Tag Archives: stumble

THINGS THAT DAVID SAID – 13

Devotion, ,

HEAVEN IS ALREADY HERE

Psalms 119:165 NIV
[165] “Great peace have those who love your law, and nothing can make them stumble.”

One of the greatest verses in one of the greatest chapters in the greatest book on earth, a word about God’s Word!

If you want to know what heaven is like, you’ll find it in three words…love, joy, peace.

Peace…God’s heaven is a place of peace. Jesus is king there, and His righteous government produces endless peace. Imagine that! No protests over load-shedding… lack of service delivery… poverty… joblessness… crime! No burning tyres! No throwing rocks! No toy-toying in the streets, no chanting and blocking traffic. Just peace, endless calm, quiet, and harmony everywhere!

The world, by contrast, is in a ferment of conflict and chaos for one reason…

Isaiah 57:20-21 NIV
[20] “But the wicked are like the tossing sea, which cannot rest, whose waves cast up mire and mud. [21] “There is no peace,” says my God, “for the wicked.”

The world is in its mess because people insist on leaving God out. Without God, there can be no peace because He IS peace, the only source of peace, and the only giver of peace.

2 Thessalonians 3:16 NIV
[16] “Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in every way. The Lord be with all of you.”

God can only give His peace to those who qualify on a legal basis. Sin… wickedness, disqualifies. No peace for the wicked. This means that no one is eligible to receive God’s peace because everyone is wicked, born wicked, and condemned to death.

God Himself, in mercy, dealt with our wickedness by taking the rap for sin Himself.

2 Corinthians 5:21 NIV
[21] “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

So, God’s gift of peace stands squarely on satisfying His demand for the punishment of the wicked. Death, He demanded, and only death. His own Son, innocent of wickedness, paid the penalty for us, a perfectly legal transaction…and the outcome?

Romans 5:1 NIV
[1] “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ…”

Wow! Would you look at that! It’s written in God’s own Word… peace with God! His wrath at sin has been perfectly appeased, satisfied, no more payment needed. The conflict is over. Peace!

However, God’s gift of peace extends far beyond just the punishment of sin to satisfy His legal requirement. Oh, no! God is much bigger than that! He is God, brimming over with a passion to bless.

God has removed the issue of sin. He can now lavish on those who have received His forgiveness by faith and the righteousness of Jesus, all the magnificent blessings He longs to pour out.

Since God equals love, joy, peace, everything He gives is wrapped in a parcel of who He is. This means that peace with Him opens the amazing reality of His own very presence, the God of peace, with us, always.

We can make an exchange…all the worries, concerns, and anxieties we encounter in our daily lives for a mind and heart always at peace because He is with us. How does this happen? Let Paul tell us in his own words…

Philippians 4:6-7 NIV
[6] “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. [7] And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

How do we know this is true and that we can have this peace always?

Our verse in Psalm 119 tells us how.

Psalms 119:165 NIV
[165] “Great peace have those who love your law, and nothing can make them stumble.”

Can you see how this works?

Everything God has done for us is written in His law, His Word. When we love His Word, we will read it, believe it, and act on it. His promises make us so secure that “nothing can make us stumble.”

Now, that’s the best way to live in this crazy world, by bringing heaven’s environment of peace right here where we are. By faith, this happens when we trade all our doubts and fears for God’s peace.

GROWING UP IS FOR REAL

Bible Study, ,

GROWING UP IS FOR REAL

“Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All food is clean, but it is wrong for a person to eat anything that causes someone else to stumble. It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything else that will cause your brother or sister to fall.

“So whatever you believe about these things keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the one who does not condemn himself by what he approves. But whoever has doubts is condemned if he eats, because eating is not from faith; and everything that does not come from faith is sin.” Romans 14:20-23.

So there you have it! But, wait a minute. Doesn’t it put me into bondage to other people if I have to consider their weak consciences before I can eat or drink, or do anything that another believer considers sin? It should work both ways. A weaker brother should not judge me if I am free from his scruples but, at the same time, I should not deliberately provoke him by flaunting my freedom in his face.

I have to ask. “Who has the great responsibility?” I have, because my freedom allows me to give away my rights for the sake of his soul. I will not suffer if I abstain from what bothers him when I am in his presence, whereas he will suffer if I refuse to abstain because I am free. If I cause my brother to fall because of my stubborn attitude, I will bear the guilt of turning him away from Christ because I did not love him enough to forgo my right for his sake.

“Blessed,” said Paul, “is the one who does not condemn himself by what he approves.” Blessed (“asher” in Hebrew) implies the Father’s pleasure that comes from making the right choice and doing the right thing because the Father approves of the attitude that considers another above oneself. There is no bondage in that as long as I have the right attitude. There is no place for resentment in my heart as long as I remember that it is Jesus, my Master, whom I serve when I serve others.

This leads Paul to another blanket statement that is a principle of life in God’s kingdom. Life in the kingdom of God is a walk of faith and is governed and directed by our confidence in what God has said. God’s goal for every believer is freedom from everything that hinders our faith in His word and our obedience to Him, which sets us apart as followers of Jesus.

We have many slave-drivers – behaviour patterns, habits, addictions, ways of coping – emotions, all of which interfere with the freedom Jesus bought for us so that we can walk with Him unhindered by these things. We gain our freedom, one step at a time as we learn the truth and submit to it by faith, replacing the things we believe in and do that keep us in bondage with God’s word. Paul called it “renewing our minds” (Romans 12:3).

We are set free when we believe and act upon what Jesus has said.

“To the Jews who had believed Him, Jesus said, ‘If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.'” John 8:31, 32.

Since it is a journey, it happens gradually, not all at once. However, the operative word is faith. To the Jew, to believe something intellectually but not to act on it was a meaningless exercise. Paul said, “If you believe something to be true, even if you are wrong, but do not act on it, is sin.”

We have to trust God enough for ourselves and for our fellow believers that we allow them to walk their own path with the Lord, just as we walk ours. God will reveal truth to us and to them as and when we are able to receive it, remembering that none of us has perfect knowledge of the truth. This is the beauty of our journey – that it is a journey of discovery and a journey from bondage to freedom and God is more interested in the outcome than in the process.

Our task, if we consider ourselves mature believers, is to protect love, preserve unity and promote contentment more than it is to demand our rights. This is really growing up into Christ because He is passionate about unity.

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.

THE BOOK OF ACTS – STUMBLING BLOCK

Bible Study, ,

STUMBLING BLOCK

“When Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul was able to give all his time to preaching and teaching, doing everything he could to persuade the Jews that Jesus was in fact God’s Messiah. But no such luck. All they did was argue contentiously and contradict him at every turn. Totally exasperated, Paul had finally had it with them and gave it up as a bad job. ‘Have it your way, then,’ he said. ‘You’ve made your bed, now lie on it. From now on I’m spending my time with the other nations.’

“He walked out and went to the home of Titius Justus, a God-fearing man who lived right next to the Jews’ meeting place. But Paul’s efforts with the Jews weren’t a total loss, for Crispus, the meeting place president, put his trust in the Master. His entire family believed with him.” Acts 18:5-8 (The Message).

Paul’s ministry to the Jews was like trying to wring blood out of a stone. The same stubborn resistance and unbelief that frustrated God through their entire history was still in them. It seemed that there were few Jews who responded wherever Paul went, until he was forced to shake the dust off his feet and turn to those who welcomed him and received his message with enthusiasm. I guess, had Paul not had a face-to-face encounter with Jesus that shook him out of his stubborn unbelief, he might not have been where he was, doing what he was doing.

How did God weave this wholesale rejection into His plan for the salvation of the nations? Would these Jewish missionaries have so readily gone to the Gentiles had the Jews responded in greater numbers? As difficult as it was for Paul to accept the persecution he experienced at the hands of his fellow-countrymen, it was all in the plan of God to make Himself known to the nations to the ends of the earth.

Try as he might, as he went from city to city he could not persuade the Jews that Jesus was their Messiah. What was the stumbling block? The cross! The very reason why God could invite His people into His presence, apart from the rituals that they had so come to trust in was the reason why they rejected Him in the end. They could not accept a crucified “criminal” as their Messiah, resurrection or no resurrection.

Paul understood this and he also understood that God in His sovereignty used this very rejection to open the door for Gentiles to hear the same saving message.

“Again I ask; did they stumble so as to fall beyond recovery? Not at all! Rather, because of their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel envious…Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of God: sternness to those who fell, but kindness to you, provided that you continue in His kindness. Otherwise, you also will be cut off.” Romans 11:11-12; 22 (NIV).

Did God make the Jews rebellious and unbelieving? No, it was their choice. But God, in His sovereignty, used what they were to fulfill His purpose for the world. At the same time, He didn’t cast them off as rejects. In spite of those who believe and propagate that God is finished with the Jews, that is not what the Bible says.

“As far as the gospel is concerned, they are enemies on your account; but as far as election is concerned, they are loved on account of the patriarchs, for God’s gifts and His call are irrevocable.

“Just as you who were one time disobedient to God have now received mercy as a result of their disobedience, so now they too have become disobedient in order that they too may now receive mercy as a result of God’s mercy to you. For God has bound all men over to disobedience so that He may have mercy on them all.” Romans 11:28-32 (NIV).

Drastic Mutilation

Bible Study, , ,

DRASTIC MUTILATION

‘If anyone causes one of these little ones– those who believe in me – to stumble. It would be better for him if a large millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea.

If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off. It were better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go into hell, where the fire never goes out. And if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than to have two feet and go to hell. And if your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell where ‘the worms that eat them do not die and the fire is not quenched.

Everyone will be salted with fire. ‘Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can you make it salty again? Have salt among yourselves, and be at peace with one another.’ (Mark 9: 42-50).

What Jesus was talking about makes no sense to a westerner without an understanding of Hebrew background and rabbinic teaching methods. First of all, Jesus used a teaching method here called hyperbole or exaggeration. What He said was never intended to be taken literally, and His disciples understood that.  

He was not telling His disciples to mutilate themselves in order to get rid of sin. That would contradict what He had already taught them, that sin is not about behaviour first of all; sin begins in the heart and issues in words and behaviour. What would be the point of cutting off hands or feet or plucking out an eye without a change of heart? Equally useless are the rules about diet and washing the body, because none of these things have any effect on the heart.

What did Jesus mean, then? He was speaking to His disciples in the context of John’s information that they had stopped a man from casting out demons in His name because he was not “one of them”. Jesus was indignant because they were being exclusive, as though He belonged to them and to no one else. He opened the door for anyone to follow Him. If they were not against Him, they were for Him.

What did He mean by “little ones”? He used this expression not only for children but also for the ordinary people who followed Him. They were “little ones” in the sense that they were simple and down-to-earth, like children. They had no high-and-mighty ideas about themselves unlike the religious leaders who thought they were a cut above everyone else and that they had exclusive rights to the understanding of the Torah.

Jesus had to use strong words to get them to understand that their attitude was unacceptable to Him. They were sinning against Jesus and against the man by stopping him from following Jesus. By “cutting off” hand or foot or “plucking out” an eye that offended, Jesus was conveying the need for a drastic change of attitude. “Get rid of whatever causes you to sin against another person.”

What these men needed to do was not to mutilate their bodies in order to change the attitude but to mutilate their hearts. The Apostle Paul would take this thought ever further. In the light of Jesus’s death, in order to change one’s attitude, one was to reckon oneself dead to sin and alive to God.

What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? (Rom. 6: 1-2).

The use of the word gehenna (translated “hell”) is also misunderstood. Gehenna was the city rubbish dump outside Jerusalem in the valley of Hinnom where the fire burned continually and where the garbage was thrown, including the bodies of criminals. Jesus was not referring to a place of eternal torment but a place where worthless rubbish was destroyed. His words were a warning that a person who had both hands, both feet and both eyes, but whose heart was corrupted by sin, would be utterly destroyed, like the garbage in the city dump.

Was He advocating a literal fire that never went out? Was He saying that people will burn forever in hell? We don’t know. What we do know is that what He said was intended not to scare people out of hell and into heaven, but to warn them of the dangers of selfishness which issue from a corrupted heart. If we want to experience real life with Him, we must get rid of the attitudes that diminish and dehumanise us.

This is not a “self-help” programme but a response to what He did for us. He died to remove sin and change our hearts. Without that, whatever changes we may make will merely be cosmetic. He calls us to follow Him. Only through faith in Him can we experience the deliverance He achieved through the cross. He put sin to death when He died. Now we can enter into real like by dying to sin with Him.

Since you died with Christ . . .  Since you have been raised with Christ, set you hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God (Col. 2: 20a; 3:1).

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 in paperback, e-book or kindle version or order directly from the publisher at www.partridgepublishing.com.

Check out my Blog site – www.learningtobeason.wordpress.com

 

 

Growing Up Is For Real

Bible Study, , , ,

GROWING UP IS FOR REAL

“Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All food is clean, but it is wrong for a person to eat anything that causes someone else to stumble. It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything else that will cause your brother or sister to fall.

“So whatever you believe about these things keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the one who does not condemn himself by what he approves. But whoever has doubts is condemned if he eats, because eating is not from faith; and everything that does not come from faith is sin.” Romans 14:20-23.

So there you have it! But, wait a minute. Doesn’t it put me into bondage to other people  if I have to consider their weak consciences before I can eat or drink, or do anything that another believer considers sin? It should work both ways. A weaker brother should not judge me if I am free from his scruples but, at the same time, I should not deliberately provoke him by flaunting my freedom in his face.

I have to ask. “Who has the great responsibility?” I have, because my freedom allows me to give away my rights for the sake of his soul. I will not suffer if I abstain from what bothers him when I am in his presence, whereas he will suffer if I refuse to abstain because I am free. If I cause my brother to fall because of my stubborn attitude, I will bear the guilt of turning him away from Christ because I did not love him enough to forgo my right for his sake.

“Blessed,” said Paul, “is the one who does not condemn himself by what he approves.” Blessed (“asher” in Hebrew) implies the Father’s pleasure that comes from making the right choice and doing the right thing because the Father approves of the attitude that considers another above oneself. There is no bondage in that as long as I have the right attitude. There is no place for resentment in my heart as long as I remember that it is Jesus, my Master, whom I serve when I serve others.

This leads Paul to another blanket statement that is a principle of life in God’s kingdom. Life in the kingdom of God is a walk of faith and is governed and directed by our confidence in what God has said. God’s goal for every believer is freedom from everything that hinders our faith in His word and our obedience to Him which sets us apart as followers of Jesus.

We have many slave-drivers – behaviour patterns, habits, addictions, ways of coping,   emotions, all of which interfere with the freedom Jesus bought for us so that we can walk with Him unhindered by these things. We gain our freedom, one step at a time as we learn the truth and submit to it by faith, replacing the things we believe in and do that keep us in bondage with God’s word. Paul called it “renewing our minds” (Romans 12:3).

We are set free when we believe and act upon what Jesus has said.

“To the Jews who had believed Him, Jesus said, ‘If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.'” John 8:31, 32.

Since it is a journey, it happens gradually, not all at once. However, the operative word is faith. To the Jew, to believe something intellectually but not to act on it was a meaningless exercise. Paul said, “If you believe something to be true, even if you are wrong, but do not act on it, is sin.”

We have to trust God enough for ourselves and for our fellow believers that we allow them to walk their own path with the Lord, just as we walk ours. God will reveal truth to us and to them as and when we are able to receive it, remembering that none of us has perfect knowledge of the truth. This is the beauty of our journey – that it is a journey of discovery and a journey from bondage to freedom and God is more interested in the outcome than in the process.

Our task, if we consider ourselves mature believers, is to protect love, preserve unity and promote contentment more than it is to demand our rights. And this is really growing up into Christ because He is passionate about unity.

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.