December 31, 2014

James 4:13-15

(All scripture is from the New King James Version unless otherwise indicated.)

Back when I was growing up in Sharon, Connecticut, we lived on a 208 acre dairy farm.  A neighbor at the time was Mr. Watts, a recluse bachelor in his 80’s whom my father hired once in awhile to help with the farm work.  He was so old and slow that my father would say, “He has one foot in the grave! “

I have been thinking about that phrase, and it just might make a good New Year’s resolution:  Live With One Foot In The Grave!  But this needs to be explained, and I think a good place to start would be James 4:13 through 15:

      Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such
      a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit”; whereas you do
      not know what will happen tomorrow.  For what is your life?  It is even a
      vapor, that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.  Instead you
      ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this, or that.”

If you Live With One Foot In The Grave, it is not that you are so old and slow that, obviously, you will be dead soon!  And it does not mean you will live expecting – and bemoaning the fact – that you will probably die and be in the grave within a short time!  What it means in this blog is that we should be living with the sense of how close to eternity we really are!  Someone has said “We are just one breath away – one heartbeat away – from eternity!”

A friend with whom I grew up was only 63 when he died.  He was just standing around talking to another person when he keeled over and fell down.  He had a massive heart attack at that moment, and the coroner said, “He was dead before he hit the ground!”

James warns us that we make our plans for the future – sometimes quite a ways in the future – like it is a sure thing!  “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit.”  It is good to make plans for the future!  But if those plans only take into consideration this earthly life, then we can really get into trouble!

Jesus spoke a parable about this very thing in Luke 12:16 through 21:

      The ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully.  And he thought within
      himself, saying, “What shall I do, since I have no room to store my crops?” 
      So he said, “I will do this:  I will pull down my barns and build greater, and
      there I will store all my crops and my goods.  And I will say to my soul, ‘Soul,
      you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and
      be merry.’”  But God said to him, “You fool!  This night your soul will be
      required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?” 
      So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.

Sure, the man was planning for the future, but he didn’t take into consideration what James said in verse 14 of our scripture:  “…you do not know what will happen tomorrow.  For what is your life? It is even a vapor, that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.”  And who knows when that ‘vanishing point’ is going to take place?!  James must have been thinking of the Jewish scriptures, because in Proverbs 27:1 it says, “Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring forth.”

Who knows?  God knows!  In Psalm 139:16 (NIV) David wrote, “All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.”  So it makes sense to include James’ next bit of wisdom in any plans we make:  “Instead you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this, or that.’ ”

If we Live With One Foot In The Grave, we will keep in mind what Paul wrote in Romans 14:10 & 12 and II Corinthians 5:10:

      So then each of us shall give account of himself to God….For we shall all
      stand before the judgment seat of Christ….that each one may receive the
      things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or
      bad.

If we live like that, we will order our actions, speech, thoughts and motives according to God’s will.  And if all Christians did Live With One Foot In The Grave, truly, what a revival we would see in Christiandom!

December 29, 2014

Luke 2:17, 18, 20

(All scripture is from the New King James Version unless otherwise indicated.)

Although Christmas was four days ago, I have one more thing to tell you about the shepherds.  We saw in Friday’s blog that the shepherds were led by the angel’s directions – and possibly also by the Spirit’s specific leading – to the Christ Child in a manger in Bethlehem.  What happened then?  t involves What The Shepherds Said in Luke 2:17, 18 and 20:

      Now when they had seen Him, they made widely known the saying which
      was told them concerning this Child.  And those who heard it marveled at
      those things which were told them by the shepherds….Then the shepherds
      returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard
      and seen, as it was told them.

This was big news!  The Jews had been awaiting a Savior for at least 2,000 years ever since God called Abraham out of Ur of the Chaldees – Genesis 11:31; 12:1 through 3.  And it had been at least 4,000 years since God had first promised a Deliverer in Genesis 3:14 and15:

      …the LORD God said to the serpent…“I will put enmity between you and
      the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your
      head, and you shall bruise His heel.”

Over the centuries there had been increasingly specific prophecies – hundreds of them – concerning God’s anointed One, the Messiah.  Here are just a few:

•      Genesis 49:10 – “The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between His feet, until Shiloh comes; and to Him shall be the obedience of the people.”

•      Deuteronomy 18:15 – Moses told the Israelites, “The LORD your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren. Him you shall hear….”

•      Isaiah 9:6 and 7 – “For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder.  And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.  Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end, upon the throne of David, and over His kingdom, to order it and establish it with judgment and justice from that time forward, even forever.  The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.”

•      Zechariah 9:9 and 10 – “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem!  Behold, your King is coming to you; He is just and having salvation, lowly and riding on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey.  I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the horse from Jerusalem; the battle bow shall be cut off.  He shall speak peace to the nations; His dominion shall be from ‘sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth.’ ”

And now the angel had just told these shepherds, “For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” (Luke 2:11).  What good news!  What long-awaited good news!

So what was the shepherds reaction after they found the Babe?  “…they made widely known the saying which was told them concerning this Child.” (Luke 2:17).  They told everybody!  The news was too good to keep to themselves!  What The Shepherds Said was, “The Messiah has come! Angels appeared to us and told us – a whole host of them from heaven!  He has just been born in Bethlehem – just like it is prophesied by the prophet Micah! [Micah 5:2].  We have seen Him with our own eyes!  God has at last visited His people!”  No, we don’t have a record of exactly What The Shepherds Said.  But it must have been something exciting like that, because it is written in Luke 2:18, “And those who heard it marveled at those things which were told them by the shepherds.”

But they didn’t stop there!  It says in Luke 2:20, “Then the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told them.”  They had been introduced to the Savior and Lord Jesus Christ!  And they just couldn’t stop “…glorifying and praising God…!”

Can we readily apply What The Shepherds Said to us today?

•      Have you met the Messiah, the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ?

•      Have you bowed in worship before Him with an open heart?

•      Are you “…glorifying and praising God…” because He sent His Son to die for you – because He lives again to save you?

•      Have you “…made widely known…” to others what you have experienced?

                                               …If not, why not?

December 26, 2014

Luke 2:15-20

(All scripture is from the New King James Version unless otherwise indicated.)

It’s the day after Christmas!  I hope the celebration of this holiday was a blessing to you, and the hecticness of it all was not too overwhelming!  Did you find Jesus Christ in your Christmas?  Have you found Him in your life?  The shepherds did!  Let’s look at what happened, from Luke 2:15 through 20:

      So it was, when the angels had gone away from them into heaven, that the
      shepherds said to one another, “Let us now go to Bethlehem and see this
      thing that has come to pass, which the Lord has made known to us.”  And
      they came with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the Babe lying in a
      manger.  Now when they had seen Him, they made widely known the say-
      ing which was told them concerning this Child.  And those who heard it
      marveled at those things which were told them by the shepherds….Then the
      shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they
      had heard and seen, as it was told them.

I have always wondered if the scripture record of what the angel said was the abbreviated version!  I mean, did the shepherds find the Christ Child easily or was it a struggle to locate Him?  Remember, in Luke 2:11 and 12, the recorded directions were, “…in the city of David….You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.”

First of all, which city of David was it?  In II Samuel 5:7 – and many other places – Jerusalem is called “…the city of David….”  But the Babe in verses 12 and 16 is referred to as “…a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” (Luke 2:11).  So the shepherds, who were quite well-versed in the Jewish scriptures, would have known where the Messiah would be born.  They would have been familiar with Micah 5:2:

      But you, Bethlehem Ephratah, though you are little among the thousands of
      Judah, yet out of you shall come forth to Me the One to be ruler in Israel;
      whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.

So they knew it was the town nearby, and not Jerusalem about six miles to the north.

Second, the angel’s directions said the “…Babe…[would be] lying in a manger.” (Luke 2:12).  How many mangers were there in Bethlehem?  Dr. Charles Stanley tells us, “At the time, Bethlehem’s population was between five and six hundred people.”  That might have been a hundred to two hundred homes!  And many homes had a manger, since they kept animals in-house on the lower level.  The family occupied the upper level of the dwelling.  We know that in Luke 2:7 it says Mary “…brought forth her firstborn Son…and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.”  But an inn was not mentioned in the angel’s directions to the shepherds!  So did they search all the stables and homes to find the Babe?

We also know that according to the record in Matthew 2:2, 9 and 10, the wise men were led by the star they had “…seen in the East….”  And it was a very specific leading, because it says in verse 9, “…the star which they had seen in the East went before them, till it came and stood over where the young Child was.”  Could not God have led the shepherds to the Christ Child in such a specific manner?

This adventure by the shepherds was a physical searching, leading and finding.  But spiritually, how does one find Jesus Christ today?  Jeremiah 29:13 and 14 tells us, “And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.  I will be found by you, says the Lord.”  And Paul wrote in Romans 10:6 through 9 and 13 (quoting Deuteronomy 30:12 through 14, and Joel 2:32):

      “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’” (that is, to bring
      Christ down from above) or, “‘Who will descend into the abyss?’” (that is, to
      bring Christ up from the dead).  But what does it say?  “The word is near you,
      even in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith, which we
      preach):  that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in
      your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved….For
      “whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

Jesus Christ is as close as the air we breath!  And just like when we breath in air, He wants to be in us!  If we open our hearts to Him – if we answer His knock on our heart’s door – He plainly says, “…I will come in….” (Revelation 3:20).  And when He comes into a heart and life, He cleans that life up, washing away ALL our sins by His own blood! (see I John 1:7).  And He brings us eternal life and the opportunity to live an abundant life – instead of the wasted life too many experience! (see John 5:24; 10:10; and Galatians 5:22 and 23).

The Shepherds Found Him! Have you?

December 24, 2014

Luke 2:8-14

(All scripture is from the New King James Version unless otherwise indicated.)

This is Christmas Eve! We are going to take a break concerning Giving And Getting from Luke 6:38 and concentrate for a couple of blogs on the Christmas story, examining the Shepherds in Luke 2:8 through 14:

      Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the field, keep-
      ing watch over their flock by night.  And behold, an angel of the Lord stood
      before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were
      greatly afraid.  Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold,
      I bring you good tidings of great joy, which will be to all people.  For there
      is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 
      And this will be the sign to you:  You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling
      clothes, lying in a manger.”  And suddenly there was with the angel a multi-
      tude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the
      highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.”

Shepherds, in ancient Israel, were not necessarily ‘country bumpkins’!  Several things stand out in Eerdmans’ The New Bible Dictionary in an article on “Shepherd”:

•      “Such is the honor of the calling that the Old Testament frequently delineates God as the Shepherd of Israel (Genesis 49:24; Psalm 23:1; 80:1)….”

•      “The…shepherd pursued, and still pursues, an exacting calling….He must find grass and water in a dry and stony land (Psalm 23:2), protect his charges from the weather and from fiercer creatures (Amos 3:12), and retrieve any strayed animal (Ezekiel 34:8; Matthew 18:12….)”

• “Ideally, the shepherd should be strong, devoted, and selfless, as many of them were.”

• “In the New Testament it is Christ’s mission to be Shepherd, even Chief Shepherd (Hebrews 13:20 and I Peter 2:25; also I Peter 5:4).  This is worked out in detail in John 10…” – where the Lord says in verse 11, “I am the good shepherd.”

So these Bethlehem shepherds to whom the angels came with the announcement of the birth of Christ, were synagogue-schooled in the Old Testament scriptures and Jewish history, and were very familiar with the promises of the coming Messiah!

The angel told them, “…there is born to you…a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”  The same words, “…born to you…,” were used many times in the Old Testament to signify the birth of a baby to the father and mother who had brought that little one into the world.  Had the shepherds brought Jesus Christ into the world?  In a sense, yes!  Those Bethlehem shepherds were part of sinful humanity – the humanity for whom Jesus Christ came to sacrificially die, so we could be born……again!  So the Messiah was specifically born to – born for – those shepherds!  They cared for sheep, sometimes searching for lost sheep!  Jesus gave His purpose in Luke 19:10:  “…the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”

So the shepherds went – following the directions of the angel – and found baby Jesus.  It must have taken a lot of faith to look upon this newborn infant “…wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger,” and see “…He who has been born King of the Jews…!” (Matthew 2:1).  But God gave them the gift of faith (I Corinthians 12:9) to so see that baby!  For it says in Luke 2:17, “Now when they had seen Him, they made widely known the saying which was told them concerning this child.”

What about the heavenly host of angels who joined the original announcing angel (most likely Gabriel)?  They were “…praising God and saying, ‘Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.’ ”  They were proclaiming the results of putting one’s faith in the Lord Jesus Christ!  I see three things in what they said:

•      There will be peace on earth through the Messiah!  James tells us in James 4:1 through 4:

      Where do wars and fights come from among you?  Do they not come from
      your desires for pleasure that war in your members?  You lust and do not
      have.  You murder and covet and cannot obtain.  You fight and war.  Yet
      you do not have because you do not ask.  You ask and do not receive, be-
      cause you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.  Adulterers
      and adulteresses!  Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity
      with God?  Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes
      himself the enemy of God.

But peace on earth will only ever be accomplished when the inhabitants of the earth have peace within – toward God and each other!  Only God through Jesus Christ can give us that peace! (see Colossians 1:10 through 23).

•      Why would God do all this for us?  The angel said it is because He has shown “…good will toward men.”  That good will is perfectly described in John 3:16:   “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”

•      Because of Jesus Christ coming into the world, the angels were “…praising God and saying, ‘Glory to God in the highest….’ ”  If this blessed event led the angels to praise Him for what He has done for us, should not we do the same?  Should not we who know Jesus as Savior and Lord live our lives to be an ongoing praise to Him?

December 22, 2014

Luke 6:38 (NIV)

(All scripture is from the New King James Version unless otherwise indicated.)

In this blog let’s begin to dig into Luke 6:38 (NIV) to see some of it’s inner workings:

      Give, and it will be given to you.  A good measure, pressed down, shaken to-
      gether and running over, will be poured into your lap.  For with the measure
      you use, it will be measured to you.

Is says, “Give, and it will be given to you.”  But who will be giving to you?  Obviously, it is God.  But does God give back directly?  I mean, does what is given back come floating down from heaven?

In the 1950 movie, “The Great Rupert,” also known as “The Christmas Wish” starring Jimmy Durante, the theme revolves around money apparently given directly from heaven!  A poor Vaudeville family down on their luck moves into a shabby apartment adjoining the landlord’s living space.  With Christmas approaching, they have nothing, not even a pair of shoes the daughter, Rosalinda, desperately needs.  So mom gets on her knees and prays for God’s provision, saying, “Rosalinda needs shoes!”  Money floats down from above!  What the family does not know is that in the rafters of the building lives a squirrel named Rupert.  Each time mom prays for money, Rupert takes from the landlord’s stash of money hidden behind the wall molding, and drops it down to the needy family.  And the family prospers and has a great Christmas!

But most people don’t receive what is given to them by a ‘Rupert the squirrel’!  Or by God’s hand directly!  Although the original Greek of Luke 6:38 does not openly state it but implies where such giving comes from, the King James Version spells out that implication:  “…it shall be given unto you…men …shall…give into your bosom.”  Put another way, God gives back to us through other people!

Now this also implies something important.  Others must then be sensitive to God’s leading to give to whom and where directed.  And that is not always easy!  It seems this old world has many distractions that take our intention away from God’s leading.  In I Kings 19, Elijah flees from the wicked Queen Jezebel who threatens his life.  Hiding upon a mountain in a cave, Elijah is confronted by God by means of “…a great and strong wind…an earthquake, and…a fire, but the LORD was not in…”any of these three powerful displays of nature (I Kings 20:11 and 12).  Then God spoke to the prophet in “…a still small voice…” (I Kings 19:12) and gave directions to Elijah what he was to do (I Kings 19:15-18).

God seems to often speak to us in “…a still small voice…” that is hard to hear, especially with all the loud noises of life going on around us!  We must be in tune with God and stay in tune with Him if we are to discern what He is saying!  And that necessitates being in His Word, in prayer, in fellowship with others, and obedient to His leading!

Twenty-seven years ago last summer, Hope and I were going through a very hard time.  I had resigned my present church because of burnout, and I had no income, no job, no place to live and minister, and no school for my daughter to attend come September.  One day Judy came up to me and said, “God wants me to give this to you,” and she handed me a fifty dollar bill!  It was like a thousand dollars to me!  It was a great encouragement, and Judy has been dear to my heart ever since!  Yes, things worked out for our family.  By God’s leading, I became the pastor of a church in Western Pennsylvania – and we had a home, a job, an income and a school for my daughter.  But Judy’s gift was a real turning point!  By the way, she doesn’t even remember giving us that money.  But I do, and I will always love her for it.

Are you so in tune with the Lord that you are a blessing to others because you hear and follow His “…still small voice…”?

I leave you with this verse from Isaiah 30:21.  It is right along the same lines as what Elijah experienced, and what God wants for all of us.  It is a Kingdom verse, in that the ultimate fulfillment of it will be when Jesus reigns upon this earth as “KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS ” (Revelation 19:16).  But now, as He said in Luke 17:21, “…the kingdom of God is within you.”  So Isaiah 30:21 should be a reality now to those close followers of Jesus Christ:  “Your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, ‘This is the way, walk in it,’ whenever you turn to the right hand or whenever you turn to the left.”

If this is how it is with you, dear Christian, then you will be a blessing to others as God uses you to give back to them!  And, by the way, you will then be richly blessed yourself for giving!

We will continue to delve into Luke 6:38 in our next blog.

December 19, 2014

Luke 6:38 (NIV)

(All scripture is from the New King James Version unless otherwise indicated.)

In this blog (finally) we will get to Luke 6:38 (NIV):

      Give, and it will be given to you.  A good measure, pressed down, shaken to-
      gether and running over, will be poured into your lap.  For with the measure
      you use, it will be measured to you.

We looked at the context of this verse in our last blog, and saw that Jesus was telling His followers how to act and react especially considering that they were nationally under hated Roman occupation.  They were to live out faithful lives “…just as your Father also is….”  They were to show forth love, forgiveness, mercy, grace, restraint – as God was showing them.  And they were to do it even under their hard circumstances of life!  And when they did that, it would be paid back to them richly.

So Luke 6:38 has a pretty specific context.  But it puts forth a general principle which can be depended upon – “Give, and it will be given to you.”  Sometimes this is called “The law of Reciprocity,” (Pat Robertson – The Secret Kingdom), that is, give and you will get back!  Now I do not believe in what is known as “The Prosperity Gospel,” also called, “Name it, Claim it, and Frame it!”  This teaching proclaims that all you have to do is believe – just have enough faith – and you will be rich and in perfect health!  Most Christians in the world today are not in prosperous and healthy circumstances!  Many are driven from their modest dwellings, hungry, cold, sick, persecuted and imprisoned for their faith, and even dying because of it!   And many personalities in the Bible dealt with stubborn negative circumstances.  These saints of God include David, Elijah, Jeremiah and Paul!

So how do we reconcile the general principle of “Give, and it will be given to you” with all this?  I call it The Bank Of Heaven, and here is how it works.  When we give anything to the Lord, He gives back to our account.  How much?  Jesus said this in Matthew 19:29: “…everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My name’s sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and inherit everlasting life.”  A hundred times as much given back as is given up for Him!  Someone once said, “I shovel out, and God shovels in! But God uses the bigger shovel!”  – 100 times as big!  That’s 10,000% interest!

Apply this to monetary giving:  God gives us $10.00, and since He asks us to tithe, we give back to Him $1.00.  If He then gives 100 times the amount given, He gives back $100.00!  So we tithe our 10% to God, giving Him $10.00, and He gives us back $1,000.00!  It sounds so simple but experience just doesn’t seem to work out that way.  Why?

God is our loving Father, the best Parent we could have.  Picture your little child running up to you in the grocery store holding a big bag of candy bars.  And he pleads, “Mommy, can I have this? I’m hungry!”  And it is a half hour before supper!  What might you say?  “No, honey, you can’t have all that candy right before supper.  But you can have one candy bar after supper!”  Why?  Because all that candy would not be good for your child, and you know it, even if he does not!

God, as your perfect Father, knows what is good for you and what is bad.  If God gave some people a million dollars now in this life, it would destroy them!  I have heard stories of big lottery winners whose lives where wrecked because of the large monetary windfall they received!  God will not give you anything to destroy you!  He may allow hard things to touch our lives, but it is always for our good and growth as a Christian! (see Romans 8:28 and 29; James 1:2 through 4).  He knows what is best for our lives!  And some Christians cannot be trusted with abundant earthly blessings!

Now, do we lose out because we can’t handle a million dollars here and now?  No! We have eternal life in the Lord Jesus Christ!  And if we cannot handle extra-large blessings here and now, it is credited to our account in The Bank Of Heaven where we will be perfect and able to enjoy God’s riches for His glory forever!  An example is in Revelation 4.  What do the 24 elders do with the obviously priceless golden crowns in their possession in Revelation 4:4?  In Revelation 4:9 through 11, it says:

      Whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him that
      sits on the throne, who lives forever and ever, The twenty-four elders fall
      down before Him who sits on the throne, and worship Him who lives forever
      and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying, “You are worthy,
      O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things,
      and by Your will they exist and were created.”

They give them back to glorify the Lamb of God, the Lord Jesus Christ!

No, we never lose out with God’s Bank Of Heaven!  We are to give faithfully unto Him, knowing that He gives much more back to us!  And we are to trust that He knows when to give it – now or in eternity – all for His glory!

December 17 2014

Luke 6:38 (NIV)

(All scripture is from the New King James Version unless otherwise indicated.)

Let’s continue on the theme of giving.  One of the oft-quoted verses that deal with this is Luke 6:38 (NIV)

      Give, and it will be given to you.  A good measure, pressed down, shaken to-
      gether and running over, will be poured into your lap.  For with the measure
      you use, it will be measured to you.

The context does not have its concentration on the subject of money.  It context starts with the Beatitudes – Luke 6:20 through 23.  Very briefly, the Beatitudes deal with how a disciple of Jesus reacts to poverty (verse 20); hunger and tears (verse 21); and being hated, excluded, reviled and slandered (verse 22).  The person who is the Lord’s should “…rejoice….For indeed your reward is great in heaven…” (verse 23).  Next Jesus warned His followers in Luke 6:24 through 26 about pursuing riches and being filled with food and laughter in this life.

Then in verses 27 through 38 He went on to give examples of what the Israelites were experiencing in their nation on an everyday basis and how to respond to such situations.

•      Luke 6:27 and 28 – “But I say to you who hear: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, and pray for those who spitefully use you.”  Remember that Israel was an occupied country, under the dominion of Rome.  Romans soldiers were very often seen in the land, especially in the capital city of Jerusalem, which could be at times a hotbed for rebellion!  These occupying troops were not usually courteous and caring to the Jewish population!  The soldiers often hated them, cursed them, and used them to their own advantage!

•      Luke 6:29 – “To him who strikes you on the one cheek offer the other also.”  Some-times the occupying Romans soldiers resorted to physical violence!

•      Luke 6:30 – “And from him who takes away your cloak, do not withhold your tunic either.  Give to everyone who asks of you.  And of him who takes away your goods do not ask them back.”  Sometimes it would involve confiscation of goods and property, taken by threat of (or actual) violence!  The Greek word in this verse for ‘ask‘ can also be translated ‘require.’

•      Luke 6:31 – “And just as you want men to do to you, you also do to them likewise.”  It is called The Golden Rule.  And it is not easily practiced upon a enemy who hates you and occupies your beloved homeland!

•      Luke 6:32 through 34 – Do not just “…love those who love you….”  Do not just “…do good to those who do good to you….”  Do not just “…lend to those from whom you hope to receive back….”  Sinners do that much!  The followers of the Lord are called to a much higher standard!

•      Luke 6:35 – “But love your enemies, do good, and lend, hoping for nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Highest.  For He is kind to the unthankful and evil.”  The Romans were counted by most Jews to be their enemies!  And the Jews were treated as such by most of the occupying Romans!  But God loved these Gentile sinners, and eventually raised up Saint Paul as “…the minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles…” (Romans 15:16), “…that they should repent [and] turn to God…” (Acts 26:20).  As God’s people, the Jews, whom God had called to Himself centuries before, should also “…love…[their] enemies….”

•      Luke 6:36 – “Therefore be merciful, just as your Father also is merciful.”  Mercy does not give what is deserved.  What sinners deserve – Romans, Jews and all others – is God’s condemnation and eternal hell!  But what God offers us is out of His grace – what we do not deserve – forgiveness, life in heaven forever, and abundant life now!

•      Luke 6:37 – “Judge not, and you shall not be judged.  Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned.  Forgive and you will be forgiven.”  Don’t judge the Romans?  Don’t condemn them?  Forgive them?  The Lord is calling the Jews to do a very hard thing!  But isn’t this what God offers us at the cost of His own Son’s life – not to be judged unto condemnation, but to be forgiven?

Now, as said, this especially applied in this scripture context to the occupying Romans.  But any person or group of people can so act against us and offend us!  If the Jews were called to treat the Romans in a godly way, how much more are we called to represent our Lord Jesus in our way of life?  God has already done for us what is good, merciful and gracious!  Should not we let Him do it through us for others – even our enemies?

We haven’t even arrived at our featured verse of Luke 6:38. But we will next time!

December 15 2014

Malachi 3:8-12

(All scripture is from the New King James Version unless otherwise indicated.)

Now let’s take Malachi 3:8 through 12 in the direction of how it is usually applied – giving, the tithing of money:

      “Will a man rob God?  Yet you have robbed Me!  But you say, ‘In what way
      have we robbed You?’  In tithes and offerings.  You are cursed with a curse,
      for you have robbed Me, even this whole nation.  Bring all the tithes into the
      storehouse, that there may be food in My house, and prove Me now in this,”
      says the LORD of hosts, “if I will not open for you the windows of heaven,
      and pour out for you such blessing, that there will not be room enough to
      receive it.  And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, so that he will not
      destroy the fruit of your ground; nor shall the vine fail to bear fruit for you
      in the field,” says the LORD of hosts; “and all nations will call you blessed,
      for you will be a delightful land,” says the LORD of hosts.

Many people don’t want to get into this subject because they think a guilt-trip is going to be laid on them to give more, and they don’t have enough to support their lifestyle now!  If that is your attitude, then you are depriving yourself of some of the greatest potential blessings God has designed for your life.  And in the next several blogs, we will explore this biblical subject.

Now keep in mind what we talked about in the last blog.  Giving is not just about money!  Giving involves all God entrusts to us – our time, talents, relationships, health, interests – plus monetary resources.  But, a good indicator that you and I are in tune with the Lord and His leading involves our wallet or purse!  How we respond and react to money shows quite vividly if we are in tune with God or not!

What does Malachi 3:10, the first part, say?  “Bring all the tithes into the storehouse….”  First of all, the Bible in Leviticus 27:30 and 32 defines just what the tithe is:

      And all the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land or the fruit of the
      tree is the Lord’s.  It is holy to the Lord….And concerning the tithe of the herd
      or the flock, of whatever passes under the rod, the tenth one shall be holy to the
      Lord.

The tithe is 10% of your income!  God tells us in verse 10 that the tithe is His, and is to be brought into His storehouse!  There are some who teach what is called “storehouse giving.” That is, a Christian is to bring all his giving to the church – the storehouse.  Then the leaders of the local church disperse what is given to where it is deemed to be needed.

I disagree with such storehouse thinking.  God is the storehouse, and His work generally is available for yours and my giving as He leads us.  Yes, we should abundantly support our home church.  But there are many good organizations that are working to fulfill His will that need our support.  For the Christian who is in tune with his God, I believe the Lord will lead where tithes and offerings should be given.

I mentioned in the beginning great blessings.  There are several mentioned if we faithfully give to God:

•      Malachi 3:10 – “Bring all the tithes…and prove Me now in this…if I will not open for you the windows of heaven, and pour out for you such blessing, that there will not be room enough to receive it.”  God desires to bless His people!  But He will not do it to their detriment!  One way He will know if we are ready to handle His blessings to glorify Him is if we are faithful in giving when we do not have a lot!

And God is never short on resources!  He has so much that if He were to fully “…open…the windows of heaven…,” we would be inundated! (see Psalm 50:10-12).

But like any good parent, He knows what is good for us, and what we can properly manage.  So God only blesses us with money and things to the point where we will not be controlled by money and things!  My wife and I can testify that He has always met our needs as we have abundantly given.  And as we have learned to be good stewards of what God has given us, He has entrusted us with more and more.

•      Malachi 3:11 – “…I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes….” The devourer back in Bible times might be disease, blight, insect swarms, invading hoards, rust, thieves, and more. Today the devourer might also include shaky investments, identity theft, dangerous and costly habits, and more.  If we are rightly walking with our Lord Jesus Christ, we will avoid some of the devouring things mentioned, and God will add His protection from a lot more predatory devourers!

•      Malachi 3:12 – “…and all nations will call you blessed, for you will be a delightful land….”  Here is one blessing we don’t often associate with faithful giving.  God will generally bless our land, our nation, and we will be a blessing to the rest of the world!

Robbing God – is not that also robbing ourselves?  Seriously think about giving God’s way, and then watch for all His blessings to come!

December 12, 2014

Malachi 3:8-12

(All scripture is from the New King James Version unless otherwise indicated.)

There is an interesting scripture in the last book of the Old Testament, Malachi 3:8 through 12:

      “Will a man rob God?  Yet you have robbed Me! But you say, ‘In what way
      have we robbed You?’  In tithes and offerings.  You are cursed with a curse,
      for you have robbed Me, even this whole nation.  Bring all the tithes into the
      storehouse, that there may be food in My house, and prove Me now in this,”
      says the LORD of hosts, “if I will not open for you the windows of heaven,
      and pour out for you such blessing, that there will not be room enough to
      receive it.   And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, so that he will not
      destroy the fruit of your ground; nor shall the vine fail to bear fruit for you
      in the field,” says the LORD of hosts; “and all nations will call you blessed,
      for you will be a delightful land,” says the LORD of hosts.

Usually, this passage is applied to giving, especially tithing – giving one tenth of all your income to the Lord’s work.  After all, it says in verse 10, “Bring all the tithes into the storehouse….”  And, yes, this certainly applies to giving, to tithing of our income!  And my wife and I – with many others who have practiced tithing – can attest that, indeed, God has supplied our needs as we have faithfully given to Him!

But I want to take a bit of a different tack with this passage of scripture. It will still relate to giving, but in a different way.

Consider what Jesus said in a parable in Luke 12:42 through 48.  Herbert Lockyer, in his book, All The Parables Of The Bible calls this (and the preceding parable in Luke 12:35 through 40), “The Parable of the Watchful Servants.”  In the parable we are considering, the master of a “…faithful and wise…” servant (verse 42) apparently left on a long journey and appointed this servant to rule “…over his household, to give…[the other servants] their portion of food in due season…” (verse 42).  Jesus said if he did what he was supposed to do, that servant will be blessed, and the master “…will make him ruler over all that he has.” (verse 44).  But, if he “…begins to beat the…servants, and to eat and drink and be drunk…” (verse 45), “The master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him…and will cut him in two and will appoint him his portion with the unbelievers.” ( verse 46).  Jesus closed the parable with this observation in verses 47 and 48:

      And that servant, who knew his master’s will, and did not…do according to
      his will, shall be beaten with many stripes.  But he who did not know, yet
      committed things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few.  For everyone
      to whom much is given, from him much will be required; and to whom much
      has been committed, of him they will ask the more.

We have been given much, especially in this country!  We are blessed with material wealth, a marvelous health system (especially compared to many other parts of the world), many freedoms – including the freedom of religion.  We have open churches, and an open Bible – so much so, that there are relatively few people who have not heard the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ in one way or another!  As Jesus said in verse 48 above, “…everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required; and to whom much has been committed, of him they will ask the more.”  The ‘they’ who “…ask the more…” will ultimately be the Father, Son and Holy Spirit!  For “…every one of us shall give account of himself to God.” (Romans 14:12 – KJV).

Apart from money – your income, investments, and other resources – think of all that God has given you! Are you investing all that to bring glory to Him?

•      Are you giving back to God time? …time in prayer, time in reading and studying His Word, time in worship and fellowship with other believers, time in service to Him by serving others?

•      Are you giving back a tithe or more of the investment He has made in you?  After all, He gave you life in the first place, plus all the blessings that touch your life.  And the biggest blessing is that He redeemed you from hell to heaven, from ruin to something beautiful and of great worth, from being God’s enemy to being His friend, even His child!

Now, back to our Malachi scripture.  God is speaking, and the first thing with which He challenges His people is, “Will a man rob God?  Yet you have robbed Me!”  I challenge you to look over your ‘investment sheet’ and see if you are robbing God!  And if you find out you are, then I challenge you to start giving the Lord His due – your life put into His hands, and you following His leading!  If we don’t do this, we will “…rob God…,” and we will answer for it before Him!

December 10, 2014

II Peter 1:10, 11

(All scripture is from the New King James Version unless otherwise indicated.)

We have been looking in the last blog at the verses preceding II Peter 1:10 and 11.  Now we will concentrate on this featured scripture:

     Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your calling and election
      sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble; for so an entrance will
      be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and
      Savior Jesus Christ.

Frank, a friend of mine who is a pastor, told me he received a phone call one day from a man who did not give his name.  This man wanted to know what it would take to get himself into heaven.  My friend started to explain the gospel – accepting Jesus as our Savior to be forgiven of our sins, to be reconciled to the Father, and to gain eternal life.  The man broke in to say, “I know all that. What I want to know is how godly do I have to live just to get into heaven? I don’t want all the rewards, I just want to get there, that’s all!” Frank replied, “I’m not interested in just getting into heaven! I want to live my life so as to load my pockets, a backpack, and my arms full with good works! I want all the rewards of heaven the Lord has for His obedient children!”

What Frank was saying is just what Peter wrote in verse 11, concerning “…an entrance…supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”

Now, Frank nor I live our Christian lives just for the rewards we will get in the kingdom.  As someone else has said, “I live my life as a ‘thank you’ for all that God has done for me.”  Paul wrote in Romans 12:1 that it is just our “…reasonable service…[to] present…our bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God….”  In light of all He has done for us, it is only reasonable that we live our lives in obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ!

But the Lord chooses to offer us rewards for all the things we do for Him.  Jesus said in Mark 9:41, “…whoever gives you a cup of water to drink in My name, because you belong to Christ, assuredly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward.”  Paul writes in I Corinthians 3:14 that if we do anything that reflects our life having the foundation of Jesus Christ (see I Corinthians 3:11), we “…will receive a reward.”

That rewards in the kingdom will be a surprise – that is, we don’t do good works just to get the rewards – is clearly shown in Matthew 25:34 through 40:

      Then the King will say to those on His right hand, “Come, you blessed of My
      Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the
      world: for I was hungry and you gave me food; I was thirsty and you gave
      Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you
      clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came
      to Me.”  Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, “Lord, when did we
      see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give you drink?  When did we
      see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You?  Or when
      did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?”  And the King will
      answer and say to them, “Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it
      to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.”

These righteous ones lived out their lives for the Lord.  Their good works were just a natural outflow of the new nature that is born within us when we accept Jesus as our Savior (see II Corinthians 5:17).  The rewards were a surprise and an added blessing given by our gracious God!  But what an abundant entrance they had “…into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ…”  They Finished Well!

At least three crowns are named as rewards in scripture (obviously among many other rewards):

•      II Timothy 4:8 – Paul wrote, “Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing.”

•      James 1:12 – James tells us, “Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been proved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.”

•      I Peter 5:4 – Peter says, “…when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that does not fade away.”

What do we do with all our rewards in eternity?  According to Revelation 5:10, we will…

      …cast…[our] crowns before the throne [of God] saying, “You are worthy, O
      Lord, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and
      by Your will they exist and were created”

We will give our rewards back to the only One worthy of such praise and glory – God Himself!  And “…so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”  And so we will be Finishing Well!