Growing in Unity

 

Do you operate independently of Truth and Love and show little growth? It affects unity in the body of Christ.

Paul wrote to the Ephesian Christians to encourage them to continue in their unity and love for each other. With Ephesians 4:15-16, Paul reminded them how they can be unified. He told them God causes unity. Yet believers must live out what God puts in them to be unified. So, how did Paul say believers could achieve unity? Speak the truth. Be faithful to your covenant within the body to each believer. Grow up into a mature Christian, into Christlikeness.

Note: We manufacture none of these. The agape love Paul wrote has its source in God. As God loves us—sacrificially -we are to love other believers. Truth originates with God, too. It permeates the Bible from Genesis to Revelations and continues throughout eternity. Truth teaches and guides us as we grow, act on it, and teach others.

Why do we need to live in unity? First, to be part of the body of Christ. If you are the leg but do not work as a leg should, you cripple the whole body. If, however, you, the leg, get your instructions/motivation/ability from God, then you work in a way that benefits the whole body.

Unity is not an ideological fantasy. Unity occurs because of the agape love that originates with God. Before we believed in Jesus and He saved us, we had philia love, but we sometimes overrode that love with selfishness. Since Jesus saved us, we can love sacrificially. God gives us His power to overlook our self-interests and love sacrificially always; that’s agape love. To use another phrase, loving other believers sacrificially is covenant faithfulness. We have God’s interests—the best interests—of other people in mind. Others before self; the whole before themselves; these create unity.

Unity, Paul said, also occurs when believers, as the body of Christ (a Christ-unified whole) seek, in attaining or maintaining unity, to edify individual or groups of believers within itself. The growth can occur in many things that align with God, have their source from God, and cause unity within the body of Christ. Some of these things are Christian wisdom, purity, piety, holiness, joy, and peace. This edification is both organic (learning from God’s word in personal time with Him) and relational (learning through another Christian like a pastor, teacher, deacon, and friend).

None of these three—truth, agape love, or Christian growth—comes from oneself. Each of them has its source solely in God. Again, a believer cannot absorb any of these things just by being a believer. God provides these things, with or without another believer’s intercession. God expects each believer to function as a member of Christ's body. Without operating/living actively as part of the body, we are not beneficial to the rest of the body, and we do not grow in our faith and unity with the body, and the gifts the Spirit gives us stay merely seeds, useful to no one.

Truth, love, and growth must be lived out. God’s truths and love within us should compel us to seek Him more, tell other people about Jesus, and strengthen the body of Christ, the local and universal Church. Using the gifts the Spirit put into us, exercises and grows them; they, then, grow within us. Sharing God’s truths, His agape love, and what He has taught us as we have individually grown closer to Him and become more like Christ by living them out, is what helps grow the church to be unified.

God’s gifts plus Christian action grow the believer and the body of Christ, who is the Head, so the body matures into the image of Jesus Christ. Each believer is supposed to embody these grace gifts from God for a purpose. That purpose is not to hoard them for themselves. The purpose is to unite all believers into one likeness, Jesus. When we are like Jesus, we love sacrificially (covenantal faithful) and desire that all people know the truths of God, mature into Jesus’ likeness, and unify into the body of Christ, thereby projecting Him to the world.

Today, what aspect of your Christianity does not show your uniting with the body of Christ, Jesus? Are you always living out and teaching God’s truths? Do you love sacrificially? Are you growing in your relationship with God, so that your life shows Christ’s likeness? God gives each of these to us as grace gifts. Pray to God asking for forgiveness for not living in His power to share His truth, love sacrificially, and build up other believers. Ask God to help you stay focused on Him and use the power He gives to be unified in the body of Christ with Jesus as your Head.

Run to the Father

https://youtu.be/HTHS4W1bPj8?si=NNgHMlMLbyl5cVJ5

"But God"...Love

“But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our wrongdoings, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved)…” (Ephesians 2:4-5)

At the beginning of this two-verse passage, Paul penned, “but God.” He leads readers and hearers to recognize and understand several things in this chapter. Most writers do not write one sentence, then move to another topic. They write so that what they penned before and after a sentence helps give context and understanding to the one sentence considered. In considering this study, we examine verses four and five. Readers and hearers of Paul’s letter to the Ephesian church should strive to understand Ephesians 2:4-5 in context with the other chapters in this letter and the other verses of chapter two. Studying these two words alone does not bring forward the total meaning of the text. Only one two-word sentence in the Bible does not need context to have meaning. John the disciple wrote the famous two-word sentence in John 11:35; it records, “Jesus wept.” This sentence gains context in the surrounding verses. Yet, as a stand-alone sentence, it gives great understanding about Jesus, too. Consider now what Paul wrote in Ephesians 2 by studying verses four and five, along with the surrounding verses.

First, the two words that begin this passage, “but God,” highlight the need to examine Ephesians 2:1-3. Second, verses one through three tell people what they are. For Christians, the three verses tell them what they. These three verses reminded each group of people that they were morally and spiritually dead because of their wrongdoings—their sins. Because people crave for, think about, and act upon things of the flesh, they grow farther away from God. This prevents their relationship with God. In light of these reasons, Paul penned, "but God."

Third, the two small words, “but God,” lead people to consider their present and future. It tells them God intervened in their lives by sending His Son, Jesus, to live and then die a sinless death. God did everything necessary to save people from their sins. People can do nothing to remove themselves from their fleshly ways of thinking and acting, but God can and did.

Fourth, “but God” leads into the action God performed that people cannot do. Paul wrote, “but God…made us alive.” Yes, God made people alive at creation. For Christians, He remade them. God resuscitated them with His divine power, so they are not dead; they are spiritually reborn. God making the believers in Jesus alive renews His and their relationship by removing their wrongdoings (sins), a list next to each person’s name.

Each person deserves judgment because each person sins. Sin separates a person from Holy God. Holiness and unholiness cannot occupy the same place, like light and dark cannot. God's actions bring believers back to life. His action gives a righteous relationship with Him for whoever believes in Jesus, His Son, as their Savior. His death paid the judgment price for each person’s sins.

“But God” tells readers and hearers of Ephesians 2:4-5 about more than what God did for them. It tells them what He is doing and will do for and in them. “But God” tells each reader and listener of God’s promise and gives them their basis for hope. Yes, God saved each Christian by His Son’s death when they trusted in Jesus. Christians need God beyond that one time. We live in a world where Satan and his demons exert power over individuals. We still need saving from the temptations and trials we face daily. God gives Christians His power through His Holy Spirit, who dwells in them from the time of their new birth. He gave them the power to make the right choices. God gives Christians the strength to endure trials as He walks with them through those challenging times. “But God” leads Christians to the promise God gives each of His children; He said he would never leave or forsake His them (Deuteronomy 31:6 and Hebrews 13:5).

That leads us to the future view of “but God.” God did not create people, then leave them to flounder in life, then die. He did not make Christians alive again, only to walk with them on the day of their rebirth. God existed, exists, and will always exist. He is eternal. “But God” tells us of God always being with us. How? By the rebirth (being made alive through faith in Jesus) God gives righteousness in His book of life. God making believers alive gives them life forever with Him. Nothing ever can impede a Christian’s relationship with God. God gives Christians eternal forgiveness, eternal new bodies after their mortal death, and an eternal togetherness/relationship with Him in His kingdom. Believers in Jesus receive eternal life with God: the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

“But God” reveals God is working for us and in us, then, now, and forever. God’s activity in a Christian’s life started then and continues into the “not yet.” For this reason, Christians have hope.

More than anything, “but now” opens our eyes and reminds Christians of God’s motivation—His love and desire for a close and personal relationship with each person. Feeling God's love to the fullest, people can rejoice, praise, and thank God for this reason. The feeling you get when you hug a dearly loved one is the feeling believers can have always and during every part of their lives. Paul wrote in verses four and five, “because of His great love with which He loved us…God made us alive even when we were dead in our sins.”

Understand this: God LOVES YOU with the overflowing, unending, super-abundance of His love! “But God, because of His overflowing, timeless, super-abundant love made you alive.” Nothing can separate you from His love, ever. John stated, “For God loved you so much that He sent His only Son that when you believe in Jesus, you will not perish forever separated from God, but you will have eternal life with Him in heaven” (John 3:16).

“But God” tells Christians that He saved and remade them, is with them, and will always be with them on earth and in heaven. God wants an eternal relationship with each person and did everything needed for it to happen.

Ultimately, “but God” tells and reminds each person about God’s overflowing, everlasting, super-abundant love for each person. God daily leads each Christian. God’s leading results in peace because of being in a deep love relationship with God. It leads believers to do the “good works” of God on earth, too.

Paul dictated to his scribe a final lesson in this chapter. He stated that each Christian’s saving relationship with God leads to God building believers together into a holy dwelling place. This dwelling place is in Jesus Christ for God in the Holy Spirit (verse 22). God intended Christians to grow in their relationship with Him and be built with each believer into the body of Christ…

ALL BECAUSE OF GOD’S LOVE.

God’s love was with us and worked for our good in the past, is with us now as we believe in Jesus, and will always be with Christians into eternity.

 

Waiting Empowered

 

In addition to all of these, hold up the shield of faith to stop the fiery arrows of the devil. (Ephesians 6:16, NLT)

In the verses before Ephesians 6:16, Paul wrote about other pieces of the armor of God. He taught the Ephesians to don the breastplate of righteousness, the belt of truth, and the shoes of peace. These are all pieces of defensive armor. To protect the soldier of God from attack. In verse sixteen, Paul taught these believers to hold up the shield of faith so they can block the arrows of the devil. He continued with other verses that included the helmet of salvation, the sword of the Spirit, and prayer.

Before these five verses, Paul began by saying where the armor came from, whose might empower the armor, and who would cause Christians to need armor. God knew in advance armor was a necessity. He knew human-made armor would be powerless to engage with spiritual forces. Because of that, God gives to every Christian the armor that carries the strength He gives. For this reason, Paul wrote in verses ten and eleven, “Be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power. Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil” (NLT).

God knew people's limitations in fighting the spiritual realm of evil. Everyone falls to Satan's temptations at least once in life. Because Christians are to be messengers of the gospel, Satan wants to stop them more than he wants to stop non-Christians. This means that Satan attacks Christians more than he attacks non-Christians. God knows the schemes of Satan. He knows the methods of attack Satan will hurl at His children, and because of that, God gives the armor His children need to combat Satan and his demons. He gives armor that will make His children victorious over Satan’s plans. Paul, convinced of this truth of God, testified of it in Romans 8:38-39. He knew firsthand of God’s love and declared nothing can separate us from God’s love, then gave a list of the things, events, and beings over which God is almighty—death, life, angels, demons, fears, worries, powers of hell, false gods, and anything in all creation.

Since God’s love is so great and powerful, nothing can stand against and defeat us. God made that possible by giving us armor by which to combat Satan’s evil forces. This armor is God’s; He made it, and He gives it. All that comes from God is powerful and good. Yet, we must actively receive it—actively take it and wear it.

A question arises, though, when we consider Christians’ lives. Why do we keep hearing of their sins and downfall? The answer is that no Christian is perfect. They cannot be because they are not God. Only God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—is perfect. But Christians are being perfected daily by Christ as they stay in daily communion (relationship) with God. Still, they fall to temptation. For this reason, God gives believers armor. Remember, the armor comes from Him, and, with it, believers can defeat the schemes of Satan. Since God gives Christians this undefeatable armor, why do they still sin? The answer is straightforward: Since God is invincible, the Christians who sinned did not take the armor God offers to each believer, put it on, and use it. These Christians fought Satan with their own strength. For example, people can receive a car but not get in and drive it. God gives believers armor, but until they put it on intentionally by praying over it and onto themselves each day, they stand as prey to Satan’s schemes. King Saul’s life is an example of this.

When Samuel the prophet and priest of God grew old, the Israelites feared they would have no leader upon his death. They asked Samuel to give them a king to judge them so they can be like the other nations (1 Samuel 8:1-5). In 1 Samuel 10:1, Samuel, by God’s instruction, anointed Saul as king of Israel, then gave him instructions on what would happen and what he was to do. He told Saul that he would meet two men as he passed Rachel’s tomb, meet three men at the oak of Tabor who would give him two loaves of bread, then go to Gibeah of God, meet prophets, and receive the Spirit of the LORD, by whom he would prophesy. From the time the Spirit of the LORD came upon Saul, Samuel said he would be a different person (1 Samuel 10:2-6, 10-13). After receiving the Spirit and prophesying, Samuel told Saul he would know God is with him (vs. 7). From Gibeah, Saul would go to Gilgal and wait for seven days for Samuel to arrive (vs. 8). God chose Saul, anointed him with oil by Samuel, His prophet, and anointed him by the Holy Spirit to lead the people of Israel. The signs proved God's choice of Saul as leader to himself and the Israelites.

Knowing that, why did Saul sin and fall away from God? It happened fast. Saul had the Spirit of God within him. That means he had the armor of God extended to him because God’s Spirit was within him. Yet Saul chose to fight his first temptation, that of receiving the glory and goodwill of his people, by disobeying God’s will as He stated through Samuel. He stole the glory that was due to God by not waiting for Samuel to sacrifice animals on the altar. In 1 Samuel 13, Saul, with his warriors, marched to fight the Philistines. His men feared the Philistines because they had a “mighty army of 3000 chariots and 6000 charioteers and as many warriors as the grains of sand on the seashore” (1 Samuel 13:5). The Israelite soldiers tried to hide anywhere they could find, including large cisterns. Some soldiers crossed the Jordan River to get away from the Philistines. Overwhelmed by fear, the Israelite warriors were unwilling to let Saul wait for the full seven days as instructed by Samuel, so they could burn sacrifices to God and seek His guidance and blessings for the impending battle. Saul decided he would offer the sacrifices to God since Samuel did not arrive before the end of the seventh day, the amount of time Samuel instructed Saul to wait in chapter ten. Samuel arrived in Gilgal just as Saul was finishing offering the sacrifices (1 Samuel 13:10). His reaction to seeing that Saul had acted beyond his authority from God—by acting as a priest—was to say with righteous indignation, “What is this you have done?” (vs. 11) Samuel continued in verses thirteen and fourteen, “How foolish! You have not kept the command the Lord your God gave you. Had you kept it, the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever. But now your kingdom must end.”

What happened? Why did Saul disobey God’s instructions through Samuel, God’s prophet? Saul succumbed to his soldiers’ pressure, wanting to be like other kings. He trembled at the idea of losing their trust and loyalty. Saul's focus was on people, not God. He took his eyes off God and focused on his situation. God punished Saul by removing the kingdom from him. He also removed His Spirit from Saul and left a distressing spirit in him (1 Samuel 16:14-15). The first sin of Saul’s, that of disobeying God and taking His glory, led quickly to other sins. He decided not to kill all the Amalekites and their livestock (1 Samuel 15:1-19). Saul walked to Carmel after defeating the Amalekites to set up a monument to himself (1 Samuel 15:12). The Lord outright rejected Saul and had Samuel declare it in 1 Samuel 15:23. When the Lord rejected Saul, He sent Samuel to anoint a man after His own heart, David, in 1 Samuel 16. In this same chapter, the writer of 1 Samuel tells us when the Spirit of the Lord left Saul, a tormenting spirit filled him with depression and fear. A void of God’s Spirit in a person leaves a vacancy for an evil spirit to enter that person. In summary, Saul disobeyed God by taking on the role of priest. God anoints and prepares men to be His priests. He anointed Saul as king, not as a priest. Saul stole God’s glory. He set up a monument to himself because of his pride and allowed the Israelites to give him praise instead of directing the praise to God. For this, God rejected Saul and took His Spirit from Saul. The latter led to a tormenting spirit living in Saul.

Saul was impatient. He received the Spirit of God because of God’s choosing him. He did not use the power and guidance God offered through the Spirit by waiting for guidance and obeying God. Consider Ephesians 6 and the armor of God. For Christians, God’s power and guidance are available to each person. God offers it to each of His children. Christians can choose to receive and use it or not. When believers accept each piece of armor with prayer and then walk with the knowledge, power, and wisdom of God imparted by His truth, righteousness, and salvation, then they can battle Satan and evil spirits. God does not just save people and abandon them to fight alone in life. He wants to journey with each believer and to guide, teach, protect, encourage, and empower them to live life victoriously. Jesus died to give people who believe in Him victory over more than death. Christians can have victory over sin, too.

Consider now, what is your sin today? What was your sin yesterday, this week, this month, this year? Did you live with the power God gives and with His armor received and on you?

To be transparent, one of my recent sins was about to be impatience. Despite not hearing from God, I wanted to make a decision after praying for three days. I desired to accept an opportunity without God’s confirmation. Fortunately, I pray and read my Bible daily. One day, God aimed at my heart with this reminder from Saul’s life. God asked me, “Are you going to be patient or be like Saul?” Ouch! Now, I wait and keep praying. I still ask God want He wants me to do about this opportunity. He reminds me that He does not have to make a quick decision, even though I experience internal pressure to make it. Saul sensed a similar pressure from his soldiers about the choice between fighting the Philistines or running away. God knows what is best for me and for His ultimate plan. He knows what is best for you, too.

Praying for days and not getting an immediate answer is hard. God’s non-answer could mean He is saying, “No,” or “Not yet.” The hard part for me is the "Not yet". I am impatient at times. Will I be like Saul or wait? I am choosing to wait.

Will you wait on God or be like Saul? God is asking you.

Imitators not Imitations

 

Therefore, be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma. (Ephesians 5:1-2, NASB)

Before we jump into the two verses above, we must understand the first word we read in verse one, the word, therefore. Some Bible translations put this word after the word imitators. This verse’s word placement does not matter. The important part is that Paul wrote it, and we need to understand what Paul intended with this conditional word. Therefore implies that an action or statement will result in something happening. This tool is a literary technique used to help a person consider what the speaker states next when considering his previous statements.

To help us understand what Paul wrote in Ephesians 5, let us grasp what he wrote before chapter five. Chapter four told the Ephesian believers and later believers, there must be unity in the body of believers, the body of Christ. Verse one said believers must walk in a manner worthy of their calling by Christ. What is this manner? The manner of Christ is one of humility, gentleness, and patience (4:2-3). This manner includes bearing with each other and being eager to keep the unity. Paul reminded the Ephesians they are one body and spirit made so by having the same Lord, faith, baptism, God, and Father (4:4-6). He reached the heart of the matter. Paul said God’s grace gives gifts to Christians through the Holy Spirit (4:7). These gifts equip saints for ministry, building up the body of Christ (4:13). This enables all believers to reach the pinnacle of the unity of the faith and knowledge of Jesus Christ and to become a mature believer to the full measure of the stature of Christ (4:7-13). For the rest of chapter four, Paul said by growing toward maturity and unity among the body of Christ, each believer will speak truth and be kind, which shows itself in tenderheartedness and forgiveness toward others of the body (4:25 & 32).

Paul wrote, because of this unity and growing maturity of Christlikeness, believers can, therefore, be imitators of God (5:1). He wrote the word, therefore, to show the result of maturing and being united. Every believer should and will resemble their Father God. The tender image Paul gives is of a loved child’s relationship to his or her father. People can relate to this image of a loving father. For those who cannot for whatever reason, the love of a parent, grandparent, aunt, uncle, neighbor, or church member can understand. For others, the relationship of the heavenly Father to him or her is very close because of His protection and provision before he or she became a Christian. Whoever was in your life and deeply touched your heart, consider that relationship like the relationship of the Father to His beloved child.

To extend this comparison, what does a child aspire to become as they mature? Often, he or she will want to imitate the person with whom their heart intensely connects. My mother was a nurse. As a child, my first aspiration was to become a nurse. Why? Because my mom was very loving, caring, and compassionate. This image portrays part of what Paul tried to explain with his analogy. A child desires to imitate their Father. The Father (or the analogized parent, grandparent, etc.) takes great pleasure and honor in the child looking up to Him. He desires for His child to become ever more like Him each day. The Father wants His children to mature into Christlikeness.

What does it mean to be imitators of God? Paul began explaining it in chapter four. He said He wants His children to reach full maturity in likeness to Christ so that they have unity among their brothers and sisters and are kind (tenderhearted and forgiving) and speak truth (the truth of God, not the world’s idea of truth). Paul continued this thought in chapter five. He said imitators of God walk in love (5:2). Paul did not mean phileo love, a brotherly love a person has for his or her close friendships. He wrote saying imitators of God will walk in agape love. Agape is the love shown to people by God. This love is sacrificial love, beyond mere feeling. Sacrificial love intentionally chooses (wills) to act. Agape love shows a preference for the other person over oneself, no matter what the cost. Most parents willingly would risk their lives to save their child’s life. They prefer the life of their child over their own. This love is about what Paul wrote in Ephesians 5:2. God’s children are those who mature and become imitators of Him. This means they will live out this preferential love toward their other brothers and sisters in the faith. These believers prefer to help one another grow, survive, and receive forgiveness. They make the choice to ensure the unity of the body of Christ, regardless of the personal cost to themselves.

That sacrificial love made Jesus' offering of Himself in our place a fragrant aroma to God. What parent, when seeing his or her child do a kind and selfless act, does not beam with pride and love for his or her child? God beams with pride at His children when they become imitators of Him in this way, when they love as Jesus Christ loved them.

The Holy Spirit, by God’s grace, gives each believer gifts to equip himself or herself to mature in Christ and to aid in bringing unity as God designed for His body. This unity builds the faith of other believers, speaks truth in love, and is kind—tenderhearted and forgiving. This unity in the body causes each believer to be imitators of God. Each believer will desire to be so close to God that they reflect the presence and love of Christ, allowing others to see God. Those imitators of God are true. They are not an inferior imitation; one the world says is sufficient. The believers who radiate the presence and sacrifice of Christ are imitators of God, not imitations, like faux leather. These believers desire to be closer to God. They crave it. Believers want everyone to know about God and the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. They care that the truth gets out and all experience life-changing and eternal forgiveness. These Christians are tenderhearted and dedicated to spreading the message of Jesus and His salvation. God's children, imitators of Him, aspire to be nearer to and resemble Abba, the one who never gave up on them and offered forgiveness. Their goal is to be like Jesus, regardless of sacrifices. That is agape love. Agape love is a love that prefers to benefit others instead of oneself.

“Walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.”

Will you live out what Jesus Christ put in you—the new person—by His Spirit when you believed in Him? Agape love requires action. It prefers other people over oneself. Consider what Jesus would do?

Be imitators of God, not imitations.

This Mind

“And be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving one another, just as God also forgave you in Christ.”

— Ephesians 4:32

 

“Kind” is from a Greek word meaning kind, good, benevolent, not harsh, sharp, or burdensome. Compassionate means tender-hearted and empathetic. 

 

So be benevolent and not sharp and be tender-hearted and empathetic to each other. Freely give undeserved grace and pardon, just as God gave you grace and pardon when you didn’t deserve it.

 

Who of us hasn’t needed mercy and empathy? Who hasn’t needed kind words and forgiveness? Who hasn’t been grateful when we’ve received such love and kindness? Remember the relief you felt. Remember the weight of your burden being lifted. Remember the engulfing love that wrapped around you. 

 

Go. Be compassionate. Give love. Be kind. Give undeserved forgiveness. Even to the people who curse you and make your life hard. Remember, God graciously gave you mercy and undeserved forgiveness and love. “Have this mind in you that was also in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 2:5-11).

Poverty and Riches

O God, I beg two favors from You; let me have them before I die. First, help me to never tell a lie. Second, give me neither poverty nor riches! Give me just enough to satisfy my needs. For if I grow rich, I may deny You and say, “Who is the LORD?” And if I am too poor, I may steal and, thus, insult God’s holy name. Proverbs 30:7-9 (NLT)

These verses from Proverbs 30 appear to be an obvious teaching, especially after living as an adult for a while. We realize we tend to forget about God when life is easy. We leave Him. Parties, friends, vacations, and buying new things occupy our minds, as do thoughts of how smart we were to earn that money. Instead, we could praise God for what He gives and tell people of His faithfulness and love. When life is hard, we can grow closer to God because we recognize He gives what we need and because we pray to Him continually. Alternately, we can insult Him by blaming Him for not providing what we need and/or then stealing those items. Once we realize these tendencies, most probably after we have experienced both excess and poverty, we can learn from them.

When we read Proverbs 30:7-9, perhaps we think of tangible things we need, like money, shelter, food, drink, clothes, and medicine. In Matthew 6:25-34, Jesus addressed people’s need for these things. He spoke of clothing and food and said if the Father clothes the flowers is such fine colors and feeds the birds without them worrying what they will eat, how much more so will He take care of our needs, we whom He made in His image. Jesus said in John 10:10 that He came to give us life more abundantly.

As we take this thought a step further, what other needs, non-physical, do we have? Jesus cares about the whole being. Humans have mental, emotional, and spiritual needs, along with physical needs. We need to feel safe and secure, be fed, know truth, experience peace, endure, and trust physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. Life is more than just food, clothes, and where we will sleep, Jesus said. It includes every facet of who we are-mind, spirit, heart, and body. God takes care of the whole person throughout his or her life.

Jesus saves us from sin and death, a timeline of now and not yet. Most people consider the salvation He gives as something they will receive in the future after they die, the “not yet” of the timeline. Salvation happens when we believe in Jesus as God’s Son who died for our sins and when we confess and repent of our sins. When we accept the salvation He offers, He cleanses us from our sins, making us pure so we can live eternally with Him in heaven. Still, salvation is more than “not yet” in our lives. Jesus came to save us now and throughout our whole lives, too, the “now” part of the timeline. The saving now is spiritual, bodily, mental, and emotional, a feeling safe from torment, persecution, prejudice, abuse, and a host of other things. This saving “now” includes feeding our minds, spirits, and hearts with good things, too. Paul wrote about what we should think upon to feed us in Philippians 4:8-9 when he gave a list of “whatevers” to consider. We need to feed ourselves with knowledge, wisdom, and understanding. Jesus became wisdom for us, Paul said in 1 Corinthians 1:30. His Spirit teaches us God’s wisdom and knowledge and gives us understanding. We need to know truth. Jesus said, in John 14:6, He is the truth, way, and life. Jesus is truth. We can seek and rest secure knowing Jesus always tells and teaches truth while other people tell their “truths.” We can feel safe and secure knowing Jesus as the Truth. We can stand and endure knowing Jesus saved us. Ultimately, no matter what happens while we are alive, we recognize God wins and we will be with Him in heaven.

We, who have accepted the salvation Jesus gives, can know we are secure with God and can ask for His guidance, protection, and provision. Jesus’ saving us includes clothing us. Just as He feeds the birds and feeds us with His truths, wisdom, knowledge, and understanding, Jesus, in Matthew 6, promised God would clothe us. Part of the clothing God gives to each of His children is about what Paul taught the Ephesian believers in Ephesians 6:10-20. He told them to put on the armor of faith. Faith in God is what enables each believer in Jesus Christ to “stand firm against all strategies of the devil.” We can stand firm and trust God because of who He is and His attributes - all-powerful, all-knowing, ever-present, wisdom, grace, mercy, and love. To stand firm, Paul told the Ephesian Christians to put on the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shoes of the gospel of peace, the helmet of salvation, and to hold the shield of faith and the sword of the Spirit. And, while wearing this armor, he told them to pray in the Spirit. Always keep in close communion with God while staying alert, Paul said. Notice all the pieces of armor come from God. God is faithful and gives faith. His strength never fails. Jesus is Truth and makes us righteous, gives us salvation, with His righteousness. Jesus is the Prince of Peace and His gospel, good news, is peace and gives peace. He is the Way to the Father. No one can go to the Father except through Him. Jesus gives His Spirit to each person when they believe in Him for salvation. By the Spirit of Jesus with faith and prayer, we can clothe ourselves with the armor of faith, then stand firm by trusting God. God provides and clothes us with His armor.

Because of the “armor of faith,” we, Christians, can be secure, feel safe and secure, be nourished spiritually, mentally, emotionally, and physically. Believers can rest sure of their ultimate salvation. God will give us His wisdom, knowledge, and understanding if we ask. Jesus reveals His truths to us when we seek Him. God meets our mental, emotional, and spiritual needs. Jesus told His followers not to worry about what they would eat, drink, or wear and where they would sleep. With Jesus as our Savior, we realize God cares and provides for our whole being. He feeds and clothes us and gives us shelter. God knows what we need before we even ask, but desires to hear from us and commune with us, so pray continually in the Spirit. Understanding this about God’s provisions, recognize when we have plenty and little, and be content with what He gives. Take note that what we own comes from God, not ourselves. Glorify Him for what He gives. Seek His plan for the gifts. Do not hurl insults at Him for what we do not have. Trust His heart and praise Him. Be faithful to God because He is faithful to us.

Will you deny the Lord when He gives overabundantly to you by walking away from a close communion with Him? Or will you seek Him and His purposes for what He gives you? Will you insult, blame, and curse God with your actions and words when He seems not to listen to your prayers and provide for your needs? Or will you trust in Him and His love for you while praising Him for what He has done and will do? Proverbs 30:7-9 brings us to the point where we must consider choosing faith in God and His purposes and love and being content with what He gives. Without trusting that God loves and cares for us, Satan might lead us astray with his lies, so that we insult God and turn our backs on Him. Trusting God means we will praise Him and be content whether or not He gives overabundantly. Will we seek His will, and trust and praise Him or insult and walk away from Him?

I have learned how to be content with whatever I have. I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength. Philippians 4:11-13 (NLT)

In whom do you trust?
Who gives you strength to live in this world?

In poverty and wealth, Jesus is still your Savior and Lord.

Whom will you trust and praise?

 

The Right Way

“And the seed whose fruit is righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.” (James 3:18 [NASB])

Consider great things guided by small things. A ship goes how the rudder is pushed or pulled. A horse goes how the bit is guided. A person guides them both. Our lives, too, go in the way by whom we allow to direct it. When we get behind the steering wheel of a car, we can direct it where we want, assuming no disaster or health matter interferes with the steering of the car. We can decide for ourselves where the car will go. Our thoughts lead our words and actions.

James said in James 3 that though the tongue is a small part of the body, it boasts of great things (3:5). Our tongues may boast of our educational degrees. It may boast of our work status. Our tongue may boast of what we own, where we are going, or what we have done. Yet, none of these things or this boasting gives us the unattainable by humankind.  Nothing of what we’ve done, said, or thought can make us righteous.

Paul explained in Galatians 1 that, of all men at that time, he had more reason to boast than any Jew. In Galatians 1:13-14, he told the church at Galatia he advanced in Judaism beyond many of his contemporaries among his countrymen and was more extremely zealous for his ancestral traditions. Each of us understands Paul’s great goals of being the best at what we do and of wanting recognition for being the best. Still, once Paul met Jesus on that road, he realized his best would never be good enough. He persecuted people just to advance in his job. God does not condone persecution or selfish ambition and jealousy.

We may not physically persecute people. Instead we might “put people in their place.” By doing that, we strive to make ourselves appear greater in the eyes of people. Isn’t that what seeking to be better is about? We do these things to boast, to build ourselves up higher. This way of life is arrogant. James called this “bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart” in James 3:14. Have we considered it that way? Have we realized this drive to get more, be more, and appear greater than others comes from selfish ambition and bitter jealousy?

James continued with this thought. In James 3: 11-12, he pointed out that good and bad cannot come from the same mouth. What comes from the mouth comes from the heart, and that defiles you, Jesus said in Matthew 15:11. We can say the same about our actions. What we allow to guide our mouth and our body comes from our heart. Just like fresh water and salt water cannot come from the same source, so selfish ambition and acts of righteousness cannot come from the same source. Paul said in 2 Corinthians 5:21, “God made Him (Jesus) who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” Jesus in Matthew 5:6 preached on the mountain, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.”

If we cannot be righteous and do righteousness in word and action on our own while seeking greater things, titles, and praise, how do we succeed in the world and do righteous things? If I can’t do it on my own, what do I do? Jesus explained this in John 14:6. He said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.” No one can be righteous and do righteous things in their own strength. We each inherited the tendency to sin. Of our own strength, we cannot defeat temptation and sin. If we are honest, we will acknowledge we have sinned because of our own selfish ambition and jealousy. That is sin. Sin is seeking what we want irrespective of what another person wants or what is good for other people. Sin is turning away from God and His purposes to do what we want no matter what the cost.

But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions (sins), made us alive together with Christ, and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show us the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them. (Ephesians 2:4-10 [NASB])

By God’s grace through faith in Jesus Christ, He imputes (credits) Jesus’ righteousness to each person who believes in Him. This righteousness does not come because we are good or worthy. God gives it to each of us when we believe and because of His grace. From that point in time, the person who believes in Jesus for salvation has imputed righteousness and can do righteousness by the power of the Holy Spirit within him or her. That person can overcome the desire to feel the need to be better than everyone else or own more than anyone else.  That person realizes he or she is not better than anyone else, but is a sinner just like all people. The only difference is that person received salvation from sin and eternal death. This power of Christ in us gives us the desire to do God’s will for His purpose, not for our selfish ambition or jealousy. We live a righteous life when our purposes align with God’s and our resultant actions, words, and thoughts agree with God’s.  

From the point of a person’s salvation, that person sows the seed of righteousness in peace (James 3:18). People see his or her faith in his or her good behavior and gentle wisdom (James 3:13). This wisdom from God is and brings peace, purity, gentleness, reasonableness, mercy, and good fruits.

Now when you get behind the steering wheel of the car (your life) you recognize God gave you, how will you drive it? Will you drive it with righteousness and its resultant wisdom and peace? Or, will you drive it with bitter jealousy and selfish ambition seeking to get what you want at whatever cost?

Remember, Jesus said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.” (John 14:6 [NASB]) We can’t have righteousness and be right in all our actions, thoughts, and words without Jesus. Without Him, we sow discord, anger, jealousy, arrogance, hatred, etc. Is that what you want in your life? Or would you rather have the righteousness and wisdom that creates purity, peace, gentleness, love, joy, patience, kindness, humility, goodness, self-control, and faithfulness? (Galatians 5:22-23 and James 3:18)

It’s time we realize what Paul did on the Damascus road. He said in Galatians 1:15 that God set him apart even from his mother’s womb and called him through His grace. God said this to Jeremiah, too, in Jeremiah 1:5. Both of these men heard God’s voice in their hearts, minds, and spirits, and they believed.

God knew each of us before He formed us and before we were born. He calls us to Himself so He can make us righteous and justify us by His Son. Consider Romans 8:28-30.

And we know that God works all things together for the good of those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose. For those God foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brothers. And those He predestined, He also called; and those He called, He also justified; those He justified, He also glorified. [NASB]

Who’s driving your car?

Righteousness is available to you, to each of us.

Will you accept it and let God drive?

Jesus is the Way.

He gives righteousness.

With Him, we need nothing else.

We can be satisfied.

Lord, I try to do good things. I try to be my best and, also, get what I want. I don’t want to assume I need You to give me everything. I can work and get some things for myself. Yet, when I do it my way, I find an emptiness. I find as I get what I want, things around me don’t always work out right. Someone gets hurt. Another person gets left behind and not helped; and I feel guilty. I wonder if I could have done it another way. I have forgotten You are the Way. You are the best way. Lord, forgive me for seeking things and titles and forgetting You. Forgive me for leaving You to get what I want. I am weak and broken; I’m a sinner. Forgive me, please. Teach me contentment in You. Teach me patience and how to wait for You. Lord, take me where You want me to go. Give me what You want me to have. Use me to speak and do good and righteous deeds. Lord, use me to tell of You and Your glory. I am Your vessel; use me for Your will. Amen.

Old Skin, New Wine

“One puts new wine into fresh wineskins.” (Mark 2:22c [NASB])

In Mark 1-2, Mark pointedly recalled for his readers instances of Jesus’ authority and power from the start of His earthly ministry. In chapter one, Mark told of Jesus’ baptism (vs. 9-11) after which a voice from heaven said, “You are My beloved Son, in You I am well-pleased.” Being the Son of God meant Jesus had the power and authority of God. Many people did not understand what was said or recognize God’s voice and so, the voice from heaven sounded like thunder to them.  After His baptism, Jesus immediately walked into the wilderness for forty days and faced temptations by Satan, against which He prevailed. After John’s arrest and before Jesus called disciples, He declared His purpose and ministry on earth. He said in 1:15, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” Mark continued to tell of Jesus’ ministry and how He spoke with authority and power. He gave examples of Jesus’ power and authority. Consider these excerpts from Mark 1:

·         Mark 1:16-20 Jesus met and called Andrew, Simeon, James, and John to follow Him.

·         Mark 1:20-22 Jesus taught with authority, not as the scribes taught, in the Capernaum synagogue on the Sabbath.

·         Mark 1:23-28 Jesus met a man with an unclean spirit in the synagogue. This spirit recognized Jesus and said, “I know who you are-the Holy One of God!” Jesus rebuked him and commanded it to come out of the man. With agony the unclean spirit left the man.

·         Mark 1:29-31 Jesus went with Simeon to his house, found Simon’s mother-in-law sick, and healed her.

·         Mark 1:32-34 Many people of the city-town of Capernaum brought the sick and demon-possessed to Jesus and He healed them.

·         Mark 1:39 Jesus went throughout Galilee preaching and healing.

·         Mark 1:40-45 Jesus healed a leper.

In chapter one, Jesus taught with authority and showed His authority and power by healing the sick, calling men to follow Him, declaring His purpose on earth, and casting out demons. Notice in this chapter, He did not face resistance from anyone for what He did. With the start of chapter two, Jesus encountered resistance from the Jewish religious leaders.

People continued to follow Jesus in Mark 2, but none yet believed in Him as the Messiah. The resistance He encountered came from the religious leaders of Israel. The leaders felt Jesus usurped their power so, they challenged Him. Beginning with this chapter, Jesus did more than teach with authority, heal, and cleanse. Consider what Mark wrote in Mark 2:1-17.

·         Mark 2:1-12 Jesus noticed four men lowering a paralyzed man through the roof of a home that contained a crowd so large they could not enter by the door. He forgave the man of his sins. The religious leaders questioned in their hearts how this man, a carpenter from Galilee thought He was God. According to the Law and themselves, this was blasphemy. Jesus challenged them by asking if saying your sins are forgiven is harder or saying get up, take up your mat, and walk. To prove Jesus is the Son of Man, just as Daniel 7 prophesied, He told the man to get up, take up your mat, and walk. By doing this, and the man’s ability to walk, Jesus proved He has the power and authority to heal and forgive sins.

·         Mark 2:13-17 Jesus saw Levi the tax collector and called him to follow Him. Levi invited Jesus and His disciples to eat at his house with his friends. The scribes and the Pharisees challenged His disciples. They asked, “Why is He eating with tax collectors and sinners?” (vs 16) Jesus replied, only the sick need a doctor, not the healthy.

In both passages in Mark 2, Jesus met resistance by the religious leaders. First, they questioned His authority in their hearts. Jesus said He knew what they thought and proved His authority to forgive and power to heal. In verses thirteen through seventeen, Jesus called a conspicuous sinner to be His follower then ate with that unclean person and His friends. The religious leaders would never consider associating with obvious sinners. They wanted to be the standard for holiness and have followers themselves. Jesus proved even sinners are worth His time and attention and can become holy, be healed. Jesus did not stop ministering. He taught the gospel, His purpose on earth, and healed, forgave, and cast out demons because of His love for people and to give examples of His power and authority.

To the Jewish religious leaders, Jesus was a blasphemer because He acted as if He was God by forgiving sins and declaring He is the Son of Man. These leaders knew Jesus came from Galilee and was a carpenter’s son. They understood from their reading of the manuscripts, from the oral tradition, and from their training, the Messiah would arise from the tribe of David, be a warrior king, and would re-establish David’s kingdom. This Jesus was not any of these in the religious leaders’ estimation. He must be a blasphemer they decided. According to God’s Law, blasphemer’s punishment was death by stoning. The religious leaders may have at first chose to side against Jesus because He appeared to be a blasphemer. As Jesus’ ministry continued and people decided to follow Him instead of the Pharisees and other Jewish leaders, they became jealous and afraid they would lose their standing among and power over the Israelites. For these reasons, they sought to get rid of Jesus. With these twin emotions flowing through the hearts and minds of the religious leaders, they need not have worried. No one yet believed Jesus was the Messiah. They had not placed their faith in Him as the Messiah.

In Mark 2:18-22, Jesus will again teach by example and will use parables. He will rise to the challenge some people put to Him. Jesus will teach through three common analogies that everyone is unclean, and each person needs a Savior.

In the encounter by Jesus with the Pharisees in 2:12-17, the issue for the Pharisees, besides fear and jealousy, was eating with the unclean, at least the people the Pharisees considered unclean. Under Levitical law, people who were ritually unclean could not be around people who were clean. How was this designation determined? God chose the tribe of Levi to be His priests. He made them the law-teachers, keepers, and givers. They, too, were the judgment-givers God chose to tell the people how to become clean again when a person sinned against God. Remember, Israel was a theocracy, a nation whose head was God. The leaders of the people, the Levites, expanded on the laws God gave. Some of those expansions included not associating with people they considered unclean, sinners. Since the tax collectors took more money than the Roman government required and kept the excess for themselves, the tax collectors were sinners and, so, unclean. Others who the Levites considered unclean were prostitutes and lepers. God had a means by which every person could make atonement for his or her sin daily, the morning and evening sin sacrifice. God told the Levites to take the offering by the people and offer it to Him as a sin sacrifice each day. Until they sinned again, that sin offering for past sins sufficed to make them clean for that time. Yet, the Levites decided for themselves, once a sinner always a sinner, or in their thinking, once unclean always unclean. That is why eating with Levi and his friends was hard for the Pharisees to swallow. It makes the lesson of 2:18-22 difficult for them to grasp, too. Jesus confronts the Pharisees about their religious rituals and what He came to bring and give each person who believes in Him.

While John’s disciples and the Pharisees fasted, some people (other translators say onlookers or some of the disciples of these men.) asked Jesus, “Why do John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast?” (2:18) Again, the question is about rituals. Before that time, the Pharisees instituted more weekly fasts so people would think they were more pious than other people and would look up to them. Those who did not fast as much as the Pharisees, the Pharisees considered beneath them, inferior. Because some of John’s disciples had remained loyal to the Pharisaical traditions, they, too, fasted more often than God required. Fasting in the Old Testament involved abstaining from food and possibly drink for a set period of time to express grief (1 Samuel 31:13, 2 Samuel 1:12 & 12:20-23), or penitence (1 Samuel 7:6 & 1 Kings 21:27), or to prepare one’s self for prayer (2 Samuel 12:16-17 & Psalm 35:13), or to seek the Lord’s favor (Judges 20:26 and 2 Chronicles 20:3). Jewish law required fasting only for humbling one’s self in preparation for and including the Day of Atonement. God declared purpose of the Day of Atonement was so the people could cleanse themselves from all sins before being with Him (Leviticus 16:29-31 & 23:27). In one other place, God commanded fasting as an act of contrition to return to Him with a person’s whole heart/being (Joel 2:12).

The Old Testament did not instruct people to fast two or three times a week. It never told the people to fast so he or she could appear more religious. Jesus confronted that misconception in Matthew 6:16-18. He condemned fasting to draw attention to one’s self and one’s piety. Similarly, Jesus told the people not to give alms or to pray so others would see them do these things. He told them, instead, go into a secret place and let God be the only one who sees you doing these things and He will reward you in secret (Matthew 6:1-8). Jesus did not condemn fasting. He even taught by example when He fasted forty days and nights in the desert in Matthew 4:2 and Luke 4:2. This justified fasting showed a person’s sincere seeking of God. It is a denying of one’s self (one’s flesh) and focusing on God. If we consider the New Testament after Jesus’ death and resurrection, the Christian church fasted in preparation to make important decisions (Acts 13:2-3 & 14:23). They sought God while fasting instead of seeking to fill their flesh. The New Testament has no law requiring fasting.

While we do not know for sure who asked Jesus why He ate with sinners, we realize from the question asked, the person still did not believe about Jesus being the Messiah. By this question, we recognize the questioner realized Jesus did not follow the religious rituals. Jesus’ actions and teachings kept rubbing like sandpaper against the rituals the religious leaders set. They tried to force Him to do as they said, but He determinedly chose to follow God’s will and not what man dictated. Jesus, recognizing the unbelief of the questioner and the listeners, taught by using three commonplace occurrences in the lives of the Jews-weddings, repairing cloth, and storage of wine.

First, He asked, “While the bridegroom is with them, the attendants of the bridegroom cannot fast, can they?” This was a rhetorical question. Everyone knew the answer to this was a resounding, “No.” Jesus continued, “So long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in that day.” (2:18-19) Jesus answered the rhetorical question leading the listeners to His point and alluding to His future-Jesus won’t be with His disciples on earth always. When He is gone, they will mourn and fast during their mourning. Jesus added another depth to this image. In the Old Testament, God is the bridegroom in Isaiah 54:5 & 62:5, and in Hosea 2:19. Since Jesus is the Son of Man, He used this metaphor of the bridegroom to refer to Himself. Now, consider the Israelites culture. When a wedding occurred, the wedding feast lasted seven days. Much rejoicing, eating, drinking, and dancing marked the wedding of a man and woman. Because Jesus has come as the Bridegroom, His followers are His bride and while He is with them, they would eat and drink. When Jesus left, His bride, the church, would mourn. His arrival as the Messiah, the Son of Man, was to be a time of celebration like a wedding, not a time of penitence, atonement, and grief.

Rejoice, the Messiah has come!

In this lesson, Jesus told the people not to use fasting as a marker of a person’s devoutness. When Jesus came, He fulfilled the Law; God required no fasting any longer. He didn’t remove fasting as a spiritual discipline. Jesus wanted the people to realize the gift of salvation came by God’s grace. Salvation requires grace, God’s grace, and nothing else. We cannot gain salvation by doing anything like praying, giving, or fasting. We don’t get more salvation by doing these things. Salvation is salvation. It is complete and sufficient (ample) for each of our sins. Salvation and grace come from God Who is perfect and holy.

Grace + nothing = Salvation

Because people often understand a lesson better by using everyday objects or occurrences, Jesus continued to answer this question using the analogy of a torn old cloth and a new cloth. He said in verse twenty-one, “No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; otherwise the patch pulls away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear results.” Read that verse again. Understand Jesus’ concern for the old cloth. His concern was that the tear would be greater than it was before the repair if the person used unshrunk cloth. Jesus came to give a new way to be in relationship, in covenant, with God. That new way is like the new cloth. If you try to sew new cloth onto the old cloth, the old way of living with its old rituals that did not give salvation, then the new cloth won’t stay attached and the old cloth will have a worse tear.

Consider the next analogy. Jesus said in verse twenty-two, “No one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost and the skins as well; but one puts new wine into fresh wineskins.” In that day, a tanner made a wineskin of a whole and uncut skin from a sheep or goat. He would remove first the neck, then each leg. After the tanner removed the skin, he tied off with a cord all but one opening, sheared the hair close to the skin, tanned the skin, and then turned it inside out. By skinning the animal this way, no leak could occur from a break in the skin. When a person put wine into the skins, the fermentation was not complete. During that fermentation, vapors arose. Those vapors would stretch the skin into which the vintner poured it. A new skin had elasticity to expand as the gasses arose from the fermentation process. An old skin was inflexible. If the vintner put new wine that was still fermenting into an old wineskin, the old skin that was rigid could not expand with the resultant gasses and would burst the old skin. The new wine of which Jesus spoke is His Holy Spirit whom He imparts to each believer. The old wineskin was the rituals of religion each of the Pharisees and John’s disciples used to show his piety. These rituals were something from their past of which they didn’t want to let go.

 Jesus showed concerned for the wine and the skins. He doesn’t want the faith of a person to become rigid and caught in ritual just to show one’s piety and prove he or she is better than other people. Jesus wants to give new life to each person. He wants to have His Spirit abide in each person to teach, equip, guide, encourage, admonish, and grow him or her into a closer relationship with God and likeness with Him.

Jesus lived every day with regular people. Some people were mostly good, some were considered unclean, some were sick, others were possessed by demons, all were sinners. When asked a question, Jesus wanted to make sure people understood Him well and so used analogies from every day life. These analogies are parables. Just as groomsmen do not fast at a wedding, but rejoice, Jesus wants us to rejoice with Him by accepting the new life He offers by grace through faith in Jesus Christ (Ephesians 2:4-5, 8). Grace is God’s gift to us given by sacrificing His Son, Jesus, on the cross to take our penalty for our sins. Nothing we can do would be enough to cleanse us from what we’ve done wrong. Only God’s sacrifice of His sin-free and perfect Son is sufficient. Jesus wanted to make sure people understood this. The new life He gives cannot be added onto old rituals. We cannot and do not have to add any personal works-actions with resultant attitudes-to what Jesus gives us. When we believe in Jesus Christ, we become new like the new cloth and the new wineskin. If we just add what Jesus did to what we already do, the patch will tear off and the hole in the old cloth will be worse. Considering the analogy of the wineskins, when Jesus pours new wine into wineskin, He can’t pour it into an old wineskin of old rituals. It will burst. We cannot add the new way to the old way. The old wineskin of old rituals or religion cannot contain the Spirit of God. Keeping the old rituals means a person has not truly given his or her heart and life to God for salvation and His purposes. The person cannot grow and become more like Jesus daily because of the rigidity and bursting of their old wineskin. 

Each of us must look at our lives. We must ask ourselves what we do in our religious moments that are just ritual and what God requires. We cannot add to our salvation. Jesus paid the full penalty for each person’s sins. His sacrifice was sufficient and perfect. Nothing needs to be added, Nothing we, human, fallible created beings can add to it makes Jesus’ gift of salvation more perfect. Perfection is already perfect. So, what do we do? What religious rituals do we have that make us consider ourselves and ways as better? Do we go to church every time the doors are open? Do we make sure we are on every committee? Do we make sure we give the most money to church? Do we say long, rambling prayers in church, Bible study, cell groups, etc. to prove our piety? Do we fast every week and make sure people know it? People consider and do many other rituals to make themselves feel better and appear better than other people. But we must consider, does God require these of us or are we just doing them for show? The other side of this question is, are you making Jesus fit your idea of church? How are we making Jesus fit into our cloth or His Spirit into our wineskin? Do we think we can we even consider tell God where He is allowed in our lives? What arrogance and self-centeredness!

Perfection is already perfect.

Jesus’ offered salvation is already perfect!

Jesus invites us to His feast. He invites us to be His bride, His church. Jesus doesn’t come to fit our mold. He came to make us new and give us a new life. He calls us to rejoice with Him at the blessings of God each day. The people of Israel had trials, but He taught they could rejoice even while facing trials because He was their Bridegroom and was with them.

Today, we can know and believe with our hearts, Jesus is with us now. We can rejoice because of the hope He gives for now and eternity. Our faith doesn’t have to be old, dry, inflexible, torn, and human ritual. It can be alive because of it being in Jesus Christ. Jesus gave His sacrifice because of God’s grace. He gives us salvation and new life.

You no longer have to go to a wedding and fast.

Go to the wedding and rejoice…even during trials.

Jesus is enough. He paid it all.

God’s grace can save us through faith in Jesus Christ.

God offers salvation to everyone.

Will you accept?

¹And you were dead in your sins. ⁴But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, ⁵even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved). ⁸For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; ⁹not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. (Ephesians 2:1, 4-5, 8-9 [NASB])

Lord, I fail often. I am a sinner. I find what I do is not enough to make me feel good about myself. There’s nothing I can do to make my guilt go away and, Lord, I come today to lay it all down at Your feet. Please, take my pain and my shame. Take my heart; it’s all I have. Cleanse me. Make me new. Give me Your loving grace. I accept You as My Savior, Oh Son of God. Forgive me, please. Amen.

Weak Strengths

“A final word: Be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power.” Ephesians 6:10 [NLT]

Often, we get caught unaware and sin or do wrong things in the areas of our life where we are strongest. Why is that? We don't pray over the areas of our life in which we are strongest.

Someone may say, I am strong in the gifting of finance. Then when they don't pray, they don't give a portion back to God.

Another person may say, I am strong about praying. Then when they hit a personal wall, they melt in fear or frustration and forget to go to God for their strength and guidance over or around that wall.

Still another person might say, I am strong in teaching, but then forget to rely on the Lord for guidance as to what needs to be taught or highlighted while teaching, or possibly even doesn't prepare because that person has taught the subject so much.

Our human nature is to strive to make ourselves stronger in the areas we are weakest, to grow and become strong in more than one area of our lives. Yet, when they forget to shore up and keep giving and using our strengths to and for the LORD, our strengths become weaknesses because we have made ourselves our own gods.

Consider Joab in 1 Kings 2. He supported the priest, Adonijah, but not Absalom. Instead he should have supported God and His anointed king, David. Joab, in his own wisdom, with his strength as commander of the army chose who would be his leader, and it wasn't God or his king. The Kings' Chronicler told of this in 1 Kings 2:28.

Oswald Chambers said it this way, "Unguarded strength is actually a double weakness, because that is where the least likely temptations will be effective in sapping strength. The Bible characters stumbled over their strong points, never their weak ones." (My Utmost for His Highest, April 19th)

What are your strengths? Those are your greatest weaknesses. Pray for them and the other parts of your being so that you will not succumb to temptation to keep yourself to yourself instead of giving your whole life to the LORD. Only He makes you strong and only He can make you withstand trials and persecution.

A final word: be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power. Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all the strategies of the devil. For we are not fighting against flesh and blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark work, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places. (Ephesians 6:10-12 [NLT])

Lord, I find myself looking to my own self as my guide and not seeking You and Your will. I consider the gift You gave me as mine and I walk in the knowledge that I am strong in this area. Yet, I do not pray over the gift You gave me. I do not dedicate it to You. I do not guard it from Satan’s devices. Lord, forgive me for walking in my own ways and making myself my own god deciding what I need to do because I am strong. Forgive me for not giving this strength, this gift, back to You for Your service and purposes. Lord, forgive me for not safeguarding and growing the talent You gave me. You have a purpose for it and I must be a good steward of it. Lord, help me learn how to strengthen the gift You have given me. Help me to remember to give it back to You in thanks and as an offering for Your service. Help me remember, You are God and I am not. Remind me to pray over my strengths like I pray over my weaknesses. May they be used for Your glory and purposes all my days. Amen.