Tag Archives: faithfulness

PRAYING GOD’S WAY – 5b

Prayer, ,

A SECOND QUALIFICATION

‭1 Corinthians 4:2 NLT‬
[2] “Now, a person who is put in charge as a manager must be faithful.”

‭Luke 18:8 NIV‬
[8]… “However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith (pistis – faithfulness) on the earth?”

The word ‘pistis’, here translated ‘faith’, can also mean ‘faithfulness’.

‭Matthew 25:23 NLT‬
[23] “The master said, ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities. Let’s celebrate together!’ “

Faithfulness to one’s calling and duty is a common theme in Scripture. God penalised King Saul heavily because he was unfaithful to His instructions on more than one occasion. Saul lost his position as king and that of his descendants because of his disobedience.

‭Acts of the Apostles 13:22 NLT‬
[22] “But God removed Saul and replaced him with David, a man about whom God said, ‘I have found David son of Jesse, a man after my own heart. He will do everything I want him to do.’”

Where Saul failed, David qualified and became the role model for all of his descendants in his dynasty.

Since faithfulness is included in Paul’s description of the nine-fold fruit of the Spirit…

‭Galatians 5:22 NLT‬
[22]”But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness… “

… obedience to the leading and work of God’s Spirit in our hearts is imperative. He will produce faithfulness to God, to His Word and to our participation with Him in preparation for our place with Him in His eternal kingdom that qualifies us for our reign with Him.

Jesus told a story about a manager who was about to be fired for his wasteful use of his master’s money. The manager thought up a scheme to curry favour with his master’s debtors when he was out of work. He reduced their debt to his master, (which was also a dishonest move!).

However, Jesus commended the manager, not for his dishonesty but for his clever use of money to gain favour with the debtors.

What does the manager’s behaviour teach us about faithfulness with worldly goods?

Jesus was not telling His disciples to manipulate people by the use of money. He was showing them how to use money to serve our purposes.

‭Luke 16:9 NLT‬
[9] “Here’s the lesson: Use your worldly resources to benefit others and make friends. Then, when your possessions are gone, they will welcome you to an eternal home.”

Luke 16:10-11 NLT
[10] “If you are faithful in little things, you will be faithful in large ones. But if you are dishonest in little things, you won’t be honest with greater responsibilities. [11] And if you are untrustworthy about worldly wealth, who will trust you with the true riches of heaven? [12] And if you are not faithful with other people’s things, why should you be trusted with things of your own?”

We see, then, that God included the way we use our resources in His evaluation of us. The crux of the matter is…we will use our money to serve the one we love.

‭Luke 16:13 NLT‬
[13] “No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and be enslaved to money.”

The way we think of and use our money is a good test of what is in our hearts.

‭Matthew 6:21 NLT‬
[21] “Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.”

It seems, then, that the quality of our faithfulness will be judged by the way money serves us or we serve money.

How, then, does faithfulness for into God’s way of praying? Look at it this way, if God cannot trust us with the resources He has provided for us, why should He trust us with answers to the prayers that affect the administration of His kingdom?

Paul’s counsel to Timothy is a good guide for us to follow.

‭1 Timothy 6:17-19 NLT‬
[17]”Teach those who are rich in this world not to be proud and not to trust in their money, which is so unreliable. Their trust should be in God, who richly gives us all we need for our enjoyment. [18] Tell them to use their money to do good. They should be rich in good works and generous to those in need, always being ready to share with others. [19] By doing this they will be storing up their treasure as a good foundation for the future so that they may experience true life.”

ONE LAST WORD – 22

Bible Study, ,

Ephesians 6:23-24 NLT‬
[23] “Peace be with you, dear brothers and sisters, and may God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you love with faithfulness. [24] May God’s grace be eternally upon all who love our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Paul’s letter to the Ephesians begins and ends with a prayer for grace and peace to permeate the lives of his readers. He also injects another word into his prayer than needs a little inspection… faithfulness, ( Greek – ‘pistis’).

Some versions translate ‘pistis’ as ‘faith’, others as ‘faithfulness’. According to Strong’s Concordance, ‘pistis’ is derived from ‘peitho’ which incudes the concept of credence, i.e., belief in a system of truth.

Our confidence in the gospel, which is the system of truth which brought us both salvation from sin and the transformation of our lives, results in faithfulness to that body of belief to which we hold.

When we study the records of Jesus’ teachings, we discover that faithfulness to Him and His Word is high on His list of priorities and has great rewards. Jesus counts faithfulness to Him to be the qualification for our position in His kingdom when He returns.

‭Luke 16:10-12 NLT‬
[10]“If you are faithful in little things, you will be faithful in large ones. But if you are dishonest in little things, you won’t be honest with greater responsibilities. [11] And if you are untrustworthy about worldly wealth, who will trust you with the true riches of heaven? [12] And if you are not faithful with other people’s things, why should you be trusted with things of your own?”

‭Luke 18:8 NIV‬
[8] “…However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith (faithfulness) on the earth?”

Again , ‘pistis’, translated ‘faith’, but could it imply ‘faithfulness’?

Jesus had much to say about faithfulness. He told parables to illustrate the importance of faithfulness. For example…

‭Luke 12:42-44 NLT‬
[42] “And the Lord replied, “A faithful, sensible servant is one to whom the master can give the responsibility of managing his other household servants and feeding them. [43] If the master returns and finds that the servant has done a good job, there will be a reward. [44] I tell you the truth, the master will put that servant in charge of all he owns.”

The story of Joseph clearly illustrates the value and reward of faithfulness.

‭Genesis 39:2, 4, 6 NLT‬
[2]”The Lord was with Joseph, so he succeeded in everything he did as he served in the home of his Egyptian master…
[4] This pleased Potiphar, so he soon made Joseph his personal attendant. He put him in charge of his entire household and everything he owned…
[6] So Potiphar gave Joseph complete administrative responsibility over everything he owned. With Joseph there, he didn’t worry about a thing—except what kind of food to eat!… “

Unfaithfulness is the name of the game in our day. Unfaithfulness is rife on every level of family life and society. I don’t need to go into detail since we have all felt the effects of unfaithful people in our lives, AND we have all taken part in the tidal wave of unfaithfulness that sweeps over our world.

How can we remain faithful to our human family as well as to our Master when the pressure is on? Paul gives us a simple answer.

‭Galatians 5:22 NLT‬
[22] “But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, FAITHFULNESS…”

To qualify for the great prize at the end of our days on earth, we must heed the instruction of our Lord Jesus. We must trust the Holy Spirit to grow the fruit of faithfulness that only He can produce in us as we walk in the Word with Him.

THE JUST SHALL LIVE BY FAITH

Bible Study, ,

THE JUST SHALL LIVE BY FAITH

. . . The righteous person will live by his faithfulness (Hab. 2: 4b).

I cannot leave this verse without giving it fuller treatment because of its importance in Scripture.

“This great principle – “the just shall live by faith” – so inflamed the soul of Martin Luther that it became the watchword of the Reformation. It occurs first here in the small prophecy of Habakkuk but is then quoted three times in the New Testament. The term “just”, of course, means “justified” or “righteous”. God says a person is enabled to live righteously by his faith.” http://www.icr.org/article/just-shall-live-by-faith/

Paul’s first reference to Hab. 2:4, found in Rom. 1: 17, highlights God’s way of achieving righteousness. It comes through the gospel of God’s salvation. God’s righteousness is revealed through the gospel, a righteousness that is received as a free girt through faith. The great theme of Romans is God’s righteousness. How can a holy God forgive and receive sinners into His presence?

Through the atoning sacrifice of His Son, Jesus, He has revealed His justice in punishing sin, and at the same time justifying the sinner, absolving us from all guilt because the debt has been paid by one who had no sin of His own. His justice has been fully satisfied. He is free to impute righteousness to those who are unrighteous and receive us back into His family as His beloved sons and daughters.

Paul’s second reference to Hab. 2:4 is found in Gal 3:13, a companion letter to his letter to the Romans. Galatians was written to deal with a serious error that was being broadcast by a group of Jewish believers called Judaisers. They were insisting that Gentile believers be circumcised first before they could become Christians and identify with the church. Paul was adamant that anything added to faith in Christ for salvation nullified God’s grace and put them back under the law.

Just as they could only be counted as righteous through faith in Christ, so they could only be declared innocent through faith in Him. The two truths are closely linked. Without justification which we receive by faith in Christ’s finished work and the righteousness which He freely gives us through the same faith, we cannot approach and have fellowship with a holy God. We can do nothing to absolve ourselves from guilt and the punishment we deserve for our imperfection in God’s sight. He did it all to bring us back to Himself, and we receive it by faith and act on what He has done for us.

The third reference, Heb. 10: 38, emphasizes the importance of the life that flows from faith in what God has done for us. It leads into chapter 11, the great “faith” chapter in which the writer gives a resume’ of the heroes of the faith who obeyed God because they believed in Him. Faith that does not issue in obedience is sterile and useless.

Paul emphasised faith as the basis for salvation. James emphasised “works” as the evidence of faith. The two themes go hand in hand. Jesus applauded Zaccheus because he bore witness to the change in his heart by his willingness to make restitution for his greed and dishonesty.

The point of this revelation to Habakkuk was that every individual must take responsibility for what he does and the way he lives. Those who, like the Babylonians, were cruel and ruthless were accountable to God for what they did not only to God’s people but to all people. The problem was the attitude of their hearts. They treated others with contempt as lesser beings than themselves and thus they wiped them out or enslaved them with impunity. They would not “live” in the sense that their wickedness would take them to an eternal “death”.

Those who, by faith in God, live in dependence on Him, will be reckoned as righteous and will continue to experience true life when they pass from this life. Righteousness is imputed to those who believe God’s promises.

Abraham believed the Lord and it was credited to him as righteousness (Gen. 15: 6).

It does matter what we believe because our destiny depends on believing what God has done for us and living our lives on the basis of His promise.

“Those who by faith are righteous, shall live.”

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.

 

MOLLY AND ME – TRUST

Christian Life, , ,

Molly is almost fourteen months old now.

She reminds me of Abraham.

When God called Abraham to leave his home country and go to a land He would show him, Abraham didn’t know God but he went as God instructed him. It took him many years and many mistakes and times of mistrust to get to know God. When the final test came, “Go and sacrifice your beloved son, Isaac, on the mountain I will show you,” Abraham didn’t  hesitate. He trusted God implicitly despite the enormity of what God asked him to do. His years of walking with God and getting to know Him built an unshakeable faith in the faithfulness of the God he could not see but trusted to do the best for him.

Molly hasn’t reached Abraham’s level of trust yet, but she’s getting there. When she came to me as a tiny six-week-0ld puppy, she didn’t know me and I didn’t know her. In the year that we have been together, we have got to know each other and her trust in me is growing. For instance, she knows that, when I roast a chicken, some of it will be hers. Chicken is her all-time favourite meat and I could never ignore that expectant little creature who sits patiently waiting, tantalised by the smell of the delicacy, for her share.

Molly is beginning to understand human language. If I use the same words often enough, accompanied by the action, she responds with great enthusiasm to my instructions. If I tell her to “Go play,” she runs outside to look for her doggy friend. When I tell her, “Let’s go walkies,” she rushes to the gate and waits for me to put on her harness – a necessity for an energetic little dog who wants to take on all the neighbourhood canines, big or small.

She loves to sit with me on my recliner, snuggling in beside me with the anticipation of a nap while I do what ever I am doing at the time. She sometimes taps me on the leg to let me know she’s there and ready for me to pick her up. She often jumps high enough for me to see her beside my chair, then backs off and teases me by staying just out of reach. When she is ready, she comes near enough and willing for me to hoist her onto my lap.

When I leave her at home to go on an errand, she trusts me enough to let me go without a fuss if I give her a meaty bone to chew while I am away. She makes no attempt to follow me to the car because she knows that I will return.

Over the many years of my walk with the Lord, God has used many varied and sometimes difficult and painful experiences to teach me to trust Him. Trust is never automatic – it has to be learned by getting to know the character of the one whom you trust. If I were to fail Molly by ignoring her needs or failing to keep my promise, would she still trust me? She knows that I love her. How does she know? Apart from the many assurances of my love, the cuddles and kisses, I take care of her, meet all her needs and always pay attention to her when she “tells” me what she wants.

Of one thing I am very sure, God loves me. Apart from the declarations of His love in His Word, I have a lifetime of experience of His care, provision, faithfulness to His promises and blessing over and beyond anything I could have ever anticipated or dreamed of. Can God be trusted? Yes! A thousand times, yes! I have reached a point in my life of 77 years, that I can rest in Him no matter what happens because I have proved and I know that, in all things, God works for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.

God’s on a mission – to conform me to the image of His Son. And that’s enough for me. I trust Him. Do you?

The Spirit Of Torah

Christian Life, , , , ,

THE SPIRIT OF TORAH

Unlike the other rabbis with s’mikhah (authority) who were permitted to make new interpretations of Torah, but who focused primarily on behaviour and actions, Jesus turned His hearers’ attention to the spirit of Torah, what He called ‘the more important matters of the law.’ (Matt. 23: 23). The Greek word translated “more important” has the connotation of “weight”, i.e., that which is heavy, which carries weight or is profound.

What is this “weight” of which Jesus spoke? To understand its meaning, we must go back to the Torah and look at its use there. Moses used the same word, “weight” (Hebrew kabod), when he asked God to show him His glory – kabod – Ex. 33:18. What was he asking? He was asking God to show him what was heaviest, weightiest or profoundest in Him – in His character as God.

This is how God responded:

And the LORD said, ‘I will cause all my goodness to pass by in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the LORD, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.’ (Ex. 33:19)

It seems, then, that the weightiest part of God’s character is His goodness (functionality) expressed in His mercy and compassion. This was confirmed by the prophet Micah who asked the question:

With what shall I come before the LORD and bow down before the exalted God? Shall I come before Him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? (Micah 6:6-7)

All the things that Micah has mentioned were requirements within the Torah but taken to the extreme. But at the same time, all of these were useless without the “weightier things” of Torah.

He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly, to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. (Micah 6: 8)

In Matt. 23, Jesus rebuked the Pharisees for their attention to detail but the absolute neglect of their heart attitude of mercy. They did the right thing as far as Halakhah was concerned but they missed the point of Yahweh’s Torah completely. Whatever Halakhah demanded was to be fulfilled in the spirit of Torah – justice, mercy and faithfulness. These “religious” Jews were so intent on gaining a reputation for their “piety” that they were completely phoney before God.

Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices – mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law – justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practised the latter without neglecting the former. You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel. (Matt. 23:23-24)

What was Jesus saying? Wherever the prescriptions of Halakhah came into conflict with the weightier matters of Torah, i.e. justice, mercy and faithfulness, Halakhah must give way.

Jesus’s many altercations with the religious leaders raged around the issue of mercy versus Halakhah. His call to Matthew to be a disciple and the subsequent banquet Matthew gave for Jesus with the disreputable element of society as his honoured guests, provoked a protest from the Pharisees.

When the Pharisees saw this, they asked His disciples, ‘Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and “sinners”?’

On hearing this, Jesus said, ‘It is not the healthy that need a doctor but the sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous but sinners.’ (Matt. 9:10-13)

A few days later the Pharisees went on the attack again. While Jesus and His disciples walked through a field of grain on the Sabbath, the men picked a few heads of grain and rubbed them in their hands because they were hungry. Always on the warpath, the Pharisees protested.

When the Pharisees saw this, they said to Him, ‘Look! Your disciples are doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath.’ He answered, ‘Haven’t you read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? He entered the house of God, and he and his companions ate the consecrated bread – which is not lawful for them to do, but only for the priests . . . If you had known what these words mean, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice’, you would not have condemned the innocent. For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.’ (Matt. 12:1-4; 7-8)

It is quite obvious that they had not learned the lesson. As far as Jesus was concerned, wherever mercy and Halakhah clashed, mercy took precedence, even when it came to the simple matter of hunger over what was lawful according to Torah. Every requirement of Torah had to be fulfilled in the spirit of Torah for it to be what God intended.

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

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