Category: devotional

Proverbs 18:1

 

Whoever isolates himself seeks his own desire;

he breaks out against all sound judgment.

 

            Have you noticed how much value people are placing on privacy these days?  Whether it be “right to privacy” talk or simply church members trying to keep to themselves, privacy is a huge part of our society.  The problem is, the love of privacy that our society is embracing is unbiblical and extremely dangerous.

 

            Proverbs 18:1 helps us to see with simple biblical wisdom the danger of the love of privacy.  To isolate yourself is to allow yourself only to focus on your desire and to ignore all wise counsel.  Eventually, everything you want will seem like it is right, no matter how foolish it really is.  When we are alone, we fall prey to our lowest desires. 

 

            God simply did not design mankind to be alone.  In the garden, God pointed out that it was not good for Adam to be alone.  Moses found out from his father-in-law that it was not good for him to try to carry the burden of judging all of Israel on his own.  Jesus surrounded himself with disciples.  The establishing of the church was God’s wisdom for us to live life-on-life, in true fellowship.  None of these things promotes individual privacy.

 

            In my own experience, I have never run across a Christian who fought fervently for privacy who was not either already in sin or soon to fall into deep and destructive sin.  Every time I have tried to shield my life from the scrutiny of others, I have been in sin or soon fallen into sin.  Simply put, privacy is not godly; it is dangerous.

 

            Look at your life right now.  Who has access to your private moments?  Who knows you?  Who knows what you are struggling with?  Who knows what tempts you?  Who can speak into your thought processes and raise real, important questions?  If nobody is there, you need to connect with brothers and sisters in Christ and truly open yourself to the biblical fellowship that we are designed to live in.

Philemon 17-19

 

17     So if you consider me your partner, receive him as you would receive me. 18     If he has wronged you at all, or owes you anything, charge that to my account. 19     I, Paul, write this with my own hand: I will repay it—to say nothing of your owing me even your own self.

 

                Philemon had once owned a man named Onesimus as a slave.  Onesimus ran away, causing financial hardship to Philemon.  IN a strange twist of God’s sovereignty, Onesimus ran into Paul, came to Christ, and is now heading back to Philemon.     

 

                Paul does not merely request that Philemon forgive his repentant former slave.  He actually steps in and makes a legal pledge on Onesimus’ behalf.  Paul states that, if Onesimus has wronged Philemon or owes him money, Paul will be responsible to pay it back.  Notice the statement that Paul makes in which he says he is writing this with his own hand.  This is a legal notice that Paul truly is willing to take on Onesimus’ debt owed to Philemon.

 

                Many times in the church, we will see two Christian brothers and sisters who have reasons to be upset with one another.  Many times, we will desire that the unity of the body be restored.  What this passage lets us know is just how important that unity should be to us.  Paul is actually willing to be financially responsible for Onesimus’ wrongs if only it will bring about unity in the body.  We too must be willing to go to great lengths in order to see that Christians who are in conflict are reconciled to one another. 

 

                What are you willing to do for the sake of unity?  Are you willing to risk your own personal comfort or honor to see two brothers or sisters reconciled with one another?  Are you willing to help a weaker brother make right his wrongs?  Do you know someone who you might be able to help be reconciled to another?  It is our duty as family members to see that our family members are unified.

Esther 4:12-14

 

12 And they told Mordecai what Esther had said. 13 Then Mordecai told them to reply to Esther, “Do not think to yourself that in the king’s palace you will escape any more than all the other Jews. 14 For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”

 

            When Esther, rightly frightened, tried to get out of the dangerous plan presented by Mordecai, he responded with the famous words above.  How often have we heard the concept of being brought into the world “for just such a time as this.”  Songs have been written, sermons have been preached, appeals have been made all over Christianity calling us to step up because we might have been put here on earth for just such a time as this.

 

            Sadly, many of those appeals miss the other side of Mordecai’s words, the important things that come before the famous line.  Mordecai did not simply appeal to Esther by telling her that she was the very one made by God for her unique role.  Yes, he did appeal to that issue, but only slightly at the end of his speech.  No, Mordecai first reminded Esther of two important truths, namely that God was in control and that she would fall if she did not serve him.

 

            Mordecai told Esther that God would, without question, bring deliverance for the Jews.  There was no hint in Mordecai’s appeal to Esther that would make Esther think that she was indispensable in this program.  No, with or without her help, God would do what God would do.

 

            Mordecai also told Esther that, in her case, she would not be rescued from the evil plot did she not find herself serving God.  Mordecai was confident that, should God choose another other than Esther to save the Jews because Esther was unwilling to take the risk, God would also not save Esther’s life in the process.

 

            The reason that I point these things out is simply that too often we look at only one little line from Mordecai’s speech, and we make service to God completely man-centered.  We want to serve because we want to be indispensible.  We want to be the superhero that God calls on to save the day.  But this is not, nor has it ever been, God’s position.  God is sovereign.  He will accomplish his will with or without us.  We cannot keep his kingdom from coming, his will from being done.  God will be victorious.

 

            The question for you and me is not one of helping God accomplish his plan.  IF you are a Christian, the question simply comes down to how much joy you want to have in your life.  God will give joy to all who give him glory.  Nothing will make us more joyful than being used by God in his work for his glory.  No, we are not needed by God.  It is an honor, an infinite honor, for God to allow us to be on his team, serving his purposes, giving him glory. 

 

            Yes, God has put us where we are for just such a time as this.  But such a time as this simply means that this is the time when God calls on his children to serve him and take the gospel to the nations for God’s glory.  HE can and will do his work with or without us.  However, if we will join him, we can have great joy and lives of meaning.  IF we refuse, God will still do his work while we miss out on what he created us to enjoy.

Titus 3:3

 

For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another.

 

            When people say that they do not want to have anything to do with the church, so often the reason that they give is that they think that churches are all a bunch of hypocrites.  Why do they think this?  The world probably thinks we are hypocrites because we give them ample reason to think so.  And the way we give them reason to think so is forgetting who we once were.

 

            Paul, in calling the people to live as good citizens and gracious people, starts to tell us why we should do this.  The simple way to say it is this:  We are not better than the very ones we speak so nastily about.  We are sinners, just like them.

 

            Look at that list of things Paul says used to describe us before we were saved.  It’s not a pretty picture.   

 

·        Foolish – we didn’t’ understand the things we think the world should understand.

·        Disobedient – we didn’t obey God any better than those we condemn.

·        led astray – we were easily mislead, taken captive by evil.

·        slaves to various passions and pleasures – We were driven by our drives, our lusts, our hungers.

·        passing our days in malice and envy –Wanting to hurt others and take what they had.

·        hated by others and hating one another – We were hateful just like those we now look down on.

 

            When you look at that list, and God says it is true of us, what right do you have for putting others down?  Have you forgotten?  Have you forgotten that you were not a good person who God saved because you impressed him so much?  Have you forgotten that you didn’t used to follow the rules very well? 

 

            Remember who you were, Christians.  You were guilty of sin.  You were not better than the world, no matter what you think.  Sure, you might not have done all the particular things you find so distasteful about the world, but you were still a slave to sin and a child of the wrath of God.  Remember your lost state.

 

            And if you happen to be reading this and are not a believer, realize this:  No Christian is a better person than you.  But then, you are not a good person either.  God says we have all sinned against him.  None of us has the moral high ground.  We all need to be forgiven.  Thankfully, God has made provision for the forgiveness of anyone who will lay down their pride, admit their need, and come to Christ for mercy.

Titus 2:11

 

For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people,

 

            “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me.”  Why is grace amazing?  Why would we find grace amazing?  What is grace?

 

            Grace is goodness that you cannot earn.  The grace of God includes his mercy, not punishing us for things we have done.  It also includes his goodness, giving us kindness that we do not deserve.  Grace is a gift from God.  It cannot be earned, nor can it be repaid.

 

            Strange, then, that Paul would tell Titus that the grace of God has appeared.  Grace is a concept.  Grace is an idea.  How can grace appear?  You already know, don’t you?  The grace of God that had been hidden in the past has finally physically and visibly appeared.  Grace has come in the form of the Son of God, Jesus Christ.

 

            In the beginning, God created everything.  As part of that creation, God created mankind, men and women, in his image.  God placed humanity in a perfect place, and gave them everything they would ever need.  But humanity turned against God.  We believed the lie of the devil, and we decided that we should not have to submit to God’s rules.  Adam and Eve, and every human since then except for one, turned away from God and chose their own way, a way of sin, a way that leads to death, destruction, and the burning wrath of God.

 

            Just after Adam and Eve sinned in the garden, God made a promise.  An obscure one, to be sure, but a promise none the less.  God promised that he would send someone into the world, born of a woman, who would crush the head of the serpent, the devil.  God was hinting at his grace that would one day come.

 

            God pointed us toward his grace all throughout the Old Testament.  God promised Abraham that he would bless the whole world through one of his offspring.  God promised David that, from David’s family, God would set a king on the throne who would rule the world forever in perfect justice.  In Isaiah, God promised that a servant would come who would humbly sacrifice his life as a way to pay for the sins of others, sins the servant did not commit.

 

            But still, all those who heard these promises could not truly grasp what they would mean.  IT was not until the time of Jesus that the promise of God’s grace became clear.  In that time, God entered the world.  God has always existed as a trinity, three persons yet still only one God.  God the Son, one of the three persons of the one God, chose to take on humanity and allow himself to be born as a human baby.  Jesus was born of woman, descended from Abraham and David, and was fully God while being fully and totally man.  And Jesus came to be the embodiment, the revealing, the fulfilling of God’s promise of grace.  So, truly, God’s grace has appeared.

 

            Jesus then lived a perfect human life.  God commands that we all live perfectly if we wish to please him; Jesus did so.  Then Jesus allowed himself to be put to death as a sacrifice.  In his suffering, death, and resurrection, Jesus paid the full price for all of the sins of all of God’s people.  Jesus himself told us that whoever would put their trust in him, turning away from their sins, would have eternal life because of his sacrifice.   

 

            So, yes, the grace of God has appeared.  Grace has come in the form of God’s Son who humbled himself to be the sacrifice for our sins.  This is amazing.  This is truly amazing grace. 

 

            But there is more.  The grace of God has appeared bringing salvation to all.  Some translations say that grace has appeared to all, but it makes more sense that the Bible is communicating that salvation has come to all.  What Paul is saying is that all kinds of people, all of the categories from the first ten verses of this chapter, can be saved by Jesus.  Jesus did not merely bring grace to Jews.  He did not bring grace for the wealthy only.  Whether you are young or old, man or woman, Jew or gentile, rich or poor, slave or free, smart or dumb, thin or fat, successful or a failure, married or single, God has brought grace that can be yours in the person of Jesus Christ.  Anyone of any social class or nationality can receive the grace of God and be forgiven of his or her sins.  All you must do is trust Jesus.

 

            Do you not know God?  Have you not yet been forgiven.  No matter who you are and no matter what you have been through, the grace of God has appeared.  God’s grace is offered to you in Jesus.  You have lived as a sinner, we all have.  Today, if you will renounce your rebellion, your sin against God, and if you will trust in Jesus alone for your eternity, God will give you his grace.  God will save your soul and make you his child and forgive you of your sins if you will place your soul in the care of Jesus Christ, believing in and trusting him and his finished work on the cross.

 

            And if you are a Christian, praise God for his grace.  God’s grace is for all kinds of people, even people like us.  What a loving, gracious, glorious God we serve.  God’s grace has appeared.  As the old song says:

 

He Paid a debt he did not owe

I owed a debt I could not pay

I needed someone to wash my sins away

And now I sing a brand new song

Amazing grace, the whole day long

Christ Jesus paid the debt

That I could never pay.

Proverbs 14:4

 

Where there are no oxen, the manger is clean,

but abundant crops come by the strength of the ox.

 

            Life is messy.  The more you try to live and truly accomplish something in life, the more messy that life becomes. 

 

            Think of two different kinds of lives.  On the one hand, there is the safe and easy life.  Many people live this life.  They have a small world in which they live.  They have a few things that they enjoy, and they set those things in order.  They never take risks.  They do not reach out to new people or try new hobbies.  Nor do they ever risk anything for the sake of God’s kingdom.  These people do not share their faith, because they never form new relationships with new people with whom to share their faith.

 

            On the other hand, there is a life that is more dangerous and more messy.  The person who reaches out to others to form new friendships or who tries to find new opportunities or learn new skills, this person is often disappointed.  People let you down.  Sometimes you fail at a new skill.  As you try to share your faith, some people reject the faith and your friendship in the process. 

 

            Proverbs 14:4 grasps clearly the difference in these two worlds, and uses a farming analogy to bring the wisdom to the front.  If a person really likes to have their barn clean, they will not have any oxen in it.  Everything will be tidy and in its place.  However, they also will not be able to plow their fields because they lack the force needed to do it well.  They will risk very little, and they will have very little reward.

 

            On the other hand, a person who stables oxen in his barn has a messy barn.  Oxen make messes and need to be cleaned up after.  Yet, when those oxen are put to work in the field, the harvest is exponentially greater.  The risk, the dirt, the mess, the extra work all combine to bring about a reward that far exceeds anything the safe person could ever dream of experiencing.

 

            The word of God here in Proverbs is challenging us to allow our lives to have messy stables.  The safe person who risks nothing seldom glorifies God.  But the person who steps out, who tries something new, who risks it all for the kingdom, that person glorifies God.  God is not honored when everything we do in life requires no faith and no real work.  He is honored when our lives show that we trust him enough to do something the rest of the world might think is crazy.

 

            Think of the categories that might make your barn messy but which also might lead to great reward.  Which might God want in your life?

 

·        Reaching out to someone with the gospel

·        Caring for someone who is hard to love

·        Taking a mission trip to an unfamiliar place in order to share the gospel

·        Visiting people in a place like a nursing home or hospital.

·        Inviting new neighbors to come with you to church

·        Helping out among the needy

·        Helping in a Sunday School class even though you’ve never taught before

·        Taking a class to learn a new skill that is needed in your church (multi-media, sound, childcare, finance, sign language, music, etc.)

 

            There are thousands of things that you can do to serve God in glorious ways.  Yes, all of them require a bit of risk-taking on your part.  However, with the mess that may come also comes the harvest.

2 Timothy 4:13

 

When you come, bring the cloak that I left with Carpus at Troas, also the books, and above all the parchments.

 

            Here Paul continues to ask Timothy for help as Timothy comes to see him in prison.  First, Paul asks for a cloak.  It’s cold in that dungeon, and Paul is getting old.  As winter approaches, Paul knows that he will want that simple garment for his own comfort.

 

            But then we get the request for the books and parchments.  This verse is utterly fascinating to me.  No one has ever shed more light on it than C. H. Spurgeon, the famous Baptist Preacher of the nineteenth century.  Listen as I share with you a few lines from Spurgeon on this text:

 

We do not know what the books were about, and we can only form some guess as to what the parchments were. Paul had a few books which were left, perhaps wrapped up in the cloak, and Timothy was to be careful to bring them.

 

Even an apostle must read. Some of our very ultra Calvinistic brethren think that a minister who reads books and studies his sermon must be a very deplorable specimen of a preacher. A man who comes up into the pulpit, professes to take his text on the spot, and talks any quantity of nonsense, is the idol of many. If he will speak without premeditation, or pretend to do so, and never produce what they call a dish of dead men’s brains—oh! that is the preacher.

 

How rebuked are they by the apostle! He is inspired, and yet he wants books! He has been preaching at least for thirty years, and yet he wants books! He had seen the Lord, and yet he wants books! He had had a wider experience than most men, and yet he wants books! He had been caught up into the third heaven, and had heard things which it was unlawful for a man to utter, yet he wants books! He had written the major part of the New Testament, and yet he wants books!

 

The apostle says to Timothy and so he says to every preacher, “Give thyself unto reading.” The man who never reads will never be read; he who never quotes will never be quoted. He who will not use the thoughts of other men’s brains, proves that he has no brains of his own.

 

Brethren, what is true of ministers is true of all our people. You need to read. Renounce as much as you will all light literature, but study as much as possible sound theological works, especially the Puritanic writers, and expositions of the Bible. We are quite persuaded that the very best way for you to be spending your leisure, is to be either reading or praying. You may get much instruction from books which afterwards you may use as a true weapon in your Lord and Master’s service. Paul cries, “Bring the books”—join in the cry.*

 

            Is that cry not profound?  Paul found it necessary for him to continue to read and write.  Paul, the apostle who wrote the majority of our New Testament felt it appropriate for him to keep studying until the very end.  How much should this convict our generation?  We can be so very lazy.  We can take our responsibility to read and really dig into God’s word so lightly.  Be convicted by Paul’s words.  If Paul read until the day he died, surely you can do something in your life to do more to educate yourself, to grow, to press on in your knowledge of the word of God.

 

* C.H. Spurgeon. “Paul, His Cloak, and His Books.” Delivered on Sunday Morning, November 29th, 1863 at the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington [Sermon on-Line]. Accessed 19 August 2010. Available from http://www.spurgeon.org/sermons/0542.htm; Internet.

Nehemiah 11:1-2

 

1 Now the leaders of the people lived in Jerusalem. And the rest of the people cast lots to bring one out of ten to live in Jerusalem the holy city, while nine out of ten remained in the other towns. 2 And the people blessed all the men who willingly offered to live in Jerusalem.

 

            All of chapter 11 of Nehemiah is devoted to a certain group of people moving from their homes in the countryside into the city of Jerusalem.  You see, though the walls were built, the city needed people to live there in order to see to it that things were taken care of.  Since Jerusalem was the city where the temple was, keeping it functioning was a way in which the people served the worship of God.

 

            Recognize this fact:  Sometimes God’s people need to change everything about their lives in order to serve him.  The people in Nehemiah moved.  They left their houses, they left their relatives, they left their careers, and they moved into Jerusalem in order to serve God.  They knew that, for God’s city to be rightly taken care of, some people had to change everything in order to do that work.

 

            Are you willing to set aside your comforts for the service of the Lord?  What is going to be the number one priority in your household?  You can either make your comfort number one, or you will make God’s service number one.  This will be reflected in how you spend your time, how you spend your money, how you give of yourself and your energy to serve the Lord.