No Temporary Tabernacle

And the Word (Christ) became flesh and tabernacled among us; and we (John and the disciples) saw His glory, glory as belongs to the only begotten Son of the Father, who is full of grace and truth. (John 1:14, paraphrase)

In the Old Testament, God told Moses to build a tabernacle for Him. In it, He would dwell and be with the Israelites as they journeyed to the Promised Land. God told them with what to build the tabernacle and its size, and what furniture and vessels it would contain. Since its construction was of cloth and wood, the tabernacle was easy to assemble and disassemble as the Israelites journeyed to the Promised Land. This tabernacle shone during the night. It was the light of God for the Israelites to see and remember God was among them. A cloud descended upon the tabernacle when Moses entered it to be with God. When Moses came from the tabernacle, his face shone with the glory of God and the people feared death because they recognized they could see God’s glory. They remembered that anyone who gazes upon God would die. The Israelites asked Moses to cover his face after he had been in God’s presence for fear they would die.

John told about Jesus in the first chapter of his gospel. He called Jesus the Light. God was the God light to the Israelites since they left Egypt. God’s light from His being led them as they walked at night. His light showed He was in His tabernacle. God’s light showed God’s presence. Jesus came to earth as a human, bringing God's light and glory among the people. In John 1:9-10, John wrote, Jesus was the true Light. Despite creating the world, Jesus went unrecognized and disbelieved by His own people during His time on earth.

In verse fourteen, John returned to God’s glory and Light, God’s plan revealed through Jesus. John explained the truth about Jesus. Jesus, the Word of God, was born in human flesh. He gave up His throne in heaven. God's plan is to save people from the judgment their sins deserve on judgment day. He desires no judgment or condemnation for anyone. God wants to have an eternal relationship with everybody. He made a way to rescue each person from the sin judgment of separation from Him. John said, “And the Word became flesh and lived among us.” For our sins and God’s love for us, Jesus left His throne to be born as a human, to teach each person about God’s love and plan for their salvation, and then to be the sacrifice needed to pay the penalty for the sins of each person who will believe in Him.

John continued about who Jesus is and testified for himself and the disciples. He wrote, “We actually saw His glory, glory as belongs to the only Son of the Father.” Remember, in the Old Testament, God dwelled in the tabernacle and, later, the temple. His glory shone from the tent and the faces of the men who met with Him. Jesus became God’s glory among the people. Jesus, the Son of God, dwelled with the people. “God with us,” Emmanuel, is Jesus. From Jesus shone God’s glory. Jesus did not lose His divinity when He lived on earth as a man. Divine is who Jesus is. He and God are one. God’s divinity and glory are Jesus’ divinity and glory. Jesus became “God with us” at His birth. The glory of God shone on earth for everyone, not only the Israelites who built the tabernacle and temple.

Jesus’ life on earth showed the truth of who He is. His grace—divine favor, kindness, and love—and His miracles revealed His divinity and glory. Jesus tabernacles with us. He did not merely live in Israel. Jesus showed His glory, power, majesty, and truth as He acted and spoke and, by these, showed the people He is divine. Jesus walked among people. He truly is “God with us.” Jesus revealed and became the gospel plan to rescue people from the death sentence and eternal separation from God their sins deserve. By God’s grace—His undeserved love—Jesus tabernacled among people. God showed He is more than transcendent; He cares what happens in our lives. God is imminent. He is here every moment, walking with us—tabernacling with us—guiding us through life and rescuing us in times of trouble and from our sins. That is the meaning of “God with us”—helping and rescuing us daily. God's salvation plan protects us daily from sin and harm, both now and in eternity.

God became flesh and tabernacled—dwelled—among us. He is, was, and will always be. He is for us, not against us. Are you daily meeting God in the tabernacle He created by the salvation you received? God makes tabernacling with Him available to us through His Spirit dwelling in each believer in Jesus. We Christians are privileged to be with God in every breath we breathe. Draw close to God and be with Him; He is for you.

God is as close as your next breath.

Are you tabernacling with God, spending time with Him each day? He is calling to you.

Do you want closeness to God—the Father, Son, and Spirit—but do not know how? Write to me and I will lead you to know God through the salvation Jesus  gives.

 

Love and Protection

 

And take the helmet of salvation and the sword that the Spirit wields, which is the Word of God. (Ephesians 6:17 [AMPC])

Yesterday, I was reading about the armor of God in Ephesians 6 in the Amplified translation of the Bible. In verse seventeen, Paul said, “Take the sword that the Spirit wields, which is the word of God.” I had never read that last part before, “that the Spirit wields.” Yes, we understand each of these pieces of armor is God’s armor for His children who take and wear it. In our heads, as we read this chapter of Ephesians, we know this armor comes from God and helps us in our battles. The question though is this; how many of us just take it and do what we think we must do? God did not intend His children wear it without His power, strength, guidance, encouragement, and knowledge.

Consider verse seventeen. The point of this verse is you must take hold of God’s sword and join Him in holding the sword while He defends you or leads you. Do you understand this? The same thing should happen as we put on each piece of armor. The armor is God’s. He gives it to us and commands us to put it on each day, just as Paul commanded the Ephesians. Never do Christians have ownership of the armor they wear. The armor comes from God to help us.

This same thing applies to each piece of the armor we take and wear. Consider it this way. Wear the helmet to protect your head and keep remembering God is your salvation. Put on the shield of faith so you douse the flaming darts and arrows Satan shoots your way to kill you and lead you to doubt God and His protection and goodness over you. Continue to have a strong faith. Put on the armor of preparation to cover your feet. These armored shoes will prepare you to be ready with the good news of Christ, with firm-footing and stability to battle in rough terrain without doubting God. They will lead you in God’s path for your safety and His purpose of peace. Put on God’s breastplate to protect your vital organs and to give you His integrity and righteousness through Jesus. Tighten the belt of truth around you so you will always know God’s truth and can defeat Satan’s lies and not become distracted and forlorn by them. With each these pieces of armor, always pray in the Spirit with every kind of prayer. By doing this, God encourages you as you wear it and you have faith in Him in all things remembering He is almighty. Most of all, put on God’s complete armor, by which He saves you from Satan’s distresses, so you can resist him and stand firmly in your faith in God.

So many of us pray for the armor of God then walk away thinking, “I've got this.” Instead of this attitude, we should put on God’s armor and walk with Him holding onto His sword, wearing His helmet, tightening His belt around our waist, stepping in faith in His shoes, and raising His shield, so He wins the battle for us. By doing this, God receives the glory, He encourages us in our faith, grows us to be like Him, and we become closer in oneness with Him. Each piece of the armor of God is for bodily protection and a minute-by-minute reminder that God is the One who goes before us, behind us, above us, and with us. His armor protects us from doubting, from fearing, from quitting, and from falling. 

The Spirit wields the sword.

We hold it with Him while He swings it for God’s glory and our good. 

When was the last time you took God’s armor and allowed Him to protect you and be your champion?

Hope and Victory

For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world-our faith. (1 John 5:4 [ESV])

We, as Christians, have comfort after the death of a Christian friend and relative. This comfort comes only by Jesus’ death and resurrection and by His teaching about what will be after we die. For people who are not Christians, they will have no hope or comfort during their illness or on their deathbed because they have never believed Jesus is the Son of God. They have no hope or victory over death. Death for non-Christians is eternal separation from God. What hope is there to give to the loved ones left behind after a non-Christians death? There is only one hope for these loved ones; they can have hope for themselves of life beyond death with God in His kingdom if they believe Jesus is the Son of God. As much as we grieve the loss of a person who didn’t believe in Jesus, we still have hope to offer the ones left alive. Jesus is the only comfort and consolation for grieving people, just as He is the Comfort and Hope-giver for His disciples.

Today, tens of thousands of people around the world die from COVID-19. Thousands of them died without knowing Jesus as the Son of God. We remain behind to offer comfort to their friends and loved ones. The comfort we can give them comes because of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection.

When Jesus saw her (Mary) weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, He was deeply moved in spirit and greatly troubled. And He said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to Him, “Lord, come and see.” Jesus wept. So, the Jews said, “See how He loved him!” (John 11:33-36 [ESV])

Remember, Jesus cried at Lazarus’ grave. He didn’t cry because He had no hope. He cried because of His empathy with His friends’, Mary and Martha’s, grief. Jesus waited until Lazarus was dead to show He has power over death. He waited until Lazarus was dead to give glory to the Father. Jesus knew Mary, Martha, and Lazarus believed He is the Son of God, but other people around them did not believe. He provided comfort to them by showing He is the Son of God who has power over death when He brought Lazarus back to life. Jesus provided comfort to the believers and the unbelievers. He gave hope, showed love, grew the faith of the people who saw or heard about this happening, and gave God the glory. Did more people believe Jesus is the Son of God because of Lazarus’ resurrection? We don’t know for sure, but we can know they probably thought about it. I believe some could no longer doubt Jesus being the Son of God and came to believe in Him for salvation. Did the believers who watched Jesus raise Lazarus from the dead gain a deeper faith in Him because of this resurrection miracle? Most definitely.

Think of two people you know who have lost a loved one recently. Consider their relationship with God. Consider the dead person’s relationship with Jesus. What comfort can you offer the person left behind? Find out about their relationship with Jesus. Do they believe in Him? Offer the lasting hope and peace found only through Jesus. Tell them about Him so He will comfort them. Tell them about Him so they will believe in Him and receive salvation and eternal life with God. Their belief in Jesus will give them hope, peace, and comfort. Jesus’ Spirit will live in them to remind them of these and to grow them to be like Jesus.

Do you love people enough to tell them about Jesus?

Or do you hate people so much you won’t tell them about Jesus and

withhold from them comfort, peace, hope, and victory?

Tell people about Jesus. Allow them to receive salvation from their sins and have perfect peace and victory over death.

Then Jesus told them (His disciples) plainly, “Lazarus has died, and for your sake I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.” (John 11:14-15 [ESV])

Jesus said to her (Martha), “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in Me, though he dies, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” (John 11:25-26 [ESV])

Lord, God, I have become blind to other people and their problems or grief during this time of social distancing and lockdown. It’s easy not to see the grief of other people when the government leaders will not allow us to be together. I cannot use that excuse. Forgive me for using that excuse. Forgive me for getting wrapped up in myself and protecting my family. I should focus more on You and Your will than on my safety and health. Please Lord, tell me how to stay socially connected. Show me to whom You want me to talk, offer comfort, and tell about You. Put Your mind and heart into me so I know to whom to talk and what to say to comfort them. Help me listen as they grieve or fear for their lives. Help me stay focused on You and speak Your words of consolation and comfort. Help me not fear testifying about You, our Savior and Victor. Lord, I am just a small cog in the universe, but You can use me for Your purposes. I give my life to You. Make me hear Your voice and talk to people as You direct. Amen.

God's Fame or My Name

The Pharisee and Sadducees came up, and testing Jesus, they asked him to show them a sign from heaven. But He replied to them, “When it is evening, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red.’ And in the morning, ‘There will be a storm today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ Do you know how to discern the appearance of the sky, but cannot discern the signs of the times? An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign; and a sign will not be given it, except the sign of Jonah.” And He left them and went away. (Matthew 16:1-4 [NASB])

Consider a boat. What makes it seaworthy? Does the name of the company that owns it give us confidence in the boat or its actual construction? We must consider that with our lives and people who teach us in our world.

The main question that arises from this passage is for what kind of sign are we looking? Do we want a sign so we can tell others the meaning and gain recognition and followers? Or, do we seek a sign so we can praise God and lead others to Him? Jesus raised this question in Matthew 16:1-4.

In this passage, we need to consider two things, the people of the story and the signs of which each speaks. The people include the odd joining of Pharisees and Sadducees to remove Jesus’ power over the people, and then Jesus Himself. The signs in this passage speak of how this group of men sought to trick Jesus and what they themselves did not understand of Jesus’ purpose on earth.

The Pharisees were the Law givers and upholders of the Jewish Law. They believed God provided the Jews with the written Law and the oral Law. The Pharisees were known for their personal piety and their teaching Jews should obey all 600+ laws in the Torah. They were a minority in the Sanhedrin (the Jewish council) yet they seemed to control the decision-making because they had popular support among the people. Because the Pharisees considered the oral tradition as equal to the written tradition, it evolved over the centuries as they added to God’s Word, which He forbade in Deuteronomy 4:2. In Matthew 9:14, 15:1-9, 23:5, 16, & 23, and Luke 11:42, the Gospels give examples of the Pharisees considering their traditions as equal to God’s Word. The Pharisees believed in the resurrection of the dead and an afterlife. They believed in the Messiah setting up His kingdom on earth. Because Jesus came to earth not to set up the earthly kingdom with power and might that would overthrow their current rulers, the Romans, and because His teachings were contrary to theirs, the Pharisees feared Jesus decreased their power and leadership among the Jews, and so wanted Him gone.

The Sadducees were a part of the Jewish leaders and of the Jewish council, the Sanhedrin. They were the aristocrats of the Jews and known for corrupting their religious devotion. The Sadducees controlled the Jerusalem Temple, known as Herod’s Temple. They only accepted the written word of Moses. The Sadducees rejected the oral tradition as being equal to the written word. They rejected the supernatural, including angels, demons, heaven, hell, and bodily resurrection. The Sadducees believed the soul died with the body. They held strongly in ritual purity as prescribed by God through Moses. Because the Sadducees didn’t believe in a heaven, hell, or bodily resurrection, they had no need for a Messiah as spoken of in the works outside the written tradition and as Jesus preached.

With this understanding of the actors in these four verses, let’s consider closer what these men said. The group of men confronting Jesus asked for a sign from heaven. Jesus challenged them on that and spoke of the sign of Jonah. Were these men speaking of the same thing? The answer comes from the ultimate motive of the questions. The Pharisees and Sadducees came to test Jesus. Were they testing Him to determine if He was blaspheming? Jesus will show us the truth of that in verses two and three.

First, consider what the Pharisees and Sadducees asked. They asked Jesus to show them a sign from heaven. This word for sign comes from the same Greek word for sign as Jesus spoke of in verses three and four, semeion, which typically means a miraculous sign to confirm or authenticate something. The motive of these religious leaders was overtly to prove Jesus was a blasphemer, but by doing that, it would prove their authority as the religious leaders of the Jews. The covert reason, Jesus would bring to light with His statement.

What was the real reason for the religious leaders asking for a sign from Jesus? In verses two and three, Jesus asked them, while the surrounding crowd listened, if they knew how to read the sign in the sky telling people when it would rain or be a fair-weather day, how did they not know how to discern the sign of the times? Jesus basically said these leaders of the Jews could read the physical signs of earth, but even as spiritual leaders, they were unable to discern the spiritual sign of the times. This statement by Jesus proved the sign for which the Pharisees and Sadducees asked of Jesus was a way people used to prove the cause they pleaded was God’s when actually they did not do that. The religious leaders asked the question to put them in an exalted place where people would continue to look at them as their leaders for disclosing Jesus as a non-Messiah and a blasphemer.

Jesus’ statement continued in verse four. He not only showed the Jewish leaders’ covert question, but He labeled them for the people who could not see what they did. He said in verse four, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and a sign will not be given it, except the sign of Jonah.” First Jesus revealed the leaders’ covert motive for the question, to raise themselves in the eyes of the Jews as spiritual leaders, and then overtly called them evil and adulterous. These Pharisees and Sadducees were evil and adulterous and leading the Jews to be the same. Jesus made the Pharisees and Sadducees a lesson for the crowds that followed Him and heard about His teachings and signs.

A lesson comes in this sign of Jonah of which Jesus spoke. The only sign the evil and adulterous would get would be what happened to Jonah. What happened to Jonah? Jesus explains this sign in Matthew 12:39-41. He said,

But He (Jesus) answered them (Pharisees and scribes) and said to them, “An evil and adulterous generation craves for a sign, and yet no sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah the prophet. For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea monster, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh will stand up with this generation at the judgment and will condemn it because they )the Ninevites) repented at the preaching of Jonah; and something greater than Jonah is here.” [NASB]

The sign of Jonah, Jesus said, was his coming back to life three days after being taken into the deep. Jesus, like Jonah, would be dead for three days and then come back to life. He would be bodily resurrected. Jonah was a sign for the Ninevites sent by God and they repented, though later reverted to a wicked life. Jesus challenged the Jewish religious leaders. He asked how they could be spiritual leaders of God’s people when they could not read the spiritual signs of the time. They we so afraid of losing their fame and followers that they did not see the sign of God in front of them and lead the people to believe in Jesus as the Messiah. The Ninevites who repented would judge the Jews, who though they had the Messiah in front of them did not believe.

The sign of which Jesus spoke was a sign given to confirm His authority to preach, teach, heal, cleanse, and forgive. Its end purpose was to exalt the One giving the sign, God the Father. It authenticated Jesus and His eternal purpose by doing what man could not replicate or that for which man could not take credit. The Jewish leaders asked for a sign to authenticate Jesus as a blasphemer, not to exalt God but themselves so the Jews would continue to follow them. These leaders asked for signs to tell others about their abilities and greatness instead of seeing God and praising Him.

We have that choice to make every day, too. It comes down to what makes our boat seaworthy, the name on it or its Workmanship?

Will we ask so we can tell or see so we can praise?

Not all asking brings seeing God, but all seeing of God comes from asking of Him.

Likewise,

Not all telling brings praising of God, but all praise of God brings telling about Him.

Lord, so often I ask for You to show me Yourself, but then I don’t proclaim Who You are or what You’ve done. Please forgive me. Sometimes, if I am completely honest, I even claim a new insight learned, but don’t give you credit. Forgive me, LORD. I am not so smart to tell of You from my earthly insight. Help me always to see You to proclaim You. Help me realize I am but a created being who always needs to You to keep from sinning. I am weak and You are strong. If it were not so, I would not be saved now and able to proclaim Your goodness, mercy, grace, and love. You, oh Lord, are almighty and I am not. Thank you for Your love of me from the beginning of time. Thank you for Your plan to save me and for saving me from myself, my sins, and my due judgment. Lord, all I can do when faced with Yourself is prostrate myself on my face and praise You. I love You, Lord. Amen.

Earthen Vessels...But

But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying about in the body the dying of Christ, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. For we who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So, death works in us, but life in you.  2 Corinthians 4:7-12 [NASB]

Each of us, when we encounter a speed bump or cliff in life, wonder why we must go through it. “Why is this happening to me?” we may ask. “How can I ever get through this trouble?” is another question that often arises. If we are believers, the answer is most obvious when we are sailing on calm seas. We get through it with God’s strength and direction. As we battle through the difficulty, we often forget God is with us and makes His wisdom, knowledge, power, and strength available to us. Yet, when we get through the trial, we realize God was there all the time. Still, we may wonder, “Why did that horrible time happen?”

Have you considered God will orchestrate difficult times? He will do it to help us grow and to bring Himself glory. How we get through the trials determine if we grow and if God gets the glory. Paul spoke in 2 Corinthians 4 about trials. He said, “We are afflicted, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed.” This attitude did not just happen. It came from going through trials and finding God to be faithful when Paul called upon Him. Paul spent this part of his letter to the Corinthians teaching them from his own experiences. He spoke as one who had been through the fires.

When we encounter our own fires, we wonder why we must go through that trial. “What did I do to deserve this?” we may ask. Paul explained two reasons for trials in 2 Corinthians 4:7 & 11. He said we go through difficulties “so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves.” (2 Cor. 4:7b) People go through trials to show God’s great power as they go through them. In verse 11b, Paul added, we go through these things “so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal (believer) flesh.” Our lives can be a testimony of Jesus’ life in us enabled by His Holy Spirit. This latter cannot happen without growth and growth cannot happen without the believer calling on God for help during difficult times. Difficult times grow a person’s faith in God and make the person more identified with the sufferings of Jesus.

Let me give an example. We have a prodigal child in our family. Many people have prodigals in their families. Our family prays daily for this adult child, for God to keep speaking to the heart of the person, to break down the walls Satan has erected in the person’s heart, to bring the person to the point of repentance, and bring the person back to living in communion with God and His children, our family included. The last five years have been painful as we watched this child live without God and walk in ways contrary to God’s moral laws. On Mother’s Day Sunday, without my foreknowledge, the pastor called me up to the front of the church. I had no idea what was about to happen. As the pastor talked about the people in our church who may have prodigals in their family, whether child, sibling, or parent, I got nervous. I had been at the point of tears in my pew and knew I could not talk or pray without crying. I called out to God silently in my heart and mind asking Him to make me strong enough to speak without crying. Eventually, the pastor asked me to pray for each person standing who has a prodigal in their family. I prayed without crying as God has led me to pray these last 5 years for my adult child.

Why did I tell you this story? I told you this story because if I had not called upon God for His strength to get through that time of prayer, I would have cried. My prayer would have been babbling. People would not have had prayers lifted for their prodigals and learned how to pray for them. And God would not have been glorified. My prayer that morning was a testimony to God’s greatness, goodness, love, and faithfulness. Nothing in me could have done it without God’s intervention. Other people would not have gained strength and grown in their walk with God about their prodigal.

Paul added two other benefits of going through trials at the end of chapter four. He said,

Therefore, we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison. (1 Corinthians 4:16-17 [NASB])

As we go through trials, God receives glory, Jesus’ life in us manifests itself and receives testimony, God renews our inner person daily, and, our affliction produces an eternal weight of glory.

For today and the next tomorrows, when you go through trials, I encourage you to consider not asking, “Why must I go through this?” or “What did I do to deserve this?” Instead, ask God to give you His strength, wisdom, and power to go through the difficulty so He will receive glory, and your life and voice will bring testimony to the life of Jesus in you. For this, you will grow in your Christlikeness and in relationship with God, and you will get a greater reward in heaven.

Lord, God, I admit, I hate to go through hard times. I hate to struggle and slog through the stormy seas that batter me. Forgive me for attempting to stand on my own and not looking to You, My Lord, for wisdom, strength, and power. Forgive me for walking away from You during those difficult times. Lord, help me remember You are always with me and I only need to call to You for help. Lord be my strength, wisdom, and Protector. Be my guide. Help me grow closer to You even if it means I must go through trials. Help me stand strong with You so You receive glory and my life testifies to the life of Your Son in me. Amen.

Beware and Seek

“Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness and all these things will be added to you.” Matthew 6:33

Jesus taught His Sermon on the Mount to a multitude of people. Some were Jews, others were seekers, and some were His disciples. Jesus began this part of His sermon the way He ended it, with a command. He began the first command on a negative note. Jesus ending command was positive.

Jesus said in verse one, “Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them.” He put people on notice not to do something in verse one. Jesus taught the people not to do things to “be noticed,” to receive honor, prestige, and glory. If you aim to do good things, those good deeds are ideas from God and He should receive the glory, not you. When you give to the poor, no one besides the person who you helped, God, and yourself should know. Jesus said the same thing about praying. You should not pray so people will notice you, but instead pray to God for Him to notice you, and to develop your relationship with Him. Prayer is about building your relationship with God and staying in a close relationship with Him. If you pray so others will see you and give you honor and praise, that will be your only reward. You get what you wanted-honor and glory. Your intention for prayer would not be for God to hear you, for you to hear from Him, and to have a deeper relationship with Him, but for people to recognize how “devout” you are. This desire for honor and glory is not righteous. Taking the honor and glory steals from God and makes you unrighteous.

What happens, though, when you pray so people will see or hear you or when you do good works so people see you doing them, the deeds God initiated in your heart? When you do these things to receive honor for yourself, the focus of your heart has changed from God to yourself. Instead of living a “top-down” life, that is acknowledging God and His will as primary in your life, you live an upside-down life with your will being primary in your thoughts, words, and actions. This leaves God to be secondary or non-existent in your life. The latter is of what Jesus told His hearers to “beware.” If you live an upside-down life, then your honor and glory, and your desires are primary motivators in your life. But, as Jesus pointed out in this chapter, you will end up worried and concerned about daily life things such as clothing, food, and drink. You might receive honor for yourself, but you end up worrying how you will provide for yourself and your family, basic things of life. You will have excluded God from your life and trust in Him that He will provide all your needs is nonexistent.

Why does this happen? It happens because God is not primary; He is not Lord of your life. When God is primary in your life, you can pray as Jesus taught in verses nine through thirteen. You reverence God and acknowledge He is the true God, and He is holy, not you. You seek His kingdom, His reign and wisdom, to come rule over earth just as it is in heaven. You desire God’s reign in your own life, too. For this to occur, you recognize only God is righteous and makes people righteous. In being made righteous by God, you want and sometimes must apply discipline to seek a growing relationship with Him. Your growing relationship with God teaches you that God will always take care of your needs. Just as He beautifully clothes relatively small, inconsequential creations like birds and the lilies of the field, He will clothe you, a human made in His image. As long as you stay in a relationship with God, Jesus said, you need not worry about what your body needs.

Jesus basically said to stay in a “top-down” relationship with God as primary in your life. With God at the head of your life, you recognize Him as God and King over you. You receive your righteousness from Him and acknowledge He is Lord. Your main goal in your connection with God who gives you righteousness is to stay in a growing relationship with Him. When you choose as the main thing in your life to have a growing relationship with God, then all other things fall into place. God remains King of your life, you give Him honor and glory, He provides everything you need, and your love for Him deepens so you obey Him.

 This is what Jesus meant in verse thirty-three when He told His followers, “Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness and all these things will be added to you.” Jesus emphasized this point for a second time in this chapter. At the beginning of the chapter, He spoke about it in a negative format using the command “beware.” At the end of this chapter, Jesus used the positive command “seek.” “Beware” of doing this (seeking your own glory) and, instead, “seek” for God is what He told His hearers. What did Jesus mean when He told the people to seek God’s kingdom?

Our primary task as Christians is to stay in relationship with the God of our salvation and righteousness. That should remain our focus. Being in a close relationship with Him means we will obey Him when He tells us to do good, pray, fast, visit the sick, teach, preach, or any other thing He commands us to do. Our obedience shows our love for God. When we seek a growing relationship with God so that our will is to obey Him, that is “seeking first His kingdom.” Because we seek God, He will provide for all our needs. We will not put our glory or honor first and seek to provide for ourselves what we think we need. Instead, we seek God first. Instead we give God the glory. Instead we let God take care of us.

As Jesus said, we cannot serve two masters-God and our own self. We will end up hating one and loving the other. Instead of trying to make yourself master of your life and ending up worrying how you will give all your family needs, pay your bills, or bring your prodigal home, let God be Master of your life. Let Him provide for you. Let Him bring your prodigal home. Let Him be your Lord and Savior, your King. Anything you give yourself and family will be destroyed, rust, or rot. God gives what you need, and it will last forever. Instead, do as Jesus taught and don’t worry.

“Seek first His [God’s] kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” [NASB]

Lord, please forgive me for trying to rule my own life. You’ve been patient and watched me as I tried and fumbled. Lord, I recognize You as my Savior and King. Please forgive me and take control of my life. Help me grow in my relationship with You each day. Give me the burning desire to seek You daily. Use me for whatever you want. Lead me in your ways. May You receive all the honor and glory. Provide everything I need. Help me not to worry but give all my cares to You. I am taking my hands off the steering wheel of my life, Lord. I give its control to You. Thank you for being King and ruling with unconditional love and wisdom. Amen.

"Twas the Night After Christmas

‘Twas the night after Christmas.

When candles and flick’ring lights went out,

Presents unwrapped and carols sung,

No one gaily dancing about.

Trees’ piney branches drop needles;

Winter wreaths and flowers droop.

Cinnamon candles still alight.

Mothers make second day soup.

Conversations tell of wishes met,

Children’s racing dreams came true.

Paper and boxes lie empty

Revealing the special day is through.

In the corner one thing lingers

Wrapped merrily with vibrant bow.

Not one person has beheld it,

That the kindly Giver did bestow.

Hidden among the shredded paper

Lay the gift desired above all;

This gift so often forgotten

Yet most important though unheeded its call.

Nothing shiny, nor newly bought,

But a precious gift given free,

The breath of heaven come down

As the gift given for those who believe.

Neither under the green fir tree,

Nor atop the grandest of thrones,

This present of Holy Father

Born in the humblest of abodes.

The child born that holy Christmas night

Laid under the star’s shining gleam

Lived and died within humanity’s vision

Raised up willingly on a tree.

How fitting we yearly put up a tree

Place a star for each to remember

The stripped tree on which He hung

And died for all to enter.

With this gift no paper remains;

No day after blues, no gift unclaimed.

With this gift, joyful carols still peal

Laughter and joy eternal remain.

Candles and lights shine brightly still

While nature lives yet to proclaim

The glories of God on the throne;

His mercy washes out the stain.

‘Twas the joyous night after Christmas

Gaiety danced because of His love.

Laughter echoed, whispers shouted

Each telling of His love from above.

--Gail M. Suratt Davis

Rejoice with Fear and Trembling

Habakkuk fills chapter 3 with the awe of God. He shows his fear of God’s power, evidenced through His wrath, and God’s mercy. Habakkuk does this through a prayer. Through the chapter, he gives a historical account about who God is, what He’s done, and what He will do. Verse two of this chapter is the thematic statement; while verses 18-19 are the ultimate expression of Habakkuk’s praise and worship of God for who He is. Through all the things God did in the past, Habakkuk could say the Lord is his strength.

What had God done and what will He do according to history and this prophet? First, Habakkuk reminded the Judeans of God’s presence in their history. God was with their forefather, Abraham, and He chose them as His people. Habakkuk said this in verse 3 when he said God comes from Teman and from Mount Paran. Abraham came through Teman and the Israelites, in their exodus wandering, camped or visited at Paran several times.

Habakkuk continued to remind the Judeans who God is by His presence in nature. He said God’s splendor covers the heavens, and the earth is full of His praise. Even His created world will proclaim and praise Him.

Next Habakkuk reminded the Judeans of what God had done. This reminded them of His presence in power. God brought pestilence and plague to the Egyptians. He startled the nations and made them tremble. Before the watching nations, God shattered mountains on which cities relied for defense. The people of Cush and Midian knew God and trembled. Even other nations realized who God is, and that He is eternal.

Habakkuk then used rhetorical questions to make his point. Was God angry against the rivers or sea? Was He concerned about the salvation of the waters or of people? This made sense to the listener. This prayer of Habakkuk’s was for them to attune to and return to God.

Habakkuk said the power of God’s love would bring them salvation and/or chastisement. God tried to give salvation to His people, but then, as the loving Father, He had to resort to chastisement. The bows of other nations God would use to correct them. Habakkuk paused and let the people think about this.

God’s kindness leads us to repentance and salvation (Romans 2:4).

With verses 9-11, Habakkuk returned to God’s influence on nature. Before he wrote about God’s power in nature. This time Habakkuk personified nature as writhing in fear and raising its voice and hands in proclaiming God. Even the sun and moon acknowledged God’s majesty. Their light dimmed when God’s great splendor shone. God’s glorious light outshone the stars and moon, so they were unseen.

With verses 12-15, Habakkuk showed God’s power in chastisement would be fearful, but it would cause salvation. He showed God’s power over all things for His purposes. God was indignant because the Judeans (and all Israelites), though God showed His love and care for them, showed by their lives how little God meant to them. He was angry because of their disobedience. Habakkuk said God marched through the earth and trampled the nations. God would destroy all the people counted on to give them what they needed or wanted. Still, God did not do this because of His anger. He based His anger upon His love for all the people of Israel. God would march and trample because of His love for them to save the people. He was angry at the Israelites and the people who caused them pain and destroyed them. God would chastise the Judeans and their subjugators. He would kill their subjugator’s leader with his own spear. Though the Judeans’ enemy would exult in Judah’s destruction, God would go far and wide to chastise them with His might, knowledge, and anger. He would cross lands and seas to accomplish it.

Habakkuk recognized God’s power, influence, salvation, love, and continual presence. He feared with awe His God and he trembled with fear at God’s prophecy of Judah’s destruction. Habakkuk’s fear was so great he shivered with it and his bones melted.

With Habakkuk’s final three verses, he proclaimed his certainty in God’s word and His love. He praised God because he recognized that though Judah’s enemies would loot and destroy them, God was their salvation. God would not permanently remove His hand from His chosen people. Habakkuk rejoiced triumphantly because God is mighty. God was his strength. He believed God would lead him and make him steady even during rocky or shaky, fearful times.

Though God takes us through difficult times, we can trust Him. We can proclaim God when we experience trials because we realize He is our salvation. His salvation comes from His love for us as does His chastisement. Everything God does is because of His love for us. Recognize God’s greatness, His power, influence, love, and continual presence, just as Habakkuk did.

Join Habakkuk and the great cloud of witnesses exulting and rejoicing in the Lord, the God of our salvation!

“Rejoice in the Lord always, again I say, rejoice!” Psalm 4:4

Though my days are dark, oh Lord, I will remember Your splendorous light and the rays of power coming from Your hands. I will not be afraid. I will wait upon and exult in You now knowing You are in control and this time is for my growth because of Your love. You, God, will provide the way of escape, and I will be able to endure through this trial with Your strength and guidance, too. Amen.

“No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.”

1 Corinthians 10:13 [NASB]

Rejoice with fear and trembling; God will break through for you!

Glory: What is it and to Whom? - A Matthew 5:13-16 Devotional

¹³“You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men. ¹⁴You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; ¹⁵nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lamp stand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. ¹⁶Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”

This passage caught my attention yesterday. I have read it many times and heard sermons throughout my life upon it. This time, though, a part of it struck a new chord with me. Perhaps that new chord came because of the studies I have done on the book of Deuteronomy.

In Deuteronomy, Moses told the Israelites several times the LORD chose them as His people because He loved them (Deut 7:6-8, 10:15). He said other nations would call the Israelites wise and understanding (Deut 4:5-7). They were called wise and understanding if they kept the LORD’s statutes. With the LORD’s actions for the Israelites, other nations feared the Israelites and began to consider Yahweh God more powerful than their man-made gods (Deut 28:9-10). The Queen of Sheba visited King Solomon and after staying with him, she declared, “Blessed be the LORD your God.” (1 Kings 10:9 [NASB])

In the Matthew passage of today’s study, Jesus said the people of Israel were a light to the world and a city set on a hill. Geographically, the temple of God resided upon the highest hill in Judah’s territory within Jerusalem, also called Zion. Yet the problem became that the Jews did not lead people to want to know and follow God. Their light did not burn bright like a beacon. The Jews had the geographical advantage of being a beacon. They, too, had the spiritual advantage in that God chose them to receive His love and to share about Him to the neighboring people. Instead, they absorbed beliefs and lifestyles of their neighbors, which meant the light of God did not shine as brightly and did not draw as many people to Him.

Jesus applied this to his followers in this Sermon on the Mount, too. He told His disciples and other believers to be the salt and light to the world. Keep growing and applying the Word and love of God to the world as they lived. Keep shining brightly the love God put in them when they became believers. Geography is not the factor because no matter where a believer lives God’s light, the Gospel, can shine from a person in their words, actions, and attitudes.

The most important part of this verse, though, the part that captured my attention is at the end of verse sixteen. Jesus said in this verse, “Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.” Jesus did not mean we are to do good works to gain praise for ourselves. Rather, we do good works out of the promptings of the Holy Spirit who lives in each believer, because of God. Our works should reflect God’s love and the glory for the good works, words, and attitudes should reflect back onto God and give Him the glory.

What is “giving glory” or “glorifying the Father?” The word “glorify” comes from the Greek word doxazo and means to cause glory – to cause recognition, honor, acclaim, and reverence to go to God[1]. When a believer in Jesus Christ says or does a loving and good thing, the glory should reflect back to God, to His honor. When we do this, we and other people recognize God’s majesty and righteousness and give Him the glory.

When believers let the light that is in them shine to the world around them, they show God’s love for the world. Christians can shine through kind, gentle, compassionate, and loving words and actions. The purpose for is to show God’s love as modeled by Jesus Christ. When people respond with gratitude and praise, believers have two options, to reflect the glory to God or to keep it to one’s self. The first is what Jesus taught His followers. To do the latter makes a person’s pride build and shows self-reliance instead of reliance upon God. It builds up a person’s ego and leads the person to forget the Lord and walk in his or her own way – to walk away from God.

We must understand the love and good deeds or words that came from that love came from God, what He imparted into us through the Holy Spirit of Jesus. No good deed comes from our selves, but from the Spirit as a gift. When we begin to accept and keep the glory we should reflect to God, we begin to consider ourselves as the ones who gave the gift of loving actions or words. We negate the effect of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

Jesus did not teach this. He taught His followers their good deeds, words, and attitudes came from the Father and glory was due back to Him for His grace and love. Jesus meant this above in verse sixteen. We do good deeds, speak kind words, and live with good attitudes – each coming from purity, which humans are not – out of love for the Lord. We obey the promptings of His Holy Spirit out of obedience and with the resources He supplies into our hearts and hands.

Rightness and love do not come from human nature because people are sinful. Paul said everyone is sinful and fallen short of God’s glory (Romans 3:23). God is the one who forgives the sin of humankind upon each person’s faith in Jesus Christ because of His love and mercy (Romans 6:23). Only by God’s grace do we have love and the other gifts of the Spirit within each believer. So, any praise and honor we receive for good and kind works and words should reflect back to God. He empowers us to do these things through His Holy Spirit. Only God is due the glory!

Today we must decide, as we must every day, if we will give all glory back to God. We can be the living witness for God just as He wanted the Israelites to be and as Jesus called His followers to be in Matthew 28:18-20. Each of us makes this decision for ourselves.

Each day, when you awake, make the decision and pray for the strength to reflect the glory back to God.

Give Him the recognition, praise, honor, and reverence He is due.

---

[1] Walter Elwell. “Evangelical Dictionary of Theology,” Baker Academic Publisher: Grand Rapids, 2001.

True Wisdom, Eternal Growth and God’s Glorification

1 Corinthians 3

In looking at 1 Corinthians 1-3 these last three days and skimming more chapters in the book to remember what Paul says to the people of Corinth, we can see over and over again that Paul is showing them God’s great wisdom, strength, and power. At this time in history, Corinth was a gateway for many cultures. Greek influence was strong there and they prided themselves in their philosophy and wisdom. Roman influence was very strong there as it was the time of the great Roman Empire; Corinth was in the middle of the empire, also, they had easy access to Rome via boats. Jewish influence was also strong in Corinth; the Jews from the Holy Land had been venturing beyond the Promised Land, being dispersed by persecution, a search for more religious freedom, and a desire for more wealth and power. Other smaller influences were known in Corinth, but these three were the cultures that most profoundly affected the Corinth at that time.

Paul addresses the people of Corinth, people from the surrounding countries and cultures and others as well. He addresses them about their envy, slander, hate, debauchery, and depravity. Corinth was known so much so for its debauchery that a term was coined, “Corinthianize,” which meant to make one or another so wanton in their morals. Paul was writing to the people to whom he had preached before about Jesus Christ and His salvation. He spoke mainly to the body of Christ, the church in Corinth. As an aside, he was also speaking generally to all others who were watching and knew that what was going on was wrong. He stood strong for God and proclaimed in this letter that this was not the way of God and they were not building upon the foundation Paul had laid before them on his previous visit to Corinth.

If you remember, in chapter 1 of 1 Corinthians, you read and hear Paul telling them that the wisdom of God came through the foolish things of the world. Even the most intelligent, learned, powerful, and strong were not as wise, powerful, and strong as God’s weakest vessel. God proved this by using the unwise, the weak, and the ignoble to show His wisdom, power, and might. If you read any of the Gospels, you will find that those who considered themselves learned, strong, and powerful were the ones who were most likely not able to believe and follow Jesus. Paul reiterates that here for the Corinthians. He adds a sting though. He tells them that whatever they have cherished and used to build upon the foundation of what he preached to them, the foundation of Jesus Christ being the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, would be tested with fire. Each person’s reward from the God would be determined by how well upon the foundation of Christ each person built. Was what the person built on the foundation burned up in the fire of testing? Then the reward from God would not come because they had received their reward on earth, an earthly gratification. Was a person more inclined to seek glory for him or herself? That is usurping God’s glory in their own lives; their reward would not be as great as if they gave all the glory to God. Was a person more inclined to follow the desires of addiction to food, alcohol, drugs, and clothes? That person’s priorities would not survive a fire. Those are not more important than God and cannot get them into heaven. Was a person more inclined to seek education to be able to break down another in argument? That person’s reward is also only for this earthly life. The choice to be mightier with word or sword or power will not grow a person to be more Christ like. Each of these things, wealth, acquirements, education, power, prestige, and strength, remove the focus and glory from God and place the glory upon ourselves now in our mortal lives. We receive the reward we desire in this age and will lose reward when God judges us. Our reward from God will be less. When God is the one whom you are trying to imitate, into whose likeness you are striving to become more like, this growth will stand the trial of fire because it is God who is glorified in your body, actions, and spirit as you walk each day in life now. You will get your reward from God upon judgment, Paul says, in 1 Corinthians 3:14.

Paul speaks throughout this letter to the Corinthians reminding them of the wisdom of God as opposed to the smallness of the wisdom of man. Consider what Paul said in chapter 1:19-21, 25 (Amplified version),

¹⁹ For it is written, I will baffle and render useless and destroy the learning of the learned and the philosophy of the philosophers and the cleverness of the clever and the discernment of the discerning; I will frustrate and nullify them and bring them to nothing. ²⁰ Where is the wise man (the philosopher)? Where is the scribe (the scholar)? Where is the investigator (the logician, the debater) of this present time and age? Has not God shown up the nonsense and the folly of this world’s wisdom?  ²¹For when the world with all its earthly wisdom failed to perceive and recognize and know God by means of its own philosophy, God in His wisdom was pleased through the foolishness of preaching salvation, procured by Christ and to be had through Him, to save those who believed..²⁵ This is because the foolish thing that has its source in God is wiser than men, and the weak thing that springs from God is stronger than men.

You will notice that Paul captures each of the main cultures of people in Corinth at the time within this chapter, the philosophical and learned, the powerful and strong. He addresses the Greeks and Jewish scribes who are proud of their education. Later in verses 27-28, Paul also includes the Jews who think they are wise in their faith and culture, but who are blinded by their pride so they cannot see that God’s wisdom surpasses all understanding. In verse 28 Paul addresses the noble Romans and the Jews in power within the circles of the children of Israel. He tells them that God chose the lowly, the insignificant, and those treated with contempt as well as those things and people considered as nothing to “depose and bring to nothing the things that are” or consider themselves/are considered great. God did this so that “no mortal man should have any reason to take the glory for himself or boast about what he has done, but so that God may receive all the glory” (vs. 29). Paul speaks directly to those who consider themselves too highly, be they ones who accepted Christ’s salvation offered to them previously or not. He is showing them that even in the greatest of the clever, strong, and mighty of humans, they are not so wise, strong, or mighty after all when compared to the surpassing greatness of God or of knowing Jesus Christ as Lord (Philippians 3:8).

One of Paul’s themes in 1 Corinthians is the greatness of God, even compared to the greatest of the most wise, strong, and powerful man. In chapter three, Paul begins to get down to “brass tacks” unlike in chapters 1 and 2. He chastises them while at the same time reminding them in love that the foundation that was laid down in these baby Christians’ lives was based on the preaching of Christ crucified for all people. He tells them clearly that by now they should be partaking of heartier food than the milk of babes. Their growth in faith should have been at the point where they are taking in solid food; yet, Paul finds that they have turned to building upon the foundation of Christ with self-glorification, vanity, and deceit, not growth in their faith and knowledge of God and His ways. He hears from others that they are fighting and there are factions among them, that there is envy and jealousy (3:3). He states that this is an unspiritual and worldly way to act instead of a godly way. He tells them to safeguard what is built upon the foundation of Christ that he preached to them. Based upon what they are fed and watered, by what they allow themselves to consume,  will determine their growth. God will grow you, he says, but you must choose the right food with which to nourish yourself. He tells them in 3:16 that they, individually and corporately, are God’s temple; they are holy and consecrated to the Lord. With what they choose to nourish themselves will determine their growth in God. Paul gets quite to the point here. “If anyone does hurt to God’s temple (you individually or corporately as a church) or corrupts it with false doctrine or destroys it, God will do hurt to him and bring him to the corruption of death, for the temple of God is holy” (3:17 AMP).

Finally, Paul comes back to a main premise of this letter; he tells them to “become fools according to worldly standards so that they can become really wise, for this world’s wisdom is foolishness with God and He lays hold of the wise in their own craftiness” (3:18-19). Paul beseeches them to seek after God and His wisdom so they can have true wisdom, not that which the world considers wisdom which is mere folly. Lastly, Paul reminds them, most of all, “You are Christ’s and Christ is God’s” (3:23). You gave your lives to Christ so you are God’s; build upon the foundation of which you allowed to be laid and which you accepted as truth. Choose God’s wisdom, glory, and reward as your desire and reward so that you may grow to be more like Christ and wiser than the wisest man.

The question remains for us, have we tried to acquire understanding and wisdom to determine how to venture on the paths of our lives? Has it brought meaning and purpose to our lives? Subsequently, have we found the navigator Who does know all the routes and whose way is straight and sure and leads to everlasting life? It is not hard. What seems foolish in the eyes of the learned is actually the wisdom of God made understandable and believable so that all may come to know the surpassing greatness, love, and power of God as shown and given through the death and resurrection of His Son, Jesus the Christ. This letter from Paul to the Corinthians as well as the occurrences in Corinth were attested to by Clement of Rome in his “First Epistle to the Corinthians,” by Polycarp in his “Epistle to the Philippians,” and by Irenaus in his writing “Against Heresies.” These men attest to these occurrences, as well as the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. He is true. He is the way, the truth, and the life. It is truly simple, believe on Jesus, accept the gift of salvation He gave for your wrong doings, and keep on seeking Him and His knowledge and wisdom. His ways are higher than our ways; His ways are always best. Seek first the kingdom of God. What will you choose self-glorification with no true growth and no reward from God upon judgment, or glorification of God with true, everlasting, and continued growth into Christ-likeness and rewards from God upon judgment? Is it that hard to choose?