Home thoughts from abroad.wordpress.com

Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings. It is good for our hearts to be strengthened by grace, not by eating ceremonial foods, which is of no benefit to those who do so.

If ‘the heart of man’s problem is the problem of man’s heart’, then mere external rites and rituals will not cut it. God must do a work in the heart.

Through Ezekiel He promised:

I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. Ezekiel 36:26.

It’s not that the outside of the life is unimportant, but genuine Christianity works from the inside out. The source of the ‘river’ is located in the area of the heart, and from there it flows outward to flood every part of the personality and body – and it even goes to regions beyond, in order to refresh the world.

God does not start with the outside. He begins in the heart; and from the internal, the external is transformed.

PRAYER: Lord, I pray that out of my heart there may flow living waters.

THOUGHT: ”The revolution of Jesus is in the first place and continuously a revolution of the human heart or spirit. It did not and does not proceed by means of the formation of social institutions and laws, the outer forms of our existence, intending that these would then impose a good order of life upon people who come under their power. Rather, his is a revolution of character, which proceeds by changing people from the inside through ongoing personal relationship to God in Christ and to one another. It is one that changes their ideas, beliefs, feelings, and habits of choice, as well as their bodily tendencies and social relations. It penetrates to the deepest layers of their soul.” Dallas Willard, Renovation of the Heart: Putting On the Character of Christ

Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith. ⁸ Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

‘Every pastor is an interim pastor.’ The truth of this statement dawned on me more fully and clearly as I came towards the end of my ministry in a church I had served for over 30 years.

It seems to me that a contrast is drawn in these verses, between leaders who have gone (maybe taken away by imprisonment or death?) and the Lord who never leaves; between those who are temporary and the One who is permanent. He cannot be stolen from them, nor will He abandon. He in fact, is the God who never ‘leaves’ or ‘forsakes'(5). Although the church may have many honourable leaders (and verse 7 seems to refer to such), ultimately there is only one ”Leader” we truly need. He works through people, but He’s the only One who is indispensable.

Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith. 

Leadership is not only about the words you say, but about the life you lead. It’s about who you are. What these leaders said was important, but so was what they believed and how they lived.

“The authority by which the Christian leader leads is not power but love, not force but example, not coercion but reasoned persuasion. Leaders have power, but power is safe only in the hands of those who humble themselves to serve.” John Stott.

”…God has said,

“Never will I leave you;
    never will I forsake you.”

⁶ So we say with confidence,

“The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid.
    What can mere mortals do to me?”

Speak in line with Scripture. Agree with God. Say what He has said. Allow His Word to change your mind and shape your perspective. I know this sounds simple and obvious, but it is so powerful when we do. We read our Bibles and we may not always feel the truth of what we see on the page, but it is important that we affirm it. Our only ground of confidence can be what ”God has said…”

‘God says it; I believe it; that settles it.’

Thought: “It often astonishes me that I did not see the importance of meditation upon Scripture earlier in my Christian life. As the outward man is not fit for work for any length of time unless he eats, so it is with the inner man. What is the food for the inner man? Not prayer, but the Word of God -not the simple reading of the Word of God, so that it only passes through our minds, just as water runs through a pipe. No, we must consider what we read, ponder over it, and apply it to our hearts.” George Muller

Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said,

“Never will I leave you;
    never will I forsake you.”

When we have plenty, the danger is that we trust our bank balance and not in the Lord. Nevertheless, it is possible to win the battle against materialism, when we reckon on the reality of God and the faithfulness of His promises. When we truly recognise that God is with us, and God is enough, we can face all of life with confidence.

Reflecting on this earlier this morning, I was reminded of men such as George Mueller and Hudson Taylor. They came to truly rely on the promises of God and they experienced His miraculous provision. Mueller once said,

“Every child of God is not called by the Lord to establish schools and orphan houses and to trust in the Lord for means for them. Yet, there is no reason why you may not experience, far more abundantly than we do now, His willingness to answer the prayers of His children.”

PRAYER: Thank you Lord for our many blessings. We do not deserve a single one. Help us to trust wholly in you and not lean on our own resources.

Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have…

This is something we have to do: i.e. ”keep” our lives free from money-love and maintain them in contented freedom. We have to be intentional about it.

It is necessary because ‘the world’ is all pervasive. It is all around us; in the very atmosphere we breathe:

”Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. ¹⁶ For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world. ¹⁷ The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.” 1 John 3:15-17.

Someone described ‘the world’ (in its New Testament negative connotation) as ‘society organised without reference to God’, and all the standards, values, ideals, longings, desires, philosophies etc. of that world system are constantly being ‘marketed’ to us. If we do not take definite steps to keep ourselves back from the water’s edge we will likely be overwhelmed by the tide.

One way to keep a contented heart, in a world that is always greedy for more (and telling you that you need more), is to intentionally and specifically, and regularly, give thanks for your blessings.

Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said,

“Never will I leave you;
    never will I forsake you.”

 ”Water is useful to the ship and helps it to sail better to the haven, but let the water get into the ship, if it is not pumped out, it drowns the ship. So riches are useful and convenient for our passage. We sail more comfortably with them through the troubles of this world; but if the water gets into the ship, if love of riches gets into the heart, then we are drowned by them.” Thomas Watson.

We are not to imagine that there is necessarily any virtue in poverty or any evil in wealth. What we have to watch out for, and nip in the bud, is an indication of ”the love of money” growing inside of us. 1 Timothy 6:10 says:

” For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.”

The love of money can lead a person deeper and deeper into sin(s): theft, deceit, fraud, murder, arrogance and pride, to name just a few. It is a form of idolatry. Again, Tom Hale expresses this well. He writes about:

‘…money, which first enslaves people and then laughs at them as it fails to provide the happiness it promised. Not that poverty by itself brings happiness, either; let’s not have any romantic notions about that. But the love of money is the thing to beware of. When you love something or someone, you make sacrifices for them. When you find yourself making a sacrifice of something else in your life, simply so that you can follow where money is beckoning you, regard that as a danger signal.’ ‘Hebrews for everyone’, pp.170, 171.

Paul wrote that:

”…godliness with contentment is great gain” 1 Tim.6:6.

Writing to the church in Philippi he also said:

”…for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength.” Phil.4:11b-13.

I infer from this that learning to be content is a process, and that times of prosperity do not necessarily lead to contentment. How we need God’s strength to live as we should in whatever circumstance of life we find ourselves.

The call to contentment, in a life free of the love of money, is based upon God’s Word. Whatever He commands, He also enables. Thanks be to God.

Honour marriage, and guard the sacredness of sexual intimacy between wife and husband. God draws a firm line against casual and illicit sex. The Message.

Here is a further comment on this verse from Tom Wright, a former Bishop of Durham:

‘Then come two rules of thumb about the perennial storm centres, sex and money. Marriage is to be respected and honoured by all, and nobody must try to break into the sexual union of husband and wife. The pagan world of the first century was every bit as sexually promiscuous as the Western world of the twenty-first century, and Christians are called today, as they were then, to stand out, to be deeply counter-cultural, at this point. The writer warns that God will judge those who flout his intention for the gift of sex, using it as a plaything rather than the deep, rich, satisfying bond between husband and wife that it was meant to be. This judgment will not necessarily be confined to the life to come. In fact, as thousands of novels, plays and poems bear witness, it is all too frequent that those who degrade themselves and other people by indulging in sex outside its proper context carry bitter regrets and long-lasting emotional scars.’

Marriage should be honoured by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral. 

‘For best results follow the Maker’s instructions!’

I saw these words on a poster many years ago.

Marriage comes with ‘the Maker’s Instructions’. But increasingly, the human race baulks at these instructions. In fact, many deny that there is a Maker or that there are any instructions. ‘Just be yourself’, they say. ‘Live as you please.’ Of course, if everyone does so, without regard for others, there will simply be anarchy and chaos. Like them or not, instructions are issued for a reason.

Then there are those among us who want to ‘have their cake and eat it.’ They still believe in the Maker, they claim, and some would contend they worship Him. But they think He is wrong, and they are therefore re-writing His standards for the modern world. They want to keep Him relevant.

May God have mercy on us all. There is something of the rebel in all of us – even as we, by grace, seek to die to sin and live to God. We know how repeatedly the flesh wants to have its own way; how reticent it is to put out ‘the white flag’.

Romans 1 graphically describes what happens to a culture that rebels against God, and chooses its own path. Funnily enough, it reads like the latest newspaper.