#18. May 4, 2015

2015 Devotional. Our goal for these weekly devotionals is to grow in humility and to grow spiritually by memorizing selected passages, putting them into context, and by applying them to our daily living. These passages are taken from: “100 Verses Every Christian Needs to Know” by Freeman-Smith. All passages are from the NIV.

James 1: 19-20

¹⁹ My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, ²⁰ because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires.

These verses in Chapter one are part of a larger section that is about “Listening and Doing” (Jas 1:19-27). James, Jesus’ brother takes the more intimate approach of family: we are brothers and sisters in Christ and brothers and sisters of Christ. Amen! In this section James begins with excellent advice that is applicable to every person regardless of persuasion. He comes down on anger as displeasing to God. Therefore, pointing back to his advice, “accept the word planted in you”. He is speaking of the Good News of salvation, faith in Christ, His work for us, and what Jesus teaches us.

In verses 22-25, James relates the foolishness of listening to the Good News but not applying it to our lives, something that his brother Jesus taught him and teaches us in the Sermon on the Mount (Mt. 7:24-27). James uses the mirror metaphor: looking into it and immediately forgetting what one looks like. He expands it by encouraging us to look into the “perfect law”(Jesus’ moral teachings and The Ten Words) and looking into ourselves “remembering what they (we) have heard and doing it –they (we) will be blest in what they (we) do”.

At the end of his instruction of “Listening and Doing,” James moves to practical application. It is a surprising turn in his thinking, after pointing to the perfect law he gives unencumbered advice, it is not complicated, not heavy theology, easy to understand, and pleasing to God: take care of the poor, the disenfranchised, those who have no help, and stay away from the ways of the world. We are not to hide away in our churches and homes but engage our culture: taking care of those in need and hurting but rejecting the culture that allows and perpetrates injustice and work to correct it.

James begins this section with verse 19 and 20 showing us that he is a hand on kind of guy. Open your ears, close your mouth, and stay away from anger. Religion is never passive: “religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is” grace, compassion and forgiveness in our lives. (See devotional # 17) Let us get out of our churches and get our hands and feet dirty! James assures us that God blesses our efforts. Praise is to God!

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#17. April 27, 2015

2015 Devotional. Our goal for these weekly devotionals is to grow in humility and to grow spiritually by memorizing selected passages, putting them into context, and by applying them to our daily living. These passages are taken from: “100 Verses Every Christian Needs to Know” by Freeman-Smith. All passages are from the NIV.

Ephesians 2:8-9

⁸ For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— ⁹ not by works, so that no one can boast.

Ephesians is about the Church, about what “God prepared… for Christians to do.” At the beginning of the letter Paul highlights reconciliation by God’s love for his people and ends the letter with practical ways to serve God and each other.

I grew up in religion and from the time I started to understand God’s grace I found that religion often stood in the way of it. What was so important about wearing dress pants to church or catechism instead of the jeans we wanted to wear? As teenagers, a couple of us wanted to join the church Bible Study but because we had not yet made Profession of Faith we were not qualified to join. Really? We had to be in church twice on Sunday “come hell or high water”. Heaven forbid you bought something on Sunday, like gas when on empty or food if hungry, if you did, apparently hell was your next destination. OK, true, that was a long time ago but more recently when I wore my sandals while preaching and Alisha joined the Praise Team with her great voice and her many tattoos some people were uncomfortable: grace went missing. There are many other recent examples but suffice it say that salvation by works is alive and well. That means that grace, compassion, and forgiveness are also missing. When God’s love (Jn. 3:16-18) is missing in our church or our lives it minimizes God’s grace extended freely to everyone.

God’s free grace is what the verses we are memorizing are all about but this discussion starts at verse 1 of chapter. 2 and continues through verse 10. Paul tells us that we are “dead in our sins and trespasses”. How would that truth fly in our secular postmodern culture? That does not even go over well with religious types. We are dead and we deserve all of God’s wrath and that goes for all of us, every person and every Christian “but because of his great love for us God, who is rich in mercy made us alive with Christ even when we were dead” That is a once and for all event set in motion before the beginning of Creation (Eph. 1:3-6). And it is an everyday event because the old man is very much with us and spiritual death still stalks us but God’s grace by faith in Christ has set us free.

That is what it means to be alive in Christ, not perfect lives, not by our own efforts, but as “a gift from God” in Christ Jesus and “not by works”. Paul gives us God’s purpose and God’s goal for our lives: We are His “workmanship” recreated in Christ “to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Good works in Jesus’ name is the result of God’s grace in our lives.

#16. April 20, 2015

2015 Devotional. Our goal for these weekly devotionals is to grow in humility and to grow spiritually by memorizing selected passages, putting them into context, and by applying them to our daily living. These passages are taken from: “100 Verses Every Christian Needs to Know” by Freeman-Smith. All passages are from the NIV.

Joshua 24:15

¹⁵ But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”

Joshua 24 is about the renewal of the covenant that God made with Abraham and with all the people of Israel by Moses receiving the “Ten Words, The Ten Commandments”. Reviewing the history of God’s grace to His people, Joshua begins with Abraham and his line from Ur beyond the Euphrates. He continues with God’s care for the Patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, their offspring’s salvation from Egypt and God’s care of His people in the wilderness. Now they are standing in the “Promised Land” and Joshua challenged them v. 15. Who will you serve?

We know that the god’s of Ur came along with Abraham’s company and were still around with Jacob’s people and I suspect were still with some of the people standing there in front of Joshua. Will you serve them Joshua asks? Or will you serve the god’s of the people among whom you now live? Joshua makes the people choose and sets the direction God wants for them. “As for me and my household, we will serve the Lord”. All of the people answered. Yes! We will serve the Lord!

We know from Scripture that it turned out badly for Israel. It is encouraging for us to see great faithfulness and great blessings, King David and Solomon the most obvious examples. There is also the discouragement of apostasy, like King Ahab and the Kings of Samaria after God split the Kingdom of Solomon and the Kings of Judah who did evil in God’s sight. In the end we read in 2 Ch. 36:15-16 “the wrath of the Lord was aroused against his people and there was no remedy.” First Samaria and second Jerusalem were sent into exile.

But after 70 years of Judah’s exile God brings back to the land a remnant in order to fulfill His promise to Abraham and to David and fulfill His purpose of bring His people, His creation, back to Himself through Jesus Christ His Son. When we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior we are standing where Israel stood in Joshua’s day, we are standing in the Promised Land, our life of service ahead of us. The very same question faces us: Whom will you serve? Will you take the easy way out? Follow the trends of our culture or will you follow Jesus? Will you allow the secular culture you are familiar with to set direction for your new life or allow the radical and controversial actions of Jesus to set direction for you? It is a personal decision that we must make every day. In faith and in the power of the Holy Spirit we must answer: “as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”

#15. April 13, 2015

2015 Devotional. Our goal for these weekly devotionals is to grow in humility and to grow spiritually by memorizing selected passages, putting them into context, and by applying them to our daily living. These passages are taken from: “100 Verses Every Christian Needs to Know” by Freeman-Smith. All passages are from the NIV.

John 10:10

¹⁰ The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

In the March 23, 2015 devotional, “I am” Jesus says, we referenced the seven “I am” statements in the Gospel of John. Jn.10 contains the third statement: “I am the gate”. Jesus is the “gate” the ”way” to the Kingdom of God, the way to salvation in Jesus’ own words, Jn.10: 9. This discussion begins in verse 1 of chapter 10 and is directed to the Pharisees. The Pharisees however did not understand, or do not want to understand. Jesus uses the metaphor of sheep and the sheep pen, only the shepherd is allowed into the sheep pen because the gatekeeper knows the shepherd and the sheep know the shepherd. The Pharisees are the gatekeepers but in this case they do not know the shepherd. Everyone else is a thief; Jesus is referring to the legalistic self-righteous theology of the Pharisees influenced by the thief, Satan. They heard but were blinded by their self-righteousness and did not see. Jesus repeats the concept in a way they were able to understand in v .7-10.

Who are the gatekeepers today? They are the pastors, the elders and other church leaders. Like the Pharisees many are blinded by our culture, by what is acceptable to most people, by what is popular today. You know the issues of today. Where is the church today? Who are the gatekeepers inviting into the sheep pen? Do we confront those issues with condemnation or with love and understanding but not condoning the sin? The true sheep will listen only to Jesus.

In verse 10 we cannot get away from the contrast that Jesus gives us. The thief is Satan who sneaks in under cover, in sheep’s clothing, pretending to be Jesus, but if we really know Jesus it soon becomes obvious that the thief, he/she, is here to “kill and destroy”. Sadly many gatekeepers claim that the thief is the Jesus of Scripture, citing love, tolerance, harmony, and dialogue. The life we have in Jesus can’t be duplicated! Only Jesus Christ forgives, accepts, saves, and moves us to a full life of joy, happiness, and peace. That life to the full comes by Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross and by His words to us everyday: I do not condemn you! Go and sin no more! (Jn. 8: 10-11) We only need to follow and listen to the one and only Shepherd!

#14. April 6, 2015

2015 Devotional. These passages are taken from: “100 Verses Every Christian Needs to Know” by Freeman-Smith. All passages are from the NIV

Exodus 20:3

³ “You shall have no other gods before ^[a] me.”

This verse is the first commandment of the “Decalogue” the Ten Words. The Ten Commandments are covenantal standards for Israel in their relationship with God (also see Dt. 5: 1-21). God reminds them of His loving care and gives them 10 commands: four commands regulating their relationship with God and six commands to regulate their relationship with each other.

The Ten Commandments still apply to Christians today. Today, in our covenantal relationship in Christ Jesus the Ten Commandments are a rule for living, teaching us how we may please God. The Ten Commandments were not a way to salvation in Moses’ day but salvation was by faith in the promises of God (Rom 4:18-25). The sacrifices of the Old Testament were a foreshadowing of the ultimate and once and for all sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross. Today the Ten Commandments are not a way to salvation. We obey God’s commands because we are saved, not to work for our own salvation. Salvation is in Christ Jesus alone: by faith in the works of God are we righteous before God as it was at the beginning of God’s covenantal relationship with mankind. (Rom. 4:1-6; 16-17)

Getting back to verse 3 and the introduction to the Ten Commandments: “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery”. Today God says to us: “I am the Lord your God who loves you and brought you out of the slavery of sin, the slavery Satan imposes on you but I gave Myself for you. My Son died for you so that you may live forever! Therefore, “ you shall have no other god’s besides me.” The concept of “no other God besides me” is clarified by commands two through four. (v. 4-11).

What does it mean to have other gods? It means to hold something in this world more important to you than God. It often is a subtle allegiance to something. Sometimes we do not realize that we hold something more important to us than God. It could be our family, as important as that is, our spouse, our children, and the success of our children. It could be our work, success in our careers, economic security. It could be sports, a favorite team, or our participation in a sport. None of these things are wrong in and of themselves and God wants us to give our efforts and talents to them but they must not be more important to us than our relationship with God. The bottom line is that in all we do, we glorify and thank God for all we are able to do in this life. Everything we do in Jesus’/ God’s name and do for His glory is work that will last forever and are the building blocks for the New Heaven and the New Earth. Praise be to God!

#12. March 23, 2015

2015 Devotional. These passages are taken from: “100 Verses Every Christian Needs to Know” by Freeman-Smith. All passages are from the NIV.

John 15:5

“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”

The purpose of the Gospel of John is to show that Jesus is the Son of God and that His ministry is evangelistic. See John 20: 29-31. Further, Jesus spent much of his time with those considered to be the down and out of proper society of the day. It is surprising therefore that many churches and many Christians spend very little time evangelizing or seeking out sinners as Jesus did and what, Biblically speaking, Jesus still expects from believers. We are to be like Jesus as the following metaphor teaches.

“I am the Vine“ is the last of Jesus’ seven “I am” statements in the Gospel of John. I list them here: 1.“the bread of life” Jn. 6:35; 2. “the light of the world” Jn. 8:12; 3.“the gate” Jn.10:9; 4. “the good shepherd” Jn. 10:11; 5. “the resurrection and the life” Jn.11: 25; 6. “the way and the truth and the life” Jn. 14:6.

The theme of this passage, Jn.15: 5 begins in v. 1 and continues through v.8. (Jn.15:1-8) Jesus begins with “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener.” Jesus is the true vine in distinction from other vine metaphors used in Scripture. God, the gardener does the pruning of unproductive branches on the vine “so that it (they) will be even more fruitful”. That means that the branch is cut back but still has the ability to produce fruit. The bad part of the branch is cut away along with the bad fruit that God rejects like sexual sins, arrogance and pride plus a host of other worldly action Christians sometimes participate in: (see Galatians 5:19-21, but also see I Cor. 3:11-15). What kind of fruit is Jesus talking about? It is not the salvation of the believer because Jesus says: “You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you”. But he says: “No branch can bear fruit by itself “. Jesus must be in us and we must be in Him.

In v. 5 Jesus repeats his statement indicating the importance of what he is saying: “If a man (women) remains in me and I in him (her) he (she) will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing”. That may be hard to hear for some who depend too much on themselves. What kind of fruit is Jesus talking about? Surely Jesus means the fruit of the Spirit, Gal 5: 22-23. I believe it is more than that because the fruit of the Spirit shows those around us what Jesus is like. That he is not condemning but compassionate, loving, and encouraging, and seeking the lost. Is Jesus not like his Father? “For God so loved the world that He gave”…. You know the verses by heart. (John 3:16-18) I believe that is the fruit Jesus is referring to and that is the fruit, along with the fruit of the Spirit that glorifies God! The words of Jesus in us witnesses Jesus to the world. We “are letters from Christ” (II Cor. 3: 2- 6) “read by everybody” Therefore, we ask God for what we want in order to produce more fruit and He gives us all we need to that end. Praise be to God!

#11. March 16, 2015

2015 Devotional. These passages are taken from: “100 Verses Every Christian Needs to Know” by Freeman-Smith. All passages are from the NIV.

Proverbs 3: 5-6

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
⁶ in all your ways submit to him,
and he will make your paths straight.^[a]”

In many ways this passage is my personal “World and Life View”!

 The book of Proverbs is part of the Hebrew cannon known as “The Writings”, Biblical “Wisdom Literature” along with Job, Psalms, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Songs. The prologue of the book Prov. 1:1-7 gives the purpose and teaching and can be summarized as: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge”.

The passage Prov. 3:5-6 is part of a larger section of the book titled in the NIV as “Exhortations to Embrace Wisdom” beginning at Ch. 1:8 and ending at the end of Ch. 9. This passage is also part of a bigger section of Ch. 3, Ch. 3:1-6 and v. 5-6 should not be separated from it. It is a father speaking to his son in the first person. He charges his son not to forget what he has taught him. But observe the commands of attaining wisdom; Keep them in your mind/heart. For, pointing back to verse one, “they will prolong your life many years and bring you prosperity.” This is a general truth and a promise from God but it is applied in different ways, not all are rewarded in this life but certainly in the next.

The father goes on with the importance of love and faithfulness “bind them around your neck” This is a strong Hebrew word in the sense of binding, tying, binding together, in other words in your very demeanor show love and faithfulness, it is obvious for others to see but it is rooted in the heart. “Write them on the tablet of your heart”, the meaning here is to inscribe, to chisel into stone, wood or metal. The New Testament speaks of being “written by the Spirit of the Living God” (II Cor. 3:3) The father goes on; “Then you will win favor and a good name in the sight of God and man”. That also is a general truth certainly favored by God but not always by man. Today, love and faithfulness is not a priority, and sometimes is outright rejected.

In verses 5-6 the father continues his instruction with: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart”. What does it mean to trust, do we trust in difficult times? Yes! We do! Trust means to completely depend on God. However, trust, hope, and faith go together, Rom 5: 1-5 shows us why we rejoice in good times and when we suffer. Why? Because we have the Holy Spirit in our hearts given us by Christ Jesus. The father goes on; “and lean not on your own understanding” The meaning here is “intelligence, insight, or skill” look to God’s Word for guidance. “In all your ways acknowledge Him”; acknowledging God in the course of our lives is to know God intimately and to always be learning to know Him deeper. “And he will make your path straight”, meaning direction for life, a way to live. The path in life is unique for every believer; God directs what path we follow. it may not always be the path we would choose, it may be up and down, a path into and out of many places and among many peoples’ lives but a path that builds the Kingdom of God by his grace. Continue to seek his guidance, and listen to the Holy Spirit!

#10. March 9, 2015

2015 Devotional. These passages are taken from: “100 Verses Every Christian Needs to Know” by Freeman-Smith. All passages are from the NIV.

Matt. 6: 33-34 “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. ³⁴ Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”

This passage is part of Jesus’ “Sermon on the Mount”, Mt. 5-7. In these three chapters Jesus turns the rules and ideas of the legalistic religious leaders of the day upside down.

Chapter 6 starts out with pretending to have type fruit of the Spirit : giving (v. 1-4). There was money giving to the temple at the time that was for the purpose of impressing people and giving that was no effort, giving out of abundance. (Mk. 12;43-44) There is a way of praying that does not please God (v. 5-15). Some people and leaders prayed in public for the purpose of appearing more righteous than others. In the end Jesus teaches us a simple prayer (see Dev. #4 Jan. 26 2015). Jesus includes fasting (v. 16-18): fasting used and abused by people/ leaders seeking to glorify themselves. Jesus moves on to idolatry: (v. 19-24) mainly our treasure, He draws a comparison of temporary treasure and permanent treasure stored in heaven. From treasure Jesus moves to a related subject, worry, (v. 25-32) worrying about all that we need in life is natural. Yet, Jesus points out that excessive worry about all that we need in this life is a lack of faith and he reminds us that God “knows that you need them”.

Jesus is moving us to prioritize. The two verses that we are looking at the end of this chapter are a summary of what goes on before it and answers questions raised by chapter six. Jesus says, “seek God’s Kingdom first”, this must be a believer’s priority. God’s Kingdom is in our hearts. “Open the eyes of our hearts Lord?” And seek His righteousness first. Are we to perform acts of righteousness like giving, praying, and fasting? Yes! but it begins in the heart. The acts of righteousness we read about in the first part of chapter six did not come from the heart but from selfish ambition. When believers have their priorities correct all that is mentioned in chapter six will be given to us. We will have all we need physically, and spiritually. Jesus also addresses the issue of anxiety. Live today, let God take care of tomorrow. Who knows tomorrow? Don’t drag tomorrow’s troubles into the day God has given us today. This is the faith issue that we struggle with when we think about the future. Allow God to take care of today! Allow God to take care of tomorrow! He has the believer’s best interest in mind. Praise Him!

#9. March 2, 2015

2015 Devotional. These passages are taken from: “100 Verses Every Christian Needs to Know” by Freeman-Smith. All passages are from the NIV.

 

I Corinthians 13: 13 “And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love.                                                                                     But the greatest of these is love.”

This well-known chapter on love begins in Chapter 12, “Spiritual Gifts” and goes on to Chapter 14, “Gifts of Prophecy and Tongues.” The major issue in these three chapters is unity; unity of the Spirit and unity of the body of Christ, the church. This is what Jesus prayed about in his High Priestly Prayer in John 17. Verse 21 stands out: “that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.” In a practical way Paul picks up on the divisions in the Corinthian church over the gifts of the Spirit. He points out in Ch. 12:11 “All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them (gifts) to each one, just as he determines.” Also, verse 7 “Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.” When are we going to learn that truth and practice it? So many Christians and congregations are doing their own thing. Paul goes on with an example of the unity of the Body, verse 25,26 “so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. ²⁶ If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.” When, we ask, will there be concern for each other, when will there be concern for those outside of the body? (Jesus’ prayer Jn. 17:20-25).

I believe that the lack of unity in the church and among Christians is the crucial issue of today. There is a lack of unity in our own denomination. “Ministry shares” unifying our recourses for ministry continues to decline, there is no sense of unity in the denominational agencies. It is becoming difficult to work together and the leadership lacks a spiritual vision for outreach. The Mission that the Holy Spirit calls us to do together (Act 13:1-3) is almost non-existent. Individuals and congregations, claiming they have all the gifts, are doing their own thing. There is no longer a unified vision for “making disciples of all nations” using all the gifts that the Holy Spirit has given the Church. It is the way of society today, we are divided socially, economically, politically, religiously, educationally and instead of the church setting direction for society, society sets direction for the church.

This all sounds rather negative, and it may be more comfortable to pretend we are living in “la la land” but it is a reality we must not ignore. Paul tells us there is a “most excellent way”, it is the way of love, chapter 13. Whatever gifts we (the church) have, whatever we have accomplished, whatever we have planned for the future is meaningless without love. “Love is” v.4-7 and it “never fails”! All things will pass away but faith, hope, and love, the greatest of the three remain.

Faith: we believe what we do not see,

Hope: we always expect the best for us and for others,

Love: the Greek uses a superlative, is much greater because it is God’s love (I Jn. 4:19), the kind of love with which we love God, love ourselves, love our fellow believers, and love those who God loves but have not yet turned to Jesus. This love is the definition and the foundation of the church of Jesus Christ, and is the motivation for missions! Amen!