Filed under: Searching for our Savior in His book | Tags: Christ Jesus, consequences, Promise
Leviticus 5:4 “Or if a soul swear, pronouncing with his lips to do evil, or to do good, whatsoever it be that a man shall pronounce with an oath, and it be hid from him; when he knoweth of it, then he shall be guilty in one of these. 5 And it shall be, when he shall be guilty in one of these things, that he shall confess that he hath sinned in that thing: 6 And he shall bring his trespass offering unto the Lord for his sin which he hath sinned, a female from the flock, a lamb or a kid of the goats, for a sin offering; and the priest shall make an atonement for him concerning his sin.”
Have you ever made a promise to do something without carefully considering whether you can or whether you should. We make promises that sometimes are the result of good intentions but we sometimes tell someone we will do something that has an evil outcome. And then we don’t do it. This passage speaks of that. In the Old Testament economy, God demonstrates the importance of keeping your word. When you realize that you have made a careless promise, even if when you made it, you really thought you could do it, you must step up to accept the consequences. An offering for the guilt of not keeping your promise was a remedy for your sin. Think of how this would work in our world today. How many promises do we make that we never keep? Once, I promised my youngest daughter to go to the beach on her birthday. Within a few miles from home, my children were breathing each others oxygen and were asking are we there yet. I decided that we weren’t going to the beach. Although it has been years, my daughter still reminds me of that promise I broke.
Have you ever promised “never to do it again”, only to break that promises within a short time? Worst of all, I think of promises I make to God to follow Him, to study His word, to obey His command to love, to die to myself and realize how serious God sees that based on this passage. While I don’t have to make a sacrifice of a female lamb or goat today, I still need to remember the sacrifice that God made because of my rash vow.
God, please let me mean what I promise and be willing to carry it out. Help me to see life from your point of view and be sensitive to what the Spirit is directing in my life.
Filed under: Searching for our Savior in His book | Tags: faith, Jesus, obedience
Hebrews 10:38- “Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.” Four times in the Bible, Habakkuk 2:4, Romans 1:17, Galatians 3:11, and then here in Hebrews 10:38 God inspires a writer to use these words. Anything that God repeats is very important and it is evident that God wants us to live by faith! Indwelt by the Spirit, we follow Him along this journey but because of our old nature, living by faith is a difficult path. I struggle because I want to be in control of situations and circumstances. I am a planner. I try to be sensitive to the Lord, but being a person whose life interacts with so many others makes me a person whose choices are based on what is best for someone other than me. You might be reading this and at this point say, “do what’s best for you and don’t worry about others!” I can’t. I don’t think that is what God wants of me. The reason I interact with so many others is that I am following God and He is using me as His instrument. Like Jeremiah and Jonah, sometimes I don’t like the cost. But what can I do? If I stop caring, if I stop making decisions for what is best for another even if it costs me something, haven’t I stopped loving? If I stop loving others, Biblically, doesn’t that mean that I have stopped loving God. For what? An easier life with less to concern me and more stuff to entertain me. Doesn’t that somehow connect with love not the world, and the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes? Whenever we follow Christ, the path will take us on unexpected paths where our faith is challenged and the making all things new is at times uncomfortable. But isn’t the treasure I am pursuing worth it? He sure is! Jesus is the treasure and He makes life with Him more valuable than all the gold in the world!
Filed under: Searching for our Savior in His book | Tags: Jesus, Love, obedience
In 2nd John, we are once again reminded to love one another. But John issues a caution- Make Sure That Those You Love Aren’t Teaching The Wrong Things. True love is to be shown to those who are not deceiving others with lies. The early church faced a group of false teachers called Docetists who taught that Jesus didn’t really come as a man but only appeared as a human. 2nd John reminds us of an important truth, it is easy of Christians to get off track. Whether following a charismatic leader away from the truth or emphasizing the wrong teachings that take us away from Christ and to self-righteousness, we need to take steps to make sure that we always focus on following Christ and obeying Him as we love others. The message is clear, We, as God’s children, are to walk in the truth, obey God’s commandments, love each other, and guard the teachings about Jesus so deception doesn’t happen. As we walk with God, we follow His commands our obedience impacts those we come into contact with. Doing what God commands is an act of love in which we show how much He means to us.
Filed under: Searching for our Savior in His book | Tags: church, Jesus Christ, Love
2 John 1 “The elder unto the elect lady and her children, whom I love in the truth; and not I only, but also all they that have known the truth.” The term elder is from a Greek word that can either refer to a church office or someone of advanced age. Sometimes it is used for some church leader who is older. In the case of 2 John, John, who never mentions Himself by name in his writings is referring to himself, both a church leader and an older man. I love that he starts this passage telling the elect lady (which could be an actually lady or as some think “lady” is a metaphor for a church) that he loves her and her children. How consistent is John? He has written the first epistle talking about love and now he shows it into practice. This in my challenge for today- put loving others into practice. Not just by words, but by my deeds. Others know we are Christ’s because we love!
1st John 5:13-21. “Things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God. And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: and if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him. If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death: I do not say that he shall pray for it. All unrighteousness is sin: and there is a sin not unto death. We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not; but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not. and we know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness. And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life. Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen.
John comes to the end of his first letter to the early church. In this letter, the Holy Spirit used John as He stressed the importance of love and truth in the midst of our journey of faith. Personally, this letter gives me evidence of my relationship to Jesus Christ that I can see in my own life. This is not a letter to critique others about their salvation but a guide to understand that being saved always results in a transformed life which is evident by our pursuit of truth and unconditional love for others. In simple words, John wants those of us who are saved to know and live like we are.
When we are pursuing God and following Him as both Savior and Lord, John teaches that prayers are answered because we are pursuing what God wants. So since we pray for what He wants, He is answering our prayers. John teaches us that pray can be spoken with a bold assurance that God is listening because we are in tune with His will.
Notice that God directs John to a specific example in which our bold praying can be see: praying for other Christians who are struggling with sin in their lives. Sin in the life of a Christian is a real danger. So John describes how God wants us to handle another’s sin, pray for our brother or sister.
In the midst of this passage there is a dilemma: there is a sin that ultimately leads to eternal separation from God. I think in this passage it has to do with accepting and following false teaching while rejecting Jesus Christ and God’s truth. The prayer for that is not the prayer in which we pray for a fellow believer. This person has never been saved because they have rejected Jesus.
A second difficult passage begins at verse 18. “we know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not”. Does that mean, anyone who is a Christian never sins? If so, I am not a Christian because I sin. Most likely you aren’t a Christian because you sin. So is anyone capable of not sinning? I think a little study reveals that this is referring to “practicing as a way of life, sin”. A Christian is not one who habitually as a pattern of life consistently sins willfully against God and His standards. This describes a person whose life is characterized by sin. There is not a change and there is no conviction for sin. I need to remind you that this passage is not a way of critiquing others, but a way of us seeing the evidences in our lives of a changed life. So if at this point, I am thinking about another person, I may have the problem myself. Is my life consumed about me doing enough for God to accept or approve of me? Do I live in a way that consistently involves me deceiving others? Am I know as a man of character or a character? Am I a grumpy old man, or a man of love and compassion? I guess we could use Paul’s two lists to determine the type of lifestyle I live. Is my life consistent with the works of my flesh or an example of the fruit of the Spirit. Maybe now is the time of a little self-evaluation, repentance and prayer. John describes our situation, we are godly people living in an ungodly world. John is such a bottom line person- if I am God’s He protects me from making sin a way of life. If I am not a Christian, then I am in the grip of the evil one, Satan. Each of us who are saved have the indwelling Holy Spirit, who reveals to us when we sin. His conviction is meant to bring us back to God. God please help me listen to You. We who know Christ are able to know that we are living in the truth, loving those who are of the truth, because we live in the Truth and in True Love.
John ends with what seems to be a warning to stay away from worshiping idols. But before you relax because you don’t have a little buddha in your room, think about our idols today. The biggest idol of today is us. We are the center of our universe and in some case, we extend that to the know universe. Just take a minute and watch how you drive. Is everybody else crazy because they make your driving experience more difficult? Do fast food places drive you crazy because you have to wait? Is everybody else at work lazy, stupid, favored, or promoted over you? Take a look at what your time, energy, money, emotions, and talk is about. Let’s make it simple: go look at your last 10 posts on social media. What were they about? What has your last 10 conversations been about? What were the last 10 purchases about? What about the top ten standards or values of life? Can you find them in the Bible and give the book, chapter, and verse and have studied it within the context of the passage? Found what you are worshiping yet? The idol we most need to keep away from is us. John reminds us to throw ourselves into the pursuit of God. All we need will be taken care of by Him. Seek first God.
I John 5:19 “And we know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness.” Here is a certainty expressed- Christians are the children of God! As Christians, we follow God, a path that changes our worldview. We begin to see life and what’s important in life from God’s point of view. So, according to what John has taught in this epistle, things important to God include having fellowship with God and others, obeying His commands, and loving God as evident by our loving other Christians, and eventually, all people. We put God’s plan as most important and are willing to sacrifice everything to follow God, who is our priority. “The whole world lieth in wickedness” speaks of the worldview that emphasizes wanting stuff, wanting to experience the temporary excitement that comes from living life to fulfill our fleshly desires, and the idea that our identity and worth is found in what others think of us. There are only two types of people, those following God and those following the path we call the “world”. What are you following today?
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