“Blessed is the man who walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. 2. But his delight is in the law of the Lord: and in His law doth he meditate day and night. 3. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.”
Our title suggests to you that you have a happy new year. We are not guaranteed a happy new year, and whether it is happy or not will depend on us. The new year is a blank page on which we will write each day. We need to be careful what we write on that page, because the quality of the year will be written on those pages. The first three verses of the first psalm can guide your hand as you write on this blank page. If you want this New Year to be a happy one, you would be wise to be careful about who influences you. The psalmist said that a happy person is the person who “walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.” He could have written this specifically for us today. There is a lot of ungodly counsel out there. People hear what I call “junk” on their TV sets all of the time. Do not take the counsel of the people who live only for this world, but lean on Jesus, who will lead you in the right direction. This is what the psalmist meant when he wrote, “nor standeth in the way of sinners.” If you let the wrong thinking influence you, you will be just like the rest of the world. Satan loves to tempt us to live just like everybody else. It’s like the proverbial joke about sheep following one another off of a cliff. Don’t be a sheep that will follow every whim and fancy of this world. The psalmist also gave good advice about where we should sit, “Nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.” Do not listen to those people who will discourage you about living the Christian life. Do not listen to those people who will keep you away from the word of God by calling it a myth. Do not listen to those people who hate everything that is good and want to influence you to do the same. If you want this New Year to be a happy one, you should delight in the right things. There are a lot of delightful things that might be fun, but will lead us in the wrong direction. The psalmist delighted in the “law of the Lord.” “The law” that he wrote about here is the scripture that he had at the time. Do you delight in the word of God?This does not mean that it will always be entertaining, nor does it mean that it will always be fun to read. In my own personal Bible reading, I recently read through Judges. If you know anything about Judges, you know that it records a bleak period in the lives of the people of God. It was not a fun read, but I delighted in it, because it made me realize that I can make my own life as bleak as the Jews of that period if I delight in the wrong things. The psalmist added, “And in His law doth he meditate day and night.” This does not mean that the happy person spends all of his or her time reading the Bible. It means that we take what we have learned and keep it in our hearts and minds. The Bible will help us to remember to delight in the right things. If you want this New Year to be a happy one, you will “be like a tree planted by the rivers of water…” The tree that is planted by “rivers of water” has a constant supply of nourishment; therefore it stays strong and productive. The tree will produce good fruit every year. If we want our lives to be fruitful, we will stay close to the Lord in prayer and stay close to His word on a daily basis. This will give us a constant supply of spiritual nourishment and make our lives more productive like the tree that is “planted by the rivers of water.” The point is that verses one and two will result in verse three. If we keep our lives on the right track, we will have constant spiritual nourishment and we will have victory in the Lord. As you live through this New Year, keep Psalm 1:1-3 in mind. Bro. Joe IThere will be a new post on Thursday, January 1.)
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“Three Enemies of the Spirit” Galatians 5:25-26
“If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk (live) in the Spirit. 26 .Let us not be desirous of vainglory, provoking one another, envying one another.” The issue under question in this verse is about living in the Spirit and not according to the dictates of the flesh. In Galatians 5:16-17 Paul wrote about the war that goes on within us: “This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. 17. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that you cannot do the things that you would.” You are probably aware of the struggle that all of us have with the desires of the flesh and the holy urgings of the Spirit. You are also probably aware of the three things given in this text that I am calling, “Three Enemies of the Spirit.” These three things almost seem natural to us and can mute our witness and ruin our fellowship with other Christians. The admonition in verse 25 was, “If we live by the Spirit, let us walk (live) in the Spirit.” Verse 26 tells us what we will need to avoid if we plan to effectively live in the Spirit. First, we are to “not be desirous of vainglory.” This means that we are not to be conceited. People who are conceited have an overblown view of themselves. The Spirit leads us to humility instead of conceit, but the flesh desires to have first place and to be superior. Conceit is a destroyer of fellowship within the church. Some people feel that they are in control and that they should have the full authority as to what goes on in the church. They refer to the church as “their church.” We need to be aware of the tendency toward conceit within ourselves. The temptation to focus on self is powerful. We need to be aware of this tendency and remember that we are not led to conceit by the Spirit. Our desire as Christians should be to be controlled by the Spirit instead of by the flesh. The tendency to focus on ourselves and our own authority is subtle and is a great tool of Satan. Second, we are told to avoid “provoking one another.” There are several Greek words in the New Testament that are translated as “provoke.” The word that is translated in this verse is “prokaleo.” What it means is “to call forth, as to a contest, hence to stir up what is evil in another.” (Vines Dictionary of New Testament Words) Basically, what this means is to look for a fuss. It is easy to get into a fuss with somebody, all we have to do is choose an issue that we know will cause a fuss and go to it. This is not done under the leadership of the Holy Spirit, but is an action of the flesh. Sometimes there are people that we just have a difficult time with and we want to fuss with them. We need to see this as a temptation to sin and that it will only cause confusion. This obviously happens frequently in churches, and causes the whole church to suffer. It is also a poor witness to the community. Churches that are growing are churches that avoid silly quarrels. It is one thing to discuss an issue and disagree, it is quite another to provoke an argument because of that disagreement. Satan will have us provoking one another if we are not careful. Disagreement among Christians is a natural thing, provocation is a sinful thing. Watch those tendencies within yourself! Third, we are told to avoid “envying one another.” One of the main tenets of the gospel is that we love one another. Envy and love are at opposite ends of the scale. Envy can cause us to be conceited, focused too much on self, and can cause us to provoke someone else. When we envy someone we are admitting that we want what they have. If they have a spiritual gift that we do not have, we want that gift for ourselves. We forget that God gives us different gifts of the Spirit in order to carry on the work of His church. Envy is always of the flesh and is never of the Spirit. The Spirit will not lead us to envy other people. The Spirit will lead us to focus on our own gifts and do the best that we can using those gifts. We need to be aware of these enemies of the Spirit and avoid them at all costs. Bro. Joe “Our soul waits for the Lord: He is our help and our shield.”
We citizens of the USA are not known for our great patience. All you have to do is drive for a few miles on Interstate 75 and you will get an illustration of our impatience. Everybody seems to be in a great hurry to get God only knows where. I’m not very big on waiting myself. My family gets a lot of laughs on daddy and granddaddy with my “beat the crowd” mentality when we go out to eat. But one lesson I have learned, however, is to be patient with God and wait on Him. There is no “beating the crowd” with Him. If you serve God, you serve at His timing because. After all, He is God. The first thing that might answer the title question is that He is God and we really have to wait on Him, but the Bible tells us in various places of advantages of waiting on the Lord. You probably already know what Isaiah 40:31 tells us about waiting on the Lord. Here it is, “But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength.” I have found this to be true in my own life and ministry. Any time that I have gotten ahead of God, I have paid a price for it. The Lord Jesus will let us get out on our own sometimes, but He does this to show what we can do in the flesh – which isn’t a whole lot. Psalm 27:14 has the answer as to how our strength is renewed: “Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart: wait, I say, on the Lord.” It is true that God wants to use our time, talents and treasures, but we must use them in His strength, and to have that we have wait on Him. Psalm 37:7 speaks to the importance of waiting on God: “Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him: fret not thyself.” Waiting on God brings rest and serenity into our lives. In fact, Jesus made a statement that I frequently quote in speaking and writing from Matthew 11:30, “Come unto me all you that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest.” This does not mean that we come to Jesus and wait on Him that we can sit down and do nothing. The rest that He gives us is rest in our hearts and minds. What I have learned, but not yet as good as I would like, is that Jesus meant what He said in that verse and if I turn my worries over to Him, He will lead me through the issue if He doesn’t lead me around it. You will find the same to be true in your life. It is certain that we do not live in a peaceful and quiet world, but we do have a Savior that will help us to be peaceful and quiet. Psalm 40:1-2 is another passage from Psalms that reveals to us why we should wait on the Lord: “I waited patiently for the Lord; and He heard my prayer and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings.” Waiting on the Lord brings stability in our lives. I love the word picture that is given by, “He set my feet on a rock.” We know that this is not literal, but it means that when we wait on the Lord, we are standing on solid ground. The hymn says it this way, “On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand.” When we try to find stability in the world, we discover that stability is hard to come by there. There is too much “sinking sand” in the world. As soon as one problem is solved, another one arises. I have found in my life that I can handle these “sinking sands” because I stand on the solid rock. We can use David himself as an example of this. As long as David depended on the strength and wisdom of God, His life went smoothly. That does not mean that David never had problems then, but that he stood firmer in his life and in his kingship. When David committed adultery, had Uriah killed and tried to lie his way out of it, David’s life was never the same. He was forgiven and reestablished himself on the “solid rock,” but he definitely lived to regret his decision not to stand on the rock. I hope that I have shown you why you should wait on the Lord, and that you will commit yourself to do it. Bro. Joe “And she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling clothes, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.” A paradox is a seeming contradiction. It is something that is true, yet defies human reason. Christmas certainly presents us with paradoxes, for the Son of God coming to earth to live as a human being defies human reason. Take a look at three Christmas paradoxes.
Sanctuary in a Stable If the Son of God should come to earth, surely He would be born in a mansion or a palace. After all, there should be nothing but the best offered to the Lord of the universe. This was not what happened. His parents could not find a room in the inn; therefore, He was born in a stable. The stable became a sanctuary for the “word made flesh.” This is a paradox, but it should not seem strange to those of us who read and believe the Bible and serve God daily. Haven’t you discovered that God is full of surprises? What is the significance of this “sanctuary in a stable”? Christ became flesh for all people. In His birth, Christ identified with the worlds lowest as well as with the worlds highest. His birth in a stable tells us that no one is beneath, or beyond, His saving grace. The modest family to which Christ was born tells us the same thing, as did the modest lifestyle that He lived as an adult. Christ identifies with all people, not just the rich and famous. No level of society is beneath, or beyond, His reach and His love. You have heard that “the ground is level at the foot of the cross.” We can add to that “the ground is level at the foot of the manger.” Majesty in a Manger A manger is an animal’s feeding trough. God incarnate had a feeding trough for a cradle. Jesus hallowed a simple feeding trough. The King of kings was “wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a manger.” This is really what we call a paradox. What is the significance of “majesty in a manger”? The King of kings does not rule in human majesty and power; He rules in love and humility. This was illustrated for us in John 13. The King of kings, who was “laid in a manger,” washed His disciple’s feet. This really surprised them. In fact, Peter did not want Jesus to wash his feet, but Jesus told Peter that if He did not wash his feet, He would have no part with Him. What was true of the King of kings is also supposed to be true of His subjects. In John 13:13-14, Jesus told His disciples: “You call me master and Lord: and you say well; for so I am. If I then your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; you also ought to wash one another’s feet.” The disciples had visions of ruling and reigning with the Messiah, but He told them to “wash one another’s feet.” They, and all believers, will one day rule with the King of kings, but all of us must go by way of “majesty in a manger,” not by way of worldly power, fame and fortune. The Consequences of the Child’s Birth This child, born in such lowly circumstances, is the Savior of the world. Joseph was told in Matthew 1:21: “Thou shalt call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins.” This tiny baby would one day break the bonds of sin and death and save all of those who would come to Him by faith. This is what we call a paradox. The significance of this paradox is that as a consequence of Christ’s lowly birth, humble life, excruciating crucifixion and magnificent resurrection, all who come to Him by faith are saved and enabled to live the abundant life here, and to live with Him in heaven forever. God’s paradoxes are our hope. As you celebrate Christmas, thank Jesus for His “sanctuary in a stable,” His “majesty in a manger” and for the consequences of His birth. Bro. Joe (Note: There will be a new post on Thursday evening, December 25. Have a merry Christmas.) “Walk in wisdom toward them that are without, redeeming the time. 6. Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer every man.”
I guess that it would be easy to write about how to be a “dumb” Christian. I’m sure that I could find plenty of material in the Bible that would give examples of "dumb" Christians. But I prefer to look at the positive side and write about a “smart Christian.” Colossians 4:5-6 gives some good advice on how to live smartly for Christ. A smart Christian will attempt to be a good example to people who are outside of the Christian faith and the church. Paul advised the Colossian Christians to “walk in wisdom toward them that are without.” Being the independent minded people that we are, we like to think that it is no one else’s business what we do. I guess this would be true in a sense. We do not want to try to please people all of the time. But this is not what Paul meant. If we are to “walk in wisdom toward them that are without,” we need to set a good example. At the risk of appearing to be smug and self-righteous, I think that we should be Christ like in our lifestyles and attitudes. We need to be careful what we say and do around people who do not know Christ. The only part of Christ they will see before putting their faith in Him is what they see in us. This is an awesome responsibility, but it is a responsibility. We need to be more careful about this in our church relationships as well. No one is impressed with a negative, mean-spirited, troublemaking person. No one is impressed with a Christian that has one life at church and another in public. Be careful about your witness before the world. A smart Christian will “redeem the time.” The modern translation of this is “make the best use of time.” How we use our time is how we live our lives. What we give the most time to will determine the quality of our Christian lives. How can we make the best use of our time? I can only give you my opinion as to how this can be done, but I hope that you will not dismiss it. We need to set aside a definite time each day to read and study the Bible. If we do not pay attention to the Bible, we will not pay attention to how we live. We get our “marching orders” from the Bible. We grow in our faith through reading and studying the Bible. You have probably already guessed that prayer would be a part of our making the best of our time. We need to set aside a time each day for concentrated prayer. But prayer is not just something that we always do at a certain time in a certain place. That is good, but we can pray whenever we wish, and our days should be filled with what I call “little prayers.” By this I mean that we pray as we encounter people and circumstances in our daily lives. We can put up quick prayers on behalf of others or for guidance in our lives. Of course church fellowship plays a part in this as well, but we do not spend as much time at church as we do at home, work or school. We should make the best use of our time by being a good witness to the people that we encounter daily. A smart Christian will “let (his or her) speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer every man.” This means that we should be careful how we talk around other people, and we should be careful what we say to other people. We need to speak with grace, which means that we will speak honestly to people. It also means that we will speak kindly to people. Just remember that sometimes kindness can be negative as well as positive. We just need to be extra careful how we give negative input. What we say should be tasteful and interesting, or as Paul wrote: “seasoned with salt.” Overall this means that we should be as careful of what we say as we are to what we do. Put these two verses down in your mind and heart and be a “smart Christian.” Bro. Joe “But I say unto you which hear, Love your enemies, do good to them that hate you, 28. Bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you.”
Jesus warned His disciples that the world would hate them because the world hated Him. This meant that they would have enemies. Jesus’ promise to His disciples applies to us too, as we can see today. This means that we will have enemies. I think that some of the things that are being said against Christians who take a stand today proves this. But Jesus did not make it easy. He guaranteed that we would have enemies, but that we cannot claim them as enemies. Why, because in our text, Jesus told His disciples, and us, what they/we should do about our enemies. Jesus said, “But I say unto you love your enemies.” The Greek word used here is Agapate (ah-gah-patey) It is from the root word, agape, which is the same word used for love in John 3:16. This means that we are to love our enemies as God loves them. (Hey, I didn’t say it would be easy.) God loves our enemies as well as He loves us. Agape love is unconditional love. One of the conditions that we normally put on loving people is that they return our love. This is not how God loves us; therefore, that is not how we are supposed to love others. Jesus did not say that we could not disagree with our enemies. Jesus certainly had disagreements with those who chose to be His enemies. At one point Jesus called his greatest detractors, scribes and Pharisees, a bunch of snakes. That didn’t mean that He didn’t love them, and He proved it by dying on the cross for their sins as well as for all others. Jesus said, “But I say unto you….do good to them that hate you.” Wait a minute, does Jesus mean that we are not only to love our enemies but to actually do good for them? You read it right. That is exactly what Jesus said and what He did. What we naturally do when someone expresses hatred for us is to return the hatred to them. For example, if we take Jesus at His word, if someone tells us that they hate us, and act on that hate, we will go home, bake them a cake and take it to them. Would this be difficult to do? In a word - yes. As I write this, I am thinking about how I would react if someone told me today that they hate me. Well, since I just read this, and made a suggestion of what to do, I might bake them a cake – or get Mary to do it. But on an ordinary day when I had not read this text, and written about it, I would struggle as to how to react to this avowed hatred. I imagine that you would too. However, we need to take Jesus seriously on this point, because there is so much hatred in the world today. Churches are not exempt from this either. If we want to be the witnesses that we should be to our lost world, we will “love our enemies and do good to them that hate us.” Jesus said, “Bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you.” This means that we should praise those who curse us. We would need to say something good about them in return for what they said bad about us. I don’t see a lot of this, even among Christian people. If we did as Jesus commanded here, we would not have nearly as many church fusses as we do. (We might have more funerals, because a lot of people might die of surprise if this happened frequently. J) Jesus also said that we should “Pray for them which despitefully use (us).” I know the wisdom of this from personal experience. Whenever I have had people choose to be my enemies, I put them at the top of my prayer list and pray for them every day. It is very difficult to hate someone that you pray for every day. If you are having a difficult time with someone at your work, or at your church, pray for them every day. It is important that we take Jesus seriously about loving our enemies, doing good for them, blessing them and praying for them. The world needs to see God’s kind of love being practiced by us. This would be real Christ like behavior, and it would be a Christ like witness. Bro. Joe “The Lord is righteous in all His ways, and holy in all His works. 18. The Lord is near unto all them that call upon Him, to all that call upon Him in truth. 19. He will fulfill the desire of them that fear Him: He also will hear their cry and save them. 20. The Lord preserves all them that love Him: but all the wicked will He destroy. 21. My mouth shall speak the praise of the Lord: and let all flesh bless His holy name forever and forever.”
From all that I read and hear today, most people have a view of God that is reflected in verse 20: “but all the wicked He will destroy.” It appears to me that in the minds of a lot of people, the God of the Bible is terrible, so terrible that they do not believe in Him. But this is not the complete picture of the Lord of the Bible. People who read the Bible, believe it, and take it seriously, know that this negative view of God is not the complete picture. It appears that what most people want in their god is for him to not care what they do. This is not the case. I will certainly not deny that the wrath of God is real, but God’s wrath is only part of the picture. Look at the positive view of God that David reflected in Psalm 145:17-21. David writes about the righteousness and holiness of God: “The Lord is righteous in all His ways, and holy in all His works.” God is perfectly righteous and perfectly holy. He is righteous in every way, or “in all His ways.” He is holy in everything that He does, or “holy in all His works.” Throughout the Bible we see God’s righteous ways and His holy works. When God delivered Israel from Egypt, He demanded righteousness of them, and all that He did for them was holy, such as, leading them with a “pillar of cloud” by day, and a “pillar of fire by night.” This is a foretaste of the leadership of the Holy Spirit in our lives. But the ultimate righteous way and holy work is the coming of Jesus into the world to offer salvation to all who would believe. When one accepts Jesus by faith, he or she does it with the understanding that God’s way is the way of righteousness and that His work is the work of holiness. One has to accept God as He is, not as he or she wishes Him to be. David wrote about the nearness of God: “The Lord is near unto all them that call upon Him, to all that call upon Him in truth.” God is always present in every part of the world, but His nearness is realized by those who pray in truth. This means that God is near to people who are willing to confess their sins and to walk in His way. I wish that I could promise that God’s nearness can be experienced by everyone, but that is not what the Bible teaches. The first step of realizing God’s closeness today is to receive Jesus by faith and live daily in light of that faith relationship. This relationship with Jesus will by no means make anyone perfect, but it will mean that they have been forgiven, and that God’s nearness is guaranteed. Jesus will not take anything of value away from your life, and will bring more positive things into your life. Jesus has promised that He will never leave nor forsake you, and He gives you the Holy Spirit as a guarantee of that. If you are not experiencing the nearness of God, run to Jesus and ask Him to forgive you and to come into your life and save you forever. David wrote about the faithfulness of God to answer our prayers: “He will fulfill the desire of them that fear Him: He also will hear their cry and will save them.” God is always willing to fulfill the honest desires of His people. This does not mean that God will give us everything that we desire. What He wants is for our desires for our lives to be His desires for our lives. All of the holy works of God, all of His righteous ways, and the reality of His nearness come to bear in our lives and change us into new people with new desires. God is ever present to hear and to answer our prayers. When we pray we open ourselves up to the changes that God wants to make in our lives. When we pray we can be assured that God hears us and that He will answer our prayers. The answer that He gives will always be the right answer and will lead us in the right direction. Put your faith in the God who loves you, saves you, is near you and will answer your prayers. Bro. Joe “I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both you and your seed may live. 20. That you may love the Lord your God, and that you may obey His voice, and that you may cleave unto Him: for He is your life, and the length of your days: that you may dwell in the land which the Lord swore unto your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.”
Deuteronomy is Moses’ summary of Israel’s journey from Egypt and his final advice for them before they go into Canaan. In verse 19, Moses gave them a challenge that “I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both you and your seed may live.” In other words, it will make a difference how you live when you enter Canaan. To choose death, they could just ignore the laws that God had revealed to Moses. To choose life, they could pay attention to what God wanted of them. In verse 20, Moses summarized what God would expect of them if they chose life. The first expectation was that “you may love the Lord your God.” This is always where service to God begins. When Jesus was asked what the first and greatest commandment was, His answer was: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and greatest commandment.” (Matthew 22:37-38) Why wouldn’t they love God after all that He had done for them? God delivered them from Egypt. He provided food for them each day when He provided manna for them, and made quail available to them. He led them through their journey with a “pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night.” Because of all of this, and more, Israel was told that to choose life was to first love God. The same is true for us. I guess many people have come to God out of the dread of His wrath, but they should love Him for delivering them from wrath. We should love God because He first loved us. We should love God because He loved us enough to give His Son as a sacrifice for our sins. Do you love God? The second expectation was that “you may obey His voice.” Love and obedience go together. If we love God, we will obey Him. As we learn from the Bible, Israel did not always obey God, and it eventually led to their captivity in Assyria and Babylon. The first commandment was: “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.” (Exodus 20:3) They were warned against worshiping, Baal, the main god of the people of Canaan. They simply ignored the first commandment and eventually went into captivity. God calls us to obey Him as well. We do not have to contend with Baal, but we do have to contend with all of the temptations of the worship of Baal. One example of this, among many other examples, is that the worship of Baal allowed them to obey their natural sexual, worldly urges. We don’t have Baal, but we surely have all of those temptations. It is not always easy to obey God. You would know that I was lying if I told you that I have always obeyed God. I am telling you the truth when I tell you that God has always shown me the results of disobeying Him. The people of God, whether ancient Israel or people of today are called upon to obey God. He expects us to obey Him. The third expectation was: “that you may cleave unto Him.” Our word for “cleave” is “cling.” We are to cling to God as we would cling to a buoy if we were drowning. The truth is that we are going to cling to something or someone. Some people cling to drugs or alcohol. Some people cling to their sexual proclivities. Some people cling to political systems and expect them to bring fulfillment. All of these, and any other thing that we cling to, will not bring salvation and joy into our lives. David found that out when he committed adultery with Bathsheba. Peter found that out when he denied the Lord. You need to pause here and ask yourself, and Jesus, what you are really clinging to. If it is not the Lord, then you need to let go of whatever else it is that you are clinging to and cling to Him. Moses pointed out the importance of this when he wrote, “For He is your life.” Jesus said, “I am the way the truth and the life.” (John 14:6) Cling to Jesus for He is life. Do you love God? Do you obey God? Do you cling to God? Your answer is very important! Bro. Joe “Peace be to the brethren, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 24. Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. Amen.”
Our text comprises the last two verses in Paul’s letter to the Ephesian church. It is Paul’s closing blessing, for lack of a better word, upon Ephesian believers. Today, we would say that he “pulled out all of the stops” in closing the letter. He used four of the most indispensable words in the Bible – peace, love, faith and grace. I have written and preached on these words in my preaching, teaching and writing ministries. As I read these two verses this morning, it occurred to me, no doubt from the urging of the Holy Spirit, that we can’t stress these words enough in our lives and in our fellowship within the church. Paul wrote, “peace to the brethren…” This was not just a nice way to close the letter to the Ephesian church, for peace is an indispensable quality for our lives and for our relationships with other people. Jesus stressed peace in His earthly ministry. Two verses from John’s gospel come to mind. In John 14:27, Jesus said, “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world gives, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” In John 16:33, Jesus said, “These things I have spoken unto you, that in me you might have peace. In the world you shall have tribulation (trouble): but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” Peace in our hearts and peace with each other were important to Jesus and they should be important to us as well. Psalm 34:14 gives us some good advice about peace: “Seek peace and pursue it…” That is a reference to peace within and peace with others. It is interesting that Paul put “love” and “faith” together. There is a good reason for that – they belong together. The Greek word that is translated love here is agape (Ah-gah-pay). If you are a regular reader of the Couch Potato site, you have seen this several times before. It is God’s kind of love – sacrificial love, as portrayed in John 3:16. It is also used in the “Great Love Chapter” 1 Corinthians 13. In verse 2b of this text, Paul wrote about love and faith: “And though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not love (agape) I am nothing.” Faith is important to us, because as Paul wrote in Ephesians 2:8, “For by grace through faith are you saved…” Love and faith come to us as gifts of God. Read this carefully: “Peace be to the brethren, and love and faith from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” The kind of love and faith written about here is not of human derivation. They are derived from “God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” We need to examine our minds and hearts and do an inventory of both faith and love. Faith is important because it causes us to trust God completely in all aspect of our lives. Love is important because it causes us to live in good relationship with God and our fellowmen. The last indispensable word dealt with in this text is the important word “grace.” Without God’s grace none of us could be saved. The Bible plainly says that all people are sinners. It even shows us the sins of its most important people like David, Moses and Peter. Grace is defined as “God’s unmerited favor.” We can’t earn salvation, but we can have it because of God’s unmerited favor. Paul wrote in Ephesians 2:8-9: “For by grace are you saved through faith: and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any (person) should boast.” We can be saved for all eternity because of the unfailing grace of God. We can never brag about what we did to be saved, but we can brag about what Jesus did through grace on the cross for us that allows us to be saved. That’s why Paul wrote, “But God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ…” (Galatians 6:14) I trust that I have demonstrated for you that peace, love and faith and grace are indispensable in your life. Make sure that they are in your life and that you practice them in your life. Bro. Joe “So built we the wall; and all the wall was joined together unto the half thereof; for the people had a mind to work.”
The book of Nehemiah shows what God’s people can do if they put their minds to it. Nehemiah wrote that “the people had a mind to work.” They had what I will call “the right mind.” The people who returned with Nehemiah to Jerusalem to rebuild the wall of Jerusalem were faced with the formidable task of rebuilding the wall around the city. To make a long story short, because they had a mind to work, they rebuilt the wall in fifty-two days. These ancient people set an example for us, that if we put our minds to the right things, we can accomplish great things for the Lord. I want to share some of these ways that we need to have a “right mind.” A “right mind” for the people of God is, as written in the text, “a mind to work.” The New Testament tells us that we are not saved by works, but by “grace through faith.” (Read Ephesians 2:8-10.) Though we are not saved by works, we are saved to work. The work that we should do for the Lord will be accomplished by the Holy Spirit working in us, but it will nevertheless be real work. We do not realize what we could accomplish if we would make up our minds that we are going to do the work that God has for us to do. In the case of the Jews in Nehemiah’s day, it was to rebuild the wall around Jerusalem. In our case the work will be whatever the Lord leads us to do. A “right mind” for the people of God is a mind to worship. Christian work without worship will not be effective. In order to do the work that the Lord has for us to do, we must center our minds on Him, stay close to Him and worship Him. This is why we have church services every week. Of course, we should worship the Lord on a daily basis, but we need those times of corporate worship in order for us to get out minds and hearts together as we go about the Lord’s work. Like the people in Nehemiah’s day, we must organize our work and stick together while we do it. Our worship of God together prepares us to be the formidable work force that we can be under God’s leadership. A “right mind” for the people of God is to have a mind to watch. While the wall around Jerusalem was being rebuilt, Nehemiah had people standing watch while others did the work. The Jews had formidable enemies who were opposed to their rebuilding the wall, so they had to be vigilant while they worked. Throughout the Bible, we are reminded that we need to watch out for our enemy, Satan, who “walks about (as a roaring lion) seeking whom he may devour.” (I Peter 5:8) Satan also has his people who do his evil work for him, and we need to watch out for them too. We need to understand the world, which is under Satan’s influence, has no interest in seeing progress in God’s kingdom work. These people are not just doing Satan’s bidding in the world, they find their way into churches as well. We need to watch out for them and not let them get a foothold in our churches. They are easy to spot, because they are in the church to cause problems, not to carry out the work. A “right mind” for the people of God is to have a mind to witness. Everything that we do through the church is to witness to the world. We need to watch our personal lives and be sure that our lives are a witness of Jesus to the world. We are to watch our work through the church that we will be witnesses of the love of Jesus. Whatever we do in the Lord’s work, it is to be witnesses to the world. In other words, witnessing is our main work and everything that we do should be with that in mind. Put your mind to the work that the Lord has for you to do, keeping in mind these things written about in this article. Bro. Joe |
AuthorDr. Joe Beauchamp is the author of this blog and website. Categories
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