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PAUL’S HAPPY LETTER…FINALLY – 16a

Bible Study, ,

“Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!”…

‭‭Philippians‬ ‭4‬:‭4‬ NIV‬‬

Paul’s “final” instructions often have the most important information in them for his readers and us. However, before we examine the “finally” of this letter, let’s do a quick overview of the “happy” letter. 

Paul was happy because the Philippian church was his faithful partner in preaching, in prayer, and in providing for his needs. 

Paul was happy because, despite his imprisonment, his colleagues were encouraged and continuing to preach the gospel and…he himself was also reaching out to the people in the very jail that kept him locked up. 

Paul was happy because he knew that God will always finish what He started. 

Paul was happy because the Philippians also played their part in suffering with Jesus, just as he did. 

“For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for him, since you are going through the same struggle you saw I had, and now hear that I still have.”

‭‭Philippians‬ ‭1‬:‭29‬-‭30‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Paul was also happy not only about…but also to…to remind and encourage them to keep doing and being who they were. Jesus was the model of humility. He has the attitude of a slave, being obedient to the Father even to death. 

Paul was not only happy about the way his readers were maturing in their faith and in their loving service to one another, which would preserve the unity in the fellowship as they followed Jesus. 

Paul was happy to share with them his own journey…from self-righteousness, which amounted to garbage, to the righteousness of Jesus which he pursued with relentless energy. 

Now, Paul arrives at one of his most profound remedies…for anxiety…something that no doubt hounded his readers because of their uncertain circumstances. He begins with a repetition…First…

“Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!” 

Joy was a legacy from Jesus, not just joy but His joy. 

“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. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.”

‭‭John‬ ‭15‬:‭10‬-‭12‬ ‭NIV‬‬

What was the foundation of Jesus’ joy? I think that joy and hope are tied together. It’s difficult to rejoice when the world around is topsy-turvey, and one never knows whether one will be alive tomorrow but…if one’s tomorrow is secure in the purposes of God, then the anxiety about the way one arrives there loses its grip. 

“We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne.”

‭‭Hebrews‬ ‭12‬:‭2‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Jesus’ joy lay in His anticipation of the outcome. His hope was anchored in God’s purpose for Him. He rejoiced in the Father’s presence…pleasure…love…because His heart was set on doing the Father’s will. He would not allow the way to the end…the suffering and the cross…to deter Him from gaining the reward. 

Jesus’ legacy…His love, His joy, His peace…was the promise of restoring everything Adam and Eve lost in the garden through their disobedience. Union with Jesus by faith, and obedience to His “new commandment” would bring back what was missing. 

To be continued

NEEDS DRIVE US TO OUR KNEES – 2

Prayer,

To recap, in our study of Old Covenant prayer, we learned that “palal” means “to fall down before the one who has authority, to entreat Him to make a judgment so that He will take action to bring about a wonder or a miracle that will restore the person or situation for which he/she pleads to a life that is pleasant and righteous. This wonder will lead to “tefillah”, the purpose of prayer, i.e., the focus on God Himself.”

Why do we “fall down”? Falling down is more than bowing down. It is an act of desperation and recognition, acknowledging both  that God is the only one who can make a judgment and act on it in response to our plea, and humility, acknowledging who we are before Him.

Who is the “authority” before whom we fall?

Jesus revealed that, in the New Covenant, God is our Father. We no longer approach Him as slaves to a Master who requires strict obedience to His rules. We approach God as children to a Father whom we trust because He loves us and has done everything to reconcile us to Himself. He has opened the way into His presence by offering His Son as a sacrifice for our sin.

What is the “judgment” for which we entreat Him?

Since Jesus insisted that the Father knows our needs before we ask Him, and that He meets our needs as we seek His kingdom and His righteousness first, we must determine what His judgments are in relation to “His kingdom and His righteousness”.

The judgments for which we plead, then, relate to His kingdom, i.e., the issues that arise as we follow Jesus and live under His authority, and His righteousness, (generosity), the ways in which we show our love to Him by loving His children. Since these are the only two commandments in the New Covenant…

1 John 3:23 NLT
[23] “And this is his commandment: We must believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as he commanded us.”

…our real needs arise from these two requirements. Needs drive us to seek His judgments and are, therefore, His way of keeping us connected to Him. Our mandate to manage the earth can only happen through continually seeking Him “for a judgment”.

God’s promises are His judgments which take care of every issue that arises in our quest to live “pleasant and righteous lives” as His children in His kingdom.

2 Peter 1:3-4 NLT
[3] “By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence. [4] And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires.”

Encapsulated in the work of Jesus is the guarantee that He stands surety for every promise God has ever made.

2 Corinthians 1:20 NLT
[20]”For all of God’s promises have been fulfilled in Christ with a resounding “Yes!” And through Christ, our “Amen” (which means “Yes”) ascends to God for his glory.”

Therefore, God will always provide the wisdom we need to understand and the grace to follow His ways as we continually entreat Him for judgments that enable us to do His will.

What does He restore?

God’s judgments are not about who is innocent and who is guilty. His “judgments” are His decisions about our plea for justice in our cause. He will act to restore the person or situation to a conducive life in His kingdom. Jesus also said that God will restore “speedily” but not according to our timetable. He is always following His own agenda and working on a much bigger canvas than our personal demands. Our faith in Him requires patience and trust.

This explains Jesus’ mystifying question at the end of His story.

Luke 18:8 NIV
[8] “I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”

Faith and patience are the key ingredients of our relationship with the Father. These attitudes reveal the level of our submission to God.

Hebrews 6:12 NIV
[12] “We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised.”

What is “tefillah”?

We come to the climax of our  consideration of the elements of true prayer…”tefillah”. To understand tefillah, we must view the concept from the perspective of the ancient rabbis.

“Tefillah” is a difficult concept to understand, let alone to explain. This word contains all the elements of prayer but goes beyond these to the heart of God’s intention. An unidentified Rabbi said this about “tefillah”.

“A key element of your relationship with your Creator is to “serve Him with all your heart”. The word serve in Hebrew is “avodah”, which carries the sense of laborious work. But what kind of labour can the heart do to serve G-d? The classic Jewish answer is that this is “tefillah”: a labour of awakening the hidden love within the heart until a state of intimate union with the divine is achieved.

“That’s why the common translation – prayer – is horribly inaccurate. Prayer implies two distinct entities, an inferior one making a request of a superior. There is another Hebrew word for this,” bakashah”. Similarly, worship has a word, “shevach”. “Tefillah” includes both these elements but, in itself neither of them. Instead, communion may be a better word – defined as a joining together of mind and spirit.”

Then he makes this observation:

…” You can’t commune with someone you don’t know, so knowing G-d is an integral part of “tefillah”.”

To conclude, the same rabbi said this:

“1. Speaking the words out loud helps focus your attention.
2. A human being is principally a speaking being. Tefillah brings the speakingness of that being closer to G-d. If you lift your heart and mind but leave behind your words, you’ve effectively left behind the human being… “

He comes to the conclusion:

“… The core of “tefillah”, on the other hand, is our mode of reaching deeper and yet deeper into our inner thoughts, and finding within them G-d Himself.”

(From the article, http://wwwchabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/1452805/jewish/Tefillah.htm-retrieved March 2016)

Let me summarise.

” Tefillah” happens when we fall down to entreat the Judge for a judgment and He responds with a judgment and a miracle that causes us to wonder.

Needs, then, are the trigger that makes this process of true prayer happen.

Can you see, then, that unless “tefillah” happens, the purpose of prayer is unfilled and the circle of prayer is incomplete? “Tefillah” encompasses all the elements of prayer but comes to completion in the joining of heart, mind, and spirit with God in the intimacy of loving communion.

As urgent or important as we may consider the matters are for which we pray, they cannot override or supersede the most important purpose for prayer – that of deep heart adoration and worship.

(The material for this and the previous article are taken from “Designer Prayer”, Copyright © 2017, by Luella Campbell).

And so, once again, the hymn writer expresses in beautiful poetry, our desire to rise to the passion of the the Father’s heart for communion with His sons and daughters.

1. Love divine, all loves excelling,
Joy of Heav’n to Earth come down,
Fix in us thy humble dwelling,
All thy faithful mercies crown;
Jesus, thou art all compassion,
Pure, unbounded love thou art;
Visit us with thy salvation,
Enter ev’ry trembling heart.

2. Breathe, O breathe thy loving Spirit
Into ev’ry troubled breast;
Let us all in thee inherit,
Let us find thy promised rest;
Take away our love of sinning;
Alpha and Omega be;
End of faith as its beginning,
Set our hearts at liberty.

3. Come, Almighty to deliver;
Let us all thy grace receive;
Suddenly return, and never,
Never more thy temples leave.
Thee we would be always blessing,
Serve thee as thy host above,
Pray, and praise thee without ceasing,
Glory in thy perfect love.

4. Finish, then, thy new creation;
Pure and spotless let us be;
Let us see thy great salvation
Perfectly restored in thee;
Changed from glory into glory
Till in Heav’n we take our place,
Till we cast our crowns before thee,
Lost in wonder, love, and praise!

Source: Hymns and Devotions for Daily Worship #366a

Author: Charles Wesley (b. 1707,

THESE WERE WRITTEN – 30

Bible Study, ,

John 20:30 – 31 NLT‬
[30] “The disciples saw Jesus do many other miraculous signs in addition to the ones recorded in this book. [31] But these are written so that you may continue to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing in him you will have life by the power of his name.”

In no other gospel but John’s did the writer state so clearly the purpose of his book. One of John’s themes was “believe”, recording some of the miracles Jesus did that led people to believe in Him.

Jesus’ miracles were not primarily intended to produce faith. We know from Scripture that even God’s own people did not trust Him despite His miracles. The religious leaders in Jesus’ day rejected Him in the face of the overwhelming evidence of what He did. They repeadedly demanded signs to prove His claims but they refused to believe the many obvious signs to His deity.

So, what, then, was the purpose of His miracles? In John’s final words, he remarks that all the books in the world could not contain all the miracles Jesus did!

‭John 21:25 NLT‬
[25] “Jesus also did many other things. If they were all written down, I suppose the whole world could not contain the books that would be written.”

Now that’s a very bold statement! John was probably attempting to convey the magnitude of the demonstration of His miracle power during the time of His earthly life. Why did He do miracles? He was certainly not trying to create a sensation or to win a popularity contest. Quite the opposite! He often tried to escape the attention of people who clamoured after Him for miracles.

However, if His miracles were not intended to produce faith, what was their purpose apart from helping suffering people in their distress or even overriding nature like storms and water? Miracles certainly demonstrated His compassion for people in distress but… there was no way He could heal everyone who was sick or disabled.

John points us in the right direction. The miracles Jesus did were evidence that He is who He claimed to be… the Messiah, the Son of God. You see, faith in Jesus because of miracles does not save us. Faith in Jesus because He is who He is, the Son of God, is the bedrock of our salvation.

Our faith in Jesus, unlike the attitude of many who try to use Him for their own ends, is a commitment to Jesus as our Lord, our supreme authority, who rules in every detail of our lives. We submit unconditionally to Him, believing in His right to rule over us because He made us and because He bought us with His own blood.

This perspective is what puts Jesus in His rightful place. Miracles fit into God’s greater purpose to recreate us in the image of Jesus. If He chooses to intervene miraculously in our circumstances, it is His will that
overrides our desires, always working for our good in all things, good or bad, to hone our unwavering confidence in Him.

Unfortunately, this truth that miracles are signs, not reasons for faith in Jesus, is what exposes so much deception behind the “healing campaign” ministry that attracts many unsuspecting people today. “Come and get your healing!” they proclaim, as though healing is the be-all and end-all of who Jesus is – a servant who waits on us when we need Him, and nothing more.

If Jesus’ miracles do not lead us to believe that Jesus is the Son of God, then they have not served their purpose. Saving faith, producing new birth and miraculous transformation by the power of the Holy Spirit, comes through faith in Him and issues in what Jesus called “life”.

Life is, for God’s people, a new dimension. We have been transferred from “death” to “life”, from the death zone where Satan dominated and drove us to live by the dictates of our old sinful nature. Our sinful way of life proved that we were spiritually dead and under God’s judgment.

“But now…” we have life if we believe in Jesus. Our union with Him passes His life into us like branches in a vine, producing the fruit of that life, His own nature at work in us. This is a miracle but it is the fruit, not the root of faith.

So, let’s put Jesus’ miracles in their correct perspective. Miracles are the witness that Jesus is God’s Son, and we believe in Him, unconditionally, to be to us….

‭Hebrews 12:2b NLT‬
[2] “… the champion who initiates and perfects our faith….”

We believe in Him, not because of His miracles but because His miracles convince us that He is who He is, the Messiah, the Son of God.

‭1 John 5:11-12 NLT‬
[11] “And this is what God has testified: He has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. [12] Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have God’s Son does not have life.”

BEHOLD THE LAMB… 4

Bible Study, ,

John 1:29 NLT‬
[29] “The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”

In our human justice systems, the individual who owes a debt to society for a crime committed must pay the debt. It is almost unheard of that the debtor’s debt is paid by an innocent person.

Therefore, it is difficult for us to understand how God’s justice works.

In the beginning, God created Adam to be His son, made in His image, to live in perfect harmony with the three persons in the Godhead.

‭Luke 3:38 NLT‬
[38] “Kenan was the son of Enosh. Enosh was the son of Seth. Seth was the son of Adam. Adam was the son of God.”

All Adam’s offspring, then, are God’s sons.

‭Acts of the Apostles 17:26 NLT‬
[26]”From one man he created all the nations throughout the whole earth. He decided beforehand when they should rise and fall, and he determined their boundaries….
[28] For in him we live and move and exist. As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’

As God’s offspring, then, every person is accountable to God.

Firstly, Adam’s choice to throw off God’s authority over himself and the entire human race that followed, was unilateral and illegal. He did not have the right to go it alone because he was God’s possession. So, Adam’s race owes God an unpayable debt for their rebellion.

‭Psalms 24:1 NLT‬
[1] “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it. The world and all its people belong to him.”

As Creator, God owns everything including all humans. He has the right to do whatever He likes with humanity. As a just God, He has the right to punish rebellion with His method of choice.

God had only one option, as a holy God who cannot tolerate sin, to banish guilty people from His presence forever in a place of eternal punishment where all that God is in His love and goodness is excluded.

‭Habakkuk 1:13 NLT‬
[13] “But you are pure and cannot stand the sight of evil.”

Since God’s essence is love, to lose His human family forever was intolerable. Humans are an essential part of His master plan for the universe. To obliterate the entire race would destroy His eternal plan for a human family just like His Son to reign with Him over the universe.

In a way incomprehensible to us, God is in the eternal “now” so that He views the entire expanse of time as now. His rescue plan for mankind forms part of His master plan. We can never know both God’s justice and His mercy without His plan to rescue people from their self-inflicted punishment. He formulated His plan to rescue fallen man before He even created the earth and its inhabitants. He saw the end from the beginning before the beginning of time.

‭1 Peter 1:20 NLT‬
[20] “God chose him as your ransom long before the world began, but now in these last days he has been revealed for your sake.”

‭Revelation 13:8 NLT‬
[8] “And all the people who belong to this world worshiped the beast. They are the ones whose names were not written in the Book of Life that belongs to the Lamb who was slaughtered before the world was made.”

There was, is, and never will be a person on earth who has never sinned, i.e., never disobeyed God, not even in one tiny detail of His requirements for being His son.

Who, then, would be eligible to take the place of sinners, to receive the full punishment for all the guilty of all time so that the guilty could be exonerated and declared innocent?

‭1 Timothy 3:16 NLT‬
[16] “Without question, this is the great mystery of our faith: Christ was revealed in a human body and vindicated by the Spirit. He was seen by angels and announced to the nations. He was believed in throughout the world and taken to heaven in glory.”

This “mystery” is not an unsolved problem but a truth hidden until God’s chosen time to reveal it to His people.

Although God planned redemption before creation, He only hinted at His plan through His prophets in the Old Covenant. The clearest picture of His plan came through Isaiah.

‭Isaiah 52:13-15 NLT‬
[13] “See, my servant will prosper; he will be highly exalted. [14] But many were amazed when they saw him. His face was so disfigured he seemed hardly human, and from his appearance, one would scarcely know he was a man. [15] And he will startle many nations. Kings will stand speechless in his presence. For they will see what they had not been told; they will understand what they had not heard about.”

‭Isaiah 53:2-6 NLT‬
[2] “My servant grew up in the Lord’s presence like a tender green shoot, like a root in dry ground. There was nothing beautiful or majestic about his appearance, nothing to attract us to him. [3] He was despised and rejected— a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief. We turned our backs on him and looked the other way. He was despised, and we did not care. [4] Yet it was our weaknesses he carried; it was our sorrows that weighed him down. And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God, a punishment for his own sins! [5] But he was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed. [6] All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God’s paths to follow our own. Yet the Lord laid on him the sins of us all.”

Yet, despite the clarity and detail of this prophetic vision, God’s own people rejected Him. The willfully blind will never recognise the truth.

God’s plan was so outrageous and so risky that it is unthinkable to those who cannot fathom His justice. Since no human on earth could qualify to pay the the debt for the world’s sin, He would come to earth Himself, as an ordinary person born in the normal way through the womb of a woman, but without a human father. He would live a perfect life, subject and obedient to the Father in everything, and then die as a sinner in the place of sinners.

‭Hebrews 2:16-17 NLT‬
[16] “We also know that the Son did not come to help angels; he came to help the descendants of Abraham. [17] Therefore, it was necessary for him to be made in every respect like us, his brothers and sisters, so that he could be our merciful and faithful High Priest before God. Then he could offer a sacrifice that would take away the sins of the people.”

Hebrews‬ ‭9:14‬ ‭NLT‬
[14] “Just think how much more the blood of Christ will purify our consciences from sinful deeds so that we can worship the living God. For by the power of the eternal Spirit, Christ offered himself to God as a perfect sacrifice for our sins.”

‭Romans 3:25-26 NLT‬
[25]”For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood. This sacrifice shows that God was being fair when he held back and did not punish those who sinned in times past, [26] for he was looking ahead and including them in what he would do in this present time. God did this to demonstrate his righteousness, for he himself is fair and just, and he makes sinners right in his sight when they believe in Jesus.”

The death of Jesus, the God-man, is a fact of history but how does it apply to and affect us, sinful humans?

The Old Covenant’s demands, i.e., that the people “do” and “live by” all the regulations about sacrifice and obedience to laws and rituals, were swept away and replaced by one simple response to what God has done through His rescue plan.

‭Romans 10:9 NLT‬
[9] “If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”

‭Romans 5:1-2 NLT‬
[1] “Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us. [2] Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of undeserved privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God’s glory.”

It’s no longer “do” but “done”. It’s no longer “do” but “believe” because “it is finished!” Through Jesus, the Father is both just and the justifier of those who believe.

BREAD FROM HEAVEN

Bible Study, ,

BREAD FROM HEAVEN

“Then they asked Him, ‘What must we do to do the works God requires?’ Jesus answered, ‘The work of God is this: to believe in the One He has sent.’ So they asked Him, ‘What sign, then, will you give so that we may see it and believe you? What will you do? Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written: “He gave them bread from heaven to eat.”‘

“Jesus said to them, ‘Very truly I tell you, it is not Moses who has given you bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.’

“‘Sir,’ they said, ‘always give us this bread.'” John 6:28-34.

These people were well influenced by their religious leaders and still thought and operated in the natural.

Jesus had just challenged them, ‘Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life which the Son of Man will give you.’ John 6:27a. Their response was, ‘What must we do…?’ thinking that there was something extra that they must add to their already burdensome performance to guarantee them an eternal existence beyond the grave.

Jesus’ response took them back to the simple requirement He had persistently told them which they did not seem to hear or understand. It was not about works but about faith in Him that opened the door to what He called “life”. The people clung to Moses as their model because he was the agent through whom God did mighty miracles in the wilderness and delivered them from the Egyptians.

Despite their ancestors’ grumbling against Moses and their disobedience and unbelief towards God and His miraculous interventions, God’s people still saw these mighty miracles as the sign that it was God who was with them and who led them to the Promised Land.

According to them, it was Moses who had given them the manna which sustained them for forty years in the wilderness. He didn’t multiply a few barley loaves to feed a few thousand. He gave them an abundance of manna every morning which fed millions! That was Moses’ sign that it was God who was doing it. ‘What can you do, Jesus, to better that?’

Already their unbelief was working overtime! Why did they follow Him across the lake in the first place, and then back to Capernaum when they didn’t find Him where He had been the day before? Was it because He was feeding their souls with the living bread — His word? No! He had already diagnosed their motive — a free meal at God’s expense! They were certainly “working” for that bread.

Providing manna for millions of people every day was a small miracle compared with the greater miracle of God coming in person to provide “bread” that would sustain them forever, but they could not see it. The life He offered them was not simply an extra-long biological life on the earth but a supernatural quality of life in union with Him that freed them from the fear, guilt and shame that drove them to hide from God because of their sin.

The “bread” of which Jesus spoke was a symbol of the bread, Himself through His word, that would nourish and sustain their spirits in an unbreakable connection with Himself. Since He would do away with the barrier of sin which had disconnected them from God and left them unprotected against the judgment of God, they would reconciled to God. They would be able to live in fellowship with Him without the sacrifices and mediators they were forced to go through now.

Once again, their response revealed their misunderstanding of His offer. The Samaritan woman thought He was offering her a supply of water that would relieve her of the burden of carrying water from the well every day. They thought that He would give them bread, like the manna, which simply fell from heaven and saved them the labour of having to bake their daily supply.

Since their minds were locked into the natural, as we shall see, their unbelief mirrored the unbelief of their ancestors and they forfeited the opportunity to receive this “bread” and enter the fullness of the life Jesus offered.

Have you “eaten” this bread? Have you confessed with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believed in your heart that God raised Him from the dead? If you have, you will be saved.

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.