Who Are Your Mighty Men? 1 Chronicles 10-14

1 Chronicles 11:26-47 (ESV)

The mighty men were Asahel the brother of Joab, Elhanan the son of Dodo of Bethlehem, Shammoth of Harod, Helez the Pelonite, Ira the son of Ikkesh of Tekoa, Abiezer of Anathoth, Sibbecai the Hushathite, Ilai the Ahohite, Maharai of Netophah, Heled the son of Baanah of Netophah, Ithai the son of Ribai of Gibeah of the people of Benjamin, Benaiah of Pirathon, Hurai of the brooks of Gaash, Abiel the Arbathite, Azmaveth of Baharum, Eliahba the Shaalbonite, Hashem the Gizonite, Jonathan the son of Shagee the Hararite, Ahiam the son of Sachar the Hararite, Eliphal the son of Ur, Hepher the Mecherathite, Ahijah the Pelonite, Hezro of Carmel, Naarai the son of Ezbai, Joel the brother of Nathan, Mibhar the son of Hagri, Zelek the Ammonite, Naharai of Beeroth, the armor-bearer of Joab the son of Zeruiah, Ira the Ithrite, Gareb the Ithrite, Uriah the Hittite, Zabad the son of Ahlai, Adina the son of Shiza the Reubenite, a leader of the Reubenites, and thirty with him, Hanan the son of Maacah, and Joshaphat the Mithnite, Uzzia the Ashterathite, Shama and Jeiel the sons of Hotham the Aroerite, Jediael the son of Shimri, and Joha his brother, the Tizite, Eliel the Mahavite, and Jeribai, and Joshaviah, the sons of Elnaam, and Ithmah the Moabite, Eliel, and Obed, and Jaasiel the Mezobaite.

To appreciate these list of names we have to recall two other passages of Scripture:

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.,

We may not realize it but all of God’s word is written to give us profit for living for God.   We might read this list of names and wonder how this list profits us.    This list contains the names of David’s mighty men.  These were men who fought with him.  These were men who fought for him.  These were men who were valiant and courageous and extremely loyal to David, Israel and therefore to God.   That is profitable in our lives.  Why? We also might want to look at the following verses to understand this long list of just names:

Romans 1:8 (ESV)

First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed in all the world.

1 Corinthians 1:4-5 (ESV)

I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, that in every way you were enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge—

Philippians 1:3-4 (ESV)

I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy,

Each of these verses are words Paul wrote about his mighty men who served along side him in the faith.    Faith in Christ this not a solo sport.  It is a group of people, coming together to serve Him.  We ought to give thanks for those who serve with us, along side us.  David’s mighty men were is inter circle support structure.    Take a minute today and write down the might men in your life.  Who supports you?  Who is on your list?  It might seem like just a list of names but in reality it is people God has weaved into your life to lift you up and make you the David you are.  

Purified To Serve - Numbers 5-8

Numbers 8:5-8 (ESV)

And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “Take the Levites from among the people of Israel and cleanse them. Thus you shall do to them to cleanse them: sprinkle the water of purification upon them, and let them go with a razor over all their body, and wash their clothes and cleanse themselves. Then let them take a bull from the herd and its grain offering of fine flour mixed with oil, and you shall take another bull from the herd for a sin offering.

Prior to the above instructions, we have read in Number and in Leviticus  we have read the above thoughts.  The Levites were to be the representatives to God for the people.  Aaron and his sons, specifically, were to be those who entered the Holy of Holies to approach God with the necessary offerings.   God, in the above lines, is simply reiterating that prior instructions.  The key thought is that as representatives for the people, the Levites had to be pure.   They were not, of course, pure in the sense that Christ will be when He represents us on the cross, but nonetheless they need to be pure ceremonially, at least.   This not unlike our service today.  We do not go through this formal right of purification for service, but we are to be living out our lives in a way that reflects the God we serve.  We don’t have to be washed and shaven for service (something that did happen with these Levites).  For that we can be thankful. We don’t have to offer a bull for our service. For that we can be thankful.  But the point of purification for service cannot be ignored.   We, as believers in the New Testament, are to also present ourselves before God as an acceptable worship sacrifice:

Romans 12:1 (ESV)

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.

 1 Peter 2:5 (ESV)

you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

The method of purification may have changed but the necessity for it has not.  Before we come to God we are to be washed in Christ’s blood and walking in the Holy Spirit.  

Hebrews 9:14 (ESV)

how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.

Confront False Teachers - 1 Timothy 1-3

1 Timothy 1:3 (ESV)

As I urged you when I was going to Macedonia, remain at Ephesus so that you may charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine, ...

1 Timothy 1:7 (ESV)

... desiring to be teachers of the law, without understanding either what they are saying or the things about which they make confident assertions.

Ignorance is a terrible quality when it comes to wanting to be a teacher.   People who have confidence, but also ignorance, make for a dangerous combination.    Paul wrote this about the nation of Israel:

Romans 10:1-3 (ESV)

Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved. For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. For, being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness.

Zeal without knowledge is a dangerous cocktail.  Timothy was to have zeal, but with knowledge, as well.  He was instructed by Paul to be ready to correct those who had a zeal for God and teaching but were actually ignorant of the truth they were postulating.   This particular example concerned those in the church who had a zeal for the Law.  They had not understood the purpose of the Law. They were being ignorant.   But he was also supposed to correct anyone who taught a different doctrine.   Doctrine mattered to the church, since the beginning.  Paul is telling Timothy to guard the doctrine and confront those who have false teaching.  That was his responsibility as the pastor of the church he was in.  The pastor of the church has the obligation to correct those who are teaching false doctrine.   We ought not to close our minds or our mouths to false teaching in the church.   No matter if it comes out of ignorance or it comes from strategic deviance.   Later Paul will tell Timothy this about two false teachers:

1 Timothy 1:18-20 (ESV)

This charge I entrust to you, Timothy, my child, in accordance with the prophecies previously made about you, that by them you may wage the good warfare, holding faith and a good conscience. By rejecting this, some have made shipwreck of their faith, among whom are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme.

False teaching is a danger to the church.  The only thing more dangerous is pastors of churches who will not confront the false teachers with truth.  

His Will, Not Ours - John 5-6

John 5:30 (ESV)

“I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me.

Jesus came to do God’s will.   

John 4:34 (ESV) Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work.

John 6:38-40 (ESV) For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. 

He could only do what God authorized Him to do:

John 8:28 (ESV) Jesus said to them, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he, and that I do nothing on my own authority, but speak just as the Father taught me.

John 7:18 (ESV) The one who speaks on his own authority seeks his own glory; but the one who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true, and in him there is no falsehood.

John 14:10 (ESV) you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works.

Imagine living our life the way He did.  That we would only do the will of the Father.   We are not born that way, however.  Note what Jesus told the religious leaders of His day:

John 8:44 (ESV)

You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

That is why God, through His Son and Spirit, must put into us and work into us to do His will:

Philippians 2:12-13 (ESV)

Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

Today, ask God to put His will in you and make you be conscious of that will and empower you to do His will.  Like His Son.  

God Is Watching Us - Daniel 7-12

Daniel 12:1 (ESV)

“At that time shall arise Michael, the great prince who has charge of your people. And there shall be a time of trouble, such as never has been since there was a nation till that time. But at that time your people shall be delivered, everyone whose name shall be found written in the book.

Daniel is giving us a final look at what is about to happen.  Chapters 7-12 contain complex prophecy.    Within the words, verses and chapters is a message from God, often debated and misrepresented by men.  This short blog will not end the debates, confusions and/or false applications from the past or present.    But there is some clarity in all of Daniel’s words.  One of the truths found in the above verse is one of them.  When Daniel mentions Michael, the great prince, he is giving us a great truth to rest our lives upon.    Throughout this section we read about this supernatural being.   Michael is the overwatch of Israel.   To think that God has put an angel to overwatch Israel is a resting thought.   There are earthly leaders. But this is a supernatural leader that God puts over all those many, many, many earthly leaders of Israel.  In the above verse we hear that this supernatural leader is going to deliver Israel.   He has lead them into discipline and now is going to lead them out and back to Jerusalem (through Nehemiah and Ezra).   This supernatural overwatch is part of God’s care for His people.  God cares for us.  He puts over us His Spirit.  His Son watches over us.  God sends angels to watch over us.    We are being watched ... over!!  What a blessed truth.  

Joyful Heart - Proverbs 17-18

Proverbs 17:22 (ESV)

A joyful heart is good medicine,

but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.

Because of a heart attack a couple of years ago, I am on a regiment of medication. Every week my wife lays out pills in piles and I dutifully take them morning and night. When I had the heart attack there was plenty of speculation as to the cause. Along with food habits and no habit of excercise, most of the advice I received was that I had to slow down and figure out how to reduce my stress levels. If I would have followed the medical "advice" of the above verse I probably wouldn't have to take the meds today. Putting yourself under stress is one sure way to "dry up the bones." This contrasting parallelism give us the wisdom that trusting in God (the real source of joy) is good medicine, while living without joy will dry the bones. The best medicine is to be controlled by the Spirit. The fruit of the Spirit is love, "joy", etc. A joyful heart comes from the fear of the Lord and trusting in Him and allowing the Spirit to rule. Without it you are under stress with dried up bones that produces a broken spirit and ... eventually a broken heart.  We don't muster-up a joyful heart.  We don't wait for circumstances to produce a moment of happenstance.   Happy is a word that comes from a root word, "hap," which means something just "happened" to produce the moment.   People get happy because some particular circumstance changed to their favor.  Happiness is not a joyfulness. A joyful heart comes from allowing the Spirit of God to work within us, based upon the truth of God, sharpening us into a deeper knowledge of and shape like Christ.   That is great medicine.   I will take heart meds the rest of my life for the way I lived without Christlike joy.  One of the "pills" I take every day, now, is to allow the Spirit of God to shape my life.   He is good medicine for a guilty and shameful soul.  

Worship In Awe And Reverence - Psalm 96-98

Psalms 96:9 (ESV)

Worship the LORD in the splendor of holiness;

tremble before him, all the earth!

The New Testament version of this is:

Hebrews 12:28 (ESV)

Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe,

When we worship God, what is our experience.   When we come together on Sunday morning to worship with our community, what does the above Psalm look like to us.  Notice how some peoples of God responded when worshiping God:

Exodus 3:6 (ESV)

And he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.

Isaiah 6:3-7 (ESV)

And one called to another and said:

“Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts;

the whole earth is full of his glory!”

And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!”

Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.”

Ezekiel 1:28 (ESV)

Like the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud on the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness all around.

Such was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD. And when I saw it, I fell on my face, and I heard the voice of one speaking.

Acts 9:3-4 (ESV)

Now as he went on his way, he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven shone around him. And falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?”

Revelation 1:16-18 (ESV)

In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength.

When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, “Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.

Worship Him in fear and awe and reverence.