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Daily Bible thoughts 784: Monday 5th January 2015: Ephesians 4: 7-16

In his commentary on ‘Ephesians’, John Stott makes the point that not only is there ‘saving grace’, by which we come to faith in Christ; there is also such a thing as ‘serving grace’ by which we express our faith in Christ in particular ministries (7). I believe we could paraphrase this verse by saying, ‘But to each one of us gifts have been given…’ Each part of the body of Christ has a job to do (16). In an atmosphere of honest love, the church grows, and ‘’builds itself up’’ as each member is fully and appropriately employed (15, 16). But it all comes ‘’From him…’’ i.e. the Lord Jesus who is ‘’the Head’’ of the church (15). In the earlier part of the passage it is made clear that the victoriously ascended Lord Jesus gives these ‘grace gifts’ to the church. The Jesus who ‘’descended’’ in the incarnation has also ‘’ascended’’ and His presence fills ‘’the whole universe.’’ (9, 10). The quote in verse 8 is from Psalm 68:18. That psalm pictures God returning to the heavenly sanctuary following the overthrow of Israel’s enemies. Because He is the conqueror, He has a booty; a largesse to distribute. These words are applied by Paul to Christ. They clearly are significant in what they say about Paul’s view of the identity of Jesus. He is none other than God. He has come through death victorious, and the gifts He gives are the spoils of victory. (It’s interesting to note that when a Roman General returned from battle as a winner, he would have a triumphal procession through the streets of Rome. The streets would be thronged with cheering crowds. His defeated foes would walk, heads bowed in shame, behind the conquering army, and the General would throw out the booty, the spoils of battle to the people on both sides of the road. What a picture this is!)

In particular, Paul speaks about the ascended Lord Jesus giving the gift of leaders to His church (11). There are a variety of leadership gifts. These people all lead, but not necessarily in the same way. They don’t all do the same things. But here is the key point. Why have they been given to the church? The answer is in (12): ‘’to equip the saints for the work of the ministry’’ as one translation puts it. Stott says that leaders are not given to the church to monopolise the ministry but to multiply the ministries. Leaders are there to help God’s people detect, develop, discipline and deploy their gifts. As they use them the body of Christ, the church, will be ‘’built up’’ (12).

What will it look like for the church to be ‘built up’? It will mean two things in particular: unity and maturity. The unity is ‘’in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God…’’ As the spokes of a wheel get closer to the hub, the closer they get to each other. So it is with Jesus and the church. The maturity is about Christlikeness – the church becoming more and more like Jesus.

When David Watson was rector of ‘St. Michael Le-Belfrey in York, he was one of the most famous clergymen in the United Kingdom. But he told his congregation, ‘’When people come in here and ask who the minister is, say ‘We all are’.’’ Such a comment beats in time with the rhythm of this passage.

Jesus is Lord and He is building His church through the ‘spoils of war.’ Praise God for all His gracious gifts. We go from victory to victory as we use them in the power of the Spirit.

Prayer: Thank you Lord Jesus for giving my life such eternal significance.

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Daily Bible thoughts 780: Tuesday 30th December 2014: Isaiah 61:1-3

Isiah 61:1-3

These great words apply to the Messiah. We know this because Jesus spoke many of them about Himself at the beginning of His ministry (Luke 4:14-21). If the words did apply to Isaiah it was in a secondary sense. Maybe to some degree they did relate to his obviously anointed ministry. But there was a much deeper meaning and intent in them. Whatever your situation or need may be today, you will find what you require in Jesus. He has an answer. He is your answer. Verse 3b is similar to chapter 60:21b. Jesus has come to make strong, sturdy, stable people; men and women, and boys and girls who are right with God and who live right, and who, in so doing, bring glory to God.

In the first place, Isaiah was again writing about a physical, literal deliverance from exile in Babylon. The ‘’captives’’ would be freed. The ‘’prisoners’’ would come home. There was going to be a new day in ‘’Zion’’ (3). The whole atmosphere of Jerusalem would change as the city was restored. People’s hearts and lives would be transformed. That happened about 150 years after Isaiah wrote these words. But at a much deeper level, Isaiah was anticipating the coming of the Messiah who would ‘’release’’ many prisoners from darkness’’, setting them free from bondage to sin. Jesus came about 700 years later.

I think this word of explanation from Tom Hale is important: ‘’When Jesus quoted verses 1-2, He omitted the last part of verse 2 about proclaiming the day of vengeance of our God. Jesus did not come to earth to proclaim vengeance; He came to proclaim salvation – the year of the LORD’s favour (see Isaiah 49:8). However, when He comes a second time, it will be to gather his elect and to proclaim judgment (vengeance) on all the rest of mankind (Mark 13:26-27; 2 Thessalonians 1:6-10). Christ is both Saviour and Judge. Now He is Saviour of those who believe; soon He’ll be Judge of those who do not. In a very real sense, these centuries between Christ’s first coming and His second coming can be called the ‘’year of the Lord’s favour,’’ the period during which we are offered salvation. For each person this ‘’year of favour’’ ends at death; our choice in this life will determine whether Christ becomes our Saviour or our Judge.’’ Tom Hale: ‘The Applied Old Testament Commentary’, p.1066.

If Jesus needed the anointing of the Holy Spirit to fulfil His ministry, how much more do we need the Spirit of God for ours? We are faced with a dark, sad and broken world, full of needy people. We cannot serve them as we should, in Jesus’ Name, without being clothed with power from on high. But with the divine equipping what power we will know to see people utterly transformed.

Prayer: Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on me; fill me anew.

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Daily Bible thoughts 775: Tuesday 23rd December 2014: Isaiah 59: 20, 21

As we saw yesterday, God’s judging work would prepare the way for what Derek Kidner calls a ‘’kingdom of converts.’’ We can be judged for our sins, or we can repent and be forgiven. We get to choose (20).
God’s Spirit and His Word go together. There cannot be a genuine work of the Holy Spirit that dismisses or undermines the importance of the Bible. In a truly Pentecostal or Charismatic church, God’s Word will be honoured and taken seriously. The Scriptures will be searched. They will be faithfully, meticulously and systematically taught.
As a prophet of God, Isaiah was speaking Spirit inspired words. Here God gives him the encouragement that these words will be repeated by his ‘’children’’ and ‘’their descendants from this time on and for ever.’’ (21). There will be an enduring impact.
God’s Word should be in our ‘’mouths’’. We need to speak it to ourselves and to others. It is important to speak in line with it and according to it; to allow God’s wonderful Book to shape our speech. ‘’We must receive the Holy Spirit, and we must utter the words which He puts into our lips.’’ F.B. Meyer: ‘Great verses through the Bible, p.291. Meyer goes on to quote Acts 2:4: ‘’All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak…’’ I heard a preacher say that when a bath gets full, the water goes out through a hole called an ‘overflow’. He went on to say that we are all fitted with an ‘overflow’. It’s a little hole beneath the nose called a ‘mouth’. He argued that if you work your way through the book of Acts you will find that when anyone got filled with the Holy Spirit, they overflowed, in some way, through the mouth.
‘’Here God gives His people two great covenant gifts, His Spirit and His words, and they will not depart from His people. These two gifts are given to us today – through Jesus Christ, God’s greatest gift of all.’’
‘’In verse 21, God says His Spirit and His words will not depart from the people’s mouth (see Joshua 1:8). Neither will they depart from the people’s hearts, because the new covenant will be written on their hearts (Jeremiah 31:33). Heart and mouth go together; the mouth expresses what flows from the heart (Matthew 12:34; 15:18; Romans 10:9-10).’’ Tom Hale: ‘The Applied Old Testament Commentary, p.1064.
Prayer: Thank you Lord for your mercy to the genuinely repentant. Thank you too for the gift of your Spirit and your Word, showing us a new direction to walk in, and giving us the power to do so.

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Daily Bible thoughts 774: Monday 22nd December 2014: Isaiah 59:9-19

“Good is missing in action.’’ The Message.
Spiritual darkness is what we opt for when we turn our backs on God (13b) and towards sin (9-11). We may not like it when we are in it, but we will get what we have chosen (John 3:19; 12:35-40). ‘’We long for light but sink into darkness, long for brightness but stumble through the night.’’ The Message. When truth (light) is not wanted, ignorance (darkness) is courted (14b, 15; see Revelation 11:8.)Sin is self-destructive. If you love darkness rather than light you will get what you love. As someone observed, truth is always the ‘first casualty’ in turbulent times. The ‘’justice…and righteousness’’ are ‘missing in action’ because they are not wanted (9 and 14.) They are pushed away because God is pushed away. Because right living is not popular, right living people are persecuted in such a society (15b). ‘’Perhaps the most revealing touch is the victimization of the decent man, the only one out of step. It is a worse breakdown than that of Am.5:13, i.e. not only public justice has warped, but public opinion with it.’ Derek Kidner: ‘New Bible Commentary’, p.666.
In this section (9-15a), Isaiah confesses the sins of the nation as if they were his own. Was he personally guilty of these terrible wrongs? No. He surely was not. But there is a thread running through the Bible of prayerful people identifying with the sins of their own fellow citizens; standing in solidarity with them before God and crying, ‘Have mercy on us.’ This must have relevance for us as we seek to pray for our wayward and rebellious nation.
One reason why godly intercessors pray like this is at least in part because they know that ultimately God will move in judgment against sin (15b-19). He will come with a tsunami of justice. But even in His judging work there is mercy, for it paves the way for a ‘’kingdom of converts’’ as Derek Kidner puts it (19a).
Prayer: Oh Lord, please have mercy on our land. We have rebelled against you and resisted your ways. We have shaken our fists at you. We have shown hatred for your laws. We will not have you to reign over us. We deserve your judgment, yet we plead for your mercy. Forgive us our sins, for the sake of Jesus who died on the cross for us.

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Daily Bible thoughts 773: Friday 19th December 2014:

 Isaiah 59: 1-8

The unavoidably sad truth is that sin separates. The vertical dimension of sin is the most serious of all. Sin separates us from God. But as the passage progresses the horizontal aspect comes ever more clearly into view: sin separates man from man. Isaiah highlights the social injustices the people of his day had been guilty of. In Romans 3:15-17 Paul quotes from verses 7 and 8 to show that everyone is guilty before God (even the Jews themselves).

‘’Your hands are drenched in blood, your fingers dripping with guilt…They trust in illusion. They tell lies, they get pregnant with mischief and have sin-babies…They compete in the race to do evil and run to be the first to murder. They plan and plot evil, think and breathe evil, and leave a trail of wrecked lives behind them. They know nothing about peace and less than nothing about justice.’’ The Message. Sin hurts God and harms people. It divides us from our Maker, and from one another.

But there is another truth that we have to face. It is that sin can separate our prayers (and even fasting, as we saw yesterday) from God. If we cherish sin in our hearts the Lord will not listen. However much we love religious exercises, our prayers are likely to be ineffective if we refuse to wash our ‘muddy’ hands. The people in Isaiah’s day were tempted to lay the blame on God for their difficulties, saying that His arm was ‘’too short’’ to help them or His ear ‘’too dull’’ to hear (1). ‘’But to blame God is always wrong. Whenever God seems distant and His blessings few, we need to look to ourselves to find the cause: it is our own iniquities that separate us from God.’’ Tom Hale: ‘The Applied Old Testament Commentary’, p.1063.

‘’If God seems far away, guess who moved!’’

‘’God’s hand is unable to work when our hands are defiled with sin. Our prayers accomplish nothing (Ps.66:18), and His power is absent from our lives and ministries.’’ Warren W. Wiersbe: ‘With the Word, p.488

‘’Look! Listen! GOD’s arm is not amputated – he can still save. GOD’s ears are not stopped up-he can still hear. There’s nothing wrong with God; the wrong is in you. Your wrongheaded lives caused the split between you and God. Your sins got between you so that he doesn’t hear.’’ The Message.

It was to bridge that unbridgeable chasm between God and people that Jesus came into the world and died for our sins. His cross is the ‘Bridge’ over that immense gulf. Have you walked across it from darkness to light, and from death to life? You will find there is no other route.

Prayer: Help me Lord God to put down my favourite sins and cling only to Jesus’ cross.

 

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Daily Bible thoughts 772: Thursday 18th December 2014:

 Isaiah 58

‘’You cannot fast as you do today and expect your voice to be heard on high.’’ (4b)

There is nothing wrong with fasting. It is part of the normal Christian life. Jesus showed this in His ‘Sermon on the Mount’, saying, ‘’When you fast…’’ (Matthew 6:16). There is no ‘if’ about it; it’s ‘when’. (See also Matthew 6: 2 and 5. Jesus expected His disciples to give, pray and fast. If you want to look at this subject more deeply, I suggest reading John Piper’s excellent book, ‘A hunger for God.’)

However, there is a way of fasting that is totally wrong and Isaiah 58 points this out. Someone who fasts can ‘’seem eager’’ (2b) spiritually, and we may be impressed with their intensity. It as ‘’as if’’ they were very saintly. But God has ‘x-ray’ vision and sees past the appearance of things. ‘’ When you strive to be a spiritual person, you fight the constant battle of ‘’ritual versus reality.’’ It is much easier to go through the external activities of religion than it is to love God from your heart and let that love touch the lives of others.’’ Warren W. Wiersbe: ‘With the Word’, p.488. Here are three ways in which your fasting can be ineffective:

  • If you do not turn from your sin. God had been calling again and again to His people through Isaiah; pleading with them to repent. The majority would not. You cannot expect fasting, important as it is, to cut any ice with heaven while you are holding on to your favourite sins. Psalm 66:18 provides an important comment on the whole subject.
  • If you still continue to do it your way (3b, 13). This is closely related to the above point. If you go to church on a Sunday (or give yourself to some other special set aside time to seek God), but return home to live as you did before, going your own way and doing your own will, don’t expect any prayer and fasting to bring about the desired change in your circumstances. It doesn’t work like that. Without submission to the Lordship of God you are merely going through an empty religious ritual. Fasting was intended to be a means of self-humbling before God. ‘’The orthodox faith was popular in Judah at that time, and people enjoyed learning the Word and even participating in fasts (vv.2-3). But when the services were over, the worshippers went back to exploiting people and pleasing themselves.’’ Warren W. Wiersbe: ‘With the Word’, p.488.
  • If you do not care about issues of injustice in the world and take appropriate action; serving the poor and needy as you have opportunity.

‘’The kind of fasting you do won’t get your prayers off the ground.’’ The Message.

That is all negative. However there is a way in which we can be ‘’heard on high’’ as we pray and fast. We should not miss this point. Those who genuinely seek God with fasting, turning from their sinful ways and their own wilful paths; serving all around them who need their help; such people will experience immense blessing from God (6-14). As Wiersbe says, your life can become a ‘’watered garden, not a dismal swamp.’’

Prayer: I choose not to give up on fasting, but to give up on sin and self-pleasing.

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Daily Bible thoughts 771: Wednesday 17th December 2014:

 Isaiah 57:14-21

This short passage preaches the gospel. It declares that there can be ‘’peace’’ (19) for both Jews and Gentiles. These are words picked up by the apostle Paul in Ephesians 2:17. He sees them as applying to the preaching of the good news by Jesus through the church. It’s a message of peace with God made possible by Jesus; and peace with all others who have peace with their Creator through Christ. They are united in Him, in His church: built into ‘’a holy temple in the Lord’’ (Ephesians 2:21). This ‘temple’ is made up of people who are reconciled to God and to each other.

But these verses in Isaiah 57 also imply that not everyone will experience God’s peace. You can’t stay ‘’wicked’’ (20, 21) and enjoy it. Spiritual healing and ‘’comfort’’ (18) are for those who repent. As someone said, ‘’The gospel is bad news before it is good news’’. The bad news is that we are born under the judgment of God because of our sin, and if we do not turn away from wrong we cannot be saved.

Here are two complementary truths about God that seem paradoxical: He is transcendent (15a). He is ‘’the high and lofty One’’ who is so far above us He is beyond our reach. Yet He is also immanent (15b). He is close to us; closer even than breathing. And it is possible for a humbly repentant person to have a close and intimate relationship with Him. Such a person who is truly sorry for his or her sins can know God.

By the time Paul quoted verse 19, something significant had taken place. Jesus had been crucified, and the cross makes all the difference!

‘’There is a way for man to rise to that sublime abode; an offering and a sacrifice, A Holy Spirit’s energies; an Advocate with God.’’

Prayer: Thank you Jesus that you made a way where there was no way.

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Daily Bible thoughts 770: Tuesday 16th December 2014:

 Psalm 110

This is a Messianic psalm. David wrote it to celebrate the enthronement of a King who was yet to come. Though he did not know who this King was, he saw Him as superior to himself and called Him ‘’Lord’’ (1). Jesus and the New Testament writers understood that he was referring to the Christ, the anointed One, the Messiah (Mark 12:35-37; Acts 2:34-35; Hebrews 1:13). This King will also be ‘’a priest’’ (4). Melchizedek was both priest and king, and so he was a ‘type’, foreshadowing Christ (Genesis 14:18; Hebrews 7). This psalm speaks of:

The Messiah’s triumphant rule:

  • Extending out from ‘’Zion’’ (i.e. Jerusalem) to affect the ‘’whole earth’’ (2a, 6). This surely is the story of the spread of Christ’s Kingdom since the day of Pentecost?
  • Not defeated by enemies, even though enemies there will be (2b). In truth, it often looks like the enemies have the upper hand, but they do not. However the ‘game’ looks now, we know the ‘final score’. Jesus now ‘rules’ ‘’in the midst’’ of them.
  • Ultimately overcoming all evil (5, 6). Also note the ‘’until’’ in (1). The ‘’footstool’’ is a metaphor for dominion over one’s enemies (1 Corinthians 15:25; Ephesians 1:22). The Ascended Lord Jesus is going to see every last enemy put down (1 Corinthians 15:25-28). Verses 5-7 have images reminiscent of John’s vision of the final battle in which the Lord Jesus will overcome all the ungodly forces united against Him (Revelation 19:11-21).

The Messiah’s willing troops: The battle is the Lord’s. It is ‘’your day of battle’’ (3a). As someone said, ‘We are fighting from victory and not for victory. The decisive battle has already been fought and won at the cross. Nevertheless, the struggle is real and fierce and calls for a willing army. There is still blood being spilled on the battlefield; there are still casualties. So how willing are we? The soldiers of the King above all kings must be:

  • Willing to serve: prepared to give their lives away to God and to others;
  • Willing to sacrifice: Soldiers in this war must give up the desire for comfort, ease and a quiet life. There is no place in the army for ‘chocolate soldiers’ who melt in the heat of battle;
  • Willing to suffer: life in the trenches cannot be expected to be easy;
  • Willing to die: Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote: ‘’When Jesus bids a man come and follow Him, He bids him come and die.’’ There’s more than one way to die. You can’t march out with God without first dying to self. But this war, even though it is already won, may require the ultimate sacrifice. Every Christ follower needs to face and accept the truth that it is a dangerous thing to be a Christian in this hostile world.

The original Hebrew text of (3) is difficult to translate. It is not clear who is ‘’Arrayed in holy majesty’’. If it’s the King, then His youth will be renewed, even as the dawn gives rise to ‘’dew’’ each morning. But if it refers to the soldiers, then they are the ones whose youth will be renewed and who are as abundant as the dew. They will be resourced to serve their King.

Reading this psalm we can be filled with hope. It says to us that in the midst of thick, oppressive darkness and terrible opposition we are right to eagerly anticipate the triumph of Christ’s Kingdom. Prayer: I am grateful to know the final score before the final whistle. It is clear from your Word that Jesus wins in the end, and we win with Him.

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Daily Bible thoughts 769: Monday 15th December 2014:

Ephesians 2: 11-22

As I read this, I am reminded that when God called Abraham, it was so that through him and his descendants the whole world would be blessed (Genesis 12: 1-3). That blessing has now come to us.

The people to whom God gives new life, be they Jews or Gentiles, are being built into a new society, the church, in which Jesus Christ has primacy (20b). This ‘’holy temple in the Lord’’ (21) is built on the Scriptures of Old and New Testaments (20a) and is indwelt by the Spirit. It is made up of people who were once estranged from each other but who now find their focus of unity in Jesus (14-16).

If today’s passage can be thought of as a painting, I believe verse 13 is the nail (or hook) on which it hangs. The entire section may be summed up in these words: ‘’But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.’’ Before conversion we Gentile Christians experienced a ‘double estrangement’:

a.) We were estranged from the Jewish people and their privileges (11, 12, 19a; see Romans 9:1-5). We were at a distance from the revelation of God they had that enabled them to know something about Him and relate to Him: ‘’Now because of Christ – dying that death, shedding that blood – you who were once out of it altogether are in on everything. The Messiah has made things up between us so that we’re now together on this, both non-Jewish outsiders and Jewish insiders. He tore down the wall we used to keep each other at a distance…Instead of continuing with two groups of people separated by centuries of animosity and suspicion, he created a new kind of human being, a fresh start for everybody…That’s plain enough, isn’t it? You’re no longer wandering exiles. This kingdom of faith is now your home country. You’re no longer strangers or outsiders. You belong here, with as much right to the name Christian as anyone.’’ The Message;

b.) More importantly however, we were estranged from God Himself. But through Jesus; through His cross (16, 18) we have access to God. I understand that in the Temple, there was a sign that told the Gentiles to keep out of the court of the Jews, on pain of death. That is all now resolved in Christ (14).

The ‘’He’’ in (17) refers to the Lord Jesus. Post-resurrection, He came to people and ‘’preached peace’’ to them. After His ascension, He continued this preaching ministry in and through the church. In fact, this ministry continues today. There is a double-peace for the double-estrangement. Through Jesus’ sacrifice we can have peace with God, and peace with every other person in Christ. There is a ‘’Consequently’’ (19) to the saving work of Christ: ‘’God is building a home. He’s using us all – irrespective of how we got here – in what he is building. He used the apostles and prophets for the foundation. Now he’s using you, fitting you in brick by brick, stone by stone, with Christ Jesus as the cornerstone that holds all the parts together. We see it taking shape day after day – a holy temple built by God, all of us built into it, a temple in which God is quite at home.’’ The Message.

Prayer: Thank you Lord that through Jesus’ sacrifice I have a relationship with you, and I have been brought into a big family with brothers and sisters all over the world. Thank you for this undeserved privilege.

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