Tag Archives: peace

The Outcomes Of Discipline

Bible Study, , , ,

THE OUTCOMES OF DISCIPLINE

No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. Therefore, strengthen you feeble arms and weak knees. “Make level paths for your feet,” so that the lame may not be disabled, but rather healed.

Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord (Heb. 12: 11-14).

We hate discipline, don’t we? As children, we needed it because, left to ourselves we would have become monsters. In whatever way our parents disciplined us, as much as we did not enjoy the pain, we reaped the benefit of being saved from our self-destructive behaviour.

We don’t always recognise God’s discipline. When we suffer, we think He is being unfair or uncaring, or that He is punishing us for some or other wrong we have done. The hardships and suffering we endure have puzzled God’s saints for as long as sin has been in the world.  There is no chapter in the Bible that sets out the answer for us but, as we read, we can glean answers from the way God dealt with His people in the past.

The Israelites were a wayward bunch. If ever there was a group of rebels, the Bible points to them. Their history is peppered with the evidences of their stubborn resistance to God’s ways which He lovingly revealed to them in His covenant. No other nation on earth had the pledge of His presence and favour on them as they had, and yet they threw it away and persisted in their senseless idolatry because they wanted to.

Time and again, when God’s patience with them ran out, He handed them over to their enemies to be overrun and destroyed. He always had a few who were faithful to Him and yet, who suffered with the guilty ones. Unlike the wicked people on earth who were destroyed in the global flood, God never wiped Israel out because of His promise to Abraham. Although they were eventually scattered across the earth after the Romans overran their land in 70 AD, they remained a people until God called them back in 1948.

But what about us? Why do we have to go through trials and suffering? We don’t worship idols like they did. Really? Think of the many things we have in our lives that replace God. Why does God hate idols? For two reasons, I believe.

Firstly, because He is jealous for us. He is the source of everything good. When we replace Him in our lives with anything less than He is, we lose out. When we follow the devil’s lies we are robbed of the unity He wants us to have with Him so that we can know, enjoy and glorify Him. He is passionate about us and, only in union with Him can we experience everything He made us to be and everything He promised us.

Secondly, God knows that we will become like the thing we worship. Whatever replaces Him in our affections will pull us towards it. In Israel’s day, the idols they worshipped represented the worst of human wickedness, and they practised every form of ungodliness in the name of their gods.

Hardships drive us back to God. We know, instinctively, that whatever we hold on to in place of God cannot help us in our time of need. We forget Him when life is easy; we cling to Him when we are in trouble. God does not send trouble – He allows it to call us back to Him.

But, unlike the Israelites, we shouldn’t wait for trouble to pull us back to God. Instead, “strengthen you feeble arms and weak knees.” Let’s allow our hardships to teach us the lesson of faithfulness and trust. Children who have learned to submit and obey their parents no longer need discipline. Only the stubborn ones do.

When we submit to God’s discipline by living with Him in the centre of our lives and trusting Him in everything instead of whining and moaning about every little discomfort, we learn to hate what He hates and love what He loves. That’s what holiness is. Sin is everything that contradicts who He is. Holiness is everything that affirms His character as the true and perfect God. That’s who we are already in His sight, perfect in Christ, but it’s also what we are moving towards if we desire to live with Him forever.

Through Jesus the writer affirmed that we have already been made perfect. Now God is making us holy – and discipline through hardships and suffering is His method. Submit, and you will live. Resist and you will die because, without holiness, no one with see the Lord.

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Have you read my new book, Learning to be a Son – The Way to the Father’s Heart (copyright 2015, Partridge Publishing)? You’ll love it!

Available on www.amazon.com or www.kalahari.com in paperback, e-book or kindle format, or order directly from the publisher at www.partridgepublishing.com.

Check out my blogsite at www.learningtobeason.wordpress.com

 

A Mystery Man

Bible Study, , , ,

A MYSTERY MAN

This Melchizedek was king of Salem and priest of God Most High. He met Abraham returning from the defeat of the kings and blessed him, and Abraham gave him a tenth of everything. First, the name “Melchizedek” means ‘king of righteousness”; then also, “king of Salem” means “king of peace.” Without father or mother, without genealogy, without beginning of days or end of life, resembling the Son of God, he remains a priest forever (Heb. 7: 1-3).

Up to this point, the writer has mentioned Melchizedek several times but given no information about this man. This “mystery man” was to play a brief but important role in Abraham’s life, and would be a part of the prophetic fingerprint of the Messiah.

Melchizedek was a king-priest in the city of Salem, i.e. Jerusalem, an unusual office because, according to God’s instructions, no king was permitted to carry out the office or functions of a priest. On the few occasions in the history of God’s people, kings were judged for burning incense e.g. King Uzziah.

But after Uzziah became powerful, his pride led to his downfall. He was unfaithful to the Lord his God, and entered the temple of the Lord to burn incense on the altar of incense. Azariah the priest with eighty other courageous priests of the Lord followed him in. They confronted the king and said, ‘It is not right for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to the Lord. That is for the priests, the descendants of Aaron, who have been consecrated to burn incense . . . (2 Chron. 26: 16-18a).

Why, then did God specifically designate Melchizedek to be the head of a unique order of king-priests especially since there is no biblical evidence that anyone else served as a king-priest in the order of Melchizedek except Jesus? Melchizedek was a type of Jesus for several reasons:

1. His name means “king of righteousness”. His name was a prophetic utterance of character – he was a righteous king, i.e. he walked in the ways of Yahweh, doing the right thing in his rule over his people. Jesus was a righteous man – without sin – and a righteous king.

Of the greatness of His government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this (Isa. 9: 7).

2. He was “king of Salem” i.e. king of peace. His reign also apparently was a reign of peace.

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on His shoulders. And He will be called . . . Prince of Peace (Isa. 9: 6).

3. There is no record of his parents or his genealogy. This does not mean that he was not human or that he had a supernatural birth. The writer used this lack of information as a type of Jesus whose human birth and genealogy although significant because He has to be a true representative of the people, did not mean that He only came into being at His human conception. He is both God and man, two natures in one person to represent God to man and man to God.

4. Melchizedek’s pedigree did not include a record of his birth or his death. Again he was a type of Jesus who existed with the Father before He came to earth and who returned to the Father after His resurrection. He lives forever as a high priest in the order of Melchizedek.

5. Unlike the Levitical priests who could not be kings, and the Davidic kings who could not be priests, Jesus is both king and priest. As our king He rules over His people with justice and righteousness, and a priest, He represents His people to God, presenting His own blood as an atoning sacrifice for sin to God.

Jesus is eminently qualified to be our high priest in the order of Melchizedek.

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

 

A Prescription For Life

Bible Study, , ,

A PRESCRIPTION FOR LIFE

“Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God which transcends all understanding will guard you hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:4-7.

Such familiar words, almost as familiar as John 3:16! We can repeat them parrot fashion and often do, but what do they mean?

Paul’s prescription for life is encapsulated in these three verses. If there was ever a “Four Easy Steps to Successful Living” statement, Paul did not need to write a book to make it. This is it!

Step one: Rejoice in the Lord always.

This is both a positive and negative prescription because no one can both rejoice and be miserable at the same time. If we allow our circumstances to dictate our moods, we will live an emotional yo-yo existence. When things go well, we are happy. When we hit a rough patch, we descend into depression. Up, down, up, down – depending on what each day brings. What a way to live, but many, even believers, do!

What’s the solution? Simple! Rejoice in the Lord! He is the most stable, unchanging and reliable person in our lives. It’s all about choices. If we choose to dwell on Him and His promises instead of riding the roller-coaster of circumstances, our emotional storms will calm down. What appears to be disaster will become just another step in our journey of faith in Him. Rejoicing in the Lord prepares us for the next step.

Did you notice how Paul said “always”? Not just sometimes or when circumstances are favourable. God works in “all things” for our good. “Rejoicing in the Lord always” tells Him that we are willing to trust Him when we cannot see the way ahead. That’s when we have to exercise our faith muscles.

Step two: Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near.

What’s this about? When life goes sour on us, there is a tendency in all of us to dump our emotional pain on other people. We are moody; we lash out; we withdraw into ourselves; we erupt for very little reason; we punish those closest to us for the way we feel. Don’t we all do it? It’s our coping mechanism, but is doesn’t work. We build an emotion wall between ourselves and other people, and ourselves and God.

Paul’s answer, again, is simple. Stop focusing on your circumstances and set your mind on God. He hasn’t gone anywhere! He is near. That’s the problem. When trouble hits, we lose sight of God. Stress replaces rest as though God has suddenly lost control or gone somewhere where we can’t reach Him. Remember Job? His complaint was, “Oh that I knew where I might find Him,” but He was there all the time.

Step three: Do not be anxious about anything. It’s all very well, Paul, to tell me not to be anxious, but how can I stop being anxious when my whole world is falling apart? My child is deathly ill. My finances are in ruins. My husband has been retrenched. My house is being repossessed. The list of adversities is endless.

Again, we cannot experience two conflicting emotions as the same time. We are either anxious or at peace. The one cancels out the other. If we practise rejoicing in the Lord, our circumstance will lose their power to terrify us, and our hearts will be prepared for the next step in the crisis. What do we do with our anxiety which threatens to overwhelm us when we are staring down the barrel of a gun?

Step four: In every situation by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

What is prayer? Not bringing our grocery list to God every morning and expecting delivery the next day! Prayer is, firstly, changing our awareness. God is near but we are more aware of ourselves than of Him. Why must we change our awareness? Because everything looks different when we see things from His point of view.

Instead of rehearsing our anxieties and dwelling on our fears, Paul said, “Be real with God. He knows how you feel, but He wants you to open up to Him. Expose your heart to Him, Spill your guts!” It’s amazing what happens when we stop telling God what we think He wants to hear and start being honest enough to tell Him the truth in all its ugliness. Tell Him about your anxiety – everything! Bitterness, hatred, insecurity, fear, guilt, shame, even your mistrust of Him. Offload!

When you have got rid of all the rubbish, something awesome happens – peace that transcends understanding replaces all the garbage you have offloaded onto God. It’s an exchange. You have given to Jesus all the trash He died for, and He’s taken it from you and given you the priceless gift of peace. And guess what? What was so big before has shrunk to nothing because it’s no longer your problem.

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

 

 

 

A Church Is Born

Bible Study, , , , ,

A CHURCH IS BORN

“Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, to all God’s people in Christ Jesus at Philippi, together with the overseers and deacons: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”  Philippians 1:1.

Today we embark on a journey through another of Paul’s letters, this time one with a completely different tone and motive from his letter to the Galatians. The people of the Galatian church had been influenced by the Judaizers to believe that they needed to become Jews by adhering to all the Jewish laws and customs before they could become followers of Jesus. Paul had to write a very strong letter to them straighten up their understanding of the gospel.

His letter to the Philippian church, by contrast, was a happy one, prompted by deep love for the people in Philippi who were the first on European soil to believe in Jesus.  They had been generous to Paul, sending him financial help on more than occasion. He wrote to thank them and to encourage them in their faith despite the odds stacked against them in the Roman Empire. Paul himself was a prisoner in Rome at that moment, having been sent from Jerusalem for trial before Caesar.

Paul was evangelising in Asia Minor on his second missionary journey when he had a vision. He was in Troas, having been prevented from travelling north by the Holy Spirit. In his vision he saw a man from Macedonia, a province in Greece, calling him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” Assuming that it was God’s Spirit speaking to him, he responded immediately and set sail into a new region.

His first convert in Macedonia was a wealthy Greek woman, Lydia, who lived in Philippi. She and some other women who believed in God, met for prayer beside a river outside the city. Paul and his travelling companion, Silas, joined them and Paul grabbed the opportunity to tell them about Jesus. Lydia’s heart was moved by the Holy Spirit. She believed in Jesus and was baptised. She offered her home to the travellers and they remained with her during their stay in Philippi.

Philippi was also the place of unexpected miracles. Paul and Silas were detained for releasing a slave girl from bondage to a demon. The resultant uproar stirred up by the slave girl’s owners who had just lost their source of income because Paul had evicted the demon who used the girl to tell fortunes, landed Paul and Silas in the city jail, fastened in the stocks and brutally mutilated by a whipping.

In their pain and discomfort they could not sleep. Instead of complaining about the injustice they were suffering, they began to sing. An unexpected earthquake rocked the prison, burst open the doors and set all the prisoners free. The outcome was another miracle. The jailer took the two men home, washed and cleaned them up, treated their wounds, fed them and listened with astonishment to the gospel. He and his whole family believed and were baptised there and then, adding another whole family to the infant church in Europe.

They were released from prison the next morning, and escorted from jail by the very magistrates who had sentenced them, having been informed by Paul that they had mistreated Roman citizens. Thus began the strong relationship that Paul had with the church in Philippi. Lydia’s house became the centre of the fellowship there.

Paul gives us a small insight into the leadership of the church. He mentions overseers (elders) and deacons. These were not so much offices as functions. There seems to have been a plurality of elders – a wise safeguard against dictatorship which can so easily creep into the church. There was also a group of people who served, called deacons. We can glean the function of a deacon from Acts 6 where men were chosen to serve food to the widows in the church in Jerusalem.

There was no pomp and ceremony in the early church. Everyone was equal, even those who led and those who served. Their leaders were servant-leaders, carrying a great responsibility to ensure that the people were guided by the word of God and were walking in the truth. According to Peter, the role of the elders was to give themselves to the study of the word and to prayer. It was their task to understand and interpret Jesus’ yoke according to His disposition and to bind it on the people, loosing them from every other yoke that brought them into, or kept them in bondage.

How far the church in many quarters has wandered from its original pattern. It is up to us to return to the simplicity of Jesus’ call, “Come, follow me!”

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

 

The Fruit Of The Root

Bible Study, , , ,

THE FRUIT OF THE ROOT

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

“Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying one another.”  Galatians 5:22-25.

Thankfully there is a counterpart to the nasty evidences of our corrupt hearts. Since Jesus came to take away sin, so said the Apostle John, it is possible for us to live sin-free lives. That does not mean that we are perfect. Far from it; but it does mean that we are not locked into a sinful lifestyle because we are powerless to do otherwise.

With the Holy Spirit resident in us, He changes us, slowly but surely into the Image of Jesus. In contrast to the “acts of the flesh”, which focus on the symptoms of corrupt hearts, Paul lists the work of the Spirit in us as “fruit”. What is the difference?

Jesus used the imagery of the vine and the branches. What do the branches need to do to bear grapes? Nothing. They simple remain attached to the vine. Anything that causes the branch to become detached will kill it. It will have to be pruned off because it has become useless.

What do we need to do to become fruitful? Nothing except to remain in the vine. Jesus even tells us how to remain in Him.

“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me, and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing…If you remain in me, and my words remain in you, ask what you wish, and it will be done for you…As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in His love.” John 15:5, 7, 9.

Keeping His commandments is the key to remaining in Jesus. But, you may object, isn’t that exactly what Paul said we don’t have to do – to obey the law? Isn’t it the same thing? Not at all. There is a great deal of difference between keeping the law in order to become righteous and keeping Jesus’ commands because we are already righteous.

If we are trying to become righteous by obeying the law, we have failed before we even start. We cannot change the imperfect to the perfect by our own effort because we still have the problem of guilt for our past sin even if we could be perfect from now on. There is a debt to pay and we can do nothing to pay it. God cannot overlook sin because He is a just God. He must deal with transgression of the law.

On the other hand, if someone else pays our debt to God and we are justified and set free from sin’s penalty, we are now indebted to our benefactor. Out of gratitude to Him and love for Him, we do what He instructs us because that is how love is expressed. Love is not love if we go on living the old way. Real love values what Jesus values and hates what He hates. Real love identifies so closely with Jesus that we become one with Him in what He desires.

The law was intended to show us what God is like and to teach us how to be like Him. It didn’t work because all the law did was to provoke to action the rebellion in our sinful natures. Jesus got rid of the law as a requirement for righteousness by fulfilling it for us and then removing the root of sin in our hearts. He replaced it with His own nature – the nature of a son who lives in loving submission and obedience to to the Father, and restored His Spirit to us.

“Now,” said Paul, “you are free to love Him and to follow the Holy Spirit’s leading because you old nature has been put to death.” Your life in union with Jesus will produce the fruit of the root; love, joy, peace – the outflow of your restored relationship with God; patience, kindness, goodness – your attitude to other people; faithfulness, meekness and self-control – your attitude towards yourself.

What is your root? Is it Jesus or is the old selfish nature still in charge?

Acknowledgement

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.