Not because it may
be longer than some are used to reading in one sitting, but <b>because
of its content</b>. Not because the content uses a difficult
vocabulary, but <b>because of what it actually says</b>. Not just
because we are Americans and have an over emphasis on God's love as
compared to his holiness or wrath, but <b>because of what God is
actually like as revealed in Scripture</b>. Here are some
examples to illustrate my point. </span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in; margin-left: 0.49in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><sup><i><span style="font-size: xx-small;">2</span></i></sup><i style="font-size: large;">Son
of man, set your face </i><i style="font-size: large;"><b>against Jerusalem</b></i><i style="font-size: large;"> and
preach </i><i style="font-size: large;"><b>against the sanctuary</b></i><i style="font-size: large;">. Prophesy </i><i style="font-size: large;"><b>against
the land of Israel</b></i><i style="font-size: large;"> </i><sup><i><span style="font-size: xx-small;">3</span></i></sup><i style="font-size: large;">and say to
her: “This is what the LORD says: </i><i style="font-size: large;"><b>I am against you</b></i><i style="font-size: large;">.
I will draw my sword from its sheath and cut off from you </i><i style="font-size: large;"><b>both
the righteous and the wicked</b></i><i style="font-size: large;">. </i><sup><i><span style="font-size: xx-small;">4</span></i></sup><i style="font-size: large;">Because
I am going to cut off the righteous and the wicked, my sword will be
unsheathed </i><i style="font-size: large;"><b>against everyone from south to north</b></i><i style="font-size: large;">.”</i><span style="font-size: medium;">
(Ezekiel 21:2-4)</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in; margin-left: 0.49in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US"><i>Every
heart will melt with fear and every hand go limp; every spirit will
become faint and every leg will be wet with urine.' It is coming! It
will surely take place, declares the Sovereign LORD.</i></span><span lang="en-US">
(Ezekiel 21:7)</span></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">If
we were to open our Bibles for the first time to this and begin
reading here and then turned and read John 3:16, it would admittedly
be difficult to fit them together. <b>The Bible is the revelation of
God—not a man-made God; not the creation of the ideal by a
philosopher—the self-revelation of the creator of all that is to
His fallen creatures.</b> It will necessarily be complex. It will
necessarily require us to adjust our expectations and ideas of what
it ought to be like. </span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">If
the statements from Ezekiel above aren't enough to justify saying
that this is a hard section of Scripture to read, add these.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in; margin-left: 0.49in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><i><sup><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">6</span></span></sup><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;">"Therefore
groan, son of man! </span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;"><b>Groan before them
with broken heart and bitter grief.</b></span></i></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in; margin-left: 0.49in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><i><sup><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">12</span></span></sup><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;">Cry
out and wail, son of man, for it is against my people; it is against
all the princes of Israel. They are thrown to the sword along with my
people. </span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;"><b>Therefore beat your breast.</b></span></i></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in; margin-left: 0.49in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><i><sup><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">14</span></span></sup><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;">"So
then, son of man, prophesy and strike your hands together. </span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;"><b>Let
the sword strike twice, even three times.</b></span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;">
It is a sword for slaughter—a sword for great slaughter, closing in
on them from every side. </span></i><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;">(Ezekiel
21:6, 12, 14)</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US">First
God tells Ezekiel that He is against the people of Israel and Judah;
then He tells His representative, His spokesperson to groan with a
broken heart and bitter grief over this. Then He confirms the
certainty of the slaughter. </span><span lang="en-US"><b>If
God asks His prophet to groan and have a broken heart it is because
God Himself is groaning and has a broken heart.</b></span><span lang="en-US">
And yet, our God with a broken heart reaffirms His wrath:</span></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in; margin-left: 0.49in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i><span lang="en-US">I
will pour out my wrath on you and breathe out my fiery anger against
you; I will deliver you into the hands of brutal men, men skilled in
destruction.</span></i><span lang="en-US">
(Ezekiel 21:31)</span></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US"><b>Does
your understanding of God allow for this kind of complexity? Does
your understanding allow for the God of Ezekiel 21 to be the God of
John 3:16?</b></span><span lang="en-US">
If we have an understanding of God that does not allow for this, then
we have a false vision of God. We must be adjusted by God's
self-revelation and not continue to create God in our own image. But
we must do more. </span></span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US">It
is not enough to stop here. We cannot simply have an image of God
that allows for this complexity. </span><span lang="en-US"><b>If
we are to understand the message of the Bible we must allow God to
resolve this complexity through that same self-revelation.</b></span><span lang="en-US">
As we continue reading in Ezekiel 21–22, we continue to read of
both the wickedness of the people and how God will respond in wrath.
It is not a pretty time in the history of God's people. But alas we
come to a verse that helps us understand this complexity of God—a
verse that points us from this complexity toward its resolution. </span></span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in; margin-left: 0.49in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><sup><span lang="en-US"><i><span style="font-size: xx-small;">30</span></i></span></sup><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;"><i>I
looked for someone among them who would build up the wall and stand
before me in the gap on behalf of the land </i></span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;"><i><b>so
I would not have to destroy it, but I found no one</b></i></span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;"><i>.
</i></span><sup><span lang="en-US"><i><span style="font-size: xx-small;">31</span></i></span></sup><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;"><i>So
I will pour out my wrath on them and consume them with my fiery
anger, bringing down on their own heads all they have done, declares
the Sovereign LORD.</i></span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;"> (Ezekiel 22:30-31)</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US"><b>God
was looking for an intercessor.</b></span><span lang="en-US">
That adds a whole new level of complexity. </span><span lang="en-US"><b>God
is determined to pour out His wrath and is searching hard for someone
to stop Him.</b></span><span lang="en-US">
God searched for someone to groan before Him in intercession as Moses
did repeatedly for the people of Israel in the wilderness. But He
found none. And so God sent an intercessor (John 3:16). God sent His
Son to intercede on behalf of transgressors (Isaiah 53:12). God could
not find someone to intercede. </span></span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US">I'm
not blaming Ezekiel, the son of man (the title repeatedly assigned to
him by the Lord). </span><span lang="en-US"><b>Ezekiel
could not ultimately fulfill this intercessory role.</b></span><span lang="en-US">
It would require one who could bear the sin on behalf of the people.
God would have to provide the Lamb (Genesis 22:8, 14). And indeed, He
does (John 1:36). </span></span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US">What
we see in Ezekiel 21–22 and many other places in Scripture is God's
hatred of sin. </span><span lang="en-US"><b>God
doesn't rejoice in pouring out His wrath on sinners. He grieves even
as He pours it out.</b></span><span lang="en-US">
He looked for an intercessor and did not find one. So He sent His Son
to intercede on our behalf. </span><span lang="en-US"><b>Oswald
Chambers </b></span><span lang="en-US">wrote,
</span></span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in; margin-left: 0.49in;">
“<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i><span lang="en-US">Jesus
Christ hates the sin in people, and Calvary is the measure of His
hatred.” </span></i></span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US">Now
God calls those whom He has redeemed through Jesus to intercede, to
groan, to cry out on behalf of other transgressors. He grieves over
the brokenness of humanity because of sin. He grieves because death
still reigns over many. He calls us to groan inwardly even as He
groans (Romans 8:23, 26). </span><span lang="en-US"><b>He
still looks for an intercessor. Not of the ultimate type (Jesus), but
those who, like Him, grieve with Him and suffer with Him for the
world.</b></span><span lang="en-US">
</span></span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US">Do
you have room in your life for this complex self-revelation of God?
To believe in Him and to follow Him? It is a complexity that is only
resolved at the cross and we are following Him only as we pick up our
cross on behalf of other transgressors. </span></span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>Love
the Gospel, Live the Gospel, Advance the Gospel,</i> </span></span>
</div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Jerry</span></span></div>
Jerry Cisarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15896596409357416689noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-303998870892632951.post-47469799238025767862013-11-07T21:54:00.000-05:002013-11-22T09:48:50.854-05:00Empty Arguments for Empty Wombs: Why Jesse Jackson Was Right<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: medium;">Reading:
Proverbs 18:5</span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0.08in; margin-left: 0.49in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><i><span lang="en-US">It
is not good to show partiality to the guilty by perverting the
justice due the innocent. </span></i><span lang="en-US">(Proverbs
18:5 HCSB)</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The
principle laid out in this proverb is clear. But why does this
perversion of justice continue to happen? <b>Why are the guilty given
this partiality?</b> Because they have power and the one showing
partiality has something to gain by their power (Proverbs 17:23). <b>Why
are the innocent deprived of justice?</b> Because they are weak and
powerless and have nothing to offer. (Proverbs 18:23; 19:7) </span>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Giving
advantage to the powerful over the weak promotes and supports
oppression. <b>Oppressors, however, love to play the victim.</b> The
racist loves to speak about how the hated race is the real problem.
That they are only doing what they have to. <b>The abuser frequently
blames the abused.</b> The pattern is not unusual: the powerful blame
the weak or powerless for the harm the powerful bring upon the
powerless. </span>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Sunday,
as I was leaving the closing rally for “40 Days for Life” it
struck me that <b>the pro-choice movement uses the same tired
talk-track</b>. All the ingredients are present: the powerful (the
pressuring father, the mother—sometimes the mother is also a victim
of pressures and abuse, other times she is motivated internally by
her own indulgence, the Planned Parenthood staff) and the weak and
helpless (that would be the baby in the womb who has no legal
protection, no voice, no guardian). </span>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The
pro-choice <span style="color: black;">movement
regularly cries </span>out
how oppressive it would be to women if they could not abort their
baby at will. In other words, it would be oppressive to restrict
those with all the power in this situation (the woman) by protecting
those with no power (the baby). The baby must pay
the price for mom's freedom. <b>The weak must pay the price for the powerful.</b> </span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The pro-choice crowd loves to cry
accusations about a <i>“war on women”</i> toward anyone pro-life.
<b>This is like accusing abolitionists of a war on white people,</b> or
accusing those who fight domestic violence of a war on men... as if
all men are abusers. </span>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Even
Jesse Jackson could once see this pattern of the oppressor playing
the victim in the pro-choice movement. </span>
</span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-left: 0.49in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>"There
are those who argue that the right to privacy is of higher order than
the right to life...</i><i><b>that was the premise of slavery</b></i><i>.
You could not protest the existence or treatment of slaves on the
plantation because </i><i><b>that was private</b></i><i> and
therefore outside your right to be concerned.” </i>(Jesse
Jackson, 1977) </span>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Of
course, it is quickly pointed out how not allowing abortion would
adversely effect women who were raped. I acknowledge that not
allowing abortion in cases of rape would effect these women
adversely. Not as adversely as the rape itself. And not as adversely
as the abortion will effect the baby. <b>But it would mean serious,
undeserved consequences for the mother. </b></span>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Here
is the irony: Rape and its consequences are horrible because it is
the forced will of the powerful over the weak. What solution does the
pro-choice movement suggest? More forced will of the powerful (now
the pressuring family and/or pregnant mother) over the powerless (the
baby). <b>So as painfully difficult as even this issue is, it is only
compounding the crime.</b> </span>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">That
said, only 1% of abortions are the result of rape. The pro-choice
movement makes this issue sound like it is a huge number of
abortions. Another 12% are for the vague category of health reasons.<a class="sdfootnoteanc" href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=303998870892632951#sdfootnote1sym" name="sdfootnote1anc"><sup>1</sup></a>
The rest are because of inconveniences caused by the baby. </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: medium;">Sometimes
difficult inconveniences, including fear, guilt, or shame, but
inconveniences nonetheless.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: medium;"> Why do
wife abusers beat their wives? The lame reasons given might include
that they didn't like the way they were spoken to, or the temperature
of dinner, or some other inconvenience. </span><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">At the end of the day,
they do it because they can. They do it because they are stronger and
can force their will upon the weaker partner.</b></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Legalized
abortion is legalized abuse and oppression. <span lang="en-US">God
has never supported the oppressor. God does not condone abuse.
</span><span lang="en-US"><b>Therefore, God could never support the
pro-choice mindset of protecting the powerful over the weak.</b></span><span lang="en-US">
All the excuses aside, that </span><span lang="en-US"><span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">is
</span></span><span lang="en-US">what it is. Don't get me wrong,
racists were always able to make a reasonable sounding case in the
world they lived. Even antisemitism was attractive to enough people
to allow Hitler to hold office. Hindsight has much greater clarity. </span></span>
</span></div>
<div lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Consider
the following: </span>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.08in; margin-left: 0.49in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>Amongst
“six things the LORD hates, seven that are detestable to him” are
“haughty eyes, a lying tongue, </i><i><b>hands that shed innocent
blood…</b></i><i>” </i>(Proverbs
6:16-19) </span>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.08in; margin-left: 0.49in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“<span style="font-size: medium;"><sup><i>3</i></sup><i>For
</i><i><b>your hands are stained with blood</b></i><i>, your fingers
with guilt. …</i><sup><i>4</i></sup><i><b>No one calls for justice</b></i><i>;
no one pleads his case with integrity. </i><i><b>They rely on empty
arguments and speak lies;</b></i><i> they conceive trouble and give
birth to evil. …</i><sup><i>7</i></sup><i>Their feet rush into sin;
</i><i><b>they are swift to shed innocent blood</b></i><i>.”</i>
(Isaiah 59:3-7)</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.08in; margin-left: 0.49in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>Do
no wrong or violence to the alien, </i><i><b>the fatherless </b></i><i>or
the widow, and </i><i><b>do not shed innocent blood in this place</b></i><i>.
</i>(Jeremiah
22:3) </span>
</span></div>
<div lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: medium;">The
empty arguments of the pro-choice movement are the same empty
arguments abusers and oppressors have been using for millennia. I
close with a quote from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s niece.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.08in; margin-left: 0.49in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><i><span lang="en-US">We
have been fueled by the fire of “women’s rights,” so long that
we have become deaf to the outcry of the real victims whose rights
are being trampled upon, the babies and the mothers. . . . Oh, God,
what would Martin Luther King, Jr., who dreamed of having his
children judged by the content of their characters do if he’d lived
to see the contents of thousands of children’s skulls emptied into
the bottomless caverns of the abortionists pits? </span></i><span lang="en-US">(</span><span lang="en-US">D.
Dr. Alveda King)</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>Love
the Gospel, Live the Gospel, Advance the Gospel,</i> </span>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Jerry
</span>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
</div>
<div id="sdfootnote1">
<div class="sdfootnote">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a class="sdfootnotesym" href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=303998870892632951#sdfootnote1anc" name="sdfootnote1sym">1</a><a href="http://www.abort73.com/abortion_facts/us_abortion_statistics/">http://www.abort73.com/abortion_facts/us_abortion_statistics/</a></span>
</div>
</div>
<div id="sdfootnote1">
</div>
Jerry Cisarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15896596409357416689noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-303998870892632951.post-85318520997638748072013-09-18T11:22:00.000-04:002013-09-24T07:47:19.739-04:00What's Missing? <div style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Reading: Numbers 15 </span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">I suppose there are not
many devotionals written on Numbers 15—even fewer on the verses I
have in mind. However, as my <a href="http://www.gccc.net/resources/bible-plan.pdf">bible
reading plan</a> had me reading Numbers 14-17, </span><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>I
couldn't help but notice something missing in chapter 15</b></span><span style="font-size: medium;">.
“Missing,” I say only in the sense that it seems obvious to me
that it ought to have been there. </span>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">In this chapter, there
are instructions about what to do if the whole community or an
individual is led astray<a class="sdfootnoteanc" href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=303998870892632951#sdfootnote1sym" name="sdfootnote1anc"><sup>1</sup></a>
into sin, and how an offering can be made for atonement (Numbers
15:22-29). There are instructions for those who blaspheme the Lord in
open pride (Numbers 15:30-31) and how they are to be removed from the
community. <b>Then there is this odd little story about a man found
gathering wood on the Sabbath </b>(Numbers
15:32-36)<b>.</b> He is brought before the community and held
in custody until they decided what to do with him. </span>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.08in; margin-left: 0.49in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><sup><i><span style="font-size: xx-small;">35</span></i></sup><i style="font-size: large;">Then
the LORD said to Moses, “The man must die. The whole assembly must
stone him outside the camp.” </i><sup><i><span style="font-size: xx-small;">36</span></i></sup><i style="font-size: large;">So the
assembly took him outside the camp and stoned him to death, as the
LORD commanded Moses.</i><span style="font-size: medium;"> (Numbers 15:35-36)</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Now I am not sure as to
whether gathering wood on the Sabbath constitutes a sin in which one
is led astray and deceived, or whether it constitutes blasphemy
against the Lord in a self-exalting manner, but I lean toward the
former. <b>Regardless, though, it still seems that something is
missing. </b></span>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">It may well be that the
reason this story is here is only to teach us about the holiness of
God that we might fear Him and keep His commandments. And it may be
that the observation that I am about to make is unintended by the
Author of the Bible. However, I offer this observation and will let
you decide. <b>My observation is that something is blatantly missing
in this story; that Numbers 15:36 ought to have been able to report
something else. Something else that didn't happen but should have.</b>
</span>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">This chapter is
sandwiched between two chapters in which the Lord also spoke and told
Moses that someone was to die. <b>In those chapters, the Lord told
Moses the whole community was to die—this same community that is
doing that stoning here in Numbers 15:36.</b> (See Numbers 14:11-12;
16:21.) </span>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>In each of the cases
in Numbers 14 and 16, although the Lord told Moses the community was
to die, they didn't. Why? Because Moses interceded on their behalf</b>
(Numbers 14:13-20; 16:22-23)<b>.</b> Now in the latter case, some
still died, but only those who had acted in self-exalting pride while
the community was spared. And yet the community still complained
against the Lord and the Lord once again declared He would destroy
them instantly, and once again Moses and Aaron interceded and made
atonement for the people (Numbers 16:41-50). <b>So the account in
chapter 15 is followed by two accounts in a row of the community
being condemned to die and spared through intercession. </b></span></span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(See also Numbers
21:7.)</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>What do I think is
missing in Numbers 15? Let's compare.</b> In Numbers 15 we have <b>sin
</b>just as we find in Numbers 14 and 16. In Numbers 15 we have the
Lord announcing the <b>judgment of death </b>just as in Numbers 14
and 16. <b>But, in Numbers 15 we don't read, “But the community
fell on its face before God and cried out for the Lord to spare the
man.”</b> This is the same community who was sentenced to die and
was spared through the intercession of Moses in chapter 14. <b>They
don't seem to understand what Moses understood when he interceded on
their behalf.</b> </span>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.08in; margin-left: 0.49in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“<span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;"><i>Now
may the Lord's strength be displayed, just as you have declared:
</i></span><sup><span lang="en-US"><i><span style="font-size: xx-small;">18</span></i></span></sup><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;"><i><b>'The
LORD is slow to anger, abounding in love and forgiving sin and
rebellion.</b></i></span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;"><i>
Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children
for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.' </i></span><sup><span lang="en-US"><i><span style="font-size: xx-small;">19</span></i></span></sup><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;"><i><b>In
accordance with your great love, forgive the sin of these people,
just as you have pardoned them from the time they left Egypt until
now.</b></i></span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;"><i>”</i></span>
<span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;">(Numbers 14:17-19)</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>They don't
understand the nature of God's love.</b> The same people who here
receive mercy fail to call on God for the same mercy on behalf of
others. I wonder how many of the Israelites, as they were picking up
stones and stoning the man thought to themselves, “Wow, I hope I
never get caught doing what I've been doing.” <b>Where was the
intercessor to say, “Let the one without sin be the first to cast
the stone.”</b> </span>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Moses was a great
intercessor. We have an even greater intercessor—Jesus Christ.
Moses turned away God's wrath. Jesus absorbed God's wrath on our
behalf.</b> Yet how many of us are found in the prayer meetings, or
before the throne of God in private interceding on behalf of those
who are condemned to die all around us? I don't say that to condemn,
but rather to spur us on to cry out to God on behalf of the lost. The
Lord is abounding in love and forgiveness. Would that we would call
on Him and experience His pardon in the lives of the lost around us. </span>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">As I read the account
of the man brought before the community in Numbers 15:32-36, I can't
help but think of some who have inquired, “Does this church
practice church discipline?” (Meaning, do we practice Matthew 18
and, if need be, remove people from the church when they are
unrepentant.) <b>Although my answer is, “Yes,” I sometimes wonder
if they are asking because they want to make sure we are laboring to
restore people, or if they are just a little too anxious to see
people called to account for their sin.</b> Maybe it is in their
tone, or their follow up questions that make me wonder. </span>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><b>If we were present
in the wilderness in Numbers 15, would we have picked up stones, or
fell on our face before God in intercession?</b> Is that the point of
Numbers 15? I can't say that it is, but I can't say that it isn't. I
can only offer the observation. <b>I am not certain something is
missing in Numbers 15, but maybe the bigger question for us is
whether there is something missing in our own lives.</b> Are we
interceding for the dying world around us? Are we interceding for the
struggling brother or sister in our church? Am I? Are you? (See
Ephesians 6:18; Colossians 4:2.)</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>Love the Gospel, Live
the Gospel, Advance the Gospel,</i> </span>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: medium;">Jerry</span></div>
<br />
<div id="sdfootnote1">
<div class="sdfootnote">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a class="sdfootnotesym" href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=303998870892632951#sdfootnote1anc" name="sdfootnote1sym">1</a>“Unintentionally”
is the translation of a word that means to be led astray and has in
its etymology the idea of having been deceived. This is contrasted
with the person who sins “with a high hand” or sins exalting
himself above God. The difference seems to be not in whether one
intended to sin or not, but whether one was knowingly exalting
himself over God, or deceived and led astray by the enemy. </span></div>
</div>
Jerry Cisarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15896596409357416689noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-303998870892632951.post-12173082043590653902013-09-09T12:50:00.000-04:002013-09-09T12:50:24.211-04:00The Day Every Prayer is Answered: A Meditation in Psalm 102 <div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Reading: Psalm 102 </span>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>God does not despise
the prayers and entreaties of the destitute</b> (Psalm 102:17). The
destitute are those brought to the lowest low; they are desperate.
The description of this psalm in the Hebrew manuscript reads: <i> A
Prayer of one afflicted, when he is faint and pours out his complaint
before the LORD. </i>(Psalm 102:1
ESV) </span>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Many of us are well
aware Israel tested God by their complaining in the wilderness. They
were complaining because they didn't like God's provision and the
fact that He didn't bring them to a resort the week after they got
out of slavery. <b>That kind of complaining is reprimanded in
Scripture. However, there is a complaint that God hears.</b> In fact,
it is a whole category of prayer called “lament.” It is the
complaint of faith—the faith of the destitute that knows something
is wrong in the world and refuses to accept that God will do nothing
about it. Verses 1-11 demonstrate what those prayers often look like.
</span>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.08in; margin-left: 0.49in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;">Hear
my prayer, LORD; </span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;"><b>let
my cry for help </b></span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;">come
to you. </span><sup><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">2</span></span></sup><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;"><b>Do
not hide your face from me when I am in distress.</b></span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;">
Turn your ear to me; when I call, answer me quickly. </span><sup><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">3</span></span></sup><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;">For
my days vanish like smoke; my bones burn like glowing embers. </span><sup><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">4</span></span></sup><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;">My
heart is blighted and withered like grass; I forget to eat my food.
</span><sup><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">5</span></span></sup><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;">In
my distress I groan aloud and am reduced to skin and bones. </span><sup><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">6</span></span></sup><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;">I
am like a desert owl, like an owl among the ruins. </span><sup><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">7</span></span></sup><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;">I
lie awake; I have become like a bird alone on a roof. </span><sup><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">8</span></span></sup><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;">All
day long my enemies taunt me; those who rail against me use my name
as a curse. </span><sup><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">9</span></span></sup><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;">For
I eat ashes as my food and mingle my drink with tears </span><sup><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">10</span></span></sup><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;"><b>because
of your great wrath, for you have taken me up and thrown me aside</b></span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;">.
</span><sup><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">11</span></span></sup><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;">My
days are like the evening shadow; I wither away like grass.</span></i></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US">Job
prayed many prayers of lament in the middle portion of that book.
There are many psalms which are prayers of lament. We even find some
in the Gospels... most notably the application of Jeremiah 31:15 to
the slaughter of children in Bethlehem with Rachel weeping for her
children (Matthew 2:18). That was the ultimate lament and Matthew's
Gospel is pointing to the coming of Jesus Christ as the ultimate
answer to that lament. </span></span>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US"><b>The
psalmist brings his complaint in faith.</b></span><span lang="en-US">
In Psalm 102:12 he begins to speak of what God is like. First he had
laid out his own situation and the reason for his crying out as he
is. Now he lays out truth about God that anchors his soul in the
middle of his desperate circumstances. In this, the psalmist speaks
of what he </span><span lang="en-US">knows
God will do. This is his hope (meaning expectation; not wish). </span></span>
</span></div>
<div lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0.08in; margin-left: 0.49in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><sup><span style="font-size: xx-small;">13</span></sup><span style="font-size: medium;">You
</span><b style="font-size: large;">will arise and have compassion </b><span style="font-size: medium;">on Zion, for it is time to show
favor to her; the appointed time has come.... </span><sup><span style="font-size: xx-small;">15</span></sup><span style="font-size: medium;">The
nations will fear the name of the LORD, all the kings of the earth
will revere your glory. </span><sup><span style="font-size: xx-small;">16</span></sup><span style="font-size: medium;">For </span><b style="font-size: large;">the LORD will rebuild
Zion and appear in his glory</b><span style="font-size: medium;">. </span><sup><span style="font-size: xx-small;">17</span></sup><b style="font-size: large;">He will respond to
the prayer of the destitute</b><span style="font-size: medium;">; he will not despise their plea.</span></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>When
will God do this?</b> Verse 13 alludes to the time for this: <i>“for
it is time to show favor to her; the appointed time has come.”</i>
God will do this at the appointed time. When is it that this
<i>“appointed time” </i>comes?
When will all this happen? </span>
</span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0.08in; margin-left: 0.49in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><i><span lang="en-US">This
will be written for a </span><span lang="en-US"><b>later generation</b></span><span lang="en-US">,
and a </span><span lang="en-US"><b>newly created people </b></span><span lang="en-US">will
praise the LORD: </span></i><span lang="en-US">(Psalm
102:18 HCSB)</span></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“<span style="font-size: medium;"><i><span lang="en-US">Newly
created people” </span></i><span lang="en-US">expresses
well the more literal, “a people yet to be created”. What
generation is this? </span><span lang="en-US"><b>Who
are these people yet to be created when the Lord will rebuild Zion
and appear in his glory?</b></span><span lang="en-US">
</span></span>
</span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US">The
language of verse 13, </span><i><span lang="en-US">“...for
it is time to show favor to her; the appointed time has come”</span></i><span lang="en-US">
is reminiscent of Isaiah 49:8 and 2 Cor. 6:2. There in the time of
God's acceptance of us He listened (answered their cry); in the day
of salvation He came to their aid. And the context of 2 Corinthians
6:2 makes clear that this day is the day the Gospel is made known to
us that God is not holding our sins against us but rather Jesus bore
those sins and gave us his righteousness (2 Corinthians 5:17-21).
</span><span lang="en-US"><b>There
we discover who this </b></span><i><span lang="en-US"><b>“newly
created people”</b></span></i><span lang="en-US"><b>
are:</b></span><span lang="en-US">
</span><i><span lang="en-US">“Therefore, </span><span lang="en-US"><b>if
anyone is in Christ,</b></span><span lang="en-US"> the new creation
has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” </span></i><span lang="en-US">(2
Cor. 5:17) </span><span lang="en-US"><b>Psalm
102 is fulfilled in Christ and results in the creation of the church!</b></span><span lang="en-US">
</span></span>
</span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US">God
does not despise the complaint of the destitute. He suffers with
them. He is moved with compassion. He took on flesh that He might
bear their griefs and carry their sorrows (Isaiah 53:4 ESV). </span><span lang="en-US"><b>The
day that God ultimately answers all prayers of lament is the day we
hear the message of Jesus Christ and our hearts are opened to see
Christ and be saved.</b></span><span lang="en-US">
For only in salvation can there truly be the answer to our griefs and
deliverance to a new heaven and earth where everything is made new. </span></span>
</span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US"><b>God
hears the prisoner's groaning</b></span><span lang="en-US">;
</span><span lang="en-US"><b>He
sets free </b></span><span lang="en-US">those
condemned to die, so that </span><span lang="en-US"><b>they
may go forth in their freedom and declare the name of Yahweh in Zion</b></span><span lang="en-US">.
God does this to assemble peoples (all nations) and kingdoms to serve
the Lord (Psalm 102:20-22). This reminds me of what Jesus declared
when He said, </span><i><span lang="en-US">“He has sent me
to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the
blind, to send forth the oppressed in their release...”</span></i><span lang="en-US">
(Luke 4:18 my translation of the last phrase). </span></span>
</span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US">God
frees us and sends us to free others. </span><span lang="en-US"><b>God
hears our complaint and answers us in Jesus Christ. And then God uses
us to reach others and answer their complaint by saving them too.</b></span><span lang="en-US">
No longer because of God's wrath will he cast us aside (Psalm
102:10). </span></span>
</span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US">[</span><span lang="en-US"><b>Side
note:</b></span><span lang="en-US">
This does not mean that God does not also hear our cries and change
our circumstances (heal; provide; deliver). That would make this a
cold, unfeeling answer. It would also disregard the multitude of
times that God did answer and heal, raise to life, provide, etc. </span><span lang="en-US"><b>But
all of those “mini-salvations” are only small pieces along the
way in the grand salvation that we have in Jesus.</b></span><span lang="en-US">
And without the grand salvation, they would be ultimately meaningless
as all would end in damnation.] </span></span>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>Love
the Gospel, Live the Gospel, Advance the Gospel,</i> </span>
</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: medium;">Jerry</span></div>
Jerry Cisarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15896596409357416689noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-303998870892632951.post-67814281434988061972013-09-03T15:50:00.000-04:002013-09-03T15:51:15.156-04:00Don't Be So Quick to Blame the Devil <div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Reading:
John 10 </span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in; margin-left: 0.49in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US"><i>The
thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they
may have life, and have it to the full.</i></span> <span lang="en-US">(John
10:10) </span></span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>How
often have we heard this scripture quoted and assuming the thief is
the devil?</b> Don't get me wrong, I am not disputing the fact that
the devil is a thief. Nor that he is bent on destruction. He is
indeed. But by too quickly concluding that Jesus is speaking of the
devil here we might miss the more significant and relevant
application for those in positions of leadership over God's people.
<b>If we read more carefully we may find a warning for leaders to
beware lest they be the thief who destroys.</b> </span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">This
scripture has a context, and the context of this verse doesn't seem
to have anything to do with devils or demons. <b>The context of this
verse is all about presumed leaders of God's people who prevent the
people from seeing Jesus, the Good Shepherd.</b> The end of John 9
flows right into the beginning of John 10:</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in; margin-left: 0.49in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><i><sup><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">39</span></span></sup><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;">Jesus
said, "For judgment I have come into this world, so that the
blind will see and those who see will become blind." </span><sup><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">40</span></span></sup><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;"><b>Some
Pharisees </b></span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;">who were with him heard him
say this and asked, "What? </span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;"><b>Are we
blind too?</b></span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;">" </span><sup><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">41</span></span></sup><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;">Jesus
said, "If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but
</span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;"><b>now that you claim you can see, your
guilt remains</b></span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;">. </span><sup><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">10:1</span></span></sup><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;">"</span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;"><b>Very
truly I tell you Pharisees,</b></span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;"> anyone who
does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other
way, </span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;"><b>is a thief and a robber</b></span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;">.</span></i><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;">
(John 9:39-41; 10:1)</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US">In
John 10, Jesus is speaking to the same pharisees as in chapter 9. He
tells them they are guilty of sin and under judgment. </span><span lang="en-US">The
</span><i><span lang="en-US">“very
truly I tell you...”</span></i><span lang="en-US">
of John 10:1 is a continuation of the same thought. </span><span lang="en-US"><b>John
10 is a warning against these Jewish leaders that they are thieves
and robbers.</b></span><span lang="en-US">
</span></span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US">Jesus
is speaking to them in parables. In the first, Jesus is the Shepherd
of the sheep (John 10:1-5). </span><span lang="en-US"><b>The
gatekeeper opens the gate for Him. This is what the Jewish leaders
were supposed to be: gatekeepers.</b></span><span lang="en-US">
But they weren't opening the gate for Jesus. Jesus came to give life
and that more abundantly. Instead of opening the gate so the sheep
might have life they were barring sheep from Jesus. </span><span lang="en-US"><b>They
were stealing life from the sheep by keeping them from Jesus.</b></span><span lang="en-US">
</span></span></span>
</div>
<div lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Then,
as if He is shifting parables, Jesus is now the gate and the Jewish
leaders are “all who have come before me” that are “thieves and
robbers” (John 10:7-10). <b>How is it that the Jewish leaders,
teaching the scriptures as they were, were thieves and robbers? How
were they keeping people from Jesus?</b> </span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US">Though
I am certain there is more than one answer to this question, I think
we have a big answer in John 5. Th</span><span lang="en-US">ere
Jesus is also speaking to the Jewish leaders. </span></span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in; margin-left: 0.49in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><sup><span lang="en-US"><i><span style="font-size: xx-small;">39</span></i></span></sup><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;"><i>You
study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you
have </i></span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;"><i><b>eternal life</b></i></span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;"><i>.
These are the very Scriptures that testify </i></span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;"><i><b>about
me</b></i></span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;"><i>, </i></span><sup><span lang="en-US"><i><span style="font-size: xx-small;">40</span></i></span></sup><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;"><i>yet
</i></span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;"><i><b>you refuse to come to me to have
life</b></i></span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;"><i>.</i></span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;">
</span></span>
</div>
<div lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">In John 5 we discover
that the Jewish leaders studied the Scripture, but refused to see
Jesus in the Scripture. They were not rightly handling the Scripture
(2 Timothy 2:15). All of the Scriptures are to point us to Christ
(Luke 24:27, 44). The Pharisees thought they had life in the
Scriptures. But they refused to go to Christ to get that life.
Likewise, in their teaching they were not opening the gate of the
Scriptures to lead the people to Jesus but <b>rather were hindering
their ability to see Jesus by teaching everything but Jesus from the
Scriptures</b>. </span></span>
</div>
<div lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">So although it may seem
harmless to think that John 10:10 is talking only about the devil, I
wonder if in fact it might lead to a bigger problem. If we think it
is the devil, we might miss the warning that applies to any that
would presume to teach the Scripture. <b>We (those who teach God's
word) better make sure we are using the Scripture to open the door to
Jesus.</b> If not, we are thieves and robbers, keeping the people
from the life, the abundant life that Jesus and only Jesus can give
them. (See also James 3:1.)</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>Love
the Gospel, Live the Gospel, Advance the Gospel,</i> </span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Jerry</span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">For
More on John 10 and Jesus' handling of the false shepherds of Israel
see <a href="http://www.bible-reading-devotions.com/2011/05/i-said-you-are-gods.html">I
Said, “You are 'gods'”!</a></span></span>
</div>
Jerry Cisarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15896596409357416689noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-303998870892632951.post-61685001376921746852013-07-31T09:04:00.001-04:002013-07-31T09:04:35.061-04:00Restoring the Sanity of a Nation <span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Reading: Daniel 4 </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Do you have those moments when you wonder if we as
a nation lost our sanity? </b> Do you wonder how we seem to have come
untethered from any semblance of truth? If not, this post is not for
you. If like me you hear the news and at times find yourself
perplexed as to how rational adults can (e.g.) seriously be
discussing whether or not middle school boys should be allowed to
dress in drag, then keep reading. </span>
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Or, <b>if </b>when seemingly normal adults (like our
current President) argue that it is okay to have an abortionist take
a developed baby from the mothers womb feet first until only the head
remains inside, puncture the base of the baby’s skull with a
surgical instrument, insert a catheter into the wound, and remove the
baby's brain with a powerful suction machine, <b>you wonder when and
how sanity took a vacation in our society, then keep reading</b>. </span>
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, had a dream which
was very similar to the parable of the mustard seed. </span>
</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;"><i>I
looked, and there before me stood a tree in the middle of the land.
Its height was enormous. </i></span><sup><span lang="en-US"><i><span style="font-size: xx-small;">11</span></i></span></sup><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;"><i>The
tree grew large and strong and its top touched the sky; it was
visible to the ends of the earth. </i></span><sup><span lang="en-US"><i><span style="font-size: xx-small;">12</span></i></span></sup><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;"><i>Its
leaves were beautiful, its fruit abundant, and on it was food for
all. Under it the wild animals found shelter, and the birds lived in
its branches; from it every creature was fed.</i></span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;">
(Daniel 4:10-12)</span></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US"><b>It
turns out that this tree represents Nebuchadnezzar and his kingdom
which was truly one of the greatest kingdoms of the ancient world.</b></span><span lang="en-US">
But the dream continued with a angelic being coming down and ordering
the tree to be cut down and destroyed with the stump remaining. In
the interpretation of the dream we read:</span></span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;"><i>"This
is the interpretation, Your Majesty, and this is the decree the Most
High has issued against my lord the king: </i></span><sup><span lang="en-US"><i><span style="font-size: xx-small;">25</span></i></span></sup><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;"><i>You
will be driven away from people and will live with the wild animals;
you will eat grass like the ox and be drenched with the dew of
heaven. Seven times will pass by for you </i></span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;"><i><b>until
you acknowledge that the Most High is sovereign over all kingdoms on
earth and gives them to anyone he wishes</b></i></span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;"><i>.
</i></span><sup><span lang="en-US"><i><span style="font-size: xx-small;">26</span></i></span></sup><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;"><i>The
command to leave the stump of the tree with its roots means that your
kingdom will be restored to you </i></span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;"><i><b>when
you acknowledge that Heaven rules</b></i></span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;"><i>.</i></span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;">
(Daniel 4:24-26)</span></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US">All
of this came to pass for Nebuchadnezzar. He boasted that the
greatness of Babylon was by his own power and for his own glory
(Daniel 4:30). Immediately, </span><span lang="en-US"><i>“he
was driven away from people and ate grass like the ox. His body was
drenched with the dew of heaven until his hair grew like the feathers
of an eagle and his nails like the claws of a bird.”</i></span><span lang="en-US">
(Daniel 4:33)</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US"><br /></span></span>
<div lang="en-US">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: medium;">After the
time set by the Lord had passed, Nebuchadnezzar gives this testimony:</span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US"><i>At
the end of that time, I, Nebuchadnezzar, </i></span><span lang="en-US"><i><b>raised
my eyes toward heaven, and my sanity was restored</b></i></span><span lang="en-US"><i>.
Then I praised the Most High; I honored and glorified him who lives
forever. His dominion is an eternal dominion; his kingdom endures
from generation to generation.</i></span><span lang="en-US">
(Daniel 4:34)</span></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US"><b>True
sanity is directly connected to whether or not we acknowledge God.</b></span><span lang="en-US">
Why? Because acknowledging God is acknowledging reality; denying God
is denying reality. More importantly, God is actively at work in the
minds of those who do not acknowledge Him, just as He was with
Nebuchadnezzar. We see this in Paul’s letter to the Romans.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US">Paul
tells the Roman believers that the knowledge of God is plainly
revealed in creation and that </span><span lang="en-US"><b>when
we don't acknowledge God, we are actively suppressing the truth
</b></span><span lang="en-US">(Romans
1:18-25). In so doing, no matter how much we claim to be wise, we
become fools. And </span><span lang="en-US"><b>God
responds to this</b></span><span lang="en-US">.</span></span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US"><i>Furthermore,
just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of
God, so </i></span><span lang="en-US"><i><b>God
gave them over to a depraved mind</b></i></span><span lang="en-US"><i>,
so that they do what ought not to be done.</i></span><span lang="en-US">
(Romans 1:28) </span></span></span></blockquote>
<span lang="en-US" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><b>The
seeming insanity of our culture is not the cause of our problems but
the effect of our problems</b></span><span lang="en-US" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: medium;">—the
effect of our suppression of the truth of God. In our suppression of
the truth, we are really doing is either taking credit and glory for
what God has done for ourselves like Nebuchadnezzar, or we are
assigning the credit and glory to something other than God. Either
way it is theft of the highest order—theft from God.</span><br />
<span lang="en-US" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US">Now
before you run from this blog and begin ranting about how we took
prayer out of schools, ask whether or not you've taken prayer out of
your personal life, or out of your family. Ask when the last time you
attended your church's prayer meeting. Ask whether or not you
acknowledge God with your finances and your time. </span><span lang="en-US"><b>We
need to make sure that we ourselves are raising our eyes toward
heaven and acknowledging God.</b></span><span lang="en-US">
Let's start with the house of God and our own households. </span></span>
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>Love the Gospel, Live the Gospel, Advance the
Gospel,</i> </span>
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: medium;">Jerry</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: medium;">For another devotional on Daniel 4 see <a href="http://www.bible-reading-devotions.com/2011/06/how-do-you-keep-your-sanity.html">How
Do You Keep Your Sanity?</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<br />Jerry Cisarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15896596409357416689noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-303998870892632951.post-66067953969157684302013-07-02T17:40:00.000-04:002013-07-02T19:28:38.827-04:00Why Did Jesus Send the Leper to the Priest? <div style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Reading: Matthew
8:1-4; Leviticus 14 </span>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">There is an account in
the gospels that puzzled me for a couple of decades—it is just that
it didn't seem to make sense. Jesus cleanses a leper, then tells the
former leper not to tell anyone what Jesus did but to go show himself
to the priest who would offer the sacrifices Moses prescribed. <b>It
just seemed that the priests would get all the credit and Jesus would
get none.</b> How could that be
in the interest of His Kingdom? </span>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.08in; margin-left: 0.49in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US"><i>When
Jesus came down from the mountainside, large crowds followed him. </i></span></span><sup><span lang="en-US"><i><span style="font-size: xx-small;">2</span></i></span></sup><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US"><i>A
man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said, "Lord, if
you are willing, you can make me clean." </i></span></span><sup><span lang="en-US"><i><span style="font-size: xx-small;">3</span></i></span></sup><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US"><i>Jesus
reached out his hand and touched the man. "I am willing,"
he said. "Be clean!" Immediately he was cleansed of his
leprosy. </i></span></span><sup><span lang="en-US"><i><span style="font-size: xx-small;">4</span></i></span></sup><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US"><i>Then
Jesus said to him, "See </i></span></span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US"><i><b>that
you don't tell anyone</b></i></span></span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US"><i>.
But go, show yourself to </i></span></span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US"><i><b>the
priest </b></i></span></span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US"><i>and
offer </i></span></span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US"><i><b>the
gift Moses commanded</b></i></span></span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US"><i>,
as a testimony </i></span></span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US"><i><b>to
them</b></i></span></span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US"><i>."</i></span></span><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>
</i></span><span style="font-size: medium;">(Matthew 8:1-4 NIV)</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i><b>The
Role of the Priest</b></i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Part of the problem is
that I thought of the priests, as it relates to lepers, more in line
with doctors. The priests, however, had no ability to cleanse a
leper. He could not make a leper well nor clean. He could not make
him a leper either. </span><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>He only did diagnoses and
then informed everyone whether the person in question was clean or
unclean.</b></span><span style="font-size: medium;"> And if he determined that an unclean
person was now clean, there was an offering Moses told him to make.
I was also unfamiliar with what Moses had told them to offer. </span>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>When I understood
the role of the priest, and the nature of the offering, this text
suddenly made complete sense.</b></span><span style="font-size: medium;"> First, I
understood that when the cleansed leper went to the priest, </span><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>the
priest would unwittingly confirm the power of Christ to cleanse a
leper</b></span><span style="font-size: medium;">. The leper knew Jesus could cleanse him
if He was willing, but the priest would not have thought so. However,
the priest was a professional diagnoser of leprosy. If he declared
the man clean, rest assured, he was clean. By declaring him clean, he
was giving expert witness to the authenticity of the miracle.
</span><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Therefore the Law (Moses through this priest)
was testifying to Jesus.</b></span><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i><b>The
Nature of the Gift</b></i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Second, when I saw the
nature of the “gift Moses commanded” I saw a beautiful portrait
of how Christ cleanses a</span><span style="font-size: medium;">ll
of us from our spiritual leprosy. </span>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.08in; margin-left: 0.49in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><sup><span lang="en-US"><i><span style="font-size: xx-small;">3</span></i></span></sup><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;"><i>The
priest is to go outside the camp and examine them. If they have been
healed of their defiling skin disease, </i></span><sup><span lang="en-US"><i><span style="font-size: xx-small;">4</span></i></span></sup><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;"><i>the
priest shall order that two live clean birds and some cedar wood,
scarlet yarn and hyssop be brought for the person to be cleansed.
</i></span><sup><span lang="en-US"><i><span style="font-size: xx-small;">5</span></i></span></sup><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;"><i>Then
the priest shall order that </i></span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;"><i><b>one
of the birds be killed over fresh water in a clay pot</b></i></span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;"><i>.
</i></span><sup><span lang="en-US"><i><span style="font-size: xx-small;">6</span></i></span></sup><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;"><i>He
is then to </i></span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;"><i><b>take the live bird and
dip it, together with the cedar wood, the scarlet yarn and the
hyssop, into the blood of the bird that was killed over the fresh
water</b></i></span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;"><i>. </i></span><sup><span lang="en-US"><i><span style="font-size: xx-small;">7</span></i></span></sup><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;"><i>Seven
times he shall </i></span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;"><i><b>sprinkle the one
to be cleansed of the defiling disease, and then pronounce them
clean</b></i></span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;"><i>. After that, he is to
release the live bird in the open fields.</i></span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;">
(Leviticus 14:3-7 NIV)</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US">This
offering could not more clearly point to Jesus than it does. </span><span lang="en-US"><b>In
this very act the leper would begin to get a clearer picture of how
Jesus' cleanses him, and we too get a clear picture of how Christ
cleanses us.</b></span><span lang="en-US"> Two birds are used. One
dies (a guilt bearing sacrifice), and one lives (a living sacrifice).
The blood of the first bird is mixed with water and the living
sacrifice is to be dipped in that blood/water combination
representing a cleansing (with blood) and then it is set free. </span></span>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US">Ironically,
coming in contact with the blood doesn't make one unclean but clean.
The leper himself is sprinkled with the blood/water mixture too. He
is like the live bird. </span><span lang="en-US"><b>The leper, like
the living bird, goes free, while the blood of the sacrificed bird
makes that possible. </b></span><span lang="en-US">Christ would
ultimately cleanse us with his own blood. He dies, we go free. What a
glorious picture. </span></span>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i><b><span lang="en-US">The
Recipients of the Testimony</span></b></i></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US">This
picture helps me answer one remaining question from Matthew 8:4. </span><span lang="en-US"><b>Who
is the “them” that this offering would be a testimony to?</b></span><span lang="en-US">
There are 3 possible antecedents to the “them”. First, </span><span lang="en-US"><i>“anyone.”
“See to it that you don't tell anyone.” </i></span><span lang="en-US">Second,
the priest. Third Moses. Those are the only people mentioned to whom
it could be referring. We can rule Moses out because at this point
Moses is quite clear on who Jesus is. And since “them” is
plural, and the “anyone” and priest are both singular, it must be
referring to both. Moses (the law) and the priest (under the law's
authority) would be testifying to the power of Christ to heal. This
testimony would be heard/seen by the priest himself and all the
“anyone's” that the leper might want to know. They would also
testify through this redemptive sacrificial picture of how Christ
through His own death would cleanse us of our spiritual leprosy
(sin). </span></span>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US">This
concise account immediately follows the Sermon on the Mount. What a
glorious picture of how Christ calls us to live that sermon is.
However, </span><span lang="en-US"><b>the
Sermon on the Mount, as wonderful as it is, will never make us clean</b></span><span lang="en-US">.
We can never live our way into cleansing. Rather, as this leper shows
us, the only way we can be clean is through Christ. One word from
Christ (“be clean”) will cleanse us completely and make us whole.
Why? Because it is backed by His sacrifice. He bore our guilt. </span><span lang="en-US"><b>We
are cleansed and now we are the living sacrifice </b></span><span lang="en-US">(Romans
12:1) </span><span lang="en-US"><b>that
is set free to live in the glory of the Sermon on the Mount...
conformity to the image of Jesus Christ!</b></span><span lang="en-US">
</span></span>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>Love
the Gospel, Live the Gospel, Advance the Gospel,</i> </span>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: medium;">Jerry</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">P.S. For an audio sermon
on this same subject go to
<a href="http://www.monergism.com/directory/link_category/MP3-Audio--Multimedia/Old-Testament-Sermons-By-Book/Leviticus/">http://www.monergism.com/directory/link_category/MP3-Audio--Multimedia/Old-Testament-Sermons-By-Book/Leviticus/</a>
</span>
</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
Jerry Cisarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15896596409357416689noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-303998870892632951.post-41768524793390901212013-06-20T16:23:00.003-04:002013-06-20T16:23:23.693-04:00The Name Above Every Name <div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Reading:
Philippians 2 </span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Philippians
2 is one of my favorite chapters in Scripture because of the clarity
with which it spells out the Gospel (how Christ redeemed us), while
simultaneously drawing lines from the Gospel to how we are to think
and live. <a href="http://www.gccc.net/wp-content/uploads/20130609.mp3">Last
Sunday we saw the wonderful truth of drawing lines from Ephesians</a>;
in Philippians Paul makes the connections even more succinctly. In
this same text that draws these lines with such clarity, we also have
</span><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>one of
the most glorious truths of the Gospel made explicit</b></span><span style="font-size: medium;">.
</span>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in; margin-left: 0.49in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><sup><span lang="en-US"><i><span style="font-size: xx-small;">5</span></i></span></sup><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;"><i><b>In
your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ
Jesus:</b></i></span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;"><i> </i></span>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in; margin-left: 0.98in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><sup><span lang="en-US"><i><span style="font-size: xx-small;">6</span></i></span></sup><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;"><i>Who,
being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God
something to be used to his own advantage; </i></span><sup><span lang="en-US"><i><span style="font-size: xx-small;">7</span></i></span></sup><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;"><i>rather,
he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being
made in human likeness. </i></span><sup><span lang="en-US"><i><span style="font-size: xx-small;">8</span></i></span></sup><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;"><i>And
being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming
obedient to death—even death on a cross! </i></span>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in; margin-left: 0.98in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><sup><span lang="en-US"><i><span style="font-size: xx-small;">9</span></i></span></sup><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;"><i>Therefore
God exalted him to the highest place and </i></span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;"><i><b>gave
him the name that is above every name</b></i></span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;"><i>,
</i></span><sup><span lang="en-US"><i><span style="font-size: xx-small;">10</span></i></span></sup><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;"><i><b>that
at the name of Jesus</b></i></span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;"><i> every knee
should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, </i></span><sup><span lang="en-US"><i><span style="font-size: xx-small;">11</span></i></span></sup><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;"><i>and
every tongue acknowledge </i></span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;"><i><b>that
Jesus Christ is Lord</b></i></span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;"><i>, to the
glory of God the Father.</i></span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;"> (Philippians
2:5-11 NIV)</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Verse
5 tells us that we are to think the same way Christ did when He came
seeking and saving the lost (as described in vv 6-8). Christ was the
demonstrated humility perfectly laying down his very rights as God,
living poor and subject to the same conditions we mortals live under.
Then verses 9-11, <b>show how the Father multiplied and restored back
to Him what He laid down</b>. For Jesus that means being given the
name that is above every name! </span>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>What
is that name that is above every name?</b> Is it the name Jesus? Or,
is it the name YHWH? <b>Or, as I will suggest, is it the declaration
that Jesus is YHWH—that every tongue will declare that Jesus
Messiah is indeed YHWH God to the glory of God the Father?</b> In
order to see what I am suggesting we only have to look at the text
Paul is quoting from in Isaiah. As you read, keep in mind that LORD
is written where the Hebrew is YHWH, the name by which God revealed
Himself to Israel (see also Isaiah 42:8). </span>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in; margin-left: 0.49in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><sup><span lang="en-US"><i><span style="font-size: xx-small;">21</span></i></span></sup><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;"><i>…Was
it not I, </i></span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;"><i><b>the LORD (YHWH)</b></i></span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;"><i>?
And there is </i></span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;"><i><b>no God apart from
me, a righteous God and a Savior</b></i></span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;"><i>;
there is none but me. </i></span><sup><span lang="en-US"><i><span style="font-size: xx-small;">22</span></i></span></sup><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;"><i>"Turn
</i></span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;"><i><b>to me and be saved</b></i></span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;"><i>,
all you ends of the earth; </i></span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;"><i><b>for I
am God, and there is no other. </b></i></span><sup><span lang="en-US"><i><span style="font-size: xx-small;">23</span></i></span></sup><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;"><i>By
myself I have sworn, my mouth has uttered in all integrity a word
that will not be revoked: </i></span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;"><i><b>Before
me every knee will bow; by me every tongue will swear. </b></i></span><sup><span lang="en-US"><i><span style="font-size: xx-small;">24</span></i></span></sup><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;"><i>They
will say </i></span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;"><i><b>of me</b></i></span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;"><i>,
'In </i></span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;"><i><b>the LORD (YHWH)</b></i></span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;"><i>
alone are deliverance and strength. '" All who have raged
against him will come to him and be put to shame. </i></span><sup><span lang="en-US"><i><span style="font-size: xx-small;">25</span></i></span></sup><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;"><i>But
all the descendants of Israel </i></span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;"><i><b>will
find deliverance in the LORD (YHWH)</b></i></span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;"><i>
and will make their boast in him.</i></span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;">
(Isaiah 45:21-25)</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">YHWH
is very jealous that His name and glory not be given to another, to
an idol, to a false savior. <b>But the Father has been very
pleased to have the man Jesus </b>(because the Son humbled Himself
and became man)<b>, who is the Messiah </b>(Christ)<b>, exalted to
the highest place in the universe and given a name above every name</b>
(I can only think of One name that high) <b>that at the name of Jesus
</b>(the man who was crucified for our sin)<b> every knee in heaven
and earth would bow and acknowledge that Jesus Christ is </b><i><b>Lord</b></i><b>.</b>
<i>Lord</i> (<i>kurios</i>) is YHWH's name translated in the Greek
Old Testament (LXX) in Isaiah 45:14-16 as the One speaking in Isaiah
45:21-25. The Greek word for <i>Lord</i>, <i>kurios</i>, is used in
Isaiah 42:8 LXX for the Hebrew YHWH (I am <i>kurios—</i>the Lord),
that is my name! <b>Now we are to declare that Jesus Christ is YHWH!
</b> <b>To declare Jesus Christ as Lord, while paraphrasing Isaiah
45:23, is nothing other than to declare Jesus Christ as YHWH!</b>
That is giving Him the name that is above every name! </span>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>The
next time someone knocks on your door and suggests that we are not to
worship Jesus but only Jehovah </b>(just a variation on YHWH by
adding vowels differently—YeHoWaH rather than YaHWeH), remember
that every knee will eventually bow and every tongue will eventually
declare that Jesus Christ is Jehovah (YHWH) to the glory of God the
Father! So start proclaiming it now! </span>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>Love
the Gospel, Live the Gospel, Advance the Gospel,</i> </span>
</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: medium;">Jerry</span></div>
Jerry Cisarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15896596409357416689noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-303998870892632951.post-11371713153375996672013-06-02T09:32:00.000-04:002013-06-02T09:37:37.086-04:00How Do I Know I'm in God's Will? <div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: medium;">Reading: Proverbs 3 </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: medium;">I have spoken to many
people over the years who, in the midst of making a major decision,
were concerned with how to know if it was the will of God. This is
commendable, and something I myself have had to deal with at various
points in my life. There are times when there are clear indicators
as to whether something is a right or wrong decision. There are
other times when there appear to be several equally good choices,
each resulting in very different outcomes for our lives. <b>How do we
know what to do? How do we know what will please God? How do we know
which one God wants us to choose?</b></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: medium;">There have been times
in my life when I have had an unexplainable <b>clear sense that the
Lord was forbidding me</b> to go in a direction that would otherwise
seem as good a decision as my other options. At other times, there
are some good choices, but <b>my experience in life and knowledge of
scripture causes me to be uncomfortable with a particular choice </b>and
so I have much more “peace” about making another choice. However,
sometimes one does not have anything like that and there seem to be
multiple good choices that would effect our lives in very different
ways. <b>In times like these people are often anxious they will make
“the wrong decision.”</b></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">I have also met some
who, whether they have a clear sense of what they are to do, or even
if there is a distinctly better choice, still fret over whether or
not “it” might be “the wrong decision.” Whether your
experience is more like this, or more like what is described in the
previous paragraph, <b>Proverbs 3 contains some truth that will set
you free from anxious thoughts about making “the wrong decision.”
</b>I think this is the most
common experience of the Christian life. </span>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in; margin-left: 0.49in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><sup><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">5</span></span></sup><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;">Trust
in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own
understanding; </span><sup><span lang="en-US"><b><span style="font-size: xx-small;">6</span></b></span></sup><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;"><b>in
all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.
</b></span><sup><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">7</span></span></sup><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;">Do
not be wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD and shun evil. </span></i><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;">(Proverbs
3:5-7) </span>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US"><b>All
too often we think that we have to know what the perfect decision is
in order to make it.</b></span><span lang="en-US">
Like the child who is told to do something and always asks, “Why?”
(That was me as a child.) That is a great question in math, or
science, or other academic studies. However, when it comes to doing
the will of God we don't always get to know the perfect decision in
order to make it. Just like the child who can't always comprehend why
they are told to do something needs to know that they must do it, so
when it comes to God's commands we are often simply to obey without
knowing why. </span></span>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US">Sometimes
the same principle applies to knowing the right decision for our
future. As believers we don't look to the stars for guidance, or go
to psychics. Yet some Christians want God to act for them just as a
psychic or astrologer... predicting their future, or at least telling
them which decisions they are to make in order to have the best
future. </span><span lang="en-US"><b>The
point of Proverbs 3:5, 7 are clear: </b></span><i><span lang="en-US"><b>we
must learn to trust God when we don't have understanding. We must not
think that wisdom for every decision rests with us!</b></span><span lang="en-US">
</span></i></span>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US">This
is practiced in every day life when we </span><i><span lang="en-US">“fear
the Lord and shun evil.”</span></i><span lang="en-US">
Sometimes, however, our choices are neither evil nor good. It is in
those times that the promise of Proverbs 3:6 is so important. </span><span lang="en-US"><b>When
we obey the Lord in the clear things that He has asked us to do in
His Word</b></span><span lang="en-US">
(</span><i><span lang="en-US">in
all your ways acknowledge Him</span></i><span lang="en-US">),
</span><span lang="en-US"><b>He
promises to make sure all our decisions in the not so clear choices
are pleasing to Him </b></span><span lang="en-US">(</span><i><span lang="en-US">He
will make your paths straight</span></i><span lang="en-US">)!
</span></span>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US">This
promise may be easily missed because the language “</span><i><span lang="en-US">He
will make your paths straight”</span></i><span lang="en-US">
is not so clear to us. The King James translation was actually easier
to understand here: </span><i><span lang="en-US">“He
shall direct thy paths.”</span></i><span lang="en-US">
The Holman Christian Standard Bible may make it the clearest: </span><i><span lang="en-US"><b>“He
will guide you on the right paths.”</b></span><span lang="en-US">
</span></i></span>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US">The
word translated </span><i><span lang="en-US">“make
straight” </span></i><span lang="en-US">has
another meaning, </span><i><span lang="en-US">“make
right,”</span></i><span lang="en-US">
or, </span><i><span lang="en-US">“pleasing”</span></i><span lang="en-US">.
This word is used in Jeremiah 18:4 in this sense.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in; margin-left: 0.49in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><i><span lang="en-US">But
the vessel that he was making of clay was spoiled in the hand of the
potter; so he remade it into another vessel, </span><span lang="en-US"><b>as
it pleased the potter to make</b></span><span lang="en-US">.
</span></i><span lang="en-US">(Jeremiah
18:4 NASB)</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US">Our
lives are in the hands of the potter. </span><span lang="en-US"><b>When
we set out to please God with our lives in what is clear and known</b></span><span lang="en-US">
(repenting when we fail and seeking to live out repentance), </span><span lang="en-US"><b>the
Lord promises to direct our paths into what pleases Him.</b></span><span lang="en-US">
This is true even when our understanding doesn't know if it was the
right choice! Fear not! </span></span>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in; margin-left: 0.49in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><sup><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">6</span></span></sup><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;">Do
not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and
petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. </span><sup><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">7</span></span></sup><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;">And
the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your
hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. </span></i><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;">(Philippians
4:6-7)</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>Love the Gospel, Live
the Gospel, Advance the Gospel,</i> </span>
</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: medium;">Jerry</span></div>
Jerry Cisarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15896596409357416689noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-303998870892632951.post-33942530718679920002013-05-16T08:42:00.000-04:002013-05-16T08:42:45.746-04:00God, Did You Fall Asleep? A Meditation in Psalm 44 <br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Reading:
Psalm 44 </span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Do
you ever wonder if God is sleeping on the job?</b> Or, do you ever
want to say, “God, I know you have done many wonderful things in
the past—I could certainly speak of great acts of God which
culminate in the cross and resurrection of our Lord Jesus—but
lately, if I dare say so, it seems like you might have fallen asleep.
I need you to wake up and act.” You
might not dare to pray such things even if you felt them, but the
psalmist did. </span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Psalm
44 may adjust your understanding of the kinds of prayer God invites
to come to Him, even teaches us to bring to Him, and of the
willingness of our God to hear such prayers.</b> The first 8 verses
start off sounding like a promising and proper prayer. </span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in; margin-left: 0.49in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><i><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;">We
have heard with our ears, O God; our fathers have told us what you
did in their days, in days long ago. </span><sup><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">2</span></span></sup><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;">With
your hand you drove out the nations and planted our fathers; you
crushed the peoples and made our fathers flourish. </span><sup><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">3</span></span></sup><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;">It
was not by their sword that they won the land, nor did their arm
bring them victory; it was your right hand, your arm, and the light
of your face, for you loved them. </span></i></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in; margin-left: 0.49in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><sup><span lang="en-US"><i><span style="font-size: xx-small;">4</span></i></span></sup><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;"><i>You
are my King and my God, who decrees victories for Jacob. </i></span><sup><span lang="en-US"><i><span style="font-size: xx-small;">5</span></i></span></sup><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;"><i>Through
you we push back our enemies; through your name we trample our foes.
</i></span><sup><span lang="en-US"><i><span style="font-size: xx-small;">6</span></i></span></sup><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;"><i>I
do not trust in my bow, my sword does not bring me victory; </i></span><sup><span lang="en-US"><i><span style="font-size: xx-small;">7</span></i></span></sup><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;"><i>but
you give us victory over our enemies, you put our adversaries to
shame. </i></span><sup><span lang="en-US"><i><span style="font-size: xx-small;">8</span></i></span></sup><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;"><i>In
God we make our boast all day long, and we will praise your name
forever.</i></span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;"> (Psalm 44:1-8)</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US">The
psalmist speaks of the truths of God's deliverance that have been
handed down—what God did in days of old. There is no denying the
history of redemption laid out in Scripture. </span><span lang="en-US"><b>The
psalmist trusts God and even boasts in God. Suddenly the prayer
changes direction. The current experience of the psalmist causes him
to wonder if God has fallen asleep.</b></span><span lang="en-US"> </span></span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in; margin-left: 0.49in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><i><sup><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">9</span></span></sup><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;">But
now you have rejected and humbled us; you no longer go out with our
armies. </span><sup><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">10</span></span></sup><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;">You
made us retreat before the enemy, and our adversaries have plundered
us. </span><sup><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">11</span></span></sup><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;">You
gave us up to be devoured like sheep and have scattered us among the
nations. </span><sup><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">12</span></span></sup><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;">You
sold your people for a pittance, gaining nothing from their sale.
</span><sup><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">13</span></span></sup><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;">You
have made us a reproach to our neighbors, the scorn and derision of
those around us. </span><sup><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">14</span></span></sup><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;">You
have made us a byword among the nations; the peoples shake their
heads at us. </span><sup><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">15</span></span></sup><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;">My
disgrace is before me all day long, and my face is covered with shame
</span><sup><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">16</span></span></sup><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;">at
the taunts of those who reproach and revile me, because of the enemy,
who is bent on revenge. </span></i></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in; margin-left: 0.49in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><i><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;"></span><sup><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">17</span></span></sup><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;"><b>All
this happened to us, though we had not forgotten you or been false to
your covenant. </b></span><sup><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">18</span></span></sup><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;"><b>Our
hearts had not turned back; our feet had not strayed from your path.</b></span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;">
</span><sup><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">19</span></span></sup><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;">But
you crushed us and made us a haunt for jackals and covered us over
with deep darkness. </span><sup><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">20</span></span></sup><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;"><b>If
we had forgotten the name of our God or spread out our hands to a
foreign god,</b></span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;"> </span><sup><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">21</span></span></sup><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;"><b>would
not God have discovered it, since he knows the secrets of the heart?</b></span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;">
</span><sup><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">22</span></span></sup><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;"><b>Yet
for your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep
to be slaughtered.</b></span></i></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US">There
were many times in Israel's history when afflictions like these came,
bit God was “off the hook” because Israel had forgotten His name
and been false to the covenant. </span><span lang="en-US"><b>However,
this is not such a time.</b></span><span lang="en-US"> This list of
current experiences ends with a familiar verse (Psalm 44:22)—familiar
because it is quoted in the New Testament. The Christian Standard
Bible captures the emotion of the statement well, </span><span lang="en-US"><i>“Because
of You we are slain all day long; we are counted as sheep to be
slaughtered.”</i></span><span lang="en-US"> </span><span lang="en-US"><b>In
other words, </b></span><span lang="en-US"><i><b>“God,
because you have stopped doing for us what you did for our fathers,
we are being destroyed while You do nothing to even slow down the
enemy.”</b></i></span><span lang="en-US">
</span></span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US">The
psalmist, feeling forsaken by God, says what seems inappropriate—at
least to our sensibilities. </span><span lang="en-US"><b>He
says something that almost feels we've reached the edge of blasphemy.</b></span></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in; margin-left: 0.49in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>Wake
up, LORD! Why are You sleeping? Get up! Don't reject us forever! (Psa
44:23 HCSB)</i> </span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US">Elijah
mocked the priests of baal with a similar question about why their
altar was not burning (1 Kings 18:27). Now, the psalmist in his
despair is bringing a similar kind of question directly to God. </span><span lang="en-US"><b>He
is nearly mocking God in this prayer because of His inactivity.</b></span><span lang="en-US">
We may wonder why the psalmist dares to pray this way. However, there
is a bigger question. </span><span lang="en-US"><b>Why
did God put a prayer like this in our inspired prayer book? Is God
inviting us to bring our worst feelings about Him to Him in prayer?
Is God willing to bear our near mocking and ridicule in prayer about
His seeming inaction?</b></span><span lang="en-US">
He must be.</span></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US">It
should be no surprise to us that God is willing to bear our near
mocking and ridicule in prayer when we feel forsaken and in despair,
because Jesus came and bore our mocking and ridicule at the cross
while we were still enemies. How much more, now that we are saved,
will the Father not bear our fears and doubts when we bring them to
the Author and Finisher of our faith. In fact, as we are discovering
in our <a href="http://www.gccc.net/?taxonomy=speakers&term=&s=+Job&s1=">series
in Job at Gulf Coast Community Church</a>, Job is commended for
bringing his hardest questions, his greatest doubts, and his
accusations to God with a earnest desire for God to hear and answer.
</span></span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US"><b>Far
too often, we feel we must finish our faith and then bring finished
faith to the Father. Only the One who gave us faith can complete it.</b></span></span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US">
</span></span></span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US">What
is God's answer to our crying, </span><span lang="en-US"><i>“Because
of You we are slain all day long; we are counted as sheep to be
slaughtered”</i></span><span lang="en-US">?
His answer is, </span></span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in; margin-left: 0.49in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><sup><span lang="en-US"><i><span style="font-size: xx-small;">37</span></i></span></sup><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;"><i>No,
in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved
us. </i></span><sup><span lang="en-US"><i><span style="font-size: xx-small;">38</span></i></span></sup><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;"><i>For
I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor
demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, </i></span><sup><span lang="en-US"><i><span style="font-size: xx-small;">39</span></i></span></sup><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;"><i>neither
height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to
separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.</i></span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;">
(Romans 8:37-39)</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US"><b>God
assures us in the cross of our Lord Jesus, that His stance toward us
is love, even in the midst of the kinds of afflictions described in
Psalm 44:9-19.</b></span><span lang="en-US">
In fact, even in these horrible circumstances, God is working it
together for our good. He is not condemning us, He justifies us
(Romans 8:28-36). </span><span lang="en-US"><b>So
God not only hears our prayers, bears our near mocking Him for
inaction, He answers us with assurance of His love, and in so doing
He matures our faith.</b></span><span lang="en-US">
</span></span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>Love
the Gospel, Live the Gospel, Advance the Gospel,</i> </span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Jerry</span></span></div>
Jerry Cisarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15896596409357416689noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-303998870892632951.post-41904135723836261132013-04-23T11:43:00.001-04:002013-04-23T11:43:55.181-04:00Tired of Living on Your Tears? <br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: medium;">Reading: Psalm 42 </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">When I was much
younger, I thought the opening of Psalm 42:1 was an expression deep
passion for God. <i>“As the deer pants for streams of water, so my
soul pants for you, my God.”</i> I
suppose that was partly due to not reading it in context carefully
(my greatest exposure to this verse was from lyrics in a song), and
partly due to my own experience of life. Depression was far from me
and life was all before me. I am generally optimistic. </span>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">However,
the experience of life and many times of reading Psalm 42 have made
clear that the deer in this psalm is a deer that is dehydrated and is
about to pass out. This deer is in a dessert place and all is dry—not
dripping with passion. <b>This
thirst for God </b>(Psalm
42:2) <b>is not a deep,
intense, longing desire, but a deep, intense desperation.</b>
It might be expressed as, <i>“I'm going to die if God
doesn't show up and meet with me.”</i>
</span>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Why?
Why is the psalmist feeling as if it is <i>“God, or bust!”</i>?
<b>In contemporary
terminology we would say he is depressed—seriously, clinically,
actually, whatever other term you'd like to apply, depressed!</b>
</span>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in; margin-left: 0.49in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><span style="font-size: medium;">My
tears have been my food day and night, while people say to me all day
long, "Where is your God?" … </span></i><span style="font-size: medium;">(Psalm
42:3)</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: medium;">The psalmist is
experiencing life in such a way that those looking on question what's
wrong with him. <i>“Where is your God?”</i>
expresses their doubt about whether his God exists, or whether he has
been forsaken by God (due to sin). Jesus experienced this kind of
ridicule and mockery (Matthew 27:43). <b>That
was what he experienced from the outside. But worse still was what he
experienced from within.</b></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in; margin-left: 0.49in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><i>Deep
calls to deep in the roar of your waterfalls; all your waves and
breakers have swept over me.</i>
(Psalm 42:7)</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>From
within, the psalmist experienced doubts about God's intentions toward
him.</b> Though the language may seem foreign to us at first, it is not so
difficult to comprehend what is meant. The psalmist's experience of
life right now is as if he is in the sea, trying to find shore, but
God keeps pummeling him with wave after wave crashing in on him.
Every time he comes up for air a wave pummels him again. </span>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The
word for <i>deep</i> is also
the word for the sea, or the abyss. This is the “pit”— the pit
of despair. <b>The psalmist
is going from one pit to another, one depth of despair to another,
because, as far as he can tell, God is directing the storm to pummel
him.</b> Are you in that
place in now? Have you been? Do you know someone who is? This psalm
is written for you and me in times like this. It is written to help
us pray when we are in despair, and to help us know how to pray with
others when they are. </span>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">In
his despair the worshiper remembers when things weren't as they are
now. He remembers times when he participated with the people of God
in joyous praise and festivities before God. <b>He
recalls the time when all was bright.</b>
(Psalm 42:4) <b>But now, all
is dark for him.</b> </span>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The
psalmist then does something instructive. He speaks to his own soul,
to his own thoughts and heart. <i>“Why, my soul, are you
downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I
will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.”</i>
(Psalm 42:5) <b>Sometimes it
just helps to vocalize this truth. To remind ourselves of God's promises though our feelings are screaming otherwise.</b>
</span>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: medium;">However,
the psalmist doesn't merely tell himself truth that he doesn't feel.
<b>He also is honest to God
about </b><b>how
he feels. He brings his toughest questions to God also.</b></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in; margin-left: 0.49in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><sup><span lang="en-US"><i><span style="font-size: xx-small;">9</span></i></span></sup><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;"><i>I
say to God my Rock, "Why have you forgotten me? Why must I go
about mourning, oppressed by the enemy?" </i></span><sup><span lang="en-US"><i><span style="font-size: xx-small;">10</span></i></span></sup><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;"><i>My
bones suffer mortal agony as my foes taunt me, saying to me all day
long, "Where is your God?"</i></span><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;">
(Psalm 42:9-10)</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: medium;">And
then he repeats the instruction to his own soul. (See Psalm 42:11)</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">When
we are in the place of despair, depression to the point of feeling we
will die if God doesn't answer us, when it seems we have been living
on our tears, we must remember that there were better times, we must
speak truth to our souls about God's promises for our future, and we
must be honest with God about what we are suffering and experiencing.
<b>Bring your worst fears to
God. Bring your depression to God! But also bring His promises.</b>
This
is a prayer for the depressed. This is a prayer for all of us as we
learn how to pray with and for each other. </span>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>Love the Gospel, Live
the Gospel, Advance the Gospel,</i> </span>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: medium;">Jerry</span></div>
Jerry Cisarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15896596409357416689noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-303998870892632951.post-23730549426381279652013-04-11T15:42:00.000-04:002014-02-20T06:56:21.178-05:00The Riches of God's Glorious Inheritance in the Church <div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Reading: Micah 2 </span>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Covetousness (a.k.a.
greed) is responsible for no small share of poverty in the world. It
may be that the 10 commandments end with covetousness because that is
the heart issue behind so many of the other commandments.
Covetousness drove the wicked in Israel to move the ancient boundary
stones (on a nice day), gradually encroaching on the helpless (Prov
23:10-11), or just outright seizing the when it is in their power to
do so. </span>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in; margin-left: 0.49in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i style="font-size: large;">Woe
to those who plan iniquity, to those who plot evil on their beds! At
morning's light they carry it out </i><i style="font-size: large;"><b>because it is in their
power to do it</b></i><i style="font-size: large;">. </i><sup><i><span style="font-size: xx-small;">2</span></i></sup><i style="font-size: large;">They </i><i style="font-size: large;"><b>covet
fields and seize them, and houses, and take them</b></i><i style="font-size: large;">. </i><i style="font-size: large;"><b>They
defraud people of their homes, they rob them of their
inheritance.</b></i><i style="font-size: large;">... </i><sup><i><span style="font-size: xx-small;">9</span></i></sup><i style="font-size: large;">You
drive the women of my people </i><i style="font-size: large;"><b>from their pleasant homes</b></i><i style="font-size: large;">.
You </i><i style="font-size: large;"><b>take away my blessing </b></i><i style="font-size: large;">from their children
forever.</i><span style="font-size: medium;"> (Micah 2:1-2, 9)</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">One's <i>inheritance</i>
in Israel was central to their ability to sustain themselves. Here
the <i>inheritance</i> is not merely referring to an estate received
by a child from its parents, but also <i>to
the land received by the children of Israel as a gift from Yahweh
</i>(ISBE). <b>Through God's rich inheritance given to His
people, they would have land and sustaining provision through life.</b>
They had to work the land, but land they had. </span>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">However, orphan's and
widows were easy targets for those who would confiscate their
properties. The powerful have connections with other powerful people.
The weak have no connections because people have nothing to gain by
helping them. <b>By the time Jesus came the rejection of God's law
had become so deep that the Jewish teachers of the law were devouring
the widows houses</b> (Mark 12:40). </span>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Jesus came announcing
the year of the Lord's favor—<i>“the year of jubilee”</i> (Luke
4:17-21). In fact, the preaching of the Gospel is described as
announcing this good news to the poor. <b>This year of the Lord's
favor was the year, every fiftieth year, when everyone in Israel was
returned to their inheritance.</b> If they had sold the land to pay
their debts or survive, it would be returned. It was a year that
meant loss for the powerful and gain for the weak. It was indeed
<i>“good news for the poor”</i>. </span>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Jesus proclaims the
return of everyone to God's rich inheritance for them. How does He
bring this about?</b> The Gospel certainly hasn't brought every
Israelite back to their land of original inheritance as distributed
in the book of Joshua. In fact most of the tribes can't even be
located today. So how does Jesus bring this about? </span>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Christ's kingdom is a
spiritual kingdom and we often have difficulty seeing things as they
really are. <b>Paul prayed that the church would see </b><i><b>“the
riches of God's glorious inheritance”</b></i><i> </i>...and then he
tells us where to look, where it is... <i><b>“in his holy people”</b></i>
(Ephesians 1:18). Psalm 68:6 says, <i>“God sets the lonely
in families...” </i>(Psalm 68:6
NIV). One translation says, <i>“God provides homes for those
who are deserted...”</i> (Psalm 68:6
HCSB). Which is it? Both. <i>God provides homes for those who
are deserted by setting the lonely, the solitary, in families—the
church of the Living God.</i> </span>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">This
family, this provision, this, God's inheritance for us in His holy
people, is what Jesus was speaking of when He answered Peter's,
“What's in it for us?” question. </span>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in; margin-left: 0.49in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><sup><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">28</span></span></sup><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;">Peter
said to him, "We have left everything to follow you!" </span><sup><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">29</span></span></sup><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;">"I
tell you the truth," Jesus replied, "no one who has left
home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields
for me and the gospel </span><sup><span lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">30</span></span></sup><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;">will
fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age (homes,
brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields—and with them,
persecutions) and in the age to come, eternal life. </span></i><span lang="en-US" style="font-size: medium;">(Mark
10:28-30)</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US">The
church is to be a community, a family, in which we recognize that
God's provision for us is not just for us personally, but for us as
the community of God's people. This is why being part of a church
family in particular is so important. </span><span lang="en-US"><b>Particular
families in Israel received an inheritance, not disconnected loan
individuals.</b></span><span lang="en-US">
So God knits us into His family (Ephesians 2:19) and as members in a
particular family where we know other and can be known by others.
Where we meet the needs of other and have our needs met by others. </span></span>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US"><b>In
order for this to happen, we must put greed (covetousness) to death</b></span><span lang="en-US">
(Colossians 3:5), </span><span lang="en-US"><b>so
that it is never heard of in our midst </b></span><span lang="en-US">(Ephesians 5:3). Sadly, all too often is it not only heard of, it is modeled by
leaders and even preached on from pulpits... not against it, but how
to effectively covet and get whatever you want! </span></span>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US"><b>This
is a kingdom of righteousness and justice and peace.</b></span><span lang="en-US">
In order to be a part of this justice we have to live our lives free
from the love of money (Hebrews 13:5). As we do, justice will unfold as
we restore inheritance into each others' lives by loving our neighbor
as ourselves.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>Love the Gospel, Live
the Gospel, Advance the Gospel,</i> </span>
</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: medium;">Jerry</span></div>
Jerry Cisarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15896596409357416689noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-303998870892632951.post-18155530076754571402013-04-02T12:00:00.000-04:002013-04-02T12:00:48.573-04:00God Hears Groaning <br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Reading: Exodus 1–2 </span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><b>Do you groan? Are
you groaning? God hears groaning.</b> Paul tells us that the whole
creation is enslaved by the corruption or depravity in the world (Rom
8:21 NASB). Presumably the creation is enslaved by the wickedness
done upon it by the wicked. Not only the creation itself, be we too
groan. We groan while we wait (Rom 8:23). In context, we might
conclude that we groan because of the wickedness done to us and to
others. (See also James 5:4-8.)</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>The Israelites
groaned also. </b>They had been subjected to slavery and with that,
all that slavery entails. Their lives were full of oppression and
misery. Injustice proliferated. None of that could stop the
Israelites from multiplying. In fact, the more oppression, misery,
and injustice they experienced, the more they multiplied and grew
(Exo 1:12). So Pharaoh commanded that all Hebrew boys born be killed.
However, the Hebrew midwives feared God more than the king and didn't
obey (Exo 1:17). </span>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">All of this led to
Moses being adopted by Pharaoh's daughter and out of Pharaoh's
coffers, Moses' mother was compensated for nursing her own child.
Decades later, Moses is in the wilderness, the people are still
suffering, and they are groaning. Groaning because of their forced
labor, because of the injustice of their oppressive condition, and
they cried out for help to God. <b>God heard their groaning and their
cry for help. </b></span>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in; margin-left: 0.49in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>During
that long period, the king of Egypt died. </i><i><b>The Israelites
groaned in their slavery and cried out, </b></i><i>and their cry for
help because of their slavery went up to God. </i><i><b>God heard
their groaning </b></i><i>and he remembered his covenant with
Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob.</i> (Exodus 2:23-24) </span>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Do you groan? Are
you groaning? If not, why not?</b> Is it because you have nothing to
groan about? Consider the lives of the innocent being snuffed out
daily in our own cities through abortion (Pharaoh is still at work!).
Consider those being abused or suffering the scars of such abuse.
Consider those with debilitating illnesses, or unloving husbands, or
wandering children, or alcoholic parents. </span>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Truth be told, there
is plenty to groan about. We must cry out for help to God, for God
hears such cries.</b> Far too often, however, we are inadequately
informed as to how to pray and feel inadequately able to pray for
these kinds of things. We just grieve. Sometimes we try to ignore the
grief because we don't know what to do with it. Sometimes we
acknowledge it but don't know how to pray. </span>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>But there is someone
else who will help us pray.</b> Not only are we groaning inwardly
about these things, but we do so because the Spirit of God within us
groans in ways that not even words can express. <b>He helps us to
pray when we know not how with this groaning </b>(Rom 8:26). </span>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“<span style="font-size: medium;"><i>But,” </i>you
say, <i>“What good will it do to groan, if I still don't know what
to say?”</i> <b>Don't worry! God understands groaning. </b> He
knows the mind of the Spirit within us and He answers according to
the very yearning in our hearts for it is in accordance with His will
(Rom 8:27). So, pray. <b>Pray, and don't be afraid that you don't
know exactly what to say.</b> Bring your voice to God with cries for
help. And when you cry for help, God will hear. </span>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>Love the Gospel, Live
the Gospel, Advance the Gospel,</i> </span>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: medium;">Jerry</span></div>
Jerry Cisarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15896596409357416689noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-303998870892632951.post-68821358407858871072013-03-29T08:21:00.001-04:002013-03-29T08:21:28.581-04:00A Good Friday Meditation: The Bread that Must Be Broken <br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: medium;">Reading: Mark 8 </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: medium;">Remember the first time
you went to Universal Studios and saw some of the sets and props from
your favorite movies? Were you as shocked as I was at how fake they
looked. How fake <i>Jaws</i> looked. Or, with the advent of DVD and
the <i>extras bonus feature, </i>you watch a movie like K-9
Widowmaker, the story of a Russian nuclear sub, and after being
emotionally dragged through the ringer, watching the movie, you see
that it was only a model sub in a large tub. <b>It felt so real!</b></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>This 3rd section of
Mark </b>(6:6–8:30) <b>is
dominated by talk about bread/loaves—enough bread, not enough
bread, where to get the bread.</b> It is as if Jesus has been saying,
<i>“Hey guys, let me show you the behind the scenes. Those loaves
that you labor for, they are just props—plastic models. They really
won’t satisfy you. But there is a bread, that will satisfy. There
is a reality, but it’s not part of the set, it’s not part of the
theme park, it’s not in the movie… it's bread that satisfies
forever.”</i> </span>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: medium;">However the 12 aren’t
hearing. He keeps demonstrating it, and they keep missing it. Twice
Jesus feeds the multitude in the wilderness; but they don’t
understand. The similarities between the feeding of the 4,000 and the
earlier feeding of 5,000, are striking and obvious; the differences
are also important, but not so obvious. Here are a few of those:</span></div>
<ul>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: medium;">Feeding the 5,000
was in Jewish territory; the 4,000 in Gentile territory.</span></div>
</li>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: medium;">Feeding 5,000
followed a few hours of teaching; 4,000 a few days.</span></div>
</li>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">With the 5,000
there were 12 baskets left over enough for a remnant from the twelve
tribes; with the 4,000 there were 7 very large baskets—the kind
used for long journeys. </span>
</span></div>
</li>
</ul>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Right before the
feeding of 4,000 in a Gentile region is an account in which we learn
that <b>one crumb from Jesus' table is enough to cure a Gentile
woman's daughter </b>(Mark 7:28-30). <b>Now there are enough broken
pieces (crumbs) left over from Jesus’ feast in the wilderness to
feed the nations of the world.</b> </span>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: medium;">Both feedings are
followed by a boat scene—these are the “behind the scenes”
looks into how the feedings happened. Let’s get into the boat with
the 12 and listen. The questions Jesus asks are important. Jesus asks
his disciples a whole series of questions about bread.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in; margin-left: 0.49in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US"><i>"Why
are you talking about </i></span><span lang="en-US"><i><b>having no
bread</b></i></span><span lang="en-US"><i>?”</i></span><span lang="en-US">
</span><span lang="en-US"><i>“Do you have eyes but fail to see, and
ears but fail to hear? </i></span></span>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in; margin-left: 0.49in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US"><i>And
don't you remember?”</i></span><span lang="en-US"> </span><span lang="en-US"><i>“When
I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, </i></span><span lang="en-US"><i><b>how
many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up?</b></i></span><span lang="en-US"><i>”
"Twelve," they replied. </i></span><sup><span lang="en-US"><i>20</i></span></sup><span lang="en-US"><i>
"And when I broke the seven loaves for the four thousand, </i></span><span lang="en-US"><i><b>how
many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up?</b></i></span><span lang="en-US"><i>"
They answered, "Seven." </i></span></span>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in; margin-left: 0.49in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“<span style="font-size: medium;"><i>Do
you still not understand?”</i> (Mark 8:17-21)</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US"><b>Interestingly,
the disciples don't think they have any loaves/bread </b>(Mark 8:16)<b>; but
the narrator, Mark, lets us in on a little secret. </b></span><span lang="en-US"><i>“They
had forgotten to take bread and had only one loaf with them in the
boat.”</i></span><span lang="en-US">
(Mark 8:14) That's odd. If you forget to take bread, you usually
don't have any. In this case, they forgot to take all but one loaf.
I'm not sure how you do that. </span><span lang="en-US"><i>“I
am going to bring this one loaf. But I am not going to remember to
bring any more.”</i></span><span lang="en-US">
How do you remember one but no more? And why don't they realize
they have it? </span><span lang="en-US"><b>Shouldn't
they be talking about having only one loaf of bread rather than
talking about having no bread?</b></span><span lang="en-US">
</span><span lang="en-US"><b>Unless,
of course, you don't realize that the bread you have is bread.</b></span><span lang="en-US">
Then you might not think you had any. </span></span>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US">Is
Jesus really asking them, </span><span lang="en-US"><i>“Why
are you arguing about having no loaves? Do you still not see or
understand the loaf you do have?”</i></span><span lang="en-US">
You see only the audience is aware of the one loaf because Mark told
us, but not the 12. Of course, Jesus is aware but isn't bringing it
up. Someone might object, “But one loaf isn’t enough to feed
them.” Sure it is—if 5 loaves can feed 5,000, and 7 loaves
4,000; surely one can feed twelve. </span><span lang="en-US"><b>But
I don't think that Jesus is rebuking them for not knowing how to do
math. </b></span><span lang="en-US">
That takes no spiritual insight. </span></span>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US">However,
if the twelve don't realize they have the bread, even the one loaf,
then his question isn't about math. It is about whether or not they
understand what real bread, the bread of life, is. </span><span lang="en-US"><i>Behind
the scenes </i></span><span lang="en-US">on
the boat, the bread they are arguing about is a plastic model that
doesn’t satisfy. </span><span lang="en-US"><b>However,
if they pay attention, they realize that Jesus is the bread that
satisfies—the only bread that satisfies! And, Jesus is the only
bread they have in the boat.</b></span><span lang="en-US">
He is enough. Do they still not understand? </span></span>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US"><b>Jesus
is the bread that was sleeping on a pillow in their first boat ride
</b></span><span lang="en-US">(Mark
4:38)</span><span lang="en-US"><b>,
walking on the water in the second </b></span><span lang="en-US">(Mark
6:49)</span><span lang="en-US"><b>
and staring them in the face in this one!</b></span><span lang="en-US">
He is the bread of life. </span></span>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US">They
are beginning to see... but, as in the healing of the blind man (Mark
8:22-25), they see men as trees (or they see Jesus, but not clearly).
This is demonstrated in Peter's declaration of who Jesus is (Mark
8:29) but not understanding that He had to suffer and die (Mark
8:31-33). </span><span lang="en-US"><b>As
the bread of life, he must be broken and distributed to feed the
masses </b></span><span lang="en-US">(Mark
14:22). </span><span lang="en-US"><b>Until
Peter understands that Jesus is to be broken, suffer and die, he
can't understand that he too must take up his cross and be broken
</b>(Mark 8:34-35)<b>. And so must we. Do we still not understand? </b></span><span lang="en-US">This
Good Friday we should contemplate the bread of life which was broken
for us; and consider the call we have to pick up our cross and be
broken for the life of the world. </span></span>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>Love the Gospel, Live
the Gospel, Advance the Gospel,</i> </span>
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: medium;">Jerry</span></div>
Jerry Cisarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15896596409357416689noreply@blogger.com