4/02/19

Philippians 1:21

²¹ For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. ²² If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. ²³ I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. ²⁴ But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account. ²⁵ Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all, for your progress and joy in the faith, 

What does it mean “to live is Christ”?  In this context Paul gives three reasons why living in the body was an advantage. Look with me at:

1.      Vs 22 - " fruitful labor" would be a result of Paul continuing as he was. Look at the fact and the certainty of this. 

 First he did not doubt that his life was one of labor in Christ's cause. Paul was committed to act or live according to God’s will. But until he was directed to something different, he saw no need to change from the labor that marked his life. No indecision for him. Secondly he did not doubt that it was certain to be fruitful. When one lives with Christ being the object and end of their life it is always fruitful. The only way a Christian life becomes unfruitful is to lose sight of Christ and instead see the world.

2.      Vs 24 - "more necessary for you." Paul never saw his life separate from his union with Christ. And equally so his union with the church. Our union with Christ and with each other is an equal certainty. cf John 1:9;17:21-23.

3.      Vs 25 "for your joy in the faith."  This letter is called Paul’s Epistle of Joy and it is. Dear Believer be thankful for the privilege of Christian Joy. cf Nehemiah 2.2.  

² And the king said to me, “Why is your face sad, seeing you are not sick? This is nothing but sadness of the heart.” Then I was very much afraid.

4/01/19

Genesis 1:1

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

The first fact of the Bible is the beginning of theological understanding and is an absolute to any critical knowledge of God.  The requirement to a right relationship with God is stated in Hebrews 11:6.  Without believing that God is creator there is no believing in the “is” of God.  He must be before time, space, and all that is.  To believe this is to believe in the very essence of God.

Genesis 2:17 – but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

God has given the law.  As creator God reigns over His creation.  As the reigning monarch He can and has said to His creation “You shall not.”  He has the authority to say it and the power to enforce it.  When we receive God as creator we admit His power and His authority.  When our faith rests in Christ we resent neither His power nor authority.  “Your Kingdom come, Your will be done”.

John 1:18 –  No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father's side, he has made him known.

God is known only and fully through Jesus Christ.  When I say this I am saying there is no other way to know God but through the Savior.  And I am also saying that through the Savior there is nothing more to be done than what is revealed in Him.

II Corinthians 4:4; Colossians 1:15; Hebrews 13.

3/29/19

Ecclesiastes 3:14

¹⁴ I perceived that whatever God does endures forever; nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it. God has done it, so that people fear before him.

From the first time I remember reading Ecclesiastes I have been fascinated with it.  The poetry, philosophy, and theology combine to make it both mysterious and wonderful.

You can find no higher theology in the Bible than that in our text for today.  And yet I have never been able to make any sense out of the verse that follows.  Let us look at verse 14.

1.       All God’s acts are eternal.  This has two consequences.  First there is no reaction with God.  Nothing can be added.  His acts are always both perfect and complete.  Second God is never dependent on future acts or consequences.  A simple consideration of this renders it foolish to make God’s election dependent on man’s will.  “Nothing can be added to it nor anything taken from it”.

2.      There is a purpose to what God does.  In both Exodus and Romans it is stated that God hardened the heart of Pharaoh.  In Romans it is also stated that God raised him up, or put him there, for that particular purpose.  That may be very difficult to fit into your theology.  But you must admit that the Preacher who wrote our text for today has no problem with it.  “God has done so that men may fear before Him”.  A lost person who is not terrified by God knows nothing about Him.

3/28/19

I John 1:5

⁵ This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. 

This is one of, if not the purest statements in Scripture describing who God is.  “He is light”.  Without any contradiction light then, now, and forever.  The purity of the light that is God is as He is, infinite.  “In Him is no darkness at all.”  That is, if there is any doubt, no, none “at all.”

That absolutely certain fact has an absolutely necessary application.  “If” we say we know Him with any measure of intimacy, “have fellowship”, something, anything in common, and practice deeds of darkness what can be said?  “We lie.”  No quibbling, no searching for a kind qualifier, just plain lie because we are practical liars.  “We do not practice the truth”.

The Puritans in the 17^th century were want to qualify atheists.  There was the confessional atheist and the practical atheist.  John tells us both kinds of liars, confessional and practical, are those who claim to be God’s fellows and live as practical haters of God’s holiness.

“God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.”  This is our confession.  This is our hope.  This is our salvation.  All that we have or can hope for is locked in these words.

Revelation 4:8

⁸ And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say, “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty,
    who was and is and is to come!

3/27/19

Romans 8:28

²⁸ And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

I will not be guilty of denying the individual believer the joy and comfort of applying this truth in their life.  I have a friend who prays with thankfulness for a crippling injury because that injury was used to bring him to Christ.  And it is this verse he applies to his experience.  Who wants to argue with that?

Still let us look at this verse as it applies to the church as a whole rather than the individual.

There is an inclusive universal that marks the subject, “all things.”  To whomever this is written there is nothing intended to escape this description.  This universal is then further extended and described “works together for good”.  The description thus far leaves us with a need.  For who is included must be included for the statement to have a specific meaning.

So the writer describes those who will have this divine certainty of good.  They are described two ways.  First from their character, “they love God.”  This is not an option but an absolute.  And it is followed by another equal certainty.  They are divinely called in the external purpose of God.  Who fits this description?  The church.  We say all things in this world are done for the good of the church.

03/26/2019

 Samuel 30:23-25

²³ But David said, “You shall not do so, my brothers, with what the Lord has given us. He has preserved us and given into our hand the band that came against us. ²⁴ Who would listen to you in this matter? For as his share is who goes down into the battle, so shall his share be who stays by the baggage. They shall share alike.” ²⁵ And he made it a statute and a rule for Israel from that day forward to this day.

David establishes himself as one of the great geniuses of history; government, music, poetry, military, philosophy, theology—and here he demonstrates that same aptitude in ethics.  His sense of fairness is impeccable and there seems to be nothing political or personal motivating him.  This was the right thing to do and he did it.

There are certain truths that we can learn in this story.

1.      Good and bad will be mixed in our experience.  cf vs 22.  Bad guys can be a part of a good cause.

2.      All do not have the same strength and the same gifts.  And in God’s service it is wise to recognize this.  cf vs 24

3.      God’s laws are prone to find a long life. cf vs 25

4.      There has always been a need to protect the weaker members from those who are stronger.  It is nature not grace for the stronger members to assert their greed.

5.      The person with spiritual discernment always sees God’s grace as the grounds of every victory.  cf vs 23

Note that the basic law of the greedy “to the strong belong the spoils,” is denied by David.  Grace reigns!

03/25/2019

Jeremiah 17:9

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick;
    who can understand it?

Romans 7:11

¹¹ For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me.

“Sin….deceived me.”

Intellectually man has a twofold liability.  He is finite and he is fallen.  In any contest with sin he is sure to lose.  From Jeremiah and from Paul we have the same information.  We, both believers and unbelievers, are liable to be, and will be, deceived by sin.

Sin’s greatest deceit consistent with the Prophet’s complaint is when we think of ourselves in some grand and worthy way.  We deceive ourselves when we excuse ourselves.  There is never an excuse for sin.  God is holy and He hates evil.

We deceive ourselves when we think that some application of God’s Law does not apply.  The Law is holy, just, and good.  And it is the eternal standard of righteousness.  Sin is man’s failure to live God’s Law.  Romans 3:23 gives the result of sin as failing to live up to God’s glory.  This glory might be more but it surely is nothing less that His perfect righteousness.

And sin has deceived us when we think we can love God whom we can’t see without loving our neighbor whom we can see.