Psalm 136: God the Son

Today’s reading is Psalm 136.

Jesus Christ is God’s Steadfast Love

YHWH created the world alone. That is, no other separate being, divine or otherwise created the world. Certainly, He was equipped with wisdom and understanding, but wisdom is not divine. Wisdom is not a personal entity. Wisdom was the “mental” tool God used. However, John 1:1-5 draws out a conclusion.

YHWH created the world, but He did it through His “logos.” That is, He did it through His “Word.” John, however, demonstrates this “logos,” was more than simply God’s accompanying wisdom. This “logos” was with God, but also was God. Not was another god, but was/is God. I get it, trinity is a mystery. We can’t mine its depths in a simple daily blog devotional. Yet, John wants us to understand something.

Jesus is God. Jesus is the Creator. He is YHWH. He was with God. He is God. Jesus is not a second God. He is the same God. In other words, God is so far beyond our ability to comprehend, even trying to describe the nature of His existence goes beyond our ability to communicate. He must resort to presenting Himself in Oneness and in Threeness at the same time. But what we must know is the LORD whose steadfast love created the world is Jesus.

Unsurprisingly, the LORD whose steadfast love delivered Israel from bondage, led them through the wilderness, and conquered kingdoms before them is Jesus. As Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 10:1-4, the Rock which followed Israel through the wilderness and brought the nation into the Promised Land was Christ. It was Jesus.

This same Jesus came in flesh and tabernacled among us. He died on the cross to atone for our sins and cleanse our defilement away.

Let us give thanks to the Lord. Let us give thanks to Jesus. Because He Himself is the embodiment of chesed. He Himself is the God of chesed. His death on the cross is the ultimate demonstration of loyalty to every covenant the Lord made. And just as He created the world in covenant loyalty before any people had entered into covenant with Him, He planned the sacrifice of Jesus before the foundation of the world. Yet, that very steadfast love endures to us and will keep forgiving people for all time.

Praise the Lord! …for His steadfast love endures forever!

Next week’s reading is Psalm 137.

PODCAST!!!

Click here to take about 15 minutes to listen to the Text Talk conversation between Andrew Roberts and Edwin Crozier.

PATHS:
Discuss Today’s Meditation with Your Family

What do you want to share with others from Psalm 136?

Psalm 119:129-144: Still Small and Despised

Today’s reading is Psalm 119 (vss. 129-144).

Surprising Adherents of God’s Word

The psalmist has already declared God’s Word makes him incredibly wise. According to vss. 97-100, because of God’s Word he is wiser than his enemies, his teachers, and even the aged. We’d expect that kind of wisdom to pay off in some tangible ways, right? If he is that wise, folks should look up to him by now. If he is that wise, he should probably have grown healthy and wealthy. If he is that wise, he should probably be the big man on campus at this point. Don’t you think?

And yet, he says, “I am small and despised, yet I do not forget your precepts” (vs. 141, ESV).

I can’t help but think of David in 1 Samuel 16. When Samuel showed up at Jesse’s to anoint one of Jesse’s sons king, they left David out with the sheep. He was small and despised. Yet, in a few years, he was king. Our psalmist, despite being the kind of person who loves and follows God’s Word so much he has written this psalm, he is still small and despised.

This demonstrates the upside down nature of God’s kingdom. God simply doesn’t choose people the way people do. Consider what Paul explains in 1 Corinthians 1:26-31. God does not choose those who are wise according to worldly standards. He doesn’t choose the powerful or the noble. He chooses what is foolish to confound the wise. He chooses what is weak to shame the strong. He chooses what is low and despised to bring to nothing those things which are high and mighty. God works in this way to draw us to Him. God works in this way to get us to realize the only boast we can possibly have is, “I’m in the Lord.”

Our psalmist is okay with that. He started small and despised. Even as he has obeyed the Lord more and more, he is okay that he has remained that way. He doesn’t keep God’s precepts in order to gain health, wealth, standing, social equity. He keeps God’s precepts because he thinks God’s precepts are worth keeping.

May I learn to see God’s precepts in the same way. God’s way is blessed not because of where it leads, but because of what keeping His way makes me. It makes me God’s servant. If I’m still small and everyone else still despises me, no big deal. I’m the Lord’s. He is mine. What else matters?

Praise the Lord!

Today’s reading is Psalm 119 (vss. 129-144).

PODCAST!!!

Click here to take about 15 minutes to listen to the Text Talk conversation between Andrew Roberts and Edwin Crozier.

PATHS:
Discuss Today’s Meditation with Your Family

How does Psalm 119:129-144 prompt or improve your hope in God?

Psalm 112: God Loves a Cheerful Giver

Today’s reading is Psalm 112.

God-Fearers are Generous

Lots of readers get snagged by Psalm 112:3:

Wealth and riches are in his house (ESV).

Sign me up to be a God-fearer. If fearing God will make me rich, I’m all about it. However, like so many portraits in Scripture, we can’t take one line to the exclusion of the others. God does not give this God-fearer wealth and riches to just so he can have wealth and riches. He doesn’t even give this one wealth and riches today to take care of him tomorrow. He gives this man wealth and riches in order to deal generously with those in need today. He gives riches to this man to distribute freely and give to the poor.

Keep this psalm in the context of Israel’s covenant with the Lord. In Deuteronomy 15, the Lord promised to bless Israel. The blessing was not meted out by making every individual Israelite wealthy. Rather, God meted out this blessing by making enough Israelites wealthy to give and lend sufficient for the needs of others who did not have enough. Psalm 112 describes the man who lives Deuteronomy 15. Because he is in awe of God, remembering the Lord is the one who provides him all the food he has, he generously shares with others.

Deuteronomy 15 says he needs to be careful to do these commands. Psalm 112 says he delights in them. Proverbs 11:23-28 has multiple parallels with our psalm. Note especially, “One gives freely, yet grows all the richer; another withholds what he should give, and only suffers want. Whoever brings blessing will be enriched, and one who waters will himself be watered” (ESV).

God-fearers are generous.

God Loves a Cheerful Giver

Paul believed this psalm is for Christians not just ancient Hebrews. Certainly, the Deuteronomy blessings and promises do not transfer directly into our Christian covenant. Yet, Paul believed the lessons of Psalm 111-112 guide us.

When encouraging the Corinthians to collect and give for their brothers and sisters’ needs in Jerusalem and Judea, he explains “whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully” (2 Corinthians 9:6, ESV). He goes on to say, “God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work” (2 Corinthians 9:8, ESV).

Then Paul calls on the psalms to make his point: “He has distributed freely, he has given to the poor; his righteousness endures forever.” If we only read in 2 Corinthians, we might well think Paul is quoting a psalm that says God has distributed freely, God has given to the poor, and the righteousness of God endures forever. But that is not the case. Paul quotes Psalm 112:9. That verse is about the God-fearer, not about God. The God-fearer distributed freely; the God-fearer has given to the poor; the righteousness of the God-fearer endures forever.

Wait! What?

What is Paul doing here?

He’s tying together a theme. In Deuteronomy 15, when God talked about the generosity with which Israelites should treat each other, He anchored part of His instruction in redemption: “You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God redeemed you; therefore I command you this today” (Deuteronomy 15:15, ESV). In Psalm 111:9, the pe and tsade lines, the psalmist said of God, “He sent redemption to his people; he has commanded his covenant forever” (ESV). In the parallel lines of Psalm 112, the psalmist said of the God-fearer who is becoming like God, “He has distributed freely; he has given to the poor; his righteousness endures forever” (ESV). Why does the God-fearer distribute freely? Because the God-fearer has been transformed by God’s free distribution of redemption. And all of this is motivated by delight in the Lord’s commands (Psalm 112:1).

If we sow bountifully, that is distribute freely; if we give cheerfully, that is with delight; if we offer willingly, that is generously, then we show ourselves to be the kinds of God-fearers to whom the Lord provides. If, however, our heart begrudges the gift (see Deuteronomy 15:9-10), the Lord will not bless us in our work. If we give cheerfully and willingly, with delight, He will bless us for every good work.

If we are generous in every way, the Lord will enrich us in every way (2 Corinthians 9:11). Praise the Lord!

Tomorrow’s reading is Psalm 112.

PODCAST!!!

Click here to take about 15 minutes to listen to the Text Talk conversation between Andrew Roberts and Edwin Crozier.

PATHS:
Discuss Today’s Meditation with Your Family

How does Psalm 112 prompt or improve your hope in God?

Revelation 18: Come Out of Her, My People

Today’s reading is Revelation 18.

Remember John’s Audience

In Revelation 18:4, John reminds us of his audience. He isn’t writing to Babylon. He isn’t writing to “Babylonians.” He is writing to “my people.” Remember Revelation 1:4: “John to the seven churches that are in Asia” (ESV). While Revelation can and should be used to encourage “Babylonians” to repent, it was written first and foremost to get the Christians who were compromising with Babylon to repent.

Certainly, for those who had been faithful to the Lord, the message is to hang on and hold fast. But for those who had begun to mix and match the idolatry of their surrounding cities with their worship of the one, true God, like Pergamum and Thyatira, the call was to repent. But remember what we learned in yesterday’s post about Revelation 18:3c. Those who were going to church on Sunday but living like the culture around them the rest of the week, as in Laodicea, also needed to repent. These Christians needed to “come out of her,” to come out of Babylon, or they would experience her plagues.

An Ancient Charge

The Hebrew prophets repeatedly made this exact same plea. We see similar charges in Isaiah 48:20; 52:11; and Jeremiah 50:8, 28; 51:45. The passage in which we find some clear background for John’s statement in Revelation 18:4 is in Jeremiah 51:6-8a:

Flee from the midst of Babylon; let every one save his life! Be not cut off in her punishment, for this is the time of the LORD’s vengeance, the repayment he is rendering her. Babylon was a golden cup in the LORD’s hand, making all the earth drunken; the nation drank of her wine; therefore the nations went mad. Suddenly Babylon has fallen and been broken; wail for her! (ESV)

The Christians in the seven churches should not cozy up to Babylon, compromise with Babylon, mimic Babylon, or mirror Babylon. They needed to flee Babylon. If they did not, they would end up taking part in the sins of Babylon and then get caught up in the judgment on Babylon.

But They Couldn’t Actually Leave Babylon

This charge is not about geography. When the Hebrew prophets charged the ancient Israelites to flee Babylon, they could head back to Jerusalem and Judea. However, John was not telling the first century disciples to geographically leave Babylon. If Babylon represents Jerusalem, the recipients weren’t in Jerusalem to be able to leave it. If Babylon represents Rome, they weren’t in the city of Rome either. But where would they go to get away from the Empire of Rome? This isn’t about geography.

While we may find ourselves today in a situation where a geographical change will provide us freedom from the cultural sins around us, our global community makes that less and less of an option. Rather, we need to think in the same terms as presented in 2 Corinthians 6:14-7:1. We must not partner in the sins of our society. We must not partner with the false cultural religion. We must live life differently. We must “cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion” (ESV).

As Paul implied in 1 Corinthians 5:9-10, we can’t go out of the world. But we can, by God’s strength and power, strive to get the world out of us. We can be different from the world. We can be different no matter how the world will respond. Further, we can work to keep the world’s influence and the “wisdom” of demons (see 1 Timothy 4:1; James 3:14-15) out of our churches. We must work to accomplish this. If we turn a blind eye, Jesus says we will get caught up in Babylon’s judgment. However, if we repent and flee Babylon’s seduction the same way Joseph fled the seduction of Potiphar’s wife, we will be saved from the plagues and the judgment. Praise the Lord!

Tomorrow’s reading is Revelation 18.

PODCAST!!!

Click here to take about 15 minutes to listen to the Text Talk conversation between Andrew Roberts and Edwin Crozier.

PATHS:
Discuss Today’s Meditation with Your Family

How does Revelation 18 admonish you?

John 17: Honor God by Giving Him the Proper Credit

Today’s reading is John 17.

We honor God by worshiping Him as Jesus did. That worship transforms us to go out and accomplish the work He has assigned to us in His Word. As we keep His word and do His work, we will accomplish things, often great things. Then the temptation hits. The temptation to honor ourselves for all we have accomplished. The temptation to expect God to honor us for all we have accomplished. However, Jesus’s prayer grants insight to how we might overcome this temptation and still honor God.

Read John 17:6-19 again. Pay attention to Jesus’s use of “give,” “gave,” and “given.”

…the people whom you gave me out of the world…

…they know that everything you have given me is from you…

…I have given them the words that you gave me…

…I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me…

Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me…

I have given them your word…

Notice how much of Jesus’s work was done because of what the Father had given Him. Notice how much of what the apostles had because Jesus had in turn given to them. Jesus didn’t have apostles because He was simply great at making apostles, but because the Father gave them. Jesus didn’t teach because He was just so great at coming up with the Word, but because the Father had given Him the Word. Jesus’s name was not great because He was so good at wearing a name, but because the Father had given Him the name. The apostles would in turn need to recognize the same principle.

In this, we find the key to overcoming the temptation to self-glorification. Yes, when we keep God’s Word and do the work He has given us, we will accomplish great things. But we accomplish those things not because we are so great but because of what God has given us. In this way we honor God, by giving Him the proper credit for our seeming accomplishments.

Paul asked the Corinthians some pointed questions:

What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?

1 Corinthians 4:7 (ESV)

What do you have that you did not receive? Your house? Your car? Your education? Your family? Your job? Your abilities? Your resources? Your knowledge? Your opportunities? Your accomplishments? What if you had been born to different parents? …in a different time? …a different country? …a different “side of the tracks”? No doubt, we must all choose to use the gifts given to us. Some squander the gifts. What a tragedy. But when we have used the gifts to good, God-glorifying effect, recall we only were able to do so because we first received those gifts from God.

We are all like the Israelites in David’s prayer for the temple collection in 1 Chronicles 29:14. We are only able to offer to God because He first gave to us. We are the five and two-talent servants of Jesus’s parable. Yes, we worked and traded with those talents to produce more, but without the seed money from the Master, we would have nothing to give Him in the end (see Matthew 25:14-30).

Every good and perfect gift comes from the Father. When we keep God’s Word and accomplish His work, we continue to honor God by giving Him the proper credit, praise, and glory for His good gifts.

Praise the Lord!

Tomorrow’s reading is John 17.

PODCAST!!!

Click here to take about 15 minutes to listen to the Text Talk conversation between Andrew Roberts and Edwin Crozier sparked by this post.

PATHS:
Discuss Today’s Meditation with Your Family

How does John 18 prompt or improve your hope in God?

Judas

Today’s reading is Matthew 27.

There are at least two principles that come out in the New Testament writings which, I believe, have Judas as their background.

First, Paul explains in 1 Timothy 6:9-10, that those who want to be rich fall into temptation and harmful desires which plunge people into ruin and destruction. Further, the love of money has caused some to wander away from the faith and pierce themselves with many pangs. Judas is the supreme example. While we tend to throw Judas under the bus, thinking of him as just completely evil and diabolical, remember what we noted last week. When Jesus told the apostles one of them would betray Him, nobody said, “It’s Judas, isn’t it?” Judas wasn’t any more wicked than the rest of us. He was a disciple, following Jesus, but who let the love of money keep a hold on his soul. In the end, he found out painfully what Jesus had meant when He said we can’t serve God and money.

The key we should take from this is if loving money and desiring to be rich could lead Judas this far astray, it can do the same to us. As they say, money is a great servant, but a terrible master. Let us keep our heart focused on Jesus.

Second, Paul told the Corinthians “godly grief produces repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death” (2 Corinthians 7:10, ESV). I struggle to know the difference between these two griefs when they are occurring. However, I know them when they reach their end result. Judas’s grief was worldly. His grief did not glorify God. His grief did not lead him to turn to God, confess his sin, and find forgiveness in Jesus. His grief led him to greater and greater shame which he handled by killing himself. I have a sneaking suspicion, having experienced a fair amount of guilt, shame, and grief myself, Judas’s struggle was ultimately one of pride. He simply couldn’t live knowing he was the one who had betrayed Jesus so badly. If he had lived and sought forgiveness from God, he would still have had hanging over him the memory of, the reputation of, the accusation of betrayer. He knew all of the other disciples would forever know him as the one who betrayed Jesus. Sadly, to his mind, the only escape from the shame would come in death. He couldn’t see a way to escape shame and guilt through God’s grace.

That is a struggle for me as well sometimes. I don’t know about you, but I wanted to be perfect, or at least, a really, really good person. I don’t like the thought of having to claim I’m an awful, rotten sinner who is wicked because of my sin. But I remember my sins. I remember them all (well…a lot of them). Further, there are plenty of people whom I see and know they remember the times I’ve had to confess sin. Sometimes I feel like there is a neon sign flashing over my head, “Oh, yeah, there’s that guy who did such and such.” If they are thinking that, there is nothing I can do about it. I have to mourn the loss of that person I wanted to be. Instead of trying to regain joy by pretending I’m actually that person or that my sins weren’t all that bad, I have to find joy in forgiveness. But forgiveness is all about how awesome God is and not a bit about how awesome I am. That’s a tough pill to swallow. And some people, even if they don’t commit physical suicide, decide to commit spiritual suicide instead of confessing their own sin and letting God deal with it by the death of Jesus.

Don’t be that person. Give God the glory by confessing your sin. Give God the glory by surrendering to Jesus. Mourn the loss of that person you wanted to be. But rejoice with the person Jesus can make you.

Don’t be Judas.

Tomorrow’s reading is Matthew 27.

PODCAST!!!

Click here to take about 15 minutes to listen to the Text Talk conversation between Andrew Roberts and Edwin Crozier sparked by this post.

Discuss the Following Questions with Your Family

1. What are your initial reactions to the chapter and the written devo above?
2. Why is money such a competitor for our devotion to God?
3. Why is worldly grief easier than godly grief?
4. What other lessons do you learn from Judas?
5. What do you think we should pray for and about in light of this chapter and today’s post?

The Corinthians’ Baptism

Today’s reading is Acts 18.

I always find it interesting to hear people go to Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, read him say he wasn’t sent to be baptized, and then assert baptism for salvation is not the appropriate response to the gospel message. Did you notice in today’s reading what the Corinthians actually did in response to hearing Paul preach the gospel? They believed and were baptized. So, here’s the interesting thing. Though Paul was not sent to do the baptizing but was sent to preach the gospel, what did people do when they heard Paul preach the gospel? They believed it and got baptized. What did Paul teach them when he taught them the gospel? He taught them that their response was to believe and be baptized (just like Jesus said in Mark 16:16). I get it. The gospel is not get baptized and you’ll be saved. The gospel is Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, was buried, and rose on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures. But when the New Testament was written, the response to that gospel was not pray through to salvation. It was not ask Jesus into your heart. It was believe and be baptized. Have you responded to the gospel the way the Corinthians did? If not, we’d love to help you. Feel free to contact us through the comments below.

Tomorrow’s reading is Acts 19.

Believe Like Corinthians

Today’s reading is Acts 18.

I’m often surprised at how many people jump to Paul claiming he didn’t baptize many people in Corinth without checking what actually happened in Corinth in Acts 18. Though Paul himself, like Jesus, didn’t do the actual baptizing, when people believed Paul’s preaching, do you know what they did? They got baptized (see Acts 18:8). Have you believed like the Corinthians, hearing the message and being baptized for the remission of your sins because you believe? Can we help you believe like the Corinthians? Let us know.

Tomorrow’s reading is Acts 19.