3 John: Fellow Workers

Today’s reading is 3 John 1.

Fellow workers. What a concept.

In Christ’s church, we are fellow workers. That is, we have a work. Christ’s church has a job. No doubt, Jesus’s great commission drives the mission. We are to make disciples of every nation. We know from body metaphors used in other passages, not everyone in Christ’s church will do the same job to accomplish that work, but we have a work to do. In this letter, some men were traveling and teaching. Other’s were receiving, welcoming, supporting them financially. In so doing, they were fellow workers.

Recognize, we aren’t fellow club members. We aren’t fellow pew warmers. We aren’t fellow masters. We are fellow workers.

Certainly, our involvement in the work will increase over time. Surely, new members of Christ’s church are just learning the ropes. They will not work to the extent they can in years to come. Certainly, as time goes by we will participate in different aspects of the work, gaining more skills, branching out and participating in more avenues of labor. But we are supposed to be fellow workers.

Here’s the question we all need to ask. What am I doing that makes me a fellow worker? If your answer is “Nothing” or “Not much,” reach out to your shepherds or find a “Gaius” in your congregation and ask them to help you find some work.

Be a fellow worker.

Tomorrow’s reading is 3 John 1.

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 3 John prompt or improve your hope in God?

John 19: It Is Finished!

Today’s reading is John 19.

So, let’s get this out of the way. That really cool point you heard (or preached) in a sermon once about “It is finished” meaning “Paid in full” because it was used on ancient receipts isn’t true. Stop saying it. Stop preaching it. (Click here for explanation.)

That, however, doesn’t mean “It is finished!” is not the greatest statement ever made. Jesus came into the world to accomplish the greatest work ever accomplished. In fact, back in John 17:4, Jesus declared He had glorified the Father while on earth, “having accomplished the work that you gave me to do” (ESV). “Accomplished” here is a verb from the same word family as “finished” in Jesus’s statement on the cross.

In fact, look at the very context of John 19:30. Just two verses earlier, John wrote, “After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), ‘I thirst'” (John 19:28, ESV). “Finished” in this verse is the same word as “finished” in vs. 30. Additionally, “fulfill” in this verse is the same as “accomplish” back in John 17:4.

Let’s not miss how important this statement is. Every step of the way, Satan tried to get Jesus to abandon the work of God. In the wilderness temptation, he tried to get Jesus to doubt His sonship and to get Him to worship the devil in order to become King instead of doing it God’s way. When the crowds tried to make Him King so He could feed them, Satan was offering Jesus a different path. From Peter’s mouth, he tried to convince Jesus the Messiah shouldn’t suffer and die. Even here on the cross, the old familiar, “Surely, You aren’t the Son of God. God wouldn’t make His Son suffer like this. Come down from the cross and prove it.” Again and again, Satan put the option to quit before Jesus.

But Jesus endured. Jesus stayed the course. He accomplished God’s work. He finished. He finished strong. Because He did, we can find salvation, healing, hope, transformation, renewal, redemption, adoption, justification, sanctification.

I love the fact that years later, Paul said, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith” (2 Timothy 4:7, ESV). You guessed it, that word for “finished” is the same word. Every step of the way, Satan tried to get Paul to abandon the race. But Paul endured. Paul stayed the course. Paul accomplished God’s work. He finished. He finished strong. Not because he was strong, but because His King is.

Every step of the way, Satan is trying to get you to abandon the race. I know at times it seems impossible to finish. But, by the grace and power of Jesus, we can finish. Praise the Lord!

Jesus finished well. By His power, you can too. Will you? Can we help? Let us know in the comments.

Tomorrow’s reading is John 19.

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 19 prompt or improve your trust in God?

John 17: Honor God by Standing Out from the World

Today’s reading is John 17.

We honor God as Jesus did by worshiping the Father. Worship transforms us to accomplish the work He has assigned to us, which we discovered by keeping His Word. When we accomplished great things, we recognized the grace of God in our accomplishment and gave Him the proper credit. We might think all of this would lead us to be loved by our neighbors. However, that isn’t how it worked for Jesus. That is not how it will work for us. Sure, those who walk the same path will love us. But those who choose to reject Jesus, will reject us as well.

In this, Satan presents a grand temptation to abandon the glory of God. We know it is the tall grass that gets cut down. The squeaky hinge gets greased. The brightest disciples get persecuted.

Jesus made it clear in His prayer:

I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.

John 17:14 (ESV)

If we are going to honor God, we must commit ourselves to stand out from the world. As the old preachers used to say, we are in the world, but not of the world. It’s okay for the boat to be in the water, but we must not let the water in the boat. The kingdom of Jesus is not of this world, it is not from this world. It’s citizens do not behave the same way the citizens of the world behave. We think differently, value differently, prioritize differently, behave differently. The world will hate us, castigate us, berate us, belittle us, malign us, falsely accuse us. They will do anything to salve their consciences for not being like our Master. Darkness hates light.

Light, however, cannot help but shine. The darker the environment, the brighter the light shines in its midst. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Consider, one of the oddest things about Jesus is how often He told people to say nothing about the work He had done. We would think Jesus would self-promote and try to fan His fame into a bright, fierce flame. Yet, for all His receding into the background, the people kept looking for Him. At first, they looked in order to magnify Him, but eventually in order to murder Him. He couldn’t be hidden. When we honor God as He did, we will not be able to hide either. The world will find us out, they will hate us, they will attack us.

However, be of good cheer. Our Master, our King, Our Lord has overcome the world. Praise the Lord!

Next week’s reading is John 18.

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

What do you want to share with others from John 18?

John 17: Honor God by Keeping His Word

Today’s reading is John 17.

We honor God as Jesus did by worshiping intently and consistently. However, we do not stop honoring God when we get up off our knees. Transformed by worship, we honor God by doing the work He has for us in our active lives. But how do we know what work He has for us? Very simply by looking into His Word.

Listen to Jesus in His prayer:

I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you. For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me.

John 17:6-8 (ESV)

The Father gave His Word to the Son. Jesus gave the Word given to Him to the apostles. They, in turn, kept the Word given to them.

This shouldn’t surprise us at all. Isn’t this just how all of life works? When I work for someone, I know the work the boss wants done because the boss tells me. It just makes sense. When Jesus is my King and the Lord is my God, I’ll know what God wants me to do because He’ll tell me. I’ll learn my work from His Word. I’ll be doing the work He has assigned for me when I’m doing what I can find in His Word.

Paul explained to Timothy, “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17, ESV). We are equipped for every good work by God’s good word. If we do not find equipping for the work in God’s Word, it isn’t a good work. No matter how much a work pleases us, it doesn’t please God unless we can find equipping for it in God’s Word.

Let us honor God as Jesus did and as He taught His disciples. Let’s honor God by doing His work. Let’s honor God by keeping His Word.

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 trust in God?

John 17: Honor God by Doing His Work

Today’s reading is John 17.

A disciple honors God by worshiping Him as Jesus did in John 17. However, honoring God doesn’t end when we get up off our knees. Rather, that time spent honoring God in worship is intended not only to declare God’s glory but to transform us into people who honor God everywhere and at all times.

In fact, notice what Jesus prayed in John 17:4:

I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do (ESV).

Jesus honor and glorified God when He knelt in prayer, but He also glorified God when He got up off His knees and got busy doing God’s work. More specifically, doing the work the Father had planned for Him to do.

Notice, Jesus didn’t honor God by simply doing whatever pleased Him in the moment. He honored God by doing the work God wanted Him to do. He did that by traveling through the regions declaring the gospel of the kingdom. He did that by the miracles He worked. He did that by training the twelve. He did that by washing feet. He did that by greeting children. He did that by touching lepers. Ultimately, He did that by going to the cross.

If we want to honor God, we don’t do whatever pleases our senses. Further, if we want to honor God, we don’t just paint a veneer of God across our goals, wants, passions, and pleasures, as if merely saying Jesus’s name over an activity or work actually makes it done in Jesus’s name. Rather, we honor God by learning God’s work for us and doing it.

But how do we know God’s work for us? For that, you’ll have to come back tomorrow.

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 admonish you?

John 9: Jesus Did the Work

Today’s reading is John 9.

Yesterday, we claimed the man had to do something to get healed. He had to do what Jesus said. He had to go wash. Then we pointed out that was the same with salvation. We have to do what Jesus says and be washed in baptism if we want our sins removed and our souls made whole. But someone will say, “Wait a minute! Your making salvation about my work. And I know we can’t work for salvation.”

Perhaps. But let’s look a bit closer out this account. Do you recall in this account what got the Pharisees so upset about this healing? It happened on the Sabbath. What do we know about the Sabbath law? No working on the Sabbath.

I ask you to read the chapter again. Look carefully. Who is accused of working on the Sabbath? The healed man who washed in the pool of Siloam? Nope. Jesus. In other words, even though the healed man did something, everyone knew who did the healing work: Jesus. Jesus did the work. The healed man didn’t work. Yes, he acted. Yes, he did something. Sure, by some definitions we can even apply the word “work” to what he did. But no one in this story thought the healed man did the work. They all knew who worked. Jesus did.

Read Colossians 2:11-12 and ask this question as you do. When we are baptized, who does the healing, saving work?

In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead (ESV).

Did you catch it? When someone is baptized in water for the remission of their sins, who does the saving work? The person being baptized? Of course not. God does the saving work. In fact, just look at the form of baptism. The person being baptized isn’t even doing anything when he or she is baptized. Somebody is doing something to them. The very act of baptism demonstrates not the person working, but being worked on. Of course, the true work is not the person who dunks them under the water, but God who raised them out of that water healed, whole, saved, sinless.

Praise God! He has made me whole!

Has He made you whole? Have you been baptized? Have you been raised to walk in the newness of life by the power of God who raised Jesus from the dead? Can we help you with that? If so, let us know in the comments.

Tomorrow’s reading is John 9.

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 9 prompt or improve your trust in God?

Psalm 90: Establish the Work of Our Hands

Today’s reading is Psalm 90.

As the psalm began by addressing Israel’s Lord and Master as their dwelling place, their refuge, it ends addressing Israel’s Lord and Master as the one who would make their work and service useful. Part of the gladness and blessing Moses sought for Israel was that God would “establish the work of our hands.”

If Moses was writing during the final years of Israel’s slavery, this would be a general request for God to make their service and work something more than submission to a tyrannical dictator. Let their work be for God and for God’s own kingdom, not simple slavery to the Pharaoh. If Moses was writing in the wilderness wanderings, he may have been specifically referencing the building of the tabernacle, asking God to establish the work of their hands by taking residence in that tent.

Naturally, that makes this a great prayer for post-exilic Israel. As we’ve gone through the psalms, we have seen the editors piece together psalms from different parts of Israel’s history to present a story and response to the years under the kings and then into the judgment on Jerusalem and captivity of Judah in Babylon. Though this psalm starts a new book of the psalms, Moses’s prayer would fit a time of captivity and looking forward to a return home and an opportunity to rebuild the city and house of God.

However, more importantly for us than its historical context and potential application for Israel is seeing God’s ultimate answer to this request. We Christians find it in 1 Corinthians 15:58:

Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain (ESV).

Paul wrote this at the end of a discussion of the resurrection. Because Jesus rose from the dead, the work of our hands is not in vain. It is established. This is great news and the exact opposite of what many believe. Sadly, many who claim to be Christian believe the grace of Jesus’s resurrection means our work doesn’t matter at all. Not true. Because of Jesus’s resurrection, what we do actually matters. Our obedience actually accomplishes something. Our service actually means something. Moses prayed God would establish the work of our hands. And in the resurrection of Jesus that is precisely what God did.

Praise the Lord!

Next week’s reading is Psalm 91.

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

What do you want to share with others from Psalm 90?

Psalm 83: A Prayer for When God is Silent

Today’s reading is Psalm 83.

Perhaps the greatest blessing of the psalms is to find psalmists who express feelings and experiences exactly like the ones we feel today. Have you ever felt like God is silent? Like you’ve prayed and prayed and prayed, but God just isn’t responding? That is exactly the state of our Asaphite psalmist in Psalm 83.

He begins with a threefold request for God to end His silence:

O God, do not keep silence;
do not hold your peace or be still, O God!

Psalm 83:1 (ESV)

I’m not sure if this is irony or coincidence or if there is some deeper plan on this. This last Asaph psalms begins with this plea, but the first Asaph psalm began with the declaration God doesn’t keep silence:

Our God comes; he does not keep silence;
before him is a devouring fire,
around him is a mighty tempest.

Psalm 50:3 (ESV)

Wait! Did your ears tingle just a little as you read that last quote from Psalm 50? Because in Psalm 83:14-15, the Asaphite psalmist asks God to send fire and tempest against His enemies so they would be filled with shame and seek the Name of the LORD.

Clearly, these psalms are connected by a silence broken with fire and tempest from God.

Here’s the point for us. The first Asaph psalm declares faith God will not be silent. This last Asaph psalm demonstrates the Asaphite psalmist has experienced silence up to the point where an unconquerable enemy has surrounded Israel and God has done nothing.

What does the psalmist do? He keeps praying. Not so much for himself, but for God. The psalmist doesn’t pray, “My enemies make an uproar,” but “Your enemies make an uproar.” It isn’t, “Those who hate me have raised their heads,” but “Those who hate You, God, have raised their heads.” The psalmist isn’t praying for God to stand up for him the psalmist, but to stand up for Himself God.

I trust we’ve studied our Bibles and read enough Biblical accounts to know when the enemy is swarming, we make our plans, we fulfill our responsibilities. This psalm is not saying, “Well, there’s nothing to do but pray.” However, it is telling us “There’s nothing worth doing without prayer.” While we plan and act, the enemy will not be defeated by our planning and our acting. Only God can defeat the enemy. So, keep praying.

Know this above all else. God’s way works. But what about when it doesn’t? Then keep working it until it does. Keep praying.

Our God does not keep silence. When the time is best, He will respond. Praise the Lord!

Tomorrow’s reading is Psalm 83.

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 Psalm 83 prompt or improve your praise of God?

Psalm 77: Okay, Here We Go Again

Today’s reading is Psalm 77.

All by itself, I love Psalm 77. I have had times when my soul refused to be comforted. How about you? Times of shocking loss, tragic suffering, make this a special psalm. Times when my sorrow overwhelmed me. Times when I could remember better days, but I wasn’t having better days. This psalm has helped me in those days. I hope it will help you in those days as well.

However, in our Bible reading plan, on this blog, and in the Text Talk podcast, we haven’t come to this psalm by itself. Rather, we come to it after reading one psalm after another every week. And I admit, coming to it that way makes me feel like saying, “Okay, here we go again.” Here is another psalm in which the psalmist is struggling, in doubt, thinking of giving up. We already read Psalms 73 and 74. This almost seems like the psalmist hit repeat.

And once again, in the midst of the turmoil and struggle, the advice ends up being the same. Remember the works of God from old. Remember the Exodus. Remember the miracles. Remember how God has delivered in the past and hang on. Can’t the psalmist strike a new chord? Can’t we get some new advice? Can’t we get a fresh take? Why give us the same old advice?

And that is the problem I have. I want something new. I want something fresh. I don’t want to hear the same old advice. Perhaps I even want something unique, something that will work for me more than for anyone else when I’m struggling. Perhaps I want to discover for myself some bit of advice only I have uncovered, that no one else has ever thought of to give me spiritual strength.

But here is the reality. The struggles we face are not really new struggles. And their solutions are not new solutions. You can look at these solutions as “the same old thing,” or you can look at them as the tried and true approaches saints have used for millennia to build their faith and overcome the enemy. We look for something new to take us to the next level, when in reality the tried and true is where it’s at. For Israel, the tried and true was dig into the stories of God’s earlier deliverances. The tried and true for us is similar. What will build our faith and give us strength to overcome? Not some new method, but the tried and true of getting into God’s Word, praying, worshiping with the saints, spending time with other Christians, fasting, meditation, memorization, sacrificing, serving others. These have always worked to strengthen God’s people. These have always worked to train us for godliness. These have always worked to overcome the enemy.

I get it. Sometimes it feels like, “Okay, here we go again.” But the reality is God told us long ago how to find victory. It hasn’t changed.

Praise the Lord!

Tomorrow’s reading is Psalm 77.

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 Psalm 77 prompt or improve your praise of God?

Faith and Patience

Today’s reading is Hebrews 6.

In Hebrews 5:11, our author expresses concern his audience has become “dull” of hearing. The word translated “dull” is only used one other place in the New Testament: Hebrews 6:12. There it is translated “sluggish” in the ESV. Instead of being “dull” or “sluggish,” our author wants us to have “earnestness” (Hebrews 6:11). That is, he wants us to be eager. The word translated here is the noun cognate of the verb “strive” in Hebrews 4:11. Do you recall what we learned about that word two weeks ago? That word means to strive, to be eager, to be diligent, to do your best.

In other words, one of the great enemies of entering God’s rest is laziness. To be lazy students. To be lazy listeners. To be lazy appliers. In contrast, we need to be zealous workers. We need to be earnest, to be eager, to strive, to be diligent, to do our best. In context, the author reminds his original audience of their work, love, and serving of the saints. They had been active. They had been zealous. They had been hard workers. But laziness is always a temptation and threat. Suddenly, we figure out that the dull hearing in the last chapter isn’t just about what we agree with, believe, or understand. It is really about how we live.

The audience of Hebrews has been earnest. In fact, as the letter is being sent to them, they still are. Yet, they are apparently showing signs of complacency. Our author wants to provoke them before they get so sluggish they are simply standing in the way of sinners or sitting in the seat of scoffers. Instead of walking in the counsel of the ungodly, our author wants us to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.

He gives us Abraham as an example. And what a great example he is. After all, Abraham was not perfect in his faith and patience. He stumbled. He struggled. He let Sarah convince him to pursue that Hagar debacle. He became scared of death and decided to lie about his true relationship with Sarah…twice. At the same time, he left his homeland. He delivered Lot. He sacrificed Isaac (or as good as). He fumbled and faltered along the way, but he held on. He grasped the promise of God and kept moving toward it. Like Abraham, we are running a race. We may fall down on the course, but let us always get up and keep running until we are old and gray and God decides our race has been run.

Though we stumble and struggle, though we fumble and falter, may we surround ourselves with those who will encourage us with God’s promises. May we constantly look to those who pursued faith. May we patiently endure whatever we face to hang on to God. Finally, no matter how badly we’ve messed up in the past, let us do whatever God asks us to do today. His promises are true. Don’t let go of Him or them.

Tomorrow’s reading is Hebrews 6.

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. What does earnestness or eagerness in serving God look like?
3. Why is faith necessary to inherit God’s promises?
4. Why is patience necessary to inherit God’s promises?
5. What do you think we should pray for and about in light of this chapter and today’s post?