“Paul an apostle of Christ Jesus by the command of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus our hope....”
As I was sitting here in my“easy chair” one morning half asleep (gee imagine that), a thought flitted across my mind: “What is the basis of your hope?” Before I go any further with this thought, I want to share the definition of hope from The American Century Dictionary: “1. expectation or desire for a thing 2. Person or thing giving cause for this 3. what is hoped for, etc.” The Greek word that is normally translated as hope in the New Testament, and is true of our text, is “elpis” and it means to have great expectation or something that is certain. We usually use the word “hope” to mean something like, “Gosh, I hope so and so happens, but it might not.” The basis of our hope should be certain – not maybe. In the beginning of his letter to Timothy, Paul wrote of “Christ Jesus” as our “hope.” Jesus is the real and eternal basis for hope. I love the opening words of the old hymn, The Solid Rock: “My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness; I dare not trust the sweetest frame but wholly lean on Jesus’name.” I’m not sure what a “sweetest frame” is, but I think it is something, or someone, in this world that we might lean on instead of Jesus. I’m not saying that there is nothing in this world to lean on. What I am saying is that the basis of our hope, and the One on whom we should trust all of life and all of eternity to is Jesus Christ. This is what Paul meant in 1 Timothy 1:1 and what I mean when I ask you what is the basis of your hope? If your hope is built on anything less than Jesus, you are leaning on a weak hope. There is no other basis of hope that has lived from “everlasting to everlasting,” gave up a home in heaven, died on the cross to save you from sin, arose the third day, ascended to the “right hand of the Father,” is making intercession for you and has promised to return to take you home to heaven. (Wow, that was a long, but meaingful, sentence.) (Following are a couple of examples of what I will refer to as "sweetest frames.") Some people put their hope in politics. Be sure that I have my political opinions and I could bore you to death for hours discussing them, but my hope is not in politics. Do not understand me to believe that politics is not important at all, and that I do not care. Understand me to believe that what happens politically is beyond my control and I will not let it run, or ruin, my life or determine my hope. I have lived long enough (from FDR to BHO) to know that politics is one of the “sweetest frames” mentioned above. Who is in control in Washington is too tenuous to be a basis for hope. I have seen the political spectrum switch from “pillar to post” in my years on this earth. We Americans are really fickle when it comes to who is to control Washington. We will try one party for eight years and then try another - ad infinitum. You can be deliriously happy that your candidate won, but the years will go by and the delirium will turn to dismay, then the other party will be in control. I just can’t put my hope in politics. I read a lot about politics and there are people on all ends of the spectrum who really and truly put their hope there, but I don’t want to be one of them. I do not want my hope to be on something that the fickleness of human beings can destroy. We will just live our lives, and be happy or grin and bear it, until the next election. Politics cannot take the place of Jesus. Some people put their hope in their bank accounts. That’s why some rich people killed themselves at the beginning of “the Great Depression” in 1929. They just could not take not being rich. Hey, I want my "fair share," so to speak, but I can’t put my hope in it. There are any number of things that can serve as the basis of your hope, but if the basis of your hope is not Jesus, you are leaning on something, or someone, that is a poor basis for hope. If Jesus is not your hope already, put your faith in Him now, and trust Him here and for all eternity. Do it! Bro. Joe
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“A good man shows favor, and lendeth: he shall guide his affairs with discretion. 6. Surely he shall not be moved forever: the righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance. 7. He shall not be afraid of evil tidings: his heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord.”
These verses from Psalm 112 remind us that even when times are hard and the world seems to be spinning out of control, we can live with courage because we believe in and trust the Lord. If I did not believe in Him I would be very afraid today. Let me give you just two examples: The “crazies” in North Korea now have the capability of going into space. If that doesn’t concern you for the future, I don’t know what would. Iran is in the process of developing nuclear weapons. That certainly caused concern for the future. But having concern for the future is not the same as being afraid of the future. The same God who is here today will be in the future as well. An anonymous writer shared this: “The next time you find your courage tested to the limit, God wants to remind you that He is not just near, He is here. Your Heavenly Father is your protector and your Deliverer. Call upon Him in your hour of need, and be comforted. Whatever your challenge, whatever your trouble, God can handle it and will.” This doesn’t mean that God will always bring us out on the winning side. It does mean that whatever we face, He is with us. David confessed that when he went through the “valley of the shadow of death,” he would not fear, “for thou art with me, thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.” (Psalm 23:4) I have always been impressed that David wrote that God was with Him as he went through the “valley of the shadow of death,” not as he went around it or over it. We must know that we will face difficult times just like everybody else. But unlike everybody else those of us who are believers, know that our mighty God is present and will see us through it. I don’t know what you are going through right now. Whatever it is might be devastating, but you are not in it alone if you are trusting in God for your welfare. Verse 7 of Psalm 112 really struck a chord with me, and is the reason that I am writing this now. It says that a good man (person) “shall not be afraid of evil tidings: his heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord.” The Bible does not record that David wrote this particular psalm, but it does sound a lot like him. David knew a lot about “evil tidings.” A good part of his life was spent in dangerous situations. Just being a soldier and going to war a lot was very dangerous, but he had Saul after him for a long time, and later his son Absalom wanted to kill him as well. But he gives us an example of how we can trust God, even when times are hard. The person who is trusting in God has a heart fixed on God, not on the circumstances of life. The circumstances of life can sometimes feel like King Saul is after us, and we have nowhere to run. But we need to remember that the “King Saul’s” of life are not bigger than the Lord. He is bigger than whatever circumstances that we may face, whether they are health problems, family problems, workplace problems, or just plain personal worry. When I feel that my life is getting out of control, I l turn to Psalm 118:3-4 to find comfort: “What time I am afraid, I will trust in Thee. 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.” If I told you that I have this down perfectly, you would know that I was lying, but trusting in God has sure made my life a whole lot better than when I was not trusting in Him. Whatever you are facing right now -today – put your trust in the lord Jesus Christ. He paid a heavy price to give you His security. Believe it! Bro. Joe “O taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man that
trusteth in Him.” It would be impossible to enumerate the reasons that we know God is good. The main reason that we know this is that He sent Jesus to be our Savior. Through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, God revealed His word to the writers of the Bible. He has given us the privilege of prayer. These three facts should suffice to convince even the hardest of hearts to see God’s goodness. Psalm 34:8 shows us how to personally experience God’s goodness. The psalmist writes: “O taste and see that the Lord is good.” The first thing that we might ask is what does “taste” mean in this context? One example is that we do not know the taste of food until we try it for ourselves. We cannot experience the goodness of the Lord if we do not give Him a chance to show His goodness to us personally. The first step is to receive the gift of His Son into our hearts and lives. We cannot know what it is like to be a child of God until we become one. That’s why it is difficult to explain what it means to be a Christian to a person who has hardened his or her heart against Christ. I have actually dared people who have this hardness against Christ to ask Him into their hearts and lives. Not many have taken that dare. Furthermore, a person cannot appreciate the Bible until he or she comes to personally know the author. Peter wrote in 1 Peter 2:2-3: “As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby, if so be that ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious.” Have you tasted the goodness of the Lord through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ? You will not taste His goodness until you do know Him through a faith relationship with Jesus Christ. You will taste that goodness when, by God’s grace, you put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ and come to know Him personally. The psalmist wrote: “Blessed is the man (person) that trusteth in Him.” Trust, or faith, is the key that opens the door to tasting that the Lord is good. In Ephesians 2:8, Paul wrote: “For by grace through faith are you saved…” It is trust in Jesus that opens the door into His kingdom. “Blessed” is another word for “happy” in the Bible. The person who trusts in Jesus is happy. This does not mean that every circumstance of the Christian’s life is happy. Christians have unhappy moments just like everyone else. In John 15:11 Jesus said: “My joy I give you that your joy may be full.” The blessedness that we have in Jesus is not the temporary happiness that the things of the world bring, but it is a gift of joy from the Savior Himself. It is joy borne of relationship with Jesus and prayer. Psalm 37:5: “Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass.” We will never realize the great things that can come to pass in the Lord until we trust in Him. “O taste and see that the Lord is good…” That is good advice. Have you taken that advice?“Blessed is the (person) that trusteth in Him.” Have you experienced that joy and happiness that only Jesus can give? If you have, are you sharing it with other people who have not tasted that He is good? Bro. Joe “As you would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise…”
All of us are familiar with the “Golden Rule.” We have heard of it since we were children. Jesus did not call it “golden” but that is our name for it, and it is golden. The rule simply states that we are to treat other people the way we want to be treated. Some have turned it around and said: “Do unto others before they do unto you.” Sadly, this is probably how most really feel, and they are not all outside of the church. You have probably discovered, as I have, that this rule is easier to memorize than it is to keep. There is a treasure of wisdom in the Golden Rule. It expresses some things that we need to remember if we are to live productive Christian lives. Following are some reasons that we call it the Golden Rule: The Golden rule expresses the desire of people. “As you would…..” Everyone desires just and fair treatment. We have almost made a fetish of fair treatment in our society. There are multiple lawsuits because people think that they have been treated unfairly. We desire fair play and honest dealings for ourselves. There is no fun in being fleeced, and there is no good humor in being humiliated. When one buys an automobile, he or she wants to be sure that they are getting a fair deal. When cashiers count our change, we want to be sure that we get the right change back. When we are at a ball game, we pay close attention to whether or not our team is getting fair treatment by officials. What the Golden Rule tells us is that if we expect fair treatment for ourselves we should expect to treat others fairly. The Golden Rule expresses the deeds of people. “As you would that men should do to you…..” It is not as easy for us to do right by others as it is for us to desire right treatment from others. As we deal with people on a daily basis, what do we actually do? Are we as careful to do right by them as we expect that they do right by us? Are we as concerned that we have treated people fairly as we are that they have treated us fairly? Christian people should take the initiative in doing good for others. Jesus certainly took this initiative. Many people came to Jesus, but He also went to others. We need to think about our deeds. Do we take initiative to be good, gentle, generous and gracious to others, or do we run roughshod over people when we perceive that they have gotten in our way? Which treatment do you prefer? All of us should be busy doing for others what we desire that they do for us. It expresses the duty of people. “As you would that men should do to you also to them likewise…..” I think that this text requires us to do the right thing for others before they think of it or demand it. We should even do good for others before they do good for us. The presence of the Spirit of God in our lives demands that we treat other people fairly. Right treatment should be expected of us. The presence of God’s Spirit in our lives should demand that we be selfless instead of selfish. Practicing the Golden Rule should be an imperative in our lives. Practicing the Golden Rule in our relationships with people is our duty. We should demand nothing less of ourselves. I know that living by the Golden Rule is not easy. There is a part of us, even with Jesus in our lives, that wants to live for ourselves, but we cannot always do that and be authentically Christian in our daily lives. Think about the Golden Rule as you walk among people today. Bro. Joe “And the Lord, He it is that doth go before thee; He will be with thee, He will not fail thee, neither forsake thee; fear not neither be dismayed.”
Moses was preparing the Israelites to go to their new home in Canaan. God had already given the land to them but they would have to claim it. He knew that they would have to be prepared to go in and do what God wanted them to do in order to take the land. He wanted to build up their confidence in God before they undertook that task. The same thing that Moses told the Israelites is true for us as we make our way through the challenges of this life. He told them that the Lord was going before them. We have to realize that this is true in our lives as well. There is nothing that we face that God has not gone before us. Along the same line, David expressed about God in Psalm 132:1-5: “O Lord, thou hast searched me and known me. 2. Thou knowest my downsitting and my uprising; thou understandest my thought afar off. 3. Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways. 4. for there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O Lord, thou knowest it altogether. 5. Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me.” There was nothing that Israel, or David, would face that God would not know about. There is nothing that will happen in our lives that He does not know about. Whenever we get where we are going, God/Jesus has already been there, and He has surrounded us on the way. This is a Biblical fact that we can depend on. Not only will He be there when we get there, we will discover that He was with us while we are on the way. Moses promised the Israelites, “He will be with thee.” This is a great comfort as we face the contingencies of life. Sometimes we do not know which way to turn, but there is One who is with us at every moment who knows exactly which way we are to turn. I have had to make decisions in my life where God's presence was all-important. There are times when we will think He has led us to a dead-end, but with God there is no dead-end. He is with us and will not lead us to any place where there will not be a purpose, and in which He will not gives us His power to do it. Since He with us, we do not need to fear or be discouraged. This does not mean that we will never be afraid or discouraged, but that we do not need to be. He will remind us of that. Furthermore, Moses told them that, “He will not fail thee.” This does not mean that we will never fail. It does mean that when we do, we can know that God did not fail and that He will pick us up and lead us to whatever success we need. In fact, He allows us to fail sometime so that we will lean on Him a little more heavily and know that He will not fail us. God occasionally let Israel fail so that they would learn to depend on Him. With all of this, Moses told the Israelites that God would never forsake them. This is true in our lives as well. Understand that there are times in all Christian’s lives when it seems that God has forsaken them, but it is not so. It is at these times that we realize He has not forsaken us, but that we have moved away from Him. Any time we feel that God has forsaken us; we need to check our prayer lives, because if someone has moved it is not God. Even in our most difficult times we can discover that God has not forsaken us. Because of all of the above, Moses told the Israelites that they should not be afraid or dismayed. After all, it is fear that often makes us feel dismayed. When we are dismayed, we are in despair. This is a place that we do not have to be. We will occasionally go there, but we never need to stay there. Read this and believe it: Everything that Moses told Israel is true for us as well, so we can take heart and live joyful lives. Bro. Joe ”Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice.”
Psalm 51 is David’s prayer of confession after his sin with Bathsheba. He was depressed and optimism seemed to be far from his mind, but in verse 8 he asked that, though he had sinned, he might once more “hear joy and gladness.” There is a deep desire in the human heart to be happy and feel optimistic about the future. This is a tall order today in the light of the death of 26 children and adults in Newtown, Connecticut. This senseless violence against the most innocent among us just seems impossible. Thinking of the death of those children and the grief of the parents, grandparents, and other family members makes it difficult for us to “hear joy and gladness.” It has consumed all of the news on television. It has been difficult to hear about anything but the deaths in Newtown. We have heard other news from time to time, but it does not encourage optimism either. This is a difficult time to be optimistic if we think that our only hope is in this world. As paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 15:19: "If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable." Those of us who believe in Jesus and hold the Christian faith in our hearts know that hope is not found in this world but in the Lord. A.W. Tozer wrote: “Keep your feet on the ground, but let your heart soar as high as it will. Refuse to be average or to surrender to the chill of your spiritual environment.” We cannot let the events of this world steal from us the optimism that is ours in Jesus. Jesus anticipated that we would face difficult times and that our optimism would be tested when he said: “Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30) In these sad and pessimistic times we have one to whom we can flee and seek His solace. There are people who tell us that this is weakness on our part, but to those of us who believe, it is one of our greatest strengths. What do those people do who do not realize that they have an eternal and almighty God who loves them and wants to bring them solace? This does not mean that we will not grieve over the sad things that happen in this world. Christians grieve like everyone else, but Paul reminded the Christians at Thessalonica that they were to “sorrow not as those who have no hope.” Our hope is not in this world but in the Lord, who is ultimately in control of things. We can be optimistic because we do not blame God when bad things happen in this world. Why would we make Him our enemy, when we need Him most as our friend? We just have to realize that we live in a fallen world and that bad things happen because of it. There have been problems in the world since the fall of Adam and Eve and that will not change just because we want it to. We just have to believe that God is with the people all over the world who are grieving. I have had things happen in my own life that were difficult for me to understand, but I have trusted God through them. I could not let the bad things that happened keep me from continuing to put my faith in Jesus, and to trust that He would see me through them. He will see us through this time as well. There is no need for us to lose our optimism and give in to a spirit killing pessimism. One Christian writer related that “to be a pessimistic Christian is a contradiction in terms.” He went on to write that “even the most devout Christians fall prey to fear, doubt and discouragement.” This is true, but we need to remember that David wrote in Psalm 23:2a: “He restores my soul…”He restores us as we come to Him in faith and trust. This is what we need to do now and not give in to the pessimism that the devil wants for us. I’m not telling you that we need to "keep our chins up." I’m telling you that we need to keep our faith up. Believe it! Bro. Joe “If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and come unto him, and we will come unto Him, and make our abode with Him.”
“Love” is a word that is used a lot in the Bible. It is used in reference to our love for each other, and is always noted as important. It is also noted that, against all odds, the Lord loves us. It is important that we love the Lord in return. If He loved us enough to send His Son to die as a sacrifice for our sins, we owe it to Him to love Him. John 14:23 gives us some insight into loving the Lord. It points out to us that to love the Lord is paramount. Jesus said, “If a man (anyone) loves me…” “If” presupposes that not everyone will love the Lord. We might even say that the majority of the people in the world do not love God, because they do not know Him through Jesus. Love reaches its supreme good when it is given to the Lord Jesus Christ. It is important that we love our parents, our spouses, our brothers and sisters and people in our churches. In fact, we are told to love everyone. I do not think that we will love people as we should until we really love the Lord and are thankful for all the blessings that He has brought into our lives. Jerome O. Williams wrote that love for the Lord is “love’s highest height.” We need to frequently check our love quotient. Do we love the Lord as we should? Jesus asked Peter in John 21, “Do you love me more than these?” Some argue over what Jesus meant by “these,” but we can never argue over the fact of whether or not we should love Jesus. We know what “these” means in our lives, and it would be a good idea for us to occasionally ask ourselves if we love Jesus more than “these.” Jesus pointed out that love for the lord is obedient: “If a man love me, he will keep my words.” Those who love the Lord supremely will certainly seek to know and to do His will on a daily basis. They will certainly seek to keep the commandments of Jesus, the greatest of which is love. They will seek to worship Him when they are alone and will want to worship Him publicly in fellowship with other Christians. Those who love the Lord will seek to win others to Him. They will want to minister to their fellow human beings in times of great need in their lives. All of these, and more, are signs of obedient love. We should remind ourselves that Jesus was obedient in His love for us when He died on the cross to save us from sin. The most wonderful fact is that the Lord returns our love: “My Father will love him…”This does not mean that the Father does not love us already. John 3:16 has already told us that He loves the world so much that ”He gave His only begotten Son.” Among other things, I think this means that we will realize the love the Father has for us when we love the Son. Sadly, there are millions of people who do not know that the Father loves them. If we love Jesus and are obedient in that love, surely we will know that He loves us supremely. The fact is that, “We love (God) because He first loved us.” How can we not respond to Him in love? You can really express your love for Him if you will turn your life over to Him by putting your faith in Him. Jesus said that the first commandment is to “love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbor as thyself.” That pretty well covers it doesn’t it? Bro. Joe “A fool gives full vent to his anger, but a wise man holds it in check.” HCSB
Is anger a sin? It depends on what you mean when you ask the question. If you mean is it a sin to get angry, then your answer is no. If you mean is it a sin to harbor anger and keep it in until it becomes malice, then your answer is yes. Do you think that Jesus, who never sinned, was not angry when He cleansed the temple, or when He called the Pharisees a bunch of snakes and vipers? Ephesians 4:26-27 gives the answer: “Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath: neither give place to the devil.” If a person tells you that he or she never gets angry, you need to ask him or her if they are zombies. I think that it is impossible not to get angry about some things. If one never gets angry, he or she has no feelings. The first emotion that we express when we are born is anger. How many times have you heard of a baby coming from the womb laughing? They aren’t laughing, and they aren’t laughing because they have been removed from that nice warm, safe environment in their mother’s womb, where they were constantly fed to a lot of light and noise. On top of that, they are whacked on the bottom to get their breathing started. It’s like they are saying, “How dare you take me from this warm environment and then whack me on the bottom?” Does this mean, then, that anger is a good thing? It is a good thing if it helps us to give expression to the frustrations, etc. of this life. I have not read one humorous article about the fellow who killed those children and teachers in Connecticut. I have not read one article that agreed that he needed to take his anger to that level. I have read plenty of articles in which the authors were angry – and they should have been. When I read about our service men and women being killed and maimed in Afghanistan by people who are supposed to be our friends, I get angry, and I think you do too. I can think of any number of things that I get angry about and you can too. We are not sinning when we get angry about such things. But the point is to get angry, express it to either ourselves or someone else, and get over it. Let’s go back to Ephesians 4:26-27, which reminds us that we can be angry and not sin. Then it reminds us that we are not to let the “sun go down on our wrath.” This is Paul’s way of saying “get over it.” Further, it reminds us that when we do let the sun go down our wrath we are giving “place to the devil.” Anger is a natural emotion, but the devil, who “walks about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour,”encourages you to take that anger into your heart and let it control your thinking. The devil wants to use your anger to destroy you by turning it into malice. The American Century Dictionary defines malice as: “desire to harm or cause difficulty to others; ill will…harmful intent.” This is where we need to check our anger quotient. Is your anger causing you to have Ill will towards someone? Is your anger causing you to want to “harm or cause difficulty” to others? Has your anger reduced you to have “harmful intent“ toward someone? If so, it has become sin and you are giving place to the devil. I have never heard anyone say, “Gosh, I hope I am considered to be a fool by other people.” According to Proverbs 29:11, my inspiration for this article:“A fool gives full vent to his (or her) anger, but a wise man (or woman) holds it in check.” Whatever you are angry about or whoever you are angry at, GET OVER IT! That is what the Bible tells you to do. I think you will agree that if the world heeded the Bible on this score, we would have a better world. Make your world better and do not give “full vent” to your anger. Bro. Joe “And I say unto thee, that thou art Simon Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”
A lot of people have given up on the church. There are many reasons why this is so, and some of them might be valid if the church was just a human institution. We need to take another look at “church” and see why it is important. In the text above Jesus asked His disciples who they thought He was. Peter answered, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus told Peter that the heavenly Father gave him the answer. Then he made this great declaration concerning His church:“Upon this rock I will build my church.” This verse gives us the answer to “what is the church?” It is Christ’s church! He said “I will build my church.” Christ’s church is not a building, it is not a club, it is not merely an organization. Christ’s church is a living body – an organism made up of the people of God. We are in the habit of referring to the church we attend as “our church.” That is understandable in a way, but if it is indeed ours, it is not what Christ intended it to be. The church does not belong to us, it belongs to Jesus. Jesus gave His life for His church: “Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to feed the church of God, whichHe has purchased with His own blood.” In Acts 2, on the Day of Pentecost, Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to His church. He has promised to never leave or forsake His church. It is the only institution, if that is the right word, that Jesus is using to fulfill His kingdom’s work. There are a lot of good organizations doing good work in this world, but they cannot take the place of Christ’s church. Remember Jesus said, “I will build MY church.” Christ’s church is comprised of imperfect human beings. Jesus said, “Thou art Peter and upon this rock I will build my church.” Jesus was referring to Peter’s profession of faith. Christ’s church is built upon the faith of imperfect people like Peter and like you and me. When I was a young pastor, I wanted to find the perfect church, where I would be a perfect fit. But the Lord convinced me that if I found the perfect church I could not join it, because if I joined it, it would not be perfect anymore. As imperfect as we are, we are His church. As already written, Christ’s church is built upon our faith. It is also built upon our service, our dedication, our prayers, our willingness to witness and to be the arms, legs and mouths of Jesus. The churches to which we belong will be as effective as we allow the Holy Spirit to use us to make it. The church is not ours, but it is comprised of us. (I know, bad grammar.) Thank God, it is not us alone. Jesus is present with us and His Spirit urges us on, but He calls us to His work and if we don’t get it done, it will either not get done, or He will use someone else to get it done. Jesus said:“and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it (His church).” Make no mistake, local churches do die, because they become clubs where people meet with their friends, not organisms, where the people of God are in fellowship (partnership) with each other. But the church as the “body of Christ” cannot be destroyed. If Christ’s church could be killed, the devil would have killed it a long time ago. The church cannot be destroyed because it belongs to Jesus Christ, who defeated death, hell and the grave to establish it. Whatever church you are in, it is Christ’s church. Keep this in mind as you conduct His church’s business. Bro. Joe “And on the Sabbath we went out of the city by a riverside, where prayer was wont to be made: and we sat down and spake unto the women who were there. 14. And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, which worshipped God, heard us: whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul. 15. And when she was baptized, and her household, she besought us saying, if you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come unto my house; and abide there. And she constrained us.”
The incident mentioned in the text above took place at Philippi during Paul’s second missionary journey. He and Silas encountered a group of women who were having a prayer meeting beside a river, where we are introduced to Lydia, a great woman of God. The text reveals some things about her that we need to know and to emulate. The first thing is that she worshipped God. Lydia was from Thyatira and, evidently, had a business in Philippi as well. Being a seller of purple cloth from Thyatira, she was probably a busy woman, but she took time to observe the Sabbath and to attend a prayer meeting. This is a mark of reverence for the Lord that we should all seek. She was probably a wealthy woman, since she had a house at Philippi to which she invited Paul, Silas and their party. Lydia was not at the river by herself because other women were there with her. She not only wanted to worship God, she wanted to worship Him in fellowship with other people. We need to worship God when we are alone, but we should also crave worship with other believers. The second thing is that Lydia was open to the word of God. Notice that the text said “whose heart the Lord opened.” She made herself available to the Lord and was open to learn about Him. The text tells us that Lydia listened attentively to the word of God about Jesus while Paul spoke about Him. While she listened, the Lord opened her heart and she was converted to Christ. The Lord opened her heart because she was interested in and receptive to the word of God. We know that the Lord will not force Himself into our lives. He could if He wanted to, but He does not. He responds to our response. I think that while Paul spoke, the Holy Spirit was speaking to Lydia’s heart. Her heart was open and she responded. How open are you to the word of God, not just to be saved, but to grow in your faith? Every time we read the Bible, or hear it preached, we should be open to whatever truth God has for us there. Too often we see with our eyes and hear with our ears, but our hearts are not open to the truth that we see and hear. The word needs to find its way into our hearts, minds and souls. What happened to Lydia should happen to us each time that we break open the word of God, or whenever we hear it preached or taught. The Bible has a message for the heart and begins its work in our lives from there. Third, Lydia became involved in the work of God. This is ultimately the point in worshipping God and being open to His word. When we take it all to heart, we want to serve the Lord as Lydia did. In verse 15, Lydia invited Paul and Silas to stay at her house – which they did. In verse 40, after the incident with the Philippian jailor, we are told that they “entered the house of Lydia when they had seen the brethren, they comforted them and departed." A church was meeting at Lydia’s house in Philippi. She was not only saved, she also became involved in the work. Many church members today need to follow her example. We do not know a lot about Lydia, but what we know lets us know that she was a great woman of God and that she made difference in Philippi, and I’m sure in Thyatira also. We need to follow her example. Bro. Joe |
AuthorDr. Joe Beauchamp is the author of this blog and website. Categories
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