Saving Faith vs Selfish Faith - Luke 23-24

Luke 23:39-43 (ESV)

One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!” But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” And he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

The two thrives give us a perfect example of those who approach God by faith and those who approach God for personal gain.   The two were both criminals.   They both had done something wrong, apparently worthy of a cruel death.   The first thief wanted Jesus to prove He was the Son of God, but not because he thought Jesus was, but only because he had a personal motive: He wanted to be saved from the pain of the cross.   The second thief had faith to believe Jesus was the Son of God.  He didn’t need Jesus to prove it.  He only wanted Jesus to save him from the second death:  Separation from God for all eternity.     He put his faith in Jesus that Jesus would be able to bring him into the Kingdom.   He had faith that Jesus was the Son of God.  All we can assume is that in his criminal life he had some revelation about Jesus.  In this moment he came to faith.   One of the two wanted self-preservation for life on earth.   One of the two wanted eternal life with Jesus.   That is the difference in our world about how to approach Jesus.  Some simply want personal gain and don’t need Him unless that is the outcome. Some simply want to be with Him in paradise.   

God Has A Design - Ezekiel 37-42

Ezekiel 40:17-19 (ESV)

Then he brought me into the outer court. And behold, there were chambers and a pavement, all around the court. Thirty chambers faced the pavement. And the pavement ran along the side of the gates, corresponding to the length of the gates. This was the lower pavement. Then he measured the distance from the inner front of the lower gate to the outer front of the inner court, a hundred cubits on the east side and on the north side.

Whenever we come to this section in Ezekiel we are challenged by the content and the practical application to our lives today.   To make sure we don’t miss the point of any passage in the Bible it is important to remember what Paul told Timothy, the pastor of an early church in the 1st century. 

2 Timothy 3:16-17 (ESV)

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

There is not a passage in Scripture that does not bring significant meaning to our lives.  Although it does take work from us to find some of that meaning.  It is doubtful that any church did a year long series on Ezekiel 40-47 (the passages that are written about the new temple).   But each time we do read this section it is important to learn and/or remember these valuable lessons:

1. God is a God of design.   We may not like to read the architectural plans for the temple, but it does show God is a God of design.  Nothing is done without plan and forethought.  God has a design for our lives, as well. 

2. God is a God of order.   God is having Ezekiel tell us the way the entire temple is laid out.   God has a plan and He wants the temple laid out in a specific way.  God is the same for us today. He has a plan for us and it is laid out in a particular way.  God is not the God of confusion (1 Corinthians 14:23).

3. God reveals His design and order.   No, we do not have the blueprints for our lives like God gave Ezekiel for this temple.  But He does reveal to us what we need to know to follow His designed and orderly plan for our lives.   

4.  God is the God of details.   God does not mess around with the description we have in these verses.   He is precise.   He tells us exactly how long and how far something is from one thing to the other.    

5. God designs beauty.  This temple is symmetrical in concept.  All the parts of the temple are designed to focus on the main aspect of the temple: Worship of God.   God makes the temple beautiful by making sure there is perfect summitry. 

6.  God wants worship.  The entire point of the temple is to provide a place of worship to God. Don’t miss the point of a temple.   It is not the beauty, summitry, or order that is the point. Those are only a reflection of the God we worship.  The point of the temple is not the physical design, it is that it was designed for worship.   God wants to be worshipped and provides to man all that is necessary for worship.  

What Is Chasing You? Proverbs 13

Proverbs 13:21 (ESV)

Disaster pursues sinners,

but the righteous are rewarded with good.

This proverb should be read in contrast to Psalm 23:6.   

Psalms 23:6 (ESV)

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me

all the days of my life,

and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD

forever.

In that great Psalm we read the "goodness and mercy" will "follow" those who make The Lord their Shepherd. By contrast, in this proverb, Solomon tells us that those who do not make The Lord their Shepherd will not be pursued by goodness and mercy but rather by "disaster."  The righteous will be rewarded, followed by, prosperity - but the wicked need to know what is pursuing them.   Look behind you!!   Those who reject God need to know that they will be hunted by adversity.  Those who pursue God will be pursued by the prosperity that God offers.  That doesn't exempt them from suffering and from difficulty but it does guarantee that God will ultimately reward them.   God always blesses obedience.  He always brings eventual adversity to those who reject Him.

THE Place To Worship - Psalm 87-89

Psalms 87 (ESV)

A PSALM OF THE SONS OF KORAH. A SONG.

1 On the holy mount stands the city he founded;

2 the LORD loves the gates of Zion

more than all the dwelling places of Jacob.

3 Glorious things of you are spoken,

O city of God. Selah

4 Among those who know me I mention Rahab and Babylon;

behold, Philistia and Tyre, with Cush—

“This one was born there,” they say.

5 And of Zion it shall be said,

“This one and that one were born in her”;

for the Most High himself will establish her.

6 The LORD records as he registers the peoples,

“This one was born there.” Selah

7 Singers and dancers alike say,

“All my springs are in you.”

This Psalm is a praise and jubilation song about Jerusalem, often referred to in scripture as Mount Zion, on Zion.   In many places of the psalms we read about the destruction of nations or punishment on nations, particularly Israel.   Here, however, it a great praise song about the major city of Israel, Jerusalem.   In the proceeding Psalm we read the following: 

Psalms 86:8-10 (ESV)

There is none like you among the gods, O Lord,

nor are there any works like yours.

All the nations you have made shall come

and worship before you, O Lord,

and shall glorify your name.

For you are great and do wondrous things;

you alone are God.

Jerusalem is that place where all the nations you have made shall come and worship before you, O Lord, and glorify your name.  Jerusalem is the place.   This song reflects how important it is even to be born in Jerusalem.    Jesus died in Jerusalem.  Jesus will return to Jerusalem (Revelation 14).   God has put this place as THE place.   Even though heaven is our home, this Psalm shows that God has special places on this earth that He counts significant in His plan for His Kingdom.   

False Worship Is No Worship - 2 Kings 16-20

2 Kings 17:29-33 (ESV)

But every nation still made gods of its own and put them in the shrines of the high places that the Samaritans had made, every nation in the cities in which they lived. The men of Babylon made Succoth-benoth, the men of Cuth made Nergal, the men of Hamath made Ashima, and the Avvites made Nibhaz and Tartak; and the Sepharvites burned their children in the fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim. They also feared the LORD and appointed from among themselves all sorts of people as priests of the high places, who sacrificed for them in the shrines of the high places. So they feared the LORD but also served their own gods, after the manner of the nations from among whom they had been carried away.

This section of 2 Kings comes right after the Assyrians took all of Israel captive and only Judah was left.   The King of Assyria replaced the captive people of Israel with captives of other nations.   He put them in the land to maintain it.   However, God sent among them lions to torment them (the land still belonged to God!):

2 Kings 17:25 (ESV)

And at the beginning of their dwelling there, they did not fear the LORD. Therefore the LORD sent lions among them, which killed some of them.

To counter this, the King of Assyria sent a Jewish priest back to the land to teach them how to live in the land and how to appease the “god” of the land. In those days, the unbelieving world, thought that each land had its own god.    When the priest returned to the land of Israel the people there did listen to how to worship Yahweh.  However. Instead of worshipping Yahweh, solely, they just added Him to their cocktail of other gods.  The gods mentioned in the above passage were the gods of each of those peoples.   Like today, the philosophy was, it didn’t matter what “god” you served, as long as you served “a” god.   Like the Egyptians, when Moses lead the people out of Egypt, these nations had gods for everything.  Our world today has a similar approach to their theology.   But instead of a formal worship of “gods” today, we just worship wealth, power, position, prosperity, self and/or anything shinny for the day.   These are our “gods.”   However, Jesus explained to all mankind the challenge with this “all gods count for something” approach.   

John 14:6 (ESV)

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

John 10:1 (ESV)

“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber.

Jesus is the only way and He is the only Shepherd to bring people back into a relationship with God.   Our world has not changed.   We just name our “gods” with different names.   But unless with worship the God of the universe, through His Son, by His Spirit, we fail to worship the true God. As Jesus told the woman at the well:

John 4:23 (ESV)

But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him.

Wholeness vs Holiness - Leviticus 19-21

Leviticus 21:16-24 (ESV)

And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to Aaron, saying, None of your offspring throughout their generations who has a blemish may approach to offer the bread of his God. For no one who has a blemish shall draw near, a man blind or lame, or one who has a mutilated face or a limb too long, or a man who has an injured foot or an injured hand, or a hunchback or a dwarf or a man with a defect in his sight or an itching disease or scabs or crushed testicles. No man of the offspring of Aaron the priest who has a blemish shall come near to offer the LORD’S food offerings; since he has a blemish, he shall not come near to offer the bread of his God. He may eat the bread of his God, both of the most holy and of the holy things, but he shall not go through the veil or approach the altar, because he has a blemish, that he may not profane my sanctuaries, for I am the LORD who sanctifies them.” So Moses spoke to Aaron and to his sons and to all the people of Israel.

This is a very interesting section of Leviticus.   This passage makes it sound like holiness and wholeness are equivalent to God.   The instructions are quite plan, actually.   No one with a physical deformity is to be considered for a full service experience as a priest.   They can do some things, but not other things.  God is not condemning those who are not whole physically, but is rather stressing the high standard He has for those who do serve Him in some capacities.  There is nothing that carries over from the Old Testament to the New Testament in this regard.   The Body of Christ is not limited based upon the physical shape of the believer.  We do not know the full mind of God regarding the above, other than the full knowledge that God ends every command in this section with, for I am the Lord who sanctifies you.   There is not a separate holiness based upon wholeness of body.  But God does have the sovereign right to deny those who do or do not serve for Him.   In this case He outlines that.   In the cases in the New Testament there is no such limit on service.   God is not telling us that those who are less whole physically can’t serve Him in fullness. God is telling us that the limits of our service are based upon His sovereign design and decree.   

Paul Writes With Intentionality - Colossians 3-4

Colossians 4:18 (ESV)

I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand. Remember my chains. Grace be with you.

Most commentaries, after outlining and drawing out the truths found in this letter, give very little time for this last verse of Paul’s words to this church.   Think about how much time you take to ever read the signature at the bottom of an email.   But in this ending verse we have three things that Paul wants to make sure the readers of the letter know (and those who would eventually read it):

1. Paul is writing with his own hand.   That may sound odd, but it was not unusual for writers like Paul and Peter to use secretaries (amanuenses).   As we remember, Paul had poor sight.   In Galatians he stated it this way:  (Galatians 6:11 (ESV) See with what large letters I am writing to you with my own hand.).    Paul wants them to know that he is taking the time to write this letter himself.   Because he says he is writing this greeting with his own hand, he may be saying I am officially signing this letter (what the secretaries already wrote).   But it is more likely that Paul is saying that this letter has his authority.  Paul wants them to know he means what is said in the document.  
2. Paul tells them to remember my chains.  Paul is writing this letter from Rome, where he is imprisoned.   Perhaps that is why he had to write it with his own hands.  No one allowed him to have an amanuenses.  He wants them to remind them of his condition.   He had already stated his imprisonment in chapter four, verse three. It should be noted that Paul is suffering for Christ by the loss of his freedom.   This makes us have a deeper appreciation for the letter. It deepens our motivation to do what the letter says. 
3. Paul ends by reminding them grace be with you.  All that he has asked them to do is only possible by God’s grace.  This is not a simple statement at the end of the letter, but an exclamation point on how the readers will carry out the commands of the letter.  The letter can only become part of their daily walk as God’s grace carries them to do what is in the document.  Paul started the letter by talking about God’s grace (1:2) and he ends it talking about God’s grace.   

Paul ends this letter with these three points to allow the readers to see the authority of this letter (his own hands), the gravity of the letter (his imprisonment) and the power of the letter (God’s grace).   No words in the Bible lack these three aspects. Paul simply points them out to us in the end.  

Betrayal! Luke 21-22

Luke 22:47-53 (ESV)

Betrayal and Arrest of Jesus

While he was still speaking, there came a crowd, and the man called Judas, one of the twelve, was leading them. He drew near to Jesus to kiss him, but Jesus said to him, “Judas, would you betray the Son of Man with a kiss?” And when those who were around him saw what would follow, they said, “Lord, shall we strike with the sword?” And one of them struck the servant of the high priest and cut off his right ear. But Jesus said, “No more of this!” And he touched his ear and healed him. Then Jesus said to the chief priests and officers of the temple and elders, who had come out against him, “Have you come out as against a robber, with swords and clubs? When I was with you day after day in the temple, you did not lay hands on me. But this is your hour, and the power of darkness.”

Betrayal is a wicked, wicked experience.  If you have ever had someone turn on you in the above manner you can have some understanding of the human experience Jesus was experiencing.  Of course, Jesus knew this was to be done.  Of course, as the Son of God, He knew it had to be done.   But never-the-less Jesus was also fully human.  We read about that just a few verses prior to this betrayal moment:

Luke 22:41-43 (ESV)

And he withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, and knelt down and prayed, saying, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.” And there appeared to him an angel from heaven, strengthening him.

Jesus needed to pray and be strengthened supernaturally by an angel to seize this moment in the right way.   Even though He knew it was coming, needed it to happen, Jesus needed to prepare Himself for this moment of betrayal.    Others acted in true human form by turning to violence.   The authorities arrested Him under the cloud of night and away from the crowds because it was not just illegal, it was immoral and would be extremly unpopular.   Yet, Jesus had prepared Himself for this very moment.   Preparation in prayer allows the human spirit to sustain and endure during conflict.   Jesus still rebukes them by questioning why they didn’t arrest Him when He was visibly in the temple training everyday.  This was not to correct them but to point out to all of them how criminal this was.   They, of course, knew it.  They were looking for this very moment:

Luke 22:3-6 (ESV)

Then Satan entered into Judas called Iscariot, who was of the number of the twelve. He went away and conferred with the chief priests and officers how he might betray him to them. And they were glad, and agreed to give him money. So he consented and sought an opportunity to betray him to them in the absence of a crowd.

They had hired Judas to betray Him in a place where no crowds could see Him being arrested.   Jesus submits to them in this moment because He must die on the cross for us.  But the lesson for us in this is that God knows our moments when others betray us and provides mercy and grace for us to handle it in the same way:

Hebrews 4:14-16 (ESV)

Jesus the Great High Priest

Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

God’s Blessing Is Inter-twine with God’s Discipline - Ezekiel 31-36

Ezekiel 34:25-31 (ESV)

The LORD’S Covenant of Peace

“I will make with them a covenant of peace and banish wild beasts from the land, so that they may dwell securely in the wilderness and sleep in the woods. And I will make them and the places all around my hill a blessing, and I will send down the showers in their season; they shall be showers of blessing. And the trees of the field shall yield their fruit, and the earth shall yield its increase, and they shall be secure in their land. And they shall know that I am the LORD, when I break the bars of their yoke, and deliver them from the hand of those who enslaved them. They shall no more be a prey to the nations, nor shall the beasts of the land devour them. They shall dwell securely, and none shall make them afraid. And I will provide for them renowned plantations so that they shall no more be consumed with hunger in the land, and no longer suffer the reproach of the nations. And they shall know that I am the LORD their God with them, and that they, the house of Israel, are my people, declares the Lord GOD. And you are my sheep, human sheep of my pasture, and I am your God, declares the Lord GOD.”

God tells Israel that they are human sheep.   The Sheep-Shepherd relationship in the Bible is one of the strongest of all metaphors for the relationship between God and His people.   Sheep need a shepherd.   They need someone to guide them and care for them and correct them.   They tend to turn to things that are not good for them.  They tend to wander when they have no guide.  One of the phrases in the famous Psalm, the 23rd, gives us a great understanding about this:

Psalms 23:4 (ESV)

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

I will fear no evil,

for you are with me;

your rod and your staff,

they comfort me.

It is God’s rod and His staff that guides His sheep.   The staff is what keeps the sheep from wandering.  The rod is what God uses when His staff is not enough.  In this section of Ezekiel we are reading about the sword of the Lord. God must correct every sheep that goes astray.    God states such in the above.   Because at the end of every correction there is blessing.   God is in the midst of chastening His sheep, as they have gone astray.   But God will always be faithful to His promises and bless His people.   That is what the prophet is writing about in the above passage.   Why?  So that in the end, all men will know that He is their Lord and their God.    

Be Prudent When Insulted - Proverbs 11-12

Proverbs 12:16 (ESV)

The vexation of a fool is known at once,

but the prudent ignores an insult.

Proverbs 12:16 (NASBStr)

A fool’s anger is known at once,

But a prudent man conceals dishonor.

Proverbs 12:16 (NIV1984)

A fool shows his annoyance at once,

but a prudent man overlooks an insult.

If you have ever been insulted you know what the above proverb is talking about.   We all have buttons others can push to get a rise out of us.   The fool allows his buttons to be pushed.   The wise and prudent person doesn't allow those buttons to be pushed, but rather "overlooks" the matter.  Solomon stresses this truth throughout the book of Proverbs:  Proverbs 14:33; 27:3; 29:11.   The younger we are the more we tend to look like the fool.   Lack of maturity often causes us to "burst fourth" in anger or in an ill-advised manner.    Note what Solomon says in Proverbs 19:11:  

"A man’s discretion makes him slow to anger, And it is his glory to overlook a transgression."   

In both of these proverbs Solomon is telling us that when we trust God and have faith in God we will be given prudence and wisdom to NOT respond to those who may attempt to push us into a quick and ungodly response.   The fool exposes his/her buttons to others and then reacts when those buttons are pushed.   The prudent one conceals their buttons and then overlooks the person who is pushing them.   The best response is no response.

Restoration And Revival Leads To Rejoicing - Psalms 84-86

Psalms 85:4-7 (ESV)

Restore us again, O God of our salvation,

and put away your indignation toward us!

Will you be angry with us forever?

Will you prolong your anger to all generations?

Will you not revive us again,

that your people may rejoice in you?

Show us your steadfast love, O LORD,

and grant us your salvation.

This is part of a larger prayer in chapter 85.   It is a plea by the writer for God’s covenant grace to be poured out upon them.   He begs God to restore the nation and to revive the nation so that they might rejoice in the Lord.   We must be restored and revived by God before we can rejoice in God.   The prayer is one that should be repeated daily for us.   The writer realizes that their collective sin has put them on the wrong side of God.   He writes to ask God about how long His anger will be displayed to them.  Rather than God’s anger, the writer pleads for God’s steadfast love.   He pleads for God’s salvation.  The big idea of this section:

We can only rejoice after we have been restored and revived by God’s steadfast love and salvation.