God Renews, So

 

“Therefore, we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, yet our inner self is being renewed day by day.” 2 Corinthians 4:16 

Don’t lose heart, become spiritless, give up, and lose the will to go on. Yes, our physical bodies are aging and decaying. But, if we, individually, believe in Jesus, God will renew our inner self—heart, mind, and spirit—to be like Christ’s. We do not and cannot renew our inner selves.

God’s renewing our inner selves makes us more able to daily know what to do, say, and think. When we stay in tune with God daily, He renews us. He never grows tired or weary, like we mortals do. God continues to renew us, strengthen and embolden us, guide, and teach us. His never gives up on renewing us or calling the unsaved to turn to Him. God’s love, power, and patience are limitless. He is our strength, power, inspiration, teacher, guide, protector, and provider. We hold onto Him by continuing to pray, read and study the Bible, worship Him, and do what He says. 

There’s more. The “therefore” at the beginning of this verse leads us to consider what Paul wrote before verse 16. This “therefore” means that because of something or despite something…. we must remember God is renewing us, so we shouldn’t become spiritless, afraid, faint, or give up, unless God says to.

What happened before verse 16 that Paul wants us to remember? Verse seven tells us to remember we are mortal. As God’s servants and children, we will be… 

*hard-pressed, but not crushed

*Perplexed but not despairing

*Persecuted but not forsaken

*Struck down but not destroyed

Why? Because God is more powerful than anything that comes against us, and He renews us. He keeps His children from being crushed, despairing, forsaken, and destroyed. Only God can utterly destroy anything and anyone. 

Nothing anyone or spiritual being does can ever remove us from God’s hands. Our mortal flesh already is decaying, but God is renewing our inner self. He gave us the new inner self when we believed. Nothing and nobody can take it from us. 

Instead, though we are mortal, we gladly give our lives for Jesus’ sake to reveal Him to other people (verse 11). We do this so those people can see the life of Jesus through our words, actions, and attitudes, and believe in Him for themselves.

Therefore, don’t lose heart, faint, or grow weary because of the task, fatigue, numbers of people and their needs, or persecution that may come. Yes, your mortal body is decaying. Yet, God is renewing your inner self daily to be more like Jesus and be in closer communion with Him. 

“Those who wait upon the Lord will receive renewed strength and will Mount up with wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint.” —Isaiah 40:31

Contentment

 

 

“Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.” 2 Corinthians 12:10 (NASB)

 

On account of Christ and for the advancement of His gospel Paul went everywhere and endured hardships. That’s what “for Christ’s sake” means in this verse. Paul recognized God’s purpose for his life. He willingly obeyed God.

 

Paul said he was willing to endure hardships and welcomed and took pleasure in them if it meant he advanced the gospel’s reach to more people who had not heard. His trials, persecutions, hardships, and difficulties came because he spread the gospel message. He’d rather experience pain because of evangelizing than comfort from not doing it. Paul’s pain became his badge proving he lived to serve Jesus. Because of that he could and would be content with pain, hunger, harassment, etc. These maladies proved to himself he was obeying Jesus and following His example. 

 

Paul’s weakness/feebleness came from his “thorn in the flesh.” It caused him physical and mental pain. As a human, hunger and physical maladies. 

 

Insults typically come from a person who feels superior to or wants to assume superiority over another person. The Jewish religious leaders who refused to listen to Paul would have insulted him, as might any other number of people. Their sense of superiority came from hubris—pride in themselves and who they considered themselves to be.

 

The distresses Paul wrote about would be the dire straits and calamities he lived through like being bit by a poisonous viper, being shipwrecked, and not having enough food. These also affect a person’s mind like pain and insults.

 

The persecutions are done by people against what the speaker says. They pursued/hunted Paul down like an animal to suppress him speaking. They wanted to punish God’s messenger in order to conquer him and prove what he taught wasn’t so great after all. This threat attacked his mind with fear of pain and could cause physical harm. Insults were verbal only and could cause mental pain. Persecutions went a step further to cause physical pain, too. 

 

Difficulties were extreme calamities. They caused physical and mental limitations. They were magnified distresses. These could be things like being put in chains in jail with only the food and drink that his friends took to him. 

 

Paul explained why he willingly chose to encounter and endure insults, distresses, persecutions, and difficulties. He may have grown to expect them. Paul said he walked forward “for Christ’s sake” knowing he’d face what most people ran from. What did he mean by this phrase? I explained this in the first paragraph. Paul walked into and endured mental and physical trials because it advanced the spread of the gospel to regions and countries of people who didn’t know about Jesus and the salvation He gives. His joy was the product of obeying Jesus and from the Holy Spirit who rejoiced each time a person believed in Jesus for salvation from sins and death. 

 

Paul willingly chose to obey knowing he most likely would encounter insults, distresses, persecutions, and difficulties because he was weak—he had a thorn in the flesh—and was not mighty enough to deflect or stop them from happening. He knew God could stop or deflect them, but sometimes didn’t. Why? Because, the Lord said, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfect in weakness” (vs 9). Because Paul was obviously weaker than God, the strength, power, conviction, endurance, and faith people saw in Paul, though he experienced hard things, was the Lords’s strength, power, conviction, and endurance. Paul’s human weakness and frailty allowed people to see strength they knew could not come from him. They would see it and realize each of these originated in and came from God. Paul, in his devoted belief in Jesus and His love and obedience to Him, showed God’s power. In his weakness, God used Him and made him strong in appearance, word, and action to reach each person who saw and heard him. 

 

How devoted are you to God? Would you obey God if you knew you’d meet with opposition, especially opposition that could cause you physical and/or mental harm? That opposition is no greater than trusting and following God like Abraham to go to a new and unknown country like Abraham or entering the home of an antagonist like David did or being known as a follower of Jesus like Stephen was. 

 

What is God telling you to do or say? What is holding you back from obeying Him immediately? Be like Paul, Noah, Peter, Abraham, and Jesus. Don’t consider your weakness as an excuse from obeying. When we are weak, Jesus’ strength, love, and power to save will become apparently obvious and people will be saved. At what point will you be content, when disobeying God or when following Him in obedience though you don’t understand why He’d use you or how it can be done with the few talents you have? Contentment comes from obeying God.

Perspective and the Donkey

In everything we do, we show that we are true ministers of God. We patiently endure troubles and hardships and calamities of every kind. We have been beaten, been put in prison, faced angry mobs, worked to exhaustion, endured sleepless nights, and gone without food. We serve God whether people honor us or despise us, whether they slander us or praise us. We are honest, but they call us imposters. We are ignored, even though we are well known. We live close to death, but we are still alive. We have been beaten, but we have not been killed. Our hearts ache, but we always have joy. We are poor, but we give spiritual riches to others. We own nothing, and yet we have everything. (2 Cor. 6:4-5, 8-10 [NLT])

Do you ever feel like the donkey harnessed to a mill walking in circles all day every day to grind the farmer’s grain? That’s how it can seem when you are working hard, and no one notices. Consider the devotional below to understand what Paul teaches about this.

How is your devotion to God? Did you receive His vision of the task to which He calls you? Did you begin to do it, but after a while decide it was rote and mundane, and then forget to keep your eyes on God? The physical aspect became drudgery and, possibly, you became bitter about why you, you of all people, had to do this work. You then stumbled, found yourself attacked by other people questioning your motives, and really began wondering why you were doing these things.

Paul spoke about this. He wrote about continuing to do what Jesus told him to do, proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ. For that, Paul said he suffered. In 2 Corinthians 6:3-10, he listed some things he and his companions endured. By writing of his travails, Paul encouraged other believers to continue keeping their eyes on Christ. These verses told other Christians what happens when they follow Jesus.

Remember, Paul was a persecutor before he encountered Jesus on the road to Damascus. He actively sought to imprison or kill Jesus-followers so they would not lead the Jews away from the true faith. After Paul met Jesus on the road to Damascus, he became one with other Christ-followers. He suffered torture, imprisonment, attempts to kill him, poverty, hunger, etc. In reading each of Paul’s letters in the New Testament, we realize he never stopped telling people about Jesus Christ. He never declared being poor, touching the sick, or being imprisoned was beneath him, a Jew of Jews trained by Gamaliel. (Acts 22:3, Philippians 3:3-6)

Never once do we read in the Bible that Paul turned his back on Jesus. His hardships, troubles, and calamities did not cause his zeal to disappear, but served as a reminder to him that he was a true Christ-follower. Paul suffered as Jesus suffered. Jesus said His followers would experience what He did and more. (Matthew 24:9, Matthew 10:17, 22, John 15:19, 21, John 16:2) Paul took this to heart as an encouragement. Though he asked God to relieve him of the thorn in his side, he endured in his own weakness because God said His “power is perfected in weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:7-9) Paul willingly endured many things for the sake of Christ to reach all people with the gospel so that none would perish.

What are we willing to endure for Christ? Drudgery? Unimportance? Exhaustion? Persecution? Mockery? Poverty? Death? Do we think about these things and become upset by them? Do we consider them undeserved and rail against them? Do we consider it a badge of honor for people to misuse us for the sake of the gospel of Christ?

The donkey at the mill sees the ground, carrot, and grinding stones all day every day. He doesn’t see the final product, the meal. Don’t consider yourself like this donkey who doesn’t have an end-goal perspective. Consider the meal from the mill that will come as you continue to keep your eyes on God and gain His perspective. People will be saved.

Perspective is everything. At whom you look is most important.

Looking at yourself can cause anger and feelings of insignificance.

Looking to God causes you to have His perspective. He desires all people be saved from sin and death.

God is greater than our circumstances.

Keep your eyes on Jesus.

Keep His perspective; though He was rich, He became poor so all people may be saved.

Keep your eyes on God.

Keep God’s perspective.

Lord, I have done it again. I came to You and gave myself to You for Your service, heard Your call and began doing what You said. Next thing I knew, I felt unrecognized and taken for granted. I felt people taking advantage of me. Now I realize I took my eyes off You and had a worldly perspective. Please forgive me for not seeking You each moment of the days. Forgive me for walking in my own strength and getting upset because of what other people said or did or didn’t say or do. This work is not about me, but about You. I can do nothing to save people, nor can I do anything in my own strength. I need You, Lord. I need You to guide me, give me Your strength and peace, and make me able to do the work You called me to do. Lord, clothe me fully with Yourself and remove the tatters of the old nature from me. I surrender myself fully to You right now. Guard me against my right to myself and help me to be humble. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Rowing Without Paddles

He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. (Psalm 91:1 [NASB])

In Genesis 15 and Psalm 91, both writers speak about the terror of night. What does this mean? For David, the man God appointed to lead His people, Israel, and a commander of an army, the terrors of night might have meant an army sneaking up and taking him and his army by surprise during the night. It could have meant the depression of the minds of his men as they awaited the battles of the next day. Or, in looking back on his life as King, it could have been the time David awaited his and Bathsheba’s son’s death. He feared it and understood the punishment was because of his sin with Bathsheba. David’s sin caused the death of the child. For Abram, the terrors of the dark night could have been the kings he and his allies defeated to get his nephew, Lot, out of captivity. The terrors that day showed his fear of not having an heir.

Terrors and fears begin in the hearts and minds of people. Satan puts the terrors and fears in our hearts and minds to distract us from the One who casts out darkness and brings light and truth to a situation and to life. Paul stated in 2 Corinthians that Satan “blinded the minds of the unbelieving so they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ.” In 2 Corinthians 11:14, he said, Satan must disguise himself as an angel of light to trick people, to “blind” them. Satan is not from the light of God; he is darkness and brings darkness.

This state of mind need not happen; people can avoid being tricked. How?  John said in 1 John 1:5, “This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is light, and in Him there is no darkness.” We can choose to follow God and have His power to defeat Satan and the darkness in which he tries to envelope us. God is more powerful than Satan and that is why Satan must resort to trickery. He knows the goodness and love of God will win people’s hearts and minds. John said in John 1:5, “The light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not comprehend it.” The darkness could not break through the light, but God’s light casts out darkness. Darkness cannot exist where light is.

What does this mean for us? How do we defeat the terrors of night and live the life for which God gave us the vision? With hope. With belief in God. Abram’s biggest fear as of Genesis 15 was that he would die with no heir. That was his darkness, the “terror of his night.” As Abram rested that night, God told him He would give him an heir and descendants too great to count, just like the stars in the heavens. Abram was in God’s presence. God’s Spirit came in the form of a smoking oven and flaming torch to seal His covenantal promise to Abram (Genesis 15:17). Abram dwelled in God’s presence and slept with His peace.

David defeated the terrors of the night and the arrows that flew by day by being in God’s presence, too. He said in Psalm 91:1, “He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.” David had learned from experience that God was his refuge and fortress. He had learned to live in the presence, in the shadow, of Almighty God. David was like any other person born; he sinned. Still, David recognized God as His Lord and repented when he sinned. He trusted God over all things.

David knew from Whom to seek shelter, comfort, provision, guidance, and protection. He recognized Who was almighty. David had learned to dwell in the shelter of the Most High. He had learned to live in the shadow of God. David didn’t worship God on the sabbath then live the rest of the week solely in his own strength and with his own wisdom and reasoning. He had learned how to live while being with God. Abraham lived while being with God, too. These men recognized God as being sovereign over the world and over their lives. What terrors could defeat them? None, not with God as their strength, hope, refuge, and fortress.

What terrors haunt you? What causes you fear for your future or for now? If you are a Christian, you know Jesus as your Savior, the One who redeemed you from Satan and the power of sin and death. You already have the victory because Jesus has overcome the world. Jesus said in John 16:33, “These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage, I have overcome the world.” When you are a Christian, you already have victory from the terrors of darkness and the arrows that fly by day. Remember that. Believe God will protect you and don’t allow the darkness of Satan to creep into your mind. If you aren’t a Christian, you can have this peace and hope. You can have redemption from sin and death and take refuge in God when Satan tries to force darkness upon you. Believe Jesus is the Son of God, the Savior who died for your sins, so you can have eternal life with Him in heaven. Give your terrors from the darkness to God and let Him be your light and refuge.

As we each live our lives and live the vision and calling God gives, we must live in His presence, under His wings. Don’t leave to do His work, instead do the work He calls you to do while you are with Him. Abide in the shadow of the Almighty.

You can’t row a boat without paddles. You can’t live life as God’s child without God.

God’s calling doesn’t mean we leave His presence to work.

It means working WITH Him.

Lord, I’m a mess. I say I am Your child, but then I later find I am not with You. I have walked off living my life by my own reasonings. In my busy-ness, I forgot to stay with You and live life with You as my guide, refuge, and strength. I trusted You with my life, but then I took it back. Lord, help me remember to live in Your presence, to live life as You lead and provide. You know all things and are all-powerful. I know only the small part of my life that is in front of me now. I cannot see the past or future and so I really don’t know how to live as You want me to live. Lord, forgive me for walking in my own way. Forgive me for taking control of my life. Forgive me for making my heart, mind, and body my gods instead of You. You are merciful and kind. You are faithful and continue to love me. Lord, I give my life to You. Please guide me with each breath I breathe and each beat of my heart. Amen.

Cloth and Wine: A New Life

Matthew 9:14-17

Jesus’ first teaching on fasting was in Matthew 6. In that chapter, Jesus taught that other people should not notice when a person fasts. Fasting should only be visible to God because it is a method of humbling self before God. So that we are not mistaken on this teaching, Isaiah 58 and Zechariah 7 both said this. God told the Israelites through these prophets that if their fasting was just motions they went through and they were not taking care of the hungry, poor, naked, and unsheltered, then He would not hear them. God requires a whole life given over to His service, not just outward actions. God looks at a person’s heart behind the actions. Jesus repeated this in Matthew 6. The Pharisees showed they were fasting by not bathing, anointing their heads with oil, and by wearing sackcloth and ashes. They were seeking acknowledgement by people. Jesus told them they received what they desired, public acknowledgement. On the other hand, they did not receive acknowledgement from God. They received and earthly reward, not heavenly.

In Matthew 9:14-17, the topic of fasting arose again. This time John's disciples asked Jesus directly about fasting. John’s disciples approached Jesus and asked why His disciples did not fast like the Pharisees and them. We need to understand this situation better. John’s disciples were still Jews. The disciples were sad and at a loss of what to do about John being imprisoned by Herod (Matthew 4:12). In the past (the Old Testament), people often fasted when seeking God’s guidance or expressing grief. John’s disciples acted as most Jews did when they fasted. They did not know a new day had come with a new covenant, even though John testified to it when he said “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). They did not hear Jesus’ teaching on fasting or the new covenant.

What is interesting is that the Pharisees are involved in this passage. Often when people challenged Jesus on a point of Jewish religious life, the Pharisees were the challengers. We note that the scribes and Pharisees were near when Jesus spoke to John’s disciples. (See 9:3, 11.) The Pharisees probably instigated this questioning so that John’s disciples spoke the challenge to Jesus. The Pharisees forever tried to catch Jesus in blasphemy or breaking Jewish religious laws. Another thing in this passage we need to note is Jesus made a point that showed His disciples are different from John’s disciples and the Pharisees. He called His disciples “attendants of the bridegroom” (vs. 15). “Attendants of the bridegroom” means sons, descendants, or heirs of the bridegroom. Jesus called His disciples his descendants, His heirs. His disciples are new children in Him and are heirs of the Father now. They will receive God’s love, grace, and salvation, as well as live with Him for eternity. Paul said this in Romans 8:17. We can imagine the slap the Pharisees felt when Jesus said this. They felt Jesus slapped them by saying they would not inherit eternal life with the Messiah. This may have enraged them. We do not know for sure how they took Jesus’ words at this point. We do know they never gave up their relentless pursuit to trip Jesus. They wanted to imprison and kill Jesus. Jesus told them the attendants of the bridegroom do not fast. He separated His disciples from the Pharisees and John’s disciples. By Jewish religious law, people at a wedding did not fast. Weddings lasted seven days and they did not fast for those seven days. Jesus’ disciples are not like John’s or like the Pharisees at this time. Jesus equated His disciples with being wedding attendants, but not just any wedding attendants; they were co-heirs with the bridegroom, with Christ.

Jesus punctuated this proclamation with two parables, the parables of the new cloth and the new wine. In these parables, Jesus did not speak specifically to fasting, but to the new covenant and new life in Him. He said, “no one puts a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch pulls away from the garment and a worse tear results. A couple of things we should notice here are the old garment needed a patch and patches came from shrunk cloth. First, the garment needed patching. The garment needing a patch was the old way of relating to God. Prior to Christ, the Israelites came to God through sacrifices for sin, which never took away all sin. They had to repeat sacrifices regularly. Also, within the religious life of the Israelites, there were arguments and divisions over how to live before Yahweh. The strict Jews required obedience to 613 laws. The stringency of these laws often did not allow for giving of mercy or compassion on the Sabbath. A chasm between the different forms of Judaism occurred because of their interpretation of the Law. The people did not need their old ways, the old garment, mended. They needed a better way to be in a right relationship with Yahweh God. Jesus came to earth to bring that better way, the New Covenant. The new cloth represented the better way. Trying to sew a patch of new unshrunk cloth onto old cloth will not work. These disciples of Jesus were new disciples. They had not had a chance to wear the cloth, their new life long enough to allow it to fit them well. The cloth/life was not yet tried, tested, and shrunk to become a familiar, loved garment. They were just learning about the new garment. Also, the patch of unshrunk cloth will pull away from the old cloth, but new life in Christ is not to be an add-on to an already existent life. Jesus came to bring a new way and a new covenant with God. He fulfilled the old covenant. The old has gone the new has come, as Paul said in 2 Corinthians 5:17. When a person becomes a follower of Jesus, the person has a new life and it does not fit with the old life. The habits of the old life do not go with the new life Jesus gives us. A person must choose which life they will lead. The Pharisees and other Jews could not realistically expect the new believers in Christ to follow their old methods of coming before God and of living on the earth. Thus, Jesus stated, they will not fast according to the old customs of the Jews. (Remember, nowhere in the New Testament does God mandate His children must fast. Fasting is one way of humbling oneself and seeking God, but God does not mandate it. The Jews must realize Jesus wove a new cloth to make them a new set of clothes, not something just to patch an old cloth. Jesus provided a better way, the new covenant. He fulfilled the old covenant.

With regard to the parable of the new wine, we must understand the method used in Bible times for making wine. The wine bag/bottle is just as important as the wine. People made the wine by pouring fresh grape juice into fresh skins/bottles. They skinned and tanned goat hides. The neck of the goat became the neck of the bag. After the person poured the fresh grape juice into the skins, over time the juice would ferment. As it fermented, it produced gases. The need for new bags was most necessary for this part of the process. The new bags were fresh, young, and expandable. They grew with the production and increased pressure of fermenting gases. Old bags were dry and inflexible. They could not withstand the pressure of the fermentation gases, but were not supple and expandable. Old bags could not grow. This analogy is what Jesus meant when He spoke to John’s disciples and others who listened. The message Jesus brought of the new covenant, the new way of relating to God, must go into new wineskins, lives made new by Christ. As people grow more in the knowledge of Christ and grow more like Him, they expand and grow just as the fermentation gases from the grape juice expand the new wineskins. The new wineskin is the new life Christ gives to people. The old way of life was stagnant, insufficient, and could not bring a person into a right relationship with God. A person must choose between their old way of life - religious and secular life - or the new life Christ gives. If we try to put the new covenant (the wine) Jesus brought into an old lifestyle (wineskins), it will not fit. The old life fights against the new wine, the new covenant, Christ brings and bursts the old wineskin, then both the old life and the new message will be lost to the person. The person will become confused and drift in life. When we allow Christ to pour the new life He brought (salvation and life with Him forever) into new wineskins (a new way of living/the new man) both are preserved, the Gospel given to the person and the person’s life.

Jesus made 4 points. One, His disciples are co-heirs with Him of eternal life with the Father in heaven. This meant that the Pharisees were not co-heirs. However, Jesus told them in verse 12, “It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick.” Jesus came for everyone, but only persons who recognize he or she is sick, who realize he or she is a sinner, will receive salvation. The Pharisees as a group did not recognize their sickness. Second, Jesus came to give a completely new life/cloth, not have some of what He brought for humankind added onto what they already did in life. Christianity is not a patch for our lives. It is the only way to have abundant life, to be made right before God (have salvation), and to have eternal life in God’s Kingdom. Third, the new wine must go into new wineskins. Jesus gave a new way, the new covenant, to be in relationship with God and that requires we accept and live out a new life and no longer live as we did previously. We cannot continue to live our old sinful lives and expect that since we say we believe, we will be all right with God. Our acceptance of His grace and forgiveness must bear fruit in our lives. Fruit will show by the way our lives changed from what they were to a new way of living, a life of mercy, compassion, and devotion to God. The fermentation gases represent this growth. Fourth, fasting is a personal issue. For John’s disciples, they mourned the imprisonment of John and fasted humbly to go before God asking Him to intervene for John. For the Pharisees, they fasted to advertise their piety hoping to gain praise from other people. For Jesus’ disciples at that particular time, fasting was not needed because God, in the form of Jesus Christ, was in their midst. He already acknowledged them and chose to be with them. There would be a time later, after Jesus ascended to heaven, when they might want to fast to humble themselves, recognize and repent of their sin, and ask to be in God’s presence. Fasting is just one method of coming before God. God does not mandate it. By definition, fasting is a religious exercise of abstaining from food or drink. It removes our focus from our wants and needs to focus on God. Every time we think of eating or drinking the item from which we are fasting, we remember our fast and that we are seeking God. We remember not to focus on our self, but on God. We are seeking God’s presence, His will, and His way.

I do not know if you are fasting this Lent. If you are, why are you doing it? Do you want to be part of the crowd who does? There is a better reason to fast. Being a part of the crowd will not get you acknowledged by God. See Isaiah 58 and Zechariah 7. Do you want to be in God’s presence? God desires a continual relationship with us. He created us to be in relationship with us. God created us in His image, the crowning glory of creation. We are the only ones of His creation into whom He breathed His life. It is for us that He sent His Son, Jesus, to be the once and for all sacrifice, the only sacrifice ever needed for our sin, so that we could have a renewed relationship with Him.

Are you ready to accept His love and sacrifice? Are you ready to become new wineskins for the new wine? Are you ready to put on the whole new garment that Jesus gives to you, not just the patch? What do you need to do to come before God today? Maybe fasting? We must always come to God in humility, recognizing His greatness and our sinfulness, and asking for His forgiveness, and then we can be in a renewed relationship with Him.

Christians observe Lent for forty days before Easter. At Lent Christians prepare for the celebration of Easter by humbling themselves before God with repentance, moderation in life, and spiritual discipline, some include fasting in the latter. Lent is a time to reflect on Jesus Christ’s suffering and sacrifice. Have you taken the time to consider God’s great love for you? He allowed His Son, Jesus the Christ, to be beaten and crucified for your sins. That thought is humbling. Take this time now and consider what Jesus did for you so you could be in a renewed relationship with the Father and have eternal life with Him. Whatever it takes for you to consider God’s great love for you do it because He gave everything He had to show you how much He loves you.

The Greater (est) Sacrifice

Hebrews 10

The writer of Hebrews put forth his final thoughts on the new covenant. He stated what made the covenant active and what made the priesthood of Jesus Christ greater. He stated in chapter 10 that the sacrifice of Christ is sufficient for these and for all sin for all time.

The writer reminded us that the Law instituted with the first covenant was just a shadow of the good things to come. The Law could never be sufficient. If it was, sacrifices would not have been needed continually to make humans perfect and consecrated so they could draw near to God. In addition, if the sacrifices provided by the Law had cleansed them forever, it would have removed from their minds their consciousness of sin, but it had not. Those sacrifices each year reminded them of their sins. This was because it was impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. It takes something greater than the created world to remove sin devised and performed by created humankind.

The psalmist said in Psalm 40:6-8, God did not desire sacrifices and offerings. Samuel stated in 1 Samuel 15:22 that the Lord delights in obedience. God considers that better than sacrifice. Psalm 51, the sinner’s prayer, acknowledges in verse 16 that the Lord does not delight in sacrifice and burnt offerings. Jeremiah, Amos, and Micah speak of this, too. The writer of Hebrews used what the people of the time knew to bolster his argument for Christ’s sacrifice being the better sacrifice. The psalmist in chapter 40 continued in verses 7-8 by speaking as the Christ. “Behold I come, as it is written/prescribed of me.” The Son delights to do the will of the Father and acknowledges that the Father’s Law is in His heart. In John 4:34, John tells of Jesus saying this, too, “Jesus said to them, ‘My food is to do the will of Him who sent me and to accomplish His work’.” The Law that is within His heart speaks to the closeness of the Son to the Father. It also speaks to how God puts the new covenant within the hearts of confessed believers. He writes it on their hearts via the Holy Spirit. God commanded the Israelites to tell their children and grandchildren about Him and the Laws. This is what the psalmist said in 37:31, Jeremiah in 31:33, and Paul in 2 Corinthians 3:3. It is a comparison of the two covenants. The first the Israelites had to recall and teach others; the second God writes upon their hearts. These verses in Psalm 40 are from where the writer of Hebrews obtained information for his chapter 10 verses 5-8. The writer of Hebrews reiterated, by Christ doing the Father’s will, He took away the first covenant and established the second covenant.

Jesus Christ’s establishing the second covenant comes through His sacrifice of Himself, as the bulls and goats were before, to take away sins. His offering of His own body sanctifies (hagiazo - consecrates, dedicates, cleanses from sin and its guilt) believers forever. Christ’s priesthood is greater than that of the Levitical priests who daily ministered and offered repeatedly the same sacrifices, which never took away sins, but just covered them. Jesus offered His perfect sacrifice for sins (offering from the Creator God for the created is greater). After His sacrifice of His death upon a cross for sins for all time, and His resurrection, He sat down at the right hand of God (Psalm 110:1). He is waiting there as our mediator/intercessor until His enemies (Satan and his demons) are made a footstool for His feet (Psalm 110:1). The placing of His enemies under His feet means the subduing for all time the enemies of God.

The writer of Hebrews summarized this most important doctrine of the new covenant in verses 14-18. By one offering, Jesus perfected (teleioo – completed, accomplished, fulfilled the prophecies of scriptures) for all time those who are sanctified (hagiazo – cleansed from sin and guilt; consecrated and dedicated). The Holy Spirit testifies (marturea - bears witness; affirms that one has seen, heard, or experienced something) to believers, too. The Holy Spirit writes God’s laws upon the hearts and minds of believers (Jeremiah 31:33 and Hebrews 8:10). He tells them that God will no longer remembers their sins (Jeremiah 31:34 and Hebrews 8:12). The coup de gras for humankind is this: where God forgives sin, no other sin offering is required. If a person believes Jesus Christ is the Son of God and confesses his or her sins to God, then Jesus forgives his or her sins forever. There is no longer any sacrifice needed for sanctification, cleansing, and dedication to God.

What does this mean then to believers in Jesus Christ? It means they can have confidence to enter the holy place for themselves. Believers can talk directly to God without need for a sacrifice for cleansing and without need for an earthly intermediary. They have access through the blood sacrifice of Jesus. He opened the veil, which separated humankind from God, by being the perfect and sufficient sin sacrifice. Since believers then have as their priest the greatest Priest over the house of God, they can be near God knowing with full assurance that God cleansed them from evil/sin and a guilty conscience. Believers must now live in the following way. They live with assurance of their salvation. They hold fast with confidence the confession (Hebrews 3:1) of our hope (Hebrews 3:6) of eternity with God without wavering, knowing that He who promised is faithful. Remember God is faithful to His promises. Jesus coming as the Messiah is the ultimate promise of God fulfilled. Believers hold to their confession with hope for their future with God. They act based upon it. They must assemble with others believers, stimulate each other to love and good deeds, and encourage each other as they see the day of the Lord drawing close. Believers are to encourage each other to continue in the faith and to do good works because of the love God has put in their hearts. They are to love God and other humans so that others will see and experience the love of God. God's love will draw others to Him and His salvation.

Each person, in the end, will be held accountable for whether he or she accepted the knowledge of the Truth or not when it was shown to him or her (10:26). If a person knows about Jesus and His salvation, but chooses to live in his or her sins (way of life), judgment will come from God in the last days. Fire will devour and consume him or her (Isaiah 26:11 and 2 Thessalonians 1:7). God chose to love us and draw us back to Him. He provided forgiveness for our sins. This is through the sacrificial death of His Son, Jesus Christ, whom God resurrected and who sits at the right hand of the Father in heaven. Each person must choose for him or herself whether to believe in Jesus, confess his or her sins, and become a renewed, re-formed child of God. God did everything to bring us back to Him. We must each decide for ourselves to believe in His Son, Jesus, and confess our sins. It is that easy.

Have you heard about God’s Son, Jesus, and His sacrifice? Have you believed and accepted His forgiveness? Are you following Him daily and living as the writer of Hebrews said in Hebrews 10:19-25? When you have heard of God’s love and gospel message, you must make a decision. Your decision will determine your ultimate judgment by God when Jesus returns to earth. You get to choose. Will you choose Jesus?

Hearing and Heeding

Continuing with the study of 2 Corinthians, what happened after Paul wrote to the Corinthians appealing to them to give to the poor in Jerusalem as God had prompted them? Why, just 4 chapters later, is Paul saying 2 Corinthians 13:10 (NASB), “For this reason I am writing these things while absent, so that when present I need not use severity, in accordance with the authority which the Lord gave me for building up and not for tearing down?”

Consider chapter 10. Paul began the chapter by describing himself so that by the time he arrived at verse 10, he made us aware that the false apostles said Paul had little integrity. 2 Corinthians 10:10 states, “For they say, ‘His letters are weighty and strong, but his personal presence is unimpressive and his speech contemptible’." Before we think that Paul delayed weightier matters for the end of the letter, let us look again at chapter 1 verses 23-24. Paul stated, “But I call God as witness to my soul, that to spare you I did not come again to Corinth. Not that we lord it over your faith, but are workers with you for your joy; for in your faith you are standing firm.” What Paul wrote in chapters 10-13 is not something new and disturbed him much. Paul went back to how he began his second letter to the Corinthians. The Corinthians allowed false apostles to sway their belief away from the Gospel Paul and his colleagues preached.

These false apostles preached with much persuasion and power. They accepted offerings of payment from the Corinthians. The false apostles used these two things to wedge doubt about Paul and the other apostles into the Corinthians’ minds. Paul states in 2 Corinthians. 11:10-16 (NASB), 

But what I am doing I will continue to do, so that I may cut off opportunity from those who desire an opportunity to be regarded just as we are in the matter about which they are boasting. For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. No wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. Therefore, it is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness, whose end will be according to their deeds. Again I say, let no one think me foolish; but if you do, receive me even as foolish, so that I also may boast a little.

Paul directly approached the slander to his authority as an apostle at the very beginning of this letter. In chapter 1, we read he attacked this slander against him with his credentials of whom he was and by whose authority he preached the Gospel. In 1:21-22, he stated how he and the Corinthians discerned with certainty that he proclaimed the true Gospel. Paul wrote, “Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and anointed us is God, 22 who also sealed us and gave us the Spirit in our hearts as a pledge.” (2 Corinthians 1:21-22, NASB). Paul attested without a doubt that Christ had called him to preach the Good News since his own conversion on the road to Damascus. (See Acts 9.) In 2 Corinthians 11:10-16, Paul spoke specifically against these men; he called them false apostles. Paul countered their claim of his foolishness by stating that even if others believed these men and thought Paul foolish, he accepted that so long as they did not fall away from God to follow these “servants of Satan.” Paul was willing to “become all things to all men, so that I may by all means save some.” (1 Corinthians 9:22b, NASB).

            Paul, though, did not consider himself great enough in speech, strength, or authority to persuade humankind to follow Christ. He often spoke of his weakness. In 2 Corinthians 12, Paul spoke of his weakness as a thorn in the flesh, similar to a nagging splinter, that did not let him forget his weakness. He stated in 2 Corinthians 12:7, “Because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me-to keep me from exalting myself!” This thorn kept him humble and reliant upon God. God's power and strength in Paul spread the Gospel. Paul asked God three times to remove this thorn but God told him, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness." (2 Corinthians 12:9, NASB). Paul responded, “Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ's sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.” (2 Corinthians 12:10, NASB). Paul did not allow his thorn to stop him from spreading the Gospel; he allowed his liability to keep him focused on the power and strength of God to use him. He was aware of his weaknesses and of God’s might. Where these false apostles tried to create a wedge by speaking of Paul as a weak and small man, Paul turned around to say that because of his own weakness God’s power and strength showed more poignantly.

            Paul’s statement should give us pause to stop and think. First, are there personal weaknesses we have that we hold up to God as an excuse that He cannot use us for His service? Moses did that when God told him to speak with Pharaoh. That incident did not deter God from His purpose; He called Aaron, Moses’ brother, to speak for Him instead. What did Paul teach us in this lesson? God uses broken people, people with personal limitations, to show His power and strength. If God used a strong person, what that person does could confuse the recipient into thinking the strength of the person and not God is how the action occurred. God would not be given the glory and would not be followed. God chooses those who recognize they are weak.

            Paul’s statement to the Corinthians in chapter 13 verse 5 told the Corinthians to “Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves that Jesus Christ is in you-unless indeed you fail the test? (NASB). Paul wanted them to understand with surety their faith is in Jesus. He told them to test themselves. After this verse in the letter, we do not read in what way Paul told them to test themselves. However, if we go back to chapter 1 verses 21-22, we find out how to be sure Christ lived in them. These verses tell us, “Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and anointed us is God, who also sealed us and gave us the Spirit in our hearts as a pledge.” (NASB). They could be sure of their faith in Christ by the means in which Paul and the other apostles were sure, if they experienced the Holy Spirit residing in them. If they witnessed they were bearing fruits of the Spirit, then they would know Christ resided in and God anointed them.

Paul does not end his chapter here with a final teaching. His final lesson, maybe it should be called his warning, is this: “For this reason I am writing these things while absent, so that when present I need not use severity, in accordance with the authority which the Lord gave me for building up and not for tearing down.” (1 Corinthians 13:10, NASB). Paul gave his major purpose for writing this letter to the Corinthians. He is not being weak in this statement nor too gentle, as he was in chapters 8 and 9. In this verse, he wrote with great urgency that they heed him while he is absent from them because if they did not, his severity, as the severity from God, would be heard and felt. Like our loving Father in heaven, Paul dealt with the Corinthians in this letter with tact and gentleness, sometimes with sarcasm, to remind them of what he taught them before and to re-teach them in some cases. Paul may appear weak, but through him, the voice of God was known. God can be gentle, but we have read and heard of God’s patience being tried too far, and then we can experience His severity through judgment and discipline. Paul warned them several times in this letter. His final statement before his farewell told the Corinthians in no uncertain terms that either they test to find out whom they follow and return to God or be judged and rebuked by God. This is Paul’s final word to them.

What does this mean for us today? First, when confronted with a person who appears to have great authority and strength and who states he speaks for God, test to discern if what he is saying is what you know is from the Bible. Are the words this person speaks against the Word God gave in the Bible? We must remember the power and authority of a person does not mean God is using the person. God uses the weak to confound the strong with His strength. Remember Paul’s words to the Corinthians in his first letter, “Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.” (1 Corinthians 1:25, NASB). God does not necessarily use the strong, wise, or well spoken.

Second, ensure that who and what you are allowing to guide you is God and not a manmade thing, religion, or even a charismatic person. Paul told the Corinthians to do this, too, remember. He said, “Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves!” (2 Corinthians 13:5, NASB). To ensure this, check to identify whether the Holy Spirit resides in you (2 Corinthians 1:21-22). If you are a Christ follower, His Spirit will live in you and will result in the fruit of the Spirit being evident, which comes from a daily relationship with God. (See Galatians 5:22-23).

Finally, make sure that you are responding in obedience to the promptings to your heart by God through the Holy Spirit. Paul urgently spoke to the Corinthians concerning their procrastinating in fulfilling their pledge to send support to the poor in Jerusalem. He spoke gently to them in chapters 8 and 9, but by the end of the letter, in chapter 13, Paul wrote with severity and warned them of his reaction if he arrived in Corinth and found the Corinthians had not collected for the poor and sent it to Jerusalem. Paul was the voice of God to the Corinthian believers. He tactfully and gently prodded them to their commitment first. After much urging, he took a stronger stand with them and told them he would judge and chastise them if they had not fulfilled their commitment. God, our loving Father, relates to us in this same way. He hopes that we will act upon the Spirit’s prompting of our hearts. If that fails to bear fruit, He gently urges and encourages us. When these fail, God becomes stern and warns us to do what He told us or be judged and disciplined by Him. Finally, if we do not heed God’s stern warning, He will discipline us. This is how He has acted with humankind throughout history. Consider the Israelites wandering in the wilderness for forty years as a discipline to not believing and following God into the Promised Land. Consider the people of Noah’s time who did not heed God and died in the great flood. Consider, too, when the Israelites had been warned repeatedly by God through the prophets to return to God and not worship other gods and idols. God gave them as captives to other nations for decades and centuries.

We each must decide if we will recognize God’s voice and heed it. We each must decide to be obedient to the call God has put into our hearts. We each must decide to be in a love relationship with God through the redemption paid by His Son, Jesus. We must decide for ourselves who we will follow, our own selves or God, and whether we will be faithful to God. Will we be people who must be warned, chastised, and disciplined or will we follow God faithfully? Seeing Paul’s ire build in 2 Corinthians, and he but a small man, I do not want to be subject to God’s disappointment and judgment. I choose the way of God. I pray for my obedience to follow-through with my commitments to Him promptly. What is the Holy Spirit saying to your heart today?