SELF MUST BE CRUCIFIED (NOVEMBER 2)
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"Then Jesus told his disciples, 'If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it'" (Matthew 16:24,25).
FOR JESUS, THE JOY WAS ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE CROSS. The “joy that was set before him” could only be His after He “endured the cross” (Hebrews 12:2). If we wish to follow Jesus, what will we do? We want the joy He now has with the Father, but will we follow Him to the cross? “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.”
There have been some of the Lord’s disciples who have died by crucifixion as Jesus did. Peter seems to have suffered such a death (John 21:18,19). But that is not what the Lord was talking about when He said we must “take up our cross.” Regardless of what happens to our physical bodies, there is something else about us that must die. There is something that must be “denied.”
“If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself.” For all of us (at least those old enough to have committed sin), it is “self” that must be crucified. Paul said of his own conversion, “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20).
God created us for the joy of living inside the limits of His love. He never wanted anything for us but “life.” Yet we rebelled. We threw off His restraints. And what we found was not greater life, but “death” in all of its many forms. So this “self” — this stubborn, greedy demand to grasp what is “ours” — is what got us into trouble. If we’re to be saved, it will have to be gotten rid of.
If we’re not willing to put our self-will to death, we make a tragic and foolish mistake. Jesus said, “Whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” It is life’s ultimate irony that we only get what we’ve given up.
It sounds like a good thing to be “resurrected,” doesn’t it? But there is some dying that has to be done before a resurrection can take place. If there is anything other than God that we can’t or won’t give up, then the devil has our heart. “Give it up,” Jesus says. “Hold on to it, and you will die. But die, and you will live.”
"Without sacrifice there is no resurrection" (André Gide).
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AFTER BAPTISM, WHAT’S DIFFERENT? (NOVEMBER 1)
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". . . but declared first to those in Damascus, then in Jerusalem and throughout all the region of Judea, and also to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds in keeping with their repentance" (Acts 26:20).
IN THIS TEXT, PAUL GIVES US A SUMMARY OF THE MESSAGE GOD SENT HIM TO PREACH. To one and all, he preached that “they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds in keeping with their repentance.” This preaching called for a change much deeper than simply changing one’s “religious affiliation.” If the only thing that is different after we’ve been baptized is that we “now go to the right church,” it may be that we’ve still got some changing to do.
ATTENDING A DIFFERENT CHURCH. Some have the idea that heaven is simply the reward given by God to those who have identified the right religious group to be a part of. For them, baptism means little more than the doorway between the wrong church and the right church. On this point, let us be clear: unscriptural religious affiliations will jeopardize our souls. But there is more to the gospel — and to salvation — than getting into the right church.
BECOMING A DIFFERENT PERSON. In the text above, Paul said that he called on hearers to “turn to God.” This is the heart of the gospel: turning to God. If we have been religious people and have been affiliated with a group whose doctrines and practices are out of sync with the Scriptures, that will need to be corrected. But those things are symptoms of the problem. The problem the gospel addresses is that our hearts have been taking a disobedient, self-willed stance with regard to God, not just in our religious affiliation but in everything else. The gospel, therefore, calls on us to turn to God, seeking the gracious forgiveness He offers and committing ourselves to a completely new life in Him. This new life will come from an admission that the problem with our previous life was not merely the church we were attending; the problem was us. So yes, the matter of “church” will need to be addressed, but the deeper (and much harder) issue is whether we’re ready to die to what we used to be and learn to be a person with a very different kind of heart. Without this kind of turning to God, baptism is an empty act.
"Conversion is a deep work -- a heart work. It goes throughout the man, throughout the mind, throughout the members, throughout the entire life" (Joseph Alleine).
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EVERY DEED WILL BE TESTED (OCTOBER 31)
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"For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil" (Ecclesiastes 12:14).
THE LAST VERSE IN ECCLESIASTES GIVES US THE REASON WHY WE SHOULD FEAR GOD AND KEEP HIS COMMANDMENTS. Reverence and obedience must define the way we live because “God will bring every deed into judgment.” All that we do is going to be tested, not by the trial of any human evaluation, but by the judgment of God Himself. Not wanting to deal with it, we may pretend this testing won’t come, but we will be tried by it nevertheless.
It is not just some of our deeds, but “every deed” that will be brought into judgment by God. Even “every secret thing” will be judged by Him. “No creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account” (Hebrews 4:13). This truth should jolt us. We may present to other human beings only what we want them to know, but God knows even the most secret contents of our hearts.
Our deeds will be judged “whether good or evil.” Just as we may temporarily deny God’s judgment itself, we may also deny the existence of objective right and wrong, but our denial doesn’t make it go away (any more than closing the blinds makes the sun go away). There is an eternal, unalterable difference between good and evil, and it has its origin in God’s own character.
Because He is our Creator, God has a right to bring us into judgment. Having given us life and a free will, He will hold us accountable for the use of our freedom of choice between good and evil. Think of it in terms of “stewardship.” Having been entrusted with great gifts, we will answer for our faithfulness in using them. Surely it is the right of the Giver to conduct such a reckoning.
At the final judgment, and even before, we won’t be able to hide from that which Thomas Merton called “the implacable light of judgment.” Apart from the forgiveness of God, which is what the gospel of Christ is about, none of us has any hope at the judgment. But if we won’t face reality, not even the gospel can help us.
"What we need is not a false peace which enables us to evade the implacable light of judgment, but the grace courageously to accept the bitter truth that is revealed to us; to abandon our inertia, our egotism and submit entirely to the demands of the Spirit" (Thomas Merton).
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IN A WORLD OF FUTILITY, HOW SHOULD WE LIVE? (OCTOBER 30)
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"The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man" (Ecclesiastes 12:13).
IN ECCLESIASTES, WE ARE CONFRONTED WITH OUR POWERLESSNESS. Neither the human race collectively nor any of us individually can ever be sure that performing actions “A” and “B” will lead to “C” in this life. It might, but it might not. But if what we do can’t be counted on to give us the life we want, what difference does it make how we live? Let’s summarize the advice given in Ecclesiastes, and then pay special attention to the conclusion.
DO THE BEST THAT WE KNOW TO DO. Wisdom is no guarantee of success, but that doesn’t mean it’s worthless — wisdom will give our plans their best chance of succeeding (11:1-6), and only a fool would disregard wisdom. Even at our wisest, however, we humbly recognize that we’re not in complete control. God may overrule even the best of our projects, based on His greater wisdom.
ENJOY EACH DAY’S HAPPINESS. Rather than basing our happiness on our (very weak) ability to make the future turn out the way we want, Ecclesiastes recommends that we simply enjoy today’s pleasures for their own sake (3:12,13,22). As far as earthly joys are concerned, God means for us to enjoy them and then let them go.
FEAR GOD AND KEEP HIS COMMANDMENTS. After advising us to act wisely and relish the joys of daily living, Ecclesiastes ends with a profound conclusion: no matter what happens, we should fear God and stay within the boundaries of His laws. Doing this is “the whole duty of man” (12:13). The meaning of this statement is aptly rendered in the CEV paraphrase, “This is what life is all about.”
The key to human conduct, therefore, lies not in figuring out what will produce this or that result tomorrow — it lies in the fear of God and obedience to what He has commanded. By frustrating our ability to create the future we want in this world, even by the means of religious activity (7:15), God is calling us back to the main thing that was lost in Eden: simple, unconditional reverence.
We must adjust our minds to the doing of what is right because it is right, and not because it will turn earthly events in our direction. The sooner we give up our “comprehend and control” approach to life, the sooner we’ll be ready to hear the gospel.
"Duty is ours and events are God's" (Angelina Grimké).
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THERE ARE THOSE WHO PERVERT GOD'S GRACE (OCTOBER 29)
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"For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ" (Jude 4).
THERE WAS AN URGENT PROBLEM AMONG THE CHRISTIANS TO WHOM JUDE WROTE. Having urged them to “contend for the faith” (v.3), in v.4 Jude gave the reason why such a defense of the faith was necessary: it was because “certain people have crept in unnoticed . . . who pervert the grace of our God.” These were teachers who, based on their view of God’s grace, minimized the seriousness of immoral behavior among Christians.
Sadly, the problem faced by Jude and his fellow Christians has not disappeared from the earth. Today, as then, there are those who present God’s grace in such a way that it becomes a license to sin. Advocating what they say is a more advanced spirituality, these teachers promise freedom from the simple dos and don’ts of “legalism.” But Peter, like Jude, saw this teaching for what it was: a perversion of the gospel, based on a lie. “For, speaking loud boasts of folly, they entice by sensual passions of the flesh those who are barely escaping from those who live in error. They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption. For whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved” (2 Peter 2:18,19).
It is indeed sad that false versions of the gospel have to be dealt with, but they do. When the truth is twisted and people are being influenced, the only responsible thing is to “contend for the faith.” The little letter of Jude is a strong dose of medicine, but Jude was not alone. Peter (2 Peter 2:1-3), Paul (2 Timothy 3:13,14), and John (1 John 2:18,19) were no less concerned.
When we obey the gospel of Christ, we commit ourselves to walking “in newness of life” (Romans 6:3,4), and this eliminates the very idea of continuing to live in sin (Romans 6:1,2). Granted, as Christians we will continue to fall short and our only hope of salvation is in God’s forgiveness. But forgiveness requires godly sorrow and repentance. In the absence of “a broken and contrite heart” (Psalm 51:17), grace offers no freedom to continue in sin.
"Grace abounds only when there is genuine repentance and we cannot simultaneously will sin and repentance since this involves a contradiction in terms" (Dorothy L. Sayers).
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THE FAITH IS WORTH CONTENDING FOR (OCTOBER 28)
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"Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints" (Jude 3).
JUDE MAKES TWO POINTS ABOUT THE GOSPEL, EACH OF WHICH OUGHT TO IMPRESS US. First, he calls it “the faith.” And second, he says that it was “once for all delivered to the saints.” The faith is not an ever-evolving system of belief, supplemented in each generation by continuing revelation from God. Instead, it is a body of teaching completely and definitively revealed to the apostles in their generation, just as Christ said it would be (John 14:26; 16:12,13). Having been delivered, it stands complete — once for all.
Although he wanted to write about the salvation he and his brethren were blessed to enjoy, Jude says he found it necessary to urge them to “contend for the faith.” They were being assailed by teachers promoting a false gospel, and the content of this teaching needed to be contradicted in no uncertain terms.
“Contending” can be an ungodly activity, but it is not necessarily so. Paul urged Timothy to avoid the ugly side of controversy: “And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness” (2 Timothy 2:24,25). Nevertheless, the faith must be contended for. Paul himself “had no small dissension and debate” (Acts 15:1,2) with the false teachers who came to Antioch.
Here is a bold affirmation, but one I believe needs to be made: the gospel is not only true, but it can be rationally and objectively known to be true. It is not something that should be swallowed naively; in fact, it requires careful evaluation. But if the message of Christ is true, it is by far the most important truth in the world — and it is worthy of being defended. Just as surely as the gospel is preached, there will be those who corrupt it. When they speak up, those who know the Scriptures must speak up also.
Seek the truth
Listen to the truth
Teach the truth
Love the truth
Abide by the truth
And defend the truth
To the death.
(John Huss)
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EACH MUST CHOOSE (OCTOBER 27)
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"Now therefore fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness. Put away the gods that your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord" (Joshua 24:14,15).
THE LONGER I LIVE, THE MORE I SEE THE IMPORTANCE OF DECISIVENESS. If we don’t train ourselves to make decisive choices, we will self-destruct. So Joshua could not have challenged Israel more profitably than by saying, “Choose this day whom you will serve.” He knew they would serve one god or another; he just hoped it would be the true God they chose — deliberately and decisively.
What are we to make of Joshua’s saying, “But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord”? Did Joshua have the power to choose for his family that they would serve God? No, at least not in the strictest sense. I believe he was saying, “As the leader of my clan, I am making the choice to serve the Lord, and to the best of my ability I will influence each member of the family to do likewise.” In his day, Joshua would have had the authority to enforce certain rules in his clan (at least externally). But in truth, Joshua could not make this, the greatest decision of life, for anyone but himself. Then, as now, we cannot compel; we can only influence.
As important as choice is, then, it must be exercised individually. This powerful gift of freedom that God has given us is perhaps the most private of all our gifts. We can influence other human beings and they can influence us, but no human being can enter the secret chambers of another’s heart and make even the slightest decision for him. Even if I say to you, “I can’t make up my mind; you decide,” you are not really making my decision. I have simply made the decision to follow your lead. And as we all know, “not making a decision” is a misnomer. Not to decide is really just one kind of decision: the decision to do nothing and hope for the best.
In regard to God, we must say a decisive Yes! — or we’ll not like where we end up. As I heard someone say, “God lives upstream from us, and we’re not going to get to where He is by just drifting.” The most disastrous thing we can do is “not decide.”
"There is a time when we must firmly choose the course we will follow, or the relentless drift of events will make the decision" (Herbert V. Prochnow).
Gary Henry - WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.com
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THE GOOD CONFESSION (OCTOBER 26)
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"Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses" (1 Timothy 6:12).
OPENNESS, TRANSPARENCY, DISCLOSURE. These are words with a very high social value these days. We tend to view them positively (at least as far as other people’s conduct is concerned).
But what about openness with regard to our religious convictions, especially those that might get us into trouble if they were publicly known? When we might be persecuted for our beliefs, we often find it convenient to be quiet about them. And perhaps even more than persecution, we fear social disapproval and ostracism. As the world becomes increasingly secular, religious beliefs of any kind will come to be viewed as contemptible. Whatever other religious people may do, how is a Christian to deal with this pressure?
Well, the gospel is clear on this point. Jesus said, “Everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven, but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 10:32,33). Openly acknowledging that we are the Lord’s people is a part of our faith in Him. We cannot hide our identity and still expect that He will acknowledge us on the Judgment Day.
In 1 Timothy 6:12, Paul reminded Timothy that he had made “the good confession.” Surely the verbal confession that Jesus is Lord is a good confession — the best of all possible acknowledgements that a person could make. And it is a required part of becoming a Christian. “With the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved” (Romans 10:10).
But to confess Christ goes beyond merely saying the words “I believe that Jesus is the Son of God.” We must truly believe those words — and they must be confessed in our deeds as well as our words. We can’t have Jesus as our “Savior” without obeying Him as our “Lord.” And in the end, doing that may require the greatest courage of all: confessing by our actions that we have accepted His lordship — both when it is convenient and when it is not.
"One of the greatest errors in the church today is the artificial distinction we have created between accepting Christ as Savior and confessing Him as Lord. We have made two experiences of it, but the New Testament makes them one" (Vance Havner).
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WHY SAUL, THE RABBI, OBEYED THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST (OCTOBER 25)
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". . . in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith -- that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead" (Philippians 3:8-11).
FOR THE TASK OF TAKING THE GOSPEL TO THE GENTILES, GOD SELECTED A MOST UNLIKELY CANDIDATE. Saul of Tarsus was a firebrand. He was a strict and conscientious Pharisee, a protégé of Gamaliel, one of the leading rabbis in Jerusalem with an influential seat on the Sanhedrin. Before his conversion to Christ, Saul was an ardent persecutor of the fledgling church, traveling even to distant cities to imprison those of “the Way” (Acts 9:1,2).
Saul, later known as Paul, was on track to become one of the leading scholars and defenders of the Jewish faith of his generation. He had a great deal to give up. When he became convinced that he had to become a Christian, it was not as if he had nothing to lose. And the life he had as a Christian, at least in this world, was a life so hard that most of us can hardly imagine it (just read 2 Corinthians 11:23-28 if you think Paul made his life more comfortable when he obeyed the gospel). When he was baptized for the remission of his sins (Acts 22:16), Paul was not switching his “religious affiliation” — he was moving from condemnation to salvation, from death to life, from Satan to the Savior of the world.
After turning to Christ, Paul was as fiery a preacher as he had been a persecutor, which goes to show that the Lord is not looking for timid people without any intensity but for those who, when they finally see the truth, will take a bold and passionate stand for it. And why will people take such a stand, even going so far as to die for Christ? Because of how good the good news really is. So today, our motivation needs to be just as passionate. My own prayer is that I obeyed the gospel in order “that I may gain Christ and be found in him . . . becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.”
"The best news of the Christian gospel is that the supremely glorious Creator of the universe has acted in Jesus Christ's death and resurrection to remove every obstacle between us and himself so that we may find everlasting joy in seeing and savoring his infinite beauty" (John Piper).
Gary Henry - WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.com
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WE MUST ALL APPEAR (OCTOBER 23)
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"For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil" (2 Corinthians 5:10).
IT IS A VERY SERIOUS THING THAT PAUL SAYS HERE. There is not a single one of us who will not have to account for himself or herself before Christ at the judgment. That accounting will be an absolutely accurate assessment of our life-choices, whether good or evil. There will be no favoritism and no miscarriage of justice. Each one will “receive what is due for what he has done.” An equally honest picture of the judgment is found in Romans 2:5-11.
In v.9, the verse preceding our text in 2 Corinthians 5:10, Paul had spoken of his desire to please Christ: “we make it our aim to please him.” The wonder of the gospel is that this is possible. Outside of Christ, our sins would doom us and judgment would hold nothing but fear, but thanks to Christ’s sacrifice and our having died with Him in obedience to the gospel, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1). The apostle John wrote to his brethren, “By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world” (1 John 4:17).
But don’t be deceived: if our sins haven’t been forgiven by the blood of Christ and we’re not living in a faithful relationship with Him, the judgment that is coming will be an occasion of terror for us. The fact that God’s grace has provided salvation will do us no good if we have not accepted that grace on His terms, by complying with the conditions upon which we could have “passed from death to life” (John 5:24). As Christians, knowing that we will be judged, while not paralyzing us with fear, is a healthy incentive to take God seriously. But without a right relationship with God through Christ, we have good reason to fear (1 Peter 4:17,18).
In summary, then, judgment before God is inevitable for all of us. It is coming — and the only question is whether we’ll be ready. So Solomon was exactly right: “The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil” (Ecclesiastes 12:13,14).
"All roads lead to the judgment seat of Christ" (Keith Green).
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IF FAITH DOES NOT ACT, IT DOES NOT SAVE (OCTOBER 22)
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"For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead" (James 2:26).
FAITH IS ABOUT AS BASIC A CONCEPT AS THERE IS IN THE GOSPEL. Its importance in our response to God is immense (Philippians 3:8,9). But faith, or trust, is not easy. It requires a good deal of courage. For example, it takes faith to accept whatever the Lord’s commandments are in cases where what He requires goes against our preferences and preconceived notions. But if we do not trust the Lord enough to comply with His instructions, it is vain for us to think that He will save us anyway. Think about it: if the attitude that led us into sin initially was “I don’t think I really have to do what God commanded,” what possible hope of salvation do we have if we exhibit the same attitude about what the gospel requires of us? Like it or not, distrust of God is at the root of sin — and deciding to trust Him again is at the heart of how we must respond to the gospel.
Genuine faith will always show up in action, often at great risk. We see this in each of the amazing examples in Hebrews 11 of people in the Old Testament who did what they did because they trusted God. We do not earn our salvation by our works, but the fact remains, if faith does not obey God, it is not real faith. James put it unmistakably: “Faith apart from works is dead” (2:26).
“The road to hell is paved with good intentions” may be a crude saying, but it is true. Many a good-intentioned person knows what he should do, but not many make the choice to carry out their intentions. And this failure to act on our best impulses is a serious matter; it compounds our sin. “Whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin” (James 4:17). So I would suggest that the gospel calls us to do not one but two things: we must think rightly and then do what our thinking tells us is right.
If you’re not a Christian, it may be you don’t yet agree that the gospel is true. If so, I hope you’ll keep studying. But if you are convinced that Jesus is the Messiah and you know what the gospel requires for your salvation in Him, my prayer is that your newfound faith will move you to humble, obedient action.
"Faith and works are bound up in the same bundle. He that obeys God trusts God; and he that trusts God obeys God. He that is without faith is without works; and he that is without works is without faith" (Charles Spurgeon).
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CHRIST IN US, THE HOPE OF GLORY (OCTOBER 21)
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"To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory" (Colossians 1:27).
ALTHOUGH THE GOSPEL WAS FORESHADOWED IN THE OLD TESTAMENT, IT WAS A “MYSTERY” UNTIL GOD FULLY REVEALED IT IN THE LIFE OF JESUS CHRIST AND THE TEACHING OF THE APOSTLES. It was not mysterious in the sense of being weird or arcane, but it was a “mystery” in that it could not have been known until God disclosed it. In Colossians 1:27, the mystery was not just God’s plan in general but a specific part of the plan: that it would be for the whole world and not just Israel (compare Ephesians 3:4-6). In our text above, Paul said that God chose “to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery.”
WHICH IS CHRIST IN YOU. In the New Testament, Christians are spoken of as being in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17; 1 Peter 5:14) — and likewise, He is said to be in them (John 14:20; Romans 8:10). The surprise, to some at least, was that the expression “Christ in you” would ever be applied to Christians who were not Jewish.
THE HOPE OF GLORY. If the remission of sins is found only in Christ, then our hope of sharing God’s glory in eternity is tied to Him. But that is precisely what the gospel offers: the hope of a glory beyond the boundaries of this world. “When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory” (Colossians 3:4).
As the unveiled mystery now shows, the “hope of glory” in Christ is for all of mankind, the Gentile no less than the Jew. The inclusion of the Gentiles in God’s redemptive plan had been hinted at in prophecies about the Messiah (Isaiah 56:6-8; Amos 9:11,12), but no one could have known how it would happen until God revealed it in the gospel of Christ. Now that we know, however, we stand amazed at “how vast a wealth of glory for the Gentile world” (Weymouth) is stored up in the hope of the gospel.
In Christ, then, is the very summation of all that we need and aspire to. There is nothing about our broken relationship with God that He is not able to repair, no void in our hearts He cannot fill. He is God, who came from heaven to save us. And the rest of our lives would not be time enough to praise Him sufficiently.
Jesus, Lord God Almighty, Wonderful Couns’lor, Light of the world,
The Prince of Peace, Hope of glory, Man of Sorrows, Lamb of God.
(Dane K. Shepard)
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IMMANUEL (OCTOBER 20)
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"Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel" (Isaiah 7:14).
ONE OF THE FUNDAMENTAL TRUTHS OF THE GOSPEL IS THE INCARNATION. From the Latin for “flesh,” the Incarnation means that God took fleshly form. In order to deal with human sin at its deepest level, God allowed Himself to be born into the world as a human being. In the person of Jesus Christ, the Son of God was both true God and true man. “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14).
In Isaiah 7:14, the birth of One who could rightly be called Immanuel (“God with us”) was foretold. This is one of the many “messianic” prophecies in the Old Testament, predictions that anticipated the coming of a great king (Messiah means “Anointed One”) who would inaugurate the kingdom of God and rule with divine sovereignty. In addition to Isaiah 7:14, we think of other texts like Psalm 2:1-12; 110:1-7; Isaiah 52:13-53:12; and dozens more.
One of the solid evidences of Jesus’ identity as the Messiah is the fulfillment in His life and death of every one of these messianic prophecies. They are fulfilled in such minute detail, and so many centuries after the prophecies were made, no one person could have arranged his life in such a way as to fulfill them all. How could Jesus have decided to be born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2), be of the tribe of Judah (Genesis 49:10), be a descendant of David (Isaiah 9:6,7; 11:1), be put to death in such a gruesome manner (Psalm 22:1-18), and then be brought back from the grave (Psalm 16:10)? No one merely pretending to be the Messiah could have done all these things.
But in regard to “God with us” in Isaiah 7:14, it is an important part of the gospel that God did, in fact, enter our world and live among us as He did. He loved us and saved us, not from a distance but by becoming one of us. Jesus, as God in the flesh, is our Lord, but He is also our Brother and Friend. We worship and adore Him knowing that He knows what it is like to be “us.” How could such a thing as this be possible? We do not know; we simply give thanks that our salvation has been wrought by “God with us.”
Jesus, name above all names: Beautiful Savior, glorious Lord,
Emmanuel, God is with us, Blessed Redeemer, Living Word.
(Naida Hearn)
Gary Henry - WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.com
For more information, visit http://AreYouaChristian.com
HIS WONDERFUL PASSION AND PURITY (OCTOBER 19)
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"When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. And he began to teach them many things" (Mark 6:34).
ONE OF OUR GREAT ENDOWMENTS AS HUMAN BEINGS IS THE CAPACITY TO FEEL THINGS EMOTIONALLY. Whatever “emotions” any of the lower creatures may seem to have, these are far below the emotional abilities of human beings. And we are able to feel things the way we do because we are made in the image of a personal Creator. Emotions are the unique province of personal beings, and we are personal because God is personal.
The word “passion” simply means strong feeling. It may be good or bad, depending on what the feeling is about and what is done with that feeling. But the world would be a poorer place if there were no passionate people. All of us can feel, but some people seem to feel things more deeply and vividly. In the case of Jesus, who was God our Creator in the form of a human being, He felt things perfectly — which meant that at times He felt them very strongly. In the passage in Mark 6:34, for example, we see Him being moved with compassion for the multitudes who followed Him. He did not find their needs merely “interesting”; He was passionately moved by them. He cared, and He cared deeply.
Yet Jesus’ passion was never anything less than pure. It was always governed by eternally valid principles. Even when we see Him demonstrating anger, as in John 2:13-17, His anger was never out of control. I believe that both the purity of His passion and the passion of His purity would have caused many to think, “Here is a person unlike any who has ever appeared in the world.”
When we study Jesus, is it not His combination of passion and purity that is so powerful? As with all His other characteristics, the blend of these two in such a harmonious way is what allowed Him to have the influence that He did. And does this not remind us that we were created to be whole persons, not people with our various traits at war with each other? This wholeness was the beauty of Jesus, and my prayer must be: let this beauty be seen in me.
Let the beauty of Jesus be seen in me,
All His wonderful passion and purity.
May His Spirit divine all my being refine;
Let the beauty of Jesus be seen in me.
(Albert W. T. Orsborn)
Gary Henry - WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.com
For more information, visit http://AreYouaChristian.com
JESUS IS FAIRER, JESUS IS PURER (OCTOBER 18)
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"He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation" (Colossians 1:15).
DARKNESS CAN HAVE A DARKENING EFFECT ON US MENTALLY. If you were to live underground long enough, you would almost forget that there is such a thing as sunshine, and when you finally saw it again, you would be exhilarated. In a similar way, those who heard Jesus Christ might have had a hard time putting it into words, but they would have felt somewhat as a person feels who comes into the light after a long stay in the darkness. In fact, Peter, writing to his fellow Christians, spoke of God as “him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:9). Marvelous light is exactly what it is. Those who have long endured the darkness and then experienced the beauty of what Jesus makes possible know very well what Peter was talking about.
I recently bought a little oil lamp that I light each night after I’ve turned off all the other lights in my apartment. It has come to mean a great deal to me because of what it reminds me of when I look at it in the dark hours. Its little flame is a comforting reminder that the darkness in this world will not last always, and even while it does, there is a Savior who is now reigning in a realm of light. He is my Beautiful Friend, the One who will one day come for me and take me to that wonderful place (John 14:2,3).
In Colossians 1:15, Paul affirms that Jesus Christ is “the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.” The point is not that He was the first thing to be created but that He is the unrivaled Ruler over all that was made through Him (vv.16,17). And if He is, as Weymouth translates it, “the visible representation of the invisible God,” it is a most beautiful God that He represents to us. As the Lord of all creation, He rules over a cosmos that reveals the glory of its Creator (Psalm 19:1). What touches our hearts so deeply is that He is even more fair and pure than the creation which He has made. And the grandest truth of all is that the One who created the beauty around us is able to fix our broken hearts and create a beauty within us — a beauty that is nothing less than His own beauty.
Fair are the meadows, fairer still the woodlands,
Robed in all the blooming garb of spring;
Jesus is fairer, Jesus is purer,
Who makes the woeful heart to sing.
(German Folk Hymn)
Gary Henry - WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.com
For more information, visit http://AreYouaChristian.com
ACCEPT FORGIVENESS, GROW IN GODLINESS (OCTOBER 17)
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"Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation" (1 Peter 2:2).
IF WE ARE OUTSIDE OF JESUS CHRIST, IN A LOST CONDITION BECAUSE WE’VE NEVER OBEYED THE GOSPEL, GOD WOULD SAY TWO THINGS TO US. He would say, first, that we need to accept His forgiveness by obeying the gospel. But He would also say that, having been forgiven, we need to start growing in godliness each day.
The first is the most immediate need, obviously. If a person is lost in sin, the most pressing question he or she must ask is, “What must I do to be saved?” (Acts 16:30). If that is our situation, the passages in the New Testament we need to be focusing on are those that tell us what is required in order to pass from death to life, spiritually speaking. What are the initial things a person must do? What is required by God in order to come into a saved, forgiven, and reconciled relationship with Him? If we’re honest in our search, we will let passages like Acts 2:37,38 and Romans 10:9,10 speak to our need. Without letting our own opinions intervene, we will let the Scriptures tell us what God’s conditions for salvation are.
But growing in godliness is no less important than our initial obedience to the gospel. Peter was speaking to Christians when he said, “Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation” (1 Peter 2:2). The point of becoming a Christian is not just to receive the forgiveness of our past sins; it is to enter the process of having the damage of sin repaired. It is to start becoming less like the old person who died when we were baptized (Romans 6:1-4) and more like the new person Christ will enable us to be (Ephesians 4:22-24).
It is regrettable that so many seem to view salvation as nothing more than being saved from their past sins. In reality, however, it is also being saved from the person we used to be. Outgrowing that old person is a process — one that takes time to be completed.
So, spiritual growth must be established as our priority, and the earlier we establish it, the better off we’ll be. Neglecting this is not just undesirable; it is dangerous. As Christians, there is no safe plateau where we may complacently sing “Just As I Am.” Either we grow toward God’s likeness, or we go back to being dead.
"All growth that is not toward God is growing to decay" (George MacDonald).
Gary Henry - WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.com
For more information, visit http://AreYouaChristian.com
APOSTASY WAS FORETOLD (OCTOBER 16)
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"Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons" (1 Timothy 4:1).
PREDICTIONS OF APOSTASY, LIKE THE ONE ABOVE, ARE FOUND THROUGHOUT THE NEW TESTAMENT. It was a matter of great concern to all of the apostles. The fact that there would occur a departure from the foundational teachings of the gospel was not something they could think about except with a broken heart.
Here are some other texts that reveal the concern of the New Testament writers about the crisis that was coming (and I hope you’ll take the time to look these up and think about them): Acts 20:29-31; 2 Thessalonians 2:3-5; 1 Timothy 6:20,21; 2 Timothy 3:1-7; 4:3,4; 2 Peter 2:1-3; 3:1-4; 1 John 2:18,19; 4:1; and Jude 3,4.
Today, it is not hard to see that the apostles were right to be concerned. A great apostasy did, in fact, take place. And it is sobering to realize that most of what goes on in the modern world under the name of “Christianity” is a result of that apostasy.
Martin Luther, of course, is known for having sparked the Protestant Reformation. But although he saw that Catholicism was a departure from the Scriptures, Luther’s work did not result in a complete return to the apostolic faith, and the Protestantism of today is just as much a part of the apostasy foretold by the apostles as the Catholicism against which the Protestants protested.
Clearly, we need to be warned just as strongly as the brethren to whom the apostles wrote in the first century. We need constant reminders and admonitions. Given the human propensity for drifting (Galatians 1:6), there is no hope for us if restoration is not an ongoing priority — and not just congregationally but individually.
Apostasy can be dealt with only by the testing of everything by God’s standard (1 Thessalonians 5:21) and monitoring ourselves with great honesty (1 Corinthians 10:12; 2 Corinthians 13:5; Hebrews 2:1). The key is constant recourse to the teachings of Christ and His apostles, coupled with a love that simply refuses to let go of our Savior. If we wish to be God’s people, in this or any other age, we must radically respect His plan for our salvation — and the Scriptures are our only means of knowing what that plan is.
"There is no broader way to apostasy than to reject God’s sovereignty in all things concerning the revelation of himself and our obedience" (John Owen).
Gary Henry - WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.com
For more information, visit http://AreYouaChristian.com
RESTORATION AS AN ONGOING WORK (OCTOBER 15)
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"Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent" (Revelation 2:5).
IN YESTERDAY’S READING, WE TALKED ABOUT THE IMPORTANCE OF RESTORING THE FAITH AND PRACTICE THAT WE FIND IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. Today, let’s reemphasize the fact that restoration must be an ongoing work. There will never come a time when we can say, “What is taught in the New Testament has been restored, so we won’t have to work on that any more; we can relax and enjoy it.”
The church in Ephesus is a good example of what can happen. The brethren there had been zealous in defending the apostolic faith against corrupters and compromisers (Revelation 2:2,3). But toward the end of the first century, they themselves were in need of returning to the standard. They didn’t love the Lord as they used to (v.4), and the problem was deeper than just not “feeling it” anymore (as this text is sometimes taught). They weren’t doing what they once did, and the Lord said, “Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent” (v.5). This church needed to come back to Christ!
Both individually and congregationally, restoration requires constant vigilance. We must reassess and return. Reassess and return. Reassess and return. If our forebears did this, we are blessed to have their example. But like them, we need to reassess and return.
It is uncomfortable to have it brought to our attention (either individually or congregationally) that we stand in need of restoration — just as what your cardiologist tells you may not be fun to hear. But God forbid that we should react as Isaiah’s people who, when they heard calls for restoration, said, “Do not prophesy to us what is right; speak to us smooth things, prophesy illusions” (Isaiah 30:10). Granted, the preacher who frequently emphasizes returning to the standard may be more of an irritant than a comforter, but any preacher worth his salt will have the attitude that Peter had: “It seems right to me, as long as I am in this tent of flesh, to keep your minds awake by working on your memory” (2 Peter 1:13 BBE).
"Better the discomfort that leads to repentance and restoration than temporal comfort and eternal damnation" (Francine Rivers).
Gary Henry - WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.com
For more information, visit http://AreYouaChristian.com
RESTORATION AS A PRINCIPLE (OCTOBER 14)
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"Let what you heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you too will abide in the Son and in the Father" (1 John 2:24).
THE CONCEPT OF “RESTORATION” IS OF FUNDAMENTAL IMPORTANCE IN BOTH THE OLD AND THE NEW TESTAMENTS. We can’t read the Scriptures seriously and not see that if we intend to be God’s faithful people, “restoration” must be a work we engage in. God has never — in any age of the world — left people without any standard which must be adhered to, in both belief and practice. “Restoration” means (a) being reminded of what the standard is, and (b) making constant efforts to bring things back in line with it.
If you have any acquaintance with basic science (or if you have ever looked at your teenager’s bedroom), you are familiar with the law of “entropy”: left to themselves, things descend into greater disorder and randomness. This law is as true in the spiritual realm as it is in the physical. Over time, things degrade. Without constant monitoring, maintenance, and “restoration,” we drift away from the standard God has set. And the descent into disorder is so gradual we often don’t admit to ourselves what is happening.
In our individual lives, we see the need for realignment with the Scriptures more easily, but perhaps we don’t recognize it as much at the congregational level. Local assemblies of Christians must commit themselves to a restoration of the apostolic order. If not, they will descend into greater “entropy” with each passing year — and there is no congregation where this tendency is not present.
If you’re a new Christian, look for a congregation that is committed to the principle of restoration. And if you’ve been a Christian for some time, remind the brothers and sisters where you worship that it is dangerous to be content with their past restoration efforts, as if New Testament Christianity has been fully restored and they can put things on autopilot from now on. Look for elders who are not afraid to lead their brethren in congregational acts of repentance and restoration. And look for brethren who know they need to be warned. “We must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it” (Hebrews 2:1).
"The life of the Church depends on one thing: her return to biblical principles" (Otto Riecker).
Gary Henry - WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.com
For more information, visit http://AreYouaChristian.com
