My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. (James 2:1) Today there is a lot of talk about racism and anti-racism and Critical Race Theory and Intersectionality and the problem of racism within the church and what is to be done about it. How do we as the Church deal with it? Where do we find the answer to root it out? Do we need to go outside of scripture? The Bible and the Church have been around for a long time and yet racism has not been eradicated, even within the Church. Some argue this is because the Bible does not explicitly deal with the problem of racism. Or, does it? In James chapter two, scripture says, “My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in, and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, ‘You sit here in a good place,’ while you say to the poor man, ‘You stand over there,’ or, ‘Sit down at my feet,’ have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?” While James is using as an example the problem of showing preferential treatment to those of higher economic class and treating with disdain those of poor economic standing, this is just an example he is using. What cannot be missed is that as believers, within the church and outside of the church, we are commanded to “show no partiality” and to make no “distinctions” among people based on economic status, education, race, ethnicity, gender, or appearance (i.e., tattoos vs. no tattoos, coat and tie vs. casual clothing, clean vs. dirty, etc.). The second Great Commandment is to “love your neighbor as yourself.” Thus, to violate the second Great Commandment is to violate the first Great Commandment. In other words, you cannot truly love God with all your heart, mind, and soul if you do not truly love your neighbor as yourself.
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Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds,... (James 1:2) We don’t have to live long before we begin to realize that life is a constant uphill climb. We talk about mountain tops and valleys but for many, life in the valley is the norm and mountain top experiences are the exception, and becoming a Christian does not always change that. Quite often becoming a follower of Christ can increase the number of valleys we go through and the length of time we spend there. To be fair, there are times when these valleys are man-made, when we create the hole we are in. Nevertheless, the struggle is real; the hole is deep, and the future looks bleak. These are the times when holding to a high view of scripture matters. Because if scripture is not the authoritative and trustworthy word of God, then there is no place to go, no place to turn. But if it is--and it is—then we can go to places like James 1:2-4 and find great comfort and encouragement for living life in the here and now. There we are told to “count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.” The Greek word for 'steadfastness' is an interesting word as it is the word hupomoné and carries the meaning of strength, perseverance or endurance. Thus, like the long-distance runner, the more we run, the farther we run, the stronger we become and the farther we are able to keep going. But getting in shape to be a long-distance runner takes time and suffering and pain. Ultimately this is what God is doing in us. He is strengthening our faith and trust in him so that we can go further and endure more. And thus, we are told to “let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” By “let steadfastness have its full effect,” James means that we should not resist or murmur against what God is doing in us and through us and for us, so that we might be “perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”
How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I take counsel in my soul and have sorrow in my heart all the day? (Psalm 13:1-2) We can all struggle with bouts of depression from time to time. Falling into a time of grief or sorrow or depression or discouragement does not necessarily mean a person lacks faith. Throughout the history of the church there have been great and godly men who have had bouts with depression from time to time (e.g., Jonathan Edwards and Charles Spurgeon). We even see examples of this in the Bible among the saints of God’s people. Psalm 13 is just such one example. There David writes, “How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I take counsel in my soul and have sorrow in my heart all the day?” We can’t know for certain what David was struggling with, but one thing is for certain, he feels as though God has forgotten him and he is wondering how much longer this will go on. How much longer must he take counsel in his own soul or have sorrow in his heart? He then cries out to God and says, “Consider and answer me, O LORD my God; light up my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death,…” David fears he is slipping into a dark place from which he may never return. So what does he do about it? What is his response to this dark place he finds himself in? “But I have trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation. I will sing to the LORD, because he has dealt bountifully with me” (vv.5-6). Three things he will do. First, he will trust in the steadfast love of God. Regardless of what he is going through, he knows God still loves him and is looking out for him. Second, he will rejoice in the Lord’s salvation. If nothing else, he knows he can be thankful that this life is not all there is, that when this life is over, whenever that is, he will spend eternity in the presence of the living God. And third, he will reflect on the many ways God has dealt bountifully with him. He will count his blessings. He will choose to focus on the positives God has brought into his life and not focus on the negatives.
He will be like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. (Psalm 1:3) Life can be described as moving from one challenge to another. It has often been said that just when you think you are getting ahead of the rat race…the rats get bigger. The result is that life often seems like a vicious cycle of ups and downs, eb and flow, mountain tops and valleys. We read about having joy and contentment in the Christian life, but somehow these things always seem illusive to us, always just beyond our reach. This is where Psalm 1 can be so incredibly helpful. There the psalmist writes, “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.” In other words, blessed, happy, joyful, content, is the man who does not live like the rest of the world, who does not try and keep up with the Jones’, but instead immerses himself in God’s word “day and night.” When he does this, the end result will be that he will be “like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither.” That is, even when the driest of life’s droughts come our way, when life seems to be leading us through the Sahara Desert, in the midst of life’s dry and cracked barren land, those who meditate on God’s word both day and night will be “like a tree planted by streams of water.” Lush, green, and healthy. We will stand tall and firm, with our roots sunk deep into the promises of God from which we cannot be moved.
Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not? Should we pay them, or should we not? (Mk. 12:14) We live in a world and in a nation where our government is becoming increasingly more evil at a blinding rate of speed. They advocate for and are pushing through legislation which promotes the murder of over a million unborn babies every year in the United States alone, laws which seek to protect and promote abortion clinics, which promote and push for the homosexual agenda, desiring to teach homosexuality in schools to the youngest of children, laws which create racial tension rather than heal it, laws which seek to suppress religious freedom rather than protect it. The result is that it is becoming more difficult for Christians to support our government through loyalty and finances. It’s times like these that make Jesus’ words even more poignant. In Mark 12 we read the story of the Pharisees coming to Jesus and asking him if they should pay taxes to Caesar or not? Keep in mind, in first century Israel the Roman army was an occupying force who were using the Jewish tax dollars to maintain their army in Israel, to desecrate the Temple, and to stifle Jewish freedoms. And yet Jesus says to them, “Bring me a denarius and let me look at it” (v.15). When they do, he asks them whose “likeness and inscription” is on it? They say to him, “Caesar's.” And then Jesus says to them, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's.” He does not tell them not to pay taxes. He does, however, essentially tell them they should worry less about their tax dollars, and be more concerned about how they spend their time and how they live their lives. Give the government their taxes, as it has been instituted by God (Rom 13:1) and give God the whole of your life as you have been created in his image.
He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. (Psalm 1:3) Life can be described as moving from one challenge to another. It has often been said that just when you think you are getting ahead of the rat race…the rats get bigger. The result is that life often seems like a vicious cycle of ups and downs, eb and flow, mountain tops and valleys. We read about having joy and contentment in the Christian life, but somehow these things always seem illusive to us, always just beyond our reach. This is where Psalm 1 can be so incredibly helpful. There the psalmist writes, “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.” In other words, blessed, happy, joyful, content, is the man who does not live like the rest of the world, who does not try and keep up with the Jones’, but instead immerses himself in God’s word “day and night.” When he does this, the end result will be that he will be “like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither.” That is, even when the driest of life’s droughts come our way, when life seems to be leading us through the Sahara Desert, in the midst of life’s dry and cracked barren land, those who meditate on God’s word both day and night will be “like a tree planted by streams of water.” Lush, green, and healthy. We will stand tall and firm, with our roots sunk deep into the promises of God from which we cannot be moved.
Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? (Rom. 7:24) Why is the Christian life so difficult? Why is doing the right thing, living a life that is pleasing to God, so incredibly hard? Sin. The old person dies hard. And sin, temptation, is a powerful attraction. I am not just referring to the big grievous sins, but to the subtle sins we battle with, the emotions and thoughts we struggle with that cause us to treat people in ways we inevitably regret. Why is it so hard to not be selfish, to not be self-centered, to not think what we want is more important than what others want? Why is it so difficult to place ourselves in other people’s shoes and see things from their perspective? Sin is blinding. It is debilitating, paralyzing, and causes us to think and behave irrationally. This is what Paul describes in Romans 7:15-19. “For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing.” How many believers experience this almost constantly? The very thing they don’t want to do, the way they no longer want to treat people, the very thoughts they no longer want to entertain, are the very things, behavior, and thoughts they keep on doing. They want to live for God and yet they keep doing the very things they do not want to do. So what do we do about this? We keep doing all we can to mortify the sin that indwells us and we remember the words of Paul: “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (vv.24-25). In the end, we thank and praise God that Christ has done it all for us! He earned the perfect righteousness for us which God’s law demands and he died as the perfect sacrifice for our sins which God’s justice demands. And in that we find great comfort and peace.
And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. (Luke 18:1) Praying consistently and fervently can be difficult for many Christians. We can sometimes wonder if our prayers ever reach beyond the ceiling. But in Luke 18, Jesus provides us with a parable designed to encourage us and to spur us on in our prayer life. In fact, Luke introduces the parable by saying that Jesus “told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart.” He then relates how Jesus goes on to tell the story of a persistent widow who goes to a judge “who neither feared God nor respected man.” Thus, this judge is a wicked person who cares only about himself. And so, this widow knows that if she is ever going to get this judge to respond to her pleas, it is not going to be by appealing to his mercy or sense of justice. Thus, she keeps hounding him and bothering him and asking for justice. Finally, after a while, the judge says to himself, “Though I neither fear God nor respect man, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.” This wicked judge who cares nothing about anyone or God gives her what she wants because of her persistent asking. Then Jesus says, “Hear what the unrighteous judge says. And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily.” In other words, if an unrighteous and wicked judge is willing to grant this woman’s request because of her continual asking, how much more will God, who is righteous and just and holy, grant the request of those who come to him consistently and persistently? Keep praying. Never give up.
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight. (Proverbs 9:10) When we think about sanctification and our struggle with sin in the Christian life, often our greatest dilemma is not so much that we lack faith or self-control or self-discipline, but that we lack fear. It may seem odd to say that, but fear is truly what most Christians do not have, or at least do not have an adequate amount of. Proverbs 9:10 says, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.” When we think about our lives and the struggle that we face in life, when we think about our churches and how we can improve them, minister to the saints more effectively or reach the lost with the gospel, in essence what we are looking for is wisdom and insight. How do I fix my marriage? How do I help my children? How should we do worship? What kind of music should we sing in church? Yet, the key to wisdom and insight, according to the Proverbs, is “the fear of the LORD.” But this is precisely what many Christians lack--fear. Very few Christians truly fear God. This is evident from the number of Christians who munch on donuts and drink coffee during the worship service. While we say we attend church to worship the King of kings, we worship and approach God more like the Burger King we might hire for a kid’s birthday party, rather than the king of the universe. The Burger King would expect us to eat and drink while he entertains us, but we would never think to eat and drink and dress causally while meeting with the king of a nation within his throne room. We speak to people and treat people in ways we know are displeasing to God. We fail to share the gospel with people when we know we should. We fail to serve others and put the needs of others before our own, all because we do not truly fear God. We know we are going to heaven so long as we have faith in Christ and believe he died for us, and for many Christians that is all that really matters. Our behavior may be displeasing to God in many ways but so long as we are still going to heaven, then displeasing God does not really matter all that much to us. We don’t fear God.
You thought that I was one like yourself. (Psalm 50:21) One of the greatest problems we are having within society, and even within the church, is that there is this greater and greater tendency to create God in our image. This is because if God is like us, if he is just one of us, then we don’t have to listen to him. We don’t have to respect him, and we certainly don’t have to fear him. It reminds me of that 1995 song “What if God was one of us? Just a slob like one of us. Just a stranger on the bus. Tryin' to make his way home?” Unfortunately, this is how many think of God, that he is just like one of us. Therefore, God does not really care about how we live or what we do or how we treat each other. If it seems right and it feels right, then it must be right, and God must be OK with it. But it is to this kind of thinking that God speaks to humanity in Psalm 50, “For you hate discipline, and you cast my words behind you. If you see a thief, you are pleased with him, and you keep company with adulterers. You give your mouth free rein for evil, and your tongue frames deceit. You sit and speak against your brother; you slander your own mother's son. These things you have done, and I have been silent; you thought that I was one like yourself” (vv.17-21). And therein is the grave mistake that so many make both inside and outside the church, we think that God is “one like yourself.” This attitude is reflected in the way we behave, in the way we treat others, and in way we do worship. We are fond of all things casual and relaxed. And since God is just like one of us, then he must like our worship to be casual and relaxed. Surely, God likes what we like because he is just like one of us. Or is he?
Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you. (Psalm 51:13) When I was in seminary, my professor for biblical counseling was fond of reminding us that if you cannot follow your own biblical counsel, then you have no business giving someone else biblical counsel. In other words, if your marriage is a mess, you have no business trying to help someone else with their marriage. If your kids are a mess, you have no business trying to help someone else with their kids. It’s all about walking the walk and not just talking the talk. This is biblical advice and a biblical principle we see David articulating in Psalm 51. There David is confessing and repenting of his sins and prays, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit” (vv.10-12). But then notice what he says next, “Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you.” David says that once God has created within him a clean heart and renewed his spirit and restored to him the joy of his salvation, then he will teach transgressors God’s ways. He understands he is no position to teach others about God when his own life is a mess. Thus, he confesses and repents of his sin and prays for God to restore him, so that he can teach others about God. David’s prayer is one we should all be praying.
I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet. (1 Tim. 2:12) Within the church there is this trend that continues to get worse every year. This is the idea that women can be pastors within the church or, minimally, they are biblically permitted to be Sunday school teachers or Bible study leaders for co-ed groups. However, the Bible is quite clear in places like 1 Timothy 2:12 where God says, “I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet.” To be clear, this text is not saying that women are not permitted to teach science or math or literature to men. The book of 1 Timothy is written by Paul to Timothy giving him instructions on how to organize and govern the church. Thus, the context is within church ministry and life. However, some argue that so long as a woman is not teaching men the Bible while at the same time holding an authoritative office or position, then she is biblically permitted to teach men the Bible. But notice the text does not say, “I do not permit a woman to teach AND to exercise authority over a man.” It says, “I do not permit a woman to teach OR to exercise authority over a man.” It’s either/or, not both/and. But why is that? Is it because men are smarter or more capable than women? Not so. Notice the Bible gives two reasons for this in the next two verses, “For Adam was formed first, then Eve; and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor.” Thus, the reasons given are that Adam was formed first, in the position of leadership with Eve being formed for Adam, to be his helpmate. And secondly, Eve was deceived first, not Adam. Thus, that women are not permitted by scripture to teach the Bible to men has nothing to do with intelligence or ability, but has to do with order of creation and culpability. Women are just as intelligent, just as capable, and just as valuable to God as men are.
For every high priest chosen from among men is appointed to act on behalf of men in relation to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. (Heb. 5:1) When we go though difficult times in life or when we blow it and make mistakes, it is nice to have a friend come along side us to comfort and encourage us. However, it’s one thing to have a friend there beside us to sympathize with us and encourage us, it’s quite another to have a friend there beside us who will not only sympathize with us and encourage us, but has also walked in our shoes, who knows what we are going through because they have been there themselves. This was the role of priests in the Old Testament (OT). We are told in Hebrews 5:1-2 that “every high priest chosen from among men is appointed to act on behalf of men in relation to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. He can deal gently with the ignorant and wayward, since he himself is beset with weakness.” OT priests were appointed to “act on behalf of men in relation to God” and to “deal gently with the ignorant and wayward, since he himself is beset with weakness.” In other words, the priest was to go before God on behalf of the people and plead on their behalf for God to be merciful. And he was good at doing this because he was a man himself and knew just how hard it was to live in a fallen world. But then we are told in v.5, “So also Christ did not exalt himself to be made a high priest, but was appointed by him who said to him, ‘You are my Son, today I have begotten you.’” Christ was appointed by God to be our priest and to stand in the gap between God and men and continuously go before the throne of God the Father and plead for us and intercede for us saying, ‘Be merciful and compassionate. I know how powerful temptation is and how difficult it is to live in a fallen world. Besides that, I paid for their sins.’ For believers, Christ is our high priest “appointed to act on behalf of men in relation to God.” What a comforting truth.
Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God. (John 6:68-69) One of my favorite stories in the Bible is from John chapter 6 where we find Jesus teaching some really difficult things. But we have to set the scene in order to really appreciate the impact of Jesus’ words. At the beginning of the chapter we are told that Jesus multiplied five loaves and two fish to be able to feed a crowd of over five-thousand men, women, and children. The next morning, when the people wake up, they realize Jesus has gone to the other side of the Sea of Galilee and so they all climb into boats and follow Jesus to the other side. When they arrive, Jesus tells them plainly that they are not seeking him because they believe he is the Messiah, “but because you ate your fill of the loaves” (v.26). Nevertheless, Jesus has a captive audience and so he intends to use this opportunity to teach them about himself and his purpose. Thus, he says to them that he is the true bread that has come down from heaven and that anyone who eats this bread will live forever. But as if that were not confusing enough, he then goes on to say, “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh." This really began to upset the Jews who exclaimed, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?" Jesus continues: “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink.” Jesus continues with this line of teaching until we eventually read in v.66, “After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. So Jesus said to the twelve, ‘Do you want to go away as well?’ Simon Peter answered him, ‘Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.’” In an instant, Jesus goes from having a following of five-thousand to standing there with just the twelve disciples. What we learn from this scene, in the words of theologian Michael Horton, is that “it is far better to have twelve disciples than to have five-thousand consumers.”
Christ is faithful over God's house as a son. And we are his house, if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope. (Heb. 3:6) What is the church? Where does it exist? Is the church a building? Does the church exist inside of believers? Does it exist inside of every believer? These are important questions to ask because these days, and because of the Covid pandemic, the whole idea of church has become muddied and very confusing to many people. Though the ban on gatherings has been lifted in many states, many Christians continue to “do church” at home and watch the church service online. The argument goes that church is wherever we worship God and “where two or more are gathered”, there Jesus is in our midst (Matt 18:20). First, while we can worship God anywhere, anywhere we worship God is not church. Second, while all believers compromise the Church of God, not every believer is the Church in and of himself. Thirdly, Jesus makes his statement in Mathew 18:20 within the context of church discipline, not corporate worship. Rather, the author of Hebrews tells us that “Moses was faithful in all God's house as a servant, to testify to the things that were to be spoken later, but Christ is faithful over God's house as a son. And we are his house, if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope” (3:5-6). Christ is faithful over God’s house and “we are that house.” Notice he does not say ‘each believer is the house of God’, but that “we [collectively, corporately, the gathered saints] are his house.” The very word “church” implies the gathering together of all of God’s people in a single location for worship. The word church comes from the Greek word ekklesia which is a compound word comprised of ek = out or outside + kaleo = to call. Hence, ekklesia literally means ‘those who are called out or outside,' those who gather outside of their homes. Those who are called out from their homes to gather. The invisible Church is comprised of all believers around the world and throughout the ages. However, the visible church is comprised of local believers gathering together in one location for corporate worship.
But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery. (Matt. 5:32) In recent years, the institution of marriage has come under greater attack both from outside and from within the church. For example, a false view of divorce that is gaining popularity within evangelicalism is that divorce is permissible on the grounds of physical, mental or emotional abuse or neglect. In other words, if a woman constantly berates her husband, cuts him down, constantly tells him how fat and worthless and lazy he is, after enduring this emotionally abusive treatment for an extensive period of time, he would have grounds to divorce his wife. The argument that this constitutes grounds for divorce goes like this: Jesus permitted divorce on the grounds of adultery (Matt 5:32; 19:9). However, adultery at its core is not just about sex. It’s about a deep-rooted selfishness. It’s about deception. It’s about breaking trust. It’s about engaging in behavior that is mentally, emotionally, and psychologically harmful to your spouse. Adultery breaks the marital covenant of trust and does harm to the spouse, and the Bible says that is grounds to legally end the marriage. Thus, there are other behaviors, other than sexual intercourse, that also break the marriage covenant and harm a spouse that constitute grounds for divorce.
While on the surface this all sounds like it makes sense, it is illogical and unbiblical because it is an argument of equivocation. An argument of equivocation occurs when the definition of an important word is changed in the middle of an argument. In this case, adultery is equal to breaking trust, selfishness, deception, and emotional/mental abuse. However, while breaking trust, selfishness, deception, and emotional/mental abuse all result from adultery, adultery is not breaking trust, selfishness, deception, and emotional/mental abuse. In other words, lying to your spouse is not act of adultery. Saying something incredibly damaging to your spouse is not an act of adultery. The word Jesus uses for “sexual immorality” is the Greek word porneia which means ‘physical sexual contact with another person.’ Thus, Jesus literally says, “Everyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of [physical sexual contact with another person], makes her commit adultery.” Physical, mental or emotional abuse or neglect are not grounds for divorce. As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. (Psalm 42:1) It is interesting that as we read Psalm 42, it is obvious that writer is going through some difficult situations. He makes statements like, “My tears have been my food day and night, while they say to me all the day long, ‘Where is your God?’ (v.3); “My soul is cast down within me” (v.6); and “I say to God, my rock: ‘Why have you forgotten me?’” (v.9). So what is the writer’s response to adversity? “As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?” (vv.1-2). The psalmist longs to see God, to be with God, to be done with this crummy world and enter into the glorious presence of the living God. The psalmist does not fear death, he welcomes it, even looks forward to it. This is not to say that believers should go through life wanting to die and constantly entertaining thoughts of suicide. The true believer understands that this life is a blessing and all that God gives us in this life and in this world are the blessings of God and are to be appreciated and enjoyed. The believer understands we have been placed here with a purpose—to know God and enjoy him forever—and we have been placed here to do a job, to carry the gospel to the ends of the earth. But the believer also knows that this life and this world is not worth clinging to. That no matter how good this life may be, the next life will be infinitely better. When this life ends and we enter into the glorious and unmitigated presence of Christ and find ourselves worshipping before his throne, we will experience more joy and peace and happiness than we ever thought possible and we will not miss any part of this world and this life and we certainly will not desire to return to this world even one bit. For believers, the best is yet to come.
Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart. (Psalm 37:4) It’s unfortunate that so often those who hold to and ascribe to the prosperity gospel use passages like Psalm 37:4 to teach that if you are faithful to God, he will give you whatever you want, whatever you ask for. “Delight yourself in the LORD,” place your faith in him, believe in Jesus, and then ask him for a Rolls Royce or mansion to live in or a private jet, and he will give it to you. But is that what Psalm 37:4 is teaching? What did David mean by this? First, here is what I don’t think he means. David does not mean that if a person has faith in God, he can simply name it and claim it, and get whatever his heart desires. There are just too many examples in the Bible of godly people not getting what they ask for from God. Jesus did not have the cup of God's wrath taken from him (Matt 26:39). Paul was not able to have the thorn in his flesh removed even though he pleaded with God three times to do so (2 Cor 12:7). Instead, David’s point is that if we delight ourselves in God, if we delight ourselves in the things of God, in knowing God, in serving God, in worshipping God, and in striving to be like Christ, then God will give us the desires of our heart. This is because when our heart’s greatest desire is to please God, to love God with all our heart, mind, and soul, and to love our neighbor as ourselves, then God will not only place godly desires within us, but will grant us those desires as well. But when we delight ourselves in the things of this world, God will not give us the desires of our heart. As James puts it, “You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions” (4:3). If your heart’s desire is to please God, he will give you the desires of your heart.
The wicked borrows but does not pay back, but the righteous is generous and gives; for those blessed by the LORD shall inherit the land, but those cursed by him shall be cut off. (Ps. 37:21-22) One of the marks of conversion is generosity. We see this in the early church in Acts 4:32ff. where we are told that no one kept anything for themselves, but all had everything in common. They all shared with one another all their possessions. This happens among believers for two reasons. First, the Holy Spirit creates within believes a desire to carry out the second great commandment to love our neighbor as ourselves. This, of course, is the result of the indwelling presence of the Holy Sprit as love is the first fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5:22). But there is a second reason generosity is and should be a defining characteristic of believers. That is, not only do we realize that everything we have comes from God, but we also realize that someday all that God has will belong to us. Psalm 37:21 says, “The wicked borrows but does not pay back, but the righteous is generous and gives.” Why is the righteous generous? "For those blessed by the LORD shall inherit the land,…” (v.22). Mature believers know and understand that when we give away our money, our resources, and our time, there is more where that came from. We know this and think this way because we understand that some day we will inherit the entire earth. Someday all that we see and enjoy around us will be ours for all eternity. Thus, when it comes to the giving of our finances or possessions or abilities and talents, it has been rightly said that God blesses us so that we might be a blessing to others. God blesses his people not so that we can hoard what God gives us, but so we might use it for his glory.
Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. (Heb. 2:17) Throughout Church history there have been those who question the full humanity of Christ (Docetism), believing that if Jesus was fully God, then he could not have been fully human. The argument goes that Jesus was human merely on the outside but fully God on the inside. In other words, Jesus was God wrapped in a human body. However, the author of Hebrews makes clear that not only is this view of Christ's humanity false, but that it was necessary for Jesus to be fully human--inside and out. In v.14 he states, “Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.” Since Jesus came to save sinner who are flesh and blood, he himself also had to be flesh and blood. And since came to redeem the “offspring of Abraham…he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.” Jesus had to made like humans "in every respect," physically, mentally, emotionally, and psychologically. This is because since it was a human who brought sin into the world and rebelled against God, then it had to be a human who would offer himself up for the sins of humanity. It was not a bull or a goat who rebelled against God. It was a human; thus, a human--someone who was fully human--had to undo what man had ruined.
For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. (2 Cor. 4:6) When we talk about how salvation works and how it is that God brings sinners into a saving relationship with himself, one of the most insightful passages in scripture is 2 Corinthians 4:3-6, “And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” So first, we are told that in our unbelieving state, we are completely blind to the image and glory of Christ. The question then is how is it that we somehow come to not only see Christ but to want to know Christ, to follow him and worship him? Scripture continues, “For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” Paul references the creation narrative back in Genesis 1 where God simply speaks light into existence and then says in similar fashion, at the right moment in history, God spoke to our dead and darkened hearts and said, ‘Let there be light’ and there was light. Suddenly, we saw and understood the gospel of Christ and desired to worship him. This is what makes God’s grace sovereign and so amazing! Today let us praise and worship God for all he has done for us.
Let all the earth fear the LORD; let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him! (Psalm 33:8) God is to be praised and worshipped not for what he has done and the way he blesses us and enriches our lives, but simply for who he is--God. Even if God does nothing good for us, even if our lives are racked with pain and suffering and misery, God is still to be worshipped and praised. Job understood this well when he said, after all his property had been destroyed and his children had all been tragically killed, “Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed [praised] be the name of the LORD" (1:21). Why does Job respond this way? How is this possible? Though the psalms had not yet been written at the time of Job’s life, he instinctively understood what the psalmist put into words in Psalm 33:6-9, “By the word of the LORD the heavens were made, and by the breath of his mouth all their host. He gathers the waters of the sea as a heap; he puts the deeps in storehouses. Let all the earth fear the LORD; let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him! For he spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm.” All the earth should fear God and all the inhabitants of the world should stand in awe of him simply because he spoke into existence all there is by the power of his word. God simply willed the universe into being. God is to be worshipped and praised and obeyed because he is God…and we are not.
For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. (Psalm 139:13-14) When does life begin? It’s the age-old question of which came first, the chicken or the egg? When does a clump of cells inside the uterus become a living human being? When does an embryo or a fetus become a “person”? Some say when the fetus can survive outside the womb on his own. Others say when the fetus develops self-awareness. Still others will say when it looks like a person. By these standards, however, there are many mentally and physically disabled individuals who would not be considered “persons” nor “human.” However, the psalmist says to God, “For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them” (139:13-16). Every embryonic baby, no matter how tiny, is the work of God’s hands, the labor of God knitting together every individual so that they are “fearfully and wonderfully made.” And if there is any doubt about when God thinks an embryo becomes a person made in his image, we need look no further than Genesis 9:6, Exodus 20:13, and 21:22-25. In Genesis 9:6 God commands capital punishment for murder. In Exodus 20:13, the sixth commandment forbids murder. And in Exodus 21:22-25 God commands that if a man strikes a pregnant woman so that she miscarries, that man is to be put to death for murder. In the mind of God, human life begins at conception. But why talk about such a sensitive topic in a Daily Thoughts post? To remind you that life beings at conception, that all human life is valuable to God, and that you were fearfully and wonderfully made. God carefully knit you together in your mother’s womb and, from the moment of conception, you had and have infinite value in the eyes of God. He knows your name.
As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. (Psalm 42:1) It is interesting that as we read Psalm 42, it is obvious that that writer is going through some difficult situations. He makes statements like, “My tears have been my food day and night, while they say to me all the day long, ‘Where is your God?’ (v.3); “My soul is cast down within me” (v.6); and “I say to God, my rock: ‘Why have you forgotten me?’” (v.9). So what is the writer’s response to adversity? “As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?” (vv.1-2). The psalmist longs to see God, to be with God, to be done with this crummy world and enter into the glorious presence of the living God. The psalmist does not fear death, he welcomes it, even looks forward to it. This is not to say that believers should go through life wanting to die and constantly entertaining thoughts of suicide. The true believer understands that this is life is a blessing and all that God gives us in this life and in this world are the blessings of God and are to be appreciated and enjoyed. The believer understands we have been placed here with a purpose—to know God and enjoy him forever—and we have been placed here to do a job, to carry the gospel to the ends of the earth. But the believer also knows that this life and this world is not worth clinging to. That no matter how good this life may be, the next life will be infinitely better. When this life ends and we enter into the glorious and unmitigated presence of Christ and find ourselves worshipping before his throne, we will experience more joy and peace and happiness than we ever though possible and we will not miss any part of this world and this life and we certainly will not desire to return to this world even one bit. For believers, the best is yet to come.
Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said, "Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body have you prepared for me; (Heb. 10:5) None of the sacrifices offered throughout the Old Testament could ever take away sins. They were never designed to take away sins. The author of Hebrews makes that clear when he writes just a few verses later “every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins” (v.11). All the sacrifices in the Old Testament were designed to remind the people of their sinfulness and to point them toward their need for a genuine savior, someone who could truly deliver them from the bondage of sin, Satan, and death. Thus, we are told in Hebrews 10:5 that when Christ came into the world, he said to God the Father, “Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body have you prepared for me.” Christ took on human flesh. He took on a human body and came to earth and did for us what no animal could ever do and what no mere human could ever do. He lived the perfect life of obedience to the Law of God, which God’s justice demands, so that those who place faith in Christ would be credited with his righteousness. And then he died on the cross as the perfect sacrifice for the sins of those who place faith in Christ. Thus, salvation is simply a matter of trusting and believing in all that Christ has done for us. Christ gets all the glory for our salvation. We get none.
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