Psalm 95 - "They shall not enter My rest"

Psalm 95 1Oh come, let us sing to the Lord! Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our salvation. 2Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving; Let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms. 3For the Lord is the great God, And the great King above all gods. 4In His hand are the deep places of the earth; The heights of the hills are His also. 5The sea is His, for He made it; And His hands formed the dry land. 6Oh come, let us worship and bow down; Let us kneel before the Lord our Maker. 7For He is our God, And we are the people of His pasture, And the sheep of His hand. Today, if you will hear His voice: 8“Do not harden your hearts, as in the rebellion, As in the day of trial in the wilderness, 9When your fathers tested Me; They tried Me, though they saw My work. 10For forty years I was grieved with that generation, And said, ‘It is a people who go astray in their hearts, And they do not know My ways.’ 11So I swore in My wrath, ‘They shall not enter My rest.’ ” NKJV

”So I swore in My wrath, ‘They shall not enter My rest.’. The psalm ends sort of abruptly doesn’t it? I have to admit that when I printed the text out to prepare for my Wednesday night study I thought my software had dropped a couple of verses. I flipped through my bible and sure enough verse 11 is the last verse. I really expected there to be some words of hope for the righteous if they choose to follow God, some exhortation reminding us of the rewards to come if we follow God. I wasn’t expecting “They shall not enter My rest – The End”.

Why is that? Why did I expect the assurance of the reward? David spent the first ten verses exhorting me to follow God. Look at the breakdown:

Verse 1 – Our salvation is secure through God.
Verse 2 – We are to approach God with a spirit of thanksgiving
Verse 3 – God is above all
Verse 4-5 – God is in control of creation
Verse 6 – We are to approach God with a sense of humility
Verse 7 – God watches over us and protects us.

How much more exhortation do I need? As if that weren’t enough, David reminds me what happens to the rebellious in verses 8-11. The rebellious generation died in the wilderness. They never entered the promised land.

I’m glad that the psalm ended abruptly, I need to be shaken sometimes. I need to be reminded that serving God is reward enough. I need to be reminded that the salvation provided by God is better than anything that this world has to offer. I need to be reminded that the consequence of my choice to be rebellious is unrest.

I do not want to go astray in my heart…
I want to know His way…
I want to enter into His rest…

Pray that I learn to be content simply in Christ and I’ll do the same for you.

Grace and peace to you all.

Matthew 23:13-33 Part Three (Corruption and Perversion – vs 15-22)

Matthew 23:15-22 15“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel land and sea to win one proselyte, and when he is won, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves. 16“Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘Whoever swears by the temple, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the temple, he is obliged to perform it.’ 17“Fools and blind! For which is greater, the gold or the temple that sanctifies the gold? 18“And, ‘Whoever swears by the altar, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gift that is on it, he is obliged to perform it.’ 19“Fools and blind! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that sanctifies the gift? 20“Therefore he who swears by the altar, swears by it and by all things on it. 21“He who swears by the temple, swears by it and by Him who dwells in it. 22“And he who swears by heaven, swears by the throne of God and by Him who sits on it.

The next two curses go hand in hand – corruption and perversion. If you remember from the last post we were discussing how the Scribes and Pharisees were keeping people from the kingdom by their actions. They were corrupting and perverting the purpose that God had given to Abraham, to be a blessing to the world.

They had lost their focus, instead of focusing on the bringing the world to the Lord they were instead focused on their own comfort and their own prosperity.

First let’s talk about the corruption described in verse 15.

Jesus begins with you travel land and sea to win one proselyte. What’s a proselyte? A proselyte is an outsider who has come into a religion. Shouldn’t Jesus be commending them for their efforts, after all they traveled land and sea to bring the Gentiles in? Their motives were not as pure as we might think. Look at this section pulled from the MacArthur commentary:

There were two kinds of proselytes in the synagogues. One was called “a proselyte of the gate,” a Gentile who only attended the services. He now worshipped the true God, but he had not committed himself to full ritualistic and legalistic Judaism. Such proselytes are referred to in the book of Acts as a person who was devout, as “God-fearing”, or as a “worshiper of God”.

The other kind was referred to as “a proselyte of righteousness,” so called because he became as religiously Jewish as a Gentile could become. The participated in all the ceremonies, rituals, and feasts; they observed all the cleansing and other rites, both biblical and traditional; and if males, they were circumcised. Those converts were even given Jewish names in order to separate them as much as possible from their pagan past. Contrary to their popular appellation, however, they became anything but righteous. Like the scribes and Pharisees who instructed them, the became paragons of self-righteousness The MacArthur New Testament Commentary: Matthew 16-23… John MacArthur

How do you think one of the “proselytes of righteousness” carried himself? What do you think that he had to go through to become and accepted as a Gentile? Now this is just preacher’s imagination but I would imagine that the things that he had to endure to be admitted into “the club” would have made college hazing or our time look tame.

How much compassion and mercy is he going to show to those that are around him? Isn’t he going to push those around him at least as hard as he was pushed? Twice the son of hell Jesus calls them. The students had passed their teachers in their ability to keep people out of the kingdom. They had corrupted the original beautiful intent of God to bring the entire world into the kingdom into something petty and ugly that kept men out. No wonder the Savior’s heart is breaking

Next lets talk about the perversion Jesus describes in verses 16 to 22. These verses all deal with how the scribes and Pharisees dealt with their vows toward God.

In the Sermon on the mount Jesus condemned all swearing of vows. We are instructed to tell the truth at all times because we are godly people. The examples of vows made to God in the Old Testament are usually related to praise and thankfulness, not to insure that the truth was being told or that a service would be rendered. Part of being holy and set apart for God is the fact that our word is good.

The leaders living at the time of Christ however were not concerned with praise. They had perverted the Old Testament examples given to us in the Psalms of keeping vows to God into something used to ease their own conscience or to offer themselves a way out.

They had set up a whole chain of how to get out of a vow. Swearing on the temple was not the same as swearing on the gold in the temple, if you swore on the gold you had to keep that. Swearing on the altar was not the same as swearing on the sacrifice, if you swore on the sacrifice you had to keep that. Do you see the flaw in the logic here?

Who does the temple belong to? God
Who does the gold belong to? God
Who does the altar belong to? God
Who does the sacrifice belong to? God

Jesus is reminding them that the vows that they make are all made to God. There is no getting out of them just to cover your lie… Fast-forward to Acts ch 5 and Ananias and Sapphira.

Ananias and Sapphira had decided to sell a piece of land and that they were going to give the money to the church afterwards. For whatever reason after the sale they decided to keep some of the money for themselves and lied about the amount that they had sold the land for. What happens? God strikes them dead. Did God strike them dead because their offering was less? No, He struck them dead because they lied about it. They did not honor God in their actions.

Jesus reminds us of this fact in verse 20. When they were swearing on the temple they were in essence swearing by God’s holy name. When they broke their vow they brought dishonor to God.

Perversion and corruption are two very dangerous enemies of the church today. When God’s word becomes uncomfortable we have a tendency to twist into something more palatable. When our service to Him becomes too uncomfortable we will justify our disobedience.

Let us learn from the examples of the scribes and Pharisees. Let us seek to bring people into the kingdom but let’s not make them legalistic. Let us win them into the kingdom by showing them compassion, grace and mercy. Ask God to break you today if you have a spirit of self-righteousness. Remind yourself that you did not save yourself and it is God’s amazing grace that has brought you in.

Also let us take some time to examine our service to Him. Are we fulfilling all of our vows to the Lord? Are we truthful at all times? Are we seeking to bring honor to Jesus’ name? Ask God to break your heart in this area as well if the need is there.

Let us not keep people out of the kingdom by our example.

Grace and Peace to you all…

Matthew 23:13-33 Part Two (Blocking the Door - vs 13)

Matthew 23:13 13“But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither go in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in.

Why does Jesus pronounce this woe first? I believe it is because in it is the root of all of the other woes. The only way that man can be saved is if he responds to the gospel of Christ and our purpose is to point people toward the kingdom and its King. In everything that we do, isn’t He supposed to be the focus? Isn’t bringing people into the kingdom job #1? Look closely, He first points out that the religious leaders are not part of the kingdom, and if that weren’t bad enough, they are keeping other people out because of their actions.

Do you remember how the Scribes and Pharisees responded to John the Baptist? Look with me at Matthew 3:

7But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8“Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, 9“and do not think to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones. 10“And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 11“I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 12“His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

John’s message was repentance and the leaders wanted nothing of it. They simply wanted to be seen with the crowds so that the people would not lose respect for them. They were not interested in repentance, they were not interested in bringing people into the kingdom. They were only interested in their own comfort and how they were perceived.

Yet another example on the reaction of the leaders to Jesus after He had performed a miracle, this from John 9:

13They brought him who formerly was blind to the Pharisees. 14Now it was a Sabbath when Jesus made the clay and opened his eyes. 15Then the Pharisees also asked him again how he had received his sight. He said to them, “He put clay on my eyes, and I washed, and I see.” 16Therefore some of the Pharisees said, “This Man is not from God, because He does not keep the Sabbath.” Others said, “How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?” And there was a division among them.

You’re kidding me right? A blind man can now see and the reaction isn’t “Praise God for his power and mercy” or “Praise God for his healing, this man who could not see can now see.”? Instead they are upset because this miracle was performed on the Sabbath.

They were not interested in the expansion of the kingdom. All they saw were the masses responding to an uneducated teacher from the backwater town of Nazareth. They did not like the fact that His message was one of repentance and holiness. They did not like the fact that people were flocking to Jesus in droves. Instead of joining the crowd in worship the Scribes and Pharisees were trying to discredit Him. They were accusing Him and His works of being from the devil instead of from the Father.

They did not want people to respond to the God Jesus was describing. They did not want people to respond to a God that is all about mercy and grace and forgiveness. Why? Because it takes everything away from them doesn’t it? When you tell people that their salvation is not about their own righteousness what does that do to the self righteous person? It suddenly takes away all of your value doesn’t it. When the message is that there is hope and peace and it is available to all who believe what does that do to the person who has spent his own life working for heaven? It takes it all away…

They did not want God on His terms, they wanted God on theirs. They were so consumed with their own righteousness that they were willing to stand in the way of others that may come into the kingdom. That is what makes Jesus cry out in anguish, their own selfishness is not only keeping them out of the kingdom but it is leading others away.

Fast-forward some two thousand years. Are we leading people into the kingdom? Is that the bent of our life or are we standing in the way? The world does not need us – the world needs a Savior. Let us never forget that our purpose is to spread the gospel so that mankind can be saved.

I’ll close today with lyrics from the song What This World Needs by Casting Crowns. Grace and peace to you all…

What this world needs is not another one hit wonder with an axe to grind
Another two bit politician peddling lies
Another three ring circus society
What this world needs is not another sign waving super saint that’s better than you
Another ear pleasing candy man afraid of the truth
Another prophet in an Armani suit
What this world needs is a Savior who will rescue
A Spirit who will lead
A Father who will love them in their time of need
A Savior who will rescue
A Spirit who will lead
A Father who will love
That’s what this world needs
What this world needs is for us to care more about the inside than the outside
Have we become so blind that we can’t see
God’s gotta change her heart before He changes her shirt
What this world needs is for us to stop hiding behind our relevance
Blending in so well that people can’t see the difference
And it’s the difference that sets the world free
Jesus is our Savior, that’s what this world needs
Father’s arms around you, that’s what this world needs
That’s what this world needs

Matthew 23:13-33 Part One – Introduction

Today starts a series of posts based on a sermon I gave on February 22nd. Again I would like to thank Cecelia for transcribing my ramblings and for the initial edit. I hope you find these edifying – Jeff

Matthew 23:13-33 13“But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither go in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in. 14“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense make long prayers. Therefore you will receive greater condemnation. 15“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel land and sea to win one proselyte, and when he is won, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves. 16“Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘Whoever swears by the temple, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the temple, he is obliged to perform it.’ 17“Fools and blind! For which is greater, the gold or the temple that sanctifies the gold? 18“And, ‘Whoever swears by the altar, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gift that is on it, he is obliged to perform it.’ 19“Fools and blind! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that sanctifies the gift? 20“Therefore he who swears by the altar, swears by it and by all things on it. 21“He who swears by the temple, swears by it and by Him who dwells in it. 22“And he who swears by heaven, swears by the throne of God and by Him who sits on it. 23“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone. 24“Blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel! 25“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence. 26“Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them may be clean also. 27“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. 28“Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. 29“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous, 30“and say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.’ 31“Therefore you are witnesses against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. 32“Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers’ guilt. 33“Serpents, brood of vipers! How can you escape the condemnation of hell?

What is the purpose of the Church? That should be an easy question but it seems as if we struggle in today’s world with the answer.

Is it for companionship? Hopefully you attend a church where everyone is friendly. A place where we come together as a congregation because we are accepted there, warts and all. We can find companionship in the body of Christ that we cannot find anywhere else. Companionship is a good thing, but is that our purpose?

Is it benevolence? Hopefully you attend a church that ministers to others, a place of prayer and compassion. A place that is not afraid to dig into its treasury when someone is struggling financially. A place that is not afraid to dig into any of the resources that it has to come alongside someone that is struggling. Benevolence is a good thing but is that our purpose?

How about worship? Is our purpose worship? Is our point of being part of the church simply so that we can praise God and sing His praises? Hopefully you belong to a church where you talk about how wonderful He is, a place where praise and thanksgiving come together and lift everyone up to the glory of the Son. I hope that you belong to a place where God is praised by the reading and teaching of His word. Worship is a wonderful thing but is that our purpose?

Would it surprise you if I told you that the answer to the above questions is “no”? All of these things are things the church is supposed to do and if a church isn’t doing them that probably is an evidence that they have some problems that they need to address. All of these things are good and fitting but they are not our purpose. The church exists for one reason and one reason only - to save souls. Look with me at the last words from Jesus in Matthew 28:

18And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20“teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.

Its pretty clear from that passage what our purpose is. Go and gather the world together under the banner of Christ. The purpose of the church is to save souls.

If we are simply an organization that offers companionship, benevolence and well being than we are no different than any other organization that man has created. We have been called to something much higher than any of these things, we have been called to be the proclaimers of the gospel of God. The purpose of the church is to go out and tell men and women that there is hope, to let them know that they do not have to be lost in their sins.

The purpose of the church is to go and remind people that there is sin, that there is a heaven to gain and a hell to spurn. We are also to remember that anything that we do in the church that waters the gospel message down or hides it in any form is a sin. Anything that we do that just simply adds burdens to people with no talk of grace and mercy is a sin. Anything that we do that does not bring people closer to God is a sin. The purpose of the church is to save souls, the same purpose it has had since the beginning.

God called Abraham and told him that through him He would bless the entire world didn’t He? The temple was built with an area for the Gentiles to worship. God has always wanted all of mankind to respond to Him in faith; to look to Him for their meaning, to look to Him for their security, and to look to Him for their salvation.

The leaders in Jesus’ day had sorrowfully forgotten their mission - to tell people about God. we are going to be talking over the next couple of days about the purpose of the church, about how the Scribes and Pharisees (and perhaps ourselves) have lost their first love.

But before we begin in earnest, some definitions are in order.

The first word is hypocrite. Jesus uses that term several times in our passage to describe the leaders of the church. The word comes comes from a Greek word that originally meant actor. An actor portrays something that he isn’t. He learns lines and he’s very believable on stage, and the more believable he is in his role the more accolades he gets. Nine times out of ten he’s nothing like the character he portrays and that concept is the one that Jesus drives home. The idea of pretended goodness instead of actually being good.

The other word is woe. It comes from the Greek word ouai (Oo-ah’-ee ) and my commentary tells me that it is a word that describes the feeling it’s sound portrays. It sound as if you are suffering some kind of inward pain when the word is pronounced. It portrays the sound of anguish. When it’s used in New Testament writings it’s always used to talk about this idea of sorrow mingled with the idea of judgment. It’s a cry of anger and a cry of pain and when we keep that thought in mind it brings these passages home all the more. As you read these verses you hear the anguish and the anger that God had toward those that stood in His name and the way that they had forgotten their purpose. You can hear the Savior crying out to His people because they had fallen so far from Him.

We’ll start in earnest in our next post. Until then read these passages and reflect upon the purpose of the church.

Grace and peace to you all

Annie Armstrong Week of Prayer - Willie and Ozzie Jacobs

Today please pray for Willie and Ozzie Jacobs (click on their picture to read about them).

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Annie Armstrong Week of Prayer - Paul and Elizabeth Biswas

Today please pray for Paul and Elizabeth Biswas (click on their picture to read about them).

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Matthew 23:1-12 Part Six (Verses 10-12 Submission)

Matthew 23:8-12 8“But you, do not be called ‘Rabbi’; for One is your Teacher, the Christ, and you are all brethren. 9“Do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven. 10“And do not be called teachers; for One is your Teacher, the Christ. 11“But he who is greatest among you shall be your servant. 12“And whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.

We’ve spent most of our time talking about how not to serve Christ, now lets spend some time talking about what we should be doing. Read the above passages, focusing on verse 12. Our goal as followers of Christ should never to be elevated.

He says “do not be called ‘Rabbi’”. The Scribes and Pharisees were all about the titles. A (s)cribe by definition is merely someone who diligently and reverently copies God’s word, however a (S)cribe is someone to be looked up to because they interpret and preserve the law, they are God’s pens on earth. A righteous and God fearing Jew is merely someone who is following the great Jehovah, however a Pharisee is one who is above the law. They are God’s examples to man on earth and they are to be respected and honored because of their standing with God. Do you see the difference between that mindset and what Jesus is saying in these verses? Jesus says don’t look for the title of “Teacher” because anything you learn is from Christ.

He is to be the model for us. He is to be the example for us. God took on human flesh and walked among us to become the perfect sacrifice for our sins. In His time here on earth He also gave us the example of how to live our lives. Everything He did He did to glorify the Father. His actions were motivated by His love for the unredeemed. He lived the perfect life of submission finally submitting Himself to death on the cross. Everything we do should be interpreted with Christ as the model.

Don’t want to seek to be elevated because we are all equal in Christ and we all submit to the same God. Look at Romans 1:16:

16For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.

We all have the same salvation, we all come to Him the same way. There is nothing special about any of us other than the fact that God loves us. Look at Galatians 3:26-28

26For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. 27For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

We are all one in Christ. There is none of us that is more important than another.

Jesus tells us in these verses not to seek any title; Rabbi, Teacher, Father or anything else that man may dream up. We serve God, He is our Father – not someone given a title by man. We serve God, He is our Teacher – not someone given a position by man.

God is to receive all of the glory, never us. Anything that elevates us above God is sin. Any title that we revere above Christ is an idol and it must be cast away from us. Let us give the glory where glory is due. Let God have all the titles. Let Him be the holy one, let Him be reverenced, let Him be called Father and Teacher. Don’t seek that for yourself.

Jesus tells us if we want to be great we must be willing to accept lowly service, look at verses 11 and 12. ”He who is greatest among you shall be your servant.” Our perfect example of that is Jesus on the night of the last supper. Do you remember what He did before dinner? He washed everyone’s feet. God Himself took on the role of servant didn’t He? The biggest picture of Christ humbling Himself for others has to be the cross. Did Jesus have to die on the cross for Himself? No. That He did for us...

He allowed Himself to be betrayed, He allowed Himself to be captured, He allowed Himself to be beaten, He allowed Himself to be spat on and He allowed Himself to be nailed to a tree. Why did He do all that? Because we needed Him to…

He knew that we could not save ourselves. He took upon that role of servant and fulfilled a duty that we could cannot because He loves us more than we can imagine.
Let us follow His example in the way that we serve. Let us seek to be exalted in the next kingdom and not this one. Let us humble ourselves before one another remembering that when we serve each other we are serving Him. There is no task no menial for us to perform.

Look closely at verse 12 and the choice it offers. We can choose to be honored in this life but we will ultimately be humbled if that is the case. We can choose to be humbled in this life and be ultimately lifted up in the next. Let the only words of praise that we seek be "Well done my good and faithful servant". Let us serve Christ first and seek only His approval.

Let us not forget His example to us on the cross. Let us serve Him and others out of love never forgetting that is was God’s grace and mercy that brought us to the place in which we now stand.

Grace and peace to you all…

Annie Armstrong Week Of Prayer - Lamar and Dolly Duke

Today please pray for Lamar and Dolly Duke (click on their picture to read about them).

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Matthew 23:1-12 Part Five (Verses 5-7 Humility)

Matthew 23:5-7 5“But all their works they do to be seen by men. They make their phylacteries broad and enlarge the borders of their garments. 6“They love the best places at feasts, the best seats in the synagogues, 7“greetings in the marketplaces, and to be called by men, ‘Rabbi, Rabbi.’

First let’s look at a portion of scripture from Deuteronomy 6:

4“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one! 5“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.

6“And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. 7“You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. 8“You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9“You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

This is the command of God to His nation Israel after they had been delivered from Egypt. What is God’s intent in this passage? Was it that Israel go around with His word plastered all over their bodies? I don’t think so either.

Look carefully at the passage. It starts off with the greatest commandment, “love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength”. A pretty good start! Everything in our lives is to be done from that place of loving God first. What does God say next, “and these words…shall be in your heart”. The Word of God is supposed to be at the very core of our being. He then goes on to define what that means by telling us to teach them to our children and talk of them wherever you are.

The command that God gives about binding His word to your hand, and frontlets to your eyes and writing them on your doorpost had less to do with the actual accessories and more to do with the heart. By binding God’s word on your hand you are saying that everything you do is guided by His word. By wearing them as frontlets on your eyes you are saying that everything that you think is guided by His word. By having them on your home you are saying that your house is a house where God is the ruler. It’s all about your devotion to the God who you are to love with every aspect of your being.

Fast forward to Jesus’ time. The words from Deuteronomy had been taken very literally. A phylactery is a leather box containing scripture. This box was attached to straps which they wore around their head. They also carried another leather box containing scripture that was strapped to their left hand. The bigger your boxes the more spiritual you were considered to be.

In Numbers 15:38-40 God gives them a command about wearing tassels on the hem (the border) of their garments so that they “may look upon it and remember all the commandments of the LORD and do them,”. By the time of the Pharisees this command also had been taken very literally, the bigger your border the more devoted to God you must be.

Is that what the Deuteronomy and Numbers passage were about? Wearing big boxes on your head and long tassels on your robes? In context God was telling His people, “Don’t forget that I brought you here. Don’t forget to teach your children My law. Let My word be so wrapped up in your life that it is always effecting what you see and what you do. Let all your houses be houses of God. These things that you do are all to signify that you are mine and that our relationship is special”.
The Pharisees were not concerned about what God thought, they were only concerned with what the people thought about them. In their minds it was better to be appreciated and honored by the people than it was to honor God. Their actions demonstrated that they did not care for the people. If they were unwilling to honor the second greatest commandment it goes to follow that they were also unwilling to honor the greatest.

If we need more evidence that they were motivated entirely by what the people thought and not God, look at verses 6 & 7. They were all about been seen and being revered.

They lacked humility. They wanted the front seat everywhere. They were more concerned with being noticed and honored than they were about serving God. They liked the fact that people would come and ask their opinion on matters because, after all, they were the spiritual giants.

Remember the account of the Pharisee and the publican praying? The Pharisee was merely announcing his self-righteousness right before he shouts his thankfulness about not being the guy standing next to him. A perfect example of not honoring God and not loving your neighbor. Contrast them with the publican, he couldn’t even lift his eyes from the ground because of the guilt of his sin. He merely asked the Lord to be merciful to a sinner. Which one of those two really knew who God was? Was it the guy who was all about long winded prayers that did nothing more than lift himself up or was it the man who was broken looking to God for mercy.

Humility is a hard thing to achieve, they say as soon as you realize you have it you’ve lost it. Humility becomes easier when we remember that we are not our own. When we remember that we have been bought with the most precious blood. Remember the 1 Peter passage from yesterday? He commands us to submit to each other, be compassionate toward each other.

We may not wear leather boxes on our hands and heads today but most of us still carry our phylacteries, don’t we? Do we parade our service to God before men to be seen? What motivates us to do the thing that we do? Is everything that we do driven by our love and devotion to the Lord?

Remember that it is never about us and our achievements. We are to spend our lives pointing others to the one that is greater than any of us, Jesus Christ.

Be humble my friends, remember that you did not save yourself.

Annie Armstrong Week Of Prayer - Song and Fanny Kim

Today please pray for Song and Fanny Kim (click on their picture to read about them).

If you'd like to read more about the North American Missions Emphasis please click on the logo below...

Annie Armstrong Week of Prayer - Brenda Crim

Today please pray for Brenda Crim(click on her picture to read about her).

If you'd like to read more about the North American Missions Emphasis please click on the logo below...

Matthew 23:1-12 Part Four (Verse 4-Compassion)

Matthew 23:44“For they bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.

What’s the burden that the Scribes and Pharisees bind on men’s shoulders? The Pharisees taught that it was only by doing good works that you were acceptable unto God. The only way that God will love you and bless you is if you are good, legalism in its purest form. If you’re good you get a cookie, if you’re good here’s another cookie, if your good here’s another cookie. The problem with that though, is that it lays a heavy burden on the person waiting for the cookie doesn’t it?

Why does it lay a burden? If I’m good I get a cookie right? What happens when the cookies stop however? Did they stop because I was bad? Did they stop because my wife was bad? Did they stop because my nation is bad? How much good do I have to do now until the cookies start again? How many good deeds can I store up so that I can keep receiving cookies? Do you see how this could spiral downward? Do you see that a relationship with God based purely upon deeds is no relationship at all?

The problem with legalism is that all it does is continue to weigh you down. You’re weighed down with the guilt of your sin and you keep trying to do things to bring yourself back up but then you sin again and it brings you down even farther. The Pharisees were agents of that guilt because anytime someone would come to them with an issue they would give them some task to “remove” the burden. Heaven forbid you had a victory in that area because then they would simply give you something else to do and at the first sign of failure you would be blamed for your lack of righteousness and the burden would continue to be stacked on. Sounds like fun doesn’t it?

The word for burden here comes from the Greek word for overloading an animal (at least that's what my commentary says). The word picture here is that you would load an animal up so heavy that the only thing it could do was stand there and bear the weight. You would then begin to beat and yell at the animal because it cannot move. If you can convince the dumb creature to move under its burden you follow behind it yelling and beating it for its inadequacy in carrying the load. Gee, that’s a great picture of compassion isn’t it?

That’s what the Pharisees were all about, keeping the people beat down in their sin and not offering them any hope or any compassion. That’s why Jesus’ message was so upsetting to them because Christ’s message was all about grace. Christ’s message was all about mercy. Christ’s message was all about forgiveness. And grace, mercy and forgiveness cut legalism right at the knees. Our relationship with God is never based on what we do, it is based entirely upon God’s grace, mercy and forgiveness.

Jesus is never about increasing our burden, as a matter of fact he tells us the opposite. Look at Matthew 11:28-30:

28“Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29“Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30“For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

Isn’t that beautiful? Jesus says ,”You take my load and I’ll take yours”. That is the burden that Christ bore for us on the cross. He has already carried that load and there is no need for us to pick it up again.

Isn’t grace wonderful? We don’t have to work off sin! We don’t have to do things to “get our cookies”. We simply respond to God in faith and ask Him to forgive our sins! How amazing! Look at 1 John 1:9:

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Do you see any burden there? Christ says that He will forgive our sins if we will repent of them. He never tells us that we have to work our sins off. That message is horrible to a legalist because it strips away all of their righteousness and works. They hate that thought of grace, mercy and forgiveness because it is freely given.

We need to make sure that the message of the people that we listen to is smothered in God’s grace. We must make sure that they are consistently talking about the mercy, grace and forgiveness of God. We must make sure that they teach that human merit means nothing and that we are all under the grace of God. Look at 1st Peter 5:5-6:

5Likewise you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders. Yes, all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for “God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble.”6Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time,

Did you catch that? “All of you be submissive to one another”, that’s a tough thing to do isn’t it?

Peter would not command us to do this if the Holy Spirit would not equip us to accomplish it. We’re supposed to submit to each other aren’t we? We’re supposed to walk around in all humility. We must look at each other with grace and compassion realizing that all of us at one point or another had a burden to carry that we could not bear. The person who understands that he had been carrying a heavy load, and that load has been taken away from him by nothing but God’s grace and mercy, is not going to lay another burden on someone else. He instead is going to come along side and say, “Brother, turn to Christ. Brother, repent from that sin. Brother, let Him carry that load”. He’s never going to come along side and say “Try harder”

So when we are counseling with each other what do we do? When we are dealing with other people make sure that our message is bathed with mercy and grace and forgiveness. We must always remember the truth that our merit did not save us, God’s grace did.

Be compassionate to those who are struggling. Love those that are hurting. Some of us are hurting right now. I guarantee somebody is carrying a load as they read this that they shouldn’t. I’m also going to go as far as to say that some of us know that this person is hurting. What are we going to do? Are we going to be compassionate? Are we going to come along side of this person and show them grace? Are we going tell them of God’s mercy and tell them that Jesus loves them? Or instead are we going to come along side of them and be judgmental and tell them they should try harder.

Hear me well on this, I’m not saying that we are to accept the sin of our brothers. We are to point it out and help them to deal with it. We are always to point them toward the Christ. We are always to show them grace and mercy because One greater than us all has already demonstrated the same to us.

Grace and Peace to you all…

Annie Armstrong Week Of Prayer - Daniel and Kim Goombi

Today please pray for Daniel and Kim Goombi (click on their picture to read about them).

If you'd like to read more about the North American Missions Emphasis please click on the logo below...

Matthew 23:1-12 Part Three (Verse 3b-Integrity)

Matthew 23:3b…but do not do according to their works; for they say, and do not do.

Integrity is not only the way one thinks but even more the way one acts. Simply put, integrity is doing what you said you would do. It is as basic as keeping your word, fulfilling your promise… Ted Engstrom, Integrity

We continue on in our discussion of the Scribes and Pharisees and how their example should influence the way that we look at those that lead us. Yesterday we talked about the responsibility that we have to know God’s word so that we can identify when we are being led astray. Today we’ll talk about the character of those that deliver the message.

Christ tells us to do what the leaders say as long as they are true to God’s word but to not model their life if they are not God’s man. It is the example of the life lived that really shows us if someone is a true leader, that’s how you can tell if someone is really God’s man. What kind of person are they when they are out of the spotlight? Do they hold to the same truths that they espouse from the pulpit or do their actions fly in the face of what they say?

Look with me at Matthew 21:12-15:

12Then Jesus went into the temple of God and drove out all those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. 13And He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a ‘den of thieves.’ ” 14Then the blind and the lame came to Him in the temple, and He healed them. 15But when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that He did, and the children crying out in the temple and saying, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” they were indignant

I know the focus of this verse is the driving of the money changers and vendors but look a liitle closer. Who came into the temple once it had been cleared - the blind and the lame. Why is that significant? Did these people suddenly appear out of the vapor? Nope – they were there, right there outside of the temple hoping someone would show them compassion. In my opinion, those coming to worship in the temple that day had literally stepped over those that needed God the most.

They knew what the greatest commandment was didn’t they? They knew that the greatest command was to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your mind and all your strength. They also knew what the second greatest command was to love your neighbor as yourself. Who was outside of the temple? The sick, the poor and the blind and they were not being ministered to. What were the religious elite doing? They were stepping over these people to go to worship weren’t they? Its as if there were someone laying on the steps of our church in obvious need and we looked down and said “Oh poor soul, I wonder what the offertory reading is going to be today?” and we just walked on by.

What should the Scribes and Pharisees have been doing? They should have ministered to those people that were lying outside of the temple. They were instead more concerned with being seen inside. They were more concerned what people thought about them. They had no compassion and no integrity. Contrast that with what Jesus did. He cleansed the temple and then ministered to those that were seeking God.
The Pharisees revealed their hearts by their actions, no matter what words they had to say. Look at what Jesus says about them in Matthew 23:27

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness.

Jesus says look at you. You look beautiful from the outside, beautiful like a mausoleum. It’s pretty, its white, its ornate, there’s cherubim and angels and all kinds of things printed on these things. But you know what’s inside of them. Death, decay, destruction. He says that’s the way that you are. You look good on the outside, you’re very pretty. You’re very spiritual looking on the outside. But inside, you’re dead. You got nothing. They lacked integrity.

Let me share a thought with you here. Remember the account of the woman caught in adultery? A group of Pharisees bring her to Jesus and ask Him what should be done? Jesus agrees with their condemnation of her and asks the one of them without sin to cast the first stone. We know how the story ends, right? Jesus doodles in the dirt and one by one the men walk away and Jesus sends the woman away with a command to sin no more. I heard a preacher a few years ago posit an interesting thought about one of the men in the crowd. He felt that the man who was caught in the act of adultery was in the crowd also standing there with a rock. How would you catch somebody in adultery in the middle of the day? Are you going along peeking in windows? Remember – the goal of the Pharisees was to discredit Jesus, if they can catch Him in a trap they can have Him removed. It’s not too far out of the realm of imagination to think that perhaps one of the religious elite that wanted Jesus to be removed “took one for the team” as it were and committed this adulterous act.
They did not know who God was. They did not have any integrity. They were only concerned about themselves. So what do we do with that truth? How can we apply that to ourselves today?

Aren’t all of us, as Christians, teachers of the Word? Isn’t the Word supposed to be in our mouth at all times and aren’t we supposed to be ready to share it with those around us? All of us may not be called to step into the title of teacher but all of us are called to teach.

The admonishment here for us is for us to be the same all the time. Are we the same person we are in the church building as we are on a Tuesday night when it’s just us and hammer and a nail doing whatever it is we’re doing? Do we have integrity? Are we real in our relationship with God, or are we just real good at playing the part of being a Christian. It’s real easy to play the part on Sunday for a couple of hours. We can all clean up real nice and dress real pretty and come to church can’t we? We can shake each other’s hand and we can bow our heads and pray and either mouth or sing the songs and we can put some money in the plate. We can get real good at playing the part for a couple of hours can’t we?

But when we leave this place what kind of person are we? Are we Christians all the time?

Please take some time to reflect upon your relationship with God today – is it real? Are you the same all the time?

Pray for me, pray for each other, pray that we will all be broken in our pride and will turn from our hypocrisy and toward the Christ.

Grace and peace to you all…

Annie Armstrong Week Of Prayer - Al and Noemi Fernandez

Today please pray for Al and Noemi Fernandez (click on their picture to read about them).

If you'd like to read more about the North American Missions Emphasis please click on the logo below...

Annie Armstrong Week of Prayer - Gary and Sue Smith

Every year around Easter, Southern Baptists focus on the North American Missions Emphasis or as we call it in our church the "Annie Armstrong Offering".

In our church we take the month before Easter and reflect upon how Christ has moved in our lives. We spend time looking at the work that Christ is accomplishing in North America and pray that He will spur us on to do great things in His name as well.

The emphasis kicks off with a week of prayer for Southern Baptist missionaries. Today please pray for Gary and Sue Smith (click on their picture to read their story).

If you'd like to read more about the North American Missions Emphasis please click on the logo below...

Matthew 23:1-12 Part Two (Verses 1-3a - Authority)

Matthew 23:1-3a 1Then Jesus spoke to the multitudes and to His disciples, 2saying: “The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. 3“Therefore whatever they tell you to observe, that observe and do,...

Today we’ll begin our study of Matthew 23:1-12 in earnest. This account takes place during Wednesday of the Passion Week and Jesus has just finished answering the challenges of the religious elite. He has answered their challenge concerning the payment of taxes, the resurrection and the law. Look at Matthew 22:46 to see what the reaction of the crowd was: “And no one was able to answer Him a word, nor from that day on did anyone dare question Him anymore.” He left them humbled and speechless.

He has answered every challenge that the religious leaders in the temple have thrown at Him. He himself has thrown a question out that talked about the deity of the Messiah that no one could answer and He then provided the answer Himself from the scriptures. And now He turns and begins to speak to the multitude as the religious elite are standing near. He talks to them about how those that are in charge are really far away from God and not they are lacking in divine authority. Look at Matthew 23:2-3a:

The Scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses seat therefore whatever they tell you to observe, that observe and do.

What does the phrase “Moses’ seat” mean? To say that you are sitting in Moses seat is the same as saying that you are God’s authoritative spokesman, or God’s voice on earth. The interesting thing to catch here is that Jesus is saying that the Pharisees and scribes have put themselves in that position and not God, as a matter of fact, some translations of the bible even render this verse as “have set themselves in Moses’ seat”. The authority that they had was not divine authority, they had not been given the right to stand and say “God says”. They had taken it upon themselves to sit in the place of protecting and interpreting the word.

What do we do with the idea that they had real authority but it wasn’t divine? Jesus recognizes their authority at the beginning of vs 3 “Therefore whatever they tell you to observe, that observe and do”. He’s saying that there is some real authority to their position, but it is not divine authority. It is not the same kind of authority that Jesus has, look at Matthew 7:28-29:

And so it was, when Jesus had ended these sayings, that the people were astonished at His teaching, for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.

Remember the way that Jesus phrased His teachings in the Sermon on the Mount: “You have heard it was said…but I say to you…”. Jesus was teaching on His own authority and the Scribes and Pharisees would never teach that way. They would always call either directly to tradition or reference some teacher other than themselves.

But even though their authority wasn’t from God let’s not throw the baby out with the bathwater. We know that Jesus does not condone the hypocrisy of the Pharisees, all of His previous words attest to that. What Jesus is saying is that the word of God is the word of God. If they are speaking God’s truth then you should do it, isn’t that what He is saying there? Look with me at Isaiah 55:11:

So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.

God’s word is God’s word and God will accomplish His will and His truth even through a hypocritical, self-righteous false teacher.

Let me share with you for a second from my own background. I was attending a small Baptist church when I first felt the call to preach. I went to my pastor and told him of my call and do you know what this man of God asked me, “Could you come next Sunday with a sermon?” You’re kidding, right? He was supposed to say something like, “You foolish young man, you’re not supposed to be a preacher. You don’t have any qualifications or training or anything. Go back to your pew and sit there and be good”. I never dreamt in a million years he’d tell me to come back next week with a sermon. I had read verses like the ones that we had talked about today and I was really worried about being a false teacher. What if I’m just crazy? What if I’m a false teacher? What if I lead people astray? His reply simply was, “God will take care of that. He’ll weed out his own. You come with a sermon and the Church will listen to it and we’ll go from there.” So I did and several years later I’m a pastor of a small church myself.

Why is that important? Why would I share that with you? Because you never know where the man standing in front of you saying “God says” has came from. God’s word is God’s word, we are to follow and listen to only those who proclaim it for what it is: living, powerful, and true. Jesus tells His people to pay attention when the Scribes and Pharisees are teaching. When they are telling you the word of God you should listen to them. He would tell us today to be discerning in the way that we listen as well. Test all the teachings you are exposed to: my preaching, the preaching on the radio, preaching on any Church you find yourself in, teaching in any book you find yourself reading.

Did you catch the implied command to the crowd here? They themselves are to know God’s word. We are supposed to be so familiar with God’s word that when the Pharisees in our lives start drifting and leading us away from God we can say “Stop”. Isn’t Jesus telling them and us that we need to take some responsibility for God’s word? Remember that I have had no formal training and I became a preacher. Everything that I have learned I have learned from reading and testing and following the Holy Spirit. Please test everything I tell you to make sure that I am not leading you astray, and if I am leading you astray you have a responsibility. You must come back and say “Jeff you missed that one. You were wrong on that”. And that goes for any teacher you listen to, I would admonish all of us today to listen carefully to the people that preach.

Don’t just take everything that you hear from the pulpit or the radio as gospel, check it. Make sure it is from God. Be like the Bereans, test everything you hear against scripture. When you are taught those things that line up with the word of God, those things go and do. Be careful in the people that you follow and what you accept as truth. The implied command from Christ in this verse is to know God’s word so that we can recognize the falsehood.

Notice that I didn't say "If you don't like what you hear don't follow it". I'm not giving us an excuse to be disobedient to God's word. Let us also abandon our own pretexts and interpretations when they are in direct conflict with God's word. Let us also test ourselves to make sure that we are not wrongly handling God's word.

Pray for me as I lead my church. Pray that I have a hunger and a zeal for God's word. Pray that I will always follow His teachings in everthing that I do. I'll pray the same for you.

Grace and Peace to you all…

Matthew 23:1-12 (Introduction)

Today starts a series of posts based on a sermon I gave on Sunday February 15th. Special thanks to Cecelia for transcribing my ramblings and for the initial edit. I hope you find these edifying – Jeff

Matthew 23:1-12 1Then Jesus spoke to the multitudes and to His disciples, 2saying: “The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. 3“Therefore whatever they tell you to observe, that observe and do, but do not do according to their works; for they say, and do not do. 4“For they bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers. 5“But all their works they do to be seen by men. They make their phylacteries broad and enlarge the borders of their garments. 6“They love the best places at feasts, the best seats in the synagogues, 7“greetings in the marketplaces, and to be called by men, ‘Rabbi, Rabbi.’ 8“But you, do not be called ‘Rabbi’; for One is your Teacher, the Christ, and you are all brethren. 9“Do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven. 10“And do not be called teachers; for One is your Teacher, the Christ. 11“But he who is greatest among you shall be your servant. 12“And whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.

In these twelve verses Jesus describes for us what we are to watch for in those that lead us in the church. We must be discerning when it comes to those that we put our trust in. Before we begin looking at these qualifications however, I thought it would be helpful for us to take a look at the religious leaders of Jesus’ day – the Scribes and Pharisees.

The Scribes were the ones who would copy the law from generation to generation. They took their position of preserving the law very seriously and were extremely meticulous about insuring the accuracy of the text from one copy to the next. It goes to follow that if your life was devoted to copying and preserving the law from generation to generation you would also become adept at its interpretation.

The scribes can trace their beginnings back to the time when Israel came out of captivity from Babylon. I believe the title of scribe first appears in Nehemiah 8 where we are introduced to “Ezra the scribe”. If you remember from the book of Nehemiah they called Ezra the scribe to read the book of the law to the assembly of Israel. He read to the people for four to six hours while teachers milled about the crowd explaining the law (and my congregation thinks I’ve kept them a long time after 40 minutes). The Scribes continued in that tradition of copying, preserving and interpreting the law.

There is an old Jewish saying that says “God gave the law to angels, angels gave it to Moses, Moses gave it to Joshua, Joshua gave it to the elders, the elders gave it to the prophets and the prophets gave it to the scribes”. When you believe that the things that you are writing come directly from God’s mouth to your pen it is easy to become self-righteous..

Then you had the Pharisees. They were the dominant sect of the Jews and the most popular with the people for a couple of reasons. They were not as untouchable as the Sadducees (if you remember Paul was a Pharisee and also held a job as a tentmaker) and the people looked to them as models of righteousness because they were conservative in their view of God’s law and held a high view of it.

But along with that came some silliness. William Barclay did a study on the different types of Pharisees, let me share with you a few. There was the ”shoulder Pharisee” who would walk around with accounts of their good deeds written upon their shoulders for all to see.

There was the “bruised and bleeding Pharisee” who, to keep from committing the sin of lust when looking at a woman, would walk around with his eyes closed. Their piety was measured by how beat up they were as a result of walking into things.

There was the “humpback tumbling Pharisee” who would in a display of false humility walk around all bent over which would result in them getting caught up in their robes and tumbling to the ground.

And of course, there were the “God-fearing” Pharisees who’s hearts really were seeking God, men like Nicodemus.

These are the men that Jesus is going to challenge in our verses for the next couple of days. He is going to challenge them in their piety and in their self righteousness. We are also going to see what we should be watching for, both positive and negative, in the leaders of our church.

Before we begin our study in earnest however this would probably be a good place to stop and reflect on our service to God. Go back and read our passage again taking it purely for its face value. Is our service to God based solely upon how we are perceived by those around us? Do we do the things that we do simply to be seen by men? Do we do the things that we do because we feel that it somehow improves our relationship with God?

It is so easy for us to hop on the legalism train and start thinking that God owes us something for our service to Him. Let us never forget that it is His grace and mercy alone that saves us and it is the continued pouring out of His grace and mercy that keeps us.

Grace and peace to you all...

Psalm 92:4

Psalm 92:4 For You, Lord, have made me glad through Your work; I will triumph in the works of Your hands.

How is your day going so far? Would you categorize it under the “joyful and triumphant” column in your ledger?

Based on our verse for today we are to find gladness simply by being part of God’s plan. Look at the ground we’ve covered so far in the Psalm, we’ve talked of praising God for His kindness, His provision, and His faithfulness. Did you notice that the verses say nothing about the circumstances that are going on at the moment? There are no qualifiers – we’re simply to praise Him. It’s easy to praise Him when we are happy isn’t it? How about when we’re not? Is Jesus enough for us?

We’re not only to be glad but we’re supposed to realize the victory of Christ, our verse ends with I will triumph in the works of Your hands! Look at what the apostle Paul says about victory in 2nd Corinthians 12:

7And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure. 8Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. 9And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Do you think Paul understood the triumph of Christ. Paul acknowledged his discomfort and asked Jesus to remove his affliction. Look at Jesus’ response, “My grace is sufficient for you”. Boy, if we could only catch that truth! Simply to be in God’s grace is enough for us! Rejoicing God in our weakness – what a wonderful and beautiful thought!

You have experienced victory today whether you realize it or not. God has already kept you from a multitude of sins this day. God has forgiven you for the sins that you have repented from. God has protected you from a multitude of attacks from the evil one. Victories – each and every one.

I’m not asking you to turn a blind eye to your circumstances. They are real and they are difficult. I do not know what your situation is as you are reading this. You may be coping with the loss of a child, the loss of a job, the ending of a marriage, who knows? But this one thing I can tell you in the middle of your storm, Jesus’ grace is sufficient for you as well. No matter how battered and bloody you are at the end of the day you can still say “Jesus is mine”.

Let us be proactive in our worship of the Lord, shall we? Think of His lovingkindness throughout the day. Find your delight and satisfaction in Him and Him alone. Understand and acknowledge that He has already achieved victory for you over sin and death. Think of Him and be glad. Think of the works of His hands and praise Him for the victory!

Chalk this day up under “joyful and triumphant” even in the midst of adversity. Jesus is yours!

Deliver Us From Evil...

A little dose of Spurgeon on a rainy Monday night – enjoy… Jeff

“Lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil [or, the evil one].” — Luke 11:4

What we are taught to seek or shun in prayer, we should equally pursue or avoid in action. Very earnestly, therefore, should we avoid temptation, seeking to walk so guardedly in the path of obedience, that we may never tempt the devil to tempt us. We are not to enter the thicket in search of the lion. Dearly might we pay for such presumption. This lion may cross our path or leap upon us from the thicket, but we have nothing to do with hunting him. He that meeteth with him, even though he winneth the day, will find it a stern struggle. Let the Christian pray that he may be spared the encounter. Our Saviour, who had experience of what temptation meant, thus earnestly admonished his disciples—“Pray that ye enter not into temptation.”
But let us do as we will, we shall be tempted; hence the prayer “deliver us from evil.” God had one Son without sin; but he has no son without temptation. The natural man is born to trouble as the sparks fly upwards, and the Christian man is born to temptation just as certainly. We must be always on our watch against Satan, because, like a thief, he gives no intimation of his approach. Believers who have had experience of the ways of Satan, know that there are certain seasons when he will most probably make an attack, just as at certain seasons bleak winds may be expected; thus the Christian is put on a double guard by fear of danger, and the danger is averted by preparing to meet it. Prevention is better than cure: it is better to be so well armed that the devil will not attack you, than to endure the perils of the fight, even though you come off a conqueror. Pray this evening first that you may not be tempted, and next that if temptation be permitted, you may be delivered from the evil one.

All Things Work Together for Good

This post is probably more for my own hearing but you’re welcome to walk along with me as I seek comfort… Jeff

Romans 8:18-31 18For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. 19For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. 20For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; 21because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. 22For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. 23Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body. 24For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one still hope for what he sees? 25But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance. 26Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. 27Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God. 28And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. 29For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. 30Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified. 31What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? (NKJV - emphasis mine)

This past Sunday in my Sunday School class we talked about Jesus walking on the water and my class asked me why the disciples went out on the boat if they knew a storm was coming. I had to explain to them that there was no doppler radar and they had to rely upon their “doppler windows”. The geography of the area also doesn’t allow for you to see the storm coming, it simply rolls in over the mountain range. By the time you can see the clouds its too late, you have to deal with the consequences of the storm.

Isn’t life a lot like that? While we are not ignorant of our surroundings how often are we surprised by the storm? Think of the storms that show up in our lives: sickness, injuries, death, loss of home, loss of job, etc.. How many times did you know the storm was coming? Even if you recognized the symptoms, weren’t you still surprised when the full force of the gale hammered against your body?

That’s who I want to talk to today. Those of us that are standing there naked, bloodied and cold in the aftermath of the storm looking around at the devestation that it has caused . As we pick up the fragments of our lives we look to the heavens and ask “why?”.

The passage that I have cited is one of my favorite ones to go to during these times in my life. Let’s walk through it together – shall we? Paul starts in vs 18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time STOP! Do you hear what Paul is saying? Suffering is going to happen. Expect it. We live in a world that is cursed by the effects of the fall. When death and sin entered the world, Paradise was lost.

Look at the back half of vs 18 are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. That’s a pretty sobering thought isn’t it. There is nothing in this life that can compare to the next life. Heaven awaits the Christian! Hallelujah! Nothing we endure this side of heaven can compare to the beauty of being with Jesus! Read verses 19 through 23 above. All of creation longs to be restored to the time before sin entered the world. Creation longs to be set free from the bondage of sin as well. The world is as eager to see its redemption as we are.

Verse 28 is probably one of the hardest verses for us to accept. Notice that it does not say that only good things will happen to us. It simply says that all things work together for good to those who love God.

When Joseph was thrown in the pit would we call it good? Before you answer remember that this was the beginning of a chain of events that saved the tribe of Israel from death.

When David stole Uriah’s wife was that good? Before you answer remember that it was Bathsheba’s son who became one of the greatest kings of Israel and also gave us the books of Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Solomon.

I would ask you the same question now. Is the storm that you are enduring good? Before you answer remember that you are limited by the tick of the clock. You have no way of knowing what is going to come to pass in your life. You have no way of knowing what chain of events has started with this one. Trust God in the midst of the storm, He knows exactly where you are and what you are going through. Go back and read vs 24-27 above – God has given us hope. More than that – He has given us the Holy Spirit to constantly remind us of Christ. Take comfort in the thought that the Spirit Himself is praying for you right now in exactly the way that you need. Trust God in the storm.

I want to share with you a piece of text from A.W. Tozier’s book The Root of the Righteous

It was the enraptured Rutherford who could shout in the midst of serious and painful trials, “Praise God for the hammer, the file, and the furnace.”

The hammer is a useful tool, but the nail, if it had feeling and intelligence, could present another side of the story. For the nail knows the hammer only as an opponent, a brutal, merciless enemy who lives to pound it into submission, to beat it down out of sight and clinch it into place. That is the nail’s view fo the hammer, and it is accurate except for one thing: The nail forgets that both it and the hammer are servants of the same workman. Let the nail but remember that the hammer is held by the workman and all resentment toward it will disappear. The carpenter decides whose head shall be beaten next and what hammer shall be used in the beating. That is his sovereign right. When the nail has surrendered to the will of the workman and has gotten a little glimpse of his benign plans for its future it will yield to the hammer without complaint.

The file is more painful still, for its business is to bite into the soft metal, scraping and eating away the edges till it has shaped the metal to its will. Yet the file has, in truth, no real will in the matter, but serves another master as the metal also does. It is the master and not the file that decides how much shall be eaten away, what shape the metal shall take, and how long the painful filing shall continue. Let the metal accept the will of the master and it will not try to dictate when or how it shall be filed.

As for the furnace, it is the worst of all. Ruthless and savage, it leaps at every combustible thing that enters it and never relaxes its fury till it has reduced it all to shapeless ashes. All that refuses to burn is melted to a mass of helpless matter, without will or purpose of its own. When everything is melted that will melt and all is burned that will burn, then and not till then the furnace calms down and rests from its destructive fury.

Read vs 29-30, God is in the business of making saints. Sometimes we have to endure the hammer, the file or the furnace. If we will simply submit to His will in our lives and trust Him in the middle of what we are enduring we can be comforted. Trust in the Master – He knows exactly what He is doing.

I’ll close with vs 31. What shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us. God is for you Christian, He has proven Himself to you time and time again. He expressed His complete love for you when His Son was sacrificed for our sakes. There is nothing that can separate you from Him.

Grace and Peace to you all…

Stimulated Yet?!?!?!?!

As I type this the President and leaders of Congress have retreated to Virginia to discuss the economic stimulus package currently over 900 billion dollars - thats $900,000,000,000.00 for those of you writing in your ledgers...

Contact your Senator and Representative and let them know what you think of the current package - I just did. Remember to be respectful (see Romans 13:1-7 if you need some admonishment).

A couple of helpful links:

Click www.senate.gov to contact your Senators.

Click www.house.gov to contact your Representative.

Remember the Sabbath Day...

I know you're expecting a post on Psalm 92:4 but you're just gonna have to wait...

During our Wednesday prayer service we had a discussion about how Christians are to honor the Sabbath Day. Following that discussion I'm interested in your opinion.

What activities are fitting for the Christian on the Lord's Day?

Drop a comment and let me know what you think. For those of you that are shy about public commenting please send an e-mail to my yahoo account.

Some scriptures to consider before you answer...

Exodus 20:8-11
“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.

Mark 2:23-28
Now it happened that He went through the grainfields on the Sabbath; and as they went His disciples began to pluck the heads of grain. And the Pharisees said to Him, “Look, why do they do what is not lawful on the Sabbath?” But He said to them, “Have you never read what David did when he was in need and hungry, he and those with him: “how he went into the house of God in the days of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the showbread, which is not lawful to eat, except for the priests, and also gave some to those who were with him?” And He said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. “Therefore the Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath.”

And here's what comes from Section VIII of the 1963 Baptist Faith and Message from the Southern Baptist Convention:

VIII. The Lord's Day

The first day of the week is the Lord's Day. It is a Christian institution for regular observance. It commemorates the resurrection of Christ from the dead and should be employed in exercises of worship and spiritual devotion, both public and private, and by refraining from worldly amusements, and resting from secular employments, work of necessity and mercy only being excepted.

Ex. 20:8-11; Matt. 12:1-12; 28:1ff.; Mark 2:27-28; 16:1-7; Luke 24:1-3,33-36; John 4:21-24; 20:1,19-28; Acts 20:7; 1 Cor. 16:1-2; Col. 2:16; 3:16; Rev. 1:10.

Finally here's what comes from section VIII of the 2000 Baptist Faith and Message from the Southern Baptist Convention:

VIII. The Lord's Day

The first day of the week is the Lord's Day. It is a Christian institution for regular observance. It commemorates the resurrection of Christ from the dead and should include exercises of worship and spiritual devotion, both public and private. Activities on the Lord's Day should be commensurate with the Christian's conscience under the Lordship of Jesus Christ.

Exodus 20:8-11; Matthew 12:1-12; 28:1ff.; Mark 2:27-28; 16:1-7; Luke 24:1-3,33-36; John 4:21-24; 20:1,19-28; Acts 20:7; Romans 14:5-10; I Corinthians 16:1-2; Colossians 2:16; 3:16; Revelation 1:10.

I'll pull all of our thoughts together and follow up with a post on the whole topic soon. I'm looking forward to your input.

Grace and Peace to you all...

Psalm 92:3

Psalm 92:1-3 1 It is good to give thanks to the Lord, And to sing praises to Your name, O Most High; 2 To declare Your lovingkindness in the morning, And Your faithfulness every night, 3 On an instrument of ten strings, On the lute, And on the harp, With harmonious sound.

I wanted to give us all three verses today to look at to make sure that we keep everything in context. We have discussed the “good things” about praising God, we have discussed the frequency of our praise and today we will discuss the nature of our praise.

I do not think the meat behind today’s verse is about using instruments in a worship service. I think it has to do more with the totality of our praise. The image brought to mind is of an orchestra of sorts playing together in unison with praise for God.

Have you ever had the opportunity to play in a band? If you have, then you learn right away that each instrument has a part to play. Trumpets, saxophones, oboes, flutes, trombones, drums, etc. all have different notes and rhythms to play. They each sound beautiful separately but how much more beautiful do they sound when they are played together? The melody line that the trumpets carry is so much deeper and richer when the tenors and French horns supply the underlying sound. The staccato piping of the flutes is augmented by the rapping of a snare drum. All of these instruments together produce a beautiful sound when they are played harmoniously.

The same thing applies with our worship. We each have a beautiful song of praise to sing to the Lord! How much more beautiful and deep is it when we lift up our voices in unison with our brothers and sisters! Unless you misunderstand me don’t think that I’m talking about musical talent.

Think of the wonderful blending of praise that we have in the body of Christ:
The blast of the trumpets singing God’s praise for a newborn.
The melodic dancing of the flutes in God’s praise for youthful vigor.
The steady beating of the drum of God’s praise for a steadfast marriage.
The somber bass of God’s praise as we sing of someone’s going home to the Lord.

All of these praises are beautiful and fitting when sung separately – but how much more when they are sung harmoniously? Each church is preparing a wonderful symphony of God's praise. Each praise is important and each praise is beautiful and when they are sung harmoniously a beautiful offering is made unto the Lord.

Our verse today closes with “with harmonious sound”. The harmony that we sing is God’s praise. Let us all lift His name together – we have so much to praise Him for!

Grace and peace to you all…

Sunday Sermon - Matthew 22:15-22

Matthew 22:15-22 15Then the Pharisees went and plotted how they might entangle Him in His talk. 16And they sent to Him their disciples with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that You are true, and teach the way of God in truth; nor do You care about anyone, for You do not regard the person of men. 17“Tell us, therefore, what do You think? Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?” 18But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, “Why do you test Me, you hypocrites? 19“Show Me the tax money.” So they brought Him a denarius. 20And He said to them, “Whose image and inscription is this?” 21They said to Him, “Caesar’s.” And He said to them, “Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” 22When they had heard these words, they marveled, and left Him and went their way.

Show of hands…. How many of you like to pay taxes? Anyone? What if I was to tell you that the state has a divine right to assess taxes and that you have a divine obligation to pay them?

Show of hands again? Inauguration Day is this Tuesday, how many of you are happy with our next President? What if I told you that you have a divine obligation to give this man respect? What if I told you that you had a divine obligation to pray for him?

Before we talk more about “divine obligations”, let’s talk about the situation described in Matthew. The Pharisees have had it with Jesus. They have lost every debate with Him, they have lost credibility with the crowd and most importantly their position with God has been questioned. They have no other desire now but to see this carpenter from Nazareth dead.

Verse 15 says that they plotted how they might entangle Him in His talk, they devised a question that they already knew the answer to and they plotted with their own enemies, the Herodians, to get Jesus to answer they wanted to hear. Not much is know about the Herodians but we can derive much from their name. They must have been tied to Herod. Why is that important? Herod was pro-Roman. Why is that important? The Jewish-Herodians from today’s verse would run back to Rome with any statement against the government.

In the scripture for today Jesus gives us an unexpected answer to a loaded question. The loaded question is in verse 17, Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?. The answer that Jesus is expected to give is “Yes”. They could then bring Jesus to Rome with charges of insurrection which would then result in his death. Their problem becomes Rome’s problem and they would be more than pleased with Rome’s solution.

Look at how Jesus is approached in verse 16, talk about laying it on thick. They approach Jesus and call him “Teacher”, they then talk about how He “does not regard the person of man” but only is concerned with “teaching the way of God in truth”. These statements are all true but what if Jesus is just a normal man? Wouldn’t it be easy to fall into a trap with this kind of setup? After all, these men only want to know what He thinks about a question. Why wouldn’t Jesus answer them in the way that they want to hear?

From the Greek word used for “taxes” in our scripture we learn that Jesus was not asked about taxation in general but is asked about a very specific tax, the “Poll Tax” or “Head Tax”. This was an “uncomfortable” tax for the people of Israel to pay. It was not uncomfortable because of the amount (a denarius was one day’s worth of pay for a laborer) but because it was a tax that said “You belong to Rome”. The Israelites believed that they belonged to God. It was also uncomfortable because of the coin that had to be used to pay it. A “denarius” was a silver coin with the emperor’s head on one side and an inscription on the other that either referred to the deity of the emperor or the emperor’s position as high priest. This coin itself was an offense to God from the Israelites point of view because it was a graven image. For both of these reasons most Jews felt this tax offensive. Jesus was supposed to answer, “No it is not righteous because this man has taken the place of God and has claimed God’s people for his own”. It is the answer that the common man would give around the dinner table and it is the answer that any truth speaking rabbi would give to friendly ears. He speaks out against Rome, the Herodians rat him out to the government and Jesus is put to death for insurrection. Easy-peasie-chuckie-cheesie, or so they thought.

Look at how Jesus responds in verse 18 - Hypocrites. He isn’t falling for the flattery one bit, after all He is God and knows the hearts of men. He knows that they are not honestly seeking an answer, they simply are looking for an opportunity to trap Him.

Look at his answer in verse 19. He asks for a denarius and asks “Who’s image and inscription is this” to which the crowd replies “Caesar’s” to which He replies “Render therefore to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” God Himself declares that we are to pay our taxes.

Let’s think for a second what it was like to live under Roman rule. They brought peace to an area of the world that was use to being overrun and conquered by whoever wanted to pass through. They brought roads and made it safe to travel from place to place. They brought aqueducts which made it easier for populations to have access to life sustaining water. All of these programs cost money and the money had to come from somewhere.

Government and the support of it is ordained by God. Let’s look at some scripture. First from Romans 13

Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same. For he is God’s minister to you for good. But if you do evil, be afraid; for he does not bear the sword in vain; for he is God’s minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil. Therefore you must be subject, not only because of wrath but also for conscience’ sake. For because of this you also pay taxes, for they are God’s ministers attending continually to this very thing. Render therefore to all their due: taxes to whom taxes are due, customs to whom customs, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor.

How about a section from 1 Timothy 2:

Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior,

And finally from 1 Peter 2:

Therefore submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake, whether to the king as supreme, or to governors, as to those who are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of those who do good. For this is the will of God, that by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men—

Think of the world that Jesus, Paul, and Peter lived in. Slavery was legal, rights were reserved for Roman-born citizens and not necessarily Roman-conquered, and the government was corrupt and pagan. Yet the command was still to support and honor the government. When Jesus says “render to Caesar what is Caesar’s” He is saying “Everything belongs to Me and I have decreed that a portion of My bounty is to go to the government because they are my ministers for good.”

Fast forward some 2000 years – if these things are true in a pagan society how much more today in a representative form of government? We have been given the privilege in America to voice our opinions, we have been given the privilege of electing officials who are supposed to support our wishes. We have been given stewardship of a wonderful gift in this great land – let us not waste it.

“and to God the things that are God’s” Jesus closes the answer with. Jesus is not telling us to separate the secular from the religious here. Under God’s plan government has a role in social and economic situations. It is the government’s divine duty to provide a safe environment for its citizens. Our founding fathers felt that we also have the right to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness”. But when government crosses the line and expects to be worshipped they have entered into God’s territory. Worship is reserved for God and God alone – Jesus is saying “You pay Caesar with the coin that he has made because that is good but do not believe for one moment that He is a priest or a God. He is neither – worship Me and Me alone”.

I’m not saying that we are to blindly follow our leaders however, look with me at Acts 5. The apostles had been commanded to stop teaching in Christ’s name. Look at their response:

…“Did we not strictly command you not to teach in this name? And look, you have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, and intend to bring this Man’s blood on us!” But Peter and the other apostles answered and said: “We ought to obey God rather than men.”

We have a divine obligation to tell people about sin. When our government is heading in an ungodly direction we are to stand in the breach and say “Stop”. We are not to be insurrectionists but we are supposed to stand for truth.

I’m sure more can be said but I’m quickly moving into areas that could take this post in several directions. Suffice it to say that we are commanded by God to support and pray for our government.

Grace and Peace to you all…