Sacrifice to God thanksgiving .....

...... fulfill your vows to the Most High, Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me” (Psalm 50:6, 7). The concepts of thanksgiving and praise, and of glory and honour, are closely linked to each other, but also together in Scripture. In particular the word translated here as thanksgiving, is translated praise in verse 23 (NKJV). But it is also translated as thanksgiving elsewhere. The NIV translates 23a as “Those who sacrifice thank offerings honour me,” while the NKJV translates it as “Whoever offers praise glorifies Me.” There things are, of course because the Hebrew words have both of the respective meanings. But the two concepts are also linked in the New Testament. I quote “because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools” (Romans 1:21, 22). Paul is saying here that the slippery slope to reprobation, the process of a person becoming unprincipled or depraved, starts by failing to be thankful, and by not glorifying God.

This is pretty scary, I mean who has not been there at times? I certainly have. And I am thankful this morning that I don't have to earn my salvation by being perfect in this, or any other way. But what these thoughts are doing this morning, is brining my attention how important are thanksgiving and praise and honouring and glorifying God. In particular, to fail to do these things is the start of a darkened mind. It is interesting to me that the Bible talks of thanksgiving and praise in terms of sacrifice. Under the old Covenant of course they were actual costly sacrifices on the alter. A sacrifice could consist of bull or a sheep. But there is a real sense in which in times of difficulty and distress that it costs us to give thanks and praise, because many times we might not feel like it! Choosing to give thanks at such times certainly feels like a sacrifice.

But the alternative is to wallow in negativity and self pity. And the attitude that pleases God is that of Job who, when his wife told him to curse God and die (Job 2:9). Job refuses saying “Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?” And in all this Job did not sin with his lips (verse 10). The Joseph story too shows how with God's help we are able to rise above the circumstances. And the Christian is commanded to count it all joy when we find ourselves in manifold and diverse trials (James 1:2).

Father, these things are very challenging, and I find myself needing to repent again this morning for allowing the trails of life to take away my joy. I need Your help Father, please restore the joy of my salvation, and grant me a thankful heart to praise honour and glorify You in Jesus Name Amen

Are you not therefore mistaken (II)

The Sadducee had asked a question and Jesus has essentially answered that they were wrong because they “knew nether the Scriptures nor the power of God” (Mark 12:24). Last day we discussed the fact that questions themselves can be wrong. This morning I want to talk about the question I get asked all the time “Can't you make the Bible say anything you want?” Well certainly people do, they even take a clear “no,” and turn it into a “yes.” I sometimes give the tongue in cheek answer “Yes you can, and using the same rules of interpretation you can make the dictionary say the very same thing! And since I discovered this, I have stopped using the dictionary!” So there are good interpretations and bad interpretations and a whole host of in between ones too! Last day we were saying sometimes you need to interpret literally, and other times not? But how are we to know?

What you must not do is use the Bible as a kind of magic book closing your eyes opening it and putting your finger on a verse. One man did that and got “Judas went out and hung himself.” Shaken he tried again “Go and do likewise.” A third time he got “What you do, do quickly” (Matthew 27:5; Luke 10:37; John 13:27). I am talking of course about the need to read things in context. In fact there is a whole science of interpretation it's called hermeneutics, and clearly we are not going to get too much into that in three paragraphs and a prayer. But perhaps what I do need to say, is that the Bible is its own best interpreter. In particular, as Jesus says, we tend to be mistaken when we don't know the Scriptures. Take last day's verse about hating father and mother. It is not only necessary to understand that there are different genres (Google it), this is hyperbole (over exaggeration). But it is also necessary to compare scripture with scripture (1 Corinthians 2:13). So for example in this case we need to see the command to love one another and to honour father and mother. But then we also needed to see that Jesus would not be put off by his mother an brothers trying to prevent His ministry.

But to come back to the question of making Scripture say what you want it to say. I need to say that Scripture itself condemns this. Peter telling that some of the things Paul says are hard to understand says “which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures” (2 Peter 3:16). We need to be particularly careful when we want to do something the Scriptures condemn. Scriptures speaks about the deceitfulness of sin, and we can easily “suppress the truth in unrighteousness” (Hebrews 3:13; Romans 1:18). It is called rationalization and denial. There is wisdom in many counsellors (proverbs 15:22)

Father, Peter says of prophecy that it is of “no private interpretation” (2 peter 1:20). The same is true of Scripture. Help us Lord to study to be approved unto God a workman who does not need to be ashamed rightly dividing the Word of Truth (2 Timothy 2:15). Keep us from error Lord we pray,  in Jesus Name Amen

Are you not therefore mistaken (I) ..

... because you know nether the Scriptures nor the power of God (Mark 12:24)? The Sadducees had taken their turn trying to trap Jesus with their questions. The Sadducees said that there is no resurrection, and they had a story about a woman having seven successive legal marriages with seven brothers, each one dying before the next marriage. The question is “In the Resurrection whose wife shall she be?” And the above verse is the start of His answer. You can read the rest of it yourself, but what I want to start to do this morning is to draw from this, among other things, that questions can be wrong. I hear two wrong questions all the time. Firstly “Do you take the Bible literally,” secondly, usually by unbelievers, “Can't you make the Bible say anything you want?”

Concerning the first consider the question “Have you stopped beating your wife yet?” Whether I say yes, or no, I'm in trouble. What I am saying, is that the question hides an assumption, in this case at the very least, that the wife has at some point been beaten. There is an assumption too behind the “literal” question, and it is that the there are only two possible answer yes, or no! Consider two verses, firstly “Unless you hate your mother and father, you cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:26). Secondly “You shall not commit adultery” (Exodus 20:14). Obviously this last one is meant to be taken literally, but what about the first? Well the statement is hyperbole, an “obvious exaggeration not intended to be understood literally.” Taken literally it would contradict the commandment to honour father and mother (Exodus 20:12). It is meant to be startling and cause us to pause and think. Thinking, is about loving the Lord with all our mind, and it is about knowing the Scriptures.

The NLT paraphrases the Luke reference with “you must, by comparison, hate everyone else.” And well yes, but this is to spoon fed us. When Jesus makes such outrageous statements, it is meant to catch our attention, and to cause us to interact with the text. You can read the NLT without pause, and it is likely gone in the next five minutes. Certainly we must honour our father and mother, but how far are we to go with it? As adults should we allow them to overrule what we understand to be our calling? Well maybe, I mean we can get things wrong, and there is wisdom in many counsellors (Proverbs 15:22). But certainly not always, Jesus told us “a man’s enemies will be those of his own household.’ He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me” (Matthew 10:36, 37). In fact there was a period when his mother and His brothers “went out to lay hold of Him, for they said, 'He is out of His mind'” (Mark 3:21).

Father, Your Word tells us that we are to study to be approved unto God (2 Timothy 2:15), and that the Holy Spirit will lead us into all truth (John 16:13). It is not by Word only, but it is by the Word and the Spirit, and it is in iron sharpening iron sharpening iron that we lean the truth. Forgive us Lord for our arrogance and pride. thinking we are the only ones who know truth. Bring us together Lord in unity and humility to the foot of the cross in Jesus Name Amen

Pain that is not transformed it transmitted

There is a recovery saying that hurt people, hurt people. In other words when we are hurt, if we don't deal with the hurt, we finish up hurting others. We may not mean to, but we do. I liken this to having a sore thumb. If you have a sore thumb and somebody accidentally brushes up against it, you are likely to react more strongly than if you did not have a sore thumb. There is a worldly saying “Don't get mad, get even!” Well that's how wars get started. The writer to the Hebrews describes this as a root of bitterness that springs up, chokes us, and defiles many (Hebrews 12:15). Bitterness is a poison which we drink, and it poisons not only ourselves, but those we love. And many times the other person remains unaffected. Our drinking poison can leave them totally unaffected!

But what are we supposed to do? How are we supposed to handle our hurt? The first part of the above verse in Hebrews give us the way. It tells us to be careful lest we fail to obtain the Grace of God and a root springing up etc. In other words many times we need God's enabling grace to respond the way He would have us respond. We need His help. It starts with His teaching. The key verse that caught my attention this morning is Mark 11:26 “If you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses.” The point is that our offences against God are far greater that the offences we receive, and if we want to be forgiven then we need to forgive (Matthew 18:21-35). That truth can be hard to take, and it requires humility, the very condition needed to receive Grace, the wherewithal to do what without it we cannot do (James 4:6).

But pain and hurt don't only come through other people doing us wrong, and this pain can hurt others too. Someone who has lost a spouse, can withdraw from the children at the very time they are needed the most. At these and all other times, pain is a crossroads, we can blame God and withdraw, or we can come to Him, the “God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our distress, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble” (2 Corinthians 1:3, 4). So we basically have a choice, we can come to Him to receive Grace and comfort, and allow Him to equip us to lead others to Him, or one way or another, we can continue to add to the pain in the World!

Father, the words of Psalm 30 come to mind this morning “Sorrow may endure for the night, but joy comes in the morning.” At that point we will declare “You have turned my mourning into dancing for me” (verses 5, 11). And I want to thank You this morning Lord that there is coming day when there will be no more tears, no more sorrow, no more death (Revelation 21:4). In the meantime Lord strengthen us by Your Mercy, Grace and comfort, to live lives that adorn the gospel in Jesus Name Amen

Be still, and know that I am God ...

... I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth (Psalm 46:10)! I ask the Lord morning by morning for something from His word for me and others. This morning's verse is particularly relevant to me, as I am finding myself in a situation of ongoing irritation, and it is not clear that it is going to stop anytime soon! It is not life threatening, more akin to a constant dripping on a rainy day, that lasts for weeks! I have been reminding myself over and over of Isaiah 26:3 “You will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on You because he trust in You.” And this verse form this morning's readings is a good supplement. The Lord knew what I needed!

So what I did, and what I am doing even as I write, is to come to my secret place, settle myself down, spread my hands out to Him and invite Him into my situation. It is about His tangible presence, it is about coming back to His peace.

You don't see the pause of course, but there was one. But what I want to say, is that other verses in this Psalm are also helpful. Verse 1 “God is ... a very present help in time of need.” Verse 9 “He makes wars to cease from the ends of the earth.” It is not much of a war that I am in, and if He is capable of doing the bigger stuff, He is certainly able to come through for me. It will be in His time of course. Then there is the rest of verse 10. God will be exalted in the earth among the nations, His Kingdom will come and His will will be done on earth. And blessed are those who wait for Him (Isaiah 40:31).

Father, thank You for helping me to get things in perspective this morning. Thank You that You are in control. Thank You for Your presence and Your promise to keep me in perfect peace as You work these things out in Jesus Name Amen

For the children of Israel are servants to Me ...

... they are My servants whom I brought out of the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God (Leviticus 25:55). It wasn't just that the Lord moved them from Egypt to the promised land, He had brought them out of the cruel bondage of slavery. What is  physical under the Old Covenant has spiritual application under the New. And those who are not in Christ are in bondage to something that is not God. In particular,  before conversion we were all slaves to sin. But then “having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness” (Romans 6:17, 18). The point is that we are either slaves to sin or we are slaves to righteousness. True freedom is about being set free to choose to do what is right.

Paul could describe himself as a bond servant of Jesus Christ (i.e. Romans 1:1). So what is a bond servant? A Hebrew slave could go out free after seven years. But if he said “I love my master, my wife, and my children,” then he could choose to stay with his master as a bond servant. There was a ceremony where they would bring him to the judges, and to the doorpost of his masters house, and his master would pierce his ear with an awl. He would then be his servant forever (Leviticus 21:5, 6). A bond servant then, is one who chooses to serve his master, and this is what Paul calls himself. This picture of who a Christian is, is a far cry from the practice of some who seek to use Christ as a fire escape from hell, and then turn round and live unchanged lives.

Paul put it this way “Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound” (Romans 6:1). “You are not your own, were bought with a price, therefore glorify God in you body” (1 Corinthians 6:19, 20). The price of course was Christ's sacrificial death on the cross. Some might object that Christ calls us friends not servants. But is it everyone that He calls His friends? Well no, there is a condition to be fulfilled “You are My friends if you do whatever I command you” (John 15:14). And He tells us of the specific aspect what it means to be His friends as opposed to being His servants. It is that “a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you” (verse 15). Yes we are His friends if we do what He commands, but we must not take this casually or loose our sense of reverence. It is the creator of the Universe  with whom we are friends, and He is Lord, and He will still discipline us when necessary (Hebrews 12:6). But in the meantime, in saying that we are His friends, He is giving us permission to ask Him what He is doing in situations that concern us.

Father, You work in ways we cannot see, and You have promised to make roads in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. And You ask “Shall you not know it” (Isaiah 43:19). Thank You Lord for the reassurance of what You were doing in my situation, even as I asked You this morning. And I praise and thank You in Jesus Name Amen

Growing through difficulties and conflict

There are some people who seem to enjoy conflict. I don't know if I would go that far as to say that was me, but I did not tend to back down, because in my arrogance and domination, I used to tend to get my way. It resulted in a broken marriage, and when I got saved tended to go to the other extreme in conflict avoidance. In fact in Christian circles most of us avoid conflict like the plague. And because of this reluctance, we tend to let things slide that we should not. I wish I could tell you that every time I tried to deal with an issue in my personal life or in the fellowship was successful, but that would not be true. I used to have the impression that it was only in the homes of alcoholics and the like, that rules like “don't think, don't feel, don't rock the boat” were in operation. I now know that similar unwritten, unspoken and often unacknowledged but nevertheless strongly upheld rules are, at some level or in some variation are in operation almost everywhere.

But just because these rules are never discussed or acknowledged, does not mean nobody is getting hurt. And there are signs, if you know where to look for them, that not all is well in the Kingdom. In marriage for example one or the other party can explode because the toothpaste is squeezed out of the wrong end of the tube, or that there are toast crumbs in the butter. If these things were the real problem, they would be easy to solve with his and hers toothpaste, or his and hers butter. But what tends to happen when we avoid conflict forever, is that we push stuff under the rug and push stuff under the rug until what's under the rug is a monster. And the monster will burst forth eventually, and likely not at the best time. His and hers toothpaste is likely a bandaid on a weeping wound. They are symptoms, that should show us that there is something wrong. Too many relationships end, because the symptoms were ignored until the monster burst forth, and then it is usually considered to be too late.

These things are on my heart this morning, because of a potential conflict that was resolved because a brother was not afraid to gently and lovingly confront me. And it was largely his graciousness that allowed the situation to be quickly resolved. My respect for this person has increased dramatically, though I had already thought highly of him. And what I am wanting to say, is that I believe that when we are willing to come together to the foot of the cross in respect and humility, that the Lord can do miracles. More generally, we can aim to see every negative thing as having potential for our growth, if we just learn to respond the right way. We need His Grace to do this many times, and it is likely to be a journey where we progress, rather than it be an instant fix. But what I do know, is that I have grown more through the major difficulties in my life than from other things.

Father, help me to live out of the truth that You are actively working all things together for my good (Romans 8:2), and please give me the grace to respond in faith to the difficulties of life in Jesus Name Amen