Sunday, October 30, 2011

Week 44: Grumbling or Grace

This week's reading plan is as follows:

* Sunday (epistles): James 4-5
* Monday (the Law): Deuteronomy 7-9
* Tuesday (history): II Chronicles 29-32
* Wednesday (psalms): Psalms 125-127
* Thursday (poetry): Ecclesiastes 3-4
* Friday (prophecy): Zephaniah
* Saturday (gospels): Acts 11-12

The book of James is so packed full of wisdom. Almost every verse has something you could SOAP on. Verse 9 is one that convicts me:

Scripture
James 5:9: "Don't grumble against one another, brothers and sisters, or you will be judged. The Judge is standing at the door!"

Observation
James, the brother of Jesus, makes it very clear in this verse that we should not grumble against one another. If we do so, we will be judged by God, the Judge with capital J.

Application
Wow, what a conviction that is! How many times do I grumble against someone else in the church, at work, in the store, or in my own family! Way too many times. Think about doing ministry at the church. Wouldn't ministry be wonderful if it was done by just you and 10 perfect assistants who did everything you asked them to do, in just the exact way you wanted it! That's how all ministries at Woodhaven Community Church operate, right? Wrong! The opposite is true. We do ministry with real people who have real quirks and characters that are opposite of ours. At times it's a real struggle to get anything off the ground because of personal conflicts. And yet...

And yet, this is how God WANTS us to do ministry. With real people who are opposite in character. People that God places in our path, so we can love them just the way they are, just as Jesus loves us, just the way we are. By default, my old natural self grumbles against others, when things don't go the way I want it or like it. I grumble either directly at that person, or I grumble later on when I come home. James says: this should not be so my brothers and sisters. Don't grumble against each other. If you do, you will be judged! That is pretty strong language, and a reminder for all of us to let go of the grumbling, and to embrace each other's strength, and give grace where it concerns each other's weaknesses. Embrace and give grace!

Prayer
Dear heavenly Father, we thank you that you love us for who we are, with all our odd behaviors, and opposite characteristics. Thank you Jesus, that you came down to embrace us, and to give grace to us abundantly. We thank you for all you have done. Help us to not grumble against each other, but to love one another, the way you love us. In your name we pray. Amen.

Have a great week.

Dick

Sunday, October 23, 2011

Week 43- Satisfaction!

The reading plan for this week:

Sunday (Epistles): James 1-3
Monday (The Law): Deuteronomy 4-6
Tuesday (History): 2 Chronicles 25-28
Wednesday (Psalms): Psalms 122-124
Thursday (Poetry): Ecclesiastes 1-2
Friday (Prophecy): Habakkuk, entire book
Saturday (Gospels): Acts 9-10

Two of my favorite books are started this week- James & Ecclesiastes. James is a true treatise on faith and how to put your faith in action. Many SOAPing opportunities will be found as you read this book... The SOAP for this week, however will come from Ecclesiastes. This book, written by King Solomon, really puts into perspective how important (or not) many things in life really are...

Scripture: Ecclesiastes 2:24-25 "people can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in their toil. This too, I see, is from the hand of God, for without him, who can eat or find enjoyment?"

Observation: King Solomon has a better way to find satisfaction than Mick Jagger. An honest day's work with some good food and drink at the end of the day- all with a heart of thanksgiving to God for his provision- is how to get some... With God in our lives, the food tastes better, the drink goes down smoother and work becomes enjoyable. From these basics the rest of life falls into place.

Application: How many times do I become distracted in life by politics, sports, traffic, money, news and what else? Any or all of these take my eye off the ball if I allow them to. When I lose focus on God and fail to express my thanks for his provision, things have a way of unraveling in my life. To honor my wife, my family and my boss, I need to work hard on the basics that lead to satisfaction and joy.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, I yield my heart to You to soften. I please need your wisdom to apply "blinders" to the things that distract me and rob me of joy. Thank You for Your Word, Your Son and all that you have given me the energy to do in Your Name. Amen.

Have a great week and God Bless!

-Mike

Saturday, October 15, 2011

Week 42: By Faith...

This week's reading plan is as follows:

* Sunday (epistles): Hebrews 11-13
* Monday (the Law): Deuteronomy 1-3
* Tuesday (history): II Chronicles 21-24
* Wednesday (psalms): Psalms 120-121
* Thursday (poetry): Proverbs 31
* Friday (prophecy): Nahum
* Saturday (gospels): Acts 7-8

This week we'll make a beginning with the last book of the law, Deuteronomy. The name Deuteronomy comes from the Greek word 'Deuteronomium', which means 'second law': This book contains a reformulation of many of the laws that were given in the books of Exodus, Numbers and Leviticus. Also on the menu this week is the book of Nahum, the 7th of the 12 minor prophets who prophesied against Nineveh, the capital of the Assyrians, probably in the 7th century B.C.

Proverbs 31 is a noteworthy read as well. That chapter sings praises to the Christian woman who manages her household. As you'll see, she runs her household, takes care of the family, and does business all at the same time. Her secret? She fears the LORD (v.30).

Our SOAP for this week, however, is from the book of Hebrews. Hebrews 11 is one of those key chapters in the Bible that define the Christian faith. The chapter recounts the 'faith giants' of the Old Testament, and the writer of Hebrews uses them as examples for our faith.

Scripture
Hebrews 11:1: "What is faith? It is the confident assurance that what we hope for is going to happen. It is the evidence of things we cannot yet see."

Observation
What an amazing verse! Faith is the confident assurance that what we hope for is going to happen, and the evidence of things we cannot yet see. How contrary to the beliefs of modern man! In this era of 'naturalism' or 'realism', we don't believe anything anymore unless we see it on TV or can Google it... We look at things that have happened and that we have observed, and based on those facts, we make predictions about the future. Typically, God is not part of that. If we cannot explain something logically, it either hasn't happened or we dismiss it. Physicists like Cambridge professor Stephen Hawking have made it their life goal to explain everything we see today from laws of physics. In his recent book 'The Grand Design' he asserts that 'finally, there is no need for a creator to explain the existence of the universe'.

What a stark contrast with Hebrews 11:3, which says: "By faith we understand that the entire universe was formed at God's command, that what we now see did not come from anything that can be seen." This is a totally different mindset from the naturalist perspective above, which claims that everything we now see can only come from anything that can be seen.

The writer of Hebrews understood that God is not bound by laws of physics. Jesus was not bound by laws of physics: he was perfectly capable of walking on water, defying Newton's laws of gravity (actually, these are God's laws of gravity; Newton simply discovered them!).

Application
I know I have to be careful to not take Hebrews 11:1 for granted. My thinking is very much influenced by the naturalist/realist perspective. I can't tell you how many times I quenched my own faith by 'not believing' because I was 'not seeing'. I simply didn't have the faith to believe that what I hoped for was going to happen. I was wavering, and first wanted to see before I believed. God wants us to live the other way around, to first have faith, so we can glorify Him. Verse 6 tells us: "it is impossible to please God without faith." See, God enjoys it most when we step out in faith, and fully trust that He will come through with his promises. Nothing pleases Him more than to grant a wish to one of his children, something the child could only hope for.

Prayer
Dear Heavenly Father, please forgive us for all the times we have fallen short in simply believing you at your word. Lord, we so often only trust in things we can see, not the things you promise. Help us to overcome our lack of faith, and trust you no matter what. You are worthy of all our praise, and our heart's desire is to please you. Thank you for your Son, who is an example to us when it comes in trusting you.

Have a great week.

In Him,

Dick

Friday, October 7, 2011

Week 41: We are People of the "New Covenant"

This week's Bible reading unfolds like this:

* Sunday (Epistles): Hebrews 8-10
* Monday (Law): Numbers 33-36
* Tuesday (History): 2 Chronicles 16-20
* Wednesday (Psalms): Psalms 119
* Thursday (Poetry): Proverbs 29-30
* Friday (Prophecy): Micah
* Saturday (Gospels): Acts 5-6

While we cover a rich variety of reading this week, allow me to focus on one of the most important theological concepts that followers of Jesus Christ should understand...the new covenant.

Scripture
"If the first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no need for a second covenant to replace it. But when God found fault with the people, he said:

"'The day is coming, says the Lord,
when I will make a new covenant
with the people of Israel and Judah.

'This covenant will not be like the one
I made with their ancestors
when I took them by the hand
and led them out of the land of Egypt.
They did not remain faithful to my covenant,
so I turned my back on them, says the Lord.

'But this is the new covenant I will make
with the people of Israel on that day, says the Lord:
I will put my laws in their minds,
and I will write them on their hearts.
I will be their God,
and they will be my people'" (Hebrews 8:7-10).

Observation
The inspired author of Hebrews makes the revolutionary claim that we are people of the "new covenant." The so-called "old covenant," is what constitutes the first 39 books of the Bible, called the Old Testament. The new covenant that the writer of Hebrews refers to here is embodied in the last 27 books, called the New Testament (starting with Matthew and ending with Revelation).

The writer of Hebrews begins this section by observing that if there had been nothing wrong with the first covenant, there would have been no need for God to institute another. But there was something wrong with it - namely, "the people." It's not that the first covenant was fatally flawed in its own right. The problem was (and has always been) humanity's failure to obey God's commands.

The first covenant made no legal provision for grace and forgiveness. Its primary purpose was to lay out God's perfect and pleasing will. The Ten Commandments (part of the first covenant) lay out the dos and don'ts for us clearly enough. But the sacrificial system that the first covenant instituted only provided forgiveness for the sins we committed innocently (i.e. accidentally). The first covenant made no provision for the forgiveness of willful sin. There was no sacrifice or ritual to forgive the sins people committed on purpose. For willful offenses the first covenant called for either excommunication or death.

It's not that God never forgave people for willful sin during the first covenant. He did. For example, God forgave David when he sinned willfully against Bathsheba and her husband, Uriah. But every time he did, it pointed to the need for a new covenant in which the conditions of God's unconditional love and forgiveness were spelled out specifically.

According to this passage, we are related to God by means of the new covenant, which is based on the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. When Jesus instituted the Lord's Supper, for example, he said that his body was broken (killed) for us and his blood, "the blood of the new covenant," was shed for the forgiveness of our sins. And when Jesus broke the bars of death by rising from the dead, he did so not just for himself. He did it for all who by faith have entered into the new covenant of God's grace.

Application
This realization opens our minds to a number of helpful insights. For starters, it helps us understand that some of the severe judgments pronounced against certain sins that we may commit today will not be visited on us as members of the new covenant. It helps us understand why we no longer have to sacrifice bulls and goats. For, as the writer of Hebrews says elsewhere, Jesus Christ is God's once-for-all-time sacrifice for the sins of humanity. It also helps us understand the role of the Holy Spirit, who directly infuses our hearts with a sense of divine knowing. As Jeremiah, whom the writer of Hebrews quotes in this passage, says:
"I will put my laws in their minds,
and I will write them on their hearts."

But perhaps the best takeaway we can glean from this passage is that through the new covenant we have the closest, most intimate relationship any human beings can have with their Maker. The writer invokes the most intimate covenantal language: "I will be their God...and they will be my people."

God is ours and we are his.

This is simple, mysterious, and wonderful.

The covenant relationship we have with God is one of tenderness, closeness, peace, and joy.

So the point of application is this: becoming the people we already are.

New covenant people can't get enough of God. They want to talk with him, walk with him, learn from him, and please him. Not because they've got to, but because they get to. Not out of fear of impending doom, but out of overflowing gratitude for the gift of everlasting life...a life that began the moment we became new-covenant people.

Prayer
O Lord, forgive us for our distractedness. Forgive us for carrying fear and guilt, the burdens you already lifted from us when we became yours as new-covenant people. You have given us unspeakable hope and joy. Help us understand that if we are citizens of the new covenant, we are yours and you are ours. For Jesus' sake, amen.

Have a great week!

Faithfully,
Chuck