Tag: "Friendship with Sin or Friendship with God?

Blessings From God’s Word: Bless Me and Revive Me, O’ God. Make Your Face to Shine Bright Upon Me, Your Servant. Psalm 119:129-136

Psalm 119:129-136 Amplified Bible

Pe.

129 
Your testimonies are wonderful;
Therefore my soul keeps them.
130 
The unfolding of Your [glorious] words give light;
Their unfolding gives understanding to the simple (childlike).
131 
I opened my mouth and panted [with anticipation],
Because I longed for Your commandments.
132 
Turn to me and be gracious to me and show me favor,
As is Your way to those who love Your name.
133 
Establish my footsteps in [the way of] Your word;
Do not let any human weakness have power over me [causing me to be separated from You].
134 
Redeem me from the oppression of man;
That I may keep Your precepts.
135 
Make Your face shine [with pleasure] upon Your servant,
And teach me Your statutes.
136 
My eyes weep streams of water
Because people do not keep Your law.

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Adeste Fidelis. Venite Adoremus. Dominum.

Gloria, In Excelsis Deo, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.

Blessings From God’s Word …

Make your face shine with pleasure on your servant and teach me your decrees.

—  Psalm 119:135

The words of the Psalmist from verse 135 “Make your face shine on your servant” echoes the great blessing found in the High Aaronic prayer Numbers 6:24-26.

There God explains how to give his people a blessing, saying:

“The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.”

Here God conveys to his people that He has turned His face upon them, sees them and promises to be gracious to them, to love and vigilantly protect them.

In our reading from the Psalms for today, the psalmist sees the light of God’s Word, and his passion for God grows, leading to a greater thirst for God’s Word.

As he reads and meditates, ponders and absorbs, the writer’s understanding of God’s love, mercy, and compassion deepens and his longing for God increases.

The intensity of his passion for God leads him even to pant for God’s Word!

Another important thing to note here is that the psalmist calls himself God’s servant.

Connecting God’s blessing with service, the psalmist reminds us that blessings do not stop when they land on our doorstep.

God blesses us—his servants—so that we can serve and be a blessing to the people around us.

Go ahead and ask God for his blessing, because God wants to bless you.

He also wants us to be keenly attentive to his Word, to praise Him, to pray and to worship Him and to learn His statutes, to revive, actively serve in his world.

Teach Me Your Statutes, O God …

God’s word is a treasure filled with fine riches that teach us about the God who created us and how to live in a way that pleases Him.

Often, we can disconnect God’s word from our lives and make reading His word a mere intellectual pursuit or religious practice.

Psalm 119 is a beautiful prayer that asks God to deeply connect the psalmist’s life with the word of God.

One of the most oft repeated phrases the psalmist passionately prays is for God to teach him to live by his statutes, which appears Psalm 119 at least ten times:

“Blessed are you, O LORD; teach me your statutes!” Psalm 119:12

“Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law.” Psalm 119:18

“When I told of my ways, you answered me; teach me your statutes!” Psalm 119:26

“Teach me, O LORD, the way of your statutes; and I will keep it to the end.” Psalm 119:33 

“The earth, O LORD, is full of your steadfast love; teach me your statutes!” Psalm 119:64

“You are good and do good; teach me your statutes.” Psalm 119:68

“Your hands have made and fashioned me; give me understanding that I may learn your commandments.” Psalm 119:73

“Deal with your servant according to your steadfast love, and teach me your statutes.” Psalm 119:124

“I am your servant; give me understanding, that I may know your testimonies!” Psalm 119:25

“Make your face shine upon your servant, and teach me your statutes.” Psalm 119:135

“Let my cry come before you, O LORD; give me understanding according to your word!“ Psalm 119:169

We could, would, should be all be the wiser to make these verses (and the whole psalm) an essential element of our daily prayer life, our heart cry to our Savior.

Ah, the Sweetest Mystery of Life …

Ecclesiastes 8:16-9:6Amplified Bible

16 When I applied my mind to know wisdom and to see the activities [of mankind] that take place upon the earth—how some men seem to sleep neither day nor night— 17 and I saw all the work of God, I concluded that man cannot discover the work that is done under the sun. Even though man may labor in seeking, he will not discover; and [more than that], though a wise man thinks and claims he knows, he will not be able to find it out.

Men Are in the Hand of God

9 For I have taken all this to heart, exploring and examining it all, how the righteous (those in right standing with God) and the wise and their deeds are in the hands of God. No man knows whether it will be love or hatred; anything awaits him.

2 It is the same for all. There is one fate for the righteous and for the wicked; for the good, for the clean and for the unclean; for the man who offers sacrifices and for the one who does not sacrifice. As the good man is, so is the sinner; as he who swears an oath is, so is he who is afraid to swear an oath. 3 This evil is in all that is done under the sun, that one fate comes to all. Also, the hearts of the sons of men are full of evil, and madness is in their hearts while they live, and afterwards they go to the dead. 4  [There is no exemption,] but whoever is joined with all the living, has hope; surely a live dog is better than a dead lion. 5 For the living know that they will die; but the dead know nothing, and they no longer have a reward [here], for the memory of them is forgotten. 6 Indeed their love, their hatred and their zeal have already perished, and they will no longer have a share [in this age] in anything that is done under the sun.

The Searcher’s claim is quite clear: life is too complicated, too vast, too filled with conflicting elements for any one of us to figure out all the answers.

Though we stay up all night and day, trying to think through and understand the complicated events that bring to pass the circumstances of our lives, we will never fully understand.

The Bible attaches no stigma to trying to understand life.

Rather, the pursuit of knowledge is everywhere encouraged in Scripture.

We must never adopt the attitude of anti-intellectualism that characterizes some segments of Christianity today.

We are to reason and think about what God is doing and what life gives us.

But we must always remember that no matter how much we try to think about life, mysteries will still remain.

We do not have enough data, nor do we have enough ability to see life in its totality to answer all the questions.

We must be content with some degree of mystery.

Though the wisest man of the ancient world wrote these words, he admits that humans cannot know all the answers.

He even says that diligence in labor will not unravel life’s mysteries: Despite all his efforts to search it out, man cannot discover its meaning. 

We will still be left collectively knitting our brows, collectively scratching our heads, and asking the eternally unanswerable question: “Why, Me, Lord”?

Even when people claim to know the answers behind what happens to us, they are really only deceiving themselves.

Many people are unwilling to accept the truth of the precepts of Scripture until they can “come to fully, completely, utterly,” understand everything in it.

But if you and I are waiting for that, you will never make it -“failure to thrive” .

Although this book Ecclesiastes was written almost 2,500 years ago, it is still true, even in our age of advanced knowledge, no one can find all the answers.

We must diligently search out the statutes of God – through prayer and study.

When you and I think about our own life, about how many of the things that have happened to us have been determined by events over which we had zero control—events that had to fall together in a certain pattern before they could ever come to pass [by God’s Plan]—you, I, can see how true these words are.

No one can find out all the answers.

The sweetest mystery to life is that the destiny of our lives may all hung upon a simple decision to go or not to go to a church on a particular Sunday because we had some sort of “issue, grievance, grudge etcetera,” against the church itself.

Learning something about God’s precepts for our “Christian living” may just be revealed on that day during the course of praise, worship, reading of scripture.

We have to continuously place ourselves directly in the path of the Word of God.

We have to continuously stay passionate about letting God work in us and also through us by means of the unmatched power of His transformative Word.

How can we understand that strange merging of simplicity and complexity?

The Searcher of Ecclesiastes continuously and constantly argues that life is too complicated without the Word of God, for us ever to answer all the questions.

We will inevitably run out of brain power when, all by ourselves, we keep trying to be “a Sermon in Shoes Christian” finding our answers to the mystery of life.

Is understanding everything in Scripture necessary before accepting it as truth?

A Puzzle and a Song …

Romans 11:30-12:3Amplified Bible

30 Just as you once were disobedient and failed to listen to God, but have now obtained mercy because of their disobedience, 31 so they too have now become disobedient so that they too may one day receive mercy because of the mercy shown to you. 32 For God has imprisoned all in disobedience so that He may show mercy to all [Jew and Gentile alike].

33 Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and decisions and how unfathomable and untraceable are His ways! 34 For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been His counselor? 35 Or who has first given to Him that it would be paid back to him? 36 For from Him [all things originate] and through Him [all things live and exist] and to Him are all things [directed]. To Him be glory and honor forever! Amen.

Dedicated Service

12 [a]Therefore I urge you, [b]brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies [dedicating all of yourselves, set apart] as a living sacrifice, holy and well-pleasing to God, which is your rational (logical, intelligent) act of worship. 2 And do not be conformed to this world [any longer with its superficial values and customs], but be [c]transformed and progressively changed [as you mature spiritually] by the renewing of your mind [focusing on godly values and ethical attitudes], so that you may prove [for yourselves] what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect [in His plan and purpose for you].

3 For by the grace [of God] given to me I say to everyone of you not to think more highly of himself [and of his importance and ability] than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has apportioned to each a degree of faith [and a purpose designed for service].

I love puzzles but it bothers me and it frustrates me to no end the challenge of sitting still long enough and putting together any 1,000-piece jig­saw puzzle.

Like my wife, some people will go online, just to do the most complex Sudoku.

She has developed a system whereby she just systematically “breezes through.”

That is not me, either …

I like Sudoku … but I cannot just “breeze through” them like she does.

I watch her, admire her ability to “order and sort out” all of the numbers.

I just need take my time and pray I finish without too many mistakes.

Too many mistakes … I just shut the game down as quickly as possible.

Revealing that sometimes our puzzles can end up puzzling us.

That’s how it was for the apostle Paul.

Paul wrestled with a very personal problem.

By God’s grace he had come to know Jesus as his Savior.

As he went about doing his missionary work, many Gentiles came to faith in Jesus as Lord.

But many of his own Jewish people rejected Jesus.

It was mind boggling to him.

Were they not God’s special people chosen to share God’s love with the world?

Nevertheless, Paul was so confident of God’s great mercy he broke into song.

Paul confesses that we can never fully grasp God’s eternal plan.

Our efforts to understand God, define him, or reduce him to our level will ultimately fail.

God owes us no explanation; nor is he accountable to us—for he is God.

There is something we can do—in fact, two things.

First, Paul implies that we should keep praising God because all glory belongs to him forever.

Then Paul goes on to say that the only reasonable response to all this is to offer ourselves in complete service to God and to be completely available for his use.

Are we doing that?

By Praise and Worship, by Prayer and Meditation and Study of God’s Word,

Are we looking to God for answers to even the most uncomplicated of puzzles?

“Reviving” the “Lost Art” of “Knowing God better than we Know Ourselves?”

Do you desire to continually learn and be taught God’s word and statues?

Does your heart yearn to be taught the path of God and to fix the gaze of your heart and your soul upon Him?

How say Ye to this …?

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray, ….

Lord, often we are as puzzled as the Psalmist, the Teacher and the Apostle Paul about the host of ways you deal with us. Even so, may we stand in awe of your amazing grace and respond to you with songs of praise and acts of service. Lord, cause us to continually grow in our understanding and learning of your statutes, making us wise and obedient to you. Cause us to fear your name and pursue an obedient and joyful life as Bible-saturated people who look to you for wisdom, grace, and life. Teach us your statutes and may our lives be characterized by joyful obedience to your word and by demonstrating constant dependence on you. And may you fill us ever more increasingly with your Holy Spirit, who alone, can truly teach us all your statutes.

Adeste Fidelis. Venite Adoremus. Dominum.

Gloria. In Excelsis Deo. Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.

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Our Lives For the Sake of the Gospel. Philippians 1:12-14.

Philippians 1:12-14The Message

They Can’t Imprison the Message

12-14 I want to report to you, friends, that my imprisonment here has had the opposite of its intended effect. Instead of being squelched, the Message has actually prospered. All the soldiers here, and everyone else, too, found out that I’m in jail because of this Messiah. That piqued their curiosity, and now they’ve learned all about him. Not only that, but most of the followers of Jesus here have become far more sure of themselves in the faith than ever, speaking out fearlessly about God, about the Messiah.

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Adeste Fidelis! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.

Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.

How passionate are we about sharing the Gospel?

How much or how little are we willing to extend ourselves, sacrifice and take risks so that unbelievers may become followers of Jesus and believers may become that much better equipped to share the good news of our salvation?

As we approach the Lenten Season and consider these questions, are we helped by the example of the apostle Paul, who heroically, single-mindedly, pursued God’s call through all manner of difficulties and persecutions and throughout the Mediterranean world—all so that others may come to know Christ as Lord?

If nothing else, we we learn that nothing would stop Paul from preaching and teaching about Jesus—not a trial before royalty, a storm at sea, a shipwreck, a poisonous snake bite, chains, or even prolonged wrongful imprisonment.

Paul was hyper-zealous to make all of his days and deeds count for the Gospel.

His dramatic missionary journeys, and finally his journey to Rome to face down the Roman authorities on their home ground, illustrates God’s faithfulness and encourages us to see our circumstances as “God” opportunities for us to throw all of ourselves into our own mission, ministry journey’s to share the Gospel.

As I sit on a pillow in my dining room recovering from “urological surgery,” yesterday, my only thoughts were to start writing another devotional entry.

I can sit here in some fair measure of discomfort with my God, my Savior and the Holy Spirit and my caregiving wife at my side, to feel enormously blessed, so fully and completely grateful for what is stirring me to write and not rest.

God has formed and shaped out a place of such an enormous and intense joy in my heart, in my soul just for sharing of His Gospel, no matter the discomfort.

I have this ministry and mission of writing which Reverend John Wesley states:

“I look on all the world as my parish, thus far I mean, that, in whatever part of the world I am in … I judge it meet, right, and my bounden duty, to declare unto all that are willing to hear, the glad tidings of salvation.”

Even if my only place in the world is my very own dining room in my own home.

As of now, by God’s grace, the matchless power and purpose of His scriptures, His own grand plan, [Isaiah 55:10-13] these writings have reached 125 nations.

I cannot speak to the work God has done, but I am still writing after 18 months.

For GOD my Savior and for the Sake of the Gospel

Philippians 1:12-14Amplified Bible

The Gospel Is Preached

12 Now I want you to know, [a]believers, that what has happened to me [this imprisonment that was meant to stop me] has actually served to advance [the spread of] the good news [regarding salvation]. 13 My imprisonment in [the cause of] Christ has become common knowledge throughout the whole [b] praetorian (imperial) guard and to everyone else. 14 Because of my chains [seeing that I am doing well and that God is accomplishing great things], most of the [c]brothers have renewed confidence in the Lord, and have far more courage to speak the word of God [concerning salvation] without fear [of the consequences, seeing that God can work His good in all circumstances].

Follow Paul through Acts and he leaves you breathless.

He’s constantly on the move, going from place to place.

One moment he’s stitching tents together, then he’s bringing Eutychus back to life, and then he survives a snakebite and heals the sick on Malta.

It’s almost as if you can’t imagine ever being able to keep up with him.

Surely the worst thing that could ever happen to someone like Paul is to be stuck in one house for two years.

But at the conclusion of Acts, that’s exactly how we find him (Acts 28:30-31).

You can just imagine the devil’s response to Paul’s imprisonment: 

Now I’ve shut him down! That’ll get rid of him. He won’t be able to go anywhere for a long while. He’ll just shrivel up and die a prisoner. 

Not a chance!

It is during Paul’s imprisonment that he penned some of his most noteworthy letters under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit—letters that God is still using to transform lives these long and tornado twisting, storm driven 2,000 years later.

And, remarkably, the gospel has continually advanced not only despite Paul’s chains but because of them.

Paul was likely very different from other prisoners.

The soldiers who guarded him would have probably said to one another, 

He is the most remarkable person we’ve ever had. We’re used to people constantly cussing, screaming, agitating, and complaining. But this Paul has joy and purpose, and he just preaches!

As a result of Paul’s daily ministry among these soldiers, word began to spread throughout the entire palace guard: The reason this guy is a prisoner is because of Jesus. 

They got the point: He’s chained to us, he says, because he’s chained to this man Jesus Christ. 

And it appears that some of these guards not only heard the gospel but responded to it.

As they were redeployed throughout the Roman Empire, arriving at their new posts as new men, the gospel would advance to different places through them.

And so Paul’s imprisonment, which at first appeared to be diametrically opposed to the spread of the gospel, actually proved to be essential to it.

You do not need to be a prisoner, a missionary, or an apostle to be used by God in spreading the gospel, nor do you need to wait for all the circumstances in your life to line up just as you want them to before you simply talk about Jesus.

Whether you are in your home, prison, a hospital, an office, a field, or wherever, and whether you realize it or not, you are never far from someone who needs to hear the amazing story of God’s grace.

What are the situations you face that you naturally see as obstacles to sharing the gospel, and how might they in fact be opportunities?

Who are the lost and longing people that God has placed in your life today?

They need God.

And they might only meet Him through your loving, sacred, holy boldness.

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Psalm 40The Message

40 1-3 I waited and waited and waited for God.
    At last he looked; finally he listened.
He lifted me out of the ditch,
    pulled me from deep mud.
He stood me up on a solid rock
    to make sure I wouldn’t slip.
He taught me how to sing the latest God-song,
    a praise-song to our God.
More and more people are seeing this:
    they enter the mystery,
    abandoning themselves to God.

4-5 Blessed are you who give yourselves over to God,
    turn your backs on the world’s “sure thing,”
    ignore what the world worships;
The world’s a huge stockpile
    of God-wonders and God-thoughts.
Nothing and no one
    compares to you!
I start talking about you, telling what I know,
    and quickly run out of words.
Neither numbers nor words
    account for you.

6 Doing something for you, bringing something to you—
    that’s not what you’re after.
Being religious, acting pious—
    that’s not what you’re asking for.
You’ve opened my ears
    so I can listen.

7-8 So I answered, “I’m coming.
    I read in your letter what you wrote about me,
And I’m coming to the party
    you’re throwing for me.”
That’s when God’s Word entered my life,
    became part of my very being.

9-10 I’ve preached you to the whole congregation,
    I’ve kept back nothing, God—you know that.
I didn’t keep the news of your ways
    a secret, didn’t keep it to myself.
I told it all, how dependable you are, how thorough.
    I didn’t hold back pieces of love and truth
For myself alone. I told it all,
    let the congregation know the whole story.

11-12 Now God, don’t hold out on me,
    don’t hold back your passion.
Your love and truth
    are all that keeps me together.
When troubles ganged up on me,
    a mob of sins past counting,
I was so swamped by guilt
    I couldn’t see my way clear.
More guilt in my heart than hair on my head,
    so heavy the guilt that my heart gave out.

13-15 Soften up, God, and intervene;
    hurry and get me some help,
So those who are trying to kidnap my soul
    will be embarrassed and lose face,
So anyone who gets a kick out of making me miserable
    will be heckled and disgraced,
So those who pray for my ruin
    will be booed and jeered without mercy.

16-17 But all who are hunting for you—
    oh, let them sing and be happy.
Let those who know what you’re all about
    tell the world you’re great and not quitting.
And me? I’m a mess. I’m nothing and have nothing:
    make something of me.
You can do it; you’ve got what it takes—
    but God, don’t put it off.

Adeste Fidelis. Venite Adoremus. Dominum.

Gloria, In Excelsis Deo, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia Amen.

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Entering into God’s neighborhood: Witnessing to Anyone, at Anytime, Anyplace, Anywhere. Luke 5:27-32.

Who Are the People in Your Neighborhood?

“Oh, who are the people in your neighborhood?
In your neighborhood?
In your neighborhood?
Say, who are the people in your neighborhood?
The people that you meet each day.”

At social events, doctors and nurses and Lawyers and Accountants and other professionals like auto mechanics are often pulled aside by people who have health-related, legal, bookkeeping, money investment and car repair questions.

Likewise, building contractors, electricians and carpenters are often asked for free simple inexpensive FIY advice about people’s home improvement projects.

In a similar way, pastors and laity are drawn into spiritual conversations at sporting events, on airplanes, in marketplaces, in restaurants, and around campfires in summer, or at the ends of freshly shoveled driveways in winter.

Reading and studying the Bible shows that Jesus used every time and place as an opportunity to witness to his faith, his hope, his love in His Father in Heaven.

Sometimes his conversations happened at night, as with Nicodemus (John 3).

In today’s verses from Dr. Luke’s Narrative, the Pharisees and teachers of the law criticized Jesus for mingling and talking with Tax Collectors and hanging out with “sinners” too unclean to even associate with. Jesus sternly reminded them just as doctors tend to the sick, he came to call ‘broken’ sinners to repent.

Some of us would much rather leave spiritual conversations to pastors. As laity we would rather “remain anonymous on vacation” “fly under the radar” about being a Christian who is always supposed to be ready to share of their hope in God. (1 Peter 1:13-14, 1 Peter 3:14-16)

A Christian tradesman cringed when a fellow contractor walked up to him from behind and then asked if he was “one of those ridiculous “bible thumpers.”

The contractor was teasing, and testing and his tone was very disrespectful.

Standing up straight, the tradesman looked into the eyes of the contractor, took the opportunity to smile and say, “Yes, I’m a Christian, thank you for asking!”

And then later over their lunch breaks a meaningful conversation followed.

Let us all remember that we are sacred space, in the Holy Presence of God.

In the name of God, the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

To whom will God show himself through you today? The Spirit of Christ calls us to be ready to give an answer anytime, anywhere (1 Peter 3:15). Are you ready?

Luke 5:27-32Amplified Bible

Call of Levi (Matthew)

27 After this Jesus went out and noticed a tax collector named Levi (Matthew) sitting at the tax booth; and He said to him, “Follow Me [as My disciple, accepting Me as your Master and Teacher and walking the same path of life that I walk].” 28 And he left everything behind and got up and began to follow Jesus [as His disciple].

29 Levi (Matthew) gave a great banquet for Him at his house; and there was a large crowd of tax collectors and others who were reclining at the table with them. 30 The Pharisees and their scribes [seeing those with whom He was associating] began murmuring in discontent to His disciples, asking, “Why are you eating and drinking with the tax collectors and sinners [including non-observant Jews]?” 31 And Jesus replied to them, “It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but [only] those who are sick. 32 I did not come to call the [self-proclaimed] righteous [who see no need to repent], but sinners to repentance [to change their old way of thinking, to turn from sin and to seek God and His righteousness].”

The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.

The gospel teaches us to help those who are suffering especially from sin and ignorance. Instead of blaming and shaming others for their shortcomings and weaknesses, we are challenged to lead them to the way, the truth and the life.

Imitating and Modeling Jesus, our lifting their spirits up by acknowledging, teaching and showing good deeds is one of the teachings of today’s gospel.

With these acts, the one who stumbles and gets up and the one who teaches and helps both receive blessings from our Heavenly Father.

Matthew 10:40-42Amplified Bible

The Reward of Service

40 “He who receives and welcomes you receives Me, and he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me. 41 He who receives and welcomes a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward; and he who receives a righteous (honorable) man because he is a righteous man will receive a righteous man’s reward. 42 And whoever gives to one of these little ones [these who are humble in rank or influence] even a cup of cold water to drink because he is my disciple, truly I say to you, he will not lose his reward.”

By our Baptism, with all of who we are, we freely enter into God Neighborhood.

By our Baptism, with all of who we are in our Savior Jesus Christ, we reluctantly, begrudgingly, enter into our own neighborhoods, into our own communities.

By our Baptismal Covenant, as Christians, we are challenged to actively express our faith, hope and love in the gospel which depicts possessing zeal for service.

With “cups and bottles of Living Water” in hand, we are expected, we are each covenanted to God to impart our knowledge especially regarding our mission to those who are incapable and unfortunate, even “while we are on our vacations.”

In addition, through serving and witnessing, leading others with and towards excellence should be one of our main goals. With this, we are able to share the blessings we have received and at the same time express our gratitude to God.

Matthew 9:36-38Amplified Bible

36 When He saw the crowds, He was moved with compassion and pity for them, because they were dispirited and distressed, like sheep without a shepherd. 37 Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest is [indeed] plentiful, but the workers are few. 38 So pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest.”

Rabbi Jesus’ religious adversaries frequently criticized him for deliberately associating with people who were suspect in their eyes.

The man, Rabbi Jesus, however, had a reason for this behavior.

He wasn’t associating with sinners to be popular, weird, bizarre, or hip.

The Lord associated with all kinds of people because he acknowledged and loved all kinds of people! He came to redeem the enslaved, find the lost, mend the broken, and reclaim the sinner. Can we, as Jesus’ bodily presence today, strive for anything less than this and still call ourselves Jesus’ Church?

Every single day we look out into the great expanse of God’s own neighborhood.

How much time and effort do we make and take to look into the great expanse, length, depth, height, and width, of our own neighborhoods and communities?

How can we come alongside and engage and help even one of our neighbors who are, or might be, greatly suffering from a lack of faith and hope and love?

Shall we remain “on spiritual vacation” physically silent, let our consciences create its noise or shall we provide ‘presence’ amongst ourselves and others?

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Forgive me, God, my Father, when I opt for security in my acquaintances, and I avoid potentially messy entanglements between my Baptismal Covenant and in my relationships. Please open my eyes to see the lost, the lonely, the forgotten, and the needy all around me. Please use me to lead them to your grace and to help them find their family with your people. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.

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Fellow Christians, “As Iron Sharpens Iron,” So You too Can Truly Influence Others for the Better! |Proverbs 27:17

The mightily influential, Late Evangelist Reverend Dr. Billy Graham wrote,

The human soul is a lonely thing. It must have the assurance of companionship. Left entirely to itself, it cannot enjoy anything. God said in the beginning, “It is not good that man should dwell alone” (Genesis 2:18). The creation of Eve was the beginning of human companionship. God’s people are a body, not intended to function separately, not intended to be unconcerned for one another.

The only true body in the world is the Church. The world may talk grandly of brotherhood, but in reality, its philosophy is “each man for himself.” All of God’s children are guaranteed the richest and truest friendship, both here and hereafter. Only in a true friendship and a true love do we find a genuine basis for peace. Only God can break down the national and racial barriers that divide men today. Only God can supply that love that we must have for our fellowman.

We will never build brotherhood of man upon earth until we are believers in Christ Jesus. The only true cohesive power in the world is Christ the Lord. He alone can bind all generations of human hearts together in one genuine love.

Proverbs 27:17 Amplified Bible

17 
As iron sharpens iron,
So, one man sharpens [and influences] another [through discussion].

The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.

Within the Hebrew (Old) Testament, there are many nuggets of wisdom to take in, with whole books dedicated to the subject. The wisest man to ever walk the earth, King Solomon, wrote several books, including Proverbs. Many of these proverbs come in a poetic form; some of them are long, symbolic narratives, while others are but the briefest of couplets full of truth. One such statement is, “Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another” (Proverbs 27:17).

Sometimes these metaphoric statements can be complex and rather difficult to understand, especially when they are taken out of context. Most Christians thinkers believe this statement regarding iron sharpening iron only relates to having a good friend, honesty that improves one’s character and calls out sin in a loving way; though there are some who believe it refers to also someone who brings down another, and argue it is a negative statement.

Either way, the phrase “iron sharpens iron” from Proverbs 27:17 highlights the important truth that people affect and influence one another, words and actions define relationships for better or worse, and they change people, so people need to act accordingly.

What Is the Context Around Proverbs 27:17?

Proverbs 27 falls towards the end of the book, as there are 31 chapters. It is grouped with several other chapters which are labelled as having been written by King Solomon, the son of David and the builder of the temple, copied later by men who worked for King Hezekiah of Judah. Solomon’s reign was around 970-931 BC, while Hezekiah’s was from 715-686 BC, two centuries later.

The verses in Proverbs are chocked full of advice, many of which are about positive and negative interactions and behaviors. Some examples include:

“Let another praise you and not your own mouth; a stranger, and not your own lips” (Proverbs 27:2).

“Better is open rebuke than hidden love” (Proverbs 27:5).

“As in water face reflects face, so the heart of man reflects the man” (Proverbs 27:19).

“Sheol and Abaddon are never satisfied, and never satisfied are the eyes of man” (Proverbs 27:20).

In the middle of these verses is, “iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another.” However, the back half is sometimes given as, ‘…sharpens the face of another.’ Like many of the Proverbs, it uses metaphor to make its point.

What Does “Iron Sharpens Iron” Mean?

When creating and shaping a metal blade, it is often sharpened, and then it is maintained through its life, by dragging it against a harder metal. Without this periodic maintenance, a blade will eventually become quite dull and less useful.

During the life of Solomon, many weapons, pieces of armor, and tools were made of iron. It would not have been a highly refined version of metal, like steel. It was also not necessarily consistent in how hard or soft it was.

A tool would have been sharpened, ground against something harder, to make it smoother, remove deformities, and to maintain its ability to cut. When iron is scraped against another material in this way, it too becomes more refined. The metaphor in the first half of the verse refers to a common practice with which many of that day would have been extraordinarily acquainted, familiar with.

The second half of the verse explains the metaphor. Like a piece of hard iron will sharpen another piece of iron, the interactions between two people will shape and change one another. Most scholars and theologians interpret this changing as a refinement of character. Being in the presence of a truly strong believer, within their sphere of influence, can help refine another person too.

Earlier verses in chapter 27 reflect this idea, “Better is open rebuke than hidden love. Faithful are the wounds of a friend; profuse are the kisses of an enemy” (Proverbs 27:5-6). An honest acquaintance will lovingly address when someone they care about is doing something wrong or struggling with a decision. 

It is also in alignment with philosophies of behavior encouraged in the New Testament; “Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing” (1 Thessalonians 5:11). Calling out sin, encouraging each other, and lifting one another up in prayer are all ways of sharpening one another.

Like both metals are altered by the sharpening process, both believers who interact with one another have an impact on each other. If a believer disciples another, they grow as well. Their understanding of the Bible can grow, they can deepen their relationship with God, and each other and have new experiences.

Where Else in the Bible Do We See Believers Strengthening One Another?

God wants Christians to challenge one another and strengthen the community in love as a family and in fellowship (Acts 2:43-47), because they are all the sons and daughters of God. In the New Testament, particularly in the epistles, the writers decidedly, deliberately, put a particularly strong emphasis on it.

Some of these verses include:

“Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear” (Ephesians 4:29).

“So then let us pursue what makes for peace for mutual upbuilding” (Romans 14:19).

“But exhort one another everyday, as long as it is called ‘today’, that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin” (Hebrews 3:13).

“Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise” (James 5:13).

“But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life” (Jude 1:20-21).

“My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins” (James 5:19-20).

How Can We Sharpen One Another Today? 

These many ways of lifting one another up mentioned in the Bible still apply today. Singing songs to God together, reading the Word, and praying for one another is a great start. Learning more about one another so as to help each other in their specific weaknesses is a way to be supportive and grow stronger in character. Devoting yourselves to innovatively teaching generations about being a success, about mentoring, modeling for each other Christian character.

Availability is so important. Many serve one another by providing meals, time, and energy in each other’s daily lives. This builds trust, meaning believers can challenge each other in more personal ways, people do not live in a vacuum, and the way they are all positively influenced and treated will leave a lasting impact.

True and lasting friendship seems to be a rare gift these days. Many people have made themselves too busy to truly invest the time and energy it takes to develop significant relationships. Often, we will hear people say to each other, “We’ll have to get together soon”–but it seldom happens, and opportunities are lost.

Individuals and communities want to be taught they can come together and be strong in the Lord, believe in themselves – believe in their diverse strengths, to share hopes and dreams for something better than where they find themselves. As the Lord has promised, there is always going to be a time of a greater future.

It is a tough lesson to learn. It is an even far tougher lesson to devote oneself to communicating and teaching, modeling and mentoring, living and sacrificing for. And this is the lesson of the life and ministry, death and resurrection of our Savior Jesus Christ, who for the joy, which was before Him, endured the Cross!

Good friends are one of God’s greatest gifts. Not one of us is ever meant to go through life alone and without help. God longs to use you as his hands and feet to those he has placed in your midst. He longs to make you a friend as God is a great friend to us, in order to bless others and extend the reach of his kingdom.

God is calling you and me to love our friends “at all times.” He is calling you and me to a lifestyle of service and grace. What friend of yours needs your help right now? Who can we choose to serve over ourselves? What friend is God calling you to influence and love with the love and influence He has shown all of us today?

1. Pray and Meditate upon God’s desire for us to pursue godly friendship. Allow Holy Scriptures to stir up our desire to influence and love friends well today.

2. How can you be a better friend today? In what ways can you and I love those whom God has given us as friends? Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to your ways you can better love and influence those around you today.

3. Ask God to empower you to be a friend who loves unconditionally. Ask him to make you more like himself every day. Spend quality time just resting in his presence and allowing his love to fill you and influence you and empower you.

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Heavenly, Father, there are times in my life when I need true and genuine friends, a comforting arm, a listening ear, a shoulder to cry on, or even just sensible good advice. But there are no true friends to turn to. No one who I can relate to, who truly understands exactly how I feel. It leaves me feeling broken, empty, and lost. Fill me, Lord with Your divine holy presence. Allow me to feel Your tender, warm embrace wrapped around me, as I sit here and cry out to You. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.

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Our Holiness with God. What a Friend we [all] have in Jesus! All our Sins and Griefs to Bear. What a [true]Privilege to Carry Everything to God in Prayer!

SIN IS SIN

Today is as good a day as any to do and to say something we are all much too reluctant to do for fear of giving grave offense. We must admit that our society accepts white lies as an excuse, but as children of the Light, we must embrace the truth. A lie is a lie and sin are a sin.  There is no such thing as big sin and no such thing as a small sin. The inescapable truth is SIN is SIN! You and I need to know that a good thing and a right thing might be different. The world may say choose the good thing, but do not risk give anyone offense. But a good and an inoffensive thing is not always the right thing, yet the right thing is always the best option to choose and the right choice for Holiness with God is a good thing!

When you make the right decision for God, people may not like you and they won’t necessarily be happy about your decision. They will probably take an offense you chose relationship God over relationship with them You might face serious personal doubts and start asking yourself, am I doing what God wants me to do? Was that choice the right choice? People around you may not agree with you, because the correct decision usually does not fit into what society says. But when you choose the path of Holiness with God over the unholiness of the world, you choose to do the right thing, you will feel the peace inside of you.

You may very well lose something or someone or everyone who is significant to you, but you will have a SHALOM inside which no one can take away. SHALOM is God’s reward to us, for doing the right thing, because He is pleased by us.

DECIDE TODAY TO DO THE RIGHT THING

We need to decide today that we will choose to do the right things – that we will strive to live in holiness with our God who created us, redeemed us. Remember, without holiness with God, no one will see the Lord, because God is a holy God.

Choose today to train your mind and your soul to do the right things, so when a harder situation comes and suggests you doing something bad, your mind will be more prone to think of a way out. Do not be afraid; God will 100% empower you to do the right thing through the ministry and works of God’s Holy Spirit. Choose to become sin’s worst enemy! Choose relationship, friendship with God.

Hebrews 12:14-17 J.B. Phillips New Testament

In times of testing be especially on your guard against certain sins

14-17 Let it be your ambition to live at peace with all men and to achieve holiness “without which no man shall see the Lord”. Be careful that none of you fails to respond to the grace which God gives, for if he does there can very easily spring up in him a bitter spirit which is not only bad in itself but can also poison the lives of many others. Be [exceedingly] careful too, that none of you falls into impurity or loses his reverence for the things of God and then, like Esau, is [fully] ready to sell his birthright to satisfy the momentary hunger of his body. Remember how afterwards, when he wanted to have the blessing which was his birthright, he was refused. He never afterwards found the way of repentance though he sought it desperately and with tears.

The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.

We are all pretty much aware of what the “right thing to do” is. We are pretty much aware of what is the right thing to do and what is the wrong thing to do. For the most part we know right from wrong because our parents have told us and taught us and instilled in us what they are from the first moments of life.

We learn what is hot and not to touch it because there is a substantial risk of our being significantly burned. So, we learn very early on from Mom and Dad about the consequences of playing with matches and things which bring about fires.

We learn about what is cold and to be careful how we touch really cold objects. We learn how to dress for hot weather and how to dress against cold weather. We learn about the relationship between hot and cold and how to stay healthy. We learn about what is the right thing and the wrong things to do to survive. We learn about what and how to safely touch and how to and how not to touch stuff. We learn the life-essential relationships between what is, is not, safe to touch.

We learn what is safe to say and what is not so safe to say. We learn what it is which will promote friendship and what it is which will promote enmity with someone else. We come to know and understand the right thing to say in the right environment and the right moment to say it – not to give offense but to offer the hand of empathy and friendship, peace, understanding and of trust. We want our understanding of genuine friendship to be the very first priority.

Question becomes do we know what friendships ought to take first priority?

James 4:4-6 J.B. Phillips New Testament

4-6 You are like unfaithful wives, flirting with the glamour of this world, and never realizing that to be the world’s lover means becoming the enemy of God! Anyone who deliberately chooses to love the world is thereby making himself God’s enemy. Do you think what the scriptures have to say about this is a mere formality? Or do you imagine that this spirit of passionate jealousy is the Spirit he has caused to live in us? No, he gives us grace potent enough to meet this and every other evil spirit, if we are humble enough to receive it. That is why he says: ‘God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.’

What is the right choice to make?

What is the “right thing to do?”

What is the “wrong thing to do?”

What is that first and foremost priority?

Friendship with Sin?

Friendship with the World?

Friendship with God, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit?

Enmity with Sin?

Enmity with the World?

Enmity with God, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit?

What is the “right” choice and decision to make?

What is the “wrong” choice and decision to make?

The lines “Right or Wrong” between them are all clearly and severely muddled.

In following the humble, sacrificial, example set forth by the Lord Jesus we are to toss off everything that hinders us, continually, continuously, looking to Him as our example of perseverance and faith (Hebrews 12:1-3). One way to accomplish this is to live at peace with others and to pursue holiness.

Holiness can be defined in two ways. First holiness means consecration and purification, it is the result of being set apart to God (1 Corinthians 1:30, 2 Thessalonians 2:13, 1 Peter 1:2). This happens when we choose to enter into a relationship with a good God by faith in Jesus (Acts 26:18, 1 Corinthians 6:11).

Apostle Paul said in Romans, “But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life” (Romans 6:22). Holiness is a byproduct of our union with Savior Christ, it is the reward of that union. It is not through natural means that we possess this. Sanctification comes only through Savior Christ Jesus as a gift.

Secondly, holiness is also the effect of being consecrated or being set apart. It is sanctification of our heart and what becomes evident in our daily lives through union with God. It is the outgrowth of leaving behind old desires and pursuing the things of God. Sanctification is a process for the believer (1 Thessalonians 4:3-4, 7, Romans 6:19, 22, I Timothy 2:15, Hebrews 12:14).

In the New Testament writings, the process of sanctification or holiness can be understood in these ways, first it is God’s will for the believer (I Thessalonians 4:3). Secondly, it is learned by God and taught by His Word (John 17:17-19, Psalm 17:4, 119:9). Next, the Holy Spirit is the agent in sanctification (Romans 15:16, 2 Thessalonians 2:13; 1 Peter 1:2, 1 Corinthians 6:11). And lastly, holiness must be pursued by the believer (Hebrews 12:14). We are to be built up by our obedience to the Word following the example of Christ Jesus according to the Ministry and works of God’s Holy Spirit who enables this change to happen.

Relationship with Christ and attention to His Word will birth holiness into the natural realm. He has already provided this by faith in Him as you were given everything needed to live as Christ in this world (1 John 4:17, Galatians 5:22-25).

This is why, as believers, we must continually, continuously, zealously, pursue holiness; letting His truth and life-giving Spirit change us from the inside out. Letting what is on the inside of us match what the world sees, a life set apart, sanctified and holy. Without it, others will not witness the Lord working in us.

This is an amazing truth! God has sanctified us and set us apart. He has given us everything we need to live a holy life. We respond by pursuing holiness in every aspect of our talk and our walk with Him. By His Word and by His Spirit we are changed, and everyone around will experience the result of our sanctification!

What a Friend We Have in Jesus – Joseph M. Scriven, circa 1855

What a friend we have in Jesus
All our sins and griefs to bear
And what a privilege to carry
Everything to God in prayer

Oh, what peace we often forfeit
Oh, what needless pain we bear
All because we do not carry
Everything to God in prayer

Have we trials and temptations?
Is there trouble anywhere?
We should never be discouraged
Take it to the Lord in prayer

Can we find a friend so faithful
Who will all our sorrows share?
Jesus knows our every weakness
Take it to the Lord in prayer

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us pray,

God my Creator, God, sole Author of my life, You know well my limitations and shortcomings. You know the depth of my heart and soul, yet You love and chose me. I thank You for Your unlimited and unending and unyielding love in my life. Help me, guide me to live according to Your righteousness and teach me to love Your commandments. Strengthen my feet to walk in Your way. In Jesus’ name. Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.

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