Romans 15:4 "For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, so that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope."
8 First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith [your trust and confidence in His power, wisdom, and goodness] is being proclaimed in all the world. 9 For God, whom I serve with my spirit by preaching the gospel of His Son, is my witness as to how continuously I mention you 10 in my prayers; always pleading that somehow, by God’s will, I may now at last come to you. 11 For I long to see you so that I may share with you some spiritual gift, to strengthen and establish you; 12 that is, that we may be mutually encouraged and comforted by each other’s faith, both yours and mine. 13 I do not want you to be unaware, [a] brothers and sisters, that many times I have planned to come to you, (and have been prevented so far) so that I may have some fruit [of my labors] among you, even as I have among the rest of the Gentiles. 14 I have a duty to perform and a debt to pay both to Greeks and to barbarians [the cultured and the uncultured], both to the wise and to the foolish. 15 So, for my part, I am ready and eager to preach the gospel also to you who are in Rome.
The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.
In my brief experience as a pastor, and now as a writer of these devotions, I would never try to describe preaching as either easy or boast as simply fun.
But it can be incredibly meaningful when you sense that something in your message of God’s love connects with your listeners.
So, I can appreciate that the Apostle Paul is indescribably eager to preach the gospel to the people he most adamantly cares about in Rome.
The Apostle Paul is eager not because he thinks he’s so good at what he does or because he desperately desires to become the headliner for a few performances before tens of thousands of Roman citizens in the empire’s great colosseum.
The reason for his eagerness comes from the fact the gospel is the power of God.
And it is power for a specific purpose – Salvation.
The gospel is not power to get a new bill of health, to gain a reputation, or to sell a specific bill of goods or services or to gain the friend or spouse you desire.
It’s not power for financial success or fault-free parenting. It’s not power to get into heaven when you die.
It is God’s power for salvation.
And salvation has absolutely everything to do with getting to where we most desperately desire to be in our connection, Koinonia, relationship with God.
Paul’s eagerness in all this is a reflection of God’s desire.
God wants me to belong to him as fully and as completely and as maximally as I can in the life I am now trying to live.
That’s the point of the gospel, and that is its power.
The challenge for me is to have the same eagerness for God that God has for me.
The same eagerness which Apostle Paul expresses in His Epistle to the Romans.
Introducing himself, Paul gives us concise statements of the Gospel of God.
• The good news has absolutely everything to do with Lord Jesus Christ, the descendant of David by birth and declared the Son of God by His resurrection.
• Jesus’ death and resurrection brought us into a new relationship with God.
In these few lines, Paul laid out the thrust of his letter – the message of the Gospel.
This letter of Romans is different from the other letters he wrote, which concern the churches and their problems and needs.
• Romans focuses on God and His plan of salvation for man, both Jews and Gentiles.
Why Romans?
• Paul wrote the letter while he was in Corinth during his 3rd missionary journey.
• He was on his way back to Jerusalem with the collections from the Gentiles churches.
• So, the practical reason for the Letter was to communicate to the Roman Christians that he was planning to visit them after this trip to Jerusalem.
More importantly, he writes to present a clear explanation of the Gospel, the message that he has been entrusted with and proclaiming all this while.
• This was called for because of the differences in understanding between the Jewish and Gentile believers, with regards to their salvation in Christ Jesus.
Is there not now, in these times and seasons of 2022 great differences and even greater divides and chasms among Christians with regards to their salvation?
Are there not, even today, great expressions among “the believers” of ……
“You take your ‘theology’ and go your way towards your salvation!” and
“I will take my ‘theology’ and go my way towards my salvation!” and
“In the end we will see who is right, know who’s wrong, by who is in Heaven!”
Paul set forth the Gospel to unite us theologically and present Christianity fully.
• Romans turn out to be the longest of Paul’s letters that we have and the most in-depth, comprehensive exposition of the Gospel of Salvation in Jesus Christ.
That explains the introduction. He set the tone right.
• It is not about Paul’s message, or Peter’s message but the message of God; a message that is built upon the foundation of God’s revelation in the Scriptures.
• Salvation through Christ ALONE!
It is not any mere or meager afterthought but the plan of God all along and fulfilled in the Person and work of Jesus Christ – his death and resurrection.
• To bring lost humanity back to an eternally living relationship with Christ!
Romans 1:8-10Amplified Bible
8 First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith [your trust and confidence in His power, wisdom, and goodness] is being proclaimed in all the world. 9 For God, whom I serve with my spirit by preaching the gospel of His Son, is my witness as to how continuously I mention you 10 in my prayers; always pleading that somehow, by God’s will, I may now at last come to you.
A deep and abiding concern for the believers in Rome was reflected in Paul’s opening message of thankful praise for each of them.
Indeed, their faith in the Lord Jesus had been made known throughout the Roman Empire.
What a wonderful, inspiring testimony of these dear saints of God, and what an awesome message of encouragement to all of us to boldly proclaim the glorious gospel of Christ, which is the power of God unto salvation for all who believe.
Paul desperately did not want any single part of this important epistle to be lightly received, or lightly taken for granted and so he laid emphasis on his calling, his apostleship, and his bond service for the Lord Jesus Christ alone.
But infinitely more than this Paul called upon the eternal God of the universe, Creator of heaven and earth, as witness to his own deep and loving concern for their planted by God, blossoming, growing and maturing spiritual wellbeing.
Like all who trust in Jesus Christ, Paul had been given a new nature – a new life in Christ which delighted to spread the good news of the glorious gospel of Christ in spirit and truth, which loved these believers with a Christ-like love.
Paul’s love for these believers was reflected in his deep and earnest concern for them, as he constantly made mention of them to the Lord Jesus in daily prayer.
Let us seek to develop the same eagerness to preach and proclaim the Gospel.
The most eager and deep and loving concern for ALL our brothers and sisters in Christ, as we, like Paul, lift them up in earnest prayer to our Father in heaven.
Imagine yourself being a part of a faith community that was famous around the world because of its active faith.
When I meditate and ponder upon this Epistle to the Romans, it’s interesting the Roman believers did not have a previous visit from one of the Apostles.
After the persecution broke out in Jerusalem and the true believers fanned out, they spread the gospel everywhere. They made it as far as Rome and their church was thriving, and soon reports of their faith made it back to Paul.
One of Paul’s main goals in life was to visit Rome for mutual encouragement (Romans 1:11-12).
Paul was actively praying for an opportunity to go, but later in this letter he explains why he hadn’t been able to come (Romans 15:20-22).
He was hindered because there were many places in between that needed the gospel, which delayed his trip.
Amazingly, Paul reveals a bit of his passionate nature in midst of his waiting, “I remember you in my prayers at all times.”
Paul is simply reminding the Romans that, in the same way he serves the Lord wholeheartedly, this is the same way he remembers them in prayer. He thanks God for them and their faith and asks that the way be opened for him to come.
We can learn much from Paul.
Today, if you and I genuinely want to pray for people and do not know where to start, then start thanking God for their faith and what He is doing in their lives.
When we can recognize the way, He is working in others, we will see how He’s working in us and then find mutual encouragement through the Gospel of God.
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
O Lord my God, you are my shield and my strength. Help me to trust you with my decisions and my future. Let me lean on you and the message of your Gospel, with all my heart instead of relying on my own frail, faulty, failed understanding. Give me clear guidance in my life Lord. As I submit myself to your Gospel, I know that you will direct my paths and I can have confidence that your direction is always the best way to go. Lord, bless me and keep me, make your face shine upon me. Turn your face towards me and give me peace. Through Jesus Christ our Lord, Alleluia! Amen.
How do we collectively, as the Church, feel about faith?
How do we collectively feel about ‘being just’ and living in faith?
How do we feel about ‘just living in faith’?
Many people think faith may be a helpful protection in case they need it—like a fully inflated spare tire for their car.
Many turn to faith when facing struggles, but then innately turn back to something more “reliable” when a crisis passes.
In the beginning it may have been easier to have faith in God. Adam and Eve spent time in person with God, and they could ask him anything.
But when they disobeyed God, yielded to the deceptive words of the serpent and fell into sin, everything changed – they became aware of good and aware of evil. (See Genesis 2-3.)
God came looking for them but could not “find them” where He expected them to be. God called out to them, but their response was neither good nor expected.
They were hiding from God, behind the bushes and in their nakedness.
To say the least, their Father God got ‘righteously mad’ at them.
Their Father God began to demand some serious answers to why they hid.
God’s wrath was made evident, and Adam and Eve were tossed from the Garden.
They lost their full relationship with God and became stuck in their own sin.
Then they could only catch glimpses of God’s presence and his work in this world as if by squinting with blurred vision or in cloudy darkness.
They needed God to reveal himself—and he often did that in the following ages—to Abraham and his descendants and ultimately in Jesus, who became the Savior from sin.
But many people turned away from God and put their faith only in things they could see, like the moon and stars, or idols that their hands made.
For thousands of years faith was common in human history, until the Age of Reason (Enlightenment) swept through Europe in the 18th century.
Then many people figured they could be faithless.
In the name of “science” and logic, modern thinkers stopped believing in anything they couldn’t see. So having a “just and living faith” became harder.
Do you and I have faith?
Would you and I like to learn more about what faith really is?
Would you and I like to learn more of the Power of God?
Would you and I like to learn more of what the Gospel is?
What about learning more of and about God’s Righteousness?
Romans 1:13-17Amplified Bible
13 I do not want you to be unaware, [a]brothers and sisters, that many times I have planned to come to you, (and have been prevented so far) so that I may have some fruit [of my labors] among you, even as I have among the rest of the Gentiles. 14 I have a duty to perform and a debt to pay both to Greeks and to barbarians [the cultured and the uncultured], both to the wise and to the foolish. 15 So, for my part, I am ready and eager to preach the gospel also to you who are in Rome.
16 I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation [from His wrath and punishment] to everyone who believes [in Christ as Savior], to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 17 For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed, both springing from faith and leading to faith [disclosed in a way that awakens more faith]. As it is written and forever remains written, “The just and upright shall live by faith.”
The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.
So far in chapter one the Apostle Paul has introduced himself to the church in Rome, which remember was not in any one central place in Rome but was many individual house churches which are scattered throughout the city.
After introducing himself to the church he gave the purpose of his letter, to prepare them for his upcoming visit if it was God’s will.
Paul desired to visit them so they could mutually encourage one another in the faith. Paul also desired to preach the Gospel throughout the vast city of Rome.
Paul’s thankfulness for the faithfulness of the members of the church in Rome, his consistent prayers for them, his desire to meet them and his fellowship with them, and his desire to obtain some fruit among them by preaching the Gospel were Paul’s spiritual service of worship.
Thanksgiving and prayer brought him into the throne room of God, fellowship with other believers built him up in the faith, while their faith was being built up, and preaching the Gospel was the task to which he had been appointed to by God. All these together were Paul’s spiritual service which is worship.
Today, we are going to try to slow down a little bit and only look at two verses in which Paul gives us the theme of this letter he is writing to the church in Rome.
John MacArthur states about these two verses (16 and 17) that faithfully, they, “…express the theme of the book of Romans, and they contain the most life-transforming truth which God has put into men’s hands.”
To understand and positively respond to this truth is to have one’s time and eternity completely altered.
These words summarize the gospel of Jesus Christ, which Paul then proceeds to unfold and explain throughout the remainder of the epistle.”
The overarching theme of the book of Romans is the righteousness that comes from God, the glorious truth that God justifies guilty, condemned sinners by grace alone through faith in Christ alone.
In the two verses that we are looking at today, the Apostle Paul will announce this overarching theme to us and give us a summary of what we have to look forward to in the rest of the book of Romans.
Paul makes four statements in these two verses that I want to examine this morning as he unfolds his theme for us.
Each statement begins with the little word “for” F-O-R.
FOR I AM NOT ASHAMED (Romans 1:16a)
Paul had just finished saying in verse 15 that he was eager to preach the Gospel in Rome, to share the good news of Jesus Christ.
Now he opens up this verse by saying, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel…”(Romans 1:16a, NASB95)
What does Paul mean by this statement? He means that he is not only eager to preach the gospel in Rome, but when he comes, he will dare to preach it boldly.
Throughout Paul’s missionary journeys he had endured many hardships in preaching the gospel from both the Jews and the Gentiles.
If you want to read about his hardships and the persecution that he endured for the gospel you can find it in the Book of Acts chapters 13-23.
He was imprisoned, chased out of a couple of cities, smuggled out of some, he was beaten, he was stoned and left for dead, he was laughed at and considered a fool, but none of this stopped him, still boldly proclaimed the gospel of Christ.
When he stood before the Jewish Council in Jerusalem, he was not intimidated by them, nor was he intimidated by the cultured, educated Greeks in Corinth, or Ephesus, or Athens.
Paul was unashamed of the gospel, he never allowed opposition to stop him from boldly proclaiming the gospel.
God had appointed him to the role of apostle to the Gentiles and Paul took this appointment seriously.
Paul knowing the heart of man wrote in 1 Corinthians 1:22-25,
“For indeed Jews ask for signs and Greeks search for wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentile’s foolishness, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.” (1 Corinthians 1:22–25, NASB95)
Though this was true in the Apostle Paul’s day and remains still true even today, the gospel is the wisdom of God that has provided salvation for men.
Paul never shrunk from the task of preaching the Gospel, and I believe the prospect of preaching it in a city where he had never preached before just made him all the more daring and eager and bolder. He desired one thing and one thing only: to share Jesus Christ crucified, buried, resurrected from the dead.
Unfortunately for many of us today the words eager and bold do not come to mind when we think of sharing the gospel.
When God gives you and me an opportunity to share the gospel, how often do you and I, to the fullest extent possible, actually exercise that opportunity?
I will admit to you that this is even difficult for me when I am one on one with a person or in a small group of unbelievers.
Put me before a crowd of people and I will share the gospel boldly and eagerly, but when in a small group or one on one I must force myself to speak.
Why are we like this?
Because we know that to an unsaved person the gospel can be intimidating and “culturally” offensive and even, to the utmost degree imaginable, repulsive too.
It is so counterculture to the ungodly world that we live in.
Pray and think about it, before we can share the good news, we have to share the bad news and that exposes man’s sin and his lostness, and it shows that we must strip away our pride and it shows that works righteousness, all that we do to try and make ourselves right before God is worthless before Him.
Remember Isaiah’s words concerning man’s good works done in the flesh, he wrote in Isaiah 64:6,
“For all of us have become like one who is unclean, And all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment; And all of us wither like a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.” (Isaiah 64:6, NASB95)
What is that reality they want no part of?
For the sinner they do not want to hear about their sinfulness, they do not want to give up their pride and they do not want to hear or have revealed that all their alleged good works are worthless, so they respond to the gospel with contempt and then may attempt to rigorously argue against it or become very defensive.
I believe it is this response that keeps many people from sharing the gospel, for fear of what may be said of them, about them, to them, to their very faces, or for the abject and debilitating fear they can’t give one answer for their arguments.
Because of this unpopularity of the gospel many have tried to make it more culturally acceptable.
But if we water down the gospel, minimize its depth of meaning, relevance to our lives, remove the offense of the cross it renders the message of the gospel ineffective, we make light of the offense of sin, removes the need for a Savior.
Paul in his boldness and eagerness to preach the gospel never watered down or tried to minimize what he said about sin or about the Savior.
His heart’s desire was to see men saved, he did not care about his own comfort, safety, popularity, reputation, or even if people ridiculed or imprisoned him.
He did not compromise the gospel that he preached because he knew that the truth of the gospel was the only power available to change the lives of men, women and children for eternity. Paul was not ashamed of the gospel because without it, men, women, and children would go into a Christ-less eternity.
FOR IT IS THE POWER OF GOD (Romans 1:16b)
Paul goes on in this verse to tell us why he is unashamed of the gospel and in doing so begins to give us the theme of his letter, he writes, “for it is the power of God…” (Romans 1:16b, NASB95)
The gospel contains the omnipotence of God, only the gospel has the power of God to transform lives.
Only God’s power can save men from sin and give them eternal life.
Paul says, this is why I am not ashamed, this is why I dare to proclaim the full measure of the gospel boldly, because it is the omnipotence of God.
People want to change, they want to feel fulfilled in life, they want their lives to count for something and they spend their whole life searching for, trying to fill that void that they feel in their life.
I know a woman who has been searching to fill that void for much longer than I have had the privilege to know her, she goes from job to job thinking that she will maybe find something that will fulfill her, something that will fill up that void in her life, something that will maybe make her good enough for her God.
What she doesn’t understand is that void can only be filled by the Holy Spirit when she comes in repentance to God and trusts in what Christ did for her on the cross, that He paid the penalty for her sin, that He was buried, and on the third day rose from the dead, triumphing over sin and death forever.
When she believes this the power of God will transform her life and she will find fulfillment for the first time, the void in her life will be filled and overflowing.
Only God’s power can accomplish that in a human life.
Jeremiah the prophet speaking the words of God wrote,
“Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard his spots? Then you also can do good Who are accustomed to doing evil.” (Jeremiah 13:23, NASB95)
The Lord is saying if the Ethiopian can change his skin color or the leopard his spots, then we who are used to doing evil can change and do good.
In other words, it is not possible for man to change his own nature, no more than an Ethiopian can change his skin or a leopard his spots.
It is only the omnipotence of God that can overcome a person’s sin nature and provide spiritual life.
The Bible is clear that people cannot be saved, cannot be spiritually changed by what they do, by good works, they cannot be spiritually changed by the church, or by some ritual or by any other human means.
People cannot even be saved by keeping God’s law because as sinners we can never keep it perfectly in our own power.
The law was given to show that we are sinners that fall short of God’s perfect standard.
It was given to show that we need a Savior, a powerful Savior to save us because we are powerless to do so.
What is so absolutely incredible is that God has chosen us, even though we are weak and imperfect, to be the channel of His redeeming and sustaining power when we serve Him in obedience. The gospel is the omnipotence of God to save.
FOR SALVATION (Romans 1:16c)
Paul goes on to tell us that God’s great power is, “for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.” (Romans 1:16c, NASB95)
This is perhaps the greatest display of God’s power when He transforms man’s nature, forgiving his sins, loving him to the utmost (John 3:16-17) giving him eternal life through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Salvation is a word that means “deliverance” or “rescue.”
Paul is pointing out to us that God’s power in salvation rescues or delivers man from his sin and from the ultimate penalty for sin which is separation from God in the lake of fire where the sinner is tormented forever.
Some would prefer that we do not use terms like “salvation” and “being saved” because in our generation they are virtually meaningless to our modern man,
and it is true when we are sharing the gospel, we might have to explain what we mean when we use these words,
but salvation is God’s word,
and I cannot think of one word that better describes what God offers to sinful mankind through the death of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Through belief and confession in and of Jesus Christ, through Him alone men, women and children can be saved from sin, from Satan, from judgment, from God’s wrath against sin, and from spiritual death.
Paul says that God’s great power for salvation is available to everyone who believes, to that person who in faith believes the truth of the gospel.
What does it mean to believe, to have faith?
Think about your life you put a great amount of faith into many things.
Just now, as you began to read and absorb this devotional effort, you “sat down in the pew (your office chair, kitchen chair, lounge chair, bar stool) in faith.”
You sat down in the steadfast and immovable faith that it would hold you.
In the same way, you turn on a faucet and get a drink of water in faith that it is safe to drink, you drive across bridges in faith they won’t collapse under you.
Life requires this kind of natural faith.
But when Paul says this salvation is available to everyone who believes or has faith, he is referring to a supernatural faith, produced by God, a faith that is not of ourselves but is a gift of God.
Forgiveness of Sin, deliverance from sin and judgment, deliverance from wrath, and eternal life is gained and lived by faith from God in Jesus Christ.
Salvation is understanding that nothing within us or that we can do can make us right with God, but only what Jesus Christ did for us by taking the penalty for our sin on the cross, dying in our place, being buried, and rising from the dead, walking out of the tomb is the only thing providing salvation and eternal life.
Paul goes on to say that this salvation has no distinction, it is available to all people regardless of nationality, country or race.
God’s offer of salvation is extended to all people, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
Paul uses the word Greek to refer to anyone who is not Jewish, any Gentile.
Why to the Jew first, because this is who the promise and the Person of salvation came through, so first only chronologically because God had chosen them as the people through whom the Savior, Jesus Christ would be born.
Through Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection salvation was made available to all mankind and we can stand before God righteous through Christ.
FOR IN IT THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD IS REVEALED (Romans 1:17)
Paul gives us one last great truth of his theme for this book.
He has already informed us that salvation is available to anyone who in faith trusts in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
The one who does this in faith will have their life transformed by the power of God and be saved from sin, Satan, judgment, wrath, and eternal separation from God and will inherit eternal life.
But now Paul tells us that in all of this action of God saving us, His righteousness is revealed.
Paul writes, “For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, ‘But the righteous man shall live by faith.’” (Romans 1:17, NASB95)
Faith in Jesus Christ activates the power of God that brings salvation and, in that sovereign, act the righteousness of God is revealed.
This might be better translated the righteousness from God is revealed.
The righteousness spoken of here is not the divine attribute of God, it is not describing to us that God is righteous.
Paul is stating that at that moment of salvation God imparts His righteousness to us.
We are clothed in the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ so that we can stand before God justified.
Paul described it this way to the church in Philippi in Philippians 3:8-9,
“More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith,” (Philippians 3:8–9, NASB95)
Paul wants us to understand this overarching theme that righteousness comes from God when we repent of our sin and believe Jesus Christ died for us, taking upon Himself God’s wrath against our sin, He was buried, and on the third day rose from the dead proving that sin was paid for, and death was conquered.
When we believe this in faith God imparts His righteousness to us.
Paul explained it this way to the Corinthian believers in 2 Corinthians 5:21,
“He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” (2 Corinthians 5:21, NASB95)
Paul says this is from faith to faith, a phrase that preachers and theologians have debated for years.
I believe it parallels the phrase in verse 16, “to everyone who believes”
and if this is the case Paul is singling out each believer who has received the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ.
It is like he is saying from faith to faith to faith to faith.
Paul ends this passage with a quote from Habakkuk 2:4, “But the righteous man shall live by faith.” (Romans 1:17b, NASB95)
Salvation by God’s grace through faith was the plan of God from the beginning.
As one will learn, praying and studying further in Romans,
Abraham was the father of the faithful, because he believed it was credited to him as righteousness,
this is the same with everyone who has exercised genuine faith, from before Abraham and after right up to today, that faith is credited as righteousness.
This statement made by the prophet Habakkuk emphasizes a continuousness of faith.
In other words, faith is not just a one-time act, but instead it is a way of life.
Faith in Savior Jesus Christ justifies us before God because of His righteousness imparted to us, then we live the rest of our life by faith in the Son of God and the promises of His Word to us who believe.
FINALLY:
In these two verses Paul has given us a summary of the theme of this letter that he is writing to the church in Rome.
The rest of this book is going to be an unfolding of this theme and a fuller explanation of this theme righteousness comes from God, God in His mercy justifies guilty, condemned sinners by grace through faith in Christ alone.
Paul began this passage by stating he was not ashamed of the gospel then in explaining why he wasn’t ashamed of it he summarized the theme of his letter.
His reason for not being ashamed is because the gospel is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes and then becomes the righteousness of God in Jesus Christ.
Paul made this statement and lived it out boldly every day.
Did that mean he was loved by everybody? No!
There were Jews and Gentiles who wanted to see him dead, did this stop him from boldly proclaiming the gospel? No!
Paul understood that more important than his own personal comfort was that as many people as possible needed to hear the gospel and have the opportunity to be saved from sin and the judgment that is going to come upon those who have not believed.
God’s challenge to you and to myself in these coming days and weeks is to step out of our comfort zone and share our Saviors gospel with at least one person.
Let me remind you that all you are to do is share the Gospel, you are not responsible for their response that is solely between that person and God.
Let’s pray for each other to “just” be bold, “justly” not ashamed of the gospel.
In the name of God, the Father, and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
Father, I pray that, like Paul, I will boldly proclaim the gospel of Christ to all with whom I come in contact. Only in Him is there life and light, hope and love. I know that the gospel of Christ is the power of God unto salvation, to all who believe on Him Who died and rose from the dead. To Him be all praise and glory, world without end, Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! AMEN
6 “Blessed [joyful, nourished by God’s goodness] are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness [those who actively seek right standing with God], for they will be [completely] satisfied.
The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.
What is it we want more and more of from this life we are told we must live?
Many of us are hungry for approval.
Many of us are starving for approval.
We want our parents to tell us they are proud of us.
We constantly want our employer’s stamp of approval on our work.
We want our friends to think we are good enough to be their friends.
Deep down, this longing for acceptance comes from a longing to be found right and righteous in their eyes and perhaps, even to the same degree, in God’s eyes.
We are hungry for righteousness.
Sadly, we often try to satisfy our hunger by gorging on some kind of junk food.
We want approval from others so badly, so desperately, that we’re willing to compromise and even totally sacrifice even our very strongest convictions.
We want to prove ourselves through our job so badly that we burn out on our career, sacrificing our family, our friendships and our mental, physical health.
We want so badly to be morally acceptable that we build our lives on a system of rules, of looking down on others and sinking into a despair when even we don’t measure up. These foods cannot ever satisfy our hunger for true righteousness.
When was the last time you were hungry? Not just “I could eat something” hungry, but really, actually in need of something to eat?
Maybe it happened while you were in the middle of a long drive, on a long trip.
Or maybe you had just finished a long workday.
There were no Seven – Elevens, or Food Marts or Royal Farms.
Maybe you had no money left for food anyway.
Whatever the case, you know there is a big difference between wanting some food, longing for some food and then really needing it because you are hungry.
Jesus says we are blessed when we hunger and thirst for righteousness, when our longing for God’s will is more than just an interest—it’s all-consuming.
Hungering and starving and thirsting for righteousness means we are desperate to see sin uprooted, we are desperate for justice to flow like a wide raging river.
It means we are stirred up by a perception of “something is definitely not right, Kosher in our Kitchen. It means we cannot easily excuse these feelings away.
We don’t excuse our wrongdoing or try to shrug off the world’s problems, but instead we give all we have to make the world more like the kingdom of God.
We have this enormous sense of emptiness deep within our hearts and souls.
We have no idea what we can fill our hearts and souls with.
We open our refrigerator doors and come to realize – “isn’t nothing in there!”
Recipe books the wife, the mom, the grandma relied upon – are dusty, unused and the recipe’s inside are old and worn out, have long lost their taste appeal.
Old Mother Hubbard and her thrice empty cupboards – a new standard of life.
Not just in one household, but in the neighbors, in their neighbors, throughout their whole neighborhood – everywhere where we can visualize our horizons.
Then, says Rabbi Jesus, “blessed are those [joyful, nourished by God’s goodness] who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they will be filled.”
We can finally look forward to being filled, because God will be faithful in making things right.
He might not give us the house of our dreams or a big promotion, but he will bring justice and righteousness to every inch of his creation.
If that’s what we truly care about, we can’t help being satisfied as we partner with God in his work in this world.
As we look at the Sermon on the Mount, at these beatitudes, we find that it is a masterful presentation of the conditions for entering the Kingdom of God and the characteristics of those who are in His kingdom.
But His presentation is not exactly what the people expected.
He was offering them happiness in a way they had never heard in their lives and consequently it fascinated them, it quickened, and tickled their taste buds.
And by the time Rabbi Jesus was done with His radical words, they were more than fascinated. They were absolutely astonished at what He had said.
They were astonished with the authority he was bringing the message and the daring in preaching it within easy, obvious ear shot of the Temple Authorities.
And so, they taste what their Lord is offering: real happiness, real blessedness, but it is the kind of blessedness that only comes by being a part of His kingdom.
To hunger for the Kingdom, to enter the kingdom, you must be poor in spirit.
And as we live in the kingdom you continue recognize your spiritual poverty.
In order to enter the kingdom, you must mourn over your sin. And as you continue living in the kingdom as a son of God, you will mourn over your sin.
In order to enter the kingdom, you must come in meekness, not pride.
The reality, awareness that a proud, haughty man cannot enter, and once we are in God’s kingdom, meekness continues to be our attitude as you look at God and as God becomes more and more wonderful as you study and learn more.
Awareness, in order to enter the kingdom, you and I must hunger and thirst after God’s righteousness. Awareness my righteousness is woefully insufficient.
With this awareness, with this quickening, and once you’re in the kingdom, we will continue to hunger and thirst for far more of that same righteousness. So, it is both a condition for entrance and a characteristic of living in the kingdom.
Later in his earthly ministry, Rabbi Jesus illustrates how he satisfies hungry hearts. “I am the bread of life,” he says. “Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty” (John 6:35).
Jesus offers us his own righteousness, and God credits us with it (even though we do not deserve it) so we can enjoy the acceptance and approval we long for. (See Romans 3:21-26; 5:6-11.)
The man, Rabbi Jesus, in his teachings from the Beatitudes, offers all those who have gathered an opportunity to feast on the abundance of what He offers them.
Are we feeding on the only righteous food that satisfies our deepest longings?
Psalm 119:1-8Amplified Bible
Meditations and Prayers Relating to the Law of God.
119 How blessed and favored by God are those whose way is blameless [those with personal integrity, the upright, the guileless], Who walk in the law [and who are guided by the precepts and revealed will] of the Lord. 2 Blessed and favored by God are those who keep His testimonies, And who [consistently] seek Him and long for Him with all their heart. 3 They do no unrighteousness; They walk in His ways. 4 You have ordained Your precepts, That we should follow them with [careful] diligence. 5 Oh, that my ways may be established To observe and keep Your statutes [obediently accepting and honoring them]! 6 Then I will not be ashamed When I look [with respect] to all Your commandments [as my guide]. 7 I will give thanks to You with an upright heart, When I learn [through discipline] Your righteous judgments [for my transgressions]. 8 I shall keep Your statutes; Do not utterly abandon me [when I fail].
The Bible provides clear examples for right living. Abraham—in his better moments—provides a profound example of trust (Genesis 12:1-7).
Joseph provides a powerful example of faith and faithfulness in adversity (Genesis 39-47).
The author of Psalm 119 provides a vivid demonstration of passion for God’s Word.
The psalmist has treasured God’s words in his heart, and he seeks the Lord with all of his heart, soul, mind, and strength to apply God’s commands to his life.
He does this despite the many complicated challenges he faces, including the fierce opposition of his enemies. But as the psalmist himself also declares, he is not perfect; he must continue to steadfastly dedicate his life to seeking God in his Living Word and striving to live everyday according to God’s righteousness.
Jesus—God’s Word in the flesh—uses language similar to the psalmist to commend people who want to follow’s God’s way:
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.”
6 “Blessed [joyful, nourished by God’s goodness] are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness [those who actively seek right standing with God], for they will be [completely] satisfied.
Although we don’t know who wrote Psalm 119 or how his life turned out, Jesus’ words of blessing assure us the psalmist’s striving to please God is not in vain.
As Jesus promises, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness “will be filled,” “will be completely blessed with indescribable joy,” “will be nourished by the goodness of God – thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies – surely goodness and mercy will follow me – all the days of my life.” – “and I will dwell in the House of the Lord – forever and ever – ALLELUIA! AMEN!”
Are we, like the psalmist, hungering and thirsting for God’s righteousness?
As much as we are, God will satisfy us.
As much as we strive for more – God will nourish us – Give us an IV of His blood.
We can never fully achieve it in our lifetimes – but our hunger will be satisfied.
The Lord is Jehovah Tsidkenu – Our Righteousness.
The Lord is Jehovah Rapha, our Healer.
The Lord is Jehovah Rohi, our Shepherd, and we have EVERYTHING we need!
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
Loving Father, I long for Christ more and more. I hunger and thirst for righteousness in this world and in my own life. I am so thankful that Jesus clothed me in His righteousness when I trusted in Him for salvation. Help me to nail my self-righteous efforts to the Cross and be guided, day by day, by the Holy Spirit into all truth, to Your praise and glory. In Jesus’ name, Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! AMEN.
6 “Be careful not to practice your righteousness[a] in front of people, to be seen by them. Otherwise, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. 2 So whenever you give to the poor, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be applauded by people. I assure you: They have got their reward! 3 But when you give to the poor, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. [b]
The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.
Unrighteous Righteousness!
This sounds like an oxymoron – two totally incompatible concepts.
But that is the theme of this part of the Sermon on the Mount.
In the whole of this magnificent Sermon from the lips of Jesus one finds what it means to live the good Christian life the way God intends it to be lived.
The man, Rabbi Jesus introduces the issue in the text. It is the matter of righteousness.
The passage of Scripture that this verse introduces seems to focus primarily on four major concepts.
This devotional message will strive to deal with each of these as I believe they become self- evident in the passage.
1. Righteousness Defined.
What is meant by the word righteousness?
Briefly, it is nothing less nor more than rightness in one’s person, purposes, plans, procedures, practices, processes, and productions.
It is the outward expression of what one’s heart and soul is on the inside.
Two things need to be said about this word.
First, it is an attribute of God.
In other words, the Bible teaches us that God is righteous. (Jeremiah 23:5-6)
That means what He is, what He thinks, what He says, what He plans, and what He does have the characteristic of “rightness.”
Second, it is the anticipation of God relating to the human beings He made in His image.
The image of God is intended to be the image of His moral attributes, His righteousness evident in human beings.
There are many things about the image of God that are not a part of His image in human beings. Those fall into the category of His natural attributes.
For example, God is all powerful; people are not. God is all knowing; people are not. God is everywhere present; people are not.
God is pre-existent, had no beginning, not so with people. (Psalm 139:13-18)
Since there are things about God that are not true of human beings, it must be concluded that the image of God in human beings is very specific.
The focus then, is on the moral image of God that is the attribute of God and the anticipation of God for His moral creatures.
For example,
God is love! (1 John 4:7-11)
He expects people to possess and express love in appropriate ways.
God is kind and gentle, and He expects His people to be kind and gentle.
The righteousness of God is the expression of the nature or character of God, and that is summed up in the word holiness.
In other words, the moral image of God as the character of the human beings He made and is anticipated to be the character of His people is to be the expression of His holiness (divine character) and His righteousness (divine action.)
Ergo, therefore, “righteousness” is defined as the outward actions of what defines a “person.”
It includes his/her purposes, plans, procedures, practices, processes, and productions … whatever those may include.
2. Righteousness Depraved.
There is a serious problem.
Human beings are a big problem!
The Apostle Paul made this very clear: “There is no one righteous, not even one!” (Romans 3:10) This is Paul’s paraphrase of the last of Psalm 53:1.
So, what is the real problem?
The heart, the spiritual control center of a person!
The Prophet Jeremiah caught the issue:
“The heart is more deceitful than anything else and desperately sick – who can understand it? I, the LORD examine the mind, I test the heart to give to each according to his way, according to what his actions deserve.” (Jeremiah 17:9-10) (HCSB)
Therefore, man’s spiritual control center, the “spiritual” heart is seriously infected.
This is what creates the problem that results in “unrighteous righteousness.”
And how does this happen?
The Bible makes it clear. Hear the counsel of King Solomon:
“Guard your heart above all else, for it is the source of life.” (Proverbs 4:23) (HCSB)
Again, Solomon speaks:
Proverbs 23:7NKJV
7 For as he thinks in his heart, so is he. “Eat and drink!” he says to you, But his heart is not with you.
Think of the space exploration program of the United States.
When our space shuttle was rocketed into space for whatever mission it was designed, there is an amazingly intricate internal control center on the shuttle which functions under the skilled and well-trained hands of the astronauts.
But there is also an equally amazingly intricate external control center.
We are acquainted with that external control center being in Houston, Texas.
The internal control center must comply with the instructions and directions of the external control center. If it does not, then serious complications can arise.
The problem in human beings is with the internal spiritual control center … the “spiritual heart” of people.
Since our own “spiritual control center” is badly infected with that disease called “sin,” one can expect that which comes out of the inner control center will reflect outwardly what is already inside there.
That is why the words of Jesus have meaning, when He said in the Sermon on the Mount, our text:
“Be careful not to practice your righteousness before people, to be seen by them; for if you do, you will have no reward from your Father Who is in heaven.”
We were created to be righteous, but truth is, our track record is abysmal.
There is a vacuum between what we are and what we are supposed to be.
Self-righteousness is nothing but unrighteousness sort of dressed up to look like righteousness.
How did Rabbi Jesus address the “unrighteous righteousness” of His audience?
He spoke to four basic areas of life that can well be outward expressions of righteousness:
(1) compassion for others,
(2) crying out to God in prayer,
(3) constraint in lifestyle (self-denial), and
(4) cumulating wealth.
So, what did He say about these?
Notice the following teaching of Jesus in each of these four areas of life:
“When you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others.” (v 2)
“When you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others.” (v 5)
“When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show others they are fasting.” (v 16)
“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.” (v 19)
Jesus did not mention the Pharisees by name in this chapter.
But He undoubtedly had them in mind when He referred to the “hypocrites.”
In Matthew 23, shortly before His crucifixion, Jesus spoke seven woes on the Teachers of the Law and the Pharisees.
In six of those “woes” He specifically referred to “teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites!” (Note Matthew 23: 13, 15, 23, 25, 27, and 29)
Six times Jesus went to the heart of the problem and “grabbed them by their collective throats and said: “You pretenders … you pretenders … you pretend to be spiritual, but you are not!”
Now what do we know about the Pharisees?
There is nothing absolute in writing, but the obvious result of Jewish activity speaks loudly.
It was during the intertestamental period, between Malachi and Matthew, that there was a group of Jewish leaders who sat together and reasoned:
“Why is it that God has promised to make us a great nation, but we have been constantly pushed around, nearly destroyed, and today we are as nothing? First it was the Babylonian Captivity, and then the Persian Empire. What is wrong?”
They concluded that Moses was correct.
After Moses had instructed the people as they traveled out of Egypt, they responded positively.
“When Moses went and told the people all the LORD’S words and laws, they responded with one voice, ‘Everything the LORD has said we will do.’” (Exodus 24:3)
That group of “spiritual men” during the time between Malachi and Matthew read the Scriptures and believed what it said.
They knew Israel had failed in their commitment, and the result was tragic.
And so, the Pharisees were in the beginning a spiritual movement concerned with the holiness of people and the holiness of the nation of Israel.
What they were saying was:
“We need to get back to obeying all the words of God’s law and become the vehicle through which God’s purposes can be fulfilled.”
There was nothing wrong with that desire.
Holiness is God’s will for His people.
And there have been various “holiness” movements in history.
The powerful and effective ministry of John and Charles Wesley stands at the pinnacle of such movements.
Reverend John Wesley preached the Biblical truth of holiness of heart and life and quite literally, England was rescued from the brink of total destruction.
But here is the problem with the Pharisees, and in some respects with the holiness movements in general.
As “movements” they were all born as revival movements in times of desperate spiritual need. The great concern was that their hearts were right with God.
The problem with that group of “spiritual men,” quite similar to the problem in some in the holiness movement, was before long the emphasis moved from the inner holiness of one’s own heart to the outer conformity to practices deemed to be “righteous acts” to “prove” they were a part of the “holiness movement.”
They became “writers of the law” instead of “keepers of the law.”
The Pharisees wrote what they believed to be the interpretation of God’s Law and came up with 614 regulations they determined would be “righteous acts,” deemed to be holy because they were “justified” by the Words of the Torah.
The Word of God does have lifestyle standards that are to characterize every follower of Jesus Christ.
But the problem lies in defining “holiness” or “righteousness” by the length of a lady’s dress, or the style or length of their hair, their wearing of make-up or watching a movie, or dancing or buying a paper on Sunday or going out to eat on Sunday, or other such relatively mundane “family and friends” activities.
The Bible insists that the “goal of advancing God’s work by faith is love from a pure heart.” (1 Timothy 1:5)
The problem does not lie in the “rightness” or “wrongness” of some of the activities to which I just referred.
The problem is that these become the center issue.
People can do all these kinds of things and have no real concern with what is in their heart and what and whom is in charge of their soul.
Keeping rules is one thing but knowing nothing of the heart is the basic and tragic problem.
“Unrighteous righteousness” is prominently keeping the rules as a display on the near wall or an attempt to “show” our high level of spirituality to others.
That is precisely how Jesus dealt with the Pharisees in Matthew 23.
Outwardly everything looks right.
Yet, holiness has migrated from the inner life to the outer life.
That becomes our standardized measuring stick and concerns, and activities are external because that is exactly and exactingly where the holiness criteria have not so subtly migrated to from the heart. And that is righteousness depraved.
3. Righteousness Derived.
Of course, there was nothing wrong with the desire that our lives become outward expressions of what is inside.
Righteousness – doing right things – for the right reasons, as the defining outward characteristic of one’s internal character becomes the observable (sometimes hypocritical) evidence of the reality of that person’s true nature.
What is the “source” of righteousness?
In this devotional message there is no intention of getting into the theological debate focused on “imputed righteousness” versus “imparted righteousness.”
Let’s just let the Scriptures speak plainly.
It is important to know that righteousness is not generated inherently just because a person is a moral creature having been made by God.
Righteousness is a gift from God.
Hear the Apostle Paul on this matter:
“Since by the one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive the overflow of grace and the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.” (Romans 5:17)
Of primary importance in this matter is that we each understand that when God exposes our unrighteousness it is not to humiliate or embarrass us.
It is always that when we recognize it, He might change us.
On the heels of this we need to also recognize that righteousness becomes ours because it is a gift from God through His Son, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Righteousness does not begin with acts or doing.
It is so common for people to think by doing good things one can become good.
It is the reverse of that.
This is precisely why Jesus addressed His disciples in the Sermon on the Mount with the caution that forms the text for this devotional message.
Doing does not produce being, being produces doing!
That is, becoming the right person enables one to do the right things with the right attitude.
This is why the Apostle Paul wrote:
“He made the One who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” (2 Corinthians 5:21)
Righteousness is primarily about what we are, and only then does it become what we do.
It is necessary that we come to the cross and in the words of the Apostle Paul, be “crucified with Christ” so that we might live!
But, you say, there are things we are supposed to “do” as Christians.
True. And now note it is in the same Sermon on the Mount that Jesus said:
“Let your light shine before men, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:16)
Now He says,
“Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of people, to be seen by them.” (Matthew 6:1)
Sounds like a contradiction?
On the surface, yes.
But there is something missing.
The difference lies not in the act of righteousness itself, but rather in the source of that act of righteousness.
If it is my righteousness the attention will be on me.
If it is God’s righteousness that is God’s gift placed within my heart, then the attention will be on Him and Him alone.
In other words, the origin of the act determines the object of the act.
This is precisely why the Apostle Paul wrote:
“Whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.” (Colossians 3:17)
Note if you will, this is how Jesus in His humanity lived.
He was a real human being.
He was not simply disguised as a man.
John 1:14 states it clearly:
“The Word became flesh and tabernacle among us.”
It was in this humanity that He said:
“The Son is not able to do anything on His own, but only what He sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, the Son also does these things in the same way.” (John 5:19)
In the same 5th chapter in John’s Gospel, we note Jesus saying, “I seek not to please myself but Him who sent me.” (v 30)
What I believe Rabbi Jesus was saying is: “I am not trying to please myself; I am not trying to please the crowd. I seek only to please My Father.”
Therefore, it is not the object of our acts of righteousness but the origin that will determine WHO is the recipient of “praise.”
It is the nature of our heart and soul which lies behind the act of righteousness that make the difference.
4. Righteousness Delivered.
The word “delivered” is important in dealing with what Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount.
It is a word that necessarily demands identification of two very specific focal points:
(1) delivered from and (2) delivered to.
In the context of the text passage for this devotional message note Rabbi Jesus focused on four areas of “righteous acts”:
1. Compassion for others, expressed in giving.
2. Crying out to God, expressed in praying.
3. Constraint of desire, expressed in fasting.
4. Cumulating wealth, expressed in gaining.
Rabbi Jesus did not condemn any of these acts.
There is no inherent sinfulness in giving out of a heart of compassion for others.
It is not sinful to call out to God in prayer.
There is no wickedness in expressing one’s personal lifestyle constraint relating to normal activities.
And there is nothing wrong with cumulating wealth in a legitimate manner.
The problem is the attitude of the heart related to these acts.
They may be acts that are truly righteous, or they may be acts that are very unrighteous.
The initial clue to having our righteousness delivered from being self-focused to being Jesus-focused is found in the closing verse of Matthew 5:
“Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
The form of the verb Jesus used is both a statement and an imperative.
Take either and you have what Jesus intended to disclose.
The object of the verb is the word that indicates “completeness.”
Some people want the noun to indicate “moral perfection” or “holiness” as that word is used in the theology of some movements.
Biblically the word is more than “holiness” as understood from the use of the word “hagios” or “holy” as it is usually translated.
Understood from Scripture then, it includes both that holiness of the heart to which Peter referred in Acts 15:9 and that “completeness” that is the result of being “conformed to image of His Son,” (Romans 8:29).
This is the result flowing from a pure heart that allows the refining, instructing, correcting, reproving work of the Holy Spirit to continue unhindered.
This is why “holiness” must be understood as a crisis within a process.
The process – doing righteousness – cannot become reality without first the crisis.
And the crisis – that instantaneous act of God purifying the heart – cannot be maintained apart from the process that flows from the “growing up” under the tutelage of the Holy Spirit.
God will not do through us what He does not first do in us!
When God works “in us” His cleansing, purifying work, then the truth of Jesus’ solutions for “unrighteous righteousness” will become reality.
He gave the divine solutions for each of the four areas He mentions in Matthew 5:3, 6, 17, and 20.
We must intentionally work hard and labor much to make very sure the inner spiritual control center is fully complete – pure – and then the outer control center – God’s power – will produce the evidence of “righteous righteousness.”
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
Lord who is our Righteousness, I thank you because people look at the outside, but only you can see our inside. Please open our eyes to see that you are the God who’s watching in secret, so that we may be willing to follow your word in our daily life. I thank you and pray in the victorious name of my Savior Jesus, Alleluia! Amen!
1: acting in accord with divine or moral law: free from guilt or sin. 2a: morally right or justifiable a righteous decision. b: arising from an outraged sense of justice or morality righteous indignation.
What is the spiritual meaning of righteousness?
Righteousness is the quality or state of being morally correct and justifiable.
It can be considered synonymous with “rightness” or being “upright”.
It can be found in Indian religions and Abrahamic traditions, among other religions, as a theological concept.
What are the principles of righteousness?
Righteousness is a composite of all that is good.
Righteousness embraces the principles of heavenly power and law by which all things of God are handled and controlled and governed.
In righteousness there is great simplicity. In every case that confronts us in life there is either a right way or a wrong way to proceed.
Who is a righteous person according to the Bible? (Psalm 1)
Bible says that a righteous person is someone who does not live in the counsel of the wicked and who leaves between his desires and God’s commands.
The one who drives himself to do good even when he does not feel like it, who will wait for justice rather than turning away from it- this man has integrity.
I continue my search of God’s Holy Scriptures so to compare and contrast, explore and also strive to understand: My Righteousness against My God’s.
Proverbs 11:1-11Authorized (King James) Version
11 A false balance is abomination to the Lord: but a just weight is his delight.
2 When pride cometh, then cometh shame: but with the lowly is wisdom.
3 The integrity of the upright shall guide them: but the perverseness of transgressors shall destroy them.
4 Riches profit not in the day of wrath: but righteousness delivereth from death.
5 The righteousness of the perfect shall direct his way: but the wicked shall fall by his own wickedness.
6 The righteousness of the upright shall deliver them: but transgressors shall be taken in their own naughtiness.
7 When a wicked man dieth, his expectation shall perish: and the hope of unjust men perisheth.
8 The righteous is delivered out of trouble, and the wicked cometh in his stead.
9 An hypocrite with his mouth destroyeth his neighbour: but through knowledge shall the just be delivered.
10 When it goeth well with the righteous, the city rejoiceth: and when the wicked perish, there is shouting.
11 By the blessing of the upright the city is exalted: but it is overthrown by the mouth of the wicked.
The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.
Before standardized weights and measures, and a government department to enforce them, merchants were responsible for accurate scales and weights.
You bought and sold most of your commodities and foodstuffs by weight.
This was no small matter, as the integrity and prosperity of the nation’s economy depended on trustworthy transactions.
Business integrity is part of godliness.
God counts economic cheating or compromise to be an abomination.
This word means a combination of disgust and hatred, abhorrence, detestation, and loathing.
If you want to get ahead, then be careful in all your transactions, even making sure your motives are just and pure (Proverbs 11:3; 19:1; Proverbs 20:7,14),
and looking out with special care for widows, orphans, and the poor (Proverbs 23:10-11; 22:9). It is far better to be generous and liberal than to be cheap and stingy (Proverbs 11:24-27; Ecclesiastes 11:1-6; Isaiah 32:8).
The omniscient God, seeing and knowing all things, takes very close interest in the ounces and pounds, liters and pints, dollars and cents, of your daily life. Let every greedy and stingy thief beware! He does not watch from a distance
You will never get ahead cheating.
It is far better to pay and perform beyond expectations, than to cut corners or shortchange anyone.
Generosity is far superior to frugality.
It is a very small mind, motivated by a dead soul, which thinks cheating is how to get ahead (Proverbs 11:24-26; 28:8).
A large mind, directed by a loving and generous heart, is God’s delight. He will bless the righteous.
Godly men are perfectly honest.
They never take advantage of others.
They go beyond bare duty; they pay more than their share; they keep every term of a contract; they tip generously; they pay debts on time; they despise small thefts; they never lay out sick, when they are well; they disclose all problems with things they sell; they do not barter down a price, then call it a great deal; they communicate promptly and openly.
The Lord avenges any defrauding (1 Thessalonians 4:6; 1 Corinthians 6:8).
He measures every relationship and transaction with His holy and divine scales of perfect righteousness.
Have you been found wanting?
Your prayers will stop at the ceiling (Proverbs 15:29; Psalms 66:18);
He will blow against you (Proverbs 13:15; Psalms 34:16);
and you will never get ahead (Proverbs 13:11; 20:21; Jeremiah 17:11).
The Lord delights in honest men (Proverbs 12:22; Psalms 11:7; Luke 6:37-38).
What a glorious blessing indeed to have the Most-High God delighting in you for your daily integrity!
Watch every trade!
Owe no man anything! Be void of offence before God and men! Let the pure honesty and generosity of the Lord Jesus Christ be seen in your every action.
God is fair and right, and He expects you to be fair and right.
He is perfect, He hates cheating or compromise in your dealings; He loves honesty and integrity. He will ruin you professionally, if you cheat; but He will bless you abundantly, if you are just and fair. Solomon taught this lesson to his son more than once (Proverbs 16:11; 20:10,23).
Proverbs 11:2Authorized (King James) Version
2 When pride cometh, then cometh shame: but with the lowly is wisdom.
The proud hypocrite deceives himself into ignoring realities in the conduct of his life the meek and humble person quickly recognizes and takes into account.
The proud person’s vanity pushes him into conduct that will end in shame.
The humble person’s attitude stands in vivid contrast, for his wisdom prevents him from pursuing the same conduct.
This produces even more wisdom when good fruit is produced from good trees because it positively reinforces his right decision.
This pride seen in Proverbs 11:2 literally means “boiling up,” or we might say, “puffed up.”
The proud person has an inflated opinion of himself and/or his possessions, abilities, powers, and accomplishments.
This exists because pride has deceived him about his importance.
He is the center of the world! The day is coming soon when everyone’s proud ego will be deflated, and man’s haughty self-regard will be stripped away.
There is a safe way to live – obey the bible.
And there is a dangerous way to live – do what feels good and sounds good.
By committing to only obey the bible at all times, you will have clear direction for every situation, but they are not easy choices to make or to try to live by.
But living your life by your own feelings and choices will often lead you to confusion and difficulty, and it will certainly put you on a destructive path.
Now what is integrity?
It is the glorious character trait of always doing what is right, regardless of difficulties or consequences.
It is the upright who have integrity.
What is perverseness?
It is turning away from what is right to act contrary to law or nature.
It is transgressors, or sinners, who are perverse, for they choose to reject moral restrictions.
The upright always do what is right – they have integrity.
Their confusion in life is minimal, for they have chosen to follow what is right in every choice and dilemma.
They have a constant guide.
Transgressors do whatever they want – they are perverse.
They have no standards or parameters for their actions, and their perversity will surely lead them down a destructive path of moral and ethical confusion.
What is right?
Whatever the Bible says is right!
Anything to the contrary is perverse and wrong.
The Bible should be exalted on every subject, and all other opinions should be hated (Psalms 119:128).
Such a rule defines Bible Christianity.
It does not matter what a religious leader thinks, what is socially acceptable, what is traditional, or what will win you a promotion.
The wicked, perverse in their rejection of God’s word, are confused about the simplest matters and end up in destruction.
The rule of wisdom is to live by integrity – always obeying the bible – which gives a constant and continuous and decisively sound moral and ethical guide.
The blessed Lord Jesus Christ always did those things that pleased His Father.
He had perfect integrity and prudence in obeying the word of God and living a perfect life.
For those who confess Him with their whole hearts and believe on Him, He is the Source and Means of everlasting righteousness.
Proverbs 11:4Authorized (King James) Version
4 Riches profit not in the day of wrath: but righteousness delivereth from death.
If you asked most people if they would rather have riches or righteousness – most likely most would answer that they would like riches sprinkled with a pinch of God here another pinch of Jesus, there and a smidgeon of Holy Spirit.
That is due to two facts.
First, I believe it is related to the fact that mankind is lost and ignorant of their true position before God.
Second, I believe it is related to the fact that the rich man in the story of Lazarus and the Rich Man – has not yet had his message broadcast out to the world as he himself would have wanted it written by himself with his own pen, in his style.
Proverbs tells us that riches do not profit us in the day of wrath.
If riches are all that we have – we are seriously in trouble.
Note that we read here of the day of wrath.
This refers to the day that God releases His wrath on those who have rejected His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
That will be a sobering day indeed for the rich.
They have stored up their wealth when they should have used it for the glory of God and the advance of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
On that day, their riches will mean nothing. Honored on earth among men – riches are despised in heaven – unless they have been used for the glory of God.
Two men would love to testify to this fact. The first is the rich man who did nothing to alleviate the pain and suffering of a poor beggar named Lazarus.
Lazarus lay at the rich man’s gate; his only ministers were dogs that licked his sores. He longed to be fed with the scraps that fell from the rich man’s table.
He received nothing from him.
Both died and the rich man was cast into hell and Lazarus was taken into Abraham’s bosom.
– The rich man – suffering miserably – asked that someone be sent to tell his brothers of this place.
He knew that riches would not deliver him from hell – only righteousness would do.
The second man who would love to testify would be the rich farmer who thought he had it made because he had a bumper crop.
Faced with filled barns already, he wondered what to do with his bountiful harvest.
He decided to build bigger barns, fill them and then say to himself that he was set for life.
He trusted riches, not righteousness.
He lost.
The Lord called this man a fool and told him that he would die that night – and what would he do for his own soul.
Riches will not profit us in that day when we face the judgment of God.
Only righteousness will do.
Actually, only a certain kind of righteousness will do too.
That is the righteousness of Jesus Christ.
That alone will stand in that awful day.
Nothing else will matter except we’ve repented, turned in faith to Jesus Christ.
What He did on the cross will pay for our sins – what He did will allow us to be credited with a perfect righteousness, will cause us to be accepted before God.
Only what He did – only His righteousness will matter.
It will save us from death.
In light of this truth – what are you trusting in on the day of God’s wrath?
You may think it is not coming – that God is too nice to judge anyone.
The fact of Scripture is to the contrary.
God will judge – He will call us to an accounting – and He will accept only one thing on that day to make us acceptable in His sight.
Only the blood of Jesus to cleanse us of all unrighteousness. Only the blood will help us to escape the wrath of God. Now let me ask the question . . . On the day of God’s wrath what do you want to have – God’s riches or our own righteousness?
In Psalm 90, as Moses meditates on his own life’s shortness, he asks God,
“Who knoweth the power of thine anger? even according to thy fear, so is thy wrath (Psalm 90:11)?”
Death is the debt owed to God’s justice, not to nature.
Since God made man in His image, to be loved and to love, death is not “a part of life,” as materialists’ prattle, attempting to quiet their own fears. Because of sin, death unnaturally ends life, so that since sin entered the world, “It is appointed unto man once to die and after that the judgment (Hebrews 9:27).”
When one stands before God as our appointed judge (Acts 17:31), riches which he or she has accumulated in their lifetimes will not help at all.
In this life, riches command respect, buy the best lawyers, and may even bribe the judge.
But in the day of wrath, riches will not sway the Judge, nor remove the sting of God’s wrath.
The only help in the day of wrath is righteousness.
If God is for us, then who will be against us (Romans 8:31)?
The second death will not hurt us, so the judgment presaged by the first death will not alarm the righteous, whose goodness will deliver them from death.
Here the proverb ends, but since “all have sinned and come short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23)” and “there is none that does good, no, not one (Romans 3:10, Psalm 14:1),” the proverb provokes within us a deep and serious question.
How can anyone be righteous before God and survive His Wrath and Judgment?
Jewish animal sacrifices ended when Rome destroyed the Jerusalem Temple in 70 A.D., and wherever news about Jesus Christ has gone, animal sacrifices for believers and non-believers alike have ceased.
Nevertheless, the Bible assures us often that God will mercifully forgive sin, or how could anyone stand before Him (Psalm 130)?
Only by the death of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The news about Christ, proclaimed by the Church since the Day of Pentecost, announces the victory of the Son of David over sin and death.
As the Hebrew Scriptures prophesied, Jesus voluntarily died on a cross, the Lamb of God given for the sins of His People.
After three days, He rose to life again, appearing to many chosen witnesses.
His sacrifice on the cross bought us forgiveness for all who have repented and believe in Him. and also, they are imputed with righteousness, not ours, but Christ’s imputed righteousness was imparted as a free gift by faith alone.
This righteousness delivers from death on the day of wrath, when riches will be of no use.
Proverbs 11 Verse 5: “The righteousness of the perfect (the blameless) shall direct his way: but the wicked shall fall by his own wickedness.”
The “perfect”—those who are morally upright—better translated “blameless,” will live by the standards of integrity and honesty.
A “blameless” person is one who is above reproach.
It does not mean that he must be sinless, but his life must be lived so nobly that there won’t be any loopholes for others to latch onto and criticize.
There are some irresponsible people who will accuse.
We might be unjustly blamed for wrong, but there must be nothing in our lives that could truthfully be used to bring minimal shame to the cause of Christ.
The “wicked” (those who have no respect for God and holy things) will fall beneath the load of their sins.
Proverbs 11 Verse 6: The righteousness of the upright delivers them, but the unfaithful are trapped by evil desires.
One of the great principles of wisdom is the certain and sure consequences for both righteousness and wickedness.
Solomon repeated this rule many times to get the attention of his son and citizens. In this chapter alone, compare this proverb to others very similar in their wording, their lesson –Proverbs 11:3,4,5,7,8,10,12,19,20,21,23,27,28,31.
The repetition is not wasted.
Check your heart, dear reader.
Is there a tendency within us to think or believe Solomon’s proverbs like this one are boring or worse – irrelevant to our contemporary times and seasons?
Would you or I rather read and consider one about love, business, relationships, or wealth? Pray! Let’s be careful. The density and distribution of these proverbs are also by divine wisdom. The repetitions of the rule above are 100% necessary.
Love, business, relationships, and wealth will take care of themselves, if you live a wise life of righteousness.
Your heart is cold toward righteousness due to sin that is in your body.
And the devil himself suggests anything he can to distract you from learning and growing in righteousness.
Furthermore, the world only suggests and sells naughtiness; it never promotes righteousness. These foes conspire to destroy you. Solomon was not redundant.
An upright person does what is right, as defined by God, all the time, and with all the necessary and required zeal.
This is righteousness.
They are delivered or saved from the pain and trouble of sin, both in this world and in the next.
A transgressor is a person who breaks God’s laws, and he wallows and eventually drowns in the misery of their choice, in this world and the next.
Consider this world.
The upright man learns and applies the righteous laws of God to his life.
God and men favor him, and he is delivered from the delusions and dysfunction of others (Proverbs 3:1-4; Joshua 1:7-9; Psalms 1:1-6; Luke 2:52).
But the transgressor, blinded and deceived by his evil ways, falls into all sorts of avoidable trouble, for God, men, and natural laws are set together to crush him with its consequences (Proverbs 1:31; 8:36; 13:15).
Consider the next world.
The honorable and upright man, with good fruits of righteousness proving his regeneration and salvation, gains their entrance to heaven by God’s free grace in their Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (1 Thessalonians 1:2-4; 2 Peter 1:5-11).
But the unrepentant transgressor, wishing he had never been born, faces the dread sovereign Judge of the universe to be punished during an eternity in the lake of fire (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14; Revelation 20:11-15; 21:8).
Learn to relate, learn to connect the dots in your life, where the dots are the choices and events of your life. If you rebel against Bible wisdom and foolishly follow the world, you will surely suffer painful and punishing results. If you fear God and live by the Bible, you’ll be certainly protected and blessed by the Lord.
Joseph made many wise choices regarding his father, brothers, Potiphar, Potiphar’s wife and Pharaoh.
There likely were sometimes that he wondered if his straightforward honorable righteous living was worth it when he was sold into slavery by his brothers, and even more so when he was thrown into prison because of Potiphar’s evil wife…
But if you connect the dots, where did they end for Joseph?
He was made ruler of Egypt and able to save and provide for his whole family.
Samson was a young man like Joseph, but he would not listen to his parents and marry a girl from Israel.
He wanted a Philistine girl instead.
He had several providential victories in his life by his great strength.
He may have thought God was turning a blind eye to his sexual sins.
But if you connect the dots, where did they end for Samson? He was betrayed by his last Philistine lover, had both eyes put out, and then he committed suicide.
You are placing dots on the map of your life today.
If you reject God’s wisdom and the instruction of authorities in your life, your future will most certainly be painful and decisively, directly, full of trouble.
But if you are upright and live righteously today, there is an expected end for you that will be your honorable righteous living and the blessings of our God.
When a wicked man dies, his expectation will perish, And the hope of the unjust perishes… Proverbs 11:7 NKJV
The true test of a man and his choices is how he dies.
More accurately it is what happens to him after he dies.
That is what this proverb addresses today.
When a wicked man dies – everything dies with him.
He has no expectations beyond this world.
During his life he lived for the things of this world – and now that he is dead – he has to face the fact that he lost everything at the moment he died.
You leave it all behind. The wicked man’s expectation was centered in this world. He bet his entire life that this was all that there is – that there is no afterlife. He figured that all he did will adequately speak for him on that day.
All that he can look forward to from that moment on is the wrath of God.
In the parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus Abraham spoke to the rich man who was in torment in flame after death.
He reminded him that he received his good things in this life.
He rejected God – rejected serving God
– and rejected living for God rather than for his own selfish agenda.
He thought that God did not exist – that heaven was just a state of mind
– that judgment day was just a device used by Christian preaches to get people to walk down the aisle during an altar call at church.
He was radically wrong!
God is real – and He is holy and just.
The strong man and the complete weakling are identical before the throne of God. The strong man does not want to humble himself before the Lord. But no matter what he does – his hope and his expectation perish before the Lord.
Proverbs 11 Verse 8:The righteous person is rescued from trouble, and it falls on the wicked instead
Let the wicked suffer instead of you! God will save you from trouble and punish the wicked instead, if you live righteously. He makes a difference among men by protecting those who live godly lives and judging the wicked in their place.
There is a reward for a righteous man (Psalms 58:11).
Psalm 58:11Authorized (King James) Version
11 So that a man shall say, Verily there is a reward for the righteous: verily he is a God that judgeth in the earth.
God delivers him from trouble. When a righteous man is saved out of a calamity, God redirects the judgment, trouble against wicked men (Proverbs 24:15-16).
The Lord loves the righteous, He sacrifices the wicked for him (Proverbs 21:18).
What is the lesson?
God blesses and favors those who obey Him, and He judges and punishes those who do not.
If you are on the Lord’s side, He will bless you, but He will despise and destroy His enemies.
This is the God of the Bible, though most do not know Him.
The crucial point is that you are convicted to live a godly life for Him.
The Lord has not promised the righteous will not have troubles, but He has promised to deliver them from those troubles (Job 5:17-27; Psalms 34:4-7,17-19; 50:14-15; 66:12; 91:14-16).
You can see Jacob, Joseph, David, Job, Daniel, Paul, and others delivered out of trouble (Genesis 39:1-3; 48:15-16; 2 Sam 22:1; Job 42:10-17; Daniel 1:17-21; 2 Timothy 4:17).
Pharaoh and Egypt thought they could abuse the Israelites living in their nation.
He tried to kill their children; he overworked them without compensation; he mocked Moses and Moses’ God.
What happened?
God moved Israel to Canaan, ravaged the nation by a variety of plagues, killed Pharaoh’s firstborn son the firstborn in every Egyptian family, confiscated the nation’s wealth for Israel’s back pay, and drowned the army in the Red Sea.
Haman plotted in hatred to hang Mordecai on gallows he had built for the purpose, but God delivered Mordecai, and Haman was hung in his place (Esther 7:9-10).
Instead of Mordecai twitching with a snapped neck, it was Haman.
Understanding Christians have rejoiced with smiles at this reversal of fortune for centuries. But that was not all; before he got to hang, Haman was ordered to lead Mordecai through the streets of the city for special honor.
Wicked Medes in the government of Darius conspired and had Daniel thrown in a den of lions for his faith in God and daily prayers.
But they and their families ended up being ravaged and eaten by the same lions that the previous night had no interest in Daniel (Daniel 6:24).
This is redirected violence perfectly suitable for families of the wicked.
Nebuchadnezzar’s best soldiers were burned alive by the very flames they had prepared for Daniel’s three friends (Daniel 3:22).
They overheated their furnace for capital crimes, and it burned them to death while not even singeing the hair of the three. The Hebrew youth had purposed they would not participate in false religion, and God delivered them for it.
Sixteen Roman soldiers died instead of Peter by the Lord’s glorious deliverance of him from prison (Acts 12:18-19).
The angel of God woke Peter during the night and saved him from his planned execution the next day, but the foolish soldiers loyal to Rome died in his place.
The proverbs being placed before us are very true.
Are you and I one of the righteous?
The righteous are so precious in God’s affections that He will gladly sacrifice the wicked for them (Isaiah 43:3-4).
Israel was very sure they were doomed when trapped against the Red Sea by Pharaoh’s armies (Exodus 14:10-12), but the LORD delivered them gloriously through it and drowned Pharaoh’s army in it (Exodus 14:21-31).
Consider the celebratory song and dance of Israel in light of the fulfillment of this proverb (Exodus 15:1-21).
There is a reward for the righteous.
There is no need to fret because of the prosperity or the persecutions of the wicked.
They do not see their day coming, but the righteous do.
The Lord laughs about what He will do to the wicked (Psalms 2:1-12; 37:12-13),
and the righteous should laugh with Him (Psalms 52:1-7; 58:6-11).
Are you one of the righteous?
Proverbs 11:9Authorized (King James) Version
9 An hypocrite with his mouth destroyeth his neighbour: but through knowledge shall the just be delivered.
When words fly like daggers through the air you can be assured that you are dealing with a godless man.
The godless man is the one who destroys his neighbor with his mouth.
The term godless here refers to a man who is impious, filthy, and godless.
The root of this word speaks of how he turns away, wants nothing to do with God.
As a result, we see in Scripture where one who is like this is morally unclean (Job 13:16) and whose character lacks any of the positive aspects of godliness.
Consider the fruit of the Spirit, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
This man, this transgressor has none of these qualities.
We also read in Scripture that because of this the transgressor often clashes with and is in almost constant and continuous conflict with the righteous.
We read here that the righteous will be delivered through knowledge.
I believe this deliverance is two-fold.
First, we will be delivered from the godless who want to destroy us with their words.
Several times in the New Testament we are urged to let our behavior be such that when the wicked seek to destroy us with accusations and lies – our actions and lifestyle will be such that it will answer their lies.
The way we live consistently will be a rebuke to them.
We will not have to answer or come back with our own attacks, because those around us will laugh them to scorn.
They know us – and they will reject such attacks.
That deliverance comes through “knowledge.”
Knowledge means not just a head-knowledge, but one that truly results in discernment, insight, and wisdom.
We get such knowledge from God’s Word – and from a life spent seeking Him and walking with Him.
The second way I believe we will be delivered is that we will not be led into “the fight.”
When someone tries to destroy you with their mouth – the natural thing to experience is a strong desire to launch a counterattack.
They throw stones – we throw knives.
They shoot bullets – we drop bombs.
You can imagine where this all leads.
The righteous is delivered in part by “killing your opponent with kindness.”
Matthew 5:43-48Authorized (King James) Version
43 Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. 44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; 45 that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. 46 For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? 47 And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so? 48 Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.
You do not respond in kind – you respond in kindness!
This changes everything.
They may continue to attack, and often will (sometimes kindness drives a person who is seeking to destroy you even crazier with anger).
But as those around us watch the proceedings – they see clearly the one who is acting godly – and the one who is spinning out of control.
In the end, we are delivered from our greatest foe – and that is not the one attacking us.
We are delivered from ourselves. Something deep within wants to rise up and take control – and by the way – that is our flesh.
Instead, we need to have Christ in us respond.
He will grant us power to respond with kindness and love – with mercy and forgiveness.
Know this – respond like this and two things will happen.
First, you will be delivered from your own worst aspects of your flesh.
Second, you will win in the end. Jesus was led like a lamb to the slaughter – and as a sheep before His shearers is silent – so He did not open His mouth.
That response, dear saints, won in the end.
It did at the cross – it most assuredly did when He walked out of His tomb!
And it will for everyone who embraces Him responding like that in their lives through His Holy Spirit now.
Proverbs 11:10Authorized (King James) Version
10 When it goeth well with the righteous, the city rejoiceth: and when the wicked perish, there is shouting.
King Solomon’s astute political observations and wisdom reveal that cities and nations much prefer policies which benefits godly men more so than those than those which benefit wicked men.
Exceptions to this general rule do not matter.
Support for godly leaders and policies will cause joy, and when wicked leaders, policies, or men die, there is also good reason for celebration.
There are two ways to improve the spirit of a political entity or an organization.
Either favor the cause of righteousness by helping and protecting good men or punish the way of wickedness by exposing and destroying evil men.
Any person in authority must remember both rules to enact and enforce policies that help the righteous and hurt the wicked.
Should good people celebrate the destruction of the wicked?
Should they rejoice at the promotion of the righteous?
Yes, and yes!
The difference between righteous and wicked men is enormous, and even citizens with little nobility or religion can appreciate the difference.
But God’s people know the difference even better and celebrate accordingly.
A nation’s citizens appreciate a benevolent, faithful, and wise ruler; they mourn a foolish, oppressing, and selfish ruler (Proverbs 29:2).
Egypt rejoiced to have Joseph, and Babylon to have Daniel.
Shushan, the capital of Persia, mourned when wicked Haman was promoted, but they rejoiced when Mordecai replaced him (Esther 4:15; 8:15).
Israel celebrated their great blessings to have David and Solomon as kings (2 Samuel 6:14-19; 1 Kings 4:20-25).
When King Asa initiated a revival in Judah, many left their homes in Israel and moved to be under such a good king (2 Chronicles 15:8-19).
It was the same under good King Hezekiah (2 Chronicles 30:21-27).
Therefore, wise citizens will pray for their leaders, for in the prosperity of good rulers they will obtain their own blessing (Jeremiah 29:4-7; 1 Timothy 2:1-2).
Vengeance is the Lord’s; He will repay (Romans 12:19).
Both destruction, promotion come from the Lord (Psalm 75:6-7; Isaiah 13:6).
Those who fear the God of heaven know there are no accidents, coincidences, or acts of nature. They know He uses whirlwinds, hurricanes and tornadoes, and He uses waves, tsunamis and hurricane surges (Nahum 1:3).
When calamities and disasters strike the enemies of God, the people of God rejoice.
Israel danced at the Red Sea, when the bodies of Pharaoh and his army washed up on shore (Exodus 14:30-31; 15:1-21).
The psalmist wrote about the happy event of seeing Babylon’s children dashed against rocks (Psalms 137:8-9).
And the apostles and prophets of God also rejoice over the destruction of spiritual Babylon (Revelation 18:6,20).
Godly men make a difference between personal enemies and God’s enemies.
You have no right to rejoice when a personal enemy is in trouble (Proverbs 24:17-18; Job 31:29-30; Psalms 35:11-14).
Instead, you should pray for him and do what you can for him (Matthew 5:43-48; Romans 12:17-21).
You can only justify hating God’s enemies (Psalms 52:6-7; 139:22-23).
By the blessing of the upright a city is exalted, But by the mouth of the wicked it is torn down. Proverbs 11:11
The upright and the wicked have a way of affecting the cities in which they live.
The upright are said to exalt a city by the way they speak.
They bless the city.
The word for bless means to bestow favor upon something or speak well of it.
What is interesting about this word is that its root form has the idea of kneeling and blessing.
What I see here is that the upright man doesn’t just speak blessings over his city – he primarily blesses it when he falls to his knees and prays for it.
The blessing here is when a city has many praying, godly men within it.
The wicked though, have no such blessing.
They only tear a city down with their actions and words.
It is telling what this passage calls these people. They are called, “the wicked.”
The term refers to the wicked – and one of the ways they are described it as the “criminally wicked.”
These men not only do not bless the city – they are violently taking from it – and promoting a criminal and lawless lifestyle.
No wonder that the city is torn down by their actions. Their actions promote people disobeying the law and living a selfish and self-centered lifestyle.
The Indescribable Richness and Genuine Value of Righteousness
Jeremiah 23:5-6Authorized (King James) Version
5 Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. 6 In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is his name whereby he shall be called, The Lord our righteousness.
It will always give a Christian the greatest calm, quiet, ease, and peace to think of the perfect righteousness of Christ.
How often are the saints of God downcast and sad!
I do not think they ought to be.
I do not think they would be if they could always see their perfection in Christ.
There are some who are always talking about corruption and the depravity of the heart and the innate evil of the soul. This is quite true, but why not risk it all and dare go a little bit further and remember that we are perfect in Christ Jesus.
It is no wonder that those who are dwelling upon their own corruption should wear such downcast looks; but surely if we call to mind “Christ Jesus, whom God made . . . our righteousness,” we shall be of good cheer.
What though distresses may afflict me, though Satan assault me, though there may be many distressing things to be experienced before I get to heaven,
those are done for me in the covenant of divine grace; there is nothing wanting in my Lord–Christ has done it all.
On the cross He said, “It is finished!” and if it be finished,
then am I complete in Him, can rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory,
“Not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith.” (Philippians 3:9)
You will not find on this side of heaven a holier people than those who receive into their hearts the doctrine of Christ’s righteousness.
When the believer says, “I live on Christ alone; I rest on Him solely for salvation; and I believe that, however unworthy, I am still saved in Jesus,”
then there rises up as a motive of gratitude this thought: “Shall I not live to Christ? Shall I not love Him and serve Him, seeing that I am saved by His merits?” “The love of Christ controls us,” “that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.”
If saved by Christs’ imputed righteousness, we shall greatly value imparted righteousness. (2 Corinthians 5:14-15)
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
King of Kings, Lord of Lords, thank you that you are great and abundant in power, your understanding is beyond measure. In your wisdom, you have created the church, described as Christ’s body. May we work together as members of one body, using the gifts and abilities you have given us to faithfully love and serve one another. Would we find our strength from Jesus, the head of the body. May the Lord make us increase and abound in love for each other. May you establish our hearts as blameless in holiness before you. Through Savior Jesus Christ, our Lord, Amen.
3 The integrity of the upright shall guide them: but the perverseness of transgressors shall destroy them.
4 Riches profit not in the day of wrath: but righteousness delivereth from death.
5 The righteousness of the perfect shall direct his way: but the wicked shall fall by his own wickedness.
6 The righteousness of the upright shall deliver them: but transgressors shall be taken in their own naughtiness.
7 When a wicked man dieth, his expectation shall perish: and the hope of unjust men perisheth.
8 The righteous is delivered out of trouble, and the wicked cometh in his stead.
9 An hypocrite with his mouth destroyeth his neighbour: but through knowledge shall the just be delivered.
10 When it goeth well with the righteous, the city rejoiceth: and when the wicked perish, there is shouting.
11 By the blessing of the upright the city is exalted: but it is overthrown by the mouth of the wicked.
The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.
Practical wisdom for righteous living comes to us through the length and the breadth of the Bible, especially in Jesus’ example, and also by way of the people around us—wise leaders and mentors of all kinds in our family and community.
Our memories of good, helpful people and their ways of modeling moral living, dealing with life, can be an indescribably great blessing. Righteous people often easily share wisdom by word and example in ways that make an impact on us.
Remembering how a friend modeled calm, dealt wisely with difficulties in his or her life can be highly inspirational and instructive. Remembering how someone walked with and trusted God in their easiest, hardest days is deeply motivating.
We are truly blessed when we can easily remember righteous people who have imparted wisdom to us.
Among those coming to my mind is a dear friend who in their last days held tightly to the words of Scripture in Matthew 5:8Amplified ……
“Blessed [anticipating God’s presence, spiritually mature] are the pure in heart [those with integrity, moral courage, and godly character], for they will see God.
He challenged me to preach them to others upon his death — at his funeral!
People’s words accompanied by righteous living make for blessed memories.
Rabbi Jesus’ example of model living by teaching the way of wisdom through his Beatitudes—and the good examples of the people who have followed him since those ancient days —make all the difference for us, in life and in death.
In Proverbs 11, God says He is calling for His people to be men and women of legend.
He is calling us to be people known for our integrity.
People who can’t be bought, “living by unbalanced weights and scales.”
People who stand and live by what is moral and correct – for righteousness in a land that is filled, overwhelmed by imbalanced scales, with evil and corruption.
In Micah 6:8 God declares:
“He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”
So, what God says He expects from us is…
• Righteousness
• Mercy
• And a Humble Spirit
All that and being a man and a woman who walks “a balanced” life with God
He calls us to be legends in our world.
And so here in Proverbs 11 God tells us what a righteous person looks like.
As God often did in the book Proverbs God draws a contrast between the righteous and the wicked.
Verse 3 says “The integrity of the UPRIGHT guides them, but the UNFAITHFUL are destroyed by their duplicity.
Verse 5 says “The righteousness of the BLAMELESS makes a straight way for them, but the WICKED are brought down by their own wickedness.”
In verse 6 “The RIGHTEOUSNESS of the upright delivers them, but the UNFAITHFUL are trapped by evil desires.”
Verse 8 declares: “The RIGHTEOUS man is rescued from trouble, and it comes on the WICKED instead.
Verse 9 says: “With his mouth the GODLESS destroys his neighbor, but through knowledge the RIGHTEOUS escape.
In verse 10 it says “When the RIGHTEOUS prosper, the city rejoices; when the WICKED perish, there are shouts of joy.
And in verse 11 God says: Through the blessing of the UPRIGHT a city is exalted, but by the mouth of the WICKED it is destroyed.
Are you and I catching the compare and contrast pattern being taught here?
God is saying:
• These people are the righteous… those aren’t.
• These folks have integrity… those folks don’t.
• God loves the good guys… He despises those other guys.
• The upright He protects and honors… but the wicked will be trapped and destroyed.
God is making a comparison. And He’s telling us: MAKE A CHOICE.
MAKE A CHOICE:
Live upright for God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit or ‘upright’ for the WORLD.
His message is crystal clear: DECIDE what kind of person we are going to be!
What I believe God said to me was this:
Those who respected the God of the Bible were more likely to embrace balance and the righteousness only found through Jesus Christ than those who didn’t.
To paraphrase the great writer Dostoyevsky, once you remove the God of Scripture from your life… “everything is permissible”.
Those who reject God’s righteousness do so because it interferes “too much” with “the adrenaline rushes” they themselves want to risk doing in their lives.
It’s kind of like a conversation I had with a homeless man seeking “recovery.”
He complained, “I’ve been doing some very risky things in my life, and I know it, Tom, my conscience is always troubling me, it just won’t leave me alone.”
I asked him, “And you want something that will strengthen your will power?”
The man replied, “Well, no, I was actually thinking of doing some things even more risky than before – an impulse to risk weakening my conscience more.”
Ask yourself, your neighbor, how many people don’t want God’s righteousness?
How many members of our family, how any friends and neighbors simply want something that will make them feel better about their own unrighteousness?
How many churches desire or “prefer” or want that ‘something’ that will make them feel better about what they perceive is the “other guys” unrighteousness?
The Religious Leaders of Jesus time repeatedly tried to trap Jesus so they could discredit him and discredit his message and greatly weaken his moral integrity.
Never did they succeed.
They only ended up embarrassing themselves in front of the people witnessing the exchange. In the eyes of these beholders, they all weakened their credibility.
As a Lay Pastor, I have been repeatedly asked if I would preach against certain “hotter than the sun” hot button topics?
I told them I preach God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit!
I preach the Gospel based upon my own ability to interpret God’s Scriptures.
The rest I leave unto God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit!
Because God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit is going to do what God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit is going to do.
Maybe God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit uses what I said and perhaps they will not. God knows what change I want to see in their hearts.
We bring our own biases and prejudices into our own witness and testimonies.
Without fail, we consciously, sub-consciously, will always bring our biases, and prejudices to church every Sunday and we will “righteously” settle in our pews.
Maybe we are inspired, maybe we are not.
Maybe our conscience is “tickled,” “poked, stabbed, with a really sharp sword.”
Maybe we will ‘change’ our biases and prejudices – but just as likely we won’t.
But what change I desperately want to see in their hearts is most definitely not the same change God, Father, Son, Holy Spirit KNOWS is needed in their hearts.
My words will only go “skin deep,” have no power to go any deeper than that.
God, the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit filters out all the minutiae.
Only the power of God, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit – possesses that power.
There is nothing we can ever do to stop God from being God. (Hebrews 13:8)
Hebrews 4:12Amplified Bible
12 For the word of God is living and active and full of power [making it operative, energizing, and effective]. It is sharper than any two-edged [a]sword, penetrating as far as the division of the [b]soul and spirit [the completeness of a person], and of both joints and marrow [the deepest parts of our nature], exposing and judging the very thoughts and intentions of the heart.
Isaiah 55:10-11Amplified Bible
10 “For as the rain and snow come down from heaven, And do not return there without watering the earth, Making it bear and sprout, And providing seed to the sower and bread to the eater, 11 So will My word be which goes out of My mouth; It will not return to Me void (useless, without result), Without accomplishing what I desire, And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.
People are always going to do whatever is “right in their own minds.”
However, the Word of God for His Children has a different standard for us:
Exodus 23:2 says, “Do not follow the crowd in doing wrong.”
Wrong is wrong, even if you do not follow the crowd, and don’t get caught!
Proverbs 15:3warns “the eyes of the Lord are in every place beholding the evil and the good”.
We cannot possibly do anything that God does not know “everything” about!
Wrong is wrong, even if it doesn’t bother your Conscience!
The conscience can be trained to accept wrongdoing.
You can build up a callous over your heart.
Ephesians 4:18 tells us what happens to people who live in sin long enough:
“They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts.”
WRONG IS WRONG.
And God does not accept excuses.
God calls for… no, He DEMANDS righteousness from His people.
He demands an upright heart –
Psalm 51:4-6Authorized (King James) Version
4 Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest. 5 Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me. 6 Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom.
To those who would choose wickedness, God says:
• The LORD’s curse will be on your house. Proverbs 3:33
• You’ll be brought down by your own wickedness. Proverbs 11:5
• You’ll be trapped by your evil desires.” Proverbs 11:6
• And, when you die… people will rejoice. Proverbs 11:10
But if you choose righteousness… that’s a whole different ball game.
God will bless you.
• God will hear your prayers. Proverbs 15:29
• You’ll sing and you’re glad – you’ll be a happy person. Proverbs 29:6
• You won’t go hungry. Proverbs 10:3
• You might get knocked down 7 times but each time you will get back up again. Proverbs 24:16
So… God calls His people to righteousness.
But there’s a fly in the ointment.
There’s a problem we run into when we strive to be righteous.
Does anybody know what that problem is???
Romans 3:10 says “There is NO ONE righteous, not even one”
Job 9:2 agrees: “… how can a mortal be righteous before God?”
The fly in the ointment is
– NO ONE is righteous before God.
We’ve all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.
So, let me see if I’ve got this right:
1. God wants me to be righteous
2. I want to be righteous
3. But I cannot be righteous, because NO ONE ever is righteous.
Did I understand that correctly???
(Pause) Yes I did.
So, if I cannot be righteous, why would God demand it of me?
Why? Because God sets the bar too high.
He says – that “too high a standard” – this is what we are aiming for.
He’s not saying we are always going to reach it, but that is our objective.
Philippians 3:7-16Authorized (King James) Version
7 But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. 8 Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, 9 and be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: 10 that I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; 11 if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead. 12 Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also, I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. 13 Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, 14 I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. 15 Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in anything ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you. 16 Nevertheless, whereto we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing.
We are going to touch the bar now and again, but there’s no way we will consistently, constantly, continuously be able attain that goal in our life.
The Bible is telling us we’re not in the same league with God.
You and I will never come close to being as righteous as God.
As Job 9:2 says: “… how can a mortal be righteous before God?”
We are not on the same playing field as God is.
We do not have any bragging rights to say we have been righteous enough to DESERVE to be on His team.
That’s why Ephesians 2 tells us
“Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions— it is by grace you have been saved… not by works, so that no one can boast.”Ephesians 2:3-5, 8-10
So, not righteous enough to be saved.
But if that’s true, how could I possibly make it into heaven?
Well, that’s what 2 Corinthians 5:21 explains to us:
“God made him who had no sin (Jesus) to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
Philippians 3:9 says You and I do not have
“a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ— the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith.”
Or as 2 Corinthians 5:21 put it “God made him who had no sin (Jesus) to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
So, how do You and I get “INTO Jesus so I lay hold of His righteousness?”
Galatians 3:26-27 says,
“You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.”
You see, when you and I believed and were baptized into Christ, we suited up for His team.
When that happened, God called us to live lives dedicated to righteousness.
But in the righteous life we strive for, we need to realize that we will not get into heaven by any measure or degree our own righteousness… but ONLY by His.
The Difference Between our “Roots and our Fruits?”
Ephesians 2:1-10Amplified Bible
Made Alive in Christ
2 And you [He made alive when you] were [spiritually] dead and separated from Him because of your transgressions and sins, 2 in which you once walked. You were following the ways of this world [influenced by this present age], in accordance with the prince of the power of the air (Satan), the spirit who is now at work in the disobedient [the unbelieving, who fight against the purposes of God]. 3 Among these [unbelievers] we all once lived in the passions of our flesh [our behavior governed by the sinful self-], indulging the desires of [a]human nature [without the Holy Spirit] and [the impulses] of the [sinful] mind. We were, by nature, children [under the sentence] of [God’s] wrath, just like the rest [of mankind]. 4 But God, being [so very] rich in mercy, because of His great and wonderful love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were [spiritually] dead and separated from Him because of our sins, He made us [spiritually] alive together with Christ (for by His grace—His undeserved favor and mercy—you have been saved from God’s judgment). 6 And He raised us up together with Him [when we believed], and seated us with Him in the heavenly places, [because we are] in Christ Jesus, 7 [and He did this] so that in the ages to come He might [clearly] show the immeasurable and unsurpassed riches of His grace in [His] kindness toward us in Christ Jesus [by providing for our redemption]. 8 For it is by grace [God’s remarkable compassion and favor drawing you to Christ] that you have been saved [actually delivered from judgment and given eternal life] through faith. And this [salvation] is not of yourselves [not through your own effort], but it is the [undeserved, gracious] gift of God; 9 not as a result of [your] works [nor your attempts to keep the Law], so that no one will [be able to] boast or take credit in any way [for his salvation]. 10 For we are His workmanship [His own master work, a work of art], created in Christ Jesus [reborn from above—spiritually transformed, renewed, ready to be used] for good works, which God prepared [for us] beforehand [taking paths which He set], so that we would walk in them [living the good life which He prearranged and made ready for us].
The English politician William Wilberforce is best known for his efforts to end slavery in the British Empire.
It was a decades-long struggle, but abolition was finally accomplished.
Wilberforce not only had great determination; he was able to discern spiritual truth.
He was perplexed that many who considered themselves Christian supported the slave trade, which he believed was in opposition to Christian faith.
In response he wrote A Practical View of Christianity to show the danger of making good behavior the basis for salvation.
Can we imagine any politician today calling for social reform by making direct appeals to Christian doctrine? That’s what Wilberforce did. He rightly pointed out that good works do not create new life in Jesus; they only demonstrate it.
The “Root” – People who consider themselves “good” but do not abide in Jesus Christ are risking placing more of their trust in their own work than in God’s.
But the only possible result is nominal Christianity—surface-level goodness without internal renewal. That’s why Jesus called the Pharisees, who were undoubtedly very good people, “whitewashed tombs” (Matthew 23:27).
Obedience is the fruit, not the root, of being accepted by God.
Work hard and labor much with God at integrity.
Work hard and labor much at being good, but always remember that your good works and your labors only the “show the incomparable riches of God’s grace.”
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
Lord, Savior, Jesus Christ, thank you that you are the resurrection and the life, death holds no power over you. In your name, you have gathered your people to form the church. Your life and love are seen in the life and love of Christians within that church. May your church be like a city on a hill, shining your light into the darkness of the world. Neither death or life, angels or rulers, things present or future, height or depth, or anything else in all creation, will be able to separate your people from your love. Through your mighty name, Gloria! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.
13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan [River], to be baptized by him. 14 But John tried to prevent Him [vigorously protesting], saying, “It is I who need to be baptized by You, and do You come to me?” 15 But Jesus replied to him, “Permit it just now; for this is the fitting way for us [a]to fulfill all righteousness.” Then John permitted [it and baptized] Him. 16 After Jesus was baptized, He came up immediately out of the water; and behold, the heavens were opened, and he (John) saw the [b]Spirit of God descending as a dove and lighting on Him (Jesus), 17 and behold, a [c]voice from heaven said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased and delighted!”
The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.
Each Baptism brings a special Joy.
This morning, our Pastor is dedicating an infant
This morning at the Pentecostal Church of which my wife and I are members, is baptizing seven individuals by complete immersion – so it is going to be a truly joyous and an exceptionally special time of magnifying our Savior, Jesus Christ.
The dedication of an infant as Christ was dedicated at the Temple.
Seven people placing Jesus Christ into the direct center of their lives.
Oh, what a day of rejoicing and celebration it will certainly be for many.
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit!
There are many days when I consider my own baptism and its deeper meaning.
It is a complicated subject for me because my faith upbringing is a complicated one – born into the Church of the Brethren and I believe baptized as an infant.
Converted to the Jewish faith when I was 8 years old – Mikvah at 9 years old.
Came back to the Methodist Church at 41 years old, “conditionally baptized” by the sprinkling of water over my head.
Now, a member of the Pentecostal Church which does not baptize infants and baptizes with full immersion as Jesus was in Matthew Chapter Three.
I have considered being baptized by immersion in the Pentecostal Church.
But I am not sure of the theology – One God! One Baptism is how I was taught.
I am not sure that being Baptized in the Pentecostal Church would not be taking God’s Grace for granted – as God said,
“Thou shalt not test me as you did at the Waters of Meribah ……” which cost Moses dearly – being able to look at the “promised land” FROM A DISTANCE! and NOT BEING ABLE TO ENTER IT!
So, I am in kind of a quandary – seeking scriptural guidance and my Pastors.
And today, with the joy of the Holy Spirit before me and 7 baptisms about to unfold before me today at worship …. I am pondering “my Baptism” again.
Untold thousands of churches around the world consider the story of Jesus’ baptism every year.
That helps people reflect on their own baptism.
Maybe you were baptized because of your own decision.
Or maybe your parents presented you for baptism.
What might change if we thought of baptism as the defining reality of our life?
What does the Bible teach about water baptism?
• Is it necessary for salvation?
• Who’s it for?
• Is it optional?
• How important is it?
• What does it mean?
• Is any mode of baptism, whether sprinkling, pouring or full immersion, acceptable?
I’ll seek to answer each of these questions today from our only authority—the Bible.
Let’s explore six truths about baptism, each beginning with an “I” to remember more easily.
I. FIRST, I WOULD LIKE TO EXPLORE – BAPTISM IS INSUFFICIENT
What I mean is that water baptism is insufficient to save you from sin.
Baptism does not impart to us any grace, merit, or goodness before a holy God.
It does not take away original sin.
Jesus was the perfect Son of God who never sinned, so He certainly did not need salvation from sin, but in our text, we see that He came to John to be baptized.
The Bible is very clear that the only way to be saved is by believing in Jesus for our salvation, not by anything WE do, even if it’s religious in nature.
There are only three verses in the Bible that SEEM to imply that baptism is necessary for salvation, but a closer examination of the context and the original language clears up every one of them, as any good commentary will do.
On the other hand, there are scores, if not hundreds, of Bible verses that teach in unequivocal terms salvation is obtained by faith in Jesus for your salvation.
If baptism were necessary for salvation, Jesus and these writers of Scripture would have been grossly negligent to say that we’re saved by believing in Jesus Christ for our salvation without mentioning the co-condition of baptism!
Add to this the fact that the thief on the cross simply BELIEVED in Jesus, but obviously had not been baptized—yet a dying Jesus assured him that by his believing on Him: “Today you will be with me in paradise.” (Luke 23:43).
And what do we do with John 4:2, where John tells us that “…Jesus himself baptized not, but his disciples.” or 1 Corinthians 1:17, where Paul says, “For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel…”
– If baptism were a condition of salvation, is it even remotely conceivable that Jesus and Paul would have delegated this soul-saving responsibility to others?
—I do not believe it would be so.
Obviously, as important as baptism is, it is INSUFFICIENT to save.
II. SECOND, EXPLORING THAT BAPTISM IS ILLUSTRATIVE –
In Romans 6:3-4, Paul says, “Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? 4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.”
In New Testament days, symbols were very important.
Christ instituted two ordinances for the church to follow, and both of them are extremely and visually rich symbols expressing the core truths of God’s Gospel.
1. One was communion, or the Lord’s Supper.
We are all familiar with the fact that the bread is symbolic of Jesus’ body that was given for us, and the juice symbolizes the blood Jesus shed for our sins.
That is indeed, a potent and a powerful visual picture, isn’t it?
2. From Romans 6, Paul teaches that baptism pictures the death, burial and resurrection of Christ, which Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15:1-7 is what the Gospel is.
Now there’s only one mode of baptism that can symbolize death, burial and resurrection, and that’s immersion.
There are other reasons why we might come believe that only baptism by complete immersion is biblical water baptism:
1. First, the Greek word for baptize is ‘baptizō’ which literally means “to dip, submerge, plunge.”
Matthew 3:11 KJV …… 11 I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance. but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire:
It was the word used by cloth sellers for dying cloth and fabrics.
They would COMPLETELY SUBMERGE the fabric into the dye.
The command to be baptized was literally a command to be SUBMERGED.
2. Another line of evidence is that in many instances of baptism in the Gospels and Acts, we are told that they went “DOWN INTO” the water to be baptized or that they “CAME UP OUT OF” the water after baptism.
–We see that in our text, Matthew 3, in verse 16: “And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water…”
–In the story of the Ethiopian Eunuch in Acts 8:38, Luke says, “And he commanded the chariot to stand still: and they went down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch; and he baptized him.”
Question: Why go “down into” the water and have to “come out of” the water just to be sprinkled or poured on?
Wouldn’t it make more sense for the baptizer to get a bowl and enough water from the river and pour it over the head rather than having to go down into the water, dunk and get your clothes soaking wet just to be sprinkled or poured on?
3. Other evidence is the fact that the early church only practiced immersion, a fact admitted even by the Roman Catholic Church, Reformers Martin Luther and John Calvin and many additional prominent Anglican scholars …… —
Baptism by immersion ILLUSTRATES something—the death, burial and resurrection of our Savior for our sins.
III. THIRD, I WOULD LIKE TO EXPLORE THAT BAPTISM IS IDENTIFICATION
Historically baptism was how a person publicly IDENTIFIED himself with Christ and the core teachings of the Gospel.
Reverend Dr. M.R. DeHaan put it this way:
In the early days of the church…, baptism was a declaration that the believer was definitely identifying himself with that group of people who were called Christians and were despised and hated.
To be a Christian meant something. To identify yourself with those who were called Christians meant persecution, maybe death; it meant being ostracized from your family, shunned by friends.
And the one act, the final declaration of this identification was BAPTISM.
As long as a man gathered with Christians, he was tolerated, but when once he submitted to baptism, he declared to the world, I BELONG TO THIS DESPISED GROUP, and immediately he was persecuted, hated, and despised.
In baptism, therefore, the believer entered into the fellowship of the sufferings of Christ. A person might be a believer and keep it strictly a secret and thus they avoid unpleasantness and suffering, but once he submitted to public baptism, he had burned his bridges behind him. . .”
When we are baptized, we are publicly confessing our allegiance to Christ.
Jesus said, “Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven.” (Matthew 10:32)
By identifying with Christ and God’s Gospel message of His death, burial and resurrection, we are, most decisively, publicly, taking our stand with Christ.
You and I are saying, “I belong to Christ and I’m signifying so with the symbol of baptism,” much the same way a person who wears their wedding ring does.
When I wear my wedding ring, I’m saying to everyone out there, “I belong to someone, and I am not in the very least bit ashamed to let everyone know it.”
The person being baptized is saying the same thing: He’s saying,
“I belong to Jesus Christ, and I am never ashamed to let everyone know it.”
IV. I WOULD LIKE TO EXPLORE THAT BAPTISM IS INTENTIONAL
Every instance is a person being baptized AFTER his salvation—choosing intentionally to obey Christ’s command of his own free will to be baptized.
Acts 16:28-31 Amplified
28 But Paul shouted, saying, “Do not hurt yourself, we are all here!” 29 Then the jailer called for torches and rushed in, and trembling with fear he fell down before Paul and Silas, 30 and after he brought them out [of the inner prison], he said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
The Jailer Converted
31 And they answered, “Believe in the Lord Jesus [as your personal Savior and entrust yourself to Him] and you will be saved, you and your household [if they also believe].”
In this passage, the Philippian jailor asked Paul and Barnabas in verse 30, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” Paul didn’t miss a beat and his answer was simple in verse 31: “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.”
Paul didn’t mean that if this jailor trusted in Christ, his whole household would be saved by proxy, but if he and his household would be saved, they must each [intentionally] believe on [that is, “rely on” or “trust in”] the Lord Jesus Christ.
Then verse 32 says, “And they spoke unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house.”
Why would this be emphasized?
To show that the household heard the Gospel so, with intent, they could believe.
Verse 33 continues: “And he took them [with intent] the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes; and was baptized, he and all his, straightway.”
Nope—Luke lays the matter to rest once and for all in verse 34 where he says:
“And when he had brought them into his house, he set meat before them, and rejoiced, believing in God with all his house.”
Did we get that? —He and all his house BELIEVED!
Lest you’re unsure that’s what Luke meant, the Greek scholar, A.T. Robertson, says this ……
“The whole household (family, warden, slaves) heard the word of the Lord, believed in the Lord Jesus Christ…and were baptized, and rejoiced.”
Baptism is for believers, and since he and everyone in his house BELIEVED, they were acceptable candidates for baptism.
V. FIFTH, I WOULD LIKE TO EXPLORE THAT BAPTISM IS IMITATION
Matthew 3:14-15 Amplified
14 But John tried to prevent Him [vigorously protesting], saying, “It is I who need to be baptized by You, and do You come to me?” 15 But Jesus replied to him, “Permit it just now; for this is the fitting way for us [a]to fulfill all righteousness.” Then John permitted [it and baptized] Him.
Our text tells us that Jesus was baptized.
He explained the reason in verse 15 – “…to fulfill all righteousness.”
By being baptized, we are doing something righteous because God has now commanded it.
Jesus wanted to set an example for us because He always did what was righteous.
In 1 Peter 2:21 Peter said, “For even hereunto were ye called…that ye should follow his steps.”
Jesus commanded all believers to be baptized in Matthew 28:19, and He was always obedient to the Father.
You should follow His example by obeying His command to be baptized.
VI. LASTLY, PLEASE NOTE THAT BAPTISM IS IMPORTANT
In verse 13 of our text, we read something significant, where Matthew says,
“Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him.”
Mark’s Gospel tells us that the city in Galilee Jesus came from was Nazareth.
A quick look at a map shows that Jesus walked 60 miles ON FOOT to be baptized.
It must have been very important to Him, and it should likewise be for us.
Being baptized is important because we’re COMMANDED to be baptized.
JESUS commanded us to be baptized once we have believed.
Well, do we need any other reason than that?
It’s a serious thing to intentionally disobey the Lord’s commands.
The APOSTLES also commanded baptism.
In our modernized, “comfort zone Christianity,” believers tend to take God’s commandments too lightly, and that’s increasingly true of believers’ baptism.
But where Christianity shines brightest and strongest, the opposite is true.
As Chuck Colson points out in his book, The Body: Being Light in Darkness:
“Most Westerners take baptism for granted, but for many in the world the act requires immense courage. Countries like Nepal, it once meant imprisonment. For Soviet or Chinese or Eastern bloc believers, it was like putting their own signatures to their own death warrant.” (The Body: Being Light in Darkness by Charles Colson and Ellen Santilli Vaughn, 1992, Word Publishing, page 137.)
Folks, obeying the Lord in believer’s baptism is IMPORTANT!
Search the book of Acts—the history book of the first century church—and you’ll find one consistent pattern
—believers uniformly followed the Lord in believer’s baptism.
It was so important in the early church, that even those who had already been baptized under John the Baptist’s baptism were re-baptized in Jesus’ name to publicly declare their maximum allegiance to Jesus Christ and their maximum expression of their complete faith in His life, death, burial and resurrection.
It was so important in the book of Acts believers didn’t go through discipleship classes before submitting to baptism or wait to make sure they were “ready.”
Every instance of baptism in Acts was IMMEDIATELY after they believed in Christ for salvation.
If we have placed our trust in the Lord Jesus Christ for our salvation and have the assurance that we are saved, we don’t need to understand fully its meaning, or wait till you feel worthy, or feel you have to prepare in some way.
If you and I have an obedient heart to your Lord, you and I will intentionally obey His command and to follow His example and be baptized without delay.
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
Dear heavenly Father, we give you thanks and praise that in your mercy you brought us to baptism, and there gave us Jesus’ holiness in exchange for our sin and impurity. Thank you for our parents who brought us up in the faith and to our baptism, thank you for those other people whom you used to bring us the complete Gospel truth, and thank you for our pastors and teachers in the faith.
We pray for the baptized people of God, that we may hang on to the fullness of your promises in true faith, especially when we experience the wilderness of sin and the evil within, and temptations and trials from outside. I Pray, strengthen us with your Holy Spirit so that our Savior Jesus’ victory may be our victory. Alleluia! Amen!
We are called. We are sent: Taking our Savior’s Gospel to the end of the world requires us to change as well as requiring the Church to change. God has given each of us has the opportunity to change and grow until our very last breath.
Every living thing must change to survive and fulfill its purpose.
Change is absolutely necessary to life.
If we choose or decide we are unwilling and we steadfastly refuse to change, what we do is we elect to live the balance of life in stagnation.
Many lives could be drastically improved if people would only embrace change.
To change, first there must absolutely be a change of heart, body, soul, mind, a change attitude, an acceptance of change of lifestyle and a change of direction.
The church at Jerusalem had begun a good work but were slow to embrace change.
Yes, they willingly sent representatives to Samaria and then to Antioch, but control was limited.
The church at Jerusalem was basically a Jewish congregation whose background limited their vision for expansion.
Yet the church with a vison for worldwide ministry, must embrace a broader vision.
The book of Acts can be divided into three areas: The ministry of the church at Jerusalem, the ministry of the Church at Samaria and Antioch, and the ministry of the church to the world.
In today’s devotional lesson, we see the early church in transition. This is the beginning of missionary ministry to spread of the gospel message around the known world. Paul now replaces Peter as the central figure in the book of Acts.
This lesson begins the first of the Apostle Paul’s three missionary journeys.
After delivering the famine relief money to the elders at Jerusalem, Paul and Barnabas returned to Antioch.
They took with them John Mark, a cousin of Barnabas.
The Church at Antioch now became the base of operation for Paul’s missionary ministry.
Jerusalem was still the mother church, but the missionary church was Antioch.
The Mother Church was basically Jewish, but the Missionary church was filled with men of diverse background.
Two things stand out about this diverse church.
First, they were people committed to the leading and working of the Holy Spirit, and secondly, they were Spirit gifted prophets, teachers who gave themselves to humility, prayer and fasting, seeking God’s will for the next move of the church.
These prophets and teachers disciplined themselves, were actively seeking out God’s will for their callings, Ministry plan, Missional direction for the Church.
What is the plan?
What is the next move?
Read Acts 13:2
2 While they were serving the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for Me Barnabas and Saul (Paul) for the work to which I have called them.”
The Holy Spirit of God was preparing people, getting people ready to take His Church and their calling their ministry and their mission unto the next level.
“Take it to the Next Level!”
Today that phrase has become a common expression.
What does it mean?
What does it require?
Do we have the right stuff to take ministry to the next level?
The church at Antioch was positioned to take the gospel to the next level.
Acts 1:8 Amplified Bible
8 But you will receive power and ability when the Holy Spirit comes upon you; and you will be My witnesses [to tell people about Me] both in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and Samaria, and even to the ends of the earth.”
In the book of Acts, Chapters 1-7 deals with the gospel in the city of Jerusalem.
Chapters 8-12 Learning whom God has “Set Apart,” “Called and will be Sent.”
Being introduced to who the “major players” of the early church, tasked with the Mission and Ministry, taking and proclaiming and teaching the Gospel of our Savior Jesus Christ “into, unto the whole world”- into Judea and Samaria.
Chapter 13 marks the beginning of Mission and Ministry taking the gospel unto the utmost part of the world, the whole earth.
Chapter 13 marks a clear change in the direction of the church.
They had one Message – the unchanging truth of the Word of God.
The church at Antioch were willing to take that unchanging truth into the “known world,” to communicate change, embrace Christ, embrace change.
Many of us realize that change inevitable.
Growing and maturing things must inevitably embrace change.
The Church must embrace change to survive and fulfill their purpose.
Embracing Christ, embracing change is necessary for the life of the church.
If the church is unwilling to embrace their Savior Jesus Christ, embrace change, she elects to embrace the world, live the balance of her existence in stagnation.
Many Churches could drastically improve their outreach, if only they would embrace their Savior Jesus Christ and embrace the change, He gave His life for.
Embracing real change means really embracing a change of mind, a change of attitude, a change of style and sometimes even their environment or location.
The early church at Jerusalem had begun a good work, it would always be the foundation, they were embracing their Savior and God was now on the move.
Now once again, the church must embrace change because God is on the move.
Remember unchanging, relentless God is always and forever is on the move.
God still on mission and His church still has a mandate.
In the early days of Christianity, Jerusalem was the center of operations.
But now God is moving his center of operations to Antioch.
Why would God move the headquarters, his center of operations?
Many historians and Bible scholars say that the Church at Jerusalem were narrow and restrictive in its focus.
They were unsure about the limitations of the gospel message.
They were perhaps too reluctant to move too fast because they were unsure of what it meant, how mightily it would genuinely impact their personal futures.
God simply moved on. God always moves on when a church loses its missions mindedness and compassion for souls.
Many today have lost their mission mindedness, thinking only of themselves, pursuing self-gratification.
Many “pew warmers” fail to realize that the fulfilment they seek, the joy they hunger for is found is found beyond the dust in their pews, in obeying the call of Holy Spirit, giving instead of receiving. That’s another lesson for another time.
Antioch was a newly formed nimble church, so God choose to use it as the launching pad to take ministry to the next level!
Throughout history, God’s mission has been to take the Gospel message to the whole world that all could be saved.
The book of Acts reveals God’s pattern for advances His mission and expanding His Church.
God had “set apart” and chose to use these men – Paul, Barnabas, Mark, Peter.
God began at Jerusalem with a small group of men, but they became narrow in their focus and God moved on.
Then a fresh move of God began at Antioch with a small group of multicultural, multiracial, multiethnic men, “Set Apart” “Called and Sent” to be His servants.
God selected men who accepted the call and embraced His mission.
There are several things that positioned the Church for missionary ministry.
First, they were called out by God.
Not every believer, follower in the church at Antioch would or could be used for this special kingdom Expansion.
Acts 13:2Amplified Bible
2 While they were serving the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for Me Barnabas and Saul (Paul) for the work to which I have called them.”
God selected Barnabas, a Levite from the island of Cyprus, cousin to John Mark.
The name Barnabas means “son of Consolation” or “son of exhortation.”
When we first learn of him, Barnabas had moved to Jerusalem, and acquired property there.
He sold “a field,” and contributed its price to the support of the poorer members of the church at Jerusalem.
His unique gifts would be extremely valuable in carrying gospel to unknown regions of the world.
Then God selected Rabbi Saul, a brilliant scholar and Pharisee fully devoted to God, maximumly zealous for the Word of God, for God’s full, complete truth.
On the Damascus Road, the Resurrected Jesus Himself touched Saul’s eyes.
Completely blinded and helpless, Saul rested, fasted and prayed for three days.
Jesus himself called and sent his servant Ananias to Saul/Paul, to touch his eyes and release him from his sudden condition of blindness. (Acts 9:10-17)
10 Now in Damascus there was a disciple named Ananias; and the Lord said to him in a vision, “Ananias.” And he answered, “Here I am, Lord.” 11 And the Lord said to him, “Get up and go to the street called [a]Straight, and ask at the house of Judas for a man from Tarsus named Saul; for he is praying [there], 12 and in a vision he has seen a man named Ananias come in and place his hands on him, so that he may regain his sight.” 13 But Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many people about this man, especially how much suffering and evil he has brought on Your saints (God’s people) at Jerusalem; 14 and here [in Damascus] he has authority from the high priests to put in chains all who call on Your name [confessing You as Savior].” 15 But the Lord said to him, “Go, for this man is a [deliberately] chosen instrument of Mine, to bear My name before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel; 16 for I will make clear to him how much he must suffer and endure for My name’s sake.” 17 So Ananias left and entered the house, and he laid his hands on Saul and said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you came [to Damascus], has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit [in order to proclaim Christ to both Jews and Gentiles].”
Saul became Paul the apostle to the Gentiles who speaks several languages.
Acts 9:18-25 Amplified
18 Immediately something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he regained his sight. Then he got up and was baptized; 19 and he took some food and was strengthened.
Saul Begins to Preach Christ
For several days [afterward] Saul remained with the disciples who were at Damascus. 20 And immediately he began proclaiming Jesus in the synagogues, saying, “This Man is the Son of God [the promised Messiah]!” 21 All those who heard him continued to be amazed and said, “Is this not the man who in Jerusalem attacked those who called on this name [of Jesus], and had come here [to Damascus] for the express purpose of bringing them bound [with chains] before the chief priests?” 22 But Saul increased in strength more and more, and continued to perplex the Jews who lived in Damascus by examining [theological evidence] and proving [with Scripture] that this Jesus is the Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed).
Paul was a visionary Christian statesman and strong evangelist with the shepherd heart.
Paul grew up as a prominent citizen of Tarsus.
The city of Tarsus surpassed all other universities, such as Alexandria and Athens, in the study of philosophy and educational literature.
Paul was a well-educated, free born Jew with an expanded world view.
God selected, “Set Apart,” these two men for this special assignment.
In our zeal to share the gospel, we will sometimes seriously underestimate the importance of the call of God upon our lives.
God had uniquely gifted Barnabas and Paul for the beginning phrase of this ministry expansion.
They were uniquely gifted with the right educational background, linguistics skills, openness with a consuming desire, physical strength and the spiritual sensitivity necessary for this critically essential, vitally important assignment.
I believe all the men in the church at Antioch were gifted, but not all were chosen for this special assignment.
Not all believers can do effective street ministry.
Not all ministers can plant new churches and new faith communities.
As the saying goes,
“If God guides, He will provide.
If it’s God’s choice, it’s God invoice.
If it’s God’s will, then its Gods bill.”
The church at Antioch prayed and fasted, and then God selected Barnabas and Paul for the new expansion of the growing and maturing church.
A side note, John Mark, who was a cousin to Barnabas chose to accompany them on their journey soon became homesick and turn back.
Not everyone can be used in the pioneering stage of laying the groundwork for new ministry.
God must select them.
To be commissioned, often “seasoned” for ministry and missions,
we must be prayerfully open to the timing of the Holy Spirit.
1. These Believers Were Prayerfully Open.
The Believers at Antioch was open to God. They were opened to one another, and they were opened to Change.
This church did not follow the exact pattern of the Church at Jerusalem.
They used a leadership team of prophets and teachers to guide the church.
They all expected to hear from God.
They understood and appreciated their Jewish background but did not allow it to hinder the flow of the Spirit.
They were opened to one another, appreciating the gifts and abilities of one another.
Even though they were enjoying the fellowship, they were opened to the Holy Spirit.
If we are going to be commissioned for ministry, we must be prayerfully open.
If we are going to be commissioned for mission, we must be prayerfully open.
Acts 13:1, 2a Now there were in the church that was at Antioch certain prophets and teachers; as Barnabas, and Simeon that was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen, which had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said….
Isaiah 43:18, 19 Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.
This church was willing to embrace God was definitely doing something new.
There are still some new things in God.
God has new styles, new approaches, new songs, and even new dances.
God never changes, compromises his standards, but his methods often change.
Message and the mission are the same, but the methods always changed.
Transportation is still transportation, but the methods of transportation has changed.
Church is still the church, but its methods of reaching the masses have changed and will always and must continually and must continuously change.
If we are going to be “called and sent,” “set apart,” used today (2022), we must embrace new effective methods of spreading the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Today, the church uses simple and complex websites, social media, podcast, radio, television, books, tapes and CDs, DVD’s a monthly, quarterly newsletter, giant screens, multi-media, power point and a host of other techno things.
Ministers are using every available means to spread the gospel.
I believed Jesus would be using everything at his disposal, so did Paul and Peter.
The Church at Antioch was open to new things.
The church must remember to gather to glean and then scatter to sow.
There is a time to gathering to learn and grow.
However, there must also be a time to scatter and sow.
There must also be a time of harvesting what was sowed and for gleaning.
The church at Antioch was open to God and it was also open to one another.
2. These Believers Recognized God’s Voice, Embraced the Door of Opportunity
Acts 13:2 “As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them.”
The Church at Antioch was able to recognize God’s voice and embrace this new door of opportunity.
They did not see their church as an end.
Their church was a means to an end.
God was calling leading members of their church to enter new harvest fields of kingdom enterprise.
It would be a ministerial opportunity and missionary journey fraught with great risks, with little creature comfort, long days, long walks, sleepless nights, much opposition, relentless persecution, and threats of great suffering – even death.
It was an assignment full of possibilities.
Barnabas and Paul saw it as a great door of opportunity.
1Corinthians 16:9 Paul describes his work, “For a great door and effectual is opened unto me, and there are many adversaries.”
Paul recognized it as “a great door for effective work.”
We too must be prayerfully open to see the wonderful doors of opportunity in our generation.
This commission would take these believers to many major cities and regions like Corinth, Ephesus, and Macedonia.
God working with them confirming his word with signs and wonders.
These were areas where few Christians would venture.
Some cities were major financial and commercial center, rich and cultured.
These cities were full of idolatry, wonders of the ancient world filled with immorality, polytheism and legalized prostitution.
Yet Paul saw these cities with thousands of lost souls as opportunities for the spread of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
The difference between a pessimist and an optimist is that a pessimist sees a problem in every opportunity…an optimist sees opportunity in every problem.
God provides gifted ministers and wonderful ministry opportunities that lives can be touched with the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Each believer must catch the vision of reaching the lost in their personal world, seize the opportunities by sharing the gospel with other as the Holy Spirit leads.
Are you and I ready to do our part in this kingdom of God enterprise?
I pray you and I will embrace Christ’s voice and embrace our opportunities.
3. These Believers Accepted the Challenge as Their Life’s Obligation.
Acts 13:3Amplified Bible
3 Then after fasting and praying, they laid their hands on them [in approval and dedication] and sent them away [on their first journey].
The believers at Antioch embraced this new call of God as their life obligation.
Barnabas and Paul became spiritual debtors.
When the church had prayed for them and laid hands on them, they release them to the work of ministry and mission.
Barnabas and Paul accepted their new assignment as a divine obligation to take the gospel of Jesus Christ to the world.
I wonder if believers today feel an obligation to take the gospel to the world?
Or do most believers step back and decide to leave it to the ordained clergy?
It is wise here to carefully note there was no ordained clergy in the church at Antioch, just prayerful believers who took the great commission seriously.
Every believer has a vital part to play in carrying the gospel to all the world.
If you cannot go, at least assist in sending some faithful evangelist.
These believers accepted their ministry and mission as their life’s obligation.
Each and every believer has been uniquely gifted by the Holy Spirit to fulfill their respective roles in the kingdom.
I cannot do your part of the work for you, and you cannot do my part of the work for me.
We are all “set apart” “called and sent and commissioned” to do God’s work.
Paul didn’t say here that “a great door” had opened for Barnabas and Timothy.
Paul said, “a great door has been open unto me.”
He felt the obligation.
He was obligated to God, to the church that sent him and unto the lost people everywhere.
Paul embraced the mission and did the work. God is still opening doors, but it is our responsibility to go through them.
Do we really care what happens to the unsaved people around us?
Barnabas and Paul embraced the challenge by declaring, “Yes, we care and yes we can!”
The church at Antioch was positioned, was “set apart” “called and sent and commissioned” for missionary ministry because they were prayerfully open: open to God, Savior Jesus, the Spirit, open to change, and open to one another.
The church was positioned for ministry because they recognized the voice of God and His door of opportunity.
The need was great, the crowds were massive, and the laborers were few.
This church answered the call.
They embraced the mission and accepted the challenge as an obligation.
Each person accepted their assignment as an obligation. Paul felt himself a debtor to Christ for all the grace he had received. Regardless of the opposition, Paul was willing to press on. He was willing to face opposition if necessary.
Romans 1:14-17Amplified Bible
14 I have a duty to perform and a debt to pay both to Greeks and to barbarians [the cultured and the uncultured], both to the wise and to the foolish. 15 So, for my part, I am ready and eager to preach the gospel also to you who are in Rome.
16 I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation [from His wrath and punishment] to everyone who believes [in Christ as Savior], to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 17 For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed, both springing from faith and leading to faith [disclosed in a way that awakens more faith]. As it is written and forever remains written, “The just and upright shall live by faith.”
4. These Believers Faced the Problems but Saw Possibility in Every Problem.
They move in faith, willingly faced every problem because they could see the possibility.
Whenever God moves, there are always people who want to oppose Him.
Some oppose the work of God without realizing what they are doing.
Others knowingly oppose the word of God and good.
The first problem, Barnabas and Paul was Elymas, a sorcerer who withstood the faith and the Message of the gospel.
Later, at Ephesus, it was open opposition from the worshippers of Diana and businessmen who made their living by selling idols of Diana.
Opposition will always come from outside forces that resist the advancement of Christ and His Kingdom message.
Then came opposition from within the movement.
Immature Christians who will oppose other Christians because of the lack of knowledge.
Paul and Barnabas were opposed by Jewish Christians who should have been glad to see the spread of this new movement.
God was working among the Gentiles was a concept that many Christian Jews could not receive.
Barnabas and Paul pressed on because the saw the possibility in every problem and in every sin darkened soul when Savior Christ was added to their kingdom.
But perhaps the worst opponents of the gospel today, we face is not persecution from our enemies from without or within,
but its nominal Christians who hear the messages, understand the mission, see lost people, but do nothing, “waiting for all those others” to make a difference.
Those who never ask themselves, “What am I doing to make a real difference in our church, our community, our work, our school?”
Am I really a soldier of the cross? Maybe it is time to Re-Think our assignment.
Those commissioned for the mission are:
Christians prayerfully open to God,
Christians prayerfully open to change,
Christians who are prayerfully open to one another;
Christians, who are recognizing the voice of God,
Christians who are recognizing His door of opportunity is always open,
Christians who always see the need, value people and will seize the moment.
Christians who are positioned for ministry will embraced the opportunity and accept the challenge as an obligation.
Finally, Christian believers must expect opposition and be willing to labor and work and press on towards the upward goal of Christ, despite the opposition.
All kinds of doors will always be open before sincere Christians.
Christians must be disciplined, must prayerfully consider every opportunity.
Some are just distractions.
Others are good ideas masquerading as God ideas designed to consume precious resources.
There will be always and forever be opponents, from within and without, but Christians should neither meditate nor ponder on the problem, they must seize the opportunities within the problem, embrace the greater truth of their Savior.
Christian must choose to be a part of the solution, not the problem.
I choose to do my part!
I choose to be open to the Holy Spirit and to other Christians;
I seek to hear God’s voice and recognize His doors of opportunity:
I choose to embrace that opportunity as a divine obligation;
and I choose to do my part in the Kingdom of God even in the face of opposition.
1 Corinthians 15:58Amplified Bible
58 Therefore, my beloved brothers and sisters, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the work of the Lord [always doing your best and doing more than is needed], being continually aware that your labor [even to the point of exhaustion] in the Lord is not futile nor wasted [it is never without purpose].
As born-again, baptized believers we are “set apart.” by God.
As born-again baptized believers we are “called and sent” by God.
As born-again baptized believers we are commissioned for ministry.
As born-again baptized believers we are commissioned for missions.
Amen?
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
All-Knowing God, thank you that you are our shield and strength. Your word says that you will bless your church abundantly. Please protect our church leaders, both ordained and laity, from attack and fill them with fresh vision as they labor to shepherd your people. Strengthen their spirit and restore their souls through the work of your Holy Spirit. May they find rest in your loving care. May the love of the Father, the tenderness of the Son, and the presence and intercession of the Holy Spirit, quicken, gladden our hearts and bring peace unto our souls, today and for all days. Through Jesus Christ, our Savior, Gloria! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.
25 Now large crowds were going along with Jesus; and He turned and said to them, 26 “If anyone comes to Me, and does not [a]hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life [in the sense of indifference to or relative disregard for them in comparison with his attitude toward God]—he cannot be My disciple. 27 Whoever does not carry his own cross [expressing a willingness to endure whatever may come] and follow after Me [believing in Me, conforming to My example in living and, if need be, suffering or perhaps dying because of faith in Me] cannot be My disciple. 28 For which one of you, when he wants to build a watchtower [for his guards], does not first sit down and calculate the cost, to see if he has enough to finish it? 29 Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is unable to finish [the building], all who see it will begin to ridicule him, 30 saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish!’ 31 Or what king, when he sets out to meet another king in battle, will not first sit down and consider whether he is strong enough with ten thousand men to encounter the one who is coming against him with twenty thousand? 32 Or else [if he feels he is not powerful enough], while the other [king] is still a far distance away, he sends an envoy and asks for terms of peace. 33 So then, none of you can be My disciple who does not [carefully consider the cost and then for My sake] [b]give up all his own possessions.
The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.
As a homeowner, I absolutely need to keep my lawn mowed in the summertime, and that’s something I definitely find I enjoy doing for myself and for my wife.
As we have felt, the weather can get warm in August, so I can spend quite a bit of energy doing the lawn. The exercise is good, but when I am done, I can tell I have used up a lot of strength and energy. It costs me something to do the work.
In our Gospel reading for today, Rabbi Jesus talks about the cost of following him. Some of his words sound harsh, and sometimes Jesus spoke this way to make clear that following him is not easy. Instead, it can be very hard work.
For example, following Master Rabbi Jesus can mean that our relationships with family and friends become strained because they do not believe in him.
In those ancient of first century days, it meant, as Peter, James and John found out, to completely walk away from the family business. It meant as Matthew and Zacchaeus would find out – utterly walking away from incredible wealth.
It meant yoking themselves to their new teacher Rabbi Jesus, walking away from their homes – into the Judean wilderness – to live – who knows where.
Luke 9:57-60Amplified Bible
Exacting Discipleship
57 As they were going along the road, someone said to Him, “I will follow You wherever You go.” 58 And Jesus told him, “Foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay His head.” 59 He said to another, “Follow Me [accepting Me as Master and Teacher].” But he said, “Lord, allow me first to go and [a]bury my father.” 60 But He said to him, “Allow the [spiritually] dead to bury their own dead; but as for you, go and spread the news about the kingdom of God.”
As Peter also found out, it meant leaving his wife and Mother-in-law behind to following this Master Rabbi Jesus in walking all over the Judean Countryside.
As Jesus’ own Mother found out – the composition and definition of family and the cost of yoking themselves to Master Rabbi/Teacher Jesus can sound harsh.
Mark 3:31-35Amplified Bible
31 Then His mother and His brothers arrived and standing outside they sent word to Him and called for Him. 32 A crowd was sitting around Him, and they said to Him, “Look! Your mother and Your brothers are outside asking for You.” 33 And He replied, “Who are My mother and My brothers?” 34 Looking at those who were sitting in a circle around Him, He said, “Here are My mother and My brothers! 35 For [a]whoever does the will of God [by believing in Me, and following Me], he is My brother and sister and mother.”
In another passage Jesus states the same thing in a way easier to understand:
“Anyone who loves their father or mother . . . [or] son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me” (Matthew 10:37).
In other words, we agree to yoke ourselves to a supernatural anointing that means great personal sacrifice – careers, income, homes, and even family.
It means walking away from our reputations into a lifestyle completely, 100% utterly opposite of those which others – family, friends, coworkers – even, if our lives have fallen so far away – into crime, living in and among the high-risk criminal lifestyle of street gangs, drug dealing, drug distribution, even prison. and whatever other high impact behaviors which separates us from God’s life.
Consider what the Roman Centurion risked (Acts 10 and 11) to know more of God and his Son Jesus – to become, with his family and household – baptized.
For a Roman citizen to become baptized into Christ – Risked his very own Life!
We need to seriously, severely consider what it means to “utterly renouncing” our most valuable possessions which are the very highest personal value to us.
Matthew 16:24-27Amplified Bible
Discipleship Is Costly
24 Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to follow Me [as My disciple], he must deny himself [set aside selfish interests] and take up his cross [expressing a willingness to endure whatever may come] and follow Me [believing in Me, conforming to My example in living and, if need be, suffering or perhaps dying because of faith in Me]. 25 For whoever wishes to save his life [in this world] will [eventually] lose it [through death], but whoever loses his life [in this world] for My sake will find it [that is, life with Me for all eternity]. 26 For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world [wealth, fame, success], but forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? 27 For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory and majesty of His Father with His angels, and then He will repay each one in accordance with what he has done.
Risking all of the relationships we have made – risking literally everything we have, everything we are for those whom we do not know – who knows where.
In other words, to follow Jesus, we need to put him absolutely first in our lives.
We need to be willing to put aside everything else we have to be his disciples.
And we need to stick to our decisions and defend our decisions, no matter what. There is absolutely no turning back regardless of how our fortunes may change.
Luke 9:58-62Amplified Bible
58 And Jesus told him, “Foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay His head.” 59 He said to another, “Follow Me [accepting Me as Master and Teacher].” But he said, “Lord, allow me first to go and [a]bury my father.” 60 But He said to him, “Allow the [spiritually] dead to bury their own dead; but as for you, go and spread the news about the kingdom of God.” 61 Another also said, “I will follow You, Lord [as Your disciple]; but first let me say goodbye to those at my home.” 62 But Jesus said to him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back [to the things left behind] is fit for the kingdom of God.”
Some decisions like these are not particularly hard to make – it comes naturally to them because it is what their mothers and Fathers did, how they were raised.
Proverbs 22:6Amplified Bible
6 Train up a child in the way he should go [teaching him to seek God’s wisdom and will for his abilities and talents], Even when he is old, he will not depart from it.
It is “an old family tradition” because Grand Ma, Grand Pa first set the example.
2 Timothy 1:5-6Amplified Bible
5 I remember your sincere and unqualified faith [the surrendering of your entire self to God in Christ with confident trust in His power, wisdom and goodness, a faith] which first lived in [the heart of] your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am confident that it is in you as well. 6 That is why I remind you to [a]fan into flame the gracious gift of God, [that inner fire—the special endowment] which is in you through the laying on of my hands [with those of the elders at your ordination].
Still others, need to learn what it means to utterly renounce their former selves.
Levi – the very much hated Tax Collector who became Matthew.
Wee little Zacchaeus – to climb the Sycamore tree, stop defrauding the people.
The several time divorced Samaritan Woman at the well ……
The Tax Collectors who sat and shared a meal with Jesus ……
The Uncurable, Untouchable Lepers ……
The Uncurable, Untouchable Woman with the Issue of Blood ……
The Severely Mentally Ill – the chained one whole villages named “Legion.”
The Prostitute everyone was willing to stone and sacrifice to “entrap Jesus.”
The Rich Young Ruler who was told to sell literally every possession he had.
The Blind Bartimaeus ……
The Crippled man at the Pool of Bethesda who had been trying for thirty-seven years for someone to place him in the healing waters, but instead, pushed aside.
The man, crippled from birth, for whom four men cut a hole through the roof, to lower him down and into the presence of Jesus and glaring eyes of people.
A crippled man, lame from his mother’s womb, unable to walk, who was carried by his friends every day to the Temple gate called “beautiful” to beg alms and expect only alms but who we read instead encountered both Peter and John –
Acts 3:1-10Amplified Bible
Healing the Lame Beggar
3 Now Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour (3:00 p.m.), 2 and a man who had been unable to walk from birth was being carried along, whom they used to set down every day at that gate of the temple which is called [a]Beautiful, so that he could beg alms from those entering the temple. 3 So when he saw Peter and John about to go into the temple, he began asking [them] for coins. 4 But Peter, along with John, stared at him intently and said, “Look at us!” 5 And the man began to pay attention to them, eagerly expecting to receive something from them. 6 But Peter said, “Silver and gold I do not have; but what I do have I give to you: In the name (authority, power) of Jesus Christ the Nazarene— [begin now to] walk and go on walking!” 7 Then he seized the man’s right hand with a firm grip and raised him up. And at once his feet and ankles became strong and steady, 8 and with a leap he stood up and began to walk; and he went into the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God. 9 All the people saw him walking and praising God; 10 and they recognized him as the very man who usually sat begging for coins at the Beautiful Gate of the temple, and they were filled with wonder and amazement and were mystified at what had happened to him.
Even Great Leaders of the Temple – Named Nicodemus ……
Joseph of Arimathea ……
A blinded Master Pharisee, Master Zealot Saul who became the Apostle Paul.
Needed to know what would mean to literally renounce everything for Jesus.
Friends, making the choice, making the decision, following Jesus with quite literally everything I have has cost me much more than I can admit to here.
Sacrifices of my-self for the sake of my health, my dreams, my hopes, my home, my wife, my family, my Savior and His Kingdom have been serious.
Yet there is so much more – God only knows – which must be renounced but I have not the courage or the full and unwavering faith and trust in God to do.
I have much to learn and many areas of my life which require “crucifixion.”
It’s that part of my life where I have to confront those who might ridicule me, bully me, laugh at me, betray me, or may just try to do even worse than those.
To achieve an abundance of life which the Apostle Paul described as ……
Galatians 2:20-21Amplified Bible
20 I have been crucified with Christ [that is, in Him I have shared His crucifixion]; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body I live by faith [by adhering to, relying on, and completely trusting] in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me. 21 I do not ignore or nullify the [gracious gift of the] grace of God [His amazing, unmerited favor], for if righteousness comes through [observing] the Law, then Christ died needlessly. [His suffering and death would have had no purpose whatsoever.]”
Not that Paul ever expected to achieve it while he was alive – but he made it his one day-to-day goal to “steadfastly and immovably,” to “faithfully” strive for.
But, one day, rest assured, nothing will separate me from the love of my Savior.
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
Lord Jesus Christ, Author of my life, Perfector of my faith, when I am confused about what I should do, give me wisdom and understanding. Show me your ways. When I don’t know what to do, would you send your Holy Spirit to direct my thoughts, words and deeds. May the word of Christ dwell in me richly, teaching me in all wisdom. May I live with thankfulness in my heart to God. Whatever I do, in word or deed, may I do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father. Through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Gloria! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.
8 Now when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, he sent word to the king, asking, “Why have you torn your clothes? Just let Naaman come to me, and he shall know that there is a [true] prophet in Israel.” 9 So Naaman came with his horses and chariots and stopped at the entrance of Elisha’s house. 10 Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, “Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh will be restored to you, and you will be clean.” 11 But Naaman was furious and went away and said, “Indeed! I thought ‘He would at least come out to [see] me and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God and wave his hand over the place [of leprosy] and heal the leper.’ 12 Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus [in Aram], better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be clean?” So, he turned and went away in a rage. 13 Then his servants approached and said to him, “My father, if the prophet had told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more then, when he has said to you, ‘Wash, and be clean?’” 14 So he went down and plunged himself into the Jordan seven times, just as the man of God had said; and his flesh was restored like that of a little child, and he was clean.
The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.
He was the top commander in a powerful army.
He knew all the right people. His king regarded him as “a great man.”
He was a great military leader with many great victories on the battlefield.
He was a powerful man and a powerful leader.
His soldiers followed him, put their lives on the line without question, onto the fields of combat assured he would always lead them to victory after victory,
He had not failed his men or his king.
He was a confident man and had every reason to be.
He had influence and money.
He had an Army which was loyal to him.
He had servants at his beck and call.
He had an entourage that followed him everywhere.
His every command was followed.
And he was a leper.
Leprosy changed everything for Naaman. And this leprosy set the stage for an intriguing drama, a story that tells us something of what baptism is about.
Most of us, in our most honest moments, would choose to exercise power over walking in weakness, influence over being ignored, and prestige over neglect.
We love to be the ones who are in command, making the decisions and getting the perks and the promotions, not the one who depends on another’s mercy.
Yet, with all of his influence, Naaman found that no one could help him. And in this one area of his life, he couldn’t help himself. He was at the end of his rope.
So he went to see the prophet of God in Israel.
The prophet’s instructions, though, seemed like a joke, an insult.
Wash in the Jordan?!
What was wrong with the waters of the rivers of his native country?
Yet, they were insufficient – they had not cleansed him of his leprosy.
Now, he was desperate – his circumstances and condition were intolerable.
Naaman would gladly have done some great deed—anything!
—to be cleansed of his leprosy and to earn the favor of the God of Israel.
But the God of Israel doesn’t work that way.
God remembers His own and cares for His own, but His own does not mean only the people of Israel.
• It refers ultimately to everyone who is willing to acknowledge God, believe and worship Him, as the one and only true God.
• So, God’s grace is not going to be confined within the borders of Israel.
God wants to bring the world back to Himself, starting with Israel.
We see here the grace of God extending to a foreigner, an Aramean commander of the Syrian army.
• Naaman had everything – position, status, fame, success – and leprosy.
• The last one spoilt everything. With leprosy, the rest matters little. He has a need that is beyond him.
The author of this passage was inspired by it, wanted us to see this. Look at the words he used to describe his good life – a great man in the sight of his master (King), highly regarded, gained many victories in battles, and a valiant soldier.
• He is a great man, with great reputation, great capability, great courage, great accomplishments, AND a great sickness.
• The author ended the trail of accolades with “and he had leprosy”.
He needs God.
At the end of the day, what we really need isn’t what this world can offer us.
• Naaman needs a miraculous cure for his leprosy.
His own native waters were insufficient for the task.
It seems Naaman’s influences did not extend to his commanding the waters of his native land to cleanse him. His presence did not move the waters one inch.
I can envision him, in his desperation, standing on the water’s edge and over and over again, shouting command after command – “cleanse me my waters!”
That failing him, further enraged at the desperation of his physical plight, walking into the waters of his native land, raising his fist against his waters.
He would walk, maybe even run, deeper and deeper into the waters, dunking himself over and over and over again yelling, “cleanse me, I command you!”
Yet for all of his power and influence, for all of the victories he achieved on the battlefield, for all the loyalty he commanded of others, the love of his own king,
The Leprosy moved not one inch from his body.
He had no command over his own body – he could not command his Leprosy to leave him – he commanded thousands but could not command his own healing.
None of his servants had any power to heal him.
None of his own loyal soldiers could do anything to help their commander.
Anyone and everyone around him only communicated their utter helplessness.
Thousands and thousands and thousands of shoulders shrugging, apologizing.
What did that kind of helplessness look like to Naaman?
What does that kind of helplessness look like to us right now.
What did those feelings of complete helplessness do for Naaman’s self-esteem?
What do those feelings of complete helplessness do for our own self-esteem?
What does Helpless Pie taste like?
What does Hopeless Pie taste like?
What does Humble Pie taste like?
For Naaman, it tasted a whole lot like Leprosy.
What a new experience for Naaman – In complete command of everything and of everyone around him – except in this one thing – commanding his healing.
The author was moved by this, wanted us to see this. Look at the words he used to describe Naaman’s good life – a great man in the sight of his master (King), highly regarded, gained many victories in battles, and a loyal, valiant soldier.
• He is a great man, with great reputation, great capability, great courage, great accomplishments, AND a great sickness.
• The author ended the trail of accolades with the buzz killing statement of Naaman’s inescapable and undeniably painful reality “and he had leprosy”.
He needs God.
At the end of the day, what we really need isn’t what this world can offer us.
• Naaman needs a miraculous cure for his leprosy. He needs God to heal him.
• So, the story goes, he went seeking for God’s help, through a prophet of Israel.
That’s at first glance.
A casual reading gives us this picture of a man seeking God.
• But on closer reading, it is more accurate to say, God is reaching out to him.
• The author says God has been giving him victories in battles.
• 5:1 “He was a great man in the sight of his master and highly regarded, BECAUSE through him the Lord had given victory to Aram.” (5:1)
• His reputation was given by the God, because his successes were given BY God.
This is the GRACE of God. God showed him favour.
And then we see another of God’s sovereign act.
A young Israelite girl was captured in one of those Aramean raids and ended up as a servant for Naaman’s wife (5:2).
“Why does not my master, Naaman seek out Elisha, the Prophet in Israel …?”
• The words of this servant girl became the critical bridge for Naaman to be introduced to the prophet of God in Samaria. Ultimately, to God Himself.
• The whole story hangs on her still small voice speaking up, the daring, minor role she played and the few words she said, and we do not even know her name.
We do not even know whether or not the little girl was rewarded for her caring
• You don’t need a name to serve God or doing something significant like caring for others – daring to put your life out there, then risking rebuke, risking wrath and risking an unknown punishment for opening our mouths against authority.
And I sincerely hope and pray we don’t serve God, care for others, looking for a name and a reputation too.
• Be amazed at how God works to fulfil His will.
He can surprise us.
This young servant girl’s words of daring, caring, were brought before the King!
• Naaman used her timely words to ask for permission to go seek for this prophet.
The King took up the girl’s suggestion!
The King gave him an official letter to see the King of Israel. They might have thought that such a great prophet must be working in the King’s own courts.
• The King of Israel was taken aback and read this as a possible excuse for the Syrians to start a war, for failing to heal their commander.
• The plan almost backfired until Elisha, God’s anointed Prophet heard of the outburst and sent a message.
The King did not look for the prophet. He doesn’t know what to do next.
• Again we see the providence of God. God works at every step of this story to make this encounter possible.
Naaman was re-directed to see the prophet, with his entourage of horses and chariots (5:9). We can imagine the grandeur of this visit.
• But when he arrived at the door of Elisha’s house, Elisha remained indoors.
A messenger came out and gave him a blunt order: “Go, wash yourself seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh will be restored, and you will be cleansed.” (5:10).
• It was a test of faith moment. But this was unacceptable to a reputable man.
Elisha did not even greet him, his entourage, when he was already at his door.
2 Kings5:11-12 “But Naaman went away angry and said, “I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the LORD his God, wave his hand over the spot and cure me of my leprosy. 12Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than any of the waters of Israel? Couldn’t I wash in them and be cleansed?” So, he turned and went off in a rage.
• Naaman had certain expectations – he had earned and expected “due respect.”
But instead, a simple servant of Elisha had written, spoken, a simple message.
He had already written God’s script for Him: “This is what you should do and how you should do it.”
• This sounded so familiar to me because very often, we come to God in the same manner – with a certain set agenda and script.
• We have our own very specific, very detained ideas and expectations of how God ought to do things for us, and when the things don’t synchronize with our expectations, we become disappointed, not at circumstances but WITH GOD.
Moreover, going to river Jordan wasn’t going to be that simple a walk. They are now in Samaria. River Jordan would take a while, some travelling (40km away).
• Grumbling, “it would be so much easier to wash in the rivers nearer home.”
• Grumbling and dissatisfied, in the spur of the moments, he decided to leave.
His servants stepped in and talked some sense to him.
Again, we witness the providence of God acting through Naaman’s soldier!
• What do you really want?
To save face and uphold your reputation? Or to get yourself healed? If that is what you want, just do this simple thing – “wash seven times and be cleansed!” (5:13)
• This simply worded instruction carries with it a promise. Elisha did not say, “You go wash at Jordan and see what happens.” Like what some doctors say.
• But the promise was given: “… and your flesh will be restored, and you will be cleansed.” (5:10).
The challenge is, can Naaman separate himself from his grumbling, trust the words of the prophet fully. It’s a crisis of faith. Can he obey what God has said?
• By God’s grace, Naaman did what he was told, and he was completely healed – “his flesh was restored and became clean like that of a young boy.” (5:14).
Naaman’s change was not just physical.
We witnessed a change that was both physical and supernaturally spiritual.
• Naaman returned back to thank Elisha and within the short discourse which followed, we see witness him addressing himself as “your servant” – 5 times in 5:15-18. No longer the proud commander with great accolades.
• He saw his true self before a true God. He confessed his faith in God: “Now I know that there is no God in all the world except in Israel…” (5:15)
• And asked for forgiveness from God for having to accompany his King when he enters the temple of Rimmon (5:18).
We see the reach of God’s grace.
God extended grace and this foreigner received it and believed God.
• In a time of great apostasy when most within Israel would not want God, this foreigner believed that Israel’s God is the only true God.
• Jesus made this comment in Luke 4:27 “And there were many in Israel with leprosy in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed – only Naaman the Syrian.” This foreigner was willing to believe God.
Naaman was humbled and grateful and wanted to give the prophet some gifts.
• Elisha refused any reward, obviously and rightly so, because this has nothing to do with him.
• It has been the work of God from the beginning, and everything happened by the providence of God. This has been a display of God’s amazing grace!
• And that explains why what happened next is such a great aversion to God.
2 Kings 5:19-27Amplified Bible
19 Elisha said to him, “Go in peace.” So Naaman departed and was a good distance away from him,
20 when Gehazi, the servant of Elisha the man of God, said, “My master has spared this Naaman the Aramean (Syrian), by not accepting from him what he brought. As the Lord lives, I will run after him and get something from him.” 21 So Gehazi pursued Naaman. When Naaman saw someone running after him, he got down from the chariot to meet him and said, “Is all well?” 22 And he said, “All is well. My master has sent me to say, ‘Just now two young men of the sons of the prophets have come to me from the hill country of Ephraim. Please give them a [a]talent of silver and two changes of clothes.’” 23 Naaman said, “Please take two talents.” And he urged him [to accept] and tied up two talents of silver in two bags with two changes of clothes and gave them to two of his servants; and they carried them in front of Gehazi. 24 When he came to the hill, he took them from their hand and put them in the house [for safekeeping]; and he sent the men away, and they left. 25 Then he went in and stood before his master. Elisha asked him, “Where have you been, Gehazi?” He said, “Your servant went nowhere.”
26 Elisha said to him, “Did my heart not go with you, when the man turned from his chariot to meet you? Is it a [proper] time to accept money and clothing and olive orchards and vineyards and sheep and oxen and male and female servants? 27 Therefore, the leprosy of Naaman shall cling to you and to your descendants forever.” So Gehazi departed from his presence, a leper as white as snow.
Elisha was adamant in refusing Naaman’s gifts, but his servant Gehazi was eager to get them as Elisha’s “due reward.” In fact, he ran after them, literally.
• If this has been the work of God’s grace, then no one could, should, take credit for it. No one should take any reward for this and rob God of His rightful glory.
• Gehazi’s actions robbed God of His glory and marred the character of God.
Firstly Gehazi’s action itself transgressed half of the Ten Commandments.
1st – You shall have no other gods before Me.
3rd – You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain.
8th – You shall not steal.
9th – You shall not bear false witness against your neighbour. (He lied a few times.)
10th – You shall not covet.
But his most serious offense was the distortion of the truth about God.
• His behaviour ran contrary to all that God represents, giving the impression that the healing can be paid for, and as a sure reward, we can buy God’s favour.
• That’s precisely the distorted thinking of pagan worshippers, that man can bribe or manipulate the favor of their God into giving them what they want.
The message that Elisha conveyed – that this healing is free, it is the grace of God alone, it is the work of God alone and you don’t have to give me anything – was destroyed by this greedy act of Gehazi.
• Naaman was made to “pay”, so it seems, for the healing that he had just received. And Elisha was the one asking for it, on the pretext that he had visitors.
• It implied that the God of Israel was a “taker”, just like Baal and the rest of the pagan gods.
Little servant girls, Prophets like Elisha, wakes us out of our self-sufficiency.
The humble, humbled unknown servant girl dared and risked everything to care enough about her Master – “be healed, go and find Elisha the Prophet in Israel.”
Elisha didn’t even greet the entourage.
He sent a messenger to say, in effect, “Go, humble yourself. And be cleansed.”
• But God is HOLY (set apart, separate, distinct) and unlike any other.
He has no comparison or competition.
Gehazi’s action pulled the character of God down to the level of pagan gods.
• He was undoing what God has done – showing goodness and grace to Naaman – revealing Israel’s God as very unlike other gods.
• Gehazi put a price on the goodness and grace of God. God’s honor was badly tarnished, and His glory shaded, shadowed, robbed by Gehazi most sinful act.
• Hence the judgement of God. It is fair and it is right.
It more than just about greed and lying; it is about the holiness of God.
• God upholds His Name and glory. His judgement could be worse. He was gracious.
We have tasted God’s goodness and grace today.
We’ve come to know Him and what He has done, through Jesus.
“What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Refrain: O precious is the flow that makes me white as snow; no other fount I know; nothing but the blood of Jesus.”
• Let us rejoice and give thanks.
Let us walk in the supernatural anointing of the blood of our Savior Jesus Christ.
Let us bow down, kneel down, prostrate ourselves, and humbly worship Him.
Let us honor and glorify Him in every way possible.
Are we willing to be humbled as Naaman?
Are we ready, willing and able to walk in humility s Naaman was?
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
Write Your Words of Grace on My Heart, O’ God of my Salvation,
Everlasting Father, thank you that you have revealed yourself to me. May I not forget your teaching but keep your commands in my heart. Through your power, prolong my life, bringing me peace and prosperity. May your love and faithfulness never leave me, write your words on my heart. May your grace transform my life, that I may be gracious to others. Let me trust in you with all your heart and lean not on my own understanding; in all your ways may I submit to you, and you will make my paths straight. Through Savior Jesus Christ, our Lord. Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.
Loving God, Living God, Loving Hope, Living Hope, Loving Living Life His Way! "Many things are possible for the person who has hope. Even more is possible for the person who has faith. And still more is possible for the person who knows how to love. But everything is possible for the person who practices all three virtues." - Brother Lawrence (1605-1691), Practicing the Presence of God (1692). 