“And she (Martha) had a sister named Mary, which also sat at the feet of Jesus, and heard His word. 42. But one thing is needful, and Mary has chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.”
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“I will love you, O Lord, my strength. 2. The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust, my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower. 3. I will call upon the Lord, Who is worthy to be praised: so shall I be saved from my enemies.”
It is important to consider the context of the 18th Psalm in order to see the importance of this declaration. The psalm was written while David was being pursued by King Saul. David did not just imagine that he was in danger. Saul was intent on killing him because of jealousy. In the three verses under discussion, David made a declaration of his dependence on God. David was a brave man, but he knew that he could not escape the king and his army in his strength alone. We can take a lesson from David here, because we cannot stand in our strength alone. First, David made a declaration of love for God. This is where dedication and dependence begin. Jesus Himself said that the greatest commandment was to “love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.” Until we realize that God really loves us, we will not trust Him enough to depend on Him, and to love Him as we should. In whatever you are facing today, you need to decide whether you know that God really loves you or not. You actually accept God’s love when you accept Jesus as your savior. Get this down – God really and truly loves you! Second, David made a declaration of dependence on God’s strength. David was a strong person, but he realized that his strength was insufficient to stand up to the might of the king. This reminds me of Paul’s declaration about the strength of Christ in Philippians 4:13: “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” Paul was not a stranger to threats of death in his ministry. Like David, in order for him to continue to serve the Lord and do what he was called to do, Paul had to depend on One whose strength was far beyond his. If this is true of David and Saul, it is certainly true of us as well. Whatever you are facing today, the strength of the Lord is as available to you as it was to David and to Saul. In fact, Jesus wants you to lean on Him and depend on His strength. Don’t make the mistake that a lot of people make, and try to overcome by yourself and if that fails give it to Jesus. He wants to give His strength before the fact, not after the fact. David established what he considered to be the strength of God in his life. He referred to the Lord as his “rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.” In Psalm 56:3-4 David declared: “What time I am afraid, I will trust in you. 4. In God I will praise his word. In God I have put my trust; I will not fear what flesh can do unto me.” God provided David’s offence and his defense. He will do the same for you. Third, David made a declaration of how he would access the strength and power of God in his life: “I will call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised: so shall I be saved from my enemies.” David’s means of access to the strength and power of God was the same as ours: He would simply pray. Prayer is not just our means of communication with God; it is our means of the support of God. Someone said: “When all else fails pray.” That is entirely wrong. It should be: “Before all else fails pray.” We need to stay “prayed up” in order to face all of the contingencies of life. I know that I don’t want to face a day without prayer. Prayer is our declaration of dependence on God, our trust in God and our deep need for His intervention in all of life. All that David wrote here is true for you. Believe it and embrace it! Bro. Joe “If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men (people). 19. Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.”
People who do not try to live at peace with other people, and who seek to avenge themselves, as a general rule, have their “noses out of joint.” What do I mean by that? It means that they are thin-skinned and carry a chip on their shoulders. These are the people who are the hardest to be around, because you always have to watch what you say or do around them, lest you hurt their feelings. I do not consider myself one of these people, but I must admit that there are times when my “nose is out of joint.” Those are the times when I really don’t like myself very much. The only problem is that I can’t get away from myself. I feel like this when I feel that I have been treated unfairly. (Another word for it is self-pity.) Then I try to remember that my feelings can be hurt only if I allow them to be hurt. Even if I feel that someone is intentionally trying to hurt my feelings, it is still the same. The responsibility to remember that I am a Christian is on me, not on any antagonist. These times are rare in my life, but when they come I have to do a lot of praying to get myself back on target. Unfortunately, we are living in a time when people get their feelings hurt easily, and they won’t hesitate to tell you. We have to watch what we say about anything, lest we say something politically incorrect and inadvertently hurt someone’s feelings. I think that we are not better people for it. I’m thinking right now of Jesus. All He ever did while on earth was to help people. He healed the sick and the lame. (Excuse me, I should have written medically impaired.) He taught people to love one another and to “bear with” one another. He even taught that if someone hits you on the right side of your face, turn the other cheek and let them hit the left side. It’s funny that when we mention that in public, especially to a group of men, we say “in a pig’s eye.” (I don’t mean to demean pigs here, nor would I want to hurt one, except to barbecue it.) Jesus taught that we should treat others as we want to be treated. It’s called the “Golden Rule.” Jesus didn’t call it that, but we do. If we would follow the Golden Rule, maybe even the thinnest of skins would not be punctured. Whatever the case, all that Jesus ever did was to love and help people. The only group of people that He really got angry with were the thin-skinned, self-righteous Pharisees. I think that He only talked negatively to them in order to try and help them to get over themselves. Yet after all of the good that He did, the crowds that seemed to love and adore Him, turned on Him when He turned out not to be what they thought He should be, and they put Him on a cross. What were His first words from that cross? Let me see, did He say, “this is not fair”? No. Did He say, “why are you doing this to me, I haven’t hurt any of you”? No. Did He say, “I’ll get you for this”? No. What He said was, “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.” If anyone ever had a right to get His “nose out of joint,” it was Jesus. But He didn’t. He forgave. I know that we are not Jesus, but it wouldn’t hurt us to remember His example when our feelings are hurt and we want to retaliate. I know that when I don’t give in to my worst self and get my “nose out of joint,” I feel better about myself. In fact, when any of us overcome this tendency, we are just being downright Christ like. Try it. Bro. Joe “For whoso finds me finds life, and shall obtain favor of the Lord.”
I recently saw a sign on a church bulletin board that read, “Are you living or just existing?” It is a good question. Our text is about finding the wisdom of God to find real life. (The “me” in our text is spoken by “wisdom.”) The question asked by our title suggests that there is real life that is full of meaning, or there is life that is not full of meaning and just goes on from day to dreary day. I want to share with you what I have found to be real life that has kept me from “just existing.” Proverbs 9:10 records that: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” I believe that a full and meaningful life begins with a deep reverence for God. People sometimes take God lightly by calling Him something like “the man upstairs,” or the “old man in the sky,” or some name that takes away from the reverence and worship of God. Life is made more meaningful when we worship our Creator. I can’t imagine anything more boring and meaningless than to go through life thinking that there is no God, no Jesus who loves people sacrificially, or to think that He doesn't matter. If we would “find life” we would live for something beyond ourselves. A lot of the problems that people have today is they live only for themselves. They might be good providers for their families. They might be good citizens. But their lives are not built on something beyond themselves. Everything that they do is for their own good or only for the good of their loved ones. The parameters of their lives are too small. If all I had to live for is myself, I think life would be humdrum, and that I would be merely existing. It is good to go to bed each night and know that God/Jesus is alive and at work in the world through the Holy Spirit. It is satisfying for me to know that He loves me and has use for me pertaining to His purposes in this world. If we would find life and not just exist, we would have a great purpose for being alive. It begins with receiving Christ as Savior and finding our purpose within His will. This came easily to me because I was called to preach at an early age, and was the pastor of a church when I was twenty-one-years old. I have often said that the only reason I persevered through college and later seminary, then a year of further study was that I had a purpose for doing it. If I had just been floating through college, I probably would have “shipped over” in the Navy. Now you know that Christian ministry is not the only thing in my life, for I have a wife, two daughters and four grandchildren. They are all very special to me, but having a great purpose has even helped me enjoy them more. You don’t have to be a preacher to have a prevailing purpose for your life. You can be a servant of God wherever you are and whatever job you go to each day. Having God involved in your purpose would make you a better plumber, a better salesman, or whatever your occupation. I have known many fine lay people whose lives were enriched in every way because their purpose for living was to please God. If we would find life and not just exist, we would really love God with all of our hearts. Jesus said that He came to bring abundant life to those who would believe in Him. That abundant life includes loving God with all of our hearts, minds, souls and strength. It also involves loving our neighbor as ourselves. If a person loves God and people he or she will be really living and not just existing. Look at your own life and ask yourself if you are really living or just existing. Bro. Joe “Then the word of the Lord came to (Elijah), saying, 9. ‘Arise and go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there. See I have commanded a widow there to provide for you.”
Elijah is one of the most dynamic and interesting prophets in the Old Testament. In 1Kings 16, he got in trouble with King Ahab, and his wicked pagan wife, Jezebel. God led him away from Israel and the wicked king and queen, to the Brook Cherith. It was there that he was fed by ravens, and that he drank from the brook. Because of the drought that Elijah had predicted that got him in trouble in the first place, the brook dried up. So God sent Elijah to Zarephath. Zarephath was in Sidon, Gentile territory, and the home place of the wicked queen Jezebel. Elijah might have asked God, “What are you thinking? This is enemy territory.” The point that I am making here is that Elijah went to Zarephath and ministered to the widow there who was down to her last meal. Elijah had some qualities that we need if we would obey God, even when He puts us in hard places. What did it take, that we need, for Elijah to go to Zarephath? It took faith for Elijah to go to Zarephath. In Hebrews 11:1, faith is described as: “…the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” When Elijah was commanded to go to Zarephath, he did not know what awaited him there. He had to go there and do what God told him to do. The nature of faith has not changed. When God gives us a command to do His will, it will take faith in Him to do it. Faith and trust are the same thing. We have to trust God in order to serve Him in good times and bad. The times in which God has placed us are not altogether friendly toward followers of Jesus Christ. It takes faith for us to serve God in our day. We can use Elijah’s faith as an example as we serve God in these trying times. By faith, Elijah knew that he did not go to Zarephath alone, for God was with him – as He is with us. Take heart and live by faith. It took an obedient spirit for Elijah to go to Zarephath. Courageous faith and obedience go together. Elijah could have been concerned about his own safety and refuse to go to Zarephath. He could have told God that he felt safe there in the wilderness at the Brook Cherith, and even though the water had run out, he still might have clung to his place of safety. We have “Brook Cheriths” in our lives, and we do not want to venture away from them. But, like in Elijah’s time, there is a lost and needy world out there that needs what we have to offer in Jesus. The widow at Zarephath represents the world to which we are called to witness and minister. They might not be as physically destitute as she was, but they need Jesus. If we cease to believe this, we cease to believe in the Great Commission in Matthew 28:18-20. The Lord wants and needs obedient servants to go to the lost world, the world that is getting more and more hostile to the Gospel. Like Elijah, we need to trust and obey. It took dedication to the will of God for Elijah to go to Zarephath. In his faith and obedient spirit, Elijah simply had to do the will of God. It is difficult for us to understand that God’s will does not always lead us to happy and safe places. We have an idea about where we want to go and what we want to do. It is great when God leads us to where we want to go to do what we want to do. However, it is possible that God will lead us to places more difficult than we think we should go. We might think that the place he is leading us is too difficult for us to witness and minister, but, like Elijah, we need to remember that if God leads us there, He will be with us and He will lead and guide us even in the difficult tasks. The difficult place might be in the church where you are a member, at the place where you work, or even in your own home. Whatever the difficulty, we need to do the will of God. God/Jesus wants us to be people of faith with obedient spirits and dedicated to doing His will. This means you and me. Bro. Joe “And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.”
I have quoted this verse many times in personal conversations as well as in sermons and Bible studies. It is my “go to” verse when I want to show the power of Jesus. I see in this verse a good portrait of Jesus. It tells us a lot about Him. Perhaps most of you reading this, already know these things about Jesus, but it is good to go back and take a look at the uniqueness of our Savior. The text says that Jesus is “Before all things.” One can read this, move on and never see how profound it is. A further explanation of this is in John 1:1-2: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2. He was in the beginning with God.” (The “Word” is Jesus.) John and Paul both knew of the eternality of Jesus Christ. Since He was before all things, we can say with integrity that Jesus is God the Son. John wrote that the “Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Our Lord Jesus Christ has always existed. He is from “everlasting to everlasting.” We have the testimony of Jesus Himself about this truth in a conversation with Jewish leaders in John 8:56-58: “Your Father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad. 57. So the Jews said to Him, ‘You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham? Jesus said to them ‘Truly, truly, I say to you before Abraham was I am.” It is difficult to argue against the deity of Jesus when we have His own testimony. If you claim to believe the New Testament, you have to believe that Jesus has always existed. Jesus is indeed “before all things.” He existed in eternity with the Father and the Spirit before the universe was created. I can’t explain this anymore than I can explain a lot of other things in the Bible. By faith, I believe that Jesus Christ is eternal. Another thing that we could miss in this text if we didn’t read it carefully is “in Him.” This says a lot about Jesus. We can say that if we do not believe in Him we cannot be saved. The Bible tells us that “Whosever believes in Him Should not perish but have everlasting life.” It is “in Him,” that we can be saved. It is only “in Him” that we can be saved. In a conversation with Thomas Jesus shared this truth. Part of this conversation is given in John 14:5-6: “Thomas said to Him, ‘Lord we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way? 6. Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father but by me.” I don’t know how Jesus could have made this any plainer. Throughout the Bible, we are told that there is only one way to God. The very first commandment tells us, “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.” (Exodus 20:3) Christians need to be settled in this truth. There is a big argument going on about this in the world, and, unfortunately in some Christian denominations. According to Jesus and the entirety of the New Testament, there is no argument. It is “in Him,” in Jesus, that we find salvation and fulfillment in this life. We could even miss this point if we didn’t stop and look at it and meditate on it: “and in Him all things hold together.” According to this, it is in Him, in Jesus, that the hope of the world, indeed, the whole universe, that all things are held together. (In the KJV, the word for “held together” is “consists.”) This is reminiscent of Deuteronomy 33:27: “The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms: and He shall thrust out the enemy from before you; and shall say ‘destroy them’” Notice that it says “all things are held together.” This means that the whole universe is held together by our Lord and Savior. He exists with the Father and the Spirit in the Godhead, and we can depend on him to hold it all together until it is time to take it apart and create the “new heaven” and the “new earth.” He is in control. History was in His hands and the future is in His hands. It is still true that “underneath are the everlasting arms.” Doesn’t it stand to reason that if Jesus can hold the universe together, He can hold your life together? Think about that for a while! Colossians 1:17 is one of the many portraits of our Lord in the Bible. Believe it! Bro. Joe “Keep your tongue from (speaking) evil, and your lips from speaking guile. 14. Depart from evil, and do good, seek peace and pursue it.” (I added the parenthesis, and all of the others in the article.) “I will praise You with my whole heart….” “Cast your burden on the Lord, and He will sustain you; He shall never permit the righteous to be moved.” “Woe to her who is rebellious and polluted, to the oppressing city! She has not obeyed His voice, She has not received correction; She has not trusted in the Lord, She has not drawn near to her God.”
What do you suppose is the “rebellious and polluted” city? It is the city of David, the home of the temple, which was the home of Yahweh. It is none other than Jerusalem. This is the “Holy City.” But during Zephaniah’s time, Jerusalem was anything but holy. King Josiah really tried to bring about reform, and he did succeed to a point, but worship of other gods and all that this entailed was too deeply embedded in the hearts and minds of the people in Jerusalem. Zephaniah diagnosed the moral problem that Jerusalem and the Jewish people had. First, they were disobedient: “She has not obeyed His voice.” Through Moses, God laid out the laws that the Jews were to obey. They were laws that demanded a high morality. The first commandment was, “Thou shalt have no other gods before me…” God knew the temptations that they would have when they entered the Promised Land, because they did not clear out all of the people who were already there who were Baal worshippers. Baalism was an earthly, sensual religion. Baalism was a fertility religion, and one of their main ways of worship was with prostitutes. I don’t have to go into detail here; you know what that meant. That was a far cry from “thou shalt not commit adultery.” They disobeyed and fell into the sins of the Canaanites. Today, we need to be careful to obey God instead of the siren call of the world. We probably have even more ways to disobey than they had in Jerusalem. The point here is that God knows when we disobey. We need to ask ourselves if we are being obedient to His voice. Second, they were rebellious: “She has not received correction.” For years God sent prophets to give His word to the Jewish people. They plainly told the people what they were doing wrong, and they refused to receive correction. The prophets were telling the people the very words of God, and they still rebelled against God. They chose to believe other voices than the voice of God. We don’t have prophets today, but we have the written word called the Bible. The Bible plainly lays out the word of God and we rebel against it. In fact, there are a good many people who just dismiss what the Bible has to say. They think that is only an ancient book that has no meaning today. It is an ancient book, but it has eternal meaning and we rebel against it at our own peril. Again, God knows when we rebel. Third, they were faithless: “She has not trusted in the Lord.” The Lord had made some great promises to His people if they would believe. Jesus has given us the same message. In John 6:40 Jesus told the people: “And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the son and believes in Him may have everlasting life, and I will raise him up at the last day.” To believe in Jesus is to trust that He will really do as He promised. He has that authority and we need to trust that authority. We will put our trust in something. Like the people of Jerusalem, we sometimes put our trust in someone, or something besides the Lord. They did not focus on the Lord and what He wanted. They trusted in other gods and did what they wanted to do. We need to ask ourselves if we are trusting in Him, or if we are trusting in our own opinions and ideas. God knows when we are not trusting in Him. Fourth, they were not close to God: “She has not drawn near her God.” When they were disobedient, rebellious and faithless, they were moving away from God. One thing that I say a lot in my preaching and writing if that if you feel that God has forsaken you, God has not moved, but you are the one who moved. God could not bless Jerusalem because they had moved away from Him in their hearts, minds, and in their lifestyles. I have to remind myself sometimes when I feel that God is not near, that He has not moved and that I need to move closer to Him. All four of these points can characterize our lives if we are not careful. Let us take these warnings to Jerusalem to heart and apply them to our lives. Bro. Joe |
AuthorDr. Joe Beauchamp is the author of this blog and website. Categories
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