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Daily Bible thoughts 853: Friday 10th April 2015: Philippians 3: 2-4a

Philippians 3: 2-4a

Recognising!

Paul’s steps were frequently dogged by certain people we refer to as ‘Judaizers’ (2). They were Jewish legalists. They wanted to supplement the simple message of trust in Christ. They said, ‘You need Jesus plus certain other things in order to be saved.’ They were into additives. In particular they said, ‘You need to be circumcised in order to be saved.’ That’s why Paul calls them ‘’those mutilators of the flesh’’. He also pulls no punches, calling them ‘’dogs, those men who do evil’’. Paul was never in doubt that false teaching is dangerous and viciously harms and even destroys people. We must similarly ‘’Watch out’’ for any form of warped teaching that might encroach on the church. We must guard our hearts and minds against any erroneous thinking. Only the truth which set us free will keep us free! ‘’Steer clear of the barking dogs, those religious busybodies, all bark and no bite. All they’re interested in is appearances – knife-happy circumcisers I call them.’’ The Message

True Christianity is so simple (3). It is:

  • Christ-centred;
  • Spirit–led; and
  • Grace-filled. It is ‘’not by works, so that no one can boast’’. (Ephesians 2:9). The gospel of grace tells you that your good deeds can’t get you into heaven and your bad ones won’t keep you out, if you’re trusting Jesus to save you (see also 9). ‘’I didn’t want some petty, inferior brand of righteousness that comes from keeping a list of rules when I could get the robust kind that comes from trusting Christ – God’s ’’ The Message.

A book title proclaims ‘Jesus plus nothing equals everything.’

But at one time Paul was a stranger to grace (4a). He was full of self-confidence before God. However, a meeting with the risen Lord Jesus on the ‘Damascus Road’ was to puncture his pride.

His wonderful story is coming up next

Prayer: Lord, deliver us from a performance based mentality and the pride that goes with it. Help us to feel and know what is so amazing about grace.

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Daily Bible thoughts 852: Thursday 9th April 2015: Philippians 3:1

 Philippians 3:1

Rejoicing!

Paul says ‘’Finally’’ then continues for a further two chapters – rather like some preachers! But he is beginning to pull things together. He’s coming in for a landing.

This is a command, so it can’t be primarily about feelings. The rejoicing is ‘’in the Lord’’. In Him we will always find reasons for rejoicing, and we need to ensure that our focus is continually on Him. An Argentinian pastor, Juan Carlos Ortiz, wrote a book entitled ‘Disciple’. It came out in the 1970’s and created quite a stir. He filled it with some outstanding and thought-provoking lines. I seem to remember him saying that if he preached a sermon, and it clearly wasn’t obeyed in the congregation, he would preach it over and over until he did see it being lived out. It is a fact that preachers will need to repeat familiar truths (even if not always in consecutive sermons! But I could understand why he did that.) It seems obvious that Paul had said this before, and he would say it again (Philippians 4:4). Here is a message we believers need to hear, i.e. that we can choose a stance of joy before God. ‘’I don’t mind repeating what I have written in earlier letters, and I hope you don’t mind hearing it again. Better safe than sorry…’’ The Message.

Rejoicing in the Lord is a ‘’safeguard’’ against many things – like, for example, pessimism, low spirits, bitterness and ‘poor me’ ism! But in the context it is specifically presented as protection from false teaching. It seems to me that the more our vision is taken up with who God is, the more we will be guarded against error. How could you be seduced into some pitifully small erroneous view of God while the truth of who He is shines so brightly in your heart?

So how might you ‘’rejoice in the Lord’’ today? Well, there’s nothing exhaustive about what I’m writing, but here are a few suggestions:

  • Think about Him: meditate on the Person of God. Reflect on His nature and attributes. Read Scripture and good quality Christian materials;
  • Thank Him: count your blessings (How about taking a day, or part of a day to simply thank the Lord?);
  • Sing to Him: you may or may not have a good singing voice, but God delights in love songs that come from sincere hearts. What’s more, it will do you good;
  • Play Christian music; listen to Christian music; watch (some!) Christian T.V. (Be selective!!) But have a God-filled atmosphere around you;
  • Do every needful thing you can do to absorb yourself in God.

The challenge, of course, is to do this in bad times and on difficult days. But it may help to remember that ‘the epistle of joy’, as Philippians has been described, was written from prison by a man who did not deserve to be there. He spoke from experience, and maybe he was even reminding himself. (The first person to preach to is yourself!)

Again, this not principally about your emotions. Make a decision today to ‘’Rejoice in the Lord always.’’ (4:4). Probably your feelings will eventually catch up with your commitment. But even if not, it’s the right thing to do.

Prayer: Lord I choose to thank you and count my blessings.

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Daily Bible thoughts 851: Wednesday 8th April 2015: Jeremiah 3:21-25

Jeremiah 3:21-25

The passionate call to ‘’Return’’ goes out again (22a). (It has been estimated that it occurs over 40 times in the book.)

People who have drifted (or turned) from God; those who are backslidden, can return, and will do so:

  • Where there is conviction of sin (21): where there is sadness and sorrow over wrong-doing and penitent tears are shed: ‘’A cry is heard on the barren heights, the weeping and pleading of the people of Israel…’’
  • Where there is recognition of who God is (22b), and what He can do for us (23b): ‘’for you are the LORD our God…surely in the LORD our God is the salvation of Israel.’’
  • Where there is willingness to return (22b): ‘’Yes, we will come to you…’’
  • Where there is recognition of sin’s deception (24, 25): ‘’All that popular religion was a cheap lie, duped crowds buying up the latest in gods…The Fraud picked us clean, swindled us of what our ancestors bequeathed us, Gypped us out of our inheritance – God-blessed flocks and God-given children. We made our bed and now lie in it, all tangled up in the dirty sheets of dishonour.’’ The Message.
  • Where there is humble confession of sin (25). People have to ‘come clean’ with God and honestly confess their true state, without pretence or excuses.

‘’ The people’s confession of sin seems genuine and complete (verse 25). However, we must assume it is the faithful ‘’remnant’’ that is confessing here, because the majority of Israelites never did repent. It is likely that Jeremiah described the repentance of the northern kingdom in order to provoke the people of Judah to repent also. Surely God longed to hear these words of repentance from His people, both from Israel and from Judah. And He longs to hear our words of repentance today, whenever we have strayed from Him.’’ Tom Hale: ‘The Applied Old Testament Commentary’’, p.1082.

‘’returning is the only remedy for backsliding…Backsliding is like sickness (22). It begins with a secret ‘’infection’’ of sin, which leads to loss of spiritual appetite, gradual decline and, if not attended to, death. God heals our backsliding if we honestly accept His diagnosis and humbly return to Him.’’ Warren W. Wiersbe: ‘With the Word’, p.499.

Prayer: Lord, you know how ­________ has slipped away from following you. Please draw them back.

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Daily Bible thoughts 850: Tuesday 7th April 2015: Jeremiah 3:19, 20

Jeremiah 3:19, 20

“I planned what I’d say if you returned to me:
    ‘Good! I’ll bring you back into the family.
I’ll give you choice land,
    land that the godless nations would die for.’
And I imagined that you would say, ‘Dear father!’
    and would never again go off and leave me.
But no luck. Like a false-hearted woman walking out on her husband,
    you, the whole family of Israel, have proven false to me.”
God’s Decree.’’ The Message

All our sin and backsliding is a sin against love.

It is also irrational. It is like a woman leaving a good and loving husband for another man, or other men who have proved false. She has come to see ‘’where her bread is buttered’’. She knows that at home she has the kindest of men and the best of providers, yet she will not return. It’s the triumph of hope over experience, but she would prefer to take her chances ‘playing the field.’

God had always been a good and faithful Spouse to His people; the best of Husbands. But still they abandoned Him. None of this makes sense, but it’s what we do.

If you have slipped away from God, or if you have never come to Him, please hear and heed the pleading words of longing in Jeremiah 3.

Prayer: Lord, forgive us our trespasses.

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Daily Bible thoughts 849: Monday 6th April 2015: Jeremiah 3:14-18

 Jeremiah 3:14-18

‘’What’s the world coming to?’

There are prophecies in the Bible that seem to relate to a time beyond our time (although they could be fulfilled in our lifetime). This is one of those passages.

I remember our scholarly and godly Director of Studies at my training college saying that there are verses in the Bible that seem to point to a literal rule of the Messiah over this world: the so-called ‘Millennial Kingdom.’ Many Bible teachers believe that passages such as this teach that Jesus will come back to the earth and rule over it from His ‘’Throne…in Jerusalem’’ (17).

When He comes again:

  • Israel and Judah will be re-united (18). They will recognise that Jesus is their true Messiah and worship Him together;
  • The whole earth will come to worship the Lord in Jerusalem (17). At that time Jesus will be universally honoured and not rejected. What a day!

‘’The time will come”—God’s Decree!—“when no one will say any longer, ‘Oh, for the good old days!… It won’t even occur to anyone to say it—‘the good old days.’ The so-called good old days of the Ark are gone for good.’’ The Message.

Even the best of the past will pale into insignificance when Christ returns. The Easter celebration, reminding us of His first advent, also tells us that Jesus is alive and will one day come back.

We are living through very dark days. It has become more and more painful to watch the news over the last year or so (in my view). More and more people are asking, ‘’What is happening to the world? ’What is this world coming to?’’

But the real question is: ‘’Who is coming to the world?’’ The Bible’s clear answer is ‘Jesus’. Are you ready to meet Him?

Prayer: Thank you Lord that you are in control, and you are the Beginning and the End of all things. Help me to join your team, and not be kicking against you.

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Daily Bible thoughts 847: Thursday 2nd April 2015: Jeremiah 3:6-10

Jeremiah 3:6-10

‘When will they ever learn?’

‘’Her flighty sister, Judah, saw what she did. She also saw that because of fickle Israel’s loose morals I threw her out, gave her her walking papers. But that didn’t faze flighty sister Judah. She went out, big as you please, and took up a whore’s life also. She took up cheap sex-and-religion as a sideline diversion, an indulgent recreation, and used anything and anyone, flouting sanity and sanctity alike, stinking up the country. And not once in all this did flighty sister Judah even give me a nod, although she made a show of it from time to time.’’

We must learn from the sins (and mistakes) of others (6). Life furnishes us with many salutary object lessons. We can learn from the pain and misery of others, let alone our own. Such hard-bought lessons should not be wasted. As we read the Bible we find that there are numerous warnings to heed as we read the stories of ordinary sinful people just like ourselves.

Judah had much to learn from the sin and punishment of the northern kingdom, Israel (7, 8). Israel fell first and was taken into captivity first. This happened around 100 years earlier. But Biblical history teaches (and history in general) that we are slow to learn important lessons.

‘’The only thing we learn from history is that we learn nothing from history.’’

‘’There are none so blind as those who will not see.’’

It was like God gave Judah a front seat in the stalls. They ate their popcorn and watched what was played out on stage. It was a powerful drama, as Israel was disciplined and the people were ‘divorced’ by being sent into captivity. The Judeans, however, thought they could put on the same play without facing the same devastating ending.

To change the image: Israel played with fire and got burned; Judah thought she could play with the identical fire and not get burned. ‘’The only thing we learn from history…’’

Verse 9 refers to Judah: ‘’Israel’s immorality mattered so little to her’’. They totally played down what the Israelites had done. It seems that we face a similarly serious situation in our land with sin mattering ‘’so little’’ to many people. We who are Christians are in danger and we’d better recognise it. We live in the same environment, populate the same culture and breathe in the same air, and we need to be careful that we are not infected with this ‘bug’. We can’t afford to become careless about sin. Yes, we may be forgiven; yes we get right with God through faith in Jesus. But this does not mean that we can live casually. Someone observed that ‘’sin is never less than serious in a Christian.’’ (See Romans 6.) It is true that we continue to sin, but our attitude towards it is to be one of implacable hatred and hostility and fierce resistance, in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Judah only pretended to return to God. That sham front can never escape the scrutiny of the One who has X-Ray vision (Revelation 1:14b).

Prayer: Lord, you know my heart. I want to hate all sin, and love righteousness. I recognise that sin can never matter little to those who see what it did to Jesus. The cross tells me to hate evil and love you. I do so want to side with you against all sin and evil. Deliver me from its power, even as you have set me free from its penalty. I praise you that one day I will be rescued from its very presence.

 

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Daily Bible thoughts 846: Wednesday 1st April 2015: Jeremiah 3:1-5

Jeremiah 3:1-5

‘’…the barren heights…’’ (2a).

The divorce law in Deuteronomy 24:1-4 prohibited a woman who had been divorced and who had married another man from ever returning to her first husband. The Lord here pictures Judah as being effectively divorced from Him by her dalliance with other lovers (the Canaanite gods.) By analogy with the divorce law she could never hope for Yahweh to take her back. But He, of course, is gracious, and He would gladly welcome her home if only she would repent.

The sexual imagery continues with the theme of prostitution in (1, 2 and 3). It is shocking language. ‘’Look around at the hills. Where have you not had sex?’’ The Message. It shows that God loves His people so much that He is prepared to speak the ‘’kind truth’’ as someone put it. He was willing to spell out the seriousness of the situation, even though it meant giving the hard word. What the people of Judah were doing was spiritual prostitution. They were no doubt shocked and even scandalised to hear their conduct described in such terms. But God knew they needed to see themselves as He saw them.

Jesus similarly used ‘shock tactics’ in His speech. He used arresting language. He spoke some ‘hard sayings’, designed to challenge people, make them think, and ultimately change. The God of the Old Testament is the same God revealed in Christ.

Remember that the true God calls for undivided heart loyalty. We are to have no other gods before Him. Are we totally faithful in our marriage to the Lord of heaven and earth? Or is something flirtatious going on around the edges of the relationship? Do we have eyes for other ‘lovers’? Are we chasing after any idols?

Just as in sexual temptation (2) when you seem to be offered something good, but it turns out to be empty and unfulfilling; so when we turn to any other god we will find ‘barrenness’ there. What would seem to lift you up will pull you down.

I believe Newton’s law says that for each action there will be an equal and opposite reaction. I say that because we live in a world of cause and effect. Actions have consequences (2b, 3a; see Leviticus 26:3,4). Sin has unwanted consequences. It not only affects me – the sinner, but also the land I live in. Primarily my sin is against God, but it also has social consequences. It can negatively affect others.

The people of Judah would not repent (3-5). They were ‘’brazen’’ in their sin (3b). In fact, they were blasé about their relationship with God. They thought they could live how they pleased and the Lord wouldn’t mind. It wouldn’t adversely affect things. ‘’Brazen as whores, you carry on as if you’ve done nothing wrong. Then you have the nerve to call out, ‘My father! You took care of me when I was a child. What now? Are you going to keep up your anger nonstop?’ That’s your line. Meanwhile you keep sinning nonstop.’’ The Message.

Prayer: Lord God, you deserve, and require, the true love of all my heart. Help me to worship you alone.

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Daily Bible thoughts 844: Monday 30th March 2015: Philippians 2:25-30

Philippians 2:25-30

‘Working models’

My friend, Alan Norton, died just a few weeks ago. He was a real Christian gent who overcame all kinds of handicaps to live a full and happy life into his 80’s. When I was 15, I spent 10 days in London with ‘Uncle Alan’ (as I knew him then) and his mum, Bessie. Alan took me all over. I remember an outing to the Science Museum. At the time I thought it was the best museum I had ever visited. I was thrilled with all the working models that illustrated what might otherwise be more abstract principles.

Earlier in ‘Philippians’ 2 Paul has written: ‘’Go out into the world uncorrupted, a breath of fresh air in this squalid and polluted society. ‘’ In the latter part of Philippians 2, we are introduced to two men who were just that: Timothy and Epaphroditus.

Paul was no ‘prima donna’ (25) who saw himself as Christianity’s big star. In fact he probably had no idea of how future generations of Christians would view him. He had no sense of superiority to Epaphroditus. (Notice that this relationship was close and respectful, but also different to the more intimate ‘father-son’ language used regarding Timothy.)

Epaphroditus was an example of (20, 21) working in the opposite direction. He was their ‘Timothy’ to Paul. Think of the humility and servant-like spirit it took to go and be with Paul in prison and take care of his needs. He nearly died in the cause (26, 27, 29, and 30). In those days prisoners were not provided with food. They would starve if there weren’t family and friends to care for them and their needs. The church at Philippi, it appears, sent Epaphroditus to be with Paul in his imprisonment: to cook his food and take care of his needs.

Even in his serious illness, Epaphroditus had profound concern for the feelings of others (26). Such unselfishness and generosity is truly counter-cultural. It can be a rarity, even in the church (20, 21).

Timothy and Epaphroditus appear at the end of chapter 2 as living illustrations (working models) embodying the principles set out in (1-11). They offered humble, sacrificial service, putting themselves on the line for the sake of others. This is our calling too.

Prayer: Lord let my only aim be to give and not to get.

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Daily Bible thoughts 843: Friday 27th March 2014: Philippians 2:19-24

Philippians 2:19-24

‘’But you know yourselves that Timothy’s the real thing.’’ The Message.

I am reminded, as I read (19, 20) of Paul’s words in Romans 12:9a: ‘’Love must be sincere…’’ (‘’Love from the centre of who you are; don’t fake it.’’ The Message.).Timothy had an exemplary attitude. He was willing to serve Paul and put himself out for the benefit of others (see also 22) He had ‘’proved himself’’ in the eyes of Paul and the church. His excellent reputation was the same as his character. It was not the case that he was reputed to be something that he was not. His high standing in the Christian community was entirely appropriate.

Compare (21) with (2:4). Note how the ‘’interests…of Jesus Christ’’ are linked with the ‘’welfare’’ of the church. Jesus bought it with His own blood, so His heart is there, with His people. Whatever we do to the ‘least’ of Jesus’ brothers we do to Him.

When you think about the close bond between them (‘’…as a son with his father…’’) it must have been a sacrifice to Paul to release Timothy for other duties. This is an example, I believe, of Paul being willing to put the Philippians’ interests before his own. Someone said, ‘’People do what people see.’’ Timothy had seen a humble, sacrificing and unselfish spirit in his mentor, and it must have had a huge influence on him.

On (24) see (1:19, 25). Although the outcome of Paul’s imprisonment was not totally clear, he believed that he would be freed.

Our culture is rife with ‘Narcissism.’ According to mythology, Narcissus saw his reflection in a pool and fell in love with himself. That’s us, in the main. We are so self-focussed; self-absorbed. But when someone swims against the tide as Timothy did, and as Paul did, it is usually noticed and it is a powerful witness to Christ.

Prayer: Lord, I want to be ‘the real thing.’

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