Resource Manager Posted July 26, 2012 Author Report Share Posted July 26, 2012 26 July 2012 2 Samuel 12Jeremiah 16Matthew 27 "I HAVE SINNED AGAINST THE LORD" As God sees our lives all wrongdoing is against him. Are we sufficiently aware of his oversight of our lives? Paul became dramatically aware and was to write, “None of us lives to himself … whether we live or whether we die we are the Lord’s” [Romans 14:7-8]. Therefore, as we read today of David being confronted by the prophet Nathan, whom God had sent to him to make him conscious of the terrible reality of his sin of adultery with Bathsheba and in arranging the death of her husband, the “eyes” of David’s mind are suddenly opened and he said, “I have sinned against the LORD” [2 Samuel 12:13]. We are astonished at the blindness of David. Let’s try to understand why he was so blind to the evil of his actions. This event illustrates the danger of becoming all powerful – so that you are answerable to no-one. The world has had innumerable examples of this, such as in the actions of the present leader of Syria. But the case of David is also one of spiritual blindness! And how many suffer from spiritual blindness? How real is God to us? Are we always as conscious as we should be – of his all seeing eye? We give prayers of thanks for food several times a day – we believe he hears, don’t we? When we are conscious of wrong doing, we plead for his grace. But are we always conscious of our failures? Let’s compare David with a disciple of Christ who was not conscious despite being personally witness to the wonder of his power and teaching. We read today in Matthew of how he came into the Temple and threw down 30 pieces of silver and declared, “ I have sinned by betraying innocent blood” [Matthew 27:4] We suspect he had expected Jesus to escape in some way from their custody, as he had seen happen in the past, see for example, Luke 4:29 when they took Jesus “To the brow of the hill … so they could throw him down the cliff.” So Judas, we think, anticipated gaining 30 pieces of silver to add to his takings [John 12:6] from the “bag” – as he was the sort of treasurer to the group: maybe he reasoned that his ‘takings’ were a sort of ‘commission’ for looking after the money – it is amazing how the human mind can justify to themselves some of the things they do! Judas thought he could serve Jesus and serve Mammon (money) at the same time. How many do that today? Some leaders of church groups have become very wealthy. David’s son Solomon was to write in his God given wisdom, “Do not toil to acquire wealth; be discerning enough to desist. When your eyes light on it, it is gone, for suddenly it sprouts wings, flying like an eagle …” [Proverbs 23:4-5] Let us be very vigilant not to sin against the Lord – for all wrong doing is against him.-------- DC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Resource Manager Posted July 27, 2012 Author Report Share Posted July 27, 2012 27 July 2012 2 Samuel 13Jeremiah 17Matthew 28 "I THE LORD SEARCH THE HEART" There is much food for thought and meditation in Jeremiah 17 today. What a burden lay on this prophet, the final prophet to the kings and people in Jerusalem in its final years before God showed the fullness of his anger on the place. Jeremiah received – to give to the people – a series of statements setting out the principles on which God acts. “Blessed is the man (and woman) who trusts in the LORD, whose trust IS the LORD. He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when the heat comes …” [Jeremiah 17:7-8] Interesting that phrase, “who trust IS the LORD”. It reminds us of Enoch – of whom it is recorded – he “walked with God” [Genesis 5:24]. The foundation fact is spelt out in Jeremiah 17:10, “I the LORD search the heart and test the mind, to give every man (& woman) according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.” The word “fruit” is significant, it can be good or bad, the deeds we do (or fail to do) bear fruit of some kind or another - as we are seeing in our readings in 2 Samuel the increasing disfunction of David’s large household – God was giving him “the fruit of his deeds.” We read Jeremiah’s lamentation, “they have forsaken the LORD, the fountain of living water” [Jeremiah 17:13] and it is now the same situation today. Christianity is a dismal shadow of what it was originally; we think of the point Paul made to the Ephesians, “Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word.” [Ephesians 5:25-26] God’s word washed the minds of those who were willing to clean out the filth and remove the misunderstandings that silted up their minds, but it rarely happens today, so the ninth verse in Jeremiah’s chapter is more true than ever “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” Only those who read and digest God’s word regularly have a worthwhile measure of understanding and recognise the wonder of God’s mercy and the fact that “I the LORD search the heart’ and will pray to God, as Jeremiah did, “Be not a terror to me; you are my refuge in the day of disaster.” -------- DC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Resource Manager Posted July 28, 2012 Author Report Share Posted July 28, 2012 28 July 2012 2 Samuel 14Jeremiah 18Romans 1; 2 "BEGINNING AND ENDING IN FAITH" The first 2 chapters of Romans, which we started reading today, contain some of the most personally challenging thoughts in the Bible. In its 16 chapters Paul gives a comprehensive overview of the Gospel. We were struck by the alternative translation (given in a footnote in the ESV) to Romans 1:17. The text reads (taking it in context from Romans 1:16) “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes … for in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, as it is written ‘The righteous shall live by faith.’” The alternative translation of “from faith to faith” is given as, “beginning and ending in faith.” Can the word ‘faith’ become too familiar to us? We read last week in Matthew 18 the words of Jesus, “Truly I say unto you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom …” [Matthew 18:3] We are given a picture of the need for child-like trust. God looks to see us accept his gospel by faith – and then to see that faith grow through the experience of putting it to use day after day in all the small, but important things in life, for the gospel provides us with a conviction of the meaning of life and as that conviction grows our hearts start to fill with a sense of joy and gladness. “The righteous shall live by faith.” – and the truly righteous intend to be faithful to the end. Paul had not been to Rome when he wrote this letter and he writes, “I long to see you … that we may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith, yours and mine.” [Romans 1:11-12] Are we doing this? When we have the opportunity to come together, far easier now than in Paul’s day, what do we talk about? Does it include the reasons why our convictions are unshakable in this ever more godless world? Do we strengthen the faith of those who might be faltering? We live in a world that is full of distractions – and trivialities – we must not take faith for granted, some seem to have done this – and suddenly it has evaporated, it turns out it had no foundation. What did Paul say about Abraham, the outstanding man of faith, in his letter to the Hebrews? “He was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose builder and maker is God” [Hebrews 11:10] Paul warns the Romans not to “presume on the riches of his (God’s) kindness and forbearance and patience” don’t you know, “that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? …. He will render to each one according to his works, to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, he will give eternal life” [Romans 2:4; 2:6-7] May this be the “ending” which our faith will achieve. -------- DC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Resource Manager Posted July 29, 2012 Author Report Share Posted July 29, 2012 29 July 2012 2 Samuel 15Jeremiah 19Romans 3; 4 “HE GREW STRONG IN HIS FAITH” All who decide to serve God and become his sons and daughters through baptism travel along different paths of experience in life. Paul in his letter to the Romans reflects on the life of Abraham as “he grew strong in faith” and how he became “fully convinced that God was able to do what he promised.” [Romans 4:20-21] Abraham’s faith grew, he believed from his heart what God said, “He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body which was as good as dead (since he was about a hundred years old) or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah’s womb. No distrust made him waver … ” [Romans 4:19-20] So Abraham’s faith went from strength to strength. Now compare David’s situation with Abraham. David was despondent, he had climbed the pinnacles of faith but then his life had hit a blind spot in his actions with Bathsheba. God’s words bore heavily on his mind, “because you have despised me … I will raise up evil against you out of your own house” [2 Samuel 12:10-11] It seems clear that David experienced deep depression, he ceased to be actively involved in administering justice and Absalom, as we read today in 2 Samuel 15, took advantage of this. David was overwhelmed by events, his faith had lost its focus, but, in his inner being he knew all was in the hands of God and he clung to that conviction. We read how he flees from Jerusalem, saying, “If I find favour in the eyes of the LORD, he will bring me back.” [2 Samuel 15:25]. It is a contrast in some ways to Abraham who grew stronger in his advancing years. Jeremiah’s challenges are different again. Today we read how he is told by God, “Behold I am bringing such disaster on this place that the ears of everyone who hears of it will tingle.” [Jeremiah 19:3] Jeremiah was to be in the midst of that disaster – but would survive. We have a lot more in common with Jeremiah than with Abraham and David. In coming days we will read how God reveals to this prophet warnings about “the latter days” [Jeremiah 23:20; 30:24] which will cause us to think of the challenges to our own journey in faith as the whole world faces up to God’s judgements - challenges which may not be far ahead as the cauldron in the Middle East stays near boiling point. -------- DC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Resource Manager Posted July 30, 2012 Author Report Share Posted July 30, 2012 30 July 2012 2 Samuel 16Jeremiah 20Romans 5; 6 “THAT GRACE MAY ABOUND” What is grace? Simple question, but the answer is not exactly simple. The 4 words in our heading, “that grace may abound” are at the start of Romans 6, today’s reading from Paul’s letter to the Romans. Let’s try to understand the way in which ‘grace’ operates. The word ‘grace’ became a special word for Paul! He had been persecuting believers, he had put them in prison and had been complicit in the death of the first martyr, Stephen. But the Lord Jesus had picked him out as a ‘chosen instrument’ [Acts 9:15]. We must put the word ‘grace’ in its context; regrettably, in much popular Christian preaching, this is not done, the Catholics set the example long ago by selling ‘indulgences’. Twice in Romans 5, which is also our reading today, Paul makes the point that those who have sinned, following the example of Adam (and this is everybody) can experience the “free gift” [Romans 5:15,16,17] of grace, which means unmerited forgiveness; their sins are blotted out of God’s sight, Paul experienced this. Wonderful! What then? Paul writes, “where sin increased, grace abounded all the more” [Romans 5:20]. Some read this as though it is saying that it does not matter how much you sin, grace keeps on abounding! If they, or you, think that, they are completely missing Paul’s point. He realized how much grace had abounded for him at his conversion; and now he has a faithful race to run on the ‘narrow path’- look at what he writes in 1 Corinthians 9:24-27 – drawing a parallel with the original Olympic Games. There is a misleading slogan, ‘Once saved, always saved’ but it is a distortion of the words of Scripture. Note Paul’s question, “What shall we say then? Are we to continue to sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?” [Romans 6:1-2] This immediately causes us to ask, how can we ‘die to sin’ when we are surrounded by it. Our world has become so godless, it constantly bombards us with a great variety of temptations. Consider what Paul next writes: he says the result of having “died to sin” was “in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin” [Romans 6:6] He previously knew of Christ, but what he knew he completely misunderstood. All that changed at his conversion. Not only did he put on Christ’s name through baptism, he now belonged to Christ. As he moves toward the climax of this most challenging epistle, he writes, “put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.” [Romans 13:14] Having a genuine relationship with the Lord Jesus is the vital factor. More texts will challenge our thinking on this as we come to Romans 7; 8 tomorrow.-------- DC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Resource Manager Posted July 31, 2012 Author Report Share Posted July 31, 2012 31 July 2012 2 Samuel 17Jeremiah 21Romans 7; 8 "HE WHO SEARCHES HEARTS KNOWS ... " Paul’s 7th and 8th chapters of Romans are among the most profound in the whole Bible. We must beware of taking any verse out of context, these chapters are the climax to Romans 5; 6 we read yesterday. At the very beginning of the Bible we read how the spirit of God was moving over the face of the waters that covered all. Now we perceive how much God’s Spirit was involved in his new creation brought about by the life, death and resurrection of Jesus – leading ultimately to the climax – not only of the resurrection and glorification of those who truly belong to Christ, but “that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay …” [Romans 8:22] How this will occur we struggle to imagine, it is the time when (as we read earlier in Isaiah this month) “The wolf and the lamb shall graze together and the lion shall eat straw …” [isaiah 65:25] In Romans 7 we see how Paul acknowledges, “I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members” [Romans 7:23] - then in Romans 8 he starts by declaring “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.” [Romans 8:1-2] Romans 8:5-6 describe the challenge to us – the vital importance of the SET of our minds “For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.” - the “peace which surpasses all understanding.” [Philippians 4:7] So we see the way we ‘set’ the direction of our minds is vital – what we allow our minds to feed upon. Paul had his mind set in the wrong way – until he was confronted by Christ on the Damascus Road. We all need to “meet” Christ – and have a spiritual awakening – maybe for some – a reawakening; for God’s nation that will be the case, as we will read in the next 3 chapters. Baptism is of no avail unless a real awakening occurs at some point in our lives – with this comes the recognition of what Paul meant when he told the Athenians of the true God, that “in him we live and move and have our being” [Acts 17:28] The significance of Paul’s words here in Romans 8 (from Romans 8:26) are then appreciated, “… the Spirit helps us in our weaknesses. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit itself intercedes for us with groanings to deep for words, And he who searches hearts knows …” Yes, he knows all things, you cannot separate God from “His Spirit” – it is a way of describing God in action. There are times when “the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.” [Romans 8:27] Think of the relationship David had with him as expressed in Psalm 139. We read today of David’s distress and how God’s spirit provided for his material needs by stirring the hearts of others (see 2 Samuel 17:27-29). And Jeremiah’s agonies also, “to this people you shall say: ‘Thus says the LORD: Behold, I set before you the way of life and the way of death.” [Jeremiah 21:8] And how are we really responding to what God sets before us? “He who searches hearts knows”-------- DC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts