Category: Obedience
Subject: Obedience
The Patternists: What is the “therefore” there for?
A question I often ask in Bible class, “What is the ‘therefore’ there for?” When you see the word in the Bible, it typically serves to connect a truth with a proper response. In effect, “This is so, therefore do that.”
Such events in scripture help to flesh out the proper response of a child of God to circumstances, scenarios, provocations and blessings. Let me give you a few examples from scripture.
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Walk Worthy of the Calling
“I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Ephesians 4:1-3).
Since familiarizing myself with the verse above, it has been my common practice to pray to God that my walk be worthy of that calling to which God has called me. In this, I acknowledge that such a walk is my responsibility. In other words, by prayer I can not petition God to overlook my sins, and find me acceptable despite any ongoing rebellion on my part. Rather, my prayer is that I am living in such a way as to satisfy the standard God has established.
That is not to say that I can’t and don’t pray that God forgive me of my sins and failures. I can and do. It is simply an acknowledgment that God requires an obedient faithfulness on the part of His children. Paul recognized this, and begged the Ephesians that they would act as God had called them to act.
His description of that behavior is not exhaustive, but certainly representative. Lowliness, gentleness, longsuffering, love and a peaceful disposition should characterize the actions of every child of God.
Are you walking worthy of this calling to which God has called you?
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The Patternists: The Test of Faithfulness
The Greek word translated “faithful” in the New Testament is defined thus by Thayer:
1) trusty, faithful;
1a) of persons who show themselves faithful in the transaction of business, the execution of commands, or the discharge of official duties;
1b) one who kept his plighted faith, worthy of trust; 1c) that can be relied on.
Consider definition 1a) related by Thayer. The term is used of persons who show themselves faithful in the execution of commands, or the discharge of duties. This is a significant truth. Throughout scripture, people faithful to God were considered faithful by Him because they obeyed His commands, and did what was required.
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An Evil Common Among Men
The wise man of Ecclesiastes used his book to consider the vanity of life lived under the sun. Put simply, life is not fair, and seeking for lasting happiness and value by trusting in the here and now is a mistake. He illustrated the main point of his treatise in chapter six by noting “an evil which I have seen under the sun, and it is common among men.” It was not an evil in the same sense we typically use it, that is, sin. Rather, it was the observation that many receive great physical blessings from God, but before they can be enjoyed, they lose their ability to enjoy their blessings. It may be illness, tragedy, or death, but “a foreigner consumes it” instead of them. “This is vanity, and it is an evil affliction” (vs. 1-2).
Consider this lesson, “For who knows what is good for man in life, all the days of his vain life which he passes like a shadow? Who can tell what will happen after him under the sun?” (12).
Rather than seeking joy and happiness in this fickle world, with all its injustice and uncertainty, the wise man instead places his hope in heaven. In order to gain that eternal reward, it is necessary to live a life of faithful obedience! “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is man’s all. For God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether good or evil” (12:13-14).
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Consider Your Ways
“In the second year of King Darius, in the sixth month, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came by Haggai the prophet to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, saying, ‘Thus speaks the Lord of hosts, saying: “This people says, ‘The time has not come, the time that the Lord’s house should be built’”’” (Haggai 1:1-2).
Consider this people who determined to place their own concerns above the desires of God. We look askance at their unwillingness to orient their priorities appropriately. But, are we guilty of the same? God wants us to do His work today, just as he wanted Judah to be about His business during the days of the prophet Haggai. And, so many of us can be guilty of the same attitude expressed in our text. “The time has not come…”
The Patternists: Profane Fire
“Then Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it, put incense on it, and offered profane fire before the Lord, which He had not commanded them. So fire went out from the Lord and devoured them, and they died before the Lord” (Leviticus 10:1-2).
Perhaps this passage is offensive to our modern sensibilities. We ask, does the punishment really fit the crime? Is God acting justly in killing these two priests for their actions? Let us consider the matter.
The Patternists: Acceptable Words – Words of Truth
The book of Ecclesiastes is a masterpiece of experiential deduction. The initial words of the preacher, “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity” (1:2), is not a theoretical supposition — it is what he observed.
“And I set my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all that is done under heaven; this burdensome task God has given to the sons of man, by which they may be exercised. I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and indeed, all is vanity and grasping for the wind. What is crooked cannot be made straight, and what is lacking cannot be numbered. I communed with my heart, saying, ‘Look, I have attained greatness, and have gained more wisdom than all who were before me in Jerusalem. My heart has understood great wisdom and knowledge.’ And I set my heart to know wisdom and to know madness and folly. I perceived that this also is grasping for the wind. For in much wisdom is much grief, and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow” (Ecclesiastes 1:13-18).
Through all of his experiences, the preacher remained driven by a desire to know the purpose of life. He did not find it in greatness nor in knowledge, much less in madness and folly. Through it all, he persisted in his efforts, “And moreover, because the Preacher was wise, he still taught the people knowledge; yes, he pondered and sought out and set in order many proverbs. The Preacher sought to find acceptable words; and what was written was upright—words of truth” (12:9-10).
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Be Strong in Grace
Paul’s admonition in 2 Timothy 2:1, is amazingly sublime, “You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.”
There are truths that are intimated by these simple words. First, it affirms Paul’s words in Philippians 4:13, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” The redemptive grace of God is accomplished through the sacrifice of His Son. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved” (John 3:16-17).
Second, it affirms that God’s will for any individual can be resisted and thwarted. Stephen told the Jews, “You stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you” (Acts 7:51). Though God is “not willing that any should perish” (cf. 2 Peter 3:9), some refuse to come to repentance.
Consequently, we understand our responsibility to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling! (Philippians 2:12). This does not mean that God’s sovereignty is denied, nor does it in anyway indicate that we earn our salvation by works of merit. Rather, it acknowledges man’s free will, and the obligation of our salvation debt.
Paul understood it, do we? “Be strong in the grace”!
Sermon: Who Can Find a Faithful Man?
A simple premise. To find a faithful man, one must know his attributes. These attributes can be seen by looking at the characters of faithful men such as Abraham, Moses and Daniel.
The Patternists: Conditional Promises
After Moses and a generation died in the wilderness of Judea, Joshua prepared to lead the new generation into the promised land. It is helpful to remember that the previous generation was not allowed to enter into the land because of rebellion against God.
God spoke to Joshua, and said the following: “Moses My servant is dead. Now therefore, arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, to the land which I am giving to them—the children of Israel. Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given you, as I said to Moses. From the wilderness and this Lebanon as far as the great river, the River Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and to the Great Sea toward the going down of the sun, shall be your territory. No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life; as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you nor forsake you” (Joshua 1:2-5).
Sermon: A Hard Heart
Hebrews 3 uses the Israelites in the wilderness as an object lesson about hardening our hearts against God. How does it happen, and can it happen to us? These are important questions to answer.
Sermon: The Judgment of Stewardship
Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 4:1-5 give us some interesting and important insight into the importance of stewardship, and the reality that judgment comes from God, not man.
Spiritual Surgery
Recently I came across a sermon outline by Joe Price titled Spiritual Surgery. (He preached it a couple of months ago). This article is basically a fleshing out of the three main points in his outline.
The apostle Paul, in Colossians 2, refers to a spiritual circumcision, using the token of the covenant between God and Israel to make an important point. “In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead” (2:11-12).
As physical circumcision was surgical removal (a cutting off, cf. Genesis 17:10-11; Galatians 5:12). Paul uses the same language to indicate they were to remove or put off the body of the sins of the flesh. This was not an unfamiliar concept to the Jews. In fact, Moses said something similar as he called upon the Israelites to repent of their transgressions against God in Deuteronomy 10:16, “Therefore circumcise the foreskin of your heart, and be stiff-necked no longer.”
The Patternists: Defining “My” God
I came across a survey taken last December by the Pew Research Center. The title of the survey, “When Americans say they believe in God, what do they mean?”
The survey sampling revealed that 80% of people believe in God, and another 9% believe in some kind of higher power/spiritual force. That’s 9 in 10 Americans.
However, of the 80% that believe in God, only 56% percent of them believe in God as described in the Bible. More and more individuals feel free to describe God in their own terms rather than the terms He used to describe Himself!
Sermon: The Preacher and the Penitent
Luke’s narrative of the conversion of Cornelius and his household is unique in its use of two viewpoints to relate the facts. Both the preacher and the penitent are followed, with the two meeting as the gospel is preached and souls are saved.
