TFTBR - July 2013

[Resource Manager]

26 July 2013

2 Samuel 12
Jeremiah 16
Matthew 27

“HE CHANGED HIS MIND”

It is good to change your mind when you contemplate doing something bad – BUT – but you must do it before it is too late. We read in Matthew’s Gospel that Judas Iscariot “changed his mind” [Matthew 27:3] – but it was too late. He “brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders saying, ‘I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.’” [Matthew 27:4] They answered Judas with contempt, “What is that to us!”

Why was Judas so blind to what he was doing? John 12:6 gives us a clue, John tells us “he was a thief, and having charge of the moneybag he used to help himself to what was put into it.” Today, people might say (to themselves) ‘I take my commission’ Human nature excels in justifying wrong doing. What marvelous experiences Judas had had, we read in Matthew 10 how Jesus sent out the 12 (and that included Judas) to perform healings and preach the message of the kingdom. [Matthew 10:7-8]

How often did they try to arrest Jesus. John records, “Again they tried to arrest him, but he escaped from their hands” [John 10:39] At Nazareth they “brought him to the brow of the hill … so that they could throw him down the cliff. But passing through their midst, he went away.” [Luke 4:29-30] So – would not Judas, with such a covetous human mind reason, I can make a pot of money out of these Pharisees – for the Master is sure to escape from them as he has in the past, Judas believed he could serve both God and money.

Judas was blind to the all seeing eye of God, of course he would say he believed in God, but his vision was narrow – how many are like that today? The more power we have, the more the danger of self-importance and self-centredness creeping into our attitudes, we have an outstanding example of this in our 2nd Samuel reading today. Nathan the prophet came to David with a story about a rich man and a poor man – and the poor man had “one little ewe lamb.” [2 Samuel 12:3]. We should know this event well! What a shock David had when the prophet said, “You are the man” [2 Samuel 12:7]

The many blessings David had received had blinded him to his own behavior, there is a similarity with Judas, but in Judas’ mind it had become an ingrained way of thinking.. In the end “he changed his mind” but it was too late! And us? We must each ask ourselves, ‘Is there anything I should change in my way of thinking (and resultant attitudes and actions) before it is too late? How meaningful are David’s words which we rather think were written in the maturity of his life, “Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” [Psalm 139:23-24] May that also be our prayer.
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- DC

[Resource Manager]

27 July 2013

2 Samuel 13
Jeremiah 17
Matthew 28

“DECEITFUL ABOVE ALL THINGS”

Our Jeremiah reading today contains a verse about the natural deceitfulness of the human heart that is often quoted. It is good to look at the context which leads the prophet to make this statement: “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” [Jeremiah 17:9]

When we start reading from Jeremiah 17:5 we see how the Divine perception and attitude unfolds. In begins with, “Thus says the LORD.” First the LORD says, “Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart turns away from the LORD. He is like a shrub in the desert … he shall dwell in parched places.”

Everyone today dwells in in a “desert” and “parched places” in a mental sense. How few seek for nutrients for their minds that will give them a clear and refreshing perception of the relationship the Creator invites them to have with Him. This is parallel to the minds of the people to whom Jeremiah is conveying the perception the LORD now has about them, for the LORD sees that their “heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick …” [Jeremiah 17:9]

The next verse states, “I the LORD search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.” So God tests our hearts, he searches to see whether we have absorbed the nutrients he has provided – or whether the heart remains sick.

How wonderful, and at peace, is the mind that has done this – and this is meaningfully brought out in Jeremiah 17:7-8, “Blessed is the man (or woman) whose trust is in the LORD. He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought for it does not cease to bear fruit.”

There are increasing signs that greater “heat” will soon occur in our world, may the word of God fully take root in our minds so that we will “not fear when the heat comes.”
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- DC

[Resource Manager]

28 July 2013

2 Samuel 14
Jeremiah 18
Romans 1; 2  

“THE POWER OF GOD”                                                                                                

Paul in writing to the Romans speaks about “the power of God”.  What does he mean?  He is not referring to physical power such as will be shown at the time Jesus returns when the greatest earthquake ever [Revelation 16:18] and other terrible events will occur.

In today’s reading in Romans, Paul writes of the gospel saying, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes” [Romans 1:16].  

Paul’s point is that the Gospel makes sense, compared to the nonsense surrounding the many gods (of human imagination) the Romans, and all except the Jews, believed in.

Today, we can say it makes sense - compared to the nonsense that so many teach about evolution which more and more willingly accept as true. They think that everything that exists, sort of created itself, and there is no need for a creator God.  Much of this attitude seems to be motivated by a desire to be free of the restrictions God’s laws impose on their lives.

A particular example of this is evident at the moment.  In Romans 1:26-27 Paul particularly singles out acts of homosexuality – writing “Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity to the dishonouring of their bodies … “  The fact that more and more Governments are legalizing same-sex “marriages” would horrify those living a generation or two ago!   But most of all - what must God think!?  What action will he take?

But we need to also realise that to believe a gospel about believer’s having a future life in heaven is also nonsense and, as a falsehood, has no power at all. It is only the gospel God revealed to men through his son that has “power”- because it is truth. It is based on historical fact, because the events of the First Century and what followed,make sense the more we think about what is written. The conviction of many people became so strong it had the power to turn the beliefs of the pagan Roman world upside down in the 2nd and 3rd Centuries – but sadly, then the Gospel became corrupted and expressed in Man-made creeds.  

We must let this gospel become a power in our lives – if we are to really live a life worth living with the wonderful prospect of eternity.  We must not let ourselves be influenced by those who scoff at “the power of God.”
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- DC

[Resource Manager]

29 July 2013

2 Samuel 15
Jeremiah 19
Romans 3; 4

“FULLY CONVINCED THAT GOD WAS ABLE …”

The lives of all who commit themselves to serve God each travel along their own particular paths. Paul in his letter to the Romans, we read today, 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 went from strength to strength, he believed from his heart what God said. Paul says, “He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body which was as good as dead (he was now about a hundred years old) or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah’s womb. No distrust made him waver …” [Romans 4:19-20]

Now compare David’s situation with Abraham. David was despondent, he had climbed the pinnacles of faith but then his thinking and resultant behaviour had hit a blind spot after 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 is clear 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 today 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]

In this 21st Century we have more in common with Jeremiah than with Abraham and David. Jeremiah was to be in the midst of the disaster, brought by God because of the people’s total ungodliness – and he survived it.

In coming days we will read how God reveals warnings to Jeremiah about “the latter days.” [Jeremiah 23:20; 30:24]. If we really meditate on these warnings they will cause us to think of the greater challenges our own journey in faith is going to face as our world is overwhelmed by God’s judgements – these challenges may be quite near so let us become “fully convinced that God (is) able to do what he promised” and make sure ‘we are on the Lord’s side.’
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- DC

[Resource Manager]

30 July 2013

2 Samuel 16
Jeremiah 20
Romans 5; 6

“ … WHO TESTS THE RIGHTEOUS”

What ‘powerful’ chapters we have read today: firstly David, humbled by the consequences of his sin flees from Jerusalem. He refuses to take any action against the one who curses him. He says, of Shimei, “Let him curse, for the LORD has told him to. It may be that the LORD will look on the wrong done to me, and that the LORD will repay me with good for his cursing today.” [2 Samuel 16:11-12]

Then we read Jeremiah; the prophet is not suffering because of sin but because of the reactions to the messages of condemnation from the LORD he brought to the ungodly leaders of an utterly godless nation. At first he laments, “I have become a laughingstock all the day, everyone mocks me.” [Jeremiah 20:7] He tries not to preach God’s message of warning and denunciation any more, but then says, “I am weary with holding it in, and I cannot” [Jeremiah 20:9]

Then he appeals to God, “O LORD of hosts, who tests the righteous, who sees the heart and mind, let me see your vengeance upon them, for to you I have committed my cause.” [Jeremiah 20:12] What a severe test he was undergoing, we recall the point Paul makes in writing to the Corinthians, “God is faithful and he will not let you be tempted (or tested) beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.” [1 Corinthians 10:13] David was escaping physically, but in the process he was re-connecting with his God.

Our New Testament reading provides us with 2 of the most meaningful chapters in the Bible, Romans 5; 6; they tell us how “Christ died for the ungodly … perhaps for a good person one would even dare to die – but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” [Romans 5:6-8]

Dare we remain separate from God, refusing to take on the name of his Son through baptism!? And if we have taken on his name and stumble, as David did, what deep heart searching can and should then follow. It is essential that we are fully conscious of the wonder of God’s mercy and grace, as now seen in David’s attitudes. Let us sense with Jeremiah, how God “sees the heart and mind” and “tests the righteous” and then, as Paul writes [Romans 6:17-18] “become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves to righteousness.” Never were human slaves rewarded as God’s slaves will be!
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- DC

[Resource Manager]

31 July 2013

2 Samuel 17
Jeremiah 21
Romans 7; 8

“… WHO CAN BE AGAINST US”

Ever feel that everything is against you? We wonder if Paul was ever inclined to feel that way? Remember how he writes of his “countless beatings … many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food …” [2 Corinthians 11:23,27] In view of such experiences, let us take special notice of his testimony that we read today in his letter to the Romans, “If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him, graciously give us all things? [Romans 8:31-32]

Humanly speaking many things were “against” Paul, but his mind and heart were absolutely committed to his relationship with Christ: this is evident as he states that Christ “is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? … in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, not things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” [Romans 8:34,35,37-39]

How much do our brethren in some countries of the world today need this spirit that Paul writes about! And tomorrow? Let us, with Christ’s help, because we have become fully committed to him, become “ more than conquerors” for “who can be against us?”

The answer is no one can succeed in destroying our faith as long as we really “hear” in our hearts the words of Jesus. , “Hold fast what you have” Jesus told those in Philadelphia, “I know you have but little power, and yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name …I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world, to try those who dwell on the earth. I am coming soon. Hold fast what you have, so that no one may seize your crown.” [Revelation 3:8,10,11] , The hour of trial that came then, as with other ‘hours’ to subsequent generations all foreshadowed an ultimate “hour of trial” of which we read last week in Matthew [Matthew 24] Let us “Hold fast” for nothing can succeed “against us” “if God be for us.”
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- DC